of God's Justice, yet it will make amends for that, by inclining us to adore his Goodness. If it fits us not so well for the Secrecy of a Closet, it makes us serviceable to the World. If it shall not seem to contribute towards Godly Sorrow, or Contrition, it will give us more Opportunities of Charity, Affability, Friendship, and Generosity, which are all of them Divine Graces, as well as Faith, and Repentance.
It is a great Error to think that Religion does only consist in one sort of Duties. It is as various as the Dispositions, the Qualities, the Conditions of Men: With some, the severe, the strict, the retir'd are best: with others, the bountiful, the affable, the cheerful, the friendly. Of both which kinds I will not say whether is to be preferr'd: But this is true, that while the first are chiefly limited to the regulating of our own Hearts, the influence of the last extends much farther; to spread the Fame of the Gospel in the World; to make it appear lovely in the Eyes of all Beholders; and to allure them to submit to the honourableness, the gentleness, the easiness of its Yoke. And this methinks is evident in our Saviour's Life: For whenever he intended to convert any to his Faith, he did it by some visible good Work, in the sight of the Multitude. But he never gain'd any Disciple by the Conflicts which he was pleas'd to undergo in his own Mind; for he perform'd his Fast, and his Agony alone, in the Wilderness, and the Garden.
In the next place I will affirm, That it is improbable that even the hardest and most rigorous parts of Mortification itself should be injur'd by these Studies more than others; seeing many Duties of which it is compos'd, do bear some resemblance to the Qualifi-
