Chap. 7.] SUFFER THE TORMENTS of HELL. 93 abide the fierceness ofhis anger ?" Methinks thou shouldst need no more words, but presently cast away thy soul-. damning sins, and wholly deliver up thyself to Christ. Resolve on it immediately, and let it be done, that I may, see thy face in rest among the saints. May the Lord per- suade thy heart to strike this covenant without any longer delay ! But if thou be hardened unto death, and there be no remedy, yet say not another day but that thou wast faithfully warned, and hadst a friend that would fain have prevented thy damnation. CHAPTER VII. THE NECESSITY OF DILIGENTLY SEF.E.ING THE SAINTS' REST, 1. The saints' rest surprisingly neglected. The author mourns the ne- glect, and excites the reader to diligence, by considering, 1. 77ze ends we aim at, the work we have to do, the shortness and uncertainty of our time, and the diligence of our enemies; 2. Our talents, mercies, relations to God, and our afictions; 3. What assistances we have, what principles we profess, and our certainty never to do enough; 4. That every grace tends to diligence, and to trifle is lost labor; that much time is mispent, and that our recompense and labor will be proportionable; 5. That striving is the divine appointment; all men do or will approve it; the best Christians, at death, lament their want of it; heaven is often lost for want of it, but never obtained without it; 6. God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, are in earnest; God is so in hearing and answering prayer; ministers in their instructions and exhortations; all the creatures in serving us ; sinners in serving the devil, as we were once, and now are, in worldly things, and inheaven and hell all are in earnest. 1. IF there be so certain and glorious a rest for the saints, why is there no more industrious seeking after it ? One would think, if a man did but once hear of such un- speakable glory to be obtained, and believed what he heard to be true, he would be transported with the vehe- mency of his desire after it, and would almost forget toeat and drink, and would care for nothing else, and speak of and inquire after nothing else, but how to get this treasure. And yet people whohear of it daily, and profess to believe it as a fundamental article of their faith, do as little mind it, or labor for it, as if they had never heard of any such thing, or did not believe one word they hear. This re-
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