with celestial Milk that you may be strong in the Lord and able to put on the whole Armour of God and grow up into a perfect Man in Christ what if it will not suffer you to please your Flesh beyond what is necessary for it's Subsistence must it therefore be your Enemy Will you count it a Foe because it denies you the Sword which would kill you How lovely should this very thing make it in your Eyes How dear should this make its holy Precepts to you How should you rejoyce that you have such a Monitor to prevent your Ruine What Praises do you owe to God that witholds you from that which would precipitate your Souls into the gulf of Perdition I conclude the Inference with this Story Two Brethren were travelling one a very prudent Man the other rude and silly coming to a place where two Ways met they dispute which of the two they should take one look'd as if great Art had been bestow'd upon it Flowers grew on both sides and it seemed to be most frequented the other look'd rough and uneven liker a Foot-path than a High-way the weaker Brother charmed with the out-side was clearly for making choice of the former but the wiser though he saw that the pleasant way invited the Eye yet I fear saith he it will not bring us to a commodious Lodging the rather because I have heard that the less beaten Path leads to an Inn where we may have excellent Accomodation The foolish Fellow was peremptory in it that the most pleasant way must be the right way and prevails with the Brother to bear him Company and being advanced considerably in it they light upon a Company of Robbers who immediately clap Shackles on their hands and feet and hale them both to their Captain and Governour Here one Brother accuses the other the wiser charges the other with Stubbornness the weaker blamed the other's Facility and alledged That since his Brother pretended to greater Wisdom than he he should not have been perswaded In fine both are found guilty and both laid up in Prison These two Brethren are your Souls and Bodies your Soul is the wise your Body the foolish Brother Let not your Body by its Importunity prevail with the Soul to consent to its Desires and Fondnesses of the dangerous Delights of the World O! hearken not to the Perswasions of a sensual Appetite that chooses a present Satisfaction but considers not there are Robbers at the end of the way which will certainly throw both into outward Darkness 5. The great Day is at Hand let 's prepare for it So Christ told his Disciples and so the Apostles taught the Christian World nor must we wonder that the Blessed Jesus should fright his Followers with the Approaches of that day when he knew it would not come in sixteen hundred Years and more which are past since his appearing in the World I omit here the Calculations of curious Men who have been bold to determine the Year in which the day of Judgment will happen some that follow the Tradition of Elias have allow'd two thousand Years to the Oeconomy before the Law two thousand to that under the Law and two thousand to that under the Gospel and after this have placed the Succession of that tremendous day But I doubt that this is rather a Jewish Criticism than a real Prophecy for God having created the World in six days and a Thousand Years being as one Day with the Lord it 's like Men have concluded from this Notion That as the World was created in six days so after six days i. e. six thousand years it would be destroyed Some when they have seen any extraordinary Judgments of Hail or Rain or Thunder or Locusts or great Confusions happen in the World have from thence inferr'd the immediate coming of this Day Some have placed it in one Year some in another but all these are needless Speculations It 's enough that the Decree is sealed in Heaven that there will be such a prodigious day and it was as truly at hand in Christ's time as it is now and now as much as it was then nay as much now as it will be but a Year or a Month before it comes in good earnest for the day of our Death is at hand and we know not when or how soon whether this hour or the next the fatal Messenger will arrest us in our Journey The day of our Death is the fore-runner of that greater Day and according as our Souls are found at the day of our Death so they will be judged in that glorious day the Judgment that will be pronounced upon our Souls at our Death will be proclaimed aloud before the whole World another day and if they be so unhappy as to be condemned upon their departure hence they will all that while till the great day comes torment themselves with the thoughts of that Sentence and the Shame that will ensue upon it as holy Souls will comfort themselves with the Thoughts of their Absolution Therefore when our Souls leave this Body that day and hour is really a day of Judgment to us and that this day is at hand none but a Sot can deny and accordingly all Men of Sense have made and do make early Preparation for it and he that doth not imitate them is so far from giving Proof to the World that he is wiser than they that he proclaims his Stupidity and in a manner renounces his Portion in the Inheritance of the Saints in light But then by Preparation I do not mean those little Sprinklings of Devotion which Hypocrites and Men who pretend to love God yet will not part with their Lusts usually lay upon his Altar not the Pharisees Alms and Fasts and Prayer which were performed with sinister designs out of Vain-glory and Ostentation not Ahab's Repentance who put on Sac◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 walk'd softly but still kept an unmoâ—â—â—ed Heart not the Harlots Piety Solomon speaks of who said her Orisoâ—â— and paid her Vows and her Peace-offerings and thought to make God amends for the Crimes she lived in by these Services not Judas his Sorrow who lamented his Sin because he saw the Hell he was like to drop into not Demas his temporary Severity which soon chang'd into fondness of the World not the Angel of Sardis his Profession of Religion who had the name that he lived but was dead not the Jews Zeal for the Ceremonial Part of God's Worship while they neglected Justice Mercy Chastity Sobriety and Charity not the Zeal of Ezekiel's Hearers who loved to hear but were loath to do but if you would prepare for this day of Account so as to be commended by the Judge the Preparation must have these following ingredients 1. Pity those inconsiderate Men that live as if there were no future Judgment Say not where are they to be found There is no Country no City no Town no Village no Street but the greater part of
learned that which she had better been totally ignorant of From hence many have come away worse than they were but none better 12. Delight in seeing Stage-Plays must not be omitted here and how far this delight may be allow'd of and how far detested I cannot shew you better than by giving you the contents of a Letter I formerly writ to a young Gentleman upon this Subject SIR THough you did pitch upon none of the best Casuists when you sent your case to me yet since you have thought fit to ask my opinion whether it be lawful to go and see a Play a thing our Gallants are so exceeding fond of I must crave leave to tell you that in the Primitive ages of the Church such a question from one who professed himself a follower of the Holy Jesus would have been looked upon with no very pleasant aspect they supposing that every Christian who knew or was sensible into whose name he was Baptized understood that things of this nature are as foreign to Christianity as lasciviousness and wantonness and as contrary to the design of our noble Religion which is to plant a Spiritual Life in us as wallowing in voluptuousness or luxury But the Times are altered and our Virtuosi have allowed of it and what men in former ages scarce thought fit to be named among Christians this hath made not only convenient but in some respect necessary and essential to a person of Quality so that this Question as the case stands may with some justice be ask'd and even a very sober person may now with some reason demand whether there be any harm in beholding these dramatick representations And here I would not be thought so rigid or foolish rather as if I believed no representation of History or Mens actions in the World lawful for that would be directly contrary to Christ's own practice who instituted a Sacrament to represent his death and passion by and to keep up the remembrance of it to the Worlds end and tho' this is not acting things to the Life yet it at least imports so much that something Historical may be represented in lively and significant Characters the management of which must be left to the prudence and discretion of sober Men. But then these representations must be restrain'd altogether to vertue and goodness and such accomplishments of the Soul which the wisest holiest Men in all ages have been desirous and ambitious of and though vertue cannot be well either discoursed of or represented without its opposite vice yet such is the nature of vice such the unhappy consequences of it that if either the pleasure or ease or prosperity and success of it be shewn and acted tho' but for a few minutes whatever Fate it ends in it 's so agreeable to the corrupted tempers of Men that it leaves a pleasing impression behind it nor is the after clap or doleful Exit of it strong enough to prevent a liking or satisfaction especially in the younger sort who are generally more taken with its present content and titillations than frighted with its dull and muddy conclusion for while its present success and sweetness is acting the Cupid strikes the heart and lays such a foundation there as mocks all the death and ruine it after some time doth end in I doubt not but the joys of Angels and the triumphs of glorified souls might be acted to the life and great good might issue from the gaudy Opera and if justice patience sobriety humility and contempt of the World with all the garlands and solid joys that attend them were represented with their future recompense in a serious way without jesting or raillery not a few Men and Women might be signally edified by it their affections raised above their ordinary level and their courage kindled to press towards the noble prize but then there must be nothing of the present amiableness of vice mingled with the Scenes for tho' vice must almost necessarily be named in these living Landskips yet it should be only named and never named but with horror and the generosity and grandure of vertue only acted to the life for indeed nothing is fit for action or imitated but vertue vice should never appear but in its ugly shape for if you dress it in its shining Robes tho' it be but for a quarter of an hour such is the venom of this Basilisk it breaths a poisonous vapour both on the Actor and the Spectator and while the one comes to see sport and the other to get money both go away from the Theatre worse than they came and tho' both come away laughing yet both prepare for bitter mourning and lamentation I have shewn you what Drama's may be useful and commendable but Sir all this differs very much from the modern plays the aforesaid question relates to these being things fitted for vanity and luxury for in these though the punishment of vice and rewards of vertue are represented to the life yet it 's done rather with advantage to the former than to raise the credit of the latter and the effect shews it viz. the corruption and debauchery of youth and persons of all sorts and sizes which I shall more largely speak of in the sequel The Plays we speak of are suited to the loose humour of the age which seems to hate all things that are serious as much as Rats bane delights in nothing so much as in jests and fooleries and seeing the most venerable things turned into ridicule Here no play relishes but what is stuft with love tricks and that which makes people laugh most is the best written Comedy wantonness is set out in its glittering garb and the melting expressions that drop from its lips are so charming to a carnal appetite that the young lad wishes himself almost in the same passion and intrigue of Love he sees Acted on the Stage it looks so pleasant end ravishing Here Religion is too often traduced and through the sides of Men that differ from our Church the very foundation of Christianity is shaken and undermined not but that Hypocrisie in Religion ought to be severely lash'd but then it must be done in a grave becoming and serious way such as Christ and his Apostles used against the painted Sepulchres the Pharisees The Stage hath that unhappy character that it is looked upon by the generality as the grand place of divertisement Men come thither not to learn but to be merry and since acts of hypocrisie look so very like acts of true Religion the danger is that while you raille the counterfeit you hurt the Original and while you dress the Image in a fools Coat the substance suffers in the ridiculous representation So that here Men and Women are insensibly poison'd and the good thing they see made aukward in an enemy in time looks but odd and strange in a friend and by degrees the vertue is hated in good earnest because one that was in the habit of
Drusilla who was another Mans Wife and enjoy'd that Beauty which his lustful Appetite desired without Lett or control His Greatness bore him out in the commission of the crime and whatever Censures the soberer part of men might pass upon him his Grandeur over-aw'd them that they durst not speak aloud of his Impiety and all men flatter'd him and himself drowned all the internal twitches and stings of Conscience with noise and pomp and multitude of businesses yet behold when S. Paul reasoned of Temperance Righteousness and Judgment to come the Text saith Felix trembled The Sermon awaken'd the notions of Divine Justice that were engraven on the Tables of his Heart made him uneasie put him into consternation and for the present forced him to loath the Bed where his abomination was wrought We are told of a Custom in some Kingdom that the night before a condemned Malefactor is to die a very shrill Trumpet sounds before the Prison-door which is a certain sign that he is to die next day and before whose door soever the fatal Trumpet sounds over night no Prayers no Tears whatever Condition he is of or whatever Figure he makes in the world can save him from being executed It happen'd in process of time that the King who had made this Law after he had streamed out a considerable part of his Life in extravagant Actions on a sudden became serious was often seen to retire into his Closet gave strict Order for extermination of all Vices and though before he had doated on Mirth and Jests and sensual Satisfactions yet these were now all abandon'd and turn'd into a Scene of Gravity and Sobriety Such an alteration we must think must be a very strange surprize to Courtiers who impatient of this change and supposing it to be a Fit of Melancholy took the freedom to ask him what the reason of this Reformation was The Kings Brother especially none of the most Religious sought often to divert him tempting him to see Shows and Plays and Women and such Baits as served either to plant or cherish Vanity in his Mind and Affections but all in vain One Night the King desirous to bring his Brother to a better Sense of spiritual things bids the fatal Trumpet to be sounded before the jolly Princes House who sensible of the meaning of that noise that he was to die next morning starts out of his Bed throws by his stately Robes puts on a ragged Garment weeps Rivers of Tears and a mighty horror seizes his Mind and as soon as it was Day comes to the King in this posture and intercedes for his Life To whom the King said O Brother are you frighted with the sound of this Trumpet which foretels my Subjects approaching and inevitable Death and doth this Noise force you into Tears and Sackcloth and humble Supplications and can you blame me for being serious who know not how soon the Archangels Trumpet of far greater consequence and importance than this will sound in mine ears and summon me and you and all my Subjects to the Judgment-Seat of God and perhaps to eternal Despair and Agonies Go home said he and by my example learn to despise the World and prepare for that Day But this Subject will invite us to a larger Discourse and therefore it will be necessary to enquire 1. What Reason we have to believe that there is a Day of Judgment 2. What there is in that future Judgment that 's able to cast a damp on the Mirth and Jollities of Men especially the younger sort 3. How the Prospect of that Judgment must be managed that it may actually damp and put a stop to these carnal Delights 4. Whether every Man is bound to embitter his carnal Delights with this Prospect 5. Whether upon this account a man be obliged to mind nothing that savours of worldly Delight and sensual Satisfaction 1. What reason have we to believe that there is a day of Judgment Having to deal with Christians at least with men that profess themselves such this Query seems needless for the Scripture which the Christian world pretends to believe to be derived from God is full of Passages of this Nature and assures us that this Belief of a future Judgment is as ancient as the Creation of the World For Enoch the seventh from Adam who in all probability had it from his Ancestors prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with Ten Thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Jude v. 14 15. And this Faith hath been followed by all the succeeding Saints Patriarchs Prophets and judicious Men was confirmed by the great Messiah the Lord Jesus and his Apostles who gave us a more lively description of it and hath since been entertained by all the Christian World at least in profession though there are but few that act and live like persons influenced or over-aw'd by that Belief so that if Christians keep close to their Principles it can be no difficult thing to perswade them to believe that which they imbibe with their Mothers Milk and Education advances into an open Profession and daily Declaration But we have seen and do see a strange degenerateness in most Christians and not a few that go under that Name though they do not openly question this Truth yet they either live as if they did or Infidelity reigns secretly in their hearts and it is to be feared that whatever their Tongues may speak in their Minds they are not fully perswaded of it And were such Men willing to be perswaded it should be no contemptible Argument to convince them one would think that the greatest part of the World is of that Belief not only Christians but Jews Mahometans and the Heathens themselves that it is a grand Article of the Jewish Faith none can deny that ever convers'd with them that the Mahometans are stedfast and sincere in their Assertion and clear in this Point any one may see that hath read their Alcoran and that the Heathen World is no stranger to it appears from what their Sybilline Oracles their Philosophers and Poets have professed The Sybilline Oracles indeed are suspected by Learned Men and looked upon as Pious Frauds used by the Fathers thereby to convince the Heathens the better of the Mysteries of Christianity though it will not enter into my head how the Fathers could have confirmed any of their Doctrines from these Oracles if the Heathens they had to deal withal either were not satisfied that those things had been spoken by their Prophetesses or had believed that the Fathers had foisted those Oracles into the Sybils Writings which either were not or had never been there for this would have been so far from being an Argument against the Pagans that the Christians would have laid themselves open in
Tears shall be able to deliver the guilty and polluted Soul from the impendent danger when it shall be said to the humble Friend sit up higher and to the proud Fool Give place to him that is more honourable than thou art when the Book of Conscience shall be opened and the Dead judged by the Contents of that Book when the Sinner will not know where to flee and his Spirits will fail him for fear of him that sitteth upon the Throne O God! Fix these Considerations in my Soul strengthen my Faith that I may believe these things unseen without wavering How apt is the World to get between this tremendous Day and my sight Quicken thou mine Eyes that I may see through all impediments into that Process and reflect what manner of Person I ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness Lord Jesu great Judge of the World let the Lines of that Judgment be written so legibly in my mind that my Soul may delight to read them that nothing may divert me from studying and considering them let this be my chief study and let me feel the fame effect that those men did who were converted at thy Apostles Sermon let me be prickt at the Heart and cry out What must I do to be saved Let the thoughts of this Day make a Reformation in my outward and inward Man that it may appear that thou hast touch'd me with a Coal from the Altar O God to whom Vengeance belongs shew thy self and disperse my foolish Desires Let my Soul feel the Transactions of that Day as well as believe them Clear my Understanding and enlighten my Mind that I may have a livelier Prospect of it I will not let thee go except thou bless me Look down from the Habitation of thy Holiness and visit my Soul Expel the Prejudices I have against Severity of Life and with the Thoughts of this Day destroy them utterly Let the consideration of this Day so work upon me that my Ambition Covetousness Pride and Anger may tremble at this sight and leave their habitation and may be ever afraid of returning Oh tell me that this Day will certainly come and that the Day of my Death will be the Emblem of it Oh assure me of the Terror of that Day that shall burn like an Oven wherein all that do wickedly shall be Stubble and the Fire shall burn them up that it shall leave them neither Root nor Branch let me not take example by the careless World that put this evil Day far from them Let it be always before me Let my Mind be never free from the Contemplations of it Let it mingle with my Business with my Meals with my Converse with my Sleep and with all my Undertakings In every Sin I am tempted to let it frighten me in my going out and in my coming in let it continually beat upon my Mind Oh my Lord let me muse upon this Day of Retribution this Day of Recompence this Day of Trouble this Day of Terror this Day of Joy this Day of Comfort this Day wherein thy Promises and Threatnings will be fulfilled this Day which must decide the controversie of my Life and Death this Day which will bring to light all hidden things this Day which will revive the good and confound the bad this Day of Consolation this Day of Consternation let me ruminate upon it till thoughts of this Judgment prevail with me to become a new Creature thy Grace must melt my stubborn Heart without thee I can do nothing O relieve me O come in with the Light of thy Countenance Stir up my Soul and rouze it from its carelesness Call to me as thou didst to thy People of old let that voice sound in my ears The great Day of the Lord is near it is near and hasteth greatly even the Voyce of the Day of the Lord the mighty Man shall cry bitterly that Day is a Day of Wrath a Day of Trouble and Distress a Day of Wastness and Desolation a Day of Darkness and Gloominess a Day of Clouds and thick Darkness a Day of the Trumpet and Alarm against the fenced Cities and against the high Towers and I will bring Distress upon men that they shall walk like blind Men be cause they have sinned against the Lord and their Blood shall be poured out as Dust and their Flesh as the Dung neither their Silver nor their Gold shall be able to deliver them in the Day of the Lord 's Wrath. O let me not lose the sense of this Day Oh let me consider how much better it is to be humble and contemptible and to hunger and thirst and to suffer here and afterwards to enter into my great Masters Joy than to be a Slave to my Lusts and Pleasures here and to be bound at last with everlasting Chains of Darkness Chains which never wear out Chains which always bind are always grievous always painful Oh let me consider how much better it is to mourn here and to water my Couch with my Tears and to afflict my Soul and after this to triumph with the Spirits of Men made perfect than to feed upon Pleasures which at the best are but like the crackling of Thorns under a Pot and then to be sent away to howl with Devils Help Lord help that my Soul may be concern'd at her danger and despise the World and prepare against that Day and encounter with Powers and Principalities and Spiritual Wickednesses in high Places if by any means I might attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead Such Prayers offered from a Heart that hath no Reserves from a Heart resolved to do any thing rather than miss of Salvation such Prayers I say if they express the very desires of our Souls will certainly put Death and Paleness into our sensual Pleasures and oblige us to entertain other Thoughts of the gauds and gaieties of the world than now we have and make us sensible that this casting such a damp on the foolish fatisfactions of the flesh with the Prospect of that Day is not only a Task fit for Hermits and Melancholick Scholars and contemplative Men but a Duty incumbent on all that carry immortal Souls in their Breasts which calls me to the Fourth Point 4. Whether every Man is bound to embitter his carnal Delights with this Prospect To this I must answer in the Affirmative For though the young Man be particularly mentioned here yet since the expression in the Text reaches all men who are fit for action all such must necessarily fall under the obligation of this Duty and all that are capable of such Delights are bound to make use of the aforesaid consideration in order to this self-denial if the young Man is obliged to this seriousness much more older Men if God will not allow of these Delights in Youth they must necessarily be intolerable in Years of greater Maturity and if the tender Age be concerned to embitter them with this Prospect
are fitter for Swine than for rational Creatures it separates us from delights which will lead the Soul into the Shadow and Valley of Death from Delights which dethrone the ruling part in us make the Master serve the Man and from Princes debase us to a state of Thraldom It denies us such delights as make God our Enemy move him to depart from us and provoke him to Indignation It will not suffer us to meddle with Delights which destroy the Glory of the Mind damp our Zealâ— alienate the Heart from God and drive away his holy Spirit from us It is against all such delights as would make us miserable and enamoured with Sin and the World and in being an Enemy to such Delights it consults our good It is more favourable to us than we are to our selves and seeks to make us like God God is above all sensual Delights he is not taken with the Beauty of the Face in Man or Woman he undervalues a great Table and hates the Prodigality of the Spend thrift he hath no Body to please no Eyes to satisfie with glittering Objects no Ears to delight with artificial Sounds no Blood to cherish with studied Cordials and though the World be his and the fullness thereof yet he solaces not himself in the Pleasures of it his Delights are great like himself spiritual like his Essence infinite as his Glory eternal as his Being he delights in himself and is to himself the Object of his Pleasure he delights in the eternal brightness of his own Glory and the express Image of his Person he delights in his own boundless Understanding whereby he knows all things past present and to come and sees all Beings before they are and what will come to pass and dives into their nature ends designs and the Accidents that befall them his delight lies in doing good and communicating the Rays of his Holiness to his Subjects He delights in his own Perfections and Virtue is the amiable Spectacle of his Eyes he delights in a Soul that loves him and an humble Heart is to him a glorious sight The Soul that loves her own Lowliness and is content to be little and despised in the World embraces Contempt and Reproaches and like the mighty Jesus runs with Patience the Race that 's set before her this causes Joy in Heaven To this likeness Religion would advance the Soul not that it attempts to give it the same Perfection but that it designs to work some Resemblance betwixt her and that Sovereign Being The Soul being in some measure capable of this Delight its Endeavour is to bring her to a sense of it In a word it seeks to reduce Man to the first state of Innocence from which by Sin he fell And though Adam had all the Riches and Glories of the World concentred in his Paradise yet his Delights were more spiritual than sensual since his Joys were not so much from the Flowers and Trees and Animals themselves as from the Excellency Power Wisdom Greatness of God which glistered in their Make and Use and the Ends for which they were created He saw indeed the proud Tulip the fragrant Rose the odoriferous Jessamin and rejoyced he beheld the Cherry the Fig the Almond and the Apple and triumph'd he cast his Eyes on the laden Trees and how they seemed to let down their Arms to put their richer fruits into his Mouth and was glad he took a view of the Fishes that danced and leap'd in the Chrystal Rivers that water'd the glorious place and his Spirits were enliven'd but at the same time the Bounty Liberality and Omnipotence of the great Architect of all appeared so lively to his Mind that he made his Garden a true Emblem of Heaven fell down and Day and Night sung the Praises of his Creator as if he vyed with the Angels of the upper World and were trying who should hold out longest at melodious Hallelujahs This Kindness Religion intends to our Souls and therefore suggests unto us the Promises and Threatnings of God to keep our Feet steddy in the way they are to walk in to this purpose it tells us That he who loves sensual Pleasure shall be a poor man poor in Grace poor in gifts of God's holy Spirit poor with Respect to God's Favour poor even to contempt destitute of those richer incomes which sanctified Souls receive deprived of the Juice and Sap which flows from the flourishing Vine the Lord Jesus in want of a fore-taste of Heaven and of a sense What the hope of God's calling is and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance is in the Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his Power toward them that believe according to the working of his mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right Hand in heavenly places Eph. 1. 18 19 20. Who can grumble at Religion after all these advantages Who can find fault with it after this prospect of its benefits Who dares asperse that beauteous Virgin after such Fruits it bears Who would not esteem it Who would not prize it Who would not honour it Who would not speak well of it Who would not look upon it as a horn of plenty and a treasury of the greatest comforts Who would not maintain the honour of it against all opponents who would not vindicate it when it is abused Who would not rise up in defence of it when blasphemous Tongues would traduce and revile it Let no man say here I can follow my Carnal pleasures and yet be religious too Alas What Piety can that be where thy Affections are divided betwixt Religion and Worldly Pleasures and where these Delights commonly have the greater share May be thou sayest thy Prayers so have I seen Parrets and Magpies repeat a few Sentences which they have been taught May be thou goest to Church so have I seen a blind man sit down by a Candle but to no purpose Thou mayest attempt to reconcile the Temple of God and Idols but these attempts are as vain as thy pleasures are while these sensual delights ingross thy Mind the Word must needs be a dead Letter to thee Heaven cannot supple thy Soul Hell cannot fright it the Thunders of God are insignificant to it and thou art unfit to dye unfit to appear at the great Tribunal The Heathens tell this Fable That Ceres coming down from Heaven one day gave out that she was a Nurse whereupon King Eleusius took her to attend his Son Triptolemus and having him under her Tuition in the day time she sed him with celestial Milk and in the night she cover'd him with Fire to give him Immortality Religion is that Fire which must make you immortal this purges away your dross and cleanseth you Hearts from the dregs of Sin and Death makes you bright and shining and capable of eternal Light No Nurse is so tender of you as Religion is it feeds you
the Inhabitants live so All that profess it all that talk of it all that live under Sermons which declare it do not therefore believe it No man believes it that is not thereby restrained from Lusts which war against the Soul All that dare be lewd and repent not and do not amend their ways and their doings whatever opinion they may have of themselves in despight of their Profession are Infidels and so much the greater Infidels because they enjoy means of Grace and Motives and Reasons and Arguments and helps to believe it and yet Act as if there were no such thing Express your Compassion to their Souls by your Tears since they will not weep for themselves Ah! miserable Creatures E'er long they shall see him whom they have pierced and mourn as one that mourns for his only Son and they are not aware of it They are hastening to the Shambles where they will be barbarously butcher'd by hellish Furies and they are not sensible of it Oh mourn for them They deserve your Pity more than Galley-Slaves more than Wretches in Turkish Captivity Oh! call to them and see whether ye can yet perswade them into a livelier Faith of this terrible Day O that you could yet save their Souls from Death and cover a multitude of Sins It 's like they 'll scorn your Tears and laugh at your Admonitions for the God of this World hath blinded them but Oh! pray for them that their Eyes may be open'd that they may see the Precipice they run upon and behold the bottomless Gulph upon the Brink whereof they stand They are rolling down the Hill Oh! stop them if you can that they fall not into the Lake beneath seeing your Zeal for their Souls your concern for their Welfare your entreaties to save themselves from this Generation your sorrow for their undone Estate your grief for their hardness of Heart they may yet relent and turn before the Lord comes and smites the Earth with a Curse 2. Every day spend some time in reflecting on this Day Is half an Hour or a quarter of an Hour every Day such a business that thou canst find no time for it How many parts of every day dost thou spend idly and foolishly Wouldst not thou find greater Profit in bestowing a few Minutes in Contemplation of that Judgment Say not who doth so What if none did it if it be useful and a Duty a wise Man would think himself obliged to practise it though he had no Company It 's granted the Age is bad and few there be that will deviate from the Customs of their Neighbours but without all peradventure some there are that are seriously concerned about their Salvation who make Conscience of it Had Men when Christ conversed on Earth been discouraged by the small Numbers that followed him from embracing his Doctrin and Discipline how would the World have been Peopled with Christians Good Elijah was not frighted from cleaving to the true God when he thought all the World was become Idolatrous and why shouldst thou be tempted to forget thy Everlasting Interest because every Body in the Parish thou livest in is not devout and wise and serious Suppose thou didst live in a Street where all the Men were Beggars and Vagabonds would that be a Motive to follow their unlawful Calling If a Treasure were to be had in such a place and all about thee should be regardless of it wouldst thou be as lazy as they The Merchant ventures into that Country where he thinks none hath been before him and doth promise himself a richer Return In Trades Men commonly chuse that of which there are but few Masters in hopes they shall thrive the better for it The same may be applied to the Business in Hand reflecting every day upon that dreadful Account which few will venture upon thou wilt be a greater Gainer and purchase a richer Peace and Satisfaction thou wilt rest more sweetly at Night than thy Neighbours and thy Conscience will be more at ease thou wilt go about the Works of thy Calling more cheerfully and thou wilt be able to comfort thy self better if any Affliction or Loss do befall thee than others who converse little with God and their own Souls In the Life of Pachomius we read That every day he used to bespeak the several Parts and Members of his Body and talk to them as if they had been rational Creatures Behold saith he my beloved Parts I will advise you to nothing but what is wholsom and useful for you and therefore shew your selves obedient to my Counsel and let 's serve God cheerfully till we get to a better place As to you my beloved Hands the time will come when you will no more be able to strike your Neighbour or play at Cards and Dice and when you will not be able to reach any more after Goods that do not belong to you As to you my beloved Feet the time will come when the way you have gone will be stopp'd up and when ye will be no longer able to run into vain and loose Company Hearken unto me my Senses and whatever helps to make up this mortal Frame let 's strive lustily before Death overtake us and stand boldly in the evil day and fight bravely till the great God put an end to our Sweat and Labour and call us to his heavenly Kingdom What will it profit you to taste of all the Sweets of this World if any thing can be called sweet in so much Misery Why should ye be loath to labour when to labour ye were born Why should ye refuse to suffer when shortly you must die and mingle with Dust Why should ye seek after a soft and easie Life when e'er long you 'll meet with it in Heaven This is no Time no Place for Pleasure that 's only to be found among the Blessed above This is it that I would have you comprehend above all things that through sensual Delights and Satisfactions Men go into unquenchable Fire but through Bryars and Thorns lies the way to Joys which shall never have an end Why do ye murmur against me when I bid you fast and watch and pray Should I indulge you it would be your Bane it would be Cruelty in me to spare you to give you Ease would be the way to precipitate my self and you into endless Torment Thus spake that holy Man to the respective Parts and Members of this Body and thus Christian do thou preach to thy Soul every day ask it which of those two Sentences that shall be pronounced in the last day art thou most desirous of of that Come ye Blessed or of the other Depart ye Cursed If as no Man is fond of Misery thou dost hunger and thirst after the former come my Soul let 's retire let 's ascend the Hill of God and from thence take a view of what will be hereafter The Posture of Affairs thou seest now will not continue long fancy thou