if you will not bear it, but do as you list, and not as you ought, if you are uncircumcised in heart and ear; and you are so, if you will not hear and open to him that knocks at the door within; and if you resist and quench the Spirit in yourselves, that strives with you to bring you to God, and that you certainly do, who rebel against its motions, reproofs and instructions, then “ you sow to the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof, and of the flesh will you reap the fruits of corruption, wo, anguish, and tribulation, from God the judge of quick and dead, by Jesus Christ." But if you will daily bear the holy cross of Christ, and sow to the Spirit; if you will listen to the light and grace that comes by Jesus, and which he has given to all people for salvation, and square your thoughts, words, and deeds thereby, which leads and teaches the lovers of it to deny all ungodliness and the world's lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world, then may you with confidence look for the blessed "hope, and joyful coming, and glorious appearance of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Let it be so, O you Christians, and escape the wrath to come! why will you die ? let the time past suffice: remember that No Cross, No Crown. " Redeem then the time, for the days are evil, and yours but very few. Therefore gird up the loins of your minds, be sober, fear, watch, pray, and endure to the end; calling to mind, for your encouragement and consolation; that all such, as "through patience and well doing wait for immortality, shall reap glory, honour, and eternal life, in the kingdom of the Father; whose is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever."d Amen. a Rom. ii. 8. b Tit. iii. 11, 12, 13. C © Eph. v. 16. d Rom. ii. 7, 9. G.g PART II. CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE LIVING AND DYING SAYINGS OF MEN, EMINENT FOR THEIR GREATNESS, LEARNING, OR VIRTUE; AND THAT OF DIVERS PERIODS OF TIME, AND NATIONS OF THE WORLD. ALL CONCURRING IN THIS ONE TESTIMONY, "THAT A LIFE OF STRICT VIRTUE, VIZ. TO DO WELL, AND BEAR ILL, IS THE WAY TO EVERLASTING HAPPINESS." Collected in favour of the Truth delivered in the first part. BY WILLIAM PENN. KIMBER, Conrad, and Co. PRINTERS, ........... 1807. PREFACE. NO CROSS, NO CROWN should have ended here; but that the power, examples and authorities have put upon the minds of people, above the most reasonable and pressing arguments, inclined me to present my readers with some of those many instances that might be given, in favour of the virtuous life recommended in our discourse. I chose to cast them into three sorts of testimonies, not after the threefold subject of the book, but suitable to the times, qualities, and circumstances of the persons that gave them forth; whose divers excellencies and stations have transmitted their names with reputation to our own times. The first testimony comes from those called Heathens, the second from Professed Christians, and the last from Retired, Aged, and Dying Men; being their last and serious reflections, to which no ostentation or worldly interests could induce them. Where it will be easy for the considerate reader to observe how much the pride, avarice, and luxury of the world, stood reprehended in the judgments of persons of great credit amongst men; and what was that life and conduct, that in their most retired meditations, when their sight was clearest, and judgment most free and disabused, they thought would give peace here, and lay foundations of eternal blessedness. |