5. It must therefore be the first office of Christian prudence, to make God our end. For indeed not to do so, is the greatest folly that any man can possibly be guilty of. For what can we expect but vanity and disappointment all over, a fruitless labour, and a deluded and abortive hope, if we place our happiness any where but in him, who is the true object of it? ’Tis like leaning with our full force upon what cannot bear our weight, the consequence of which is, to fall with violence. And what an imprudence is this, especially for a Christian, since the clear revelation of the gospel, concerning the true end and final happiness of man: wherein our Saviour hath plainly declared, _This is life eternal to know thee, the only true God_! Since God has not only given us a nature capable of happiness, but has also endued us with faculties and desires, which nothing but himself can satisfy, and he both can and will; and above all, since he has been pleased, lest we should miss the end ♦of our being, to point it out to us, and to tell us that himself is the good, which we so passionately desire, and so blindly seek; it must be the very foolishness of folly for any Christian not to make God his end; much more, so to forget himself and him, as to place it in any thing of this vain world: whether it be directly and professedly, according to the language of the rich epicure, _Soul, take thy ease_; or consequentially, by pursuing the world, and cleaving to its interests, as if it were his end. And besides the folly of this conduct, it bespeaks also such a contempt of God, and of his immense greatness and goodness, as nothing can either parallel or excuse! Especially since the Son of God hath been pleased to concern himself so far for our happiness, as to make this great and excellent end attainable to us, preparing and providing, and procuring an union and communion of God with man, by uniting them both in his own person. Whether, therefore we consider the excellency, or the attainableness of this good, or the manner or price whereby it becomes attainable, God, by all means, is to be made our end, the end of all our desires, and the end of all our designs, the end of all our undertakings, all our actions, and all our hopes, to which we are to refer whatever we think, whatever we speak, and whatever we act, and in one word, to which our whole life is to be directed.
♦ duplicate word “of” removed
6. What a thorough concern then ought every Christian to feel, how hearty a care ought he to take for the obtaining and securing this his right and only end, the fruition of God? This our Saviour calls _The one thing needful_, in opposition to the many things that are apt to trouble and distract us in this busy life, which unless so far as they fall in with this, are all mere trifle and amusement. Even those affairs which carry the face of the greatest seriousness, and pretend to be of the weightiest consequence, if they are not so many parts of this, are _lighter than vanity and nothing_. For indeed a man has but one business in the world, and that is, to make sure his everlasting happiness, and to secure to himself the fruition of that excellent good, which is the true end of his being. This is the whole of man, his only considerable interest, and that upon which all depends. ’Tis not necessary, that he should be born to an estate, or that he should acquire one. ’Tis not necessary that he should succeed in his attempts, for this or that dignity or preferment; that he should live long to enjoy his wealth or greatness, or even that he should live at all. But it is absolutely necessary that he should arrive at his end, that he should attain to the fruition of God, whose loving-kindness is better than life, and without whom he cannot be happy. All the rest may be spared, but there is no dispensing with this. Should he lose all besides, and gain this one thing, yet still he would be happy. And should he gain all besides, and lose this one thing, yet still he would be miserable: for what gain will ever make amends for such a loss? Not that of the whole world, if we believe our Saviour: _What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?_ Which is then only lost, when it loses God. ’Tis therefore one great part of the prudence of every Christian, after he has fixed this his right end, to endeavour, by much consideration, to possess his mind with a due sense of its moment and importance; and of what consequence it is, that he should succeed in this affair, whatever he miscarries in besides: which when he is once thoroughly convinced of, he will then diligently apply himself to the use of such means as are necessary thereto.