concile God to us, to ftop the courfe of his judgments, and to bring down the bleffings of heaven upon us. God hath now been pleased to settle us again in peace both at home and abroad, and he hath put us once more into the hands of our own counfel. Life and death, blessing and curfing, profperity and deftruction, are before us. We may chufe our own fortune; and, if we be not wanting to ourselves, we may, under the influences of God's grace and affiftance, which are never wanting to our fincere endeavours, become a happy and a profperous people.

The good God make us all wife to know and to do the things that belong to the temporal peace and profperity of the nation, and to the eternal happiness and falvation of every one of our fouls. Which we humbly beg for the fake of Jesus Christ. To whom, &c.

SERMON

IV.

The advantages of religion to particular perfons.

PSAL. xix. II.

And in keeping of them there is great reward.

'N this pfalm David celebrates the glory of God from

the confideration of the greatnefs of his works, and the perfection of his laws. From the greatnefs of his works, y 1. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament fheweth his handy-work, &c. From the perfection of his laws, y 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the foul, &c. And among many other excellencies of the divine laws, he mentions, in the last place, the benefits and advantages which come from the obfervance of them, y 11. And in keeping of them there is great reward.

I have already fhewn how much religion tends to the publick welfare of mankind; to the fupport of govern

menta

ment, and to the peace and happiness of human focieties. My work at this time fhall be, to fhew that religion, and obedience to the laws of God, do likewife conduce to the happiness of particular perfons, both in refpect of this world and the other. For though there be but little exprefs mention made in the Old Teftament of the immortality of the foul, and the rewards of another life; yet all religion does fuppofe thefe principles, and is built upon them.

And, Firft, I fhall endeavour to fhew how religion conduceth to the happiness of this life; and that both in refpect of the inward and outward man.

I. As to the mind. To be pious and religious, brings a double advantage to the mind of man. I. It tends to the improvement of our understandings. 2. It brings peace and pleafure to our minds.

Ift, It tends to the improvement of our underftandings. I do not mean only that it inftructs us in the knowledge of divine and fpiritual things, and makes us to understand the great intereft of our fouls and the concernments of eternity better; but that, in general, it does raife and enlarge the minds of men, and make them more capable of true knowledge. And in this fenfe I underftand the following texts. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes, Pfal. xix. 8. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that keep his commandments, Pfal, cxi. 10. Thou, through thy commandments, haft made me wiser than mine enemies; which plainly refers to political prudence, I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy teftimonies are my meditation, Pfal. cxix. 98. 99. I underftand more than the ancients; because I keep thy precepts,

100. Through thy precepts I get understanding, V 104. The entrance of thy word giveth light: it giveth underStanding to the fimple, y 130.

Now, religion doth improve the understandings of men, by fubduing their lufts, and moderating their paffions. The lufts and paffions of men do fully and darken their minds, even by a natural influence. Intemperance and fenfuality, and flefly lufts, do debase mens minds, and clog their fpirits; make them grofs and foul, listless and unactive; they fink us down into fenfe, and

glew

glew us to thefe low and inferior things like birdlime ; they hamper and intangle our fouls, and hinder their flight upwards; they indifpofe and unfit our minds for the most noble and intellectual confiderations. So likewife, the exorbitant paffions of wrath and malice, envy and revenge, do darken and distort the understandings of men, do tincture the mind with false colours, and fill it with prejudice and undue apprehenfions of things.

There is no man that is intemperate, or luftful, or paffionate, but befides the guilt he contracts, which is continually fretting and difquieting his mind; befides the inconveniencies he brings upon himself as to his health, he does likewife ftain and obfcure the brightness of his foul, and the clearness of his difcerning faculty. Such perfons have not that free use of their reafon that they might have; their understandings are not bright enough, nor their fpirits pure and fine enough for the exercife of the highest and noblest acts of reafon. What clearness is to the eye, that purity is to our mind and understanding; and as the clearnefs of the bodily eye doth difpofe it for a quicker fight of material objects, fo doth the purity of our minds, that is, freedom from luft and paffion, difpofe us for the clearest and most perfect acts of reafon and understanding.

Now, religion doth purify our minds, and refine our fpirits, by quenching the fire of luft, and fuppreffing the fumes and vapours of it, and by fcattering the clouds and mifts of paffion. And the more any man's foul is cleanfed from the filth and dregs of fenfual luft, the more nimble and expedite it will be in its operations. The more any man conquers his paffions, the more calm and fedate his fpirit is; and the greater equality he maintains in his temper, his apprehenfions of things will be the more clear and unprejudiced, and his judgment more firm and fteddy. And this is the meaning of that faying of Solomon, He that is flow to wrath, is of great understanding; but he that is hafty of Spirit, exalteth folly. Ira furor brevis eft: "Anger is a short fit of mad

nefs;" and he that is paffionate and furious, deprives himself of his reafon, fpoils his understanding, and helps to make himself a fool: whereas he that conquers his

paffions

paffions and keeps them under, doth thereby preferve and improve his understanding. Freedom from irregular paffions doth not only fignify that a man is wife, but really contributes to the making of him fuch.

2dly, Religion tends to the eafe and pleasure, the peace and tranquillity of our minds; wherein happiness chiefly confifts, and which all the wisdom and philosophy of the world did always aim at, as the utmost felicity of this life. And that this is the natural fruit of a religious and virtuous courfe of life, the fcripture declares to us in these texts. Light is fown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart, Pfal. xcvii. 11. Great peace have all they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them, Pfal. cxix. 165. Her ways are ways of pleafantnefs, and all her paths are peace, Prov. iii. 17. The fruit of righteoufnefs is peace, and the effect of righteouf nefs, quietnefs and affurance for ever, If. xxxii. 17. The plain fenfe of which texts is, that pleafure and peace do naturally refult from a holy and good life. When a man hath once engaged himself in a religious courfe, and is habituated to piety and holiness, all the exercifes of religion and devotion, all acts of goodness and virtue, are delightful to him. To honour and worship God, to pray to him and to praife him, to study his will, to meditate upon him and to love him; all these bring great pleasure and peace along with them. What greater contentment and fatisfaction can there be to the mind of man, when it is once purified and refined from the dregs of fenfual pleasures and delights, and raised to its true height and pitch, than to contemplate and admire the infinite excellencies and perfections of God; to adore his greatness, and to love his goodness? How can the thoughts of God be troublefome to any one who lives foberly, and righteously, and godly in the world? No man that loves goodness and righteoufnefs, hath any reafon to be afraid of God, or to be difquieted with the thoughts of him. There is nothing in God that is terrible to a good man, but all the apprehenfions which we naturally have of him, fpeak comfort and promise happiness to such a one. The confideration of his attributes is fo far from being a trouble to him, that it is his recreation and delight. It is for wicked men to dread God, and to endeavour to

banish

banish the thoughts of him out of their minds; but a holy and virtuous man may have quiet and undisturbed thoughts even of the juftice of God, because the terror of it doth not concern him.

Now, religion doth contribute to the peace and quiet of our minds these two ways. 1. By allaying thofe paffions which are apt to ruffle and difcompofe our fpirits. Malice and hatred, wrath and revenge, are very fretting and vexatious, and apt to make our minds fore and uneafy; but he that can moderate these affections, will find a ftrange ease and pleasure in his own fpirit. 2. By freeing us from the anxieties of guilt, and the fears of divine wrath and difplcafure; than which nothing is more ftinging and tormenting, and renders the life of man more miferable and unquiet. And what a fpring of peace and joy muft it needs be, to apprehend, upon good grounds, that God is reconciled to us, and become our friend; that all our fins are perfectly forgiven, and fhall never more be remembered against us! What inexpreffible comfort does overflow the pious and devout foul, from the remembrance of a holy and well-fpent life, and a confcience of its own innocency and integrity! And nothing but the practice of religion and virtue can give this eafe and fatisfaction to the mind of man. For there is a certain kind of temper and difpofition which is neceffary to the pleasure and quiet of our minds, and confequently to our happiness; and that is, holiness and goodnefs; which as it is the perfection, fo is it likewife the happiness of the divine nature. And, on the contrary, the chief part of the mifery of wicked men, and of thofe accurfed fpirits the devils, is this, that they are of a difpofition contrary to God; they are envious, and malicious, and cruel, and of fuch a temper as is naturally a torment and difquiet to itself. And here the foundation of hell is laid, in the evil difpofition of mens minds; and till this be cured, which can only be done by religion, it is as impoffible for a man to be happy, that is, pleafed and contented within himself, as it is for a fick man to be at ease; because fuch a man hath that within him which torments him, and he cannot be at ease till that be removed. The man's fpirit is out of order, and off the hinges; and till that be put into its right frame, he will be perpetually dif VOL. I.

H

quieted,