292 The Path of the yz, S E R M. the natural man, as St. Paul calls him, that XII. is, the carnal, the vicious man, to under- hand ; and his ignorance renders the works of God joylefs to him, nay, fills his mind with difiraCting perplexity. But knowledge is eafy to him that under /landeth as Solomon fpeaks, Proverbs xiv. 6. pious fentiments deeply imprefs'd on the foul, and virtue be- come its very temper, give fuch a fenfe of worth and cf excellence and wifdom, in the frame of nature hill concluding its ad- minifiration, that all thefe doubts vanifh ; the world puts on a fmiling countenance ; every thing in it appears lovely as the creatures of God, every event as his wife appoint- ment; afflictions are gentle and eafy chaf- tifements intended for good, death itfelf is ftripped of its terrors, and therefore amidfi all the mazes of life, and the intricacies of providence in the whole of its government, which is to us inexplicable, the mind confcious of integrity, and fatisfied from itfelf, enjoys its own exiftence, nay, in force fenfe, enjoys all things with comfort ; is well pleas'd with the world, as under the ceconomy of its heavenly father, who is in the wifeff manner carrying on his own good defigns ;
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