SERM. 4. And Laftly, WE are frequently di XI. verted from Watchfulness and Sobriety by Prefumption. There are many who lay the Stress of their Salvation on Orthodoxy in Faith, and believe they fhall certainly be faved, because they are Members of the true Church. There are others, who please themselves with the Conceit, that they are the elect People of God, and predeftinated to Salvation; and therefore it is impoffible for them to fall away from Grace and finally miscarry. Both thefe Opinions tend to make Men fecure, and to prefume of their Salvation without any juft Grounds; and to take them off from Vigilancy and Sobriety, and to give themselves up to the Conduct of their corrupt Appetites.

FOR why fhould a Man deny himself the Gratifications of Senfe, or put himself under the uneafy Circumstances of Mortification and Self-denial, when he is affured, that he fhall be drove on by an irresistible Impulfe and Divine Decree, and faved at laft, whether he will or no? Or elfe, that fome few pious Ejaculations on his Death-bed, joined with fome Acts of Contrition, will move God's Pity and Compaffion; and that the Soundness of his

Faith, joined with thefe, will fave his SERM. Soul, whatsoever his Life has been ?

THESE are Miftakes which have been fatal to the eternal Welfare of many Profeffors of Christianity; who, whilst they have leaned on fuch broken Reeds as thefe, have been miserably deceived, and cheated of their Souls. And, therefore, it becomes every good Christian to be fober and vigilant, to ftand upon his Guard against all his fpiritual Enemies, and to acquit himself like a Man, confidering that, at the great Day of Account, no Faith will be of Use to him, but that which puts him upon Working; an active, vigorous, and induftrious Faith, fuch as Abraham's was; fuch as enables us to refift all the Temptations of the Devil, and to live holy, jober, and devout Lives, and to do the Will of our Father which is in Heaven. And thus having fhewed what these Things are, which take us off from the Duties of Sobriety and Watchfulness, I proceed,

IV. And Laftly, To encourage you in the Performance of them, by fhewing you what bleffed Effects the due Performance of thefe Duties would have upon our Lives and Converfations. And,

ΧΙ.

SERM. 1. A STEADY Perfeverance, in the XI. confcientious Practice of thefe Duties of Sobriety and Watchfulness, would make us very fearful of committing the least Sin. It would keep our Confciences fo tender that we could not be guilty of any notorious Crime, or prefumptuous Sin, without doing Violence to ourselves; we might, by fudden Surprize, be betrayed into Sin, and impofed on by the fubtle Infinuations of the Tempter; but we could never go on in a long Courfe of Sinning, or contract any vicious Habit: For this must be produced by a careless and negligent Deportment of ourfelves, and by frequent Acts and Repetitions of the fame Crime. No Man was ever wicked on a fudden, or by one Act became a thoroughpaced Sinner; Vice is, in its own Nature, fo ugly, that it makes its Profelytes start at and deteft its deformed Shape, till Ufe and Custom has rendered it familiar to him. God has engraven the common Notions of Good and Evil upon the Minds of Men, and these Impreffions cannot be defaced without much Pains and Industry; Men must take Hell, as well as Heaven, by Force; nay, be at more Pains to make themselves miferable than would fecure to them eternal Happiness; so that he, who

keeps

keeps a continual Watch over himself, will SE RM. not eafily fall into any grofs Sin. For what XI. can prevail with that Man to commit Adultery, who has made a Covenant with his Eyes? And how should he be guilty of Stealing, who doth not allow himself to covet? Can we imagine that Perfon would be guilty of a deliberate Perjury, who fears an Oath? So that, if Men were watchful over the first Motions of Sin, they would never break out into actual Tranfgreffiors.

2. SOBRIETY and Watchfulness over ourfelves would bring us much Comfort, in a Time of Affliction. For that Man, who, by a continual Watchfulness over himself, has acquired an Habit of Virtue and Religion, has no Reason to be afraid of any Dangers or Troubles which can affault him. The Words of my Text were writ in thofe Times, when the Church was under Perfecution, and the Profeffors of Chriftianity expected hourly to feal the Faith which they profeffed with their Blood; and, to prepare Men for thefe Sufferings, the Apoftle gives them this Advice, to be fober and vigilant, to ftand upon their Guard, and to prepare themselves for thofe Evils, they had Reafon to expect. And now, as to our own S 3 Parti

SERM. Particulars, let us but, by a fober and vi XI. gilant Life, keep up our Interest in God's Favour and Protection, and we need not be afraid of the Terror by Night, or the Arrow that flieth by Day: Nor for the Peftilence that walketh in Darkness; nor for the Deftruction that walketh at Noonday: Death itself, that King of Terrors, will be a Meffenger of Peace to us; and that Man, whose Accounts are fet strait, fhall have nothing else to do, at his last Hour, but, with old Simeon, to fing his Nunc dimittis, and to lie down in his Grave as a Man doth in his Bed. This is the bleffed Condition of that Man, whọ has lived foberly and watchfully; he is free from all thofe Fears and Agonies which torment the fenfual Sinner, and his Conscience yields him the peaceable Fruits of Righteousness.

WHAT remains therefore, but that we all be prevailed on to be fo careful of our Thoughts, Words, and Actions, and to weigh them in the Balance of the Sanctuary, as that the main Intent and Defign of our Lives may be to promote God's Glory, and to fave our own Souls. This will defeat the Defigns of our Adversary the Devil; for, though he walks about like a roaring Lion, feeking whom he may de