us we are not only to cast away our Lusts and Sins but our Hearts must be fitted and disposed to receive him by the powerful Operation of his Holy Spirit beautifying and enriching them with Divine and Heavenly Qualifications And therefore it will concern us to be earnest in our Prayers that the good Spirit of God may come down upon us and make our Hearts and Souls meet Temples for the Son of God to dwell in IV. Go forth unto Christ by the actings of Faith upon all occasions Let Christ dwell in your Hearts by Faith Ephes 3.17 according to every alteration in your condition and according to all the diversities of Providence do you look unto Christ exercise Faith on him and by Faith fetch supplies of Grace from him V. Meditate much and often on the Love of Christ to Sinners Read over the Gospel the several Apostolical Epistles and the many Prophecies concerning Christ especially Isa 63. take notice of the many remarkable Passages there relating to Christ declaring his Condescention and Love weigh them seriously and press them upon thy own Soul and Conscience dwell on these Matters in thy Thoughts and expostulate with thy self about them What hath the Son of God taken my Nature has the King of Glory condescended to live here in the form of a Servant did he patiently undergo all the unjust Affronts and Contempts of lewd and prophane People did he bear the weight of God's Wrath and actually lay down his Life in the most open scandalous cursed linguering and painful kind of Death then known in the World and was all this for my sake O incomprehensible Love What shall I return unto my Saviour for all this I can never love Christ enough may I never cease admiring the many Instances wherein his Love hath broke forth unto me may I so wonder at and be affected with all these things that love to Christ may shine through all the passages of my Life May I never be at rest till I do arrive at the full enjoyment of my Saviour in his own Kingdom What has the Lord Jesus Christ done so much for me has he revealed such Truths made such Promises suffered such Sorrows submitted to such a Death as are recorded in the Holy Scriptures are so many glorious and wonderful Things related concerning him Doth he now reign in Heaven and hath he purchased such blessed Inheritance and satisfying Treasures for poor Sinners Nay doth he still importune and entreat me to accept of Him and his Benefits God forbid that I should oppose his Motions and resist his Love any longer Shall the King of Glory be slighted and excluded still by me Shall I wilfully cast away my own Soul and stubbornly neglect this great Salvation God forbid Shall it be writ on my Grave Here lies the sturdy ungrateful Wretch that did wilfully resist Jesus Christ the Wretch that resolved to force his way to Hell through all the Impediments and Discouragements infinite Justice and infinite Mercy had laid in his way that vile unpitiable Miscreant that would damn himself in spite of Love it self VI. Converse much with those who are experienced Christians and have much acquaintance with Christ He that walketh with wise Men shall be wise but a Companion of Fools shall be destroyed Prov. 13.20 Such People will very much assist thee in thy closing with Christ by their Discourses Exhortations and Practice They can tell thee such things concerning Christ from their own experience as will warm and melt thy Heart and inflame thy Affections They will contribute much to thy help by their advice and counsel by the accounts they can give thee off their own experiences by their watchfulness over thee and by their fervent effectual Prayers for thee VII Labour to be acquainted with and to observe all the Motions and Workings of Christ towards Sinners and close with and improve every one of them when he is pleased to exert any of them towards thy self Take notice of the Calls he doth give thee in his Word and the awakening visits he doth make thee by his providential Occurrences and improve these to put thee on a more diligent search and close walking after him and to excite and quicken in thee more fervent desires after Communion with him VIII Conscientiously frequent those Ordinances wherein Christ hath promised his more especial Presence Prepare thy self carefully to meet thy Lord and come with passionate Desires and confident Expectations grounded on his Faithfulness Word and Promise that he will exhibit himself unto those Souls that sincerely long and wait for him IX Lastly Faithfully resign and give up thy self to Christ When thy Heart is affected truly with a sense of Christ's Love then desire him by fervent Prayer that he will be pleased to take thee into Covenant with himself and make a hearty faithful entire resignation of thy self unto him O Blessed Jesus most Holy Saviour I am unworthy I acknowledg to make use of thy Name I have often resisted and sinned against thy constraining Love but I am heartily sorry now that ever I did so O compassionate and tender-hearted Saviour reject not an humble returning mourning Penitent embrace me the unworthiest of all others in the Arms of thy Mercy and admit me into thy favour the more stubborn and head-strong and wilful I have been the more abundantly let thy Grace be manifested toward me and bring me under the more powerful influences of thy Love Lord seize by the Power of thy Grace and take possession of this Soul Gracious Saviour whose Bowels have ever yearned over the miserable and who hast been always compassionate and gracious to the unworthy favourably accept of this poor Oblation Lord it is the purchase of thy own Blood O reject not despise not cast not away what thou hast bought at so dear a rate Lord here is my Soul my Body my Heart my Affections my Mind my Judgment my Will Lord here is all that I have Lord I resign up all unto thee without any reservation do with all as pleaseth thee best only accept of them O Lord I love thee above all I desire with my whole Soul to love thee every Day more and more Lord dwell in my Heart rule over my whole Man bring all my Powers unto a true and sound subjection unto and compliance with thee in every thing May my Soul always admire thee my Heart love thee my Tongue praise thee my Lips speak of thy Glory and Goodness May my Life glorify thee may I in every part of my practice serve and honour thee may all my Faculties and Members be ready and faithful Servants for and unto thee Lord I long to be with thee my Soul panteth after thee For me to live is Christ and to die is gain Phil. 1.21 FINIS
CHRIST's IMPORTUNITY WITH SINNERS To accept of HIM By S. Bold Rector of Steple Dorset All day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying People Rom. 10.21 As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the Wicked but that the Wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die Ezek. 3.11 London Printed for Awnsham Churchill in Ave-Mary Lane and are to be sold by William Churchill Bookseller in Dorchester 1687. THE PREFACE TO THE READER READER THE Happiness and Glory of Heaven and the Horror and Anguish of Hell are most certain stable and durable Estates We have as great as convincing and as satisfying Evidence that wicked ungodly and impenitent Sinners shall be for ever inexpressibly and unconceivably miserable as is fit for reasonable Creatures to have in this World and as Infinite Wisdom hath thought meet to afford The Evidence is such that whosoever would pretend to require more suitable more proper and more powerful discoveries were he put to invent Methods of his own for his particular fatisfaction would have as reasonable as just and as good grounds after his Humour and Fancy were gratified to continue an Infidel as before see Luke 16.30 31. He that thinks it a disparagement to his Wit or a blemish to his Courage to acquiesce in the Testimony of God as delivered in our Bibles might with greater assurance refuse his assent to the Damn'd themselves did he see them in Flames and hear their personal acknowledgments that their Vices and Sins had wrought them all that misery For why should he heed and credit them who have not trick enough to disguise or obstinacy enough to deny their Guilt The subsequent Discourse was not design'd for them whose unnatural Immoralities or studied Incredulity has given them an elevation as they conceit above conviction If nothing but particular Experience will assure them of eternal and unsufferable Torments I leave them as Persons out of the reach of Ratiocination and Discourse to what will certainly overtake them and that before they are willing And therefore intending the following Discourse especially for the plain and ordinary sort who have not lost all sense I will briefly address to them in a Stile proportionable to the plainness and familiarity used in the Discourse it self I entreat you who retain any sparks of Humanity who have a sense that your Souls are Immortal who acknowledg there is some difference between Good and Evil Virtue and Vice and whom your general Profession do own that the Scriptures are the Word of God I say I do beg and most earnestly beseech you by all that should be dear and precious unto you to think seriously a little on the following Particulars Be so just to your selves so respectful to your Maker so civil and kind to them who do most passionately desire your everlasting Happiness as to allow a few sober thoughts about Matters which be of most necessary and unspeakable importance unto you Why should you rush upon God's Wrath precipitaâ—e and heedlesly throw your selves headlong into unquenchable Burnings and grieve and wound the Hearts of those who incessantly pray and desire and long and wait for your endless Good and Comfort Be prevailed with then to consider with some sedateness and calmness these few Instances 1. Though God made Man at first a very excellent holy upright and unblemish'd Creature yet now we are all by Sin defiled and made unholy and brought under Guilt So that as long as we remain in our natural and unregenerate Estate we are obnoxious and liable to God's Curse and have a just right to all the terrible Discoveries and most dreadful Effects of Divine and Infinite Justice see Rom. 5.12 1.18 Ephes 2.1 2 3. John 3.36 2. God hath not left us remedilesly in that sad and deplorable and as to all meer Creature-relief helpless Estate into which we are sunk by Sinâ— But of his abundant rich and free Grace He hath provided us an Alsufficient Saviour and Redeemer and hath opened unto us a Door of Hope He hath given his own Son to assume our Nature and to make Peace and Reconciliation for us By and through this Son of God Pardon Peace and Mercy deliverance from Sin Guilt Misery and Eterna Damnation is to be obtained and no other way see Rom. 5.8 9 10. 1 Tim. 1.15 Gal 4.4 5. 1 John 2.1 2. Act. 4.12 3. The Lord Jesus Christ having accomplished all that Work he undertook and which was appointed him to finish upon Earth and being entred into his glorious Administration doth make most gracious Offers of himself his Love his Mercy his Spirit and Benefits unto poor Sinners and is very importunate with them to entertain and accept of the same Ephes 4.7 to 14. Act. 13.26 2 Cor. 5.19 to the end 4. Multitudes who have the Gospel and partake of the Ministry of the Word and make a profession of Religion and have these gracious Offers made unto them do not suitably entertain but despise and reject Christ and his Benefits They stubbornly refuse to submit to his Authority to comply with his Terms and imploy themselves in his Service Nay many offer him the greatest abuses and contempt they can devise see Mat. 22.1 2 c. Luke 19.14 John 5.40 Act. 13.46 And do not the Lives and Practices of multitudes professing Christianity demonstrate all this Look into your Hearts and examine the ordinary course of your Conversations Shall you not there find sufficient and full proof that hitherto you have rejected him That yet he hath no room in your Hearts no influences on your Practices O what Ignorance what Rancor Malice Revenge Hatred Wrath unmortified powerful Lusts what Covetousness Earthly-mindedness Carnality Pride Hypocrisy what backbiting lying slandering evil-speaking prophane and common Swearing vain frothy foolish unedifying Words and Discourse what common constant neglect of the Worship and Service of God in Families and in Private What sleighting and contemning God's Word and Ordinances nay what ridiculing and making a sport of all serious Religion what Drunkenness and Whoredom Intemperance and Wantonness Oppression Injustice Violence and innumerable other most notorious and abominable wickednesses may multitudes of pretended Christians every where observe in and justly charge themselves with Now are these the Fruits of Christ's gracious and holy Presence Was Christ of such a Mind Did He do such Things Does he any where countenance and allow of such things Can those Hearts which cherish such Lusts and from which such polluted streams and corrupt Fruits do proceed be a Temple for the Holy Jesus to dwell in Are not these the Fruits of the Flesh which shut the Heart against Christ and exclude those who cherish and practise them out of the Kingdom of Heaven Gal. 5.19 20 21. Rev. 21.8 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Ephes 4.29 31. 5. All those who enjoying the Gospel do stubbornly and finally reject
with him where he should be John 17.24 And he still intercedes now he is in Heaven for such that they may be with him and will certainly conduct them to and possess them for ever of that Glory and Happiness which infinitely exceeds all Imagination and which is fully understood by no Creatures but those who do enjoy it A Happiness which is absolutely free from all evil and unpleasant Mixture and which is every way compleat and full of every thing that is grateful pleasant and can administer any satisfaction A Happiness that is stable sure and certain which shall last to all Eternity and never cease decay nor cloy but always entertain with raptures of Joy ravishing Pleasures and Satisfactions which arise to uninterrupted and constant Extasies These are some of the Arguments which are strongly urged to prevail with Sinners to accept of Christ But his Importunity will yet further appear if we consider the Instruments he doth imploy and make use of about this Work The Instruments are many which are employ'd to entreat and perswade and move Sinners to close with the gracious Tenders made them by the Son of God I will name but four 1. The Holy Spirit is appointed to be Christ's Advocate and is employ'd to plead Christ's Cause with Sinners This Holy Spirit hath not only in a miraculous way convinc'd the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment but he doth plead often with particular Persons Sometimes he works pious Inclinations and desires in the Soul sometimes he affects with a penetrating apprehension of the wretchedness of a natural Estate Sometimes he convinces powerfully of a necessity of looking after Christ sometimes he moves and perswades the Soul to close with Christ and accept him upon his own terms The Spirit of God works variously secretly and powerfully on the Heart and doth often testify of Christ even to those who do a long time nay it may be finally stand out and refuse to close heartily with him But it is a great aggravation of a Person 's Sin to grieve the Spirit of God Ephes 4.30 and to quench the Spirit 1 Thess 5.19 To take no notice of Christ but stubbornly oppose and resist him when he comes to us and pleads with us and entreats us by his Spirit to accept of him O to what a height doth our Guilt ascend when Christ sends his Spirit to treat with us and we despise or take no notice of the workings and witnessings of this Holy Spirit What a heightned Crime and Wickedness is this to contemn and make light of Christ after that the Holy Spirit hath been treating with us and explaining to us the Dignity of Christ his unvaluable transcendent Excellencies and the necessity of a Saviour This is certainly a very great proof and demonstration of our Saviour's earnestness to be admitted by us that he pleads with us by such an one and employs his Holy Spirit to transact and manage this Business with us 2. He sends his Ministers on this Errand The Ministers of the Gospel are appointed to be the Preachers of Reconciliation unto the World They are intrusted by the Lord Jesus to plead with Sinners and endeavour to prevail with them to receive Christ and yield up themselves to him And therefore as you hear or refuse to hear them so Christ interprets your readiness or unwillingness to receive him Luke 10.16 The great Work and Business of the Ministry is to beseech you in the Name of Christ to lay down your Enmity which you have unjustly conceived against him and hearken unto his wholsom saving Advice and Counsel even to accept of him that he may dwell with you and you with him Now then we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5.20 Now how often and with how much earnestness have you been entreated this way to embrace Christ and his Gracious Offers Were not Christ very importunate for admittance what need would there be that a particular sort of People should be appointed and set apart for this very Business to invite and perswade and intreat People to accept of Christ and his Benefits Ephes 4.11 c. 3. Jesus Christ doth importune you by his Word When you read or hear the Holy Scriptures what urgings and entreatings have you there from Christ to accept of him It is Peoples great Sin that they slight the Scriptures as they do Ministers and Ordinances and are not willing to observe Christ speaking in them But O what a zeal and earnestness doth Christ manifest there in beseeching and calling Sinners to embrace and accept of him Consider and weigh these few Particulars amongst the many you may meet with in reading the Word of God which plainly shew how much Christ is concerned for your closing with his gracious Tenders 1. His free and solemn Invitations What frank and liberal Promises doth he make to all who will but comply with his Call Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Matth. 11.28 Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the Waters and he that hath no Mony come ye buy and eat yea come buy Wine and Milk without Mony and without Price Wherefore do ye spend Mony for that which is not Bread and your Labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your Soul delight it self in Fatness Incline your Ear and come unto me hear and your Soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure Mercies of David Isa 55.1 2 3. You see here that he excepts none and that he assures of the best the most useful the choicest and most valuable Blessings 2. His vehement and affectionate Protestations He swears by Himself that his Love is cordial and sincere He importunes us often and condescends to argue and expostulate with us 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 Cast away from you all your Transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new 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. 18.31 32. 3. His passionate Lamentation over those who do stubbornly reject him and will not accept of him notwithstanding he pleads with them thus earnestly He wept over them of Jerusalem after he had long importuned them in vain How does he express by groans and sighs his mournful sorrowful Resentments on the account of the destruction they were wilfully drawing on themselves O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are