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to make the Powers of our Souls in any tolerable Degree ferviceable to us for the Work of Religion, in cafe we have not laid out ourselves in that way before. To which we add further, that all thofe Things which do now indispose us, and render us unfit for the Service of God, will more and more do fo every Day, and confequently we are every Day lefs capable of undertaking the Work. Whatfoever is a Hindrance of that Work To-day, will be fo Tomorrow, and a greater too. For the longer any of us gives way to any evil Affection, or any finful Cuftom, ftill the ftronger it grows upon us, and ftill more untoward and uncapable we are of receiving contrary Impreffions. Let no Man flatter himself therefore with fuch Thoughts as thefe; I am now indifpofed for the pursuing Virtue, and living religioufly; I have other Inclinations, which at prefent carry away my Thoughts and Defigns, and I cannot eafily break loofe from them. But I hope in God I fhall, fome Time or other, be in a better Humour, and then I will be good, then I will ferve God. O Man, do not deceive thyself with these vain Imaginations! If thou be'st not in Humour to be good To-day, thou wilt much less be fo To-morrow. For thou wilt always have the fame Inclinations or Affections, or others as bad, to hinder thee, and by thy Delays to give Check to them, they still grow stronger,

ftronger, and thou groweft weaker. In truth, he that defers the Amendment of his Manners, tho' it be but for an Hour, upon Account of his prefent Unfitnefs, is juft in the Cafe of that filly Countryman (it is the Comparison of an heathen Poet) that had a great Mind to go over a River, but would stay upon the Bank till all the Water of it was run out. But there, alas, he may for ever ftay, for the River runs on, and will always continue fo to do, and poffibly with a greater Flood.

2. But fecondly, As all Delays in this Business of keeping God's Commandments make us more unfit to go about it, fo do they also render the Work itself much greater, and confequently more difficult to be performed. It is in this Cafe as with a Man, who being bound for a certain Place, inftead of going the direct Way that leads to it, fteers his Courfe the quite contrary. Now fuch a Man, if ever he comes to his Journey's End, muft not only travel thro' all thofe Stages, which, if he had taken the direct Road, must have been paffed by him in order to the arriving where he would be, but he muft alfo tread over again all thofe Steps that he went wrong; fo that by this means you see he hath made his Journey much longer than otherwise it would have been, and fo much the longer, by how much the farther he hath gone out of the Way. We are all of us in this

Life upon a Journey. The Place whither we are bound is the Kingdom of Heaven. The only Way that leads thither, is a Life of Virtue and Holinefs. Opposite to this is a Course of Vice and Sin, as being the Road that leads to Hell and Deftruction. All of us now that pursue this latter Course, the further we go in it the more we are out of the Way, and confequently the more Steps have we to make, the more Toil and Travel to undergo, if ever we come to our Journey's End. This then is all the Benefit we reap by continuing on in a Course of Sin: Some Time or other we must repent; and the longer we delay it, we have very comfortably heaped up to ourselves fo many more and more grievous Sins to repent of. And who, alas! but he who feels it, can exprefs the insupportable Weight and Load that a continued Course of Sins, with all their aggravating Circumftances, doth lay upon the Conscience of a Man when it is once feriously awakened. We must all get virtuous Habits fooner or later. But by putting the Work ftill off, we have done ourselves this Kindness, that the effecting of it will coft us ten times the Pains that it would have done, had we begun then when we were first convinced that it was our Duty to do it. Where then is the Wifdom to defer thefe Things; to multiply our Work to that Degree, that it may perhaps exceed

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our utmost Strength to perform it; to lay fuch Burdens upon our Shoulders, as will poffibly endanger the breaking of them. Oh, therefore, let us think, whenever we are tempted to commit a Sin, Why should I do this Action, which, if ever I come to repent of (and I muft repent of it, if ever I mean to go to Heaven) will coft me Sorrow and Trouble more than enough? Whenever God puts good Thoughts into our Hearts, let us fay to ourselves, Why fhould I not now pursue thefe holy Motions, and bring them to fome Effect? It is certain, if I do it not at all, I am undone; and if I put the Thing off till another Time, it will be much more difficult for me to do it. - Oh, that we were as wife in these our great Concernments as we are in every little trifling Bufinefs of this World; we might fave ourselves, God knows how much Labour and Trouble, which otherwife will unavoidably come upon us, or elfe that which is a thousand times worfe!

II. But to proceed to a fecond Argument, wherewith I would enforce the Pra&tice of the Text. Eafinefs and Quickness of Difpatch is not the only Convenience of fetting prefently upon the Work of Religion, as neither is the increasing our Labour, and the Difficulty of the Work the only Inconvenience of delaying it; but further, let it be confidered, that by make

ing hafte to keep God's Commandments, as David here did, we mightily confult the Pleasure and Comfort of our following Days, as, on the contrary, by delaying it we necef farily prepare Fears and Difquietude, and unavoidable Anxieties of Mind all our Life after. He who long purfues a vicious Course, and returns not till the latter End of his Days, muft never expect either to live or die in fo great Peace, or fo affured a Profpect of being happy in the other World, tho' he be never fo diligent and fincere in his Religion, as he who begins betimes. All his Hopes will be mingled with fad Fears of his Condition; the Sense of the many grievous Sins of his Life fo long perfifted in, will ftill be afflicting his Confcience, and he will ftill be doubtful whether he hath fufficiently repented of them, and whether God hath received him to Favour. As he muft take As he must take greater Pains in the working out his Salvation than those who engaged early in the Business, fo muft he do it likewife with greater Fear and Trembling; nay, it may be, he will not be freed from his Doubts and Perplexities till he finds himself in another State.

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This is the unavoidable Confequence of putting off the Business of Religion till our latter Days. Why therefore fhould we not now begin to live fo, as when we come to be old, if ever we be fo, we fhall wish we had lived? Why should we not now in VOL. VI.

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