and we all pretend to know it yet it is certain that our Memories are short too and that our fondness of this World is such that we are apt to Forget where we are upon what Terms we are here how suddenly we must Remove and what is Requisite to procure us a safe and easy Passage into that Eternal World where we must dwell in perfect Bliss or Anguish for ever We are so much enamour'd with this present World that like Passionate Lovers we seem not to remember what we say or do while we are conversing with it It fetters our Memories while it captivates our Affections And while it subdues our Hearts it bereaves us of the best use of our Reason which certainly is to set our affections on Things Above where we hope e're long to be And not on Things on the Earth where were it worth our while we are sure we cannot stay long to enjoy them This is our great Unhappiness It is the inordinate love of this World that makes us forget our selves and the design of our Creator in sending us hither And the proper Remedy against it is to keep our Minds as much awake as we can with frequent and serious Thoughts on the suddenness of our Departure hence For it is not being of the opinion that our Lives are short when we hear a Discourse about it or follow a hearty Man to his Grave that will cure us of our Dotage on present Things Nothing less will do this than a quick and lasting Sense of the shortness and uncertainty of our Lives The power of Conviction lasts no longer than it is present to the Mind or become habitual and familiar to it as appears by the vanishing of those solemn Vows which Men commonly make in their Sickness and which nothing else could extort from them as soon as the Danger is over and they begin to flatter themselves with new Hopes of a long and pleasant Life And therefore as Melancholy a Thought as it is that our Lives are short besides that it is never unseasonable it is one of the most useful Thoughts that we can carry about us For it is certain we can never over come this flattering and enchanting World without it and then we can never arrive to the Glory and Happiness of that to come As cold a Truth as it is that we must shortly Dye and leave this delicious World it will mightily help to quicken our Devotions and inflame our Affections to Heavenly things It will thereby prevent a World of Sin and Folly It will excite us to hasten our Repentance to make the best of our little Life and improve all advantages we hold by it for a Blessed Eternity And for these Reasons the Scripture often recommends this serious Meditation to us And to keep it fresh in our Memories presents us with great variety of affecting Emblems and lively Representations of the shortness and uncertainty of Humane Life Such as are most obvious to our Senses and apt to raise a new Passion in our Minds every time we think of them For instance 1. Our Life is compared in Scripture to things of the most transitory and fading Nature St. James calls it a Vapour that appears for a little time and then vanisheth away Such is the Life of Mortal Men even the Greatest and Gallantest of them It is up down in a moment It is a Vapour very often in the civil as well as in the natural sense and commonly the greater Ostentation it makes the sooner it disappears and is gone and the Eye that saw it sees it not more And on the same account it is compared to a Shadow 1 Chron. 29.15 and to the Grass and Flower of the Fields for its weak and fading Nature Psalm 103.15 16. Vers As for Man his Days are as Grass as a Flower of the Field so he flourisheth for the Wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more So Job 14.1 2. Man that is born of a Woman is of few Days and full of Trouble he cometh forth like a Flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not 2. The shortness of Humane Life is represented by things that are smallest in number and extension in their Kinds Thus the days of Man are said to be like the Days of an Hireling Job 7.1 Which are few and precarious in comparison of those which the Children of the Family enjoy in their Fathers House as our Saviour himself observes John 8.35 The Servant abideth not in the House for ever but the Son abideth for ever And so the Psalmist measures the Life of Man by the breadth of his hand which bears no proportion to the vast circumference of the Earth or Heavens Behold saith he Thou hast made my days as an Hand-breath Psal 39 6. Thou hast enclosed my Life in a very narrow Compass And then he adds as if he had spoken too lavishly of it and mine Age is as nothing before thee A mere cypher or nullity if compared to thy Eternal Duration Whereupon he concludes verily every Man at his best Estate is altogether Vanity 3. Our Life is also compared to things of the speediest and swistest Motion to remind us that it is Hastening away apace and will be too nimble for us if we delay the proper Work and Business which God hath assign'd us in this World My Days saith Job are swister than a Weavers shuttle Job 7.6 7. Oh remember that my Life is Wind. We read in Scripture of the Wings of the Wind which denote the wonderful swiftness of it And such is our Life It is always upon the Wing It makes all possible hast to be gone It keeps pace with the Wings of the Wind It is a Wind saith the Psalmist that passeth away Psal 78.29 and cometh not again Our time is ever in motion and always keeps the same speed what ever we are doing the while And since we have but a little time and that little however spent is always lessening and drawing to a Period it cannot be long e're the whole stock be exhausted tho' we should Husband it to the best advantage and live out which perhaps not one of a thousand do's to the utmost stretch and possibility of Living 4. The shortness and instability of this present Life is set forth by allusions to things which are moveable at Pleasure Implying that as short as the ordinary Term of Life is it is always subject to the Providence of God and often lessened by him in whose Hands our Times are In this respect our Life is compared to a Shepherd's Tent and our Bodies to Tabernacles i. e. Extempore Houses or Receptacles that are presently set up and taken down or removed at the Pleasure of the Owner And in this Language Hezechiah complains upon the sad tidings the Prophet brought him of his approaching Death Isa 38. v. 10 12. I am deprived
upon his Son and Talkt with him upon the Way to Moriah Nature should make a stand and his Heart should fail him to think what a sad Uncomfortable Errand he was going upon But we meet with nothing of all this in Abrahams deportment during the whole process of his Tryal He did not make a false step in three Days Journey to Moriah He was so far from staggering at the strangeness of things that he went on without delay and as far as appears by the History of this great Action proceeded by even and constant steps through all the Stages of his Tedious Duty Gen. 22.9 Even when he came to the Mountain which God told him of had built an Altar and laid the Wood in order upon it he did not so much as allow himself to say must I now Burn the staff of my Old-Age and the dearest Pledge of Gods Favour to me and all Ages of the World So that we see he perfectly overcame the Difficulties and surmounted the Discouragements which his way was obstructed with 2. The Power or Principle by which this Transcendent Act of Righteousness was wrought i. e. by which Abraham Prevailed with himself and over all Discouragements to offer up Isaac The Apostle ascribes it to his Faith Now Faith we know is sometimes taken for an habitual Belief or Perswasion of the Perfections Truths and Promises of God and sometimes for a single Act of this eminent Grace and there are places of which the Text is one in which it is apparently Used in both senses 1. First then the honour of this Noble Action was owing to a constant and habitual Perswasion of Divine Truths and Promises which Abraham had attained unto He had been long accustomed to believe God upon his Word and to rely upon his Truth and Faithfulness And being fully perswaded of the Reality and concernment of all that he Revealed to him it was easie for him to conclude and settle upon this great Principle of Religion that God in all things was to be Obeyed And this Perswasion was the Root of all his Piety and Submission to the Will of God Upon this he left his own Country for a strange Land and followed the Clue of God's Providence whithersoever it led him it directed his steps when he knew not whither he went and put him into a posture of Undertaking the Hardest Tryals and giving any proof of his Sincerity that God should demand of him And accordingly when God demanded his Son the Dearest thing he had in the World tho' it was against the Law of Nature in any Case but his to slay an Innocent Youth Tho it was in common esteem a Contradiction to all the Kindness and Tenderness which a Fathers Name carries in it and no less contrary to the Endearments of the Conjugal Relation Nay though it had all the Visible Marks of Unnatural Rage and Inhumanity upon it and was like to prove an Indelible Blemish to Religion tho' these considerations were no less Obvious than Weighty yet was Abraham through the Constancy of his Faith and Obedience so Naturaliz'd to the Service of God that nothing could divert him from it But I confess this does not fully clear the main Difficulty implyed in the Text Viz. That Abraham should offer up his Son by Faith while he Believed the Promises concerning his Seed it being against common Sense or Reason That if Isaac dyed without Issue His Seed should be Blessed after him So that Abraham might be a strong Believer and do great things by his Faith yet still it does not appear but that he must needs stagger while he shook the very Ground and Foundation which his Faith and Hope had rested upon as he did when he went about to destroy the promised Line and so Cut off all the Blessings that depended upon it Let us therefore have recourse to the second Notion of Faith and Consider it as it signifies 2. Some special and Eminent Act of this Grace And such we find in the present casu namely a strong Persuasion of Abraham of the Power of God to raise up Isaac from the dead And to this the context expresly ascribes his success By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac v. 19.1 c. Accounting saith the Apostle that God was able to raise him up even from the dead i. e. that he had Power to fulfill his Promise by bringing Isaac to Life again and that he would certainly do it rather than suffer the least tittle of his promise to Dye with him And now his Way tho' hard was clear and open and there was nothing to Interrupt his Obedience but what his Almighty Faith could deal withal He had doubtless considered that God had a better Interest in his Son and all his other Possessions than any he could lay claim unto And the great Reverence he had for his Wisdom and Soveraignty Hush't his Natural Affections and whereas God's Command seem'd to Oppose his promises he overcame the Difficulty too Believing that God was able to Reconcile them and bring back Isaac from the Dead by the same Power that gave him his First Being when he sprang from One as is observed in this Chapter that was as Good as Dead that is Himself that had Out-lived the Natural Power of giving Life to others We see then the Eminency of Abrahams Faith v. 12. and the support it gave him all along in his Tryal By the Direction of it he kept his Eye all the while upon God's Command and-Wink't at all the seeming contradictions that Oppos'd his Obedience to it He doubted not but that God had Power to Kill and to make alive To Command what he pleased and Reward those that Diligently Seek and Obey him In short amidst all the hard things that bore upon Abrahams Faith there was nothing appeared so Incredible to him as that God should lye or so unreasonable as to suspend his Obedience while he was Persuaded of God's Faithfulness to him And accordingly he immediately followed him in the Light and strength of his Faith without any Faultering or Regret through all the Dark Scenes of that Cloudy Providence which led him to the Sacrifice of his Only Son And that after a most Express and Emphatical Promise that in Isaac his Seed should be called And now 't is time for us to Consider how far we are concerned in this Discourse both in reference to our Faith and Practice First then 1. Hence we Learn the true Nature of Justifying Faith there being nothing plainer in Scripture than that Abrahams Faith was Imputed to him for Righteousness which certainly it had never been if he had not Obeyed the Command which was the Tryal of his Faith If Abraham then was Justifyed by the Faith which offered up his Son 't is clear that he was justifyed by a lively and working Faith And that no other Faith than this can Justify is evident if we consider that Abrahams Faith is more than
And that there is and always will be such a Family in the Earth is as evident as the Covenant which God made with Abraham when the Church was impaled in his little Family and ten Promise of our Saviour to His That the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it And therefore they that are and know that they are sincere have no reason to value the Censures of Men. 'T is enough that they seek to please God and that he Knows their Integrity for God is infinitely and if we are sincere he cannot Judge otherwise of us and then we are safe our Reward is sure and will be great in Heaven We need not ask leave of Men to be what we are or stand to their Courtesy to bring us into Favour with him that Judgeth Righteously 'T is enough in all reason That God and our Consciences are Ready to Acquit us 4. Lastly The success of this Tryal should Inspire us with Zeal and Resolution to serve and please God in all instances of Obedience to him There is no Duty too hard for a vigorous and Lively Faith There is none but what the Servants of God have discharged before us And when we reflect upon what our great Examples have done and consider how nobly they have acquitted themselves in the same Race that is set before us why should we not aspire to be as brave and Resolute as they were and to break through the Discouragements which could not hinder them from Running and finishing their Course with Joy Did they Climb over the highest Difficulties And may not we be ashamed to couch under the ordinary hardships in Religion Did they depend upon God when nothing but Miracles could Relieve their hopes in him And shall we distrust his goodness and Protection while we actually enjoy them and he is pleas'd to continue so many Visible Tokens of his Favour and Concernment for us Did they leave their Country at God's Command And shall we think it too much but to leave the Vices of ours which have long threatned to turn us out of Possession of it Again did they stick at nothing to please God not so much as at the Offering of an Only Son And shall we that have Better Promises than they had Refuse him so Reasonable a Service as to offer up our Souls and Bodies in holy Flames of Devotion and Love which is the perfect and indisputable Will of God and therefore must be extreamly acceptable to him 'T is ture That without Faith it is Impossible to please God But sure it is not Impossible to Believe and so by vertue of our Faith to obey and please him For this is the Argument of the whole Discourse in this Chapter which out of the Sacred Annals of the Primitive Church presents us with a Catalogue of many Eminent Believers who became the favourites of God by their Faith and Obedience to him And what is the Natural consequence of this But that we who have the same and in some Respects much greater Advantages than they had should endeavour to shew the same greatness of Mind and Invincible Resolution in Gods Service To Conclude we have an Incomparable Pattern of Faith and Piety in the Text Abraham the Friend of God laying himself at his Foot and his Son upon his Altar in Obedience to his Soveraign Will and Pleasure How much more should we at Gods Command Sacrifice our Darling Lusts that would destroy our Souls since one of the two must dye And this is a Sacrifice much cheaper and no less Acceptable to God than Abrahams Oblation was Micah 6.7 8. More grateful to him than thouthousands of Rams or ten thousand Rivers of Oyl Than if thou gavest thy First-born for thy Transgression the Fruit of thy Body for the sin of thy Soul Offer this as the First fruits of thy Faith without which thy very Prayers will be turned into sin Then shalt thou have favour in the sight of God through the meritorious Sacrifice of his only Son and by walking before him as Abraham did may'st assuredly hope after a short Tryal of thy Faith and Patience in this World to sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Faithful in the Kingdom of God Which God of his Infinite Mercy grant we may all do through the Merits and Mediation of his Son Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be Ascribed all Honour and Glory Dominion and Power now and for ever Amen Sermon II. ON The Danger of a Mis-inform'd Conscience or mistaken Principles in Religion Acts 26.9 I verily thought with my self That I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth THESE Words are part of the Confession of an Eminent Convert to the Christian Religion A man of Learning and Zeal and Conscience that had the Benefits of a Religious Education and of great natural Endowments and that made a more than an ordinary figure both in the Jewish and Christian Church In the former he was a Ring-leader of the Sect of the Pharisees A Sect which perhaps till the Days of Ignatius Loyola never had its equal in the World And as the Pharisees of any party among the Jews were known to be the keenest against the Christians so he owns himself to have been as errant a Pharisee as hearty and as eager a Persecutor as any of his Order ver 10.11 He was the Man by his own Confession that shut up many of the Saints in Prison and when they were put to Death for their Religion he gave his Voice against them Others he Punisht often in the Synagogues and compell'd them to Blaspheme i.e. to Renounce their Faith in Christ Plin. Ep. Tra. de Christian and to Curse him Using the same Cruelty towards them which the Heathen Governours afterwards did and those that refused this horrid Treachery to their Lord he Persecuted into strange that is Heathen Cities These things were contracy in deed and one would think should be always so esteem'd to the Name of Jesus But there is one thing in St. Pauls Confession which appears to be stranger than all this And that is that it was his Judgment and Conscience that made him thus severe to the Christians and his Zeal to God and Religion that rais'd the Persecution against them It was it seems the prevailing sense of his Mind a Case he had determined within himself that he ought to run down the Religion of Jesus So he tells the King and Court in these Words I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth A hearty Champion you see he had been against the Christian Religion But how came he to fall into an Opinion and to Espouse a Principle that the worst Religion might well be ashamed of The true account of it is St. Paul had been a Right-bred Pharisee Acts 23.6 having suckt in the Principles of that Superstitious
consider these easie and obvious things and they will assuredly find but small reason to build their hopes of Eternal Life upon any struggle or remorse of Conscience at their Death which few bad men that have any tolerable sense of another World are and even Judas himself was not exempted from 4th Prop. The fourth and last Proposition is Were we sure that the hiring of Labourers at the eleventh hour did signifie the late calling of Particular Christians to the Faith and Obedience of the Gospel yet this will not reach the case of a Death-bed Repentance There is a manifest disparity between them in several respects For 1. They that were called so late as the eleventh hour were guilty of no delays but embraced the first opportunity they had of labouring in the Vineyard The reason they gave why they stood so long Idle in the Market viz. because no man had hired them implies that they were ready to be imployed V. 7. and that they chearfully closed with the first invitation that was offered to them and so doing they were not to be blamed that they were not earlier at work For this is as much as Abraham the Father of the Jewish Church or the Apostles the first Labourers in the Christian did They came as soon as their Lord called them tho they were not in the Vineyard till the middle age of their Lives And I doubt not if a poor Indian that never heard of Christ till he entred upon the last stage of his Life shall then become a serious and faithful Christian but that his reward will be great in Heaven But this is not the case of those who were devoted to the Service of God in their Infancy who have lived many years under the ministry of his Sacred Word and the obligations of the Holy Sacraments Who have resisted the motions of the Blessed Spirit and the admonitions of Parents and Friends never hearkning unto any till the Rough Messenger of Death comes and tells them roundly in their Ears that now they must die and away to Judgment And 't is no wonder they are then sorry that they spent their time so ill while Hell and Destruction look them in the Face but they cannot but say they had fair and frequent Warnings to have used it better 2. They who came so late into the Vineyard had yet one hour of Trial and this in proportion to the Day which God allows us to work out our Salvation in is the twelfth part of our Lives 'T is true this is but a short time considering what engagements we are under of serving our Creator and Redeemer all the days of our Lives but still it is much longer than a Sinner who defers his Repentance to his Death allows himself to do the whole work of Religion to break the habits of Vice to exercise all the virtues of the Christian Life and to put himself into a posture for Eternity He vows perhaps and declares upon the word of a Dying-man what great things he would do but alas his Breath goes away with his Vows and gives him not a minute to prove his Sincerity in 3. The last Comers into the Vineyard wrought an hour and therein performed the whole Duty they contracted for But what is this to the purpose of men that work not at all For furely to ask pardon for what they have not done to be sorry for what they have or to resolve to do better if they had opportunity will not bring them within the notion of Labourers and then it cannot intitle them to the reward This is the state of Dying Penitents their whole work lies upon their hands and that 's the ground of all their Sorrow and resolution to work if it were not too late which therefore are not working and to suppose that God will accept them as if they were is to say that the Master of the Vineyard who was all the day hiring Labourers into it was very indifferent what they did there and would surely have been as Bountiful if there had been occasion to those that did him no service as to them that did the most provided they were but sorry they had not serv'd him at all and were willing to work just when Night came and forbid them And thus I think I have sufficiently proved that this Parable has no Relation to the Case of a late or Death-bed Repentance which was the First General propounded to be spoken to The second was 2. That there is no other ground of Assurance in the Gospel that the Repentance of a Dying Christian after a whole Life spent in Sin and an obstinate Violation of his Baptismal Vow and Covenant will secure him of Eternal Salvation That the Gospel gives no such Encouragement to Men that Trifle with the Grace of God we may be as sure as we can be that the Gospel does not contradict it self and that not in trivial Instances but in the great and most essential parts of it I mean the design of its being revealed to men and the conditions it requires of them in order to Eternal Life and Happiness For 1. Did the Gospel assure us that God will accept of Dying Vows and sorrows instead of a Life of Virtue and Holiness it would shew us a notable way to evade and overthrow its own great and admirable Design the very end for which it appeared unto men which was to teach and oblige us to lead holy and virtuous Lives to deny Vngodliness and Wordly Lusts and to live Soberly Tit. 2.11 12. Righteously and Godlily in this present World while we are resident here and capable of doing Service to God and Men. This is the end of all the Institutions of the Gospel and particularly of our Baptism by which we are amitted into Covenant with God For therefore saith St. Paul we are buried with Christ by Baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised from the Dead by the Glory of the Father Rom. 6.4 even so we also should walk in newness of Life i. e. From our first entrance into Christianity till we have finisht our Course and are got beyond the Dangers and Temptations of this sinful World But where is this New Life when we are just a Dying Do we answer the end of our Baptism tho we never set a step in our Christian Race till our Life is run out Or does the Gospel whatever it obliges us to do dispence with us for not doing it This perhaps in some mens Opinion would advance the Grace but surely no man will say it commends the Wisdom of the Gospel For who does not see that the design of making us Holy is lost should the Gospel once declare that we may be dispensed with for not being Holy or that it is enough to secure us of Heaven to be truly sorry at the last that we have lived wickedly all our days And were this the true sense of the Gospel I cannot see what Answer
and our Hearts warmed with Fervent and Divine Affections to converse entirely with him who is the Foundation of all Wisdom and Grace To have free access to his Infinite Treasures of Mercy and Goodness a freedom to ask all that we want and a promise to receive all that we ask to be employed in the solemn Praises of God the Great Employment of Heaven and one of the Chief Delights of Eternity To hear his Sacred Oracles expounded the Mysteries of our Religion unfolded the Precepts of it explained the Motives to it Inforc'd the sins against it detected and removed and the concernment of all digested into Plain Lessons and Rules of Practice How justly may we expect the sweet Illapses and cherishing Influences of the Divine Spirit when we meet together for these blessed ends and are engaged in these holy Exercises Especially when to these we add the frequent Receiving of the Lord's Supper and Institution peculiarly adapted to Coufirmation and Improvement of all Christian Graces In this Solemnity we have the Tenderest and most Engaging Representation of Infinite Obligations which our Blessed Redeemer laid upon us to mortifie our sins which Crucified him to tread in the steps of his most Holy Life and to become his Peculiar People being zealous of Good Works Besides this Sacrament is a Federal Rite in which we solemnly renew our former Vows and oblige our selves by the sacred Pledges of Christ's Body and Blood to remember what he has required of us as well as what He has done and suffered for us To give up our selves entirely to his Service and to perform the Covenant we entred into when we were Baptized into his Name And what can be of Greater force to bind us to the Obedience of our Blessed Lord than such a solemn Vow and Profession as this If the Holy Bands of the Covenant will not hold us 't is to be feared that nothing will ever do it Now if we frequently engage in these Duties and exercise the Graces that are proper to them this in a short time will turn to a mighty account every good Act will strengthen the Habit and invigorate the Principle it flows from And we shall certainly experience the Truth of that Promise Psal 92.13 14. Those that are Planted in the House of the Lord shall Flourish in the Courts of our God They shall still bring forth Fruit in Old Age they shall be fat and flourishing 3. Private Devotion is another help to the Growth of Grace and Piety Our Hearts are of that Temper in the Best Frame that ever they were in so suddenly cool'd and so apt to return to their Natural Hardness that we can never thrive long in our Spiritual Estate without the constant Influences of Divine Grace And since these depend upon our frequent and fervent Prayers and the Intervals of publick Prayer are generally much longer than those between our Temptations it concerns us the mean while to recruit our selves by our private and serious Applications to the Throne of Grace to which weare encouraged by very Gracious and Engaging Promises And that we may do this to the best advantage we shall do well to observe certain and stated Times of Retiring to our Closets and Praying to Our Father in Secret And when we meet with any Interruptions to make them up as well as we can either by falling into some Pious Discourse or by short Petitions and Praises which the Busiest Hour of our Lives can hardly unless we will deprive us of the benefit of The Advantages of this course are not easie to be enumerated The breathing out our Souls to God in holy Fervours and Supplications when there is no Eye or Ear but his to regard us is one of the greatest Tokens of our sincerity towards him And that is the greatest assurance we can have that our Prayers will be heard and that we shall not want Grace to help us in time of need Besides it raises our minds into a Heavenly Frame It keeps up a lively sense of God in our Hearts It disposeth us to do him more chearful and faithful Service It enlarges our Capacities and widens our Souls and fits us for fuller communications of his Favour and Goodness In a word it cherishes all the great Principles of Virtue and Piety in us 4. To accustom our selves to consider that God's Eye is continually upon us The Reverence every good man has for the Great and Glorious God when it is awakened with an actual apprehension of his Inspection over him must have a mighty power over his Spirit and effectually excite him to do every thing in the manner he knows to be most acceptable to him We see the force of this Incentive in some measure in the influence which a Fathers Eye or the presence of a Great Man has upon the Virtue and Behaviour of his Children or Inferiours The sight of such a Witness of their Actions commands their Reverence and inflames their Ambition to demean themselves sutably to the regard they owe to the Presence they are in Much more were our Minds possest with a Lively Sence of God's All-discovering Eye that He is wheresoever we are and observes whatsoever we do should we find our selves moved to do the best that we can to please him and this desire would quicken our endeavours and our endeavours would improve our graces The Objects of Faith are much greater than the Objects of Sence and therefore the Lively Apprehension of an Invisible Object and especially of Him in whom we are infinitely more concerned than in all Heaven and Earth together must needs be more Powerful than the clearest sensible Perception And this is apparently the Ground of that Rule of Perfection which God gave to Abraham Gen. 17.1 Walk before me and be thou perfect 5. Due enquiry into the Nature and Consequence of things and especially of those Actions which are like to Determine the main Course of our Lives before we actually engage in them The want of this care has occasion'd many serious and hopeful Persons to run themselves into a state of Temptation which in spight of their Future Caution has proved a mighty Clog and Hindrance to their Progress in Virtue and Goodness perhaps ever after On the other hand a timely inspection into any state of Life which falls under our choice might prevent a thousand Snares into which we often betray our selves by our Rashness and Folly We see many cast away at their first Launching out into the World meerly by carrying more Sail than Ballast Nor is any thing more visible than that Right Judgment at the first in choosing our Callings and contracting our Friendships and Alliances conduces very much to secure our Virtue and make our Proficiency in it by many degrees more easie and considerable 6. It will likewise contribute to our Improvement in Grace to take a frequent view of our Spiritual Estate By observing and bewailing our Defects and Failings we shall be strongly