Let fome afk wealth, others efteem, others health: I will demand these natural bleffings, but with this provifo, if they conduce to God's honour, and my falvation; for nothing in this world is to be regarded, but in order to the next. Poverty will not fhut heaven-gates against me, nor riches thofe of hell. I may live virtuoufly in ficknefs, and impiously in health; therefore thy will be done; I leave my destiny in thy hands, O Lord; and only defire what is advantageous to my foul, not what is pleafing to my body; what is agreeable to the profeffion of a Christian, not what fuits with the maxims of a Pagan.

Keep me from fin, my Saviour! or, if I am fo unfortunate as to fall, oh, force me foon back to repentance! remove all thofe objects from my eyes that withdraw my heart from thy affection; and rather caft me upon a dung-hill, with Job, in pain, poverty, and contempt, together with his virtues, than feat me on the throne of a prince, with his vices.

Some complain, that God, who is all bounty, all goodness to others, feems averfe and fevere to them; that they are almoft drowned in forrow, and overwhelmed with afflictions; that they have not only thrice with St. Paul cried out, to be freed from them, but oftener. And yet temptations encreafe; pangs of confcience grow upon them; and they seem to have reaped no other fruit from their prayers, tears, and aufterities, but a repulfe. But they should reflect with St. Auguftin, that, "fome benefits are not denied, but are deferred, that "the very timing of them may enhance their ❝ value.

You are tormented with fcruples: your confcience perfecutes you: you pray for eafe: you find nothing but vexation and remorfe: it is not yet time: fome fin lies yet undiscovered, and unrepent

ed:

ed: your confcience is not clear of former offences: you must make a more ftrict fcrutiny. When this is done, a calm will return, remorfe will vanifh, and all thofe furies that haunt a guilty confcience. Is it a refufal, to continue your pains in these circumstances? or rather is it not a favour?

But if this be not your cafe, perchance an interior peace may render you incautious, and fling you into a dangerous fecurity. You may suppose you are above temptations, because you perceive none, and so infenfibly run into pride and prefumption; infallible fore-runners of a great misfortune. God therefore, to prevent your ruin, fuffers you to be tempted, that you may learn your weakness by the inclination you feel to evil; that you may diffide in your own ftrength, to rely wholly on his affiftance: that you may stand upon your guard, and avoid a furprise by a continual vigilance. This is only to defer, not to refuse. He will grant you peace; but when it is not prejudicial, when it will not forward your ruin, but fecure your falvation.

Oh! what a happiness is it, to have leave to addrefs fo great a Majefty with our petitions! what a goodness, for fuch a Majefty, to importune us to lay before him our neceffities! what a bounty, to grant all our demands made in the name of his Son; nay, and double the favour by a seasonable timing it to the exigence of our neceffity! I will, O God, lay open my wants to thee with the reverence of a child, and the confidence of a beggar; but leave the grant of my request to the dif pofition of thy paternal providence.

But the best way to obtain favours of the Father, is not only to ask them in the name of the Son, but alfo to love him as your Saviour, and adore him as your Creator. The Father himself loveth

you

you, because ye have loved me. The love we bear Chrift is the cause of the love the Father bears us, and of his liberality to us. Let us not flatter our felves with old latitudinarian principles revived in our age: I acknowledge a God, pay my debts, injure no man, follow reafon, and never embroil my thoughts with revelation. This is a religion a-la-mode, and virtue merely in name and cypher. True virtue fuppofes true faith in Jefus Chrift; and the Father only loves thofe, who know and love him. Thefe he hears; to thefe he imparts his favours; and will reward them eternally, if they perfevere in their prayers, and continue in the practice of thofe virtues, Chrift commands, and the deteftation of all thofe fins he forbids.

O Redeemer! thy perfection, and my own intereft, oblige me to love thee. Thou haft all that is charming, all that is amiable; thy power is without bounds; thy beauty beyond expreffion; thy goodnefs above comprehenfion; and thy bounty inexhauftible. Thou madeft me of nothing; and when fin returned me to nothing, thou didst revive me by thy death, beautify me by thy fcars, and cleanse me with thy blood. Thou didft not only take me into thy favour, but didst adopt me into thy family, and entitle me to thy kingdom. Could a poor creature receive more, or an infinite Bounty give more? Oh that I had a thousand tongues to praife thee, and as many hearts to love thee! I love thee as my Benefactor, and worship thee as my God; I fear thy juftice, and place all my confidence in thy mercy.

I. EPISTLE

I. EPISTLE of St. Peter, Chap. iv. Verfe

7. But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore fober and watch unto prayer.

8. And above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity fhall cover the multitude of fins.

9. Ufe hofpitality one to another without grudg ing.

10. As every man bath received the gift, even fo minifter the fame one to another, as good fewards of the manifold grace of God.

11. If any man speak, let him Speak as the oracles of God; if any man minifter, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jefus Chrift; to whom be praife and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

ST

The MORAL REFLECTION.

T. Peter, in this chapter, exhorts the new converted Gentiles to leave the vices of Pagans, together with their religion; to form their lives by the precepts Chrift has left; and to fhew the fincerity of their converfion by the purity of their morals. And, in the first place, he excites them to prudence; because this is the rule and measure of all virtuous actions. Without it all actions are vicious, and with it, all are virtuous. "True "prudence, fays St. Bafil, is only a knowledge of "what ought to be practifed, and what omitted; "whoever keeps up to it, will never decline vir"tuous actions, nor ever be branded with vice." But the apostle means not human prudence, which our Saviour condemns, and St. Paul terms folly and madness. Chriftians need no incitement to the

study

study and practice of carnal prudence. They learn it almost in their cradle, and practife it to their graves. Christian prudence, according to St. Auguftin, is an act of the intellect, by which a man understands, that things eternal are far more valuable than temporal, and by confequence, that we muft forgo all those fenfual fatisfactions, that oppose our enjoyment of heaven. Hence he concludes, that he alone deferves the name of prudent, who neither places his happiness in the enjoyment of earthly goods, nor his mifery in fuffering transitory evils; but bends all his care to the purchase of a happy eternity, by leading a virtuous life in this world.

Our bleffed Saviour affures us, by almoft twenty parables, that as our falvation is an affair of the highest importance, fo it is attended with extreme difficulties. This he fignifies by the vine, that must be cultivated with fo much care; by the field that must be ploughed with fo much affiduity. It is the narrow path, which few can find, and in which fewer have courage to walk. In fine, it is a little door, and few will stoop fo low as to enter. And indeed, difficulties affail us from all parts. Some arife from concupifcence, which we must fubdue; others from the rage of our paffions, which we muft fence within the bounds of reafon. Our fenfes attack us on one fide; pleafing, tho' finful, objects on the other. Now, certainly, it is no easy task to break through these obftacles; to remove these difficulties, that lie in our way, and obftruct our paffage to virtue.

The first act of prudence therefore confists in a serious and mature deliberation, to find out the best expedient to remove thofe difficulties that interpose between us and our falvation, and to chufe thofe means that are the most proper to effect it. For as in human affairs, when once we have fix'd upon a defign,