Now, whatever unthinking men dream, to me it is evident, that when kingdoms and commonwealths are overflowed with unrestrain- ed vice and immoralities ; when cursing and swearing becomes the common language, drunkenness and adultery the common practiceof the inhabitants ; God will either sweep away the filth of those na- tions, by the besom of a general reformation, or he will sweep away their inhabitants out of them, with the besom of destruction. For if we have not excused the notion and belief of a God, and that he animadverts tlie wickedness of men, (which the very Heathens, by the light of nature, saw and acknowledged,) we may thereby easily be led to this conclusion, that such overflowings of abomination do, and must certainly presage our desolation, except speedy and general reformation do prevent it.
§ 7. Now, the persons, whose reformation I particularly design by this method, being men that exercise more reason than religion, might (methinks) be prevailed with to take up at last, and reform their unreasonable, as well as ungodly courses, could they be once prevailed with to debate these matters with cool, considerative minds, becoming men governed by reason, not wholly swayed like- brute-beasts, by lust and appetite.
And is it not highly reasonable, that men should weigh their own actions at the same beam and standard where they v/eigh other men's actions ; and renounce all that with shame and detestation, which they themselves must censure as utterly beneath, and unworthy of a man ? Wherefore hath God planted a principle of reason and conscience within us.'' Is it rational to think, it was planted there for no other end or use, but to scan and censure other men's words or actions by, but not our own ? Or to be wholly useful to other men'*s
476 THE REASONABLENESS OF PERSONAL REFORMATION.
interests, without any benefit to ourselves ? Ask thine own reason^ silly man, why God placed it in thy soul ? and for what use it was in- tended ? And it will tell thee, it was particularly designed and ap- pointed, to regulate and order thine own life and actions; and next, for the benefit and good of the community. It will tell thee, there is not a single act thou dost, of any weight or moment, but thou ought- est to consult with it, and have its pass or licence before thou do it. But when thou enterest into a serious course of actions, thy consul- tations with it ought to be very frequent and solemn, because these things are of great importance to thee.
Thy reason will tell thee, sinner, that it is a vile affront to it, to be thrust by thee from the council-table, unworthily dismissed from its office, and discharged from any further attendance upon thy life, and concerns thereof, and brutish lust and appetite consulted in its room ; and that it needed not at all to have been implanted in thy soul, if the same principles that govern the beasts of the field must also be thy governing principles. It stands ready to oifer its service to thee, to save thee from, or to receive thee out of those mischiefs thou hast, or mayest run thyself into ; if thou wilt but hear, and obey its advice, it tells thee, it is thy privy-counsellor, by God's appoint- ment ; and if thou wilt not find leisure among the heats and hurries of thy lusts, to consult it, and hearken to its counsels now ; if thou wilt not forsake the conduct of thine own reason and conscience, which have a right and authority to govern thy words and actions, and fol- low thy blindand head-strong lusts and passions, thou shalt hear other language from them, when thy lusts have precipitated thee into thine own ruin and destruction ; as they speedily and inevitably must, and will do, according to the course they now steer for thee.
§ 8. And there is yet more ground to hope, that reason may pre- Tail with men living under the gospel, to return to sobriety and tem- perance, when we consider their reason is assisted by some illumina^ tions from the Christian religion. They live in a land of bibles and ministers, where they cannot avoid the light ; an advantage far be- yond whatever the heathens enjoyed ; who yet by their single un- assisted reason, arrived to an eminency in moral virtues.
Our reasons and consciences do not only convince us, (as theirs also did them) that there is a God, and a future life of retribution, where- in every man shall be judged according to his works ; but also, that the scriptures are the very word of God, and rule of faith and man- ners. And if there be any among the debauched crew, that question or deny it, we may be confident none of them are able, by plain and sound reason, to overthrow those mighty arguments pleaded for the confirmation of that truth : At least, they find in themselves a^ strong suspicion and fear, that they may prove to be true ; which jea- lousy and suspicion, working together with their own reason and consciences, are no contemptible helps toward their recovery.
For if what reason, conscience, and scripture, with one mouth, pro-
THE REASONABLENESS OF PERSONAL REFORMATION. 47T
xiounce, be true and certain, (as undoubtedly it will be found to be) ;^ then it must be plain and obvious to them also, that their brutish lusts have put them into the direct and ready way, both to ruin themselves, and also greatly to hazard the community to which they belong.
§ 9. As for themselves, if they will make a judgment upon their own condition, in the light of reason, conscience, or scripture (and they very well know, they take their measures in perfect darkness, if they take them not by this direction) ; then, continuing the same course they now do, they are a lost generation.
All their lawful and faithful guides tell them, with one mouth, they are certainly in the broad way to damnation ; and that, how irksome and terrible soever the thoughts and apprehensions of hell are to them, yet thither they must certahily come, if they pursue this course. Their reason plainly tells them, he that chuseth the means, and engageth in the way leading to hell, must and ought to make account, that hell is the place he is preparing for.