what Instruction he hath met with in the School of Righteousness what plenty of Religious Discourses and Exhortations he has enjoy'd and how frequently he has felt Motions from within to a still more and more holy and exemplary Life He that hath experienc'd all this in a great degree that hath had his pregnant natural Capacity well cultivated by an early and excellent Instruction and had the whole of Religion plainly laid before him in all the Doctrines Duties Rewards and Punishments of it and been often and affectionately exhorted to live accordingly in all holy Conversation and Godliness and has frequently felt secret internal Motions and Perswasions to it this Man has received much more than One Talent at the hands of God and God will expect from him a proportionable Improvement and he must abound in every good Word and Work For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much requir'd and to whom Men have committed much of him they will ask the more But because all Men are not of equal Abilities naturally neither have the same Opportunities of Instruction and Improvement nor the same immediate Impulses of the Blessed Spirit where there is any defect in these Respects God will abate proportionably in his Expectations and he that received the One Talent had he gained but One other with it would have been call'd a good and faithful Servant and been receiv'd into the Joy of his Lord. Let us all therefore endeavour to grow in Grace according to the measure of this unspeakable Gift to perform our Duties each in his Station and according to his Ability faithfully and industriously that when our Lord comes to make Enquiry into each ones Improvement of his Talent and call for every ones particular Account we may all from the least to the greatest chearfully give it up and receive the immense Reward of a sincere Diligence For In the third Place There will most certainly be a Time when our Great Lord will come to take Account of every Man's Improvement of the Grace that was given him and reward every Man according to his Deserving That there will certainly be a Day of Judgment both of Quick and Dead when every Man shall be rewarded according to that he hath done in the Body whether it be good or evil is a Truth so evident from Scripture that those who have read and do believe those Writings can make no doubt of it And the Proof of this from Reason has been so convincingly manag'd by several Learned Pens particularly of late by Dr. Sherlock in his Excellent Discourse upon Judgment that I think nothing can be added to it I shall only therefore Collect such a Description of that Great Day and the Proceedings in it out of the Revelations where it is the most movingly represented as may incline us all with the greatest Diligence and immediately by self-Examination and Amendment of every evil Way to prepare for that great Audit that we may give up our Accounts with joy and not with grief In the 20th Chapter of the Revelations ver 12. after the divine Apostle had given a Description of the Appearing of the great Judge upon his Throne I saw a great White Throne says he and him that sat on it from whose face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was found no place for them He proceeds I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened And another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the dead were judged out of those Things that were written in the Books according to their Works and the Sea gave up the dead that were in it and Death and the Grave deliver'd up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their Works And whosoever was not written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire That is The Records shall then be laid open wherein every Man's Receipt of Grace is enter'd and those whose Works shall be found proportionably good according to the Assistance they have receiv'd from Above or in the Stile of the Parable that have made an answerable Improvement to the Number of Talents committed to them their Names shall be written in the Book of Life and they received into the eternal Joy of their Lord. But those who can then give no good Account of their Talents shew no suitable Improvement in Holiness according to the measure of Grace they have received shall never see Life but be cast into the Lake of Fire which is the second Death And because so very few will be so wise as to make due Preparation for this great Day of Account by improving the Grace God has given them to the great Ends for which it was design'd therefore as 't is describ'd Rev. 3.15 The Kings of the Earth and the great Men and the rich Men and the chief Captains and the mighty Men and every Bond-man and every Freeman many of all Qualities and Conditions from the highest to the lowest shall hide themselves in Dens in Rocks and Mountains and say to the Rocks and Mountains fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb for the great Day of his Wrath is come and who shall be able to stand May these Terrors of the Lord perswade us to provide in this our day for the Things that belong to our Peace before they be hid from our eyes looking for by frequent Meditation and hastning unto by a diligent Improvement of our Talents the coming of this dreadful day of God and being above all things careful That we be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless for God will bring every secret Thing into Judgment whether it be good or evil and exactly adapt every Man's Recompense to his Work Which brings me to the next Thing I am to consider in this Parable namely Fourthly That at that great Day of Account when every Man's Work is fully known and his Improvement compar'd with what he has receiv'd the Diligent shall not only in general be receiv'd into the Joy of their Lord and the unprofitable cast into outer Darkness but the most Diligent those that have made the greatest Improvement shall receive the greatest share of Happiness And those that have been most careless and Unprofitable shall be doom'd to the greatest misery That is in short there will be degrees of Happiness or Misery respectively awarded to Men according to the degrees of their Holiness or Impiety I know this has been much question'd by some and wholly deny'd by others and their main Reason against it I conceive to be this That since the Happiness of the Just in Heaven consists in the Vision of God or the Excellencies and Beauties of the Divine Nature which will fill a holy Soul with eternal and inexpressible Delight for so St. John expresses the Bliss of Heaven by seeing God as
is the Devil the Harvest is the End of the World and the Reapers are the Angels As therefore the Tares are gather'd and burnt in the Fire so shall it be in the End of the World The Son of Man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them that do Iniquity and shall cast them into a Furnace of Fire there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father From this Interpretation of this Parable it appears that the Design of it is to shew for the Encouragement of the sincerely good and Terrour of the Hypocritical that though there may be many wicked Professors of Christianity that are Christians only in Name and Out-side and who in this World may be confusedly intermix'd among the good and go undiscover'd of Men and unpunish'd of God nay thrive and prosper here more than the good and to all outward Appearance be the Favorites of Heaven whilst the sincerely good undergo many Afflictions and appear to Men to be under God's Displeasure Yet in the great Harvest that shall be at the End of the World there shall be a Distinction made between the one and the other the hypocritical shall be separated from the sincere and the former consign'd to ever lasting Burnings and the latter received into the Heavenly Regions the Place prepared for them from the Beginning of the World This is the Design of the Parable We shall now briefly consider how aptly expressive it is of this Sense and then discourse upon the several Parts of it The planting of the Gospel in the World in order to the converting Men to Christianity is compared to the sowing of Seed because as was said upon the former Parable the Gospel like Seed is that Principle of a future great Increase of Piety and Holiness in this World and of Glory and Happiness in the next 'T is that which if sincerely embrac'd and its Growth and Progress not hindred will spring up to Glory Honour and Immortality And 't is said to be like Seed sown or committed to the Furrows and then left to its own seminal Powers and the favourable Influences of Heaven because the Gospel being actually planted in the World is as to particular Persons left to make its Way by its own Power and Efficacy the Excellency of its Precepts and its transcendent Rewards and Punishments together with the constant Dews of the Divine Grace that attend it without any more extraordinary Means unless upon some extraordinary Occasion to make it take Root and fructify 'T is generally propos'd to all in its whole Latitude which is the sowing of it and then Men are left to their own free Choice whether they will embrace it with its Promises or turn their Backs upon it and run the Hazard of its Threats without any irresistible Force to the one or the other only the small still Voice of God's Spirit in Men's Hearts and Grace descending like the gentle Dew to soften and incline them to cherish this good Seed which is the leaving the Gospel to its own seminal Powers with only the benign Waterings of the Divine Grace and Blessing Our Lord is call'd the Sower of the good Seed because he is the Author and first Teacher of this holy Religion and its Validity to the great Purposes to which it is design'd depends upon the Merit of his bitter Death and Passion and the invigorating Vertue of his precious Blood For 't was upon his satisfying the Divine Justice by his Death that he receiv'd Authority to mark out to us this Way to Life and Reconciliation as the only Principle and Seed of Immortality The World is call'd the Field where this Seed is sown because this blessed Religion is catholick and universal not confined to any particular Place or People as the Jewish Religion was but whosoever of what Nation or People soever shall believe in Jesus and repent shall be saved And agreeably in another Parable which for its great Analogy to this I shall not particularly discourse of the Gospel or Kingdom of Christ is represented by a Net cast into the Sea Mat. 13.47 not any particular Lake or River And this World is stiled the Field because this is the only Place of receiving this Seed and bringing forth the genuine and expected Fruits of it and he that shall refuse to receive this divine Seed now while he continues here or not suffer it to grow and increase and bring forth Fruit shall never have the like Opportunity again but suffer for ever the Punishment threatned to obstinate Infidelity or barren Unfruitfulness This World is the only Field this Life the only Seed-time and at the End of it comes that one great Harvest which shall consign Men to an eternal Condition either happy or miserable according to their Barrenness or Fruitfulness during this Time and in this Place of Growth and Increase The Children of the Kingdom or those that are sincere Christians intirely devoted to the Service of their great Master and have receiv'd the good Seed of the Gospel into honest and good Hearts as 't is express'd in the preceeding Parable These are themselves likewise compared to good Seed because they have a substantial Piety the Power as well as the Form and Appearance of Godliness and bring forth the genuine Fruits of their holy Religion That divine Seed that was sown in their Hearts has produced not only the Blade in the Ear but the full Grain in the Ear the same Kind of Seed that was sown appears in their Lives and Conversations the Seed of the Spirit brings forth the Fruits of the Spirit and the Seed of Holiness produces real and substantial Holiness so that the Gospel is called good Seed as 't is the first Principle of Holiness and truly pious Men are likewise call'd good Seed as the genuine Product and Increase of that first Principle The Gospel is the good Seed sown and the sincerely religious are the good Seed as springing from it and being produc'd by it The Children of the wicked one or the hypocritical Professors of Christianity are compared to Tares or Gockle because they have only a Shew and Appearance of Religion as Tares and Cockle have of Corn but like them no Substance of good Corn none of the real Excellencies of Religion nothing but hurtful and vicious Qualities as Tares are said to have hurtful to themselves in the final Consequence as bringing them to so miserable an End and hurtful to others by their ill Neighbourhood and Converse as Tares to Wheat and likewise injurious to the holy Religion they profess as reflecting Dishonour upon it by their scandalous Conversation Upon all Accounts 't is infoelix Lolium as the Poet calls it unhappy Tares they are that bring Dishonour upon God and Destruction upon themselves and others The Devil is very fitly stiled the Enemy that
will unhallow and make ineffecutal one Duty of Christianity I can't see why it should not do the like to all the rest And if a Separation were admitted upon such Accounts as as these there would be no such thing as an external Communion of Saints because such is the State of the Gospel in this World that the bad will be intermix'd with the Good as Tares are in a Field of Wheat And as to the Practice of particular Ministers I charitably hope none do admit of notorious Offenders to the Communion without receiving satisfactory Marks of their Repentance or at least by previous Discourse or writing When they know of their Intention to communicate let 'em know the great Danger of receiving unworthily and urge them to an immediate sincere Repentance or else forbid 'em at their Peril to approach the holy Table And if after all this they will come we are to suppose in Charity that they have repented except we are sure to the contrary And if a Minister sees one at the Table whose Life has in many Instances to his Knowledg been very faulty unless the Crimes have been very great and very notorious to reject such an one I think with Submission would be arrogant and uncharitable and might exasperate the Man to so high a Degree as to make him throw off all Regard to Religion for the future and in such a Case the Exhortation appointed to be read at the Time of celebrating those Holy Mysteries should one would think be Warning sufficient for such an one if unrepentant to withdraw and if he stays Charity would incline one to believe that he was penitent And if a Person kneeling by who perhaps knows much more of the Man's Course of Life than the Minister shall be offended at his communicating one that receives so unworthily and speak hard things of him and abstain from that blessed Ordinance upon this Account for the future as prophan'd by such mix'd Company at it this is highly unreasonable uncharitable and unnatural 'T is unreasonable with Relation to their hard Thoughts and Censures of the Minister because Charity obliges him to think well of such as present themselves at the holy Table unless there be great and undeniable Evidence of their obstinate and continu'd Wickedness and in such a Case I dare say no pious Minister would prostitute those holy Symbols to such Swine And where there is not such Evidence Ministers can search Mens Hearts no more than other Men and therefore must hope the best and judge according to the outward Appearance and should they communicate some that receive unworthily by this Means as 't is to be fear'd they too often do why should they be blam'd for that which 't is impossible for 'em to help and aspers'd and all further Communion with them deserted for suffering that ignorantly which God though the Searcher of all Hearts permits in his Church without any open Discrimination namely the bad to join in all holy Offices with the good And this Practice is as uncharitable as 't is unreasonable because 't is judging and condemning those as Reprobates obstinate unrepenting Sinners whose Hearts we cannot see and who though formerly egregiously wicked yet now through the mighty Efficacy of God's converting Grace may for ought we know to the contrary be better than our selves And 't is an unnatural Practice too because 't is the depriving our selves of the Comforts that attend the Reception of that holy Sacrament and those of Vnion and brotherly Love meerly upon a groundless Nicety Let us all rather learn not to judge others before the Time but leave every Man to stand or fall by the unerring Judgment of our great Master at the last Day lest by judging others we condemn our selves who do the same things and it may be worse And instead of abstaining from the Sacrament because some come and are admitted to it whom we think and it may be not without Reason are not so well prepar'd as they should be endeavour to make our selves still more and more fit for so holy an Ordinance by a dayly Amendment of Life and then our Fleece like that of Gideon shall be moistned tho' other Men's be dry The Apostles were never the less dear to our Saviour for Judas his being amongst 'em but the more so rather and though through the Wickedness that was in his Heart Satan enter'd into him after he had receiv'd the Sop our Lord gave him at the Celebration of the Passover and in all Probability did partake of what he consecrated in Memory of his succeeding Death and Sufferings yet the rest receiv'd miraculous Assistances of the holy Ghost and were faithful to the Death and for certain have receiv'd the Crown of Life And I hope this will satissy for the future such as upon this Account have abstain'd from the blessed Sacrament and censur'd the Ministers of our Church and though without all Reason our Church it self And as what has been said upon this Matter has been no impertinent Digression so I hope it may be a beneficial one Let us now proceed to the second thing this Parable informs us of namely The Time when God's and our great Enemy the Devil sowes his Tares among the Wheat and that is while Men sleep For so the Parable while Men slept the Enemy came and sow'd Tares among the Wheat and went his Way Then is the Time of his injecting his wicked Insinuations into Men's Hearts whereby to make 'em become like empty Tares Christians in Name and Appearance only but devoid of the substantial Graces and Vertues of that holy Profession By Men's sleeping is here meant a careless Inadvertency and Neglect of the things of Religion a stupid Security in a thoughtless Way of Life And this is a Metaphor which the sacred Writers have often made use of to this Purpose and 't is so expressive of what they would represent by it that 't will be worth our while briefly to consider wherein the Likeness of such thoughtless Inadvertency in religious Matters to sleep does consist It is like it in the first Place in its Cause For as Toil and Labour and any thing that brings Weariness and consumes the Spirits disposes the Body to Sleep and makes it desire Rest and Ease that it may have a Recruit so this moral Drowsiness or Hebetude of the Soul generally begins to creep upon Men when they find difficulty in Religion a little striving soon puts 'em out of Heart their Hands fall their Knees grow feeble their Soul faints within 'em all Hope of Victory is then laid aside and they sit them down as Men quite spent and then steals that deep Sleep upon them which too often ends in Death Thus we often see Men set very briskly upon the Practice of Religion at First and seem wondrously pleas'd with their new Choice and admire at their Stupidity that they did not sooner discover the transcendent Beauties of Holiness and are resolv'd
the Result of all this Why truly a few serious reflecting Thoughts discover'd to him that All was but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit I said of Laughter it is mad and of Mirth what doth it And what doth it indeed 'T is profitable for nothing and when excessive and attended too extravagantly 't is naturally as well as morally an Evil It unmans and effeminates the Soul and dispirits and hebetates the Body The most profuse Laughter ends in a Sigh and Uneasiness and looks much like Madness and is a certain Indication of Folly A decent chearfulness is commendable upon many Accounts but to make a Trade of Jollity to be always upon the Laugh and spend the greatest Part of a Man's Time in Recreations and Diversions as 't is a very childish thing and looks much like the Behaviour of Naturals and Changelings so 't is a very uneasie thing too and grows from a Pleasure into a Toil and Burthen Witness such Persons frequent shifting and changing one Diversion for another how at a Loss somtimes they are how to dispose of their Time and what Sport to go to next and how quickly tir'd they are with their idle Employment And it may be very truly said there is less of Pleasure in a Course of Life that is always hunting after Pleasure and intent upon nothing else than in a more severe serious Way of living which but now and then and sparingly tastes of Mirth and Recreations and soon returns to things of more Weight and Concern And the Reason is those light Sort of Enjoyments are so empty of what will gratify a rational Soul that they presently grow flat and insipid and become tedious rather than diverting when too long dwelt upon and suck'd too dry A short transient Enjoyment is most agreeable to their fading perishing Nature and as he enjoys the Fragrancy of a Rose both more and longer who smells of it gently and with frequent Intermissions than he that uses it more roughly and presses it too constantly and too hard so he experiences much more of the Sweet of Mirth and Pleasantry who but seldom and moderately uses it than he that makes it his Business and follows it as close as others do their Callings Even in Laughter when extravagant says the wise King The Heart is sorrowful Eccles 7.2 and the End of that Mirth is Heaviness Nay he says 't is better to go to the House of Mourning than to the House of Feasting for that may have some substantial good Effect upon a Man Death being the End of all Men and the living at such serious Times may be inclin'd to lay it to Heart whereas Jollity and Mirth wholly evaporate into Folly and leave nothing behind them that is any Way profitable unless it be Repentance Sorrow and Seriousness make Men consider and become receptive of wise Instructions but a light frothy Temper both exposes a Man's Folly and fatally prevents his growing wiser It shews that he is a Fool and that he is like to continue so For as the crackling of Thorns under a Pot so is the Laughter of a Fool there is much of Noise in it but it serves to no other Purpose than to shame himself And thus we have seen what the Heigth of Mirth and Jollity amounts to namely Disappointment Vexation and Uneasieness Shame and Vanity Madness and Folly Having thus summ'd up the true Value of one of the Three things in which consists the Happiness of the World the Lusts of the Flesh or those things which more immediately gratifie our bodily Appetites let us now look into the Second which is call'd by the Apostle the Lust of the Eyes that is Riches and great Abundance of this World 's Good such as ample Possessions magnificent Structures a splendid Equipage glorious Apparel and the like Which are call'd the Lusts of the Eyes because 't is the Sense of seeing that these things affect with the greatest Pleasure Now suppose a Man to have all of this Nature that the World can help him to suppose he has Riches enough to answer all these things to provide all this Splendor and Magnificence and to support and maintain it What more will it amount to than as Solomon expresses it Eccles 5.11 the beholding of it with our Eyes For as for great Treasures of Gold and Silver though they may procure many things to delight the Eye and please the Fancy yet the Man that hath 'em remains still as Nature made him none of the Powers or Faculties either of his Soul or Body receive any Improvement nor Alteration unless it be for the worse But Mony will erect magnificent and stately Buildings 't will purchase rich Furniture and all that Art can do to adorn and beautify them 'T is true it will so but will those stately Structures preserve a Man better from the Injuries of the Air and Weather than more ordinary Houses Shall a Man sleep better in a costly than a meaner Bed And will a Fever handle him more gently that lies within Curtains of Velvet and has his Chamber adorn'd in the most costly Manner than one that is contented with a cleanly Meanness If not still 't is the Eye that receives all the Pleasure As for the splendid Equipage of the Men of great Possessions a Croud of Attendants following them in gay Liyeries glittering Coaches and the like this may please the Eye too but what more does it effect 'T is but Two or Three of those Attendants that can be serviceable the rest are own'd to be for State only and are kept for little else than to eat and drink and be troublesome and the Experience of all Men will tell us that he is the happiest Man that stands in need of the fewest Servants and retains no more than he stands in need of As for fine Coaches and glorious Apparel if Gold upon a Coach and costly Trappings would make a Journy more safe and easie and if rich Clothes would keep one Warmer or last longer or be less troublesome than a more ordinary Habit there might be something said for them But since there is nothing of this in them nay rather they are less serviceable to the Ends they were at first design'd for and that over-Niceness and Curiosity in Dress or any thing else is the Occasion of much Disturbance and Uneasiness The beholding these gay things with the Eye is all that is considerable in them And what does the beholding of all these splendid Sights amount to Is there any through and lasting Pleasure in it any thing that will make a Man happy or so much as promote his Happiness Why truly Solomon 1 Kings 10. who experienc'd all of this Nature to the full gives us this Account of it Eccl. 2.4 He that loveth Silver shall not be satisfyed with Silver nor he that loveth Abundance with Increase 11. Eccl. 5.10 When Goods are increased they are increased that cat them and what Good is there
would have return'd again to their Dream of Vanity when this their Fright was a little over And so it is with those that think not of Repentance till Death and Judgment stare 'em in the Face they are then wondrous sorry for having offended God because they see they are like to be for ever punish'd for it with the Devil and his Angels and wish they had liv'd better and beg God to forgive 'em and promise Amendment for the Time to come But all this very seldom proceeds from Love to God or his holy Religion as appears by their being as bad as ever when God has been pleased to restore them to their former Health But such Repentance as this is but a Piece of Mockery and will not be accepted it must be a real and thorough Change of Mind express'd in an intire Reformation of Life and Manners that will incline God to pardon and forgive Notwithstanding all the Hurry of the foolish Virgins to get Oyl for their Lamps upon this suddain Notice of the Bridegroom 's coming because their Lamps were before suffer'd to go out we see the Door was shut upon them By the wise Virgins that were ready their going in with the Bridegroom to the Marriage Feast is represented the great Happiness of the sincerely good who by holy living are ready and prepar'd for their Departure hence into the World of Spirits That is as there was great Preparation made to receive the Bridegroom among the Jews and other Easterns great Joy and Festivity and which the Children of the Bride-Chamber or those that attended the Bridegroom did partake of singing Epithalamiums or nuptial Songs in Praise of the Bridegroom and his Bride and rejoycing in their Happiness and wishing them long Prosperity So the Joys of the highest Heavens which are the Marriage Chamber of this divine Bridegroom our Saviour in the Society of innumerable Saints and Angels and glorified Spirits are prepar'd for those that love our Lord Jesus in Sincerity and by a constant holy Life are ready to leave these earthly Habitations and enter with him into that holy Place Where they shall enjoy a most blisful Eternity for ever singing Halleluja's to the Praise and Honour of that glorious Name in which all the Nations of the World are blessed praising God and saying Rev. 19.7 9. Let us be glad and rejoyce and give Honour to him for the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready and blessed are they which are call'd to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. And well is that Care and Watchfulness and holy Preparation repay'd which will procure an Entrance into that holy Place where Christ is sitting at the right Hand of God and make us Sharers in the Joys of Angels and in the Happiness of our dear Redeemer In the last place by the foolish Virgins coming after the Door was shut and saying Lord Lord open unto us and his answering I know you not is express'd the sad and remidiless Condition of those whom Death and Judgment surprize unawares and that are not prepar'd by a holy Life They may cry Lord Lord long enough in the Bitterness and Anguish of their Souls and profess that they believe in him and are his Disciples and call'd by his Name that they have eat and drunk in his Presence and that he hath taught in their Streets and the like but yet for all this without a constant persevering Piety Christ will tell them I know you not whence you are depart from me all ye that work Iniquity And what inconceivable Agonies will those excluded Wretches then be in What Horror and Despair will then take Seisure of their Souls What Outcries what hideous Wailings will there be How will some frame fruitless Excuses Lord we have eaten and drank in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our Streets c. while others with deep Sighs in vain beg Pity and Commiseration of him who never before deny'd it What intolerable Anguish will they feel to see those whom they hated and despis'd on Earth then enter'd into the glorious Marriage Chamber of the Son of God and they themselves they who are prosperous here and to all Appearance the Friends and Favourites of the divine Bridegroom eternally shut out from his Presence and the Joys of those celestial Regions and left behind in unconceivable Torments and in the Company of malicious Fiends and Devils to linger under an Eternity of Misery No Words can ever reach those Horrors nor can our Thoughts conceive them and may none of us ever be so unhappy as to feel them But be so wise as to watch and be ready and have our Lamps burning and our selves always prepar'd for this great coming of our Lord for we know not the Day nor the Hour And thus have I given a particular plain and practical Interpretation of this Parable of the Ten Virgins whereof five were wise and five foolish and shewn as I went along how aptly expressive it is of the Sense our Lord couch'd under it I proceed now to the other thing to be done which is to urge that Watchfulness and Preparation by all manner of holy living against this coming of our Lord which is necessary to our being admitted into his Joy and to shew how great the Wisdom of so doing is and how great the Folly of the Contrary For those that were ready and trimm'd their Lamps are call'd wise Virgins in the Parable and those that were not ready and their Lamps out are call'd foolish As for the Folly of not taking Care to be ready and prepar'd against that great Change of Death shall come it is a thing justly to be wonder'd at that Men who know that one Time or other they must surely die and are wholly in the Dark as to the precise Time of their Death and that they must die but once and that without any any further Probation after Death comes Judgment it is much to be wonder'd at that those who know all this to be true as Christians are suppos'd to do should live so much at random and be so foolishly careless in managing their last Stake so heedless in doing that well which admits of no Repetition and which if done ill they are for ever miserable 'T is the very Height of Folly this and which one would think a Man of any Sense could not be guilty of There is nothing that Men are more afraid of than dying and yet so strangely contradictious are they to themselves they make the least Provision against this greatest Evil. In other Matters Men are so wise as to endeavour to secure themselves against their Fears they provide against Poverty by Diligence and Parsimony against Pain and Diseases by proper Antidotes and Preservatives against the Approach of Enemies by the best Defence they are capable of making and the like and this many times when there is only a Probability of these Evils coming upon them And yet against
securing our main Interest the Happiness of Eternity and when Time shall be at an End that is to every particular Person when Death shall put a Period to this Life then comes that Night in which no Man can work then the Opportunity shall be for ever at an End and according as Men have improv'd or wasted their Time in this World so shall their Eternity be happy or miserable in the next And therefore he is indeed very foolishly prodigal who without any Thought of hereafter wastes this precious Treasure this only Opportunity of making himself for ever happy in Vanity and Folly in pleasing and humouring his Body and neglects the Improvement of his Soul and instead of working out his Salvation with Fear and trembling secures to himself Eternal Misery And this does every wilful Sinner when with the Prodigal in the Parable he wastes this his Substance in Luxurious and Riotous Living and studies nothing but how to gratifie the lower Life looking no further than this present World for Happiness 'till his Opportunity be quite lost and he is surpriz'd into an unchangeably Miserable Condition because when 't was put into his Hand to make himself happy if he would he neglected it and chose the Track to Ruine Thirdly The Glorious Reversion of our Heavenly Inheritance is a Treasure likewise that can never be sufficiently valu'd for Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive the Felicities and Glories of it Now this we are assur'd by him that cannot lie and whose it is to bestow shall be the Reward of Vertue and sincere Religion all this is laid up for them that love God and keep his Commandments And therefore for a Man that knows all this to be so prodigally to throw away all Expectation of and Title to such a Reversion as this upon such low and profligate Accounts as the wallowing in the filthy Pleasures of a Goat or a Swine or the heaping up Treasures of Gold and Silver which are as unsatisfying as they are uncertain and perishing or for the Sake of a little empty Honour or the like This is the very Highth of profligate Extravagancy and such as one would think no sensible Man should ever be guilty of Upon these and many other nay indeed all Accounts 't is very true that a wicked Man is the greatest Prodigal in the World for he wastes and throws away what is of highest Value to a Man and that for what is no better than Vanity and Vexation of Spirit And thus much for the first thing expressed in this Parable viz. the great Extravagancy of ungodly Men when they give themselves up to the Guidance of their own Wills and Affections and grow weary of the Government of God their Heavenly Father Like the Prodigal Son they waste their most precious Substance in riotous and profligate living The second thing express'd in this Parable is the sad Condition such Men soon reduce themselves to by that their Extravagancy and loose self-will'd Course of Life or in other Words the Miserable Consequences of Debauchery and Riot and of following so Blind a Guide as Mens unruly Passions and Lusts For so in the Parable when the prodigal Young Man had spent all there arose a mighty Famine in that Land and he began to be in Want and went and joyn'd himself to a Citizen of that Country who sent him into his Fields to feed Swine And he would fain have fill'd his Belly with the Husks that the Swine did eat but no Man gave unto him The first ill Consequence then of this Prodigality or Lawless Extravagant Living is Spiritual Want or a Scarcity and Famine of the Divine Grace in the Soul which is by so much more to be dreaded than a Famine of Provisions for the Body as Eternal Misery and Death is more terrible than Temporal The Grace of God is questionless the Nourishment of the Divine Life and which if once withdrawn will leave the Soul dead in Trespasses and Sins Now an obstinate Course of Disobedience to the Divine Will drives out that Life-giving Power and makes the Soul uncapable of Vital Union with so pure a Spirit and as a Humane Soul is forc'd to leave a Body rotten and wasted and unapt any longer to entertain it so this Divine Spirit is thrust out from a corrupted sinful Soul And consequently there must be a famine in that Soul of that Heavenly Bread which is absolutely necessary to eternal Life and the Consequence of that is Eternal Death And certainly no Man that considers what a Dismal Condition that Soul is in which is reduced to such Extremity of Spiritual Want as this how full of Horrour and Despair as doom'd to endless Misery and seal'd up to Destruction which he sees dayly nearer and nearer approaching and no way to escape but like a Wretch immur'd between two Walls there to be starv'd to Death in continual Expectation of her sad End No Man that considers this with that Seriousness he ought but will be very careful not to waste what is so necessary to his Spiritual Subsistence i. e. by no means grieve or resist or quench that Life-giving Spirit by whom all true Religion lives and moves and hath its Being and which if neglected and oppos'd will be withdrawn and that perhaps for ever If like Esau we sell this inestimable Blessing for a Mess of Pottage forfeit the Food of our Souls that we may indulge our Sensual Appetites we may fear that a Spiritual Famine will be our Punishment and no Place left for Repentance no Blessing remaining for us though we seek it earnestly with Tears As the Prodigal in the Parable when after he had wasted his Substance in riotous Living and then wanted and was ready to perish with Hunger so that he would have been glad of the meanest and coarsest Fare would fain have sill'd his Belly with the Husks that the Swine did eat even that he could not obtain for no Man says the Parable gave unto him Another ill Consequence of this Spiritual Prodigality and loose wicked Course of Life and to name no more amongst a numerous Train of them is that it extreamly degrades and debases a Man and engages him in the vilest Drudgery imaginable the serving Bestial Lusts and Devilish Passions This is express'd in the Parable by the Prodigal's being sent into the Feilds to feed Swine a thing the most abject in it self and the most detestable to the Jews to whom our Lord spake the Parable who were taught by their Law to esteem that Creature among the most unclean And as low or lower than this does he debase his Nature who neglecting the Noble Precepts of Religion makes his Sensual Appetite the Rule and Measure of his Actions For what more Beastly and Detestable than ungovern'd Lust The wretch himself that is guilty of it is asham'd publickly to commit it and takes Advantage of Holes and Corners and
of Wicked Men when they give themselves up to the Guidance of their own Wills and Affections and are weary of the Government of God their Heavenly Father 'T is represented here by a Prodigal Young-Man's leaving his Father and rambling into a far Country and there wasting his Substance with Riotous Living Impatience of Government and Restraint and a Desire of being Free and at Liberty to follow their own Inclinations and Propensions is that which first prompts Men with the young Prodigal in the Parable to leave their Heavenly Father and get as far from his Government as they can and when they have laid aside the Thoughts of Religion then to take their Swing and do what seems good in their own Eyes And with this fancied Liberty they are at first mightily pleas'd and wish it could be always so that is that there were no God or no Religion to awe and confine their Desires but that they might be a Law unto themselves and their own Will the sole Measure of their Actions For so the Foolish Young-Man in the Parable we read could not be satisfied till he had his Fortune in his own Hands to dispose of as he listed Father give me the portion of Goods that belongeth to me and as soon as he had it he got as far from his Father as he could and then denied not his Soul whatever it desired or as the Parable hath it Not many days after the younger Son gather'd all together and took his Journey into a far Country and there wasted his Substance with Riotous Living And just so it is with a Sinner He finds Religion will oblige him to a serious and circumspect Conversation and that if he continues in the Family of the Faithful he must live soberly righteously and godly in this present World and deny his Bodily Appetites and Desires and keep them under Subjection to the Spirit and imitate the Excellencies of his Heavenly Father be holy pure and perfect as he is because he abominates Iniquity and into his Presence no unclean Thing can enter But these are hard Sayings this is a Servitude that he looks upon as unsufferable and he has as he thinks a much easier and pleasanter way of Living in his Eye and which he longs to experience and therefore resolves once for all to shake off the galling Yoke of Religion and get as far from the Government of his divine Parent as he can and become his own Master and then he thinks he shall be happy So blinded are Sinners by the Deceitfulness of Sin as to shun Happiness and embrace Ruin to look upon the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God as the greatest Slavery and exchange it for the vile Drudgery of Vice to run from that blessed Being who is the Fountain of Perfection and Happiness and insist in the Track that leads to Eternal Ruin An unfortunate End is always the Consequence of lawless Liberty and as a Ship without a Helm or Governour instead of arriving at the Haven is soon split upon Rocks or overwhelm'd with Quicksands such is the Case of a Sinner that impatient of the gentle Restraints of Religion is resolved to quit it and take his own Course But why should Men be so weary of the Government of God and desire so earnestly to be at their own Disposal Is not Religion the most Reasonable Service And should it not be the greatest Pleasure to a Rational Creature to act according to the best Reason Is not God the wisest the most powerful and the most kind and indulgent Being too And is it not more eligible to be govern'd by infinite Wisdom and directed in the right Track to Happiness by infinite Goodness and shielded from Dangers by infinite Power than to be hurried on by the blind Force of brutish and unruly Passions to our Unhappiness and Destruction and expose our selves to all the Malice of Hell by yielding to the Temptations of the Devil and forfeiting the Protection of the Almighty Certainly if Men would but consider instead of desiring with the Prodigal Son to be free from the Government of this our Heavenly Father and to take their own Course at a Distance from him they would say with Holy David One Day in thy Courts is better than a Thousand I had rather be a Door-keeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the Tents of Ungodliness and confess in the Words of our Church that his Service is perfect Freedom And the silly young Prodigal in the Parable soon found by a costly Experience the Difference between living under the mild and prudent Government of his Father and being left to the Conduct of his own ill instructed and green Head But before I proceed to this Consideration I shall briefly shew how fitly Vice is represented by Prodigality Prodigality in the Words of this Parable is wasting a Man's Substance or Estate in riotous or profuse and extravagant Living or without any Regard to the future squandring away what he has in excessive Luxury And therefore a wicked Man is certainly the greatest Prodigal in the World because he wastes and destroys what is of the greatest Value and Esteem and that in the most profligate Manner without any thought of what shall be hereafter only that he may gratifie his present Appetites and Desires For First Nothing is a more substantial Good and more to be priz'd and carefully preserv'd than the Grace of God or those Blessed Motions and Inspirations of the Holy Spirit whereby Men are inwardly inclin'd to pursue what will make for their Eternal Happiness and disswaded from and warned to avoid what will bring them to endless Ruine Now this Grace of God a Sinner turns into Lasciviousness despises and neglects nay resists the Motions of the Spirit of Life and Holiness and closes with the Temptations and Suggestions of the Spirit of Vileness and Impurity and does this so continually and with so much Obstinacy that he daily wastes that inestimable Treasure and more and more grieves that Blessed Spirit and forces him to withdraw his Influences till at length they are quite extinguish'd in his Soul and a desperate spiritual Poverty succeed an utter Want of that Divine Grace which they so profligately wasted when they had it And no Poverty certainly so miserable as that which will starve and famish the Soul and bring it to Eternal Death and therefore no Prodigality like that which squanders away that which is the only Nourishment of the Spiritual Life Especially if we consider for what it is that a Sinner is thus prodigal of so great a Treasure namely the gratifying a few Brutish Lusts and the acting such Vices as bring no true Satisfaction along with them but are full of Vexation and Disappointment in this World and will at last sink the Soul into the lowest Hell Secondly Time is likewise a very substantial Good and highly to be valu'd and carefully improv'd because 't is the only Opportunity we have of