Chap. 16.] EXEMPLIFIED. 269 breathe out thy last ; a few more nights to sleep, before thou sleepest in the dust 3 Alas ! what will this be, when it is gone ? And is it not almost gone already ? Very shortly thou wilt see thy glass run out, and say to thyself, " My life is done ! My time is gone ! it is past recalling ! There is nothing now but heaven or hell before me !" Where, then, should thy heart be now, but in heaven ? Didst thou know what a dreadful thing it is to have a doubt of heaven, when a man is dying, it would rouse thee up. And what else but doubt can that man thendo, that never seriously thought of heaven before ? Some there be that say, " It is not worth so much time and trouble, to think of the greatness of the joys above ; if we can make sure they are ours, we know theyare great." But as these men obey not the commandof God, which requires them to have their " conversation in heaven, and to set their affections on things above ;" so they wilfully make their own Iives miserable, by refusing the delights which God hath set before them. And if this were all, it were a small matter ; but see what abundance of other mischiefs follow the neglect of these heavenly delights. This neglect will damp, if not destroy, their love to God will make it unpleasant to them to think or speak of God, or engage in his service it tends to pervert their judgments concerning the ways and ordinances of God it makes then sensual and voluptuous it leaves them under the power of every affliction and temptation, and is a preparative to total epos- tacyit will also make them fearful and unwilling to die ; for who would go to God or a place he hath no delight in ? who would leave his pleasure here, if he had not better to go to ? Had I only proposed a course of melancholy, and fear, and sorrow, you might reasonably have objected. But you must have heavenly delights, or none that are lasting. God is willing you should daily walk with him, and fetch in consolations from the everlasting fountain: ifyou are un- willing, even bear the loss ; and, when you are dying, seek for comfort where you can get it, and see whether fleshly delights will remainwith you ; then conscience will remem- ber, in spite of you, that you were once persuaded to a way for more excellent pleasures pleasures that would have followed you through death, and have lasted to eternity. As for you, whose hearts God hath weanedfrom all things
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=