CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 505 or any thing that is pleasing to the senses, the remembrance of the end doth not.so quickly and powerfullywork, to prevent his deceiv- ed imaginations asit ought. And when'poverty, or shame, or suf- ferings, or sickness, are presented .td him, the foresight of the end is not so speedy and powerful in clearing his judgment, and settling his resolution, and preventing his misapprehension and troubles as it ought. And hence come his oft mistakes and falls; and herein consisteth much ofthat foolishness, which he confesseth when re- pentance bringeth him to himself; 2 Sam. xxiv. 10. "2 Chron. xvi. 9. 3. But the seemingChristian hath so dim and doubtful a fore- sight of the end, and it is to frequently out of his mind, that things present do carry away his heart, and have the greatest power and interest with him, andare most regarded and sought after in this life. For he is purblind, not seeing afar off, as it is said, 2 Pet. i. 9. He wanteth that faith which is the "substance of things hop- ed for, and the evidence of things unseen ; " Heb. xi. 1. Things promised in another world seem to him too uncertain or too far off to be preferredbefore all the happiness, of this world: he is resolv- ed to make his best of that which he hath in hand, and to prefer possession before such hopes. Little doth his heart perceive what a change is near, and how the faceof all things will be altered ! how sin will look, and how the minds of sinners will be changed, and what all the riches, and pleasures, and honors of the worldwill appear at the latter end! He foreseeth not the day when the slothful, and the worldly, and the fleshly! and the proud, and the enemies of godliness, shall all wish in vain, ' O that we had laid up our treasure in heaven, and labored for the food that perisheth not, and had set less by all the vanities of the world, and had imitated the holiest and most mortified believers!' Though the hypocrite can himself foretell all, this, and talkof it to others, yet his beliefof it is so dead, and his sensuality so strong, that he liveth by sense, and not by that belief; and present things are practically preferred byhim, and bear the sway, so that he needeth those warnings of God as well as the profane, " O that they were wise, that theyun- derstood this, and that they would considertheir latter end ;" Deut. xxxii. 29. And he is one of the foolish ones (Matt. xxv. 8. 11.) who are seeking oil fortheir lamps when it is too late, and are crying' out, " Lord, Lord, open to us," when the door is shut ; and will not know the time of their visitation, nor know effectually, in this their day, the things which belong to their everlasting peace. XX. 1. TheChristian indeed is one that liveth upon God alone; his faith is 'divine; his love, and obedience, and confidence, are di- vine ; his chiefest converse is divine ; his hopes and comforts are divine. As it is God that he dependeth on, and trusteth to, artll. VOL. 1. 64
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