that eternal Difappointment will fill us with raging Defpair; if there be any Pain, any Torment in thefe Paffions, this is the Punishment of Lofs. 2dly, And yet, if we believe our Saviour, the Lofs of the Soul fignifies a great deal more than the Lofs of Heaven; even thofe unconceivable Torments, which are reprefented in Scripture by Lakes of Fire and Brimstone; the Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels; blackness of Darkness ; the Worm that never dieth, and the Fire that never goeth out. The very naming of which, ftrike the Fancy with all the Images of Terror: And yet we have Reason to think, that the Punishment it felf is much more terrible than all the Reprefentations that can be made of it. Now fhall I prove that all the Happiness of this World is dearly purchased with eternal Miferies? Let me firft fee the Man, who will fay it is not; who, in cool and deliberate Thoughts, will chufe to be eternally miferable, that he may for fome few Years be as happy as this World can make him. There are indeed a great many Sinners, who venture eternal Mifery for fome prefent Satisfactions; but it is because they do not believe that there is a Hell, or if they do, they flatter themselves that by one means or other they fhall escape it. But I would fee the Man, who would deliberately chufe the Pleasures of Sin, which are but for a Seafon, did he certainly know that there is a Hell, and that he should be eternally miferable for it, as miferable as the Omnipotent Juftice and Vengeance of God can make him. I am very certain, there is no fuch Man to be met with in the World; and therefore I may conclude that all Men believe that the fhort Pleafures of Sin are very dearly purchafed with eternal Miferies. But if any Man wants a Proof of this, let him but reflect upon the Frame and Conftitution of his own Mind, and confult thofe Paffions which he finds there, and he will need no other Miracle. Now every Man will find in himself a greater Aversion to Pain and Misery, than a Fondness for Pleasure; this very Principle governs the World, and keeps Mankind in Order: That the Fear of Punishment in this World restrains Mens Lufts and Paffions; that no Man fins, but in hopes of Impunity; and when these Hopes fail them, and they come to fuffer for their Sins, they repent they committed them, which is an Argument that they do not think them worth what they fuffer for them: And if it is poffible by human Punishments to make Men repent of their Sins, what will they do when the Vengeance of God feizes on them in the next World? Befides this, all Men will find in themselves, that they want fomething to fupport them under great Sufferings, and that nothing can do this for any long Time, but only a good Confcience, and great Hopes; that they fuffer for a good Cause, and that their Sufferings fhall be rewarded. A fullen and obftinate Refolution may hold out for a Time, but is foon fubdued, and cannot harden itself against long and extreme Miferies, And then there is no poffible Relief for the Miseries of the Damned. The Remembrance of their finful Enjoyments will be no Relief to them, for they are past and gone; and the Pleasures of Sin last no longer than the Enjoyment; especially when Confcience is awaken'd, as it will certainly be in the next World; for the eternal Reproaches of Confcience will be no great Relief to them. And as for Hope, they can have none; for their Miseries come after their Pleasures, and will have no End. Eternal and endless Miseries are without without Hope; and a Sinner who fuffers without Hope, muft feel all that he fuffers, and fink under it. So far as my own Senfe of Things, and my Experience of the rest of Mankind can inform me, this is the State of human Nature: And if it be fo, it had been good for that Man he had never been born, how fortunate foever he has been in this World, who must be miserable for ever. And now, every Man can very eafily apply it to himfelf: For the Sum of all is this; Not to lofe our Souls for any, or for all, the Pleafures and Enjoyments of this World. This I hope you all refolve, at leaft while thefe Things are warm upon your Minds: And that you may not deceive your felves in it, I will only add one Thing; That if you refolve not to lofe your Souls for the Gain of the whole World, you must refolve not to venture them nei. ther for the whole World; for if you venture your Souls, you may lose them. This is the only way Men have to lose their Souls, who do heartily believe the Happiness and Miseries of the next World: They do not, they cannot make a voluntary Exchange of their Souls for all the World; but yet they venture their Souls, to tafte fome of the Pleasures of Sin; and when they have once begun to venture, they commonly venture on till they lofe them; which has been the Cafe of fo many Thoufands, that it should make all Men, who love their Souls, aware of this Cheat. For, if the whole World cannot recompenfe the Lofs of the Soul, no wife Man ought to put his Soul into a State of Danger for the whole World; that is, ought not to commit the least known Sin, for the greatest temporal Advantages, which may lose his Soul. FINI S. |