afterward by the Apostle Paul when he was testifying against the obstinate Infidelity of the Jews at Rome Rom. 11.8 We may therefore clear the Righteousness of God in this matter by considering the true Account and Character of Those whom we find in Scripture or believe by Experience to have been given up to their own Hearts Lusts The Wickedness of Pharoah was risen to a very provoking height before God is said to harden him which was not till after the sixth Plague The impenitent Cananites had 430 Years before God gave them over and their measure was full Josh 11.19 This therefore as it is one of the severest Judgments so it is one of the last This also may admit of Degrees with reference to several Persons For there is a partial as well as a total forsaking of God and being forsaken of him There are some who sin against their Light and refuse the Grace of the Gospel and may for a time be forsaken and left of God and yet his Spirit afterwards strive again Whereas with others he may never strive more However in all these Cases there is great Provocation that does precede so that we may say with the Apostle Is God unrighteous that he taketh Vengence Rom. 3.5 3. I would also premise That the Holiness of God must be cleared as well as his Justice Though he give them up to their own Hearts Lusts it is not by a consenting approving Act with reference to the sins they afterwards commit much less that God inclines their Hearts to sin or infuses or suggests evil to them It is not that He gives them Indulgence and Leave with his Consent and Approbation to serve and fulfil any of those Lusts The spotless unchangable Purity of the Divine Nature which hates every sin cannot consist with this He cannot be tempted with Evil neither tempteth any man to evil Therefore such Expressions as Ezek. 20.39 As for you O House of Israel thus saith the Lord go you now every one and serve his Idols Such Expressions must be taken in an Ironical sense That is Go see whether the Objects of your Trust and Confidence can save you in a time of Calamity Go to the Gods that you have served and see whether they will help you for I will not It is like the Expression Matth. 26.46 Sleep on now and take your Rest for behold he cometh by whom the Son of man is to be betrayed I desired you to watch with me but you would not and that season is now past Sleep on now if you can When Satan blinds the Minds of men he doth it by strengthening of their sin he doth it by sinful suggestions and the like But the Blessed God doth not thus give men up to sin No such Darkness can come from the Fountain of Light These things being premised let us Consider some of those steps by which God preceeds in this matter as Scripture Reason and Experience may direct us Though after all there is a Depth in these Judgments of God which none are able fully to Explain 1. When God forbears to Afflict and to restrain men from sin by the Rod of Correction and the Rebukes of his Providence Or doth not sanctifie such Rebukes for their Reformation We little think whither we should wander if God did not hedg up our ways with Thorns Hos 2.6 7. If he did not by his Providence make a Wall that we should not be able to find our sinful Paths that we should not be able to make Provision for our Lusts at an easy rate or have so much fewel for them as we desire My People Israel says God by the Prophet was resolved to go after her Lovers but God says I will make her return back in confusion She shall find an impassable hedge of Thorns in her way I will stop her Course I will make a Wall and a Wall as in the Original and she shall not find her Paths Tho she follow after her Lovers she shall not overtake them she shall seek them but shall not find them The like Expression you have 3. Lament 7 9. He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out he hath inclosed me with â—ewen stone Some by the Fetters of Education as they call it and are glad when they can shake them off Some by the want of Money or Interest or Power to accomplish their wicked Purposes have their Way hedged up Sometimes by bodily Pains and sickness God opens the Ears of men and seals Instruction to them that he may withdraw Man from his Purpose and hide Pride from Man Job 33.17 18. God is herein very merciful to many Young Persons especially should consider it to whom it is a Kindness to have sin made difficult to them For if they had so much Liberty as they would desire and so much Money at command as they could wish and were let alone by their Superiours to do as they please and live as they list without any check or fear of losing the favour of those on whom they depend or from whom they have their Expectation If things were thus with them they know not unto what Excess and Height of sin they should run So for Health and Bodily strength the abating of these may be a merciful Restraint from some sort of sins The very weakness of our Constitutions may be a means to save us from some kind of Temptations which others in vigorous Health do struggle with and are overcome by So for disappointments in the World Discountenance and Disgrace and other such things that are apt to humble and afflict the Mind The more of these Restraints God is pleased to take from us it may so fall out that the more Angry he therein appeares to be Especially if former afflictive Rebukes of Providence have been misimproved There being hardly a more terrible place in the whole Bible than that threatening of God Hos 4.13 14. Your Daughters shall commit Whoredom and your Spouses shall commit Adultery And I will not punish your Daughters when they commit Whoredom nor your Spouses when they commit Adultery O quanta Paena nulla Paena It is the greatest Judgment or the fore runner of that which is so when God abstains from punishing when by timely Chastisement he does not awaken to Repentance and stop sinners in their career when the way to Hell is plain and easy to them when there is no Thorn no Obstacle in the way but they may smoothly go on and walk after their own Counsels in the Paths that lead to the Chambers of Death How many Young Persons hath God been kind to by those Restraints of Providence which he takes off from others How hath he hedged and walled up your Way He hath made it more difficult for you to sin you cannot do as others without suffering more than they either in your Reputation or your temporal Interest or your Health c. And yet we find notwithstanding all this many such will
hath * Mr. How 's Redeemers Tears pag. 82. not made it any Man's Duty to believe this concerning himself nor to beleive it concerning any other particular Person Some of those whose Hearts were once as hard as yours who slighted Christ as much and as long as you have done who dispised many awakening Warnings who refused and turn'd their Backs upon many Invitations and Calls of the Gospel and resisted the Spirit of Grace for a long Time have afterwards been made the Triumph of the Power Love and Grace of God Therefore don't pass a definitive Sentence against your selves To pass a Judgment upon our State and to believe it concerning our selves is to nullity the Gospel and to make it impossible for us to Repent and Believe which God hath made to be our Duty It is a sinful prescribing limits to the Grace of God to say It hath waited on me so long it will it can wait no longer Secondly However Apprehend the Danger of the present Case if you are under any such Symptoms as have a Tendency to so severe a Judgment as this is It may be you have sinned your selves into hardness of Heart that you are not affected with the Word Preached as formerly that you do not find such Impressions by it that the Operations of the Spirit with the Word that were formerly strong do now seem to cease You are not so affected with the Evil of Sin with such hearty Sorrow and bitter Repentance as formerly tho thy sins be most highly aggravated And are little affected with the sins of others you are more senceless stupid and secure under the Guilt of great Provocations than formerly And this notwithstanding some Tokens of God's Displeasure by afflictive Rebukes of Providence It may be you have taken up with a fruitless barren empty Profession of Religion for a long Time joyn'd with the Neglect of the inward Spiritual Part of Godliness Mortification of Sin Watchfulness over your Hearts Government of your Thoughts Passions and Sences c. And have gone on in a formal Course and Round of some external Duties without Heart or Life or Quickning and this contrary to your Convictions Resolutions and repeated Promises c. This case is exceeding sad and sinful and God only knows where it will Issue if deep and timely Repentance do not awaken you You ought to apprehend it to be indeed a very provoking and dangerous Case but not quite desperate Nay let me go further Secret Prayer it may be hath been neglected for a Time or performed with so much coldness that you now Tremble to think how low you are sunk Or which is much worse it may be you do not Tremble The Power of Conscience is in a great measure lost both in restraining from Sin and in checking for it You can now more easily stifle Convictions rebel against Light and venture upon a known sin indulge a secret Lust and allow your selves those Things from day to day which formerly you could not without sharp Rebukes of Conscience And such Preaching and such Helps as did once startle awaken and quicken you have now little or no such Effect This is indeed unspeakably dismal O! how low are such fallen how difficult how sorrowful must be the awakening and Recovery of such Backsliders What can be said to such Persons and why should they not fear the Judgment of this Text lest God give them up to their own Hearts Lusts I am so far from discouraging such a Fear that I would by all Means awaken it Therefore I say it would be Just with God to cast thee off and God would be Righteous if he reject thee utterly if he forsake thee for Ever if he never strive with thy Heart more if Never Providence or Sermon do thee good more This would be Just But at the same Time let Hope be intermingled with Fear there is much Cause to Fear but there is none to Despair the one is a Duty and the other a Sin And if the Consideration of your sin and Danger begin to melt and mollify your Heart then know that Christ came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance and mercy may yet be had he takes pleasure in them that hope in his Mercy it is by hope we are saved Therefore aggravate your sins and the grounds of your Fear and the Danger of your perishing to Eternity But don 't sit down in Despondency don't yeild your selves to perish without striving to prevent it Fall down before his Mercy-Seat study the Nature and Promises of the Covenant of Grace and fly to Christ according to the general Invitation and Call of the Gospel to that End Thirdly if your Hearts begin to melt and move within you who have apprehended your selves in Danger of this Judgment if you are yet under the strivings of the Spirit as your very Sollicitude and Fear about it and Desire of Assistance doth Imply then I would beseech you to set presently to work out your Salvation with all Diligence Let not the Dictates of an awakened Conscience be hush'd and silenc'd Cherish and obey the holy Motions of the Spirit Let not your present Convictions and Resolutions become abortive for want of Meditation and Prayer and advising with your Ministers and Judicious Faithful Friends Especially take heed of extinguishing the Sentiments of an awakened Conscience by new Guilt and fresh Transgressions While Conscience is thus at Work your Conversion is more probable and hopeful now than formerly If you quench not the Motions of the Spirit and provoke him to leave you If you will but hearken to his Voice and follow his Counsel and not again harden your Hearts If you would now earnestly implore and thankfully entertaine and carefully improve his holy Influences Is it not of highest Importance that you do so without Delay When your Breath is in your Nostrils and the Day of your Life and your Day of Grace may both be ended before to morrow Morning Should not the Kindness of God overcome you That Mercy is offered â—o such returning Backsliders should 〈◊〉 not be a melting transporting Thought for such as you to consider â—hat Christ invites you to come to him â—f you are weary and heavy laden and â—romises Rest Read Judges 10th the â—atter End for your Encouragment where God having delivered his People and they yet forsook him it is said â—hat he would deliver them no more but â—id them go to the Gods they had â—hosen But they cryed to him and â—urned from their evil Ways and his â—oul was greived for them and he did â—eliver them They cryed heartily Lord â—o unto us what seemeth thee good only deâ—ver us so do you in like Manner and â—here is yet Hope Go in â—ecret and â—ell him that it is the Desire of your Souls now to return to him beg his â—anctifying Spirit with utmost imporâ—unity plead the Vertue of the Blood of Christ say unto him Lord do with â—ne what thou
wilt afflict me how thou pleasest strip me of all my pleasant Things if that may serve the Ends of thy Glory only let not thy holy Spirit forsake me only deliver me out of â—he hands of my Lusts break these my Chains knock off these Fetters save me from my sins and from thâ— Wrath accept me for thy Covenanâ— servant write thy Law upon my Heart that I may walk in thy Ways And whatever thou give me or whatever thou deny me Lord for Jesuâ— Christ's sake never give me up to my owâ— Hearts Lusts that I should be left to waâ—â— in my own Counsels Amen The Second Sermon Psalm LXXXI 12. I gave them up to their own Hearts lusts and they walked in their own Counsels WE can never look back to our primitive state considering how richly and plentifully the Bounty of our Maker â—ad provided for us without admiâ—ing Thoughts of his Beneficence and Kindness And yet if we view the Divine Compassion unto guilty and â—ebellious Man since the Fall and â—ow many obstacles his Grace overâ—ame This latter will be Judged to surpass his former Bounty to Innocent Man For before the Entrance of sin the Current of Divine Love met with nothing to obstruct its passage theâ— was nothing to discourage its Exeâ—cise towards an Innocent and Obedient Creature But now sin hath made a great gulf betwixt God and us We are in a state of Enmity and Hostility against Him which sets a value upon the Power and Freenesâ— of the Grace imployed to Recoveâ— and save us And yet after all this display of thâ— unsearchable Riches of Grace and Love in the Work of our Redemption it is a question whether our willful provoking Obstinacy against God be not more astonishing than his undeserved Compassion and Love to us that in contradiction to all the Princâ—ples of Reason and Interest we should slight his Kindness and despise his glorious Love and refuse his Grace the only Remedy that can save us That when he offers to be Reconciled to us and Intreats us to be Reconcileâ— to him we will not hearken to his Voice That we should persist in our chosen Distance and Estrangment and say We will have none of him Let him depart from us we desire not the Knowledge of his ways We care for â—o Reconciliation to him or Communion with him or any share in the Happiness he offers to confer upon â—s Were not this very highly proâ—oking the Blessed God would not Complain of it as he doth and Repreach â—s with it as he also doth in many â—laces and particularly in this My People would not hearken to my Voice and â—srael would none of me so I gave them â—p c. Both Expressions are in the â—uture though we translate them as alâ—eady inflicted The Original signiâ—â—es that God would deal so severely â—ith them The Aggravations of his Complaint of God concerning Israel have been already mentioned What I propose now to discourse of â—s this First That it is matter of most Just Complaint and most heavy Reâ—roach when any People or Person will not hearken to the Voice of God Secondly That for any wilful sinâ—ers to be given up by God to their own Hearts Lusts and left to walk in their own Counsels is one of the most fearful Judgments that can be threatned or inflicted In speaking to the Second General I proposed to shew First What it is foâ— God to give Men up to their owâ— Hearts Lusts And that such a thing there may be and is as Gods giving men over to their false Imaginations and Conceptions of things their inordinate Desires and irregular Passions their wicked Projects and Contrivances for the fulfilling of their variouâ— Lusts c. When he gives them up to these Lusts he casts them out of hiâ— special Care and Protection so as they become an easy prey to the Deviâ— And the Hebrew word which we translate give up is often used for thâ— casting out a People out of their Country as in 44. Psal 2. Such Persons aâ— also left of God under the Tyranny and Dominion of their Lusts withouâ— those Restraints of Providence anâ— Grace which before they had Whaâ— more may be intended in such an Expression will appear in speaking to the Second Head viz. To shew by what steps and Degrees God doth execute and inflict such a Judgment upon them And then Thirdly I shall speak something further of the Dreadfulness of this Judgment and so Apply the whole II. By What steps or Degrees the Blessed God doth usually proceed in inflicting such a Judgment as this For the better understanding of this I must premise by way of Caution 1. That Whatever Method is taken in the Execution of so severe a Doom we must remember there is a great depth of Obscurity in these Judgments of God There is so in all his works of Judgment but especially in such as do more immediately relate to the Souls of Men. We know very little of the manner of Gods Influence upon mens Spirits and therefore should be very humble and wary modest and cautions in our Expressions about it And yet from what we observe of such spiritual Judgments we may cry out with the Apostle Rom. 11.33 O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God! How unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out We know very little of the manner of the Holy Spirit 's Influence in forming the Image of God upon the Soul and much less concerning the manner of this Punishment in the Text whereby men are hardened in sin through the righteous Judgment of God to their Eternal Ruine However 2. Remember This is a Judicial Act in God not an arbitrary thing that depends upon meer Will and Pleasure without any respect to the Aggravations of Mens wilful Rebellion and sinning against Light It is such a Judgment as supposes very hainous Provocations to precede it The Instance of the Jews doth abundantly prove this with whom the Patience of God did long bear and his Spirit strive But they alwaies resisted the Holy Ghost Acts 7.51 From generation to generation maintaining the war against the Divine Spirit till he turned to be their Enemy and fought against them Isa 63.9 10. And then their Doom is pronounc'd in a most solemn manner with terrible and astonishing Preparations for it Isa 6. By a glorious Apparition of the great God in the Temple which made the Prophet cry out I am undone c. The fearful message he was to deliver to that People was that 9 10. v. Hear ye indeed but understand not see ye indeed but perceive not make the Heart of this people fat and their ears heavy and shut their Eyes lest they see with their Eyes and hear with their Ears and understand with their Heart and convert and be healed This Doom we find with great Awfulness repeated in the new Testament by our Saviour Mat. 13.14 Luk. 8.10.12 John 40. And
us than now And every Providence of God whether of Mercy or Affliction they regard as a Call from Heaven to awaken them And if the Word preached come home to their particular Case they receive the Warning and do not reject it or oppose it But the Persons I speak of as in danger of this Judgment are such especially who are Secure and Quiet under the Guilt of great Transgressions unrepented of and under the continued Omission of plain Duties They are lost as to any sense of Sin and they approve themselves so far in their wretched Course as to speak Peace to themselves notwithstanding the repeated and loud Calls and Warnings of God to repentance Conscience did formerly speak but they have so long checked and stifled and discouraged and silenced the Voice of Conscience as to have lost one of the greatest Blessings in the World viz. Tenderness of Conscience They have either silenc'd their Conscience by main Force or they have disheartened it by a slighting disobedient Carriage or bribed it by a Form of Godliness an empty barren Profession And so it gives way to a delusive destructive Peace either to flatter them in the way to Hell or not truly to inform them of their danger of it Such persons little Apprehend the danger they are in For it is much better to have an Awakened Conscience that roats against thee than a Sleepy silent Conscience that doth not reprove thee It is better thy Conscience should not speak a good word to thee than how great cause soever there be that it should speak nothing but good That Conscience should speak Peace when God by his Word speaks Terrour is dreadful in it self and more so as to what it signifies and has a tendency to Neither is such a Spirit of Slum ber and Security only dangerous as to the Persons themselves in regard of the State or their own Souls But these spiritual Judgments where they prevail as to great numbers of Professing Christians as it is observed by many are usually followed with some terrible strokes of Temporal Judgment too For as the first and greatest part of the Deliverance of the Church is Spiritual by the pouring out of the Divine spirit and the Recovery of the Life and Power of serious Religion and the more plentiful success of the Gospel Ministrations and this makes way for publick National Blessings even those of another kind and is usually attended with them So the first Entrance into publick National Judgments as to Temporals is by spiritual Judgments on the Body of the People The abounding of such spiritual Judgments as we are now speaking of opens the Door to temporal Calamities and is the usual Forerunner of the most terrible ones even of that kind So it was with the old World so with the Jewish Nation before their Destruction by the Romans And so says Salvian was it with the African Churches before the Inundation of the Goths and Vandals And the like in later Instances I believe among our Neighbours I wish there be no moral Prognostications of a Day of Evil on this Nation upon the same Account We ought to apprehend the danger of such a thing We may on these moral grounds very well fear it But it is the Case of Particular Persons I have now before me And the more Security and false Peace of Conscience any have under great Guilt unrepented of or known Duty continually neglected the nearer do any such approach to the danger of being given up of God to their own Hearts Lusts If they are not already entered into that dismal State And yet how many such bless themselves in their Hearts and please themselves that they are now free from the Fears of Hell They do not trouble themselves about the State of their Souls as others do and as they formerly did They have few or no sad and serious Thoughts what shall become of them in the Everlasting World Of all Others these are nearest to such a Judgment as that in the Text For when they say Peace and Safety sudden Destruction shall overtake them as Travel on a Woman with Child 1. Thess 5.3 They now speak Peace to themselves but the next Day or Hour they may know and feel the Truth of the divine Threatening That there is no Peace to the wicked There are an hundred threatnings in the Book of God against such and not one Promise of safety for one Hour And yet they can lye down and rise and go up and down Securely They are not afraid when they lye down to sleep that they shall awake in Hell before the next Morning They are not afraid when they arise and go abroad in the Morning lest the Wrath of God should overtake them before Night Read the description of their sin and Danger in that terrible passage Deut. 29.18 20. II. ANOTHER Symptom of this Judgment or dangerous Approach unto it is when the Ministry of the Word and Gospel of Christ becomes a tastless insipid ineffectual thing not attended with any such spiritual Impressions as formerly Heretofore you hardly heard a Sermon without some Convictions of sin and Resolutions against it the Word was quick and powerful to give an humbling sense of sin and to excite your Resolutions to set upon neglected Duties but now there is no such thing Yea further it may be the very external Worship of the Gospel the Ordinances and Institutions of it the Dispencers of them and they that value and Mind these things are now scorned and reviled by you For this is the Case of some Backsliders after great Pretences and an high Profession In such a Case you will find your spiritual Appetite to the Food of your Souls which consists in Desires after the sincere Milk of the word that you may grow thereby to be much abated and lost and that Spiritual Savour and Relish in the Food of your Souls which followed those Desires is lost too Your Preparations Desires and Designs in coming to such Institutions are otherwise than formerly Though upon some Considerations you have not thought fit to abandon the publick Worship yet you have no such Appetite or Tast no such Desires and no such Relish as to these things as formerly you had Neither do you of late experience any of those excellent Effects which the Dispensation of the Gospel is designed to produce upon the Minds and Consciences and Lives of Men. Though there is difference in the degree of these Declensions yet this is the high Road to Obduration Hardness of Heart and final Impenitence And therefore to use the Words of a learned Person concerning such Apostates * Dr. Owen Dominion of sin and Grace p. 89. The Calls of God unto such Backsliders in heart for a return by Repentance are multiplied and the Reasons of it are innumerable and without it it is certain that they shall perish Eternally and they know not how soon they may be overtaken with that Destruction Prov. 29.1
Judgment In the Consideration therefore of your Danger awake to use Gods appointed Means And here 1. I might advise that you Watch carefully lest you enter into Temptation 2. That you take heed of slight Thoughts of sin 3. That you labour to have right Apprehensions concerning the Attributes of God and the tenor of the New Covenant by Christ Jesus 4. That you attend the Ministry of the Word with a Desire and Design of some spiritual Advantage suitable to your own Case Take heed of being slight and careless in the use of those Means that must cure a hard Heart if ever it be cured 5. In the 〈◊〉 of all Means look up to God for 〈◊〉 Influence of the divine Spirit Apprehend the Necessity of it for the Cure of a hard or backsliding Heart 6. Call your selves often to an Account how matters stand between God and you 7. Ingage more heartily seriously and constantly in the use of secret Prayer 8. Improve the sickness and Death of others as Warnings to awaken the Thoughts of your own 9. In any Doubt and Difficulty of Conscience especially under Temptations to Despair do not scruple to open your Case to some faithful Minister of Christ that may enlighten and and guide you 10. Labour to understand distinctly what that Repentance towards God is and that Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ which are the stated Terms of Life and the Condition of the new Covenant And never give over the use of Means till you are brought to Repent of all your sins against God and truly to believe in Jesus Christ with all your Heart evidencing your unfeigned Faith by new Obedience Therefore take heed by what Marks and Signs you Judge your selves lest all your Soul Trouble should end in a false Peace I connot conclude without repeating the Admonition against that false Peace which one great Work of our Ministry is to destroy For there are Multitdes of People who pretend to love God and to love good Men and to trust in Christ that he dyed for them and to rely on Christ and to cast themselves on Christ and think they believe on him and that they shall be saved Who will tell you that as for Obedience they mind it as they can though they be not as good as others their Hearts are good and they mean well and they know their own Hearts better than Ministers do they are sure they believe in Christ and they will conclude that all is well c. Tho 't is notorious of Many such that they are Ignorant of God and strangers to Christ and live in the common allowed practice of great sins Yet they will thus Hope well of themselves and speak Peace to themselves NO Wonder if they do so now when even at the Day of Judgment some are brought in disputing with Christ till the Heart of their Hopes 〈◊〉 broken by his condemning Senâ—ce Not as if those that now dye 〈…〉 â—â—enitence and Unbelief should not know or believe that they shall perish for ever till after the general Judgment But matters seem there to be represented as applied to the Persons of those who shall be found alive at the End of this World or whose Eternal State in the next World is concluded by what their Case is when they leave this state of salvation SEE Therefore that your Hopes be of a right Kind grounded on Scripture Evidence purâ—fying the Heart conquering the World exciting thy Desires after Christ and Heaven making thee to sin less and to please and glorifie God more Such an Hope you may hold fast it will not make you ashamed But of all things fear a false Hope Dread it as you would the sin of Despair yea as the most dangerous of the two because more common I mean not a Despair of the sufficiency and Willingness of Christ to pardon and save thee if thou repent and believe and obey him Nor a Despair of finding Mercy if thou heartily seek it But despair thou must of ever seeing God without Holiness Despair that Christ will ever be the Author of eternal Salvation to any but such as believe and obey him Despair of escaping Eternal Death if thou live after the Flesh Despair of entering into Heaven if thou wilt not seek it in the first place Despair of escaping the Doom of perishing with the Ungodly except you soundly Repent except you turn to God and Holiness from sin and the World except you penitently and thankfully accept of Christ obey and follow him as your Lord and Saviour Despair therefore of ever being saved in the state thou art in with whom it is not thus GOD will ere long deal plainly with thee and let thee know the Truth And what will it avail thy perishing Soul for Ministers to deceive and flatter thee with vain Hopes when without Repentance and turning to God in Christ there is none Nay if any thing keep thee out of Heaven I speak of the Case of most ordinary Hearers and Professors If any â—hing keep thee out of Heaven it is a â—se and groundless Hope of coming thiâ—â—er CHRISTIANS We must 〈…〉 speak plain Would you have us be unfaithful to God and you We must be accountable to God ere long as well as you We must stand before his Judgment seat as well as you Why should we give you Hopes if God do give you none I therefore say it again that without speedy and sincere Repentance towards God and Faith in Jesus Christ evidenced by cordial faithful Obedience to him there is no Hope for any one of you And they that hear often of these things and will yet go on in sin it is Just with God to leave them and give them up to their own Hearts Lust Therefore 〈…〉 away your Transgressions return to the Lord with all your Hearts and yield your selves to the Claim and Call of Christ without Delay while Mercy invites you and Grace may be had for why will you Dye O House of Israel FINIS Books Printed for Abraham Chandler THe Mourners Companion or Funeral Discourses from several Texts 8â— price bound 1 s. 6 d. Death a Deliverance in a Funeral Discourse from 2 Cor. 5.4 fit to bind with the Mourners Companion Sacramental Discourses on several Texts before and after the Lords Supper together with a Paraâ—â—â—n the Lords Prayer 12º 1 s. Practical Relfection 〈…〉 are Earthquakes in Jamaica 〈…〉 Malta c. With a Particular 〈◊〉 Account of those and Divers other Earthquakes 8º price bound 1 s. 6 d. Serious Reflections on Time and Eternity with some other Subjects Moral and Divine to which is Annexed an Appendix concerning the first Day of the year how observed by the Jews and may best be employed by a serious Christian All five by Mr. John Shower