of Worldly Affairs must often raise fuch difficulties as will puzzle the most observing and the most wife, (wife only in the World's Wisdom I mean) how to fteer aright, which way to direct his Coarfe. But at the fame time, which is the wonderous great comfort of the truly Confciencious Man, it is almost impoffible that he should ever be at a lofs which way to take. The Highway of the Upright is to depart from Evil, says Solomon, and for our direction it bids us only look out and find it. Let thine Eyes look right on, and let thy Eyelids look ftraight before thee (Prov. 4. 25. Turn not to the Right Hand nor the Left, remove thy foot from Evil, v. 27. When the Way lyes fo ftraight, and he is fo fure it is the true One, whatever difficulties he may encounter in it, yet he will not venture being loft by feeking By-Roads and making to himself indirect Paths to avoid them. He thinks it, as it really is, the mark of a weak Judgment to trust to his own devices rather than the straight line that is chalk'd out for his direction, and that it is the only true Wisdom and Safety to keep in God's way, and neither defpife the beaten way for its plainness, nor fhun the rugged and difficult one for its danger.

It is not fo very hard, as is often pretended, to understand our Duty; Men may, with much more eafe than they will allways

own,

or

own, know which is the true Way, if they fuffer'd not their Lufts or Affections Intereft to feduce and lead them aftray. But if there fhould ever happen any real difficulty or doubt concerning the Path a Man ought to take, I am confident a good Conscience, a well meaning and fincere Heart, is the best Cafuift in the World; an honest Mind will fooner Refolve this Scruple than the most expert and beft ftudied Divine. God will not fuffer true and earnest endeavours after neceffary Truth, join'd with hearty Refolution to embrace and obey it when found, to be long without finding it. By his Bleffing, all the mists and clouds of Doubting are foon difpell'd from a truly Upright Heart; Unto the Upright there arifes Light in Darkness, fays the Pfalmift,and most true is that of the wife Man, The Righteousness of the Perfect ball direct hisWay. Prov. 11. 3.5

But 2dly, this Upright Walking is not only the easiest and plaineft, but the most becoming a great Mind, and a Man that has any Value for his Reputation or Honour. As much defpis'd as generally it is, yet in it felf it is highly Honourable. And there cannot be a greater fign of the degeneracy of a Nation, nor a worse prefage of what it is further running into, than to find That Honefty, Plainnefs and Simplicity, in which

we

we can only fay, we have heard our Nation once excell'd, and our Ancestors were fo distinguish'd by and fo renown'd for, grown fo worn out and Old fashion'd Qualities, as to be ridicul'd and laugh'd out of the World; and in their room a fort of mean, trifling, fhuffling Sophiftical Policies taken up, which no Man of true Honour or found Judgment would stoop to meddle with. If there were any spark of Virtue, of Magnanimity or trueSenfe left among us, we should have other notions of things; Upright dealing and Truth, for all its Plainnefs and Simplicity, would not appear fo mean or contemptible a thing. Plainnefs itself, let not our fine Gentlemen too much mistake themfelves, is far from being fo. On the contrary, the best Judges have ever heretofore accounted, in all the Works of Art or the Products of Wit, the Compofitions of the Hand or of the Head, whatever is moft Simple and moft Plain, (if it have withal Solidity, Juftice and Proportion) most Durable, most Beautiful, moft Magnificent. And why should not the fame hold good in the Moral, as well as the Artificial or Intellectual Works of Men? Certainly it does, and a Life led in an Equal and Conftant Tenor of Exactness and Juftice, can't choose, how Plain foever it be, nay for being fo, but be Lovely, Honourable, Ve

nerable.

nerable. I am fure St. Paul highly values himself upon fuch aConversation, 2 Cor. 1.12. Our Rejoicing (as the English Translation renders it) but rather as the Original xXnois imports, Our boasting, our glorying is this, the Teftimony of our Confcience, that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity, not with Flesbly Wisdom, we have had our Converfation in the World.

And how grateful fuch a Character was to our Bleffed Saviour himself, we have One remarkable Inftance in that kind Welcome he gave to Nathanael on account of it; when being prefented to him he cry'd out with Admiration and Delight, Behold an Ifraelite indeed in whom is no guile. However therefore fome People may value themfelves upon their Craftiness, it is certainly no great commendation to this Quality,that our Saviour in another place calls Herod Fox, as one of the Higheft Marks of his Deteftation and Contempt of Him. For Certainly nothing makes any Man, especially a Great Man, more Defpicable and Mean, than Cunning: All Difguifes being below the Great, as arguing either want of Wisdom or Power.

It is a very true Maxim of Tully's, that "That Ever becomes every Man belt, that is moft his Own:" and if we reflect on the moft Politick Customs and Manners of Hu

་

man

man Life, nothing we fhall find is truly graceful that is over mix'd or unnaturally forc'd; No word we speak,no phrase we use, no gesture, no tone of voice that is over artificial, but it presently offends; nothing in Beauty, in Habit, in Action, in Motion can please, that is affectedly labour'd and over adorn'd. Nothing has fo much Reverence in Human Conversation, as true Ingenuity, manly Plainness, gentle Easyness, undiffembled Sincerity. Nothing fooner, or more, or longer, affects Men with delight, and love and admiration: nothing is more honourable, nothing more Amiable, nothing indeed more Eafie and Safe. It is very probable, that more of the deep, dark, referv'd, crafty Men have at laft fail'd of their Defigas, than of the plain, upright, honeft Men.

Which is the Third, and last thing I fhall undertake to make good, namely, that Walking uprightly is not only the most easy and plain, the most becoming and honourable, but the prudenteft and furèft way too. That is, downright Hanefty, how mean an Opi nion foever fome Men may have of it, in comparison of their Own Craft and Cunning, is the best Policy at laft.

For First, an experimented Integrity and open Frankness in dealing Naturally begets fuch a Confidence and Truft among Men, as highly promotes the Succefs of a known Honeft