Page images
PDF
EPUB

nough to make a Man's hair stand on end, and yet it is but reasonable, efpecially in this point, of making light of the Death of Christ Jesus; fo great a love, and written in fuch legible CharaAers too, flighted and abused, and made a help to Sin, improved into Licentiousness, may justly be fuppofed to draw down that Judgment we read of, Isa. 6. 9, 10. Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and fee ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; left they fee with their eyes, and bear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed.

But what is worse than all this, the Death of the Son of God, which thus, inftead of Mortifying, makes Sin reign in your mortal Bodies, will be the greatest witness against you in the last day. The ftone fhall cry out of the Wall, and the beam out of the Timber shall answer against the oppreffor, faith the Prophet, Hab. 2. 11. And then fure Blood hath a louder voice, Heb. 12. 14. and the Blood of a Crucified Saviour will be one day the greatest Evidence against you, This, like Oil, will encrease your Flames, and prove the Brimstone, that fhall make the Fire blaze the more. That Jefus, whofe Crofs thou defpifeft now, will be thy Accufer then; and woe to that Man that hath the Judge himself for his Enemy. That dreadful Spectacle, the Crucifixion of the Lord of Life, which cannot engage thy Soul to confider the Indignation, Abhorrency, and Hatred God bears to Sin, will be the great Argument then, that shall

[ocr errors]

cover thy Face with everlasting Confufion. As lovely, as charming, as amiable as this Mercy. looks now, it will look as difmal then; and that which is now thy Anchor, will be thy Terror then; and thou wilt run away from Mercy as much then as thou doft from God's Thunder now; for thou wilt not be able to look upon this Mercy without blushing, and to think how thou haft undervalued it, will make thee ready to hide thy felf from its brightness. Every Beam will dart horror into thy Soul, and every Ray will be an arrow in thy Heart. When thou shalt fee in that day the Spirits of Men made perfect; the Men in white, who have washed their Robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; when thou fhalt reflect on their Happiness, a Happiness which thou mightest have had as well as they, (if that Blood could have perfwaded thee to cleanse thy felf from all filthinefs both of Flesh and Spirit) how will thine Eyes flow with Tears, to think what strong delufions thou haft lain under, in thinking that this Blood was only fpilt that thou mighteft wallow more freely in the mire. The Lamb which was flain from the Foundation of the World, and came to take away thy Sins as well as thy Neighbours, only thou wouldft not be clean; that Lamb, I fay, as harmlefs as its looks are now, will then change his afpect; and thou, that now thinkeft a Lamb can be nothing but kind, wilt then find by woful experience that there is fuch a thing as the Indignation and Wrath of the Lamb, Rev. 6. 16..

"

CHAP.

CHA P. V.

Of the various Mifchiefs arising from neglect of Confideration. The want of it proved to be the Caufe of most Sins. Some Inftances are given in Atheism, Unbelief, Swearing, Pride, Carelefnefs in God's Service, Lukewarmness, Covetousness, &c.

ROM what has been faid, we may fafely draw this Conclufion, That want of Confideration is the unhappy Spring, from which most of the Miferies and Calamities of Mankind flow. There may be inferior and subordinate caufes, as the barrenness of a Field may proceed from the Thorns which overspread it, from the Stones which lie fcattered upon it, from want of Dunging, from the Rushes that grow in it, &c. but the principal caufe is the Sluggard's idleness and lazinefs; fo here the Miseries of Mankind may owe their existence to various accidents and occurrences, but the Mafter-caufe is want of Confideration. Indeed, God, Ifa. 5. 12, 13. makes this the great reafon why his People were gone into Captivity; why their honourable Men were famifhed, and their multitude dried up with thirst; why Hell had enlarged her felf, and opened her mouth without meafure, and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, defcended into it. It's the want of it which in all Ages hath procured God's Judgments, which by

Confideration might have been stopt and prevented. Had Adam improved his Solitariness in the Garden of Eden, into ferious Confideration of the nature of the Precept his Master gave him, and reflected on the Wisdom of the Supreme Law-giver that made it; on the immense Bounty his great Benefactor had crowned him withal; on the abominable Ingratitude he would make himself guilty of by breaking fo reafonable an Injunction; had he but recollected himfelf, (when tempted to eat of the dangerous Fruit, under a pretence that it would open his Eyes, and make him as wife as God) and thought that the Creator of Heaven and Earth knew best what degree of wisdom and knowledge became a Creature of his quality and condition; and he that was all Love, and Beauty, and Kindnefs, would not have interdicted him that Fruit if the Food might have any way advanced his Happiness, and that therefore there must be fome cheat in the Temptation; That the Angels, which were lately thrown down from their Glory, could not but envy the Felicity he enjoyed, and for that reafon would appear in all manner of fhapes, and try a thousand ways to weaken the favour of God towards him; and that it was, without all peradventure, the fafeft way to prefer an express Command before an uncertain Suggeftion: That it was below the Almighty to fay and unfay; to forbid, and yet permit; to caution, and yet to connive; to declare his will to day, and countermand it to morrow; and that fuch Weakneffes are scarce reconcilable to the Temper of a wife Man on R

Earth,

Earth, much lefs to the Rules of Infinite Wif dom: Had his Mind taken a view of fuch Arguments as these, and of the uninterrupted Proiperity and Immortality he was promised upon his Obedience; it's not the Charms, or Rhetorick, or foft Language of a Wife, nor the fubtilty of a Serpent, nor the pretended Omnifcience the Devil flatter'd him withal, would have made him leave that happy ftate which the infinite Goodness of Heaven had placed him in. But while he fuffers the Pleafure of a Garden to transport his Soul, and to blind it, fears no ill, no mischief, no danger among the Roses and Flowers of Paradife, embraces the deceitful Suggestion, without examining the cause, the manner, or the end of it; fwallows the fatal Bait without chewing; believes a Wife, and a Beaft, without confidering the confequence of the Fact, and inquires not how God may refent his curiofity; he falls into Death and Misery, and drags all his Pofterity after him.

Had the Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrak reflected, like rational Men, on the Reproofs and Admonitions of righteous Lot,ruminated on his paffionate Expreffions, taken notice of the Motives he used, of the Incouragements he alledged, of the Commiffion he produced, of the Authority by which he acted, confidered the kindness of the Almighty in fending them fuch a Preacher, and thought with themselves, That fure it could not be the Preacher's Intereft to fet himself against their Vices: That except Confcience and a Divine Commiffion had prompted him to attempt their Reformation, it was not probable

« PreviousContinue »