yet consider how near you are to the last day will you quite forsake him and never return to whom will you goe then for eternal life Go thy way then proud Prodigal to the Swine and to the husks wallow there and die if that be better then thy fathers house Ah sinner stay and consider what thou leavest look upon Christ see how he wooes thee see how near he drawes to thee see how he bemoanes thee see how grace reconciliation and salvation courts thee canst thou find in thy heart to let him go away from thy soul and canst thou not find in thy heart to close with him this day and that he may leave a blessing behind him will nothing prevaile with thee shall Christ intreat and shall We intreat and shall the sinner remain still as he was oh can any Heart stand out against Christ but an heart of Adamant can any Bowels not yearn when Christ's bowels yearn but bowels of brasse O would to God it might be that some poor wearied sinner among you would come and lay down his burden at Christs feet and change Masters the worst for the best sin and Satan for Christ and grace oh that some one of you among so many that have gone so farre and stood out so long would stop here and stand out no longer what an happy day would this day prove to thee poor soul if it may prove a day of thy peace and reconciliation a day of thy translation from the regions of sin and death and Consecration to the service of Christ A day of thy new birth O how much better would this day be then the day of thy first birth or if were a day of advancement to all earthly honours and dignity oh sinner wilt thou not yet yield Oh that in this thy day thou wouldst lay this to heart Use II. of Counsell and Perswasion Exhortation Must I part with you so without an earnest exhortation I cannot I may not why may I not hope to prevaile with some one or other in this Numerous Congregation this day it may be I shall never see your faces more in this place and 't is oddes to lay all you that now are here may not live to see another such day all together again the thred may be cut the life spilt as water on the ground which cannot be gathered up again many of us may be ere to morrow in another world How doth it concern us all this day to lay some foundation on which we may build our hopes of happinesse in the other world Give me leave to try in the name of Christ what I can do to perswade you that I may leave something with you that you may remember hereafter that a poor Minister of Christ did beseech you in his name that you would know and lay to heart the things belonging to your peace in this your day O would to God I might prevail with you for your own good I exhort you I beseech you I conjure you in the name of God and if I had tears at command I would intreat you weeping this That you every one of you this day would let all your sins goe but let not Christ go let not grace go let not this day passe away without your hearty and reall closing with Christ as ever you look for any good in and by Christ give him leave to banish your sins and to bear rule in your hearts and lives Note He must be thy Lord or else he will never be thy Saviour Improve this hour of visitation and be happy throw away that with loathing and indignation which hath kept thee so long from being fully perswaded to be altogether a Christian and be happy and if any of you feel the door of your hearts now opening to Christ Psal 24 7 8. lift them open wide that the King of Glory may come in that he may have full possession let him rule and raign there and thou wilt be an happy man These three things I would counsel you to performe within your hearts and resolutions ere you stirre hence To make an end of all your sins this day ere you sleep in an unfeigned repentance and God will speak peace to thee 2. To make up that happy match between Christ and thy soul by receiving Christ by Faith and resigning up thy self to Christ by hear-consent love and obedience Christ is ready now if thou be ready now oh do not give him the denial now he is so near thee and canst thou do any thing better than this than to match with Christ will any thing in the world be of such concernment to thee as this 3. To Resolve this day upon a godly life to make Religion thy chiefest care and businesse and if you find it now in your hearts to perform these three acts you may be sure your day is not lost Oh Sirs do this now as you tender your life and eternal happinesse do not put Christ off again with any excuse or denial but take your opportunity this hour of visitation and blesse God that you have it Is there never a poor lost sheep here will be fetcht home to the Lord this day shall not this days light bring home one Prodigal will you all go away and not any bodies soul be brought nearer to Christ nor one jot the more resolved then before Why then the Sermon is lost and the day is lost and God knowes whether we shall see another Sabbath or hear another Sermon with any profit to any purpose of good to our souls Oh that you who have not hitherto been at all perswaded would now you were almost resolved and you who are almost resolved would to God you were altogether perswaded to become the Lords 1. You young ones May one prevaile with you you are tender yet will you remember your Creatour Eccles 12.1 2. You men of age and strength have you yet considered your greater Concernment may you not be perswaded You are or should be wise and hearken to counsel you have reason Will you go away without yielding to be happy by embracing of Christ and devoting your selves to be truly Religious 3. You old men What say you to Christ now is it time for you to lay to heart the things of your peace and to look to your interest in Christ you have but little time before you surely you had best to make all sure and fast this day look to your Evidence for you have but a very little time to live ere your Sun be set oh that among these hundreds here this day some-one or other at least would be wonne to Christ that it might not be said Not one would yield to Christ nor close with him this day of so many that it may never be said those marbles and your hearts are of one make and temper How gladly would a servant that invites for Christ hear of though but one whose heart is opening and yielding to Christ that were but about to repent and believe how would he follow him with intreaties untill the match were fully made and concluded 'twixt Christ and his soul But I shall leave all with you that I have to perswade withall in these six Considerations for Conclusion 1. Consider What if you saw our blessed Lord Jesus drawing near you in mercy beholding and weeping over you would you leave him would you slight him no you would not Why then do not now 2. Consider Can you do better then close with Christ this day or if you will not now when do you intend Oh surely you will do worse if you do not this and if you do this now you cannot do better 3. Consider Is it fit you should wait and begge and cry henceforth after Christ or that He should after you Who will be the losers who will have the worst of it If you lose grace and salvation how will you get this again or such another 4. Consider Are the things belonging to your peace worth the looking after or not Alas what will you do when you are undone 5. Consider what if you were certainly perswaded that the next time you slighted grace intreating and closed with sinne tempting that God would withdraw his mercy and clap damnation on thee and never look on thee more for good would you then slight what now is offered 6. Consider if this were the last day you had to live the last Sermon you had to heare and shortly to go to the other world would you put off the mercies of this day How can you tell but that to morrow or very shortly you must be sent for to the other world arrested by death that spares no body Why then pretious soules be perswaded now once for all to lay to heart this day the things that belong to your peace before they be hid from your eyes The Lord set it home that you may be wise and happie Oh what will it profit you to gain the whole world and lose your own souls FINIS
purpose is lengthened out unto thee to lead to Repentance and Reformation as a testimony of that reality in Gods heart that he willeth our salvation and not our destruction Therefore sinners oh let not this grace and favour be abused despise it not accept it with all readinesse put not off the intreaties of the Lord do not say of grace reconciliation reformation go for this time and come again lest you never hear more of it but it be hid quite from your eyes but while a prize is put into your hand but your heart to it why should you be fools And this brings us to a second OBSERVATION Now in the next place as this doctrin from the Text hath opened a door of hope to poor sinners upon their thoughts of returning to God so as the Smoaking flax may not be quenched nor the bruised reed be quite broken but may receive flame and strength from the breath of mercy and power of God So I must shut the door of presumption upon loose and carelesse livers for such there are that make no other use of Gods grace and favour but to abuse it by making it serve their continuance in sin i. e. No man may rest in Gods mercy in a way of sinning no more then despaire in a way of repenting That men may neither depend on their free-will to be saved when they please as though they would command grace at pleasure or be saved on their own account and that men may not dare to put off or delay their opportunities but take their day and in it lay to heart the things which belong unto their peace before it be hid from their eyes for when once he day is gone and that grace tendred to thee is retired to be bosome of Christ it will be too late too late Therefore this Text gives us a doctrine of Caution and Premunition thus That if sinners would be partakers of the mercy so really intended 2. Doct. and things which belong unto their peace mercifully offered they must in due time lay to heart in the day of visitation imbrace the offers close with Christ Repent and turn from their sins and serve and love the Lord Jesus heartily or else they shall have none uf it you lose your day you lose your mercy you lose your soules Hadst thou known in this thy day c. but now They are hid from thine eyes This Item and Caution in the Text is as clear and evident as the other Christ wept for the hardnesse of their hearts while recoverable and our Lord bemoaned them for their misery when past recovery they had their day once and lost that day and 't was hid from their eyes for ever after God hath and doth really intend mercy and as seriously doth he tender it some time or other and to all without exception if sinners had eyes to see it and hearts to consider it when offered but God hath set boundaries and limits to the time so long will I wait to be gracious All the day long have I stretched out my hands to a gain-saying people God will visit thy soul man must wait and observe our times are in Gods hand we have not the command of our time nor grace God disposes of both when therefore it is called Thy day it is meant of a certain time which God hath appointed thee to come in and receive the mercy and to improve the talent but no man must hence peremptorily conclude that he may chuse his time when he pleaseth and set his day and limit God to such periods of his life though he were sure to live so long alas if men could command grace and salvation when they please what fine doings would there be in the world how would sinners make God serve with their sins and wait on them even to their death-bed and then to serve their turn at last with salvation per saltum Therefore God hath given us a day to manifest his goodnesse and love and hath limited this to Hic and Nunc to shew his wisdom and prerogative God limits us we must not limit him if while God gives us a day we come in then 't is ours but if we come not to the dole that day and close with the offer then 't is lost to us yesterday was but is not now ours and to morrow may be again but not certain Before we were born we were not a day we had not And when we are dead and the talent of lead seals up our grave we have no more day for this work Eccles 9.10 see Eccles 9.10 So Joh. walk while you have the light that is as the holy Ghost saith to day while it is day if you will hear his voyce harden not your hearts Heb. 3. And Saint Paul preaching to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 6.1 2. beseecheth them 2 Cor. 6.1 2. that they receive not the grace of God in vain that is that they put not off the offer or delay the receiving but presseth them to close with the mercy now for now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation And to this doth well agree that passage in Rom. 12.11 and with the first and second verses of the same Chapter Be not slothfull but fervent in spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 serving the Lord as our Translation renders it but Origen saith that some copies have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 serving the time that is taking the opportunity misse not your day there is a time when God may be found by sinners and there is a day when God will not be found Isai 55.6 Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near Though God in mercy strives with men in this Iife yet he saith My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man Gen. 6.3 no not alwayes in this life the day of grace may be lost before thy life be lost yea long before a man comes on his deathbed There are some sort of sinners with whom the Lord will have no more to do in a way of mercy will move them no more the meanes nor any Sermon shall work upon them it may be they have slighted and resisted so long that now in judgement they are hardened and given up as the Israelites after forty yeares so long was their day and when they had provoked so long 't is said Psal 81.11 12. My people would not harken my people would none of me so I gave them up unto their hearts lusts and leaves them it with an oh Oh that my people had harkned to me and the next we hear of was that God sware they should not enter into his rest Psal 95.11 You have heard of Esau Heb. 12.16 17. whose sir name to this day is The prophane he had a fair opportunity for his fathers blessing but either his little esteem of it neglect while it might have been gotten or his presumption that any time he
might have had it the blessing was lost to him and totally lost for afterward when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected though he sought it when too late with tears There is a sad Instance of the case though no person named in Prov. 1.13 Turn you at my Reproof behold I will pour out my Spirit upon you and this be it known unto you Because I have called and ye have refused I have stretched out my hands and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsell I will also mock at your calamity for then shall they call upon me and I will not answer they shall seek me but shall not find me and so they are served in their own kind The like to this for event you have in the instance of the five foolish virgins Carelesse they were and waited not their opportunity they lost their happinesse they came too late the dore was shut they cryed for entrance but none granted Watch therefore Ma. 23.1 for the know neither the day nor hour wherein the Son of man cometh And so here in the Text Jerusalem had a day as fair an opportunity for their peace and mercy as could be desired but lost it and with it their mercy and their souls And the amount is this Note that if men will consume their dayes in sinning they shall lose their day of saving It may be now at a Sermon God is treating with thy soul and he hath been formerly speaking to thee this is not the first time but who knoweth but this may be the last time after so many past God may hold his peace and stay his hand and withhold his grace and you may hear an hundred Sermons more yet never feel one touch of the Spirit more Preachers may not be hid from your eyes yet grace may be hid from thine heart And to be sure if not till then yet when this life is at an end Note thou shalt live no more to hear nor see this day and alas how many men are dead while they live dead in sins and dead and stiffe and cold to grace and the intreaties of Christ Therefore let every soul that prizeth his peace and salvation take heed and lay to heart the offers of mercy in the day of Gods gracious visitation look to it Sirs and trifle no longer to day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts Now as all those hints and instances do bespeak your care and watchfulnesse lest you should misse your opportunities So in the next you shall do well seriously to consider for your imitation while we instance in some recorded in Scripture which took the season obeyed in due time and were successefull and became happy in this that in that their day they knew and accepted the things that belonged to their peace And mark as you hear How they took the first opportunity was offered them though some came in later than others In the Parable of the labourers hired Matth. 20.1 to 8. Some were called in the morning early obeyed presently and were entertained they put not off nor made excuse 2. Others the third hour and they likewise went and did what they were called unto and delayed not 3. Others the sixth hour and ninth and they yielded as soon as called and did not make excuse nor demanded longer time 4. And some others that had loytered to the eleventh hour of the day yet they refused not but presently set themselves to their businesse they said not We will stay till to morrow or some other time and they were accepted also but all this while you must note that each of these took their first opportunity You have likewise to remember the good successe the five wise Virgins had Mar. 25. They were ready at the first approach of Christ and went in with him to the marriage So the Prodigal so farre as he went and so idle as he had been yet as soon as he was touched and had his eyes open and came unto himself to his wits again he no sooner thinks of his Father's house and love but leaves his swine and husks and makes homeward and he was met with joy imbraces pardon and mercy And one instance more in this Chapter where the Text is Luke 19.5 6. Zacheus Oh how happy 't was for him that Christ called him on a day and that same day he answered and accepted and was converted for he made haste and received Christ joyfully into his heart as well as his house and that was the happiest day he ever had seen and Jesus said unto him Verse 9. This day is salvation come to this house Thus you have this point demonstrated by Scripture proof and example and by this you may perceive that though God in mercy hath appointed poor sinners a certain time as well as means for their conversion and reconciliation and some have been so happy and blessed as to take their opportunity yet 't is possible and 't is proved that many have had their day for the like mercies but have lost it for they did not lay to heart the things belonging to their peace in that their day and afterward were hid from their eyes This hath been the case of verie many and still is Pray God no man here present put off this day's intreaties again as formerly lest he hazzard his peace and reconciliation again and so lose this day and never live to see another for the purpose of salvation for himself Quest If any man ask me when is this day Quest How shall I know it which is mine and which is thine when is it gone and lost Answ When and wheresoever Christ is preached Answ and the Gospel is published then and there to that people Christ is near and grace is offered and this hath been many yeares in England and in London and all this while have been continued these glad tidings of peace and reconciliation to soules but when this shall be removed out of this place then it will be hid from your eyes Christ is gone grace is gone light is gone darknesse comes and the day is lost and God only knowes how long it will continue or how quicklie it will be removed out of our sight Would to God men would not deal unkindly with it and drive it away but repent and believe Note yield and obey accept and love it that Christ and his Gospel of grace might stay with us Quest But secondly 2. Quest If you would know what time God hath set for thy coming in beyond which he will not wait to be gracious any longer in which if thou despisest the Call or refusest the Offer God will put a bolt and grace shall strive no more with thee Answ This no man knoweth Answ whether this or the next be the time but surelie it must be before the day of death everie man must be reconciled to God ere he die
by faith in Christ Repentance from dead works Eccles 9.10 and holy living or else he shall never now or never while grace and the man live together in this present world so long there is hope but when grace is gone and thou art driven hence to thy long home thy day is lost and the poor sinner irrecoverable You had best consider in time what hour of the day 't is with you Note what is the date of thy life how many daies and years can each of you reckon you can tell how long you have lived and enjoied the means of grace but can you tell how long you shall live in this world or under the discipline of grace with a win-able heart You can neither command time or grace but you may in time accept the grace offered It may be some that are here present this day before the Lord can say with joy and thankfulness They had their day and knew it the Angel moved and they stept in their hearts were touched and they yielded the offer was made and they accepted Christ was near and they embraced him they stood not out but closed with him in the day of his power they were made willing and now Christ is theirs Psal 110.3 and they are Christs they love him heartilie and hate sin perfectlie and live holilie lift up your heads pretious soules and be thankful you have not lost your day you are happie now and in a fair way to heaven and if you continue in faith and love of Jesus and grow in grace you shall be for ever happie in glorie when you have finished your course It may be some others are here standing some young some aged with whom Gods Ministers have been treating and Gods Spirit striving formerlie and they have stood out untill now Who knows but that they have bin reserved for such a time as this now another prize is put into your hand this may be to them the acceptable time a day of reconciliation and peace a day you have now which thousands who now lay under wrath and final despaire would prize above Mountains of gold and Rocks of Rubies if they had once again such an opportunitie as this it may be God hath determined that hitherto to this day thou shalt come and grace and mercie shall wait on thee now but no farther Christ may be passing on by thee now Note and looks on thee and gives a secret touch and bids thee Come away after him and leave thy sins and follow him and saith as to Zacheus I will come to thy house and bring salvation this day Oh if there be any such among you who is touched at heart this minute let him not quench the spirit nor reject the motion let him take this opportunitie and make up the match now even now in this place ere he stirre hence and then he may conclude he hath not lost his day but whatever he hath been before yet now he may be be a converted man a pardoned man an happie man in this his day of visitation if he lay it now to heart and consider it It may be there are others here with whom there is no prevailing no mercie moves them no teares melts them no intreaties winne them no promises allure them in whom the custome of sin hath worne off the sense of sinne and miserie to whom nothing but the world and pleasures and sin is of any account to whom the Riches and treasures of grace and glories of heaven are accounted poor and mean and foolish things Such there may be here now who have had some impressions on them of good but now worn out again those who it may be were once almost perswaded but now again altogether as obstinate as ever who can make a mock of sin and scoffe of Religion who can laugh or sleep at a Sermon of life and death and scorn reproof and defie God to his face and are growing worse and worse filthie and more filthie and what may be thought of such Have they lost their day Alas Answ for such we know not what God will do with them yet but those are sad notices of men given over this we say Many dais they have lost many mercies have they abused many offers have they rejected many motions have they quenched much patience have they wronged and trulie if there be any day yet for them left but the day which they cannot avoid the day wherein God will judge the world all obstinate impenitent sinners to eternal flames they had best look to it that they may take it when it comes lest if that passe away too and be hid from their eyes also and they not converted in that day neither then must they lie down in sorrow saying Oh that I had but known but now it is hid from mine eyes I shall never see the day of salvation for I would not know nor lay to heart the day of visitation oh sinners think on this Note and trie your tempers and consider how long alreadie you have refused will you not henceforth from this time crie unto the Lord if peradventure he may yet be gracious to thee if thou return after thou hast done all these things even then turn turn unto the Lord Jer. 3.4 even now and put all out of doubt close now with Christ cast away your sins and the question will be best resolved by your practice So much toward resolving the quaerie as far as God hath given us any hints about particular times or seasons of getting or losing a mans interest in peace and reconciliation by Christ offered in a day During a mans life Now I know there are some would make a quick answer to to this demand and enough to gratifie the humours of many loose and vain persons but not at all to satisfie a sober soul that thinks of another world Tush say they What trouble you your self about these niceties take your pleasure now while you may and take your time of repentance at leisure a little time will do that work do you not remember that At what time soever And the Thief on the Crosse Answ Indeed here is a rare Example Answ and a short halfe-sentence which men abuse to their undoing I could answer this at large but this I onlie say now to you that have not debauch'd your Reason and lost Consideration When any of you can dispatch the whole dutie of man the All of Faith and Repentance and new Obedience in a trice and on your death-bed and can be assured withall that you shall have then time enough and grace enough and will enough and strength enough to perform all then you may deferre untill your dying day but untill this be made sure to you be not so foolish as to cast away your soules upon such desperate attempts and impossibilities And for the Thief when any of you or any bodie else you know can have the like opportunitie
to die with such circumstances to be put to death in the same place on the same day with the Saviour of the world our blessed Jesus and to be the happie instance of a great miracle then and not untill all these things be hoped for let no man think that though it may be many a mans case to die as great a Malefactor as he was yet that any bodie in the world should imagine that one single instance should justify his presumption when 't was never intended for to give any hopes to any rebellious sinner seeing he was the first and the last of that kind And surelie it is a desperate gamester that doth venture all he is worth in this and another world at one cast of dice and that lesse then Ams-ace Shew me another like this or else hold thy peace and leave off arguing the case lest you make it desperate How much more safe is it as well as Rational to do that while we may and have opportunitie than to put it off to while we cannot perform what of absolute necessitie is to be done or the poor soul is lost for ever Having bin so large in the doctrines I need be the shorter in the Application which comes now in the close to perswade the practice of laying to heart the things of our peace while it is to day that in this our day we may know the things belonging to our peace while we may shortly Else they will be hid from our eyes and then we may no. Application I shall reduce all I have to say now to you about these two points you have heard raised from the Text to these two Heads to trie what may be done with you in behalf of your own precious soules this day which I would dispatch in an an Essay of 1. Conviction Admonition 2. Counsell Perswasion And first of all I would if I could shame the Follie and reprove the Madnesse of men such as neglect their salvation by not timelie laying to heart and slighting the Offer and such as throw away their souls by resisting grace and continuance in their sinne would I could this day convince them of the greatnesse of their sin and néarnesse of their danger and dreadfulnesse of their destruction who have to this day stood out wilfullie against the intreaties of Christ and still resolve to do as they have done Why sinners be it known unto you that this is the Great condemnation this is greater then all your sins Jo. 3.19 that light is come into the world and men love darknesse rather then light that is men refuse and reject Christ and Grace and love their sins better they may be saved but they care not they chuse those wayes which wil bring them to destruction Who are to be blamed if such as they are not to be blamed and are there none such here what throw away your remedie Alas that Christ who should be the Desire of all nations should come with tears in his eyes and love in his heart and salvation in his hand to sinners who are the shame of all nations and yet be put off and rejected He who is everie way lovely doth sue to thee sinner who art everie way uglie and loathsome Would he wedd thy soul and wilt not thou be married to him alas for thee how wilt thou escape the forest damnation if thou neglect so great salvation Heb 2.3 Wilt thou not lay down a lust a sin for his sake who laid down his life for thy sake alas alas Why sinner what hell doth that soul deserve that doth despise heaven and what miserie doth he choose that wilfully refuseth mercie wo unto thee Bethsaida wo unto thee Corazin wo unto thee London for mightie works have been done in you and powerfull preaching hath been among you and if after all you will still remain impregnable impenitent and unbelieving it shall be easier for Sodom then for this City Mark that Luk. 10.12 13. With what face can sinners cry out upon the cursed Jewes that rejected their Saviour and put him to death and yet do the same things themselves they chose a Barrabbas and refused Christ but what better art thou that choosest a lust to keep it alive and refusest Christ that would save thy live 'T is possible at a distance men will be Christians that they will and hear and speak of grace and heaven very complyingly but alas when it comes to it the time and the offer then no such matter How doe sinners draw back then what excuses do they make and what delayes do they use The time is not yet come or a Farm or Merchandise a trifle or a folly comes in between the Heart and Christ that they cannot close and very often it is in down-right terms we will not have Him to Reign over us Is this the way to peace and reconciliation will this end well at last friends Alas Sirs what cares Christ for your fair words if your actions be foul How little doth he esteem a complement a cringe and a nod if your hearts bow not to his Scepter will it serve our turn that we cry Hosanna to day in our professions and crucifie him to morrow in our practises what is it the nearer if we say we will from day to day give up our hearts and lives to Christ and yet do not what we promise but keep our hearts upon the world and sin every day well Sirs there is no dallying with Christ and grace God is serious and ye must be serious too or else you do but mock God and destroy your own souls what do you do with the naming of Christ if you depart not from iniquity what do you do with the outside and form of godlinesse if you deny the power of godlinesse Is it not enough that you have refused so long will you still refuse when will you return if you will not now return when will you be reconciled to God if this day you refuse when will you in good ear nest close with Christ and make an end of sinning by Repentance and new obedience if not now Is it not enough yet you have provoked God and abused his long-sufferance when will it be enough then hath not Christ waited long enough for thee Sinner but thou wilt put him to wait longer why Christ can be without thee but how canst thou be without Him if thou be lost Christ will be Christ still but if Christ be lost to thee thou art lost and undone for ever Hath not Christ done his part and the Gospel its part and Preachers their part by intreaties reproofes instructions counsels prayers and tears but when will you do your parts namely to yield and obey to come in and submit to the Lord Jesus for grace and salvation O when will it once be when will it once be Oh sinners will you runne on and not look back how farre have you gone from your God and will you not
opportunity to be happy so have we And surely if there can be any thing or way to expresse an infinite love a tender care a most hearty longing desire of the salvation of sinners it is here implyed He drew near and beheld and wept He the Lord of life full of grace and full of pity and full of power to help poor sinners to pardon to redeem to sanctifie to save Near he was ready for it they come not out to him he comes up to them brings salvation to their door 't was Christs love and sinners misery that brought him so near Beheld looked wistly on the City he saw the stately structures the rich ornaments the soft rayments the numerous multitudes their outward flourish and gaiety of Religious professions and withall he saw their manners too and theirinside 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in a mirrour what they had been what they were then for frame of Spirit and what would come to passe if not prevented in time Wept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was broken with grief he shed tears he wept Quest But why did Christ sorrow and grieve and weep Answ Not that the City was so richly laden with outward blessings Christ grudged not their plenty nor their peace if they would have been good they might have been great and rich without offence but he was grieved for them that they were so poor so blind so naked in spirituall things they had prosperous bodies but starved soules very politique and very proud but very fools and unwise about the unum necessarium He shed his teares over them because they shed none for themselves they remembred not their past sins nor heeded their present opportunity nor foresaw nor believed their future miseries they laid none of these things to heart but wilfully refused their recovery they cared not for all these things nor for Reconciliation nor pardon nor deliverance nor Christ nor grace they trusted in their own strength riches wisdom priviledges with the form of godlinesse but as for reconciliation by Christ inward holinesse conversion and the power of christianity these things they looked not after Hence it was that Christ wept for the hardnesse of their hearts and inconsideratenesse Alas how too too like those are the men of this present world after all the care and paines with them so they may be and so they may have what they would for outwards what care they How little are they concerned for soul-saving things and is not this for a lamentation and weeping Again Christ beheld the City and wept over it Christ had them in present view together with their present prosperity their intolerable blindness hardnesse unbelief and stupendious supine neglect of the means of their recovery on this very day which was their last day of grace And this was matter of sadnesse Secondly And he had in prospect their future ruine and destruction and this drew tears from the Lord of life he would but they would not he would have given them grace and pardon and prevented their ruine but they would not he would have healed and saved them from that day but they would not Hence it is that Christ wept both for their present hardnesse and future destruction Alas Christ wept not so much for the destruction and downfall of those stately Buildings he could have raised such ones and better God could quickly have made them as rich again though they had lost all by fire and pillage but alas alas they refused and rejected such a Lord and Saviour such grace and rich salvation which God had not the like to give them again they might have lived as happily any where else where Christ and salvation were to be had but where could they find another Saviour and another such day when these were finally lost Wept over it saying His love to them would not let him depart so but pleads again with them he 'le try again whether his language can yet prevaile seeing his tears cannot for this once he bespeaks them pathetically why poor soules you are now upon the point of making or marring you may be happy this day and for ever after oh how happy may you be and blessed And if you mark it his speech is like that of a most tender parent beholding a beloved child wounded to death by his own hand and wallowing in his blood and would not be helped but rejects the means of recovery grief gives not passage to words oh how doth Christ grieve over these wilfull miserable sinners and weeping saith scarce can he speak for sorrow bemoanes them perishing with broken words interrupted with sighs and groans Hadst thou but known even thou So bad as thou hast been yet even thou after all thy unkindnesse to me thy contempt thy stubbornnesse thy sin and thy folly thy insolent carriage toward my Ministers and messengers yet after all this thy wickedesse and abuse of my patience and long-sufferance O yet yet after all if thou hast in this thy day laid all these things to heart and considered who it is that now weeps over thee that now speaks to thee who it is and what this day is freely offered thee if thou wouldst lay to heart and imbrace yet the things belonging to thy peace while I am now speaking in this last hour of this thy day this is thy day Hic dies est tuus wherein yet thou mayest lay the foundation of happinesse and partake of those things which are matters of the highest concernment ten thousand times more worth then all the pleasures the honours the riches of this world put all together And if thou come in before this day be closed up with night ere this Sun be set upon thee and this light withdrawn from thine eyes O happy mayst thou be But if thou wilt not Acts 17.31 in this thy day accept of thy recovery but put it off and refuse it still as thou hast done O then another day will come non tuus not thine for mercy but a day of vengeance Gods day of punishment wherein thou shalt pay most dearly for all thy folly a long day of Eternity of Lamentation of mourning of anguish and torment without remedy for that thou hast lost thy day and that mercy intended and most seriously offered to thee So much for explanation of so much of this text which we are sure belongs unto us Pray God the latter clause that killing parting blow which doom'd that people to their deserved losse But now are they hid from thine eyes may never passe on any soul here present Whose ears can hear that sentence without Tingling whose heart can consider this and not tremble But now are they hid from thine eyes This was long a coming on them but it came surely at last mercy removed from them misery came upon them From this carriage of our blessed Lord Jesus toward those sinful people wherein he expressed so much care so much love toward them while recoverable and so