and has placed his love, his hope, his joy, his all, so much above this perishing scene here below, how little and contemptible will the best it can pretend to appear to him who has such infinitely greater expectations, and how little danger then of excessive affection towards them!

Thus does faith overcome the world, and give us a complete victory over its most enticing temptations; and hereby we see the excellency of our blessed Lord's advice, which we have in Matt. vi. 19, &c. and the necessity of following it; Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where rust and moth do corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven-for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

For, can we think that to dote upon the world, which St. John says lieth in wickedness a, is wholly plunged, and wallows in it-will this fit and prepare us for the pure joys of heaven? is the neglect of religion here the way to attain the rewards of it hereafter? is being in the flesh, as the apostle expresses it, and minding nothing but how to fulfil the lusts of it, is this the proper course to please God? And is a continual opposition to the will of our blessed Master, and constant breach of his commands, can this be the means of gaining admission into his eternal joy? How necessary therefore is it thus to regulate our passions, and to set our affections on things above, and not on things on the earth, if we hope to inherit the promises God has been pleased to make us in his blessed Son!

SECT. III.

Of the Usefulness of the Passions when duly regulated.

It is evident, by what has been already said, that he who gave us our being is the author of our passions, which are so natural and so necessary to us, that it is impossible to be without them, and the first rise of them so unavoidable, being so sudden, and so unforeseen, that they often anticipate our very thoughts; and therefore, since our all-wise and good Creator has been pleased to have it so, we may be sure it is designed for some very wise and excellent end which is in general to fix and settle in our minds such apprehensions of the good and evil of things, as will excite us vigorously to pursue the good and avoid the evil; and which, if the impression were less strong and deep, would too soon be worn out and lost. And all the danger is in their being misplaced upon unworthy objects, or excessive in degree when placed aright; which errors and irregularities and excesses are to be corrected by reason and religion.

And therefore it is ill-advised of those who tell us that there is no way to suppress the passions like setting one to destroy another; for this sort of remedy is worse than the disease; and instead of weakening, very much increases their force; keeps us in continual storms, and raises such a rebellion within us, as all our art will not be able to lay again, and must end in the dethroning of reason, and extirpation of religion, and consequently will enslave us to the tyranny of every passion, which will then domineer it over us by turns.

But to govern them by reason and religion is what becomes a man and a Christian, and will demonstrate that there is a ruling power in the soul of man, above what the finest modifications of matter can pretend to; which can control and subdue the most violent efforts of the body, and even the common instincts of the animal nature.

And when they are thus brought into due order and subjection, of the worst of masters they will become the best of servants, and, as Plato neatly expresses it, like a flaming chariot to the soul, whereby to mount to God and heaven. This will make nature entirely of the side of religion, and carry us on to our supreme happiness with a full gale, and all the advantages of wind and tide.

We shall then live and act as Adam did in the state of innocence; and as our blessed Saviour did when he was pleased to take our nature upon him, and dwell among us. They both had like passions with us; the primitive ones I mean, such as love and hatred and anger, hope and fear, joy and sorrow; but being free from all exorbitancy, they only served as so many excellent helps and means whereby more effectually to attain the great ends of the glory of God and the happiness of man.

And so they will be to us when they cease to be inordinate, and are made to submit to the government of right reason and the laws of God. Then the most uneasy and troublesome passions, as fear, and sorrow, and hatred, and anger, will be as useful to us as the most grateful love and hope and joy; and when they are engaged in religion can scarce exceed their bounds, which is a great advantage.

And how plain and smooth will our way then lie

before us, and what delight shall we take in walking in it, when by the grace of God, and the assistance of his good Spirit, we are come to that happy pass, as to have no errors or extravagancies in our passions and affections, but find all their motions right! when we admire and love, desire and hope for nothing, with great earnestness, but to be like God, and his divine Son our blessed Redeemer, in purity and holiness here, that we may be capable of the blissful enjoyment of them in the regions of glory for ever when we go from hence; and in the meantime rejoice in nothing so much as in the testimony of a good conscience, and in seeing the kingdom of righteousness make good progress in the world. And how will it secure our duty, and preserve us from the force of temptations to the contrary, when we come to hate nothing but sin, and esteem it, as indeed it is, the greatest and most destructive evil, and have such a settled aversion, and even antipathy to it, as to fly from the least appearance of it, and dread nothing so much as to be surprised and overcome by it in any instance, and find ourselves never so deeply affected with sorrow and compunction of spirit as when we have been so unhappy as to be betrayed into it!

When our passions are thus brought into the right course and channel, they will flow silently and smoothly on, and serve like oars and sails to bring us to the enjoyment of our supreme good; which then we shall pursue with vigour, but without perturbation, with a swift, but even motion, in a direct line, without the extravagant excursions of an ungoverned heat, and the violent agitations and dangers that attend hurricanes and storms.

Then will our divine Master's commands be so far from grievous, that we shall think them most pleasant and delightful, when we are thus carried on by the bent of our nature to a cheerful performance of them; and our obedience then will be sincere and hearty, which will render every act of religion acceptable to him, and an offering of a sweet smelling savour.

It is not any thing that is really contrary to nature in virtue and piety that makes the practice of it irksome to us; but the ill use of our natural powers, and the preengagement of them to vice: and when we are once come to ourselves, and have reduced our passions and affections to their natural order, then religion will become most agreeable to us, and a service that is perfect freedom.

Disorderly and extravagant affections of the soul are like monstrous and distorted members of the body, good for nothing but to make a man deformed and miserable; but when regular and well-governed, they are like a perfect symmetry, and apt position of the several parts, which conduces to the beauty and ease, the benefit and pleasure of the whole.

Thus we see in general how necessary it is to our happiness to regulate our passions, and reduce them to the government of reason and religion; and we have had some short hints how to effect it: but it will be needful to have some more particular directions in a matter of such great importance, and which I shall endeavour to give in the following chapters.

"And may our merciful and almighty Lord, who "alone can order the unruly wills and affections of "sinful men, grant to us his unworthy servants, and