not, shall they obtain heaven by their unbelief? No: "He that believeth not shall be damned," Mark xvi. 16.

As I could not find the parson at home to speak with about going to the sacrament, I was determined to get hold of the clerk, who took me to a public-house, to treat him with rum and water as long as I could find cash to pay for it! This would have aggravated my desperate case, had not the consideration of his being so holy a man by office appeared an antidote, or charm, against the devil and sin. However, my tutor, when he came staggering down the steps, advised me not to go to his master, nor to any other parson; and he advised me right; but when he took his leave of me, he said he would tell me when to draw up, and where at the table I should kneel. Then he pointed with his finger up to the stars, and said, 'Go there; look there. If I was in your case, I would always go there;' that is, to God, he meant. And thus, upon the whole, he acted the part of an honest hand-post; that is, he pointed to the right way; but I believe never went one step therein himself.

When the Lord's day arrived, which was appointed for administering the sacrament, I went to the table of the Lord with all the horrors of the damned. The clerk seemed very officious, and told me when to approach; namely, when the quality had all done; and afterwards where

to kneel, that was at the lower end of the table. But I believe I was one of the most welcome guests at that table, according to the pre-requisites of the communion service; for I could say from my heart, I do earnestly repent, and am heartily sorry for, these my misdoings; the remembrance of them is grievous unto me; the burden of them is intolerable. Nor did I altogether go trusting in my own righteousness to the table of my most merciful Lord, but trusting more in his manifold and great mercies; for, as to the spider's web of my own righteousness or works, which I formerly had trusted in, Isa. lix. 5; this was in a great measure purged away

by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning," Isa. iv. 4.

However, I came away with all my guilt and distress, just as I went. And I am sure there is no pardon nor peace for a guilty conscience, but in the Redeemer's blood; nor is there any life for a condemned criminal, but in Christ the bread of heaven. Men may please themselves with dry forms and modes as long as they will, but the hour of temptation shall come upon all the world to try them, Rev. iii. 10; and that many will one day feel, who now insult God with a mocking form, expressive of what they never felt. For instance, when they say, Deliver us from the crafts and assaults of the devil, from thy wrath, and everlasting damnation: and again;

Raise up those that fall, and finally beat down Satan under our feet: and again; Grant that those evils, which the craft and subtilty of the devil or man worketh against us, may be brought to nought. These petitions are expressed, not offered up to God, by some who are half asleep, by some who are tittering and laughing, and by others who are darting the flames of lust out of every corner of their eyes. If this is not mocking of God, what is? Yea, I think it is worse mockery by far than that which is practised at a masquerade, where they really appear in the character that the word of God gives them. The scriptures call ungodly sinners devils, brutes, and children sitting in a market-place. Now at a masquerade some mimic the devil; here is no mockery; such a one is a devil both within and without. Others are masked so as to imitate a goat: and our Saviour says he will set these goats at his left hand when he judges the world. Here is no deceit in this; there is a brute in Others mimic buy

heart, and a brute in dress.

ers and sellers; and others are like children, mimicking balls and burials, saying, "We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept." And the Pantheon is a figure of the world, called by Christ a market-place, where sinners sell themselves, like Ahab, to work wickedness; or like the fool, who gains the world and loses his

own soul. Thus the masqueraders appear in

character; which is more than those do who draw near to God with their lips, while dead to him, and at war with him in their hearts; therefore in vain they worship him.

My foolish heart was so wedded to the gown and cassock, that I thought none could know the mind and will of God but those men who were brought up at college, and ornamented with such popish rags. This opinion I paid dear enough for; and, if my gracious God had not been pleased to reveal his truth to me himself, they would soon have led me to Bedlam, and from thence to hell; for, "if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."

I hardly ever asked a scriptural question of a Jew, but his answer was, You must ask the rabbies that; they can tell you, but I cannot. Yea, farther, that rooted enmity that they have in their mind against the Saviour, and their deeming him an impostor, was conceived originally by the devil in the hearts of the Jewish rabbies; as it is written, "Now when they were going, behold some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept." A likely matter

that they should prove that his disciples stole him when they were fast asleep! however, a lie will go down with credit from the mouth of a priest. "And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. So they took the money, and did as they were taught; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day." Matt. xxviii. 11~15. There was a two-fold death ministered in this lie; death to the soldiers for being asleep on their duty, and death to the souls of all that credited this lie: however, a priest could make it go down, though no other could. "We will persuade him [the governor] and secure you!" there was no doubt of that.

How dangerous is the letter-learned head, eloquent language, a venerable appearance, a popish robe, and a garb of mock sanctity, accompanied with ecclesiastical effrontery! Where the devil reigns and rules in the heart, the more learning, eloquence, external shew, and human power, they have, the more mischief they do. If Aaron sets up a calf, few knees will refuse to bend; and what is patronized by a priest in the wilderness will be accepted at Bethel.

I believe Elijah had his reason for wearing a leathern girdle; and so had John the Baptist for wearing a garment of camel's hair; and, doubtless, the Saviour had his reasons for wearing a coat without seam, and sending his apostles out