fons that are fuitable to his own. Perfections; that is, by reasons that are perfectly Juft and Good. And upon this ac count it is, that he is perfectly happy in himself, because he hath the Poffeffion and Enjoyment of the most Excellent and Infinite Good. Now this fhews, that's as our Happiness doth confift in our draw ing near unto God, by a Rectitude, Goodnefs, and Purity of Nature, as far as it is confiftent with our Finite and Mortal condition; fo our Perfection doth confift in an entire and Univerfal Conformity of our Wills and Affections to His, when we chufe and refufe, Love and Hate in every Particular, juft as he commands us. This, I fay, is our Perfection; be caufe, hereby we are conducted as hey himself is, by the Infinite Reason of his Mind; only, indeed, we are Govern'd by it at Second Hand: For as His Will goes along by the prefcriptions of his own Reafon, which is the Law of all his Actions; fo we go along by the Prefcriptions of his Will; and then we are perfect as God is; I mean ftill, according to the capacities of Humane Nature. It is neceffary therefore, that our Practice of Virtue be Univerfal and Uniform, or that we habitually live according to the whole Will of God; because where we

come

come fhort of this Uniformity, there we come fhort of that Perfection, and by confequence, of that Happiness, which is the great fcope and design of Christianity, This is the meaning of Divines, when they tell us, that there must be in us a Perfection of Parts, though we are not capable of a perfection of Degrees; that is, there must be the prefence of every Virtue, though there be at the fame time fuch a mixture of Corruption with our nobleft Endowments, that we cannot exercise them in that high pitch as we fhall do in the next Life, when we fhall be of perfect Stature; even as a Child in the Womb hath all the neceffary Parts and Lineaments of a Man, though it will be long before he comes to a full Growth and Proportion.

.

CONSIDER then, I beseech you, and you especially who have been Partakers of the Bleffed Viands of Immortality, what ftrict Obligations ye have entred into, and what manner of Persons ye ought to be in all Holy Converfation and Godliness. You are now to fulfil all Righteoufnefs; you are now to deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lufts; you are now to do, as the Combatants in the old Olympick Games, to lay afide every weight that might opprefs, and every In

*

cumbrance that might intangle you, and to run with Perfeverence the

race that is fet before you; and you are to remem ber, what the Apoftle tells us, Jam. 2. 10. Whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, is become guilty of all; that is, Guilty of Difobedience, and Obnoxious to Punishment, as well as if he had violated all.

THAT you may not mifcarry therefore, through the Wilful neglect of any neceffary Duty, or by the prefumptuous Commiffion of any heinous Sin, lay daily before your Eyes the perfect Law of Liberty, which our Bleffed Saviour and 1d his Apoftles have left us as the Infallible Rule of a perfectly Chriftian Life. And for your more cafie performance, I fhall now briefly reprefent to you a Scheme and Platform of Virtue, agreeable to thofe Precepts which are fcatter'd up and down in the Holy Scriptures, as a very fit and proper Undertaking, to come at the close of this whole Subject.

3

I begin with that which is the fource and Principle of our Actions, whether they be good or evil, the inner Man Keep thy Heart with all diligence; for out of it are the Iffues of Life, Prov..4. 25. As a good Man out of the good Treafure of the Heart, bringeth forth good

things,

things, fo an evil Man out of the evil Treafure bringeth forth evil things, Matth. 12. 35. For out of the Heart proceed evil Defigns, Murders, Adulteries, Fornications, Thefts, falfe Witnefs, Blafphemies, Mat. 15. 19. It is a good thing therefore, that (principally in this fenfe) the Heart be established with Grace, Heb. 139. Blessed are the pure in Heart, for they shall fee God, Matth. 5. 8.

THE good things which come out of this hidden Treasure are ufually divided into three general kinds, as St. Paul hath reckoned them, Tit. 2. 12. Sobriety, Righteoufnefs, and Godliness: Under which three Heads are comprehended all the feveral Duties which relate to our felves, and to our Neighbours, and to God himself. According to which Divifion, I fhall proceed:

FIRST, to lay before you thofe Virtues which more immediately relate to your felves in a feparate and Perfonal capacity, as I find them propofed in the Holy Scriptures.

LEARN of Chrift in the very first place, to be lowly in Heart, Mat. 11. 29. God hath respect unto the lowly, Pf. 138. 6. He giveth Grace unto the lowly, Prov. 3.34. Be ye therefore cloathed with Hu mility, 1 Pet. 5. 5. Let this mind be in

R 3

you

you, which was also in Chrift Jefus ; who being in the form of God, thought if no Robbery to be equal with God, but made himSelf of no Reputation, and took upon him the form of a Servant, and, was made in the likeness of Men; and being found in Fashion as a Man, he humbled himself and became Obedient unto Death, even the death of the Cross, Phil. 2. 5, 6, 7, 8. That no one of you be puffed up, 1 Cor. 4. 6. That ye be not high minded, but fear, Rom. 11. 20. That That ye mind not high things, but condefcend to Men of low Eftate, Rom. 12. 16. That ye think not of your felves more highly than ye ought to think, but think foberly, according as God hath dealt to every Man the Measure of Faith, Rom. 12.3. And that ye truft not in uncertain Riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, 1 Tim 6. 17.

NEXT. of Kin to this Virtue of Hu mility is that of Meeknefs; fuch a Beauty of the Mind, that it is called the Ornament of a meek and a quiet Spirit, which even in the fight of God is of great Price, 1 Pet. 3.4. To recommend it unto us, God requires us to be (as he himself is) flow to wrath, Jam. 1. 19. To cease from Anger, P. 37. 8. Not to be angry without a caufe, Mat. 5.22. Nor to be angry in fuch a measure as to Sin; or to

I

let