290 APPENDIX. 



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assertion may have something of truth) yet we 

 shall find that wicked (if) absolutely banished. 



It is true, we may more justly pity him that 

 swallows a bait fair and glistering, than a per- 

 son that tempts temptations to deceive him, or 

 catches at flies, and trifling allurements ; be- 

 cause in the first case a greater reluctancy is 

 requisite, and the dart may possibly be so 

 sharp, as to pierce through the armour of a 

 sober resolution ; but all this will little succour 

 him, who knows it to be a bait, and hath be- 

 forehand designed its beauty and fairness, to 

 apologize for the foulness of the sin : for here 

 the greatness of the temptation will not at all 

 extenuate the grossness of the crime : no more 

 than he mitigates his robbery, who shall plead, 

 that he stole nothing but gold and jewels. 



The world is much mistaken in the value of a 

 sceptre or a crown ; we gaze upon its bright- 

 ness, and forget its brittleness ; we look upon 

 its glory, and forget its frailty ; we respect its 

 colour, and take no notice of its weight. But 

 if all those gay things which we fondly fancy to 

 ourselves are really to be found in greatness, 

 yet still he pays too dear, that pawns his heaven 

 for it ; he that thus buys a short bliss, gives 

 not twenty, or an hundred years purchase, but 

 (if mercy prevent not) eternity. 



It will be little advantage here, to introduce 



