renounce mine own worthiness and do here avow thee to be the Lord my Righteousness I renounce mine own wisdom and do here take thee for mine only Guide I renounce mine own will and take thy will for my Law And since thou hast told me that I must suffer if I will reign I do here Covenant with thee to take my lot as it falls with thee and by thy Crace assisting to run all hazards with thee verily supposing that neither life nor death shall part between thee and me And because thou hast been pleased to give me thy holy Laws as the rule of my life and the way in which I should walk to thy Kingdom I do here willingly put my Neck under thy Yoak and set my shoulder to thy burden and subscribing to all thy Laws as holy just and good I solemnly take them as the rule of my words thoughts and actions promising that though my flesh contradict and rebel yet I will endeavour to order and govern my whole life according to thy direction and will not allow my self in the neglect of any thing that I know to be my Duty Only because through the frailty of my flesh I am subject to many failings I am bold humbly to protest That unallowed miscarriages contrary to the setled bent and resolution of my heart shall not make void this Covenant for so thou hast said Now Almighty God searcher of hearts thou knowest that I make this Covenant with thee this day without any known guile or reservation beseeching thee that if thou espiest any flaw or falshood therein thou wouldst discover it to me and help me to do it aright And now Glory be to thee O God the Father whom I shall be bold from this day forward to look upon as my God and Father that ever thou shouldest find out such a way for the recovery of undone sinners Glory be to thee O God the Son who hast loved me and washed me from my sins in thine own blood and art now become my Saviour and Redeemer Glory be to thee O God the Holy Ghost who by the finger of thine Almighty power hast turned about my heart from sin to God O dreadful Iehovah the Lord God Omnipotent Father Son and Holy Ghost thou art now become my Covenant-friend and I through thine infinite Grace am become thy Covenant-servant Amen So be it And the Covenant which I have made on earth let it be ratified in Heaven The Author's advice THis Covenant I advise you to make not only in Heart but in Word not only in Word but in Writing and that you would with all possible reverence spread the Writing before the Lord as if you would present it to him as your Act and Deed. And when you have done this set your hand to it Keep it as a Memorial of the Solemn Transactions that have passed between God and you that you may have recourse to it in Doubts and Temptations Dir. XI Take heed of delaying thy Conversion and set upon a speedy and present turning I made hast and delayed not Psal. 119. 59. Remember and tremble at the sad instance of the â—oolish Virgins that came not till the door of mercy was shut Mat. 25. and of a convinced Felix that put off Paul to another season and we never find that he had such a season more Act. 24. 25. O come in while it 's called to day lest thou shouldest be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin lest thy day of Grace should be over and the things that belong to thy peace should be hid from thine eyes Now mercy is wooing of thee Now Christ is waiting to be gracious to thee and the Spirit of God is striving with thee Now Ministers are calling now Conscience is stirring now the Market is open and Oyl may be had thou hast opportunity for the buying Now Christ is to be had for the taking Oh! strike in with the offers of Grace Oh! now or never If thou make light of this offer God may swear in his wrath thou shalt never tast of his Supper Luke 14. 24. Dir. XII Attend conscientiously upon the word as the means appointed for thy Conversion Iames 1. 18. 19. 1. Cor. 4. 15. Attend I say not customarily but Conscientiously with this desire design hope and expectation that thou maist be converted by it Every sermon thou hearest come with this thought Oh I hope God will now come in I hope this may be the time this may be the man by whom God will bring me home When thou art coming to the Ordinances lift up thine heart thus to God Lord let this be the Sabbath let this be the season wherein I may receive renewing Grace Oh let it be said that to day such a one was born unto thee Object Thou wilt say I have been long a hearer of the word and yet it hath not been effectual to my Conversion Answer Yea but thou hast not attended upon it in this manner as a means of thy Conversion nor with this design nor praying for and expecting of this happy effect of it Dir. XIII Strike in with the Spirit when he begins to work upon thy heart When he works convictions Oh do not stifle them but joyn in with him and beg the Lord to carry on convictions to conversion Quench not the Spirit do not out-strive him do not resist him Beware of putting out convictions by evil company or worldly business When thou findest any troubles for sin and fears about thine eternal State beg of God that they may never leave thee till they have wrought off thy heart throughly from sin and wrought it over to Jesus Christ. Say to him Strike home Lord leave not the work in the midst If thou seest that I am not yet wounded enough that I am not troubled enough wound me yet deeper Lord. Oh go to the bottom of my corruptions let out the life blood of my sins Thus yield up thy self to the workings of the Spirit and hoise thy sails to his gusts Dir. XIV Set upon the constant and diligent use of serious and fervent prayer He that neglects prayer is a prophane and unsanctified sinner Iob 15. 4. He that is not constant in prayer is but an Hypocrite Iob 27. 10. unless the omission be contrary to his ordinary course under the force of some instant temptation This is one of the first things that Conversion appears in that it sets men on praying Act 9. 11. Therefore set to this dutyâ— Let never a day pass over thee wherein thou hast not morning and evening set apart some time for set and solemn prayer in secret Call thy family also together daily and duly to worship God with thee Wo unto thee if thine be found amongst the families that call not on Gods name Ier. 10. 25. But cold and lifeless devotions will not reach half way to Heaven Be fervent and importunate Importunity will carry it But without violence the Kingdom of Heaven will
may help themselves and us If you still refuse will not your loss be more than ours If we lose our labour which to our selves we shall not if we lose our hopes of your salvation what is this to your everlasting loss of salvation it self And what is our suffering for your sakes in comparison of your endless sufferings But O this is it that breaketh 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 painâ— 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 that it shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Iudgment than for the rejecters of his Gospel-calls The nature of the thing and the nature of Iustice 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 easilyer 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 cloathing and yet if they could but have truly said Lord the Sermons which I preach privately and in danger have won home many souls to thee it would have made all this burden easie But I tell thee senseless 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 denied them 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 of 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 true 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 yet be 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 not 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 Christs 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 one 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 should 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 lieth down in the dust and I go to give up my account unto my judge 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 conscence when it shall be awake 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 contemptuosly 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 sloth thy lust thy appetite against the desires of thy flesh against the dust shadows of this 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 which the Devil and sin will give thee if thou wilt sell thy soul and Heaven and that which God hath promised and sworn to give thee if thou wilt heartily give up thy self to him I know that thou maist possibly fall into company at least among some sots and drunkards that will tell thee all this is but troublesome preciseness and making more ado than needs But I know withal what that man deserveth who will believe a fool before his Maker For he can be no better than a miserable fool that will contradict and revile the word of God even the word of Grace that would save mens souls And alas it is possible thou maist hear some of the Tribe of Levi or rather of Cain deriding this serious Godliness as meer Hypocrisy and Phanaticism and self-conceitedness As if you must be no better than the Devils slaves lest you be Proud in thinking that you are better than they That is you must go with them to Hell lest in Heaven you be proud Hypocrites for thinking your selves Happier than they It may be they will tell you that this talk of Conversion is fitter for Pagans and Infidels to hear than Christians and Protestants Because such mens big looks or Coats may make the poyson the easilier taken down I will intreat thee but as before God to answer these following questions or to get them answered and then judge whether it be They or We that would deceive thee and whether as men use to talk against Learning that have none themselves so such men prate not against Conversion and the Spirit of God because they have no such thing themselves Qu. 1. I pray ask these men whether it be a Puritane or Phanatick opinion that men must dye and what all the pomp and wealth and pleasure of the World will signifie to a departing soul Ask them whether they will live on Earth for ever and their merry hours and Lordly looks will have no end And whether it be but the conceit of Hypocrites and Schismaticks that their Carcases must lie rotting in a darksome grave Qu. 2. Ask them whether man have not an Immortal soul and a longer life to live when this is ended Luke 12. 41. Qu. 3. Ask them whether reason require not every man to think more seriously of the place or state where he must be for ever than of that where he must be but for a little while and from whence he is posting day and night And whether it be not wiser to lay up our treasure where we must stay than where we must not stay but daily look to be called away and never more be seen on earth Math. 6. 19 20. 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18. and 5. 1 2 3 6 7 8. Qu. 4. Ask them whether God should not be loved with all our heart and soul and might Math. 22. 37. And whether it be not the mark of an ungodly miscreant to be a lover of pleasure more than God 2. Tim. 3. 4. and a Lover of this world above him 1 Ioh. 2. 15 16. And whether we must not seek first Gods Kingdome and his Righteousness Matth. 6. 33. and labour most for the meat that never perisheth Joh. 6. 27. and strive to enter in at the strait Gate Luke 13. 24. and give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure 2. Pet. 1. 10. Qu. 5. Ask them whether without Holiness any shall see God Heb. 12. 14. Mat. 5. 8. Tit. 2. 14. And whether the carnal mind is not enmity to God and to be carnally minded is not death and to be spiritually minded life and peace And whether if you live after the flesh you shall not die and be condemned and they shall live and be saved that walk after the Spirit And whether any man be Christs that hath not his spirit Rom. 8. 1 5 6 7 8 9 13. Qu. 6. Ask them whether any man have a treasure in Heaven whose heart is not there Math. 6. 21. And whether this be not the difference between the Wicked and the Godly that the first do make their bellies their Gods and mind Earthly things and are Enemies to the Cross of Christ though perhaps not to his name and the latter have their conversation in Heaven and being risen with Christ do seek and set their affections on things above and not on the things that are on earth to which they are as dead and their life is hid or out of sight with Christ in God till Christ appear and then they shall appear even openly to all the world with him in Glory Phil. 3. 18 19 20. Col. 4. 1 2 3 4 5. Qu. 7. Ask them whether is be credible and suitable to Gods word or workings that he that will not give them the fruits of the earth without their labour nor feed and cloath them without themselves will yet bring them to Heaven without any care desire or labour of their own when he hath bid them Care not for the one and called for their greatest diligence for the other Math. 6. 25 33. Ioh. 6. 27. Yea ask them whether these be not the two first articles of all Faith and Religion 1. That God is 2. That he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. Qu. 8. Ask them yea ask your eyes your ears your daily experience in the world whether all or most that call themselves Christians do in good sadness thus live to God in the Spirit and mortifie the flesh with its affections and lusts and seek first God's Kingdom and righteousness and love him above all and lay up treasure and heart in Heaven or rather whether most be not lovers of the world and lovers of pleasure more than God and live not after the flesh and mind not most the things of the flesh I mention not now the drunkards the flesh-pleasing Gentlemen that live in Pride Fulness and Idleness and Sport and Play away their precious time nor the filthy Fornicators nor the merciless oppressors nor the malignant haters of a godly life nor the perjured and perfidious betrayers of mens souls and of the Gospel or their Countries good nor such other men of â—eared Consciences whose misery none questioneth but such as are as blind and miserable It 's not these only I am speaking of but the common worldly fleshly and ungodly ones Qu. 9. Ask them whether the name of a Christian will save any one of these ungodly persons And whether God will like men the better for lying and calling themselves Christians when they are none indeed And whether they dare
point save carnal interests ask them why they are Preachers or Priests And if Conversion and Holiness be a needless thing what use they themselves are of and why the Country must be troubled with them and pay them tythes and owe them reverence When these twenty Questions are well answered conclude that you may be saved without Conversion But if poor soul thou art fully convinced and askest What should I do to be converted The Lord make thee willing and save thee from hypocrisie and I will quickly tell thee in a few words 1. Give not over sober thinking of these things till thy heart be changed Psal. 119. 59. 2. Come to Christ and take him for thy Saviour thy Teacher thy King and he will pardon all that 's past and save thee Iohn 1. 12. and 3. 16. and 5. 40. 1 Iohn 5. 11 12. 3. Believe Gods love and the pardon of sin and the everlasting joyes of Heaven that thou maist feel that all the pleasures of the world and flesh are dung in comparison of the Heavenly delights of Faith and Hope and holy Love and peace of Conscience and sincere obedience 4. Sin no more wilfully but forbear that which thou maist forbear Isa. 55. 7. 5. Away from Temptations occasions of sin and evil company and be a Companion of the humble holy heavenly and sincere Psal. 119. 115. 63. 6. Wait on Gods spirit in the diligent constant use of his own means Read hear meditate pray Pray hard for that grace that must convert thee wait thus and thou shalt not wait in vain Psal. 25. 3. and 37. 34. and 69. 6. Pitty O Lord and perswade these souls Let not Christ's blood his doctrine his example his spirit be lost unto them and they lost for ever Let not Heaven be as no Heaven to them while they dream and dote on the shaddows in this world And O save this land from the greater destruction than all our late plagues and flames and divisions which our sins and thy threatnings make us fear O Lord in thee have we trusted let us never be confounded Having thus contributed my endeavour in this Preface to the furtherance of the design of this excellent book I must tell thee Reader that I take it for an honour to commend so masculine a birth unto the World The Midwife of Alexander or Aristotle need not be ashamed of her office Who the Author of this treatise was how he preached how he lived how he suffered and for what and how he died his Life and Letters lately printed fully tell you and I earnestly commend the reading of them to all but especially Ministers not to tell them what men have been here forbidden to preach Christ's Gospel and for what nor what men they are that so many years have done it but to tell you what men Christ's Ministers should be But say not He kill'd himself with excessive Labour and therefore I will take warning and take my ease For 1. He lived in perfect health all his days notwithstanding his labours till after his hard and long imprisonment 2. It was not the greatest labours of his times of liberty that hurt him but his preaching 6 or 7 or 8 times a week after that he was silenced because he could not speak to all his people at once O make not an ill use of so excellent an example Say not like Iudas What need this waste His labour his life his sufferings his death were not in vain The ages to come that read his Life and read this little popular treatise and his Call to Archippus shall say They were not in vain And though he was cut off in the midst of his age and his longer labours more elaborate writings thus prevented take thankfully this small but methodical warm and serious tractate Read it seriously and it cannot be but it must do thee good I am one that have lookt into books and sciences and speculations of many sorts and seriously tell thee as a dying man that after all my searches and experience I have found that Philosophical enquiries into the Divine Artifices and the Nature of things hath among a greater number of uncertainties a great many pretty pleasant probabilities which a holy soul can make good use of in admiring God may find us a lawful kind of sport but in the moralities which Atheists count uncertainties the knowledge of God and our duty and our hopes the doctrine and practice of Holiness Temperance Charity and Iustice and the diligent seeking joyful hopes of life everlasting is all the true Wisdom the Goodness the Rest and Comfort of a soul whatever be our play this is the satisfying certainty the Business and the beatifying improvement of our lives I have done when I have sought to remove a little scandal which I foresaw that I should my self write the Preface to his Life where himself and two of his friends make such a mention of my name which I cannot own which will seem a praising him for praising me I confess it looketh ill-favouredly in me But I had not the power of other mens writings durst not therefore forbear that which was his due Had I directed their pens they should have gone a middle way and only esteemed me a very unworthy servant of Christ who yet long to see the peace and prosperity of his Church and should have forborn their undeserved praise as other men should have done their slanderous libels But if the Reader get no harm by it I assure him the use I made of it was to lament that I am really so much worse than they esteemed me and to fear lest I should prove yet worse than I discern my self who see so much sin and weakness in my betters and much more in my self as to make it the constant sentiment of my soul that PRIDE of mens GREATNESS WISDOM and GOODNESS is the first part of the DEVILS IMAGE on mans soul and DARKNES is the second and MALIGNITY the third Râ— Baxter TO THE UNCONVERTED Reader READER HOw well were it if there were no more unconverted ones among us than those to whom this is directed Vnconverted persons how many are there but how few unconverted Readers especially of such Books as this before thee A Play or a Romance better suits the lusts and therefore must have more of the eye of such what will cherish the evil heart is only grateful not what will change it How many are there to whom this is directed who will not know that they are the men and how little hope is there that this excellent Treatise should reach its end with those who apprehend not themselves concern'd in it Art not thou one of them Art thou a Convert or art thou not yet in thy sins What is sin What is Conversion It may be thou canst tell me neither and yet a Convert thou sayst thou art But to what purpose is it then like to be for the servant of God to
treat with thee about this matter Let him bid thee believe thou art a beâ—â—ever already let him bid thee repent and turn to the Lord that work thou sayâ—â— is not now â—o do What can there be said to this man that 's like to bring him to good Friend know thy self better or thou perishest without remedy Thou maist pray but what hope is there in thy praying Thou maist read but what 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 thou 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 Whilest this 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 Physician that does not think himself sick The man of God may spare his pains of perswading thee to Conversion whilest 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 thine heart is false and deceitful and yet because it speaks good concerning thee must it not be question'd 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 and 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 couldst 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 shouldest 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 holy 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 acquaintance 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 should 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 consider and consent unto him who by the pen of his servant calls to thee from Heaven why wilt thou dye 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 talis 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 debtour to you all and am concerned as I would be found a good steward of the houshold of God to give to every one his portion But the Physician is most sollicitous 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
thou shouldst spread forth thine hands God will hide his eyes though thou make many prayers he will not hear Esay 1. 15. If a man without skill set about our work and marr it in the doing though he take much pains we give him but small thanks God will be worshipped after the due order 1 Chron. 15. 13. If a servant do our work but quite contrary to our order he shall have rather stripes than praise Gods work must be done according to Gods mind or he will not be pleased and this cannot be except it be done with a holy heart 2 Chron. 25. 2. IV. Without this thy hopes are in vain Iob 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 not know peace Esay 59. 8. Without the fear of God you cannot have the comforts of the Holy Ghost Act 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. 38. 't is brokenness in the bones Psal. 51. 8. it pierceth it woundeth it racketh and tormenteth 1 Tim. 6. 10. A man may as well expect ease when his diseases are in their strength or his bones out of joint as true comfort while in his sins O wretched man that canst have no ease 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 unsatiable 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 wayes 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. There 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 taketh 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 fruition 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. 10. 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 a 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 won 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 fail and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost Iob 11. 2. Wicked 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 its dark 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 liar He hath told you that so merciful and pitiful as he is he will never save you not withstanding if you go on in ignorance or a course of unrighteousness Esay 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 mercifu◠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 Obj. Why but we hope in Jesus Christ we put out whole trust in God and therefore doubt not but we shall be saved Ans. 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
awakening consideration That Multitudes miscarry by the hand of some secret sin that is not only hidden from others but for want of observing their own hearts even from themselves A man may be free from open pollutions and yet die at last by the fatal hand of some unobserved iniquity And there be these eleven hidden sins by which souls go down by numbers to the chambers of death These you must search carefully for and take them as black marks where-ever they be found discovering a graceless and unconverted estate As you love your lives read them carefully with a holy jealousie of your selves lest you should be the persons concerned 1. Gross Ignorance Ah how many poor souls doth this sin kill in the dark Hos. 4. 6. while they think verily they have good hearts and are in the ready way to Heaven This is the murderer that diâ—patches thousands in a silent manner when poor hearts they suspect nothing and see not the hand that mischiefs them You shall find whatever excuses you have for ignorance that 't is a soul-undoing evil Esay 27. 11. 2 Thess. 1. 8. 2 Cor. 4. 3. Ah would it not have pitied a man's heart to have seen that woful spectacle when the poor Protestants were shut up a multitude together in a barn and a butcher comes with his inhumane hands warm in humane blood and leads them one by one blindfold to a block where he slew them poor Innocents one after another by the scores in cold blood But how much more should our hearts bleed to think of the hundreds in great congregations that ignorance doth butcher in secret and lead them blindfold to the block Beware this be none of your case Make no pleas for ignorance If you spare that sin know that that will not spare you Will a man keep a murderer in his bosome 2. Secret reserves in closing with Christ. To forsake all for Christ to hate father and mother yea and a mans own life for him this is a hard saying Luke 14. 26. Some will do much but they will not be of the religion that will undo them they never come to be entirely devoted to Christ nor fully to resign to him They must have the sweet sin They mean to do themselves no harm They have secret exceptions for life liberty or estate Many take Christ thus hand over head and never consider his self-denying terms nor cast upon the cost and this error in the foundation marrs all and secretly ruines them for ever Luke 14. 28. Mat. 13. 21. 3. Formality in Religion Many stick in the bark and rest in the outside of religion and in the external performance of holy duties Mat. 23. 25. and this oft times doth most effectually deceive men doth more certainly undo them than open looseness as it was in the Pharisees case Mat. 21. 31. They hear they fast they pray they give alms and therefore will not believe but their case is good Luke 18. 11. whereas resting in the work done and coming short of the heart-work and the inward power and vitals of religion they fall at last into the burnings from the flattering hopes and confident perswasions of their being in the ready way to Heaven Mat. 7. 22 23. Oh dreadful case when a man's religion shall serve only to harden him and effectually to delude and deceive his own soul 4. The prevalency of false ends in holy duties Mat. 23. 5. This was the bane of the Pharisees Oh how many a poor soul is undone by this and drops into hell before he discerns his mistake He performs good duties and so thinks all is well and perceives not that he is acted by carnal motives all the while It is too true that even with the truly sanctified many carnal ends will oft times creep in but they are the matter of his hatred and humiliation and never come to be habitually prevalent with him and to bear the greatest sway Rom. 14. 7. But now when the main thing that doth ordinarily carry a man out to religious duties shall be some carnal end as to satisfy his conscience to get the repute of being religious to be seen of men to shew his own gifts and parts to avoid the reproach of a prophane and irreligious person or the like this discovers an unsound heart Hos. 10. 1. Zech. 7. 5 6. Oh Christians if you would avoid self-deceit see that you mind not only your acts but withal yea above all your ends 5. Trusting in their own righteousness Luke 18. 9. This is a soul-undoing mischief Rom. 10. 3. When men do trust in their own righteousness they do indeed reject Christ's Beloved you had need be watchful on every hand for not only your sins but your duties may undo you It may be you never thought of this but so it is that a man may as certainly miscarry by his seeming righteousness and supposed graces as by gross sins and that is when a man doth trust to these as his righteousness before God for the satisfying his justice appeasing his wrath procuring his favour and obtaining of his own pardon for this is to put Christ out of office and make a Saviour of our own duties and graces Beware of this O professours you are much in duties but this one fly will spoil all the ointment â—â—en you have done most and best be sure to go out of your selves to Christ and reckon your own righteousness but rags Psal. 143. 2. Phil. 3. 8. Esay 64. 6. Neh. 13. 22. 6. A secreâ— enmity against the strictness of religion Many moral persons punctual in their formal devotion have yet a bitter enmity against preciseness and hate the life and power of religion Phil. 3. 6. compared with Act. 9. 1. They like not this forwardness nor that men should keep such a stir in religion They condemn the strictness of Religion as singularity indiscretion and intemperate zeal and with them a lively preacher or zealous Christian is but a heady fellow These men love not holiness as holiness for then they would love the height of holiness and therefore are undoubtedly rotten at heart whatever good opinion they have of themselves 7. The resting in a certain pitch of Religion When they have so much as will save them as they suppose they look no further and so shew themselves short of true Grace which will ever put men upon aspiring to further perfection Phil. 3. 12 13. Prov. 4. 18. 8. The predominant love of the World This is a sure evidence of an unsanctified heartâ— Mar. 10. 37. 1 Iohn 2. 15. But how close doth this sin lurk oft-times under a fair covert of forward profession Luke 8. 14. Yea such a power of deceit is there in this sin that maâ—â— times when every body else can 〈◊〉 mans worldliness and covetousness he câ—â—not see it himself but hath so many colours and excuses and pretences for his eagerness on the world that he doth blind his own eyes and perish in his
but thine unwillingness Speak man art thou willing of the match Wilt thou have Christ in all his relations to be thine thy King thy Priest thy Prophet Wilt thou have him with all his inconveniences Take not Christ hand over head but sit down first and count thy cost Wilt thou lay all at his feet Wilt thou be content to run all hazards with him Wilt thou take thy lot with him fall where it will Wilt thou deny thy self take up thy Cross and follow him Art thou deliberately understandingly freely fixedly detetermined to cleave to him in all times and conditions If so my soul for thine thou shalt never perish Iohn 3. 16. but art passed from death to life Here lies the main point of thy salvation that thou be sound in thy covenant-closure with Jesus Christ and therefore if thou love thy life see that thou be faithful to God and thy soul here Dir. VIII Resign up all thy powers and faculties and thy whole interest to be his They gave their own selves unto the Lord. 2 Cor. 8. 5. Present your bodies as a living Sacrifice Rom. 12. 1. The Lord seeks not yours but you Resign therefore thy body with all its members to him and thy soul with all its powers that he may be glorified in thy body and in thy spirit which are his 1 Cor. 6. 20. In a right closure with Christ all the faculties give up to him The Judgment subscribes Lord thou art worthy of all acceptation chief of ten thousand Happy is the man that findeth thee All the things that are to be desired are not to be compared with thee Prov. 3. 13 14 15. The Understanding lays aside its corrupt reasonings and cavils and its prejudices against Christ and his ways It is now past questioning and disputing and casts it for Christ against all the world It concludes it 's good to be here and sees such a treasure in this field such value in this pearl as is worth all Mat. 13. 44. Oh here 's the richest bargain that â—ver I madeâ— here 's the richest prize that ever man was offered here 's the soveraignst remedy that ever mercy prepared he is worthy of my esteem worthy of my choice worthy of my love worthy to be embraced adored admired for ever more Rev. 5. 12. I approve of his articles his terms are righteous and reasonable full of equity and mercy Again the Will resigns It stands no longer wavering nor wishing and woulding but is peremptorily determin'd Lord thy love hath overcome me thou hast won me and thou shalt have me Come in Lord to thee I freely open I consent to be saved in thine own way thou shalt have any thing thou shalt have all let me have but thee The Memory gives up to Christ Lord here is a store-house for thee Out with this trash lay in thy treasure Let me be a granary a repository of thy truths thy promises thy providences The Conscience comes in Lord I will ever side with thee I will be thy faithful register I will warn when the sinner is tempted and smite when thou art offended I will witness for thee and judge for thee and guide into thy ways and will never let sin have quiet in this soul. The Affections also come in to Christ. O saith Love I am sick for thee O saith Desire now I have my longing Here 's the satisfaction I sought for Here 's the desire of nations Here 's bread for me and balm for me all that I want Fear bows the knee with aw and veneration Welcome Lord to thee will I pay my homage Thy word and thy rod shall command my motions Thee will I reverence and adore before thee will I fall down and worship-Grief likewise puts in Lord thy displeasure and thy dishonour thy peoples calamities and mine own iniquities shall be that that shall set me abroach I will mourn when thou art offended I will weep when thy cause is mounded Anger likewise comes in for Christ Lord nothing so enrages me as my folly against thee that I should be so befooled and bewitched as to hearken to the flatteries of sin and temptations of Satan against thee Hatred too will side with Christ. I protest mortal enmity with thine enemies that I will never be friends with thy foes I vow an immortal quarrel with every sin I will give no quarter I will make no peace Thus let all thy powers give up to Jesus Christ. Again thou must give up thy whole interest to him If there be any thing that thou keepest back from Christ it will be thine undoing Luke 14. 33. Unless thou wilt forsake all in preparation and resolution of thy heart thou canst not be his disciple Thou must hate Father and Mother yea and thine own life also in comparison of him and as far as it stands in competition with him Mat. 10. 37. Luke 14. 26 27 28 c. In a word thou must give him thy self and all that thou hast without reservation or else thou 〈◊〉 have no part in him Dir. IX Make choice of the Laws of Christ as the rule of thy words thoughts and actions Psal. 119. 30. This is the true Converts choice But here remember these three rules 1. Thou must choose them all There is no coming to Heaven by a partial obedience Read Psal. 119. 6 128 160. Ezek. 18. 21. None may think it enough to take up with the cheap and easie part of religion and let alone the duties that are costly and self-denying and grate upon the interest of the flesh You must take all or none A sincere Convert though he makes most conscience of the greatest sins and weightiest duties yet he makes true conscience of little sins and of all duties Psal. 119. 6 113. Mat. 23. 23. 2. For all times for prosperity and for adversity whether it rain or shine A true Convert is resolved in his way he will stand to his choice and will not set his back to the wind and be of the religion of the times I have stuck to thy testimonies I have enclined my heart to perform thy statutes alway even to the end Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever Psal. 119. 31 111 117 44 93. I will have respect unto thy statutes continually 3. This must be done not hand over head but deliberately and understandingly That disobedient son said I go sir but he went not Mat. 24. 30. How fairly did they promise All that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee we will do it and it 's like they spake as they meant but when it came to tryal it was found that there was not such a heart in them as to do what they had promised Deâ—â—â—â— 5. 27 29. If you would be sincere in closing with the laws and ways of Christ First Study the meaning and the latitude and compass of them Remember that they are very spiritual they reach the very thoughts and inclinations of the heart so
told thee what thou must do to be saved Wilt thou now obey the voice of the Lord Wilt thou arise and set to thy work O man what answer wilt thou make what excuse wilt thou have if thou shouldest perish at last through very wilfulness when thou hast known the way of life I do not fear thy miscarrying if thine own idleness do not at last undo thee in neglecting the use of the means that are so plainly here prescribed Rouze up oh sluggard and ply thy work Be doing and the Lord will be with thee A short Soliloquy for an unregenerate sinner Ah wretched man that I am what a condition have I brought my self into by sin Oh! I see my heart hath but deceived me all this while in flattering me that my condition was good I see I see I am but a lost and undone man for ever undone unless the Lord help me out of this condition My sins My sins Lord what an unclean polluted wretch am I more loathsome and odious to thee than the most hateful Venome or noisome carcase can be to me Oh! what a Hell of sin is in this heart of mine which I have flattered my self to be a good heart Lord how universally am I corrupted in all my parts powers performances All the imaginations of the thoughts of my heart are only evil continually I am under an inability to averseness from and enmity against any thing that is good and am prone to all that is evil My heart is a very sink of all sin and oh the innumerable hosts and swarms of sinful thoughts words and actions that have flown from thence Oh the load of guilt that is on my soul my head is full and my heart full my mind and my members they are all full of sin Oh my sins How do they stare upon me How do they witness against me Wo is me my Creditors are upon me every commandment taketh hold upon me for more than ten thousand talents yea ten thousand times ten thousand How endless then is the summe of all my debts If this whole world were filled up from earth to Heaven with paper and all this paper written over within and without by Arithmeticians yet when all were cast up together it would come unconceivably short of what I owe to the least of Gods commandments Wo unto me for my debts are infinite and my sins are increased They are wrongs to an infinite Majesty and if he that committeth treason against a silken mortal is worthy to be racked drawn and quartered what have I deserved that have so often lifted up my hand against Heaven and have struck at the Crown and dignity of the Almighty Oh my sins my sins Behold a troop cometh Multitudes multitudes there is no number of their Armies Innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me they have set themselves in array against me Oh! it were better to have all the Regiments of Hell come against me than to have my sins to fall upon me to the spoiling of my Soul Lord how am I surrounded How many are they that rise up against me They have beset me behind and before they swarm within me and without me they have possessed all my powers and have fortified mine unhappy soul as a Garrison which this brood of Hell doth man and maintain against the God that made me And they are as mighty as they be many The sands are many but then they are not great the mountains great but then they are not many But wo is me my sins are as many as the sands and as mighty as the Mountains Their weight is greater than their number It were better that the Rocks and the mountains should fall upon me than the crushing and unsupportable load of my own sins Lord I am heavy laden let mercy help or I am gone Unload me of this heavy guilt this sinking load or I am crushed without hope and must be pressed down to Hell If my grief were thorowly weighed and my sins laid in the ballances together they would be heavier than the sand of the Sea therefore my words are swallowed up they would weigh down all the rocks and the hills and turn the ballance against all the Isles of the Earth O Lord thou knowest my manifold transgressions and my mighty sins Ah my soul Alas my Glory Whither art thou humbled Once the Glory of the creation and the Image of God now a lump of filthiness a Coffin of rottenness replenished with stench and loathsomeness Oh what work hath sin made with thee Thou shalt be termed Forsaken and all the rooms of thy faculties Desolate and the name that thou shalt be called by is Ichabed or Where is the Glory How art thou come down mightily My beauty is turned into deformity and my Glory into shame Lord what a loathsome Leper am I The ulcerous bodies of Iob or Lazarus were not more offensive to the eyes and nostrils of men than I must needs be to the most holy God whose eyes cannot behold iniquity And what misery have my sins brought upon me Lord what a case am I in Sold under sin cast out of Gods favour accursed from the Lord cursed in my body cursed in my soul cursed in my name in my estate my relations and all that I have My sins are unpardoned and my soul within a step of death Alas what shall I do Whither shall I go Which way shall I look God is â—rowning on me from above Hell gaping for me beneath Conscience smiting me within temptations and dangers surrounding me without Oh whither shall I fly What place can hide me from Omnisciency What power can secure me from Omnipotency What meanest thou O my soul to go on thus Art thou in league with Hell hast thou made a covenant with death Art thou in love with thy misery Is it good for thee to be here Alas what shall I do Shall I go on in my sinful ways Why then certain damnation will be mine end shall I be so besotted and bemadded as to go and sell my soul to the flames for a little Ale or a little ease for a little pleasure or gain or content to my flesh Shall I linger any longer in this wretched estate No if I tarry here I shall dye What then is there no help no hope None except I turn Why but is there any remedy for such woful misery any mercy after such provoking iniquity Yes as sure as Gods Oath is true I shall have pardon and mercy yet if I presently unfeignedly and unreservedly turn by Christ to him Why then I thank thee upon the bended knees of my soul O most merciful Iehovah that thy patience hath waâ—ted for me hitherto for hadst thou took me away in this estate I had perished for ever And now I adore thy Grace and accept the offers of thy mercy I renounce all my sins and resolve by thy Grace to set my self against them
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 ot Christ's stomach thou shall 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 chuse life that you may live Deut. 30. 19. I can but wooe you and warn you I cannot compel you to be happy if I could I would What answer will you send me with to my master Let me speak unto you as Abraham's servant to them And now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master tell me Gen. 24. 49. Oh for such a happy answer as Rebekah gave to them Gen. 24. 57 58. And they said we will call the damsel and enquire at her mouth And they called Rebekah and said unto her Wilt thou go with this man and she said I will go Oh that I had but thus much from you Why should I be your accuser Mat. 10. 14 15. who thirst for your salvation Why should the passionate pleadings and wooings of mercy be turned into the horrid aggravations of your obstinacy and additions to your misery Judge in your own selves Do you not think their condemnation will be doubly dreadful that shall still go on in their sins after all endeavours to recall them Doubtless it shall be more toleable for Tyre and Sidâ—n yea for Sâ—dom and Gomorrah in the day of Iudgment than for such Mat. 11. 22. 24. Beloved if you have any pity for your perishing souls close with the present offers of mercy If you would not continue and increase the pains of your travelling Ministers do not stick in the birth If the God that made you have any authority with you obey his command and come in If you are not the despisers of grace and would not shut up the doors of mercy against your selves repent and be converted Let not Heaven stand open for you in vain Let not the Lord Jesus open his wares and bid you buy without money and without price in vain Let not his Ministers and his Spirit strive with you in vain and leave you now at last unperswaded lest the sentence go forth against you The bellows are burnt the lead is consumed of the fire the founder melteth in vain Reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them Ier. 6. 29 30. Father of Spirits take the heart in hand that is too hard for my weakness Do not thou have ended though I have done Half a word from thine effectual power will do the work O thou that hast the key of David that openest when no man shutteth open thou this heart as thou didst Lydia's and let the King of glory enter in and make this soul thy happy captive Let not the tempter harden him in delays Let him not stir from this place nor take his eyesfrom these lines till he be resolved to forgâ— his sins and to accept of life upon thy self-denying terms In thy name O Lord God did I go forth to these labours in thy name do I shut them up Let not all the time they have cost be but lost hours let not all the thoughts of heart and all the pains that have been about them be but lost labour Lord put in thine hand into the heart of this Reader and send thy Spirit as once thou didst Philip to joyn himself to the Chariot of the Eunuch while he was reading thy word And though I should never know it while I live yet I beseech thee Lord God let it be found at that day that some souls were converted by these labours and let some be able to stand forth and say that by these perswasions they were won unto thee Amen Amen Let him that readeth say Amen FINIS The Terms of our Communion are either from which or to which The Terms from which we must turn are Sin Satan the World and our own Righteousness which must be thus renounced The Terms to which we must turn are either ultimate or mediate The ultimate is God the Father Son and Holy Ghost who must be thus accepted The mediate Terms are either principal or less principal The principal is Christ the Mediatour who must thus be embraced The less Principal are the Laws of Christ which must be thus observed