136 DEPRAVITY OF HEART, DEPRAVITY, OBSTINATE. There is not in the worlde, North, southe, easte, or weste, Who would maintain a righteous cause Against his intereste. Ah me! it grieves me sore, And I sorrowe nighte and daye, To see how man's arch enemie Doth lead his soule astray. 221. DEPRAVITY OF HEART. If goodness, which is the proper object of the feelings of the heart, be presented, men shut their hearts against it; and if truth be offered, which is the object of intellectual vision, instead of their understandings, they present to it their wills, their partialities, and passions. Ed. The fact that mankind "know the right, and yet the wrong pursue," settles the point that depravity lies in the heart and not in the head. Em. If men's disaffection and disobedience to God, spring entirely from ignorance or error in the understanding, it is dif ficult to see how they can be criminal for their disaffection and disobedience. This first principle of Arminianism leads to Universalism; for the light of the last day will remove all ignorance and error from the universe, and according to this theory, all sin. This Priestley and others of his denomination expressly acknowledge and maintain. 222. DEPRAVITY, OBSTINATE. Ill weeds grow apace. Em. Mankind are naturally better pleased with the most absurd, selfish, and even malevolent religions, than with the pure, disinterested religion of the Gospel. Ib. The hearts of sinners are so selfish, that no means or mere secondary causes can cure them. For their selfishness does not arise from ignorance of themselves and other beings and objects, but from their placing their supreme love wholly on themselves. No intellectual light or moral motives which can be exhibited before them can alter or meliorate their hearts. DEPRAVITY, DESIRES. 137 Were it possible for them to have a clear, just and comprehensive view of themselves, of God, of Christ, of all the truths in the Bible, and of all things in this and in every other world, it would only serve to excite love to themselves and make them sensible, that they valued their own interest and happiness more than the interests and happiness of the universe. Spring. How immense the distance, how deep the chasm, between fallen man and the Holy One! The mind, the heart, the will, bound together by common bonds, acting and reacting upon each other by a thousand unseen and uncontrolled influences, all seem combined in the unhallowed, the treasonable revolt! 223. DESIRES. Examine well the counsel that favors your desires. Young. What ardently we wish, we soon believe. Ib. Strong wishes have a strange influence over our opinions; they bias the judgment in a manner almost incredible. Henry. Inordinate desires commonly produce irregular endeavors. If our wishes be not kept in submission to God's providence, our pursuits will scarcely be kept under the restraints of his precepts. Em. Habitual desires are stronger than occasional ones. The habitual desire of the sinner to live in the world and enjoy it, is stronger than his occasional desire to look into eternity, and prepare for it. As soon as his occasional desire begins to be strong enough to disturb his peace, his habitual desire to enjoy the world rises with redoubled power, to check, restrain, and destroy his desire to look into and prepare for eternity. Every sinner is holden by the cords of his habitual desires. This was the case with Balaam. He desired to die the death of the righteous, and to be happy in his future and eternal state; but he had an habitual and stronger desire to enjoy the wages of unrighteousness. His habitual desire to be happy in this world, overcame his desire to be happy in the world to come. 138 DESPERATION, DESPONDENCY. The men of the world are all running greedily after the error of Balaam, preferring things seen, to things unseen and eternal. 224. DESPERATION. Cowper. Beware of desperate steps; the darkest day, Ed. The perfection of desperation is, to destroy this life by suicidal hands, having a foolish hope, or expectation, of improving our condition by this means. The suicide and duellist are consummate desperadoes, who have much aid, no doubt, from the adversary. Ib. It is a very desperate act to reject or defer a hope in the true glory of God, and the claims of a disinterested Gospel, by heartily embracing any system or form of selfish and false religion, or cherishing worldly idols. Ib. Temporal desperation is often the seal of eternal despair. 225. DESPONDENCY. Spanish Pr. Who loses money, loses much; who loses a friend, loses more; but he who loses his spirits, loses all. Young. "Tis impious in a good man to be sad. Ib. To chase thy gloom - Go, fix some weighty truth; Or with warm heart, and confidence divine, Spring up, and lay strong hold on Him who made thee. Though withered is thy vine, and harp unstrung. Open your heart to sympathy, but close it to despondency, like the flower that opens to the dew, and shuts to the sun. Ed. If it is an imperative and practicable duty to rejoice in the Lord alway, it must be equally imperative to avoid all sadness. Sh. The robb'd, that smiles, steals something from the thief; He robs himself, that spends a bootless grief. Ib. Why should a man, whose blood is warm within, Sleep when he wakes? and creep into the jaundice DETRACTION, DEVIL. Ib. Lay aside life-harming heaviness, And entertain a cheerful disposition. [See 24.] 226. DETRACTION. 139 There is no readier way for one to bring his own worth into question, than by endeavoring to detract from the worth of others. Ed. Detraction is of two sorts, 1st, Denying, or endeavoring to take away a person's real merits, virtues, and good name; 2d, Justly imputing faults, with an honest and earnest endeavor to take them away, which is commonly the most unpardonable detraction with faulty persons, who love their errors. [See 95, 185.] 227. DEVIL, DEVILS. Edwards, (Tryon.) Whatever evils have their focus in the character of the devil, he has at least one good quality, namely, that if we resist him, he will flee from us. Though a cowardly trait in him, it is a happy one for us, and God has kindly revealed it, that in every conflict with him we may find in resistance victory and safety. Em. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to account for the high-handed crimes, the absurd errors, and the general security and stupidity of mankind under the Gospel, without the instrumentality of the devil, who always lies in wait to destroy. But it is easy to see how they are carried beyond their intentions, resolutions, and expectations, in their sinful ways, through his subtile and powerful temptations. His seductive agency will account for the sins of Adam, Noah, and Lot, Moses, David, and Solomon, Ahitophel, Jeroboam, and Judas, the idolatry of the Heathen, and the degeneracy, delusion, and infidelity of millions in the Christian world. Edwards. The devil is a hard master, for the service on which he puts his slaves is to undo themselves. Ed. If you would understand some men, study the revealed character of their "father, the devil.” The devil goes away when he finds the door shut against him. Ed. And comes again, as soon as opened. Ed. Though some men have attempted to annihilate the 140 DICTATORIAL, MAGISTERIAL DIFFERENCES. name of the adversary, his existence is too much identified with divinely revealed truths, scenes, and objects, for their purpose to succeed. Besides, they must have had help from the adversary, or they never could have devised such a design, which settles the question against them. Thacher. The devil, without doubt, suggested the caricatures of himself, for they have done immense mischief. He is quite willing to be painted as wearing horns, and hoofs, a cloven foot, and a dragon's tail; for such caricatures and ridicule beget skepticism. And unbelief of his existence gives him great advantage in his wiles. A preacher can now scarcely speak of the devil without producing a smile; for his name is associated, in many minds, with some monstrous caricatures, which they have witnessed in either papal or protestant books and pictures. ль. Satan hates what he once was; otherwise, he would not be a devil. 228. DICTATORIAL, MAGISTERIAL. Dr. Gray. He who can convince, will never dictate. Ed. Those who can govern a family, school, or state, by greatness and goodness, have little occasion for magisterial authority. Ib. Those who play the peacock most, are least above one. 229. DIET, DIETING. Diet cures more than the doctor. Simple diet, healthy offspring. Ed. There are several kinds of dieting. Avoiding too much, and too costly food, are among the more important. Experience and observation will suggest the others these habits being established. [See 354, 419, 420.] 230. DIFFERENCES. Mc Fingal. Strange, such a difference there should be "Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee. Ed. No more strange than true. They differ in place; they differ materially in sound; they differ in termination; they differ in quantity; they differ in appearance; and they would probably differ in meaning, if they had any. Let no philosopher, moralist, or divine, therefore, be hereafter guilty of quoting the |