are in Christ to them that are called and converted and brought home to Christ to those they are all yea confirmed and amen concluded yea made and amen performed but a man by nature can claime nothing at Gods hands but hell and damnation and therefore all the plagues and punishments that befall wicked men are the fruits of their owne labours they are their owne they have the fruit of their owne tree so Iudas is said to goe to his owne place In the 3. of Esay the 9. there saith the text Woe unto the wicked for they have rewarded evill to their owne soules the reward of their hands shall bee giver them for they shall eate the fruite of their doings They can challenge confusion and everlasting destruction this is their owne Iudas went to his owne hee had his owne share and his owne condemâ—ation they were his owne his owne sinnes procured them but as for the obtaining of Christ and of grace and salvation there is nothing that can doe it it is of the free mercy and goodnesse of God Godlinesse â—s great gaine saith the Apostle it hath the promise of this life and of the life to come but an ungodly man there is no promise at all made unto him hee can challenge nothing from God by way of promise so that by this time wee have the proofe of the point namely That the offer of grace is altogether free for we have nothing can purchase grace wee can do nothing that can procure grace wee have no right whereby wee may challenge grace by way of promise naturally and therefore the case is cleare That we have grace freely from the hand of God We see the point cleared the doctrine confirmed and established The use of it is two fold partly to the Saints of God that have received grace partly to those that want grace First for the Saints of God that have received grace I beseech you thinke of it it is a truth that cannot be denied proved by reason strong and Scripture plaine that whatsoever wee have from the beginning of conversion to the end of salvation is free grace Why mee thinkes your hearts should answer we ought to be stirred up the more to magnifie the mercy of God and so much the more to bee thankefull unto him for this mercy which our poore soules have received at his hands the freer the grace of God is which hee offereth unto us the greater our thanksgiving the greater the acknowledgement of the goodnesse of the Lord ought to bee those whom God hath given any assurance of sound grace that Christ is there that salvation is there they doe not know how much beholding they are to God for the same for this proceedeth altogether of his free mercy looke up therefore unto God and blesse God for it this is that which did drive the Prophet Micah to a stand Mica 7.18 19. there faith he Who is a Godlike unto our God that pardoneth iniquities and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his people he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy he will turne againe he will have compassion upon us he will â—ubduâ— our iniquities and thou wilt cast all our sinnes into the bottome of the sea as who should say here is a God indeed who is like our God who hath pardoned all our sinnes why because his mercy pleased him because hee delighteth in goodnesse no God like Iehovah no Redeemer like Christ no Comforter like the Spirit all sins pardoned all iniquities cast into the bottome of the Sea but what is the ground of all because his mercy pleased him as if hee had sayd Men will doe no good unto us unlesse they see good in us unlesse they expect some good and profit from us but who is like our God no man is like unto him hee hath passed by our transgressions and subdued our iniquities and given us the graces of his spirit not because wee pleased him or did any thing that could deserve this at his hands but it was his free mercy that moved him all our peevishnesse all our loosenesse all our carelesnesse all our sinnes subdued and thrust into the bottome of the Sea and pardoned and why because wee pleased God no because his mercy pleased him this is God full of grace full of mercy full of goodnesse and compassion no God like our God no mercy like this no grace no goodnesse no compassion like unto this and therefore you poore Saints that have received any grace from the hand of the Lord goe into some secret place and say unto your soules and plead with your owne hearts and provoke your soules to thankesgiving for Gods mercy towards you reason with thy heart and provoke thy spirit to take notice of Gods mercy and say How is it Lord that many that have lived in the same towne in the same family nay the same man that is under the same ministry that I am that heares the same Sermons that I doe and sits in the same seate with me how is it that such a poore man or woman is still in the gall of bitternesse in the bond of iniquity still in the snare of death and under the power of Satan Father how comes it why is it that my mind is enlightned why was my heart humbled why didst thou give me any care to walke with thee and to forsake my sinnes and abandon my former lusts and corruptions why is this Lord it was of thine owne free mercy Lord for I had nothing which could purchase this at thy hands I could doe nothing that might procure it I could claime no promise naturally from thee in this kinde if thou canst thinke thus and say thus goe thy wayes and be as thankefull as thou canst to such a God that hath done this for thee and plead with the Lord as the Prophet David did What is man that thou shouldst be so mindfull of him and what is the sonne of man that thou shouldst regard him why Lord thou mindfull of me when I forgot my selfe when I ranne headlong into all wickednesse as prophane as ever any soule was oh those dayes which I now remember with griefe of soule when my heart rose up against thee and thy ministers and yet thou Lord mindfull of such a sinfull wretch as I am that forgot my selfe and my owne salvation why what am I Lord and what is this poore soule of mine that thou shouldest remember me oh doe thus and thinke of this and remember that our Saviour Christ when the Apostles Preached the Gospell here was a poore man on one side converted and a poore woman on another when the Lord Iesus saw this why I blesse thee Father saith he Lord of heaven and earth that thou hast revealed these things to the poore of the world and denyed them to great ones take this to your hearts the poore receive the Gospell the rich they are so full and so delighted in
these earthly things here below that they have no roome for any spirituall grace but you that are Saints of God that have received any grace thinke of this let your soules blesse God even extraordinarily and say I thanke thee Father that that thou hast hid these things from the wise and from the rich and from the noble and hast revealed them unto babes that thou hast taught me a poore silly creature that thou hast wrought upon my heart and shewed me Christ Iesus when as most in the world have not seene him nor salvation many great ones and mighty ones thou hast sent packing to hell but me a blind creature out of a poore cottage out of a corner of hell thou hast plucked and given me salvation Father I blesse thee for this for it was of thy free mercy I beseech thee to give me a free hearâ— to blesse thee for this thy wonderfull mercy vouchsafed unto me and to walke worthy of thee What shalt thou give thy selfe freely for my poore souleâ— and shall not I give thee a good action freely thus stirre up your owne hearts to blesse God for this his great mercy the greater the grace is which he vouchsafeth unto you the greater your thankfulnesse ought to be and so much for this use it should stirre up every poore soule that hath received any grace to go into a comer and looke up to heaven and be amazed at Gods great mercy and say Father I have received grace and why Iâ— there is no reason Lord for it but because thy mercy pleased thee The second use is to the wicked themselves those that yet want this mercy to those that are yet in the gall of bitternesse is it so that Gods grace and mercy is altogether free then this may bee a ground of incouragement unto them to seeke after this mercy they may thinke with themselves thus why the offer of grace is free and therefore why may not I come to have some of this mercy as well as another though they are yet in the snare of Satan under the power of sinne and in the bond of iniquitie yet the freenesse of Gods mercy may incourage them to seeke to God for this grace and to sustaine their hearts in some hope that they may obtaine it Why it is a free mercy and therefore why mayst not thou have it as well as another it is freely given and why mayst not thou receive it as well as another it is worth the while to seeke after grace and mercy for there is some hope and expectation to attaine it This was the ground why the Prophet Esay did perswade all people to come unto the Lord Iesus Esay 55.1 Why saith he Every one that thirsteth come yee to the waters and he that hath no money come yee buy and eate yea come buy wine and milke without money and without price Come you that have no money saith the text the people might make a cavill and say Why wee want money to buy to what end therefore should we come the text answers this and saith Come you that have no money and buy without money What is the meaning of this that is you that have no sufficiency to procure grace and salvation though you have no ability of your selves to purchase this yet come and come freely and buy without money as if he should say If you will but come and take grace this is all God lookes for all that the Lord expects and desires you may have it for the taking you may receive grace for the carrying of it away though your weaknesse be great and your infirmities many yet if you have but ability to take grace and carry it away this is enough this is all that God requires at your hands and this is that which makes the Saints of God in the 14. of Hos 3. to goe unto God and renounce all others there saith the text A shur shall not save us wee will not ride upon horses neither will we say any more to the workes of our hands Ye are our gods and what is the ground of all this for with thee the fatherlesse findeth mercy so that hast thou a desolate soule why bee of good comfort and be incouraged to go to God for helpe for hee doth not succour men because they have strength but hee helpeth those that are succourlesse Art thou fatherlesse and cast off of the world hast thou a fatherlesse soule a motherlesse soule that is a hopelesse and a helpelesse soule that hath no ability to procure mercy or to purchase grace why with God the fatherlesse findeth mercy and therefore say Lord with thee the fatherlesse findeth mercy I am such a one therefore Lord I expect mercy from thee If a great rich man should proclaime that at such a time every one that will come may receive dole from him if this dole now were to bee purchased with money none but the rich could receive it but when he saith he will give to every one that comes a dole freely then the poore may have it as well as the rich when the dole commeth not to be purchased but onely to be received then the begger may have it as well as he that hath money for the dole is not to bee bought but to bee received and therefore every one that hath but a bagge to put it in and ability to carry it away may have it consider this ye that God hath not called home there is a dole of mercy to be given you from God and God doth not intend to sell his mercy to you but to bestow it freely upon you and therefore if you will but come receive it and carry it away you may have it God requirs nothing else of you and therefore comfort your selves and say Why this mercy of God is free others have it and why not I Lord. Come therefore and waite upon God in his ordinances thinke with thy selfe that the dole of mercy is to be given at such a place at such a sermon and therefore resolve to goe thither and say If wisedome or goodnesse or understanding would purchase any thing at Gods hand then miserable creature that I were for I have none of those but the mercy of God is free there is a dole of mercy freely to be given and such and such have had it bestowed upon them and therefore why may not I have it as well as others And therefore naturall men that are burthened with abhominations and full of sinne and corruptions let them reason with their soules and say Why did God convert Saul call Abraham and humble Manasses why God did this freely of his free mercy and goodnesse did hee and why then may not I receive this mercy from the hand of the Lord also and when your owne weakenesses trouble you and your sinnes and infirmities lye sore upon you why then helpe your owne soules in this kinde and say I can doe nothing that can procure grace no
beene enlightned the child happily replyeth alas father when I knew no other I must confesse I did no better but when the Lord hath once given us the truth let us walke in it I must follow the example of no man in this kind the Minister told me that there was no expectation of mercy unlesse I turned from my sinnes the text was plaine and the Minister said that we must walk in Gods Commandements here if ever we meane to reigne with him in glory hereafter Oh then saith the father I would the Minister had beene farre enough off when hee put this into your head and if hee see that this will not prevaile with the child then hee sets another upon him hee sends his carnall friends after him he sets a carnall gospeller one that hath beene twice dead and pluckt up by the roots as Saint Iude speakes upon him Iude 12. and he bids him see what he can do in this case and then he comes and closeth with him with all the carnall counsell and wicked devices that can bee invented and marke how he sets upon him Friend saith he I heare you attend upon the Ministery of the Gospell I am very glad to heare it but yet be wary and wise though too much is too much in this case your head is not yet gray if you had had the experience that I have you would then perhaps know as much as I know be wise I say in this kind but I pray understand me aright I do not speak against holinesse all this while I beseech you do not mistake me so for I am glad with all my heart that there is such a change wrought in you and that you take up such a good course but this is that I say Be religious and wise both together blessed be God my friend we have a glorious Church many wise men and yet they require not so much and they performe not so much they will drink and bee merry and why should you exact more than these wise men aye but replyeth the child I cannot tell what wise men say and what they do I must not do as they do but as God commands the Text saith Be yee holy as I am holy and bee yee pure as Christ is pure 1. Ioh. 3.3 can a man be more holy than Christ can a man be more pure than Christ in this case I know not what men do but I am sure the word gives no such allowance and now they think the matter is past hope when carnall counsell cannot prevaile nor cursed devices take place then they think the matter is past cure and therefore they pursue him with deadly indignation they put such taunts upon him and follow him with such scoffes that the heart of the poore creature is even wearied and tyred and so departs from his God and all good courses and so hee falls into wicked courses againe and runnes downe headlong into hell And this is one cord which the wicked the devills factors lay upon a poore sinner to pluck him from God you that are guilty of this you must see into these things and be humbled for this or else you must look to suffer that judgement which is due to the commission of this sinne you must know you go professely against the Lord and therefore you must needs bee in a miserable condition Secondly if this cord be broken then the Lord hath another cord the Lord makes a sinner apprehend the mercy of God hee heares the Minister how he speaks of Gods wonderfull love and goodnesse in that he will not only accept poore sinners and entertaine them when they come but command them to come and not only so but intreates and beseeches them to come and receive mercy from him nay hee waites for our amendment and cryes out oh when will it once bee and when a poore sinner heares this this even melts his heart and he resolves never to follow his sinnes more and then he comes home and tells his father or his master what wonderfull goodnesse God hath beene pleased to make knowne unto him I saith hee could not have thought so much I could not have conceived so much what that God should stoope to man and majesty to misery that God should not only offer grace and give a sinner leave to take grace but that God should follow such a wretch as I am with mercy and intreat mee to bee saved what admirable and wonderfull goodnesse is this Father or master shall I be so unnaturall as to neglect this mercy and kindnesse oh let it never bee for the Lord Iesus sake Thus the father or the master seeth his child or his servant going away from his evill courses which he had formerly taken up the father feeles which way the child is going and he followes after him amaine and labours to pluck away this cord with another and therefore thus he answereth It is true indeed there is a great deale of mercy endlesse boundlesse mercy with the Lord therefore let us make use of this mercy sonne and let us take this goodnesse servant in this case the Lord will not onely provide for the good of our soules but for the good of our bodies also as the Lord requireth that wee should performe service to him so hee requireth also that we should have a care of our owne estates and therefore take heed of growing into too nice a course bee not too extreame this way for the Lord doth not require such exactnesse of you that thereby you should impoverish your estate beware therefore of too much precisenesse I say lest you bring thereby disgrace to your selfe and dammage to your estate and hazzard to your life the Lord promiseth to prosper whatsoever wee take in hand and therefore this nice course is not that which God requireth and by this means the poore child or servant is daunted and deluded and so falls off from his good purposes and resolutions Thus those two cords are broken the Lord hath yet a third cord and that is the cord of conscience which hee layes upon a man and that commands him to take heed of his corruptions and tells him he was wont to be gibing at Gods servants but take heed of these things all at the last day must bee brought to light now this makes the soule at a stand and then the man saith the word of God came home to my conscience for I have beene a drunkard and an adulterer and a swearer oh I saw the fearefull estate of those men the Minister came effectually home to my conscience and told mee what a miserable wretched condition I should be in if I continued in my former wicked courses Now marke the cord that they lay to draw this away they lay a disgrace and contempt upon conscience when say they did you take notice of your conscience will you be one of our tender conscienced people what your conscience troubled you did it what will you be
under sinne and Satan and have beene in the same condition our selves we know what it is to be shut up under a hard heart and a blind mind and distempered affections we know what it is to be prentise to the devill and therefore this should move us to deale pittifully with poore miserable captived creatures we our selves were in the same condition we our selves lived without God in the world heretofore as those do now Nay this is that which the Apostle presseth Tit 3 1 2 3. there saith the text Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers and to speak evill of no man to be no brawlers but gentle shewing all meeknesse unto all men for we our selves also were sometimes disobedient foolish deceiving serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice hatefull and hating one another you that have beene prisoners and have had your soules pierced with bolts and fetters why remember your own estate and pitty poore prisoners that are now in that estate that you have formerly been in Hath the Lord opened thy eyes and humbled thy heart hath the Lord broke thy bonds and knocked off thy bolts and let thee out of prison why then pitty poore prisoners you were such once your selves hating God and hatefull one to another and that you are not so blesse God for it You know what it is to be in such a condition to be troubled with a hard heart you that have beene in prison and know what it is to have hard hearts and dead soules and blind minds why pitty poore prisoners that are in the same case and cry to heaven for help for them intreat God to free and deliver them from the bondage of sinne and Satan in the 12. of Matth. 9.10 it is that our Saviour presses upon the Pharisees there saith the text what man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep fall into a pit on the Sabbath day and will not lift it out how much then is a man better than a sheep so say I if any of you should have a child or a father or a husband fall into a Well would you not use all meanes possible to lift him out oh here one would be breathing and would scarce speake there another would be hoarse with crying help help for the Lords sake my child my father my husband is drowning thus you would do and you do well and mercifully but have you care of oxen and of the bodies of your sonnes and your fathers and husbands and have you no pitty no compassion upon their soules you that see the soules of your husbands sunk down into a durty pitt into a filthy dungeon into a drunken â—rophane course thou that seest thy wife fallen into a course of chambering and wantonnesse if thou seest this why then call and cry for succour and reliefe and pray for help and labour by all meanes possible to pluck out these soules out of the gall of bitternesse and out of the bond of iniquite labour to pluck them out of sinne here and damnation hereafter Look as a man deales with carriage if a Cart be at a stay or at a sett in the high way why then the Carter that drives it doth what he can himselfe he sets his shoulder to the wheele and labours as much as in him lyeth to lift the Cart out but if this will not doe then he craves the help of some others especially if there go two or three teames together then he gets all the other teames set to this load to draw it out and especially if the load be going then they cry it is comming it is comming and labour by all meanes possible to lift it out altogether Dost thou see the heart of thy father or the heart of thy child at a stand under pride covetousnes and prophanenesse why then pray thou what thou canst and do what thou mayst put thy shoulder to the wheele and use all meanes to pluck them out but if this will not do use all helps that can be by the supply of others and crave their help in this case intreat them to help thy father or thy child or thy husband at a dead lift say my father or my husband is sunk forty fadam deep into the earth he is buried in the world and in his corruptions especially if thâ— load be comming if he be almost perswaded to become a Christian then labour earnestly and cry one pluck for my poore husband one pluck for my poore father he is comming he is comming therefore pull pull for the Lords sake and go further and cry mightily unto the Lord that it would please him to pluck him out of the ground look up to heaven and intreat the Lord to lend his helping hand if man cannot nor neighbours will not why then look up higher unto heaven for succour and say good Lord my father is a prisoner and a bondslave to sinne and Satan therefore good Lord I beseech thee break those bonds and knock off those bolts of pride and infidelity and the like in the 12. of the Acts when Peter was taken prisoner it is said that prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him and the same night when Herod would have brought him forth Peter was sleeping between two souldiers bound in two chaynes and the Keepers before the doore kept the prison and the Angell of the Lord appeared unto him and a light shined in the prison and he raysed him up and said Peter arise and the chaines fell off from him afterwards he came unto an iron gate that lead unto the City and that opened of its own accord Why that God that was able to knock off the bonds of Peter and was able to make the iron gate open of it selfe unto him that God is able to break the bonds of sinne and Satan wherewith thy father husband or friend are fetter'd he is able to break the brasen doore of their hearts which hinders the light of the Gospell from shining in and therefore cry to this God for help and succour and mercy and say good Lord thou that wert able to break off the fetters wherewith Peter was bound and to make the iron doore to open good Lord I beseech thee do thou work upon my father my husband or my child especially that he may never be so hardened slip the lock and break in upon him and humble him here that he may be saved hereafter especially when you see the load is comming then draw oh then draw with all your power when you see their minds are inlightned and their judgements informed why then the load is comming pray therefore then to God especially for help who knowes but God may humble them and convert them to himselfe and therefore strive amayne with God use all meanes both ordinary and extraordinary for the benefit of them and this shall suffice for the first passage namely that the soule of a man by nature is
in the text for Christ having taught a spirituall and an heavenly Sermon the Pharisees murmured and said Is not this Iesus the sonne of Ioseph whose father and mother we know how is it then that he saith he came down from heaven Iesus when he perceived their murmuring said unto them Why murmur you among your selves and that he might prevent the offence that the feeble ones might take at the example of the Pharisees he saith unto them No man can come unto me except my father draweth him as though he had said be not you troubled and perplexed because these great scollers do not beleeve my doctrine and embrace it it is not in them willing but in mee drawing do not you think ill of my doctrine of salvation because your wise men and your brave men will not beleeve it for I tell you though these have had arguments propounded to perswade them to this yet they cannot embrace my doctrine and beleeve unlesse my father draweth them they have had their hearts convinced and their mouths stopped but yet all this will not do unlesse my father draweth them Secondly this kind of caution except my father draweth him no man come unto mee is implyed that if my father doth draw him he will come and the Papists themselves confesse this that a man may have this morall drawing arguments perswading and reasons alluring to come unto God and receive mercy from him and yet he may not come but they that have this drawing meant in the text they will undoubtedly come no man comes unto mee except the father which hath sent mee draweth him and therefore whosoever the father doth draw he shall come and certainly will come and therefore this drawing that is meant here is not a morall drawing by outward perswasions thus much for the clearing of this poynt namely that a morall and externall drawing is not to be understood in the text This will not serve the turne there is more in it than so we must therefore search further into the nature of this word drawing and God is said to draw a poore sinner unto himselfe in the second place when he is not only pleased to enlighten a mans mind and offer arguments to his understanding and lay truths and propound promises unto him for this will not doe it this is only an outward drawing but when the Lord is pleased to put a new power into the soule of a sinner and with all to carry the will to the object propounded that it may embrace it when God is pleased not onely to offer good things to the soule but to enable the soule to lay hold upon the things offered not only to offer Christ and salvation but to work effectually upon the heart and make it able to give entertainment to Christ then the Lord is said to draw a sinner unto himselfe from sinne and corruption and this is tearmed an internall kind of drawing and this is meant here in the text it is not only the propounding of arguments to move and pluck the soule but the Lord doth by his effectuall power draw the soule from sinne and bring it unto himselfe And therefore observe two things touching this internall drawing namely that there is a seperation first wrought betweene sinne and the soule the union that is betweene finne and the soule is broken Secondly that when the soule is once severed and broken off from sinne then it comes to a right set to a right frame and disposition towards God and then it goeth no further but here it stoppeth and this is that which I call plucking and drawing of a poore sinner from his corruptions to God in both which actions the will of the creature is wrought upon plucked from sinne and set towards God and of it selfe it doth not move at all I expresse it thus look as it is with the wheele of a clock or the wheele of a Iack that is turned aside and by some contrary poyse set the wrong way He now that will set this wheele right must take away the contrary poyse and then put the wheele the right way and and yet the wheele doth not goe all this while of it selfe but first there is a stopping of the wheele and a taking away of the poyse and secondly the wheele must be turned the right way and all this while the wheele is only a sufferer so it is with the soule of a man the heart of a man and the will of a man and the affections of a man they are the wheeles of the soules of men the Lord Iesus made them at the first to runne to heaven-ward and to God-ward but when Adam sinned then the poyse of corruptions prevailed so farre forth over them that they drew the heart the mind the will of man from God and made it runne the wrong way to the divell-ward and to hell-ward now when the Lord commeth to set these wheeles aright he must take away the poyse and plummet that made them runne the wrong way that is the Lord by his almighty power must over-power those sinnes and corruptions which harbour in the soule and have dominion over the soule as for example if a man have a covetous heart insomuch that the world will not suffer him to heare and pray and performe any good duty then God must pull away that plummet he must pluck the soule from that sinne and then he must draw it to himselfe that is he must draw it to Godward and to Zion-ward and make it to be at his command that Gods spirit as a new plummet may carry it and order it and now it doth nothing all this while God must first take away the contrary plummet that drew the soule aside and then the frame of the soule will be to God-ward it will be in a right frame and order it will runne the right way and all this while the will is only a sufferer and this I take to be the meaning of the text That God by a holy kind of violence rendeth the soule of a poore sinner and withall by his almighty power stops the force of a mans corruptions and makes the soule teachable and framable to the will of God it makes it to lie levell and to be at Gods command and this is done by a holy kind of violence and so much for these poynts of speculation without which I could not well open the poynt But now we see the bottome of the poynt namely that God doth by a holy kind of violence pluck and draw men from their corruptions unto himselfe The next thing to be considered is the meanes whereby God thus haleth the soule and draweth the heart of a poore sinner unto himselfe and the meanes are foure 1 1. The first work of the Lord is this he lets in a light into the foule of a poore sinner and discovereth unto him that he is in a wrong way and tells him there is another way that he must walk in if
Gods love that the Lord should beseech us oh that you would receive pardon for your sinnes and bee blessed for ever why this is wonderfull mercy and admirable goodnesse if this Cord will not draw a man what will do it this makes a poore soule to stand agast and amazed and say good Lord is this possible that the great King of Heaven should come and beseech such a traytor such a rebell as I am to take pardon if the King of England should proclaime a pardon to some notorious Traytor that had plotted some dangerous treason against his person this were much but that the King should lay downe his Crowne and come creeping to him and beseech him upon his knees to take mercy and not to be punished why this is a thing beyond all expectation no man will do this no man should doe this but when the soule shall thinke what a King intreat a Traytor a Rebell a Conquerer intreat a slave to take mercy what shall heaven stoop to earth shall majesty stoope to misery shall the great God of heaven and earth that might have condemned my soule that is a God holy and just and if I had perished and beene damned might have tooke glory by my destruction is it possible is it credible that this God should not only entertayne me when I come and command me for to come but intreat and beseech me to come and receive mercy from him oh the depth of the incomprehensible love of God! imagine you saw God the Father intreating you and God the Sunne beseeching you as he doth this day come now and forsake your sinnes and take mercy which is prepared for you and shall bee bestowed upon you would not this make a soule think thus with it selfe what for a rebell not only to have mercy offered but to bee intreated to receive mercy and pardon why then if I will not take it it were pitty but I should goe to hell and be damned for ever nay I tell you this mercy one day if you refuse it will plunge you into the bottomlesse pit of hell I tell you you were better heare ten Sermons of judgement than one of mercy if you do not take the same when it is offered The Lord hee complaineth why will ye die as I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner the Lord takes an oath upon it that he desires not the death of a sinner and calls after sinners turne ye turne ye why will ye die ye sinfull sonnes of men Mercy is offered you the Lord Iesus reacheth out his hand to you to pluck the drunkard out of the alehouse and the adulterer out of the company of his whore I tell you you had beene better have beene at the East-Indies where you might never have heard of mercy than slight it when it is offered if you do break this cord I know not what to say unto you this is able to breake a mountaine in peeces shake O mountaines saith the Psalmist why because God hath redeemed Iacob the redemption of Iacob was enough to shake a mountaine when thou hast been a great sinner and heaped up transgression upon transgression and drunk in iniquity like water why yet after all this the Lord offereth mercy unto thee and beseecheth thee to receive it I tell thee if thou wilt not have mercy now it is pitty but thou shouldest goe to the Devill and if thou dost goe to hell then thank thy selfe it was thy owne fault thou mightest have had mercy and wouldest not and this is the third cord of Gods mercy he intreats a poore sinner to come unto him and receive mercy from him but if the soule bee yet awke and untoward and will not come but say if mercy be so free then we will let it alone a while and take it hereafter if God bee so carefull of us then wee will bee a little carelesse our selves why then there remaines but one cord more and if thou breakest this thou art in a miserable condition and that is this The Lord doth wait and stay in long patience suffering Fourth Cord. to see if at any time a sinner will turne unto him our Saviour followes poore sinners from Alehouse to Alehouse and sayes I beseech you you drunkards take mercy and have your sinnes pardoned the Lord tyres himselfe so and wearieth himselfe with waiting one day after another and one weeke after another it may bee this day this weeke this Sabbath this Sermon a sinner will turne unto me what will it never be why are you not ashamed that the Lord Iesus should thus wayt your leisure and follow you from house to house and into the field nay that Christ should every morning appeare unto your understanding and every night come to your bed-side and say let this bee the last night of sinning and the next day the first day of your repenting oh when will you be humbled when will you receive mercy that it may goe well with you and yours for ever why for shame if none of all the other will move you yet let this cord draw you unto the Lord this is the last cord of Gods mercy he stayeth our leisure the Lord will not wait alwaies but hee waiteth a long time for our amendment hee stayed above a hundred yeares for the old world Ier. 13.27 there God taketh upon him the person of a travelling woman oh Ierusalem wilt thou not bee made cleane oh when will it once bee a woman that is in travell and oppressed with paine oh how she expects and longs for her delivery when the throâ— comes then she cryes when will deliverance come and then the throb comes the second time and then she cryes would death would come so deliverance would come and thus her heart breaks almost with waiting in this kind for the birth of the child which is to be delivered God the father doth take upon him the person of a travelling woman he is travelling even unto death untill he can bring forth his first borne untill some soule be converted and brought home unto him oh Ierusalem wilt thou not be cleane oh when will it once be I have wayted one yeare ten yeare twenty yeare forty yeare why when will it once be if a woman should be in travell forty yeares she would be accounted the wonder of the world nay it were impossible she should endure so long but the Lord hath travelled twenty yeares yea forty for the birth of poore sinners and how many throbs think wee hath the Lord endured in this time saying oh yee men of England will you never be cleane when will it once be the Lord thus travels in patience looking when we will receive mercy oh when will it once be will it never be that those proud hearts will be humbled will it never be that those stubborne hearts will be softned will it never be that those unregenerate hearts will be sanctified will it never be that
hath over those sins is much more forcible though thy sturdy heart will not come off though thou hast no desire to leave thy corruptions though thou hast not put off the will of sinning yet God can take it away and make way for the power of his spirit to take place in thy heart Acts 16.24 we shall observe this in the Iaylor he was a proud sturdy dogged cruell hearted man when the Magistrates commanded him to put Paul and Silas into prison hee went further than his commission and put them into the inner Prison and made their feet fast in the stocks oh thought hee now I have gotten these nice factions fellowes into my hands I will punish them soundly Now at midnight Paul and Silas sang praises unto God and then suddenly there was an exceeding great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doores were opened and every ones bands were loosed the doores flew open the prison shooke and the earth shooke God exercised his power upon the creatures and made them shake and yet the Iaylor stood still all this while and stirred not though he were a Iaylor now to the Apostles yet the Devill was a Iaylor to him also he was under the jayle of his sinnes his sturdy heart would not awaken all this while but at last the Iaylor hee shooke also and seeing the prison doores open pulled out his sword and would have killed himselfe supposing that the prisoners had fled but Paul cryed with a loud voyce saying doe thy selfe no harme for wee are all here and then hee called for a light and sprang in sayth the text and came trembling and fell downe before Paul and Silas he now saw all that pride and stubbornnesse of his whereby he handled the Apostles so basely and now he brought them out and sayd Sirs what must I doe to bee saved hee now bathed their wounds and set bread before them and dealt kindly with them and thus we see when the Lord commeth for a sinner he maketh the prison shake and the earth shake the doores shake the yron bolts shake and at last he makes the heart shake also it is not the doore that I care for nor the prison that I care for nor the earth only that I will make to shake but it is the jaylor that I will shake also it is the Iaylor that I come for the Iaylor I will have and so hee had indeed in conclusion thy corruptions are not so powerfull but the Lord will bee more powerfull to pluck thy heart from them unto himselfe The third thing that hinders a poore sinner in this case is in respect of disgrace other opposition that hee shall meet withall in a Christian course I could be content saith he to take a better course and leade a new life and become a Christian but I see how disgrace will be cast upon me and opposition be made against me and this knocks me off I am not able to suffer it and to beare it are you not so the Lord will make you able to beare it before he hath done with you you feare wild-fire do you God will make you feele hell fire before he hath done you will goe against conscience you will displease God before you will displease man wil you wel you feare man now the face of man this is but wildfire but God will send hell fire into your hearts one day he will send the horrour of conscience into your soules then you will say rather disgrace here than damnation for ever hereafter I will rather goe to hell than to sinne I will rather offend all the world then God gather up your selves therefore if God at any time hath opened your eyes though Satan pursue you and though corruptions presse upon you yet cheere your selves God in mercy will looke upon you Esa 43.6 there when the Lord commeth to gather his people together hee saith that hee will bring them from the East and gather them from the West he will call to the North give up and to the South keepe not back bring my sonnes from farre and my daughters from the end of the earth hee sayth the earth shall give account and yeeld up her dead the sea that also shall yeeld up her dead why God can make the divell yeeld up a wretched man as well as the earth give up a dead man God will say I must have a sinner divell and therefore deliver up thy prisoner God will draw thy heart out of the power of sinne and dominion of Satan though thou canst not tell how yet God is able to give thee a will of yeelding unto him and so much for the comfort of those that are unconverted there is hope that God will do you good bee your sinnes what they will bee now those that are converted and those that are in the state of grace this is a ground of strong comfort unto them that they shall prevaile against all sinnes for after times by the power of that God that hath given them victory over their sinnes in former times they may say did the Lord give me power over my sinnes when I loved them and will hee not give me power to resist them now when I have desire to forsake them it cannot bee hee that offered favour to thee when thou didst refuse it hee cannot but give favour to thee when thou beggest it at his hands and this shall suffice for that matter Vse 5 The fifth use is an use of exhortation to all Gods people is this the cord that God taketh to pluck a soule from corruption to himselfe namely by a holy kind of violence why what will you do then you that professe your selves to feare God and that say you are the children of God must not children imitate their father doth God deale thus with poore sinners then do you so likewise this is the course that God takes and this ought to be a coppy and pattern to you in the meane time as you are the Elect people of God to put on the bowels of mercy and compassion towards your brethren if ever mercy here it ought to be expressed and discovered if ever God shewed mercy to thy soule shew thou the like mercy to thy brethren did the Lord ever shew compassion unto thee shew thou the like compassion unto them did the Lord ever awaken thy eyes or humble thy heart did the Lord offer his favours to thee still calling still exhorting and perswading of you you that are the Elect people of God if ever God shewed any goodnesse unto you shew the same goodnesse mercy and compassion to your fellow brethren and therefore as God hath dealt with you and as hee doth deale with sinners let it bee your honours and your resolutions to deale answerably to God so saith the Prophet David I will reveale thy way to the wicked and sinners shall be converted unto thee oh blessed