Semi CXXXIV. con%tdering our latter ficl 7 Warnings to us who are in Health, ánd have the Opportunity of Repentance before us, to make ufe of it, and to fet about this neceffiry Work out of Hand, to Daywhit/I it is called to Day, lefi any of us be &trdned throw 5 the Deceitftlne¡r of Sin, and be at latt brought into thofe miferable Straits which I have been de fcribing, and which no Man that underfands himfelf would be in for all the World. V. The Meditation of the Shortnefs and Uncertainty of Life fhould make us great Husbands of our Time, as that which next to our immortal Souls, and for the fake of them, is the moll precious and valuable Thing in the World. For as on the one Hand, nothing will comfort us more when we come to the and leave this World, than the Remembrance of a well (pent Life, carefully em- ployed in the Service of God, and for the Benefit and Advantage of Men; fo on the other hand, there is nothing for which our Confciences will morebit- terly reproach us at that time, and fly in our Faces with greater Fury and Rage, than for an ufelefs and unprofitable, efpeciálly if it have been likewife (as is too commonly feen) a wicked and vicious Life. Our Life is uncertain, and therefore we thould feize the prevent Time, and improve it to the belt Advantage, though it be but (tort in it felf, and very fhort in refpe& of the great and long Work which we have to do in ir. To prevent or cure the manifold Diftempers of our Minds, and to preferve our Souls in a good State of Health, and to keep them free from the Diforders of our Appetites and Paffions, requires a wife Condu&, and a very careful Ma- nagement of our felves. Evil and inveterateHabits are not mafer'd and mor- tified in an Infant;. nor the contrary Virtues attain'd in any meafure of Perfe- ¿bon, but by long Pra&ice and flow Degrees. There mutt be Time and Pa- tience, and Perfeverance, for the doing of there Things, and we mutt give allDi-' ligence to add to our Faith Knowledge, and to our Knowledge Virtue, and one Virtue to another, and one Degree of Virtue to another; and nothing without this can minifer true Comfort to us in the Hour of Death, and make us to lift up our Heads with yoy in the Day of judgment. The Confideration of this Ihould make us careful, not to neglect any Occafion of doing good, or of making our felves better; and retirain us from allowing too much of our Time to thofe great Wafers and Devourers of it, Diverlons and Vilts; becaufe they do not only hinder us from better Work and Employ- ment, but are apt infenfibly to work us off from that ferious Tearer of Mind, which becomes thofe who do in good Earner deign for another World. VI. The Meditation of our latter End thould make us always to prefer the doing of our Duty, and the keeping of a good Confcience, to all Temporal Con- fiderations whatfoever, whether of Fame and the good Opinion of Men, or of Wealthand Riches, of Honour and Dignity, of Authority and Power, chu- frng rather, with Mofes, to finer *aimswith the Peopleof God, than to have the Temporary Enjoyments of in. And as for Pleafure, there is little in this World that is true and Gncere, be- tides the Pleafure of doing our. Duty, and of doing good ; I am fure none that is comparable to it. .A good Confcience is a continual Fesfl, and he certainly pleafeth himfelf bell, and is moil eafy in his own Mind, who is confcious to himfelf, that he endeavours as well as he can to do what he ought. VII. The Meditation of our Mortality fhould teach us the true Price and Va- lue of all Temporal Enjoyments, and make us duly offefted towards them, and to fit as loofe to them in our Affe&ions as we can; for nothing finely can be more apt tobeget in us a Coldnefs and Indifferencytowards the Enjoyments of this World, than the Confideration of the Uncertainty of all thefe Things, and of the Shortnefs and Uncertainty of our own Lives. Or if we fuppofe, that they and we both thould continue for force Number of Years, yet there will be an End of them or us 5 and nothing is tobe reckon'd a batting Happinefs, that will have an End, though it fhould be long fir(; for where there can be either Sorrow or an Endof our Joy, there can be no true Felicity. it f Betides,
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