wife, and grave, and learned Men are they in the mean time. But I defy any of them to be able to arrive at this Depth of thinking or talking, till by a Course of Vice and Senfuality they have quite defaced the natural Principles of their Minds, and have fcarce a Spark of Man remaining in them. Others there are, who make it their Bufinefs to keep their Heads continually hot with Drink and Company, that their Confciences may not be made uneafy, nor their

Minds difturbed with fuch troublesome Reflections, as they certainly would be, if they were but fuffered to cool, and had the Leifure calmly to reflect on thefe Things. Others, partly thro' Cuftom, and partly thro' their worldly Inclinations, have fo fetter'd and intangled themfelves with a Crowd of Bufinefs and fecular Affairs, that that is always running in their Heads, nor have they Time to attend to any other Matters. And others among us are altogether immerfed in brutifh and fenfual Lufts, and have no more Sense of any thing that is not Flesh and Blood, than Goats or Satyrs. Laftly, Others are rather filly and unthinking, than grofly wicked; they do believe thefe Things, and often with Reflection and Concernedness enough call them to mind. But, they do not know how, they are fatally overborn with fomething or other from feriously and induftrioufly pursuing the eternal Welfare of their

Souls,

Souls, tho' they are apprehenfive enough how much it doth concern them. Their Comfort is, they mean well, and their Lives are not very bad ; and they hope, fome Time or other, they fhall have the Grace to apply themselves clofely to the Business of a religious, and ferious, and devout Life; tho' at the prefent they cannot but own they lead a very carelefs one, having no Senfe of God or Religion upon their Minds, as to their common Converfation.

This laft Sort of People, now as they are (we thank God) the moft in Number, fo are they the most hopeful of any of those I have now named; and therefore to these chiefly do I at this Time apply my Difcourfe.

You believe there is a God and a Devil. You believe that there is a Heaven for pious and virtuous Perfons to be rewarded in, and a Hell, in which all vicious and wicked Men fhall be everlaftingly punish'd. And you are fenfible likewise, that, according to the Preparations you make in this Life, fo fhall you have your Portion in the one, or in the other: Nay, fo far are you fenfible of this, that you feriously think, fome Time or other, of calling yourselves to account for your Life paft, and reforming whatever is amifs in you, and making your Business to live more ftrictly, and virtuously, and religiously, than ever you have yet done. Why all this is very well.

it

But

But why, in God's Name, do you defer it?
Why do not you go about it presently?
Can you confider, that upon your Beha-
viour in this Life depends your whole Eter-
nity; and can you after this think it rea-
fonable to neglect a Day longer the fecu-
ring that infinite Concernment? What is it
you do expect? Do you hope for clearer
Revelations of God's Will in this Matter?
or more powerful Affiftances from his
Spirit? Alas! it is in vain. God hath
made his laft Difcoveries by Jefus Chrift;
nor are you ever to think of other Motives,
or other Affiftances, than what are made
to you in the Gofpel, and which you have
had already fome Experience of. And those
too may fail
you, if you do ftill continue
to neglect or abuse them when God offers
them to you. Do not deceive yourselves,
God hath done all that is neceffary; nay,
all that is fit and convenient for his Part to
do towards your Salvation. And if you
will ftill harden your Hearts, and ftand
out against his gracious Tenders of Mercy,
your Ruin will lie wholly at your own
Doors.

But perhaps you may think you shall be fitter for that ferious Work fome Time hence, when you have dispatched fome other Affairs, that your Hearts and Hands are now full of. But this I have already fhewn you is a vain Imagination, it being certain, as I faid, that every Day of your

་

Life that you defer this Business, it will ftill grow more difficult, and you will be lefs able to undertake it. But after all, you do not confider that all this while you are demurring and putting off this Work, I fay, you do not confider what little Command you have of your own Life. You are now in Health, and you think that by the Course of Nature you may live many Years. But what if you fhould not? What if you should die a Year hence, or a Month hence? (as it is odds but that several that now hear me will be gone to their long Home before another annual Revolution be come about.) Nay, what if, while you are faying to your felves, with the rich Man in the Gospel, Soul, take thine Eafe, eat, drink, and be Luke 12. merry, you fhould hear a Voice, faying, O Fool, this Night fall thy Soul be taken from thee? O, in what a miferable Condition would you then be! It is in vain then to begin your Work, for that is the Time it fhould be concluded. It is in vain to beg for longer Time, for the Decree of Heaven is paffed upon you: you must go, though you be never fo unwilling. If indeed you had any Art, any Skill, any Power to prevail with Death, or to oblige those, in whose Hands your Life is, to fpare you, and give you longer Time, you would fay fomething. But this you cannot do, nay, you know you cannot do it. cannot do it. You come hither upon the fame Terms and Conditions that

all

19, 20.

all other People do. And you know that every Man's Life is at the Mercy of a thoufand Accidents every Day.

Oh, Lord, then what intolerable Nonfenfe is it, to put off the greatest Business we have to do in the World, that Business, which, if it be not taken Care of, we are undone for evermore, in Hopes of the Continuance of a Life, which we are not certain, no, nor is it poffible we should have any Certainty that it will continue for a Year; no, nor for a Month; no, nor for a Day. God Almighty give us Grace fo to confider thefe Things, that we may all of us immediately think of our Ways, and turn our Feet unto his Teftimonies, that we make Hafte, and without further Delay, enter upon the keeping his Commandments.

may

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