A SERMON Preached before the KING AT , January xxx. 1675/6.  
By HENRY BAGSHAW, D. D. Rector of St. botolph's Bishopsgate, and Chaplain to the Lord HIGH-TREASURER of England.  
LONDON, Printed by William Godbid, and are to be sold by Moses Pitt, at the Angel against the little North-door of St. Paul's Church. 1676.   

To the Right Honourable THOMAS EARL of DANBY, Lord HIGH-TREASURER of ENGLAND, And One of the LORDS of His MAJESTY'S MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY COUNCIL.  
MY LORD,  
I Have adventured upon the Publication of this Discourse to the World, as a poor Testimony of my Obedience to Your Lordship's Pleasure. Uprightness is my Subject; and the Great Example of it is a PRINCE, to whose Memory you pay homage. Religion shines in such Instances, and borrows new Majesty from the Pattern; nay Martyrdom itself looks Royal, and the Blood (thus shed) paints its Glory. It is one Mistake in the World, to cry down Titles as mere Names; when as they produce Noble Effects, and are such a shadow to Virtue, that they protect it by following. If Goodness gives Honour a real grace, Honour pays it back in opinion; therefore the usefulness that is in it, renders it a fit Object of our regard: However alone it cannot profit the Persons, without Goodness be joined.  
You (MY LORD) have a great share in Temporal Dignity: Your tried worth has recommended You to Your Prince, and the steadfast Integrity of Your Actings: The first provokes Envy, and the second Love to acknowledge it. Your Fastness to the CHURCH is as well known, and the employment of Your Power to oblige. May God continue You an Instrument in His Service, establish You with His Grace, and preserve in You a Goodness as well as Greatness of Name; which is the earnest Prayer of,  
MY LORD, Your Lordship's most obedient Servant and Chaplain, HENRY BAGSHAW.   

A SERMON Preached before the KING.  PSALM xxxvij. 37. 
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.  
IT has been a perplexing Question in all Ages, and by all sorts of Religions entertained; why Good and Evil should be blended and mixed; and without any show of choice dispensed amongst Men in the secret course of God's Providence? This indifferency of acting in humane Affairs, has made Heathens to conclude, that an uncertain Chance governs the World; nay, it has further prevailed upon true Worshippers to suspend the exercise of their Faith, though not utterly to destroy the root of it. And such a kind of doubting the Church was subject to in David's time; whence this Psalm was written for their cure, who through weakness of flesh took sense for their guide, and the outward surface of things for their argument to build on. By the one they fell under a shortness of sight; by the other they had emptiness for their object. Therefore he sets them in a sure way of considering Events, and that is to mark and examine them with their understandings; to take their flight beyond present appearances to the ends and periods of things; where the substance of Being's is discerned, because the truth of their state is laid open. Otherwise we should be all apt to mistake, and ready to pronounce a false judgement.  
So a little before my Text, he acquaints us what imagination he had when he first saw the wicked man, whom he presently compares to the green bay tree; as looking fresh and gay in the ornament of power, though blood likely was the moisture that fed it. His laurels and his crimes they flourished together, and an impious hand became the planter of his glory; so that the Prophet thought at the first glimpse the prosperity of his condition to be most desirable: But lo! the exit of all; He passed by, and was not; 
Verse 36.  yea I sought him, (says the Psalmist) but he could not be found: As if all that greatness he beheld, were rather some image in sleep (where fancy sports with its own creation) than a real object without, presented to the beholder.  
Who is it now he opposes to that wicked man, or propounds to us devoutly to regard? It is the perfect and upright Worshipper; and the end he assigns him is peace, or a glorious reward, notwithstanding those seeming blasts in his life-time, and the apparent ruins of his state, when (like a Cedar cut down) he leaves upon the earth the sad reverence of his fall.  
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.  
I know the Septuagint read these words in the abstract, which is followed too by some other Translations; but the Hebrew-Text, and the scope of the Psalmist (not to speak of our own Bibles) will justify the sense I have mentioned. And so I intent to handle them, where we may consider three things: 

First, A Duty enjoined: Mark and behold; that is, as from a watchtower look far off and observe.  
Secondly, The Subject wherein it is employed: The perfect and upright man; which includes also the opposite party, the evil doer.  
Thirdly, The Fruit or Effect of this Observation: Which is to discern a distinctness of end, namely, the upright man's peace or reward; which necessarily supposes the others punishment.    
I shall cast the two first into one proposition, which is this:  
That we ought to be heedful Observers of God's Providential Rule in the World, and particularly of his Dispensation to his People.  
As for heeding his Rule in the general, 

1. The Usefulness of the Work,  
2. The Excellency of our Faculties calls for it.    
1. The Usefulness of the Work; since by an exactness of search we discover not only a Hand of Power, but an Eye of Wisdom, in turning the Wheel; where all the courses of it are serviceable to God's Glory, and the intricacy of its motions brings about the accomplishment of his Designs. The result of this Discovery is increase of Faith, settlement of Mind, and a close dependency upon the Supreme. Do but regard the Throne above, you will regard too the Chain that is tied to it; how immovably God holds there the Links of Causes, not to be broken off, nor altered, but by His special appointment. Did we thus mind the order of the whole Frame, the connexion of Events, and God's care to uphold what he has purposed, a Spirit of Atheism would quickly vanish; and the Light of that Theatre we walk in, would at once convince and reform us.  
2. The Excellency of our Faculties calls for such a beholding. For God has planted in us contemplative powers as well as active; nay, the pure and spiritual exercise of the Soul lies in the former. It is the subliming of our Understandings, the exalting of our Reason, the great prerogative of our Being's, to view God and his Works: He is continually viewing them and Himself; and we show the nobleness of our descent from Him, when thus employed in our speculation.  
If you regard the actions of Sense, here Brutes do surpass us; and the pleasures they enjoy, are more accurate, because they have no higher perfection to seek after: But the height of Man's Faculty, that leads him to the best Objects, it breaks the force of a sensual delight, since he has an intellectual Vision to pursue. Now a chief part of this Vision is God in his Providence; where the Mind is taken up with the sight of Order and Beauty in the Creation; of Omnipotence and Knowledge in the Rule; of Labour and Conspiracy in Being's to those Ends appointed them; and having these things for its Ideas, it grows enlarged and beautified by what it receives. Whether then we attend to the advantage of the Employment, or the dignity of our own Natures, we may easily conclude, that a considering spirit is required of us; which if laid aside through any carnal temptation, Man thereby as well as his Interest is forsaken.  
Thus much briefly for marking Providence in the general— But that which more particularly binds us to observe, is God's Dispensation to his People. For God walks in his Church, as in a Garden of Pleasure; He delights in those Plants He sets, prunes and dresses them, and shows by the singularity of His care, that they are the Favourites of his Government. The World is but waste ground, and altogether subject to a common influence; the Sun enlightens, the Wind blows, the Rain waters, but the true Husbandry is reserved for the Paradise he has chosen. Here He has fixed his Dwelling-place, and here He exhibits his lovingkindness; all the method of his Discipline tending to the improvement of the Soil. Yet lest we should take wrong measures in our notice, as it relates to the governing of his Children, these Rules must be followed to direct us.  
1. That God, who prescribes to Himself one method for eternally saving, prescribes none for temporally ruling those He saves. In the one, He acts like a Judge, where a certain order is set up; in the other, like a Sovereign, where a perfect freedom is established: So that the variety of models and forms, which are seen in the conduct of his People to happiness, ought not to infer any neglect, but the uncontrollable liberty of his Power.  
2. That outward Blessings are not gifts of choice, nor the proper donatives of His hand. They may adorn indeed the uprightness of a cause, but not distinguish it; which has surer characters to be known by, and a right founded upon better Titles, than an Idolater or an Usurper can plead. We all find that even the worst of Men can urge a success, and the honour of that portion they enjoy, as a most plausible defence of their actings; therefore if marks of Grace were not otherwise placed, God's love to his People would be lost, nay the Justice of his Government destroyed. Thirdly, we must observe,  
3. That the End of his Government being spiritual, he carries it on sometimes by invisible ways, and leads his Servants through a dark path, though at other times he draws out his Lights, I mean the miracles of his Protection, to confirm his Church in a Belief of his Promises. So then, his Methods being various, his outward Blessings undistinguishing, and his End spiritual in his Rule, our contemplation of a Saint ought to be pure and refined; abstracted from those accidents he meets with in the World; and how severe soever his changes he, yet our judgement upon them should be unchangeable, fixed (like God's purpose) on his reward. The perception of things in Religion is at a distance, whereas Sense requires a nearness of the Object. To take a prospect of Nature, is to approach near to particulars; but to take a prospect of God's Government, is to stand a far off and behold. Therefore no conclusion ought we to form, but by comprehending the Stage of the whole Life; we must not judge upon a present view of persecution, flight, routing of Armies, and an eclipse of Glory (which the best of Princes has been subject to) but carry our Eye forward to the last enduring of the temptation, when he receives a crown of life.  
What we are to mark in our Lord Christ, the same should be observed in his Followers; first the Sufferings of the Cross, and then the Triumphs of the Throne: To stop in the way, and divide our prospect, is to render it deformed; it is to fill it with shadows, and not with light; to view a hand in the cloud, gathering together storms and no blessings. Whoever would think to know the beautiful proportions of any Being, must consider it at the full, and not in the separated and divided parts of it; so the work of Providence in governing a Saint, ought entirely and perfectly to be looked upon. For we do but libel it by taking it in pieces, but we learn to adore it in the whole.  
Pythagoras makes his Wiseman to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Spectator of Being's and Events; and to enter into the World, as into an Olympic Game, there to regard all passages; but this necessarily does infer a suspense of judgement till the prize be obtained; which should he let lose to all the accidents of the Combat, in stead of wisdom he would act folly; since it is the Eye of a Fool that is always ranging to an uncertainty. Who is there can possibly determine the conditions of Men from an immediate beholding of their course here? Does not God often shuffle humane Affairs, turn and cast them, and make his outward Administration in States a kind of mockery of Man's Knowledge, where the difference of persons is lost for some time, and consequently the ability of discerning? If any difference be found, it is that which offends; and that is, when the perfect and upright Man falls, and (what adds weight to his overthrow) perhaps caused by the hand of some prosperous triumphing Malefactor; which seems at the first sight, as ill an Object of contemplation, as the Picture of a Temple burnt and destroyed, with the Breaker up of that Temple passed by. Yet however it becomes a Christian to mark, and to keep his Eye fixed in the midst of turn; the patience of Faith is expected from him in his standing, that so the evidence of Faith may succeed.— Which brings me to the Third Particular in my Text, viz.  
The Fruit or Effect of this Observation. And that is to discern a distinctness of End betwixt the righteous and the wicked. For the end of the righteous is peace, or a glorious reward; which unavoidably supposes the others punishment. And here two Queries naturally arise:  
1. Why God should defer to the last His distinguishing care of his People, and not appoint them his Blessings in a bright course of his Providence?  
2. In what respects a distinctness of End becomes visible to an Observer?  
In answer to the First, concerning God's delays of distinguishing his People, some allege the absoluteness of his Dominion, as a most satisfying ground for such a disposal. But here the doubt still returns: For Dominion may be a Rule to subject our Wills, but not to settle our Understandings. The Mind of Man is too free to be bound up with that Notion, and still seeks to inquire further. What then will fully satisfy it in its search? It must be convinced of the Justice and Wisdom of his Proceed; for these are two Attributes that strike our Reason with the excellency of their lustre, and can silence the cavils of a Disputer. If then his Justice and Wisdom may be made out for appointing such a way, no room is left for any scruple to get in.  
Now Justice respects us in its exercise, whereas Power is but a Minister to him that uses it. And how Justice respects us will appear, in that our corrupt Natures require the method of an Affliction, and the Principle of Grace (there infused) needs sharp proofs to corroborate it in its acts, and to testify its soundness to the World.  
He that will but consider the corruption of our Natures, how deeply printed their stains are, and by what a sinfulness of practice farther confirmed; must needs conclude, that those Evils we suffer are truly penal; and consequently our meriting of the scourge, acquits our Judge from the tyranny of inflicting it. The Rod that humbles our carnal strength, it loads too our consciences with its burden; and tells us when we are bruised, that we have guilt likewise, to complete the misery of our torment. God, who is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works, brings no pain upon any of us, but what our own sins duly deserve: The storm comes from above; but it is some vapour below, that has bred it. Earth and Man's heart are alike fatal in their productions; they nourish in them the seeds of a tempest, and sending them up towards Heaven, darken that Region where they come, and turn its influence to oppress us. Upon this account, none of us can repine or tax God's deal, that will but severely examine himself, and read the sinfulness of his own actings; whence he may soon pick a Comment, out of the blackness of that Evidence, to expound and interpret the sad accidents of his life, as a convincing Argument of God's Justice.  
Again, the Principle of Grace (infused into our Natures) does justly exact the discipline of suffering; that so it may grow up and spread in our Souls, under the benefit of that trial; and show the Divineness of its original, by all the hardship of perseverance. Faith, Hope, and Charity, abide weak in their infancy, when untried; and (which is another reproach to that state) the truth too of their birth is suspected. Nothing gives the spiritual Man such life and vigour as a temptation: Not that of itself it can cause either, but occasionally it conduces to his improvement; for affording him the matter of a resistance, his Graces are thereby quickened and raised; and when the temptation is beaten off, their true birth from Heaven is discovered by the nobleness of their Conquest. So then, those temporal evils God sends, are to be reckoned no otherwise, than a just diet He prescribes; their ends and uses are proper to the Patient; whereby the equity of the Sender is always preserved, though the Instrument many times that conveys them, contracts guilt in the Service. Where now is the wrong offered a Saint, if vast rewards be designed, and crosses only decreed to fit and prepare him? He that can complain here of Injustice, may as well complain of hard seasons that ripen fruits, or the laying of Isaac under the knife, which secured the Inheritance to the Child.  
As God's Justice is thus cleared; so his Wisdom is no less evident, in the appointment of those troubles in life before mentioned.  
For it is an act of Wisdom to suit wages with works; and so Heaven being the highest pay, He wisely exacts from us the highest performance. But this in suffering consists; which as it is the best proof of our love to God, so the most eminent mark of our courage; by how much the greater difficulty we undergo of repressing our fears, and keeping ourselves firm and  in a good purpose. Upon this score of difficulty it is, that passive valour is deservedly preferred before active; as giving us larger proofs of a generous resolution in the Encounter. For to him that suffers, evil is present, and thereby sharper upon his mind; nay it is farther edged in its sharpness, by seeming to come from the stronger party; which makes the force of it more terrible; last of all, length of time is required for the exercise, wherein Nature is apt to flag and dissolve; so that here three discouragements lie in his way, which yet he courageously breaks through: And they are, sense of evil; opinion of his enemy; and a wearisome trouble of the time. But none of these are found in him that briskly attempts danger; who regards evil as future, and so removes the smart of its sting; who with the mind of a superior sets on it, and so learns before hand to contemn it; lastly, who needs but a sudden heat to evidence his courage; and so keeps fresh his spirits in the employ. Here then lies the advantage of a Martyr's suffering, that he has every thing to daunt him in his cause; whereas the Heroes of this World find easiness in their hazards, which lessens the glory of their triumph. Hence God wisely puts us to that noble trial of bearing the Cross, and so following our Lord; which being the utmost pitch of our resolution for his Service, Happiness is duly rated by that price He demands.  
But there remains a second Query to be discussed, viz. in what respects a distinctness of End becomes visible to an Observer.  
For, 1. Peace in this place cannot be limited to a temporal deliverance, though Man seems properly the judge of it; and Scripture too affords some pregnant instances of those happy periods of an Affliction: So Noah was freed from the toss of the flood, and (like his Ark) rested in peace: So Joseph was taken from the pit and the dungeon, to end his days near the Majesty of a Throne; and David (the Author of this Psalm) could experimentally confirm the Mercies of a change: Others too I might reckon up, that had a sensible taste of God's Promises before they were summoned to their graves. However, should we admit it in a sense so restrained, we must exclude out of our prospect whole Armies of Saints, that neither knew, nor would accept deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And where is the remarkable end of these, or what pompous finishing of their lives, without you'll say Swords and Axes made it up, and the Heroic Courage of the Expecters? Either then we must take it in a wider Notion, or poorly limit it to a few; where right is not so much done them in a record of God's Blessings, as injury to others by our silence. And as a bare temporal deliverance is not here meant, so neither, in the second place,  
2. Can we restrain it to Immortality of Bliss; for though that contain in it all the substance of peace, yet being an invisible reward, it is above the consideration of our outward man; therefore we must take it in the widest extent, where both the Eye of Faith and the Eye of Sense may join in the testimony.  
As for the Eye of Faith, it is most open and clear when the End of the Righteous is come. His Death gives it a quiet view, and the darkness of the Scene is removed by the light of Eternity breaking in. While he sleeps, it awakes, and delightfully expatiates over his Joys; for it is now like a Mariner set on shore, and stands safe upon fixed ground, whereas Shipwrecks at Sea did before disturb the apprehension; so that it can with a composedness of thought contemplate his Bliss, answerable to the softness of his repose. Whatever distractions it might meet with in his life, they are all buried with the Sufferer; the doubts and scruples are taken away; and no more is God's care of him called in question, since it sees him as it were put in possession of a glorious Inheritance. Thus a Saints decease procures a double liberty; first to himself, from the fetters of a calamity; next to the Faith of a Beholder, from the prejudices of the World.  
But is the Eye of Sense alike capable of satisfaction? And can we be entertained in our outward man with a true pleasure of beholding him? We all readily grant it upon the sight of a recompense, and a successful close of the righteous Man's days. None stumbles at Providence in that Sunshine; nay his bare setting in light has that strength of lustre, as to reflect it back upon his past troubles. But how can the Spectator be secured from falling, while he is viewing the Act of some black Tragedy; when the vail of government is drawn over a Saint, and he seems to be given up from above to the lust of his Enemies! To stand in that case seems very hard, by reason of the sadness of the spectacle. And yet even here, if we would take but direction, we may still safely look on; because there is proper matter for Sense to regard, and from thence to form the Notion of Peace.  
And this is grounded upon a threefold remark: 

1. Of the Cause.  
2. Of the Manner.  
3. Of the Consequences of his End.    
First, the Cause has a brightness in it to strike our Senses, when we see Truth and Justice, Religion and Piety, singly maintained; and the Seal of Martyrdom cheerfully embraced in the midst of terrors from an armed multitude, where Power and Victory might be Pleaders of Right, but Blood and Sacrilege the Overthrowers. And so the primitive Confessors powerfully convinced the Heathen World, by a single maintenance of their Cause. Alone they triumphed in what they professed, because alone they stood up Champions to defend; whence those that saw them, fell from viewing to wonder, from wonder to love; and love easily ended in their Conversion. Neither is this instance restrained to those times, but every Age can produce one; and let God's Call but warrant the like appearance, the goodness of a Christian profession, as it will arm a Saint to acknowledge it, so it will justify him to any enemy, by the constancy of his defending.  
Next, the manner is visible, when we see in the Witnesser meekness and charity, faith and devotion matched and joined; which speak of themselves a tranquillity of mind, a compassion for Sinners, a conscience of Glory, and lastly a fitness for Heaven. A stout defence is nothing, without Grace to accompany it; for both History and Experience can furnish us with Examples of the vanity of that sign; but where Grace does attend, it than becomes proclaimer of a good confession; it erects a Scaffold for fame and martyrdom together. And so the Saints of old, by the manner of their departure proved the gloriousness of their End. A heavenly flame appeared in their acts, which directed the Spectator to look upward when they died. And this kind of Religious Spirit all true Martyrs are endued with; therefore to behold them in their last part, with what piety they manage it, according to the rules of their Blessed Saviour, is to be alike convinced of the truth of their state, and what a Kingdom above is prepared to receive them.  
Lastly, the consequence will declare it; when we see the upright Man's Name and his Posterity flourish; and the concern of Justice in his revenge, first by a general confusion of things, afterwards by a signal punishment of his Persecutors; Pillars and Monuments being every where built upon the Ruins of his Adversaries, to direct us in our Gaze, and confirm us in this Truth, That Innocence alone has the Authority of Execution, when the Majesty of its Defender is gone. If now other Ages we cannot recur to for one perfect Instance in every particular, our own can richly afford it us; for we find the consequences clearly exemplified in our late Prince, as well as the cause and manner of his End; so that the Demonstration here is complete, and the very Eye of Sense can bring in its testimony, that the end of the righteous is peace.  
I would not be thought to anticipate the Fast, which by a particular accident is removed; but I am sure the Day of the Fact, and your own Memories, no accident can change. This is that Fatal Time, wherein a Glorious Martyr prepared for Sacrifice, with all those Ornaments of Virtue that either a Sovereign or a Christian could put on; and a bloody Enemy seemed over him to prevail, with all those Crimes that Rebellion or Hypocrisy can contain: Therefore by mentioning the time now, I do but pay it its due debt, and prepare your humiliation for the morrow.  
It is not for me to attempt His Character, whose Life was the exact Transcript of His Religion; His Government, the representative of His Goodness; His Writings Princely, as if the Pen were His Sceptre; but withal humble and charitable, as if none had offended Him; lastly, His Sufferings all along a lively Expression of Christian Graces, and a full Argument in themselves to reveal the righteousness of his Cause.  
As little can I describe the guilt of His Murderers; whose Inspirations were killing; their Fasts but a Solemnity to devour; who mixed their breach of Divine Law with the mockery of its Maker; and to show wickedness was ripe, with an impudence of sinning invaded that Head, where the Oil one would think were enough to protect it from danger. All that they could possibly boast of, was the current of prosperity for some time. But Christian Observers should weigh their End, as the Heathen Votaries did not mind the Garlands about the Heads of their Beasts, but the Altars they were led to: They might indeed (like those Victims) break lose for a while, but could not properly be said to share in a deliverance: The Peace they enjoyed was but a disturbed slumber before death, but an unpleasant Feast before Execution. Who can have confidence to affirm, That Pharaoh (who drowned so many Infants) had yet redemption from plagues, when an expiatory deluge was to succeed? Or that Ahab (who could swallow a poor Man's Vineyard at a Fast, and cruelly mingled the blood of the grape with the blood of him that owned it) had yet peace in his days, when an Arrow was made sharp to pierce him? No more can we call those Victories Mercies, that were constantly waited on by greater judgements; and we find by the Fall of those that had them, that to build impious Trophies upon the Graves of Princes is to build upon sacred ground, that will sink them.  
But passing by this Subject, I come now to infer some useful Truths from a general beholding of such Examples. And here I shall show 

1. The necessity of converting our speculation into a Religious Practice.  
2. The benefit of being upright betimes in order to our Peace.  
3. The folly of Irreligion, whereby a future peace is utterly excluded; neither has it a present one for its reward.    
1. The necessity of converting our speculation into a Religious Practice.  
When the Psalmist bids us to mark the upright, it is not a mere direction to our eyes, but to our steps likewise; and our gaze little avails us, if if it reform not the lookers on. The Christian Watchtower is quite different from the Worlds; there the Watchman stands fixed, viewing his space, and lazily measuring the course of another; and the reports which are brought to him from sense, never altar his posture begun: But here we are bound to turn and move, labour and strive in our Office of observing; first advance our Reason to see the race, and then work our Wills to pursue it. Indeed a bare speculation is mere solecism in Religion; a work contradictory to the main end: We absurdly set against the designs of Providence, if we use not Instances to promote Piety, and the scope of his Laws, if our light be not serviceable to guide us in duty.  
God in his Government abroad, leaves exemplary proofs, to train us up for his Service; and by express Commands in his Word, farther enforces the obligation; therefore a naked Theory of things is so far from becoming an ornament to our Natures, that it rather increases their guilt, by a flat resisting of his Will.  
I know the contemplative powers enlarge our Souls; but they are the active that better them; the former give them the subtlety of spirits, but the latter crown them with goodness. And it is goodness alone that qualifies us for Heaven; whereas subtlety may belong to the Angels condemned; who retain their height of discerning, as another addition to their plague; for they reap nothing by it, but a fuller sense of their pains. Would we then give our Theory a right advancement? Practise with it must be joined: It is to no purpose to glory in marking and beholding, when it cannot separate us from Hell.  
They are but False-Prophets, that see and are not obedient to the Vision; so they are but False-Professors, and will finally perish in deceiving their own Souls, that consider the upright Man in his ways, but are never wrought to imitation. Balaam we read could get up to a high mountain, that he might see the utmost part of God's Israel: From the top of the rocks he saw, 
Numb. 23.  and from the hills he beheld them: But taking the coldness and barrenness of his station, he was utterly lost in that view; when it filled him with delight, but not with love; chained up his fancy, but left his corruption still free. But whoever ascends Mount Zion, he ascends a fruitful Hill: He contemplates the righteous in their path, and by treading that path, enriches his prospect.  
2. The benefit of being upright betimes in order to our Peace.  
Peace is a summary of all Blessings, a most comprehensive word to denote the Perfection of our state; and being particularly referred to our end, it implies the security of our Happiness. Now the perfection of our state is in nothing more furthered, than in an early following the righteous Man's way; since it creates a present, and establishes too our future repose. As for the present Good we enjoy, it is perhaps unknown to the rest of the World, because it lies deep in our Souls, and their workings we know are invisible to others; yet however the foundation of our quiet abides the same; and it lies in an effectual restraining of our unbridled desires, in a powerful asswaging of our griefs and fears, and a through purging off the guilt of our consciences. All these advantages a timely uprightness brings with it; and every Saint may discern them in himself; which is a sufficient allay to his outward troubles. What an ease must this be in the midst of suffering, to look within, and find there every thing still and clear, the affections being calmed, and the enditements of sin made void? Nay, this is not all; but God comes in with the consolations of his Grace, to feed and refresh the inward man; so that could the World here make an inspection, it would be forced to confess of the perfect Walker, that not only his end, but all his progress is peace.  
Let us next consider his future settlement, where you may behold him even in his deathbed (as if it were the stage of his triumph) how undauntedly he encounters the terror of what approaches, with all the pleasure of a reflection. And he is supported in it two ways: 

1. He knows the spring of his repentance was pure in its first rise, which begets an assurance.  
2. That he has the testimony of after-fruits to confirm it.    
Whence he joyfully meets that grim Sergeant, and while he is haling him forcibly to rest, he excuses the roughness of the seizure.  
But this peaceable kind of spirit a late penitent is deprived of, as he is of all honour in the performance. For in both these respects his comfort fails, when in the pangs of extremity he seeks his God; though through the mercy of that God he may be saved.  
His first discouragement is, that he knows not the purity of the spring, whence his repentance proceeds; nor can certainly conclude, that it is a filial love, but rather a slavish fear, that is the principle of the current. For Death he sees is before him, and all those evils that accompany it; whence he may well doubt those tears to be false which flow from him, and destructive too in their falsehood, by a shipwreck of his Soul. And is not this want of evidence sufficiently tormenting, though the Soul should be privileged with happiness, since thereby all sense of it is gone, and the sting only retained of past pleasures? While in the mean time, the upright Liver continues down his peace by a register of his actings, and brings at the very last gasp a full and entire spirit to close with his apprehension of coming Joys.  
His next discouragement is, that an after-testimony of good fruits is cut off, to confirm him in his fears. For how can such a testimony be produced, when he presently dies after repenting? Whence suspicions must needs arise, and his Death be surrounded with dark shadows, because no space is left him to prove the sincerity of a good purpose. And what an Agony must a departure of this kind be (how gracious soever God be in accepting) when the past sins, we reflect on, terrify our minds, and a future uprightness is denied us? whereas the perfect Man has the credit and support of a good stock beforehand, and improving it all along to his Deathbed, he can quickly rely upon Divine Mercy, as pardoning his frailties, and expecting no longer proofs of obedience. If then we value the Peace of Conscience as well as the other of Immortality, holiness of Life must be antecedent, for the better compassing of our end.  
It remains I should show in the third place,  
3. The folly of Irreligion, whereby a future peace is utterly excluded; neither has it a present one for its reward. Now the Folly of it is manifest, since it neither discovers a life of reason, which provides for good in the succession; no nor a life of sense, which provides for an immediate gratifying of our Wills. The succession of good is cut off, when our future happiness is obstructed; and an immediate gratifying of us is denied, while war continues in the Soul. How then can there be wisdom in the pursuit of Impiety, where there is neither hope to tempt, nor enjoyment to satisfy! The Object of a Man's choice must be either some present or future pleasure; the past is not, because not possible to be enjoyed; therefore when no time can administer delight in a course of sin, what motive is there in it to allure us?  
As to the possibility of attaining to future peace in a vicious custom, it is confessedly disowned by the profane; who are convinced, that their want of Title does sufficiently baffle their Plea; all they can pretend to is the present; and here lies the mystery of sins deceit, that it colours an evil with such paint, as to hid it from him that laid it on.  
Man carnally reasons for the corruptions of his life, and forgets the falsehood of their covering. He passes by the madness of courting a moment, and considers not the lastingness of its punishment. What then is Conscience wholly dead, that it should not wound the Evildoer? Has it quite lost its edge or activity in his Soul? Why then does it so generally invade Mankind, perplex their Spirits in fulfilling of their lusts, rack them in all their sensual delights, and grow upon their pains, like a fresh Executioner? For so is the force of it proved in the World; and to break their peace in the commission of sin, two Images haunt them (of an equal terror) God and the Righteousness of his Throne. All then a Sinner can expect at best is but a short suspense of his trouble; and whether the suspense be not a greater act of hostility from his Judge, he may well question. There is no tempest so hurtful as the calm before it; where the face of danger is smoothed up, and death suddenly conveyed. 
Judg. 4.1  Jael's bottle of milk was more destructive to Sisera, than the hammer in her hand: For by giving him that drink, she laid him fast asleep to be slain.  
But besides pangs of mind, and a more dangerous Lethargy, if they be wanting; let the wicked Man show any colour for peace, by being filled with what he enjoys. Behold! he is as much a stranger to an ease of fullness, as he is to a rest of desire; so that there is war in his very Feasts, to which he seems most cheerfully prepared. Nothing of the Creature can satisfy him, and therefore every thing is his disturber; he wanders for good, and finds none; he craves variety of Objects, and is punished by doing so: For he is thereby distracted in his choice, and has all the labour of an uncertainty. Go now and pursue the pleasures of sin; Walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but withal tell me at the same time, whether thou hast true cause of rejoicing, when thou treadest a fool's maze, and art wretchedly lost in those turns and wind, which thy own appetite has contrived. Above all call to mind what substantial peace is neglected by thee, I mean those vast and solid joys in another World, to which a loss in this is nothing comparable; how thou barterest away thy Soul for a lust, and pawnest eternity for a moment; as if thy great strife were for nothing else, but to complete the Character of the unwise.  
I need no more insist on this Subject, and shall therefore beg leave more particularly to make Application.  
To be speedily Religious is the highest Charity to ourselves; nay (to add somewhat more) our best homage to Princes. For we thereby secure to them their Peace, and establish their Throne; we encompass them about with God's Blessings, and bring Heavenly Forces to their Cause. But National Sins raise Storms, set up Hills of provocation to plant battery against that very Seat, which God has fixed by his Power. Nothing so traitorous as Vice, nor so disloyal as Iniquity; and we have all sadly experimented the efficacy of its treason, wherein vile Instruments had never prevailed over such Authority of Power, and Majesty of Goodness, but that general guilt was their Arms.  
Who now, that considers the advancement of holy living, will not contribute what he can to his own, nay his Prince's Glory; endeavour as a Christian to purchase a Crown, and as a Christian to defend one? In the mean while, let no Instance of prosperous sinning tempt us to the practice of any corruption; for all prosperity of that kind is but the guilding of a storm; where God hides the Evil He intends, that He might double Men's ruin by the surprise. It was a true saying (though Jezabel spoke it) Had Zimri peace that slew his Master? So Men may thoroughly execute the worst Crimes, but that liberty allowed them is their plague; and their want of peace (as the consequent of their deeds) is a sufficient motive to dissuade them.  
Neither should any be terrified with those crosses, which are many times the portion of God's Children. For how sharp soever they be, yet they cannot null the force of His promise: The promise secures them from overthrow, though not from suffering. It is like that Bow in the Clouds, set by God for a token of peace; Showers indeed do accompany it, but no Deluge. And O that we would consider the reward of inward peace, which is safely lodged in a good conscience! where the mind delightfully views its own acts, and calms the passions in the survey; where a victory over sin is followed with triumph, and a pursuit of good with the rest of satisfaction; where the accidents of life do not shake, and Providence is a Sanctuary from trouble: In a word, where Heaven itself is set up in all the light, beauty, and order of its frame. Therefore since no Plea is left for commission of sin, but all encouragement given us to duty, with what judgement should we behold, and with what affection transcribe the perfect man; that resembling him here, we may finish that likeness in another World, and find that uprightness (which is the peace of our Souls) will be the peace too of our Persons in a Blessed Eternity.  
Now to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be Praise and Honour for evermore.  
FINIS.   

ADVERTISEMENT.  
THere is newly published two Recantation-Sermons (Preached at the French Church in the Savoy by two Converted Romanists; Mr. De la Motte, late Preacher of the Order of the Carmelites; and Mr. De Luzanzy, Licentiat in Divinity;) wherein the Corrupt Doctrines of the Church of Rome are laid open and confuted. Both printed in French and English, and sold by Moses Pitt.