634 The Folly of hazarding Van. Or if the {inner be able to keep off thefe thoughts, while he is welland in health, yet when he is feized upon by ficknefs, and comes to lie upon a Death-bed, he will then, in all probability, be fadly fenfible what a Fool he hath been. When he {hall ftand upon the confines of Eternity , and look back upon this world. Which how confiderable foever it once appeared to him, can fignifie nothing now that he is to leave it ; when heconfiders how much he hath partedwith, and is now like to lofe for ever, the falfe and treacherous advantages of a vain world, be will then need no body to convince him of his error, to aggravate his folly to him ; he now repents heartily that he was not wifer, and wifheth for nothing fo much as that God would grant him time to revoke and undo this fooli{h bargain ; and how glad would he be to give the world back again to fecure his foul, and to throw up all his unjuft gain, and the advantages he hath indirectly made by fraud or vio- lence ? This I doubt not is the fenfe of molt men, when they cone to leave the world : and if it be true then, it is fo now. Let us then, while the opportuni- ties of life are before us, fuffer thefe confiderationsto take place and prevail, which otherwife will wound us to the Heart, and fill our fouls with anguifh and defpair in a dying hour. O the folly and ftupidity of men ! to be fo tranfportedwith prefent and fenfible things, as to have no confideration of our future fiate, no pity for our fouls, no fenfe ofour everlafting abode in another world to be fo blinded by fenfe, fo bri- bed by the pleafures offin, which are butfor a moment, as to forfeit the happinefs of all eternity ! when the pleafure is pall and gone , and the dear price comes to be paid down, and our fouls are leaving this world, and going to take poffeílìonof that everlafting inheritance of fhame and forrow, of tribulation and anguifh, which we have purchafed to our felves by our own folly, how {hall we then repent our felves of that bargain which we have fo ralhly made , but can never be releafed from It is our lot, who have the fouls of men committed to our charge, to fee many of thefe fad fights. Omy God ! what confufion have I fometimes feen in the face ofa dying man ? what terrors on every fide, what reftlefs working, and violent throws of a guilty confcience ? and how are we tempted (who commonly are fent for too late to minifter comfort to fuels perfons) I fay how are we tempted to low pillows under their uneafie heads; and out of very pity and compaflìon, are afraid to fay the worft, and are grieved at our very hearts to fpeak thofe fad truths, which yet are fit for them to hear! It is very grievous to fee a man in the paroxifins of a Fever, or in the extream torment of the Stone, or in the very agony ofDeath : but the faddeft fight in the world is the anguifh of a dying finner : nothing looks fo ghaftly, as the final defpair of a wicked man, when God is taking away his foul. But whatever fenfe men have of thefe things , when they come to lye upon a fick bed ; every firmer will molt certainly be convinc'd, when he comes into ano- ther world. We {hall then have nothing to divert us from thefe thoughts; we {hall feel that which will be a fenfible demonftration to us of our own folly. Then men will curfe thofe falfe and flattering pleafures which have cheated them into fo much mifery5 but their own folly molt of all, for being fo eafily abufed. Then would theygive ten thoufand worlds, if they had them, to recover the opportuni- ty of a new Choice; but it cannot be: they parted with their fouls once at a cheap, rate; but no price will then be accepted for the redemption of them. O that men would confider thefe things in time, for they are plain and evident to thofe that will confider them. Our Saviour tells us, we have fo much evidence, that he that will not be convinc'd by it, would not beperfuaded, tho' one rote from the dead to teflifie unto him. We have Mofes and the Prophets ; nay, we have the Son ofGodhimfelf, whobathrevealed thefe things to us; and ifwe would but attend to them, and fuller them to fink into our hearts, nothing in this world could be a temptation to any of us todo any thing, or to neglect any thing, to the prejudice of our immortal fouls. Therefore, to conclude this difcourfe, whenever byany prefent pleafure or ad- vantage, we are tempted to provoke God, and to deftroy our own fouls, letus con- fider
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