SERM. Apofle takes occafion to argue, Much more XVIII. fhould You Chriftians go through the Difci and phine of a due Preparation; as the Prize You But This was not the only Preparation. They were to undergo, who of old contended for Victory in the public Races and Games, There was another Preparation alfo neceffary, without which they could not hope fuccefsfully to finish their Course: A Preparation, by which they were inftructed in the Nature of their Courfes; the Rules of their own Conduct; the Stratagems of their Antagonifts; and animated with a Defire of the Glory of Conquerours. And as, without fuch a Preparation, it was invain for Them to enter upon their their Work: fo, likewife, it is invain for SER M. Chriftians to enter the Lifts against the Ene- xvIII. mies of their Souls; and to undertake fo labo- un rious a Tafk as the Chriftian Life, which is furrounded by Adverfaries on every Hand, and admits no Reft 'till They are come to the End of their Race; it is invain, I fay, for Men to undertake this, without the like Preparation, of confidering and knowing, what is neceffary for their great Undertaking. For inftance, They must be inwardly convinced that Jefus Chrift was fent by GOD, and reveled eternal Rewards and Punishments to Mankind: or elfe, They will be greatly in danger from every Temptation that allures them ; and too apt to yield to the inviting Scenes of Pleasure, Profit, or Honour, always ready to be presented to their View. They must be forewarned of all the Dangers in their Way; all the Wiles and Stratagems of their Enemies, fo often spoken of in Scripture, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil: otherwise, They may be apt to be furprized by the Images of Good, which may be unexpectedly placed in their View, to turn them aside from their Course. They must also be perfectly inftructed in the Conditions required of them; and in all thofe Rules, that are neceffary for the running their Chriftian Race aright: otherwise, They B b may SERM. may mistake fatally, in Matters effential to XVIII. their Succefs; and embrace Evil for Good, and Wrong for Right; and find themselves, at laft, going backward rather than advancing forward. A Preparation of themselves in thefe and the like Particulars, by confulting and confidering the Gospel itself, and not the Phanfies of Men, is what all Chriftians must undergo, before they can hope to finish their Course with Glory. But 2. In the performing of the Races of Old, to which St. Paul here alludes, there was a Course of Labour, and Care, and Diligence, continued without the leaft Interruption of Idleness, or impertinent Trifling. And This leads us to confider the Chriftian Race likewife, as a Business of conftant Care, and Diligence, never to be interrupted, if we defire to arrive fuccessfully to the End of it. And indeed, To imagine that Christianity can ever difpenfe with the greatest Degree of serious Attention and Care, is to contradict the Defign of it, and to undervalue the Rewards it propofes. For the Chriftian is never quite fecure on this Side Heaven; because He is never in a State free from dangerous Enemies. He is nearly joined to His own deceitful and flattering Appetites, which are, upon all Occafions, endeavouring to feduce Him; He lives in a World which, every Hour, furnishes him with new Scenes SER M. of Trial; and with Objects framed to terrify xvIH. Him from Virtue, and to allure him to Vice. And has fuch a Perfon any Reason to think of remitting his Diligence, or loofening the Reins of Government over himself; when one fatal Mistake, or Slip, through an inadvertent Negligence only, may involve him in Circumstances, from which He may never be able to extricate himfelf? Let the Chriftian only remember That it is the Habit of Virtue which is the very Race He is obliged to run; and then confider that this Habit is the continual repeated Practice of every particular Duty, as often as Occafion offers; and he can have no doubt That the moft conftant and ferious Care is requifite towards the keeping and preferving fuch an Habit, as well as towards the obtaining it. The Importance, therefore, of the Matter; and the Dangers that encompass a Chriftian, through every Portion of his Time, make his Race alfo, like Thofe of Old, a continued Course of watchful Labour and Care: But not of Labour, and Care, without even prefent Pleasure and Satisfaction mixed with it. For it is not poffible for us to conceive a greater inward Pleasure, than what B b 2 the SER M. the good Chriftian enjoys, in the Teftimony XVIII. his own Confcience gives to the Uprightness and Reasonableness of his Conduct; or a truer Satisfaction than He finds in the Thoughts of the Favour of his great Judge, and in the Profpect of the Rewards of Heaven. 3. In order to the right Performance of those Races, antiently fo much in use, there was a Neceffity of laying afide every Weight, or Burthen, in order to make the Body as active, and light, and unmolefted, as poffible. So, likewife, in order to the fuccessful running of the Christian Race, every Burthen, or Impediment, which may make us the lefs fit for our Courfe, is to be laid afide, and thrown from us. Thus St Paul, in the twelfth Chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews, alluding to the fame Games, fays, Let us lay afide every Weight, in order to run with Patience the Race that is fet before us: And this very properly, because the more free Men are from Weights, the more likely to perform their Race, fuccefsfully. What the Apostle particularly meant by every Weight, He explains by adding immediately, and the Sin which does so easily befet Us: or rather, every Weight, even Sin which is always close to Us; and is certainly, the heaviest Weight, and strongest Impediment, to |