Evil, look farther than the Dim of Eyes of Flesh can carry our Views, we must, with the Eyes of Faith, penetrate into the invifible World, the World of Spirits, and confider our Order and Condition amongst them, a World which (as St. John fpeaks) has no need of the Sun, neither of the Moon, to fhine in it, for the Glory of God doth lighten it, and the Light of the Lamb. For it is there, amongst eternal Beings, that we must take an eternal Fellowship, or fall in-. to a Kingdom of Darkness and everlasting Mifery.

CHRISTIANITY is fo divine in its Nature, fo noble in its Ends, fo extenfive in its Views, that it has no leffer Subjects than these, to entertain our Thoughts.

IT buries our Bodies, burns the present World, triumphs over Death by a general Refurrection, and opens all into an eternal State.

IT never confiders us in any other Refpect, than as fallen Spirits; it disregards the Diftinctions of human Society, and propofes nothing to our Fears, but eternal Mifery, nor any thing to our Hopes, but an endlefs Enjoyment of the Divine Nature.

THIS is the great and important Condition in which Chriftianity has placed us, above our Bodies, above the World, above Death, to be prefent at the Diffolution of

all

all Things, to see the Earth in Flames, and the Heavens wrapt up like a Scrawl, to stand at the general Refurrection, to appear at the universal Judgment, and to live for ever, when all that our Eyes have seen, is pass'd away and gone.

TAKE upon thee therefore, a Spirit and Temper fuitable to this Greatness of thy Condition; remember that thou art an eternal Spirit, that thou art for a few Months and Years in a State of Flesh and Blood, only to try, whether thou shalt be for ever happy with God, or fall into everlafting Mifery with the Devil.

THOU wilt often hear of other Concerns, and other Greatness in this World; thou wilt fee every Order of Men, every Family, every Perfon purfuing fome fancied Happiness of his own, as if the World had not only Happiness, but a particular kind of Happiness for all its Inhabitants.

BUT when thou feeft this State of human Life, fancy that thou faweft all the World afleep, the Prince no longer a Prince, the Be gar no longer begging, but every Man fleeping out of his proper State, fome happy, others tormented, and all changing their Condition as faft as one foolish Dream could reed another.

WHEN thou haft feen this, thou haft feen all that the World awake can do for

thee;

thee; if thou wilt, thou mayft go to fleep for a while, thou mayft lie down and dream; for, be as happy as the World can make thee, all is but fleeping and dreaming, and what is ftill worse, it is like sleeping in a Ship when thou fhould be pumping out the Water; or dreaming thou art a Prince, when thou fhouldft be redeeming thy felf from Slavery.

Now this is no imaginary Flight of a melancholy Fancy, that too much exceeds the Nature of Things, but a fober Reflection justly fuited to the Vanity of worldly Enjoyments.

FOR if the Doctrines of Christianity are true, if thou art that Creature, that fallen Spirit, that immortal Nature which Religion teaches us, if thou art to meet Death, Refurrection, and Judgment, as the Forerunners of an eternal State, what are all the little Flashes of Plea fure, the changing Appearances of worldly Felicities, but fo many Sorts of Dreams?

How canft thou talk of the Happiness of Riches, the Advantages of Fortune, the Pleasures of Apparel, of State, and Equipage, without being in a Dream?

Is the Beggar afleep, when he fancies he is building himself fine Houfes? Is the Prifoner in a Dream, when he imagines himself in open Fields, and fine Groves?

And

And can't thou think that thy immortal Spirit is awake, whilft it is delighting it felf in the Shadows and Bubbles of worldly Happiness?

FOR if it be true, that Man is upon his Trial, if the Trial is for Eternity, if Life is but a Vapour, what is there that deferves a ferious Thought, but how to get well out of the World, and make it a right Paffage to our eternal State ?

How can we prove that we are awakej that our Eyes are open, but by seeing, and feeling, and living according to these important Circumftances of our Life?

IF a Man fhould endeavour to please thee, with fine Defcriptions of the Riches, and Pleasures, and Dignities, of the World in the Moon, adding that its Air is always ferene, and its Seafons always pleasant, would't thou not think it a fufficient Anfwer, to say, I am not to live there?

WHEN thy own falfe Heart is endeavouring to please it felf with worldly Expectations, the Joy of this or that way of Life, is it not as good a Reproof, to fay to thy felf, I am not to stay here?

FOR where is the Difference betwixt an earthly Happiness, from which thou art to be feparated for ever, and a Happiness in the Moon, to which thou art never to go? Thou art to be for ever feparated

D

from

from the Earth, thou art to be eternal, when the Earth it felf is loft, is it not therefore the fame Vanity to project for Happiness on Earth, as to propose a Happiness in the Moon? For as thou art never to go to the one, fo thou art to be eternally feparated from the other.

INDEED the Littlenefs and Infignificancy of the boafted Honours of human Life, appears fufficiently from the Things themselves, without comparing them to the Subjects of Religion.

FOR fee what they are in themselves. AHASUERUS, that great Prince of the eastern World, puts a Question to Haman, his chief Minister of State, he asks him, what shall be done unto the Man, whom the King delighteth to honour (a)?

HAMAN imagining that he was the Perfon whom the King had in his Thoughts, answer'd in these Words,

LET the royal Apparel be brought which the King ufeth to wear, and the Horfe that the King rideth upon, and the Crown Royal which is fet upon his Head; and let this Apparel and Horfe be delivered to the Hand of one of the King's most noble Princes, that they may array the Man withal, whom the King

(a) Esther vi. 6.

delight