56 The Prefent andfuture Advantage Vol. I1. love life and fee good days, let him refrain his Tongue from evil, and his Lips that they fpeak no guile; let him efchew evil; and do good, let him feedpeace and enfue it. And betide the natural tendency of things, there is a fpecial Bleffingof God, which attends good men, and makes their des long in the land which the Lord their God bath given them. 1V. There is nothing gives a Man fo much Comfort when he comes to die, as the refle&ion upon an holy andgood Life: and then furely above all other times Comfort is molt valuable, becaufe our frail and infirm Nature doth then (land moftin needof it. Thenufually mens Hearts are faint and their Spirits low, and every thing isapt to deje& and trouble them; fo that we had need to provide our felves of fome excellent Cordial againft that time ; and there is no Comfort like to that of a clearConfcience, and of an innocent and ufeful Life. This will revive and raife a Man's Spiritsunder all the Infirmities of his Body, becaufe it gives a Man good hopes concerning his Eternal State, and the hopesof that are apt to fill a Man with joy unfpeakable and full of glory. The difference between good and bad Men is never fo remarkable in this World, as when they are upon their Death-Bed. This the Scripture obferves to us. Pfal. 37. 37. Mark the perfeaï Man, andbehold the upright, fir the end ofthat Manuspeace. With what Triumph and Exultation doth the Bleffed Apoftle St. Paul, upon the review of his Life, difconrfe concerning his Death and Diffolotion ? z Tim. 4. 6, 7, 8. I amnow ready, lays he, tobe offered up, and the time ofmy departure is at hand : I havefought a goodfight, Ihavefrnifh'dmy courfe, I have kept thefaith ; henceforth there is laid up for me acrown ofrighteoufnefs, which the Lord, the righte- ous judge, will give me at that day. What would not any of us do tobe thus affe&ed when we come to leave the World, and to be able to bear the thoughts of Death and Eternity with fo quiet and well fatisfi'd a Mind ! Why, let us but en- deavour to live Holy lives, and tobe ufeful and ferviceable to God in our Gene- ration, as this holy Apoftle was, and we (hall have the fame ground of Joy and Triumph which he had. For this is the proper and genuine effe& of Virtue and Goodnefs; The work of righteoufnefs is peace, and the effe6l of rigüteonfnefs gnietnefr and affurance for ever. All the good A&ions that we do in this Life are fo many feedsof Comforts Town in -our own Confciences, which will fpring up orte time or other, but efpecially in the approaches of Death, when we come to take a- fe- rrous reviewofour lives; for then mens Confciences ufe todeal plainly and im- partially with them, and to tell them the truth; and if at that time more efpe- ciall y our hearts condemn us not, thenmaywe have comfort and confiders(e towards God. V. An Holy and Virtuous Life doth tranlmit a good Name and Reputation to Polterity. And this Solomon path determined to be a much greater Happinefs, than for a Man to leave a great Mate behind him : 11 good name, fays he, is rather to be chofen than great riches. Pious and Virtuous men do commonly gain to themfelves a good Effeem and Reputation in this World, while they are in it; but the Virtues of good men are not always fobright and fhining as to meet with that refpe& and acknowledgment which is due to them in this World. Many times they are much clouded by the Infirmities and Palliions which attend them, and are lhadowed by fomeaffe&ed fingularities and moralities, which thofewhich have liv'd more retir'd from the World are more liable to. Befides that the Envy of others, who are not fo good as they, lies heavy upon them, and does de. peels them: For bad men are very apt to mifinterpret the belt Altions of the good, and a put falle colours upon them, and when they have nothing elfe to obje& againft them, to charge themwith Hypocrifie and Infìncerity ; an oüje&i on -as hard to be anfwer'd, as it is tobe madegood, unlefs we could fee into the Hearts of men. But when good men are dead and gone, and the bright and Ihining Exatnple of their- Virtues is at aconvenientdiftance, and does not gall and rpUraidothers, then Envy ceafeth, and every Man is then content to give-'a'good Man his due Praile, and his Friends and Polterity may then quietly erjoy the Comfort of his Repu-
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