the Appearance of our Saviour Jefus Chrift, SERM., II. who hath brought Life and Immortality to Light thro' the Gospel. This was a great Secret to the wifeft of the Gentile World, who, after all their curious Searches, and philofophical Inquiries, could not find where, to fet up their Place of Reft; and after all their Difputes about the Nature of Happinefs, they made it a thin metaphyfical Shadow rather than any thing real, and either left it as they found it, or elfe explained it by what wanted to be explained again, and was ftill the Matter in Difpute: And indeed 'tis no wonder that they who can't fee beyond the Grave, with any Clearness or Certainty, can't difcover the Seat of Happinefs, and find out a Reward for the Righte ous. Nature itself can never demonftrate this; nor can they who dwell in Houses of Clay, without fome Affiftance from Above, have any tolerable Apprehenfions of Houses not made with Hands, eternal in the Hea vens. The Stoicks afferted, that Virtue was itself a fufficient Recompence, and an an ample Reward for all the Pains, Troubles and Sufferings that Men undergo in this Life; which, tho' it is indeed an honourable Opinion of Virtue, and a noble Advance in Favour of Religion; and tho' it be like

SERM. wife certain, that a good Man will be faII. tisfied from himself, yet all this is only true in part, and will amount to no more than this, that it is very lovely and defirable, and which every wife and good Man would certainly chufe, and that too upon its own Account, by reafon of the Satisfaction that arifes from it. But if the Good and Bad go down together in the Duft, if one thing befalleth Men and Beafts, and as the one dieth fo dieth the other, and we shall be hereafter as if we had never been, what is become of the Reward then? Shall it be a Reward to them who are not in a Capacity of apprehending it? who have not a Being to enjoy it in? Had they confider'd it not as the End, but only as the Means, they would not have pull'd down with one Hand what they endeavour'd to build up with the other, but would have given Virtue its due Praife and Honour, and not have detracted from it, by cutting off that Reward which will one Day be the Confequence of it; for furely, fays Solomon, there is a Reward, and thine Expectation fhall not be cut off. And indeed this is as reasonable for a Man that has a Soul, and performs the Conditions required, to expect, as it is for a Ged of infinite Bounty and Goodness to

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beftow.

beftow.----Hard would have been the Lot SERM. of holy Men of old, who fuffered the moft II. cruel Afflictions that Malice could invent, or refolute Goodness undergo, and delivered up their Lives in the Cause of Virtue, had there been no Recompence of Reward; for if in this Life only we have Hope in Christ, we are of all Men most miferable. But we are fure they acted upon a wife' and good Principle, even upon the ftrong Foundation of Faith; for they were tortured not accepting Deliverance, that they might obtain a better Resurrection, a Refurrection to true and eternal Happiness.---- But Religion tends to make us happy in this World alfo, as far as Happiness is to be had here, as well as in the next; for it has the Promise of the Life that now is as well as of that which is to come: And this it does, not by pleasing the Fancy, and gratifying the Senses; this is a mean and fordid Happiness, which, depending upon the Body, is in the Power of every little Accident to obftruct; but in giving Ease to the Mind, and Peace to the Confcience, which brings us as near Heaven as we can poffibly be while we are upon Earth. And after all, what doth a wicked Life tend to? What Profit hath the wicked Man of all his La

bour

SERM. bour which he taketh under the Sun? Only II.

to wear away a few Days of Sorrow and Mifery here, and then to go into a State of endless Mifery hereafter; where their Candle fhall be clean put out, and their Light. fhall be turned into Darkness. But, on the other hand, the Righteous fhall fkine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father, Thus doth Religion obtain its End; and an End it is truly worthy of a rational Creature, acting up to the Perfection of its Na ture; and if, according as the End is more or lefs noble, fo is the Wisdom in obtaining it, Religion must be the only true Wisdom, because it directs us to the best and most noble End, viz. eternal Happiness. I come now to fhew in the

Second Place, that it is the only true Wif dom, because it affords us the beft Means of obtaining it. Now thofe Means are certainly the beft that never fail of obtaining their End, which are only to be found in Religion. All other Means, by fome unforefeen Accident or other, are often difappointed of the End they were defigned to obtain; of which there is no Occafion for any Proof, becaufe every one has, one Time or other, made the Experiment: But we

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are fure the Means which Religion affords SERM. will never fail of obtaining the End we all II. defire, because a God of Truth hath faid it.--The Scripture abounds with Promifes of cternal Life and Happiness to thofe that fear God and keep his Commandments, but it no where promises either upon any other Conditions; for 'tis not the Rich, the Mighty, or the Learned, who are entitled to Happiness, but they who are religious and good. Riches, for Example, are of themselves of no Use to make a Man happy, unless Happiness were to be bought, whereas it is to be purchased no otherwife than by being rich in good Works; nor is it to be obtained by Power and Might, by Conquefts and great Atchievements, but by Meeknefs and Humility, by conquering a Man's Self, and fubduing his rebellious Paffions: For be that is flow to Anger is better than the Mighty, and he that ruleth his Spirit, than he that taketh a City. And what will even the Wisdom of Learning and Knowledge fignify, unless a Man is wife unto Salvation? The Knowledge of Sciences, however ufeful in its Way, has but little Tendency to a good Life. He who profeffes Religion, and makes it his Bufinefs to be a good Chriftian, must be skill'd in Knowledge of

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