weeps then for whom he weeps it was for Jerusalem who had slighted and forsaken her own mercies out-lived the day of her Peace and was now under a double sentence of Death viz Spirituall and Temporall and although Jerusalem rejoyced in her prosperity yet he that saw what was written over her head drops these few words interrupted and broken through abundance of tears to shew that the ruine and miserie of Her and of poor sinners goes near his heart Many things have been proposed and handled from these words which I shall not now touch I purpose to mention now no more of that which hath been spoken from them then will serve as an Appendix to the fore-going Discourse I shal draw up all that I intend in these three Propositions 1 That the Lord does afford men under the Gospel day or time to make and secure their peace with him 2 That this is very uncertain as to us and unknown but it often determines and ends whilst the meanes of Grace do continue amongst us 3 When this day is past and over peace and the things of peace are hid from the soul These three Propositions are built upon these three things which lye clear in the text 1. Israel had a day 2. This day was now past and gone yet the means continued the Gospel was not yet carried away 3. Notwithstanding they had the meanes yet peace was hid from their eyes For the First of these I shall prove First that God does give men a day wherein they have more advantage then at other times to secure their everlasting peace and interests Secondly I shall come to enquire wherein this day does consist That men have a particular day is easie to discern from hence that the Lord is so oft urging sinners in Scripture not to let slip the golden time wch he cals the acceptable day or day of Salvation see what use the Apostle makes of this Heb. 3.7 13 15. Does not the Author speak there as if Salvation did depend upon the improvement of a day Does he not strongly intimate unto them that there was no way to prevent their future ruine but to be careful of their present day And the Holy Ghost declares the same truth to the same intent by the Prophet Isai 55.6 Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near That exhortation is prest by these two motives First That although the Lord was now to be found yet there might be a time when he would not be found Secondly That he might be farther off from them then now he was they would find him at another time as it were out of hearing See what use the Saints have made and what notice they have taken of this Psalm 69.13 My prayer saies David is to thee in an acceptable time He that was resolved to take all advantages in his addresse to God knew wel enough that this nick of time was none of the least God loves those who take the first opportunity whether it be the morning of the day as Psalm 63.1 or the morning of life which is youth Eccles 12.1 or the morning of the means who imbrace the first tenders of Christ which are made unto them as those who were called at the first hour Further see what notice the Lord takes of this when he answers Christ in this manner Isai 49.8 In an acceptable time have I heard thee in a day of salvation have I helped thee As if he should have said Thou speedest wel because thou comest in a good hour in the season of Grace when I was in the vein to shew mercy God hath his day of salvation and his time of hearing and if you wil have it you must come in the nick of time You know Petitioners must wait their opportunities they must come in seasonable hours or else they are lke to miscarry This may in general serve to prove that there is such a priviledged day I shal now open the particulars of it I shal shew you many helps and advantages that many men now have who shal perish and many have had who are now in Hell First They have the Gospel preacht amongst them which is the word of Reconciliation 2 Corinth 5.20 Jesus Christ who is the Mediator betwixt God and Man is declared and the way to Life and Salvation by him is preached plainly that there is no other name given under Heaven c. Acts 4.12 It is and hath been often told them that if they wil believe they shal receive remission of sins Act. 10.43 but if not they shall dye in their sins John 3.18 Secondly As Christ is and hath been preacht amongst such persons so he is and hath been preacht without any difference or respect of persons there is no difference put betwixt noble and ignoble rich and poor strong and weak wise and foolish yea no difference betwixt sinners as to the degrees of sin great or smal from the least to the chiefest of sinners The Gospel hath been or is offered so to men that nothing can exclude them from the benefit of it unlesse they exclude themselves by rejecting of it And that I may make this plain consider 1 They have the same conditions laid down which others have and had who are now in Heaven God did not prescribe harder termes to the one then to the other Believe and repent were the termes which one refused and the other embraced Secondly They have the same promises to encourage them which drew them to Christ who are now in his bosome I do not say that they took the same encouragement from such promises how many souls hath that promise drawn to Christ John â— 37 He that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out and is not this promise in thy book also How many souls have ventured upon Christ from the support which they had by that word Isai 42 3. He shall not break the bruised reede nor quench the smoaking flax And is not this a word for thee if thou hadst any will at all to come to Christ How many hath that word drawn to Christ which we find Isai 55.1 2. yea such as could apprehend no good at all in themselves who upon this word have gone without money in their hand as boldly as if they had not gone to begg but to buy And have not all these things been spread before many who are now in hel to perswade them to look toward Christ It must needs be said that the reason why such came not to Christ was not because they had no encouragement but because they had no mind to come Thirdly They have or had the same ground to believe that those had who believed to the saving of their souls they had the truth and faithfulness of God which is the ground and reason of every ones believing The faith of the Gospel is not a believing that God hath particularly elected thee to eternal life or that Christ
this and you have many hindrances and lesse helps then others Therefore not many rich c. Secondly To poor you have a day too although not to be rich and honourable yet to be happy if you neglect it not It is a word of exhortation to you al to old ones you have spent a great deal of time and what provision have you made for Eternitie If your day be not over yet you cannot expect that yours will last long you cannot expect to enjoy many daies in the flesh and if this be a truth which you have heard from the Word you are in a great deal of danger and it is high time for you to awake 2 It speaks also to you that are Young ones and bless your selves in the prime of your daies beginning of your strength it speaks to you in that of the Wise-man Ec. 12 1. Remember now thy Creator Do not say In my old Age no but do it in thy Youth nor yet I wil do it in my Youth but not yet but set about it now I say to thee as Christ did to Judas What thou doest do it quickly Do not say Thy Years are but few yet and thy daies are but begun for ought thou knowest the day of Grace may be almost done although the daies of thy life are but begun this Gospel-day is nearer to an end then thou art aware of thou hast no assurance of life but much lesse assurance of this if You didst believe this how would it rouse up your spirits and provoke you to take heed of every opportunity for your souls 5. If it be so then take heed of slighting convictions and the struglings of conscience for these are the critical times of your lives then you are near to making or marring now is the time or never And although thou art called to be serious t all times yet more especially now thy eternal happinesse lies at the stake and when God begins to struggle with thee it will be seen in a short time whether thou wilt be eternally happy or miserable This part of thy life is like to those Critical days which Physitians observe when either the Disease abates and breaks or kills So now either thou wilt grow better or worse after this either the day will break and darknesse will fly away and scatter or else the night will begirt thee and thy darkness will be much blacker then it was Have a care therefore all you who come to the Ordinance and finde any stirrings upon your Consciences lest you neglect this time First Because now God is near unto you I may draw an exhortation out of the Apostles words Acts 17.27 Now feel after God if happily you may finde him for he is not farre from you he is now with you and in you by his enlightning and convincing power now is the time if ever for such a word to take place as we have Isa 55.6 Seek him whiles he may bee found If ever God were neare you in a way of mercy it is now he is not only near you by his Gospel but in it he comes in it and with it he sends the spirit with the Word if thou doest flight these motions thou mayest never find him so near thee if he once go out of his Word and leave thee without a convincing light and power he then will go further and further from you and then wee may say Woe to you when God is departed from you Hos 9.12 This is one of the first steps of Gods forsaking Souls when he forsakes the Word under which they sit and it is in order to that dreadfull sentence Matth. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed c. O therefore as you would not hear that dreadfull Sentence then fear it now lose God now and thou art like to lose him for ever But if thou wouldest keep him now and possesse him then so keep and cherish his Convictions take heed of slighting these for it is a slighting of God and if thou slight him while he is near thee thou wilt drive him further off quickly Be more careful now then ever because the day spends apace it hastens away more then ever you know when the sun comes at the highest he declines apace when the days are at their length they do shorten quickly when it is noon the sun hastens to his bed This time of Gods stirring with thee by Conviction is as thy Noon-day if thou slight that thy day will decline apace it will not be long ere it be night therefore while it is not only day but noon-day work for there is but a little time betwixt Noon and Night Nay let me tell thee thy day of Grace is not like the Natural day or year You know that the sun is as long descending as ascending and therefore the after-noon is as long as the fore-noon But it will not be so with thee thou mayest have a long morning and a short noon and a speedy night It may be long ere God does begin to strive with thee he may let thee live twenty thirty or forty years before he comes thus near thee all this while is but as thy fore-noon and then he may come near thy Conscience This is the noon of thy day and here he may continue strugling with thee for a year a month a week a day nay perhaps but one hour as with Felix with whom God strugled but one hour in one Sermon and if thou wilt not now hear the night shall gather upon thee and thou shall be shut up under darkness God wil resolve to struggle but a little while and he will not be so long in departing as he was in coming but if noon be past night comes suddenly he may be long a coming but quickly gone from thee 3 Be more careful now because God proportions the length of our day to the clearnesse of the means which thou enjoyest and to the strength of thy Convictions If God give men lettle means then he allows them the more time if he gives them more means he gives them the lesse time for this great work I do believe that under the Law when things were dark and in former days when the Gospel was but little preacht to what now it is God did give men a longer and larger space for Repentance then he does now Matth. 3.10 he waited longer upon sinners then now he does or will And as he proportions to the means so to our Convictions If he do strive much with a Soul and cause Convictions to fal thick and strong upon it it is an Argument that he intends to contend but a little while with that soul if he slight them He will speedly convert that Soul or harden it As we see in Felix God did strive but a little while but it was in a notable way he made him tremble but we do not find that he did strive any more after that fit was over We see something of this in
dyed for thee in particular But it is a believing that God is â—ue and that the Record which he hath given of his Son is true From hence we have this expression John 3.33 He that believeth hath put to his seal that God is true And unbelief is described notably 1 John 5.10 He that beleeveth not maketh God a lyar Not that a Beleever cannot know and believe his interest particularly in the death of Christ or be certain of Election but the Gospel cals upon us to prove these things and infer them by reason and experience Yet here ye must not think that Faith lies only in assent of the understanding only but also in the consent of the Will I speak here of it only as it respects the former How do many content themselves with giving a general assent to the truth of the word of God and yet they deny the great and main truths of it and make God a lyar in the great things which he hath spoken concerning eternal life Many men pretend that the reason why they stir no more for salvation is because they know not whether they are elected or not or whether Christ dyed for them or not But alas there is something else really at the botttom They beleeve not the Record which God hath given of his Son If they did believe what God hath spoken concerning mens natural and spiritual estates concerning Christ and sinne Heaven and Hell they would look about them But although these men beleeve not yet it will appeare that this foundation was laid for them also even the truth and faithfullness of God into which the faith of all the Lords people shall bee resolved God proposed such termes of eternall life annext a promise to them The Elect closed with these terms and relyed on the truth of God to make the promise good and was not the truth of God engaged as much to the one as to the other in case they had rested on it Fourthly They have and enjoy the same means God preaches to them by the same messengers he does not send one wiser and more learned or more holy to preach to those who are or shall be saved and one weake and insufficient or less convincing to preach to those who perish But they often heare the same word together from the same person Christ bids his Disciples enter into the house where the Son of Man was not as well as in to the house where he was Luk. 16.5 6. and Christ wrought the same works before the Pharisees that he did before the Disciples Fifthly the Gospel in offering Christ unto thee says nothing of Election makes no difference betwixt elected not elected It speaks not to the Elect as Elect but as fallen as sinners as poor lost undone creatures and so it speaks to thee and to all The Gospel says nothing to thee of election until thou hast past over the first work of Beleeving and if thou art not elected yet this cannot properly be a reason of thy rejecting Christ for the Gospel made no difference betwixt thee and Elect ones in offering Christ unto thee Secondly neither didst thou consider thy Non-Election in thy rejecting Christ Who told thee that thou wert not Elected Nay thirdly Thou didst think that thou wert Elected and yet didst not look after Christ Sixthly They have such termes proposed that if they did come up to them they should be saved Although the Lord hath purposed not to â—ave some men yet we must not conceive that God wills that they should not be saved upon any termes he wills their salvation so far as they will the terms of salvation If they would comply with the way and meanes which he hath proposed and prescribed i.e. Beleeve repent they should be saved upon such terms as these God wills every mans salvation Revel 22.17 And let him that will come if he will come up to the termes of Christ he shal have of the waters of life whoever he be There is a great difference betwixt Gods willing mans salvation upon Gospel termes and his Electing men unto salvation For whom he Elects he absolutely determines to save out of the good pleasure of his will He appoints the meanes as well as the end he resolves to give faith and Repentance to such to incline their hearts and to convert them to himself Thus he wills the salvation of the Elect. But he wills the salvation of all men otherwise viz. upon such and such termes If they wil make use of such meanes as he gives them and come up to his termes they shall be saved otherwise not Nay he gives them so much as to leave them inexcusable at the last day and to make it evident that he wil'd their salvation more then they did It wil be then clear that had many men will'd their salvations upon those terms which the Lord did they had been saved Quest But how does that appear Answ Thus God was willing to give thee salvation if thou wouldest turn to him But thou didst never will it upon such termes Mat. 13.14 15. Thou wert willing to be saved but it was if thou mightest keep thy old Lusts still thou wouldst not buy salvation at so dear a rate as Conversion So that we may say that the reason why many a man is not saved is not because God would not but because they would not There were termes proposed by the Lord and there was nothing that parted the Lord and them but their wills As in the case of the young man in the Gospel whose estate parted Christ and him Was it not his wil that undid him Dare any say that if he had come up to the termes of Christ he had not been saved Christ made him a firm promise upon a condition which only parted Christ and him Mat. 19.21 And what was it that undid Israel Psalm 81.13 Oh that Israel had walked in my wayes c. Did Israel suffer because God was not willing to bless and prosper them Surely no But because Israel did not seek it in the way which God was willing to bestow it Had they will'd their peace in the way that the Lord will'd it they had had it And so in the Text did wicked men wil their own salvation as the Lord does they should be saved Seventhly They have some inward meanes and helps to make their day of peace the cleerer The Spirit of God does strive with them in his word and works and sollicites their return but they will not obey it Gen. 6.3 Thus the Lord strove with the old world until he was weary This was it which Stephen charged upon the Jews Acts 7.51 Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost To this we may add that of 1 Pet. 3.18 19. God did not onely preach by Noah whilst he was preparing the Arke but by his Spirit also convincing them of sinne and warning them to repent Now that you may see how farre the Lords affords inward meanes
but would not much of the vanity of our spirits and the formality of our hearts be beaten down if we could but set the glory of the Lord this day before us if we did consider with whom we have to do in Worship would it not advise us to seriousness in our addresses to him surely it would be a curbe and check to the vanity of mens spirits which doth now wonderfully encrease through the neglect of a due and serious remembring of the Lord. Secondly It would much help forward the fear of the Lord by humbling and abasing of us before him Humiliation is the very ground work of holiness here and as this work thrives in the Soul so doth the work of Sanctification prosper in and upon us therefore whatsoever doth conduce to the perfecting or advancing the work of humiliation in the Soul must needs help forward the true fear of the Lord and the work of Sanctification but there is nothing that doth more naturally humble the Soul then a true sight of God This we may see Isa 6.5 Then said I Woe is me because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts And in Job 42.5 6. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor my self in dust and ashes We see how one glance of God did work upon them how much more would a continual frame of beholding God in his glory and as he hath been presented bring creatures down to lie in the dust O therefore if you would have much of the power of Sanctification study the Soul humbling and abasing Truths and Attributes of God it is a seasonable advice to our times Thirdly it crucifieth the World and keeps that alwaies under a cloud before us and how necessary this is to the furthering of the fear of the Lord let those speak who have much to do in the world and any thing to do with their own hearts they shal find that the faster the world dies to them the more they shall live to God The soul never thrives better in Spiritual things then when the world and the glory of it is vailed to it for then the affections have liberty to Spiritual things and the World hath lesse influence upon them now this serious consideration of God helps on these two waies 1 By drawing our hearts to look through the Creature unto God Or 2 By directing us to look down from God upon the Creature If we take it the first way then it crucifieth the World by leading the Soul through the visible to the invisible glory of God Rom. 1 20. For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead it suffers not the Soul to stick and loyter in the surface of any created glory but it strives to comprehend him who fils this and that Creature with his glory The Soul useth the Creature as a man useth a pair of Spectacles to look through them and he is not busie eying them though he looks steadily upon them but he is taken up in eying the letters and words and things which he discerns through them this is the true use of the Creature to look through it and not to be bounded and terminated in it and the Soul that sets the Lord much before him learns thus to pass through every thing unto the Lord who is the center of his thoughts and by doing so the affections are fixed with the glory of God and it takes little notice of the Creature which it passes by having a more excellent object in his eye If we consider it in the second way propounded then it crucifieth the world thus it looks down from the Lord to the Creature and so it beholds it at a disadvantage and this view of the Creature either lessens it or darkens it as we see if a man behold any thing from the top of some high Tower it seems very smal to him what it doth to him that stands level with it so it is with men that converse with God and walk with God they behold the Creature afar off and much beneath them and they seem not so bigg to them as they do to those who stand upon the earth for by this means the Creature is darkned as we find by example That if a man looks steadily on the Sun he shal find a mist upon every thing that he beholds immediatly after so let a Soul that hath been contemplating and considering the goodness and glory of God take a view presently of the Creature and how cloudy and misty wil it appear Fourthly It stirs up choise breathings and longings after God and the enjoyment of him the Soul by lying on God in Christ begins to see him as the only desirable one the choise good the suitable and the satisfying good and from hence proceeds choise breathings after him see one of these Psalm 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple Here was one that was enamoured after God and his wayes he had seen so much of the beauty and excellency of God that he was wonderfully taken with it and would wish to spend all his days in the beholding of it this frame we finde the Disciples in when they had but a glance of the glory of Christ Matthew 17.4 Master it is good for us to be here and these experiences beget choise breathings David would spend al his time not only in beholding but enquiring also beauty discovered begets breathings suitable to discoveries The more God is seen the more desired he did not dream of a contemplative life as some doe wherein we should be onely busied in beholding and be freed from enquiring he desired no such perfection We do not finde so many choyce breathings of any of the Saints recorded as of David and indeed there is enough spoken of him to testifie him to be a man of the choycest affections and one reason of this was as I shall afterward shew you from hence he was a constant eyer of God he was still in his thoughts from hence did so many sweet breathings flow see a few of them Psal 42.1 2. As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God my soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God! There is panting and thirsting after God yet hee goes higher in his affections Psalm 84.2 he longeth yea even fainteth and yet he exceeds Psalm 119.20 My soul breaketh for the longings that it hath unto thy Judgements What manner of breathings were these after the Lord and after his ways
word that cometh out of our lips Prover 15.2 3. The tongue of the wise man useth knowledge aright but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishnesse The eys of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good hee is advising to a discreet and wise ordering of words not only to speak according to knowledge but also according to discretion to do and speak every thing and word seasonably and suitably and to edification and this he urges from this Thou art under the eye of the Lord and what sad effects the want of this consideration hath brought forth let the Scripture beside our sad experience declare Hear what account David gives of this Psalm 10.11 He hath said in his heart God hath forgotten hee hideth his face hee will never see it Hee rips open the heart of the wicked and shews the reason of his practical wickedness We have the very sinews of sin that strengthen the hands of wicked men They slay the widow and the stranger and murther the fatherlesse yet say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it If thou wouldest therefore be found walking in an even path and avoid the steps of the wicked keep thine eys upon God and that thou mayest do this First Consider that God will eye thee whether thou eyest him or no it s the commendation of a picture when it is drawn so that the eye of it is upon thee wheresoever thou standest to behold it the Image of God is rightly drawn upon thy soul when thou seest his eye is alwaies towards thee Secondly Consider that thou livest no longer then whilst thou art present with God and God with thee whilst thou walkest without God in thine eye thou liest under a cloud and a damp is upon thy spirit coldness and deadness must needs seize uâ—on thy heart when it is withdrawn from the eye of the sun Psal 16 11. Thou wilt show me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore As the Epicure said A man doth live onely whilst he doth enjoy his pleasure So may I say Thou dost live no longer then thou art with God See what the Apostle sayes of such as are strangers to the life of God they have a name to live but are dead or if thou art not altogether dead yet thou livest only in the root as the tree doth in winter when the leaves and fruit fail who can tell whether it be alive or dead there is little difference between a dead one and that So indeed it is with the people of God whilst they neglect this great duty there is little difference betwixt carnal people and them Thirdly Consider how thou art engaged to this duty as thou professest thy self a Christian it is thy duty as a Professor to walk as Christ walked He that saith he abideth in him ought himselfe also to walk even as he walked 1 Joh. 2.6 If thou wouldest know how he walked consult with Psal 16.8 I have set the Lord alway before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved And if you doubt whether this be meant of Christ or not see Act. 2.25 For David speaketh concerning him I foresaw the Lord alway before my face for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved You see the fruit which is from hence stability in the ways of God therefore he had assurance that he should not be moved Fourthly Consider this was Davids frame and therefore not onely imitable but attainable also Psalm 25 15. Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord Psalm 139.17 18. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me O God! how great is the summ of them If I should count them they are more then the sands when I awake I am still with thee Why should not this engage us and encourage us to endeavour this thing seeing that the Saints of old have attained unto it why should we not go and do likewise Fifthly Consider such a frame of spirit is very dear unto the Lord and a People that so live are very precious unto him he sets much by such a people who carry him much in their eye Mal. 3.16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name God will be sure to think upon those for good who think much upon him the Lord enters their names upon the List for preservation takes special notice of them Not that we should think that the Lord hath any need of a Register to keep things in remembrance but that the Lord might hereby speaking after the manner of men give his people good assurance that they should not be forgotten by him that whoever were neglected in an evil day these should be provided for these are his Jewels as he calls them Now we know if a house be on fire a man will run and catch the Jewels that he hath in his house or the Children that he hath and save them from the flames Thus will God save his precious ones Oh here you may see how good it is to have God in our thoughts for one thought of him shall not be lost God will not only cause their prayers to return into their bosoms but their thoughts shall come home at such a time Sixthly Consider such a frame will bee very sweet unto thee thou wilt find it at present a very choice frame of spirit to have God much before thee David found sweet refreshments here when he could not find any comfort from any visible thing he then had it in his thoughts within him Psa 94.19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soule Psalm 139.17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me O God! how great is the sum of them David seems to be ravished with the sweetnesse of the thoughts of his heart he does as it were travel with a desire to expresse that sweetnesse which he found in the very thoughts of God and because they were inexpressible he propounds this in a question to the Lord who only was able to give an answer How precious are thy thoughts O God! The worldlings thoughts or the wantons thoughts or the voluptuous mans thoughts are not cannot bee half so sweet unto him as the thoughts of God are to a soul that sincerely converseth with him Seventhly Consider that the more thou conversest with God the sweeter will his name and waies be unto thee when thou hast once made entrance into this duty and hast tasted the sweetnesse of it thou wilt not know where or when to end David speaking in commendation of the ways of God hath this expression I know no end therof And in that Psa 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandment is exceeding
Reason 9. There is a promise to those that seek the Lord early but there is none to those that seek him late mistake me not I would not weaken the hands of any if God move any old sinner to look after Christ I do not say but that there is a promise for them that return at whatsoever time it be a promise to him as a seeker but not a particular promise to him as a late seeker But there is a promise particularly to the early seeker Prov. 8.7 They that seek me early shall finde me And from hence the Apostle presses men to take hold of the opportunity Heb. 3.7.13 And to day if you will hear his voice but exhort one another dayly while it is called to day least any of you be hardned through the deceitfullnesse of sin and the Prophet presses the very same Isa 55.6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near the Lord is near thee in the Promise and especially to you young ones because he is near you in the particular Promise whereas he is near others but in the general promise O therefore be perswaded to seek him whilst he is thus near to you Use of Caution to young ones not to lose this time for we may say of youth as David says of the Soul What shall a man give in exchange for it there is no price or ransome sufficient to redeem it from God the following days if thou were sure to enjoy them and give them up to the Lord are not a valuable consideration for thy youth nor will any time be so acceptable to God as this See how the Lord prizes youthfull affections Jer 2 2.3 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying Thus saith the Lord I remember thee the kindnesse of thy youth the love of thine espousals when thou wentest after mee in a Wildernesse in a Land that was not sowen vers 3. Israel was holinesse to the Lord and the first fruits of his increase all that devour him shall offend evill shall come upon them saith the Lord. Times which may follow are either uncertain or not acceptable with God or not so advantagious to this work Joh. 9.4 I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work Night will come and then there will be no working evening will come and it will be bad working but it is good working whilst it is day whilst it is noon-day when thou hast light upon light a double light the Hebrews expresse noon by such a word that signifieth two lights All these considerations laid together may help us to draw this Conclusion Lament 2.27 It is good for a man to bear his yoke in his youth 2 To old ones who have neglected and lost this precious time of their youth O go home and mourn over this great losse the losse of your precious and choysest time of your youth go to your Closets and weep over your deceitfull delaying hearts which have cheated you so often and put so many stumbling-blocks in your ways that you have not found a time to be serious for God to this veryday You had need go and shut your doors upon you and begge earnestly of the Lord that he would accept of you at last and be very serious and never give the Lord over untill he hath given you some evidence of owning those dregs and relicks of the time and strength which Sin and Satan hath left you you have need of abundance of grace to bring you over and to accept of you when God must go in an extraordinary way of grace toward your soul Secondly Redeem the time that is lest let none of that be thrown away after the rest 1 Pet. 4.3 For the time past of our lives may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousnesse lust excesse of wine revellings banquettings and abhominable Idolatries The end of the First Part. Novv if Ever Or an APPENDIX TO The Young-mans Memento Delivered By Jo. CHISHULL At Tiverton in Devon Heb. 3.13 Exhort one another daily while it is called to day lefâ— any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Isa 55.6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is nea Printed at London by A. N. for F. Eglessield and are to be sold at his Shop at the Mary-gold in Pauls Church-yard 1657. To the Right Worshipfull Sir Coplestone Bampfield Baronet SIR I Have presented these few Sermons to you not for their shelter for a Patrons name cannot defend the Author from the censure of the Reader but for your advice Although you cannot want my counsel having injoyed many advantages above others in education of godly counsel and good Examples yet your age does seeing you are now in the day of your choices and if you need none yet I owe to your self and Family whatever may be conducible to your or to their good the engagements which former daies have layed upon me to serve the Family of Poltimore are as fresh upon me as ever and I should gladly embrace any opportunity of manifesting this The Stock of Prayers which your dear Father whose memory is precious among the Lords people hath put up for you the many Counsels which you have received from your Governours and Tutor in former and latter years with the continued Prayers Exhortations and Examples of some very near you give great hopes that you may stand up in your honoured Fathers place and with his Title and Estate inherit that interest which he had in the hearts of them that fear the Lord. If what I have tendered to you further or quicken you unto this I have my end and my joy Above all things beware of delays the danger of those you shall easily find by perusing of what follows vouchsafe to read it seriously and accept kindly as it is offered out of faithfulnesse and affection by him who is Sir Tiverton Aug. 24. 1654. Your obliged Servant Jo. Chishull Now if Ever LUKE 19.42 Saying If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes THese words are some of those which the Lord Christ sighed out when he beheld and considered the sad and lamentable condition of careless Jerusalem His speech is broken as if he had spoken out one and wept out another part of his mind but such imperfect Language serves to expresse sorrow to the life It is easie to see the heart of Christ through these Lines and you cannot but see him here to be a Man of sorrow Neither are the streams more visibe then the Fountain from whence they did arise you need not go farre to search for the Head and rise of this River look but upon the eye of Christ see where it is fixed and you shall not more easily see that he
as well as outward to many that perish I shal lay down these few particulars First He inlightens their understandings which before were wholly darkned and gives them the knowledg of many Gospel truths yea sometimes in such a manner and measure that they are able to teach and instruct others and to tel others what is to be done when yet they themselves wil not doe what they direct others unto Rom. 2.19.20 Thus Judas and Demas had such gifts and knowledg as made them for a time serviceable to others yet they served not the interest of their own souls Secondly He shews them the equity of his wayes so that he cannot but confesse that what the Lord requires is just and reasonable and so also what he threatens and yet they have no wil to do the same Rom. 1.32 The Heathens were convinced that God would judge their wayes and he would punish them with death and they could not deny the justice of this sentence How much more are many convinc'd strongly of this who live under a searching Ministry To this we may adde that of Rom. 2.18 Thou approvest of the things which are excellent God inlightens them so far that their judgements are for him though their affections are for the Devil and sin Thirdly He moves so far sometimes until he stirre up some kinde of resolutions in them and Conscience grows so hot that nothing wil quiet it but making of promises to do something in answer to such Convictions Acts 24.25 Thus Felix quieted his Conscience when it was in a flame by telling it he would hear Paul and it another time Fourthly He moves so strongly upon the heart of a sinner that he cannot be quiet unlesse he do something for the present in obedience to that word which is set close to him by the Spirit of God Thus Herod heard John Baptist and did many things Mark 6.20 Fifthly He squeezes a sweetnesse out of his wayes upon their spirits sometimes so that they are convinc'd that it is good following of God Thus the stony ground received the Word with joy Matth. 13.20 And They tasted of the heavenly gift Heb. 6.4 They had some peace in their spirits and comfort in the hope that sin was pardoned and this seemed a sweet thing to them Sixthly He gives them some taste of the powers of the World to come as Balaam had Numb 23.10 He had strange Convictions of the povvers of the World to come He â—avv that a mans happinesse did not lie in the things of this life But there vvas another life vvhich vvas principally to be cared for and look't after He knevv that the people of God had a happinesse reserved for them in that life which was more then all the pleasures of this He knevv that they vvould be the happy men vvho had feared and loved the Lord yet he loves not them although he desired their Condition He would have cursed them for wages yet he desired to be blessed with them Thus you see God goes farre to stirre those who are not saved I have now shewne you wherein a wicked mans day consisteth and how farre it does extend to outward and to inward helps and meanes whilst these things continue which I have shewed you it may be sayd It is day with them But as this day of theirs seemes to be some what cleere in respect of meanes yet it is a very uncertaine day whose length is onely known to the Lord. For he causes the Sun to rise and set at his pleasure And although wee cannot by the exactest Calculations finde out precisely how long or short this day is to particular soules yet we may lay down General Rules and make such Scripture proposals as may help men very much in judging concerning this Gospel day at least I doubt not but to shew you so much as will cleere this truth or Second Proposition That a sinners day may end whilst he injoyes the outward means of grace Sometimes the Lord brings the nigth upon a people by taking a way the means of grace wholly from them When the Sun sets it must needs be dark and if the Gospel were taken quite a way he world would be as dark as Hell But I intend not to insist upon the proofe of this I shall grant that a sinner may have all the choyce outward helps that can be injoy'd continued to him and yet this day may be over And that will appeare First Because God may withdraw the Convictions of his Spirit from him notwithstanding he injoyes the word the Lord may say as Gen 6.3 My Spirit shall strive no more with this man And alas when God hath withdrawne his Spirit from the world to what purpose is it Secondly No onely so but the Lord does hold them from seeing and understanding those things which concern their peace as he held the Disciples from knowing him whilst he talked with them so does he these men from knowing any thing savingly Rom. 11.8 10. God hath given them a Spirit of slumber c. When God hath plainly convinc'd of the truth of his Gospel and sollicited their returne by many morall perswasions and stirrings of Conscience and they will not receive the truth in the love of it He then does not onely withdraw the light which shined convincingly upon their Consciences but he dos hold their eyes from seeing or puts the truths of his Gospel into such a dress that they should mistake them Therefore sayes Christ Matth. 13.11 13. I spake to them in parables Thus says the Lord to his Word and Messengers Go and speak to such a people concerning their peace but I wil cast such a vayl upon plaine truths that they shall not understand what is plainly spoken to them for their good Compare Isai 6.9 with Isa 29.10 and tel me whether God does not take up such resolutions as this That the people who would not see at one time shal not see at another And how farre are such a people from night judge you Thirdly He sometimes hardens their hearts and makes them heavy by that word which in it self is a word of healing and softning He hath said the word shall not go forth in vaine and return empty It shal do something either as a savour of life or of death but because they have refused the word as it offers life God in just judgement makes it a killing word to them as we may see Isaiah 6.10 it is a sad thing when the Lord shoots the Gospel as poysoned arrows against the soul which wil surely kil yet this the Lord often does against such as have rejected the saving offers of it as we may see Isaiah 28.12 13. The Lord gave them line upon line and precept upon precept that they might goe and fall backward and be broken c. But the Lord never deales thus with a people but for sins against his word that he might by his word punish their disobedience to it Fourthly He delivers them
fain perswade themselves that there cannot be so much danger as is pretended in keeping this or that sin So that the reason why they see not the evil and danger of sin is because they are not willing to see They are not willing to see what surfetting and drunkennesse will cost them that they shall have hunger and thirst for them in Hell They do not willingly see what the Lust of the eyes the Lust of the flesh and the pride of life will cost them that those flames of Lust shall be turned into flames of fire They are loth to see what covetousnesse pride or oppression c. will come too and therefore they consider not the danger and nakednesse of their poor Souls And who is so blind as he that will not see Surely such a blindnesse cannot bee pleaded before the Lord When a man is corrupted in his affections it is hard to set his judgement right For such a man wil see nothing that might weaken his former opinion Thou lovest thy corruptions thy bosom lust the Word bids thee cut it off if it were a Right Hand and pluck it out if it were a Right Eye nay it bids thee do it without dâ—lay The Divel perswades thee that thou needest not be so strict thou maiest spare one Lust the Lord wil pardon thee in this one thing or if thou must cast it away it is time enough yet hereafter wil serve the turn Now although the Scripture be plain and reason tels thee that if it were possible for thee to be saved and yet to keep one Lust or that another time might serve turn to part with it yet it were the safest way to part with every Lust yea and that presently also yet the Love that thou bearest to thy Lust does blinde thee so that thou wilt see or hear nothing to the prejudice of it Thou art like the deaf Adder that stops his ear and refuses to hear Charm the Charmer never so wisely Psal 58.5 Some say of the Adder that she is deaf on one Ear and stops the other to prevent charming others say that she lays one Eare close to the earth and stops the other with her Tayl. It is true thou canst not heare But what is the Reason of it is it not because thou hast stopped thine eare And thou canst not see but is it not because thou wilt not thou hast shut thine eyes But wil this be a good plea It is observable that two Evangelists quoting that passage in Isaiah Chap. 6.9 The one says Joh. 12.40 They could not because he had blinded their eyes c. But another gives the reason of it from their unwillingness to imbrace the truth Math. 13.14 15. For their eyes they have closed c. So that laying both together It is plain that sometimes men cannot because they will not sometimes againe they cannot because God says they shall not But the second is a punishment for the first Thus farre I have shewn you what kinde of Natural abilities this doctrine supposeth in the Creature I shal adde a few things to shew you what kinde of freedome it supposeth in the wil. It supposeth that the Lord leaves the Will free I mean the wil of the Naturall man i.e. he dos not determine or incline them to Evill but leaves them to their own choice whether it be of good or evill of life or death light or darkness if he should move them to Evil that could not be true of the Apostle James 1.13 God tempteth no man to evil Therefore the Lord tels Israel that he had set life and death before them that they might choose one And the reason why men do not choose life when it is set before them rather then death is not because the wil is not free but because it is corrupted and depraved For without controversie the Wil is so farre free that what ever a man wills or chooses he does it freely the will cannot be forc'd But let me not be mistaken here as if I were pleading for that which some do make to be the liberty of the Wil. They would have the Wil of man to be free from corruption and void of Enmity to God and his ways and to stand indifferent betwixt good and evil Now I do not say that the Wil of man is not corrupted but I say that the Wil hath an Essential Freedome and this may very wel be for it may be more prone to Evil then to good through corruption and yet loose none of its Essential Liberty Consider therefore the Freedom of the Wil does not consist in an indifferency to good or evil as some would have it who place the Will of man Naturally betwixt these two without any inclination to one more then to another And indeed they who lay the whole weight of Salvation upon the Will of the Creature must prove this or they prove nothing For if mans Salvation does depend wholly upon his will as to the perfecting of it and that Wil be byassed by Natural Corruption there is great and eminent danger of such a mans miscarrying But although the Wil be left free and not determined to Evil by the Lord yet I shal shew you that there is no such freedom of Wil as many men dream of viz. Never any man did stand equally poysed betwixt good and evil First Dem. Adam in the state of Innocency had freedom of Wil if ever any had it yet he did not stand thus at an indifferency betwixt good or evil But with the liberty of his Wil he had a holy inclination to good He had a holy disposition to good yet withal a power to choose the contrary And this inclination to good was of the perfect freedom of his Wil. But if the freedom of the Wil did consist in an indifferency to good or evil then it must follow Either that Adam had not a free Wil or that Adam had not the Image of God For such an indifferency to good or evil could not consist with the Image of God For wherein was he like to God if not in his Wil And if that were inclined no more to good then evil wherein was he like to God surely he stood inclinable to good although not unchangably so that although there was a holy disposition in Adams heart to good yet this did not take away the freedom of it he willed good the more freely and for evil he had a liberty to choose it as he did being tempted Secondly Man in his fallen estate hath not such a kinde of freedome of Wil as consisteth in the indifferency of it to good or evil For besides the liberty of his wil there is corruption in it inclining and byassing it to Evil which yet he freely wils And that there is such corruption in the wil of man is plaine in that the Scripture excuses no part and principally it charges corruption upon the VVil. Nay to shew how much the VVil is inclinable to
poor souls do lie Some there are upon whose hearts the word of God hath made some impressions and they have been under some Convictions of Conscience and they have had some trouble for sin and some fears about their Eternal state But these convictions are now abated and their trouble for sin grows lesse and lesse and they come into a calm they know not how and they blesse themselves in this as if things were much better then they were But alas they see not that this is the closing up their day or of their eyes they are now quiet indeed and can sin with lesse trouble then formerly the Word comes not near them and Conscience holds her peace but this is a miserable sign of a declining soul look to it you who measure the goodnesse of your condition by the quietness and calmness of it not by your experience of the soundness of it Consider that all things were in peace and quiet whilst the strong man kept the house and that strong man is the Divel when Christ came and knock'd at the door of thy Conscience it made some disturbance and the Divel began to bustle and make a noise but so soon as Christ withdraws he lies down in his place again seeing all things safe as you know if you come to a house in the night and knock at the doors the Doggs wil bark but when the noise is over and they perceive you are gone they wil lie down in their kennels again so is it in this case when Christ comes neer unto thee and knocks by convictions and thou art awakened and seemest to offer at the ways of Christ and makest a shew of reformation then he roars upon thee and troubles thee but if he see that thou art willing to lie stil and Christ withdraw then Satan wil be quiet also and so thy convictions cease consider you that bless your selves in the cessation of convictions and checks of conscience that the night is the stillest and most silent time but it is the darkest So may this time of quiet be the night of thy soul when the former time of thy conviction was thy day And dost thou rejoyce that thy day is gone and that night is come upon thee oh if thou didst but know what thou hast lost in loosing a faithful convincing conscience thou wouldest rather sit down and mourn over thy loss then rejoice in thy peace sin prevails over thee and thou art quiet the word smites and thou feelest it not duties are neglected and thou art not troubled oh is this a peace to bless thy self in art thou joyful because quiet surely thou hast little cause But you wil say Is it not our duty to rejoice in the peace of conscience and do not the people of God do so Answ It is one thing to have peace of conscience and another thing to have quiet of conscience An enemy comes and appears before a city and gives it an alarum and perhaps he withdraws without storming of it Upon the withdrawing of the enemy there is quiet they are freed from the fears of a present storm but there is no peace concluded betwixt them and the enemy perhaps is but withdrawn to thy losse If they had come to a treaty and Articles of agreement had been drawn up and the enemy had departed upon these then they might have rejoyced in their peace but a wise man wil not say such an enemy is at peace with us onely they are quiet for the time but there is no cause to be secure concerning such a one so long as an enemy perhaps he is but stepped back to take a better advantage as we find he did with Christ he left tempting of him that he might tempt him the more dangeroussy Oh therefore enquire whether your quiet calm estate arise from the slumbring conscience or from the treaty with it and agreement Has it been harkened to and answered and pacified An enemy may sleep sometimes in his Tent and he makes no noise not because he is reconciled but because he is asleep yet a sleeping enemy is an enemy and thou mayst know it when he awakes that it had been better that he had been kept waking if thy quiet be from the sleepiness of thy conscience not from the satisfaction of it thou shalt find it had been better it had never slumbered that it wil awake like a Gyant and set upon thee with so much the more fierceness It is one thing to have troubles of conscience removed by satisfying the conscience and another thing to have them removed by searing the Conscience A man is in a Lethargie and he lies stil and feels no paine he complains not but his friends stand weeping about him because they know not whether he wil awake again or not but they weep not over one that is in a sleep because they know that rest is sweet but the other dangerous and often deadly Thus the case is with thee Thou art now quiet and Conscience smites thee not thou complainest not oh but thy godly friends and relations mourn over thee they stand by thee as a dying man Oh says one I had hopes of my Husband or my Wife or my child or my friend he or she was under some Convictions for sin and it seemed to me his eyes began to open and he strugled for life I saw an outward change for a time and I hoped it would be a real effectual work but oh my hopes are almost dead I see that conscience begins to be quiet and he begins to be careless and see how he is by little and little sliding back into his former wayes oh I am afraid he wil fal into a spirit of slumber and go to hel in it I had abundantly more hopes of his condition when he had lesse But these very souls which mourn over thee rejoyce to see another soul quiet they are glad to hear of the comforts with which God hath comforted some poor doubting souls because they see that such souls came by their peace in another way Their peace is like natural sleep to the body it refreshes their souls and they are the stronger and the more lively for God but thine is a disease and spends and weakens it God hath given them peace by sprinkling their consciences with the blood of Christ But thy peace is from the hardness and insensibleness of it thou art almost past feeling Secondly It is one thing to measure our condition by our peace and another thing to measure it by the soundness of this peace A carnal and wicked man measures his condition by the presence or absence of peace and trouble If his conscience be troubled and there be any impressions made for sin he judges that condition sad and he labours all wayes possible to take off such trouble As Felix as soon as ever the word made him tremble he sends away Paul that he might be quiet Because he does not see the good which
may follow such a trouble But a gratious heart counts his condition the better for such troubles at first and counts it a mercy that God would any way awaken him and although he lie under many fears yet he expects much good from such troubles and would not be rid of them but upon good grounds and although he doth pray constantly to be delivered from those troubles yet he would not have been without them for the world neither would he go back to his former condition though he were sure thereby to be rid of his troubles Again when a gratious soul doth get peace he doth not content himself barely with peace but he examines what manner of peace he hath gotten whether it be a holy place yea or no whether it be better then his trouble for says he although I wanted peace and I sought for that yet the Lord-knows that was not all I sought for I sought for holiness and for communion with God and f I know my heart I had rather be kept without peace in my spirit and yet close to God then come neerer to peace and to go farther off from God Therefore unless he can see his peace is a holy gratious peace accompanied with the fruits of the spirit and with communion with God it wil not please him but if the heart be carnal under trouble it is careless under a calm and so it hath freedome from the storm it is enough It is a mistake therefore when you say that the people of God do measure their conditions by the peaceableness of it No no they measure it by the goodness and soundness of the peace that they have and they suspend their joy til they have proved and tryed their peace Thirdly You mistake the peace of the soul for it does not consist in a freedom from conviction of sin nor in a cessation of the tenderness of conscience and a losse of the sense of the evil of it But it lies in the evidence of the pardon oâ— sin which is spoken in to the conscience by which it answers all objections that are brought against it For the people of God who have most of this peace have all these things yet remaining Their peace stands with all these but thine is built upon the absence and want of these As first a gracious heart hath peace yet it hath convictions of sin 1 John 1.8 If we say we have nâ— sin Nay he hath more convictions of sin then before he sees more sinne in himself then ever he saw in all his life Job 42.5 6. I have seene the Lord I abhorre my self and Ezek. 16.63 You shall be ashamed and confounded when I am pacified towards you Yes this does not break his peace because he sees sinne and pardon together and the peace does not lessen the sight of sin but makes it plainer to him But your peace is onely in the cessation of Convictions you see not sin as you did and therefore you are not troubled if thine eyes were open and thou didst see thy sinne as the people of God do it would revive thy troubles again Thy peace is false because it consisteth not with conviction if thou hadst a true peace it would heighten thy Convictions thou wouldest see more sin then ever yet thou didst and those more clearly which thou hast seen already Rom. 7.9 When the Law came sin revived and I dyed This is spoken of Paul after he had obtained the pardon of sin and he that before saw nothing blameworthy in him self saw afterwards nothing but a body of sin and death Secondly The soul may be charged for sin and yet have peace He may be charged by God as Israel is Ezek. 16. But this is to humble it It may be charged by its own conscience as Paul Rom. 7.18 19. In my flesh dwels no good thing He may be charged by Satan as we finde that he is ready to charge the people of God and tempt them to doubt of their interest But yet the soul may have an answer to all these in the blood of Christ A soul may have notwithstanding all that is alledged peace with Paul Rom. 8.33 34. and stand out and say though I am daily charged and I cannot but charge my self yet who shall condemne it is Christ that hath dyed So that you see a Believers peace consisteth with these things But thy peace is in this Time was that thou wert troubled for sinne and thou couldest not eate or drink or sleep quietly for it but now you thank God it is otherwise God began to charge thee for sin and conscience was stirred and thou wert afraid and perhaps Satan began to charge thee too For when God begins to charge for sinne to mind it of Christ Rev. 3.17 then the Devil he charges to drive the soul to despaire Jerem. 18.12 And you shal see whether the hand of God or Satan be most in the trouble by these two things whilst the trouble continues you shal know by observing whether the desires after Christ or the fears of wrath and hel are the greatest when the Trouble ends you shall know by the continuation of such desires after Christ For if Gods hand be most In such troubles for good he will keep up the soul after himself when the trouble is over But if Satans hand be principal in them then they lose all those seeming desires which they had after Christ Oh you who have lost your seeming zeal for God with your troubles of conscience Consider it is to be feared that Satan onely troubled to keep thee off from Christ he saw that God began to stir in the Word and he thought it was time for him to stirr also But when he saw that God began to cease striving with thee and thou beganst to grow cold again he ceased to trouble thee also and hence is thy quiet if Satan should but stirre again he would shake thy peace and this he would do if he saw any danger of losing thee but he knows this peace is a likelier way to hold thee then such a trouble But Gods people have a peace in despite of all his molestations A believers peace does not destroy the tenderness of his conscience nor his sensibleness of the evil of sin for he is more sensible of sin then he was before he sees the evil of it more though the danger be not so much He is sensible of the smallest sinne and there is no sin which he now does account so when he was under terrours of Conscience he looked upon his grosse sins and his feares did arise principally from them but now he looks upon his secret sins and his grief is for them So that he saies when a temptation comes how can I do this thing and sinne against God But the carnal mans peace is much built upon his insensibleness he sees the evil of sinne lesse then he did he feels Conscience lesse and conscience feels sin lesse a
for there is nothing left for the Word to take hold of Therefore Christ intimates the same thing in that Matth. 6.23 If the light in thee be darkness how great is that darkness It is the more dangerous because it is in the place and stead of light it is that which thou followest and is to guide thee therefore says Christ in Luke 11.35 Take heed that the light in thee be not darkness That man is sad who wants light but he is worse who follows a false light He that is ignorant of God and his ways and was never inlightned is miserable but more miserable is he who hath been inlightned and hath now forsaken the light of the Lord to follow the delusions of Satan and corrupt principles instead of light it is a manifest sign that Satan hath the leading of this man to perdition Thus I have shewn you the sad evidences of approaching night remember I do not speak positively and absolutely of these things I do not say when I see men fall thus and thus that their day is past but these are sad symptoms that it is even at an end When the Physitian sees the symptoms of death in the Patient he looks on him as a dead man according to the course of nature but yet hath some hopes while there is life that he may recover although he sees no reason for it from the Patient He hath perhaps seen some recovered in an unusual way and when they have been past hopes So it may be in this case although men have these spots and tokens upon them yet we dare not be positive God does go sometimes in unusual ways and beyond the common experiences of his people but we have little reason to expect such things in his dispensations God may let men go so far and fal so fouly that al his people may bestartled at it and conclude him a vessel of wrath and yet when such a soul is gone to the very borders of hell and there is nothing expected but his dropping in then may the Lord say return Christ may come at the very Midnight and it may be the darkest time of all before the breaking of the day But this is not Gods usual way so that we cannot say to this man or to that Thy day is over yet we may have such grounds and footings for our fears of some men as may seldom deceive us I cannot say that the day of Grace is past to any one of you in particular yet I am confident it is past to many here and I doubt my fears concerning some opposing hardened sinners and some Apostate professors wil appear at last to have too much footing I could wish that the day of Grace were like to be as long to you as you think it to be but I am sure out of what hath been spoken from scripture it is plain That it is a hidden uncertain and oftentimes a short day and therefore what I say to one I say to all Harden not your hearts while it is called to day and more esp cially you who by all signs and tokens seems to be near unto darkness But some poor souls may say upon the hearing of these things I fear my day is past I have had Convictions under the Word and I have made strong resolutions but I have not answered them I fear I have lost my day when I lost these Ans Art thou convinced of thy lost estate now and of thy need of Christ Are former convictions revived do they come to thy remembrance afresh and do they make fresh and ful impressions upon thy heart so that thou doest now walk under the weight and burden of sin O if God does open conscience afresh and set it a bleeding under Old and new Convictions it is a sign he hath not shut up the day it is a sign he hath not drawn away the Spirit from the Word but he hath set an edge upon it and it is like a two-edged sword it cuts on every side it enters deeper into the soul than ever it did this is a great argument that the day is not over when there is more light put into the Word for thy soul then formerly Again it is a sign that he hath not done with thee because he puts in more light and tendernesse into thy Conscience if he had wholly lest thee he would have lest the Word and Conscience and have struck the one dumb and the other blind or deaf and have put thee in a condition past feeling yet let me tell thee that notwithstanding these stirrings of Conscience thou maiest perish for these are not things to be rested upon God follows many men with convictions whom he never converts There must be more than thy Convictions to shew for Heaven for these are poor things alone and do speak thus much which is to my purpose that thou hast now an opportunity in thy hand and there is hope concerning thee because God is yet treating with thy Soul about the great affairs of Salvation 2 Art thou convinced of the evil of not listning to former Convictions Doest thou see and art sensible how great an evil it is to lose them Doest thou see into what danger thou didst run thy soul by slighting the first offers which the Lord made thee and how miserable thou hadst been if he had taken the advantage against thee to have gone away and to have returned no more with convictions of thy lost miserable estate thou mightest have been now in Hell And whereas thou art now awakened by the word thou mightst not have been awakened until thou hadst awaked there Art thou sensible of these things and art thou now able to justifie the Lord if he had denied thee the least beam of light for thy Soul here and canst thou now bless the Lord for affording thee a fresh sight and sense of thy condition this is a sign thy day is not over for such kind of workings as these are found in the hearts of the people of the Lord when they have their Consciences opened afresh after such slumbers wherein they had lost the sight and sense of their own conditions ordinarily such Souls smart for the neglect of former convictions and are humbled for not following them And they are lain down before God in acknowledging his mercy in not taking advantage against them for those things and they are much in blessing him for comming near them again in his Word although it be not in a way of comfort they bless him for convincing and awakening light canst thou do thus then thy day is not yet past 3 Does thy former loss of convictions make thee more willing now to come in to Christ and to close fully with him in al things and to labour after a serious redeeming of the time to better advantage does former carelesness lay engagements upon thy heart to future watchfulness do you say as the Apostle does 1 Pet. 4.3 The time past
may suffice to have been careless and negligent of my own soul and disobedient to the Gospel and to the checks of Conscience as for that which remains it is little enough for the great work of serving the Lord and making my Calling and Election sure Now enquire Do thy present convictions work thus do they put thee upon more close and constant pursuance of God upon endeavouring to walk close with him and to redeem time for him this carries yet more light of evidence with it that thy day is not over 4 Dost thou find a difference betwixt these convictions and those which thou hadst formerly That there is more of the stirring of the wil and affections in these than were in them There is a great difference betwixt the stirring of the conscience and the stirring of the Wil Conscience may be awakened and that may move a man strongly after reformation and the wil and affections may move him after his lusts all the while and where conscience is awakened and the Wil not changed there the Devil may steal these troubles away upon false grounds he hath many waies to quiet such mens consciences but if the Wil be moved truly toward God there is no way to quiet that but by the enjoiment of its end which is the enjoyment of God Therefore the main thing by which we should judge of the work and so of the day of Grace is this by labouring to enform our selves aright what difference there is betwixt these and former convictions and whether these be better than they or no which did die away and whether there be more of the wil and affections in these than in those we formerly had for every work is so much the better as it hath more of Wil in it which is indeed the seat of Grace Q. How shall I know whether my stirrings are of my Conscience or my Will A. I might give you many things but I touch it now but occasionallie therefore I shal confine my self to these three short directions Observe thy 1 Troubles 2 Dâ—sires 3 Endeavours First observe thy Troubles whether they be most for the sense of sin or the apprehensions of wrath if conscience be only awakened that eyes only the wrath to come and thinks of nothing else but of escaping and it takes not sin into consideration but as it is forced by the necessary connexion betwixt that and judgement but if the wil and affections be wrought over in this trouble then the greatest trouble is because of the evil of sin as it dishonours God and as it hinders the Soul from communion with God and the soul is troubled at the presence of that and studies how it may be rid of that Sin is a heavy burthen to a sanctified wil but wrath is the only burden to an intangled but not renewed conscience 2 Observe thy Desires What do they run out most after Christ or Comfort Peace or Purity if the trouble be onely a forced trouble from conscience then the Soul dos ordinarily look no farther then the present trouble and how to be rid of that it is peace that conscience looks after but if the Wil be moved that must have something else besides Peace it is not a calm wilserve the turn it must have Christ and communion with him or nothing wil satisfie 3 Look to thy endeavours when are they strongest and most vigorous and drawn out most after heaven and heavenly things in thy troubles or in thy calms I have observed some that when they have been under trouble and terrours of Conscience they would then be very stirring and seem to take much pain for Heaven but when Conscience is a little quieted they lay aside their Religion and there is no more noise of it this is a sign that their stirrings were barely from Conscience But other Souls whose wils were wrought upon as wel as their Consciences have been more active and stirring in the ways of God as they have gotten more peace and assurance of Gods love and there is a clear reason for such different effects from their quiet because quiet and peace was the thing which the inflamed Conscience sought for but the sanctified will and affections sought for another thing and although a little Peace may satisfie Conscience and take off the edge of it this will set an edge upon the affections that which calms Conscience quickens the sanctified Wil for every relish that it hath of grace or peace makes it seek for more Try your selves by these things and if you find that your Convictions are accompanied with the stirrings of the wil and affections be of good hope for thy day of grace is not over if thou hast a will for God if he strive and you grow more tender and sensible fear not to follow thy convictions and to lay hold of the Promises which suit with thy condition Let former convictions neglected humble thee but let them not discourage thee But withal take this word of advice and so I shal conclude 1 Take heed of thy Heart lest it deceive thee thou hast had such stirrings which did look like a work of grace before but they have died away be jealous of these lest they should do so also Thou knowest how subject the heart is to grow cold and to shift and put off Convictions and when it is under them how seemingly willing it is to convert and return to God how ready to make promises and vows to God and how ready to forsake all these again it hath cheated thee once already therefore watch it as a deceitful thing the way not to be deceived is to expect it or at least fear it 2 Resolve to take the more pains because thou hast lost so many precious opportunities knowing that if thou art not nearer to happiness and eternal life then other men thou art farther off and thou hadst need labour to redeem what thou hast lost 3 Beleeve not Satan who says thy day is over for he knows it not and he is a Lyar from the beginning There is abundantly more hope of thee who liest under such fears than there is of one who lies and lives in sin and says his day is not yet past Satan ordinarily tels men that the day is past when it does begin to shine upon them and he tels them who are in darkness and in the night that it is day and it is time enough for them 4 Prize thy Convictions highly and look upon it as a great Mercy that God wil at last look upon thee a poor sinner an old sinner an old slighter of convictions an old back-slider O what a mercy is it to thee that that dreadful passage is not made good upon thy soul Prov. 14.14 The back slider in heart shall be filled with his own wayes God might have said to thee when thou didst cast off Convictions at first and when thou didst back-slide from the reformation which thou didst begin Be filled with back-slidings thou shalt have thy belly ful of them thou shalt never have any more help to return O what a mercy is it that after all this he should begin to recover thee and set thee a fresh about the work of returning to Christ 5 Be much in blessing God for what he hath done that he hath vouchsafed again to visit thy Soul from on high and to stir up thee again when perhaps many that are in Hell were in thy case formerly God hath taken advantage against them for slighting the Word and Conscience and he might have done so with thee if he would have dealt exactly with thee Who is it that maketh thee to differ Is it not the Lord To him therefore be given all honour and glory and praise FINIS Reader these Books are in the Press ANthologia Biblica or a Methodical distribution of divine Scriptures under several heads which will serve for a common place Book a Concordance and a Commentary together with a Praxis discovering the manifold uses and advantages thereof in Fol. By that Reverend Divine Mr. John Clark of Fiskerton neer Lincoln A learned Comment on the Epistles of St. Paul by David Dixon translated into English by William Retchford Minister of St. Albans Englands Advancement a very useful peece of rare secrets in Physick and Chyrurgery by Tho. Collings Practitioner in Physick FINIS