fuperfluous, no marvel if Confideration be look'd upon as a task fit only for Men, who have nothing else to employ their time in ; And yet in their Temporal concerns fuperfluous things are most coveted, Rooms of State they feldom make use of, more provifion than they can well fpend, more furniture than they need, more garments than they have juft occafion for, fo that fuperfluous things are not always caft afide, and therefore Converfion might at least be as much minded, as those fuperfluities of vanity. But the fame reason that ferves them in Temporal, doth not serve them in Spiritual things, and they will count that a good Argument in matters relating to their Bodies, which they will by no means admit of in a point relating to their Souls, though the cafe and circumstances be the fame. And as it is with Men, that will not receive a Prefent fent them from one they scorn, they do not only refuse the Gift, but will not fee the Messenger that brings it: fo here, Confideration being the Meffenger that would prefent them with the vaft Treafure of Converfion, they not only reject the Gift, but the Donour too. In. deed where People defpife the House, they'll have no great value for the Porch ; and when the end feems needlefs, they'll not trouble themselves much about ufing the means that lead to it. And fuch perfons we must leave to be convinced of the neceffity of Converfion, by their punishment. Since reason cannot perfwade them, judgment must take away the

veil from their eyes. What Exhortation cannot effect, Thunder muft produce. What they will not believe upon the Word of God, they must be forc'd to give affent to by the flames, they shall ere long feel the rage and fury of; and God, who could not be glorified in their Converfion, muft glorifie himself in their everlafting confufion.

IX. Impediment.

IX. Miftaking the Nature of Confideration. As the way to life is but one, fo the ways that lead to deftruction are infinite, 'and without number. And fuch root doth a finful life, if not check'd betimes, take in Men, that if they can but find the fhadow of an excufe, they will not fail to lay hold of it, that they may not part with what they love fo dearly. It's from hence, that all their little attempts to perform their duties, pafs with them for the duties themselves; as if lifting up, or moving a piece of Lead, were as much as carrying of it from one place to another. They would be angry with their fervants, if demanded, what work they have done, they should reply, that they have executed their Masters commands, when they have only touch'd the Plow with a finger, or play'd with it to divert them; and take it very ill of a Waterman, that should ask Money of them for carrying them to the place they intended for, if he should but give a

stroke

ftroke or two with his Oar, and fo give over; and laugh at that perfon, that should pretend he hath made them a fire, when he hath laid but two or three sticks together. The folly they find fault with in others, they practife themselves; and while they attempt to take the Mote out of their Brother's eye, they are infenfible of the Beam, that is in their own; for thus, we find, they do proceed, when exhorted to a ferious confideration of their ways; they take every fad thought of their fpiritual Concerns for Confideration, and a rambling imagination of their danger, paffes for contemplation of their fpiritual wretchednets.

Because now and then, when some lofs or affliction befalls them, a melancholy conceit steals into their minds; and when they cannot have their will, or are croffed and disappointed in their Worldly expectations, they begin to fret, and grow impatient, and in that impatience give a look to the Image of Jefus, and his Difciples, who endured great afflictions, because when their Children have dealt unkindly by them, or poverty is like to come upon them, they vouchfafe to let in a tranfient contemplation of the Worlds Vanity; and when fome great Man hath caft them off, or their Friends are difpleas'd with them, they do flightly reflect on the never fading compaffion of God, and caft a careless look on their fins, that may have deferved the trouble they are under; they give out, they confider the things

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things that belong unto their peace ;_ and if thefe flashes do not produce thofe effects in them, the Holy Ghoft expects, they are apt to charge Confideration with infufficiency, and cry out againft it, as a means improper to produce that seriousness of life, which God requires of them, in order to everlasting happiness; as if, like Aqua fortis, it would take out the Ink which Sin, and the Devil have caft on their Souls in a moment, and a Raven could be changed into a Swan, with an Almighty Fiat, Let it be fo, and it must be fo; wherein they appear to me like young and hafty Chymifts, that are impatient, and will not let the MenStruum stand long enough, but would have the experiment perfect, before the matter be ripe for operation; and thus they come to miscarry.

To think how Men play the fool with Religion, how aukwardly they go about it, and how filly the Apologies are, they make for this neglect, cannot but make a fober Man admire, how its poffible for them to fink into fuch fimplicity, or fondnefs rather, to delude their own Souls. They know it is not a stroke or two that will fell a Tree, nor knocking twice or thrice, that will pull down a House, nor blowing flightly, that will make green wood burn; and yet that they should be fo fottifh, fo impertinent, fo abominably careless in the greateft concern of their lives, and fancy that a few careless thoughts now and then will produce

that

that circumfpect life God commands and urges, betrays fo great a fhallowness of reafon, and is an act so weak, that I know not how to give it a name difparaging and low enough.

Alas! Confideration, as hath been hinted before, is a frequent reiterated lively reprefentation of the danger of a finful life; and, SINNER, Didft not thou go about it like a Man that is in jeft, thou would'ft fee what wonders it doth caufe. Didft thou fet upon this thoughtful task in fober fadnefs, and if the first, and fecond, and third Confideration, would not weaken the Fortifications, or ftrong holds of iniquity, affault them with fresh supplies of thoughts, and aggravate the fins thou wouldst be rid of, and think how often flighted convictions border upon the fin against the Holy Ghost, and move God to fwear in his wrath, that fuch Men fhall never enter into his reft, thou wouldst not find that relish in fin, which now thou doft; thou wouldst find it hath more of the Gall and Wormwood in it, than of the Honey. Thy fenfual appetite would lofe much of its heat and fury, and thy paffions would be brought into a cooler temper. Elifba bids the King of Ifrael fmite upon the ground, and he fmote thrice, and stayed; And the Man of God was wroth with him, and faid, Thon Shouldeft have fmitten five or fix times, then hadft thou fmitten Syria till thou hadst confumed them, 2 Kings 13. 18, 19. An embleme of

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what