MATTH. xvi . 26. What is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul ? Or what shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul ?

IN the 24th . verse our Saviour urges his Disciples to that necessary Duty of denying themselves , that is , of surrendering up their Wills to the conduct of his , and renouncing all their Worldly Interest when it comes in Competition with their Duty , and of taking up their Cross , and following him ; that is , of preparing themselves to endure Persecution for his sake , and to persist couragiously in the Profession and Practice of his Religion whatsoever Oppositions they should meet with from the World . And to press them hereunto , he urges this Argument , Ver. 25. For whosoever will save his Life shall lose it : and whosoever will lose his Life , shall find it . Where the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render Life , may perhaps be better render'd Himself , it being familiar both with Hebrews and Syrians to call a man's Life and Soul Himself : so the Psalmist , thou shalt not leave my Soul in Hell , that is , thou shalt not leave me Perishing in my Grave , Psal. 16. 10. And Levit. 20. 25. Ye shall not make your Souls abominable , i.e. your selves ; And that it should be so render'd here is evident , because St. Luke so expounds it , What is a Man profited , if he gain the whole World and lose himself , or be cast away ? Luke 9. 25. And indeed the Soul being the Principal Part of a Man and that which advances him into a Species of Being above that of a mere Animal , may very well be called himself , according to that of Hierocles , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Thy Soul is Thee , thy Body , thine , and thy outward Goods thy Bodies . And if instead of Life we render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Himself , the Words will be very plain and easy ; for whosoever will save himself by renouncing me and my Religion , shall lose himself forever ; and whosoever will be content to lose himself for my sake , shall save himself forever . And this he farther inforces in the Text , What is a Man profited , if he shall gain the whole World , and lose his own Soul ? or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul ? that is , what will it avail a Man to gain the whole World , if he forever ruin himself by it ? and when he hath thus ruined himself , what would he give , if it were in his Power , to save and recover himself again ? The words thus explained , I shall resolve the sense of them into these five Propositions .

I. That a Man ; or the Soul of a Man is a Thing of inestimable Price and Value ; for our Saviour here weighs it against the whole World , that is , against all the Pleasures , Profits , and Honours that this inferiour World can afford ; and declares that in the just Ballance of his Esteem it out-weighs them all . And certainly that must needs be exceeding precious , whose Worth the whole World cannot counter-poise .

II. That this precious Soul may be lost . This our Saviour plainly supposes in these Words , if he lose his own Soul .

III. That our renouncing of Christ and his Religion will most certainly infer this Loss . For these Words , as I have shewed you , our Saviour urges as an Argument to dissuade Men from Apostacy ; but if without losing our Souls , we might renounce him and apostatize from him , there would be no Force in all this Argument to dissuade us from it

IV. That when this Soul is lost , 't is lost irrecoverably . What shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul ? Where the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which we render Exchange , is used in the same sense with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which signifies a price of Redemption , denoting that if a Man should or could give never so much to buy his Soul from Perdition , yet no Price of Redemption will be taken for it .

V. That this irrecoverable Loss of a Soul is of such a vast Moment , that the Gain of the whole World is not sufficient to compensate it . What is a Man profited , that is , he is not at all profited , nay he is so far from that that he is a vast Loser .

I. That the Soul of a Man is a Thing of an inestimable Price and Value . And for the Proof of this Proposition , I shall endeavour these two Things .

First , To represent to you of what vast Worth it is in Respect of its own natural Capacities .

Secondly , To shew you of what vast Esteem it is in the Judgment of all those who , as we must needs suppose , do best understand the Worth of it .

1. I shall endeavour to represent to you of what vast Worth it is in Respect of its own natural Capacities , particularly in these four . ( 1. ) In Respect of its Capacity of Vnderstanding . ( 2. ) Of Moral Perfection . ( 3. ) Of Pleasure and Delight . ( 4. ) Of Immortality .

1. The Soul of Man is of vast Worth in Respect of its Capacity of Vnderstanding . For certainly to understand , is the greatest and noblest Operation that a Being is capable of ; for it is this that gives Beauty and Excellence to all our other Operations whether they be natural or moral : 'T is this that proposes the Ends , and directs the Course , and Prescribes the Measures of all our other Actions ; and tho we had never so much Force or Power , yet unless we had Vnderstanding to guide and manage it , it would be altogether insignificant . For Blind Power acts at Random , and if we had the Force of a Whirl-wind , yet without a Mind to stear and manage it , it would be an equal Chance whether we did well or ill with it . So that unless there were some Vnderstanding either within or without us to conduct our active Powers , and determine them to our Good , we were as good be altogether without them ; because while they act by Chance it is at least an equal Lay whether they will injure or advantage us . Since therefore Vnderstanding is the Rule and Measure of all our other Powers , it necessarily follows that it self is the greatest and noblest of them all . What an excellent Being therefore must a Soul be , in which this great and Sovereign Power resides ? a Power , that can collect into it self such prodigious Numbers of simple Apprehensions , and by comparing one with the other , can connect them into true Propositions , and upon each of these can run such long and curious Descants of Discourse , till it hath drawn out all their Consequents into a Chain of wise and coherent Notions , and sorted these into such various Systems of useful Arts and Sciences ; That can discern the Harmonious Contextures of Truths with Truths , the secret Links and Junctures of coherent Notions , trace up Effects to their Causes , and sift the remotest Consequents to their natural Principles ; That 〈◊〉 Abroad its sharp-sighted Thoughts over the whole Extent of Beings , and , like the Sun with it s out-stretched Rays , reach the remotest Objects ; That can in the Twinkling of an Eye expatiate through all the Vniverse , and keep Correspondence with both Worlds ; can prick out the Paths of the Heavenly Bodies , and measure the Circles of their Motion , span the whole Surface of the Earth , and dive into its Capacious Womb , and there discover the numerous Offsprings with which it is continually teeming ; That can sail into the World of Spirits by the never-varying Compass of its Reason , and discover those invisible Regions of Happiness and Misery , which are altogether out of our sight whilest we stand upon this hither Shore ; In a word , That can ascend from Cause to Cause , to God who is the Cause of all , and with its Eagle-Eyes can gaze upon that glorious Sun , and dive into the infinite Abyss of his divine Perfections . What an excellent Being therefore is that Soul that is endowed with such a vast Capacity of Vnderstanding , and with its piercing Eye can reach such an immense Compass of Beings , and travail through so vast an Horizon of Truth ? Doubtless if humane Souls had no other Capacity to value themselves by , but only this , this were enough to give them the Preheminence over all inferiour Beings , and render them the most glorious Part of all this sublunary World .

2. The Soul of Man is of vast Worth in Respect of its Capacity of Moral Perfection . For by the Exercise of those humane Vertues which are proper to it in this state of Conjunction with the Body , it is capable of raising it self to the Perfection of those Angelical Natures , which of all Creatures do most nearly approach and resemble the great Creator , and Fountain of all Perfection . For by keeping a due Restraint upon its bodily Appetites and thereby gradually weaning it self from the Pleasures of the Body , it may by degrees be educated and trained up to lead the Life , and relish the Joys of naked and immortal Spirits ; it may be contempered to an incorporeal State so as to be able to enjoy it self without eating and drinking , and live most happily upon the Fare of Angels , upon Wisdom and Holiness , and Love and Contemplation . And then by governing its own Will and Affections by the Laws of Reason and Religion , it may be degrees improve it self so far in all these Moral Endowments , which are the proper Graces of every reasonable Nature , as to be at last as perfectly wise and reasonable in its own Choices and Refusals , in its Love and Hatred , in its Desires and Delights , as the Angels themselves are . For though it cannot be expected that in this imperfect state a Soul should arrive to such a Pitch as this , yet even now it may be growing up and aspiring to it ; which , if it doth , as I shall shew you by and by , when this is expired , it hath another Life to live , which being antecedently prepared for by those spiritual Improvements it hath made here , will furnish it with Opportunites of improing infinitely faster than here it did , or possibly could . For in that Life it shall not only be freed from those many Incumbrances which do here retard it in its spiritual Progress , nor shall it only be associated with a World of pure and blessed Spirits , whose holy Example and wise Converse will doubtless wonderfully edifie and improve it ; but be also admitted into a more intimate Acquaintance with God , who is the Author and Pattern of all Perfection ; the sight of whose ravishing Beauty will inflame it with a most ardent Love to him , and excite it to a most vigorous Imitation of him : All which considered , it is not to be imagined how much the state of Heaven will immediately improve those happy Souls that are prepared and disposed for it . But then considering that Moral Perfection is as infinite as the Nature of God , in which there is an Infinity of Holiness and Iustice and Goodness within this boundless Subject , there will be Room enough for Souls to make farther and farther Improvements in , even to Eternity . And then when they shall still be growing on so fast , and yet be still forever improving , to what a transcendent Height of Glory and Perfection will they at last arrive ? For tho no finite Soul can ever arrive to an infinite Perfection , yet still it may be growing on to it , because there will still be possible Degrees of it beyond its present Attainments ; and when it is arrived to the farthest imaginable Degree , yet still it will be capable of farther , and so farther and farther to all Eternity . And if so , O blessed God , of what a Capacious Nature hast thou made these Souls of ours , which tho they will doubtless improve in Goodness as fast in the other Life as is possible for them , with all the Advantages of a Heavenly State , yet will never attain to an utmost Period , but still be growing perfecter and perfecter forever ?

3. The Soul of Man is of vast Worth in Respect of its immense Capacities of Pleasure and Delight : For its Capacity of Pleasure must necessarily be as large and extensive , as its Capacity of Vnderstanding , and of Moral Perfection ; because the proper Pleasure of a Soul results from its own Knowledge and Goodness , from its farther Discoveries of Truth , and farther Proficiency in inward Rectitude and Vertue , and consequently as as it Improves farther and farther in Vnderstanding and in Moral Perfection , it must still gather more and more Fuel to feed and encrease its own Joy and Pleasure . For the Pleasure of every Being consists in the vigorous Exercise of its Faculties about convenient and agreable Objects ; but the Faculties of a Soul are Vnderstanding and Will , to which the only agreable Objects are Truth and Goodness ; and therefore the more Truth there is in the Mind , and the more Goodness there is in the Will , the more vigorously will they imploy and exercise themselves about them , and consequently the more they will be pleased and ravished . Since therefore , every new Discovery of Truth , and every new Degree of Goodness gives new Life to our Minds and Wills , and renders both more sprightly and vigorous , it hence necessarily follows that our Souls are capable of as much Pleasure as they are of Truth and Goodness ; and how vastly Capable they are of both these I have already shewed you . So that it is not to be imagined by us , who have here so little Experience , what Heavens of Joy a Soul is Capable of ; only at present we find by Experience that the more we improve in Knowledge and Goodness , the more pleasant & chearful we find and feel our selves , and that our Faculties still grow more active and lightsom the more we disburthen them of that Ignorance and Sin that cloggs and incumbers them . And upon great Proficiencies in Knowledge and Vertue we find a strange Alacrity within our selves ; we are as it were in Heaven upon Earth , and do feel a Paradise springing up within us , the Fragrance of whose Ioys grows many times so strong that our frail Mortality can hardly bear them . When therefore such Souls do cast off this Mortality which now doth only fetter and intangle them , and have made their Entrance into the invisible Regions of Blessedness , how sprightly and active , how lightsom and chearful will they feel themselves ? For in the first Moment of their Admission , all that Mist of erroneous Prejudice which now interrupts their Prospect of Truth , and all those Remains of irregular Affection that check and distract them in their Choice of Goodness , will be forever chased from their Minds and Wills by the clear Light of the Heavenly State ; and their Faculties having thus disburthen'd themselves , and shaken off every Clog , with what unspeakable Vigour will they move and act , especially in the Presence of such suitable Objects as the Heavenly State will present before them ? When infinite Truth , and infinite Goodness shall be always present to their free Minds and undistracted Wills ▪ and nothing shall interpose to hinder them either in seeing the one , or in chosing the other , here will be work enough for both to all Eternity ; and both being freed from all Incumbrance , the one will be discovering every Moment farther and farther into that infinite Truth which it loves and admires , and the other will be improving every Moment more and more in that infinite Goodness which it chooses and adores . And then every new Discovery and new Improvement will spring new Heavens of Joy in the Soul , and by reason of those new Acquests of Truth and Goodness , which we shall every Moment make , we shall every Moment be entertained with new Pleasures , and so before we have spent one Joy , another will succeed , and another that , and so on forever . For when a God of infinite Truth and Goodness becomes the Objective Happiness of a finite Nature which cannot comprehend and enjoy him , but in an infinite Succession , every new Delight the Injoyment of him creates in us must necessarily raise a new Desire , and every new Desire immediately find a new Delight , and so round again to all Eternity . Of what a vast Capacity therefore is this Soul of ours , in which there is room enough successively to entertain all the ravishing Joys and Pleasures that make an Everlasting Heaven ; That can drink in those deep Rivers of Pleasure as fast as they spring up and flow from God's right hand for evermore ? What Tongue can express the innumerable Joys that such a Soul can hold , whose Capacity is so large as Heaven , and so near to infinite as to be able to contain all those Joys and Pleasures that infinite Truth and Goodness can create ?

4. And lastly , The Soul of Man is of vast Worth in Respect of its Capacity of Immortality . For by its Operations it is evident that the Soul is not composed of Corruptible matter , but is a spiritual and immaterial Substance ; for if it were Matter , it would act and move only when other Matter presses upon it , and not be able to determine the Course of its own Motion , but would be forced to move backwards or forwards according as it was thrust on by that outward Matter that continually moves and presses upon it , and all its Motions would be as necessary as that of a Stone in the Air , when it is thrust up by an impressed Force , and pressed down again by the weight of the Air above it : Whereas in this Soul of ours we sensibly feel and experience a natural Liberty of acting , a Power to move it self and to determine its own Motions which way it pleaseth ; when it is pressed forward never so vigorously by the strong Impulses of outward Objects , it is in its Power to go on or retreat , and to divert the Current of its Thoughts into a quite contrary Channel to that whereinto it is thrust and directed by all the Impressions of its Sense . For thus in the midst of the Alarums and Shoutings of an Army , of the Noises of Drums and Trumpets ringing in our Ears , our Soul can recollect it self , and reduce its scattered Thoughts into profound Contemplations of a sweet and Blessed Peace ; and when it is pressed from without with never so much Importunity to this or that particular Choice , it is in its Power to reject the Motion , and to choose the quite contrary . By all which it is apparent that the Soul hath an innate Liberty of acting , tha● she is not necessitated from without by the different Concourses and Motions of the several Particles of Matter ; but that all the Diversity of her Wills and Opinions is principally owing to her own Freedom and Power of self-determination , and to make the least doubt of it is to question the common Sense and Experience of Mankind . Since therefore the Soul is not determined in its Motions by the different Pressures of material things as all other Matter is , but hath power to swim against the Torrent , and move quite counter to all foreign Impressions , it hence necessarily follows that it is immaterial . And indeed considering how much its Operations do exceed the utmost Power of dull and passive Matter , I cannot but wonder that any Man should be so forsaken of his Reason , as to rank it among material Things ; for how is it possible that a Piece of dull unactive Matter , that a little Grass or Dirt , or Mire , after all the Refinings , Macerations , and Maturations , that can be performed by the help of Motion should ever be able to make a thinking Being , or grow up into the Soul of a Philosopher ? That a Company of dead Atoms , which cannot move unless they are moved , can ever be capable of framing Syllogisms in Mood and Figure , and disputing pro and con whether they are Atoms or no ? That such inert and sluggish Bodies should by their impetuous jostling together awaken one another out of their senseless Passiveness , and make each other hear and feel their mutual Knockings and Jostlings , and then from this sense into which they have thus awakened one another , and ( which they are as incapable of as a Musical Instrument is of hearing its own Sounds , or taking pleasure in the harmonious Aires that are playd upon it ) should proceed and consult together to make wise Laws , and contrive the best Models of Government ; to investigate the Natures of Things , and deduce from them the several Systems of Arts and Sciences ; in a word , how is it possible that a Company of fluid Motes and Particles of Matter should ever be so artificially complicated and twisted one with another , as to form an Vnderstanding that can lift up its Eyes , and look beyond all this sensible World into that of immaterial Beings , and conceive abstracted Notions of things which can never be Objects to any material Senses ; such as a pure Point , Equality and Proportion ; Symmetry , and Asymmetry of Magnitudes , the Rise and Propagation of Dimensions , infinite Divisibility , and the like Notions that never were in Matter , nor consequently could ever be extracted out of it : That can correct the Errors of all our material Perceptions , and demonstrate Things to be vastly different from what they apprehend and report them ; can prove the Sun , for instance , to be one handred and sixty times bigger than the Earth , when to our Eye and Imagination it appears no bigger than a Bushel ; that can lodg within it self all that Mass of sensible Things which taketh up so much Room without it , and when it hath piled them up upon one another in vast and most prodigious Numbers is still as capacious of more , as when it was altogether empty ; in a word , that can grasp the Vniverse with a Thought , and comprehend the whole Latitude of Heaven and Earth within its own indivisible Center ; how senseless is it to imagine that such Noble Operations as these can be performed by a meer Complex of dead Atoms and senseless Particles of Matter ? And if they cannot , as doubtless they cannot , then from hence it will necessarily follow that the Soul of Man is an immaterial Thing . Furthermore we see , that tho the Soul takes in Objects of all sizes , yet when once they are in , they are not as Bodies in a material Place in which the Greater take up more Room than the Less : For the Thought of a Mile , or ten thousand Miles doth no more fill or stretch a Soul , than that of a Foot or an Inch , or a Mathematical Point ; and whereas all Matter hath its Parts , and those extended one without another into Length and Breadth and Thickness , and so is measurable by Inches , Yards , or solid Measures ; there is no such Thing as measurable Extension in any thing belonging to the Soul . For in Cogitation which is the Essence of a Soul , there is neither Length , nor Breadth , nor Thickness , nor is it possible to have any Conceit of a Foot of Thought , or a Yard of Reason , a Pound of Wisdom , or a Quart of Vertue . And if what belongs to a Soul be immaterial , it will necessarily follow that the Soul it self is immaterial too , and as such capable of Immortality . For immaterial Natures being pure and simple , having neither contrary Qualities nor divisible Parts in them , as material Things have , can have no Priciples of Alteration and Corruption in them ; and being devoid of these , they must needs be capable of living and subsisting for ever . What Noble Beings therefore are the Souls of Men which , together with those vast capacities of Vnderstanding , of Moral Perfection , of Ioy and Pleasure are naturally capable of Immortality , and consequently of improving in Knowledge , in Goodness , and in Ioy and Pleasure unto all Eternity ? And therefore certainly a Soul must needs be a most precious Thing , that can thus ●●t-live all sublunary Beings and subsist for ever in so s●ublime a state of Glory and Beatitude .

Having thus shewn you the invaluable Worth of the Soul in Respect of its own natural Capacities , I proceed

2. To shew you of what vast Esteem it is in the Judgment of all those , who we must needs suppose do best understand the Worth of it ; and that is the whole World of Spirits . For to be sure Spirits must best understand the Excellency of Spirits , because they have a clearer In-sight into each others Natures , and a more immediate Prospect of the Vertue , Power and Excellency of each others Faculties . For as for us , whilest we are in this imbodied state , and do understand by corporeal Organs , we generally judge of the Worth and Excellency of Things by the Impression they make upon our Senses , and as these are more or less gratified and affected with them , we set a higher or lower Value upon them . Since therefore Spirits are a sort of Beings that cannot touch or affect our Bodily Senses , it is impossible we should be competent Judges of the true Worth and Value of them ; and therefore in this matter we ought to be guided by the Judgment of Spirits , who must needs be supposed to have a more intimate Acquaintance with one anothers Natures . And if we will be guided by these , we shall find the whole World of Spirits , even from the highest to the lowest , unanimously rating the Souls of Men at an inestimable Price and Value . And to make this appear , I shall shew you the vast Price there is set upon them .

1. By God the Father . 2. By God the Son . 3. By God the Holy Ghost . 4. By the Holy Angles . 5. By the Devils .

1. Let us Consider the vast Price which God the Father hath set upon Souls . For when he intended to form these Noble Beings , and transmit them into terrestrial Bodies , that so being compounded with a sensitive Nature they might clasp the Spiritual and Animal Worlds together ; he being sensible of the vast Hazards and infinite Snares they would be exposed to , was so deeply concerned for their Preservation , that he thought nothing too dear to save and secure them . And fore-seeing their Fall from that terrestrial Happiness which he originally designed them , notwithstanding the liberal Care he had taken to preserve them in the State of Innocence , he designed to remove the Scene of their Happiness from Earth to Heaven , being resolved , if possible , to repair the Loss of a terrestrial with a caelestial Paradise . For which end , instead of the Covenant of Innocence the Blessings whereof by their Sin they had for ever forfeited , he introduces the Covenant of Repentance , that so by the help of this Plank after their general Ship-wrack , they might be preserved , and go safe to the Shoar of a happy Eternity , And that by this Covenant he might the more effectually recover them , he designed to grant it to them in such a Way , and upon such a wise and weighty Consideration , as might at once affect them with the greatest sense of his Love and the deepest Awe of his Severity ; that so whilest by the former he allured , by the later he might terrify to Repentance : To which end he determined not to grant it to them upon any other Consideration than that of anothers suffering for them , and undergoing the Punishment of their Sin in their stead ; that so whilst he shewed his Love to them in admitting another to suffer for them , he might express his Hatred to their Sin in not Pardoning it without anothers suffering . And that he he might manifest this his Love to them , and this his Hatred to their Sin in the highest Degree , as he admitted another to suffer for us so he resolved to accept no meaner Suffering than that of his own beloved Son . And that this his suffering might be the more effectual , he proposed to send him down to us into this lower World cloathed in our Natures , that so he might not only the more familiarly instruct us by his Doctrine and Example , but the more exactly personate us in undergoing the Punishment of our Sin ; and upon his undertaking to undergo it , the most Merciful Father agreed to this Covenant of Mercy , by which he obliged himself to receive us into his Favour upon our unfeigned Repentance , and impower'd his Son to govern us according to the Tenour of it , that is , to Crown us with the Rewards of it if we Repented , and instict on us the Punishments of it if we went on in our Impenitence . And that there might be nothing wanting to render this Government of his Son succesful and us obedient to it , he also agreed upon this his Mighty undertaking to substitute to him the Holy Ghost to be the supreme Minister of his Government that so by the Agency of this vicarious Power he might bow and incline the Hearts of Men to submit unto him , and comply with the Terms of this Merciful Covenant in which their everlasting Welfare is so abundantly provided for .

This is the mighty Project which , for the sake of the Souls of Men , the Father of Spirits hath contrived , and upon which he hath acted and proceeded even from their first Fall to this very Moment ; And by this he hath most plainly expressed the high and great Veneration that he hath of them ; for doubtless had they not been exceeding precious in his Eyes , he would never have thought it worth the while to project and act , such mighty Things to redeem and save them : He would rather have left them to their own Fate , and not have concerned himself about them , or not have concerned himself to that Degree as to make them the Subjects of such a vast Design . For all wise Agents measure their Designs by the Worth and Value of the Things they aim at , and do never lay great Projects for the sake of little Trifles ; and unless God had a mighty Value for the Souls of Men , his making such vast Preparations to save them would be like that foolish Emperors raising a numerous Army , only to go and gather Cockle-shells .

2. Let us consider the vast Price which God the Son hath set upon Souls ; For it is plain he valued them at that mighty Rate , as that for their sakes he willingly undertook to execute this vast Design of his Father , and that to save these precious Being he thought it would be very well worth his while to come down from Heaven and vail his Divinity in our Natures , to put on the Form of a Servant and make himself of no Reputation ; to live a Miserable Life , and die , a painful and accursed Death . And can we think he would ever have layd down so vast a Price , as his Glory and Happiness , his Life and Blood amounts to for Things of a mean and inconsiderable Value ? Had he so low an Esteem of his Father's Bosom and his own Heavenly Glory as to part with them for Trifles ? such slight Apprehensions of Shame and Sorrow , Pain and Misery , as to cast himself into them for the sake of Beings he had little or no Esteem of ? Could any thing but what is inestimable countervail that Glory he parted with , and that Misery he indured ? Or , can you think those Souls of little Worth which the Son of God thought worth his dying for ? No certainly , if we knew nothing of our Souls but this , that the Son of God thought them a good Purchase at the dear Price of his Bliss , his Glory , and his Blood ; yet from thence we have infinite Reason to conclude them most precious and inestimable Beings , it being impossible that he who doth so perfectly understand the Worth and Value of Things , should ever be so over-seen as to pay so vast a Sum for slight and cheap Commodities .

3. Let us consider the vast Price which God the Holy Ghost hath set upon Souls ; For 't is for their sakes that he doth so Industriously operate in the Kingdom of our Saviour , that he takes so much pains in it , as he doth and hath always done , ever since it was first erected , to drive on that blessed Design of making the Souls of Men , the native subjects of it happy . It is upon their Account that he hath made so many Revelations of God's Will to the World , and confirmed them by so many Miracles , that so he might extricate those precious Beings out of those Labyrinths of Error in which they had involved and lost themselves , and direct them into the way to true Happiness . And it is for their good that he still continues shedding forth his Heavenly Influences upon them , that he still inspires them with so many good Thoughts , importunes them with such urgent Motives , presses upon them with such earnest Struglings and vigorous Efforts , not only of his preventing but of his assisting Grace too , that if possible he may awaken them into a Sense of their Danger , and excite and quicken them to pursue the Methods of their own Safety and Happiness . So infinitely jealous is this blessed Spirit lest these precious Beings should Miscarry , that tho one would think them sufficiently safe-guarded in their Voyage through this dangerous Sea under the Convoy of their own Reason , yet he dares not trust them to themselves , but bears them Company all along , and keeps a watchful Eye over them , and when any Rock is nigh he warns them of it , and when they are beset with evil Spirits , those mischievous Pirates that lie in wait to Captivate and Inslave them , he presently comes into their Assistance , and , unless they are resolved to betray themselves , always brings them off victoriously . Nay , tho they many times not only yield to these Piratical Spirits , but joyn their Forces with them to resist and beat off their merciful Friend and Deliverer , yet he doth not therefore presently abandon them , but being infinitely concerned for their Rescue follows them even to the Mouth of the Enemies Harbour with his blessed Motions and Importunities , and never gives over the Pursuit of them till he hath either actually recovered , or lest them past all Hopes of Redemption . And when he sees that they are utterly lost by their own Madness and Folly , and that it is in vain to follow them any farther , he casts a sorrowful Look upon them , and like a grieved Friend after the utmost strugglings and extream Efforts of his affronted Goodness , unwillingly leaves them to their own sad Fate , and gives them up as it were with the Tears in his Eyes . And can you think this blessed Spirit would be so industrious as he is in his Ministry for Souls , that he would take such infinite Pains to save them , be so extreamly urgent and solicitous for their Welfare , if He did not know them to be a sort of Beings of an inestimable Worth and Value ? O blessed God , what are not our Souls worth , that are worth all the Pains thy blessed Spirit takes to save , and make them happy ! That not only thou thought'st worth all those vast Thoughts and Counsels , which thou hast spent upon them ; that not only thy Son thought worth all those vast Condescentions he stooped to to put those Thoughts in Execution ; but thy blessed Spirit also thinks worth all that unwearied Pains and Endeavour , all that incessant Care and Importunity which he employs about them to save and rescue them from Sin and Misery ? Doubtless those Beings must needs be exceeding precious , for whose Safety and Welfare all the blessed Trinity are so unspeakably concerned .

4. Let us consider the vast Price which the Holy Angels put upon Souls : For tho they are the Crown and Top of all the Creation of God , and do by their essential Perfections border nearest upon him , yet such is their Opinion of the Souls of Men that they think it no Disparagement to converse with and minister to them ; but from the begining of the World till now have been always ready to maintain a close Intercourse and intimate Correspondence with them ; and so far forth as they are permitted by the Laws of their invisible World they are continually attending to stretch forth a helping Hand to them in all their Needs and Necessities . Tho they are the most Illustrious Courtiers of Heaven , yet they disdain not to be the Life-Guards of Souls , to pitch their Tents round about them , as the Psalmist expresses it , Psal. 34. 8. And interpose between them and their Danger ; to prompt them to , and assist them in their Duties ; to strengthen them against , or to remove their Temptations ; to comfort them in their Sorrows , and chase away from them those malignant Spirits that are always about them watching all Opportunities to seduce and destroy them . Hence Heb. 1 14. They are said to be ministring , Spirits sent forth to minister for them , who shall be Heirs of Salvation . And how much they are concerned for the Safety and Welfare of these precious Beings they are charged with is evident by that Passage , Luke 15. 16. There is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one Sinner that repenteth . So Considerable are the Lives of Souls to the Angels of God , that tho they are always entertained with the most ravishing Pleasures , yet Heaven it self cannot divert them from being overjoyed at the Repentance of a Perishing Soul , and celebrating its Recovery with a new Festival . And when-ever the happy News is brought them that such a dying Soul is revived , they not only attend to it in the midst of all their Joys and Triumphs , but upon the hearing of it they shout for Joy , and fill the Heavens with a new Acclamation . And when-ever such a Penitent Soul hath bidden adieu to the Body , those blessed Spirits stand ready to recieve and guard it through those Legions of malignant Spirits that do always infest these lower Tracts of Air , and to conduct it safe to those happy Abodes where it is to lodge till the Resurrection ; for it is said of Lazarus's Soul , Luke 16. 22. That it was carried by Angels into Abraham ' s Bosom . All which is a clear Demonstration of the vast Esteem which those blessed Angels have of Souls . For can it be thought that such noble Beings who have a God and themselves to converse with , and have so immediate a Prospect both of his Beauty and their own to exercise their Faculties and employ their Contemplation , would be so ready and willing as they are to attend upon Souls , and minister to their Safety and Happiness , if they had not a mighty Value and Estimation of them ? Surely if these immortal Spirits within us were not unspeakably dear and precious , those Angelical Beings who have always the most sublime and enravishing Objects before them to employ and entertain their Faculties , would never have thought it worth the while to stickle so zealously in their Affairs , and concern themselves so much about them . And thus our Saviour himself argues , Mat. 18. 10. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones ; for I say unto you that in Heaven their Angels do behold the Face of my Father which is in Heaven ; that is , do not undervalue any Soul ; for how mean or little soever some of them may appear to you , they are under the Guardianship of those blessed Angels that are the Courtiers of God , and do always attend upon his Majestick Presence .

5. And Lastly , Let us consider the vast Price which the Devils themselves do put upon Souls ; for ever since those malignant Spirits through their own Pride and Ambition revolted from God , and conspir'd to make War with Heaven , and revenge their Expulsion thence , the constant Drift of all their Designs and Actions hath been to seduce and ruin them , being conscious that of all the Beings that are within the reach of their Power , there are none so dear to God as these , and that by seducing from him these his most precious Creatures , they shall do him the greatest spight and most effectually revenge upon him their own Damnation . For doubtless were there any Beings below the Moon more dear to God than these , they would bend their Force and Malice against them , and not make these as they do , the only Centers of their mischievous Activity . Had they any nobler Game to fly at , their ambitious Malice would disdain to stoop to the Quarry of Souls ; but because of all others These are the noblest and best worth the ruining , therefore do these malignant Spirits turn all their Artillery upon them , and level all their fiery Darts against them . And how ambitious they are of seducing our Souls , and training them on to Perdition , is evident by the infinite Wiles , and Snares , and Stratagems they contrive against them ; by their unwearied Diligence to watch all Opportunities against them ; to surprize them where they are careless , and assault them where they are weakest , and cheat them with disguised Suggestions ; to inspect their Humours , and apply themselves to their Interest , and nick their Tempers , with convenient Temptations . And if after all their Labour , Craft , and Contrivance they can but seise the Game they hunt for , the Blood of a Soul is so rich a Draught that they think it a sufficient Recompence for all their painful and mischievous Devices ; for St. Peter tells us that they go about like roaring Lyons , seeking whom they may devour . And to be sure those malignant Spirits would never be so impertinently mischievous , as to spend their time in catching Flies , and did they not know our Souls to be noble Preys , they would never go so far about as they do , nor take so much Care and Pains to Catch and insnare them . So that from their unwearied Diligence to seduce and ruin us , we may most certainly conclude either that they are very foolish Devils , or that our Souls are very precious Beings ; but howsoever , their Diligence to destroy them is a plain Argument that they esteem them precious , it being by no means to be supposed , that such Wise and intelligent Beings as they are would so much concern themselves , as they do , about things which they had little , or no Esteem for .

And thus you see at what a vast Rate our Souls are valued by the whole World of Spirits , how from the highest to the lowest , those best and wisest Judges of the just Worth of Souls do all unanimously concur in a great and high Estimation . So that whether we value them by their own natural Capacities , or by the Estimation of those who are best able to judg of their Worth and Excellency , we have abundant Reason to conclude them most precious and inestimable Beings . And now I shall conclude this Argument with some Inferences .

1. From hence I infer , by what it is that we ought to value our selves , and estimate the Dignity of our own Natures , viz. by our rational and immortal Souls , those excellent Beings that are so invaluable in themselves , and so highly esteemed by the best and wisest Judges . 'T is this intelligent and immortal Nature within us , that is the Crown and Flower of our Beings ; 't is by this that we are exalted above the Level of meer Animals ; by this that we are allyed to Angels , and do border upon God himself : And he that values himself by any thing but his Soul , and those things which are its proper Graces and Ornaments , begins at the wrong End of himself , forgets his Jewels , and estimates his Estate by his Lumber . And yet , good God , what foolish Measures do the Generality of Men take of themselves ? Were we not forced by too many woful Experiments , it would be hard to imagine that any Creature that believes a rational and immortal Soul to be a Part of its Nature , should be so ridiculous as to value it self , by the little trisling Advantages of a well-coloured Skin , a suit of fine Cloths , a Puff of popular Applause , or a few Baggs of white and red Earth ; and yet , God help us , these are the only things almost by which we value and difference our selves from others . You are a much better Man than your Neighbour ; he , alas , is a poor contemptible Wretch , a little , creeping , despicable Thing , not worthy to be looked upon , or taken notice of by such a one as you . Why in the Name of God , what is the Matter ? Where is this mighty Difference between you and him ? Hath not he a Soul as well as you ? a Soul that is capable to live as long , and to be as happy as yours ? Yes , yes , 't is true indeed ; but notwithstanding , God be thanked , you are another-guess Man than he ; for you have a much handsomer Body , your Apparel is much more fine and fashionable , you live in a more splendid Equipage , and have a larger Purse to maintain it , and your Name forsooth , is more in Vogue , and makes a far greater Noise in the World . And is this all the Difference between your mighty selves and your pitiful Neighbours ? Alas poor Men ! A few Days more will put an End to this , and when your rich Attires are reduced to a Winding-sheet , and all your vast Possessions to six Foot of Earth , what will become of all those little Trifles by which you value your selves ? Where will be the Beauty or Wealth , the Port or Garb , which you are now so proud of ? Alas ! Now that lovely Body looks as pale and ghastly , that lofty Soul is left as bare , as poor and naked as your despised Neighbours . Should you now meet his wandering Ghost in the wide World of Spirits , what would you have to boast of more than he , now your Beauty is withered , your Wealth vanished , and all your outward Pomp and Splendor shrouded in the Horrors of a silent Grave ? Now you will have nothing distinguish you from the most Contemptible , unless you have wiser and better Souls , and by so much as you were more respected for your Beauty and Wealth , your Garb and Equipage in this World , by so much you will be more despised for your Pride and Insolence , your Covetousness and Sensuality in the other . Let us therefore learn to value our selves by that which will abide by us , by our immortal Souls and by those heavenly Graces which do adorn and accomplish them ; by our Humility and Devotion , by our Charity and Meekness , by our Temperance and Iustice ; all which are such Preheminences , as will servive our Funerals , and distinguish us from base and abject Souls forever . But for a rational and immortal Creature to prize it self by any such temporary Advantages is altogether as vain and ridiculous , as it was for the Emperor Nero to value himself for being an excellent Fidler .

2ly . From hence also I infer how much we are obliged to live up to the Dignity of our Natures . Should a stranger to Mankind be admitted into this busy Stage of humane Affairs , to survey our Actions , and the paltry Designs we drive at , certainly he would hardly imagine that we believed our selves to be such a noble sort and strain of Beings as we are . If you saw a Man seriously imploying himself in some sordid and beggarly Drudgery , could you imagine that he believed himself to be the Son of a King , and the Heir of a Crown ? And when it is so apparent that the main of our Design is to prog for our Flesh , and make a comfortable Provision for a few Years Ease and Luxury , who would think that we believed our selves to be immortal Spirits that must live forever in an inconceivable Happiness or Misery ? When we consider the high Rank which we hold in the Creation , the vast Capacities which there are in our Natures , and the noble Ends which we were made and designed for , are we not ashamed to think how poorly we prostitute our selves , and vilify our own Faculties by the sordid Drudgeries wherein we exercise and imploy 'em ? When we think what a Reputation we have throughout all the World of Spirits , what a vast Rate we are valued at by God , and Angels , and Devils , are we not confounded to think how we under-value our selves by those low and inglorious Ends , which we pursue and aim at ? O good God , that thou should'st give me a Soul of an immortal Nature , a Soul that is big enough for all the Joys which thy everlasting Heaven is composed of , and I be such a Wretch to my self , such a Traytor to the Dignity of my own Nature , as to give up my self and all my Faculties to the Pursuit of such vain and wretched Trifles ? That I who am akin to Angels , should make my self a Muck-worm , and chuse Nebuchadnezzar's fate to leave Crowns and Scepters , and live among the salvage Herds of the Wilderness ? That having such a great and noble Nature , I should content my self to live like a Beast , and aim no higher than if I had been born only to eat , and drink , and sleep , and wake for thirty or forty Years together , and then retire into a silent Grave , and be insensible forever ? Wherefore in the Name of God , let us at last remember what we are , and what we are born to . Let us consider , that we have Faculties that are capable of exerting themseves for ever in the most inravishing Contemplation , and Love of the eternal Fountain of Truth and Goodness ; of copying and transcribing his most adorable Perfections , his Wisdom , Goodness , Purity , and Iustice , from whence the infinite Happiness of his Nature derives ; and thereby of glorifying us into living Images of God , and rendring us like him both in Beauty and Happiness ; in a word , that we have Faculties to converse with Angels and with blessed Spirits , to bear a Part in the eternal Comfort of their Joys and Praises , and to relish all those unknown Delights of which their everlasting Heaven doth consist . And having such great and noble Powers in us , is it not a burning shame that they should be always condemned to an endless Pursuit of Shadows and Impertinencies ? Let us therefore rouse up our selves , and shake off this sordid and degenerate Temper that sinks and depresses us , and makes us act so infinitely unbecoming the Dignity of our immortal Natures . And since we are descended from and designed for the Heavenly Family , let us learn to demean our selves upon Earth , as becomes the Natives of Heaven , Let us disdain all base and sordid , all low and unworthy Ends of Action , as Things beneath our illustrious Rank and Station in the World of Beings , and live in a continual Tendency towards , and Preparation for that Heavenly State which is the proper Orb and Sphere of our Natures .

3ly . From hence also I infer how much they undervalue themselves , that fell their Souls for the Trifles of this World . For since we know before-hand that the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all Unrighteousness and Ungodliness of Men , and he hath plainly assured us that our Souls must smart for ever for our Sins , it necessarily follows , that when ever we knowingly suffer our selves to be inticed into Sin , we make a wilful Forfeiture of our Souls . He that knows that such a Draught , however sweetned and made palatable , is yet compounded with the Juice of deadly Nightshade , and notwithstanding that will have the poisonous Draught , is wilfully bent to Murder and Destroy himself . And when we see that the Pleasure of our Sin draws after it the Ruin of our Souls , and yet will Sin notwithstanding , we do in effect stake our Souls against it , and with our Eyes open , make this desperate Bargain , that upon Condition we may injoy such a sinful Pleasure , we will willingly surrender up our immortal Spirits to the Pains of an endless and intollerable Damnation . And if so , O blessed God , how do the Generality of Men depreciate and undervalue themselves ? For how often do we see Men in their little Frauds and Cozenages , sell their Souls for a Penny gain ; in their lascivious and intemperate Humours , barter their Souls for a Moments Mirth or Pleasure ; in their ambitious Projects and Designs , part with their Souls for a Blast of vulgar Breath and popular Noise . For in every Temptation to Sin the Devil cheapens our immortal Souls , bids so much Pleasure , or so much Profit for them ; and in every Compliance with the Temptation we take his Offer , and strike the fatal Bargain ; So that if we will Sin , we had need Sin for something since we must pay so dearly for it . But alas ! there is no Proffer the Devil can make us , that is a ●elerable Price for the Blood of our Souls ; though he should offer us the whole World for it , our Saviour assures us that he would bid us infinitely to our Loss ; and if so , what wretched Sales do we make of our Souls , when we Sin for Trifles , lie and cheat to get a Penny , consent to a wicked Motion for a Pleasure that will wither while we are smelling to it , and expire in the very Injoyment ? For so much we value our Souls at , and do in effect declare , that in our Esteem these precious Beings , which God and Angels set so high a Price on , are worth no more than what that Profit or Pleasure , for which we Sin , amounts to . O good God! What cheap and worthless Things then are our Souls in our Esteem , who sell and barter them every Day for such mean and worthless Trifles ? How do we part with our Gold for Dross , and exchange our Iewels for Pebbles ? What sordid Thoughts , what wretched vile Opinions have we of our selves , that are so ready upon all Occasions to sell our selves for nought , or , which is next to nought , for the sorry Proffers of every base and infamous Lust ? O would to God we would at last make but a just Estimate of our selves , and thereupon resolve , as it is most reasonable we should , never to comply with any sinful Motion , till we can get more by it than our Souls are worth , and then I am sure we should be for ever Deaf to all the Proffers which the Devil or World can make us .

4ly . And lastly , from hence also I infer how much we are obliged above all things to take Care of our Souls : For since they are Beings of such vast Capacities in themselves , and of such an high Estimation in the World of Spirits , methinks we should all be convinced that to take leave of their Welfare , and prevent their everlasting Miscarriage , is the highest Concern and Interest of a Man . And yet , God forgive us , if we consult the common Practice of Mankind , we shall find that there is scarce any thing in which we have any Interest at all , that is more slighted and disregarded by us . Our Body is the Darling that hath our Hearts , and takes up all our Care and Thoughts ; and to entertain its Appetite , and accommodate it with Pleasures and Conveniencies , there is no Expence either of Labour or Time grudged , or thought much of ; but as for the Soul , that precious and immortal Thing which will be living and perceiving unspeakable Pleasures or Pains when this Body is dead and insensible , that is overlooked as a Thing not worthy our serious Notice or Regard . And though we cannot but be sensible how much it is diseased in all its Faculties , how much its Vnderstanding is overloaded with Error and Ignorance , its Will festered with unreasonable Malice and Obstinacy , and its Conscience oppressed with Loads of Guilt sussicient to sink it to the nethermost Hell ; yet we seem for the Generality to be no more concerned at it ; than if its Ruin or Recovery were equally indifferent to us . We can see it perishing before our Eyes , without any Remorse or Compassion ; we can pass Day after Day without making the least Offer or Attempt to recover it , without offering up a Prayer for it , or entertaining a serious Thought what will become of it for ever . O insensible Creatures that we are , thus to neglect and abandon the most precious Part of our selves ! The Part that makes us Men , and by which alone we are capable of being happy or miserable for ever . Let me therefore beseech and conjure you , even by all that is sacred and serious , by every thing that is dear and precious to you , by your best Hopes , and the most important Concern of your everlasting Fate , to take pity upon your perishing Souls , to consider the amazing Dangers whereunto you have exposed them , and to consult the Means of their Recovery ; to prick and affect your Hearts with the Sense and Consideration of their impending Ruin , till you have forced them to cry out what shall we do to be saved ; to bath their Wounds with the Tears of Repentance , and to pour into them that most sovereign Balm of a serious Purpose and Resolution of Amendment ; to pray earnestly for them , and keep a continual Guard about them , and to strive vigorously with those sinful Inclinations that threaten to sink and ruin them . And if we will be but content to undergo these necessary Cares and Pains to secure them , we shall be sure when they leave these Bodies to reap the Fruits of all in the Possession of an unspeakably happy and glorious Eternity .

II. I proceed now to the Second Proposition contained in these Words , that our precious Souls may be lost . And this our Saviour here plainly supposes , If he gain the whole World , and lose his own Soul . The Greek Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which properly signifies to receive a Mulct , or to suffer Damage ; and therefore it is here opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , if he shall gain . So that the Word doth not denote the absolute Loss or Extinction of the Soul , but its undergoing some dreadful Mulct , or suffering some irreparable Damage . For as Hierocles hath observed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Immortal Substances cannot so die as to lose their Being , but so , as to lose their Well-being they may . And accordingly our Saviour himself calls the Punishment of the Wicked in Hell Fire , destroying them , Mat. x. 28. Fear not them which kill the Body — but fear him which is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell . Where by destroying , he doth not mean putting a final End to their Being , but putting them into an irrecoverable State of Ill-being ; for in this State of Destruction , they still continue to act , to weep and wail , and gnash their Teeth , as Christ elsewhere tells us , Mat. xiii . 42. which Actions plainly suppose their Continuance in Being , though in a most wretched and deplorable Ill-being . So that by the Loss of the Soul here is not meant the Destruction of its Being , but its being exposed to an irreparable Damage in the other World . And to prove that in this Sense a Soul may be lost , I shall endeavour these two Things .

First , To shew you what Damages the Soul is liable to in the other World . Secondly , Upon what Accounts it is liable to , and in Danger of them .

I. What Damages the Soul is liable to in the other World . To which I answer , that there is a seven-fold Damage whereunto the Soul of Man may be exposed hereafter .

1st . It is liable to be deprived of the highest Happiness it is capable of . 2ly . It is liable to the most dreadful Punishment and Correction of the Father of Spirits . 3ly . It is liable to the Fury and Violence of Devils , and other malignant Spirits . 4ly . It is liable to be consmed to the most dismal and uncomfortable Abodes . 5ly . It is liable to the perpetual Vexations of its own cross , wild , and furious Passions . 6ly . It is liable to the intolerable Anguish of its own guilty Conscience . 7ly . It is liable to indure all these dismal Things for ever .

1st . The Soul of Man is liable to be deprived of the highest Happiness it is capable of . The highest Happiness that a Soul is capable of is to enjoy God , that is , to know , and love , and resemble him ; and to be admitted into the noble Society of those pure , and blessed Spirits that do thus enjoy him ; of all which Happiness a Soul may be for ever deprived by its own vicious and depraved Temper . For besides that by such a Temper it may provoke the just and holy God , who hath the Disposal of the fate of Souls , to deprive it of , and banish it from this Happiness for ever ; it may thereby also utterly incapacitate it self from ever enjoying it ; it may promote and raise that Temper to such a Degree of Aversation and Antipathy to God , and ●anker it into such an inveterate Enmity to all the Perfections of his Nature , as that at last it may be utterly incapable of any such beatifical Knowledg of them , as can any ways incline it to love and imitate him : For the Apostle tells us , that the carnal Mind is enmity to God , Rom. viii . 7. From whence it is evident , that in every Degree of Sin , there is a Degree of Aversation to God , which Aversation may be improved into such an implacable Malice against him , as that our Knowledg of him , instead of endearing him to us , or ingaging us to imitate him , may only avert us from , provoke , and irritate us against him , and by presenting to us those immense Perfections , for which he deserves our dearest Love , and deepest Adoration , may only fill our Minds with the greater Rage and more invincible Horror . And when the Soul is arrived to such a Degree of Malignity against God , it is as impossible for it to injoy him , as to be recreated with Torment , or delighted with the Objects of its own Antipathies . And for the same Reason also it must be incapable of enjoying the Society of blessed Spirits , because it hath acquired a Temper that is infinitely repugnant to their Heavenly Genius ; so that if such a prejudiced Soul should , when it is arrived into Eternity , find the Gates of Heaven open to receive it , it would doubtless be so offended at every thing that is Heavenly , so startled at the Sight of God , and the Displays of his hated Perfections , and seized with such a Horror against those god-like Beings that dwell there , and are perpetually contemplating and adoring , loving and imitating him , that it would fly away of its own Accord from that blisful Habitation , as Bats and Owls do from the Light of the Day , and rather chuse to banish it self into eternal Darkness and Despair , than be shut up for ever in a Heaven so infinitely repugnant to its Nature . And certainly to be thus excommunicated from the supreme Happiness of our Natures , and be forced to live in everlasting Exile from God and blessed Spirits , and wander about like wretched Vagabonds that are chased and driven from all Hopes of Contentment , will be unspeakable Damage to our Souls .

2ly . The Soul of Man is liable to the most dreadful Punishment and Correction of the Father of Spirits . There is no Doubt but spiritual Agents can strike as immediately upon Spirits , as bodily Agents can upon Bodies ; and though we who are Spctators only of corporeal Action cannot discern the Manner how one Spirit acts upon another , yet there is no Reason to Doubt of the thing ; and if there be such a mutual Communication of Action between them , there is no Doubt but they can mutually make each other feel each others Pleasures and Displeasures ; and if so , then it is only to suppose that the less powerful Spirits are subject to the violent Impression , of the more powerful ones , and consequently that all finite Spirits are liable to the Lash of an infinite one ; for why should it be more difficult for the Father of our Spirits to correct our Spirits , than it is for the Parents of our Flesh to correct our Flesh ? For though our Souls are no more impressible with material Stripes than Sun-beams are with the blows of a Hammer , yet are they liable to horrid and dismal Thoughts , and to be as much pained and aggrieved by them , as our Bodies are by the most exquisite Torments . So that if God be displeased with us , he can imprint his Wrath upon our Minds in black and ghastly Thoughts , and cause it perpetually to drop like burning Sulphur upon our Souls . He can not only abandon us to the furious Reflections of our own natural Consciences , which , as I shall shew you by and by , will be hereafter extreamly painful and vexatious , but he can also infuse supernatural Horrors into us , and pour in such Swarms of terrible Thoughts upon us as will give us no Rest , but sting us perpetually Day and Night with inexpressible Anguish . And of this you have a woful Example in that miserable Wretch Francis Spira , who , upon that fearful Breach he made in his Conscience by a cowardly Renouncing of his Religion , was without any Symptoms of a bodily Melancholy immediately seised with such an inexpressible Agony of Mind as amazed his Physicians , astonished his Friends , and struck Terror into all that conversed with him . For he was so near to the Condition of a damned Ghost , that he verily believed Hell it self was more tolerable than those invisible Lashes that were continually laid on upon his Soul ; and therefore wished he were in Hell , and would gladly have dispatched himself thither in hope to find Sanctuary there from those vengful Thoughts which continually preyed upon his Soul . And if in this World our Soul is so liable to the Rod of the Father of Spirits , we may be sure it will be so in the other too , where God , if he pleases can render it an eternal Hell to it self by pouring continually into it fresh Floods of horrible Thoughts , which being thrust on by an Almighty Power , and perpetually urged and repeated on the Mind , must necessarily create in it not only a most exquisite , but uninterrupted Torment . And it being in his Power thus to lash our Souls , to be sure when once he is implacably incensed against them , ( as he will be hereafter , if we do not appease him ) he will let loose his Power upon them , and make them feel his wrathful Resentments in those dire and frightful Thoughts with which he will Sting and Scourge them for ever . And if the Soul carry into Eternity with it those provoking Lusts which do here incense Gods Displeasure against it , it will there have no Shelter from the Storm of his Vengance , which like a Shower of Fire and Brimstone , will be continually pouring down upon it . For while it continues in this Shop of Vanities , it hath a great Variety of Objects to divert those dismal Thoughts which God many times infuses into it ; but in the other World all these diverting Objects will be removed , and then every dismal Thought which God lets loose will seise and fasten upon it , and like Prometheus's Vultures , prey on its wretched Heart for ever .

3ly . The Soul of Man is liable to the Fury and Violence of Devils , and other malignant Spirits . For when ever the Souls of Men do leave their Bodies , they doubtless flock with the Birds of their own Feather , and consort themselves with such seperate Spirits as are of their own Genius and Temper ; for besides that Likeness doth naturally congregate Beings , and cause them to associate with their own Kind , good and bad Spirits are by the eternal Laws of the other World distributed in two seperate Nations , and there live apart from one another , having no other Communication or Intercourse but what is between two hostile Countries that are continually designing and attempting one against another . So that when wicked Souls do leave this terrestrial Abode , and pass into Eternity , they are presently incorporated by the Laws of that invisible World into the Nation of wicked Spirits , and confined for ever to their most wretched Society and Converse ; and then how miserable must their Condition be , who are damned to such a bellish Neighbourhood , and are allowed no other Company but of Devils and devilish Spirits ? For since , as I have already shewed you , Spirits can as well act upon one another as Bodies , what can be expected when such malignant Spirits meet , but that they should be continual●● snarling among themselves , and baiting and worrying one another ? When Wrath and Envy , Malice and Ill-nature are the common Genius that inspires and acts the whole Society , what can their Conversation be , but a continual Intercourse of mutual Mischiefs and Vexations ; especially considering how they have here laid the Foundations of an eternal Quarrel against one another ? For there the Companions in Sin will meet , who by their ill Counsels , wicked ●nsinuations , and bad Examples did mutually contribute to each others Ruin ; and when these shall meet in that woful State , how will the tormenting Sense of those irreparable Injuries they have done each other incite them to exercise their hellish Fury upon , and play the Devils with one another ? And when a Company of waspish Spirits so implacably in●ensed against one another shall meet , and like so many Sc●rpions , Snakes , and Add●● be snut up together in the in●ernal De●s , how is it possible they should forbear ●issing at , and sli●ging , and spitting Venom in one anothers Faces . But then besides the mutual Plagues which those incensed and furious Spirits must needs be supposed to instict upon one another , they will be ●lso nakedly exposed to the powerful Malice of the Devils , those fierce Executioners of Gods righteous Vengeance , who , as we now find by Experience have Power to suggest black and horrid Thoughts , and to torture our Souls with such dreadful Imaginations , as are far more sharp and exquisite than any b●dily Torment . And if now they have such Power over us when God thinks fit to let them loose , what will they have hereafter , when these our wretched Spirits shall be wholly abandoned to their Mercy , and they shall have a free Scope to exercise their Fury upon us , and glut their hungry Malice with our Vexations and Torments ? It seems at least a mighty probable Notion that that horrid Agony of our Saviour in the Garden which caused him to shriek and grone , and sweat as it were great Drops of Blood , was only the Effect of those preter-natural Terrors which the Devils , with whom he was then in Combat , impressed upon his innocent Mind . And if they had so much Power over his pure and mighty Soul that was so strongly guarded with the most perfect and unspotted Vertues , what will they have over ours when God hath abandoned us to them , and thrown us as Preys into their Mouths ? with what an hellish Rage will they fly upon our guilty and timorous Souls , in which there is so much Tinder for their injected Sparks of Horror to take Fire on ? When therefore our guilty Spirits shall not only be liable to the Scourge of God , but Devils and damned Ghosts too shall have their full Swing at them , doubtless the Hell within them will be far more intollerable than any Hell of Fire and Brimstone without them .

4ly . The Soul of Man is also liable to be confined to the most dismal and uncomfortable Abodes . What or where the Abode of wicked Spirits is till the Morn of the Resurrection , is no where expressly determined in the Holy Scripture ; but since , wheresoever they are , they are doubtless under the Power and Dominion of the Devil , who , as the Scripture assures us , is Prince of the Power of the Air ; it is highly probable that their present Residence is in these lower Regions of the World ; that either being chased by those infernal Powers under whose Tyranny they are , they are continually hurrying about in these inferior Tracts , of Air , or , which perhaps is more probable , that they are imprisoned by those invisible Ministers of the divine Justice within the dark Abysses and under-ground Vaults of the Earth , and not permitted , but upon special Occasions , to come abroad into this upper Region of Light and Liberty . But wheresoever they are , it is doubtless in some such horrid and dismal Prison , as is fit only to receive such vile and desperate Malefactors , and secure them till the great Assizes , when they shall be brough forth to receive their Tryal and final Judgment : And then being united to their Bodies , and thereby made liable to corporeal Torments , the Scripture expresly affirms that they shall be shut up in everlasting Flames , and be tormented for ever in a Lake of Fire and Brimstone ; for then the Lord himself shall come in Flames of Fire to render Vengance to all those that obeyed not his Gospel ; and having with those raging Flames set every Part of this lower World on Fire , he will re-ascend with all his Train to the celestial Mansions , and leave the Wicked weltring for ever in this burning Vault below ; for it is plain , that the everlasting Fire to which he will then Sentence them is the Conflagration of the World , which , after the Iust are raised , and caught up into the Clouds above the Reach of its aspiring Flames , shall break forth on every side , and turn all this Atmosphere into a Furnace of inquenchable Fire , and therein shall those wicked Miscreants that would not be reclaimed , be condemned to live for ever . For the Judgment being ended , the Judg and all his Retinue shall return and leave them in the midst of a burning World surrounded with Smoak and Fire , Darkness and Confusion , and wrapt in fierce and merciless Flames , which shall stick close to and pierce through and through their Bodies , and for ever prey upon , but never consume them . And what an intolerable Mulct this is , I leave every Mans natural Sense to judg .

5ly . The Soul of Man is also liable to the perpetual Vexations of its own cross , wild , and furious Passions . We have sufficient Experience in this Life how vexatious our cross and excessive Passions are ; for when our Passions are divided , and contrary Objects have raised contrary Desires and Appetites in us , how do they rend and distract our Souls , and cause perpetual Mutinies and Tumults within us ? But by Reason of those many sensual Gratifications with which we now make a shift to stop the Mouths of those Daughters of the Horse-Leech , when they cry out give , give ; we cannot be so sensible of the Trouble and Vexation of them ; but unless we now subdue and mortifie them , we shall be forced to carry them into Eternity along with us . For by being separated from their Bodies the Souls of Men are never separated from their prevailing Tempers , but in their separated State are for the main of the same Disposition as they were here ; and do retain the same Passions and Appetites . 'T is true , they cannot be supposed to retain their bodily Appetites after they have thrown off their Bodies , but when they have wholly accustomed themselves in this Life to fleshly Pleasures , and have never Experienced spiritual ones , it is impossible but that in the other they should be tormented with an outragious Desire of being imbodied again ; that so being incapable of relishing any other , they may repeat those fleshly Pleasures which heretofore they were accustomed to , and act over the brutish Scene anew . And this vehement Hankering of these carnalized Souls to return into their Bodily State , is perhaps the only Sensuality that a seperate Soul is capable of ; but it is such a Sensuality as must necessarily render such Souls extreamly miserable ; for in that State it will be like the Hunger of a Starving Man that is Immured between two dead Walls , that is , it will be a fierce Desire without Hope of Satisfaction , a corroding Hunger , sharpened with Despair of Food , than which there is nothing more intolerably grievous and tormenting . For how will it vex the wretched Spirit to look back from the Shores of Eternity into this corporeal World , and to ruminate thus with it self ; O miserable Creature that I am ! here am I cast away for ever upon a strange and desolate Shore , where I must Famish for want of Food , pine away a long Eternity , and wander to and fro for ever tormented with restless Rage and hungry unsatisfied Desires ; where there is not one Pleasure that I can relish , not an Object that I can taste any sweetness in . Wo is me ! yonder are all my Ioys and Comforts , all that is dear and precious to me . O that I might go back again , and be once more restored to the Injoyment of them ! but alas ! between me and them there runs an impassible Gulph , that deprives me of all hope of returning ! For thus will the unhappy Soul torment it self with an outragious Longing for that which it can never hope to enjoy . But then besides this Appetite of Sensuality which it will there be vexed with , it will also carry along with it all that Envy and Malice , that Wrath and Impatience , Pride and Insolence which it here contracted ; which black and Hellish Passions will prove perpetual Furies in its Bosom ; For in that wretched State it will not only have Objects always present to excite them , but such Objects too as will excite them all at once to the most outragious Excesses . For when all at once it shall see others advanced to the greatest Heights of Glory and Happiness , and it self not only rejected but abandoned to endless Misery , the Sense of this must necessarily irritate all its devilish Passions to the highest Extremities , and cause its Pride to swell , its Envy to burst , and its Wrath to boil into a Diabolical Fury ; and what a continual Hell must this create in the Soul , to be perpetually worried with so many black and rabid Passions , to have all its inferiour Parts and Affections , like those of the Monster Scylla whom the Poets talk of , as so many Dogs continually barking and snarling at one another , and yet remain unseperable , as being Comparts of the same Substance ?

6ly . The Soul of Man is also liable to the intolerable Anguish of its own guilty Conscience . The Spirit of a Man , says Solomon , can bear his Infirmities , but a wounded Spirit who can bear ? Intimating that of all the Passions which humane Nature is liable to , there are none so grievous as that of a Mind awakened with a sense of Guilt . And of the Truth of this we have some Experience even in this Life , tho now we can make a shift either to divert our selves by our sensual Mirth and Jollities , from listening to the Clamours of our guilty Minds , or else to deceive our selves into a groundless Peace by indulgent and fallacious Principles ; but unless we expiate our Guilts here , we shall carry them into Eternity with us , where all those sensual Pleasures , with which we now divert our selves from reflecting on our Actions will be removed , and all those fallacious Principles , with which we cheat and deceive our selves , will be baffled by a woful Experience . So that then our Souls will be nakedly exposed to the Lash of its own furious Thoughts , and having nothing to guard or defend it self against the cutting Reflections of a guilty Conscience , which being roused up and kept awake by the unintermitting sense of our Misery will be always clamouring upon us , and continually torturing our wretched Minds with sharp and vexatious Reflections : and besides , whilst our Soul doth act by bodily Instruments , and work in this Mire of Flesh , it is impossible it should be so nimble and expedite in its Motions , as it will be when it is a naked Spirit . For then its Perceptions will be much clearer , its Convictions more strong and evident , and all its Reflections active as the Lightning , and quick as the Wing of an Angel . So that whereas now the sharpest Stings of our Conscience have an Intermixture of Fancy and Imagination in them , being gross and material Powers do dull and rebate the Edg of them , and render them less pungent and sensible ; when we are stripped out of our Flesh , and sent naked into the other World , we shall have no Clog about us to break or allay those sharp Reflections with which we shall be forced to lash our selves for ever . And then our Conscience will cut to the quick , and sting with a corroding Venom ; then will the Remembrance of those Guilts which brought our Miseries upon us , rouze up such a Swarm of Horrors in our Minds , as we shall be able neither to avoid nor indure . For the Sense of our Misery will be every Moment suggesting those Guilts to our Minds that were the Cause of it , and continually upbraiding us with those desperate Follies by which we ran our selves into it ; the Consideration of which will cause us to hate and curse our selves for ever , and to discharge our Fury upon our own Heads , which will make our Soul turn Devil to it self , and force it to be its own Executioner . For it being now conscious to it self that its Miseries are nothing else but the rueful and pitiless Deserts of its own Folly and Madness , it will be continually meditating horrible Reflections and singing Satyrs on it self . So that while it is wandring among wretched Ghosts through the dismal Shades below , it will never cease lashing it self with its own sharp and stinging Thoughts , till it hath chafed it self into a Fury , and boiled up its self-condemning Rage into everlasting Madness .

7ly . And lastly , The Soul of Man is also liable to endure all these dismal things for ever : For that our Souls are naturally immaterial and immortal , I have already proved ; so that if God in his infinite Justice shall think fit to sentence wicked Souls irrecoverably to all these above named Miseries , they must by the Constitution of their own Natures live in , and undergo them for ever . And that he doth think to pronounce and execute such a Sentence upon them , he himself hath assured us ; for so in Scripture he hath plainly declared , that their Punishment shall be everlasting , Matth. 25. 7. These , saith he speaking of the Wicked , shall go away into everlasting Punishment : and accordingly the Fire in , and with which they are to be punished , is called everlasting fire , Matth. 25. 41. and that they shall subsist for ever in this Fire , and be co-eternal with it , is evident by those Passions and Actions that are attributed to them in it ; for Rev. 14. 11. they are said to have no rest day nor night in it , but to be in a continual unintermitting Fever , that will necessarily burn and scorch them , and not allow them the least Intervals of Ease or Comfort . And in Matth. 13. 42. the bitter Anguish which they shall endure in this Fire is described by their weeping , and wailing , and gnashing their Teeth ; which Actions are plain Indications not only of their subsisting in this everlasting Fire , but of the extream Horror and Anguish that they shall therein endure . And indeed when God sentences any immortal Being to Misery , its Misery must be supposed to continue as long as it lives , and consequently to continue for ever , since it is to subsist and live for ever . And what a fearful Accession is this to all those above named Miseries ? If we were to endure the softest and most gentle Pain without any Interval for thirty , forty , or a hundred Years , the Prospect of that which is to come would render that which is present so intolerable , that we should quickly grow weary of our Lives , and wish our selves in our Graves . Lord ! what shall we then do when we come to languish out a long Eternity in the tormenting Agonies of damned Ghosts ? How will it imbitter every present Torment to us , to think of that never-ending Duration of Torment to come , that after we have consumed Millions of Millions of Ages on the Rack , we have still an eternal H●ll behind , and are as far distant from the End of our Misery , as we were when it first began ? O! now if we could die and be insensible for ever ! what welcome Tidings would it be ? how gladly should we receive that fatal Blow that could put an End to a woful Eternity ? But now it will be in vain for us to cry , O Death , Death , have mercy upon us , and dispatch us quickly into an eternal Grave ! For Death is deaf and cannot hear , every Moment it stabs and wounds , but woe is me ! it cannot kill ; it strikes and strikes but cannot strike home , and so is forced to continue as strugling under the Pangs of an immortal Death . If there were any Prospect of an End of our Misery , though it were after a Million of Ages , this would give some Ease to the languishing Sufferer ; But never , never — O how that fatal Word stabs the wretched Soul , and rankles its Anguish into eternal Desperation ! For to be in extream Misery , and see no End of it , is the Perfection of Hell , and the utmost Possibility of Damnation .

And thus have I endeavoured to represent unto you the fearful Mulcts our Souls are liable to in the other World ; which are such as , one would think , were sufficient to awaken the most stupid and insensible Creature .

II. I now pass on to the second thing proposed , which was to shew you upon what Accounts it is that our Souls are liable to these dreadful Things ; or what it is that exposes us to the Danger of them . In general , it is our own Sin and Wickedness , which doth not only incense the holy God against us , who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity , and provoke and urge him to inflict these endless Miseries upon us as the just Retributions of our desperate Folly and Obstinacy ; but doth also by its own natural Causality prepare us for , and sink us into that miserable State So that if God should not damn us , yet our own Wickedness would ; the Misery of Damnation being little else but the Perfection and Consummation of Sin . For the Sting of eternal as well as temporal Death is Sin , and it is Goodness and Wickedness that makes Heaven and Hell , those two opposite Hemispheres of the Invisible World ; and as , if Goodness were plucked out of Heaven , it would cease to be Heaven , and be overcast immediately with the dismal Shades of Hell ; so if Wickedness were banished out of Hell , it would be Hell no longer , but presently clear up into Light and Serenity , and shine forth into a glorious Heaven ; But wheresoever Sin and Wickedness reigns , there is Hell and Damnation in its necessary Causes . Since therefore in necessary Causes that which is the Cause of the Cause is also the Cause of the Effect , our best way to be resolved what it is that renders us liable to these future Miseries , will be to enquire what it is that renders us liable to fall into a sinful Condition at the present ; for whatsoever renders us liable to Sin , must necessarily expose us to the Danger of Misery . Now the Danger of our falling into and continuing in a State of Sin , proceeds from these following Causes .

1. From the natural Liberty of our Wills to Good and Evil.

2ly . From the many Temptations to Evil among which we are placed .

3ly . From the more close and intimate Access which these Temptations have to us , than the contrary Motives to Goodness .

4ly . From the great Correspondence of these Temptations with the corrupt Inclinations of our Nature .

5ly . From the unwearied Diligence and great Subtilty of the Devil to make Use of , and apply these Temptations to us .

6ly . From the plausible Pretences we are furnished with to excuse , and justifie our Compliance with them .

7ly . From the extream Difficulty which this our Compliance brings us under to reject and vanquish them for the future .

1. We are liable to fall into a sinful State , and from thence into eternal Misery from the natural Liberty of our Wills to Good and Evil. If indeed we were necessarily determined to Good , our Happiness would be intailed upon our Natures , and it would be as impossible for us to be miserable , as it is for the Fire to freeze , or for the Ice to burn ; but to be so determined I am apt to think is not consistent with the condition of a Creature . For to be good by a natural Necessity requires an infallible Understanding , or a Mind that is infinitely removed from all Possibility of being deceived and mistaken ; and this no finite Mind can be : But how should the Will be in all particulars necessarily determined to what is Right , so long as it is under the Conduct of a fallible Mind that hath a natural Possibility of misleading it ? So that to be naturally , necessarily , and essentially good , seems to be an incommunicable Prerogative of the Divine Nature , according to that of our Saviour , There is none good save one , and that is God , Luke 18. 19. For since no Will can be essentially good but that which is guided by an infallible Mind , and no Mind can be essentially infallible but that which is infinite in Knowledge , it hence necessarily follows , that to be free to Good and Evil is as natural to reasonable Creatures , as it is to be finite in Knowledge and Understanding . 'T is true the greater Light of Knowledge there is in the Mind , the less Freedom to Evil there must be in the Will , unless it hath some antecedent Biass and Inclination to Evil ; and consequently the Angels being of far more intelligent Natures than we Men , must needs be naturally less free to Evil ; but yet that even they are naturally free to it is evident , for that some of them have actually lapsed into Devils ; and if they are so by their Natures , then much more are we by ours , who are so much their Inferiours in the rational World . For as we are finite Intelligences we must necessarily have some Degree of Freedom to Evil in us , but as we are of the lowermost Rank of Intelligences , we must naturally have greater Degrees of this Freedom in us than any other Order of intelligent Natures ; And if this were all , yet this very Condition of our Natures renders us more liable to degenerate into an evil and sinful State , than any other kind of reasonable Creatures . If we were now in a State of perfect Innocence , yet of all intelligent Creatures , we should have the greatest Reason to apprehend the Danger of our Fall ; because being the least intelligent we have the greatest Freedom to Evil , and consequently are on that Account in the greatest danger of falling into it . By the very Condition of our Natures we are of all rational Creatures placed nearest to the Brinks of the fatal Precipice , and therefore have most Reason to apprehend the Danger of falling headlong into it . For doubtless among innocent Creatures , there are none so near the Danger of sinning as those whose Wills are least restrain'd from it , and therefore though we were now as innocent as the blessed Angels are , yet our Condition would be unspeakably more unsafe ; because by how much we fall short of them in Knowledge and Understanding , by so much we should exceed them in our Freedom to Evil , and consequently by so much the more liable to it . But this alas is the least of our Danger ; For

2ly . We are liable to fall into a sinful State , and from thence into eternal Misery , from the many Temptations to Evil among which we are placed . For this State of Being in which we now are , being intended by God for our Tryal and Probation , it was requisite in order thereunto that we should be placed among Difficulties , that we might have sufficient Opportunity to exercise our Skill and Courage in Religion ; for unless we had some such Difficulties to encounter , there could no Proof or Tryal be made of our Virtue . Hence therefore hath God placed our rational Souls in mortal Bodies , which do naturally abound with brutish Appetites and Desires , and compassed us round with this World of sensual Goods and Evils , which continually importunes and excites them , that so we might have sufficient opportunity to exercise those humane Virtues which consist in the Dominion of our rational Faculties over these our bodily Appetites and Desires , that we might never want occasion to give the most glorious Proofs of our Patience and Chastity , Temperance and Equanimity , Meekness and Sobriety ; all which are proper to us as Beings made up of Soul and Body whence all those brutish Appetites arise , in the good or bad Government whereof consists the Nature of humane Virtue and Vice . So that this present State of humane Life is intended by God for a Field of Combat between Reason and Sense , between the Law in our Minds , and the Law in our Members ; and that the Victory of Reason might , through the Difficulty of it , be render'd more glorious and rewardable , he hath furnished its Antagonist , viz. the bodily Appetite with various Weapons , with the Temptations of a World of sensitive Goods and Evils to assault and oppose it , to try its Metal , and exercise both its active and passive Virtues ; and upon the success of this Combat depends the everlasting Fate of the Soul . If Sense prevail , and lead her finally Captive into Vice and Wickedness , she is lost for ever , but if Reason get the Victory , and finally reduce the Desires and Appetites of Sense under the Dominion of Virtue , when this mortal Life ends She shall triumph for ever , and be translated hence into a free and disintangled State , where she shall be vexed and inticed no more with the Importunities of sensual Lusts and Affections , but to all Eternity enjoy the Serenity and Pleasure of a pure Intellectual Being . This being therefore the true State of Affairs , it is too to obvious how liable the Soul is to miscarry when it is placed in a Body among so many brutish Passions and Appetites , and that Body is placed in a tempting World , among so many sensitive Goods and Evils that are continually importuning those Appetites to mutiny against Reason , and carry us away Captive into Folly and Wickedness . How much Reason have we to look about us , when we are placed in the midst of so many Dangers , and have such numberless Snares on every side ready to decoy and intangle us ? But this is not all neither ; For

3ly . We are liable also to fall into a sinful State , and from thence into eternal Misery , from the more c●ose and intimate Access which these Temptations have to us , than the contrary Motives to Goodness . For the great Advantage which these Temptations to Vice have over the most powerful Motives to Virtue is this , that they are all of them present and sensible ; for as for those grand Motives to Goodness that are drawn from the Consideration of our future State , they propose to our Hopes and Fears , those Master-Springs of our Motions , such Goods and Evils as are a great way off , and beyond the prospect of our bodily Senses , which makes the Land-skip of them appear exceeding dim and faint upon the Mind ; their Futurity , which is one sort of Distance , causing them like Things afar off to look confused and indistinct , by Reason of which they cannot affect us so powerfully , and draw such strong and lasting Draughts of themselves upon our minds : For Goods , like Magnets , have always the strongest Attractions when they are nearest ; but as for those invisible Goods of the other World , they are at such a Distance from us that they can hardly reach us who live upon the remotest Circumference of the Sphere of their Attraction . And as Distance lessens all Objects to the Eye , and renders them much smaller in Appearance than they are in Reality ; so the remote Futurity of those eternal Goods which the Motives of Vertue do propose , detracts from their just Magnitude and makes them , tho unspeakably vast in themselves , appear exceeding small and inconsiderable to our short-sighted Minds . And the same is to be said of those future Evils also , which they denounce against us ; and besides , being not only remote , but invisible too , they cannot strike upon our Senses , by which the most vigorous Impressions of Things are made upon our Minds ; whereas the Temptations of Vice are all present and sensible , and do so circle us round as soon as we look abroad into the World , that which way soever we turn our Eyes they are still before us thrusting themselves into our Minds , and with their constant Importunity stirring and working our Desires . So that when ever these outward Goods or Evils do assault us , we lie bare and open to them , and they continually press so close upon our Senses , that we are not able to avoid their Impressions : When any outward Good invites us to a sinful Action , it hath the vast Advantage of being present and sensible ; by Reason of which , it having a more immediate Access to our Minds doth many times prevail before we can Rally up a sufficient Strength of Considerations against it ; and when we set our selves to resist and struggle with it , the best of our Weapons is a Company of thin and faint Notions of Things a far off ; Things that we never saw nor felt ; which whilst we are recollecting , the Vice we are Tempted to , hath its Powers ready to seize upon the Will , which having oftentimes experienced the Pleasure it invites to , is the more easily seduced to a fresh Compliance . And whilst our Enemies are so near us , and our Helps and Succors so far off , we must needs acknowledge our Danger very great and urgent .

4ly . We are liable to fall into a sinful State , and from thence into eternal Misery , from the great Correspondence of these Temptations with the corrupt Inclinations of our Natures . For by Reason of the Nearness and Sensibleness of those outward worldly Goods by which we are continually tempted and solicited to Evil , they have the Advantage of preingaging our Affections to them before we arrive to the Use of our Reason ; for in our tender years these are the only Goods that we can relish , they are these that do feed , clothe , and furnish us in hand with whatsoever our natural Appetites do gape for ; that are the sole Entertainment of our childish Fancies , and the only Objects our yet unfledg'd Thoughts and Desires can reach at , and our Youth being thus intirely inured to them , by that time we are grown up to the Age of Reason and the Capacities of Virtue and Religion , we have generally contracted such an excessive Inclination towards them , and are so strongly biass'd with the Love of them , that whensoever they beckon to us we are ready to follow them through all the forbidden Tracts that lead to everlasting Ruin . For our Natures being thus vitiated , the Temptations without us have a strong Party within us , a Party of traytorous Inclinations which upon every Summons sollicites us to yield , and surrender up our Vertue and Innocence ; and no sooner can any Temptation from without give the Alarm , but presently our own Lusts are up raising a Mutiny within us , and with the Heats of our corrupted Fancy do many times so disorder our Understanding that it cannot rally up its Considerations against them . For before ever our Understanding could be Furnished with Considerations , our Hearts were prepossessed with such an excessive degree of ambitious , covetous , and luxurious Inclinations , that when afterwards the Pleasures , Profits , and Honours without begin to hold forth their grateful Lures to us , and to tempt us away to Fraud or Treachery , to Vanity or Licentiousness , those depraved Inclinations have gotten such Head within us , that they prove most commonly too strong for all our Consideration , and with their impetuous Current carry us away , and drive us headlong down towards eternal Ruin ; and unless we put forth all the strength of our Reason and Resolution , and the Grace of God also come in to our Aid , it will be impossible for us to stem such a furious Tide when it is driven by the Wind of an outward Temptation . When therefore our own Inclinations do so vigorously conspire with the Temptations without to thrust us on into Sin and Perdition , how can we be insensible of the eminent danger we are in of Miscarrying forever ? But

5ly . We are liable also to fall into a sinful State , and from thence into Eternal Misery , from the unwearied Diligence and great Subtilty of the Devil to make Use of , and apply these Temptations to us . For that the Devil doth commonly , as an assistant Genius to the Corruption of our Natures ; excite and provoke Men to Wickedness is very evident from Scripture ; where he is said to work in the Children of Disobedience . Eph. 2. 2. To fill the Heart of Ananias to lye to the Holy Ghost . Acts. 5. 3. And to take away the Word out of Mens hearts , lest they should believe and be saved , Luke 8. 12. All which Expressions do plainly imply that the Devil is a constant Agent in the Sins of Men. And being a Spiritual Agent , he must needs be supposed to have a nearer Access to the Soul than any material Cause whatsoever . For tho he be totally debarr'd from all kind of Intercourse with the immediate Operations of the reasonable Soul , and can no more look into the Thoughts than we can into the Bowels of the Earth ; yet he can easily get into the Fancy which stands next to that mysterious Chamber that is open to no Eye but Gods , and make what use he pleases of the infinite Images and Phantasms that are in it , and dispose , and order , and distinguish them into the Pictures of what Objects he pleases , just as the Painter doth his numerous Colours that lie confusedly before him in their several Shells , and continue and repeat those Pictures and Representations as long and as oft as he pleases . And then considering what the natural Use of the Fancy is , both to the Vnderstanding and Will , how it prompts the one with matter of Invention , and supplies it with Variety of Objects to work on , and draws forth and excites the other to chuse or reject those Objects it presents , according as they are pleasing or displeasing ; we must needs suppose that the Devil hath a vast Advantage of insinuating his black Suggestions into the Soul , by having such free Access into the Fancy . And accordingly he is said to put it into the heart of Iudas to betray Christ , John . 13. 2. But then he being not only a spiritual , but also an intellectual Agent , of a vast and capacious Understanding by Nature , and particularly improved in the black Art of tempting by a long Experience of its Wiles and Stratagems , having been a Tempter almost ever since he hath been an Angel ; he must needs be supposed to be wonderfully expert and sagasious in it ; that after having had five Thousand years experience of the Methods of seducing Souls to increase and perfect his natural Subtilty , he must by this be fully instructed when and how to apply himself to every Age and Constitution . For this hath been his sole Business wherein he hath been infinitely intent and active ever since he became a Devil , and if from a Man , then much more from a Devil of one Busines . Good Lord deliver me , from a Devil that for five thousand Years hath been continually making Experiments of Temptation , and drawing them into Rules to direct and order his mischievous Practice on the Souls of Men. But besides , as the Devil is of a spiritual and intelligent Nature , so he hath a vast Number of his black Angels continually roving about the World to seduce and captivate us into Sin and Ruin . And tho these malignant Spirits have no ligament of natural Love between them to tie and oblige them to one another , yet by that perfect Hatred which they all bear to God and Men they are united together in an inviolable League , and go hand in hand with one another in pursuance of their desperate Design to involve our wretched Souls in the same eternal Ruin with themselves , which renders their Force so much the more formidable . And when we have so many spiritual , subtil , and Powerful Adversaries combining against , and continually wandring to and fro like roaring Lyons to devour us , we cannot but apprehend our Danger exceeding great ; especially considering the infinite Temptations from without , that this World fords the great Variety of sensual Goods and Evils which they have to object to our carnalized Minds . For these mischievous Spirits having so great Insight into our Tempers , and so great a Choice of Objects to suggest to our Fancies , can never be at a Loss how they may nick us with a convenient Temptation ; and that which gives their Temptations a vast Advantage over us is , that we know not how to distinguish them from the Motions of our own Hearts , For could we see the Devil at our Elbows , or hear him whispering at our Ears every time he insinuates his wicked suggestions into our Minds , we should doubtless reject them with an unspeakable Horror ; but because when they are convey'd into us , we know not how to distinguish them from the natural Births of our own Minds ; therefore we do make no scruple to hug and dandle them in our Thoughts and entertain them with an actual Complacence . And when the Devil can convey his Poyson into us in such an invisible manner , without discovering his Devils Face ; when he can thus prompt us behind the Curtain , and so disguise his Whispers that we can't discern them from the secret Lustings of our own Hearts ; how can we be safe , without great Care and Watchfulness , from the Malice of such a formidable Enemy ? But

6ly . We are also liable to fall into a sinful State , and from thence into eternal Misery , from the plausible Pretences we are furnished with to excuse and justify our Compliance with them . When by our own Folly and the Devil's Malice we are actually betrayed into any wilful Sin , a speedy Repentance would recover us immediately , and heal the Wound as soon as it is made ; but instead of that we have a thousand plausible Excuses to palliate and skin it over ; but alas ! in the mean time it rots inwardly , and is festring apace into an incurable Gangrene . For when our Conscience begins to fly in our Faces , we have no other Way , but either presently to repent of , or to excuse and cloak our Wickedness ; the later of which is usually pitch'd on as being both the most easy , and the most agreeable with our corrupt Inclinations . And indeed there are so many Coverts which Men have found out for their Lusts to shelter them from the Persecutions of their Consciences , that this Way there are no Men can be long to seek ; for either they may blanch them over with an innocent Name , and call their Intemperances , Good-fellowship , their Knaveries , ingenious Fetches ; and their Incontinences , Tricks of Wit ; or else they may extenuate and mince them into Peccadillo's , and smooth over their grossest Rebellions with the softer name of humane Failings and Infirmities ; or else they may furnish themselves with some Shew of Argument to vindicate their Vices and assert them lawful , as some of late have done in the Case of Fornication and Vncleanness ; or else they may set up for Philosophical Sinners , and quote Texts out of their Gospel , the Leviathan , against the eternal Differences of Good and Evil. But if their Consciences will not be put off with such poor Pretences as these , there are Religious Pretences enough in the World to protect and give Countenance to All their Impieties ; and they may either fly to the Romish Doctrins of Confession and Penance , of Venial Sins , and of probable Opinions , with any one of which they may easily reconcile their Lusts and Consciences : Or if they chance to have an Antipathy to the name of Roman Catholick , they may furnish themselves with such Doctrins out of some of our modern Enthusiasts , as will be as favourable to their Lusts as they need , or wish , or desire ; that will consecrate their irregular Passions into Signs of Grace , and dwindle their grossest Crimes into the Spots of God's People ; that will exalt a mechanick Train of Fancies and Passions into a sincere Conversion , and improve an Hysterical Fit into a spiritual Experience . By these , and such like ways may Men easily excuse their Vices to their Consciences ; and when they are furnished with so many Expedients whereby to inable themselves to sin on quietly , in how much Danger are they of falling fast asleep in the midst of their Guilts , and never waking again till they flame out about their Ears into everlasting Burnings ? For whereas this Faculty of Conscience was implanted within us by the Author of our Natures , to be a Guard to our Innocence , and a Scourge to our Lusts , the Generality of Men have invented so many Tricks to shift and evade it , that it is become almost totally useless to them . And when they have thus disabled their Consciences from defending them against the Importunities of their Lusts , in what unspeakable Danger must they be , not only of falling into , but continuing in them till they have utterly ruined and destroyed them ?

7ly . And lastly , We are also liable to fall into a sinful State , and from thence into eternal Misery , from the extream Difficulty which this our Compliance with those Temptations brings us under , to reject and vanquish them for the future . For every new Compliance with Temptations to Evil foments and inrages our evil Inclinations , and when once these evil Inclinations are by our custor●●ary Compliances educated into finful Habi●s , it will be impossible for us without a mighty Assistance of divine Grace to vanquish and subdue them . So that as upon the former Accounts we are in extream danger of falling into sinful Courses , upon this Account we are in no less Danger of continuing in them . For by complying with this Temptation , I shall very much disable my self from withstanding the next ; and if I yield to that too , the third will find me much more ready and tractable , and so on , till at last the Temptation grows first familiar , and then natural to me , and then it will be hard , and then harder , and then almost impossible to reject or deny it . And when Things are reduced to this Issue that my Sin is naturalized to me , and grown into an inveterate Habit , the Lord have mercy upon me ! for now I am in the Suburbs of Hell , but one Remove from the State of the Damned , and am so far gone in a confirmed State of Impiety , that I have almost lost my Liberty of returning ; and unless I am speedily rescued by some Miracle of Grace , it is morally impossible I should ever escape . Thus as we go on from one Degree of Wickedness to another , we do as it were break down the Bridge behind us , and do what in us lies to disappoint our selves of all Hopes of any future Retreat . For every Step forwards in our sin●ul Progress renders our Return more difficult ; and when once we have proceeded into a Custom and Habit of Sin , we shall find Repentance so irksom to us , and so much against the Grain of our Nature , that it is a thousand to one but that the Difficulty of it will utterly dishearten us from attempting it ; and so rather than take so much Pains as we must necessarily do in swimming against the impetuous Stream of our Natures , we shall tamely yield to it , and suffer our selves to be born down by it into the dead Sea of endless Misery . When therefore there are so many Causes conspiring together to betray us into sinful Courses , and when there are so many Difficulties when once we are in to oppose and hinder our Retreat , what eminent Danger are we in of falling into , and persevering in Sin to our everlasting Ruin ! And thus you see how extreamly liable we are upon all these Accounts to be lost for ever , that is , to plunge our selves into all those endless Miseries which the Loss of our Souls implies .

What then remains but that being seriously affected with the Sense of our Danger , we presently awake out of our Security , and with the deepest Concern for our immortal Souls , cry out with St. Peter's Auditors , Men and Brethren , what shall we do to be saved ? Verily when I reflect upon the strange Unconcernedness of Men about their future Condition , I am tempted to think either that they do not believe they have an immortal Soul in them , or that if they do , they believe it is impossible it should for ever miscarry . For how is it conceivable that Men , who in other matters are so solicitous when their Interest is at Stake , and exposed to the least Hazard , should believe that they have Souls in Danger of perishing for ever , and yet take no more Care or Regard of them , but ( like the forgetful Mother , who , when her House was on Fire , to save her Goods , forgot her Child ) lay out all their thoughts upon the little Concerns of this frail and mortal Life , and in the mean time forget their precious Souls , and leave them perishing in the Flames of Perdition ? O stupid Creature ! what art thou made of that canst consider that thou hast an immortal Soul surrounded with so many Dangers of being lost for ever , and yet be no more concerned for its Preservation ? Methinks if thou hadst any Sense in thee , having a Prospect of such endless Miseries before thee , the remotest Possibility of falling into them should be enough to startle and awake thee ; but when thou art so near the Brink of those Miseries , and hast so many Causes round about thee shoving thee forward , and thrusting thee headlong down into them , and yet be no more concerned at it , is such a Prodigy of sensless Stupidity , as Heaven and Earth may justly be astonished at . 'T is true , if the Danger thou art in were such as is impossible to be evaded , it would then be the wisest Course thou couldst take to concern thy self as little as may be about it ; but rather to live merrily whilst thou mayst , and not antedate thy Misery , by thinking of the dismal Futurity . But God be praised this is not our Case , though our Condition be dangerous , yet it is far from desperate ; for if we will use our honest Endeavour , and vigorously exert the Faculties of our Nature , we not only may , but shall escape . There are indeed a great many Causes of our Danger , a great many Enemies concurring to our Ruin , but none of these are able to effect it , unless we our selves joyn hands in the fatal Conspiracy : If we will be but faithful Friends to our selves and true to our own eternal Interest , it will be beyond the power of all those Causes together to do us any material Injury . For blessed be the good God those that are for us , are far greater and might●er than those that are against us ; against us we have the World , the Fl●sh , and the Devil , the weakest of which is , I confess , a dangerous and puissant Enemy ; but for us we have God and Angels , and our own Reason ass●●●ed with the most invincible Motives ; with vast and glorious Promises , that stand beckoning to us with Crowns of Immortality in their hands , to call us off from the Pursuit of our Lusts to the Practice of Virtue and Religion ; with direful Threatnings , that are continually Alarming and warning us of the dreadful Consequents of our Sins ; and sundry other such mighty , I had almost said Almighty Motives , as , if we would seriously attend to , would certainly render our Souls impregnable against all the Temptations of Vice . And besides our Reason thus Armed and Accoutered , we have on our side the Holy Angels of God , who are always ready to prompt us to , and assist us in our Duty , and to second us in all our spiritual Combats against the Enemies of our Souls . And besides all these we have with us the Almighty Spirit of God , who upon our sincere Desires and honest Endeavours is engaged to aid us , and co-operate with us in working out our Salvation ; whose Grace is abundantly sufficient for us , to strengthen us in our Weakness , to support us under our greatest Difficulties , and carry us on victoriously through the most violent Temptations . And being back't with such mighty Auxiliaries , how is it possible that we should miscarry , unless we are resolved to betray our selves , and give fire to the fatal Trains of our Enemies ; and if we are so bent there is no Remedy for our Obstinacy , and it is just and sit we should be left to the dismal and pitiless Effects of our own Folly and Madness . For if , when we see our selves in so much danger , and it is yet in our Power to escape if we please , we will notwithstanding precipitate our selves into Ruin ; all the World must agree upon an impartial Inquisition for the Blood of our Souls , that we murdered our selves , that God is just , and that his hands are clean from any stain of our Blood , and that our own Ruin is wholly owing to our own invincible Obstinacy .

III. I proceed now to the Third Proposition , That our renouncing of Christ , and his Religion will most certainly infer the loss of our Souls . For , as I have shewed you , these Words are urged by our Saviour as a Motive to deter his Disciples from forsaking him , as is plain from Ver. 24 , 25. which necessarily supposes that upon their forsaking him this Loss would most certainly and inevitably follow . In the Prosecution therefore of this Argument I shall endeavour these two things .

1. To shew you what that forsaking of Christ is , which Infers this Loss .

2. Upon what Accounts our thus forsaking him infers it .

1. What that forsaking of Christ is , which infers this Loss . To which I answer , there is a Four-fold Forsaking of Christ , which the Scripture takes notice of as capital and damnable to the Souls of Men.

1. When we forsake him by a total Apostacy .

2ly . When we cowardly renounce the Profession of his Doctrine , or any Part of it , notwithstanding we still belive and are convinced of the Truth of it .

3. When by obstinate Heresy we either add to , or subtract from the Faith of Christ .

4ly . When by any wilful Course of Disobedience we do vertually renounce the Authority of his Laws .

1. We lose and forfeit our Souls , when we forsake Christ by a total Apostacy from him : When after we have been Baptized into his Name , and thereby have made a visible Profession of our believing his Doctrines , and obeying his Laws , we turn Runagadoes , and cast off our Belief of the one , and disown our Obligation to the other ; we do most justly incur the Loss and Forfeiture of our Souls . For so strong and cogent is the Evidence of Christianity , that it is not to be supposed that any professed Christian can be either innocently or excusably seduced into a Disbelief of it ; For Religion being a Matter of the vastest Moment and Concern , he is a Traytor to himself that either takes up his Religion without Examination , or that upon Examination refuses to be swayed by the strongest Reason ; And I am sure it is impossible for any Christian to turn Infidel that is but so honest to himself as first to examine carefully the Reasons of his Faith , and then to resolve sincerely not to reject it till better Reasons appear to the contrary ; But if either through their wilful Ignorance of the Evidence of Christianity , or vicious Prejudice against the Purity of it , they suffer themselves to be seduced into Apostacy , they are false Traytors to themselves , and as such are justly liable to all those eternal Damages they expose themselves to . And hence it is said of those that draw-back , that is , apostatize from Christianity , not only that God's Soul shall have no pleasure in them , but also that they draw back to perdition , Heb. 10. 38 , 39. and 2 Pet. 2. 20. It is said of those Apostates , that their later end is worse than the beginning ; and that it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousness , than after they have known it , to turn from the holy Commandment ; which implies that Apostates from Christianity do not only forfeit their Souls , but that without Repentance they will be for ever forfeited to the most wretched Condition , even to the nethermost Degree of Perdition .

2ly . We lose our Souls when notwithstanding we do still believe , and are convinced of the Truth of Christ's Doctrine , we do cowardly renounce the Profession of it , or of any Part of it . For when once we have received the Faith of Christ , we are thereby obliged not to renounce the Profession of it whatsoever Hazard it may expose us to , our blessed Lord having assured us that if we deny him before Men , he will also deny us before his Father which is in Heaven , Mat. 10. 33. And St. Paul also having warned us , that if we deny Christ , he will also deny us , 2 Tim. 2. 12. That is , that he will reject and abandon us before God and Angels to everlasting Misery and Damnation ; for so St. Iohn assures , Rev. 2. 8. that the fearful and unbelieving , i. e. the faint-hearted Cowards that for fear of Persecution renounce the Profession of the Gospel , shall have their part in the lake which burneth with sire and brimstone . Not that in Times of Persecution we are always bound to make an actual Profession and Publication of our Faith , to run to the Tribunals of our Persecutors before we are sent for , and accuse our selves of those Doctrines for which we are Persecuted ; but whenever we are apprehended , accused , and examined by them , either upon knowledge or suspicion , we are bound under the Penalty of forfeiting our Souls to own and confess our Faith , and not to deny any Doctrine or Article of it , whatsoever the Consequence may be . For in this Case to deny our Belief is not only a wilful Lye , which is in it self a damnable Crime , but an Act of High-Treason against our Lord and Saviour ; for by renouncing any Doctrine which he hath revealed and committed to us , we do not only betray his Trust , but blaspheme his Veracity ; to deny what we believe he hath revealed being in effect to declare him a Cheat and an Impostor . And having thus incurred the Guilt of so black a Treason against our Saviour , and wilfully persisting in it , what can we expect the Consequence of it should be , but the eternal Loss and Perdition of our Souls ?

3ly . We forsake Christ to the Loss and Forfeiture of our Souls , when by obstinate Heresy we add to , or subtract from that Heavenly Doctrine which he hath revealed to us . By Heresy I do not mean barely a false Opinion in our Religion , whether it be of greater or lesser Moment ; for I doubt not but the same Error may be an innocent Mistake in one Man , and a damnable Heresy in another ; that in the one it may be the Effect of a weak Understanding , but in the other , of a perverse and obstinate Will ; and when the Understanding misleads the Will it is Weakness , but when the Will misleads the Understanding it is Wickedness . For simple Error is only a defect of Understanding , which in a fallible Creature is every whit as inculpable as Sickness in a mortal one ; but Heresy is a Fault of the Will , which is the only Subject of Vertue and Vice . When therefore by the wicked Prejudice of our corrupt Wills against the Purity of Christianity , our Understanding is betrayed into loose and erroneous Principles ; when we understand by our vicious Affections , and adapt our Opinions to the Interests of our Lusts ; when we believe for the sake of any darling Vice , and suffer our own factious , covetous , and extravagant Passions either to tempt us to profess those erroneous Opinions which we do not believe , or to prejudice us into a Belief of them ; then is our Error no longer to be attributed to the Weakness of our Understanding , but to the Wickedness of our Wills which Improves our Error into a damnable Heresy . For he would be a wicked Man , though he were not an Heretick , that harbours those sinful Lusts which betrayed him into Heresy ; but by being an Heretick he is much more wicked , because now he is wicked under a Pretence of Religion , and cloaks his Impieties with the Garments of Righteousness . And what greater Prophaness can any Man be guilty of , than to make his Religion a Baud to procure for his Lusts ? So that if out of a vicious Propension of Will we obstinately persist in any Religious Errors , we are not only guilty of that wicked Propension which is of it self sufficient to ruin our Souls ; but we are also accountable for vitiating our Religion with those erroneous Mixtures by which we have rendered it a Shelter and Protection to our Lust. And what the Consequence of this will be St. Iude will inform us , who speaking of certain Hereticks , who to gratifie their own wicked Inclinations , had sophisticated Christianity with sundry black and poisonous Principles , pronounces this fearful Doom on them ; for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever , ver. 13.

4ly . And lastly , We forsake Christ to the Loss and Forfeiture of our Souls , when by any wilful Course of Disobedience we do virtually renounce the Authority of his Laws . For whilst we continue in any Course of wilful Sin , we live in an open Rebellion to our Saviour , and do by our Actions declare that we will not have him to Reign over us . And accordingly Tit. 1. 16. the abominable and disobedient are said to deny God in their works , even while they profess to know him ; and what the Fate of such will be , St. Paul hath forewarned us , Rom. 2. 8 , 9. But unto them that are contentious , and do not obey the truth , but obey unrighteousness ; indignation and wrath , tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth evil , of the Iew first , and also of the Gentile . And the same Apostle speaking of these obstinate Rebels , who live and persist in an open Defifiance to our Saviour's Authority , tells us that they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord , 2 Thes. 1. 8 , 9. But before we dismiss this Argument , it will be requisite more particularly to explain what those wilful Courses of Sin are by which they thus renounce him ; all which may be reduced to these three Heads . First , We renounce the Authority of his Laws , when we sin against him out of wilful Ignorance of them . Secondly , When we sin on against him out of wilful Inconsideration of our Obligation to them . Thirdly , When we persist in our sin against Knowledge and Consideration .

1. We vertually renounce the Authority of our Saviour , when we sin on against him out of wilful Ignorance of his Laws . For the Laws of our Saviour , in which the great Lines of our Duty are described , are so plain and legible , that no man can be long excusably ignorant of them . But if our Ignorance proceed either first from a profane and profligate Mind that is altogether regardless of God , and hath utterly worn off its natural sense of Religion , and so neither heeds it nor concerns it self about it , but is become quite deaf to all the Means of Instruction ; or if it proceed , Secondly , from the vicious Prejudice of our Wills , and we Industriously set our selves , for the sake of some darling Lust , to exclude from our Minds all the Means of Conviction ; and either studiously to avoid all thoughts of Religion , that so we may sin on without disturbance , which is the way of those that are openly Profane and Irreligious ; or to use all possible Arts to wheedle our Understandings into the Belief of such Principles as are most indulgent to our Lusts , which is the way of Hypocrites and false Pretenders to Religion : If , I say , our Ignorance of Christ's Laws proceeds from either of these Causes , it will no more excuse our falling into sin , than the want of Light will a man's falling into a Ditch that shuts his Eyes at Noon , and winks on purpose lest he should see , and escape the Danger that is before him . But then

2ly . We vertually renounce the Authority of our Saviour , when we sin on against him out of a wilful Inconsideration of our Obligations to obey him . For we being reasonable Creatures , are bound by the very Constitution of our Natures to act consideratlely especially in matters of Religion which are of the greatest Moment and Importance to us ; so that if we miscarry herein through wilful Inconsideration , we are every whit as inexcusable as if we had considerately betrayed our selves . Now wilful Inconsideration is either actual or habitual ; Actual , is either , first when notwithstanding we have been sufficiently warned by precedent Surprizes , we take no care for the future ; for though it cannot be expected we should always keep so strict a Guard upon our selves , as never to be surprized by an Enemy ; yet when we have been overtaken , there is all the Reason in the World we should take warning by it , and grow more wary and vigilant for the future ; that we should awaken in our Minds such Considerations as are necessary to prevent our being surpized again , which if we do not , our next Surprize will be inexcusable . And if the sense of the Lapse which was perhaps but an innocent Error , or at most but a Sin of Infirmity , doth not make us more careful of our selves for the future ; the next will be a wilful Fall : Or else in the second Place , this actual wilful Inconsideration is , when upon the presenting of any beloved Temptation we either quench the good Motions of our Minds , and refuse to consider the Evil and Danger of the Sin we are tempted to , lest we should be thereby deterred from committing it ; or purposely contrive to baffle our own Consideration by opposing it either with some ungrounded Hope of Impunity , or some fallacious Promise of future Amendment ; and if to make way for our sin , we do either of these ways wilfully drive all good thoughts from our Minds lest they should disturb and interrupt us in the Injoyment of it , our Inconsideration is to be resolved into the Wickedness of our Wills , and not into the Weakness and Infirmity of our Natures . And he that will not consider because he will sin , and afterwards extenuate his sin by his Inconsideration , urges one sin in excuse for another , and makes that which is his Fault , his Apology . Whensoever therefore we sin out of any actual and wilful Inconsideration , we sin wilfully , and consequently do thereby vertually renounce the Authority of our Saviour ; the final Event of which , without our Repentance , will be our everlasting Ruin and Perdition . But then besides this actual there is also an habitual Inconsideration , which is wilful ; and that is , when by often stifling the Convictions of our Consciences we have seared them into a deep Insensibility of Good and Evil , so as that now we sin on without any Remorse or Reluctancy , and return to our Lusts with the same indifferency as we do to our Beds or our Tables , without either considering what we are doing , or reflecting on what we have done ; And this is so far from palliating our sin , that it is one of the highest Aggravations of it : For as it is no excuse that we sin out of an evil Habit which we voluntarily contracted by frequent Acts of sin , so neither will it at all excuse us that we sin out of an habitual Inconsideration which we wilfully contracted by often refusing to consider . But as vicious Habits have a proper Evil and Guiltiness in them distinct from those vicious Acts that produced them ; so habitual Inconsideration hath in it a peculiar Venom of its own beyond what was in those actual Inconsiderations whereby it was acquired . And accordingly it is described in the Scripture as the worst , the most desperate and incurable state of a Sinner : It is called a reprobate-Mind , Rom. 1. 28 , 29. a seared Conscience , 1 Tim. 4. 2. a hard and unrelenting heart that treasureth up wrath against the day of wrath , Rom. 2. 5. So that if we go on in sin without considering , with a Mind habitually regardless & insensible , we are hardned and inveterate Rebels , that have not only renounced the Authority of our Saviour , but have also forfeited our Selves , and that almost irreparably against all his Methods of conquering and subduing us . But then

3ly . And Lastly , We vertually renounce the Authority of our Saviour , when we persist in our sin against Knowledge and Consideration . For to sin on obstinately against Knowledge & Consideration , argues an invincible Malice of Will ; for tho the Condition of the ignorant and inconsiderate Sinner be very sad and deplorable , yet there is much more Hope of him because he hath never yet the Force & Efficacy of Knowledge & Consideration , which perhaps , if ever he be brought to experience , may prove a succesful Means of his Cure and Reformation . But the knowing and considerate Sinner hath tryed and conquered the Remedy , hath experimented the only means of his Cure , and yet it grows worse and worse under the Application ; he knows what his sin is , and considers the Consequence of it , and yet sins on ; which argues a desperate Resolution of Will in him thus to run himself upon a foreseen Ruin , and leap into Hell with his Eyes open . And what Hope is there of dissuading him from his sin , that knows and considers the Arguments against it , and yet every day breaks through them all at the Call of every sinful Temptation ? And as his Condition is most desperate , so his Soul is most guilty and criminal ; for every Act of his sin is an open Defiance to the Authority of God and his Saviour ; his Rebellion is barefac'd , and hath no manner of Pretence wherein to mask or disguise it self ; and he knows and owns himself to be in a Rebellion , and yet perseveres in it , which extreamly aggravates and inhanses the Guilt of it . For the Sinfulness and Immorality of Actions is to be measured by the Degrees of Will that are in them , and the Degrees of Will in them are more or less proportionably , as the Nature and Evil of them is more or less known and considered . Hence is that of St. Iames 4. 17. To him that knoweth to do good , and doth it not , to him it is sin . Had he not known the Nature of his Action , the Weakness of his Understanding would have excused the Error of his Will , and render'd it pardonable at least , if not altogether innocent : But when his Understanding hath discharged its Office , and shewed him the Evil that he ought to avoid , that hath fairly acquitted its self , and can stand no longer chargable for his Miscarriages : So that now the Man chooses at his own Peril , and if he still choose what he ought to avoid , his Understanding is clear , and his Will alone is Culpable . And when our Rebellion against our Saviour is not only wilful , but the wilfulness of it is so extreamly aggravated by our Knowledge and Consideration , what the Consequen●e of it will be that fearful Passage will assure us , Luke 12. 47. The Servant that knoweth his Masters will and doth it not , shall be beaten with many Stripes . And thus I have endeavoured to represent to you what that Forsaking of Christ is , which exposes us to the Hazard of losing our Souls .

II. I proceed in the next Place to shew you upon what Accounts it is that our forsaking of Christ infers this fearful Loss ; of which , I shall Briefly give you this four-fold Account .

1. Our thus forsaking of Christ infers the Loss of our Souls , as it is a most inexcusable Contempt of the greatest Mercy .

2ly . As it renders us the most unsitting Objects of Mercy for the future .

3ly . As it is an open Violation of the fixed and stated Condition of Mercy .

4ly . As it is an utter Rejection of our last Remedy .

1. Our forsaking of Christ by any of the aforenamed Instances infers the everlasting Loss of our Souls , as it is a most inexcusable Contempt of the greatest Mercy . For when the Son of God came down from Heaven , he brought from thence with him the largest Offers of Mercy that Heaven it self could make to a sinful World ; he did not only bring down with him a Grant of universal Pardon and Indemnity under the Broad-Seal of Heaven for every Sinner that would lay down his Arms , and return to his Allegiance , together with the most endearing Invitations of the God of Heaven to woo and win us to accept it ; but he also brought along with him all that an everlasting Heaven means , Crowns of Immortal Glory and Pleasure to encourage us to , and reward our Acceptance of them . And what greater Mercy could the God of Heaven have expressed to us , than to send down his blessed Son , not only to tender to us an Indemnity , but also to invite us to accept it with a Promise of Heaven ? So that if now we reject him , now he is come to us with such vast and endearing Proposals , what an intolerable slight will it be to the tender Mercies of God ? When we shall declare by our Actions that we will not exchange the sordid Pleasures of our Lust for the Pardon of Heaven , for the Favour of God , and for all the Hopes of a glorious Immortality ? How can we expect any farther Relief from God's Mercy , after we have put such an intolerable Affront upon it by preferring such an unworthy Rival before it ? When God hath laid his Pardon , his Love , and his Heaven in our Way to stop us in our sinful Courses , what a barbarous Indignity will it be to trample upon them all , and run over them into Hell ? With what Face can we hope for any farther kindness from Heaven , after we have treated its Kindness with so much Rudeness and Contempt ? Certainly for sinful Men to reject and run away from their Saviour , when he comes to them with so much Kindness , when he courts them with such astonishing Expressions of Mercy , is a Provocation sufficient to incense an infinite Goodness , and turn the tenderest Mercy into an implacable Fury . And when infinite Love is so infinitely provoked , what less Expiation can it claim and exact , than the everlasting Ruin and Perdition of our Souls ?

2ly . Our Forsaking of Christ infers the everlasting Loss of our Souls , as it renders us the most incapable Objects of Mercy for the future . For when once we are arrived to that Height of Wickedness as finally to reject Christ , and the Mercies of his Gospel , there is no farther Mercy that we are capable of ; if after this God should be so kind and indulgent as to pardon us , alas ! what would it signify ? for we should still be wretched and miserable in Despight of his Pardon ; and that wicked Temper of Mind which made us reject our Saviour , would be an everlasting Hell to us though it should indemnify us . What will a Pardon avail a Man that is dying of the Stone or Strangury ? he can but die if he be not pardoned , and die he must though he be . And as little Advantage it would be to a wicked Soul to be pardoned and absolved by God , while she hath a Disease within her that preys upon her Vitals , and hastens her to a certain Ruin . She ●ould have been but miserable in the future ●●fe if she had not been pardoned , and miserable she must be if she continues wicked , whether she be pardoned or no ; there being an everlasting Hell in the very Nature of Wickedness , which no outward Act of Pardon can quench or extinguish . Nay , if after our rejecting Christ , and the Mercies of the Gospel , God should not only pardon but admit us into Heaven , and indulge us the free Enjoyment of all its Pleasures and Felicities ; yet that vicious Temper of Mind which finally seduced us from our Saviour , would render us for ever incapable of relishing the Joys of it . Those Rivers of Heavenly Pleasure would never agree with the hellish Temper of our Minds , which , like a feverish Tongue , would utterly disgust their delicious Streams by Reason of its own over●lowing Gall. So that after we have finally rejected our Saviour , we are neither capable of being indemnifyed from Hell , nor of enjoying Heaven ; and having cast our selves beyond the Reach of all Mercy into a State wherein we can neither begin to be happy , nor cease to be miserable , our Case is desperate , and there is no Remedy but our Souls must be lost and undone for ever .

3ly . Our forsaking of Christ infers the everlasting Loss of our Souls , as it is an open Violation of the fixed and stated Condition of Mercy . The fixed and immoveable Condition of the Mercy of the Gospel is , that we should constantly adhere to our Saviour by a true Faith and a sincere Obedience , and that whenever we fall off from him either into Infidelity , or Heresy , or Disobedience , we should remember from whence we are fallen , and return again to him by a deep and serious Repentance . And indeed this Condition is so low and condescending , that it was impossible for the wise God and Governour of the World , to propose his Mercy to us at a lower or easier Rate ; and if God should have asked our Consent upon what Conditions he should propose to us the Mercies of his Gospel , this would have been the utmost Favour that we could in Modesty have craved of him , that he would be so gracious as to accept our unfeigned Faith and sincere Obedience ; and that whenever we fall off either from the one or the other , he would admit us to Repentance , and receive us again upon our Return and Amendment . And should he have proposed his Mercy to us upon any lower Terms , he must of Necessity have let go the Reins of his Government , and given us a free Toleration for all manner of Wickedness . Had the Condition of his Mercy been but one step lower than Repentance , it had totally dissolved the Obligation of his Laws , and reduced the humane World into a perfect Anarchy . For should he have prostituted his Mercy to impenitent Sinners , he must have made it a Refuge for obstinate Rebels to fly to , and shelter themselves from the Reach of his Authority ; and how inconsistent would this have been with the Wisdom of his Government ? This therefore being the lowest Condition upon which the wise and holy God can propose his Mercy to us , there is no Ground to hope that after we have rejected this , and are finally fallen off from it , he will make any new Proposal to us . For he hath yielded as much already to the Weakness and Inconstancy of our Natures , as he could possibly do with safety to his Government ; and if this will not suffice , we may depend upon it that he will rather consent to sacrifice our Souls to his righteous Vengeance , than his own Authority to our obstinate Wills . So that when once we have finally rejected our Saviour , and shaken hands for ever with Faith and Obedience , and Repentance too , we are quite beyond the Reach of any wise Mercy ; and then how deplorable must our Condition be , when Things are reduced to this desperate Issue , That God must either consent to be foolishly merciful to us , or to abandon our Souls to everlasting Perdition ?

4ly . And lastly , Our forsaking of Christ infers the everlasting Loss of our Souls , as it is an utter Rejection of our last Remedy . For the last Remedy which God hath prepared for Mankind to heal the Malignity of their Natures , and recover them from eternal Misery , is the meritorious Death and Sacrifice of his blessed Son , who voluntarily undertaking to be the Attorney-General , and Common Representative of sinful Men , suffered Death in our stead as a vicarious Mulct and Punishment for our Sins ; upon which the most merciful Father hath granted to all believing and truly penitent Sinners , a general Indemnity from eternal Punishments , to which they were bound over by their Sins and Rebellions ; by virtue of which Grant as soon as we believe in Christ , and do thereupon sincerely repent of our Sins , we are totally absolved from those everlasting Punishments whereunto they have exposed and obliged us . And this Sacrifice of Christ being the last Remedy which God hath provided for our Guilt , and the Grant of Pardon which God hath made in Consideration of it , being confined to believing and penitent Sinners , it hence necessarily follows , that they who finally persist in Vnbelief or Impenitency , do thereby for ever cut themselves off from all Interest in that Sacrifice ; and from all Title to that Pardon that is granted upon it , and consequently leave themselves for ever destitute of all Hope of Pardon and Indemnity for the future . So that by renouncing Christ we do renounce his Sacrifice , which is the last and only Remedy we have to depend upon . Hence Heb. 10. 26. we are told , that if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth , there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin ; that is , if after we have been baptized , and initiated into Christianity , we relapse into Infidelity or wilful Disobedience , we do thereby forfeit our Interest in Christ's Sacrifice ; and when we have once rejected our Interest in that , there remains no other Sacrifice for Sin , i.e. no other Sacrifice upon which God will pardon and indemnify us . So that now all that remains to us , is that which follows in the next Verse , viz. A certain fearful looking for of judgment , and fiery indignation , which shall devour the Adversaries . For when we have finally baffled our last and utmost Remedy , the Condition of our Souls must needs be desperate and incurable . When by our obstinate Unbelief or final Impenitence we have out-sinned the Virtue of our Saviour's Sacrifice , we are out of the Reach and Compass of God's Pardon , and so consequently are sunk beyond all Hopes of Recovery , into endless and irreversible Damnation . For now that precious Blood which , if we had believed and repented , would have spoke better things for us than the Blood of Abel , will rise in Judgment against us , and , like the Bl●od of those Souls that are under the Altar , will charge and impeach , and be continually imprecating the Vengeance of Heaven upon us . And when that which was prepared for the last and utmost Remedy of our Souls shall be converted into their Bane , and that which was intended for their Advocate shall become their Accuser ; when that vocal Blood and those speaking Wounds which pleaded for , shall plead against , and cry out instantly for Judgment upon them ; what can they henceforth expect but everlasting Ruin and Destruction ?

What then remains , that since our forsaking of Christ will so infallibly infer the Ruin of our Souls , we all return to , and cleave fast to our Saviour in our Belief and Obedience : That we , who are fallen off from him into a Course of wilful Sin and Disobedience , immediately return again by a deep and serious Repentance . For the Way in which we are walking leads directly to Destruction ; every Step of it is a Descent into Hell , and next to the lowermost is the bottomless Pit , and for all we know , the very last Step we took brought us to the Brinks of the flaming Abyss ; and if it did , one Step further will set us beyond all Hope of Recovery . For in our sinful Progress we are wading forwards in a shelving Pool , which the farther we go , the deeper it is , and so deeper and deeper till we come to the Bottom of it ; so that at every Step we are in Danger of going beyond our Depth , and plunging our selves into an irrecoverable Ruin ; for we know not how soon we may be snatched away in our Iniquities ; and if it should so happen , that after we have sinned this Moment , we should die the next , this will determin our everlasting Fate , and sink us into eternal Misery .

Wherefore as we tender the safety of our precious Souls , let us speedily forsake this dangerous Road in which Perdition way-lays , and Hell gapes to devour us every step we go ; and return unto our Lord in whom our safety lyes . As yet the Opportunity of Salvation is in our Hands , but before to morrow Morning it may slip away from between our Fingers , and vanish for ever , and we that are this day wallowing in our Sins , may before the next be roaring in Hell . So that while we defer and put off our Repentance from day to day , we do as it were cast Lots for our Souls , and venture our everlasting Hopes upon a Contingency , that is not in our Power to dispose of . As yet the Gate of Mercy is open to us , and our blessed Lord stands ready with his Arms out-stretched to welcome and receive us ; but for all we know if we enter not presently , the Gate may be shut within a few Moments , and then though we knock and cry till our hearts ake , Lord , Lord open to us , we shall receive no other Answer , but Depart from me I know you not . O good God , how are we besotted then , that rather than begin our Repentance to day we will wilfully run the Hazard of being eternally miserable before to morrow Morning ! For if this should be the Evening of our day of Tryal , as for all we know it may , our Life and Eternity depends upon what we are now doing ; and therefore one would think it should highly concern us wisely to manage this last stake , the winning or losing whereof may prove our making or undoing . In pity therefore to our perishing Souls let us return to our Saviour , before it be too late , before our Feet stumble on the dark Mountains , and we fall down into everlasting Darkness . And being returned and reunited to him , let us have a Care we do not revolt again ; for if we draw back we cancel our Repentance , and forfeit all its blessed Fruits and Benefits ; and unless we stedfastly persevere and hold out to the end , all the Pains we have taken in our Christian Course will be for ever lost , and the Remembrance of it will only administer to our future Misery . For how will it vex us in the other World to consider the Labour it cost us to take Heaven by storm ? How vigorously we strove to mount the Scaling Ladder , through how many Difficulties we had forced our way to that height of Vertue and Religion we were arrived to , and then when we are got as it were to the topmost Rounds , and had laid our Hands upon the Battlements of Heaven , just ready to leap in and take possession of all its Joys ; how basely we let go our Hold , and so tumbled down from that stupendious height into the bottomless Abyss of endless Misery ? Doubtless this Consideration must necessarily sting our woful Souls hereafter , and for ever inrage them against themselves . Wherefore as we value the Safety of our precious Souls , let us , who by our wilful Rebellions have gone astray , return , and constantly adhere to our blessed Saviour . Alas , where can we be happier than in his Service , who imposeth nothing on us but what contributes to our Welfare ? Where can we be safer than in his Arms , and under his Protection , who hath the Command and Disposal of all Events , and to whom all Power is given in Heaven and Earth ? Where can we be placed more to our own Advantage than under his Guidance and Authority , who never permits any to serve him for nought , but hath engaged himself to recompence our Labour with a Crown of Glory that fades not away ? And is it not strange that after so many advantagious Invitations , we should need to be scared to our Duty ? that after our blessed Master hath enjoyned us such a reasonable , gentle , and infinitely beneficial Service , he should be forced to terrify us into it with the Flames of Hell ?

IV. I proceed now to the Fourth Proposition , That when the Soul is lost , 't is lost irrecoverably ; where the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which we render Exchange , is used in the same sense with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which signifies a Price of Redemption , denoting that when once a Man hath sold his Soul to Perdition , it is unredeemable , and that no Price will be accepted for its Ransom and Deliverance ; when a Man's Soul is in Hell under the wretched Bondage of a damned Spirit , how little soever he regards it now , he would give all the World , if it were in his power , to be released again ; but if he had a thousand Worlds it will not do , his Bondage being such as will admit no Ransom . For these Words of our Saviour seem to have been a common Proverb of the Age he lived in , and that derived from those words of the Devil in Iob , All that a Man hath , will he give for his Life ; that is , when a Man is dying , he would willingly part with all to redeem his Life , but all will not do . Which Proverb our Saviour adapts to his own Argument , in which he proceeds from temporal to eternal Life : If a Man would give so much for his temporal Life , what would he not give for his eternal one ? But as our temporal Life is not to be redeemed , so neither is our eternal one when once it is lost ; for when once our Soul is lost or abandoned to the State of the Damned , it is lost for ever , and there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or Ransom that will be accepted of by God for its Redemption thence . In the Prosecution of which Argument I shall endeavour these two things :

1. To shew you that if God be so determined he may , without any Injury either to his Iustice or Goodness , detain lost Souls in the Bondage of Hell for ever , and absolutely refuse to accept any Ransom for them .

2. That he is actually determined so to do .

1. That if God be so determined , he may without any Injury either to his Justice or Goodness , detain lost Souls in the Bondage of Hell for ever , without accepting any Ransom for them . And this I doubt not will plainly appear upon the due Consideration of these following Propositions .

1st . That God being the Sovereign Being of the World , hath an unalienable Right to impose Laws upon all other Beings .

2dly . That having this Right , he may justly inforce those Laws with whatsoever Penalties he sees necessary or convenient .

3dly . That when those Laws he imposes are for the good of his Subjects , it is not only Iustice but Goodness in him to inforce them with the severest Penalty .

4thly . That the Penalty of eternal Bondage under Misery , is the severest and most effectual Way to inforce those beneficial Laws , and oblige us to the Observance of them .

5thly . That if God think good to inforce his Laws with this Penalty , he hath as much Right to exact it when we disobey , as he had to threaten and impose it .

6thly . That his actual exacting of it can no more impeach his Goodness , than his threatning and denouncing it .

1. That God being the Sovereign Being of the World , hath an unalienable Right to impose Laws upon all other Beings . For he being the greatest and most powerful Being , can himself be subject to no other Law but only that of his own Nature ; and his Power being infinite and unconfined as well as his Wisdom , Iustice , and Goodness , doth sufficiently warrant him to do whatsoever is consistent with them . For to be sure a Being of infinite Power and Greatness , can have no Superior , but must be necessarily exalted above all other Authorities by this incommunicable Prerogative of his Nature ; and being raised above all Authorities , he must have Authority above all , and his essential Dominion having no other Law to bound it , but only that of his own Nature , he must necessarily have a Right to command whatsoever is consistent with his Wisdom , Iustice , and Goodness . His Will therefore being by the infinite Pre-eminence of his Power and Greatness supreme , all other Wills are obliged to bow before , and prostrate themselves to its Sovereign Authority ; and there is no Law whatsoever but he may justly impose upon them , provided it be not repugnant to that supreme Law that is founded in his own Nature . This therefore being premised , that God hath a Right as he is the Sovereign Being to give Laws to all other Beings ; it hence follows ,

2dly . That he may justly inforce those Laws with whatsoever Penalties he sees necessary or convenient . For Laws without Penalties are rather Petitions than Commands ; and unless they carry force enough with them to over-aw the Subject , and make themselves obeyed , they want the formal Sanction and Obligation of a Law . To have a Power therefore of imposing Penalties must necessarily be inseparable from the Power of making Laws , because they are the Penalties that make the Laws to oblige , that give them Power to command , and inforce them with an awful Authority . And as the Power of giving Laws supposes the Power of imposing Penalties , so it supposes a Power of imposing such Penalties as may be sufficient to incline and aw the Subject into Obedience , against all Reasons to the contrary . For unless the Penalty be great enough to outweigh all other Considerations , the Law which it inforces will be extreamly defective in Point of Obligation , and leave the Subject as much reason to disobey as to obey . God therefore being by his own natural Right the Supreme Lawgiver of the World , must be supposed to have an equal Right of inforcing his Laws with such Penalties as in his own infinite Wisdom he shall think necessary to oblige his Creatures to obey him ; and there is no Penalty can be too rigorous or severe which is necessary to inable his Laws to oblige and command us . Wherefore according as he sees his Subjects more or less tempted , or inclined to disobey him , so he will need greater or less Penalties to oblige us to Obedience ; and therefore foreseeing what a strong Propensity to Evil there would be in our Nature , and with what importunate Temptations this would be excited and wrought upon , he could not butx foresee that the severest Penalties would be necessary to back and inforce his Laws , and being necessary for that end , he must needs have a Right to impose them , how severe soever they might be ; nor is this Severity less good , than it is just ; considering ,

3dly . That when those Laws he imposes are for the good of his Subjects , it is not only an Act of Justice in him to impose them with the severest Penalties , but of Goodness . And this is really the Case as to those Laws which God hath imposed upon us ; for the Matter of them all is something tending to our good , something or other that is perfective of our Natures , and conducive to our Happiness ; and being so , the greater the Penalty is which they are backt and inforced with , the greater Demonstration it is of God's Care and Zeal for our Happiness . For the End of Penalty is to oblige us to Obedience ; and when all Obedience is for our good , the more strictly he obliges us to it , the more he befriends us . When a distracted Man is endeavouring to mischief and destroy himself , it is Kindness to bind him though it be with Chains of Iron . When therefore God found us so prone to injure our selves by wicked and mischievous Actions , it was Mercy to bind our Hands with his Threatnings of Punishment ; and the stronger his Bands are , the more they express his Kindness ; because the more they oblige us to be kind to our selves , and true to our own Interest . And certainly for God to lay us under the strongest Obligations to be happy , is so far from being a Blemish to his Goodness , that it is a most glorious Expression of it ; but if we will be so obstinate as to run into the mouth of those Threatnings which he hath levelled against us to scare us into Happiness , it is just with him to discharge them upon us , and make us feel the Effects of our Folly and Madness . Since therefore the Reason of the Penalty wherewith God hath inforced his Laws is to oblige us to be happy ; and since the greater it is , the more force it must have to oblige us , it hence necessarily follows , that though it be not only a great , but an eternal one ; yet it is not at all inconsistent with his Goodness ; especially if we consider ,

4thly . That the Penalty of eternal Misery , as it is the severest , so it is the most effectual to inforce those beneficial Laws which God hath imposed on us , and to oblige us to the Observance of them . For to deter us from Sin , who are so vehemently prone to it , it was very requisite that the Penalty denounced against it should not only be great as to the Degree , but endless also as to the Duration of it ; that so it might cut us off from all pretence of Presumption , and leave us no ground of Incouragement to be wicked . For we are exceeding apt to slight and undervalue those Evils which are proposed to deter us from the Goods which we vehemently desire , especially when these Goods are present and sensible , and those Evils future and invisible . For thus we conclude , the Good that is before us we may injoy a great while ; and , which is very considerable , we may presently enter upon the Possession of it ; but as for the Evil that is consequent to it , it may be a long while before it befalls us ; and when it doth , there is this Comfort , that it will at last have an end ; and therefore let what will follow , let us ever seize the present Good , and make the best use we can of it ; and as for the future Evil , whenever it happens , the Prospect of its End , though it be never so remote , will enable us to bear it more chearfully . For ten Years present Pleasure vehemently desired , will far more effectually persuade us , than a future Misery of double the Duration ; and therefore if the future Penalty denounced against our Sin were finite and temporary , it would not be sufficient to ballance those present Pleasures with which we are continually importuned and sollicited ; for the Penalty being proposed to deter us from Pleasures which we dearly love , we are upon on that account inclined to make as light of it as may be , and to flatter our selves with the softest and easiest Representations of it ; so that to be sure if there were any one comfortable Circumstance in it , our Thoughts would presently insist upon that , and urge it as a Reason why we should not be afraid of it . So that if the Penalty of our Sin had in it but the Circumstance of being finite , to be sure when ever it controuled our vicious Desires , we should still make this a Pretence to despise it ; Well , let it be never so terrible , it will have an end . Wherefore to inable it to terrify us effectually , it was requisite that it should not only be great , but endless ; that it being stripped of all tolerable Circumstances , we might be able to find nothing in it to qualify the Terror of it . But now it being not only great but eternal , the Threat of it , which , like a Cloud , hangs lowering over us , hath no bright side to divert our Thoughts from the Blackness and Horror of it ; so that when-ever we think of it , and weigh it in the Ballance with our Sins , we must resolve to forsake them , or chuse to be desperate . Since therefore an eternal Penalty was so necessary to inforce God's Law ; and since his Law is for our good , it is plain that his so inforcing it can blemish neither his Justice nor Goodness . Wherefore though we should smart for ever for our Disobedience hereafter , we can have no just Reason to complain of God ; especially considering ,

5thly . That if God shall think good to inforce his Law with such an eternal Penalty , he must be supposed to have as much Right to exact it upon our Disobedience , as he had to threaten and impose it . For as Supremacy over all other Beings gives a Right to make Laws , and inforce them with Threatnings of Punishment ; so when he hath actually imposed Laws upon us , our Disobedience to them gives a Right to inflict on us the Punishments which he threatned when he imposed them . For in all legal Punishments the Right of Threatning them is founded on the Power of the Sovereign ; but the Right of executing them in the Disobedience of the Subject ; and if the Penalty be such , as that upon the Subjects Disobedience the Sovereign cannot justly execute it , it was unjust for him to threaten it ; for to threaten legally , is to claim a Right to punish upon Condition the Law be broken and violated ; and that Sovereign who upon Condition of the Subjects Disobedience , claims a Right to more Punishment than he can justly exact of him when he disobeys , pretends to more Right than he really hath , and so by consequence his Claim is unrighteous . If therefore by the Threat of his Law God may justly claim a Right to punish us for ever if we disobey , then doubtless when we have actually disobeyed , he may as justly exact it , and doth no more exceed his Right when he inflicts what he threatned , than he did when he threatned to inflict it . If he had Right to say , I will punish you for ever upon Condition you transgress my Laws , then upon our performing that Condition he must necessarily have Right to do as he said . So that our transgressing his Law being a sufficient Condition for him to found a rightful Claim to punish us eternally , by our doing this Condition we justly forfeit our selves to eternal Punishment , and by our own Act and Deed voluntarily resign up our precious Souls to the just lash of an everlasting Vengeance ; which as the Iustice of God is no way obliged to suspend , so neither is his Goodness , which now is our only Reserve ; considering ,

6thly . And lastly , That God's exacting this eternal Penalty of us can no more impeach his Goodness than his threatning and denouncing it . That it is highly consistent with his Goodness to threaten it , I have already proved ; but if it were not also consistent therewith to inflict it , to be sure his own Wisdom would never admit him to threaten it . For to what end should he threaten to act contrary to the Goodness of his Nature ? Either he must design to make us believe that he intends to act , or not ; if the first , he must thereby design to abuse , and misrepresent himself in the Opinion of his Creatures , to blemish the Reputation , and expose the Honour of his own infinite Goodness . But if he did not design to make us believe it , to what end should he threaten it , since unless we believe it , it can no more affect us than the firing of a Gun that is charged with nothing but Powder , and was designed to make a noise only , but to do no Execution ? So that if it be repugnant to God's Goodness to execute this Penalty , it must be repugnant to his Wisdom to denounce it ; but it being not only consistent with , but an Expression of his Goodness to denounce it , when he designs thereby to oblige us more firmly to our Duty , in which our everlasting Happiness is included , it may be no less an Expression of the same Goodness to execute it upon us , when we by our obstinate Persistence in Sin have render'd our selves incapable of Mercy . For now there being no more good to to be done upon us , it will be an Act of Goodness in God to punish us for ever , if thereby any good may be done to others by us ; if by making us everlasting Monuments of his just Indignation , he can everlastingly warn and secure others from those desperate Courses that ruined us . For in this Case his punishing us for ever , may be an effectual means to do that good to others which he intended to do to us by threatning to punish us for ever , and they may take warning by our Punishment , though we would take none by his Threatning . And when by being obstinately deaf to the Threat of eternal Perdition , which God denounced on purpose to oblige us to be happy , we have not only forfeited our selves to it , but have also sinned our selves into an Incapacity of having any good done upon us ; the only Use which the Divine Goodness can make of us for the future , is to do good to others by us ; which it can no otherwise do , but by making our everlasting Suffering an everlasting Example for them to take warning by . For though there is no doubt but every vertuous Soul shall be hereafter so confirmed in its state of Beatitude , as that it shall never fall from it , yet shall it be confirmed no otherwise than by the force of those Reasons and invincible Motives which shall then continually urge , and immovably determine it unto that which is good : One of which Reasons , as we may reasonably suppose , will be their Prospect of the endless Miseries of the Damned , which will be an everlasting Monitor to them , and together with their own sense of the ravishing Pleasures of Goodness , will secure them for ever from falling . For if the Angels of Heaven took warning by the Fall and Ruin of their Apostate Brethren , as doubtless they did , and thereupon became more immovably confirmed in Innocence and Goodness ; why may we not as well suppose , that one of those Reasons by which the Spirits of just Men are so immovably confirmed in their Heavenly State , is the sad Example of the endless Miseries of the Wicked ? If therefore when God hath denounced eternal Misery against us on purpose to threaten us into Happiness , we will take no warning , it is an Act of Goodness in him to inflict it upon us , since thereby he may so effectually contribute to the confirming of others in eternal Happiness . For if we will not be wrought on by such a dreadful Denunciation , there is no good can be done upon us ; and when we are past Recovery , and are forfeited by our own Obstinacy into the hands of God's Vengeance , it will be an Act of Goodness in him so to dispose of us as may be most for the good of others , and consequently to dispose of us to eternal Misery , and by so doing to make use of us as Arguments to confirm and establish others in eternal Happiness ; that so our Sufferings may be to them what his Threatnings were to us , Arguments to oblige us to be happy for ever . And so I have done with the First Thing propos'd , which was to shew you that if God be so determined , he may , without any Injury either to his Iustice or Goodness , retain lost Souls in the Bondage of Hell for ever , and absolutely refuse to accept any Ransom for them .

I now proceed to the Second Head of Discourse , namely , to prove that God is actually determined so to do . And this I shall endeavour to demonstrate by these three Reasons .

1. Because he hath already exacted a Ransom for the Souls of Men , to which no other can be equivalent ; from whence we may reasonably infer , that if this be rejected he will accept no other .

2. Because he hath expresly declared himself to be thus determined .

3. Because having thus declared himself , we must suppose that either he intended this Declaration only for a Scare-crow , or that he is determined to act accordingly .

1st . That God is determined to conclude lost Souls under endless Misery , and admit no Ransom for them , appears from hence ; because he hath already exacted a Ransom for them , to which no other can be equivalent ; from whence we may reasonably infer , that if this be rejected , he will accept no other . When by our first Apostacy from God , we stained the Innocence of our Natures , and forfeited our Lives to the just Vengeance of Heaven ; so terribly was it then incensed against us , that it would accept no meaner Ransom for us than the precious Blood of the Son of God ; for so St. Peter tells us , That we were not redeemed with corruptible things , as silver and gold ; but with the precious blood of Christ , as of a Lamb without blemish , and without spot , 1 Pet. 1. 18 , 19. And though this Ransom was of such a vast and incomparable Value , that all the Treasures in Heaven and Earth are insignificant Trifles to it ; yet was the Virtue of it to extend no further than to those , who , by a lively Faith , and unfeigned Repentance , returned from their Rebellion to their Duty and Allegiance ; which if we do not , but instead thereof obstinately persist in our Wickedness and Folly , we renounce all our Part and Interest in the Blood of our Saviour ; and do in effect declare , that upon such Terms as those we will not be beholding to him for our Ransom ; but that rather than accept of Redemption upon such ungrateful Conditions , we will trust to the Courtesy of the Vengeance of God , and abide the most fatal Effects of it . When therefore by persisting to the End in our Unbelief and Impenitence , we have finally rejected the Blood of Christ , and utterly extinguish'd all our Right and Title to it ; what Pretence of Reason have we to hope , that God will ever accept of any other Ransom for us ? When to the Sins , by which we made the first Forfeiture of our Souls , we have added the rank and horrid Impiety of trampling on the Blood of the Son of God , and so are not only not redeemed by it from the Vengeance to come , but are a thousand times more deeply inthralled to it by reason of that additional Guilt we have contracted by squandring away the Price of our Redemption : With what Face can we expect , in the midst of such black Circumstances , that God should accept of any Exchange for our Souls ? He that would not release us from the Obligation of our first Guilts upon any less Consideration than the Blood of his Son , what likelihood is there that any Consideration should move him to release us after we have so prodigiously augmented our Guilt by rejecting his Blood , and finally renouncing all our Interest in it ? Doubtless he that demanded so vast a Ransom for us when our Guilt was so comparatively small and inconsiderable , will account no Ransom sufficient when we have so transcendently inhanced and multiplied it . For if the Blood of Christ , which is of such an unspeakable value can give us no Relief without our willing Acceptance of it upon the Terms it is proposed to us , then when we have finally refused it on those Terms , it must be something that is more valuable than his Blood that must relieve us ; something that is sufficient not only to redeem us from those Guilts which his Blood was a Ransom for , but also to expiate the Guilt of our trampling on his Blood , which is the greatest and blackest of all . But since the Blood of Christ is incomparably the most precious Ransom that Heaven and Earth could afford , what hope is there that when this is rejected by us , God should accept any other in exchange for our Souls ?

2dly . That God is really determined to conclude lost Souls under endless Misery , and admit no Ransom for them , appears also from hence , Because he hath expresly declared himself to be so determined . For so our blessed Saviour , who was the great Messenger of his Will to the World , hath expresly told us , that the final Sentence of the Wicked shall be to everlasting Fire , Matth 25. 41. and that the Fate of obstinate Sinners , whom he compares to Chaff , shall be to be burned up with unquenchable fire . But perhaps you may object , that these Texts only prove the Everlastingness of the Fire in which they shall suffer , and not their everlasting Suffering in it ; for this Fire perhaps may immediately consume , and utterly destroy them , and render them insensible of Misery for ever . To which I answer , That the contrary is most evident ; for they are expresly said to live in this Fire , and to perform the Functions of living Beings in Misery ; to weep and wail , and gnash their teeth , Matth. 13. 42. and in the Parable of Dives , he is said to lift up his eyes in Hell , being in torments , and to see Abraham afar off , and Lazarus in his bosom ; and to cry out to Abraham , Father Abraham have mercy on me , and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water , and cool my tongue , for I am tormented in this flame , Luke 16. 23. — A plain Evidence that this Fire is to torment and not to consume them . Well , but this you will say imports no more than their being tortured in Hell for some period of Time , after which , it may be , they may cease to be , and consequently to be miserable . To which I answer , That elsewhere it is expresly asserted , that this Torture is to indure for ever ; for these , saith our Saviour , speaking of the Wicked , shall go away into everlasting Punishment , Matth. 25. 46. And how can their Punishment be everlasting , unless we suppose them to subsist everlastingly in it ? If you say it is everlasting only as it is an everlasting Destruction , or Privation of their Being : I answer , That in other Places of Scripture it is expresly asserted , that this everlasting Punishment is a positive thing ; for it is said to be a Worm that never dieth , Mark 9. 44. that is , that to all Eternity lives and preys upon the wretched Sufferers ; and more expresly yet , Revel. 20. 10. those that are cast into the lake of fire and brimstone , are said to be tormented there day and night for ever and ever : Where the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth plainly denote positive Torment , and referring peculiarly to a Rack , denotes the kind of this positive Torment to be such as is not designed to put an end to our Lives , but to continue them with inexpressible Pains . For this we know is the proper Use and Design of a Rack ; and accordingly upon this tormenting Rack of Hellish Punishment they are said to have no rest day nor night , Rev. 14. 11. So that the eternal Misery of lost Souls is as fully and expresly asserted in Scripture , as it could well have been , had it been expressed with a Design to leave no Pretence of Exception for Gainsayers ; and when a thing is as plainly asserted to be as it could well have been if it really were , either we must suppose the Thing to be , or else the Assertion to be fallacious . So that if we think that God's own Word doth truly signify his Determination , we must from hence be forced to conclude , that he is really determined to shut up lost Souls in eternal Misery , and admit no Ransom for them .

3dly . And lastly , This also appears , because if after he hath thus declared himself , there were any Reason to think that he is not determined to act accordingly , that Reason would warrant us to believe that this Declaration was only intended for a Scare-crow , and consequently to contemn and despise it . For against all that hath been said , it may be ( and is by some Men ) objected , That God is not bound to do as he threatens ; that when by our Disobedience we have incurred the Penalty he threatens , he hath an undoubted Right indeed to inflict it upon us , and consequently may , if he please , inflict it without any Wrong or Injustice ; but then , if he please , he may dispense with it too either in the whole , or in part , as he sees convenient . For the Punishment being only a Debt which the Sinner owes to him , he is no more obliged than other Creditors are to exact the utmost farthing of it ; but may exact or remit the whole , or abate what part soever he pleases ; and therefore it is to be hoped , that he being a merciful Creditor will not be so extreme and rigorous as to exact of us the utmost Punishment we owe him ; but that when he hath made us smart a while for our Folly , he will either release us into a more happy Condition , or put an end to our Beings and Miseries together . To which I might answer , That when by our Sins we have forfeited our selves to the just Vengeance of God , it is infinite Mercy and Goodness to others , to punish us according to his Threatning ; and therefore when we by our Sins have render'd our selves incapable of his Mercy , that Mercy which now inclines him to do good to us , will then equally incline him to good to others , by the dreadful Example of our Punishment ; and so he may be a very mer●iful Creditor , and notwithstanding exact of us the utmost Farthing . But this I have already largely insisted on , and therefore , 2dly . I answer , That what God may do is not for us to determine when he may , or may not , and is obliged to neither ; but when he hath expresly denounced what he will do , we can have no Reason to hope that he will be better than his Word . For if after that he hath denounced , that if we persist in our Sin he will punish us for ever for it , he should have left us any just Reason to hope that he will not , he would thereby have countermined himself , and baffled the Design of his own Denunciation , which is to terrify his rebellious Creatures from their Sins , and to aw them into Obedience to his Laws . But how much Reason soever he hath given me to hope , that he will not be so severe to me as he threatens , so much Reason he must have given me not to be afraid of his Threatnings . If I had any just Reason to believe that he will be more merciful than to inflict what he denounces , it is an irrational thing for me to dread his Denunciations ; for I know God will do as just Reason directs , and therefore I must conclude either my Reason to be false , or God's Denunciation to be a Scare-crow ; for if there be any just Reason why his Mercy and Goodness should interpose , and avert the Execution of his Threats from me , I ought not to be afraid of them , because I am sure he can do nothing that his Mercy and Goodness forbids : But if there be no Reason for such an Interposure , I am unreasonably presumptuous to expect it . So that either my Expectation must be groundless , or my Fear of God's Threatnings irratio●al : And can it be imagined that the wise God would ever go about to aw his Creatures into Obedience by threatning their Sin with such Punishments as he knows they have just Reason not to be afraid of ? Whatsoever therefore God may do , I am sure if we go on in our Sins , we can have no Reason to hope that he will either not punish us at all , or less than he hath threatned ; or consequently , that he will abate us one moment of that eternal Misery which he hath so plainly and expresly denounced against us . What then remains , but that since when our Soul is lost , it is lost for ever , we now take all possible care to secure it while we may .

V. I proceed now to the Fifth and last Proposition ; That this irrecoverable Loss of the Soul is of such VAST and VNSPEAKABLE moment , that the Gain of all the World is not sufficient to compensate it : What shall it profit a Man if he shall gain the whole World , and lose his own Soul ? That is , It will not profit him at all ; nay it will be so far from that , that it will turn to his unspeakable Loss and Disadvantage : Though by renouncing his Profession of my Doctrine , or his Obedience of my Laws , a Man were sure to make himself Lord of all the World , and to possess and injoy it as long as he lived ; yet if for so doing he should afterwards lose his Soul , as most certainly he will , he will find in the issue that he hath made a woful Bargain of it , and be forced to acknowledge himself a vast Loser when he comes to suffer those intollerable Damages which the Loss of a Soul implies . For the Proof of which , I shall run a Comparison between the Gain and the Loss , and therein endeavour to represent to you how much the Evil of this Loss exceeds the Good of that Gain ; and this I shall do in these following Particulars :

1st . The Good that is in the Gain is imaginary and fantastical ; but the Evil that is in the Loss is real and substantial .

2dly . The Good that is in the Gain is narrow and particular ; but the Evil that is in the Loss is large and universal .

3dly . The Good that is in the Gain is convertible into Evil ; but the Evil that is in the Loss is never to be improved into Good .

4thly . The Good that is in the Gain is mixt and sophisticated ; but the Evil that is in the Loss is pure and unmingled .

5thly . The Good that is in the Gain is full of Intermissions ; but the Evil that is in the Loss is continual .

6thly . The Good that is in the Gain is short and transitory ; but the Evil that is in the Loss is eternal .

1st . The Good that is in the Gain is imaginary and fantastical ; but the Evil that is in the Loss is real and substantial . For whatsoever we gain of this World's Goods beyond what is necessary to serve the real Occasions , and modest Conveniencies of this present Life , administers to no other purpose but only to gratify an extravagant Fancy : For all the real Need that a Man hath of these worldly Goods , is only to maintain and provide for his Body ; for his Soul hath no more need of them , than an Angel hath of Money to buy Victuals and Clothes with : and one would think so small a thing as an humane Body is , could not need many things ; and that a piece of animate Matter , some six foot long , might be very easily and cheaply provided for : And indeed so it would be if we could once forbear fancying its Needs to be greater than they are ; but if we let loose the Reins to an ungoverned Fancy , That will so extend its Needs beyond the Capacities of its Nature , that all the World will be too little to content the extravagant Appetites of this little Clod of Earth . Lay but your Fancies aside , and you will want no other Apparel but what is sufficient to keep you warm , and clean , and modest , and with this you may be very cheaply provided ; but if you will resolve to humour that capricious thing , you will want the Revenue of a Lordship to cover your Nakedness . Keep but your Fancies in order , and your Appetites will be contented with plain and wholesom Provisions , and this a small Income will furnish you with ; but if once you let loose that roving Faculty , and suffer it to grow wanton and delicate , that will so stretch your Appetites , that the stores of all the four Elements will scarce be sufficient to gratify their Luxuries . And so it is in all other things appertaining to the Body ; whose Wants according to Natures Measures are small , but according to Fancies are infinite . So that if a Man had all the World in his Possession , yet all but that little little part of it that is either naturally necessary , or rationally convenient for his bodily Subsistence , would be good for nothing but to humour the Desires of an extravagant Fancy ; which are so far from being quenched , that they are but the more inflamed by Injoyment . If I had all the Wealth of Croesus , the good Fortunes of Caesar , and the Dominions of Alexander , what would it advantage me ? I should only have abundance of things that I have no real need of ; things , that if I would my self , I might easily be as happy without , as I can be with them . For would I but make my Nature and my Reason the measure of my Wants , I might always live next door to Satisfaction ; and as for my Wants , they would be so light and portable , that I might easily take them , and carry them along with me , and lay them down almost wheresoever I pleased . Whereas if I permit my Fancy to grow wild and imaginative , I shall always find my Wants doubled with my Injoyments ; and whereas when I had but five Pounds , I needed but five hundred ; when I have five hundred , I shall need five thousand ; and so on till at last I need beyond all Possibility of Satisfaction . Since therefore all that this World can do for me , besides the supplying of a few modest Needs , which a very little of it will do , what a miserable Loser shall I be , if merely to gratify my Fancy , I forfeit my Soul , and incur the real Miseries of a woful Eternity in Pursuit of the fantastick Joys of a moment ? If to purchase things which I shall never be the better for , which while I have not I do not need , and which when I have I shall not injoy ; I should not only squander away the most substantial Happiness , but plung my self into a vast Abyss of real and intolerable Miseries : O good God , what a woful Bargain shall I have of it ? For though the Pleasure of our Sin doth always vanish on the Brink of Fruition , and like a golden Dream , concludes in a disappointed Expectation ; yet the Sting that is to follow it will produce in us not only a real , but an extreamly sharp and dolorous Perception ; so extreamly sharp , that it will pierce our very Hearts , and cause us to roar out with Anguish for ever . And alas ! what a poor Compensation is it for a Man that must e're long be enduring the Tortures of a tedious Famine , to be entertained a few Moments with the Picture of a Feast , or the Story of Cleopatra's Banquet ? Or what Man in his Wits would ever forfeit himself , for the mere Fancy of a Pleasure , to the lingering Torments of a Rack ? And yet , O wretched Sinner , thou actest a thousand times more extravagantly ; who , by thy unlawful Pursuits of the imaginary Pleasures of this World , betrayest thy Soul to the bitter Torments of Hell .

2dly . The Good that is in the Gain of this World is narrow and particular , but the Evil that is in the Loss of a Soul is large and universal . 'T is but a Part of our selves , and that the worst Part too , that this World's Goods can benefit and advantage ; they can only clothe our Bodies more splendidly , and feed them more deliciously , and furnish them with more Plenty of outward Accomdations ; but alas for the Soul , they are as insignificant to her , as Musical Sounds are to the Eye of the Body , or magnificent Shews to the Ear : They cannot improve the meanest Faculty about her , nor make her in any respect either the better or the wiser . And as for the Body it self , wherein all their Lines do center , there are a thousand Cases in which they are perfectly useless ; for they cannot give Health to it in any Sickness , nor Ease in any Pain ; they cannot recover a lost Sense , nor restore a withered Limb , nor rectify a deformed Feature ; nor is it in their Power to reprieve it from the Grave one moment beyond the natural Period of its Mortality . So extreamly narrow are these worldly Goods which we are so greedy of , that they can extend their Benefits no farther than the Body ; nay , and even to that they are vastly inadequate , there being a thousand bodily Necessities whereunto they cannot extend themselves . So that if to purchase these we expose our selves to eternal Perdition , we shall have in comparison but a drop of Good to compensate our selves for an Ocean of Misery . For the Misery of Hell is as vast and extensive as our Capacity of Suffering , and hath in it an appropriate Torment for every sensible Part of our Natures . It racks the wretched Soul in every Faculty , and fills up all its Capacities of Misery with Anguish and Vexation : It afflicts its Mind with horrid Apprehensions , wounds and gashes its Conscience with dismal Reflections ; it festers its Will with black and venomous Passions , and starves its Desires with everlasting Famine . And as it leaves no part of the Soul untormented , but covers it over from Head to Foot with Wounds , and Bruises , and putrifying Sores ; so when the Body at the Resurrection is reunited to it , the Misery of Hell will extend to this also ; for then it will have superadded to its Spiritual Plagues the most exquisite Instrument of Corporeal Torment , viz. the dark , and noisom , and scorching Flames of a burning World , which will seize upon the Bodies of Reprobate Sinners , they being finally abandoned to them by the last and final Sentence , and stick close to , and burn through them for ever . And their Bodies being thus wrapped and clothed in flaming Sulphur , must needs be exquisitely vexed in every Part and Member , and feel as many Torments as they have Senses to indure them . Thus the Miseries of Hell , you see , are ●ar more extensive than the Goods of this World ; for whereas th●se extend only to our Bodies , and can relieve them but in a few of their Necessities , those over-spread both the Body and Soul , and are both co-eternal and co-equal with their utmost Capacities of Suffering : So that when by our unlawful Pursuits of the Goods of this World we forfeit our selves to eternal Perdition , we plunge our whole Nature into intollerable Misery for the Ease and the Pleasure of one particular Part. Now would any Man in his Wits , do you think , eat Rats-bane for no other Reason , but only because it is sweet ? Would he to please his liquorish Palate diffuse a tormenting Poison over all his Parts and Members ? Or would he think the Pleasure of one sweet Gust a sufficient Compensation for all the succeeding Spasms and Convulsions ? Surely no ; none but a Mad-man could ever admit of such an Extravagance . And yet , O wretched Sinner ! thou art far more wild and extravagant ; for for a particular Good thou throwest thy self headlong into an universal Misery ; and to gratify thy Body in a few little things , dost utterly ruin both thy Body and Soul . To please thy self in one part , thou punishest thy self in all ; and for the gratifying one Sense , derivest a tormenting Venom over all the Senses of thy Nature ; and so in sine , wilt have nothing but the Pleasure of a Taste or a Touch to compensate thee for all the Agonies and Torments that thy Body and Soul together are able to sustain . And what a poor Compensation this is , I leave you to judg .

3dly . The Good that is in the Gain of this World is convertible into Evil ; but the Evil that is in the Loss of a Soul is never to be improved into Good . When we are arrived to the Possession of those outward Goods which at present we do so greedily gasp after , it is a very uncertain thing whether they will prove Goods to us or no ; whether , even as to this Life , we shall be the better , or the worse for them . For it is very often seen that these worldly Goods prove the worst of Plagues to those that are the Owners of them , and that those things which we account the Blessings of this Life , do prove the Curses and Miseries of it . When by a thousand Lies , Flatteries , and Circumventions , a Man hath raised himself up to that Pinacle of Preferment which his Ambition aspired to , how often hath that Height proved the Occasion of his Fall , by exposing him to those Storms of Envy and Misfortune which would have blown over his Head , had he sat quietly below , and been contented to injoy himself in a more private Fortune ? And so when by an infinite number of Rapines , and Oppressions , Frauds , and dishonest Compliances , a Man hath amassed together a vast deal of Wealth , how often hath that proved the Occasion of his Undoing ? Sometimes by exposing him to the rapacious Covetousness of others , but most commonly to the ill Effects of his own extravagant Luxuries . For usually when Fraud is the Procurer of Wealth , Wealth is the Baud of Luxury ; this being the best Expedient to drown the Cry of the Guilt of our Dishonesty . And then by that time Luxury hath produced its natural Effects , it commonly leaves the wealthy Possessor in a far worse Condition than Poverty ; it leaves him so rackt with the Gout or the Stone , so over-whelmed with Catarrhs or Dropsies , that the miserable Man would be heartily contented to part with all his Wealth for Ease , and to return to Poverty so he might but return to the Health of an honest Plough-man ; whereas would he have contented himself with the honest Acquest of a moderate Fortune , he need have wanted nothing but Temptations to Luxury , and Provisions for tormenting Diseases . So that in short , whilst we are pursuing this World's Goods , we know not what our Game will be till we have seised on it ; peradventure instead of Venizon we are hunting a Ser●pent , which , when we have caught , will sting and invenom us , and prove ax Plague instead of a Satisfaction . And is it not extravagant Madness then for Men to run themselves into all those Miseries , which everlasting Ruin and Perdition implies , for the sake of such uncertain Goods , which when they are possessed of , for all they know , may do them a thousand times more Mischief than Good ? For as for those future Miseries , which by our sinful Pursuits of these present Goods we incur , they are all such absolute and essential Evils , that there is not one drop of Good to be extracted out of them ; for as they are eternal they are of an unalterable Nature , and the same insupportable Plagues they were yesterday , they will continue to be to day , and for ever . Indeed if we were to out-live them , they might be accidentally advantagious to us ; they might discipline our Natures for an Happiness to come , and serve as so many Toils to our future Pleasures ; and when they are past , the Remembrance of them , like bitter Sauce , might give a Relish to our Joys , and render them more grateful and delicious : But we being to indure 'em for ever , there is nothing Good can succeed them , no possible Advantage can be derived from them ; for in Miseries that have no End , there can be nothing but Misery . And is it not very strange then , that Men should forfeit their Souls to such unalterable Miseries , for such Goods as may be Plagues to them ? when for all they know there may be such a Train of Mischiefs at the heels of these Pleasures , and Profits , and Honours they are so greedy of , as may out-weigh all the good of them , and rendet them a dear Penny-worth , though they had never pawned their Souls for them . And if it so prove , as it is very probable it may , then their Bargain is worse than if they had pawned their Souls for nothing ; because they have incurred one Misery only to seise upon another , and have waded through a temporal to come at an eternal one .

4thly . The Good that is in the Gain of this World , is mixed and sophisticated ; but the Evil that is in the Loss of a Soul is pure and unmingled . Should a Man sell his Soul for never so great a share of this World's Goods , he would find he had gotten but a very uneasy Purchase ; a Purchase as he can neither secure without a great deal of Care , nor yet injoy without a great deal of Dissatis●action . For what we call ours , is really ours but for our Portion of Expence and Use ; and all that is ours beyond this , is only the Title and the Care , and the Trouble of securing and dispensing it ; for let but your Servants walk into your Gardens of Pleasure , and the Air shall fan them with as gentle Gales , the Flowers delight them with as fragrant Odours , and the Birds entertain them with as ravishing Melodies . And in some sense your meanest Servants injoy what you have with far more freedom than you ; for your Possessions are like a great Harvest , which many Labourers must bring in , and more must eat of ; only you are the Center of all the Cares , and you they fix on ; but the Profits run out to all the Lines of your Circle , who usually injoy their several shares with much more Peace and Quiet than you . You take the Pains to dig the Well , and undergo the Care of supplying and maintaining it ; and when you have done , you can drink no more of it than the meanest Slave about you ; but wha● you drink can't be so sweet and pure , because it is dashed with many more Cares and Disturbances . For considering the infinite Hazards these worldly Goods are exposed to , they must needs carry with them abundance of Cares and Disquietudes ; so that when you are possessed of them , you only grasp a Bundle of gilded Thorns , which while they please your Eyes , will prick your Hearts , and continually disease you in the Injoyment of them . And then for the Injoyment it self , considered abstractedly from those Cares that surround it , alas it is such as rather creates Desire than Satisfaction ; for though at a distance these Terrestrial Goods do promise us fair ; and raise in us vast and boundless Hopes ; yet still when we approach nearer to them , we find our selves miserably deceived . And then our Injoyment falling so vastly short of our Expectation , all those swelling Hopes that flattered and tolled us on , fall flat immediately under the Disappointments of Fruition ; and accordingly our Desires missing their promised Satisfactions , grow more outragious and violent . And thus our Injoyments , as they are compassed with Vexations , so are they mingled with restless Discontents , as being all too little for our vast Desires ; which are therefore rather inraged than satisfied with them . What infinite Losers therefore must those Men be , who to compass those sophisticated Goods which have so many Evils intermixed with them , forfeit their Souls to everlasting Perdition ? which is so vast and so intense an Evil , as will admit no degree of Good to be intermingled with it ; a Misery so pure and unallayed , as that it totally excludes all Communication with Happiness , and will not admit the least Hope of Ease or Refreshment . For what Ease can we hope for in the everlasting Burnings ? What Refreshment can we expect in the unquenchable Lake of Fire and Brimstone ? Doubtless we may as soon hope to find a Cordial in the Sting of a Scorpion , or sprightly Nectar in a Nest of Wasps , as one degree of Ease or Comfort in Hell . There is not a Gleam of Light in all that Region of Darkness , not a Drop of Sweet in all that vast Ocean of Gall and Wormwood ; but it is all Misery , sharp and exquisite Misery , without the least Mixture of Ease , or Hope of Mitigation . Can we then be so stupid as to imagine the injoying this World's Goods , which are all such Compositions of Good and Evil , worth the enduring such pure and abstracted Miseries for ever ? Would you for the Pleasure of an intemperate Draught that will quickly end in a Qualm or an Headach , be contented to indure the Torment of being impaled ? Or provided you might spend this Night in your lascivious Injoyment , which after a few Moments will conclude in Shame and Remorse , would you be willing to roar upon the Rack all the Night after ? doubtless you would not . And yet , God knows , these Pleasures are not comparably so disproportionate to those Pains , as the Pleasures of this World are to the Pains of Eterternity . How then is it possible that such Bitter-sweets as these are , Sweets that are chequered with so many Cares , and allayed with so many Discontents , and Disappointments , should be sufficient to countervail those intollerable Miseries which the Loss of our Souls implies ?

5thly . The Good that is in the Gain of this World is full of Intermissions ; but the Evil that is in the Loss of a Soul is continual . If I were Lord of all the World , I should never be able to live in a constant Injoyment of it . For such wretched Counterfeits are all the Pleasures of Sense , that they will not indure the Test of a long Fruition ; for at the best they are but Frolicks of Delight that never seize us but when we are turned up to them in Moods and Fits , and all the Complacencies we have in them are nothing but the little Starts of our Appetite , which , as soon as it hath done craving , grows aweary of them , and so injoys and loaths them by Turns ; for they can dwell no longer upon the Aptite than while the Necessities of Nature do continue ; and every fresh Morsel after the Hunger is satisfied , is but a new Labour to a tired Digestion , and so instead of being a Pleasure becomes an Oppression . So that it is but a very little while that the Pleasure of any outward Injoyment continues ; for till it hath pleased us it is not a Pleasure , and when it hath , it ceases to be so ; and so it dies as soon as it is born , and its Nativity is only a Prelude to its Funeral . Thus all our Injoyments are stinted by our Appetites , which are naturally incapable of a continued Fruition . But then besides this , our Injoyments are liable to a thousand other Interruptions , which are not in our power to prevent or avoid ; for whether we will or no , we must be some times out of Humour , and then all the Pleasures in the World are most tedious Impertinencies ; and some times we must sleep , and then we are insensible of them ; and sometimes be sick , and then they are as tastless as a Cork ; and some times be griped with guilty Thoughts , and ill-aboding Reflections , and then , instead of Pleasures , they are our Horrors and Vexations . Thus our Injoyment , like an Ague , is full of Intermissions ; now we are pleased , and anon we are displeased , and immediately after the hot Fit is over , the cold One returns ; and thus it would be if we had all the World in our Possession . And indeed the Intervals of our Injoyment of these Terrestrial Goods are usually longer than the Injoyment it self , and the hot Fits of our Pleasure and Fruition are generally sooner over , than those cold Ones of Displeasure and Dissatisfaction that succeed them . So that if I could command all the Goods in the World , they would be so far from yielding me a continued Happiness , that in all Probability the Interruptions of my Happiness would take up a greater Part of my Life than the Injoyment of it ; and perhaps for every one moment of Fruition , I should spend two either in Pain , or in Non-perception of Pleasure . How then is it possible that such a broken and discontinued Happiness as this should ever make us amends for those Miseries that are included in the Loss of our Souls ? For to lose our Souls is to be miserable without any Interruption , to be eternally grieved and tortured without any Intervals of Ease or Refreshment . For the State of Perdition is a continued Torment spun out into an endless Duration , wherein there are no Days of Rest , nor Nights of Sleep , nor intermediate Pauses of Ease ; where the Fire never ceases burning , nor the Worm gnawing , but Wo succeeds Wo without Intermission , and Miseries , like the nimble Minutes of Time , follow Miseries , and tread close upon one anothers Heels . Hence , Rev. 20. 10. those that are cast into this Lake of Perdition , are said to be tormented day and night for ever ; which plainly implies that their Miseries are all but one uninterrupted Torment , or continued Succession of dolorous Perceptions for ever . And if so , O blessed God , what a poor Compensation for it are the broken Joys of this World ? For if the Misery of Hell were to last no longer than the Happiness of this World , yet if for one Week's Happiness here I were to indure another Week's Misery there , I should have a miserable Bargain of it ; because the Happiness being so interrupted , and the Misery so continued , I must in the same space undergo at least double the Misery that I injoyed Happiness . And what Man would be contented to live all the next Week in a Cauldron of boyling Oyl , wherein he knows he shall be continually tormented , provided he may spend this Week in an uninterrupted Injoyment of the most grateful Luxuries , which he knows he must be as often and as long insensible as he can be sensible of ?

6thly . And lastly , The Good that is in the Gain of this World is fading and transitory ; but the Evil that is in the Loss of the Soul is eternal . For so impotent are all this World's Goods , that they cannot insure us of one moment's Injoyment of them . It may be as soon as ever we have filled our Bags and B●rns with the Wages of our Iniquity , and have a plentiful Provision for many Years Ease and Luxury , we may be snatched away upon the very Brinks of Injoyment , and hurried into a woful Eternity , there to consume those Years in Misery and Torment , which we promised to spend in Pleasure and Voluptuousness . This you know was the Case of the rich Epicure in the Gospel ; how did the jolly Wretch congratulate and applaud himself in the golden Purchace of his Frauds and Oppressions ? How did he vaunt of his own Prudence , and good Conduct , and strut and swell with munificent Conceits of the happy Condition he was now arrived to when all of a sudden his unprepared Soul was surprized with a Summons to Eternity ? And then how blank did the Fool look upon the fatal News , that that Night must put an End to all his Hopes and Pleasures , and deprive him of all those future Injoyments with which he had promised to recompence all his past Toils and Labours ? With what Regret and Reluctancy was he dragg'd from the dear Purchase of his Sweat and Sin ? and in what Agonies of Horror did he groan out his wretched Spirit , when instead of injoying the Goods he had laid up for many Years , he felt himself sinking into a woful Eternity , and lie weltring there in unquenchable Flames , whilst he hoped to have been wallowing here in Ease and Voluptuousness ? But suppose we should injoy the many Years Ease which this vain-glorious Fool was disappointed of ; alas those Years will quickly expire , and Threescore and ten , or Fourscore at most , is the utmost Period we can hope to arrive to ; but then from thence commenses an Eternity of Misery which Millions of Millions of Ages can neither shrink nor exhaust , and compared with the longest Life of Pleasure hath not the Proportion of one single moment . So that if in Exchange for our Souls we could purchase a Lease of Life as long as Methuselah's , and a Lease of Happiness parallel to that Life , yet in the Conclusion we should find it a most woful Bargain ; because when both these Leases are expired , as they must at last though it be long first , we must remove into a State of intollerable Misery , whose Duration will be always equally because it will be always infinitely distant from a Period ; and when we are there , all that long Train of Happiness that is past will seem but a Minute's Dream in Comparison of that Eternity of Misery that is to come . But , O good God , when for thirty or forty Years Pleasure upon Earth , I have suffered a thousand Years Torment in Hell , and after that have endless Thousands of Thousands more to suffer , how dearly shall I rue my own Folly and Madness , that for the sake of a few Moments Pleasure have run my self headlong into such an endless Misery ! Consider therefore , O my Soul ! within a little while all these outward Goods , which I have purchased by my Sin , will signify no more to me than if they had never been , and all their alluring Relishes will be gone and forgotten for ever ; but then for Ten thousand Millions of Ages after I shall be feeling the Smart , and enduring the Stings of them . When all my ill-gotten Wealth is shrunk into a Winding-sheet , and my vast Possessions into six foot of Earth , and I have none of its Pomps or Pleasures left either to go along with , or to follow after me , then will the Guilt of all stick close to me , and raise a Cry on me as high as the Tribunal of God ; a Cry that will draw down an everlasting Vengeance on my Head , and ring Peals of Thunder in my Conscience for ever . Lord ! what a poor Amends then is the momentary Injoyments of the Goods of this World to me , that after a few Years must pass into another , and there languish away a long Eternity under the intollerable Anguish of a damned Spirit .

And thus you see , upon a just Survey of the Gains of this World , and the Loss of a Soul , how infinitely short the Happiness of the one is to make us any tollerable Compensation for the Miseries of the other . And if the Gain of all the World be too little to countervail this Loss , what miserable Losers are the Generality of Men that forfeit their Souls upon a far less valuable Consideration ? For no Man was ever yet , or is ever like to be so prosperous in his Sin , as to gain the whole World by it ; that is a Scramble in which Millions are ingaged , and of which every one will be catching a Share . But , alas , for the Generality , the Purchase of Mens Sin is so small and inconsiderable , that it is scarce a valuable Consideration for the Soul of a Rat. For what doth the common Swearer get by all his sensless and impertinent Oaths , which are capable of serving no other Purpose but only to stop the Gaps of his Speech , or to man his Rage , and rave , and play the Fool with a little more genteely ? What doth the Drunkard gain by all his Intemperances , but only a short Fit of frantick Mirth , and extravagant Jollity ; which , after a few Hours , ends in a sleepless Night , a sick , and uneasy Stomach , and a sottish Confusion over all his Senses ? What doth the envious and malicious Man get by all his studied Mischiefs and Revenges ? When he hath pluck'd out his Enemy's Eye , he cannot put it into his own Head , nor can he increase the Stock of his own Happiness by diminishing his Adversaries . When he hath made another the worse , he is never the better for it ; nor do his Injuries grow less by being retaliated : So that he vexes and disquiets himself to no purpose , but to make his Enemy bleed ; he keeps his own Wound green , and consequently multiplies Evils in vain , and prosecutes Mischief only for Mischief's sake . I confess there are some Vices that are not altogether so unprofitable as these ; in some Vices there is a Prospect of worldly Gain and Greatness , in others of sensitive Pleasure and Delight ; but alas , when after a few days Injoyment of those Gains and Pleasures , I am called away from them , and transported into a woful Eternity , there to expiate the Guilts of them with those sharp and everlasting Torments I shall be made to endure , how shall I be astonished at my own desperate Folly to think what a mad Bargain I have made ? what an Happiness I have sold to purchase those Gains ? what a Misery I have incurred to grasp and injoy those Pleasures ? O! now what would I give for a Goal-delivery from Hell , or but for the least Mitigation of my Agonies and Torments ! If I had all the Wealth that I purchased by my Sin , and ten thousand times more , how willingly would I part with it to bribe my Flames , and corrupt my Tormentors ? O! now I shall wish a thousand and a thousand times that I had rather chosen to famish for want of Bread , than to injoy those accursed Profits and Pleasures that were the Fruits and Wages of mine Iniquities ; but now alas it will be too late to Repent . As yet we have the Opportunity to retrieve our own Folly , and to revoke and cancel this our desperate Bargain , and by our serious Repentance and hearty Renunciation of the Temptations of this World , we may release our selves from our Covenant with Death , and Agreement with Hell . But if we out-stay our Opportunity a few Moments longer , till Death hath put an end to it , the fatal Bargain will be sealed past all Revocation .