INTRODUCTION. 19 righteousness was perfect. Paternal justice maketh difference according to thatworthiness which is so denominated by the law of grace. And as sin is itsown punishment, holiness and obedi- ence is much of its own reward. Whatever God appointeth thee to do, see that thou do it sincerely, and with all thymight. If sin dispose men to be angry because it is detected, disgraced, and re- sisted, if God be pleased, their wrath should be patiently borne, who will shortly be far more angry with themselves. If slander and obloquy survive, so will the better effects on those that are converted; and there is no comparison between these. I shall not be hurt, when I am with Christ, by the calumnies of men on earth ;'but the saving benefit will, by convertedsinners, be enjoy- ed everlastingly. Words and actions are transient things, and, be- ing once past, are nothing; but the effects of them, on an'immor- tal soul, may be endless. All the sermons that Ihave preached are nothing now; but the grace of God, on sanctified souls, is the be- ginning of eternal life. It is unspeakable mercy to be sincerely thus employedwith success ; therefore, I had reason, all this while, to be in Paul's strait, and make no haste in my desires to depart. Thecrown will come in its due time ; and eternity is long enough to enjoy it, how long soever it be delayed: but if I will do that which must obtain it for myselfand others, it must be quickly done, before my declining sun be set. O that I had no worse causes of my unwillingness yet to die, than my desire to do the work of life for my own and other men's salvation, and to finish my course with joy, and the ministry com- mitted to me by the Lord. Use 6. And as it is on earth that I must do good to others, so it must be in a manner suited to their state on earth. Souls are here closely united to bodies, by which they must receive much good or hurt: do good to men's bodies, if thou wouldest do good to their souls : say not, things corporeal are worthless trifles, for which the receivers will be never the better; they are things that nature is easily sensible of; and sense is the passage to the mind and will. Dost not thou find what a help it is to thyself to have, at any time, any ease and alacrity of body ? And what a burden and hin- drance pains and cares are? Labor, then, to free others from such burdens and temptations, and be not regardless of them. If thou must rejoice with them that rejoice, and mourn with them that mourn, further thy own joy in , furthering theirs, and avoid thy own sorrows in avoiding or curing theirs. But, alas ! what power bath selfishness in most I How easilydo we bear our brethren's pains, reproaches, wants, and afflictions, in comparison of our own ! how few thoughts, and how little cost or labor, do we use for their supply, in comparison of what we do for
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