of it are lefs grievous, than the Trouble and Uneafinefs of being wicked.

To this End I must first premise, that all Pleasure arifeth from an attempred Suitableness and Harmony that there is between the Faculty, and the Object. For where there is any Difagreement either in Contrariety, or Excefs, the Refult is not Pleasure, but Torment. Light, when it is juft proportioned to the Strength of the Eye, is the Pleasure and Beauty of the whole Creation: It is a pleafant Thing, faith Solomon, to behold the Light. And Sounds, when they are modelled to the Capacity of the Ear, cause a sweet Melody and Confent. And fo it is likewise with all other Objects; when they are adapted to the Powers which are to receive them, Pleasure and Sweetness is the Offspring. Now Man is "Ogavor digedor, a two ftringed Inftrument; his Soul is one, and his Body the other. And as he receives fmooth Touches upon either, according to the various Objects that are fitted to them, fo fprings up Suavity and Delight. Now here,

First, The Pleafures that Religion brings, are not fuch as do immediately affect the Body, the drofly and earthy Part of Man.

It never spread the Glutton's Table, nor fill'd the Drunkard's Cup, nor was Tafter to either. These Offices are too mean, and fordid for it. And if thou canst relish no other Delights, go herd thy felf among Beafts. The Dog, and the Swine are fit Company, as well as Comparisons, for thee; and thou wert made a Man, a rational and intellectual Creature, to no Purpose, unless to be eternally punish'd; fince the Soul of a Brute can as well taft the Pleasures of Senfe, as thy immortal One.

But yet, if any think these such confiderable Delights, that they cannot eafily forego them; let me add,

Secondly, That Religion and Piety, as it doth allow, fo it adds a Sweetness and Relish to the lawful Comforts of this prefent Life, which Debauchery and Intemperance corrupts and vitiates. Let me here boldly appeal to your Experience, whether Sobriety and Temperance be not more true Pleasure (I had almost faid Voluptuoufnefs) than Excefs and Riot. And I dare fay, that those who come to their natural Refreshments, and have Mo deration both for their Carver, and their Skinker, find a much better Gueft in their Entertainment, than those whose continued

nued Luxury, by seeking to please, only cloys and ftupifies their Senfes.

Befides, a conftant Fear of God, and a confcientious Obedience unto him, give fuch a Seasoning to all our earthly Enjoyments, that they are all received by us as Expreffions of his Love, and Fatherly Care towards us; which is fuch a Pleafure, that Excefs and Epicurifm could never afford. A good Confcience is a continual Feast; and that poor Christian who hath his dry Morfel made favoury with the hidden Manna, fares more deliciously every Day than Dives himself; whofe Guilt not only poisons his Dainties to his Soul, but fowres them to his Palate. God is the great Houfholder of the World; We are all entertained as Guests at his Table, and his Bounty provides for us: But as the wife Man faith, Prov. 15. 17. Better is a Dinner of Herbs where Love is, than a ftalled Ox, and Hatred therewith; fo truly where the Love of God is enjoyed, the flenderest Provifion is far more sweet and comfortable, than the greatest Variety of Delicates, where the Hatred and Wrath of God mingles Gall and Wormwood with them. What Pleasure can there be in any Estate, where a Man is not well pleased with himself? Where Guilt gnaws, and Fears boad, and Confcience brawls,

as

as certainly they must do, more or less, in every wicked Man? What more Pleasure can he take in his Poffeffions, than a wretched Malefactor can in that Prifon-Provifion which is allowed him to maintain his Life, till he be dragg'd forth to Execution?

But though Godliness doth thus fweeten our outward State and Condition, and be profitable for this prefent Life; yet,

Thirdly, The chiefeft Joys that Religion and Piety give us, are internal and mental, and those are incomparably beyond the Delights of Senfe. Even natural Speculations have entertained inquifitive Minds with fuch Raptures, that fome have been, as it were, wholly abstracted from the Body, and have neither regarded Pain, nor Pleasure of Senfe, whilft they have been employed about them. But certainly the Joys of Religion much needs be much more refined and fpiritual, than those which proceed only from a Problem, or Demonstration of Science.

Now this pure and spiritual Pleasure, arifeth in the Mind from three Things:

First, The Conformity of pious Actions to the Rules and Principles of right Reafon.

Secondly,

Secondly, The peaceable Reflections of a Man's own Conscience upon them.

Thirdly, The Hope and Expectation of an eternal Reward.

First, There is a Congruity and Suitableness in holy and religious Actions, to the Rules and Principles of right Reason. There are Three general Principles of natural Religion imprinted in the Mind of every Man, which are the Dictates of pure and untainted Reafon.

The First is, That God is to be loved and feared above all, and the Revelations of his Will to be credited and obeyed.

The Second is, That we ought to govern our felves with all Temperance and Sobriety, in the Use of the Comforts of this Life.

The Laft is, That we ought to demean our felves towards others, with the exacteft Justice and Equity; the true Measure of which is, What foever you would that Men Should do unto you, do ye likewife unto them. This indeed is the Sum of all Religion, To live, as the Apostle declares it, soberly, righteously, and godly: Soberly, in respect of our felves; righteously, towards others; and godly, in the Performance of those Duties which immediately concern the Divine