Hopkins - HP BR75 .H65 1710

Recommended from Phi! 2. 1 2, 13. 607 for from you, h i ~ Slaves you are, and though you profcfs to deny him, yet in your VVorks you own him, r3 .) Thirdly , If you !Pork fw Satan )IJU do but work for )'Our onm Damnation: For 'fhofe lhJ l wo"rk you m \If\: and will, and this is aH the Reward and Wages that you can juft ly ~01kfor t xpeCt f:om the Service of Sin and Satan ; and of t his a juft God and a malicious w~tj~, DeviJ w11llook that you fha\1 not be defrauded ; but as your Eph11h hath been full their o,:un of Iniquity and Abom inations, fa fhall your Cul be full of Wrath ~nd Indignat ion. . .J?arnna. Think, Oh Sinner, think how thcfe Maftet:s , whom thou now fervcft, will in Hell uon. infnlt over thee and upbraid t hee. Is this he our faithful ::md induftrious Servant? He who preferred our Mifery before his own Happinefs, whofe precious Soul \\'a; not precious to him f~r our fakes.? And is ~e now come wh ithe; his Wa~s lead him? Prepare a Place qtuckly for him ; let Ius Darknc(s be hornd and ddinal, his Works were fo; let his Chaim be ftrong and malfy, the Bonds of his I niquities: were fo; let his unqumchablc Fire be piercing and vehement; let his Torment be next unto my felf; this, this will be the infulti ng of your Mafl:er thrn. Oh Sinner1 confider ! ls this the Reward and Preferment that you work for? God forbid, Mercy prevent, yOu will fay; nay believe it, Mercy will not prevent, God wilf not forbid, unlefs you your fclves labour to prevent it; all t his muft be your ConM demnation as unavoidably as if God had no fuch Attribute of Mercy belonging to his Nature. This Sinners know, and are perfuaded of the Truth of it, unlefs they are Atheifts ; and if you are, truly it will not be long before your own Senfe and Feeling wi\1 convince you of the Truth of thefe thi ngs, to ym1r eternal Grief and Sorrow : And if you.do believe this, why do you not rowze up your felves and fall to work? If you are refolved for H ell, for a forefccn and forewarned Hell, who then can Il:op you? And unlefs yo u are ·refolved for Hell, methinks I might have done and need proceed no further. Tell me therefore, 0 Simun, are you not all pe1fuaded by t hefe Terrors? Will you not from this Moment labour, and ftrugg le, and fl:rive, and take any Pains in the ways of Obedience, rather than r.uin your own Souls, and thruft them down into the Pit of Defhuttion? I might be confident Sinners thus refolvc to do, were l fpcaking now to Men tluit were themfel\'Cs. B11 t Men's Reafons are befotted~ ar.d their Ears arc open only to the D evd, and to the bafe Allurements of the ElejiJ: And when we have done our mm oft in pcrfuading Si11Ders, in the end we muft turn our Exhoi·tations to them, into Prayers to God tor them, that he would fnatch them as Brands out of the Fire and burning, into which they, like drunken Men, are ·cafting themfelves and l ying down in. (4.) Fourthly, Once more, the fame P11ins that pojfibly fome take to d11mn thti7 own Tbefome SouiJ, migl.t fu.ffice eternally to [twe them. The fame Toil and Labour that fame undergo p11ins th.:.t for H ell and DeftruCHon , might have brought them to Heaven and 1-lappinejl, had fom~ take it been but that ~vay laid o.m. !he Prop~et tells us of fame, .Th11t draw ftJi'fl'.ity :b;~ms:~~.,r w;r;, Cords of Vamty, and Sm .u tt were Wtth Cart Rope~ . That ts, they are fa m- mig,hteurfiaved to the work of the Devil, that he puts them in to his Team, and makes n.tUJ [.we t ht:m draw and ftrain for their Iniquities; and lie cloth them a Courtefy when rhtm. their SiilS come eafily to them, for fo the ~hrafe imports. And we read of fome Ifa.' 'i• 18 ' i n another Prophet, That fin with both HttndJ greedily. And the Pfalmift t ells us of Mrc. 7· 8. thofc, That de-vlfo mifckief upon their Bed1, and that travel with Iniquity. That is; ~~01 ~·36·4t hey nre in as much Pain and Torment till their wicked Deligns be accomplifhed, a' 1 ' 4 ' as a Vv'cman in Travail js till file be delivered. Now Sinners, fince the work of Sin is fo toilfome, why will you not tvork the WorAs of God? Doth that Salvation that rOHows Obedience fright you, or is Heaven and Glory become terrible to you? Is not this it that all Men defires? Do not your Hearts leap at the mention of it? What then is hthatany rational Man can pretend,why he will not work? Is it becaufe you arc loth to take Pains? Why then are you fo laborious in Sinning? Whydo you fo fweat and toil in carrying Faggots to your own Fire? Why are you continually blov.:iog up thofe Flames that !hall for ever burn you? It is in va in to plead this any longer that you are loth to take Pains; for where are there greater Drudges in all the World than Sinners are? The De".lil can fcarce find them Work enough, they out-fin his Temptations; and had t hey not that Corruption within, the fcum whereof is continually boiling up in them, they h1Uft of neccffity ( l was going to fay) fometimes be Holy, for want of lmpolyment; Satan could uOt find them work enough. How, reftlefs and impatient are they till the y have done fame wick eel

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