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so they are all useful and profitable. This is too evident to be much infifted on. St.

Paul obferves to Timothy, that Godliness is 1 Tim.4.8. profitable unto all Things, having Promife of the Life that now is and of that which is to come, and Experience proves it; for Honefty is the fureft Way to thrive in the World, it creates Credit and Confidence which are the Life of Bufinefs; it knows nothing of the Sufpicions and Inquietudes that attend Knavery; it is never put to the Blush, and wants no Shifts and Evafions to extricate it self, but proceeds chearfully and with a quiet Conscience, and if it should happen to fail of Success, yet it never fails of Compaffion and Succour from all Men, the Bad as well as the Good.

Temperance is the very best Receipt for Health, for a clear Head, a chearful Countenance, and a good Appetite.

Charity is as fure Profit to the Giver, as it is Comfort to the Receiver; for he that Prov. 19.17. bath Pity on the Poor lendeth to the Lord, who will be sure to pay him with large Interest. The greatest Grievance to a covetous Man is, that he must leave all his Wealth behind him when he dies; but did he know this rare Secret of remitting his

4.

Riches by Bills of Charity into another
World, he would be charitable out of very
Covetoufnefs.

Humility and Modefty never fail of drawing that Refpect and Honour which they would avoid, whilft on the Contrary, Pride and Arrogance, like the Loadstone in a cross Position, repel and drive off that Regard which they attempted to draw.

The Benefits of Chastity will best be seen by the fad Effects of Lewdness upon the Health, the Beauty, the Eftates, the Offfpring and the Families of incontinent Perfons. The Jealoufies and Quarrels at home, and the Confumption of Wealth abroad, which this Sort of Life occafions, the Dif eases that follow it, and that are transmitted down to Pofterity, do all prove the UfefulTheff. 4. nefs of that Precept; For this is the Will of God, even your Sanctification, that ye fhould abstain from Fornication; That every one of you should know how to poffefs his Veffel in Sandlification and Honour: Not in the Luft of Concupifcence, as the Gentiles who know not God. I must not here omit to mention that most useful Law, which is in a manner peculiar to the Gospel, viz. Of doing to others whatsoever we would that they should do to us. Thus

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Thus one Law, if duly obferv'd, would fet the whole World to Rights: For if no Man would offer an Injury to another, which he would not willingly receive, and every Man would do all the good Offices to another, which he expects fhould be done to himself, there would be an End of all Scandal, Contentions, Injuries and Lawfuits, and every Society would be one Family of Love.

This may fuffice to fhew, that the Laws of Chrift are all practicable, reasonable, and useful; they are useful by the Effects they will have upon our prefent Happiness in this Life, but the greatest and highest Ule of them is to fecure to us eternal Life hereafter, and to purify and refine us by Degrees, till we are prepar'd and fitted for the Enjoyment of it. And what more can I fay to enforce Obedience to the Gospel of Chrift, who became the Author of eternal Salvation to them, and them only, who obey him.

PROV. 30. 7, 8, 9.

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Two Things have I required of thee, deny me them not before I die.--Remove far from me Vanity and Lies. Give me neither Poverty nor Riches; feed me with Food convenient for me.---Left I be full and deny thee, and fay, who is the Lord? or left I be poor and fteal, and take the Name of my God in vain.

T is a Matter of fmall Importance to inquire who Agur, the Author of this Chapter, was. That he was a Man efteemed for his Wisdom and Virtue in those Days, is evident from his Prophecy or Discourse here recorded, and also from its having a Place in this Book of Solomon's Proverbs, which were collected and preferved by Order of King Hezekiah, as we

may

may gather from the 35th Chapter, at the ift Verfe. And that he was a Man of an advanced Age and much Experience appears from those Words, deny me them not before I die.

His Prayer was grounded upon the long Obfervations he had made of the Dangers that attend those two oppofite Conditions of Life, Poverty and Riches; and therefore he wifely chooses the middle State, and prays only that he might have Food convenient for him, that is, that he might not want a fufficient and decent Maintainance, befitting a liberal Education, and answering the Defires of a moderate and reasonable Man. And as a small Income, and an obfcure Rank in Life would answer this End, this was the Sum of his Wishes.

I shall make these two Petitions of Agur's Prayer, the two general Heads of course, beginning,

my Dif

ift, With Poverty. This is too often the natural Effect of a Man's own Idleness Folly and Vice; but fometimes it is the unavoidable Portion of Men either by a particular Act of divine Providence, or by the

ordinary

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