The Great Aims of Religion.
Were a man (says Dr. Barrow) designed only like a fly, to buzz about here for a time, sucking in the air and licking in the dew, then soon to vanish back into nothing, or to be transformed into worms, how sorry and despicable a thing were he! And such, without religion, we should be. But it supplieth us with business of a most worthy nature and lofty importance; it setteth us upon doing things great and noble as can be; it engageth us to free our minds from all fond conceits, and to cleanse our hearts from all corrupt affections, to curb our brutish appetites, to tame our wild passions, to correct our perverse inclinations, to conform the disposition of our souls and the actions of our lives to the eternal laws of righteousness and goodness. It putteth us upon the imitation of God, and aiming at the resemblance of his perfections; upon obtaining a friendship, and maintaining a correspondence with the high and holy above; upon fitting our minds for conversation and society with the wisest and purest spirits above; upon providing for an immortal state; upon the acquisition of joy and glory everlasting.