SERM. but a Truce only; and where it will IV. appear that there was none, whenever Affliction ruffles a Man's Soul, or a Death-Bed rouzes him, Vera tum voces pectore ab imo Erumpunt, atque eripitur Perfona, manet res. Then (and fometimes not till then) all Masks and Difguifes are thrown off, and the Mind appears naked and unguarded to itself and others. Ask those who attend the Sick, and help to prepare them for their Paffage into another World; afk them, I fay, and they will tell you, how many Inftances they have met with of Men, who seem to have been given up to a Spirit of Infenfibility and Slumber, and have accordingly Лlept on for a long Time, and taken their Reft; and yet have in their laft Moments, been all at once fufficiently awakened: What inexpreffible Agonies and Horrors they have found upon the Minds of dying defpairing Sinners, who thought themselves fecure against fuch Attacks, and believed that the clamorous Principle within' them was was wholly filenced; but upon the near SER M, Prospect of another World, and which IV. made no Impreffion on them at a Diftance, have changed their Sentiments, and dropped their falfe Confidence; have seen their Guilt, and dreaded their Danger, when it was too late perhaps to think of deploring the one, or escaping the other. After all, it must be owned, 3. That there are now and then In ftances of Men, who have gone through even this laft Tryal unfhaken; and, after leading very diffolute Lives, have yet died hard, as the Phrafe is, without any feeming Concern for what was paffed, or Dread of what was to follow. Whenever fuch an Effect happens, it is owing to one or more of these Causes; either to ill Principles early and deeply imbibed, or to a certain Obstinacy and Sullenness of Temper peculiar to fome Men; or laftly, either to a natural or acquired Stupidity. If a a Man begins betimes with himself, and takes Pains to vitiate his Mind with lewd SERM. lewd Principles, and lives long in the IV. Profeffion of them, he may at last root and rivet them fo faft, till scarce any Application whatsoever is able to loofen them; and till the natural Sentiments of his Confcience are even choaked and stifled by the Means of them. A false Firmness and Resolution, joined with the Shame of unfaying and undoing all a Man hath said and done before, may poffibly carry him headlong on to his Death, without owning, or perhaps even seeing his Danger. Grofs and heavy Minds, unimproved by Education and Inftruction, have at length arrived at fuch a Degree of Stupidity, as to think of nothing beyond this World, nor of any Thing in it, but what immediately affects their Senfes. And even Spirits more refined may, by a perpetual and total Immerfion in bodily Pleasures, arrive at laft at the fame Degree of Infenfibility. In fuch Cafes, and by the Help of fuch Qualities as these, it is possible, I grant, and fometimes happens, that Men have gone . . aut upon out of the World, as they lived in it,SER M. defying Confcience, and the Power of it, VI. and deriding the Flames of Hell, till they were in the midst of them. But these are rare Inftances, and of no Force therefore when opposed to the general Conviction and Feeling of Mankind the fame Occafions: They prove only that there are Monsters in the Moral, as well as the Natural World, which make nothing against the settled Laws, and regular Course of either. To argue against the innate and pungent Reflections of Confcience from some Mens want of them, is, as if one fhould attempt to prove, that Man is not a reasonable Creature, because some Men are born Naturals, and others by too great an Intention of Thought, or by brutal Exceffes, have loft the Use of their Reafon. For if the Light of Reason may itself be extinguished, much more may the Voice of Confcience be drowned; which being a practical Principle, is perpetually warred upon by our Lufts, and Paffions, and finful Habits; SERM. Habits; whereas, the other being a IV. mere fpeculative Power, hath no Contrary in the Mind of Man to ftruggle with. But I forbear, fince there remains yet the III. Third and laft Part of my Task, to apply what hath been faid to the proper Object of All our Admonitions from the Pulpit, (and particularly of This) the Hearts and Confciences of the Hearers. Since therefore the wife Author of our Natures hath fo contrived them, that Guilt is naturally, and almoft neceffarily attended with Trouble and Uneafinefs, let us even from hence be perfuaded to preferve the Purity, that we may preferve the Peace and Tranquillity of our Minds. For Pleas fure's Sake, let us abftain from all criminal Pleafures and Pollutions; because the racking Pains of Guilt, duly awakened, are really an Overballance to the greatest fenfual Gratifications. The Charms of Vice (how tempting foever they |