life under the profession of Christianity, have the impudence to hope that thou shalt sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God? No, those sins which are committed by Christians under the enjoyment of the gospel, are of deeper dye, and clothed with blacker aggravations, than the sins of heathens are capable of. A Pagan may live without God in the world, and be unjust towards men, at a cheaper rate than thou who art a Christian. Better it had been thou hadst

never known one syllable of the gospel, never heard of the name of Christ, than that having taken it upon thee thou shouldst not depart from iniquity. Happy had it been for thee that thou hadst been born a Jew, a Turk, or a poor Indian, rather than that being bred among Christians, and professing thyself of that number, thou shouldst lead a vicious and unholy life.

I have insisted the longer upon these arguments, that I might, if possible, awaken men to a serious consideration of their lives, and persuade them to a real reformation of them; that all of us, who call ourselves Christians, might plainly see our obligations to live up to the fundamental laws of our religion; to love God and our neighbour, and to do to others as we would have them do to us; to mortify our lusts, and subdue our passions, and sincerely endeavour to grow in every grace and virtue, and to abound in all the fruits of righteousness,

which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God.

This indeed would become our profession, and be honourable to our religion; and would remove one of the greatest obstacles to the progress of the gospel. For how can we expect that the doctrine of God our Saviour should gain any considerable ground, so long as by the unworthy lives of so many Christians, it is represented to the world at so great a disadvantage! If ever we would have Christianity effectually recommended, it must be by the holy and unblameable lives of those who make profession of it. Then, indeed, it would look with so lovely a countenance, as to invite many to it; and carry so much majesty and authority in it, as to command reverence from its greatest enemies, and make men to acknowledge that God is in us of a truth, and to glorify our Father which is in heaven.

The good God grant that as we have taken upon us the profession of Christianity, we may be careful so to live, that we may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things; that the grace of God which bringeth salvation may teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, &c.

81

SERMON VI.

OF THE

HAPPINESS OF A HEAVENLY CONVERSATION.

PHIL. iii. 20.

For our conversation is in heaven.

To have our conversation in heaven implies these two things :

First, The serious thoughts and considerations of heaven.

Secondly, The effect which these thoughts and considerations ought to have upon our lives.

I. Concerning heaven, or the state of good men in another life, two things principally offer themselves to our consideration: 1. The happiness of this state; and, 2. The way and means whereby we may partake of this happiness.

First, We will consider the happiness of this state: but what and how great that is, I am not able fully to represent. The Scriptures have revealed so much in general concerning it as may serve to inflame our desires after it, and quicken our endeavours for obtaining it; namely, that it is incomparably beyond any happiness of this world; that it is very great; that it is eternal; and, in a word, far above any thing that we can now conceive.

G

1. It is incomparably beyond any happiness of this world. It is free from the sharp and bitter ingredients which abate and allay the enjoyments of this life: all these are mixed, uncertain, and unsatisfying; nay, the very sweetest of them are cloying.

. None of the comforts of this life are unmixed. There is something of vanity mingled with all of them, and that causes vexation of spirit. Every sensual pleasure is purchased by pains, is attended with it, or ends in it. A large estate is not to be got without care, nor kept without fear, nor lost without trouble. Power is commonly uneasy to those that have it, and envied by those that have it not. Knowledge is one of the sweetest pleasures of human life; and yet, if we may believe the experience of one who had as great a share of it as any of the sons of men ever had, he will tell us, that this also is vexation of spirit; for in much wisdom there is much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow, Eccl. i. 17. Thus the best things of this world have a mixture of good and evil, of joy and sorrow in them; but the happiness of the next life is free from all allay. In heaven only are pure joys, and unmingled felicity.

And as our enjoyments here are mixed, so are they uncertain; for which reason Solomon very elegantly calls them things that are not. Why wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is

not; for riches certainly make to themselves wings, and fly like an eagle towards heaven. So fugitive are they, that after all our endeavours to secure them, they break loose from us, and in an instant vanish out of our sight. He who enjoys the greatest happiness on earth, still wants this that what he possesses may be secured to him. But the happiness of heaven is steady and constant, fixed and unchangeable as its author, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.

And if the enjoyments of this life were certain, yet they are unsatisfying. This is the vanity of vanities that every thing can trouble us, but nothing give us satisfaction. I know not how it is, but either we, or the things of this world, or both, are so fantastical, that we can neither be well with them, nor without them. If hungry, we are in pain; if we eat to the full, we are uneasy; if poor, we think ourselves miserable; and when we come to be rich, we often are really so. If in a low condition, we fret and murmur; and if we get up in the world, we are many times further from content than we were before: so that we pursue the happiness of this life, as children chase birds, when we think we are come very near it, and have it almost in our hands, it flies farther from us than it was at first.

Nay, so far are the enjoyments of this world from affording us satisfaction, that the sweetest