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fible but that your Admiration will filence your Impatiences, and fhame you for ever out of your Repinings.

"For why fhould I repine, or be discontented "with my Condition, may every confiderate Chrif"tian fay, when I am under the Providence and "Protection of a gracious God? He hath placed

me, indeed, in a low Station of Life; but then "he hath fecured me from the Danger of falling, "and bleffed me with Repofe and Tranquillity of "Mind, which Perfons of an high Degree and "Eminence are not acquainted with. He hath "given me the Poffeffion of no Estate, tranfmit"ted from my Ancestors; but then he hath given "me Strength of Body, that inables me to main"tain myself and Family by my daily Labour, or "fuch Endowments of Mind as qualify me to do "it in a more liberal Way. At prefent, indeed, "I labour under a diftreffed Fortune; but then "I have good Reason to hope that fome lucky "Turn will happen to my Affairs, that, by the "Intervention of good Friends, or the Success of my honeft Endeavours, God, who lifteth the

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Simple out of the Duft, and the Poor out of the "Mire, will extricate me from thefe Difficulties. "But, if this fhould not be, in all Probability

thefe Difficulties cannot laft long, because Life "itself is not long; and, together with Life, all "the Miferies and Calamities of it are at an End, "and then I fhall be as though I had never fuf

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fered any Thing, only that I fhall reap the Be"nefit of my Sufferings when Time fhall be na more. In the mean Season, I have many inef "timable Benefits which the Great and Opulent want; a found Conftitution, found Sleep, and no Want of Appetite to relish my homely Mor"fel: For, though my Allowance be both mean and small, yet Nature, I find, is fatisfied with a

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little,

little, and that little (when I look upon myself “ as a Creature that hath a Title to nothing, and as a Sinner, that hath a Title to Destruction only) is certainly much more than I can any "Way pretend to deferve. Nay, if I look upon others, how tolerable is my Condition, in Com"parison of many of my Contemporaries, who are below me confiderably in Fortune, in Parts, in Health, in Happiness of moft Kinds, and yet « may have better Pretenfions to the Divine Fa«vour than I; in Comparison of many faithful "Servants of God, who have been as remarkable for their Sufferings as they have been for their Piety; the Patriarchs and Prophets, the Apoftles and firft Chriftians, especially the Son of God himself, when he came into the World to redeem me: And fhall I repine at any Thing, when my gracious Saviour underwent worse? Or murmur against Providence, for placing "me in the Condition which he, by his volun"tary Affumption and patient Continuance in,

has both recommended and fanctified? It will "be the Height of Folly, as well as Confidence, "to expect to fare better, in this Valley of Tears,

than did the Son of God, when he was pleased "to fojourn in it; especially confidering, that my

Discontentedness will avail me nothing, my "loudeft Complaints will never prevail with Hea❝ven to alter one Decree; whereas my bearing

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my Calamities willingly and well will be a Spec

tacle grateful to God, and, befides rebating the "Sting of what I fuffer, will probably prevail with him to release me from it: And, therefore, being fenfible in whom I have put my Confidence, even in him who is able to do abundantly above all that I can ask or think, I will be careful for nothing, but in every Thing, by

"Prayer

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Prayer and Supplication, with Thanksgiving, let "my Requests be made, known unto God."

ST

SECT. II.

Of the Government of the Tongue.

T James, treating on this very Subject, with great Variety of Arguments endeavours to fhew how difficult a Province it is for any Man to govern his Tongue. Every Kind of Beafts, fays he, and of Birds, and of Serpents, and Things in the Sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of Mankind; but the Tongue can no Man tame: It is an unruly Evil, full of deadly Poifon. Therewith blefs we God, even the Father, and therewith curfe we Men, which are made after the Similitude of God; out of the fame Mouth proceedeth Bleffing and Curfing: My Brethren, these Things ought not to be fo: For doth a Fountain fend forth, at the fame Place, fweet Water and bitter? The Untameableness of the Tongue must be understood in a limited Senfe, to denote the great Difficulty of it; that the Thing is poffible the fame Apostle feems to intimate, when, in the Beginning of his Difcourfe, he tells us, that, if any Man offend not in Word, the fame is a perfect Man, i. e. one of a fingular Worth and Integrity; and fuch an one, he prefumes, has as much Command over his Tongue as he that manages the Bit has over the Horse he rides; or he that holds the Helm has over the Ship he steers: And, how far an hearty Purpose and Refolution may carry us in the Execution of this great Task, the Example of the Royal Pfalmift feems to inftruct us: I said I will take Heed to my Ways, that I offend not with my Tongue; I will keep my Mouth as it were with a

Bridle, while the Ungodly is in my Sight: For I am utterly purposed that my Mouth fhall not offend.

What makes the Difficulty of this Regimen then is, in fome Part, imputable to the Member itfelf. The Tongue is fo flippery that it easily deceives an heedlefs Guard; for Nature feems to have given it fome unhappy Advantages that Way. It is in its Make the most ready for Motion of any Member; it needs not fo much as the Flexure of a Joint to make it go; and, by Accefs of Humours, acquires a certain Glibness, the more to facilitate its moving, by which Means it comes to pass that it often goes without giving us Warning. And as Children, when they happen upon a rolling Engine, can fet it in fuch a Career as wifer People cannot on a sudden stop; fo the childish Parts of us, our Paffions, our Fancies, and other our animal Faculties, can put our Tongues into fuch Disorders as the Aids of our Reafon cannot eafily rectify: Since the Tongue then is fo very loose and verfatile a Member that the leaft Breath of Thought can ftir it, and fet it on going any Way, it cannot but need much Attention of Mind, either to keep it in a steady Rest or in a right Motion; and, fince numberless Swarms of Things are continually roving in the Fancy, and thence inceffantly obtruding themselves upon the Tongue, great Judgment and Circumfpection is certainly requifite to remark their Quality, as they call upon us to utter them, and, out of the promifcuous Crowd that come, to select the few only that our Reason and Religion pronounce to be good, and proper to be fpoken; which may be reduced to these three Heads: 1. Such as are holy and religious, with relation to God. 2. Sincere and inoffenfive, with regard to our Neighbour. And, 3. Modeft and decent, with respect to ourselves.

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I. The

I. The Duty, the Reasonablenefs, and Excellency of religious Difcourfe in common Converfation, is what we took Occafion to confider elsewhere; and therefore on this Head shall need only to enquire a little into the Folly and Wickedness of that Blafphemy and Profaneness, so popular in this Age, which fets its Mouth against the Heavens, and manifeftly opposes the Caution and ftrict Holinefs, which the Apostle prescribes us in all Manner of Converfation.

How tranfient foever we may fuppofe our Words to be, yet, if there be a Supreme Being, which we call God, there is fufficient Reason to believe, that he, as well as Man, is provoked as much, nay, more, by our Words, than by our Deeds. Our ill Deeds may be done upon the vehement Impulse of fome Temptations: Some Profit or Pleasure may transport and hurry us on to the Commiffion; at least, they may have this Alleviation, that we did them to please, or advantage ourselves, and not to displease God: But profane and atheistical Difcourfe cannot be fo palliated. It is an Arrow fhot directly against Heaven, and out of no other Quiver, but that of Malice: And, if Malice among Men be an Aggravation of Injuries, how much more fo muft it be, in the Efteem of God, whose principal Demand is, that we should give him our Heart.. 'Till therefore we can prove (against the Voice of Nature, and Faith of History; against the fettled Judgment of wife and fober Perfons, who have studied and confidered the Point; and against the current Tradition of all Ages, and general Confent of Mankind, which is a difficult Talk to do) that there is no God; 'twill be too bold an Advance for us, in this Manner, to dare and defy him, left we find him, at last, afferting his Being in our utter Destruction and Confufion.

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