WHO LOSE THE SAINT'S REST. 99 more. The talk of death and judgment was irksome to them, because it damped their mirth. They could not endure to thing of their sin and danger, because these thoughts sunk their spirits. They knew not what it was to weep for sin, or to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. They could laugh away sorrow, and sing away cares, and drive away these melancholy thoughts. To meditate and pray, they fancied would be enough to make them miser- able, or run mad. Poor souls, what a misery will that life be, where you shall have nothing but sorrow ; intense, heart - piercing, multiplied sorrow ; when you shall neither have the joys of saints, nor your own former joys! Do you think there is one merry heart in hell? or one joyful countenance, or jesting tongue? You now cry, a little mirth is worth a great deal of sorrow. But, surely, a little godly sorrow, which would have ended in eternal joy, had been worth much more than all your foolish mirth ; for the end of such mirth is sorrow. § 7. (5) They shall also lose all their sensual de- lights. That which they esteemed their chief good, their heaven, their god, must they lose, as well as God himself. What a fall will the proud ambitious man have from the top of his honours ! As his dust and bones will not be known from the dust and bones of the poorest beggar; so neither will his soul be honoured and favoured more than theirs. What a number of the great, noble, and learned, will be shut out of the presence of Christ ! They shall not find their magnificent buildings, soft beds, and easy couches. They shall not view their curious gardens, their pleasant meadows, and plenteous harvests. Their tables will not be so furnished, nor attended. The rich man is there no more clothed in purple and fine linen, nor fareth sumptuously every day. There is no exciting the admiration of beholders. They shall spend their time in sadness, and not in sports and pastimes. What an alteration will they then find? The heat of their lust will be then abated.
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