good or evil, has fome Snare or other, which it re- SÉRM. quires fome Care to fhun. In this State of Things, VIII. it is no wonder that Religion is reprefented by the Scripture as a State of War: A War of the worst Kind, being feated in the Heart, where a Siege is carried on with so much Art and Cunning, that we are too apt to mistake Enemies for Friends. Well therefore does the wife Man advife us in those Words, Keep thy Heart with all Diligence; for out of it are the Iffues of Life. According as we guard, or expofe our Heart to the violent Affaults of its Enemies from without, and the treacherous Counfels of its own Lufts within, we shall either fecure, or give up our Interest in the Prospect of everlasting Happinefs. And in this Senfe therefore, as well as in the former, muft the Precept in my Text be understood, as advifing us to guard, or fet a Watch upon our Hearts, that they may not be furprised by any fudden Onfet, nor betrayed by their own Lufts and Paffions, but may always be prepared against every Trial, that the Tempter may not find Admittance.

To this End, in the laft Place, it ought also to be obferved, that to the Care and Vigilance recommended in my Text, we fhould join our Prayers to Almighty God to affift us in this neceffary Work : For except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Our Care and Forecaft is very little worth, if it be not feconded by the Providence of God, whofe Wisdom alone can defeat the Cunning of him who lieth in wait to deceive. By watching, therefore, fuch a Watchfulness is here meant, as may put us upon ufing the beft Means we can, and particularly Prayer, which is the best Means of all, to enable us to overcome Temptation. Our Saviour has fufficiently explained his Meaning in this Matter, VOL. I.

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SERM. referring us to his first Directions, Take heed, watch VIII. and pray: So runs the Precept, ver. 33. and so therefore we ought here to understand it.

Thus much for the Nature and Extent of this Duty: The Motive or Inducement which we have to practise it, is delivered to us, ver. 35. This I fhall but just mention, and conclude.

Watch ye therefore, fays our bleffed Saviour, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh; at even, or at midnight, at the cock-crowing, or in the morning. The Master of the House is our Lord Himself, whose Coming at the Laft Day to take Account of his Servants, will, to those who shall be then living, be fo fudden and unexpected; and to those who shall be carried off by Death, which configns them over to be tried at Chrift's Judgment-Seat, will be so little known, till it is actually prefent, that for the Terror and Surprife which it fhall bring along with it, it is compared to a Thief's coming in the Night. Hence it is, that we are fo earnestly exhorted to watch. For unlefs we refolve, whatever elfe we do, to make our Duty fo much the Business of our Lives, as never wholly and intirely to neglect it, he may come at fuch a Time, as perhaps we have devoted to the Commiffion of fome wilful Sin: When we think of nothing less than the doing of our Duty, and preparing to receive our Lord. He may come at Even, when our Eyes are heavy; when wearied with the Toil and Fatigue of Virtue, we are infenfibly relapfing into Sin and Folly, and are in fuch a State, that tho' we cannot be faid to be quite dead in our Trefpaffes and Sins, yet neither, on the other hand, can it be faid we are awake, or enjoy fuch an active and lively Vigour, as may enable us to appear before him. He may come at Midnight, when we are

aft

fast asleep; when we have not one Spark of Religion SERM left; when the Soul is quite funk, and oppreft with VIII. Sin, and deaf to all Calls to Virtue. He may come at the Cock-crowing, when we are hearkening to the Call, when we begin to strive to shake off our Slumbers, and awake to a Life of Righteousness. He may come in the Morning, when we are but juft awake, when we have indeed made a shift to recover our Understandings, to see the Error we were in, and to set about reforming, but as yet have not been able to compleat it. In all these Cases we are unprovided: We are not prepared to meet our Lord, who, whenever he comes, will expect us to be as ready, as if he were to come at Noon; when we are not only awake, but intent upon our Duty, and have bestowed fome Pains upon the Practice of it. This is the State in which he ought to find us, and on which alone we can depend with any Sort of Certainty, as a thing that will make us acceptable in his Sight. To be relapfing into Sin, to be confirmed and fettled in it, to be juft awaking to a Life of Virtue, or preparing to enter on it, are Conditions in which no Man would defire to be then found, when he is called to meet his Lord.

To conclude, If any of us has been lefs diligent in his Duty, lefs vigilant and watchful than my Text requires: let him resolve to enter on this Duty, not only with new Vigour and Refolutions of Amendment, but also with double Diligence to effect them. Let us not be like the Sluggard described by Solomon, who cries out in the Deadnefs and Slothfulness of his Heart, yet a little Sleep, a little Slumber, a little more folding of the Hands to Sleep; a little more Indulgence in our Vices and Lufts, and then we will rife and work. In the mean time perhaps our Master cometh,

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SERM. cometh, and findeth us fleeping: And how juftly VIII. may he complain and expoftulate with us, as he did

once with his Difciples, What, could ye not watch with me one Hour? So fhort a Time as is necessary for your Paffage to the Land of everlasting Reft? Take heed therefore, watch and pray: Let your Loins be girded about, and your Lights burning: and ye yourfelves like unto Men that wait for their Lord: Blessed are thofe Servants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, fhall find watching. Verily, fays our Saviour, He fball gird bimfelf, and make them fit down to Meat, and come forth and ferve them; and if he shall come in the fecond Watch, or come in the third Watch, whenever he comes and finds them so, blessed are thofe Ser

vants.

Now to God the Father, &c.

The

And Jefus faid unto them, Can the Children of the Bride-Chamber mourn, as long as the Bridegroom is with them? But the Days will come, when the Bridegroom will be taken from them, and then fhall they fast.

OUR Saviour in thefe Words makes SERM. Answer to a Question, put to him by IX. the Disciples of John the Baptist, concerning religious Abftinence or Fafting. By the Law of Mofes fome Fasting was required; and the Pharifees, who were strict Obfervers of that Law, especially of the outward Forms of it, had extended his Precept to a far greater Length; obferving not only that folemn Faft, on which they were required to afflict their

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Souls,