malice and cruelty of the world could do unto them And if we would consider all things together and mind the invisible things of another world as well as the things which are seen we should easily discern that he who suffers for God and Religion does not renounce his happiness but put it out to Interest upon terms of greatest advantage and does wisely consider his own best and and most lasting interest This is the First II. This will yet more evidently appear if we consider the temporary injoyments of sin together with the mischiefs and inconveniencies attending and consequent upon them That as to the nature of them they are mixt and imperfect as to the duration of them they are short and but for a season and as to the final issue and consquence of them that they end in misery and sorrow 1. As to the nature of them all the pleasures and enjoyments of sin are mixt and imperfect A wicked Man may make a shew of mirth and pleasure but even in laughter his heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness There can be no true and sincere pleasure in any sinful and vitious course tho it be attended with all the Pomp and Splendor of outward Happiness and Prosperity for where ever sin and vice is there must be guilt and whereever guilt is the mind will be restless and unquiet For there are two very troublesome and tormenting passions which are naturally consequent upon guilt Shame and Fear Shame arising from the apprehension of the danger of being discovered and Fear from the apprehension of the danger of being punisht And these do continually haunt the sinner and fill him with inward horror and confusion in his most secret retirements And if sin were attended with no other trouble but the guilt of it a wise Man would not commit it if it were for no other reason but meerly for the peace and quiet of his own mind 2. The enjoyments of sin as to the duration of them are but short Upon this consideration Moses set no great price and value upon them but preferred affliction and suffering in good company and in a good cause before the temporary enjoyments of sin If the enjoyments of this world were perfect in their nature and had no mixture of trouble and sorrow in them Yet this would be a great abatement of them that they are of so short and uncertain a continuance The pleasure of most sins expires with the act of them and when that is done the delight vanisheth I cannot deny but there are several worldly advantages to be purchased by sin which may perhaps be of a longer continuance as Riches and Honours the common purchase of Covetousness and Ambition and of that long train of inferiour Vices which attend upon them and minister unto them but even these enjoyments are in their own nature of an uncertain continuance and much more uncertain for being purchased by indirect and ill means But if the enjoyment of these things were sure to be of the same date with our lives yet how short a duration is that compared with Eternity make the utmust allowance to these things that can be yet we can but enjoy them whilst we are in this world When we come into the world of spirits it will signifie nothing to us to have been rich or great in this world When we shall stand before that highest Tribunal it will not avail us in the least to have been Princes and great Men and Judges on the Earth the poorest Man that ever lived in this world will then be upon equal terms with the bigest of us all For all mankind shall then stand upon a level and those civil distinctions of rich and poor of base and honourable which seem now so considerable and make such a glaring difference amongst Men in this world shall all then be laid aside and moral differences shall only take place All the distinctions which will then be made will be betwixt the good and the bad the righteous and the wicked and the difference betwixt a good and bad Man will be really much greater than ever it seemed to be betwixt the highest and meanest persons in this world And if this be so why should we value the enjoyments of sin at so high a rate which at the best are only considerable and that only in the imagination of vain Men during our abode in this world but bear no price at all in that Country where we must live for ever Or if they did we cannot carry them along with us The guilt of them indeed will follow us with a vengance the injustice and all the ill arts we have used for the getting or keeping of them especially if at once we have made Shipwreck of Faith and a good Conscience If we have changed our Religion or which is much worse if continuing in the profession of it we have betrayed it and the interest of it for the gaining or securing of any of these things we shall find to our sorrow that tho the enjoyments of sin were but for a season the guilt of it will never leave us nor forsake us but will stick close to us and make us miserable for ever But this belongs to the III. Thing I proposed to speak to namely The final issue and consequence of a sinful course which is misery and sorrow many times in this world but most certainly in the next 1. In this world the very best issue and consequence of a sinful course that we can imagin is Repentance And even this hath a great deal of sensible pain and trouble in it for it is many times especially after great sins and a long continuance in them accompanied with much regret and horror with deep and piercing sorrow with dismal and despairing thoughts of God's mercy and with fearful apprehensions of his wrath and vengeance So that if this were the worst consequence of sin which indeed is the best no Man that considers and calculates things wisely would purchase the pleasure of any sin at the price of so much anguish and sorrow as a true and deep repentance will cost him especially since a true repentance does in many cases oblige Men to the restitution of that which hath been gained by sin if it hath been got by the injury of another And this consideration quite takes away the pleasure and profit of an ill gotten Estate Better never to have had it than to be obliged to refund it A wise Man will forbear the most pleasant meats if he know before-hand that they will make him deadly sick and that he shall never be at ease till he have brought them up again No Man that believes the threatnings of God and the judgment of another world would ever sin but that he hopes to retrieve all again by repentance But it is the greatest folly in the world to commit any sin upon this hope for that is to please ones self for the
present in hopes to have more trouble afterwards than the pleasure comes to But especially no Man would be guilty of an act of injustice and oppression in hopes to repent of it afterwards because there can be no repentance for such sins without restitution and 't is perfect madness for a Man to run the hazard of his Soul to get an Estate in hopes of restoring it again for so he must do that truly repents of such a sin But 2. In the other world the final issue and consequence of all the pleasures of sin unrepented of will certainly be misery and sorrow How quietly soever a sinner may pass through this world or out of it misery will certainly overtake him in the next unspeakable and eternal misery arising from an apprehension of the greatest loss and a sense of the sharpest pain and those sadly aggravated by the remembrance of past pleasure and the despair of future ease From a sad apprehension and melancholy reflection upon his inestimable loss In the other world the sinner shall be eternally separated from God who is the fountain of happiness This is the first part of that miserable sentence which shall be past upon the wicked depart from me Sinners are not now sensible of the joyes of Heaven and the happiness of that state and therefore are not capable of estimating the greatness of such a loss But this stupidity and insensibleness of sinners continues only during this present state which affords Men variety of objects and pleasures to divert and entertain them But when they are once enter'd upon the other world they will then have nothing else to take up their thoughts but the sad condition into which by their own wilful negligence and folly they have plunged themselves They shall then lift up their eyes and with the rich Man in the parable at once see the happiness of others and feel their own misery and torment But this is not all Besides the apprehension of so great a loss they shall be sensible of the sorest and sharpest pains and how grievous those shall be we may conjecture by what the Scripture says of them in general That they are the effects of a mighty displeasure of Anger and Omnipotence met together far greater than can be described by any pains and sufferings which we are acquainted withall in this world For who knows the power of Gods anger and the utmost of what Omnipotent Justice can do to sinners It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God One would think this were misery enough and needed no frather aggravation but yet it hath two terrible ones from the remembrance of past pleasures and the despair of any future ease and remedy The remembrance of past pleasure makes present sufferings more sharp and sensible For as nothing commends pleasure more and gives a quicker relish to happiness than precedent pain and suffering for perhaps there is not a greater pleasure in the world than in the suddain ease which a Man finds after a sharp fit of the Stone so nothing enrageth affliction more and sets a keener edg upon misery than to pass into great pain immediately out of a state of ease and pleasure This was the stinging aggravation of the rich Man's torment That in his life time he had received his good things and had faired so deliciously every day But the greatest aggravation of all is the despair of any future ease and remedy The duration of this misery is set forth to us in Scripture by such expressions as do signifie the longest and most interminable duration Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire Matth. 25. and Mark 9. 43. Where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched And in the Revel it is said that the wicked shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever without intermission and without end And this surely is the perfection of misery for a Man to lye under the greatest torments and to be in despair of ever finding the least ease Let us now compare things together on the one hand the sufferings of good Men for a good Conscience and the reward that follows them and on the other hand the enjoyments of sin with the mischief and misery that attends them and will certainly overtake them in this world or the next and then we shall easily discern which of these is to be preferred in a wise Man's choice And indeed the choice is so very plain that a Man must be strangely forsaken of his reason and blinded by sense who does not prefer that course of life which will probably make him happier in this world but most certainly in the next There remains now only the Fourth and last particular to be spoken to viz. Supposing this choice to be reasonable to enquire whence it comes to pass that so many make a quite contrary choice How is it that the greatest part of mankind are so widely mistaken as to prefer the temporary enjoyments of sin before Conscience and Religion especially if it be attended with great afflictions and sufferings And of this I shall give you as brief an account as I can and so conclude this Discourse This wrong choice generally proceeds from one or both of these two causes from want of Faith or from want of consideration or of both 1. One great reason why Men make so imprudent a choice is unbelief either the want of Faith or the weakness of it Either Men do not believe the recompences of another life or they are not so firmly persuaded of the reality of them If Men do not at all believe these things there is no foundation for Religion for he that cometh unto God that is he that thinks of being religious must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him as the Apostle reasons in the beginning of this Chapter But I hope there are but few that are or can be Infidels as to these great and fundamental principles of Religion But it is to be feared that the Faith of a great many is but weak and wavering their Faith is rather negative they do not disbelieve these things but they are not firmly persuaded of them their Faith is rather an opinion than a rooted and well grounded persuasion and therefore no wonder if it be not so strong and vigorous a principle of action and like the Faith of Abraham and Moses and other worthies mentioned in this Chapter For where Faith is in its full strength and vigour it will have proportionable effects upon the resolutions and wills of Men But where it is but weak it is of little or no efficacy And this is the true reason why so many forsake Religion and cleave to this present world and when it comes to the push choose rather to sin than to suffer and will rather quit the truth than endure persecution for it These are they whom our Saviour describes who receive receive the
among whom we should shame as Lights The same Argument St. Peter useth 1 Pet. 2. 11 12. I beseech you as Pilgrims and Strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts having your Conversation honest among the Gentiles that is Considering that you are among Strangers and Enemies and therefore ought to be very careful to bring no Scandal upon your Holy Profession among those who will be ready to take all advantages against you Particularly we who pretend to the same Heavenly Country must be kind to one another and whilst we live among Strangers have no Quarrels amongst our Selves In a Strange Country it useth to be a Mighty Endearment of Men to one another that they are of the same Country and Fellow Citizens and this alone is commonly sufficient to unite their Affections and to link their Interests together But how little of this is to be seen among Christians how shamefully do they Quarrel among themselves in the midst of Enemies and Strangers as if they had no Relation to one another and never expected to meet at last in the same Country and there to live together for ever III. Let us be as Patient and Chearful as we can under all the Troubles and Afflictions which we meet with in this Life They who are in Strange Countries must expect to encounter many Injuries and Affronts and to be put to great Difficulties and Hardships Those which are lighter and more tolerable we must bear with Chearfulness Upon a Journey Men use to put on all the Pleasantness they can and to make Sport of all the Inconveniences of the Ways and Weather and little cross Accidents that befall them And thus if we had but the Art and Wisdom to do it many of the lesser Inconveniences of Humane Life might well enough be play'd off and made matter rather of Mirth and Diversion than of Melancholy and serious Trouble But there are some Evils and Calamities of Humane Life that are too heavy and serious to be Jested withal and require the greatest Consideration and a very great degree of Patience to Support us under them and enable us to bear them Decently as the Loss of Friends and dearest Relations as the Loss of an Only Son grown up to be well fixt and settled in a Virtuous Course and promising all the Comfort to his Parents that they themselves can wish These certainly are some of the Greatest Evils of this World and hardest to be born For Men may pretend what they will to Philosophy and Contempt of the World and of the Perishing Comforts and Enjoyments of it to the Extirpation of their Passions and an Insensibility of these things which the weaker and undisciplin'd part of Mankind keep such a Wailing and Lamentation about but when all is done Nature hath framed us as we are and hath planted in our Nature strong Inclinations and Affections to our Friends and Relations and these Affections are as naturally moved upon such Occasions and pluck every String of our Hearts as violently as extream Hunger and Thirst do gnaw upon our Stomachs And therefore it is foolish for any Man to pretend to love things mightily and to rejoyce greatly in the Enjoyment of them and yet to be so easily contented to lose them and to be parted from them This is to separate things which Nature hath strongly linked together Whatever we mightily love does thereby in some sort become part of our Selves and it cannot hand loose to us to be separated and divorced from us without Trouble no more than a Limb that is vitally and by strong Ligaments united to the Body can be dropt off when we please or rent from the Body without Pain And whoever pretends to have a mighty Affection for any thing and yet at the same time does pretend that he can contentedly and without any great Sense or Signification of Pain bear the Loss of it does not talk like a Philosopher but like an Hypocrite and under a grave Pretence of being a Wise is in truth an Ill-natured Man For most certainly in proportion to our Love of any thing will be our Trouble and Grief for the Loss of it So that under these great and heavier Strokes we had need both of Faith and Patience And indeed nothing but the firm Belief of a better Country that is an Heavenly another Life after this and a blessed Immortality in another World is sufficient to support a Man in the few and evil Days of his Pilgrimage and to sustain his Spirit under the great Evils and Calamities of this Life But This fully answers all That the Afflictions and Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us Nay that if we bear these Afflictions patiently and with a due Submission to the Will of God especially our Sufferings for his Truth and Cause it will certainly increase our Happiness in the other World and work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory IV. The Consideration of our Present Condition and of our Future Hopes should set us above the Fondness of Life and the slavish Fears of Death For our Minds will never be raised to their true pitch and hight till we have in some good measure conquered these two Passions and made them subject to our Reason As for this present Life and the Enjoyments of it What is it that we see in them that should make us so strangely to dote upon them Quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido This World at the best is but a very Indifferent place and he is the wisest Man that bears himself towards it with the most Indifferent Mind and Affection that is always willing to leave it and yet patient to stay in it as long as God pleaseth And as for Death tho' the Dread of it be natural yet why should the Terrors of it be so very surprising and amazing to us after we have consider'd that to a good and pious Soul it is no other but the Gate of Heaven and an Entrance into Eternal Life We are apt to wonder to see a Man undaunted at the approach of Death and to be not only contented but chearful at the Thoughts of his Departure out of this World this Sink of Sin and Vale of Misery and Sorrow Whereas if all things be duly considered it is a greater Wonder that Men are so patient to Live and that they are not glad of any fair Excuse and Opportunity of getting out of this strange Country and retiring Home and of ridding themselves of the Troubles and Inconveniences of Life For considering the numerous Troubles and Calamities we are liable to in a long Pilgrimage there are really but Three Considerations that I can readily think of that can make this World and our present Condition in it in any good measure tolerable to a wise Man viz. That God governs the World That we are not always to stay in it That there is a Happiness designed