in vain then to cry to hills to fall on you and the mountains to cover you from the presence of him that sitteth on the Throne It will be in vain now to Repent and wish you had not sleighted your salvation nor sold it for a little pleasure to your flesh It will be then in vain to cry Lord Lord open to us O spare us O pitty us O do not cast us into these hideous flames Do not turn us among Devils do not Torment thy Redeemed ones in this fire All this will be then too late Poor sinner whoever thou art that readest or hearest these lines I beseech thee in Compassion to thy soul Consider How fearful the case of that man will be that is newly doomed to the Everlasting fire and is haled to the Execution without Remedy and what mad men are those that now do no more to prevent such a misery when they might do it on such easie terms and now have so fair an Opportunity in their hands The time was when Repentance might have done thee good but Then all thy Repentings will be in vain Now while the day of thy Visitation lasteth hadst thou but a heart to pray and cry for mercy in faith and fervency through Christ thou mightest be heard But then Praying and Crying will do no good shouldst thou roar out in the extremity of thy horror and amazement and beseech the Lord Jesus but to forgive thee one sin or to send thee on earth once more and to try thee once again in the flesh whether thou wouldst not love him and lead a holy life it would be all in vain Shouldst thou beseech him by all the mercifulness of his nature by all his sufferings and bloody death by all the merciful promises of his Gospel it would be all in vain Nay shouldst thou beg but one dayes reprival or to stay one hour before thou were cast into those flames it would not be heard it would do thee no good How earnestly did a deceased Gentleman Luk. 16.24 beg of Abraham for one drop of water from the tip of Lazarus's finger to cool his tongue because he was tormented in the flame And what the better was he He was sent to Remember that he had his Good things in this life and that Remembrance would torment him more And do not wonder or think much at this that Christ will not then be intreated by the ungodly You shall then have a Remember too from Christ or Conscience He may soon stop thy mouth and leave thee speechless and say Remember man that I did one day send thee a Message of peace and thou wouldst not hear it I once did stoop to Beseech thee to return and thou wouldst not hear I besought thee by the tender mercies of God I besought thee by all the Love that I had shewed thee by my holy Life by my cursed Death by the Riches of my Grace by the offers of my Glory and I could not get thee to forsake the world to deny thy flesh to leave one beloved sin for all this I besought thee over and over again I sent many a Minister to thee in my name I waited on thee many a day and year and all would not do thou wouldst not Consider Return and Live And now it is too late my sentence is past and cannot be recalled Away from me thou worker of Iniquity Matth. 7.22 23. Ah Sirs what a case then is the poor desperate sinner left in How can I write this or how can you that read or hear it without trembling once think of the Condition that such forlorn wretches will be in When they look above them and see the God that hath forsaken them because they forsook him first when they look about them and see the Saints on one hand whom they despised now sentenced unto Glory and the wicked on the other hand whom they accompanied and imitated now Judged with them to everlasting misery when they look below them and see the flames that they must abide in even for evermore and when the Devils begin to hale them to the Execution Oh poor souls Now what would they give for a Christ for a promise for a time of Repentance for a Sermon of mercy which once they slept under or made no account of How is the case altered now with them who would think that these are the same men that made light of all this on earth that so stoutly scorned the reproofs of the word that would be worldly and fleshly and drunk and proud let Preachers say what they would and perhaps hated those that did give them warning Now they are of another mind but all too late Oh were there any place for Resistance how would they draw back and lay hold of any thing before they would be dragged away into those flames But there is no resisting Satans Temptations might have been Resisted but his Executions cannot Gods Judgements might have been Prevented by Faith and Prayer Repentance and a holy life but they cannot be resisted when they are not prevented Glad would the miserable sinner be if he might but turn to nothing and cease to be or that he might be any thing rather than a reasonable creature but these wishes are all in vain There is one Time and one Way of a sinners Deliverance If he fail in that one he perisheth for ever all the world cannot help him after that 2 Cor. 6 2. I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee Behold now is the Accepted time behold now is the day of salvation Now he saith Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me But for the time to come hereafter hear what he saith Prov. 1.24 25 26. Because I have called and ye Refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my Reproof I also will laugh at your Calamity I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as Desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon me but I will not Answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord They would none of my counsels they despised all my Reproof therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices for the Turning away of the simple shall slay them and the Prosperity of fools shall destroy them But who so hearkneth to me shall dwel safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil I have recited all these words that you may see and consider whether I have spoke any other thing than God himself hath plainly told you of Having
not save you we are not Justified if we Absolve our selves 1 Cor. 4.4 how unable then shall we be against Gods Sentence to Justifie you If all the world should say you were holy and penitent when God knows you were unholy and impenitent it will do you no good You pray every day that his will may be done and it will be done It will be done upon you because it was not done by you What would you have us say if God ask us Did you tell this sinner of the need of Christ of the glory of the world to come and the vanity of this Should we lie and say we did not what should we say if he ask us Did not you tell them the misery of their natural state and what would become of them if they were not made new would you have us lye to God and say we did not Why if we did not your blood will be required at our hands Ezek. 33.6 and 3.18 and would you have us bring your blood upon our own heads by a lye Yea and to do you no good when we know that lyes will not prevail with God No no sinners We must unavoidably testifie to the confusion of your faces If â—od ask us we must bear witness against you and say Lord we did what we could according to our weak abilities to reclaim them Indeed our own thoughts of everlasting things were so low and our own hearts so dull that we must confess we did not follow them so close nor speak so earnestly as we should have done we did not cry so loud nor lift up our voice as a Trumpet to awaken them Isa 58.1 we confess we did not speak to them with such melting compassion and with such streams of tears beseech them to regard as a matter of such great concernment should have been spoken with We did not fall on our knees to them and so earnestly begg of them for the Lords sake to have mercy upon their own souls as we should have done But yet we told them the Message of God and we studyed to speak it to them as plainly and as peircingly as we could Fain we would have convinced them of their sin and misery but we could not Fain we would have drawn them to the admiration of Christ but they made light of it Mat. 22.5 We would fain have brought them to the contempt of this vain world and to set their mind on the world to come but we could not Some compassion thou knowest Lord we had to their souls many a weeping or groaning hour we have had in secret because they would not hear obey and some sad complaints we have made over them in publike We told them that they must shortly dye and come to Judgement and that this world would deceive them and leave them in the dust we told them that the time was at hand when nothing but Christ would do them good and nothing but the favour of God would he sufficient for their happiness but we could never get them to lay it to heart Many a time did we intreat them to think soberly of this life and the life to come and to compare them together with the Faith of Christians and the reason of men but they would not do it many a time did we intreat them but to take now and then an hour in secret to consider who made them and for what he made them and why they were sent into this world and what their business here is and whether they are going and how it wil go with them at their latter end But we could never get most of them to spend one hour in serious thoughts of these weighty matters Many a time did we intreat them to try whether they were Regenerate or not whether Christ and his Spirit were in them or not Whether their souls were brought back to God by Sanctification but they would not try We did beseech them to make sure work and not leave such a matter as everlasting Joy or Torment to a bold and mad adventure but we could not prevail We intreated them to lay all other businesses aside a little while in the world and to enquire by the direction of the word of God what would become of them in the world to come and to Judge themselves before God came to Judge them seeing they had the Law and the rule of Judgement before them but their minds were blinded and their hearts were hardned and the profit and pleasure and honour of this world did eâ—ther stop their ears or quickly steal away their hearts so that we could never get them to a sober consideration nor ever win their hearts to God This will be the witness that many a hundred Ministers of the Gospel must give in against the souls of their people at that day Alas that ever you should cast this upon us For the Lords sake Sirs pitty your poor Teachers if you pitty not your selves We had rather go a 1000. miles for you we had rather be scorned and abused for your sakes we had rather lay our hands under your feâ—t and beseech you on our knees with tears were we able then be put on such a work as this It is you that will do it if it be done We had rather follow you from house to house and teach and exhort you if you will but hear us and accept of our exhortation Your souls aâ—e precious in our eyes for we know they were so in the eyes of Christ and therefore we are loth to see this day we were once in your case and therefore know what it is to be blind and careless and carnal as you are and therefore would fain obtain your Deliverance But if you will not hear but we must accuse you and we must condemn you The Lord Judge between you and us For he can witness that it was full sore against our wills We have been faulty indeed in doing no more for you and not following you with restless Importunity the Good Lord forgive us but yet we have not betrayed you by silence 2. All those that fear God that have lived among ungodly men will also be sufficient witnesses against them Alas they must be put upon that same work which is very unpleasant to their thoughts as Ministers are They must witness before the Lord that they did as friends and neighbors admonish them that they gave them a good example and endeavoured to walk in holyness before them but alas the most did but mock them and call them Puritans and precise fools and thought they made more ado then needs for their salvation They must be forced to testifie Lord we would fain have drawn them with us to hear the word and to read it and to pray in their families and to sanctifie thy holy day and take such happy Opportunities for their souls But we could not get them to it we did in our places what we were able to give them
grieved the Spirit Act. 7.51 As the Spirit witnesseth with the Spirits of the righteous that they are the children of God Rom. 8.16 so doth he witness with the conscience of the wicked that they were children of Rebellion and therefore are justly children of wrath This Spirit will not alway strive with men at last being vexed it will prove their enemy and rise up against them Gen. 6.3 Isa. 63.10 If you will needs Grieve it now it will Grieve you then Were it not a Spirit of Grace and were it not free mercy that it came to offer you the Repulse would not have been so condemning nor the witness of this Spirit against you so heavy at the last But it was the Spirit of Jesus that came with recovering Grace which you resisted And though the wages of every sin is death yet you will find that it will cost you somewhat more to Reject this salvation than to break the Creators Law of works Kindness and such Kindness will not be rejected at easie rates Many a good motion is now made by the Spirit to the Heart of a sinner which he doth not â—o much as once obseâ—ve and therefore doth not now Remember them But then they shall be brought to his Remembrance with a witness Many a thousand secret motions to Repentance to Faith to a Holy Life will be Then set before the eyes of the poor unpardoned trembling sinner which he had quite forgotten And the Spirit of God shall testifie to his Confusion At such a Sermon I perswaded thy heart to Repent and thou wouldest not At such a time I shewed thee the evil of thy sin and perswaded thee to have forsaken it but thou wouldest not I minded thee in thy secret thoughts of the neerness of Judgement and the Certainty and VVeight of everlasting things of the need of Christ and faith and holyness and of the Danger of sinning but thou didst drown all my motions in the cares and pleasures of the world Thou harkenedst rather to the Devil than to me The sensual inclinations of thy flesh did prevail against the strongest Arguments that I used Though I shewed thee Reasons undenyable Reasons from thy Creator from thy Redeemer from nature from grace from heaven and from hell yet all would not so much as stop thee much less turn thee but thou wouldest go on Thou wouldest follow thy flesh and now let it pay thee the wages of thy folly Thou wouldest be thy ovvn guide and take thine ovvn Course and novv take vvhat thou gettest by it Poor sinners I beseech you in the fear of God the next time you have any such motions from the Spirit of God to Repent and Believe and Break off your sins and the Occasions of them consider then what a mercy is set before you and how it will confound you at the day of Judgement to have all these motions brought in against you and that the Spirit of Grace it self should be your Condemner Alas that men should choose their own Destruction and wilfully choose it and that the foreknowledge of these things should not move them to relent So much concerning the witness that will be brought in against the sinner 5. The fifth Evidence that will be given in against the sinner will be The Instruments and Effects You know among men if a man be found murthered by the high-way and you are found standing by him with a bloody sword in your hand especially if there were a former dissention between you it will be an Evidence that will prove a strong presumption that you were the Murderer But if the fact be certain by other Evidence then many such things may be brought for aggravation of the fault So a twofold Evidence will be brought against the sinner from these things One to prove him guilty of the fact the other to Aggravate the fault and prove that his sin was very great For the former 1. The very creatures which sinners abused to sin may be brought in against them to their Conviction and Condemnation For though these creatures shall be consumed with the last destroying Fire which shall consume all the world yet they shall have a Being in the memory of the sinner an esse Cognitum The very Wine or Ale or other liquor which was abused to drunkenness may witness agaâ—nst the Drunkard The sweet morsels by which the Glutton did please his Appetite and all the good creatures of God which he luxuriously devouâ—ed may witness against him Luke 16.19 25. He that fared deliciously every day in this life was told by Abrahâ—m when he was dead and his soul in Hell Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Though their sweet morsels and cups are past and gone yet must they be Remembred at Judgement and in Hell Remember Son saith Abraham Yea and Remember he must whether he will or no Long was the Glutton in sinning and many a pleasant bit did he taste and so many Evidences of his sin will lie against him and the sweetness will then be turned into gall The very cloathing and ornaments by which Proud persons did manifest their Pride will be sufficient Evidence against them as his being cloathed in Purple and fine linnen is mentioned Luk. 16.19 The very lands and goods and houses of worldlings will be an Evidence against them Their Gold and Silver which the covetous do now prefer before the everlasting Riches with Christ will be an Evidence against them Jam. 5.1 2 3 4. Go to now ye Rich men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you Your Riches are corrupted and your Garments moath-eaten Your Gold and Silver is cankered and the Rust of them shall be a Witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire Ye have heaped Treasure together for the Last daies Behold the hire of the Labourers which have reaped down your fields which is of you kept back by fraud cryeth and the cryes of them which have reaped are entred into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth Ye have lived in Pleasure on the Earth and been wanton Ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter Oh that worldlings would well considâ—r this one Text and therein observe whether a life of earthly pleasure and fulness of worldly Glory and Gallantry be as desirable as they imagine and to what Time and Purpose they now lay up their Treasures and how they must hear of these Things hereafter and what effect the review of their Jovial daies will have upon their miserable condemned souls 2. The very circumstances of Time Place and the like may Evidence against a sinner to his Condemnation The drunkard shall Remember In such an Ale-house I was so oft drunk and in such a Tavern I vvasted my time The Adulterer and Fornicator shall Remember the very Time the Place the Room the Bed vvhere they
These things are not indifferent but of flat necessity THE tenth Direction Do all your works as men that must be judged for them It is not enough at least in point of Duty and Comfort that you Judge this preparation in General to be the main business of your lives but you should also order your particular Actions by these Thoughts and measure them by their Respects to this approaching day Before you venture on them enquire whether they will bear weight in Judgement and be sweet or bitter when they are brought to tryal Both for matter and manner this must be observed Oh that you would Remember this when Temptations are upon you When you are Tempted to give up your minds to the world and drown your selves in earthly cares will you bethink you soberly whether you would hear of this at Judgement and whether the world will be then as sweet as now and whether this be the best preparation for your Tryal When you are Tempted to be Drunk or to spend your precious time in Ale-houses or vain unprofitable company or at Cards or Dice or any sinful or needless sports bethink you then Whether this will be comfortable at the Reckoning and whether time be no more worth to one that is so neer eternity and must make so strict an account of his Hours and whether there be not many better works before you in which you might spend your time to your greater advantage and to your greater comfort when it comes to a Review When you are tempted to wantonness fornication or any other fleshly intemperance bethink you soberly with what face these Actions will appear at Judgement and whether they will be then pleasant or displeasant to youâ— So when you are tempted to neglect the daily worshipping of God in your families and the Catechizing and Teaching of your children or servants especially on the Lords Day bethink your selves then what account you will give of this to Christ when he that entrusted you with the care of your children and servants shall call you to a reckoning for the performance of that trust The like must be Remembred in the very manner of our Duties How diligently should a Minister study how earnestly should he perswade how unwearyedly should he bear all oppositions and ungrateful returns and how carefully should he watch over each particular soul of his charge as far as is possible when he Remembers that he must shortly be Accountable for all in Judgement And how importunate should we all be with sinners for their Conversion when we consider that themselves also must shortly be Judged Can a man be cold and dead in prayer that hath any true apprehension of that Judgement upon his mind where he must be accountable for all his prayers and performances O Remember and seriously Remember when you stand before the Minister to hear the word and when you are on your knees to God in prayer in what a manner that same person even your selves must shortly stand at the Barr of the dreadful God! Did these thoughts get throughly to mens hearts they would waken them out of their sleepy Devotions and acquaint them that it is a serious business to be a Christian How careful should we be of our thoughts and words if we believingly remembred that we must be accountable for them all How carefully should we consider what we do with our Riches and with all that God giveth us and how much more largely should we expend it for his service in works of Piety and Charity if we believingly remembred that we must be Judged according to what we have done and give account of every Talent that we receive Certainly the believing consideration of Judgement might make us all better Christians then we are and keep our lives in a more innocent and profitable frame THE eleventh Direction As you will certainly renew your failings in this life so be sure that you daily renew your Repentance and fly daily to Christ for a renewed pardon that no sin may leave its sting in your souls It is not your first pardon that will serve the turn for your latter sins Not that you must Purpose to sin and Purpose to repent when you have done as a Remedy for that is an hypocritical and wicked purpose of repenting which is made a means to maintain us in our sins But sin must be avoided as far as we can and Repentance and Faith in the blood of Christ must remedy that which we could not avoid The righteousness of pardon in Christs blood is useful to us only so far as we are sinners and cometh in where our Imperfect Inherent Righteousness doth come short but must not be purposely chosen before innocency I mean we must rather choose as far as we can to obey and be innocent than to sin and be pardoned if we were sure of pardon THE twelfth Direction In this vigilant obedient penitent course with confidence upon God as a Father Rest upon the Promise of Acceptance and Remission through the Merits and Intercession of him that Redeemed you Look up in hope to the Glory that is before you and believe that God will make good his Word and the patient expectation of the righteous shall not be in vain Cheerfully hold on in the work that you have begun and as you serve a better master than you did before your change so serve him with more willingness gladness and delight Do not entertain hard Thoughts of him or of his service but rejoyce in your unspeakable happiness of being admitted into his family and favour through Christ Do not serve him in drooping dejection and discouragement but with Love and Joy and filial fear Keep in the Communion of his Saints where he is cheerfully and faithfully praised and honoured and where is the greatest visible similitude of heaven upon earth especially in the celebration of the Sacrament of Christs Supper where he seals up a Renewed pardon in his blood and where unanimously we keep the Remembrance of his Death until he come Do not cast your selves out of the Communion of the Saints from whom to be cast out by just Censure and Exclusion is a dreadful emblem and fore-runner of the Judgement to come where the ungodly shall be cast of the presence of Christ and his Saints for ever I have now finished the Directions which I tender to you for your preparation for the Day of the Lord and withal my whole Discourse on this weighty point What effect all this shall have upon your hearts the Lord knows it is not in my power to determine If you are so far blinded and hardened by sin and Satan as to make light of all this or coldly to commend the Doctrine while you go on to the end in your carnal worldly condition as before I can say no more but tell thee again that Judgement is neâ—r when thou wilt bitterly bewail all this too late And among all the rest of the Evidence that comes in against thee this Book will be one which shall testifie to thy face before Angels and men that thou wast told of that Day and intreated to prepare But if the Lord shall shew thee so much mercy as to open thy eyes and break in upon thy heart and by sober Consideration turn it to himself and cause thee faithfully to take the warning that hath here been given thee and to obey these Directions I dare assure thee from the word of the Lord that this Judgement which will be so dreadful to the ungodly and the beginning of their endless terror and misery will be as joyful to thee and the beginning of thy glory The Saviour that thou hast believed in and sincerly obeyed will not condemn thee Psal. 1.5 6. Rom. 8.1 John 3.16 It is part of his business to Justifie thee before the world and to glorifie his merits his Kingly power his holyness and his rewarding Justice in thy Absolution and Salvation He will account it a righteous thing to recompence Tribulation to thy Troublers and Rest to thy self when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Even then shall he come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe in that day Even because his servants Testimony and his Spirits among them was believed 2 Thes. 1.6 7 8 9 10. That day will be the great marriage of the Lamb and the Reception of thee and all the Saints into the glory of thy beloved to which they had a Right at their first Consent and Contract upon earth And when the Bridegroom comes thou who art Ready shalt go in to the Marriage when the door shall be shut against the sleepy negligent world and though they Cry Lord Lord open to us they shall be repulsed with a Verily I know you not Mat. 25.10 11 12 13. For this day which others fear maist thou long and hope and pray and wait and comfort thy self in all troubles with the remembrance of it 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57 58. 1 Thes. 4.17 18. If thou were ready to be offered to death for Christ or when the time of thy departing is at hand thou maisâ— look back on the good fight which thou haâ—t fought and on the course which thou hast finished and on the Faith which thou hast kept and maiâ—t confidently conclude that henceforth there is laid up for thee a Crown of Righteousness which The Lord the Righteous Judge shall give thee at that day and not to thee only but unto all them also that Love his Appearing 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8. Even so Come Lord Jesus Rev. 22.20 FINIS