of knowledge Since without knowledge thy heart cannot be good nor thou thy self in a safe estate Thou art gene astray Oh Turn immediately lest the next step thou takest be into the Grave and Hell 'T is but small security not to perceive thy danger 't is but a pitiful happiness to be ignorant of thy misery for this very ignorance increases thy danger and will make thy misery the more unavoidable Sin is such a thing as none ever repented of their parting with therefore be perswaded to deny thy former ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present evil world If thou art a Professor but not a practiser of Religion consider 't is not a feigned conversion but a turning with the whole heart upon which Life is promised and assured If thou hast a form of godliness without the power what does this prove but that thou hast more of the Atheist in thee Surely thou thinkest the Lord does not regard and will not punish at least to thee he will be partial I wonder how thou darest come so often into his presence so neer his Ark where his jealousie is hottest and so frequently engage in duties of his Worship some sin or vanity all the while keeping thy heart away from him But if thou art indeed converted Oh geâ— neerer unto God and turn more and more like to him Grace is so excellent a thing that methinks thou shouldst be restlesly importunate for a greater measure of it The more you follow on to know the Lord the better you will love him and the more unwilling you will be to leave him and return again to folly Conversion is a nail which the Prophets of old were hammering upon perpetually Our Lord and his Apostles endeavoured to drive this nail home And God of late has not only sent his Ministers to ply this business but has taken the hammer of judgments to make this nail to enter Now the stronger the resistance is we make we must expect from this hammer the more stroaks We have seen lately dayes of great calamity and affliction and yet they have in some sense been also dayes of grace Therefore temporal judgments have been sent that spiritual mercies might be prized and eternal judgments might be prevented God has had a design of love at the bottom of all his severities Let us comply with it for if we still walk contrary he has threatned in fury to chastize us seven-fold more than as yet he has chastized us And I may well tremble to think of those judgments which will be seven times worse than the Plague and Fire But if we learn wisdom and instruction by his correction and turn unto him that has smitten us we shall find the expressions of his favour and loving kindness fâ—â— greater than ever were the signs of his displeasure N. V. THE Conversion OF A SINNER EZEK 33. 11. latter part Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes for why will ye die O house of Israel T Is not very easie to discern whether Man discovered greater folly in departing from God at first or whether his folly be now more inexcusable in refusing to return to him At first he knew by blessed experience how good it was to be neer his Maker to enjoy the light of his countenance in the state of innocency and yet he ventur'd to go away Now he feels the effects of his Apostacy for sin has loaded him with various miseries calamities vexations and yet how hardly is he perswaded to come back again The children of men are easily induced to yield to Satan as if 't were their interest to give themselves into the hands of a Murtherer but the Lord besides whom there is no Saviour may call and call with frequency with earnestness yet call in vain their hearts are dull their ears are deaf they will not hearken to him It can never be sufficiently lamented that sin has made so many madmen in the world life and death blessing and cursing are set before them yet death is chosen before life the most astonishing and intollerable curses are embraced when blessings of the highest and most durable nature are rejected Proh superi quantum mortalia pectâ—ra caecae Noctis habent Hence 't is that the Lord expostulates not only in reference to sin but in reference to punishment He not only sayes Why will you venture to transgress but also Why are you so forward to die O house of Israel The Prophet in the beginning of this Chapter is by the Lord appointed a Watchman over the house of Israel he is commanded to lift up his voice when he sees the revenging sword drawn forth and comming to cut the ungodly off for their ungodliness and unless he call to the wicked to turn and live he is accessary to their death and their blood will be required at his hand And being thus commissioned he is commanded to stop the mouths of evil doers who cavil and reply against their Maker and charge God foolishly A Controversie it seems there was at whose door the destruction of sinners is to be laid The house of Israel very peremptorily and boldly lay the blame on God they stick not to say the way of the Lord is not equal But the God of mercy and of truth does vindicate himself from that undeserved imputation professing that if sinners were not perversly bent upon their own ruin destruction would be escaped By his life he swears that the death of the wicked pleases him not therefore in the Text his voice is loud and doubled Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes and the saddle is set upon the right horse mens own Wills are the cause of their own Woe Why will ye die O house of Israel The words express a very pathetical and serious call wherein observe 1. The persons called The house of Israel 2. To what they are called they are called to Turn 3. The urgency of this call which appears in the doubling of it Turn ye turn ye 4. From what they must turn from their evil wayes 5. The argument used to prevail which has abundance of holy rhetorick in it VVhy will ye die Without turning death is certain Satan may say to the posterity as once to the Parents Ye shall not surely die but this will be sound true Those shall â—e turned into Helâ— Psal 9. 17. who will not turn to God thither 't is that evil wayes have all a tendency Several paths there are in the broad way but in death the second death they all conclude and meet Therefore the Lord is brought in pitying of sinners and pleading with them VVhy will ye die Is it because I am speedy in revenging you know I am slow to anger and by experience have found me so else my wrath had long e're this broken forth upon you or is it because I am inexorable not to be intreated when once provoked VVhy I have proclaim'd myself ready
to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all that call upon him Or is it because you never heard of the way and means of recovering life and flying from the punishment you have deserved How often have I sent my Prophets that you might be brought to believe to repent and to obey But still your neck is as an iron sinew you are resolved to rush on in sin If you perish you may thank your selves If you are destroyed 't is because you chuse destruction Three Doctrines the Text affords us First That evil wayes are the wayes of death Secondly The great reason why men die and die for ever is because they will Thirdly The Lord does call and call again upon sinners to turn from their evil wayes and live Doct. 1. I begin with the first Doctrine That evil wayes are the wayes of death As they are morally evil so evil and destructive to them that walk in them Indeed these wayes may seem right but because of this they are not the less but the more pernicious Prov. 14. 12. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the wayes of death 1. These evil wayes do many times accelerate and hasten death temporal That was the sentence pronounced upon mans fall Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return And how often by sin is the execution of that sentence speeded We read of some not suffered to live out half their dayes Psal 55. 23. the reason is because they live so wickedly Those whose carcasses fell in the wilderness might have lived to possess the Land of Promise but they sometimes murmured sometimes they commit idolatry sometimes fornication and at last the oath is sworn they should not enter into Canaan The intemperate and unclean how do they waste their strength How many diseases do they punish themselves with And though so miserably unprepared for judgment hasten their departure out of this world to the tribunal of him who judges righteously 2. These evil wayes God who is our life is not to be found in In a spiritual sense we are dead though alive while we walk here The Ephesians are said to be dead in trespasses and sin while they walked according to the course of this world and had their conversation in the lusts of their flesh Eph. 2. 2 3. If the life of the soul does consist in being united to God in being animâ—ted and acted by his Spirit then iniquity that separates between God and us Isa 59. 2. must needs be granted a deadly thing 3. These evil wayes are the beaten path to hells damnation to that death which is everlasting Never any came to hell but through these wayes and there is not one that continues to walk in them without conversion but shall at last come thither The enemy upon the pale horse without a second is deadful but when Hell follows immediately after him alas what hand can be strong what heart can be able to endure This second Death is by one of the Fathers called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The death that is immortal because the sinner is never put out of his pain alwayes tortured but never quite dispatched the fire burns still but never totally consumes them whom it burns the worm still gnaws but is never satisfied VVhither away besotted and blinded soul whither is it thou art making such post haste Is it gain delight and happiness which thou hast in chase that thou seemest rather to flie than run towards it Alas no 't is in the broad way that thou drivest on so furiously 't is not gain but loss 't is not pleasure but pain 't is not an happiness but misery ay and the extreamest misery which thou art pursuing Oh stop thy course and go no further Oh leave this lower path Prov. 15. 24. The way of life is above to the wise that he may depart from hell bâ—neath You see in what respects evil wayes are the wayes of death Now the righteousness of God in punishing those with death that persist in these wayes will be evident if these things following are considered 1. These wayes are expresly forbidden by him that is the supream Law-giver who has power to save and to destroy and for so mean a wretch as man is to affront and despise that Majesty and Authority that is so infinitely high above him does justly deserve an infinite punishment Besides the Lord profers himself to a sinner if he will forsake his evil wayes and thoughts Now if the sinner reject that offer and prefer not only the empty world but the vilest lusts before the blessed God let reason judge if it be not just that he should eternally be separated from him And this poena damni loss of God is most properly the death spoken of 't is indeed the very Hell of Hell 2. Sinners are threatned with death if therefore they will venture upon that which brings them under the lash of the threatnings 't is but just they should smart for that presumption They are forewarned to flee from that wrath which is to come but if they take no warning that wrath will very justly overtake them They cannot plead either that they knew not their Masters will or that they were ignorant of the penalty following upon their rebelling against it How often have those that enjoy the light of the Gospel been informed that 't is the will of God they should sorrow and rend their hearts for sin that 't is the will of God they should believe in his Son that 't is the will of God even their sanctification 1 Thes 4. Nay how often have they been foretold of the many stripes that must be endured by those that continue in wilful disobedience 'T is not unequal then since they made the Lord a lyar by their unbelief that he should vindicate his truth and cause them to feel those plagues and torments which thousands of times they were warned of but had no faith or fear concerning them 3. As sinners are threatned because of their evil wayes so they are shewed which is the way of life and peace and very much pressed to walk in it Assisting and strengthning grace is profered to them but if neither that glory and immortality at the â—nd of the way nor that help and grace which they may have in the way are regarded but the paths of destruction and misery as they are called Rom. 3. 16. are preferred they themselves indeed do wrong their own souls but God is righteous in destroying them The only use I shall make of this Doctrine is to caution you against these evil wayes that are the wayes of death You that have through grace left them take heed of declining towards them It has cost the Saints dear when they have stept aside their falls have defiled them and broken their bones And you that still resolve to walk in these wayes at last open your eyes and see whither you are going Upon the reading
so much dislikes and consequently have a great hand in the perdition of the children of men 2. Another Argument shall be drawn from the justness of God's reproofs and anger Certainly he would not so sharply reprehend them his anger would not so smoak against them because of their stubbornness and wilfulness in their evil wayes if they had a sincere will and only wanted power to do that which is good When the Lord inflicted judgments upon his ancient people he speaks of their obstinacy their refusing to hearken and to be reclaimed and this he does to vindicate the equity of his severer wayes of dealing with them We read 2 King 17. 13 14 18. That the Lord testified against Israel by his Prophets and Seers saying Turn ye from your evil wayes and keep my commandements Notwithstanding they would not hear but hardned their necks like unto the neck of their fathers which did not believe in the Lord their God now upon this wilfulness followed and that very justly God's anger and their destruction Therefore the Lord was very angry with the children of Israel and removed them out of his sight In the second place I am to prove That mens inability to do that which is good does not thwart this Doctrine that their sin and misery is to be laid at their wills door The Holy Ghost that he might humble the children of men and be at down the opinion they have of their own power and righteousness and make them use that speech of the Prophet Isa 45. 25. Surely in the Lord have I righteousness and strength does inculcate this that man in his sinful degenerate state is unable to that which is spiritually good therefore we are said to be without strength Rom. 5. 6. We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3. 5. We are said to be faint and to have no might Isa 40. 29. And our Lord tells us plainly Joh. 15. 5. Without me ye can do nothing But for all this though we want a power to do good our wills are to be blamed for the evil which is done by us It must not be imagined that the Scripture mentions sinners inability to do good to put an excuse into their mouths for their doing of evil but to drive them to Christ who can strengthen them to do all things Phil. 4. 13. 'T is true man is unable but withal he is unwilling to do what God requires of him though tending to his own welfare The reason why he continues in sin and is undone by it is not only because he cannot convert himself but also and that principally because he is unwilling to be converted This will be made further to appear in these particulars 1. Sinful man imagines himself able to turn from his evil wayes he defers his repentance as if he could turn to God at an hours warning Now that he does not what he thinks he can his own will must be the impediment and this he must blame if so be he perishes 2. Sinful man will not do what he is really able to perform one talent he has but he will not trade with it many sins that expose him to wrath and vengeance he might abstain from if he would but alas he is voluntarily a slave to them and is pleased with this servitude The Adulterer wilfully goes to the Harlots house the unrighteous worldling wilfully gets dishonest gain therefore it follows that these wilfully destroy themselves A natural man can do that which is good as to the matter though he fail in the manner of doing He can pray hear read but he wilfully omits these duties and so wilfully subjects himself to the curse that 's threatned upon his omission He will not do what he really can and then surely if his power were enlarged it would not be used He that can well spare it and refuses to give a penny to the poor we may conclude that though he could spare it he would be unwilling to give a pound In like manner a natural man who will not do what he can to be saved which is but little were his power greater he would not do more in order to salvation 3. Sinful man is sorry that he is able to do so much he wishes that he were totally impotent that so it might serve as an excuse for him This shews the wickedness of his will Further he will not use the means by which grace and strength from heaven are conveyed he will not wait and call on God he will not seek unto him for the accomplishing of the promises made in the gracious Covenant Nay he wilfully resists the Spirit when he comes to work upon him he had rather be let alone in sin That 's the language of ungodly ones Job 21. 14. They say unto God depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways The wicked man though he may cavil that he wants power yet his want of will to be turned and live is that which mainly ruins him And all those high thoughts and reasonings against God as if he were an hard Master as if his wayes were not equal at the great day how will he be ashameâ— of them When conscience shall flie in his face and in good sadness reproach him with this He was often warned and called upon but would not turn that he mighâ—â—ave life The Application follows Use 1. Of Information in these particulars 1. Do men die for ever because they will Then who art thou O man that chargest God with thy destruction Surely herein thou chargest God foolishly as he delights not in thy sin so neither in thy death The malefactor must not be angry with the Judge for passing a sentence of condemnation upon him but he ought to blame himself for doing that for which he deserves to be condemned How often has the Lord called but you have refused how often has he stretched forth his hand all the day long but all the day long you have been disobedient and gainsaying Rom. 10. ult How speechless will this make you when he comes to judge the world in righteousness 2. Do men die for ever because they will Then the death of the wicked is most just and righteous 'T is but equal that the willing slaves of sin that would not become the Lords freemen should be fettered in chains of darkness The offendor that refuses a pardon offered justly nay doubly deserves to have judgment executed both because of his offence and because he slights mercy The Patient who thrusts away the Physician who would heal him of a sore distemper very well deserves serves to die for it and the sinner who will not turn to God who rejects the Lord Jesus who is able both to pardon and to heal him though he perish and be condemned yet he is not in the least wronged 3. Do men die for ever because they will What a
torture will it be to them in Hell to think it was their own wilfulness which brought them thither Such kind of reflections as these will be as so many poysoned daggers to pierce the very soul of a damned reprobate What ailed me to prove a devil to my self what ailed me to side with Satan for the bringing about my own destruction what phrenzy was this to make the whips my self wherewithal I am to be lashed to kindle the flames with my own hands in which I must dwell and burn for ever Use 2. Shall be of Caution Take heed of wilful sinning which is the high road leading to death Take heed also lest you content your selves with a seeming willingness to escape destruction 1. Let me caution you against wilful sinning The more of the will is in transgression the more of provocation therefore David is so earnest to be kept from presumptuous sins which he knew because presumptuous to be so great Psal 19. 13. In a Land and time of light take heed of being wilfully ignorant In the midst of helps and encouragements to duty take heed of sloth which is a fault of the will but be a follower of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises Heb. 6. 12. Let no sin be loved pleaded for lived in let not the pleasing taste make thee venture upon any forbidden fruit let not the fine-coloured skin make thee to hug any Serpent in thy bosom which will sting thee to death 2. Let me caution you against that which is only a seeming willingness to turn from sin and escape destruction 1. An idle unindustrious will is only a seeming will A lazy wish to be saved where there is no serious using of the means of salvation signifies nothing but that you are grosly ignorant and stupid ignorant of the worth of salvation and stupidly unsensible of your own danger 2. A will for the future is only a seeming will Most of them who go on in their evil wayes have a will to leave them hereafter but this only shews their present unwillingness And if you are backward to turn now you are likely hereafter to be more averse When God is further departed from you when Satan has built stronger holds in you when conscience is grown more stupid when custom in sin has doubled the strength and vehemence of your natural inclination to it Alas how many millions have died and been taken away in their iniquities that were as fully resolved upon repenting hereafter as any that are now alive Take heed of this rock upon which so many have split and been â—ast away for ever God's will is for the present he sayes To day if you will hear my voice harden not your hearts Heb. 3. 7 8. But if now when God is willing to give you life you are unwilling he may be hereafter unwilling when you would fain have it When death and destruction come upon you as a whirlwind he has threatned that you shall call upon him for life and salvation but it shall be far from you you shall seek him early but you shall not find him if now you hate knowledge and do not chuse the fear of the Lord Prov. 1. 28 29. 3. A will upon a mistake is only a seeming will Those whom our Lord likens to the stony ground heard the word with joy and were willing to embrace it but they dreamt not of the cross and persecution that made them to fall away Many seem willing to be Converts but they sit not down and count the cost of conversion And when once they are informed that they must deny themselves let go all out of their affections presently and out of their possession too when standing in competition with the Lord Jesus when they are informed that a bill of divorce must be given to their Herodias that they must bid defiance to every lust though it plead never so much delight or gain that it may still be embraced when they are informed that they must watch and pray and walk with the greatest care and fervency and circumspection that they must take the Kingdom of heaven with an holy violence as it were by storm else they will fall short and lose the crown Oh then they cry out These are hard sayings who can hear them Use 3. Of Exhortation Since men die because they will Let me perswade you to consent that your wills may be renewed Man has not a worse enemy than his own will until there be a change wrought in it And that this change may be effected observe these directions 1. Judge your selves because of your natural perversness till sensible of this you cannot be in a right manner humbled That thou hast sinned so much so long should very much affect and afflict thee before God but that thou hast a will to sin ten thousand times more were it not for the restraints of grace nay to sin unto eternity Oh what confusion and sorrow should this cause 2. Study the deceitfulness of the Tempter and the VVorld then your hearts will not be so forward to be taken with their baits and to be â—rawn away from God The world is vain and vexing and Satan is a lyar and a murderer you have little reason to yield to either 3. Set before your eyes the blessedness of life eternal and the misery of everlasting death that life may be chosen and the way to it 4. Be fervent in prayer that the Lord according to his promise would give you a new heart and work in you to will of his own good pleasure Ezek. 36. 26. Phil. 2. 13. And if he cause your hearts to desire grace and glory he will satisfie those desires he has raised in you if he work in you to will and to do notwithstanding all opposition you shall work out your own salvation and an abundant entrance shall be administred to you into the everlasting kingdom Thus of the second Doctrine The reason why men die and die for ever is because they will Doct. 3. The third Doctrine follows The Lord does call and call again upon sinners to turn from their evil wayes and live Turn ye Turn ye saith God in the Text. The business of Conversion is not a thing which man first thought of nay he would never think of it or be perswaded to it if the Lord did not call after him and make that call effectual We read indeed in Scripture of sensible and awakened penitents crying and begging to be turned but these cryes are but as it were the Eccho's of God's voice and call that went before In the handling of the Doctrine I shall First shew how God calls upon sinners to turn to him Secondly VVhy he does it Thirdly Explain the nature of this Conversion or turning Fourthly conclude with Application In the first place I am to shew How God calls upon sinners to turn to him This he does several wayes 1. He calls upon them from Mount Ebal That was the
upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb This causes him to make an halt in his wicked course he dares not still rush into sin as the horse rushes into the battel 3. Those whom the Spirit calls effectually he raises grief and sorrow in them because of their sin and misery They see what they have done against God against themselves and this makes their spirits troubled This is that being weary and heavy laden which the Scripture speaks of that is in those whom Christ calls to come to him that they may find rest unto their souls Mat. 11. 28 29. There was a voice heard upon the high places weeping and supplication of the children of Israel because they had perverted their way and had forgotten the Lord their God and this went before their closing with his invitation to return Jer. 3. 21 22. The sinner by the Spirit is made to behold the sadness of his case the evil of his sin how miserably he has been deceived by his lusts and Satan and so his own folly in yielding to them How does he now accuse and condemn himself His heart is grieved he is pricked in his reins because he has been so foolish and ignorant so like a beast before God Psal 73. He wishes a thousand times that temptations had been resisted and that sin had never been committed I shall represent the workings of the sinners heart in this Prosopopoeia O wretched as I am What have I been doing all my dayes Was this the end I was made for to undo my self Was there no better employment to be found than to ad sin to sin and so to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath How much time have I mispent and what pains have I taken to make my self miserable Ah foolish self-destroying wretch Dost thou not see how far thou art gone in the broad way how long sin has made a meer slave of thee and how bitterly thou hast provoked the Lord to anger Oh that my head were waters and my eyes fountains of tears that I might weep day and night The damned will weep and wail for ever and shall not I mourn and weep that have so highly deserved to de damnned Well may I be troubled and bowed down greatly and go mourning all the day long Thus the sinner grieves and bemoans himself and carnal company sensual pleasures worldly diversions cannot drive away this sorrow none but he who broke the heart is able to bind up the wounds of it 4. Those whom the Spirit calls effectually he causes to despair in themselves They are made to perceive that they have no power to raise themselves out of those depths of sin and misery which they have plunged themselves into and as they are unable to help themselves so they see that they are utterly unworthy to be helped God may justly suffer them to lye where they are fallen and should he deal thus they would fall lower and lower till fallen past recovery The sinner may have recourse to his duties hoping by these to make amends to God for what he has done amiss but he is made to see that his best duties have so much sin mingled with them that were it not for Christs righteousness and intercession they would be a meer abomination Now he is beaten off from his own bottom he has no confidence in the flesh as the Apostle speaks Phil. 3. 3. He can do nothing of himself he can claim nothing as his due to be done for him but he must be beholding to grace for all Upon this he cryes out of the depths unto the Lord Psal 130. 1. he perceives himself sinking and cryes Lord save me or I perish I am at the brink of the bottomless pit and in I shall fall unless the hand of mercy catch hold of me He begs with Ephraim Turn thou me and I shall be turned And as the evil of sin is presented to his view so the goodness of God is in some measure by the Spirit discovered and therefore he desires to be converted not only upon necessity because else he would be extreamly and eternally miserable but also upon choice because this is the way unto the truest happiness And these desires to be turned are as it were the first breathings of the new creature Thus have I shewed the manner of the spirits operation in those whom he calls effectually to turn to God as also the several other wayes how the Lord calls upon sinners to conversion most whereof prove ineffectual because those that are called are deaf disobedient and gainsaying My work in the second place will be to lay down the reasons Why God does thus call the children of men to turn from their evil wayes and live The reasons are such as these 1. Hereby he shews his gracious nature that he delights not in the death and destruction of his creatures Indeed death will be inflicted on them upon their obstinate continuance in evil but the shewing mercy and giving life is the thing that pleases God therefore he calls the most obdurate to conversion 2. The Lord calls us to turn that hereby he may inform us of our duty We may understand from hence that 't is our duty to go astray no longer but to come to our Fathers house with speed and by the pressing frequency of the calls our obligation to this duty is vastly heightned And truly the disregarding of our duty in this particular and the great engagements to it our refusing to Turn will do us more harm than all our other sins All our other sins upon our conversion would be abundantly pardoned but as long as we continue unconverted not one is forgiven the guilt of all does lye upon us and we assuredly do lye under wrath 3. The Lord calls upon us to Turn to shew that our turning to him will not be in vain Though sin has very much abounded yet there is not only a possibility but a certainty upon our returning of our being graciously received and embraced And this is matter of great encouragement unto a soul who lies under the apprehensions of sin and wrath Hark what language is spoken unto Judah Jer. 3. 1 5. Behold thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldst thou hast play'd the harlot with many lovers yet return again to me saith the Lord. This call evidently shews that their transgressions though multiplied exceeding if now they would but turn unfeignedly should not be a bar to shut against them the door of mercy 4. The Lord calls upon us to turn to intimate 't is from himself we must have power and strength to turn in truth The precepts and exhortations in Scripture to convert to repent to believe to stand fast and such like are not delivered that from hence we might conclude we have power in our selves to do what we are commanded and exhorted to but they are delivered that we might turn these precepts into prayers For instance when we
hear the command to believe it should make us cry out with the sick childes Father in the Gospel Lord help my unbelief When we hear the command to cast away every transgression it should make us beg with David Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have the dominion over me When we hear the command to turn it should make us to use the language of that penitent Jer. 31. 18. Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God 5. The Lord calls upon us to turn to leave the obstinate without excuse who will not turn who will not come to Christ that they may have life Of Israel he saith All the day long have I stretched forth my hand to a disobedient and gainsaying people Rom. 10. ult but this their disobedience rendred them without apology When the unconverted fall into God's revenging hands they are the less to be pitied they can have nothing to plead because Gods stretching forth his hands by way of invitation in the Gospel was in vain These sinners against their own souls whose neck is like an iron sinew who will neither be terrified by menaces nor mollified by the expressions of the greatest kindness and mercy when they are summon'd to the bar how will they be struck speechless having not one word to say against their own condemnation They were called unto grace and glory but they would not hearken They were told of their danger but they would not seek to prevent it they were informed of the wayes of sin and were dehorted from it nay wooed and intreated with the most passionate earnestness not to be cruel to themselves by giving way to such a cursed thing yet they would not consent to be freed from sin and become the servants of righteousness And surely their mouths must needs be stopped or if they say any thing when sentence is passed upon them it must be to side with the justice of God against themselves to acknowledge the equality of his wayes the inequality of their own 6. The Lord calls upon us to turn that those who are ordained to eternal life may be effectually wrought upon and prevailed with to turn indeed We read that the Gospel was preached both to the Jews and to the Gentiles and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed Act. 15. 48. And the truth is 't is much for the sake of the Elect who are scattered up and down among the multitude that the call to turn is so general as it is Hereby those whom the Father has given to Christ are brought home and coming home how welcome are they Joh. 6. 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out So much for the reasons why God calls upon sinners to turn In the Third place I promised to explain the nature of this conversion or turning And I find the Apostle does give a notable and full description of it Act. 26. 18. where he calls it A turning from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God Hence we gather that conversion lyes in four things 1. In being turned from darkness 2. In being turned unto light 3. In being turned from the power of Satan 4. In being turned unto God 1. Conversion implies a being turned from darkness As darkness was upon the face of the deep till God said Let there be light Gen. 1. 2. So truly darkness overspreads the soul of a natural man till he is enlightned from above Believers are delivered from the power of darkness when translated into the Sons Kingdom Col. 1. 13. which shews that sometimes they were in darkness as well as others and this darkness is said to have a power a power to hold a power to blind a power to ruin so that there is a necessity of being delivered from it Now there be several kinds of darkness from which they are made free 1. Converts are turned from the darkness of ignorance No longer are they contented to be ignorant of the way to salvation but are made inquisitive what they must do to â—e saved They are informed about the doctrine of Christ and are made to understand what believing and repenting mean They know that sin is to be sorrowed for as the worst of evils and that God is the chiefest good and that he so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 16. They are made to know that Christ is to be received by faith and that there is not salvation in any other and that 't is in vain to expect any thing from him as a Saviour unless there be a consenting to obey him as a Lord. These and such like truths are no longer hid from them They are sensible now of the mischief and danger of ignorance 't is therefore their desire to have it in a greater measure removed and they follow on to know the Lord. 2. Converts are turned from the darkness of unbelief The Spirit does work a perswasion in their hearts of the certain truth of whatever God has revealed in his word They dare not any longer make the Lord a lyar by not crediting what he has recorded They believe and admire and acknowledge the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ Col. 2. 2. Heretofore their unbelief did hide the Gospel from them and concluded them in a lost estate they saw not the Majesty of the Word they were not taken with the treasures of wisdom and grace which are there revealed neither were they awakened by the terrors with which the Word abounds against ungodly ones But now the vail is taken away and they assent to and are affected with what the Gospel speaks to them They believe that God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses to them And that being justified by his blood they shall be saved from wrath through him Rom. 5. 9. They believe that sin is deadly and the world a cheat and that solid and eternal happiness is to be found in God therefore they leave a shadow to embrace that which is substantial 3. Converts are turned from the darkness of prejudice Prejudice raises a strange kind of mist before the eyes which hinders the light of truth from shining into the mind The Jews prejudice against Christ was one great thing that blinded them a principal impediment to their embracing of the Faith Satan endeavours to fill the ungodly with these prejudices and to keep them up because by these his Kingdom is very much upheld Sometimes sinners are prejudiced against holiness as if it were a disgrace whereas it being the glory of the Divine Nature certainly 't is the greatest honour and perfection which the rational creature is capable of Sometimes holiness is lookt upon as needless and yet the Scripture affirms that none
cloaths him adorns him makes a feast for him and how glad was he that the lost child was found that the dead son was alive again Surely we may conclude that God is willing to receive those that being sensible they have sinned and perverted that which is right and it has not profited them Job 33. 27. do with their whole heart return to him 'T is true the Converts sins and unbelieving heart together do fill him many times with doubts and fears He remembers God and is troubled because he has so bitterly provoked him he is afraid to call him Father and very much doubts of being received but then again faith and hope are encouraged by such kind of promises as that which you read of 2 Cor. 6. 17 18. Touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty 3. The Convert eyes God as his ultimate end that God may be glorified that God may be enjoyed is his design in turning The sinner is sensible that while unconverted he liv'd to the dishonour of him that gave him life and in whose hand his breath is Now therefore he has the more zealous desires to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in those works which are to his praise Before he sought himself he sought his own things he had no higher aim than to gratifie his worldly and fleshly inclinations with what his carnal and corrupted mind judg'd to be suitable and so himself were but profited and pleased he cared not how much the Lord were injured and provoked But now he is of another mind he carries on the same design that Angels do that Christ did namely to honour and please the God of glory And not only in his spiritual actions does he aim at this but also in his civil and natural actions and recreations which hereby become spiritualized he seriously minds that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 31. Whether therefore ye eat or drink or what ever ye do do all to the glory of God And now he lives like a creature like a son before he lived like neither while he lived only to himself And by thus glorifying of God the Convert takes the right course to enjoy him He looks upon God as the best portion and therefore pitches upon him Let the men of the world take the things of the world if they please let them pursue after bubbles let them toyl and vex themselves for that which when gotten will prove only a further vexation My soul seek thou only after God he alone deserves thy seeking he alone when found can satisfie thee to the uttermost That 's now his language Nothing short of God will content the Convert wealth cannot do it credit sensual delights cannot do it nay Ordinances themselves are but like empty breasts and broken cisterns unless communion with God be enjoyed in them He prayes for God he hears for God he fasts for God he comes to the table for God Earth is like Hell when God is absent and Heaven he judges would not be Heaven if God were not alwayes present Thus have I shewed wherein conversion lies in being turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God I shall add a word or two further to manifest through whom it is that sinners must turn to God if they would be received And the truth is 't is through Christ alone The Apostle plainly affirms That through him both Jews and Gentiles have access by one Spirit unto the Father Eph. 2. 18. And our Lord in express terms sayes Joh. 14. 6. I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the Father but by me 'T is impossible that such guilty and polluted creatures as we have made our selves by sin should ever be accepted before a just and holy God without a Mediator Hence it follows there is a necessity we should look unto Jesus as the Apostles phrase is in whom God is reconciling the world unto himself 2. Cor. 5. 19. else we should not dare to approach but flie away for fear of being as we deserve to be consumed Now when we look unto Jesus the Mediator we must look upon him as our Righteousness as our Advocate as our Helper 1. We must look upon Christ as our Righteousness This is the Name whereby that branch that springs from David is called The Lord our Righteousness Jer. 24. 6. There is no coming unto God without some righteousness or other Our own righteousness is like filthy rags and because rags 't is not able to cover us because filthy rags it cannot adorn or commend us Therefore we must look unto Jesus to be made righteousness to us that for the sake of his obedience and sufferings in our stead our sins may be forgiven and our persons may be accepted in the sight of God The righteousness of Christ which is imputed to believers is so every way perfect and sufficient that the pure and piercing eye of God can â—spy not the leâ—st staw or defect in it If therefore we are covered with this none of our sins will appear against us or be laid to our charge Christ hath died and upon his death God doth justifie Who therefore shall accuse or condemn those that believe 2. When we turn to God we must look upon Christ as our Advocate 1 Joh. 2. 1. If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous This Advocate as he suffered to purchase pardon and grace so he intercedes that these may be bestowed upon returning sinners and God his Father hears him alwayes We ought to consider and to be encouraged by considering what an High-Priest we have at the right hand of God When the sinner beholds himself in himself undone and comes petitioning for remission of sin for the healing of his spiritual plagues and for the saving of his soul which seems to be just upon the borders of damnation This Advocate will take the sinners petition and present it to his Father and all shall be granted ay and infinitely more than the sinner can desire or conceive 3. When we turn to God we must look upon Christ as our Helper He does strengthen the feeble knees else we should not be able to set one step in the way to life The Lord Jesus is called the Author of our Faith Heb. 12. 2. and by him believers are said to have access into that grace wherein they stand Rom. 5. 2. The sinner must be made sensible of his own insufficiency to turn himself to set himself at liberty and upon this must look unto the Son of God to bring his soul out of prison to make him free indeed from the curse of the Law from the bondage of corruption and to enable to come to God and cleave to him In the last place follows the Application Vse I. Of Examination Since God
evils come upon them which will never be removed their torments begin which will never know an end So long as God is God to have God their enemy so long as God is happy to lye in extreamest misery What tongue can utter or heart imagine the horror of this An angry sin-revenging Lord will lay load upon thee and yet keep thee from sinking into nothing he will uphold thee in thy being that thou mayest be for ever plagued He will shew his mighty power in holding thee up with one hand that he may lash thee with the other unto all eternity Use III. Of Consolation You who have obeyed the Call of God to turn I am commanded to speak peace and comfort to you Isa 40. 1. Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith your God The unconverted are not more accursed than you are blessed I have several things to tell you which are enough to make your hearts leap for joy 1. God hath had thoughts of love towards you before the foundation of the world was laid He did predestinate and chuse you unto the adoption of children Eph. 1. long before you were From everlasting he did design to make you his Heirs and joint-heirs with Christ unto that Kingdom and Glory with which the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared And since the love of God towards you is from everlasting is co-eternal with himself surely it can never in time be changed 2. God hath justified you freely by his grace through the redemption of Jesus Christ Rom. 3. 24. As far as the East is from the West so far are your iniquities removed from you Psal 103. 12. and surely that 's as far as you can desire They are cast into the depth of the Sea which argues when they come to be sought for they shall not be found just as those things which are cast into the depth of the Sea we despair that ever they should be recovered Christ has been wounded for your transgressions he has been bruised for your iniquities Isa 53. 5. And as the Imputation of your sins to Christ did cause him to undergo real sufferings so the imputation of his righteousness to you will cause a real exemption from that wrath and punishment which by sin you have justly merited Be of good cheer Converts your sins are forgiven and consequently the curse of afflictions and also the sting of death is taken away 3. You that are Converts it won't be long e're you are all glorified Rom. 8. 30. Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified The Lord has promised that those who overcome shall sit with him on his Throne You shall not only overcome but be more than conquerors through him that has loved you Mansions are already prepared for you and when you are prepared for those Mansions you shall be received into them Then neither the fury nor the favour of the world will be a temptation Satans fiery darts will not be able to reach you when once you are gotten into the third Heaven When you are just entring into the new Jerusalem you will shake hands both with sin and misery at the door and neither of these will be able to follow Tears will be wiped away and all cause of sorrow will be gone there will be a clear view of God without the least cloud the Sun of righteousness will shine for ever without any eclipse there will be intire joy without grief perfect peace without any trouble compleat holiness without the least remainder of corruption a full blessedness without period Use IV. Of Exhortation And who would not now become a Convert Have you any thing to say against a pardon or against that glory which has been revealed Shall it be made a question whether pleasures for evermore or eternal torments are to be preferred Oh that you would come to your selves and then I am sure you would come to God immediately The Arguments to perswade you to Conversion are divers 1. If you turn not you cannot answer the end of your Creation You must not think God gave you a being and sent you into the world to please your selves to satisfie your inordinate and corrupt desires and to live carelesly and rebelliously against him but thus you will do till you are converted Did the Lord give you an understanding faculty and not design that he should be understood and known by you Did he give you a memory and not intend that he should be remembred Did he give you an heart to love and to desire and not design himself to be the chief object of both Did he give you affections that you should give them away to sin and vanity Oh cross not any longer the end for which you were made lest you cause the Lord to repent and be grieved at the heart he made you Gen. 6. 6. and so resolve to destroy the workmanship of his own hands If you continue obstinate and without understanding He that made you will not save you or have mercy on you he that formed you will shew you no favour Isa 27. 11. 2. Unless you turn you cannot answer the end of the death of Christ and the Redemption wrought thereby Our Lord died not only to expiate offences but also to purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works and that in the body of his flesh through death he might present them holy and unblameable Col. 1. 22. Through the eternal Spirit he offered up himself without spot to God that by his blood he might purge our consciences from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 14. From these and and such like places it evidently follows that not only our pardon but our purity was designed by the Lord Jesus But how can we be pure unless we turn to God from sin which does defile us Christ knew what a sickness and debasement of our nature sin is therefore he himself was slain that sin might be killed And will you dare to live in sin Hark to the Apostle 1 Pet. 2. 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed And as the death of Christ is an argument to perswade to turn from sin so from this death vertue and power is to be derived whereby sin may be subdued 3. You are further obliged to turn because of Gods condescension in giving you leave to do it If the gulph had been fixed upon the very first transgression if the turning of fallen man had been as impossible as the turning of the fallen Angels the Lord could not have been charged with the least injustice But although you have departed he calls after you Without any detriment or prejudice to his justice he has found out a way to shew you mercy The Devils were never called to
conversion as soon as ever they had sinned they were fettered in chains of darkness that shall never be unloosed But hark what wisdom sayes Prov. 8. 4. Unto you O men I call and my vow is to the sons of man You have often stopt your ears Oh that at last you would hear that your souls may live The long deafning of your ears may provoke the Lord to shut his mouth and then you will never be converted never healed 4. Consider Who 't is that calls upon you to turn and what is his design in it You are undone wretches who have neither skill nor will nor power to save your selves And he that calls after you is a God to whom power and mercy does belong And his design is to make his power and mercy known in you His aim is to bring you neer that he manifest himself to you as he does not manifest himself unto the world to shield you from danger to supply your needs according to the riches of his glory to deliver you from every evil work and to preserve you to his heavenly Kingdom And is there any harm in all this 5. 'T is unreasonable that the world or sin should be an hindrance and any longer stave you off from God Well may you turn from sin for that deserves your hatred well may your hearts turn from idolizing the world and the things of it for these deserve your scorn All things besides God are either hurtful or helpless Nothing more hurtful than sin and they that have expected help from the creatures have found themselves destitute and forlorn in their extremity 6. If you turn to God he will not fail to turn to you His ear shall be turned and be open to your cry his hand shall be upon you for good and in the hollow of his hand you shall be secure he is greater than all and none shall be able to pluck you out of his hands he will not hide but turn his face towards you he will give peace as well as mercy he will let you know that pardon is multiplied that your love also may be increased The debtor loved much to whom much was forgiven Finally the stream of his benefits shall be turned towards you The Lord will do you good and delight in doing so Temporal things you shall not want spiritual blessings shall be showred down abundantly and at last you shall ascend and be admitted into his immediate presence where God will turn to you so as never to withdraw more Be not afraid or dismayed whoever turn against you for conversion sake The Lord himself is with you and for you and he will turn to good what adversaries do mean for evil 7. Not only his Word and Ministers and Spirit but also his Providences call upon you to turn to God Both his mercies and his judgments do press this exhortation to conversion The streams of goodness that continually run towards you and which sometimes swell and overflow abundantly do signifie that 't is your wisdom to forsake the broken cisterns and come to the fountain of living waters His mercies speak this language that 't is good to return into and obtain an interest in the Father of them Then these mercies will be in mercy Cords of love are cast about you on purpose to draw you unto the God of love and peace Oh that you would run to him The riches of his goodness are unlocked and discovered that hereby you may be led unto repentance Rom. 2. 4. His judgments likewise are inflicted in pursuance of the same design That is the voice that 's uttered by them Go return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal you he hath smitten and he will bind you up Hos 6. 1. The Fire of London calls upon the Inhabitants of it and of the whole Land since they have not only heard of God by the hearing of the ear but their eyes have seen him marching out so dreadfully against them to abhor themselves and to repent in dust and ashes Those many thousands which were cut off by the plague of Pestilence although they are dead they still speak and that which they say is this Oh you that are alive return return unto the Lord your God for after death 't will be too late to do it 8. Consider As yet 't is not too late to turn to God Though hitherto stupid if now you will awake though hitherto refractory if now you will yield your selves to the Lord though hitherto you have shut the door to keep in sin and to keep out Christ if now at last you will open at the knock of the Gospel and consent that your lusts should be expelled and the Lord Jesus enter he is ready to receive you into grace and favour and all former denials affronts repulses shall be forgotten and forgiven The Scepter is still held forth the Lord is not removed from the Mercy-seat mercy and grace may now be had if you will come for it But if you will not know when you are well offered and are resolved not to cease from your stubborn way an oath may soon be sworn in wrath that you shall never enter into Rest and God may say He that 's filthy let him be filthy still he that is unjust let him be unjust still he that is joyned to the profits and pleasures of the world which he makes his idols let him alone he that despises the offer of grace shall not have another offer he that now refuses to be converted shall never be a Convert Oh that I could prevail by all these arguments But lest they should take no impression lest they should slip out of your minds and have no influence upon your hearts I shall second them With a voice from Hell With a voice from Heaven With a voice from Christ himself 1. With a voice from Hell Imagine therefore a damned sinner who has lain many years in the burning lake should have leave to come and appear in the face of this assembly and a river of tears having first gushed out of his eyes and for a while stopt his expressions he at length should thus speak to you Cursed be the day wherein I was born and that night wherein it was said there is a man-child conceived Let that day be darkness let not God regard it from on high neither let the light shine upon it Alas 't were better never to have been at all than to be for ever miserable How intolerable are the gNawings of the never dying worm how hot and unquenchable are those flames which the breath of the Lord as a stream of brimstone doth kindle The world is extreamly mistaken in sin They think it light and pleasant and so I thought once as well as they but now I find how wofully I was deceived I feel sins weight and taste yea am drunken with the gall and wormwood of it I find that true which before I was told but
that he would pity those among you who are unto your selves cruel Oh that he would awaken the souls that are not only asleep but dead and break the hearts which have made themselves as an Adamant stone Oh that he would convince you of your sin and misery and effectually turn you from the one that you may be for ever freed from the other To these Petitions let every heart say Amen! Vse V. Of Direction I would believe by this time that you are willing to hearken unto and likewise follow some directions how to become sincere Converts Directions how to get ease when you are in pain how to recover health when you are sick or an â—â—tate which you have lost I am confident would be heeded And are not directions from the infallible word of truth how to be turned and saved of far greater consequence The Directions are these which follow 1. Think upon and with a serious spirit consider your wayes This Consideration had great influence upon the Psalmist Psal 119. 59. I thought on my wayes and turned my feet unto thy testimonies I made haste and delayed not c. That injunction is doubled Hag. 1. 5. And again v. 7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts Consider your wayes And that passage Ezek. 18. 14. is to be observed Now lo if he beget a Son that seeth all his fathers sins which he hath done and considereth and doth not such like c. If sinners would but consider what they do when they do evil it would be a means to make them cease to do evil and learn to do well Consider the misery and danger of being at a distance from God The wayes which naturally you walk in do lead you away from him and the Scripture sayes Those that are far from God shall perish he will destroy all them that go a whoring from him Psal 73. 27. Think of these things so long till you find your hearts affected so as to conclude it height of madness to lye secure in an unconverted state Let this thought take deep impression All the while thou persistest in thy evil wayes thou for sakest the Lord and forsakest thy own mercies and art travelling apace to the regions of eternal wo and darkness 2. Study the vanity of former excuses I know the natural mans mouth is very full of them but 't is very easie to answer them Sin thou sayest is rivited in thy very nature Therefore thou hadst need to cry to heaven that thy nature may be changed and to be made a new creature But sin is the commune practise Therefore thy danger is the greater and thou shouldst be the more careful lest thou be overwhelmed in that râ—in that will be so general But my lusts are both profitable and pleasant and why then should I abandon them Consider soul whether the damned who have lost their souls and eternal blessedness and suffer the vengeance of eternal fire have any reason to boast of gain or pleasure But men will deride and scorn me if I become a Convert They that do so are besides themselves and sober people use not to be concerned at the laughter of such as are out of their wits Oh contèmn their contempt despise the shame they cost upon you shortly they themselves will wish that instead of scorning at they had been imitators of you But to turn unto and follow God is very hard and the difficulty is a very great discouragement The work is hard indeed but the strength and assistance is great which shall be afforded The Lord will work all your works in you and for you Isa 26. 12. He commands nothing but what he is ready to help you to perform himself But if I am a Convert I shall never live a pleasant hour my tears will be my meat and drink and my sorrows my perpetual companions Oh gross mistake and unreasonable prejudice against the wayes of holiness If godliness be so melancholy a business why does the Scripture tell us of peace which passeth all understanding and joys that are unspeakable and full of glory Why is David so often singing so often harping if mirth and Religion were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 altogether inconsistent Oh but if I turn I shall be exposed to suffering Well suppose thou art the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the present grace and consolation which will attend thy trials much less with the glory that shall be revealed Study the vanity of all such excuses 3. Save your selves from the untoward generation you live among This was the advice the Apostle gave to them that had been awakened and pricked in their heart Act. 2. 40. You must shake hands with your former brethren in iniquity else they will be a great temptation and snare to you Carnal company are incarnate devils who endeavour to draw as many as they can to Hell along with them Therefore the wisest of men does use so many words of caution Prov. 4. 14 15. Enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men avoid it pass not by it turn from it and pass away Though you are not bound to be morose and uncivil towards the ungodly take heed of being delightfully familiar Many a conviction and good resolution has cooled and vanished by our lighting into the society of the wicked Suck not in any prejudices from them against true piety and when they presume to prate against prayer hearing fasting professing when they quarrel against the Lord's day and censure the Lord's people look upon all this but as the ravings of such as are in a spiritual sense distracted 4. Despise not Prophecyings The Ministry of the Word is ordained on purpose to work faith and to turn sinners unto God and therefore let not drowsiness distraction cares or pleasures or lusts or the deceitfulness of riches choak this Word and hinder it from prospering to this end whereunto it is appointed When Ezekiel prophesied over the dead and dry bones they presently revived and a valley of dead bones became a living Army And who knows while thou art prophesied over by the Ministry of the Gospel but of a sudden thou mayest be made alive who wast dead in trespasses Let powerful preaching be prized and frequented by you Certainly the word has a converting power when 't is set home Psal 19. 7. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple 5. Quench not the Spirit 1 Thes 5. 19. His conviction you must not stifle but improve The Spirit of the Lord sometimes approaches very neer unto a drunkard a swearer a covetous worldling an unclean person and tells them the way they take it is perverse before him that there is but a step between them and death between them and damnation and therefore moves them to humiliation and to reformation He informs them they had better leave their sins than be undone for their sake Now such convictions might be heightned into Conversion if they were but closed with and improved But thousands resist the holy Ghost they had rather be permitted to sin without disturbance than to have the waters troubled though upon stepping in they might be healed what ever their spiritual malady and plague be Dost thou find the Spirit neer thee Oh heed his checks comply with all his motions and beg that thou mayst not be put off with commune operations but that a saving work may be wrought in thee 6. Lay hold upon and plead the Lords own Covenant In this Covenant he has engaged to give you a new heart to cleanse you from your filthiness and your idols to put his Spirit within you and cause you to walk in his Statutes that is in one word to convert you Ezek. 36. 25 26 27. Be earnest that these promises may be accomplished Resolve to take no nay the Lord will be pleased with your importunity in a matter which 't is so much for his own honour to grant you You cannot turn your selves but he can as easily do this work as leave it undone One word of life and power will raise you And since he sayes Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes for why will ye die O house of Israel presently make this Text into a prayer Turn us turn us from our evil wayes for why should we die O thou God of Israel FINIS