554 The Parable of the Vol. L God, by fome great Affliétion or Sicknefs, lies heavy upon them : but Rill they would be apt to defer their Repentance, and put it off'till the prefent Amaze- ment were a little over, and the terror of their firft Apprehenfions were abated and worn off by degrees, and after a little while they would return to their for- mer Courfe. And this is too too probable, from what we fee Men do in other cafes not very much remote from this. It is a very terrible and amazing thing to fee a Man die, and folemnly take his Taft leave of the World. The very Cit. cumftances of dying Men are apt to firike us with horror ; to hear fuch a Man how fenfibly he will fpeak of the other World, as if he were juft come from it, rather than going to it ; how feverely he will condemn himfelf for the Folly and Wickednefs of his Life ; with what Paflion he will with that he had lived better, and ferved God more fincerely ; how ferioully he will refolve upon a betterLife, if God would be pleated to raife him up, and try him but once- more ; withwhat Zeal and,Earnefinefs he will commend to his beft Friends and neareft Relations, a religious and virtuous Courfeof Life, as the onlything that will minifter Coin- fort to them when they come to be in his Condition. . Such Difcourfes as thefe, are very apt to move and. aired Men for the time, and to ftir-up in them very good Refolutions, whilft the prefent Fit and Impreffion tails : but becaufe thefe fights are very frequent, they have feldom any great and permanent effeét upon Men. Men confider that it is a verycommon Cafe, and Sinners take Example and Encouragement from one, another ; every one is affeéted for the prefent, but few are fo efle tually convinced, as to betake themfelves to a better Courfe. And if Apparitions, from the dead were as common, as it is for Men to die; we may reafonably prefume that the Difcourfes of dead and dying, of thofe that are going, and thofe who come from the dead, would have much the fame effec upon the generality of Men. But if we fuppofe this a ungular Cafe, (which there is no reafon to do) in that cafe the Effeét would probably be this ; a Man that were firongly addiéted tohis Lufls, and had no Mind to leave them, would be apt when theFright were over, to be eafily perfuaded that all this was merely the,work of Fancy and Ima- gination,; and the rather, becaufe fuch things did not happen to others, as well as to himfelf. a. We have, as great or greater Reafon to believe the Warnings or Threatnings of God's Word,, as the Difcourfes of one that Ihould come to us from the dead. Fot the Threatnings of God's Word againft filch Sins as natural Light convinceth Men of, have the natural Guilt and Fears of Men on their fide, the particular Teftimony of every Man's Confcience, and the concurrent Teftimony of Man- kind to the Probability of the thing ; and to give us full Affurance of the Truth and Reality of them, we have a credible Relation of great and unqueftionable Miracles wrought on purpofe to give Teftimony to thofe Perlons who denounced thofe Threatnings, that they came from God. So that here is a very publick and authentick Teftimony given to the Threatnings of God's Word, more fuit- able to the generality of Mankind, and of greater Authority than a private_Ap- parition, or a fingle Miracle _; and if that will not convince Men, why Ihould we fuppofe that this will ? 3. The very fame Reafon which makes Men to rejea the Counfels of God in his Word, would, in all probability, hinder Men from being convinced by. an Apparition from the Dead. It is not generally for want of Evidence, that Men do not yield a full and effectual Affent to the Truth of God's Word; I mean, that they do not Believe it fo as to Obey it : but from the'Intereft of Come Luft. The true caufe is not in Men's Underflandings, and becaufe there is not Reafon enough to fatisfy them, that the Scriptures are the Word of God,; but in the ob- ftinacy of their Wills, which are enflaved to theirLufls. And the Difeafe being there, it is not to be cured by more Evidence, but by more Confideration, and by the Grace of God, and better Refolutions. The Man is addiéted to force Vice or other, and that makes him unwilling to entertain thofe Truths which would check and controul him,in his Courfe. The light of God's Word is offenfive to him, and therefore he would that it out. This account
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