14. SERM. XIV. The Fifth Sermon on the Excellency of the Soul.
SERM. XIV. The Fifth Sermon on the Excellency of the Soul.
F or what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? – Matth. 16:26.
If the loss of our souls be so dreadful as you have heard, bless God that your souls are not gone, and thus lost, as hath been opened unto you: It may be thou hast lost thy husband, or thy wife, or thy child, or thy friend, or a great part of thine estate, but blessed be God that thy soul is not lost: In a great fire where men use to lose most, if not all that they have, when a man comes to view what he hath lost, and he finds he hath lost this thing that was in such a parlor, and that that was in such a chest, but if at length he comes to find that such a Jewel that he had in the house, or such a bag of gold, in which most of his estate consisted, that that is not lost, though all the lumber, all the household-stuff is lost, that comforts him in all other of his losses: So it should be here, whatever we lose, we are to be comforted in this, that our souls are not gone and lost: It is a notable Scripture, in 1 Pet.
4, ver. last. Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful
Creator. As if the Apostle should say, you are like to meet with great sufferings, you may likely be deprived of all you have, of your estates, and of all your comforts, and may come to suffer much, yet commit the keeping of your souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator: Why, they might have said, but what shall become of other things? If storms, and tempests, and sufferings come, what shall become of our estates? What shall become of our livelihoods, and of our bodies? Why saith the Apostle, as for them, for your estates, for your bodies, it may be they may perish; you are not so much to look after them, but commit the keeping of your souls unto him, as unto a faithful Creator. The Apostle here exhorts them what to do in times of sufferings, and by what he doth express, he doth imply, that they should take no care for outward estate, and body; it is enough that your souls are well, commit the keeping of your souls to him, as unto a faithful Creator, we have enough if that be safe: You know in time of danger, as fires, and other times, if a man hath any precious thing, he carries that presently to some special friend, and commits the keeping of that to him; his writings and such things, wherein his estate is most: So saith the Apostle, in the time of public danger, Take care to commit the keeping of your souls to him, as unto a faithful Creator, and you are well enough.
That is the first.
Secondly, If the loss of the soul be so dreadful a loss, Oh let us bless God then for Jesus Christ, without whom all our souls had been eternally lost, never a soul in the world but must have perished unto all eternity, had not Jesus Christ come into the world to be the great Savior of souls; All the Angels in Heaven, and men in the world could never have saved one soul; now Christ saw this, and his bowels did even yearn towards so many thousands of precious souls, and rather than they should perish, he was
content to come and make his own soul to be an offering for sin, Isa. 53:10, the soul of Christ was made an offering there, and what was that but for the saving of souls? We may therefore, concerning Christ, well say, as the Elders, in Rev. 5:9. They sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy, &c. for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. Oh thou art worthy! O blessed Savior! He doth not say what, but only thus, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof, for thou wert slain, and hast redeemed us to God: There is infinite worthiness in Christ, and worthy he is of all the honor that we are able possibly to bring to him, had we ten thousand times more strength than we have to do it; For he was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood. If there were a company of poor people upon the Sea, and in danger to be lost, their own ship through stress of weather fallen to pieces, and they upon a plank, and ready to be swallowed up of every wave, and there comes a ship by, and saves their lives, Oh how would they be affected with such a mercy as this! And bless God for his goodness, that such a ship should come by at such a time; we had all been lost if this ship had not come by just at this time: So when we read the Gospel, we read of Jesus Christ God-Man coming into the world, and standing between the wrath of the Infinite God, and sinful souls, let us then consider how infinitely we are bound to bless God for Jesus
Christ; for we were ready even all of us to be swallowed up into the bottomless gulf of the wrath of the infinite God; the waves of God's infinite wrath, were ready to have covered over all man-kind, only the Lord Jesus
Christ comes, and even leaps, as it were, into the very Ocean of God's wrath, into the very flames of the wrath and justice of God, to pluck out our souls, and to save them: Bless we God then for Jesus Christ, considering
that the loss of souls is such a dreadful loss, and only saved by that great Savior that is come into the world.
And then thirdly, If the loss of the soul be so dreadful, then it must needs be a dreadful evil for any to have any hand in this loss, or to be any furtherance of it: Take heed that thou hast no hand at all in so great an evil as this is; Oh how much better thou hadst never been born, than to have a hand in so great an evil! We account those miserable creatures, that have a hand in the loss of Kingdoms; to have a hand in the undoing of one soul is a greater mischief, than to be the cause of the undoing of a whole Kingdom for their outward estate: If one should be the cause of the ruin of a whole
Kingdom for their outward estate, you would say that certainly it had been better that that man had never been born: Certainly thou that hast a hand in the undoing of any soul, thou wert born to do a greater mischief than such a one; if any friend of yours take a course whereby he undoes himself, and when the evil consequence of his unwise courses appears, you are ready to say, Blessed be God I had no hand in it. If people will damn their souls eternally, take heed you have no hand in it; and if any of your children, friends, servants, acquaintance, neighbors, should perish eternally, yet it will be a great mercy if you have no hand in it: People may have a hand in the loss of other men's souls many ways.
As by carelessness of the souls of those committed to their charge; they may come to be lost by thy carelessness; by thy neglect their souls may perish; and especially it concerns those that take the charge of souls, they had need look to it, that those do not cry out against them in Hell, that it was through their neglect that they are here now, and must lie here forever?
Oh the cry of a soul against a man is a dreadful thing! Perhaps the souls of some of your children may be in Hell, crying out against you for the neglect
of them, that you regarded them not, you let them profane Sabbaths, you could hear them swear, and rebuke them not, or but very slightly; you never instructed them in the ways of God, and eternal life: you were the cause of the destruction of their souls, by your wicked example; they saw their
Parents do thus and thus, hate goodness and good men; they saw them scorn at the Word, or neglect it, and contemn it, and upon that they did so too, and now they are in Hell for it, and cursing the time that ever they were born of such Parents: And many souls, no question there are in Hell, cursing the time that ever they came into such a wicked family, wherein they saw so much wickedness, wherein there was no worshipping of God, nor no means to come to know God, and upon that they went on securely in wickedness, and now are sunk down to eternal misery. — You may be the cause of the destruction of others souls, by drawing of them to sin; when you shall be active to draw any one to the commission of any sin, thou dost what in thee liest to cast away that precious immortal soul; And have never any of you had a hand in this? Have you never been instruments to draw others to some sin or other? Now if you have, either these that you have tempted are yet alive, or they are dead; if they be alive, know, that you are bound in conscience to do now to the uttermost for the good of their souls; to make it your great work, if it be possible, to do them as much good as ever you did them hurt; for certainly Soul -satisfaction is required of men, as well as Bodily -satisfaction: If you have wronged a man in his estate any way, although it were seven, twenty years ago, if God comes to awaken your consciences, it will not serve your turn to return and repent, that is, to be very sorry that you have done it, and ask God forgiveness, but before you can have peace, you must make satisfaction where you have wronged, if God enable you: Now, doth God stand so much upon that, that if one hath
but wronged a man in his estate, that all the sorrow and repenting in the world will never bring peace of conscience, without restitution, where there is ability? Then certainly, if one hath wronged another in his soul, and hath endangered the damnation of that, by drawing of him to sin: It is not enough for thee that thou seest this thy sin, and thou art sorry for it, and thou wilt never seek to draw others anymore, no, but thou art bound, if such be alive, to go to them if thou canst, and to seek now to do them as much good for their souls, as thou wert a cause of evil; what if this soul should perish at last by this sin, that thou wert a cause to draw them to, thou hadst need look about thee while they live, that if it be possible thou mayest make a satisfaction for that soul-wrong that thou hast done to them; and it may be such a one is dead, and so dead, as for ought thou knowest he never did repent him of that sin; now then see what a case thou art in: there is one drawn to a sin by thee, and now he is in Hell for that sin that thou wert the cause of; what a case hast thou brought thyself into now? Is it any otherwise like, but that thou must follow? Shall one be in Hell for a sin that thou wert the cause of, and dost thou think always to escape? Here is the dreadful estate that any man brings himself to, when he draws others to sin: thou hadst need to look about thee, and thy heart to be affected with that sin that hath been punished with the eternal damnation of those souls that thou hast drawn to that sin.— And not only by tempting to sin, but by encouraging to sin, by dissuading from that that is good: It may be some souls have been in a good forwardness to that which is good, they have begun to inquire after the ways of God, but have gotten into thy company, and thou hast sought to take them off; and what, will you be such fools as to believe everything that is said, and you will be melancholy and mad, and who are they but a company of simple people that do thus and thus? And thus thou hast been a
means to hinder the good work of God in others, and to draw them from the good way that they were a beginning to set their feet in, and now they begin to be out of love with the good ways of God, and thou hast been the cause of it: Now, if these souls perish, and it may be some of them are in Hell already; truly, if a man's heart were as hard as any Iron, or Steel in the world, one would think that such a meditation as this should break his heart in pieces: That I know nothing to the contrary but some may be in Hell for my cause. — And so many other ways we might name, how a man might have his hand in the loss of the souls of others; what way soever thou hast a hand in the sin of others, or keeping of others from good, so many ways thou mayest have a hand in the loss of their souls: But I intend not to stand upon this point, only consider of it, and the Lord strike the hearts of those that are guilty in this kind; But the main use that I would spend the chief part of the time in, is this, If the loss of a soul be so dreadful, then hence is rebuked the folly and madness of most people that have no care of their souls, but through their own wretchedness and vileness they suffer their souls to perish eternally; all their care is in pampering their bodies, and making much of them, but little minding their souls, and their eternal estates: Certainly when the bodies of those souls shall meet them at the day of judgment, it will be a very dreadful meeting: When thine immortal soul shall know what it is to be lost forever, and shall be brought to join again with the body, Oh how do you think it will look upon that cursed carcass? Oh this is that carcass, that body of mine, for whose sake I must perish forever, yea and we must now be joined both together, to be fuel for the wrath of the Infinite God to burn upon to all eternity! Certainly souls are lost, and perish thick and threefold, they go down to Hell, as Bees fly to the hive in the time of a storm: There
are many ways by which the soul may be lost, though there be but one by which it may be saved.
The several ways by which men come to lose their Souls.
As first, Some there are that lose their souls by wandering up and down in darkness all the days of their lives, by wandering in the ways of sin, in the dark, and so are a continual prey unto the Devil: how many, yea and in many places, the generality of people, they go on continually in blindness and darkness, in the vanity of their conversations, knowing nothing of God, nor of their own souls; and the first time that the eyes of their souls are opened and enlightened, it is when they are irrecoverably undone; yea the first thing that many souls do ever understand concerning themselves, it is this, I am lost and undone forever; it is so with many, certainly they know nothing about their own souls, nor about God, till they come to know this, I am cast away from God, and have lost my soul forever.
Secondly, Others, they lose their souls by pawning of them away; by pawning of them, what is that you will say? Why, you know what it is to pawn a thing, when you come and receive from a Broker such a thing, you lay something else to pawn for it, and upon this condition, that within such a time you bring them such a thing that you bargain for, and if you do not bring it against that time, then you lose your pawn: Thus many pawn away their souls; when there is a temptation to any sin, and they have a mind to it, now upon the commission of this sin thou dost lay thy soul to pawn to the Devil, only upon this condition, that if thou dost repent and believe before God cuts thee off, then thou shalt have thy soul again; upon these terms most people sin, and in case thou dost not bring repentance and belief in Christ, thy soul is gone: I appeal to you, there is a temptation to sin, you know it is a sin, and there is a great deal of danger in it, well but you have a
mind to it, and you will needs have it, now you will acknowledge this, indeed if I do not repent, then I shall be damned, but before I die, I hope to repent, and so I hope that my soul shall not perish; that is as much as to say,
I will lay my soul in pawn, and if I can bring repentance before I die, I will have my soul again, but if I do not, then my soul is gone; thus upon the commission of every sin, thou dost lay thy soul to pawn, the devil hath it upon such terms as these: Now how many thousands have lost this their pawn, they have not brought Faith and Repentance within their time before they died, and so the Devil hath kept the pawn, and will keep it forever:
And it is more dangerous the laying of such a pawn, than the ordinary laying of pawns to Brokers.
First, There is no such pawn that possibly can be laid as this, the soul of a man: Men and women that have any wisdom, they will not lay pawns of those things that are precious to them, Oh it goes to their hearts to think, what must I lay this to pawn! I thought I should never have lived to the day to lay such a thing to pawn, I but when thou comest to lay thy soul to pawn, thou layest a more precious thing than all the world is.
Secondly, When thou layest a thing to pawn, thou dost prefix thy own time for the redeeming of it again, perhaps two, three, four months before thou bring that, that is bargained for; but when thou layest thy soul to pawn, thou canst not set any time: What dost thou know, oh Fool, but that this night thy soul may be taken away from thee?
Thirdly, Yea and further, When you lay such a thing to pawn, you make a bargain for the bringing of somewhat to redeem it that you have in your own power, or make account that you shall have in your own power to bring, you will not make the bargain to bring such a thing that you are sure you shall not have in your own power: Now, when you lay your souls to
pawn, you lay them to pawn for that that you have not in your power, nor all the creatures in Heaven and Earth cannot help you to in your need, and that is Faith and Repentance: All the Angels in Heaven, nor men in the world cannot help you to it; it is only in the hands of God, of the Infinite blessed God, against whom you sin, and whom you provoke, and yet how many do thus pawn their souls? And no marvel though men lose their fouls, because they pawn them thus foolishly and wretchedly; and that is the second way of men's losing of their souls.
Thirdly, Men lose their souls by wounding them, they give them deadly wounds, upon which the souls of most do perish.
Quest. Wounding, how you will say?
Answ. By that I mean the commission of sins against conscience; to commit a known sin, and a willful sin, oh this gives a wide gash in the soul, a most fearful wound! Every sin against conscience gives a wound that requires a salve to heal it, that is more worth than a thousand worlds; the sins against conscience, against light, against knowledge, they are deep wounds unto the souls of men; and it is not usual for such wounds to be healed, for they do not only strike at the life of the soul, but they harden the heart of the sinner exceedingly, and keep off the means that might do the soul good; thou goest abroad into company, and there thou committest a sin against thy conscience, oh thou hast given a gash to that precious soul of thine, thou hast given it a deep wound, and except thou lookest to it, and that presently, thy soul perhaps may die forever! A man that hath received a deep wound, he presently sends for the Surgeon, and if it bleeds well, he hopes the cure is more hopeful: so when thou hast committed sin, if indeed it bleed, that is, if thy soul presently be sensible of it, and affected with it, and mourn and lament, and so seek after the Surgeon, there may be hopes;
but men and women do wound their own souls by willful sins, sins against their consciences, and yet they are not sensible of them, they do not so much as bleed, but they lie in the very open Air, as it were, and are not bound up at all, Ah! Thousand thousands there are that die and perish this way.
Fourthly, And then a fourth sort there are that lose their souls by being gulled of them, by being deceived of them; Satan persuades them they are in a good condition, that all is well with them, and they need not fear, what need they to trouble themselves, these are but the melancholy thoughts of such and such kind of people; there is no such great matters required in sorrow for sin, and it is but a Lord have mercy upon us, and but, a being in Christ, and hoping in God's mercy, and the like; and thus by such kind of delusions as these are, many souls are gulled and deceived by the Devil, and so perish forever. They are like unto Jonas, that was asleep, and awakened in the midst of a dreadful tempest: so certainly these souls, when they come to know themselves, and to be awakened, it will be in the dreadful tempest of God's wrath: As Sampson; the Philistines are upon thee, when he lay in Delilah's bosom; so there will be that dreadful noise one day to these souls, the wrath of God, and the curse of the Law is upon thee, that must lie upon thee; Oh the dreadful sorrow there will be when the soul shall see, oh I am deluded and gulled! Many of you are vexed extremely, when you are gulled of any little part of your estates, but to be deluded and gulled of your souls, so as they must be lost forever, this will be extreme horror another day.
Fifthly, A fifth way of losing our souls, is, by selling of them away; selling of them away, you will say, what do I mean by that? It is said of Alexander the sixth, that was Pope, he sold his soul to the Devil for the Popedom, there was an express contract between the Devil and him, that if in such a
year he should come to be Pope, the Devil should have his soul: But now, there is a twofold selling of our souls to the Devil, besides such a kind of contract, as when the Devil shall appear in a bodily shape, and so people sell their souls to him.
First, As first, When men seek advantage to themselves by any unlawful means, seek the gain of the world, or any profits or pleasures, by cheating, cozening, wronging, swearing, or forswearing; seek I say to gain anything in such a way; there is such a thing that thou wouldest have, and that thou mayest have, if thou wilt be false in thy books, in thy reckonings, or forswear thyself for gain, I say thou dost as truly sell thy soul for the getting of that gain, as ever Conjurer did, that did contract face to face with the Devil: I would have such a gain, why, saith the Devil, (though thou dost not see him) then thou must lie, thou must cozen, thou must swear, and forswear, I will do it, saith the soul; and thus thou dost many times sell thy soul to the Devil: You that are chap-men, if one should come and offer you a little matter for a commodity that is of price, you have such a piece of ware in your shops that is worth forty shillings, and one comes and offers you two-pence for it, why you rise in disdain against it, what: offer me twopence for that which is worth forty shillings; oh now that your hearts would rise in disdain when the Devil comes to buy your souls! You should rise in disdain, what, shall I venture the selling of this soul of mine, that is more worth than ten thousand worlds, for such a poor gain as this is? And yet many of you do.
Secondly, And then there is a second way of a man's selling of his soul, and that is when a man shall resolutely give up himself to all manner of wickedness: Thus it is said of Ahab, 1 King. 21:20. Ahab sold himself to work wickedness, that is, Ahab in a resolute way was set upon any manner
of wickedness that might serve his own turn: When a man shall be set upon this, that whatever way of wickedness may be subservient to the attaining of such and such designs that I have, I will venture upon it, I say, this man sells his soul in this case to the Devil, Ahab sold himself to work wickedness.
Sixthly, And then a sixth way of men's losing their souls, it is by being poisoned, their souls are poisoned, and so they come to be lost: now the poison of the soul it is either wicked company, or wicked errors; either of those two.
By keeping of wicked company, thou keepest in an infectious Air, thou goest from home sometimes and meetest with such wicked company, thou gettest thy bane, thy poison there, and poison works diverse ways; sometimes it will cause one to swell mightily; how many, when they come from their wicked company, come home with such swelling hearts, in such an outrageous way, swearing, and fighting, and blaspheming, and scorning, and contemning at all ways of godliness; now these have been abroad, and have gotten poison, and so they shall, and are ready to burst with it.
Now there are other kinds of poison that will not work till a quarter or half a year after: A man may go into company, and get his bane, and yet not work till a quarter of a year after: As I remember a Philosopher seeing two women that were wicked, talk together, Oh! Saith he, now the Viper is taking of poison from the Asp, and indeed it seemed to be a Proverb in Tertullian's time, for I meet with such a proverbial speech in him, as that the Viper borrows poison from the Asp: so when wicked company are infusing wicked principles, here is the poison gotten from the Asp; wicked company perhaps they come with their sweet cups, and perhaps thou drinkest down the Wine merrily, but together with the Wine, wicked things are infused into
thy spirit that are poisonful: When thou art in wicked company, and hearest the ways of God spoken against, and hearest the Saints of God railed on, and the good Word of God spoken against, and this thou drawest into thy heart, oh there is poison goes down in this cup; it is like to poison thy soul, and to be thy undoing forever.
And then there is another kind of venom, and that is wicked errors and heresies, when men drink off the Cup of Fornication, as when they are taken with the great errors of Popery, this poisons the soul; that place in the Thessalonians is a most dreadful place, even for that very error, 2 Thess.
2:11. Speaking of Antichrist, that he should come with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved; and for this cause God shall send them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. This is a most dreadful Text against those that shall drink in the errors of Popery.
But you will say, that they are learned men, and have a great deal of show of truth, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness: But how art thou deceived by them? Because thou receivest not the love of the truth, that thou mightest be saved: And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions to believe a lie, that they might be damned; to that end God sends strong delusions, that men might believe those errors, and drink in that cup of fornications, that they might be damned forever.
If it were but only that one error drunk down in the grossness of it, that is, that the righteousness that I must tender up to God for satisfaction to divine
Justice, and for my eternal salvation, must be mine own righteousness, mine own works: Here is enough to poison a soul to eternal perdition; and many other ways there may be that may endanger the soul extremely, and very ill
consequences may be gathered from good principles: As for that principle of our Justification by free Grace in Christ; That it is only by Christ that we are justified, that principle is exceeding good, but from thence such dangerous venomous consequences may be drawn, as may extremely endanger; and I make no question do envenom and poison many thousand souls, upon which they draw consequences for looseness, and against humiliation for sin, and against obedience to the Law, as by Moses. All the principles and errors that are against the strict ways of God, that tend to any looseness, certainly they are envenoming principles: Oh take heed of any doctrine, of any conceits, of any opinions that do any way tend to looseness! They will certainly poison and envenom your souls, so that your very errors may be enough to damn you eternally. Many lose their souls by poisoning.
Seventhly, And there are many that lose their souls by venturing of them; there are many ventures upon which many come to lose their souls; there are four cases wherein a man may lose his soul by venturing of it.
First, As first by rashness, men that are inconsiderate and rash in their ways, that will suddenly fall upon things before they examine them, that rashness and suddenness of thine to fall upon things before thou dost examine them, and to go on in a rash way the most part of thy life, as many do; this endangers the loss of thy soul.
Secondly, And others venture the loss of their souls, by doing things that are doubtful, that their consciences mis-give them in, and tell them, Oh this is not right, I doubt I sin against God in this, and yet they will put on and venture, before they satisfy their doubts, but take heed of doing anything with a doubtful conscience, for you know what the Scripture saith, in the 14th of the Romans, the latter end; Whatsoever is not of Faith is sin. If thou
doubtest, thou must not venture to do a thing, till thou hast examined thy doubt, and there see upon what ground thy doubt is built, for if thou wilt presume to do a thing doubtfully, it may cost thee thy life.
Thirdly, A third venture, it is to venture upon God's patience; why, the Lord is a patient God, and he hath spared me so many years; all this while I have been spared, and have done well enough, why may not I hope that God will spare me still, and be patient with me still? How many wretched sinful creatures venture upon this? They perhaps have been brought up in wickedness and profaneness; God hath been patient towards them, and yet they can to their sin again and again, and live very merry lives: Now all this time thou livest upon the mere patience of God, and thou thinkest because
God hath been patient thus long, therefore he will be so still: We may indeed venture upon the Grace of God in his Son, as well for sanctification as for pardon, but not to venture either upon patience, or anything else, so as to continue in our sins, though God hath been patient thus long, thou dost not know but that upon thy next venture the cord of mercy may crack, and thou mayest sink and perish eternally; that may befall thee in one day, that hath not befallen thee all thy life before; take heed my brethren of venturing upon patience, for that hath not a word of promise to strengthen it unto thee:
Indeed Faith is a kind of venture, but that ventures upon the Word of God, and the Promise of God, and it is good venturing upon that, but when thou venturest upon patience, thou hast no word to assure thee that patience will hold; Thou hast no word to make this good unto thee, that though God hath been patient so many years, therefore he will be so still.
Fourthly, And then a fourth venture that men make, it is to venture upon their own lives; they are young, and they hope they may live many years yet, I know others they live to be old men, and why may not I live and have
my pleasure as well as they? And thus they venture; Oh but what if the thread of thy life should be snapped asunder, what will become of thee then! Wilt thou venture thy eternal miscarrying upon such a brittle and frail thing as thy life is? Oh it is a desperate venture, when men and women will venture thus! That if God take away my life now, certainly I must perish forever. — Now I put it unto every soul in this place, let this be the case now, do you examine what you think in your consciences your conditions would be, if you should hear a voice from Heaven saying unto you presently, this soul shall have no more time to make provision for eternity; I am persuaded that in such a place as this is there cannot but be many that would in their own consciences say, If God should take away my life now, I fear I should be lost forever; I doubt, if we could go from one to another, and lay our ears to the bosoms of men, and could but hear what the consciences of men say upon this that is now put to them, that thou shouldest die in the condition in which now thou art, and what repentance thou hast had, be it good or bad, that thy soul must depend upon, if it be not right, thy soul must perish; I say, I fear that upon such a message from Heaven, many a man's and woman's heart would ask within them, and their consciences would tell them, I am afraid I should be lost forever: Oh for thee to be content to be in such a condition any one moment, that if thou shouldest die that moment, thy soul should be damned, I say thou art a bold and presumptuous sinner, a most desperate wretch.