Omnifcience? If men will be wicked therefore, they were e'en as good put on a bold Face, and be wicked openly; for 'tis to very little purpose for them to sneak into Corners, unless they could find one dark enough to conceal them from God, and cover them from his All-feeing Eye.. For why fhould that man be ashamed or afraid to let a Boy or Neighbour be confcious to his Wickedness, that never fcruples to commit it in the open View of the dreadful Majefty of Heaven, by whofe final Sentence his everlasting Fate must be decided?

And fo on the other hand, to what purpose fhould we study to be more devout and temperate, fober, and charitable in the view of the World, than we are in our Retirements, when we have no other Eye but God's upon us? That which we are mainly concerned in, is to approve our felves to him, and if we can do this, what great matter is it though our Clofet be all our Stage, and Heaven our only Spectator? God hears the fofteft Whif pers of our Souls, and fees through all our honest Intentions, and our most fecret Vertues are as legible to his Eye as if they were written on our Foreheads with a Sun-beam. We need no Trumpet to proclaim our Alms in his Ears, for he knows by whom fuch a poor man was relieved, fuch a starving family fuccoured, though we should not fuperfcribe our Names upon our Charity, nor let our left hand know what our right hand hath done. And if by the fincere Discharge of our Duty we have approved our felves to God, what need we concern our felves any farther; fince 'tis not from Men, but from God, that we expect the Recompence

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of our Obedience. No doubtlefs, did we but live under the constant fenfe of Gods Prefence with, and Inspection over us, we fhould regard him much more in every good action, and the good Opinion of the World much leß than we do; and the more fecret our good Deeds were, the more we fhould rejoyce in them, because they would give us a ftronger Teftimony of our Simplicity and Sincerity. For what fhould move us to be good when God only fees us, but pure refpect to his Authority, and an honeft Intention of obeying him? and if Obedience be our Design, the more private our good Deeds are, the more Pleasure they will affords us, because those good Deeds have moft of Obedience in them, that have leaft of the Theatre.

VI. To profper our Course and Progreß in the Chriftian Warfare, it is alfo neceffary, that we fhould frequently examine and review our own actions. For this our Religion injoyns as a neceffary Part of the militant Life of a Chriftian. So 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Examine your felves whether you be in the faith, prove your own felves; and particularly, it is injoyned as a proper Preparation to the Sacrament, Let a man examine himself, and fo let him eat, 1 Cor. xi. 28. So alfo Gal. vi. 4. Let a man prove, or examine, his own work, where the Greek word δοκιμάζειν, which in all thefe Texts we render to prove or examine, hath two Significations. First, to call our felves to Account, to try our past actions by the Rule, whether they be good or evil; Secondly, to take fuch a due Care of our actions as that upon a strict Trial of them we may be able to approve them to God and our own Confciences.

In the first of which Senfes the New Teftament doth most commonly understand it, namely, to call our felves to Account, and make a strict Survey of our actions, and pafs an impartial Judgment upon them, whether they are good or evil; and accordingly, 1 Cor. xi. 31. instead of Soxualita in Verfe 28. i.e. Let a man examine himself, the Apostle ufes as a Synonymous Phrafe, Sanpirauer, i. e. if we judge our felves, if we fummon our paft Actions before the Tribunal of our Confciences, and try and examine thèm by the Rule whether they are good or evil, and according as we find them, to approve or condemn our felves for them.

And this is a Duty of great Neceffity to the fuccefsful Profecution of our Chriftian Warfare. For unless we do frequently reflect upon our felves, and take a strict account of our past actions and Behaviour, we fhall incur a thousand Errors and Immoralities in the Hurry of our fecular Occafions, without taking any notice of them; and those fins which we beedlefly commit, and never think of afterwards, though at firft perhaps they may have little or no Malice in them, do yet leave a malicious Infufion behind them, and infect the will with bad Inclinations, and infenfibly difpofe it to wilful and deliberate Sins. For the Pleasure of one bad action will be still inviting us to another, and that to a third, and fo we shall be inconfiderately tolled on from Sin to Sin in the courfe of a heedles and unreflecting Life, till,before ever we are aware, our Inclination to the Sin which we have fo heedlefly repeated, becomes too ftrong for our pious Refolution. For when we have carelefly permitted

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one Sin to break through our Fence, that will open a gap for another to follow, and if this be not prefently stopt by Repentance, 'twill make the Breach yet wider for others, and thofe again for others, till at last they have quite trodden down our good Refolution, and made a Through-fare in our Wills for a Custom of finning. But if we frequently reflect upon, and examine our felves, 'tis impoffible our Faults fhould long efcape our Discovery, and we fhall be fure to fee them time enough to correct and amend them before they are too deeply rooted in our Natures, and have wound themfelves too far into our Inclinations; and a wound in our Innocence, as well as our Bodies, may be eafily cured, if it be taken in time, but if it be neglected too long, it will rankle by degrees into an incurable Gangreen.

And as frequent Self-Examination is a great Bridle to our Sin, fo it is alfo an effectual Spur to our Vertue. For as when a man reflects upon his Sins and Miscarriages, and confiders how and where he hath done amifs,his Confcience will be presently urging and exciting him to Repentance and Amendment, fo when he reflects upon his own Vertue and Sincerity, his Confcience will fmile upon and crown him with Applaufcs, and give him fuch a sweet and grateful Relish of his own Actions, as will mightily incourage him to perfevere in Well-doing. For in all our Self-Examinations we tafte the difference between Good and Evil, the Sweetness of that, and the Bitternes of this, and confequently, the oftner we do fo, the more we fhall be fure to like and approve of the one, and to dislike and nauseate the other.

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Wherefore to fecure a good fuccefs to this our Christian Warfare, as it is neceffary, especially at first, that we should every Morning, before we go into the World, repeat and enforce our good Refolution, fo it is no lefs requifite, especially till we have made fome confiderable Progrefs, that we fhould every Night, when we are withdrawn from the World, ftrictly examine the performances of the Day, whether they are fuch as do comport with our folemn Engagements. And if upon an impartial Survey, it appear that they do, though as yet it be but weakly and imperfectly, let us attend to the Senfe of our own Minds, to that filent Melody that refounds from our Consciences to our Actions, and fo lie down in Peace, bleffing and adoring that Grace, by which we have been affifted and preferved. Or if it appear that we have been unwarily faulty, for want of due Care and Watchfulness, let us refolve to take more Care for the future, and thereby to put a timely Stop to our Sin before it hath too far infinuated into our Will and Inclinations; but if we are confcious of any wilful Breach upon our Morning Vows of Obedience, let us lament and bewail it with Shame and Indignation. What have I done, O wretched Traitor that I am to God and my own foul! I have falfified my Vows to Heaven, and broke thofe Sacred Bands by which I was tied up from my Lufts, and my Ruine. What can I plead for my felf, bafe and unworthy that I am? With what Face can I go into his dreadful Prefence whom I have fo often mocked with my treacherous Promifes of Amendment? Yet go I will, though I am all afhamed and confoun ded, and confefs and bewail mine Iniquity before him.

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