face in righteousness Psal. 17. 15. Look in now and tell me dost thou yet believe If not conscience must pronounce thee an infidel for it is the very word of God that I speak But if thou say thou believest let me next know thy resolutions Wilt thou embrace this for thy happiness Wilt thou forgo thy sinful gains thy forbidden pleasures Wilt thou trample on the worlds esteem and spit in the harlots face and stop thine ears to her flatteries and wrest thee out of her embraces Wilt thou be content to take up with present reproach and poverty if it lie in thy way to Heaven and to follow the Lord with humble self-denial in a mortified and flesh-displeasing life Iâ— so all is thine and that for ever And art not thou fairly offered Is it not pity but he should be damned that will needs go on and perish when all this may be had for the taking In a word wilt thou now close with these proffers Wilt thou take God at his word Wilt thou let go thy hold-fast of the world and rid thy hands of thy sins and lay hold on eternal life If not let conscience tell thee whether thou art not distracted or bewitched that thou shouldst neglect so happy a choice by which thou mightest be made for ever 3. God will settle unspeakable priviledges at present upon thee 1 Cor. 3. 22. Heb. 12. 22 23 24. Though the â—ull of your blessedness shall be deferred till hereafter yet God will give you no little things in hand He will redeem you from your thraldom Iohn 8. 36. He will pluck you from the paw of the Lion Col. 1. 13. the serpent shall bruise your heel but you shall bruise his head Gen. 3. 15. He shall deliver you from the present evil world Gal. 1. 4. Prosperity shall not destroy you adversity shall not separate between him and you Rom. 8. 35 37 38. He will redeem you from the power of the grave Psal. 49. 15. and make the King of terrors a messenger of peace to you He will take out the curse from the Cross Psal. 119. 71. and make affliction the fining pot the fan the physick to blow off the chaff purify the metal and purge the mind Dan. 12. 10. Esay 27. 9. He will save you from the arrests of the Law and turn the curse into a blessing to you Rom. 6. 14. Gal. 3. â—4 He hath the keys of hell and death and shutteth that no man openeth Rev. 3. 7. 1. 18. and he will shut its mouth as once he did the Lions Dan. 6. 22 that you shall not be hurt of the second death Rev. 2. 11. But he will not only save you from misery but install you into unspeakable Prerogatives He will bestow himself upon you he will be a friend to you and a father to you â— Cor. 6. 18. he will be a Sun and a Shield to you Psal. 84. 11. in a word he will be a God to you Gen. 17. 7. and what can be said more What you may expect that a God should do for you and be to you that he will be that he will 〈◊〉 She that marries a Prince expects he should do for her like a Prince that she may live in suitable state and have an answerable dowry He that hath a King for his Father or friend expects that he should do for him like a King Alas the Kings and Monarchs of the earth so much above us are but like the painted butterflies amongst the rest of their kind or the fair-coloured palmer-worm amongst the rest of the worms if compared with God As he doth infinitely exceed the glory and power of his glittering dust so he will beyond all proportion exceed in doing for his favourites whatever Princes can do for theirs He will give you grace and glory and withhold no good thing from you Psal. 84. 11. He will take you for his sons and daughters and make you heirs of his promises Heb. 6. 17. and establish his everlasting Covenant with you Ier. 32. 40. He will justify you from all that Law Conscience Satan can charge upon you Rom. 8. 33 34. He will give you free access into his presence and accept your persons and receive your prayers Eph. 3. 12. Eph. 1. 6. 1 Iohn 5. 14. He will abide in you and make you the men of his secrets and hold a constant and friendly communion with you Iohn 14. 23. Iohn 15. 15. 1 Iohn 1. 3. His car shall be open his door open his store open at all times to you His blessing shall rest upon you and he will make your enemies to serve you and work about all things for good unto you Psal. 115. 13. Rom. 8. 28. 4. The Terms of mercy are brought as low as possible to you God hath stooped as low to sinners as with honour he can He will not be thought a fautour of sin nor stain the glory of his holiness and whither could he come lower than he hath unless he should do this He hath abated the impossible terms of the first Covenant Ier. 3. 13. Mark 5. 36. Acts 16. 31. Acts 3. 19. Prov. 28. 13. He doth not impose any thing unreasonable or impossible as a condition of life upon you Two things were necessary to be done according to the tenour of the first Covenant by you 1. That you should fully satisfy the demands of Iustice for past offences 2. That you should perform personally perfectly and perpetually the whole law for the time to come Both these are to us impossible Rom. 8. 3. But behold Gods gracious abatement in both He doth not stand upon satisfaction he is content to take of the surety and he of his own providing too what he might have exacted from you 2 Cor. 5. 19. He declares himself to have received a ransom Iob 33. 24. 1 Tim. 2. 6. and that he expects nothing but that you should accept his son and he shall be righteousness and redemption to you Iohn 1. 12. 1 Cor. 1. 30. And for the future obedience here he is content to yield to your weakness and to remit the rigour He doth not stand upon perfection as a condition of life though he still insists upon it as due but is content to accept of sincerity Gen. 17. 1. Prov. 11. 20. Though you cannot pay the full debt he will accept you according to that which you have and will take willing for doing and the purpose for the performance 2 Cor. 8. 12. 2 Chron. 6. 8. Heb. 11. 17. and if you come in his Christ and set your hearts to please him and make it the chief of your cares he will approve and reward you though the vessel be marred in your hands Oh consider your makers condescension Let me say to you as Naaman's servants to him My father if the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldst thou not have done it how much rather when he saith unto thee wash and be clean 2 Kings 5.
AN ALARME TO Unconverted Sinners In a Serious TREATISE SHEWING I. What Conversion is not and correcting some Mistakes about it II. What Conversion is and wherein it consisteth III. The Necessity of Conversion IV. The Marks of the Unconverted V. The Miseries of the Unconverted VI. Directions for Conversion VII Motives to Conversion Whereunto are annexed divers Practical Cases of Conscience Judiciously Resolved By Ioseph Alleine late Preacher of the Gospel at Taunton in Somerset-shire LONDON Printed by E. T. and R. H. and are to sold by Nevil Simmons at the Princes Arms in St. Pauls-Church-yard 1672. To all the Ignorant Carnal and Ungodly who are Lovers of pleasures more than God and seek this world more than the Life Everlasting and live after the Flesh and not after the Spirit These Calls and Counsels are directed in hope of their Conversion to God and of their Salvation He that hath an ear to hear let him hear Miserable Souls THere is that Life and Light and Love in every true Believer but especially in every Faithful Minister of Christ which engageth them to long and labour for your Salvation Life is communicative and active It maketh us sensible that Faith is not a fantasie nor true Religion a stage-play nor our hopes of eternal happiness a dream And as we desire nothing more for our selves than to have more of the Holy Life which we have alas in so small a measure so what is it that we should more desire for others With the eye of an infallible though too weak faith we see the Heaven which you neglect and the blessed souls in Glory with Christ whose companions you might be for ever we see the multitudes of souls in hell who came thither by the same way that you are going in who are shut out of the glorious presence of God and are now among those devils that deceived them remembring that they had their good things here Luke 16. 25. and how they spent the day of their visitation and how light they once set by God by Christ by Heaven by Mercy whilest Mercy was an earnest solicitour for their hearts And with our bodily eyes we see at the same time abundance of poor sinners living about us as if there were no God no Christ no Heaven no Hell no Judgment no nor Death to be expected as if a man were but a master beast to rule the rest and feed upon them and perish with them And if it were your own case to see what souls do in Heaven and Hell and at once to see how unbelievingly carelesly and senselesly most men live on earth as if there were no such difference in another world would it not seem a pitiful sight to you If you had once seen the five brethren of Dives on earth eating drinking laughing and merry clothed and faring daily with the best and at the same time seen their brothers soul in Hell begging in vain for a little ease and wishing in vain that one from the dead might go warn his brethren that they come not to that place of torment would it not seem to you a pitiful sight would not pity have made you think Is there no way to open these Gentlemens eyes No way to acquaint them what is become of their brother and where Lazarus is and whither they themselves are going No one driveth or forceth them to Hell and will they go thither of themselves and is there no way to stop them or keep them back Did you but see your selves what we see by faith believing God and at once beheld the Saints in Heaven the lost despairing souls in Hell and the senseless sensual sinners on earth that yet will lay none of this to heart sure it would make you wonder at the stupidity of mankind Would you not say O what a deciver is the Devil that can thus lead on souls to their own damnation O what a cheater is this transitory world that can make men so forget the world where they must live for ever O what an enemy is this flesh that thus draweth down mens souls from God! O what a besotting thing is sin that turneth a reasonable soul into worse than a beast What a Bedlam is this wicked world when thousands are so busily labouring to undo themselves and others and gratifying the Devil against the God and Saviour who would give them everlasting blessed life And as we have such a sight as this by Faith to make us pity you so have we so much tast of the goodness of God the sweetness of his wayes and the happiness of believers as must needs make us wish that you had but once tryed the same delights which would turn the pleasures of sin into detestation God knoweth that we desire nothing more for our selves than the Perfection and Eternity of this holiness and happiness which we believe and tast And should we not desire the same for you And being thus moved with necessary pitty we ask of God what he would have us to do for your salvation And he hath told us in Scripture that the preaching of his Gospel to acquaint you plainly with the truth and earnestly and frequently intreat you to turn from the flesh and world to God by Jesus Christ is the means with which his grace is ready to concurr for your salvation when obstinate resistance causeth not the Holy Spirit to forsake the sinner and leave him to himself to follow his own Counsels Lusts and Wills In this hope we undertook the Sacred Ministry and gave up our selves to this great and most important work in the great sense of our unworthiness but yet in the sense of your souls necessity We were not such fools at our first setting out as not to know it must be a life of labour self-denial and patience and the devil would do his worst to hinder us and that all sorts of his instruments would be ready to serve him against our labours and against your souls Christ our Captain saved us by patient Conquest and so must we save our selves and you and so must you save your selves under Christ if ever you be saved It was no strange thing to Paul that bonds and afflictions did every where abide him nor did he account his life dear that he might finish his course with joy and the Ministry committed to him by the Lord. Act. 20. 23 24. It was no strange thing to him to be forbidden to preach to the Gentiles that they might be saved by such as were filling up the measure of their sins and were under Gods uttermost wrath on earth 1 Thess. 2. 15. 16. Devils and Pharisees and most where they came both high and low were against the Apostles preaching of the Gospel and yet they would not sacrilegiously and cruelly break their Covenant with Christ and perfidiously desert the souls of men even as their Lord for the love of souls did call Peter Satan that would have tempted him to save his life and
thou shouldst spread forth thine hands God will hide his eyes though thou make many prayers he will not hear Esay 1. 15. If a man without skill set about our work and marr it in the doing though he take much pains we give him but small thanks God will be worshipped after the due order 1 Chron. 15. 13. If a servant do our work but quite contrary to our order he shall have rather stripes than praise Gods work must be done according to Gods mind or he will not be pleased and this cannot be except it be done with a holy heart 2 Chron. 25. 2. IV. Without this thy hopes are in vain Iob 8. 12 13. The Lord hath rejected thy confidence Ier. 2. 37. First thy hopes of comfort here are in vain 'T is not only necessary to the safety but comfort of your condition that you be converted Without this you shall not know peace Esay 59. 8. Without the fear of God you cannot have the comforts of the Holy Ghost Act 9. 31. God speaks peace only to his people and to his saints Psal. 85. 8. If you have a false peace continuing in your sins 't is not of Gods speaking and then you may guess the Author Sin is a real sickness Esay 1. 5. yea the worst of sickness 't is a leprosie in the head Levit. 13. 44. the plague in the heart 1 Kings 8. 38. 't is brokenness in the bones Psal. 51. 8. it pierceth it woundeth it racketh and tormenteth 1 Tim. 6. 10. A man may as well expect ease when his diseases are in their strength or his bones out of joint as true comfort while in his sins O wretched man that canst have no ease in this case but what comes from the deadliness of thy disease You shall have the poor sick man saying in his lightness he is well when you see death in his face He will needs up and about his business when the very next step is like to be into the grave The unsanctified often feel nothing amiss they think themselves whole and cry not out for the Physician but this shews the danger of their case Sin doth naturally breed distempers and disturbance in the soul. What a continual tempest and commotion is there in a discontented mind What an eating evil is inordinate care What is passion but a very feaver in the mind What is Lust but a fire in the bones What is Pride but a deadly tympany or covetousness but an unsatiable and unsufferable thirst or malice and envy but venom in the very heart Spiritual sloth is but a scurvy in the mind and carnal security a mortal lethargy And how can that soul have true comfort that is under so many diseases But converting grace cures and so eases the mind and prepares the soul for a setled standing immortal peace Great peace have they that love thy commandments and nothing shall offend them Psal. 119. 165. They are the wayes of wisdom that afford pleasure and peace Prov. 3. 17. David had infinitely more pleasure in the word than in all the delights of his Court Psal. 119. 103 127. The conscience cannot be truly pacified till soundly purified Heb. 10. 22. Cursed is that peace that is maintained in a way of sin Deut. 29. 19 20. Two sorts of peace are more to be dreaded than all the troubles in the world Peace with sin and Peace in sin Secondly Thy hopes of Salvation hereafter are in vain yea worse than in vain they are most injurious to God most pernicious to thy self there is death desperation blasphemy in the bowels of this hope 1. There is death in it Thy confidence shall be rooted out of thy tabernacles God will up with it root and branch it shall bring thee to the King of terrors Iob 18. 14. Though thou maist lean upon this house it will not stand Iob. 8. 15. but will prove like a ruinous building which when a man trusts to it falls down about his ears 2. There is desperation in it Where is the hope of the hypocrite when God taketh away his soul Iob 27. 8. Then there is an end for ever of his hope Indeed the hope of the righteous hath an end but then 't is not a destructive but a perfective end his hope ends in fruition others in frustration Prov. 10. 28. The godly must say at death It is finished but the wicked It is perished and in too sad earnest bemoan himself as he in a mistake Where now is my hope He hath destroyed me I am gone and my hope is removed like a tree Iob. 19. 10. The righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14. 32. When nature is dying his hopes are living when his body is languishing his hopes are flourishing his hope is a living hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but others a dying yea a damning soul undoing hope When a wicked man dyeth his expectation shall perish and the hope of unjust men perisheth Prov 11. 7. It shall be cut off and prove like the spiders web Iob 8. 14. which he spins out of his won bowels but then comes death with the broom and takes down all and so there is an eternal end of his confidence wherein he trusted For the eyes of the wicked shall fail and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost Iob 11. 2. Wicked men are setled in their carnal hope and will not be beaten out of it They hold it fast they will not let it go Yea but death will knock off their fingers Though we cannot undeceive them death and judgment will When death strikes its dark through thy liver it will let out thy soul and thy hopes together The unsanctified have hope only in this life 1 Cor. 15. 19. and therefore are of all men most miserable When death comes it lets them out into the amazing gulf of endless desperation 3. There is blasphemy in it To hope we shall be saved though continuing unconverted is to hope we shall prove God a liar He hath told you that so merciful and pitiful as he is he will never save you not withstanding if you go on in ignorance or a course of unrighteousness Esay 27. 11. 1 Cor. 6. 9. in a word he hath told you that whatever you be or do nothing shall avail you to salvation without you be new creatures Gal. 6. 15. Now to say God is mercifu◠and we hope he will save us nevertheless is to say in effect we hope God will not do as he saith We may not set Gods attributes at variance God is resolved to glorifie mercy but not with the prejudice of truth as the presumptuous sinner will find to his everlasting sorrow Obj. Why but we hope in Jesus Christ we put out whole trust in God and therefore doubt not but we shall be saved Ans. 1. This is not to hope in Christ but against Christ. To hope to see the Kingdom of God without being born again to hope to
find eternal life in the broad way is to hope Christ will prove a false prophet 'T is David's plea I hope in thy word Psal. 119. 81. but this hope is against the word Shew me a word of Christ for thy hope that he will save thee in thine ignorance or prophane neglects of his service and I will never to to shake thy confidence 2. God doth with abhorrency reject this hope Those condemned in the Prophet went on in their sins yet saith the Text they will lean upon the Lord. Mic. 3. 11. God will not endure to be made a prop to men in their sins The Lord rejects those presumptuons sinners that went on still in their trespasses and yet would stay themselves upon the God of Israel Esay 48. 1 2. as a man would shake of the briars as one well that cleaves to his garment 3. If thy hope were any thing worth it would purify thee from thy sins 1 Iohn 3. 3. but cursed is that hope which doth cherish men in their sins Obj. Would you have us to despair An. You must despair of ever coming to Heaven as you are Act. 2. 37. that is while you remain unconverted You must despair ever to see the face of God without holiness but you must by no means despair of finding mercy upon your through repentance and conversion neither may you despair of attaining to repentance and conversion in the use of Gods means V. Without this all that Christ hath done and suffered will be as to you in vain Iohn 13. 8. Tit. 2. 14. that is it will no way avail to your salvation Many urge this as sufficient ground for their hopes that Christ died for sinners but I must tell you Christ never died to save impenitent and unconverted sinners so continuing 2 Tâ—m 2. 19. A great Divine was wont in his private dealings with souls to ask two questions 1. What hath Christ done for you 2. What hath Christ wrought in you Without the application of the spirit in Regeneration we can have no saving interest in the benefits of Redemption I tell you from the Lord Christ himself cannot save you if you go on in this estate I. It were against his trust The mediatour is the servant of the father Esay 42. 1. shews his commission from him acts in his name and pleads his command for his justification Iohn 10. 18 36. Iohn 6. 38 40. And God hath committed all things to him entrusted his own glory and the salvation of his elect with him Mat. 11. 27. Iohn 17. 2. Accordingly Christ gives his father an account of both parts of his trust before he leaves the world Iohn 17. 4 6 12. Now Christ should quite cross his fathers glory his greatest trust if he should save men in their sins for this were to overturn all his counsels and offer violence to all his attributes First To overturn all his counsels of which this is the order that men should be brought through sanctification to salvation 2. Thes. 2. 13. he hath chosen them that they should be holy Eph. 1. 4. They are elected to pardon and life through sanctification 1 Pet. 1. 2. If thou canst repeal the Law of Gods immutable counsel or corrupt him whom the Father hath sealed to go directly against his Commission then and not otherwise maist thou get to Heaven in this condition To hope that Christ will save thee while unconverted is to hope that Christ will falsify his trust He never did nor will save one soul but whom the Father had given him in election and drawn to him in effectual calling Iohn 6. 37 44. Be assured Christ will save none in a way contrary to his Fathers will who came on purpose to do his will Iohn 6. 38. Secondly To offer violence to all his attributes 1. To his Iustice. For the righteousness of Gods judgment lies in rendring to all according to their works Rom. 2. 5 6. Now should men sow to the flesh and yet of the spirit reap everlasting life Gal. 6. 7 8. where were the glory of divine Justice since it should be given to the wicked according to the work of the righteous 2. To his holiness If God should not only save sinners but save them in their sins his most pure and strict holiness would be exceedingly defaced The unsanctified is in the eyes of Gods holiness worse than a swine or viper Mat. 23. 33. 2 Pet. 2. 22. Now what cleanly nature could endure to have the filthy swine bed and board with him in his parlour or bed chamber It would offer extremest violence to the infinite purity of the divine nature to have such to dwell with him They cannot stand in his judgment they cannot abide in his presence Psal. 1. 5. Psal. 5. 4 5. If holy David would not endure such in his house no nor in his sight Psal. 101. 3 7. shall we think God will Should he take men as they be from the trow to the table from the harlots lips from the sty and draugh to the glory of Heaven the world would think God were at no such distance from sin nor had such dislike of it as we are told he hath they would conclude God were altogether such a one as themselves as they wickedly did but from the very forbearance of God Psal. 50. 21. 3. To his veracity For God hath declared from Heaven That if any shall say they shall have peace though he should go on in the imagination of his heart his wrath shall smoak against that man Deut. 29. 19 20. That they only that confess and forsake their sins shall find mercy Prov. 28. 13. That they that shall enter into his â—ill must be of clean hands and a pure heart Psal. 24. 3 4. Where were Gods truth if notwithstanding all this he â—hould bring men to salvation without Conversion O desperate sinner that darest to hope that Christ will put the lie upon his Father and nullify his word to save thee 4. To his wisdom For this were to throw away the choicest mercies on them that would not value them nor were any way suited to them First they would not value them The unsanctified sinner puts but little price upon Gods great salvation Mat. 22. 5. He sets no more by Christ than the whole by the physician Mat. 9. 12. he prizes not his balm values not his cure tramples upon his blood Heb. 10. 29. Now would it stand with wisdom to force pardon and life upon them that would give him no thanks for them Will the all-wise God when he hath forbidden us to do it throw his holy things to dogs and his pearl to swine that would as it were but turn again and rent him Mat. 7. 6. This would make mercy to be despised indeed Wisdom requires that life be given in a way suitable to Gods honour and that God provide for the securing his own glory as well as mans felicity It would be dishonourable to God to set his
BEfore thou readest these Directions I advise thee yea I charge thee before God and his holy Angels to resolve to follow them as far as conscience shall be convinced of their agreeableness to Gods word and thy estate and call in his assistance and blessing that they may succeed And as I have sought the Lord and consulted his oracles what advice to give thee so must thou entertain it with that aw reverence and purpose of obedience that the word of the living God doth require Now then attend Set thine heart unto all that I shall testify unto thee this day for it is not a vain thing it is your life Deut. 32. 46. This is the end of all that hath been spoken hitherto to bring you to set upon turning and making use of Gods means for your Conversion I would not trouble you nor torment you before the time with the forethoughts of your eternal misery but in order to your making your escape Were you shut up under your present misery without remedy it were but mercy as one speaks to let you alone that you might take in that little poor comfort that you are capable of here in this world But you may yet be happy if you do not willfully refuse the means of your recovery Behold I hold open the door unto you arise and take your flight I set the way of life before you walk in it and you shall live and not die Deut. 30. 19. Ier. 9. 16. It pities me to think you should be your own murderers and throw your selves headlong when God and men cry out to you as Peter in another case to his Master Spare thy self A noble Virgin that attended the Court of Spain was wickedly ravished by the King and hereupon exciting the Duke her Father to revenge he called in the Moors to his help who when they had executed his design miserably wasted and spoiled the Countrey which this Virgin laying exceedingly to heart shut her self up in a Tower belonging to her Fathers house and desired her Father and Mother might be called forth and bewailing to them her own wretchedness that she should have occasioned so much misery and desolation to her Countrey for the satisfying of her revenge she told them she was resolved to be avenged upon her self Her Father and mother besought her to pity her self and them but nothing would prevail but she took her leave of them and threw her self off the battlements and so perished before their faces Just such is the willful destruction of ungodly men The God that made them beseecheth them and cryeth out to them as Paul to the distracted Jaylor when about to murder himself Do thy self no harm The Ministers of Christ forewarn them and follow them and fain would hold them back But alas No expostulations nor obtestations will prevail but men will hurl themselves into perdition while pity it self looketh on What shall I say would it not grieve a person of any humanity if in the time of a reigning plague he should have a receipt as one well that would infallibly cure all the Countrey and recover the most hopeless patients and yet his friends and neighbours should dye by the hundreds about him because they would not use it Men and brethren though you carry the certain symptoms of death in your faces yet I have a receipt that will cure you all that will cure infallibly Follow but these few directions and if you do not then win Heaven I will be content to lose it Hear then O sinner and as ever thou wouldst be converted and saved embrace this following counsel Direct I. Set it down with thy self as an undoubted truth that it is impossible for thee ever to get to Heaven in this thine unconverted estate Can any other but Christ save thee And he tells thee he will never do it except thou be regenerated and converted Mat. 18. 3. Iohn 3. 3. Doth not he keep the keys of Heaven And canst thou get in without his leave as thou must if ever thou comest thither in thy natural condition without a sound and through renovation Dir. II. Labour to get a thorow sight and lively sense and feeling of thy sins Till men are weary and heavy laden and pricked at the heart and stark sick of sin they will not come to Christ in his way for ease and cure nor to purpose enquire What shall we do Mat. 11. 28. Act. 2. 37. Mat. 9. 12. They must set themselves down for dead men before they will come unto Christ that they may have life Iohn 5. 40. Labour therefore to set all thy sins in order before thee Never be afraid to look upon them but let thy spirit make diligent search Psal. 77. 6. Enquire into thine heart and into thy life Enter into a thorow examination of thy self and of all thy wayes Psal. 119. 59. that thou maist make a full discovery and call in the help of Gods spirit in the sense of thine own inability hereunto for it is his proper work to convince of sin Iohn 16. 8. Spread all before the face of thy conscience till thine heart and eyes be set abroach Leave not striving with God and thine own soul till it cry out under the sense of thy sins as the inlightened Jaylour What must I do to be saved Acts 16. 30. To this purpose Meditate of the Numerousness of thy sins David's heart failed when he thought of this and considered that he had more sins than hairs Psal. 40. 12. This made him to cry out upon the multitudes of Gods tender mercies Psal. 51. 1. The loathsome carcase doth not more hatefully swarm with crawling worms than an unsanctified soul with filthy lusts They fill the head the heart the eyes and mouth of him Look backward where was ever the place what was ever the time in which thou didst not sin Look inward what part or power canst thou find in soul or body but it is poisoned with sin What duty dost thou ever perform into which this poison is not shed Oh how great is the sum of thy debts who hast been all thy life long running upon the books and never didst nor canst pay off one penny Look over the sin of thy nature and all its cursed brood the sins of thy life Call to mind thine Omissions Commissions the sins of thy thoughts of thy words of thine actions the sins of thy youth the sins of thy years c. Be not like a desperate bankrupt that is afraid to look over his books Read the records of conscience carefully these books must be opened sooner or later Rev. 20. 12. Meditate upon the aggravations of thy sins as they are the grand enemies against the God of thy life against the life of thy soul in a word they are the publick enemies of all mankind How do David Ezra Daniel and the good Levites aggravate their sins from the consideration of their injuriousness to God their opposition to his good and righteous
Laws the mercies the warnings that they were committed against Nehem. 9. Dan. 9. Ezra 9. Oh the work that sin hath made in the world This is the enemy that hath brought in death that hath robbed and enslaved man that hath blacked the devil that hath digged hell Rom. 5. 12. 2 〈◊〉 2. 4. Iohn 8. 34. this is the enemy that hath turned the creation upside down and sown dissension between man and the creatures between man and man yea between man and himself setting the sensitive part against the rational will against judgment lust against conscience yea worst of all between God and man making the lapsed sinner both hateful to God and a hater of him Zech. 11. 8. O man how canst thou make so light of sin This is the traitour that sucked the blood of the Son of God that sold him that mocked him that scourged him that spat in his face that digged his hands that pierced his side that pressed his soul that mangled his body that never lest till it had bound him condemned him nailed him crucified him and put him to open shame Esay 53. 4 5 6. This is that deadly poison so powerful of operation as that one drop of it shed upon the root of mankind hath corrupted spoiled and poisoned and undone his whole race at once Rom. 5. 18 19. This is the common butcher the bloody executioner that hath killed the Prophets that hath burnt the Martyrs that hath murdered all the Apostles all the Patriarchs all the Kings and Potentates that hath destroyed Cities swallowed Empires butchered and devoured whole Nations Whatever was the weapon that 't was done by sin was it that did the execution Rom. 6. 23. Dost thou yet think it but a small thing If Adam and all his children could be digged out of their graves and their bodies piled up to Heaven and an inquest were made what matchless murderer were guilty of all this blood it would be all found in the skirts of sin Study the nature of sin till thy heart be brought to fear and loath it And meditate on the aggravations of thy particular sins how thou hast sinned against all Gods warnings against thine own prayers against mercies against corrections against clearest light against freest love against thine own resolutions against promises vows covenants of better obedience c. charge thy heart home with these things till it blush for shame and be brought out of all good opinion of it self Ezra 9. 6. Meditate upon the desert of sin It cryeth up to Heaven it calls for vengeance Gen. 18. 20. It s due wages is death damnation It pulls the curse of God upon the soul and body Gal. 3. 10. Deut. 28. The least sinful word or thought laies thee under the infinite wrath of God Almighty Rom. 2. 8 9. Mat. 12. 36. Oh what a load of wrath what a weight of curses what a treasure of vengeance have all the millions of thy sins then deserved Rom. 2. 5. Ioh. 3. 36. Oh judge thy self that the Lord may not judge thee 1 Cor. 11. 31. Meditate upon the deformity and defilement of sin 'T is as black as hell the very image and likeness of the Devil drawn upon thy soul. 1 Iohn 3. 8 10. It would more affright thee to see thy self in the hateful deformity of thy nature than to see the devil There is no mire so unclean no vomit so loathsome no carcase or carrion so offensive no plague or leprosie so noisom as sin in which thou art all enrolled 〈◊〉 covered with its odious filth whereby 〈◊〉 art rendred more displeasing to the pure and holy nature of the glorious God than the most filthy object composed of whatever is hateful to all thy senses can be to thee Iob 15. 15 16. Couldst thou take up a toad into thy bosom Couldst thou cherish it and take delight in it Why thou art as contrary to the pure and perfect holiness of the divine nature and as loathsome as that is to thee Mat. 23. 33. till thou art purified by the blood of Jesus and the power of renewing grace Above all other sins fix the eye of Consideration on these two 1. The sin of thy nature 'T is to little purpose to lop off the branches while the root of original corruption remains untouched In vain do men lave out the streams when the fountain is still running that fills up all again Let the axe of thy repentance with David's go to the root of sin Psal. 51. 5. Study thy natural pollution how universal it is how deep how close how permanent it is till thou dost cry out with Paul's feeling upon thy body of death Rom. 7. 24. Look into all thy parts and powers and see what unclean vessels what styes what dunghills what sinks they are become Heu miser quid sum vas fâ—erquilinii concha putredinis plenus foetore horrore August Solil c. 2. The heart is never soundly broken till throughly convinced of the heynousness of original sin Here fix thy thoughts This is that that makes thee backward to all good prone to all evil Rom. 7. 15. that sheds blindness pride prejudices unbelief into thy mind enmity unconstancy obstinacy into thy will inordinate heats and colds into thy affections insensibleness benummedness unfaithfulness into thy conscience slipperiness into thy memory and in a word hath put every wheel of thy soul out of order and made it of an habitation of holiness to become a very hell of iniquity Iames 3. 6. This is that that hath defiled corrupted perverted all thy members and turned them into weapons of unrighteousness and servants of sin Rom. 6. 19. that hath filled the head with carnal and corrupt designs Mic. 2. 1. the hands with sinful practices Esay 1. 15. the eyes with wandring and wantonness 2 Pet. 2. 14. the tongue with deadly poison Iames 3. 8. that hath opened the ears to tales flattery and filthy communication and shut them against the instruction of life Zech. 7. 11 12. and hath rendred thy heart a very mint and forge of sin and the cursed womb of all deadly conceptions Mat. 15. 19. so that it poureth forth its wickedness without ceasing 2 Pet. 2. 14 even as naturally freely unweariedly as a fountain doth pour forth its water Ier. 6. 7. or the raging Sea doth cast forth mire and dirt Esay 57. 20. And wilt thou yet be in love with thy self and tell us any longer of thy good heart O never leave meditating on this desperate contagion of original corruption till with Ephraim thou bemoan thy self Ier. 31. 18. and with deepest shame and sorrow smite on thy breast as the publican Luk. 18. 13. and with Iob abhor thy self and repent in dust and ashes Iob 42. 6. 2. The particular evil that thou art most addicted to Find out all its aggravations Set home upon thy heart all Gods threatnings against it Repentance drives before it the whole herd but especially sticks the arrow in the beloved
that if you will walk by this rule your very thoughts and inward motions must be under government Again that they are very strict and self-denying quite contrary to the grain of your natural inclinations Mat. 16. 24. You must take the strait gate the narrow way and be content to have the flesh curbed from the liberty that it desires Mat. 7. 14. In a word that they are very large for the commandment is exceeding broad Psal. 119. 66. Secondly rest not in generals for there 's much deceit in that but bring down thy heart to the particular commands of Christ. Those Jews in the Prophet seemed as well resolved as any in the world and call God to witness that they meant as they said But they stuck in generals When Gods command crosses their inclination they will not obey Ier. 42. 1 2 3 4 5 6. compared with ch 43 v. 2. Take the Assemblies larger Catechism and see their excellent and most compendious exposition of the Commandments and put thy heart to it Art thou resolved in the strength of Christ to set upon the conscientious practice of every duty that thou findest to be there required of thee and to set against every sin that thou findest there forbidden This is the way to be sound in Gods statutes that thou maist never be ashamed Psal. 119 80. Thirdly Observe the special duties that thy heart is most against and the special sins that 't is most inclin'd unto and see whether it be truly resolved to perform the one and forgo the other What sayst thou to thy bosom sin thy gainful sin What sayst thou to costly and hazardous and flesh-displeasing duties If thou haltest here and dost not resolve by the grace of God to cross thy flesh and put to it thou art unsound Psal. 18. 23. Psal. 119. 6. Dir. X. Let all this be compleated in a solemn Covenant between God and thy soul. Psal. 119. 106. Neb. 10. 29. For thy better help therein take these few Directions First set apart some time more than once to be spent in secret before the Lord. 1. In seeking earnestly his special assistance and gracious acceptance of thee 2. In considering distinctly all the terms or conditions of the Covenant expressed in the form hereafter proposed 3. In searching thine heart whether thou art sincerely willing to forsake all thy sins and to resign up thy self body and soul unto God and his service to serve him in holiness and righteousness all the days of thy life Secondly Compose thy spirit into the most serious frame possible suitable to a transaction of so high importance Thirdly Lay hold on the Covenant of God and rely upon his promise of giving grace and strength whereby thou maist be enabled to perform thy promise Trust not to thine own strength to the strength of thine own resolutions but take hold on his strength Fourthly Resolve to be faithful having engaged thine heart opened thy mouth and subscribed with thine hand unto the Lord resolve in his strength never to go back Lastly Being thus prepared on some convenient time set apart for the purpose set upon the work and in the most solemn manner possible as if the Lord were visibly present before thine eyes fall down on thy knees and spreading forth thine hands towards Heaven open thine heart to the Lord in these or the like words O Most dreadful God for the Passion of thy Son I beseech thee accept of thy poor Prodigal now prostrating himself at thy Door I have fallen from thee by mine iniquity and am by nature a son of Death and a thousand-fold more the child of Hell by my wicked Practice But of thine infinite Grace thou hast promised Mercy to me in Christ if I will but turn to Thee with all my Heart Therefore upon the Call of Thy Gospel I am now come in and throwing down my weapons submit my self to thy Mercy And because thou requirest as the Condition of my Peace with Thee that I should put away mine Idols and be at defiance with all thine Enemies which I acknowledge I have wickedly sided with against Thee I here from the bottom of my heart renounce them all firmly Covenanting with Thee not to allow my self in any known Sin but Conscientiously to use all the means that I know thou hast prescribed for the Death and utter Destruction of all my Corruptions And whereas I have formerly inordinately and idolatrously let out my affections upon the World I do here resign my Heart to Thee that madest it humbly protesting before thy Glorious Majesty that it is the firm resolution of my Heart and that I do unfeignedly desire Grace from Thee that when thou shalt call me hereunto I may practise this my resolution through thy Assistance to forsake all that is dear unto me in this world rather than to turn from thee to the ways of sin and that I will watch against all its Temptations whether of Prosperity or Adversity lest they should withdraw my Heart from thee beseeching thee also to help me against the Temptations of Satan to whose wicked Suggestions I resolve by thy Grace never to yield my self a Servant And because my own righteousness is but menstruous rags I renounce all confidence therein and acknowledge that I am of my self a hopeless helpless undone done creature without righteousness or strength And forasmuch as thou hast of thy bottomless Mercy offered most Graciously to me wretched sinner to be again my God through Christ if I would accept of thee I call Heaven and Earth to record this day that I do here solemnly avouch thee for the Lord my God with all possible veneration bowing the neck of my soul under the feet of thy most Sacred Majesty I do here take thee the Lord Iehovah Father Son and Holy Ghost for my portion and chief good and do give up my self body and soul for thy servant promising and vowing to serve thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of my life And since thou hast appointed the Lord Jesus Christ the only means of coming unto thee I do here upon the bended knees of my soul accept of him as the only new and living way by which sinners may have access to thee and do here solemnly join my self in a marriage-Covenant to him O blessed Jesus I come to thee hungry and hardly bestead poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked a most loathsome polluted wretch a guilty condemned Malefactor unworthy for ever to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord much more to be solemnly married to the King of Glory but sith such is thine unparallel'd love I do here with all my power accept thee and do take thee for my Head and Husband for better for worse for richer for poorer for all times and conditions to love and honour and obey thee before all others and this to the death I embrace thee in all thine Offices I
and all the sons of God shout for joy and celebrate this new creation as they did the first Thy repentance would as it were make holy-day in heaven and the glorious spirits would rejoyce in that there is a new brother added to their society Re. 22. 9. another heir born to their Lord and the lost son received safe and sound The true penitents tears are indeed the wine that cheereth both God and man If it be little that men and Angels would rejoyce at thy Conversion know that God himself would rejoyce over thee even with singing and rest in his love Luke 15. 9. Esay 62. 5. Never did old Iacob with such joy weep over the neck of his Ioseph as thy heavenly Father would rejoyce over thee upon thy coming in to him Look over the story of the Prodigal Methinks I see how the aged Father laies aside his state and forgets his years behold how he runneth Luke 15. 20. Oh the hast that mercy makes The sinner makes not half that speed Methinks I see how his bowels turn how his compassions yern How quick-sighted is love Mercy spies him a great way off forgets his riotous courses unnatural rebellion horrid unthankfulness debauched practices not a word of these but receives him with open arms clasps about his neck forgets the nastiness of his rags kisses the lips that deserve to be loathed the lips that had been joined to harlots that had been commoners with the swine calls for the fatted calf the best robe the ring the shooes the best cheer in Heavens store the best attire in Heavens wardrobe c. yea the joy cannot be held in one breast Luke 15. 6 9 23. others must be called to participate the friends must meet and make merry Angels must wait but the Prodigal must be set at the table under his Fathers wing He is the joy of the feast he is the sweet subject of the Fathers delight The friends sympathize but none knows the felicity the father takes in his new born son whom he hath received from the dead Methinks I hear the musick and the dancing at a distance Oh the melody of the Heavenly Choristers I cannot learn the song Rev. 14. 3. but methinks I over-hear the burden at which all the harmonious quire with one consent strikes sweetly in for thus goes the round at Heavens table For this my son was dead and is alive again was lost and is found Luke 15. 23 24 32. I need not farther explain the parable God is the Father Christ the cheer his righteousness the robe his graces the ornaments Ministers Saints Angels the friends and servants and thou that readest if thou wilt but unfeignedly repent and turn the welcome Prodigal the happy instance of all this grace and the blessed subject of this joy love Oh Rock Oh Adamant What not moved yet not yet resolved to return forthwith and to close with mercy I will try thee yet once again If one were sent to thee from the dead wouldst thou be perswaded Why hear the voice from the dead from the damned crying to thee that thou shouldst repent I pray thee that thou wouldst send him to my fathers house for I have five brethren that he may testify unto them lest they also come into this place of torment If one went unto them from the dead they will repent Luke 16. 27 28 c. Hear O man thy Predecessors in impenitence preach to thee from the infernal gibbets from the flames from the rack that thou shouldst repent O look down into the bottomless pit Seest thou how the smoak of their torment ascendeth for ever and ever Rev. 14. 11. How black are those fiends How furious are their tormenters 'T is their only musick to hear how their miserable patients roar to hear their bones crack 'T is their meat and drink to see how their flesh friâ—â—h and their fat droppeth to drench them with burning metal and to rip open their bodies and pour in the fierce and fiery brass into their bowels and the recesses and ventricles of their hearts What thinkest thou of those chains of darkness of those instruments of cruelty Canst thou be content to burn Seest thou how the worm gnaweth how the oven gloweth how the fire â—ageth What sayst thou to that river of brimstone that dark and horrible vault that gulf of perdition Wilt thou take up thine habitation here Oh lay thine ear to the door of hell Hearâ—st thou the curses and the blasphemies the weepings and the wailings how they lament their folly and curse their day Mat. 22. 13. Rev. 16. 9. How do they roar and yâ—ll and gnash their teeth How deep are their groans how feeling are their moans how unconceivable their miseries If the shrieks of Korab Dathan and Abiram were so terrible when the earth clave asunder and opened her mouth and swallowed them up and all that appertain'd to them that all Israel flâ—sd at the cry of them Numb 16. 33. 34. oh how fearful would the cry be if God should take off the covering from the mouth of hell and let the cry of the damned ascend in all its terror among the children of men And of all their moans and miseries this is the piercing killing â—mphasis and burden for ever for ever Why as God liveth that made this soul thou art but a â—â—w hours distant from all this except thou râ—pâ—nt and be converteed Oh! I am even lost and swallowed up in the abundance of those arguments that I might suggest If there be any point of wisdom in all the world it is to repent and come in if there be any thing righteous any thing reasonable this is it If there be any thing in the world that may be called madness and folly any thing that may be counted sottish absurd bruitish unreasonable it is this to go on in thine unconverted estate Let me beg thee as thou wouldst not wilfully destroy thy self to sit down and weigh besides what hath been said these following Motives and let conscience speak if it be not reason that thou shouldst repent turn 1. The God that made thee doth most graciously invite thee First his most sweet and merciful nature doth invite thee Oh the kindnesses of God his working bowels his tender mercies They are infinitely above our thoughts higher than Heaven what can we do deeper than hell what can we know Iob 11. 7 8 9. He is full of compassions and gracious long-suffering and plenteous in mercy Psal. 86. 15. This is a great argument to perswade sinners to come in Turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful sâ—â—w to anger of great kindness and repenâ—eth him of the evil If God would not repent of the evil it were some discouragement to us why we should not repent If there were no hope of mercy it were no such wonder if the rebel did stand out but never had subjects such a gracious Prince such piety patience clemency pity
descend with you Psal. 49. 17. 1. Tim. 6. 7. If not had you not need look after somewhat that will What mean you to stand wavering to be off and on Foolish children how long will you stick between the womb and the world Shall I leave you at last no farther than Agrippa but almost perswaded Why you are for ever lost if left here As good not at all as not altogether Christians You are half of the mind to give over your former negligent life and to set to a strict and holy course you could wish that you were as some others be and could do as 〈◊〉 can do How long will you rest in idle wishes and fruitless purposes when will you come to a fixed full and firm resolve Do not you see how Satan gulls you by tempting you to delays How long hath he toll'd you on in the way to perdition How many years have you been purposing to amend What if God should have taken you off this while Well put not me off with a dilatory answer Tell not me of hereafter I must have your present consent It you be not now resolved while the Lord is treating with you and wooing of you much less are you like to be hereafter when these impressions are worn out and you are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Will you give me your hands Will you set open the doors and give the Lord Jesus the â—ull and present possession Will you put in your names into his covenant Will you subscribe What do you resolve upon If you are sâ—ill upon your delays my labour is lost and all is like to come to nothing Fain I would that you should now put in your adventures Come cast in your lot make your choice Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation to day if you will hear his voice Why should not this be the day from whence thou shouldst be able to date thine happiness Why shouldst thou venture a day longer in this dangerous and dreadful condition What if God should this night require thy soul Oh that thou mightest know in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace before they be hid from thine eyes Luke 19. 42. This is thy day and 't is but a day Iohn 9. 4. Others have had their day and have received their doom and now art thou brought upon the stage of this world here to act thy part for a whole eternity Remember thou art now upon thy good behaviour for everlasting If thou make not a wise choice now thou art undone for ever Look what thy present choice is such must thine eternal condition be Luke 10. 42. Luke 16. 25. Prov. 1. 27 28 29. And is it true indeed is life and death at thy choice Yea 't is as true as truth is Deut. 30. 19. Why then what hinders but that thou shouldst be happy Nothing doth or can hinder but thine own wilful neglect or refusal It was the passage of the Eunuch to Philip See here is water what doth hinder me to be baptised So I may say to thee See here is Christ here is mercy pardon life what hinders but that thou shouldst be pardoned and saved One of the Martyrs as he was praying at the stake had his pardon set by in a box which indeed he refused deservedly because upon unworthy terms But here the terms are most honourable and easie Oh sinner wilt thou burn with thy pardon by Why do but forthwith give up thy consent to Christ renounce thy sins deny thy self take up the Yoke and the Cross and thou carriest the day Christ is thing pardon peace life blessedness all are thâ—â—â—e And is not this an offer worth the embracing Why shouldst thou hesitate or doubtfully dispute about the case Is it not past controversy whether God be better than sin and glory better than vanity Why shouldst thou forsake thine own mercy and sin against thine own life When wilt thou shake off thy sloth and lay by thine excuses Boast not thy self of to morrow thou knowst not where this night may lodge thee Prov. 27. 1. Beloved now the holy spirit is striving with you He will not always strive Hast thou not felt thy heart warmed by the word and been almost perswaded to leave off thy sins and come in to God Hast thou not felt some good motions in thy mind wherein thou hast been warned of thy danger and told what thy careless course would end in It may be thou art like young Samuel who when the Lord called once and again he knew not the voice of the Lord 1. Sam. 3. 6 7. but these motions and items are the offers and essays and the calls and strivings of the Spirit O take the advantage of the tide and know the day of thy visitation Now the Lord Jesus stretcheth wide his arms to receive you He beseecheth you by us How â—â—ovingly how meltingly how pitifully how passionately he calleth you The-Church is put into a suddain extasie upon the sound of his voice The voice of my beloved Cant. 2. 8. Oh wilt thou turn a deaf ear to his voice It is not the voice that breaketh the Cedars and maketh the mountains to skip like a Calf that shaketh the Wilderness and divideth the flames of fire it is not Sinais Thunder but the soft and still voice It is not the voice of Mount Ebal a voice of cursing and terrour but the voice of Mount Gerizim the voice of blessing and of glad tidings of good things It is not the voice of the Trumpet nor the noise of War but a message of peace from the King of peace Eph. 6. 15. 2 Cor. 5. 18 20. Methinks it should be with thee as with the spouse My soul failed when he spake Cant. 5. 6. I may say to thee O sinner as Martha to her Sister The master is come and he calleth for thee Iohn 11. 28. Oh now with Mary arise quickly and come unto him How sweet are his invitations He cryeth in the open concourse If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink Iohn 7. 37. Prov. 1. 21. He broacheth his own body for thee Oh come and lay thy mouth to his side How free he is he excludeth none Whosoever will let him come and take the water of life freely Rev. 22. 17. Whoso is simple let him turn in hither Come eat of my bread drink of the Wine which I have mingled Forsake the foolish and live Prov. 9. 4 5 6. Come unto me c. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me and ye shall find rest unto your souls Mat. 11. 28 29. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out John 6. 37. How doth he bemoan the obstinate refusers O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thy Children as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and ye would not Mat. 23. 37. Behold me behold me I have stretched out my hands all the day to a
rebellious people Easy 65. 1 2. Oh be perswaded now at last to throw your selves into the arms of love Behold O ye sons of men the Lord Jesus hath thrown open the prisons and now he cometh to you as the Magistrates once to them Act. 16. 39 and beseecheth you to come out If it were from a Palace or a Paradise that Christ did call you it were no wonder if you were unwilling and yet how easily was Adam â—olled from hence but it is from your prison sirs from your chains from the dungeon from the darkness that he calleth you Esay 42. 6 7. and yet will you not come He calleth you unto liberty Gal. 5. 13. and yet will you not hearken His Yoke is easie his Laws are liberty his service freedome Mat. 11. 30. Iames 1. 25. 1. Cor. 7. 22. and whatever prejudices you have against his ways if a God may be believed you shall find them all pleasure and peace and shall taste sweetness and joyâ—unutterable and take infinite content and felicity in them Prov. 3. 17. Psal. 119. 165. 1 Pet. 1. 8. Psal. 119. 103 111. Beloved I am loth to leave you I cannot tell how to give you over I am now ready to shut up but fain I would drive this bargain between Christ and you before I end What shall I leave you as I found you at last Have you read hitherto and are not yet resolved upon a present abandoning all your sins and closing with Jesus Christ Alas what shall I say what shall I do Will you turn off all my importunity Have I run in vain Have I used so many arguments and spent so much time to perswade you and yet must sit down at last in disappointment But it is a small matter that you turn off me you put a slight upon the God that made you you reject the bowels and beseechings of a Saviour and will be found resisters of the Holy Ghost Act. 7. 51. if you will not now be prevailed withâ— to repent and be converted Well though I have caâ—â—ed long and ye have refused I shall yet this once more lift up my voice like a Trumpet and cry from the highest places of the City before I conclude with a miserable Conclamatum est Once more I shall call after regardless sinners that if it be possible I may awaken them O earth earth earth hear the word of the Lord. Ier. 22. 29. Unless you be resolved to dye lend your ears to the last calls of mercy Behold in the name of God I make open proclamation to you Hearken unto me O ye Children Hear instruction and he wise and refuse it not Prov. 8. 32 33. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without priee Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me and eat yet that which is good and let your sâ—ul delight it self in fatness Incline your ear and come ye unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David Esay 55. 1 2 3. Ho every one that is sick of any manner of disease or torment Mat. 4. 23 24. or is possessed with an evil spirit whether of pride or fury or lust or covetousness come ye to the Physician bring away your sick Loe here is he that healeth all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people Ho every one that is in debt and every one that is in distress and every one that is discontented gather your selves unto Christ and he will become a Captain over you He will be your protection from the arrests of the Law He will save you from the hand of justice Behold he is an open sanctuary to you he is a known refuge Heb. 6. 18. Psal. 48. 3. Away with your sins and come in unto him lest the avenger of bloud seize you lest devouring wrath overtake you Ho every ignorant sinner come and buy eye-salve that thou maist see Rev. 3. 18. Away with thine excuses thou art for ever lost if thou continuest in this estate 2 Cor. 4. 3. But accept of Christ for thy Prophet and he will be a light unto thee Esay 42. 6. Eph. 5. 14. Cry unto him for knowledge study his word take pains about the principles of religion humble thy self before him and he will teach thee his way and make thee wise unto salvation Mat. 13. 36. Luke 8. 9. Iohn 5. 39. Psal. 25. 9. But iâ— thou wilt not follow him in the painful use of his means but sit down because thou hast but one talent he will condemn thee for a wicked and slothful servant Mat. 25. 24 26. Ho every prophane sinner come in and live Return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon thee Be entreated Oh return come Thou that hast filled thy mouth with oaths and execrations all manner of sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven thee Mark 3. 28. If thou wilt but throughly turn unto Christ and come in Though thou hast been as unclean as Magdalen yet put away thy Whoredomes out of thy sight and thine adulteries from between thy breasts and give up thy self unto Christ as a vessel of holiness alone for his use and then though thy sins be as scarlet they shall be as wool and though they be as crimson they shall be as white as snow Luke 7. 37. Hos. 2. 2. 1 Thess. 4. 4. Esay 1. 18. Hear O ye Drunkards how long will ye be drunken put away your wine 1 Sam. 1. 14. Though you have rolled in the vomit of your sin take the vomit of repentance and heartily disgorge your beloved lusts and the Lord will receive you 2 Cor. 6. 17. Give up your selves unto Christ to live soberly righteously and godly embrace his righteousness accept his government and though you have been swine he will wash you Rev. 3. 6. Hear O ye loose companions whose delight is in vain and wicked society to sport away your time in carnal mirth and jollity with them come in at wisdoms call and choose her and her ways and forsake the foolish and you shall live Prov. 9. 5 6. Hear O ye scorners hear the word of the Lord. Though you have made a sport at godliness and the professors thereof though you have made a scorn of Christ and of his ways yet even to you doth he call to gather you under the wings of his mercy Prov. 1. 22 23. In a word though you should be found among the worst of that black roll 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. yet upon your through Conversion you shall washed be you shall be justified you shall be sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God ver 11. Ho every formal professor that art but a lukewarm and dough-baked
to deal with as you have Who is a God 〈◊〉 unto thee that pardoneth iniquity c. Mic. 7. 18. Oh sinners see what a God you have to deal with if you will but turn He will turn again and have compassion upon you he will subdue your iniquities and cast all your sins into the depths of the Sea v. 19. Return unto me saith the Lord of hosts and I will return unto you Mal. 3. 7. Zech. 1. 3. Sinners do not fail in that they have too high thoughts of Gods mercies but in that 1. They overlook his Iustice. 2. They promise themselves mercy out of Gods way His mercies are beyond all imagination Esay 55. 9. great mercies 1 Chron. 21. 13. manifold mercies Neh. 9. 19. tender mercies Psal. 25. 6. sure mercies Esay 55. 3. everlasting mercies Psal. 103. 17. Esay 54. 8. and all thine own if thou wilt but turn Art thou willing to come in Why the Lord hath laid aside his terror erected a Throne of grace holds forth the golden Scepter touch and live Would a merciful man slay his enemy when prostrate at his feet acknowledging his wrong begging pardon and offering to enter with him into a Covenant of peace Much less will the merciful God Study his name Exod. 34. 7. Read their experience Neh. 9. 17. Secondly His soul-encouraging calls and promises do invite thee Ah what an earnest suiter is mercy to thee how lovingly how instantly it calleth after thee how passionately it wooeth thee Return thou backsliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep anger for ever Only acknowledge thine iniquity Turn O backsliding children saith the Lord for I am married unto you return and I will heal your backslidings Thou hast plaid the harlot with many lovers yet return unto me saith the Lord. Ier. 3. 1 12 13 14 22. As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O house of Israel Ezek. 33. 11. If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die All his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousness that he hath done shall he live Repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine Cast away from you all your transgressionsâ— and make you a clean heart and a new spirit for why will ye die O house of Israel For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God wherefore turn your selves and live ye Ezek. 18. 21 22 30 31 32. Oh melting gracious words The voice of a God and not of a man This is not the manner of men for the offended Soveraign to sue to the offending traiterous varlet Oh how doth mercy follow thee and plead with thee Is not thy heart broken yet Oh that to day ye would hear his voice 2. The doors of Heaven are thrown open to thee The everlasting gates are set wide for thee and an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven administred to thee Christ now bespeaks thee as she her husband Arise and take possession 1 Kings 21. 15. View the glory of the other world as set forth in the map of the Gospel Get thee up into the Pisgah of the promises and lift up thine eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward and see the good land that is beyond Iordan and that goodly mountain Behold the Paradise of God watered with the streams of glory Arise and walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it for all the land which thou seest the Lord will give it to thee for ever if thou wilt but return Gen. 13 14 15 17. Let me say to thee as Paul to Agrippa Believest thou the Prophets If thou believest indeed do but view what glorious things are spoken of the City of God Psal. 87. 3. and know that all this is here tendered in the name of God to thee As verily as God is true it shall be for ever thine if thou wilt but throughly turn Behold the City of pure transparent gold whose foundations are garnished with all manner of precious stones whose gates are pearls whose light is glory whose Temple is God Believest thou this If thou dost art not thou worse than distracted that wilt not take possession when the gates are flung open to theeâ— and thou art bid to enterâ— O ye sons of folly will ye embrace the dunghils and refuse the Kingdom Behold the Lord God taketh you up into the mountain shews you the Kingdom of Heaven and all the glory thereof and tells you All this will I give you if you will fall down and wâ—rship meâ— â—f you will submit to mercy accept my Sâ—â—â— and serve me in righteousness and holiness O fools and slow of heart to believe will ye court the harlot will you seek and serve the world and neglect the eternal glory What not enter into Paradise when the flaming sword that was once set to keep you out is now used to drive you in But you will say I am uncharitable to think you infidels and unbelievers Why what shall I think you Either you are desperate unbelievers that do not credit it or stark distracted that you know and believe the excellency and eternity of this glory and yet do so fearfully neglect it Sure you have no faith or no reason and I had almost said conscience should tell you so before I leave you Do but attend what is offered you Oh blessed Kingdom A Kingdom of glory 1 Thess. 2. 12. a Kingdom of righteousness 2 Pet. 3. 13. a Kingdom of peace Rom. 14. 17. an everlasting Kingdom 2 Pet. 1. 11. Here thou shalt dwell here thou shalt reign for ever and the Lord shall set thee in a Throne of glory Mat. 19. 28. and with his own hand shall set the Royal Diadem upon thine head and give thee a Crown not of thorns for there shall be no sinnning nor suffering there Rev. 21. 27 22 3 4 5. not of Gold for this shall be viler than the dirt in that day but a Crown of life Iames 1. 12. a Crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4. 8. a Crown of glory 1 Pet. 5. 4. Yea thou shalt put on glory as a robe 1 Cor. 15. 53. and shalt shine like the Sun in the firmament in the glory of thy Father Mat. 13. 43. Look now upon thy dirty flesh thy clay thy worms-meat this very flesh this lump this carcase shall be brighter than the Stars Dan. 12. 3. In short thou shalt be made like unto the Angels of God Luke 20. 36. and behold his