refresh my bowels in the Lord. If there be any consolation in Christ any comfort of love any fellowship of the Spirit any bowels and mercies fulfil you my joy Now give your selves unto the Lord 2 Cor. 8. 5. Now set your selves to seek him Now set up the Lord Jesus in your heares and set him up in your houses Now come in and kiss the Son Psal. 2. 12. and embrace the tenders of mercy Touch his Scepter and live why will you die I beg not for my self but fain I would have you happy This is the prize I run for and the white I aim at My soul's desire and prayer for you is that you may be saved Rom. 10. 1. The famous Lycurgus having instituted most strict and wholesom Laws for his people told them he was necessitated to go a Journey from themâ— and got them to bind themselves in an Oath that his Laws should be observed till his return This done he went into a voluntary banishment and never returned more that they might by vertue of their Oath be engaged to the perpetual observing of his Laws Methinks I should be glad of the hard conditions which he endured though I love you tenderly so I might but hereby engage you throughly to the Lord Jesus Christ. Dearly beloved would you rejoyce the heart of your Minister Why then embrace the Counsels of the Lord by me forgo your sins set to prayer up with the Worship of God in your families keep at a distance from the corruptions of the times What greater joy to a Minister than to hear of souls born unto Christ by him and that his Children walk in the truth 2 Iohn 4. Brethren I beseech you suffer friendly plainness and freedom with you in your deepest concernments I am not playing the Orator to make a learned speech to you nor dressing my dish with eloquence wherewith to please you These lines are upon a weighty errand indeed viz. to convince and convert and to save you I am not baiting my hook with Rhetorick nor fishing for your applause but for your souls My work is not to please you but to save you nor is my business with your fancies but your hearts If I have not your hearts I have nothing If I were to please your ears I could sing another song If I were to preach my self I would steer another course I could then tell you a smoother tale I would make you pillows and speak you peace for how can Ahab love this Micaiah that always prophesies evil concerning him 1 Kings 22. 8. But how much better are the wounds of a Friend than the fair speeches of the Harlot who flattereth with her lips till the Dart strike through the liver and hunteth for the precious life Prov. 7. 21 22 23. and Prov. 6. 26. If I were to quiet a crying infant I might sing him to a pleasant mood and rock him asleep But when the Child is fallen into the Fire the parent takes another course he will not go to still him with a song or trifle I know if we speed not with you you are lost If we cannot get your consent to arise and come away you perish for ever No Conversion and no Salvation I must get your good will or leave you miserable But here the difficulty of my work again recurs upon me Lord choose my stones out of the Rocks 1 Sam. 17. 40 45. I come in the name of the Lord of Hosts the God of the Armies of Israel I come forth like the stripling Goliah to wrestle not with flesh and blood but with Principalities and Powers and the Rulers of the darkness of this world Eph. 6. 12. This day let the Lord smite the Philistine and spoil the strong man of his Armour and give me to fetch off the captives out of his hand Lord choose my words choose my weapons for me and when I put my hand into the bag and take thence a stone and sling it do thou carry it to 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 Acts 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 to my Master and send thine Angel before me and prosper my way that I may take a wife unto thy son Gen. 24. 12. That as the servant rested not till he had brought Isaac and Rebekah together so I may be successful 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 persuade you to that which you do not understand and therefore for your sakes I shall shew what this Conversion is Others do cherish secret hopes of mercy though they continue as they be and for them I must shew the necessity of Conversion Others are like to harden themselves with a vain conceit that they are converted already unto them I must shew the marks of the unconverted Others because they feel no harm fear none and so sleep upon the top of the mast to them I shall shew the misery of the unconverted Others sit still because they see not their way out to them I shall shew the means of conversion And finally for the quickening of all I shall close with the motives of Conversion Chap I. Shewing the Negative what Conversion is not and correcting some mistakes about it LET the blind Samaritans worship they know not what Ioh. 4. 22. Let the Heathen Athenians superscribe their Altar unto the unknown God Acts 17. 23. Let the guileful Papists commend the mother of destruction Hos. 4. 6. for the mother of devotion they that know mans constitution and the nature of the reasonable soulsâ— 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 Ignorantiâ— non est consensus And therefore that you may not mistake me I shall shew you what I mean by the conversion I persâ—â—de you to endeavour after It is storied that when Iupiter let down the golden Chaplets from Heaven all of them but one were stolen Whereupon lest they should lose a relique of so great esteem they made five others so like it that if any were so wickedly minded as to steal that also they should not be able to discern which was it And truly my belâ—ved 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
Art thou a man and hast thou reason Why then bethink thy self why and whence thy Being is Behold God's workmanship in thy body and ask thy self to what end did God rear this fabrick Consider the noble faculties or my Heaven-born soul to what end did God bestow these excellencies To no other than that 〈◊〉 shouldst please thy self and gratifie thy senses Did God send men like the Swallows into the World only to gather a few sticks and dirt and build their Nests and breed up their young and then away The very Heathens could see farther than this Art thou so fearfully and wonderfully made Psal. 139. 14. and dost thou not yet think with thy self surely it was for some noble and raised end O man set thy reason a little in the Chair Is it not pity such a goodly fabrick should be raised in vain Verily thou art in vain except thou art for God. Better thou hadst no Being than not to be for him Wouldst thou serve thy end Thou must repent and be converted Without this thou art to no purpose yea to bad purpose First To No purpose Man unconverted is like a choice instrument that hath every string broke or out of tune The Spirit of the living God must repair and tune it by the grace of regeneration and sweetly move it by the power of actuating grace or else thy prayers will be but howlings and all thy services will make no Musick in the Ears of the most Holy Eph. 2. 10. Phil. 2. 13. Hos. 7. 14. Isa. 1. 15. All thy powers and faculties are so corrupt in thy natural State that except thou be purged from dead works thou canst not serve the living God Heb. 9. 14. Tit. 1. 15. An unsanctified man cannot work the work of God. 1. He hath no skill in it He is altogether as unskilful in the work as in the word of righteousness Heb. 5. 13. There are great mysteries as well in the practices as principles of godliness now the unregenerate knoweth not the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 13. 11. 1 Tim. 3. 16. You may as well expect him that never learn'd the Alphabet to read or look for goodly Musick on the Lute from one that never set his hand to an instrument as that a natural man should do the Lord any pleasing service He must first be taught of God Iohn 6. 45. taught to pray Luke 11. 1. taught to profit Esay 48. 17. taught to go Hos. 11. 3. or else he will be utterly at a loss 2. He hath no strength for it How weak is his heart Ezek. 16. 30. He is presently tired The Sabbath what a weariness is it Maâ— 1. 13. He is without strength Rom. 5. 6. yea stark dead in sin Eph. 2. 5. 3. He hath no mind to it he desires not the knowledge of God's ways Iob 21. 14. He doth not know them and he doth not care to know them Psalm 82. 5. He knows not neither will he understand 4. He hath neither due instruments nor materials for it A man may as well hew the Marble without Tools or Limn without Colours or Instruments or build without Materials as perform any acceptable service without the graces of the Spirit which are both the Materials and Instruments in the work Alms giving is not a service of God but of vain glory unless dealt forth by the hand of divine love What is the prayer of the lips without grace in the heart but the carcass without the life What are all our confessions unless they be the exercises of godly sorrow and unfeigned repentance What our petitions unless animated all along with holy desires and faith in divine attributes and promises What our praises and thanksgivings unless from the Love of God and a holy grattiude and sense of God's mercies in the heart So that a man may as well expect the trees should speak or look for Logick from the brutes 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 carkass full of crawling Worms and sending forth a hellish and most noisome favour in the nostrils of God. Psalm 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 God's 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 Antiechus set up the picture of a Swine at the entrance of the temple How much more abominable then would it have been to have had the very Temple it self turned into a Stable or a Stye and to have the holy of holies served like the house of Baul 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 aâ—e turned into instruments of unrighteousness Rom. 6. 19. Servants of Satan and thy in most powers into receptacles of uncleanness Eph. 2. 2. Tit. 1. 15. You may see the goodly guests within by what comes out For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Theits 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 ways of God the Lord of the Universe a lapping with the prodigal at the trough or licking up with greediness the most loathsom vomit Was it such a lamentation to see those that did feed delicately to 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 cloathed in Scarlet to embrace dunghils Lam. 4. 2 5. And is it not much more fearful to see the only thing that hath immortality in this lower world and carries the stamp of God to become as a vessel wherein there is no pleasure Ier. 22. 28. which is but the modest expression of the vessel men put to the most sordid use Oh indignity intolerable Better thou wert dashed in 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 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
satisfaction to the utmost and cries Justice Justice It speaks Blood 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 snoâ— 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. 13. 13. even the Lord Jesus Christ hide thee in him or else thou art lost without any hope of recovery VIII The Gospel it self bin deth the sentence of eternal damnation upon thee Mark 16. 16. If thou continuest in thine impenitent and unconverted estate know that the Gospel denounceth a much forer condemnation than ever would have been for the transgression only of 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 terror 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 Iohn 3. 19. He that believeth not the wrath of God abideth on him Ioh. 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's 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 this true indeed Is this thy misery Yea 't is as true as God is Better open thine eyes and see it now while thou mayst remedy it than blind and harden thy self till to thine eternal sorrow thou shalt feel what thou wouldst 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 deprived and despoiled thee even of thy reason to look after thine own everlasting good O miserable Caitiff what stupidity and senselesness hath surprized thee Oh! let me knock up and awake this sleeper 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 lump 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 estate 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 O unhappy soul that wast the glory of man the mate of Angels and the image of God! that wast God's representative in the world and hadst the supremacy amongst the creatures and the dominion over thy Maker's 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 refined earth no more suitable to thy spiritual immortal nature than the dirt and sticks Oh why dost thou not bethink thee where thou shalt be for ever Death is at hand The Iudge is even at the door Jam. 5. 9. Yet a little while and time shall be no longer Rev. 10. 5 6. And wilt thou run the hazard of continuing in such a state in which if thou be overtaken thou art irrecoverably miserable Come then arise and attend thy nearest concernments Tell me whither art thou going What wilt thou live in such a course wherein every act is a step to perdition And thou dost not know but the next night thou mayst make thy Bed in Hell Oh! if thou hast a spark of reason consider and turn and hearken to thy very friend who would therefore shew thee thy present misery that thou mightest in time make thine escape and be eternally happy Hear what the Lord saith Fear ye not me saith the Lord Will ye not tremble at my presence Jer. 5. 22. O sinners do ye make light of the wrath to come Mat 3. 7. I am sure there is a time coming when you will not make light of it Why the very Devils do believe and tremble James 2. 19. What! you more hardned than they Will you run upon the Edge of the Rock will you play at the hole of the Asp will you put your hand upon the Cockatâ—ice's den Will you dance about the fire till you are burnt or dally with devouring wrath as if you were at a point of indifferency whether you did escape it or endure it O madness of folly Solomon's mad-man that casteth fire-brands and arrows and death and saith Am I not in jest Prov. 26. 18. is nothing so distracted as the wilful sinner Luke 15. 17. that goeth on in his unconverted estate without sense as if nothing ailed him The man that runs on the Cannons mouth that sports with his blood or le ts out his life in a frollick is sensible sober and serious to him that goeth on still in his trespasses Psalm 68. 21. For he stretcheth out his hand against God and strengthneth himself against the Almighty He runneth upon him even upon his neck upon the thick Bosses of his Buckler Job 15. 25 26. Is it wisdom to dally with the second death or to venture into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 21. 8. as if thou wert but going to wash thee or swim for thy recreation Wilt thou as it were fetch thy vieze and jump into eternal flames as the children through the bon-fire What shall I say I can find out no expression no comparison whereby to set forth the dreadful distraction of that soul that shall go on in sin Awake awake Eph. 5. 14. Oh sinner arise and take thy flight There is but one door that thou mayst fly by and that is the strait door of conversion and the new birth Unless thou turn unfeignedly from all thy sins and come in to Jesus Christ and take him for the Lord thy righteousness and walk in him in holiness and newness of life as the Lord liveth it is not more certain that thou art now out of Hell than that thou shalt without fail be in it but a few days and nights from hence O set thine heart to think of thy case Is not thine everlasting misery or welfare that which doth deserve a little consideration Loâ—â— again over the miseries of the unconverted If the Lord hath not spoken by me regard me not But if it be the very word of