Then we may suppose the miserable body thus to accost the soul: Hast thou again found me, O mine enemy, my worst enemy, savage soul. more cruel than a thousand tigers? Cursed be the day that ever we met. O that I had remained a lifeless lump, rotten in the belly of my mother; and had never received sense, life, nor motion. O that I had rather been the body of a toad or s•ro•nt, than thy body; for then I had lain still, and had not seen this terrible day: If I behoved to be thine, O that I had been thy ass, or one of thy dogs, rather than thy body; for then wouldst thou have taken more true care of me than thou didst. O cruel kindness! hast thou thus hugged me to death, thus nourished me to the slaughter? Is this the effect of thy tenderness for me? Is this what I am to reap of thy pains and concern about me! What do riches and pleasure avail now, when this fearful reckoning is come, of which thou hadst fair warning? O cruel grave, why didst then not close thy mouth upon me for ever? Why didst thou not hold fast thy prisoner? ⟨p. 260⟩Why hast thou shaken me out, while I lay still, and was at rest? Cursed Soul wherefore didst thou not abide in thy place, wrapped up in flames of fire? Wherefore art thou come back to take me also down to the bars of the pit? Thou madst me an instrument of unrighteousness; and now I must be thrown into the fire. This tongue was by thee employed in mocking at religion, cursing, swearing, lying, backbiting, and boasting; and with-held from glorifying God: and now it must not have so much as a drop of water to cool it in the flames. Thou didst withdraw mine ears from hearing the sermons which gave warning of this day. Thou foundest ways and means to stop them from attending to seasonable exhortations, admonitions and reproofs. But why didst thou not stop them from hearing the sound of this dreadful trumpet? Why dost thou not now rove and fly away on the wings of imagination, thereby, as it were, transporting me during these frightful transactions, as thou was wont to do, when I was set down at sermons, communions, prayers, and godly conferences: that I might now have as little sense of the one, as I formerly had of the other? But ah! I must burn for ever, for thy love to thy lusts, thy profanity, thy sensuality, thy unbelief and hypocrisy.
Then we may suppose the miserable body thus to accost the soul: Hast thou again found me, O mine enemy, my worst enemy, savage soul. more cruel than a thousand tygers? Cursed be the day that ever we met. O that I had remained a lifeless lump, rotten in the belly of my mother; and had never received sense, life, nor motion. O that I had rather been the body of a toad or s•ro•nt, than thy body; for then I had lain still, and had not seen this terrible day: If I behoved to be thine, O that I had been thy ass, or one of thy dogs, rather than thy body; for then wouldst thou have taken more true care of me than thou didst. O cruel kindness! hast thou thus hugged me to death, thus nourished me to the slaughter? Is this the effect of thy tenderness for me? Is this what I am to reap of thy pains and concern about me! What do riches and pleasure avail now, when this fearful reckoning is come, of which thou hadst fair warning? O cruel grave, why didst then not close thy mouth upon me for ever? Why didst thou not hold fast thy prisoner? ⟨p. 260⟩Why hast thou shaken me out, while I lay still, and was at rest? Cursed Soul wherefore didst thou not abide in thy place, wrapt up in flames of fire? Wherefore art thou come back to take me also down to the bars of the pit? Thou madst me an instrument of unrighteousness; and now I must be thrown into the fire. This tongue was by thee employed in mocking at religion, cursing, swearing, lying, backbiting, and boasting; and with-held from glorifying God: and now it must not have so much as a drop of water to cool it in the flames. Thou didst withdraw mine ears from hearing the sermons which gave warning of this day. Thou foundest ways and means to stop them from attending to seasonable exhortations, admonitions and reproofs. But why didst thou not stop them from hearing the sound of this dreadful trumpet? Why dost thou not now rove and fly away on the wings of imagination, thereby, as it were, transporting me during these frightful transactions, as thou was wont to do, when I was set down at sermons, communions, prayers, and godly conferences: that I might now have as little sense of the one, as I formerly had of the other? But ah! I must burn for ever, for thy love to thy lusts, thy profanity, thy sensuality, thy unbelief and hypocrisy.
