Faith and Judgment and Mercy; to Vol. II. be very exact and fcrupulous in Matters of little moment, and very forgetful, very negligent, or it may be infenfible of great and neceffary ones. 'Tis too common to maintain a form of godlinefs without the power of it; to contend for the Injunctions and Traditions of Men, for fome particular Fancies and Opinions of our own, while we pay too little regard to the Doctrines and Precepts of God; but he that will run fuccessfully, must keep within the Lines that mark out his Race; he must make the Word of God, and nothing elfe the Rule of his Judgment, Affections and Actions; his Zeal and Industry must be imploy'd in those great Things for which St. Paul commends the Theffalonians, The works of Faith, the labour of Love, and the patience of Hope. In a word, he muft Conform himself to the Will of God; and that not by fits and by halfs, but conftantly and uniformly, he must be ftedfast and unmoveable, always abounding in the works of God, as one who knows that his labour will not be in vain in the Lord. And when he has done all, he must crown and perfect all by Humility, afcribing

Vol. II. fcribing all intirely to the free and ~ boundless Grace of God in Jefus ; to

this he owes his Vertue, and to this he muft owe his Heaven. And thus I have dispatch'd the first thing propofed to be enquired into, and shew'd you who' will, and who will not receive the Prize. I am now to fhew you

2. What we are to do, that we may So run as to obtain. The Apostle inftructs us fully in this Point, verse 25. Now he that striveth for the mastery, is temperate in all things: and more fully, v. 27. But I keep under my body, and bring it into Subjection, left that by ang means, when I have preached to others, I my felf fhould be a Caft-away. In these two Verses he teaches us two very important Leffons.

1. That the most fure and compendious way to victory is Temperance. 2. That a true Standard and Measure of Temperance is a mastery over our felves.

He that carefully obferves thefe Rules, will certainly so run as to obtain the Prize; for 'tis the Body that clogs and retards us in our Race; 'tis the Body

that

that prevails with us to stifle our Con- Vol. II. victions, and fool and baffle our Consciences; 'tis the Body that extinguishes in us all great and worthy defires, overthrows our wifest Resolutions, and fastens us to the Pleasures and Interest of this Tranfitory World, in despite of all Reason and Revelation; if we were once raised above the Servitude of this, our Minds would be inflamed with the Love of Spiritual and Divine Things; we should conftantly and vigorously pursue the great ends of our holy Calling, and we fhould feel an unspeakable Satisfaction in doing fo, for the Experience of our Integrity, would daily comfort us, and affure us of our Regeneration; the Spirit of Adoption would be fed abroad more and more in our hearts, and God, even the God of hope would fill us with joy and peace in believing, and make us abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghoft. I beseech you therefore by the Mercies of God, I conjure you by the hopes of an incorruptibleCrown, that ye be temperate in all things, and that you propose to your felves no other Boundaries of your Temperance than what the Apostle does,not the Fashions

of

Vol. II. of the World, not your Fortunes and Estates, not your Birth and Quality, not the Strength and Vigour of your Nature, but the Mastery, the Dominion over all your Worldly and Carnal Appetites This is what the Apostle exhorts you to, Rom. 12. That je present your Bodies a living Sacrifice, holy,

ceptable unto God, which is your reafonable fervice, and be not conform'd to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds, that ye may prove what is that good, that acceptable and perfect will of God. Thus have I explain'd to you all that was neceffary to the right understanding of the Text, without which the Exhortation of the Apostle would not have had its due force upon you. I come now

2. To the Exhortation it felf, which confifts, as I told you in the beginning, of two Arguments; the first taken from our Reward, If we run as we fhould, we fhall obtain the Prize. The fecond, the Danger we are in, in doing otherwise, Know ye not that they which run in a race, run all, but one receives the Prize:

1. A Reward, An incorruptible Crown, Vol. II. an Inheritance of Glory, an Inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, referv'd in heaven for us: This is that Life and Immortality which ever fince our Saviour brought it to light thorow the Gospel, has taken up the Thoughts, and imploy'd the Care of the wifest and best of Men: This is what holy and devout Souls have in all Ages fought by Prayers and Tears, by Labour and Watching, by Self-denial and Mortification. This is what Martyrs and Confeffors, those pure and elevated Souls, enlighten'd and led by a Divine Spirit, have waded to through a Sea of Blood, through Reproach and Affliction, through Stripes and Imprisonment. This is what fupported them amidst thofe Sufferings that Human Nature shrinks to hear of, it fill'd them with Joy and Pleasure in the midst of Pain; it inspired them with Hope and Courage in the very fhadow of Death; it made them look down upon the Advantages, the Pleafure and Profit of this Life with a ho ly Difdain and Contempt, and rejoyc'd to think that they were counted worthy to suffer Evil for the fake of Christ. N Thus