Seim. CXIV. of HolyRe( ieitiîi. 73. ftrength and affi(tance which God offers, let us refolve to leave our Sins and to amend our Lives. 2. Confider what it is that you are to refolve upon; to leave your Sins and to return to God and Goodnefs. So that the things I am perfwading you to refolve upon, are the ítronger Reafons that can be for fuch a Refolution. Sin is fuch a thing, that there can be no better Argument to make men refolve againft it than to confider what it is, and to think ferioufly of the Nature and Confe- quence of it. And God and Goodnefs are foamiable and defirable, that the ve- ry propofal of thefe Objets bath invitations and allurements enough to inflame our delires after them, and to make us rufh into the embraces of them. If we would but enter into the ferious Confideration of them, we fhould foon be refol- "ved in our Minds about them. Do but confider a littlewhat Sin is. It is the Theme and blemifhofthy Nature, the reproach and difgrace of thyUndertianding and Reafon, the great deformity anddifeafeof thy Soul, and the eternal Enemyof thy Reft and Peace. It is thy Shackles and thyFetters, the Tyrant that oppreffes thee and reflrains thee of thy Liberty, and condemns thee to the bafeft Slavery and the vileft Drudgery. It is the unnatural andviolent (late of thy Soul, the Worm that perpetually gnaws thy Confcience, the carafe of all thyFears and Troubles, and ofall the Evils and Mi- feries, all the Mifchiefs and Diforders that arein the World ; it is the Foundation and Fewel ofHell ; it is that which putsthee out of thePoffef ion and Enjoyment ofthy felf, which doth alienate and feparate thee from God the Fountainof Blifs and Happinefs, which provokeshim to be- thine Enemy, and lays thee opene- very moment to thefierce revengeof his Juftice, and if thou doti perfift and conti- nue in it, will finally fink and opprefs thee under the infupportable weightof his wrath, and make thee fo weary of thy felt, that thou shalt with a thoufand times that thou hadft never been; andwill render thee fo perfe&ly miferable, that thou wouldeft efteem it a great Happinefs to exchange thy Condition with the moft wretched andforlorn Perfon that ever lived upon Earth, to be perpetually upon a Rack, and to lie down for ever under therage of all themolt violent Difeafes and Pains that ever afi&ed Mankind. Sin is all this which I have defcribed, and will certainly bringupon thee all thofe Evils and Mifchiefswhich I have mentio- ned, and make thee far more miferable than I am able to exprefs or thou to con- ceive. And art thou not yet refolved to leave it? Shall I need to are any other Arguments to fet thee againitit, and to take thee off from theLove and Pra&ice of it, than this Reprefentation which I have now made of the horrible Nature and Confequences of it ? And then confider on the other hand, what it is that I am perfwading thee to turn to; to thy God and Duty. And would not this be a bleffed change in- deed! To leave the greaten Evil, and to turn to the chief Good ! For this Re- folution of returning to God, is nothing elfe but a Refolution tobe wife and happy, and to put thy felfinto the Pofíeflionof that which is a greater Good, if iris pofiible, than Sin is an Evil, and will render thee more happy, thanSin can make thee miferable. Didfi thou but think what God is, and what he will be to thee if thou wilt return to him, how kindly he will receive thee after all thy wandrings from him days without number, thou wouldft foon take up the Refo- lution ofthe Prodigal, and fay, lwill arife andgo to my Father. And confider likewife what it is to return to thy Duty. It is nothing elfe but to do what becomes thee, and what is fuitable to the Original Frame ofthy Na- ture, and to the trueft di&ates of thy Reafon and Confcience, and what is not more thy Duty, than it is thy Intereft and thy Happinefs. For that which God requires ofus, is tobe righteous and holy and good, that is, to be like God him- felf, who is the Pattern of all Perfe &ion and Happinefs. It is to have our Lives conformed to his Will, which is always perfeet holinefs and goodnefs, a (late of Peace and Tranquillity, and the very temper and difpofition of Happinefs. It is that which is a principal and molt effential Ingredient into the Felicity of the Divine Nature, and without which God wouldnot be what he is, but a defor- med and imperfeet and miferable Being. L And
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