Page:Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse.pdf/171

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of this world be wiser in their generation than the children of light!"

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How can any one deny the depravity of human nature, who perceives in his own heart the inroads of pride, envy, and opposition to God; who sees even in the infant mind, seeds of rebellion and ingratitude; who beholds a globe once so fair from its Maker's hands, polluted with blood, and the hatred of man to man; who knows that the Son of God suffered the death of the cross, that our sin might be taken away; and who hears the voice of Omnipotence proclaiming of man, "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually?" Nothing but the Spirit of God, can make us sensible of our situation, for a part of our punishment is already begun—"having eyes we see not, having ears we hear not, having hearts we do not understand."

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When we indulge anger at any provocation, we prepare work for repentance. When we practise deception, we renounce the inward support of rectitude. When we seek for the favour of the world, we encourage vanity. When we neglect to speak in the cause of piety, we forfeit