Btlubub's Torments to be !tiled Prince of fhe :Dcvils: ~All .thc World's Hony win not fervc to allay the invenomed ftin~ings of Confcience. That's a fiery Serpent, a deaf Adder that will not be charm d by all the alluring Pleafures of the World. Thefe arc v~in and impertinent to one whofc thoughts are wholly pOifell: With tlie fear of Wrath and Hell, from Which thefe cannot deliver him: \Vhen God makes a Wound in the Spirit, the whole World cannot make a Pladtcr broad enm!gh tO cover it. - 9 Secondly; The World is a vain and ufelefs thing at tbe hour of Death. Poffibly, 2. many of us :~onJy never conflict with the Terrours of Confcience, nor have that con.: vitl:ion of the World's Vanity: But yet .we muft all conflitt: with Death, that King of Terrours. Suppofe thereforG (what muft certainlY once be) that we were now gafp. ing our bft, ourT?J:guesfalte~ing, our Eye-ftrings breaking, our Limbs .qn1iverin~, a dead Cold and Stlftn~fs mvadmg.us; were our Souls toft to and fro upon our expiring Bre:tth, and like Wreck~ at Sea, fomCtimes caft up, and ~y and _by fi1c~'~ back again; What could ftand us m fread, and make our paiTage hap)Jy at fuch a time as this? Now the Soul requires the ftrongeft, the richeft Cordials•. ~reparc it one mingled of the belt Ingredients the whole World can affurd.; Gall: 111to the Cup, Riches, Honour, Pleafl)re, the Quintelfencc of all that is here ~elirable; yet, .alas! \:Vhat is all this World to"J dying Man who is juft leaving it ? Thy wicked Companions, with whom thou haft laugh'd and fin'daway thy frefheft Years, will in this thy laft extremity forfake thee: or if they do attend fo fad a SpeCtacle; alas! \V hat miferableComforts will they be? They will then prove another badConfcience to thee, and bring .to thy remembrance, with horronr, the Sins which thou haft committed by their enticement, or they by thine. Thy Mirth and Jollity, w~\1 then be turned into Groans and Howlings: All things will ftare rnthfnlly upon Non rlam:u thee, and When thou ea \left upon them for help, confefS their impotency to refcue & f14n~us. thee from the gdpe of Death, and from the doom of Ju fticc. non .tr~; Sicknefs is ufha\ly a bufic t ime with Coofcicnce; and whcri. it is packing up for a ~;:;n £· Remove in~o the. other World, it will be fitre tO gather togetller all the Sins of a_(rat; domiMan'sLifc, and bind them as an heavy and infitpportable bur then ltpon his Soul. Can ni dedMXit thy fcnfua l Pleafures divert thee now? As they have ferved thee to pafs awa'y the.tfm j'· tedioufilcfs of Time, can they ferve to pafsaway the infinite tedioulitefs of Eternity?;,%~, /,;~ Nay, how Cln it otherwjfe be, but that a Mind long foak'd and foftned by thcfc;ra-1 . Hor• .fhould be made the more capable of receiving deep impreffionS of Grief, Anguifu, Ep. ::. and Defpa ir? . Indeed, while we eagcrl~-purfue any of thefe worldlyEnjoyments, wean~ but runping after~ fuadow: And as S~adows vanifh, and are.fivall.owed up in the greater fhadc of Nrght; fo when the Nrght of Death fhall calt rts thlck Shade about us, and wrap us up in deep and fitbftantial Darknefs, all thefe vain Shadows will then difappear and vauifu quite out of light. Now could v.ie have t;he fame Opinion of the World in tltc t ime of our Health and Profpcrity, as we fhall certainly have when we lie langnillfing and drawing on to Eternity, we fhould be able then, with a generous Scorn, to live above it, and dcfpife it. Shall we prize th0;fe Comforts, which will be none to us when we have thC grt>.atefr JICed of Comfort? Sh:;dl we glue our AffeCtions tothatwhich cithe ·· is fo f::~ithlefs that it will not, or fo weak that it cannot help us? So vain a thing is it, th1t it cannot refift thf difgrace that Oeep or only winking doth. Shut but your Eyes, and what becomes of all the Pomp and Luftre, the Beauty andSplendonr, that we fo much admire in the \11/orld? It a\l,vanifheth into ¥>arknefs and Nothing. Sleep filatchcth us from it:, and for the time, we have no more enjpymcnt of it than if we weredea·d. Every Night we die in <;mr Beds, au.d yet every Day are fo immerll: in the PJeafhres and BulinefiCs of the World, as if we were never to die indeed. Since therefore we ha1(e higher <~;nd nob~ er Obj9Cts to fix our AffeC!ions.on, let us not laviflt them out upon thefe :rorldlyVani,ti(js, which can at no time prove r'caLComforts unto us; and then lea:ft of aU, when we h~v~ moft need o£ .comfort. That's a feventfi Demon.: ftration. • • . Again; All things in the World are vain, becaufe they are unfuitable. True in..: VJII. deed, they are fuited to the neceilities of the Body, and ferve to feed and cloath that; but he is a Bcaft, or worfe, that reckons hirQfelf provided for, when only his bodily wants are fitpplied. Have we not all of us precious and immortal Souls, capable and defirous oflj:appinefs? Do not thefocrave to be fatisfied? Do they not deferve E ro
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