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There are manifeftly in my Text three Propofitions:

I. That even in the Committing of Sin, there is not that Satisfaction, which Men expect from it; What Fruit had you Then in those Things?

II. That however Satisfactory or Pleafant it is, yet Sin is really Shameful and Bafe; Whereof Ye are now afbam'd.

III. That tho' it yielded never so much Fruit and Satisfaction, tho' it were never fo Creditable and in Repute, yet the End of thofe Things is Death.

Ì. I fhall Firft fhew that even the Enjoyment of Sin is far from giving that Satif faction, which, by the fo eager pursuit of it, Men seem to expect from it. So perverse a Mind as to love Sin only for Sinning fake, and the mere Malice of Difobedience; as it is proper to the damn'd Spirits, fo it is moft commonly rather the Effect and Punishment of Sin than the Motive to it, and is feldom found but in those, who, having long refifted God's good Grace that fhould lead them to Repentance, are given over to a Reprobate hardness of Heart to Work all Uncleanness with Greediness. There muft therefore of neceffity be fome more bewitching Enticement, fome more tempt

ing

ing Bait laid, fome more colourable Pretence to draw Men in; and Sin, as it is of its Father the Devil, fo His Works it will doe ; His, who was a Lyar from the beginning; it will Fawn and Flatter, make great. Profeffions and large Promises, it will ufe us, as Satan did our Saviour, raise us in our Imaginations above the Pinnacles of the Temple, fhew us the Riches, and Honour, and Pleasure of the World, and fay all This will I give you, if You will fall down and worShip Me. But as it generally happens, that the greateft Promifers are the leaft Performers; fo in this particular Cafe, those credulous Wretches will certainly find themfelves moft miferably deluded, who liften to the Voice of the Tempter, or hope to reap any real Enjoyment from that fair imaginary Shew, that the Deceitfulness of Sin represents to 'em. If we should reckon up the large Catalogue of all the different Vices of Mankind; how empty and vain nay how troublesome and uneafy the Purfuit, even of those that seem the most delightful and charming, would appear? Those I fay, that feem the moft Delightful and Charming. For with what Pain and Anxiety do we fee fome Men labour after finful Pleasure? Pleasure, and the unconfin'd Delights of a loose, diffolute, and roving Life, is all they pretend to, and value themselves

upon:

upon: and the wretched Mistake is, that they often think themselves Masters of it, when in earnest they are running a more laborious Courfe, and undergo often more Hardships in this wild Chafe of Folly and Sin, than ever the ftrictest Rules of Morality or Religion would have requir'd at their hands. To live in a perpetual Hurry and Diftraction, to be laying in continual Supplys for fresh Diseases, to pride themselves in fome wild Humour, or invent fome unaccountable Frolick, regarding neither the Sacredness of Perfons, Places or Things, to be in at every Fray and midnight Scuffle, and to be often defervedly as ill us'd as they infolently intended to have used Others; these are accounted fome of their Pieces of Gallantry; and the more extravagant the Vice, the more accomplish'd the Gentleman. It were vain to go to prove how little Satisfaction these unhappy Creatures reap from their lewd Folly, when for half the Mifery and Pain some of them endure in the road to Deftruction, had they fuffer'd it in the cause of Virtue or Religion, they might have been more than Canoniz'd, they might have Been Saints. What loud Accufations fhould we hear from these very Men against the Juftice of the Divine Providence, did Men fuffer half so much by Piety and Virtue, as they do in the Service of their

Lufts?

Lufts? But these are but one Sect of the Men of Pleasure, that have found out an odd Way of enjoying it peculiar to themselves.

Others there are, that pretend to be more reasonable in their Vices, that have fome care to efcape downright Infamy, and have fome regard to their Fortunes, their Bodys, and their Health, that are cautious enough in the Enjoyment of their Senfual Delights, to Sin fo to Day, as they may Sin to Morrow; and fo carefully manage their Vices, that the excess of One may not make 'em unfit for Another. Mirth, and gay Company, and Wit, and Wine, and all the fresh Varietys of Luxury and Luft, make their Days fly delightfully away, and teach 'em to laugh at and defpife thofe Phlegmatick and heavy Slaves, as they are pleas'd to term them, that live by any Rule but Pleasure. These sure, if any, have some Fruit in Sin; These fure are the Men, who, whatever the End of their Journey be, yet travel it on very joyfully, and are in a most pleasant Road. But how wretchedly may we be deceiv'd in the outward Shew of things? If the Guilt that infeparably sticks to these fenfual Ryotings could poffibly be abftracted from them; yet how little of true Satisfaction there is to be found in all this Noife and Appearance of Delight and Happiness, let the Wife Man

convince

convince us, who had made Triall of all the different Ways of Pleasure to fee what was Good for the Sons of Men, who, as he himself tells us, had given himself to Wine, and Mirth, and Laughter, and whatfoever bis Eyes defir'd, kept it not from them, nor witheld his Heart from any Foy, who wanted neither Riches to buy, nor Power to command, nor Wit to invent, nor Vigour to purfue, nor Appetite to relish new Enjoyments, nor Wisdom at last to give a true Judgment of the Real Value of them all. And he has given in One Word his final Determination that they are all Vanity. And, as he himself asks the queftion, what can the Man do that comes after the King? After This King, certainly not so much as immediately follows in the anfwer, Even that which was done before. But alafs! all the Pleasures of Sin are not only Vanity, but Vexation of Spirit too; and this thofe very gay Humour'd Men, even in the height of all their Jollity, if they durft confefs it, muft needs often feel and experience. In the very Heat and Extravagance of Mirth, as Lucretius obferves, furgit amari aliquid, fome bitter intruding Thought of Death or Eternity will be preffing for admittance; and it is very difficult fo quite to have ftiffled and overcome Confcience, as not to be forc'd to hear of her importunities, even at times when Men may think her a little unfeasonable.

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