CHRIST's IMPORTUNITY WITH SINNERS To accept of HIM By S. Bold Rector of Steple Dorset All day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying People Rom. 10.21 As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the Wicked but that the Wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die Ezek. 3.11 London Printed for Awnsham Churchill in Ave-Mary Lane and are to be sold by William Churchill Bookseller in Dorchester 1687. THE PREFACE TO THE READER READER THE Happiness and Glory of Heaven and the Horror and Anguish of Hell are most certain stable and durable Estates We have as great as convincing and as satisfying Evidence that wicked ungodly and impenitent Sinners shall be for ever inexpressibly and unconceivably miserable as is fit for reasonable Creatures to have in this World and as Infinite Wisdom hath thought meet to afford The Evidence is such that whosoever would pretend to require more suitable more proper and more powerful discoveries were he put to invent Methods of his own for his particular fatisfaction would have as reasonable as just and as good grounds after his Humour and Fancy were gratified to continue an Infidel as before see Luke 16.30 31. He that thinks it a disparagement to his Wit or a blemish to his Courage to acquiesce in the Testimony of God as delivered in our Bibles might with greater assurance refuse his assent to the Damn'd themselves did he see them in Flames and hear their personal acknowledgments that their Vices and Sins had wrought them all that misery For why should he heed and credit them who have not trick enough to disguise or obstinacy enough to deny their Guilt The subsequent Discourse was not design'd for them whose unnatural Immoralities or studied Incredulity has given them an elevation as they conceit above conviction If nothing but particular Experience will assure them of eternal and unsufferable Torments I leave them as Persons out of the reach of Ratiocination and Discourse to what will certainly overtake them and that before they are willing And therefore intending the following Discourse especially for the plain and ordinary sort who have not lost all sense I will briefly address to them in a Stile proportionable to the plainness and familiarity used in the Discourse it self I entreat you who retain any sparks of Humanity who have a sense that your Souls are Immortal who acknowledg there is some difference between Good and Evil Virtue and Vice and whom your general Profession do own that the Scriptures are the Word of God I say I do beg and most earnestly beseech you by all that should be dear and precious unto you to think seriously a little on the following Particulars Be so just to your selves so respectful to your Maker so civil and kind to them who do most passionately desire your everlasting Happiness as to allow a few sober thoughts about Matters which be of most necessary and unspeakable importance unto you Why should you rush upon God's Wrath precipitaâ—e and heedlesly throw your selves headlong into unquenchable Burnings and grieve and wound the Hearts of those who incessantly pray and desire and long and wait for your endless Good and Comfort Be prevailed with then to consider with some sedateness and calmness these few Instances 1. Though God made Man at first a very excellent holy upright and unblemish'd Creature yet now we are all by Sin defiled and made unholy and brought under Guilt So that as long as we remain in our natural and unregenerate Estate we are obnoxious and liable to God's Curse and have a just right to all the terrible Discoveries and most dreadful Effects of Divine and Infinite Justice see Rom. 5.12 1.18 Ephes 2.1 2 3. John 3.36 2. God hath not left us remedilesly in that sad and deplorable and as to all meer Creature-relief helpless Estate into which we are sunk by Sinâ— But of his abundant rich and free Grace He hath provided us an Alsufficient Saviour and Redeemer and hath opened unto us a Door of Hope He hath given his own Son to assume our Nature and to make Peace and Reconciliation for us By and through this Son of God Pardon Peace and Mercy deliverance from Sin Guilt Misery and Eterna Damnation is to be obtained and no other way see Rom. 5.8 9 10. 1 Tim. 1.15 Gal 4.4 5. 1 John 2.1 2. Act. 4.12 3. The Lord Jesus Christ having accomplished all that Work he undertook and which was appointed him to finish upon Earth and being entred into his glorious Administration doth make most gracious Offers of himself his Love his Mercy his Spirit and Benefits unto poor Sinners and is very importunate with them to entertain and accept of the same Ephes 4.7 to 14. Act. 13.26 2 Cor. 5.19 to the end 4. Multitudes who have the Gospel and partake of the Ministry of the Word and make a profession of Religion and have these gracious Offers made unto them do not suitably entertain but despise and reject Christ and his Benefits They stubbornly refuse to submit to his Authority to comply with his Terms and imploy themselves in his Service Nay many offer him the greatest abuses and contempt they can devise see Mat. 22.1 2 c. Luke 19.14 John 5.40 Act. 13.46 And do not the Lives and Practices of multitudes professing Christianity demonstrate all this Look into your Hearts and examine the ordinary course of your Conversations Shall you not there find sufficient and full proof that hitherto you have rejected him That yet he hath no room in your Hearts no influences on your Practices O what Ignorance what Rancor Malice Revenge Hatred Wrath unmortified powerful Lusts what Covetousness Earthly-mindedness Carnality Pride Hypocrisy what backbiting lying slandering evil-speaking prophane and common Swearing vain frothy foolish unedifying Words and Discourse what common constant neglect of the Worship and Service of God in Families and in Private What sleighting and contemning God's Word and Ordinances nay what ridiculing and making a sport of all serious Religion what Drunkenness and Whoredom Intemperance and Wantonness Oppression Injustice Violence and innumerable other most notorious and abominable wickednesses may multitudes of pretended Christians every where observe in and justly charge themselves with Now are these the Fruits of Christ's gracious and holy Presence Was Christ of such a Mind Did He do such Things Does he any where countenance and allow of such things Can those Hearts which cherish such Lusts and from which such polluted streams and corrupt Fruits do proceed be a Temple for the Holy Jesus to dwell in Are not these the Fruits of the Flesh which shut the Heart against Christ and exclude those who cherish and practise them out of the Kingdom of Heaven Gal. 5.19 20 21. Rev. 21.8 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Ephes 4.29 31. 5. All those who enjoying the Gospel do stubbornly and finally reject
sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy Children together even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings and ye would not Matth. 23.37 4. Christ doth importune us for admittance by every Mercy and Judgment How often are we brought to some sense of our need of Christ and to some kind of resolutions to yield and open to him by the straights and exigencies and sufferings we are involved in though it is our very great Fault that we are apt to forget all as soon as our pain is over But what is the true end of every Affliction but to make us see more of the Excellencies of Christ and to endear him unto our Souls O happy Sufferings might they all have such an influence on us And what is the end of all God's Mercies but to lead us to Repentance and bring us to Christ Why are you thus long preserved out of Hell Why are you not at this time tormented and frying in eternal Burnings Is any reason to be assigned why you should enjoy the Gospel yea the common Mercies of your Lives but only this that Christ is still waiting to be gracious to you and that by these means he is inviting and importuning you to accept of him and fly from that Damnation which doth not slumber but is hastning apace upon the whole World of ungodly Sinners God could as easily have dismissed you to the Regions of Darkness the Places of most dreadful and insupportable Horror many Years ago as any others who are now in Torments All the Mercies and all the time you have had in the World were the Fruits of Christ's Love Testimonies of his Patience and Instances of his pleading with you to accept of him and not ruin and undo your selves How small a thing would it be for Christ to send thee to Hell to say unto thee Go thou cursed Alas one frown from him would immediately sink thee into the Earth into the bottomless Pit And what is it that preserves thee but the tenderness of thy Saviour And for what end doth he express so much regard unto thee but to try whether his Patience and Lenity and his allowing thee so much time strength and so many Mercies will prevail with thee to prize and receive thy Saviour II. I am now in the second place to shew you what our receiving Christ into our Hearts doth import But before I speak positively to this I will take notice of two or three things with which People do too commonly falsly please and satisfy and consequently deceive themselves We should observe these as Mariners do the Rocks and Shelves where others have suffered Shipwrack before them 1. This receiving Christ doth not consist in a bare notional knowledg of him A Man may by common instruction and ordinary diligence and study acquire from the Holy Scriptures such Notions concerning Christ as Men do usually obtain by study and diligence in any Point of Philosophy But this is only such a knowledg as doth float in the Head and may be in that Person who hath not any love and affection to Christ Such may have a knowledg of Christ so as to give a plain account of the common sense or ancient use of the Words wherein the Doctrines concerning Christ are communicated and conveighed unto People They may give an account of the Grammatical meaning and sense of the words as well as any others and yet these People may not entertain Christ They may not understand nor cannot dive into the Spiritual meaning of those Doctrines 1 Cor. 2.14 Julian knew a great deal concerning Christ and so did Colsus but they were great Enemies to Christ The only Principle which enableth a Man for the right judging and discerning of Heavenly Things is the Grace of God's Spirit which the natural Man wanteth and hence it followeth that as a Man cannot live without a Soul nor see without an Eye nor hear without an Ear because these are the Grounds and Principles from which Life and Sight and Hearing do flow So no Man can know and serve God aright without God's Spirit enlightning and enabling him by his Grace because this is the Principle from which all both spiritual Actions and Abilities do spring Mason of Hearing and Doing p. 328. 2. It doth not consist in an outward professing to own the Faith of Christ Alas how many make a general Profession of Christianity and of embracing the particular Doctrines of the Gospel who take no care to depart from Iniquity The very Devils have made as honourable a Profession of Christ's being the Son of God as any meer words we can devise will amount unto Luke 4.41 3. It doth not consist in a bare performance of some Duties in the Name of Christ Performing Duties in the Name of Christ and speaking honourably and much of Christ are very good and commendable when they proceed from a right Principle and spring from a real and very ardent Affection to Christ But we must take heed lest we content our selves with these things whilst they may have a false Original or are used to improper Ends. However we must be sure we do not stay here without proceeding further People have used the Name of Christ to very ill purposes Acts 19.13 Many pretend to perform Duties with earnestness in his Name for whom he hath no respect and who did never truly bid him welcome into their Hearts Mat. 7.22 23. Indeed where Christ is received aright there will be all these things in some degree and measure but these will not be all which will be there There must be some knowledg of Christ tho not that which doth only soar aloft in the Head and evaporate and manifest it self only at the Mouth but such as will influence the Heart and Life Many who receive Christ aright may not be able to express and discover their knowledg to others in such apposite free and voluble Expressions as some others can who have nothing of the true Spiritual sense of Divine Truths or the saving Knowledg of Christ The one sort are more beholden to their natural or acquired Abilities the other to the inward and effectual workings of the Holy Spirit Every Person who hath a true sense and firm perswasion of Spiritual Matters hath not the Gift of Utterance There is no necessity a true and sound Believer should be eloquent or have a voluble Tongue Much Knowledg and Memory and Utterance and lively Affection as a worthy reverend Person hath said are all very desirable but you must judg your Estate by none of those for they are all uncertain And who-ever truly receives Christ will acknowledg and profess his owning of Christ For as Men believe with the Heart so with the Mouth confession is made unto Salvation Rom. 10.10 But now I come to speak more positively to this Point Our receiving of Christ is expressed in my Text by these words If any Man hear my Voice and open the Door So that two
refuse his help when he only can administer proper Remedies and effect thy Cure and Deliverance Quest 2. What hast thou to trust to whilst without Christ Alas all things but Christ are broken perishing afflicting Reeds such Props as if trusted to will but deceive us and make our fall the greater and more ruinous Alas Sinner if thou hadst all the World its Power its Wealth its Glory yea if thou hadst all the cunning and artifice of Hell too these will not yield thee one jot of comfort or supply when thy Want shall be greatest and most urgent O how sad was it with that poor Soul that having long slighted Christ and despised Grace being at last brought under the Lashes and Accusations of an awakened condemning Conscience could take no rest receive no comfort but was full of horror and black despair when his Friends and Attendants spake to him of applauded him for and presented before him the Honours and Preferments he had obtained in the World the Wealth and Estate he was master of and remembred him of his past Pleasures the things he was wont to be most delighted with and endeavoured to divert him by Musick and other Entertainments all these proved insipid nay vexatious O said he these I loved too much heretofore they have been my bane these wound and torment me These are not Christ for these I ventur'd and fold my Soul I preferred them above Christ These inflame my grief these wound me to the Heart these imbitter and make my Life a burthen to me these kindle Hell in my Soul these weigh and sink me down into the bottomless Pit I have no support at all nothing to trust to There is none but Christ can do me good or yield me help and it is him I have despised and slighted whose Wounds and whose Love cry for Vengeance against me Quest 3. What wilt thou be able to say for thy self at last if thou art without Christ Come Sinner thou canst talk and be as unconcerned at present as any Man Thou darest it may be now to scorn Christ ridicule and make sport at his most solemn and affectionate Entreaties and revile those his Messengers who would perswade thee to close with his gracious Offers But this is not the way to Heaven When thou shalt appear before the great Tribunal of the most Just and Holy God thou wilt not dare to repeat any of thy opprobrious reproachful Expressions thou wilt not be able to justify thy contemning of Christ Their state and condition will be very dreadful who shall be left to plead their own Cause at the great Day of Judgment Be as great and daring as thou wilt at present know thou that more potent and valiant Persons than thy self will then be covered with shame be full of consternation and horror and not dare to open their Mouths in their own vindication Didst thou never read nor hear of those great and powerful wealthy and honourable couragious and valiant Ones who shall call to the Mountains to fall on them and the Hills to cover them from the Face and Wrath of the Lamb Rev. 6.15 16 17. Quest 4. What wilt thou think of Christ and what wilt thou be willing to give for an Interest in Christ at the approach of Death and when thou must come before the Judgment of the Great God If Christ will be precious and desirable when thou seest Death and Hell naked before thee certainly he ought to be precious to thee at present Thou dost not know how soon Death may arrest thee how soon thou mayst lie under its stroak within how few Days or Hours God may say to thee Come Sinner give up thy Account O Sinner whoever thou art be thy Thoughts what they will at present yet if thou hadst Worlds yea thousands of Worlds at thy disposal thou wouldst gladly and freely give and part with them all at the great Day of Judgment for the least saving Interest in Christ O Sinner dost thou know what it is to leave the World with Sin and Guilt cleaving to thy Soul Dost thou know what it is to die and enter into Eternity without having thy Peace made with God Dost thou know what it is to stand before the Tribunal of an unreconciled God and to have Christ appear against thee demanding full Justice against thee for thy stubborn refractory contemptuous despising of Him and his often tendred rich Grace Quest 5. What Reflections have those who are now in Hell on their having slighted Christ and stubbornly stood out against all his Entreaties Do any of those things which they preferred above Christ when they were on Earth afford them any real comfort Have they any abatement of their Pain and Torment by remembring that they purchased such Pleasures or amassed to themselves such Treasures c. by rejecting and refusing to comply with the gracious Offers the Son of God did make to them Alas their remembring of these things doth inflame Hell the more this makes Damnation more than ordinarily terrible this makes the sight of God and Christ amazing and dreadful to the utmost degree To consider they sold God and Christ their Souls and Heaven and Happiness for such Trifles such perishing and unsatisfying things is beyond all imagination penetrating and afflicting O! couldst thou see the Damned in their Chains and didst thou hear their shreiks and howlings or wouldst thou but consider how their misery and unhappiness is heightned and increased by their despising and making light of Christ What thoughts wouldst thou entertain how dreadful wouldst thou apprehend the rejecting of Christ to be when he makes his gracious Visits and pleads and expostulates with Sinners for admittance What thoughts wouldst thou have didst thou hear those miserable and helpless Wretches crying out O the Saviour that we did slight O the Salvation we did neglect O the Offers of Grace and Mercy we did wickedly and contemptuously cast behind our backs O the many the earnest the importunate the affectionate and loving entreaties and courtings of the Son of God which we did stubbornly resist and offer the most unexcusable and wicked despite unto O it is this this that makes our Damnation thus out of measure to exceed and transcend theirs who were never in a capacity of sinning at our rate 'T is this that makes Hell so hot and glowing to us that sinks us so much below all others in this bottomless Pit O what would these do might they have the Offers which thou refusest to accept of How would they rejoice how speedily gladly and heartily would they close with Christ might they have an offer of Grace Pardon and Mercy made once more to them Quest 6. Dost thou think that any of those who have received Christ in sincerity did ever repent of their so doing It is our ignorance of Christ and unacquaintedness with him that makes us think so lightly of him Did we but taste and know how good the Lord is had we but
the same sense experience and knowledge of his Excellencies they have who do indeed admit him into their Hearts we should have the like Love Zeal and Affection for him which they have Those who have received him do rejoice in and love him They account him the only Joy of their Hearts they esteem him their Portion their All and their only Good Have not those who for the sake of Christ have been exposed to all kind of Sufferings Hardships and ill Usages in the World rejoiced in the same Have not they found the satisfactions accruing to them from the Faithfulness and Love of Christ so exceeding great and full of inexpressible sweetness and comfort they have almost overlook'd they have really thought all the Sufferings of this Life very little and inconsiderable especially when Faith in Christ hath mounted and carried their Souls to take a view and prospect of what Christ will hereafter advance them unto Rom. 8.18 Gold and Silver Crowns and Earthly Kingdoms are of no value more vile and contemptible than the Dung and Mire of the Streets when made use of to bribe and hire one that has received Christ into his Heart to fall off from him and reject him I have served Christ said Polycarp fourscore and six Years and he never did me any harm and do you think said he to those who would have bribed and perswaded him to renounce Christ that now I will renounce and blaspheme and dishonour my King and Saviour Do you think the glorified Saints are sorry they chose and received Christ Why they can every jot as easily be weary of Heaven as repent of their entertaining such a Guest Now do thou exercise thy Thoughts about these things with the greatest seriousness and answer these Questions distinctly and impartially unto thy Conscience and press on thy Soul such Considerations as thou findest have the greatest tendency to startle to awaken and move thee that thou mayst not continue under the dreadful guilt of slighting Christ and rejecting the gracious Motions he doth make thee of his Love And O that I knew what Words would excite thy drowsy Soul and what Arguments would influence and make some kind of impressions on thy Mind Affections and Heart I would urge them for thy good with all the life and fervency that is possible Consider Sinner doth the Son of God condescend to plead and argue with thee for thy Benefit and Comfort This is a very wonderful thing indeed the Heavens may well be called to attend and the Earth to give ear such a prodigy of Love may make impressions on the very Mountains and Rocks And what wilt thou still resist his Courtings and be the more contemptuous by how much the more importunate he is with thee O how justly may we call to the Heavens to be astonished and the Earth to be horribly afraid at the manifestation of such stupidity and ingratitude How will all the Creatures inanimate and sensless things upbraid such sottish sturdiness and finally bear witness and give in evidence against it But alas after all what signifies the Discourse of a poor Mortal Melancthon found by experience that he had reason to say The old Man in the Hearts of Sinners was too strong for young Melancthon It is not in the Minister's Power to reach the Heart But Glorious Almighty and most Gracious God thou art above all and thou canst speak to the Conscience and overcome the most perverse and stubborn Heart thou canst and dost ordinarily make thy Strength and power to appear in the weakness of thy meanest Servants Lord to thee we turn and of thee we beg that that Power and Plenty of thy good Spirit may be sent forth that poor Sinners may not walk in darkness and be held any longer in bondage by Satan and their Lusts but that they now may cast away from them their Idols may yield up themselves to Christ in the sincerity of their Hearts and not oppose and resist him any longer Lord do thou look down in thy Power and Strength and do thou mightily perswade and prevail on the Hearts of those who have hitherto stood out against the Calls and Entreaties of their Saviour exert thy Power stretch forth thy mighty Arm descend in the abundance of thy Grace and bring thy Word and Exhortations to Peoples Souls and Consciences with thy special Efficacy and then shall People hear thy Son's Voice and knock and open unto him Now Sinner if thou art at all affected with any of these Considerations and dost truly desire to receive Christ into thy Heart I will conclude all I have at this time to say unto thee by proposing a few Directions for thy help and assistance I. Labour to get a deep affectionate sense of thy own insufficiency emptiness and misery without Christ Study the Law of God how strict and punctual it is How many Duties are commanded how many Sins forbid what Curses and Judgments threatned how weak and impotent thou art how far the Law is from either communicating Strength or providing thee a Pardon How powerful and severe infinite Justice is how liable thou art and this upon innumerable accounts to all the Vengeance and Horror infinite Justice can inflict How dreadful how miserable how helpless thy state is without a Mediator Think on these things till thou art throughly sensible of thy need of Christ and how impossible it is for thee to escape any other way than by Christ We need Christ to present our best Services to God and obtain them acceptance with the Father O what need have we then of Christ to save us from our manifold Sins and from the direful Punishments they deserve Rev. 3.18 Luke 15.21 Christ will be welcome indeed when we truly see our need of him II. Strive to get thy Heart cleansed from every thing which is contrary to Christ and hath a tendency to keep him out of thy Heart Get every Sin imbittered to thy Soul that thou mayst hate every thing which is an Enemy to Christ Oppose Christ to every Lust and sinful stirring of Heart harbour no Lust nor Sin in thy Heart fight against Temptations learn to overcome Temptations and Sins by reviving in thy Mind the opposition and enmity there is betwixt Christ and Sin curb and check mortify and subdue every sinful Inclination by alleadging against it Thou art an Enemy to my Saviour to allow and entertain thee would be to fight against Christ O I will not for a World do any thing that may offend and displease the Son of God III. Pray earnestly that the Spirit of God may mould and form thy Heart into a right frame and temper for Christ When a Prince comes to take up his residence at any Place or House it is not only necessary that the Luggage and Lumber and Filth be removed and cast out of Doors but that all places be righted up and have their proper Furniture So when Christ comes to take up his abode with