{0 C PI E A P REPOSITORY. SUNDAY R E A D INC. LOOK AT HOME; O R, THE ACCUSERS ACCUSE, t Being an Acc unt of the Manner in which our Savior to Silence the Scribes and Pharifees, when they brought to Him the Woman taken in Adultery. Sold by J. MARSHALL, r ' Printer to the CHEAP REPOSITORY for Religfe f Uv f> ous and Moral Trafts) No. 17, Ouccn-Street, Cheap fide, and No. 4, Aldennarv Church- Yard, and R. WHITE, Piccadilly, LONDON. > I By S. HAZARD, at Bath, and by all Bookfcllcrs, Newfmen, and Hawkers, in Town and Country. Great Allowance will be made to Shopkeepers and Hawkers. PRICE ONE PENNY. Or 4.S. 6d. per ico. — 2s. 6d. for 50. — is. 6d. for 2/. [ Entered at Stationers Hpll r } i i LOOK at HOME; O R, T H 1 ACCUSERS ACCUSED. A great man ufed to fay that he never faw a cri- minal dragged to execution without afking himfelf, " Who knows whether this poor fellow may not, on the whole, be guilty of lefs fin than I am?" This is a queftion which it w r ould be well if wc W T ould all of us put to ourfelves, when we fee any of our fellow-creatures punifhed ; for I am perfuaded, that many of us have fins, which, all things confidered, deferve the rod juft as much as the fins of thofe people who endure chaftifement for them. I am forry to add, that in general, we are fo far from putting to ourfelves any fuch quef- tion as I have fpoken of, that we do what is directly the contrary. We contrive to praife, rnftead of taking occafion to blame ourfelves 3 when we fee a n - A $ other ( 4 ) dther in fault. We immediately fay, <( Well, I " thank God, I never did any thing fo bad as this. " I never in my life did what Mr. Such-a-one has ii done. I am not fo bad as he, however;'' and then we fall foul on his whole character, and think to fhew our goodnefs by the extreme feverity which we ufe in fpeaking of him. Never w r as this temper better expofed, or the evil of it reproved, than in the cafe of which I am now going to fpeak; I mean on the occafion of the Scribes and Pharifees bringing before our Savior the woman taken in adultery. We read, that " as Chrift was teaching in the €t temple, they brought to him this woman, and let her in the midft, faying to him, Matter, this wo- 46 man was taken in adultery." Now, fince adultery is certainly a moll: dreadful fin, we might at fir ft view be ready to praife thefe men, and alfo to fay, What holy and good people muft thiCe be! what M haters of fin! what friends to God and religion ! " they, to be lure, muft be quite pure and perfeft!" Alas! how fhould we be miftaken if we were to judge thus of them ! They were men, no doubt, who had taken fome pains to warn the outfide clean, and they were in good repute with their neighbours; neyerthelefs, as this ftory will fhew, they were all the while very wicked in their hearts: they brought this woman before Chrift, and placed her in the midft, from a very wrong motive : for they did it not for the fake of glorifying God, not for the fake p,f punifhing fin in this inftance, in order to pre ( 5 ) . vent it in cutters; and not therefore through any love to God, or charity to their neighbour; but, on the I contrary, they afted from Tome of the bafeft difpo- fitions, for they felt no compaffion for the woman, and they wanted only to lay a trap for Cbrift, ip. order that they might have matter of accufation. againft him. How common is it for people, now-a-days, in fome refpecls, to imitate thefe Scribes and Phari- fees! What curiofity have fome men, in the firfl: place, to difcover, and then to publifh, all the faults and infirmities of their neighbours ! Some I there are, who fpend half their lives in liftening t# and repeating all the fcandal that is pairing. When I they hear of a man that has been overtaken by a fin, or of a woman that has loft her reputation, one t would think that they had heard of one of the beft f pieces of news that ever reached their ears; for ; how does converfation run on, and the fpirits rife, and the wit abound, when the fall of a fellow- creature is the topic of the company ! The Scribes and Pharifees brought this woman r orth, and let her in the midft. Juft fo, methinks, would the perfons I am blaming fet every offender whom they accufe in the midft of the company, if they were able, for they mew by their language that they de- light to expofe every one as much as poffible. But why, I repeat it, is all this ill-nature? re thefe accufers fpotlefs in their own lives? Are they better even than thofe whom they accufe ?— No; I believe it has often happened, that the very man who has been xnoft forward in condemning another,, has been him- A 3 felf ( 6 ) felf guilty of the fame fault, and liabfe to the very faine condemnation. It is the mo ft wicked part of the world that is commonly the moft fevere. Your harm judges are often the very word of men. The words ufed by the Scribes and Pharifees, when they brought this woman to Chrift, were the following. Said they, "Mofes in the law commanded " us, that fuch mould be ftoned, but what fayeft thou?" The defign evidently was to put. a difficulty . in the way of Chrift, and, if poffible to fet him and Mofes at variance; for if, on the one hand, Chrift mould fay that the woman ought to be releafed, this would be contradicting Mofes, and Chrift would then have been called afalfe Prophet : but if, on the other hand, Chrift Ihould order her to be ftoned, this they might think would diminifh fomething from the mercifulnefs of his character as a Savior, and would hurt his credit with the people • fo that, in either cafe, the Scribes and Pharifees would be gra- tified. What a crafty queftion, therefore, was this ! Let us now fee how very prudently our Savior an- fwered it. At firft, he appeared as if he took no notice of what was faid to him (for when wicked men bring their accufations againft others merely to indulge their own malice, it is often beft not to lend an ear to them) but our Savior, ftooping down, wrote with his finger on the ground. The Scribes and Pharifees now thought they had puzzled him, and they therefore preifed their queftion again with great earneftnefs. Ah! how little did they know of the true ( 7 ) true chara&ef of Chrift, for he underftood all their thoughts, through that divine power which belonged to him, and his filence, in fa&, was only intended- to draw thefe his enemies on into a difficulty, and to make his own anfwer the more remarkable. Our Savior, after fome time, raifed himfelf from the ground, and faid to them, " He that is without Jin among you, let him firjl caji a fiont at her" What a heart-fearching anfwer was this — and, at the fame time, what an unexpected one! They that had juft now been accufers, were hereby accufed in their turn. It was as if our Savior had faid, " You have brought me a woman taken in adul- tery, and you feem to have been very eager in doing it, and you pretend that you merely want to know what ought to be done with her; I, however, fee into your hearts, and becaufe I know that your motives are corrupt, I (hall not anfwer you in the manner in which you expeft : Mofes, as you ob- ferve, commanded the adulterer to be ftoned,-: be it fo : go then, if you pleafe, and flone this woman : but take this hint with you, that it becomes thofe who are the mod forward in blaming others to be particularly free from blame themfelves. r Let him therefore take the lead in punifliing her, who, by being free from fault himfelf, has the beft right to inflift the punifhment : Let him that is without Jin among you, cafl the firjl flone at her"— Having thus fpoken, Chrift returned to his employment of writ- ing on the ground, leaving his reproof to work on the minds of the Scribes and Pbarifees, And ( 8 ) And now, behold the mighty force of a few words — " they which heard it being convi&ed by their own confeiences, went out one by one, be- ginning with the elded, even unto the lead ; and Jefus was left alone, and the woman danding in the midft." What, are thefe godly perfons gone? -all gone ? And is the bufinefs on which they came left unfinifhed? It is even fo. — The criminal alone re- mains, and her accufers are fled; nor have they fled without reafon, for they had now begun to perceive that there was one ready to accufe them in their turn, and that 66 all things were naked and open before him with whom they had to do." — Oh, if it had pleafed our Savior to bring to light all the hidden circumdances of their lives, and to publifh on the fpot every fecret fin they had committed, how would they have had to blufh before all the people !— They thought it prudent, therefore, to make the bed of their way out of the Temple, leaving our Savior either to condemn or acquit the woman as he might think proper. Reader, whenfoever you feel tempted to be fe- vere on any crime or failing of your neighbor, call to mind what paffed -between our Lord and thefe f harifees; they were fo bufy in bringing to light the fin of another, that they had forgot that they had any fins of their own-— they reflected not that they were fome of the mod unfit men in the world to take up the office of accufers, nor do they feem to have ever confidered what was likely to become of them- felves hereafter, when God fhould call them to judgment.— And this is a common evil; God has given ( 9 ) given to every man his work : each has an evil heart of his own, which he ought to look to : each, if not I guilty of open crimes, has many a fecret fin that he , ought to repent of: inflead of which every one is be- Mowing his attention on his neighbor's faults, without giving any heed to his own. We are all naturally apt to entertain a very good opinion of ourfelves, lout a ft rift examination of our ways might chance [to ipoil that good opinion, and we are therefore Wery backward in entering upon the talk. On the ^contrary, we are very ready to blame our neigh- bor, for, in proportion as we blacken his cha- rafter, we caufe our own to appear in a favorable [light. -W^rN- •' But how very foolifli, as well as vain, is all this felf-deceit ! We may hide our fins, for a while, both from ourfelves and from others alfo; juft as [the Pharifees concealed their true chara&er, till [our Savior fent them this rebuke. Soon, how- | ever, a day will come* when all that has been ; kept fecret fhall be brought to light; and even .now, let me remark, that the' fame Divine Perfon, jwho, by a few words, confounded thefe hypocrites, jhas his eye upon us; for " the Lord knoweth our •down-fitting and our up-rifing, and underftandeth our thoughts long before; he is about our path, and about our bed, and efpieth out all our ways" I" from him the darknefs cannot hide us, for the dark* nefs is no darknefs to him, but the night is as clear as the day." Before him lies thehiftory of our whole Hvcs, in which is noted every thing that we have :pver faid, every thing that we have ever done, and every- every thing alfo that we have ever thought or imagined in our minds. And no*\v, if the fame Jefus' mould again appear in the Temple, and re- prove us as he did the Pharifees, awakening in like manner our confidences, and fettiug them to condemn us, who is there among us that could abide it? If he fhould publifh among the croud of our fellow creatures {landing round us, all the fc- cret fins of our lives, or fhould draw them up in the form of an accufation againft us, and fhould require us to ftand by and hear the long indiftment read, who is there, I fay, who could ftay to hear it to the end ! — Who is there, who would not be glad to efcape from his prefence, and leave him again alone in the Temple! Nor let us forget that,, although Chrift walketh not on earth as he once did, and though he is not prefent to reprove us with an audible voice, as he did the Pharifees, yet he full fpeaks to us by our confidences, and alfo by the ft i 1 J voice of his Holy Spirit, which ftriveth with us: and great is the power of confidence, when once awakened, and fet to work by the power of God's Holy Spirit; for then nothing can withftand it : from the moment when it is truly alarmed, it begins to difcover a man to himfelf, and it will then find him fo much employment at home, that he will have little leifure and lefs inclination to turn accufer of his brethren. Go now into the chamber of him whom ficknefs and forrow have brought low, and have filled with a deep fenfe of fin; fee with what readinefs he confeffes his iniquity, and with what carneftnefs h* ( 11 ) 1 he prays for pardon; fee how entirely he is takes up by the affairs of his own foul, and how he is laboring to ifcake his peace with God. Tell him that fome neighbor hath fallen into a dreadful fin, and how, think you, will he be affeSed by it ? Why, he will lament, pity, and pray for the perfon. But if you fhould try after the manner of fome profane people to raife a joke at the expence of the un- happy (inner, hoping to divert the fick perfon with the fubject, methinks he would turn from you as from a man not fit for him to talk with, and he would probably beg you to go out of the room. To pro- ceed one ftep -farther. Suppofe the laft day to be now come. Imagine that you fee the Judge upon the Throne, the generations of mankind affembled before him, and the books opened, out of which we are all to be judged. Who, in that fituation, would have any difpofition to revile, or laugh at the fins of his neighbor, or would have any heart to be fevere upon him ! Who is there whofe thoughts wou'd not be employed entirely upon his own cafe ? Who would not be anxious to- obtain his own pardon ; who-, in fhort, would not leave God to deal as he thought fit with others, hoping and praying that they alfo, if poflible, might 'ob- tain mercy ? To this temper, therefore, it is plain, that ficknefs may foon bring us, and to this temper, may God grant, that we may all be brought be- fore it is too late, fince death and judgment will molt affuredly bring us to it at laft. Our Savior, having thus difpatched the Phari- sees, the woman alone remains: fhe was detained * in ( >? ) in the Temple by the fame caufe which made ih others depart— I mean confcioufnefs of guilt. | This kept her fixed to the fpot even after her ac- cufers were gone, expecting now to hear her fen- tence pronounced by Chrift ; who, at length, raif- ing himfelf from, the ground, on which he had been writing, fays to the woman, " Where are thofe thine accufers? Hath no man condemned thee? She faid, no man, Lord. And Jefus faid unto her, neither do I condemn thee ^ " Go, and Jin no , more." i Let us not be led by this laft. fpeech of Chrift, to fuppofe that he meant either to make light of the fin, or to fay any thing againft the law of God. No, let us take occafion rather in this place to remark | how very dreadful a crime adultery is confidered by our Creator, fince he ordered it in the Old \ Teftament to be punifhed even with Death. This pw- nilhment, however, was not to be inflicted, except 1 after regular proof ; an accufer and fufHcient wit- neffes muft come forward in every fuch cafe i the proper judge or Magiftrate muft alfo hear the caufe, | and muft himfelf pronounce the fentence. If all thefe neceffary rules had been complied with, Chrift would not have thought of flopping the due courfe of Law, for he was not ufed t^"* meddle with the Civil Power, nor is there any inftance of his {hew- ing forth his mercy by faving a criminal out of the hands of public juflice. In the prefent inftance no kind of trial had been had; on the contrary, the accufers and witneffes were all fled ; this woman 1 therefore not being accufed by thofe whofe office hi ( 13 ) it was to accufe her, was not accufed by Chrift neither, whofe office it certainly was not. On ano- ther occafion, when Chrift was appealed to by one who feems to have been wronged in his property, he made anfwer, " Man who made me a Judge and a Divider." Our Savior came into the world not to fettle difputes about property, nor to meddle in cafes of common Criminal Juftice ; he left all fuch things as thefe to be managed by the perfons whom the ftate appointed for the purpofe. He ^ame to be a Savior, he came to pardon fins com- mitted againft God, for which he made atonement by his Death, and in his life-time he taught men how to obtain this falvation, namely, by repenting and believing in him, and refolving to " Sin no more" In full agreement' with thefe ends of his com- ing into the world, he in the prefent cafe leaves the I i3.W of Mofes juft as it was, neither con* demning nor yet acquitting the woman; but as the Publifher of the. Gofpel of the Grace of God, and, as the Author of everlafting Salvation, he comforts, with the hopeof pardon, the wretched Perfon whom the malicious Pharifees had brought before him, and he dire&s her how to efcape, not the mere j^jfliment of the Law, but the more bkrerjpPfts of Eternal Death. « Go, /aid he, and 'fin M more:' ■ It is as if he had laid, ^ Be not concerned about the accufation before the magiftrate, which has been brought againft you, for your accufers indeed are gone.— I have put them to flight by a fingle fentence fpoken ^o their Conferences ; and fince the Pharifees do not accufe you, neither /hall I turn profecutor. Be... concerned however about the fin againft God which you have committed, and if you would ever hope for mercy at his hands, be fare that you do not return to your iniquity. Co then in Peace. Go in, hope of Pardon and Salvation, tor I am come into the world to be your Savior feat « go and Jin no more." \ A HYMN. A H Y M N. LMIGHTY God, thy piercing eye There's not a fin that we commit* Nor wicked word we fay, But in thy dreadful book 'tis writ Again ft the judgment day. And muft the crimes that I have done Be read and publifh'd there; Be all expos'd before the Sun, While men an angels hear ? Lord, at thy foot afham'd I lie* Upward I dare not look ; Pardon my fins, before I die, And blot them from thy book. And fince, if e'er I fee thy face. Thy mercy bids me live ; O', let me learn from this thy graco, My neighbour to forgive. Teach me, whene'er his wrath begins, To pity, not to chide; And all his multitude of fins • With charity to hide. Teach me, tho' wrong'd a thoufand times To make no anger known; And when I hear of others crimes, To think upon my own. IjL Strikes thro' the {hade of night ; And our mo ft fecret actions lie All open to thy fight. THE END. On the i ft of Auguft, 1795, was pMi{hed % Hints to all Ranks of People.-- -The Happy Waterman.— The Riot, a Ballad. —The ' lowboy's Bream, a Ballad. On 'the \ft of September, Tom White, Part II.— Noah's Flood.— Dame . Andrews/ a ;-'c. ■ > {Ballad.' On the if of Oclober. Harvefl Home.— Two Farmers, Part I. — Honeft Mil lor, a Ballad. ^£)n the if of November, The Parable %l t'h$ Vineyard. — The Two Farmers, Part IL —The Sorrows of Yamba, a Ballad. On the ift of December, The Troubles of Life.— Sorrowful Sam. — Merry Cirri il- mas, a ; Carol. On the if of January, 1796, New Thoughts on the New Year. — The Hillory of Maiy Wood, the Hpufemaid.-.~ Pvobert and' Richard, a Ballad. On the if oj- February, The Touchftone ; or, the Way to know a good Chriflian. — The Apprentice turned Mailer; or, the Two Shoe- makers, Part II. — The Story of Sinful Sally. Told by herfelf a Ballad. On the ifl of March. Onefimus ; or, the Run-away Servant converted. — Idle Jack Brown ; or, the Two Shoemakers, Part IjlI. — Shop- keeper, Part I. On tb?' j ft of April, Converfion of St. Paul. — Jack Brown in Prifon ; or, the Two Shoemakers, Part IV. — Shopkeeper, Part II. On the \ft <:/ M \\ The General Refurreclion, Part. I.— The Hii'lory of Charles Jones the Footman, written by Himfelf. — The Hackney Coachman; or, the Way to get a good Fare, a Ballad. On the fir ft of Jwie\ Carrying Religion into the Common B'ufinefs of Life. — - The Cheap fide Apprentice. — The Election Song, a Ballad. ^ • ; * M _ And other Pieces on a. jlmilar Flan, oh the if of every Month*