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quently muft leave you all very Young; I think it to be the best thing I can do for you, to advertise you of the rocks and precipices which by means of my Troubles and Sufferings I have difcovered: And to that end it is that I recommend to you the following discourse.

Next to being wife to Salvation, there is nothing that more concerns any man, than to know how to order his Affairs with difcretion: For this hot only brings us with eafe and content through the world; but this double Happiness also attends it, Firft by it we leave behind us that highly valuable thing of a good Name, and Secondly it helps us many steps in our way to Heaven. Therefore to give you fome directions how to steer your courfe through this World is the occafion of the following difcourfe.

First then, be fure to begin and end the day with God. Let not any bufinefs prevent you from spending fome time in private devotion both Morning and Evening: For this, as without contradiction it is our duty, fo Reafon does ftrongly perfwade the practice of it: For if we do believe that there is a God, and that all our hairs are numbred, which implies his particular care of us; can we expect that he should take us the reft of the day into his protection, when we fet fo little by it, as not to think it worth the asking? Were any of us to go fome road which we had never travelled before, and befides fo full of holes and precipices, and fuch as whileft we avoided one, it would be great odds that we fell into another, and confequently would be extreamly bruifed if not killed, and there is but one Person who knew the way; would not.

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we be very importunate with him to guide us? If then we do but seriously confider the multitude of hazards and dangers which we are exposed to in one day, we must conclude that our preservation is purchased by a very small price, even by a few minutes in private devotion in the Morning. And there is as great reafon for our evening Sacrifice. It is a very fmall favour that does not deferve thanks; but great ought our acknowledgments to be every evening for our prefervation the day paft: For reckon up by how many feveral accidents men have dyed, even fo many and more do we escape every day; and then confider how fmall a recom pence we render to the Lord for fuch tranfcendent Benefits, and how gracious he is to accept fo fmall a tribute as we are able to pay him in a quarter or half an hour in private. Confider further, if be. twixt man and man an acknowledgment of a favour received lays a fort of obligation upon the Perfon to bestow a fecond; what may we not expect from God, whofe goodness extends beyond what we can comprehend? for he bestows Benefits upon the moft ungrateful; and then we may be fure that a fincere and humble tribute of thanks will be very acceptable to him, And that it may be fuch, take efpecial care, that your Supplications (as much as in you lies) be void of all diftraction and dullness, left being performed carelefly and formally you may feem to mock God: for he cannot be pleased with fuch Services, neither will he anfwer them in mercy,: For I have obferved, any Morning that I have hurried over my Devotions, the day following has not been profperous, and that thing which particularly occafioned me to fuch hafte, has met with ill fuccefs.

In the next place, Let all your Dealings be measured by the golden Rule, of doing to others as you would be done by. For as without this you cannot be a good Chriftian, fo he that is void of it cannot be a truly moral man. It is much to be lamented, that amongst us it is not more seriously confidered, and faithfully practifed: For the want of it is the root, from whence most of our mifchiefs and troubles do fpring. And whenever men do entertain a juft opinion of it, then will the World be truly faid to enjoy the golden Age: For next to the Gospel of Jefus Chrift, nothing can procure to much peace on Earth. True it is, that feeming Advantages may frequently offer themfelves to induce us to go befide this Rule; but indeed they have only an out-fide, and no more: for what a man gains thereby, is but of a fhort duration, and feldom ends but in trouble and vexation; for being out of Gods way, it cannot be expected that his Blessing fhould attend it, and without that nothing can profper. And befides, he that in a great measure does not practice this Rule, cannot go out of the World with the name of an honeft man; and he that is not folicitous to leave behind him that character, is fitter to herd with Brutes, than to be admitted into any civil Society.

And now let me recommend to you the Duty and Affection which you owe to your Country: For next to God's Glory, there is nothing that ought to be fo dear to you as the common good; it is to be preferred to your Life, Eftate or Family. To this you are ftrongly perfwaded as Man is a fociable Creature, for it is by the mutual assistance of each other that Mankind fubfifts, Let every Man feek only himself, and have no regard to the

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common good, nothing but an universal disorder and confufion would thereupon enfue; and then what profit can we expect of all the labour that Man takes under the Sun? True it is, that fifhing in troubled Waters may be gainful to fome people; yet all their attempts are done in expectation that there will be a fettlement in the Publick, as without which their Undertakings will prove ineffectual; So that not only Nature, but Self-Intereft argue irrefragably for it. Befides,as we owe the happiness of our Age to the care that our Fore fathers had of the Publick; fo it lays a duty upon us to tranfmit to Posterity what was bequeathed to us: No man is more ignoble, than he who throws off all thought for the Publick, the very Heathens could fay, how pleafant and delightful is it to dye for their Countrey? It is by reason of this concern for the Publick that we render fuch honour to the King; who if the Common-wealth did not receive great Advantage by his Care and due adminiftration of Juftice, would be regarded no more than another man. There never yet was any good Man who had not an ardent zeal for his Countrey; And to all men of true honour and worth, it is a more pleasant reflection to think how useful they have been in their Generation, than how wealthy they are grown.

Though we are bound to do all the good we can, yet you ought not to be over-forward in taking upon you any publick Imployment, fave with thefe two Cautions, Firft, that you be in fome good measure qualified for it. Secondly, that you undertake it for the fake of Gods Glory and the good of your Country, and not to gratifie your Ambition: For as by reafon of Infufficiency, you

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will certainly come off with fhame; fo by defiring it for a wrong end, God will not profper it. Perhaps the activeness of your temper may push you on to bufinefs; in that cafe you have no more to do but to make your felf fit for it; and then a man of your quality and condition need not hunt after unployment, for it will feek him out.

Now as good efteem and popular applause are the general returns to good fervice done for the publick, fo fuch as deferve it, feldom fail of it: And you will find that this Nation is more steady in the first and the more valuable, I mean their good esteem and affection, than in the latter, for that is bestowed upon every occafion, and fo being become common is of lefs value. If then you have done your Countrey good fervice, be not disturbed when you may think the merits of your fervice is forgotten and drowned in the applauses that are given to fome popular action: For you will often fee that though a Man has been the greatest Villain to his Country, yet upon doing any one popular thing, he fhall for the prefent be cryed up as the best and bravest man alive; but as this has no foundation, fo it will prove but a nine days wonder, and when that time is expired, they will return to their Wits, and remember thofe to whom they are obliged. When you are got into imployment, be it never fo agreeable to you, let not the fear of being turned out prevail with you to do the least Injuftice, or to act in regu larly, neither for the ferving of a turn, nor for any other Confideration: For upright behaviour in regular times, is the fureft way to keep you in your Seat: And in times of diforder you must refolve to do every ill thing that is put upon you,

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