'( 2.1')' wiltbethink you hoi much you are concerned, to compareyour hearts and lives with this paffage., and judge your felves by the Word of God that is now before you : And for your ?Wn fakes do it ferioufly and faithfully, as p.aiT~ngers t~at are, h~fhng to_ the great Afilze. What fay yot:Jr Confctences, Strs, to thts Qy_efhon? · ' Have yvu indeed lived in t~e world M 'f'tJen that. believe that One thing is necej[ary? Hath tl11S One had your chzefeft carr and la– bour; and ha"e you chofen rat~er ro neglect all other thmgs then this ? Look behind you, and JQdgc of the courfc that .you have · taken by the light of rh is one-text. I .do not ask you Whether you haveheard rhat One thing u_ Necef[ary : nor .whether ypu : have taikJd uf it , and confeffed tt to be true : nor whether you · have been calledChriftians by your felves and others, and have come roChurch, andforborn thofe fins ·that would have mofr blem[fhecl your honour in.the world : This is nothing.ro the · quefl:ion : Thus many .thoufandi do, thac were never etcquaint- · ed with the One thing Necef[ary. Nor do I ~sk y~m, Whether you have ufed to allow Godhalf an hours lip-fervice or formal drowfie prayer at night, when you have ferved the world and flefh all day ?,Nor whether you have been Religious on the by,· and given God fome lean devotion which cofl: you little, and : which your fkfh can fpare without any great diminution or de– triment in its ea:fe, and honour, and profit, and fenfual delights: : Nor whether you run to fome kinde of duties of Religion, to · make all whole, when you come from wilful reigning ·fin; and fo ' make Religion afortrefs to your lufts~ to quiet your Confcien· - ces while you ferve the fleili : I confefs fuch a kind of Religiouf– nefs as this, the world .is acquained with : But this is unan.. ·· fwerable to the Rule before us. But the quefl:ion is, Whether this One thing hcnh been the · Treafure and {ewe/ of your eftimation ; the darling of your · ajfeflzo~s _; tQe pr.i~e of your rnofi diligent endeavours, and the · ~nly{ehc1ty of your fouls ? ~i.rs, as Jightly as y·ou hear this quefiion now ·, you will One · day fin~ that your lives, yea your falvation ly~rh upon your an- - fwer_t~ tr. Cotn you fay truly , as before rhe fearcher of hearts • . that 1t ts he that ha rh .bad your hearts ? That ·this One thing , ha rh i been more efteemed by you, than .all the world befides ? That ~ {)ther thi'ngs ~1ave fzlf. Hooped unto thu One·, afld ferved under it? ;, ~nd that .th1s ~a~h had the ftret~m of your _heartieR affe.frionsi ,, D- 3 ' ' - an~..J
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