N01663:64
The greatest concern in the world. A short and plain essay, to answer that…
The greatest concern in the world. A short and plain essay, to answer that most concerning and all concerning enquiry, What must I do to be saved? : Published, with a design to assist the addresses of good men unto their neighbours, whom they press to mind, the one thing that is needful.
printed by T. Green, 1718
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
First; This must be done; You must come to be bitterly sensible, that you want a Glorious CHRIST for your Saviour. We read, Joh. 7.37. If any man Thirst, let him come unto me. Truly, no man will come to a CHRIST, until a Thirst, or a Pungent and Painful sense of the Want of a CHRIST, be raised in him. You must feel the Burden of your Sin, lying on you; and Cry out, Oh! Tis an heavy Burden, too heavy for me! You must see GOD Angry with you Sin Binding of you, Hell Gaping for you; and utterly Despair of Helping your selves out of the Confusion that is come upon you. You must be filled with Sorrow, for what you have done; with Horror at what you are Exposed unto. The Cry of your Uneasy Souls must be that; Rom. 7.24. O wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me!
First; This must be done; You must come to be bitterly sensible, that you want a Glorious CHRIST for your Saviour. We read, Joh. 7.37. If any man Thirst, let him come unto me. Truly, no man will come to a CHRIST, until a Thirst, or a Pungent and Painful sense of the Want of a CHRIST, be raised in him. You must feel the Burden of your Sin, lying on you; and Cry out, Oh! Tis an heavy Burden, too heavy for me! You must see GOD Angry with you Sin Binding of you, Hell Gaping for you; and utterly Despair of Helping your selves out of the Confusion that is come upon you. You must be fill'd with Sorrow, for what you have done; with Horror at what you are Expos'd unto. The Cry of your Uneasy Souls must be that; Rom. 7.24. O wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me!
You must be no strangers to such Soliloquies as these; I have Sinned, I have Sinned; And, Woe is unto me, that I have Sinned. I have Lost the Knowledge of GOD, and Lost the Image of GOD, and Lost the Favour of GOD. My Sin renders me obnoxious to the Vengeance of GOD. Lust Enchants me, Enslaves me; Satan Tyrannizes over me. I am in Hourly Hazard of an Eternal Banishment from GOD, into Outer Darkness, into the place of Dragons. Oh! Wretched man that I am: I can do nothing to deliver my self. I Perish, I Perish, except a Glorious CHRIST be my Deliverer.