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
call for my most earnest compassions and hasty diligence to pluck them out of the burning Iud. 23. and therefore to these first I shall apply my self in these lines But whence shall I fetch my arguments or how shall I choose my words Lord wherewith shall I wooe them whereby shall I win them Oh that I could but tell I would write unto them in tears I would weep out every argument I would empty my veins for ink I would petition them on my knees verily were I able I would O how thankfully I would if they would be prevailed with to repent and turn How long have I travelled in birth with you how frequently have I made suit to you how often would I have gathered you how instant have I been with you This is that I have prayed for and studied for for many years that I might bring you to God O that I might but do it Will you yet be intreated O what a happy man might you make me if you would but hearken to me and suffer me to carry you over to Jesus Christ But Lord how insufficient am I for this work I have been many a year wooing for thee but the damsel would not go with me Lord what a task hast thou set me to Alas wherewith shall I pierce the scales of Leviathan or make the heart to feel that is firm as a stone hard as a piece of the nether milstone Shall I go and lay my mouth to the grave and look when the dead will obey me and come forth shall I make an oration to the rocks or declaim to the mountains and think to move them with arguments shall I give the blind to see From the beginning of the world was it not heard that a Man opened the eyes of the blind But thou O Lord canst pierce the scales and prick the heart of the sinner I can but shoot at rovers and draw the bow at a venture do thou direct the arrow between the joints of the harness and kill the sin and save the soul of the sinner that casts his eye into these labours But I must apply my self to you to whom I am sent yet I am at a great loss Would to God I knew how to go to work with you would I stick at the pains God knoweth you your selves are my witnesses how I have followed you in private as well as in publick and have brought the Gospel to your doors testifying to you the necessity of the new birth and perswading you to look in time after a found and through change Beloved I have not acted a part among you to serve my own advantage our Gospel is not yea and nay Have not you heard the same truths from the Pulpit by publick labours and by private letters by personal instructions Bretheren I am of the same mind as ever that holiness is the best choice that there is no entring into Heaven but by the streight passages of the second birth that without holiness you shal never see God Heb. 12. 14. Ah my beloved refresh my bowels in the Lord. If there be any consolation in Christ any comfort of love any fellowship of the spirit any bowels and mercies fulfil you my joy Now give your selves unto the Lord 2 Cor. 8. 5. Now set your faces to seek him Now set up the Lord Jesus in your hearts and set him up in your houses Now come in and kiss the Son Psal. 2. 12. and embrace the tenders of his mercy Touch his Scepter and live why will you die I beg not for my self but fain I would have you happy This is the prize I run for and the white I aim at My souls desire and prayer for you is that you may be saved Rom. 10. 1. The famous Lycurgus having instituted most strict and wholesome laws for his people told them he was necessitated to go a journey from them and got them to bind themselves in an oath that his laws should be observed till his return This done he went into a voluntary banishment and never returned more that they might by vertue of their oath be engaged to the perpetual observing of his laws Methinks I should be glad of the hard conditions which he endured though I love you tenderly so I might but hereby engage you throughly to the Lord Jesus Christ. Dearly beloved would you rejoice the heart of your Ministers Why then embrace the counsels of the Lord by me forgo your sins set to prayer up with the worship of God in your families keep at a distance from the corruptions of the times What greater joy to a Minister than to hear of souls born unto Christ by him and that his children walk in the truth 2 Iâ—h 4. Brethren I beseech you suffer a friendly plainness and freedom with you in your deepest concernments I am not playing the oratour to make a learned speech to you nor dressing my dish with eloquence wherewith to please you These lines are upon a weighty errand indeed viz. to convince and convert and save you I am not baiting my hook with Rhetorick nor fishing for your applause but for your souls My work is not to please you but to save you nor is my business with your fancies but your hearts If I have not your hearts I have nothing If I were to please your ears I would sing another song If I were to preach my self I would steer another course I could then tell you a smoother tale I would make you pillows and speak you peace for how can Ahab love this Micaiah that alwaies prophesies evil concerning him 1 King 22. 8. But how much better are the wounds of a friend than the fair speeches of the harlot who flattereth with her lips till the dart strike through the liver and hunteth for the precious life Prov. 7. 21. 22 23. Prov. 6. 26. If I were to quiet a crying infant I might sing him into a pleasant mood or rock him asleep but when the child is fallen into the fire the parent takes another course he will not now go to still him with a song or trifle I know if we speed not with you you are lost if we cannot get your consent to arise and come away you perish for ever No Conversion and no Salvation I must get your good will or leave you miserable But here the difficulty of my work again recurrs upon me Lord choose my stones out of the rock 1 Sam. 17. 40. v. 45. I come in the name of the Lord of Hosts the God of the armies of Israel I come forth like the stripling against Goliah to wrestle not with flesh and blood but with Principalities and Powers and the Rulers of the darkness of this world Eph. 6. 12. This day let the Lord smite the Philistine and spoil the strong man of his Armour and give me to fetch off the captives out of his hand Lord choose my words choose my weapons for me and when I put my hand
shall have the hypocrite halting He speaks it may be like an Angel but he hath a covetous eye or the gain of unrighteousness in his hand Or the hand is white but his heart is full of rottennes Mat. 13. 27. full of unmortified cares a very oven of lust the shop of pride the seat of malice It may be with Nebuchadnezzar's image he hath a golden head a great deal of knowledge but he hath feet of clay his affections are worldly he minds earthly things and his way and walk are sensual and carnal you may trace him in his secret haunts and his footsteps will be found in some by-paths of sin The work is not thorowout with him 3. Thorowout the motions or the life and practice The new man takes a new course Eph. 2. 2 3. His Conversation is in Heaven Phi. 3. 20. No sooner doth Christ call by effectual grace but he straight way becomes a follower of him Matth. 4. 20. When God hath given the new heart and writ his law in his mind he forth with walks in his statutes and keeps his judgments Ezek. 36. 26 27. Though sin may dwell God knows a wearisome andâ— unwelcome guest in him yet it hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6. 14 7. He hath his fruit unto holiness Rom. 6. 22. and though he makes many a blot yet the law and life of Jesus is that he eyes as his copy Psal. 119. 30. Heb. 12. 2. and hath an unseigned respect to all Gods commandments Psa. 119. 6. He makes conscience even of little sins little duties Psal. 119. 113. His very infirmities which he cannot help though he would are his souls burden and are like the dusts in a mans eye which though but little yet are not a little troublesome O man dost thou read this and never turn in upon thy soul by self-examination The sincere Convert is not one man at Church and another at home he is not a Saint on his knees and a cheat in his shop he will not tithe Mint and Cummin and neglect mercy and judgment and the weighty matters of the Law he doth not pretend piety and neglect morality Matth. 23. 14. but he turns from All his sins and keeps All Gods Statutes Ezek. 18. 21. though not perfectly except in desire and endeavour yet sincerely not allowing himself in the breach of any Rom. 7. 15. Now he delights in the word and sets himself to prayer and opens his hand if table and draws out his soul to the hungry Rom. 7. 22. Psal. 109. 4. Esay 58. 10. He breaks off his sins by righteousness and his iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor Dan. 4. 27. and hath a good conscience willing in All things to live honestly Heb. 13. 18. and to keep without offence towords God and men Here again you shall find the unsoundness of many professors that take themselves for good Christians They are partial in the law Mal. 2. 9. and take up with the cheap and easie duties of religion but they go not thorow with the work They are as a cake not turned half roasted and half raw It may be you shall have them exact in their words punctual in their dealings but then they do not exercise themselves unto godliness and for examining themselves and governing their hearts to this they are strangers You shall have them duly at the Church but follow them to their families and there you shall see little but the world minded or if they have a road of family duties follow them to their closets and there you shall find their souls are little looked after It may be they seem otherwise religious but bridle not their tongues and so all their religion is in vain Iames 1. 26. It may be they come up to closet and family prayer but follow them to their shops and there you shall find them in a trade of lying or some covert and cleanly way of deceit Thus the hypocriâ—e goes not thorowout in the course of his obedience And thus much for the subject of Conversion 6. The terms are either from which or to which 1. The terms from which we turn in this motion of Conversion are sin Satan the world and our own righteousness First Sin When a man is converted he is for ever out with sin yea with All sin Psal. 119. 128. but most of all with his own sins and especially with his bosom sin Psal. 18. 23. Sin is now the But of his indignation 2 Cor. 7. 11. he thirsts to bath his hands in the blood of his sins His sins set abroach his sorrows It is sin that pierces his and wounds him he feels it like a thorn in his side like a prick in his eyes he groans and struggles under it and not formally but feelingly cries out O wretched man He is not impatient of any burden so much as of his sin Psal. 40. 12. If God should give his choice he would choose any affliction so he might be rid of sin He feels it like the cutting gravel in his shooes pricking and paining him as he goes Before Conversion he had light thoughts of sin He cherished it in his bosom as Uriah his lamb he nourished it up and it grew up together with him it did eat as it were of his own meat and drank of his own cup and lay in his bosom and was to him as a daughter but when God opens his eyes by Conversion he throws it away with abhorrence Esay 30. 22. as a man would a loathsome toad which in the dark he had hugged fast in his bosom and thought it had been some pretty and harmless bird When a man is savingly changed he is not only deeply convinced of the danger but defilement of sin and O how earnest is he with God to be purified He loaths himself for his sins Ezek 36. 31. He runs to Christ and casts himself into the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness Zech. 13. 1. If he fall what a stir is there to get all clean again He flies to the word and washes and rubs and wrinses labouring to cleanse himself from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit he abhorrs his once beloved sin Psal. 18. 23. as a cleanly nature doth the trow and mire wherein he sâ—es the swine delight The sound Convert is heartily engaged against sin He wrestles with it the wars against it He is too often foiled but he never yields the cause nor lays down the weapons but he will up and to it again while he hath breath in his body He will never give quiet possession he will make no peace he will give no quarter he falls upon it and fires upon it and is still disquieting of it with continual alarms He can forgive his other enemies he can pity them and pray for them Act. 7. 60. but here he is implacable here he is set upon revenge he hunteth as it were for the precious life his eye shall not pity his hand shall
you but send you packing with an I never knew you Mat. 7. 23. They that know what 't is to have a God to go to a God to live upon they know a little what a fearful misery it is to be without God This made that holy man cry out Let me have a God or nothing Let me know him and his will and what will please â—im and how I may come to enjoy him or would I had never had an understanding to know any thing c. But thou art not only without God but God is against thee Ezek. 5. 8 9. Nah. 2. 13. Oh if God would but stand a neuâ—er though he did not own nor help the poor sinner his case were not so deeply miserable Though God should give up the poor creature to the will of all his enemies to do their worst with him though he should deliver him over to the tormenters Mat. 18. 34. that devils should tear and torture him to their utmost power and skil yet this were not half so fearful But God himself will set against the sinner and believe it 't is a fearful thing to fail into the hands of the living God Heb. 10. 31. There 's no friend like him no enemy like him As much as Heaven is above the earth Omnipotency above impotency Infinity above nullity so much more horrible is it to fall into the hands of the living God than into the paws of bears or lions yea furies or devils God himself will be thy tormenter thy destruction shall come from the presence of the Lord. 2 Thess. 1. 9. Tophet is deep and large and the wrath of the Lord like a river of brimstone doth kindle it Fsay 30. 33. If God be against thee who shall be for thee If one man sin against another the Iudge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him 1 Sam. 2. 25. Thou even thou art to be feared and who shall stand in thy sight when once thou art angry Psal. 76. 7. Who is that god that shall deliver you out of his hands Dan. 3. 15. Can Mammon Riches profit not in the day of wrath Prov. 1 I. 4. Can Kings or warriours No they shall cry to the mountains and rocks Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Rev. 6. 15 16 17. Sinner methinks this should go like a dagger to thine heart to know that God is thine enemy Oh whither wilt thou go where wilt thou shelter thee There is no hope for thee unless thou lay down thy weapons and sue out thy pardon and get Christ to stand thy friend and to make thy peace If it were not for this thou mightest go into some howling wilderness and there pine in sorrow and run mad for anguish of heart and horrible despair But in Christ there is a possibility of mercy for thee yea a proffer of mercy to thee that thou maist have God to be more for thee than he is now against thee But if thou wilt not forsake thy sins nor turn throughly and to purpose unto God by a sound Conversion the wrath of God abideth on thee and he proclaims himself to be against thee as in the Prophet Ezek. 5. 8. Therefore thus saith the Lord God Behold I even I am against thee I. His face is against thee Psal. 34. 16. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them Woe to them whom God shall set his face against When he did but look upon the host of the Egyptians how terrible was the consequence Ezek. 14. 8. I will set my face against that man and will make him a sign and a proverb and will cut him off from the midst of my people and you shall know that I am the Lord. 2. His heart is against thee He hateth all the workers of iniquity Man doth not thine heart tremble to think of thy being an object of Gods hatred Ier. 15. 1. Though Mâ—ses and Samuel stood before me yet my mind could not be towards this people cast them out of my sight Zecb 7. 8. My soul loathed them and their soul also abhorred me 3. His hand is against thee 1 Sam. 12. 15. 4. All his attributes are against thee First His justice is like a flaming sword unsheathed against thee If I whet my glittering sword and my hand take hold on judgment I will render vengeance is mine adversaries and will reward them that hate me I will make mine arrows drunk with blood c. Deut. 32. 40 41. So exact is Justice that 't will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34. 7. God will not discharge thee he will not hold thee guiltless Exod. 20. 7. but will require the whole debt in person of theeâ— unless thou canst make a scripture claim to Christ and his satisfaction When the enlightned sinner looks on justice and sees the ballance in which he must be weighed and the sword by which he must be executed he feels an earth-quake in his breast But Satan keeps this out of sight and perswades the soul while he can that the Lord is all made up of mercy and so lulls it asleep in sin Divine Justice is very strict it must have satisfaction to the utmost farthing it denounceth indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish to every soul that dâ—th evil Rom. 2. 8 9. It curseth every one that continueth not in every thing that is written in the Law to do it Gal. 3. 10. The justice of God to the unpardoned sinner that hath a sense of his misery is more terrible than the sight of the bailiff or creditour to the bankrupt debtour or than the sight of the Judge and bench to the robber or of the irons and gibbet to the guilty murderer When justice sits upon life and death oh what dreadful work doth it make with the wretched sinner Bind him hand and foot cast him into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Matt. 22. 13. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire Mat. 25. 41. This is the terrible sentence that justice pronounceth Why sinner by this severe justice must thou be tried and as God liveth this killing sentence shalt thou hear unless thou repent and be converted Secondly The holiness of God is full of antipathy against thee Psal. 5. 4 5. He is not only angry with thee so he may be with his own children but he hath a fixed rooted habitual displeasure against thee he loaths thee Zech. 11. 8. and what is done by thee though for substance commanded by him Esay 1. 14. Mal. 1. 10. As if a man should give his servant never so good meat to dress yet if he should mingle filth or poison with it he would not touch it Gods nature is infinitely contrary to sin
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
sin and singles this out above the rest to run it down Psal. 18. 23. Oh labour to make this sin odious to thy soul and double thy guards and thy resolutions against it because this hath and doth most dishonour God and endanger thee Dir. III. Strive to affect thy heart with a deep sense of thy present misery Read over the foregoing Chapter again and again and get it out of the book into thine heart Remember when thou liest down that for ought thou knowest thou maist awake in flames and when thou risest up that by the next night thou maist make thy bed in hell Is it a jesting matter to live in such a fearful case to stand tottering upon the brink of the bottomless pit and to live at the mercy of every disease that if it will but fall upon thee will send thee forthwith into the burnings Suppose thou sawest a condemned wretch hanging over Nebuchâ—dnezar's burning fiery furnace by nothing but a twine thread which were ready to break every moment would not thine heart tremble for such a one Why thou art the man This is thy very case O man woman that readest this if thou be yet unconverted What if the thred of thy life should break Why thou knowest not but it may be the next night yea the next moment where wouldst thou be then whither wouldst thou drop verily upon the crack but of this thred thou fallest into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone where thou must lie scalding and sweltring in a fiery ocean while God hath a being if thou die in thy present case And doth not thy soul tremble as thou readest Do not thy tears bedew the paper and thy heart throb in thy bosom Dost thou not yet begin to smite on thy breast and bethink thy self what need thou hast of a change Oh what is thy heart made of Hast thou not only lost all regard to God but art without any love and pity to thy self Oh study thy misery till thy heart do cry out for Christ as earnestly as ever a drowning man did for a boat or the wounded for a Chirurgeon Men must come to see the danger and feel the smart of their deadly sores and sickness or else Christ will be to them a physician of no value Mat. 9. 12. Then the man-slayer hastens to the City of refuge when pursued by the avenger of blood Men must be even forced and fired out of themselves or else they will not come to Christ. 'T was distress and extremity that made the prodigal think of returning Luke 15. 16 17. While Laodicea thinks her self rich increased in goods in need of nothing there is little hope She must be deeply convinced of her wretchedness blindness poverty nakedness before she will come to Christ for his gold raiment eye-salve Rev. 3. 17 18. Therefore hold the eyes of conscience open amplify thy misery as much as possible Do not fly the sight of it for fear it should fill thee with terrour The sense of thy misery is but as it were the suppuration of the wound which is necessary to the cure Better fear the torments that abide thee now than feel them hereafter Dir. IV. Settle it upon thine heart that thou art under an everlasting inability ever to recover thy self Never think thy praying reading hearing confessing amending will do the cure These must be attended but thou art undone if thou restest in them Rom. 10. 3. Thou art a lost man if thou hopest to escape drowning upon any other plank but Jesus Christ. Act. 4. 12. Thou must unlearn thy â—elf and renounce thine own wisdom thine own righteousness thine own strength and throw thy self wholly upon Christ as a man that swimmeth casteth himself upon the water or else thou canst not escape While men trust in themselves and establish their own righteousness and have confidence in the flesh they will not come savingly to Christ. Luke 18. 19. Phil. 3. 3. Thou must know thy gain to be but loss and dung thy strength but weakness thy righteousness rags and rottenness before there will be an effectual closure between Christ and thee Phil. 3. 7 8 9. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Esay 64. 6. Can the liveless carcase shake off his grave-cloths and loose the bonds of death Then maist thou recover thy self who art dead in trespasses and sins and under an impossibility of serving thy maker acceptably in this condition Rom. 8. 8. Heb. 11. 6. Therefore when thou goest to pray or meditate or to do any of the duties to which thou art here directed go out of thy self call in the help of the spirit as despairing to do any thing pleasing to God in thine own strength Yet neglect not thy duty but lie at the pool and wait in the way of the spirit While the Eunuch was reading then the Holy-Ghost sent Philip to him Act. 8. 28 29. When the disciples were praying Act. 4. 31. when Cornelius and his friends were hearing Act. 10. 44. then the Holy-Ghost fell upon them and filled them all Strive to give up thy self to Christ. Strive to pray strive to meditate strive an hundred and an hundred times try to do it as well as thou canst and while thou art endeavouring in the way of thy duty the spirit of the Lord will come upon thee and help thee to do what of thy self thou art utterly unable unto Prov. 1. 23. Dir. V. Forthwith renounce all thy sins If thou yield thy self to the ordinary practice of any sin thou art undone Rom. 6. 16. In vain dost thou hope for life by Christ except thou depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. Forsake thy sins or else thou canst not find mercy Prov. 28. 13. Thou canst not be married to Christ except divorced from sin Give up the traitour or you can have no peace with Heaven Cast the head of Sheba over the wall Keep not Dalilah in thy lap Thou must part with thy sins or with thy soul. Spare but one sin and God will not spare thee Never make excuses thy sins must die or thou must die for them Psal. 68. 21. If thou allow of one sin though but a little a secret one though thou maist plead necessity and have a hundred shifts and excuses for it the life of thy soul must go for the life of that sin Ezek. 18. 21. and will it not be dearly bought O sinner hear and consider If thou wilt part with thy sins God will give thee his Christ is not this a fair exchange I testify unto thee this day that if thou perish it is not because there was never a Saviour provided nor life tendered but because thou preferredst with the Jews the murderer before a Saviour sin before Christ and lovedst darkness rather than light Iohn 3. 19. Search thy heart therefore with candles as the Jews did their houses for leaven before the passeover labour to find out thy sins Enter into thy closet and consider What evil have I lived in what
peace to be had with me What doth thine heart answer Lord I desire to have thee as such a God I desire to be holy as thou are holy to be made partaker of thy holiness I love thee not only for thy goodness and mercy but for thy holiness and thy purity I take thy holiness for my happiness Oh! be to me a fountain of holiness set on me the stamp and impress of thy holiness I will thankfully part with all my sins aâ— thy command My willful sins I do forthwith forsake and for my infirmities that I cannot get rid of though I would I will strive against them in the use of thy means I detest them and will pray and war against them and never let them have quiet rest in my soul. Beloved whosoever of you will thus accept the Lord for his God he shall have him Again he tells you I am the All-sufficient God Gen. 17. 1. Will you lay all at my feet and give it up to my dispose and take me for your only portion Will you own and honour mine All-sufficiency Will you take me as your happiness and treasure your hope and bliss I am a Sun and shield all in one will you have me for your All 1 Gen. 15. Psal. 84. 11. Now what dost thou say to this Doth thy mouth water after the Onions and Flesh-pots of Egypt Art thou loth to exchange thy earthly happiness for a part in God and though thou wouldst be glad to have God and the world too yet thou canst not think of having him and nothing but him but hadst rather take up with the earth below if God would but let thee keep it as long as thou wouldst This is a fearful sign But now if thou art willing to fell all for the pearl of great price Mat. 13. 46. if thine heart answer Lord I desire no other portion but thee Take the corn and the wine and the oyl whose will so I may have the light of thy countenance I pitch upon thee for my happiness I gladly venture my self on thee and trust my self with thee I set my hopes in thee I take up my rest with thee Let me hear thee say I am thy God thy salvation and I have enough all I wish for I will make no terms with thee but for thy self Let me but have thee sure let me be able to make my claim and see my title to thy self and for other things I leave them to thee Give me more or less any thing or nothing I will be satisfied in my God Take him thus and he is thine own Again he tells you I am the Soveraign Lord. If you will have me for your God you must give me the Supremacy Mat. 6. 24. I will not be an underling You must not make me a second to sin or any wordly interest If you will be my people I must have the rule over you You must not live at your own list will you come under my yoke Will you bow to my government Will you submit to my discipline to my word to my rod Sinner what sayst thou to this Lord I had rather be at thy command than live at mine own list I had rather have thy will to be done than mine I approve of and consent to thy laws and account it my priviledge to live under them And though the flesh rebel and often break over bounds I am resolved to take no other Lord but thee I willingly take the oath of thy supremacy and acknowledge thee for my leige Soveraign and resolve all my days to pay the tribute of worship obedience and love and service to thee and to live to thee as the end of my life This is a right accepting of God To be short he tells you I am the true and faithful God If you will have me for your God you must be content to trust me 2 Tim. 1. 12. Prov. 3. 5. Will you venture your selves upon my word and depend on my faithfulness and take my bond for your security Will you be content to follow me in poverty and reproach affliction here and to see much going out and little coming in and to tarry till the next world for your preferment Mat. 19. 21. I deal much upon trust will you be content to labour and suffer and to tarry for your returns till the resurrection of the just Luke 14. 14. The womb of my promise will not presently bring forth will you have the patience to wait Heb. 10. 36. Now beloved what say you to this Will you have this God for your God Will you be content to live by faith and trust him for an unseen happiness an unseen Heaven an unseen glory Do your hearts answer Lord we will venture our souls upon thee we commit our selves to thee we roll upon thee we know whom we have trusted we are willing to take thy word we will prefer thy promises before our own possessions and the hopes of Heaven before all the enjoyments of the earth We will wait thy leisure What thou wilt here so that we may have but thy faithful promise for Heaven hereafter If you can in truth and upon deliberation thus accept of God he will be yours Thus there must be in a right Conversion to God a closing with him suitable to his excellencies But when men close with his mercy but not with his sin-hating holiness and purity or will take him for their benefactor but not for their Soveraign or for their Patron but not for their portion this is no thorow and so no sound Conversion Dir. VII Accept of the Lord Iesus in all his offices with all his inconveniences as thine Upon these terms Christ may be had Sinner thou hast undone thy self and art plunged into the ditch of most deplorable misery out of which thou art never able to climb up But Jesus Christ is able and ready to help thee and he freely tenders himself to thee Heb. 7. 25. Iohn 7. 37. Be thy sins never so many never so great of never so long continuance yet thou shalt be most certainly pardoned and saved if thou dost not wretchedly neglect the offer that in the name of God is here made unto thee The Lord Jesus calleth to thee to look unto him and be saved Esay 45. 22. to come unto him and he will in no wise cast thee out Iohn 6. 37. Yea he is a suiter to thee and beseecheth thee to be reconciled 2 Cor. 5. 20. he cryeth in the streets he knocketh at thy door he wooeth thee to accept of him and life with him Prov. 1. 20. Rev. 3. 20. if thou diest 't is because thou wouldst not come to him for life Iohn 5. 40. Now accept of an offered Christ and thou art made for ever Now give up thy consent to him and the match is made all the world cannot hinder it Do not stand off because of thine unworthiness Man I tell thee nothing in all the world can undo thee
not be taken Mat. 11. 12. Thou must strive to enter Luke 13. 24. and wrestle with tears and supplications as Iacob if thou meanest to carry the blessing Gen. 32. 24. comp with Hos. 12. 4. Thou art undone for ever without Grace and therefore thou must put to it and resolve to take no denial That man that is fixed in this resolution Well I must have Grace and I will never give over till I have a grant I will never leave seeking and waiting and striving with God and mine own heart till he do renew me by the power of his Grace this man is in the likeliest way to win Grace Obj. But God heareth not sinners their praier is an abomination Ans. Distinguish between sinners 1. There are resolved sinners their praiers God abhors 2. Returning sinners these God will come forth to and meet with mercy though yet afar off Luke 15. 20. Though the praiers of the unsanctified cannot have full acceptance yet God hath done much at the request of such as at Ahabs humiliation and Ninivehs fast 1 Kings 21. 29. Ionah 3. 8 9 10. Surely thou maist go as far as these though thou hast no Grace and how dost thou know but thou maist speed in thy suit as they did in theirs Yea is he not far more likely to grant thee than them since thou askest in the name of Christ and that not for temporal blessings as they but for things much more pleasing to him viz. for Christ Grace Pardon that thou maist be justified sanctified renewed and fitted to serve him Turn to those soul incouraging Scriptures Prov. 2. 1 to 6. Luke 11. 9 10 11 12 13. Prov. 8. 34 35. Is it not good comfort that he calleth thee Mark 10. 49. Doth he set thee on the use of means and dost thou think he will mock thee Doubtless he will not fail thee if thou be not wanting to thy self Oh pray and faint not Luke 18. 1. A person of great quality having offended the Duke of Buckingham the Kings great Favourite being admitted into his presence after long waiting prostrates himself at his feet saying I am resolved never to rise more till I have obtained your Graces favour with which carriage he did overcome him With such a resolution do thou throw thy self at the feet of God 'T is for thy life and therefore follow him and give not over Resolve thou wilt not be put off with bones with common mercies What though God do not presently open to thee Is not Grace worth the waiting for Knock and wait and no doubt but sooner or later mercy will come And this know that thou hast the very same encouragement to seek and wait that the Saints now in Glory once had for they were once in thy very case And have they sped so well and wilt not thou go to the same door and wait upon God in the same course Dir. XV. For sake thine evil company Prov. 9. 6. and forbear the occasions of sin Prov. 23. 31. Thou wilt never be turned from sin till thou wilt decline and forgo the temptations to sin I never expect thy Conversion from sin unless thou art brought to so much self-denial as to fly the occasions If thou wilt be nibling at the bait and playing on the brink and tampering and medling with the snare thy soul will surely be taken Where God doth expose men in his providence unavoidably to temptations and the occasions are such as we cannot remove we may expect special assistance in the use of his means But when we tempt God by running into danger he will not engage to support us when we are tempted And of all temptations one of the most fatal and pernicious is evil company Oh what hopeful beginnings have these often stifled Oh the souls the estates the families the Towns that these have ruined How many a poor sinner hath been enlightened and convinced and hath been just ready to give the Devil the slip and hath even escaped his snare and yet wicked company have pull'd him back at last and made him sevenfold more the child of Hell In one word I have no hopes of thee except thou wilt shake off thy evil company Christ speaketh to thee as to them in another case If thou seek me then let these go their way Iohn 18. 8. Thy life lies upon it Forsake these or else thou canst not live Prov. 9. 6. Wilt thou be worse than the beast to run on when thou â—eest the Lord with a drawn sword in thy way Numb 22. 23. Let this sentence be written in Capitals upon thy conscience A COMPANION OF FOOLS SHALL BE DESTROYED Prov. 13. 20. The Lord hath spoken it and who shall reverse it And wilt thou run upon destruction when God himself doth forewarn thee If God do ever change thy heart it will appear in the change of thy company Oh â—ear and fly this Gulf by which so many thousand soulsâ— have been swallowed into perdition It will be hard for thee indeed to make thine escape Thy Companions will be mocking thee out of thy Religion and will study to fill thee with prejudices against strictness as ridiculous and comfortless They will be flattering thee and alluring thee but remember the warnings of the Holy Ghost My son if sinners entice thee consent thou not If they say come with us cast in thy lot among us Walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path Avoid it pass not by it turn from it and pass away For the way of the wicked is as darkness they know not at what they stumble They lay wait for their own blood they lurk privily for their own lives Prov. 1. 10. to the 18. Prov. 4. 14 to the 19. My soul is moved within me to see how many of my hearers are like to perish both they and their houses by this wretched mischief even the haunting of such places and company whereby they are drawn into sin Once more I admonish you as Moses did Israel Numb 16. 26. And he spake unto the Congregation saying Depart I pray you from the Tents of these wicked men Oh! fly them as you would those that had the Plague sores running in their foreheads These are the Devils Panders and decoys and if thou dost not make thine escape they will toll thee into perdition and will prove thine eternal ruine Dir. XVI Lastly Set apart a day to humble thy soul in secret by fasting and prayer and to work the sense of thy sins and miseries upon thy heart Read over the Assemblies exposition of the commandments and write down the duties omitted and sins committed by thee against every commandment and so make a Catalogue of thy sins and with shame and sorrow spread them before the Lord. And if thy heart be truly willing to the terms joyn thy self solemnly to the Lord in that Covenant set down in the 9. Direction and the Lord grant thee mercy in his sight Thus I have
told thee what thou must do to be saved Wilt thou now obey the voice of the Lord Wilt thou arise and set to thy work O man what answer wilt thou make what excuse wilt thou have if thou shouldest perish at last through very wilfulness when thou hast known the way of life I do not fear thy miscarrying if thine own idleness do not at last undo thee in neglecting the use of the means that are so plainly here prescribed Rouze up oh sluggard and ply thy work Be doing and the Lord will be with thee A short Soliloquy for an unregenerate sinner Ah wretched man that I am what a condition have I brought my self into by sin Oh! I see my heart hath but deceived me all this while in flattering me that my condition was good I see I see I am but a lost and undone man for ever undone unless the Lord help me out of this condition My sins My sins Lord what an unclean polluted wretch am I more loathsome and odious to thee than the most hateful Venome or noisome carcase can be to me Oh! what a Hell of sin is in this heart of mine which I have flattered my self to be a good heart Lord how universally am I corrupted in all my parts powers performances All the imaginations of the thoughts of my heart are only evil continually I am under an inability to averseness from and enmity against any thing that is good and am prone to all that is evil My heart is a very sink of all sin and oh the innumerable hosts and swarms of sinful thoughts words and actions that have flown from thence Oh the load of guilt that is on my soul my head is full and my heart full my mind and my members they are all full of sin Oh my sins How do they stare upon me How do they witness against me Wo is me my Creditors are upon me every commandment taketh hold upon me for more than ten thousand talents yea ten thousand times ten thousand How endless then is the summe of all my debts If this whole world were filled up from earth to Heaven with paper and all this paper written over within and without by Arithmeticians yet when all were cast up together it would come unconceivably short of what I owe to the least of Gods commandments Wo unto me for my debts are infinite and my sins are increased They are wrongs to an infinite Majesty and if he that committeth treason against a silken mortal is worthy to be racked drawn and quartered what have I deserved that have so often lifted up my hand against Heaven and have struck at the Crown and dignity of the Almighty Oh my sins my sins Behold a troop cometh Multitudes multitudes there is no number of their Armies Innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me they have set themselves in array against me Oh! it were better to have all the Regiments of Hell come against me than to have my sins to fall upon me to the spoiling of my Soul Lord how am I surrounded How many are they that rise up against me They have beset me behind and before they swarm within me and without me they have possessed all my powers and have fortified mine unhappy soul as a Garrison which this brood of Hell doth man and maintain against the God that made me And they are as mighty as they be many The sands are many but then they are not great the mountains great but then they are not many But wo is me my sins are as many as the sands and as mighty as the Mountains Their weight is greater than their number It were better that the Rocks and the mountains should fall upon me than the crushing and unsupportable load of my own sins Lord I am heavy laden let mercy help or I am gone Unload me of this heavy guilt this sinking load or I am crushed without hope and must be pressed down to Hell If my grief were thorowly weighed and my sins laid in the ballances together they would be heavier than the sand of the Sea therefore my words are swallowed up they would weigh down all the rocks and the hills and turn the ballance against all the Isles of the Earth O Lord thou knowest my manifold transgressions and my mighty sins Ah my soul Alas my Glory Whither art thou humbled Once the Glory of the creation and the Image of God now a lump of filthiness a Coffin of rottenness replenished with stench and loathsomeness Oh what work hath sin made with thee Thou shalt be termed Forsaken and all the rooms of thy faculties Desolate and the name that thou shalt be called by is Ichabed or Where is the Glory How art thou come down mightily My beauty is turned into deformity and my Glory into shame Lord what a loathsome Leper am I The ulcerous bodies of Iob or Lazarus were not more offensive to the eyes and nostrils of men than I must needs be to the most holy God whose eyes cannot behold iniquity And what misery have my sins brought upon me Lord what a case am I in Sold under sin cast out of Gods favour accursed from the Lord cursed in my body cursed in my soul cursed in my name in my estate my relations and all that I have My sins are unpardoned and my soul within a step of death Alas what shall I do Whither shall I go Which way shall I look God is â—rowning on me from above Hell gaping for me beneath Conscience smiting me within temptations and dangers surrounding me without Oh whither shall I fly What place can hide me from Omnisciency What power can secure me from Omnipotency What meanest thou O my soul to go on thus Art thou in league with Hell hast thou made a covenant with death Art thou in love with thy misery Is it good for thee to be here Alas what shall I do Shall I go on in my sinful ways Why then certain damnation will be mine end shall I be so besotted and bemadded as to go and sell my soul to the flames for a little Ale or a little ease for a little pleasure or gain or content to my flesh Shall I linger any longer in this wretched estate No if I tarry here I shall dye What then is there no help no hope None except I turn Why but is there any remedy for such woful misery any mercy after such provoking iniquity Yes as sure as Gods Oath is true I shall have pardon and mercy yet if I presently unfeignedly and unreservedly turn by Christ to him Why then I thank thee upon the bended knees of my soul O most merciful Iehovah that thy patience hath waâ—ted for me hitherto for hadst thou took me away in this estate I had perished for ever And now I adore thy Grace and accept the offers of thy mercy I renounce all my sins and resolve by thy Grace to set my self against them
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.
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
Christian and restest in the form of godliness give over thy halving and thy halting be a throughout Christian and be zealous and repent and then though thou hast been an offence ot Christ's stomach thou shall be the joy of his heart Rev. 3. 16 19 20. And now bear witness that mercy hath been offered you I call heaven and earth to record against you this day that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore chuse life that you may live Deut. 30. 19. I can but wooe you and warn you I cannot compel you to be happy if I could I would What answer will you send me with to my master Let me speak unto you as Abraham's servant to them And now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master tell me Gen. 24. 49. Oh for such a happy answer as Rebekah gave to them Gen. 24. 57 58. And they said we will call the damsel and enquire at her mouth And they called Rebekah and said unto her Wilt thou go with this man and she said I will go Oh that I had but thus much from you Why should I be your accuser Mat. 10. 14 15. who thirst for your salvation Why should the passionate pleadings and wooings of mercy be turned into the horrid aggravations of your obstinacy and additions to your misery Judge in your own selves Do you not think their condemnation will be doubly dreadful that shall still go on in their sins after all endeavours to recall them Doubtless it shall be more toleable for Tyre and Sidâ—n yea for Sâ—dom and Gomorrah in the day of Iudgment than for such Mat. 11. 22. 24. Beloved if you have any pity for your perishing souls close with the present offers of mercy If you would not continue and increase the pains of your travelling Ministers do not stick in the birth If the God that made you have any authority with you obey his command and come in If you are not the despisers of grace and would not shut up the doors of mercy against your selves repent and be converted Let not Heaven stand open for you in vain Let not the Lord Jesus open his wares and bid you buy without money and without price in vain Let not his Ministers and his Spirit strive with you in vain and leave you now at last unperswaded lest the sentence go forth against you The bellows are burnt the lead is consumed of the fire the founder melteth in vain Reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them Ier. 6. 29 30. Father of Spirits take the heart in hand that is too hard for my weakness Do not thou have ended though I have done Half a word from thine effectual power will do the work O thou that hast the key of David that openest when no man shutteth open thou this heart as thou didst Lydia's and let the King of glory enter in and make this soul thy happy captive Let not the tempter harden him in delays Let him not stir from this place nor take his eyesfrom these lines till he be resolved to forgâ— his sins and to accept of life upon thy self-denying terms In thy name O Lord God did I go forth to these labours in thy name do I shut them up Let not all the time they have cost be but lost hours let not all the thoughts of heart and all the pains that have been about them be but lost labour Lord put in thine hand into the heart of this Reader and send thy Spirit as once thou didst Philip to joyn himself to the Chariot of the Eunuch while he was reading thy word And though I should never know it while I live yet I beseech thee Lord God let it be found at that day that some souls were converted by these labours and let some be able to stand forth and say that by these perswasions they were won unto thee Amen Amen Let him that readeth say Amen FINIS The Terms of our Communion are either from which or to which The Terms from which we must turn are Sin Satan the World and our own Righteousness which must be thus renounced The Terms to which we must turn are either ultimate or mediate The ultimate is God the Father Son and Holy Ghost who must be thus accepted The mediate Terms are either principal or less principal The principal is Christ the Mediatour who must thus be embraced The less Principal are the Laws of Christ which must be thus observed
and to follow thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of my life Who am I Lord that I should make any claim to thee or have any part or portion in thee who am not worthy to lick up the dust of thy feet Yet since thou holdest forth the golden Scepter I am bold to come and touch To despair would be to disparage thy mercy and to stand off when thou biddest me come would be at once to undo my self and rebel against thee under pretence of humility Therefore I bow my soul unto thee and with all possible thankfulness accept thee as mine and give up my self to thee as thine Thou shalt be Soveraign over me my King and my God Thou shalt be in the Throne and all my powers shall bow to thee they shall come and worship before thy feet Thou shalt be my portion O Lord and I will rest in thee Thou callest for my heart Oh that it were any way fit for thine acceptance I am unworthy O Lord everlastingly unworthy to be thine But since thou wilt have it so I freely give up my heart to thee Take it it is thine Oh that it were better But Lord I put it into thy hands who alone canst mend it Mould it after thine own heart make it as thou wouldst have it holy humble heavenly soft tender flexible and write thy law upon it Come Lord Jesus come quickly enter in triumphantly take me up for thy self for ever I give up to thee I come to thee as the only way to the Father as the only Mediator the means ordained to bring me to God I have destroyed my self but in thee is my help Save Lord or else I perish I come to thee with the rope about my neck I am worthy to dye and to be damned Never was the hire more due to the servantâ— never was penny more due to the labourer than death and Hell my just wages is due to me for my sins But I fly to thy merits I trust alone to the value and virtue of thy Sacrifice and prevalency of thine intercession I submit to thy teaching I make choice of thy Government Stand open ye everlasting doors that the King of Glory may enter in O thou spirit of the most high the comforter and sanctifier of thy chosen come in with all thy glorious train all thy Courtly attendants thy fruits and Graces Let me be thine habitation I can give thee but what is thine own already but here with the poor Widdow I cast my two mites my soul and my body into thy treasury fully resigning them up to thee to be sanctified by thee to be servants to thee They shall be thy patients cure thou their maladies they shall be thy agents govern thou their motions Too long have I served the world too long have I hearkened to Satan but now I renounce them all and will be ruled by thy dictates and directions and guided by thy counsel O blessed Trinity O glorious Unity I deliver up my self to thee receive me write thy name O Lord upon me and upon all that I have as thy proper goods Set thy mark upon me upon every member of my body and every faculty of my soul. I have chosen thy precepts Thy law will I lay before me this shall be the copy which I will keep in my eye and study to write after According to this rule do I resolve by thy Grace to walk after this law shall my whole man be governed And though I cannot perfectly keep one of thy Commandments yet I will allow my self in the breach of none I know my flesh will hang back but I resolve in the power of thy Grace to cleave to thee and thy holy ways whatever it cost me I am sure I cannot come off a loser by thee and therefore I will be content with reproach and difficulties and hardships here and will deny my self and take up my Cross and follow thee Lord Jesus thy Yoke is easie thy Cross is welcome as it is the way to thee I lay aside all hopes of a worldly happiness I will be content to tarry till I come to thee Let me be poor and low little and despised here so I may be but admitted to live and reign with thee hereafter Lord thou hast my heart and hand to this agreement Be it as the laws of the Medes and Persians never to be reversed To this I will stand in this resolution by Grace I will live and dye I have â—worn and will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments I have given my free consent I have made my everlasting choice Lord Jesus confirm the contract Amen CHAP. VII Containing the Motives to Conversion THough what is already said of the Necessity of Conversionâ— and of the Miseries of the Unconverted might be sufficient to induce any considering mind to resolve upon a present turning or Conversion unto God yet knowing what a piece of desperate obstinacy and untractableness the heart of man naturally is I have thought it necessary to add to the means of Conversion and Directions for a Covenant-closure with God in Christ some Motives to perswade you hereunto O Lord fail me not now at my last attempts If any soul hath read hitherto and be yet untouched now Lord fasten in him and do thy work Now take him by the heart overcome him perswade him till he say Thou hast prevailed for thou wast stronger than I. Lord didst not thou make me a fisher of men And have I toyled all this while and caught nothing Alas that I should have spent my strength for nought And now I am casting my last Lord Iesus stand thou upon the shore and direct how and where I shall spread my net and let me so enclose with arguments the souls I seek for that they may not be able to get out Now Lord for a multitude of souls now for a full draught O Lord God remember me I pray thee and strengthen me this once O God But I turn me unto you Men and Brethren Heaven and earth do call upon you yea hell it self doth preach the doctrine of repentance unto you The Angels of the Churches travel with you Gal. 4. 19. the Angels of Heaven wait for you for your repenting and turning unto God O sinner why should the devils make merry with thee Why shouldst thou be a morsel for that devouring Leviathan Why should harpies and hell-hounds tear thee and make a feast upon thee and when they have got thee into the snare and have fastened their talons in thee laugh at thy destruction and deride thy misery and sport themselves with thy damnable folly This must be thy case except thou turn And were it not better thou shouldst be a joy to Angels than a laughing-stock and sport for devils Verily if thou wouldst but come in the Heavenly Host would take up their anthems and sing Glory be to God in the highest the morning Stars would sing together