My Meaning is, that we fo fix our Aims and Defigns, as that it fhall be the conftant unchangeable Principle of our Minds, and the great Business we propofe to ourselves throughout the whole Course of our Lives, to endeavour to approve ourselves to God in our whole Converfation. Whatever other Projects we may have in our Heads, yet to make it our firft and chief Care to please God in every Action we do, and for no Confideration in the World to violate our Duty, or make our Confcience uneafy. This that I now fay is not only an Inftance of circumfpect Walking, but the very Foundation of it. If we would walk not as fools, but as wife, we muft lay the firft Step here, for it is the Fear of the Lord is the Begin- Prov.9.10 ning of Wisdom, as Solomon tells us.

And without doubt this is that which he adviseth in another Place, where he faith, My Son, keep thy Heart with all Diligence, Ib. 4. 23. for out of that are the Iffues of Life. Thine Heart: What is that but thy Designs, thy Purposes, thy Intentions, which are the Springs and Principles from which thy Actions flow? If these be well fixed; if thefe be guarded and preferved pure and fincere, they will produce fuch a Conver fation, as will end in eternal Life; but otherwife, the Iffues of them will be Death.

2. But, Secondly, another Inftance of Circumfpection, is to examine carefully L 2

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every Action before we engage in it. The circumfpect Man will not venture upon Things hand over head, but firft confiders and weighs the Matter that is before him. And always his firft Enquiry is, whether the Thing be lawful, whether it be confiftent with his Duty; and if it be not, he will by no means engage in it: Nay, tho' it be lawful, if it be not alfo expedient, (which is the next Thing he confiders) that very Confideration is enough to make him forbear the Action. It is not the Company he is engaged in, nor the Sollicitation of his Friends, nor his prefent Inclination or Humour, nor the Heat of a Paffion, nor the ferving of any Intereft; I fay, none of thefe Things will fway him; but he will examine both his own Confcience, and the Fitness or Unfitness of the Action; nay, he will take a View as far he can, of all the Confequences that will follow upon it, and what Influence it will have upon his own fpiritual Good, or the Good of others, before he will venture upon it. Eafy, and weak, and careless Perfons are drawn to do any thing that is prefented to them under fair Colours; but those who are circumfpect, will examine all the Colours, by putting them into feveral Lights. The very Notion of Circumfpection is to look round, and to view, and confider every Thing in all its feveral Shapes, and Refpects, and Tendencies. And if we would

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make it our Practice thus to look before us, thus to scan and examine our Actions before we engaged in them, how happy, how good, how virtuous might we be? How many Sins fhould we avoid, that we are now daily furprized into? How many Temptations might we overcome, that now daily lead us captive? But, alas! here is our Mifery, we rush into Actions upon a prefent Heat and Impetus without much thinking or confidering; and hence it comes to pass that we are betray'd into a thousand Follies and Sins, which afterwards we have too juft Cause to repent of. If we did but ufe to look before us, we fhould rarely miscarry. Ponder the Paths of thy Feet, Prov.4.26. fays Solomon, and then all thy Ways Shall be ordered aright.

3. Another Inftance which this Precept of circumfpect Walking will oblige us to, is to be careful to put a Stop to the first Beginnings of Evils that we feel in ourfelves. All our Sins do arife from fome Paffion or Appetite that is within us, which commonly is excited and takes fire at fome external Object, and from hence grows unreasonable and extravagant; and there begins the Sin. Now it is pretty much in our Power, if we have ufed our Minds to think, and are not Strangers to our own Humours and Conftitutions; I fay, it is very much in our Power to ftop the Beginnings or the firft Motions of any irregular Paffions

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Paffions or Appetites; I mean fo far, as that it fhall not proceed to a criminal Action; nay, not fo far as to obtain a full Confent of the Will. For before it comes to that, Reafon may interpofe; and if we cannot vanquish the Defire or the Paffion by Arguments, yet we may ftifle it eafily, by diverting our Thoughts to other Objects. But if we once give way to it, and do not prefently fupprefs it, it is a hundred to one it grows too strong for us, and doth produce its Effects in our outward Actions, tho' much to our Sorrow and Repentance afterwards. It is here juft as in any combuftible Matter which is fet on fire: If we take the Flame prefently, it is foon extinguifh'd; but give it a little Scope, and it proves often beyond your Power to quench it till it hath done Mischief. Here therefore will lie a great Part of the Chriftian Circumfpection that is required of us, viz. to attend carefully to the firft Motions and Inclinations that are excited in our Hearts by any Object or Occafion that happens to be prefented to us; and if we find them irregular, and tending to Sin, by all means to put an immediate Stop to them. If we take this Method, it is impoffible we should fall into any grievous or prefumptuous Sin: And tho' we may be guilty of many Faults and Infirmities, yet we fhall not be capable of doing any thing that fhall much wound our Confcience, or forfeit our Title to God's Favour. 4. Ano

we

4. Another Instance wherein this Vigilance and Circumfpection that is here recommended by the Apostle is to be exercifed, is this; We fhould never in this World apprehend ourselves free from Danger, but live in conftant Expectation of being affaulted by our fpiritual Enemies ; and upon that Confideration we fhould always be upon our Guard. We are never fo fecure, but that we may be in Danger the next Moment. How often are drawn away to that which is evil, even then when we did not in the leaft dream of any fuch Matter. Temptations are always ready at hand, fo long as we carry these mortal Bodies about us. There is nothing fo innocent, but it may, and often doth, prove a Snare to us. Our Bufinefs, our Company, our dearest Relations, nay, our very Meat and Drink, as neceffary as thefe Things are, yet do they oftentimes prove great Temptations to Sin. And if we are thus tempted when we are most at our own Command, what Temptations muft we expect in our other Converfations and Intanglements with a bufy, defigning, and yet a malicious and a wicked World. Yet fuch is the Lot and Portion of all of us, that whether we will or no, we fhall be engag'd in fome troublefome and dangerous Adventures. It concerns us all therefore, as much as the Frailty of human Nature will allow us, always to keep a ftrict Guard

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