[♦]12. Now, had this been the Christian spirit of Negotius, can any one say, that he had lost the true happiness of life, by thus conforming to the Spirit, and living up to the hope of the gospel?
[♦] Number 11 omitted in text.
*Can it be said, that a life made exemplary by such virtues as these, which keep heaven always in our sight, which both delight and exalt the soul here, and prepare it for the presence of God hereafter, must be poor and dull, if compared to that of heaping up riches, which can neither stay with us, nor we with them?
It would be endless to multiply examples of this kind, to shew you how little is lost, and how much is gained, by introducing a strict and exact piety into every condition of human life.
I shall now therefore leave it to your own meditation, to carry this way of thinking farther, hoping that enough is said, to convince yourself, that an exalted piety is so far from rendering any life dull and tiresome, that it is the only joy and happiness of any condition in the world.
13. *Imagine to yourself some person in a consumption, or any other lingering distemper that was incurable.
If you was to see such a man wholly intent upon doing every thing in the spirit of religion, making the wisest use of all his time, fortune, and abilities. If he was for carrying every duty of piety to its greatest height, and striving to have all the advantage that could be had in the remainder of his life: if he avoided all business, but such as was necessary; if he was averse to all the follies and vanities of the world, had no taste for finery and shew, but sought for all his comfort in the hopes and expeditions of religion, you would certainly commend his prudence; you would say, that he had taken the right method to make himself as joyful and happy, as any one can be in a state of such infirmity.
*On the other hand, if you should see the same person, with trembling hands, short breath, thin jaws, and hollow eyes, wholly intent upon business and bargains, as long as he could speak: if you should see him pleased with fine cloaths, when he could scarce stand to be dressed, and laying out his money in horses and dogs, rather than purchase the prayers of the poor for his soul, which was so soon to be separated from his body, you would certainly condemn him, as a weak, silly man.
14. Now, as it is easy to see the reasonableness, the wisdom and happiness of a religious spirit in a consumptive man; so, if you pursue the same way of thinking, you will as easily perceive the same wisdom and happiness of a pious temper in every other state of life.
For how soon will any man that is in health, be in the state of him that is in a consumption? How soon will he want all the same comforts of religion, which every dying man wants?