mayst have disgorged a troublesome fin that will not sit in thy stomach and have escaped those gross pollutions of the world and yet not have changed thy swinish nature all the while 2 Pet. 2 20. 22. You may cast the lead out of the rude mass into the more comely proportion of a plant and then into the shape of a beast and thence into the form and features of a man but all the while it is but lead still So a man may pass thro' divers transmutations from ignorance to knowledge from profaneness to civility thence to a form of Religion and all this while he is but carnal and unregenerate while his nature remains unchanged Application Hear then O sinners hear as you would live so come and â—ear Isa. 55. 3. Why would you so wilfully deceive your selves or build your hopes upon the sand I know he shall find hard work of it that goes to pluck away your hopes It cannot but be ungrateful to you and truly it is not pleasing to me I set about it as a Surgeon when to cut off a putrified Member from his well Beloved friend which of force he must do but with an aking heart a pitiful eye a trembling hand But understand me Brethren I am only taking down the ruinous house which will otherwise speedily fall of it self and bury you in the rubbish that I may build fair and strong and firm for ever The hope of the wicked shall perish if God be true of his word Prov. 11. 7. And wert not thou better O sinner to let the word convince thee now in time and let go thy false and self-deluding hopes than to have death too late to open thine eyes and find thy self in hell before thou art aware I should be a false and faithless Shepherd if I should not tell you that you who have built your hopes upon no better grounds than these forementioned are yet in your sins Let your conscience speak what is it that you have to plead for your selves Is it that you wear Christ's livery that you bear his name that you are of the visible Church that you have knowledge in the Points of Religion are civilized perform religious duties are just in your dealings have been troubled in conscience for your sins I tell you from the Lord these pleas will never be accepted at God's Bar. All this though good in it self will not prove you converted and so will not suffice to your salvation Oh look about you and bethink your selves of turning speedily and soundly Set to praying and to reading and studying your own hearts rest not till God hath made thorough work with you for you must be other men or else you are lost men But if these be short of Conversion what shall I say of the profane sinner It may be he will scarce cast his Eyes or lend his Fars to this discourse But if there be any such reading or within hearing he must know from the Lord that made him that he is far from the Kingdom of God. May a man be civilized and not converted where then shall the Drunkard and Glutton appear May a man keep company with the wise Virgins and yet be shut out Shall not a companion of fools much more be destroyed Prov. 13. 20. May a man be true and just in his dealing and yet not be justified of God What then will become of thee O wretched man whose conscience tells thee thou art false in thy trade and false of thy word and makest thy advantage by a lying tongue If men may be enlightned and brought to the performance of holy duties and yet go down to perdition for resting in them and sitting down on this side of conversion what will become of you O miserable families that live as without God in the world and of you O wretched sinners with whom God is scarce in all your thoughts that are so ignorant that you cannot or so careless that you will not pray O repent and be converted break off your sins by righteousness away to Christ for pardoning and renewing grace give up your selves to him to walk with him in holiness or else you shall never see God. Oh that you would take the warnings of God! In his name I once more admonish you Turn you at my reproof Prov. 1. 23. Forsake the foolish and live Prov. 9. 6. Be sober righteous godly Tit. 2. 12. Wash your hands you sinners purifie your hearts ye double minded Iames 4. 8. Cease to do evil learn to do well Isa. 1. 16 17. But if you will on you must die Ezek. 33. 11. Chap. II. Shewing positively what Conversion is I May not leave you with your eyes half open as he that saw men as trees walking Mark 8. 24. The word is profitable for Doctrine as well as reproof 2 Tim. 3. 16. And therefore having thus far conducted you by the shelves and rocks of so many dangerous mistakes I would guide you at length into the Harbour of truth Conversion then in short lies in the thorow change both of the heart and life I shall briefly describe it in its nature and causes 1. The Author it is the spirit of God and therefore it is called the sanctification of the spirit 2. Thes. 2. 13. and the renewing of the holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. Yet not excluding the other Persons in the Trinity For the Apostle â—eacheth us to bless the father of our Lord Jesus Christ for that he hath begotten us again 1 Pet. 1. 3. and Christ is said to give repentance to Israel Acts 5. 31. and is called the everlasting Father Isa. 9. 6. and we his seed and the Children which God hath given him Heb 2. 13. Isa. 53. 10. O blessed Birth Seven Cities contended for the Birth of Homer but the whole Trinity fathers the new creature Yet is this work principally ascribed to the Holy Ghost and so we are said to be born of the Spirit Iob. 3. 8. So then it is a work above man's power We are born not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Iohn 1. 13. Never think thou canst convert thy self If ever thou wouldst be saveingly converted thou must despair of doing it in thine own strength Ier. 13. 18. It is a Resurrection from the dead Rev. 20. 5. Eph. 2. 1. a new creation Gal. 6. 15. Eph. 2. 10. a work of absolute omnipotency Eph. 1. 19. Are these out of the reach of humane power If thou hast no more than thou hadst by thy first birth a good nature a meek and chast temper c. thou art a very stranger to true Conversion This is a supernatural work 2. The moving Cause is Internal or External The Internal mover is only free grace Not by works of righteousness which we have done But of his own mercy he saved us by the renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. Of his own will begat he us Iam. 1. We are chosen and called
A Sure Guide TO HEAVEN OR An Earnest Invitation to Sinners to turn to God in order to their Eternal Salvation Shewing the thoughtful Sinner what he must do to be saved By Ioseph Alleine late Minister of the Gospel at Taunton in Somersetshire John 3. 3. Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God. LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1688. TO THE READER That would be safe and happy IF it were only possible thou mayst live hereafter and be called to account in another world for what thou dost in this it would be thy wisdom to take the safest course and not to run the constant hazard of being dragg'd by death to Iudgment before thou wert prepar'd to meet thy Iudge But another Life and a Judgment to come are more than possible there is an high probability yea as great a certainty as can with reason he expected that death will not put an end to thy being that thou shalt live after the return of thy body to the Earth and that then thou shalt be tryed and sentenced to such an happiness or misery as will be incomparably greater than any thing nay than all thou didst ever feel or see hear of or imagine These weighty Truths are taught and establisht in some measure by the Light of Nature but much more clearly and firmly by the Oracles of God in the Holy Scriptures Besides what they say of the different states of separated Souls they plainly teach and strongly assert That God hath appointed a time in which he will judge the whole world by the Mediator Jesus Christ that that great Mediator who is God as well as Man will descend from Heaven attended by its glorious Inhabitants with triumphant Acclamations to his Royal Throne that a mighty Voice will cite all that ever dwelt on Earth to make their personal appearance that that awakening and commanding Summons shall be presently heard and obeyed by the dead and they with the quick then remaining alive shall all stand before the Judgment Seat that after a throughly searching and impartial tryal which will reach mens several talents trusts and opportunities of getting and doing good and their most secret actions words and thoughts every one shall receive an unalterable Sentence of Absolution or Condemnation and that then such as are approv'd and absolv'd shall inherit an heavenly Kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world be like the Angels their delightful Companions converse with their most amiable and loving Saviour beholding and partaking of his glory yea resemble see and enjoy God himself in compleated Holiness and everlasting Bliss And those on the other hand that are reprobated and damn'd shall never be admitted into the Regions of Light nor yet be favour'd with a glimpse thereof but suffer with Devils in the blackness of darkness for ever the perpetual gnawings of the Worm that dieth not and the extreme torments of unquenchable fire Seeing then these things cannot be denied thou must be guilty of such woful abuses of reason as far exceed all the extravagancies of them that want it thou must be most grosly foolish most unnaturally cruel to thine own Soul to thy whole self if thou dost not earnestly desire to be one of those unto whom the Lord shall say Come ye blessed and not Depart ye cursed if thou dost not readily welcom and diligently use any proper helps for the avoiding of the heaviest endless misery and for the attaining of the purest vastest everlasting happiness And such helps are now offered thee in this little Book which hath a taking tincture of the excellent Author's flaming love to God and useful Charity to the Souls of men and now it is in thine hand let me tell thee it cannot be refus'd the reading or reaâ— without doing what it so plainly teacheth and affectionately urgeth but at thy greatest peril If thou wilt not be at a small expence of time and pains to read it over if after the neglect of so many means of instruction this also be rejected how justly mayst thou be destroyed for lack of knowledge How soon may the things which belong unto thy peace be hid from thine eyes A continued wilful want of understanding is large ground for fear lest he that made thee should not have mercy on thee and he that form'd and redeem'd thee should shew thee no favour If thou readest but dost not practise what Scripture and Reason so pathetically plead for the increase of thy knowledge will increase thy sorrow because it will aggravate thy sin for to him that knows his Lords will how and why to do good and doth it not but the forbidden evil to him 't is heinous inexcusable sin for which he is liable to be beaten with many stripes in constant dreadful danger of severer punishment I hope therefore thou wilt peruse so short a discourse and art not unwilling to do it in such a manner as to grow acquainted with and be perswaded to thy great duty and which is inseparable from it thy greatest advantage and that thou may'st not fail thereof is the design of the following Directions 1. Pray in the name of Christ as thou art and shalt be enabled for the more effectual assistances of the Holy Spirit Such is the corruption of our nature that it utterly disables to make a saving use of outward means without inward aids Unless the Spirit by his powerful operations work thee into a serious teachable temper set home the attempts of Gods Messengers and give them an efficacy far beyond their own the most concerning truths and weightiest arguments can never be so represented and inforc'd as to overcome thy sensual worldly inclinations rescue thee from the dominion of sin and Satan and bring thee back to God. Thou must therefore pray and that with becoming apprehensions of the great God due regard to the gracious Mediator deep shame and sorrow for the â—ins thou confessest ardent desires of all the grace thou beggest and faithful improvements of such measures as thou hast already received And if thou thus askest with fervent importunity and persevering constancy thou wilt undoubtedly find that God bade thee not to seek his face in vain As our Lord warrants us to argue Luke II. If a man will not deny a Friend what he is importunate for and if a Father will grant his Son what he asks and wants much more will thy Heavenly Father give thee the Holy Spirit for all needful purposes to produce all those effects in thee that are truly necessary for thine Eternal Salvation 2. Consider seriously what thou readest and work it on thy Soul as far as thou art concern'd therein Medicines for the Body will operate though they are not thought of but Spiritual Remedies for the mind require its co-operation with them the clearest explications fullest proofs and strongest motives about matters of nearest and
Jesus Christ Acts 4. 12. Thou must unlearn tâ—y self and renounce thine own wisdom thine own righteousness thine own strength and throw thy self wholly upon Christ as a man that swimmeth casteth himself upon the water or else thou canst not escape While men trust in themselves and establish their own righteousness and have confidence in the flesh they will not come savingly to Christ Luke 18. 9. Phil. 3. 3. Thou must know thy gain to be but loss and dung thy strength but weakness thy righteousness rags and rottenness before there will be an effectual closure between Christ and thee Phil. 3. 7 8 9. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Isa. 64. 6. Can the lifeless carcass shake off its grave cloths and loose the bonds of death Then mayst thou recover thy self who art dead in trespasses and sins and under an impossibility of serving thy Maker acceptably in this condition Rom. 8. 8. Heb. â—1 6. Therefore when thou goest to pray or meditate or to do any of the duties to which thou art here directed go out of thy self call in the help of the Spirit as despairing to do any thing pleasing to God in thine own strength Yet neglect not thy duty but lie at the pool and wait in the way of the Spirit While the Eunuch was reading then the Holy Ghost sent Philip to him Acts 8. 28 29. when the Disciples were praying Acts 4. 31. when Cornelius and his friends were hearing Acts 10. 44. then the Holy Ghost fell upon them and filled them all Strive to give up thy self to Christ Strive to pray strive to meditate strive an hundred and an hundred times try to do it as well as thou canst and while thou art endeavouring in the way of thy duty the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee and help thee to do what of thy self thou art utterly unable unto Prov. 1. 23. Direct V. Forthwith renounce all thy sins If thou yield thy self to the contrary practice of any sin thou art undone Rom. 6. 17. in vain dost thou hope for life by Christ except thou dâ—part from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. Forsake thy sins or else thou canst not find mercy Prov. 28. 13. Thou canst not be married to Christ except divorced from sin Give up the Traitor or you can have no peace with Heaven Cast the head of Sheba over the wall Keep not Dalilah in thy lap Thou must part with thy sins or with thy soul. Spare but one sin and God will not spare thee Never make excuses thy sins must die or thou must die for them Psal. 68. 21. If thou allow of one sin though but a little a secret one though thou may'st plead necessity and have a hundred shifts and excuses for it the life of thy soul must go for the life of that sin Ezek. 18. 21. and will it not be dearly bought O sinner hear and consider If thou wilt part with thy sins God will give thee his Christ Is not this a fair exchange I testifie unto thee this day that if thou perish it is not because there was never a Saviour provided nor life tendred but because thou preferredst with the Jews the Murderer before thy Saviouâ— sin before Christ and lovedst darkness rather than light Iohn 3. 19. Search thy heart therefore with Candles as the Jews did their Houses for Leaven before the Passover Labour to find out thy sins enter into thy Closet and consider What evil have I lived in What duty have I neglected towards God What sin have I lived in against my Brother And now strike the darts through the heart of thy sin as Iâ—ab did through Absalom's 2 Sam. 18. 14. Never stand looking upon thy sin nor rolling the morsel under thy tongue Iob 20. 11. but spit it out as poyson with fear and detestation Alas what will thy sins do for thee that thou shouldst stick at parting with them They will flatter thee but they will undo thee and cut thy throat while they smile upon thee and poyson thee while they please thee and arm the justice and wrath of the infinite God against thee They will open Hell for thee and pile up fuel to burn thee Behold the Gibbet that they have prepared for thee Oh serve them like Haman and do upon them the Execution they would else have done upon thee Away with them crucifie them and let Christ only be Lord over thee Direct VI. Make a solemn choice of God for thy portion and blessedness Deut. 26. With all possible devotion and veneration avouch the Lord for thy God. Set the world with all its glory and paint and gallantry with all its pleasures and promotions on the one hand and set God with all his infinite excellencies and perfections on the other and see that thou do deliberately make thy choice Iosh. 24. 15. Take up thy rest in God Iob. 6. 68. Set thee down under his shadow Cant. 2. 3. Let his promises and perfections turn the scale against all the world Settle it upon thy heart that the Lord is an all-sufficient portion that thou canst not be miserable while thou hast a God to live upon take him for thy shield and exceeding great reward God alone is more than all the world Content thy self with him Let others carry the preferments and glory of the world place thou thy happiness in his favour and the light of his countenance Psal. 4. 6 7. Poor sinner thou art fallen off from God and hast engaged his power and wrath against thee Yet know that of his abundant grace he doth offer to be thy God again in Christ 2 Cor. 6. 17 18. What sayest thou man Wilt thou have the Lord for thy God Why take this counsel and thou shalt have him Come to him by his Christ Ioh. 14. 6. Renounce the Idols of thine own pleasures gain reputation 1 Thes. 1. 9. Let these be pulled out of the Throne and set Gods interest uppermost in thine â—eare Take him as God to be chief in thine affections estimations intentions for he will not endure to have any set above him Rom. 1. 24 Psal. 73. 25. In a word thou must take him in all his Personal Relations and in all his Essential Perfections First In all his Personal Relations God the Father must be taken for thy Father Ier. 3. 4 19 22. O come to him with the Prodigal Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am not worthy to be called thy Son but since of thy wonderful mercy thou art pleased to take meâ— that am of my self a dog a swine a devil to be thy child I solemnly take thee for my Father commend my self to thy care and trust to thy providence and cast my burden on thy shoulders I depend on thy provision and submit to thy corrections and trust under the shadow of thy wings and hide in thy chambers and â—ly to thy name I renounce all confidence in my self I repose my confidence in thee I depose my concernments with
pardon peace life blessedness all are thine and is not this an offer worth the embracing Why shouldest thou hesitate or doubtfully dispute about the case Is it not past controversie whether God be better than sin and glory better than vanity Why shouldest thou forsake thine own mercy and sin against thine own life When wilt thou shake off thy sloth and lay by thine excuses Boast not thy self of to morrow thou knowest not where this night may lodge thee Prov. 27. 1. Beloved now the holy Spirit is striving with you He will not always strive Hast thou not selt thy heart warmed by the word and been almost perswaded to leave off thy sins and come in to God Hast thou not felt some good motions in thy mind wherein thou hast been warned of thy danger and told what thy careless course would end in It may be thou art like young Samuel who when the Lord called once and again he knew not the voice of the Lord 1 Sam. 3. 6 7. but these motions and items are the offers and essays and calls and strivings of the spirit O take the advantage of the tide and know the day of thy visitation Now the Lord Jesus stretcheth wide his arms to receive you He beseecheth you by us How movingly how meltingly how pitifully how passionately he calleth The Church is put into a sudden extasie upon the found of his voice The voice of my beloved Cant. 2. 8. O wilt thou turn a deaf ear to his voice It is not the voice that breaketh the Cedars and maketh the mountains to skip like a Calf that shaketh the Wilderness and divideth the flames of fire it is not Sinai's Thunder but the soft and still voice It is not the voice of Mount Ebal a voice of cursing and terror but the voice of Mount Gerizim the voice of blessing and of glad tidings of good things It is not the voice of the Trumpet nor the noise of War but a message of peace from the King of peace Eph. 6. 15. 2 Cor. 5. 18 20. Methinks it should be with thee as with the Spouse My soul failed when he spake Cant. 5. 6. I may say to thee O sinner as Martha to her Sister The Master is come and he calleth for thee Iohn 11. 28. Oh now with Mary arise quickly and come unto him How sweet are his invitations He cryeth in the open concourse If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink Iohn 7. 37. Prov. 1. 21. He broacheth his own body for thee O come and lay thy mouth to his side How free is he he excludeth none Whosoever will let him come and take the water of life freely Rev. 22. 17. Whose is simple let him turn in hither Come eat of my bread drink of the wine which I have mingled For sake the foolish and live Prov. 9. 4 5 6. Come unto me c. Take my yoak upon you and learn of me and ye shall find rest unto your souls Mat. 11. 28 29. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out John 6. 37. How doth he bemoan the obstinate refuser O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered by Children as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and ye would not Mat. 23. 37. Behold me behold me I have stretched out my hands all the day to a rebellious people Isa. 65. 1 2. O be perswaded now at last to throw your selves into the arms of love Behold O ye sons of men the Lord Jesus hath thrown open the prisons and now he cometh to you as the Magistrates once to them Acts 16. 39. and beseecheth you to come out If it were from a Palace or a Paradise that Christ did call you it were no wonder if you were unwilling and yet how easily was Adam tolled from thence but it is from your prison Sirs from your Chains from the Dungeon from the Darkness that he calleth you Isa. 42. 6 7. and yet will you not come He calleth you unto liberty Gal. 5. 13. and yet will you not hearken His Yoak is easie his Laws are Liberty his Service Freedom Matth. 11. 30. Iames 1. 25. 1 Cor. 7. 22. and whatever prejudices you have against his ways if a God may be believed you shall find them all pleasure and peace and shall tast sweetness and joy unutterable and take infinite delight and felicity in them Prov. 3. 17. Psal. 119. 165. â— Pet. 1. 8. Psal. 119. 103 111. Beloved I am loth to leave you I cannot tell how to give you over I am now ready to shut up but fain I would drive this bargain between Christ and you before I end What! shall I leave you as I found you at last Have you read hitherto and are not yet resolved upon a present abandoning all your sins and closing with Jesus Christ Alas what shall I say What shall I do Will you turn off all my importunity Have I run in vain Have I used so many arguments and spent so much time to perswade you and yet must sit down at last in disappointment But it is a small matter that you turn me off You put a slight upon the God that made you you reject the bowels and beseechings of a Saviour and will be found resisters of the Holy Ghost Acts 7. 51. if you will not now be prevailed with to repent and be converted Well though I have called you long and ye have refused I shall yet this once more lift up my voice like a Trumpet and cry from the highest places of the City before I conclude with a miserable Conclamatum est Once more I shall call after regardless sinners that if it be possible I may awaken them O earth earth earth hear the word of the Lord Jer. 22. 29. Unless you be resolved to die lend your ears to the last calls of mercy Behold in the name of God I make open proclamation to you Hearken unto me O ye children Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not Prov. 8. 32. 33. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me and eat â—e that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness Incline your ear and come ye unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlastingâ— Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David Isai. 55. 1 2 3. Ho every one that is sick of any manner of disease or torment Matâ—h 4. 23 24. or is possessed with an evil spirit whether of pride or fury or lust or covetousness come ye to the Physician bring away your sick Lo here is he that healeth all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people Ho every one that is in debt