godlineſs ſhould entice us to begin and procure the ſtudy thereof with all ſpeed and dilligence, Iſai. xxx. 17. 'The works of righteouſneſs is quietneſs and aſſurance for ever. Prov. xiv. 32. The wicked is driven away in his wickedneſeſs but the righteous have hope in his death. Pſalm xxxvii. 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace, and Pſalm xcvi. 1. Light is ſown for the righteous, and gladneſs for the upright in heart. Prov. xi. 13. To him that ſoweth righteouſneſs ſhall be a reward. Tim. iv. 8. Godlineſs it profitable unto all all things, having the promiſe of the life that now is, and that which is to come.'
In the ſecond place, what is above related, ſerves for confutation; it may confute atheiſtical perſons who fly inſoleatly in the face of God, and offer a direct blow to the Almighty denying his being, providence and eternal recompences, O! fooliſh perſons, did God create you to deny him? Does nor the riſing and ſetting of the ſun, the blowing and turnings of winds, the gethering balancing, and dropping of clouds, and running of waters into one place, the growing of the herbs and trees, the ſinging and neſting of the birds, the ebbing and flowing of the ſea, the hanging of the earth in the air, the admirable virtue of the loadſtone in attraction of iron; the ſucceſſive production of living creatures; the adjuſting of deaths unto birds, ſo as the one neither hinder the multiplication of mankind nor the other overſtocks the world; do not theſe, I ſay, and innumerable other inſtances, claim the natural being, and wiſe providence of God? What a ſtupenduous frame and mechaniſm is the body of man; doth nor the curiouſneſs variety, dependence and uſefulneſs of the parts thereof, ſhew forth the admirable of the contriver? waz there ever a houſe but it had a builder, or a watch but it had a maker; or a picture but it had a limner? even ſo can we ſuppoſe, without doing violence to common
