Friends forfake him, or the Means of maintaining his Pleafures fail him, and the mifera ble Man become Poor and Defpifed? Not to mention a great many more Evils, which will make him uncapable of any Confolation, eat into the Heart of his beft Enjoyments, and become Gall and Wormwood to his choiceft Delicacies.

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And has he not now, think you, made admirable Provifion for his Pleasures? Has he not done himself a wonderful Piece of Service, by freeing himself from the Drudgery, as he calls it, of Virtue and Religion? Alas, Poor Man This is the only Thing that would now have fecured him from all these fad Accidents and Difpleafures. The Good Man fits above the Reach of Fortune, and, in fpite of all the Viciffitudes and Uncertainties of this Lower World, with which other Men are continually alarm'd, enjoys a conftant and undifturbed Peace. Thofe Evils that may be Avoided (and really a great many which afflict mortal Men, are fuch) he by his Prudent Conduct and Government of himself, wholly prevents. And thofe that are Unavoidable, he takes by fuch a Handle, that they have no Power to do him any Harm: For he is indeed poffeffed of that which the Alchymifts in vain feek for: Such a Sovereign Art he has, that he can turn the Bafeft Metals into Gold, make fuch an Ufe of the worst Ac cidents that can befal him, that they fhalb not be accounted his Miferies, but his Enjoy

ments.

So that, however the Varieties of his

Condition

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Condition may occafion a Change in his Pleafures, yet can they never caufe any Lofs or Deftruction of them.

And this Security he enjoys, not as fome of the Stoicks of old pretended to do, by an imaginary Infenfibility, or by changing the Names of Things, calling that no Evil, which really is one: But by an abfolute Refignation of himself to the Will of God, and an hearty acquiefcing in his wife Providence. He is certain, there is a God that governs the World, and that nothing happens to him, but by his Order and Appointment. And he is certain alfo, that this God hath a real Kindness for him, and would not dispense any Event unto him, but what is really for his Good and Advantage. And thefe Thoughts fo fupport his Spirit, that he not only bears patiently, but thanks God for whatever happens to him. And instead of fretting and complaining, that Things fucceed otherwife than he expected, he refolves with himself, That that Condition, whatever it be, in which he actually is, is indeed beft for him, and that which he himfelf, were he to be the Carver of his Fortunes, fuppofing him but truly to understand his own Concernments, would chufe for himself above all others.

But farther, Besides this Security from Outward Disturbances, which our Virtue obtains for us, there is another Evil, which it alfo delivers us from, with which the wicked Man is almost perpetually haunted, and which feldom fuffers him to enjoy any fincere, unmingled

unmingled Pleasure. That which I mean is the Pangs of an Evil Confcience, the Fears, the Reftlefness, the Confufion, the Amazements that arise in his Soul, from the Sense of his Crimes, and the juft Apprehenfions of the Shame and Vengeance that doth await them, poffibly in this Life, but most certainly in the Life to come.

How happy, how profperous foever the Sinner be as to his other Affairs, yet these Furies he fhall be fure to be plagued with : No Pompoufnefs of Condition, no coftly Entertainments, no Noife of Company, will be able to drive them away. Every Man that is wicked, cannot but know that he is fo; and that very Knowledge is a Principle of perpetual Anguish and Difquietude. Be his Crimes never fo fecret, yet he cannot be confident they will always continue fo, and the very Apprehenfion of this makes him feel all the Shame and Amazement of a prefent Discovery. But put the Cafe, he hath had the good Luck to fin fo clofely, or in fuch a Nature, that he need fear nothing from Men; yet he knows there is an offended God, to whom he hath a fad and a fearful Reckoning to make; a God too Juft to be Bribed, too Mighty to be Over-awed, too Wife to be Impofed upon. And is not the Man, think you, under fuch Reflections as these, likely to live a very Comfortable Life? Ah! none knows the Bitterness of them but himself that feels them. To the Judgment of others, he perhaps appears a very happy Man; he hath the World

at

at his beck, all Things feem to confpire to make him a great Example of Profperity; we admire, we applaud his Condition. But, ah! we know not how fad a Heart he often carries under this fair Out-fide: We know not with what fudden Damps his Spirit is often ftruck, even in the Height of his Revellings. We know not how unquiet, how broken his Sleeps are, how oft he ftarts and looks pale; when the Wife that lies by his Side underftands not what the matter is with him. tim od

J

He doth, indeed, endeavour all he can to ftifle his Cares, and to ftop the Mouth of this feience. He thinks to divert it with Business, or to flatter it with little Sophistries, or to drown it with Rivers of Wine, or to calm it with foft and gentle Airs. And he is, indeed, fometimes fo fuccessful in these Arts, as for a while to lay it afleep. But, alas ! this is no lafting Peace; the leaft Thing awakens it, even the Sound of a Paffing-Bell, or a Clap of Thunder; nay, a frightful Dream, or a melancholy Story, hath the Power to do it, and then the poor Man returns to his Torment.

And now judge you, whether the Honeft and Virtuous Man, that is free from all thefe Agonies, that is at Peace with God, and at Peace with his own Confcience; that apprehends nothing terrible from the one, nor feels any thing troublesome from the other, but is fafe from Himself, and from all the World, in his own Innocence: Judge, I fay, whether fuch a one hath not laid to himself better and

Surer

furer Foundations for Pleafure, and a happy Life, than the Man that by indulging his Lufts and Vices, only breeds up a Snake in his Bofom, which will not cease to fing and gall him beyond what a Tongue is able to exprefs, or a witty Cruelty to invent.

Fourthly and Laftly, Befides the Benefits of Religion for removing the Hindrances of our Pleafures; it alfo adds to Human Life a world of Pleafures of its own, which vicious Men are utterly unacquainted with.

.

And these are of fo excellent a Kind, fo delicious, fo enravifhing, that the highest Gratifications of Senfe, are not comparable to them. Never till we come to be heartily Religious, do we understand what true Pleafure is. That which arifeth from the grateful Motions that are made in our outward Senfes, is but a faint Shadow, a mere Dream of it. Then do we begin to enjoy true Pleafures indeed, when our Higheft and Divineft Faculties, which were wholly laid afleep while we lived the Life of Senfe, begin to be awakened, and to exercise themselves upon their proper Objects; when we become acquainted with God, and the infinite Abyss of Good that is in him; when our Hearts are made fenfible of the great Love and Good-will he bears us; and in that Senfe are powerfully carried out in Joy, and Love, and Defire after him. When we feel the Divine Nature daily more and more difplayed in our Souls, fhewing forth itself in the bleffed Fruits of Charity, and Peaceablenefs, and Meek

nefs,