cilitate and improve it: every thing is beautiful in its feafon: one branch of duty may not interfere with another; weigh the circumstance of cafes as they occur, which may make a difficulty to discover on which fide of the queftion duty lies; and fo direct and guide your practice in the fame. We read in scripture of fome, who were wife to do evil, but to do good they had no knowledge; they fhewed art and cunning in the conduct of their wicked practices, but were awkward in any tendency to what is good. The honeft upright heart, which is truly devoted to God, will need the aids of prudence in the practice of piety, to promote the pleasure and luftre thereof. Therefore would men but let their thoughts dwell upon thefe things, it is not credible that the generality could lead fuch prophane and impious, fuch lewd and diffolute, fuch fecure and careless lives as they do, without thought or remorse. But whether we confider it or not, our latter end will come, and all thofe difmal confequences, of a finful courfe, which God has fo plainly threaten'd, and our own confciences do fo much dread, will certainly overtake us at laft; and they cannot be avoided nor prevented, by not thinking of these things. Nothing is more certain than death and judgment, and then an irreversible fentence will pass upon us, according to all the evil we have done, and all the good we have neglected to do in this life; under the heavy weight and preffure whereof we must lie groaning, and bewailing ourselves for ever. Confequently How practi It is christian prudence to avoid any indecencies in our outward behaviour in facred exercifes, as may give men offence, or a handle for cenfure and reproach. The use of wisdom is to direct, and especially it calls for awful fear, when God's judgments are abroad; to humble ourselves under his mighty hand, to practise fubmiffion and patience under his corrections, and truft in him in dark and diftreffing circumstances: on the other hand, the smiles of his providence, and the light of his countenance, fhould fummon up the lively actings of joy and gratitude, of love and pleasure. On fome occafions we are taught that prayer is needful, and at others that praife is our duty; is any man among you afflicted? let him pray: Is any merry, let him fing pfalms, fays the apostle. There is no pious affection, nor exercise, but Cc 2 what zeal. what is amiable in itself, and acceptable to God, when it is fuitable to mens prefent circumftances: and therefore it is a confiderable part of chriftian prudence carefully to Regulates attend to this point. Again, our zeal should always be accompanied with prudence;acquaintance with our conftitution and natural tempers will give us light to discern the fins that most easily befet us, and the best methods of escaping them. By how much the more we discern the devices of Satan, we shall be the better prepared to obviate them: for if we are ignorant of them, he is like to gain an advantage over us. Common prudence directs us to the happy and advantageous feasons, the promising minutes, which may be improved for ftrengthning our good habits, and mortifying our evil difpofitions. Whence We may conclude, that this is the defperate folly of mankind, that they feldom think seriously of the confequence of their actions; and leaft of all, of fuch as are of concernment to them, and have their chief influence upon their eternal state. None of these confider what mischief and inconveniency a wicked life may plunge them into in this world; what trouble and difturbance it may give them when they come to die; what horror and confufion it may fill them withall, when they are leaving this world, and paffing into eternity; and what intolerable mifery and torment it may bring upon them for ever. But overcome II. Chriftian prudence will warn us of the tempEnables us to tations which are apt to excite our irregular appetemptations. tites, and direct us to avoid them: whereas if we rafhly enter into temptation, it is difficult to preferve our innocence. But chriftian prudence will take away the occafions of ill treatment, will not allow us to fuffer as bufy-bodies, or upon account of needlefs provocations, and promote our fincere endeavours to do good to the fouls of our fellow-creatures. Men are indifferent about their best interests, and fo ready to mifinterpret the most honeft methods taken for their amendment, that fome policy and prudence must be used to make charitable endeavours take place. Whoever would fucceed in inftructing of the ignorant, or convincing of gain-fayers, or reforming of the vicious, muft take pains to render himself acceptable, as far as may be, without finful compliances. Again, Prudence exercises mercy and charity to the bo bute. dies of men, and not only manageth all our af- To difirifairs with discretion, fo that we may have to give to him that needeth; but alfo diftinguifheth the proper objectsof charity, fince we cannot reach all cafes; and maketh an equal diftribution of our bounty. Reproof may be thrown To reprove. away, where it will do more hurt than good; he that reproveth a scorner, gets to himself fhame; and he that rebuketh a wicked man, gets to himfelfa blot: reprove not a fcorner, left he hate thee; rebuke a wife man, and he will love thee. When you see a man defperate in fin, and mock at reproof, it is a vain thing to reprove him, to add fin to fin, and expose yourself, without ferving any good end thereby. There may be fome fuccefs in reproving a wife man; one who has yet fome commendable modefty remaining, and will patiently hear what you have to fay. By prudence we distinguish perfons, and are directed to the fitteft opportunities to judge when it is proper to speak, and when to keep filence; and to confider the different tempers, expectations and views of those with whom we converfe, that we may avoid offence. The command is, that our discourse be good to the ufe of edifying; which intimates that we should be always careful left any thing pafs from us in conversation, which may tend to corrupt the minds of others; and that religious discourse, or that which directly tends to spiritual good, fhould frequently be the fubject of our difcourfe. The number of bad men, even in the best of times, requires much prudence to carry thofe, who are truly good, fecurely and reputably through their courfe of obedience in this world: and difcreet admonitions are never out of feason. The wicked are ever ready to triumph in the least advantage they can gain, and to reproach our profeffion thereupon. And could they find any thing to impeach our moral character, that would make us their jeft and reproach; they will gladly lay hold of any imprudences to reproach religion, and those who pretend to it; and therefore we should endeavour to prevent their ill-natured fatisfaction. Cc 3 To edify. Therefore Ho v to be improved. Therefore laying aside all deceitful arts, which are inconfiftent with fincerity, let us promote the wisdom that is from above, that it may help forward the comfortable and fuccessful performance of our duty, and recommend our holy profeffion in Chrift Jefus. Let us care ully confuk not only the matter of our duty, but the most acceptable and amiable manner of performing it, and endeayour to become mafters of an habitual prudence, to direct us pen fudden dangers: and it will be our character, with the ife man, to have our eyes in our head. Acquaintance with holy fcriptures will be of fingular ufe to our improvement dent conduct, by the way, as well as becoming wife unto fordon. if we carefully attend to the precepts and the histoies contained in thofe heavenly oracles, they will be in this ref ect a light to our feet, and a lamp to our paths. Solomon's proverbs, and the pattern of Chrift, fhould be especially ftudied for this end; because the bleffed Jefus was not only a pattern of fpotlefs innocence, but a model of the greatest prudence; as in him were hid all the treasures of wifdom and knowledge. His method was to chufe the fittest means in all cafes to reach his ends, and took advantage of all occurrences to convey a word in feafon to thofe with whom he converfed, in the manner and at the times wherein his inftructions were moft apt to make impreffion on his followers. He never fhewed his charity to their bodies, in healing their difeafes, or in other inftances of compaffion, but he laid hold on fuch happy opportunities to be a monitor alfo for their greater hopes. The gofpel history contains many inftances of his prudent conduct for avoiding dangers, and the effects of his enemies malice, till his time was come; and of his wary answers to captious and enfnaring questions, whereby he either softned the rage of his adverfaries, or evaded their wicked defigns. From whence his followers may derive great light by a diligent obfervation of his behaviour attended with its various circumstances, and learn to practise what he ftrictly commanded, to be wife as ferpents, but harmless as doves. III. By the virtue of confideration man is deThe ufe of terred from all rafhundertakings, and confiders the fubject well before he fixes refolution; which confiderati on. any is a great virtue: no prudent man determines to refolve upon any thing till he hath confidered the thing, and weighed it well with himself, and hath fully debated the neceffity and expedience of it; what advantage he shall have by the doing of it, and what danger and inconvenience will certainly or very probably redound to him by the neglect and omiffion thereof. Confideration will prompt us to chufe and pursue what the understanding reprefents as good and advantageous to us; and to fhun and avoid what is reprefented as evil and deftructive to our happiness. Hereby firm purposes are formed of governing our lives with guarded caution for the time to come; the ufe of proper means is refolved upon, and we determine when, and upon what occafion we will put fuch a virtue in practice, or imitate fuch an action; in what places and in what company we will stand upon our guard, left we be furprifed by contagious vice. From hence we proceed to exercise ourselves in holy affections; as in love and defire of what is good; in hatred and detestation of what is evil; in forrow, fhame, and self-abhorrence for having tranfgreffed in any particular; in praise and thanksgiving, for having been enabled in any tolerable meafure to have done our duty; in adoration and imitation, in faith, in hope and charity, and in refignation of ourselves to the Almighty. ence. This hath an univerfal influence upon the whole life of a chriftian, and is an admirable inftrument The influto quicken our progress in all the graces of the Holy Ghoft: and illuminates our understandings with the knowledge of our duty, and ftores our memories with all fuch arguments as are proper to excite us to the performance there. of. By this means the voice of confcience is attended to, and we can never make any confiderable breaches upon it, without being alarmed with piercing remorfe. This enlivens our prayers with reverence and devotion, and increases our importunity, by impreffing a lively fenfe of the neceffity and high price of those things we beg of God our Father. This habituates our minds to fpiritual objects, and raises them above the perishing things of this world. This ftrengthens our holy purposes, arms us against temptations, and inflames all Cc 4 the |