will advance mankind to a near resemblance of God himself; and is so directly conducive to our happiness in all respects, that the hearty practice of it will cause unspeakable satisfaction and delight, and the highest raised pleasure that the soul is capable of on this side heaven. The man's condition will be all over beatitude; happy will he be at present in himself, and a happiness to all about him; happy in his divine expectations and hopes whilst here below, and beyond expression happy when he shall be admitted into his Master's joy above.

So that here we have a secure retreat from this unsatisfying, wicked, miserable world; and to withdraw more and more, and expect less and less from it, and busy ourselves in studying and practising these admirable lessons of our most holy religion, we shall find, when all is done, to be the only blessed and happy state upon earth, and the sure way that will lead us to the regions of glory.

And as this will be our infinitely best employment, so will it be a full employment too; and whoever makes it his business in sincerity to conform his temper and his life to these heavenly rules, will find himself neither at leisure, nor at all desirous if he were, to trifle away his time in that vain manner, which is but too, too much the custom of the world.

But lest we should think, that although these directions are indeed most excellent, yet it is but few that can attain to such extraordinary heights of religion; and therefore they are to be looked upon only as counsels of perfection, and a man's eternal condition, though it will not be so glorious indeed, yet may be safe without them; and so take but little notice of what is so much above our reach; our great

and good Master, to set us right in a matter of such mighty importance, and prevent a mistake which would be of most dreadful consequence, has plainly told us, 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: even that will of his which he had just before made known unto his hearers. And then he assures us, that whatever high thoughts we may have of ourselves and our performances, and whatever boasts we may make of the strength of our faith in any other respects; yet if sincere holiness be wanting, according to these rules he hath given us, every thing else will signify nothingh: and at the day of final recompense he will profess unto us, after all our fair pretences of being his disciples and followers, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. And at the close of all, to give this great truth a deeper impression upon our minds, he resembles those that hear those sayings of his and do them, to a wise man, that built his house upon a rock; which, though the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon it, yet fell not, because it was founded upon a rock. But on the contrary, those who hear, but do them not, he likeneth to a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand; and when the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon it, it fell; and great was the fall of

it.

From all which it is undeniably evident that our Lord designed those admirable lessons he hath taught in his sermon on the mount, which he con8 Matt. vii. 21.

h Ver. 22, 23.

cludes with this parable, not as counsels of perfection only to his apostles, and some few of extraordinary abilities; but as the standing rule of every Christian's practice: and that upon our acting agreeably to it in sincerity, to the best of our power, depends our eternal happiness. And consequently, what is contained in it, however difficult it may seem to our corrupted nature, is yet practicable by every sincere Christian; for otherwise our blessed Saviour would not have made it a necessary duty, and that to all without exception, as we see he hath, and upon pain of the severest punishments if not performed. And therefore, he only that is so wise as to put in practice what he hears and knows of the duties of Christianity, has any good ground to hope for the rewards of it; and it is as vain and foolish a thing to hope to be saved without Christian obedience, as for a man to expect any durable shelter and defence against the injuries of wind and weather, from a house that he hath built without any foundation upon the treacherous sand; which instead of being a comfort and security to him, will fall when it should do him most service, and become his ruin.

Having thus seen the meaning and design of this parable, or similitude, call it which you please, we will now consider the several parts of it.

I. The first of which shews us the great wisdom and happy consequence of reducing to practice the sermons of the gospel; and not thinking it sufficient to be instructed in our Christian duty, and to talk of it, and admire its excellency, and pretend to much of faith and love to Jesus; unless we heartily set about the performance of what he requires of us in

order to our salvation. Whosoever, says our Lord, heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him to a wise man, which built his house upon a rock; and by laying so firm a foundation, (and which was no more than the nature and use of a building required,) secured the superstructure from yielding to those storms of wind and rain, and the violence of floods, which a prudent man, that looks before him, cannot but know will sometimes happen; and accordingly, when the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, yet it fell not, because it was founded upon a rock.

And of this nature is the wisdom of not hearing only, but practising the duties of Christianity. It shews that we are duly sensible of the nature of those duties, and the reason why they are commanded, and the indispensable necessity of our paying obedience to them, in order to our happiness; and the stead they will stand us in hereafter, at the great day of trial. It shews that we wisely consider that they are entirely designed for practice; for nothing can be more ridiculous than to imagine, that Christ hath drawn up such admirable rules of life only to shew his own wisdom, without intending to oblige us to do accordingly. And if he does indispensably require our observance of them, as most certainly he does, and as we have shewn but now, we may be sure there is good reason for it.

And the reason is this; because the happiness which he came to purchase for us is such, that unless we fit and prepare ourselves by the methods he hath taught us, we can never be capable of its enjoyment. For how can an impure, vile, wicked

wretch, as such, ever come to heaven, and enjoy the blisses of that holy place? But we are all of us by nature, since the fall, such impure, vile wretches; and therefore it is necessary we should be washed and cleansed and purified, and made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

It is true, (and for ever blessed be the infinite mercy of God for it,) whatever might have been imputed to us, or we were liable to, upon account of the sin of our first parents, is done away by the blood of our crucified Saviour, and the waters of baptism; whereby, though we were born in sin, and the children of wrath, we are made the children of grace: but notwithstanding this, so strangely prone are we to evil since their fall, and so averse to what is holy and good, that nothing is more needful than good laws, bound upon us with the strongest sanctions, to keep us from utterly forfeiting God's favour again; and to train us up for that happiness, which the divine goodness has designed for us through Christ. And therefore it is that our blessed Redeemer hath given us such excellent rules of life, and so strictly commanded us to observe them, and promised us eternal glory with himself and his heavenly Father if we do, and threatened us with an everlasting banishment from him in hell if we do not; and after all can prevail with but few to take the course to be happy.

Such then being the nature of the duties of the gospel, and such the reason of their being so peremptorily enjoined, and so much depending upon our sincere performance of them, and to which we are so strangely backward and averse; as it is very needful seriously and often to consider these things,