be over-follicitous about fuch Hardships as thefe in travelling? Does he not comfort himself, that he is not to ftay there, that this will not last long; that these Difficulties will only recommend his own Country to him, and make him haften Home again, where he shall remember with Pleasure, what is now uneafy and troublesome?

And is there not as much Reafon for Chriftians to bear all the Evils, and Cafualties, and Sufferings of this Life with an equal Mind, remembring that they are not to stay always here? That this Life is but their Pilgrimage, they are from Home, and therefore must expect the Ufage which Strangers and Travellers ordinarily meet with. That they are not to live here always, is a fufficient Proof that their Happiness does not confift in present Things: And then if they can make a shift, tho' it may be it is a hard shift, to pass thro' this World, the Scene will be altered, and they fhall find a kinder Reception in the next. This is the Foundation of Contentment in all Conditions, and of Patience under Sufferings; That Death, which is not far off, when it removes us out of this World, will remove us from all the Sufferings of it: And why fhould we not bear up with the Courage and Refolution of Travellers in the mean time, when we have Home, a peaceful and eternal Home in our Profpect?

4. Once more, to conclude this Argument; Suppose a Man in his Travels through a fo

reign Country should be commanded immediately to leave the Country, unless he would forfwear ever returning to his own Country again; would not a wife Man confider, that if he had not been commanded to leave that Country, he did not intend to have stay'd long in it; and therefore it would be an unaccountable Folly and Madnefs in him to abjure his own Country, where his Father, and Kindred, and Inheritance is, only to gratify his Curiosity in staying a little longer there? And can we then think it a hard Command, (when we know we must shortly die, and leave this World, that whether we will or no, we cannot stay long in it,) to facrifice our very Lives, rather than renounce our Hopes of Heaven and a better Life? When we know that we must leave this World, what does it fignify to die a little fooner than it may be in the Course of Nature we should, to obtain an immortal Life; to go to that bleffed Jefus who lived in this World for us, and died for us, and is ready to receive us into that bleffed Place where he is, that we may behold his Glory? I am fure it is a very foolish Thing for a Man who muft die, to forfeit an immortal Life, to reprieve a mortal and perishing Life for fome few Years.

II. As Death, which is our leaving this World, proves that these prefent Things are not very valuable to us, fo it proves that they are not the most valuable Things in their own Natures; tho' we were to enjoy them always,

it

it would be but a very mean and imperfect State, in Comparison of that better Life which is referved for good Men in the next World: For 1. It is congruous to the divine Wisdom and Goodness, that the best Things should be the most lafting: Wisdom dictates this; for it is no more than to give the Preference to those Things which are beft. The longest Continuance gives a natural Preference to Things; we always value thofe Things moft, which we shall enjoy longeft; and therefore to give the longest Duration to the worst Things, is to fet the greatest Value on them, and to teach Mankind to prefer them before that which is better. What we value most, we defire to enjoy longeft, and were it in our Power we would make fuch Things the most lafting; which fhews that it is the natural Senfe of Mankind, that the best Things deferve to continue longeft; and therefore we need not doubt, but that infinite Wisdom which made the World, has proportioned the Continuance of Things to their true Worth. And if God have made the best Things the moft lafting, then the next World in its own intrinfick Nature is as much better than this World, as it will last longer. For this is moft agreeable to the Divine Goodness too, and God's Love to his Creatures, that what is their greatest and trueft Happiness should be most lafting. For if God have made Man capable of different Degrees and States of Happiness, of living in this World and in the next, it is

an

an Expreffion of more perfect Goodness (as it is moft for the Happiness of his Creatures) that the most perfect State of Happiness should laft the longeft; for the more perfectly happy we are, the more do we experience the Divine Goodness; and he is the most perfectly happy, who has the longest Enjoyment of the best Things.

2. It seems most agreeable alfo to the Divine Wisdom and Goodness, that where God makes such a vaft Change in the State of his Creatures, as to remove them from this World to the next, the laft State fhould be the most perfect and happy. I fpeak now of fuch Creatures as God defigns for Happiness, for the Reason alters where he intends to pu nifh. But where God intends to do good to Creatures, it seems a very improper Method to tranflate them from a more perfect and happy, to a lefs happy State. Every Abatement of Happiness is a Degree of Punishment, and that which those Men are very fenfible of, who have enjoyed a more perfect Happiness: and therefore we may certainly conclude, that God would not remove good Men out of this World, were this the happiest Place.

Yes, you'll fay, Death is the Punishment of Sin, and therefore it is a Punishment to be removed out of this World; which spoils that Argument, that this World is not the happiest Place, because God removes good Men out of it: For this is the Effect of that Curfe

which was entailed on Mankind for the Sin of Adam, Duft thou art, and to Duft thou shalt

return.

Now I grant, Death, as it fignifies a Separation of Soul and Body, and the Death of both, which was included in that Curse, was a Curfe and a Punishment, but not as it fignifies leaving this World, and living in the

next.

We have fome Reason to think, that tho' Man fhould never have died, if he had not finned, yet he should not always have lived in this World. Human Nature was certainly made for greater Things than the Enjoyments of Senfe: It is capable of nobler Advancements, it is related to Heaven, and to the World of Spirits; and therefore it seems more likely, that had Man continued innocent, and by the conftant Exercise of Wisdom and Virtue improved his Faculties, and raised himself above this Body, and grown up into the Divine Nature and Life, after a long and happy Life here, he should have been tranflated into Heaven as Enoch and Elias were, without dying. For had all Men continued innocent, and lived to this Day, and propagated their Kind, this little Spot of Earth had many Ages fince been over-peopled, and could not have fubfifted, without transplanting fome Colonies of the most divine and pu rified Souls into the other World.

But however that be, it is certain, that being removed out of this World, and living in Heaven,