The Great Concern

By Edward Pearse and Ryan Swedburg

Edward Pearse died at forty of tuberculosis, but during his final months, he wrote this book as a guide to his congregation, in order to direct them to life’s one ‘great concern,’ namely, “to have all things set right, well-ordered, and composed in the matters of the soul before leaving this world.” With wonderful clarity, the author shows how putting the spiritual concerns of the soul into the best posture possible for the hour of death is in actuality the key to living an abundant, God-honoring life. Or as Pearse explains, “It is to fill up our time with duty, and our duties with grace; to use the time which is given to us in the pursuit of these ends—not to eat, drink, and please ourselves with creature comforts—but to serve and honor the Creator, to work out our salvation, to become acquainted with God and Christ, and to ensure ourselves of heaven and a blessed eternity.”Edward Pearse (c.1633–1674) was a Puritan pastor in London during a period of immense political and social upheaval in England. He (along with nearly two thousand other pastors throughout England) chose to resign his pulpit in 1662, rather than comply with the Act of Uniformity. Originally published in 1673, this classic work has been meticulously edited to benefit a new generation of Christian readers. Archaic language has been gently modernized, and helpful footnotes have been added to aid the reader. This edition includes a biographical preface, Scripture index, and review questions designed to facilitate group discussion or personal reflection.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781716350672

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The Great Concern

by Edward Pearse

Edited by Gerald Mick

Westfield, Indiana, USA

www.digitalpuritan.net

The Great Concern was first published in London in 1673. This Digital Puritan reprint, in which spelling, grammar, and formatting changes have been made, is Copyright © 2020 by Gerald Mick. All rights reserved.

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Scripture quotations annotated [KJV] are from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

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Table of Contents and Outline

Foreword

Biographical Preface

Author’s Preface

Publisher’s Note

Chapter 1. An introduction and explanation of the words of the text, and an implied point of doctrine: It is a very desirable thing to have all things set right before the hour of death.

Chapter 2. The hour of death is difficult.

1. Death is a very terrible thing; therefore we must be well-prepared for it.

a.) It deprives us of all our comforts in this world.

b.) It dissolves the union between body and soul.

c.) It destroys the body of man.

2. The devil is most fierce and terrible in his assaults and temptations upon the soul at the hour of death.

a.) If possible, to keep them from life and happiness, or,

b.) To trouble them on their way to life and happiness.

3. A man’s conscience is most awakened at the hour of death.

4. At death we are forced to deal with God in a direct and stupendous way.

Chapter 3. Consider the benefits of having everything set right in matters of the soul before the hour of death.

1. By it we shall become glorious conquerors over death and the grave.

a.) The soul is carried above the fear of death.

b.) The soul is enabled to triumph over death.

c.) The soul is enabled to choose and desire death—yea, even to rejoice in death.

2. By it we obtain a rich and glorious entrance into everlasting life in the blessedness of heaven.

a.) We come to enjoy much of heaven while here on earth in our daily lives.

b.) We go from earth to heaven in triumph, with a crown upon our heads.

c.) We obtain an abundant entrance into heaven and glory.

Chapter 4. Consider the state of man at the time of death.

1. There is no return to this life ever again.

2. After death, nothing else can be done for the soul.

3. At the moment of death, the soul’s eternal condition is sealed.

Chapter 5. Six principles to motivate a person to make adequate preparation for death.

1. There is no escaping the fact that all men must die.

2. The hour of death is quickly hastening upon us all.

3. It is an infinite mercy of God, that he permits us time to make preparation for death.

a.) Consider how long God has spared you beyond what he has permitted for countless others.

b.) Consider how much we have provoked God toward meting out justice against us.

c.) Consider how sad our case would be, and what would have become of us, if God had taken the opportunity to seal our fate.

d.) Consider how much more sad our case will be, if we persist in neglecting this opportunity to prepare for our dying hour.

4. The helps and advantages which God provides in this hour may not always be as readily available to you as they are now.

a.) Your godly friends, ministers, and family members may be withdrawn from you.

b.) The Word and ordinances of God that you now freely enjoy may be removed from you.

c.) The motions and strivings of the Spirit of God may be withdrawn from you.

5. Making everything ready for your dying hour takes much time and effort.

a.) Consider what an unready posture you are in at present.

b.) Consider how much is truly required to adequately prepare for the hour of death.

c.) Consider the obstacles, hindrances, difficulties, and opposition you must expect while minding and managing this work.

6. What a terrible and dreadful change death will be for you, if you do not prepare for it adequately in this lifetime.

a.) A change from earth to hell.

b.) A change from light to darkness.

c.) A change from pleasure to pain, from delight to torment.

d.) A change from the offers of God’s grace to the revelation of his wrath.

e.) A sad change from the fair probability of life and salvation to utter impossibility.

f.) Death ushers in a change from hope to despair.

Chapter 6. A call to everyone, both good and bad, saints and sinners, to address themselves to the great work of making everything ready for the hour of death.

Chapter 7. General directions to aid the soul in making a thorough preparation for the hour of death.

1. Maintain a frequent and serious remembrance of death and the grave in your spirit.

a.) Keep the coming days of darkness much in your daily meditation.

b.) Maintain a real sense that you may die today. This is beneficial because:

[1.] It contributes much to our humbling and self-abasing.

[2.] It helps to wean our hearts from the world.

[3.] It turns our hearts and minds toward heaven.

[4.] It quickens the heart toward faithful and diligent discharge of our duty.

2. Do not yearn for a long life, but instead learn to live as much as possible in a little time.

a.) What is this world, that we should desire a long stay in it? Do we not have a better life, place, and state which awaits us?

b.) It is not a long life, but a fruitful life, that is most amiable, desirable, and like the life of Christ.

3. Think seriously and often upon the great change that death will bring about for you.

a.) Death is the change that all other changes in you are leading to.

b.) Death will bring about profound spiritual changes within you.

c.) Death will transform you into an entirely different state of being.

d.) Death will make us capable of unspeakably greater things than we could ever know here.

4. Begin this soul-work without any further delay or procrastination.

a.) Consider how unreasonable it is to delay.

b.) Consider the danger of delays.

c.) Consider the disadvantage of delays.

d.) Consider the sinfulness of delays.

5. Pray to God, asking him to help you learn to carefully number your days.

Chapter 8. More particular helps and directions for setting things right and making everything ready for the hour of death.

1. Go to Christ, get union with Christ, and maintain an interest in Christ by believing.

2. Labor to obtain a firm and unshaken assurance of an interest in God and his love, and of your right and title to eternal life.

3. Labor to maintain a constant and actual peace with God, renewing the sense of his pardoning love in your soul.

a.) Do everything you can to avoid creating a breach between yourself and God.

b.) Keep short accounts with God.

[1.] Act in faith on the blood and advocacy of Jesus Christ.

[2.] Humbly and earnestly plead with God in prayer for pardon and blessing.

4. Be true and faithful to your own conscience.

a.) Labor to make your conscience well-enlightened and informed.

b.) Do nothing which violates the light and dictates of a rightly-informed conscience.

5. Labor for great purity of heart and life, allowing no sin or corruption whatsoever.

a.) Strive for purity and holiness in your daily life.

b.) Labor for great purity and holiness in your heart and affections.

[1.] Do not permit any lust to ascend to the throne of your heart.

[2.] Watch carefully for the very first risings and motions of sin within you.

Chapter 9. Several directions for pressing toward the noblest strains of grace.

6. Do not be content with a low and ordinary strain of grace, but aspire after those which are highest and noblest.

a.) Noble grace is to be humble under high and extensive attainments of virtue and deeds.

b.) One who has noble grace enjoys the things of this world without allowing them to capture his affections, for his whole happiness is derived from God and Christ.

c.) Noble grace is to be content and lacking nothing in God when deprived of outward comforts and enjoyments.

d.) One who has noble grace is grieved by the dishonoring of God and the oppression of his people, though he himself has no adversity or suffering of his own.

e.) It is a sign of noble grace to cheerfully submit to the will of God, even when it is sharp and severe toward that man’s own outward interests.

f.) It is noble grace for a man to maintain his faith in God, even when God seems to frown upon him, and to align himself against that man’s very soul.

g.) It is a mark of noble grace when a man finds as much beauty, excellence, and enjoyment in service as he does in his more leisurely pursuits.

h.) It is a mark of noble grace for a man to rejoice in the gifts, graces, usefulness, and success of others, though they out-shine and eclipse his own.

i.) Noble grace considers nothing too dear to part with in the service and advancement of Christ’s kingdom.

j.) For a man to rejoice in suffering for the name of Christ is a sign of noble grace.

k.) It is a sign of noble grace for a man in a prosperous condition to be eager and willing to depart for heaven.

Chapter 10. Further directions.

7. Be diligent and faithful in doing the work of God.

8. Permit no distance or estrangement to grow up between yourself and God, but labor to keep a close and intimate acquaintance with him.

a.) Look upon your communion with God as your highest happiness both here and in heaven.

b.) At the close of every day consider what has passed between yourself and God.

c.) Be very familiar and diligent in the ways and duties of communion with God.

d.) Give Christ his due place and honor in all your pursuit of communion with God.

9. Live wholly and constantly upon Christ and his righteousness for your justification and acceptance with God.

10. Plead with God, that he might stand by your side and give you his grace to use in the hour of your death.

Chapter 11. Conclusion.

1. Encouragements against the fear of death.

a.) Death will transport you from earth to heaven, from a foreign land to the Father’s house.

b.) Death will carry you from trouble and toil into peace and rest.

c.) Death will turn your conflicts into victory.

d.) Death will turn your bondage into liberty.

e.) Death will be the end of all your sins, and the perfection of all your graces.

f.) Death will remove the distance between yourself and God, and set you into a much closer and more intimate communion with him.

g.) Death will bring you into the sweet enjoyment of an eternal Sabbath.

2. Final Considerations.

a.) Keep daily in your thoughts the exceeding worth of the soul.

[1.] The vast capacity of the soul demonstrates its worth.

[2.] The immortality of the soul demonstrates its worth.

b.) Keep daily in your thoughts the wonderful weight and importance of eternity.

c.) Contemplate the opportunity that lies before you this day.

[1.] Consider how awful a thing it would be to miscarry forever.

[2.] Consider what a wide door of mercy has been opened unto you.

Scripture References & End-Notes

Foreword

Death is the great and insurmountable enemy. The tombstones and graves littered across the world testify to the fact that death meets everyone with finality. Yet how few of the living care to prepare for (or even consider) their inevitable end! A few years ago, a CBS News poll found that a majority of Americans spend little to no time at all thinking about their own inevitable deaths.[1] Whatever rationale or reasoning may animate those who are unconcerned about their own impending death, the reality is that refusing to consider death does not make it disappear. Death is not like the annoying solicitor at the door who eventually leaves when his repeated knockings are ignored. Rather, death faces everyone indiscriminately.

Thankfully, God’s Word speaks quite clearly about the origin and outcome of death. In the garden of Eden, death is first introduced into the world as a direct result of mankind’s sin and rebellion against God (Genesis 3:3, 17–19; Romans 5:12, 6:23). From the first human death, when Abel was killed by his brother Cain (Genesis 4:8), every person since has died or is in the process of dying. For many, what takes place on the other side of the grave is a profound mystery. But again, the Bible provides the answers to these queries. The author of Hebrews instructs that after every man’s appointed time of death comes the judgment of God (Hebrews 9:27). All mankind will then exist eternally either in a perpetual state of death in hell or life in heaven (Daniel 12:2; Revelation 20:11–15, 22:3–6).

Some would argue that so long as God gives their earthly life a ‘passing grade’, admittance into heaven will be theirs. By this, it is generally meant that so long as the good in their lives outweighs the bad, God will see fit to grant their request of entrance into his kingdom. Such common thinking though is tragically wrong. God’s standard as revealed in his Word does not consist of a minimum requirement, but is instead perfection (Matthew 5:48, James 2:10, 1 John 1:5). No man is perfect, and therefore no human being deserves heaven—but instead deserves hell (Romans 3:10).

In God’s divine wisdom, he has graciously provided the means of salvation from eternal death in hell. God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23), and in his mercy, he has elected to save some (Ephesians 1:4, 2:4–5). It was Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, who condescended to earth, lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death on the cross, and then rose again to newness of life (1 Corinthians 15:4, 2 Corinthians 8:9, Philippians 2:8, 1 Peter 2:22). His death and resurrection provide the means by which man can be reconciled to his estranged Creator. A person can escape from hell and enter heaven only by finding their rest and refuge in the Son of God (Psalm 2:12, John 3:36).

In this book by Edward Pearse, this Puritan speaks incisively concerning the topic of death and preparing for existence beyond the grave. His words are sobering, his thoughts convicting, his remarks biblical, and his reflections insightful. Too many in the age in which we live are being lulled to sleep about the horrors of hell and the eternal separation from God that this place brings. Might this book awaken those who are lost and perishing in their sins. The wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, charged men to hold back those who are staggering toward slaughter (Proverbs 24:11). Edward Pearse attempts to do just that. Like Spurgeon, who famously remarked, If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies, Pearse urgently warns those who are staggering toward certain judgment to find salvation in the finished work of Jesus Christ. If you do not yet know Jesus Christ, might this book spur you on to run into the arms of the Savior. And if you do know Jesus Christ, might this book encourage your heart as it speaks to the realities of the glorious future that awaits the children of God after death. There is coming a day when all wrongs will be made right, when all sins and sorrows will cease, and when all the remnants of our former sin-laden life will vanish (1 Corinthians 15:54–57, Revelation 21:27). Might you read with this end in mind.

RYAN SWEDBERG

Westfield, Indiana, USA

December, 2020.

Biographical Preface

The memory of the just is blessed.

Proverbs 10:7

Even as Edward Pearse (c.1633–1674) accomplished much in his short lifetime, so also did much occur in England across the brief span of years in which he lived. He was born during the reign of Charles I, the very year that William Laud was appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury. Most of his childhood memories would have undoubtedly been shaped by tumultuous national events, including the opening of the Long Parliament in 1640 and the English Civil Wars, which infamously ended with the overthrow, trial, and execution of Charles I.

The Civil Wars had just ended when Pearse matriculated at St. John’s College, Oxford in April 1652. His family was apparently of humble means, as he was enrolled as a servitor, one who performs menial tasks in exchange for some degree of tuition assistance. Oliver Cromwell and John Owen were both chancellors of Oxford while Pearse studied there. He graduated Bachelor of Arts on June 27, 1654.

Now Cromwell’s Protectorate had begun in 1653, and one of its functions was to root out the vestiges of Roman Catholicism from the Church of England, and to promote Puritan (and in essence Protestant) teaching and practice. As a result, in June 1657 Pearse was appointed morning preacher at St. Margaret’s, Westminster, after the former preacher was removed by the Protectorate’s injunction. This was a junior position in the parish church. His responsibilities would have included not only preaching, but also the care of souls, as directed by the senior clergy.

Being on the grounds of Westminster Abbey in Parliament Square, St. Margaret’s was at the very center of the Puritan movement, and this had a formative effect on Pearse. John Milton (author of the seminal work Paradise Lost) was married there the year before Pearse’s appointment, and in later years many other important weddings would occur in St. Margaret’s twelfth-century chapel (including Winston Churchill’s marriage to Clementine Hozier in 1908).

Pearse was apparently a capable preacher, as his salary was increased to 50£ (about $40,000 USD in modern currency) per year on December 31, 1657; and in 1658 he was also appointed preacher at Westminster Abbey, where Oliver Cromwell’s funeral would be conducted later that year.

With Cromwell’s death the Protectorate was cast into uncertainty and turmoil. Cromwell’s son Richard became the second Lord Protector, but lacked the personality, resolve, and authority of his father. He abdicated within nine months of succeeding, being unable to reconcile political rivalries between the army and a Parliament that was increasingly disaffected and royalist.

In 1660 Charles II returned from exile in France and regained the throne, welcomed by a people made weary from war, fear, chaos, and chicanery. Shortly after his coronation, the Cavalier Parliament was assembled. One of