and very miserable if our meer missing of them makes us so and if we could attain them and become masters of them we should yet find our selves disappointed and should not meet with that Happiness that we expected from them Had we all we could wish for or desire in this World yet we should not find that satisfaction and compleat Enjoyment we imagined before-hand in any condition for thus Experience convinces us and convinces all Mankind that there is still something wanting to make us Happy whatsoever we enjoy of this World and how much soever we have of it there is so much emptiness in all the things of it so much mixture and allay of evil with good it is so unagreeable to the larger capacities of our Souls and so short of filling and satisfying them that Solomon pronounced of all Worldly things that they were Vanity and Vexation of Spirit Eccles 1.14 and this is not a Philosophical rant or a discontented Reflection or an Hyperbolical saying but a strict and certain truth founded upon the best Experience and the wisest Observation of things for no Man whoever set his Heart upon the things of this World found that contentment and full satisfaction in them that he expected but met with more cares and troubles in the pursuing them than they were worth and pierced himself through with a great many sorrows and anxieties by being over desirous of them and if he gained them with all his labour and toil yet was as far from true Happiness as before for as the Prophet elegantly expresses it The Bed is shorter than that a Man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it Isa 28.20 Worldly things are too narrow short and imperfect and are no way fitted to make us compleatly happy something will still be wanting that we call good and some evil will be present and mixed with what we enjoy that will allay and embitter it To seek for Happiness in this World is to seek for the living among the dead It is not here it is risen it is above it is only in Heaven and in God and Religion and to be enjoyed no where else Religion raises our Minds to a nobler and truer Happiness than any in this World and it helps us to as good degrees of it as we are capable of at present by taking off our hopes and desires and expectations of it as to Worldly things and curing us of too much concern and anxiety about them and making us indifferent and casie and contented whatever our present Circumstances are in this World Which is the 4. Fourth thing by which it procures and affords this ease and tranquility of Mind that we are speaking of Most of the uneasinesses of life are caused by a sollicitude about Worldly things proceeding from an immoderate love and an over great Opinion of them as if our Happiness lay in possessing a great abundance of them This is the root of that Covetousness and Ambition which make us inordinately desire Riches and Honours which two are very restless and uneasy Vices and fill our lives with infinite Trouble and Disquietude and make our Minds always Uneasie and Discontented He is a very Happy Man who is easie and satisfied in his present Circumstances and has learnt with St. Paul in whatsoever state he is therewith to be content Phil. 4.11 who hath made such true Judgment of Worldly things that he has no great Opinion of them nor does admire or think there is very much in them but having the Conveniences and Accommodations of life can eat of his own little morsel and drink out of his own Brook with as much Pleasure and Satisfaction as if he were to take from the greatest Heap or drink of the greatest River or be Entertained with all the Luxurious Plenty and Ambitious State of the Rich and Great ones who with all their Enjoyments have a Thousand times more trouble and uneasinesses than the other in a more moderate condition For 't is certain the way to Contentment and Happiness is rather to abate our desires than to fill 'em and the more we raise and heighten these the more uneasie we shall always be Vain Opinion and weak Imagination set a false value and estimate upon the outward differences amongst Men but I doubt not but they may be all equally Happy and that Previdence has distributed good and evil with a more equal and impartial hand than we imagine and that those of low condition enjoy as much Happiness in this World as those of the highest The difference is not made by Circumstances but by temper of Mind and by keeping our desires within moderate bounds and not being anxious or sollicitous or uneasie for what we do not enjoy but in being contented and well pleased with whatever Providence allots to us when we bring our selves to this we shall be easie and happy and free our selves from those immoderate desires carking cares and anxious sollicitudes about the things of this World which pierce us through with a Thousand sorrows and destroy the Ease and Tranquility of our Minds Now to do this we must be taught and convinced by Religion that Happiness lies not in outward things and be cured of the contrary weak Fancy and Opinion that makes us so immoderately desire 'em and be so anxiously concerned about 'em to the loss even of that Rest and Peace of Mind that we might otherwise have without them 5. Religion teaches us to govern our Passions and lower Inclinations and so to keep them from disturbing us and breaking the Peace and Tranquility of our Minds One of the greatest causes of uneasiness to us and what is most contrary to this Rest and Tranquility we are seeking after is the Disorder of our Passions and the Disturbance and Disquiet they give us Anger ruffles us and puts us into a storm and destroys that smooth calm and sedate Temper that meekness puts us in Envy preys upon it self and is inwardly corroded with its own sharp and sowre humours Pride swells its self with its own inward poyson and is blown up with an inward Vapour that Pains and Distends it and makes it very uneasie even whilst 't is very conceited of its self Till these inward Diseases and Indispositions and Commotions of Mind are cured in great measure by the Prescriptions and Directions of Religion a Man can have no ease and quiet in his own Breast for while he is under the power of any of these or indeed of any lower or bodily Inclination such as Lust Anger brutal Rage or brutal Concupiscence and has not mastered those natural Corruptions nor brought those Boisterous and Head-strong Passions under some Government and Subjection to the Laws of Wisdom and Decency Vertue and Religion they will run him into a Thousand Mischiefs Follies and Inconveniencies and he will never have true Peace and Tranquility in his own Mind 'T is the great business therefore of Religion to mortify these bodily Passions and lower Inclinations to Crucify the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts to put away all Wrath and Clamour and Bitterness and to take off the Corruptions and Weaknesses of Humane Nature by the rules of Religion and the assistances of the Holy Spirit and
Father and the Son as receiving that Infinite and Eternal Essence from them both this is the explication of that adorable Mystery as 't is deliver'd by that excellent Prelate forementioned in his Authentick Book upon the Apostles Creed By this time his spirits and his breath fail'd him and he could proceed no further and now having entertain'd me as long as he could he gave me to understand That I must not expect much more from him about one thing or other but that he would look to be entertain'd by me the little time I should have him with me And immediately calling the Family to Prayers so soon as they were ended he went to Bed and was willing I should leave him for that night In the morning which was Thursday he desir'd me to accompany him in his Chariot to London to consult Dr. M not that he expected any relief from his prescriptions for he concluded himself too far gone to be recovered but because he thought it not fit to omit any thing that could be done for the sake of his Family chiefly whose interest it was that he should have liv'd a little longer with them I returned with him to his Lodgings but he found himself so far spent that he hastned to Bed and desired me to come up to his Chamber and in the Church form to commend his Soul to God Not being willing to sink his Spirits too much and presuming that his apprehensions of present Death were the effect of the disorder his Journey had thrown him into I made use of some other Collects proper at that time and purposely omitted the commendatory Prayer upon which he called to me and entreated me to use no other than that and if I pleas'd the Lord's Prayer with it For said he I am just going So soon as I had done Well said he I now thank thee and take my leave of thee I have nothing more to say to thee nor needst thou say any thing to me thou hast nothing further to do but to bid me good night And immediately turning himself on one side lay still and spoke no more all that night On Friday morning he told me he wondered to find himself alive however we perswaded him to bleed according to the Dr.'s order the night before he told us it was to no purpose and had an opinion he should die whilst he was bleeding but he added that he gave up his body to our management and we might do with it as we pleased by this time his Friend Dr. T came in to whom he talk'd sensibly of his case and told him he was so well skill'd in his Profession that he knew very well he could not live out another night The Dr. was no sooner gone but he called me to him and attempted a Discourse which he was not able to go thro' with what he aim'd at was something to this purpose What a poor Creature is Man if he had hopes only in this Life he must go naked and alone and without any Friend to accompany him to the dark Grave All that thou wilt see of me presently will be a stiff and senseless carkass I have already lost all my thought I can scarce tell what I say to thee I did not just now know where I was now I do I am in my Bed-chamber I have no power to command a thought thou shalt in a few moments see that they are all perish'd and gone This he repeated several times with some concern and in half an hour they went quite away and returned no more for all that afternoon he lay still only at ten at night he put forth one hand to me and lifted up the other and his eyes to Heaven to signifie to me that he had yet some knowledge tho' his speech was gone and that he was praying for himself and a little after midnight he breath'd his last I have seen many Persons die but none like him in all my life I heard not the least unbecoming word from him in all his illness which was to me the more strange because I knew the natural heat and eagerness of his temper he shew'd not the least sign of uneasiness or dissatisfaction in his circumstances nothing of fondness for this World or any desire to stay longer in it no manner of fear of death or doubts about his future good state but throughout his sickness and to the last minutes that his understanding continued a perfect contempt of all Earthly things vigorous hopes of a Blessed Immortality and an entire and absolute resignation of himself to the Will of God The truth is his behaviour was enough to make a Man in love with death and to long for a dissolution and at that time it made such an impression upon my spirits that while it lasted I thought I could with great ease have dy'd with him Having been longer than I intended in my account of the Author I shall leave the following discourses to speak for themselves There is evidently a spirit of true Piety that breaths in them and one general aim propos'd to promote a wise understanding and sincere practice of Religion They are publish'd as they were found in his ordinary Notes and not designed by him for the Press but if they may do any service to God and Religion and the Souls of Men Our Author himself would have ventur'd them Abroad into the World without being any ways concern'd for the defects and imperfections which may be spy'd out in 'em for in the prosecution of such noble ends he has declar'd himself sufficiently arm'd against all manner of censures whatsoever and publickly profess'd That it was more satisfaction to him to publish a few plain and usefull Discourses Pref. to Practical disc of Rep. than to have had the ability or met with the applause of writing the Wittiest or Learnedst Book in the World The First Sermon ROM IX 14. What shall we say then Is there unrighteousness with God God forbid THE Apostle in defence of Christianity and the Gentiles being received into it who were Strangers and Aliens rather than the Jews who were the Children of Abraham and God's peculiar People having to justifie this made use of an Instance of God's free disposing his Favours as he pleases and such as to the Jews was an unanswerable President because upon it all their Priviledges depended above the rest of the World the same Children not of Abraham only but of Israel to whose line the promised Seed was confined before they were either of them born or were in a capacity to do Good or Evil yet God declared that Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated v. 13. and notwithstanding the rights of Primogeniture yet transmitted this his Love and Hatred down even to their Posterities the Israelites and the Edomites upon this he seems to be startled with an Objection rising up from all this and looking him fully in the Face What shall we say then is their
Happiness Riches and Honours and Pleasures which we so fondly admire and esteem and pursue after as the happiest things that are to be enjoyed and think those are not in earnest or only envious and ill-natur'd because they cannot attain them who speak otherwise of them Our Saviour proposes no Worldly advantages to his followers but rather the quite contrary and yet he Preaches happiness to them even at present and joyns the Beatitudes and the Christian Vertues together in his Sermon as inseparable Companions and tho' he left his Apostles in a World full of afflictions and seeming miseries yet he tells them he leaves his Peace with them John 14.27 Such a Peace as was proper for him to give and them to receive not as the World giveth but such an one as should have this effect upon them as that their hearts should not be troubled nor be afraid that no evils should disturb or take away this Peace of mind that in him they might have Peace tho' in the World they had tribulation John 16.33 and that they might always be of good cheer because he had overcome the World 'T is a great thing which he here offers to Mankind be they never so weary and oppress'd with cares and troubles labour under never so many seeming evils and afflictions here have never such great loads and oppressions upon their Minds and Spirits that make them uneasie to themselves and very miserable within that if they come to his Religion and take his Yoke upon them follow the Rules and precepts of his Doctrine and become of such a temper and spirit as he was that they shall certainly meet with ease and comfort relief and refreshment And ye shall sind rest to your Souls This Rest and Tranquility of Mind is the greatest Happiness in the World what Philosophy aimed and pursued after what we should endeavour to attain above every thing and what if we once perfectly reach nothing could ever make us the least miserable what alone is worth seeking after by all the Rules of Philosophy and Religion and without which nothing is worth aiming or seeking after and lastly what Christ and Christianity propose and can bring us to How and by what ways they do it or what is the best means to attain it shall be my chief business to shew as to what it is or wherein it consists that we know better by inward sensation or preception than by any description or Ideas of it we feel what ease is both in Mind and Body and we have a quick Sense of pain and uneasiness in both Indolency of Body and Tranquility of Mind are known by all to be great and desirable things The pleasures of our compounded nature and such as have a near Analogy and Resemblance with one another however we are forced to express and describe one by the other they are not meer Negatives such as suppose only no Sense of pain or evil which may belong to one that is asleep or stupified or to a Stock or a Stone but a positive Sense of what is agreeble to its Nature and the right use of its powers and faculties and an Enjoyment or Perception of a good or Pleasure suitable to them with an intire freedom at the same time from what is contrary and unagreeable painfull and troublesome and uneasie The very absence of what is painfull and uneasie brings a great pleasure because Nature then enjoys it self and has its own suitable perceptions without any disturbance What Diseases and Pains and Tortures are to the Body the same are disorders and troubles to the mind from tormenting passions and uneasie Thoughts from Fear and Guilt and Sorrow the apprehension of evil as present or coming upon it we want words to express what we know and conceive of this and Peace of mind is opposed to all things that weary and disease and disquiet and disturb it whatever they are whether the Evils and Troubles and Afflictions of this World or Passions and Disorders from within inordinate and irregular Desires and inward Commotions contrary to right Reason or the more dreadfull terrors and horrors of some greater evil than any in this World The mind it is certain has a quicker and more smart and cutting sense oâ— Pain by these than the Body from any Disease The Diseases and Maladies Disorders and Pains of the mind are greater and harder to be cured than those of the Body Wisdom and Philosophy Virtue and Religion are the proper Physick the true Cure and Remedy of them the only things that can bring the mind to that Good Sound and Healthfull State that it shall be well and rightly disposed in it due Frame and Crasis sitted to perform its proper Operations and enjoy its agreeable Pleasures the Pleasure and Enjoyment of its self and its own Wife and Vertuous and good Thoughts the pleasant Hopes and Expectations of Religion and all the superadded Enjoyments from thence that Revelation assures us of besides what are natural to it from the right Exercise of its own Powers such as Peace of Conscience upon Pardon of Sin inward Sense of God's Favour or his lifting up the light of his Countenance upon us Joy in the Holy Ghost and rejoycing in hope of the Glory that shall be revealed These are such Pleasures and Enjoyments of Mind as are beyond Nature but within Christianity which raise and exalt the Soul to something beyond that Tranquility and Calmness and Serenity of Mind which Philosophy so talkt of This improves it higher and raises a more noble structure of Happiness to our Souls but upon the same Foundation having the same Bottom to build upon the inward Ease and Peace and rest of the Mind which is the greatest thing we can desire or is worth our attaining To be very easy always within to have Peace and Quiet in our own Breasts to be disturbed with no uneasie Thoughts no tumultuous Passions no Fear Grief or Sorrow no carking Care or corroding Trouble to be rufled with no discomposure have no dark Clouds hanging over our Thoughts no Storms or Tempests raging within our Breasts this is Tranquility of Mind an inward Calm and Serenity of Thoughts contrary to that Temper of mind Which is like the troubled Sea which cannot rest to which the Scripture compares it Isa 57.20 neither apt to be much raised or too much depressed Nec attollens se unquam nec deprimens as Seneca speaks Sed semper aequali placido statu always even and in a placid state propitius sibi sua laetus aspiciens pleased with its self and its own thoughts and having nothing to sowre and disorder it self or infuse a poysonous bitterness into it This is that good state of Soul that rest which is a greater Happiness than all the World can afford which he that has will be Happy in whatever Circumstances or Condition he is and which we might certainly find by Religion and Christianity if we lived up to the Principles
cure this any more than any other Bodily Diseases and he that is afflicted with them must bear them as he would the Gout or Stone or any other Disease that is incident to us but since these affect the Mind more and the Mind also by its close Union and Re-action upon the Body does in great measure raise and excite or abate and allay those therefore it is a great part of Human Vertue and a proper Work of Religion to take as much care as can be of those natural Passions which are caused in 〈◊〉 those different Humours and Temperaments of Body for all Anger and First and the other Bodily Passions that are so troublesome both to our selves and others arise from them The Soul is the same in all Men not more inclined to any of those Passions by its Original make and nature than the contrary they all arise from our Body and our lower Nature and are the results of that and therefore they are in Brutes we often see as well as Men but the Soul by being Vitally united to the Body has a Preception and Sensation of them and such thoughts are necessarily caused in it by them Now neither the first motions of the Body nor first thoughts of the Soul upon them are sinful because they are both necessary but the Soul has a Power within it self either to consent or not consent to these Bodily Motions and Inclinations which we call Passions and this Principle of the Soul we call the Will I do not mean a power to consent to their first rising or not rising in us that is often necessary and unavoidable and so not within the power of the Soul but perfectly unvoluntary but then whether it shall continue such a thought that is excited upon such a Passion at least continue it so far as to approve and like it and consent to it and put it into Act if it can and actually execute it and let it produce any outward and lasting Effects this is in the power of the Soul and herein lies the great Exercise of its Virtues in governing and subduing the Passions and mortifying the carnal Lusts and Bodily Inclinations if it yields to those so as to commit any Unlawfull Actions or any sin in pursuance of them then it fulfills the Lusts of the Flesh and walks after the Flesh and is carnal and carnally minded in St. Paul's phrase Rom. 8.6 but if thro' the Spirit and by help of Religion it does mortify these deeds of the Body it shall live v. 13. If it suffer no sin to reign in its mortal Body nor give way to those Passions and Lusts so as to commit sin by them but with the greatest care and pains keep them within the bounds of Reason and Religion then it does Crucisie the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts Galat. 5.24 not that they must become quite dead and extinct so that we feel no motions of them no they may remain in the best and most regenerate Man as to some inward motions of Concupiscence but they are not sinfull unless they conceive i.e. are consented to in the heart and bring forth sin in the life James 1.15 Now Religion is so to Govern and keep under all these Passions and bodily inclinations that they run not into Sin but it cannot quite cut them up and extirpate them it is to improve and perfect Nature by Grace but not to destroy it These Passions therefore caused by those Bodily Humours and Tempers which we are naturally inclined to these which are one of the greatest causes of the troubles and disorders of the mind and which bring the greatest Uneasiness and Perturbation to it and rob it of that Evenness and Calmness and Tranquility which is the great Happiness of it these Religion cannot so wholly remove and take away as that we should be perfectly free from them and from all the motions and risings of them but it will and must so far subdue and conquer them as that they neither have Sinful and Unlawful Effects upon others nor so far disorder our selves as to spoil and destroy the Peace and Rest and Quiet of our minds I do not mean that they should never disturb us for so they will a little as often as we feel them but not to that degree as to take away the Peace and Tranquillity of our mind and to destroy the habit and temper of it if they do we can never be Happy with them How Religion cures them and to what degree it must overcome them I shall consider afterwards at present I shall only observe that Religion does not wholly destroy and root them up nor alter our bodily Temper and Constitution but a good Man still lies open to the first motions of Anger Peevishness Melancholy and the like and may never be quite otherwise any more than alter his Complexion or his Stature and make his Hair White or black but he may have Peace in his Mind and Rest in his Soul notwithstanding that in the rational Frame and Habit and Temper of it founded upon the Hopes and Principles of Religion these are troublesome and uneasie to him and will also affect his Mind as well as any other bodily Pain and Disease but yet his Rest and Tranquility may be consistent with both those for 't is a rational intellectual Sense and Perception in the Soul which depends upon Principles and Rules and not upon mere Temper and Mechanism of body for then ill Weather as well as an ill body would alter and destroy it I come now to show how we may attain it which is the most considerable thing of all and when we have if we shall better understand it than by any other account of it like Health we know what it is tho' we cannot so well describe it and like ease and pleasure we can best Judge of it by feeling it 'T is as Tully calls it sanitas animi the Health and Soundness and good Temper of the Soul and when the Soul wants it it is Sick and under a Disease in Pain and Disorder We all know how good and sweet a thing health and ease is both of Body and Mind so that there need not many words to commend them how to get it and preserve it and recover it when it is lost is the greatest Question Our Saviour here tells us we may find rest to our Souls and obtain this Peace and Tranquility of mind I shall consider what the means are and by what ways Religion does effect this in the following particulars 1. Religion teaches us that Happiness lies chiefly in our Mind that that is the proper seat of it and that it lies not in things without us but is a Treasure in our own Breasts something within ourselves which belongs to our Souls and consists in the Perfection Improvement and Enjoyment of them this is in other words called the Salvation of the Soul restoring it to its lost Happiness and freeing it from the
through and steal But lay up for your selves Treasures in Heaven where neither Moth nor Rust doth corrupt and where Thieves do not break through and steal THis most Excellent Sermon of our Blessed Saviour as in every thing it gives us the highest and the noblest precepts of Vertue that are above all the Morals of the wisest Heathen and far excell the best rules of the greatest Masters in Philosophy which might have convinced Greece and Athens it self that he must be if not the Son of God yet some great and extraordinary Person sent from above that without Travel abroad or Education at home unless in a poor Trade should outdo even Socrates or the more admired Moralists amongst 'em so he has all along adapted 'em to Humane Nature and our present State and Circumstances in this World which was a thing that they were deficient in for as they often were too short in their precepts and much below the things so at other times they were as much too high and gave precepts that were too big and not at all fitted to the size and scantling of our present State or the make of Humane Nature they were not only for wisely Moderating and Governing but quite rooting all Passions and Affections whatever out of their wise man which was to make him not a Man or such a Creature with such Faculties and Powers as God thought for wise reasons fit to do this was not to improve but destroy Human Nature and to set Vertue beyond its pitch and out of its reach which our Saviour who knew our Frame and our outmost Capacities has never done they went so far in their rants about the contempt of this World and despising riches as to commend him that foolishly threw them into the Sea that they might be no hindrance to his deeper Philosophizing Now this as it betrayed a great weakness in him that could not otherwise better use 'em so 't is Calculating Virtue not for this World but for some other Eutopian Meridian the making it not Useful and Comfortable but Destructive of our present State and Condition in this World and tho our Blessed Saviour both by his Life and his precepts showed as great contempt of the things of this World as ever any person did and has given the best Arguments that can be not to be sollicitous for outward things nor take any thought for the Morrow in the latter part of this Chapter by trusting in the Divine Providence and being especially carefull about better things the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness yet he has no where told us that these are inconsistent and that a Man must throw away his Estate and renounce all his worldly goods as well as the Pomps and Vanities of this World if he will become a Christian and go to Heaven this indeed is said to be the Heresie of Pelagius in which he was not likely to have very many Followers and tho several places of Scripture tell us how hardly they that have Riches shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mark 10.23 and that it is easier for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle than for a Rich Man is enter into the Kingdom of Heaven v. 25. which is all meant of them that trust in Riches v. 24. that we cannot serve God and Mammon bids us not love the World nor the things that are in the World for if any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him 1 John 2.15 yet they all import no more and so will be fairly understood by this excellent direction of our Saviour that I am now to discourse of Lay not up for your selves Trusures Neither is that purely a Negative an Universal forbidding us to lay up any Treasures upon Earth for if we do not that in some measure we are not guilty only of great Imprudence but even of Infidelity too If any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own House he hath denied the Faith and is worse than an Insidel 1 Tim. 5.8 not to make provision for ones own Off-spring and Children is to be more Unnatural than the Heathens nay than the very Fowls and the most Ravenous Beasts and not to supply an Aged Helpless Parent is to be guilty of that which the Heathens counted the most infamous Ingratitude nay if by an honest Industry and lawful Profession we do not some way or other make our selves serviceable to the publick and able to procure some good to the whole of which we are parts we are like dead and useless Members that serve neither for Life nor Motion nor the conveyance of Blood and Spirits and as in the Natural body so also in the civil 't is impossible to maintain either its Life or Strength unless some greater parts are Replenished with a larger abundance of Blood and Spirits and there be a general Circulation and lesser conveyance of 'em to every part Neither Government nor the World could subsist so long as God intends it if Men should lay aside all prudent care about the things of this World all would be put into a dead Hand and that would quickly make a dead Body if it were not Lawfull for some Men to Trade and grow Rich the present state of this World makes this to be necessary and is utterly inconsistent with general Vows of Poverty and as a Man may Lawfully work for his livelihood and according to the Apostles Rule He that will not work neither should he eat 2. Thes 3.10 without breaking our Saviour's command John 6.27 Labour not for the Meat that perisheth but for the Meat which endureth unto everlasting Life so he may by prudent and honest ways take care of his Worldly Concerns and add to his Estate and grow Rich without any Violation of our Saviour's Rule Ley not up for your selves Treasures on Earth for those Treasures on Earth are not of themselves Evil and may be matter of very great Vertues such as the rich Men are particularly charged with 1 I'im 6.17 18 19. Charge them that are rich in this World that they do good that they be Rich in good Works ready to Distribute willing to Communicate laying up in store for themselves a good Foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life which it seems they may be made the means of attaining so that by these Negatives is meant only a comparative command that we rather lay up to our selves Treasures in Heaven than in Earth that we be more carefull for the one than the other not that one is forbidden by the other but to be preferred before it as we have the like manner of expression most frequently in Scripture Prov. 8.10 Receive my Instruction and not Silver and Knowledge rather than Gold so Mat. 9.13 I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice i. e. rather than Sacrifice God did so much value inward and real Righteousness before outward Rites and
same Grave but nothing could remove his Patience and take away his Integrity that still he retained and held fast Job 2.3 9. The Philosopher that lost all in a wreck yet kept his Philosophy and Wisdom in spite of Fortune and the Apostles who left all they had still preserved their Religion and a good Conscience which by the decree of the Senate could not be Sequester'd nor Confiscate by the Emperor's Edicts those inward Treasures of the Mind are safe when things without are never so uncertain and when they shall bring us to another World then they secure beyond possibility of the least danger whatever Storms and Shelves and Rocks we pass thro' here when we once Land and set Foot upon the shore of Eternity we are out of all danger and in a safe harbour where we shall enjoy the rewards of all our Toil and be vastly enriched with Treasures of that Happy and Secure place 2. These Earthly Treasures are fading and Transitory but the Heavenly are durable and lasting Riches certainly make themselves Wings and sly away as an Eagle towards Heaven Prov. 23.5 of a sudden we know not how they are got out of sight and we can never set Eyes on 'em again they leave their possessor sometimes without much warning like Tides they rowl from one Shore to another from this Man or Family to the other and leave him perhaps a Beggar to day who was in the greatest Plenty but a little before or if they be not so Fickle nor leave the owner on a sudden yet in a little time he must leave them Death will strip him naked as he came into the World and then all his thoughts perish Ps 146.4 All his thoughts of being rich or great or happy in this World all the mighty Projects and deep Contrivances about worldly things are quite at an end and a sudden stop is given to the building of bigger Barns or finer Houses or making greater purchases and laying up more of these Earthly Treasures The Soul is perhaps taken from him the night before he was resolved to do all this and then how insignificant are they all and what is he the better for ' em Thus Foolish it is to carry on only such short designs that we must break off very suddenly and abruptly and not lay our Thoughts deeper than the Grave or beyond this transitory Life not to have our thoughts and aims upon greater things that must for ever imploy our Minds that are more lasting and durable of a more sixt and solid Nature and that will last as long as our immortal Souls that we may sit down with and bid our Souls be for ever at rest for they have goods laid up not only for many years but for ever 3. These Earthly Treasures are such empty things that they can never give us such inward Happiness as the Heavenly will We are apt indeed to admite at the brave outside the appearing gaity and finery of the Rich and Great but all this without Vertue is but show and pageantry they have none of that real Happiness nor enjoy any thing of that fatisfaction we imagine they do they have a thousand Troubles and Multitudes of cares caused even by their Riches and Greatness that lie heavy upon 'em vast loads of unseen miseries oppress 'em and inward and secret guilt fills 'em with horror and vast legions of evil Spirits haunt and disturb those Houses within that look so stately and beautifully without We make very false measures and are mightily mistaken if we conclude him to be Happy that we see has the visits and the Complements and the greatest Court made to him alas we see not into his Mind nor how uneasie he is there and how little the better for our foolish Opinion of him 't is only his own thought and his own vertue and good temper of Mind that make him a Happy Man for all this and without this he may Cheat others but he can never deceive himself these are inward and close to his Mind and indiscernible to any one but himself the other are all external and loose like Scenes and Pictures looking fine at a distance but if we come near 'em 't is all gross daubing they cannot yield us that Enjoyment and Happiness that we vainly fancy and expect in 'em and whilst we imagine we embrace what we can wish it proves but a thin Cloud and Air and very often what the wise Man found it who had made as many Experiments about worldly Happiness as any Man did Vanity and Vexation of Sptrit and therefore not worth so much passion and concern to attain 'em nor fit that we should lay out our Money for that which is not Bread and our labour for that which satissieth not Isai 55.2 for windy and empty trash rather than for that solid food which will nourish and feed and feast 'em to all Eternity 2. Whenever there is a Competition between those and we cannot secure both that we part with the Earthly rather than the Heavenly when we do an ill thing in order to our worldly interest when a Bargain will not go off unless it be voucht with a downright lye nor an Estate be got without open Knavery or some underhand slight and secret injustice nor a great Place or Preferment be obtained unless we venture upon some thing that is mean and shamefull and dishonest then to scorn to do a base thing for any advantage and to prefer Honesty and Conscience before Gain or Greatness this is to value the Heavenly more than the Earthly Treasures this shows we love Vertue for it self when we choose that alone not for its present dowry or portion but for its own sake and what we may expect hereafter and will not forsake it for all the offers that the World can make This indeed is the true gage of our Affections the true way to measure our love to these worldly things and know whether it be too great and immoderate or no if we will be guilty of the least Sin or Injustice in order to the getting Money or growing Rich if we will wrong the Orphan or cheat the Widow whose Estate is entrusted to us if we will break our promise and deny our word when it would be some loss to us to perform it and avoid a Just debt upon some little trick or legal nicety or do any thing for our Interest that comports not with fair dealing with equity and an honest mind why this shews that we have too great a love and value for these Earthly things when we are taken so with the tempting Charms of 'em that if we cannot fairly court 'em to our Embraces we will commit a Rape upon 'em and force 'em some way or other into our possession When Naboth's Vineyard looks so pleasant and beautifull that Ahab will purchase it tho' at the hard rate of Perjury and false-Witness when we had rather part with our Vertue and violate our
need it or make use of it for tho' the goodness of it be never so great yet 't is but in order to an end which is to recover health that was lost and to restore us to that soundness that we wanted 'T is the great Mercy of God and the great Grace and Favour of the Gospel and the great Purchase of Christ's Blood to have the Privilege of Repentance granted to Sinners in so large and full a manner so as to be restored to God's Favour and reconciled to him upon their return as if they had never offended him to have all the guilt and punishment of their past Sins wholly taken off as if they had never committed them to be recti in curia pardoned and in as good state as if they had been always Innocent This should mightily encourage and prevail upon Sinners to Repent and leave their Sins when they are sure of this as they are by the Gospel When tho' their Sins be as Scarlet they shall be white as Snow tho they were red like Crimson they should be as Wool as the Evangelical Prophet speaks Isai 1.18 i. e. tho' they were sins of the deepest Die or highest Nature yet they should be wholly done away and forgiven upon true Repentance from which no Person is excluded How must this encourage the greatest Sinners if they have any sense of Religion or another World left upon 'em to come off from their Sins how comfortable must it be to a poor wretch lying under the sense of his own guilt and the fears and horrors of his own Conscience and the dread of God's Judgments and of Eternal Misery to have these glad Tydings proclaimed to him how will this revive his desponding Soul and chear his sunk Spirit and like a pardon brought to a Condemned Malefactor in the Cart or upon the Gibbet restore him to life and to unspeakable joy and gladness Now this is offered to every Sinner by the Gospel if he repent and turn from his Sins however great they have been and lead a new life and become a new Man and a new Creature before he dies What can be desired more by any reasonable Creature or what more can God offer Would any desire to live and go on in his Sins and yet be forgiven This is for God to give up his Laws his Government and to grant a Liberty to his Creatures to be Rebellious and Disobedient and have no Check or Controul upon them 't is the utmost a good God can grant or a wicked man can desire to be pardoned upon his Repentance and Amendment but his Repenting and Amending is with sorrow for what is past doing his duty for the future as he ought always to have done it performing that Obedience which he ought always to have performed and now this is the best thing next to the having done it and performed it always but it can by no means be thought to be so good as that Repenting is like a Man's setting up again that was once broke and compounding with his Creditors and paying a part he owed them instead of the whole God is pleased to accept of the broken and after-obedience of a Sinner for some part of his Life instead of that entire and unbroken one which is due from him all his life 'T is God's great Grace and Mercy to do this and what he is no way obliged to for he might have damned us for every willfull sin and never have pardoned us tho' we had afterwards Repented of it this is meer free Grace which we owe to Christ and the Gospel and God was no way obliged to it either in Justice or by his natural Goodness but he might have denied it to mankind as he has done to other of his Creatures the Devils and the fallen Angels but still the design of God in granting us this Favour and this mighty privilege by the Gospel is to encourage us to Obedience to perswade us to leave our Sins and to bring us to true Holiness and Goodness of Life when we have been faulty and defective in these before 't is not to encourage us in our Sins or give us any Licence or Dispensation to commit 'em because we may Repent of them this is a horrid abuse and perverting the Grace of the Gospel and turning it into Wantonness and Looseness but the End and Design of all this is to make those good men who have been Sinners to make those Obedient who have been Disobedient either in general or any instance Now therefore 't is much better to have been always thus to have been always Good and always Obedient thro' the whole course of our lives this is the best thing and the very same End more fully and perfectly attained this is designed by Repentance As Health is the design of taking Physick and to be well and sound of using Remedies and Medicines and those who are always healthfull and always sound and always well are in a much better condition than those who stand in need of a Cure tho' it be never so certain and infallible 2. I speak this all the while of Repentance from great and wilfull sins from a habit of them in our lives or at least a voluntary practice of them at some time or other and this Repentance I hope there are many that need not who were never ill persons all their lives nor ever guilty of any such one great and mortal sin as should put them into an ill and damnable state and exclude them out of Heaven had they died I speak not now of the ill state of all mankind by the fall or by our original Corruption and Depravation for that is took off by Christ the second Adam and we are put into a good state by the Gospel and by our Baptism so that no Man is in any danger of Damnation but upon his committing some wilfull and known sins such as the Scripture declares are damnable and exclude from Heaven He therefore that has been free from those tho' not free from all sins which no man is or can be all his life no not in his best state but some Infirmity some Imperfection some sin of Frailty or Ignorance or Surprize will beset him He I say that has lived free from all wilfull known sins and not allowed himself in any voluntary breach of God's Laws tho' he has not kept them so perfectly and exactly as he ought to do but has always had a regard to Religion and his Duty and never violated them in any great instance he was always a Child of God and never forfeited that Title he was never a Prodigal and run away from his Father's house nor wasted his Substance in Riotous living but like the dutifull and elder Son always served his Father neither at any time transgress'd his Commandments He never wandered out of the paths of Vertue nor never let his steps take hold of death he never defil'd his Virgin Innocence nor sullied
mind which way the wind sits or the Weather-cock turns on which side the Birds fly or which is as uncertain what is the opinion of unthinking Men to judge of himself by Indeed the opinion of good and wise Men who are able to judge is very much to be minded and is truly credit which is to be preserved next to Conscience but he that is not above the little noise and the ignorant censures and the brutish Clamours and the petty injuries of others is a very weak and will be often a very unhappy Man 2. It 's one of the greatest and most pleasant Virtues to gain a Victory over our own passions and to overcome the brutish inclinations of Anger and Revenge which are apt to rise in us at first upon the sense of an injury He that can calm and quiet those and by wise thoughts subdue the boysterous rage and furiousness of an angry spirit is a greater Man and a greater Conqueror than he that Conquers whole Countries and Cities and fenced Places and overcomes many thousands of Enemies by the Sword as the Wise man observes He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a City Prov. 16.32 This is the true Virtue of a Man that masters the beast the brutish Appetites and Inclinations that are in him which if he let loose they will rage and tear and devour him and hurry him to revenge and madness and all the dismal effects of them Nothing is so rash and inconsiderate and shows so much impotency and weakness of mind as those passions which are apt to rise up in us and nothing shows greater Wisdom and more true greatness of mind than to Command and Conquer them and bear a provocation and forgive it instead of being set on fire and overcome by it nor can any thing be more pleasant than to gain this Victory over our passions for they are very troublesome and uneasie and all find them so who are under them but it 's the greatest ease and pleasure of mind and body too to be free from them and to be in a calm and gentle and meek and undisturbed state Anger and revenge are the most uneasie and vexatious and tormenting passions that belong to human nature that fire and inflame the spirits put the blood into an Unnatural and Venemous Ferment and the whole Man under the gall of bitterness and the greatest uneasiness so that his mind can enjoy nothing but is restless and tumultuous and under a thousand fearfull and vexatious thoughts how to contrive and how to accomplish it's Mischievous and Revengfull designs upon others But to lay all these aside and to pass by and forgive an injury and let our passions be quiet without any great resentment of it is to be at ease within our selves and has more sweetness and comfort in it than all the revenge in the World 3. As this is overcoming our selves so it 's overcoming our Enemies too and the best and the least troublesom and the most generous way of Conquering them for first it disappoints all their malice and avoids the blow they intended to give us for this puts by the injury which was thrust at us or at least takes off the smart and the sense of it which is the greatest evil that they designed by it and they have lost their design if they see us not concerned at it But further if we can bring our selves to return kindness for injury and overcome evil with good this if any thing will overcome an Enemy by making him become a Friend which is the greatest and perfectest Victory in the World and subdue him with such powerfull force and conduct that he cannot but yield to it A soft answer will turn away his wrath as the wise man speaks Prov. 15.1 and showing the kind offices of love and kindness and civility to him will not only heap coals of fire upon his head if he still continue to injure us but in all probability melt him into kindness and goodness for he must be a very barbarous wretch and void of all sense of humanity beyond the rate of most Men who will not be obliged by a generous kindness from an Enemy and he must be a mere Savage who is not to be wrought upon by civility and good will Revenging an injury is the way to double and encrease it and to keep up the War and Hostility with vast trouble and expence but the other presently procures a Fair and a Comfortable and an Honourable Peace and Reconciliation Many think it will draw more injuries upon them if they do not revenge themselves for those past and make it cost others dear to hurt them so that it 's their Motto nemo me impune lacesset but this for the most part fails and is the worst and longest and most troublesome way to get rid of them every Man may indeed preserve his right if it be valuable and not better to part with it than to lose it and yet keep up fully to this temper of doing any good in his power to those who would do this evil to him but to return evil for evil injury for injury is no more the best way to overcome it than it 's to heal a wound by cutting it deeper and lancing it wider when otherwise it would quickly close of it self and love would be like oyl poured in to supple and heal it 4. The overcoming evil with good is so like to God who does good every day to us and all mankind tho' we injure and provoke him that our having such usage from him should teach and learn us it and incline us to practise it to our Brethren If God should be presently enraged and resolve to revenge himself upon us for every injury we offer to Heaven i. e. for every sin we commit how sad and lamentable a case must we be in we therefore that live by virtue of this good principle that owe our lives and all the mercies we enjoy to this virtue in God whereby he spares us tho' we provoke him and is slow to anger tho' we sin against him and revenges not himself upon us weak and impotent and yet bold and daring Enemies How should we feel the good of it to our selves and not practise it to others Did not God deal otherwise with us than revenge and anger inclines us to deal with others how might he consume us every moment and never wait to be gracious nor let his goodness lead us to repentance nor never let us enjoy the blessings of his common providence but shut up the Heavens that they should not rain and put out the Sun that it should not shine upon such evil and unjust such sinfull and rebellious Creatures as we are Nay had he not been disposed to this Vittue which is the very perfection and excellence of the Divine Nature he had not shown so much love and done so much
feeling as Scripture speaks so they darken and blind the Understanding which is as it were the Eye of the Soul and bring a cloud over it or cast a mist before it and hinder it from seeing and discerning things as it ought to do These I confess are all figurative expressions whereby we are forc'd to describe and illustrate the Acts and Operations of the Mind by material and bodily resemblances as the Holy Ghost it self does But there are such real effects in the Mind as answer to them and about which we can use no other Words or Ideas Mens Sins at the same time they harden their Wills and bring them to a senselessness and stupidity about their moral Actions they blind their Judgment also and bring them to a Reprobate sense so as not to see the plainest Truths or greatest Evidence nor be aware of the grossest and most notorious Errors nor be convinced by the strongest Arguments and Demonstrations for the Truth or Practice of Religion 2. I shall consider a little more particularly in the 2d place how and to what degrees the mind is thus hardned and blinded by its Sins 1. And this is done first of all by breaking thro' natural shame and the innate modesty of our minds this is one of the strongest sences which God and Nature have set about Vertue and the greatest check and restraint against Vice for it arises from the first quick and discerning sense of the mind whereby it sees the â—â—â—ness and reasonableness of the one and the indecency and natural turpitude and shame of the other and when this is once broke thro' the mind is quickly Prostituted and Debauched to the greatest Lewdness and Villany and comes to Sin Impudently and with a Where 's forehead at first indeed it was modest and reserv'd and blusâ—â—'d at the rude offers of Sin and ran from them but by coming nearer and making some further approaches to it it was drawn in to consent and so having lest its Original innocence and native modesty it is sooner brought to after-acts of Sin and wears off by degrees that shame which was its great guard and preservative at first and then it lies open to every Temptation and 〈…〉 to every offer and opportunity that invites 〈◊〉 and hardly needs to be tempted but becomes a tempter both to it self and others and a Pander in time to all Vice and Wickedness 2. Sin hardens by stupifying Conscience and deadning the inward and natural sense of good and evil on our Minds so as to bring Men by degrees to Sin without struggle dispute or reluctancy It must be a great while before it comes to this and a man must have gone thro' a long course before he can arrive at this state and perfection of Sinning No Man can commit a plain and great Sin at first without great struggle and remorse of mind and great reluctance and opposition from his own Conscience the spirit will strive against the flesh as the flesh lusteth against the spirit Gal. 5.17 there being a natural principle of Vertue in us as well as of Vice And as a good Man must have many conflicts with his lower inclinations before he can arrive at a full state of Vertue so must a bad Man have as great a contest with his Conscience and the natural sense of his own Mind before he can be perfectly wicked Conscience will check and restrain him at first and inwardly smite and reprove him for doing amiss and this is an evident proof of the natural difference between good and evil and an excellent Monitor set up by God in every Mans breast to mind him of his duty and the great security indeed of all Religion but when Men have by many acts and long customs of wickedness wasted and sinned away Conscience and stifled or stupisied the inward sense of their own minds so as to sin with greater ease and without any trouble or opposition from within without any rebukes or resistances or remorses of their own Consciences for whatever they do then they are become perfect Sinners indeed and come to an absolute and full state of Wickedness to be hardned into an utter insensibility so as to be past feeling and to have their Conscience as it were seared with a hot iron as the Scripture speaks 1 Tim. 4.2 so as to be quite senseless This senselessness may seem an easier and less painfull state but it is more mortal and dangerous and is just such a Disease to the Soul as an Apoplexy or a Lethargy is to the body If this senselessness and stupidity would always last it were much better indeed than sharp and actual pain but the Conscience of a Sinner tho' it may sleep and slumber a while yet it will awake one time or other and like an enraged Lyon tear and devour all about it Either Death or Sickness or some Judgment or Affliction will probably rowse it here and bring the stupify'd mind to it self or to be sure the flames of Hell will make it open its Eyes when it is too late when it can see nothing but horror and despair before it and round about it and where it Conscience shall always torment it with a Worm that never dieth and with never ceasing Anguish and Remorse 3. A third instance and degree of being thus hardned by Sin is doubting of the Truth of Religion and calling into question the principles of it and at last an utter rejecting and dis-believing of them No Man ever did this till he was corrupted in his morals and engaged in a vitious course so that this Scepticism and Infidelity was plainly the effect and consequent of his Vices and proceeded from his Will blinded with his Sins and Lusts rather than from his Understanding or from any want of Evidence about those matters It was first the Sinners wish and desire that there were no God before he question'd whither there was one or no and he never doubted of the truth of another World till it was against his Interest and he was lost and undone if there were one and therefore he was very unwilling to believe it Men must have very much blinded their Minds if they do not see the plainest Evidence for Religion both from Nature and Reason and from History and Revelation from the make and frame of the World and from the make of their own bodies and the inward sense of their own Minds all which make it as unreasonable almost to doubt of the Being of a God as to doubt of their own being and existence and we may as well be Scepticks to the truth of any thing else as to the truth of Religion 4. There is a degree yet beyond this and that is ridiculing Religion and exposing it to Contempt and Laughter which is not only the utmost and most desperate attempt and affront against God but the most rude and unmannerly as well as mischievous thing to all Mankind for all sober and wise Men and civiliz'd
to Guard us where sin doth so easily beset us by the Considerations of Heaven and Eternity and another World which are only Arguments strong enough to make men conquer and deny those passions and Inclinations which are in great part natural to them Religion has a Power in it if duly applied and attended to to make the most passionate Man Calm and Gentle the most Lustfull Man Chast to Sweeten the most Sowre and ill-natured Temper and Tame the most Outrageous and Violent This Christianity did of old as Lactantius and other Fathers assure us and boast of its Vertue and Efficacy and this it no doubt will and must do in order to our Eternal Happiness if we come under the full Sense and perfect Government of it for no Man can go to Heaven with those irregular and unmortified Passions about him any more than come to Peace and Tranquility of Mind here what is required and is necessary to the one is necessary to the other also and what promotes the one does at the same time promote the other for the more approaches we make towards Heaven hereafter the more we make at present to this Peace and Tranquillity of Mind and whatever tends to acquire the one tends also to acquire the other Religion by the same way leads to both and the more we grow in one the more we shall grow in the other 't is one of the greatest Perfections Religion is to bring us to not to Destroy or Extirpate but Govern and Master our natural Inclinations and bodily Passions and make them always easie to our selves and subject to Reason Wisdom and Vertue and when they are so then we shall be in this most Pleasant and Happy State which we call Rest and Tranquility and Calmness of Mind 6. Religion and especially Christianity removes all Guilt and all Reason of inward Trouble of Mind and Disquiet of Conscience nothing is so contrary to this Peace and Rest and Tranquility of Soul as an inward Consciousness of a Man 's own Guilt and a dread of what he Deserves upon it this will always disturb and make him uneasie in whatever outward Condition he be it will be a Wound at his very Heart and like a Dart struck thro' his Liver he will feel it like a Prick upon a Nerve a Pain in the Tenderest and most Sensible part of his Mind for such is a Sense of Guilt and the Fears and Horrors that go along with it Now what shall Cure this if a Man has faln into it and what shall best preserve him from it but Religion Christianity has provided a Remedy for the greatest Guilt which is the Blood of Christ and thereby pours in Oyl and Balsam into the most wounded Conscience and by the Privilege of Repentance and New Obedience restores it to Peace and Comfort and a good State and frees it from its Dreadfull Fears and Apprehensions it gives a Man firm Grounds of Hope and Comfort upon his return to his Duty tho' he has not always observed it and assures him that he shall be well treated by God upon it This is a great thing which is owing to the Grace of God in and thorough Christ and is the great Grace of the Gospel and what natural Religion could not Discover or Ensure to us Christ alone giveth this Rest to those who are weary and heavy Laden with the Burthen of their Sins and Guilt is a Load and Burthen too heavy for us to bear but what he has done takes it off from us upon our Repentance and Amendment and becoming good Men tho' after we have been otherwise Religion will best Guard and Preserve us against all Sin and keep us from doing any thing rashly and inconsiderately that should afterwards trouble and vex us when we reflect upon it and will therefore prevent as well as cure the painfull Disorders and Disturbances of a Guilty Conscience and Uneasie Mind and keep it always in the most Virtuous and therefore most Comfortable state for nothing is such a ground of Peace and inward Comfort as to live always in a Habit of Virtue and Religion in the practice of one and by the principles of the other and never to act contrary to them or oppose them in any thing we do this will make a good Man always pleased and satisfied from himself as the Scripture speaks Prov. 14.14 and give him the closest and the truest Happiness which is the Peace of his own Mind What a Comfort a good Conscience is it is like Health or Pleasure better felt than described 't is a continual Feast in all Conditions a perpetual spring of Joy and Comfort rising up in a Man 's own Mind and overflowing his Heart with unspeakable Pleasure and Delight What will make a Man bear any Circumstances Endure any evil Suffer any Affliction Go through any Cross or Reproach and be tho' not without Sense yet without any great Trouble When his Innocent Mind speaks Cheerfully to him and Refreshes him from within A Man can never have true Peace and Tranquility of Mind without Virtue and Religion for none but a good Man conscious to himself of his own Integrity and Sincerity can have a good Conscience and nothing is so contrary to this Ease and Rest this Tranquility of Soul as an evil Conscience which like the troubled Sea is always Stormy and Boisterous and casteth up Mire and Dirt as the Prophet speaks Isa 57.20 the filth that is at the bottom of it and is therefore the most directly opposite to the Calm and Serene State and Temper of Mind that we are seeking after An evil Conscience is always full of Fears and Horrors of Dread and Disquietude 't is a Worm gnawing on a Mans Vitals a Vultur preying on his Liver a Snake stinging him to the Heart a Fury Whipping him a Devil tormenting him a Hell kindled in his own Breast Nothing can be too great and terrible to represent it by and hardly any thing can come up to the misery of it when it is in a high degree Religion by delivering us from that delivers us from the greatest trouble and uneasiness of Mind and whoever is not stupid and senseless will fall into that some time or other unless he live Vertuously and Religiously 7. Religion gives us Cheerfull Hopes as to another World and so takes off the immoderate fear of Death which must otherwise all our life make us Subject to Bondage as the Apostle speaks Heb. 2.15 and fill us with wretched and servile Fear whenever we think of dying and we cannot but think of it sometimes when we see the common Fate of Mortality in all others and have some Warnings and