befowed? How would Harvest be brought in, if Carpenters and Husbandmen should pretend difficulty? If Men will be Droans, excufes are foon found out. Our Understandings are quick enough to light upon evafions, and I never knew any Sinner whofe Wits would not ferve him to reason himself out of a known Duty. And of this nature is the pretence of Hardship Men alledge. And who fees not that this is but a fhift to fatisfie their Confciences, that they may not twitch them for the Omiffion; and they must have fome plea leaft they should fin bare-fac'd, and feem to affront God without caufe or inftigation. And indeed this plea is a true ftroak of the Devil; for though the way to Deftruction be far more craggy, and infinitely fuller of Precipices than the way to Life, (witness Mens breaking through Infamy, the hatred of their Friends, the difpleasure of their Relations, the fences of Modefty, the fcorn of Angels, the indignation of a confuming Fire, to get at Sin; witness the venturing fometimes their Fortunes, fometimes their Lives, fometimes their Reputation, fometimes the ruine of their Families to please the Devil;) yet the broad-way being down, whereas the trait is up the Hill, his perfuafion prevails the fooner, that the former is infinitely more facile and easie; and thus he afperfes and feeks to crack the Credit of this fpotlefs Virgin,Confideration, the Joy of Angels, the Envy of Devils, the Off-fpring of God; and the great Ladder whereby Men must climb to Heaven, and hard it must be, though nothing be more eafie; 'tis a thing portable, and is al

ways

ways to be had; it's always in feafon, always at hand, always within call, no burthen in a Journey, no load in a Voyage, Men may carry it with them where-ever they go; when they are travelling, when they stay at home; in company, and out of company; when they are walking, when they are fitting down; when they go to bed, when they rife; they need not run beyond Sea to fetch it, nor revolve many Books to be Masters of it; they need not fail to the Antipodes to compafs it, nor dig under ground to find it; they need not ranfack the Indies to inrich themfelves with it, nor venture Shipwrack to bring it home; they need not fell Lands and Houses to purchase it; nor run the hazard of Sword and Fire to fecure it; they need not clamber Mountains to poffefs it, nor wade through Rivers to inherit it; They carry this Treasure in their Hearts, and it must be mere fluggishness if they let it lie there and make no ufe of it. The Fire is hid under the Ashes, and they need but stir it, and blow it, and it will foon flame out; and God hath made the Duty fo eafie on purpose that Men might not be deluded by the Devil into a belief of its impoffibility.Strange ftupidity! they do not think it hard to carry Talents of Lead, or Mountains of Sin on their Backs, and yet they think Confideration hard; even that Confideration which like a faithful Friend, would tell them how to be rid of that heavy load they bear, a load which would immediately fink them into Hell, but that the Devil puts under his shoulder, and helps them to carry it, and so they feel it not. They do

not

not think it hard to dig into Hell, and yet they think Confideration hard, which would teach them a way how to quench that fire.They do not think it hard to be oppreffed by a most bloody Ufurper, and yet they think Confideration hard, which would fhow them how they might fhake off that Yoke,which neither they nor their Forefathers were ever able to bear. Look how laborious the Priests of Baal are in the Worship of their God! They cut themfelves with Launcets till the Blood gush out upon them. They do not think it hard to bleed, yet they think it hard to leave Fornication. The Idolaters, IS.44. 12, 13. see what pains they take: The Smith with the Tongs both worketh in the Coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the ftrength of his Arms; yea, he is hungry, and his ftrength faileth; he drinks no water, and is faint. The Carpenter ftretcheth out his Rule, he marketh it out with a Line,he fitteth it out with Plains, he markethit out with the Compass, and maketh it after the figure of a Man, according to the beauty of a Man, that it may remain in the Houfe. This they do not think hard, yet think Self-denial in a beloved Paffion hard; a true Emblem of all unconverted Sinners in general. They do not think it hard to obey every little Slave, every filly Luft, every common Soldier in that Camp, of which themselves might be the Generals; and yet they think Confideration hard, which would free them from that Tyranny, and acquaint them with a way how they might be Kings and Priests unto God, and fhine as the Stars in the Firmament for ever.

O Men unwise, and flow of Heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken; you that have courage to meet an Army in the Field, and, to ufe Job's expreffion, have confidence to laugh at the glittering fpear and the field, Job 39.23. You that have courage to plow the Sea, to face a Cannon, to mock a shower of Arrows, to stand a Volly of Shot, to fight Duels, to expose your Lives, to lay Siege to a Fort, to endure the noife of Guns, to hear the clashing of Swords, to lie on the cold ground many nights together, or to have an Arm or Leg cut off to preserve the founder parts of your Bodies; You that have Courage to do all this, and do not think it hard, fhall you think Confideration hard? Even that Confideration, that would make you live like Men, and free you from the rubbish the lapsed pofterity of Adam lies groaning under: You that do things every day almoft much harder, and much more difficult than Confideration is, will you fcruple that which may be perform'd with greater eafe, and which you are more oblig'd to, than adventuring on the Dangers I mentioned?

II. Impediment.

II. Love of the World, and being continually employed about fenfual objects. This is another Impediment of Confideration. And indeed we need not wonder to fee Men negle&ful and carelefs of this great and neceffary Work, when the World takes up their Hearts, and engroffes their Affections; when we fee how all their Plots,

Defigns,

Defigns, Contrivances, Defires are for the World, and when they mind only fleshy things, as the Apostle phrases it, Phil. 3. 19. This was well expreffed by the ancient Parable, in which a Traveller is reprefented fleeing from the fierceness and rage of an Unicorn, but as he flees, he falls into a Pit, and rolling down, lays hold on the bough of a Tree, and now thinks himself fecure from all danger. But as he looks about, he beholds two Moles corroding the root of the Tree he holds by, and underneath him a Dragon fpitting fire, and threatning to devour him; and on both fides of him four Serpents hifling; and in the midst of all this danger, fome Honey trickling down from the Tree, with the sweetness of which, and agreeableness to his Palate, he is fo taken and ravish'd, that he forgets his Fears, and rejoyces, though furrounded with fo many implacable Enemies. The Unicorn is Death, the Pit is the World, the Tree Man's Life, the two Moles Day and Night, the four Serpents the four Elements Man is compofed of, the Dragon is the Devil, and the Honey Voluptuoufnefs, or the fweetnefs and pleasures of the World.

What I mean by the World none can be ignorant of, that hath either read what wife Men have written concerning it, or hath heard the word of the Gospel founding in his Ears. For indeed it's not the least part of our Commiffion to dehort and diffuade Men from fixing their Affections on thefe fublunary Objects, and but that continual inculcating of the fame thing would make our Auditors naufeate the most whole

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