than was return'd to him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked fervant : thou kneweft that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not fow. Wherefore then gaveft not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with fury? Therefore take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. And as for thofe mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them, (and it feems, fuch are all those that will not improve thofe powers God hath given them, efpecially this of Confideration, in order to be reclaim'd from the errour of their ways) bring them hither, and flay then, before me, Luke 19. 22, 28.

And indeed, he that can fit down and confider what loffes may befal him, what mischief may happen to him, if he keeps Company with a turbulent quarrelfom man, and thereupon fhuns his Society; He that can confider, what terrour it will strike into him, if he lie in a haunted Chamber, how it will difcompofe him, how it will break his reft, what fickness it may bring upon him, and what cold Sweats the fight of a Ghost will caft him into, and thereupon will not be perfuaded, to take up his Lodging there, will find in the last day, that he might as well have fate down and confider'd, what evil a finful life, would bring upon him. His reafon, to be fure, is capable of taking the one into Confideration as well as the other; and he that believes he hath a Soul, must be fuppofed able to think of dangers G

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that may befal his Soul: and fince Confideration is that which reprefents all dangers in very lively colours, and by that means affects, and makes impreffions upon the whole man, there is no perfon but may fafely expect God's bleffing upon fuch Confiderations, not upon the account of merit, but because God hath most freely, and most graciously promis'd his affiftance, where men fhew their willingness to work in his Vineyard. For God in this Cafe deals with men, as a Master with his Servants, who if they husband a little Farm well, is content to let them undertake a greater, and encourages their industry by larger conceffions.

And that's the reason why Conversion in Scripture is sometimes attributed to man, and fometimes to the Father of lights, from whom every good and perfect gift defcends; and why we read in the fame Prophet, Make your felves a new heart and a new fpirit, Ezek. 18.31. And I the Lord will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will: put within you, Ezek. 36. 26. Because God expects the Sinner fhould take his ways, and prepofterous actions, and the danger which hangs over his head, into ferious Confideration, represent the odioufnefs, and difingenuity, and unreasonableness of his fin to his mind, and mufe upon that endless happiness he may arrive to, weigh the comforts and confolations he may enjoy on this fide Heaven, and God will encourage him, gather the Lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bofome, i. e. profper those fin

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tere endeavours, and water them with the Dew of his Benediction, till the Byafs of the Soul is chang'd, and turned towards Heaven. So true is that Saying of Christ, Matth. 24. 29. To him that hath, i.e. who improves the ftock of Grace, Providence bath already conferr'd on him, fhall be given, and he shall have more abundant; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away, even that which he bath.

-Confideration is the Bed where the incorruptible Seed is fown, and on the ground thus prepared, the Sun of Righteoufnefs doth fhine, and by his warmth produces in the Soul all manner of pleasant fruits, Cant. 7. 13. Confideration,. like the Pool of Bethesda, draws the great Angel of the Covenant down, who stirs the Pool, and gives it a healing Vertue, and immediately the blind receive their fight, and the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed, and the dead are raised up, Matth. 1. 5.

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That God hath fometimes by miraculous means converted, and turn'd men from their irreligi oufnefs and contempt of holiness, we do not de-ny; but though thefe miracles might be the occafion of their Reformation, it was ftill Confideration that digefted these miraculous Providences, and engaged these men to enquire what they meant, and for what end they were fent, and how they fhould efcape if they neglected fo great a falvation. It was this made them argue, that as thefe Calls were great, and full of wonder, fo they challengd entertainment and fubmiffion

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fubmiffion answerable to fo great a mercy. It was this made them fee the Love of God, and wonder whence it fhould be, that God fhould over-look fo many thousands, and knock at their Gates; pafs by Palaces, and be content to take up his reft in their poor habitations. It was this made them ponder, that after fuch Admonitions and Exhortations from Heaven, there was no standing still, and that contempt of such extraordinary Providences, muft needs fall very heavy on the Soul one day, and fink it into the nethermoft Hell; upon which Confiderations and Expoftulations, they refolv'd to clofe with Chrift, and with the terms of the Gospel. Miracles not improved by Confideration would make but little impreffion on the heart, like the Seed that fell upon the Rock, Piety might fuddenly spring up, but for want of Root would foon wither away. Confideration is that, which affects the Soul with them, makes it concerned, crys, be gone, and astonishes into Reformation. Hence it was, that the Jews who confidered not Gods design in the Miracles they faw, remained as obstimate as ever, whereas had they by Confideration dived into the care God took to convince them, there would not have been greater Saints under the Cope of Heaven.

But all this will more fully appear, if we can prove, That without Confideration, Converfion, or Reformation of life cannot but be counterfeit ; Conversion being a change of the whole man,and loving God better than the World, or minding

Heaven more than Earth, an immortal Soul more than a frail dying Body, there can nothing be imagin'd, under God, more likely to prevent our being deceiv'd with a form of godliness, than Confideration; That the Devil very ordinarily transforms himself into an Angel of Light, and imposes upon our minds by fhadows of Vertues, as it is his interest, so it is a thing as common as our yielding to temptations of that nature. Daily experience is a fufficient witnefs, how men deceive themselves with a varnish and paint of Piety, and flatter themselves, that they are ordain'd to eternal life, and in a way to thofe Regions of Blifs when they are not. Because they acknowledge and profess, that God is infinite, perfect, glorious, and the Supreme Governour of the World, and that in him we live, and breathe, and have our Being; and that it's he that rules the great Wheel of Providence, they conclude they love him: better than their riches or pleasures here, when they do nothing lefs, indeed no more but what Parrots may do, which being taught, can repeat the fame words, and be never the nearer that Wisdom which makes men wife unto falvation. We see how men, because they have no inclination to fome grofs notorious fins that other men are guilty of, are apt to conclude, that they mortifie their lufts, and put off the works of darkness, walking foberly as in the day time; and because they frequent, the Temple of the Lord, they are prefently true Hearers of the Word. We see how the Harlot, Prov. 7. 14. because

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