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OF DR. DODDRIDGE.
punishment of those who are irrecoverable, be overruled by infinite wisdom and love to
the good of the whole!”
5. These are right sentiments, and if they are indeed the sentiments of your heart,
O reader! and not an empty form of vain words, they will be attended with a serious
concern to act in subordination to this great scheme of divine Providence, according to
your abilities in their utmost extent. And to this purpose, they will put you on
surveying the peculiar circumstances of your life and being, that you may discover
what opportunities of usefulness they now afford, and how those opportunities and
capacities may be improved. Enter therefore into such a survey, not that you may pride
yourself in the distinctions of divine Providence or grace towards you, or, “having
received, may glory as if you had not received;” (I Cor. 4:7) but that you may deal
faithfully with the great Proprietor, whose steward you are, and by whom you are
entrusted with every talent, which, with respect to any claim from your
fellow-creatures, you may call your own. And here, “having gifts differing according to
the grace that is given to us,” (Rom. 12:6) let us hold the balance with an impartial hand,
that so we may determine what it is that God requires of us; which is nothing less than
doing the most we can invent, contrive, and effect, for the general good. But, oh! how
seldom is this estimate faithfully made! And how much does the world around us, and
how much do our own souls suffer for want of that fidelity!
6. Hath God given you genius and learning? It was not that you might amuse or
deck yourself with it, and kindle a blaze which should only serve to attract and dazzle
the eyes of men. It was intended to be the means of heading both yourself and them to
the Father of lights. And it will be your duty, according to the peculiar turn of that
genius and capacity, either to endeavor to improve and adorn human life, or, by a more
direct application of it to divine subjects, to plead the cause of religion, to defend its
truths, to enforce and recommend its practicer to deter men from courses which would
be dishonorable to God and fatal to themselves, and to try the utmost efforts of all the
solemnity and tenderness with which you can clothe your addresses, to lead them into
the paths of virtue and happiness.
7. Has God invested you with power, whether it be in a larger or smaller society?
Remember that this power was given you that God might be honored, and those placed
under your government, whether domestic or public, might be made happy. Be
concerned, therefore, that, whether you be entrusted with the rod, or the sword, it may
“not be” borne in vain. (Rom. 13:4) Are you a magistrate? Have you any share in the
great and tremendous charge of enacting laws? Reverence the authority of the supreme
Legislator, the great Guardian of society: promote none, consent to none, which you do
not in your own conscience esteem, in present circumstances, an intimation of his will,
and in the establishment of which you do not firmly believe you shalt be “his minister
for good.” (Rom. 13:4) Have you the charge of executing laws? Put life into them by a
vigorous and strenuous execution, according to the nature of the particular office you
bear. Retain not an empty name of authority. Permit not yourself, as it were, to fall
asleep on the tribunal. Be active, be wakeful, be observant of what passes around you.
Protect the upright and the innocent. Break in pieces the power of the oppressor. Unveil
every dishonest heart. Disgrace as well as defeat the wretch that makes his