O that we would feriously think upon thefe Things! We fhould certainly have this Advantage by it, that we should not any longer be cheated with the gaudy Appearances of this World, but look after fomething more folid, more fubftantial, than any thing we find here, to live for, to fet our Hearts and Affections upon. We fhould tremble to think of having received our good Things in this Life, and look upon ourfelves as moft wretched forlorn Creatures, if we had no farther Hopes and Expectancies. And this is the Ufe for which I intended all this Difcourfe, which I beg Leave a little to infift upon, and then I conclude. I have given you (you fee) a Picture, as well as I could draw it, of the State of this present World, and the Condition of that Man, who looks no farther than it. And this, in order (as I told you at the Beginning) to the fhewing the Folly and Madness of placing our Happiness in any thing here to the Neglect of Heaven and Eternity. But I am fenfible this Account I have given will be apt to give Offence to fome. They will fay, that all this Declamation against the World, is little better than a Libel against the Divine Providence. For what doth the reprefenting human Life, as fo imperfect, fo dull, fo miferable an Eftate; what doth this mean, but to call the Goodness and Wifdom of God into Question, Cc 3 Queftion, fince he might as eafily have contrived it better? I anfwer, No fuch Matter. There will appear no Colour for this Objection, if we would confider that God feems on purpose to have framed this earthly State so short, and imperfect, and obnoxious to Evils, as we find it, that we might not set our Hearts upon it; that we might not think of fixing here, but fhould efteem ourselves Strangers and Pilgrims, and look up to him for an abiding and continuing City in another Country. If God had intended that this World fhould have been our Dwellingplace for ever, he would certainly have fo contrived the Frame of it, and fo have ordered all its Affairs, and he would likewife have fo fuited our Natures and Faculties thereunto, that every good Man, at least, should never have failed of enjoying all the Satisfactions and Happiness here that he was capable of. But fince God defigned Men for another and a more glorious Place than this World, and fent them hither only as Probationers, or by way of Trial, how they would ufe thofe Talents that he gave them, and in order to the fitting them for that glorious and eternal Inheritance above; it was the greatest Kindness God could do us, not to make this World too tempting a Place, but to exercife all that come into it with fuch Labours, and Difficulties, and Uneafinesses, that that none, that hath his Wits about him, may be fond of it, but groan after those eternal Manfions that God hath provided for all good Men in Heaven. We come hither as into a School, or Place of Exercife, that, by the fevere Discipline that is here ufed, we might be trained up and fitted for a glorious and immortal State. So that it is for great good Ends to us that we are no happier in this World, and confequently it is no Difparagement to the Goodnefs of God. Others will be apt to quarrel with the Description I have given of the State of this World, upon Account that it is fo melancholy and uncomfortable. This Account of Things (fay they) takes away from us all Poffibility of any tolerable Content or Happiness in this Life. But to them I anfwer, No, by no means, but only from thofe Perfons that expect no other State but this, and therefore live in the World as if they were to live there always. Such Men as thefe, I have fufficiently fhew'd, will always be miferable in the best Circumftances of Life, and therefore much more in the worfe ones. But there is a Way of being very happy, very contented, nay, of perpetually rejoycing in this World. And that is, to fit as loofe as we can from it: Not to enflave ourselves to it; but to govern our AffecCC 4 tions, tions, and Appetites, and Paffions, by the Rule of Reafon and the Word of God: To remember that we were made for the Enjoyment of God, and therefore to love him above all Things, to place our Hope, our Confidence, our Truft, our Dependance, our Joy and Comfort in him, and him only: To make it the Bufinefs of our Lives to approve ourselves to him, by keeping a clear and unfpotted Confcience, by practifing Righteoufnefs, and Sobriety, and Godlinefs in all our Converfation: And lastly, to caft up our Eyes continually to thofe glorious Rewards that our Saviour hath provided for us in the Regions above; fo that Heaven may have our Hearts, our Affections, while this World hath our Bodies. If we frame our Minds and Lives according to thefe Measures, we shall never be miferable, let the World be as calamitous as it will. We fhall be out of the Reach of the common Accidents and Difafters of human Life; that is to say, tho' they come upon us, yet they fhall not harm or difmay us. We fhall have fomething to fupport us, and to bear up our Spirits against every Ruffle, every Disappointment, every Thing that can come crofs to us. And, to conclude, as we fhall enjoy abundance of Peace and Comfort in this World, tho' mixed with fome Uneafinefs, fo, when we come to die, we fhall be the moft |