6 AN HUMBLE ATTEMPT, &C. Poor and deluded creatures! feeling about in the dark for the way to happiness, in the midst of rocks and precipices and endless dangers, and led astray into many mischiefs and miseries by those whom they take for guides and rulers. And what an infamous and shameful thing would it be for us, who have the divine light of the gospel shining among us to direct our paths, if we should read among the records of the heathen nations, that any of them have behaved better than we have done, either in duties to God or man, and exceeded us either in personal or in social virtues ? Nay, what a scandal would it be to our profession, if we should not abundantly exceed all the shining virtues of the heathen nations, since the divine light that shines upon us, and the divine lessons that are published amongst us, are so infinitely superior to all that the heathen world has en- joyed ? And yet, to our shame and reproach, there are several single examples found in ancient history of some of their moral and social virtues, beyond what most of us have arrived at. What patience under injuries and cutting reproaches is ascribed to Socrates ? What a contentment of soul under great poverty, what calmness under oppression'and pain, and what a noble dis- interestedness in the comforts or eaiamities ofthis life was found in Epictetus the Stoic philosopher ? What a friendly and forgiving spirit in Antonius the emperor ? What a moderation in the en- joyments of life, what a brave contempt of present death, and what a generous love of their country and self-denial for the public good do we read of in some of the ancient Romans, be- fore the ages of splendor and luxury bad corrupted them ? It is granted indeed these instances are but few and rare, and we have good reason to hope and believe that the virtues which are practised in the christian world are abundantly more common and numerous, and therefore they pass without such public notice and renown : but is it not a shame there should be any one instance of heathen virtue transcending the practice of christians ? And if we consult thehistories of their religiousaffairs, we shall find several examples of their zeal for sorry superstitions and ridiculous idolatries, rising higher than ours has done in the practice of our divine religion : how far have their self. denial and sufferings, their fatigues and fervency in the worship of their idols, transcended our devotion to the living and tune God? What costly honours have they done to some of their mediator gods and goddesses, beyond what we have a heart to do for our Jesus, the only true Mediator between God and m n ? With what curiosity and exactness and unwearied diligence have the votaries of those false deities, in tome of the eastern and west- ern nations, in ancient and later times, fulfilledtheir washings,
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