8. Among those things which we discover to be sinful, there will be some to which, through our nature, or long custom, we are so wedded, that it will be like cutting of the right-hand, or pulling out the right-eye, to abandon them. But must we therefore sit down and wait till all difficulties be over, and every temptation be gone? This were to imitate the fool in the poet, who stood the whole day at the river-side, till all the water should run by. We must not indulge our inclinations, as we do little children, till they grow weary of the thing they are unwilling to let go. We must not continue our sinful practices, in hopes that the divine grace will one day over-power us. 9. If the heinous nature of sin cannot affect us, at least we may be frighted by its dreadful consequences. That selfish principle which pusheth us forward to sinful pleasures, may make us loath to buy them at the rate of everlasting misery. Let us therefore accustom ourselves to consider seriously what a fearful thing it must be to offend that infinite Being, on whom we depend every moment; who needs but withdraw his mercies to make us miserable, or his assistance to make us nothing. Let us remember the shortness and uncertainty of our lives, and that after we have taken a few turns more in the world, and conversed a little longer amongst men, we must all go down to the dark and silent grave, and carry nothing along with us but anguish and regret for all our sinful enjoyments. What horror must then seize the guilty soul, to find itself naked and all alone before the impartial judge of the world, to render an exact account, not only of its more considerable transactions, but of every word that the tongue hath uttered, and the most secret thought that ever passed through the mind? Let us represent to ourselves the terrors of that dreadful day, when _the foundations of the earth shall be shaken, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat_¹. The present frame of nature shall be dissolved, and our eyes shall behold the blessed Jesus, (who came once into the world in all humility to visit us, to purchase pardon for us, and beseech us to accept of it) now appearing in the majesty of his glory, and descending from heaven _in flaming fire, to take vengeance on those_ that have despised his mercy. Then all the hidden things of darkness shall be brought to light, and the counsels of the heart made manifest². Then those secret impurities and subtle frauds whereof the world did never suspect us, shall be exposed and laid open to public view; and many thousand actions which we never dreamed to be sinful, shall be charged home upon our consciences, with such evident convictions of guilt, that we shall neither be able to deny, or excuse them. Then shall all the angels in heaven, and all the saints that ever lived on the earth, approve that dreadful sentence which shall be passed on wicked men; and those who