The mischiefs of self-ignorance and the benefits of self-acquaintance opened in divers sermons at…

I beseech you all that are secure in an unsanctified state, do but look inwards, and help me in preaching this doctrine to you• hearts, and tell your selves, whether you do not think; that your state is good, and that you are the children of God as well as others; and that though you are sinners, yet your sins are pardoned by the blood of Christ, and that you shall be saved if you die in the state that you are in? And are not these thoughts the Reason why you venture to continue in your presen• state, and look not after so great a change as Scripture speaketh of as necessary?

And I pray you deal plainly with your hearts, and tell me, you careless sinners, young or old, that sit here as quietly as i• all were well with you; If you did but know that you are at this hour unregenerate, and that without Regeneration there i• is no Salvation; If you did but know that you are yet carnal and unholy, and tha• without Holiness none shall see God; If yo• did but know that you are yet in a stat• ⟨p. 209⟩of Enmity to God while you call him Father, and of Enmity to Christ while you call him your Saviour, and of Enmity to the Holy Spirit while you call him your sanctifier; If you did but know that your sins are unpardoned, and your souls unjustified, and that you are condemned already, and shall certainly be damned if you die as you are, could you live quietly in such a state? Could you sleep, and eat and drink quietly, and follow your trades, and let time run on, without repenting and returning unto God, if you knew that you are past hope, if death surprise you in this condition? For the Lords sake Sirs, rouse up your selves a little, and be serious in a business that concerneth you more then ten thousand natural lives, and tell me, or rather tell your selves, If you did but know that while you sit here, you are unrenewed, and therefore under the curse of God, and in the bondage of the Devil, and are hasting towards perdition, and are gone for ever, if you be not sanctified and made new creatures before you die; could you then put off this Sermon with a sleepy careless hearing, and go home and talk of common matters, and no more mind it, as you have done by Sermons until now? Could