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Show :Gullt. For, one Crime leads to another; .one Vice begets ten others ; repeated Acts turn mto Habits; evil Habits in time become inveterate; Temptations attack; wic-ked Company feduces; one Degree of Debauchery follows another; Confcience hardens; Hea1•en for fakes ; M1fery purfues ; Defpair overtakes ; Satan conquers ; Death fcizes ; and Hell follows at h1s Heels. Such is the dreadful Progrefs of Vice; and fuch may be the Fate of any Perfon, who once breaks loofe from the W ays of Virtue and Sobriety. Take warning then, I befeech you, in time, and remember, that whatever wrong Courfes you may take, I have difcharged my Confcience, I have delivered my Soul, and !hall be obliged hereafter to appear againfi you, and to tef!ify to your Face, before God, Angels, and Men, that I have fet before you this Day, as I have hundreds of Times before, . Life and Death, the Ble!ling and the Curfe, Happinefs temporal and eternal ; and, from a friendly Monitor, !hall be obliged -to become your fevere Accufer. I ought now to think of concluding this Paper : But I know not how to give over. I am fo much aware of the Inconfiancy and UnHeddinefs of the human Heart, the Frailty of the befi Refolutions, and the mofi obllinate V ;tue we can boafi, _th_e fatal Power of Temptation, the ternble EfteCl:s of bad Company, and the almofi irrelillible Force of Example, ' and withal, the Difficulty of attaining that high Pitch of Virtue neceffary to qualify for the Enjoyment of the Chrifiian Salvation, that I tremble to think what Trials you, or any Youth under my Care, may have to go through, and of the dreadful Hazard you run in pafling through Life, ( 59 ) L ife. Methinks I could ther~fore begin afrclh, and repeat to you over again, if it were poilible, · all the DireCl:ions and -all the Warnings, I have g<ven you, For if all I have done ihould prove too 'little, I know I !hould refleCl: upon myfelf to the lafi Day of my Life, and fancy that I might have added fame other Hint, or f<t Things in lome other Light, fo as to have guarded you againfi the fatal Mifcarriage. What the Confequence, with regard to myfelf, might be, !hould I fee any of the Youth I have educated, become notorioufly and obdurately wicked, I cannot at prefent fay ; or whether I !hould ever get over it or not. But, if any of you !hould refolve to turn your Back upon Virtue and Sobriety, and to forfake the Ways of G oodnefs and Happinefs, I !houJJ wi!h you firfi to turn your Back upon your Country, to fo1f.1ke this Part of the W urld, and to remove to fame diflant Region, from whence I !hould have no Chance of hearing fu ch Accounts of you, as mufi fill my Soul w ith Anguilh ar prefent inconceivable to me. After all, I know it is not in him who plants, or in him who waters, to give the 1ncreafe., but in G od only. To him, therefore, the Father of Spirits, and the G iver of every good and perfe.:t Gift, I commit the Care of you. And I iincerely and earneflly pray, that He may infpire you continually with virtuous Sentiments and honeft Intentions, which will alwJ.ys produce the Fruit of good and laudable ACl:ions. That he may, by the internal Motions o f his Spirit upon your Heart, continuJily imprcfs upon you fuch a firong and lively Senfe of the Ubligations of your Duty, as may engage you to the conflant and regular O bfcrvation of his L aws G in |