gefted into Practice, the Knowledge of Chrift Jefus, and him Crucify'd, will stand a Man in more Stead, and yield him more Satisfaction and Comfort at a Dying Hour, than all the Treasures of Human Learning and Knowledge.

Neither Human Accomplishments, nor Moral Endowments, though they were in the greatest Degree of Perfection; Nor any of the Gifts or Good Things of this World, though they be in never fuch Abundance, can any thing avail us Then. All Men's Happiness or Unhappiness, Comfort or Dif comfort in Death, is in Proportion to their Preparedness or Unpreparedness for it. They that are well Prepared, and have kept themfelves in Readiness, can chearfully receive the Summons, whenever it pleaseth God to call them. But the Unprepared Soul is filled with Terrors; and all in Fright and Confufion. This whole Matter is very liveMat. xxv. lily represented to us in our Saviour's Parable of the Ten Virgins. The Wife Virgins that were ready Prepared for their Lord's Coming, with Oil in their Lamps, had nothing to do but to trim their Lamps, and enter with their Lord into his Joy. But the Foolish Virgins, that had neglected their Opportunities, and were Unprovided with Oil for their Lamps, when at Midnight the Cry

*See Lord Chief Juftice Hale's Contemplation on Chrift Cru cify'd,

was

was made, in that Surprize they faw their Wants, and would have done any thing Then to have provided themselves. But whilft they are running about in Hurry and Distraction, to retrieve, if poffible, their former Neglects, and make themfelves ready, their Time was over, and the Door was shut. Which brings us to the

3d Thing to be confidered, That not only the Happiness of our Prefent Life, and of a Comfortable Death, but the Happiness of our Eternal Life alfo depends upon our being Well Prepared for Death.

The Wife Virgins that were well provided with Oil in their Lamps, and their Lamps burning, that is All Wife and Good Chriftians that keep themselves well Prepared to meet their Lord, with Grace in their Hearts, and their Hearts burning; burning with Sacred Flames of Love to God, and with fervent Charity to Men, and with all the devout and ardent Affections of a Soul difpofing itfelf for Heaven; All fuch (I fay) fhall en ter with their Lord into his Joy, to be for ever with the Lord;-In whofe Prefence there is Fulness of Joy, and at whofe Right?f.xvi.11. Hand there are Pleafures for evermore. Whilft the Foolish Virgins, all Foolish Improvident Chriftians, that have neglected their Time, and are caught Unprovided, fhall for ever be fhut out.

We ought to frame to ourselves right No tions of the Nature and End of Life. Most Men feem to conceive nothing of it, but as a Scene or State of Prefent Enjoyment that they are to make the best of; which they fhould therefore make as Easy and Delightful as they can to themselves, that they may have nothing to do but to disport themselves in it in Eafe and Pleafure: All which is no more than the Life of Infects in the Sunshine, that play about in it for a little while, and then fink again into their Duft. But we are told Job v. 7. that Man is Born to Trouble. And indeed, when Men have done all they can, Human Life is fuch a Mixture of Good and Evil, that taking it all together, the Evil with the Good, the Troubles and Miseries with the Pleasures and Enjoyments, it would appear in itself not to be extremely Defirable. And sometimes the Evils of Life do fo much preponderate, and outweigh the Comforts of it, that if I fhould fay, that Life in fuch Cafes, (taking it only as it is in itself, without any farther Views,) is no ways preferable to Non-Existence or Annihilation, I fear I should have the Suffrage of Thousands of Miserable Wretches to concur with me; those that Job iii. 22. Would (with Job,) Rejoice and be glad, if they could find the Grave.

It is commonly Obferv'd, that Children are Born into the World Crying, as an unhappy Prefage of the Troubles and Miseries

they

they are Born to.

The Obfervation, I find, is at least as Old as the Author of the Book of Wisdom, who tells us, Chap. vii. 3 When I was Born, the first Voice I uttered was Crying, as all Others do.-Seneca ( if I mistake not) somewhere improves upon the Thought,We are Born (fays he) Crying, we Live Laughing, and we Dye Sighing and Groaning.- This is a very Compendious History of Human Life. And if This were All, the Sum Total of Life, (as it might be for any thing that He certainly knew to the Contrary,) it fets off Life to very little Advantage. But We Chriftians certainly Know that it is Not All; that All does not terminate Here; but that This Life is given us only in order to Another; a Temporal Life to work out an Eternal by it. If then we will improve it to the best Advantage, to the End for which it was defign'd and given us, we muft conduct our whole Lives, and order all our Actions, with Regard to it: We must here Prepare ourselves, and Work out our Way at the Throne of Grace to the Throne of Glory.

We are therefore to fettle it in our Hearts, as a Certain Truth, and Fundamental Principle, that we were not fent into this World only to take our Paftime therein; to follow our own Fancies, and Please and Gratify ourfelves in the Inclinations of a Corrupt Nature, but to ferve God, and to work out our

G 2

Own

21.

own Salvation; to Prepare ourselves for Death and Judgment, and for another Life after This. This is the Great End, and therefore ought to be the Great Business of our Lives. And Then fhall it be rendred to every One accordingly as they have in this Mat. xxv. Life acquitted themselves. The Good and Faithful Servant, that was ready to give a good Account of his Talents, having carefully and faithfully improved and imployed them for his Lord's Service, was in the End taken into the foy of his Lord. But the Unprofitable Unfaithful Servant, that had been Slothful and Negligent in his Duty to his Lord, was Sentenc'd by him to be Caft into Outer Darkness, an Emblem of Hell, the Region of Eternal Darkness and Despair.

We have all of us Talents committed to our Management; We have Duties affign'd us by God, and Time, and Opportunities, and Abilities given us to perform them: And according to the Account that we fhall at laft be able to give of ourselves, so shall our Sentence be. All Men, whether Prepared or Unprepared for Death, fhall be fure, when Death comes, to find their Proper Place ready Prepared for Them: The One shall Mat.xxv. to the Kingdom Prepared for them from the Foundation of the World; the Other, into Ib. ver. 41. Everlasting Fire Prepared for the Devil and his Angels.

34.

go

4thly, It