verely threatens him; and therefore amidst all worldly Distractions and Confufions, he is not difmay'd; his Innocence doth infpirit him with Boldness and Courage, he is not afraid to trust God with his Life, and Honour, and Estate, or any thing else that is dear to him; and can with a humble Confidence and Affurance, as it were, challenge the Favour of Heaven, faying with good Hezekiah, Remember, now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in Truth and with a perfect Heart, and have done that which is good in thy fight: tho the Earth fhould be removed, and the Mountains carried into the midst of the Sea; tho the Waters thereof fhould roar and be troubled, and the Mountains Shake and tremble with the fwelling thereof; nay, tho the World should crack and break in pieces about his Ears, yet intrepidum ferient ruina, he would still be unmoved and unshaken. Knowing that his Father, his Friend, his Patron and Benefactor, whom he hath always ferved in the Honefty and Simplicity of his Heart, is Pilot of the Ship in all the Storms and Tempefts of this lower World; he can put his Truft in God, and with an unfhaken Confidence commit himself and all he hath to him, who is engaged to protect and defend the Innocent, who encourage and support themselves in him alone. The Lord is his Strength, his Fortress, his Refuge in the day of Affliction; and under the Shadow of his Wings, as in an impregnable Castle, he can fecurely

fecurely hide and fhelter himself, till these Calamities be overpast.

But now on the other fide, the worldly Projector, who will not trust himself or his Concerns with Almighty Wisdom and Power, but endeavours to fecure himself, and to raise his Fortunes, and make himself great and confiderable in the World by ways of his own devifing, fuch as God doth not allow, nay doth ftrictly forbid; who, as it were, renounces God Almighty's Care and Protection, and places all his Hope and Confidence in his own Craft and Sagacity, hath nothing to support and bear up his Spirit under any Misfortunes. In a time of publick Danger and Calamity he is the most difconfolate forfaken Wretch in the World; his Guilt arms every thing against him, and makes him afraid even of his own Shadow, (like that wicked Emperor Caligula, who every time it thunder'd ran under his Bed, as if he had been aim'd at in every Crack) at fuch a time he is at his wits end, and knows not where to turn himself; and his Hope is as a Spider's Web, nay, as the giving up of the Ghoft.

(2.) An honest and upright Man is most likely to find the best Treatment from other Men, even from the most wicked and ungodly. Who is he that will harm you, faith St. Peter, if ye be Followers of that which is good? ■ Pet. 3. 13. A good Man is armed with Innocence and Harmlesness, which will guard and defend him from the Injuries of wicked and Z 2 lawless

lawless Men his unaffected Piety, and unbi affed Honefty, and undiffembled Charity, the Excellency of his Temper and Difpofition, and the Unblameablenefs of his Life and Converfation will speak in his behalf, and plead his caufe, and procure him fo much Love and Efteem in the World, that there will be but few that can find the heart to do him any mifchief: as the harmless Innocence and Simplicity of little Children do fecure and protect them from all Harm and Violence, and engage every one almoft in their defence. Whence this Obfervation hath been made, and is justified by Experience, that one who is unstable and wavering, is loved by no Man, because he is not fit to be trufted; but a Man who is conftant to worthy and generous Principles, commands the like Conftancy of Efteem and Veneration from all Men, and is commonly fafe and fecure in all times, his very Enemies reverencing fuch invincible Virtue and Honefty. He that defires and defigns nothing but what is fair and reasonable, may promise himself the Good-will of all round about him: whereas he that is deeply engaged in worldly Intrigues, and is refolved, per fas & nefas, to enrich himself, and is always climbing higher, trampling upon all that stand in his all that stand in his way, must neceffarily be engaged in many Quarrels, and make many Enemies, and draw on himfelf the Envy and Ill-will of the proud and ambitious, and live in perpetual Emulation and Contention for as he striveth to exceed and

overtop others, fo others endeavour as much to get before him; and tho for a while he getteth the better, yet his Enemies are at work to undermine him, and blow him up; and he must expect that in a little time some sudden Change of Affairs, fome unlucky Hit or other will tumble him down, and put an end to all his fine Designs and Projects.

(3.) Whatever Misfortunes and Difappointments an honeft upright Man may meet with in the World, yet he incurs no real Difgrace, He fhall not be ashamed in an evil Day: no Man can reproach him, or jufly infult over his Fall. Whereas when the Defigns of ambitious and covetous Oppreffors are frustrated and defeated, when the crafty Politicians of this World are enfnared in their own Devices, the City rejoiceth, it is matter of Sport and Triumph to their Neighbours, and every one acknowledges the Justice of it. But I haften.

(4.) An upright Man, how milerable and forlorn foever his outward Condition be, yet is pleased and fatisfied with himfelf; his Mind is at quiet and tho the Weather abroad be ever fo bluftring and tempeftuous, yet there is a Calm within; and he is then moft ferfible of the Joy and Contentment which flows from Innocence and a rightly-ordered Converfation, when there is the moft Trouble and Confufion without him. When all the Plagues of God are poured upon Egypt, a good Man is a Gofben to himself, hath Light in Darknets, and under the most cloudy Appearance of the

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Heavens,

Heavens, finds nothing but Clearnefs and Serenity in his own Breaft; and a good Confcience can make a Man rich, and great, and happy even in the midst of the greatest worldly Miseries and Distractions.

Whereas when wicked Men are in any Danger or Diftrefs, they have a fecret Enemy in their own Bofoms, and their guilty Confciences will fly in their Faces, and fill them with amazing Fears and Terrors, and rack and torture their Souls with inexpreffible Grief and Anguish. And O! how fad and difconfolate must their Condition needs be, when the Arrows of the Almighty stick falt in them, and the Poifon thereof drinks up their Spirits, and the Terrors of God fet themselves in Array against them; when there is nothing but dif maying Dangers and Distractions abroad, and all outward Hopes fail them, and at the fame time their own Minds write bitter things against them? This will double every Evil that befals them, the Senfe of Guilt being the very Sting and Venom of all outward Trou bles and Diftreffes. But,

2. He that exactly obferves the Rules and Dictates of his own Confcience, will be fure to come off well at laft, in the final Account and Judgment; then God will confirm and ratify the Sentence of his Confcience, and publickly own and approve of what he hath done, and clear and vindicate his Innocence, and reward his Fidelity and Conftancy before

all the World.