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go in and poffefs the Land, whither you go to poffefs it.

THE Gofpel is quite of another Nature, and is a Call to a very different State, it lays its firft Foundation in the Renunciation of the World, as a State of falfe Goods and Enjoyments, which feed the Vanity and Corruption of our Nature, fill our Hearts with foolish and wicked Paffions, and keep us feparate from God, the only Happiness of all Spirits.

My Kingdom, faith our bleffed Saviour, is not of this World; by which we may be affured, that no Worldlings are of his Kingdom.

WE have a farther Representation of the Contrariety, that there is betwixt this Kingdom and the Concerns of this World. A certain Man, faith our Lord, made a great Supper, and bade many, and sent his Servant at fupper-time, to lay to them that were bidden, come, for all Things are now ready; and they all with one Confent began to make Excufe. The firft faid, I have bought a Piece of Ground, and I must needs go and fee it; another faid, I have bought five Yoke of Oxen, and I go to prove them, I pray thee have me excufed; another faid, I have married a Wife, and therefore I cannot come.

WE find that the Mafter of the House was angry, and faid, None of those Men

which were bidden, fhall taste of my Supper (a).

OUR Saviour a little afterwards applies it all in this Manner, Whosoever be be of you, that forfaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my Difciple. We are told, that when the Chief Priests and Pharifees heard our Saviour's Parables, they perceived that he Spoke of them (b).

IF Christians hearing the above-recited Parable, are not pricked in their Hearts, and don't feel that our Saviour speaks of them, it must be own'd that they are more hardened than Jews, and more unfincere than Pharifees.

THIS Parable teaches us, that not only the Vices, the Wickedness and Vanity of this World, but even its most lawful and allow'd Concerns, render Men unable>>ay to enter, and unworthy to be received into the true State of Christianity.

THAT he who is bufied in an honeft and lawful Calling, may on that Account be as well rejected by God, as he who is vainly employ'd in foolish and idle Purfuits.

THAT it is no more pardonable to be i less affected to the Things of Religion, for

(4) Luke xiv. 16.

(6) Mat. xxi. 45.

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the Sake of any worldly Business, than for the Indulgence of our Pride, or any other Paffion, it farther teaches us, that Chriftianity is a Calling that puts an End to all other Callings, that we are no longer to confider it as our proper State, or Employment, to take care of Oxen, look after an Eftate, or attend the moft plaufible Affairs of Life, but to reckon every Condition as equally trifling, and fit to be neglected, for the Sake of the one thing needful.

MEN of serious Bufinefs and Management, generally cenfure those who trifle away their Time in idle and impertinent Pleasures, as vain and foolish, and unworthy of the Chriftian Profeffion.

BUT they don't confider that the Bufinefs of the World, where they think they fhew fuch a manly Skill and Addrefs, is as vain as Vanity it felf; they don't consider that the Cares of an Employment, an Attention to Business, if it has got hold of the Heart, renders Men as vain and odious in the Sight of God, as any other Gratification.

FOR though they may call it an honest Care, a creditable Induftry, or by any other plaufible Name, yet it is their particular Gratification, and a Wisdom that can no more recommend it felf to the Eyes of God, than the Wisdom of an Epicure.

FOR

FOR it fhews as wrong a Turn of Mind, as falfe a Judgment, and as great a Contempt of the true Goods, to neglect any Degrees of Piety, for the Sake of Bufiness, as for any the most trifling Pleasures of Life.

THE Wisdom of this World gives am Importance, and Air of Greatness to feveral Ways of Life, and ridicules others as vain and contemptible, which differ only in their kind of Vanity; but the Wisdom from above condemns all Labour, as equally fruitless, but that which labours after everlasting Life. Let but Religion determine the Point, and what can it fignify, whether a Man forgets God in his Farm, or a Shop, or at a Gaming-Table? For the World is full as great and important in its Pleafures, as in its Cares; there is no more Wisdom in the one, than in the other; and the Christian that is govern'd by either, and made lefs affected to Things of God by them, is equally odious and contemptible in the Sight of God.

AND though we diftinguish betwixt Cares and Pleafures, yet if we would fpeak exactly, it is Pleasure alone that governs and moves us in every State of Life. And the Man, who in the Business of the World would be thought to purfue it, because of its Ufe and Importance, is as much govern'd

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governed by his Temper and Tafte for Pleasures, as he who ftudies the Gratification of his Palate, or takes his Delight in running Foxes and Hares out of Breath.

FOR there is no Wisdom or Reason in any thing but Religion, nor is any Way of Life lefs vain than another, but as it is made serviceable to Piety, and conspires with the Designs of Religion to raise Mankind to a Participation and Enjoyment of the Divine Nature.

THEREFORE does our Saviour equally call Men from the Cares of Employments, as from the Pleafures of their Senses, because they are equally wrong Turns of Mind, equally nourish the Corruption of our Nature, and are equally nothing when compared to that high State of Glory, which by his Sufferings and Death he has merited for us.

PERHAPS Chriftians who are not at all afham'd to be devoted to the Cares and Business of the World, cannot better perceive the Weaknefs and Folly of their Defigns, than by comparing them with such States of Life, as they own to be vain and foolish, and contrary to the Temper of Religion.

SOME People have no other Care, than how to give their Palate fome fresh Pleafure, and enlarge the Happiness of Tafting.

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