wretch art thou, that wilt not hear it, and consider it! If thou art one of the people of God, this doc-trine will be a comfort to thee, and not a terror. If thou art yet unregenerate, methinks thou shouldst be as fearful to hear of heaven, as of hell, except the bare name of heaven or salvation be sufficient. Preaching heaven and mercy to thee, is entreating thee to seek them and not reject them; and preaching hell, is but to persuade thee to avoid it. If thou wert quite past hope of escaping it, then it were in vain to tell thee of hell; but as long as thou art alive, there is hope of thy recovery, and therefore all means must be used to awake thee from thy lethargy. Alas! what heart can now possibly conceive, or what tongue express, the pains of those souls, that are under the wrath of God? Then, sinners, you will be crying to Jesus Christ, "O mercy! O pity, pity on a poor soul!" Why, I do now, in the name of the Lord Jesus, cry to thee, "O have mercy, have pity, man, upon thy own soul!" Shall God pity thee, who wilt not be entreated to pity thyself? If thy horse see but a pit before him, thou canst scarcely force him in ; and wilt thou so obstinately cast thyself into hell, when the danger is foretold thee? Who can stand before the indignation of the Lord? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?* Methinks thou shouldst need no more words, but presently cast away thy soul-damning sins and wholly deliver up thyself to Christ. Resolve on it immediately, and let it be done, that I may see thy face in rest among the saints. May the Lord persuade thy heart to strike this covenant without any longer delay! But if thou be hardened unto death, and

*Nahum i. 6.

there be no remedy, yet say not another day but that thou wast faithfully warned, and hadst a friend that would fain have prevented thy damnation.

CHAPTER VII.

THE NECESSITY OF DILIGENTLY SEEKING THE SAINT'S REST.

§1. The saint's rest surprisingly neglected; particularly, § 2. by the worldly-minded, § 3. the profane multitude, § 4. formal professors, § 5-8. and by the godly themselves, whether magistrates, ministers, or people. 9. The author mourns the neglect, and excites the reader to diligence, by considering, § 10. the ends we aim at, the work we have to do, the shortness and uncertainty of our time, and diligence of our enemies; § 1o. Our talents, mercies, relations to God, and our afflictions; § 12. What assistances we have, what principles we profess, and our certainty never to do enough; § 13. That every grace tends to diligence, that to trifle is lost labour, that much time is mispent, and that our recompense and labour will be proportionable; § 14. That striving is the divine appointment, all men do or will approve it, the best Christians at death lament their want of it, heaven is often lost for want of it, but never obtained without it; § 15. God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are in earnest, God is so in hearing and answering prayer, ministers in their instructions and exhortations, all the creatures in serving us, sinners in serving the devil, as we were once, and now are, in worldly things, and in heaven and hell all are in earnest. 16. The chapter concludes with proposing some awakening questions to the ungodly, and, § 17. also to the godly.

1. IF there be so certain and glorious a rest for the saints, why is there no more industrious seeking after it? One would think, if a man did but once hear of such unspeakable glory to be obtained, and believed what he heard to be true, hé should be transported with the vehemency of his desire after it, and should almost forget to eat or drink, and should care for nothing else, and speak of and inquire after nothing else, but how to get this treasure. And yet people who hear of it daily, and profess to believe it as a fundamental article of their faith, do as little mind it, or labour for

it, as if they had never heard of any such thing, or did not believe one word they hear. This reproof is more particularly applicable to the worldly minded, the profane multitude, the formal professors, and even to the godly themselves.

§ 2. The worldly-minded are so taken up in seeking the things below, that they have neither heart nor time to seek this rest. O foolish sinners, who hath bewitched you? The world bewitches men into brute beasts, and draws them some degrees beyond madness. See what riding and running, what scrambling and catching for a thing of naught, while eternal rest lies neglected! What contriving and caring to get a step higher in the world than their brethren, while they neglect the kingly dignity of the saints! What insatiable pursuit of fleshly pleasures, while they look on the praises of God, the joy of angels, as a tiresome burden! What unwearied diligence in raising their posterity, enlarging their possessions; perhaps for a poor living from hand to mouth; while judgment is drawing near; but, how it shall go with them then, never puts them to one hour's consideration! What rising early, and sitting up late, and labouring from year to year, to maintain themselves and children in credit till they die; but what shall follow after, they never think on! Yet these men cry, "May we not be saved without so much ado?" How early do they rouse up their servants to their labour; but how seldom do they call them to prayer, or reading the scriptures! What hath this world done for its lovers and friends, that is so eagerly followed, and painfully sought after, while Christ and heaven stand by, and few regard them? or what will the world do

for them for the time to come? The common entrance into it is through anguish and sorrow. The passage through it, is with continual care and labour. The The passage out of it, is the sharpest of all. O unreasonable, bewitched men! Will mirth and pleasure stick close to you? Will gold and worldly glory prove fast friends to you in the time of your greatest need? Will they hear your cries in the day of your calamity? At the hour of your death, will they either answer or relieve you? Will they go along with you to the other world, and bribe the judge, and bring you off clear, or purchase you a place among the blessed? Why then did the rich man want a drop of water to cool his tongue? Or are the sweet morsels of present delight and honour of more worth than eternal rest? and will they recompense the loss of that enduring treasure? Can there be the least hope of any of these? Ah vile, deceitful world! How oft have we heard thy most faithful servants at last complaining, "O the world hath deceived me, and undone me! It flattered me in my prosperity, but now it turns me off in my necessity. If I had as faithfully served Christ, as I have served it, he would not have left me thus comfortless and hopeless." Thus they complain, and yet succeeding sinners will take no warning.

§ 3. As for the profane multitude, they will not be persuaded to be at so much pains for salvation, as to perform the common outward duties of religion. If they have the gospel preached in the town where they dwell, it may be they will give the hearing to it one part of the day, and stay at home the other; or if the master come to the congregation, yet part of his family must stay at home. If they want the plain and powerful preaching of

the gospel, how few are there in a whole town, who will travel a mile or two to hear abroad; though they will go many miles to the market for provision for their bodies! They know the scripture is the law of God by which they must be acquitted or condemned in judgment; and that the man is blessed who delights in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth meditate day and night; yet will they not be at pains to read a chapter once a day. If they carry a bible to church, and neglect it all the week, this is the most use they make of it. Though they are commanded to pray without ceasing, and to pray alway; yet they will neither pray constantly with their families, nor in secret. Though Daniel would rather be cast to the lions, than forbear praying three times a day in his house, where his enemies might hear him; yet these men will rather venture to be an eternal prey to Satan, the roaring lion, than thus seek their own safety. Or their cold and heartless prayers invite God to a denial: For among men it is taken for granted, that he who asks but slightly and seldom, cares not much for what he asks. They judge themselves unworthy of heaven, who think it is not worth their more constant and earnest request. If every door was marked, where families do not morning and evening earnestly seek the Lord in prayer, that his wrath might be poured out upon such prayerless families, our towns would be as places overthrown by the plague, the people being dead within, and the mark of judgment without. I fear where one house would escape, ten would be marked out for death; and then they might teach their doors to pray, Lord, have mercy upon us, because the people would not pray themselves.