Mind reproaches him with nothing that he hath done, but he hath a continual Feaft of a good Conscience, as Solomon phraseth it; I fay, I would ask any one, whether of these is more to be pitied? I dare fay, all will agree, that the former outwardly happy Man is much the more miferable and pitiable of the two;

But, Thirdly, to conclude; If to this we add the mighty unfpeakable Rewards that are promised to all faithful perfevering Chriftians in the World, and the fad Portion that doth await all wicked ungodly Men; let the Difficulties of Religion be never fo great; let the Crofs and Perfecution they fuffer for it be never fo fevere; yet there will be no Comparison, no Competition between Sin and Virtue, which of them is the easier, and which of them moft recommends itself to the Choice of Mankind.

Let our Condition in this World be never fo happy and profperous, yet is it an easy Matter for us to think of dwelling in everlafting Burnings? Can we, for a little Bravery and Splendor, a little Pleafure and Gratification of our brutish Appetites, which we are not certain will laft for a Year, or a Month, or a Day; I fay, Can we for this venture, (no, it is not a Venture) Can we for this fell our Souls and Bodies to the Devil, to be for ever tormented? Is this a Bargain that we can any way please ourselyes with the Thoughts

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Thoughts of? On the other fide, if we be fincere Lovers of God, and Difciples of our Lord Jefus, in what miferable Circumftances foever we are in the World, will it not be fufficient to revive our drooping Spirits? Will it not be a Cordial to us, in the midft of all our Afflictions and Tribulations, to think that we are the Sons of the moft High God, and that we fhall be glorified with our Saviour, when he comes to appear triumphantly in the View of Angels and Men, to diftribute his Rewards to all his faithful Servants; and that for our light Affliction that endureth but for a Moment, we shall receive a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory?

Sure thefe Things will not bear a Comparison. But every one that hath his Wits about him, muft, out of the Evidence of Truth, be forced to cry out, that, all Things confidered, it is more eafy, more fafe, more defirable, more delightful to be good, to ferve God, to live in Obedience to his Laws, and to difcharge a good Confcience, than to enjoy all the Pleasures of Sin, which are but for a fhort Seafon.

May God Almighty, by his Spirit, convince us all of the Truth of this! And, upon that Conviction, may we all ferionfly ap ply ourselves to the Mortification of all our finful Habits, and to the Study and Purfuit

Purfuit of that which is good! That fo we may have the comfortable Effects of our Labour in this Life in folid Peace and Tranquillity of Mind, and the glorious Rewards that God hath made over to all good Men in the Life to come, by Jefus Chrift our Lord; to whom, with the Father, and the Holy Ghoft, &c.

SER

362

SERMON XVI.

T

HEBREWS XIII.

18.

We trust we have a good Confcience, in all Things willing to live honeftly.

HAT every one of us may be able thus to fay with St. Paul, ought to be our most serious Endeavours, because it is our higheft Concernment. To have a good Confcience, is the greatest Duty, and the greatest Felicity in the World; as, on the contrary, an evil Confcience is the worft of Calamities. Upon our Confcience being good or bad, depends all the Happiness or Mifery of our Lives, both as to this prefent State, and that which is to come: He that hath a good Confcience hath a continual Feaft, as Solomon expreffeth it: He hath that which gives Relifh to all his Enjoyments, and Comfort and Support under all his Misfortunes; that which makes him pleasant and joyful in good Circumftances, and at leaft contented in the worft; and, which is more than all this, he

hath

hath that which is both the Evidence and the Anticipation of a future glorious Immortality. As, on the other fide, an evil Conscience is both a Man's Crime, and his Tormentor: It is that which makes him hated of God, and of himself: It is that which spoils and imbitters the moft profperous Fortune in the World, but makes all afflictions intolerable; but, as if all this was too little, as it puts us out of the Favour of God in this World, fo without Repentance, and putting it away, it excludes us from all Hopes of his Favour in the World to come. Happy therefore are they that can fay with St. Paul, in the Text, We trust we have a good Confcience.

But what is it that makes a good Conscience? That is our present Inquiry. Confcience, taken in general, is nothing elfe but a Man's Judgment or Perfuafion concerning moral Good or Evil, or concerning what he ought to do, and what he ought not to do, and what he lawfully may do.

Now, according to this Definition of Confcience, one at the firft Sound of the Phrafe, would perhaps be apt to think, that that fhould be a good Confcience, wherein a Man's Judgment was rightly and truly inftructed as to these Matters; that is, where he had right Notions of Duty and Sin, lawful or unlawful; as, on the other fide, that should be a bad Conscience, where a Man was mis-informed, and mistaken in his Notions about these

Points;