VI. Impediment.

VI. Fear of being melancholy with so much Seriousness, is another Impediment. And as the Devil ceafes not day and night to inftill this principle into Mens Minds, fo it usually prevails with the jolly Crew, and fuch as are all for mirth and raillery, and hate sadness as their moft deadly Enemy. Confideration they are afraid will strike them into dumps, and a view of the odiousness and loathfomness of their finful Life, deprive them for ever of that merry temper, kind nature hath bestowed on them. Confideration of their danger, they fear, will put them in mind of the fevere duties of Religion, and fuggest fomething to them that will lie gnawing within, and make them, that they fhall never enjoy a merry hour again. They look upon Men abroad, who have applyed themselves to Confideration of their ways, and studied how they shall be happy after death, and find, it hath spoiled their triumphs, and caus'd them to walk about difcouraged, and dejected. They hear of difmal Stories, how People that have been studying things of this Nature, have been deluded by the Devil, and how fome have drown'd, and others ftabb'd themfelves: Though this is only an effect of fome Bodily Distemper, which would have happen'd to them, had they never thought on

Spiritual

Spiritual Objects, yet they are willing to impute it to the austere Rules of Devotion; and though the fame Argument would hold against greediness after the riches of the World, which makes fome Men come to the Gallows, and others fall into strange tortures of the mind, yet they wifely forbear examining the strength of the Argument, left they fhould want pretences for their lazinefs. They fee how fome, that think much of their falvation, hang down their heads like a Bulrush, fold their Arms, and spend their days in tears, and weeping. They fee how uncomfortable Confideration hath made their Lives, how it hath fill'd their hearts with forrow, and grief, and anguifh, and they are afraid, this will be their fate, and the effects it hath wrought in others, fright them, left they should be as difconfolate as they. While they maintain their jolly temper, they can live quietly, and with content; and while they have little or nothing to do with thofe ferious things, Divines do talk of, they feel no disturbance; and why fhould they meddle with Confideration, which will certainly infufe fad thoughts into their Minds, and give them gall and vinegar to drink? Might not one plead as well, that it is in vain to Fortifie fuch a Town against an Enemy, for not a few Cities in the World, that have been of no great strength, have escaped well enough, and why should they difcompose themselves with fears of an affault, having been fecure fo many years? Why should they now begin to

disorder themselves with difmal presages, or be at the trouble of digging, and building, and raising Fortreffes, when they can lie ftill in their Beds, and indulge themselves, and eat the Fat of the Land?

And are not these excellent Arguments against Confideration? Are not these very lofty and pregnant Reasons, to confute the neceffity of fo great a Duty? Wretched, deluded Men! Confideration would let you fee, that there is a great difference between melancholy and ferioufnefs; and that every Man that looks grave and fober, is not therefore dejected, and difcompos'd within; and that it's poffible for men not to rant, and tear, and fwagger, and yet to enjoy great calm and quietnefs in their Souls That a Man is not therefore fad, because he will not fwear and drink, nor therefore Hypochondriack,because his Conscience will not digeft thofe fins, which you can swallow down without chewing.

Confideration would let you fee, That you who allow your felves in fin and vanity, of all Men have least reafon to be merry, who have the King immortal and invifible, for your Enemy, and the Blood of Jefus fpeaking against you, and Gods Spirit bearing witness of your difobedience, and know not how foon God will open the flood gates of his anger, and how foon your flood-gates portion will be in outward darkness; who have no title to the benefits of Chrifts Paffion, and are dead while you live; who have your understandings

derstandings darkned, your inward and outward Man polluted, and your garments spotted by the flesh.

Confideration would let you fee,That your joy and mirth is but flight and fuperficial,fo far from being folid,that oftentimes in your very laughter, your heart is forrowful; and as fair as you carry things outwardly, your Confciences cannot but fright you with an approaching storm sometimes; and as merry as you feem to be, you now and then feel terrors, which make you flee when no Man purfues you. This would let you see, how fhort your mirth and pleasures are, and how they perish in the very enjoyment, and are no better than Butterflies; which when you have with great labour and industry got into your hands, their curious colours decay with a touch,and you can boast of nothing but a fqualid Worm. This would fhew you, that your jollities are much like Attila's Nuptials, whofe Wedding-day proved his Funeral; and like Philip the Macedonian's Triumphs, which in a Moment are turned into Sadness by the daring Paufanias; This would thew you how weak a thing it is with Lyfimachus, for a Cup of cold Water to lose a Kingdom, and to hazzard an eternity of joy, for mirth, which at the best is but as a Morning Cloud, and as the early dew, which foon paffes away.

Confideration would let you fee, That your mirth is worse than fadnefs and forrow, be cause it proceeds from a ftupefied Soul, and from a hard heart; from a Soul whose nobler fparks

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fparks are oppreffed with foot and ashes, and which hath loft its delicate pallate, its refined taste, and is made fo infenfible of the purer tranfports of Joy, that it hankers after nothing but Earth, and fuch droffy, muddy divertisements as Men of reafon and contemplation would fcorn as much as they do the extravagancies of an impotent Enemy; and that it is rather a Man's felicity to be a stranger to your mirth, than unhappiness, because your mirth is fo vain, your delight fo frothy, and your joy ufually hath fuch a fearful end, an end, much like that of Belshazzar, who made a Feast to his Lords, drank Wine before them, and, to make the Deboshe compleat, and to make the blood of the Grapes drink with greater brisknefs, call'd for the Golden Veffels, which his Father had taken out of the Temple of Jerufalem, as if it encreas'd the pleasure of drink to profane those Veffels by drunkenness, which were confecrated to God; and Wine out of a Bowl of the Sanctuary, gave greater life to the Spirits, and reviv'd the heart more than a common Cup. But while their hearts danc'd and leap'd for Joy, an unknown hand from Heaven writes the fatal doom, the Characters of Ruine, and the lines of death upon the Wall,and on a fudden, The Kings countenance changes, and his thoughts trouble him, So that the joynts of his loins were loosen'd, and his knees fmote one against another, Dan, 5. 6.

Confideration would let you fee, That your joy doth not deserve the name of joy, and that your mirth is nothing but wantonness, and how

much