THE WAY TO True HAPPINESS In a Serious TREATISE SHEWING I. What Conversion is not and correcting some Mistakes about it II. What Conversion is and wherein it consisteth III. The Necessity of Conversion IV. The Marks of the Unconverted V. The Miseries of the Unconverted VI. Directions for Conversion VII Motives to Conversion By Ioseph Alleine late Preacher of the Gospel at Taunton in Somersetshire LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Nevil Simmons at the Princes Arms in St. Pauls Church-yard 1678. TO THE READER He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear Precious Souls THere is that Life and Light and Love in every true Believer but especially in every Faithful Minister of Christ which engageth them to long and labour for your Salvation Life is communicative and active It maketh us sensible that Faith is not a Fantasie nor true Religion a Stage-play nor our hopes of our Eternal Happiness a Dream And as we desire nothing more for our selves than to have more of the Holy Life whicâ—â— we have alas in so small a measure so what is it that we should more desire for others With the eye of an infallible though too weak faith we see the Heaven which you neglect and the blessed Souls in Glory with Christ whose companions you might be for ever we see the multitudes of Souls in Hell who came thither by the same way that you are going in who are shut out of the glorious presence of God and are now among those Devils that deceived them remembring that they had their good things here Luk. 16. 25. And how they spent the Day of their Visitation and how light they once set by God by Christ by Heaven by Mercy whilest Mercy was an earnest solicitour for their Hearts And with our bodily eyes we see at the same time abundance of poor sinners living about us as if there were no God no Christ no Heaven no Hell no Iudgment no nor Death to be expected as if a man were but a master beact to rule the rest and feed upon them and perish with them And if it were your own case to see what Souls do in Heaven and Hell and at once to see how unbelievingly carelesly and senselesly most men live on earth as if there were no such difference in another World would it not seem a pittiful sight to you If you had once seen the five Brethren of Dives on Earth eating drinking laughing and merry cloathed and faring daily with the best and at the same time seen their Brothers Soul in Hell begging in vain for a little â—ase and wishing in vain that one from the dead might go warn his Brethren that they come not to that place of Torment would it not seem to you a pittiful sight would not pity have made you think Is there no way to open these Gentlemens eyes No way to acquaint tâ—em what is become of their Brother and where Lazarus is and whither they themselves are going No one driveth or forceth them to Hell and will they go thither of themselves and is there no way to stop them or keep them back Did you but see your selves what we see by faith believing God and at once beheld the Saints in Heaven the lost despairing Souls in Hell and the sensless sensual sinners on earth that yet will lay none of this to heart sure it would make you wonder at the stupidity of mankind Would you not say O what a deceiver is the Devil that can thus lead on souls to their own damnation Oh what a cheater is this transitory World that can make men so forget the World where they must live for ever O what an enemy is this flesh that thus draweth down mens Souls from God! O what a besotting thing is sin that turneth a reasonable soul into worse than a beast what a bedlam is this wicked world when thousands are so busily labouring to undo themselves and others and gratifyingâ— the Devil against the God and Saviour who would give them everlasting blessed life And as we have such a sight as this by Faith to make us pity you so have we so much taste of the goodness of God the sweetness of his ways and the happiness of believers as must needs make us wish that you had but once tried the same delights which would turn the pleasures of sin into detestation God knoweth that we desire nothing more for our selves than the Perfection and Eternity of this Holiness and Happiness which we believe and taste And should we not desire the same for you And being thus moved with necessary pity we ask of God what he would have us to do for your Salvation And he hath told us in Scripture that the preaching of his Gospel to acquaint you plainlyâ— with the truth and earnestly and frequently intreat you to turn from the Flesh and World to God by Iesus Christ is the means with which his grace is ready to concur for your Salvation when obstinate resistance causeth the Holy Spirit to forsake the Sinner and leave him to himself to follow his own Counsels Lusts and Wills In this hope we undertook the Sacred Ministry and gave up our selves to this great and most important work in the great sense of our unworthiness but yet in the sense of your Souls Necessity We were not such Fools at our first setting out as not to know it muct be a life of labour self-denyal and patience and the Devil would do his worst to hinder us and that all sorts of his instruments would be ready to serve him against our Labours and against your Souls Christ our Captain saved us by Patient Conquest and so must we save â—â—r selves and you And so must you save your â—â—â—ives under Christ if ever you be saved It was no strange thing to Paul that bonds and afflictions did every where abide him nor did he account his life dear that he might finish his course with joy and the Ministry committed to him by the Lord Acts 20. 23 24. It was no strange thing to him to be forbidden to preach to the Gentiles that they might be saved by such as were filling up the measure of their sins and were under Gods uttermost wrath on Earth 1 Thes. 2. 15 16. Devils and Pharisees and most where they came both high and low were against the Apostles preaching of the Gospel and yet they would not sacrilegiously and cruelly break their Covenant with Christ and perfidiously desert the Souls of Men even as their Lord for the Love of Souls did call Peter Satan that would have tempted him to save his life and flesh instead of making it â— sacrifice for our sins Mat. 16. 23. What think you should move us to undertake a calling so contrary to our fleshly ease and interests Do we not know the way of Ease and Honour of Wealth and Pleasures as well as others and have we not flesh as well as others Could we not be content that the
heart to the particular commands of Christ. Those Jews in the Prophet seemed as well resolved as any in the world and call God to witness that they meant as they said But they stuck in generals When Gods command crosses their inclination they will not obey Ier. 42. 1 2 3 4 5 6. compared with ch 43. v. 2. Take the Assemblies larger Caâ—echism and see their excellent and most compendious exposition of the commandments and put thy heart to it Art thou resolved in the strength of Christ to set upon the consciencious practice of every duty that thou findest to be there required of thee and to set against every sin that thou findest there forbidden This is the way to be sound in Gods statutes that thou maist never be ashamed Psal. 119. 80. Thirdly Observe the special duties that thy heart is most against and the special sins that 't is most inclin'd unto and see whether it be truly resolved to perform the one and forego the other What sayest thou to thy bosome sin thy gainfull sin What sayest thou to costly and hazardous and flesh displeasing duties If thou halâ—est here and dost not resolve by the grace of God to cross thy flesh and put to it thou art unsound Psal. 18. 23. Psal. 119. 6. Dir. X. Let all this be compleated in a solemn Covenant between God and thy soul. Psal. 119. 106. Neh. 10. 29. For thy better help therein take these few directions First set apart some time more than once to be spent in secret before the Lord. 1. In seeking earnestly his special assistance and gracious acceptance of thee 2. In considering distinctly all the terms or conditions of the Covenant expressed in the form hereafter proposed 3. In searching thine heart whether thou art sincerely willing to forsake all thy sins and to resign up thy self body and soul unto God and his service to serve him in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of thy life Secondly Compose thy Spirit into the most serious frame possible suitable to transaction of so high importance Thirdly Lay hold on the Covenant of God and rely upon his promise of giving grace and strength whereby thou maist be enabled to perform thy promise Trust not to thine own strength to the strength of thine own resolutions but take hold on his strength Fourthly Resolve to he faithful having engaged thine heart opened thy mouth and subscribed with thy hand unto the Lord resolve in his strength never to go back Lastly Being thus prepared on some convenient time set apart for the purpose set upon the work and in the most solemn manner possible as if the Lord were visibly present before thine eyes fall down on thy knees and spreading forth thine hands toward Heaven open thine heart to the Lord in these or the like words O Most dreadful God for the Passion of thy Son I beseech thee accept of thy poor Prodigal now prostrating himself at thy Door I have fallen from thee by mine iniquity and am by Nature a Son of Death and a thousand-fold more the Child of Hell by my wicked practice But of thine infinite Grace thou hast promised Mercy to me in Christ if I will but turn to Thee with all my Heart Therefore upon the Call of thy Gospel I am now come in and throwing down my weapons submit my self to thy Mercy And because thou requirest as the Condition of my Peace with Thee that I should put away mine Idols and be at defiance with all thine Enemies which I acknowledge I have wickedly sided with against Thee I here from the bottom of my heart renounce them all firmly Covenanting with thee not to allow my self in any known sin but conscientiously to use all the means that I know thou hast prescribed for the death and utter destruction of all my corruptions And whereas I have formerly inordinately and idolatrously let out my affections upon the World I do here resign up my heart to Thee that madst it humbly protesting before thy Glorious Majesty that is the firm resolution of my heart and that I do unfeinedly desire Grace from Thee that when thou shalt call me hereunto I may practise this my resolution through thy assistance to forsake all that is dear unto me in this world rather than to turn from thee to the ways of sin and that I will watch against all its temptations whether of Prosperity or Adversity lest they should withdraw my heart from thee beseeching thee also to help me against the temptations of Satan to whose wicked Suggestions I resolve by thy grace never to yield my self a Servant And because my own righteousness is but menstruous rags I renounce all confidence therein and acknowledge that I am of my self a hopeless helpless undone creature without righteousness or strength And forasmuch as thou hast of thy bottomless Mercy offered most graciously to me wretched sinner to be again my God through Christ if I would accept of thee I call Heaven and Earth to record this day that I do here solemnly avouch the for the Lord my God and with all possible veneration bowing the neck of thy Soul under the feet of thy most Sacred Majesty I do here take thy the Lord Iehovah Father Son and Holy Ghost for my portion and chief good and do give up my self Body and Soul for thy Servant promising and vowing to serve thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of my life And since thou hast appointed the Lord Jesus Christ the only means of coming unto thee I do here upon the bended knees of my Soul accept of him as the only new and living way by which sinners may have access to thee and do here solemnly joyn my self in a Marriage Covenant to him O blessed Jesus I come to thee hungry and hardly bestead poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked a most loathsom polluted wretch a guilty condemned Malefactor unworthy for ever to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord much more to be solemnly married to the King of Glory but 〈◊〉 such is thine unparallell'd love I do here with all my power accept thee and do take thee for my Head and Husband for better for worse for richer for poorer for all times and conditions to love and honour and obey thee before all others and this to the death I embrace thee in all thine Offices I renounce mine own worthiness and do here avow thee to be the Lord my Righteousness I renounce mine own wisdom and do here take thee for mine only Guide I renounce mine own Will and take thy Will for my Law And since thou hast told me that I must suffer if I will reign I do here Covenant with thee to take my Lot as it falls with thee and by thy Grace assisting to run all hazards with thee verily supposing that neither life nor death shall part between thee and me And because thou hast been pleased to
which the Devil and sin will give thee if thou wilt sell thy soul and Heaven and that which God hath promised and sworn to give thee if thou wilt heartily give up thy self to him I know that thou maist possibly fall into Company at least among some sots and drunkards that will tell thee all this is but troublesome preciseness and making more ado than needs But I know withal what that Man deserveth who will believe a Fool before his Maker for he can be no better than a Miserable Fool that will contradict and revile the Word of God even the Word of Grace that would save Mens Souls And alas it is possible thou maist hear some of the Tribe of Levi or rather of Cain deriding this Serious Godliness as meer Hypocrisie and Fanaticism and Self-conceitedness As if you must be no better than the Devils slaves lest you be Proud in thinking that you are better than they That is you must go with them to Hell lest in Heaven you be Proud Hypocrites for thinking your selves happier than they It may be they will tell you that this talk of Conversion is fitter for Pagans and Infidels to hear than Christians and Protestants Because such mens big Looks or Coats may make the poyson the easilier taken down I will intreat thee but as before God to answer these following questions or to get them answered and then judge whether it be they or we that would deceive thee and whether as men use to talk against Learning that have none themselves so such men prate not against Conversion and the Spirit of God because they have no such thing themselves Quest. 1. I pray ask these men whether it be a Puritan or Fanatick Opinion that men must dye and what all the Pomp and Wealth and Pleasure of the World will signifie to a departing Soul Ask them whether they will live on Earth for ever and their merry hours and Lordly looks will have no end And whether it be but the conceit of Hypocrites and Schismaticks that their Carcases must be rotting in a dark-some Grave Quest. 2. Ask them whether man have not an Immortal Soul and a longer life to live when this is ended Luke 12. 41. Quest. 3. Ask them whether reason require not every man to think more seriously of the place or state where he must be for ever than of that where he must be for a little while and from whence he is posting day and night And whether it be not wiser to lay up our treasure where we must stay than where we must not stay but daily look to be called away and never more to be seen on earth Mat. 6. 19 20. 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18. and 5. 1 2 3 6 7 8. Quest. 4. Ask them whether God should not be loved with all our heart and soul and might Mat. 22. 27. And whether it be not the mark of an ungodly miscreant to be a lover of pleasure more than God 2 Tim. 3. 4. and a lover of this World above him 1 Joh. 2. 15 16. And whether we must not seek first Gods Kingdom and his Righteousness Mat. 6. 33. and labour most for the meat that never perisheth Ioh. 6. 27. and strive to enter in at the strait gate Luke 13. 24. and give all diligence to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. Quest. 5. Ask them whether without Holiness any shall see God Heb. 12. 14 Mat. 5. 8. Tit. 2. 14. And whether the carnal mind is not enmity to God and to be carnally minded is not death and to be spiritually minded life and peace And whether if you live after the flesh you shall not die and be condemned and they shall live and be saved that walk after the spirit and whether any man be Christs that hath not his spirit Rom. 8. 1 5 6 7 8 9 13. Quest. 6. Ask them whether any man have a Treasure in Heaven whose heart is not there Mat. 6. 21. And whether this be not the difference between the wicked and the Godly that the first do make their bellies their Gods and mind earthly things and are Enemies to the Cross of Christ though perhaps not his nameâ— and the latter have their conversation in Heaven and being risen with Christ do seek and set their affections on things above and not on the things that are on earth to which they are as dead and their life is hid or out of sight with Christ in God till Christ appear and then they shall appear eveâ— openly to all the world with him in Glory Phil. 3. 18 19 20. Col. 4. 1 2 3â— 4. 5. Quest. 7. Ask them whether it be creâ—â—ble or suitable to Gods word or workingsâ— that he that will not give thâ—m the fruits of the earth without their labour nor feed and cloath them without themselves will yet bring them to Heaven without any care desire or labour of their own When he hath bid himâ— Care not for thâ— one and called for their greatest diligence for the other Mat. 6. 25. 33. Joh. 6â— 27. Yea ask them whether these be not the two first articles of all Faith and Religion 1. That God is 2. That he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. Quest. 8. Ask them yea ask your eyes your ears your daily experience in the World whether all or most that call themselves Christians do in good sadness thus live to God in the Spirit and mortifie the flesh with its affections and iusts and seek first Gods Kingdom and Righteousness and love him above all and lay up treasure and heart in Heaven or rather whether most be not lovers of the World and lovers of pleasure more than God and live not after the flesh and mind not most the things of the flesh I mention not now the drunkards the flesh pleasing Gentlemen that live in Pride Fulness and Idleness and Sport and Play away their precious time nor the filthy Fornicator nor the merciless Oppressorsâ— nor the malignant Haters of a Godly life nor the perjured and perfidious betrayers of mens souls and of the Gospel or their Countries Good nor such other men of seared Conscience whose misery none questioneth but such as are as blind and miserable It 's not these only I am speaking of but the common worldly fleshly and ungodly ones Quest. 9. Ask them whether the name of a Christian will save any of these ungodly persons And whether God will like men the better for lying and calling themselves Christians when they are none indeed and whether they dare preach to the people that a Christian Drunkard or a Christian Fornicator or Oppressor or a Christian worldling needeth no Conversion Quest. 10. Ask them whether they say not themselves that Hypocrisie is a great aggravation of all other sin and whether God hath not made the Hypocrites and Unbelievers to be the standards in Hell Luke 25. 51. And whether seeking to abuse God by a Mock
Forsake the foolish and live Prov. 9. 6. Be sober righteous godly Tit. 2. 12. Wash your hands you sinners purifie your hearts ye double minded Iames 4. 8. Cease to do evil learn to do well Esay 1. 16 17. But if you will on you must die Ezek. 33. 11. CHAP. II. Shewing positively what Conversion is I May not leave you with your eyes half open as he that saw men as trees walking Mar. 8. 24. The word is profitable for doctrine as well as reproof 2 Tim. 3. 16. And therefore having thus far conducted you by the shelves and rocks of so many dangerous mistakes I would guide you at length into the harbour of truth Conversion then in short lies in the thorow change both of the heart and life I shall briefly describe it in its nature and causes 1. The author it is the spirit of God and therefore it is called the sanctification of the spirit 2 Thes. 213. and the renewing of the holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. Yet not excluding the other persons in the Trinity For the Apostle teacheth us to bless the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for that he hath begotten us again 1 Pet. 1. 3. and Christ is said to give repentance to Israel Acts 5. 31. and is called the everlasting Father Esay 9. 6. and we his seed and the Children which God hath given him Heb. 2. 13. Esay 53. 10. O blessed birth Seven Cities coutended for the birth of Homer but the whole Trinity Fathers the new creature Yet is this work principally ascribed to the Holy Ghost and so we are said to be born of the spirit Ioh. 3. 8. So then it is a work above mans power We are born not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Iohn 1. 31. Never think thou canst convert thy self If ever thou wouldst be savingly converted thou must despair of doing it in thine own strength Ier. 31. 18. It is a Resurrection from the dead Rev. 20. 5. Eph. 1. 2. a new creation Gal. 6. 15. Eph. 2. 10. a work of absolute omnipotency Eph. 1. 19. Are these out of the reach of humane power If thou hast no more than thou hadst by thy first birth a good nature a meek and chast temper c. thou art a very stranger to true conversion This is a supernatural work 2. The moving cause is Internal or External The Internal mover is only free grace Not by works of righteousness which we have done but of his own mercy he saved us by the renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. Of his own will begat he us Iam. 1. We are chosen and called unto Sanctification not for it Eph. 1. 4. God finds nothing in man to turn his heart but to turn his stomach enough to provoke his loathing nothing to provoke his love Look back upon thy self O Christian. Take up thy verminous rags Look upon thy self in thy blood Ez. 16. 6. O reflect upon thy swinish nature thy filthy swill thy once beloved mire 2 Pet. 2. Canst thou think without loathing of thy trough and draugh Open thy sepulchre Mat. 23. 27. Art not thou almost struck dead with the hellish damp behold thy putrid soul thy loathsom members O stench unsufferable if thou dost but sense thine own putrifaction Psal. 14. 3. Behold thy ghastly vissage thy crawling lusts thy slime and corruption Do not thine own cloaths abhor thee Iob. 9. 31. How then should holiness and purity love thee Be astonished O Heavens at this be moved O Earth Ier. 2. 12. Who but must needs cry Grace Grace Zech 4. 7. Hear and blush you Children of the most high O you unthankful generation that free grace is no more in your mouths in your thoughts no more adored admired commended by such as you One would think you should be nothing but praising and admiring God whatever you are How can you make a shift to forget such grace or to pass it over with a slight and seldom mention What but free grace should move God to love you unless enmity could do it or deformity could do it unless vomit or rottonness could do it How affectionately doth Peter lift up his hands Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who of his abundant mercy hath begotten us again 1 Pet. 1. 3. How feelingly doth Paul magnifie the free mercy of God in it God who is rich in merâ—â— for his great love wherewith he loved us hath quickned us together with Christ by Grace are ye saved Eph. 2. 4 5. The external mover is the merit and intercession of the blessed Iesus He hath obtained gifts for the rebeâ—â—ious Psal 68. 18. and through him it is that God worketh in us what is well pleasing in his sight Heb. 13. 21. Through him are all spiritual blessings bestowed upon us in â—â—â—venly things Eph. 1. 3. He intercedeth for the Elect that believe not Ioh. 17. 20. Every Convert is the fruit of his travel Esai 53. 11. O never was infant born into the world with that difficulty that Christ endured for us How emphatically he groaneth in his travel All the pains that he suffered on his Cross they were our birth pains Act. 2. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pulls and throws that Christ endured for us He is made sanctification to us 1 Cor. 1. 30. He sanctified himself that is set apart himself as a sacrifice that we may be sanctified Iohn 17. 19. We are sanctified through the offering of his body once for all Heb. 10. 10. 'T is nothing then without his own bowels but the merit and intercession of Christ that prevails with God to bestow upon us converting grace If thou art a new creature thou knowest to whom thou owest it to Christ's pangs and prayers Hence the natural affection of a believer to Christ. The â—oal doth not more naturally run after the Dam nor the suckling to the dugs than a believer to Jesus Christ. And whither else shouldst thou go If any in the World can shew that for thy heart that Christ can let them carry it Doth Satan put in doth the World court thee doth sin sue for thy heart Why were these crucified for thee 1 Cor. 1. 13. O Christian love and serve the Lord while thou hast a being Do not even the Publicans love those that love them And shew kindness to them that are kind to them Mat. 5. 46 47. 3. The Instrument is either Personal or Real The personal is the Ministry I have begotten you to Christ through the Gospel 1 Cor. 4. 15. Christs Ministers are they that are sent to open mens eyes and to turn them to God Acts 26. 18. O unthankful World little do you know what you are doing while you are persecuting the Messengers of the Lord. These are they whose business is under Christ to save you Whom have you reproached and blasphemed Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted your eyes on high Esay 37.
42. 6. Ezek. 36. 31. He that could see little sin in himself and could find no matter for confession as it was said of that learned Ignoramus Bellarmine who it seems while he knew so much abroad was a miserable stranger to himself that when he was to be confessed by the Priest could not remember any thing to confess but was fain to run back to the sins of his youth I say he that could not find matter for confession unless it were some few gross and staring evils now sin reviveth with him Rom. 7. 9. he sees the rottenness of his heart and desperate and deep pollution of his whole nature he cries unclean unclean Lev. 13. 4. 5. Lord purge me with Hysop wash me throughly create in me a new heart Psal. 51. 2 7 10. He sees himself altogether become filthie Psal. 14. 3. corrupt both root and tree Mat. 7. 17 18. he writes unclean upon all his parts and powers and performances Esay 63. 6. Rom. 7. 18. He discovers the nasty corners that he was never aware of and sees the blasphemy and theft and murther and adultery that is in his heart which before he was ignorant of Heretofore he saw no form nor comliness in Christ no beauty that he should desire him but now he finds the hid treasure and will sell all to buy this field Christ is the pearl he seeks sin the puddle he loaths Now according to this new light the man is of another mind another judgment than before he was Now God is all with him he hath none in Heaven nor in Earth like him Ps. 73. 25. He prefers him truly before all the World his favour is his life the light of his Countenance is more than Corn and Wine and Oyl the good that he formerly enquired after and set his heart upon Psal. 4. 6 7. Now let all the World be set on one side and God alone on the other Let the Harlot put on her paint and gallantry and present her self to the soul as when Satan would have tempted our Saviour with her in all the glory of her Kingdoms yet the soul will not fall down and worship her but will prefer a naked yea a crucified persecuted Christ before her Phil. 3. 8. 1 Cor 22. Not but that a Hypocrite may come to yield a general assent to this that God is the chief good yea the wiser Heathens some few of them have at last stumbled upon this but there is a difference between the absolute and comparative judgment of the understanding No Hypocrite comes so far as to look upon God as the most desirable and suitable good to him and thereupon to acquiesce in him This was the converts voice The Lord is my portion saith my soul Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Psal. 73. 25 26. Lam. 3. 24. Secondly it turns the byass of the Will both as to means and end 1. The intension of the wist is altered Ezek. 36. 26. Ier. 31. 33. Esay 26. 8 9. Now the man hath new ends and designs Now he intends God above all and desires and designs nothing in all the world so much as that Christ may be magnified in him Phil. 1. 20. He accounts himself more happy in this than in all that the earth could yield that he may be serviceable to Christ and bring him glory in his generation This is the Mark he aims at that the name of Jesus may be great in the world and that all the sheaves of his brethren may bow to this sheaf Reader dost thou view this and never ask thy self whether it be thus with thee Pause a while and breathe on this great concernment 2. The election also is changed so that he chooses another way Psal. 119. 30. He pitches upon â—od as his blessedness and upon Christ as the principal and holiness as the subordinate means to bring him to God Ioh. 14. 6. Rom. 2. 7. He chooses Jesus for his Lord. Col. 2. 6. He is not meerly forced into Christ by the storm nor doth he take Christ for bare necessity as the man begged from the gallows when he takes the wife rather than the halter but he comes off freely in the choice This match is not made in a fright as with the terrified conscience or dying sinner that will seemingly do any thing for Christ but doth only take Christ rather than hell but he deliberately resolves that Christ is his best choice Phil. 1. 23. and would rather have him to choose than all the good of this world might he enjoy it while he would Again he takes holiness for his path He doth not out of meer necessity submit to it but he likes and loves it I have chosen the way of thy Precepts Psal. 119. 173. He takes Gods testimonies not as his bondage but as his heritage yea his heritage for ever v. 111. he counts them not his burden but his bliss not his cords but his cordials 1 Ioh. 5. 3. Psal. 119. 14 16 47. He doth not only bear but take up Christs yoak He takes not holiness as the stomach doth the loathed potion which it will down with rather than dye but as the hungry doth his beloved food No time passes so sweetly with him when he is himself as that he spends in the exercises of holiness these are both his aliment and his element the desire of his eyes and the joy of his heart Iob. 23. 12. Psal. 119. 82 131 162 174. Psal. 63. 5. Put thy conscience to it as thou goest whether thou art the man O hapy man if this be thy case But see thou be thorow and partial in the search Thirdly it turns the bent of the affection 2. Cor. 7. 11. These run all in a new chanel The Iordan is now driven back and the water runs upward against its natural course Christ is his Hope 1 Tim. 1. 1. this is his prize Phil. 3. 8. here his eye is here his heart is He is contented to cast all over board as the merchant in the storm ready to perish so he may but keep this Jewel The thirst of his Desires is not after gold but grace Phil. 3. 13. He hungers after it he seeks it as silver he digs for it as for hid treasure he had rather be gracious than be great he had rather be the holiest man on earth than the most learned the most famous most prosperous While carnal he said Oh! If I were but in great esteem and rolled in wealth and swim'd in pleasure if my debts were paid and I and mine provided for then I were a happy man but now the tune is changed Oh saith the Convert if I had but my corruptions subdued if I had such measures of grace such fellowship with God though I were poor and despised I should not care I should account my self a blessed man Reader is this the
of the world uppermost in our aims love and estimations Ioh. 2. 15. Iam. 4. 4. With the sound convert Christ hath the supremacy How dear is this name to him How precious is its savour Cant. 1. 3. Psal. 45. 8. The name of Jesus is engraven upon his heart Gal. 4. 19. and lies as a bundle of mirth between his breasts Cant. 1. 13. 14. Honour is but air and laughter is but madness and Mammon is fallen like Dagon before the Ark with hands and head broken off on the threshold when once Christ is savingly revealed Here is the pearl of great price to the true Convert here is his treasure here is his hope Mat. 13. 44. 45. This is his glory My beloved is mine and I am his Gal. 6. 14. Cant. 2. 16. O 't is sweeter to him to be able to say Christ is mine than if he could say the Kingdom is mine the Indies are mine Fourthly your own Righteousness Before conversion man seeks to cover himself with his own sig-leaves Phil. 3. 6 7. and to lick himself whole with his own duties Mic. 6. 6 7. He is apt to trust in himself Luk. 16. 15. and 18. 9. and set his own righteousness and to reckon his Counters for Gold and not submit to the righteousness of God Rom. 10. 3. But Conversion changes his mind now he casts away his filthy rags and counts his own righteousness but a menstruous cloth he casts it off as a man would the verminous tatters of a nasty beggar Esay 64. 6. Now he is brought to poverty of spirit Mat. 5. 3. complains of and condemns himself Rom. 7. and all his inventory is poor and miserable and wretched and blind and naked Rev. 3. 17. he sees a world of iniquity in his holy things calls his once idolized righteousness but flesh and loss and dogs-meat and would not for a thousand worlds be found in himself Phil. 3. 4 7 8 9. His finger is ever upon his sores Psal. 51. 3. his sins his wants Now he begins to set a high price upon Christs righteousness he sees the need of a Christ in every duty to justifie his person and justifie his performances he cannot live without him he cannot pray without him Christ must go with him or else he cannot come into the presence of God he leans upon the hand of Christ and so he bows himself in the house of his God He sets himself down for a lost undone man without him His life is hid in Christ as the life of a man in the heart He is fixed in Christ as the roots of the tree spread in the earth for stability and nutriment Before the news of a Christ was a stale and sapless thing but now how sweet is a Christ Augustine could not relish his before so much admired Cicero because he could not find the name of Christ How pathetically cries he Dulcissime amantisbenignis Caris c. quando te videbo quando satiabor de pulcritudine tua Medit. c. 37. O most sweet most loving most kind most dear most precious most desired most lovely most fair c. all in a breath when he speaks of and to his Christ. In a word the voice of the Convert is with the Martyr None but Christ. 2. The terms which are either Vltimate or Subordinate and Mediate The Vltimate is God the Father Son and Holy Ghost whom the true Convert takes as his All-sufficient and eternal blessedness A man is never truly sanctified till his very heart be in truth set upon God above all things as his portion and chief good These are the natural breathings of a believers heart Thou art my portion O Lord Psal. 1. 9. 57. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord Psal. 34. 2. My expectation is from him he only is my rock and my salvation he is my defence in God is my salvation and my glory the rock my strength and my refuge is in God Psal. 62. 1 2 5 6 7. Psal. 18. 1 2. Would you put it to an issue whether you be converted or not now then let thy soul and all that is within thee attend Hast thou taken God for thy happiness Where doth the content of thy heart lie Whence doth thy choicest comfort come in Come then and with Abraham lift up thine eyes Eastward and Westward and Northward and Southward and cast about thee what it is that thou wouldst have in Heaven or earth to make thee happy If God should give thee thy choice as he did to Solomon or should say to thee as Ahashuerus to Esther What is thy petition and what is thy request and it shall be granted thee Esther 5. 3. What wouldst thou ask go into the gardens of pleasure and gather all the fragrant flowers from thence would these content thee Go to the treasures of Mammon suppose thou mightest lade thy self while thou wouldst from hence go to the towers to the trophies of honour what thinkest thou of being a man of renown and having a name like the name of the great men of the earth Would any of this all this suffice thee and make thee count thy self a happy man if so then certainly thou art carnal and unconverted If not go further wade into the divine excellencies the store of his mercies the hiding of his power the deeps unfathomable of his All-sufficiency Doth this suit thee best and please thee most Dost thou say 'T is good to be here Mat. 17. 4. Here I will pitch here I will live and dye Wilt thou let all the world go rather than this Then 't is well between God and thee Happy art thou O man happy art thou that ever thou wast born If a God can make thee happy thou must needs be happy for thou hast avouched the Lord to be thy God Deut. 26. 17. Dost thou say to Christ as he to us Thy father shall be my father and thy God my God Ioh. 20. 17. Here is the turning point An unsound professor never takes up his rest in God but converting grace does the work and so cures the fatal misery of the fall by turning the heart from its idols to the living God 1 Thes. 1. 9. Now saies the soul Lord whither should I go Thou hast the words of eternal life Ioh. 6. 68. Here he centers here he settles Oh 't is as the entrance of Heaven to him to see his interest in God When he discovers this he saith Returne unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Psal. 116. 7. and it is even ready to breath out Simeons song Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Luke 2. 29. and saith with Iacob when his old heart revived at the welcome tidings It is enough Gen. 45. 28. When he sees he hath a God in Covenant to go to this is all his salvation aud all his desire 2 Sam. 23. 5. Man is this thy case Hast thou experienced this Why then blessed art thou
a hellish and most noisom savour in the nostrils of God Psal. 14. 3. O dreadful case Dost thou not yet see a change to be needful Would it not have grieved one to have seen the golden conseciated Vessels of Gods Temple turned into quaffing bowls for drunkenness and polluted with the idols service Dan. 5. 2 3. Was it such an abomination to the Jews when Anâ—us set up the picture of a swine at the entrance of the Temple How much more abominable then would it have been to have had the very Temple it self turned into a stable or a stye and to have the holy of holies served like the house of Baal to have the Image of God taken down and be turned into a draught-house 2 Kings 10. 27. This is the very case of the unregenerate all thy members are turned into instruments of unrighteousness Rom. 6. 19. servants of Satan and thy inmost powers into the receptacles of uncleanness Eph. 2. 2. Tit. 2. 15. You may see the goodly guests within by what comes out For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness blasphemies c. This black guard discovers what a Hell there is therein Oh abuse unsufferable to see a heaven-born soul abased to the filthiest drudgery to see the glory of Gods creation the chief of the ways of God the Lord of the Universe a lapping with the prodigal at the trough or licking up with greediness the most loathsom vomit Was it such a lamentation to see those that did feed delicately to sit desolate in the streets and the precious sons of Sion comparable to fine gold to be esteemed as earthen pitchers and those that were cloathed in scarlet to embrace dunghils Lam. 4. 2 5. And is it not fearful much more to see the only thing that hath immortality in this lower world and carried the stamp of God to become as a vessel wherein there is no pleasure which is but the modest expression of the vessel men put to the most sordid use Oh indignity intolerable Better thou wert dashed in a thousand pieces than continue to be abused to so filthy a service II. Not only man but the whole visible creation is in vain without this Beloved God hath made all the visible creatures in Heaven and earth for the service of man Ier. 22. 28. and man only is the spokesman for all the rest Man is in the universe like the tongue in the body which speaks for all the members The other creatures cannot praise their maker but by dumb signs and hints to man that he should speak for them Man is as it were the High-Priest of Gods creation to offer the Sacrifice of praise for all his fellow creatures Psal. 147 and 148. and 150. The Lord God expecteth a tribute of praise from all his works Psal. 10â— 22. now all the rest do bring in their tributo to man and pay it in by his hand So then if man be false and faithless and selfish God is wronged of all and shall have no active glory from his works Oh dreadful thought to think of That God should build such a world as this and lay out such infinite power and wisdom and goodness thereupon and all in vain and man should be guilty at last of robbing and spoiling him of the glory of all Oh think of this while thou art unconverted all the offices of the creatures to thee are in vain thy meat nourishes thee in vain the Sun holds forth his light to thee in vain the Stars that serve thee in their courses by their most powerful though hidden influence Iudges 5. 20. Hos. 2. 21 22. do it in vain thy Cloaths warm thee in vain thy Beast carries thee in vain in a word the labour unwearied and continual travel of the whole creation as to thee is in vain The service of all the creatures that drudge for thee and yield forth their strength unto thee that therewith thou shouldst serve their maker is all but lost labour Hence the whole Creation groaneth under the abuse of the unsanctified world Rom. 8. 22. that pervert them to the service of their lusts quite contrary to the very end of their being III. Without this thy Religion is in vain Jam. 1. 26. All thy religious performances will be but lost for they can neither please God Rom. 8. 8. nor save thy soul 1 Cor. 13. 2 3. which are the very ends of Religion Be thy services never so specious yet God hath no pleasure in them Esay 1. 14. Mal. 1. 10. Is not that mans case dreadful whose Sacrifices are as murder and whose prayers are a breath of abomination Esay 66. 3. Prov. 28. 9. Many under convictions think they will set upon mending and that a few prayers and alms will salve all again but alas sirs while your hearts remain unsanctified your duties will not pass How punctual was Iehu and yet all was rejected because his heart was not upright 2 Kings 10. with Hos. 1. 4. How blameless was Paul and yet being unconverted all was but loss Phil. 3. 6 7. Men think they do much in attending Gods service and are ready to twit him with it Esay 58. 3. Mat. 7. 22. and set him down so much their debtor when as their persons being unsanctified their duties cannot be accepted O soul do not think when thy sins pursue thee a little praying and reforming thy course will pacifie God thou must begin with thine heart if that be not renewed thou canst no more please God than one that having unspeakably offended thee should bring thee his vomit in a dish to pacifie thee or having fallen into the mire should think with his loathed embraces to reconcile thee It is a great misery to labour in the fire The Poets could not invent a worser Hell for Sysâ—phus than to be getting the barrel still up the hill and then that it should presently fall down again and renew his labour God threatens it as the greatest of temporal judgments that they should build and not inhabit plant and not gather and their labours shall be eat up by strangers Deut. 28. 30 38 39 41. Is it so great a misery to lose our common labours to â—owâ—â— in vain and build in vain how much more toâ— lose our pains in Religion to pray and hear and fast in vain This is an undoing and eternal loss Be not deceived if thou goest on in thy sinful estate though thou shouldst spread forth thine hands God will hide his eyes though thou make many prayers he will not hear Esay 1. 15. If a man without skill set about our work and mâ—rr it in the doing though he take much pains we give him but small thanks God will be worshipped after the due order 1 Chron. 15. 13. If a servant do our work but quite contrary to our order he shall have rather stripes than praise Gods work must be done according to Gods mind or he will not be pleased
lusts of his chosen Psal. 45. 5. Psal. 110. 3. What King would take the rebels in open hostility into his Court What were this but to betray Life Kingdom Government and all together If Christ be a King he must have homage honour subjection c. Mal. 1. 6. now to save men while in their natural enmity were to obscure his dignity lose his authority bring contempt on his Government and sell his dear-bought rights for nought Again as Christ should not be a Prince so neither a Saviour if he should do this For his Salvation is spiritual he is called Jesus because he saves his people from their sins Mat. 1. 21. So that should he save them in their sins he should be neither Lord nor Jesus To save men from the punishment and not from the power of sin were to do his work by halves and be an imperfect Saviour His office as the Deliverer is to turn away ungodliness from Jacob Rom. 11. 26. He is sent to bless men in turning form them their iniquities Acts 3. 26. to make an end of sin Dan. 9. 24. so that he should destroy his own designs and nullify his offices to save men abiding in their unconverted estate Application Arise then what meanest thou O sleeper Awake O secure sinner left thou be consumed in thine iniquities Say as the Lepers if we sit here we shall die 2 King 7. 3 4. Verily it is not more certain thou art now out of hell than that thou shalt speedily be in it except thou repent and be converted there is but this one door for thee to escape by Arise then O sluggard and shake off thine excuses How long wilt thou slumber and fold thine hands to sleep Prov. 6. 10 11. Wilt thou lie down in the midst of the Sea or sleep on the top of the mast Prov. 23. 24. There is no remedy but thou must either turn or burn There is an unchangeable necessity of the change of thy condition except thou art resolved to bide the worst of it and try it out with the Almighty If thou lovest thy life O man arise and come away Methinks I see the Lord Jesus laying the merciful hands of an holy violence upon thee methinks he carries it like the Angels to Lot Gen. 19. 15. c. Then the Angels hastened Lot saying arise lest thou be consumed And while he lingred the men laid hold upon his hand the Lord being merciful unto him and they brought him without the City and said Escape for thy life stay not in all the plain escape to the mountain lest thou be consumed Oh how wilful will thy destruction be if thou shouldest yet harden thy self in thy sinful state But none of you can say but you have had fair warning Yet methinks I cannot tell how to leave you so It is not enough to me to have delivered my own soul. What shall I go away without my errand Will none of you arise and follow me Have I been all this while speaking in the wind Have I been charming the deaf adder or allaying the tumbling Ocean with arguments Do I speak to the trees or rocks or to men to the tombs and monuments of the dead or to a living auditory If you be men and not senseless stocks stand still and consider whither you be going If you have the reason and understanding of men dare not to run into the flames and fall into hell with your eyes open but bethink your selves and set to the work of repentance What men and yet run into the pit when the very beasts will not be forced in What endowed with reason and yet dally with death and hell and the vengeance of the Almighty Are men herein distinguished from the very bruits that they have no foresight of and a care to provide for the things to come and will you not hasten your escape from eternal torments O shew your selves men and let reason prevail with you is it a reasonable thing for you to contend against the Lord your maker Esay 45. 9. or to harden your selves against his word Iob 9. 4. as though the strength of Israel would lie 1 Sam. 15. 29. Is it reasonable that an understanding creature should lose yea live quiet against the very end of his being and be as a broken pitcher only fit for the dunghill Is it tolerable that the only thing in this world that God hath made capable of knowing his will and bringing him glory should yet live in ignorance of his maker and be unserviceable to his use yea should be engaged against him and spit his venom in the face of his creator Hear O Heavens and give ear O earth and let the creatures without sense be judge if this be reason that man when God hath nourished and brought him up should rebel agninst him Esay 1. 2. Judge in your own selves Is it a reasonable undertaking for bryars and thorns to set themselves in battel against the devouring fire Esay 27. 4. or for the potsherd of the earth to strive with his maker If you will say this is reason surely the eye of reason is quite put out And If this be not reason then there is no reason that you should continue as you be but 't is all the reason in the world you should forth with repent aâ—d turn What shall I say I could spend my self in this argument Oh that you would but hearken to me that you would presently set upon a new course will you not be made clean When shall it once be What will no body be perswaded Reader shall I prevail with thee for one Wilt thou sit down and consider the forementioned arguments and debate it whether it be not best to turn Come and let us reason together Is it good for thee to be here Wilt thou sit still till the tide come in upon thee Is it good for thee to try whether God will be so good as his word and to harden thy self in a conceit that all is well with thee while thou remainest unsanctified But I know you will not be perswaded but the greatest part will be as they have been and do as they have done I know the drunkard will to his vomit again and the deceiver will to his deceit again and the lustful wanton to his dalliance again Alas that I must leave you where you were in your ignorance or loosness or in your lifeless formality and customary devotions However I will sit down and bemoan my fruitless labours and spend some sighs over my perishing hearers O distracted sinners What will their end be What will they do in the day of visitation Whither will they flee for help Where will they leave their glory Esay 10. 3. How powerfully hath sin bewitched them How effectually hath the God of this world blinded them How strong is their delusion How uncircumcised their ears How obdurate their hearts Satan hath them at his beck but how long may I call and can
art not only without God but God is against thee Ezek. 5. 8 9. Nah. 2. 13. Oh if God will but stand a neuter though he did not own nor help the poor sinner his case were not so deeply miserable Though God should give up the poor creature to the will of all his enemies to do their worst with him though he should deliver him over to the tormentors Mat. 18. 34. that devils should tear and torture him to their utmost power and skill yet this were not half so fearful But God himself will set against the sinner and believe it 't is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10. 31. There 's no friend like him no enemy like him As much as Heaven is above the Earth Omnipotency above Impotency Infinity above Nullity so much more horrible is it to fall into the hands of the living God than into the paws of Bears or Lions yea furies or devils God himself will be thy tormentor thy destruction shall come from the presence of the Lord. 2 Thes. 1. 9. Tophet is deep and large and the wrath of the Lord like a river of brimstone doth kindle it Esay 30. 33. If God be against thee who shall be for thee If one man sin against another the Iudge shall Iudge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him 1 Sam. 2. 25. Thou even thou art to be feared and who shall stand in thy sight when â—â—ce thou art angry Psal. 76. 7. Who is that God that shall deliver you out of his hands Dan. 3. 15. Can Mammon Riches profit not in the day of wrath Prov 11. 14. Can Kings or Warriours No they shall cry to the Mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Rev. 6. 15 16 17. Sinner methinks this should go like a dagger to thine heart to know that God is thine enemy Oh whither wilt thou go where wilt thou shelter thee There is no hope for thee unless thou lay down thy weapons and sue out thy pardon and get Christ to stand thy friend and make thy peace If it were not for this thou mightest go into some howling wilderness and there pine in sorrow and run mad for anguish of heart and horrible despair But in Christ there is a possibility of mercy for thee yea a proffer of mercy to thee that thou maist have God to be more for thee than he is now against thee But if thou wilt not forsake thy sins nor turn throughly and to purpose unto God by a 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 a 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 Gods 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 Iustice 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 â—ulls 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. 19. The justice of God to the unpardoned sinner that hath a sense of his misery is more terrible than the sight of the Bailiff or creditor to the bankâ—rupt 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 dreadful work doth it make with the wretched sinner Bind him hand and foot cast him into outer 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 Esay 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 to 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 thy sight Iob 25. He humbleth himself to behold the things that are done in Heaven Psal. 113. Oh 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 thee 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 hardened 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 Job 9. 3 4 5 6. c. And art thou a fit match for such an antagonist Oh consider this you that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Ps. 50. 22. Submit to mercy Let not dust and stubble stand it out against the Almighty Set not briars and thorns against him in battel lest he go through them and consume them together but lay hold on his strength that you may make peace with him Esay 27. 4 5. We to him that striveth with his maker Esay 45. 9. Fourthly The wisdom of God is set to ruine thee He hath ordained his arrows and prepared the instruments of death and made all things ready Psal. 11. 12 13. His counsels are against thee to contrive thy destruction Ier. 18. 11. He laughs in himself to see how thou wilt be taken and ensnared in the evil day Ps. 37. 13. The Lord shall laâ—gh at him for he seeth that his day is coming He sees how thou wilt come down mightily in a moment how thou wilt wring tâ—â—ne hands and tear thine hair and eat thy flesh and gnasâ— thy teeth for anguish and astonishment of heart when thou seest how thou art fallen remedilesly into the pit of destruction Fifthly The truth of God is sworn against thee Psal. 95. 11. If he be true and faithful thou must perish if thou goest on Luk. 13. 3. Unlâ—ss he be false of his word thou must die except thou repent Ezek. 33. 11. If we believe not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself 2 Tim. 2. 13. That is he is faithful to his threatnings as well as promises and will shew his faithfulness in our confusion if we believe not God hath told thee as plain as it can be spoken That if he wash thee not thou hast no part in him Iohn 13. 8. that if thou livest after the flesh thou shalt die Rom. 8. 13. That except thou be converted thou shalt in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 18. 3. and he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself Beloved as the immutable faithfulness of God in his promise and oath afford believers strong consolation Heb. 6. 18. so they are to unbelievers for strong consternation and coâ—fusion O sinner tell me what shift dost thou make to think of all the threatnings of Gods word that stand upon record against thee Dost thou believe their truth or not If not thou art a wretched inâ—idel and not a Christian and therefore give over the name and hopes of a Christian. But if thou dost believe them O heart of steel that thou hast that canst walk up and down in quiet when the truth and Faithfulness of God is engaged to destroy thee that if God Almighty can do it thou shalt surely perish and be damned Why man the whole book of God doth testifie against thee while thou remainest unsanctified it condemns thee in every leaf and is to thee like Ezekiel's roll written within and without with lamentation and mourning and woe Ezek. 2. 10. and all this shall surely come upon thee and overtake thee Deut. 28. 15. except thou repent Heaven and earth shall pass away but one jot or tittle of this word shall never pass away Mat. 5. 18. Now put all this together and tell me if the case of the Unconverted be not deplorably miserable As we read of some persons that had bound themselves in an oath and in a curse to kill Paul so thou must know O sinner to thy terror that all the attributes of the infinite God are bound in an oath to destroy thee Heb. 3. 18. O man what wilt thou do whither wilt thou fly If Gods omnisciency can find thee thou shalt not escape If the true and faithful God will save his oath perish thou must except thou believe and repent If the Almighty hath power to torment thee thou shalt be perfectly miserable in soul and body to all eternity unless it be prevented by thy speedy Conversion II. The whole creation of God is against thee The whole creation saith Paul groaneth and travelleth in pain Rom. 8. 22. But what is it that the creation groaneth under why the fearful abuse that it is subject to in serving the lusts of unsanctified men And what is it that the creation groaneth for why for freedom and liberty from this abuse for the creature is very unwillingly subject to this bondage Rom. 8. 19 20 21. If the unreasonable and inanimate creatures had speech and reason they would cry out under it as bondage unsufferable to be abused by the ungodly contrary to their natures and the ends that the great Creatour made them for It is a passage of an eminent Divine The liquor that the drunkard drinketh if it had reason as well as a man to know how shamefully 't is abused and spoiled it would groan in the barrels against him it would groan in the Cup against him it would groan in his throat
my infirmities that I cannot get rid of though I would I will strive against them in the use of thy means I detest them and will pray and war against them and never let them have quiet rest in my soul. Beloved whosoever of you will thus accept the Lord for his God he shall have him Again he tells you I am the All-sufficient God Gen. 17. 1. Will you lay all at my feet and give it up to my dispose and take me for your only portion Will you own and honour mine All-sufficiency Will you take me as your happiness and Treasure your hope and bliss I am a Sun and Shield all in one will you have me for your all Gen. 1. 15. Psal. 84. 11. Now what dost thou say to this Doth thy mouth water after the onions and flesh-pots of Egypt art thou loath to exchange thy earthly happiness for a part in God and though thou wouldest be glad to have God and the world too yet thou canst not think of having him and nothing but him but hadst rather take up with the earth below if God would but let thee keep it as long as thou wouldst This is a fearful sign But now if thou art willing to sell all for the Pearl of great price Mat. 12. 46. If thine heart answer Lord I desire no other portion but thee Take the Corn and the Wine and the Oyl whoso will so I may have the light of thy countenance I pitch upon thee for my happiness I gladly venture my self on thee and trust my self with thee I set my hopes in thee I take up my rest with thee Let me hear thee say I am thy God thy salvation and I have enough all I wish for I will make no terms with thee but for thy self Let me but have thee sure let me be able to make my claim and see my title to thy self and for other things I leave them to thee Give me more or less any thing or nothing I will be satisfied in my God Take him thus and he is thine own Again he tells you I am the Soveraign Lord. If you will have me for your God you must give me the supremacy Mat. 6. 24. I will not be an underling You must not make me a second to sin or any worldly interest If you will be my people I must have the rule over you You must not live at your own list Will you come under my yoke Will you bow to my Government Will you submit to my discipline to my word to my rod Sinner what sayest thou to this Lord I had rather be at thy command than live at mine own list I had rather have thy will to be done than mine I approve of and consent to thy laws and account it my priviledge to lie under them And though the flesh rebel and often break over bounds I am resolved to take no other Lord but thee I willingly take the Oath of thy supremacy and acknowledge thee for my liege Soveraign and resolve all my days to pay the tribute of worship obedience and love and service to thee and to live to thee as the end of my life This is a right accepting of God To be short he tells you I am the true and faithful God If you will have me for your God you must be content to trust me 2 Tim. 1. 12. Prov. 3. 5. Will you venture your selves upon my word depend on my faithfulness and take my bond for your security Will you be content to follow me in poverty reproach and affliction here and to see much going out and little coming in and to tarry till the next world for your preferment Mat. 9. 21. I deal much upon trust will you be content to labour and suffer and to tarry for your returns till the Resurrection of the just Luke 14. 14. The womb of my Promise will not presently bring forth will you have the patience to wait Heb. 10. 36. Now beloved what say you to this Will you have this God for your God Will you be content to live by faith and trust him for an unseen happiness an unseen Heaven an unseen Glory Do your hearts answer Lord we will venture our souls upon thee we commit our selves to thee we roll upon thee we know whom we have trusted we are willing to take thy word we will prefer thy promises before our own possessions and the hopes of Heaven before all the enjoyments of the Earth We will wait thy leisure What thou wilt here so that we may have but thy faithful promise for Heaven hereafter If you can in truth and upon deliberation thus accept of God he will be yours Thus there must be in a right Conversion to God a closing with him suitable to his excellencies But when men close with his mercy but not with his sin-hating holiness and purity or will take him for their benefactor but not for their Soveraign or for their Patron but not for their Portion this is no thorow and so no sound Conversion Dir. VII Accept of the Lord Iesus in all his Offices with all his inconveniences as thine Upon these terms Christ may be had Sinner thou hast und one thy self and art plunged into the ditch of most deplorable misery out of which thou art never able to climb up But Jesus Christ is able and ready to help thee and he freely tenders himself to thee Heb. 7. 25. Iohn 7. 37. Be thy sins never so many never so great of never so long continuance yet thou shalt be most certainly pardoned and saved if thou dost not wretchedly neglect the offer that in the name of God is here made unto thee The Lord Jesus calleth to thee to look unto him and be saved Esay 45. 22. to come unto him aâ—d he will in no wise cast thee out Iohn 6. 37. Yea he is a sutor to thee and beseecheth thee to be reconciled 2 Cor. 5. 20. he cryeth in the streets he knocketh at thy door he wooeth thee to except of him and live with him Prov. 1. 20. Rev. 3. 20. if thou diest 't is because thou wouldst not come to him for life Iohn 5. 40. Now accept of an offered Christ and thou art made for ever Now give up thy consent to him and the match is made all the world cannot hinder Do not stand off because of thine unworthiness Man I tell thee nothing in all the world can undo thee but thine unwillingness Speak man art thou willing of the match Wilt thou have Christ in all his relations to be thine thy King thy Priest thy Prophet Wilt thou have him with all his inconveniences Take not Christ hand over head but sit down first and count the cost Wilt thou lay all at his feet Wilt thou be content to run all hazards with him Wilt thou take thy lot with him fall where it will Wilt thou deny thy self take up thy Cross and follow him Art thou deliberately understandingly freely fixedly
thee and with all possible thankfulness accept thee as mine and give up my self to thee as thine Thou shalt be Soveraign over me my King and my God Thou shalt be in the Throne and all my powers shall bow to thee they shall come and worship before thy feet Thou shalt be my portion O Lord and I will rest in thee Thou callest for my heart Oh that it were any way fit for thine acceptance I am unworthy O Lord everlastingly unworthy to be thine But since thou wilt have it so I freely give up my heart to thee Take it it is thine Oh that it were better But Lord I put it into thine hand who alone canst mend it Mould it after thine own heart make it as thou wouldst have it holy humble heavenly soft tender flexible and write thy Law upon it Come Lord Jesus come quickly enter in triumphantly take me up for thy self for ever I give up to thee I come to thee as the only way to the Father as the only Mediator the means ordained to bring me to God I have dostroyed my self but in thee is my help Save Lord or else I perish I come to thee with the rope about my neck I am worthy to die and to be damned Never was the hire more due to the servant never was penny more due to the labourer than Death and Hell my jâ—st wages is due to me for my sins But I fly to the merits I trust alone to the value and vertue of thy Sacrifice and prevalency of thine intercession I submit to thy teaching I make choice of thy Government Stand open ye everlasting doors that the King of Glory may come in O thou spirit of the most high the comforter and sanctifier of thy chosen come in with all thy glorious train all thy Courtly attendants thy fruits and graces Let me be thine habitation I can give thee but what is thine own already but here with the poor Widow I cast my two mites my soul and my body in to thy treasury fully resigning them up to thee to be sanctified by thee to be servants to thee They shall be thy patients cure thou their maladies they shall be thy agents govern thou their motions Too long have I served the world too long have I hearkned to Satan but now I renounce them all and will be ruled by thy dictates and directions and guided by thy counsel O blessed Trinity O glorious Unity I deliver up my self to thee receive me write thy name O Lord upon me and upon all that I have as thy proper goods Set thy mark upon me upon every member of my body and every faculty of my soul. I have chosen thy precepts Thy Law will I lay before me this shall be the copy which I will keep in my eye and study to write after According to this rule do I resolve by thy Grace to walk after this law shall my whole man be governed And though I cannot perâ—ectly keep one of thy Commandments yet I will allow my self in the breach of none I know my flesh will hang back but I resolve in the power of thy Grace to cleave to thee and thy holy ways what ever it cost me I am sure I cannot come off a loser by thee and therefore I will be content with reproach and difficulties and hardships here and will deny my self and take up my Cross and follow thee Lord Jesus thy Yoke is easie thy Cross is welcome as it is the way to thee I lay aside all hopes of a worldly happiness I will be content to tarry till I come to thee Let me be poor and low little and despised here so I may but be admitted to live and raign with thee hereafter Lord thou hast my heart and hand to this agreement Be it as the laws of the Medes and Persians never to be reversed To this I will stand in this resolution by Grace I will live and die I have sworn and will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments I have given my free consent I have made my everlasting choice Lord Jesus confirm the contract Amen CHAP. VII Containing the Motives to Conversion THough what is already said of the Necessity of Conversion and of the Miseries of the unconverted might be sufficient to induce any considering mind to resolve upon a present turning or Conversion unto God yet knowing what a piece of desperate obstinacy and untractableness the heart of man naturally is I have thought it necessary to add to the means of Conversion and Directions for a Covenant-closure with God in Christ some Motives to perswade you hereunto O Lord fail me not now at my last attempts If any soul hath read hitherto and be yet untouched now Lord fasten in him and do thy work Now take him by the heart overcome him perswade him till he say Thou hast prevailed for thou wast stronger than I Lord didst thou not make me a fisher of men And have I toyled all this while and caught nothing Alas that I should have spent my strength for nought And now I am casting my last Lord Iesus stand thou upon the shore and direct how and where I shall spread my net and let me so enclose with arguments the souls I seek for that they may not be able to get out Now Lord for a multitude of souls now for a full draught O Lord God remember me I pray thee and strengthen me this once O God But I turn me unto you Men and Brethren Heaven and Earth do call upon you yea Hell it self doth preach the Doctrine of repentance unto you The Angels of the Churches travel with you Gal. 4. 19. the Angels of Heaven wait for you for your repenting and turning unto God O sinner why should the Devils make merry with thee why shouldst thou be a morsel for that devouring Leviathan Why should harpies and hell-hounds tear thee and make a feast upon thee and when they have got thee into the snare and have fastned their talons in thee laugh at thy destruction and deride thy misery and sport themselves with thy damnable folly This must be thy case except thou turn And were it not better thou shouldst be a joy to Angels than a laughing-stock and sport for devils Verily if thou wouldst but come in the Heavenly Host would take up their anthems and sing Glory be to God in the highest the morning Stars would sing together and all the sons of God shout for joy and celebrate this new creation as they did the first Thy repentance would as it were make holy-day in heaven and the glorious spirits would rejoyce in that there is a new brother added to their society Rev. 22. 9. another heir born to their Lord and the lost son received safe and sound The true penitents tears are indeed the wine that cheereth both God and man If it be little that men and Angels would rejoyce at thy Conversion know that God himself would
dungeon from the darkness that he calleth you Esay 42. 6 7. and yet will you not come He calleth you unto liberty Gal. 5. 13. and yet will you not hearken His yoke is easie his Laws are Liberty his service freedom Mat. 11. 30. Iames 1. 25. 1 Cor. 7. 22. and Whatever prejudices you have against his ways if a God may be believed you shall find them all pleasure and peace and shall taste sweetness and joy unutterable and take infinite delight and felicity in them Prov. 3. 17. Psal. 110. 165. 1 Pet. 1. 1. Psal. 119. 103. 111. Beloved I am loath to leave you I cannot tell how to give you over I am now ready to shut up but fain I would drive this bargain between Christ and you before I end What shall I leave you as I found you at last Have you read hitherto and are not yet resolved upon a present abandoning all your sins and closing with Jesus Christ Alas what shall I say what shall I do Will you turn off all my importunity Have I run in vain Have I used so many arguments and spent so much time to perswade you and yet must sit down at last in disappointment But it is a small matter that you turn off me you put a slight upon the God that made you you reject the bowels and beseechings of a Saviour and will be found resisters of the Holy Ghost Acts 7. 51. if you will not now be prevailed with to repent and be converted Well though I have called long and ye have refused I shall yet this once more lift up my voice like a Trumpet and cry from the highest places of the City before I conclude with a miserable Conclamatum est Once more I shall call after regardless sinners that if it be possible I may awaken them O earth earth earth hear the word of the Lord Ier. 22. 29. Unless you be resolved to die lend your ears to the last calls of mercy Behold in the name of God I make open proclamation to you Hearken unto me O ye Children Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not Prov. 8. 32 33. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me and eate ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness Incline your ear and come ye unto me hear and your soul shall live and I Will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David Esay 55. 1 2 3. Ho every one that is sick of any manner of disease or torment Mat. 4. 23 24. or is possessed with an evil spirit whether of pride or fury or lust or covetousness come ye to the Physician bring away your sick Loe here is he that healeth all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people Ho every one that is in debt and every one that is in distâ—ess and every one that is discontented gather your selves unto Christ and he will become a Captain over you He will be your protection from the arrests of the Law He will save you from the hand of Justice Behold he is an open sanctuary to you he is a known refuge Heb. 6. 18. Psal. 48. 3. Away with your sins and come in unto him lest the avenger of blood seize you lest devouring wrath overtake you Ho every ignorant sinner come and buy eye-salve that thou maist see Rev. 3. 18. Away with thine excuses thou art for ever lost if thou continuest in this estate 2 Cor. 4. 3. But accept of Christ for thy Prophet and he will be a light unto thee Esay 42. 6. Eph 5. 14. Cry unto him for knowledge study his word take pains about the principles of Religion humble thy self before him and he will teach thee his way and make thee wise unto salvation Mat. 13. 36. Luke 8. 9. Iohn 5. 39. Psal. 25. 9. But if thou wilt not follow him in the painful use of his means but sit down because thou hast but one talent he will condemn thee for a wicked and sloathful servant Mat. 25. 24 26. Ho every prophane sinner come in and live Return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon thee Be entreated Oh return come Thou that hast filled thy mouth with oaths and execrations all manner of sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven thee Mark 3. 28. if thou wilt but throughly turn unto Christ and come in Though thou wast as unclean as Magdalen yet put away thy Whoredoms out of thy sight and thine adulteries from between thy breasts and give up thy self unto Christ as a vessel of holiness alone for his use and then though thy sins be as scarlet they shall be as wooll and though they be as crimson they shall be as white snow Luke 7. 37. Hos. 2. 2. 1 Thes. 4. 4. Esay 1. 18. Hear O ye drunkards How long will you be drunken put away your wine 1 Sam. 1. 14. Though you have rolled in the vomit of your sin take the vomit of repentance and heartily disgorge your beloved lusts and the Lord will receive you 2. Cor. 6. 17. Give up your selves unto Christ to live soberly righteously and godly embrace his righteousness accept his government and though you have been swine he will wash you Rev. 36. Hear O ye loose companions whose delight is in vain and wicked societie to sport away your time in carnal mirth and jollity with them come in at wisdoms call and choose her and her ways and forsake the foolish and you shall live Prov. 9. 5 6. Hear O ye scorners hear the word of the Lord. Though you have made a sport of godliness and the professors thereof though you have made a scorn of Christ and of his waies yet even to you doth he call to gather you under the wings of his mercy Prov. 1. 22 33. In a word though you should be sound among the worst of that black roll 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. yet upon your through Conversion you shall be washed you shall be justified you shall be sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of ouâ— God ver 11. Ho every formal professor that art but a luke-warm and dough-baked Christian and restest in the form of godliness give over thy halving and thy halting be a throughout Christian and be zealous and repent and then though thou hast been an offence to Christ's stomach thou shalt be the joy of his heart Rev. 3. 16 19 20. And now bear witness that mercy hath been offered you I call Heaven and Earth to record against you this day that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that you may live Deut. 30. 19. I can but woo you and warn