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
Cup of reproach and scorn and slander and poverty and labours might pass from us if it were not for the will of God and your salvation Why should we love to be the lowest and trodden down by malignant Pride and counted as the filth of the World and the Off-scouring of all things and represented to Rulers whâ—m wâ— honour as scismaticks disobedient turbulent unruly by every Church-usurper whom we refuse to make a God of Why give you not over this preaching of the Gospel at the will of Satan that is for the everlasting suffering of your souls under the pretence of making us suffer Is not all this that you may be converted and saved If we be herein besides our selves it is for you Could the words of the ignorant or proud have perswaded us that either your wants and dangers are so inconsiderable or your other supplies and helps sufficient that our labours had been unnecessary to you God knoweth we should have readily obeyed the silencing sorts of Pastors and have betaken us to some other land where our service had been more necessary Let shame be the hypocrites reward who taketh not the saving of souls and the pleasing of God for a sufficient reward without Ecclesiastical Dignities preferments or worldly wealth I have told you our motives I have told you our business andâ— the terms of our undertaking It is God and you sinners that next must tell us what our entertainment and success shall be Shall it be still neglect and unthankful contempt and turning away your ear and heart and saying we have somewhat else to mind Will you still be cheated by this deceiving World And spend all your days in pampering your guts and providing for your flesh that must lie rotting very shortly in a Grave Were you made for no better work than this May not we bring you to some sober thoughts of your condition nor one hour seriously to think whither you are going What! not to one awakened look into the World where you must be for ever Nor one heart-raising thought of the everlasting Glory Not one heart-piercing thought of all your Saviours love nor one â—ear for all your sinful lives O God forbid Let not our labour be so despised Let not your God your Saviour and your souls be set so light by O let there be no profane person among you like Esau who for one morsel sold his birth-right Poor sinners We talk not to you as on a stage in customary words and because that talking thus is our trade We are in as good earnest with you as if we saw you all murdering your selves and we are perswading you to save your lives Can any man be in jest with you who believeth God who by Faith foreseeth whither you are going and what you lose and where the game of sin will end It is little better to jest with you now in Pulpit or in private than to stand jesting over your departing souls when at death you are breathing out your lâ—st Alas with shame and griefâ— we do confess that we never speak to you of these things as their truth and weight deserve nor with the skill and wisdom the affection and fervency which beseemeth men engaged in the saving of poor souls But yet you may perceive that we are in good sadness with you For God is so What else do we study for labour for suffer for live for Why else do we so much trouble our selves and trouble you with all this ado and anger them that would have had us silent For my own part I will make my free Confession to you to my shame that I never grow cold and dull and pittiless to the Souls of others till I first grow too cold and careless of my own unless when weakness or speculative studies cool me which I must confess they often do We never cease pittying you till we are growing too like you and so have need of pity our selves When through the mercy of my Lord the prospect of thâ—â—â—â—rld of souls which I am going to hath any poâ—â—â—ful operation on my self O then I could spend and be spent for others No words are too earnest no labour too great no cost too dear the frowns and wrath of malignant opposers of the preaching of Christs Gospel are nothing to me But when the World of Spirits do disappear or my Soul is clouded and receiveth not the viâ—al illuminating influences of Heaven I grow cold first to my self and then to others Come then poor sinners and help us who are willing at any rate to be your helpers As we first crave Gods help so we next crave yours Help us for we cannot save you against your wills nor save you without your consent and help God himself will not save you without you and how should we know that the Devil is against us and will do his worst to hinder us and so will all his Ministers by what names or titles soever dignified or distinguished But all this is nothing if you will but take our parts your selves I mean if you will take Christs part and your own and will not be against your selves Men and Devils cannot either help or hinder us in saving you as you may do your selves If God and you be for us who shall be against us And if you will help us give over striving against God and Conscience give over fighting against Christ and his Spirit take part no more with the World and the flesh which in your Baptism you renounced set your hearts to the message which we bring you Allow it your manlike sober thoughts search the Scriptures and see whether the things which we speak be so or no. We offer you nothing but what we have resolvedly câ—â—â—en our selves and that after the most serious dâ—â—â—ation that we can make We have many a timâ— looked round about us to know what is the happiness of man And had we found better for our selves we had offered better to you If the World would have served our turns it should have served yours also and we would not have troubled you with the talk of another world but it will not I am sure it will not serve your turns to make you happy nor shall you long make that sorry self-deceiving shift with it as now you do But if you will not think of these things if you will not use the reason of men alas what can we do to save your souls O pity them Lord that they may pity themselves Have mercy on them that they may have some more mercy on themselves Help them that they may help themselves and us If you still râ—fuse 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
God had told it them from Heaven that they are unsanctified and under an impossibility of being saved in this condition There are then these several sorts that past all dispute are unconverted they carry their marks in their foreheads 1. The unclean These are ever reckoned among the goats and have their names whoever be left out in all the fore-mentioned catalogues Eph. 5. 5. Rev. 21. 8. 1. Cor. 5. 9 10. 2. The Covetous These are ever branded for idolaters and the doors of the Kingdom are shut against them by name Eph. 5. 5. Col. 3. 5. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. 3. Drunkards not only such as drink away their reason but withall yea above all such as are too strong for strong drink The Lord fills his mouth with woes against these and declares them to have no inheritance in the Kingdom of God Esay 5. 11 12 22. Gal. 5. 21. 4. Liars The God that cannot lie hath told them that there is no place for them in his Kingdom no entrance into his hill but their portion is with the Father of lies whose children they are in the lake of burnings Psal. 15. 1 2 Rev. 21. 8 27. Ioh. 8. 44. Prov. 6. 17. 5. Swearers The end of these men without deep and speedy repentance is swift destruction and most certain and unavoidable condemnation Iam. 5. 12. Zech. 5. 1 2 3. Railers and Back-biters that love to take up a reproach against their Neighbour and fling all the dirt they can in his face or else wound him secretly behind his back Psal. 15. 1. 3. 1 Cor. 6. 10. 1 Cor. 5. 11. 7. Thieves Extortioners Oppressors that grind the poor over-reach their brethren when they have them at an advantage these must know that God is the avenger of all such 1 Thes. 4. 6. Hear O ye false and purloining and wasteful servants Hear O ye deceitful tradesmen hear your sentence God will certainly hold his door against you and turn your treasures of unrighteousness into treasures of wrath and make your ill-gottenâ— silver and gold to torment you like burning Metal in your bowels 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Iam. 5. 2 3. 8. All that do ordinarily live in the prophane neglect of Gods worship that hear not his word that call not on his name that restrain prayer before God that mind not their own nor their families souls but live without God in the world Ioh. 8. 47. Iob. 15. 4. Psal. 14. 4. Psal. 79. 6. Eph. 2. 12. 4. 18. 9. Those that are frequenters and lovers of evil company God hath declared he will be the destruction of all such and that they shall never enter into the hill of his rest Prov. 13. 20. Psal. 15. 4. Prov. 9. 6. 10. Scoffers at Religion that make a scorn of precise walking and mock at the messengers and diligent servants of the Lord and at their holy profession and make themselves merry with the weaknesses and failings of professors Hear ye despisers hear your dreadful doom Prov. 19. 29. 2 Chron. 36. 16. Prov. 3. 34. Sinner consider diligently whether thou art not to be found in one of these ranks for if this be thy case thou art in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity for all these do carry their marks in their foreheads and are undoubtedly the sons of death And if so the Lord pity our poor Congregations Oh how little a number will be left when these ten sorts are set out Alas on how many doors on how many faces must we write Lord have mercy upon us Sirs what shift do you make to keep up your confidence of your good estate when God from heaven declares against you and pronounces you in a state of damnation I would reason with you as God with them How canst thou say I am not polluted Ier. 2. 23. See thy way in the valley know what thou hast done Man is not thy conscience privy to thy tricks of deceit to thy chamber pranks to thy way of lying Yea are not thy friends thy family thy neighbours witnesses to thy prophane neglects of Gods worship to thy covetous practices to thy envious and malicious carriage may not they point at thee as thou goest there goes a gaming Prodigal there goes a drunken Nabal a companion of evil-doers there goes a railer or a scoffer a loose liver Beloved God hath written it as with a Sun beam in the book out of which you must be judged that these are not the spots of his Children and that none such except renewed by converting grace shall ever escape the damnation of Hell Oh that such of you would now be perswaded to repent and turn from all your transgressions or else iniquity will be your ruine Ezek. 18. 30. Alas for poor hardned sinners Must I leave you at last where you were Must I leave the tipler still at the Ale-bench Must I leave the wanton still at his dalliance Must I leave the malicious still in his venome And the drunkard still at his vomit However you must know that you have been warned and that I am clear of your blood And whether men will hear or whether they will forbear I will leave these three scriptures with them either as thunderbolts to awaken them or as â—earing Irons to harden them to a reprobate sense Psal. 68. 21. God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses Prov. 29. 1. He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy Prov. 1. 24 c. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded c. I will mock at your calamity when your destruction cometh as a whirlwind And now I imagine many will begin to bless themselves and think all is well because they cannot be spotted with the grosser evils above mentioned But I must further tell you that there are another sort of unsanctified persons that carry not their marks in their foreheads but more secretly and covertly in their hands These do frequently deceive themselves and others and pass for good Christians when they are all the while unsound at bottom Many pass undiscovered till death and judgement bring all to light Those self-deceivers seem to come even to Heaven gate with confidence of their admissionâ— and yet are turned off at last Mat. 7. 22. Brethren Beloved I beseech you deeply to lay to heart and firmly to retain this 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 into the chambers of death These you must search carefully for and take them as black marks wherever they be found discovering
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
with thee A short Soliloqui 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 and I more loathsome and odious to thee than the most hateful Venome or noisome carcass 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 〈◊〉 and my heart full my mind and my memâ—ers 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 sum 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 tacked 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 â—ortified 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 sand as mighty as the Mountains Their weight is greater than their number It were better that the Rocks and the Mountains should fall upon them than the crushing and unsupportable load of my own sins Lord I am heavy loaden 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 humdled Once the Glory of the Creation and the Image of God now a lump of filthiness a Coffin of rottenness replenished with stench and loathsomness Oh what worâ— hath sin made with thee Thou shalt be termâ— Forsaken and all the rooms of thy faculties â—â—solate and the name that thou shalt be called 〈◊〉 is Icabod or where is the Glory How 〈◊〉 thou come down mightily My beauty is turned into deformity and my Glory into shame Lord what a loathsom 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 â—od whose eyes cannot behold Iniquity And what misery hath 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 frowning on me from above Hell gaping for me beneath Conscience imiting 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 Shâ—ll I go on in my sinful ways Why then certain damnation will be mine end and shall I be so besotted and bemadded as to go and sell my soul to the flames for a little Ale and a littlâ— 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 die 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 â—â—hank thee upon the bended knees of my soul O most merciful Iehovah that thy patience hath waited 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 and to follow thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of my life Who am I Lord that I should make any claim unto thee or have any part or portion in thee who am not worthy to lick up the dust of thy feet Yet since thou holdest forth the golden Scepter I am bold to come and touch To despair would be to disparage thy mercy and to stand off when thou biddest me come would be at once to undo my self and rebel against thee under pretence of humility Therefore I bow my soul unto
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.
get no answer I may dispute with them year after year and they will give me the hearing and that is all They must and will have their sins say what I will Though I tell them there is death in the cup yet they will take it up Though I tell them 't is the broad way and endeth in destruction yet they will on in it I warn them yet cannot win them Sometimes I think the mercies of God will melt them and his winning invitations will overcome them but I find them as they were Sometimes that the terror of the Lord will perswade them yet neither this will do it They will approve the word like the Sermoâ— commend the Preacher but they will yet live as they did They will not deny me yet they will not obey me They will flock to the word of God and sit before me as his people and hear my words but they will not do them They value and will plead for Ministers and I am to them as the lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice yet I cannot get them to come under Christs yoke They love me and will be ready to say they will do any thing for me but for my life I cannot perswade them to leave their sins to forgo their evil company their intemperance their unjust gains c. I cannot prevail with them to set up prayer in their families and closets yet they will promise me like the forward son that said I go sir but went not Mat. 21. 30. I cannot perswade them to learn the principles of Religion though else they will die without knowledge Iob 36. 12. I tell them their misery but they will not believe but 't is well enough If I tell them particularly I fear for such reasons their state is bad they will judge me censorious or if they be at present a little awakened are quickly lull'd asleep by Satan again and have lost the sense of all Alas for my poor hearers Must they perish at last by the hundreds when Ministers would so fain save them What course shall I use with them that I have not tryed What shall I do for the daughter of my people Jer. 9. 7. O Lord God help Alas shall I leave them thus If they will not hear me yet do thou hear me Oh that they might yet live in thy sight Lord save them or else they perish My heart would melt to see their houses on fire about their ears when they were fast in their beds and shall not my soul be moved within me to see them falling into endless perdition Lord have compassion and save them out of the burning Put forth thy divine power and the work will be done but as for me I can't prevail CHAP. IV. Shewing the Marks of the Unconverted WHile we keep aloof in generals there is little fruit to be expected It is the hand-fight that does execution David is not awakened by the Prophets hovering at a distance in parabolical insinuations he is forced to close with him and tell him home Thou art the man Few will in words deny the necessity of the new birth but they have a self deluding confidence that the work is not now to do And because they know themselves free from that gross hypocrisie that doth take up Religion meerly for a colour to deceive others and for the covering of wicked designs they are confident of their sincerity and suspect not that more close hypocrisie where the greatest danger lies by which man deceiveth his own soul Iames 1. 26. But mans deceitful heart is such a matchless cheat and self delusion so reigning and so fatal a disease that I know not whether be the greater the difficulty or the displicency or the necessity of the undeceiving work that I am now upon Alas for my unconverted hearers They must be undeceived or undone But how shall this be effected Hic labor hoc opus est Help O all searching light and let thy discerning eye discover the rotten foundation of the self-deceiver and lead me O Lord God as thou didst thy Prophet into the chambers of Imagery and dig through the wall of sinners hearts and discover the hidden abominations that are lurking out of sight in the dark O send thine Angel before me to open the sundry Wards of their hearts as thou didst before Peter and make even the Iron gates to fly open of their own accord And as Jonathan no sooner tasted the Honey but his eyes were enlightned so grant O Lord that when the poor deceived souls with whom I have to do shall cast their eyes into these lines their minds may be illuminated and their consciences convinced and awakened that they may see with their eyes and hear with their ears and be converted and thou maist heal them This must be premised before we proceed to the discovery that it is most certain men may have a confident perswasion that their hearts and states be good and yet be unsound Hear the Truth himself who shews in Laodicea's case that men may be wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked and yet know it not yea they may be confident they are rich and increased in grace Rev. 3. 17. There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness Prov. 30. 12. who better perswaded of his case than Paul while yet he remained unconverted Rom. 7. 9. So that they are miserably deceived that take a strong confidence for a sufficient evidence They that have no better proof than barely a strong perswasion that they are converted are certainly as yet strangers to Conversion But to come more close as it was said of the adherents of Antichrist so here some of the unconverted carry their marks in their foreheads more openly and some in their hands more covertly The Apostle reckons up some upon whom he writes the sentence of death as in these dreadful catalogues which I beseech you to attend with all diligence Eph. 5. 5 6. For this ye know that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Rev. 21. 8. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolators and adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers or extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God See Gall. 5. 19 20 21. Wo to them that have their names written in these bed-rolls such may know as certainly as if
heart unto all that I shall testifie unto thee this day for it is not a vain thing it is your life Deut. 32. 4. 6. This is the end of all that hath been spoken hitherto to bring you to set upon turning and making use of Gods means for your Conversion I would not trouble you nor torment you before the time with the forethoughts of your eternal misery but in order to your making your escape Were you shut up under your present misery without remedy it were but mercy as one speaks to let you alone that you might take in that little poor comfort that you are capable of here in this world But you may yet be happy if you do not wilfully refuse the means of your recovery Behold I hold open the door unto you arise and take your flight I set the way of life before you walk in it and you shall live and not die Deut. 30. 19. Ier. 9. 16. It pities me to think you should be your own murderers and throw your selves headlong when God and men cry out to you as Peter in another case to his master Spare thy self A noble Virgin that attended the Court of Spain was wickedly ravished by the King and hereupon exciting the Duke her Father to revenge he called in the Moors to his help who when they had executed his design miserably wasted and spoiled the Country which this Virgin laying so exceedingly to heart shut her self up in a Tower belonging to her Fathers house and desired her Father and Mother might be called forth and bewailing to them her own wretchedness that she should have occasioned so much misery and desolation to her Country for the satisfying of her revenge she told them she was resolved to be avenged upon her self Her Father and Mother besought her to pity her self and them but nothing would prevail but she took her leave of them and threw her self off the battlements and so perished before their faces Just thus is the wilful destruction of ungodly men The God that made them beseecheth them and cryeth out to them as Paul to the distracted Jaylor when about to murder himself Do thy self no harm The Ministers of Christ forewarn them and follow them and fain would hold them back But alas No expostulations nor obtestations will prevail but men will hurl themselves into perdition while pity it self looketh on What shall I say Would it not grieve a person of any humanity if in the time of a reigning plague he should have a receipt as one well that would infallibly cure all the Countrey and recover the most hopeless patients and yet his friends and neighbours should die by the hundreds about him because they would not use it Men and Brethren though you carry the certain symptoms of death in your faces yet I have a receipt that will cure you all that will cure infallibly Follow but these few directions and if you do not then win Heaven I will be content to lose it Hear then Oh sinner and as ever thou wouldst be converted and saved embrace this following counsel Dir. I. Set it down with thy self as an undoubted truth that it is impossible for thee ever to get to Heaven in this thine unconverted state Can any other but Christ save thee And he tells thee he will never do it except thou be regenerated and converted Mat. 18. 3. Iohn 3. 3. Doth he not keep the keys of Heaven And canst thou get in without his leave as thou must if ever thou comest thither in thy natural condition without a sound and through renovation Dir. II. Labour to get a thorow sight and lively sense and feeling of thy sins Till men are weary and heavy laden and pricked at the heart and stark sick of sin they will not come to Christ in his way for ease and cure nor to purpose enquire What shall we do Mat. 11. 28. Acts 2. 37. Mat. 9. 12. They must set themselves down for dead men before they will come unto Christ that they may have life Iohn 5. 40. Labour therefore to set all thy sins in order before thee Never be afraid to look upon them but let thy spirit make diligent search Psal. 77. 6. Enquire into thine heart and into thy life Enter into a thorow examination of thy self and of all thy wayes Psal. 119. 59. that thou maist make a full discovery and call in the help of Gods spirit in the sense of thine own inability hereunto for it is his proper work to convince of sin Iohn 16. 8. Spread all before the face of thy conscience till thine heart and eyes be set abroach Leave not striving with God and thine own soul till it cry out under the sense of thy sins as the enlightned Jaylor What must I do to be saved Acts 16. 30. To this porpose Meditate of the numerousness of thy sins David's heart failed when he thought of this and considered that he had more sins than hairs Ps. 40. 12. This made him to cry out upon the multitudes of Gods tender-mercies Psal. 51. 1. The loathsom carcase doth not more hatefully swarm with crawling worms than an unsanctified soul with filthy lusts They fill the head the heart the eyes and mouth of him Look backward where was ever the place what was ever the time in which thou didst not sin Look inward what part or power canst thou find in soul or body but it is poisoned with sin What duty dost thou ever perform into which this poyson is not shed Oh how great is the sum of thy debts who hast been all thy life long running upon the hooks and never didst nor canst pay off one penny Look over the sin of thy nature and all its cursed brood the sins of thy life Call to mind thy Omissions Commissions the sins of thy thoughts of thy words of thine actions the sins of thy youth the sins of thy years c. Be not like a desperate Bankrupt that is afraid to look over his books Read the records of conscience carefully These books must be opened sooner or later Rev. 20. 12. Meditate upon the aggravations of thy sin as they are the grand enemies against the God of thy life against the life of thy soul in a word they are the publick enemies of all mankind How do David Ezra Daniel and the good Levites aggravate their sins from the consideration of their injuriousness to God their opposition to his good and righteous Laws the mercies the warnings that they were committed against Nehem. 9. Dan. 9. Ezra 9. O the work that sin hath made in the world This is the enemy that hath brought in death that hath robbed and enslaved man that hath blacked the devil that hath digged hell Rom. 5. 12. 2 Pet. 2. 4. Iohn 8. 34. This is the enemy that hath turned the creation upside down and sown dissension between man and the creatures between man and man yea between man and himself seting the sensitive part against the
rational will against judgment lust against conscience yea worst of all between God and man making the lapsed sinner both hateful to God and a hater of him Zec. 11. 8. O man how canst thou make so light of sin This is the traytor that sucked the blood of the Son of God that sold him that mocked him that scourged him that spat in his face that digged his hands that pierced his side that pressed his soul that mangled his body that never left till it had bound him condemned him nailed him crucified him and put him to open shame Esay 53. 4 5 6. This is that deadly poyson so powerful of operation as that one drop of it shed upon the root of mankind hath corrupted spoiled and poisoned and undone his whole race at once Rom. 5. 18 19. This is the common butcher the bloody executioner that hath killed the Prophets that hath burnt the Martyrs that hath murdered all the Apostles all the Patriarchs all the Kings and Potentates that hath destroyed Cities swallowed Empires butchered and devoured whole Nations What ever was the weapon that 't was done by sin was it that did the execution Rom. 6. 23. dost thou yet think it but a small thing If Adam and all his children could be digged out of their graves and their bodies piled up to Heaven and an inquest were made what matchless murderer were guilty of all this blood it would be all found in the skirts of sin Study the nature of sin till thy heart be brought to fear and loath it And meditate on the aggravations of thy particular sins how thou hast sinned against all Gods warnings against thine own prayers against mercies against corrections against clearest light against freest love against thine own resolutions against promises vows covenants of better obedience c. charge thy heart home with these things till it blush for shame and be brought out of all good opinion of it self Ezra 9. 6. Meditate upon the desert of sin It cryeth up to Heaven It calls for vengeance Gen. 18. 24. It s due wages is death damnation It pulls the curse of God upon the soul and body Gal. 3. 10. Deut. 28. The least sinful word or thought â—aies thee under the infinite wrath of God Almighty Rom. 2. 8 9. Mat. 12. 36. Oh what a load of wrath what a weight of curses what treasure of vengeance have all the millions of thy sins then deserved Rom. 2. 5. Iohn 3. 36. Oh judge thy self that the Lord may not judge thee 1 Cor. 11. 31. Meditate upon the deformity and defilement of sin 'T is as black as hell the very image and likeness of the Devil drawn upon thy soul 1 Iohn 3. 8 10. It would more affright thee to see thy self the hateful deformity of thy nature than to see the devil There is no mire so unclean no vomit so loathsom no carcase or carrion so offensive no plague or leprosie so noisom as sin in which thou art all inrolled and covered with its odious filth whereby thou art rendred more displeasing to the pure and holy nature of the glorious God than the most filthy object composed of whatever is hateful to all thy senses can be to thee Iob 15. 15 16. Couldst thou take up a toad into thy bosom Couldst thou cherish it and take delight in it Why thou art as contrary to the pure and perfect holiness of the divine nature and as loathsome as that is to thee Mat. 23. 33. till thou art purified by the blood of Jesus and the power of renewing grace Above all other sins fix the eye of Consideration on these two 1. The sin of thy nature 'T is to little purpose to lop the branches while the root of original corruption remains untouched In vain do men lave out the streams when the fountain is running that fills up all again Let the axe of thy repentance with David's go to the root of sin Psal. 51. 5. Study how deep how close how permanent it is thy natural pollution how universal it is till thou dost cry out with Paul's feeling upon thy body of death Rom. 7. 24. Look into all thy parts and powers and see what uâ—clean vessels what styes what dunghills what sinks they are become Heu miser quid sum vas sterquilinii concha putredinis plenus faetore horrore August Solil c. 2. The heart is never soundly broken till throughly convinced of the heynousness of original sin Here fix thy thoughts This is that that makes thee backward to all good prone to all evil Rom. 7. 15. that sheds blindness pride prejudices unbelief into thy mind enmity unconstancy obstinacy into thy will inordinate heats and colds into thy affectious insensibleness benummedness unfaithfulness into thy conscience slipperiness into thy memory and in a word hath put every wheel of thy soul out of order and made it of an habitation of holiness to become a very hell of iniquity Iames 3. 6. This is that that hath defiled corrupted perverted all thy members and turned them into weapons of unrighteousness and servants of sin Rom. 6. 19. that hath filled the head with carnal and corrupt designs Mic. 2. 1. the hands with sinful practices Esay 1. 15. the eyes with wandring and wantonness 2 Pet. 2. 14. the tongue with deadly poison Iam. 3. 8. that hath opened the ears to tales flattery and filthy communication and shut them against the instruction of life Zech. 7. 11 12. and hath rendred thy heart a very mint and forge of sin and the cursed womb of all deadly conceptions Mat. 15. 16. So that it poureth forth its wickedness without ceasing 2 Pet. 2. 14. even as naturally freely unweariedly as a fountain doth pour forth its waters Ier. 6. 7. or the raging Sea doth cast forth mire and dirt Esay 57. 20. And wilt thou yet be in love with thy self and tell us any longer of thy good heart O never leave meditating on this desperate contagion of original corruption till with Ephraim thou bemoan thy self Ier. 31. 8. with deepest shame and sorrow smite on thy breast as the Publican Luke 18. 13. and with Iob abhor thy self and repent in dust and ashes Iob 42. 6 2. The particular evil that thou art most addicted to Find out all its aggravations Set home upon thy heart all Gods threatnings against it Repentance drives before it the whole herd but especially sticks the arrow in the beloved sin and singles this out above the rest to run it down Psal. 18. 23. O labour 〈◊〉 make this sin odious to thy soul and double thy guards and thy resolutions against it because this hath and doth most dishonour God and endanger thee Dir. III. Strive to affect thy heart with deep sense of thy present misery Read over the foregoing Chapter again and again and get it out of the book into thine heart Remember when thou liest down that for ought thou knowest thou maist awake in flames and when thou risest up
heart to the particular commands of Christ. Those Jews in the Prophet seemed as well resolved as any in the world and call God to witness that they meant as they said But they stuck in generals When Gods command crosses their inclination they will not obey Ier. 42. 1 2 3 4 5 6. compared with ch 43. v. 2. Take the Assemblies larger Caâ—echism and see their excellent and most compendious exposition of the commandments and put thy heart to it Art thou resolved in the strength of Christ to set upon the consciencious practice of every duty that thou findest to be there required of thee and to set against every sin that thou findest there forbidden This is the way to be sound in Gods statutes that thou maist never be ashamed Psal. 119. 80. Thirdly Observe the special duties that thy heart is most against and the special sins that 't is most inclin'd unto and see whether it be truly resolved to perform the one and forego the other What sayest thou to thy bosome sin thy gainfull sin What sayest thou to costly and hazardous and flesh displeasing duties If thou halâ—est here and dost not resolve by the grace of God to cross thy flesh and put to it thou art unsound Psal. 18. 23. Psal. 119. 6. Dir. X. Let all this be compleated in a solemn Covenant between God and thy soul. Psal. 119. 106. Neh. 10. 29. For thy better help therein take these few directions First set apart some time more than once to be spent in secret before the Lord. 1. In seeking earnestly his special assistance and gracious acceptance of thee 2. In considering distinctly all the terms or conditions of the Covenant expressed in the form hereafter proposed 3. In searching thine heart whether thou art sincerely willing to forsake all thy sins and to resign up thy self body and soul unto God and his service to serve him in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of thy life Secondly Compose thy Spirit into the most serious frame possible suitable to transaction of so high importance Thirdly Lay hold on the Covenant of God and rely upon his promise of giving grace and strength whereby thou maist be enabled to perform thy promise Trust not to thine own strength to the strength of thine own resolutions but take hold on his strength Fourthly Resolve to he faithful having engaged thine heart opened thy mouth and subscribed with thy hand unto the Lord resolve in his strength never to go back Lastly Being thus prepared on some convenient time set apart for the purpose set upon the work and in the most solemn manner possible as if the Lord were visibly present before thine eyes fall down on thy knees and spreading forth thine hands toward Heaven open thine heart to the Lord in these or the like words O Most dreadful God for the Passion of thy Son I beseech thee accept of thy poor Prodigal now prostrating himself at thy Door I have fallen from thee by mine iniquity and am by Nature a Son of Death and a thousand-fold more the Child of Hell by my wicked practice But of thine infinite Grace thou hast promised Mercy to me in Christ if I will but turn to Thee with all my Heart Therefore upon the Call of thy Gospel I am now come in and throwing down my weapons submit my self to thy Mercy And because thou requirest as the Condition of my Peace with Thee that I should put away mine Idols and be at defiance with all thine Enemies which I acknowledge I have wickedly sided with against Thee I here from the bottom of my heart renounce them all firmly Covenanting with thee not to allow my self in any known sin but conscientiously to use all the means that I know thou hast prescribed for the death and utter destruction of all my corruptions And whereas I have formerly inordinately and idolatrously let out my affections upon the World I do here resign up my heart to Thee that madst it humbly protesting before thy Glorious Majesty that is the firm resolution of my heart and that I do unfeinedly desire Grace from Thee that when thou shalt call me hereunto I may practise this my resolution through thy assistance to forsake all that is dear unto me in this world rather than to turn from thee to the ways of sin and that I will watch against all its temptations whether of Prosperity or Adversity lest they should withdraw my heart from thee beseeching thee also to help me against the temptations of Satan to whose wicked Suggestions I resolve by thy grace never to yield my self a Servant And because my own righteousness is but menstruous rags I renounce all confidence therein and acknowledge that I am of my self a hopeless helpless undone creature without righteousness or strength And forasmuch as thou hast of thy bottomless Mercy offered most graciously to me wretched sinner to be again my God through Christ if I would accept of thee I call Heaven and Earth to record this day that I do here solemnly avouch the for the Lord my God and with all possible veneration bowing the neck of thy Soul under the feet of thy most Sacred Majesty I do here take thy the Lord Iehovah Father Son and Holy Ghost for my portion and chief good and do give up my self Body and Soul for thy Servant promising and vowing to serve thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of my life And since thou hast appointed the Lord Jesus Christ the only means of coming unto thee I do here upon the bended knees of my Soul accept of him as the only new and living way by which sinners may have access to thee and do here solemnly joyn my self in a Marriage Covenant to him O blessed Jesus I come to thee hungry and hardly bestead poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked a most loathsom polluted wretch a guilty condemned Malefactor unworthy for ever to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord much more to be solemnly married to the King of Glory but 〈◊〉 such is thine unparallell'd love I do here with all my power accept thee and do take thee for my Head and Husband for better for worse for richer for poorer for all times and conditions to love and honour and obey thee before all others and this to the death I embrace thee in all thine Offices I 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 Grace 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
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 dispatches 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 soulâ— undoing evil Esay 27. 11. 2 Thes. 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 Proâ—estants were shut up a multitude together in a bâ—rn 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 bosom 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 Luk. 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 up the cost and this error in the foundation marrs all and secretly ruines them for ever Luk. 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 performances of holy duties Mat. 23. 25. and this oft-times doth most effectually deceive men and doth more certainly undo them than open loosness 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 Luk. 18. 11. whereas resting in the work done and coming short of the heart-work and the inward power and vitals of Religion they fâ—ll at last into the burning from the flattering hopes and confident perswasions of their being in the ready way to Heaven Matth. 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. 25. 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 satisfie his conscience to get the repute of being religious to bee 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 unâ—ound heart Hos. 10. 1. Zech. 7. 5 6. O Christians if you would avoid self-deceit see that you mind not only your acts but withall yea above all your ends 5. Trusting on 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 professors you are much in duties but this one fly will spoil all the ointment When you have done most and best be sure to go out of your selves to Christ reckon your own righteousness but rags Psal. 143. 2. Phil. 3. 8. Esay 64. 6. Neh. 13. 22. 6. A secret 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 lively 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 the sure evidence of an unsanctified heart Mar. 10. 37. 1 Ioh. 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 many times when every body else can see the mans worldliness and covetousness he cannot 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 self deceit How many professours be there with whom the world hath more of their heart and affections than Christ Who mind earthly things and thereby are evidently after the flesh and like to end in destruction Rom. 8. 25. Phil. 3. 19. Yet ask these men and they will tell you confidently they prize Christ above all God forbid else and see not their own earthly mindedness for want of a narrow observation of the workings of their own hearts Did they but carefully search