are passed away Rev. 21.4 How happy are they who are safe from and out of the reach of all those Torment and Curses to which Sin doth expose People and under which others must eternally roar who whilst others fry in unquenchable Flames and must be always tost on the Waves and Surges of the ever burning Lake endure none of their Anguish but are filled with a Joy which no Tongue can relate O the Honor to which they are advanced the Glory with which they are Crowned the Treasures they enjoy the Kingdoms they have received the Delights with which they are and will be everlastingly entertained Our Understandings and Minds are not capacious and wide enough to comprehend or conceive the great and excellent things that are conferred on them Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 In thy presence is fulness of Joy at thy right Hand are Pleasures for ever more Psal 16.11 As for me I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy Likeness Psal 17.15 Because thy loving Kindness is better than Life my Lips shall praise thee Thus will I praise thee while I Live I will lift up my Hands in thy Name My Soul shall be satisfied as with Marrow and Fatness and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips Psal 63.3 4 5. Can any thing be so desirable to me as when I die to have my precious Soul guarded and conveyed by holy and blessed Angels through the airy Regions unto Abraham's Bosom into the kindest Embraces of the holy amiable and loving Jesus And at the general Resurrection to have my Body raised Incorruptible and Glorious and every way disposed for and united to its happy Soul that they may be joint and eternal sharers in all those blessed Fruitions infinite Grace and Love will vouchsafe How happy shall I be if through Grace I arrive to be for ever with Christ What a glorious Change will then be wrought on me How wonderfully will all the Powers and Faculties of my Soul be advanced improved and enlarged How much more beautiful and capacious will they be made than now they are O the alteration that shall be made on me to my unconceivable Advantage when I shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament as the Stars for Ever and Ever Dan. 12.3 Yea as the Sun in the Kingdom of my Father Mat. 13.43 When this vile Body shall be Changed and fashioned like unto the Glorious Body of My Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3.21 What account should I make of such a Privilege Honor and Felicity How should I prepare wait and long for this Great Holy and Glorious Change The word of that God who is faithful and true and cannot Lie affords us evident and full assurance that such a glorious and everlastingly happy State is prepared and may be obtained and it likewise certifies what manner of People they must be who shall be admitted to it The Lord Jesus the supream Judge of and great King over all will at the last Day say unto them on his right Hand Come ye blessed of my Father Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World Matt. 25.34 He will render to every Man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in Well-doing seek for Glory and Honor and Immortality Eternal Life Rom. 2.6 7. Henceforth saith St. Paul there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also who love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead to an Inheritance Incorruptible and Undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation ready to be Revealed in the last Time 1 Pet. 1.3 4 5. This Salvation comprehends all that is Great all that is Honorable all that is truly Delighting Good and Desirable O that we may all duly strive labour desire and long to be prepared for and brought to the actual possession of it What should we wish for on our own behalves if we have any love for our selves but that God himself the only satisfying good would be our Portion That we may have free Intimate full and everlasting Communion in the highest Heavens with the Father Son and Holy Spirit with glorious Angels and all the Saints above That we may come to the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first Born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the Blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel Heb. 12.22 c. Can we desire and pant after any thing comparable to our beholding our Saviour's Glory and being for ever with him in his Kingdom where he Reigns in Glory Were we throughly perswaded of and did we in any measure esteem this Salvation as we ought for indeed we cannot prize it as it deserves what an happy Change should we presently perceive in our selves What a mighty power and efficacy should we feel it have on our Souls What a sweet and constraining influence should we find it shed abroad in our Hearts and Lives How strangely would it abate and take off our love and affection to this World It s Pomps its Pleasures its Vanities How much would it raise us above the Flatteries which have hitherto Deluded us How would it make us despise and contemn the painted Glories and empty Enjoyments which we have so unweariedly pursued and so passionately courted How indifferent should we be to Earthly things and how little impression would any Worldly Allurements make on us if we did steadily look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen 2 Cor. 4.18 And did we affectionately consider that the things which are seen are Temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal How would this engage us to animate us in and with what success and vigor would it carry us through all our Duties Would not our Conversation be in Heaven did we seriously look for our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ from thence to call and take
Knowledge and Vertue How much more should I value and endeavour by all means to improve my Soul who behold and discern this Truth in a much clearer Light than he could How do I Blush and with what Grief and Revenge is my Heart rent because of the folly and vanity the wickedness of the past part of my Life because of my unthankfulness for the Gospel and carelesness of my Soul to this time when I read what a Mahometan King is reported to have caused to be writ on the Gates of his Pleasure-House viz. This World will not continue long its Pride and Lustre will soon be gone Remember Brother and apply thy Heart to Him who only intended this World for our Inn. Let not thy Life be united to this Bitter Sweet for it hath Cheated many first Jested with them and afterwards Slaughtered them If thy Soul can but come away from her Prison Pure and Undefiled and reach the Mark it 's no great matter whether thou Diest on a Throne or on a Dung-hill O how Sottish have I been in setting the Riches Pleasures Honors and Accommodations of this present World at so high a Rate preferring them before my Precious Soul And shall I still continue to do so Let so tremendous Folly such desperate Madness be far from me My own experience doth now convince me that the more I have admired the more I have toiled for these things the emptier I am the more I am disappointed the further I am from being satisfied I am sure these things are vain yea and vexatious too They will fade and Perish and are at best but of a short duration What are these and such brittle decaying short-liv'd Enjoyments to a Soul which will abide and Live for ever Were it not for the levity and sickliness of my mind what thousands of considerations would croud in to convince and certifie me that it is my Soul which of all other things is of greatest Worth And can there be a more prodigious Folly a grosser contradiction than for a Man to believe his Soul is Immortal and of greater value than his Imagination can extend unto and yet be regardless of it As to other things which are of value but which we do not exactly understand we usually them esteem according as they are better skill'd in them than we are Will any discreet and prudent Person throw away a Medal a Jewel or Precious-stone or part with it for a Counter a piece of Lead or any such thing because he doth not know its just worth Or will he not rather enquire of some one who understands such things and then esteem and prize it at therate he assures him it is really worth Now we have no reason at all to question but God who Created our Souls and the Lord Jesus Christ who Redeemed and Purchased them do very well understond their worth And by whose determination should we govern our our selves in this Affair but by theirs whose Judgment is most assuredly Infallible And if we will acquiesce in their Judgment in the Case we must certainly esteem our Souls exceeding precious For if our Souls were not exceeding precious the Eternal Father would not have given his Son to purchase them nor would the only Begotten of the Father have laid down his Life for their Ransom Had they judged our Souls such frivolous worthless things as we generally appear to esteem them they would not have been redeemed at all or if they must have been Purchased it would have been with a Price of infinitely less Value than the Blood of him who was the Son of God The most that could have been demanded for them would have been but a very moderate sum of that with which we buy the necessaries for our Temporal Life For what poor and trifling things in this World do People ordinarily pawn and venture their Souls But God and Christ had other thoughts of our Souls than we have Tho we expose our Souls for nought yet if any one Man could purchase the whole World with the loss of his Soul he would be no Gainer yea his loss would be Irreparable What shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul Matt. 16.26 O! the inestimable price that was paid for these Souls which we do so neglect slight and disregard Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without Blemish and without Spot 1 Pet. 1.18 19. When my thoughts concerning Reasonable Souls have mounted as high as ever they can and when my esteem of them has followed my Thoughts as close as possible how far am I from comprehending and being throughly affected with their full worth Alas what are my most elevated apprehensions to the incomprehensible excellency and merit of that Blood with which they were bought Wo is me who have too long neglected and been careless of my unaccountably precious Soul as if it had been the only frivolous useless thing in the whole World If I do any longer make but little account of this Soul of mine I shall be unavoidably chargeable with an affected undervaluing what is in it self of unconceivable worth and trampling under foot most ungratefully the precious Blood of the everlasting Covenant and offering the most insufferable contumely to the Lord of Glory who gave himself a Ransom for my Soul Can I sustain so great a load Dare I willfully cast away my Soul to give the greated demonstration of Ingratitude and of sullen Contempt unto Almighty God Shall I be so peevish so malicious so revengeful as to destroy my Soul and sink my self under the most horrid Guilt because my Saviour's Love was so stupendous and amazing Wretch that I am in that I have till now been so unmindful of my Soul which cost my Jesus so dear My dearest Jesus thy Love doth now constrain me Methinks I hear thy Sobs thy Groans the Prayers and Supplications which thou didst offer with strong Crying and Tears Thy earnest Expostulation on the Cross when Dying to Redeem this Soul My Heart is pierced now I must I Grieve I Mourn My Indignation now is kindled I despise I hate I loath whatever would defraud thee of thy Purchase The Beauty Grandeur Pomp and Glory of this World is now as nothing unto me I neither love nor prize nor value any thing but my Soul and as it 's ransomed by thy Blood O! what shall I do that I may attain to prize my Soul as it deserves This this Soul which cost the Son of God so dear May I be duly affected with the Travail of my Saviour's Soul and with the horrors of his Agonies and Death Let me ever with becoming Adoration meditate on rightly understand and constantly retain a lively affectionate powerful constraining sense on my Heart and Spirit of Christ's profoundest Condescention and superlative Grace and Kindness Would Christ dwell in my Heart by Faith and might I be enabled to comprehend
MAN's Great Duty OR A DISCOURSE OF The Care every Man should take to make sure the Salvation of his own Soul By Samuel Bold Rector of Styple in Dorsetshire Matt. XVI xxvi What shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul LONDON Printed by R. Smith and are to be Sold by R. Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane 1693. THE Epistle Dedicatory TO Mrs. Mary Cooke Widow of that very Learned and Pious Man Mr. William Cooke sometime since Minister of the Gospel in the City of Chester and to the rest of the Author 's Friends in that City I Present this Discourse to you as a publick Testimony that I am not unmindful how much I am obliged to you all for your great Love and Respects to me from my Infancy to this time And in an especial manner to you Mrs. Cooke for the Motherly Affection Care and Tenderness you have constanstly Manifested towards me through my Childhood and Youth and are pleased still to continue I forbear receoning up particular Obligations because too numerous for so slow a Pen. I know you delight more in shewing Kindness and doing Good than others would in having the World told that they do so The Subject treated of in this little Book I am sure is very grateful to you all and I am confident you will not be offended with my Discourse because so familiar It is a very sad and afflicting Reflection to a serious Christian that there are such multitudes who plainly appear to take no tolerable care of their own Souls tho they profess the best Religion and are furnished with eminent Advantages For The Earth which is so Watered and beareth Thorns and Briars is Rejected and is nigh unto Cursing whose end is to be Burned But Beloved I am perswaded better things of you and things that accompany Salvation Heb. 6.8 9. It very much concerns you all to take care I be not mistaken in you and to use your utmost Diligence to bring forth Fruit in some proportion to the Labour and Pains which have been bestowed on you You have enjoyed the Labours of that eminently holy Person and faithful Minister Mr. Cooke whose love to and care of Souls and zeal for their Salvation was such I am not acquainted with any words that are significative enough to express them And therefore if you do not much exceed others in Divine Love and all the Fruits of Righteousness and Holiness you do not fully answer the Means with which you have been favoured I am willing to remember you of your Old Pastor that you may thereby be induced to reflect upon your selves and be quickned to give such diligence to make your Salvation sure as he was always pressing you unto Were the excellent Treatises he left behind him Published they would contribute much to keep those things always in your Remembrance which he mainly insisted on whilst he was Living and to establish you in the Truths and Duties you know and have been practising He was the greatest instance of an indefatigable faithful Minister and practical Believer I was ever acquainted with He was diligent and industrious even to a Prodigy His Humility and Modesty did exceedingly veil his intellectual Merits Few could comprehend the time he spent and the pains he took in his Study much less the proficiency he made there He had strong Natural Parts a great Memory a quick Apprehension was very Thoughtful and dived very far into whatsoever he applied his Mind unto He was the most void of all kind of Affectation so far as my Knowledge doth extend of any meer Man His Learning Ministerial Labours and exemplary Piety were such could the World be furnish'd with an exact faithful Account of his Life I am perswaded it would yield as grateful and pleasing Entertainment to the learned part of the World and be as profitable to all People who have a serious sense of true Piety as any thing that can be Published But I doubt those who knew him best Died before him and as for those who were acquainted with him and do Survive I suspect some were not observant enough and others did not know him long enough to understand very many of the most material Passages which would be necessary for such a Composure Indeed he did so conceal himself I very much question whether any Man was ever in a capacity to do him Right Yet a sull Collection of the many great things his Friends remember and which he could not hinder People from observing would be of extraordinary use unto the Publick Tho the whole Relation thereof would not comprehend the half of what he deserved should be said to perpetuate his Memory and encourage a laudable Imitation If this hint may prompt those who knew him to recollect themselves and jointly apply themselves to such a Work I shall have this Satisfaction that I have been instrumental to put them on Acts of Friendship and true Piety and have contributed a little to oblige the Publick You are commanded not to be Slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience are Inheritors of the Promises Heb. 6.12 And I propound unto you Mr. Cooke as a great Pattern you should imitate in variety of Instances which are within your reach and pertain to the Stations you are in as well as in the whole general tenor of his Conversation I shall therefore pass over in Silence many very considerable things I know concerning him which must not by any means be omitted by one who would attempt to write his Life I must not therefore insist on his Learning And indeed he who would do him Justice as to that must be furnished with a much greater measure of it than I can hope to attain unto Yet let me take liberty to mention one thing viz. That his skill in the Oriental Languages was such it procured him a respect above many Persons of great worth from the Famous Bishop Walton whose eminent Talent lay in that sort of Study A very worthy Author whom I am obliged to Love and Honour greatly for his substantial solid Learning Conformists 4th Plea for Nonconformists p. 109. but especially on the account of his exemplary Piety and more than common Zeal for the good of Souls hath told the World That Bishop Walton would speak Civilly to Mr. Cooke tho he told him unless he would Conform he could not help him I have particular reason to say that when he spake those words he did it with intimations of great Regret and that amongst other reasons of his Respect to Mr. Cooke common to others for whom that Great Man had a Kindness notwithstanding they had different Sentiments from him about some Matters it was Mr. Cooke's great knowledge in these Languages which did peculiarly commend him to that Bishop Here I am to take notice that Mr. Cooke was a Nonconformist and so had different Sentiments about some inferior and less substantial rather meerly accidental Matters about which all
with all Saints the breadth and length and depth and height of his Love how should I abound in Admiring Praising Glorifying and giving Thanks unto him and to what a height would this sort of exercise raise my estimation of my Soul towards which this great this glorious this beneficent and most gracious Saviour hath manifested a Love which passeth Knowledge As the best and greatest Friend to Mankind hath in so stupendous a manner Testified his love to and thereby the real and extraordinary worth of Souls so the most envious inveterate and malicious Enemy to Human Race hath mightily fortified this Truth That the Soul of Man is exceeding precious by his indefatigable and unwearied attempts to destroy our Souls both in the ways of Subtilty and Violence We commonly acknowledge and bouldly affirm the Devil is our great Adversary and then we must likewise allow and grant that he designs to do us the greatest Mischief and what can that be but to prejudice and ruine that part of us which is undoubtedly of greatest value And can any thing be more apparent and manifest than that all his methods and assaults are levelled against our Souls What a Monster shall I appear if I make little or no account of this Soul for the ransoming of which the eternal Son of God laid down his most precious Life And for the ruining of which the Devil doth not spare any either of his Craft and Artifice or of his Strength and Industry Would the Prince of the Powers of the Air so sedulously contrive and plot be so very observant and constant upon his Watch make such diligent Search after and take so much pains as he doth to destroy our Souls if they were such inconsiderable worthless Trifles as we seem to reckon them We are careful of and do look accurately after those those things we really prize and of which we make a very great account And were we truly sensible of and duly affected with the worth the excellency the preciousness of our own Souls O! with what seriousness should we busie our selves to secure their Salvation Secondly Salvation is an inestimable Mercy and Privilege Salvation What a sweet delicious good word is this Take all the Letters in the World and join them together how you please you cannot frame a word that makes so comfortable and charming a Sound as this does Of all the expressions that can be named this is the most proper and the best accommodated to our State and Circumstances to our Case and Necessities We are in Misery our wants and dangers are greater than our Lips can utter Who so wretched and forlorn as Sinners and guilty Persons None certainly excepting them whose Condemnation is already Seal'd and ratified May such as we be Saved is it possible for us to obtain Salvation May our aggravated Transgressions the horrible Rebellion we have so long and so obstinately persisted in against the Holy God be Pardoned May we yet escape the terrible wrath that is coming apace upon the Wicked and Disobedient Is the door of Mercy still open May we yet be received into favour Most joyful tidings most comfortable and ravishing News Blesbe my Rock Exalted be the God of my Salvation Praise the Lord O my Soul and let all that is within me magnifie his Holy Name Thy loving kindness is better than Life O Lord I will praise thee as long as I Live Let all the Angels of God which excel in strength bless him Yea let all his works in all Places of his Dominion bless him Bless the Lord O my Soul Oh that Men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his wonderful Works to the Children of Men Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from Everlasting to Everlasting and let all the People say Amen Praise ye the Lord This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation That Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners of whom we may justly repute our selves the greatest Let that Message brought from Heaven by an Angel A Message every way worthy of such a Messenger be the chief subject of my Meditations And Oh that I might never think of it but with a Heart rightly affected towards it powerfully influenced by it and mightily enlarged in thankfulness and praise for it Fear not for behold I bring you good Tydings of great Joy which shall be to all People for unto you is Born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord Luke 2.10 11. This Salvation is indeed a great and blessed word but how little do we know of that which it imports No created Being can comprehend and fully understand the Mercy Good and Privilege it signifies A Blessing is the less by its being such that any finite Being can reach and know its full Dimensions This is a Mercy and Benefit which deserves our loudest Praises our most solemn Acknowledgments and our silent Admiration We cannot possibly raise our estimation to its real Value It is so great the loftiest Expressions fall infinitely short of conveying to our Minds an adequate and exact conception of it How shall we then escape if we neglect so great Salvation Heb. 2.3 Our deliverances are incompleat whilst we are on Earth we are encompassed and surrounded here with such variety of dangers calamities and troubles we are no sooner rescued out of one but we feel our selves Arrested by another Disaster and are in all respects as uneasie and dissatisfied till freed from this as we were when mourning under the former Yea many times our very Deliverance proves but a step to a Relapse which sinks us deeper into the very same kind of Trouble and Disquietment we thought we had escaped We are Born to Trouble as the Sparks fly upward When one afflicting occurrence having gorg'd it self as we conceive leaves us we presently become a Booty to another or else the former returns with greater eagerness and preys on us with more unsatiable greediness and violence No sooner have we one Deliverance but we find we do as much need another We are not sure but whole Troops of Sorrows will seize on us and these so thick and close one after another they will not afford us one pleasant Interval Our Lives are at best chequered and our Deliverances in this World yield not a satisfaction of any long continuance But blessed be God the Lord Jesus being made perfect is become the Author of eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 O! the blessedness of them who partake of this Salvation who are perfectly freed from every thing that ean offend and molest from the worst of Evils Sin and the next Temptations to it and from all the Sufferings Pains Diseases Doubts and Fears which here extort our Tears Complaints and Moans God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes and there shall be no more Death neither Sorrow nor Crying neither shall there be any more Pain for the former things