fures! Confider, O my Soul, that fenfual Pleasures are the Pleasures of Beasts; which relish them with more Delight than Men, and use 'em according to the Di&tates of Nature, and for the fatisfying of their Wants; and that with more Moderation; for they only drink for the quenching of their Thirst, and eat for the fatisfying of their Hunger: Whilft Men, endow'd withReason,and born to a higher End, even to Glorify and Enjoy their Maker, do immerse themselves in the filthy Puddles of Drunkenness and Gluttony, and other base carnal Delights, and thereby degenerate below the Beasts that perifh. Raife up thy Affections therefore, O my Soul, and place them upon Things above; there are Pleasures and Delights that are worthy of thee, even fuch as are adequate to thy Wants, and capable of fatisfying the Defires of an Immortal Soul. And tho' thy outward Circumstances and late Loffes, have render'd thee uncapable of pursuing the Pleafures of this World, thou art thereby the more fitted to afpire to thofe Pleasures

that

that the World can't take from thee, and which alone are worth the enjoy ing. If thou hearken'ft to the Enchanting Syrens of Worldly Pleasure, they do but entice thee with their pleasant Songs (as they would have done Vlyffes) till they bring thee to caft thy felf into the Sea of Destruction, and overwhelm thee with eternal Ruin. But if, O my Soul, thou waiteft at the Gates of Wif dom, and hearken'ft to her Voice, thou foon fhalt find, not only that her Ways are Ways of Pleasantnefs, but also that all her Paths are Peace.

M

A PRAYER.

FOST Gracious and Merciful Father, who art the God of all Confolation and Comfort, in whofe Prefence there is Fulness of Joy, and at whofe right Hand there are Pleasures for evermore; be pleas'd to look down in Mercy upon me a wretched and miferable Sinner, who have been so long Seeking that Pleasure and Satisfaction in the Creature, which is alone to be found in thy D 3

Self;

Self; and grant that my Mind and Affections being taken off from all Carnal Delights, and fix'd upon thy Self, I may henceforth lay afide every Weight, and the Sin that doth fo easily befet me, and may run with Patience the Race that thou haft fet before me. And fince I find in thy Word, that it is the Character of fome in the laft Day, That they shall be Lovers of Pleasures more than Lovers of God; make me, I humbly beseech thee, in the Number of thofe that bave rather chofe to fuffer Affliction with the People of God, than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Seafon: Like Mofes, efteeming the Reproaches of Chrift to be far more eligible than the Pleafures of Egypt. Grant this, O Lord, for Jefus Chrift his Sake, thy Beloved Son, and my alone Saviour; who has further taught me to pray, faying, Our Father, &c.

Meditation IV.

Of the Nature and Caufes of Afflictions.

Otwithstanding what has been faid in the three former Meditations of the Uncertainty and Emptiness of Honours, Riches, and Pleasures, and what little Cause we have to be troubled at the Loss of them; yet fince the best of Men are apt to look upon the Lofs of those things as Afflictions; and are more forward to bemoan themselves under them, thna to enquire into their Caufes; and fince the finding out of their Causes, is the best way to remove their Effects, I will now enquire into the Nature and Causes of Afflictions, and therein what were the Sins that procur'd thofe Calamities under which our Royal Master and his Family has fo long suffer'd.

AFFLICTIONS are always Evils in themfelves, and in their own Nature; tho' through the over-ruling Providence.

of Almighty God, they are often turn'd to the great Advantage of those that suffer 'em. So the Author to the Hebrews tells us, No chaftening for the prefent is joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby, Heb. xii. 11. And this was the Experience of the Royal Prophet, Before I was afflicted, I went aftray; but now, fays he, have I kept thy Word. And in another place he tells us, It is good for me, that I have been afflicted. And yet these Afflictions were grievous to him to bear, for he cries out, They made him go mourning all the day long. But thefe Sufferings are never brought upon a People, or a Family, without a Cause; for God does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of Men; and St. Peter tells us exprefsly, that it is not without need be, that we are in heaviness---- And it is as fure that Sin is always the Cause of suffering. And therefore the Pfalmift says, When ihon with rebukes doeft correct man for iniquity, thon makeft his beauty to confume as the

moth.