into the bag and take thence a stone and sling it do thou carry it unto the mark and make it sink not into the forehead 1 Sam. 17. 49. but the heart of the unconverted sinner and smite him to the ground with Saul in his so happy fall Act. 9. 4. Thou hast sent me as Abraham did Eliezer to take a wife unto my master thy son Gen. 24. 4. But my discouraged soul is ready to fear the woman will not be willing to follow me O Lord God of my Master I pray thee send me good speed this day and shew kindness unto my Master and send thine Angel before me and prosper my way that I may take a wife unto thy son Gen. 24. 12. That as the servant rested not till he had brought Isaac and Rebeckah together so I may be succesful to bring Christ and the souls of my people together before we part But I turn me unto you Some of you do not know what I mean by conversion and in vain shall I perswade you to that which you do not understand and therefore for your sakes I shall shew what this Coversion is Others do cherish secret hopes of mercy though they continue as they be and for them I must shew the necessity of Conversion Others are like to harden themselves with a vain conceit that they are converted already unto them I must shew the marks of the Vnconverted Others because they feel no harm fear none and so sleep upon the the top of the maâ—t to them I shall shew the misery of the Vnconverted Others sit still because they see not their way out to them I shall shew the means of Conversion And finally for the quickening of all I shall close with the motives of Conversion CHAP. I. Shewing the Negative what Conversion is not and correcting some mistakes about it LEt the blind Samaritans worship they know not what Ioh. 4. 22. Let the heathen Athenians superscribe their Altar to the unknown God Act. 17. 23. Let the guileful Papists commend the mother of destruction Hos. 4. 6. for the mother of devotion they that know mans constitution and the nature of the reasonable souls operation cannot but know that the understanding having the Empire in the soul he that will go rationally to work must labour to let in the light here Ignorantis non est consensus And therefore that you may not mistake me I shall shew you what I mean by the conversion I perswade you to endeavour after It is storied that when Iupiter let down the golden chaplets from Heaven all of them but one were stoln Whereupon left they should lose a relique of so great esteem they made five others so like it that if any were so wickedly minded as to steal that also they should not be able to discern which was it And truly my beloved the Devil hath made many counterfeits of this conversion and cheats one with this and another with that and such a craft and artifice he hath in this mystery of deceits that if it were possible he would deceive the very Elect. Now that I may cure the damnable mistakes of some who think they are converted when they are not as well as remove the troubles and fears of others that think they are not converted when they areâ— I shall shew you the nature of conversion both negatively or what it is not and positively what it is We will begin with the negative 1. It is not the taking on us the profession of Christianity Doubtless Christianity is more than a name If we will hear Paul it lies not in word but in power 1 Cor. 4. 20. If to cease to be Jews and Pagans and to put on the Christian profession had been true conversion as this is all that some would have to be understood by it who better Christians than they of Sardis and Laodicea These were all Christians by profession and had a name to live but because they had but a name are condemned by Christ and threatened to be spewed out Rev. 3. 1 16. Are there not many that name the name of the Lord Jesus that yet depart not from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. and profess they know God but in works deny him Tit. 1. 16. And will God receive these for true converts because turned to the Christian religion What converts from sin when yet they do live in â—in 'T is a visible contradiction Surely if the lamp of profession would have served the turn the foolish virgins had never been shut out Matt. 25. 3 12. We find not only professours but preachers of Christ and wonder-workers turned off because â—yil workers Matth. 7. 22 23. 2. It is not in the being washed in the laver of Regenerationâ—â— or putting on the badge of Christ in baptism Many take the press-money and wear the Livery of Christ that yet never stand to their colours nor follow their leader Ananias and Saphira and Magus were baptized as well as the rest How fondly do many mistake here deceiving and being deceived dreaming that effectual grace is necessarily tied to the external administration of baptism which what is it but to revive the popish tenent of the Sacraments working grace ex opere operato and so every infant should be regenerated not only Sacramento tenus sacramentally but really and properly Hence men do fancy that being regenerated already when baptized they need no further work But if this were so then all that were baptized in their infancy must necessarily be saved because the promise of pardon and salvation is made to conversion and regeneration Act. 3. 19. 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. Matth. 19. 28. Our Calling Sanctification as to the beginnings of it or conversion which are but the same thing under different conceptions and expressions is but a middle link in the golden chain fastened to election at the one end and glorification at the other Rom. 8. 30. 2 Thes. 2. 13. 1 Pet. 1. 2. The silver cord may not be broken nor the connexion between sanctification and salvation between grace and glory impiously violated Matth. 5. 8. If we are indeed begotten again it is to an inheritance incorruptible reserved in Heaven for us and the divine power is ingaged to keep us for it 1 Pet. 1. 5. And if the very regenerate may perish at last in their sins we will no more say That he that is born of God his seed remaineth in him and that he cannot sin 1 Iohn 3. 9. i. e. unto death nor that it is impossible to deceive the very elect Matth. 24. 24. And indeed were this true then we need look no further to see our names written in Heaven than only to search the register and see whether we were baptized then I would keep the certificate of my baptism as my fairest evidence for Heaven and should come by Assurance of my gracious state with a wet finger then men should do well to carry but a certificate of their baptism under the
gratitude and sense of Gods mercies in the heart So that a man may as well expect the trees should speak or look for Logick from the bruits or motion from the dead as for any service holy and acceptable to God from the unconverted When the tree is evil how can the fruit be good Mat. 7. 18. Secondly to bad purpose The unconverted soul is a very cage of unclean birds Rev. 18. 2. a sepulchre full of corruption and rottenness Mat. 23. 27. a loathsome carcase full of crawling worms and sending forth a hellish and most noisome favour in the nostrils of God Psal. 14. 3. O dreadful case Dost thou not yet see a change to be needful Would it not have grieved one to have seen the golden consecrated vessels of Gods temple turned into quaffing bowls for drunkenness and polluted with the idols service Dan. 5. 2 3. Was it such an abomination to the Jews when Antiochus set up the picture of a swine at the entrance of the Temple How much more abominable them would it have been to have had the very Temple it self turned into a stable or a sty and to have the holy of holies served like the house of Baal to have the image of God taken down and be turned into a draught-house 2 Kings 10. 27. This is the very case of the unregenerate all thy members are turned into instruments of unrighteousness Rom. 6. 19. servants of Satan and thy inmost powers into the receptacles of all uncleanness Eph. 2. 2. Tit. 2. 15. You may see the goodly guests within by what comes out For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness blasphemies c. This black guard discovers what a hell there is within Oh abuse unsufferable to see a heaven-born soul abased to the filthiest drudgery to see the glory of Gods creation the chief of the wayes of God the Lord of the universe lapping with the prodigal at the trow or licking up with greediness the most loathsome vomit Was it such a lamentation to see those that did feed delicately sit desolate in the streets and the precious sons of Sion comparable to fine gold to be esteemed as earthen pitchers and those that were clothed in scarlet to embrace dunghils Lim. 4. 2 5. And is it not fearful much more to see the only thing that hath immortality in this lower world and carried the stamp of God to become as a vessel wherein there is no pleasure which is but the modest expression of the vessel men put to the most sordid use Oh indignity intolerable Better thou wert dashed on a thousand pieces than continue to be abused to so filthy a service II. Not only man but the whole visible creation is in vain without this Beloved God hath made all the visible creatures in Heaven and earth for the service of man Ier. 22. 28. and man only is the spokesman for all the rest Man is in the universe like the tongue in the body which speaks for all the members The other creatures cannot praise their maker but by dumb signs and hints to man that he should speak for them Man is as it were the High-Priest of Gods creation to offer the Sacrifice of praise for all his fellow creatures Psal. 147 and 148 and 150. The Lord God expecteth a tribute of praise from all his works Psal. 103. 22. now all the rest do bring in their tribute to man and pay it in by his hand So then if man be false and faithless and selfish God is wronged of all and shall have no active glory from his works Oh dreadful thought to think of That God should build such a world as this and lay out such infinite power and wisdom and goodness thereupon and all in vain and man should be guilty at last of robbing and spoiling him of the glory of all Oh think of thisâ— while thou art unconverted all the offices of the creatures to thee are in vain thy meat nourishes thee in vain the Sun holds forth his light to thee in vain the stars that serve thee in their courses by their most powerful though hidden influences Iudges 5. 20. Hos. 2. 21 22. do it in vain thy cloths warm thee in vain thy beast carries thee in vain in a word the labour unwearied and continual travel of the whole creation as to thee is in vain The service of all the creatures that drudge for thee and yield forth their strength unto thee that therewith thou shouldst serve their maker is all but lost labour Hence the whole creation groaneth under the abuse of the unsanctified world Rom. 8. 22. that pervert them to the service of their lusts quite contrary to the very end of their being III. Without this thy Religion is in vain Iames 1. 26. All thy religious performances will be but lost for they can neither please God Rom. 8. 8. nor save thy soul 1 Cor. 13. 2 3. which are the very ends of religion Be thy services never so specious yet God hath no pleasure in them Esay 1. 14. Mal. 1. 10. Is not that mans case dreadful whose Sacrifices are as murder and whose prayers are a breath of abomination Esay 66. 3. Prov. 28. 9. Many under convictions think they will set upon mending and that a few prayers and alms will salve all again but alas â—irs while your hearts remain unsanctified your duties will not pass How punctual was Iehu and yet all was rejected because his heart was not upright 2 Kings 10. with Hos. 1. 4. How blameless was Paul and yet being unconverted all was but loss Phil. 3. 6 7. Men think they do much in attending Gods service and are ready to twit him with it Esay 58. 3. Mat 7. 22. and set him down so much their debtour whenas their persons being unsanctified their duties cannot be accepted O soul do not think when thy sins pursue thee a little praying and reforming thy course will pacify God thou must begin with thine heart if that be not renewed thou canst no more please God than one that having unspeakably offended thee should bring thee his vomit in a dish to pacify thee or having fallen into the mire should think with his loathed embraces to reconcile thee It is a great misery to labour in the fire The Poets could not invent a worser hell for Sysiphus than to be getting the barrel still up the hill and then that it should presently fall down again and renew his labour God threatens it as the greatest of temporal judgments that they should build and not inhabit plant and not gather and their labours shall be eat up by strangers Deut. 28. 30 38 39 41. Is it so great a misery to lose our common labours to sow in vain and build in vain how much more to lose our pains in religion to pray and hear and fast in vain This is an undoing and eternal loss Be not deceived if thou goest on in thy sinful estate though
mixture into the cup of his indignation shall be thine only drink Rev. 14. 10. When thou shalt draw in flames for thy breath and the horrid stench of sulphur shall be thine only perfume In a word when the smoak of thy torment shall ascend for ever and ever and thou shalt have no rest night nor day no rest in thy conscience no ease in thy bones but thou shalt be an execration and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach for evermore Ier. 42. 18. Oh sinner stop here and consider If thou art a man and not a senseless block consider Bethink thy self where thou standest why upon the very brim of this furnace As the Lord liveth and thy soul liveth there is but a step between thee and this 1 Sam. 20. 3. Thou knowest not when thou liest down but thou maist be in before the morning thou knowest not when thou risest but thou maist drop in before the night Darest thou make light of this wilt thou go on in such a dreadful condition as if nothing ailed thee If thou puttest it off and sayest this doth not belong to thee look again over the foregoing Chapter and tell me the truth are none of those black marks found upon thee Do not blind thine eyes do not deceive thy self see thy misery while thou maist prevent it Think what 't is to be a vile cast-out a damned reprobate a vessel of wrath into which the Lord will be pouring out his tormenting fury while he hath a being Rom. 9. 22. Divine wrath is a fierce Deut. 32. 22. devouring Esay 33. 14. everlasting Mat. 25. 41. unquenchable fire Mat. 3. 12. and thy soul and body must be the fuel upon which it will be feeding for ever unless thou consider thy ways and speedily turn to the Lord by a sound conversion They that have been only singed by this fire and had no more but the smell thereof passing upon them Oh what amazing spectacles have they been Whose heart would not have melted to have heard Spira's outcries to have seen Chaloner that monument of justice worn to skin and bones blaspheming the God of Heaven cursing himself and continually crying out O torture torture torture O torture torture as if the flames of wrath had already took hold of him To have heard Rogers crying out I have had a little pleasure and now I must to Hell for evermore wishing but for this mitigation that God would but let him lie burning for ever behind the back of that fire on the hearth and bringing in this sad conclusion still at the end of whatever was spoken to him to afford him some hope I must to Hell I must to the furnace of Hell for millions of millions of ages Oh if the fears and fore thoughts of the wrath to come be so terrible so intolerable what is the feeling of it Sinners 't is but in vain to flatter you this would be but to toll you into the unquenchable fire know ye from the living God that here you must lie with these burnings must you dwell till immortality die and immutability change till Eternity run out and omnipotency is no longer able to torment except you be in good earnest renewed throughout by sanctifying grace VII The Law dischargeth all its threats and curses at thee Gal. 3. 10. Rom. 7. Oh how dreadfully doth it thunder It spits fire and brimstone in thy face Its words are as drawn swords and as the sharp arrows of the mighty It demands satisfaction to the uttermost and cries Justice Justice It speaks bloud and war and wounds and death against thee Oh the execrations and plagues and deaths that this murdering-piece is loaded with read Deut. 28. 15 16. c. and thou art the mark at which this shot is levelled O man away to the strong hold Zech. 9. 12. away from thy sins haste to the sanctuary the City of refuge Heb 6. 18. even the Lord Jesus Christ hide thee in him or else thou art lost without any hope of recovery VIII The Gospel it self binds the sentence of eternal condemnation upon thee Mark 16. 16. If thou continuest in thine impenitent and unconverted estate know that the Gospel denounceth a much sorer condemnation than ever would have been for the transgression only oâ— the first covenant Is it not a dreadful case to have the Gospel it self fill its mouth with threats and thunder and damnation To have the Lord to roar from mount Sion against thee Ioel 3. 16. Hear the terrour of the Lord He that believeth not shall be damned Except ye repent ye shall all perish Luke 13. 3. This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light John 3. 19. He that believeth not the wrath of God abideth on him John 3. 36. If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Heb. 2. 2 3. He that despised Moses law died without mercy Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy that hath trampled under foot the son of God Heb. 10. 28 29. Application And is it true indeed is this thy misery yea 't is as true as God is Better open thine eyes and see it now while thou maist remedy it than blind and harden thy self till to thy eternal sorrow thou shalt feel what thou wouldest not believe and if it be true what dost thou mean to loyter and linger in such a case as this Alas for thee poor man how effectually hath sin undone thee and depraved thee and despoiled thee even of the reason to look after thine own everlasting good Oh miserable Caitiff what stupour and senselesness hath surprised thee Oh let me knock up and awake this sleepâ—r Who dwells within the walls of this flesh Is there ever a soul here a rational understanding soul Or art thou only a walking ghost a senseless Iump Art thou a reasonable soul and yet so far brutified as to forget thy self immortal and to think thy self to be as the beasts that perish Art thou turned into flesh that thou savourest nothing but gratifying the sense and making provision for the flesh Or else having reason to understand the eternity of thy future state dost thou yet make light of being everlastingly miserable which is to be so much below a brute as it is worse to act against reason than to act without it Oh unhappy soul that wast the glory of man the mate of Angels and the image of God! that wast Gods representative in the world and hadst the supremacy amongst the creatures and the dominion over thy makers works Art thou now become a slave to sense a servant to so base an idol as thy belly for no higher felicity than to fill thee with the wind of mans applause or heaping together a little râ—fined earth no more suitable to thy spiritual immortal nature than the dirt and