'Ry gate understand whatsoever is introductive to blessedness and salvation ; by the epithet strait^ understand the difficulties and se- verities attending religion ; all that suffering and self-denial, which those that are bound for heaven should reckon upon, and expect : and by strivings understand the diligent and constant use of all those means and duties, how hard, irksome, and costly soever they are. The word aywp/^gcrSs hath a deep sense and emphasis, and imports striving, even to an agony; and this duty is enforced two ways upon him, and every man else : First, by the indisputable sovereignty of Christ, from whom the command comes ; and also from the deep interest and concern every soul hath in the commanded duty. It is not only a simple compliance with the will of God, but what also involves our own salvation and eternal happiness in it : our great duty, and our greatest interest are twisted together in this command ; your eternal happiness depends upon the success of it. A man is not crowned except he strive lawfully, i. e. success- fully and prevalently. O therefore, so run, so strive, that ye may obtain ! if you have any value for your souls, if you would not be miserable to eternity, strive, strive ! Beheve it, you would find that the assurance of salvation drops not down from heaven in a night- dream, as the Turks fable their Alcoran to have done in that laiU ato hazill, night of demission, as they call it ; no, no ; the righteous -themselves are scarcely saved ; many seek, but few find. Strive, therefore, as men and women that are heartily concerned for their own salvation ; sit not, with folded arms, like so many heaps of stupidity and sloth, whilst the door of hope is yet open, and such a sweet voice from heaven calls to you, saying. Strive, souls, strive, if ever you expect to be partakers of the blessedness that is here to be enjoyed ; strive to the utmost of your abilities and opportunities. Such an heaven is worth striving to obtain, such an hell is worth striving to escape, such an invaluable soul is worth striving to save.
I confess, heaven is not the purchase or reward of your striving : no soul shall boastingly say there, Is not this the glory whicli my
224 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN.
duties and diligence purchased for me ? and yet, on the other side, it is as true, that without striving you shall never set foot there. Say not, it depends upon the pleasure of God, and not upon your dihgence ; for it is his declared will and pleasure, to bring men to glory in the way, though not for the sake of their own striving. As in the works of your civil calling, you know all the care, toil, and sweat of the husbandman, avails nothing of itself, except the sun and rain quicken and ripen the fruits of the earth ; and yet no wise man will neglect ploughing and harrowing, sowing and weed- ing, because these labours avail not, without the influences of heaven, but waits for them in the way of his duty and diligence. Rational hope sets all the world to work. Do they plough in hope, and sow in hope, and will you not pray in hope, and hear in hope ? You that know your souls to be hitherto strangers to Christ and the regenerating work of the Spirit ; how is it that you take them not aside sometimes out of the distracting noise and hurries of the world, and thus bemoan them ?
' O my poor graceless, christless, miserable soul, how sad a case ' art thou in ! Others have, but thou never feltest the burden of
* sin ; thousands in the world are striving and labouring, searching
* and praying, to make their calling and election sure ; whilst thou
* sittest still with folded hands, in a supine regardlessness of the ' misery that is hastening upon thee. Canst thou endure the de- ' vouring wrath of God ? Canst thou dwell with everlasting burn- ' ings ? Hast thou fancied a tolerable hell ? Or, is it easy to perish ? *■ Why dost thou not cast thyself at the feet of Christ, and cry, as
* long as breath will last. Lord, pity a sinful, miserable, undone, and ' self-condemning soul ? Lord, smite this rocky heart, subdue this ' stubborn will, heal and save an undone soul ready to perish : The ' characters of death are upon it, it must be changed or condemned, ' and that in a little time. Bowels of pity, hear the cry of a soul ' distressed, and ready to perish.
And you that do not understand the case and state your souls are in, have you never a bible near you ? O turn to those places, 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. where you will presently find the more obvious marks and characters God hath set upon the children of perdition ; and if you find not yourself in that catalogue, among the unrighte- ous, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners, &c. then turn to John iii. 3. and solemnly ask thy own soul this question, Am I born again ? Am I a new creature, or still in the same condition I was born in ? What solid evidence of the new birth have I to rely upon, if I were now within a few grasps of death ? Am not I the man or woman who lives in the very same sins which the word of God makes the symp- toms and characters of damnation ? And doth not my conscience
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN. 225
witness against me, that I am utterly void and destitute of all tliat saving grace, and a mere stranger to the regenerating work of the Spirit, without which there can be no well bottomed hope of sal- vation ? And if so, are not the tokens of death upon me ? Am not I a person marked out for misery ? And shall I sit still in a state of so much danger, and not once strive to make an escape from the wrath to come ? Is this vile body worth so much toil and labour to support and preserve it ? And is not my soul worth as much care and diligence to secure it from the everlasting wrath of the great, just, and terrible God ? O that the consideration of the wrath to come, the multitudes all the world over preparing as fuel for it, and the door of opportunity yet held open to souls by the hand of grace to escape that wrath, might prevail with thy heart, reader, to strive, and that to the uttermost, to secure thy precious soul from the impending ruin.
— Redeeming the time (or opportunity) because the days are
jL IME is deservedly reckoned among the most precious mer- cies of this life ; and that which makes it so valuable are the com- modious seasons and opportunities for salvation which are vouchsafed to us therein : opportunity is the golden spot of time, the sweet and beautiful flower, growing upon the stalk of time *. If time be a ring of gold, opportunity is the rich diamond that gives it both its value and glory. The apostle well knew the value of time ; and seeing how prodigally it was wasted by the most, doth there- fore in this place, earnestly press all men to redeem, save, and im- prove it with the utmost diligence. In this, and the former versc^ we have,
1^^, The duty enjoined. Walk circumspectly.
^dly. The i?ijunctio?i explained ;