It will not fatisfie your Engagements, that you do believe and profefs the Gofpel; that you do no wrong to your Neighbours; that you are neither given to Lewdness nor Drunkennefs; (though yet even thefe, as the World goes, are very great Things; and could all Men that profefs Chriftianity, truly fay this of themselves, we fhould fee Heaven upon Earth.) But your Christianity obliges you to afpire after greater Things: you must get yourselves poffeffed of the whole Circle of Vertues; you must be Kind and Charitable, as well as fuft and Honeft; you must be Modeft, and Meek, and Hamble, as well as Temperate and Chafte.

Nay, not only fo, but you are to labour after all these feveral Vertues in the full Latitude and Extent of them, even to that Degree, that every Thing which hath but the Appearance of Evil, is to be avoided by you. You are not only to abftain from Acts of Injuftice, but even from doing a bard Thing to any one; you are not only to keep yourselves within the known Limits of Temperance and Chastity, but to avoid all thofe Things that border upon the Vices oppofite thereunto; and fo as to all other Inftances: If any Thing be of ill Report, and looks infamously to the fober Part of Mankind; why that very Confideration is enough to deter you from the Practice of it: For you are to recommend your Religion to all the Men in the World, by all the Ways that are poffible. In a Word, you are to endeavour to be as free from blame in your whole Conversation, VOL. I T

as

as you poffibly can; and not only fo, but to be as good, and to do as much Good as your Circumftances will allow you.

This now is to be a Christian indeed ; by thus endeavouring you truly walk worthy of that high and Heavenly Calling wherewith you are called, and you do (as the Apostle advises) adorn the Doctrine of God in all Things; and Happy, extremely Happy are they that do thus; for great is their Reward: Great even in this World, in the folid Peace and Affurance of God's Favour which they here enjoy, and which indeed far exceeds all the Bleffings that the Earth can afford; but exceedingly great in the Life to come, when Jefus Chrift fhall come with all the Powers of Heaven to do Honour to thofe that have thus here honoured.him.

Thus have I gone through all the Parts of my Text; but I do not think that I ought fo to leave it. I have given you an Account of the Things that St. Paul hath here directed us to, to be the main Pursuit of our Lives. But I think likewife it will be proper to speak fomething of the Methods of that Pursuit, or the Means which we are to obferve, if we would practise this Text; And here I am to begin anew with my Advices. Several Things I have to reprefent upon this Occafion, and a to exhort you to. I am not much follicitous, whether they strictly belong to my Argument or no: But I defire to leave them with you,as Things that I judge to be very useful,and which I wish may be ever remembred by you.

And

And the First Thing I would exhort you to, is this, That you would endeavour to poffeß your Minds with a hearty Senfe of God Almighty, and the abfolute Neceffity of being feriously Religious.

I do not mention this, as if I thought there was any need to caution you against Atheism or Infidelity; for I hope not many among us are inclined that way. Mankind are naturally disposed to believe a God and Religion; and fince, through God's Bleffing, it is Chriftianity that is the Religion of our Country, and in which we have been all Educated, I look upon an Atheist or an Infidel among us, to be a fort of Prodigy, a ftrange unusual Creature, vaftly different from thofe of his own Kind.

But here is the Thing. Though most of us profefs Religion, and the true Religion, yet many of us have no lively or hearty Senfe of it. We ufe Religion as we do our Cloaths. They are very convenient; Nay, perhaps neceffary, and therefore we wear them, and for the particular Form or Mode of them, we follow, as to that, the Custom of the Country where we live. Yet as the Cloaths we wear,. do not alter the Complexion or Features of our Body, fo neither doth the Religion we profess, any more affect the Temper of our Souls. We serve our selves in both Cafes of the outward Conveniencies that are to be had by them, but we are ftill the fame Perfons, both as to our outward and inward Lineaments.

But, alas! this is a very forry way of being Religious, and will do us no great Kindness. We may perhaps reap fome fecular AdvantaT 2 ges

ges by it, but yet even the very Trouble and Pains it puts us to, do equal the Conveniencies we have from it. The Men that live thus, are just ferved like thofe that work in rich Mines; they are daily imployed about Gold and Silver, or Gems, and they work hard, and they have their Day's Wages for their Labour; but they are not a whit the Richer for the Treafures that come into their Hands.

Your Religion will never ferve you to any extraordinary Purposes, 'till your Hearts be affected with it as well as your Understandings. Let me therefore advise you, as you love either your Happiness in this World, or in the next, make it your principal Care to get a lively and vigorous Senfe of God impreffed upon your Minds; and look upon it as the greatest Intereft you have to carry on, the greatest Bufinefs you have to do in this World (as it really is) to approve yourselves to this God, by a fincere Endeavour in all your Converfation, to walk as his Son Jefus Chrift hath taught you. If you do this, you will certainly find the Sweet and Comfort of it both here and hereafter.

When all is faid, it is a vain Thing for any Man to expect a tolerable eafy Paffage through this World, unless he have the Hopes of God's Favour to fupport him under the Multitude of evil Accidents, which the State of Human Life will neceffarily expofe him to. And as for the other World, without these Hopes he is perfectly loft: And to be able to entertain Rational Hopes of God's Bleffing and Fa

any

vour, is a very vain Thing likewise, unless we make it our Bufinefs, with our whole Hearts and Souls, to serve, and please, and obey Him.

There are a great many Rules and Maxims that we use to give to our Friends or our Children, for the making their Fortunes; and I cannot deny but they are exceeding good ones. Thus for Inftance, we advise them to get a true Understanding of their Business, and to purfue it diligently; to keep out of ill Company, to avoid Drinking or Gaming, and Lewdness, and to ftudy the Tempers and Humours of Mankind, and to learn to apply themselves dexterously to thofe they have occafion to converfe with; why thefe and fuch others, are excellent Rules, and moft worthy of all Men to be ftudied and practifed. But ftill there is one Rule above all thefe, and without which all the other will fignify very little to the making a Man's Life eafy and comfortable; and that is, to preferve a lively Senfe of God upon our Spirits, to have his Fear always before our Eyes, to love him above all Things, to value his Favour more than Life, and to dread his Displeasure as the worst of Evils. If we can but once get our Souls into this Frame, we have done our Bufinefs both for this World and for Eternity; all the other particular Rules and Advices will be in a great measure fuperfluous: For he that is poffeffed of this good Principle, will, of courfe, naturally fall into the Practice of them. And befides this Fear and Love of God in our Hearts, as it is the most effectual T3 Means,