every unconverted soul that I have sometimes thoughts if we could but convince men that they are yet unregenerate the work were upon the matter done But I sadly experience that such a spirit of sloth and slumber Rom. 11. 8. Mat. 13. 15. possesses the unsanctified that though they be convinced that they are yet unconverted yet they oft-times carelesly sit still and what through the avocation of sensual pleasures or hurry of worldly business or noise and clamour of earthly cares and lusts and affections Luke 8. 14. the voice of Conscience is drowned and men go no farther than some cold wishes and general purposes of repenting and amending Acts 24. 25. It 's therefore of high necessity that I do not only convince men that they are unconverted but that I also endeavour to bring them to a sense of the fearful misery of this estate But here I find my self aground at first putting forth What Tongue can tell the Heirs of Hell sufficiently of their misery unless 't were Dives's in that flame Luke 16. 24. Where is the ready Writer whose Pen canâ— decipher their misery that are without God in the World Eph. 2. 12. This cannot fully be done unless we knew the infinite Ocean of that bliss and perfection which is in that God which a state of sin doth exclude men from Who knoweth saith Moses the power of thine anger Psal. 90. 11. And how shall I tell men that which I do not know Yet so much we know as one would think would shake the hearâ— of that man that had the least degree of spiritual life and sense But this is yet the more posing difficulty that I am to speak to them that are without sense Alas this is not the least part of man's misery upon him that he is dead stark dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2. 1. Could I bring Paradise into view or represent the Kingdom of Heaven to as much advantage as the tempter did the Kingdoms of the world and all the glory thereof to our Saviour or could I uncover the race of the deep and devouring Gulph of Tophet in all its terrors and open the Gates of the infernal furnace alas he hath no eyes to see it Mat. 13. 14 15. Could I paint out the Beauties of Holiness or glory of the Gospel to the life or could I bring above-board the more than Diabolical deformity and ugliness of sin he can no more judge of the loveliness and beauty of the one nor the filthiness and hatefulness of the other than the blind man of colours He is alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in him because of the blindness of his heart Eph. 4. 18. He neither doth nor can know the things of God because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. 14. His eyes cannot be savingly opened but by converting grace Acts 26. 18. he is a Child of darkness and walks in darkness 1 Ioh. 1. 6. yea the light in him is darkness Mat. 6. 2 3. Shall I ring his knell or read his sentence or sound in his ear the terrible trump of Gods Judgments that one would think should make both his ears to tingle and strike him into Belshazzar's fit even to appale his countenance and loose his joynts and make his knees smite one against another Yet alas he perceives me not he hath no ears to hear Or shall I call up all the Daughters of Musick and sing the Song of Moses and of the Lamb yet he will not be stirred Shall I allure him with the joyful sound and the lovely Song and glad tidings of the Gospel with the most sweet and inviting calls comforts cordials of the divine promises so exceeding great and precious it will not affect him savingly unless I could find him ears Mat. 13. 15. as well as tell him the news Shall I set before him the feast of fat things the wine of wisdom the bread of God the tree of life the hidden Manna he hath no appetite for them no mind to them 1 Cor. 2. 14. Mat. 22. 5. Should I press the choicest grapes the heavenly clusters of Gospel priviledges and drink to him in the richest wine of Gods own cellar yea of his own side or set before him the delicious hony-comb of Gods Testimonies Psal. 19. 10. alas he hath no tast to discern them Shall I invite the dead to arise and eat the banquet of their funerals No more can the dead in sin favour the holy food wherewith the Lord of life hath spread his table What then shall I do shall I burn the brimstone of hell at his nostrils or shall I open the box of Spikenard very preciousâ— that filleth the whole house of this universe with its perfume Mark. 14. 3. Iohn 12. 8. and hope that the favour of Christ's ointments and the smell of his garments will attract him Psal. 45. 8. Alas dead sinners are like the dumb Idols they have mouths but they speak not eyes have they but they see not they have ears but they hear not noses have they but they smell not they have hands but they handle not feet have they but they walk not neither speak they through their throat Psal. 115. 5 6 7. They are destitute of all spiritual sense and motion But let me try the sense that doth last leave us and draw the Sword of the word yet lay at him while I will yea though I choose mine arrows out of God's quiver and direct them to the heart nevertheless he feeleth it not for how should he being past feeling Eph. 4. 19. So that though the wrath of God abideth on him and the mountainous weight of so many thousand sins yet he goes up and down as light as if nothing â—iled him Rom. 7. 9. In a word he carries a dead soul in a living body and his flesh is but the walking Coffin of a corrupted mind that is twice dead Iude 12. rotting in the slime and putrefaction of noisom lusts Mat. 23. 27 28. Which way then shall I come at the miserable objects that I have to deal with who shall make the heart of stone to relent Zech. 11. 12. or the lifeless Carkass to feel and move That God that is able of Stones to raise up Children unto Abraham Mat. 3. 9. that raiseth the Dead 2 Cor. 1. 9. and melteth the Mountains Nah. 1. 5. and strikes water out of the Flints Deut. 8. 15. that loves to work like himself beyond the hopes and belief of man that peopleth his Church with dry bones and planteth his Orchard with dry sticks he is able to do this Therefore I bow my knee to the most high God Eph. 3. 14. and as our Saviour prayed at the Sepulchre of Lazarus Iohn 11. 38 41. and the Shunamite ran to the man of God for her dead Child 2 Kings 4. 25. so doth your mourning Minister kneel about your graves and carry you in the arms of prayer to that God in whom your help is
I will be content to lose it Hear then Oh sinner and as ever thou wouldst be converted and saved embrace this following counsel Direct I. Set it down with thy self as an undoubted truth that it is impossible for thee ever to get to Heaven in this thy unconverted state Can any other but Christ save thee And he tells thee he will never do it except thou be regenerated and converted Mat. 18. 3. Iohn 3. 3. Doth he not keep the keys of Heaven And canst thou get in without his leave as thou must if ever thou comest thither in thy natural condition without a sound and thorough renovation Direct II. Labour to get a thorough sight and lively sense and feeling of thy sins Till men are weary and heavy laden and pricked at the heart and stark sick of sin they will not come to Christ in his way for ease and cure nor to purpose enquire What shall we do Mat. 11. 28. Acts 2. 37. Mat. 9. 12. They must set themselves down for dead men before they will come unto Christ that they may have life Iohn 5. 40. Labour therefore to set all thy sins in order before thee Never be afraid to look upon them but let thy spirit make diligent search Psal. 77. 6. Enquire into thine heart and into thy life enter into a thorow examination of thy self and of all thy ways Psal. 119. 59. that thou mayst make a full discovery and call in the help of God's Spirit in the sense of thine own inability hereunto for it is his proper work to convince of sin Iohn 16. 8. Spread all before the face of thy Conscience till thine heart and eyes be set abroach Leave not striving with God and thine own soul till it cry out under the sense of thy sins as the enlightned Jaâ—lor What must I do to â—e saved Acts 16. 30. To this purpose Meditate of the numerousness of thy sins David's heart failed when he thought of this and considered that he had more sins than hairs Psal. 40. 12. This made him to cry out upon the multitudes of Gods tender mercies Psal. 51. 1. The loathsome carcass doth not more hatefully swarm with crawling worms than an unsanctified soul with filthy Iusts They fill the head the heart the eyes and mouth of him Look backward where was ever the place what was ever the time in which thou didst not sin Look inward what part or power canst thou find in soul or body but it is poisoned with sin What duty dost thou ever perform into which poison is not shed Oh how great is the sum of thy debts who hast been all thy life long running upon the hooks and never didst nor canst pay off one penny Look over the sin of thy Nature and all its cursed broad the sins of thy life Call to mind thy Omissions Commissions the sins of thy thoughts of thy words of thine actions the sins of thy youth the siâ—s of thy years c. Be not like a desperate Bankrupt that is afraid to look over his Books Read the Records of Conscience carefully These Books must be opened sooner or later Rev. 20. 12. Meditate upon the aggravations of thy sin as they are the grand enemies against the God of thy life against the life of thy soul in a word they 〈…〉 publiâ—k enemies of all mankind How do David Ezra Daniel and the good Levites aggravate their sins from the consideration of their injuriousness to God their opposition to his good and righteous Laws the mercies the warnings that they were committed against Nâ—â— 9. Daâ— 9. Ezra 9. O the work that sin hath made in the world This is the enemy that hath brought in death that hath robbed and enslaved man that hath blacked the Devil that hath digged Hell Rom. 5. 12. 2 Pet. 2. 4. Iohn 8. 34. This is the enemy that hath turned the Creation upside down and sown dissention between man and the creatures between man and man yea between man and himself setting the sensitive part against the rational the will against the judgment lust against conscience yea worst of all between God and man making the lapsed sinner both hateful to God and a hater of him Zech. 11. 8. O man how canst thou make so light of sin This is the Traytor that sucked the blood of the Son of God that sold him that mocked him that scourged him that spit in his face that digged his hands that pierced his side that pressed his soul that mangled his body that never left till it had bound him condemned him nailed him crucified him and put him to open shame Isa. 53. 4 5 6. This is that deadly poyson so powerful of operation as that one drop of it shed upon the root of mankind hath corrupted spoiled and poisoned and undone his whole race at once Rom. 5. 18 19. This is the common Butcher the bloody Executioner that hath killed the Prophets burnt the Martyrs murdered all the Apostles all the Patriarchs all the Kings and Potentates that hath destroyed Cities swallowed Empires butchered and devoured whole Nations Whatever was the weapon that 't was done by sin was it that did Execution Rom. 6. 23. dost thou yet think it but a small thing If Adam and all his Children could be digged out of their Graves and their Bodies piled up to Heaven and an inquest were made what matchless murderer were guilty of all this blood it would be all found in the skirts of sin Study the nature of sin till thy heart be brought to fear and loath it And meditate on the aggravations of thy particular sins how thou hast sinned against all God's warnings against thine own prayers against mercies against corrections against clearest light against freest love against thine own resolutions against promises vows covenants of better obedience c. charge thy heart home with these things till it blush for shame and be brought out of all good opinion of it self Ezra 9. 6. Meditate upon the desert of sin It cryeth up to Heaven It calls for vengeance Gen. 18. 21. It s due wages is death and damnation It pulls the curse of God upon the Soul and Body Gal. 3. 10. Deut. 28. The least sinful word or thought lays thee under the infinite wrath of God Almighty Rom. 2. 8 9. Mat. 12. 36. Oh what a load of wrath what a weight of curses what treasure of vengeance have all the millions of thy sins then deserved Rom. 2. 5. Iohn 3. 36. Oh Judge thy self that the Lord may not â—udge thee 1 Cor. 11. 31. Meditate upon the deformity and desilement of sin 'T is as black as Hell the very image and likeness of the Devil drawn upon the Soul 1 John 3. 8 10. It would more affright thee to see thy self in the hateful deformity of thy nature than to see the Devil There is no mire so unclean no vomit so loathsome no carcass or carrion so offensive no plague or leprosie so noisom as sin in which thou
of choice not as slaves but as the Sun or Spouse from a Spring of Love and a Loyal Mind In a Word the Laws of Christ are the Converts Love Psalm 119. 159 163 167. desire ver 5 20 40. delight ver 77 92 103 111 143. and continual study ver 99 79. Psalm 1. 2. 4. The bent of his course is directed to keep Gods Statutes Psalm 119. 4 8 167 168. 'T is the daily care of his life to walk with God. He seeks great things he hath noble designs though he fall too short He aims at nothing less than perfection he desires it he reaches after it he would not rest in any pitch of grace till he were quite rid of sin and had perfected holiness Phil. 3. 11 12 13 14. Here the Hypocrites rottenness may be discovered He desires holiness as one well only as a Bridge to Heaven and enquires earnestly what is the least that will serve his turn and if he can get but so much as may just bring him to Heaven this is all he cares for But the sound Convert desires holiness for holiness sake Psalm 119. 97. Mat. 5. 6. and not only for Heaven's sake He would not be satisfied with so much as might save him from Hell but desires the highest pitch Yet desires are not enough What is thy way and thy course Is the drift and scope of thy life altered Is holiness thy trade and religion thy business Rom. 8. 1. Mat. 25. 16. Phil. 1. 20. If not thou art short of sound Conversion Application And is this that we have described the Conversion that is of absolute necessity to salvation Then be informed 1. That strait is the gate and narrow the way that leadeth unto life 2. That there be but few that find it 3. That there is need of a Divine power savingly to convert a sinner to Jesus Christ. Again then be exhorted O man that readest to turn in upon thine own self What saith Conscience Doth it not begin to bite Doth it not twitch thee as thou goest Is this thy Judgment and this thy Choice and this thy way that we have described If so then 't is well But doth not thy heart condemn thee and tell thee there is such a sin thou livest in against thy Conscience Doth it not tell thee there is such and such a secret way of wickedness that thou makest no bones of Such or such a Duty that thou makest no Conscience of Doth not Conscience carry thee to thy Closet and tell thee how seldom prayer and reading is performed there Doth it not carry thee to thy family and shew thee the charge of God and the souls of thy children and servants that be neglected there doth not Conscience lead thee to thy Shop thy Trade and tell thee of some mystery of iniquity there Doth it not carry thee to the Ale-Shop or to the Sack-Shop and round thee in thine ear for the loose Company thou keepest there the precious time thou mis-spendest there for the talents of God which thou throwest down this Sink for thy gaming and thy swilling c. Doth it not carry thee into thy secret Chamber and read thee a Curtain Lecture O Conscience do thy duty In the name of the living God I command thee discharge thine office Lay hold upon this sinner fall upon him arrest him apprehend him undeceive him What wilt thou flatter and sooth him while he lives in his sins Awake O Conscience What meanest thou O sleeper What hast thou never a reproof in thy mouth What shall this soul die in his careless neglect of God and Eternity and thou altogether hold thy peace What shall he go on still in his trespasses and yet have peace O rouse up thy self and do thy work Now let the Preacher in the bosom speak Cry aloud and spare not lift up thy voice like a Trumpet let not the blood of this Soul be required at thy hands Chap. III. Of the Necessity of Conversion IT may be you are ready to say what meaneth this stir And are apt to wonder why I follow you with such earnestness still ringing one lesson in your â—ars That you should repent and be converted Acts 3. 19. But I must say unto you as Ruth to Naomi Intreat me not to leave you nor to turn aside from following after you Ruth 1. 16. Were it a matter of indifferency I would never keep so much ado Might you be saved as you be I would gladly let you alone But would you not have me solicitous for you when I see you ready to perish As the Lord liveth before whom I am I have not the least hopes to see one of your faces in Heaven except you be converted I utterly despair of your salvation except you will be prevailed with to turn throughly and give up your selves to God in holiness and newness of life Hath God said Except you be born again you cannot see the Kingdom of God Iohn 3. 3. and yet do you wonder why your Ministers do so plainly travel in birth with you Think it not strange that I am earnest with you to follow after holiness and long to see the Image of God upon you Never did any nor shall any enter into Heaven by any other way but this The Conversion described is not an high pitch of some taller Christians but every soul that is saved passes this universal change It was a passage of the Noble Roman when he was hasting with Corn to the City in the famine and the Mariners were loth to set sail in foul weather Necessarium est navigarâ— non est necessarium vivere Our voyage is of more necessity than our lives What is it that thou dost account necessary Is thy Bread necessary Is thy Breath necessary then thy Conversion is much more necessary Indeed this is the â—â—num necessarium the one thing necessary Thine Estate is not necessary thou maist sell all for the Pearl of great price and yet be a gainer by the purchase Mat. 13. 46. Thy life is not necessary thou maist part with it for Christ to infinite advantage Thine esteem is noâ— necessary thou maist be reproached for the name of Christ and yet happy yea much more happy in reproach than in repute 1 Pet. 4. 4. Mat. 5. 10 11. But thy Conversion is necessary thy damnation lies upon it and is it not needful in so important a case to look about thee Upon this one point depends thy making or marring to all eternity But I shall more particularly shew the necessity of Conversion in five things for without this 1. 〈◊〉 being is in vaiâ— Is it not pity thou shouldst be good for nothing an unprofitable burden of the earth a wart or wen in the Body of the universe Thus thou art whilst unconverted for thou canst not answer the end of thy Being Is it not for the divine pleasure thou art and wert created Rev. 4. 11. Did not he make thee for himself Prov. 16. 4.
Art thou a man and hast thou reason Why then bethink thy self why and whence thy Being is Behold God's workmanship in thy body and ask thy self to what end did God rear this fabrick Consider the noble faculties or my Heaven-born soul to what end did God bestow these excellencies To no other than that 〈◊〉 shouldst please thy self and gratifie thy senses Did God send men like the Swallows into the World only to gather a few sticks and dirt and build their Nests and breed up their young and then away The very Heathens could see farther than this Art thou so fearfully and wonderfully made Psal. 139. 14. and dost thou not yet think with thy self surely it was for some noble and raised end O man set thy reason a little in the Chair Is it not pity such a goodly fabrick should be raised in vain Verily thou art in vain except thou art for God. Better thou hadst no Being than not to be for him Wouldst thou serve thy end Thou must repent and be converted Without this thou art to no purpose yea to bad purpose First To No purpose Man unconverted is like a choice instrument that hath every string broke or out of tune The Spirit of the living God must repair and tune it by the grace of regeneration and sweetly move it by the power of actuating grace or else thy prayers will be but howlings and all thy services will make no Musick in the Ears of the most Holy Eph. 2. 10. Phil. 2. 13. Hos. 7. 14. Isa. 1. 15. All thy powers and faculties are so corrupt in thy natural State that except thou be purged from dead works thou canst not serve the living God Heb. 9. 14. Tit. 1. 15. An unsanctified man cannot work the work of God. 1. He hath no skill in it He is altogether as unskilful in the work as in the word of righteousness Heb. 5. 13. There are great mysteries as well in the practices as principles of godliness now the unregenerate knoweth not the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 13. 11. 1 Tim. 3. 16. You may as well expect him that never learn'd the Alphabet to read or look for goodly Musick on the Lute from one that never set his hand to an instrument as that a natural man should do the Lord any pleasing service He must first be taught of God Iohn 6. 45. taught to pray Luke 11. 1. taught to profit Esay 48. 17. taught to go Hos. 11. 3. or else he will be utterly at a loss 2. He hath no strength for it How weak is his heart Ezek. 16. 30. He is presently tired The Sabbath what a weariness is it Maâ— 1. 13. He is without strength Rom. 5. 6. yea stark dead in sin Eph. 2. 5. 3. He hath no mind to it he desires not the knowledge of God's ways Iob 21. 14. He doth not know them and he doth not care to know them Psalm 82. 5. He knows not neither will he understand 4. He hath neither due instruments nor materials for it A man may as well hew the Marble without Tools or Limn without Colours or Instruments or build without Materials as perform any acceptable service without the graces of the Spirit which are both the Materials and Instruments in the work Alms giving is not a service of God but of vain glory unless dealt forth by the hand of divine love What is the prayer of the lips without grace in the heart but the carcass without the life What are all our confessions unless they be the exercises of godly sorrow and unfeigned repentance What our petitions unless animated all along with holy desires and faith in divine attributes and promises What our praises and thanksgivings unless from the Love of God and a holy grattiude and sense of God's mercies in the heart So that a man may as well expect the trees should speak or look for Logick from the brutes or motion from the dead as for any service holy and acceptable to God from the unconverted When the tree is evil how can the fruit be good Mat. 7. 18. Secondly To Bad purpose The unconverted soul is a very cage of unclean birds Rev. 18. 2. a Sepulchre full of Corruption and Rottenness Mat. 23. 27. a loathsome carkass full of crawling Worms and sending forth a hellish and most noisome favour in the nostrils of God. Psalm 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 consecrated Vessels of God's 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 Antiechus 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 Baul 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 aâ—e turned into instruments of unrighteousness Rom. 6. 19. Servants of Satan and thy in most powers into receptacles of uncleanness Eph. 2. 2. Tit. 1. 15. You may see the goodly guests within by what comes out For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Theits False witness Blasphemies c. This black guard discovers what a Hell there is within 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 much more fearful to see the only thing that hath immortality in this lower world and carries the stamp of God to become as a vessel wherein there is no pleasure Ier. 22. 28. 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 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
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 pernicions to thy self there is death desperation blasphemy in the bowels of this hope 1. There 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. tho thou maist lean upon this house it will not stand Iob 8. 1â— 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 fruition 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 Iob in a mistake Where now is my hope He hath destroyed me I am gone and my hope is removed like a tree Job 19. 10. 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 a dying yea a damning soul-undoing hope When a wicked man dieth 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 Job 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 fail and their hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost Job 11. 20. Wicked 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 liar He hath told you that so merciful and pitiful as he is he will never save you notwithstanding if you go on in ignorance or a course of unrighteousnes Isa. 27. 11. 1. Cor. 6. 9. In a word he 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 God's 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 Ans. 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 Psalm 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 abhorrence reject this hope Those condemned in the Prophet went on in their sins yet faith the Text they will lean upon the Lord Mic. 3. 11. God will not endure to be made a prop to men in their sins The Lord rejected those presumptuous sinners that went on still in their trespasses and yet would stay themselves upon the God of Israel Isaâ— 48. 1 2. as a man would shake off the briars as one said well that cleaves to his garment 3. If thy hope be any thing worth it will purifie thee from thy sins 1 Iohn 3. 3. but cursed is that hope which doth cherish men in their sins Object Would you have us to despair Answ. You must despair of ever coming to Heaven as you are Acts 2. 37. that is while you remain unconverted You must despair ever to see the face of God without holiness but you must by no means despair of finding mercy upon your thorough repentance and conversion neither may you despair of attaining to repentance and conversion in the use of Gods means V. Without this all that Christ hath done and suffered will be as to you in vain John 13. 8. Tit. 2. 14. that is it will no way avail to your salvation Many urge this as a sufficient ground for their hopes that Christ died for sinners but I must tell you Christ never died to save impenitent and unconverted sinners so continuing 2 Tim. 2. 19. A great Divine was wont in his private dealings with souls to ask two questions 1. What hath Christ done for you 2. What hath Christ wrought in you Without the application of the Spirit in Regeneration we can have no saving 〈◊〉 â—â—rest in the benefits of Redemptâ—on I telâ— you from the Lord Christ himself cannot save you if you go on in this estate I. It were against his trust The Mediator is the Servant of the Father Isa. 42. 1. shews his commission from him acts in his name and pleads his command for his justification Iohn 10. 18 36. Iohn 6. 38 40. And God hath committed all things to him entrusted his own glory and the salvation of his elect with him Mat. 11. 27. Iohn 17. 2. Accordingly Christ gives his Father an account of both parts of his trust before he leaves the world Iohn 17. 4 6 12. Now Christ should quite cross his Fathers glory his greatest trust if he should save men in their sins for this were to overturn all his counsels and to offer violence to all his attributes First To overturn all his Councels of which this is the order that men should be brought through sanctification to salvation 2 Thes. 2. 13. He hath chosen them that they should be holy Eph. 1. 4. They are elected to pardon and life through sanctification 1 Pet. 1. 2. If thou canst repeal the Law
Mat. 7. 22 23. Oh dreadful case when a man's Religion shall serve only to harden him and effectually to delude and deceive his own Soulâ— 4. The prevalency of false ends in holy duties Mat. 23. 25. This was the bane of the Pharisees Oh how many a poor soul is undone by this and drops into Hell before he discerns his mistake He performs good duties and so thinks all is well and perceives not that he is actuated by carnal Motives all the while It is too true that even with the truly sanctified many carnal ends will oft-times creep in but they are the matter of his hatred and humiliation and never come to be habitually prevalent with him and to bear the greatest sway Rom. 14. 7. But now when the main thing that doth ordinarily carry a man out to religious duties shall be some carnal end as to satisfie his conscience to get the repute of being religious to be seen of men to shew his own gifts and parts to avoid the reproach of a prophane and irreligious person or the like this discovers an unsound heart Hos. 10. 1. Zech. 7. 5 6. O Christians if you would avoid self-deceit see that you mind not only your acts but withal yea above all your ends 5. Trusting in their own righteousness Luk. 18. 9. This is a soul undoing mischief Rom. 10. 3. When men do trust in their own righteousness they do indeed reject Christ's Beloved you had need be watchful on every hand for not only your sins but your duties may undo you It may be you never thought of this but so it is that a man may as certainly miscarry by his seeming righteousness and supposed graces as by gross sins and that is when a man doth trust to these as his righteousness before God for the satisfying his justice appeasing his wrath procuring his favour and obtaining of his own pardon for this is to put Christ out of office and make a Saviour of our own duties and graces Beware of this O professors you are much in duties but this one fly will spoil all the Ointment When you have done most and best be sure to go out of your selves to Christ reckon your own righteousness but rags Psalm 143. 2. Phil. 3. 8. Isa. 64. 6. Neh. 13. 22. 6. A secret enmity against the strictness of Religion Many moral persons punctual in their formal devotion have yet a bitter enmity against preciseness and hate the life and power of Religion Phil. 3. 6. compared with Acts 9. 1. They like not this frowardness nor that men should keep such a stir in Religion They condemn the strictness of Religion as singularity indiscretion and intemperate zeal and with them a lively Preacher or lively Christian is but a heady fellow These men love not holiness as holiness for then they would love the height of holiness and therefore are undoubtedly rotten at heart whatever good opinion they have of themselves 7. The resting in a certain pitch of Religion When they have so much as will save them as they suppose they look no further and so shew themselves short of true Grace which will ever put men upon aspiring to further perfection Phil. 3. 13. Pro. 4. 18. 8. The predominant love of the World. This is the sure evidence of an unsanctified heart Mar. 10. 37. 1 Iohn 2. 15. But how close doth this sin lurk oft-times under a fair covert of forward profession Luke 8. 14. Yea such a power of deceit is there in this sin that many times when every body else can see the man's worldliness and covetousness he cannot see it himself but hath so many colours and excuses and pretences for his eagerness on the world that he doth blind his own eyes and perish in his self-deceit How many professors be here with whom the world hath more of their hearts and affections than Christ Who mind earthly things and thereby are evidently after the flesh and like to end in destruction Rom. 8. 5. Phil. 3. 19. Yet ask these men and they will tell you confidently they prize Christ above all God forbid else and see not their own earthly mindedness for want of a narrow observation of the workings of their own hearts Did they but carefully search they would quickly find that their greatest content is in the world Luke 12. 19. and their greatest care and main endeavour to get and secure the world which are the certain discovery of an unconverted sinner May the professing part of the world take earnest heed that they perish not by the hand of this sin unobserved Men may be and often are kept off from Christ as effectually by the inordinate love of lawful comforts as by the most unlawful courses Mat. 22. 5. Luke 14. 18 19 20 24. 9. Reigning Malice and Envy against those that disrespect them or are injurious to them 1 Ioh. 2. 9 11. O how do many that seem to be religious remember injuries and carry grudges and will return men as good as they bring rendring evil for evil loving to take revenge wishing evil to them that wrong them directly against the rule of the Gospel the pattern of Christ and the nature of God Rom. 12. 14 17. 1 Pet. 2. 21 23. Neh. 9. 17. Doubtless where this evil is kept boiling in the heart and is not hated resisted mortified but doth habitually prevail that person is in the very gall of bitterness and in a state of death Mat. 18. 34 35. 1 Iohn 3. 14 15. Reader doth nothing of this touch thee Art thou in none of the forementioned Ranks O search and search again take thy heart solemnly to task Woe unto thee if after all thy profession thou shouldst be found under the power of ignorance lost in formality drowned in earthly mindedness envenomed with malice exalted in an opinion of thine own righteousness levened with hypocrisie and carnal ends in Gods service imbittered against strictness this would be a sad discovery that all thy Religion were in vain But I must proceed 10. Unmortified Pride When men love the praise of men more than the praise of God and set their hearts upon mens esteemâ— applause and approbation it is most certain they are yet in their sins and strangers to true conversion Iohn 12. 43. Gal. 1. 10. When men see not nor complain of nor groan under the pride of their own hearts it 's a sign they are stark dead in sin O how secretly doth this sin live and reign in many hearts and they know it not but are very strangers to themselves Iohn 9. 40. 11. The prevailing love of pleasure 2 Tim. 3. 4. This is a black mark When men give the flesh the liberty that it craves and pamper and please it and do not deny and restrain it when their great delight is in gratifying their bellies and pleasing their senses whatever appearance they may have of Religion all is unsound Rom. 16. 18. Tit. 3. 3. A flesh-pleasing life cannot be pleasing to God
Jesus Christ Acts 4. 12. Thou must unlearn tâ—y self and renounce thine own wisdom thine own righteousness thine own strength and throw thy self wholly upon Christ as a man that swimmeth casteth himself upon the water or else thou canst not escape While men trust in themselves and establish their own righteousness and have confidence in the flesh they will not come savingly to Christ Luke 18. 9. Phil. 3. 3. Thou must know thy gain to be but loss and dung thy strength but weakness thy righteousness rags and rottenness before there will be an effectual closure between Christ and thee Phil. 3. 7 8 9. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Isa. 64. 6. Can the lifeless carcass shake off its grave cloths and loose the bonds of death Then mayst thou recover thy self who art dead in trespasses and sins and under an impossibility of serving thy Maker acceptably in this condition Rom. 8. 8. Heb. â—1 6. Therefore when thou goest to pray or meditate or to do any of the duties to which thou art here directed go out of thy self call in the help of the Spirit as despairing to do any thing pleasing to God in thine own strength Yet neglect not thy duty but lie at the pool and wait in the way of the Spirit While the Eunuch was reading then the Holy Ghost sent Philip to him Acts 8. 28 29. when the Disciples were praying Acts 4. 31. when Cornelius and his friends were hearing Acts 10. 44. then the Holy Ghost fell upon them and filled them all Strive to give up thy self to Christ Strive to pray strive to meditate strive an hundred and an hundred times try to do it as well as thou canst and while thou art endeavouring in the way of thy duty the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee and help thee to do what of thy self thou art utterly unable unto Prov. 1. 23. Direct V. Forthwith renounce all thy sins If thou yield thy self to the contrary practice of any sin thou art undone Rom. 6. 17. in vain dost thou hope for life by Christ except thou dâ—part from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. Forsake thy sins or else thou canst not find mercy Prov. 28. 13. Thou canst not be married to Christ except divorced from sin Give up the Traitor or you can have no peace with Heaven Cast the head of Sheba over the wall Keep not Dalilah in thy lap Thou must part with thy sins or with thy soul. Spare but one sin and God will not spare thee Never make excuses thy sins must die or thou must die for them Psal. 68. 21. If thou allow of one sin though but a little a secret one though thou may'st plead necessity and have a hundred shifts and excuses for it the life of thy soul must go for the life of that sin Ezek. 18. 21. and will it not be dearly bought O sinner hear and consider If thou wilt part with thy sins God will give thee his Christ Is not this a fair exchange I testifie unto thee this day that if thou perish it is not because there was never a Saviour provided nor life tendred but because thou preferredst with the Jews the Murderer before thy Saviouâ— sin before Christ and lovedst darkness rather than light Iohn 3. 19. Search thy heart therefore with Candles as the Jews did their Houses for Leaven before the Passover Labour to find out thy sins enter into thy Closet and consider What evil have I lived in What duty have I neglected towards God What sin have I lived in against my Brother And now strike the darts through the heart of thy sin as Iâ—ab did through Absalom's 2 Sam. 18. 14. Never stand looking upon thy sin nor rolling the morsel under thy tongue Iob 20. 11. but spit it out as poyson with fear and detestation Alas what will thy sins do for thee that thou shouldst stick at parting with them They will flatter thee but they will undo thee and cut thy throat while they smile upon thee and poyson thee while they please thee and arm the justice and wrath of the infinite God against thee They will open Hell for thee and pile up fuel to burn thee Behold the Gibbet that they have prepared for thee Oh serve them like Haman and do upon them the Execution they would else have done upon thee Away with them crucifie them and let Christ only be Lord over thee Direct VI. Make a solemn choice of God for thy portion and blessedness Deut. 26. With all possible devotion and veneration avouch the Lord for thy God. Set the world with all its glory and paint and gallantry with all its pleasures and promotions on the one hand and set God with all his infinite excellencies and perfections on the other and see that thou do deliberately make thy choice Iosh. 24. 15. Take up thy rest in God Iob. 6. 68. Set thee down under his shadow Cant. 2. 3. Let his promises and perfections turn the scale against all the world Settle it upon thy heart that the Lord is an all-sufficient portion that thou canst not be miserable while thou hast a God to live upon take him for thy shield and exceeding great reward God alone is more than all the world Content thy self with him Let others carry the preferments and glory of the world place thou thy happiness in his favour and the light of his countenance Psal. 4. 6 7. Poor sinner thou art fallen off from God and hast engaged his power and wrath against thee Yet know that of his abundant grace he doth offer to be thy God again in Christ 2 Cor. 6. 17 18. What sayest thou man Wilt thou have the Lord for thy God Why take this counsel and thou shalt have him Come to him by his Christ Ioh. 14. 6. Renounce the Idols of thine own pleasures gain reputation 1 Thes. 1. 9. Let these be pulled out of the Throne and set Gods interest uppermost in thine â—eare Take him as God to be chief in thine affections estimations intentions for he will not endure to have any set above him Rom. 1. 24 Psal. 73. 25. In a word thou must take him in all his Personal Relations and in all his Essential Perfections First In all his Personal Relations God the Father must be taken for thy Father Ier. 3. 4 19 22. O come to him with the Prodigal Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am not worthy to be called thy Son but since of thy wonderful mercy thou art pleased to take meâ— that am of my self a dog a swine a devil to be thy child I solemnly take thee for my Father commend my self to thy care and trust to thy providence and cast my burden on thy shoulders I depend on thy provision and submit to thy corrections and trust under the shadow of thy wings and hide in thy chambers and â—ly to thy name I renounce all confidence in my self I repose my confidence in thee I depose my concernments with