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got free from under the Discipline of others, is presently to forget all they have learned, and to erafe out of their Minds all the fober Counfels and useful Rules they had before receiv'd; huffing at all Instruction as a piece of Pedantry, fit only for Children in Coats, or Fools; and freely revenging themselves on their Schoolmasters and Tutors, for attempting to make them wife and good against their Wills.

But notwithstanding this, I must say that by our thus meeting together, we do but little credit either to our felves or the School where we were brought up, or the Perfons under whofe Feet we fat, unless we also clearly discover to the World in our Temper and Converfation fomething excellent and fingular, that may distinguish us from the rude untutored Vulgar, the ignorant and illiterate Rout.

Were that only good Breeding which is now most fashionable, and doth in ordinary account pafs among us for fuch, I fhould very freely acknowledg it a Bleffing not much to be valued or regarded. To move one's Leg and Body gracefully and in time; to bow and cringe in Mood and Figure; to wear Clothes moft exactly made according to the newest Mode; to be able to fpeak of the French Court, and to repeat the witty part of a Play, and to talk finely of Love and Honour, and make smart Repartees; and to give every one. good words, without meaning any thing at all by them; to know how to embroider a DifM

courfe

courfe with many Oaths and a little Atheifin; to be able to drink high, and hector loudly; to abuse a Parfon, and to dare to kill a Man : thefe and fuch others, not worth naming, are too often now-a-days reputed the only genteel Accomplishments of a well-bred Perfon.

But these are not the things we learn'd at St. Paul's School, nor is this the Education which we now affemble in God's House to blefs his Name for. Thofe are truly well-bred, not only whofe Understandings and difcerning Faculties are improved and enlarged, but ef pecially whofe natural Rudenels and Stubbornefs is broken, and wild and unruly Paffions tamed; whofe Affections and Defires are made governable and orderly; who are become manageable and flexible, calm and tractable, willing to endure Restraints, and to live according to the best Rules. By good Education, we are as it were made over again, the Roughness of our natural Tempers is filed off, and all their Defects fupply'd; and by prudent Difcipline, good Example, and wife Counsel, our Manners are fo formed, that by the Benefit of a happy Education we come almoft as much to excel other Men, as they do the brute Beasts that have no Underftanding.

How much therefore we are obliged to our School, we can no better way fhew than by our civil and comely Demeanour, by our compliant and inoffenfive Converfation, by our courteous and affable, fweet and benign

Difpofition, by our kind, useful and fociable Behaviour in the World.

If we confult the fober Judgments of all Men, we shall foon find that there is nothing renders a Man more refpected, his Company more pleasant, and delightful, and desirable; nothing procures greater Credit and Reputation, and fooner obtains the good word of every one, than a free, ingenuous, candid and condefcending Temper, that ftudies to oblige, and rejoices to do good; that there is nothing more noble and generous than a univerfal Love and Good-will to all Men; nothing more amiable than Mildness, Peaceableness, and Gentleness of Spirit; nothing more graceful and genteel than Kindness and Benignity; nothing more honourable and manly than being useful and beneficial to all round about us.

And these are indeed Qualities and Perfections hardly attainable (as a wife Man expreffes it) by those who hold the Plough, and glory in the Goad; who drive Oxen, and are occupied in their Labours; and whofe talk is of their Bullocks; who give their Mind to make Furrows, and are diligent to give the Kire Fodder. These are above the reach of the Smith who fitteth by the Anvil, and confidereth the Iron work; the Vapour of the Fire wafteth his Flesh, and he fighteth with the Heat of the Furnace: the Noife of the Hammer and the Anvil is ever in his Ears, and his Eyes look ftill upon the Pattern of the thing he maketh. Vulgar and undisciplin'd

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Minds

Minds are not capable of fuch noble Principles, and worthy Inclinations.

If we indulge our furious and intemperate Appetites, and blind and impotent Paffions; if we are apt to pick Quarrels, and delight in Feuds and Broils; if we allow our felves to rail and give ill Language; if we are rude and faucy in our Behaviour towards others, or practise any of the mean Arts and Methods of Detraction, we bafely unman and degrade our felves, and offer an Affront to that liberal Education which hath been bestow'd upon us, and equal our felves to the vulgar Rout. For where are fuch Qualities as these to be found but among Clowns and Beggars, among the Savage and Unbred? Such Accomplishments as thefe befit only Hoftlers and Porters: they are most highly distasteful to all Company, and productive of Averfation and Difrefpect. In a word, if you would excel others in point of true Worth and Excellency, endeavour to get your Souls poffeffed with this Divine Grace of Charity, which is the only thing that doth truly ennoble a Man, that doth exalt and dignify his Nature, and raise him above the rest of his Fellow-Creatures.

A SER

A

SERMON

Preach'd at

WHITE-HALL.

The SEVENTH SERMON.

NU M B. XXIII. 10.

-Let me die the Death of the Righteous, and let my last End be like his.

I

Shall not now trouble you with enquiring into the strict meaning of these words as utter'd by the Prophet Balaam; but I fhall confider them only as they are commonly understood, viz. as containing in them the fecret Wish and Defire of most wicked and ungodly Men: who, tho they are loth to be at the pains of living the Life, yet would fain die the Death of the Righteous, and would gladly that their latter End fhould be like his. As well as Men love their Sins, yet they would not willingly be damned for them. They can't endure

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