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103

THE WORLDLY MAN.

His Verdure...

FOR qught I see, the case is even the same with him that prays, and him that does not pray; with him that swears, and him that fears an oath: I see no difference; if any, those that they call the wicked have the advantage. Their crops are even as fair, their flocks as numerous as theirs that wear the ground with their religious knees, and fast their .bodies to a skeleton; nay, in the use of blessings (which only makes them so) they far exceed; they term me reprobate, and style me unregenerate: 'tis true, I eat my labours with a jolly heart, drink frolic cups, sweeten my pains with time-beguiling sports, make the best advantage of my own, pray when I think on't, swear when they urge me, hear

sermons at my leisure, follow the lusts of my own eyes, and take the pleasure of my own ways; and yet, God be thanked, my barns are furnished, my sheep stand sound, my cattle strong for labour, my pastures rich and flourishing, my body healthful, and my bags are full; whilst they that are so pure, and make such conscience of their ways; that run to sermons, jig to lectures, pray thrice a day by the hour, hold 'faith and troth,' profane, and drinking healths a sin, do often find scanty harvests, lean flocks, and empty purses. Let them be godly that can live on air and faith; and, eaten up by zeal, 'can whine themselves into an hospital, or bless their lips with charitable scraps. If godliness have this reward, to have short meals for long prayers, weak estates for strong faiths, and good consciences upon such bad conditions, let them boast of their pennyworths, and

let me be wicked still, and take my chance as falls! Let me have judgment to discover a profitable farm, and wit to take it at an easy rent, and gold to stock it in a liberal manner, and skill to manage it to my best advantage, and luck to find a good increase, and providence to husband wisely what I gain; I seek no further, and I wish no more. Husbandry and religion are two several occupations, and look two several ways, and he is the only wise man that can reconcile them.

Bur stay, my soul, I fear thy reckoning fails thee. If thou hast judgment to discover, wit to bargain, gold to employ, skill to manage, providence to dispose, canst thou command the clouds to drop? Or if a wet season meet thy harvest, and with open sluices overwhelm thy hopes, canst thou let down the floodgates, and stop the watery flux?

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Canst thou command the sun to shine? Canst thou forbid the mildews, or control the breath of the malignant east? Is not this God's sole prerogative? And hath not that God said,

When the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is they that shall be destroyed for ever. Psal. xcii. 12.

Job, xxi. 7.

Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea are mighty in power?

8. Their seed is established in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes. 9. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the wrath of God upon them. 10. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not, their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

11. They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. 12. They take the timbrel and the harp,

and rejoice at the sound of the organ. 13. They spend their days in wealth,

and-IN A MOMENT THEY GO DOWN

TO THE GRAVE.

His Soliloquy.

How sweet a feast is, till the reckoning come! A fair day ends often in a cold night, and the road that's pleasant ends in hell: if worldly pleasures had the promise of continuance, prosperity were some comfort; but in this necessary vicissitude of good and evil, the prolonging of adversity sharpens it. It is no common thing, my soul, to enjoy two heavens. Dives found it in the present, Lazarus in the future. Hath thy increase met with no damage? thy reputation with no scandal? thy pleasure with no cross? thy prosperity with no adversity? Presume not: God's checks are symptoms of his mercy; but his silence is the harbinger of a judgment. Be circumspect and provi

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