sinners if you will make good your way You see now with whom you have to deal What saist thou Unconverted sensual wretch Darest thou venture upon a dispute with God Art thou able to confute him Art thou ready to enter the lists God asketh thee Why wilt thou die Art thou furnished with a sufficient answer Wilt thou undertake to prove that God is mistaken and that thou art in the right O what an undertaking is that Why either he or you is mistaken when he is for your Conversion and you are against it He calls upon you to Turn and you will not He bids you do it presently even to day while it is called to day and you delay and think it time enough hereafter He saith it must be a total change and you must be holy and new creatures and born again and you think that less may serve the turn and that its enough to patch up the old man without becoming New Who is in the right now God or you God calleth on you to Turn and to Live an holy Life and you will not by your disobedient lives it appears you wil not If you will why do you not Why have you not done it all this while and why do you not fall upon it yet Your Wils have the command of your lives We may certainly conclude that you are unwilling to turn when you do not Turn And why will you not Can you give any Reason for it that is worthy to be called a Reason I that am but a worm your fellow creature of a shallow capacity dare challenge the wisest of you all to reason the case with me while I plead my Makers cause And I need not be discouraged when I know I plead but the cause that God pleadeth and contend for him that will have the best at last Had I but these two General Grounds against you I am sure that you have no good Reason on your side 1. I am sure it can be no good Reason which is against the God of Truth and Reason It cannot be Light that is contrary to the Sun There is no knowledge in any Creature but what it had from God and therefore none can be wiser then God It were damnable presumption for the highest Angel to compare with his Creator What is it then for a lump of dirt an ignorant sot that knoweth not himself nor his own soul that knoweth but little of the things which he seeth yea that is more ignorant then many of his neighbours to set himself against the wisdom of the Lord It is one of the fullest discoveries of the horrible wickedness of carnal men and the stark madness of such in sin that so silly a mole dare contradict his Maker and call in question the word of God Yea that those people in our Parishes that are so beastly ignorant that they cannot give us a reasonable answer concerning the very Principles of Relâ—gion are yet so wise in their own conceit that they dare question the plainest truths of God yea contradict them and cavil against them when they can scarce speak sense and will believe them no further then agreeth with their foolish wisdom 2. And aâ— I know that God must needs be in the right so I know the Case is so palpable and gross which he pleadeth against that no man can have reason for iâ— Is it possible that a man can have any Reason to break his Masters Laws and reason to dishonour the Lord of Glory and reason to abuse the Lord that bought him Is it possible that a man can have any good reason to damn his own Immortal soul Mark the Lords question Turn ye Turn ye Why will you die Is eternal death a thing to be de desired Are you in love with Hell What reason have you willfully to perish If you think you have some reason to sin should you not remember that death is the wages of sin Rom. 6.23 and think whether you have any Reason to undo your selves body and soul for ever You should not only ask whether you love the Adder but whether you love the sting It is such a thing for a man to cast away his everlasting happiness and to sin against God that no good reason can be given for it but the more any man pleads for it the madder he sheweth himself to be Had you a Lord-ship or a Kingdom offered you for every sin that you commit it were not reason but madness to accept it Could you by every sin obtain the highest thing on earth that flesh desireth it were of no considerable value to perswade you in reason to commit it If it were to please your greatest or dearest friends or to obey the greatest Prince on earth or to save your lives or to escape the greatest earthly Misery all these are of no consideration to draw a man in reason to the committing of one sin If it were a right hand or a right eye that would hinder your salvation it is the gainfullest way to cast it away rather then to go to Hell to save it For there 's no saving a part when you lose the whole So exceeding great are the matters of Eternity that nothing in this world deserveth once to be named in comparison with them Nor can any earthly thing though it were Life or Crowns or Kingdoms be a reasonable excuse for the neglect of matters of such higher and Everlasting Consequence A man can have no reason to cross his ultimate End Heaven is such a thing that if you lose it nothing can supply the want or make up your loss And Hell is such a thing that if you suffer it nothing can remove your misery or give you ease and comfort And therefore nothing can be a valuable consideration to excuse you for neglecting your own salvation For saith our Saviour What shall it profit a man to win all the world and lose his own soul Mark 8.36 Oh Sirs that you did but know what matters they are that we are now speaking to you of The Saints in Heaven have other kind of thoughts of these things If the Devil could come to them that live in the sight and love of God and should offer them a cup of Ale or a Whore or merry company or sports to tice them away from God and Glory I pray you tell me how do you think they would entertain the motion Nay or if he should offer them to be Kings on the earth Do you think this would tice them down from Heaven O with what hatred and holy scorn would they disdain and reject the motion And why should not you do so that have Heaven opened to your faith if you had but faith to see it There 's never a soul in hell but knows by this time that it was a mad exchange to let go heaven for fleshly pleasure and that it is not a little mirth or Pleasure or worldly riches or Honour or the good Will or Word
in their hearts said Men and Brethren what shall we do How might we come to be truly converted We are willing if we did but know our duty God forbid that we should choose destruction by refusing conversion as hitherto we have done If these be the thoughts and purposes of your hearts I say of you as God did of a promising people Deut. 5.28 29. They have well said all that they have spoken O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandements alwaies Your Purposes are good O that there be but an heart in you to perform these purposes And in hope hereof I shall gladly give you direction what to do and that but briefly that you may the easier Remember it for your Practice DIRECTION I. IF you would be converted and saved labour to understand the necessity and true Nature of Conversion For what and from what and to what and by what it is that you must Turn Consider in what a lamentable condition you are till the hour of your conversion that you may see it is not a state to be rested in You are under the guilt of all the sins that ever you committed and under the wrath of God and the curse of his Law you are bondslaves to the Devil and daily imployed in his work against the Lord your selves and others you are spiritually dead and deformed as being void of the holy life and nature and image of the Lord. You are unfit for any holy work and do nothing that is truly pleasing unto God You are without any promise or assurance of his pâ—otection and live in continual danger of his Justice not knowing what hour you may be snatcht away to Hell and most certain to be damned if you die in that condition And nothing short of Conversion can prevent it What ever civilities or amendments or vertues are short of true conversion will never procure the saving of your souls Keep the true sense of this natural misery and so of the necessity of Conversion on your hearts And then you must understand what it is to be converted It is to have a New Heart or Disposition and a New Conversation Quest. 1. For what must you Turn Answ. For these ends following which you may attain 1. You shall immediately be made living Members of Christ and have interest in him and be renewed aâ—ter the Image of God and be adorned with all his graces and quickned with a new and heavenly life and lived from the tyrannie of Satan and the dominion of sin and be justified from the curse of the Law and have the pardon of all the sins of your whole lives and be accepted of God and made his Sons and have liberty with boldness to call him Father and go to him by prayer in all your needs with a promise of acceptance you shall have the Holy Ghost to dwell in you to sâ—nctifie and guide you you shall have part in the brother-hood communion and prayers of the Saints You shall be fitted for Gods service and be freed from the Dominion of sin and be usefull and a blessing to the place where you live and shall have the promise of this life and that which is to come You shall want nothing that is truly good for you and your necessary afflictions you shall be enabled to bear you may have some taste of communion with God in the Spirit especially in all holy Ordinances where God prepareth a feast for your souls shall be heirs of heaven while you live on earth and may for-see by faith the everlasting glory and so may live and die in peace and you will never be so low but your happiness will be incomparably greater then your misery How precious is every one of these blessings which I do but briefly name and which in this life you may receive And then 2. at death your souls shall go to Christ and at the day of judgement both soul and body shall be Justifyed and Glorified and enter into your Masters Joy where your happiness will consist in these particulars 1. You shall be perfected your selves your mortal bodies shall be made immortal and the corruptible shall put on incorruption you shall no more be hungry or thirsty or weary or sick nor shall you need to fear either shame or sorrow or death or hell Your souls shall be perfectly freed from sin and perfectly fitted for the knowledge and love and praises of the Lord. 2. Your imployment shall be to behold your glorified Redeemer with all your holy fellow Citizens of Heaven and to see the Glory of the most blessed God and to Love him perfectly and be beloved by him and to praise him everlastingly 3. Your glory will contribute to the glory of the new Jerusalem the City of the Living God which is more then to have a private felicity to your selves 4. Your Glory will contribute to the Glorifying of your Redeemer who will everlastingly be magnified and pleased in you that are the travail of his soul and this is more then the Glorifying of your selves 5. And the eternal Majesty the living God will be glorified in your Glory both as he is magnified by your praises and as he communicateth of his glory and goodness to you and as he is pleaâ—ed in you and in the accomplishment of his glorious works in the glory of the â—ew Jerusalem and of his Son All this the pooâ—est beggar of you that is Converted shall Certainly and Eâ—â—lâ—sly enjoy 2. You see For what you must Turn Next you must understand From what you must Turn Aâ—d that is in a word From your Carnal Self which is the End of all the Unconverted Fâ—om the flesh that would be pleased before God and would still be enticing you thereto From the world that is the bait And from the Devil that is the Angler for souls and the deceiver And so from all known and wilfull sin 3. Next you must know To what you must Turn And that is To God as your End To Christ as the way to the Father To Holiness as the way appointed you by Christ And so to the use of all the helps and means of grace afforded you by the Lord. 4. Lastly you must know By what you must Turn And that is by Christ as the only Redeemer and Intercessor And by the Holy Ghost as the Sanctifier And by the Word as his Instrument or Means And by Faith and Repentance as the means and duties on your part to be performed All this is of necessity DIRECTION II. IF you will be Converted and Saved be much in secret serious Consideration Inconsiderateness undoes the world Withdraw your selves oft into retired secrecy and there bethink you of the end why you were made of the life you have lived the time you have lost the sin you have committed of the love and sufferings and fulness of Christ of the danger you are in of the nearness of death
would kill him This is your case As far as you are gone in sin do but now Turn and Come to Christ and take his Remedies and your souls shall live Cast up your deadly sins by Repentance and return not to the poysonous vomit any more and you shall do well But yet if it were your bodies that we had to deal with we might partly know what to do for you though you would not consent You might be held or bound while the medicine were poured down your throats and hurtful things might be kept from you But about your souls it cannot so so we cannot Convert you against your wills There is no carrying mad men to Heaven in fetters You may be Condemned against your wills because you sinned with your wills but you cannot be saved against your wills The wisdom of God hath thought meet to lay mens salvation or destruction exceeding much upon the choice of their own wills that no man shall come to heaven that chose not the way to heaven and no man shall come to hell but shall be forced to say I have the thing I chose my own will did bring me hither Now if I could but get you to be willing to be throughly and resolvedly and Habitually willing the work were more then half done And alas must we lose our friends and must they lose their God their happiness their souls for want of this O God forbid It is a strange thing to me that men are so inhumanâ— and stupid in the greatest matters that in lesser things are very civil and courteous and good neighbours For ought I know I havâ— the Love of all or almost all my neighbours so far that if I should send to ever a man in the Town or Parish or Country and request a reasonable courtesie of them they would grant it me And yet when I come to request of them the greatest matter in the world for themselves and not for me I can have nothing of many of them but a patient hearing I know not whether people think a man in the pulpit is in good sadness or not and means as he speaks For I think I have few neighbour but if I were sitting familiarly with them and telling them of what I have seen or done or known in â—he world they would believe me and regard what I say But when I tell thee from the infallible word of God what they themâ—elves shall see and know in the world to come they shew by their â—â—â—ves that they do either not beleve it or not much regard it If I met ever an one of them on the way and told them Yonder is 〈◊〉 Cole pit or there 's a quick-sand or there are thieves lie in wait for you I could perswade them to turn by But when I tell them that Satan lyeth in wait for them and that sin is poison to them and that Hell is not a matter to be jested with they go on as if they did not hear me Truly neighbours I am in as good earnest with you in the Pulpit as I am in any familiar discourse and if ever you will regard me I beseech you let it be here I think there is never a man of you all but if my own soul lay at your wills you would be willing to save it though â— cannot promise that you would leave your sin for it Tell me thou Drunkard that art so crueâ— to me that speaks to thee that thou wouldst not forbear a few cups of drink if thou knewest it would save my soul from Hell Hadst thou rather I did burn there for ever then thou shouldst live soberly as other men do If so may I not say thou art an unmerciful monster and not a man If I came hungry or naked to one of your doors would you not part with more then a cup of drink to relieve me I am confident you would If it were to save my life I know you would some of you hazzard your own And yet will you not be entreated to part with your sensual pleasures for your own salvation Wouldst thou forbear an hundred cups of drink man to save my life if it were in thy power and wilt thou not do it to save thy own soul I profess to you Sirs I am as hearty a beggar with you this day for the saving of your own souls as I would be for my own supply if I were forced to come a begging to your doors And therefore if you would hear me then hear me now If you would pitty me then be intreated now to pitty your selves I do again beseech you as if it were on my bended knees that you would hearken to your Redeemer and turn that you may live All you that have lived in ignorance and carelesness and presumption to this day All you that have been drowned in the cares of the world and have no mind of God and eternal Glory all you that are enslaved to your fleshly desires of meats and drinks and sports and lusts and all you that know not the necessity of holiness and never were acquainted with the Sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost upon your souls that never embraced your blessed Redeemer by a lively faith and admiring and thankfuâ— apprehensions of his love and that never felt an higher estimation of God and Heaven and an hearâ—ier Love to them then to your fleshly prosperity and the things below I earnestly beseech you not only for my sake but for the Lords sake and for your souls sakes that you go not on one day longer in your former condition but look about you and cry to God for converting grace that you may be made new creatures and may escape the plagues that are a little before you And if ever you will do any thing for me grant me this request to Turn from your evil waies and live Deny me any thing that ever I shall ask you for my self if you will but grant me this And if you deny me this I care not for any thing else that you would grant me Nay as ever you will do any thing at the request of the Lord that made you and redeemed you deny him not this For if you deny him this he cares for nothing that you shall grant him As ever you would have him hear your prayers and grant your requests and do for you at the hour of death and day of judgement or in any of your extremities deny not his request now in the day of your prosperity Oh Sirs believe it Death and Judgement and Heaven and Hell are other matters when you come near them then they seem to carnal eyes afar off Then you would hear such a message as I bring you with more awakened regardful hearts WELL though I cannot hope so well of all will hope that some of you are by this time purposing to Turn and Live and that you are ready to ask me as the Jews did Peter Acts 2.37 when they were pricked
see the right ordering of the Church and of the Ordinances of God but the power of sin in our people doth frustrate almost all Nowhere almost can a faithfull Minister set up the unquestionable Discipline of Christ or put back the most scandalous impenitent sinners from the Communion of the Church and participation of the Sacraments but the most of the people rail at them and revise them as if these ignorant careless souls were wiser then their teachers or then God himself and fitter to rule the Church then they And thus in the day of our visitation when God calls upon us to Reform his Church though Magistrates seem willing and faithful Ministers are willing yet are the multitude of the people still unwilling and sin hath so blinded them and hardned their hearts that even in these days of Light and Grace they are the obstinate enemies of Light and Grace and will not be brought by the Calls of God to see their folly and know what is for their good O that the people of England knew at least in this their day the things that belong unto their peace before they are hid from their eyes Luke 19.42 O fâ—olâ—sh miserable souls Gal. 3.1 who hath bewitched your minds into such madness and your hearts into such a deadness that you should be such mortal enemies to your selves and go on so obstinately towards damnation that neither the word of God nor the perswasions of men can change your minds or hold your hands or stop you till you are past remedy Well sinnerâ— this life will not last alwayes this patience will not wait upâ—n you still Do not think that you shall abuse your Maker and Redeemer and serve his enemies aâ—d debase your souls and trouble the world and wrong the Church and reproach the godly and grieve your Teachers and hinder reformation and all this upon free cost You know not yet what this must cost you but you must shortly know when the righteous God shall take you in hand who will handle you in another manner then the sharpest Magistrates or the plainest dealing Pastors did unless you prevent the everlasting torments by a sound conversion and iâ— speedy obeying of the Call of God He that hath an ear to hear let him hear while mercy hath a voice to Call One desperate Objection which I have after touched but with too much brevity I find sticks close to the hearts of many ungodly men They think that God doth not so much care what men think or say or do as we perswade them and therefore they care so little themselves For the convincing of such Atheistical men as these I shall propound these following Question 1. Dost thou think God careth whether thou be a man or not If not Who made thee and preserveth thee If he do then sure he careth whether thou behave thy self as a man No man is so foolish as to make any instrument or build an house or a ship and not to care when he hath done whether it be good for the use he made it for Do not for shame then impute such folly to the God of Wisdom as if he made so noble a creature as man and endowed him with such noble faculties and all for nothing and careth not what becometh of him when he hath done Why should God give thee a mind that can know him and a heart that can love him if he cared not whether thou know him and love him or not Do you not see that in the course of â—ature every thing is fitted to its use The beasts know not God nor are capable of loving him becaâ—se they were made for no such use but thy capacity shews that thou wast made for God and for a life to come 2. Dost thou think that God is everywhere present and infinite and Al-sufficient If not thou dost not believe that he is God And it is uâ—reâ—sonable to imagine that God hath made a world that is greater and more extensive or comprehensive then himself for none can communicate more then he hath But if thou aâ—t forced to confess that God is everywhere and as sufficient for every single mâ—n as if he had never another creature to regard you must needâ— confess then that he is not careless of the hearts and wayes of the Sons of men For they are things that are still before his eyes It is base and blasphemous thoughts of God as if he were limited absent or insufficient that makes men think him so regardless of their hearts and ways 3. Dost thou think that God careth what becomes of thy body Whether thou be sick or well whether thou live or die If not then how comest thou by thy life and health and mercies If they come from any other fountain-tell us from whence Is it not to God that thou prayest for life and health Darest thou say to him I will not depend upon thee I will not be beholden to thee for the life and mercies of another day If so then thou art a blinded Atheist But if thou think God cares for thy body canst thou think he cares not more for thy soul If he must regard to furnish thee with mercies he will sure have a regard whether thou Love and Live to him that gave them 4. Dost thou believe that God is the Governour of the world or not If not then there can be no rightfull Government For as no Iustice of Peace can have Power but from the Soveraign so no Soveraign can have power but from God nor be a lawful Governour but under him And then all the world would be turned into confusion But if thou must needs confess that God is the Governour of the world what an unwise unrighteous Governour wouldst thou make him if thou think that he regardeth not the hearts and ways of those whom he doth govern This still is but to deny him to be God 5. If God do not care so much what is in our hearts or what we do Why then would he make a Law for our hearts and words and ways Would he command us that which he doth not care for Would be so strictly forbâ—d us sin if he were indifferent whether we sin or no Would he promise eternal life to the holy and obedient if he care not whether we be holy and obedient or no would he threaten Hell to all that are ungodly if he care not whether we were godly or not Darest thou say that the Almighty Holy God is fain to rule the world by a Lie and to deceive men into obedience Yea the very Law of nature it self doth contain not only precepts of our duty but the Hopes and fears of a Life to come wâ—thout which the world could not be governed And certainly they are no deceits by which are infinite Wisdom and Power and Goodness doth govern the world 6. If God did not much regard our hearts and lives why doth he make all the world to be our Servants
an executive power But when the Memorial Book of God is opened which is written for them that fear the Lord and think upon his name and when the Lord shall say of them These are mine as he is making up his Iewels and spareth them as â— man spareth his Son that serveth him then shall those Infidels â—â—turn to their wits and the righteous shall return from their fears and sufferings and shall discern between the Righteous and the Wicked between those that served God and those that served him not Mal. 3.16 17 18. Another Objection I find most common in the mouths of the ungodly especially of late years They say We can do nothing without God We cannot have grace if God will not give it us and if he will we shall quickly Turn If he have not predestinated us and will not Turn us how can we Turn our selves or be saved It is not in him that wills nor in hâ—m that runs And thus they think they are excused I have answered this formerly and in this book but let me now say this much 1. Though you cannot cure your selves you can hurt and poison your selves It s God that must sanctifie your hearts but who corrupted them Will you wilfully take Poison because you cannot cure your selves Me think you should the more forbear it You should the more take heed of sinning if you cannot mend what sin doth marr 2. Though you cannot be converted without the special Grace of God yet you must know that God giveth this Grace in the use of his holy means which he hath appointed to that end and common grace may enable you to forbear your gross sinning as to the outward act and to use those means Can you truly say that you do as much as you are able to do Are you not able to go by an Ale-house door or to shut your mouths and keep out the drink or to forbear the company that hardneth you in sin Are you not able to go to hear the word and think of what you heard when you come home and to consider with your selves of your own condition and of everlasting things Are you not able to read good Books from day to day at least on the Lords day and to conversâ— with those that fear the Lord You cannot say that you have done what you were able 3. And therefore you must know that you can forfeit the Grace and help of God by your wilful sinning or negligence though you cannot without Grace turn to God If you will not do what you can its just with God to deny you that grace by which you might do more 4. And for Gods Decrees you must know that they separate not the end and means but tie them together God never decreed to save any but the sanctified nor to damn any but the unsanctified God doth as truly Decree from everlasting whether your Land this year shall be barren or fruitful and just how long you shall live in the world as he hath Decreed whether you shall be saved or not And yet you would think that man but a fool that would forbear plowing and sowing and say If God have Decreed that my ground shall bear corn it will bear it whether I plough and sow or not If God have decreed that I shall live I shall live whether I eat or not but if he have not it is not eating that will keep me alive Do you know how to answer such a man or do you not If you do then you know how to answer your selves for the case is alike Gods Decree is as peremptory about your bodies as your souls If you do not then try first these conclusions upon your bodies before you venture to try them on your souls see first whether God will keep you alive without food or rayment and whether he will give you corn without tillage and labour and whether he will bring you to your journeys and without your travel or carriage and if you speed well in this then try whether he will bring you to heaven without your diligent use of means and sit down and say we cannot sanctifie our selves And for the point of Free-will which you harp so long upon Divines are not so much disagreed about it as you imagine Augustine as well as Pelagius Calvin as well as Arminius the Dominicans as well as the Iesuits all do generally maintain that man hath Free-will but the Orthodox say that Free-will is corrupted and disposed to evil Epiphanius condemned Origen for saying that man had lost the image of God and makes it a point of Heresie And yet one may truly say that man hath lost Gods image and another may truly say that he hath not lost it For there is a twofold image of God on man the one is Natural and that is Our Reason and Free-will and this is not lost The other is Qualitative and Ethical and this is our Holiness and this is lost and by Grace restored No man of brains denyeth that man hath a will that 's Naturally free It s free from violence and its a self determining Principle But it is not free from evil Dispositions It is Habitually averse to God and Holiness and enclined to earthly fleshly things It is enslaved by a sinful byas This no man me thinks that it a Christian should deny and of the Aged I see not how an Infidel can deny it Alas we easily confess to you that you have not this Spiritual Moral-Free will which is but your right Inclination and your Habitual Willingness it self If you had a will that were freed from wicked Inclinations I had no need to write such Books aâ— this to perswade you to be willing in a case which your own salvation lyeth on To the grief of our souls we perceive after all our preaching and perswasions that the ungodly have not this spiritual free wil. But this is nothing but your willingness it self inclination to be willing and therefore the want of it is so far from excusing you that the more you want it that is the more you are wilful in sin the worse you are and the sorer will be your punishment And our preaching and perswasion and your Hearing and Considering are the appointed means it get this Moral power or Freedom that is to make you truly willing Well Sirs I have but three requests to you and I have done First that you will seriously read over this small Treatise and if you have such as need it in your Families that you would read it over and over to them and if those that fear God would go now and then to their ignorant neighbours and read â—his or some other Book to them of â—his subject they might be a meanâ— of winning of souls If we cannot intreate so small a Labour of men for their own salvation as to read such short Instructions as these they set little by themselves and will most justly perish Secondly when you have
their worldly business and little trouble their minds with such thoughts And if they be but restrained from scandalous sins and can say I am no whore-monger nor thief nor curser nor swearer nor tipler nor exâ—ortioner I go to Church and say my prayers they think that this is true Conversion and they shall be saved as well as any Alas this is foolish cheating of your selves This is too much contempt of an endless glory and too gross neglect of your immortal souls Can you make so light of Heaven and Hell Your corpses will shortly all lye in the dust and Angels or Devils will presently seize upon your souls and every man and woman of you all will shortly be among other company and in another case then now you are you will dwell in those houses but a little longer you will work in your shops and fields but a little longer you will sit in those seats and dwell on this earth but a little longer you will see with those eyes and hear with those ears and speak with those tongues but a little longer till the Resurrection day and can you make shift to forget this O what a place will you be shortly in of Joy or Torment O what a sight will you shortly see in Heaven or Hell O what thoughts will shortly fill your hearts with unspeakable Delight or Horrour What work will you be employed in to Praise the Lord with Saints and Angels or to cry out in fire unquenchable with Devils And should all this be forgotten And all this will be endless and sealed up by an unchangeable decree Eternity Eternity will be the measure of your Joyes or sorrows and can this be forgotten And all this is true Sirs most certain true when you have gone up and down a little longer and slept and awak't a few tunes more you 'l be dead and gone and find all true that now I tell you and yet can you now so much forget it You shall then remember that you heard this Sermon and that this day from this place you were remembered of these things and perceive them matters a thousand times greater then either you or I could here conceive and yet shall they be now so much forgotten Beloved friends if the Lord had not awakened me to believe and lay to heart these things my self I should have remained in the dark and selfish state and have perished for ever but if he have truly made me sensible of them it will constrain me to compassionate you as well as my self If your eyes were so far opened as to see Hell and you saw your neighbours that were Unconverted dragg'd thither with hideous cries though they were such as you accounted honest people on earth and feared no such matter by themselves such a sight would make you go home and think of it and think again and make you warn all about you as the damned worldling in Luke 16.28 would have had his Brethen warned lest they come to that place of torment Why faith is a kind of sight it is the eye of the soul the Evidence of things aot seen If I believe God it is next to seeing And therefore I beseech you excuse me if I be half as earnest with you about these matters as if I had seen them If I must die to morrow and it were in my power to come again from another world and tell you what I had seen would you not be willing to hear me and would you not believe and regard what I should tell you If I might preach one Sermon to you after I am dead and have seen what is done in the world to come would you not have me plainly speak the truth and would you not crowd to hear me and would you not lay it to heart but this must not be God hath his appointed way of teaching you by Scripture and Ministers and he will not humour Unbelievers so far as to send men from the dead to them and to alter his establisht way if any man quarrel with the Sun God will not humour him so far as to set him up a clearer light Friends I beseech you regard me now as you would do if I should come from the dead to you for I can give you as full assurance of the truth of what I say to you as if I had been there and seen it with my eyes For its possible for one from the dead to deceive you but Jesus Christ can never deceive you the Word of God delivered in Scripture and sealed up by the Miracles and holy workings of the Spirit can never deceive you Believe this or believe nothing Believe and obey this or you are undone Now as ever you believe the Word of God and as ever you care for the salvation of your souls let me beg of you this reasonable request and I beseech you deny me not that you would without any more delay when you are gone from hence remember what you heard and enter into an earnest search of your hearts and say to your selves Is it so indeed must I Turn or Die Must I be Converted or Condemned It s time for me then to look about me before it be too lâ—te Oh why did I not look after this till now Why did I venturously poste off or flubber over so great a business Was I awake or in my wits Oh blessed God what a mercy is it that thou didst not cut off my life all this while before I had any certain hope of eternal life Well God forbid that I should neglect this work any longer What state is my soul in Am I Câ—nverted or am I not Was ever such a change or work done upon my soul Have I been illuminated by the Word and Spirit of the Lord to see the odiousness of sin the need of a Saviour the Love of Christ and the Excellencies of God and Glory Is my heart broken or humbled within me for my former life Have I thankfully entertained my Saviour and Lord that offered himself with pardon and life to my soul Do I hate my former sinful life and the remnant of every sin that is in me Do I flie from them as my deadly enemies Do I give up my self to a life of Holiness and Obedience to God Do I love it and delight in it Can I truly say that I am dead to the world and carnal self and that I live for God and the Glory which he hath promised Haâ—h Heaven more of my Estimation and Resolution then Earth And is God the dearest and the Highest in my soul Once I am sure I lived principally to the world and flâ—sh and God had nothing but some heartless services which the world could spare and which were the leavings of the flesh Is my heart now turned another way Have I a new design and a new end and a new train of holy affectâ—ons Have I set my hopes and heart in heaven And is it now the scope and design
and bent of my heart and life to get well to heaven and see the glorious face of God and live in his everlasting Love and Praise And when I sin is it against the very habitual bent and design of my heart And do I conquer all gross sins and am I weary and willing to be rid of mine infirmities This is the state of a Converted soul. And thus must tâ— be with me or I must perish Is it thus indeed with me or is it not It s time to get this doubt resolved before the dreadful Iudge resolve it I am not such a stranger to my own heart and life but I may somewhat perceive whether I am thus Converted or not if I be not it will do me no good to flatter my soul with false conceits and hopes I am resolved no more to deceive my self but to endeavour to know truly off or on whether I be Converted yea or no that If I be I may rejoyce in it and glorifie my gracious Lord and comfortably go on till I reach the Crown and if I am not I may set my self to beg and seek after the Grace that should convert me and may turn without any more delay For if I find in time that I am out of the way by the help of Christ I may turn and be recovered but if I stay till either my heart be forsaken of God in blindness and hardness or till I be catcht away by death it s then too late There is no place for Repentance and Conversion then I know it must be now or never Sirs this is my request to you that you will but take your hearts to task and thus examine them till you see if it may be whether you are Converted or not and if you cannot find it out by your own endeavours go to your Ministers if they be faithful and experienced men and desire their assistance The matter is great let not bashfulness nor carelesness hinder you They are set over you to advise you for the saving of your souls as Physitians advise you for the curing of your bodies It undoes many thousands that they think they are in the way to salvation when they are not and think that they are Converted when it is no such thing And then when we call to them daily to Turn they go away as they came and think that this concerns not them for they are turned already and hope they shall do well enough in the way that they are in at least if they do pick the fairest path and avoid some of the foulest steps when alas all this while they live but to the world and flesh and are strangers to God and Eternal life and are quite out of the way to Heaven And all this is much because we cannot perswade them to a few serious thoughts of their Condition and to spend a few hours in the examining of their states Is there not many a self-deceiving wretch that heareth me this day that never bestowed one hour or quarter of an hour in all their lives to examine their souls and try whether they are truly Converted or not O merciful God that will care for such wretches that care no more for themselves and that will do so much to save them from Hell and help them to Heaven who will do so little for it themselves If all that are in the way to Hell and in a state of damnation did but know it they durst not continue in it The greatest hope that the Devil hath of bringing you to damnation without a rescue is by keeping you blindfold and ignorant of your state and making you believe that you may do well enough in the way that you are in If you knew that you are out of the way to heaven and were lost for ever if you should die as you are durst you sleep another night in the state that you are in durst you live another day in it Could you heartily laugh or be merry in such a state What! And not know but you may be snatcht away to hell in an hour Sure it would constrain you to forsake your former company and courses and to betake your selves to the waies of Holiness and the Communion of the Saints Sure it would drive you to cry to God for a new heart and to seek help of those that are fit to counsel you There 's none of you sure that cares not for being damned Well then I beseech you presently make enquiry into your hearts and give them no rest till you find out your condition that if it be good you may rejoyce in it and go on and if it be bad you may presently look about you for recovery as men that believe they must Turn or Die What say you Sirs Will you resolve and promise to be at this much labour for your own souls Will you fall upon this self examination when you come home Is my request unreasonable Your consciences know it is not Resolve on it then before you stir Knowing how much it concerneth your souls I beseech you for the sake of that God that doth command you at whose Bar you will shortly all appear that you will not deny me this reasonable request For the sake of those souls that must turn or dye I beseech you deny me not even but to make it your business to understand your own Conditions and build upon sure ground and know off or on whether you are Converted or no and venture not your souls on negligent security But perhaps you 'l say What if we should find our selves yet unconverted what shall we do then This question leadeth me to my second Doctrine which will do much to the answering of it to which I shall now proceed Doct. 2. IT is the Promise of God that the wicked shall Live if they will but Turn Vnfeignedly and throughly Turn The Lord here professeth that this is it that he takes pleasure in that the wicked Turn and Live Heaven is made as sure to the Converted as Hell is to the Unconverted Turn and Live is as certain a truth as Turn or Dye God was not bound to provide us a Saviour nor open to us a door of hope nor call us to Repent and Turn when once we had cast our selves away by sin But he hath freely done it to magnifie his Mercy Sinners there 's none of you shall have cause to go home and say I preach desperation to you Do we use to shut up the door of Mercy against you O that you would not shut it up against your selves Do we use to tell you that God will have no mercy on you though you Turn and be Sanctified When did you ever hear a Preacher say such a word You that bark at the Preachers of the Gospel for desiring to keep you out of Hell and say that they Preach Desperation tell me if you can when did you ever hear any sober man say that there is no hope for you
of men that will quench Hell-fire or make him a saver that loseth his soul. O if you had heard what I believe if you had seen what I believe and that on the credit of the word of God you would say there can be no reason to warrant a man to damn his soul You durst not sleep quietly another night before you had resolved to Turn and Live If you see a man put his hand into the fire till it burn off you 'l marvail at it but this is a thing that a man may have Reason for as Bishop Cranmer had when he burnt off his hand for subscribing to Popery If you see a man cut off a leg or an arm it s a sad sight but this is a thing that a man may have good reason for as many a man doth it to save his life If you see a man give his body to be burnt to ashes and to be tormented with strappado's and racks and refuse deliverance when it is offered this is a hard case to flesh and blood But this a man may have good reason for as you may see in Heb. 11.33 34 35 36. and as many an hundred Martyrs have done But for a man to forsake the Lord that made him and for a man to run into the fire of Hell when he is told of it and intreated to Turn that he may be saved this is a thing that can have no Reason in the world that is Reason indeed to justifie or excuse it For Heaven will pay for the loss of any thing that we can lose to get it or for any labour which we bestow for it But nothing can pay for the loss of Heaven I beseech you now let this word come nearer to your hearts As you are convinced that you have no Reason to destroy your selves so tell me what Reason have you to refuse to Turn and live to God What Reason hath the veriest worldling or drunkard or ignorant careless sinner of you all why you should not be as holy as any you know and be as carefull for your souls as any other Will not hell be as hot to you as to others Should not your own souls be as dear to you as theirs to them Hath not God as much authority over you Why then will you not become a sanctified people as well as they O Sirs when God bringeth the matter down to the very Principles of nature and shews you that you have no more reason to be undgodly then you have to damn your own souls if yet you will not understand and Turn it seems a Desperate case that you are in And now either you have Reason for what you do or you have not If not will you go on against Reason it self Will you do that which you have no Reason for But if you think you have produce them and make the best of your matter Reason the case a little with me your fellow-creature which is far easier then to reason the case with God Tell me man here before the Lord as if thou wert to die this hour Why shouldst thou not resolve to Turn this day before thou stir from the place thou standest in What Reason hast thou to deny or to delay Hast thou any Reason that satisfieth thine own conscience for it Or any that thou darest own and plead at the barr of God If thou hast let us hear them bring them forth and make them good But alas what poor stuff what nonsense instead of reason do we daily hear from ungodly men But for their necessity I should be ashamed to name them 1. One saith If none shall be saved but such Converted and Sanctified ones as you talk of then heaven would be but empty then God help a great many Answ. What! it seems you think that God doth not know or else that he is not to be believed Measure not all by your selves God hath thousands and millions of his sanctified ones but yet they are few in comparison of the world as Christ himself hath told us Matthew 7.13 14. Luke 12.32 It better beseems you to make that use of this truth which Christ teacheth you Strive to enter in at the strait gate for strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it but wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many they be that go in thereat Luke 13.22 23 24. Fear not little flock saith Christ to his sanctified ones for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Luke 12 32. Object 2. I am sure if such as I go to Hell we shall have store of company Answ. And will that be any ease or comfort to you Or do you think you may not have company enough in Heaven Will you be undone for company Or will you not believe that God will execute his threatnings because they be so many that are guilty All these are silly unreasonable conceits Object 3. But are not all men sinners even the best of you all Answ. But all are not unconverted sinners The godly live not in gross sin and their very infirmities are their grief and burden which they daily long and pray and strive to be rid of Sin hath not dominion over them Object 4. I do not see that Professors are any better then other men They will over-reach and oppress and are as Covetous as any Answ. Whatever hypocrites are it s not so with those that are sanctified God hath thousands and thousands that are otherwise Though the malicious world doth accuse them of what they can never prove and of that which never entred into their hearts And commonly they charge them with heart-sins which none can see but God because they can charge them with no such wickedness in their lives as they are guilty of themselves Object 5. But I am no whoremonger nor drunkard nor oppressor and therefore why should you call upon me to be Converted Answ. As if you were not born after the flesh and had not lived after the flesh as well as otherâ— Is it not as great a sin as any of these for a man to have an earthly mind and to love the world above God and to have an unbelieving unhumbled heart Nay let me tell you more that many persons that avoid disgraceful sins are as fast glued to the world and as much slaves to the flesh and as strange to God and a verse to heaven in their more civil course as others are in their more shameful notorious sins Object 6. But I mean nobody any harm nor do no harm and why then should God condemn me Answ. Is it no harm to neglect the Lord that made thee and the work for which thou camest into the world and to prefer the creature before the Creator and to neglect the grace that is daily offered there It is the depth of thy sinfulness to be so insensible of it The dead feel
wilfulness and stubbornness Ier. 2.12 13. Be astonished O heavens at this and be horribly afraid For my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water Many a time hath Christ proclaimed that free invitation to you Revel 22.17 Let him that is a thirst come and whoever will let him take the water of life freely But you put him to complain after all his offers They will not come to me that they may have life Iohn 5.40 He hath invited you to feast with him in the Kingdom of his grace and you have had excuses from your grounds and your cattel and your worldly business and when you would not come you have said you could not and provoked him to resolve that you should never taste of his Supper Luke 14.15 to 25. And who is it long of now but your selves and what can you say is the chief cause of your damnation but your own Wills You would be damned The whole case is laid open by Christ himself Prov. 1. from the 20. to the end Wisdom cryeth without she uttereth her voice in the streets she crieth in the chief place of Concourse How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge Turn ye at my reproofs behold I will pour out my spirit unto you I will make known my words unto you Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hands and no man regarded but ye have set at naught all my counsel and would none of my reproofs I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me For that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsels they despised all my reproof Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices For the turning away of the simple shall stay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them But who so hearkeneth to me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from the fear of evil I thought best to recite the whole text at large to you because it doth so fully shew the cause of the destruction of the wicked It is not because God would not teach them but because they would not learn It is not because God would not Call them but because they would not Turn at his reproof Their wilfulness is their undoing Vse FRom what hath been said you may further learn these following things 1. From hence you may see not only what blasphemy and impiety it is to lay the blame of mens destruction upon God but also how unfit these wicked wretches are to bring in such a charge against their Maker They cry out upon God and say He gives them not grace and his threatnings are severe and God forbid that all should be damned that be not Converted and Sanctified and they think it hard measure that a short sin should have an endless suffering and if they be damned they say they cannot help it When in the mean time they are busie about their own destruction even cutting the throat of their own souls and will not be perswaded to hold their hands They think God were cruel if he should damn them and yet they are so cruel to themselves that they will run into the fire of Hell when God hath told them it is a little before them and neither intreaties nor threatnings nor any thing that can be said will stop them We see them almost undone Their careless worldly fleshly lives do tell us that they are in the power of the Devil we know if they die before they are Converted all the world cannot save them and knowing the uncertainty of their lives we are afraid every day lest they drop into the fire And therefore we intreat them to pitty their own souls and not to undo themselves when mercy is at hand and they will not hear us We intreat them to cast away their sin and come to Christ without delay and to have some mercy on themselves but they will have none And yet they think that God must be cruel if he condemn them O wilful wretched sinners It is not God that is cruel to you it is you that are cruel to your selves You are told you must Turn or burn and yet you Turn not You are told that if you will needs keep your sins you shall keep the Curse of God with them and yet you will keep them You are told that there is no way to Happiness but by Holiness and yet you will not be Holy What would you have God say more to you What would you have him do with his Mercy He offereth it you and you will not have it You are in the ditch of sin and misery and he would give you his hand to help you out and you refuse his help he would cleanse you of your sins and you had rather keep them You love your lust and love your gluttony and sports and drunkenness and will not let them go Would you have him bring you to Heaven whether you will or no Or would you have him bring you and your sins to heaven together Why that 's an impossibility you may as well expect he should turn the Sun into Darkness What! an unsanctified fleshly heart be in Heaven it cannot be There entreth nothing that is unclean Revel 21.27 For what Communion hath light with darkness or Christ with Belial 2 Corinth 6.14 15. All the day long hath he stretched out his hand to a disobedient and gain saying people Romans 10.25 What will you do now Will you cry to God for mercy why God calleth upon you to have mercy upon your selves and you will not Ministers see the poysoned cup in the drunkards hand and tell him There is poyson in it and desire him to have Mercy on his soul and forbear and he will not hear us drink it he must and will he loves it and therefore though Hell come next he saith he cannot help it What should one say to such men as these We tell the ungodly careless worldling It is not such a life that will serve the turn or ever bring you to Heaven If a Bear were at your back you would mend your pace and when the curse of God is at your back and Satan and Hell are at your back will you not stir but ask what needs all this ado Is an immortal soul of no more worth O have mercy upon your selves But they will have no mercy on themselves nor once regard us We tell them the end will be bitter Who can dwell with the
everlasting fire And yet they will have no mercy upon themselves And yet will these shameless wretches say that God is more merciful then to condemn them when it is themselves that cruelly and unmercifully run upon Condemnation and if we should go to them with our hats in our hands and intreate them we cannot stop them If we should fall down on our knees to them we cannot stop them but to Hell they will and yet will not believe that they are going thither If we beg of them for the sake of God that made them and preserveth them for the sake of Christ that dyed for them for the sake of their own poor souls to pitty themselves and go no further in the way to Hell but come to Christ while his arms are open and enter into a state of life while the door stands open and now take mercy while mercy may be had they will not be perswaded If we should die for it we cannot get them so much as now and then to consider with themselves of the matter and to Turn And yet they can say I hope God will be merciful Did you ever consider what he saith Isa. 27.11 It is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he hath formed them will show them no favour If another man will not cloath you when you are naked and feed you when you are hungry you will say he is unmerciful If he should cast you into prison or beat and torment you you would say he is unmerciful And yet you will do a thousand times more against your selves even cast away both soul and body for ever and never complain of your own unmercifulness Yea and God that waited upon you all the while with his mercy must be taken to be unmerciful if he punish you after all this Unless the holy God of Heaven will give these wretches leave to trample upon his Sons blood and with the Jews as it were again to spit in his face and do despight to the Spirit of grace and make a jest of sin and a mock at holiness and set more light by saving mercy then by the filth of their fleshly pleasures and unless after all this he will save them by the mercy which they cast away and would none of God himself must be called unmerciful by them But he will be justified when he Judgeth and he will not stand or fall at the bar of a sinful worm I know there are many particular cavils that are brought by them against the Lord but I shall not here stay to answer them particularly having done it already in in my Treatise of Iudgement to which I shall refer them Had the disputing part of the world been as careful to avoid sin and destruction as they have been busie in searching after the cause of them and forward indirectly to impute it to God they might have exercised their wits more profitably and have less wronged God and sped better themselves When so ugly a monster as sin is within us and so heavy a thing as punishment is on us and so dreadful a thing as Hell is before us one would think it should be an easie question who is in the fault and whether God or man be the principal or culpable cause Some men are such favourable Judges of themselves that they are proner to accuse the Infinite Perfection and Goodness it self then their own hearts and imitate their first parents that said The Serpent tempted me and the woman that thou gavest me gave unto me and I did eat secretly implying that God was the cause So say they The understanding that thou gavest me was unable to discern the will that thou gavest me was unable to make a better choice the objects which thou diast set before me did entice me the temptation which thou didst permit to assault me prevailed against me And some are so loth to think that God can make a self-determining creature that they dare not deny him that which they take to be his prerogative to be the determiner of the will in every sin as the first efficient immediate physical cause And many could be content to acquit God from so much causing of evil if they could but reconcile it with his being the chief cause of good as if truths must be no longer truths then we are able to see them in their perfect order and coherence because our râ—velled wits cannot set them right together nor assign each truth its proper place we presume to conclude that some must be cast away This is the fruit of proud self-conceitedness when men receive not Gods truths as a child his lesson in an holy submission to the omniscience of our Teacher but as Censurers that are too wise to learn Object But we cannot Convert our selves till God Convert us we can do nothing without his grace It is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy Answ. 1. God hath two degrees of mercy to shew the mercy of Conversion first and the mercy of Salvation list the latter he will give to none but those that will and run and hath promised it to them only The former is to make them willing that were unwilling and though your own willing and endeavours deserve not this grace yet your wilfull refusal deserveth that it should be denyed to you Your disabily is your very unwillingness it self which excuseth not your sin but maketh it the greater You could Turn if you were but truly willing and if your wills themselves are so corrupted that nothing but effectual grace will move them you have the more cause to seek for that grace and yield to it and do what you can in the use of means and not neglect it or set against it Do what you are able first and then complain of God for denying you grace if you have cause Object But you seem to intimate all this while that man hath free will Answer The dispute about free-will is beyond your capacity I shall therefore now trouble you with no more but this about it Your will is naturally a free that is a self-determining faculty but it is vitiously inclined and backward to good and therefore we see by sad experience that it hath not a vertuous moral freedom But that is the wickedness of it which deserveth the punishment And I pray you let us not befool our selves with opinions Let the case be your own If you have an enemy so malicious that he falls upon you and beats you every time he meets you and takes away the lives of your children will you excuse him because he saith I have not free will it is my nature I cannot choose unless God give me grace If you have a servant that robbeth you will you take such an answer from him Might not every Thief and Murderer that is hanged it the Assize give such an answer I have not free-will