V.

a Rule demonftrable, from Nature and Expe- s ER M. rience, to be a Friend to Pleasure, by ennobling it; by extending it beyond the Limits which ungoverned Paffion will ever confine it to; and by freeing it from those Mixtures of Evil and Pain, which the contrary Rule will certainly throw into it.

You fee, then, that, in the Account of Reason, which always confiders all the Circumstances and mutual Relations of Things, the Love of Pleafure is not, in itself, a Crime; but, indeed, the Law of God, who created Man what He is, and placed Him in fuch a World as This; and is himself the Author of that Pleasure, which neceffarily results from his own Works, and his own Will. You will fee, if you go a Step farther, that Reason itself will support the fevere Cenfure of the Apoftle, in the Text, fixt upon Thofe, not who are Lovers of Pleasure (for the Apostle does not reft his Cenfure there) but who are Lovers of Pleafure, more than Lovers of God: i. e. who prefer the paffionate Purfuit of particular Inftances of Pleafure, before the Regard due to the Laws of that God, who is the great Author of Pleasure itself, to whom they owe the Poffibility of enjoying it.

very

Let us, therefore, from This, and from what has been faid, argue, that They, who purfue

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SER M. purfue Pleafure in Contradiction to the Laws

V.

of God, or to his Difhonour, are ungrateful to Him, who alone gave them this Good, by being Lovers of Pleasure more than Lovers of God: that They who pursue it in any Inftances, in Violation of the Peace and Rights of Neighbourhood, are very bad Members of Society, by being Lovers of Pleafure more than Lovers of their Neighbours: and that They, who pursue it to the Hurt or Ruine of their own Honour, Reputation, Eftate, Health, and Families, are unjust to their own Interests, by being, truly, Lovers of Pleafure more than Lovers of Themselves, in that Senfe in which they ought to be fo; expofing Themselves, for the Sake of a prefent violent Passion, to the Lofs of every thing dear in this World; even of all their own Happiness, which can never fubfift, but under the Direction of Virtue.

To fumm up the Whole of what is justly to be faid; If We chufe to confider Ourselves as Beings concerned chiefly in the finding out, and enjoying, the Pleafures of this World only; it is most certainly true, That, in this View only, however the Unexperienced may flatter themselves, the Courfe of Pleasure must, and will, be limited by fomething or other; and the wild Purfuer muft, and will, be ftopt, by fome Obftacle or other, in his Career. And

I

whether

y.

whether any Man will not be more eafy, and S ER M. fatisfied, in the Reflexion that good Reasons, though of present Concernment only, have prevented the utter Ruine of his Happiness, by confining his Pleafures within the Bounds of fuft and Right, than in the Thought of having left them to be totally stopped, and deftroyed, by the natural Confequences only of his own unrestrained Paffion; let Himfelf judge.

But, if We will be fo juft to Ourselves, as not to ftop here; but to go, as We ought, into a Course of Thoughts much more worthy of fuch Creatures as We are; If We would look farther into Ourfelves, and confider our own Frames; and also the main Design of our great Mafter, Chrift himself, in coming into the World; We could not but find still plainer Demonftrations, that Reason was given Us to govern the Love of Pleafure. For We should very clearly fee, That, as We have Faculties adapted to fenfible Objects in this fhort Life; fo We have Others, of an higher Nature, to govern them, which look forward, towards a better State to come: That We are made with

fuch Capacities, and fuch Powers, of Reafoning, Reflexion, and Judgment upon our own Conduct, as will force Us to acknowledge ourfelves capable of being called to a strict Account, and framed exactly as We should have been, up

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SER M. on the Suppofition that fo it will be: That, as it is perfectly agreeable to the Reason of Mankind to expect it, fo our Bleffed Lord, by a plain Declaration, fufficiently attefted by his Refurrection from the Dead, has affured the World that fuch a folemn Day of Account will come, in which the Triumph will belong to Those, who have here below kept the Love of Pleafure in Subjection to the Love of Virtue, and true Happiness; and Shame and Distress to Those, who have been Lovers of Pleasure, more than Lovers of God, their Neighbours, or Themselves. And Thefe will be fuch Arguments, as will fet us above every Allurement; and engage us to live the prefent Life by that Religious Wifdom, whofe Ways are Ways of Pleafantnefs, and all whofe Paths are Peace: and will certainly conduct us fafe, thro' a short delufive Scene of the fleeting Images of Pleafure only, to the real and lasting Pleasures of a State of Happiness, never more to be interrupted, either by our own Paffions, or any other Enemy,

St. PAUL'S Difcourfe to FELIX.

SERMON VI.

Preached before the KING, Febr. 15, 1729-30.

ACTS xxiv. part of 24th and 25th Verfes. He fent for Paul, and heard Him concerning the Faith in Chrift: And as He reafoned of Righteoufnefs, Temperance, and Judgment to come, Felix trembled.

T

VI.

HE Perfons here fpoken of are, St. SERM. Paul, a faithful Preacher of the Gospel of Jefus Chrift; and Felix, the Governour of Judea: St. Paul, now a Prisoner, under the Apprehenfion of all the Evils which the Malice and Importunity of the Whole Body of the Jews might extort from their Governour, now his Judge: and a Governour, whose perfonal Character, it appears from a Roman Hiftorian, as well as from what is faid of Him in this Chapter, might well have increased the

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Apoftle's