their worldly business and little trouble their minds with such thoughts And if they be but restrained from scandalous sins and can say I am no whore-monger nor thief nor curser nor swearer nor tipler nor exâ—ortioner I go to Church and say my prayers they think that this is true Conversion and they shall be saved as well as any Alas this is foolish cheating of your selves This is too much contempt of an endless glory and too gross neglect of your immortal souls Can you make so light of Heaven and Hell Your corpses will shortly all lye in the dust and Angels or Devils will presently seize upon your souls and every man and woman of you all will shortly be among other company and in another case then now you are you will dwell in those houses but a little longer you will work in your shops and fields but a little longer you will sit in those seats and dwell on this earth but a little longer you will see with those eyes and hear with those ears and speak with those tongues but a little longer till the Resurrection day and can you make shift to forget this O what a place will you be shortly in of Joy or Torment O what a sight will you shortly see in Heaven or Hell O what thoughts will shortly fill your hearts with unspeakable Delight or Horrour What work will you be employed in to Praise the Lord with Saints and Angels or to cry out in fire unquenchable with Devils And should all this be forgotten And all this will be endless and sealed up by an unchangeable decree Eternity Eternity will be the measure of your Joyes or sorrows and can this be forgotten And all this is true Sirs most certain true when you have gone up and down a little longer and slept and awak't a few tunes more you 'l be dead and gone and find all true that now I tell you and yet can you now so much forget it You shall then remember that you heard this Sermon and that this day from this place you were remembered of these things and perceive them matters a thousand times greater then either you or I could here conceive and yet shall they be now so much forgotten Beloved friends if the Lord had not awakened me to believe and lay to heart these things my self I should have remained in the dark and selfish state and have perished for ever but if he have truly made me sensible of them it will constrain me to compassionate you as well as my self If your eyes were so far opened as to see Hell and you saw your neighbours that were Unconverted dragg'd thither with hideous cries though they were such as you accounted honest people on earth and feared no such matter by themselves such a sight would make you go home and think of it and think again and make you warn all about you as the damned worldling in Luke 16.28 would have had his Brethen warned lest they come to that place of torment Why faith is a kind of sight it is the eye of the soul the Evidence of things aot seen If I believe God it is next to seeing And therefore I beseech you excuse me if I be half as earnest with you about these matters as if I had seen them If I must die to morrow and it were in my power to come again from another world and tell you what I had seen would you not be willing to hear me and would you not believe and regard what I should tell you If I might preach one Sermon to you after I am dead and have seen what is done in the world to come would you not have me plainly speak the truth and would you not crowd to hear me and would you not lay it to heart but this must not be God hath his appointed way of teaching you by Scripture and Ministers and he will not humour Unbelievers so far as to send men from the dead to them and to alter his establisht way if any man quarrel with the Sun God will not humour him so far as to set him up a clearer light Friends I beseech you regard me now as you would do if I should come from the dead to you for I can give you as full assurance of the truth of what I say to you as if I had been there and seen it with my eyes For its possible for one from the dead to deceive you but Jesus Christ can never deceive you the Word of God delivered in Scripture and sealed up by the Miracles and holy workings of the Spirit can never deceive you Believe this or believe nothing Believe and obey this or you are undone Now as ever you believe the Word of God and as ever you care for the salvation of your souls let me beg of you this reasonable request and I beseech you deny me not that you would without any more delay when you are gone from hence remember what you heard and enter into an earnest search of your hearts and say to your selves Is it so indeed must I Turn or Die Must I be Converted or Condemned It s time for me then to look about me before it be too lâ—te Oh why did I not look after this till now Why did I venturously poste off or flubber over so great a business Was I awake or in my wits Oh blessed God what a mercy is it that thou didst not cut off my life all this while before I had any certain hope of eternal life Well God forbid that I should neglect this work any longer What state is my soul in Am I Câ—nverted or am I not Was ever such a change or work done upon my soul Have I been illuminated by the Word and Spirit of the Lord to see the odiousness of sin the need of a Saviour the Love of Christ and the Excellencies of God and Glory Is my heart broken or humbled within me for my former life Have I thankfully entertained my Saviour and Lord that offered himself with pardon and life to my soul Do I hate my former sinful life and the remnant of every sin that is in me Do I flie from them as my deadly enemies Do I give up my self to a life of Holiness and Obedience to God Do I love it and delight in it Can I truly say that I am dead to the world and carnal self and that I live for God and the Glory which he hath promised Haâ—h Heaven more of my Estimation and Resolution then Earth And is God the dearest and the Highest in my soul Once I am sure I lived principally to the world and flâ—sh and God had nothing but some heartless services which the world could spare and which were the leavings of the flesh Is my heart now turned another way Have I a new design and a new end and a new train of holy affectâ—ons Have I set my hopes and heart in heaven And is it now the scope and design
they would not refuse thee let the world say what they would against it And are all these ready to receive thee and yet art thou not ready to come in Yea Heaven it self is Ready the Lord will receive thee into the glory of his Saints as vile a beast as thou hast been if thou wilt but be cleansed thou maist have a place before his throne his Angels will be ready to guard thy soul to the place of Joy if thou do but unfeignedly come in And is God ready the Sacrifice of Christ Ready the Promise Ready and Pardon Ready are Ministers Ready and the People of God Ready and Heaven it self Ready and Angels Ready and all these but waiting for thy Conversion and yet art thou not Ready What not Ready to live when thou hast been dead so long not Ready to come to thy right understanding as the Prodigal is said to come to himself Luke 15.17 when thou hast been besides thy self so long Not ready to be saved when thou art even ready to be condemned Art thou not ready to lay hold on Christ that would deliver thee when thou art even ready to drown and sink into damnation Art thou not ready to be saved from Hell when thou art even ready to be cast remedilesly into it Alas man dost thou know what thou dost if thou die unconverted there is no doubt to be made of thy damnation and thou art not sure to live an hour And yet art thou not ready to turn and to come in O miserable wretch hast thou not served the flesh and the Devil long enough Yet hast thou not had enough of sin Is it so good to thee or so profitable for thee Dost thou know what it is that thou wouldst yet have more of it Hast thou had so many calls and so many mercies and so many blows and so many examples hast thou seen so many laid in the grave and yet art thou not ready to let go thy sins and come to Christ What! after so many convictions and gripes of Conscience after so many purposes and promises art thou not yet ready to turn and live Oh that thy eyes thy heart were opened to know how fair an offer is now made to thee and what a Joyful message it is that we are sent on to bid thee come for all things are ready 2. Consider also what Calls thou hast to Turn and Live How many how loud how earnest how dreadful and yet what encourageing joyful Calls For the principal Inviter it is God himself He that commandeth Heaven and Earth commandeth thee to turn and presently without delay to turn He commands the Sun to run its course and to rise upon thee every morning and though it be so glorious a creature and many times bigger then all the earth yet it obeyeth him and faileth not one minute of its appointed time He commandeth all the planets and the orbs of Heaven and they obey He commandeth the Sea to ebb and flow and the whole Creation to keep its course and all obey him The Angels of heaven obey his will when he sends them to Minister to such silly worms as we on earth Hebrews 1.14 And yet if he command but a sinner to Turn He will not obey him He only thinks himself wiser then God and He cavils and pleads the cause of sin and will not away If the Lord Almighty say the word the Heavens and all therein obey him but if he call but a drunkard out of an Ale-house he will not obey or if he call a worldly fleshly sinner to deny himself and mortifie the flesh and set his heart on a better inheritance he will not obey If thou hadst any love in thee thou wouldst know the voice and say Oh this is my Fathers Call how can I find in my heart to disobey For the sheep of Christ do know and hear his voice and they follow him and he giveth them eternal life Iohn 10.4 If thou hadst any spiritual life and sense in thee at least thou wouldst say this Call is the dreadful voice of God and who dare disobey For saith the Prophet Amos 3.8 The Lyon hath roared who will not fear God is not as man that thou shouldst dally and play with him Remember what he said to Paul at his Conversion It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks Act. 9.5 Wilt thou yet go on and despise his word and resist his Spirit and stop thine ear against his Call Who is it that will have the worst of this Dost thou know whom thou disobeyest and contendest with and what thou art doing It were a far wiser and easier task for thee to contend with the thorns and spurn them with thy bare feet and beat them with thy bare hands or put thy head into the burning fire Be not deceived God will not be mocked Galat. 6.7 Whoever else be mocked God will not you were better play with the fire in your thatch then with the fire of his burning wrath For our God is a consuming fire Hebrews 12.29 O how unmeet a match art thou for God! It is a fearful thing to fall into his hands Hebrews 10.31 and therefore it is a fearful thing to contend with him or resist him As you love your souls take heed what you do What will you say if he begin in wrath to plead with you What will you do if he take you once in hand Will you then strive against his Judgement as now you do against his grace faith the Lord Isa. 27.4 5. Fury is not in me that is I delight not to destroy you I do it as it were unwillingly but yet who would set the bryars and thorns against me in battle I would go through them I would burn them together Or let him take hold of my strength that he may make peace with me and he shâ—ll make peace with me It s an unequal combat for the bryars and stubble to make war with the fire As thus you see Who it is that calleth you that should move you to hear his Call and Turn so consider also by what instruments and how often how earnestly he doth it 1. Every leâ—f of the blessed Book of God hath as it were a voice and calls out unto thee Turn and live Turn or thou wilt die How canst thou open it and read a leaf or hear a Chapter and not perceive God bids thee Turn It is the voice of every Sermon that thou hearest For what else is the scope and drift of all but to call and perswade and intreat thee for to Turn 3. It is the voice of many a motion of the Spirit that secretly speaks over these words again and urgeth thee to Turn 4. It is likely sometime it is the voice of thy own Conscience Art thou not sometime convinced that all is not well with thee and doth not conscience tell thee that thou must be a new man and take a new course and often call upon
Well Sirs look inwards now and tell me How are your hearts affected with these offers of the Lord You hear what is his mind he delighteth not in your death he calls to you Turn turn it s a fearful sign if all this move thee not or do but half move thee and much more if it make thee more careless in thy misery because thou hearest of the mercifulness of God The working of the medicine will partly tell us whether there be any hope of the Cure O what glad tidings would it be to those that are now in Hell if they had but such a Message from God! What a joyful word would it be to hear this Turn and Live Yea what a welcome word would it be to thy self when thou hast felt that wrath of God but an hour Or if after a thousand or ten thousand years torment thou couldst but hear such a word from God Turn and Live and yet wilt thou now neglect it and suffer us to return without our errand Behold sinners we are set here as the Messengers of the Lord to set before you Life and Death What say you which of them will you choose Christ standeth as it were by thee with Heaven in one hand and Hell in the other and offereth thee thy choice which wilt thou choose The voice of the Lord maketh the Rocks to tremble Psalm 20. and is it nothing to hear him threaten thee if thou wilt not Turn Dost thou not understand and feel this voice Turn ye Turn ye Why will ye die Why it is the voice of Love of infinite Love of thy best and kindest friend as thou mightest easily perceive by the motion and yet canst thou neglect it It is the voice of pitty and compassion The Lord seeth whither thou art going better then thou dost which makes him call after thee Turn Turn He seeth what will become of thee if thou turn not He thinketh with himself Ah this poor sinner will cast himself into endless torments if he do not Turn I must in Iustice deal with him according to my righteous Law and therefore he calleth after thee Turn Turn O sinner if you did but know the thousandth part as well as God doth the danger that is near you and the misery that you are running into we should have no more need to call after you to Turn Moreover this voice that calleth to thee is the same that hath prevailed with thousands already and called all to heaven that are now there And they would not now for a thousand worlds that they had made light of it and not Turned to God Now what are they possessing that Turned at Gods Call Now they perceive that it was indeed the voice of Love that meant them no more harm then their salvation And if thou wilt obey the same Call thou shalt come to the same Happiness There be millions that must for ever lament that they Turned not but there 's never a soul in Heaven that is sorry that they were Converted Well Sirs are you yet resolved or are you not Do I need to say any more to you What will you do will you Turn or not Speak man in thy heart to God though thou speak not out to me Speak left he take thy silence for a denyal Speak quickly lest he never make thee the like offer more Speak resolvedly and not waveringly for he will have no Indifferents to be his Followers Say in thy heart now without any more delay even before thou stir hence By the Grace of God I am resolved presently to turn And because I know my own insufficiency I am resolved to wait on God for his Grace and to follow him in his ways and forsake my former courses and companions and give up my self to the guidance of the Lord. Sirs You are not shut up in the darkness of Heathenism nor in the desperation of the damned Life is before you and you may have it on reasonable terms if you will yea on free-cost if you will accept it The way of God lyeth plain before you the Church is open to you the company of the godly is open to you you may have Christ and pardon and Holiness if you will What say you Will you or will you not If you say nay or say nothing and still go on God is witness and this Congregation is witness and your own Consciences are witness how fair an offer you had this day Remember you might have had Christ and would not Remember when you have lost it that you might have had eternal Life as well as others and would not and all because you would not Turn But let us come to the next Doctrine and hear your Reasons Doct 6. The Lord condescendeth to reason the case with Vnconverted sinners and to ask them why they will die A strange Disputation it is both as to the Controversie and as to the Disputants 1. The Controversie or Question propounded to dispute of is Why wicked men will damn themselves Or Why they will rather die then Turn Whether they have any sufficient reason for so doing 2. The Disputants are God and * man the most Holy God and wicked unconverted sinners 1. Is it not a strange Thing which God doth seem here to suppose that any man should be willing to die and be damned Yea that this should be the case of all the wicked that is of the greatest part of the world but you will say This cannot be for nature desireth the preservation and felicity of it self and the wicked are more selfish then others and not less and therefore how can any man be willing to be damned To which I answer 1. It is a certain Truth that no man can be willing of any evil as evil but only as â—t hath some appearance of good much less can any man be willing to be eternally tormented Misery as such is desired by none 2. But yet for all that it is most true which God here teacheth us that the cause why the wicked die and are damned is because they will die and be damned And this is true in several respects 1. Because they will go the way that leads to Hell though they are told by God and man whether it goes and where it ends and though God hath so often professed in his word that if they hold on in that way they shall be condemned and that they shall not be saved unless they Turn Isa. 48.22 57.21 There is no Peace saith the Lord unto the wicked Isa. 59 8. The way of Peace they know not there is no Iudgement in their goings They have made them crooked paths Whosoever goeth therein shall not know Peace They have the word and the Oath of the living God for it that if they will not Turn they shall not enter into his Rest. And yet wicked they are and wicked they will be let God and man say what they will Fleshly they are and fleshly they will be
Worldlings they are and Worldlings they will be though God hath told them that the Love of the world is enmity to God and that if any man love the world in that measure the love of the Father is not in him James 4.4 1 John 2.15 so that consequentially these men are willing to be damned though not directly They are willing of the way to Hell and Love the certain cause of their torment though they be not willing of Hell it self and do not love the pain which they must endure Is not this the Truth of your case Sirs You would not burn in Hell But you will kindle the fire by your sin and cast your selves into it you would not be tormented with Devils for ever But you will do that which will certainly procure it in despite of all that can be said against it It is just as if you would say I will drink this rats-bane or other poison but yet I will not die I will cast my self headlong from the top of a steeple but yet I will not kill my self I will thrust this knife into my heart but yet I will not take away my life I will put this fire into the thatch of my house but yet I will not burn it Just so it is with wicked men they will be wicked and they will live after the flesh and the world and yet they would not be damned But do you not know that the means do lead unto the end and that God hath by his righteous Law concluded that you must repent or perish He that will take poyson may as well say plainly I will kill my self for it will prove no better in the end Though perhaps he loved it for the sweetness of the Sugar that was mixt with it and would not be perswaded that it was poyson but that he might take it and do well enough But it is not his conceits and confidence that will save his life So if you will be Drunkards or Fornicators or worldlings or live after the flesh you may as well say plainly we will be damned For so you shall be unless you Turn would you not rebuke the folly of a thief or murderer that would say I will steall and kill but I will not be hanged when he knows that if he do the one the Judge in justice will see that the other be done If he say I will steal and murder he may as well say plainly I will be hanged So if you will go on in a carnal life you may as well say plainly we will go to Hell 2. Moreover The wicked will not use those means without which there is no hope of their Salvation He that will not eat may as well say plainly he will not live unless he can tell how to live without meat He that will not go his journey may as well say plainly he will not come to the end He that falls into the water and will not come out nor suffer another to help him out may as well say plainly he will be drowned So if you be carnal and ungodly and will not be converted nor use the means by which you should be converted but think it more ado then needs you may as well say plainly you will be damned For if you have found out a way to be saved without Conversion you have done that which never was done before 3. Yea this is not all but the wicked are unwilling even of salvation it self Though they may desire somewhat which they call by the name of Heaven yet Heaven it self considered in the true nature of the felicity they desire not Yea their hearts are quite against it Heaven is a state of perfect holiness and of continual Love and Praise to God And the wicked have no heart to this The imperfect Love and Praise and holiness which is here to be attained they have no mind of Much less of that which is so much greater The joyes of Heaven are of so pure and spiritual a nature that the heart of the wicked cannot truly desire them So that by this time you may see on what ground it is that God supposeth that the wicked are willing of their own destruction They will not turn though they must Turn or die they will rather venture on certain misery then be converted and then to quiet themselves in their sin they will make themselves believe that they shall nevertheless escape 2. And as the Controversie is matter of wonder that ever men should be such enemies to themselves as wilfully to cast away their souls so are the Disputants too That God should stoop so low as thus to plead the case with man and that man should be so strangely blind and obstinate as to need all this in so plain a case yea and to resist all this when their own salvation lieth upon the issue No wonder if they will not hear us that are men when they will not hear the Lord himself As God saith Ezek. 3.7 when he sent the Prophet to the Israelites The house of Israel will not hearken unto thee For they will not hearken unto me For all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted No wonder if they can plead against a Minister or a godly Neighbour when they will plead against the Lord himself even against the plainest passages of his word and think that they have Reason on their side When they weary the Lord with their words they say wherein have we wearied him Mal. 2.17 The Priests that despised his name durst ask Wherein have we despised thy name And when they polluted his Altar and made the Table of the Lord contempâ—ible they durst say Wherein have we polluted thee Mal. 1.6 7. But Wo unto him saith the Lord that striveth with his Maker Let the Potsheards strive with the Potsheards of the earth Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it What makest thou Isa. 45.9 Quest. But why is it that God will reason the Cause with man Answ. 1. Because that man being a reasonable creature is accordingly to be dealt with and by Reason to be perswaded and overcome God hath therefore endued them with Reason that they might use it for him One would think a reasonable creature should not go against the clearest and greatest Reason in the world when it is set before him 2. At least men shall see that God did require nothing of them that was unreasonable but that whatever he commandeth them and whatever he forbiddeth them he hath all the right Reason in the world on his side and they have good Reason to obey him but none to disobey And thus even the damned shall be forced to justifie God and confess that it was but Reason that they should have turned to him and they shall be forced to condemn themselves and confess that they had little reason to cast away themselves by the neglecting of his Grace in the day of their visitation Vse LOOK up your best and strongest Reasons
Death hath draw this curtain thou shalt see that which will quickly leave thee speechless And how quickly will that day and hour come When thou hast had but a few more merry hours and but a few more pleasant draughts and morsels and a little more of the honours or riches of the world thy portion will be spent and thy pleasures ended and all is then gone that thou settest thy heart upon of all that thou soldst thy Saviour and Salvation for there 's nothing left but the heavy reckoning As a thief that sits merrily drinking the money in an Ale-house which he hath stoln when men are riding in post haste to apprehend him so is it with you While you are drowned in cares or fleshly pleasures and making merry with your own shame death is coming in post haste to seize upon you and carry your souls to such a place and state as now you little know or think of Suppose when you are hold and busie in your sin that a messenger were but coming post from London to apprehend you and take away your lives though you saw him not yet if you knew that he was coming it would marr your mirth and you would be thinking of the haste he makes and hearkning when he knocked as your door O that you could but see what haste death makes though yet it have not overtaken you No post so swift No messenger more sure As sure as the Sun will be with you in the morning though it hath many thousands and hundred thousand miles to go in the night so sure will death be quickly with you and then where is your sport and pleasure then will you jest and brave it out Then will you jear at them that warned you Then is it better to be a Believing Saint or a sensual Worldling And then whose shall all those things be that you have gathered Luke 12.19 20 21. Do you not observe that dayes and weeks are quickly gone and nights and mornings come apace and speedâ—ly succeed each other You sleep but your damnation slumbereth not You linger but your judgment this long time lingreth not 2 Pet. 2.3 4 5. to which you are reserved for punishment 2 Pet. 2.8 9. O that you were wise to understand this and that you did consider your latter end Deut. 32.29 He that hath an ear to hear let him hear the Call of God in this day of his salvation O careless sinners that you did but know the Love that you unthankfully neglect and the preciousness of the blood of Christ which you despise O that you did but know the Riches of the Gospel Oh that you did but know a little know the certainty and the glory and blessedness of that everlasting life which now you will not set your hearts upon nor be perswaded first and diligently to seek Heb. 11.6 12.28 Matth. 6.33 Did you but know the endless Life with God which you now neglect how quickly would you cast away your sin how quickly would you change your mind and life your course and company and turn the stream of your affections and lay out your care another way How resolutely would you scorn to yield to such temptations as now deceive you and carry you away How zealously would you bestir your selves for that most blessed life How earnest would you be with God in Prayer How diligent in hearing and learning and enquiring How serious in meditating on the Laws of God Psal. 1.2 How fearful of sinning in thought word or deed and how careful to please God and grow in Holiness O what a changed people you would be And why should not the certain Word of God be believed by you and prevail with you which openeth to you these glorious and eternal things Yea let me tell you that even here on earth you little know the difference between the Life which you refuse and the Life which you choose The Sanctified are conversing with God when you dare scarce think of him and when you are conversing but with earth and flesh Their Conversation is in heaven when you are utter strangers to it and your belly is your God and you are minding earthly things Phil. 3.18 19.20 They are seeking after the face of God when you seek for nothing higher then this world They are busily laying out for an endless life where they shall be equal with the Angels Luke 20.36 when you take up with a shadow and a transitory thing of nought How low and base is your earthly fleshly sinful life in comparison of the noble spiritual life of true Believers Many a time have I looked on such men with grief and pitty to see them trudge about the world and spend their lives and care and labour for nothing but a little food and rayment or a little fading pelf or fleshly pleasure or aiery honours as if they had no higher things to mind What difference is there between the lives of these men and of the beasts that perish that spend their time in working and eating and living but that they may live You taste not of the inward heavenly pleasures which Believers taste and live upon I had rather have a little of their comforts which the fore-thoughts of their Heavenly inheritance doth afford them though I had all their Scorns and Sufferings with it then to have all your pleasures and treacherous Prosperity I would not have one of your secret gripes and pangs of conscience and dark and dreadfull thoughts of death and the Life to come for all that ever the world hath done for you or all â—hat you can reasonably hope that it should do If I were in your Vnconverted Carnal state and knew but what I know and believed but what I now believe methinks my life would be a foretaste of Hell How oft should I be thinking of the Terrours of the Lord and of the dismal day that 's hasting on Sure Death and Hell would be still before me I should think of them by day and dream of them by night I should lie down in fear and rise in fear and live in fear lest death should come before I were Converted I should have small felicity in any thing that I possessed and little pleasure in any company and a little joy in any thing in the world as long as I knew my seâ—f to be under the Curse and wrath of God I should be still afraid of hearing that voice Luke 12.20 Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee And that fearfull sentence would be written upon my conscience Isa. 48.22 and 57.21 There is no Peace saith my God to the wicked O poor sinners it is a joyfuller life then this that you might live if you were but willing but truly willing to hearken to Christ and come home to God You might then draw near to God with boldness and call him your Father and comfortably trust him with your souls and bodies If you look upon Promises you may
say they are all mine If upon the curse you may say From this I am delivered When you read the Law you may see what you are saved from when you read the Gospel you may see him that Redeemed you and see the course of his Love and holy Life and sufferings and trace him in his temptations tears and blood in the work of your salvation You may see death conquered and Heaven opened and your Resurrection and Glorification provided for in the Resurrection and Glorification of your Lord. If you look on the Saints you may say They are my Brethren and Companions If on the unsanctified you may rejoyce to think that you are saved from that state If you look upon the heavens the Sun and Moon and Stars innumerable you may think and say My Fathers face is infinitely more glorious It s higher matters that he hath prepared for his Saints Yonder is but the outward Court of Heaven The blessedness that he hath promised me is so much higher that flesh and blood cannot behold it If you think of the grave you may remember that the Glorified Spirit a Living Head and a Loving Father have all so near Relation to your dust that it cannot be forgotten or neglected but will more certainly revive then the plants and flowers in the spring because that the soul is still alive that is the Root of the Body and Christ is alive that is the Root of both Even death which is the King of fears may be remembred and entertained with joy as being the day of your deliverance from the remnants of sin and sorrow and the day which you believed and hoped and waâ—ted for when you shall see the blessed things which you had heard of and shall find by present joyful experience what it was to choose the better part and to be a sincere believing Saint What say you sirs is not this a more delightfull life to be assured of Salvation and ready to die then to live as the ungodly that have their hearts overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life and so that day comes upon them unawares Luke 21.34 â—6 Might you not live a comfortable life if once you were made the Heirs of Heaven and sure to be saved when you leave the world O look about you then and think what you do and cast not away such hopes as these for very nothing The flesh and world can give you no such Hopes or Comforts And besides all the misery that you bring upon your selves you are the troublers of others as long as you are Vnconverted You trouble Magistrates to rule you by their Laws You trouble Ministers by resisting the light and guidance which they offer you Your sin and misery is the greatest grief and trouble to them in the world You trouble the Common-wealth and draw the Iudgements of God upon us It s you that most disturb the holy peace and order of the Churches and hinder our Vnion and Reformation and are the shame and trouble of the Churches where you intrude and of the places where you are Ah Lord How heavy and sad a case is this that even in England where the Gospel doth abound above any other Nation in the world where Teaching is so plain and common and all the helps we can desire are at hand when the sword hath been hewing us and Iudgement hath run as a fire through the Land when deliverances have relieved us and so many admirable mercies have engaged us to God and to the Gospel and an holy life that yet after all this our Cities and Towns and Countries should abound with multitudes of unsanctified men and swarm with so much sensuality as everywhere to our grief we see One would have thought that after all this Light and all this experience and all these Iudgements and Mercies of God the people of this Nation should have joyned together as one man to Turn to the Lord and should have come to their godly Teachers and lamented all their former sin and desired him to joyn with them in publike Humiliation to confess them openly and beg pardon of them from the Lord and should have craved his Instruction for the time to come and be glad to be Ruled by the Spirit within and the Ministers of Christ without according to the Word of God One would think that after such Reason and Scripture evidence as they hear and after all these means and mercies there should not be an ungodly persoâ— lest among us nor a worldling oâ— a drunkard or a hater of Reformation or an enemy to holiness be found in all our Towns or Countreys If we be not all agreed about some Ceremoâ—ies or Forms of Government one would think that before this We should have been all agreed to live a holy and heavenly lâ—fe in obedience to God his word and Ministers and in Love and Peace with one another But alas how far are our people from this course most of them in most places do set their hearts on earthly things and seek not first the Kingdom of God and the righteouâ—neâ—s hereof but look at holinesâ— as a needless thing Their Families are prayerless or else a few heaâ—tlâ—ss lâ—feless words must serve instead of hearty fervent daily prayers their children are not taught the knowledge of Christ and the Covenant of Grace nor brought up in the nurture of the Lord though they faâ—sly promised all this in their Baptism They instruct not their servants in the matters of salvation but so their work be done they care not There are more oaths and â—nâ—ses and ribbald or railing speeches in their families then gracious words that tend to edification How few are the Families that fear the Lord and enquire at his Word and Ministers how they should live and what they should do and are willing to be taught and ruled and that heartily look after everlasting Life And those few that God hath made so happy are commonly the by-word of their neighbours when we see some live in drunkenness and some in pride and worldliness and most of them have little care of their salvation though the cause be gross and past all controversie yet will they hardly be convinced of their misery and more hardly recovered and reformed But when we have done all that we are able to save them from their sins we leave the most of them as we find them And if according to the Law of God we cast them out of the Communion of the Church when they have obstinately rejected all our admonitions they rage at us as if we were their enemies and their hearts are filled with malice against us and they will sooner set themselves against the Lord and his Laws and Church and Ministers then against their deadly siâ—s This is the dolefull case of England We have Magistrates that countenance the ways of Godliness and a happy opportunity for Vnity and Reformation is before us and faithfull Ministers long to
God and do as well as I can and not make so much ado Answ. 1. Is that doing as well as you can when you will not Turn to God but your heart is against his holy and diligent service It is as well as you will indeed but that 's your misery 2. My desire is that you should Hope and Trust in God But for what is it that you will Hope Is it to be saved if you turn and be sanctified For this you have Gods promise and therefore hope for it and spare not But if you Hope to be saved without Conversion and an Holy Life this is not to Hope in God but in Satan or your selves For God hath given you no such promise but told you the contrary but its Satan and self-love that made you such promises and raised you to such Hopes Well If these and such as these be all you have to say against Conversion and an Holy Life your All is Nothng and worse then Nothing And if these and such as these seem Reasons sufficient to perswade you to forsake God and cast your selves into Hell the Lord deliver us from such Reasons and from such blind understandings and from such sensless hardened hearts Dare you stand to ever an one of these Reasons at the Barr of God Do you think it will then serve your turn to say Lord I did not Turn because I had so much to do in the world or because I did not like the lives of some professors or because I saw men of so many minds O how easily will the light of that day confound and shame such reasonings as these Had you the world to look after Let the world which you served now pay your wages and save you if it can Had you not a better world to look after first And were you not commanded to seek first Gods Kingdom and Righteousness and promised that other things should be added to you Mat. 6.33 And were you not told that godliness was profitable to all things having the promise of this life and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Did the sins of professors hinder you you should rather have been the more heedful and learned by their falls to beware and have been the more careful and not the more careless It was the Scripture and not their lives that was your Rule Did the many opinions of the world hinder you Why the Scripture that was your Rule did teach you but one way and that was the right way If you had followed that even in so much as was plain and easie you should never have miscarried Will not such Answers as these confound and silence you If these will not God hath those that will when he asketh the man Mat. 22.12 Friend how camest thou in hither not having on a wedding garment that is What dost thou in my Church among professed Christians without an holy heart and life What answer did he make Why the text saith He was speechless he had nothing to say The clearness of the case and the Majesty of God will then easily stop the mouths of the most confident of you though you will not be put down by any thing that we can say to you now but will make good your cause be it never so bad I know already that never a Reason that now you can give will do you any good at last when your case must be opened before the Lord and all the world Nay I scarce think that your own Consciences are well satisfied with your Reasons For if they are it seems then you have not so much as a Purpose to Repent But if you do purpose to Repent it seems you do not put much confidence in your Reasons which you bring against it What say you yet Unconverted sinners Have you any good Reason to give why you should not Turn and presently Turn with all your hearts Or will you go to Hell in despight of Reason it self Bethink you what you do in time for it will shortly be too late to bethink you Can you find any fault with God or his work or wages Is he a bad Master Is the Devil whom you serve a better or is the flesh a better Is there any harm in an holy life is a life of worldliness and ungodliness better Do you think in your Consciences that it would do you any harm to be Converted and live an holy life What harm can it do you Is it harm to you to have the Spirit of Christ within you and to have a cleansed purified heart If it be bad to be Holy why doth God say Be ye holy for I am holy 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Leviticus 20.7 Is it evil to be like God Is it not said that God made man in his image Why this Holiness is his Image This Adam lost and this Christ by his Word and Spirit would restore to you as he doth to all that he will save Why were you Baptized into the Holy Ghost and why do you Baptize your children into the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier if you will not be sanctified by him but think it an hurt to you to be sanctified Tell me truly as before the Lord Though you are loath to live an Holy life had you not rather die in the case of those that do so then of others If you were to die this day had you not rather die in the case of a Conveted man then of the Unconverted of an holy and heavenly man then of a carnal earthly man and would you not say as Balaam Numb 23.10 Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his And why will you not now be of the mind that you will be of then First or last you must come to this either to be Converted or wish you had been when it is to late But what is it that you are afraid of losing if you Turn Is it your friends you will but change them God will be your friend and Christ and the Spirit will be your friend and every Christian will be your friend You will get one friend that will stand you in more stead then all the friends in the world could have done The friends you lose would but have ticed you to hell but could not have delivered you But the friend you get will save you from hell and bring you to his own eternal Rest. Is it your pleasures that you are afraid of losing You think you shall never have a merry day again if once you be Converted Alas that you should think it a greater pleasure to live in foolish sports and merriments and please your flesh then to live in the Believing thoughts of glory and in the love of God and in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost in which the state of grace consisteth Romans 14.17 If it be a greater pleasure to you to think of your Lands and inheritance if you were Lords of all the Country
would kill him This is your case As far as you are gone in sin do but now Turn and Come to Christ and take his Remedies and your souls shall live Cast up your deadly sins by Repentance and return not to the poysonous vomit any more and you shall do well But yet if it were your bodies that we had to deal with we might partly know what to do for you though you would not consent You might be held or bound while the medicine were poured down your throats and hurtful things might be kept from you But about your souls it cannot so so we cannot Convert you against your wills There is no carrying mad men to Heaven in fetters You may be Condemned against your wills because you sinned with your wills but you cannot be saved against your wills The wisdom of God hath thought meet to lay mens salvation or destruction exceeding much upon the choice of their own wills that no man shall come to heaven that chose not the way to heaven and no man shall come to hell but shall be forced to say I have the thing I chose my own will did bring me hither Now if I could but get you to be willing to be throughly and resolvedly and Habitually willing the work were more then half done And alas must we lose our friends and must they lose their God their happiness their souls for want of this O God forbid It is a strange thing to me that men are so inhumanâ— and stupid in the greatest matters that in lesser things are very civil and courteous and good neighbours For ought I know I havâ— the Love of all or almost all my neighbours so far that if I should send to ever a man in the Town or Parish or Country and request a reasonable courtesie of them they would grant it me And yet when I come to request of them the greatest matter in the world for themselves and not for me I can have nothing of many of them but a patient hearing I know not whether people think a man in the pulpit is in good sadness or not and means as he speaks For I think I have few neighbour but if I were sitting familiarly with them and telling them of what I have seen or done or known in â—he world they would believe me and regard what I say But when I tell thee from the infallible word of God what they themâ—elves shall see and know in the world to come they shew by their â—â—â—ves that they do either not beleve it or not much regard it If I met ever an one of them on the way and told them Yonder is 〈◊〉 Cole pit or there 's a quick-sand or there are thieves lie in wait for you I could perswade them to turn by But when I tell them that Satan lyeth in wait for them and that sin is poison to them and that Hell is not a matter to be jested with they go on as if they did not hear me Truly neighbours I am in as good earnest with you in the Pulpit as I am in any familiar discourse and if ever you will regard me I beseech you let it be here I think there is never a man of you all but if my own soul lay at your wills you would be willing to save it though â— cannot promise that you would leave your sin for it Tell me thou Drunkard that art so crueâ— to me that speaks to thee that thou wouldst not forbear a few cups of drink if thou knewest it would save my soul from Hell Hadst thou rather I did burn there for ever then thou shouldst live soberly as other men do If so may I not say thou art an unmerciful monster and not a man If I came hungry or naked to one of your doors would you not part with more then a cup of drink to relieve me I am confident you would If it were to save my life I know you would some of you hazzard your own And yet will you not be entreated to part with your sensual pleasures for your own salvation Wouldst thou forbear an hundred cups of drink man to save my life if it were in thy power and wilt thou not do it to save thy own soul I profess to you Sirs I am as hearty a beggar with you this day for the saving of your own souls as I would be for my own supply if I were forced to come a begging to your doors And therefore if you would hear me then hear me now If you would pitty me then be intreated now to pitty your selves I do again beseech you as if it were on my bended knees that you would hearken to your Redeemer and turn that you may live All you that have lived in ignorance and carelesness and presumption to this day All you that have been drowned in the cares of the world and have no mind of God and eternal Glory all you that are enslaved to your fleshly desires of meats and drinks and sports and lusts and all you that know not the necessity of holiness and never were acquainted with the Sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost upon your souls that never embraced your blessed Redeemer by a lively faith and admiring and thankfuâ— apprehensions of his love and that never felt an higher estimation of God and Heaven and an hearâ—ier Love to them then to your fleshly prosperity and the things below I earnestly beseech you not only for my sake but for the Lords sake and for your souls sakes that you go not on one day longer in your former condition but look about you and cry to God for converting grace that you may be made new creatures and may escape the plagues that are a little before you And if ever you will do any thing for me grant me this request to Turn from your evil waies and live Deny me any thing that ever I shall ask you for my self if you will but grant me this And if you deny me this I care not for any thing else that you would grant me Nay as ever you will do any thing at the request of the Lord that made you and redeemed you deny him not this For if you deny him this he cares for nothing that you shall grant him As ever you would have him hear your prayers and grant your requests and do for you at the hour of death and day of judgement or in any of your extremities deny not his request now in the day of your prosperity Oh Sirs believe it Death and Judgement and Heaven and Hell are other matters when you come near them then they seem to carnal eyes afar off Then you would hear such a message as I bring you with more awakened regardful hearts WELL though I cannot hope so well of all will hope that some of you are by this time purposing to Turn and Live and that you are ready to ask me as the Jews did Peter Acts 2.37 when they were pricked
in their hearts said Men and Brethren what shall we do How might we come to be truly converted We are willing if we did but know our duty God forbid that we should choose destruction by refusing conversion as hitherto we have done If these be the thoughts and purposes of your hearts I say of you as God did of a promising people Deut. 5.28 29. They have well said all that they have spoken O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandements alwaies Your Purposes are good O that there be but an heart in you to perform these purposes And in hope hereof I shall gladly give you direction what to do and that but briefly that you may the easier Remember it for your Practice DIRECTION I. IF you would be converted and saved labour to understand the necessity and true Nature of Conversion For what and from what and to what and by what it is that you must Turn Consider in what a lamentable condition you are till the hour of your conversion that you may see it is not a state to be rested in You are under the guilt of all the sins that ever you committed and under the wrath of God and the curse of his Law you are bondslaves to the Devil and daily imployed in his work against the Lord your selves and others you are spiritually dead and deformed as being void of the holy life and nature and image of the Lord. You are unfit for any holy work and do nothing that is truly pleasing unto God You are without any promise or assurance of his pâ—otection and live in continual danger of his Justice not knowing what hour you may be snatcht away to Hell and most certain to be damned if you die in that condition And nothing short of Conversion can prevent it What ever civilities or amendments or vertues are short of true conversion will never procure the saving of your souls Keep the true sense of this natural misery and so of the necessity of Conversion on your hearts And then you must understand what it is to be converted It is to have a New Heart or Disposition and a New Conversation Quest. 1. For what must you Turn Answ. For these ends following which you may attain 1. You shall immediately be made living Members of Christ and have interest in him and be renewed aâ—ter the Image of God and be adorned with all his graces and quickned with a new and heavenly life and lived from the tyrannie of Satan and the dominion of sin and be justified from the curse of the Law and have the pardon of all the sins of your whole lives and be accepted of God and made his Sons and have liberty with boldness to call him Father and go to him by prayer in all your needs with a promise of acceptance you shall have the Holy Ghost to dwell in you to sâ—nctifie and guide you you shall have part in the brother-hood communion and prayers of the Saints You shall be fitted for Gods service and be freed from the Dominion of sin and be usefull and a blessing to the place where you live and shall have the promise of this life and that which is to come You shall want nothing that is truly good for you and your necessary afflictions you shall be enabled to bear you may have some taste of communion with God in the Spirit especially in all holy Ordinances where God prepareth a feast for your souls shall be heirs of heaven while you live on earth and may for-see by faith the everlasting glory and so may live and die in peace and you will never be so low but your happiness will be incomparably greater then your misery How precious is every one of these blessings which I do but briefly name and which in this life you may receive And then 2. at death your souls shall go to Christ and at the day of judgement both soul and body shall be Justifyed and Glorified and enter into your Masters Joy where your happiness will consist in these particulars 1. You shall be perfected your selves your mortal bodies shall be made immortal and the corruptible shall put on incorruption you shall no more be hungry or thirsty or weary or sick nor shall you need to fear either shame or sorrow or death or hell Your souls shall be perfectly freed from sin and perfectly fitted for the knowledge and love and praises of the Lord. 2. Your imployment shall be to behold your glorified Redeemer with all your holy fellow Citizens of Heaven and to see the Glory of the most blessed God and to Love him perfectly and be beloved by him and to praise him everlastingly 3. Your glory will contribute to the glory of the new Jerusalem the City of the Living God which is more then to have a private felicity to your selves 4. Your Glory will contribute to the Glorifying of your Redeemer who will everlastingly be magnified and pleased in you that are the travail of his soul and this is more then the Glorifying of your selves 5. And the eternal Majesty the living God will be glorified in your Glory both as he is magnified by your praises and as he communicateth of his glory and goodness to you and as he is pleaâ—ed in you and in the accomplishment of his glorious works in the glory of the â—ew Jerusalem and of his Son All this the pooâ—est beggar of you that is Converted shall Certainly and Eâ—â—lâ—sly enjoy 2. You see For what you must Turn Next you must understand From what you must Turn Aâ—d that is in a word From your Carnal Self which is the End of all the Unconverted Fâ—om the flesh that would be pleased before God and would still be enticing you thereto From the world that is the bait And from the Devil that is the Angler for souls and the deceiver And so from all known and wilfull sin 3. Next you must know To what you must Turn And that is To God as your End To Christ as the way to the Father To Holiness as the way appointed you by Christ And so to the use of all the helps and means of grace afforded you by the Lord. 4. Lastly you must know By what you must Turn And that is by Christ as the only Redeemer and Intercessor And by the Holy Ghost as the Sanctifier And by the Word as his Instrument or Means And by Faith and Repentance as the means and duties on your part to be performed All this is of necessity DIRECTION II. IF you will be Converted and Saved be much in secret serious Consideration Inconsiderateness undoes the world Withdraw your selves oft into retired secrecy and there bethink you of the end why you were made of the life you have lived the time you have lost the sin you have committed of the love and sufferings and fulness of Christ of the danger you are in of the nearness of death