Silver c. Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God Prov. 2. 3 4 5. Is not here a fair offer Turn you at my reproof Behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you Prov. 1. 23. Though of your selves you can do nothing yet you may do all through his Spirit enabling you and he doth offer assistance to you God bids you wash and make you clean Isa. 1. 16. you say you are unable as much as the Lâ—â—pard to wash out his spots Ier. 13. 23. yea but the Lord doth offer to purge you so that if you be fiâ—thy still 't is through your own wilfulness Ezek. 24. 13. I have purged thee and thou wast not purged Jer. 13. 27. O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean when shall it once be God doth wait when you will be made clean when you will yield to his motions and accept of his offers and let him do for and in you what you cannot do for your selves You do not know how much God will do upon your importunity if you will but be restless and instant with him Luke 11. 8. and 18. 5. If God hath not bound himself by express promise to wicked men to give them grace in the diligent use of the means yet he hath given them abundant encouragement to expect it from him if they seek it earnestly in his way His most gracious nature is abundant encouragement If a rich and most bountiful man should see thee in misery and bid thee come to his door wouldst thou not with confidence expect at thy coming to find some relief Thou art not able to believe nor repent God appoints thee to use such and such means in order to thy obtaining faith and repentance doth not this argue that God will bestow these upon thee if thou doest ply him diligently in prayer meditation reading hearing self-examination and the rest of his means Otherwise God should but mock his poor creatures to put them upon there self-denying endeavours and then when they have put hard to it and continued waiting upon him for grace deny them at last Surely if a sweet natured man would not deal thus much less will the most merciful and gracious God. I intended to have added many other arguments but these have swoln under my hands and I hope the judicious reader will rather look upon the weight than the number The Conclusion of the whole AND now my brethren let me know your minds What do you intend to do Will you go on and die or will you set upon a thorow and speedy conversion and lay hold on eternal life how long will you linger in Sodom how long will you halt between two opinions 1 Kings 18. 21. Are you not yet resolved whether Christ or Barabbas whether Bliss or Torment whether the land of Cabul 1 Kings 9. 13. or the Paradise of God be the better choice Is it a disputable case whether the Abana and Pharâ—har of Daâ—â—â—us be better than all the streams of Eden or whether the vile puddle of sin be to be preferred before the water of life clear as Cristal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb Can the world in good earnest do that for you that Christ can Will it stand by you to eternity Will pleasures titles lands treasures descend with you Psal. 49. 17. 1. Tim. 6. 7. If not had you not need look after somewhat that will What mean you to stand wavering to be off and on Foolish Children how long will you stick between the womb and the world Shall I leave you at last no farther than Agrippa but almost perswaded Why you are for ever lost if left here As good not at all as not altogether Christians You are half of the mind to give over your former negligent life and to set to a strict and holy course you could wish you were as some others be and could do as they can do How long will you rest in idle wishes and fruitless purposes When will you come to a fixed full and firm resolve Do not you see how Satan gulls you by tâ—mpting you to delays How long hath he toll'd you on in the way of perdition How many years have you been purposing posing to amend What if God should have taken you off this while Well put me not off with a dilatory answer Tell me not of hereafter I must have your present consent If you be not now resolved while the Lord is treating with you and wooing of you much less are you like to be hereafter when these impressions are worn out and you are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Will you give me your hands Will you set open the doors and give the Lord Jesus the full and present possession Will you put your names into his Covenant Will you subscribe What do you resolve upon If you are still upon your delays my labour is lost and all is like to come to nothing Fain I would that you should now put in your adventures Come cast in your Lot make your choice Now is the accepted time now is the day of thy salvation to day if you will hear his voice Why should not this be the day from whence thou shouldest be able to date thine happiness Why shouldest thou venture a day longer in this dangerous and dreadful condition What if God should this night require thy soul O that thou mightest know in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace before they be hid from thine eyes Luke 19. 42. This is thy day and 't is but a day Iohn 9. 4. Others have had their day and have received their doom and now art thou brought upon the stage of this world here to act thy part for a whole eternity Remember thou art now upon thy good behaviour for everlasting If thou make not a wise choice now thou art undone for ever Look what thy present choice is such must thine eternal condition be Luke 10. 42. Luke 16. 25. Prov. 1. 27 28 29. And is it true indeed is life and death at thy choice yea 't is as true as truth is Deut. 30. 19. why then what hinders but that thou shouldest be happy Nothing doth or can hinder but thine own wilful neglect or refusal It was the passage of the Eunuch to Philip See here is water what doth hinder me to be baptized So I may say to thee see here is Christ here is mercy pardon life what hinders but that thou shouldst be pardoned and saved One of the Martyrs as he was praying at the stake had his pardon set by in a box which indeed he refused deservedly because upon unworthy terms But here the terms are most honourable and easie O sinner wilt thou burn with thy pardon by thee Why do but forthwith give up thy consent to Christ to renounce thy sins deny thy self take up the Yoak and the Cross and thou carriest the day Christ is thine
sound Conversion the wrath of God abideth on thee and he proclaims himself to be against thee as in the Prophet Ezek. 5. 8. Therefore thus saith the Lord God Behold I even I am against thee I. His face is against thee Psal. 34. 16. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them Wo unto them whom God shall set his face against When he did but look upon the host of the Egyptians how terrible was the consequence Ezek. 14. 8. I will set my face against that man and will make him a sign and proverb and will cut him off from the midst of my people and you shall know that I am the Lord. 2. His heart is against thee He hateth all the workers of iniquity Man doth not thine heart tremble to think of thy being an object of God's hatred Ier. 15. 1. Though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my mind could not be towards this people cast them out of my sight Zech. 7. 8. My soul loathed them and their souls also abhorred me 3. His hand is against thee 1 Sam. 12. 14 15. All his Attributes are against thee First His Justice is like a flaming Sword unsheathed against thee If I whet my glittering Sword and my Hand take hold on Judgment I will render vengeance to mine adversaries and will reward them that hate me I will make mine arrows drunk with blood c. Deut. 32. 40 41. So exact is Justice that 't will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34. 7. God will not discharge thee he will not hold thee guiltless Exod. 20. 7. but will require the whole debt in person of thee unless thou canst make a Scripture claim to Christ and his satisfaction When the enlightned Sinner looks on justice and sees the ballance in which he must be weighed and the sword by which he must be executed he feels an earth-quake in his Breast But Satan keeps this out of sight and perswades the Soul while he can that the Lord is all made up of mercy and so lulls it asleep in sin Divine justice is very strict it must have satisfaction to the utmost farthing it denounceth indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish to every soul that doth evil Rom. 2. 8 9. It curseth every one that continueth not in every thing that is written in the Law to do it Gal. 3. 10. The justice of God to the unpardoned sinner that hath a sense of his misery is more terrible than the sight of the Bayliff or Creditor to the bankrupt debtor or than the sight of the Judge and Bench to the Robber or of the Irons and Gibbet to the guilty Murderer When Justice sits upon life and death Oh what dreâ—dful work doth it make with the wretched sinner Bind him hand and foot cast him into utter darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 22. 13. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire Mat. 25. 41. This is the terrible sentence that Justice pronounceth Why sinner by this severe Justice must thou be tryed and as God liveth this killing sentence shalt thou hear unless thou repent and be converted Secondly The holiness of God is full of antipathy against thee Psal. 5. 4 5. He is not only angry with thee so he may be with his own Children but he hath a fixed rooted habitual displeasure against thee he loaths thee Zech. 11. 8. and what is done by thee though for substance commanded by him Isa. 1. 14. Mal. 1. 10. As if a man should give his servant never so good meat to dress yet if he should mingle filth or poyson with it he would not touch it Gods Nature is infinitely contrary to sin and so he cannot but hate a sinner out of Christ. O what a misery is this to be out of the favour yea under the hatred of God! Eccles. 5. 4. Hos. 9. 15. that God can as easily lay aside his Nature and cease to be God as not be contrary to thee and detest thee except thou be changed and renewed by grace O sinner how darest thou to think of the bright and radiant Sun of purity upon the beauties the glory of holiness that is in God! The Stars are not pure in his sight Job 25. 5. He humbleth himself to behold things that are done in Heaven Psal. 11. 3. 6. O those light and sparkling eyes of his what do they espy in thee and thou hast no interest in Christ neither that he should plead for thee Methinks I should hear thee crying out astonished with the Bethshemites Who shall stand before this holy Lord God 1 Sam. 6. 20. Thirdly The power of God is mounted like a mighty Cannon against thee The glory of Gods power is to be displayed in the wonderful confusion and destruction of them that obey not the Gospel 2 Thes. 1. 8 9. He will make his power known in them Rom. 9. 22. How mightily he can torment them For this end he raiseth them up that he might make his power known Rom. 9. 17. O man art thou able to make thy party good with thy Maker No more than a silly Reed against the Cedars of God or a little Cock-boat against the tumbling Ocean or the Childrens Bubbles against the blustring Winds Sinner the power of Gods anger is against thee Psal. 90. 11. and power and anger together make fearful work 'T were better thou hadst all the world in arms against thee than to have the power of God against thee There is no escaping his hands no breaking his prison The thunder of his power who can understand Iob 26. 14. Unhappy man that shall understand it by feeling it If he will contend with him he cannot answer him one of a thousand He is wise in heart and mighty in strength who hath hardned himself against him and prospered Which removeth the Mountains and they know it not which overturneth them in his anger Which shaketh the earth out of her place and the pillars thereof tremble Which commandeth the Sun and it riseth not and sealeth up the Stars Behold he taketh away who can hinder him who will say unto him What dost thou If God will not withdraw his anger the proud helpers do stoop under him Iob 9. 3 4 5 6 c. And art thou a fit match for such an antagonist O consider this you that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psal. 50. 22. Submit to mercy Let not dust and stubble stand it out against the Almighty Set not Briars and Thorns against him in Battle lest he go through them and consume them together but tay hold on his strength that you may make peace with him Isa. 27. 4 5. Wo to him that striveth with his Maker Isa. 45. 9. Fourthly The wisdom of God is set to ruin thee He hath ordained his arrows and prepared the instruments of death and made all things ready Psal. 7. 12 13. His
pitty the poor Indians that worship the Devil for their God but little think that 't is your own case Why 't is the common misery of all the unsanctified that the Devil is their God 2 Cor. 4. 4. Not that they do intend to do him homage and worship they will be ready to defie him and him that should say so by them but all this while they serve him and come and go at his beck and live under his government His servants you are to whom you yield your selves to obey Rom. 6. 16. Oh how many then will be found the real servants of the Devil that take themselves for no other than the Children of God he can no sooner offer a sinfull delight or opportunity for your unlawful advantage but you embrace it If he suggest a lie or prompt you to revenge you readily obey If he forbid you to read or pray you hearken to him and therefore his servants you are Indeed he lies behind the curtain he acts in the dark and sinners â—ee not who setteth them on work but all the while he leads them in a string Doubtless the Lâ—ar intends not a service to Satan but his own advantage yet 't is he that stands in the corner unobserved and putteth the thing into his heart Acts 5. 3. Iohn 8. 44. Questionless Iudas when he sold his Master for money and the Chaldeaâ—s and Sabeans when they plundred Iob intended not to do the Devil a pleasure but to satisfie their own covetous thirst yet 't was he that actuated them in their wickedness Iohn 13. 27. Iob 1. 12 15 17. Men may be very slaves and common drudges for the Devil and never know it nay they may please themselves in the thoughts of a happy liberty 2 Pet. 2. 19. Art thou yet in ignorance and not turned from darkness to light Why thou art under the power of Satan Acts â—6 18. Dost thou live in the ordinary and wilful practice of any known sin Know that thou art of the Devil 1 Iohn 3. 8. Dost thou live in striâ—â— or envy or malice verily he is thy Father Ioâ— 8. 40. 41. O dreadful case However Satan 〈…〉 his slaves with divers pleasures Tit. 3. 5. 〈…〉 to 〈◊〉 them into endless perdition 〈…〉 with the â—pple in his Mouth 〈…〉 thou seest not the deadly sting 〈…〉 that is now thy temprer will be one 〈…〉 could bâ—â— give thee to see how 〈…〉 how filthy 〈…〉 thou gratified all whose pleasure is to set thee on work to make thy perdition and damnation sure and to hear the 〈◊〉 hotter and hotter in which thou must burn for millions of miâ—â—ions of Ages IV. The 〈…〉 like a Mountain upon thee Poor Soul â— Thou feelest it not but this is that which seals thy misery upon thee While unconverted none of thy sins are blotted out Acts 3. 19. They are all upon the score against thee Regeneration and remission are never separated the unsanctified are unquestionably unjustified and unpardoned 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1 Pet. 1. 2. Heb. 9. 14. Beloved it 's a fearful thing to be in debt but above all in God's debt for there is no arrest so formidable as his no prison so horrible as his Look upon an enlightned sinner who feels the weight of his own guilt oh how frightful are his looks how fearful are his complaints His comforts are turned into Wormwood and his Moisture into Drought and his sleep departeth from his eyes He is a terror to himself and all that are about him and is ready to envy the very stones that lie in the Street because they are senseless and feel not his misery and wishes he had been a Dog or a Toad or a Serpent rather than a man because then death had put an end to his misery whereas now it will be but the beginning of that which will know no ending How light soever you may make of it now you will one day find the guilt of unpardoned sin to be a heavy burden This is a Milstone that whosoever falleth upon it shall be broken but upon whomsoever it shall fall it shall grind him to powder Mat. 21. 44. What work did it make with our Saviour It pressed the very blood to a wonder out of his veins and broke all his bones and if it did this in the green tree what will it do in the dry Oh think of thy case in time Canst thou think of that threat without trembling Ye shall die in your sins John 8. 24. Oh better were it for thee to die in a Goal die in a Ditch in a Dungeon than die in thy Sins If death as it will take away all thy other Comforts would take away thy sins too it were some â—itigation But thy sins will follow thee when thy friends leave thee and all worldly enjoyments shake hands with thee Thy sins will not die with thee 2 Cor. 5â— 10. Rev. 20. 12. as a prisoners other debts will but they will to judgment with thee there to be thine accusers and they will to Hell with thee there to be thy tormentors Better to have so many fiends and furies about thee than thy sins to fall upon thee and fasten in thee Oh the work that these will make thee O look over thy debts in time How much art thou in the Books of every one of Gods Laws How is every one of Gods Commandments ready to arrest thee and take thee by the throat for innumerable Bonds that it hath upon thee What wilt thou do then when they shall altogether lay in against thee Hold open the eyes of conscience to consider this that thou mayst despair of thy self and be driven to Christ and fly for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before thee Heb. 6. 18. V. Thy raging lâ—sts do miserably enslave thee While unconverted thou art a very servant to sin it reigns over thee and holds thee under its dominion till thou art brought within the bond of Gods Covenant Iohn 8. 34. 36. Tit. 3. 3. Rom. 6. 12 14. Rom. 6. 16 17. Now there 's no such Tyrant as sin Oh the filthy and fearful work that it doth ingage its servants in would it not pierce a mans heart to see a company of poor creatures drudging and toiling and all to carry together faggots and fuel for their own burning Why this is the employment of sins drudges Even while they bless themselves in their unrighteous gains while they sing and swill in pleasures they are but treasuring up wrath and vengeance for their eternal burnings they are but laying in Powder and Bullers and adding to the Pile of Tâ—pher and slinging in Oyl to make the flame rage the fiercer Who would serve such a Master whose work is drudgery and whose wages is death Rom. 6. 23. What a woful spectacle was that poor wretch possessed with the legion Would it not have pitied thine heart to have seen him among the Tombs cutting and wounding of himself Mark. 5. 5. This
is thy case such is thy work Every stroke is a thrust at thine heart 1 Tim. 6. 10. Conscience indeed is now asleep but when death and judgment shall bring thee to thy senses then wilt thou feel the raging smart and anguish of every wound The convinced sinner is a sensible instance of the miserable bondage of sin Conscience flies upon him and tells him what the end of these things will be and yet such a slave is he to his lusts that on he must though he see it will be his endless perdition and when the temptation comes lust gets the bit in his mouth breaks all the cords of his vows and promises and carries him headlong to his own destruction VI. The furnace of eternal vengeance is heated ready for thee Isa. 30. 33. Hell and destruction open their mouths upon thee they gape for thee they groan for thee Isa. 5. 14. waiting as it were with a greedy eye as thou standest upon the brink when thou wilt drop in If the wrath of a man be as the roaring of a Lion Prov. 20. 2. more heavy than the sand Prov. 27. 3. what is the wrath of the infinite God If the burning furnace heated in Nebuchadâ—â—zzar's fiery rage when he commanded it to be made yet seven times hotter were so fierce as to burn up even those that drew near it to throw the three children in Dan. 3. 19 22. How hot is that burning Oven of the Almighty's fury Mal. 4. 1. Surely this is seventy times seven more fierce What thinkest thou O man of being a saggoâ—in Hell to all eternity Can thine heart endure or can thine hands be strong in the day that I shall deal with thee saith the Lord of Hosts Ezek. 22. 14. Canst thou dwell with everlasting burnings Canst thou abide the consuming fire Isa 33. 4. When thou shalt be as a glowing Iron in Hell and thy whole body and soul shall be as perfectly possessed by Gods burning vengeance as the fiery sparkling Iron when heated in the â—iercest forge Thou canst not bear God's whip how then wilt thou endure his scorpions Thou art even crushed and ready to with thy self dead under the weight of his finger how then wilt thou bear the weight of his loyns The most patient man that ever was did curse the day that ever he was born Iob 3. 1. and even wish death to come and end his misery Iob 7. 15 16. when God did but let out one little drop of his wrath How then wilt thou endure when God shall pour out all his Vials and set himself against thee to torment thee when he shall make thy conscience the tunnel by which he will be pouring his burning wrath into thy soul for ever and when he shall fill all thy powers as full of torment as they be now full of sin When immortality shall be thy misery and to die the death of a brute and be swallowed into the gulf of annihilation shall be such a felicity as the whole eternity of wishes an Ocean of tears shall never purchase Now thou canst put off the evil day and canst laugh and be merry and forget the terror of the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 11. but how wilt thou hold out or hold up when God will cast thee into a bed of torments Rev. 2. 21 and make thee to 〈◊〉 down in sorrows Isa. 50. 11. When roarings and blasphemy shall be thine only musick and the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the Cup of his indignation shall be thine only drink Rev. 14. 10. When thou shalt draw in flames for thy breath and the horrid stench of sulphur shall be thy only perfume In a word when the smoak of thy torment shall ascend for ever and ever and thou shalt have no rest night nor day no rest in thy conscience no ease in thy bones but thou shalt be an execration and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach for evermore Ier. 42. 〈◊〉 O sinner stop here and consider If thou art a man and not a senseless block consider Bethink thy self where thou standest why upon the very brink of his â—urnace As the Lord liveth and thy soul liveth there is but a step between thee and this 1 Sam. 20. 3. Thou knowest not when thou lyest down but thou mayest be in before the Morning thou knowest not when thou risest but thou may 〈◊〉 drop in before the Night Darest thou make light of this Wilt thou go on in such a dreadful conditionâ— as if nothing ailed thee If thou puttest it off and sayest this doth not belong to thee look again over the foregoing Chapter and tell me the truth are none of these black marks found upon thee Do not blind thine eyes do not deceive thy self see thy misery while thou mayst prevent it Think what 't is to be a vile cast-out a damned reprobate a vessel of wrath into which the Lord will be pouring out his tormenting fury while he hath a Being Rom. 9. 22. Divine wrath is a fierce Deut. 32. 22. devouring Isa. 33. 14. everlasting Mat. 25. 41. unquenchable fire Mat. 3. 12. and thy soul and body must be the fuel upon which it will be feeding for ever unless thou consider thy ways and speedily turn to the Lord by a sound conversion They that have been only singed by this fire and had no more but the smell thereof passing upon them Oh what amazing spectacles have they been Whose heart would not have melted to have heard Spira's out-cries to have seen Chaloner that monument of Justice worn to Skin and Bones Blaspheming the God of Heaven cursing himself and continually crying out O Torture Torture Torture O Torture Torture as if the flames of wrath had already took hold on him To have heard Rogers crying out I have had a little pleasure but now I must to Hell for evermore wishing but for this mitigation that God would but let him lie burning for ever behind the back of that fire on the earth and bringing in this sad conclusion still at the end of whatever was spoken to him to afford him some hope I must to Hell I must to the furnace of Hell for millions of millions of Ages O if the fears and forethoughts of the wrath to come be so terrible so intolerable what is the feeling of it Sinner 't is but in vain to flatter you this would be but to toll you into the unquenchable fire know ye from the living God that here you must lie with these burnings must you dwell till immortality die and immutability change till Eternity run out and Omnipotency is not longer able to torment except you be in good earnest renewed throughout by sanctifying grace VII The Law dischargeth all its threats and curses at thee Gal. 3. 10. Rom. 7. Oh how dreadfully doth it thunder It spits fire and brimstone in thy face Its words are as drawn swords and as the sharp arrows of the mighty it demands