Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A30282
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Mans whole duty and Gods wonderful intreaty of him thereunto set forth from 2 Cor. 5, 20, and published at the request of some hearers / by Daniel Burgess.
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Burgess, Daniel, 1645-1713.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing B5709; ESTC R23833
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54,814
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178
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know not a greater lover of his God in all this World then the Man that printeth these words My God knoweth that I even abhor and loath my self because I love and delight in him no more And in another place I can more easily forgive my self all my other sins then my loving God so little O what must others say Other Saints I mean of inferiour stature unto him And for Sinners that make light of all Gods Calls to Reconciliation and are inflexible by his very intreaties for whole Weeks Months and Years together who sees it not Their Life is a practical protest that they will bear the prison of Hell the torment of Fire and that for the space of Eternity rather than be friends with God So they love God so they love themselves 'T is true we cannot here perswade them but that they do truly love themselves and their God too But in utter darkness it self men will see better There they will see and say God was kind and made them good offers but they were themselves their own destroyers being by sin bewitch'd in heart to murder him and in act to murder themselves There they will understand the sense as well as feel the truth of Prov. 8.36 and 35. There they will know to their torment what it is for God to beseech and pray sinful Dust to come take Pardon and Peace and for them to lend him a deaf ear or give him a more reproachful repulse against convictions of Conscience Reader here stay a while Think and speak with thy self of the huge imports of this word As though God did beseech you by us How GOD beseech SOVERAIGNTY beg And that of both Creatures and Rebels too What meaneth this and what is it we are to learn by it God beseech The word astonishes me and filleth my mind with these thoughts above others First How pawerful is Love that makes Omnipotence stoop Secondly How Loveful is the Divine Majesty that thus condescendeth Thirdly How wonderful is this condescention whereunto God never stooped before and beyond which it is not to be thought possible that he should ever stoop Fallen Angels had nothing like it Fallen Men can have nothing beyond it God stoops he stoops low he stoops his lowest unto us The lowest that the nature and honour of his Government will admit God beseech I do believe Lord help my unbelief I do believe methinks I do see and hear the Heavenly King even thus addressing to his rebellious Subjects Miserable Creatures as I made you not miserable I am not pleased to see you so I have made a costly provision for your restoration to the Happiness I made you in And left you nothing to do for the same but to accept it in the way of my Gospel-Covenant I have taught you so to accept it I have commanded you and on no small penalty And finally I do beseech and pray you Sirs if ye love me accept of it If ye do not love your own Souls yet for my sake accept it I will take it as the greatest kindness unto my self and will reward you as though ye had profited me if ye accept it You give me my highest pleasure if ye accept it I will set Heaven ringing for joy thereof if ye accept it As long as I live and my Immortality will not dye in hast I will remember and requite you if ye will accept it If ye would not do your utmost against me and your selves ye must accept it If Grief could possibly sieze on Godhead ye would make me drown Heaven with my Tears if ye did not accept it And to repent that ever I made you So good a will do I truly bear you though Satan and your silly Hearts by him seduced tell you contrary stories Arguing wildly that because I drag you not to Grace and Glory against your wills therefore I have not any will that you should have either Reader again and again read this and cease not till thy astonished and trembling Soul take fire and flame forth in exclamations What manner of Love is this Stay me I am sick of Love The Love of God and Christ do constrain me O Lord I am thy servant I am thy Gospel Covenant servant I am thine Lord save me In great Letters I wish this Truth written upon thy Doors and Walls God delighteth more in Reconciling one penitent poor sinner than in Damning all the obstinate World I and the main revenue of his Crown lies in it Else he would not love Mercy above Sacrifice Nor could we holily desire to be saved Reader I cannot yet have done with thee I must say to thee as Ruth to her Mother in Law Intreat me not to leave thee or return from following after thee with this Inference I must insist a little more upon Gods so astonishing Intreaty And I would to God I could find or make words prevalent with thee to insist much hereon To be often musing what it is that Gods intreaty of sinners to be reconciled doth in good sober Truth import I beseech thee go and consult God himself in holy Prayer unto him Go consult his Ministers the best of them and such through whose Mouths he is most likely to speak his Heart unto thee Go consider and take advice whether it import not thus much To wit a real will of God without any design or unsincerity to have sinners reconciled unto him even as many of them as he sends his Gospel unto A will of complacence as of a thing that would be highly grateful unto him though not a Will efficacious and effective of it against all wilful and affected unfitness in sinners superadded unto their natural A Will that indeed doth not so overpower all things as to bring all sinners unto Reconciliation but yet one that leaves nothing but their own obstinate Wills to keep them from it And makes that all who live under the Gospel and who do seek it as they are directed by the Gospel may reasonably judge their obtainment of it most highly probable and conclude that if their labour for it be lost it will not be through failure on Gods part but their own 'T is very certain that such influences of the Holy Spirit were communicated under the Old Testament that of all that lived and dyed then unreconciled unto God the fault was laid at their own doors Thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them Neh. 9.20 Turn ye at my reproof behold I will pour my spirit to you I will make known my words unto you Prov. 1.23 c. O how much more must we now conclude in the Gospel day that Mens destruction is of themselves That the Holy Spirit is always striving with sinners and perswading them to be reconciled until they do by very great provocations cause him to withdraw for ever from them By the Prophets of old the Holy Ghost never spake in the wondrously condescensive Language which he useth in the New Testament