up to the true Designs of Providence ? It hath pleased the Almighty to place us in a State where Trouble and Labour are our neceffary Portion, but are we therefore to make them our fole Business? A moderate and prudent Provision for ourfelves and Families is highly reasonable and neceffary for the Well-being of this present Life; but we have Prospects beyond this Life; it is our grand Duty tö be building up for ourselves an Habitation immortal, incorruptible in the higheft Heavens, and that is not to be done by worldly Sollicitude and bodily Labour: The Soul must be purified by Divine Grace, and the Mind must be form'd into the Approbation and Habit, and pleafurable Performance of the good and acceptable and perfect Will of God: His Laws muft be our Study; his Commands our Practice; his Service our Delight.

THIS Life is a State of Pilgrimage, wherein we ought to be preffing homeward with all Diligence and Expedition; and shall the present Refreshments we receive cut us off from our future ProVOL. II.

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fpects?

fpects? Can looking out for mère Conveniencies and Accomodations upon our Journey be thought any Excufe for our neglecting our Home? Can our Concern for flender and uncertain Advantages make it at all reasonable that the one Thing needful fhould likewife be the one Thing difregarded? What is this other than by fecuring to ourselves a low temporal Emolument to preclude ourselves from enjoying the Glories of God's King. dom?

OUR Bleffed Saviour affures us, we cannot ferve God and Mammon; we are therefore to seek firft the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness; and to efteem all earthly Bleffings as accidental and fubordinate Inftances of Happiness, to be de fired with Moderation, to be pursued with Indifference, to be enjoyed with Modesty, to be parted from with Refignation; to be fuch as may contribute to our present Comfort, and adminifter to our future Welfare, but fuch wherein our true Happinef's does not confift, fuch confequently upon which we are to place no De. pendance.

I

То

To forfake all and follow Chrift was the primitive Teft of Gospel Perfection, and however we may not be call'd upon actually to forfake our all, yet it is our Duty to be in a Difpofition to give up every thing that is near and dear to us in this Life, if it fhould please the Almighty in the Course of his Providence to require it at our Hands ; fuch a Difpofition is to be wrought in us, not by a warm Pursuit after worldly Bufinefs, but by a refined and mortified Spirit of true Holinefs; and fuch a Spirit as this must refult from a regular and habitual Performance of Religious Duties, a jealous and conftant Attendance on Divine Services: Tho' all Regard for the Things of this World is not to be given up, tho' a proper and modeft Care be even commanded, yet a large and intense Degree of fuch Care is finful, and that for this plain Reason, because it is a means of weaning our Affections from the Objects of Eternity, and fixing them upon the vain and perishable things of this Life; it thereby flackens our Preparations for VOL II.

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Heaven,

Heaven, and confequently hinders our
Arrival thither.

WE frequently find Perfons in the laft Stage of their Life declaring, that they have been honeft in their Dealings and industrious in their Callings; they hope God will accept them upon those Terms, and excufe the Neglect of their Duty to Him: There indeed they have been faulty; in other Words, they have pursued Trifles, and neglected their main Bufinefs, and expect to be rewarded in confequence: Honefty is but a fcanty Inftance of Obedience, worldly Industry. cannot fave: Is earthly Provifion a fuitable Preparative for Heaven? Is getting an Estate, or raifing our Character, a proper Purchase of Eternal Blifs? Can the Cares and Incumbrances of this World be a Means of tuning and harmonizing our Souls for Spiritual and Divine Joys? God's Kingdom is to be attained by a steady Course of Virtue and Piety; and those only who act up to God's Glory will partake of his Happiness,

IF therefore Religion be the one Thing needful, let us make it our entire Choice;

if it be that good Part which shall not be taken from us, let us make it our own, and let us keep it fo; in the midst of our worldly Engagements, let us be frequent ly calling our Minds off from every thing which may tend to unfettle our Affections for Heaven, and prove an Obstacle in our Way thither; that, while we are encompaffed about with fenfible Objects, our Faith may never be shaken, nor our Hope weaken'd by the Power of them; Let us be frequently turning ourThoughts and Defires heavenward, always remembring that fubordinate Degrees of Happinefs call only for fubordinate Degrees of Concern: Whatever becomes of our Bodies, the Strefs of our Care and Diligence must be laid out upon our Souls; the former are not to be entirely neglected, but the latter müft be provided for absolutely. This is the only Compofition between this World and the next, to make a Spirit of Devotion the leading Principle of our Souls, and that will fanctify whatever we poffefs, whatever we do; to make God's Glory the main

End