THE

GREAT IMPORTANCE

OF A

RELIGIOUS LIFE.

CHAP. I.

WHAT must I do to be saved? was a question, which the trembling and astonished jailer put to Paul and Silas, when he saw the prisondoors opened in a miraculous manner: a question of the utmost moment and importance, and in which it nearly concerns us all to be well resolved. For, if there be a Life after the present, and we do not die like the beasts that perish; if Death does not put a final period to our existence; but when this short Life is ended, we enter upon the regions of eternity, and shall be for

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ever happy or miserable, aecording as we demean ourselves in this short time of trial and probation-if this be the state and condition of mankind (as the voice of reason, the dictates of conscience, and the Holy Scriptures, do loudly proclaim it is), how does it behove every one of us to inquire, what we must do to attain everlasting Life; and to consider, whether we are in the way that leads to Heaven and immortality? or, if we have been so unhappy as to wander out of it, how we may recover and return to it again?

This is an enquiry that deserves our utmost diligence and attention. For, if we are ignorant of the will of God, or, knowing it, will not follow or be led by that unerring light, but suffer ourselves to be hurried away by our unruly passions in the pursuit of the things of this Life; we are wretched and miserable, blind and naked, notwithstanding all our attainments: and we shall one day be convinced to our sorrow, that there is no folly like that of preferring things temporal to things eternal. Whatever the children of this

world may think, and how much soever they may applaud their own wisdom in contriving schemes to be rich and great; yet if their chief care and con-. cern is about these things, it is certain they will be found fools, when weighed in the balance of true wisdoin.

He that is truly wise will consider, that he has a Soul as well as a Body to take care of; a spiritual and immortal substance which can never die; but when enlarged from that prison in which it is now confined, must live for ever, either in happiness or misery. Shall we then be so foolish, as to confine our ambitious pursuits within the narrow limits of this world, without considering what will be the condition of our souls hereafter? Shall we labour and toil for the the meat that perisheth; and be cold and indifferent about the momentous concerns of eternity? Shall we spare no pains in order to increase our temporal estates, and to lay up goods for many years; when we know. not, but this night our souls may be required of us? And if we have made. no provision for their everlasting wel

fare; what will it avail us that we have been rich and great in this world?

The fashion of this world passeth away, and all the glory and splendour of it will, in a little time, have an end, How great then is the folly of that man, and how deplorable will his condition be, who, instead of seeking the Kingdom of God and his righteousness in the first place, has consumed his days in seeking after the honours and riches of this world, and has worn himself out in the pursuit of those things which are of no value in the sight of God? wretched stupidity! what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose is own soul? Mat. xvi. 26, Time bears no proportion to eternity. The most exquisite pleasures of this life, which at best are but of a short continuance, can never compensate for the loss of that happiness, which God has prepared for them that love him. How miserably then will that man be deceived, who places all his hopes and happiness in the poor and empty satisfactions of a sensual life; who looks no farther than the

present time, and lives as if he cared not what became of him hereafter provided he may but enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season!

But some, perhaps, may ask, where is the man so abandoned to folly and madness, as to be content, for the sake of a present short-lived happiness, to be miserable for ever hereafter? I wish indeed, there were none such: but, alas! tliere are too many that make this sad choice. Not that any one chooses evil for the sake of evil, or prefers misery. before happiness (for a desire of happiness is inseparable from our nature); but in the scripture account of things, he is said to choose destruction who walks in the broad way that leads to it. For God has been pleased to set before us Life and Death, Blessing and Cursing: (Deut. xxx. 19.) rewards on the one hand, to encourage our obedience; and punishments on the other, to deter us from sin. As the man therefore, who obeys the commandments of God, chooses life; so he that deliberately transgresses them, chooses death: that death which God has threatened to the