2. If you knew the weight and difficulty of salvation work, you would never think you could begin too soon. Religion is a busi- ness which will take up all your time ; many have repented they beoan so late, none that they began so soon *. Say not, the penU tent thzef found mercy at the last hour, for his conversion was extra- ordinarv, and we must not hope for miracles : besides, he could never encourage himself in sin, with the hope and expectation of such a miraculous conversion ; he was the only example of a sinner that was ever so recovered, in scripture, and this was recorded, not to nourish presumption, but to prevent despair. If ten thousand per- sons died of the plague, and one only of the whole number infect- ed with it escaped, it is no great encouragement that you shall make the second. O think, and think again, how many thou- sands now on earth, have been labouring and striving, forty or fifty years together, to make their calling and election sure : and yet, to this day, it is not so sure as they would have it : they are afraid,
• I repent, O Lord, that I loved thee too late. ^ug.
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN'. 205
after all, time will fail them for finishing, and you think it is too early for beginning so great a work.
S. Others have begun sooner than you, and finished the great and main work, before you have done any thing. Abijah was very young, scarce out of his childhood, " when the grace of God was " found in him,'' 1 Kings xiv. 13. The fear of God was in Oba- diah, when but a youth, 1 Kings xviii. 12. Timothy was not only " a Christian, but a preacher of the gospel, " in the morning of " his life," 2 Tim. iii. 15. What have you to plead for yourselves, which they had not ? Or what arguments and motives to godliness had they which you have not? You shall he judged per pares, by those of your own age and size ; their seriousness shall condemn your vanity.
4. The morning of your life is the flower of your time, the freshest and fittest of all your life for your great work ; now your hearts are tender and impressive, your affections flowing and tract- able, your heads clear of distracting cares and humes of business, which come on afterwards in thick successions : " Remember now " thy Creator in the days of thy youth, whilst the evil days come " not,"' Eccl. xii. 1, 2. If a man has an important business to do, he will take the morning for it, knowing if that be slipped, a croud and hurry of business will come on afterwards, to distract and hin- der him. I presume, if all the converts in the world were examined in this point, it would be found, that at least ten to one were wrought upon in their youth ; that is the moulding age.
5. And if this proper, hopeful season be elapsed, it is very un- likely that ever you be wrought upon afterwards : how thin and rare, in the world, are the instances and examples of conversion in old age ! Long-continued customs in sin harden the heart, fix the will, and root the habits of vice so deep in the soul, that there is no altering of them ; your ears then are so accustomed to the sounds of the world, that Chi'ist and sin, heaven and hell, soul and eternity, have lost their awful sound and efficacy Avith you. But it is a question only to be decided by the event, Whether ever you shall attain to the years of your fathers .? It is not the sprightly vigour of your youth that can secure you from death. What a madness, then, is it, to put your souls and eternal happiness, upon such a blind adventure ? What if your presumption, of so many fair and proper opportunities hereafter, fail you, as it hath failed millions, who had as rational and hopeful a prospect of them as vou can have : where are you then ? And if you should have more time and means, than you do presume upon, are you sure your hearts will be as flexible and impressive as they now are ? O beware of this sin of vain presumption, to which the generality oi the damned owe their everlasting ruin !
204 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MATf.
The eighth way of losing the soul opened.
VIII. The eighth way of ruining the precious soul, is, by drink- ing in the principles of Atheism, and living without God in the world.
Atheism stabs the soul to death at one stroke, and puts it quite out of the way of salvation ; other sinners are worse than beasts, but Atheists are worse than devils, for they believe, and tremble ; these banish God out of their thoughts, and, what they can, out of the world, living as without God in the world, Eph. ii. 12. It is a sin that quencheth all religion in the soul. He that knows not his landlord cannot pay his rent ; he that assents not to the being of a God, destroys the foundation of all religious worship ; he cannot fear, love, or obey him, whose being he believes not : this sin strikes at the life of God, and destroys the life of the soul.
Some are Atheists in opinion, but multitudes are so in practice ; " The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God," Psal. xiv. 1. though he hath engraven his name upon every creature, and written it upon the table of their o\vn hearts ; yet they will not read it : or if they have a slight, fluctuating notion, or a secret suspicion of a Deitv, yet they neither acknowledge his presence, nor his providence. Fingunt Deum totem qui nee videt, nee punit, i. e. They make such a God, who neither sees nor punishes. They say, "How doth God know? Can he judge through the dark " clouds ? Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not,'' Job xxii. 14.
Others profess to believe his being, but their lives daily give their lips the lie ; for they give no evidence in practice, of their fear, love or dependence on him : If they believe his being, they plainly shew they value not his favour, delight not in his presence, love not his ways, or people ; but lie down and rise, eat and drink, live and die without the worship, or acknowledgment of him, except so much as the law of the country, or custom of the place extorts from them. These dregs of time produce abundance of Atheists, of both sorts ; many ridicule and hiss religion out of all companies into which they come, and others live down all sense of religion ; they customarily attend, indeed, on the external duties of it, hear the word ; but when the greatest, and most important duties are urged upon them, their inward thought is. This is the preacher's calling, and the man must say something to fill up his hour, and get his living. If they dare not put their thoughts into words, and call the gospel Fahida Christi, the fable of Christ, as a wicked Pope once did ; or say of hell, and the dreadful sufferings of the damned, as Galderinus the Jesuit did, Tu7ic ci'edam cum illuc venero ; I will believe it when I see it : yet their hearts and
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAX. 5205