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CONSIDERATION:

THE

Nature, Ufefulness, and Neceffity of it,

in order to a Serious Life.

СНАР. I.

The Nature of our Souls. The Eternal State they are defign'd for. The Means God hath made ufe of, to fit Men for everlasting Bliss. All thefe Means ineffectual without Confideration.

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rive to as well as we) the great

Souls we carry in our Breafts, do evidently Demonftrate. Thefe being capable of knowing B

God,

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God, of delighting in him, and converfing with him for ever, we may rationally fuppofe, That thofe who fuffer the Profits and Pleafures of this prefent World to engrofs their Affections, go aftray and err from the great End of their Creation.

While the Atheist laughs at the Immortality of his Soul, and the Prophane fells his better part to the Devil, the Religious, who will prove the only wife Man in the end, and who hath none of those clouds and mifts, the other are troubled with, before his Eyes, fees clearly what a Treafure the bountiful hand of Heaven hath bestow'd on him, in fhedding abroad fo Excellent, fo Angelical a Being in his Body, a Soul that can build her Neft among the Stars of Heaven, walk thro yonder Manfions, and tafte of the Rivers which make glad the City of God; a Soul which can wing her above the Clouds, and furvey the Crowns and Scepters laid up for thofe that dare defpife the World, and have their conversation in Heaven; a Soul which can live in Paradife, while the Body is in trouble, and rejoice in him who is All in All, while the fierce Winds are whiffling about her Ears. The.

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The vaft reach of thefe Souls we have, for they can comprehend whole Worlds, and dive into the Caufes, Ends and Defigns of things, and in a moment flie from one end of the Earth unto the other; their fitness to receive Divine Illumination, their ftrong defires after Immortality, their fecret acings without the help of a Body, their hopes of Heaven, their fears of Hell, their capacity of feeing Things to come, their 9eability

ability to live above, their fublime Nature, their acting like Angels, their reflex Acts, their Immateriality, the Addreffes God makes to them, the threatnings and promifes of the Gospel, the Devil's bufie endeavours to undermine them, the prefages they have, the joys they feel, the torments of Confcience they endure fometimes, all proclaim the certainty of an Eternal State or Condition they are intended for.

This Eternal State, imprinted on our Natures, difcovered to the Gentiles, proclaim'd by the Son of God, preach'd by the Angels, confirm'd by Apostles, reveal'd to Chriftians, believ'd in the World, as it relates either to Blifs or Mifery, to Joy or Torment, to Honour or Difhonour; fo how to enjoy the one and avoid the other, muft, in all probability, be the great object which God design'd Men's Souls fhould be chiefly employ'd about.

For as there cannot be a thing of greater moment than Eternity; fo he must be a Sot or a Beast, that can imagine, that God (who ever intends the nobleft Creatures for the nobleft Ends) will give Men leave to bufie themselves about picking of ftraws, and pleasing a few fenfual Lufts, when he hath given them Souls capable, not only of labouring and feeking after, but obtaining a Kingdom which fades not away; and when we fweat, and toil, and labour to make provision for 20, 30, 40 Years, what do we do, but proclaim our obligation to be infinitely more concerned, how to provide for that State which must never have an end?

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God, of delighting in him, and converfing with him for ever, we may rationally fuppofe, That thofe who fuffer the Profits and Pleafures of this prefent World to engrofs their Affections, go altray and err from the great End of their Creation.

While the Atheist laughs at the Immortality of his Soul, and the Prophane fells his better part to the Devil, the Religious, who will prove the only wife Man in the end, and who hath none of those clouds and mists, the other are troubled with, before his Eyes, fees clearly what a Treafure the bountiful hand of Heaven hath bestow'd on him, in fhedding abroad fo Excellent, fo Angelical a Being in his Body, a Soul that can build her Neft among the Stars of Heaven, walk thro' yonder Manfions, and tafte of the Rivers which make glad the City of God; a Soul which can wing her above the Clouds, and furvey the Crowns and Scepters laid up for thofe that dare defpife the World, and have their converfation in Heaven; a Soul which can live in Paradife, while the Body is in trouble, and rejoice in him who is All in All, while the fierce Winds are whistling about her Ears.

The vaft reach of thefe Souls we have, for they can comprehend whole Worlds, and dive into the Caufes, Ends and Defigns of things, and in a moment flie from one end of the Earth unto the other; their fitnefs to receive Divine Illumination, their ftrong defires after Immortality, their fecret actings without the help of a Body, their hopes of Heaven, their fears of Hell, their capacity of feeing Things to come, their ability

ability to live above, their fublime Nature, their acting like Angels, their reflex Acts, their Immateriality, the Addreffes God makes to them, the threatnings and promifes of the Gospel, the Devil's bufie endeavours to undermine them, the prefages they have, the joys they feel, the torments of Confcience they endure fometimes, all proclaim the certainty of an Eternal State or Condition they are intended for.

This Eternal State, imprinted on our Natures, discovered to the Gentiles, proclaim'd by the Son of God, preach'd by the Angels, confirm'd by Apostles, reveal'd to Chriftians, believ'd in the World, as it relates either to Blifs or Mifery, to Joy or Torment, to Honour or Difhonour; fo how to enjoy the one and avoid the other, muft, in all probability, be the great object which God defign'd Men's Souls fhould be chiefly employ'd about.

For as there cannot be a thing of greater moment than Eternity; fo he must be a Sot or a Beast, that can imagine, that God (who ever intends the nobleft Creatures for the nobleft Ends) will give Men leave to bufie themselves about picking of ftraws, and pleafing a few fenfual Lufts, when he hath given them Souls capable, not only of labouring and feeking after, but obtaining a Kingdom which fades not away; and when we fweat, and toil, and labour to make provision for 20, 30, 40 Years, what do we do, but proclaim our obligation to be infinitely more concerned, how to provide for that State which must never have an end?

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