Sinners, be awakened by the Call of God; Do you know where you are, and what you do? You are every man of you stepping into Eternity? Will you sin away, will you loiter away, will you sell-for nothing, an Eternal Glory? Is thy sinful lust, and gain, and mirth, and gluttony and excess of drink, a price to set upon Eternity? If Heaven be no more worth to thee, art thou not as bad as Judas, that for thirty pieces of silver would sell his Lord? O Eternity, Eternity, what hearts have they that can so forget thee, neglect thee, and disesteem thee, when they stand so near thee! O sleepy souls! do you never use to rub your eyes, and look before you towards Eternity? And doth it not amaze you to see whither it is that you are going? Merrily you run down the Hill; but where's the bottom! If you look but down from the top of a steeple, it may occasion an amazing fear; what then should it cause in you to look down into Hill, which is your Eternity? No good can possibly be small that is Eternal; And no hurt or pain can be called little that is Eternal: An Eternal tooth-ache, or an Eternal gout, or stone, or fever, were a misery unspeakable; But O what are these to an Eternal loss of Heaven, and to an Eternal sense of the burning wrath of God Almighty! To be out of Heaven a day, and in Hell that day, is a misery now unknown to sinners; But if it were as many thousand years as the earth hath sands, it were a greater Misery; But to be there for Ever, doth make the Misery past all Hope, and all conceiving. O me thinks the very name of Eternity, should frighten the drunkard out of the Alehouse, and the sleepy sinner out of his security, and the lustful, sportful, voluptuous sinner out of his sensual delights! Methinks the very name of Eternity, should call off the worldling to seek betime a more enduring treasure, and should take down the gallants pride, and bring men to look after other matters then the most do look after. Me thinks to hear the name of Eternity should with men of any faith and reason, even blast all the beauty, and blur the glory, and sadden the delights, and weaken the ⟨p. 40⟩temptations of the world, and make all its pleasure, pomp and splendour, to be to our apprehensions as a smoke, a shadow, as the dirt that we tread upon.
Sinners, be awakened by the Call of God; Do you know where you are, and what you do? You are every man of you stepping into Eternity? Will you sin away, will you loyter away, will you sell-for nothing, an Eternal Glory? Is thy sinful lust, and gain, and mirth, and gluttony and excess of drink, a price to set upon Eternity? If Heaven be no more worth to thee, art thou not as bad as Judas, that for thirty pieces of silver would sell his Lord? O Eternity, Eternity, what hearts have they that can so forget thee, neglect thee, and disesteem thee, when they stand so neer thee! O sleepy souls! do you never use to rub your eyes, and look before you towards Eternity? And doth it not amaze you to see whither it is that you are going? Merrily you run down the Hill; but where's the bottom! If you look but down from the top of a steeple, it may occasion an amazing fear; what then should it cause in you to look down into Hill, which is your Eternity? No good can possibly be small that is Eternal; And no hurt or pain can be called little that is Eternal: An Eternal tooth-ake, or an Eternal gowt, or stone, or feaver, were a misery unspeakable; But O what are these to an Eternal loss of Heaven, and to an Eternal sense of the burning wrath of God Almighty! To be out of Heaven a day, and in Hell that day, is a misery now unknown to sinners; But if it were as many thousand years as the earth hath sands, it were a greater Misery; But to be there for Ever, doth make the Misery past all Hope, and all conceiving. O me thinks the very name of Eternity, should frighten the drunkard out of the Alehouse, and the sleepy sinner out of his security, and the lustful, sportful, voluptuous sinner out of his sensual delights! Methinks the very name of Eternity, should call off the worldling to seek betime a more enduring treasure, and should take down the gallants pride, and bring men to look after other matters then the most do look after. Me thinks to hear the name of Eternity should with men of any faith and reason, even blast all the beauty, and blurre the glory, and sadden the delights, and weaken the ⟨p. 40⟩temptations of the world, and make all its pleasure, pomp and splendour, to be to our apprehensions as a smoak, a shaddow, as the dirt that we tread upon.
