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all the time; and whatever hurt they do to their own selves, they certainly mean none. They run upon it "as a horse rushes into the battle," as an "ox goeth to the slaughter, and as a bird hasteth to the snare, and know "not that it is for their life." This is not owing to mere stupidity, or to the dulness of their intellectual faculties. Men of parts, penetration, and judgment, as to other matters, often fall into it, while the plain, simple man keeps to the right way. It is not so much want of thought, as thinking in a wrong channel, which first occasions it. A very little compass of thought will suffice to convince any man of the difference between time and eternity; nor can any one so mistake in his judgment, as to think that this poor pittance of happiness to be found here, can be any thing comparable to the joys of heaven and eternal glories. The contrary is so plain, that even the dullest man alive can easily apprehend it; and many who have no extraordinary quickness, nor reach above other men, but are of much inferior understanding and abilities, readily receive it. Why is it then, that men of parts and wit do not see what lies so open and visible to common apprehensions? The case is this: they are constantly taken up with other things, and so never attend to it. Their thoughts are employed another way; the world has taken early possession of them, and has laid such a train of pursuits in their way, that they are entangled with them ever after. This is really the case of all those who, mistaking the true felicity of man, pursue a shadow and a phantom to their own destruction. It is for want of thinking in a right way that men fall into this fatal misconduct; and nothing but serious and sober thought can bring them out of it. I shall just suggest two or three useful considerations, and then conclude.

1. We should endeavour to fix in our minds this great and plain truth, that there can be no such thing as true happiness, separate from the love of God and the love of our neighbour. It is a firm, unalterable maxim, riveted in the very frame and constitution of things. To

seek for happiness in any other way is as absurd as to expect "grapes from thorns," or "figs from thistles." What happiness can any thinking man propose separate from God, the centre of all happiness? And if man be made a sociable creature, it is as vain for him to propose any separate independent happiness from the rest of the kind. Men are designed to live in consort, and to be happy, if so at all, in the mutual friendship and enjoyment of each other. It is the law of their creation, the condition of their being: and therefore any pretended happiness, separate from the common good of mankind, is a mere dream and a delusion, a contradiction to the reason and nature of things.

2. A second consideration, proper to be hinted, is, that man is made for eternity, and not for this life only. No happiness can be true and solid, which is not lasting and durable as ourselves. And what if the self-lover could se cure the greatest worldly felicity, still it is confined within the circle of a few years, may die before him, and must however with him, and leave him empty and destitute to all eternity. Is this all that his extreme love and fondness for himself amounts to? Is it not like feasting for a day, to starve ever after; or rejoicing for an hour, only to lament and mourn for endless ages? Is this the kindness they pretend to have for their own selves? The bitterest enemies could not hurt them worse, or be really more severe and cruel than they are to themselves.

To conclude the way to arrive at true happiness is, to take into consideration the whole extent and compass of our being; to enlarge our views beyond our little selves to the whole creation round us, whereof we are but a slender part; and to extend our prospect beyond this life to remote and distant glories. Make things future appear as if they were now present, and things distant as if they were near and sensible. This, with the help of God's grace, may cure us of our narrow thoughts, and show us the necessity of enlarging our hearts and affections. As

to self-lovers, they are not advised to love themselves at all the less, but only to love themselves more judiciously, and to better purpose; not to lay aside their concern for happiness, for that is impossible; but to mix something more of discretion and judgment with it; that instead of pretending to be in any degree happy in opposition both to God and man, (a thing utterly impossible,) they may study and endeavour constantly to love God and to love their neighbours, that is, all mankind; and then they will the most wisely and the most effectually love their own selves.

SERMON IV.

The Duty of keeping the Heart; and the Importance of it illustrated, from the Dependance of our religious Conduct, in Faith and Practice, on the inward Frame and Disposition of the Mind.

PROV. iv. 23.

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

AMONG the many wise and admirable precepts given us by King Solomon, there is none more worthy of our observation than this which I have here recited. We are exhorted, in holy Scripture, to "keep our tongues" from evil, and our eyes from wandering after insnaring objects; to " keep our feet" from going astray, to take heed to our ways, and to ponder our paths: but the shortest and the surest rule is to "keep our hearts;" to set a diligent watch there, where all our works and ways begin, and from whence they all derive their moral quality. "A "good man out of the good treasure of his heart bring"eth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of "the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which "is evila:" which is the same in effect with what is observed in the text, that "out of the heart are the issues "of life." From thence proceeds all that is blumeable or praiseworthy in us and according as we are more

Luke vi. 45.

or less careful in keeping or regulating the heart, so will our lives and conversations be better or worse.

By the heart we are to understand the frame, disposition, and temper of the soul, or mind. As the head is sometimes used to signify the seat of reason and thought; so the heart very oft denotes the seat of the affections, passions, and desires. The philosophy of this way of speaking is what we need not concern ourselves with. It is sufficient to observe, that this is frequently or generally the Scripture notion of the word heart. The instances are so many, and so easily occur, that it would be only misspending time, and trespassing on the audience, to produce any. Not to trouble ourselves therefore with the different senses of interpreters upon the text, the most obvious and natural meaning of it appears to be this; that we ought, with the utmost care and application, to attend to, and regulate the inward frame, temper, and disposition of our minds; for this very good reason, because the whole course and tenor of our lives and conversations, and consequently our happiness and misery, depend upon it. "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for "out of it are the issues of life."

:

The reason or foundation of the precept is put last in the text but in treating of it, it will be convenient to invert the order, and to consider it first. The precept, being a practical inference, may most naturally follow after, as the conclusion follow the premises: and we shall the more easily apprehend what is implied or contained in the precept, after we have seen what foundation it has in the nature and reason of things. I shall therefore endeavour to show,

I. How the " issues of life," in a religious respect, depend upon the heart. And,

II. What is implied or contained in the precept of the text: "Keep thy heart with all diligence."

I.

I shall endeavour to show how the "issues of life," in a religious respect, depend upon the heart.