Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	life_n	lord_n	sin_n	8,978	5	4.5107	4	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

of their torment in Hell Rev. 18.7 so much torment and sorrow as there was delight and pleasure in sin 4. To conclude the pleasures of sin are but for a season as you read Heb. 11.25 but the wrath of God in Hell is for ever and ever There is a time when the pleasures of sin cannot be called pleasure to come but the Wrath of God that will still be wrath to come O consider for what a trifle you sell your Souls When Lysimachus parted with his Kingdom for a draught of water he said when he had drank it For how short a pleasure have I sold a Kingdom And Ionathan lamented 1 Sam. 14.43 I tasted but a little Honey and I must die Satan would not charm so powerfully as he doth with the pleasures of sin if this point were well believed and heartily applied Inference III. WHat a matchless madness is it to cast the Soul into Gods Prison to save the Body out of Mans Prison Men have their Prisons and God hath his but because the one is an Object of Sense and the other an Object of Faith that only is feared and this slighted all over this unbelieving World except by a very small number of men who tremble at the Word of God Now this I say is the height of madness and will appear to be so in a just Collation of both in a few Particulars 1 Mans Prison restrains the Body only Gods Prison Soul and Body Matt. 10.28 The Spirits of Men as my Text speaks are the Prisoners there O what a vast odds doth this single difference make A thousand times more than the captivating and binding of the greatest King or Emperour differs from the imprisonment of a poor Mechanick or Vagrant Beggar 2 In Mans Prison there are many comforts and unspeakable refreshments from Heaven but in Gods Prison none but the direct contrary You read of the Apostles Acts 16.25 how they sang in the Prison the Spirit of God made them a Banquet of heavenly Ioys and they could not but sing at it though their feet were in the stocks their Spirits were never more at liberty Algerius dated his Letters from the delectable Orchard of the Leonine Prison where saith he flows the sweetest Nectar Another tells us Christ was always kind to him but since he became a Prisoner for him he even overcame himself in kindness I verily think saith he the Chains of my Lord are all overlaid with pure Gold and his Cross perfumed but the worst terrours of the Prisoners in Hell come from the presence of the Lord 2 Thes. 1.9 God is a terrour to them 3 The cause for which a man is cast into Prison by men may be his D●ty and so his Conscience must be at least quiet if not joyful in such Sufferings So it was with Paul Acts 28.20 For the hope of Israel am I bound with this Chain This diffuses Joy and Peace through the Conscience into the whole man but the cause for which men are cast into Gods Prison is their sin and guilt which armes their own Consciences against them and makes them as you heard before Self-tormentors terrours to themselves What odds is here 4 In Mans Prison the most excellent Company and sweet Society may be found Paul and Silas were fellow Prisoners In Queen Maries days the most excellent Company to be found in England was in the Prisons Prisons were turned into Churches But in Gods Prison no better Society is to be found than that of Devils and damned Reprobates Matth. 25.41 5 In Mans Prison there is hope of a comfortable deliverance but in Gods Prison none Matt. 5.26 Thou shalt not come out thence till thou hast paid the last Mite 'T is an everlasting Prison Compare these few obvious Particulars and judge then what is to be thought of that man who stands readier to cast himself into any guilt than into the least Suffering What is it but as if a man should offer his Neck to the Sword to save his hand The Lord convince us what trifles our Estates Liberties and Lives are to our Souls or to the peace and purity of our Consciences Inference IV. WHat an invaluable mercy is the pardon of sin which sets the Soul out of all danger of going to this prison When the debt is satisfied a man may walk as boldly before the prison door as he doth before his own they that owe nothing fear no Bayliffs 'T is the Law as I said before that commits men to Prison a Mittimus is but an instrument of Law but the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in them that believe Rom. 8.4 Yea they are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 There can be no process of Law against them For who shall condemn when it is God that justifieth Rom. 8.33 34. And that divine justice might be no bar to our faith or comfort he adds It is Christ that died and yet farther to assure us that his death hath made plenary satisfaction to God for all our sins and debts it added Yea rather that is risen again q. d. If the debts of believers to God were not fully paid and satisfied for by the blood of Christ how comes it to pass that our Surety is discharged as by his Resurrection he appears to be O Believer thy Bonds are Cancelled the hand-writing that was against thee is nailed to the Cross the blood of Christ hath done that for thee that all the Gold and Silver in the World could not do 1 Pet. 1.18 19. It is a counter price 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e●t pretium ex adverso respondent fully answering to thy debts Matth. 20.28 And hence to the Eternal joy of thy heart result three properties of thy pardon which are able to make thine eyes gush out with tears of joy whilst thou art reading of it 1. It is a free pardon to thy Soul though it cost Christ dear it costs thee nothing We have redemption even the remission of sins according to the riches of his grace Eph. 1.7 The project of it was Gods not thine the price for it was Christs blood not thine the glory and riches of free grace are illustriously displayed in thy forgiveness 2. It is as full as it is free a compleat and perfect cause produceth a compleat and perfect effect Acts 13.39 Iustified from all things what ever thy sins be for nature number or circumstances of aggravation they cannot exceed the value of the meritorious cause of Remission The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin 3. It must be as firm as it is free and full even an irrevocable pardon for ever more Christ did not shed his blood at an hazzard the way of justification by faith makes the promise sure Rom. 4 16. The justified shall never come again under condemnation O the unspeakable joy that flows from this Spring O the triumphs of faith upon this foundation It is not ravishing melting overwhelming and amazing

Neighbourhood and yet saith I believe the grace and fear of God was in him for when he heard any to swear or take the Name of God in vain he would throw stones at them and shew his indignation against sin by all the signs he could make 2. You that are so grosly ignorant in the matters of your Salvation are many of you very knowing prudent and subtle persons in the affairs of the world Luke 16.8 The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light Had those parts which you have been improved and heightned by study and observation about spirituals as they have been about earthly things you had neither been so ignorant or dead-hearted as you are you might have been as well verst in your Bibles as you are in the Almanacks you yearly buy and study you might have understood the proper seasons of Salvation as well as of Husbandry The great and necessary points on which your Salvation depends are not so many or so abstruse and intricate but your plain and inartificial heads might have understood them and that with less pains than you have been at for your bodies What though you cannot comprehend the subtleties of Shoolmen you may apprehend the Essentials of Christianity If you cannot strictly and scholastically define Faith what hinders if your hearts were set upon Christ and Salvation but you may feel it which is more than many learned men do that can define and dispute about it You cannot put an Argument in Mood and Figure no matter if you can by comparing your Bibles and hearts together draw savingly and experimentally this conclusion I am in Christ and my sins are pardoned You cannot determine whether Faith goes before Repentance or Repentance before Faith but for all that you might feel both the one and the other upon your own Souls which is infinitely better 'T is not therefore your incapacity but negligence and worldiness that is your ruine 3. How many are there of your own rank order and education all whose external advantages and helps you have and all your incumbrances and discouragements they had who yet have attain'd to an excellent degree of saving knowledge and heavenly wisdom How often have I heard such spiritual savoury experimental Truths in Conference and Prayer from plain Rusticks such spiritual Reasonings about the great concerns of Salvation such judicious and satisfying resolutions of Cases depending upon the sensible and experimental part of Religion as hath humbled convinced and shamed me and made me say Surgunt indocti c. these are the men that will take Heaven from the proud and scornful Ingeniosi of the World not many wise not many learned and acute many knowing and learned heads are in Hell and many illiterate and weak ones gone to Heaven and others in the way thither who never had better education stronger parts or more leisure than your selves so that you are without excuse 4. To conclude Would you heartily seek it of God and would the Spirit which he hath promised to give them that ask him become your Teacher how soon would the light of the saving knowledge of God in the face of Christ shine into your hearts No matter how ignorant dull and weak the Scholar be if God once become the Teacher You are not able to purchase or want time to read many Books but if once you were sanctified persons the anointing you would receive from the Father would teach you all things 1 Ioh. 2.27 your own hearts would serve you for a Commentary upon a great part of the Bible it would make you of a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord one drop of your knowledge would be more worth than all learned Arts and Sciences in the world to you And is God so far from you and his illuminating Spirit at such a distance that there is no hope for you to find him Is there never a private corner about your Houses or Barns or in the fields where you can turn aside if it be but a quarter of an hour at a time to pour out your Souls to God and beg the Spirit of him Miserable Wretch is thy whole life such a cumber and clatter of cares and puzzles about the World that thou hast no leisure to mind God Soul or Eternity O doleful state the Lord in mercy pity and awaken thee Wilt thou not once strive and struggle to save thy Soul What perish as it were by consent how great then is thy blindness The third way to Hell discovered Quam frigida jejuna sit eorum desensio qui exemplo c. potentiorum se tutos pu 〈…〉 Jun. Pa●●● lib. 2. III. A vast multitude of precious Souls are lost for ever by following the Examples and being carried away with the course of this World 'T is indeed a poor excuse a silly Argument that the multitude do as we do yet as Iunius rightly observes Mens Consciences take Sanctuary here and they think themselves safe in it for thus they reason If I do as the generality do Argumentum turpissimum est turba Seneca I shall speed no worse than they speed and certainly God is more merciful than to suffer the greatest part of Mankind to perish they resolve to follow the beaten road let it lead whither it will Thus the Ephesians in their unregenerate state walked according to the course of this world Eph. 2.2 and the Corinthians were carried away unto dumb Idols even as they were led 1 Cor. 12.2 just as a drop of water is carried and moved according to the course and current of the Tide For look as every drop of water in the Sea is of one and the same common nature so are all carnal and unsanctified persons and as these waters being collected into one vast body in the Ocean unite their strength and make a strong current this way or that so doth the whole collective body of the unregenerate World all the particular drops move as the Tide moveth Hence they are said to have received the spirit of the world 1 Cor. 2.12 one common Spirit or Principle acts and rules them all and therefore they must needs be carried away in the same course And there are two special considerations that seem to determine them by a kind of necessity to do as the multitude do the one is that they find it the easiest and most commodious way to the flesh here they meet with quietness and safety hereby they are exempt from reproaches losses persecutions and distresses for Conscience sake rest is sweet and here only they think to find it The other is the prejudice of singularity and manifold tribulations they see that little handful that walk counter to the course of the World involved in this startles them from their company and fixes them where they are Against such sensible Arguments it is to no more purpose to oppose spritual Considerations motives drawn from the safety of the Soul

104.29 Thou takest away their breath they dye and return to their dust 'T is neither food nor Physick but God in and by them that holdeth our Soul in life Psal. 66.9 We hang every moment of our life over the Grave and the gulf of Eternity by this slender thread of our breath but it cannot break how feeble soever it be till the time appointed be fully come if it be not extinguished and suffocated as others daily are it is because he puts none of those diseases upon us as it is Exod. 15 26. or if he do yet he is Iehovah Rophe the Lord that healeth us as it follows in that Text. We live in the midst of cruel enemies yea among them that breath out cruelty as the Psalmist complaineth Psal. 27.12 Such breath would quickly suffocate ours did not he in whose hand ours is wonderfully prevent it O! what cause have we to imploy and spend that breath in his praise who works so many daily wonders to secure it Inference II. IS it but a puff of feeble breath which holds our Souls and Bodies in union then every man is deeply concerned to make all hast to take all possible care and pains to secure a better and more durable habitation for his Soul in Heaven whilst yet it sojourns in this frail Tabernacle of the Body The time is at hand when all these comely and active bodies shall be so many breathless carkasses no more capable of any use or service for our Souls than the seats you sit on or the dead bodies that lye buried under your feet Your breath is yet in your Nostrils and all the means and seasons of salvation will expire with it and then it will be as impossible for the best Minister in the world to help your Souls as for the ablest Physician to recover your Bodies As Physick comes too late for the one so counsels and perswasions for the other Three things are worth thinking on in this matter 1. First that you are not without the hopes and possibilities of Salvation whilst the breath of life is in your Nostrils A mercy how lightly soever you value it that would ravish with joy those miserable Souls that have already shot the gulf of Eternity and turn the shrieks and groans of the Damned into joyful shouts and acclamations of praise Poor wretch consider what thou readest That thy Soul is not yet in Christ is thy greatest misery but that yet it may be in Christ is an unspeakable mercy though thy Salvation be not yet secured yet what a mercy is it that it is not desperate 2. Secondly When this uncertain breath is once expired the last hope of every unregenerate person is gone for ever It is as impossible to recover hope as it is to recover your departed breath or recall the day that is past When the breath is gone the Compositum is dissolved We cease to be what now we are and our life is as water spilt on the ground which shall not be gathered up till the Resurrection Our life is carried like a precious liquor in a brittle Glass which death breaks to pieces The Spirit is immediately presented to God and fixed in its unalterable State Hebrews 9.27 All means of Salvation now cease for ever No Ambassadors of peace are sent to the Dead No more Calls or Strivings of the Spirit no more space for Repentance O! what an inconceivable weight hath God hanged on a puff of breath 3. Thirdly And since matters stand thus it is to be admired what shift men make to quiet themselves in so dangerous a State as most Souls live in quiet and unconcerned and yet but one puff of breath betwixt them and Hell O the stupefying and besotting nature of sin O the efficacy and power of spiritual delusions Are our lives such a throng and hurry of business that we have no time to go alone and think where we are and where we shortly must be What shall I say If bodily concerns be so weighty and the matters of Eternity such trifles if meat and drink and trade and children be such great things and Christ and Soul and Heaven Hell and the world to come such little things in your eyes you will not be long in that opinion I dare assure you Inference III. IS the Tye so weak betwixt our Souls and bodies how close and near then do all our Souls confine and border upon Eternity There is no more but a puff of breath a blast of wind betwixt this world and that to come A very short step betwixt time and Eternity There is a breath which will be our last breath Respiration must and will terminate in Expiration The dead are the Inhabitants and the living are Borderers upon the invisible world This consideration deserves a dwelling place in the hearts of all men whether I. Regenerate or II. Unregenerate I. Regenerate Souls should ponder this with pleasure O 't is transporting to think how small a matter is betwixt them and their compleat Salvation No sooner is your breath gone but the full desire of your hearts is come every breath you draw draws you a degree nearer to your perfect happiness Rom. 13.11 Now is your Salvation nearer than when you believed therefore both your chearfulness and diligence should be greater than when you were * Ho● dicit q●od in f●d●i primordiis ferventiores ad opera bona alacriores faissent fideles temporis autem progressu refriguissent Estius in loc in the infancy of your Faith You have run through a considerable part of your Christian course and race and are now come nearer the Goal and prize of eternal life O despond not loyter not now at last who were so fervent and zealous in the beginning 'T is Transporting to think how near you approach the Region of light and joy O that you would distinctly consider 1. Where you lately were 2. Where now you are 3. Where shortly you shall be 1. You that are now so near Salvation were lately very near unto Damnation there was but a puff of breath betwixt you and Hell How many nights did you sleep securely in the state of nature and unregeneracy How quietly did you rest upon the brink of Hell not once imagining the danger you were in Had any of those sicknesses you then suffered been suffered by God like a candle to burn asunder this slender thread of life which was so near them you had been as miserable and as hopeless as those that now are roaring in the lowest Hell I have heard of one that rid over a dangerous Bridge in the night who upon the review of the place next day fell into a swoon when he was sensible of that danger which the darkness of the night hid from him O Reader shall not an escape from Hell affect thee as much as such an escape would do 2. 'T is no less marvelous to consider where you now are you that were afar off are now

oppose those things which God hath subordinated bring this home to your natural or civil actions eating drinking Plowing or Sowing and see how the consequence will look Object 3. Say not 't is a mercenary Doctrine and disparages free Grace for are not all the enjoyments and comforts of this life confessedly from free Grace though God hath dispensed them to you in the way of your diligence and industry Object 4. To conclude say not the difficulties of Salvation are insuperable 't is so hard to watch every motion of the heart to deny every lust to resist a suitable temptation to suffer the loss of all for Christ that there is no hope for overcoming them For 1 God can and doth make difficult things easie to his people who work in the strength of Christ Philip. 4.13 2 These same difficulties are before all others that are before you yet it discourageth not them Philip. 3.11 Others strive to the uttermost There are extreams found in this matter some work for Salvation as an hireling for his wages so the Papists these disparage Grace and cry up works Others cry down obedience as legal as the Antinomians and cry up grace to the disparagement of duties avoid both these and see that you strive but 1 think not Heaven to be the price of your striving Rom. 4.3 2 strive but not for a spurt let this care and diligence run throughout your lives whilst you are living be you still striving your Souls are worth it and infinitely more than all this amounts to Inference VI. DOth the Soul overlive the Body and abide for ever Then 't is a great evil and folly to be excessively careful for the mortal Body and neglective of the immortal Inhabitant In a too much indulged Body there ever dwells a too much neglected Soul The Body is but a vile thing Philip. 3.21 the Soul more valuable than the whole World Matt. 16.26 to spend time care and pains for a vile Body whilst little or no regard is had to the precious Immortal Soul is an unwarrantable folly and madness To have a clean and washed Body and a Soul all filth as one speaks a Body neatly cloathed and dressed Carzv p. 148.149 with a Soul all naked and unready a Body fed and a Soul starved a Body full of the Creature and a Soul empty of Christ these are poor Souls indeed We smile at little children who in a kind of laborious idleness take a great deal of pains to make and trim their Babies or build their little houses of Sticks and straws And what are they but children of a bigger size that keep such ado about the Body a house of Clay a weak pile that must perish in a few days 'T is admirible and very convictive of most Christians what we read in an Heathen I confess saith Seneca there is a love to the Body implanted in us all 〈◊〉 insit●m esse nobis corpo●is nostri charitatem Fate● nos hujus gere●e tutelam nec nego indulgendum illi ser●iendum nego Multus enim serviet qui corpori servit qui pro illo nimium timet qui ad illud omnia refert hujus nos nimi●● amor timoribus inquietat solicitudinibus onerat contumeli●s objicit bones●um ei vile est c●i corpus nimis charum est agatur ejus diligentissimè cura ita tamen ut cum exiget ratio cum dignitas cum fides mittendum in ignem sit Seneca Ep. 14. p. 545. we have the Tutilage and charge of it we may be kind and indulgent to it but must not serve it but he that serves it is a servant to many cares fears and passions Let us have a diligent care of it yet so as when Reason requires when our Dignity or faith requires it we commit it to the fire 'T is true the Body is beloved of the Soul and God requires that it moderately care for the necessities and conveniences of it but to be fond indulgent and constantly sollicitous about it is both the sin and snare of the Soul One of the Fathers being invited to dine with a Lady and waiting some hours till she was drest and fit to come down when he saw her he fell a weeping and being demanded why he wept O saith he I am troubled that you should spend so many hours this morning in pinning and trimming your Body when I have not spent half the time in Praying Repenting and caring for my own Soul Two things a Master commits to his Servants care saith one the Child and the Childs cloaths it will be but a poor excuse for the Servant to say at his Masters return Sir here are all the Childs cloaths neat and clean but the child is lost Much so will be the account that many will give to God of their Souls and Bodies at the great day Lord here is my Body I was very careful for it I neglected nothing that belonged to its content and well-fare but for my Soul that is lost and cast away for ever I took little care or thought about it 'T is remarkable what the Apostle saith Rom. 8.12 We owe nothing to the flesh we are not in its debt we have given it all more than all that belongs to it but we owe many an hour many a care many a deep thought to our Souls which we have defrauded it of for the vile Bodies sake You have robb'd your Souls to pay your flesh This is madness Inference VII HOW great a blessing is the Gospel which brings life and immortality to light the most desirable mercies to immortal Souls This is the great benefit we receive by it as the Apostle speaks 2 Tim. 1.10 Christ hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel Life and immortality by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put for immortal life the thing which all immortal Souls desire and long for These desires are found in Souls that enjoy not the Gospel-light for as I said before they naturally spring out of the very nature of all immortal Souls But how and where it is to be obtained that is a secret for which we are entirely beholding to the Gospel-discovery It lay hid in the Womb of Gods purpose till by the light of Gospel Revelation it was made manifest But now all men may see what are the gracious thoughts and purposes of God concerning men and what that ●s he hath designed for their Immortal Souls even an Immortal life and this life is to be obtained by Christ than which no tidings can be more welcome sweet or acceptable to us O therefore study the Gospel This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17.3 And see that you prise the Gospel above all earthly Treasures 'T is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation you have two inestimable benefits and blessings by it 1 It manifests and reveals eternal life to you

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

be too well secured Many Souls never spent one solemn hour in a close and serious debate about this matter others have taken a great deal of pains about it they have broken many nights sleep poured out many prayers made many a deep search into their own hearts walked with much conscientious watchfulness and tenderness proposed many a serious case of Conscience to the most judicious and skilful Ministers and Christians and after all their security is not such as fully satisfies and probably one reason of it may be the great weight wherewith the matters of their Salvation lye upon their spirits O that these Soul-concerns did bear upon all as they do upon some it requires more time more thoughts more prayers to make these things sure than most are aware of Inference III. IF the Soul be so precious then cetainly it is the special care of Heaven that which God looks more particularly after than any other Creature on Earth There is an active vigilant Providence that superintends every Creature upon Earth there is not the most despicable diminutive Creature that lives in the World left without the line of Providence God is therefore said to give them all their meat in due season and for that end they all wait upon him Psal. 104.27 as a great and provident House-keeper orders daily convenient provisions for all his Family even to the least and lowest among them the smallest Insects and Gnats which swarm so thick in the Air and of the usefulness of whose Being it is hard to give an account yet as the incomparably learned Dr. More well observes Antidote p. 82. these all find nourishment in the World which would be lost if they were not and are again convenient nourishment themselves to others that prey upon them But Man is the peculiar special care of God and the Soul of man much more than the body Hence Christ fortifies the Faith of Christians against all distrusts of Divine Providence even from their Excellency above other Creatures Matth. 10.31 Ye are of more value than many sparrows and Matth. 6.26 your heavenly Father feeds the Fowls of the Air and are ye not much better than they and vers 30. he cloaths the grass of the field and shall he not much more cloath you And so the Apostle 1 Cor. 9.9 Doth God take care for oxen or saith he it altogether for our sakes for our sakes no doubt this is written In all which places the dignity of man above all Animals and Vegetables in respect of both natural Excellency of his reasonable Soul but especially the gracious endowments of it which endear it far more to its Maker this is the very hing of the Argument and a firm ground for the Believers Faith of Gods tender care over both parts but especially the Soul The body of a Believer is Gods Creature as well as his Soul but that being of less value hath not such a degree of care and tenderness expressed towards it as the Soul hath the Fathers care is not so much for the Childs cloaths as it is for the Child himself Besides the immediate wants and troubles of the Soul which are Idiopathetical are far more sharp and pinching than those it suffers upon the bodies account which are but Sympathetical and therefore when-ever such an excellent Creature as a sanctified Soul which is in Christ or a Soul designed to be sanctified which is moving towards Christ fall under those heavy pressures and distresses as they often do and are ready to fail let it be assured its merciful Creator will not fail to relieve support revive and deliver it as often as it shall fall into those deep distresses Hear how his compassionate tenderness is expressed towards distressed Souls Isa. 49.15 Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Sooner shall a Woman the more tender Sex forget not the Nurse-child that only sucks her breast but the child yea the son of her womb and that not when grown and placed abroad but whilst it hangs upon her breast and draws love from her heart as well as milk from her breast than God will forget a Soul that fears him Let gracious Souls fortifie their Faith therefore in the Divine care by considering with what a peculiar eye of estimation and care God looks upon them above all other Creatures in the World only beware you so eye not the natural or spiritual excellencies of your Souls as to expect mercy for the sake thereof as if your Souls were worthy for whose sake God should do this no no sin hath nonsuited that Plea all is of free Grace not of debt but he minds us what reputation the new Creation brings the Soul into with its God Inference IV. IF the Soul of man be so precious how precious and dear to all Believers should the Redeemer and Saviour of their precious Souls be Vnto you therefore that believe he is precious saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 2.7 though he be yet out of our sight he should never be one whole hour together out of our hearts and thoughts 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory The very Name of Christ saith Bernard Mel in ore melos in aure jubilum in corde Bern. is Honey in the mouth Melody in the ear and a very Jubilee in the heart The blessed Martyr Mr. Lambert made this his Motto None but Christ none but Christ. Molinus was seldom observ'd to mention his Name without dropping eyes Iulius Palmer in the midst of the flames moved his scorched lips and was heard to say Sweet Iesus and fell asleep Paul fastens upon his Name as a Bee upon a sweet flower and mentions it no less than ten times in the compass of ten verses 1 Cor. 1. as if he knew not how to leave it There is a twofold preciousness of Christ one in respect of his essential Excellency and Glory in this respect he is glorious as the only begotten Son of God the brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express Image or Character of his Person Heb. 1. the other is in respect of his relative usefulness and suitableness to all the needs and wants of poor sinners as he is the Lord our righteousness made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption none discern this preciousness of Christ but those that have been convinced of sin and have apprehended the wrath to come the just demerit of sin and fled for refuge to the hope set before them and to them he is precious indeed Consider him as a Saviour from wrath to come and then he will appear the most lovely and desirable in all the World to your Souls he that understands the value of his own Soul the dreadful nature of the wrath of God the near approaches

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

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

man more than his two eyes certainly no Being at all is more desirable than a Being without these take away the true spiritual pleasure of life and you level the life of man with the beast that perisheth and take away the hope and comfort of the Soul in death and you sink him infinitely below the beast and make him a Being only capable of misery for ever Now there can be no true spiritual pleasure found in that Soul that hath neglected and lost his only season of Salvation all the solid delight and comfort of life results from the settlement and security of a mans great concern in the proper season thereof The true mirth of the converted Prodigal bears date from the time of his return and reconciliation to his Father Luke 15.24 Two things are absolutely prerequisite to the comfort of life viz. a change of the state by Justification and a change of the frame and temper of the heart by Sanctification To be in a pardoned state is matter of all joy Matt. 9.2 and to be spiritually minded is life and peace Rom. 8.6 no good news comes to any man before this and no bad news can sink a mans heart after this And for hope and comfort in death let none be so fond to expect it till his Soul have first complied with and obeyed the Call of God in the time thereof a careless life never did nor ever will produce a comfortable death What is more common among all that dye not stupid and sensless as well as unregenerate and Christless than the bitter dolorous complaints of their mis-spent time and losing their season of Mercy Reader if thou wouldst not feel that anguish thou hast seen and heard others to be in upon this account know the time of thy visitation and finish thy great work whilst it is day Argument VI. NEglect no season of Salvation which is graciously afforded you because your time is short Death and Eternity are at the door You know that you must shortly put off these Tabernacles 2 Pet. 1.13 14. that when a few years are come you shall go the way whence you shall not return Iob 16.22 All the living are listed Souldiers and must conflict hand to hand with that dreadful Enemy Death and there is no discharge in that War Eccles. 8.8 It will be in vain to say you are not willing to dye for willing or unwilling away you must go when Death calls you It will be as vain to say you are not ready for ready or unready you must be gone when Death comes your readiness to dye would indeed be a Cordial to your hearts in death but then you must improve and ply the time of life and husband your opportunities diligently carelesness of life and readiness for death are inconsistent and exclusive of each other the Bed is sweeter to none than to the hard Labourer and the Grave comfortable to none but the laborious Christian you know nothing can be done by you after death the Compositum is then dissolved you cease to be what you were to enjoy the means you had and to work as you did O therefore slip not the only season you have both of attaining the end of life and escaping the danger and hour of death The VSE I shall close all with a word of Exhortation perswading if it be possible the careless and unthinking Neglecters of their precious Time and Souls to awaken out of that deep and dangerous security in which they lye fast asleep upon the very brink of Eternity and to day whilst it is yet called to day to hear the Voice of God calling them to Repentance and Faith and thereby to Christ and everlasting Blessedness Behold he yet standeth at the door and knocks Rev. 3.20 the door of Hope is not yet finally shut there are yet some stirrings at certain times in mens Consciences God comes near them in his Word and in some rouzing acts of Providence the death of a near Relation the seizure of a dangerous Disease the blasting and disappointment of a mans great Design and Project for this World a fall into some notorious Sin these and many such like Methods of Providence as well as the convincing voice of the Word have the efficacy of an awaking voice to mens drowsie Consciences and if careless Sinners would but attend to them and follow home those motions they make upon their hearts who knows to what these weak beginnings might arise and prosper The Souls of men are as it were imbarked in the Calls of God your life is bound up in them if these be lost your Souls are lost if these abide upon you and grow up to sound Conversion you are saved by them More particularly consider 1. What a mercy it is to have your Lot providentially cast under the Gospel To be born under and bred up with the means and instruments of Conversion and Salvation We have lived from our youth up under the Calls of God and within the joyful sound of the Gospel God hath not dealt so with other Nations Psal. 147.20 Though others should seek the means of life they cannot find them and though you seek them not you can hardly miss them 2. How great a mercy is it to have your lives lengthened out hitherto by the patience of God under the Gospel That neither that golden Lamp nor the Lamp of your life both which are liable to be extinguished every moment are yet put out Thousands and ten thousands your Contemporaries are gone out of the hearing of the voice of the Gospel they shall never hear another Call the Treaty of God is ended with them the Master of the house is risen up and the doors are shut Your neglects and provocations have not been inferiour to theirs but the patience and goodness of God hath exceeded and abounded to you beyond whatever it did to them 3. Bethink your selves what an aggravation of your misery it will be to sink into Hell with the Calls of God sounding in your ears to sink into eternal misery betwixt the tender out-stretched arms of Mercy this is the Hell of Hell the Emphasis of Damnation the racking Engine on which the Consciences of the damned are tortured And thou Capernaum which art exalted to heaven shalt be brought down to hell Matt. 11.23 Such a fall after so high an exaltation is the very Strappado which will torment your Consciences Hell will prove a cooler and milder place to the Heathens that never enjoyed your light means and mercies in this world than it will to you None sink so deep into misery in the world to come as they that fall from the fairest opportunities of Salvation in this world 4 Let no man expect that God will hear his cryes and intreaties in time of misery who neglects and slights the Calls of God in the time of Mercy God calls but men will not hear the day is coming when they shall cry but God will not hear Prov. 1.24