and set you down Marks and Characters by comparing your selves with which you may acquire a distinct and true knowledge of your Estate Do not your Bibles tell you very plainly what sorts of People will be shut out of the Kingdom And how should you know whether you be or be not of those numbers if you refuse to examin and make a true judgment of your selves Presume what you please of your selves God cannot be deceived nor will he be mocked Death and Judgment will in due time fully discover the truth of your State both to your selves and to all the World Can you imagin that this Enquiry should do you any prejudice If you have been and are duly concerned for your Salvation nothing can fill you with a greater and such rational Joy and Comfort than to perceive this attested upon a just Search by the word of God and that an eternal and glorious Inheritance is made sure to you by the promise of that God who cannot lye Whereas a neglect of this Enquiry must needs deprive you of the best and greatest comfort of your Lives If you have been and still are unconcerned for your Salvation nothing can more mischievously hinder your recovery out of that dangerous Estate you are in than your refusing to try and examin your selves Make no delay therefore but presently betake your selves to what you are perswaded unto O! that you would be so kind to me to grant me this one request I beg it of you for your own Sakes I have no Interest to serve by it but your own that you may presently escape out of the snares of the Devil and be safe from eternal Agonies that you may not walk any longer in the Broad Road which ends in Hell and irrepairable Destruction but may live in Peace and Comfort here and Reign with Christ in Glory for ever Reason then and argue with your selves about this Matter Cannot you discourse thus with your selves How terrible and dreadful a thing will it be to be found at last a neglecter of Salvation one who hath been all his Life unconcerned for his Soul To have God and Christ Enemies when I must appear before their Tribunal He that commanded me into Being and Life can with a word speak me into Eternal Misery The Holy God I must needs acknowledge loves Holiness and cannot but hate Iniquity He will in his Righteous Judgment infallibly make a difference betwixt People He will assuredly separate the Holy from the Vile Then shall the Righteous be discerned from the Wicked and he that serveth God from him that serveth him not Mal. 3.17 18. I am at present undoubtedly of one of these Ranks And doth it not much concern me to understand what my Estate is Careless negligent Wretch in omitting an enquiry of such Importance so long The time past shall suffice to have lived in so supine and unthoughtful a manner My Eyes shall not Sleep nor will I give slumber to my Eye-lids till I have made a diligent Enquiry and do know what the Word of the Lord doth say of and to me I dare not lye down to Sleep till I have examined my Estate till if it appear I have been unconcerned hitherto for my Soul and its Salvation I have sued heartily for Pardon and Peace through the Blood of Christ lest I should sleep the Sleep of Death lest Destruction should surprize me And I should awake in those Flames which will never be quenched Be gone all Excuses for I have no Business so necessary to be attended to as this I am not at leisure to follow any Sports or to mind Wealth or Honors yea or the Necessasaries of this present Life whilst I am Ignorant of the State of my Soul and know not whether I have been duly concerned that my Salvation may be made sure I will not any longer venture Eternity upon Uncertainties Now I have been called on and exhorted to apply my self to this Examination Should I refuse to comply God may justly suffer me to be hardned in my Sins I may never have the like opportunity again Tho I should find I have hitherto been unconcerned for the happiness of my Soul yet eternal Misery may be prevented There yet remains place for Repentance and some ground to hope that I may find favour with the Lord Therefore I am resolved nothing shall divert me from going through with this Work Lord powerfully fix my Resolution Keep my my Mind and Heart intent on this Business and give me the gracious assistance of thy holy and powerful Spirit to guide and carry me with success thorough it Sixthly You who have been careless of your Souls and their Salvation till this time should now be prevailed with to concern your selves with all seriousness and earnestness that they may be secured Could I set forth a miserable Estate before you in the most doleful Strains and with the fullest account of aggravating Circumstances imaginable I should not declare the thousandth part of your Wretchedness The Groans and Sobs of the Damned manifest they cannot speak what they feel their Shrieks and Clamours are but broken Relations of the Horrors and Pains they sink under And you are obnoxious to all that Wrath which doth so terrifie and overwhelm them If you still continue secure and cannot bemoan your selves nor cry heartily for Pity and Mercy your Danger encreases Did you understand what you are doing what Vengeance you are treasuring up for your selves whom you are Offending what Souls you are Murthering what a glorious holy powerful just God you are Provoking what a Change would soon appear in you You would look upon all your Enjoyments as nothing worth you would look upon the Pleasures Riches and Honors of this World as insipid useless things The whole World would be no more to you than a Prison or Dungeon in which you are reserved till the Sentence of Wrath is to be Executed on you The wicked is reserved to the day of Destruction they shall be brought forth to the day of Wrath Job 21.30 Were you sensible what Love you despise what Salvation you neglect what Mercy you trample under your Feet what Grace you reject what Patience and Goodness you abuse and what great things you might lay hold on what Inheritances you might obtain what Glory you may be assured of if you would but consider things aright and approve your selves truly Wise what an alteration would soon appear in your Carriage and Conduct You will in a little time be convinced fully of the truth of all this When Death hath executed its Commission against you and your Souls are dragg'd into another World continue Infidels if you can When you have drank a few draughts more spent a little time more in your Sports and Games slept a few Nights drudg'd and toil'd a few days more you will see and know and be convinced of these things in another manner Then you will have no need of such Ministers to tell you
deserve Other things are more thought of and minded than this and the means we think proper to obtain them are more diligently and delightfully used than those God hath directed us to to make the Salvation of our Souls sure But tho we provide our selves other work this remains our Duty our heedlessness and omission is not to be Justified cannot discharge us from our Obligation For What is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul Matt. 16.26 In discoursing of this Doctrin I will observe this plain and easie Method First I will explain the words in which it is Propounded Secondly Mind you of some Reasons why every Man should be so concerned for the Salvation of his Soul Thirdly Take notice of some Inferences which the Point will evidently afford and which may and ought to be improved by us to our great Advantage First I am to explain the terms of the Proposition which may be done by answering these two Questions First What are we to understand by the Salvation of the Soul Secondly What is meant by a Person 's being very much concerned for it First What are we to understand by the Salvation of the Soul The Soul is the most excellent part of Man that part on which the Image of God was at first principally Stamp'd and Imprinted which doth distinguish him from and dignifie him above all the lower parts of the Creation and which renders him capable of Knowing Loving Serving and Enjoying God the Sovereign Good It is an immaterial spiritual Substance which is not like the Body lyable to Corruption and Death but when separated from it doth enter into a State either of such Happiness and Pleasure we cannot at present form an adequate Idea of or of Misery and Torment altogether unconceiveable In which Estate it must continue unalterably to all Eternity The Salvation of the Soul then is its exemption and Freedom as from all the Sins Temptations and Evils unto which Man is obnoxious in this Life so from all the Miseries Curses and Plagues Sin doth expose and make Man lyable to in the next World and its fruition of God and Christ and all that Glory and Blessedness in Heaven God hath prepared for and promised thorough Christ to them who faithfully accept of and comply with the terms he hath propounded in his Word Rom. 6.22 23. Rom. 21.6 7 c. Matt. 25.34 If any one should now enquire why the Salvation of the Soul is so much insisted on when it is most true in it self and certain unto Christians that the Body as well as the Soul will in the next World be in a State of Happiness or Misery for ever Or why People should not rather be minded that it behoves them to take care to provide for the Salvation of their whole Man than thus to be put in mind of and excited to concern themselves for the Salvation of one part of themselves It may be pertinently enough replied That the Soul being the noblest part is ordinarily put for the whole Man So that for a Person to mind the Salvation of his Soul is the same thing with his minding the Salvation of himself Our blessed Saviour speaking of this same matter the Evangelist St. Matthew relates his discourse in these words I or what is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Or what shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul Matt. 16.26 St. Luke delivers it thus For what is a Man advantaged if he gain the whole World and lose himself or be cast away Luke 9.25 Besides the Body when the Soul is departed from it doth not presently pass unto a State of Torment or Joy but is laid in the Grave where it remains without any sense of either till the Resurrection whence it must be raised up and fitted for and united to its own Soul to share with in that State to which it was assigned immediately after it was separated from the Body The Soul after its departure from the Body appears before God and is sentenced to a State either of Horror and Torment or of Satisfaction Joy and Pleasure Luke 16.22 23. Luke 23.43 So that the Salvation of the Soul doth note a freedom from Sin Misery and Torment and enjoying a State of eminent Delight and Happiness immediately upon its departure out of this World When the Body shall be again united to the Soul it must partake of the same Happiness with the Soul The Salvation of the Soul implies and comprehends in it the Salvation of the whole Man The happiness or misery of the Body at the Resurrection depends on the happy or wretched Estate the Soul was consigned to at its departure from the Body All that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation Joh. 5.28 29. Dan. 12.2 Secondly What is it for a Person to be very much concerned for the Salvation of his Soul Answ To be firmly perswaded that it is of extraordinary importance to him to have his Salvation well secured to desire ardently that it may be so and to apply his utmost endeavours to make it sure by a due and regularuse of those Means God hath appointed for this purpose He hath a sound knowledge of what the Salvation of his Soul doth mean He often thinks with himself of what consequence and moment it is to him that he should be Saved He frequently considers in what State his Soul is and what he may reasonably concludes would become of it if it were presently to be called away from its earthly Tabernacle He seriously considers what course he ought to take that his Soul may assuredly be saved at last Such kind of thoughts do often occur to him and he is careful to entertain them and prosecute them with seriousness till they produce some good effect What can we think of those who obstinately neglect to meditate on their future State and refuse to consider what a plain and certain tendency the sins and wickednesses in which they allow and indulge themselves have to make them eternally Miserable Who are so very regardless they leave their Souls to all adventures Never seriously thinking of reasoning and expostulating with themselves about these matters I say what can we think of them but that they are dangerously befotted by Satan and their Lusts if not dreadfully forsaken and given over of God in just Judgment to go on Inconsiderately to the Vengeance of the Great Day We must at least conclude they are not much concerned for the salvation of their Souls We should certainly without any difficulty make such a determination in another Case so circumstanced He feedeth on Ashes a deceived Heart hath turned him aside that he cannot deliver his Soul nor say is
Knowledge and Vertue How much more should I value and endeavour by all means to improve my Soul who behold and discern this Truth in a much clearer Light than he could How do I Blush and with what Grief and Revenge is my Heart rent because of the folly and vanity the wickedness of the past part of my Life because of my unthankfulness for the Gospel and carelesness of my Soul to this time when I read what a Mahometan King is reported to have caused to be writ on the Gates of his Pleasure-House viz. This World will not continue long its Pride and Lustre will soon be gone Remember Brother and apply thy Heart to Him who only intended this World for our Inn. Let not thy Life be united to this Bitter Sweet for it hath Cheated many first Jested with them and afterwards Slaughtered them If thy Soul can but come away from her Prison Pure and Undefiled and reach the Mark it 's no great matter whether thou Diest on a Throne or on a Dung-hill O how Sottish have I been in setting the Riches Pleasures Honors and Accommodations of this present World at so high a Rate preferring them before my Precious Soul And shall I still continue to do so Let so tremendous Folly such desperate Madness be far from me My own experience doth now convince me that the more I have admired the more I have toiled for these things the emptier I am the more I am disappointed the further I am from being satisfied I am sure these things are vain yea and vexatious too They will fade and Perish and are at best but of a short duration What are these and such brittle decaying short-liv'd Enjoyments to a Soul which will abide and Live for ever Were it not for the levity and sickliness of my mind what thousands of considerations would croud in to convince and certifie me that it is my Soul which of all other things is of greatest Worth And can there be a more prodigious Folly a grosser contradiction than for a Man to believe his Soul is Immortal and of greater value than his Imagination can extend unto and yet be regardless of it As to other things which are of value but which we do not exactly understand we usually them esteem according as they are better skill'd in them than we are Will any discreet and prudent Person throw away a Medal a Jewel or Precious-stone or part with it for a Counter a piece of Lead or any such thing because he doth not know its just worth Or will he not rather enquire of some one who understands such things and then esteem and prize it at therate he assures him it is really worth Now we have no reason at all to question but God who Created our Souls and the Lord Jesus Christ who Redeemed and Purchased them do very well understond their worth And by whose determination should we govern our our selves in this Affair but by theirs whose Judgment is most assuredly Infallible And if we will acquiesce in their Judgment in the Case we must certainly esteem our Souls exceeding precious For if our Souls were not exceeding precious the Eternal Father would not have given his Son to purchase them nor would the only Begotten of the Father have laid down his Life for their Ransom Had they judged our Souls such frivolous worthless things as we generally appear to esteem them they would not have been redeemed at all or if they must have been Purchased it would have been with a Price of infinitely less Value than the Blood of him who was the Son of God The most that could have been demanded for them would have been but a very moderate sum of that with which we buy the necessaries for our Temporal Life For what poor and trifling things in this World do People ordinarily pawn and venture their Souls But God and Christ had other thoughts of our Souls than we have Tho we expose our Souls for nought yet if any one Man could purchase the whole World with the loss of his Soul he would be no Gainer yea his loss would be Irreparable What shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul Matt. 16.26 O! the inestimable price that was paid for these Souls which we do so neglect slight and disregard Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without Blemish and without Spot 1 Pet. 1.18 19. When my thoughts concerning Reasonable Souls have mounted as high as ever they can and when my esteem of them has followed my Thoughts as close as possible how far am I from comprehending and being throughly affected with their full worth Alas what are my most elevated apprehensions to the incomprehensible excellency and merit of that Blood with which they were bought Wo is me who have too long neglected and been careless of my unaccountably precious Soul as if it had been the only frivolous useless thing in the whole World If I do any longer make but little account of this Soul of mine I shall be unavoidably chargeable with an affected undervaluing what is in it self of unconceivable worth and trampling under foot most ungratefully the precious Blood of the everlasting Covenant and offering the most insufferable contumely to the Lord of Glory who gave himself a Ransom for my Soul Can I sustain so great a load Dare I willfully cast away my Soul to give the greated demonstration of Ingratitude and of sullen Contempt unto Almighty God Shall I be so peevish so malicious so revengeful as to destroy my Soul and sink my self under the most horrid Guilt because my Saviour's Love was so stupendous and amazing Wretch that I am in that I have till now been so unmindful of my Soul which cost my Jesus so dear My dearest Jesus thy Love doth now constrain me Methinks I hear thy Sobs thy Groans the Prayers and Supplications which thou didst offer with strong Crying and Tears Thy earnest Expostulation on the Cross when Dying to Redeem this Soul My Heart is pierced now I must I Grieve I Mourn My Indignation now is kindled I despise I hate I loath whatever would defraud thee of thy Purchase The Beauty Grandeur Pomp and Glory of this World is now as nothing unto me I neither love nor prize nor value any thing but my Soul and as it 's ransomed by thy Blood O! what shall I do that I may attain to prize my Soul as it deserves This this Soul which cost the Son of God so dear May I be duly affected with the Travail of my Saviour's Soul and with the horrors of his Agonies and Death Let me ever with becoming Adoration meditate on rightly understand and constantly retain a lively affectionate powerful constraining sense on my Heart and Spirit of Christ's profoundest Condescention and superlative Grace and Kindness Would Christ dwell in my Heart by Faith and might I be enabled to comprehend
Dread and Horror of that Sinner be who sleeping securely in his Sins will take no warning but at last is rafted out of his Sleep by the Flames of Hell and finds himself as soon as ever he awakes in unquenchable Burnings and his Estate becomes one dreadful Schriek continued if I may so phrase it to the utmost length of Eternity 6. Remember we must every one be concerned for our own Salvation and we must every one try our selves and examin our own Estate for none can do these things effectually for us without our concurrence and we must every one answer before God for our selves and be Saved or Damned in our own Persons Others may advise and counsel us give rules and directions to assist us in the Work but they cannot peremptorily determin the Case for our Hearts may be false and rotten and corrupt prophane hypocritical and proud when we are performing the outward parts of Duties yea when we perform them to the great liking and admiration of others If it appear at last that we have been unconcerned for our Souls and died impenitently in our Sins who shall answer for us Will any one take off the blame from us Alas we must answer for our selves and bear our own Sins Witnesses and Accusers there will be enough against us but not one Advocate Not one of all those Multitudes who follow some wicked Mens Corpses to the Grave either can or dares go along with the Soul to God's Tribunal to plead for and answer God on its behalf If thou art wicked and unconcerned for thy own Salvation and diest Impenitent no other Person will go to Hell in thy stead but thou must bear thy own guilt perish and be Damned and Tormented everlastingly in thy own Person Search therefore speedily into your Estate and leave not Matters of such weight to all Adventures and at Uncertainties Let us be prevailed with to set about this work in all sincerity and without delay that we may every one be acquainted with our own Estate and learn how we are to manage and behave our selves for the future and what course we are to apply our selves unto further in order to our everlasting Wellfare Some of you have past over a great many Years and have no reason to expect that you should live many more Now if you have been regardless of your Souls and have hitherto neglected to examin your Estate how ought you to be troubled for so great faults What Sins might you have avoided What Good might you have done What Comfort might you have treasur'd up for your selves had you begun and faithfully gone through this Enquiry some Years ago Take heed of continuing your Neglect refuse not to comply with this present Entreaty lest God should give you over in Judgment and you should be hardned and sealed to a most just and dreaful Condemnation Why will you refuse and sin against your own Mercies Why will you bring your own Gray Hairs to the Grave with Sorrow Why will you pierce your own Hearts thorough with Sorrow Why will you ruin and destroy your own selves Is it not yet high time for you to know and understand what you have been doing Whom you have been serving And what is like to become of you for ever And you who are not so much stricken in years even the youngest of you who are come to years of Discretion it behoves you to be very inquisitive about the State of your Souls What Consternation and Amazement will seize you if you should be cut off in the midst of your Years and then eternally upbraid your selves with having spent the best of your Years and the choicest of your Strength yea your whole time in a way of Hostility and War against God You have no more assurance of time than the oldest Man has and if you die in the flower of your Age in an un-reconciled Estate wholly unconcerned for the salvation of your Souls you must as infallibly be Sentenced unto Hell as the oldest and most overgrown Sinner in the World The infernal Flames will prey as violently on you who are thrown into them in your greener Age as they will on those who are cast into them in their decayed and withered Age. A strong Fire burns the greenest Log as well as the driest tho the green may make a little more noise for a while Whatever your outward State and Circumstances may be in this World be you Rich or Poor High or Low Learned or Unlearned Master or Servant you are equally concerned in this Business He that lives and dies in an un-regenerate Estate wholly regardless of and unconcerned for his Salvation will lose his Soul his whole self and what hath any Man More Or if he have What is all the World to one who is Damned and in Eternal Torments Good Lord open the Hearts of Sinners now that they may entertain Advice And so improve what hath been said that it may produce some good Effect Let not every one continue in a groundless Soul-destroying Presumption Let not Satan triumph that he carries all away headlong and unconcernedly unto Hell in defiance of all perswasion to Consideration and Enquiry Lord let not the Exhortation be wholly lost but cause some one Self-deluding Wretch to be awakened and brought to a right Mind Friend what dost thou intend to do Wilt thou stubbornly shut thy Eyes and slumber till Vengeance doth actually seize on thee Till infinite Wrath come upon thee and surround thee so that there shall be no escaping Canst thou be contented to be reproached by multitudes of forlorn undone Souls that thou art the Monster that would'st not hearken and consider but would'st voluntarily Damn thy Self in opposition to all Perswasion Search and try thy self now at last and take heed lest there be in thee a Root that beareth Gall and Wormwood and do not whilst thou hearest these words Bless thy self in thy Heart saying I shall have Peace tho I walk in the Imagination of my Heart to add Drunkenness to Thirst Deut. 29.18 c. Know thou who ever thou art the Lord will not spare thee but the Anger of the Lord and his Jealousie shall smoke against thee and all the Curses that are written in his Book shall lye upon thee the Lord shall separate thee unto Evil according to all the Curses of the Covenant that are written in his Book Sirs have some pity upon your selves What hurt have your precious Souls ever done you that you should thus neglect and cast them out of your thoughts that you should revenge your selves on them in this manner How can you think to escape if you still neglect this Enquiry What will you say for your selves at the Great Day of the Lord Sure you will not pretend you were never warned or perswaded And would not those Powers and Faculties you employ in examining other matters serve you to much better purpose on this account And hath not God given you a Rule
MAN's Great Duty OR A DISCOURSE OF The Care every Man should take to make sure the Salvation of his own Soul By Samuel Bold Rector of Styple in Dorsetshire Matt. XVI xxvi What shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul LONDON Printed by R. Smith and are to be Sold by R. Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane 1693. THE Epistle Dedicatory TO Mrs. Mary Cooke Widow of that very Learned and Pious Man Mr. William Cooke sometime since Minister of the Gospel in the City of Chester and to the rest of the Author 's Friends in that City I Present this Discourse to you as a publick Testimony that I am not unmindful how much I am obliged to you all for your great Love and Respects to me from my Infancy to this time And in an especial manner to you Mrs. Cooke for the Motherly Affection Care and Tenderness you have constanstly Manifested towards me through my Childhood and Youth and are pleased still to continue I forbear receoning up particular Obligations because too numerous for so slow a Pen. I know you delight more in shewing Kindness and doing Good than others would in having the World told that they do so The Subject treated of in this little Book I am sure is very grateful to you all and I am confident you will not be offended with my Discourse because so familiar It is a very sad and afflicting Reflection to a serious Christian that there are such multitudes who plainly appear to take no tolerable care of their own Souls tho they profess the best Religion and are furnished with eminent Advantages For The Earth which is so Watered and beareth Thorns and Briars is Rejected and is nigh unto Cursing whose end is to be Burned But Beloved I am perswaded better things of you and things that accompany Salvation Heb. 6.8 9. It very much concerns you all to take care I be not mistaken in you and to use your utmost Diligence to bring forth Fruit in some proportion to the Labour and Pains which have been bestowed on you You have enjoyed the Labours of that eminently holy Person and faithful Minister Mr. Cooke whose love to and care of Souls and zeal for their Salvation was such I am not acquainted with any words that are significative enough to express them And therefore if you do not much exceed others in Divine Love and all the Fruits of Righteousness and Holiness you do not fully answer the Means with which you have been favoured I am willing to remember you of your Old Pastor that you may thereby be induced to reflect upon your selves and be quickned to give such diligence to make your Salvation sure as he was always pressing you unto Were the excellent Treatises he left behind him Published they would contribute much to keep those things always in your Remembrance which he mainly insisted on whilst he was Living and to establish you in the Truths and Duties you know and have been practising He was the greatest instance of an indefatigable faithful Minister and practical Believer I was ever acquainted with He was diligent and industrious even to a Prodigy His Humility and Modesty did exceedingly veil his intellectual Merits Few could comprehend the time he spent and the pains he took in his Study much less the proficiency he made there He had strong Natural Parts a great Memory a quick Apprehension was very Thoughtful and dived very far into whatsoever he applied his Mind unto He was the most void of all kind of Affectation so far as my Knowledge doth extend of any meer Man His Learning Ministerial Labours and exemplary Piety were such could the World be furnish'd with an exact faithful Account of his Life I am perswaded it would yield as grateful and pleasing Entertainment to the learned part of the World and be as profitable to all People who have a serious sense of true Piety as any thing that can be Published But I doubt those who knew him best Died before him and as for those who were acquainted with him and do Survive I suspect some were not observant enough and others did not know him long enough to understand very many of the most material Passages which would be necessary for such a Composure Indeed he did so conceal himself I very much question whether any Man was ever in a capacity to do him Right Yet a sull Collection of the many great things his Friends remember and which he could not hinder People from observing would be of extraordinary use unto the Publick Tho the whole Relation thereof would not comprehend the half of what he deserved should be said to perpetuate his Memory and encourage a laudable Imitation If this hint may prompt those who knew him to recollect themselves and jointly apply themselves to such a Work I shall have this Satisfaction that I have been instrumental to put them on Acts of Friendship and true Piety and have contributed a little to oblige the Publick You are commanded not to be Slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience are Inheritors of the Promises Heb. 6.12 And I propound unto you Mr. Cooke as a great Pattern you should imitate in variety of Instances which are within your reach and pertain to the Stations you are in as well as in the whole general tenor of his Conversation I shall therefore pass over in Silence many very considerable things I know concerning him which must not by any means be omitted by one who would attempt to write his Life I must not therefore insist on his Learning And indeed he who would do him Justice as to that must be furnished with a much greater measure of it than I can hope to attain unto Yet let me take liberty to mention one thing viz. That his skill in the Oriental Languages was such it procured him a respect above many Persons of great worth from the Famous Bishop Walton whose eminent Talent lay in that sort of Study A very worthy Author whom I am obliged to Love and Honour greatly for his substantial solid Learning Conformists 4th Plea for Nonconformists p. 109. but especially on the account of his exemplary Piety and more than common Zeal for the good of Souls hath told the World That Bishop Walton would speak Civilly to Mr. Cooke tho he told him unless he would Conform he could not help him I have particular reason to say that when he spake those words he did it with intimations of great Regret and that amongst other reasons of his Respect to Mr. Cooke common to others for whom that Great Man had a Kindness notwithstanding they had different Sentiments from him about some Matters it was Mr. Cooke's great knowledge in these Languages which did peculiarly commend him to that Bishop Here I am to take notice that Mr. Cooke was a Nonconformist and so had different Sentiments about some inferior and less substantial rather meerly accidental Matters about which all
there not a Lye in my right Hand But if we are really perswaded that it is not a matter of indifferency whether our Souls be saved or not and that there cannot be any thing of such extraordinary consequence and moment to us as having our Salvation secured our thoughts will be very much employed about it And these will excite and stir up affections in some proportion to the sense we have of its worth and how much our imterest is wrapped up therein So that we shall not be satisfied with any thing so long as we perceive this is in hazard We shall pant and breath after this as what is indispensably necessary to our being Happy That in which our whole welfare consists and without which all other things are insipid are as nothing yea burthensom and vexatious I have longed for thy Salvation O Lord and thy Law is my delight Psal 119.174 And he who is thus affected towards the salvation of his Soul will diligently observe the directions God hath given and use the means he hath appointed in order to a Person 's making his Salvation sure He will be careful to take God's way to secure his Salvation for he knows none but God can save his Soul and that God will not save him but in his own way He penitently and with great humility and reverence betakes himself to Christ faithfully depends on him and with much fidelity follows his Counsel being sensible that no Man cometh to the Father but by him Joh. 14.6 And that there is not any Name given under Heaven but his whereby we must be Saved Neither is there salvation in any other Acts 4.12 With how much greater fervour doth he pray for this than for all other things As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Psal 42.1 2. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my Soul thirsteth for thee my Flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is Thy loving kindness is better than Life Psal 63.1 And he makes great Conscience of keeping God's Commandments Lord I have hoped for thy Salvation and done thy Commandments Psal 119.166 The Salvation of his Soul hath a more settled prevailing constant power over him than all other things have He gives this the preference above all and brings all other things to a subordination to it This hath such a fixed prevailing influence on him through the whole course of his Life that all other things are measured esteemed judged of approved or disapproved according to the relation and tendency they have to further or obstruct this He that is very much and duly concerned for the salvation of his Soul is ordinarily thus affected thus disposed thus resolved He will not deliberately give way to or adventure on any thing he is sensible will endanger obstruct or hinder the Salvation of his Soul tho he hath never so many inducements to it on other accounts he dares not adventure his Soul for the pleasures of Sin the profits of the World the applause approbation esteem and favour of Men. Shall I pay so dear for these fading perishing airy things at present as to occasion my sad and mournful repenting of my purchase and bargain to all Eternity God forbid I should ever be so infamously Sottish so execrably Wicked to pawn my Soul and stake my Salvation at such a disingenuous impious and unworthy rate to offer such indignity and contempt to the precious Blood of the Covenant as to sell it at such a common and unhallowed Price Yea he will apply himself with vigor to any thing he understands from the word of God will promote and further his Salvation tho he perceives he shall certainly encounter very formidable discouragements he will pass quietly through reproaches patiently sustain Losses and cheerfully endure Tribulation and inhuman Barbarities rather than omit or neglect any thing which pertains to and must accompany and will help forward his Salvation Tho Bonds and Afflictions abide with me and wait for me every where yet none of these things ought to move me Lord let me never count my Life dear to my self so that I may but finish my Course with Joy When I say that every Person ought to be very much concerned for the Salvation of his own Soul you are not to understand this as if I did exclude our being obliged to concern our selves for other Peoples Salvation Those who are unconcerned for their own Salvation will not be heartily concerned for the Salvation of other Peoples Souls They may do several things being induced thereunto by some mean and selfish considerations by which others may be much advantaged and assisted in working out their own Salvation But they who are altogether regardless of their own Souls will be every jot as little concerned for others But he who is truly sensible of the great worth of a Soul and the weightiness of Salvation and therefore is heartily concerned that his own Soul may be saved will in his measure and proportion be concerned that others may be saved too Having said thus much in order to a direct explaining of the Doctrin I am in the next place Secondly To propound some Reasons why we should every one be very much concerned for the Salvation of our own Souls And they are these First God hath by his plain and express Command made it our Duty We cannot but acknowledge both that God hath an unquestionable right to appoint us our Work and that he best understands what it is we ought to make our principal Business So that if he hath enjoyned us to be more concerned for our Salvation than any thing else we are obliged unto it by all the respect we owe unto him and that deference which is due from us to his Authority We cannot be regardless of Salvation but we must be justly reputed guilty of offering the most horrid and unexcusable Contempt to the Divine Majesty of renouncing his Authority and refusing to obey him in an Instance wherein his Grace and Love his regard to and tenderness for our chiefest good are eminently manifested God's Command should sway with us in any case more than any thing else but especially in a case of this nature where we have so evident a Demonstration that the Command it self chiefly respects our highest Advantage How can a refusal to comply with and obey such a Command escape being Interpreted to proceed from a spightfulness against God and an unaccountable hatred and malice to our own Souls And can any thing be enjoined in plainer terms in more express words than our Lord hath used in commanding us to concern our selves very much and to use our utmost care and best diligence to provide for and make sure of Salvation and eternal Felicity in the next World Could any thing be spoken with greater Emphasis or represented
And as soon as we have pass'd through this Wilderness and are got from amongst the Briers and Thorns which grow here below we shall inherit a Pleasure a Joy a Portion in comparison with which all that this World can afford is in every respect less and more inconsiderable than the emptiest Dream or most fleeting Shadow we can think of Why then should we be afraid of any thing that cannot hinder us from being for ever Blessed We should not be afraid of any thing but Sin 't is that alone which is displeasing to God that alone which exposes to eternal Misery 'T is only that which can hinder our attaining to the Salvation of our Souls Matt. 10.28 But if our Souls Miscarry all other things cannot make us amends There is no remedy for a lost Soul We may be disappointed to a notable degree in our worldly Designs and Affairs and Interests and not be Undone But if the Soul be Damned there is no reversing that Sentance If the Soul perish and be sent to Hell it cannot be redeemed thence All the Pleasures Riches Honors Bravery Applause c. in the World tho enjoyed without any Interruption the whole space of a Man's abode on Earth will not avail or profit help or comfort him one jot will not abate or qualifie his Sorrow and Torment one Moment when his Soul doth sink under the weight of its own Guilt and God's just Indignation into unquenchable Flames Former enjoyments are past and ended what was left behind will not purchase one Minutes Ease And the remembrance of antiquated Delights and Pleasures will but encrease and make present Tortures more wracking and vexatious heighten and increase those Torments and Horrors which do every Minute unconceivably over-weigh all the Jollities of an ill-spent Vitious Life What can you conceive more terrifying than to hear it said Remember thou in thy Life-time receivedst thy Good Things Luke 16.25 Besides a due concernedness for the Salvation of our Souls is the surest course we can take to be provided with what is most convenient for us till we arrive at the end of our Faith and Hope the Salvation of our Souls We have reason enough to be well satisfied if we have Journy-provision where we are Strangers and Pilgrims if as soon as ever our Journy is over we shall enter into the Heavenly Canaan and be for ever with the Lord. And if we be duly concerned for our Salvation we have as good assurance as can be desired to be supplied with what infinite Wisdom shall judge most fit and convenient for us during our Travel Our allowance of outward things shall be more or less according as our Heavenly Father shall see most for our good Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Matt. 6.33 The Lord God is a Sun and Shield The Lord will give Grace and Glory no good thing will he withold from them that walk uprightly Psal 84.11 Fourthly A great concernedness for the Salvation of the Soul is the only way to secure it Negligence Sloth and Heedlessness are not look'd on as the way to great honourable and comfortable Fruitions in this World why then should they be thought consistent with a rational expectation of the glorious things which are reserved in Heaven If you are sensible of the worth of your Souls and do desire they may be Saved you must needs own you ought to be much concerned for their Salvation or you must renounce and depart from the common Rules of Reason and from those Principles by which all Mankind do govern themselves in seeking after wha is of great value in it self or what they do magnifie by their own Phancies and Imaginations unless you do know some other way by which their Salvation may be made sure Now the Salvation of the Soul depending wholly on the free Grace and good Pleasure of God there cannot be any way to secure it but what God hath been pleased to fix upon and appoint Can you therefore produce a proof that God hath revealed and declared that it is his purpose to save any one who is of years of Discretion whether he do or do not concern himself in good earnest for his Salvation If you cannot produce a Revelation that is very plain and express to this effect you run the greatest risk imaginable and act with the greatest inconsistency that can be with the Principles of Reason and Prudence If you be not mightily concerned for your Salvation How unavoidably will all the methods you use with respect to other Matters upbraid reproach and condemn your inadvertency and regardlessness as to this which is of infinitely greater consideration an importance to you than all other things can be Moreover you may remember it hath been proved to you by express Scripture that God hath appointed this as the course you must take if you will make your Salvation sure Indeed our concernedness for the Salvation of our Souls be it ever so great does not nor cannot procure their Salvation by virtue of its own intrinsick worth and excellency We cannot be our own Saviours We are wholly beholding to the Lord Jesus Christ and to free Grace for salvation But we must in obedience to God acquit our selves strenuously for our Salvation in using those means and following those directions he hath appointed and assigned for this purpose depending upon him to Sanctifie and make this obediential compliance with his blessed Will Effectual for the preparing us for and bringing us unto that Salvation whereunto he hath appointed the same Our coming to Christ when we are truly sensible of our Wants and Misery hath no intrinsick Vertue and Excellency of its own to purchase and procure us Acceptance with him yet it is the necessary and only successfus way a convinced sensible humbled Sinner can take to obtain acceptance with him This being what he Commands and that to which he hath annexed his compassionate and merciful Promise Joh. 6.37 Matt. 11.28 The necessity there is of our taking the course I have been discoursing of doth principally arise from God's appointment The successfulness of it ariseth wholly from the vouchsafements of Divine Grace Fifthly Every Person 's concernedness is necessary to the Salvation of his own Soul I speak to Persons who are of years of Discretion and my Discourse is about the Salvation of those who are Adult Other People may and ought to be concerned for your Salvation in their way to the utmost of their Power according to the Capacities thy have and the Offices they are in and the Relations they bear to you But what others can do will not profit unto Salvation if you are altogether unconcerned about it your selves Most of your Worldly Businesses may be done for you by others Other People may Build your Houses make your Cloaths till your Grounds feed your Cattle gather in your Harvests c. But other People excluding your particular
personal concerning your selves for your Salvation cannot do all that is necessary to be done in order to your being Saved Those who have ever so many at work for them must notwithstanding that Eat and Drink for themselves or else they will soon be Famished and Die Other Peoples Eating and Drinking will not sustain you in Life their wearing of Cloaths will not preserve you from Cold or warm and heat you their Sleeping will not refresh Nature in you These are things all People must do for themselves and we are all sensible enough of the same O that we were every one as fully convinc'd that it is every jot as necessary for every particular Person to be very much concerned for his own Salvation Other Peoples Knowledge Faith Holiness c. will not save our Souls Every one that will be Saved must Repent of his own Sins must himself believe in Christ and be made Holy and must Personally observe and keep God's Commandments Sixthly The Enemies of our Souls do concern themselves very much to hinder our Salvation Every Man hath variety of Enemies who in their several ways do busie themselves to hinder the Salvation of his Soul and to make his Damnation sure Does it not therefore behove him to do what he can that his endeavours to frustrate and defeat their Projects and Designs may be equal to theirs Be sober be vigilant because your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lyon walketh about seeking whom he may Devour whom resist stedfast in the Faith 1 Pet. 5.8 9. Why should the Devil hate your Souls more than you love them should not you be as much concerned for their Salvation as he is for their Damnation Are not you more interested in your own Souls than he is Doth it not more concern you what will become of your Souls than it doth him The Damnation of your Souls will be no real advantage to him notwithstanding he seeks and labours for it so industriously but how unconceivable will your Benefit be if they be Saved We have Enemies in the World and Corruption within us unweariedly labouring to obstruct our Salvation And seeing we have so many and such industrious and indefatigable Enemies waiting to do us a Mischief even the greatest Mischief imaginable to hinder our Salvation to destroy and ruin our Souls for ever in what manner will it become us to acquit our selves How concerned should we be for the Salvation of our Souls which are thus beset If we have any regard to the Authority of Almighty God or think our selves obliged to employ the best Talents and Advantages which are committed to our trust to the ends for which they naturally serve and to which they are particularly Ordained if we believe everlasting Salvation is of any great moment to our selves and that it is not the effect of Chance but will be regularly dispensed if we are satisfied that we cannot be saved by Proxy and that it doth behove us to improve the diligence and industry of our worst Enemies to our own greatest Advantage what hath been discoursed may in some measure serve to beget or awaken in us a perswasion that we ought to be very much concerned for the Salvation of our own Souls And therefore I will now proceed Thirdly To take notice of some Inferences which this Doctrin doth evidently afford and even prompt us to take into our consideration and of which we may make a profitable Use and Improvement First The Soul of Man is exceeding precious 'T is this on which we should set the greatest value and of which we should take the greatest care It is of the greatest worth in it self and may be improved to our unexpressible advantage But if it be finally slighted and neglected the damage which will follow will be altogether irreparable Man consists of two Parts a Body and a Soul The former is of a frail and corruptible Nature of very little Excellency and of no use at all when the Soul is separated from it As long as the Soul continues in it it is sensible of Pleasure or Pain according as things are proportioned or disproportioned to its Organs Appetites Frame or State but no sooner doth the Soul part from it but it becomes perfectly stupid and senseless and presently molders into Dust Foolish miserable Wretches that we are How unexcusable are we in being so immoderately sollicitous about our fading Earthly Part and its little diminutive Interests to the extraordinary prejudice and hazard of our Souls which are Immortal and evidently our best and noblest Part When the Body returns to the Dust the Soul doth not cease to be but then becomes more sprightly and active more apprehenhensive of what is Pleasing or Dolorous than it was before We do all put a difference betwixt things esteeming some more Precious than others and accordingly we proportion our love to and care of and concernment for them But our great fault is this we are hasty and inconsiderate we are rash and precipitate we ordinarily judge amiss and value things above their worth setting a mighty Price upon those things which have no intrinsick Excellency but are intirely beholding to our own Fancies or vulgar Opinion for all their reputed worth and slighting and making no account of that which is so transcendently Excellent we cannot possibly advance our esteem for it to those degrees it deserves Lord How shall we duly deplore and bewail our selves upbraid and reproach our Folly seeing we have so long extravagantly admired and inordinately doated on empty Impertinencies whilst our Souls which are of unconceivably greater worth than all the World have been left unregarded and unminded by us What vile and ungrateful Wretches are we thus to dishonour our selves and disparage and prostitute the Souls God hath entrusted-us with How loathsom may we justly appear in the sight of God and of all his Creatures 'T is owing to our Souls that we are capable of setting a value upon any thing and having Souls committed to our trust could we behave our selves more unworthily than to cast off all care of them and degrade them to the sordidest Drudgery we could devise All Worldly and Earthly Enjoyments and Objects will be as nothing to us the pleasure and delight we took in them will be gone and tho the things themselves may stay behind we cannot make any more use of them when once our Souls have taken their flight into the other and unseen World And what can we expect will be their lot and portion who have taken no better care of their precious Souls have so neglected and abused them here Did we rightly understand and were we duly affected with the worth and preciousness of our Souls we could not make so light of them as we do We should then certainly concern our selves much to secure their Salvation Do I believe my Soul came immediately from God and that it is of a Divine Extraction and that the greatest Excellency of my Body consists
with all Saints the breadth and length and depth and height of his Love how should I abound in Admiring Praising Glorifying and giving Thanks unto him and to what a height would this sort of exercise raise my estimation of my Soul towards which this great this glorious this beneficent and most gracious Saviour hath manifested a Love which passeth Knowledge As the best and greatest Friend to Mankind hath in so stupendous a manner Testified his love to and thereby the real and extraordinary worth of Souls so the most envious inveterate and malicious Enemy to Human Race hath mightily fortified this Truth That the Soul of Man is exceeding precious by his indefatigable and unwearied attempts to destroy our Souls both in the ways of Subtilty and Violence We commonly acknowledge and bouldly affirm the Devil is our great Adversary and then we must likewise allow and grant that he designs to do us the greatest Mischief and what can that be but to prejudice and ruine that part of us which is undoubtedly of greatest value And can any thing be more apparent and manifest than that all his methods and assaults are levelled against our Souls What a Monster shall I appear if I make little or no account of this Soul for the ransoming of which the eternal Son of God laid down his most precious Life And for the ruining of which the Devil doth not spare any either of his Craft and Artifice or of his Strength and Industry Would the Prince of the Powers of the Air so sedulously contrive and plot be so very observant and constant upon his Watch make such diligent Search after and take so much pains as he doth to destroy our Souls if they were such inconsiderable worthless Trifles as we seem to reckon them We are careful of and do look accurately after those those things we really prize and of which we make a very great account And were we truly sensible of and duly affected with the worth the excellency the preciousness of our own Souls O! with what seriousness should we busie our selves to secure their Salvation Secondly Salvation is an inestimable Mercy and Privilege Salvation What a sweet delicious good word is this Take all the Letters in the World and join them together how you please you cannot frame a word that makes so comfortable and charming a Sound as this does Of all the expressions that can be named this is the most proper and the best accommodated to our State and Circumstances to our Case and Necessities We are in Misery our wants and dangers are greater than our Lips can utter Who so wretched and forlorn as Sinners and guilty Persons None certainly excepting them whose Condemnation is already Seal'd and ratified May such as we be Saved is it possible for us to obtain Salvation May our aggravated Transgressions the horrible Rebellion we have so long and so obstinately persisted in against the Holy God be Pardoned May we yet escape the terrible wrath that is coming apace upon the Wicked and Disobedient Is the door of Mercy still open May we yet be received into favour Most joyful tidings most comfortable and ravishing News Blesbe my Rock Exalted be the God of my Salvation Praise the Lord O my Soul and let all that is within me magnifie his Holy Name Thy loving kindness is better than Life O Lord I will praise thee as long as I Live Let all the Angels of God which excel in strength bless him Yea let all his works in all Places of his Dominion bless him Bless the Lord O my Soul Oh that Men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his wonderful Works to the Children of Men Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from Everlasting to Everlasting and let all the People say Amen Praise ye the Lord This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation That Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners of whom we may justly repute our selves the greatest Let that Message brought from Heaven by an Angel A Message every way worthy of such a Messenger be the chief subject of my Meditations And Oh that I might never think of it but with a Heart rightly affected towards it powerfully influenced by it and mightily enlarged in thankfulness and praise for it Fear not for behold I bring you good Tydings of great Joy which shall be to all People for unto you is Born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord Luke 2.10 11. This Salvation is indeed a great and blessed word but how little do we know of that which it imports No created Being can comprehend and fully understand the Mercy Good and Privilege it signifies A Blessing is the less by its being such that any finite Being can reach and know its full Dimensions This is a Mercy and Benefit which deserves our loudest Praises our most solemn Acknowledgments and our silent Admiration We cannot possibly raise our estimation to its real Value It is so great the loftiest Expressions fall infinitely short of conveying to our Minds an adequate and exact conception of it How shall we then escape if we neglect so great Salvation Heb. 2.3 Our deliverances are incompleat whilst we are on Earth we are encompassed and surrounded here with such variety of dangers calamities and troubles we are no sooner rescued out of one but we feel our selves Arrested by another Disaster and are in all respects as uneasie and dissatisfied till freed from this as we were when mourning under the former Yea many times our very Deliverance proves but a step to a Relapse which sinks us deeper into the very same kind of Trouble and Disquietment we thought we had escaped We are Born to Trouble as the Sparks fly upward When one afflicting occurrence having gorg'd it self as we conceive leaves us we presently become a Booty to another or else the former returns with greater eagerness and preys on us with more unsatiable greediness and violence No sooner have we one Deliverance but we find we do as much need another We are not sure but whole Troops of Sorrows will seize on us and these so thick and close one after another they will not afford us one pleasant Interval Our Lives are at best chequered and our Deliverances in this World yield not a satisfaction of any long continuance But blessed be God the Lord Jesus being made perfect is become the Author of eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 O! the blessedness of them who partake of this Salvation who are perfectly freed from every thing that ean offend and molest from the worst of Evils Sin and the next Temptations to it and from all the Sufferings Pains Diseases Doubts and Fears which here extort our Tears Complaints and Moans God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes and there shall be no more Death neither Sorrow nor Crying neither shall there be any more Pain for the former things
are passed away Rev. 21.4 How happy are they who are safe from and out of the reach of all those Torment and Curses to which Sin doth expose People and under which others must eternally roar who whilst others fry in unquenchable Flames and must be always tost on the Waves and Surges of the ever burning Lake endure none of their Anguish but are filled with a Joy which no Tongue can relate O the Honor to which they are advanced the Glory with which they are Crowned the Treasures they enjoy the Kingdoms they have received the Delights with which they are and will be everlastingly entertained Our Understandings and Minds are not capacious and wide enough to comprehend or conceive the great and excellent things that are conferred on them Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 In thy presence is fulness of Joy at thy right Hand are Pleasures for ever more Psal 16.11 As for me I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy Likeness Psal 17.15 Because thy loving Kindness is better than Life my Lips shall praise thee Thus will I praise thee while I Live I will lift up my Hands in thy Name My Soul shall be satisfied as with Marrow and Fatness and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips Psal 63.3 4 5. Can any thing be so desirable to me as when I die to have my precious Soul guarded and conveyed by holy and blessed Angels through the airy Regions unto Abraham's Bosom into the kindest Embraces of the holy amiable and loving Jesus And at the general Resurrection to have my Body raised Incorruptible and Glorious and every way disposed for and united to its happy Soul that they may be joint and eternal sharers in all those blessed Fruitions infinite Grace and Love will vouchsafe How happy shall I be if through Grace I arrive to be for ever with Christ What a glorious Change will then be wrought on me How wonderfully will all the Powers and Faculties of my Soul be advanced improved and enlarged How much more beautiful and capacious will they be made than now they are O the alteration that shall be made on me to my unconceivable Advantage when I shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament as the Stars for Ever and Ever Dan. 12.3 Yea as the Sun in the Kingdom of my Father Mat. 13.43 When this vile Body shall be Changed and fashioned like unto the Glorious Body of My Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3.21 What account should I make of such a Privilege Honor and Felicity How should I prepare wait and long for this Great Holy and Glorious Change The word of that God who is faithful and true and cannot Lie affords us evident and full assurance that such a glorious and everlastingly happy State is prepared and may be obtained and it likewise certifies what manner of People they must be who shall be admitted to it The Lord Jesus the supream Judge of and great King over all will at the last Day say unto them on his right Hand Come ye blessed of my Father Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World Matt. 25.34 He will render to every Man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in Well-doing seek for Glory and Honor and Immortality Eternal Life Rom. 2.6 7. Henceforth saith St. Paul there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also who love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead to an Inheritance Incorruptible and Undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation ready to be Revealed in the last Time 1 Pet. 1.3 4 5. This Salvation comprehends all that is Great all that is Honorable all that is truly Delighting Good and Desirable O that we may all duly strive labour desire and long to be prepared for and brought to the actual possession of it What should we wish for on our own behalves if we have any love for our selves but that God himself the only satisfying good would be our Portion That we may have free Intimate full and everlasting Communion in the highest Heavens with the Father Son and Holy Spirit with glorious Angels and all the Saints above That we may come to the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first Born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the Blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel Heb. 12.22 c. Can we desire and pant after any thing comparable to our beholding our Saviour's Glory and being for ever with him in his Kingdom where he Reigns in Glory Were we throughly perswaded of and did we in any measure esteem this Salvation as we ought for indeed we cannot prize it as it deserves what an happy Change should we presently perceive in our selves What a mighty power and efficacy should we feel it have on our Souls What a sweet and constraining influence should we find it shed abroad in our Hearts and Lives How strangely would it abate and take off our love and affection to this World It s Pomps its Pleasures its Vanities How much would it raise us above the Flatteries which have hitherto Deluded us How would it make us despise and contemn the painted Glories and empty Enjoyments which we have so unweariedly pursued and so passionately courted How indifferent should we be to Earthly things and how little impression would any Worldly Allurements make on us if we did steadily look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen 2 Cor. 4.18 And did we affectionately consider that the things which are seen are Temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal How would this engage us to animate us in and with what success and vigor would it carry us through all our Duties Would not our Conversation be in Heaven did we seriously look for our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ from thence to call and take
Meditate and think in any degree and yet believe you shall be able to vindicate your tenacious adhering to a Notion which Cancels all the Authority of God's Commands devests him of his Truth and Faithfulness and transforms his whole Revelation into a plain piece of Falshod and Imposture How wretchedly does Satan infatuate and befool you when he perswades you to put off your concerning your selves for the Salvation of your Souls to a more convenient Season And prevails with you to stifle efface and vanquish your present Convictions by pretending you may do it with a better Grace hereafter and that a riper and more mature Age will be much more proper for and agreeable to so Austere and Grave a Business Whom do you gratifie in neglecting to mind your Salvation but your worst and most mischievous Enemy And will you humor him when you cannot do it any other way than by running the most Dismal Risk and rendring your Salvation at least next to Impossible Can any time be so convenient for this Work as the present seeing the present is the only Season you can call your own Seeing you are not sure of more time to mind it in Seeing the present Season is the only time wherein you can truly hope to attend it with good Success Are you so destitute of Reason and good Sense as not to perceive that if you allow Satan to have such an ascendent over you as to wheedle you at this rate he will drill you on so long you will have no time at last to concern your selves for the Salvation of your Souls to any purpose Sirs what do you mean What is your Purpose What are you resolved on Sure you will not say you fully determin to destroy those precious Souls you are entrusted with and make an Experiment how much your abusing Divine Patience contemning infinite Mercy and despising the Riches of God's Grace will add to the Horror and Anguish of the Damned Oh! that you would seriously consider of Matters and shew your selves Men yea shew your selves what according to your Profession you should be Christians before the door of Hope be quite shut whilst there remains a possibility of escaping that Vengeance and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversaries Do you think you are able to contend with the Almighty Are you equal Matches for that God who is a Consuming Fire Can you with calm and serene Minds dwell with Everlasting Burnings Alas how soon may God begin to write against you Bitter things How soon can he throw your Consciences into Convnlsions and wound your Souls by causing the Invenomed Darts of his Fury to stick fast in them In what a case will you be When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking vengeance on them who know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting Destructiou from the presence of the Lord and from the power of his Glory 2 Thess 1.7 8 9 What will you do when the Great and terrible day of the Lord shall come Whether will you then fly How will you then be able to appear before and look your incensed Judge in the Face What will you then plead for your selves Where do you think to hide your selves Rocks and Mountains cannot then conceal you What can screen you from irresistible Power How do you think you shall escape the effects of Impartial Justice Now consider this ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver Psal 50.22 But alas how difficultly are such People brought to consider the things which belong to their Peace What multitudes are there every where who have so habituated themselves to neglect their Salvation and to those courses which have the plainest tendency to ruin their Souls Everlastingly they have hardned themselves against all Reproof whose Consciences are so canteriz'd or seared they can hear the most dreadful threatnings Recorded in the Word of God and their Hearts not be moved or affected at all with them yea in express defiance of those Menaces can Bless themselves in their Iniquities What so strange and so amazing as that People should be in so forlorn a State and yet will not be prevailed with by any means to take notice of it They are sensible of Hunger Cold Sickness any Corporal wants and pains of troublesome Times worldly Losses unreasonable Weather c. But have no sense of their spiritual Wants and the great danger their Souls are in Tho they are under the wrath of God stand on the very brink of Hell and are not certain of being one Hour out of unquenchable Flames yet they are altogether unconcerned can Eat and Drink and Sleep and follow their Sports and worldly Businesses with Eagerness as if they were in no danger nor had any reason at all to be afraid There is a way that seemeth right unto a Man but the end thereof are the ways of Death Prov. 14.12 O that the carnally secure and presumptuous would ponder believe and faithfully apply this Scripture to themselves I do not only pity multitudes of ignorant poor People who mind nothing but a present Livelyhood but a great many who live in pomp have huge worldly Possessions do fair Deliciously every day bestow the most of their thoughts and the greatest portions of their time and their Wealth upon their Bodies which must in a little time be laid in the Grave and at last unless they come to be of another Mind and to alter their course in due time before they Die together with their miserable guilty neglected Souls be Tormented in Hell Fire for ever Fifthly It is very fit and meet that every one should make a serious strict and impartial Enquiry into himself whether he has been duly concerned for the Salvation of his own Soul or have hitherto been regardless of and neglected this most necessary and important Business Let us speedily set apart some portion of our time for this Work and employ our calmest and most penetrating Thoughts in searching out the State and Condition of our Souls In considering what we have been doing Whether we are going What will become of us if we should presently be Summoned to appear before God's Tribunal Whither we must be Sentenced to that unquenchable Fire which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels or to dwell with Christ in Glory Whether we shall see the Face of God with Comfort and Joy or have our Souls filled with Astonishment and Confusion Whether we shall hear those joyful Words Well done thou good and faithful Servant or that terrible Thunder Depart thou Cursed I know thee not thou wicked doer It doth behove us to enquire seriously and to get speedily a sound knowledge of the Estate of our Souls lest Death and Hell should surprize us Death and Judgment are hastning a pace and it will be too late to think of amending
what is amiss and flying from Wrath if we leave this World in an unreconciled Estate Yet you have time and means and encouragements and helps to discover the Truth of your Condition yet you may prevent your eternal Misery if you have been unconcerned for your Souls yet you may escape the Punishments you have deserved if you be truly sensible of your Sin Guilt and danger do humbly betake you unto Christ reform your Lives close with the offers of Mercy and lay hold of the Grace which is tendred You will say it may be you hope well and you trust that all will end well But I pray you what ground have you for that Hope and Trust Groundless Hope will not Save you Such Hope is but Presumption it hath ruin'd Thousands and Millions Examin your selves therefore impartially search out what your Estate is bring this matter to a full determinate Issue Awake careless drowsie Soul please not thy self with foolish Dreams any longer Lord of all Grace and Might pour down thy gracious Influences awake our drowsie sleepy senseless Consciences make us to attend to and obey the word of Exhortation Hearken every one listen to Advice and improve the present Opportunity Know that you are called on exhorted and warned and if you continue finally sturdy and disobedient you will be without Excuse If you Perish your Blood will be required at your own Hands Your Damnation will lye wholly upon your selves Consider therefore 1. If you have been unconcerned all your time for your Souls and their Salvation and are under the power of Sin and your Lusts and in an unreconciled Estate you are in a very evil and dangerous Estate You have been pulling down insupportable loads of Wrath upon your selves If you persist and die in this Estate it will be impossible for any thing to interpose and screen you from the terrible strokes of divine Vengeance or to support and bear you up under that mighty weight of Horror and Torment you have been hailing upon your Selves What trembling of Heart failing of Eyes and sorrow of Soul will then seize on you Is this an estate to be desired Is this an Estate to sleep and slumber and repose your selves quietly in 2. This was your Estate once We are all naturally concluded under Sin and Guilt Children of Wrath dead in Trespasses and Sins without Holiness unconcerned for our Souls Enemies to God and obnoxious unto his Displeasure And every Man continues in this evil Estate till he is effectually Regenerated and doth heartily entertain the word of Reconciliation by and through Jesus Christ Till a real spiritual gracious Change is wrought in him he is an Enemy to God is actually provoking of God and treasuring up Wrath for himself against that Great Day when the Disobedient and Unbelieving and those who are unconcerned for their precious Souls must be Destroyed with an utter and an everlasting Destruction Those who are now in the holiest and happiest Estate were once in this Guilty and wretched Estate Such were some of you c. 1 Cor. 6.11 We our selves were sometime foolish disobedient serving divers Lusts c. Tit. 3.3 3. You have too just ground to suspect and fear you are in this dreadful Estate till you make a faithful enquiry into your Estate You cannot ordinarily have a sound knowledge that your Souls are in a good condition without reflecting upon your selves and descending to a strict and faithful Examination If you entertain an opinion that all is well and safe as to your Souls you have no occasion to take any comfort in that Opinion because you have no ground or reason for it which you know of It may be meer Diabolical Delusion for any thing you know to the contrary having never duly enquired into the Matter Yea 4. The more secure and confident you are having never made a thorough enquiry into the State of your Souls the more sad and dangerous your Estate is For this argues you have sinned your selves out of a sense of all your spiritual and eternal Concernments and that you have so entirely committed your selves to Satan's Conduct as to rely on his Word for your Safety and Happiness 'T is his Interest to do what he can to support and heighten your Presumption and to prevent your being prevailed with to search seriously into your Estate He would deceive but few did he not flatter them with hopes of Heaven at last Could you see from one end and side of Hell to the other what a dreadful Spectacle would you behold And amongst those enumerable multitudes of Damned Wretches which have gone thither in every Age of the World how few would you see in comparison of those who were secure confident self-deluding Sinners when they were on Earth Who went thither Blindfold refusing to search into their Estate and consider whether they were going Who were resolved to Believe well and Hope well as they phras'd it of themselves without ever examining their Spiritual Estate in defiance of all Warnings and Exhortations that could be administred unto them What a deplorable thing is it to consider how People do at Satan's instigation harden themselves against Fear and all Consideration so that they will not suspect they may be in the way to Hell till they do irrecoverably drop into it And 5. In what a fearful Estate wilt thou be who obstinately refusest to consider what thy condition really is if at last thou be found an unreconciled Sinner utterly unconcerned for the Salvation of thy Soul If this be thy case when Death hath seized thee thou must presently sink into unquenchable Flames And then what a miserable helpless Wretch wilt thou be for ever What a dreadful thing will it be to be scared and rafted out of thy Spiritual Slumber and Sleep by the actual Pains and Agonies of Damnation Should a Man Sleeping at his own home be a little moved with the cry of Fire Fire but without enquiring whether his Dwelling-place were in Danger should compose himself again for Sleep and not awake till rasted out of his Sleep by the scorching heat and vehement noise of the Fire burning down his own House and should he as soon as his Eyes are open behold his Bed and all his Room in Flames how gastly would he look being thus affrighted out of his Sleep and seeing no way to escape those devouring Flames which have seized on every part of his Room What loud Outcries and dreadful Schrieks would he utter How deplorable should we conceive his condition should we see his gastly Looks and hear his Roarings and his mournful Groans whilst Burning and Roasting in the Flames of his own House not able to fly from that scorching Fire nor any able to come near to help him because compassed in by those furious and merciless Flames If this would be so full of Terror to that miserable unfortunate dying Person and would fill the Beholders with most affectionate Trouble and Grief what must the