Oh how wilful will thy destruction be, if thou shouldest yet harden thy self in thy sinful states But none of you can say, but you have had fair warning. Yet methinks I cannot tell how to leave you so: It is not enough to me to have delivered my own soul. What, shall I go away without my errand? Will none of you arise, and follow me? Have I been all this while speaking to the wind? Have I been charming the deaf Adder, or allaying the tumbling Ocean with arguments? Do I speak to the trees or rocks, or to men? to the tombs and monuments of the dead, or to a living auditory? If you be men, and not senseless stocks, stand still, and consider whither you are going: if you have the reason and understanding of men, dare not to run into the ⟨p. 68⟩flames, and fall into hell with your eyes open: but bethink your selves, and set to the work of repentance. What! men, and yet •un into the pit, when the very beasts will not be forced in! What, endowed with reason, and yet dally with death and hell, and the vengeance of the Almighty! Are men herein distinguished from the very brutes, that they have no foresight of, and care to provide for the things to come; and will you not hasten your escape from eternal torments? O show your selves men, and let reason prevail with you; Is it a reasonable thing for you to contend against the Lord your Maker? Isa. 45. 9. or to harden your selves against his word? Job 9. 4. as though the strength of Israel would lie? 1. Sam. 15. 29. Is it reasonable that an understanding creature should lose, yea live quite against the very end of his Being, and be as a broken pitcher, only fit for the dunghill? Is it tolerable, that the only thing in this world that God hath made capable of knowing his will, and bringing him glory, should yet live in ignorance of his Maker, and be unserviceable to his use; yea should be engaged against him, and spit his venom in the face of his Creator? Hear, O Heavens, and give Ear, O earth, and let the Creatures without sense be judge, if this be reason, that man, when God hath nourished and brought him up, should rebel against him, Isa. 1. 2. Judge in •our own selves: Is it a reasonable undertaking, for briars and thorns, to set themselves in Battle against the devouring sire? Isa. 27. 4. or for the Potsherd of the earth to strive with his Maker?
Oh how willful will thy destruction be, if thou shouldest yet harden thy self in thy sinful states But none of you can say, but you have had fair warning. Yet methinks I cannot tell how to leave you so: It is not enough to me to have delivered my own soul. What, shall I go away without my errand? Will none of you arise, and follow me? Have I been all this while speaking to the wind? Have I been charming the deaf Adder, or allaying the tumbling Ocean with arguments? Do I speak to the trees or rocks, or to men? to the tombs and monuments of the dead, or to a living auditory? If you be men, and not senseless stocks, stand still, and consider whither you are going: if you have the reason and understanding of men, dare not to run into the ⟨p. 68⟩flames, and fall into hell with your eyes open: but bethink your selves, and set to the work of repentance. What! men, and yet •un into the pit, when the very beasts will not be forced in! What, endowed with reason, and yet dally with death and hell, and the vengeance of the Almighty! Are men herein distinguished from the very brutes, that they have no foresight of, and care to provide for the things to come; and will you not hasten your escape from eternal torments? O shew your selves men, and let reason prevail with you; Is it a reasonable thing for you to contend against the Lord your Maker? Isa. 45. 9. or to harden your selves against his word? Iob 9. 4. as though the strength of Israel would lie? 1. Sam. 15. 29. Is it reasonable that an understanding creature should lose, yea live quite against the very end of his Being, and be as a broken pitcher, only fit for the dunghill? Is it tolerable, that the only thing in this world that God hath made capable of knowing his will, and bringing him glor•, should yet live in ignorance of his Maker, and be unserviceable to his use; yea should be engaged against him, and spit his venom in the face of his Creator? Hear, O Heavens, and give Ear, O earth, and let the Creatures without sense be judge, if this be reason, that man, when God hath nourished and brought him up, should rebel against him, Isa. 1. 2. Judge in •our own selves: Is it a reasonable undertaking, for bryars and thorns, to set themselves in Battle against the devouring sire? Isa. 27. 4
