neither Will, nor Strength, nor Opportunity fo to do.

How much the more earnestly may I beg Leave to exhort you this Day, no longer to defer fo great, and to be fure so neceffary a Work as this; and to that End, that you will pafs on with me to the Third Point I proposed to speak to:

III. Of the Practice of Confideration.

The Sum whereof in general will appear from the Refolution which I fhall give to thefe Two Enquiries.

ift, How, or after what Manner:

2dly, When, or at what Times, this is to be done by us.

Ift. For the former of thefe; how we are to praHife this Confideration? I reply, That we must do it by a ferious and impartial Enquiry, both into our Selves, and into our Religion; by a diligent and ftrict Examination, what our Duty towards God is, and what our own Performances have been, and ought to be of it.

1. As to the former Part of this Confideration, Our Duty towards God: I fhall not need fay any Thing, to fhew how neceffary this is to be well understood by us. I am perfuaded there is no one, how negligent foever he may have been in his Performance of it, but what is fufficiently convinced of his Obligations to it.

I will rather complain, that in a Matter fo neceffary, that our Eternal Salvation depends upon it, and God be thanked fo eafy too, to the very

meaneft

meaneft Capacity, there fhould nevertheless fo many continue in as utter an Ignorance of it, as if we too were fome of those who encourage a blind Obedience; and esteem an ungrounded Affent, to be the best Faith, and Ignorance indeed the Mother of Devotion.

It has been the Fault of many, in the Practice of this kind of Confideration, to fix their Thoughts wholly upon fome Parts of their Religion, but to take little or no Notice at all of the reft. Thus many run away with the Promises of the Gospel, but never confider what they have to entitle them to thofe Promifes. Others, on the contrary, look wholly on the Difficulty of its Commands: And as if that had given them a final Releafe from all Endeavours to fulfil them, they conclude that 'tis impoffible for them ever to be able to live as they ought to do, and that therefore 'tis in vain to try whether they can or no.

Some when they read the great, and no doubt very juft Elegies of Faith in St. Paul, ftop there, and never trouble themselves either to confider what that Faith is, which St. Paul fpeaks of, much lefs to go on to St. James, and there fee the Neceffity of good Works too. They fit down contented that they have a right Faith: They are Members of a Pure, Reform'd Church on the one Hand; or elfe of an unerrable, infallible Catholick Church on the other, and fo all is fecure: As if the efpoufing fuch or fuch an Intereft or Party, were an unquestionable Mark of Election, and all that God requires in order to our Salvation.

Many are the Miftakes of this Kind, which Men are apt to fall into, in the Confideration of their Duty, and to all which I will only offer this one plain Rule for their Direction; That whofoever

will confider it as he ought, muft do it univerfally, he muft leave no Part of his Religion unexamined; being affured of this, That whatfoever Confideration does any way contribute to leffen Practice, nay rather, does not very much ferve to help and promote it, is falfe and imperfect; and if he ftops there, will certainly deceive and ruin him in the End.

2. For the other Part of our Confideration, our Selves; Two Things there are, on which the Pratice of it muft chiefly terminate; viz.

1. What our State is with Reference to what is paft?

2. How to govern our felves for the Time to

come?

It would require fome longer Time than I may prefume to allow to this Difcourfe, but barely to enumerate the feveral Rules and Cautions to be obTerved in the doing of this. With what Care and Diligence, with what Exactness and Particularity; in a word, with what Piety and Sincerity we must proceed in all this; and fearch into the real Grounds we have, either to hope or fear, and accordingly give God the Glory, whether by a patient Continuance in that Piety which we have hitherto practifed, or by our Repentance for thofe Sins we have unhappily committed.

This is a Work which I have always thought the proper Business of a Cafuift, or if you will, of a Confeffor, rather than a Preacher. General Rules feldom come up to particular Mens Conditions; nor is it poffible for the moft exact Difcourfe, to give any Satisfaction comparable to thofe Directions

which

which our Church therefore exhorts us to feek, by a free opening of our Condition to fome of those who are appointed by God to be our Guides in these Matters.

And to them therefore let me befeech all thofe who are fenfible of any want of further Inftruction in this Matter, to addrefs themselves for fuch Advice, as neither the Nature nor Limits of this Difcourfe permit me to offer to them. As for the other Thing propofed, in order to the Practice of this Duty,

2dly, When, or at what Times this is to be done by us? If the Queftion be concerning the laft fort of Confideration I juft now mentioned, that of our Actions; 'tis evident that this must be perpetual, because it has fo neceffary an Influence upon all Moral Actions. The fame Prudence which directs every wife Man before he acts, to fit down and confider what he is going about, whether it be fit to be done by him, ought certainly yet much more to carry every good Chriftian to this farther neceflary Reflection, Whether it may be done by him? And whofoever ventures upon any Action without this, he may by Accident not do Ill; but 'tis his good Fortune, not his Praife, that he does not: And were it never fo good, yet for want of doing it with that Defign, and knowing it to be fuch, he muft not expect that God fhould ever impute that to him for Righteoufnefs, which he himself did not defign or perform with that Intent.

As to the other fort of Confideration, That of our State, and of our Duty: What God requires of us, and how we have lived according thereunto? Certain it is, that 'tis abfolutely neceffary that we fhould fome time or other enter upon it; and then,

I fuppofe, I need not fay how very prudent it will be for us not to defer it. For fince our Life is but a puff of Breath, every Day in our Noftrils, and which we can at no Time fay fhall be our own the next Moment, furely it will very much concern us not to defer confidering how we are provided for another World, feeing we have fo very little Hopes or Security in this.

Repentance is not a Duty that can be discharged in a Moment; and I fear the best among us, upon the Enquiry, will find, that we ftand in Need of a very great one. Now there is no Time, no Place for Repentance, but only in this prefent Life: And fhould we fuffer our Incogitancy fo far to prevail upon us, as to neglect it here, we fhall in vain lament our Sin, and our Folly, to all Eternity hereafter.

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If there be therefore any one among us, that has hitherto omitted fo great and neceffary a Confideration, what fhall I fay to him? Let him no longer defer it: Nay, but rather in the Words of Holy David, Let him not go back unto Pfal. 132. 3,4. his Houfe, nor climb up into his Bed let him not fuffer his Eyes to fleep, nor his Eye-lids to flumber, till he has begun to fet about it.

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It were, no doubt, very much to be wifh'd, that Men would not fuffer any Day to flip, with out this Confideration. There is, I believe, but, feldom a Day paffes, in which we are not guilty of fomething that may juftly call for a particu lar Repentance, to obtain our Forgiveness. And who can tell, if he lies down to Sleep e'er he has done this, whether he fhall ever rife up to perform it afterwards?

But