(3.) If nature be not so clear, scripture is full and positive. If we do indeed believe the scripture, as we profess to do, certainly we can- not so "-rossly go against the whole current and drift of it. That scrip- ture which you profess to be the book of God, and take for the rule of your lives and expectations ; that scripture which your consciences dread as owning the voice of God therein ; that scripture which is confirmed by God's providence and frequent experiments ; that scrip- ture wliich hath such a rational evidence in itself, — it is that assureth us of a world to come, and bringeth it to light in the word. The very thought of such a hell and heaven as were invented by the ancient helithens, was enough to make them virtuous ; though as to the manner and circumstances of it, the more understanding knew it to be a very fable and supposition : yet the thing itself, being bottomed and founded upon those natural apprehensions of the immortality of the soul, and the attributes of the deity, had powerful effects upon them. Now shall we talk of Christianity, pretend a reverence for the scriptures, and shall we tremble no more at the certainty of a hell than Gentiles at the possibility of it ? Shall their suspicion work more than our faith ? If they Avere so pliable to poets' discipline, how should we be moulded and framed by the doctrine of Christ ? What awe and holy trembling should it breed in our hearts !
[2.] Inconsideration. We are so taken up with the cares and ])leasures of the present life, that we are not at leisure to think of death and life, hell and heaven, or upon what terms we stand with (iod : Jer. viii. 6 ; Eccles. xi. 9, ' Remember that for all these things Ood will bring thee to judgment.' The young man in the heat of his lusts forgetteth that a time of reckoning will come. Oh, think of vour ways, and whither you are a-going. It is foolish to busy our- selves about many things, and neglect the main : Luke x. 41, 42. You think it will bring a damp on your hearts. ]3ut if you cannot endure to think of hell, how much less will you endure one day to suiler it ? Is it such a trouble to consider it ? — what is it to feel it ? Timely consideration is tlie way to prevent and escape these torments ; it wilfhelp to preserve you from coming thither, and cause it to work upon you. Oh, then, ' Set your hearts unto all these words which I testify among you this day,' Dent, xxxii. 40. Consideration will awaken the soul that was formerly laid asleep. Will heaven or hell entice or deter the man thatthinketh not of it ? Shall we not, there- fore, liave a little patience while we (leei)ly ponder and weigh these things in our minds ? See, life and deatii is set before you ; and will you not allow a few serious tlioughts al)()ut them, nor ask your souls what shall become of you to all eternity ? God's great complaint of
Mat. VII. 12.] the eighteenth sermon. 3C5
Israelis: Isa. i. 3, 'My people will not consider;' andthc same connplaint may be made of us. Things are evident and clear to faith, reason, and conscience ; but we will not consider, and so wander out of the way.
3. The next thin^ we exhort you to do, is to make choice for your own souls. That is the use Moses makes of it : Deut. xxx. 19, * Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.' Hear- ing, believing, considering, are all in order to choice ; and without choice, and a determined, fixed, bent of heart, you will never walk evenly in heaven's ways. Determine not only that you must, but you will, walk in the way which God hath set forth for you. God's ways must be chosen : Ps. cxix. 30, ' I have chosen the way of truth ; ' and ver. 173, ' I have chosen thy precepts ; ' Josh. xxiv. 15, ' If it seem evil to you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve.' Not as if it were indrfferent, but to set an edge upon their appetite. There is much strength in the bond, when a man bindetli himself freely, and makes him the more inexcusable if he doth not ob- serve it. All will choose life before death, but they are out in the means ; they do not choose good before evil, the good of holiness before the evil of sin. Every man desireth some good. It is as natural for the reasonable creature to desire to be happy, as it is for the fire to burn ; but we do not make a right choice of the means that may bring us to that happiness that we desire. They would be happy, but they choose means quite contrary to happiness. Oh, then, choose the ways of God ; let life be your motive, and holiness your choice. This is the way to live for ever, to avoid hell beneath. As soon as we come to years of discretion, we should make our choice to go on in the ways of life. To this we are obliged by the most weighty reasons, urged by the enforcements of the word, and by the sad and numerous ex- amples of young people, who make an ill choice in the beginning, and go on, and are hardened therein, and perish, for ever.