, where the best of us are said to
fall twenty Times a Day. But sure, we may not allow the Practice of any of those
grosser Crimes which contaminate the whole Mind. We may expect an Obedience to
the Ten Commandments, and an Abstinence from such notorious Vices; as in the
first Place, Avarice, which indeed can hardly subsist without the Breach of more
Commandments than one; indeed it would be excessive Candour to imagine, that a
Man, who so visibly sets his whole Heart not only on this World, but on one of
the most worthless Things in it, (for so is Money without regard to its Uses,)
should be at the same Time laying up his Treasure in Heaven. Ambition is a
second Vice of this Sort; we are told we cannot serve God and Mammon. I might
have applied this to Avarice, but I chose rather to mention it here. When we see
a Man sneaking about in Courts and Levees, and doing the dirty Work of great Men
from the Hopes of Preferment, can we believe that a Fellow, whom we see to have
so many hard Taskmasters upon Earth, ever thinks of his Master which is in
Heaven? Must he not himself think, if he ever reflects at all, that so glorious
a Master will disdain and disown a Servant, who is the dutiful Tool of a Court
Favourite; and employed either as the Pimp of his Pleasure, or sometimes perhaps
made a dirty Channel, to assist in the Conveyance of that Corruption, which is
clogging up and destroying the very Vitals of his Country?
    The last Vice which I shall mention, is Pride. There is not in the Universe
a more ridiculous, nor a more contemptible Animal than a proud Clergyman; a
Turkey-cock or a Jackdaw, are Objects of Veneration when compared with him. I
don't mean by Pride, that noble Dignity of Mind, to which Goodness can only
administer an adequate Object, which delights in the Testimony of its own
Conscience, and could not without the highest Agonies bear its Condemnation. By
Pride, I mean, that saucy Passion, which exults in every little eventual
Preeminence over other Men; such are the ordinary Gifts of Nature, and the
paultry Presents of Fortune, Wit, Knowledge, Birth, Strength, Beauty, Riches,
Titles and Rank. That Passion which is ever-aspiring, like a silly Child, to
look over the Heads of all about them; which while it servilely adheres to the
Great, flies from the Poor, as if afraid of Contamination; devouring greedily
every Murmur of Applause, and