Hadft thou with Solomon chofen Wisdome, poffibly thou might'ft have fped as well as he, and begging Wifdome only, might'ft have had given thee in over and above what thou askedft, as he had, both Riches and Honour. Hadft thou first fought the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness, these other good things fhould have been added unto thee. Matt. 6. But feeing thou majdst so unwife a choice for thy felf, thou must now abide by thy choice; take that which thine is, and go thy way, there is no remedy. If thou fay't, thou wouldft have thought thy felf happy enough, and would never have wifh'd for better, mighr'ft thou have kept what thou hadft, and have lived for ever, in the fame condition thou waft once in: Let me ask thee this Queftion, Didft thou not know before-hand, that it was impossible for thee to do fo? Waft thou not fufficiently inform'd of the imperfection and infufficiency of all these good things; how that the goodness of them extended to the body only, and therefore could be no longer good to thee, than whilst thou livedst in the body? And didst thou not know, that after a few Years, at moft, thou must certainly die, and leave thy body to rot in the Earth, and that thy Soul fhould out-live thy Body, and when it should be feparated from it, it could no longer make ufe of any of thefe good things. If thou knew'ft all this, why wouldst thou choose these things for thy Portion and Happiness? Why wouldst thou choose to be one of thofe Men of the World who have their Portion in this Life, and whofe Bellies God now fills with his bid Treasure? Pfal. 17. 14. Thou knew'ft well enough, that these good things would never follow thee into another World. And therefore all thou haft now to

do, when thou art come thither, is to try if thou canft fatisfy thy felf with chewing the Cud, or ruminating on all thy full Meals that thou wast wont to make heretofore. And if thou fhalt farther fay, that it may feem a Punishment great enough to have for ever loft all thefe good things, but too much, over and above that to be tormented in those flames: Still it must be anfwer'd, because it was thine own foolish choice. Never complain of hard measure, or that thy punishment either in the pain or duration of it is difproportionable to thy fault; neither by accufing God of too much feverity, or injuftice, feek to move pitty in the hearts of confidering Men; feeing how fad and painful foever thy torments be, 'tis that which thou haft chofen for thy felf, and preferred before the unexpreffible and everlasting Joys of Heaven. Thou waft often enough told, that there is no Peace to the Wicked, that a carnal and fenfual Life is the certain way to everlasting Deftrution; that a holy and fpiritual Life is the way to eternal Life and Bleffedness. Thou waft told, that thy Soul was to be immortal; that it must never die, or ceafe to be; and to be fenfible, That fo foon as it was departed from the body, it fhould go into an unchangeable ftate, either of happiness, or of Mifery. Thou waft continually call'd upon, and earneftly intreated to take care of thy felf, and invited moft lovingly to partake with the Saints in endless Rest and Glory; and the Servants of God begg'd of thee to walk with them in the clean and pleasant Paths of Purity and Righteousnefs, unto Joy and Blefjedness. Thou walt warn d again and again, to take heed of walking after the Flesh unto death, to fhun all Senfuality and Voluptuoufness as a feet poifon, but deadly.

God

God gave thee time enough to live, and confider, and repent of thy paft Folly; Day after Day, and Year after Year, was granted thee to think on thy later end, and to grow wiser for thy felf. Yet all this would not do. Thou wouldst not believe the report of God's Messengers, fent early and late to warn thee. Thou waft refolved to hold on ftill in thine own Way, and to try Experiments on thy felf, to tempt God to the utmoft, and to venture all for thy prefent pleasure. The way thou wentft in was pleasant to thee, and thou waft refolved to try whether, or no, there were any fuch torments as thou waft told of at the end of thy pleasant Walk. Say then, Was not all the Evil thou complaineft of brought upon thee by thy felf? Was it not thine own wilful and deliberated Sin that brought thee thither? Content therefore thy felf as thou can't with that State which thou haft chofen. And remember farther yet, that God, the gracious and merciful God, hath ever been fo far from dealing hardly and feverely with thee, that he hath been not only very patient and long-fuffering, but hath dealt very bountifully with thee. He had giyen thee a very liberal and large Portion, whereof thou never defervedft, nor could deferve the leaft couldst part. Thy wicked Behaviour deferved nothing but evil Things, and he gave thee good Things, many good Things. Thou abùfedft them all to his dihonour, and yet he continued them unto thee for a long time, even as long as thou livedft; and pro longed thy Life, which thou hadft a Thoufand Times forfeited, to fuch a length; as that thou hadft time enough given thee to provide in for thy eternal State. Thou hadit long the many good Things which Thousands of much better

Men

Men hardly ever were allowed a fmall Tafte of; and these were thofe very good Things, that thou most defiredft, and esteemedft best. Remember then, that thou haft received thy full share, yea over-meafure; thou haft had all thy Portion to a Farthing, and not fo much as a drop of cold Water is now behind for thee to receive.

Now this was all a fad hearing to the Rich Man in Hell. O let us all take heed, that we come not thither to hear as much faid unto our felves by our own tormenting Confciences, which then will be always awake, and pleading too late against our madness here. Here's a very fair warning given us all by our holy and loving JESUS, who would have all Men to be faved, and to come to the knowledge of the Truth. Let us beware, how we take up our Happiness in this World; for we cannot have it both here and hereafter too. If we account the Things of this World OUR good Things, we must be content with what is ours; and to leave the Things of the better World to come to those who chose them for theirs. They that are refolved to live a Gentleman's Life of pleafure now, muft refolve too, to live his Life in Hell and Torments. There is nothing more plainly taught us in the Book of God than this, which we are fo unwilling to take notice of, and yet would live in hope of being faved, That we must deny our felves, and with our Crofs on our Shoulders, follow the Bleffed Saviour of the World; we muft deny our own Wills; and renounce our carnal pleasures, and fet our Affections on nothing here below. How many good Things foever God gives us in this World, we are to take heed left we make them Our good Things by loving them too well, or immoderately using them, or gree

dily

dily hunting and gaping after them, or grievously refenting the lofs of them. If we make them our chief delight, and comfort, God will make then in what proportion foever he distributes them, our only Portion and Reward.

Again, here we fee, That Wordly Profperity is a Thing which we should be indifferent for. We ought to be fo far from impatiently defiring it, that we ought rather to be afraid of it, and to grow a little jealous of our felves, when ever we enjoy it. It fhould put us upon a very diligent Enquiry into the State of our Souls, and the Sincerity of our Hearts; and make us very cautions in our Behaviour, and vigilant over our Selves. We should grow afraid, left we are not indeed fo Good as we fhou'd be, and left what we now enjoy fhould prove all our Portion. We have no way but one to affure our Selves that our present Profperity is not all the Portion we are like to have, and that is, to fit very loofly from all worldly good things in our Affections, and be very indifferent, whether we have them or no; to live as little as may be to the Flesh, and to take as little fenfual delight and pleasure in any thing that we have; as our prefent Condition will allow us, to place our whole delight in doing all the good we can with, the good Things we have, and to account they do us moft good, when, with a truly Christian compaffion, we communicate them freely. to those who are in want, being as well pleased to fee our good Things on other People's Backs, as on our own; and feeding the Hungry with them, to

in alle more fweetnefs in their relief, than

in all the dainty Rarities wherewith our Palates are too well pleased. If we can thus freely dif pofe of them to others, as God gave them to us,

We