sins which if it had been laid upon us would have been eternal but he overwrastled it made satisfaction put away sin by the sacrifice of himself made peace and obtained eternal redemption for us whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that after he had the iniquities of all his people laid and charged upon him yet he rose again the third day is gone unto the Father and is set down at the right hand of the Majesty in the Heavens By one offering upon the Cross he did the work he being an infinite Person God as well as Man his short suffering was of an infinit value He dieth no more there is no need at all of it in referance unto those for whom he made his soul an offering for sins he hath done the work fully to whom be glory for ever This is the Summ and substance of the Gospel Now if any hearing of the danger they are in of the wrath of God for their sins and sensible of the Rebellion and perversness of their hearts and wayes against God would have a Saviour and a sanctifier that it may go well with them for ever this is he Jesus the Son of God He is not here now upon earth to be seen with bodily eyes he is gone into Heaven and is on the right hand of God Look up to him there with an eye of Faith put your trust in him he is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him Get the knowledge of him out of the word search the Scriptures for they testify of him they tell you what he is what he hath done and what he hath suffered to bring us to God Think of him continually prize him set your hearts on him if you flight him you will find there is no other Saviour no other Mediatour no other advocate with the Father If the work be yet to be done even now whilst thou readest these things look to him close with him give up thy self to him to be saved and Sanctified by him fall in love with him you will never repent of your choice Poor soul what saist thou to a Pardon for all thy sins what saist to peace with God what saist thou to eternal life Come to Christ and thou shalt have all these and a New Heart and spirit to walk in holiness and obedience before God too O doth the Lord affect thy heart for he doth this great work that thou art taken with Christ and art a thirst for this water of life then take it freely as excellent and precious as the Lord Jesus is he bestowes himself freely upon poor sinners the best qualification you can have for receiving Christ is to see your need of him and that you are altogether unworthy of him do you see your sins now the multitude of them the hainousness of them let not your sins drive you from Christ but drive you to Christ Come poor sinners come to Christ his blood cleanseth from all sin his righteousness is able to cover all your unrighteousness Come to Christ but with a true Heart to give him all the glory of your salvation and to desire now to have him reign over you and fear not he is mighty to save Jesus is the Lord of glory consider his God-head in your looking to him to take away your sins Never any Patient came to this Phisitian and missed of cure come with all the spiritual Vlcers running Sores and Bloody Issues of sin touch the hem of his Garment by Faith as the Woman in the Gospel did and you shall see there is vertue enough in Christ to make you whole The Devil labours to make men confident and presumptuous when they are going on greedily in sin but when they are convinced of their lost estate and are looking after Christ then he endeavours to puzle them with many doubts and suspitions as if they were past cure and it were too late now to lock after Christ Ah poor souls do not you see that the hand of Sathan is in all this When you went on in ignorance and prophaness he would not endure you should hear when Ministers preached of damnation and now that you are convinced and stopt in your vile courses and are thinking how you may make peace with God now the Devil cannot endure you should hear of Salvation in Christ the Son of God least you should come unto him that you may have life Thus I have set before them that are not yet converted life and death pardon of sin peace with God and eternal life if the Lord giveth them hearts to repent and close with Christ The Wrath of God and eternal destruction If they still go on in their ignorance prophaness and slighting of Jesus Christ If any that read these things shall say in their hearts they shall have peace and shall do well enough whatsoever some zealous preachers say though they cast Gods law behind their backs and never look after a work of Grace and conversion upon their souls the anger of the Lord and his Jealousy shall smoake against those persons and burn against them for ever But if they shall now tremble at the word of the Lord and lay hold upon the offer of Christ believing on his name and submitting unto him their sins shall be forgiven them for his names sake and they shall be the heir of eternal life through him for though the wages of sin is death even eternal death yet the gift the free gift of God is life even eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom be glory for ever Amen FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by Henry Mortlock at the Phaenix in S. Pauls Church-Yard and at the White Hart in Westminster-Hall THe Saints Ebenezer and Pillar of hope in God when they have none left in the Creature Or the godly-mans Crutch or Staff in times of sadning disappointments sinking discouragements shaking dissolations wherein is shewed the Transcendent Excellency of God his Peoples help and hope with the unparalell'd hapiness of the Saints in their confidence in him over-balancing the Worldlings carnall dependance both as to sweetness and safety by F. English A word in season or 3 great dutys of Christians in the worst of times viz abiding in Christ Thirsting after his instruction and submission to his providence to which is added by way of appendix the advice of some Ministers to their people for the receiving the power and practice of godliness in their familys Oct. The freeness of the grace and love of God to believers discover'd in reference to First Their service and suffering Secondly their consolations Thirdly their salvation and eternal glory together with the Excelency of the fear of God The goodness and pleasantness of brotherly Love the wisdom of hearing the voice of the Rod repentance the only way to prevent Judgments delivered in several Sermons by William Bridg sometimes Preacher of the Word at Yarmouth Death unstung in 8 Sermons Preached at the Funeral of Tho. Moseley an Apothecary who died July 1669 With a brief Narrative of his Life and Death Also the manner of Gods dealings with him before and after his Conversion drawn up by his own Hand and Published by James Janeway Oct. A Fathers Testament Written long since for the benefit of the Particular Relations of the Author Phineas Fletcher sometimes Minister of the Gospel at Hillgay in Norfolk The voice of one crying in a Wilderness or the business of a Christian both Antecedaneous to Concomitant of and consequent upon a Sore and heavy Visitation represented in several Sermons First Preached to his own Family lying under such Visitation and now made publick as a thank offering to the Lord his healer by S. S. a servant of God in the Gospel of his Son FINIS
love thee Men may have notional knowledge parts and gifts and this may but puffe them up with pride and do their souls no good but if a man so know God as to love him and delight in him that is the man that is known of God owned and approved of him Quest what are the signes of love to God Answ 1 High and raised thoughts of God fixed and setled in the heart are a signe of love to God an habituall frame of heart to look upon God as most excellent and glorious and to adore him as well for his holiness and infinite purity as for the exceeding riches of his grace in Christ. It is true a Saints love to God is not come to perfection in this life it is not come to its height by a Thousand degrees yet there is such an impression of love to God upon the heart of a Believer and amongst other things for his wonderful dispensation of grace in Christ that he thinks and well he may that he can never love and prayse the holy Lord as he should do And sometimes it may be his heart waxes hot and this fire of love to God burneth and flameth in him and he can cry out to this effect Oh O Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth and thy glory is above the heavens Look Look O my soul upon this great King the King of glory the King eternal and immortal and admire him and love him for ever O thou infinite goodness O thou Fountain of Life wilt thou vouchsafe to be loved of me O thy condiscention thy condiscention that thou wilt not account it presumption for me to love thee such a poor worm as I am so vile and sinful O blessed Lord if I may love thee then O my base unworthiness that I love thee no more O love love flame out flame out here is thy right object this is he that is to be loved with all my heart with all my Soul with all my might and with all my strength here is infinite power here is infinite wisdom here is infinite holiness here is infinite mercy more love more more love for the holy and blessed lord what shall I love him no more O my soul are thy faculties enlarged to love as far as a poor finite creature is capable to love O my soul love as Jehovah is to be loved love suitably to the Object thou art now set upon love not as if thou wert loving a creature love not at such a poor and low rate but love as one that is loving an infinite and glorious God love as one that is loving him that is love it self and hath manifested it in sending his only begotten Son into the world to save sinners O what manner of love was this and O with what manner of love should this blessed God be loved O Lord thou art above all love above all praise O that ever I have loved any thing else besides thee when there was thy self to love O that ever I should love such a vile thing as sin and such a poor trifle as the world is Lord now set my love right put my heart into the highest pitch of love to thee that poor clay is capable of and there hold me to eternity Thus possibly a poor Believer may sometimes finde his heart raysed to God in love and delight in him however there is a rooted grounded setled affection in the soul of a Believer to God so that he doth not only see reason why he should love God but it is his desire to love him and delight in him above all things though the actings of this love may be much kept down by manisold temptations and by the opposition of the flesh as the actings of other graces in us are also 2. Hating of sin because God hates it because it is displeasing to him is a signe of love to God ye that love the Lord hate evil Psal 97.10 it is not onely their duty to do so but in some measure it is so with every Child of God Though after conversion sin doth yet remain it is hated and abhorred so that it is in the heart to say O Sin what dost thou here thou art not onely my greatest enemy but thou art an enemy to that holy and blessed God whom my soul loveth O when shall I be rid of thee time was when thou and I were all one we were wedded together but now I see it was an unlawful marriage I was to be for the Lord and not for another therefore I will love thee no more O if it be so that thou wilt not leave me till death us do part I wait for that good hour when the Lord will take me to himself that so I may be freed from thee wholly and for ever and be with my heavenly Head and husband 3. Love to the Saints is a sign of love to God he that saith he loveth God and hateth his Brother is a lyar he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 John 4.20 He that loveth not the Image of God in grace and holiness which he seeth in his people how can he love God whom in his glorious essence he hath not seen An universal love to all in whom we see the grace of Christ is a certain sign of our love to God so that one that truly loves God can in some measure appeal to God to this effect O Lord however I have hated thy people in time past and my heart hath secretly risen against them for the good that was in them yet since thou hast been pleased to turn me from darkness to light I make an high account of thy people I look upon them as the excellent on the earth I am troubled that I love them no more and that I can do no more for them I love them not meerly because they are of my judgment in some lesser points but I love them because they fear and love thee because they repent of their sinning against thee and believe on thy Son and desire to walk so as to please thee so far as thou art pleased to give them the knowledge of thy will My heart is knit to them whose hearts are knit to Christ who cleave in their hearts to that one Mediatour that one Offering that one Sacrifice for sins for ever so far as they manifest this they are dear to me they must needs be precious to me to whom Christ is precious And though because of some errours and mistakes that in my poor thoughts I may judge some of them to be in I cannot comfortably joyn with such in some things yet O Lord thou that knowest all things knowest that I love them and though through passion and ignorance and misguided zeal I may carry it unscemly sometimes to some of thy servants and have a hand in their troubles and sufferings as it is possible for the Saints
will forbid the oldest Sinner to come to Christ If they do not flatter God with their lips and feign themselves to be Saints but are indeed born again though they be old they shall enter into the Kingdom of God It is true elder persons that are unconverted are more habituated to sin and usually more prejudiced against the power of Religion then those that are younger but they have more sins to humble them and shew them their need of Christ if the Lord please to give them a sight and sense of them God is pleased to convert some that were the most unlikely to find mercy every way very ignorant very profane and now waxen old also who would have said or thought that such should ever have turned to the Lord But is any thing too hard for God wonders of grace are the greatest wonders that God doth and will be the most admired to Eternity If any shall enquire further concerning these things and ask whether God doth convert any now a-days towards the very end of their lives upon their Death-beds or in a dying hour I answer that although none should presume upon this and think there is time enough yet to repent and turn to God yet surely that famous instance of the conversion of the Thief upon the Cross in a dying-hour is recorded for an encouragement of all such as hereafter come to be sensible of their sins though very late that they should not say there is no hope and that therefore they will not have a thought of looking after pardon in Christ but that they may see that for ought they know there is a maybe of mercy yet We must not say that conversion was never wrought in any in a dying-hour besides this Thief upon the Cross 't is not ordinary indeed for usually as men live so they die those that lived in gross ignorance and profaneness usually die so even die like spiritual fools without sense of sin without making out after union with Christ and without any serious consideration of that eternity of happiness or misery to which they are going but God may work much upon some very near their deaths that were very ignorant and vile before that while men are on this side Hell and the Gulf is not fixed between them and salvation how vile so ever they have been all their days let none take away all incouragement from them to repent and come to Christ Indeed it is a difficult thing and requires much of the wisdom from above in a godly Minister or Christian who it may be now is sent for to come and discourse with and pray with an ignorant profane sick and dying person that hated and scoffed all such in times past when the thoughts of death were far from them to know how to speak to such so as neither to bolster them up in their ignorance and carnal presumption nor to hide the Gospel and the way to the City of refuge from them One that duly weighs all things will find this a hard task indeed Those that being called to sick and dying persons can upon meer formalities at an adventure though they be never so ignorant and wicked assure them that all is well and that they have but a little bodily pain to grapple with and so to go to Heaven make easie work of it But O for one that knows and considers that few are saved and that except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God and that understands that this sick-dying-person hath been very ignorant and hath lived without God in the world to know how to speak rightly to such requires much heavenly wisdom The visitation of sick and dying persons is upon many accounts a harder work to perform after a right manner then most are aware of and especially if those persons be ignorant and profane that we are called to visit Very dangerous is the case of those that are near a dying hour and are yet unconverted there is but a step between them and Hell O if they were sensible of it what trembling would take hold of them but if yet at last the Lord will work grace in them and say they shall not go down to the Infernal Pit though they are so near it I have found a ransom let none envy the grace of God to them Let none from what hath been said take heart to go on in their ignorance and profaneness in their health and strength and think all may be well at last what if now and then a Malefactour hath his Pardon come when he is upon the Ladder and the Rope about his Neck and he ready to be turned off for one such are not many scores executed and put to death If it were but for the life of your body you would be loath to trust to that but men are most careless of their Souls and though there be a Pardon-Office set up in Christ yet few look after it in their youth and health and strength but think their Pardon will come soon enough to save them from Hell it may do so it is well if it do But O bold sinner thou run'st a mighty hazard what if this Pardon never come What if God say Take him Justice take him Devils take him Hell I will shew him no mercy How we may know we are CONVERTED CHAP. VII Of the way how we may know that we are Converted and passed from Death to Life VVHen a Soul is truly Converted then his state is safe for Eternity If one that is converted should die presently after as did the penitent Thief upon the Cross he is as sure to go to Heaven as if he had lived never so long to serve Christ and to suffer for his Name in the world for in the instant of our Conversion we receive Christ by whom we are justified and we receive his Spirit which shall be in us for ever But whether we are to die soon or to abide many days in this world after our conversion it is very desirable to know this happy change that God hath made of our condition for the more assurance we have that God hath called us into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord the more we shall love God praise God rejoyce in God the more patient in afflictions the more willing to bear the Cross the more desirous to depart and to be with Christ And in a word the clearer our union with Christ is to us the more sweet and easie will all the duties of Religion be to us and the more holy and fruitful shall we be in our whole course and that from a principle of Gospel ingenuity and gratitude We shall be the more constrained by the love of Christ to live to him when we know and are assured he hath died for us and as a fruit of his death hath drawn us unto himself Those that would have them that are in Christ to be always in suspense and stand in doubt