to give us time for reflection and re- SERM. pentance, that we may not drop into eternity with all our imperfections on our heads, but flide into the grave with a more eafy and infenfible motion, and calmly refign our life into the hands of him that gave it, The love of life itfelf is indeed fo ftrictly united to our nature, fo interwoven as it were with our very frame and conftitution, that the defire of prolonging it is, we must own, by no means to be wondered at; and yet the folly of mankind is not perhaps in any thing more confpicuous than in their extreme tenacioufnefs of it. Length of days may be far from a bleffing to the best of us; the beauty of the circle doth not consist so much in the fize, as in the completeness if it; and the fmalleft parts of nature hew as much harmony in themselves, SERM. and as much perfection in the Maker, as II. the largest and most confiderable: but in this, as in all our actions, we fhew our own weakness and inconfiftency. We pray for age, and when it comes, complain of its attendants, its melancholy train of woes and mifery; years bring forrow and heavinefs, the weight of them is grievous, the burthen of them is intolerable. But one thing then remains to be confidered, which the wife and witty of the world will be loth to give up as an improper object of our prayers, and that is, knowledge. To excel the reft of mankind in that which diftinguishes us from brutes, is furely of all things the most defirable; and if our gratitude fhould rise in proportion to the benefit received, what imfinite praise and thankf giving is due to God from those whose parts parts and understanding have them above the common level! placed SERM. But it is not mif is a melancholy truth, that God 11. Such is the lot of our nature, that we are forced to be upon our guard even against the perfe&ions of it. Those whom we falfely term the wifeft, are not always the best of men; the little knowledge we have to boast of, makes us vain and infolent; the fair fruits of learning and fcience are eat up and deftroyed by the cankers of pride and arrogance. Men too frequently make ufe of their reafon to vilify and degrade the Author of it, and brandish the weapons of truth, religion, and virtue, in the caufe of vice, falfehood, and infidelity. SERM. II. What has been faid may, I think, convince any impartial man, that in our prayers for particular bleffings, which for the reasons above enumerated are perhaps better laid afide, we cannot be too cautious in ufing proper restrictions, left we offend God and prejudice ourselves. If then we pray for knowledge, let it be for the only true and valuable one, the knowledge of our own little felves, our weakneffes, our vices, and our ignorance, that we may know how little can be known, and that God will teach us to know him, and our duty to him. If we pray unto him for riches, let us at the fame time make it our earnest request that those riches may render us humane, charitable, and beneficent to our fellow-creatures; that if he gives us power, it may be the power of doing good; good; if he showers down upon us fame, SERM, health, and long life, that that fame w may be an honeft fame, and may raife the emulation of all good men to follow and to enjoy it; that that health may inspire us with vigour and activity in the execution of his commandments; and, laftly, that as our days, our virtues may increase, our paffions fubfide, our follies wear away, and our fouls become day by day fitter for that bleft habitation, to the enjoyment of which they were at first created, and towards which they are fo nearly approaching. Befides the errors, and almost every thing which has been urged on this fubjec, may serve to recommend to us the great usefulness, beauty, and neceffity, of an established form of prayer, to keep the folly and extravagance of men's defires within due bounds, and put a stop to |