sense but my Saviour It is none of the least sins of our youth that we are carelesse and forgetfull of Thee our Creatour and no wonder we are so insensible of the Joyes to Come that live in such a constant and continued neglect of Heaven Make me therefore O my God to consider that had I the fruition of all that I can wish or long for here I should not onely not be satisfied but in the end find how miserable he is that setteth his heart on any thing but Thy selfe teach me therefore so to enjoy the World that I lose not thee nor the memory of that Blessed reward thou hast promised to them that Honour Thee GEN. Chap. 2. v. 8. And the Lord God planted a Garden East-ward in Eden WHat an airy fancy was it of some then to place Paradise beyond the middle region could they transplant the earth at pleasure or did the clouds like so many moving walks become a seminary of vegetables Was Erasmus of this opinion when he wisht himselfe encaged betwixt heaven and earth How vaine is ambitious frailty in its quest after knowledge We search for Paradise with more Curiosity then Adam lost it and when we cannot find it here yet we will fancy it a place though above our reach That there was a Paradise we need not doubt He that made it tells us so but where to find it he that lost it knowes not So suddenly doth sin blast our most innocent pleasures Scarce had Man taken a view or walke in Paradise but this expell'd him the earth was but in its youth scarce warm'd by the new born Sun when this wither'd it into a sterill and decrepit Complexion nay the heavens scarce seated in their orbs were shaken by it and interrupted almost in their Motions by the pride and fall of Angells No sooner had the Serpent breath'd out his Contagion but Paradise changed it's vordure The Creatures fly from the Garden of the world and infected Man is shut out from his beautifull enclosure he that was an Inhabitant of pleasure it self for whom the most choise and various fragrancies of the New Created earth were epitomised together is stript and cheated of his happinesse by the Spirit of lies and is glad to be beholding to a Figtree for his first vestment How perfectly hath his naked Issue inherited his fortune how many of his wretched sons have been ever since selling their Paradise for an Apple How does the Covetous wretch adore his Mammon his yellow God and Coines heaven and his Salvation into Money though the stamp be Hell or the image of the beast how readily will ambition Court Hell it selfe to serve his interest make no scruple to sell his Soul for a Glorious vanity and worship Satan for a kingdome how does the Sensualist make his life an enterlude leaving Paradise for Tantalus his Garden and makes wantonnesse his heaven pleasure his Divinity and never thinks of a better or another life but when he is in danger of losing this How many upstart lights hath Satan sprung to darken Religion and eclipse the Gospell how many eyes hath he put out by opening pretending to cloathe us with more Knowledge and Sanctity that he might dismantle us of heaven and happinesse I had rather be for ever blind then use an eye-salve of the Divells prescribing and be for ever ignorant then learne Satans lesson to belie heaven and distrust my Maker So miserable hath sin made us O Lord that by it we have lost not onely Paradise but heaven too forfeited not onely the pleasures of this life but also the joyes to Come and with the true Comforts of the world are stript of thy favour too He whom thou madest the Monarch of the Creatures grones under the bondage of sin and by the Misery of his Crimes hath cancell'd almost the glory and miracles of thy work And now might we have been extinguisht in our guilt had not He who is the brightness of thy Glory dropt a new life into our eclipsed natures by the power of his Blood and Merits and by reconciling us to thy selfe given us an admission to better and more enduring pleasures Grant therefore that having obtained mercy we may walke accordingly that being bought for heaven we may no more sell our selves to sin nor vainely preferre a few moments of pleasure before an eternity of joy that so when our souls shall expire with our breath they may be transplanted to that Paradise that never fades and enjoy the pleasures of eternity in the bosome of thy Glory 1 King Chap. 10. v. 18. Moreover the King made a great Throne of Ivory and overlay'd it with the best Gold T was fit that the best of Kings should be sutably serv'd and now he sees himselfe in so glorious a condition he need not repent of that happy and eternall election he made in Gibeon where amongst all his Sacrifices there was none so pleasing as that which he made of himselfe to the disposall of his God Did the Princes of the world but make Solomon their Pattern they might participate of his fortune and find a more Glorious Hand supporting their Scepters beyond the reach of the most admired Achitophel 'T is not the paint but the piety of a Throne that both secures and adornes it He must needs be the greatest of Princes whom God Crownes the richest Monarch that besides the enjoyments of the world receives even a Treasure from heaven Piety never went unrewarded God can bestow on his as well the felicities of this life as that which is hereafter But if Solomon bow downe to Harlots his Crown must fal and if he forsakes God sin dethrones him Greatnesse cannot priviledge from punishment nor the eminency of a Throne excuse the guilt thereof He that breath'd out so many Divine Songs is struck dumbe at the aires of a female tongue and those Ivory steps the seat of Honour grow black with sin Had his Guard of Lyons proved true they would have quickly dismembred those Syrens that having lost their vertue had nothing but their vices left to charm their fury with Solomons youthfullnesse in his old age praecipitated him the sooner to his end the end both of his life and Glory O Lord if Solomon's Throne was so glorious how infinitely transcendent must Thine be from whom Solomon received his that under which the pillars of the earth tremble and in comparison of which the lustre of the heavens is but a spark Though thou hast many thrones yet the most glorious one is that of thy Mercy which thou art pleas'd to open to the penitent Sinner I will look upon the glittering guilded eminencies of the world with more delight because I see the footsteps of thy Glory in them and the royalties of the earth shall make me but with the greater reflection aspire after the enjoyment of that Throne whose beauty and holinesse ravishes the Seraphick Attendants with joy unspeakeable and full of Glory 1 King ch 19.
fragancy of his miracles Were the whole earth turn'd into an Arabia and it 's richest odours sublimed to a perfume were nature rifled of all it's sweets and it 's most ravishing vegetables crowded to a posy yet were they infinitly below the sweetnesse of this Rose Not that Centinel of nature the Marigold the early nymph of the goddess of the morne that rises from it's golden bed at the first appearance of its Lover not the Suns wooer the Heliotrope that strives to kiss and Circulate with that beaming Mover as if nature had flowerd the earth with Stars or made it's Coloured progeny idolaters of the Skie nor all those growing Prodigies that enamour both our eye and thoughts to admiration are not worthy to be Compared to this Heavenly Mirror the Rose Sharon O my Saviour I will run after the odour of thy perfumes and pant after those spirituall delights that stream from thy Throne Thou art infinitly amiable O imprint on my soul a purity that makes men capable of thy heavenly infusions the Divine irradiations of thy Grace and Love What is the Comelinesse of the Creatures but a drop of that transcendent excellency that is in thee O let it be my delight as it is my felicity to imitate the perfect innocency of thy life that through the sweetness of thy merits my Sacrifices may be found pleasing and that when this corruptible shall be changed and this mortall put on immortality I may receive the reward of the faithfull the inheritance of the just and be made partaker of everlasting Glory in thy presence for evermore Genes Chap. 28. v. 12. And he dreamed and behold a Ladder set upon the earth and the top of it reached unto heaven and behold the Angells of God ascending and descending on it NO sooner had Jacob made a stone his pillow such is the happiness of contented humility but a glorious Vision salutes his eye that obedience which brought him from his father on a journey to Syria became a nobler guide and shewed him the way to heaven those divine Travellers the Angels ascending and descending before him Happy solitude that met with such heavenly company the hardship of his lodging was abundantly recompenced by this blessed interview when the God of his father the Lord of all creatures appeared unto him reviving him with the gratious supports of his promises and providence When I look upon the posture of this happy sleeper I cannot chuse but wonder at the vanity of those that expect visions from heaven on their beds of down and look for revelations amidst their pleasures their tender spirits would grow fick and out of love with piety should it disturb or contradict their ease How quickly would their devotion catch cold should they with David get up at midnight to pray God drops not his miracles into the lap of the wanton nor communicates the riches of his glory but to those who are resigned to him John must be an Exile before he can be the Divine and have conference with none but Angels if he would be a fit Notary for heaven Those holy men that had no other company than solitude and their prayers could not have traffick'd so purely with heaven had they not disclaimed all commerce with the world and disroabing themselves of all secular interests obtained a nobler furniture of grace and became vessels of honour Jacob here had no other Canopy but the aire no other lights to his bed than the lamps of heaven and the Angels pass too and fro as it were a guard to secure him How securely doth he rest that leans on Providence and makes That the depository of his soul Repose thus blest becomes a Sanctuary nor need he fear to be disturbed in his sleep that makes God his keeper or that his pious night-thoughts shall have any other dreams than those of peace Jacob had no sooner closed his eyes but those holy Porters unlock the Heavens and invite him up but 't is by a ladder We cannot climb heaven in a moment the way to happiness is but by degrees and as our Saviour tells us 't is narrow too Every vertue is a step to eternity and he is so much nearer heaven that daily treads his vices under We cannot be too good proficients in a holy life or thinke that in the smallest acts of piety we have enough to carry us to happinesse 't is not a few steps but a constant progress that mounts us thither O how bad is he that thinks himselfe too good to be made better The Promises of thy Glory are infinite O Lord and yet how carelesly do we embrace them Thou hast shewen us the way unto thy Self and yet we are not only unwilling but even weary of walking to thee Alas Are the joyes of thy kingdome not worth the coming to can we think to climbe up unto thy Throne by a lame idle Devotion how nimbly do we pursue the vanities of the world but pretend a faintnesse in thy service We can run after the perishing concernments of this life but make little or no progresse in the race which Thou hast set before us Quicken us O Lord and make us more earnest and zealous in thy service and as thou hast sent thy son to bring us to thy Self do thou likewise send thy Spirit to sanctifie us for Thy self and then we who of our selves can scarce move unto thine Altar will by the assistance of thy Grace run the way of thy Commandements Proverbs 18. v. 14. But a Wounded Spirit who can beare NOt the purest temper not the vastest Bulke the world it self that hospitall of sinners cannot for it groanes and travailes it self to be delivered Heaven was no longer a place for those ambitious spirits who exchang'd their glory for those flames which torture them not so much as that infinite despaire which for ever secludes and sequesters them from it No wonder some think there is no other hell then this for its torments are not to be matcht Stakes or Gridirons are but flea-bites to this vulture tortures of the newest fashion are pleasant Martyrdoms easie paines compar'd to this Those dying miseries do but storme and affright sense whilst this living death this killing Life displayes its cruelties on a more heavenly object and striving to destroy and rifle an Immortall part makes death it selfe a gentle murtherer to it Skreeks of Owles that add blacknesse to the very night it selfe groanes of parting souls that fill the eare and room with trembling Epitaphs writt in characters mournful as the grave silence are harmonies to the dying Elegies of a wounded spirit that breathes nothing but bleeding Satyrs against it selfe See how with David it goes mourning all the day and all the night too surrounded with black and fatal Ideas and turnes his bed into a bath which those weeping springs his eyes have made and instead of bright and gentle aires breathes nothing but dark trembling accents which the buisy Divell
head He that was ready to have feasted wormes now feasts himselfe and is risen from his dead companions a guest amongst rhe living We read indeed of some that all pale and liveless were stretcht out for a coffin but reviv'd again when that little spark of life that lay glimmering in the expiring embers in a corner of the panting heart recovered its flames But here death and Lazarus had imbrac't too closely to be so parted His soul had likely taken its flight before and his body lay so long in his mothers armes 't was just dissolving into its principles againe and behold him now above ground as if but newly risen from his bed all fresh with life and vigour he hath changed his chamber and from the lower regions of the other world is returnd to his old lodgings where he is now at supper throng'd with multitudes of people that come not for almes but to be spectators of this wonder Had the end of the world been then or a resurrection of others for company Lazarus at his arrivall to the world againe might well have phansied with his countrymen that the second life should be on earth and heaven kept in pleasures here No Lazarus though now alive thou must dye againe to live for ever nor must thy revivall now con ummate thine but manifest Gods glory though it be thine too above expression to have been thus the subject of it Thou needst not feare to dye againe having done it once nor doubt but that hee who raised thee now will do it hereafter too Didst thou ever thinke to have injoyed this world againe or to have been freed from thy imprisonment till the great and generall delivery 'T was beyond thy Sister's faith till she saw it and now having had two lives if thou spentest the former on thy selfe or the world thou didst wholly sacrifice the latter to thy divine Restorer How many expiring soules all frighted with the horror of their crimes could they but have their span a little lengthned or after an age's durance in their graves but revive a litle before their doome how gladly would they turne their songs of pleasure into penitentiall anthems their profane notes into diviner ayres and tune out their lives in pious straines But alasse he that cannot imploy this life well in vaine expects to do it in another which he is not worthy of might it be obtained He whose piety here hath reacht him a taste of heaven a glimpse of happinesse will be so little in love with the vanities of this world that instead of desiring a longer or another life here he will be but ambitious of leaving This. It was by thy power O Lord That Lazarus carried out to his grave should returne alive That Mournefull expression thy friend is dead drew thee to the discovery of thy love and power in his resurrection O let there be the same concurrence of thy Grace and spiit to the raising and reforming of my soul to a new and holy life it was the misery of expiring man that drew thee from the bosome of thy Father to redeem him O let the Scepter of thy word and truth be as powerfull in its heavenly influence upon my soul as the Prophet's staffe that reviv'd the dead that so dying daily I may live for ever and being pâ—epared for my death may enter into that life from which nothing but sin can exclude me Joh. Chap. 13. v. 23. Now there was leaning on Jesus bosome one of his Disciples whom he loved SEe how sweetly is the Disciple Couch't how boldly doth he make his Master's breast his pillow loading him with a double burden his sins and himselfe Blest familiarity Would not Kings leave their thrones to have been in his room and ambitiously forsake their Golden Canopies for suâ—h a teposure Here might the vastest ambition both seat and satiate it selfe without aspiring higher the greatest Avarice might here have found a treasure beyond which it could not cover What Lover would not scorne the lap of the most admired female for such an enjoyment and become a Diviner Amorist Was not this Disciple above the rest If this be not a precedency what is a dignity which none besides himselfe succeeded in Happy Favorite Who would not have trampled Crownes and Scepters for such preferment Had Mary in whose bosome once Love's Cradle so many wantons lull'd themselves that turn'd her eyes into Living Mineralls and her haire into a towell of the newest fashion been graced with such a priviledge not her eyes onely but the noblest rivolets of her blood would have overflowne all transported out in gratefull streames How pleasingly doth the Disciple lay his eare to that Heart which was the life of the world as if he would count its motions and by its Divine pulse be rockt asleep in raptures Behold O my soul and see in the posture of this happy man the Emblem of thy owne felicity the place of thy reception and future Glory Art thou ambitious of it here then behold him on his Crosse with his armes extended to receive thee O run and rowle thy selfe on that Breast the fear of Love wherein lies all the treasures of thy happinesse Thou hast a priviledge even beyond the Disciple for thou mayst not only leane and depend but embrace him too Incircle him now then with the choisest endeerments of thy soule the most passionate raptures of a Lively faith and so the same Jesus that permitted the Disciple here to lean on his breast will receive thee likewise in his arms hereafter and place thee for ever in the bosome of his Glory Math. Chap. 16. v. 26. For what is a man profited if he shall gaine the whole world and lose his owne soul ANd yet men had rather lose their souls than the world He for whom the world was made makes himselfe for the world disappointing himselfe of all his Glory and by a more then brutish transmutation buries the Divinity of his soul all in earth Heare this then ye Inhabitants of the world yee that fowle all in sense and climb no higher then the elements for Heaven that can pawne your souls for a fading pleasure and count a delightfull misery your felicity Hear this thou aspiring Vapour whose ambition elevates thee to consume thy selfe thou that wilt worship Satan for a Kingdome and do him homage for a Crowne paying him a revenue worth a thousand worlds the immortall tribute of a soul till thy triumphs be turned to torments thy revellings of honour into regrets of horrour and thy Chaire of state into a bed of flames Heare this thou Sensualist whose soul is as unconfined as Brutes that pantest for pleasure more then ever the Camaelion did after aire thou that wadest all in sin and overwhelmest Morality in floods of vice bathing thy selfe in those wanton streames that drown thee that countest religion but a fable the lives of Saints a melancholly Romance and laughest at heaven as if eternity were but a
fancy Heare this O thou Miser whom the Silver Rhetorick of a bag can court to Hell and art greedily wonne to damne thy selfe at the Musick of a purse that canst gaze thy selfe blind at the splendour of a Gemme and cursest Geography for describing riches beyond thy reach wishing thy selfe an Indian that thou mightest dwell among Treasures and inhabit Mines till thy very haire became silver indeed till thou thy selfe went all turnd to Ore and and every Bone into a wedge of Gold Heare this ye Gallants that are so enamounted with the fashions of this world that ye have lost all Idaea's of a better ye that live meerly to please your sense and feed your luxury with the curious martyrdom of a thousand creatures As ye have purer veins have purer passions too and have nobler inclinations for heaven the riches of your attire wil not cloathe you with immortality should you sell your estates when ye die 't would not purchase paradise It was the best speech the old Oratour ever uttered when he said he would not buy repentance so deare 'T was but an extemporary expression and yet all his Rhetorick could never match it that one straine was worth all his Orations and will outfame the labours of his pen. Could we treble the lives of Patriarchs and with them the pleasures of the grandest Epicures Could we like Cleopatra in a dissolv'd pearl swallow the treasure and pleasure of a kingdome at a draught or command the Creatures as peremptorily as ever the Centurion did his servants had we all the enjoyments we can either wish or fancy what ever the ambition of the most vaine and carnall appetite can long for were the whole earth turnd into a paradise or a constant spring beautifying its face Could we live and not grow old or being old not feele the miseries of age could we unwind time againe and reverse it's wheels stop the coelestiall Mercuries the posts of heaven in their course and set the Great Clock of the world backward againe nay were our bodies as durable as our soules that we could out live Time it self and be above ground even when the world shall receive its period yet what shall we get if after all our imaginary felicities and sliding contentments we become a sacrifice for hell enlisted in the cursed catalogue of the damned crue a victime for eternal flames lost for ever from God and Heaven Then tell me who ever thou art and aske Dives himself What is man profited though he should gaine the whole world and lose his owne soule What is there in the world O Lord that we should love it thus weary our selves in vaine desires and make the pleasures of this life our felicity How hard is it for him that is a stranger to thy law to perceive the emptinesse of those enjoyments he hath so long rowled himselfe in to resist the tempting advantages of sin and undervalew the flashes of this life for that glory Thou wilt impart My God teach me so to enjoy the world that I lose not Thee let the blessings thou bestovvest quicken and increase not dul my devotion raise up my obedience not drowne my gratitude that so the vanities of the world may be my scorne and the joyes of heaven my onely ambition that I may never for a perishing fruition in this life lose both my soule and thy grace together Matth. Chap. 5. v. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God WHo then would not strive to become pure No wonder David was so earnest for a clean heart and a right Spirit if this be the reward of Piety who would not become religious Blest Spirits how happy how pure are ye that behold the face of your Heavenly Father who would not labour to imitate you heer that he might be like you there and possesse joyes such as raptures never knew Shall the false and treacherous vanities of the World steale away our hearts and rob us of the hopes of this Glory the fruition of this Sight A Sight in Comparison whereof the royalties of the World the triumphs and splendours of the eye and the beauty of the whole Creation is not worth the looking at A sight which no eye ever saw but may if it do not blindly lose it selfe on objects heere No Ear ever heard its perfect description but may the Harmony and Halelujahs of it if it bow not to the charms of sinne and the musick of the flesh 'T is a sight whose Ideae cannot be drawn by the most lively and subtile Speculations of any Scholastick brain though never so Angelical 't is not fancy but piety can reach it The Divine Traveller St. Paul himselfe though newly there could not give us a Copie of it and Scripture Characters it out but in Similitudes to shew how infinitely transcendent is that Glory which is so much above expression so much above all comprehension Were all the Diamonds the earth is mother of mustred to a Splendour they would not match the smallest glance of the Sun's eye and yet that noble Luminary surrounded with so many waiting Starrs that begge their lustre from him is but a sparke to the Brightnesse of of His face Who then would sacrifice that part to the World which may become the instrument of so much happinesse and suffer the extravagancies of his blood to revell there where nobler passions and flames should triumph He that would dwell among the Spirits of the just must teach his own to become so and turne his body to a Temple wherein his heart must be the the Altar and Sacrifice too or rather a kinde of Sanctum Sanctforum for the choisest Gifts of the Spirit to inhabite The Seat of Life must be turn'd into the Seat of Love and the pallace of the Spirits into a Court of Graces and then that part which as Naturalists observe is the first that lives and the last that dyes shall become purely vitall and not dye at all Nothing but a Trinity can fill this Triangle which we must therefore shape to the purest forme and teach it in all its pulses to beate nothing but Heaven and Sanctity Our breasts must become Clossets of Devotion and our hearts the Cabinets of innocency and prayer enricht with that great diamond a lively faith the Lamp at which all our smaller Graces as Candles light themselves and like Stars borrow their Lustre from this Luminary 'T is not a heart that can dance to the Tune of any Religion and pretend a Sanctity which it wears onely in its face that makes Fancy its Conscience and stiffnesse of humour tendernesse of Spirit No 't is a heart robed with Humility and Crowned all with Love perfum'd by Prayers the odours of Charity and the fragancies of a pious life that couches it self within the arms of our Saviour's Spouse and becomes a mourner in its perfections that looks upon the World as the Enemy of its Glory and had rather dye then be a
that we may not for a present enjoyment in this life lose the hopes and inheritance of a better Luke Chap. 15. v. 10. There is joy in the presence of the Angells of God over one sinner that repenteth SO great are the Concernments of an immortall Soul that it's recovery from the world sets heaven in a triumph and it 's return to it's Maker is welcom'd back in Quires the angells sing his recantation and rejoyce as if they themselves were made happier by his conversion And yet is not the joy of Angells greater then that of the soul it selfe when it hath found and regain'd it's Maker its sighs are turnd into songs and it's teares to raptures each drop is not onely counted and kept up but turn'd into a streame of joy His sorrowes are turnd to consolation his troubles into peace and the stormes of conscience into calmes of love Such are the fruits of a holy penitence the happinesse of a religious contrition He that went mourning all the day and turned Anchoret for greif whose life was a torment and the grave his feare that desired not to live and yet was afraid to die is now transformed into sweeter passions and breathes nothing but the praises of his Deliverer See with what indignation he lookes upon the world whose embraces had so long imprisoned him to whose false allurements he had been so much a servant Those pleasant trifles he once admired are now his contempt and those shadowes of felicity he once so much pursued he hath now exchanged for more celestiall enjoyments and enduring pleasures And indeed Who that hath once truly tasted heaven can well rellish the world againe whose choisest feasts are worse then an Egyptian diet to this Manna and its largest roade of pleasure but a precipice to that way whose narrowest path carries freedome and felicity He that hath once found the goodnesse of his Maker and those joyes that flow from his service will sacrifice himselfe in pious resolves and grieving that he was so long a stranger to his law all transported beg both pardon and support Tell me who can character the pleasures of this new birth the joyes of a converted soul restored to heaven and his maker He that feels it can expresse it but in raptures and silent signes the ecchoes of his heart Even the Angells here can sing it onely not describe it and in Seraphick consorts give us notice not a copy of it Thus the heavens become harmonious the frame of nature that groaned under the disorder of mans sin is againe revived and set in tune by pardon And no wonder if the creation feel a silent musicke in it's limbs when the Lord our Maker is not onely the Author but a partner in this triumph proclaming even his delight in such happy renovations and that he is best pleased when sinners flie to the refuges of his mercy and humbly beg the riches of that Grace and favour which he onely can give and which he never refuses to them that seek him So infinitely good art thou O Lord that thou dost not onely invite but bring us to thy self and not onely call but cause us to returne We know thou desirest not the the death of a sinner having so freely sacrificed thy Son for sin and that thou delightest in pardoning it for thou hast proclaimed thy self so Though thou didst not spare thine Angells when they fell yet in the riches of thy mercy thou hast contrived a Redemption for our souls even by the blood of Jesus Fill us with perpetuall adorations of thy love that thy goodnesse which is so ready to pardon sin may encourage us to beg it and to continue constant waiters on thee in thy worship here till we are made companions of those blest spirits hereafter that rejoyce in the recovery and salvation of a sinner Matth. c. 6. v. 33. But seeke yee first the Kingdome of God and his Righteousnesse and all these things shall be added unto you AND He that loved his Saviour would no Question do it but alass that which ought to be the first is scarce the last of our thoughts the least and worst of our performances Such Lovers are wee of Heaven that we think it no sinne to serve our selves first and make our Creatour waite the leisure of our Devotion Miserable Creatures whose Religion reaches no higher then their bodyes for whose very Superfluities wee study to provide whilst our Brighter part lyes all naked and unthought of Such Strangers are we even to our own Soules so insensible of the joyes to come that we looke no higher then the World and in sphearing all our hopes within Mortality as if we had nothing durable beyond our breath suffer Eternity to be forgotten Wee cannot live without our Maker and yet how do our lives neglect Him how eager how ambitious after an enjoyment heere but carry not the smallest passion for his Glory The jollities of the World swallow up all thoughts of Heaven and in the pleasures of sense we can drown Immortality What is that we sacrifice our selves to but the hopes of a felicity The very Pagans rather then want a Blisse would fancy one in lovely shades and place the triumphs of immortality in those amorous walkes their Ghosts should revell in And who can hope for Heaven that neglects it or expect the joyes of this Kingdome that looks not after it Without Holynesse no man shall see God and he cannot be Master of much Sanctity that prophanely loses himselfe in sinne and is a Stranger to that piety which can truly Enrich Him beyond all the treasures of the most splendid and fortunate transgression How miserable are they then whose pleasures onely divert them from their Maker and have no other Apologie for their neglect of Heaven than what sinne can make that Court the World and for a fading embrace exchange a Diadem of Blisse a Crown of Life Were the whole World turn d into a Seraglio of delight and every region to an Arabia could every field become a Paradise and every object we meet bring a Magazine of pleasure with it had we all the enjoyments this Life can triumph in yet we should quickly finde them without God but miserable fruitions Is there any thing dearer then our lives and yet even these are of no valew in respect of a better the very exigencies of Nature are trifles to the concernments of our Soules It is better to starve then dye for ever and lose God 't is better to goe naked then not to be cloathed with immortality 't is better we should want heere then hereafter that fullnesse which knows none And yet How many are there that had rather lose Heaven then the World pawn their Consciences sooner then want and for a fortune sell away their very Christianity How many make sinne their study and thinke it a credit to invent new methods of impiety and are such carefull providers for Eternity that they will be