287 / 1054
on
the Excellency
of
the
Soul.
287
what if
I
fhould now
die?
I
have
not made
my
Will,
and
any
eftate
would go
fuch
and
fuch
waies
,
as
I
would
not
have
ir,
it would bee fquandered
away,
it
would
bee (pent
in:Sutes
of Law
I,
but rather
let
thy thoughts
run
out
thus; what
if I
fhould
now
die,
would not my
foul
be
loft
and perifh for ever
?
Now,
though
I
have (aid wee
cannot
fet
forth
fuch a
man
or
woman,
and
conclude
that
their
fouls
(hall certainly bee
loft
,
becaufe wee know
not
what God may
do
hereafter, but
Wee
may
fay
this,
that
fuch
a
man or womans
foul
in the condition
it
is ,
If
GOd
do
no
more for
it
than
hee
hath
yet'
done, that then
it will
certainly
bee loft
:
Indeed
a man or woman may come
to
know,
andcertainly
to
conclude
that they
are
ele&ed,
but
none
can come
to
fuch
a conclufion,
to
know
certainly that
they are Reprobates
:
the
vileft wretch
that
is upon
the
face of the earth, hee hath not ground
fufhcient
to
conclude
againft:himfelf
that
hee
is a
Reprobate,
and
that
his
foul
[hall
fair
ever
bee
loft
;
and
therefore
furely wee
cannot
conclude
againft
another, if
not
againft
our felves.
---
Well,
but
who
are
they;
that if God
fhctuld
work
no other-
wife upon
them than hee
hath
done,
that
then
their
fouls
would bee loft
?
Firft,
In the
firft
place,
That
foul
to
whom
God
bath
not
made known,
and
cat-wined it
of
the
dange
ous
natu-
ral
condition
in
which
it
is,
if
fuch a foul
fhould
depart
from the body;
it
would bee loft.
---
Onely
let
mee
premife
thefe two
cautions
;
I
do not
fpeak
of
Infants, but
of
thefe
that
are come
to years, and
thatlive
under means
:
--
And
I
fpeák
of
Gods ordinary way;
wee will
not
limit
God,
what hee
may dó
in extraordinary waies, but
in an ordi-
nary
courfe and
way
of Gods dealings
with
the
children of
men,
that
hee
lets
live
to
come
to
years,
and bee under
means,
thefe following
rules
will
difcover who
they
are
that at the
prefent
are in
a
loft
condition
;
I
fay, fuch
to
whom
God
hath never revealed and convinced
them of
the
evil of
their natural condition,
in which
they
were born
,
in
which
theyare, if
God fhould
let
them
fo
die,
and make
known