( 395 ) HYMN FOR SERMON XXIII. CHRISTIAN MORALITY; viz, GRAVITY, DECENCY, &c. LONG METRE. ARE we not sons and heirs of God ? Are we not bought with Jesus' blood ? Dowe not hope for heavenly joys, And shall we stoop to trifling toys ? Can laughter feed th' immortal mind? Were spirits of celestial kind Made for a jest, for sport and play To wear out time, andwaste the day ? Doth vain discourse or empty mirth Well suit the honours of our birth ? Shall we be fond of gay attire, Which children love, and fools admire ? What ifwe wear the richest vest, Peacocks and flies are better drest : This flesh, with all its gaudy forms. Must drop to dust and feed the worms. Lord, raise our hearts and passions higher Touch our vain souls with sacred fire; Then with an elevated eye We'll pass these glittering trifles by. We'll look on all the toys below With such disdain as angels do, And wait the call that bids us rise To pro nis'd mansions in the skies. SERMON XXIV. CHRISTIAN MORALITY, viz. JUSTICE, &c. PHILIP. iv. 8. Whatsoever things are true--whatsoever things are honest, or grave, whatsoever things are just think on these things. 0óa sst Sixata, INmany parts of the sacred writings, there appears a very close connexion of the subjects which are handled ; a natural order is observed, and a beautiful transition made' from one to the other : But this is not to be ex- pected in every text, nor is it at all necessary, that it should be so. WhenSt. Paul enumerates several virtues or vices, he sometimes heaps them together, and doth not design any regularity or natural order in placing them. Our commentators therefore in such cases, when they are once resolved to find these beauties and connexions where the holy writer did not intend them, they often- times torture and strain both their own invention, and the words of scripture. Thus, I fear, I should do, if I would attempt to give a reason why the apostle in this collection of virtues, named gravity or decency before
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=