*Let us suppose that this man, instead of putting out his eyes, had only employed them in looking at _ridiculous things_, or shut them up in _sleep_; that instead of _starving_ himself to death, by not eating at all, he should turn every meal into a _feast_, and eat and drink like an _epicure_, could he be said to have lived more to the glory of God? Could he any more be said to act the part for which God had created him, than if he had put out his eyes, and starved himself to death? Now do but suppose a man extinguishing his _reason_, instead of putting out his _eyes_, and living in a course of folly and impertinence, instead of starving himself to death, and then you have found out as _great a rebel_ against God. ♦6. *If we consider mankind as a redeemed order of _fallen spirits_, that are baptized into a fellowship with the Son of God; to be temples of the Holy Ghost; to live according to his holy inspirations; to offer to God the reasonable sacrifice of an humble, pious, and thankful life; to purify themselves from the disorders of their fall; to make a right use of the means of grace, in order to be sons of eternal glory: if we look at mankind in this true light, then we shall find, that all tempers that are contrary to this holy society; all actions that make us unlike to Christ, have every thing in them that can make us odious to God. So that tho’ _pride_ and _sensuality_, do not hurt civil society, as _cheating_ and _dishonesty_ do; yet they hurt that society, and oppose those ends, which are greater and more glorious in the eyes of God, than all the societies that relate to this world. ♦ Number 5 omitted in text. 7. *Nothing therefore can be more foolish, than to imagine, that because we are private persons who have taken upon us no charge or employment, therefore we may live more at large, indulge our appetites, and be less careful of holiness, for it is as good an excuse for _cheating_ and _dishonesty_; because he that abuses his _reason_, that indulges himself in _lust_ and _sensuality_, and neglects to act the wise reasonable part of a Christian, has every thing in his life to render him hateful to God, that is to be found in _cheating_ and _dishonesty_. If therefore you rather chuse to be an _idle epicure_, than to be _unfaithful_; if you rather chuse to live in _lust_ and _sensuality_, than to injure your neighbour in his goods, you have made no better a provision for the favour of God, than he that rather chuses to rob a _house_, than to rob a _church_. For the abusing of our own nature, is as great a disobedience against God, as the injuring our neighbour; and he that wants piety towards God, has done as much to damn himself, as he that wants honesty towards men. 8. Another argument to prove that all orders of men are obliged to be thus holy in the common course of their lives, in the use of every thing that they enjoy, may be taken from our obligation to _prayer_.