The great Evil and 1Janger of Little Sins. Secondly, Wot~ld J OU be prepared for Deutb; be~aretben that ,7ou do not diftr y~ur ~~flm::r"b: Repentance one J3y or hour /ouger upo~t. an7 prejumpwm of the contmuance of )Ortr Ltfe. dtfurt d upDeath depends not upon the warmnl? of a ficknefs _; ~ad do~h not ~lway_s af- 011 h~peuf fo.td it but fometimes he doch execunon before he Shoots off h1s warmng P1ece, /Qng Lift~ and w'hy may it not be 10 with you? However ·it is poffible your ficknefs may befuchas may render you uncapable of doingyourlaft good Office for your Soul: But if it fhould. beocherwife,yec this I amfure of, irisrhe unfircefi cime in all your Life, to be then cafting up yourAccounts when you fhould be giving of them up. 'to have your Evidence:, for. Heaven then to clear up to your Souls when yo~ fhould produce and !hew ~hem for your fupporc and co~forc. . Thirdly, Liveroery day fo as if every Jay were your lafl and dymg day, and the very Lt'flt e~t.'! next Jay atlotted to JOU unto Eternity; if ic be not .tO it is more than any of us knows; 11"J~'sif ,; and fince we have no affurance of one day or hour longer, ic is Put ReafOn and i,fl~ 1'~~-~' Wifdom to look upon every day as t~ac which may prove our very !aft. Fourthly, Be conftant in the Exercije of a Holy Life, and alwap doing of that, that !.!t conftAnt JOU would becontenrChrift jluJuld find you duing when he comes (()Summon you before his m ~t r-- B.tr. Think with thy felf if thou wer't now up.on thy tick Bed, and hadft re- ~~~ ~oif:. ceived the Stt~t ence of Death, and faweft thy Fnends ftand mourning round a~ bout thee, but cannot help thee; what would be thy thoughts and thy difcourfe then! Why, let the fame thoughts and the fame difcourfe fill up every day and hour of thy Life; for thou knowefi not, whether now this moment thou art l)ot as near Death, as if thy Friends and Relations, yea, and thy Phyficians alfo defpaired of thy Life, and had given thee over for Dead. Fifthly and Laftly, Labour to get an a./Jurance of 11 better Life, and rhiJ wiO pre~ Gt t "" 4pareyou for • ttmporal Death. When you and all things in the World muft takefuwtcto[tS leave of one another, and parr for ever1 then to have the fenfe of the Love of bttttr Lift, GOd, of an interefi in Jefus Chrift, and the fight and view of your own Graces ; thefe will bear up your Heart in a dying hour ; thefe things are Immortal, as your Souls are, and will enter imo Heaven with you, and abide there with you to Eternity. 0 whom will it not comfort to think that Death wiJl change his Bottle into a Spring! Tthough here our Water fomerimes fails us yet in Heaven, whither we are going we fhall bathe our felves in an infinit~ Ocean of Delights, lying at the breafts of an infinite Fountain of Life and Sweecnefs. Whoever bath fuch an affurance as this is, cannot hue welcome Death, embracing it not only wit:h Conte.mmem but with Delight: And while the Soul is ftrugling and ftriving to unclafp it felf, and to get loofe from the ·Body, !t cannot buc fay with Holy L~:mgings and Pamings, Come, Lord J efu$, come quukiJ. • THE GREAT 'EVIL and DANGER 0 F ~ITTLE SINS· S E R M ·o N VII· St. MAT. V. 19· 'whojot"Vertherefore jhall break._ a1ry one of theje leaft Comma11dments and ' rfoaO.teachMen/o, hejh(Jflbecalledthtleaftinthel<;jngdom of He~]!en. AMongft thofe many Pojntsthatour Saviour handles in this hls Sermop on An lt~trtir: . the Mounr,one is the Stability and Permanency of the Moral Law • die JuE1ir11. ... Obligation of which, he aflirmsco be as perpetual as Heaven and Earth . Verfe 18.. Verif:J, veri/.!, I fay unto you, •tilJ Hea'Vtn and E11rth pajf, onejt,: ·f! m• tml~ ]hall tn no 'Wi{e paf• from the Law, till all.bt fulfilld. This A1fertiQII ''·· Chrilt
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=