Man most rarely miffes of them, God haveMat. 6.33.ing promised, that if we firft feek his Kingdom and the Righteousness thereof, all other Things fhall be added unto us.) Why, in this Cafe, the Man wants nothing to make him compleatly happy, as far as this State will allow of. But if he should be destitute even of these common Comforts we fpeak of, and God should think fit to exercife him with many Croffes and Afflictions, yet even in this Cafe the Man would be far from being miferable; he hath that within him which will for ever support him under all Trials of this Nature. And this is the Sum of my fixth Confideration, which indeed deferves a juft Difcourfe by itself, in order to its being put into a clear Light, But,

VII. Laftly, to conclude all. What I have hitherto faid, has been to fhew, that if we aimed at no more than our prefent Well-being in this Life, it would be abfolutely neceffary that we fhould fet our Affections on the Things above, and not on the Things on the Earth. But there is ftill a much weightier Argument to perfuade us to this; and fuch a one, as if all the reft fignified nothing, would have Force enough of itself to do it; nay, fuch Force, as no Man, in his Wits, can refift. And that, in plain English is this: If we fet our Affec

tions on the Things of the Earth, how much Pleasure or Advantage foever we may promise to ourselves from them in this World, yet when we come to die, we shall not be a whit the better for them: Nay, fo far from that, that we are loft, and undone, and miferable to Eternity, if we have not taken Care to fecure to ourselves those spiritual Treasures I have been all along speaking of. Whereas on the contrary, if we fet our Affections on the Things above, how flender a Provifion foever we have made to ourselves of worldly Goods, yet by thus pitching our Defigns, we purchase to ourselves an everlasting In- 1Pet. 5.4. beritance in the Heavens; a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away. The perpetual Enjoyment of fuch Pleasures and Rewards, as no Tongue can utter, nor the Mind of Man 1 Cor.2.9. conceive of.

18.

There need no Words to fet off this Argument. The plain State of the Matter is this. God fets before us the Things of this Earth, and the Things above. The one, as the Apostle tells us, are temporal, the 2 Cor. 4 other eternal. The one are for ferving the Turns of this prefent Life, which is but of a fhort Continuance; the other last as long as our Souls, that is, for ever. The former are indeed present to us, and do more ftrongly affect thofe Powers in us, which in this corrupt State we are generally led

by;

by; but yet the End of them is everlasting Damnation in Hell Fire, with the Devil and his Angels, fuppofing we have set our Hearts upon them to the Neglect of the other. The latter are indeed at a Distance, and we are not apt to have fo vivid a Sense of them: But yet if we fet our Hearts upon them, if we make the Purchase of them our principal Care and Purfuit, they will not leave us, either in this World or the other, but will secure to us the eternal Salvation both of our Souls and Bodies in the Kingdom of Heaven. And all this is true, or elfe all Religion is falfe.

This now being the true State of the Cafe between spiritual Things and temporal, between the Things of the Earth and the Things above, let every one, who hath common Senfe, judge which of them he ought to fet his Affections on, and lay out himself about.

I pray God to give us all Grace to act in this our great Concernment as reasonable Men fhould. If we do fo, happy are we. Happy, no doubt, in a good Degree, even while we live in this World, but unfpeakably happy when we leave it. For then 1Pct.1.11.an Entrance fhall be adminiftred unto us into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord Jefus, where, with all the holy Angels of God, Heb. 12. and all the Spirits of juft Men made perfect,

we

we shall for ever live in perfect Peace and Joy, and fing everlafting Praises to him, who made us, and redeemed us, and hath done more abundantly for us, than we could Eph. 3.39. ask or think.

To whom be all Honour and Glory,
henceforth and for ever.

SER

318

SERMON XIII.

A Vindication of the just and innocent Ufe of Speech, from fome Scruples which have been raised from two or three particular Texts.

EPHES. iv. 29..

Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your Mouth, but that which is good, to the Ufe of Edifying, that it may minifter Grace to the Hearers.

W

HAT is it that St. Paul here means by corrupt Communica tion? Why certainly his Defign was to caution Chriftians

against all Filthiness, and Immodefty, and Lasciviousness in their Difcourfes. But tho' all impure and obfcene Speeches be more especially a corrupt Converfation, and what, I believe, was chiefly

meant