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"again! How speedily would I repent! How ear"neftly would I pray! How diligently would I hear! "How clofely would I examine my State! How "ftrictly would I live? But 'tis now too late, alas! "too late."

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§14.IT will add to their Calamity to remember how often they were perfuaded to return. "Fain "would the Minifter have had me efcape thefe Tor66 ments. With what Love and Compaffion did he "befeech me! And yet I did but make a Jeft of it. "How oft did he convince me! And yet I ftifled all "these Convictions. How did he open to me my σε very Heart! And yet I was loth to know the worst "of myself. O how glad would he have been, if he "could have feen me cordially turn to Chrift? My

godly Friends admonished me: They told me what "would come of my Wilfulness and Negligence at

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laft; but I neither believed, nor regarded them. "How long did God himself condefcend to intreat "me! How did the Spirit frive with my Heart, as "if he was loth to take a Denial! How did Chrift "Stand knocking one Sabbath after another, and cry"ing to me, Open, Sinner, open thy Heart to thy 66 Saviour, and I will come in, and fup with thee, and "thou with me! Why dost thou delay? How Lng fhall thy vain Thoughts lodge within thee? Wilt thou not be pardoned, and fanctified, and made happy? "When hall it once be?" O how the Recollection of fuch divine Pleadings will paffionately transport the Damned with Self Indignation! "Muft I tire out "the Patience of Chrift? Muft I make the God of "Heaven follow me in vain, till I had wearied him "with crying to me, repent, return? "is that Patience now turned into Fury, upon me with irrefiftable Violence? "Lord cried to me, Wilt thou not be

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how jully which falls When the made clean? "When

"When fball it once be? my Heart, or at leaft my "Practice, answered, Never. And now when I cry, How long fhall it be till I am freed from this "Torment? How justly do I receive the fame An"fwer, Never, Never."

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$15.IT will also be moft cutting to remember on what eafy Terms they might have efcaped their Mifery Their Work was not to remove Mountains, nor conquer Kingdoms, nor fulfil the Law to the smallest Tittle, nor fatisfy Juftice for all their Tranfgreffions. The Yoke was eafy, and the Burthen light, which Chrift would have laid upon them. It was but to repent, and cordially accept him for their Saviour; to renounce all other Happiness, and take the Lord for their fupreme Good; to renounce the World and the Flesh, and fubmit to his meek and gracious Govern ment; and to forfake the Ways of their own devifing, and walk in his holy delightful Way. "Ah," thinks the poor tormented Wretch," how justly do I fuffer "all this, who would not be at fo fmall Pains to "avoid it? Where was my Underftanding, when I neglected that gracious Offer; when I called the "Lord an hard Mafter, and thought His pleafant "Service a Bondage, and the Service of the Devil " and the Flesh the only Freedom? Was I not a "thousand Times worfe than mad, when I cen"fured the holy Way of God as needlefs Precifenefs; "when I thought the Laws of Chrift too ftrict, and "all too much that I did for the Life to come? "What would all Sufferings for Chrift and Well

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doing have been, compared with these Sufferings "that i muft undergo for ever? Would not the "Heaven which I have loft, have recompenced all

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my Loffes?. And should not all my Sufferings have "been there forgotten? What if Chrift had bid me do fome great Matter; whether to live in

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" continual Fears and Sorrows, or to fuffer Death "an hundred Times over; fhould I not have done "it? How much more, when he only faid? Believe, "and be faved. Seek my Face, and thy Soul fhall live. "Take up thy Cross, and follow me, and I will give thee everlasting Life. O gracious Offer! O ealy "Terms! Ŏ curfed Wretch, that would not be perfuaded to accept them!"

§ 16. THIS alfo will be a moft tormenting Confideration, to remember what they fold their eternal Welfare for. When they compare the Value of the Pleafures of Sin, with the Value of the Recompence of Reward, how will the vaft Difproportion astonish them? To think of the low Delights of the Flesh, or the applauding Breath of Mortals, or the poffeffing Heaps of Gold; and then to think of everlafting Glory." This is all I had for my Soul, my God, "my Hopes of Bleffednefs!" It cannot poffibly be expreffed, how thefe Thoughts will tear his very Heart. Then will he exclaim against his Folly. "O miferable Wretch! Did I fet my Soul to Sale "for fo bafe a Price? Did I part with my God for a "little Dirt and Drofs; and fell my Saviour, as "Judas, for a little Silver? I had but a Dream of "Delight, for my Hopes of Heaven; and now I am "awaked, it is all vanifhed. My Morfels are now "turned to Gall, and my Cups to Wormwood. "When they were paft my Tafte, the Pleasure "perifhed. And is this all that I have had for the "ineftimable Treafure? What a mad Exchange "did I make? What if I had gained all the World, " and loft my Soul? But, alas! how small a Part "of the World was it, for which I gave up my Part "in Glory?" O that Sinners would think of this, when they are swimming in the Delights of the Flesh, and ftudying how to be rich and honourable in the

World!

World! When they are defperately venturing upon known Tranfgreffion, and finning against the Checks of Confcience!

$ 17.IT will add yet more to their Torment, when they confider that they most wilfully procured their own Destruction. Had they been forced to fin, it would much abate the Rage of their Confciences; or if they were punished for another Man's Tranfgreffions; or any other had been the chief Author of their Ruin. But to think, it was the Choice of their own Will, and that none in the World could have forced them to fin against their Wills; this will be a cutting Thought. Had I not Enemies enough in "the World, (thinks this miferable Creature) but I "must be an Enemy to myself? God would never give the Devil, nor the World, fo much Power แ over me, as to force me to commit the leaft Tranf"greffion. They could but entice, it was myself that yielded, and did the Evil. And muft I lay Hands upon my own Soul; and imbrue my Hands in my own Blood? Never had I fo great an Enemy as myself. Never did God offer any Good to my "Soul, but I refifted him. He hath heaped Mercy 、、 upon me, and renewed one Deliverance after an"other, to draw my Heart to him; yea, he hath "gently chaftifed me, and made me groan under the "Fruit of my Difobedience; and tho' I promised

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largely in my Affliction, yet never was I heartily 66 willing to ferve him." Thus will it gnaw the Hearts of thefe Sinners, to remember that they were the Caufe of their own Undoing; and that they wil fully and obftinately perfitted in their Rebellion, and were mere Volunteers in the Service of the Devil. $18.

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-THE Wound in their Confciences will yet deeper, when they shall not only remember it was their own doing, but that they were at jo much Coft

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and Pains for their own Damnation. What great Undertakings did they engage in to effect their Ruin; to refift the Spirit of God; to overcome the Power of Mercies, Judgments, and even the Word of God; to fubdue the Power of Reafen, and filence Confcience? All this they undertook, and performed. Tho they walked in continual Danger of the Wrath of God, and knew he could lay them in the Duft, and caft them into Hell, in a Moment; yet would they run upon all this. Oh the Labour it cofts Sinners to be damned! Sobriety, with Health and Eafe, they might have had at a cheaper Rate; yet they will rather have Gluttony and Drunkenness, with Poverty, Sheme, and Sicknefs. Contentment they might have, with Eale and Delight; yet they will rather have Covetoufneis and Ambition, tho' it cofts them Cares and Fears, Labour of Body, and Diffraction of Mind. Tho' their Anger be SelfTorment, and Revenge and Envy confume their Spirits; tho' Uncleanness deftroy their Bodies, Eftates, and good Names; yet will they do and fuffer all this, rather than fuffer their Souls to be faved. With what Rage will they lament their Folly, and fay, "Was "Damnation worth all my Coft and Pains? Might “I not have been damned on free Coft, but I muft "purchase it fo dearly? I thought I could have been "faved without fo much ado; and could I not have "been deftroyed without fo much ado? Muft I

fo laboriously work out my own Damnation, when "God commanded me to work out my Salvation? If "I had done as much for Heaven, as I did for Hell, "I had furely had it. I cried out of the tedious Way "of Godliness, and the painful Courfe of Self

Denial; and yet I could be at a great deal more "Pains for Satan, and for Death. Had I loved "Chrift as frongly as I did my Pleasures, and Profits, "and

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