many characters of the vanity of a worldly life, to teach you to make a benefit of the corruption of the age, and that you may be made wife, tho' not by the fight of what piety is, yet by feeing what misery and folly reigns, where piety is not.

If you would turn your mind to fuch reflections as thefe, your own obfervation would carry this inftruction much farther, and all your converfation and acquaintance with the world, would be a daily conviction to you, of the neceffity of feeking fome greater happiness, than all the poor enjoyments this world can give.

To meditate upon the perfection of the divine attributes, to contemplate the glories of heaven, to confider the joys of faints and angels living for ever in the brightness and glory of the divine prefence; these are the meditations of fouls advanc'd in piety, and not fo fuited to every capacity.

BUT to fee and confider the emptiness and error of all worldly happiness; to fee the grofness of fenfuality, the poorness of pride, the ftupidity of covetoufnefs, the vanity of drefs, the delufion of honour, the blindness of our paffions, the uncertainty of our lives, and the Shortness of all worldly projects; these are meditations that are fuited to all capacities, fitted to ftrike all minds; they require no depth of thought, ot fublime fpeculation, but are forc'd upon us by all our fenfes, and taught us by almoft every thing that we fee

and hear.

Prov. viii. 1.

THIS is that wisdom that crieth, and putteth forth her voice in the ftreets, that ftandeth at all our doors, that appealeth to all our fenfes, teaching us in every thing and every where, by all that we fee, and all that we hear, by births and burials, by fickness and health, by life and death, by pains and poverty, by mifery and vanity, and by all the changes and chances of life; that there is nothing else for man to look after, no other end in nature for him to drive at, but a hap

piness

pinefs which is only to be found in the hopes and expectations of religion.

CHAP. XIII.

That not only a life of vanity, or fenfuality, but even the most regular kind of life, that is not govern'd by great devotion, fufficiently fhews its miferies, its wants, and emptinefs, to the eyes of all the world. This reprefented in various characters.

IT

T is a very remarkable faying of our Lord and Saviour to his difciples in these words: Bleffed are your eyes for they fee, and your ears for they hear. They teach us two things: First, That the dulnefs and heaviness of mens minds with regard to spiritual matters, is fo great, that it may juitly be compar'd to the want of eyes and ears.

Secondly, That God has fo filled every thing and every place with motives and arguments for a godly life, that they who are but fo blefs'd, fo happy as to use their eyes and their ears, must needs be affected

with them.

Now, though this was in a more especial manner the cafe of thofe whofe fenfes were witneffes of the life and miracles and doctrines of our bleffed Lord; yet is it as truly the cafe of all Chriftians at this time. For the reasons of religion, the calls to piety, are fo written and engrav'd upon every thing, and prefent themselves fo strongly and fo conftantly to all our fenfes in every thing that we meet; that they can only be difregarded by eyes that fee not, and ears that

hear not.

WHAT greater motive to a religious life, than the vanity, the poornefs of all worldly enjoyments; And yet who can help feeing and feeling this every day of

his life?

WHAT greater call to look towards God, than the pains, the ficknefs, the croffes, and vexations of this life; and yet whofe eyes and ears are not daily witneffes of them ?

WHAT miracles could more strongly appeal to our fenfes, or what meffage from heaven speak louder to us, than the daily dying and departure of our fellow creatures doés ?

So that the one thing needful, or the great end of life, is not left to be discovered by fine reafoning, and deep reflections; but is prefs'd upon us in the plaineft manner, by the experience of all our fenfes, by every thing that we meet with in life.

LET us but intend to fee and hear, and then the whole world becomes a book of wisdom and inftruction to us; all that is regular in the order of nature, all that is accidental in the course of things, all the miftakes and disappointments that happen to our felves, all the miferies and errors that we fee in other people, become fo many plain leffons of advice to us; teaching us with as much affurance as an angel from heaven, that we can no ways raise our felves to any true hap; piness, but by turning all our thoughts, our wishes, and endeavours, after the happiness of another life.

Ir is this right ufe of the world, that I would lead you into, by directing you to turn your eyes upon every fhape of human folly, that you may thence draw fresh arguments and motives of living to the beft and greatest purposes of your creation.

AND if you would but carry this intention about you, of profiting by the follies of the world, and of learning the greatness of religion, from the littlenes and vanity of every other way of life; if, I fay, you' would but carry this intention in your mind, you would find every day, every place, and every person, a fresh proof of their wisdom, who chufe to live wholly unto God. You would then often return home, the wifer, the better, and the more ftrengthened in religion, by every thing that has fallen in your way.

Octavius

Octavius is à learned, ingenious man, well vers'd in moft parts of literature, and no ftranger to any king. dom in Europe. The other day, being juft recover'd from a lingring fever, he took upon him to talk thus to his friends.

My glafs, fays he, is almoft run out; and your eyes fee how many marks of age and death I bear about me: But I plainly feel my felf finking away fafter than any ftanders-by imagine. I fully believe, that one year more will conclude my reckoning.

THE attention of his friends was much rais'd by fuch a declaration, expecting to hear fomething truly excellent from fo learned a man, who had but a year longer to live. When Octavius proceeded in this manner: For these reasons, fays he, my friends, I have left off all taverns, the wine of thofe places is not good enough for me in this decay of nature. I muft now be nice in what I drink; I can't pretend to do, as I have done; and therefore am refolv'd to furnish my own cellar with a little of the very best, tho' it cost me ever fo much.

I MUST alfo tell you, my friend, that age forces a man to be wife in many other refpects, and makes us change many of our opinions and practices.

You know how much I have lik'd a large acquaintance; I now condemn it as an error. Three or four chearful, diverting companions, is all that I now defire; because I find, that in my prefent infirmities, if I am left alone, or to grave company, I am not fo easy to myself.

A FEW days after Octavius had made this declaration to his friends, he relapfed into his former illness, was committed to a nurse, who clos'd his eyes before his fresh parcel of wine came in.

YOUNG Eugenius, who was prefent at this difcourfe, went home a new man, with full refolutions of devoting himself wholly unto God.

I NEVER, fays Eugenius, was fo deeply affected with the wisdom and importance of religion. as when I

faw

faw how poorly and meanly the learned Octavius was to leave the world, thro' the want of it.

How often had I envy'd his great learning, his skill in languages, his knowledge of antiquity, his addrefs, and fine manner of expreffing himself upon all fubjects! But when I faw how poorly it all ended, what was to be the last year of fuch a life, and how foolishly the mafter of all thefe accomplishments was then forc'd to talk, for want of being acquainted with the joys and expectations of piety; I was thoroughly convinced, that there was nothing to be envy'd or defir'd, but a life of true piety; nor any thing fo poor and comfortless, as a death without it.

Now as the young Eugenius was thus edify'd and inftructed in the prefent cafe; fo if you are so happy as to have any thing of his thoughtful temper, you will meet with variety of inftruction of this kind; you will find that arguments for the wifdom and happiness of a ftrict piety, offer themselves in all places, and appeal to all your fenfes in the plainest manner.

You will find, that all the world preaches to an attentive mind; and that if you have but ears to hear, almost every thing you meet, teaches you fome leffon .of wisdom.

BUT now, if to thefe admonitions and inftructions, which we receive from our fenfes, from an experience of the ftate of human life; if to thefe we add the lights of religion, thofe great truths which the Son of God has taught us; it will be then as much pait all doubt, that there is but one happiness for man, as that there is but one God.

FOR fince religion teaches us, that our fouls are immortal, that piety and devotion will carry them to an eternal enjoyment of God; and that carnal, worldly tempers will fink them into an everlasting mifery with damned fpirits; what grofs nonfenfe and ftupidity is it, to give the name of joy or happiness to any thing but that, which carries us to this joy and happiness in God?

WAS