On the Excellency of the Soul. =65 but onely the meer mercy ofGod ? Oh therefore now biefs God for his mercy unto thee, that thy four is not as yet a loft foul, and think thus with thy felf, Lord, if thefe things bee true, and fo dreadful to hear of, Oh then what would be my mifery if it fhoutd prove that I fhould bee the perfon made fenfible thereof, by experiencing the mifery Ihear of, to bee the miferable condition of a loft foul ? The Scripture doth fay concerning the joy and happinefs of the Saints, That eye bath not feen,nor ear heard, neither hath i Cpl'' a 9 it entred into theheart of man to conceive what their happinefr fhall bee, that fhaUee faved. And the like may bee Paid of the mifery of the fouls that are eternally loft ; and the Scripture doth fay, That if oar Gofpel bee hid, it is hid to them that are i Cot, 4.3. loft. I befeech you therefore remember what hath been fpo- ken concerning the condition of lo`t fouls, and lay to heart what hath been fpoken out of this Text, left witlfin a little time you feel what bath been fpoken to bee a truth, and fo bee forced to cry out, True it is, I heard fuch a day out of fuch a text, what was the miferable condition of a foul eter- nally loft, but now I finde it by experience to bee true, and the one half I now feel, I could not then conceive : And know the reafon, my Brethren, why we lay the mifery of loft fouls thus before you, it is to this end, that none of you might be thus loft : And it is a blefiied thing for you to hear thefe things ; for how many are there that have loll their fouls, which till they were thus loft, never fo much as heard any thing about the lofs of their fouls, which if they had,who knows what might have been done by them for the faving of their fouls? Beloved, fuch a fubjea as this cannot be fpoken unto you without trembling; . -for certainly this fubjeet will bee much adding to the prevention of the lofs , or elfe it will mightily aggravate the lofs of your fouls, if ever they are eternally loft; therefore all I have at prefent to coup- fel you to, is , to lay thefe things to your hearts ferioufly, as allow biefs God for your fouls, that as yet they are not in this dreadful eternally loft condition. L The
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