Solemn advice to young men not to walk in the wayes of their heart, and in the sight of their eyes, but to remember the day of judgment / by Increase Mather ...

CONSIDER. III.

That Sin will not alwayes be sweet, at last is will be bitter. If the pleasures of sin would last for ever, the folly of sinners would not be so great as now it is. You must dy shortly, and then the pleasure of sin will be turned into unutterable and E∣ternal Torments. I remember I have some where read concerning a Company of profane Persons that as they were drink∣ing and making Merry, one of them had this Expression, We live a brave Life if we could but get some body to go to Hell for us when we dy: True; if you can do so, be as mad and as merry as you please: But since you must dy and then into the fire that never shall be quenched; if madness were not in your hearts, you would hate

sin more then ever you loved it. But what will sin be at last? As sure as the Lord Lives and as thou hast an Immortal Soul within thee, it will be bitter at the last. Sin is a root that beareth gall and wormwood, Deut. 29.18. As Abner said to Joab about the devouring Sword, 2 Sam. 2.26. So I say to thee concerning sin that devourer of Immortal Souls, knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? What will that sin of Drunkenness be at last: The wise man tells you when he sayes, Look not thou on the wine when it is red when it giveth 'its co∣lour in the cup, when it moveth it self aright at the last it biteth like a Serpent and stings like an Adder, Prov. 23.31, 32. There are some Serpents which when a man is first bitten with them, the poyson causeth such a tick∣ling as that he cannot forbear laughter, but when it is come into his blood and bowels, the torment is intolerable: Such a poyson is sin, At the last••r: will bite like a Serpent. What will the Cursed ••••hum-bottle that ha's destroyed so many Bodies and Souls in New-England, be at last? That strong drink which ha's made thee Drunk will at last prove the poyson of Dragons, and the Cruel Venome of Aspes, which killeth without mercy and without remedy, Deut. 32.33.

What will unrighteous gain? What will Riches gotten by Pyracy and Murder be at last? You Young men, that have a mind to turn Pyrates in hopes of getting Gold, hear what God speaketh to you from His word, Job 20.15, 16. He ha's swollowed down Riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly, he shall suck the poyson of Asps, the Vipers tongue shall slay him, his meat in his bowels is the gall of Asps within him. Such wicked gain will at last prove a bitter and a deadly poyson. And what will thy Secret Adulteries and Un∣cleanness be at last? What will you get by them? Prov. 6.32, 33. Whoso Committeth A∣dultery with a woman lacketh understanding; he that doeth it destroyeth his own Soul, a wound and dishonour shall he get, and his re∣proach shall not be wiped away. This will be all thy gain at last. A wound to thy Conscience; an Everlasting reproach in the great Congregation when thy Secret sins shall be laid open before all the World, and ruin to thy own Soul.

Wherefore set your selves against sin. Hate it to the death; other enemies you may be reconciled unto, but never to sin. God charged His People concerning the Ammonites, saying, thou shalt not seek their peace,

nor their prosperity all thy dayes for ever. And concerning Amalek, that they should have War with him for ever. Sin is that Ammon, Sin is the Amalek with whom thou must have war for ever. Sin is a bloody Serpent: thou must either kill that Serpent, or it will kill thy Soul. And if you would become haters of sin, you must become believers on Christ: There is not a man in all the world that is an hater of all sin, besides the true Believer on Christ; when Christ becomes Precious, sin becomes Odious: Sin may be restrained, but it will never be mortified in the man that ha's not Faith. As for the world, and the things which are in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (which men na∣turally love more than they love God o•• Christ) it is by Faith that we come to ha•••• hearts set against them, and are made V••••∣torious over them. And by this may a m•••••• know that he ha's true Faith in Jesus Christ if keeping the Commandments of God be his great delight, or if sin be the chief ob∣ject of his hatred: Of a truth it is worth more than all this world to be able to say after David, with whose words I conclude, Psal. 1.19 128. Iesteem all thy Precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every fals way.