you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father that is in heaven. (Matt. v.) For he causeth the sun to rise upon the good and bad, and sends his rain upon the just and unjust be ye therefore perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect." The apostle St. Paul speaks in the same manner to the Ephesians, "Be ye followers of God as dear children; put off the old man, and put on the new man, which is created according to God in justice and true holiness," chap. vi. And in Coloss. iii. "Now put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not to one another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."

4. Meditate seriously upon the excellent and precious promises that God hath given to such as addict themselves to piety and good works. As in Exod. xx. "I shew mercy unto a thousand generations of them that love me, and keep my commandments." And in 1 Sam. ii. "I will honour them that honour me." And in Isa. iii. he says to the righteous, "that it shall be well with them; for they shall eat the fruit of their doing." And in Matt. v. our Saviour saith, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." And in chap. vi. "Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you," over and above. And in chap. vii. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." St. Paul speaks thus to the Romans, "If by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live," chap. viii. And the first epistle to Timothy, "Piety, or godliness, is profitable to all things, having the promises of this present life, and of that which is to come." And in Rev. xx. "Blessed and holy is he who hath part in the first resurrection; the second death shall have no power over him.”

5. Con

5. Consider, that the whole world trembles at the denunciation of the judgments with which God threatens to punish all impenitent sinners; as in Exod. xx. "I am the Lord thy God, strong, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." And in 1 Samuel ii. "I will honour them that honour me, and will despise them that despise me." And in St. Matt. xii. "Of every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account at the day of judgment." And in St. John iii. "Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, (that is, of a spirit purifying like water,) he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." And in Rom. viii. "They who are in the flesh cannot please God," And in 1 Cor. vi. "Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." And the apostle to the Hebrews is not content to tell us, that "without holiness no man shall see God;" but he saith something more, "that if we sin wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sin, but a terrible expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation, shall devour the adversaries; for our God is a consuming fire," chap. x. And in the Revelation it is not only said, that in the holy Jerusalem there shall no unclean thing enter, or that committeth abomination, or a lie; and that God will shut out the dogs, the witches, the fornicators, the murderers, the idolaters, and whosoever doth love or make a lie," chap. xxi. xxii. but the Spirit of God assures us, that the timorous, that is, such as are more afraid of man than of God, the unbelieving, the execrable and murderers, the fornicators and witches, the idolaters and liars, shall have their portion in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

6. Though

6. Though we should speak in the language of angels, though we should give all our goods to nourish the poor, and though we should give our body to be burnt, if we have no charity, we are but like the sounding brass, and like the tinkling cymbal. Though we should be able to perform signs and wonders, if we be not clothed with innocency and holiness, if we be not adorned with meekness and love, Christ will at last treat us as the foolish virgins, with a "Depart from me; I know ye not." Though we should be able to cast the devil out of other men, it will avail us nothing unless we can cast him out of our own hearts, with all the wicked lusts that he cherishes there. To what purpose shall such cry out at the great day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? have we not cast out devils in thy name? have we not done many miracles in thy name?" Jesus will return them this sad answer, "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity."

7. Consider, that whatsoever be your portion of the advantages of this life, when you shall come to die, you shall carry away neither your riches, your honours, nor pleasures. But if you be rich in faith and good works; if you be clothed with holiness, and crowned with righteousness; if piety and the service of God be your delight, you shall carry away out of the world this spiritual treasure, this celestial glory, and this angelical satisfaction. It is what the Holy Spirit teacheth, when he tells us, " Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord; for they rest from their labours, and their works follow them."

8. Let us always have before our eyes the blessed examples of so many saints, who have traced us the way to heaven by their piety and good works; they are entered into the paradise of God, and the glory of his kingdom. It is reported of a painter, that when he had a design to represent an accomplished beauty, he borrowed from divers objects the excellencies and perfections with which he was

to

to adorn his picture. From the lilies he took their whiteness, from the roses their red tincture, from another object the wonder of the eye, from another the coral of the lips, and so of the other parts. Likewise to restore in our souls the image of God defaced by sin, we must borrow the virtues and excellencies of primitive men. For example, represent always to yourselves Abel's innocency, Enoch's holy life, Noah's justice, Abraham's faith, Lot's hospitality, Isaac's obedience, the faithfulness of Jacob, the chastity of Joseph, the patience of Job, the meekness of Moses, the zeal of Phinehas, the constancy of David, the wisdom of Solomon, the piety of Josias, the prayers of Daniel, the tears of Jeremiah, the fasting of Esther, the holy earnestness of the woman of Canaan, the devotion of Cornelius, the charity of the Samaritan, the alms of Dorcas and of the poor widow, the publican's humility, the good thief's repentance, the tears of Mary Magdalen, the weepings of Peter, the undaunted courage of St. Paul, and his indefatigable spirit, and the glorious martyrdom of St. Stephen, and of so many noble souls of all ages and sexes, who have gone to the torments with as much joy as to feasts and to triumphs; and who have sealed with their blood the truth of the gospel with an undaunted resolution. Seeing therefore that we are encompassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us pursue with constancy the race that is set before us.

9. Chiefly, "Let us look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith;" for he hath left us an example, that we might follow his footsteps. All the virtues that we admire of those faithful souls, are but like many little beams of the Sun of righteousness, and a weak image of his glory. There is no fire so perfect, but yields a smoke; no righteousness so accomplished, but hath its imperfections, whilst we are clothed with this weak flesh. The behaviour of the most holy and perfect, is spotted with many infirmities; but our Lord and Saviour

Saviour is the Lamb without spot or blemish, in whose mouth there was no guile: for it was necessary that they should have such an high-priest, who is holy, blameless, separated from sinners. The perfect image of all virtues was never found in any mortal man on earth: but Jesus Christ is the fairest among the sons of men; his lips are full of grace; in him alone we have a perfect model of virtues, and of all imaginable perfection. Therefore when the apostle had persuaded the Romans to renounce the lusts of the flesh, drunkenness, anger, envy, and such like sins, instead of making an enumeration of the virtues opposite to these vices, he thinks it sufficient to propose Christ's holy example; "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ," saith he; to teach us, that all the virtues and graces centre and meet in the sacred person of our Saviour Jesus Christ, in the highest degrees of perfection.

10. We are so much the more obliged to imitate Jesus Christ, and to imprint in our hearts his holy image, because that he is not only our Father, our Lord, our King, but he is also the blessed Head of that body whereof we are members. It is not proper to unite defiled and profane members to an Head so glorious and so holy. Whosoever gives himself over to his lusts, and delights in the corruption of sin, maims, as much as in him lies, that sacred body of the Son of God. This consideration drew from St. Paul this expression, "Shall I take the members of Christ for to make them the members of a whore ?"

11. The divine Spirit dwelling in our hearts, is a great obligation to holiness of life. Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and the Holy Ghost dwelleth in you? 1 Cor. i. Shall we be so base as to uncover our filthy and dirty thoughts before so holy and divine a guest? Shall we be so bold as to erect, upon his altar, idols that may provoke him to jealousy? His eyes are so clean and pure, that they can

not