upon as a task fit only for Men who have nothing else to imploy their time in. And yet in their temporal Concerns fuperfluous things are most coveted; Rooms of State they feldom make use of, more Provision than they can well spend, more Furniture than they need, more Garments than they have juft occafion for: So that fuperfluous things are not always caft afide, and therefore Converfion might, at least, be as much minded, as those fuperfluities of Vanity. But the fame reafon that serves them in Temporal, doth not ferve them in Spiritual things; and they will count that a good Argument in matters relating to their Bodies, which they will by no means admit of in a point relating to their Soul, though the cafe and circumstances be the fame. And as it is with Men, that will not receive a Present sent them from one they fcorn; they do not only refuse the Gift, but will not fee the Meffenger that brings it: So here, Confideration being the Messenger that would prefent them with the vaft Treafure of Converfion, they do not only reject the Gift, but the Donor too. Indeed, where People defpife the House, they'll have no great value for the Porch; and when the End feems needlefs, they'll not trouble themfelvés much about using the Means that lead to it. And fuch Perfons we must leave to be convinced of the neceffity of Converfion, by their Punishment. Since Reason cannot perfuade them, Judgment must take away the Veil from their Eyes. What Exhortation cannot effect, Thunder muft produce. What they will not believe

believe upon the Word of God, they must be forced to give affent to by the Flames they fhall e're long feel the rage and fury of; and God, who could not be glorified in their Converfion, muft glorifie himself in their everlasting Confufion.

IX. Impediment.

IX. Miftaking the Nature of Confideration. As the way to Life is but one, fo the ways that lead to Destruction are infinite, and without number. And fuch root doth a Sinful Life, if not check'd betimes, take in Men, that if they can but find the fhadow of an excufe, they will not fail to lay hold of it, that they may not part with what they love fo dearly. It's from hence, that all their little attempts to perform their Duties, pafs with them for the Duties themselves; as if lifting up, or moving a piece of Lead, were as much as carrying of it from one place to another. They would be angry with their Servants, if demanded what work they have done, they fhould reply, that they have executed their Mafter's Command, when they have only touch'd the Plow with a Finger, or played with it to divert them; and take it very ill of a Waterman, that fhould ask Money of them for carrying them to the place they intended for, if he should but give a ftroke or two with his Oar, and fo give over; and laugh at that Perfon, that should pretend he hath made them a Fire, when he hath laid but two or three sticks together. The folly

j

they

they find fault within others, they practise themfelves; and while they pretend to take the Mote out of their Brother's Eye, they are infenfible of the Beam that is in their own; for thus we find they do proceed, when exhorted to a fe rious Confideration of their ways; they take every fad Thought of their Spiritual Concerns for Confideration, and a rambling Imagination of their danger, paffes for contemplation of their Spiritual wretchednefs.

Because now and then, when fome lofs or affliction befalls them, a melancholy conceit fteals into their minds; and when they cannot have their Will, or are croffed, and disappointed in their Worldly expectations, they begin to fret, and grow impatient, and in that Impatience give a look to the Image of Jefus, and his Difciples, who endured great afflictions; because when their Children have dealt unkindly by them, or Poverty is like to come upon them, they vouchsafe to let in a tranfient Contemplation of the World's Vanity; and when fome great Man hath caft them off, or their Friends are difpleafed with them, they do flightly reflect on the never-failing compaffion of God, and cast a careless look on their Sins, that may have deferved the trouble they are under; they give out, they consider the things that belong unto their Peace; and if those flashes do not produce the effects in them the Holy Ghost expects, they are apt to charge Confideration with unfufficiency; and cry out against it, as a means improper to produce that feriousness of Life, which God requires

of them in order to everlasting Happinefs; as if, like Aqua fortis, it would take out the Ink which Sin and the Devil have caft on their Souls in a moment; and a Raven could be changed into a Swan, with an Almighty Fiat, let it be fo, and it must be fo. Wherein they appear to me like young and hafty Chymifts, that are impatient, and will not let the Menftruum ftand long enough, but would have the Experiment perfect, before the matter be ripe for operation; and thus they come to miscarry.

To think how Men play the fool with Religion, how aukardly they go about it, and how filly the Apologies are they make for this neglect, cannot but make a fober Man admire, how it's poffible for them to fink into fuch fimplicity, or fondness rather, to delude their own Souls! They know it is not a stroke or two that will fell a Tree; nor knocking twice, or thrice, that will pull down a House; nor blowing flightly, that will make green Wood burn; and yet that they fhould be fo fottifh, fo impertinent, fo abominably careless in the greatest Concern of their Lives; and fancy, that a few careless Thoughts now and then will produce that circumfpect Life God commands and urges; betrays fo great a fhallowness of Reason, and is an act fo weak, that I know not how to give it a name disparaging and low enough.

Alas, Confideration, as hath been hinted before, is a frequent, reiterated, lively reprefentation of the Danger of a finful Life; and, SINNER, didft not thou go about it like a Man

that

that is in jeft, thou wouldst fee what wonders it doth cause. Didft thou fet upon this thought ful task in fober fadnefs; and, if the firft, and fecond, and third Confideration, would not weaken the Fortifications, or ftrong Holds of Iniquity, affault them with fresh fupplies of Thoughts, and aggravate the Sins thou wouldst be rid of, and think how often flighted conviAtions border upon the Sin against the Holy Ghost, and move God to fwear in his Wrath, that fuch Men fhall never enter into his Reft; thou wouldst not find that relish in Sin, which now thou doft; thou wouldst find it hath more of the Gall and Wormwood in it than of the Honey. The fenfual Appetite would lofe much of its heat and fury, and thy Paflions would be brought into a cooler temper. Elisha bid the King of Ifrael fmite upon the ground, and he fmote thrice, and ftayed; And the Man of God was wroth with him, and faid, Thou shouldft have fmitten five or fix times, then hadft thou fmitten Syria till thou hadst confumed them, 2 Kings 13. 18, 19. An Emblem of what is to be done in the cafe before us. Sin may be weakned by fome ftrokes of Confideration, but will not be confumed without thofe ftrokes be often repeated.

One great Error Men lie under, is this, that they confider the pleasure of Sin, more than the benefits of a serious Religious Life; and whatever hath most of my Confideration, must neceffarily prevail moft with me. Let but the want of God's Love be more thought of,than outward Poverty, and God's Holiness and hatred of Sin

0 4

dwell