Serro. CXXXIV. corà/dering our latter End. z15 For this is the Fundamental Principle of Wifdonì, by which our whole Life,and all the Anions ofit, ought to be governed and condu&ed. So that if we have immortal Spirits, which {hall live and continue for ever we cannot in Reafon but take our whole Life, andour whole Duration intoCon - fiddration. And if we do fo, we can never juftify it to our felves, to employ all our Care and Time about the worft and more ignoble Part of our felves, and to make Provifion only for the few Days of our Pilgrimage here in this World, without any Regard to that Eternal Duration, which we (hall have in another World. The ferions Conlderation of this cannot fail to make us careful ofour Souls, and concern'd for Eternity ; and in order to the fecuring the Happinefsof that State, to mind us to zdork out our Salvation with great Care and Diligence ; that if it be poffible, we may avoid the Mifery. and obtain the Happinefs of another World; becaufe there is no Cómparifon between the Goods and Evils of this Life, acrd thofe of the other, neither in refpe& of the Degree, not of the Duration of them. And therefore it mutt needs be great Wifdom, to forego the goodThings of. this Life, to obtain thofe of the other ; and to bear thé Evils and Affil&ions of this Life, to efcape thofe of the other. For what Man in his Wits, for a Temporal Convenience and Satisfa&ion, would forfeit an eternal Benefit and Advantage ; and to efcape a prefent Evil, which cannot laft long, would run himfelf upon one infinitely greater, and which will laft far ever ? Confider then, andf,erd yourfelves Men, Can there be a greater Overfight and Mifcarriage in the Condu& of our Affairs, than to mind that leaft which con_ terns us Molt ? Is it poffible for Men to run into a greater Miftake, than to think that their great Bufinefs in this World, is'to Mind the Things of this World ?. And yet the greateft Part of Mankind not only run into this Miftake at their 6rft fetting out, but perfift in it all their Days.; as if their great, and indeed only Concernment were to pleafe themfelv.esfor the prefent, and to pro- vide for this World, as if they were to live always its it ; forgetting all this while, that they have Immortal Souls, which [hail furvive their Bodies, and after a Time be re-united to them, to live for ever, deprived of that Happinefs which they would take no Care to fecure, and undergoing that Mifery and Pu- nifhment which they would be at noPains to prevent whilft they were in this World, and the Opportunity of fecuring the one, and avoiding the other, was in their_ Hands. H. The Thoughts ofòttr latter End Ihould make u§ Very ferious and compo- fed in our,Spirits. For if wehaveimttiortai Souls as well as dying Bodies; if we lhall live for ever, and if the Happinefs of all Eternity depends upon the Im- provement Of this {hurt Time of our Lives, and our Carriàge and Demeanour while we are here in this World; then it is no trilling Eufinefs, it is not a Mat- terof fmall Concert-mint to us howwe live here, and manage our felves du- ring our Abode in this World. Whom do not the lively Thoughts of Death, and the neat Approach of it make grave and ferious? And many Men much wirer and more'conGderatethan. ever they were in any other Time of their Lives, and much truer Judges of Things. They can then tell how they ought to have lived, what life they thould have made of their Time, andwhat Life they wouldmake of it, if God would be pleafed to prolong it to them. The near View of another World is an amazing Thing, and apt to infpire Men with better Thoughts and Refolutions than ever they had before. And why ihould not the clear Profpe& of it at a Durance, and the aflilr'd Beliefof it, have the fame Effe& upon us, to make us ferions, and to mind in food Eat-nett, drï this our Day, the Things which belong to our Peace, and towait all the Days ofOur ap; pointed Time, 'till our Change (hallcómeé ? And therefore; to engage us to a continual Serioufnefs and Watchfulnéfs, the great Judge of the World hatli hid from us both the Time of the general Júdg ment, and of our particular Sumtnons out of this World, that wa might never bs
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