be broken but upon whomsoever it shall fall it shall grind him to powder Mat. 21. 44. What work did it make with our Saviour It pressed the very blood to a wonder out of his veins and broke all his bones and if it did this in the green tree what will it do in the dry Oh think of thy case in time Canst thou think of that threat without trembling Ye shall die in your sins Ioh. 8. 24. Oh better were it for thee to die in a goal die in a ditch in a dungeon than die in thy sins If death as it will take away all thy other comforts would take away thy sins too it were some mitigation But thy sins will follow thee when thy friends leave thee and all worldly enjoyments shake hands with thee Thy sins will not die with thee 2 Cor. 5. 10. Rev. 20. 12. as a prisoners others debts will but they will to judgement with thee there to be thine accusers and they will to hell with thee there to be thy tormentors Better to have so many fiends and furies about thee than thy sins to fall upon thee and fasten in thee Oh the work thot these will make with thee Oh look over thy debts in time How much art thou in the books of every one of Gods laws How is every one of Gods commandments ready to arrest thee and take thee by the throat for innumerable bonds that it hath upon thee What wilt thou then do when they shall altogether lay it in against thee Hold open the eyes of conscience to consider this that thou maist despair of thy self and be driven to Christ and fly for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before thee Heb. 6. 18. V. Thy raginglusts do miserably enslave thee While unconverted thou art a very servant to sin it reigns over thee and holds thee under its dominion till thou art brought within the bond of Gods covenant Iohn 8. 34 36. Tit. 3. 3. Rom. 6. 12 14. Rom. 6. 16 17. Now there 's no such Tyrant as sin Oh the filthy and fearful work that it doth ingage its servants in would it not pierce a mans heart to see a company of poor creatures drudging and toiling and all to carry together faggots and fuell for their own burning Why this is the employment of sins drudges Even while they bless themselves in their unrighteous gains while they sing and swill in pleasures they are but treasuring up wrath and vengeance for their eternal burning they are but laying in powder and bullets and adding to the pile of Tophet and flinging in Oyl to make the flame rage the fiercer Who would serve such a master whose work is drudgery and whose wages is death Rom. 6. 23. What a woful spectacle was that poor wretch possessed with the legion Would it not have pitied thine heart to have seen him among the tombs cutting and wounding of himself Mark 5. 5. This is thy case such is thy work Every stroke is a thrust at thine heart 1 Tim. 6. 10. Conscience indeed is now asleep but when death and judgment shall bring thee to thy senses then thou wilt feel the raging smart and anguish of every wound The convinced sinner is a sensible instance of the miserable bondage of sin Conscience flies upon him and tells him what the end of these things will beâ— and yet such a slave is he to his lusts that on he must though he see it will be his endless perdition and when the temptation comes lust gets the bit in his mouth breaks all the cords of his vows and promises and carries him head-long to his own destruction VI. The furnace of eternal Vengeance is heated ready for thee Esay 30. 33. Hell and destruction open their mouths upon thee they gape for thee they groan for thee Esay 5. 14. waiting as it were with a greedy eye as thou standest upon the brink when thou wilt drop in If the wrath of a man may be as the roaring of a Lion Prov. 19. 12. more heavy than the sand Prov. 27. 3. What is the wrath of the infinite God If the burning furnace heated in Nebuchadnezars fiery rage when he commanded it to be made yet seven times hotter were so fierce as to burn up even those that drew near it to throw the three children in Dan. 3. 19 22. How hot is that burning oven of the Almighty's fury Mal. 4. 1. Surely this is seventy times seven more fierce What thinkest thou O man of being a faggot in hell to all eternity Can thine heart endure or can thine hands be strong in the day that I shall deal with thee saith the Lord of hosts Ezek. 22. 14. Canst thou dwell with everlasting burnings Canst thou abide the consuming fire Esay 33. 4. When thou shalt be as a glowing Iron in hell and thy whole body and soul shall be as perfectly possessed by Gods burning vengeance as the fiery sparkling iron when heated in the fiercest forge Thou canst not bear Gods whip how then wilt thou endure his scorpions Thou art even crushed and ready to wish thy self dead under the weight of his finger how then wilt thou bear the Weight of his loyns The most patient man that ever was did curse the day that ever he was born Iob 3. 1. and even woo death to come and end his misery Iob 7. 15 16. when God did but let out one little drop of his wrath How then wilt thou endure when God shall pour out all his vials and set himself against thee to torment thee when he shall make thy conscience the tunnel by which he will be pouring his burning wrath into thy soul for ever and when he shall fill all thy powers as full of torment as they be now full of sin When immortality shall be thy misery and to die the death of a bruit and be swallowed into the gulf of annihilation shall be such a felicity as a whole eternity of wishes and an Ocean of tears shall never purchase Now thou canst put off the evil day and canst laugh and be merry and forget the terrour of the Lord 2 Cor 5. 11. but how wilt thou hold out or hold up when God shall cast thee into a bed of torments Rev. 2. 22. and make thee to lie down in sorrows Esay 50. 11. When roarings and blasphemy shalt be thine only musick and the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the Cup of his indignation shall be thine only drink Rev. 14. 10. When thou shalt draw in flames for thy breath and the horrid stench of sulphur shall be thine only perfume In a word when the smoak of thy torment shall ascend for ever and ever and thou shalt have no rest night nor day no rest in thy conscience no ease in thy bones but thou shalt be an execration and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach for evermore Ier. 42. 18. O sinner stop here and consider
in that 1. They overlook his justice 2. They promise themselves mercy out of Gods way His mercy is beyond all imagination Esay 55. 9. great mercies 1 Chron. 21. 13. manifold mercies Neh. 9. 19. tender mercies Psal. 25. 6. sure mercies Esay 55. 3. everlasting mercies Psal. 103. 17. Esay 54. 8. and all thine own if thou wilt but turn Art thou willing to come in Why the Lord hath laid aside his terror erâ—cted a Throne of Grace holds forth the golden Scepter Touch and live Would a merciful man slay his enemy when prostrate at his feet acknowledging his wrong begging pardon and offering to enter with him into a Covenant of peace Much less will the merciful God Study his name Exod. 34. 7. Read their experience Neh. 9. 17. Secondly his soul-encouraging calls and promises do invite thee Ah what an earnest suitor is mercy to thee how lovingly how instantly it calleth after thee how passionately it wooeth thee Return thou back-sliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep anger for ever Only acknowledge thine iniquity Turn O back-sliding children saith the Lord for I am married unto you return and I will heal your back-slidings Thou hast plaid the harlot with many lovers yet return unto me saith the Lord Jer. 3. 11 12 13 14 22. As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O house of Israel Ezek. 33. 11. If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die All his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousness that he hath done shall â—e live Repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine Cast away from you all your transgressions and make you a clean heart and a new spirit for why will ye die O house of Israel For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God wherefore turn your selves and live ye Ezek. 18. 21 23 30 31 32. Oh melting gracious words The voice of a God and not of a man This is not the manner of men for the offended Soveraign to sue to the offending traiterous varlet Oh how doth mercy follow thee and plead with thee Is not thy heart broken yet Oh that to day ye would hear his voice 2. The doors of heaven are thrown open to thee The everlasting gates are set wide for thee and an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven administred to thee Christ now bespeaks thee as she her husband Arise and take possession 1 Kings 21. 15. View the glory of the other world as set forth in the map of the Gospel Get thee up into the Pisgah of the Promises and lift up thine eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward and see the good land that is beyond Iordan and that goodly mountain Behold the Paradice of God watered with the streams of glory Arise and walk through the land in the length of it and in the bredth of it for all the land which thou seest the Lord will give it to thee for ever if thou wilt but return Gen. 13. 14 15 17. Let me say to thee as Paul to Agrippa Believest thou the Prophets If thou believest indeed do but view what glorious things are spoken of the City of God Psal. 87. 3. and know that all this is here tendered in the name of God to thee As verily as God is true it shall be for ever thine if thou wilt but throughly turn Behold the City of pure transparent Gold whose foundations are garnished with all manner of precious stones whose gates are pearls whose light is glory whose temple is God Believest thou this If thou dost art thou not worse than distracted that wilt not take possession when the gates are flung open to thee and thou art bid to enter O ye sons of â—olly will ye embrace the dunghils and refuse the Kingdom Behold the Lord God tâ—keth you up into the mountain shews you the Kingdom of Heaven and all the glory thereof and tells you All this will I give you if you will fall down and worship me â— If you will submit to mercy accept my Son and serve me in righteousness ness and holiness O fools and slow of heart 〈◊〉 believe will you court the harlot will you seek and serve the world and neglect the eternal glory What not enter into Paradise when the flaming sword that was once set to keep you out is now used to drive you in But you will say I am uncharitable to think you infidels and unbelievers Why what shall I think you either you are desperate unbelievers that do not credit it or stark distracted that you know and believe the excellency and eternity of his glory and yet do so fearfully neglect it Surely you have no faith or no reason and I had almost said conscience should tell you so before I leave you Do but attend what is offered you Oh blessed Kingdom A Kingdom of glory 1 Thes. 2. 12. a Kingdom of righteousness 2 Pet. 3. 13. a Kingdom of peace Rom. 14. 17. an everlasting Kingdom 2 Pet. 1. 11. Here thou shaâ—t dwell here thou shaâ—t â—eign for ever and the Lord shall set thee in a throne of glory Mat. 19. 28. and with his own hand shall set the Royal Diadâ—m upon thine head and give thee a Crown not of thorns for there shall be no sâ—nning nor suffering there Rev. 21. 27. 22. 3 4 5. not of Gold for this shall be viler than the dirt in that day but a Crown of life Iames 1. 12. a Crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4. 8. a Crown of glory 1 Pet. 5. 4. Yea thou shalt put on glory as a robe 1 Cor. 15. 53. and shale shine like the Sun in the â—irmament in the glory of thy Father Mat. 13. 43. Look now upon thy dirty flesh thy clay thy worms-meat this very flesh this lump this carcase shall be brighter than the Stars Dan. 12. 3. In short thou shalt be made like unto the Angels of God Luke 20. 36. and behold his face in righteousness Psal. 17. 15. Look in now and tell me dost thou yet believe If not conscience must pronounce thee an infidel for it is the very word of God that I speak But if thou say thou believest let me next know thy resolutions Wilt thou embrace this for thy happiness Wilt thou forgo thy sinful gains thy forbidden pleasures Wilt thou trample on the worlds esteem and spit in the harlots face and stop thine ears at her flareries and wrest thee out of her embraces Wilt thou be content
our hearts that we leave you under more guilt than we found you and when we have laid out life and labour to save you the impenitent souls must have their pains increased for the refusing of these Calls And that it will be part of your Hell to think for ever how madly you refused our Counsel and what pains and cost and patience were used to have saved you and all in vain It will be so it must needs be so Christ saith it shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgment than for the rejectors of his Gospel-calls The Nature of the thing and the nature of Justice certainly tell you that it must be so O turn not our complaints to God against you Turn us not from beseeching you to be reconciled to God to tell him you will not be reconciled Force us not to say that we earnestly invited you to the Heavenly Feast and you would not come Force us not to bear this Witness against you Lord we could have born all our labour and sufferings for them much easilier if they would but have yielded to thy grace But it was they themselves that broke our hearts that lost our labour that made us preach and intreat in vain It was easier to preach without maintenance than without success It was they that were worse to us than all the Persecutors in the World How oft would we have gathered them but they would not but are ungathered still How many Holy Faithful Ministers have I known these eleven years last past who have lived in pining poverty and want and hardly by Charity got Bread and Clothing and yet if they could but have truly said Lord the Sermons which I preach privately and in danger have won many Souls to thee it would have made all this burden easie But I tell thee sensless and impenitent Sinner thou that deniedst God thy Heart and thou that deniedst them thy Conversion which was the end of all their labours hast dealt much more cruelly with them than they that denyed the Levites Bread Poor Sinners I know that I am speaking all this to those that are dead in sin but it is a death consisting with a natural life which hath a capacity of spiritual life Or else I would no more speak to you than to a stone And I know that you are blind in sin but it is a blindness consisting with a reasonable faculty which is capable of spiritual illumination Or else I would no more perswade you than I would do a beast And I know that you are in the fetters of your own lusts your wills your love your hearts are turned away from God and strongly bewitched with the dreams and dalliances with the flesh and world But your wills are not forced to this Captivity Surely those wills may be changed by Gods Grace when you clearly see sufficient reason for to change them Else I would as soon preach were I capable to Devils and damned souls Your case is not yet desperate O make it not desperate There is just the same hope of your Salvation as there is of your Conversion and perseverance and no more Without it there is no hope and with it you are safe and have no cause to doubt and fear Heaven may be yet yours if you will Nothing but your own Wills refusing Christ and a holy life can keep you out And shall that do it Shall Hell be your own choice And will you I say will you not be saved O think better what you do Gods terms are reasonable His Word and Ways are good and equal Christ's Yoke is easie and his Burden light and his Commandments are not grievous to any but so far as blindness and a bad and backward heart doth make them so You have no true reason to be unwilling God and Conscience shall oneâ— day tell you and all the World that you had no reason for it You may as wisely pretend reason to cut your throats to torment your selves as plead reason against a true Conversion unto God Were I perswading you not to kill your selves I would make no question but you would be perswaded And yet must I be hopeless when I perswade you from everlasting misery and not to prefer the world and flesh before your Saviour and your God and before a sure everlasting joy God forbid Reader I take it for a great mercy of God that before my head lyeth down in the duct and I go to give up my account unto my Iudge I have this opportunity once more earnestly to bespeak thee for thy own Salvation I beg it of thee as one that must shortly be called away and speak to thee no more till we come unto our endless state that thou wouldst but sometimes retire into thy self and use the reason of a man and look before thee whither thou art going and look behind thee how thou hast lived and what thou hast been doing in the World till now and look within thee what a case thy soul is in and whether it be ready to enter upon Eternity and look above thee what a Heaven of Glory thou dost neglect and what a God thou hast to be thine everlasting Friend or Enemy as thou choosest and as thou livest and that thou art always in his sight Yea and look below thee and think where they are that died unconverted And when thou hast soberly thought of all these things then do as God and true Reason shall direct thee And is this an unreasonable request I appeal to God and to all Wise Men and to thy own Conscience when it shall be awakened If I speak against thee or if all this be not for thy good or if it be not true and sure then regard not what I say If I speak not that message which God hath commanded his Ministers to speak then let it be refused as contemptuously as thou wilt But if I do but in Christs name and stead beseech thee to be reconciled to God 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. refuse it at thy peril And if Gods beseeching thee shall not prevail against thy sloath thy lust thy appetite against the desires of thy flesh against the dust and shadows of the World remember it when with fruitless cries and horrour thou art beseeching him too late I know poor Sinner that Flesh is bruitish and lust and appetite have no reason But I know that thou hast reason thy self which was given thee to over-rule them and that he that will not be a Man cannot be a Saint nor a Happy man I know that thou livest in a tempting and a wicked world where things or persons will be daily hindering this But I know that this is no more to a man that by Faith seeth Heaven and Hell before him than a Grain of Sand is to a Kingdom or a blast of Wind to one that is fighting or flying for his life Luke 12. 4. O man that thou didst but know the difference between that
hope is there in thy reading Yet read on this little hope there is in this Book there 's Eye-Salve that may heal thee of thy blindness In this Book there is a Glass that will shew thee thy face Dost thou know thine own face when thou seest it Behold thy very Image in those marks that are given of an Unconverted Person Read and consider them and then say if thou be not the man Be willing to know thy self and to know the worst of thy case wink not at the light hide not thy self from thine own soul. Wilt thou never know thy disease till it be past remedy Much of our hardest Work would be over if we could see the sinners to whom we are sent to be convinced sinners If we could but open the blind eyes there were hope we should shortly raise the dead Sinner of a truth thou art in evil case whether thou know it or not thou art among the dead and there is but a step betwixt thee and Hell Thou wilt not believe it though it be told thee yet once again let me beseech thee come to the Glass that is here presented to thee and narrowly observe whether the very marks of the dead be not found upon thee If there be a miscarriage in this first work if thou wilt not understand thy misery and thy danger there 's an end of all hopes concerning thee Whilst self-ignorance abides upon thee all the Counsels that are necessary to a man in thy case will do thee no good they are never like to prosper with thee because thou wilt not count them proper for thee Who will be perswaded to do that which he believes is already done Who will take the Counsel of the Physitian that does not think himself sick The man of God may spare his pains of perswading thee to Conversion whilst thou art confident thou art converted already Who will be at the pains of repentance that concludes he hath repented Who will bear the labour and the pangs of the new birth that is confident he is already passed from death to life But Friend let me a little reason with thee thou art confident it is well with thee yet why wilt thou not yield to thus much at least to put it to the question am I not mistaken Thou art worse than mad if thou thinkest such a question may not be put Dost thou know that thy heart is false and deceitful and yet because it speaks good concerning thee must it not be questioned whether it speak truth or no Be so wise as to conclude I may be mistaken and thus come to the trial whether thou art mistaken or not And if upon trial by the marks that are before thee thou come to be undeceived and see thy self wrapped up in that misery which hitherto thou wouldst not suspect the next news I expect to hear from thee is What must I do to be saved O were it come to that once Then thou hast an answer at hand in those Means thou wilt find prescribed thee And because they are such as thou wilt hardly be perswaded to use take in the Motives that follow and these will help down the means Consider both the one and the other and if thou dost not find the Means proper and the Motives weighty I think I shall do thee no wrong if I tell thee thou art still of a blind mind and an harder heart Friend the matter which this little Book comes to treat with thee about is of highest importance 't is a matter of Life or Death If thou sayest The Terms upon which Life is offered are hard consider is it not harder to dye He is worthy to dye who will lose his Soul to save his Labour If thou couldest step down into the Deep and take a turn or two with those Damned Souls who are drench'd with Fire and Brimstone and bound in Everlasting Chains of Vengeance and should ask them Now what do you think of the terms upon which life was offered Now what think you of that Repentance of that Obedience of that Circumspection Self-denyal and the greatest Severity which by the Gospel were imposed upon you if you might once again have the same terms granted you for your Redemption from this place of Torment would you yet say hard terms Let me rather dye this death for ever than live such a life let me broil in this Furnace rather than escape with such difficulty shouldst thou ask them thus that have felt what 't is to be damned what answer dost thou think they would make O friend never again groan under the difficulties of Conversion till thou believe them to be worse than Hell But I will not farther anticipate my worthy Author Nor is there much need I should commend either himself or his works for the Author himself thou maist at a small charge get â—â—quaintance with him in that History of his life and death which is extant concerning which I shall only say Sic mihi contingat vivere sicque mori And for this work of his what commendation I shall give of it would be needed no longer than till thou hast read it over Thou wilt find such wine in it as needs no Bush. This only I shall say as far as my credit will go it is exceedingly well worth thy most serious perusal O maist thou hear that voice such a voice from Heaven there is whether thou hear it or no Tolle lege take up and read Read Friend and read over again Read and understand understand and pray pray and consider and consent unto him who by the Pen of his servant calls to thee from Heaven Why wilt thou die Turn and live O suffer this word of instruction and exhortation to open thy blind eyes to turn thee from darkness to light from the power of Satan unto God that thou maist receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified Et cum talâ—s fueris memento mei When it is thus with thee then pray for The Friend and Servant of thy Soul Richard Alleine Mr. JOSEPH ALLEINE'S CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED DEarly Beloved and longed for I gladly acknowledge my self a debtor to you all and am concerned as I would be found a good steward to the Houshold of God to give to every one his Portion But the Physician is most solicitous for those Patients whose case is most doubtful and hazardous and the Fathers bowels are especially turned towards his dying child The numbers of the unconverted souls among you call for my most earnest compassions and hasty diligence to pluck them out of the burning Iud. 23. and therefore to these first I shall apply my self in these lines But whence shall I fetch my arguments or how shall I choose my words Lord wherewith shall I wooe them whereby shall I win them Oh that I could but tell I would write unto them in tears I would weep out every argument I would empty my veins
the woman will not be willing to follow me O Lord God of my Master I pray thee send me good speed this day and shew kindness to my Master and send thine Angel before me and prosper my way that I may take a wife unto thy son Gen. 24. 12. That as the servant rested not till he had brought Isaac and Rebeckah together so I may be succesful to bring Christ and the souls of my people together before we part But I turn me unto you Some of you do not know what I mean by conversion and in vain shall I perswade you to that which you do not understand and therefore for your sakes I shall shew what this Conversion is Others do cherish secret hopes of mercy though they continue as they be and for them I must shew the necessity of Conversion Others are like to harden themselves with a vain conceit that they are converted already unto them I must shew the marks of the Vnconverted Others because they feel no harm fear none and so sleep upon the top of the mast to them I shall shew the misery of the unconverted Others sit still because they see not their way out to them I shall shew the means of Conversion And finally for the quickening of all I shall close with the motives of Conversion CHAP. I. Shewing the Negative what Conversion is not and correcting some mistakes about it LEt the blind Samaritans worship they know not what Ioh. 4. 22. Let the Heathen Athenians superscribe their Altar to the unknown God Acts 17. 23. Let the guileful Papists commend the mother of destruction Hos. 4. 6. for the mother of devotion they that know mans constitution and the nature of the reasonable souls operation cannot but know that the understanding having the Empire in the Soul he that will go rationally to work must labour to let in the light here Ignorantis non est consensus And therefore that you may not mistake me I shall shew you what I mean by the conversion I perswade you to endeavour after It is storied that when Iupiter let down the golden Chaplets from Heaven all of them but one were stolen Whereupon lest they should lose a relique of so great esteem they made five others so like it that if any were so wickedly minded as to steal that also they should not be able to discern which was it And truly my beloved the Devil hath made many counterfeits of this Conversion and cheats one with this and another with that and such a craft and artifice he hath in this mystery of deceits that if it were possible he would deceive the very Elect. Now that I may cure the damnable mistakes of some who think they are converted when they are not as well as remove the troubles and fears of others that think they are not converted when they are I shall shew you the nature of conversion both negatively or what it is not and positively what it is We will begin with the negative 1. It is not the taking on us the Profession of Christianity Doubtless Christianity is more than a name If we will hear Paul it lies not in word but in power 1 Cor. 4. 20. If to cease to be Jews and Pagans and to put on the Christian profession had been true conversion as this is all that some would have to be understood by it who better Christians than they of Sardis and Laodicea These were all Christians by profession and had a name to live but because they had but a name are condemned by Christ and threatned to be spewed out Rev. 3. 1 16. Are there not many that name the name of the Lord Jesus that yet depart not from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. and profess they know God but in works deny him Tim. 1. 16. And will God receive these for true converts because turned to the Christian Religion What converts from sin when yet they do live in sin 'T is a visible contradiction Surely if the lamp of profession would have served the turn the foolish Virgins had never been shut out Mat. 25. 3 12. We find not only professors but Preachers of Christ and Wonder-workers turned off because evil workers Mat. 7. 22. 23. 2. It is not the being washed in the laver of Regeneration or putting on the badge of Christ in baptism Many take the press-money and wear the Livery of Christ that yet never stand to their colours nor follow their leader Ananias and Saphira and Magus were baptized as well as the rest How fondly do many mistake here deceiving and being deceived dreaming that effectual grace is necessarily tied to the external administration of Baptsim which what is it but to revive the Popish â—enent of the Sacraments working grace ex opere operato and so every Infant should be regenerated not only Sacramento tenens sacramentally but really and properly Hence men do fancy that being regenerated already when baptized they need no further work But if this were so then all that were baptized in their infancy must necessarily be saved because the promise of pardon and salvation is made to conversion and regeneration Acts 3. 19. 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. Mat. 19. 28. Our Calling Sanctification as to the beginnings of it or Conversion which are but the same thing under different conceptions and expressions is but a middle link in the golden chain fastned to election at the one end and glorification at the other Rom. 8. 30. 2 Thes. 2. 13. 1 Pet. 1. 2. The silver cord may not be broken nor the connexion between Sanctification and Salvation between grace and glory impiously violated Mat. 5. 8. If we are indeed begotten again it is to an inheritance incorruptible reserved in Heaven for us and the divine power is ingaged to keep us for it 1 Pet. 1. 5. And if the very regenerate may perish at last in their sins we will no more say that he that is born of God his seed remaineth in him and that he cannot sin 1 Ioh. 3 9. i.e. unto death now that it is impossible to deceive the very elect Mat. 24. 24. And indeed were this true then we need look no farther to see our names written in Heaven than only to search the Register and see whether we were baptized then I would keep the certificate of my baptism as my fairest evidence for Heaven and should come by assurance of my gracious state with a wet finger then men should do well to carry but a certificate of their baptism under the Registers hand when they dyed as the Philosopher would be buried with the bishops bond in his hand which he had given him for the receiving his alms in another world and upon sight of this there were no doubt of their admission into Heaven In short if there be no more necessary to conversion or regeneration than to be turned to the Christian Religion or to be baptized in infancy this will flie directly in the face of that Scripture Mat.
and this cannot be except it be done with a holy heart 2 Chron. 25. 2. IV. Without this thy hopes are in vain Job 8. 12 13. The Lord hath rejected thy confidence Ier. 2. 37. First thy hopes of comfort here are in vain 'T is not only necessary to the safety but comfort of your condition that you be converted Without this you shall â—ot know peace Esay 49. 8. Without the fear of God â—ou cannot have the comforts of the Holy Ghost Acts 9. 31. God speaks peace only to his people and to his Saints Psal. 85. 8. If you have a false peace continuing in your sins 't is not of Gods speaking and then you may guess the Author Sin is a real Sickness Esay 1. 5. yea the worst of sickness t is a leprosie in the head Levit. 13. 44. the plague in the heart 1 Kings 8. 32. 't is brokenness in the bones Psal. 51. 8. it pierceth it woundeth it racketh it tormenteth 1 Tim. 6. 10. A man may as well expect ease when his diseases are in their strength or his bones out of joynt as true comfort while in his sins O wretched man that canst have no â—ase in this case but what comes from the deadliness of thy disease You shall have the poor sick man saying in his lightness he is well when you see death in his face He will needs up and about his business when the very next step is like to be into the grave The unsanctified often feel nothing amiss they think themselves whole and cry not out for the Physician but this shews the danger of their case Sin doth naturally breed distempers and disturbance in the soul. What a continual tempest and commotion is there in a discontented mind What an eating evil is inordinate care What is passion but a very feaver in the mind What is lust but a fire in the bones What is Pride but a deadly tympany or covetousness but an unsatiablâ— and unsufferable thirst or malice and envy but venom in the very heart spiritual sloth is but a scurvy in the mind and carnal security a mortal lethargy and how can that soul have true comfort that is under so many diseases But converting grace cures and so eases the mind and prepares the soul for a setled standing immortal peace Great peace have they that love thy commandments and nothing shall offend them Psal. 119. 165. They are the ways of wisdom that afford pleasure and peace Prov. 3. 17. David had infinitely more pleasure in the word than in all the delights of his Court Psal. 119. 103 127. The Conscience cannot be truly pacified till soundly purified Heb. 10. 22. Cursed is that peace that is maintained in a way of sin Deut. 29. 19 20. Two sorts of peace are more to be dreaded than all the troubles in the world peace with sin and peace in sin Secondly Thy hopes of Salvation hereafter are in vain yea worse than in vain they are most injurious to God most pernicious to thy self there is death desperation blasphemy in the bowels of this hope 1. Tâ— is death in it Thy confidence shall be rooted out of thy tabernacles God will up with it root and branch it shall bring thee to the King of terrors Iob 18. 14. Though thou maist lean upon this house it will not stand Iob 8. 15. but will prove like a ruinous building which when a man trusts to it falls down about his ears 2. There is desperation in it Where is the hope of the hypocrite when God takes away his soul Iob 27. 8. Then there is an end for ever of his hope Indeed the hope of the righteous hath an end but then 't is not a destructive but a perfective end his hope ends in â—ruition others in frustration Prov. 10. 28. The godly must say at death it is finished but the wicked it is perished and in too sad earnest bemoan himself as he in a mistake Where now is my hope He hath destroyed me I am gone and my hope is removed like a tree Iob 19. The righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14. 32. When nature is dying his hopes are living when his body is languishing his hopes are flourishing his hope is a living hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but others are dying yea a damning soul-undoing hope When a wicked man dyeth his expectation shall perish and the hope of unjust men perisheth Prov. 11. 7. It shall be cut off and prove like the spiders web Iob 8. 14. which he spins out of his own bowels but then comes death with the broom and takes down all and so there is an eternal end of his confidence wherein he trusted For the eyes of the wicked shall sail and their hope shâ—â—â— be as the giving up of the Ghost Iob 11. 2. â—cked men are setled in their carnal hope and will not be beaten out of it They hold it fast they will not let it go Yea but death will knock off their fingers Though we cannot undeceive them death and judgment will When death strikes his dart through thy liver it will let out thy soul and thy hopes together The unsanctified have hope only in this life 1 Cor. 15. 19. and therefore are of all men most miserable When death comes it lets them out into the amazing gulf of endless desperation 3. There is blasphemy in it To hope we shall be saved though continuing unconverted is to hope we shall prove God a lier He hath told you that so merciful and pittiful as he is he will never save you notwithstanding if you go on in ignorance or a course of unrighteousness Esa. 27. 11. 1 Cor. 6. 9. in a word he hath told you that whatever you be or do nothing shall avail you to salvation without you be new creatures Gal. 6. 15. Now to say God is merciful and we hope he will save us nevertheless is to say in effect we hope God will not do as he saith We may not set Gods attributes at variance God is resolved to glorifie mercy but not with the prejudice of truth as the presumptuous sinner will find to his everlasting sorrow Object Why but we hope in Jesus Christ we put our whole trust in God and therefore doubt not but we shall be saved Answ. 1. This is not to hope in Christ but against Christ. To hope to see the Kingdom of God without being born again to hope to find eternal life in the broad way is to hope Christ will prove a false Prophet 'T is David's plea I hope in thy word Psal. 119. 81. but this hope is against the word Shew me a word of Christ for thy hope that he will save thee in thine ignorance or prophane neglects of his service and I will never go to shake thy confidence 2. God doth with abhorrency reject this hope Those condemned in the Prophet went on in their sins yet saith the Text they will lean upon the Lord Mic. 3.
in his belly against him It would fly in his face if it could speak And if God should open the mouth of the Creatures as he did the mouth oâ— Balaam's Ass the proud mans garments on his back would groan againâ—d him There is never a creature but if it hâ— reason to know how 't is abused till a man â— converted it would groan against him This land would groan to bear him the air would groan to give him breathing their houses would groan to lodge them their beds would groan to ease them their food to nourish them their cloaths to cover them and the creature would groan to give them any help and comfort so long as they live in sin against God Thus far he Methinks this should be a terrour to an unconverted soul to think that he is a burden to the Creation Luke 13. 7. Cut it down why cumbreth it the Ground If the poor inanimate creatures could but speak they would say to the ungodly as Moses to Israel Must we fetch you water out of the rock ye rebels Numb 2. 10. Thy food would say Lord must I nourish such a wretch as this and yield forth my strength for him to dishonour thee withal No I will choak him rather if thou wilt give me commission The very air will say Lord Must I give this man breath to set his tongue against Heâ—ven and scorn thy people and vent his pride and wrath aud filthy communication and belch out oaths and blasphemy against thee No if thou but say the word he shall be breathless for me His poor beast would say Lord must I carry him upon his wicked designs No I will break his bones I will end his days rather if I may have but leave from thee A wicked man the earth groans under him and Hell groans for him till death satisfies both and unburdens the earth and stops the mouth of Hell with him While the Lord of Hosts is against thee be sure the Hosts of the Lord are against thee and all the creatures as it were up in arms till upon a mans conversion the controversie being taken up between God and him he makes a covenant of peace with the creatures for him Iob 5. 22 23 24. Hos. 2. 18 19 20. III. The roaring Lion hath his full power upon thee 1 Pet. 5. 8. Thou art fast in the paw of that Lion that is greedy to devour in the snare of the Devil led captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2. 26. This is the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Eph. 2. 2. His drudges they are and his lusts they do He is the ruler of the darkness of this world Eph. 6. 12. that is of ignorant sinners that live in darkness You pity the poor Indians that worship the Devil for their God but little think that 't is your own case Why 't is the common misery of all the unsanctified that the Devil is their God 2 Cor. 4. 4. Not that they do intend to do him homage and worship they will be ready to defy him and him that should say so by them but all this while they serve him and come and go at his beck and live under his Government His servants you are to whom you yield your selves to obey Rom. 6. 16. O how many then will be found the real servants of the Devil that take themselves for no other than the children of God he can no sooner offer a sinful delight or opportunity for your unlawful advantage but you embrace it If he suggest a lie or prompt you to revenge you readily obey If he forbid you to read or pray you hearken to him and therefore his servants you are Indeed he lies behind the curtain he acts in the dark and sinners see not who setteth them on work but all the while he leads them in a string Doubtless the lyar intends not a service to Satan but his own advantage yet 't is he that stands in the corner unobserved and putteth the thing into his heart Act. 5. 3. Iohn 8. 44. Questionless Iudas when he sold his Master for money and the Caldeans and Sabeans when they plundred Iob intended not to do the Devil a pleasure but to satisfie their own covetous thirst yet 't was he that acted them in their wickedness Iohn 13. 27. Iob 1. 12 15 17. Men may be very slaves and common drudges for the Devil and never know it nay they may please themselves in the thoughts of a happy liberty 2 Pet. 2. 19. Art thou yet in ignorance and not turned from darkness to light why thou art under the power of Satan Act. 26. 18. Dost thou live in the ordinary and wilful practice of any known sin Know that thou art of the Devil 1 Iohn 3. 8. Dost thou live in strife or envy or malice verily he is thy Father Ioh. 8. 40 41. O dreadful case How ever Satan may provide his slaves with divers pleasures Tit. 3. 3. yet it is but to toll them into endless perdition The Serpent comes with the apple in his mouth O but with Eve thou seest not the deadly sting in his tail He that is now thy tempter will be one day thy tormentor O that I could but give thee to see how black a master thou servest how filthy a drudgery thou dost how merciless a Tyrant thou gratifiest all whose pleasure is to set thee on work to make thy perdition and damnation sure and to heat the furnace hotter and hotter in which thou must burn for millions of millions of ages IV. The guilt of all thy sins lies like a mountain upon thee Poor soul Thou feelest it not but this is that which seals thy misery upon thee While unconverted none of thy sins are blotted out Act. 3. 19. they are all upon the score against thee Regeneration and remission are never separated the unsanctified are unquestionably unjustified and unpardoned 1 Cor. 6. 11. â— Pet. 1. 2. Heb. 9. 14. Beloved it 's a fearful thing to be in debt but above all in Gods debt for there is no arrest so formidable as his no prison so horrible as his Look upon an enlightned sinner who feels the weight of his own guilt and oh how frightful are his looks how fearful are his complaints His comforts are turned into wormwood and his moisture into drought and his sleep departeth from his eyes He is a terrour to himself and all that are about him and is ready to envy the very stones that lie in the street because they are sensless and feel not his misery and wishes he had been a dog or a toad or serpent rather than a man because then death had put an end to his misery whereas now it will be but the biginning of that which will know no ending How light soever you may make of it now you will one day find the guilt of unpardoned sin to be a heavy burden This is a milstone that whosoever falleth upon it shall
If thou art a man and not a sensless block consider Bethink thy self where thou standest why upon the very brim of this furnace As the Lord liveth and thy soul liveth there is but a step between thee and this 1 Sam. 20. 3. Thou knowest not when thou liest down but thou maist be in before the morning thou knowest not when thou risest but thou maist drop in before the night Darest thou make light of this Wilt thou go on in such a dreadful condition as if nothing ailed thee If thou puttâ—st it off and sayest this doth not belong to thee look again over the foregoing Chapter and tell me the truth are none of those black marks found upon thee Do not blind thine eyes do not deceive thy self see thy misery while thou maist prevent it Think what 't is to be a vile cast-out a damned reprobate a vessel of wrath into which the Lord will be pouring out his tormenting fury while he hath a being Rom. 9. 22. Divine wrath is a fierce Deut. 32. 22. devouring Esay 33. 14. everlasting Mat. 25. 41. unquenchable fire Mat. 3. 12. and thy soul and body must be the fuel upon which it will be feeding for ever unless thou consider thy wayes and speedily turn to the Lord by a found conversion They that have been only singed by this fire and had no more but the smell thereof passing upon them Oh what amazing spectacles have they been Whose heart would not have melted to have heard Spira's outcries to have seen Chaloner that monument of Justice worn to skin and bones blaspheming the God of Heaven cursing himself and continually crying out O torture torture torture O torture torture as if the flames of wrath had already took hold on him To have heard Rogers crying out I have had a liâ—tle pleasure and now I must to Hell for evermore wishing but for this mitigation that God would but let him lie burning for ever behind the bacâ— of that fire on the hearth and bringing in this sad conclusion still at the end of whatever was spoken to him to afford him some hope I must to Hell I must to the furnace of Hell for millions of millions of Ages O If the fears and forethoughts of the wrath to come be so terrible so intolerable what is the feeling of it Sinner t is but in vain to flatter you this would be but to toll you into the unquenchable fire know ye from the living God that here you must lie with these burnings must you dwell till immortality die and immutability change till Eternity run out and omnipotency is no longer able to torment except you be in good earnest renewed throughout by sanctifying grace VII The Law dischargeth all its threats and curses at thee Gal. 3. 10. Rom. 7. Oh how dreadfully doth it thunder It spits fire and brimstone in thy face Its words are as drawn swords and as the sharp arrows of the mighty it demands satisfaction to the uttermost and cries Justice Justice It speaks blood and war and wounds and death against thee Oh the execrations and plagues and deaths that this murderingâ— piece is loaded with read Deut. 28. 15 16. c. and thou art the mark at which this shot is levelled Oh man away to the strong hold Zech. 9. 12. away from thy sins haste to the sanctuary the City of refuge Heb. 6. 18. even the Lord Jesus Christ hide thee in him or else thou art lost without any hope of recovery VIII The Gospel it self binds the sentence of eternal damnation upon thee Mark 16. 16. If thou continuest in thine impenitent and unconverted estate know that the Gospel denounceth a much sorer condemnation than ever would have been for the transgression only of the first Covenant Is it not a dreadful case to have the Gospel it self fill its mouth with threatâ— and thunder and damnation To have the Lord to roar from Mount Sion against thee Ioel 3. 16. Hear the terror of the Lord. He that believeth not shall be damned Except ye repent ye shall all perish Luke 13. 3. This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light John 3. 19. He that believeth not the wrath of God abideth on him Joh. 3. 36. If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Heb. 2. 2 3. He that despised Moses law died without mercy Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthyâ— that hath trampled under foot the sons of Godâ— Heb. 10. 28 29. Application And is it true indeed Is this thy misery yea 't is as true as God is Better open thine eyes and see it now while thou maist remedy it than blind and harden thy self till to thine eternal sorrow thou shalt feel what thou wouldst not believe and if it be true what dost thou mean to loyter and linger in such a case as this Alas for thee poor man how effectually hath sin undone thee and depraved thee and despoiled thee even of the reason to look after thine own everlasting good Oh miserable Caitiff what stupidity and senselesness hath surprized thee Oh let me knock up and awake this sleeper Who dwells within the walls of this flash Is there ever a soul here a rational understanding soul Or art thou only a walking Ghost a sensless lump Art thou a reasonable foul and yet so far brutified as to forget thy self immortal and to think thy self to be as the beasts that perish Art thou turned into flesh that thou favourest nothing but gratifying the sense and making provision for the flesh Or else having reason to understand the eternity of thy future state dost thou yet make light of being everlastingly miserable which is to be so much below a bruit as it is worse to act against reason than to act without it O unhappy soul that wast the glory of man the mate of Angels and the image of God! that wast Gods representative in the world and hadst the supremacy amongst the creatures and the dominion over thy makers works Art thou now become a slave to sense a servant to so base an Idol as thy belly for no higher felicity than to fill thee with the wind of mans applause or heaping together a little refined earth no more suitable to thy spiritual immortal nature than the dirt and sticks Oh why dost thou not bethink thee where thou shalt be for ever Death is at hand the Iudge is even at the door Iam. 5. 9. Yet a little whilâ— and time shall be no longer Rev. 10. 5 6. And wilt thou run the hazard of continuing in such a state in which if thou be overtaken thou art irrecoverably miserable Come then arise and intend thy nearest concernments Tell me whither art thou going What wilt thou live in such a course wherein every act is a step to perdition And
that by the next night thou maist make thy bed in hell Is it a just matter to live in such a fearful ease to stand tottering upon the brink of the bottomless pit and to live at the mercy of every disease that if it will but fall upon thee will send thee forthwith into the burnings Suppose thou sawest a condemned wretch hanging over Nebuchadneâ—ar's burning fiery furnace by nothing but a twine thread which were ready to break every moment would not thine heart tremble for such an one Why thou art the man This is thy very case O man woman that readest this if thou be yet unconverted What if the thred of thy life should break Why thou knowest not but it may be the next night yea the next moment where wouldst thou be then whither wouldst thou drop Verily upon the crack but of this thread thou fallest into the lake that burneth with fire and Brimstone where thou must lie scalding and sweltering in a fiery Ocean while God hath a being if thou die in thy present case And doth not thy soul tremble as thou readest Do not thy tears bedew the paper and thy heart throb in thy bosom Dost thou not yet begin to smite on thy breast and bethink thy self what need thou hast of a change O what is thy heart made of Hast thou not only lost all regard to God but art without any love and pity to thy self Oh study thy misery till thy heart do cry out for Christ as earnestly as ever a drowning man did for a boat or the wounded for a Chirurgeon Men must come to see the danger and feel the smart of their deadly sores and sickness or else Christ will be to them a Physician of no value Mat. 9. 12. Then the man-slayer hastens to the City of râ—fuge when pursued by the avenger of blood Men must be even forced and fired out of themselves or else they will not come to Christ. 'T was distress and extremity that made the Prodigal think of returning Luke 15. 16 17. While Laodicea thinks her self rich increased in goods in need of nothing there is little hope She must be deeply convinced of her wretchedness blindness poverty nakedness before she will come to Christ for his Gold raiment eye-salve Rev. 3. 17 18. Therefore hold the eyes of conscience open amplifie thy misery as much as possible Do not flie the sight of it for fear it should fill thee with terror The sense of thy misery is but as it were the suppuration of the wound which is necessary to the cure Better fear the torments that abide thee now than feel them hereafter Dir. IV. Settle it upon thine heart that thou arâ— under an everlasting inability ever to recover thy self Never think thy praying reading hearing confessing amending will do the cure These must be attended buâ— thou art undone if thou restest in them Rom. 10. 3. Thou art a lost man if thou hopest to escape drowning upon any other plank but Jesus Christ Act. 4. 1â— Thou must unlearn thyself 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 â—scape While men trust in themselves and establish their own righteousness and have confidence in the fleshâ— they will not come savingly to Christ Luke 18. 19. Phil. 3. 3. Thou must know thy gain to be but loss and dung thy strength but weakness thy rightâ—ousness rag's and rotteness before 〈◊〉 will be on effectual closure between Christ and â—hee Phil. 3. 7 8 9. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Esay 64 6. Can the liveless carcase shake off his grave cloths and loose the bonds of death Then maist thou recover thy self who 〈◊〉 dead in trespasses and sins and under an impossibility of serving thy maker acceptably in this condition Rom. 8. 8. Heb. 11. 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 Act. 8. 28 29. when the Disciples were praying Act. 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. Dir. V. Forthwith renounce all thy sins If thou yield thy self to the contrary practice of any sin thou art undone Rom. 6. 16. In vain dost thou hope for life by Christ except thou depart 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 divorsed from sin Give up the traitor or you can have no peace with Heaven Cast the head of Sheba over the wall Keep not Dalilaâ— 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 maist 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 Oh 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 tendered but because thou preferredst with the Jews the Murderer before thy Saviour 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 Leven before the Pass-over 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 Ioab did through Absalom's 2 Sam. 18. 14. Never stand looking upon thy sin nor rolling the morsel under thy tongue Iob 20. 12. 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 and with all possible thankfulness accept thee as mine and give up my self to thee as thine Thou shalt be Soveraign over me my King and my God Thou shalt be in the Throne and all my powers shall bow to thee they shall come and worship before thy feet Thou shalt be my portion O Lord and I will rest in thee Thou callest for my heart Oh that it were any way fit for thine acceptance I am unworthy O Lord everlastingly unworthy to be thine But since thou wilt have it so I freely give up my heart to thee Take it it is thine Oh that it were better But Lord I put it into thine hand who alone canst mend it Mould it after thine own heart make it as thou wouldst have it holy humble heavenly soft tender flexible and write thy Law upon it Come Lord Jesus come quickly enter in triumphantly take me up for thy self for ever I give up to thee I come to thee as the only way to the Father as the only Mediator the means ordained to bring me to God I have dostroyed my self but in thee is my help Save Lord or else I perish I come to thee with the rope about my neck I am worthy to die and to be damned Never was the hire more due to the servant never was penny more due to the labourer than Death and Hell my jâ—st wages is due to me for my sins But I fly to the merits I trust alone to the value and vertue of thy Sacrifice and prevalency of thine intercession I submit to thy teaching I make choice of thy Government Stand open ye everlasting doors that the King of Glory may come in O thou spirit of the most high the comforter and sanctifier of thy chosen come in with all thy glorious train all thy Courtly attendants thy fruits and graces Let me be thine habitation I can give thee but what is thine own already but here with the poor Widow I cast my two mites my soul and my body in to thy treasury fully resigning them up to thee to be sanctified by thee to be servants to thee They shall be thy patients cure thou their maladies they shall be thy agents govern thou their motions Too long have I served the world too long have I hearkned to Satan but now I renounce them all and will be ruled by thy dictates and directions and guided by thy counsel O blessed Trinity O glorious Unity I deliver up my self to thee receive me write thy name O Lord upon me and upon all that I have as thy proper goods Set thy mark upon me upon every member of my body and every faculty of my soul. I have chosen thy precepts Thy Law will I lay before me this shall be the copy which I will keep in my eye and study to write after According to this rule do I resolve by thy Grace to walk after this law shall my whole man be governed And though I cannot perâ—ectly keep one of thy Commandments yet I will allow my self in the breach of none I know my flesh will hang back but I resolve in the power of thy Grace to cleave to thee and thy holy ways what ever it cost me I am sure I cannot come off a loser by thee and therefore I will be content with reproach and difficulties and hardships here and will deny my self and take up my Cross and follow thee Lord Jesus thy Yoke is easie thy Cross is welcome as it is the way to thee I lay aside all hopes of a worldly happiness I will be content to tarry till I come to thee Let me be poor and low little and despised here so I may but be admitted to live and raign with thee hereafter Lord thou hast my heart and hand to this agreement Be it as the laws of the Medes and Persians never to be reversed To this I will stand in this resolution by Grace I will live and die I have sworn and will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments I have given my free consent I have made my everlasting choice Lord Jesus confirm the contract Amen CHAP. VII Containing the Motives to Conversion THough what is already said of the Necessity of Conversion and of the Miseries of the unconverted might be sufficient to induce any considering mind to resolve upon a present turning or Conversion unto God yet knowing what a piece of desperate obstinacy and untractableness the heart of man naturally is I have thought it necessary to add to the means of Conversion and Directions for a Covenant-closure with God in Christ some Motives to perswade you hereunto O Lord fail me not now at my last attempts If any soul hath read hitherto and be yet untouched now Lord fasten in him and do thy work Now take him by the heart overcome him perswade him till he say Thou hast prevailed for thou wast stronger than I Lord didst thou not make me a fisher of men And have I toyled all this while and caught nothing Alas that I should have spent my strength for nought And now I am casting my last Lord Iesus stand thou upon the shore and direct how and where I shall spread my net and let me so enclose with arguments the souls I seek for that they may not be able to get out Now Lord for a multitude of souls now for a full draught O Lord God remember me I pray thee and strengthen me this once O God But I turn me unto you Men and Brethren Heaven and Earth do call upon you yea Hell it self doth preach the Doctrine of repentance unto you The Angels of the Churches travel with you Gal. 4. 19. the Angels of Heaven wait for you for your repenting and turning unto God O sinner why should the Devils make merry with thee why shouldst thou be a morsel for that devouring Leviathan Why should harpies and hell-hounds tear thee and make a feast upon thee and when they have got thee into the snare and have fastned their talons in thee laugh at thy destruction and deride thy misery and sport themselves with thy damnable folly This must be thy case except thou turn And were it not better thou shouldst be a joy to Angels than a laughing-stock and sport for devils Verily if thou wouldst but come in the Heavenly Host would take up their anthems and sing Glory be to God in the highest the morning Stars would sing together and all the sons of God shout for joy and celebrate this new creation as they did the first Thy repentance would as it were make holy-day in heaven and the glorious spirits would rejoyce in that there is a new brother added to their society Rev. 22. 9. another heir born to their Lord and the lost son received safe and sound The true penitents tears are indeed the wine that cheereth both God and man If it be little that men and Angels would rejoyce at thy Conversion know that God himself would
dungeon from the darkness that he calleth you Esay 42. 6 7. and yet will you not come He calleth you unto liberty Gal. 5. 13. and yet will you not hearken His yoke is easie his Laws are Liberty his service freedom Mat. 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 taste sweetness and joy unutterable and take infinite delight and felicity in them Prov. 3. 17. Psal. 110. 165. 1 Pet. 1. 1. Psal. 119. 103. 111. Beloved I am loath 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 off me 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 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 Ier. 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 money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me and eate ye 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 everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David Esay 55. 1 2 3. Ho every one that is sick of any manner of disease or torment Mat. 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 Loe here is he that healeth all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people Ho every one that is in debt and every one that is in distâ—ess and every one that is discontented gather your selves unto Christ and he will become a Captain over you He will be your protection from the arrests of the Law He will save you from the hand of Justice Behold he is an open sanctuary to you he is a known refuge Heb. 6. 18. Psal. 48. 3. Away with your sins and come in unto him lest the avenger of blood seize you lest devouring wrath overtake you Ho every ignorant sinner come and buy eye-salve that thou maist see Rev. 3. 18. Away with thine excuses thou art for ever lost if thou continuest in this estate 2 Cor. 4. 3. But accept of Christ for thy Prophet and he will be a light unto thee Esay 42. 6. Eph 5. 14. Cry unto him for knowledge study his word take pains about the principles of Religion humble thy self before him and he will teach thee his way and make thee wise unto salvation Mat. 13. 36. Luke 8. 9. Iohn 5. 39. Psal. 25. 9. But if thou wilt not follow him in the painful use of his means but sit down because thou hast but one talent he will condemn thee for a wicked and sloathful servant Mat. 25. 24 26. Ho every prophane sinner come in and live Return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon thee Be entreated Oh return come Thou that hast filled thy mouth with oaths and execrations all manner of sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven thee Mark 3. 28. if thou wilt but throughly turn unto Christ and come in Though thou wast as unclean as Magdalen yet put away thy Whoredoms out of thy sight and thine adulteries from between thy breasts and give up thy self unto Christ as a vessel of holiness alone for his use and then though thy sins be as scarlet they shall be as wooll and though they be as crimson they shall be as white snow Luke 7. 37. Hos. 2. 2. 1 Thes. 4. 4. Esay 1. 18. Hear O ye drunkards How long will you be drunken put away your wine 1 Sam. 1. 14. Though you have rolled in the vomit of your sin take the vomit of repentance and heartily disgorge your beloved lusts and the Lord will receive you 2. Cor. 6. 17. Give up your selves unto Christ to live soberly righteously and godly embrace his righteousness accept his government and though you have been swine he will wash you Rev. 36. Hear O ye loose companions whose delight is in vain and wicked societie to sport away your time in carnal mirth and jollity with them come in at wisdoms call and choose her and her ways and forsake the foolish and you shall live Prov. 9. 5 6. Hear O ye scorners hear the word of the Lord. Though you have made a sport of godliness and the professors thereof though you have made a scorn of Christ and of his waies yet even to you doth he call to gather you under the wings of his mercy Prov. 1. 22 33. In a word though you should be sound among the worst of that black roll 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. yet upon your through Conversion you shall be washed you shall be justified you shall be sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of ouâ— God ver 11. Ho every formal professor that art but a luke-warm and dough-baked Christian and restest in the form of godliness give over thy halving and thy halting be a throughout Christian and be zealous and repent and then though thou hast been an offence to Christ's stomach thou shalt be the joy of his heart Rev. 3. 16 19 20. And now bear witness that mercy hath been offered you I call Heaven and Earth to record against you this day that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that you may live Deut. 30. 19. I can but woo you and warn