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tion." Though Gamesters confent "to the gain and lofs which happens "in gaming, this confent makes "them not lawful, fince a man is "not properly the Master of his "wealth, but only the Trustee and "the Steward, who must give his "Malter an account of his Steward"Ship. When perfons play high, they are guilty of a kind of rob"bery, whether they win or lose; "for one of thefe two things fol"lows; either they take away the "wealth of him, against whom they play; or they incur the guilt of Injustice towards themselves and their family, as well as towards "God, who gave us not wealth for "fo bad a purpose. It is doing "worfe than the wicked Servant, "who, hid his talent in the Earth, "for if a Gamefter loses, he has fpent improperly the the money wherewith God had entrusted him: and if he wins, he is never"theless

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"theless incapable of giving a good "account of his talent to God, fince "he has lodged it in an unfair "Bank." +

Of the miferable Araights, to which men are reduced by drunkennefs, licentiousness and gaming, many of you, my unhappy brethren, From are melancholy witneffes. one or other, or perhaps all of thefe caufes, for they are all united in one band of Iniquity, you have been removed from happy homes, and are now faft bound in mifery and Iron. The Hiftory of your crimes which I have begun I must purfue, tho' the recollection may wound every fibre of your hearts. Yet muft know, that the End of Correction is Happiness; for "no chaftening for the prefent feemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless it yield

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+ Monfieur Du Moulin on the Peace of Soul. Vol. 2: p. 495.

eth the peaceable fruit of righteoufnefs, unto them which are exercifed thereby." +

Were it represented to a man, at his first entrance on a course of fin, that he would rife by degrees to the commiffion of the greatelt enormities, it is probable the yet unextinguished Spirit of natural Virtue would prompt him to exclaim with Hazael, Am I a dog, that I fhould do this thing? Experience, however, teaches that fuch is the ftate of human life, and too many Inftances have we even in this Affembly, to doubt for a moment the truth of the Affertion. When the drunkard firft begins to apply himself to Intemperance, when the man of pleafure, as he is called, follows without fufpicion the intricate windings of the strange woman, when the gamefter endeavours to relieve an occafional

+ Heb. xii. E.

2 K.. viii. 13.

fional diftrefs, by running the hazard of the die; each of them would loudly refent any reflection on their honor or their honesty, and difdain the Idea, that their conduct, by a ftraight courfe, leads to theft, to robbery, to murder, Yet all of thefe dreadful confequences have arifen from beginnings of no greater fize than thefe. It is an old obfervation, that no man arrives at once at the height of wickednefs. tious, therefore, fhould he tread, when he first ventures into the Ocean of Sin, for his next footstep may plunge him into a pit of deftruction, from whence he will never be delivered.

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The Hiftory of the life of almost every Offender commences with a recital of finall tranfgreffions. To fupply thofe neceffities, created by Idlenefs and a profligate manner of living, he pilfers and purloins whatever accident throws in his way.

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The admonitions of parents and friends he disregards, the observation of the Sabbath and public Inftruction he totally neglects. Companions, as diffolute as himself, encourage him in his departure from the reputable part of Society, and an Affociation in Vice compleats the firft part of his melancholy ftory. Grown bolder in Sin, the flow arts of ftealing do not anfwer all the purposes of his Extravagance, and therefore robbery upon a larger fcale is adopted as a fpeedier method of fupplying his wants. Men of greater refinement, indeed, in the ways of the world, inftead of open robbery make ufe of the fecret and infidious arts of Fraud. There is an aggravation in this Offence, from which the others are free. It is generally an abufe of confidence; and offenders, in this way, must have laid afide the love of their friends and benefactors, as well as of God and their neighbour, before they can practice

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