pofe the Man who offers it, to be acquainted with SERM. our Infirmities, we are fo far from being pleased XIII. with the Flattery, that we are apt to resent it as an Indignity. If it be asked therefore, in the case before us, Who can give so much Uneafiness to the Hypocrite, fince we suppose his Vices to be concealed from the World, and all his Pretences to pass for Realities? I answer, His own Confcience. Confcience is ever watchful to check the most presumptuous Sinner, to curb his Pride, and abase his Vanity, and reduce him to an humble Senfe of his own Foulness and Deformity. As often as he reflects upon his ill-gotten Honours, it will taint and imbitter them with the Conviction of his Guilt; in a word, it will turn his Glory into Shame, and the finest Panegyricks into Cenfure and Reproach.

For these Reasons, I fuppofe, the Hypocrite, tho' he were able to fecure fo precarious a thing as Fame, would have but little Caufe to be pleased with it.

Let us confider therefore, in the next place, whether he is likely to fucceed any better in his pursuit of Wealth and Power. These two may be fairly placed together, under the Name of Worldly Intereft. First, Because they are naturally productive of each other: For Wealth will purchase Power, and = Power will command Wealth. Secondly, Becaufe, in the prefent Inquiry, it will appear from the fame Confiderations, that the Hypocrite's Hope, with respect to both, is equally weak and groundless.

And here I might fafely truft the Question to the refult of every Man's Experience. How are the Riches of the World difpos'd of? Are they proporEtioned to the feeming Piety of their Poffeffors? Do they accompany the most diftinguish'd Zeal? Alas ? we find it otherwife. We fee daily, that the good

SERM, things of this Life are independent upon human XIII. Forecast. So true is the Wife Man's Obfervation,

It is for this Reafons are, in the ordinary

that the Race is not to the Swift, nor the Battle to the
Strong, nor yet Bread to the Wife, nor yet Riches to Men
of Understanding, nor Favour to Men of Skill; but Time
and Chance happen to them all.
that all temporal Advantages
form of Speaking, called the Goods or Gifts of For-
tune, because they are observed, for the most part,
to be derived from fuch fecret Sources, fuch feem-
ingly fortuitous Events, as, in Conformity to our
own flender Conceptions, we usually style Casualties
or Contingencies. Not that, in a ftrict and proper
Senfe, we can call any thing cafual or contingent.
Had we but a clearer Infight into the Ways of Provi-
dence, we should, doubtlefs, behold the moft perfect
Order, the most exact and regular concurrence of
Second Caufes to the Execution of God's fecret Pur-
pofes, and admire the infinite Wisdom of the Con-
triver. And here we are come to the true Reason,
why the Hypocrite's Hope fhall perifh, becaufe
amongst all his Stratagems, he leaves out the only
fure and effectual Art of Thriving, the Procurement
of God's Bleffing upon his Endeavours. Without this,
he may very artfully diffemble, and amufe himself
with many airy Projects; but thofe Projects are the
Fruits of Vanity, and they will end in Vexation of
Spirit: For Promotion, as the Pfalmift well obferves,
cometh neither from the Eaft, nor from the Weft, nor yet
from the South. We can no more govern or direct the
Courfe of it, than we can command the Winds to fill
our Sails, or teach them from which fide of the
Heavens they fhall blow. For, as it follows, God is
the Judge; he putteth down one, and fetteth up another.
He is the Judge of our Innocence and Integrity; he

is the Judge of our Capacities and Powers; and he SERM. is the Judge of our Defigns and Purposes. He knows XIII. who beft deserves the Bleffings of this Life, if any Man can be faid to deferve them: He knows who can, and who will employ them to the Advancement of his Glory, and the great Ends of his gracious Providence; and in proportion to the Difference of Mens Circumstances in these respects, there is no doubt but he observes a fuitable Difference in his Difpenfations to them, aiding and fupporting fome Men with fingular Demonftrations of Mercy and Loving-kindness, but abandoning and forfaking others, who take not him for their Truft, to the fatal Confequences of their own Pride and Obftinacy, and to the bitter Fruits of their mistaken Policy.

Prayer is the only Method, which God has been pleased to appoint, for the Attainment of all temporal as well as fpiritual Mercies. We are taught to pray for our daily Bread, as well as for the Forgiveness of our Sins; for the Comforts and Conveniencies of this Life, as well as for a glorious Inheritance in the next. And if we do pray for them with fuch a Spirit as we ought, there is no doubt, but we shall effectually obtain them: Obtain them, I mean, in fuch a manner, and to fuch a degree, as he fees will be most useful for us. Since therefore the Hypocrite is fo proud, that he careth not for God, neither is God in all his Thoughts; fince he relies upon his own Conduct and Experience, faying with the insolent Affyrian in the Prophet, By my own Hand will I do this thing, and by my Wisdom, for I am prudent; fince he neglects to look up for Succour to that unexhausted Source of Bounty, from which every good and perfect Gift cometh, we may conclude, that tho' he will not be actually oppofed in his Defigns; tho' he will not be

SER M.denied the free Exercise of his Faculties, and the XIII. Enjoyment of those common Bleffings which are

difpenfed unto all Men promifcuoufly; yet furely he will fall short of those greater and more pofitive Inftances of God's Favour, by which he is pleased to cooperate with the Endeavours of his faithful People, and which he has made Prayer the fole Method of obtaining.

If therefore you will take a view of him in this abandon'd and deferted State, thus deftitute of the Divine Affistance, and given up to his own Government and Direction, it will appear, First, that he has no Likelihood of Success. Secondly, That if he fails, the Disappointment will receive a peculiar Aggravation, by the very Frame and Difpofition of his Temper. And, Thirdly, That if he should gain his End, he is not fure but it may be a Burden or Incumbrance, nay, poffibly may prove his Ruin.

This, you will find, muft needs be his Cafe, when once he has let go his Confidence in God. First, I fay, he has no Likelihood of Succefs; and a very fmall degree of Reflexion upon the Infirmity of human Nature, will furnifh us with abundant Proofs of it. For tho' God has been pleased, for the Manifeftation of his own Glory, and for the Excitement of our Gratitude and Obedience, to make us, in fome refpects, little lower than the Angels, to ennoble us with many excellent Endowments, and to place us at the head of this Animal Creation; yet has he likewife, for the Trial of our Virtue, and in order to convince us of our abfolute Dependence upon his Power, left us, in other refpects, very frail, and feeble, and indigent, and almost helpless Beings. For what is the utmoft Extent of human Wisdom, but reasoning upon Probabilities and Conjectures?

jectures? He, that by the ftrength of a good natural SERM. Judgment, or by the help of Experience and Obfer- XIII. vation, fees fartheft into the Designs and Intrigues, and Follies of other Men, and out of that Variety of jarring Interefts, makes choice of the moft likely Methods to fecure his own, is ufually regarded as the fhrewdeft Man. But, alas! how weak and infecure must thofe Counfels prove, which are founded upon fuch uncertain Principles? Where the Malice and Refentment of one Man, the Treachery of another, the Levity and Caprice of a third, befides a Multitude of accidental Circumftances, which it is impoffible for the most discerning Eye to foresee, or the most vigilant to attend to, may undermine or difconcert his Project, and render all his Labour fruitless.

This is expreffed by a very lively Image, by Bildad in the Book of Job, where, fpeaking of the folly of the Hypocrite's expectation, His Hope, fays he, fhall be cut off, and his Truft shall be a Spider's Web; intimating, that he may have formed it with great Art and Industry, and contrived it like the Nets of that enfnaring Reptile, to glut himself with the Spoils of others; but, after all, the flightest and moft trivial Accident, perhaps before it has had its mischievous Effect, may break and disjoint the goodly Fabrick, or utterly overturn and ruin it.

But, Secondly, If this fhould happen to be the Cafe, as it is more than probable it will, you may obferve, that the Disappointment will receive a peculiar Aggravation, from the very Frame and Difpofition of his Temper. I will explain what I mean by an Inftance; and a remarkable Inftance we have in the Story of Achitophel, which I fhall take the liberty to relate at large. This Man was, it feems,

a