5thly. A lesser sort of Sins, which are usually forgotten as soon as acted. As the being angry with a Brother without Cause; the not giving due Honour to Parents and Superiors; the forgetting to do some act of Charity which we suffer'd to slip out of our Minds; the not Reading, Praying, Instructing our Family, and frequenting God's House, so often as we possibly might. Also secret Sins of this Nature may be (1.) Sloath or Effeminacy, forbidden by St. Paul particularly, 2 Thess. 3. (2.) Uncourteousness, 1 Pet. 3. 8. (3) Extortion or Usury.

6thly. The first and least Degrees of every Sin, may come under the Species of secret Faults. As if we carry down Self-Murder from the highest Degree of Guilt to the lowest, an unobserved Kind of it may be; the wasting our Bodies by too great an Abstinence and Fasting, and so rendering a Person no longer able to serve his Religon, Country or Family, which Duties are required at our Hands by God. For there are few of the Vertues, but may by Extremity be carry'd on to Vice; as Abstinence may be Suicide, so Generosity may arise to Profuseness; Frugality to Covetousness; Devotion may become Superstition; and Zeal, Uncharitableness.

7thly. We mention'd to the Malefactors under Sentence of Death, another sort of Guilt, which we thought might not improperly come under the Species of our secret Faults, viz. The acting those Things which are indifferent in their own Nature, but become Faults, by being forbidden by the Laws of the Land we live in; for many cannot believe that these are really Sins. There are also Actions, which have in their own Natures some Degrees of Guilt, but are made Capital Crimes by the particular Constitutions of a Kingdom; as Treasonable Words, Deserting from the Prince's Service, &c.

Under this Head, I took Occasion to mention to the Malefactors, the Returning from Transportation, which not one of them could be made to believe was sinful. I endeavour'd, to the best of my Capacity, to convince them that they were not faultless and unblameable in the following Manner: If the disobeying the higher Powers, even every Ordinance of Man, be sinful, as forbidden, (1 Pet. 2. 13, 14, and 17, &c.) Then their particular Offence, which is disobeying the Orninence of Man, must be forbidden in Scripture and be sinful.

Another way, that it may be shown is thus. Not only Robbing and Stealing, but whatsoever else is detrimental to the Society we are Members of, is a Sin: Now this particular Action is detrimental to the Nation, (both in the Practice, and also in the Example); and therefore is sinful.

I told them, if they could not be convinc'd that they had sinned, because they were possest of the Notion that the Legislative Power was in this particular too severe; they might read, 1 Pet. 2. 18. Be subject to your Masters, not only to the Gentle, but also to the Froward: But that this was not their Case.