528 AN EPISTLE TO THE member it when with fruitless cries and horror thou art beseeching him too late. I know, poor Sinner, that flesh is brutish, and lust and appetite have no reason : but I know thou hast reason thyself, which, was given thee to overrule them, and that he that will not be a man, cannot be a saint, nor a happy man. I know thou livest in a tempting and wicked world, where things and persons will be daily hindering thee ; but I know that this is no more to a man that by faith sees heaven and hell before him, than a grain of sand is to a kingdom, or a blast of wind to one that is flying for his life. O man ! that thou didst but know the difference between that which the devil and sin will give thee, if thou wilt sell thy soul and heaven, and that which God hath promised and sworn to give thee, if thou wilt heartily give up thy- self to him ! 1 know thou mayest possibly fall into company (at least among some sots and drunkards) that will tell thee, " All this is but troublesome pre- ciseness, and making more ado than needs." But I know withal what that man deserveth who will believe a fool before his maker ; (for he can be no better than a miserable fool, that will contradict and revile the word of God, even the word of grace that would save men's soul.) And, alas, it is possible that thou mayest hear some of the tribe of Levi (or rather of Cain) deriding this seri- ous godliness, as mere hypocrisy, and fanaticism, and self - conceitedness ; as if you must be no better than the devil's slaves, lest you be proud in thinking that you are better than they; that is, you must go with them to hell, lest in heaven ye be proud hypocrites, for thinking yourselves better than they. It may be they will tell you, that this talk of con- version is fitter for pagans and infidels to hear, than for Christians and Protestants, because such men's big look or coat may make the poison be the easier taken down : 1 will entreat thee but (as before God) to an- swer the following qu estions, or to get them answer ed, and then judge whether it be they or we that world
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