Pent. They only love their Sin, till they fee Reafon enough to believe that there is fomething which better deferves their Love. And nothing can be Reafon enough for this, but the Teftimony of one from the dead, who can tell them what he hath feen and felt. So foon as ever they can meet with fuch good Intelligence, you may be fure of it they will repent.

Let us here a little confider what Realons might move this wicked Gentleman in Hell to infift fo earneftly on this Requeft, fo that he preferreth the fending one from the Dead, before all other means, of bringing his Brethren to Repentance. We muft fuppofe he is here made to fpeak the Sense of himself, and of his Brethren, and of all fuch as they were, when alive. And therefore by confidering the Things that mov'd him to defire this fo importunately, we may learn what it is that keeps fuch Perfons fo long as they live from repenting.

And here, Firft, from the whole Discourse we may obferve, That one reafon why fuch Men repent not, is this, the confidence that they have in themselves, that they are Men of so much Senfe and Reason, that they understand themfelves, and all their own Concerns, better than ' any other can do. That the only reason why they value not Religion as others do, nor live fo holy lives as they do, is, becaufe they are wifer than they, and will not be govern'd by uncertainties. But knowing themselves ready always to be ruled by reason, and that if they meet with reafon enough to change their prefent Course of Life, they are fure they will be ruled by it: Herein they know they Act like rational Crea

tures,

tures, and if there be a God who made them fuch, they make themselves fure he will never punish them for that. Of this mind the Rich man had always been, and this he knew to be the fenfe of his Brethren. They were, he knew, Men of reafon, and would be convinced by a fufficient Teftimony. Only that they wanted to bring them to repentance: Now, all that can be faid to Men fo wife in their own conceits, is but this, that there is more hope of a fool than of them, God will not, they may be fure, condemn them for Acting according to Reason, but for very unreasonably magnifying their own wifdom, and oppofing it to his Will. That he will condemn them for, is for refifting the light which he hath given them, and faying, they fee when he tells them they are blind, therefore their Sin remaineth. In vain pretend Men to live according to Reafon, whilft they live contrary to human Nature, as it hath been fhew'd that wicked Men do. And he is mad, and not rational, who knowing himself the Creature of an all wife God, as all rational Creatures know themselves to be, accounts it Wisdom to be govern'd rather by his own Imaginations than by Divine Revelation; or who thinks that a wife God made Men' reasonable,and hath not given them a fufficient revelation of his Will, whereby they may know how to behave themselves towards him. It is not (as is pretended) want of fufficient Reafon fhew'd them to repent, but want of a just Confideration of the Reasons which are given them, that keeps them from repenting. And whatever thefe Witty Gentlemen are pleas'd to call themfelyes, they are not Men of great Reafon too ftrong for Divine Revelations so attefted as it is, but Men of prodigious

O 3

Luft

Luft and Folly, too ftrong for their Reafon. And of this, if never before, they will be convinced in Hell.

Secondly, This Rich Gentleman now in Hell, and made fenfible of his Folly by his Torments, might, by the Flames wherein he lay, be awakened, into fome fuch thoughts as thefe.

1. He might well fuppofe, That a fudden and altogether unexpected Apparition of a Dead-man's Ghost, would put his Brethren into a great fright and aftonishment; after which, as they were aable to recover, and come to themselves, they would, in all probability, entertain fome ferious Thoughts, and begin to confider a little, and fo difcourfe among themselves, what should be the meaning of what they faw and heard. And thus far I verily believe he was in the right. For tho' fuch jovial fellows above all things hate thinking, as a very troublefome thing, and a mighty Enemy to good Company; yet fuch a fight would be very apt in fuch a furprize as this, to daunt a little the ftouteft finner of them all, and to make the most unthinking Man a little thoughtful. It would cool his prefent Luft, and mar his Mirth for fome time; and put him into fuch a pofture, as one fhould hardly be able by their pale looks to diftinguish, which was the Ghoft, he, or the thing that appeared to him, Reafan muft have fomething to awake it in fuch Men, howfoever they boast themselves Masters of it, they feldom fhew the Command they have of it any otherwife, than by Eating and Drinking, and playing it afleep; and ferious confideration is the life of reafon. The want of this the Rich Man knew well enough had kept him from Repenting

and

and therefore might be fo earnest with Abraham to have this course taken with his Brethren, as that which was most likely to put them on this ufe of their reafon.

2. He might well hope, that being thus awake, and beginning to think seriously of what had happened, they might be convinc'd, or at least be brought to fufpect, because of this Apparition of one, as they fuppos'd, from the Dead, That there is a future ftate of Men after Death, and that fomething of them remains alive after their Bodies are laid up to corrupt; the thing which they had been told of in the Scripture, but would not believe. The Rich Man well knew how uneafy to him he had ever found the thoughts of this, and what shifts he was wont to make to prevent them from giving him too much trouble, and abating the guft he had in his finful pleasures; and might very well think, that his Brethren were yet as averfe from fuch Thoughts, as he had been. But thought he, if one be fent unto them from the Dead, and begin to talk to them about the future ftate of the Dead, and testify of it from his own Experience, if this will not throughly convince them, that the Souls of them who die do live after Death, yet will it make them le confident of the contrary, and more cautions how they live. And this, I think, it could not chufe but do, fuppofing them fully fatisfied, that what appear'd to them was no delufion, but fomething that they knew was once alive, and had been Dead.

3. He might fuppofe, that one who had fome time tafted of the Joys of Paradice, and had lain feafting himself in Abraham's bofame, would be 0 4

able

able to give them a more lively and affecting Defeription, of that blessed State, wherein he then was; and make them more clearly understand the vast difference between the imperfect and bruitifh pleasures, which they were now fo fond of, and thofe perfect Celestial Foys in another World, which they muft certainly lofe, if they repented not. Words fit to exprefs the excellency and glory of Pious Souls departed hence, are too great for the Mouths of Mortals, and all fuch as cannot speak from their own feeling. Those figures of Speech whereby they are fome way fhadow'd forth unto us in Holy Scripture, to fuch as have not fome Spiritual Sense of them, and want a Spiritual Eye to fee thro' the Metaphor, do but obfcure or disguise them; and to fuch Men as we are now fpeaking of, make them feem fabulous and incredible. Lazarus would be able, he thought, fo plainly to fet forth the greatness of that Heavenly Banquet, whereat he was continually entertain'd, and all thofe glories of the other World whereof he was a conftant Spectator, that after they had once given him a full hearing, they could not but be ravifh'd with the relation he had made, and they would never again have any Appetite to any of thofe low and earthly pleafures which this World afforded, but look on them as defpicable things in comparison of what he would commend to their choice. And then,

4. He might fuppofe, That one who had feen, as Lazarus might be fuppos'd by him to have done, that dismal fight of Souls tormented with the Devils in Hell, and had feen the Rich Gentleman, inftead of his Purple and fine Linnen, wrapp'd

up