Ildly, Into the Caufes of this Inconfideration, the next Thing I proposed to speak to.

And the firft, and perhaps the most fatal of all others, and which may ferve to remove a very dangerous Mistake we are apt to make in this Affair, is, That Men are wont to think they do very well confider these Things, when in Truth they do not confider them to any purpose at all.

For indeed, what is that which Men now a-days do call Confidering? If they are fometimts a little ferious, if they reflect now and then upon the bufinefs of Religion: If they go to Church on Sundays, and are not fcandaloufly wicked the Week after If they receive the Holy Sacrament in its Seafons, and when they do fo, fit down a while and reflect a little, a Day or Two, it may be the Week before, upon their Sins and their Vanities, and then Sigh, and are Sorry, and refolve to Sin no more, this they call Confidering; and this, I fear, is what makes up the Religion of a very great number amongst us.

But alas! this is as far diftant from that true Confideration, I would now recommend to you, as the little imperfect Effects of it, are for the most part inferior to that excellent Piety that would be the certain Confequence of the other. 'Tis not every light Reflection upon the bufinefs of Religion," that is worthy the Name of a true Confideration. He that will do this as he ought to do, must refolve to do it throughly: He muft fearch to the very bottom of his Soul; Not a Sin fo fecret, not a Luft or Intereft fo dear or profitable to us, but what, to the beft of our Power, must be enquired into. Now all the Danger of Sin in General

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General, all the black Circumstances, and heightning Aggravations of our own Sins in Particular, muft feriously be confider'd: The Hopes and Terrors of Eternity be throughly weighed ; What the Goodness of God is, if we will yet repent; What his Judgments will be, if we shall continue to defpife the Riches of his Mercy, and Treasure up to our felves Wrath against the Day of Wrath. In a word, whatever may ferve, either to convince us of our Sins and of our Danger, or to engage us to forfake the one, that fo we may efcape the other, muft all be laid before us; till finally, by God's Grace, we are brought in the bitterness of our Souls, to fuch a fenfe of our Condition, as fhall engage us to a fincere Repentance of our Sins, and Obedience to God's Commands; and fo work in us that change of Life, which alone is able to fave our Souls for ever.

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He that gives off before he has done this, He may have thought of his Duty, if you will, but he has not yet confider'd as he ought to do: He may have prepared the Way, but he is yet to run. In fhort, He may have confider'd of Religion as many now a-days do, who read the Holy Scriptures, run through all the various Sets and Parties of Chriftians, who fuffer not the leaft Controversy to escape them, nor a Difpute to arife in which they do not intereft themfelves; and yet, when all is done, have not one jot of real Piety in their Souls: But after a great deal of Pains get only that knowledge which puffeth up, and are yet to learn that Charity which edifieth.

This is the firft, and perhaps one of the most fatal Cheats Men commonly put upon their Souls: They flatter themselves that they do very well Confider thefe Things, when indeed they do not

confider

confider them to any purpose, nor as they ought to do it.

2. A Second Caufe of Mens Inconfideration, and but little inferior to the foregoing, elther in the Danger or the Univerfality of it, is, That our Confideration is for the most part totally turned another way.

It is a long time fince the generality of Mankind feem to have fallen under a very dangerous Miftake, That Religion ought not to be looked upon as their Business, but only as a Thing by the by: Somewhat to entertain their Thoughts with upon folemn Times, and in their Melancholly Hours; but which 'twere unreasonable to expect amidst fo great a plenty of other Affairs, as the World now abounds with, fhould ordinarily be made the Subject of their Thought, and their Confideration.

Thus have we utterly reverfed the Maxim of our Saviour, and made not our Salvation, but the Bnfinefs of this World, our Employments and our Interefts, nay, Good God! our very Vices and our Sins, the Unum Neceffarium, the great Thing to be taken care of by us: And we are fo wholly taken up and engaged with thefe, that we have no leifure to think at all, to be fure not to any purpose, and as we ought to do of that.

And now, what wonder if when this is the Cafe, we fee fuch very fad, 'tis true, but yet fuch very natural Effects of it? Whilft Men reckon the concerns of this prefent Life to be the main of their Bufinefs, we ought not to be furprized if they confider no more of what may make for a better.

Till this mistake be rectified, we may be troubled indeed to fee Men fo Inconfiderate, but fure we ought not to admire it. We may with Mofes

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with,

wish, O that they were wife, that they would underftand this! But till that be done, we cannot expect they should very much Confider their latter End.

But 3dly, Another Caufe, and which I believe has kept very many from confidering as they ought to do, is, That 'tis Uneasy to them; and therefore they do not care to enter upon it.

It is a great Disadvantage to Religion, that tho' there be really nothing in the World more pleafing or more agreeable to our Rational Natures, than the Practice of it; yet has it fomething that is rough and uneafy in the first setting out, and which the habitual Sinner cannot without Pains and Dif ficulty get over.

He that thrives by Sin, that grows Rich, or Great, or Honourable in the World, by Injury and Oppreffion, by Fraud and Flattery, will no doubt be very uneafy to embrace a Religion, that requires a Juftice and Integrity in all our Actions, that forbids all Violence and Rapine, all Artifice and Dif fimulation; i. e. all thofe Methods by which he has been wont to increase and flourish heretofore.

Again: If a Man has been used freely to indulge himself in all that his Heart defired; to gratify his Paffions in their wildeft Irregularities; he will no doubt find it a matter of no fmall difficulty to deny himself, and refift and do Violence to thofe Appetites, which he has been fo accustomed to comply with heretofore.

So that in Effect, whether out of a prevailing Intereft, or a real Fear; whether out of an Unwillingness to forfake Sin, or a mistaken Apprehenfion of the Impoffibility of overcoming it, Many, I believe, content themfelves to go on, without ever

confidering

confidering at all; and hate to reflect on what they are refolved never to reform.

Or, if perhaps this does not carry them fo far, as to make them totally lay afide the Thoughts of Religion, yet at least, it renders them unwilling to fet about it, and so produces a

4th, And which is the laft Cause I fhall now mention, of that Incogitancy I am here complaining of; viz. That Men are apt to Procraftinate this great Affair; they refolve they will one Time or other confider, but never heartily and effectually do fo.

This is certainly a very great, and yet I fear a very general Fault; and fuch as perhaps has ruined more Souls, than any one Thing again in the whole World.

It is a hard Matter totally to filence Confcience, and ftifle all the Thoughts of Piety and Religion: But our Unhappiness is, that when we are thus put in mind of our Duty, we either content our felves with fome very flight and fuperficial Confideration of it; or else we put off our Confciences, as Felix did St. Paul, to a more convenient Seafon.

Thus fome refer these kind of Thoughts to Old Age, and never come to it, but go down into the Grave, before they have made any juft Provifion for it. Others, it may be, fet it a fhorter Date, but then still fome Bufinefs or Hindrance interpofes, and then another Time is fix'd, and that too is dif appointed; and thus our Lives run on, but the greater Work of Confidering is ftill to come. It may be at length God's Grace is withdrawn, and Confcience grows weary of being any longer importunate, when it has been fo often denied. And thus when we thought to have confider'd, we find

neither