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The Country Parson’s Advice to His Parishioners (Anonymous)

Introduction

I design, through God’s grace, to give you the best assistance I can in a religious and virtuous life; to direct you how to live to God’s glory, and to attain that perfect and happy estate which God has made you capable of, and which your Savior desires to bring you to, by that holy religion which you profess. But before you accept my assistance and direction, it may be that you would desire to know whether there is any reason why you should apply yourself to live such a life, and whether you may not as prudently let it alone, and live as most of your neighbors do.

Therefore I desire that you would do me and yourself the kindness, seriously to consider  the following things.
 

PART 1 - An Argument for Living a Holy Life

Chapter 1  -  Containing the first argument to a holy life, that being God’s creatures we ought to be subject to God, as all other creatures are, to observe the laws of our creation, and to consult the honor and dignity of our natures.  

Forasmuch as you know that you are God’s creature, and received being and life from him, and subsist altogether in him, you must necessarily acknowledge that you are and ought to be at his disposal, and to live and act according to his intention, and the end for which you were made. As you are God’s creature, and have no other being than what you have received from him, also you can have no power nor end, but what he  gives and prescribes to you. This is a law which all the creatures of God are subject to, and you see that all the inferior creatures act according to it: they employ themselves according to the capacity of their being, in that for which God created them, and tend directly to the end for which they were created and ordained. Therefore you cannot but know that you ought to do  likewise, and that for whatever end you were created, you are constantly to intend and do the same in your whole life.

Could you give life and being to any thing, you would justly expect the same from it. Therefore I must beseech you to consider for what end God gave you your being.  Now you are aware that you have an excellent being and that the other creatures, which you see in the world, are much inferior to you. You have understanding, and by that the knowledge of things which other creatures have not and cannot have of things spiritual and immaterial. You have a free will to choose or refuse, according to the direction of your understanding, without coercion or compulsion; whereas they act necessarily, and without any such liberties. You have desires implanted in your soul after things which they have no apprehension of; and you are capable of some enjoyments which they are altogether incapable of. To what end then, have you this excellent being bestowed upon you, and what is it that you are to aim at, to desire and endeavor toward, while you are in the world?

Can you think, when you consider your own faculties and capacities, that  you were made merely to get a little money by burdening and caring, by toiling and sweating, by plotting and contriving?

A poor business surely for such an excellent creature! And you debase yourself extremely, and reproach your Maker, if you imagine it. But you know that money is not a thing desirable for itself, but for its usefulness as it procures necessities, and things pleasing to appetites and desires. Therefore, you must enquire further, whether you were made only to eat and drink, and having made provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. I beseech you,  tell me whether this will not sink you down into the condition of the beasts, and birds, and reflect as injuriously upon your Maker. Certainly, they are as capable of such gratifications and satisfactions as you are, notwithstanding your excellent spirit and better capacities. They can feast as gustfully upon those provisions that God has made for them as you can, and sing as merrily. You do not clothe your workers in purple, and fine linen, to send them to the plow, nor bring up children in all the polite learning of the world, on purpose to employ them in feeding hogs. And if you should see your neighbor act so foolishly, you would not fail to deride him for it. Will you dare to impute the like folly to the wise Creator, and Governor of the World, and believe that he has given you an immortal Spirit, to be employed only about the objects of sense, to the end that you may live like the beasts and perish?

Far be it from you. You are made certainly for a much better and nobler end than they were. The powers and capacities of your soul would lead you to the knowledge of it, even if God had given you no other means of knowing it. You are capable of knowing your Creator, of contemplating his infinite perfections, of admiring and praising, and loving what you know. Though you live in the world, yet you can have your mind in heaven, and dwell with God by desire and love; and if you can feast your senses upon these material and perishing things, you can surely feast  your spirit much more upon the never failing wisdom and goodness of the maker of all things. You know him to be the supreme Good, and that every thing is good and happy only so far as it partakes of his goodness and felicity; and you know that there can be no other way to perfect happiness, than to give up yourself wholly to him, to submit to his government and conduct, to do whatever he will have you to do, to suffer all that he will lay upon you. Have your eye always upon him, delight yourself in him,  desire and hope more fully and perfectly to know him, and enjoy him.

These things you know or may know, and you are capable of acting according to your knowledge: you can give yourself to God, you can submit yourself to him, you can serve him and obey him with a cheerful and active service, you can praise and magnify him, and rely upon him, and hope and long for a complete growth in him.

Behold then, what you were created to do, and observe how you are to employ yourself in the world. Here is your end, and this is your work, a work worthy of so excellent a creature: to serve God. Whatsoever you do, or endeavor to do, or spend your time in, that is contrary to this end, is but vanity and folly, is mere lost labor, and will bring forth no fruit but grief and sorrow, shame and confusion. For that is not the work that we came into the world to do. We were made in the image of God, not to live like beasts, no, nor to please ourselves in any way; but to serve and please and glorify God here, and to possess and enjoy him forever hereafter. Judge then whether you have not reason to serve God with all your might in a holy and virtuous life.

Chapter 2  -  Containing a second argument to a holy life, from those obligations which our profession of Christianity lays on us.

If  you profess yourself a Christian, I must ask you to consider seriously what that Christianity is which you profess, and what the profession of it requires you to do. To this purpose, I beseech you to reflect upon your baptism and to call to mind what was then transacted and done between God and your soul, or (which is all one) between God and the Church in your behalf. Now, in that holy ceremony you were dedicated to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and, renouncing the world the flesh and the devil, you promised obedience to all his commandments. God  mercifully accepted your renunciation and dedication, and took you into his house and family - that family which Christ purchased with his blood, and which he governs by his spirit, and for which he has prepared everlasting bliss and glory.

You were then taken off that rotten and corrupt vine of the first and earthly Adam, which brings forth fruit only to death and destruction, and grafted into the living vine of the second and spiritual Adam, which yields fruit to everlasting glory and happiness. You renounced that principle of sin and death, which you derived from your first parents, and whatever encourages it. Giving up yourself to God, you were received by him, and given to his son Jesus Christ, who took possession of you by his spirit, which becomes new life in you. That all this in done in baptism -  not in ceremony and by representation only -  but in deed and in real effect. This is plain enough in the scriptures. You may look into the following places for your satisfaction:

Our blessed Savior tells us, in John 15:5,” I am the Vine, and you are the branches; he that abides in me and I in him, brings forth much fruit”.

Now, this abiding in him presupposes our ingrafting into him: and this was done in our baptism. For then, as the Apostle St. Paul tells us, in First Corinthians 12:13, “We were baptized by one spirit into one body”. And that body is “the body of Christ”, as you will see in verse in verse 27 of the same chapter.

In Galatians 3:27, we are said in baptism to “put on Christ”

In Romans 6:5, we are said” to be united together (namely by baptism) in the likeness of Christ’s death,” and by this the same Apostle tells us, in Titus 3:5, that we are saved. “According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”

We cannot (ordinarily) be saved without this washing and renewing. Our blessed Savior told Nicodemus (John 3:5), “Except a man be regenerated of water, and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.”

These places of Scripture being understood in that sense, which the first and best Christians took them in, taught us all that which I said before concerning baptism. The Church  teaches us the same, both in the office of baptism and the catechism, telling us that in baptism “we are regenerated, and made members of Christ, and inheritors of  (that is, we have a right thereby to inherit) the Kingdom of Heaven”.

You see then, dear friend, what you are, as a Christian, and what you profess yourself to be: you are separated from the world, dedicated and consecrated to God, united to Christ Jesus, and in him and by him a child of God, and an heir of everlasting life. You are not your own, therefore, but God’s. And you are his, not only by creation, but by redemption and purchase, by your own act, of voluntary resignation of your self to him, by covenant and promise, by a real incorporation into the body of Christ, and the participation of his Spirit.

This is an honorable and a happy estate, and it was a wonderful grace that such a worthless, rebellious creature should ever be admitted into it. And need I now to ask you friend, what kind of life ought you  to live?  It is a rule in nature, that such as a being is, such will be the actions and operations of it be; Therefore, it is necessary that your life and actions are agreeable to your being and state, as you are a Christian; and since the estate of a Christian is a holy and divine estate, it is necessary that your life and actions are holy and divine. Are you a member of Christ, ingrafted into his body, and quickened by his Spirit? And ought you not to be conformed to Christ, and to live the life of Christ? Are you a child of God, and ought you not to be led by the spirit of God (Romans 8:14) And to “be a follower or imitator of God” (Ephesians 5:1) in love and purity? Are you not an heir of heaven (Romans 8:17)?

And ought not your conversation be in heaven? Ought not your thoughts and desires to be upon your “inheritance”; and your heart and life to be such as may render you appropriate to be a partaker of it (Colossians 1:12)?

Would not you wonder to see the pleasant vine degenerate into a sorry thistle, and the fruitful olive into an unprofitable bramble? Isn’t this what you do, if being a Christian you live like a heathen, if being in the Spirit you walk after the flesh, and mind the things of the flesh? Was it not a most dreadful curse that drove the great King Nebuchadnezzar out of his stately palace into the fields among the beasts, to eat grass like the oxen, in Daniel 4? And do you not make his curse to be your own choice when, being a child of God, an heir of the kingdom of heaven (which is more than to be emperor of the whole earth), you set your heart upon this dunghill world, and have no esteem or relish of heavenly things? Is this not what you choose if, with profane Esau, you sell your birthright for a bowl of stew, and despising your eternal Inheritance, desire to have your portion only in this life?

The reason of all this is plain enough, and I hope will be readily acknowledged by you: however, impossible it is you must confess that you are obliged to perform your promises, and to pay your vows unto the most High. Since you have given up yourself to God, you have not the least power over yourself, but ought to live altogether in him. If you have an ill opinion of your neighbor, and that justly, when he is not as good as his word to you, how can you but condemn yourself when you break your vows unto the Lord?  When any profane thing has been offered to God, and consecrated by prayer and ceremonies, and set apart for holy and divine purposes, and you esteem it as separated from common use, then you call it sacrilege and profane to employ it in common ways.  Are you then not yourself also guilty of the highest sacrilege when, being dedicated and consecrated to God by baptism, you withdraw yourself from him, and never employ yourself for him, nor refer yourself to him? The apostle tells us, “That we are not our own, because we are bought with a price” (that is, the blood of the Son of God) in (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20).

And I add to it: we have given up ourselves to him that bought us. Therefore, there is the greatest reason that we should glorify him in our bodies, and our spirits, which are God’s. It was the sayings of a devout man many years ago, “That it had been better for us never to have been, than to dwell in ourselves and to our selves”.

We shall find it too true one day if, forgetting our state and profession, and obligation as we are Christians, we do live to ourselves, and not to God.

Chapter 3  -  Containing a third argument to a holy life, from the general consideration of a future judgment.

Consider that there will come a time when you must give an exact account of your life and actions; and it shall be known to all the world, how you have demeaned yourself, both as a person, and Christian. Dear friend, do you believe the scriptures? I know you do, and you have the greatest reason in the world to do so. Observe therefore what they tell you concerning that account which you are to make. Then, consider whether there is not reason enough why you should be careful to lead a virtuous and holy life. It is a mighty encouragement indeed to us in doing good that our Savior is to be our judge; for he, who loved his enemies so as to die for them, will never forget the good works of those whom he “calls his friends” ( John 15:14)

But lest any of us should be so unwise as to make this an argument for a licentious and careless way of living, promising ourselves much favor from him, and an easy account at the Day of Judgment, he has told us frequently that he purposes to proceed severely with us, and to show no favor but what may consist with  exact justice. And it well deserves our observation that, although he was the mildest and most merciful person alive, and expressed the greatest tenderness and love to sinful men and women that ever was, so much so that his enemies cast it as a reproach upon him, that he was a friend to publicans and sinners; yet he never spoke of the Day of Judgment, but with great severity. Nor did he speak of himself, as the Judge of the world, but in such words as altogether exclude that fond partiality which wicked men expect from him at that day. Thus in one place he represents himself to be an austere and hard man, and tells us that he expects to reap, where he did not sow, and to gather where he did not winnow. That is, he will expect, and require from us (when he comes to judge us) an increase of those talents which he has entrusted us with; and if we have not improved them to his advantage, he will “first take them away from us, and then cast us into a prison of darkness, where shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30).

And we may note there that it is with the unprofitable servant, the servant that brought him no increase, that he will deal so severely. Therefore, how rigorously may we believe he will deal with those that do misspend his talents, and make no use of them, but to his dishonor? In the same chapter we find him no less severe to five foolish virgins, whom he shuts for ever out of Heaven, because they had no oil with their lamps, and were not ready exactly at the hour (though it was midnight) to meet the bridegroom (Matthew 25:12).  In another place he condemns to everlasting misery, not only those who do not accept his invitation to his marriage feast, but those likewise that came to it without wedding garments (Matthew 22:12, 13). And in the 7th Chapter of the same Gospel he declares, “That this shall be the portion of all the workers of iniquity, though they have called him Lord, and prophesied in his name, and cast out devils, and done many wonderful work”.

That is, though they have professed themselves his disciples and servants and done some things which the world accounts great, for his honor, yet he will not own them.  Though they make fair pleas for themselves, and beg his mercy and favor with the greatest earnestness and importunity, yet he will have no regard unto them, but banish them forever from him.

All this, and much more than this, has our blessed Savior told us by way of parable. And he has nowhere encouraged us to hope for anything more easy and favorable, when he speaks plainly of it and without a parable. He has let us know in plain words that he will judge our works, nay, our very words also, and require an account not only of our filthy and ungodly speeches, but of our idle, our vain and unprofitable discourses likewise (Matthew 12:36).  Even more, he has told us, that the very thoughts and purposes of our hearts shall be brought into judgment. The offending eye, the lustful, adulterous eye may cause the whole body to be cast into hell. And that a causeless anger entertained against our brother or sister,  though it show itself neither by words, nor deeds, will bring us into danger of condemnation (Matthew 5:22b, 23).

You will think these hard sayings, it may be; and yet there is somewhat more to be considered which may make you think them much harder. Might our judgment be in private, and our accounts be made between God and ourselves only, we might,  notwithstanding all that which has been said, look upon it as tolerable. But, alas! we are told that it must be public (without any regard to our modesty) and before all the world, that “the very secrets of our hearts shall be disclosed before men and angels, and the hidden things of darkness shall be brought to light” (1 Corinthians  4:5) “and all our counsels be made manifest”.

And further, that this shall be at a time when (perhaps) we did not look for it, at midnight or at cocks-crowing; that we may be hurried away to Christ’s judgment-seat before we can trim our lamps, or make ready our accounts, or think what course to take to approve ourselves to our Judge and Lord. We may be eating and drinking, or buying and selling, or planting and building (as the people were in Noah”s day when the flood came and swept them all away) and the Son of man shall be revealed from heaven, and we shall be taken as in a snare. We shall not be able to flee away from him, nor to stand before him, because we are not prepared and ready for him (see Luke 17:26-28). His coming, we are told, will be with so much majesty and glory, so many dreadful things shall go before it, and so much terror accompany it, that we shall be utterly confounded, and not able to lift up our heads, if clear and good consciences, and just and right accounts prepared and made ready before hand, do not give us some confidence and assurance before him:

“The heaven shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with a fervent heat, and the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up.” (2 Peter 3:10), and then “shall the Lord Jesus descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16) and all “the nations and kindreds of the earth, and those that are in their graves shall hear his voice” (John 5:28) and behold his glory, “the glory of the king of kings, and of the Lord of Lords, who treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (Revelation 19:15, 16). 

What will you do in that day? And what shall I do who now ask you the question? How shall we be able to bear the sight of so great majesty and glory? How shall we have the courage to appear before it? What dread, what horror will possess our souls? What confusion will cover our faces?  How shall we tremble, when we think of our trial before that impartial and dreadful bar? And how will our hearts sink within us when we are called to answer for ourselves?

What will a good conscience, do you think, be worth at that day? What would you then give for  a pure and unspotted life, to present before the just judge of heaven and earth? What would you give for as great a number of good works as you have of sins and rebellions and provocations? Whatever you think of a good life now, believe it.  You will then think well of it, and happy thrice happy shall you be, if your own heart condemns you not of wickedness and impiety. Whether it will do so or not, I am not able to tell you. But this I can assure you, that no tongue is able to express the amazement and consternation, the horror and anguish, the perplexity that shall possess and overwhelm you, if it condemns you.

You will not know what course to take, which way to look. To avoid the judgment will be impossible, and you will not be able to bear it. If you call for mercy you shall find none; if you desire death, your desire will not be granted, and  if you call to the hills to cover you, they shall be deaf to you. All hope, all comfort shall utterly forsake you, and you must stand at the dreadful tribunal as a desperate and helpless wretch, till you hear that dreadful and irrevocable sentence, “Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil, and his angels”.

And now, tell me, I beseech you, what thoughts you have of a holy life? Is there any reason why you should be careful to lead such a life, or not?

Do you think that you cannot avoid this dreadful account we have spoken of? Or do you hope that an account made according to that careless and carnal way of living which we see most people live, will pass at that just tribunal, and be accepted  as good? Can you have the face to make before God and all the world such a declaration as this? God gave me an excellent being, I acknowledge, and appointed me an excellent end, but I neither considered the one, nor thought upon the other. God made me capable to know him, and worship and serve him, and I was frequently told that the main business of my life was to do thus. But this I never intended nor designed, or if I did, it was but now and then, and when I had nothing else to do.

I cannot deny that I was capable of bringing my Maker a great increase of glory, by the use and improvement of those excellent faculties he bestowed upon me; but the lusts and appetites of the flesh, and the pleasures of providing for, and satisfying them, made me forget myself and the honor of him that made me.

I must acknowledge likewise, that it was not ordinary grace which called me to the knowledge of Christ, and that I thought myself partaker of no little honor and advantage by it. But whether my Christianity laid any other obligations upon me than the bearing the name of a Christian, I could never find time to consider, nor think it worthwhile to enquire. I thought better of myself, indeed, than of other men, for my being a Christian. But that I have lived better than they, that I have been more mindful of God and more profitable to men, I am not able to say.

I have talked much of heaven, but I ever loved the world before I loved it.  Though I professed great love to Christ, yet my main business has always been to please myself. I know you will cry out upon this as most absurd and unreasonable, and conclude it impossible any person should find mercy at that great day, that can speak nothing better for himself.  Yet I defy all our common careless Christians to make any better plea for themselves, or to give any better account of themselves and those talents that God has intrusted them with. Have you a child or employee, whom you have bestowed great cost upon, to fit him for doing for you some considerable and important service? And have you committed it to his care and charge, given him a competent time, and furnished him with all necessaries and requisites for the doing it? And that child or employee after his time expired returns to give you such an account as this? “So much of my time I spent in eating and drinking, in reveling and rioting, in singing and dancing, in courting and sporting, about which all my thoughts and all my care were wholly taken up.  As for the great business you commanded me to do, I never thought upon it, or at least not till it was too late. Then I had neither time nor other requisites remaining to effect it.” 

Would not such a child or employee vex you to the heart? And would not you think him worthy of the greatest shame and punishment? Remember  that it will be your own case if, neglecting the great end of thy life and being, and the indispensable obligations of your most holy religion, you can only reckon at that great day your getting and spending of money for the satisfaction of your beastly lusts and appetites.

Chapter 4  -  Containing a fourth argument to a holy life, the consideration of the future punishments of the wicked: that their torments are extreme and intolerable, without ceasing, and without end.

Consider the punishments which Almighty God has prepared for those unfaithful people, who will not be able to stand in that judgment, but must fall under the dreadful sentence of condemnation. And that you may know how great those punishments will be, you will do well to call to mind what punishments God has often inflicted upon the wicked  in this world. I omit the effects of Adam’s sin and disobedience, which the whole world still labors under, as also the fruits of our own sins, which perhaps we have more than once smarted for. Let it be remembered how God destroyed all mankind except eight persons, with a flood of water, for their sins (Genesis 7). How he overthrew five cities with fire and brimstone for their filthiness and impiety (Genesis 19). How he destroyed his own people, for whom he had wrought many wonders in the wilderness, when they would not obey his voice, causing  twenty three thousand of them to fall in one day (1 Corinthians 10:8). How he gave commandment utterly to destroy the Amalekites, and not to spare their sucking children, for a sin committed  by their fathers four hundred years before: and in a word, how he gave up his own once beloved people and their city and country,  to the most lamentable ruin and desolation that ever was; and how their posterity scattered to this day over the face of the whole earth. “ His blood be upon us, and our children” (Matt. 27:25).

These are great demonstrations of God’s hatred against sin, and from these we learn that those punishments which are appointed for wicked men in another world must needs be very grievous, and will make them extremely miserable. For, as the scriptures tell us, this is the time of God’s patience, and forbearance and goodness towards sinners (Romans 2:4),  and if in this time he shows so much severity, how severe may we believe he will be, when this time of his goodness is ended, and when the day of his wrath, as the scripture calls it, is come; that day of justice without mercy, of vengeance without pity, of execution without further patience and forbearance: when all the wrath that wicked men have deserved, and have treasured up against themselves, shall fall upon their guilty souls, and God shall magnify his imperial justice in their torment and misery, as he will magnify his mercy and goodness in the glory and felicity of his faithful servants?

But we have yet a better way of learning how great the punishments of the damned shall be, and that is by considering what the scriptures have told us in plain words concerning them. They are such punishments, our Blessed Savior tells us, as are prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). That is, for the very worst of beings, for the greatest rebels against heaven, and the most irreconcilable adversaries to all manner of goodness. Therefore, we may be sure that they are at least as great as we can imagine them to be, even more great since an Almighty God makes them. They are punishments by fire, as he also tells us, which is the most raging, the most devouring and tormenting thing we know in the world: and that fire is represented to be such as our nature most abhors, and must be most insufferable, namely, a fire with brimstone, the stench of which is as intolerable as the heat, and which suffocates as well as consumes (Revelation 21:8). Of this Fire, we are told likewise, there is a bottomless lake or pit. (Revelation 20:3). Into it there shall never enter the least light, the very blackness of darkness, as St. Jude’s expressions are (Jude 1:13) lying upon it for ever. In this lake, we are told, the damned shall be shut in prisoners, bound hand and foot (Matthew 22:13). They will be without possibility of escaping, or so much as moving from one place to another for the gaining of the least ease; and in this prison we are told the torments will be such as will cause weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, nay, yellings and howlings, and shriekings, like the shrieking of the children frying in the fire in the Valley of Hinnom. (2 Kings 23:10).

This is a punishment which the word used by our Blessed Savior for hell, Gehenna (Matthew 5:29, 30) implies. And these torments and wailings, and heart-breaking cries shall continue, not for a month, or a year, or an age, but for ever and ever. The fire shall never be quenched (Mark 9:44). The smoke of their torment is ever to ascend (Revelation 14:10, 11). and they shall find no rest night nor day. This is but a little of what the scripture tells us of the punishments of the damned; but in this little there are so many dreadful things implied, that he must be bold and hardened even to a wonder, that is not frightened with them.

4.1  -  Torment Shall Be Great.   For, it is plain that the punishments are such as will torment the whole person, body and soul, with all their faculties and powers, and that in the most extreme manner. There shall not be a member of the body, nor any faculty in the soul, but shall have its torment in one and the same instant, and that torment shall be so great that no words can express it, nor heart can conceive it. How can it be otherwise, do you think, in a lake of fire and brimstone? What member of the body will not be scorched? What sense will not be afflicted? What faculty will not be tormented?

The lascivious eyes will be plagued with darkness, and the ugly and fearful fight of devils and damned spirits. The nice smell will be plagued with the loathsome stench of brimstone, and all the most abominable filthiness. The delicate ears with the shrieks and howlings of tormenting, and tormented wretches. The dainty taste will be plagued with the most ravenous hunger and thirst, and all the sensible parts with burning and devouring fire. The imagination will have its torment by the apprehension of present pains, and of those that are to come. The memory by its remembrance of pleasures past, and gone, and never to return again. The understanding by the consideration of the happiness lost, and the misery now come on. And if there be any other part which can be tormented, it shall have its torment with no more favor than the rest. What sad and dreadful things are these? And how unspeakably miserable must those be who must endure them? And yet this is not all; for it is certain in the second place...

4.2  -  The Torments Will Not Cease.  These torments shall always continue without  the least intermission or decrease, and those that suffer them shall never find the least ease, nor help, nor comfort; no, not for one minute. This is no more than is implied in the places of scripture before mentioned. The fire will be always burning, the smoke ever ascending, so that there shall be no rest day or night, and those that are bound hand and foot will not be able to escape or to resist, or strive against the torments, but must lie still, and suffer all. Thus it was with the rich man, of whom our Blessed Savior tells us (Luke 16:24),  that being in hell, tormented with the fire which shall not be quenched, he made this request 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”.  What smaller request could he possibly make? He desired not a cup of water, no, nor as much as Lazarus might have held in the palm of his hand, nor yet so much as might have stuck to his whole finger: he only desired a drop from the very tip of it, or not so much only that he would touch his tongue with the tip of his finger a little moistened and cooled with water, and yet this small  request would not be granted him. That little, that very little ease, which so small a favor would have given him, was denied him.

This sad story plainly shows us that the torments of the wicked have no intermission, nor decrease, and that those who suffer them shall never obtain the least help or ease, though they want it most extremely, and seek for it with the greatest earnestness and importunity. They shall be like a man that is almost drowned in the midst of the sea, who not finding any firm ground whereupon to set his feet, stretches out his hand every way, and grasps at something with all his might, but still in vain, because there is nothing but water round about him. Thus will it be with those wretches in hell. They are drowning in a bottomless gulf of unspeakable miseries, and they look every way for help, and strive for a little ease; but alas to no purpose, for there is nothing but sorrow, and misery and pain, and horror round about them. And thus it shall be with them, not for a little time, for a month or a year, but for ever and ever, which is a third thing I desire you to observe. 

4.3  - There Will Be No Decrease in Torment.  Their pains and torments will be endless as well as easeless, and when they have endured them without any intermission, or decrease, as many years, indeed, ages as there are stars in the firmament, or sands upon the seashore, they shall still be to endure them in the very same manner, as many more. As many more did I say?  Yes, ten thousand more.  They shall endure them as long as there is a just and holy God to punish them, that is, to eternal ages.

This is but what God himself has told us in plain words; for thus shall the sad sentence run at the great day. “Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire”; and the execution will be accordingly, as we are told, Matthew 25, the last verse. The wicked shall go into everlasting punishment; into punishment  that shall be as lasting as the rewards of the righteous, which will be as lasting as God himself.

These are dreadful considerations, my dear Christian friend, and he must be a strange kind of person indeed, and have a heart harder than the hardest gem, that is not mightily affected with them. There are but few people so hardy as to think upon the plagues and judgments of almighty God upon the sinful  in this world, without some fear, especially when they think of them as hanging over their own heads, and apprehend themselves to be in danger of them.  How then can they choose but to tremble at those plagues of another world, which are infinitely more dreadful than the worst of this world?

The evils of the world are particular evils. They afflict but one, or some few parts at once; one disease seizes upon one part and another upon another part. In one disease one sense is pained, and in another, another sense, but never are all the parts and all the senses, at one and the same time, under torment and pain. In this world there is no evil so great, but it has its decreases, and changes, and therefore no man can be so miserable but he will sometimes have some respite and ease. Let the evil be never so sharp and pressing, yet the comfort of hope will not be wanting, and the foresight of a certain end will be a great relief.  Yet notwithstanding this, we many times think the evils of this world to be intolerable; and, as sweet a thing as life is to us, we wish for death to deliver us from them. How intolerable then must the torments of the other world be, which spare no part or faculty of body or soul, which give not the least ease, nor admit of the least decrease, no not for one minute. They exclude all hope of an end, and overwhelm the soul to utter despair of the least remedy! Let our charity lead us sometimes to visit a poor, sick creature and let us observe what pains and agonies he endures for one night: mark how often he tosses and tumbles from one side of his bed to the other; hear how he groans, and what bitter complaints he makes: observe how he counts the hours of the clock, and how long he thinks each hour to be: how passionately he wishes for the dawning of the day, and how tedious the night seems to him.

This we look upon as a sad spectacle, and if we have any heart in us, it cannot but melt at it. When we consider that it may be shortly our own case, we are very sensibly touched with it. What shall we think then of the condition of the damned! How deplorable and how miserable must we believe that to be?  To be tormented in every member of the body, and every faculty of the soul, with the sharpest and most exquisite torments, and without the least ease or respite. And this not for a night of some few hours, but for an everlasting night, a night that has no morning, and knows no hope of any dawning of the day: to lie in such a night not upon a soft bed (as the sick man does) but in a bed of flames or a hot burning furnace, not at liberty to turn to and fro, and to seek ease, but bound hand and foot. Not with the company of compassionate friends assisting and comforting to the best of their power, but with the horrid company of the damned and accursed spirits, that shall add to the damned’s sufferings and  sorrows, as much as their power and malice can possibly do.

This must be misery in the height, in its full perfection, if I may so speak. Who trembles not to think of it? Who will not do anything to escape it? Do we fear sickness and pain here in this world? And do not we fear the pains of hell much more?  Do we dread a prison and fly from fetters and chains and hazard our very lives to preserve our liberty?  Are we not as much afraid of that eternal prison, whose gates shall never be opened when once they are shut upon us, and from which there can be no redemption or deliverance? O dear Christian friend, are we in our right senses or not? Do you think, and do we understand what these things mean? Do they belong to us, or are they meant only for others? Do we take them for the never failing truths of God or for the fables and fancies of brain-sick men? If we understand them not, if we believe them not, why do we call ourselves Christians, and make an outward profession of that which in our hearts we do not approve? But if we understand and believe these things, why do we not tremble at the thoughts of them? Why do we not think about how we may escape them? Why do we not abhor that sin and wickedness which will bring us to them? Why do we not apply ourselves with all our might, and all our care, to the practice of that piety and virtue, which alone through God’s mercy, can deliver us from them?

It is an amazing thing, my friend, that these things should make so little impression upon most people, as we find they do.  But  the scripture tells us of a God of this world that blinds the eyes and hardens the hearts of men and women and makes them inconsiderate as brutes, otherwise we should be at a loss to give any account of it. We see that they are apprehensive enough of evil in this world, and industrious enough to avoid it. If any evil is great, though it is remote, they dread it. And though it’s coming is uncertain, yet they take care to prevent it. But alas! as to these unspeakable evils and calamities, they are stupid and inconsiderate as blocks. The least fear of them seems foolish,  and the least care and pains to avoid them is thought too much. Surely friend, there was a time when these evils had greater effects upon the world than they have now, when men and women thought they could not be possessed with too great fear of them, nor take too much care and pains to escape them. Let me show you what a devout father has written concerning some penitents he once saw in a monastery, and then judge what influence these things have had previously  and what they ought in reason to have now.

St. J. Climas. 9.

 “When first I came into this monastery I beheld certain things which neither the eyes of the sluggard have ever seen, nor the ears of the negligent heard, nor yet may it be conceived in the heart of any careless and unguided  Christians. And afterwards he tells us, how he saw many penitents standing with their eyes fixed toward heaven, continually calling upon Almighty God with tears and sighs for pardon and mercy: others again, he saw, that professed they were not worthy to lift up their eyes towards heaven, or to speak to Almighty God, and these held their faces down towards the ground, offering their souls in silence to the mercy of God, without speaking so much as one word, as men that had been dumb, full of fear and confusion. Others were clothed in sacks, and hair-cloth, and kneeling with their faces bowed down to their knees, and smiting their foreheads often upon the earth, did bathe the very earth with their tears, and those that wanted tears did lament very grievously, because they wanted them. And after this, he tells us, that they had death continually before their eyes; and speaking one to another they said, How think you friends? 

What shall become of us at the dreadful hour? Shall the sentence of condemnation be revoked? Or shall our prayers perchance come into our Lord’s ears? Or if they do, how shall they be received? And what profit shall we receive by them? For since they proceed out of such unclean lips, it is to be feared, they might find but little favor in his sight. And much more to this purpose. To which others would answer, as the penitent sinners in Nineveh, Who knows whether the Lord will pardon us, whether he will turn himself to us, and not suffer us to perish. Let us now take courage and persevere continually in crying unto him till the end; for the Lord is merciful, and will be pacified with perseverance. Let us run, my Brethren, let us run with all speed, and return to the place from where we are fallen, and let us in no wise pardon this filthy flesh which has undone us; but since it has crucified us, let us crucify it. And then, he proceeds to tell us how hardly they treated their bodies, how they watched and fasted, and punished themselves for their offences against God, insomuch as that their faces were like the faces of dead men, and their very eyes were sunk into their heads through over much weakness.

And after all this he tells us how they behaved themselves when any of their Brethren lay a dying. They compassed the bed of the dying man, and with earnest, and vehement requests, with moving countenances and pitiful words they demanded of him. How are you Brother? How do you feel? What hope do you have? What shall become of you? Have you obtained your long suit? Have you arrived at the haven of your salvation? Have you received any earnest penny of your security? Have you heard any voice within you, which said your sins are forgiven you, your faith has made you whole? Or have you peradventure heard any other voice which said unto you, the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God, or bind him hand and foot and cast him into utter darkness? What answer do you make, good friend, unto us? Tell us something, we beseech you, that we may understand by you, what is reserved for us; for your suit is now come to an end, and what sentence you shall now receive shall never more be reserved: but our case as yet still depends and looks for sentence.

To which demands some answered. Blessed be the Lord that has not suffered us to be cast into the teeth of our enemies; but others after a more doleful manner said,  miserable is that soul that has not fully observed his profession, for now shall he well understand what is prepared for him.

These, my dear friend, were men that did in good earnest believe the truths of the gospel concerning another world, and being fully persuaded that the punishments  appointed for wicked men are most intolerable, were as fully resolved to deliver themselves from them, thought by the greatest pains and the severest mortifications. These were men that made use of that faith, and of that reason and understanding which God has given them. Since they thought it prudence to be apprehensive of lesser dangers, they prepared against more inconsiderable evils. They would not, like the unruly horse that starts at a bird, and runs himself into a precipice, be fearless of the greatest dangers, and suffer themselves to fall into the most insufferable calamities. And we not  concerned, my friend, to do the like, and to make the like use of that faith and reason which God has given us? Does not the fire of hell burn as furiously now as ever it did? Have those everlasting torments had any reduced time or period prescribed them?  Or are we more able to wrestle with them, or to endure them, than they were?

Or have we any easier way of escaping them discovered to us, than was known to them?  What easy ways our lusts may find out, I do not know; but sure I am, that there is but one safe and sure way, but one way of God’s appointment, which was made known to them, as it is to us. That is the way of serving God sincerely, and with all our might, in a holy and virtuous life. If we fail to do this, we shall, as certainly as God is true, be condemned to these everlasting torments. Judge then, dear friend, whether we have not reason to serve God, and whether it is not madness to live in that careless and ungodly way which we see most people do. But now because these things may seem very severe, and possibly occasion in you some hard thoughts of Almighty God, I must desire you to consider the following.

Chapter 5  - The Rewards Which Have Been Prepared for Us.

5.1  - God has great rewards for us:  Containing a fifth argument to a holy life, from the consideration of those great rewards God has prepared for good men and women in the other world, the greatness of which may be in some measure estimated.

1. From God’s kindness to good people even in this world.

2. That the reward is not proportioned to our desserts, which are very little, but to the goodness of God, which is infinite. And

3. Is designed as the most glorious manifestation of the divine goodness; And

4. It is the purchase of Christ’s blood, and the reward of his obedience and sufferings, which are of infinite merit.

The reward, which Almighty God has prepared in another world for those that serve him faithfully in this, according to those obligations that lie upon them, both as human beings and Christians. And this gift, I doubt not, will be as pleasant and delightful as the last was sad and dreadful, and will no less declare God’s goodness and mercy than that did his justice and severity. I need not tell you that such is our condition, that no reward of right belongs to any services we do. And therefore, be the reward great or little which God has prepared for us, we must acknowledge ourselves indebted to his infinite goodness for it, and that it is on our part altogether undeserved. How much more then must we acknowledge ourselves indebted to his goodness (and what a strong obligation should we reckon it to his service) when the reward he has designed for us is not little, like our services, but great, great as we can imagine it to be, as our hearts can desire it should be? To give you a little sight of the greatness of this reward, for it is not possible for you or me to comprehend it fully, I might lead you through a multitude of considerations. But I shall restrain myself to some few, which I think so deserve your serious regard.

5.1.1  - God is Kind to His Servants. We cannot but acknowledge that Almighty God is very kind to his servants in this world, and there is not one of them can say that he serves God for nothing in this present life. God has given them many good promises, and gives them many good things daily according to those promises.

They have a competent share in all the good things of the world, and such a blessing together with them, as makes them much more sweet and pleasant to them than all the possessions of the wicked. And though they have their afflictions, and their trials, yet they have their pleasures and their comforts. They have a peace within which none can disturb, and such joys  as none can take from them. I mean the peace of their consciences, and the joys of the Holy Ghost. They are either free from all calamities, or they have such support under them, that they are rather matter of joy than sorrow to them. God is good to them at all times in a great measure, but sometimes more abundantly, and in a measure extraordinary.

Witness the great things that he has done in all ages for them: What great deliverances he has often given them. What cunning plots and devices against them he has brought to nothing. What wonders he has wrought in their behalf. And how miraculously, when they have been in their greatest distress he has made them to triumph over all their enemies.

Those who have beheld it have been constrained to cry out in the words of the Psalmist, “Verily there is a reward for the righteous, doubtless there is a God that judges the earth” (Psalm 58:11). Now if God deals thus kindly with his servants here, what kindness do you think he will show them hereafter?

If while they are in doing his work he bestows so many good things upon them, what may they expect from him when his work is done? And if in the time of their trial they receive such great benefits from him, what shall they receive (do you think) when their trial is ended and they are fully approved? If such great things are done for their encouragement in his service, what great things are designed (may we believe) for their reward? Especially considering,

5.1.2   - God’s Infinite Generosity. That the reward, which God intends for them, shall not be proportioned to the little merit of their services, but to his own infinite goodness: it shall not be such as the services deserve, but such as becomes him to bestow. It is a gift, as the Apostle tells us (Romans 6:23). And such a gift as shall show the infinite goodness and beneficence of the donor.

5.1.3  - God Gives on a Grand Scale.    God intends the fullest manifestation of his goodness by his gift, that he may receive everlasting praises, both from people and angels. And how exceedingly great must that gift be? When a prince rewards the services of a poor subject, he considers not so much what his loyal subject deserves as what becomes himself to bestow; and though the service may be but mean, yet he must give as a prince, largely and freely, with respect to his honor. But if a prince design in rewarding a servant to show his magnificence and liberality to the utmost, and to do himself the greatest honor he can, he will give the greatest things his kingdom will afford, and in the noblest and most honorable way.

How great then and how good will that reward be which the King of Kings, the supreme ruler and governor of the world will give to his faithful servants? How little less than infinite must that be, which will become so glorious a majesty to bestow? Especially since he designs to manifest his goodness and bounty in the highest measure? And to let all the world know how much he deserved the love and service of all his creatures. When God, before the foundations of the world, designed to declare his power and wisdom and goodness, what a world did he create? What beautiful heavens? What glittering stars? What elements? And in how marvelous a manner did he unite and compact them together? And yet he intended this vast and beautiful building to last but for a time, and then to be destroyed. And he knew that the noblest of his creatures, which he made to inhabit it, would be rebellious against him, and few of them give him his due honor and obedience.

Imagine then what he will do, when he designs the utmost manifestation of his Almighty Goodness in rewarding his faithful servants: what a glorious place will he make for them? What riches and honors will he confer upon them? Will they not be as great as his infinite goodness can bestow? And how incomparably great must we judge this to be? And yet we may consider further,

5.1.4  - Christ Purchased our Reward.  This reward designed for God’s servants is that which Christ has received from his Father to give them - for all his pains and tears and sweat and blood. That it is the purchase of the blood of the Son of God, and the recompense of his obedience to the death. Now how great a reward must so beloved a son deserve by so great and perfect an obedience? Can anything, how ever excellent, be thought too good for him, or too great a recompense for his sufferings?  Considering our own poor services, we could not hope for such manifestations of God’s goodness as I have spoken of. Yet considering the merits of Christ, we have no reason to doubt them. For if infinite goodness can admit of any motive to show its self to the utmost, this must be the greatest and most prevailing. And yet further, to raise our thoughts one degree higher, we may consider,

5.2  - The Reward Will Be Great Because of Christ.  Following a prosecution of the same arguments, this reward of good men must be very great because it is not only the reward Christ purchased for his disciples, but that also which he obtained for himself, as the recompense of his obedience and sufferings. And also a more particular explication wherein this happiness consists, a serious expostulation with those who slight it, and the necessity of holiness for the obtaining of it.

5.3  - Christ Also Obtained the Reward for Himself.  This reward is not only as the reward which Christ obtained for his servants, but as the reward which he obtained for himself, as the very recompense which his heavenly Father has given him for his obedience. For the scriptures teach us plainly that it is the very same reward which he has received that his servants shall enjoy. We learn it from his own mouth, in Matthew 25:21, where he bids the faithful servant that had improved his talents to his advantage to enter into the joy of his Lord. And Paul, one of his chosen servants, that knew as much of this matter as any man ever did, has told us the same  in Romans 8:17. Here he expressly affirms “that we are heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ Jesus. 

Whatever glory or joy or riches or honors Christ possesses upon the account of his obedience, that shall all his faithful servants enjoy together with him. Has God exalted him for his obedience, and given him a kingdom above all kingdoms? It is as certain that his servants shall be exalted likewise, and reign together with him (2 Timothy 2:12 and Revelation 22:5).

Is Christ ascended into the highest heavens, and does he dwell in the bosom of his Father? It is as certain that he shall come one day from heaven, and receive all his servants to himself, “that where he is, they may be also” (John 14:3). Is that frail and mortal body, which he had while he was upon the earth, and which suffered the pains and torments of the cross, changed into a glorious, immortal, impassible body? It is as certain, “that the vile bodies of his servants shall be so changed likewise, and fashioned like to his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself” (Philippians 3:21).

Is that glory which he is exalted to, that joy and happiness which he is possessed of, never to have an end? It is as certain that the glory and felicity of his servants shall be as lasting; for it is an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away (1 Peter l:4). This, dear friend, is the reward of God’s faithful servants. And can your heart conceive anything greater, or your soul wish for anything more? Can you conceive what it is to put off this vile mortal body, with all its evil affections, and uneasy attendants - to be freed from all defects and imperfections, from all diseases and distempers, all infirmities and deformities? To be like to the angels in heaven, and having put on incorruption and immortality, to shine like the sun in the firmament in the Kingdom of God? Can you conceive what a happiness it will be to be with Christ, to behold the blessed face of that dear person, who does so highly deserve us, both upon the score of his infinite perfections, and likewise upon the account of his inestimable benefits?

Can you conceive what a happiness it will be to”behold God face to face”, as St. Paul says in, 1 Corinthians. 13:12? Or to see him as he is, as St. John expresses it, in 1 John 3:2. That is to have the most clear and comprehensive knowledge of him that finite creatures can possibly have. To know all his adorable perfections, his almighty power, his incomprehensible wisdom, his eternal justice, his resplendent purity and holiness, his immeasurable goodness and love. And to feel the mighty power of this knowledge upon our souls transforming us into the likeness of God, and uniting our wills most perfectly to him, whereby we shall both possess God, and be possessed by him? Can you conceive what a happiness it will be for millions of millions of such God-like creatures to be inseparably together, and with united hearts and mouths to be continually singing songs of praise to the great God of love, who loved them infinitely and taught them to love him again and one another?

And can you think how much it will add to their happiness to have a full and perfect assurance, that it shall never have an end, that it shall be as lasting as it is great, and never know the least diminution or decay? I know, friend, that all this is far above the reach of your most raised thoughts. It is too great a happiness to enter into the heart of man, “as flesh and blood cannot inherit it” (1 Corinthians 15:50), that is, as man in his present weak and corruptible estate cannot be a partaker of it, so neither can he comprehend it. When we are possessed of it, then and not till then shall we fully understand it.

O blessed God! Why are you thus good to the ungrateful and unworthy? Why have you prepared such a happiness for those who neither consider it, nor seek after it? Why is such a price put into the hands of fools, who have not the hearts to make use of it, who fondly choose to gratify their lusts rather than to save their souls and foolishly prefer the momentary enjoyments of sin and folly before a glorious and happy immortality? Vain and foolish people!  How is it that you do not understand your own greatest interest? Why does that reason and judgment, which in other matters constantly attends you, in this, - which is of the greatest moment and concernment to you - so strangely fail you?  Does not all the world see that you desire and seek after such things as you apprehend to be good, and that you are more or less careful in seeking after such things, according to the value you put upon them, and the esteem you have for them? For a small estate you will take great pains, you will run great hazards, and suffer great hardships. For a great estate you will do and suffer more. For a crown or kingdom yet more. Why then will you not do and suffer as much for this glorious and eternal reward, which far transcends all the riches and the glories of the world?

The author to the Hebrews tells us that Moses despised the riches and honors and pleasures of the court of the Pharaoh for this reward. (Hebrews  11:24, 25).  And that a multitude of wise and holy men have had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, of bonds and imprisonment, and have suffered patiently, even  joyfully the worst things that wicked men and devils could inflict upon them - because they had their eyes upon it, and hoped to obtain it. And St. Austin, I remember, professes that he could be content to do or suffer anything, even to suffer the torments of hell for a time, that he might come to heaven at last. And why is it that we have not as great an esteem for it? Or if we have, why do we not labor, why are we not willing to do and suffer as much for it? Do you think that this care and pains, which I speak of, is needless as to the obtaining of it? Or may we hope for it from God’s mercy and goodness without that strict and holy life which I have spoken of? What? Do you believe Almighty God is a liar, or that he is not in earnest when he tells you that without holiness no man shall see Him (Hebrews 12:14). Does not a reward necessarily relate to service, and can you expect the reward though you do no service?

Can you imagine that such a reward, a reward so great and glorious, that the very best of us, not withstanding the promises of God, dare hardly presume to hope for, shall be given to those that are slaves to their own lusts, and either serve not God at all, or no farther than their lusts will give them leave?  What, is this a reward for apostates from God, for rebels against heaven, for those that desire it not, or value it not, but prefer the pleasures of sin and the profits of the world before it? What? Will it be the same thing as to another world, whether men answer the purpose of their creation or not, whether they dishonor their holy profession by an unholy life or not, whether they love God or not, whether they follow the example of Christ or not, and in one word, whether they are suited for heavenly glory and felicity by pure and God-like dispositions, and the participation of the Divine nature - or are ever so unsuited for it, by brutish lusts or devilish qualities and dispositions?

There is a vast difference between heaven and hell no less than there is between light and darkness, between the greatest happiness and the greatest misery. And ought there not to be a vast difference likewise between those that shall enjoy the one, and those that shall fall under the other?

Can a holy and righteous God make so great difference between the eternal estates of men, as to make some eternally happy, and others eternally miserable, who differ here one from another in little or nothing, but only in a little outward profession, or the observation of some few rites and ceremonies, or in a formal and civil carriage or demeanor? Surely,  it is impossible that these things should enter into the head of any sober and thoughtful person, and therefore you must acknowledge the necessity of living a holy life, if you hope for the heavenly glory and felicity. Is not the heavenly Glory encouragement enough for you to do so? Will not that make you sufficiently committed to the greatest care and pains you can take, for the worst things you can suffer, or the greatest hazards you can possibly run. Yes, undoubtedly it will.  Therefore I leave the exhortation of the Apostle with you from 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore my beloved Brethren, be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

I shall add but one thing more, and I will dispatch it in few words, namely,

Chapter 6  - Rewards and Punishments Are Not Far Off.  Containing a sixth argument to a holy life, from considering that these rewards and punishments are not so far off as some persons vainly imagine..

Consider these rewards and punishments which I have spoken of  not as things at a great distance from you, but as they are indeed, and in truth, very near to you. There is but a little part of a very short life, of a life which is between you and them.

We have at most but some few breaths to draw before we must pass into our eternal state, and be either happy or miserable, without any manner of change or alteration for ever.  Death is continually laying his snares for us, and has so many secret and unknown ways to do his work upon us, that we live every moment, as it were, by miracle. And it is a much stranger thing that we have lived till this day, than it would be if we should die before tomorrow. It is true, that we are apt to flatter ourselves with hopes of long life, but how foolish such hopes are! The unexpected fall of someone, or another, every day about us should convince us.

There are thousands now in their graves that came no sooner into the world than we, who hoped to live as long as we. What are we, and what are our hopes, that both may not be cut off within a few  hours? And why may not we make our beds in the dust as much sooner than we expect as they have done? Now tell me, friend, have you so low opinion of the heavenly glory and felicity, as that it cannot engage you to serve God so little a time for it? Or have hell’s torments so little of terror in them that you can not resolve to undergo so short a trouble to avoid them? Or is there anything in this world which can make you neglect a matter of so great importance to you, when you think how little a while you can enjoy it? The histories of England tell us of a Saxon Queen, that by an innocent and happy piece of policy prevailed with her husband to leave his debaucheries and to live Christianly. She did it like this:

There was a day when the king and his favorites feasted and frolicked in an extraordinary manner. And she, as soon as their mirth was ended caused the same place to be covered with dung and filthiness, and to be made as loathsome as possible. When she had done, she desired the king to go there, and to look upon the late scene of their mirth and jollity. When the king was beholding and musing in his mind of the sudden change, she took the opportunity to ask him where all the mirth of the past day was, and what footsteps did now remain of it?

She asked him if all such things were not as wind and vanity, which pass away in an instant, and are not to be recalled? And with these and the like speeches she taught him to despise the world, and to seek after the kingdom of heaven. I shall make no other use of the story than to ask you to reflect upon your life past, and to consider what is become of all your former pleasures. I know that they are all past and gone, and that the time is coming when as much may be said of all your worldly enjoyments. They will be as far from you and as useless to you as all your past pleasures are now. In the hour of death, and from that hour to all eternity, you may say as was said in the book of Wisdom)⁰, “What has pride profited us? And what good has riches with all our wanting brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow, or like a rumor that passes by.”

And therefore be so wise for your own good as to condemn these worthless fugitive things, and for the little remainder of your life to endeavor to make sure of the better and more abiding things which God has prepared for you in heaven.

You have, sometimes perhaps, been visited with sickness and have thought yourself to be upon the borders of the grave. Call to mind, I beseech you, what thoughts then possessed you. Did you not then look upon the world as vanity? And did not all your past follies torment you with a bitter remembrance? Did not the few good things that you had done please you better than all the world? And did you not heartily repent that your whole life was not employed in such good ways? Remember, I beg you, that it will shortly come to that again. The evil day is at hand, and your present delights will be vanished, and your worldly enjoyments will be useless and unprofitable. And if you have not the conscience of a good life to cheer you, you will be miserable without help or remedy. O prepare, prepare, dear friend, for that time, by a holy and Christian life, and let nothing upon earth divert or hinder you. Why should that rob you of your greatest bliss which will not profit you in the least when you have the greatest need of it? Why should that make you miserable for ever, which cannot make you happy for a little time?

Remember your end, said a wise man, and you shall never do amiss. He that knows that he stands upon the brink of eternity is a bold fool if he dares do wickedly. He is mad that will commit a crime this day, who knows that before the next he may be bearing the punishments of it in everlasting sorrows.

Thus have I laid before you, dear friend, some arguments and motives to persuade you to a holy life: and so I have brought the first part of my intended work to an end. The things that I have offered to you, I am sure deserve your serious consideration. Let them be considered accordingly, and suffer them to have their due influence upon you, and I shall give you no further trouble in this matter. Weigh them well, and according to the reason you find in them, so do. And I ask no more of you. Live as a man created on purpose by God ought to live to know and love and serve him here, and to enjoy him for ever hereafter. ought to live. Live as a man advanced to the knowledge and profession of Christianity is obliged to live. Live as a person is in all reason bound to live  that must give an account hereafter of his whole life to a just and impartial judge, is in all reason bound to live. Live as one who believes that he shall be unspeakably and eternally miserable, if he lives amiss; and that he shall be eternally happy, if he lives as he ought.

Live as one that knows that he has but a short life to live, a life that is but a moment in respect to eternity, and that (yet) upon this little moment his eternal state depends. In a word: as a man dying, hastening to the grave, and to the judgment-seat of Christ, and to everlasting bliss or woe, must be concerned to live. Live, thus, dear friend, and I have my desire. Only let me beg your Prayers, that I may live thus likewise, that both of us may be happy for ever. Amen, Amen.

                                                The End of the First Part

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