observing many of the commands of God and appeared very zealous in the prosecution of them but by that time we abate Jehu for his own interest and for the settlement of the kingdom in his own hand we shal find little left standing upon the account of obedience to the command yea when the Lord reckons up what Jehu had done by one of the Prophets with these deductions he cals not what he had done obedience or zeal for the Lord but murder Hos 1.4 such interpretations may those actions have which in themselves are good and carry a great appearance with them of obeying and honouring God when they are weighed with the dreggs or drosse of those false principles and ends which are with those that perform the same Con. 2 If you be not Christians in good earnest all that you do wil but aggravate your sins your complyance with God in some things wil not excuse but aggravate your breach with him in other things this wil bring your sins under other aggravating circumstances which other mens sins do not fal under your sins wil be judged hypocrisies in that they were under a profession and sins against knowledge in that they were under convictions and contempt of Christ and his ways in as much as Christ came so near to you in the word and yet you put him by Consid 3. you have the least or wil have the least to say for your selves of any people Of all men halters in Religion wil have the least excuse We find when the Prophet Elijah dealt with the children of Israel in this case they were all silent before him one man strikes a whole congregation dumb when he charges this sin upon them they who use to have their excuses and pleas at hand in all other cases have none in this 1 King 18.21 The people answered not a word Of all men in the world these wil be left without excuse and of all sins halting and lukewarmness wil appeare in their nakedness 4. You are the greatest dishonour to God of any people you dishonour the Father the Son and the Spirit for men look upon you as men serving and owning God and they judge of God and his worship by you First you dishonour the Father men have low thoughts of his maiesty and holiness when they see those who go under the notion of professors and owners of the ways of God to be slight and cold in his worship when they see the spirits of men that worship God cold in it and stinted and shut up in such and such a compasse of profession setting bounds to themselves this and that they wil do and no more Oh how can men think that the God whom you have to do withall is a holy God Oh the mean and base thoughts men do harbour of God from the beholding the luke-warme conversations of such half christians Secondly dishonour Christ and the gospel under which you live oh my friends is it not a reproach to Christ that it should be said This life which you live in is that life which Christ came to purchase for which he layd downe his life did Christ come to give life yea and abundance of life Iohn 10.10 and is this that life Is that life which many of us live who would be accounted partakers of the life of Christ like that life which Christ came to give the Evan gelist says we receive grace for grace from him but where is it when it is exercised Ah my freinds Christ is reproached in this when we cal and account that the life of Christ which is but an abomination to him Nay this is a reproach to the gospeltimes in which was promised a greater measure of grace to be poured forth and that God would give a more choice and excellent spirit to his people Zachary 12.10 But do not the low and lukewarm tempers of many pretended Christians bring mean thoughts upon the gospel and the times of it while they live much below the professors of religion in the times of the law 3. It is a reproach to the spirit of God whose office it is to sanctifie and renew the heart of his people what honour does the Scripture put upon this it cals it The beauty of holiness Psalm 110 3. as if there were no beauty but this Now what a vilifying of the spirit of God is it to set up a dead cold heartlesse profession without life and vigour instead of the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God as if we should say Loe this is all that the spirit works in the hearts of Gods people Doubtless it is from hence that men and women have such meane and low thoughts of sanctification because they see so little in the lives of those that profess it and many do believe that it is nothing but a pretence and a shadow and a notion taken up amongst men and if they do but go to Church sometimes and say their prayers and beleeve as the Church beleeves they are as much sanctified as any for they see no more in others then in themselves but that some can talk more then they Thus I say the Father the Son and the Spirit they are all vilified and all by reason of those who cal themselves christians but are not and if there be a woe to that man by whom offences come then much more woe to those men by whom all these offences come Cons 5. You are the greatest blots to religion in the world All the Apostasies of Professors which have hardened many mens hearts against Religion have risen from the midst of you There was never an Apostate in the world but he was first a luke-warm professor Look to all the gross and damnable errors which have broken forth and the horrible Apostasies which have been from the profession of the truth and they sprung up amongst those who have been halters with God Some that have seemingly and in part received the truth but have not received it in the love of it These are the people which God hath given up to strong delusions and are swept away vvith abominable errors and these have fallen away in time of temptation because they were not rooted and grounded in the truth but there was never any one did Apastatize and fal away wholly and fully from the truth that was altogether a Christian If you would not be Apostates from the truth pray that your hearts may be sound in the statutes of the Lord Ps 119.80 Consid 6. You are men upon whom the Devil hath the greatest advantage of any men in the world he chooses you out as instruments to carry on all his great works and to further his grand designes in the world by your help it is that he manages all the affairs of his kingdom it is a dreadful thing to think that you should be the chief pillars of Satans throne he choses not out the prophane because they are too gross they wil be easily
now he hears John gladly and he greedily catches at all the sweet promises which John dropt at any time to such as did obey the truth saying in his heart These are mine and this made him hear with delight Thus the stony ground received the word with joy which must needs arise from some promises misapplyed and some good laid hold on which did not belong to them whereby they apprehended that their condition vvas much advanced they rejoyced in the Heaven and happinesse which the promises held forth to the Saints which they could not do unlesse they had believed them but they were unwilling to go thorow a believers hell to his Heaven therefore in time of persecution they fell away hence it is that some are said to have tasted of the powers of the world to come Heb. 6.5 that is they are convinc'd of the excellent priviledges of the Saints both in this life and especially in that to come as that they shall have communion with God the Father Son and Spirit with Angels and all the Saints They may be perswaded of the excellent state of the Saints then in respect of the glory which shall be put upon their souls and bodies their freedome fâ—om evil and the accession of all good things Now though they have not a true taste of these priviledges and they know not what grace is and the pleasure of communion with God is yet they being perswaded that such things are having found a joy in their false hopes and counterfeit graces which they have judged to be soretastes of Heaven they have been sorc'd to acknowledge that this false joy was yet better then all the pleasures of their sins and hence they have been strongly perswaded of the truth of Gods promises made to his people though they do not belong to them this is the case of many men who by the perswasions of the truth of the threats and promises do not learn to escape the one and to enjoy the other and they say under these perswasions as he did Luke 14.15 Blessed is he that shal eat bread in the kingdom of God yet themselves never come there VI. They may be perswaded of the sweetnesse of Gods ways and that those who follow him have their pleasure yea more pleasure then men can have in sin it is said therefore they received the word with joy Luke 8.13 and Isaiah 58.2 They delighted in approaching unto God hence it is said Heb. 6.5 That they tasted of the good word of God they tasted of the goodnesse of the word and having tasted it they accounted it good Now we know that the taste counts nothing good but that vvhich is sweet though other senses do count bitter things good for they may be beautiful and so good to the eye and fragrant so good to the smelling but the palate commends sweetness The carnal man may esteem the ways of God as pleasant First because the bare performance of some duties and reforming of some sins bath given much ease to conscience and hath procured much rest from the troubles with which they were before overwhelmed so that comparing their lives w th what they wâ—re before they do account the much more pleasant then when they lived in the height of sin because they had then many gripings of conscience which spoiled all their mirth now though they have but a false peace yet it is sweeter then their former life Secondly he accounts the ways of God sweet because he hath not only a cessation from his former troubles but he hath also many times a great presumption of Gods love and of the pardon of sin and of eternal life so that he is as it were wrapt up out of the body and perhaps in a fit out of the world that he can set a low esteem upon these also for a time Thirdly he esteems the ways of God sweet because he finds now an increase of knowledge and of gifts by exercising himself in them so that the knowledge that he gets under the word makes the word seem sweet unto him and he rejoyces in it Joh. 5.35 Knowledge is pleasant even of that which we do not love so that while this increaseth the soul is delighted Isa 58.2 they delighted in knowing but not in doing and as the word may feem sweet for the knowledge which is gotten by it so may prayer because of gifts and parts increased by it Thus he may be convinced of the sweetness of Gods ways so far that he is carried forth sometimes to prefer the ways of God before the ways of men and the people of God before the men of the world as Balaam was Numb 24.5 How goodly are thy tents O Jacob and thy tabernacles O Israel The Lord is pleased to shew carnal men that which they never enjoy yea they feel sometimes that which they soon forget They have some glances of the happiness which the Saints enjoy in communion with God though they have none with him yet some such workings there are sometimes upon hypocrites that they finde something which seems like it and brings them in much comfort which although it be not true and lasting yet it serves to convince them that there is a sweetnesse in the ways of God and they can say Blessed is he that is in such a case yea blessed is he whose God is the Lord upon all these accounts they are in the main perswaded there is a sweetness in the ways of the Saints though they do all the while mistake it and are strangers to that comfort which the Saints find in duties when they think they do enjoy them The ways of God themselves are not sweet but there is a sweetness squeezed out of them which refreshes them so that upon the whole they are satisfied in this that it is a more comfortable life all things considered to live in the strict performances of the godly then in the loose practises of the wicked yet these men that come thus far may not be altogether Christians 7ly They may be perswaded of things that are excellent and may be able to judg betwixt things that differ yea so far skill'd in the nature of things that they may be able to instruct others in spiritual matters they may have some insight into all the ways of God in which his people walk so that they may be able to direct the weak and quicken the dull yea and to set things out with some eminency Rom. 2.18 Knowing and approving the things that are more excellent being instructed out of the Law He may not onely see or shew what is a duty but the excellency of it by which he has the advantage of exciting others to it yea he â—â—ay not only shew how much more excellent grace and the exercise of it is then sin but if any grace more excellent or duty then other he may discern the respective and comparative excellency that is in one more then in another and yet have no true
the same in secret that they are in publick he wil take no notice of it Upon this account he would not know those Formalists mentioned Matth. 6.16 This vvil be enough to prove you to be but Christians in part in that you are not Christians in secret That a man is that he is when he is alone that which a man thinks of designes for and delights in most in private that shews vvhat a man is Thirdly some are perswaded to be Christians but not amongst all persons they will be good amongst the good but not amongst the evil they can swim down the stream vvith the godly but not up the stream like Peter they vvil professe vvhile they are amongst the Disciples that they vvil die with Christ but when they are amongst those that deny him they vvil not know the man They are not able to stand before the breath of a scorner one that scoffs at Religion beats them out of their profession How many be there that vvil professe Christ very far amongst professors where it is a credit to own God who yet vvil be ashamed of this when they fall amongst those who vvill reproach his vvays then either they joyn vvith the scorner and deny Christ or else stand still in a base neutrality and betray profession by their silence as if there were a guilt in it Thus Saul would be a Prophet amongst the Prophets but when he comes into his Family the evil spirit seizeth upon him but surely such as these will be found too light when they are weighed in the scales Observe that of our Saviour Mark 8.38 Whosoever shal be ashamed of me and of my words in that adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his father with the blessed Angels Christ wil own those and those only who have owned him before wicked men before scoffers and scorners and such as labour to bring shame and contempt upon all that own God therefore says Christ it is not he that confesses me now and favours me secretly or openly before these who professe themselves followers of me and my word that shall then be countenanc'd if he be ashamed of me before those who labour to make all men ashamed of me Oh consider this you that would be accounted good amongst them that set an high esteem upon good men but if you meet with those that scoff aâ— goodness you are for them too you are silent at least when the ways and name and people of God are blasphemed or reproached especially if it be a friend or a customer or a great man then you must say as they say or at least say nothing to the contrary Remember what Christ hath said and how he wil look upon you as being the shame of profession and of his name when he comes in his glory how do you expect to be justified before all the world who dared not to be good in all places and all companies IV. Some are so far perswaded that they wil be Christians in respect of the whole visibility of profession but they wil not take up the power and spirituality of it they wil reform so far that they will cleanse the outside abstain from all visible ungodliness yea and take the form of godliness too as the Apostle mentions some who did so 2 Tim. 3.5 Having a form of godliness and yet they did deny the power that is they did refuse to stoop to the power of it there are two parts of Religion the form which is visible and lies open to men this consists in reforming the outward man the denying of ungodliness and worldly lusts this is the negative part It lies also in a performance of all those duties which come under the observation of others as hearing the Word reading conferring of it praying in the publick and in our families with a sober and unblameable conversation towards men All this a man may submit unto and yet be but almost a Christian For there is yet another part of Religion which is the very soul of it and this lies hid from the eyes of others and consists in two things principally First in the performance of secret duties as self-denial self-tryal and examination watchfulness over their hearts and thoughts mortifying of inward corruptions Secondly it consisteth in the frame and bent of the heart in these and all other duties towards God The main of Religion lies here in fearing and loving of God These are things which men may and do often omit and passe over who yet do embrace the whole body and outside of Godlinesse Praying Reading Hearing are but the Cabinet which contain this Jewel But godliness consisteth in a right and true disposition of the heart under these Now if Christianity did imply no more then most men conceive it doth if it were only an abstaining from gross and common pollutions of the world and taking up of all those duties which are commonly confest to be such by men professing themselves Christians they would be Christians altogether But the Lord will finde amongst those that perform the duties which make men visible Christians and submit to all his Ordinances many that are but almost Christians at the most and that upon this account because they never attended unto the spirituality of duties They prayed and heard the word received the Sacraments but they were carnal still their old hearts did continue their practices were changed but their principles and their interests were the same still their faces were turned but not their affections the one stood towards God but the other was toward some lust or other Fifthly Some would be Christians in all things till it come to the beloved sin till it come to profit and losse and when they are touched here they cry out The Lord pardon me in this one thing If the Minister press at any time upon men the necessity of an universal change they mistake it and think that by this universal we mean a general change that is a change in the greater and more visible part A leaving the greater number of known sins and a submitting to the greater number of known duties they think no rule so general but admits of some exceptions in particulars They think one sin may be reserved without prejudice to their closing with Christ and think they may hold fast enough with one hand upon him though they keep the other to take hold of sin and vanity If at any time they apprehend the truth as bent against the toleration of any sin and they see a necessity of parting with Dalilah or Heaven then they say This is a hard saying who can hear it They would willingly be followers of Christ if he would give them a dispensation for some things which they account but smal though the least sin is too bigg to lie with Christ in the heart How many do part with Christ upon this point when he
THE DANGER OF BEING ALMOST a Christian SHEWING 1. How far men may go without Grace 2. Why some men go so far 3. Why they go no farther 4. The dangerous estate of such Persons By John Chishull Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed by A. Neile for Francis Eglesfield and are to be sold at the Marygold in Pauls Church-yard 1657. To the Right VVorshipfull Peter Atkins Mayor John Blundel Esq with the rest of the Burgesses Assistants and Inhabitants of Tiverton Beloved in the Lord WHat reason You above all others have to read and consider the things which I present to your view the Introduction to and Application of the truth laid before you will tell I trust many of you are convinced that I carry you upon my heart and that my design in this undertaking is only to engage your hearts more fully to God Vpon this account I am confident of your complyance with it I have reckoned it amongst my choicest mercies that the Lord hath owned me in some measure amongst you and hath made you to feel as wel as hear what I have spoken Yet in the midst of my rejoycing for some I have had sad thoughts of heart for others for whom I have sometimes had great hopes and again as great feares Since I have known any thing of Preaching and indeed it is little that I yet know of it I have Preach'd very much by what I have seen and known of your tempers and Conditions and I can say through Mercy that my labour hath not been altogether in vain I bless God that I can think on some of you with delight the entertainment which you have given to the Word and the gracious â—mpressions which you carry upon your spirits â—are my rejoycing before the Lord. Yet give me leave to minde you that the number of Conververted ones is but smal in comparison of those Convinced ones which I have observed amongst you Many have received the Word with trembling others with joy yet after such shâ—kings and strong working of heart which they could not conceal have either grown cold again or else have contented themselves with a luke-warm profession This I can truly say hath abated much of my former comfort and so strong have the impressions of these things been upon my spirit that many sad thoughts have risen in me that surely my labour is neer at an end in that place and the Lord will call me off either by death as he threatned of late or some other way Vpon this consideration I have been willing to listen to those who desired that these few Sermons might be made publick that by this means thâ—y might lie before you either to quicken you or to accuse you that when you shall neither hear nor see me you may see in them how my heart stood affected towards you and possibly the view of these lines may awaken the convictions which some of you have buried the perswasions which in some are decayed and the resolutions which some of you have taken up for God but not followed Oh when this Book fals into any such hands as doubtless such it will meet withall let me intreat those herein concerned to suffer these two thoughts to dwel a little upon their hearts First that their hearing as wel as my preaching must come to judgement Secondly that Convictions slighted Perswasions not improved Promises and purposes broken will be the worst companions that you can carry to Hel with you yet this I am assured of that many of you cannot perish but under the weight of many of these I have observed two ways in which especially the Devil couzens convinced souls First in the Time he tels them it is too soon to be serio us in youth another time will serve thus many perish under delaies To prevent this evil I presented you formerly with a smal Treatise * The Young Mans Memento which I hope hath satisfied you sully of the folly and danger of delaying Secondly he labours to deceive in the measure of the change that is wrought if he sees that they will do something yea and that the soul is agreed upon the time that it must be Now while it is called to day then he strives to limit them First with Negatives He tels them they are not as they were and therefore all is wel He tels them they are changed and it may be true though they are not made New If they be civil or moral that were prophane and unrighteous this he perswades them is very much but if he suffer them to put on a form of Religion though it reach not the heart then he assures them that their Reformation is ful in weight and measure heaped up pressed down and running over when all this time they are not come to the lowest form of those that are Christians indeed Now knowing that some of you are resolved to do something and fearing that you should be deceived and so do nothing to the purpose I have laid these things before you that you might be the better able to judge of the measure of your perswasions professions and performances And since I have undertaken to speak to all being affectionately willing to be serviceable to you all Let me add a word to you that refuse to attend the publick Ministry in that place to hear what hath been there delivered yet possibly you will vouchsafe a private perusal of these truths If this little Tract comes into your hands I beseech you enquire seriously by it into the state of your souls for I fear you have little close convincing Preaching amongst You. O bethink your selves of former days when you sat under the Now despised Ministry in Tiverton which some of you called the Ministry of Christ and your selves the seals of it You seemed then to have some sense of the Quickness nnd Power of the Word but how is it now Are thefe Times better then those To what considerable height are you growen in Christianity since you turned your backs upon those Opportunities you once counted precious Ah let me tel you though you have deserted me I cannot cast you out of my thoughts hopes and Prayers trusting that the Lord will bring back such as have set their faces to seek him in truth as he hath done fome already in answer to Prayer Yet you know that I have lost nothing by your leaving of me but the opportunities of being further serviceable to your souls and this indeed to me is a great losse for if I know any thing of my heart it is this that I value my life by the advantages that I have of being helpfull to poore souls in the great things of God It is an easie matter to draw up those that have no grace to any form and this were a poor low thing to make our interest By this meanes it is as easie to stop young awakened souls before they come half way to Christianity it is my fear for many
of you that you are arrived no further then the forme and my fear is as great that you will hinder others from going beyond it by perswading them into an opinion of themselves that they are Christians before they are or know what it is to be such If this may prevent any of you from miscarrying any way I shal heartily blesse the Lord and rejoyce to be also a helper of your Faith Finally my friends of all sorts Lay what you have heard or may hearread to the Word your hearts to both and judg faithfully in this matter Put it to the Question whether you are Altogether Christians or no and resolve to be such or to be nothing Be in good earnest with God and cleave to him with ful purpose of heart Oh fulfil my joy which you cannot more considerably further then by a candid acceptance and conscientious improvement of what I here tender to you That it may be everyway for your good you shall have with it the Prayers of Your willing Servant in the work of the Lord Jo. Chishull London Jan. 16. 1656. ACTS 26.28 Almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian CHAP. I. The Introduction IT is not usual with me to make Apologies for or Introductions to my Discourses but at this time I conceive it is convenient if not necessary to speak something of this nature Though it be sufficient warrant for me to pitch upon this portion which I have chosen because it is the word of the Lord and the same consideration is weighty to enjoyn your best attention yet there is something more which hath swayed with me to take these words into my serious thoughts and to present the result of them to you which I hope when you have weighed they wil seem as additional arguments to awaken your spirits and you wil account your selves particularly engaged to hear what I am so deeply ingaged to speak I had chosen another subject to treat upon which I conceived might suit wel with that which I so lately finished but my resolutions to prosecute that were changed by some impressions which the Lord made upon me in my late sickness That I was visited with weakness is known to you all but how great it was and how near to the grave it brought me is known but to few But in this which was the soarest which I ever experienc'd yea in the very height and prevalency of it when my friends did many of them look upon me as under a sentence of death then was the Lord pleased First to give me a particular assurance of my recovery from that scripture Ps 118.17 Thou shalt not die but live and declare the works of the LORD Secondly a particular knowledg of the time of my recovery from Hos 6.2 After two dayes I wil revive thee in the third day I wil raise thee up and thou shalt live in my sight All which I found exactly made good unto me to a day according to the Word of the Lord which was then set upon my spirit Thirdly the Lord did not onely assure me of my life but did also appoint me out my work without which I account my life of very smal value At that time when I was under a strong Fever and other distempers which might very well be judged unfit companions for meditation I say being under the paines of my growing disease my thoughts were then drawn strongly out to consider of the state and condition of this place and considering the people of it I rankt them under three Heads Frst some that minded not God nor Religion and that sat unshaken under the VVord Secondly some that I hope have received it and that do sincerely desire to follow it Thirdly such as halt betwixt two opinions that hang betwixt God and the world that are wrought upon by the Word and are under strong convictions and workings of spirit but yet are not brought fully to close with Christ these are I am perswaded not a few in this place The serious consideration of these did most of all affect my soul with pitty and that pitty wrought in me strong and earnest desire It grieved me to see so many souls like Laodicea Rev. 3.15 Lukewarm or like Ephraim hal-fbaked Hos 7.8 it did not a little trouble my spirit to see so many persons carry their convictions about them as prisoners dragg their chains after them I am perswaded if every person that hath been convine'd under the word in this place and that hath had some kinde of perswasions to come in to Christ and yet stands it out had but a chain about his Legg we should hear a fearful ratling of iron when the Congregation moves Thus was my soul grieved for many of you but my affections did not spend themselves in pittying but awakened my desires and I then cast about me how I might be serviceable to you with that little inch of time that the Lord should give me even to you that seem at some times not to be far from the kingdom of God and yet if you go no farther are never like to come there While my thoughts were thus working it pleased the Lord to set this portion of Scripture which I have read unto you upon my spirit in which I saw your condition exactly presented in Agrippa But this word it self was not barely brought home to me but the Lord gave in then to my thoughts those things which I have to deliver to you so that I may safely say that hee put the word into my mouth for what I have now to deliver both for the doctrine and all the particulars relating to explain and confirm it were penn'd when I was unable to govern a pen they were framed in my greatest weakness taken from my mouth by a Friend that came to visit me These things I mention to you that you may be perswaded First to passe by any thing of weakness in this discourse knowing it was composed in the midst of weakness and that I aim not to commend my self to you but to present your conditions before you and that with all manner of plainess Secondly that if you meet with any thing useful seasonable you would gâ—ve the glory to God if the Word meâ—t with any of your souls say the Lord hath met with me this day if it hit as right as Davids stone did and stick in your foreheads know I threw it as he did not by skil but by Faith it is the Lord that guided my hand If any say Can all that which is delivered in several sermons be the product of a few houres meditation I answer that I can say without faining what Jacob offered to excuse his hasty dinner for his Father Gen. 27 20. The Lord brought it unto my hâ—nd Thirdly to shew you what special and peculiar reason some of you have to attend diligently to what shall be spoken ô you cannot but see a finger in the margent bidding you observe and
shined so gloriously in the Apostles Narrative These things the connexion of the Text with its dependance upon Pauls speech affords us We may consider it also as relating something to Festus his censure upon Pauls discourse Then said Agrippa viz. when Festus had but now calumniated the truth which was held forth and had judged Pauls Doctrine and Relation to be but a learned madness then Agrippa stands up to wipe off the reproach which he cast upon the truth If we consider it with these circumstances of the time and place when the Gospel had been censured so lately by a potent man and a ruler and in the presence of the Jews who were the Apostles accusers and strong enemies of the word he had delivered Then and there for Agrippa to make such a Declaration as this in favour of the truth was much considering it thus we may observe Observation First the Lord doth oftentimes provide some to stand up for the truth and the Professors of it in greatest straits who yet never receive it themselves Secondly we may here see what great convictions do fall upon the spirits of some men who yet are never savingly wrought upon It must needs be conceived that the impressions were strong upon Agrippa's spirit that they extorted from him such an open profession as this is at such a time and in such a place But this truth will come more fully under our consideration from the words themselves only this circumstance may give some light to that which lies so open in the Text it self CHAP. II. The Doctrine propounded with the general proof of it WE have then in the words three things First the impression which Pauls doctrine made upon Agrippa it wrought by way of perswasion Thou perswadest me Secondly The object of this perswasion that is embracing and professing the gospel of Christ Thirdly the measure of this perswasion Almost Almost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in parvo in a little or something I should be a Christian vvith thee Paul seems to take him in this sence when he wishes that he vvere as he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely in little but in much not onely in some things but in all Some read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is thou hast perswaded me in a little time or by a short speech to be a Christian Some translaters render it by Propemodum and ours follow them and it is very safe almost or vvithin a little thou perswadest me Perswadest me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifies both suadere persuadere either to use meanes to bring a man to our opinion or practice by arguments and exhortations or else to prevail upon the party and bring him to what we desire First Sometimes it is taken for exhorting and reasoning only Acts 18.4 He reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath and perswaded the Jews and the Greeks This was Conantis potius quam efficientis he endeavoured vvhat he did not effect but this could not be the sense of Agrippa here for Paul had used no particular exhortation to him Secondly it signifies to prevaile upon and to bring'a person to rest in what vve say and so is taken here for it must needs note the influence that Pauls discourse had upon Agrippa insomuch that it brought him to assent unto what he said and to professe himself even almost ready to joyn with him in professing the same things To be a Christian that is to become a Disciple and follower of Jesus Christ I shal present you with my thoughts of these words as they were presented to me in our Translation and as we read them they afford this Observation Observ That men may be almost Christians and yet never true Christians they may be almost such in respect of their perswasion who wil never be such in respect of their practice and performance In handling the Doctrinal Observation which I have propounded I shal First lay down something for the general proof of this Secondly I shal particularly open and illustrate it Thirdly I shal apply it That this is a truth is clear from many instances and examples in the Scripture How far did Saul go the first King of Israel I wish he had been the last example of this truth he bid fairer for Heaven then many do that have strong confidence of it He seemed to be good among good men 1 Sam. 10.10 he prophesied among the Prophets he seems to be good by way of singularity he opposes sin when the whole stream ran against him and seems exceeding tender of the sins of others 1 Sam. 14.33 34. yea he seems to be so zealous against sin that he would not spare his dear Jonathan 1 Sam. 14.44 there was 1 Sam. 10.6 such a change upon him as was visible and made him another man yea this change was so deep that it reached to the very heart of him it is said 1 Sam. 10.9 God gave him another heart yet this vvas not a thorow change he had not a new heart though another heart neither was Saul a new man though another man The young man in the Gospel may be brought as a clear pregnant testimony of this truth Mat. 19.20 see how far he went he observed all the commands of God and not willing to stop here he professes his desire to know and do more yet What lack I yet this man went so far that Christ himself sayes of him that he vvas not far from the kingdom of God yet so near a she came to it he never reaches it To this you may add the three sorts of bad hearers which are condemned by Christ under the notion of bad ground Luke 8.12 13 14. the worst of the three did more then barely hear the word they did receive it and that into their hearts for it is said of the stony ground vvhich vvas worst of the three that the devil took the word not before it came at their hearts but out of their hearts he did not take their hearts away so that they minded not what was spoken as he doth many mens and womens but he took it away after they had received it Both the other go thus far and somewhat farther for their reception of the word is noted with some additional circumstances as the second received it with joy and did not lose it presently til in tract of time cares and pleasures choaked it the third yet exceeded both these for it received kept improved the Word inbringing forth some fruits only it was not to perfection If all this be not ground enough to build this conclusion upon look to the foolish Virgins and see how far they go in this point and how like they vvere to the wise Mat. 25.1 2 3 4 c. First as for their profession it was visible they had Lamps in their hands Secondly this vvas not an ignorant profession neither for they had oyl
and offered very fair at Heaven seeing doubtless a great good in salvation but the reason why he went not through with his purchase was this he saw not the supream good in it though he apprehended it a good thing to inheriteternal life yet he saw something which to him was better had this been the chief good in his account it would have been his chief desire And doubtless seeing all have the same stock of these first principles to trade upon by living under the meanes they may be so heightned that they may see what he did a degree of goodness and happiness in the enjoyment of spiritual things and may be induced to do even as he did having a proportionable measure of perswasion to embrace those things and to comply with the means leading to them These are perswasions or else they would not be moved to do any thing they are not ful perswasions for then they would stick at nothing but they are imperfect are more or less according to those apprehensions which they have of the excellency of God and of his ways of which the natural man by the light of nature and the super-added light of the word may have a weak sight but without the work of grace cannot have a true sight such as should draw him out to seek after God with all his heart yet though he sees not all he sees much and though he will not do all that he is commanded yet he wil be perswaded to do many things for though a carnal man cannot apprehend any good in the strictest profession of godliness which is accompanied with the greatest self denial and exposes men to the greatest hazards yet he dos oft apprehend much good in partial complyance with Religion for this he supposes may not spoil his particular interest and yet may attain the end which is true happiness upon this account most men have their measures of perswasion some are greater some less but some do border upon a ful perswasion they are almost perswaded or perswaded to be almost Christians 2 These perswasions do arise from good education in many good counsel instructions being wrought wisely into them by the skil and industry of their Parents and friends these being backt with good examples fenced by discipline many have been drawn by love to entreat or driven by fear into a profession of what is good by long custom they seem to have gotten a nature and they act in a profession as if they were disposed to it by grace whiâ—es they want the temptations which others have they seem to be fully perswaded to be Christians but when friends or parents are taken away who were as a hedg about them and kept many temptations from approaching neer them or when they are taken from their friends and called to live upon their own stock in some place where they see other examples meet with temptations of all sorts they soon shew what and whence their former perswasions were they shew that ignorance of evil or want of temptations to it only made them seem good But without doubt next unto grace good education dos most of all work upon the spirits of men yea it can do any thing but renew the heart we â—ee how children suck in the opinions and perswasions of their Parents and ordinarily they do more zealously defend what came from them by tradition then what the light of the word afforded them Nay it is no very difficult thing for parents to draw their children to imitate the for the examples of those whom vve love perswade to that which for itself we do not love yea and being drawn once to do any thing in imitation of anotâ—e whom we honour we continue in it lest we should be a dishonour to our copie and thus by continuance we come to be perswaded of what we do and arise so high in notion and external profession that nothing is wanting but the power of those truths which we assent unto and spirituality of those duties which we perform Thus the Parent or the master makes his child or servant almost a Christian but it s the Lord only can make him altogether such 3. Convictions and perswasions rise high by some special providence God knocks so hard at the door of natural mens consciences by some afflictions or eminent danger of death that although he does not open the heart as he did Lydias yet he makes a breach at which some truth enters which coming in with such conviction and power for the present yea and perhaps for the future makes some changes in the mans apprehensions and resolutions Thus Pharoah himself was convinc'd of the power of God under affliction whom he would not know in prosperity When Gods providences were calm he thunders as if there were none greater then he but when God thunders he is calm and is brought by degrees as the storm did increase to consent to Moses demands though never fully and with all his heart Ahab when he was terrified with the sharp message of Elisha how does he seem as a man changed 1 King 21.27 he puts ashes upon his head girds him with sackcloth as a man mortified and dead to this world yet who that reads the story of Ahabs life judges this to be any more then the lightning which shined in his conscience while the Prophet thundred Thus we see men upon a sick-bed while they are under strong apprehensions and fears of death yea and of hel too promise much to others and resolve much with themselves yea and perswade themselves that they are in good earnest and engage if God spare them that they wil be altogether Christians and give great hopes to others while the least we can judge of them is that they are almost Christians There is no evil that conscience convinceth them of or any friend can mind them of in their former lives but they wil confess lament and covenant against no duty then discovered but they wil assent unto and ngage to take up if God wil try them the terrors of the Almighty are so dreadful that they vvil do any thing rarher then go to hell Thus Francis Spira who deliberately and in cold blood denyed the truth yet when he lay in his bitter agonies he said if he might be but freed from them he vvould despise all the tyrants in the vvorld he vvould never be afraid to profess the truth vvith the greatest hazard When the foolish Virgins were alarumed with the noise of that dreadful cry at midnight Behold the Bridegroom comes they then begin to look to their Lamps and they begin to cry for oyl a thing vvhich they never sought for before when they vvere awakened vvith the terror of the Lords approach then they run too and fro from one to another crying give me a little of your oyl nothing less enquired for before nothing askt for else now though it be a truth that the Judge stands before
exclusion from the kingdome of God they would suffer in some proportion with the rest of the damned what then will be their misery when they shall be thrown amongst the damned and cast into utter darknesse Oh my friends think on these things and take heed that this be not your case I fear it will be thus with some of you that are here that some of you will be found dead like the Levites concubine with your hands upon the threshold of the house and Kingdome of God some of you that have had great convictions made great promises made some attempts upon reformation taken up a profession and gone so far as to give some hope to others perhaps much more to your selves take heed that you do not fall from this hope if you do it will be more tolerable for them of Sodom and Gomorrah then for you Thus I have given you a glance of the sad and wofull estate of such as are almost Christians and though what I have said may convince you that such as these are in a miserable condition yet words are too weak and our conceptions are all too shallow to express or take in the inexpressible and inconceivable wretchednesse of the men of this rank and order in the world That which Francis Spira breathed out in agony of his soul when he felt a Hell kindled in his conscience these men will breath out at last in Hell Oh what a fearfull thing it is said he to be almost a Christian CONCLUSION Some Directions how to avoid this evil temper BUt you wil say How shal I do to avoid this evil frame and temper which you have discovered what shall we do that we may not be half Christians I shall shut up the application of this Doctrine with a few directions to you that desire to be Christians indeed 1. Direct If thou wouldest be altogether a christian then labour to be very exact in thy first works of Christianity if thou wouldest build high be sure to lay the foundation wel make a good beginning if ever thou wouldest see a good end It was the Lords advice to the church of Ephesus Rev. 2.5 and there can be no better given Do thy first works labour to revive the sense of sin which thou hadst at first and call to mind how apprehensive thou wert of thy need of Christ renew thy close with Christ and choose him afresh as if thou hadst never chosen him Be ofen in these first works for though half christians are defective in many things yet the ground and reason of all their defects lies in this that they were never right and sound in the beginning Their first works of closing with Christ and humbling their souls for sin was never truly performed yet and whatever is built where the foundation is weak will fall 2. Direct Study Gospel perfection for know God requires a perfection now under the Gospel as well as he did under the Law though that perfection which the Law requires cannot be attained now by any yet there is another perfection suited to the Gospel and to thy state and condition required viz. First a perfection of Desire Secondly of design it is not a bare desire but of desires combined and strongly contriving to attain the end Thirdly Of indeavours these designs are not the bare secret workings of the thoughts and the idle thoughts of the sluggard who would have his work done if it could be done with thinking while he lies and stretches himself upon his bed but these designs must be brought forth into act and back'd with all the use of the means which may further and facilitate such a work Fourthly There is a perfection of self resignation though thou canst not serve the Lord perfectly with any member of the body or any faculty of the soul yet thou must resign all these to the Lord to labour to serve the Lord both actively and pasvely by and with all these 3. Direct Keep a deep and tender sense of thy own failings to humble thee and to quicken thee to look after this perfection for nothing makes men sit down short of this but pride of spirit and want of a due search and inquiry into their own defections it was this which made Paul press forward Phil. 3.12 13 14. I count not that I have yet apprehended and surely thou wilt so account of thy self if thou doest but take an account of thy daily failings but pride of spirit and an oversight of our own spiritual wants and weaknesses makes us sit down short of the mark as high conceited Laodicea did Rev. 3.17 4. Direct Bee much in eying of Jesus Christ who is thy true pattern by whom thou art to walke and to whom thou oughtest to be conformed 1 Jo. 2.6 Hee that says that he abides in Christ ought to walk even as Christ walked Nothing doth so much stint and streighten the spirits of men as the looking too low and mean examples of holinesse but surely if we did look to the Lord Jesus whose life is layed before us so eminently in the word we should see cause enough to bee humbled when we are at highest and not sit down under any attainments seeing we fall short so far of him who is our pattern 5. Direct Be sure to make conscience of the inward and hidden part of duties make Conscience of that which no eye sees but the Lords Men may see the outward acts and the external ornaments as flourishes of gifts and parts but have thou a chief care to exercise grace in every thing for this is that which makes thee passe for a Christian before God whatever makes thee seem such before men If thou doest thus thy vessel shall not be found empty at last nor thou be condemned for an empty outside professor 6. Direct Never think thy self enough a Christian so long as thou findest any so much a Christian as thy self You know when men run in a race together a man does not content himself to run as fast as others but if any comes up with him or neer him it makes him strive and put forth all his strength in running that hee may keep still in the head of the company and lead the way to all He fears if any one should come up with him that hee would take the prize from him thus it should be with a Christian who should thus run if he would obtain 1 Cor. 9.24 not as it were to get a prize with others but a price from all others Lastly whatever thy condition be or how great soever thy attainments are yet labour to bee much more a christian then thou art if thou shouldest excel all others yet then make it thy businesse to excel thy self so shalt thou be sure not to fall under the weight of this heavy word which hath been spoken to those who are but almost Christians FINIS