Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n
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A51494
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Motives to Godly mourning and rejoycing; or, Christ Jesus his kind invitation to sinners to repent
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W. H.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing M2942A; ESTC R221922
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19,087
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36
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MOTIVES TO Godly Mourning and Rejoycing OR Christ Jesus HIS KIND INVITATION TO Sinners to Repent PSALM CVI. 4 5. Remember me O Lord according to the favour that thou bearest unto thy People O visit me with thy Salvation That I may see the Good of thy Chosen that I may rejoyce in the Gladness of thy Nation that I may glory with thine Inheritance PSAL. LI. 10 11 12 13. Create in me a clean Heart O Lord and renew a right Spirit within me Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from me Restore unto me the Joy of thy Salvation and uphold me by thy free Spirit Then will I teach Transgressours thy ways and Sinners shall be converted unto thee London Printed for the Author 1698. TO THE Reverend Pious and Faithful Minister of Christ Mr. John Shower Reverend Sir I Beg your Patronage to this new Brood which I found in England though as I suppose its original Father brought it to light in another Land I found it cloathed in Latin Apparel and I have put an English Coat upon it and I hope that thereby it may be kindly received by many that are in England who have a savour of the things of God as for others that know not God I doubt whether they will cast their Eyes upon it But if any that are such take a fancy to look upon it God grant it may do them good and that they may be thereby drawn to the Love of Christ Jesus being allured by his sweet Entisements and Invitations It was sweet to me in the Original and I hope it may be so to others in the Translation I hope you will not be offended that I have made a Dedication of this Book to you without your Consent for if I had requested you to give your Consent to accept of a Dedication I doubt whether you would have given it but having dedicated it to you unawares I hope you cannot be angry for my giving you that which before it was given you had no occasion to refuse What success it may have I am uncertain but I suffer it to range and seek its fortune in the World as the Levit of Bethlem-judah did who wandered up and down to see if he could find a place and at length was kindly entertained by Micah and afterwards was made a Father and a Priest to a Family and Tribe of Israel But if any desire to know why I made this Dedication to you there were many Causes why I should do so One of which is The great Kindness that you have shewed to my self Job said the Blessing of him that was almost ready to perish came upon me and I made the Widow's Heart to sing What Misery was I in through Poverty and Necessity when your Kindness and Charity and Liberality did afford me such seasonable Relief that it resembled upon many accounts a Resurrection from the dead Therefore I gladly embrace this Opportunity of giving a publick Testimony of my Thankfulness that hath a long time lain hid in my Heart and is now triumphantly glad to shew it self in the Light of the Day and the Sight of the Sun Moreover your Name being in the Frontispiece of this Book I hope it may allure many that have sat under the shadow of your Ministry to pay some Deference of respect to it and not to grudge the charge of Buying it nor the labour of Viewing it Sir your Name is famous in England for in the Success of your Ministry you have surpassed many others of your Brethren that are elder than you You are like young Elihu that in Wisdom excelled the Friends of Job that were aged and gray-headed Men much elder than Job's Father And in external Honours God hath exalted you above many of your Brethren so that your Name is as young David's was much set by before he was exalted to the Throne and Dignity of a King Sir what I have said to you I have not said in Flattery but in the Sincerity of my Heart and therefore I hope these external Testimonies of the Thankfulness that was a long time hid within my Heart cannot offend you The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you I am Your hearty Friend and Servant and Brother in Christ W. H. To the READER I Am a Man that hath passed through many Calamities in the days of the Years that I have lived in the World My Mother brought me forth in Scotland half a Year after Cromwell had passed through Scotland with Fire and Sword and it is likely my Mother was at that time by reason of those bloody and cruel Wars affrighted with many Amazements when I was in her Womb and I suppose that hath occasioned that I have been frequently subject to sudden Astonishments and Consternations and Panick Fears from my Childhood When I was under Sixteen Years I flourished with outward Prosperity and almost constantly delighted my self with the abundance of Peace being beloved and honoured of all that knew me far and near Which occasioned me to be puffed up in my Spirit till Affliction of several Kinds sent of God for my Good had brought down that Vanity of my Mind When I was fourteen or fifteen Years of age I frequented a School at Rotterdam where I greatly profited in variety of Learning and attained to a great insight of the Poetical Faculty After I had been at that School I was a while at Leyden where I studied Logick and Metaphysick though at that time also I laboured diligently in prying into the Mysteries of Poesie After I had been a while at Leyden I went into Scotland where I studied Philosophy at Edinburgh and received the Degree of Master of Arts. And at that time also I diligently studied and exercised Poesie and made a Poem on Job which hath been well approved by many learned Men I made all that Poem before I was twenty Years old for my Spirit was then much strengthned by general respect that was shewed to me by many of those with whom I conversed and by the Kindness of my Brother in law that married one of my Sisters He was a Man eminent both in Wisdom and Piety and maintained me above a Year on his own Cast and was then kinder to me than was my own Father out of whose Bowels I proceeded After I was eighteen Years of Age I went to my Father's House who was then and had been a long time a Minister in Rotterdam and the space of two or three Years I lived on my Father's Charges and at that time I was greatly afflicted in my Spirit partly through my Father's Churlishness and Vnkindness and partly through inward Griefs and Discontents of Mind that I suffered through some great and grievous Afflictions that befel me At that time I was much in Prayer I was often fervently calling upon my God with Weeping and Supplication and though then I did not discern that God took any notice of the Prayers I
made to him in those great Afflictions yet since that time I have had clear Evidences that I did not call upon God in vain After my Father had upon his Cost maintained me two or three Years I travelled into England where I suffered Poverty several Years and did often eat Bread of Affliction and drank Water of Affliction Yet in that time I had some sweet Intervals of Divine Consolation when I had Opportunities occasionally to preach in the days of King Charles the Second For it was a great Joy to me at that time that I had Opportunities to serve Christ Jesus though I suffered sometimes Persecution But one of the things that greatly allayed my Sorrows and Discontents was the Comfort and Divine Consolation I received by having heard sometimes occasionally that great Minister of Christ Thomas Cole who died a while since For in hearing him preach at sometimes such Beams of Divine Light did shine forth upon my Soul such glorious Manifestations of the Love of God did over-shadow me that it made many Miseries that I then and since have endured to become light and easie For in the strength of those Discoveries of the Love of God in Christ Jesus I have walked many days in the Light of God's Countenance But because I have been guilty of some Infirmities through violent Temptations wherewith God hath suffered Satan to assault me some if they are not of a charitable Spirit may think these things are Hypocritical Dreams und Chimerical Imaginations but I know him whom I have believed But these things I have publickly declared that none of those that fear God may be ashamed for my sake If you ask the cause why I have given this Book the title of Motives to Godly Mourning and Rejoycing This is one Cause thereof because Godly Sorrow is the Seed of Godly Joy and Rejoycing as the Saints have often found by their Experience to whose Experience I may appeal Another Cause is this Because I desire that wicked Wretches who have lived without God in the World be convinced that if they will heartily apply themselves to Godliness they will find that Joy and Pleasure in the Ways of God not only in the World to come but also in this World which will greatly surpass all the Joys and Pleasures that they have found in the Ways of Sin and in their Estrangement from God Verily I wonder wretched Sinner that has lived in Enmity to God how thou canst eat or drink or sleep in Peace when the Sword of Vengeance hangs over thy Head and there is but a step between thee and Hell and everlasting fire But after thou hast returned to God by repentance and shelter'd thy self by Faith under the Wings of Christ Jesus then thou mayest have just cause of Rejoycing I have therefore published this Book to awaken thee and stir thee up to Repentance and to fly to Christ the Refuge of Sinners that thou mayest have much Joy and Peace in believing in this World and enter into everlasting Joys and Felicity in the perfect Enjoyment of God and Christ in the World to come MOTIVES to Godly Mourning and Rejoycing or CHRIST JESUS his Kind Invitation to Sinners to Repent CHAP. I. Concerning the Grief of Jesus Christ lamenting the Stubbornness of a Sinner I THE Only begotten Son of God the Power and Wisdom of God do cry in the Streets and lift up my Voice in the midst of the People for I have nourished and brought up the Sons of Men but they have despised me O Man I have written the sweet Law of my New Testament in thy inward parts and have planted it in the midst of thy Heart And yet thou hast had no desire to my immaculate Law which converts the Souls of Sinners neither hast thou regarded the saithful Testimony of my Eternal Love Thou hast went far away from me with the Transgressour Adam thy Father and thou hast hid thy self from Me thy most gracious God and Saviour when I walked in the Garden in the cool of the Day What meaneth this thou estranged Son Whither flyest thou from the Face of thy most merciful God and Redeemer Am I a cruel Lord because thou flyest speedily away from me and seekest to find a better Master Consider what thou dost and how far thou goest from thy own Salvation for without cause thou hatest thy most precious Remedy and Liberty Thy unhappy Soul is become as a Widow which if thou wouldest close with Divine Grace might remain faithful to the Covenant of her Espousals and enjoy the Priviledges of my most Sweet Love And yet she hath abhorred me her most faithful Lover and her Enemies have been enriched with her Spoils How is the Gold of my ancient Love become dim the bright-shining Colour of a good Conversation is changed the Stones of my Temple and Sanctuary are scattered upon the top of every Street Thou didst not delight in the Habitation of my City Jerusalem which I have loved and thou hast been reckoned among the Citizens which my Soul hates Wo to the Soul that departeth from me for the Terrors of Death will set themselves in aray against it and the Pains of Hell will take hold of it The Lion's Whelps will rage against it and roar after it that they may snatch it and take it for Meat thrown to them by God For since thou didst set up the Darkness of Sin instead of the Light of my Grace and there came upon thee a most dismal night of my Anger all the Beasts of the Insernal Wood pass by and make haste with open Mouth to devour thy Apostate Soul Therefore at least from this time call unto me and say Thou art my God and my Guide and now I will no more fly from thee O most gracious God! I have wandered being a Vagabond like Cain out of thy sight and I have served other Gods in whom I have no Salvation nor Deliverance Behold I return unto thee from a grievous Bondage I seek for thy most lovely Light from the Darkness and Shadow of Death which hath terrified me I know of a truth being convinced by Experience that there is no good thing out of thee the Son of the most amiable and most high God to whom I consecrate my inward Parts CHAP. II. Concerning the Sweetness of Jesus Christ calling a Sinner to Repentance I Wish my Son that thou wouldest prize my Friendship which is better than Gold and that thou wouldest hearken with the Ears of a contrite and humble Heart unto my still Voice whereunto the Rocks are moved O Ephraim I as a nursing Father take care of thee and my great and most faithful Mercy strives with the Hardness of thy stony Heart Thou according to thy Hardness and impenitent Heart resistest my Spirit which is sweeter than the Honey and I according to the Riches of infinite Goodness endeavour to mollify thy inward parts with my secret and innumerable Inspirations Thou flyest from me who am pursuing