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133 be moved; the Eternal Weight of Glary; the fulness of Foy in the prefence of God, and the Pleasures for ever-mare at his right Hand. Your frequent and attentive Meditation on thefe Things, will effectually engage you in the conftant Exercife of ferious Confideration, Circumfpection,and Watchfulness; that you may not fuffer your felves to be Betray'd into eternal Ruine by any or all the deceitful Allurements, that Earthly Riches, or Secular Glory can prefent you with

VI. In the Sixth Place, let me earnestly befecch you to arm your felves with a ftedfaft and inviolable Refolution, not only to be Watchful, Circumfpect, and Confiderate, but at all times to chufe and act according to that true Judgment of Things, which is the refult of fuch vigilant Circumfpection, and ferious Confideration. The greater the Difficulties and Temptations are that may obftruct your Religion and Virtue, the stronger fhould your Refolutions be to refift and conquer them. 'Tis Refolution that prompts Men to, and carries them thorow all the noble and difficult Enterprizes they undertake. It makes a Man intent upon the Thing he would do; inquifitive after the best Means to effect it, unwearied in the removing of Obstacles and Impediments; jealous and cautious in avoiding all Baits and Snares bold and couragious in withstanding all Oppofition. It has a mighty force either to excite to any Action, or to restrain us from it, as there may be occafion; and in the Bufinefs of Religion, there is the more Reafon to hope that it will be fuccessful, becaufe God will blefs it. By a brave and manly Refolution, Scipio, tho' a Heathen, chofe rather to Govern himfelf amidst the many Temptations and Opportunities of fenfual Pleafure, which his Power and Victories prefented to him, than to wallow in all the Delights of Senfe. And it was the ftedfaftnefs of their Pious Refolutions, that kept thofe Chriftian Heroes, whofe

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Examples I before propofed, from being enfnared and captivated by any of thofe rich, pompous, or' delectable Enjoyments, with which they were fo plentifully furnished. In refifting and oppofing all your Spiritual Enemies, your Work is half done, when you are fully refolved upon it; and if your Refolution fail not, I dare promife and affure you, that you shall have as good Succefs as can be wifhed: For while you ftedfaftly refolve upon it, you will fincerely endeavour it, and God will affift your Endeavours and make them Victorious. No Difficulties or Temptations that lie in the way of your Obedience can be infuperable, if upon mature Confideration, and full weighing all the material Circumstances that relate to your Condition, you form in your Minds a steady, fixed, and unalterable Purpofe to adhere to your Duty. There are indeed a fort of Refolutions, which like the Vapours St. James fpeaks of, appear for a little time, and then vanish away; because they were rafhly and haftily made in a fudden Paffion, without that cool, and calm, and rational Choice, which is the Effect of ferious and deliberate Advice. But if you have well confidered the Rules before given, and fuffer'd them to make a lafting Impreflion upon your Minds, you may now be the better able, by God's Grace and Affiftance, to make fuch a Refolution as will stand out againft all the powerful Arguments, and bewitching Charins of the World, that may tempt you to forego it. And that you may both confider Things with the greater ferioufnefs of Deliberation, and the more strongly confirm your felves in your good Refolutions, I would beg of you to allow your felves fome Intervals of Retirement; that you now and then step afide out of the Road, and beaten Track of Life, and exchange the tedious Circle of Pomp and Show, Noife, and Bufinefs, Sport and Play, in a World of mix'd and undiftinguifh'd Company, for the free Enjoyment of God and your felves, in a Religious and undisturbed

undisturbed Solitude; where you may have the better Oppportunity for the more folemn Exercife of pious Devotion, Self-Reflection, and Self-Examination; where you may enquire, What Temptations you have to refift? What Refolutions you have made against them? How you have kept those Resolutions? How you may further corroborate them, by turning them into Sacred Vows, and Inviolable Promises to Almighty God? As that Great and Good Prince ́did, for the better fortifying himself against Temptations, when he was furrounded with all the Afluence of Earthly Riches, Pleafures, and Honours, which his Royal Dignity and High Station could afford him. Pfal. 119. 106. I have Sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous Judgments.

VII. Seventhly. It is moreover advifable, That you furnish your felves with particular Arguments against the particular Sins, to which your Rank and Quality, and Condition in the World, may occafionally expofe you. Some of this Nature, among many others that might be produced, I fhall here briefly remind you ot.

1. To prevent, or cure that Pride, whereby any may be apt to value themselves too highly upon the Diftinctions of Birth or Fortune, and to fet fome Bounds to their towring Thoughts; (befides what has been faid against Pride in general, in my former Book call'd Youths Grand Concern, ch. 1.) it may be an humbling and levelling Confideration to remember, That we are all defcended from Adam, the fame com mon Parent of every one. And (to borrow fome improvement of this Argument from the Pious and Learned Mr. John Norris) it may yet further humble those that "Boast of their Families and Pedigrees, to "look back to their firft Origen from whence they "took their Rife, that being Creatures, they were produced out of Nothing. Let a Man be never fo

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"High and Great in the World, it must be a finking mortifying Thought, to reflect with himself, That whatever he now is, or however he appears at "prefent, he once was not, and that there was a "Time when he had not fo much as a Being in the "World, but was made out of Nothing. The Noble and the Honourable, may be lifted up with the Opinion of their High Defcent, and the Antiquity of their Lineage, but they would find little Reafon to be proud thereof, if they would trace it back far enough For then they would find nothing at the End thereof; and that there are but a few Years paft fince they had no Being at all.

Thofe alfo that live in great Glory and Profperity, will not be over much elevated with the Senfe thereof, if they call to mind that they must shortly Die, and leave all their Earthly Pomp. The Meditation of Death, may be a good Remedy against the Pride of Man in every Condition of Life,or Diftin&tion of Quality. Death is the common and inevitable Humiliation of our Nature. 'Tis a State of Abafement and Difhonour to the Nobleft of us, as 'tis a Punishment of our Sin; and 'tis a State that makes all Equal; mixes the High and Low, the Rich and Poor together, and lays the Diftreffed Prisoners in the fame common Bed of Reft with the Kings and Counsellors. of the Earth. Death deftroys and defaces all Earthly Glory, difperfes and fcatters Wealth, and confounds all Titles and Distinctions, and draws a black Veil over all Humane Greatnefs. "Confider then, how Vain it is to be proud of any Worldly Dignity, or to boast of thofe Efcocheons, and Enfigns of Honour, which when they follow Men to the Grave, do there take a final Leave of them.

And fince a Man's Riches alfo, can neither be carried with him into another World, nor add any real Worth or Perfection to him, while he is here, 'tis no lefs unreasonable to be proud of them. There is no

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juft Caufe indeed for any one to boast even of his Wifdom, or Knowledge, or Virtue it felf, thofe truly valuable Perfections of our Nature, because they are all receiv'd from another, and all the Glory of them ought to be given to him from whom they are receiv'd; but the Man that is only and barely richer than others hath leaft reafon of all to be proud, for his Eftate is no part of himself, nor is he really the wifer or the better for it; meerly to be rich neither fuppofes nor confers any true Worth or Excellency; and tho' Riches may enable the Owner of them to do more good, yet it is not the Ability for it, but the actual doing it that makes him deferve Commendation.

A noble Birth indeed upon a Civil Account may be of fome Value, and a Title of Honour is not only deriv'd from the Civil Fountain of it, but is fuppos'd to be founded in fome Merit, but no Man's Merit can be meafur'd by the Bulk of his Eftate, neither can his having more Money than others juftly fet him above others even in a Civil Refpect; 'tis not an ample For'tune, but a noble and generous Mind, that makes a Man truly great and noble, and gives him a real intrinfick Worth; and tho' we are oblig'd to pay a greater Refpect to thofe that are honourable on a Civil Account than to thofe that are only richer than others, yet fuch honourable Perfons fhould do well to remember that they receive no real Excellency from the Civil Honour they have deriv'd from their Ancestors, unless the Virtue of their Lives and the Goodness of their Actions be the happy Products of their noble Birth.

2. To preferve you from an haughty and arrogant Contempt of meaner People, you may confider what a ufeful part of Mankind the poorer and meaner fort are, and how much all your Splendor, Affluence and Plenty, are owing to their Labour and Induftry, without which none of your stately Houfes could be built, nor your full Tables furnish'd, nor your glittering Pomps maintain'd. "For (as an excellent Author doth remind "you)

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