on Mount Tabor; An Ifaac, that's going to meditate, is a Thorn in his Eyes; and being a Spirit that lives upon Envy, enjoys his Malice, and finds his greatest Satisfaction in destroying Men's Souls; we must suppose he leaves no Stone unturn'd, no Stratagem untried, no Means unattempted, to hinder Men from a ferious recolleЯtion of their Thoughts and Imaginations. And no Husbandman can be supposed to fet more Traps, or invent more Pit-falls, or devife more Snares for Vermin and rapacious Animals, than this Sophifter lays to divert the Stream of Men's Thoughts into a Channel of contemptible and impertinent Objects.

There is fuch Beauty, fuch Loveliness in the way of God, notwithstanding the course outfide, that should fuch a Person by serious Confideration be tempted to lift up the Veil, and fee what is behind it; remove the Sackcloth and Afhes, and take a View of that which is underneath; open the Iron Gate, and behold the Gold within; unlock the Cabinet, and fee the Jewels there; he would most certainly be ravifh'd with the fight, and not stay one hour longer in the Chambers of Death. This the Devil knows; he is fenfible that Confideration is a Tree of Life; therefore left Men put forth their hands and take of the Tree, and eat, and live for ever, we may rationally believe he'll crofs their Endeavours to the uttermoft; fo that we may fuppofe as many Impediments of Confideration, as the Devil can invent ftumbling-blocks to throw in the way to this Duty. However, let's take a view of fome of the principal.

1. The fancied Difficulty of it. Ifay, fancied, for there is not that Hardfhip in't Men imagine. But fuch Enemies are the generality of Men to their own Happiness, that they will fancy difficulties in things they are loth to do; and they therefore cry out, That they are hard, and not to be compaffed but with an infinite deal of Trouble, because they would be excufed from the Performance or Practice of them. It's ordinary for School-boys to plead Difficulty of the Task their Mafter fets them, when they have a greater mind to play than to learn; much like Solomon's flothful Man, Prov. 26. 13. There is a Lion in the Way, there is a Lion in the Streets. Vain Man! there are no Lions but in his own Brain, no confiderable Difficulties but what are of his own making. So here, Men fancy that this ferious Confideration of their Ways, is a thing which none but Scholars and Men of Learning can reach, and none are obliged to mind but Men of Letters, and fuch as are Bookifh, and read much, and have large Capacities, are Men of great Judgment, and can wholly give or dedicate themselves to this Study. A Conceit as falfe as God is true, and which we cannot reflect upon without Indignation. For common Experience refutes it. The meanest Artificers, Men that cannot read one Word, Servants of the lowest Form, the poorest Persons alive, Men whofe Fortune is as low as their Learning, do arrive to this Art, and therefore that Plea deferves to be hiss'd at: What is done may be done again; and if unlearned, ignorant, illiterate Men do very often make confiderable Progrefs in it,

there

there is no doubt but the Thing is possible and practicable, and there wants nothing but Willingness to mafter it.

There is no Man that's fenfible that Gold is better than Glaffes and Rattles, or that Pearls ought to be priz'd and valu'd more than Pebbles; there is no Man that is capable of apprehending, that three and three make fix, or can contrive and plot which way a dangerous Pond or dreadful Fire may be avoided, but may confider, whether the things the Scripture speaks of be true or no; whether the Promifes and Threatnings of the Gospel are things that belong to him; whether he lives up to the Precepts of Chrift, and what will be the Confequence of his contempt of Mercy, and what may be the means of efcaping the Wrath to come; and whether an endless Glory be not infinitely better than a few hours Pageantry, and everlasting enjoyment more fatisfactory than momentary Pleasures, and eternal Rest more defirable than a Tranfitory Titillation.

What Difficulty is there in this Confideration? What Rocks, what Precipices are there here, that must be ventured on to bring it about? I fee a whole Street on fire, and am ftruck into amazement, and cannot I confider how dreadful everlafting Fire muft be? I can confider what a lofs it was to Job to be deprived of his Sheep, and Camels, and what is more, his Children, and laft of all his Health, and Eafe, and Quiet; and cannot I confider what a Lofs it must be for me to lose more than all this comes to? I confider it's worth fitting up late, and rifing early, and running up and down, to get a Livelihood;

and

and cannot I confider how far more rational it is to fweat, and toil, and labour for an everlasting Inheritance? I can confider with delight, how much Ease and Content I fhall enjoy when fuch an Eftate, I have the reverfion of, doth fall: And cannot I confider, how happy thofe muft be, that after their patient continuance in well-doing, fhall be poffefs'd of Glory, and Honour, and Immortality, and eternal Life? I can confider how pleafant, how glorious a thing it is to live in the good Opinion of my Prince, under the Smiles and gracious Looks of my Benefactor: And cannot I confider what a Felicity doth attend them that enjoy the Light of God's Countenance? Here's but changing the Object. And I that can confider how difingenuous and fordid a Thing it is to act against a Man that hath rais'd me out of Duft, and advanc'd me to great Dignity and Preferment ; cannot I confider what Bafenefs and degenerous Ingratitude it must bé, to provoke that God who maintains me, and preferves me, and without whom I cannot breath or move? I that can confider the reasonableness of Sorrow and Grief where I have offended, and done a fignal Injury to my Superior; cannot I confider how juft and equitable it is, when I look on that Saviour whom my Sins have pierc'd, to mourn as heartily as one that mourns for his only Son? I that can confider how fad a thing it is to fit in a Dungeon, deprived of the comfortable Beams of the Sun, and what is more, of the Society of all Lovers and Acquaintance, in an Enemy's, Country, where my Food is fuch as Dogs would refufe to eat, and the Stench round about me

intolle

intollerable, cannot I confider how dreadful it will be one Day to be everlaftingly fhut out from the enjoyment of that Light which refreshes the Souls and Bodies of glorified Saints for ever, and to be thrust into a difmal Prison, whence I must come out no more till I have paid the uttermoft Farthing? Why should not my Understanding ferve me to confider the one as well as the other? Spiritual things are the moft adequate and moft proper Objects of my Understanding. They are the proper Fuel for that Flame that cherishes and feeds it, and makes it rife, and foar to Heaven. Whatever concerns Provifion for the flesh, or this prefent Life, is but a fecondary Object, more by Favour and Permiffion than by Design. For God's Defign in giving us Understandings, was that they might be Receptacles of Spiritual Truths, Store-houfes of invifible Treasures. Contrivances how we may get our bodily Wants and Neceffities fupplied, for ought I know, may be performed and ordered by Senfe alone, without Reafon, without this fublime Faculty of Understanding; as we fee in Beafts and ignobler Animals, which being Strangers to this Privilege, and directed only by Senfe, furnish themselves with Neceffaries, Conveniencies, and Superfluities: Go to the Ant thou Sluggard, confider her Ways, and be wife; which having no Guide, Overfeer, or Ruler, provideth her Meat in the Summer, and gathereth her Food in the Harveft. Prov. 6. 6, 7, 8.

But what will not Men call difficult, if they are unwilling to do what they should? How would Houfes be built? How would the Field

be