If this Life be our Time to work in, we fhould not confult our Eafe and Softness, and Pleasures here; for this is a Place of Labour and Diligence, not of Reft: We are a travelling to Heaven, and must have our Eye on our Journey's End, and not hunt after Pleasures and Diverfions in the Way.

The great End of living in this World, is to be happy in the next; and therefore we muft wifely improve prefent Things, that they may turn to our future Account; muft make to ourselves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness, that when we fail, they may receive us into everlasting Habitations. What concerns a better Life, must take up most of our Thoughts and Care; and whatever endangers our future Happiness, must be rejected with all it's Charms. It would not be worth the while to live fome few Years here, were we not to live for ever; and therefore it becomes a wife Man, who remembers that he muft fhortly leave this World, to make his present Life wholly fubfervient to his future Happiness.

SECT.

SECT. II.

The Second Notion of Death, That it is our putting off thefe Bodies.

II.

L

ET us now confider Death as it is our putting off thefe Bodies; for this is the proper Notion of Death, the Separation of Soul and Body, that the Body returns to Duft, the Soul or Spirit unto God who

gave

it. When we die, we do not cease to be, nor cease to live, but only ceafe to live in these earthly Bodies; the vital Union between Soul and Body is diffolved, we are no longer encloyfter'd in a Tabernacle of Flesh, we no longer feel the Impreffions of it, neither the Pains nor Pleasures of the Body can affect us, it can charm, it can tempt, no longer. This needs no Proof, but very well deferves our most serious Meditations.

For, 1. This teaches us the Difference and Distinction betwen Soul and Body, which Men who are funk into Flesh and Senfe, are apt to forget; nay, to lose the very Notion and Belief of it: All their Delights are fleshly, they know no other Pleasures but what. their five Senfes furnish them with; they cannot raise their Thoughts above this Body, nor entertain any noble Defigns, and therefore they imagine, that they are nothing but Flesh and Blood, a little organized and ani

mated

mated Clay; and it is no great Wonder, that Men who feel the Workings and Motions of no higher Principle of Life in them, but Flesh and Senfe, fhould imagine that they are nothing but Flesh themselves. Though, methinks, when we see the senseless and putrifying Remains of a brave Man before us, it is hard to conceive that this is all of him; that this is the Thing which fome few Hours ago could reafon and difcourfe, was fit to govern a Kingdom, or to instruct Mankind, could despise Flesh and Senfe, and govern all his bodily Appetites and Inclinations, and was adorned with all divine Graces and Virtues, was the Glory and Pride of the Age: And is this dead Carcase, which we now fee, the Whole of him? Or was there a more divine Inhabitant, which animated this earthly Machine, which gave Life, and Beauty, and Motion to it, but is now removed?

To be fure, those who believe that Death does not put an End to their Being, but only removes them out of this Body, which rots in the Grave, whlle their Souls furvive, live, and act, and may be happy in a separate State, fhould carefully confider this Diftinction between Soul and Body, which would teach them a moft divine and heavenly Wisdom.

For when we confider, That we consist of Soul and Body, which are the two diftinct Parts of Man, this will teach us to take care

of

of both. For can any Man, who believes he has a Soul, be concerned only for his Body? A compound Creature cannot be happy, unlefs both Parts of him enjoy their proper Pleasures. He who enjoys only the Pleasures of the Body, is never the happier for having a human and reasonable Soul: The Soul of a Beast would have done as well, and it may be better; for brute Creatures relish bodily Pleasures as much, and it may be more, than Men do; and Reafon is very troublesome to thofe Men who refolve to live like Brutes; for it makes them afhamed and afraid, which in many Cafes hinders, or at least allays, their Pleasures. And why fhould not a Man defire the full and entire Happiness of a Man? Why should he despise any Part of himself, and that, as you fhall hear prefently, the beft Part too? And therefore, at leaft, we ought to take as much care of our Souls as of our Bodies. Do we adorn our Bodies, that we may be fit to be feen, and to converse with Men, and may receive those Respects which are due to our Quality and Fortune; and fhall we not adorn our Souls too with thofe Chriftian Graces, which make us lovely in the Sight of God and Men? The Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit, which is in the Sight of God of great Price; which St Peter especially recommends to Christian Women, as a more valuable Ornament than the outward adorning of plaiting the Hair, or wearing

wearing gold, or putting on apparel, 1 Pet. iii. 3, 4. The Ornaments of Wisdom and Prudence, of well-governed Paffions, of Goodness and Charity, which give a Grace and Beauty to all our Actions, and fuch a pleafing and charming Air to our very Countenance, as the most natural Beauty, or artificial Washes and Paints can never imitate.

Are we careful to preferve our Bodies from any Hurt, from Pains and Sickness, from burning Fevers, or the racking Gout or Stone; and fhall we not be as careful of the Eafe of the Mind too? To quiet and calm those Paffions, which when they grow outragious, are more intolerable than all natural or artificial Tortures? To moderate those Defires, which rage like Hunger and Thirft; thofe Fears which convulfe the Mind with trembling and paralytick Motions; thofe furious Tempefts of Anger, Revenge, and Envy, which ruffle our Minds, and fill us with Vexation, Restleffness, and Confufion of Thoughts; efpecially thofe guilty Reflections upon ourselves, that Worm in the Confcience which gnaws the Soul, and torments us with Shame and Remorfe, and dreadful Expectations of an Avenger. These are the Sickneffes and Diftempers of the Soul: These are Pains indeed, more sharp and pungent, and killing Pains than our Bodies are capable of: The Spirit of a man can bear his infirmity; natural Courage, or the Powers of Reason, or the Comforts of Religion,

3.