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SEAM.
VIII.1
FALLING
SHORT
OF
HEAVEN.
141
pursuit of
a better
;
or
at
best,
when
ye
receive
instruc-
tions
about
your
souls,
you
let
the
affairs
of
this
life
overwhelm and bury
that
good seed,
and it never
grows
up
to
practice.
What
would you
say
to
the
folly
of
a
man,
who
has a long
and hazardous
journey
to make,
to
take
possession
of
a
large estate,
and
once a week
he
comes to
enquire the
way,
and
hears
a
fair
description
of
all
the
road, perhaps
he
mourns
his
long neglect,
and
resolves
upon the
journey
;
but
the
next
six
days
are
filled
up
with
a thousand impertinencies
;
and
when
the
seventh returns,
he
has
not
taken
one step forward
in
the
way
?
Believe
me, sirs,
it
is
not
an easy
thing to
be saved
laziness,
and
mere enquiries,
will
never
effect
your
hap-
piness,
nor secure your
souls from
perdition;
and alt
the
pains you have already
taken
will be
lost,
if
you
give
over the pursuit.
Let
me call some
of
you this
day
to
remember your former labours, the prayers and
tears
that
you have
poured out in secret
before
God;
re-
member your
days
of
darkness, and your nights
of
ter-
ror,
the
groans
of
conscience, and the inward agonies you
felt, when you were first awakened to
behold
your guilt
and
danger;
remember
these hours,
and
these
sorrows;
and
love
and pity your
own
souls
so
far,
as
to
pursue
the
work,
and let not your pains
be
lost
:
Have
ye
suf-
fered
so
many things
in
vain,
if
it
be
yet
in vain,
Gal.
iii. 4.
Ye have wrestled
with some
sins,
and have
in
part
got
the,
mastery over
them; and
shall
a darling lust
overcome
you
at
last,
and
slay
your
souls with
eternal
death
?
Ye
have
resisted the
tempter
in
some
of
his
as-
saults, and
put
the powers
of
hell to flight
;
will
you
give
up
yourselves
at
last
to
be
led
in
triumph
by
Satan,
and
become
his
everlasting
slaves?
Methinks
you
look
so
amiable
in those
victories
ye
have
already obtained,
that
I
would fain have you press
onward through
the
field
of
battle,
fulfil
the warfare, and
receive the crown.
The
ministers
of
the gospel
look upon
you with
con-
cern and
pity:
We
love you,
because
you
have
proceeded
thus
far in religion
;
but
ye
shall
not
be the beloved
of
God,
if
ye
stop
here,
or
go
back again to
sin
and
folly.
We had a
hopeful prospect
of
you
once,
and
said
to
our
Lord
in
prayer,
"
Surely these shall be
one day
the
in-
habitants, and the supports of thine
house;
these young