that do not concern us, nor serve to promote our happiness, are but a more specious and ingenious sort of idleness, a more pardonable and creditable kind of ignorance. He that does not know those things which are of use and necessity for him to know, is but an ignorant man, whatever he may know besides. Now the knowledge of God and Christ, and of our duty, is of the greatest usefulness and necessity to us in order to our being happy; This is life eternal, (that is the only way to it,) to know thee the only true God, and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ, John xvii. 3. It is necessary also, in order to our happiness, to know our duty; because it is necessary for us to do it, and it is impossible for us to do it, unless we know it.

So that whatever other knowledge he may be endued with, he is but an ignorant man who doth not know God, the author of his being, the preserver and protector of his life, his sovereign and his judge;-the giver of every good gift, his surest refuge in trouble, his best friend or worst enemy;-the present support of his life, his hopes in death, his future happiness, and his portion for ever:-He is but an ignorant man who does not know his relation to God; the duty that he owes him; and the way to please him by whom he can be made happy or miserable for ever;-who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life.

If a man by a vast and imperious mind, and a heart large as the sand upon the sea-shore, (as it is said of Solomon,) could command all the knowledge of nature and art, of words and things; could attain to a mastery in all languages, and sound the depths of all arts and sciences;- -measure the earth and the heaven, tell the stars, and declare their orders and motions; could discourse of the interests of all states, the intrigues of all courts, the reason of all civil laws and constitutions, and give an account of the history of all ages;—could speak of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springs out of the wall; and of beasts also, and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes;—and yet should be destitute of the knowledge of God and Christ, and of his duty; all this would be but an impertinent vanity, and a more glittering kind of ignorance; and such a man, with all his knowledge, would be undone for ever.

II. To be religious is the truest wisdom; and that likewise upon two accounts:

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1. It is to be wise for ourselves. expression, Job xxii. 21, he that is wise is profitable to himself; and it is said, Prov. ix. 12, if thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; intimating, that wisdom regards a man's own interest and advantage, and that he is not a wise man who does not take care of himself and his own concerns. As self-preservation is the first principle of nature; so care of our

selves and our own interest is the first part of wisdom. He who is wise in the affairs and concerns of other men, but careless and negligent of his own, may be said to be busy, but he is not wise; he is employed indeed, but not so as a wise man should be. Now this is the wisdom of religion, that it directs us to the care of our own proper interests and concerns.

2. To be religious is to be wise as to our main interest. Our chief end, and highest interest, is happiness; and this is happiness, to be free from all evils (if it may be,) or however, from the greatest. And to enjoy (if it may be) all good, or however, the chief. To be happy, is not only to be free from the pains and diseases of the body, but from anxiety and vexation of spirit; not only to enjoy the pleasures of sense, but peace of conscience, and quiet of mind. To be happy is not only to be so for a little while, but as long as may be, and, if it be possible, for ever.

Now religion designs our greatest and longest happiness; its aim is to free us from the greatest evils, and to bring us to the enjoyment of the greatest good. For it wisely considers, that men have immortal spirits, which, as they are spirits, are capable of a pleasure distinct from that of our bodies, and our senses; and, because they are immortal, are capable of an everlasting happiness. Now our souls being the best part of ourselves, and eternity being

infinitely the most considerable duration, the greatest wisdom is to secure the interest of our souls, and of eternity, though it be with loss, and to the prejudice, of our temporal interests: therefore religion directs us rather to secure inward peace, than outward ease;—to be more careful to avoid everlasting and intolerable torment, than short and light afflictions, which are but for a moment;-to court the favour of God more than the friendship of the world; and not so much to fear them that can kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do; as him, who, after he hath killed, can destroy both body and soul in hell.—In a word, our main interest is to be as happy as we can, and as long as is possible; and if we be cast into such circumstances that we must be either in part and for a time, or else wholly and always miserable; the true wisdom is, to choose the greatest and most lasting happiness; but the least and shortest misery. Upon this account, religion prefers those pleasures which flow from the presence of God for evermore, infinitely before the transitory pleasures of this world; and is much more careful to avoid eternal misery, than present sufferings. This is the wisdom of religion, that, upon consideration of the whole, it advises and leads us to our true interest.

What I have been endeavouring to persuade men to, is no other than what God particularly

recommends to us as proper for human consideration; unto Man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. Whoever pretends to reason is obliged to acknowledge God, and to demean himself religiously towards him. For he is to our understanding, as the light of the sun is to our eyes, the first, the plainest, and the most glorious object of it. He fills heaven and earth, and every thing in them represents him to us. The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they who know not God are without excuse, Rom. i. 20. Alike without excuse they may justly be pronounced, who, though they do believe there is such a being as God, yet do not consider the proper consequences of such a principle; do not demean themselves towards him as becomes their relation to him, their dependance upon him, and the duty which they naturally owe him.

And yet he who considers the lives and actions of the greatest part of men would verily think that they understood nothing of all this. Therefore the Scripture represents wicked men as without understanding; It is a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them, Deut. xxxii. 28, and elsewhere, have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? Ps. xiv. 4.