fent may have of them, to make them feem otherwise, yet when they come to be wearied with the purfuits of their vain Labours, they will be ready to join with the good Patriarch, Few and evil have been the Days of my Pilgrimage.

I proceed Secondly to confider what is the true End and Result of fo doing; and this is fignified in the latter part of the Verfe, That we may apply our Hearts anto Wifdom. Now to do thus in the fenfe of Scripture, is to fet our felves about the business of Religion, earneftly and diligently to work out our Salvation, for which this Life is given us, and to ftudy thofe things which make for our Eternal Peace and Welfare. This certainly is the trueft Wif dom, to be zealous and diligent in the Service of God, to fecure his Favour by our Duty and Obedience, confidering withal, that we have here no fixed Habitation, no continuing City, but feek one to come. This prefent Life is a state of Warfare and Probation, and it is but a fhort Stage that we are to tread; our time is little enough, and the Bufinefs we are to do is very great, and therefore requires strict application to the Concerns of another

Life, which fhall have no end either of Happiness or Mifery. Indeed while we are in this World, we have a great many things to fet about, according to that State and Condition of Life which Divine Providence hath allotted us, and therefore, although those Temporal things may not be left undone, yet this one thing our Saviour affures us is chiefly needful, To feek the Kingdom of God and his Righteoufnefs.

The Wisdom of the Mammonist or Worldly Man, is to confider the uncertainty of his Life for this purpose, that he may diligently imploy himself to the raifing an Eftate, and provide against the invafion of Poverty and Want. The Wisdom of the Ambitious Man is to number his Days and Meditate on the brevity of Humane Life, to this end, that he may fpeedily be excited to fuch noble Actions and Exploits as may gain him a lafting Honour and Renown, and fix his Glorious Atchievments in the Memorials of Fame. The Wifdom of the Epicure or Voluptuous Man, is to reflect on the fhortnefs of Life for this reason, that he may lofe no time for:

the

the Gratification of his Appetite; and therefore he proceeds upon this Principal, Let us Eat and Drink, for to Morrow we Dye. But after all, the truest Wisdom is that of the Religious Man, who upon confideration of the brevity of this Life, is careful of his great Duty, to profecute the Eternal Interest of his Soul by a fteady course of Piety and Vertue, that when this frail and fhort Life fhall have an end, he may at length receive a glorious Immortality. Our bleffed Lord hath excellently described this Wisdom under the Parable of the ten Virgins, St. Math. 25. among whom he obferves five to have been Wife, and five Foolish; thofe that were Wife provided Oyl for their Lamps to meet the Bridegroom on his return, which the other who wereFoolish neglected to do; they were equally uncertain of the time when he would come, and therefore were equally obliged to be upon their Watch, to have their Lamps trim'd and their Lights burning, to be ready to attend him; and they that were thus prepared were admitted to the Feaft, whilft the Careless and Foolish were excluded that Priviledge. From

which Parable, and fome others, we are taught the Wisdom of those that do in time confider the fleeting vanity and uncertainty of the things of this Life, the falfe and empty Enjoyments of it, and the certainty of Death when they must leave them all, and are therefore watchful and induftrious to fecure the main Point, to trim their Lamps, and ftate their Accounts, that when the Son of God himself fhall come, and their Mafter call for them, they may be prepared and ready to enter into the Joy of their Lord. How unwife then muft thofe needs be accounted that spend their Days in vain and fruitless purfuits after the things of this World, and neglect the Salvation of their Immortal Souls, studying to fupport and maintain a vexatious Life, and to adorn that corruptible part of them, their Bodies, as if they came into this World like the Leviathan into the Sea, only to take their Pleasure and Paftime in it; from hence then we may fee wherein confifts the Wisdom of numbering our Days, namely in this, an earneft profecution of the bufinefs of Religion, and a continual exercife in well do

ing, that when this fhort and miferable Life fhall be expired we may depart with true Peace and Joy, and receive in another World the end of our Faith, the Salvation of our Souls. This certainly cannot be deny'd the truest Wisdom by those who believe another Life after this, and yet I am forry there is too much apparent Truthi in what I muft obferve, that many who profefs their Faith of those Articles which concern another World, do wretchedly forget them, and fuffer themselves to be easily drawn off from their most important Duty to purfue the Follies and Vanities of this finful evil World; and therefore I fhall endeavour to discover the reafon of their strange negligence and omiffion, by enquiring, Thirdly, into the common Obftacles and Impediments to the performance of this great Duty before us. And here firft it is obfervable, that one Impediment and Obftacle to it is Health. So long as thefe Bodies that they carry about with them are Strong and Vigorous, free from Pains and Difeafes, and Nature has all the Symptoms of a healthful Conftitution; Alas! Men are but too

apt