Monttibing att'ß3Rcte ption, ç attend to ftudy the fecrets of Nature and Art, when Ch-ar p. fir. all his thoughts are taken up how to prevent the ex. ecution of the Sentence? And 'tis no lets than a pro- digy of madnefs, that men who have but a íhort and uncertain fpace allowed them to efcape the wrath to come, should rack their brains in fiudying things im- pertinent to falvation, and negle& the Knowledg of a Redeemer. Efpecially when there is fo clear aRe- velation ofhim: The righteotrfnef of Faith doth not Roca. to. 6,1. command we to afcend to the Heavens, or defcend into the deep to make a clifcoveryofit, but the word is nigh us that difcovers the certain way to a happy immorta- lity. Seneca a Philofopher, anda Courtier, valued his Senec. praf. t. being in the world only upon this account, that he nat qumft might contemplate the Starry Heaven. He only faw the vi- Quid erat cur in numero viventium me po- fìble beauty of the Firmament fttum effe gauderem an ut cibos et potutn percolarem? ut hoc Corpus cafurum, ac but was ignorant of the Glory fluidum, periturumque nifi fubinde imple- within it, and of the way that a, farciremr ? et viverems a minifler? ut morti tur timerem cui omnesnafcimur gri ? De- leads to it ; yet to our Ihame he trahe hoc inaftimabile bonum, non eft vi fpeaks, that the fight ofit made to tanti ut fudern, ut aftuem. o quam con- him defpife the Earth, and with- ermxertes eft homo nifi copra humans fe out the contemplation of the Celeftial bodies, he efl:eem'd his continuance in the World not the life of a Man, but the toil ofa Beaft. But what tranfports had he been in, ifhehad been ac- quainted with the contrivance of our Redemption, the admirable order of its parts, and the beauty that refults from the compofition of the whole ? But we 2 Cor. 3 rsa that with open face may in the Glafs of the Goffel be- hold the Glory of the Lord, turn away our eyes from it to vanity. . Here thecomplaint is more juft, Ad fa- pientiam quis accedit ?quis dignamjudicat ni iquam in tranfitu noverit ? We content our felves with flight and tranfìent glances, but do not ferioufly and fixedly Q 2 con-
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