mising agents for every work of
importance. The will of God was as often fulfilled by stubborn folly as
by obedient wisdom; yet those who wished that "will to be done upon
earth," would fill responsible stations with those that seemed most like
the inhabitants of heaven.

"You must allow us, who have played a losing game, to talk," said Dr.
Beaumont, "and believe me, that so far from meaning any thing personal
in my remarks, I honour the patience with which you listen to my
prosings, and the benevolence which induces you to wish me to see my own
interest. As far as I have observed, men of sound heads, and sober
lives, are oftener endued with the especial graces of the Holy Spirit,
than persons of weak judgment, or those whose previous conversation
placed them in the power of sin, that grand hardener of the heart. A
great change has indeed taken place in the manners of the nation; but
when I see the dreadful scenes that daily occur; the first persons in
the kingdom dragged to prison, or to the scaffold, for no other crime
than allegiance; estates confiscated; the temples of God despoiled; the
mysteries of religion ridiculed and disputed; the bonds of
family-affection broken; servants turned into house-hold spies; domestic
privacies violated by informers, in the shape of friends; every one
disputing about religion, yet few knowing in what it consists; spiritual
pride calling itself piety, and censoriousness affecting the name of
zeal for our neighbour's salvation; insubordination pervading every
order of society; all clamouring for their own way, and 'meaning
licence, when they cry liberty;' the most disingenuous shifts and
dishonest contrivances resorted to, not merely without punishment, but
without fear of censure; when I see all this, can I say that morals are
improved, because theatres are turned into conventicles, and banquets
and revels give place to polemical lectures? The faces of men do indeed
assume the appearance of sanctity, but that it is only the appearance is
evident, because true piety gives chearful serenity to the countenance,
and easy simplicity to the whole carriage. It occasionally blazes in
ordinary conversation, but it is in the fervent and edifying language of
glory to God, and good-will to man. It never talks, for the sake of some
secular, or treacherous purpose, of seeking the Lord.--It judges not its
neighbour's heart.--It boasts not of its early provocations and present
acceptance, nor does it