melt and break your hearts you have no part in him It becomes you to mourn over him whom you have pierced Zech. 12. 10. And this fruit of his Blood is a preparative to more You may as well think of being saved without Faith as without Repentance and Humiliation 4. Consider so much as is bitter in it is of your own preparation You may thank your selves for it Who was it that brought you to this Necessity of sorrow Have you been all your life time surfeiting of the creature and causing your own disease and now will you grudg at the trouble of a cure Whom have you to blame and find fault with but your selves was it not you that sinned was it not you that laid in the fuel of sorrows and sowed the feeds of this bitter fruit and cherished the Cause of trouble in your selves God did not do this It was you your selves He doth but undo that which you have been doing Grudg not therefore at your Physician if you must be purged and let blood and dieted strictly but thank your selves for it that have made it so necessary 5. Consider also that you have a wise and tender Physician that hath known what sorrow and grief is himself for he was made for you a man of sorrows Isa. 53. 3. And therefore can pitty those that be in sorrow He delighteth not in your trouble and grief but in your Cure and after-consolations And therefore you may be sure that he will deal gently and moderately with you and lay no more on you then is necessary for your good Nor give you any bitterer a cup then your disease doth require When he sheweth his greatest liking of the contrite it is that he may Revive their hearts and he professeth withall that he will not contend for ever nor be alwaies wrath lest the Spirit should fail before him and the Souls which he hath made Isa. 57. 15. 16. He calls to him the weary and heavy laden that he may give them ease Matth. 11. 28. He was sent to heale the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the Captives and recoveing of sight to the blind and to set at liberty them that are bruised Luke 4. 18. When he hath broken your hearts he will as tenderly bind them up and as safely heal them as you can reasonably desire Even his Ministers that labour to break your hearts and bring you low even to the dust have no worse meaning in it then to bring you to Christ and life and comfort And though they are glad to see the weeping eyes of their hearers and to heare their free Confessions and Lamentations yet this is not because they take pleasure in your trouble but because they foresee the saving fruits of it and know it to be necessary to your Everlasting Peace You may read what their thoughts are in the words of Paul 2 Cor. 7. 9 10 11. Now I rejoyce not that ye were made sorry but that ye sorrowed to Repentance for ye were made sorry after a godly manner that ye might receive dammage by us in nothing For godly sorrow worketh Repentance to Salvation not to be Repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death For behold this self-same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort what carefullness it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves yea what indignation yea what fears yea what vehement desire yea what zeal yea what revenge c. Indeed neither Christ nor his Ministers have that fond and foolish love to you and pitty of you as you have to your selves They be not so tender of you as to save you from the sorrow which is needfull to the saving of you from Hell But they would not put you to any more then needs nor have you tast a drop of the vinegar and gall or shed one teare but what shall tend to your comfort and Salvation 6. Consider what sorrows they be that these sorrows do prevent and what those suffer in Hell that avoid this godly sorrow on earth O Sirs your Repentance-sorrows are joyes to those Yours have Hope but theirs are quickned with desperation Yours are small and but a drop to their Ocean Yours are Curing but theirs are Tormenting Yours are a Fathers Rod but theirs are the Rack and Gallows Yours are mixt with love but theirs are unmixed over-whelming them with confusion Yours are short but theirs are endless And had you rather sorrow as they do then as the godly do Had you rather howl with Devils and rebels then weep with Saints and Children Had you rather be broken in Hell by Torments then on earth by Grace Is it not an unreasonable thing of you to make such a stir at the sorrow that must save you when you remember what it would save you from and what all must suffer that are not Humbled here by Grace O it is another kind of sorrow that others are now enduring Grudg not at the pricking of a vein when so many thousands are everlastingly bleeding at the heart 7. Consider The more you are rightly Humbled the sweeter will Christ and all his Mercies be to you ever after while you live One tast of the healing Love of Christ will make you bless those sorrows that prepared for it The same Christ is not equally esteemed even by all that he will save And had you not rather be emptied yet more of your selves that you may be fuller of Christ hereafter When you do but feel his arms embracing you and perceive him in that posture as the prodigal's Father was Luke 15. 20. You will thank that sorrow that fitted you for his armes 8. If you be throughly humbled you will walk the more safely all your daies if other things correspond It will make you hate the sinne you smarted by and fly the occasions of that which cost you once so dear 9. The sinne of Pride is one of the most mortal damning sins in the world and that which thousands of professors do miscarry by And Humiliation is most directly contrary to this and therefore must needs be an amiable and necessary thing It 's worth all the sorrow that a hundred men endure here to be saved from this dangerous sinne of Pride 10. A through Humiliation is usually a signe of the greater Exaltation to come after For those that humble themselves shall be exalted and those that exalt themselves shall be brought low Luke 14. 11. Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God and he shall lift you up 1 Pet. 5. 5. The higher you mean to build the deeper you will dig to lay the foundation Your Consolations are like to be greater as your sorrows have been greater You may be free from those doubts that follow others all their daies lest they were never truly humbled You need not be still questioning or pulling up your foundations as if you were to begin again It is a sign that you are intended to greater employments if other things concurre
Christians and What would you have done in Spain or Italy where it would cost you your lives He that will not be Converted now but thinks the termes of grace too hard is so impious a despiser of Christ and Heaven that it is no wonder if God resolve that he shall never taste of the salvation that was offered him Luk 14. 24. Moreover you know upon what uncertainties you hold your lives you have no assurance of them for an hour but you are sure that they are passing away while you delay And will you trifle then in a work that must be done What a case are you in if death find you unconverted The heart of man is not able now to conceive the misery of your case How dare you venture to live another day in an unconverted state least death should find you so Are you not afraid when you lie down at night and afraid when you go out of your doors in the morning least death surprize you before you are converted If you be not it 's long of your deadness and presumption And I would fain hear what it is that should thus stop you What are you afraid of Is God an Enemy that you are loath to come to him Is the devil a Friend that you are so loath to leave him Is sinne a Paradise Is Holiness a Misery Is it pleasanter life to love your money or your lands or your meat and drink and lusts then to love the most blessed God the Creatour of the World the life of our Souls and our Eternal Felicity Is it better to pamper a carcass that must shortly stink as the dung then to provide for a living immortall soul Whether do you think that Earth or Heaven will be the more glorious and durable felicity What is it sirs that you stick at that you make so many delayes before you 'l turn Is there any difficulty in the point Do you think it a hard question whether you should turn or not Why how can you be so blind Do you stand pausing upon the business as it were a doubt whether God or the world were better and whether sinne or holiness Christ or death Heaven or Hell were to be preferred I pray you Consider Can you reasonably think that Conversion will do you any harm Can it bring you into a worse condition then you are in Sure you cannot fear such a thing You are in your blood you are dead in sinne you are children of wrath while you are unconverted you are under the curse of the Law of God you are the slaves of the devil you are the heirs of hell and under the guilt of all your sinnes your life is a continued rebellion against God you are employed every day in the destroying of your selves in kindling the flames that must everlastingly torment you and laying in fewell for the perpetuating of your misery and fighting against your friends that would deliver you and unthankfully abusing Christ and grace and Ministers and Friends that would save your souls This is the condition that every one of you is in till you are converted And can you fear least Conversion would bring you into a worse condition then this Sirs these Truths are sure and plain and if yet you stick at it your errour is so palpably gross that unless you are mad men I may be bold to say it is a wilfull errour And if you love to be deceived and wilfully choose a lie you must take that you get by it 3. Consider further That half-Conversions do often prove an occasion of deluding mens souls and making them quiet in a miserable state and so of keeping them from being converted to the last If you had never done any thing in it you would more easily be perswaded that your case is bad and that there is still a necessity of your change But when you have had some convictions and troubles of mind and fears and sorrows and so have fallen into an outside partiall reformation and now are perswaded that you are truly converted when it is no such matter What a dangerous impediment to your Conversion may this prove And all because you slubber over the work and cut it off before it reacheth to sincerity and strive against the workings of the Spirit and break away from your Physicâ—in before he hath done the cure and would not follow it on to the end I know that a half-Conversion if it be known to be no more is much better then none and doth often prepare men for a saving work But when this half-Conversion is taken to be a true and saving change as â—oo commonly it is it proves one of the greatest impediments of salvation When ever Christ shall afterwards knock at your door you will not know him as thinking that he dwells with you already If you read any Books that call on you to be converted or hear any Preachers that call on you to turn you have this at hand to cousen your selves with aud frustrate all You 'l think This is not spoken to me For I am Converted already O how quietly do such poor deluded sinners daily read and hear their own doom and misery and never once dream that they are the men that are meant and therefore are never dismayed at the matter This formeth you into a state of hypocrisie and makes the course of your duties and your lives to be hypocriticall If another man that knows himself to be still unconverted do but read the threatnings of the Word against such or hear of the terrours of the Lord from a Minister he may be brought to confess that this is his own case and so to perceive the misery of his condition But when such as you do read and hear these things they never trouble you for you think that they do not touch you You are Scripture-proof and Sermon-proof and all by the delusion of your half-Conversion O how zealously will such a man cry out against the sinnes of others and tell them of their misery and perswade them to turn and shew them the danger that is near them if they do not and in the mean time little thinks that this is his own case and that he speaks all this against his own soul. How will such men applaud a Sermon that drives at the Conversion of a sinner and that tels them their misery while they are unconverted O thinks he this touched such and such I am glad that such a man and such a man heard it And he little thinks that it as nearly touched himself How smooâ—hly will he go on in any discourse agaâ—nst wicked unregenerate men as David heard the Parable of Nathan and it never once entreth into their thoughts that they speak all this against themselves till the Judge shall tell them when it is too late Thou art the man It will turn not only the stream of your thoughts into hypocrisie and self-deceit but also the stream of your speeches to others
Creature who was the Subject The Wisdom and Love and Mercy of God would not give way to this that the world should be destroyed so soon after it was made and man left remediless in everlasting Misery Satisfaction therefore must be the Remedy This must be such as might be as fit to procure the Ends of the Law as if the Law it self had been executed that is as if the offendors had all dyed the death that it did threaten It must therefore be a publik Demonstration of Justice and of the odiousness of Sinne to the terrour and warning of sinners for the future And this was done by Jesus Christ when none else in Heaven or Earth could do it For it did as fully demonstrate this Justice of God and preserved his honour and the usefullness of his Law and government that a Person so high and Glorious and so dear to him should suffer so much for sinne as if all the world had suffered for themselves And thus God made him to be sinne for us who knew no sinne 2 Cor. 5. 21. And thus Christ hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Gal. 3. 13. 2. Hereby also God Demonstrated the Holiness of his Nature How much he hateth sinne and how unreconcilable he is to it as light to darkness As the Law and Judgments of God do proceed from his Perfect Nature and Will so do they bear the Image of that perfection and demonstrate it to the world This therefore is the nobler End and work of Christ in our redemption to declare the Holiness and Perfection of God in his Nature and Will though the former the declaring of his Governing Justice be the neerer End If the death of Aarons two sonnes were such a Declaratition that God will be sanctified in all that draw neer him Lev. 10. 2 3 If his Laws and present Judgments do declare him to be a Holy and Jealous God that will not forgive sinne without a valuable consideration or satisfaction Jos. 24. 19. how much more evidently is this declared in the death of Christ If the Bethshemites cry out who is able to stand before this Holy Lord God 1 Sam. 6. 20. Upon the death of 50070 men how much more may the guilty Soul say so when he thinks on the Crucified Sonne of God As it is the End of Gods execution on transgressors that the Lord may be exalted in Judgment and God that is Holy may be Sanctified in Righteousness Isa. 5. 16. So was it his End in the Sacrifice of his Sonne 3. Another End of our Redemption by Christ is the Demonstration of the Infinite Wisdom of God His Wisdom in the preventing the ruin of the late-created world that it might not be said that sin and Satan had frustrated him of the Glory of his Creation and destroyed it almost as soon as he had made it Yea in getting an advantage by the malice of his enemies for the more admirable attainment of the Ends of his Law and the Glorifying of all his Governing Attributes He would not have made man a free Agent and left him in the hand of his own will and suffered him to sinne if his Wisdom had not known how to secure his own Intrest and Honour to the full And so also in the oeconomy and admirable frame of his Gracious Sapiential Government by Christ the manifold Wisdom of God doth shine forth Ephes. 3. 9 10. As the wonderfull structure of Heaven and Earth and every part of this Natural frame doth gloriously reveale the Wisdom of the Creator so the wonderfull Contrivance of our Redemption by Christ and the Reparation of the world by him and the Moral frame of this Evangelical dispensation doth wonderfully demonstrate the Wisdom of the Redeemer And as the observation of our Natures may give us Cause to say with David Psal. 139. 14. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made So the observation of our new Natures and condition may well cause us to say I will praise thee for I am graciously and wonderfully Redeemed marvelous are thy Works and that my Soul knoweth right well As Nature may teach us to admire the frame of Nature so Grace will teach us to admire the frame of Grace and to see the beauty of its several parts and much more of the whole where all the parts are orderly composed 4. Yea the very Power of God is demonstrated in Christ. And therefore he is called 1 Cor. 1. 24. The Power of God and the Wisdom of God not only formally because Christ himself is the Wise and Powerfull God nor only Efficiently because God doth exercise his Power and Wisdom by his Sonne in Creation Redemption and Government but also Effectually and Objectively as Christ is the great and most admirable Demonstration of the Power and Wisdom of God in the world What work transcendeth the incomprehensible Miracle of the Incarnation That God should assume the Nature of man into personal Union The Creation of the Sunne is no greater a work of Power then the Incarnation and sending of the Sonne of God the Intellectual Sunne the Light of the world That living Light that lightneth every one that cometh into the world though yet the darkness comprehendeth not his light Joh. 1. 4 6 9. What was he but the living visable Power of God when he healed all diseases cast out Devils raised the dead and rose from the dead himself and ascended into Glory and sent down the Holy Spirit on his Church enduing them with Power from on high Acts 1. 8. Luke 24. 49. when he was on Earth he was Anointed with the Holy Ghost and with Power and went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil Acts 10. 38. Being dead he was declared to be the Sonne of God with Power by the Resurrection from the dead Rom. 1. 4. When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive Eph. 4. 8. Yea he filled his servants with power Act. 6. 8. Even such as was admired and desired by the ungodly Act. 8. 19. He being the brightness of Gods Glory and the express Image of his Person and upholding all things by the Word of his Power when he had by himself purged our sinnes he sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high being made so much better then the Angels as he hath by Inheritance obtained a more excellent Name then they Heb. 1. 3 4. As Christ therefore in his glorified Humanity united to the Godhead is far more excellent then the Angels of God and more glorious then the Sunne so is the Power of God more abundantly demonstrated in him than in the Sunne or the Angels or any other Creature The Illuminated do know this and what is the exceeding greatness of his Power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at
they would have been if they had been judged only by the first Law When they see Christ and Heaven that was offered them and remember their wilfull and obstinate contempt of them their own Consciences and tongues shall justifie God and confess that he is Righteous in the dreadfulest of his Judgments If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall they escape that neglect of great Salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and then was confirmed by them that heard him God also bearing them witness with signs and wonders and with divers Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost Heb. 2. 3 4. And if they escaped not that refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not they escape that turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven For our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12. 25 29. So much of the Ends of Christ's undertaking in our Redemption In which you may see that there are divers things which Demonstrate the Glory of the forementioned Attributes of God in this Gospel Dispensation 1. It shineth forth in the Person of the Redeemer as he was on Earth in his Nature and wonderfull conception and his perfections 2. And it also shineth forth in the Actions of his life overcoming the world and the Devil and perfefectly fullfilling the Law of God So that the Image of his Father did shine forth in his Conversation 3. And also in his Death and Sufferings was the Father glorified as I shewed before 4. And also in the most Wise and Holy frame of those Laws by which the grace of the Mediator is conveyed and the Church governed 5. And by the Image of God by the impress of those Laws on the Souls of his Saints and by the holiness of their lives the Glory of God is also demonstrated 6. As also by the Justifying sentence of the Judge and the glorious Reward bestowed on the Faithfull 7. And by the Condemning sentence and execution on the ungodly in whom Vindictive Justice will be honoured 8. And in the perfection of the Individual Saints and their perfect Love and Praise 9. And in the Saints as imbodyed in the Heavenly Jerusalem the Glory of which will be the Glory of God 10. And pricipally in the Blessed Person and Work of the Redeemer In all these will Gods Glory shine forth for ever Quest. But to whom is it that God doth thus Demosntrate his Glory Answ. 1. To the Saints in this life in that degree as is suited to a state of Grace and the condition of a travailer that lives by Faith We are apt to look upward and long after fuller revelations of the Heavenly Kingdom and mystery and marvail that God will not shew himself more fully to his Saints on Earth Fain we would know more of God and Christ and the life to come and it is oft matter of some temptation to us that God doth not satifie these desires but leaveth them in so much darkness that are willing of his light But this is because we do not consider how much of Glory consisteth in the light and that Grace is more in the Disires of it then in the possession and if we should have as much of it as we desire it were but to bring down Heaven to Earth Means must be suited to their ends God will discover to us so much of his Glory as may quicken our desires and keep alive our hope and patience and endeavours but not so much as shall satisfie us and answer our expectations For Heaven is not here We must not carry our Home about with us but travail towards it that we may reach it at the last 2. God doth even now Demonstrate the Glory of his forementioned Attributes in the work of Redemption not only to his Saints but to the Angels of Heaven The consideration of this hath often satisfied me when I have been tempted to wonder at the work of Redemption that God should so far condescend as to be incarnate and make such glorious discoveries of himself and yet that so few in the world should take notice of it and be should have from men so little of the honour that he seemeth by his preparations to expect But the most part of the world did never once see the Glory that shineth to them in the Redeemer But God hath another world besides this and other Creatures besides man in all likelyhood incomparably more numerous perhaps thousands for one and certainly more excellent And though Christ did assume the Nature of Angels and came not to Redeem them that needed no Redeemer yet may the lustre of this work of Redemption appear to the Angels more clearly then to man and God may have a thousand-fold more Glory from them that are but the spectators and admirers then from us in our present darkness that are yet possessors As we that are here on Earth do look upon and admire the Glory of the Sunne which is as it were in another world and out of our reach so the Angels much more may gaze upon the Glory of the Sonne of God and admire the Lord in the work of our Redemption though they were not the Redeemed ones So that unto them doth God shine forth by it in his excellencies Perhaps you 'l say that cannot be because this is but seeing him in a glass when the Angels see him face to face and immediately behold his blessed Essence or else how can the Saints expect that beatificall Vision To which I answer First that I am uncertain whether seeing face to face bean immediate intuition of the Essence of God or only such a sight of his Glory in those emanations that are as appropriated to the place or state of Bliss Gods Essence is every where but that Glory is not every where And so I know not whether our present knowledg be not called Enigmaticall and as in a glass comparatively to that Glory prepared for the Saints But secondly I answer that certain I am that God is Demonstrated to his Angels in the Redeemer yea in the Church it self which is the Subject of his Grace and that they are both Affected and Imployed about us accordingly He that spoiled Principalities and Powers and openly triumphed over them and by death overcame him that had the power of death Col. 2. 15. Heb. 2. 14. And had so much to do against the evill Angels as Enemies no doubt is joyfully observed by the good Angels And he that is set so far above Principalities and Powers and Might and Dominion and every name that is named in this world or that which is to come Ephes. 1. 21. And is gone in to Heaven and is on the right hand of God Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject to him 1 Pet. 3. 22. no doubt is honoured and admired by Angels And indeed it is expresly said Let all the Angels of God worship him
though he consented not to the sinne of them that did inflict it For he laid down his Life it was not taken from him against his Will Joh. 10. 17 18. 9. Having thus paid the price of our Reconciliation to God the third day he Rose again from the dead Though Soldiours watcht his grave because he had foretold them that he would rise the third day yet were they soon daunted by the glory of an Angel that came and roled away the stone And so Christ made known his Divine Power and Victory and the finishing of his work And as by death he overcame him that had the power of death that is the Devil Heb. 3 14. So by his Resurrection he triumphed over death it self For how should the grave detain the innocent and death overcome the Lord of Life This was the glorious day of triumph In remembrance of this he appointed the Lords Day to be observed by the Church The Resurrection of Christ was the confusion of all the powers of darkness the great Argument to confirm the truth of his Doctrine and prove his Godhead to the unbelieving world 10. Being risen he more fully revealed his Gospel and sent forth his Apostles and Disciples to proclaim the offers of Life to the world and settle the Churches in a Holy order when they had gathered them and to ordaine such Ministers to succeed them as might carry on his work to the end of the world Matth. 28. 19 20. And thus he is the faithfull Law-giver to the Church 11. When he had abode thus forty daies on Earth he ascended up into Heaven while his Disciples stood by and gazed after him Acts 1. 9 10. And there hath taken possession in our Nature advancing it to the Fathers right hand in Glory which was by sinne deprest so low in misery And so he is gone to prepare a place for us leaving us a certain word of promise that he will come again and take us to himself that where he is there we may be also Joh. 14. 2 3. And as our life now is hid there with Christ in God so when he shall appear we shall appear with him in glory Col. 3. 3 4. 12. Being ascended he manifested his Power and his Truth in sending down the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples enabling them to do such works as he had done and such as were necessary to convince the unbelieving world and to conquer the opposing wisdom and power of the flesh Enabling them to speak in variety of Languages which they had never before learnt as also to understand and powerfully preach the mysteries of the Gospel to confirm their Doctrine by Miracles healing the lame the blind the sick casting out Devils raising the dead and conquering the resistance of Principalities and Powers in seeming weakness and in a contemptible garbe Not to speak now of the Sanctifying Work of the same Spirit on them and on the rest of the Church 13. Lastly in this Glory Christ Intercedeth for us and is our High-priest in the Heavens with God living for ever procuring and conveying to us the Mercies which we need upon the account of his Sacrifice Ruling his Church and preserving them succeeding his Cause and Servants restraining and subduing his Enemies and ours and will perfect his work at the day of his Coming to Judgment So much of the works of Christ. 4. The fourth point to be understood concerning our Redemption is The Nature and worth of the Benefits that are procured for us Which though you may gather much from what is said and the full handling of them would be a larger work then is suitable to my present Ends yet such a brief recital I shall here give you as my Ends require In General we have All from Jesus the Mediator that is worth the having even all the blessings of this present life and of the life to come As we lost our Right to all by sinne so we have our restored Right by Christ alone who came to destroy sinne and its effects Had not he interposed we might have had materially life and natural faculties and other things which now are Mercies but not as Mercies but as the requisites to our deserved punishment Even as the Devils have their Being and natural perfections to sustain them in their sufferings Nature it self so far as Good and all Natural blessings are now of Grace And that not only of such Grace as they were to Adam which was Mercy without proper Merit but of Gospel Grace procured by Christ which is Mercy contray to Merit It is no sounder Doctrine to say that God doth without the Merit of his Sonne bestow our common forfeited Mercies either on the Elect or others then that he giveth us his Saving grace without it As all things are delivered into the hands of Christ Joh. 13. 3. So none can receive any good but from his hands To give Mercies to men that forfeit them and descern misery is so far to pardon their sinne for to remit the sinne is to remit the punishment But the Scripture is not acquainted with any pardon of sinne but what is on the account of the Merits of Christ. They that deny this Mercy of God in giving even to the ungodly such a measure of forgiveness do speak against the daily and hourly experience of all the world and therefore need no other confutation More particularly 1. Christ having taken the Humane Nature into Union with the Divine our nature is thereby unconceivably advanced and brought nigh to God 2. Having fulfilled the Law and offered himself a Sacrifice for sinne Gods Justice and Wisdom and Holiness and Goodness is admirably Demonstrated And this Sacrifice is both Satisfactory and meritorious on our behalf Heb. 1. 3. 2 Cor. 5. 19. Heb. 9. 26. and 10 12. 3. The world and the Devil and Death and the Grave are conquered by him in preparation to our conquest 4. The Lord Jesus himself being risen and Justified hath received all Power in Heaven and Earth Mat. 28. 19. and is enabled to do all things that are necessary for his further ends As the Redeemer he is become Lord of our selves and of all we have and he is made the Soveraigne Ruler of all having full Power to relax the Law that cursed us and to deal with the world on terms of Grace 5. Accordingly he hath kept off the stroke of the rigorus Justice of God and hindered the strict execution of the Law of works and giveth still abundance of forfeited Mercies to the sinfull world keeping them from deserved torments while he is treating with them on terms of life 6. He hath made an Universal deed of gift of Christ and Life to all the world on Condition that they will but Accept the offer 1 Joh. 5. 10 11 12. Joh. 1. 11 12. 3. 16 17 18 19. In this Testament or Promise or Act of Oblivion the sinnes of all the world are conditionally pardoned and they are conditionally
not have the principal part of thy life If Christ have thy Heart it will be heard much in thy conference it will be seen in thy labours For that which hath a mans Heart will hardly be hid unless he purposely hide it which a Christian neither can nor ought to do It would make a man wonder to hear some wretches that will runne from God as fast as they can and yet face you down that God hath their hearts that have no mind so much as to meditate or talk of Christ or his precious Blood or mysterious Redemption or the glorious Kingdom purchased by him that will be at neither cost nor labour in his Service and yet profess that Christ hath their hearts that will refuse a Holy Heavenly life and perhaps make a scorn of it and maliciously prate against the Sanctified and yet will stand to it that the Holy Ghost the Sanctifier of the Elect hath their hearts No wonder if those hearts are ill managed and in a miserable deceived state that are so unacquainted with themselves Faith entreth at the Understanding but it hath not all its essential parts and is not the Gospel Faith indeed till it have possessed the will The heart of Faith is wanting till Faith hath taken possession of the heart For by Faith Christ dwelleth in the Heart Ephes. 3. 17. And if he dwell not in the heart he dwells not in the Man in a saving sort He had some interest in Judas Simon Magus Ananias and Saphira as to the head and perhaps somewhat more in a superficial sort But Satan entred into the heart of one and filled the heart of another of them with a lie and the heart of the third was not right in the sight of God and therefore he had no part or lot in Christ but was still in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity and all because Christ was not heartily entertained Acts 5. 3 8. 22 23. It is in the heart that the word must have its rooting or else it will wither in time of tryal It is seeking with the whole heart that is the evidence of the blessed Psal. 119 2. And it is a feigned turning when men turn not to God with the whole heart Jer. 3. 10. This is Gods promise concerning his Elect I will give them a heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their whole heart Jer. 24. 7. See then that the heart be unfeignedly delivered up to Christ For if Christ have it not the flesh the world and the Devil will have it Your Hearts must be a dwelling for one of these Masters choose you whether It is the damnation of most professed Christians that they have nothing for Christ but a good opinion or a few good words or outside services or some sleight Religiousness on the by when the flesh and the world go away with their hearts and yet they will not know it nor confess it Christ will not be an underling or servant to your flesh Your Hearts he hath bought and your Hearts he will have or you are none of his If he shall have nothing from you but a name you shall have nothing but the name of his purchased Salvation III. The last part of the Direction yet remains viz. that you must clâ—se with Christ entirely as well as Vnderstandingly and Heartily It is whole Christ that must be received with the whole heart For the understanding of this it must be known both How and Why Christ is offered to us As he came into the world to destroy the works of the Devil 1 Joh. 3. 8 and to seek and save that which was lost Luke 19. 19 And by his Mediation to reconcile us to God and bring us up to Glory so two things were to be done for the accomplishment of this First he was himself to Merit our Salvation and pay the price of our Redemption on the Cross and in his own Person to conquer the world the Devil and death and the grave And then he was by his Intercession in the Heavens to make application of this and bestow the benefits thus purchased by him And because it was he and not we that made the purchase it therefore pleased the Father that the purchased treasure should be put into his hands and not immediately put into ours He is become our Treasury and authorized to be our Head All Power is given him in Heaven and Earth We have so fouly miscarryed already that he will no more trust his honour in our hands as at first he did We shall have nothing of Pardon or Grace or Glory but what we have in and from the Sonne God hath given us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Sonne He that hath the Sonne hath Life and he that hath not the Sonne hath not Life 1 Joh. 11. 12. It is not only the Nature and Person of Christ that is to be believed in but it is the Person as impowred to certain ends and clothed with his Office yet we must now entertain Now the Office of Christ being for our Salvation and the Glory of God is suited to these happy ends And our Necessities are principally in these three points 1. We have the Guilt of sinne upon us to be pardoned and the Wrath of God and Curse of the Law and the punishment of sinne to be removed 2. We have the Corruption of our Nature to be healed the power of sinne to be destroyed the Image of God repaired on us and our hearts and lives to be acted and ordered according to the Will of God and to these ends Temptations to be conquered and our Souls directed strengthned and preserved to the end 3. We must be raised from the Grave at the last day we must be Justified in Judgment and possessed of that Glory which is the End of our Faith To this Justification Sanctification and Glorification may the rest be reduced Now the Office of Christ is suited to these Necessities of ours and as we cannot possibly be saved unless all these Necessities be supplied and these works done for us so we cannot possibly have these things done but by Accepting of Christ as Authorized and impowred by his Office and Perfections to do them The Glory that God will have by this work I have before expressed to you at large He will have his Justice Wisdom and Power and Holiness and Mercy to be demonstrated and honoured by Christ. And therefore Christ hath resolved to give out none of his benefits but in such manner and waies as may best attain these highest Ends. These several points therefore I must intreate you here to note distinctly 1. That you must be brought into a special Relation to the Person of Christ as cloathed with his Office before you can lay claim to his Saving Benefits He is the Head and you must become his Members He is
Evidences might raise you from Opinion to a working saving Faith 6. Lastly take heed lest any thing be suffered to keep possession of your Hearts and so to confine the truth to your braine When the world is kept up in life and power and is nearest the heart there is no room for the Word there but it must float upon the top and swim in your Opinion because it can go no deeper your lusts and profits having possession before it The Word can never go to the heart with unmortified men but by casting your Idols out of your hearts nor will it take rooting in you but by rooting out the world O Sirs if you knew the misery of a meer Opinionist you would sure be perswaded now to practise these Directions that may raise you higher An Opinionist is a deceiver of himself and oft of others a troubler of the Church 〈◊〉 he have any Zeal for Opinions and hit as usually he doth on the wrong And when his Religion is right he is wrong himself being out of the way even when he is in the right way because he is not right in that right way For he doth but sit down in it when he should travaile it A runner shall not win the prize by being in the right way only unless he make hast The knowledg of the Opinionist doth but serve to aggravate his sinne and cause him to be beaten with many stripes but is not of force to Sanctifie his heart and life and to save him Jam. 2. fully shews Stick not therefore in an Opinionative Religiousness DIRECT IX My next Direction that your Conversion may prove sound is this Acquaint your Souls by Faith with the Glory of the Everlasting Kingdom and see that you make it your Portion and your End and from thence let the rest of your endeavours be animated No man can be a sound Christian that knoweth not the Ends and Portion of a Christian. There is a great deal of difference between the desires of Heaven in a Sanctified man and an unsanctified The Believer prizeth it above earth and had rather be with God then here Though death that stands in the way may possibly have harder thoughts from him But to the ungodly there is nothing seemeth more desirable then this world and therefore he only chooseth Heaven before Hell but not before earth and therefore shall not have it upon such a choice We heare of Gold and Silver mines in the Indies If you offer a Golden mountaine there to an English man that hath an estate and family here that are deare to him perhaps hee 'l say I am uncertain whether their Golden mountains be not meer fictions to deceive men and if it be true that there are such things yet it is a great way thither and the seas are perilous and I am well enough already where I am and therefore let who will go thither for me I will stay at home as long as I can But if this man must needs be banished out of England and had his choise whether he would go to the Golden Ilands or to dig in a colepit or live in a wilderness he would rather choose the better then the worse So is it with an ungodly mans desires in respect to this world and that to come If he could stay here in fleshly pleasure for ever he would because he looks at Heaven as uncertain and a great way off and the passage seemeth to him more troublesom and dangerous then it is and he is where he would be already But when he sees that there is no staying here for ever but death will have him away he had rather go to Heaven then to Hell and therefore will be Religious as far as the flesh and the world will give him leave left he should be cast into Hell when he is taken from the Earth But take an English man that is in poverty and reproach and hath neither house nor land nor friend to comfort him and let him have the offer of a Golden Iland and a person of unquestionable skilfullness and fidelity that will promise in short time to bring him safe thither if he believe this person and can put his trust in him doubtless he will be gone and follow him over sea and land and though the passage may somewhat daunt him yet the promised possession will carry him through all So is it with the true Christian He is dead to this world and sees nothing here in which he can be happy he is burdened and wearied with sinne and suffering he is firmly perswaded of the truth of the Gospel and seeth by Faith the world that is to flesh invisible and believeth in Jesus Christ who hath promised to convey him safely thither and therefore he would away and though he love not death the stormy passage yet he will submit to it having so sure a Pilot because he loves the life which through death he must pass into and had rather be there then here Such as a mans principall End is such is the man and such is the course of his life He that takes this world for his Portion and makes the felicity of it his end is a carnall worldy unsanctified man whatever good and godly actions may come in upon the by It is he and only he that is a sanctified Believer who looks on Heaven as his only Portion and is sailing through the troublesome Seas of this world of purpose to come to that desired harbour not loving these seas better then the Land of Rest which he is sailing to but patiently and painfully passing through them because there is no other way to Glory As it is the desire of the Land to which he is sailing that moveth the Marriner or Passenger to do all that he doth in his Voyage and the desire of his home or journeys End that moveth the travailer all the way and the desire of seeing a perfect Building that moveth the Builder in every stroke of his Work so it must be the love of God and the desire after Everlasting blessedness that must be the very Engine to move the rest of the affections and endeavours of the Saints and must make men resolve on the necessary labour and patience of Believers Take off this weight and all the motions of Christianity will cease No man will be at labour and sufferings for nothing if he can avoid them It is a life of Labour though sweet to the Spirit yet tedious to the flesh which Christianity doth engage us in and there is much suffering to be undergone and this to the very last and to the denyall of our selves and if God require it to the loss of all the comforts of the world For no less then forsaking all that we have will serve to make us Christs Disciples And will any man do this for he knows not what Will any man forsake all that he hath unless it be for something better which may be as sure
God then else can be expected For knowledg will not be had but by time and study You may also have time to get strength of Grace when young beginners can expect no more then an infant strength You may grow to be men of parts and abilities to be usefull in the Church and profitable to those about you when others cannot go or stand unless they lean on the stronger for support If you come in betime you may do God a great deale of service which in the evening of the day you will neither have strength nor time to do You may have time to get Assurance of Salvation and to be ready with comfort when death shall call When a weakling is like to be perplexed with doubts and fears and death is like to be terrible because of their unreadiness 26. And did you ever consider who and how many do stay for you while you delay Do you know who it is that you make to waite your leisure God himself stands over you with the offers of his Mercy as if he thought it long till you return saying O that there were such a heart in them and when will it once be How long ye simple will you love simplicity and scorners delight in scorning and fools hate knowledg Turn you at my reproof Deut. 5 29. Jer. 13. 17. Prov. 1. 22. And do you think it wise or safe or mannerly for you to make the God of Heaven to wait on you while you are serving his Enimy Can you offer God a baser indignity then to expect that he should support your lives and feed you and preserve you and patiently forbeare you while you abuse him to his face and drudg for the flesh the world and the Devil Should a worm thus use the Lord that made him You will not your selves hold a candle in your hands while it burns your own fingers nor will you hold a nettle or a wasp in your hand to sting you nor will you keep a dog in your house that is good for nothing but to snarl at you and bite your Children or worry your sheep And yet God hath long held up your lives while in stead of Light you have yielded nothing but a stinking snuff and in stead of graps you have brought forth nothing but thorns and thistles and while you have snarled at his Children and his Flock and done the worst you could against him And would you indeed put God to wait on you thus while you serve the Devil yet one day more Must God as it were hold the drunkard the candle while he reeles and spues Must he draw the curtain while the filthy wretch doth once more please his fleshly lusts Marvaile not if he withdraw his supporting Mercy and let such wretches drop into Hell And it is not God only but his Servants and Creatures and Ordinances that all are waiting on you The Angels stay for the joy that is due to them upon your Conversion Ministers are studying and preaching and praying for you Godly neighbours are praying and longing for your change The Springs and rivers are flowing for you The winds blow for you The Sunne shines for you The clouds raine for you The Earth bears fruit for you The beasts must labour and suffer and die for you All things are doing and would you stand still or else do worse What hast makes the Sunne about the world to return in its time to give you light What hast make other Creatures in your service And yet must you delay Must God stay and Christ and the Spirit stay Must Angels stay must Ministers stay must the Godly stay and the Ordinances stay and all the Creatures stay your leasure while you are abusing God and your Souls and others and while you delay as if it were too soon to turn 27. Consider that when you were lost the Sonne of God did not delay the work of your Redemption He presently undertook it and turned by the stroak of damning Justice In the fulness of time he came and performed what he undertook he failed not one day of his appointed time And will you now Delay to accept the benefit and turn to him Must he make such hast to save you at so dear a rate and now will you delay to be saved 28. Moreover God doth not delay to do you good You have the day and night in their proper seasons The Sunne doth not faile to rise upon you at the appointed time You have the Spring and Harvest in their meetest seasons the former and later raine in season When you are in want you have seasonable supplies and when your are in danger you have seasonable deliverance And is it meet or equal that you should refuse to bring forth seasonable fruit but still be putting off God with your delaies 29. Moreover When you are in trouble and necessity you are then in hast for deliverance and relief Then you think every day a week till your danger or suffering be past If you be under the pain of a disease or in danger of death or under poverty or oppression or disgrace you would have God relieve you without delay And yet you will not turn to him without delay Then you are ready to cry out How long Lord how long till deliverance come but you will not hear God when he cryeth to you in your sinnes How long will it be ere you turn from your transgressions when shall it once be When you are to receive any outward deliverance you care not how soon the sooner the better but when you are to turn to God and receive his Grace and title to Glory then you care not how late as if you had no mind of it Can you for shame beg of God to hasten your deliverances when you remember your delaies and still continue to trifle with him and draw back 30. Your present prosperity and worldly delights are posting away without Delay and should you delay to make sure of better in their stead Time is going and health is going youth is going yea life is going your riches are taking wing your fleshly pleasures do perish in the very using Your meat and drink is sweet to you little longer then it is in your throat Shortly you must part with house and lands with goods and friends and all your mirth and earthly business will be done All this you know and yet will you delay to lay up a durable treasure which you may trust upon and to provide you a better tenement before you be turned out of this What will you do for a habitation for pleasures and contents when all that you have now is spent and gone and Earth will afford you nothing but a grave If you could but keep that you have I should not much wonder that knowing so little of God and another world you look not much after it But when you perceive death knocking at your doores and see that all your worldly comforts are packing up and
I have been preaching so many yeares to you for Conversion and for an Holy Heavenly life even since I first knew you and that yet so many of you are drown'd in sinne and ignorance and are unconverted when I think your very Consciences tell you that it is a thing that must be done I tell you all these years do seem to me a long time to wait on you in vain Blessed be the Lord that it hath not been in vaine with some or else I would scarce preach any more then one other Sermon to you even to bid you farewel I pray you deal but fairly with us and tell us whether ever you will turn or not If you will not but are resolved for sinne and Hell say so that we may know the worst speak out your minds that we may know what to trust to For if we once knew you would not turn we would soon have done with you and leave you to the Justice of God But if still you say you will turn when will you do it You will do it and you hope you shall but when How long would you have us wait yet Have you not abused us enough Nay I must tell you that you even weary God himself It is his own expression Mal. 2. 17. Isa. 43. 24. Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities Isa. 1. 14. And I must say to you as the Prophet Isa. 7. 13. Is it a small thing for you to weary men but you will weary my God also Consider what it is that you do 46. Consider also that you are at a constant unspeakable loss every day and hour that you Delay your Conversion O little do you know what you deprive your selves of every day If a slave in the Gallies or prison might live at Court as a favourite of the Prince in honour and delight and ease would he delay either years or hours Or would he not rather think with himself Is it not better to be at ease and in honour then to be here As the Prodigal said How many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger All this while I might be in plenty and delight All the while that you live in sinne you might be in the favour of God in the high and Heavenly employments of the Sants you might have the comforts of daily Communion with Christ and with the Saints you might be laying up for another world and might look death in the face with Faith and confidence as one that cannot be conquered by it you might live as the Heirs of Heaven on Earth All this and more then this you lose by your delaies All the Mercies of God are lost upon you Your food and rayment you health and wealth which you set so much by all is but lost and worse then lost for they turn to your greater hurt All our pains with you and all the Ordinances of God which you possess and all your time is lost and worss And do you think it indeed a wise mans part to live any longer at such a loss as this and that wilfully and for nothing If you knew your loss you would not think so 47. Nay more you are all this while doing that which must be undone againe or you will be undone for ever You are running from God but you must come back again or perish when all is done You are learning an hundred carnal lessons and false conceits that must be all unlearnt again You are shutting up your eies in wilful ignorance which must be opened again You must lean the Doctrine of Christ the great Teacher of the Church if you stay never so long or else you shall be cut of from his people Acts 3. 22. 7. 37. When you have been long accustoming your selves to sinne you must unlearn and break all those customes again You are hardning your hearts daily and they must again be softned And I must tell you that though a little time and labour may serve to do mischief yet it is not quickly undone again You may sooner set your house on fire than quench it when you have done You may sooner cut and wound your bodies then heal them again And sooner catch a cold or a disease then cure it You may quickly do that which must be longer a undoing Besides the cure is accompanied with paine You must take many a bitter draught in groanes or tears of godly sorrow for these delaies The wounds that you are now giving your Souls must smart and smart again before they are searcht and healed to the bottom And what man of wisdom would make himself such work and sorrow Who would travail on an hour longer that knowes he is out of his way and must come back again Would you not think him a mad man that would say I will go on a little further and then I will turn back I know Mr. Bilney the Martyr was offended with this comparison because he thought it was against Free Grace But comparisons extend not to every respect There are two things in your sins to be undone the one is the Guilt and the other is the Habit and power of sin the first indeed is done away when you are Converted but at the cost of Christ which should not be made light of And yet some scarres may be left behind and such twigs of Gods Rod may fall upon you as shall make you wish you had come sooner in And for the habit of sinne though Conversion break the heart of it yet will it live and trouble you while you live and those sinnes that now you are strengthning by your delaies will be thorns in your sides and rebels in your Country and find you work as long as you live And thus I may well say that you are doing that while you delay that must be long in undoing and will not be undone so easily as it is done and you are going on that way that must be all trod backward 48. And me thinks if it were but this it should terrifie you from your Delaies that it is likely to make your Conversion more grievous if you should have so great Mercy from God as after all to be Converted There is very few scape that are so exceeding long in travaile but if you come to the birth it 's like to be with double paine For God must send either some grievous affliction to fire and frighten you out of your sinnes or else some terrible gripes of Conscience that shall make you groane and groane againe in the feeling of your folly The pangs and throws of Conscience in the work of Conversion are far more grievous in some then in others Some are even on the wrack and almost brought besides their wits and the next step to desperation with horror of Soul and the sense of the Wrath of God so that they lie in doubts and complaints many a year together and think that they are even forsaken
Holiness with Heaven after The Lord have Mercy upon the poor distracted world and bring some more of them to their wits We have Wise men if themselves may be judges very wise in their own conceit that know many great matters in the world and yet do not practically know whether God or the Devil be the better master whether sinne or Holiness be the better work and whether Heaven or Hell be the betther wages If they say They know these things judge by their lives whether they know them Practically or not Resolve they will not for God and Holiness and Heaven nor against the flesh the world and sinne whatever they may be brought to confess to their self-condemnation Is it not a pitifull case that such points as these should seem so hard to reasonable men as to be so long in Resolving of them 4. And I pray you Consider How horribly by this you disgrace your understandings You that cannot abide to be derided as sots and fools in the world do yet abuse your selves thus grosly as iâ— there were never greater sots scarce upon the Earth We have proud men that are so high in their now eies that they can hardly endure contempt from others and love almost none that think but meanly or dishonourably of them and yet what a horrible contempt and dishonour do they cast upon themselves If one of these our wise neighbours should study seaven years to know whether the Sea be fire or water whether a mountain be heavy Whether the fire be hot or cold and could not be Resolved after so many years Consideration what would you think and say of these wise men Why Sirs it is far grosser folly I tell you again it is far grosser folly to be unresolved whether you should be Holy or unholy which is in plain English whether it be better go to Heaven or to Hell For Faith and Holiness is the way to Heaven and an unholy life is the way to Hell And if you will needs forsake the way to Heaven you may hope to come thither as long as you will but you may as well hope to touch the Moon with your finger or to runne up and down with a mountain on your backs And if you will hold on in the way to Hell that is in an unsanctified state you may say you hope for all that to escape Hell even as wisely as to leap into the Sea and say I hope to scape drowning or to throw down your selves headlong from the top of the steeple and say I hope to scape hurting me as well as you Sirs I beseech you do not abuse God and abuse Christ and the Spirit and Scripture and withall abuse your immortal Souls for I know not what for a stinking sin for a thing of nought Your Souls are noble Creatures and your understandings are noble faculties Why will you expose them to be the scorn of Satan and make them so base and sottish as you do You can see the folly of a poor drunkard that will make a beast of himself and go reeling and talking nonsence about the street for the boies to hoot at him and make himself the laughing-stock of the town And I pray you why do you not understand that till you are Resolved for a Holy Heavenly life you are all drunk while you think your selves to be sober You are as miserable as the other and more in this that yours is in your natures and theirs is but an accident yours is continued and theirs in that particular but by fits In the Name of God Sirs bethink you whether you can possibly more disgrace your wits then to be unresolved of a case as plain as the high way and which your Everlasting Salvation or damnation lieth on If one of you could not in twenty years be Resolved whether the the Sunne be light or dark or whether the day or the night be fitter for rest or whether it be better plow and sow or let all alone and hope God will give you a crop without labour would you take this for a wise man Again I tell you your folly is more gross that cannot all this while be Resolved whether you should cast away your wilfull sinnes and give up your selves to Christ and a Holy life to obtain the Glory and scape the misery that is hard at hand If you stood up to the neck in the water or stood but in a storm of raine you would not be so long in deliberating whether it were better for you to stay there longer or come out If your finger were but in the fire you need not so long a deliberation whether you should take it out Any yet these wise men are under many thousand unpardoned sinnes and under the curse of the Law of God and within a step of everlasting fire and have no way possible to escape but by Conversion Faith and Holiness and this God hath told them as plain as the tongue of man can speak and yet they are Considering of it whether it be best to come out of it and yet they cannot be Resolved Did I say They are Considâ—ring Nay the Lord be mercifull to them they are so dead-hearted and besotted that they do not so much as seriously Consider of it But even runne on without Consideration Ah poor wretches They are ready to go to another world and may look every day when the bell toles for them and when death will bring them to their endless life and yet they have not wit enough to Resolve whether they should make ready no nor with enough in their most carless worldly state to know that they are unready Death is coming and Judgment is coming and the burning Wrath of God is coming and are even at the doore and yet these wise men are unresolved of that only way that is of absolute necessity to their safety They must have more time yet to consider of the matter whether it be best for them to turn or no They stand at the very brink of Hell and yet they must further consider of it whether it be better to turn back or to go on Nay they will go on without Consideration And yet these men would take it â—aynously if one should lay hands on them and carry them to Bedlam or but tell them of the hundreth part of the sottishness that they are guilty of 5. And it is further considerable that these men that are all this while unresolved about their Conversion and Sanctification have wit enough to resolve of doubtfuller and less necessary matters without any such advising or delaies And they are men of ordinary parts and capacities for the matters of this world They can eat when they are hungry and drink when they are thirsty without a twelve-months timâ— to advise first on it They can resolve to go to bed at night and to rise in the morning without a years or a daies deliberation If they have any thing to buy or sell
base and treacherous abuse of God to make any question of this which you are so long unresolved of I confess when a blind mind haith raised such a question it is lawfull for a reasonable man to answer it But in him that makes a doubt of such a thing as its a shame to himself so it is a hainous indignity to God If you had a chast and modest woman to your wife I think shee would take it for an injury if you should but make a question of it whether shee or a common whore be the honester woman If your wife or children should bring before you a Hobby-horse or an Ass and make a great question of it whether you or the Ass be the comlier or the wiser How would you take this of them If you should bring an ideot or a mad man before your Prince and make a question whether he or they be the wiser man or if you set a Rebel before him and make a question which of them hath the better title to the Crown what entertainment might you expect I tell you it is ten thousand thousand times a baser affront and wrong to God to set the pleasure of sinne before him and make a question which of them is the better and to set your riches and your sports and your drunkenness and gluttonny and your whoredom and your revenge in competition with your Redeemer and Everlasting Glory and to make a question which of them is to be preferred To make once a question whether God or flesh should be pleased whether Christ or the world should be loved and followed Whether the Holy Ghost or the Devil should dwell in us and guide us Whether the Saints of God or the servants of the Devil should be our chosen company Whether the Word and Minsiters of Christ or the examples and words of wicked men should more prevail with us Whether Heaven or Earth should be more carefully sought after Whether a Holy or a careless wicked life be more to be desired Or whether it be better to turn to God or not I say to make such a question as this or one of these is little better then to put a scorn upon the God of Heaven and savoureth of such malice as is more like a Devil then a reasonable man or else of such folly as is below the Devil and as none of you would be guilty of in the matters of this world If one should but make a comparison between you and some deformed monster or between your house and a swine-stie though he gave you the better I think you would take it as a scorn that he should make such a comparison or question Much more may God so take it when you make a question betwixt sinne and him There is but one Infinite unconceivable perfect Good and shall he be abased by such a question There is but one thing that is contrary to God in all the world that is worse then the Devil himself and that is sinne and shall this be put in question or comparison with God There is but One that hath Loved us to the death with a matchless unconceivable saving Love and that is Jesus Christ And there is but one thing that is a deadly enemy to us and him and that would damn us when he is endeavouring to save us and that is sinne And must there be a question or comparison between these There is One Sanctifying Spirit that would clense and heal and save us and there is a malicious spirit that would deceive us defile us and destroy us And must there be any question or comparison made between these There is but one Eternal Happiness and One Holy way to it and there is but One everlasting misery and a fleshly filthy sinfull way to it And must there be made any question which of these should be preferred Consider I beseech you what you do And if it be so vile a thing to make any question of it what is it then to be still unresolved Yea and to choose the worser part and stick to it in your heart and life 12. Consider also that Present Resolution would put an end to a great many fruitles troublesome deliberatiens and delaies If a man had but a weighty business of the world upon his hand that his estate or life lieth on it is a perplexity to him as long as he is unresolved what course he should take It will be troubling him when he should rest and break his sleep it will fill him with musings and disturb and distract his mind and even make him Melancholy And how can it choose but be a troublesome distracting thing to your mind to be unresolved what course to take for your Everlasting state I know some hearts are so desperately hardened and past feeling Epes 4. 19. and some mens Consciences so seared as with an hot iron 1 Tim. 4. 2. that they can throw away all thoughts of Resolution and never be much troubled But I hope that many are not so desperate It is not thus with all that are unconverted How long have some of your minds been troubled whether to turn or not Resolve man if thou love thy Soul and put an end to such troubles 13. Consider also that Resolving will put an end to a great many of troublesome Temptations that do assault you and will break the heart of Satans hopes As long as you are unresolved he hath still possession of you and is still in hopes to keep possession And as long as he hath any hope he will never give over but will be repairing his Garrison and making up all the breaches that the Ordinances of God had made When one temptation takes not he will be offering you another and will be following and disquieting you day and night But if once he see you firmly Resolved his hopes will faile him and you may be much freer from his temptations then you were before I do not say he will give over For even when you are broken away from him he will make after you again But it is a greater advantage to you to fight against him in the open field under such a Captaine as Jesus Christ that will assure you of the victory then to be in his own prison with his fetters on your heels You know the way to be troubled with an unwelcome suiter is to delay your answer and take time to consider of it and the way to be eased of him is to give him a peremptory Resolute answer And when he seeth you Resolved he will cease 14. Moreover till you are Resolved of your Conversion you cannot Rationally Resolve of any one word or action of your lives Nay till they are all misemployed to your hurt For no man can Resolve of the Means till he is Resolved of the End You must Resolve whither to go before you can Resolve which way to go Before Conversion mens End is wrong Their Intention and business is to please
men to move him to forsake his duty he saith Whether it be better to obey God or man judge ye If he heare seducers he is rooted in the Spirit and the infallible Word and is not shaken by every wind If he see never so many fall off by backsliding he saith It was not only for their company that I chose the holy way God is still the same and Heaven is the same and Scripture is the same and therefore I am Resolved to be the same If God afflict him by poverty sickness or other tryals he saith I did not become a Christian to scape affliction but to scape damnation If he kill me yet will I trust in him Shall I receive good at the hands of God and not evill Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked must I return to dust the Lord giveth the Lord taketh away blessed be his name If oppressing enemies insult over him he can say as Mic. 7. 8 9. Rejoice not against me O mine enemy when I fall I shall arise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light to me I will bear the Indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him untill he plead my cause and execute Judgment for me He will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his Righteousness If the wicked cast in his teeth his profession and the name of his God he rejoiceth that he is counted worthy to suffer for that Name and yet he will hope to see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living And if he must go to Heaven through poverty and a mean estate he hath learned to want as well as to abound and in what estate soever he be therewith to be contented And so in the work of Conversion it self for want of Resolution many stick long in the birth and they are hanging so long between Heaven and Hell that it 's a wonder of Mercy that God doth not cut them off and let them perish But the well Resolved Soul doth deal more faithfully with the light that is revealed to him and doth not stand strugling so long against it nor hold Christ and his Spirit so long in hand but is glad to make sure work in so great a business and take so good a match while it is offered And being engaged once he is firm as Mount Zion that cannot be moved Resolve therefore that your work may be the more easy and successfull and conquer by Resolving 18. I suppose you dare not Resolve against Conversion and a Heavenly life And why then will you not Resolve for it What purpose you to do for the time to come Is it your Resolution to live and die as you are Have you not purposes in your mind to Repent hereafter Dare you say I am Resolved never to be Converted Some may be so desperate but I think it is but few even of the ungodly Why this shews that there is a secret conviction in your consciences O do not stifle it Neutrality never saved Soul Seing you dare not Resolve against it Resolve for it 19. Consider I beseech you how much it doth concern your selves to have this question well and speedily Resolved God asketh you whether you will be Converted and Sanctisied or not Resolve this question and you Resolve your selves of a great many more that depend upon it The answer to this must be the answer to the rest If the question were whether you will be pardoned or no Whether you will live in Heaven or Hell for ever Whether you will dwell with God and Angels or with Devils You would not be long in answering this You would Resolve without an hours delay Why this is the question Sirs but the answer to it must be the answer to the first question For without Sanctification there is no Salvation If you will not be Converted you shall be condemned whether you will or no For God hath Resolved of this already and there is no resisting the Resolution of God The true state of the question is Whether you will Turn or burn choose you whether for it must be one O therefore if you will but Resolve Christ and us this one question that you will be Converted Christ will Resolve you the principal questions that concern you in the world even whether you shall be pardoned or saved and where and with whom you must live for ever 20. Lastly consider that if you stay till you receive the sentence of death it 's two to one but that will force you to Resolve But a forced Resolution will not serve turn and then it will be very hard for you to discern whether it be any better then meerly from your fears You put off all till sickness come and you see once that you must die there 's no Remedy and then you will cry O if the Lord would but recover me and try me once againe with life I would delay no longer but I would become a new man and live a Holy and Heavenly life I am resolved of it by the Grace of God Yea but who knows whether these last Resolutions be sincere We heare abundance speak this in their sickness that â—â—ver turn when they come to health but forget all and live in a manner as they did before Is it not most likely to be only the fear of death that makes you take up these Resolutions If it be so they will never save you if you die nor hold you to your promises if you live For it is not bare Fear that is true Conversion but it 's a changed heart that is fallen in Love with God and Holiness and into a setled hatred of former sins No late Repentance and Resolutions but these will be any thing worth as to the saving of your Souls And therefore if you should have true Resolutions at the last which is too rare you cannot choose but be much in doubt of them when you find so much of fear upon your spirit and consider that you never would Resolve till then And therefore if you would have a Comfortable change Resolve now in your prosperity before the face of death affright you to it and those feares and the lateness do make you question the truth and soundness of it and so deprive you of the comfort which you have so much need of at a dying hour And thus I have given you twenty Considerations to perswade you if it may be presently to Resolve I am sure there is truth and reason and weight in them but what good they will do you I am not sure because I know not how you will receive them IV. And now I come to the last part of my task which is to Direct you how to perform the work that I have perswaded you to But because it is meerly the Determination of the Will it is presuasion that must do more to the work then Direction And therefore I shall only desire you to look back
Sirs I see now that which I never saw before I wonder how I could venture so madly upon sinne and how I could make light of God of Christ of death of Judgment and Everlasting life I have been hitherto your Companion in sinne but I would not take the same course again for all the world I see now there is a better portion hereafter to be obtained which I was mindless of I see now we were all this while making merry at the brink of Hell and there was but a step between us and death Now I see that the course that we have taken is wicked and deceitfull and will not serve turn If I serve the flesh it will reward me but with rottonness I will therefore hereafter serve that God that will certainly reward me with Evorlasting life I beseech you Sirs come away with me and see and try what I have seen and tryed I have lived with you in sinne O now let us joyn together in Repentance and a Holy life I shall be glad of your company to Heaven but if you will not do it take your course For my part I am Resolved by the Grace of God I am fully Resolved to be from this day forward a New man and never to joyn with you more in a fleshly and ungodly life Never tempt me or perswade me to it for I am Resolved Thus if you will declare your Resolutions to others and seek to win them you may possibly do them good but however you will be the deeper engaged to God your selves Yea though I would have no ostentation of Conversion nothing done rashly in publike nor without the advice of a faithfull Minister beforehand yet with these Cautions I must say that it 's a shame that we hear no more in publike of the Conversion of sinners As Baptism is to be in publike that the Congregation may witness your engagement and pray for you and rejoice at the receiving of a member So the solemn renewing of the same Covenant by Repentance after a wicked life should ordinarily be in publike to give warning to others to avoid the sinne and to give God the honour and to have the Prayers of the Church and to satisfy them of our Repentance that they may have Communion with us The Papists do more offend of the two in so much confining Confession and Penitence to the Priests eare in secret and not bringing it before the Church then they do in making a Sacrament of it I wonder that people should every day thrust into our hands their requests to pray for them when they are sick and that it is so rare a matter to have any desire our Prayers for the pardon of all the sinnes of their natural unconverted state I would here seriously advise all those that it concerneth that when God hath shewed them so great a Mercy as to Convert them and make them New Creatures they would go to their faithfull Minister and by his advice put up such a bill as this Such a man of this parish having long lived in blindness and deadness and ungodliness and name the particular sinnes if they were publickly known and being by the great Mercy of God convinced of his sinne and misery and sustained with some hopes of Mercy by the Blood and Merits of Jesus Christ and being now Resolved by the Grace of God to forsake this fleshly worldly life and to give up himself to Christ and Holiness doth earnestly intreat the Church to pray for him that his many and hainous sins may be all forgiven and that God would againe receive him into Mercy and that he may hold on in Faith and Holiness to the last and never turn again to the course of his iniquity And if the Minister think it meet refuse not to make your selves an open Confession of your former life of sinne and misery and to Profess openly your Resolution to walk with God for the time to come This course should be more ordinary with us and if Conversâ—ion it self were not so rare or else so defective that it doth too little quicken men to a sence of duty and sinne and Mercy or so doubtfull and by slow degrees that it is scarce discerned by many that have it were it not for some of these more ordinary would it be to the great rejoycing and benefit of the Church The Conclusion And now I have given you Directions in the most great and necessary business in this world They are such as I received of God and if Faithfully practised will put your Salvation past all hazard But what they have done or what they will do I cannot tell but must leave the Issue to God and you It s pitty eternall Glory should be lost for want of yielding to so holy and sweet and reasonable a course It is lamentable to observe what ignorant base unworthy thoughts the most have of the very Office of the holy Ghost who is the sanctifier of all that God will save The very name of Regeneration and Sanctification is not understood by some and is but matter of derision to others and the most think that it is another kind of matter then indeed it is To be baptized and come to Church and to say some cold and heartless Prayers and to forbeare some gross disgracefull sins is all the Sanctification that most are acquainted with and all have not this And thus they debase the work of the holy Ghost If a Prince have built a sumptuous Pallace and you will shew men a Swine-stie and say This is the Pallace that the Prince hath bin so long a building were not this to abuse him by contempt If he build a Navy and you shew a man two or three pig-troughs and say These are the Kings ships would he not take it for a scorn Take heed of such dealing with the holy Ghost Remember what it is to believe in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost and remember that you were Baptized into the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost And do you not yet know why nor know the meaning of your Baptismall Covenant It is not only to believe that there are three Persons in the Trinity but to consent to the Relations and duty to them in respect to their several Relations and works If the Father had not Created you how could you have been men The Lord of nature must be acknowledged as the End and the governour of nature and accordingly obeyed And this is to believe and be Baptized into the Name of God the Father If the Son had not Redeemed you you had bin as the Divels were forsaken and given over to dispaire The Purchaser Procurer and Author of Grace of Pardon and Salvation must be acknoledged to be such and himself and his Salvation accordingly accepted and his terms submitted to And this is to believe in the name of the Son and in baptisme we make profession hereof And certainly the work of the holy