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nave avoided all along to make use of SERM, Paffages that are of uncertain Signification. I have not fo much as mentioned the Parable concerning the Rich Man and Lazarus (which yet I take to be as clear to the Point as any Place whatever) because I would not be thought to lay Stress upon doubtful Parables. I have only produced those that are evident and clear, and fuch as no Man with a common Degree of Modesty or Sense will offer to evade. I must own to you indeed that Evafions have been attempted, but fuch as fhew the Perfons who offered them to have but little of Senfe or Modefty either. For it is the Cuftom of our Adverfaries when a Text pinches them clofe, to deny its Authority: To call the Judgment or Integrity of the Evangelifts or Apostles into Queftion; to fet up one against another, and, if they could, to find a Contradiction between them. Such Shuffling as this is too mean and profane for a ferious Confutation. Nor is it worth contending with a Man whofe only Aim in his Wrangling, is to difpute himself into nothing. And were it poffible it could be as true, as it is undoubtedly falfe; a Man of Spirit and Courage would be loth to believe it. A vicious Man, a profane Debauchee Dd 2

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SERM. is interested, to have it fo, and therefore may try to perfuade himself into it, against the invincible Dictates of his Confcience to the contrary. But a Man who dares to look forward into Eternity, will never quit the noblest of his Defires, which is that of enjoying it.

And having thus fhewn, I hope undeniably, that our Souls are to live when our Bodies are gone; my Defign in the next Place is to fhew what kind of Life it is that they are to lead without them. But this must be deferred to my next Difcourfe: At prefent I have nothing more to do than just to hint from what has been faid at the Value of that rich and heavenly Treasure, which this frail Cafket of ours contains: A Soul stamped with the Image of God, and admitted to partake of his own Eternity. Let this remind us to fet a Value upon ourselves; to reflect what`

Rank we hold in the Chain and Order of Beings, and not to disgrace it by acting beneath the Station we fill. Since we partake of the Nature of Angels, as well as of Beafts; let us not degenerate wholly into Brutes, but remember the Relation we bear to the heavenly Beings above, and live like Men: Like those that have not only Bodies but Souls. And it

is certain the Soul was not made for the Bo- SER M

dy, but the Body for the Soul: That which in itself has no Life nor Senfe, must be made for the Ufe of that which has. The Body therefore, is only to be confidered as the Soul's Inftrument; that by which it apprehends and uses material Objects; which therefore must be employed only fo far as the Soul has real Occafion for it. It must be made ferviceable always to promote Virtue in the Soul, and not to fubject the Soul itself to Paffion and Senfe. For he who relishes no Delight but what his Body fupplies; what Advantage does he receive from having alfo a reafonable Soul? or how can he enjoy the true and proper Happiness of Man? Since therefore we are compounded of Body and Soul both, let us pursue the Happiness of both: Let us exercise and improve the Powers and Faculties of the Understanding or Mind, as well as gratify and indulge the Senfations of the Flesh. Let us look to our Interior, and not be lefs careful to fet off our Souls in the Sight of God, than we are to drefs and adorn our Bodies in the Eyes of Men. For the Soul is certainly the nobleft Part, let the Man be as noble as he will: Let him be ever fo highly born, and appear with all the Splendor Dd 3

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SERM. he may; the invifible Part of him is of an infinitely higher Descent ftill, and that which gives him his greatest Dignity. By no Means therefore value yourselves upon the one, whilst ye neglect the other. But be as industrious to exalt and improve the Soul, as ye are to cherish and maintain the Body. Be as watchful to keep the Mind from the Rufflings of Paffions, or the Twinges of Remorse, as you would be to preserve your Bodies from Sickness or your Limbs from Pain. Nor rest ye contented with fenfual Pleafures and Delights alone; without tafting those far more fuperior ones which the Soul affords. For how fond foever we are of bodily Delights; a Man that has experienced the Pleasures of Contemplation, the Tranfports of Devotion, and the Ravishments of Divine Love, affuredly knows that the highest Pleasures that result from the Body, are quite infipid and tastless, when his Soul is wraped up in fuch tranfcendent Delights. The Pleasures of the Mind are infinitely the greatest Pleasures of the Man. And therefore he who would be happy, even in this present Life, must seek for it not in bodily Entertainments, but in the Exercife and Improvements of Reason and Religion.

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This is an Inference which closely flows SER M. from the first Head of my Difcourfe, which only fhewed that the Soul is a fpiritual, immaterial Substance, diftinct from the Body. From my fecond Head, which proved that the Soul fhall continue to live, when the Body dies, we may go further ftill: For this should teach us not to grow too fond of our Bodies in the prefent State : Not to place our Happiness in them; nor to live as if we were never defigned to live without them. fince bodily Pleasures can last no longer than the Body does: If we would live happily without them hereafter, we must begin to wean ourselves here betimes, to bring our Appetites and Paffions in Subjection to Reason, to grow indifferent to the Pleasures of Senfe, to ufe them indeed as far as our Nature requires, but not to be fond of them for their own fakes, never to indulge ourselves in unlawful Pleasures, and to be temperate always in the Ufe of lawful: For fhould we ever become fo fenfualized, as not to relish any Pleasures but what arise from the Flesh; In the next World, when we must leave our Flesh behind us, even that would be Punishment more than we could bear, even fuppofing there were no other: For if it is fo great

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