the estimation of those who are best able to judge of their worth and excellency, we have abundant reason to conclude them most precious and inestimable beings. And now I shall conclude this argument with some inferences.

1. From hence I infer, by what it is that we ought to value ourselves, and estimate the dignity of our own natures; viz. by our rational and immortal souls, those excellent beings that are so invaluable in themselves, and so highly esteemed by the best and wisest judges. It is this intelligent and immortal nature within us, that is the crown and flower of our beings; it is by this that we are exalted above the level of mere animals; by this that we are allied to angels, and do border upon God himself: and he that values himself by any thing but his soul, and those things which are its proper graces and ornaments, begins at the wrong end of himself, forgets his jewels, and estimates his estate by his lumber. And yet, good God! what foolish measures do the generality of men take of themselves! Were we not forced by too many woful experiments, it would be hard to imagine that any creature that believes a rational and immortal soul to be a part of its nature, should be so ridiculous as to value itself by the little trifling advantages of a well-coloured skin, a suit of fine clothes, a puff of popular applause, or a few bags of white and red earth; and yet, God help us! these are the only things almost by which we value and difference ourselves from others. You are a much better man than your neighbour; he, alas! is a poor contemptible wretch, a little, creeping, despicable thing, not worthy to be looked upon, or taken notice of by such a one as you. Why, in the name of God, what is the matter?

where is this mighty difference between you and him? Hath not he a soul as well as you? a soul that is capable to live as long, and to be as happy as yours? Yes, yes, it is true indeed; but notwithstanding, God be thanked! you are anotherguess man than he; for you have a much handsomer body; your apparel is much more fine and fashionable; you live in a more splendid equipage, and have a larger purse to maintain it; and your name forsooth is more in vogue, and makes a far greater noise in the world! And is this all the difference between your mighty selves and your pitiful neighbours? Alas, poor men! a few days more will put an end to this; and when your rich attires are reduced to a windingsheet, and all your vast possessions to six foot of earth, what will become of all those little trifles by which you value yourselves? where will be the beauty or wealth, the port or garb, which you are now so proud of? Alas! now that lovely body looks as pale and ghastly, that lofty soul is left as bare, as poor, and naked, as your despised neighbour's. Should you now meet his wandering ghost in the wide world of spirits, what would you have to boast of more than he, now your beauty is withered, your wealth vanished, and all your outward pomp and splendour shrouded in the horrors of a silent grave? Now you will have nothing to distinguish you from the most contemptible, unless you have wiser and better souls; and by so much as you were more respected for your beauty and wealth, your garb and equipage in this world, by so much will you be more despised for your pride and insolence, your covetousness and sensuality in the other. Let us therefore learn to value ourselves by that which will abide by us, by our immortal souls, and

by those heavenly graces which do adorn and accomplish them; by our humility and devotion, by our charity and meekness, by our temperance and justice; all which are such preeminences as will survive our funerals, and distinguish us from base and abject souls for ever. But for a rational and immortal creature to prize itself by any such temporary advantages, is altogether as vain and ridiculous, as it was for the emperor Nero to value himself for being an excellent fiddler.

2dly, From hence also I infer, how much we are obliged to live up to the dignity of our natures. Should a stranger to mankind be admitted into this busy stage of human affairs, to survey our actions, and the paltry designs we drive at, certainly he would hardly imagine that we believed ourselves to be such a noble sort and strain of beings as we are. If you saw a man seriously employing himself in some sordid and beggarly drudgery, could you imagine that he believed himself to be the son of a king, and the heir of a crown? And when it is so apparent that the main of our design is to prog for our flesh, and make a comfortable provision for a few years' ease and luxury, who would think that we believed ourselves to be immortal spirits, that must live for ever in an inconceivable happiness or misery? When we consider the high rank which we hold in the creation, the vast capacities which there are in our natures, and the noble ends which we were made and designed for, are we not ashamed to think how poorly we prostitute ourselves, and vilify our own faculties by the sordid drudgeries wherein we exercise and employ them? When we think what a reputation we have throughout all the world of spirits, what

a vast rate we are valued at by God, and angels, and devils, are we not confounded to think how we undervalue ourselves by those low and inglorious ends which we pursue and aim at? O good God! that thou shouldest give me a soul of an immortal nature, a soul that is big enough for all the joys which thy everlasting heaven is composed of, and I be such a wretch to myself, such a traitor to the dignity of my own nature, as to give up myself and all my faculties to the pursuit of such vain and wretched trifles! that I, who am akin to angels, should make myself a muckworm, and choose Nebuchadnezzar's fate to leave crowns and sceptres, and live among the savage herds of the wilderness! that having such a great and noble nature, I should content myself to live like a beast, and aim no higher than if I had been born only to eat and drink, and sleep and wake, for thirty or forty years together, and then retire into a silent grave, and be insensible for ever! Wherefore, in the name of God, let us at last remember what we are, and what we are born to. Let us consider, that we have faculties that are capable of exerting themselves for ever, in the most enravishing contemplation and love of the eternal Fountain of truth and goodness; of copying and transcribing his most adorable perfections, his wisdom, goodness, purity, and justice, from whence the infinite happiness of his nature derives; and thereby of glorifying us into living images of God, and rendering us like him both in beauty and happiness: in a word, that we have faculties to converse with angels and with blessed spirits, to bear a part in the eternal comfort of their joys and praises, and to relish all those unknown delights of which their everlasting heaven doth consist. And

having such great and noble powers in us, is it not a burning shame that they should be always condemned to an endless pursuit of shadows and impertinencies? Let us therefore rouse up ourselves, and shake off this sordid and degenerate temper that sinks and depresses us, and makes us act so infinitely unbecoming the dignity of our immortal natures. And since we are descended from and designed for the heavenly family, let us learn to demean ourselves upon earth as becomes the natives of heaven: let us disdain all base and sordid, all low and unworthy ends of action, as things beneath our illustrious rank and station in the world of beings, and live in a continual tendency towards, and preparation for, that heavenly state, which is the proper orb and sphere of our natures.

3dly, From hence also I infer, how much they undervalue themselves that sell their souls for the trifles of this world. For since we know beforehand, that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, and he hath plainly assured us that our souls must smart for ever for our sins; it necessarily follows, that whenever we knowingly suffer ourselves to be enticed into sin, we make a wilful forfeiture of our souls. He that knows that such a draught, however sweetened and made palatable, is yet compounded with the juice of deadly nightshade, and notwithstanding that, will have the poisonous draught, is wilfully bent to murder and destroy himself.

And when we see that the pleasure of our sin draws after it the ruin of our souls, and yet will sin notwithstanding, we do in effect stake our souls against it, and with our eyes open make this despe