SERM.
XIII.

To this let it be added, that although in other Cafes the Will and the Power are very diftinct Things, yet here they are in many Instances the fame, and perfectly coincide; for, as all Virtue is feated in the Will, the very fixed and determined Will to be virtuous, is Virtue itself. He who is refolved, with the whole Energy of his Mind, to be a better Man, is, in Fact, the better for being fo refolved; as, on the other fide, he that is refolved to be wicked, is really fo, though he may not have an Opportunity of perpetrating the outward

A&t.

We fee then, that we have the fame natural Power, the fame gracious Aid and Affiftance, for perfevering and improving in every Virtue and Grace, as we had originally for attaining them. What then fhould reftrain or hinder our continual Progrefs? Does the Difficulty lie in the Thing itfelf? Is it a harder Task to continue and grow more perfect in a Habit of Virtue, than it is at first to acquire fuch Habit? On the contrary, it has always been prefumed, and always allowed, that whatever Difficulties and Difcouragements may attend our firft Entrance on the Paths of Virtue, yet on pursuing our Journey we find the Profpect more chearful and inviting every Step we take Whatever Mixtures of Vice may debase the firft Compofitions of Virtue, yet

each

XIII.

each Repetition of good Actions, like the SER M. repeated Effays of the Refiner, feparates the Drofs, and leaves the Subftance more pure. However the Soul, at it's first Rifing from the Ground, may flutter and mount heavily; yet, when once it is thoroughly upon the Wing, it flies along with an easy, vigorous, and continued Motion; and, in Allufion to the Words of the Text, though the first Dawn of Religion upon the Souls of Men may be but as the Wings of the Morning, fpreading themselves upon the Mountains, yet it gradually attains to a meridian Altitude.

Labour and Exercife may be profecuted to fuch Degrees of Excefs as to render the Body weary, weak, and languid; the Purfuits of Knowledge may be carried fo far as to impair the intellectual Powers; so that an immoderate Application to Study may not only create a Weariness in the Flesh, but may endanger the whole Conftitution of the Mind: And in endeavouring to make ourselves wife, by fifting into fubtile Speculations, we may, literally speaking, become Fools: Nay, our very Will, when oppreffed and overborn by irregular and tumultuous Paffions, is forced frequently to yield and give Way; whereby we are delivered over to the Extremes either of Rage or Melancholy. But none of the Faculties of our Minds, or Organs of our X 2 Bodies,

SERM. Bodies, are the leaft endangered by the XIII. Meditations on, and the Practices of Virtue

and Religion. On the contrary, Virtue has the fame Effect on the Eye of the Underftanding, as Light has on the corporeal Eye, it refreshes and enlivens our Spirits, and spreads a Chearfulness over every Thing around us.

The Finger of the Almighty feems vifible in this, pointing out unto us the Employment whereunto we ought principally to devote ourselves: Inafmuch as he who hath created all Things with fuch a Dispofition and Fitness to certain Ufes and Ends, that, in following this natural Bent, they arrive at the greatest Perfection in themfelves, and at the fame Time are productive of the greatest Good to the Universe; but by any other Appropriation, become either ufelefs, as incompetent to attain the ill-defigned Effect, or produce fomething monftrous and injurious: He, I fay, hath ordained our Frame with fuch an Aptitude to moral and religious Exercifes, that whereas every other continued Application is attended always with fomething that is irkfome and diftafteful, often with something that is pernicious and deftructive; yet so far are we from feeling any Wearinefs in welldoing, that moral and religious Meditations are the very Food of the Soul. Adding Virtue to Virtue is adding Strength to

Strength;

XIII.

Strength; the greater Acquifitions we make SER M. of this Sort, as in the Cafe of worldly Riches, we are enabled thereby to make ftill the greater.

One great Reason why Men do not quicken their Pace more in the Ways of Goodness, is owing to a very great Mistake in the Judgments they are apt to form of themselves by using a deceitful Standard. They are not at any Trouble to get exact Notices of Perfections and Goodnefs, and to examine their Lives by fuch truly imitable Patterns: They never consider Virtue in her native and divine Image, they only confider it as brought down to their Senfes in the Lives of other People; and, through Self-partiality, are apt to imagine themfelves full as good as, if not better than, they; and therefore fit down with a thorough Self-Complacency, prefuming their Work is already done. Whereas Men of Senfe, be they ever so good, are not vain and elate with Goodnefs, but rather diffident of it and themselves ; and therefore they are ftill preffing on to higher Degrees of Piety, because they form in their Minds an Idea of Perfection. And this being the Teft whereby they judge of themselves and their Actions, and finding how far the Copy falls fhort of the Original, they are far from being fatisfied with themselves: They never think themfelves good enough, but

X 3

endea

SER M. endeavour to make themselves as good as XIII. they can be.

It is true, several in the lower Rank and Condition of Life have neither Leifure nor Capacity to attain to any competent Degrees of Knowledge or Learning; and therefore are not qualified to fill fuch Stations as allow of the Exercise of fublime, heroic, and extenfive Virtues; but ftill a large Field is open for their Progrefs and Improvement. They may grow more regular in their Attendance on the facred Ordinances; more difpofed to receive Inftruction from their Teachers, more induftrious in their Callings, more friendly to their Neighbours, more patient under Provocations, more refigned to the Difpenfations of Providence. If Men's Hearts be truly dedicated to God's Service, he will measure their Work, not by the Value it may have in itself, but by the Proportion it bears to their Abilities. In the Kingdom of Christ, there is neither Barbarian nor Scythian, neither bond nor free; all the Distinction there is founded on the inward Condition of the Mind: True Liberty there is a Freedom from the Slavery of Sin; true Nobility is to excel in Virtue.

So far then ought we to be from confidering this Life as a dull, confined Round of the fame infignificant Trifles, that we ought to look upon it as an indefinite Line; wherein every Step we take is, or ought to

be,