did not could not satisfie for them and that he will not forgive them if you Repent and turn to God and Believe on the Name of his Son You are condemned by the Law Christ came to save sinners and such as were lost and he requires no Worthiness or Price in your Hands but that you unfeignedly Consent to be his to accept an offered Saviour and his Salvation according to the Ends and Uses of the Covenant of Grace That he may illuminate and teach you sanctifie and guide you govern and rule you by his Word and Spirit This is the Condition of your Title to the Blessings of the Covenant and consequently must be the Evidence of your Title and should be a satisfactory one But if you are Unwilling to forsake sin and return to God by Jesus Christ if you are unwilling to receive him as your Teacher Sanctifier Saviour and Lord you have reason to doubt your state indeed or rather the matter is past doubt you are unsanctified and as yet unreconciled to God Whoever theresore upon the account of their former Resistance of the Spirit stifling Convictions violating their good Resolutions c. Do question their State whether God hath not given them over yet let them Consider they are now invited and entreated to put it out of question that their Day of Grace is not past by letting this be Their Accepted time the Day of their Salvation by now heartily accepting an offered Saviour and giving up themselves unto him And then notwithstanding all your former Refusals of his Mercy and Grace if now at last you will return and submit and take his yoke upon you there is Ease and Rest and Pardon and Comfort and Life Eternal Life to be had To conclude Instead of Doubting and Complaining and questioning any longer Reduce all that which is Doubtful with you to that which is Plain and Certain It is certain that God hath sent his Son into the World to save sinners It is certain that you are some of those lost miserable guilty Creatures that need this Salvation It is certain that he has published the glad Tidings of the Gospel to such that whoever believeth shall be saved Is is certain that God cannot lye it is therefore inconsistent with his Nature that such as come to him in the Exercise of Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ should not be Accepted with him Therefore dispute and question and complain no longer how matters have been or how they are with you but come in upon the Call and Invitation of the Gospel Grace Remember the Covenant thou hast made with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost in Baptism Resign yield and give up thy self with all thy Heart and Soul to be his resolving that thou wilt throw thy self into the Arms of his Love and Mercy because it is the Command of God that you believe on his Son Resolve that through his Mercy and Grace by the help of his Spirit of Grace you will now do so whatever come of it Do not perplex your selves about the Question whether you did it not formerly four or five or ten years ago But do it again Blessing God that you may now do it that he has not repealed his Gospel and that he never will repeal it to the end of the World I may Accept of his Son now as well as so many years ago Blessed be God the Invitation the Command the Promise is the same now as it was then And to as many as Receive him he will give the Priviledge to become the Sons of God even to as many as believe on his Name Blessed be God for Jesus Christ and the Covenant of Grace The Fourth Sermon Psalm LXXXI 12. So I gave them up to their own Hearts lufts and they walked in their own Counsels I Come now in the last place to consider the Case of such who make dangerous Approaches towards such a Judgment Who have provoked God to that degree that it would be no wonder if he should give them up yea concerning whom there is Reason to fear it if speedy Repentance do not prevent HAVING therefore spoken 1. To the Nature of this Judgment And Secondly considered the steps and Methods whereby God does ordinarily inflict it And Thirdly the dreadful Severity of it in Comparison of any other Judgment in this World I proceeded to the Case of those who Fear they are thus left and given up by God Several Things I named which they alledg as the ground of their Fear which yet will not prove that God hath forsaken 'em At the same time there are many other Things that will evidence the Contrary It remains therefore that I may faithfully give every one his portion Comfort to whom Comfort and Terrour to whom Terrour is due That I also speak to the Case of Such whose Guilt may quickly infer this Terrible Judgment or concerning whom we may fear whether they be not already under it or left of God There are several things with relation to this Case which ought to be Considered I. THE First dangerous Symptom is Security or a False ungrounded Peace of Conscience This is frequently the Prologue and Forerunner of Judicial hardning It is often a part of it and an Evidence of it Their Case therefore is exceeding dangerous with whom Conscience is a Asleep or Feared When that sin which formerly thy Conscience would reprove thee for thou canst now commit without Remorse or Difficulty When such or such a Lust can be freely indulged and thy Heart not reproach thee thy Conscience not fly in thy Face or speak with any smartness and Authority against it as formerly it was wont to do When the Neglect of such or such Duties was a daily Trouble to thee heretofore but now thou canst let Them alone and thy Conscience will let Thee alone without rebuking thee or calling thee to Repentance as it was wont to do Or if Conscience do speak it is with much Faintness without any such Impressions of Fear and shame and sorrow as were wont to be produced by it This speaks as if God had already given thee up in some degree or thou art very near what is worse in very great danger of this dreadful Judgment This Security and Quiet notwithstanding the neglect of known Duty and the Commission of sin I grant has it's Degrees There are some Degrees of it into which a good Man through the Prevalency of sin and Temptation for a time may fall Particularly as to the Duty of Prayer and the spiritual Performance of it But then such Persons supposing them Upright in the main who are under such Backslidings are far from approving themselves in this Case or from having any setled Peace They have many an unpleasing Thought about their own Case many Resolutions of Repentance that they may be Recovered They often say within themselves We will go and return to our first Husband for then it was better with
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
Spirit Corruption and Grace in the best while in this World yet which Party dost thou side with Which has thy most willing Consent Which way is thy prevailing Desire Love and Choice Dost thou not bewail the Body of sin and Death And wish to be delivered from Corruption more perfectly To gain a more intire Victory Dost thou not watch and wrestle and strive and pray against it from day to day Is this the true state of thy Case Then never think thou art left of God As to Some of you I may go further and desire you to look back upon your former Humiliations for sin when First you turned to God Though all have not the same sensible Degree of Humiliation yet hath not the Spirit of Grace convinced you of the Holiness and Equity of the Law of God And of your own wretched accursed Condition under the Guilt of sin Have you not been brought to tremble at the thoughts of his righteous Vengence So as to disrelish all the Pleasures of this World by reason of the sense of sin seeing no way out of this Perplexity but by the free and unconceivable Mercy of God in Christ and therefore Renouncing all things that might separate between Christ and thee ready to part with all thy Lusts and Pleasures and Profits and Honours Thou wert made willing to accept of his Mercy on his own Terms crying earnestly for pardoning and sanctifying Grace acknowledging thy Unworthiness of the least Favour owning the righteousness of God if he should condemn thee and yet upon the Invitation and Call of the Gospel looking up to his Mercy-seat with Hope Resolving there to anchor and take no Denial Now after all this and the Covenant Dedication of your selves to God in Christ that followed upon it and some Calmness and stability of Soul consequent thereto will you question all again Because Corruption is not quite mortified nor Sin quite destroyed Even that sense of remaining Sin that you make the matter of your Objection against your selves is an Argument for you and will conclude the Contrary to what you alledge it for IX THO You cannot say so much as to present sense of your Hatred of sin and Loathing of it as you desire yet examine your selves as to the Sins of Others and what sense you have of the Dishonour of God by them We may sometimes gather matter of Comfort this way concerning our own Sincerity and Love to God when we cannot so well have it nearer home As bad as thou art or thinkest thy self to be Art thou not tender of the Honour of God Art thou not concerned for his Interest and Glory Doth not thy soul tremble and thine Heart ake when the Being of God is denied or his Sacred Name blasphemed or the Glory of the Mediator Struck at and the Authority of his Gospel questioned by the Atheists and Saduces and Infidels of the Age Or the Progress of it obstracted Doth not thy Heart rise within thee if thou happen into wicked Company where the Word of God his Institutions his Ministers and Servants are vilified and reproached and bold Impieties vented and vile Impurities boasted of c. X. BUT I do not Grow I rather wax worse will some say As to that Consider that though there be Precepts Promises and Examples of growing in Grace that shew what is Gods usual way and the Proper Tendency of the Spiritual Life yet those Promises are not so Absolute without any Condition as that there is no true Believer who doth not alwaies grow in Grace For Experience shews that some decline and lose their first Fervour and need to be awakened to Repentance The Promises of Growth and Faithfulness are not absolute but depend on the Improvement of Grace received and the Performance of many Duties with great watchfulness and Diligence in our whole Christian Course And many Christians live not up to the Condition of the Accomplishment of such Promises as concern the Growth and thriving of Spiritual Life They decay and decline through their own Carlesness and Negligence Sensible Affections be sure and vigorous Encrease in that respect is not the true Measure whereby to Judge of growth in Grace For different Ages and Tempers and Circumstances of our condition in the world will make a great Difference in sensible Affections You may grow in Grace by a more Judicious Esteem and value of God and Holiness Love to Christ and his Grace and Glory so as it may be harder for the Devil to draw you off from God than before even when you think you do not grow you may be more stable and resolved though not so lively and affectionate And the decay of natural strength and vigor of parts by old age or sickness may make a Difference with some Your Humility your self denial and Patience may encrease when you think otherwise And he who grows more humble thrives in every other Grace whether he believe it and take notice of it or no. But if you are declin'd the Remedy must be to Awake and to use Gods appointed Means to make you grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ You cannot thereupon conclude that you have no Grace much less that you are left of God and given over Such as enquire not whether they grow or decay who have little or no Concern about their own Case as to these things have most reason to fear it of themselves whilst such as do really grow for a time may not discern it And sometimes others may observe it when they themselves disown it or perceive it not But if you are under some declension Remember the cause that it is from sloth and negligence in the use of God's appointed means for Encrease from the want of daily Mortification of sin and Watchfulness against it from countenacing some Lust so that its power is encreased suffering the Love of the World to steal upon you and conforming to it giving way to Formality and carelessness in divine Worship and the Duties of Religion and Apply the Remedy by Repentance Mortification and doing your first works Rev. 3.1,2 But make not hasty unjust Conclusions concerning your final state XI MOREOVER Consider there may be much more of Blame and Faultiness of Guilt and sin in your unbelieving Objections and Despondency than you are aware of Therefore while you complain of sin take heed you do not encrease and add to your sin by disobeying the command of God to Believe and Hope God hath made Hope a positive Duty and Gods Command were enough if there were nothing else in your Case Your Despair as if your Case were desperate and your Condition hopeless that God had finally given you over is a plain sin And will you justifie it He obliges you to hope he hath not bid the Devil or the damned to hope as he hath commanded you It is by hope we are saved and he takes Pleasure in them that hope in his Mercy
Mr John Shower Of The Day of Grace OR A DISCOURSE Concerning The Possibility and Fear of its being Past before Death SHEWING The groundless Doubts and mistaken Apprehensions of Some as to their being finally Forsaken and left of God With the Dangerous Symptoms and Approaches of Others to such a sad State In Four SERMONS From Psalm LXXXI 11 12. By JOHN SHOWER London Printed for Abraham Chandler and to be Sold by John Butler in Worcester 1694. TO THE READER THe following Sermons were preacht-at the Earnest Desire of an unknown Person sent me in a Letter expressing a more than ordinary Concern and Fear lest the day of Grace should be past and the Holy Spirit finally departed so as to Return and Strive no more Many Upright Christians after aggravated Backslidings or under Great Temptations or in deep Melancholy are apt to conclude thus hardly of themselves Such as these I have endeavour'd to Convince that this is not the state of their Case or ever like to be I have also shown who have reason to Apprehend themselves in Danger of this Judgment in the Text. For 't is possible and more than possible that after long Resistance and Obstinacy God may Judicially let Men Alone and give 'em over Though their Lives be prolonged they may be sealed up to Wrath and reserved to Judgment Four Generations filled the Measure of the Amorites Sin though five past before they were destroyed And though Pharoah's time expir'd 't is thought at the Sixth Plague God upheld and harden'd him principally by suffering him to harden himself till the Tenth was past The sins of Jerusalem and the Jewish Nation were full at the Murder of the Messiah but they were not destroyed till forty years after I must Confess that we cannot tell positively when this is true concerning any particular Person Nor is any man bound to believe it concerning Himself but is alway obliged to believe that if he do truly Repent he shall find Mercy For though God may prescribe Limits to his own Grace we ought not to bound it Shall any man say Divine Patience hath waited on me or on such a one so long it can wait no longer Such Despair â—f Grace while in the use of God's Appointed Means is very Insolent Presumption You are obliged as a Thing highly grateful to him to Hope in his Mercy In short whatever your Doubts and Fears are if you firmly purpose to go on in the Way which leads to Life if you will not turn a side from following the Lord if you Resolve Come what will of it I will never give over praying seeking striving wrestling c. Let him do what he will with me I 'le not desist I 'le run after him I 'le fly to him I 'le call upon him as long as I live c. A Blessing from the Author and Purchaser of all Grace may be undoubtedly expected by such a one Prov 8.34 Blessed is the man that heareth me watching daily at my Gates waiting at the Posts of my Doors For whoso findeth me findeth Life If you hear him and wait * Dr. O. Meditations and Discourses of the Glory of Christ applyed to Vnconverted Sinners 8º p. 18. saith Dr. O though you have not yet Admission but are kept at the Gates and Posts of the Doors yet in the Issue you shall be Blessed The rule in this Case is Hos 6.3 Then shall we know if we follow on to know Are you in the way of knowing Christ in the use of means hearing the Word and Sincere Endeavors in Holy Duties though you cannot yet attain unto any Evidence that you have received him have closed with him nay tho you question whether ever he will Receive you Nothing can Râ—ine you but giving over the way wherein you are for then shall you know if you follow on to know the Lord. These Discourses are printed almost verbatim as preacht which I hope will rather promote than lessen their Vsefulness unto Such who are most like to read 'em and to whose Case they are most suited The Day of Reckoning is near Death and Judgment are at hand May I then find mercy of the Lord Give an Account of my Stewardship with Comfort And be found in Christ to the Glory of God Beg it for me as I do and shall thy profiting by this and all the many other Helps to further thy Salvation J. S. Four SERMONS ON Psalm LXXXI 11 12. The First Sermon Psal LXXXI 11 12. But my People would not hearken to my Voice and Israel would none of me so I gave them up to their own Hearts lusts and they walked in their own Counsels THE Jews have a Tradition that at stated times of the year God doth lament and complaine over their ruined Temple at Jerusalem that Temple that was once the Seat of his Glory and the Place of his special Residence for so long a time Their own Value and affection for it made them fondly imagine that God himself could not behold its Ashes and Dissolution without Resentment Not considering that the Wickedness of the People called by his Name and entrusted with the Priviledges of his House had provoked his most righteous severity to lay it waste This was a weak and groundless Fancy of the carnal Jews We have other Measures whereby to Judge of the blessed God We are fully assured that his Thoughts are not as ours in such matters That it is a far sadder spectacle in his Eye to behold the Hypocrisy and Carnality of those that worship in his Temple than to see it laid in Ruines a far more dismal sight to behold the offers of his Grace refused and slighted to have the Invitations of the Gospel and the glad Tidings of Peace rejected by those who can be saved no other Way and who must perish if they neglect this great Salvation To see Multitudes of such continue under the Power of sin willfully choosing the way of Destruction and hardning their own Hearts against all the gracious Methods of their Recovery This in the Judgment of God who Judgeth Righteous Judgment is by far the more astonishing and deplorable Object For we never read of God's complaining of any Thing so much as of this And how often and in what passionate Expressions doth he complain of the Obstinacy Unteachableness and Wilfulness of the Jews his ancient People Oh that they were wise O that they would consider how long will you not be purged when shall it once be why will ye dye c. And the Prophet Isaiah introduceth Christ and his Apostles complaining to the like Purpose Who hath believed our Report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed Isa 53.1 This was that which our compassionate Redeemer resented even unto Tears concerning Jerusalem in the Dayes of his Flesh when he beheld the City and wept over it saying O that thou hadst known even thou in this thy day the Things that belong to thy Peace c.
forsaken and left of God He beheld the City and mingled his Lamentations over it with his Tears Saying O! Jerusalem Jerusalem if thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy Day the Things which belong unto thy Peace but now they are hid from thine Eyes He knew how deplorable the Condition of such Persons must needs be and what was due to so great a Calamity or he would not have lamented it with Tears He knew the aggravation of their Guilt and the Severity of the Divine Justice and the Value of Immortal Souls and the Depth of Misery into which such guilty sinners are sinking he perfectly knew these Things or he would not have bestowed Tears upon this Occasion And which yet is most * See Mr. How 's Redeemers Tears Pag. 149. Dreadful to consider when Persons are becomâ— incurably Obstinate and Impenitenâ— unto Perdition the Redeemers Teaâ— may Express his Compassion but wilâ— not abate their Misery or asswagâ— their Torment They that have rejected and dispised his Mercy and trampled upon his Blood shall yeâ— have his Tears of Compassion Thâ— former would have saved them buâ— the latter only bewails their Folly and their Misery what they have losâ— because they would not be saved They neglected God's season and he departed Hosea 5.6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord But they shall not find him He hath withdrawn himself from them So John 8.21 Theâ— said Jesus again unto them I go my way and ye shall seek me and shall dy in your sins Whither I go ye cannot come It is impossible for me to describe the Horrour of their Case with whom Matters are come to this Issue That God resolves to let them alone to give them up into the Hands of their own Counsels to leave them to their own Hearts Lusts to the Dominion and Tyranny of their vile Affections and Inclinations that they shall be holden in the Cords of their own Iniquity and without further Instruction or Restraint Prov. 5.22 23. in the midst of their Folly be left of God to go astray When because they would not be purged they shall not be purged till the Divine Fury be made to rest upon them God will let them Alone and say if they will go on to treasure up Wrath against a Day of Wrath e'ne let them do it If they will harden their Hearts if they will dye if they are so intent upon their own Ruin as that they refuse my counsel and slight my Reproofs and resist my Spirit and hate to be Reform'd let them take their Course let them walk in the Ways of their own Heart and in the Sight of their Eyes let them prosecute their own foolish Choice I will do nothing to hinder it My Gospel shall not instruct and heal them My Spirit shall not to any good purpose longer strive with them that which is the Savour of Life and the Power of God unto salvation unto Others shall have a deadly Savour unto them No words can express the Horrour of such a Case And such a Case is possible but we have no certaine Rule given us whereby to determine our Judgment concerning any particular Person so as to enable us to say positively This is the sad condition of such a Man or such a Woman But because many fear it is their own Case and the Person who by a Letter desired me to preach on this Subject is afraid lest Things may already be come to this Issue I will not now close without some Application And Passing over several Uses that may be made of this I shall hence take Occasion to Exhort to three Things First To take heed not to pass a definitive Sentence against your selves concerning the state of your own Souls as to this Judgment Secondly However to apprehend the Danger of approaching to it if you are under any ill Symptoms of that kind and beware of those Things that have a Tendency to so sad a Doom Thirdly Diligently to improve the Means you are yet under by the Warnings of the Word convictions of Conscience and the Motions of the Divine Spirit that you may Effectually prevent it That as it is not your Case for the present it never may be so First Take heed of passing a definitive Sentence against your selves in this matter There is a Time even with the Impenitent and Unconverted when God may move their Hearts more strongly unto Conversion than afterwards And when such a Time is over with thee thou mayest be apt to think that God hath utterly Abandon'd and Forsaken thee and be ready to conclude Thy Day of Grace is past In this Sense it may be past with many long before their Death and yet their state not be irrecoverable This is like enough to be the Case of many of you present but you need not thereupon question but you shall be accepted of God if you are now willing to return to him You have no ground to question whether Christ will receive you if you are willing to come to him or whether pardoning Mercy may be had if you penitently forsake your wicked ways and turn to the Lord with all your heart Men that formerly had some Motions and Helps to Repentance which they neglected and misimproved and obstinately resisted may be so given up to their Obstinacy as never to have such Motions more and so on that Account the Day of Grace may be past with divers But such Persons are hardened in Sin and hate an Holy Life oppose serious Godliness and the Means of their Recovery c. But the Day of Grace is never so past in this Life with any Man as that he shall not be accepted and pardoned if he do truly repent Therefore for a penitent returning Sinner to fear his Day of Grace is utterly past or that his Repentance if it be true does now come too late This is to contradict the whole Tenour and Scope of the Gospel Your Case may be more dangerous than that of most others and yet not Irrecoverable Be sure it is not if you have not sinn'd that Sin which can't be pardon'd which in the general I firmly believe no man is guilty of who is afraid lest he hath been or is so guilty Our Obstinate continued forsaking of God is the great sign of our being forsaken of him And where that is not the Case you should not Judg so concerning your selves or others And even where it is so for the present the Grace of God may be rejected for many years and yet we may hope that some Persons may afterwards be converted by that Grace which before they rejected So that we cannot tell what God will do as to particular Persons Neither would it be any advantage for us to know if such and such be so far forsaken of God as that they shall never be recovered but continue in their Obstinacy and Impentiency to the End of their Days God
He that being often reproved hardens his Heart shall suddenly be destroyed and that without Remedy If Men once come to this that under the most searching lively Sermons they can continue secure and wilful in known sins they may fear lest they be left to go further even to the hating of Godliness and good Men Or at least to be so far stupified as not to feel any thing of the force of Gods Terrors or the sweetness of his Promises but to make a Jest of sin and think a Life of Godliness a needless thing Such Persons when it comes to this especially if they grow old in this Course have Cause to fear lest they be forsaken of God and given over to their own Hearts Lusts sealed up under Judicial Blindness and Hardness of Heart III. WHEN The Spirit of Grace gives over striving with the Souls of Men. This is a most dangerous Case For except He return they are irrecoverably lost There is an absolute necessity of the Influence of the Divine Spirit to the Begining Progress and Continuance of the Spiritual Life and there is no Opposition in the Soul but this Spirit of Life and Power can overcome But when he gives over striving with men how deplorable must their Case be And this he doth with many after they have resisted the Spirit and rebelled against the Spirit and vexed the Holy Spirit of God as we read of some that did Acts 7.51 Now if this blessed Spirit move not upon the Soul of a Backslider he can never be recovered And when he hath often been repulsed and grieved and quenched he may withdraw in Anger and God may justly resolve as concerning the old World that his Spirit shall strive no more no longer with them Especially when after a great Profession of Christianity men turn Apostates and despise Preaching and the other Institutions of the Gospel having done despite to the Spirit of Grace Heb. 10.29 Which though spoken of open final Apostates should make Others that approach thereto to tremble And of how much soever Punishment shall such be thought guilty that do thus Despight to the Spirit of Christ who bears Witness to his Person and Doctrine Who can tell the Dreadfulness and Horrour of their Punishment The Constitution of the Law of Moses reached but to a temporal Death without mercy But besides temporal Judgments such a Guilt will expose them to Eternal Wrath For the greatest sin will have the greatest Punishment No wonder then if the Holy Spirit strive no more with Persons that come under this tremendous Guilt that sin against the Holy Spirit even as a Spirit of Grace doing Despight to the Spirit of Grace who did invite and wooe and draw them unto Christ to bring them under the Bond of the Covenant My Spirit shall not alway strive with men Gen. 6.3 Heb. 3.13 Luke 13 7. When the Spirit of Grace and Love and Benignity hath shone in upon their Minds and often touched their Consciences and secretly whispered Sinner Wilt thou not yet turn What hast thou no Inclinations to return to me O do not go on and perish c. Now to despight this very Spirit of Grace must needs be attended with great Aggravations of Guilt because it is after some Experience of his Influence and Power This must be one of the most dangerous Symptoms of a perishing lost Condition The Gospel must needs be hid unto such because without the Light and Influence of the Holy Spirit it can have no saving Effect If our Gospel be hid says our Apostle it is hid to them that are lost 2 Cor. 4.3 Whose Minds are blinded by Satan lest the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine into their Hearts Though I must here add that no Man I believe can determine what Degree of this Guilt as to particular Persons doth distinguish those who are Irrecoverably lost from such as are Recoverable and may be called to Repentance IV. THOUGH The Spirit have not done striving yet when the preaching of the Word though you cannot resist the Light of divine Truth but somewhat of it shines into the Mind and Conscience if yet your Hearts stand out and will not yield this is a dangerous Case For men may be convinced by the Word of the sinfulness and Danger of their Condition they may come to determine and to pronounce Judgment upon themselves that what God requires of them is but Just and equal and that hitherto they have not complied with his Call One thing or other from day to day hath hindered them from coming up to the terms of the Gospel from a covenant Closure with the Son of God upon the Gospel Call They may say and own it before God and Men That they are deeply convinced such a thing ought to be done But I have not yet found the time or the Leisure or the Heart to retire into a Closet and consider it and set about it in good earnest and give up my Soul to him I am convinced I must do it or I cannot enter into Heaven I am convinced I must turn or I shall dye I am satisfied this my present Course must issue in my Ruine my Eternal Ruine that if I go on and dye in this Case I am lost for ever But yet notwithstanding such Convictions with many still the Heart holds out against all that can be said The highest and the most important matters that can be named though propounded with the clearest Evidence and represented as of the nearest Concern to them yet do not effectually prevail with them Though we propose in the Name of God the Incouragment of that Blessedness and Priviledge which no man that understands and believes but must desire Though we flash the Fire of Hell before them and endeavour by the Terrors of the Lord to perswade them yet they have heard of these things so often that they are not moved by them to yield themselves to the Lord. All that we speak in the Name of Christ is as a Tale that is told they have heard it so often it makes little Impression Things are come to that sad pass with them and they are Scrmon-proof to that Degree that to use the words of a Great man unless we could speak of greater things than Heaven and Hell we cannot move them And though their Minds are inlightened and some Convictions begun yet their Lusts carry the Day against their Convictions Conscience is baffled or kept under by the Power of vicious Inclinations And while men go on at this rate who can tell but God may say Let them alone but that he may give them up to those Lusts they have chosen and so their Condition be desperate Though they themselves do not apprehend it to be so And as to individual Persons we cannot distinctly tell when it is so but so it may be and God be clear in his Righteousness herein because it is penal and after great Provocations and it was lately otherwise