The trades-man's calling being a discourse concerning the nature, necessity, choice, &c. of a…

(3.) There is the soundest Comfort in it. There is, it's true, a kind of Pleasure in sinful Ways, which bewitches those that follow them; but as it cannot affect the whole Soul, for there is Conscience in the most profligate, which as it is vexed in them, in the midst of their Follies, and consequently their Satisfaction cannot be entire; ⟨p. 191⟩so it leaves a Sting which is both inseparable, and unsufferable; and when all is done, this Pleasure is mortal, and commonly is but momentary; it is but like the crackling of Thorns under a Pot, which makes a great noise, but is soon extinguished. But now Religion as it doth permit to you all innocent Pleasures, you may have an equal Liberty with others, to all that is worth the having in them; so it fills the Soul and entertains all the Faculties thereof, with those Delights, that are most congruous to them, and also feasts it with the sweet review of an holy Life. The Fear of the Lord is clean, rejoicing the Heart. It affords Laughter without a Sting, Mirth without a Reckoning. It will support and comfort you under your Losses, and give you Songs in the Night, while others are eaten up with their Cares, or wallowing in their Puddle. And therefore it is your real Interest to be truly Religious.

(3.) There is the soundest Comfort in it. There is, it's true, a kind of Pleasure in sinful Ways, which bewitches those that follow them; but as it cannot affect the whole Soul, for there is Conscience in the most profligate, which as it is vexed in them, in the midst of their Follies, and consequently their Satisfaction cannot be intire; ⟨p. 191⟩so it leaves a Sting which is both inseparable, and unsufferable; and when all is done, this Pleasure is mortal, and commonly is but momentary; it is but like the crackling of Thorns under a Pot, which makes a great noise, but is soon extinguished. But now Religion as it doth permit to you all innocent Pleasures, you may have an equal Liberty with others, to all that is worth the having in them; so it fills the Soul and entertains all the Faculties thereof, with those Delights, that are most congruous to them, and also feasts it with the sweet review of an holy Life. The Fear of the Lord is clean, rejoycing the Heart. It affords Laughter without a Sting, Mirth without a Reckoning. It will support and comfort you under your Losses, and give you Songs in the Night, while others are eaten up with their Cares, or wallowing in their Puddle. And therefore it is your real Interest to be truly Religious.