rifh in the Grave: Death will spoil thofe Features and Colours which are now admir'd; and after a fhort Time, there will be no Diftinction between this 'beautiful Body, and common Duft. Others are guilty of greater Vanity than this, and what Nature has denied, they fupply by Art; they adorn their Bodies with rich Attire, and many times fuch Bodies as will not be adorned; and then they glory in their borrowed Features: But what a forry Beauty is that which they cannot carry into the other World? And if they muft leave their Bodies in the Grave, I think there will be no great Occafion in the other World, for their rich and fplendid Apparel, which will not fit a Soul.

Thus what do Riches fignify, but to minister to the Wants and Conveniences, and Pleasures of the Body? And therefore to pride ourselves in Riches, is to glory in the Body too; to think ourselves more confiderable than other Men, because we can provide better for our Bodies than they can. And what a mean and contemptible Vice is Pride, whofe Subject and Occafion is fo mean and contemptible? To pride ourselves in thefe Bodies which have fo ignoble an Extraction, are of fo fhort a Centinuance, and will have fo ignoble an End, muft lie down in the Grave, and be Food for Worms?

As for the Care of our Bodies; that must unavoidably take up a great Part of our Time, to fupply the Neceffities of Nature, and to provide the Conveniencies of Life; but this may be for the good of our Souls too, as honeft Labour and Induftry, and ingenious Arts are; but for Men to fpend their whole Time in Sloth and Luxury, in Eating and Drinking, and Sleeping, in dreffing and adorning their Bodies, or gratifying their Lufts, this is to be vile Slaves and Servants to the Body, to D Bodies

will present us with? There are fuch Things as Eye bath not feen, nor Ear beard, neither bath it entered into the Heart of Man to conceive. Death opens our Eyes, enlarges our Profpect, presents us with a new and more glorious World, which we can never fee, while we are fhut up in Flesh; which should make us as willing to part with this Veil, as to take the Film off of our Eyes which hinders our Sight.

IV. If we must put off these Bodies, methinks we should not much glory nor pride ourselves in them, nor spend too much of our Time about them. For why fhould that be our Pride, why should that be our Business, which we must shortly part with? And yet as for Pride, these mortal corruptible Bodies, and what relates to them, administer most of the Occafions of it.

;

Some Men glory in their Births, and in their Defcent from noble Ancestors, and ancient Families which, befides the Vanity of it, for if we trace our Pedigree to their Original, it is certain that all our Families are equally Ancient, and equally Noble; for we defcend all from Adam; and in fuch a long Descent as this, no Man can tell, whether there have not been Beggars and Princes in those which are the nobleft and antienteft Families now: Yet I fay, what is all this, but to pride ourselves in our Bodies, and our bodily Defcent, unless Men think that their Souls are derived from their Parents too? Indeed our Birth is fo very ignoble, whatever our Ancestors are, or however it may be diffembled with fome pompous Circumftances, that no Man has any Reason to glory in it: For the greatest Prince is born like the wild Afs's Colt. Others glory in their external Beauty; which how great and charming foever it be, is but the Beauty of the Body, which if it be spared by Sickness and Old Age, muft pe

rish in the Grave: Death will spoil those Features and Colours which are now admir'd; and after a fhort Time, there will be no Diftinction between this beautiful Body, and common Duft. Others are guilty of greater Vanity than this, and what Nature has denied, they fupply by Art; they adorn their Bodies with rich Attire, and many times fuch Bodies as will not be adorned; and then they glory in their borrowed Features: But what a forry Beauty is that which they cannot carry into the other World? And if they muft leave their Bodies in the Grave, I think there will be no great Occafion in the other World, for their rich and fplendid Apparel, which will not fit a Soul.

Thus what do Riches fignify, but to minifter to the Wants and Conveniences, and Pleafures of the Body? And therefore to pride ourselves in Riches, is to glory in the Body too; to think ourselves more confiderable than other Men, because we can provide better for our Bodies than they can. And what a mean and contemptible Vice is Pride, whofe Subject and Occafion is fo mean and contemptible? To pride ourselves in these Bodies which have so ignoble an Extraction, are of fo fhort a Centinuance, and will have fo ignoble an End, muft lie down in the Grave, and be Food for Worms?

As for the Care of our Bodies; that must unavoidably take up a great Part of our Time, to fupply the Neceffities of Nature, and to provide the Conveniencies of Life; but this may be for the good of our Souls too, as honeft Labour and Induftry, and ingenious Arts are; but for Men to fpend their whole Time in Sloth and Luxury, in Eating and Drinking, and Sleeping, in dreffing and adorning their Bodies, or gratifying their Lufts, this is to be vile Slaves and Servants to the Body, to D Bodies

!

which they were very fond of in Health. Long Fafting and Abftinence, and other bodily Severities, are an excellent Means to alter the Habits and Inclinations of the Mind; and one would think, that to be feparated from these Bodies must needs make a greater Alteration in our Minds, than either Sickness or bodily Severities: That I dare not fay, that a fenfual Man, when he is feparated from this Body, fhall feel the fame fenfual Defires and Inclinations which he had in it, and fhall be tormented with a violent Thirft after thofe Pleafures which he cannot enjoy in a feparate State: But this I dare fay, That a Man who is wholly funk into Flefh and Senfe, and relishes no other Pleasures, is not capable of living happily out of his Body; unlefs you could find out a new Scene of material and fenfible Pleasures to entertain him: For though the particular Appetites and Inclinations of the Body may ceafe, yet his very Soul is fenfualized; and therefore is uncapable of the Pleasures of a fpiritual Life.

For indeed, fetting afide that Mischief which the unruly Lufts and Appetites of Men and the immoderate Ufe of bodily Pleafures, does either to. the Perfons themfelves, or to publick Societies; and the true Reason why we must mortify our fenfual Inclinations, is to improve our Minds in all divine Graces: For the Flesh and the Spirit cannot thrive together; fenfual and fpiritual Joys are fo contrary to each other, that which of them foever prevails, according to the Degrees of its Prevalence, it flifles and fuppreffes, or wholly fubdues the other. A Soul which is ravished with the Love of God, and the bleffed Jefus, tranfported with the fpiritual Hopes of another Life, which feels the Paflions of Devotion, and is enamoured with the

Glories

Glories and Beauties of Holiness and divine Virtues, muft have fuch a very mean Opinion of Flesh and Senfe, as will make it difguft bodily Pleasures, or be very indifferent about them: And a Soul which is under the Government of Senfe and Paffion, cannot tafte those more intellectual and divine Joys; for it is our Efteem of Things which gives a Relish to them, and it is impoffible we can highly efteem one, without depreciating and undervaluing the other: It is univerfally true in this Cafe, what our Saviour tells us, No Man can ferve two Masters : for either be will hate the one, and love the other ; or elfe he will hold to the one, and defpife the other: Ye cannot ferve God and Mammon, Matth. vi. 24.

The leaft Beginnings of a Divine Nature in us, is to love God above all the World; and as we every Day grow more devoutly and paffionately in Love with God, and take greater Pleasure in the fpiritual Acts of Religion, in praifing God, and contemplating the Divine Nature and Perfections, and meditating on the fpiritual Glories of another Life; fo we abate of our Value for prefent Things, till we get a perfect Conqueft and Mastery of them. But he who is perfectly devoted to the Pleasures of the Body, and the Service of his Lufts, hath no fpiritual Life in him; and though putting off these Bodies may cure our bodily Appetites and Paffions,

yet

it cannot give us a new Principle of Life, nor work an effential Change in a fleshly Nature; and therefore fuch a Man when he is removed from this Body, and all the Enjoyments of it, is capable of no other Happiness: Nay, though we are renewed by the Divine Spirit, and have a Principle of a new Life in us; yet, according to the Degree of our Love to prefent things, fo much the more indifpofed are we for the Happiness of unbodied Spirits.

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