411111111111111 The Unprofitablenefs of .Sin in this Lifé, VoL ÍI. And if thisbe the cafe, it is very plain, that thofe Vices which pretend to bring the greaten Advantage, are really unprofitable ; and to the fe kind ofVices the Text feems topoint more particularly ; Ifanyfay, I have finned, and perverted that which it right, and it profited me not, &c. But perhaps tho' there be no p'rofrt in any finful courfé, yet there may be tome pleafure. That conies next to be examined ; and I doubt not to make it evident, that there is no fuch pleafure in Sin, as can make it a reafonable Temptation to any Man to venture upon it. The Vices which pretend to bring the greaten pleafure, are Lewdnefs, andIntemperance, and Revenge. The two fire of thefe are the higher Pretendersto Pleafuré : but God knows, and the Sinner himfelf knows, how thinand tranfitory this pleafure is, how much trouble attends it, and how many fighs and groans follow it; andwhatever plea- Cure they may miniver to the fence, they bring a great deal of anguifhand per- plexity to the mind; fo that the troublewhich they caufe, does more than coun- tervail the pleafure which they bring : and they do not only dinurb the Mind, but they dfeafe the Body. How many are there, who for the gratifying of an inordinateLuv, and for the incomprehenfible pleafure of a drunken fit, have en- dured the violent burnings.of a Feaver, or elfe have confumed the remainderof their days in languilhing ficknefsandpain ? And the reafon of all this is plain, becaufe all the pleafures of fin are violent, and forced, and unnatural, and therefore not like to continue, they are founded inCome Difeafe and Divemper ofourMinds, and therefore alwaysend inpain and fmart. And as for Revenge ; it is indeed a very eager and impatient defire : but fo far furely from being a pleafure, that the very thoughts of it are extreamly trouble fome, and raifesas great norms in the mind ofa Man, as anyPaffion whatfoever and I never heardof the pleafure of being in a Storm ; it is pleafant indeed to be out of it, when others are in it. And when Revenge bath fatisfied it felt, and laid its enemy bleeding at its foot, the Man that executed it commonly repents himfelf the next moment, and would give all the World to undo what he bath done ; fo that if there be any pleafure in Revenge, it is fo flittingand of fofhort a continuance, that we know not whereto fix it ; for thereis nothing but tumult and rage before the execution of it, and after it nothing but remorfe and horror; fo that if it be a pleafure, it is but of one moment'scontinuance, and lays nolon- ger than theA& is a doing ; and what Man in his wits would purchafe fo fhort a pleafureat fodear a price ? This is moll certainly true, and if it were well con- fidered,.fufficient to convince any reafonable Man of the unreafonabienefs of this Paffion. Cain is afearful inftance of this kind, who after he had drawn his Brother into the Field, and !lain him there, howwas he tormentedwith the guilt of what he had done, and forced to cry out, mypunifhment is greater than Ican bear; or (as foreTranflations render the Words) mine iniquity isgreater than that it can befor- given ! Gen. 4. 13. From thy face (rays he to God, in the anguifh of his Soul) from thy facefball I be hid, and I (hall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it fhall come to pafr that every one that findethme fballflay me, v. 14. Every one thatfrndeth me, howfearful did his guilt make him ! When probably there was then but one Man in the World befides himfelf. And I may fay of this fort of Men, as St. Jude does of thofe in his time, Jude v. II. Wo unto them, for they have gone in the way ofCain, they are guilty of his Crime, and his doom (hall be theirs. And here I cannot but take notice ofa great Evil that grows daily upon us, and thereforedeferves with the greaten feverity to be dilcountenanced and punilh'd, I mean that of Duels, than which what can be more unchriftian ? And what can be more unreafonable, than for Men upon deliberation, and after theheat of Par - fion is over, torefolve tofheath their Swords in one anothers Bowels, only for a hafty Word? And which is yet more unreafonable, that becaufe two Men are angry, and have quarrelledwith one another, and will fight it out, that therefore twomore, whohave no quarrel, no kind of difpleafure againft one another, muff fight
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