4.

SERM. EVERY good Work must be cloathed IV. with fuch Circumftances, as Chriftian Prudence and Difcretion doth direct. For it is not fufficient that our Actions be just and lawful, they must be fuch as are expedient alfo ; every Thing must be done in its proper Time, and due Place. Some Actions, which are highly commend-able and Praise-worthy at one Time, may be of ill Confequence and finful at another; and it will require the constant Exercife of our Chriftian Prudence, to diftinguish when, and how we ought to act, and to place all our Actions in fuch a due Light, and becoming Order, as may render them most useful and graceful in the Eyes of other Men. It is a common Observation, that the Success of the greatest Affairs depends upon fmall Circumftances, and we know, that, when the Balance hangs even, a very small Weight will turn it either Way; and therefore, he, that would be eminent for the Practice of Virtue, must take great Care to observe a due Method and Decorum in his Actions, and to tranfact his Affairs with Chriftian Prudence and Difcretion.

AND now, having fhewed you how our good Works ought to be qualified, I come

in the

II. PLACE,

II. PLACE, to lay down fuch Motives SERM. and Encouragements as may induce us to IV. perform them, and to be eminent Examples of Virtue and Goodnefs, that our Light may fo fhine before Men, that others, feeing our good Works, may glorify our Father which is in Heaven. And, to this End, let us confider,

1. THAT this is our great Bufiness in this World, to employ our Time and Parts, and all thofe Talents which God has intrufted with us, after such a Manner, that we may give up the Accounts of our Stewardship with Comfort at the Laft Day. Our Life here is our Probationership, in which we ftand Candidates for Eternity; and our chief Aim ought to be, to be rich in good Works, and to make fuch Friends of this Mammon of Un- Luke xvi. righteoufness, that, when we fail, they may 9. receive us into everlasting Habitations.

2. LET us confider, that we have but little Time to do good Works in, and, therefore, we ought to be the more diligent to accomplish our Talk, before our great Lord and Mafter calls us to an Account. The Days of our Pilgrimage in this World are very few, and very uncertain too; and, therefore, every wife Man will lay hold of the prefent Opportunity, and work,

whilst

1

SERM. whilst it is Day, left the Night overIV. take him, when no Man can work.

The Night of Death and Judgment are both at Hand, even at fome of our Doors, and God knows how foon they may enter in; and what better Ufe can we make of fuch Confiderations as these, than to rouse up ourselves, and put us upon Action, being converfant in good Works, and abounding in charitable Deeds, and Praise worthy Actions? We cannot carry the good Things of this World along with us into the other; and therefore let us make Use of them, to the best Purposes, whilst we are here, for the best Way to lay up our Riches, is to employ them to good and charitable Ufes.

3. LET us confider the chief End of the Chriftian Religion, is to make us a People zealous of good Works. The chief Reafon, why we are commanded to give our Affent to the Fundamental Articles of our Faith, is, becaufe they are fuch Truths as, if ferioufly believed, and attended to, would have a neceffary Influence upon our Practice. God has therefore declared himself to be the great Creator and Governor of the World, that Men might learn to yield Obedience to his Laws: He has therefore revealed to

them,

them, that he will raise the Dead, and SE RM. judge the World at the Laft Day, that IV. they might behave themselves like Beings, who are accountable for their Actions; And, if we confider the whole Scheme of the Chriftian Religion, we fhall find, that its chief Tendency is, to direct the Practice, and better the Manners of Men ; and that those Doctrines, which do not pursue this End, are not neceffary to be believed, and though they may be canvaffed by learned Men, with too much unbecoming Heat and Animofity, yet an honest and good Christian may safely be ignorant of them.

NOT only the Doctrines, but the Exercises of our Devotion, are enjoined us for the fame excellent End. For it is a low and mean Notion, and unworthy the Nature of God, to imagine that God has commanded us to pray unto him, or to praise him, or to hearken to his Word, for any Benefit or Advantage he reaps by it; no, God is exalted above all the Praife of Men and Angels; he is perfectly happy in himself, and not only contains all that is good, but is the ever-flowing Fountain, from whence all good Things do proceed; and, therefore, the devotional Parts of our Religion are enjoined us, VOL. II. G

because

SERM. because they are the proper Means by IV. which his Grace is conveyed into the Souls

of Men, and they are hereby inclined to perform good and virtuous Actions. Thus Praying to God begets an Awe of God's Divine Majefty in our Minds, and, by Confequence, a Fear of offending him; Praifing him begets grateful Refentments of his Benefits: By hearing his Word, we are inftructed in our Duty, and, by renewing our baptifmal Vow, in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, we confirm and ftrengthen our Refolutions of performing it: Every religious Duty, conscientiously performed, makes our Wills more conformable to God's Divine Will, and infuses into the Soul a Principle of Action.

4. LET us confider, that good Works are abfolutely neceffary to Salvation. A good Life fits and prepares us for Happiness; and Glory hereafter is only the Perfecting those virtuous Difpofitions and Habits, which we have obtained in this Life. Our Happiness in the other World will confift in living up to the pureft and moft refined Dictates of fanctified Reafon, and in being more pure, more holy, and more beneficent than we can be in this Life: So that he, who fets up for

eternal