or in whatever laudable Purfuits engaged. This will appear by confidering a Man in the worst and best lights in which we can suppose him to be placed, and obferving how Religion will affect him. If we fuppofe a Man poor, despised, out of Repute, and wanting every thing that the World calls great and good: This Man, without Religion, is beyond Expreffion wretched; he has no Refuge within or without him. Without are Scorn, Infults, Reproaches; within gnawing Appetites, which he cannot fatisfy; and tormenting Paffions, which he cannot conquer. He is without Profpect of Redrefs, or Hope of Comfort. God deferts him, Men defpife and abuse him, and he loaths himself. In fhort, he drags on a miferable animal Life, which is more wretched than that of the lowest of Brutes, in as much as he is confcious of his Mifery, which they are not. But if on the other hand we suppose this Man, thus low and loathfome, to make Religion his constant Concern, how different is his Cafe! He will then be all joyous within, however gloomy without. Gleams of Light will break in upon him in the midst of all his Sorrows. He can account for his Sufferings, and learn to bear them with Patience, if not Alacrity. His Peace of Mind gives him a Firmnefs of Soul, which is Proof against all the Frowns and Severities of the World. He stands like a Rock in a tempeftuous Seafon; the Winds and Waves may beat

against

against him and deface him, but they cannot overturn him; and, in the midst of all, his Hope in his God and Saviour is a Well-fpring of Joy, of which he cannot be deprived. It darts Beams of Light through the thickest Clouds; and he has at least this great, this unfpeakable Comfort, that he knows his Mifery will foon be at an End, and be followed by an exceeding and an eternal Weight of Glory.

Again; Let us fuppofe a Man arrived at the highest Pitch of Human Glory, and imagine him to be the richeft, the most powerful, or the most voluptuous of Men, and see what this Man's Cafe will be with, and without, Religion. All things smile about him, Men reverence and admire him, and all is in Appearance Joy and Tranfport. Every Appetite is courted, and every Inclination gratified. But has he nothing within him to torment him? Has he no Paffions to conquer, the Indulgence of which will give him continual Difquiet? Is he fure not to defire another World, when he is Master of this? Is he fure not to be cholerick and peevish, and not to be angry, because he cannot command the Powers of Nature too? Can he look on others that are better, tho' lefs powerful than himfelf, without Envy or Jealoufy? If not, fuch Paffions will imbitter his best Enjoyments, and he will still be liable to Difappointments and to Mifery. Human Paffions feldom lose ground upon Indulgence; and it has generally happened,

pened, that Men fo fituated, and not conducted by inward Principles of Duty, have proved in fact not only a Curfe to Mankind, but an infupportable Burden to themselves. They generally appear in Hiftory as deep in Difquietude as in Blood; even the Gratification of their Appetites torments them; and by the very Act of making others miferable, they fhew that they are miferable themselves.

But we will farther fuppofe our Man of Power and Wealth to be a Man of Prudence too, and to restrain, his Appetites with Dif cretion merely for the fake of Eafe and Quiet: Yet all this will not fecure him against Fear or Sickness. If he is temperate, must he therefore be unthinking too? Either he has a high Taste and Relifh of his Pleasures, or he has not. If he has not, where is his Happiness? And if he has, he must be anxious about preferving them; and the Thoughts of an Interruption or Deprivation of them must be very grievous. And if we go as far as Imagination can do in his Behalf, and fuppofe him to be brave as well as regular, and able to face Sickness or Death with little Concern, yet, after all, his Gratifications rife no higher than Senfuality. He can have no Pleasure, but what arifes from the Gratification of his Senfes, or from Reflections on his prefent unrestrained, but fleeting Power. The fublime Pleasures that flow from the Love of God and heavenly Things are utterly unknown to him; and

the

the very best that can poffibly be made of his Cafe is this, that he revels in Luft and Luxury for a few Years without Controul, and then disappears and perishes for ever; or, in other Words, that he lives a happy Brute, and he dies one.

But if we add the fuperior Comforts of Religion to these outward Advantages, what a Lustre do they give to all the reft! what a Calm and Serenity of Mind do they produce! how happy is he in himself, and what a Blesfing to Mankind! His Power is a general Benefit to all within his Reach; and by being employed to relieve, protect, and fupport others, every Act repays him double Confolation. His Riches are like gentle Showers to a thirsty Soil; a whole Community is refreshed by them; and the more Benefit they reap, the higher his Satisfactions rife. He is the Idol of Man, and the Favourite of Heaven. He enjoys all that mortal Man can do, without Remorse or Fear of Danger. He has nothing to reproach himself withal; and it is every Man's Intereft to preserve him. His turbulent Paffions are under the Restraints of Reason and Religion; and he therefore fuffers as little from them, as is confiftent with a State of Imperfection. He feels not the Weight of the inevitable Calamities of human Life, becaufe God anfwers him in the Joy of his Heart. And he has no Reason to be afraid or unwilling to refign his Enjoyments, because he

well knows they are but the Pledges of a better Inheritance. In fhort, he lives the Life, and reaps the Satisfactions of a rational Being, and he dies in Peace.

Thus it may appear what happy Influences the Belief and Practice of Religion will have on the Minds of Men in any Circumstances, as well the Rich and the Powerful, as the Poor and the Oppreffed; hence may appear the ineftimable Value of her Benefits, which the World can neither give nor take away; and confequently how exceeding preferable even oppreffed Virtue and despised Innocence are to profperous and triumphant Wickedness. Neither Fortune nor Solitude can screen a bad Man from himself; neither Want nor Violence can rob a good one of his Peace. To which if we add the Greatness, the Attainableness, and the Sufficiency of the future Rewards of Piety; it cannot furely be doubted, but that to fear the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom, and that to keep his Commandments is Understanding.

SERMON