SERM. folly; for from that, if it be fufficiently

III.

attested, it neceffarily followeth that the directly contrary course of wisdom or religious virtue must have yielded fatisfaction to them, and will yield fatisfaction to any who choose it. Now, let any man who hath given himself the most unbounded liberty in gratifying his inclinations, who in defiance of all the warnings he hath had, and the ineffectual remonftrances of his own conscience, hath indulged his paffions and his lufts without any controul, let him but calmly confider what pleasure he findeth in a review ; whether his enjoyments are not succeeded with remorse? Nay, whether his short-lived pleasures of fin are not much over-ballanced by the stinging durable reflections of his felfaccufing and reproaching heart? Notwithftanding all his endeavours to divert and ftifle it, (fometimes indeed these methods to a great degree, and the hearts of men are brought to a hardness and infenfibility which is amazing, their confciences, as the Apostle fpeaketh, are feared, but is that an ease worthy of a man, which ariseth from stupid inconfideration?) I say, notwithstanding all his endeavours to ftifle it, confcience will at fometimes with an irresistible force break in

upon

upon his joys and mar them, especially if SERM. any grievous calamities befal the finner, or III. if death and judgment are presented to his view; terror and anguish then take hold of him and the wounds of his spirit are intolerable. Though very often during a course of profperity men do not know the terrors of the Lord, the unutterable griefs of an awakened confcience, yet no one who giveth himself leave to think seriously on fo important a fubject but must be convinced there is a reality in them, and his own heart will tell him the ways of fin lay a foundation for self-reproaches which are very grievous, too dear a price for fhort-lived criminal pleafures.

You fee now wherein the principal pain and uneafinefs that followeth fin, and on the other hand wherein the pleafantness of wifdom's ways confisteth, the one in self-condemnation, the other in felf-approbation. These are pleasures and pains very intimate, the fpring of them is in our own hearts, their operations are immediate, there is no intervening distance to abate their force; we need not go far to feek our comforts, and we cannot fhun our forrows, for how can we fly from our own thoughts? It must be F 2 a great

SERM. a great aggravation of our griefs that they
III. are of our own procuring, and it raiseth

joy to the greatest height that it springeth
from an inward caufe, and is the refult of our
own wife choice; for then the mind hath
the fatisfying profpect of its continuance
only by perfevering in the fame course.
Prov. xiv. 14. The backflider in heart shall
be filled with his own ways, and a good man
Shall be Satisfied from himself. There is no
way
of accounting for this but by the con-
stitution of our nature, and refolving it into
the will of our great and wife Creator, who
in fo forming our fouls hath fhewn plainly
that we are made for religion and virtue, to
which end he hath furnished us with a
powerful argument always ready at hand,
feeing in the practice of it we must be self-
approved, which is a very great happiness,
and in the contrary, felf-condemned, which
is an extreme mifery, who can doubt but it
was the intention of our maker, the wifest
and most gracious of all beings, to direct
our choice to the ways of wisdom.

Thirdly, The pleasantnefs of wisdom's ways may appear from this confideration, that they lead to the enjoyment of the divine favour, and our walking in them is the only foundation

III.

foundation upon which we can have confi- SERM. dence towards God. It must be acknowledged, that he who is abfolutely fupreme, can make his creatures happy or miserable; and reafon confirmeth what the fcripture declareth, that life is in his favour. It is, therefore, an unspeakable pleasure to know that we are entitled to his approbation, and an extreme mifery to be under the apprehenfions of his refentment: Who knoweth the power of his anger? His juftice is armed with omnipotence to inflict punishment, beyond the reach of human imagination, on the obftinate workers of iniquity: But what can be wanting to the felicity of fuch as are in a state of favour with him, feeing he is infinitely powerful and infinitely good? Now, there is no other ground upon which we can rationally form an expectation that God will approve us, but our being approved to ourselves by a faithful discharge of our duty; for this is a moft evident truth, that if God accepteth of his reasonable creatures at all, it must be in their doing that which, upon a diligent and impartial inquiry, appeareth to their own understandings beft. If any pretended revelation did teach the contrary, I do not fee that we F could

SERM. could poffibly believe it, because it would III. deftroy natural religion, and, in effect, deny

the moral attributes of God, the only foundation upon which we can fear, and love, and obey him. But chriftianity, the only complete revelation of his will, is fo far from teaching any fuch unreafonable doctrine, that it expreffly establifheth our hope in the way already explained, as alone agreeable to the dictates of reafon. St. John, in his ist epistle, 3d chapter, teacheth us, that the only ground upon which we can affure our hearts before God, or be perfuaded of our acceptance in his fight, is our knowing that we are of the truth, or that we have fincerely embraced and obeyed the gospel, by the genuine fruits of charity and obe dience in our lives. If our hearts do not condemn us for infincerity, that is, acting against our confciences, or giving ourselves up to the conduct of lufts and paffions, through their prevailing influence, or through floth and inattention, then we have confidence towards God; and that confidence will be a spring of perpetual joy; for as terror and confufion muft feize the mind fenfible of guilt, and of its being obnoxious to the divine displeasure, so the strongest confolation