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Show -forget the repoated Warnings you have had from your Parents, and from me, and others, and to throw away any Part of that inefiimable Gift of God, I mean your Life, which is given us to work out the important vV ork of our Salvation, upon the wretched Purfuits, with which too many of Mankind are bewitched: if this fhould be your unhappy Cafe, yet let me beg of you by all that is dear to you ; by your Defire to enjoy Peace of Mind while in this World, and ever1afling Happinefs in the next; let me intreat you by the vVorth of your immortal Soul, and by the Love and Fear of Almighty God; let me befeech you, as you would wifh to avoid the racking Pain of Remorfe in this Life, and the inconceivable V cngeance of pro~ voked Omnipotence in the next; if there is any thing inviting i» the Profpcct of gaining the Favour of Him who can m<~ke you happy beyond Imagination, or any thing fearful in meeting that \Nr"th from which all-created Power cannot deliver you, let the Confideration of thefe Things awaken you, before it be too late, torepent, and throughly reform your Vices and Follies; to correct the bad Habits you may have acquired, and eftablifh good and virtuous Difpo! itions in their room. The fhortcft F allies are the heft; and any time whatever is too long to fpend to no Purpofe, or to bad Purpofes. The (ooner you take up, it will be the better for you both in this World and the next. If you fhould go fatally aftray, and draw yourfelf into Guilt, the Confequence mull be, either you will afterwards repent and reform, or you will continue hardened and impenitent to the !aft. \Vhether the former or the latter of thefe be the Cafe, be 55 ) be alfured, you will in the end be ureadfully a, Lofer. For I give you Warning beforehand, and affure you upon the Experience of the wifeft Men of all Ages, that you will fuller more cutting Pain from one Hour's Reflection upon your paft Vices and Follies, than you could find ,Pieafure in an hundred Year. Enjoyment of all the Riches, Honours, or fenfual Delights, the World can yield. On the other hand I give you Notice, that you will never do a wor~hy ACtion, but the very Pleafure, you wtll enJOY from the Reflection upon it in your own Mmd, will abundantly make up for all the Self-denia> or the Trouble it may coft you in the doing it: Nay I tell you farther, that it will give you mfinitely more Satisfaction, in your (ober Hours, to reflect, that you have denied yourfelf any guilty Enjoyment, than the Polfeffion of·· would have given you. Though m yteldmg to rhe brutal lnftigation .of an unworthy and unmanly Inclination, you ,fhould enjoy a kind of confufed and turbulent Pleafure for a fhort Time, you will be fure afterwards to fuffer a .moft actrte and piercing Pain, as long as you live, from the Stings of your awakened Confcience; or, if yott do not repent in this World, confider the fearful Profpect you will then h'ave of repenting in the World to come, when it will be too late. Whereas, on the other hand, though in the doing a good Action, or denying yourfelf fame !!uilty Enjoyment, you fhould go through (orne Trouble or Uneafinefs for a 1hort t1me, you will be fure to enjoy, during your whole Life, that moft charming and inexprcffible Delight of reflecting, that you have acted a Part worthy o£ you as a Mao and a Chrifiian, beftdes the \'Jo-n. ou~ |