sinners if you will make good your way You see now with whom you have to deal What saist thou Unconverted sensual wretch Darest thou venture upon a dispute with God Art thou able to confute him Art thou ready to enter the lists God asketh thee Why wilt thou die Art thou furnished with a sufficient answer Wilt thou undertake to prove that God is mistaken and that thou art in the right O what an undertaking is that Why either he or you is mistaken when he is for your Conversion and you are against it He calls upon you to Turn and you will not He bids you do it presently even to day while it is called to day and you delay and think it time enough hereafter He saith it must be a total change and you must be holy and new creatures and born again and you think that less may serve the turn and that its enough to patch up the old man without becoming New Who is in the right now God or you God calleth on you to Turn and to Live an holy Life and you will not by your disobedient lives it appears you wil not If you will why do you not Why have you not done it all this while and why do you not fall upon it yet Your Wils have the command of your lives We may certainly conclude that you are unwilling to turn when you do not Turn And why will you not Can you give any Reason for it that is worthy to be called a Reason I that am but a worm your fellow creature of a shallow capacity dare challenge the wisest of you all to reason the case with me while I plead my Makers cause And I need not be discouraged when I know I plead but the cause that God pleadeth and contend for him that will have the best at last Had I but these two General Grounds against you I am sure that you have no good Reason on your side 1. I am sure it can be no good Reason which is against the God of Truth and Reason It cannot be Light that is contrary to the Sun There is no knowledge in any Creature but what it had from God and therefore none can be wiser then God It were damnable presumption for the highest Angel to compare with his Creator What is it then for a lump of dirt an ignorant sot that knoweth not himself nor his own soul that knoweth but little of the things which he seeth yea that is more ignorant then many of his neighbours to set himself against the wisdom of the Lord It is one of the fullest discoveries of the horrible wickedness of carnal men and the stark madness of such in sin that so silly a mole dare contradict his Maker and call in question the word of God Yea that those people in our Parishes that are so beastly ignorant that they cannot give us a reasonable answer concerning the very Principles of Relâ—gion are yet so wise in their own conceit that they dare question the plainest truths of God yea contradict them and cavil against them when they can scarce speak sense and will believe them no further then agreeth with their foolish wisdom 2. And aâ— I know that God must needs be in the right so I know the Case is so palpable and gross which he pleadeth against that no man can have reason for iâ— Is it possible that a man can have any Reason to break his Masters Laws and reason to dishonour the Lord of Glory and reason to abuse the Lord that bought him Is it possible that a man can have any good reason to damn his own Immortal soul Mark the Lords question Turn ye Turn ye Why will you die Is eternal death a thing to be de desired Are you in love with Hell What reason have you willfully to perish If you think you have some reason to sin should you not remember that death is the wages of sin Rom. 6.23 and think whether you have any Reason to undo your selves body and soul for ever You should not only ask whether you love the Adder but whether you love the sting It is such a thing for a man to cast away his everlasting happiness and to sin against God that no good reason can be given for it but the more any man pleads for it the madder he sheweth himself to be Had you a Lord-ship or a Kingdom offered you for every sin that you commit it were not reason but madness to accept it Could you by every sin obtain the highest thing on earth that flesh desireth it were of no considerable value to perswade you in reason to commit it If it were to please your greatest or dearest friends or to obey the greatest Prince on earth or to save your lives or to escape the greatest earthly Misery all these are of no consideration to draw a man in reason to the committing of one sin If it were a right hand or a right eye that would hinder your salvation it is the gainfullest way to cast it away rather then to go to Hell to save it For there 's no saving a part when you lose the whole So exceeding great are the matters of Eternity that nothing in this world deserveth once to be named in comparison with them Nor can any earthly thing though it were Life or Crowns or Kingdoms be a reasonable excuse for the neglect of matters of such higher and Everlasting Consequence A man can have no reason to cross his ultimate End Heaven is such a thing that if you lose it nothing can supply the want or make up your loss And Hell is such a thing that if you suffer it nothing can remove your misery or give you ease and comfort And therefore nothing can be a valuable consideration to excuse you for neglecting your own salvation For saith our Saviour What shall it profit a man to win all the world and lose his own soul Mark 8.36 Oh Sirs that you did but know what matters they are that we are now speaking to you of The Saints in Heaven have other kind of thoughts of these things If the Devil could come to them that live in the sight and love of God and should offer them a cup of Ale or a Whore or merry company or sports to tice them away from God and Glory I pray you tell me how do you think they would entertain the motion Nay or if he should offer them to be Kings on the earth Do you think this would tice them down from Heaven O with what hatred and holy scorn would they disdain and reject the motion And why should not you do so that have Heaven opened to your faith if you had but faith to see it There 's never a soul in hell but knows by this time that it was a mad exchange to let go heaven for fleshly pleasure and that it is not a little mirth or Pleasure or worldly riches or Honour or the good Will or Word
sure of earth he would let go heaven and had rather stay here then be removed thither A life of perfect holiness in the sight of God and in his love and praises for ever in heaven doth not find such liking with his heart as a life of health and wealth and honour here upon earth And though he falsly profess that he loveth God above all yet indeed he never felt the power of Divine Love within him but his mind is more set on the world or fleshly pleasures then on God In a word whoever Loveth earth above heaven and fleshly prosperity more than God is a wicked unconverted man On the other side a Converted man is illuminated to discern the Loveliness of God and so far believeth the Glory that is to be had with God that his heart is taken up to it and set more upon it then on any thing in this world He had rather see the face of God and live in his everlasting love and praises then have all the wealth or pleasure of this world He seeth that all things else are vanity and nothing but God can fill the soul and therefore let the world go which way it will he layeth up his treasure and hopes in heaven and for that he is resolved to let go all As the fire doth mount upward and the Needle that is touched with the load-stone still turneth to the North so the Converted soul is enclined unto God Nothing else can satisfie him nor can he find any Content and Rest but in his Love In a word All that are Converted do Esteem and Love God beetter then all the world and the Heavenly felicity is dearer to them then their fleshly prosperity The proof of what I have said you may find in these places of Scripture Phil. 3.18 21. Mat. 6.19 20 21. Col. 3.1 2 3 4. Rom. 8.5 6 7 8 9 18 23. Psal. 73.25 26. Secondly a wicked man is one that maketh it the principal business of his life to prosper in the world and attain his fleshly ends And though he may read and hear and do much in the outward duties of Religion and forbear disgraceful sins yet this is all but upon the by and he never makes it the trade and principal business of his life to Please God and attain everlasting glory but puts off God with the leavings of the world and gives him no more service then the flesh can spare for he will not part with all for heaven On the contrary a Converted man is one that makes it the principal care and business of his life to Please God and to be saved and takes all the blessings of this life but as accommodations in his journey towards another life and useth the creature in subordination unto God he loveth an holy life and longeth to be more holy he hath no sin but what he hateth and longeth and prayeth and striveth to be rid of The drift and bent of his life is for God and if he sin it is contrary to the very bent of his heart and life and therefore he riseth again and lamenteth it and dare not wilfully live in any known sin There is nothing in this world so dear to him but he can give it up to God and forsake it for him and the hopes of glory All this you may see in Col. 3.1 2 3 4 5. Mat. 6.33 20. Luk. 18.22 23 29. Luk. 14.18 24 26 27. Rom. 8.13 Gal. 5.24 Luk. 12.21 c. Thirdly the soul of a wicked man did never truly discern and relish the mystery of Redemption nor thankfully entertain an offered Saviour nor is he taken up with the love of the Redeemer not willing to be ruled by him as the Physitian of his soul that he may be saved from the guilt and power of his sins and recovered unto God but his heart is insensible of this unspeakable benefit and is quite against the healing means by which he should be recovered Though he may be willing to be carnally Religious yet he never resigneth up his soul to Christ and to the motions and conduct of his Word and Spirit On the contrary the Converted soul having felt himself undone by sin and perceiving that he hath lost his peace with God and hopes of heaven and is in danger of everlasting misery doth thankfully entertain the tidings of Redemption and believing in the Lord Jesus as his only Saviour resigneth up himself to him for wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption He taketh Christ as the Life of his soul and liveth by him and useth him as his salve for every sore admiring the wisdom and Love of God in this wonderful work of mans Redemption In a word Christ doth even dwell in his heart by faith and the life that he now liveth is by the Faith of the Son of God that hath loved him and gave himself for him Yea it is not so much he that liveth as Christ in him For these see Iohn 1.11 12. 3.19 20. Rom. 8.9 Phil. 3.7 8 9 10. Gal. 2.20 Ioh. 15 2 3.4 1 Cor. 1.20 2.2 YOU see now in plain terms from the Word of God who are the wicked and who are the Converted Ignorant people think that if a man be no swearer not curser nor rayler nor drunkard nor fornicator nor extortioner nor wrong any body in their dealings and if they come to Church and say their prayers these cannot be wicked men Or if a man that hath been guilty of drunkenness or swearing or gameing or the like vices do but forbear them for the time to come they think that this is a Converted man Others think if a man that hath been an enemy and scorner at godliness do but approve it and joyn himself with those that are godly and be hated for it by the wicked as the godly are that this must needs be a Converted man And some are so foolish as to think they are Converted by taking up some new and false opinion and falling into some dividing party as Anabaptists Quakers Papists or such like And some think if they have but been affrighted by the fears of Hell and had Convictions and Gripes of Conscience and thereupon have purposed and promised amendment and taken up a life of Civil behavour and outward Religion that this must needs be true Conversion And these are the poor deluded souls that are like to lose the benefit of all our perswasions and when they hear that the wicked must Turn or Die they think that this is not spoken to them for they are not wicked but are Turned already And therefore it is that Christ told some of the Rulers of the Jews who were graver and civiler then the common people that Publicans and Harlots do go into the Kingdom of God before them Mat. 21.31 Not that an harlot or gross sinner can be saved without Conversion but because it was easier to make these gross sinners perceive their sin and misery and the necessity of a change
when the civiler sort do delude themselves by thinking that they are Converted already when they be not O Sirs Conversion is another kind of work then most are ware of It s not a small matter to bring an Earthly mind to Heaven and to shew man the amiable excellencies of God till he be taken up in such Love to him that never can be quenched to break the heart for sin and make him flie forrefuge unto Christ and thankfully embrace him as the lâ—fe of his soul to have the very drift and bent of the heart and life to be changed so that a man renounceth that which he took for his felicity and placeth his felicity where he never did before and liveth not to the same end and driveth not on the same design in the world as formerly he did in a word he that is in Christ is a new creature old things are past away behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.17 He hath a new understanding a new will and resolution new sorrows and desires and love and delight new thoughts new speeches new company if possible and a new conversation Sin that before was a jesting matter with him is now so odious and terrible to him that he flies from it as from death The world that was so lovely in his eyes doth now appear but as vanity and vexation God that was before neglected is now the only Happiness of his soul before he was forgotten and every lust preferred before him but now he is set next the heart and all things must give place to him and the heart is taken up in the attendance and observance of him and is grieved when he hides his face and never thinks it self well without him Christ himself that was wont to be slightly thought of is now his only hope and refuge and he liveth upon him as on his daily bread he cannot pray without him nor rejoyce without him nor think nor speak nor live without him Heaven it self that before was lookt upon but as a tolerable reserve which he hoped might serve turn as better then hell when he could not stay any longer in the world is now taken for his home the place of his only Hope and Rest where he shall See and Love and Praise that God that hath his heart already Hell that before did seem but as a bugbear to frighten men from sin doth now appear to be a real misery that is not to be ventured on nor jested with The works of holiness which before he was weary of and seemed to be more ado then needs are now both his recreation and his business and the trade that he lives upon The Bible which was before to him but almost as a common book is now as the Law of God as a Letter written to him from heaven and subscribed with the name of the Eternal Majesty it is the Rule of his thoughts and words and deeds the commands are binding the threats are dreadful and the promises of it speak life to his soul. The godly that seemed to him but like other men are now the excellentest and happyest on earth And the wicked that were his play-fellows are now his grief and he that could laugh at their sin is readyer now to weep for their sin and misery Psalm 16.3 15.4 Phil. 3.18 In short he hath a New End in his thoughts and a New Way in his endeavours and therefore his Heart and life is New Before his Carnal Self was his End and his pleasure and worldly Profits and Credit were his Way and now God and everlasting Glory is his End and Christ and the Spirit and Word and Ordinances Holiness to God and Righteousness and Mercy to men these are his Way Before Self was the chief Ruler to which the matters of God and Conscience must stoop and give place and now God in Christ by the Spirit Word and Ministry is the chief Ruler to whom both Self and all the matters of Self must give place So that this is not a change in one or two or twenty points but in the whole soul and the very end and Bent of the Conversation A man may step out of one path into another and yet have his face the same way and be still going towards the same place but t is another matter to turn quite back again and take his journey the clean contrary way to a contrary place So it is here A man may turn from drunkenness to thriftiness and forsake his good fellowship and other gross disgraceful sins and set upon some duties of Religion and yet be going still to the same End as before intending his carnal Self above all and giving it still the Government of his soul. But when he is Converted this Self is denyed and taken down and God is set up and his face is turned the contrary way and he that before was addicted to himself and lived to himself is now by Sanctification devoted to God and liveth unto God before he asketh himself what he should do with his time his parts and his estate and for himself he used them but now he asketh God what he shall do with them and he useth them for him Before he would Please God so far as might stand with the Pleasure of his flesh and Carnal Self but not to any great displeasure of them But now he will please God let Flesh and Self be never so much displeasd This is the great change that God will make upon all that shall be saved You can say that the Holy-Ghost is your Sanctifier but do you know what Sanctification is Why this is it that I have now opened to you and every man and woman in the world must have this or be condemned to everlasting misery They must Turn or Dye Do you believe all this Sirs or do you not Surely you dare not say you do not For t is past doubt or denyal These are not Controversies where one learned pious man is of one mind and another of another where one party saith this and the other saith that Papists and Aanbaptists and every Sect among us that deserve to be called Christians are all agreed in this that I have said and if you will not believe the God of Truth and that in a case where every sect and party do believe him you are utterly unexcusable But if you do believe this how comes it to pass that you live so quietly in an unconverted state Do you know that you are Converted and can you find this wonderful change upon your souls Have you been thus born again and made anew Be not these strange matters to many of you and such as you never felt upon your selves If you cannot tell the day or the week of your change or the very Sermon that Converted you yet do you find that the work is done and such a change indeed there is and that you have such hearts as are before described Alas the most do follow
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
and bent of my heart and life to get well to heaven and see the glorious face of God and live in his everlasting Love and Praise And when I sin is it against the very habitual bent and design of my heart And do I conquer all gross sins and am I weary and willing to be rid of mine infirmities This is the state of a Converted soul. And thus must tâ— be with me or I must perish Is it thus indeed with me or is it not It s time to get this doubt resolved before the dreadful Iudge resolve it I am not such a stranger to my own heart and life but I may somewhat perceive whether I am thus Converted or not if I be not it will do me no good to flatter my soul with false conceits and hopes I am resolved no more to deceive my self but to endeavour to know truly off or on whether I be Converted yea or no that If I be I may rejoyce in it and glorifie my gracious Lord and comfortably go on till I reach the Crown and if I am not I may set my self to beg and seek after the Grace that should convert me and may turn without any more delay For if I find in time that I am out of the way by the help of Christ I may turn and be recovered but if I stay till either my heart be forsaken of God in blindness and hardness or till I be catcht away by death it s then too late There is no place for Repentance and Conversion then I know it must be now or never Sirs this is my request to you that you will but take your hearts to task and thus examine them till you see if it may be whether you are Converted or not and if you cannot find it out by your own endeavours go to your Ministers if they be faithful and experienced men and desire their assistance The matter is great let not bashfulness nor carelesness hinder you They are set over you to advise you for the saving of your souls as Physitians advise you for the curing of your bodies It undoes many thousands that they think they are in the way to salvation when they are not and think that they are Converted when it is no such thing And then when we call to them daily to Turn they go away as they came and think that this concerns not them for they are turned already and hope they shall do well enough in the way that they are in at least if they do pick the fairest path and avoid some of the foulest steps when alas all this while they live but to the world and flesh and are strangers to God and Eternal life and are quite out of the way to Heaven And all this is much because we cannot perswade them to a few serious thoughts of their Condition and to spend a few hours in the examining of their states Is there not many a self-deceiving wretch that heareth me this day that never bestowed one hour or quarter of an hour in all their lives to examine their souls and try whether they are truly Converted or not O merciful God that will care for such wretches that care no more for themselves and that will do so much to save them from Hell and help them to Heaven who will do so little for it themselves If all that are in the way to Hell and in a state of damnation did but know it they durst not continue in it The greatest hope that the Devil hath of bringing you to damnation without a rescue is by keeping you blindfold and ignorant of your state and making you believe that you may do well enough in the way that you are in If you knew that you are out of the way to heaven and were lost for ever if you should die as you are durst you sleep another night in the state that you are in durst you live another day in it Could you heartily laugh or be merry in such a state What! And not know but you may be snatcht away to hell in an hour Sure it would constrain you to forsake your former company and courses and to betake your selves to the waies of Holiness and the Communion of the Saints Sure it would drive you to cry to God for a new heart and to seek help of those that are fit to counsel you There 's none of you sure that cares not for being damned Well then I beseech you presently make enquiry into your hearts and give them no rest till you find out your condition that if it be good you may rejoyce in it and go on and if it be bad you may presently look about you for recovery as men that believe they must Turn or Die What say you Sirs Will you resolve and promise to be at this much labour for your own souls Will you fall upon this self examination when you come home Is my request unreasonable Your consciences know it is not Resolve on it then before you stir Knowing how much it concerneth your souls I beseech you for the sake of that God that doth command you at whose Bar you will shortly all appear that you will not deny me this reasonable request For the sake of those souls that must turn or dye I beseech you deny me not even but to make it your business to understand your own Conditions and build upon sure ground and know off or on whether you are Converted or no and venture not your souls on negligent security But perhaps you 'l say What if we should find our selves yet unconverted what shall we do then This question leadeth me to my second Doctrine which will do much to the answering of it to which I shall now proceed Doct. 2. IT is the Promise of God that the wicked shall Live if they will but Turn Vnfeignedly and throughly Turn The Lord here professeth that this is it that he takes pleasure in that the wicked Turn and Live Heaven is made as sure to the Converted as Hell is to the Unconverted Turn and Live is as certain a truth as Turn or Dye God was not bound to provide us a Saviour nor open to us a door of hope nor call us to Repent and Turn when once we had cast our selves away by sin But he hath freely done it to magnifie his Mercy Sinners there 's none of you shall have cause to go home and say I preach desperation to you Do we use to shut up the door of Mercy against you O that you would not shut it up against your selves Do we use to tell you that God will have no mercy on you though you Turn and be Sanctified When did you ever hear a Preacher say such a word You that bark at the Preachers of the Gospel for desiring to keep you out of Hell and say that they Preach Desperation tell me if you can when did you ever hear any sober man say that there is no hope for you
perswade them to it if we would beg it of them with tears we cannot perswade them and what more can we do These are the secret complaints and moans that many a poor Minister is fain to make And do you think that he hath any Pleasure in this Is it a Pleasure to him to see you go on in sin and cannot stop you to see you so miserable and cannot so much as make you sensible of it to see you merry when you are not sure to be an hour out of Hell to think what you must for ever suffer because you will not Turn and to think what an everlasting life of Glory you wilfully despise and cast away What sadder thing can you bring to their hearts and how can you devise to grieve them more Who is it then that you Pleasure by your sin and death It is none of your understanding godly friends Alas it is the grief of their souls to see your misery and they lament you many a time when you give them little thanks for it and when you have not hearts to lament your selves Who is it then that takes Pleasure in your sin It is none but the three great enemies of God whom you renouâ—ced in your Baptism and now are turned falsly to serve 1. The Devil indeed takes pleasure in your sin and death For this is the very end of all his temptations For this he watcheth night and day You cannot devise to please him better then to go on in sin How glad is he when he sees thee going to the Ale-house or other sin and when he heareth thee curse or swear or rail How glad is he when he heareâ—h thee revile the Minister that would draw thee from thy sin and help to save thee These are his delight 2. The wicked also are delighted in it For it is agreeable to their nature 3. But I know for all this that it is not the pleasing of the Devil that you intend even when you please him but it is your own flesh the greatest and most dangerous enemy that you intend to please It is the flesh that would be pampered that would be pleased in meat and drink and cloathing that would be pleased in your company and pleased in applause and credit with the world and pleased in sports and lost and idleness this is the gulf that devoureth all This is the very god that you serve for the Scripture saith of such that their bellies are thâ—ir gods Phil. 3.18 But I beseech you stay a little and consider the business 1. Quest. Should your flesh be pleased before your Maker Will you displease the Lord and displease your Teachers and your godly friends and all to please your brutish appetites or sensual desires Is not God worthy to be the Ruler of your flesh If he shall not Rule it he will not save it you cannot in reason expect that he should 2. Qu. Your flesh is pleased with your sin but is your conscience pleased Doth not it grudge within you and tell you sometimes that all is not well and that your case is not so safe as you make it to be and should not your soul and conscience be pleased before that corruptible flesh 3. Quest. But is not your flesh preparing for its own displeasure also it loves the bait but doth it love the hook It loves the strong drink and sweet morsels it loves its case and sports and merriment it loves to be rich and well spoken of by men and to be some body in the world but doth it love the curse of God Doth it love to stand trembling before his Bar and to be judged to everlasting fire Doth it love to be tormented with the Devils for ever Take all together for there is no separating sin and hell but only by faith and true Conversion if you will keep one you must have the other If Death and Hell be pleasant to you no wonder then if you go on in sin but if they be not as I am sure they be not then what if sin were never so pleasant is it worth the loss of Life Eternal Is a little drink or meat or ease is the good words of sinners is the riches of this world to be valued above the Joyes of heaven Or are they worth the suffering of Eternal fire Sirs these questions should be considered before you go any further by every man that hath Reason to consider and that believes he hath a soul to save or lose Well the Lord here sweareth that he hath no Pleasure in your Death but rather that you would Turn and Live if yet you will go on and Dye rather then Turn remember it was not to Please God that you did it it was to Please the world and to please your selves And if men will damn themselves to please themselves and run into endless Torments for Delight and have not the wit the hearts the grace to hearken to God or man that would reclaim them what remedy but they must take what they get by it and repent it in another manner when it is too late Before I proceed any further in the Application I shall come to the next Doctrine which giveth me a fuller ground for it Doct. 5. SO earnest is God for the Conversion of sinners that he doubleth his commands and exhortations with vehemency Turn ye Turn ye Why will ye Dye This Doctrine is the Application of the former as by a Use of Exhortation and accordingly I shall handle it Is there ever an Unconverted sinner that heareth these vehement words of God Is there ever a man or woman in this Assembly that is yet a stranger to the renewing sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost It is an happy Assembly if it be not so with the most Hearken then to the voice of your maker and Turn to him by Christ without delay Would you know the will of God Why this is his will that you presently Turn Shall the living God send so earnest a Message to his creatures and should they not obey Hearken then all you that live after the flesh the Lord that gave thee thy breath and being hath sent a message to thee from heaven and this is his Message Turn ye Turn ye why will you die He that hath ears to hear let him hear Shall the voice of the Eternal Majesty be neglected If he do but terribly thunder thou art afraid O but this voice doth more nearly concern thee If he did but tell thee thou shalt die to morrow thou wouldst not make light of it O but this word concerneth thy life or death everlasting It is both a Command and an Exhortation As if he had said to thee I charge thee upon the allegiance that thou owest to me thy Creator and Redeemer that thou renounce the flesh the world and the Devil and Turn to me that thou maist Live I condescend to intreate thee as thou either lovest or fearest him that made thee as thou
then it is to a child to play for pins why should it not be a greater Joy to you to think of the Kingdom of Heaven being yours then of all the riches or pleasure of the world As it is but foolish childishness that makes children so delight in gawds that they would not leave them for all your Lands so it is but foolish worldliness and fleshliness and wickedness that makes you so much delight in your houses and lands and meat and drink and ease and honour as that you would not part with them for the heavenly delights But what will you do for pleasure when these are gone Do you not think of that When your pleasures end in horrour and go out with a stinking snuff the Pleasures of the Saints are then at the best I have had my self but a little taste of the heavenly pleasures in the fore-thoughts of the blessed approaching day and in the present perswasions of the Love of God in Christ but I have taken too deep a draught of earthly pleasures so that you may see if I be partial it is on your side and yet I must profess from that little experience that there is no comparison there is more joy to be had in a day if the Sun of life shine clear upon us in the state of Holiness then in an whole life of sinful pleasures I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of God then to dwell in the Tents of wickedness Psalm 84.10 A day in his Courts is better then a thousand anywhere else Psal. 84.10 The mirth of the wicked is like the laughter of a mad man that knows not his own misery and therefore Solomon faith of such laughter It is mad and of mirth What doth it Eccles. 2.2 And Eccles. 7.2 3 4 5 6. It is better to go to the house of mourning then to go to the house of feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart Sorrow is better then laughter for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise then to hear the song of fools For as the crackling of thorns under a pot so is the laughter of the fool All the pleasures of fleshly things is but like the scratching of a man that hath the itch It is his disease that makes him desire it and a wise man had rather be without his pleasure and be troubled with his itch Your loudest laughter is but like that of a man that is tickled he laughs when he hath no cause of joy And it is a wiser thing for a man to give all his estate and his life to be tickled to make him laugh then for you to part with the Love of God and the comforts of Holiness and the Hopes of Heaven and to cast your selves into damnation that you may have your flesh tickled with the pleasures of sin for a little while Judge as you are men whether this be a wise mans part It is but your carnal unsanctified nature that makes an holy life seem grievous to you and a course of sensuality seem more delightful If you will but Turn the Holy Ghost will give you another nature and inclination and then it will be more plesant to you to be rid of your sin then now it is to keep it and you will then say that you know not what a comfortable life was till now and that it was never well with you till God and Holiness were your delight Quest. BVT how cometh it to pass that men should be so unreasonable in the matters of their salvation they have wit enough in other matters What makes them so loth to be Converted that there should need so many words in so plain a case and all will not do but the most will live and de Vnconverted Answ. To name them only in a few words the causes are these 1. Men are naturally in Love with earth and flesh They are born sinners and their nature hath an enmity to God and godliness as the Nature of the Serpent hath to a man And when all that we can say goes against an habitual inclination of their natures no marvail if it little prevail 2. They are in Darkness and know not the very things which they hear Like a man that was born blind and hears an high commendation of the light but what will bearing do unless he see it They know not what God is nor what is the power of the Cross of Christ nor what the Spirit of holiness is nor what it is to live in love by faith They know not the certainty and suitableness and excellency of the heavenly inheritance They know not what Conversion and an holy mind and Conversation is even when they hear of it They are in a mist of ignorance They are lost and bewildred in sin like a man that hath lost himself in the night and knows not where he is nor how to come to himself again till the day-light do recover him 3. They are wilfully confident that they need no Conversion but some partial amendment but that they are in the way to heaven already and are Converted when they are not And if you meet a man that is quite out of his way you may long enough call on him to turn back again if he will not believe you that he is out of his way 4. They are become slaves to their flesh and drowned in the world to make provision for it Their lusts and passions and appetites have distracted them and got such an hand over them that they cannot tell how to deny them nor how to mind any thing else So that the drunkard saith I love a cup of good dâ—ink and I cannot forbear it The glutton saith I love good â—hear and I cannot forbear The fornicator saith I love to have my lust fulfilled and I cannot forbear And the gamester loves to have his sports and he cannot forbear So that they are become even captivated slayes to their flesh and their 〈◊〉 wilfulness is become an impotency and what they would not do they say they cannot And the worldling is so taken up with earthly things that he hath neither heart nor mind nor time for heavenly but as in Pharaâ—â—s dâ—eam Gen. 41.4 the lean kine did eat up the fat ones so this lean and barren earth doth eat up all the thoughts of heaven 5. Some are so carried away by the stream of evil company that they are possessed with hard thoughts of a godly life by hearing them speak against it or at least they think they may venture to do as they see most do and so they hold on in their sinful waies and when one is cut off and cast into Hell and another snatcht away from among them to the same condemnation it doth not
sanctifie you by his Spirit and you resist and quench it If any man reprove you for your sin you fly in his face with evil words and if he would draw you to an holy life and tell you of your present danger you give him little thanks but either bid him look to himself he shall not answer for you or else at best you put him off with an heartless thanks and will not Turn when you are perswaded If Ministers would privately instruct and help you you will not come at them your unhumbled souls do feel but little need of their help If they would Catechize you you are too old to be Catechised though you are not too old to be ignorant and unholy Whatever they can say to you for your good you are so self-conceited and wise in your own eyes even in the depth of ignorance that you will regard nothing that agreeth not with your present conceits but contradict your Teachers as if you were wiser then they you resist all that they can say to you by your ignorance and wilfulness and foolish Cavils and shifting evasions and unthankfull rejections so that no good that is offered can find any welcome acceptance and entertainment with you 4. Moreover its apparent that you are self-destroyers in that you draw the matter of your sin and destruction even from the blessed God himself You like not the contrivances of his Wisdom You like not his Justice but take it for cruelty You like not his Holiness but are ready to think he is such a one as your selves Psal. 50.21 and makes as light of sin as you You like not his Truth but would have his Threanings even his peremptory Threatnings prove false And his goodness which you seem most highly to approve you partly resist as it would lead you to repentance and partly abuse to the strengthning of you sin as if you might the freelyer sin because God is Merciful and because his Grace doth so much abound Yea you fetch destruction from â—he blessed Redeemer and Death from the Lord of life himself And nothing more emboldneth you in sin then that Christ hath died for you as if now the danger of death were over and you might boldly venture As if Christ were become a servant to Satan and your sins and must wait upon you while you are abusing him and because he is become the Physitian of souls and he is able to save to the utmost all that come to God by him you think he must suffer you to refuse his help and throw away his Medicines and must save you whether you will come to God by him or no so that a great part of your sins are occasioned by your bold presumption upon the death of Christ. Not considering that he came to redeem his people from their sins and to sanctifie them a peculiar people to himself and to conform them in Holiness to the image of their heavenly Father and to their head Mat. 1.21 Tit. 2.14 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Col. 3.10 11. Phil. 3.9 10. 6. You also fetch your own destruction from all the providences and works of God When you think of his eternal fore-knowledge and Decrees it is to harden you in your sin or possess your minds with quarrelling thoughts as if his Decrees might spare you the labour of repentance and an holy life or else were the cause of your sin and death If he afflict you you repine If he prosper you you the more forget him and are the backwarder to the thoughts of the life to come If the wicked prosper you forget the end that will set all reckonings strait and are ready to think it s as good be wicked as godly And thus you draw your death from all 7. And the like you do from all the Creatures and mercies of God to you He giveth them to you as the tokens of his love and furniture for his service and you turn them against him to the pleasing of your flesh You eat and drink to please your appetite and not for the glory of God and to enable you for his work Your cloathes you abuse to pride Your Riches draw your hearts from heaven Phil. 3.18 Your honours and applause do puff you up If you have health and strength it makes you more secure and forget your end Yea other mens mercies are abused by you to your hurt If you see their honours and dignity you are provoked to envy them If you see their riches you are ready to covet them If you look upon beauty you are stirred up to lust and it s well if godliness be not an eye-fore to you 8. The very gifts that God bestoweth on you and the Ordinances of grace which he hath instituted for his Church you turn to sin If you have better parts then others you grow proud and self-conceited if you have but common gifts you take them for special Grace You take the bare hearing of your duty for so good a work as if it would excuse you for not obeying it Your Prayers are turned into sin because you regard iniquity in your hearts Psalm 66.18 and depart not from iniquity when you call on the name of the Lord 2 Tim. 2.19 Your prayers are abominable because you turn away your ear from hearing the Law Prov. 28.9 And are more ready to offer the Sacrifice of fools thinking you do God some special service then to hear his word and obey it Eccles. 5.1 You examine not your selves before you receive the Supper of the Lord but not discerning the Lords body do eat and drink judgement to your selves 1 Cor. 11.28 29. 9. Yea the persons that you converse with and all their actions you make the occasions of your sin and destruction If they live in the fear of God you hate them If they live ungodlily you imitate them if the wicked are many you think you may the more boldly follow them if the godly be few you are the more emboldened to despise them If they walk exactly you think they are too precise if one of them fall in a particular temptation you stumble upon them and turn away from holiness because that others are imperfectly holy as if you were warranted to break your necks because some others have by their heedlesness sprained a sinnew or put out a bone If an hypocrite discover himself you say They are all alike and think your selves as honest as the best A Professor can scarce slip into any miscarriage but because he cuts his finger you think you may boldly cut your throats If ministers deal plainly with you you say they rail If they speak gently or coldly you eiâ—her sleep under them or are little more affected then the seats you sit upon If any errours creep into the Church some greedily entertain them and others reproach the Christian Doctrine for them which is most against them And if we would draw you from any ancient rooted errour which can but plead two or three
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