III. The conduct of too many of you induces me to exhort and caution you farther against theft, and all kinds of dishonesty and villainy.
I have often told you, both publicly and privately, that honesty is the best policy. None have more reason to be convinced of this, than you who come hither as convicts. You have known by bitter experience, the unhappy consequences of dishonesty. Have not many of you, for the sake, perhaps, of a few shillings, unjustly obtained, plunged yourselves into misery for the remainder of your lives? Several have made this acknowledgment to me, in their dying moments. Learn therefore, strive, and pray to be honest. Honesty has its present advantages. An honest man, however poor, can face this world with confidence. But a dishonest behaviour, with its constant attendant a guilty conscience, will always fill the mind with fear and dismay. [Job. xxiv. 16,17.]
I do not mean, my friends, to reflect harshly upon you for what is past, and cannot be recalled. I pity your past misconduct; I sympathize with you under your present sufferings. And therefore I admonish and caution you to abstain from this course for the time to come. Let then the troubles and afflictions you have brought upon yourselves be a warning, to regulate your future behaviour. Learn to be thankful for what God in his providence gives you, whether it be more or less. Attend to what our Lord says, Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them. And to his apostle's direction, Let him that hath stolen, steal no more, but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth [Matt. vii. 12.; Eph. iv. 24.]. Follow this advice, and you will soon experience the benefit.
IV. Beware of idleness. This is the forerunner of many evils. Poverty, disease, disgrace, misery, and too often an untimely death, are the consequences of sloth and indolence. Yield not to idleness; if you indulge it, you will find it grow upon you. Therefore, be diligent and industrious in your lawful callings. It is written in the Bible, and confirmed by experience and observation, The idle soul shall suffer hunger, but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. [Prov. xix. 15. & xiii. 14.]
V. Be careful also to pay due respect, submission, and obedience to your superiors. It is the good pleasure of God that some should be placed in more exalted, and others in a more humble station. And it is a proof of his wisdom and goodness. The present state of the world, and the general good of mankind, render such distinctions necessary. But whether we are high or low, whether called to command, or required to obey, our duties and obligations are mutual. It is in society as in the human body. There are many members, and every member has its proper place, and its proper office. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers [Rom. xiii. 1.].
I have thus given you my best advice respecting what you ought to do, or to avoid. Permit me to invite your serious attention to what I have written. Consider it carefully FOR YOUR OWN SAKES. It concerns your PRESENT comfort. For though no works of ours, or what are called, moral virtues, can possibly procure us the favour of God, (for our best services are imperfect and defiled, and need forgiveness) yet that knowledge and experience of the gospel, which I have explained to you in the first part of this Address, (and of which I earnestly pray you may be made partakers) must be accompanied by a correspondent conduct, such as I have set before you in the second part. And this knowledge and this conduct will always be attended, though not always in the same degree, with an inward settled peace, whereby the mind is reconciled to support crosses and afflictions, however great, or of long continuance, with a degree of fortitude and resignation. Persons under this influence will say, when they meet with troubles, I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him [Micah. vii. 9.]. Should it please God, to answer the earnest desire of my soul, by giving you an experience of the gospel peace, you will thank and praise him, even for bringing you hither; and you will see and confess, that your heaviest afflictions have, in the event, proved to be your greatest mercies.
Your FUTURE comfort and welfare in this world, depends upon this knowledge. For though no one knows what may befal him in this life, yet the real christian has the comfort of knowing, that however it may go with the wicked, or whatever may happen to himself of a temporal nature, or whatever may become of his body, he is sure (because God has promised) that it shall be well with his soul at death. Ah! my brethren, then, more especially then, believers will find the advantage of having made the word of God the foundation of their hope, and the rule of their life!
Several of you, some to my knowledge, have left affectionate, tender, and serious friends, husbands, wives, parents, brothers, sisters, or children, in your native country, to lament your misconduct, the sufferings you have brought upon yourselves, and the disgrace in which you have involved your families. Let me intreat you, FOR THE SAKE OF THESE, to consider your ways. Great comfort it will afford to those who are now almost overwhelmed with grief on your account, to hear of your reformation and conversion. These would be glad tidings, indeed, from a far country. The hopes they might then form of seeing you again, would be truly pleasing; it would be little less than receiving you again from the dead. Or if they never see you in this world, the prospect of meeting with you in heaven, would add comfort to their dying hours. Oh! let not their prayers and their tears be lost upon you!
Attend to these things, FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS, who may follow you hither, in the like unhappy circumstances. When they see your reformation, and that in consequence of it, you are more comfortable here than you were at home, they may be induced and encouraged to follow your examples. Thus you will be instrumental in saving souls from death.
I would farther plead with you, for the sake of the poor unenlightened savages, who daily visit us, or who reside amongst us. If these ignorant natives, as they become more and more acquainted with our language and manners, hear you, many of you, curse, swear, lie, abound in every kind of obscene and profane conversation; and if they observe, that it is common with you to steal, to break the sabbath, to be guilty of uncleanness, drunkenness, and other abominations; how must their minds become prejudiced and their hearts hardened against that pure and holy religion which we profess? Oh beware of laying stumbling-blocks in the way of these blind people [Lev. xix. 14.], lest the blood of their souls be one day required at your hands.