ther indeed can be, Rom. 8. 7. That St. Paul readily confeffeth; but then the Mind of a Man ought not to be carnal, nor need it continue fo, after it hath been depraved: We are required by the Doctrine of Religion to purify our Minds from this corrupt Quality, to put off the old Man, and to put on the new, Ephef. 4. 22, 23. and to make us a new Heart, and a new Spirit, Ezek. 18. 31. And then the correction of our Tempers will enable us to regulate our Paffions, if not "facilitate our moderation of them. Therefore we muft not say, that we are not able to exercise rule over our own Spirit, nor can we fay it with truth, so long as we know that the pretended Difficulty and Impoffibility of that Government arifeth from, and is owing to fome faulty Difeafe and Pravity in our Minds, which we are exceedingly to blame to fuffer there.

Neither can Difability be juftly pleaded in the Cafe, if we confider the great Power of our Faith, upon which I have in part infifted already for if we often look forward to the Future Life, by frequent Meditations upon what we believe concerning the Blifs of the other World, our Affections then will be difengaged as they ought from earthly Things, being fet upon the Things above, they will hang inore loofe from this World, when they are fixed upon

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a Better; and we fhall be able to rule them about temporal Things, when they are in earneft profecution of the Things eternal. Faith in God, and the ferious Confideration of another Life, will give all our Paffions their proper Employment, and fet them to their true Ufe, and then it will not be fo eafy for the Pleafures or Pains of this World, to ufurp upon them, and to lead them captive. This Hope is what the Apoftle to the Hebrews calls an Anchor of the Soul, Heb. 6. 19. which tho' it be fixed out of our fight, yet keeps the Mind fteddy from being toffed about with the Storms and Waves of this troublefome World. If a Man then duly affects himfelf with the great Concerns of his Faith, and makes them often prefent to his Mind, this will raife him above things of fo little value in comparison, as the tranfient Concerns of our worldly Life are, which are the things that fteal away our Hearts, and make our Affections unruly; and fo that fame Faith which St. John ftiles the Victory that overcometh the World, is the Victory that overcometh our felves, 1 John, 5. 4.

All the while, methinks the being duly aware of thofe Mischiefs to Soul and Body, both in this World and the other, which unmortified Lufts and Paffions do expose us to, how in this Cafe we are here like a City broken down and without Walls, and what will

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be our Ruin hereafter I fay, the very thinking and confidering of fuch Mischiefs doth of it felf go a great way towards finding us Strength against our corrupt Af fections and Appetites, and refcuing us from the Power of them, and it will fet all Means and Endeavours a going in order to our deliverance from their Power: That is, if we confider these things with defign to better ourfelves by them, and take fome pains with our felves accordingly; otherwife nothing is like to be done, and our Thoughts of this fort will unprofitably flip away, and there will be only the bitterer Reflection upon our own Carelefnefs in the end.

It remains then that I direct briefly what Way we are to take, and what Means are fit and proper to be used by us to have our Paffions under Rule: And here I muft own, that there is a great difference between the Cafe of thofe that have a long time lain under the Power of unruly Lufts and Paffions, and theirs, that as yet, have rather evil Inclinations, than evil Habits to overcome for the Reformation of the former muft needs be harder to them than the Duty of the latter is to them; which Confideration fhould prevail with all younger Perfons to make ufe of their Advantages, and to curb their Affections betimes: But I fhall not need to make diftinct Applications to these two Sorts of Perfons, be

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cause they are very much the fame Means, by which the one Sort muft recover, and the other preferve themselves: Only they that have been a long time driven by their fenfual Appetites and Paffions, must use fuch Means with double Diligence and Refolution.

Now that our Affections and Lufts may not get the Dominion over us, these things we ought to do: We muft in the first place be careful ever to oppofe and quafh fuch Beginnings from which they at length gather an Head, and become inordinate: We ought to be fo vigilant over our felves, as timely to check and rebuke all malicious, revengeful, proud, unclean, covetous, or repining Thoughts at their firft ftarting, and finding Place in our Minds: For it is no dallying with corrupt and impure Imaginations, nor dwelling long upon naughty Thoughts. We are not to make a light matter of this, because we do not know what it may grow to, nor confider how great a Fire, a little Spark my kindle. When we cherifh ill things in our Hearts, when we heat ourselves with fancying luftful or revengeful Pleafure; or with a covetous fancying and fuppofing another Man's Wealth to be our own, or the like, we do thereby put our Paffions into a ferment, and fet them a working after no good, and in time they rife to that height, as to get the maftery

maftery of us; and the more we are driven by them, the lefs we are in our own Power, and they hurry us into all kinds of Sin and Mifery. In the mean while, fo dangerous are fuch Beginnings as thefe, that the Devil many times, when he difcovers them

in us, takes advantage from them to bring us by degrees to adventure upon the greatest Wickedness, making us fearless of the vileft Doings, and blackeft Sins. But then by the way, if we ought to look to our felves, to fee that we oppofe the very firft Motions that we find towards Inordinacy of Paffion, how far are they from following of this Counfel, who will often put themselves out of their own Power and Rule at their Cups of Intemperance, and when they have drank away their Defence, and difmiffed their Guard, are betrayed by their Excefs into the frantick Actions of Fools and Madmen? or into the Filthinefs of Beafts, or the Fury of Devils?

And as we are carefully and wifely to refift fuch bad Beginnings in our felves, which if they be not withftood, do certainly at one time or other turn to unruly Paffion: so to bé fure, with a vigorous Prefence of Mind, we are to refift the actual Beginnings of inordinate Paffions at their firft appearing or returning, and our firft perceiving them to be diforderly and outragious; for this it will be much easier to do, than to take them off,when they are in their full Career. And this Ad