away, that will not confent to those easy Conditions, by which he may fave it.

26. YOU fee how great Kindness God hath to these Souls of ours; the whole Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, have all done their Parts for them. The Father gave his only Son; the Son gave himself, left his Glory, and endured the bitter Death of the Crofs, merely to keep our Souls from perishing; the Holy Ghoft is become as it were our Attendant, waits upon us with continual Offers of his Grace, to enable us to do that which may preserve them; nay, he is fo defirous we should accept thofe Offers of his, that he is faid to be grieved when we refuse them, Ephef.iv.30. Now what greater Difgrace and Affront can we put upon God, than to defpife what he thus values? That thofe Souls of ours, which Christ thought worthy every Drop of his Blood, we should not think worth any Part of our Care? We ufe, in Things of the World, to rate them according to the Opinion of those who are best skilled in them: Now certainly God, who made our Souls, beft knows the Worth of them; and fince he prizes them fo high, let us (if it be but in reverence to him) be afhamed to neglect them; efpecially now they are in fo hopeful a Condition, that nothing but our own Carelefnefs can poffibly destroy them.

27. I HAVE now briefly gone over thofe four Motives of Care I at firft proposed, which are each of them fuch as never miffes to stir it up towards the things of this World; and I have also fhewed you how much more reasonable, nay neceffary it is, they should do the like for the Soul. And now what can I say more, but conclude in the Words of Ifaiah, Ch. xlvi. 8. Remember this, and fhew your felves Men; that is, deal with your Soul as your Reafon teaches you to do with all other Things that concern you. And fure this common Justice binds you to; for the Soul is that which furnishes you with that Reafon which you exercise in all your worldly Bufinefs; and fhall the Soul itself receive no Benefit from that Reafon which it affords you? This is as if a Master of a Family, who provides Food for his Servants, fhould by them be kept from eating any himself, and fo remain the only ftarv'd Creature in his House.

28. AND as Juftice ties you to this, fo Mercy does likewife; you know the poor Soul will fall into endless and unspeakable Miferies, if you continue to neglect it, and then it will be late too to confider it. The last Refuge you can hope for is God's Mercy,but that you have defpifed and abused; and with what Face can you, in your greatest need, beg for his Mercy to your Souls, when you would not afford them your own! No, no,

that

that common Charity of confidering them, of bestowing a few of thofe idle Hours, you know not (fcarce) how to pafs away, upon them.

29. LAY this to your Hearts, and as ever you hope for God's Pity, when you most want it, be fure in time to pity yourselves, by taking that due Care of your precious Souls, which belongs to them.

30. IF what hath been faid hath persuaded you to this fo neceffary a Duty, my next Work will be to tell you how this Care must be employed; and that, in a Word, is in the doing of all thofe Things which tend to the making the Soul happy, which is the End of our Care; and what thofe are, I come now to fhew you.

For more particular Concernments, fee The Caufes of the Decay of Chriftian Piety; And,

The Gentleman's Calling. Written by the Author of this Book.

Lately Published, the fecond Edition, with confiderable Improvements, of

THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN, in Latin, for the Ufe of SCHOOLS..

Printed for John Eyre, and fold by the Book

fellers.

SUNDAY

SUNDAY I.

Of the Duty of Man by the Light of Nature, by the Light of Scripture: The three great Branches of Man's Duty, to God,ourselves, our Neighbour: Our Duty to God; Of Faith, the Promifes of Hope, of Love, of Fear, of Trust.

HE Benefits purchased for us by Christ, are fuch as will undoubtedly make the Soul happy; for eternal Happiness itself is one of them: But because thefe Benefits belong not to us till we perform the Condition required of us, whoever defires the Happinefs of his Soul, muft fet himself to the performing of that Condition. What that is, I have already mentioned in the general, That it is the hearty ho-. neft Endeavour of obeying the whole Will of God. But then that Will of God containing under it many Particulars, it is neceffary we fhould allo know what thofe are; that is, what are the feveral Things that God now requires of us, our Performance whereof will bring us to everlasting Happiness, and the Neglect to endlefs MiLery.

Of the Light of Nature.

2. Of these things there are fome which God hath fo ftamped upon our Souls, that we naturally know

them; that is, we fhould have known them to be our Duty, tho' we had never been told fo by the Scripture. That this is fo, we may fee by thofe Heathens, who having never heard of either Old or New Teftament, do yet acknowledge themselves bound to fome general Duties, as to worthip God, to be just, to honour their Parents, and the like; and as St. Paul faith, Rom. ii. 15. Their Confciences do in thofe Things accufe or excufe them; that is, tell them whether they have done what they should in those Particulars, or no.

3. Now though Chrift hath brought greater Light into the World, yet he never meant by it to put out any of that natural Light, which God hath fet up in our Souls: Therefore let me here, by the way, advise you not to walk contrary even to tms ieffer Light; I mean, not to venture on any of thofe Acts, which meer natural Conscience will tell you are Sins.

4. It is juft Matter of Sadness to any Christian Heart, to fee fome in thefe Days who profefs much of Religion, and yet live in fuch Sins as a mere Heathen would abhor; Men, that pretending to higher Degrees of Light and Holiness than their Brethren do, yet practise contrary to all the Rules of common Honefty, and make it part of their Christian Liberty fo to do; of whose Seducement it concerns all that love their Souls to beware; and for that Purpose let this be laid as a Foundation, That that Religion, or Opinion, cannot be of God, which allows Men in any Wickedness.

5. But though we must not put out this Light which God hath thus put into our Souls, yet this