Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

next minute fupervene: that as a full and violent Wind drives him in an inftant, not to the Harbour, but on the Rock where he will be irrecoverably fplit.

NOR let any man fortifie himself against thefe terrors, by hoping that his one fingle (perhaps fmall) fin fhall not have this deftructive force; for if it be wilful it carries in it that which is properly the malignity of all fin, to wit, a refiftance and oppofition against God, and this is fo mortal a Venome, that the least Dose of it is deadly, as a man may as certainly be poifon'd by a dram of Arfenick, as with the largest draught.

THE more natural inference lies the other way, if it be but a fingle or petty fin, 'tis fo much the easier to part with; he that is bound with a ftrong Cable, or with a multitude of leffer Cords, may pretend fome neceffity of his Captivity from the ftrength of his bonds; but he that is tied with one flender ftring, fuch as one refolute ftruggle would be fure to break: he is prifoner only to his own floth or humour, and who will pity his thraldom, where 'tis fo apparently his choice? Do not therefore fay my fin is inconfiderable and therefore I need not relinquish it, but my fin is inconfiderable therefore I need not keep it. So flight a pleasure I may part with and find no mifs: this pedling profit I may refign and 'twill be no breach in my Eftate. And if Chrift require a renunciation of thofe fins which are as the Hand and Eye, fhall I fcruple to depofite thofe which are but as the Hair or Nails.

NAY

NAY he may yet argue higher, and from the fmalnefs of the fin deduce the enhansement of the Guilt: great acquifitions carry fome temptation in their face, but defpicable prizes do rather avert than tempt. 'Twas the fign of a common harlot to be hired with a Kid, Gen. 38. and fure he must be of a strange prostitute Soul, that can adulterate for fuch low trivial wages. To difhonour God, though the whole world were to be acquir'd by it, were great impiety, but to do it for handfuls of Barley and pieces of Bread, Ezek. 13. 19. himself brands as a yet higher pitch. And fure it argues a very light esteem of God, when one poor contemptible luft fhall be able to overpoize him in our hearts.

NOR is the folly lefs than the profanene, when there is but one Jonah to be caft over-board, 'tis the greater madness to hazard a wrack; and let fuch a man pretend what he pleases in extenuation of his fin, make that appear never fo minute and defpicable, yet 'tis apparent all the love which other men fcatter and diftribute upon feveral, he has united and concentred in this one luft. The most doting affection when it is fummed up can amount to no more than this, that it makes a man expofe himself to the greatest pain, the greatest lofs for the thing beloved. And this is moft vifible here, Hell is as certainly acquir'd, and Heaven as certainly forfeited by one fin as ma ny; and then though there may be odds in other refpects, yet what is there in this, between this more modeft and the most licentious Sinner, but.

that

that the former puts the fame value upon one, that the other does upon many fins, and fells his Soul fo much the cheaper.

AND now would God fuch men would review their bargain, foberly confider what there is in this Idoliz'd fin of theirs, which fhould exact fuch costly facrifices. Let him whofe long intimacy and experience has given him accefs to its most fecret receffes, that has rifled its bowels, and knows the utmost whether of pleasure or profit that lies there conceal'd. Let him I fay, that is thus qualified for it, make an exact inventory of its wealth, and then let him compare it with what he is to pay for it; weigh its flat and momentary Pleafures, with thofe moft tranfcending and perpetual Foys which are at Gods right hand; its bafe and perithing commodities, with thofe unfailing treafures in the Heaven; and then judge of his purchafe in refpect of that part of his prize: And if that be not convincement enough, let him weigh the other alfo; thofe fad pains which are too intolerable to be fuffer'd, and yet fo eternal, that they can never ceafe to be fuffer'd, and think whether that be not too dear a rate for that pleafure, whofe guft is fo little, and whose duration is lefs: or what profit he will have in the revenue of his fin, that Gold and Silver which will finally eat his flesh as it were fire, Fa. 5. 3. and prove the unhappy fuel of his flames.

FROM all thefe premiffes, certainly Reason and Religion do equally infer the fame conclufion, to wit, that men fhould not tolerate themselves

one

one minute in any known fin of how small a fize foever it be; nor fo impertinently betray their Souls to ruine for that which they call light and trivial; and is fo indeed in refpect of the acqueft, but overwhelmingly ponderous in regard of the effects and pernicious confequents. And O that mens practices might evince them to have made this juft deduction, that those who have in many things preferv'd an innocence, would not be fo ill husbands as to forfeit all the advantage of that Care for want of extending it a little farther, nor suffer the whiter parts of their Soul to be dif colour'd or tincted by the reflection of one crimfon fin; but rather let their tears wash that into a whiteness,that they may be uniform and of a piece. For though Facob clad his darling Jofeph in a party-colour'd garment; yet God owns none either for favourite Son, or fo much as Servant that he finds fo arrayed. The followers of the Lamb are all clad in white, and in that attire we must be fure to put our felves if we mean to go in with him to the marriage. And fince the Gofpel is the invitation to that feaft, let none imagine he has complied with it till he have thus fitted himfelf: till then he affronts and baffles his Chriftianity, fends it away empty without its errand; nay, which is worse prostitutes and profanes it, makes it ferve only for a Gourd, that he may fit under the fhadow of it, and commit his fins the more undifturbed; but let him remember that he is all this while breeding that worm, which will fmite this Gourd, and leave him unfheltred to that fcorch

ing wrath of God, which will make the improvement of Jonahs paffionate Wish, that God would take away his life, his moft rational Defire; render not Death only, but Annihilation also, as eligible as it will be impoffible.

CHAP VII.

A Survey of the Mischiefs arifing from Miftakes concerning Repentance.

A

Men look

NOTHER dangerous Underminer of Chriftian Practice is the many affected. mistakes in the business of Repentance. upon that as the grand recipe of the Gofpel, an infallible Catholicon against all their spiritual maladies; and fo far they judge right, for fo indeed it is. But when they proceed to compound this fovereign Medicine for their own use, they do it most deceitfully; leave out the principal and most operative ingredients: and by being fuch ill Apothecaries defame the Gofpel as the Difpenfatory, and Chrift as the Physician, and likewife ruine themselves as the Patients, But of those who make this imperfect and Defective compofition, all do it not alike; fome leave out one part, fome another, and fome so many that they retain nothing of its fubftance and reality. Eat out all the heart and vertue of it, and leave only an empty shell, the gilding as it were of the Pill,

the

« AnteriorContinuar »