Stem. CXXXIII. different Endsofgood andbadMen. 205 Mind becaufe he holds his Peace and Pays nothing, theythink he bath Peace, and that all is quiet within. But I remember theObfervation of a very wife Hiftorian, Phil. Comines, who fays, That he knew in his Time feveral great Per- fons, who in ordinary Converfation, and to a fuperficial View, feemed to be very happy and contented; but yet to them who knew them more intimately, and in their private Freedoms and Recedes, were the moft miferable and difcon- tented Perfons in the World. This I confefs is very rare, for Men to conceal a very great Trouble, and more yet for a Man to diffemble when dying ; and yet there is Reafon to believe it fometimes happens. Sometimes the quiet Deathof a very bad Man, proceeds from Stupidity, and Want ofa juft Senfe of the Danger of his Condition, and this fromWant ofDif- cipline and Inftru&ion in the Nature and Principles of Religion : This Temper looks likeCourage, becaufe it is fearlefs of Danger ; but thisFearlefnefs is found- ed in great Ignorance and Want of Apprehenfron, whereas a true Courage dif- cerns the Danger, and yet thinks it fit and reafonable to venture upon it. Now this Stupidity of dyingMen, who have lived very ill, is commonly the Cafe of fuch as have been brought up ingreat Ignorance, and have lived in great Senfua- lity, by which means their Spirits are immers'd, and even Rifled in Carnality and Senfe ; and no Wonder, if they who live like Beafts, die after the fameManner. And thus our Saviour reprefents the rich Glutton in the Parable, as never coming to himfelf, and a Senfe of his Condition, till he was awakened by the Flames of Hell ; Luke x6. 22, 23. The richMan all died, and was buried, and in Hell he lift up his Eyes, being in Torment. As if he had never been awakened till then, his voluptuous and fenfual Courfe of Life rendring him infenfible of another World. Or elfe this falle Peace may be afcribed to the Delufion of falfe Principles, by vertue whereof it is often feen, that Men die in a very bad Caufe, not only with- out any Regret and Trouble, but with Chearfulnefs andSatisfa&ion ; and this is not to be wondred at, becaufe every Man's Confcience is a kind ofGod tohim; and whether a Man be in the Right or Wrong, fo long as he thinks hedoes well, andhis Heart condemns him not, he is apt to have Confidence towards God ; but for all that, it greatly concerns every Man to take great Care to inform his Confcience. For if Men will not be impartial in their Epquiry after Truth, and be not ready to receive it in the Loveof it, St. Paul tells us, That for this very Caufe, Godmay fend them firong Delufons, that they fhould believe a Lie, and that they might be damned, be- caufe they believed not the Truth, but had Pleafure in (inrighteoufnefs, 2 Theft. 2. ro, 11,12. that ?s, in Falfhood and Impofture : for fo the Word atKta, which is here rendredVnrighteonfnefe, is fometimes ufed in the New Teftament. And this is the laft Caufe I shall mention, to which the falfe Peace of wicked Men, when they come to die, is to be afcribed, viz. to the juft judgment of God, who permits great Sinners to be fo hardned in an evil Courfe, as neither living nor dying, to be awakened to a Senfe of their Condition ; filch as the Apoftle (peaks of r Tim. 4. 2. who are Paid to have their Confeiences feared, as it were, with a hot Iron. This, it is to be hoped, is but the Cafe of a few, that are thus utterly forfaken of God, and left to perifh in their own Hardnefs and Obftinacy. This is likea Gangrene in the Body, which mortifies the Part, and leaves it withoutSenfe, and thereby incapableof Recovery. I proceed in the Second Place, to !hew whence this Differencebetween good and bad Men, when they come todie, does proceed. And 'here I thall endeavour to thew, that this Difference is founded in the true Nature and Reafon of the Things themfrlves ; in the Nature ofReligion and Virtue, and of Impiety. andVice; in the different Ways and Courfes ofgood and bad Men, which do naturally tend to there dif- ferent Ends. And tomake out this more clearly and diftinitly, T (hail endeavour to mani- felt there ice Things : I. That a Religions and Virtuous Life, is a real Ground of Peace and Serenity of Mind, of Comfort and Joy, under all the Evils and Calamities of Life, and efpecially at the Hour of Death. 3 IL That
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