hath tafted the sweetness of Communion with God; eafie to him, that through long practice hath made them natural to himself, made them part of his temper,and riveted them into his very inclinations were the conditions God requires, in order to everlasting Blifs, attended with unconquerable difficulties; did God require a thousand Rivers of Oil, or the Sacrifice of our firft-born, or dragging the Cattel upon a thoufand Hills to his Altar; did he require us to wade through ftinking Ditches full of Leeches, and venomous Creatures, as the Enemy of Mankind is faid to advise fome of the Indians; did he enjoyn us to fuffer our felves to be crush'd to death under Chariot-wheels, as fome of the Heathens of Indoftan do,out of respect to their Idol Jagannath; indeed then, to neglect this promis'd felicity,would admit of fome excufe, the difficulty of the enterprise would qualifie the crime, and the omiffion be capable of fome flight Apology.

But when God requires no more but a pra&tical Belief, and fubmiffion to thofe Rules, His Son came down from Heaven to teach us, the observance whereof advances our Temporal Interest, as well as our Spiritual; keeps us in health, and in good temper, makes us live quietly and contentedly, even in this prefent World, where the duty is profit, and obedience brings its prefent reward with it, there to flight an incorruptible Crown of Glory, common reafon will tell us, that we juftly lose it. He that will not accept of the greatest Treasure

imaginable,if he may have it but for asking; we our felves confefs it's pity he fhould ever enjoy it; and then, when nothing but good Manners are required, no death, but that of our Extravagancies,no flaying of Beafts,except it be our lufts, no offering, but the Calves of our lips, no Sacrifice, but that of Prayer and Thanksgiving and felf-refignation is all the trouble, God defires us to be at,in order to endless Felicity; the condition being so facile,fo equitable, we cannot, if we our felves were to be the Judges, but acknow ledge,that we deserve never to poffefs it,if we defpife or neglect fo reasonable a condition.

The high quality of the perfon offended, certainly makes a fault the greater; he that kills a King, commits a greater crime, than he that kills a Peasant; and if the dignity of the perfon injured aggravates the fin, it may juftly aggravate the guilt and punishment too. And therefore he that hath affronted his Prince and Sovereign, deferves to lye in Jayl longer than he that hath wrong'd his equal or inferior; and confequently he that offends, and wilfully, without need, and maliciously, and for many years, and in defpight of all the Courtship of Gods Minifters to leave off, offends an Infinite Eternal, Incomprehenfible God; Why should not the offence amount to a demerit of Infinite and Eternal punishments? Certain it is, that the obftinate finner flights an Eternal Redemption,and had he liv'd for ever, he would, without all peradventure, have finn'd for ever; and X 2 fince

fince the Man that would have committed Treafon, is deservedly Executed for Treafon; why should not he suffer Eternally, who,if he had lived here to all Eternity,would have affronted God and abused him to all Eternity? The more I reflect on the nature of fin,the more dreadful it appears to me. Beheld with a careless eye, it appears to be only an infirmity of Nature, a flight wound of the Soul, a fmall crack in that tranfparent glass; But taking a view of its boldness, faucinefs, and infolence, I find how it threatens Heaven; If I think of God's Wisdom, I see how fin controuls that, as if God had made very foolish Laws to govern Mankind by: if I ruminate on God's Power, I fee how fin mocks that,as if all his threatnings were but Bugbears, and God did threaten more than he could perform;If I caft my eye upon God's Truth, and Veracity, I fee how fin would make him a Lyar,changeable,unfaithful, inconftant to himself: if I take a view of his juftice, I fee how fin would dash and abolifh it; for in that it makes the finner hope for impunity, when he hath affronted his Maker, as much as he can, what doth it, but enervate God's Righteousness, shake off God's Govern ment, and prompt the finner to refift, and fight with him, whofe Eyes are like flames of Fire, and whose Feet are as Brafs glowing in a Furnace ; ånd that fuch a continual contempt of the Almighty, thould justly, and deservedly, pull down perpetual torments, is a thing not at all contrary to reason; Nay, for ought I fee, the

finner makes nothing of Eternal damnation while he lives here; the lofs of 50 or 100 /. fhall fright him more than Everlasting banishment from the gracious Prefence of Almighty God, whereby he tacitly confeffes,that the punishment is very flight, and inconfiderable; and, What wrong doth God do him, in inflicting a punishment upon him which, by his own acknowledgment, is fo trivial and fo flight, that he'l fooner endure it, than the lofs of a Friend or Relation; nay, many times wishes for it in his common difcourfe,as if it were fome pleasure to see Eternal Flames about his Ears? and though this may be called inadvertency, yet is it fuch an inadvertency, as will make the finner blush one day,and clear the Almighty, who inflicts no more upon him, than a fleabite, for it seems, he makes no more of it, either in his thoughts, or expreffions.

How foon would Confideration of fuch Arguments, as thefe, undeceive the Worldly wretch, that talks, he knows not what, when he finds fault with God's dooming, careless, wilful, obftinate finners, to unquenchable fire. But, it's want of Confideration makes his Discourse fo loose, and wanton. It's this makes him embrace every little conjecture about the shortnefs of Hell torments, before the folid arguments, that evince an Eternity of God's difpleafure against stubborn finners: It's this makes him prefer a May-be, before a Real known Truth, and the Man that makes sport with Eternal mifery, fhall be more acceptable compa

ny to him, than the graveft, and most judicious Divine, whofe Reasons he cannot answer.

my

Alas! did the Drunkard, when he comes to himself again, fmite upon his Thigh,and fay,what have I done? How odious is this Vice I indulge felf in? How like a Beast do I live? How unworthy of that Reafon which the wife Creator hath bestowed upon me? How unworthy of thofe Mercies I daily enjoy? How would ma ny of the fober Heathens have fcorned a Temptation to fuch a fin? What a strange Creature would fuch a Man as Zeno the Heathen Philofopher have taken me to be, had he feen me fo dif order'd, who reproved Antigonus so sharply for this excefs? What follies and extravagancies doth it involve me in? How do I prostitute, and expose my self to the contempt and scorn of Men that know me? How can I hear the Apostle protest, that no Drunkard fhall enter into the Kingdom of God,and go on! Will not God take an account one day, and examine, how I have spent my time, and can I spend it worse, than by exceeding irrational Creatures in fenfuality? What brute but a Swine would diforder, it felf, as I do my Body? What can I plead in excuse of fo foul a Crime? Shall I plead Natural Inclination, when nothing is a greater dif grace to my Nature than this fin? Shall I fay, I am tempted to it, when my yielding to the Temptation argues the greater weakness and pufillanimity? Shall I pretend custom, when I cannot look upon the picture of a Drunken

Man

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