WHO LOSE THE SAINT'S REST. 91 less preciseness ? when I thought the laws of Christ too strict, and all too much that I did for the life to come ? What would all sufferings for Christ and well -doing have been, compared with these sufferings that I must undergo for ever? Would not the heaven which I have lost have recompensed all my losses? and should not all my sufferings have been there for- gotten ? What if Christ had bid me do some great matter ; whether to live in continual fears and sor- rows, or to suffer death a hundred times over ; should I not have done it ?how much more when he only said, ' Believe, and be saved. Seek my face, and thy soul shall live. Take up thy cross, and follow me, and I will give thee everlasting life.'" O gracious offer ! O easy terms ! O cursed wretch, that would not be persuaded to accept them ! 16. This also will be a most tormenting consi- deration, to remember what they sold their eternal welfare for. When they compare the value of the pleasures of sin, with the value of the recompense of reward, how will the vast disproportion astonish them ! to think of the low delights of the flesh, or the ap- plauding breath of mortals, or the possessing heaps of gold; and then to think of everlasting glory, " This is all I had for my soul, my God, my hopes of blessed- ness !" It cannot possibly be expressed, how these thoughts will tear his very heart. Then will he ex- claim against his folly, " O miserable wretch ! did I set my soul to sale for so base a price ? did I part with my God for a little dirt and dross ; and sell my Saviour, as Judas, for a little silver? I had but a dream of delight, for my hopes of heaven ; and, now I am awaked, it is all vanished. My morsels are now turned to gall, and my cups to wormwood. When they were past my taste, the pleasure perished. And is this all that I have had for the inestimable treasure? What a mad exchange did_ I make ! What if I had gained all the world, and lost my soul? But, alas ! how small a part of the world was it, for which I gave
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=