what strength
this reason hath to enforce this exercise, and how suitable this duty is
to them who look for Christ's second coming. 1. In relation to sobriety it
hath a twofold force; for, (1.) It is all the absurdity of the world, that
ye should so eagerly pursue perishing vanities; that ye should fall in
love with the old decrepit world that is groaning under vanity, and very
near consumption. The day is coming that the soul shall see all these
things destroyed to ashes, and what will it then think of this idol? This
is the thing I lost my soul for, and it is gone. And O how tormenting a
thing will it be to the conscience! How have I been put by heaven for a
thing of nought, for a vanity! Be sober, for the world cannot be a portion
to an immortal spirit. Your spirit is immortal, and will continue after
these things are gone, and it will outlive this world. Your goods and good
name, your pleasures and profits, your lands and rents, all will have an
end, and your spirit shall continue after them. Why then will ye choose
that for your portion that will take wings and flee from you, or you will
leave it? When ye see all burnt up, where then will your god and your
portion be? (2.) Christian believers, ye have another portion; for Christ,
who comes to put an end to these things, shall appear in glory, and ye
shall appear with him in glory. He shall come with salvation to you, Heb.
ix. 28; Col. iii. 4. Your life shall appear with him. Your inheritance is
above. That sweet Saviour that came unto this world for saving lost
sinners, shall come again, and will not think himself complete without
you, and till he have all his members at his right hand. And therefore,
saints, be sober. While ye are in this world, ye need not any other thing
in the interim but the hope of eternal life, to keep your hearts, and hold
them up. O but ye will think yourselves well come to it ere it be long. Ye
may laugh at the poor, blind, demented(524) worldlings, who are standing
in slippery places, and like children catching a shadow, or labouring to
comprehend the wind in their fists. They are but dreaming that they eat
and drink, and behold when the great day of awakening comes at the
resurrection, they find their souls empty, though while they lived they
blessed their own souls, and men blessed them also. Your inheritance is
above, and what need ye more that have such a hope? May ye not purify
yourselves as he is pure, and purge your hearts from all c