for Ink I would petition them on my knees verily were I able I would O how thankfully I would if they would be prevailed with to repent and turn How long have I travelled in birth with you how frequently have I made suit to you how often would I have gathered you how instant have I been with you this is that I have prayed for and studied for for many years that I might bring you to God O that I might but do it Will you yet be intreated O what a happy man might you make me if you would but hearken to me and suffer me to carry you over to Jesus Christ. But Lord how insufficient am I for this work I have been many a year woing for thee but the Damsel would not go with me Lord what a task hast thou set me to do Alas wherewith shall I pierce the scales of Leviathan or make the heart to feel that is hard as a stone hard as a piece of the nether milstone Shall I go and lay my mouth to the grave and look when the dead will obey me and come forth shall I make an Oration to the Rocks or declaim to the Mountains and think to move them with arguments shall I give the blind to see From the beginning of the world was it not heard that a man opened the eyes of the blind But thou O Lord canst pierce the scales and prick the heart of the Sinner I can but shoot at rovers and draw the â—ow at a venture and do thou direct the arrow between the joynts of the harness and kill the sin and save the Soul of the sinner that casts hiâ— eyes into these labours But I must apply my self to you to whom I am sent yet I am at a great loss Would to God I knew how to go to work with you would I stick at the pains God knoweth you your selves are my witnesses how I have followed you in private as well as in publick and have brought the Gospel to your doors testifying to you the necessity of the new birth and perswading you to look in time after a sound and through change Beloved I have not acted a part among you to serve my own advantage our Gospel is not yea and nay Have not you heard the same truths from the Pulpit by publick labours and by private letters by personal instructions Brethren I am of the same mind as ever that holiness is the best choice that there is no entring into Heaven but by the straight passages of the second birth that without holiness you shall never see God Heb. 12. 14. Ah my beloved refresh my bowels in the Lord. If there be any consolation in Christ any comfort of love any fellowship of the spirit any bowels and mercies fulfil you my joy Now give your selves unto the Lord 2 Cor. 8. 5. Now set your faces to seek him Now set up the Lord Jesus in your hearts and set him up in your houses Now come in and kiss the Son Psal. 2. 12. and embrace the tenders of his mercy Touch his Scepter and live why will you die I beg not for my self but fain I would have you happy This is the prize I run for and the white I aim atâ— My souls desire and prayer for you is that you may be saved Rom. 10. 1. The famous Lycurgus having instituted most strict and wholeâ—â—m Lâ—ws for his people told them he was necessitated to go a journey from them and got them to bind themselves in an oath that his laws should be observed till his return This done he went into a voluntary banishment and never returned more that they might by vertue of their oath be engaged to the perpetual observing of his laws Methinks I should be glad of the hard conditions which he endured though I love you tenderly so I might but hereby engage you througly to the Lord Jesus Christ Dearly beloved would you rejoyce the heart of your Minister Why then embrace the counsels of the Lord by me forgo your sins set to prayer up with the worship of God in your families keep at a distance from the corruptions of the times What greater joy to a Minister than to hear of souls born unto Christ by him and that his Children walk in the truth 2 Iohn 4. Brethren I beseech you suffer a friendly plainness and freedom with you in your deepest concernments I am not playing the orator to make a learned speech to you nor dressing my dish with eloquence wherewith to please you These lines are upon a weighty errand indeed viz. to convince and convert and save you I am not baiting my hook with Rhetorick nor fishing for your applause bâ—t for your souls My work is not to please you but to save you nor is my business with your fancies but your hearts If I have not your hearts I have nothing If I were to please your ears I could sing another song If I were to preach my self I would steer another course I could then tell you a smoother tale I would make you pillows and speak you peace for how can Ahab love this Micaiah that always prophesies â—vil concerning him 1 Kings 22. 8. But how much better are the wounâ—s of a Friend than the fair speeches of the Haâ—lot who flattereth with her lips till the Dart strike through the liver and hunteth for the precious life Prov. 7. 21 22 23. and Prov. 6. 26. If I were to quiet a crying Infant I might sing him to a pleasant mood or rock him asleep but when the child is fallen into the Fire the parent takes another course he will not now go to still him with a song or trifle I know if we speed not with you you are lost if we cannot get your consent to arise and come away you perish for ever No Conversion and no Salvation I must get your good will or leave you miserable But here the difficulty of my work again recurs upon me Lord choose my stones out of the rock 1 Sam. 17. 40 45. I come in the name of the Lord of Hosts the God of the Armies of Israel I come forth like the stripling against Goliah to wrestle not with flesh and blood but with Principalities and Powers and the Rulers of the darkness of this World Eph. 6. 12. This day let the Lord smite the Philistine and spoil the strong man of his Armour and give me to fetch off the captives out of his hand Lord choose my words choose my weapons for me and when I put my hand into the bag and take thence a stone and sling it do thou carry it to the mark and make it sink not into the forehead 1 Sam. 17. 40. but the heart of the unconverted sinner and smite him to the ground with Saul in his so happy fall Acts 9. 4. Thou hast sent me as Abraham did Eliezer to take a wife unto my master thy son Gen. 24. 4. But my discouraged soul is ready to fear
of the world uppermost in our aims love and estimations Ioh. 2. 15. Iam. 4. 4. With the sound convert Christ hath the supremacy How dear is this name to him How precious is its savour Cant. 1. 3. Psal. 45. 8. The name of Jesus is engraven upon his heart Gal. 4. 19. and lies as a bundle of mirth between his breasts Cant. 1. 13. 14. Honour is but air and laughter is but madness and Mammon is fallen like Dagon before the Ark with hands and head broken off on the threshold when once Christ is savingly revealed Here is the pearl of great price to the true Convert here is his treasure here is his hope Mat. 13. 44. 45. This is his glory My beloved is mine and I am his Gal. 6. 14. Cant. 2. 16. O 't is sweeter to him to be able to say Christ is mine than if he could say the Kingdom is mine the Indies are mine Fourthly your own Righteousness Before conversion man seeks to cover himself with his own sig-leaves Phil. 3. 6 7. and to lick himself whole with his own duties Mic. 6. 6 7. He is apt to trust in himself Luk. 16. 15. and 18. 9. and set his own righteousness and to reckon his Counters for Gold and not submit to the righteousness of God Rom. 10. 3. But Conversion changes his mind now he casts away his filthy rags and counts his own righteousness but a menstruous cloth he casts it off as a man would the verminous tatters of a nasty beggar Esay 64. 6. Now he is brought to poverty of spirit Mat. 5. 3. complains of and condemns himself Rom. 7. and all his inventory is poor and miserable and wretched and blind and naked Rev. 3. 17. he sees a world of iniquity in his holy things calls his once idolized righteousness but flesh and loss and dogs-meat and would not for a thousand worlds be found in himself Phil. 3. 4 7 8 9. His finger is ever upon his sores Psal. 51. 3. his sins his wants Now he begins to set a high price upon Christs righteousness he sees the need of a Christ in every duty to justifie his person and justifie his performances he cannot live without him he cannot pray without him Christ must go with him or else he cannot come into the presence of God he leans upon the hand of Christ and so he bows himself in the house of his God He sets himself down for a lost undone man without him His life is hid in Christ as the life of a man in the heart He is fixed in Christ as the roots of the tree spread in the earth for stability and nutriment Before the news of a Christ was a stale and sapless thing but now how sweet is a Christ Augustine could not relish his before so much admired Cicero because he could not find the name of Christ How pathetically cries he Dulcissime amantisbenignis Caris c. quando te videbo quando satiabor de pulcritudine tua Medit. c. 37. O most sweet most loving most kind most dear most precious most desired most lovely most fair c. all in a breath when he speaks of and to his Christ. In a word the voice of the Convert is with the Martyr None but Christ. 2. The terms which are either Vltimate or Subordinate and Mediate The Vltimate is God the Father Son and Holy Ghost whom the true Convert takes as his All-sufficient and eternal blessedness A man is never truly sanctified till his very heart be in truth set upon God above all things as his portion and chief good These are the natural breathings of a believers heart Thou art my portion O Lord Psal. 1. 9. 57. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord Psal. 34. 2. My expectation is from him he only is my rock and my salvation he is my defence in God is my salvation and my glory the rock my strength and my refuge is in God Psal. 62. 1 2 5 6 7. Psal. 18. 1 2. Would you put it to an issue whether you be converted or not now then let thy soul and all that is within thee attend Hast thou taken God for thy happiness Where doth the content of thy heart lie Whence doth thy choicest comfort come in Come then and with Abraham lift up thine eyes Eastward and Westward and Northward and Southward and cast about thee what it is that thou wouldst have in Heaven or earth to make thee happy If God should give thee thy choice as he did to Solomon or should say to thee as Ahashuerus to Esther What is thy petition and what is thy request and it shall be granted thee Esther 5. 3. What wouldst thou ask go into the gardens of pleasure and gather all the fragrant flowers from thence would these content thee Go to the treasures of Mammon suppose thou mightest lade thy self while thou wouldst from hence go to the towers to the trophies of honour what thinkest thou of being a man of renown and having a name like the name of the great men of the earth Would any of this all this suffice thee and make thee count thy self a happy man if so then certainly thou art carnal and unconverted If not go further wade into the divine excellencies the store of his mercies the hiding of his power the deeps unfathomable of his All-sufficiency Doth this suit thee best and please thee most Dost thou say 'T is good to be here Mat. 17. 4. Here I will pitch here I will live and dye Wilt thou let all the world go rather than this Then 't is well between God and thee Happy art thou O man happy art thou that ever thou wast born If a God can make thee happy thou must needs be happy for thou hast avouched the Lord to be thy God Deut. 26. 17. Dost thou say to Christ as he to us Thy father shall be my father and thy God my God Ioh. 20. 17. Here is the turning point An unsound professor never takes up his rest in God but converting grace does the work and so cures the fatal misery of the fall by turning the heart from its idols to the living God 1 Thes. 1. 9. Now saies the soul Lord whither should I go Thou hast the words of eternal life Ioh. 6. 68. Here he centers here he settles Oh 't is as the entrance of Heaven to him to see his interest in God When he discovers this he saith Returne unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Psal. 116. 7. and it is even ready to breath out Simeons song Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Luke 2. 29. and saith with Iacob when his old heart revived at the welcome tidings It is enough Gen. 45. 28. When he sees he hath a God in Covenant to go to this is all his salvation aud all his desire 2 Sam. 23. 5. Man is this thy case Hast thou experienced this Why then blessed art thou
heart to the particular commands of Christ. Those Jews in the Prophet seemed as well resolved as any in the world and call God to witness that they meant as they said But they stuck in generals When Gods command crosses their inclination they will not obey Ier. 42. 1 2 3 4 5 6. compared with ch 43. v. 2. Take the Assemblies larger Caâ—echism and see their excellent and most compendious exposition of the commandments and put thy heart to it Art thou resolved in the strength of Christ to set upon the consciencious practice of every duty that thou findest to be there required of thee and to set against every sin that thou findest there forbidden This is the way to be sound in Gods statutes that thou maist never be ashamed Psal. 119. 80. Thirdly Observe the special duties that thy heart is most against and the special sins that 't is most inclin'd unto and see whether it be truly resolved to perform the one and forego the other What sayest thou to thy bosome sin thy gainfull sin What sayest thou to costly and hazardous and flesh displeasing duties If thou halâ—est here and dost not resolve by the grace of God to cross thy flesh and put to it thou art unsound Psal. 18. 23. Psal. 119. 6. Dir. X. Let all this be compleated in a solemn Covenant between God and thy soul. Psal. 119. 106. Neh. 10. 29. For thy better help therein take these few directions First set apart some time more than once to be spent in secret before the Lord. 1. In seeking earnestly his special assistance and gracious acceptance of thee 2. In considering distinctly all the terms or conditions of the Covenant expressed in the form hereafter proposed 3. In searching thine heart whether thou art sincerely willing to forsake all thy sins and to resign up thy self body and soul unto God and his service to serve him in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of thy life Secondly Compose thy Spirit into the most serious frame possible suitable to transaction of so high importance Thirdly Lay hold on the Covenant of God and rely upon his promise of giving grace and strength whereby thou maist be enabled to perform thy promise Trust not to thine own strength to the strength of thine own resolutions but take hold on his strength Fourthly Resolve to he faithful having engaged thine heart opened thy mouth and subscribed with thy hand unto the Lord resolve in his strength never to go back Lastly Being thus prepared on some convenient time set apart for the purpose set upon the work and in the most solemn manner possible as if the Lord were visibly present before thine eyes fall down on thy knees and spreading forth thine hands toward Heaven open thine heart to the Lord in these or the like words O Most dreadful God for the Passion of thy Son I beseech thee accept of thy poor Prodigal now prostrating himself at thy Door I have fallen from thee by mine iniquity and am by Nature a Son of Death and a thousand-fold more the Child of Hell by my wicked practice But of thine infinite Grace thou hast promised Mercy to me in Christ if I will but turn to Thee with all my Heart Therefore upon the Call of thy Gospel I am now come in and throwing down my weapons submit my self to thy Mercy And because thou requirest as the Condition of my Peace with Thee that I should put away mine Idols and be at defiance with all thine Enemies which I acknowledge I have wickedly sided with against Thee I here from the bottom of my heart renounce them all firmly Covenanting with thee not to allow my self in any known sin but conscientiously to use all the means that I know thou hast prescribed for the death and utter destruction of all my corruptions And whereas I have formerly inordinately and idolatrously let out my affections upon the World I do here resign up my heart to Thee that madst it humbly protesting before thy Glorious Majesty that is the firm resolution of my heart and that I do unfeinedly desire Grace from Thee that when thou shalt call me hereunto I may practise this my resolution through thy assistance to forsake all that is dear unto me in this world rather than to turn from thee to the ways of sin and that I will watch against all its temptations whether of Prosperity or Adversity lest they should withdraw my heart from thee beseeching thee also to help me against the temptations of Satan to whose wicked Suggestions I resolve by thy grace never to yield my self a Servant And because my own righteousness is but menstruous rags I renounce all confidence therein and acknowledge that I am of my self a hopeless helpless undone creature without righteousness or strength And forasmuch as thou hast of thy bottomless Mercy offered most graciously to me wretched sinner to be again my God through Christ if I would accept of thee I call Heaven and Earth to record this day that I do here solemnly avouch the for the Lord my God and with all possible veneration bowing the neck of thy Soul under the feet of thy most Sacred Majesty I do here take thy the Lord Iehovah Father Son and Holy Ghost for my portion and chief good and do give up my self Body and Soul for thy Servant promising and vowing to serve thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of my life And since thou hast appointed the Lord Jesus Christ the only means of coming unto thee I do here upon the bended knees of my Soul accept of him as the only new and living way by which sinners may have access to thee and do here solemnly joyn my self in a Marriage Covenant to him O blessed Jesus I come to thee hungry and hardly bestead poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked a most loathsom polluted wretch a guilty condemned Malefactor unworthy for ever to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord much more to be solemnly married to the King of Glory but 〈◊〉 such is thine unparallell'd love I do here with all my power accept thee and do take thee for my Head and Husband for better for worse for richer for poorer for all times and conditions to love and honour and obey thee before all others and this to the death I embrace thee in all thine Offices I renounce mine own worthiness and do here avow thee to be the Lord my Righteousness I renounce mine own wisdom and do here take thee for mine only Guide I renounce mine own Will and take thy Will for my Law And since thou hast told me that I must suffer if I will reign I do here Covenant with thee to take my Lot as it falls with thee and by thy Grace assisting to run all hazards with thee verily supposing that neither life nor death shall part between thee and me And because thou hast been pleased to
renew me by the power of his Grace this man is in the likeliest way to win Grace Obj. But God heareth not sinners their prayer is an abomination Ans. Distinguish between sinners 1. There are resolved sinners their prayers God abhors 2 returning sinners these God will come forth to and meet with mercy though yet afar off Luke 15. 20. Though the prayers of the unsanctified cannot have full acceptance yet God hath done much at the request of such as at Ahabs humiliation and Ninevehs fast 1â— Kings 21. 26. Ionah 3. â— 9 10. Surely thou maist go as far as theseâ— though thou hast no Grace and how dost thou know but thou maist speed in thy suit as they did in theirs Yea is he not far more likely to Grant thee than them since thou askest in the name of Christ and that not for temporal blessings as they but for things much more pleasing to him viz. for Christ Grace Pardon that thou maist be justified sanctified renewed and fitted to serve him Turn to those soul incouraging Scriptures Prov. 2. 1. to 6. Luke 11. 9 10 11 12 13. Prov. 8. 34 35. Is it not good comfort that he calleth thee Mark 10. 49. Doth he set thee on the use of means and dost thou think he will mock thee Doubtless he will not fail thee if thou be not wanting to thy self O pray and faint not Luke 18. 1. A person of great Quality having offended the Duke of Buckingham the King 's great Favourite being admitted into her presence after long waiting prostrates himself at his feet saying I am resolved never to â—isâ— more till I have obtained your Grace's favour with which carriage he did overcome him With such a resolution do thou throw thy self at thee feet of God 'T is for thy life and therefore follow him and give not over Resolve thou wilt not be put off with bones with common mercies What though God do not presently open to thee Is not grace worth the waiting for Knock and wait and no doubt but sooner or later mercy will come And this know that thou hast the very same encouragement to seek and wait that the Saints now in glory once had for they were once in thy very case And have they sped so well and wilt thou not go to the same door and wait upon God in the same course Dir. XV. Forsake thy evil company Prov. 9. 6. and forbear the occasions of sin Prov. 23. 31. Thou wilt never be turned from sin till thou wilt decline and forgoe the temptations to sin I never expect thy Conversion from sin unless thou art brought to some self-denial as to fly the occasions If thou wilt be nibling at the bait and playing on the brink and tampering and medling with the share thy soul will surely be taken Where God doth expose men in his providence unavovidably to temptations and the occasions are such as we cannot remove we may expect special assistance in the use of his means But when we tempt God by running into danger he will not engage to support us when we are tempted And of all temptation one of the most fatal and perniclous is evil company Oh what hopeful beginnings have these often stisled Oh the souls the estates the families the Towns that these have ruined How many a poor sinner hath been enlightned and convinced and hath been just ready to give the Devil the slip and hath even escaped his snare and yet wicked company have pull'd him back at last and made him sevenfold more the child of Hell In one word I have no hopes of thee except thou wilt snake off thy evil company Christ speaketh to thee as to them in another case If thou seek me then let these go their way Iob. 18. 8. Thy life lies upon it Forsake these or else thou canst not live Prov. 9. 6. Wilt thou be worse than the beast to run on when thou seest the Lord with a drawn sword in thy way Num. 22. 33. Let this sentence be written in Capitals upon thy conscience A COMPANION OF FOOLS SHALL BE DESTROYED Pro. 13. 20. The Lord hath spoken it and who shall reverse it And wilt thou run upon destruction when God himself doth forwarn thee If God do ever change thy heart it will appear in the change of thy company Oh fear and fly this Gulf by which so many thousand souls have been swallowed into perdition It will be hard for thee indeed to make thine escape Thy Companions will be mocking thee out of thy Religion and will study to fill thee with prejudices against strictness as ridiculous and comfortless They will be flattering thee and alluring thee but remember the warnings of the Holy Ghost My son if sinners entice thee consent thou not If they say come with us cast in thy lot among us Walk not thou in the way with them reâ—rain thy foot from their path Avoid it pass not by it turn from it and pass away For the way of the wicked is as darkness they know not at what they stumble They lay wait for their own blood they lurk privily for their own lives Prov. 1. 10. to the 18. Prov. 4. 14. to the 19. My soul is moved within me to see how many of my hearers aâ—e like to perish both they and their houses by this wretched mischeif even the haunting of such places and company whereby they are drawn into sin Once more I admonish you as Moses did Israel Num. 16. 26. And he spake unto the Congregation saying Depart I pray you from the Tents of these wicked men Oh! flie them as you would those that had the Plague sores running in their foreheads These are the Devils Panders and decoys and if thou dost not make thine escape they will toll thee into perdition and will prove thine eternal ruine Dir. XVI Lastly Set apart a day to humble thy soul in secret by fasting and prayer and to work the sense of thy sins and miseries upon thy heart Read over the Assemblies Exposition of the Commandments and write down the duties omitted and sins committed by thee against every Commandment and so make a Catalogue of thy sins and with shame and sorrow spread them before the Lord. And if thy heart be truly willing to the terms joyn thy self solemnly to the Lord in that Covenant set down in the 9. Direction and the Lord grant thee mercy in his sight Thus I have told thee what thou must do to be saved Wilt thou not now obey the voice of the Lord Wilt thou arise and set to thy work Oh man what answer wilt thou mâ—ke what excuse wilt thou have if thou shoulâ—â—st perish at last through very wilfulness when thou hast known the way of life I do not fear thy miscarrying if thine own idleness do not at last undo thee in neglecting the use of the means that are so plainly here prescribed Rouze up oh sluggard and ply thy work Be doing and the Lord will be
thee and with all possible thankfulness accept thee as mine and give up my self to thee as thine Thou shalt be Soveraign over me my King and my God Thou shalt be in the Throne and all my powers shall bow to thee they shall come and worship before thy feet Thou shalt be my portion O Lord and I will rest in thee Thou callest for my heart Oh that it were any way fit for thine acceptance I am unworthy O Lord everlastingly unworthy to be thine But since thou wilt have it so I freely give up my heart to thee Take it it is thine Oh that it were better But Lord I put it into thine hand who alone canst mend it Mould it after thine own heart make it as thou wouldst have it holy humble heavenly soft tender flexible and write thy Law upon it Come Lord Jesus come quickly enter in triumphantly take me up for thy self for ever I give up to thee I come to thee as the only way to the Father as the only Mediator the means ordained to bring me to God I have dostroyed my self but in thee is my help Save Lord or else I perish I come to thee with the rope about my neck I am worthy to die and to be damned Never was the hire more due to the servant never was penny more due to the labourer than Death and Hell my jâ—st wages is due to me for my sins But I fly to the merits I trust alone to the value and vertue of thy Sacrifice and prevalency of thine intercession I submit to thy teaching I make choice of thy Government Stand open ye everlasting doors that the King of Glory may come in O thou spirit of the most high the comforter and sanctifier of thy chosen come in with all thy glorious train all thy Courtly attendants thy fruits and graces Let me be thine habitation I can give thee but what is thine own already but here with the poor Widow I cast my two mites my soul and my body in to thy treasury fully resigning them up to thee to be sanctified by thee to be servants to thee They shall be thy patients cure thou their maladies they shall be thy agents govern thou their motions Too long have I served the world too long have I hearkned to Satan but now I renounce them all and will be ruled by thy dictates and directions and guided by thy counsel O blessed Trinity O glorious Unity I deliver up my self to thee receive me write thy name O Lord upon me and upon all that I have as thy proper goods Set thy mark upon me upon every member of my body and every faculty of my soul. I have chosen thy precepts Thy Law will I lay before me this shall be the copy which I will keep in my eye and study to write after According to this rule do I resolve by thy Grace to walk after this law shall my whole man be governed And though I cannot perâ—ectly keep one of thy Commandments yet I will allow my self in the breach of none I know my flesh will hang back but I resolve in the power of thy Grace to cleave to thee and thy holy ways what ever it cost me I am sure I cannot come off a loser by thee and therefore I will be content with reproach and difficulties and hardships here and will deny my self and take up my Cross and follow thee Lord Jesus thy Yoke is easie thy Cross is welcome as it is the way to thee I lay aside all hopes of a worldly happiness I will be content to tarry till I come to thee Let me be poor and low little and despised here so I may but be admitted to live and raign with thee hereafter Lord thou hast my heart and hand to this agreement Be it as the laws of the Medes and Persians never to be reversed To this I will stand in this resolution by Grace I will live and die I have sworn and will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments I have given my free consent I have made my everlasting choice Lord Jesus confirm the contract Amen CHAP. VII Containing the Motives to Conversion THough what is already said of the Necessity of Conversion and of the Miseries of the unconverted might be sufficient to induce any considering mind to resolve upon a present turning or Conversion unto God yet knowing what a piece of desperate obstinacy and untractableness the heart of man naturally is I have thought it necessary to add to the means of Conversion and Directions for a Covenant-closure with God in Christ some Motives to perswade you hereunto O Lord fail me not now at my last attempts If any soul hath read hitherto and be yet untouched now Lord fasten in him and do thy work Now take him by the heart overcome him perswade him till he say Thou hast prevailed for thou wast stronger than I Lord didst thou not make me a fisher of men And have I toyled all this while and caught nothing Alas that I should have spent my strength for nought And now I am casting my last Lord Iesus stand thou upon the shore and direct how and where I shall spread my net and let me so enclose with arguments the souls I seek for that they may not be able to get out Now Lord for a multitude of souls now for a full draught O Lord God remember me I pray thee and strengthen me this once O God But I turn me unto you Men and Brethren Heaven and Earth do call upon you yea Hell it self doth preach the Doctrine of repentance unto you The Angels of the Churches travel with you Gal. 4. 19. the Angels of Heaven wait for you for your repenting and turning unto God O sinner why should the Devils make merry with thee why shouldst thou be a morsel for that devouring Leviathan Why should harpies and hell-hounds tear thee and make a feast upon thee and when they have got thee into the snare and have fastned their talons in thee laugh at thy destruction and deride thy misery and sport themselves with thy damnable folly This must be thy case except thou turn And were it not better thou shouldst be a joy to Angels than a laughing-stock and sport for devils Verily if thou wouldst but come in the Heavenly Host would take up their anthems and sing Glory be to God in the highest the morning Stars would sing together and all the sons of God shout for joy and celebrate this new creation as they did the first Thy repentance would as it were make holy-day in heaven and the glorious spirits would rejoyce in that there is a new brother added to their society Rev. 22. 9. another heir born to their Lord and the lost son received safe and sound The true penitents tears are indeed the wine that cheereth both God and man If it be little that men and Angels would rejoyce at thy Conversion know that God himself would
a hellish and most noisom savour in the nostrils of God Psal. 14. 3. O dreadful case Dost thou not yet see a change to be needful Would it not have grieved one to have seen the golden conseciated Vessels of Gods Temple turned into quaffing bowls for drunkenness and polluted with the idols service Dan. 5. 2 3. Was it such an abomination to the Jews when Anâ—us set up the picture of a swine at the entrance of the Temple How much more abominable then would it have been to have had the very Temple it self turned into a stable or a stye and to have the holy of holies served like the house of Baal to have the Image of God taken down and be turned into a draught-house 2 Kings 10. 27. This is the very case of the unregenerate all thy members are turned into instruments of unrighteousness Rom. 6. 19. servants of Satan and thy inmost powers into the receptacles of uncleanness Eph. 2. 2. Tit. 2. 15. You may see the goodly guests within by what comes out For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness blasphemies c. This black guard discovers what a Hell there is therein Oh abuse unsufferable to see a heaven-born soul abased to the filthiest drudgery to see the glory of Gods creation the chief of the ways of God the Lord of the Universe a lapping with the prodigal at the trough or licking up with greediness the most loathsom vomit Was it such a lamentation to see those that did feed delicately to sit desolate in the streets and the precious sons of Sion comparable to fine gold to be esteemed as earthen pitchers and those that were cloathed in scarlet to embrace dunghils Lam. 4. 2 5. And is it not fearful much more to see the only thing that hath immortality in this lower world and carried the stamp of God to become as a vessel wherein there is no pleasure which is but the modest expression of the vessel men put to the most sordid use Oh indignity intolerable Better thou wert dashed in a thousand pieces than continue to be abused to so filthy a service II. Not only man but the whole visible creation is in vain without this Beloved God hath made all the visible creatures in Heaven and earth for the service of man Ier. 22. 28. and man only is the spokesman for all the rest Man is in the universe like the tongue in the body which speaks for all the members The other creatures cannot praise their maker but by dumb signs and hints to man that he should speak for them Man is as it were the High-Priest of Gods creation to offer the Sacrifice of praise for all his fellow creatures Psal. 147 and 148. and 150. The Lord God expecteth a tribute of praise from all his works Psal. 10â— 22. now all the rest do bring in their tributo to man and pay it in by his hand So then if man be false and faithless and selfish God is wronged of all and shall have no active glory from his works Oh dreadful thought to think of That God should build such a world as this and lay out such infinite power and wisdom and goodness thereupon and all in vain and man should be guilty at last of robbing and spoiling him of the glory of all Oh think of this while thou art unconverted all the offices of the creatures to thee are in vain thy meat nourishes thee in vain the Sun holds forth his light to thee in vain the Stars that serve thee in their courses by their most powerful though hidden influence Iudges 5. 20. Hos. 2. 21 22. do it in vain thy Cloaths warm thee in vain thy Beast carries thee in vain in a word the labour unwearied and continual travel of the whole creation as to thee is in vain The service of all the creatures that drudge for thee and yield forth their strength unto thee that therewith thou shouldst serve their maker is all but lost labour Hence the whole Creation groaneth under the abuse of the unsanctified world Rom. 8. 22. that pervert them to the service of their lusts quite contrary to the very end of their being III. Without this thy Religion is in vain Jam. 1. 26. All thy religious performances will be but lost for they can neither please God Rom. 8. 8. nor save thy soul 1 Cor. 13. 2 3. which are the very ends of Religion Be thy services never so specious yet God hath no pleasure in them Esay 1. 14. Mal. 1. 10. Is not that mans case dreadful whose Sacrifices are as murder and whose prayers are a breath of abomination Esay 66. 3. Prov. 28. 9. Many under convictions think they will set upon mending and that a few prayers and alms will salve all again but alas sirs while your hearts remain unsanctified your duties will not pass How punctual was Iehu and yet all was rejected because his heart was not upright 2 Kings 10. with Hos. 1. 4. How blameless was Paul and yet being unconverted all was but loss Phil. 3. 6 7. Men think they do much in attending Gods service and are ready to twit him with it Esay 58. 3. Mat. 7. 22. and set him down so much their debtor when as their persons being unsanctified their duties cannot be accepted O soul do not think when thy sins pursue thee a little praying and reforming thy course will pacifie God thou must begin with thine heart if that be not renewed thou canst no more please God than one that having unspeakably offended thee should bring thee his vomit in a dish to pacifie thee or having fallen into the mire should think with his loathed embraces to reconcile thee It is a great misery to labour in the fire The Poets could not invent a worser Hell for Sysâ—phus than to be getting the barrel still up the hill and then that it should presently fall down again and renew his labour God threatens it as the greatest of temporal judgments that they should build and not inhabit plant and not gather and their labours shall be eat up by strangers Deut. 28. 30 38 39 41. Is it so great a misery to lose our common labours to â—owâ—â— in vain and build in vain how much more toâ— lose our pains in Religion to pray and hear and fast in vain This is an undoing and eternal loss Be not deceived if thou goest on in thy sinful estate though thou shouldst spread forth thine hands God will hide his eyes though thou make many prayers he will not hear Esay 1. 15. If a man without skill set about our work and mâ—rr it in the doing though he take much pains we give him but small thanks God will be worshipped after the due order 1 Chron. 15. 13. If a servant do our work but quite contrary to our order he shall have rather stripes than praise Gods work must be done according to Gods mind or he will not be pleased
and this cannot be except it be done with a holy heart 2 Chron. 25. 2. IV. Without this thy hopes are in vain Job 8. 12 13. The Lord hath rejected thy confidence Ier. 2. 37. First thy hopes of comfort here are in vain 'T is not only necessary to the safety but comfort of your condition that you be converted Without this you shall â—ot know peace Esay 49. 8. Without the fear of God â—ou cannot have the comforts of the Holy Ghost Acts 9. 31. God speaks peace only to his people and to his Saints Psal. 85. 8. If you have a false peace continuing in your sins 't is not of Gods speaking and then you may guess the Author Sin is a real Sickness Esay 1. 5. yea the worst of sickness t is a leprosie in the head Levit. 13. 44. the plague in the heart 1 Kings 8. 32. 't is brokenness in the bones Psal. 51. 8. it pierceth it woundeth it racketh it tormenteth 1 Tim. 6. 10. A man may as well expect ease when his diseases are in their strength or his bones out of joynt as true comfort while in his sins O wretched man that canst have no â—ase in this case but what comes from the deadliness of thy disease You shall have the poor sick man saying in his lightness he is well when you see death in his face He will needs up and about his business when the very next step is like to be into the grave The unsanctified often feel nothing amiss they think themselves whole and cry not out for the Physician but this shews the danger of their case Sin doth naturally breed distempers and disturbance in the soul. What a continual tempest and commotion is there in a discontented mind What an eating evil is inordinate care What is passion but a very feaver in the mind What is lust but a fire in the bones What is Pride but a deadly tympany or covetousness but an unsatiablâ— and unsufferable thirst or malice and envy but venom in the very heart spiritual sloth is but a scurvy in the mind and carnal security a mortal lethargy and how can that soul have true comfort that is under so many diseases But converting grace cures and so eases the mind and prepares the soul for a setled standing immortal peace Great peace have they that love thy commandments and nothing shall offend them Psal. 119. 165. They are the ways of wisdom that afford pleasure and peace Prov. 3. 17. David had infinitely more pleasure in the word than in all the delights of his Court Psal. 119. 103 127. The Conscience cannot be truly pacified till soundly purified Heb. 10. 22. Cursed is that peace that is maintained in a way of sin Deut. 29. 19 20. Two sorts of peace are more to be dreaded than all the troubles in the world peace with sin and peace in sin Secondly Thy hopes of Salvation hereafter are in vain yea worse than in vain they are most injurious to God most pernicious to thy self there is death desperation blasphemy in the bowels of this hope 1. Tâ— is death in it Thy confidence shall be rooted out of thy tabernacles God will up with it root and branch it shall bring thee to the King of terrors Iob 18. 14. Though thou maist lean upon this house it will not stand Iob 8. 15. but will prove like a ruinous building which when a man trusts to it falls down about his ears 2. There is desperation in it Where is the hope of the hypocrite when God takes away his soul Iob 27. 8. Then there is an end for ever of his hope Indeed the hope of the righteous hath an end but then 't is not a destructive but a perfective end his hope ends in â—ruition others in frustration Prov. 10. 28. The godly must say at death it is finished but the wicked it is perished and in too sad earnest bemoan himself as he in a mistake Where now is my hope He hath destroyed me I am gone and my hope is removed like a tree Iob 19. The righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14. 32. When nature is dying his hopes are living when his body is languishing his hopes are flourishing his hope is a living hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but others are dying yea a damning soul-undoing hope When a wicked man dyeth his expectation shall perish and the hope of unjust men perisheth Prov. 11. 7. It shall be cut off and prove like the spiders web Iob 8. 14. which he spins out of his own bowels but then comes death with the broom and takes down all and so there is an eternal end of his confidence wherein he trusted For the eyes of the wicked shall sail and their hope shâ—â—â— be as the giving up of the Ghost Iob 11. 2. â—cked men are setled in their carnal hope and will not be beaten out of it They hold it fast they will not let it go Yea but death will knock off their fingers Though we cannot undeceive them death and judgment will When death strikes his dart through thy liver it will let out thy soul and thy hopes together The unsanctified have hope only in this life 1 Cor. 15. 19. and therefore are of all men most miserable When death comes it lets them out into the amazing gulf of endless desperation 3. There is blasphemy in it To hope we shall be saved though continuing unconverted is to hope we shall prove God a lier He hath told you that so merciful and pittiful as he is he will never save you notwithstanding if you go on in ignorance or a course of unrighteousness Esa. 27. 11. 1 Cor. 6. 9. in a word he hath told you that whatever you be or do nothing shall avail you to salvation without you be new creatures Gal. 6. 15. Now to say God is merciful and we hope he will save us nevertheless is to say in effect we hope God will not do as he saith We may not set Gods attributes at variance God is resolved to glorifie mercy but not with the prejudice of truth as the presumptuous sinner will find to his everlasting sorrow Object Why but we hope in Jesus Christ we put our whole trust in God and therefore doubt not but we shall be saved Answ. 1. This is not to hope in Christ but against Christ. To hope to see the Kingdom of God without being born again to hope to find eternal life in the broad way is to hope Christ will prove a false Prophet 'T is David's plea I hope in thy word Psal. 119. 81. but this hope is against the word Shew me a word of Christ for thy hope that he will save thee in thine ignorance or prophane neglects of his service and I will never go to shake thy confidence 2. God doth with abhorrency reject this hope Those condemned in the Prophet went on in their sins yet saith the Text they will lean upon the Lord Mic. 3.