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this is the natural tendency of every kind of vice; and vain is every warning to those who cast off the fear of God. Some men may be less exposed than others to the temptations of avarice, or better guarded, by consideration of worldly prudence, against the commission of such crimes as are punishable by the laws of civil society; but every one who lives without the fear of God, whatever be his external condition, must contract some base habit or other, and is in danger, from his want of right principles, of being seduced at last into action which may bring him to shame. I may blame, said M‘Donald, my neglect of the Sabbath, I may blame my excess in drinking, and I may ⟨blame⟩ the bad company which I kept; but this would be to begin at the wrong end; for all the things I have to blame, as procuring my ruin, proceeded from this one cause—I had not the Fear of God.
FINIS.
