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SECT. XXIII.
ANd now,* 1.1 Reader, having laid thee down these undeniable Arguments, I do here in the name of God demand thy Reso∣lution; What sayst thou? Wilt thou yeeld obedience, or not? I am confident thy Conscience is convinced of thy Duty: Darest thou now go on in thy common careless course, against the plain Evidence of Reason, and Commands of God, and against the light of thy own Conscience? Darest thou live as loosely? and sin as boldly? and pray as seldom and as coldly as before? Darest thou now as carnally spend the Sabbath? and slubber over the Service of God as sleightily? and think of thine Everlasting state as care∣lesly as before? Or dost thou not rather resolve to gird up the loins of thy minde?* 1.2 and to set thy self wholy about the work of thy Salvation? and to do it with all thy strength and might? and to break over all the oppositions of the world? and to sleight all their scorns and persecutions? to cast off the weight that hangeth on thee, and the sin that doth so easily beset thee, and to run with patience and speed the race that is before thee?* 1.3 I hope these are thy full Resolutions: if thou be well in thy wits, I am sure they are.
Yet because I know the strange obstinacy and Rockiness of the heart of man, and because I would fain drive this nail to the head, and leave these perswasions fastened in thy heart, that so, if it be possible, thou mightest be awakened to thy Duty, and thy Soul might live; I shall therefore proceed with thee yet a little further: And I once more intreat thee to stir up thy attention, and go along with me in the free and sober use of thy Reason, while I propound to thee these following Questions: And I command thee from God, that thou stifle not thy Conscience, and resist not conviction; but Answer them faithfully, and obey accordingly.