The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

aiS&ERMOKS.4. It appears to me, tliat it is your duty to wliLdriiw'yourfelvCvS, out of pity to thofe who have lbcruelly cpprcfi'ed you. Grievous and multiplied isthe raifery which, by their rapacity, they have occafjoned; and dreadful is the account which they have10 make. The aged men whom tliey have barbarouflyejeclcd— the widow-s whofe poor Jioufes they havepillaged—the children whom by cold and hungerthey have llarved to a premature death—and eventhe proflitute inftruments of their oppreiTion—will appearas witnefl'es againft them in the great day ofGod. You, at leaft fome of you, have by your follybeen in fome degree partners Mith them in theirguilt, and you have had fufficient caufe to repent ofthat Cw and folly : But can you, even with the eyesr>{ charity, difcern any marks of repentance in them,^any relenting or remiOrfCj any inclination to make ref^ituticnto thofe whom they have ruined Do.'*theyrctj without being difturbed^ behold the difmal fightof naked orphans, whofe parents they have imprifoncd,and made to die in want ? Do thev not hear tlierueful cries of dtfolated families, and yet continueinexorable, and altogether impenitent ? Some of you,•cxafperated by opprtfhon, may be thinking it butjuft,that they who by rapacity have caufed fo muchmifery to ethers, fliould be rendered m.iferable in theirturn. But you ought to do every thing in your powerto bring them., if poflible, to repentance, and preventtheir eternal damnation , jmd to this purpofe, I canfee nothing fo effectual as your removing out of thecountry. Mofl of them are juft as rapacious as theycan find opportunity to be fo ; but then they willwant the opportunity. By your withdrawing, youwill take aw^ay occasion from thofe that defire occafxon: The cruel and avaricious temper, a part of theirnatural corruption, ftrengthened by long habit, maycontinue flrong for a long time ; but wanting fuel tocherifh it, or not being exerted as before, it may Ian-