be difquieted; the natural confciences of men being not more apt to difquiet them for any thing, than for the neglect of thofe moral duties which natural light teacheth them. Peace of confcience is the effect of an impartial and univerfal obedience to the laws of God; and I hope no man will blame religion for that which plainly proceeds from the want of religion.

Or, laftly, a melancholy temper and difpofition; which is not from religion, but from our nature and conftitution: and therefore religion ought not to be charged with it.

And thus I have endeavoured, as briefly and plainly as I could, to reprefent to you what peace and pleasure, what comfort and fatisfaction, religion rightly understood and fincerely practifed is apt to bring to the minds of men. And I do not know by what fort of argument religion can be more effectually recommended to wife and confiderate men. For, in perfuading men to be religious, I do not go about to rob them of any true pleasure and contentment, but to direct them to the very beft, nay indeed the only way of attaining and fecuring it.

I fpeak this in great pity and compaffion to those who make it their great defign to please themfelves, but do grievously mistake the way to it. The direct way is that which I have fet before you; a holy and virtuous life; to deny ungodliness and worldly lufts, and to live foberly, and righteously, and godly in this prefent world. A good man (faith Solomon) is fatisfied from himself: He hath the pleafure of being wife, and acting reafonably; the pleafure of being juftified to himself in what he doth, and of being acquitted by the fentence of his own mind. There is a great pleasure in being innocent; because that prevents guilt and trouble. It is pleasant to be virtuous and good, becaufe that is to excel many others; and it is pleasant to grow better, because that is to excel ourfelves: nay it is pleasant even to mortify and fubdue our lufts, becaufe that is victory. It is pleasant to command our appetites and paffions, and to keep them in due order, within the bounds of reafon and religion; because this is a kind of empire, this is to govern. It is naturally pleafant to rule and have power over others; but he is the great and the abfolute prince, who commands himself. This is the kingdom of God within us; a dominion infi

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nitely

nitely to be preferred before all the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them. It is the kingdom of God defcribed by the Apoftle, which confifts in righteoufnefs, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghoft. In a word, the pleafure of being good, and of doing good, is the chief happiness of God himself.

But now, the wicked man deprives himself of all this pleasure, and creates perpetual difcontent to his own mind. O the torments of a guilty confcience, which the finner feels more or lefs all his life long! But, alas! thou dost not yet know the worst of it, no not in this world. What wilt thou do when thou comeft to die? What comfort wilt thou then be able to give thyself; or what comfort can any one else give thee, when thy confcience is miferably rent and torn by those waking furies which will then rage in thy breaft, and thou knoweft not which way to turn thyself for ease? Then, perhaps, at Jaft the priest is unwillingly fent for, to patch up thy confcience as well as he can, and to appease the cries of it; and to force himfelf, out of very pity and good nature, to fay, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. But, alas! man, what can we do? what comfort can we give thee, when thine iniquities testify against thee to thy very face? How can there be peace, when thy lufts and debaucheries, thy impieties to God, and thy injuries to men, have been fo many? How can there be peace, when thy whole life hath been a continued contempt and provocation of almighty God, and a perpetual violence and affront to the light and reafon of thy own mind ?

Therefore whatever temptation' there may be in fin at a distance, whatever pleasure in the act and commission of it; yet remember, that it always goes off with trouble, and will be bitterness in the end. Those words of Solomon have a terrible fting in the conclufion of them, Rejoice, young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the fight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

This one thought, which will very often unavoidably break into our minds, that God will bring us into judgment, is enough to dafh all our contentment, and to fpoil all the pleasure of a finful life. Never expect to be quiet

in

in thine own mind, and to have the true enjoyment of thyfelf, till thou livest a virtuous and religious life.

And if this difcourfe be true, as I am confident I have every man's confcience on my fide; I fay, if this be true, let us venture to be wife and happy; that is, to be religious. Let us refolve to break off our fins by repentance s to fear God, and keep his commandments, as ever we defire to avoid the unfpeakable torments of a guilty mind, and would not be perpetually uneasy to ourselves.

Grant, we beseech thee, almighty God, that we may every one of us know and do in this our day the things that belong to our peace, before they be hid from our eyes. And the God of peace which brought again from the dead our Lord Jefus Chrift, the great fhepherd of the fheep, by the blood of the everlasting covenant, make us perfect in every good work to do bis will, working in us always that which is well-pleafing in his fight, through Jefus Christ our Lord; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

SER R M
MON XIII

The nature and benefit of confideration,

PSA L. cxix. 59.

I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy teftimonies.

Τ'

HE two great causes of the ruin of men are, infidelity, and want of confideration. Some do not believe the principles of religion; or at least have, by arguing against them, rendered them fo doubtful to themfelves, as to take away the force and efficacy of them. But thefe are but a very fmall part of mankind, in comparison of thofe who perish for want of confidering these things for moft men take the principles of religion for granted, That there is a God and a providence, and a state of rewards and punishments after this life;

:

and

and never entertained any confiderable doubt in their minds to the contrary: but for all this, they never attended to the proper and natural confequences of these principles, nor applied them to their own cafe; they never feriously confidered the notorious inconfiftency of their lives with this belief, and what manner of perfons they ought to be, who are verily perfuaded of the truth of these things.

For no man that is convinced that there is a God, and confiders the neceffary and immediate confequences of fuch a perfuafion, can think it fafe to affront him by a wicked life. No man that believes the infinite happinefs and mifery of another world, and confiders withal that one of these fhall certainly be his portion according as he demeans himself in this present life, can think it indifferent what courfe he takes. Men may thrust away thefe thoughts, and keep them out of their minds for a long time; but no man that enters into the serious confideration of these matters, can poffibly think it a thing indifferent to him, whether he be happy or miserable for

ever.

So that a great part of the evils of mens lives would be cured, if they would but once lay them to heart: would they but feriously confider the confequences of a wicked life, they would fee fo plain reafon, and fo urgent a neceffity for the reforming of it, that they would not venture to continue any longer in it. This courfe David took here in the text, and he found the happy fuccefs of it: I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy teftimonies.

In which words there are these two things confiderable.

1. The courfe which David here took for the reforming of his life: I thought on my ways.

2. The fuccefs of this courfe. It produced actual and speedy reformation: I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy teftimonies: I made hafte, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.

Thefe are the two heads of my following discourse; which when I have spoken to, I fhall endeavour to perfuade myself and you to take the fame course which Da

vid here did; and God grant that I may have the fame effect.

First, We will confider the course which David here took for the reforming of his life: I thought on my ways or, as the words are rendered in our old translation, I called my own ways to remembrance. And this may either fignify a general furvey and examination of his life, refpecting indifferently the good or bad actions of it; or elfe, which is more probable, it may specially refer to the fins and mifcarriages of his life: I thought on my ways; that is, I called my fins to remembrance. Neither of thefe fenfes can be much amifs, in order to the effect mentioned in the text, the reformation and amendment of our lives and therefore neither of them can reasonably be excluded, though I fhall principally infift upon the latter.

I. This thinking on our ways may fignify a general furvey and examination of our lives, refpecting indifferently our good and bad actions: for way is a metaphorical word, denoting the course of a man's life and actions. I thought on my ways; that is, I examined my life, and called myfelf to a ftrict account for the actions of it; I compared them with the law of God, the rule and meafure of my duty, and confidered how far I had obeyed that law, or offended against it; how much evil I had been guilty of, and how little good I had done, in comparison of what I might and ought to have done: that by this means I might come to understand the true state and condition of my foul; and difcerning how many and great my faults and defects were, I might amend whatever was amifs, and be more careful of my duty for the future.

And it must needs be a thing of excellent ufe, for men to set apart some particular times for the examination of themselves, that they may know how accounts ftand between God and them. Pythagoras, or whoever was the author of those golden verfes which pafs under his name, doth efpecially recommend this practice to his scholars, Every night before they flept, to call themselves to account for the actions of the day paft; inquiring wherein they had tranfgreffed, what good they had done that day, or omitted to do. And this, no doubt, is an admirable

means