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man: death was welcome, even in its most dreadful form, to èscape ruin to their precious, and immortal fouls. One kiffed the apparitor, that brought him the tidings of death. Another being advised, when he came to the critical point, on which his life depended, to have a care of himself: fo I will, faid he, I will be as careful as I can of my beft felf, my foul. Thefe med understood the value, and precious worth of their own fouls; certainly, we shall never prove courageous, and conftant in fufferings, till we understand the worth of our fouls, as they did. Confider and compare these fufferings in a few obvious particulars, and then determine the matter in thine own breast.

(1.) How much easier it is to endure the torments of men in our bodies, than to feel the terrors of God in our consciences, Can the creaturé strike with an arm like God? O think what it is for the wrath of God to come into a man's bowels like water, and like oil into his bones, as the expreffion is, Pfal. cix. 18. Sure there is no compare betwixt the ftrokes of God and

men.

(2.) The fufferings of the body are but for a moment. When the proconful told Polycarp that he would tame him with fire, he replied, Your fire fhall burn but for the pace of an hour, and then it shall be extinguifhed; but the fire that shall devour the wicked will never be quenched. The fufferings of a moment are nothing to eternal fufferings.

(3.) Sufferings for Chrift are ufually sweetened and made eafy by the confolations of the fpirits; but hell torments have no relief, they admit of no ease.

(4) The life that you fhall live in that body, for whose sake you have damned your fouls, will not be worth the having; it will be a life without comfort, light or joy; and what is there in life, feparate from the joy and comfort of life?

(5.) In a word, if you facrifice your bodies for God and your fouls, freely offer them up in love to Chrift and his truth, your fouls will joyfully receive and meet them again at the refurrection of the juft; but, if your poor fouls be now enfnared and destroyed by your fond indulgence to your bodies, you will leave them at death defpairing, and meet them at the refurrection howling.

Infer. 9. To conclude, If the foul be so invaluably precious, how great and irreparable a loss, muft the loss of a foul to all eternity be!

There is a double lofs of the foul of man, the one in Adam, which lofs is recoverable by Chrift; the other by final impeni

tence, and unbelief, cutting it off from Chrift: and this is irre parable, and irrecoverable. Souls loft by Adam's fin, are within the reach of the arms of Chrift; but in the shipwreck of perfonal infidelity, there is no plank to fave the foul fo caft away of all loffes, this is the most lamentable, yet what more common; O what a fhriek doth the unregenerate foul make, when it fees whither it must go, and that there is no remedy ! Three cries are dreadful to hear on earth, yet all three are drowned, by a more terrible cry in the other world; the cry of a condemned prifoner at the bar, the cry of drowning fea men, and paffengers, in a shipwreck, the cries of foldiers conquered in the field; all thefe are fearful cries, yet nothing to that of a foul call away to all eternity, and loft in the depth of hell.

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If a man, as Chryfoftom well obferves, lose an eye, an arm, a hand, or leg, it is a great lofs; but yet if one be loft, there is another to help him for omnia Deus dedit duplicia, God hath given us all thofe members double; Animam vero unam, but we have but one foul, and if that be damned, there is not another to be faved.

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And it is no fmall aggravation to this lofs, that it was a wilful Jofs; we had the offers, and means of falvation plentifully afforded us; we were warned of this danger, over and over; we were intreated, and befeeched, upon the knee of importunity, not to throw away our fouls, by an obftinate rejection of Christ, and grace; we faw the diligence, and care of others, for the falvation of their fouls, fome rejoicing in the comfortable affurance of it, and others giving all diligence to make their calling and election fure: we knew that our fouls were as capable of bleffedness, as any of thofe that are enjoying God in heaven, or panting after that enjoyment on earth; yea, fome fouls that are now irrecoverably gone, and many others who are going after them, once were, and now are not far from the kingdom of God: they had convictions of fin, a fenfe of their lofs, and miferable fate; they began to treat with Chrift in prayer, to converfe with his minifters, and people, about their condition, and after all this, even when they feemed to have clean escaped the fnares of Satan, to be again entangled, and overcome; when even come to the harbour's mouth, to be driven back again, and caft away upon the rocks. O what a lofs will this

be!

O thou that createdft fouls with a capacity to know, love, and enjoy thee for cver; who out of thine unfearchable grace fenteft thine own Son out of thy bofom to feek, and fave that

which was, loft, pity thofe poor fouls that cannot pity themfelves let mercy yet interpofe itself, betwixt them, and eternal ruin; awaken them out of their pleasant flumber, though it be at the brink of damnation, left they perish, and there be none to deliver them.

Doct. 2. How precious and invaluable foever the foul of man is, it may be loft, and caft away for ever.

This propofition is fuppofed, and implied in our Saviour's words in the text, and plainly expreffed in Mat. vii. 13. "Wide "is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat," The way to hell is thronged with paffengers, it is a beaten road, one draws another along with him, and fcoffs at thofe that are afraid to follow, 1 Pet. iv. 4. Facilis defcenfus avèrni; it is pleafant failing with wind, and tide. Some derive the word hell from a verb which fignifies to carry, or thrust in; millions go in, but none return thence millions are gone down already, and millions more are coming after, as fast as Satan, and their own lufts, can hurry them onward. You read not only of fingle perfons, but whole nations drowned in this gulph. Pfal. ix. 17. "The wicked "shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." How rare is the converfion of a foul in the dark places of the earth, where the found of the gospel is not heard? The devil drives them, in droves, to deftruction, scarce a man reluctating or drawing back *.

And though fome nations enjoy the ineftimable privilege of the gospel of falvation, yet multitudes of precious fouls perish, notwithstanding, finking into hell daily, as it were, betwixt the merciful arms of a faviour fretched out to fave them. The light of falvation is rifen upon us, but Satan draws the thick curtains of ignorance, and prejudice, about the multitude, that not a beam of faving light can shine into their hearts.

iv.

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2 Cor.

3,.4. "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are "6 loft in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds "of them which believe not, left the light of the glorious gofpel of Chrift, who is the image of God, should shine unto "them."

If our gofpel.] Ours, not by way of inftitution, as the authors, but by way of difpenfation, as the minifters, and preachers of it; and, certainly, it was never preached with that clear

The Latin word Infernus, i. e, Hell, is derived from a verb fignifying to thrust in, because the wicked are fo hurried and caft headlong into it, that they can never afcend out of it,

nefs, authority, and efficacy by any mere man, as it was by Paul, and the reft of the apoftles; and yet the gofpel fo powerfully preached, is by him here fuppofed to

Be hid.] If not as to the general light, and fuperficial knowledge of it, yet as to its faving influence, and converting efficacy upon their hearts; this never reacheth home to the fouls, and fpirits of multitudes that hear it, but it is never finally fo hidden, except

To them that are loft.] So that all those to whom the converting, and faving power of the gospel never comes, whatever names, and reputations they may have among men, yet this text looks upon them all as a loft generation: They may have as many amiable, homiletical virtues, as fweet, and lovely nàtures, as clear and piercing eyes, in all other things, as any others; but they are fuch, however,

Whofe eyes the god of this world hath blinded.] Satan is here called the god of this world, not properly, but by a mimefis; Because he challenges to himself the honour of a god, and hath a world of fubjects that obey him; and, to fecure their obedience, he blinds them, that they may never fee a better way or ftate, than that he hath drawn them into. Therefore he is called the ruler of the darkness of this world, who rules in the hearts of the children of difobedience. The eye of the foul is the mind, that thinking, confidering, and reafoning power of the foul; this is, as the philofophers truly call it, the onpovino, the leading faculty to all the rest, the guide to all the o ther faculties, which, in the order of nature, follow this their leader: If this be blinded, the will, which is caeca potentia, a blind power in itself, and all the affections blindly following the blind, all muft needs fall into the ditch. And this is the case of the far greater part of even the profeffing world. Let us fuppofe a number of blind men upon an ifland, where there are many smooth paths, all leading to the top of a perpendicular cliff, and thefe blind men going on continually, fome in one path, and fome in another, but all in fome one of those many paths which lead to the brink of their ruin, which they fee not; it muft needs follow, if they all move forward, the whole number will in a fhort time, be caft away, the island cleared, and its inhabitants dead, and loft in the bottom of the fea. This is the cafe of the unregenerate world; they are now upon this habitable spot of earth, environed with the vast ocean of eternity; there are multitudes of paths leading to eternal mifery; one man takes this way, and another that, as it is Ifa. liii. 6. " We have turned every one to his own way;" one to

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the way of pride, another to the way of covetoufnfs, a third to the way of perfecution, a fourth to the way of civility, and morality; and fo on they go, not once making a stand, or questioning to what end it will bring them, till at last over they go, at death, and we hear no more of them in this world: And thus one generation of finners follows another, and they that come after approve, and applaud those miserable wretches that went before them. Pfal. xlix. 13. and so hell fills, and the world empties its inhabitants daily into it. Now I will make it my work, out of a dear regard to the precious fouls of men, and in hope to prevent (which the Lord in mercy grant) the lofs, and ruin of fome, under whole eyes this discourse shall falt, to note fome of the principle ways in which precious fouls are loft, and to put fuch bars into them, as I am capable to put; and, among many more, I will fet mark upon thefe following twelve paths, wherein millions of fouls have been lott, and millions more are confidently, and fecurely following after, among which, 'tis likely, fome are within one step, one day, or hour, to their eternal downfal, and deftruction. There is but one way in all the world, to fave, and preferve the precious fouls of men, but there are many ways to lofe, and detroy them: It is here, as it is in our natural birth, and death, but one way into the world, but a multitude out of it. And first,

The first way to hell difcovered.

1. And to begin, where, indeed, the ruin of every man doth begin, it will be found, that an ill education is the high way to deftruction; vice need not be planted; if the gardener neglect to dress, fow, and manure his garden, he need not give the weeds a greater advantage; but if he allo scatter the feed of hemloc, docks, and nettles into it, he spoils it, and makes it fit for nothing. Many parents, and thofe godly too, are guilty of too many neglects, through carele fnefs, worldly incumbrances, or food indulgence; and whilft they neglect the feafon of fow, ing better feed, the devil takes hold of it; if they will not improve it, he will: If they teach them not to pray, he will teach them to curfe, fwear and lie; if they put not the bible, or catechiẩm in their hands, he will put obfcene ballads into them: And thus the offspring of many godly parents turn into degenerate plants, and prove a generation that know not the God of their fathers. This debauched age can furnith us with too many fad inftances hereof. Thus they are fpoiled in the bud; fimple ignorance in youth, becomes affected, and wilful ignorance in age; blushing fins in children, become impudent in age, and

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