more fecure and fettled, than Heaven and Earth. Alexander's Expectation was but of a temporal Kingdom, and of a short and vanishing Glory; but our Expectation is of an incorruptible Crown and eternal Triumphs Death, that feized upon Alexander in the Flower of his Age, put a Period to all his Victories, and confumed all his Trophies; but we are in hopes of conquering Death itself, and this Hope will not deceive us, Rom.v. This therefore being our Affistance, it is no Wonder if St. Paul tells us, That Hope is as a fure and unmoveable Anchor to the Soul, piercing into the Veil, that is, into Heaven itself, where Jefus Christ is entered in as our Fore-runner.

27. God hath hid in the Earth, Gold, Silver, and Jewels, to teach us to trample upon the Riches and Pomp of the World. But he hath raised us up to the highest Heavens, or fpiritual Treafure, and our immortal Crowns, that we might lift up thither our Hearts and our most earnest Affections. He defires that we should imitate the Prophet David, who always comforted himself in his Banishment and Perfecutions, with the Expectation of the Kingdom promised to him, and confirmed by Samuel's Unction. God would have us to do as the true Ifraelites in the Babylonish Captivity; they had always their Hearts and Affections in Jerufalem; in the midst of their great Sorrows, Jerufalem was all their Comfort. Likewife we, who are wandring up and down in this miserable Wilderness, who live in the World as in a Babylon, in a Kind of Captivity, ought to comfort ourselves, and rejoyce in Expectation of the Kingdom of Heaven, which hath been prepared for our Fruition from all Eternity, and whereof the Holy Spirit is the true Unction, which hath confirmed the Promise of it, and given us the Earneft, Pfal. cxxxvii. Gal. iv. The Eye of our Faith fhould always be fixed upon our celeftial Jerufalem, that is, the Mother of us all, and the Place of the eternal Reft, Colof. iii. The Apoftle therefore exhorts us,

If you be rifen with Chrift, feek thofe things that are above, where Chrift fits at the right Hand of God; think on things that are above, and not on things on the Earth; for you are dead, and your Life is hid with Chrift in God.

28. When Men are going to live in another Country, where their Money will not pafs, they furnish themselves with Bills of Exchange, and find the Means of receiving it in other Coin. Therefore, seeing that our Gold, our Silver, and our present Jewels will not pass in Heaven, the Place of our eternal Abode, let us fend thither betimes all our Riches and Treasures by Bills of Exchange. And that we may entrust them with an Affurance of a notable Advantage, and of a lawful Gain, let us put them in God's Hands, for he will restore us an hundred times more in his Kingdom. Let us now diftribute them to the Poor, to the Members of Christ's myftical Body, and this Divine Saviour will then acknowledge, that they have been given to his own Perfon. You that fear fo much to lofe your Money, get fuch Purfes as will never decay, and make to yourselves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness, that when you fail, they may receive you into eternal Habitations.

29. Laftly, as the Ifraelites, when they had tafted of the Fruits of the Land of Canaan, defired with a most earneft Paffion, to enjoy fuch a noble and delicious Country, and their Abode in the Wilderness became tedious and infufferable: Likewife we who have the Firft-fruits of the Spirit, and the Fore-taste of our heavenly Paradife; let us afpire with our Hearts to the heavenly Canaan, and let us long continually for those unfpeakable Delights. All worldly Pleasures fhould have no Relish with us, and the greatest Sweetness of this Life fhould be turned into Bitterness; so that we may often prefent David's Prayer unto God, Remember me, O Lord, with the Favour that thou beareft unto thy People; O vifit me with thy Salvation, that I may fee the Good of tby Chofen; that I may rejoyce in the Gladness of thy Nation, that I may glory with thine Inheritance, Pf. cvi.

To

To conclude this Discourse, seeing that we have no lafting City here below, but that we feek for that which is to come; feeing that we know not the Hour when God shall take us out of the World to introduce us into his holy Jerufalem, Heb. xi. Luke xxii. let us take heed that our Hearts be not overcharged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness, and with the Cares of this Life, left that Day furprize us unawares; and as the holy Apostles left their Nets to follow Jefus Christ, Matth. xxiv. let us alfo leave the vain Cares, the ill-grounded Fears and deceiving Hopes that intangle our Souls; that when it fhall please God to call us, we may be ready to answer his heavenly Meffage. Let us accuftom ourselves betimes to will what God willeth, and to obey him without Refiftance, Det us caft all our Cares upon God, and repofe ourfelves upon his wife and fatherly Providence, 1 Pet. v. Let us look with Contempt upon the World, upon its vain Grandeur, and upon its decaying Riches; esteem not any thing upon Earth, nor that which Man is able to promise or procure; but esteem and value the bleffed Advantages that we expect in Heaven, and that are difpofed and entrusted in God's own Hands, 2 Tim. i. Tit. ii. Let us prefer Job's Dunghil and Ashes, before the proud Throne and glorious Monarchy of Nebuchadnezzar. Let us fancy the Beggary of poor Lazarus more happy, than the overflowing Abundance of the rich Mifer. Imprint in your Minds that bleffed Saying of the Son of God, What would it profit a Man if he gains the whole World, if he destroys himself and lofeth his Soul? Luke ix. Let us have always before our Eyes the Image of that rich Worldling, who had gathered much Wealth for his Soul, but his Soul was not wealthy nor rich before God, remember what he faith to his Soul, Soul, thou haft much Goods laid up for many Years, reft thyself, eat, drink, and be merry; But what fays God to him? Thou Fool, this very Night thy Soul fhall be taken away from thee, and the things that

thou

thou haft gathered, whofe fhall they be? Inftead of studying how to to inlarge our Barns and Cellars, and to increase our Revenues and Treafures, let us labour to fet fome Bounds to our Defires, and let us be content with what we have at prefent. Seeing we have but a Breath in our Noftrils, and that we are cloathed with a mortal Body, let us not entertain fuch vaft Defigns, nor fuffer our Longings to be perpetual. Let us always, in every Place, be ready to end our Life, to put the laft Stone to its Building, or rather, let us be always in a Difpofition of diffolving this earthly Tabernacle. Let us willingly break all the Bands and Ties that faften us to this miferable Earth, that when Death fhall come, it may have nothing to do but to cut the laft String, by which our Soul is naturally joined to this languishing Body. Settle and fix your strongest Affections in Heaven, that where your Treasure is, your Hearts may be there alfo. Let us not be lulled afleep, as the foolish Virgins; but having our Reins girded, and our Candles lighted, let us be prepared at every Moment, to go to meet our heavenly Spouse, and follow him into the Marriage Chamber. Let us be like a Shipat Anchor, ready to fet Sail with the first fair Wind, and as a Soldier entirely armed, that waits for the Day of Battle, and for the Signal to mount upon his Horse, that he may appear in the Field at the Sound of the Trumpet. Let us fend, beforehand, all our most precious Jewels, into the most glorious Palace of Eternity; that our Bag and Baggage being ready prepared, we may have nothing to do but to take our last Farewel. If any Confideration of Flesh and Blood hinders us, let us break afunder all these Bands by the Strength of our Nazarene, that is, by the Virtue of God's Holy Spirit, which he hath been graciously pleased to grant unto us. And if the Perfons that we love and cherish as tenderly as our Souls, or those whom we are to reverence and honour, labour to ftir up the Bowels of our Compaffion, and to impede us in our holy Refolutions, by bafe and earthly Confiderations;

fiderations; let us tell them as our Saviour did Mary Magdalen, Touch me not, for I am going to my Father, Joh. xv. Stop not my Course, for I hold already the Prize, and the promised Crown. In fhort, as Abraham let the Ram loose, whereof the Horns were taken in a Thicket, and offered it up in Sacrifice to God, Gen. xxi. fo let us free our Minds from all worldly Cares and carnal Affections; let us offer them up all to God, as a sweet-fmelling Sacrifice; let us prefent them as a Burnt Offering, confume them in the Flames of an holy Zeal and Love of his Divine Majefty. When the Christian shall be thus prepared he shall never ftand in fear of Death; he will fay to it with an affured Countenance, Come when thou wilt, O Death, I defire no Reprieve: For a long while ago I have fettled my Affairs, and wait for thee with Patience. The chief Part of myself is not here below, my Heart is already ravished into Heaven, where God expects me with open Arms. Therefore notwithstanding thy fearful Darkness, and the Defign that thou haft to deftroy me, I will follow thee as couragiously and as joyfully as St. Peter did the Angel of Night, that opened to him the Gates of his Prison, and freed him from his Chain, Ats xii.

A Prayer and Meditation for fuch as prepare for Death by a Renunciation of the World.

Infinite Lord of Heaven and Earth, who disposest of Good and Evil by thy divine Providence and admirable Wifdom! thou hast not fuffered us to have here an abiding City, that we might feek for that which is to come. Thou difcovereft before our Eyes the Vanity and Inconftancy of all things under the Sun, that we might labour to attain to folid and everlasting Advantages. Thou hast placed and referved in Heaven inexhaustible Treasures of

Riches,