of another mind Temperance tends to our Happiness in this that it tends to our Health without which all the Enjoyments of this Life are but little worth on the other side the intemperate Man is an Enemy to himself continually making Assaults upon his own Life the Apostle adviseth that we should abstain from fleshly Lusts that war against the Soul and it ought to be no small Argument to us that they war against the Body also so for Kindness and Love besides that they are good to others they are of much use and benefit to our selves for there is unspeakable pleasure in Love a great deal of ease in a charitable Temper on the contrary how fretting and vexatious to the Mind of Man are Malice Envy and Hatred they do not only raise Enemies abroad but they set a Man against himself and deprive him of the Peace of his own Mind Compassion and Mercy is profitable to others and delightful to our selves so Compassion and Mercy are not more profitable unto other Men than they are delightful to our own Souls and we do not only gratifie our selves by doing Services to others but we thereby provoke Mankind by our Example to the like Kindnesses and so turn the pity of others to our selves when it shall come to be our turn to stand in need of their help In like manner our Reason directs us to the practice of Truth Fidelity and Justice as the surest Arts of thriving in this World these beget Confidence and give Men a Reputation in their Neighbourhood and these Vertues our Reason tells us have the force of a Law and there needs nothing to give the force of a Law to any matter but the stamp of divine Authority upon it Now God that made us and all other Creatures and by virtue of his Authority over us hath imprinted on our Natures the Principles of Good and Evil and hath so wrought 'em into the frame of our Souls by which as by a natural instinct Men are carried to approve what is good and disapprove what is evil and supposing that our natural Reasons do tell us that it is for our Interest to live in the practice of what we call Vertue and to dislike and avoid what we call Vice this is a sufficient declaration that we should do the one and avoid the other and if we live contrary to this we violate the Law of him that made us for there needs nothing to make a thing become a Law to us but that it is the Will of our Sovereign who hath Right to require it of us And this God hath declared to Mankind by the frame of their Natures and by those principal Faculties he hath endued us withal for no Man can imagine but that we should follow the Instruction of our Nature and be governed by the natural Notions of our own Minds And those natural Passions of Hope and Fear Hope and Fear are two very strong Passions that are so rooted in our Souls we cannot without great force to our selves act contrary to them And this is all the Law that great part of Mankind comes under and which is no other than that which the Apostle calls the Work of the Law written upon their Hearts and they having no other Revelation made to them shall be judged by it and those that offend against this Law shall be found guilty before God as well as those that have sinned against an express Revelation which is a plain Evidence that these natural Dictates have the force of a Law otherwise Men would not be guilty of any Crime by acting against them for it is a Rule universally true that where there is no Law there is no Transgression and this I take to be the meaning of that obscure Passage of the Apostle Rom. v. 13. for until the Law Sin was in the World that is before the Law was given unto Moses Men were capable of Sinning and therefore there was another Law against which they offended for Sin is not imputed where there is no Law But Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's Transgression that is tho they did not sin against any express Law of God as Adam did Thus Reason discovers to us how that the natural Dictates of our Minds have the force of a Law HENCE we may infer that Mankind would have been under the Obligation of Religion tho God had never made any immediate Revelation of his Mind and Will unto them if this was not so the Heathen who had no supernatural Revelation from God could not have been guilty of Sin nor liable to his Judgment for if nothing were Vertue or Vice but what was either expresly commanded or forbidden by God then all Actions would have been alike to the Heathen But there are some things naturally good and some things naturally evil and Men are bound to do the one and fly the other tho God had never made any supernatural Revelation of his Will to them For if God had never forbidden Hatred and Malice with Deceit Oppression Violence and the like Passions they would have appeared evil in themselves and ought not to have been done by us because they are inconsistent with the Peace of Human Society and contrary to the Nature and Reason of Mankind so on the other hand the Vertues opposite to these as Love to God together with Truth and Justice one towards another have such Goodness in them that they are commended to the liking of Mankind without the need of any absolute Declaration to oblige Men to the practice of them If these things were not so the Tables might have been turned and all that which we now call Vertue might have been forbidden by God and things would have been every whit as well and there would have been no difference only the Names of things would have been changed The nature of Good and Evil is unalterable BUT I appeal to any ones Reason whether he can think it as vertuous an Action to hate God as to love him to contemn as to honor him and whether Malice Envy Hatred and Ingratitude would have made as much for the Peace of Mankind as the practice of Love and Goodness would have done if they would not then it is manifest that there is something in the Nature of Things that made the difference and so long as the Nature of God and Man remain what they are some Things will be in their own Natures unalterably good and some things evil which doth not depend upon any arbitrary Constitution but is founded in the Nature of the Things themselves The general consent of mankind shews what is Virtue and what is Vice Thirdly WHAT is Virtue and what is Vice is shewn to us by the general vote and consent of Mankind which we do not extend to all the instances of Virtue and Vice but only to the great and more essential parts of it
of their Sect may be overcome with Wine but can never be drunk though to be overcome with Wine be downright drunkenness in a carnal Epicurean yet it was something else in a great Stoick How Immorality becomes uncurable NOW Immorality under the disguise of piety becomes uncurable Passion and Self-will is made more implacable by pretences to Sanctity and Godliness without Virtue serves only to furnish the Conscience with excuses against Conviction for it is easie to convince a debauched Person of his Distemper from the blemishes that are in all his Actions But Hypocrisie by lodging it self in the Heart and so by being undiscernible becomes fatal and the Man is past Recovery before he feels his Malady THEREFORE of all men He who hath the Form of Godliness only is conceited with it is the most desperate and incorrigible Sinner For he thinks the performance of the outward acts of Devotion will fix him so in a State of Grace that he needs not any Virtue Thus the Supercilious and self-confident Pharisees were at a greater distance from Heaven than Publicans and Harlots For these our Saviour could by his gentle Reproofs soften into a relenting and pliable Temper But as for the Pharisees their mistaken Piety only made 'em more obdurate and obstinate in sin searing their Consciences against the Force of his sharpest Convictions so that He very justly consigned them up to an unrelenting and inflexible stubbornness Secondly MEN deceive their own Souls How Men deceive their own Souls when they think themselves exempt from the Rule and Judgment of natural Conscience which they fansie exercises its binding Power only over those that are in a state of Nature and Unregeneracy but as for them that are enlightened by the Spirit of God they are directed by the Motions thereof not by the Laws and Dictates of Nature Hence the plain and practical Principles of Reason and Honesty come to be neglected and ever after men are led by giddy Enthusiasms and are befooled by the temper of their Complexions they derive all their religious Motions from the present state and constitution of their Humours and according as Sanguine or Melancholy are predominant so the Scene alters BUT the Spirit of true Religion is of a sedate Temper and dwells in the Intellectual part of a Man In what manner the Spirit of Religion works and doth not work out or vent it self in flatulent Passions but all its Motions are gentle composed and grounded upon the Laws of Reason and Sobriety The Impressions of the Divine Spirit are steddy uniform and breath not upon the Passions but the Reasons of mankind all its Assistances work in a calm and rational way they are not such unsetled and unaccountable motions as discompose but enlighten our understandings the Spirit of God only discovers the Excellency and enforces the Obligation of the Laws of God to the Consciences of Men and works in us a reasonable love of our Duty and serious resolutions to discharge it Therefore the Spirit of every good Man is sober discreet and composed such as becomes the gravity and seriousness of Religion which floats not in his blood nor rises and falls with the Ebbs and Tides of his Humours but he maintains a calmness and evenness of Mind in all the various Constitutions of his Body he confines his Piety entirely within his Soul and chearfully keeps it from all mixtures of Imagination as knowing a Religious Fancy to be the greatest Impostor in the World And there is nothing that spoils the Nature of the best Religion more than outragious Zeal which instead of sweetning embitters the minds of Men so that those Vices which Moral Philosophy would banish are often kindled at the Altar of Religion For it abuses the prudence and discretion of good Men abhors a Christ-like meekness and sobriety and fills their Religion with ill Nature and discontent Hence it is that no Quarrels are so implacable as Religious ones Men with great eagerness damn one another for Opinions and Speculative Controversies IF this be Religion farewel all the Principles of Humanity and good Nature farewel that Glory of the Christian Faith an universal Love and kindness for all Men let us bid adieu to all the Practices of Charity and to the Innocence of a Christian Spirit Let the Laws of our Saviour be cancel'd as Precepts of Sedition Let us banish Religion out of Human Converse as the Mother of Rudeness and incivility Let us go to the School of Atheism and Impiety to learn good Manners BUT if nothing bids greater defiance to the true Spirit and Genius of Religion than a Form of Godliness denying the Power thereof then let not the Wisdom of God be charged with the Folly of Men Let then the furious Sons of Zeal without the Power of Godliness tell me the meaning of such Texts as these Learn of me for I am meek and humble I beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called with all lowliness long-suffering forbearing one another in Love put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness forgiving one another if any man have a complaint against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye So saith James 3. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledg amongst you let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness and wisdom He that can reconcile these holy Precepts with a peevish or Cynical disposition may as well unite Christ and Belial make a Christian and a Pharisee the same WHAT remains then but that we set our selves to a serious minding of true and real Goodness An exhortation to mind true and real Goodness that we trifle not away our Time in pursuing the Shadows of it nor waste our Zeal upon its Forms and Instruments that we cheat not our Souls with a partial Godliness nor damn them with an half-Religion For we must measure our profitableness under the means of Grace by the influences of it upon the obedience of our Lives we must pursue Christianity in its true and proper usefulness give a sincere Obedience to every Law of Righteousness we must not divorce Piety from Justice and Charity but join the love of God with the love of our Brother be impatient against our own Sins and other mens Opinions spend our Zeal in our own and not other men's Business be ever zealous for the prime and most substantial Principles of Religion not for uncertain and unexamined Speculations we must set our selves with all our might against our Lusts and our Passions for all our Devotions without it will never expiate one habitual Sin neither will a maimed or halting Religion ever arrive at Heaven nothing but an entire Obedience to the Laws of Christ will gain admittance there Let us therefore inform our Minds with the Excellency of true Religion and Goodness Let us adorn them with an inward Purity
and conformity to the Divine Will accomplish them with all Godlike Virtues and Perfections We must be sure to obey the Fundamental Laws of Justice Mercy Tempeperance Humility Meekness Patience and Charity We must live up to all the Rules of Real and Essential Equity and build all our hopes upon an unmaimed and solid Religion IN the second place we must observe That licentiousness of Living hath brought a great decay upon Moral Virtue The Christian Religion rightly understood and sincerely practised serves no doubt to make men more morally virtuous than any other that at this Day is or since the Creation hath been profess'd in the World not only in regard of Justice and Temperance but of Wisdom and Fortitude But it will be said The dâ—generaâ—y of Mankind lamented that since the first Plantation hereof Men have from time to time degenerated so as the farther they are removed from the Primitive Christians who shined in good Works they have grown worse and worse Since their times Zeal for Virtue hath decayed as if it had not been the intrinsick Excellency of Religion but the Fires of Pagan Persecution that kindled that Heat in the Breasts of Christians What shall we take to be the reason of this decay have the Principles of Christianity lost their Efficacy like the Gentile Oracles that all the motives of Virtue and Holiness have now so little influence upon men's Tempers or Lives or rather this must be the reason that of old Christianity was rooted in the Hearts of Men and brought forth the Fruits of good Works in their Lives Whereas now it is only a barren Notion in Mens Heads and their Actions are not governed by it then it was the Employment of their Souls in Meditation of their Hands in Beneficence Now it is become a disguise for Covetousness Ambition Malice and all that 's Evil It is true in the ancient Authors which studious Men turn over they find descriptions of Virtues more perfect than really they were the Governments are represented better and the ways of Life pleasanter than they deserved upon this these bookish Men compare what they read with what they see and here beholding nothing so Heroically transcendent because they are able to mark all the spots as well as beauties of every thing that is so close to their sight they presently begin to despise their own times and exalt the past to contemn the Virtues and aggravate the Vices of their Age But such is the condition of Religion Debauchery a great Impediment to the growth of Religion that the Moral part of it suffers much by reason of the Debauchery and ill Manners of Men And when lewdness hath gotten a habit and Men's Foreheads are Brazen in their wickedness they will not receive a check from disarmed Religion but rather harden themselves against it and account that their Enemy which they are sure will not give countenance to the Vices they are now settled in Besides when a Licentious course of Life hath brought Men to disuse the Duties and Offices of Religigion all its Obligations are antiquated with them then instead of Prayers they learn to Curse and Swear and from not going to Church for a time grow to plead a Priviledg not to come at it at all Secondly NOT only loosness of Life but also a wrong apprehension of Christian Liberty hath much obstructed the Practice of moral Virtue for some Men have thought themselves discharged thereby from all the obligations of the Moral Law and have been so absurd as to take the Gospel to contain nothing else properly but a Publication of God's Promises and that those Promises are absolute without any Condition of our Obedience so that neither men's Justification nor Salvation do depend upon it Libertinism a pernicious Principle THIS is the Doctrine of modern Liberties and is a Perswasion fit to Debauch the whole World about the Apostles times it was much pleaded for by the Gnosticks to excuse their revolts from Christianity in Times of Persecution and their beastly Sensualities as if the knowledg of the Truth gave a Priviledg neither to profess nor practise it when the one proved too incommodious to their secular Interests or the other too disgustful to their sensual Inclinations WHEREAS the contents of the great Character purchased for us What the Liberty is which Christ hath purchased for us and brought in by the Lord Jesus are these that besides the freeing us from the Dominion of Sin which the Law of Moses could not do and the Tyranny of Satan which the Gentile World lay under He hath set our Consciences at liberty from Judaick Rites to pursue our own Reason and to serve all the interests of Peace and good Order in the World hence it is that we find liberty and condescension or self-denyal joined together by St. Paul Gal. 5.13 ye have been called unto liberty only use not liberty as an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another and by St. Peter 1. Eph. 2.16 as free yet not using your liberty as a Cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God But if Religion should set us free from the Rules of Virtue all the duties of it would be uncertain and precarious things nay it would destroy it self and the Societies of Men would be so far from being the better for it that their happiness would be undermined thereby but this is so expressly contrary to the whole design of the Christian Doctrine and goes so cross to the very Sense of every honest Mind that I shall not spend any more words about it IN the Third place we are to consider how the progress of Moral Virtue hath been discouraged by decrying the Vse of Reason in Matters of Religion as if Reason was not as much the Word of God as Revelation as if whatever contradicts Reason was not opposite to Faith For Abraham's Reason was a great confirmation of his Faith two Revelations were made to him Our Reason confirms our Faith that seeemed to clash one with another and if his Reason could not have reconciled their difference he could not have believed them both to have been from God for Divine Revelation doth not give new Faculties to Men but propounds new Objects to those Faculties so that when God reveals any thing to us He reveals it to our Understandings that we may judg concerning it that we may not believe every Spirit but try whether they be from Him or no now that which hath spoiled the Lives of many Men is there assenting to such Doctrins as never came from the Fountain of Truth therefore to preserve our integrity and keep the Truth we must try the Spirits and compare the evidences Men bring for what they assert which it is not possible to do but by the Use of our Reason But to be confident and peremptory in any thing without Reason is nothing but obstinacy of Mind WHEREAS if we turn off Reason we level the
foundation in Reason and Nature these do depend wholly upon instruction and memory and cannot be preserved without them but we see among the Rude and Ignorant upon whom hardly any care or instruction is used men have as lively a sense of the difference between virtue and vice in many particulars as the more learned part of the World which is a plain Argument that these things are not conveyed to us by Tradition Nor can they be applyed to humane Policy for many of these things were never enacted by humane Laws and yet they obtain among Mankind as Gratitude Charity and such like Seneca says that Gratitude was never enjoyned by any Law but that of the Macedonians which plainly shews that these things owe their Original to some other Cause and that they are to be attributed to Nature the Author of which is God and the general Consent of Mankind is an argument of their Truth and Reality HOWEVER it is Objected that several Persons and some whole Nations have differed about some of these things so that this Consent is not so general besides the Consent of the World in Superstition and Idolatry may seem to weaken this Argument from the universal Agreement of Mankind about Good and Evil. WE Answer that it is not denied but that Men may so vitiate their Natures Nature may be so vitiated as to lose the Sense of Virtue and Vice as to lose the sense of Virtue and Vice yet it may remain true that Mankind have a natural Sense and Knowledg of them as some by Lust and Intemperance may so spoil their Palates that they may not taste the difference of Meats and Drinks yet this last is never the less natural to Mankind for there is a great deal of difference between Natural and Moral Agents natural Agents always continue the same but voluntary Agents may vary in some things that are Natural especially where Men have Debauch'd their Natures and have offered great violence to themselves more than this the exceptions are not so general as to infringe the universal Consent of Mankind the difference is but in few things and therefore they are taken notice of and being collected together in History they may seem a great many but that they are particularly noted is a sign they are but few what if one Philosopher mentioned that Snow was Black and Ten more had been of his Mind this would have been no objection against the Sense or Reason of Mankind for all Men agree that Self-preservation is a natural Instinct notwithstanding some particular Persons have offered violence to their own Lives As to Superstition or Idolatry there hath been no such agreement of Mankind in that as to prove it to have a Foundation in Nature for it is confessed that it was not always practised in the World but that it had a Beginning and indeed it grew up by degrees and sprang out of the Corruptions of Mankind and therefore Time was when there was no such thing so that it does not owe its Rise to Nature but to the defection of Mankind For while Idolatry prevailed in the World it was condemned by several Men as a stupid and sottish Thing tho they had not the courage to declare against the Practice of it so that whilst it was used by the generality of the World it was censured as a great Folly by those that were best able to judg Lastly WE know what is Virtue and Vice Good and Evil more distinctly Outward Revelation discovers to us what is Virtue and what is Vice by outward Revelation in former Ages of the World God was pleased to reveal his Will several Ways and more especially to the Nation of the Jews the rest of the World being left solely to the dictates of natural Light But in the latter Ages of the World it pleased God to make a publick and more full Declaration of his Mind by his Son and this Revelation is for Substance the same with the Law of Nature our Saviour comprehended it under these two Heads the Love of God and of our Neighbour the Apostle reduceth it to Sobriety Righteousness and Piety for the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation teacheth us to deny all ungodliness and Worldly Lust and to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World so that if we believe the Apostle the Gospel teacheth us the very same things that Nature dictateth to Mankind for these are the very Virtues which natural Light prompt Men unto only we allow a more perfect discovery of them by the Gospel and to convince Men of the Good and Evil that are affixed to Virtue and Vice there are great and eternal Rewards promised to one and endless Punishments threatned to the other so that now Mankind have no cloak for their Sin their Duty being so clearly laid open to them and the Rewards and Punishments of another Life so plainly revealed all the defects of the natural Law and the Corruptions of it through the degeneracy of Mankind being fully supplyed by the Revelation of the Gospel So that we may now much better say than the Prophet could in his days Mich. 6.8 He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God BUT as to external Revelation it is Objected that the Scripture is very obscure and gives us not sufficient direction in Matters of Faith WE Answer that this Objection hath no Colour of Truth in it for if the Church of Rome to whom are beholden for this Objection against the Word of God and who are ready upon all occasions to quarrel with it Yet they do not deny but the Scriptures are plain as to Precepts of Life and Practice but as to matters of Faith they pretend its defection in as if God had not intended to reveal but conceal his Mind in these things Indeed they have some reason to pretend this considering how hard it is to find several of their Doctrines in the Scripture but as to the moral Precepts of a good Life they all grant that they are clearly delivered in the holy Scripture so that this Objection about the obscurity thereof doth not lie against what I have been speaking THEREFORE seeing Moral Virtues may be plainly understood by Natural Instinct Natural Reason the consent of Mankind and outward Revelation we must in the next place see how easie and pleasant they are to be practised First THEY are easie because we are assisted in the practice of them by the Holy Spirit of God against all difficulties whatsoever Secondly THEY are both easie and pleasant because they are profitable for all things improve our Understandings and bring peace to our Minds FOR our Christian Race is a Warfare and we have many Conquests to make over the corruptions of our Natures the influences of Sense and the disorders of Passion Whence the difficulties of a virtuous Life do
in his Morals to refuse evil and to do good wherein consists the goodness of his Mind Now the Doctrine of our Blessed Saviour tends to purge out of the Mind all vicious and depraved Affections and to sow therein the Seeds of Grace and Virtue for his whole Sermon on the Mount tends to implant in us a pure Heart a right Mind clean Affections an obedient Will and a sound Vnderstanding for the effecting of which observe the admirable contrivance of the Divine Wisdom after Mankind was broken and lost by the fall of one that another should be raised out of his Root who should satisfie the offended God should beget a new Generation of Men out of the old Stock and advance the new Nature to a higher degree of Holiness than before for sin is the greatest pollution exorbitance and degeneracy of an intelligent Agent Sin is the greatest degeneracy of an intelligent Being it is worse than rottenness and corruption in natural things for these act according to the course of their own Natures but we as we are intelligent Beings are under the obligation of a Rule and to vary from that Law is a violent and and monstrous thing for all the departures from right Reason in Understanding Beings are privatively Evils and therefore most highly displeasing unto God because all iniquity and sin is a contradiction to the unchangeable Laws of Goodness and Truth which is the Law of Heaven from which God in the fulness of his Liberty and the greatness of his Power doth never depart therefore we may say that all Vice doth offer violence to the Principles of God's Creation and that which is unnatural in the inferior World is nothing so horrid as that which is irrational in the superiour Now see what the consequence is of unnatural things in the lower World Should the Sun leave its Course and instead of being the Fountain of Light should send forth nothing but stench and darkness how prodigious and how terrible would this be Yet whosoever acts against the Divine Will and the Dictates of right Reason doth a thing more frightful than all this more violent and mischievous than if the Fire should cease to burn or the Course of Nature should fail But our Saviour both by his Precepts Our Saviour teaches us to act according to the Reason of things and by his Example hath taught us to act according to the Reason of things so that we must love that which is Equal and Right that which is true and good in its own Nature that which is just and fit according to the Mind and Will of God these are such certain Laws and Principles of Action that it is not in the power of Men or Angels to control any of them and if we vary from them we expose our selves to endless misery we spoil our Natures and the best Principles thereof which are recovered by Christ Jesus his being Sanctification to us which cleanses us from all filthiness and sets the dispositions of our Minds right the Principles of whose Religion do not appear as Spells and Charms but they operate by the illumination of the Mind and Understanding for in the intellectual World the Principles of Knowledge and Understanding are every way as vigorous as the properties and qualities in Nature are only these Act by the way of Reason and information of the Mind for in all the Virtues that are charged upon us by our Saviour there is an agreeableness to the innate Notions of our Minds and Consciences they do all accord with the natural Conceptions we have of what is just and fit to be done therefore all his Commandments are the resolutions of true Reason and when once they are received into the Temper and Constitution of our Souls they will make us to be of the same Mind as he was that is truly Wise Holy and Good for his Doctrine and his Example are Arguments of Reason sufficient to make us wise to deliver us from the power and habits of Vice and to rescue us from the Usurpations of the Devil Now these are as true Principles of Action upon an intelligent Being as any natural Qualities are in inferiour Nature and they will produce Invisible but vital and Spiritual effects with a power much above what natural Agents can exert for as he who gives himself up to Wickedness will never want a Superiour Agent to carry him on and make him more villanous and wretched so on the contrary whosoever watches over himself and employs his faculties to the doing of good shall ever have the assistance of the Divine Spirit to help him and indeed the Christian Religion doth that which is solid and substantial permanent and lasting if it do not obtain this effect in us of Reconciling our Minds and Dispositions to the Mind and Will of God and when the same Mind is in us which was in Christ Jesus of what strong and firm a temper will our Hearts be made What courage shall we have even when few comforters scarce any but Enemies are near us Goodness gentleness patience which are the Mind of Christ by all true Philosophy are esteemed to proceed from the greatest strength of Nature by all true Christianity from the highest Degree of Grace Nay when we have the same Mind with him what Bravery of Spirit will the World discern to be in us We shall not then be afraid of the most exact and severe observations of what we do nothing will appear in our Discourses but Truth and Sincerity nothing in our Lives but Honesty and Plain-dealing in all our private Actions will be seen the most unaffected modesty in all our publick a good Conscience and a love of Virtue A pure Mind thus established and firmly rooted in us will never be discomposed nor shaken by ungovernable Passions we shall feel the comforts of the Evangelical Doctrin our lives will shew the excellencies of it Our Saviours example leads us into the practice of all manner of Virtue May we all therefore endeavour to express our Affections to our Saviour by living comformable to the most perfect Example of Virtue and Piety for from his Example we fetch the most useful Instructions how to submit to the hardest conditions of Life to endure mildly the rigours of the worst State to Pardon and bear the Affronts of Enemies in the various Turns of the World always to practise Righteousness and Mercy Meekness and Long-suffering To implore Gods help by acknowledging our Obligations to Him for all that we have and do enjoy to moderate our appetites and desires in reference to the pleasures of this World and to use them according to Reason and Nature to be True and Faithful Just and Righteous in all our Actions to be kind and merciful ready to do good to all and to relieve them that are in want to be satisfied in every condition whether it be high or low to be meek and gentle because the Meek Man hath always