Why, this is the case, thou art bound for heaven, but the way
thither is dangerous. It is beset everywhere with evil angels, who
would rob thee of thy soul. What now? Why, if thou wouldst go
cheerfully on in thy dangerous journey, commit thy treasure, thy
soul, to God to keep. And then thou mayest say with comfort, "Well,
that care is over. For whatever I meet with in my way thither, my
soul is safe enough; the thieves, if they meet me, cannot come at
that; I know to whom I have committed my soul, and I am persuaded
that he will keep that to my joy and everlasting comfort against the
great day."
When a tyrant goes to dispossess a neighboring prince of what is
lawfully his own, the men that he employeth at arms to overcome and
get the land, fight for half-crowns and the like, and are content
with the wages; but the tyrant is for the kingdom, nothing will
serve him but the kingdom. This is the case: Men, when they
persecute, are for the stuff; but the devil is for the soul, nor
will any thing less than that satisfy him. Let him then that is a
sufferer, commit the keeping of his soul to God, lest stuff and soul
and all be lost at once.
Now, to commit this soul to God, is to carry it to him, to lift it
to him upon bended knees, and to pray him for the Lord Jesus
Christ's sake, to take it into his holy care, and to let it be under
his keeping. Also, that he will please to deliver it from all those
snares that are laid for it between this and the next world, and
that he will see that it be forthcoming, safe and sound, at the
great and terrible judgment, notwithstanding so many have engaged
themselves against it.