I defire to know now wherein confifts the Sin or Baseness of this Care.

OTHERS live to no other Purpose than to breed Dogs, and attend the Sports of the Field.

OTHERS think all their Time dull and heavy, which is not spent in the Pleafures and Diverfions of the Town.

MEN of fober Bufinefs, who feem to act the grave Part of Life, Part of Life, generally condemn these Ways of Life.

Now I defire to know upon what Account they are to be condemn'd. For produce but the true Reason why any of thefe Ways of Life are vain and finful, and the fame Reafon will conclude with the fame Strength against every State of Life, but that which is entirely devoted to God.

LET the ambitious Man but fhew the Folly and Irregularity of Covetousness, and the fame Reasons will fhew the Folly and Irregularity of Ambition.

LET the Man who is deep in worldly Business, but fhew the Vanity and Shame of a Life that is devoted to Pleasures, and the fame Reasons will as fully fet forth the Vanity and Shame of worldly Cares. So that whoever can condemn Senfuality, Ambition, or any Way of Life, upon the Principles of Reafon and Religion, carries

his

his own Condemnation within his own Breaft, and is that very Person which he defpifes, unlets his Life be entirely devoted to God.

FOR worldly Cares are no more holy or virtuous, than worldly Pleafures, they are as great a Miftake in Life, and when they equally divide or poffefs the Heart, are equally vain and fhameful, as any fenfual Gratifications.

IT is granted that fome Cares are made neceffary by the Neceffities of Nature; and the same also may be observ'd of some Pleasures; the Pleasures of Eating, Drinking, and Reft, are equally neceflary; but yet if Reason and Religion do not limit thefe Pleasures by the Neceffities of Nature, we fall from rational Creatures, into Drones, Sots, Gluttons, and Epicures.

IN like Manner our Care after fome worldly Things is neceffary, but if this Care is not bounded by the juft Wants of Nature, if it wanders into unneceffary Purfuits, and fills the Mind with false Desires and Cravings, if it wants to add an imaginary Splendor to the plain Demands of Nature, it is vain and irregular, it is the Care of the Epicure, a longing for Sawces and Ragous; and corrupts the Soul like any other fenfual Indulgence.

FOR

FOR this Reafon our Lord points his Doctrines at the most common and allowed Employments of Life, to teach us that they may employ our Minds as falfely, and diftract us as far from our true Good, as any Trifles and Vanity.

HE calls us from fuch Cares, to convince us, that even the Neceffities of Life must be fought with a kind of Indifference, that fo our Souls may be truly fenfible of greater Wants, and difpos'd to hunger and thirst after Enjoyments that will make us happy for ever.

BUT how unlikê are Chriftians to Chriftianity! It commands us to take no Thought, faying what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, yet Chriftians are restless and laborious till they can eat in Plate.

IT commands us to be indifferent about Raiment, but Chriftians are full of Care and Concern to be cloathed in Purple and fine Linnen; it enjoins us to take no Thought for the Morrow, yet Chriftians. think they have lived in vain, if they don't leave Eftates at their Death. Yet these are the Disciples of that Lord, who faith, Whosoever he be of you, that forfaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my Difciple.

IT must not be faid that there is some Defect in these Do&rines, or that they are not plainly enough taught in Scripture, be

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cause the Lives and Behaviour of Chriftians is fo contrary to them; for if the Spirit of the World, and the Temper of Chriftians, might be alledg'd against the Doctrines of Scripture, none of them would have lafted to this Day.

IT is one of the Ten Commandments, Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain; our Saviour has in the most folemn Manner forbid Swearing; yet where more Swearing than amongst Chriftians, and amongst fuch Chriftians as would think it hard to be reckon'd a Reproach to the Chriftian Name?

THE Scripture fays of Chriftians, that they are born of God, and have overcome the World; can they be reckon'd of that Number, who have not fo much as overcome this flagrant Sin, and to which they have no Temptation in Nature?

WELL therefore may the Doctrines of Humility, Heavenly-mindednefs, and Contempt of the World, be difregarded, fince they have all the Corruptions of Flesh and Blood, all the innate and acquir'd Pride and Vanity of our Nature to conquer, before they can be admitted.

To proceed.

I KNOW it is pretended by fome, that thefe Doctrines of our Saviour, concerning forfaking all, and the like, related only to

his first Followers, who could be his Difciples upon no other Terms, and who were to fuffer with him for the Propagation of the Gospel.

IT is readily own'd that there are different States of the Church, and that fuch different States may call Chriftians to some particular Duties, not common to every Age.

IT is own'd also, that this was the Cafe of the first Christians, they differed from us in many Respects.

THEY were perfonally call'd to follow Chrift; they receiv'd particular Commiffions from his Mouth, they were empowered to work Miracles, and called to a certain Expectation of Hatred and Sufferings from almost all the World.

THESE аre Particulars in which the State of the first Church differed from the present.

BUT then it is carefully to be obferv'd, that this Difference in the State of the Church, is a Difference in the external State of the Church, and not in the internal inward State of Chriftians. It is a Difference that relates to the Affairs and Condition of the World, and not to the perfonal Holiness and Purity of Chriftians.

THE World may fometimes favour Christianity, at other Times it may op

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