So The Life of GOD a balance; as the one falleth, the other· cloth rife. When our natural inclinations profper, and the creature is exalted in our foul, religion is faint, and doth langui{h: but when earthly objects wither away, and lofe their beauty, and the foul begins to cool and flag in its profecutioa of them, then the feeds of grace take root, and the divine life begins to flourifh and · prevail, It cloth therefore nearly concern us, to ·convince ourfelves of the emptinefs and vanity of creature-enjoyments, and reafcJn our heart out of love with them. Let us ferioufly confider all that our reafon, our faith, our own · experience, or the obfervation of others, can fuggcH to this effect; let us ponder the matter over and over, and fix our thoughts on this truth, till we become really perfuaded of it. A– midfl all our purfuits and deG.gns, let us flop, and afk ourfelves, For vvh:lt end is all this? At what do I aim? Can the grofs and muddy pleafures of fenfe, or a heap of white and yellow earth, or the ef1:een1 or affection of filly creatures likn· n1yfelf, fatisfy a rational and immortal foul? have I not tried thefe things already; Will they have a high er rdifh, and yield tne more contentment to-morrow than ycfierday, or the next year than they did the lafi? There
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