286 Religion, our fiat and great Concernment. Vol. I. Great in this World ; nay as to the Neceffaries of this Life, and a competency of outward Things, he hath a much greater and better Securityfrom the Providence and Promife ofGod, than the Men of the Worldhave by all their Care and Pains; Befides, that he hath this confiderable Advantage, by minding thefe Things only as Acceffaries, that if he mifs of them, he hath fomething better to fupport him in theWant of them; being fecure of a Happinefs which this World can neither give nor take from him. But now the Worldly Man, if he be defeated in his Defigns, is of all Men molt miferable, becaufe he hath nothing elfe to comfort him, nothing elfe to truft to; he fails of hisHopes as to this World, and hath done what in him lies, to make his Cafe defperate as to the other. Upon all thefe Confiderations and Encouragements, you fee how reafonable it is, that we fhould make Religion, and the Concernments of another Life, our great Care and Bufinefs. And yet how are thefe negleûed by the greatelt Part of Mankind ! And by the belt of us (God knows) not minded as theyought, and as they deferve ! What can we fay for our felves in excufe of fo intolerable a Folly ? There are two or three things whichMen commonly pretend, if not in Jufification, yet in Mitigation and Excufe of this great Neglect. Fifrß, They pretend great Difficulties and Difcouragemens in the ways of Re- ligion. This I have already acknowledged tobe true, fo far as to awaken our Care, and to whet our Induftry 5 but by no means to make us defpond, and give over all Care of fo great a Concernment, becaufe of the Difficulties it is at- tended withal. Men who have no mind to a thing, are apt to imagine great Difficulties in theattaining of it, and to magnify them in their Fancies beyond Reafon. As the People of Ifrael, when they were toenter into Canaan (which was the Type of the Kingdom of Heaven) reprefented the Inhabitants of the Land, whorn they were to conquer, more terrible than in truth they were , re- portin g to one another, that the Land was full of Giants, and Sons of Anal¿, Men of prodigious Stature, which reached up to Heaven. And this the Wife Man obferves to be the perpetual Excufe of the Slothful; when they have no mind to a thing, they fay thereis aLyon in the way 5 that is, . they fancy to themfelves Dangers and Terrors which are not. Thus Men who are averle from Religion, and have nomind to beat the Troubleand Pains to get to Heaven, are apt to complain of the monftrous and infuperable Difficulties of Religion, and how hard it is for a Man to mortifie his Lufts, and fubdue his Appetites, and govern his Pallions, and to do all thofe Things whichare neceffary to bring him to Hea- ven. Well ! it is acknowledged to be difficult, and is it not fo to getan Eftate, and to rife to any thing in this World ? The true Pains which Men take about thefe Things, Thew that they are difficult ; only when Men have a mind to a thing, and their Heart is let upon it, they do not Rand to complain of the diffi- culty, but buckleto it, and grapple with it. Is Religion difficult ? And what is not fo, that is good for any thing ? Is not the Law a difficult andcrabbed Study ? Does it not require great labour, and perpetual drudging to excel in any kind ofKnowledge, ,to be Mafter of any Art or Profeffion. In a word, is there any thing in the World worthy the having, that is to be gotten without pains ? And is Eternal Life and Glory the only flight and inconfiderable thing, that is not worth our Care and Induftry ? Is it fit that fo great a Good fhould be expofed to the faint and idle Wifbes, to the cheap and lazy Endeavours oflloathful Men ? For what Reafon ? Nay, with what Confcience can we bid lets for Heaven and Eternal Life, than Men are con- tented to give for the things of this World ; things of no value in Comparifon, not worthy the toiling for, not fure to be attained by all our Endeavours ; things which periJli in the ufing, and which, when we have them, we are liable to be de- prived of by a Thoufand Accidents? One Fitof a Fever may {hatter ourUn- derfandings, and confound all our Knowledge, and turn us into Fools and Ideots y an Inundation or a Fire may fweep away anddevour our Eflates y a Suc- ceflionof Calamities may in a few Hours make the Richeft and Greateft Man as poor as yob, and let himupon a Dunghil. But be the difficulty what it will of attaining the Kingdom of God and his Righteoufnefr,they are to be fought at any rate 5 becaufe they are abfolutely\necef fart',
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