wrong Side, he then confidently efpoufeth it; and having once given himself to maintain a Cause or a Question, tho' the one be never fo bad, and what is afferted in the other be never fo falfe, he thinks himself bound in Honour to go thro' with it, till at lalt he comes himfelt to believe Things in credible, or to think that he can justify Things that are moft inexcufable; nay, he is fometimes uneafy to them of his own Houfbald, and makes them again uneafy to him, while his Mind is toffed with inordinate Defires, or boils with Anger; he is perverfe and froward to his nearest Relations, fel dom pleased with any thing they fay or do, generally displeased with very harmless and inoffenfive Paffages, which teaches them Frowardness too, till their Paffions are fo whetted by one another, that all Kindness is loft, and his Life is as uneafy at Home as it is Abroad. And to go on a little farther with fuch a one's Character; his Paffions, under no Rule, are too often no fmall Hindrance to him in his neceffary Affairs and Business, they render him incapable of ufing his best Reason to confult for himself, they cloud his Understanding, and keep him from difcerning what is his best Way to his End; they make him unable to confider duly what ought to be done, and yet commonly they prompt him fiercely to Action; they make him rafh and heady in his Coun

fels,

fels, and forward to be doing, when he leaft knows what is proper to be done; and as they put him out of Temper to confider well for himself, fo they feldom fuffer him to take Advice from others, who, if they give him good Counfel, do commonly therefore direct him to what in his Heat he is molt averse from following; and how fhould it go well with a Man, to whom his Friends are mostly useless, and his Enemies dangerous? As to the former, when he hath no Wisdom of his own to help himself withal, he is leaft capable of the Benefit of theirs, nay, he continually difobligeth them, he maketh them weary of him, and perhaps at length he utterly lofeth them; and to the latter, he giveth the greatest Advantage against himself, he lays himself open to all their Defigns, he furnishes them with Op portunities to hurt him in his Estate, in his Perfon, and in his good Name, and in all his moft confiderable Interefts in the World; he is expofed to be made a Prey by Flatterers, by foolish and wicked Perfons, who catch him on the weak fide, who humour him in his Lufts and Appetites, or in his Rage and Revenge, and give him those Counfels, which are fo much the more pernicious to him, for gratifying his prefent Indifpofition; and how indecent and ridiculous muft he needs appear all the while, which is another Mischief incident to a Man, who

hath

hath no Rule over his own Spirit? As on the contrary, fays the Scripture, great is the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit, 1 Pet. 3. 4. For in the Height and Violence of his Paffions, what odd Conftructions doth he make of any thing that paffes, how im pertinently fierce and boisterous is he, what dangerous Words doth he utter, what foolish Things are done by him, how often doth he repent of them, almost as foon as they are faid or done, at least when the Heat of his Luft or Rage is over, when he can con+ fider the Shame which juftly belongeth thereunto? Moreover, I cannot forbear par ticularly to take notice, how that the Querulous Paffions unruled, I mean, Impatience in Affliction, Anger at the Divine Provi dence, raging Difcontent in one's State of Life, Sullennefs and Defpair, thro' want of Truft in God, and Dependance upon him, are, we know, horrid Things, which render Life fo tedious and burdenfome, that sometimes Death is chofen rather, of which there have been fad Inftances. Finally, the wife Man here likening him who hath no Rule over his own Spirit to a City that is broken down, and without Walls, to represent the unhappy Cafe of that Man, fuppofes in this Similitude and Comparison that Enemies there are, who certainly will at fome time or other take the Advantage of entring into that unfenced City; even fo, as long as

J

we

we live in this World, there will be Provocations to Anger, Temptations to Luft and Revenge, and Envy there will be Croffes and Difappointinents; there will be doubtful and fufpected Sayings; there will be Fewel for our Paffions adminiftred in great Plenty, wherever we Converfe, and have any Bufinefs to do; and therefore for a Man to have no rule over his own Spirit, is to be expofed to the perpetual Torment either of furious Wrath, or gnawing Envy, or bitter Sorrow, or miferable Fear, or impatient Defire; or of fome other vexing Luft, and to all the ill Confequences and Effects of them, than which nothing can make a Man's Life more wretched, if there were nothing to fear beyond this Life: And yet these are but the beginnings of Sor rows ; for the faddeft Confideration of all is, that hereby we contract a vaft Heap of Guilt, and are liable to the angry. Juftice of God, whofe Authority, we all the while contemn, whofe Prefence we regard not, and whose just and holy Laws we break : And when I have faid, that unmortified Paffions, with the Effects thereof, are fo many Sins against God, what should I more fay to fhew the Mifchiefs that break inupon us, when we have once left the Government of our felves? It is true, in treating on fome Subjects, it may be proK k

per enough to difcourfe of Men's diforderly Paffions in diftinction from the Guilt of their Sins; but indeed the very Exceffes of Paffion, and the wrong ufe of our Affections, are themselves Sins: The immoderate love of fenfual Pleasures, the inordinate love of Riches, cauflefs Anger, Revengefulness, an impatient Spirit, luftful Defires, and the like, have themfelves the nature of Sin, and are fo many Violations of the Laws of God, declared by Right Reafon and the Revelation of his Word. In the mean while from this Wickednefs of the Heart do all thofe actual Sins proceed, whereby we difhonour God, and do Mischief in the World; for hence come Strifes, and Railings, and Back-biting, and Fornications, and Adulteries, and Cozenages, and Thefts, and Lyings, and Cruelties, and Murders: For all thefe proceed from carnal Lufts, that is, from inordinate Affections about the things of this World. And thefe are the things which make all the Mifery in the World, and will, without a fincere and timely Repentance, make all that are guilty of them, endlefly miferable in the World to come; and if we lye open to thefe manifold Mifchiefs, by neglecting the Government of our Paffions, certainly the Wife Man had reafon to fay, He that hath no rule over his own Spirit, is like a City that is broken down, and without Walls.' And