Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	heart_n	let_v	lord_n	11,278	5	4.0773	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39675	Pneumatologia, a treatise of the soul of man wherein the divine original, excellent and immortal nature of the soul are opened, its love and inclination to the body, with the necessity of its separation from it, considered and improved, the existence, operations, and states of separated souls, both in Heaven and Hell, immediately after death, asserted, discussed, and variously applyed, divers knotty and difficult questions about departed souls, both philosophical, and theological, stated and determined, the invaluable preciousness of humane souls, and the various artifices of Satan (their professed enemy) to destroy them, discovered, and the great duty and interest of all men, seasonable and heartily to comply with the most great and gracious design of the Father, Son, and Spirit, for the salvation of their souls, argued and pressed / by John Flavel ...	Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1685 (1685)	Wing F1176; ESTC R5953	379,180	504

few are converted to Christ in their old age It was recorded for a wonder in the primitive times that Marcus Cajus Victorius became a Christian in his old age time and usage fixes the roots of sin deep in the Soul old trees will not bow as tender pliable plants do Hence it is that all essays and attempts to draw men from the course in which they have walked from their youth are frustraneous and succesless The Drunkard the Adulterer yea the self-righteous Moralist are by long continued usage so fixed in their course and all this while Conscience so stupefied by often repeated acts of sin that it is naturally as impossible to remove a mountain as the will of a sinner thus confirmed in his wickedness However let tryal be made and the success left to him to whom no length of the time or difficulty must be objected or opposed The fourth way to Hell shut up by two Considerations 1. First Let it be considered the longer any man hath been engaged in and accustomed to the way of sin the more reason and need that man hath speedily and without delay to repent and reform his course there is yet a possibility of mercy a season of Salvation left how far soever a Soul be gone on towards Hell none can say it is yet too late When Mr. Bilney the Martyr heard a Minister preaching thus O thou old Sinner that hast gone on in a course of sin these fifty or sixty years dost thou think that Christ will accept thee now or take the Devils leavings Good God! said he what preaching of Christ is here Had such Doctrine been preached to me in the day of my troubles it had been enough utterly to have discouraged me from Repentance and Faith No no Sinner it is not yet too late if at last thy heart be touched with a real sense of thy sin and danger the word is plain Isa. 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon An abundant pardon thou needest thy sins by long continued custom and frequent repetitions have been abundantly aggravated and an abundant pardon is with God for poor sinners he will abundantly pardon but then thou must come up to his terms thou must not expect pardon or mercy when thy sins have forsaken thee but upon thy forsaking them yea such a forsaking as includes a resolution or decree in thy will to return to them no more Hos. 14.8 there must be a change of thy way and that not from profaneness to civility only which is but to change one false way to Heaven for another or the dirty road to hell for a cleanlier path on the other side the hedge but a total and final forsaking of every way of sin as to the love and habitual practice of it yea and thy thoughts too as well as thy ways there must be an internal as well as an external change upon thee yea a positive as well as a negative change a turning to the Lord as well as a turning from sin and then how long soever thou hast walked in the road towards Hell there will be time enough and mercy enough to secure thy returning Soul safe to Heaven 2. Secondly Canst thou not forbear thy customary si● upon lesser motives than the salvation of thy Soul and if thou canst wilt thou not much more do it for the saving of thy precious immortal Soul Suppose there were but a pecuniary mulct of an hundred pounds to be certainly levied upon thy Estate for every Oath thou swearest or every time thou art drunk wouldst thou not rather chuse reformation than beggery And is not the loss of thy Soul a penalty infinitely heavier than a little money But as the wise Heathen observed Senec. Ep. 42. Gratuita nobis videntur quae chariss●mè constant quae emere nollemus si domus nobis nostra pro illis esset danda c. Ea sola emi putamus pro quibus pecuniam solvimus ●a gratuita vocamus pro quibus nos ipsos impendimus We reckon those things only to be bought which we part with money for and that we have those things gratis for which we pay our selves Is nothing cheap in our eyes but our selves our Souls Do we call that gratis that will cost us so dear Darius threw away his Massie Crown when he ●red before Alexander that it might not hinder him in his flight Sure your Souls are more worth than your money and all the enjoyments you have in this world It had been an ancient custom among the Citizens of Antioch to wash themselves in the Baths but the King forbidding it they all presently forbare for fear of his displeasure whereupon Chrysostome convinced them of the vanity of that plea for customary sinning You see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 14. saith he how soon fear can break off an old custom and shall not the fear of God be as powerful to over-master it in us as the fear of man O friends believe it it is better for you to cut off a right hand or pluck out a right eye than having two hands or eyes to be cast into Hell where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched The fifth way of losing the Soul opened V. The fifth way by which an innumerable multitude of Souls are eternally lost is by the bait● of sensual sinful pleasures Some customary sins have little or no pleasure in them as swearing malice c. but others a●sure and entice the Soul by the sensual delight that is in them This is the bait with which multitudes are enticed ensnared and ruined to all Eternity Voluptatum blanditiis deliniti ad ea garenda omnia qua prava sunt impellimur Arist l. 2. Eth. c. 3. It is a true and grave observation 〈◊〉 Philosopher That we are impelled as it were to that which is evil by the alluring blandishments of pleasure This was the first bait by which Satan caught the Souls of our first Parents in Innocency Gen. 3.6 The tree was pleasant to the eye Pleasure quickens the principles of sin in us and inflames the desires of the heart after it Every pleasant sin hath a world of Customers and cost what it will they resolve to have it I have read of a certain Fruit which the Spaniards found in the Indies which was exceeding pleasant to the taste but Nature had so fenced it and double-guarded it with sharp and dangerous thorns that it was very difficult to come at it They tore their cloaths yea their flesh to get it and therefore called the Fruit Comfits in Hell Such are all the pleasures of sin Comfits in Hell Damnation is the price of them and yet the sensitive appetite is so outragious and mad after them that at the price of their Souls they will have them Thus

protract stop or call back one minute of time O what is Man that the heavenly bodies should be wheel'd about by Almighty power in constant Revolutions to beget time for him Psal. 8.3 2 More precious are the Seasons and Opportunities that are in time for our Souls those are the golden spots of time like the pearl in the Oyster shell of much more value than the shell that contains it There is much time in a short opportunity There is a day on which our Eternal happiness depends Luke 19.41 42. Hebr. 4.7 3 Invaluable are the things which God doth for mens Souls in time There are works wrought upon mens hearts in a seasonable hour in this life which have an Influence into the Souls happinness throughout Eternity There is a time of mercy a time of love viz. Of Illumination and Conversion and on that point of time Eternal life hangs in the whole weight of it 4 Lost opportunity is never to be recovered by the Soul any more Ezek. 24.13 Revel 22.11 To come before the opportunity is to come before the Bird be hatch't and to come after it is to come when the Bird is flown There is no calling back time when it is once past See this in the Examples you find Luke 13.26 Eccles. 9.10 5 It is wholly uncertain to every Soul whether the present day may not determine his Lease in this Tabernacle and a writ of Ejection be served by death upon his Soul tomorrow Iames 4.13 Luke 12.20 6 As soon as ever time shall end Eternity takes place The stream of time delivers Souls daily into the boundless Ocean of vast Eternity Ab hoc momento pendet aeternitas We are now measured by time hereafter by eternity 7 In Eternity all things are fixed and unalterable We have no more to do all means and works are at an end Iohn 9.4 and Eccles. 11.3 As the Tree falls so it lies O that these weighty Considerations might lie upon your hearts as long as you are in these Tabernacles If they did 1 The Unregenerate would not so desperately hazard their eternal happiness by trifling away their precious Seasons under the Gospel O how many aged sinners gray-headed sinners hear me this day who in fifty or sixty years never redeemed one solemn hour to take their poor Souls aside out of the clutter and distracting noise of the World to ask and debate this question with them O my Soul how stands the case with thee in reference to the World to come They have found no time to bethink themselves in what World their Souls shall be landed when time shall deliver them up into Eternity Their whole life hath been but a continual diversion from one trifle to another They have been serious in trifles and trifled in things most serious this will afford horrid reflections in the World to come 2 The Regenerate would not cast away the comfort of their lives in the Evidences of eternal life at so cheap a rate as they do May I not say to you as the Apostle doth Hebr. 5.12 for the time you have had under the Gospel you might have attained a rich treasure both of Grace and Comfort Turpe est senex elementarius Is it not shameful and inexcusable to be where you were twenty years past O let these things sink deep into every Soul Inference IV. MUst we shortly put off these our Tabernacles Then slack your pace and cool your selves be not too eager in the prosecution of earthly Designs O what Bustling is here for the World and for provisions for futurity when as far less would serve the turn We need not victual a Ship to cross the Chanel to France as if she were bound to the Indies Most mens Provisions at least their cares and thoughts are far beyond the preparations of their Abode in this World The folly of this Christ discovers in that Parable Luke 12.19 and on this very account gives him the Title of a Fool who provided for years many years when poor soul he had not one night to enjoy those Provisions O the multitude of thoughts and cares this World needlessly devours We keep our selves in such a continual hurry and crowd of cares thoughts and imployments about the concerns of the Body that we can find little time to be alone communing with our own hearts about our great Concernments in Eternity It is with many of us in respect of our Souls and their great Interests as it is with a man that is deep in thoughts about some Subject that wholly swallows him up he seeth not what he seeth nor heareth what he heareth of any other matter His eyes seem to look upon this or that but it 's all one as if he did not So it was with Archimedes who was so intent in drawing his Mathematical Scheams that though all the City was in an Allarm the Enemy had taken it by Storm the Streets filled with dreadful cries and dead Bodies the Soldiers came into his particular house nay entred his very study and pluckt him by the sleeve before he took any notice of it Even so many mens hearts are so profoundly immersed and drowned in earthly cares thoughts projects or pleasures that death must come to their very houses yea and pull them by the sleeve and tell them its Errand before they will begin to awake and come to a serious consideration of things more important Inference V. IF we must shortly put off these Tabernacles Then the groaning and mourning time of Believers is but short How heavy soever their burden be yet they shall carry it but a little way It 's said 2 Cor. 5 4. We that are in this Tabernacle do groan being burdened Good Souls in this State are every where groaning under heavy pressures Their burdens are of two sorts Sympathetical whereby they grieve with and on the account of others and so every true member of the Church of God ought to sympathize both with God Psal. 1 39.21 Am not I grieved with them that rise up against thee Psal. 42.10 it is as with a Sword in their bones and with the people of God Zeph 3.18 sorrowful for the solemn Assembly so 2 Cor. 11.29 Who is offended and I burn not And indeed it is an Argument of rich as well as true grace that we can and do heartily mourn with and for the Interest and People of God though our own lot in the World as Nehemiah's be never so comfortable Or else our burdens are Idiopathetical i. e. such as we bear upon our own proper account and score And where is the Christian that hath not his own burden yea many burthens on him at once Some groan under the burden of sin Rom. 7.24 Scarce one day are the tears off some eye-lids on this account And who groans not under the burden of affliction either inward upon the Soul Prov. 18.14 Iob 6.1 2 3. or outward upon the Body State Relations c. These things make the people

there are of the rude and ignorant multitude who are bred themselves much like the Beasts they daily converse withal and so they are fitly described Iob 30.6 7. Go into their houses and you may sooner find in the window or upon the shelf a Pack of Cards than a Bible or Catechise their Beds and Tables differ little or not at all from the Stalls and Cribs where beasts lye down and feed in respect of any worship of God among them or if for fashion sake a few words be hudled over in the evening when their bodies are tired the man saith something he scarce knows what the wife is asleep in one corner the children in another and the servants in a third This is the Education multitudes of Parents give their Children all the week and when the Sabbath comes the most they learn to know at Church is where their own seat stands and that it is necessary to speak with such a Neighbour after Prayers about such or such a bargain or business for the next week And others there are who breed their Children as prophanely as these do sottishly teaching them by their Examples the newest Oaths that were last minted in Hell and to revile and scoff all serious Godliness and the sincere Professors of it smiling to hear with what an Emphasis they can talk in the Dialect of Devils and how wittily they can droll upon godly Ministers and Christians Such Families are Nurseries for Hell and though God by an extraordinary hand of Providence now and then snatch a Soul by conversion from among them as a brand out of the fire yet generally they die as they live going to the generation of their Fathers where they shall never see light Psal. 49.19 I know Education and Regeneration are two things but I also know one is frequently made the instrument of working the other Quo semel est imbuta recens c. and that the savour of what first seasons our youth generally abides to old age Prov. 22.6 We may observe all the World over how tenacious men are of that which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delivered to them by their Parents O what a cut must it be to the heart of that Father whose Sons life shall tell his Conscience what a profane Sons lips once told his Father to his face Si malè seci à te didici If I have done evil I have learnt it of you Had they felt more of your prudent correction it might have prevented their destruction Prov. 23.14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shalt deliver his soul from hell That this is a common beaten path to Hell is beyond all question but how to bar it up and stop the multitudes that are engaged in it to their own ruine this is the labour this the work I cannot be large but I will offer a few weighty Considerations The first way to Hell barr'd 1. Let all Parents consider what a fearful thing it is to be the instruments of ruining for ever those that received their Beings instrumentally from them and to seek whose good they stand obliged by all the Laws of God and Nature In vain are all your cares and studies for their bodies whilst their Souls perish for want of knowledge You rejoyced at their birth but they will have cause to curse the day they were born of you and say Let the day perish wherein I was born and the night in which I was conceived You were solicitous for their bodies but careless of their Souls earnest to see them rich but indifferent whether they were gracious You neglected to teach them the way of Salvation but the Devil did not neglect to teach them the way of sin You will one day wish you had never been Parents when the dol●ful cries of your damned Children shall ring such Notes as these in your Ears O cursed Father O cruel merciless Mother whose examples have drawn me after you into all this misery You had time enough and motives enough to have warned me of this place and misery whilst my heart was tender and my affections pliable Had it not been as easie to have put a Bible as a Play-book before me To have chastised me when I provoked God by sin as when I provoked you about a trifle One word spoken in season might have saved my Soul one reproof wisely given and set on by your example might have preserved me Had it not been the same pains to have asked me Child what wilt thou do to be saved as what wilt thou do to live in the world Or had I but observed any serious Religion in you had I but found or heard my Father or Mother upon their knees in prayer it might have awakened me to a consideration of my condition in my youth I was shame fac'd fearful credulous and apt to imitate had you had but wisdom as other Parents have to have taken hold of any of these handles in time you had rescued my Soul from Hell Nay so cruel have you been to your own Child that you allowed me no time if I had had a disposition for any exercise of Religion yea you have quenched and stifled the sparks of convictions and better inclinations that sometimes were in my heart O happy had it been if I had never been born of you or seen your faces This must be the result and issue of your negligence except God by some other hand which is no thanks to you rescue them from their impending ruine 〈…〉 ldren whose unhappy Lot it is to be born of 〈…〉 carnal and irreligious Parents consider God hath endued them with a Reason and Conscience of their own to enable them to make a better choice than their Parents did and that there is no taking Sanctuary from the wrath of Go● in their Parents examples We read in 1 Kings 14.13 of a good Abijah in whom was found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel in the house of Ieroboam Here was a Child that would not follow his wicked Father to Hell though he had both the authority of a Father and of a King over him Amandus genitor sed praeponendus Creator You must honour your Parents but still you must prefer your God before them God will never lay it to your account as your sin but place it to the account of your duty and comfort that you refused to follow them in paths of sin and destruction No Law of God no tye of Nature binds you to obey their commands or tread in their steps farther than they command in Gods Authority and Name and walk in his ways Your temptations indeed are strong and disadvantages great but the greater will the mercy of your deliverance be It will be no Plea for you at the Judgment-seat to say Lord my Father or Mother did so and so before me and I thought I might safely follow them or thus and thus they commanded me and I thought I

graceless person in the world Poverty is no bar to Christ or Heaven though it be to the respects of men and pleasures of this life Away then with all vain pretences against a life of godliness from the meanness of your outward condition Heaven was not made for the rich and Hell only for the poor no no how hard soever you find the way thither I am sure Christ saith It 's hard for a rich man to enter into that Kingdom The seventh way of losing the Soul discovered VII The seventh beaten path to destruction is by groundless presumption praesum●ndo sperant spirando per●unt by presumption they have hope and by that hope they perish There are divers objects of Presumption amongst which these three are most usual and most fatal viz. That they have 1. That Grace which they have not 2. That Mercy in God they will not find 3. That Time before them which will fail them 1. Many presume they have that Grace in them which God knoweth they have not So did Laodicea Rev. 3.17 Thou sayest I am rich and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable poor blind and naked Here is a dangerous Conspiracy betwixt a cunning Devil and an ignorant proud Heart to ruine the Soul for ever they stamp their common Grace for special they put the old Creature by a general Profession into the new Creatures habit and lay a confident claim to all the Priviledges of the Children of God 2. They presume upon such Mercy in God as they will never find they expect pardoning and saving Mercy out of Christ in an unregenerate state when there is not one drop of Mercy dispensed in any other way The whole oeconomy of Grace is managed by the Mediator Iude v. 21. all saving Mercies come through him upon all that are in him and upon no others God is indeed a merciful God and yet presumptuous sinners will find Judgment without Mercy because they are not found in the proper way and method of Mercy Thousands and ten thousands carve out and dispose the Mercy of God at their own pleasure write their own Pardons in what Terms they think fit and if they had Gods Seal to firm and ratifie them it were all well but alas it is but a night-vision a dream of their own brain 3. But especially men presume upon Time enough for Repentance hereafter they question not but there be as fit and as fair opportunities of Salvation to come as are already past and in this snare of the Devil thousands are taken in the very prime and vigour of their youth That age is voluptuous and loves not to be interrupted with severe and serious thoughts and courses and here is a Salvo fitted exactly to suit their inclination and quiet them in their way that they may pursue their lusts without interruption I cannot follow the sin of Presumption at present in all these its courses and ways and will therefore apply my self to the case last mentioned which is so common to the world The seventh way to destruction shut up by five weighty Considerations 1. And in the first place I would beg all those young voluptuous Sinners whose feet are fast held in the snare of this Temptation seriously to bethink themselves whether they are not old enough to be damned whilst they judge themselves too young to be seriously godly There are multitudes in Hell of your age and size you may find Graves in the Church-yard of your own length and Skulls of your own size Men will not spare a nest of young Snakes because they are little If you die Christless and unregenerate 't is the same thing whether you be old or young there is abundance of young Spray as well as old Logs burning in the flames of Hell 2. If you knew the weight and difficulty of Salvation-work you would never think you could begin too soon Religion is a business will take up all your time Poenitet me Domine quod serò te amavi Aug. many have repented they began so late none that they began too soon Say not the penitent Thief found mercy at the last hour for his Conversion was extraordinary and we must not hope for Miracles Besides he could never encourage himself in sin with the hope and expectation of such a miraculous Conversion He was the only Example of a Sinner that was ever so recovered in Scripture and this was recorded not to nourish presumption but to prevent despair If ten thousand persons died of the Plague and one only of the whole number infected with it escaped it 's no great encouragement that you shall make the second O think and think again how many thousands now on earth have been tugging and striving forty or fifty years together to make their Calling and Election sure and yet to this day it is not so sure as they would have it they are afraid after all time will fail them for finishing and you think 't is too early for beginning so great a work 3. Others have begun sooner than you and finished the great and main work before you have done one stroke Abijah was very young scarce got out of his childhood when the Grace of God was found in him 1 Kings 14.13 The fear of God was in Obadiah when but a youth 1 Kings 18.12 Timothy was not only a Christian but a Preacher of the Gospel in the morning of his life 2 Tim. 3.15 What have you to plead for your selves which they had not Or what arguments and motives to godliness had they which you have not You shall be judged per pares by those of your own age and size their seriousness shall condemn your vanity 4. The morning of your life is the flower of your time the freshest and fittest of all your life for your great work now your hearts are tender and impressive your affections flowing and tractable your heads clear of distracting cares and hurries of business which come on afterwards in thick successions Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth whilst the evil days come not Eccles. 12.1 2. If a man have an important business to do he will take the morning for it knowing if that be slipt a crowd and hurry of business will come on afterwards to distract and hinder him I presume if all the Converts in the World were examined in this point it would be found that at least ten to one were wrought upon in their youth that is the moulding age 5. And if this proper hopeful season be elapsed it is very unlikely that ever you be wrought upon afterwards How thin and rare in the world are the instances and examples of Conversion in old age Long continued customs in sin harden the heart fix the will and root the habits of vice so deep in the Soul that there is no altering of them your ears then are so accustomed to the sounds of the Word that Christ and

are unsearchable and what use God may make upon one occasion or another of these following Considerations I will adventure to drop a few words upon these forlorn Sinners as far as they seem to be gone beyond recovery beseeching the Lord to make way for these things to their hands and hearts and make them the instruments of pulling some of them as brands out of the burning The ninth way to Hell by Prophaneness stopt 1. And first Let it be laid to heart that though the case and state of many thousand Souls be doubtful and uncertain so that neither themselves nor any other know what they are or to whom they belong yet our condition is without controversie miserable and forlorn all men know whose you are and whither you are going The Apostle appeals in this case to the Bar of every mans Reason and Conscience as a thing allowed and yielded by all Eph. 5.5 For this ye know saith he that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an Idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God This is a clear case there is no controversie about it Many there be in a doubtful case but no doubt of these they are fast and sure in the power of Satan and as sure as God is a God of Truth they that die in this condition shall never see his face And to the same purpose again 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God Know ye not saith he q. d. Sure you cannot be so ignorant and blind to think that there is any room in Heaven for such wretches as these If the righteous be scarcely saved where shall the sinner and the ungodly appear If all strictness holiness self-denial diligence be all little enough to win Heaven what hope can there be of those that not only cast off all duties of Religion but also cast themselves into all the opposite ways and courses which directly lead to damnation He that refuseth his food endangers his life but he that drinks poison certainly and speedily destroys it 2. As far as you are gone in a course of prophaneness you are not yet gone beyond the reach of Mercy and all hopes of Salvation if now at last after all your Debaucheries and prophan●ness the Lord touch your hearts with the sense of your sinful and miserable estate and turn your feet to his Testimonies When the Apostle in 1 Cor. 6.9 10. had told us the doom of such men upon the supposition of their perseverance in that course yet presently he adds as a motive to their repentance an Example of Mercy upon such wretches as these And such were some of you but ye are washed v. 11. The golden Scepter of free Grace hath been held forth to many as prophane and notorious sinners as you to a blaspheming Saul to a Mary Magdalen to a Manasseh 'T is not the greatness of the sin but the impenitence and infidelity of the sinner that ruines him Well then there is a certainty of damnation if you go and yet a possibility of forgiveness and mercy before you a mercy invaluable 3. Nay this is not all but in some respect there is more probability and hope of your return and repentance than there is of many others who have led a more sober smooth and civil life than you have done Your prophaneness hath more dishonoured God but the Morality and Civility of some men secures them faster in the snare of the Devil they have many things in themselves to build up their presumptuous hopes upon but you have nothing It is hard for conviction to reach that mans Conscience that hath a righteousness of his own to trust in but methinks it should have an easier access to yours whose notorious courses lay your Consciences naked and bare before the word to be wounded by it Christs Ministry had little success among the Pharisees who were righteous in their own eyes but it wrought effectually upon Publicans and sinners Hence Christ told them Matt. 21.31 That Publicans and Harlots go into the Kingdom of God before them Publicans were esteemed the worst of men and Harlots the worst of women yet the one and other as vile as they were stood fairer for Conviction and consequently for Salvation than those that thought they needed no repentance All this is matter of hope and runs into a powerful motive and loud call to repentance He that hath an ear to hear let him hear The tenth way leading to Destruction marked X. Deep and fixed prejudices against Godliness and the sincere Professors thereof precipitate thousands of Souls into their own ruine and damnation It was not without a weighty reason that Christ denounced that wo upon the world Matt. 18.7 Wo unto the world because of offences The poor world will be ruin'd by scandals and prejudices they will take such offences at the ways of Godliness that they will never have good thoughts of them any more This Sect is every where spoken against Acts 28.21 and so Christians are condemned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the common reproach as Iustin Martyr complain'd All the scandals which fall out in the Church are so many Swords and Daggers put into the hands of the wicked world to murder their own Souls withal Some have sucked in such Opinions of the ways of Godliness as make them irreconcileable Enemies to them and fierce Opposers of them And from hence are most of the Persecutions that befal the People of God When you see showres of slanders and reproaches going before expect storms of persecution coming after Slanders beget prejudices and these prepare for persecutions O how keen and fierce are the minds of many against the upright and innocent Servants of God whom they have first represented to themselves in such an odious dress and Character as the Devil hath drawn them in upon their fancies and imaginations So the primitive Christians were represented to the Heathens as Monsters and their Conventions in the night occasioned by the fury of Persecutors was reported to be for lascivious and barbarous ends to deflower Virgins and murder innocent Children and by this artifice the Heathens were secured against conversion to Christ. This hath been the policy of Hell from the beginning and it hath prospered so much in the world that Satan hath reason to change his hand But how may this Plot of Hell be defeated and the ruine of Souls prevented The tenth way of destroying Souls shut up by two Counsels 1. It will be impossible to prevent the ruine of a great part of the World by prejudices against the ways of Godliness except those that profess them walk more holily and conformably to the rule and pattern of Christ

drops not down from Heaven in a night-dream as the Turks fable their Alcoran to have done in that lailato hanzili night of demission as they call it no no the righteous themselves are scarcely saved many seek but few find strive therefore as men and women that are heartily concerned for their own Salvation Sit not with folded arms like so many heaps of stupidity and sloth whilst the door of Hope is yet open and such a sweet voice from Heaven calls to you saying Strive Souls strive if ever you expect to be partakers of the Blessedness that is here to be enjoyed strive to the uttermost of your abilities and opportunities Such an Heaven is worth striving to obtain such an Hell is worth striving to escape such an invaluable Soul is worth striving to save I confess Heaven is not the purchace or reward of your striving No Soul shall boastingly say there Is not this the Glory which my duties and diligence purchased for me And yet on the other side it is as true that without striving you shall never set foot there Say not it depends upon the pleasure of God and not upon your diligence for it is his declared will and pleasure to bring men to Glory in the way though not for the sake of their own striving as in the works of your civil Calling you know all the care toil and sweat of the Husbandman avails nothing of it self except the Sun and Rain quicken and ripen the Fruits of the Earth and yet no wise man will neglect plowing and harrowing sowing and weeding because these labours avail not without the influences of Heaven but waits for them in the way of his duty and diligence rational hope sets all the world awork Do they plow in hope and sow in hope and will not you pray in hope and hear in hope You that know your Souls to be hitherto strangers to Christ and the regenerating work of the Spirit how is it that you take them not aside sometimes out of the distracting noise and hurries of the world and thus bemoan them O my poor graceless Christless miserable Soul how sad a case art thou in others have but thou never feltest the burden of sin thousands in the World are striving and labouring searching and praying to make their Calling and Election sure whilst thou sittest still with folded hands in a supine regardlesness of the misery that is hastening on upon thee Canst thou endure the devouring wrath of God Canst thou dwell with everlasting burnings Hast thou fancied a tolerable Hell Or is it easie to perish Why dost thou not cast thy self at the feet of Christ and cry as long as breath will last Lord pity a sinful miserable undone and self-condemning Soul Lord smite this rockie heart subdue this stubborn will heal and save an undone Soul ready to perish The characters of death are upon it it must be changed or condemned and that in a little time Bowels of pity hear the cry of a Soul distressed and ready to perish And you that do not understand the case and slate your Souls are in you have never a Bible near you O turn to those places 1 Cor. 6.9 10. where you will presently find the more obvious marks and characters God hath set upon the children of perdition and if you find not your self in that Catalogue among the unrighteous Fornicators Idolaters Adulterers Effeminate Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners c. then turn to Ioh. 3.3 and solemnly ask thy own Soul this question Am I born again Am I a new Creature Or still in the same condition I was born in What solid evidence of the new birth have I to rely upon if I were now within a few gasps of death Am not I the man or woman who live in the very same sins which the Word of God makes the Symptoms and Characters of Damnation And doth not my Conscience witness against me that I am utterly void and destitute of all that saving Grace and a meer stranger to the regenerating work of the Spirit without which there can be no well-bottom'd hope of Salvation And if so are not the tokens of death upon me Am not I a person markt out for misery And shall I sit still in a state of so much danger and not once strive to make an escape from the wrath to come Is this vile body worth so much toil and labour to support and preserve it And is not my 〈◊〉 worth as much care and diligence to secure it from the everlasting wrath of the great just and terrible God O that the consideration of the wrath to come the multitudes all the world over preparing as fuel for it and the door of opportunity yet held open to Souls by the hand of Grace to escape that wrath might prevail with thy heart Reader to strive and that to the uttermost to secure thy precious Soul from the impending ruine EPHES. 5.16 Redeeming the time or opportunity because the days are evil TIme is deservedly reckoned among the most precious mercies of this life and that which makes it so valuable are the commodious seasons and opportunities for Salvation which are vouchsafed to us therein Opportunity is the golden spot of Time the sweet and beautiful flower growing upon the stalk of Time If Time be a Ring of Gold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opportunity is the rich Diamond that gives it both its value and glory The Apostle well knew the value of Time and seeing how prodigally it was wasted by the most doth therefore in this place earnestly press all men to redeem save and improve it with the utmost diligence In this and the former Verse We have 1. The Duty injoyned Walk circumspectly We have 2. The Injunction explained 1. More generally Not as fools but as wise 2. More particularly Redeeming the time 3. The Exhortation strongly inforced with a powerful Motive Because the days are evil Among these Particulars my Discourse is principally concerned about the Redemption of Time or Opportunities which in this life are graciously vouchsased us in order to that which is to come and here it will be needful To inquire 1. What the Apostle means by Time 2. What by the Redemption of Time 1. Time is taken more largely or strictly according to the double acceptation of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth sometimes Time and sometimes Occasion Season or Opportunity and accordingly is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tempus and Tempestivitas the latter is the word here used and denotes the commodiousness and fitness of some parts of Time above others for the successful and prosperous management and accomplishment of our main and great business in this world which is to secure our interest in Christ and glorifie God in a course of fruitful obedience For these great and weighty purposes our time is graciously lengthened out and many fit opportunities presented to us in the

25 will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him Iob 27.9 no no he will not and this is but a just retribution from the righteous God whose calls and counsels men have set at nought but whatever men now think of it it is certainly the greatest misery incident to man in all the world for as no words can make another fully sensible what a priviledge it is to have the ear favour pity and help of God in a day of straits so it is impossible for any words to express the doleful state and case of that Soul whom God casts off in trouble and whose cryes he shuts out 5 Beware of neglecting any Call of God because that Call you are now tempted to neglect may be the last Call that ever God intendeth to give thy Soul Sure I am there is a Call which will be the last Call of God to rebellious Sinners and after that no more Calls but an eternal deep silence his Spirit shall not always strive with man and the more motions and calls you have already slighted the more probable it is that this may be the last Voice of God in a way of Mercy to thy Soul and what if after this God should seal up thy heart and judicially harden it make thy will utterly inflexible and thine ears deaf as he threatens Isa 6.10 What an undone miserable man or woman art thou then O beware of provoking the forest of all Judgments by persisting any longer in a course of rebellion against Light and Mercy 6 Whilst your hearts put off and neglect the Calls of God you can never by any means arrive to the evidence and assurance of your Election for your Election is only secured to you by your effectual calling 2 Pet. 1.10 there is no way for men to discern their Names written in the Book of Life but by reading the work of Sanctification in their own hearts Rom. 10.8 I desire no miraculous Voice from Heaven no extraordinary signs or unscriptural notices and informations in this matter Lord let me but find my heart complying with thy calls my will obediently submitting to thy commands Sin my burden and Christ my desire I will never crave a fairer or surer evidence of thy electing love to my Soul and if I had an Oracle from Heaven an extraordinary Messenger from the other World to tell me thou lovest me I have no reason to give credit to such a Voice whilst I find my heart wholly sensual averse to God and indisposed to all that is spiritual 7. What reason have you why you should not presently embrace the Call of God and thankfully lay hold upon the first opportunity and season of Salvation Have you any greater matters in hand than the Salvation of your precious Souls Is there any thing in all this world that more concerns you If the affairs of this life be so indispensably necessary and those of the world to come so indifferent if you think that meat and drink trade and business wife and children be such great things and Christ Soul and Eternity such little things or if you think the Salvation be a work of the greatest necessity yet it may safely enough be put off to a time of uncertainty I may assure you you will not long be of this mind How soon are all the mistakes of men in these matters rectified in a few moments after death Rectified I say but not remedied your opinion will be changed but not your condition 8. Do you not every day easily and readily obey the Calls of Satan and your own Lusts whilst God and Conscience are suffered to call and strive with you in vain If Satan or your Lusts call you to the Tavern to the World and your sinful Pleasures you speedily comply with their Call and yield a ready obedience if Pride call if Covetousness call if Passion and Revenge call they need not call twice and shall God call and Conscience call only in vain Lord what a Creature is Man become If a vain Companion call you have no power to deny him if God call you have no ear to hear him 9. You cannot but observe the obedience and diligence of many others how seriously painfully and assiduously they ply and follow on the work of their own Salvation and yet they are no more concerned in the events and consequences of these things than you are Doth it not trouble you when you compare your selves with them Do not such thoughts as these sometimes arise in your hearts upon such observations Lord what a difference is there like to be betwixt their end and mine when there is so apparent a difference in our course and conversation Doth not God distinguish persons in this world by the frames of their hearts and tenor of their lives in order to the great distinction he will make betwixt one and another in the Day of Judgment Have not I as precious a Soul to save or lose as any of them What is the matter that I sit with folded arms whilst they are working out Salvation with fear and trembling Why should any man or woman in the world be more careful for their Souls than I for mine Surely its capacity and excellency is equal with theirs though our care and diligence be so unequal 10. To conclude God will shortly give you an irresistible Call to the Grave and after that his Voice shall call to you in your Graves Arise ye dead and come to Iudgment but wo be to you wo and alas that ever you were born if you should hear the Call of God to dye before you have heard and obeyed his Call to Christ. Will your Death-bed be easie to you Can you with any hope or comfort shoot the Gulph of Eternity before you have done one act for the securing your Souls from the wrath to come 'T is a dreadful thing for a poor Christless Soul to sit quivering up on the lips of a dying Sinner not able to stay nor yet to endure a parting pull from the Body in such a case as it is In a word if the God that made and will shortly judge you if the Redeemer that shed his invaluable Blood and now offers you the purchaces and benefits of it if you have any love to or care of your own Souls which are more worth than the whole world if you have any value for Heaven or dread of Hell then for Gods sake for Christs sake for your precious Souls sake trifle with Heaven and Hell no longer but be in earnest to work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling Could I think of any other means or motives that might secure your Souls from danger I would surely use them Could I reach your hearts effectually I would deeply impress this great concern upon them●punc but I can neither do Gods part of the work nor yours it is some ease to me I have in sincerity though with much imperfection and feebleness done part of my own