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of fuch an imperfect obedience as I am capable of performing, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Another, for the Direction of God's Spirit.

God, forafmuch as without thee I am not able to pleafe thee; mercifully grant that thy holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule my heart, that he may be to me a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counfel and might, a Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord,, and may daily increafe in me thy manifold gifts of grace. Let him be my Guide to direct me in the way of righteousness, my Guard to preferve me from the fury of the enemy, and my Shield to beat back all bis darts. And, forafmuch as the frailty of man, without thee, cannot but fall; keep me ever by thy help from all things burtful, aud lead me to all things profitable to my falvation, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Eufeb. I doubt we have tir'd Anchithanes.

Theoph. I will only beg leave to mention one other duty, if he can have patience to hear it, and fo fhall bid him adieu for this time.

Anchith. I beseech you take your own time.

Theoph. VIII. Then, in the laft place, The fick man muft fhew himself perfectly refigned to the Divine difpofal. I do not fay he must not murmur at God's dealings with him, how difagreeable foever to flesh and blood; because this were fuch exceffive undutifulness and ingratitude together, as no good man can fuffer himfelf to be guilty of: but he must farther renounce his own most natural defires, whenfoever they are no: throughly conformable to what Almighty God decrees concerning him. Other wife, the very heathens will rife up in judgment against him, and will condemn him in a high degree; particularly (s) Epiletus, who sticks not to profefs concerning himself, that h: had brought his mind into a perfect fubjection to the (s) Arr. Epictet. 1. 3. c. 26.

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I have learned, fays be, to conform my will to God; infomuch that would he have ⚫ me fick, I would be fo; would he have me attempt any thing, I am ready to do it; would he have me defire any thing, I am willing to defire it; • would he have me acquire any thing, I rejoice to fet about it; would he not have me to do it, neither am I for it; would he have me to die, I do not ⚫ refuse it.' In like manner,(t) Socrates, being inform❜d by Crito, that he was to die the next day, return'd this answer, as a teftimony of his ready fubmission to the determination of Providence concerning him; Αλλ ̓, ὦ Κρίτων, τύχῃ ἀγαθῇ εἰ ταύτη τοῖς θεοῖς φίλον, ταύτῃ sw It is very well, O Crito; and, fince it pleafes the gods, fo let it be. And (u) Seneca paffes a fevere cenfure upon those who are not willing to part with their life, or whatsoever other bleffings they have receiv'd from God, whenfoever he thinks fit to call for it: He, fays be, is unjuft, who will not leave the ordering of the gift to the will of the giver; and he is covetous, who is not as well pleafed with his having re⚫ceiv'd a favour, as he is difturb'd at the lofs of it."

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Eufeb. To the fame purpose, likewise, speaks the Emperor Antoninus; freely owning, that (x) Providence is clearly feen in the adminiftration of the world; and hence exhorting not to die repining, but eafy, and well pleafed, and with thankfulness to the gods. And, at another time, he profeffes his veneration for the Governor of the world, and his truft and confidence in him. (γ) Σέβω, καὶ εὐςαθῶς καὶ θαῤῥῶ τῷ διοικέντι • I adore the Orderer of all things, and firmly and ftedfaftly rely upon him; (2) and exhorts others, quietly to expect their diffolution, whether by way of extinction or tranflation; and, in the mean time, to worship and praife the gods; to do good ta · men; to bear with them, and to refrain from makeing them any ill returns; and to remember, that

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thofe things which are from without, and depend d neither upon their own bodies or fouls, are neither

theirs, nor at their difpofal. And again, Jays be, (a) He determines the end of thy acting here, who was formerly the caufe of thy being, and is now. of thy diffolution; neither of which is thine own doing. Wherefore be fure to depart hence well l pleased; for he that difmiffes thee, is fo,'

Theoph. If the light of nature could teach fuch a fubmiffion to Almighty God, how much more should the doctrines of the Gospel incline us all to a ready compliance with whatsoever is well pleafing to him! And the fick man therefore would do well, to recollect that God's will is not only fupreme, abfolute, and independent, but moreover is infinitely righteous and wife; that he understands all things, and knows the tendencies, and forefees the events of them, and what good or hurt there is in them; and, confequently, all his difpenfations towards any of us must be really best in themselves, though we, at prefent, may not apprehend them to be fo,

Eufeb. He might confider also, how much (b) the day of one's death is better than the day of his birth; that, as has been (c) already observed, this life is full of mifery and trouble, and in no wife to be compared with the ineftimable joys and glories, the unconceivable bliss and felicity, of the other; that he is here but as a stranger and a pilgrim upon a journey, and that no pleasant one, towards a better country; but Heaven is his end, his home, his Father's houfe, where alone he can be at reft, and where he will meet with the completest happiness in all refpects; that here he is in spiritual thraldom, liable to manifold temptations; in a fort of fervitude to divers lufts and pleasures, which he cannot defend himself against, without continual care and watchfulness; but there he will be abfolutely free, and reign in fplendor and majesty for ever and ever.

(a) Eis iautòr, 1. 12. §. ult. (6) Ecclef. vii. 1. (c) P. 260, &c.
Theoph.

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Theoph. No doubt, thefe confiderations must raïfe up the mind of a good man, above all he can meet with here below; and will make him not unwilling to be tranflated into that far better ftate. The traveller is never forry, that he has reach'd the end of his journey, and is now at liberty to enjoy himself, and his friends. The labourer is glad, when his work is over that he may retire, and take his reft. The mariner is full of joy, when he fees his port; and haftens with all the speed he can to get into it. The foldier is ready enough to betake himself to the refreshment of his winter's eafe, when tired with the drudgery and danger of the fummer's compaign. And fhall not the Chriftian be as defirous of attaining his end, and as much difpofed to bless himself in the attainment of it? When he is come to the utmost term of his pilgrimage; has fought the good fight of faith, and finished bis courfe with integrity, and a good conscience; has laboured his appointed time in his Heavenly Father's vineyard; has been long toffed about in this world, as upon a tempeftuous fea; and now fees before him a quiet and fettled habitation, an immortal crown of glory, a pleafant land, and a most exceedingly valuable recompence of reward, an inberitance incorruptible, and undefiled, that fadeth not away, referved in Heaven for him; what fhould make him fond of tarrying any longer here?

Eufeb. To meet with croffes and vexation, to be fubject to loffes and disappointments, to be fick and die, is but the common fate of this mortal life; and what the wifeft and moft honourable, and the richest and most potent Kings and emperors, as well as their meanest fubjects, are liable to; and it is a very unreafonable thing, for a prifoner to be fo in love with his confinement, a captive with his chains, or a slave with his drudgery and ill ufage, as not readily to accept of a deliverance, when offered freely; and without any other inconvenience, than quitting his ftation,

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and removing at a distance from the cause of all his diffatisfactions and complaints.

Theoph. The greatest and the beft of Princes are no more exempt from natural infirmities, and outward cafualties and accidents, than common people. They must meet with oppofition, and difobedience, and treachery, and confpiracies, above the rate of others; and must be ill, and in pain, and give up the ghost when their time comes, no less than the basest of their vaffals. Even our bleffed Lord, the Son of God himself, was not only to die, but to die a painful, ignominious, and accurfed death upon the cross. And can any pretend to be his difciples, and refuse to be conformed to his example? It would certainly become us all, to fet him before us as a pattern for our pious imitation; and to beg, that the Will of God may be accomplish'd in us, with the fame fubmiffion that he did, and not think ourselves too good to drink of the cup that be drank of, and be baptized with the baptifm that be was baptized with; or even to die a far eafier death than he died. So that the fick man can never hope to excufe himself, if he does not take care to bring all his longings and defires into fubjection to the all-wife determinations of God concerning him; whether for profperity or adverfity, health or ficknefs, life or death: the doing which will not only be an acceptable fervice to Almighty God, and a juft acknowledgment of his fovereignty and dominion; but will be a great eafe to his own mind, and the fureft method he can take to cure all those tormenting fears of death, to which he would otherwise be liable. This will bring him to a compofedness of thoughts under all events; that whatever happens, he will never be disturbed at it to any great degree; and fo he will be eafy both living and dying; and in the readier way to be for ever happy, when he comes into the other world.

Anchith. Oh, how happy were I, if I could once throughly conquer myself in this refpect, so as to

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