Serm. CXVIII. in order to ltepentánce. >< oz Senfe to apprehend a prefent Evil, but Reafon and Confideration to look before us, and to difcover Dangers at a diftance, to apprehend them as certainly, and with as clear a Convi&ion of the reality of them, as if they threatned us the next moment : and will any confiderate Man, who hath calculated the dangerous E- vents of Sin, and the dreadful Effe&s of God's Wrath upon Sinners, go on to provoke the Lord to jealoufe, as if he were fironger than he ? It is not to be ima- gined, but that if Men would ferioufly confider what Sin is, and what (hall be the fad Portion of Sinners hereafter, they would refolve upon a better- Courfe. Would any Man live in the Lulls of the Flefh, and of Intemperance, or out of Covetoufnefs defraud or opprefs his Neighbour, did he ferioufly confider, that God it the avenger offuch ; and that becaufe of thefe things the wrath of God comer upon the Children of difobedience. I fhould have great hopes of Mens Repentance and Reformation, if they could but once be brought to Confideration : for in moll Men it is not fo much a pofi- tive disbelief of the Truth, as inadvertency and want of Confideration, that makes them to go on fo fecurely in a finful Courfe. Would but Men confider what Sin is, and what will be the fearful confequence of it, probably in this Worlds but moil certainly in the other, they could not chufe but fly from it as the greateft evil in the World. And to (hew what Power and Influence Confideration will probably have to bring Men to Repentance, and a change of their Lives, I remember to have fomewhere met with a very remarkable Rory, of one that had a Son that took bad Courfes, and would not be reclaimed by all the good Counfel his Father could give him ; at lall coming to his Father, who lay upon bis Death-Bed, to beg hisBleffing, his Father inftead of upbraiding him with his bad Life, and un- dutiful Carriage toward him, fpake kindly to him, and told him hehad but one thing to delire of him, That every day he would retire and fpend one quarter of an hour alone byhimfelf; which he promifed his Father faithfully to do, and made it good : after a while it grew tedious to him, to fpend even fo little time in fuch bad and uneafieCompany, and he began to bethink himfelf, for what Reafon his Father fhould fo carnally delire of him to do fo odd a thing for his fake, and his mind prefently fuggelled to him, that it was to enforce him to Confideration ; wifely judging that if by any means he could but bring him to that, he would foon reform his Life and becomea new Man. And the thing had itsdefired effe& ; for after a very little Confideration, he took up a firmRefolu- tion to change the Courfe of his Life, and was true to it all his days. I cannot anfwer for the truth of the Story, but for the moral of it 1 will ; namely, that Confideration is one of the belt and moft likely means in the World, to bring a bad Man to a better Mind. I now come to the IV. And laft Particular, namely, that the want of this Confideration is one of the greateft Caufes of Mens Ruin. And this likewife is implyed in the Text ; and the reafon why God does fo vehemently delire that Men would be wife and con- fider, is, becaufe fo many are ruin'd and undone for want of it. This is the def- perate folly ofMankind, that they feldom think ferioufly of the Confequenceof their A&ions, and leall of all of fuch as are ofgreateft Concernment to them, and have the chief Influence upon their eternal Condition. They do not confider what Mifchief and Inconvenience a wicked Life may plunge them into in this World, what Trouble and Difturbance it may give them when they come todie; what Horror and Confufion it may fill them withal when they are leaving this World, and palling into Eternity ; and what intolerable Mifery and Torment it may bring upon them to all Eternity. Did Men ponder and lay to heart Death and Judgment, Heaven and Hell ; and would they but let their Thoughts dwell upon thefe things, it is not credible that the generality of Men could lead fuch profane and impious, fuch lewd and diffolute, fuch fecure and carelefs Lives as they do. Would but a Man frequently entertain his Mind with fuch Thoughts as thefe ; I mutt fhortly die and leave this World, and then all the Pleafures and Enjoy- ments of it will be tome as if they had never been, osly that theremembrance of them,
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