9. You cannot but observe the obedience and diligence of many others, how seriously, painfully, and assiduously they ply, and follow on the work of their own salvation, and yet are no more concerned in the events and consequences of these things than you are. Doth it not trouble you when you compare vourselves with them ? Do not such thoughts as these sometimes arise in your hearts upon such observations ? ' Lord, what a difference is there like to
* be betwixt their end and mine, when there is so apparent a differ- ' ence in our course and conversation ? Doth not God distinguish ' persons in this world by the frames of their hearts, and tenor of
* their lives, in order to the great distinction he will make betwixt
* one and another in the day of judgment ? Have not I as precious ' a soul to save or lose as any of them ? What is the matter that I ' sit with folded arms, whilst they are working out their salvation ' with fear and trembling ? Why should any man or woman in the ' world be more careful for their souls than I for mine ? Surely its capacity and excellency is equal with theirs, though my care and diligence be so unequal."
10. To conclude, God will shortly give you an irresistible call to the grave, and after that his voice shall call to you in your graves. Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment : But wo be to you, wo and alas that ever you were born, if you should hear the call of God to die, before you have heard and obeyed his call to Christ ! Will your death-bed be easy to you ? Can you with any hope or com- fort shoot the gulph of eternity before you have done one act for the security of your own souls from the wrath to come ? It is a dreadful thing lor a poor christless soul to sit quivering upon the
238 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAX.
lips of a dying sinner, not able to stay, nor yet endure a parting pull from the body, in such a case as it is.
In a word ; If that God had made, and will shortly judge you ; if the Redeemer that shed his invaluable blood, and now offers you the purchases and benefits of it ; if you have any love to, or care of your own souls, which are more worth than the whole world ; if you have any value for heaven, or dread of hell, then, for God's sake, for Christ's sake, for your precious souPs sake, trifle with heaven and hell no longer, but be in earnest to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Could I think of any other means or motives to secure your souls from danger, I would surely use them : could I reach your hearts effectually, I would deeply impress this great concern upon them : But I can neither do God's part of the work, nor yours ; it is some ease to me, I have in sin- cerity, (though with much imperfection and feebleness) done part of my own : The Lord prosper it by the blessing of his Spirit in the hearts of them that read it. Amen.
wherein tlie various khuls, ttses, causes, effects and remedies thereof* are distinctly opened and prescribed, for the relief and encourage- ment of all those that fear God in these doubtful and distracting^ times.
To the Right Worslitpfal Sir John Hartop, Knight and
j^MONG all the creatures God hath made (devils only excepted) man is the most apt and able to be his own tormentor ; and of all the scourges with which he lasheth and afflicteth both his mind and body, none is found so cruel and intolerable as his oivn fears. The worse the times are like to be, the more need the mind hath of succour and encouragement, to confirm and fortify it for hard en- counters ; but from the worst prospect,^ar inflicts the deepest and most dangerous wounds upon the mind of man, cutting the very nerves of its passive fortitude and bearing ability.
The grief we suffer from evil felt would be light and easy, were it not incensed hyjear ; reason would do much, and religion more, to dcmulse and lenify our sorrows, did not^^ar betray the succours of both. And it is from things to come that this prospecting crea- ture raiseth up to himself vast hopes and fears : if he have a fair and encouraging prospect of serene and prosperous days, from the scheme and position of second causes, hope immediately fills his heart with cheerfulness, and displays the signals of it in his very face, answer- able to that fair, benign aspect of things : but if the face of things to come be threatening and inauspicious, Jear gains the ascendent over the mind ; and unmanly and unchristian faintness pervades it, and, among the many other mischiefs it inflicts, this is not the least, that it brings the evil of to-morrow upon to-day, and so makes the duties of to-day wholly unserviceable to the evils of to-morrow *,
S40 A PRACTICAL TREATISE OF FEAR.
which is as much as if man having an intricate and difficult busi- ness cut out for the next day, which requires the utmost intention, both of his mind and body, and (haply) might be prosperously managed, if both were duly prepared, should lie all the night rest- less and disquieted about the event, torturing and spending him- self with his own presaging fears, so tliat when the day is come, and the business calls for him, his strength is no way equal to the bur- den of it, but he faints and fails under it- There is indeed an excellent use that God makes of our fears, to stimulate our slothful hearts to greater vigilance and preparation for evils ; and there is a mischievous use Satan makes of our fears to cast us under despondency and unbecoming pusillanimity : and I reckon it one of the greatest difficulties of religion, to cut, by a thread here, and so to manage ourselves under threatening or doubtful providences, as to be touched with so much sense of those approaching evils as may prepare us to bear them ; and yet to en- joy that constancy and firnuiess of mind, in the worst times, that may answer the excellent principles we are professedly governed by. These last times are certainly the most perilous times; great things are yet to be acted upon the stage of this world, before it be taken down ; and the scena afitipenultima^ latter-end, I say, not the last, will be a tragedy. There is an ultima clades adhuc metu- enda, a dismal slaughter of the witnesses of Christ yet to be ex- pected : the last bite of the cruel beast will be deadly, and if we flatter not ourselves, all things seem to be disposing themselves in the course of providence towards it.
But, Sir, if our union with Christ be sure in itself, and sure to us also ; if faith give us the daily visions and prelibations of the world to come, what well-composed spectators shall we be of these tragedies ! Let things be tossed susque^ deque^ and the mountains cast into the midst of the sea, yet then the assured Christian may sing his song upon Alamoth *, A song composed for God's hidden ones. This so poiseth and steadies the mind, that we may enjoy the comfort and tranquilht}^ of a resigned will, when others are at their wit's end.