crying and tears c. how much more we who are involv'd in sin c. R. 7. Because the great price which hath been given to purchase and procure them no less than the precious bloud of Christ the precious life of Christ John 6. 51. and the bread that I will give is my flesh that I will give for the life of the world 1 Thes 5. 10. who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him the life of grace here and the life of glory hereafter Ephes 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his bloud the forgiveness of sins Math. 26. 28. This is my bloud which is shed for many for the remission of sins and Hebr. 9. 22. and without shedding of bloud is no remission So we read of being justified by his bloud and reconciled by Rom. 5. 9 10. 1 Pet. 3. 18. his death and of his suffering for our sins that he might bring us unto God And shall not we cry for what Jesus Christ was pleas'd todye shall not we earnestly beg for what he bled shall not we lay out our strength for what he laid down his life and lift up our voice for what he yeilded up the Ghost O how unworthy then should we shew our selves of them R. 8. Because this is all that the Lord requires of us for the obtaining of them that we should ask them seek them beg them intreat them and should not we do this to purpose earnestly and with all our might when he requires no more as Math. 7. 7. Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall he opened unto you v. 8. For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened So in Ezek. 36. when God had made there those exceeding great and precious promises of blessings and mercies more worth than many worlds as v. 25. that he would sprinkle clean water upon them c. and v. 26. give them a new heart and put within them a new spirit and take away the stony heart out of their flesh and give them an heart of flesh and v. 27. put his spirit within them which is more than many worlds without them and cause them to walk in his statutes and keep his judgments and do them and v. 28. and they should be his people and he their God c. Now after all hear what the Lord says v. 37. Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquir'd of by the house of Israel to do it for them or be sought to and is this all and should not this be done earnestly Surely he that can't find in his heart to do this for such mercies deserves to go without them O consider God required a great deal more of his Son that we might partake of them What could he indeed require more he requires of him that he should come down John 6. 38. from Heaven to Earth from the Throne to the Footstool and become man be made flesh yea in the likeness of sinful flesh that though he was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God yet that he should make himself of no reputation and take upon him the form of a Servant and be made in the likeness of Philip. 5. 6 7 8. men and being found in fashion as a man should humble himself and become obedient unto death even the death of the Cross that he should lay down his life shed his precious bloud one drop of whose bloud is more worth than ten thousand thousand worlds and than all the bloud of all the men that ever lived upon the face of the Earth yea that he should be made a curse ☞ undergo his wrath make his very Soul an offering for sin and be for a while as it was forsaken of his Father and all this and infinitely more than can be conceived much less exprest that we might obtain such mercies yea and Jesus Christ willingly and readily obeyed his father in all these Hebr. 10. 7. Then said I lo I come to do thy will O God and I delight to do thy will and as the Father gave me Psalm 40. 8. commandment so I do though to do that did John 14 31. as it was amaze him and make his soul exceeding sorrowful even unto death and brought Mark 14. 33 34. Math. 26. 38. him into such an agony that his sweat was as it were great drops of bloud falling down to the Luke 22. 44. Math. 26. 39. and Mark 14. 35 36 39. ground So that as man he could not but recoile as it were and pray and that three times O my Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me that is this bitter passion but if it may not pass but I must drink it or otherwise such choice mercies such inestimable benefits cannot be procured for poor sinners but they must come swimming to them in my bloud and be purchas'd by my undergoing of thy wrath thy will be done seeing thou wilt have it so that I must undergo all this to procure them I am willing I am content rather than poor sinners should go without them I am willing to purchase them at any rate This now God requires of his Son that we might partake of these mercies and all this his Son obeyed him in but to us that we might obtain them he says onely ask seek knock and let me be enquired of by you and should not we do this and do it to purpose surely else it must needs argue fearful ingratitude and strange disingenuity and we deserve to go without them You know what Naaman's servant said to him 2 Kings 5. 13. My Father if the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldest thou not have done it how much rather then when he saith unto thee wash and be clean So what could God have said unto us do for such mercies more worth than many worlds but we should have been ready and willing to have done it how much more then when he says onely ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find and Rom 10. 13. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved and seek the Lord and ye shall live Amos 5. 6. But Jesus Christ dies that we may live 1 Thes 5. 9 10. and shall not we cry that we may live Was a malefactor condemned to dye and was there procured for him upon some great price paid by another a pardon of his Prince which he should have upon asking and begging O how importunately would he beg it and ask it When God said to David Seek ye my face O how readily does David's heart eccho back Psalm 27. 8. again thy face Lord will I seek Lord thy face thy favour makes heaven and may I have that for seeking for asking which Jesus Christ
Story converted of his Atheism so though repentance seem never so difficult at first to corrupt nature yet frequently occasioning your hearts that way might much help you if you would but be still haunting your hearts with what might further it as with precepts promises threatnings judgments mercies Law Gospel c. and never giving over 'till something comes of it for occasions are to be prest and urg'd to the utmost and throughly to be improv'd as it is said of those Jews I do but allude to it that they said unto Nehemiah and the Premenda est occâsio rest that were building ten times that is very often in all ways that ye passe to and again the Nehem. 4. 12. enemy will be upon you and thus still haunting them with warnings at length they looked about and set guards in every place And so deal with your hearts and warn them often again and again tell them O! if you do not repent the enemy will be upon you the wrath and curse of God will be upon you hardness of heart will be upon you all those judgments threatened will be upon you but if you repent the blessing and favour of God will be upon you grace and mercy and peace will be upon you all the good promised will be upon you yea God himself will dwell in you and his Angels will guard you and minister unto you c. and tell your hearts such and such things often yea never give over 'till you have brought it to some good issue Thus as others occasion their hearts sin-ward hell-ward vanity-ward world-ward so do you grace-ward heaven-ward repentanceward conversion-ward and so salvation-ward 7. Remember God of his promises and in your prayers plead and press and urge the same Lord hast thou not in thy Word of free grace made promises not only to grace but of grace and do Lord as thou hast said be as good as thy word O remember thy promise Thus turn promises into prayers as these and the like Turn you at my reproof behold I Prov. 1. 23. Is 44. 3. will pour out my Spirit unto you c. and I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and not onely so but floods upon the dry ground that is my Spirit upon barren and fruitless hearts that have neither saving knowledg nor are able to perform any good work I will pour my Spirit upon thy Is 35. 5 6 7. seed and my blessing upon thy off-spring Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened c. and in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desart that is the Spirit shall be abundantly poured out upon all sorts even upon such as were as a wilderness and as a dry and barren heath And the parched ground shall become Ezek. 36. 25 26 27. a poole and the thirstly land springs of water in the habitation of Dragons where each lay shall be grass with reeds and rushes Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I clense you A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments Jer. 3. 19. and do them But I said how shall I put thee among the children and give thee a pleasant land c. that is being spoken of God after the manner of men I thus thought and considered with my self how shall I put thee among the children c. How shall I make such as you my people who are so vile and unworthy and adopt you to be my children and so make you heirs of that heavenly and glorious Canaan of which the other was but a type Now to this God himself makes answer within himself and the more to express the greatness of his mercy and the riches of his free grace against their unworthiness he says Thou shalt call me my father and shalt not turn away from me that is I will by my Spirit being a Spirit of conversion and adoption cause thee to return and to cry unto me in faith Abba father and thou shalt not depart from me Now remember God of these and the like promises and press them and plead them and urge them turn them into prayers 'till God turn them into performances So I might mention others I will heal their back-sliding I will love them freely and they shall return to me with their whole heart and Hos 14. 4. Jer. 24. 7. Psalm 22. 27. all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord c. And because knowledg and understanding is as I said initial and so influential as to conversion urge the promises thereof as these and the like For the earth shall be full of the knowledg of the Lord as the waters Is 11. 9. cover the Sea and They shall all know me from Jer. 31. 34. the least of them to the greatest c. and they shall be all taught of God Is 54. 13. Joh. 6. 45. c. 8. Follow after faith labour to believe for Non rectè possit agere poenitentiam nsi qui speraverit indulgentiam true kindly Evangelical repentance and saving conversion does as I said arise and flow from faith and is an happy effect and fruit thereof and faith at least in some measure must go before it as the ground and root thereof A true repenting sinner is a believing sinner that hath had some apprehensions and perswasions of the mercy of God in Christ and of forgiveness of sin in and through him to such as are penitent And without the root how should you partake of the fruit or without the cause of the effect it is said A great number believed and turned to Acts 11. 21. the Lord if ever we would turn to the Lord indeed we must first believe which should make us therefore the more to study and endeavour by all possible ways and means to obtain that precious grace of faith as the Apostle Peter calls 2 Pet. 1. 1. it precious indeed for what is there that is precious but faith brings us to obtain it and this we must in some measure have if ever we repent and turn to God to purpose for an unbelieving Conversio ad Deum complectitur praecipuè fidem quâ homo in solo vero Deo fiduciam collocat c. Winckelm heart is ever an hard evil and impenitent heart Paul speaking of such as live godly and so are true converts he speaks of them as being in Christ Jesus that is interested in him united to him by faith as branches into the Vine members to the head and such must all be that Joh. 15. 5. live godly for
of Ehypt untill they came to that place they had been rebellious against the Lord. Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath and at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth Hattavah And when the Lord sent them from Kadesh-Barnea saying go up and possess the land which I have given you then they rebelled yea says Moses you have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you In the 33. of Numb Moses there reckons up no less than two and fourty journeys that they made as from Rameses to Succoth from Succoth to Etham from Etham to Pihahiroth c. and yet all these changes of place made no change as to their manners and dispositions but still they carried their sins along with them and the holy Ghost Quidam ex Hebraeo vertunt juxta mare in mari rubro ut sensus sit illos non solùm in littore sed etiam dum ipsum mare pedibus transmitterent de Deo conquestos esse c. Flaminius in locum Vix dum egressi ex Egypto in ipso maris transitu contra suum redemptorem protervè insurrexerint Calvin in locum calls the whole time of their journeying in the wilderness where they removed and changed place so often the provocation Harden not your hearts as in the provocation that is in the time when ye sinned and walked forwardly offending me and provoking me against you breaking my laws vexing and grieving my Spirit and fourty years long was I grieved with this generation c. How often in that time did they change their places and yet still the same yea it is said Psalm 106. 7. They provoked him at the Sea even at the red Sea there they sinned against him yea in the red Sea not onely whiles they were on the bank but even while they were passing through the Lord by a wonderful miracle having made it to them as dry land to walk upon and one would have thought such a place might have made some change in them but it did not there they still continue their murmurings and their mutinings and thus some read it they provoked him in the Sea even when they saw that glorious work and there lies the Emphasis that they provoked him even in that Sea which God carried them through There was a turn and change indeed in the Sea that goes back and becomes dry land and in the waters they are divided and are a wall on the right hand and on the left but none Jerem. 24. in them And thus the figs which were so very evil in Jerusalem continued evil still in Babylon And how many in this great and populous city who upon occasion of the late dreadful and never to be forgotten Fire changed their places still retained their sins and the change of their places have made no change of their conditions but still retain their old frames and dispositions their old pride and luxury and vanity c. and though many have of late changed again their places are they not still the same and though they have new houses chang'd them have they not still their old hearts and therefore this turn and change here is not of places but of Quantum homo à suis consuetis vitiis recesserit tantum in resipiscentiae usu exercitio processit sed qui idem est manetque qualis fuit sanè nunquam resipuit ideoque est damnationi proximus quality when one and the same man is quite turned from what he was before I mean in the present frame state and disposition of the whole man both body and soul and all the parts powers and faculties both of the one and the other as from sin to holiness from iniquity to righteousness from Satan to God from hell to heaven and that I say in the whole man and whole conversation Thus old things are past away and all are in quality and disposition become new There are new hearts and new spirits c. as the Lord promises not as to their essence or substance or powers or faculties but gracious new qualities and inclinations The instrument is still the same and so are the strings but the tune is chang'd and mended the waters are the same but they are healed so that in some sense the man is now quite alter'd and turn'd from what he was before and he is not the same but there is a strange spiritual metamorphosis in and upon him and he has another spirit as is said of Caleb but my servant Caleb because he had another spirit that is an excellent Numb 14. 24. spirit and 2 Cor. 3. 18. we are chang'd into the same image from glory to glory c. Thus in general but now more particularly and distinctly This turn 1. It must be such as is of God as the Lord Peccatoris conversio est opus quod creatae naturae vires excedit God of Hosts himself works and is the author of as is his gift and wrought by his Spirit and not meerly of man or from our selves which is yet all the turn of many and cannot therefore be right it being neither wholly to God nor from God Turn thou me says Ephraim and I Jer. 31. 18. shall be turned then we are turned indeed and not till then 2. Such as is joyn'd with kindly contrition and humiliation and this occasioned by a thorow and sound conviction of sin which the Holy Ghost is the Author and efficient of Joh. 16. 8. and this contrition and humiliation is as it were the foundation and conversion the superstructure and both together contrition and conversion humiliation and reformation are the two main essential parts of repentance a kindly brokenness of heart for sin and a breaking off from sin when we grieve and are deeply humbled for it and depart from it are sorry for it and forsake it and hence we read of repentance of sin or for sin and repentance from sin and the former of these is called in Scripture godly sorrow 2 Cor. 7. 10. For Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of that is we feeling indeed the bitterness of our sins and being truly touched in conscience for them that we have offended so great and holy a God and so gracious and loving a father we come by the help of God's Spirit to alter and change the purpose and resolution of our hearts before set on sin and turn them to the Lord and now avoid forsake and abandon sin and this is called godly sorrow or as it is in the Original sorrow 2 Cor. 7. 10 Qui secundùm Deum tristis est eo dolore qui à Dei Spiritu manat de peccatis suis dolet idque non poenae formidine territus sed hoc ipsum aegerrime ferens quód Deum clementissimum patrem offenderit c. Beza according to God that is 1. which proceeds and comes from God which the Spirit of God is the Author
light of thy countenance let us but enjoy that Psal 4. 6. good and that shall be in stead of all thy favour Lord thy face one good look from thee one smile from thy countenance vouchsafe us but this and for other things do what seems good to thee we leave them to thy wisdom to dispose as thou pleasest 5. The more to excite us to supplicate these let us consider he onely can effect these and vouchsafe these 1. He onely can turn us again to himself as was hinted before This is God's work the work of no less than an almighty power an omnipotent arme we can easily indeed and of our selves turn aside and turn away from God but it is onely the Lord God of Hosts that can reduce us the arme of Jehovah himself must be revealed to effect this who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Isa 53. 1. Lord revealed The Lord himself must speak and that with a strong hand so to instruct us as not to walk any longer as we have done or as others do as the Prophet Isaiah expresses it For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand or Isa 8. 11. as it is in the Hebr. in or with strength of hand In fortitudine manûs which denotes the strong and powerful operation of the holy Ghost in the Prophet and some others together with him and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people that is that I with others of the godly Jews should not follow the manners and practices of the greater sort of that people and it must be the Lord 's speaking his instructing and that with strength of hand that must effect this else all our speaking and preaching be it never so earnest and often is but with a weak hand and ineffectual and people will walk and go on still as they did we may tell people they should profit or declare to them what is profitable but it is the Lord God onely which can teach them to profit or what is profitable that is effectually So we may shew them the way they should go but the Lord God only can lead them in the way they should go I am the Lord thy God which teacheth Isa 48. 17. thee to profit or what is profitable as the Dutch read it which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go Every one therefore says Joh. 6. 45. Christ that hath heard and learned of the father cometh to me and so by me to him This is never done indeed 'till God does it and therefore how earnest should we be in our addresses to him that he would do it for Ministers can not do it nor can we our selves do it unless the Lord comes in with his help Acts 16. 9. It is there said a vision appeared to Paul in the night there stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him saying come over into Macedonia and help us our great work and business is to help people to help them in the main in their chiefest and greatest concerns to help their souls to help them as to God to turn them to him to further their being brought home to him and their being reconcil'd unto him but our help will signifie little unless the Lord help as the King said to that woman unless the Lord help how should 2 King 6. 26 27. I help 2. He alone can cause his face to shine we can indeed cause it to frown but he alone must make it smile We can raise those mists and clouds which obscure and hide his face and interpose between us and him and his favour but he alone can scatter and dispell them your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you Isa 59. 2. c. that is have caused him to hide his face from you you have done this but I onely can and must do the other viz. remove that which separates and discover my face and display my favour you can procure my displeasure but I onely must manifest my love you can erect a partition-wall between me and you but I onely can throw it down O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help Ephraim by Hos 13. 9. the iniquity of his covetousness could cause God Is 57. 17 18. to hide himself and to be wrath but God alone could restore comforts to him and to his mourners David he could lose the joy of God's salvation but God onely could restore it I create Psalm 51. 12. Is 57. 29. the fruit of the lips peace peace c. We can marre our peace but God onely can create it and therefore to him we must seek and earnestly sue as the Church here and David and the people of God often elsewhere Lord lift thou up Ps 4. 6. 31. 16. the light of thy countenance upon us make thy face to shine upon thy servant c. 6. As he onely can do these so let us consider how infinitely able he is to do them he being as he is here described the Lord God of Hosts Job 42. 2. I know says Job that thou canst do every thing and that no thought can be withholden from thee that is whatever thou hast purposed and decreed can by no means be hindered or kept from being perform'd Is any thing too hard for the Gen. 18. 14. Lord If any man says Paul be in Christ he is a new creature old things are past away and 2 Cor. 5. 17 all things are become new and what follows And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and that was a great work indeed to reconcile heaven and earth yea heaven and hell as it were to reconcile us when we were such desperate enemies to heal a breach that was great like the Sea and which all the creatures in heaven and earth Angels and men could never have effected any thing as to the making of it up and all things are of him who hath done so great things already viz. which concern this new Creation greater than the first all things be they never so many or never so great he can make new heavens and new earth and new hearts and new spirits yea all new and how should we then resolve with David I will cry unto God most high Psal 57. 2. unto God who performeth all things for me and can perform all things for thee be they never so many never so great all things that concern thy weal thy happiness thy soul thy salvation thy conversion and restoring thee into his face and favour here and to eternal felicity hereafter We read often in Scripture of that Phrase and it is very observable of God's commanding such and such things such and such mercies and blessings as of his commanding deliverances for Jacob of his commanding strength of his Psal â—4 4. 68.
procured by dying Lord I will seek it and seek it to purpose intreat it as he says elsewhere with my whole heart Ps 119. 58. And truly we had never had them for seeking if Jesus had not purchased them by suffering never for begging if he had not purchased them by bleeding nor for crying if he had not purchased them by dying R. 9. Because this is the way to have them thus to seek them I mean with all earnestness with all our might with our whole hearts Thus Jacob obtained the blessing Gen. 32. 29. and he blessed him there Moses pardon and God's presence David clensing and the recovery of God's face and favour thus the woman of Canaan obtained the casting of the Devil out of her daughter thus Monica obtain'd the conversion of her son Austin c. The ears of the Lord are open to the cry of the righteous Psalm 34. 15. and James 5. 16. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much That 's the prayer that prevails that carries it the effectual fervent prayer There 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but one word in the Original but it is so sublime and Emphatical that Translations cannot reach the height of it The Greek properly signifies the working prayer and it signifies such a working as notes the earnestest and liveliest activity that can be the greatest force and vehemency of an earnest spirit and affection Excusso stupore torpore ardenter instanter cum fiducia câ—elum pulsemus compleamus clamoribus tum certò confidemus descensuram ad nos domini miserationem Winckelman in Luc. 11. Such a prayer that sets the whole man a work and all the graces a work heart a work and affections a work and faith a work repentance a work love a work c. that strongly presses and enforces as it were upon God and is not so much the labour of the lips but the travel of the heart These are the prayers that prevail when there is an heat and warmth in our spirits and our affections are fired by the holy Ghost and with gracious ascents flame up towards God when we pray a prayer not onely say a prayer and the holy Ghost makes intercession for Rom. 8. 26. us with sighs and groans that cannot be uttered The promise is made to such prayer Jerem. 29. 13. And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart Hosea 6. 3. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord c. Prov. 2. 3. Yea if thou cryest after knowledg and liftest up thy voice for understanding v. 4. If thou seek her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures v. 5. Then thou shalt understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledg of God Psalm 81. 10. open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Thus it is wrestling in prayer that prevailes when there is such an holy impudency as it were as to take no denial this is a token for good indeed and to such God hath not said seek ye me in vain Luk 11. 8. I say unto you though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth That which we translate Importunity is in the Original Impudence and so the Dutch read it nevertheless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for his impudence sake because of his immodest persistance taking no denial It seems to be a Metaphor taken from a sort of Beggars that when they come to your doors will not be said without an Almes you can't get them gone do what you can speak them fair or foul all is one they will weary you out but they will have it and so at length get it and if an importunate impudent beggar gets from man how much more shall an humble daily importunate petitioner obtain from God to whom importunity is so acceptable and at no time unseasonable as yet it is to man v. 7. And he from within shall answer and say trouble me not the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed c. as if he should say Is there no time to come but now or is this a time to come Luther was exceeding frequent and fervenâ— in prayer one writes of him No day passes wherein Luther spendeth not three hours at leasâ— in prayer and once it fell out saith he that â— heard him good God what a spirit what a confidence was in his very expressions c. And would to God says Luther I could alway Utinam eodem ardore orare possem c. pray with a like ardour for then I had alwayâ— this answer Be it unto thee as thou wilt Thus to prevail in prayer the way is to be earnest and Fiat quod velis ardent in prayer it is ardency not eloquencâ— that carries it here Matth. 11. 12. and the violent take it by force i. e. they who with greaâ— earnestness and zeal seek after salvation they obtain it and onely they R. 10. Because when we thus seek them and obtain them we shall the more value them and with the more carefulness retain them by how much the more wrestlings we acquired them but lightly come lightly go When the Spouse Cant. 3. was at a loss for her beloved and she after earnest pursuits found him O how did she prize him and value him and how carefully retain him and would not let him go c. v. 4. I held him and would not let him go and so Mary her Master John 20. 16. O this is a mercy says the Soul that cost me many a sigh and many a groan and many a tear and much tugging and wrestling and therefore how singularly dear and precious is it to me and I can by no means part with it c. Vse 1. Are spiritual mercies thus to be sought with such earnestness fervently and frequently what shall we think of those then that in stead of seeking them thus scarce seek them at all O how many prayerless families and persons are there who call not on the name of the Lord and how sad is the state of such it cannot be exprest For 1. This is made the very badg and character of wicked men yea and of the very worst of wicked men Psalm 10. 4. The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts Psalm 14. 4. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledg who eat up my people as they eat bread and call not upon the Lord Thus it was said of her that was filthy and polluted the oppressing city Zeph. 3. 1â— she drew not near to her God 2. Such are practical Atheists they live without God in the world yea they say in effect Psalm 14. 1. there is no God for if there be a God why do they not
being nothing that we are more concern'd in than this and though we cannot turn our selves yet let 's set upon it and earnestly beg of God to do it as these here do Turn us again c. Doctr. 2. Such as are already turn'd to God and brought home to him are yet very prone to turn again aside from him And this is observable from the words as they refer to those who had been turn'd to God but had in some measure declin'd and made defection and therefore they pray that God would turn them again which shews that this is that which the people of God themselves are very subject to Hos 11. 7. My people are bent to backsliding from me c. Exod. 32. 8. They have turned aside quickly out of the way I have Ps 119. 176. gone astray says David like a lost sheep seek thy servant c. Indeed such as are truly and really turn'd again to God and brought home to him such never do nor can totally nor finally fall away from him because his seed remains in them 1 Joh. 3. 9. and he hath by an everlasting covenant which he hath made with them undertaken for the contrary I will put my fear in their hearts that Jer. 32. 40. they shall not depart from me c. But they may in some measure and for a season they may fall foully though not finally partially though not totally It is that they are prone and of themselves inclin'd to as appears 1. From our own sad experience Have we not all too too sad experience of this that we have all revolting hearts that though we are through grace turn'd to God and brought home to him yet we are very ready to decline again 2. It appears from the examples of some of the most eminent of Saints as David a man after God's own heart Solomon Peter and others 3. From those many caveats and admonitions in Scripture given to Psal 85. 8. the contrary I will hear what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace unto his people and to his Saints but let them not turn again to Heb. 3. 12. folly Take heed brethren lest there be in any of 4. 14. 10. 23. you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God let us hold fast our profession c. Ye therefore beloved seeing ye know these 2 Pet. 3 17. things before beware lest ye also being led away with the errour of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness And how often does our Saviour himself call upon his Disciples to take heed and so his Apostles after him call upon others but whence is it it is 1. from the remainers of inbred corruption and a deceitful heart yet within and 2. from a subtle Devil without and 3. an enticing deceitful world James 1. 14. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his Is 44. 20. Jer. 17. 9. 2 Cor. 6. 11. Eph. 6 11. own lusts and enticed A deceived heart hath turned him aside and the heart is deceitful above all things c. And the Devil is all for turning us aside and perverting our wayes he is full of his wiles and devices to this purpose And 4. the world either by its smiles or its frowns is furthering of this 2 Tim. 4. 10. Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present world c. Vse 1. Let us then bewail and be exceedingly humbled in the sight and sense of this O that there should be yet such a principle within us of Apostacy from God and such a God the living God and our God and father in Jesus Christ O how should we bewail this 2. Let us not then be high-minded but fear with a godly fear oppos'd to pride as the Apostle exhorts Rom. 11. 20. Well because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by faith be not high minded but fear For thou also art inclined to unbelief and it is not for any worth nor from any strength of thy own that thou standest and therefore be not high minded this is a notable help against Apostacy for 1. Yn honore qui demissus est non ideo indignum se honore praebet quia ea ratio solaest alendorum honorum honore mediocriter uti temperanter omnia nihil fastuosè agere God hath a great deal of respect for such Ps 138. 6. 2. Dwels with such Isaiah 57. 15. 3. Guides such Ps 25. 9. 4. Saves such Job 22. 29. 5. Hears such Psalm 10. 17. and 6. Gives grace to such more grace 1 Pet. 5. 5. Prov. 3. 34. A man's pride says Solomon shall bring him low but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit Prov. 29. 23. that is that which is his grace and honour and ornament shall uphold him The Dutch read it the humble in spirit shall hold honour fast that is he shall surely get and retain it in the sight of God and good Nonvult timere nos eo timore qui contrarius fidei sed piae sollicitudinis nos ad perseverantiam ad preces ad reverentiam Dei stimulante Tossan men and he is likeliest to hold God fast and Religion fast and his profession fast and his ways fast And let us therefore fear says the Apostle Hebr. 4. 1. lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it with a fear of care not of diffidence of caution not of vexation with a fear oppos'd to presumption high-mindedness and hardness of heart not to consolation and courage of heart and this is a holy and blessed fear indeed and happy is the man that thus feareth alway but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief Prov. 28. 14. Vse 3. Let us make that use hereof that the Apostle puts us upon Gal. 6. 1. Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiriritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness why considering thy self lest thou also be tempted Use 4. Being so prone and ready to turn again aside from God let us so much the more labour and endeavour to keep with him and to help us herein let me propound these five or six things As 1. let us press upon our hearts these following considerations 1. The neer and dear relation that we stand in to God I mean of us as are true believers indeed and let that prevail with us the more to keep with him and not to turn away from him why because he is our God and Father and husband and friend c. we are as it were espoused and married to him And should a people go from their God children from their father Is 54. 5. Jer. 31. 32. Prov. 27. 10. the wife from her husband a man forsake his friend Thine own friend and thy fathers friend forsake not c. 2. That there is no just cause nor ground why we should go
with other ways and means then of my appointing instead of repenting and turning to me the onely true way of her weal and means of her cure and which I have so often call'd for and invited her to with much patience and forbearance by my Prophets she hath betaken her self to other ways and means run to carnal helps and all manner of worldly shifts and devices and here she hath been very industrious taken a great deal of pains so as even to weary her self running up and down one while this way and another while another way and all to underprop her ruinous condition and to keep off the threatned destruction but in vain for they are all but lies and vanities and so she shall experience them And why it follows because her scum went not out of her that is her sin and wickedness so call'd for its vileness and filthiness she still retain'd that and therefore she and her scum shall be in the fire that is she neglecting the onely true way of her weal and means of her deliverance which was true repentance and conversion all her other worldly and carnal ways and meanes which she had with so much care and toil sought out shall all prove false and unfaithful to her and deceive her And hence does the Lord so earnestly and pathetically as being very desirous and sollicitous of Jerusalems weal invite her to the right way thereof and to avert that heavy destruction threatned against her and coming upon her O Jerusalem Jer. 4. 14. wash thine heart from wickedness that Officii nostri est poenitentiam agere ut servemur qui quidem poenitentiae fructus est Pisc thou may'st be saved that is repent and turn from thy wickedness reform thy heart and life There is indeed the washing of justification from the guilt of sin by the bloud of Christ and of sanctification from the filth of sin by the Spirit of Christ but by this washing here we are to understand that of true serious and sound repentance and conversion and reformation of heart and life from wickedness when the heart is turn'd from it and engag'd against it And of this washing we read elsewhere and it is called Isaiah 1. 16. James 4. 8. v. 1. returning to the Lord and putting away their abominations out of Gods sight v. 3. Jer. 4. 1. breaking up their fallow-ground v. 4. circumcising themselves to the Lord and taking away the foreskins of their hearts and it is the same with that in Acts 8. 22. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness c. And this the Lord here invites Jerusalem to as her onely way of being saved O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved As if the Lord had said thou cryest indeed wo unto us for we are spoiled v. 13. but yet there is a way of thy being saved and it is the onely way and therefore if yet at last thou hast any mind to be saved and to have it well with thee as I have and to prevent that utter ruine that is coming upon thee betake thy self to it wash thine heart from wickedness how long shall thy vain thoughts lodg within thee Thus the Lord calls all their thoughts and hopes of safety elsewhere and from other means as forraign forces and the like vain such as however they fed themselves with them should never effect their weal nor be able to relieve them but in relying on them they relyed but upon vanity and falshood And hence it is that the Church and people of God here are so intent upon this and so earnest for this they importune it no less than three times as if they would have no denial because they knew full well as this was the right way and a sure way for their weal so it was the onely way and there was no other and God must do this or they could not be saved neither could it be well with them whatever else they betook themselves to CHAP. VII NOw in the further prosecution of this point of so great importance and infinite concern as to our own and the Nations weal I shall do these three things in general 1. I shall shew you what kind and what manner of turn that is and must be that is thus effectual as to a peoples being saved for it is not every turn that does or can effect this 2. I shall give you the reasons of the point 3. I shall apply it and endeavour several ways to improve it As concerning the first truly there are so many excellent Treatises already extant and that both formerly and of late and that by more able pens that it might seem needless to adde more and indeed for substance what more almost can be written that is not written already Yet because variety of gifts may please and I hope profit as to the promoting of so blessed a work wherein not onely our own but the whole Nations weal is so infinitely concern'd and that I may not seem to build without a foundation somewhat I shall say but be the briefer at least as to some things and as concerning this Turn you must 1. know in general that there are several sorts of Turns or Changes As 1. in substance which is called generation 2. In place called local mutation 3. In quality called alteration when things are turn'd and chang'd from one quality and one manner and fashion to another when the present property frame and disposition of a thing is quite turn'd and alter'd from what it was before and of this latter we are to understand this turn or mutation here For 1. there is no In resipiscentia homines adeò immutantur ut quales antea fuerant tales esse desinant non tamen in mole substantia corporis sed in animi inclinationibus appetitionibus c. Dent. d◠resipisc turn or change in substance the person sinning and turning being still the same in substance body and soul the same and all the parts powers and faculties of both the same thus in this sense Manasseh Mary Magdalene Paul c. were the same before and after their conversion Nor 2. in place for the sinner is or may be still in the same place where he was before or if he do change his place it does not avail any thing here for sin as one well observes like a man's sickness is carried with him where ever he goes and change of place no more than change of beds does free him or make him whole No it is not change of place but an effectual work of grace that turns the heart Cain was the same in the land of Nod as he was where he dwelt before and the Israelites which came evil out of Egypt remained the same in the wilderness Thus Moses tels them They provoked the Lord their God to wrath in the Deut. 9. 7 8 22 23 24. wilderness yea from the day that they did depart out of the land
such a wasting pestilence and such devouring flames and many other judgments and yet such of us as have been spar'd and were pull'd as fire-brands out of the burning how few of us have repented and are turned to the Lord. May not the Lord justly take up the same complaint against England as he did against Israel I have sent among you the pestilence after Amos 4. 10 11. the manner of Egypt your young men have I slain with the sword and have taken away your horses c. yet have ye not returned to me saith the Lord. I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and ye were as a fire-brand pluckt out of the burning yet have ye not returned to me saith the Lord. Strangers Hos 7. 9 10. have devoured his strength and he knoweth it not yea gray hairs are here and there upon him yet he knoweth it not And the pride of Israel doth testifie to his face and they do not return to the Lord their God nor seek him for all this and Is 1. 5. why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more c. The bellows are burnt the Jer. 6. 29. lead is consumed of the fire the founder melteth in vain c. I gave them space to repent but they Revel 2. 21. 9. 20. did not repent And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands c. How have we despised the riches of God's goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the Rom. 2. 4. goodness of God leadeth us to repentance that is not onely affords us time and space to repent but gives us reason to repent but after the hardness and impenitency of our hearts we have gone on to treasure up unto our selves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God The Lord hath been hearkning and hearing and may he not justly complain of us as of the Jews of old but they spake not aright no man repented him of his wickedness Jerem. 8. 6. saying what have I done every one turned to his course as the horse rusheth into the battel When the hand of the Lord hath been lifted up we have refused to see it and though his judgments are in the earth yet learn we not righteousness We have not said what have we done but have not some in the pride and stoutness of their hearts been ready to say what they would do even as those in Isaiah The bricks are fallen Isa 9. 9 10 down say they but we will build with hewen stones the Sycamores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars i. e. as if they had said our houses indeed are down but what then we value it not we will build fairer and better and will have our streets now broader Thus this is all that they made then that many make now of what the Lord hath done not to be be brought thereby to consider what they have done thus to undo so famous a City but to resolve what they will do as to rearing and bertering their houses but not as to reforming their hearts and lives and therefore the Lord threatens he will set up their enemies and joyn Isa 9. 11 12. them against them both before and behind to devour them with open mouth and yet his anger is not turned away but his hand stretched out still If indeed not to turn again to God but rather more and more away from God and to turn still unto sin and every one to his course as the horse rushes into the battel yea to wax worse and worse and to have our tongues and doings more and more against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory If Atheism profaneness licentiousness superstition idolatry strange doctrines errours heresres schisms apostacies hypocrisies infidelity pride headiness high mindedness hardness of heart carnal security presumption incorrigibleness under judgments unthankfulness for mercies unfruitfulness under means hatred of God and the power of godliness contempt of his word and ways slighting and despising his ordinances resisting and grieving and doing despite unto his Spirit treading under foot his Son crucifying of him as it were afresh and putting him to open shame if shamelesness in sin declaring it as Sodom and hiding it not if swearing cursing blaspheming prophaning God's Name and Sabbaths if murder bloud touching bloud adulteries fornications wantonness lasciviousness and all manner of filthiness and uncleanness if drunkenness gluttony luxury peoples making their belly their God and being lovers of pleasures more than of him glorying in their shame if cruelty unmercifulness maliciousness despightfulness bitterness unrigteousness oppression fraudulent and unjust dealing lying slandering censuring reviling variance strife debate differences divisions emulations selfishness covetousness earthly-mindedness c. In a word if an inundation of all manner of wickedness and debauchery imaginable and the Nation becoming a very sink of vice or at best to have but onely a form of Godliness but to deny the power thereof and if for God in stead of causing his face to shine upon us to hide it from us and to turn his back upon us and to manifest his sore displeasure against us as he hath done alate in regard of those heavy judgments he hath sent among us dealing with us as he threatned to deal with Jerusalem And I will set my face against Exek 15. 7. them they shall go out from one fire and another fire shall devour them And has not God dealt so with us We were scarce got out of one fire which devoured our bodies which from above the Lord sent into our bones into our strongest parts that is sore plagues and pains which like a fire did pierce deep into and consume the most solid and strongest parts of the body as Jerusalem complains Lam. 1. 13. From above hath he sent fire into my bones and it prevaileth against them and against how many thousands of families and persons did that fierce and furious fire of the pestilence prevaile And scarce as I said were we got out of that fire but another fire brake forth which devoured our houses and estates and are there not still many sad symptoms of his displeasure upon us and for all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still And if these now were the way for a people to be saved we were a Nation in as likely a way and posture to be saved as ever Nation was under heaven but if for a people to turn again unto God from their sins and for God to cause his face to shine be the way for a people to be saved and the onely way as indeed it is then the Lord have mercy upon us for we are a Nation in as unlikely a way and posture to be saved as ever Nation was and if we go on
onely asleep but dead and yet quickened and not onely dark but darkness it self in the abstract and yet made light in the Lord. If sinners indeed had never heard of any great sinners that God had turned again from their sins to himself or that it was not better with them then than before when they served their lusts they might have the more plea but there are many presidents in sacred Writ and if with mourning and humiliation thou turnest with them thou shalt be happy with them We find in the 15. of Luke that the Prodigal there went a great way off from his father he took his journey not into some neer adjacent parts but into a far countrey and there he spends all makes himself a meer bankrupt so that he falls to feed Swine and feeds on the husks that the Swine did eat and yet could not have his belly full of them neither and yet this Prodigal he is brought to himself and brought home again to his father and there he is kist and embrac'd and has the best his fathers house can afford How exceeding far had Manasseh turn'd away from God yea how exceedingly had he turn'd against him we scarce read of any that ever did worse read 2 Chron. 33. from the 1. v. to the 10. 2 Kings 21. from the 1. v. to the 17. It is said he used inchantments and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards and wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger he made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom c. and yet Manasseh is made a Convert and turn'd again to the Lord the Lord he turns to Manasseh and turns Manasseh again to himself So what a persecutor was Paul he breathed out threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord c. Acts 9. 1 2. yea as himself says he was exceedingly mad against them Acts 26. 11. and yet this persecutor is turned to be a Preacher and to prosecute what he formerly sought to destroy Mary Magdalene had seven Devils lodging Numerus certus pro incerto in her that is many and yet Jesus Christ casts them all out and makes that heart where so many Devils had lodged fit for himself to lodg in who had the seven Spirits of God and she who had been so vile and miserable he appears Mark 16. 9. first to and makes the first witness of his resurrection And such were some of you what 1 Cor. 6. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haeceratis quilibet such kind of things he does not say such men or women but such kind of things as if the Apostle knew not how to stile them nor what to call them and therefore he puts it in the Neuter Gender such kind of things O they were sad and strange kind of things indeed and yet of such kind of things God makes something of yea makes blessed things of but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God It matters not much whither or from whence we are fallen if the Lord undertake but to raise us nor whither we are wandered or Junius before his conversion is said to be an Atheist but afterward became very pious stiled the Glory of Leyden where we are wilder'd if he undertake but to reduce us nor how far we are turned aside or turned away if he undertake but to turn us again no matter what is the sickness if he be but the Physician and undertakes the cure he can do good of any one be it who it will that is very encouraging to poor sinners which he said to Paul 2 Cor. 12. 7. My grace is sufficient for thee it is sufficient for the greatest of sinners his accepting grace is sufficient and his sanctifying renewing grace is sufficient one is sufficient against all our unworthiness and the other is sufficient against all our uncapableness and unfitness one is sufficient to put God upon doing what is to be done and the other is sufficient for to do it one as to motive the other as to efficacy he can make dry bones live and is Ezek. 37. 5 6 7. Matth. 3. 9. able of stones to raise children to Abraham he can change condition and disposition pardon and purge justifie and sanctifie yea do every thing and perform all things And therefore let all even such as have turn'd farthest aside from God be encouraged to go unto God and to call upon him and cry unto him to perform all things for them for all things are of him and to Psal 57. 2. perform this for them to turn them again and cause his face to shine Say Lord thou commandest us to turn O do thou make us to turn it is thy precept that we should turn Lord according to thy promise give us grace for to turn Turn us and we shall be turned convert us and we shall be converted we have turned aside after the world and vanity and sin yea after Satan but O turn us again to thy self we have turned aside to our own ways and after our own lusts but O turn us again to thee and thy ways thou sayest Return ye back-sliding children and I Jerem. 3. 22. will heal your back slidings and Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God that thou mayest cause us and inable us to return for the way of man is not in himself it is not in man Jer. 10. 23. that walketh to direct his steps turn us therefore and we shall be turned and thou who givest us space to repent give us grace to repent and to turn to thee and that with a true hearty real and universal turn Lord every thing within us is turned from thee and is averse to thee yea is turned against thee and therefore do thou by thy grace cause all to turn again to thee mind will heart affections all within us and all without us that so we may not be half but whole Converts and our conversion may not be partial but total and universal of the whole man and from all evill and to all that is good Salvation is said to belong unto the Lord and his blessing Psal 3. 8. to be upon his people and let us beg that the Lord would thus save us and not onely us our selves but others also ours his people and that this blessing may be upon us all the blessing of turning us all again to himself and of causing his face to shine the blessing of saving conversion and of Divine favour and affection that the Lord would thus save and bless the Nation this Kingdom Church State Cities Towns Families houses hearts even with the great Gospel-blessing of Jesus Christ raised from the Acts 3. 26. dead in turning us all from our sins and iniquities to himself Lord thus bless the house of
inexcusably will they perish and how by this act of theirs do they their own selves judg themselves unworthy of conversion and salvation as the Apostle told those refractory Jews Then Paul and Barnabas Acts 13. 46. waxed bold and said it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you but seeing you put it from you and judg your selves unworthy of everlasting life lo we turn to the Gentiles And therefore as ever you would be turned again unto God wait for it in a constant and diligent attending upon the plain and powerful preaching of the word which is the great organ and instrument which God hath instituted for that purpose and how many blessed and glorious conversions have been effected by it and that upon most indisposed and unlikely subjects and this is the great reason why Satan does so much rage and set himself against it it being the great Engine and Battery which God makes use of to destroy his Kingdom and to rescue poor souls out of his snares and to turn them to himself and this when you go to attend upon the word preach'd you are chiefly to mind and look after that it may have this blessed effect upon your souls to turn you to God and you should be restless and unsatisfied till it be so The Law of the Lord that is the Psalm 19. 7. doctrine of the word is perfect converting the soul And O that it might convert mine that it might have the same effectual work upon me which it hath had upon others and the rather you are to mind this because if you be not convertible by the word neither would you be perswaded though one rose from the dead Luke 16. 30. And he said nay father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent v. 31. And he said unto him if they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead And because knowledg and understanding is initial and introductory and primarily necessary as to conversion for as God in the first Creation wrought light so he does in conversion of a sinner who by nature is a miserable chaos of confusion and seeing it is peoples ignorance and stupidity and their want of knowledg of God and themselves of their malady and remedy that does so hinder and indispose them as to conversion beg of God that the ministery of the word which is called the key of knowledg may be effectual to give thee knowledg and understanding and that thine eyes may be anointed with eye-salve that thou mayest see Do as Solomon adviseth Prov. 2. 2 3 4 5 c. O how many are destroyed and never converted because of their ignorance and stupidity because the scales of ignorance are yet upon their eyes and the vail upon their hearts ignorance being not onely a great evil it self but a very source of all evils and that which hinders all good and therefore be earnest for the removal of it 2. When the Spirit at any time comes to thy soul as he does to all at one time or other and begins to stir and move thy heart the Spirit it may be would convince thee of sin and humble thy soul and bring thee to sorrow for sin here to prevent worse even eternal horrours hereafter For do any think ever to go to heaven and never to have their hearts toucht for their sins It is as impossible as for a man below to reach the heavens with his hands Now when I say the Spirit begins to do this this is thy season prize it and improve it take the present opportunity and beseech him whatever he does to go on O cherish and make much of such motions for they are very precious and do not quench them nor resist the Spirit but give up thy self to be wrought upon by him do not say Go away come again another time Remember the Spirit which is the worker of repentance is not at thy beck neither canst thou set him a work when thou pleasest and therefore let him work when he pleases and remember God hath said My Spirit shall not always strive with man and Gen. 6. 3. Hebr. 3. 7 8. therefore To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts 3. Break off from your evil company and have no longer fellowship nor society with them but say depart from me ye evil doers bid them Ps 119. 115. be packing and gone forsake the foolish and live and go in the way of understanding As you love your souls forsake such you dye else your souls perish else but if you forsake such you are in the Ut ii qui in Sole ambulant nigredinem sibi contrahunt sic qui cum sapientibus versatur sapere discet Remus way to live to attain to that repentance which is unto life and to go in the way of understanding which is to depart from evil I dare be bold to say and affirm that there is no one thing under heaven that is a greater hinderance or obstacle to the work of saving conversion and bringing a sinner home unto God than loose jovial vain wicked company for these take off the sinner from being ever serious and considerate of his present condition and from weighing his sins and the evil of his ways and more and more hardens him therein and so proves a marvelous impediment as to any such work How often in affliction and under a Sermon does the heart of a sinner seem to be wrought upon and he is under some conviction of the evil of his former ways and courses and resolves to amend but afterwards by falling into vain and evil company all dwindles away and withers and comes to nothing and as a dog returns to his vomit so a fool returneth to his folly Thus how many have been affected and almost perswaded to be converts at a Sermon one day by falling into evil company have been the same again the next day And therefore hence it was that the Apostle Peter when he perceived that the Jews he had been preaching unto were affected with what he had delivered and their hearts began to be wrought upon and to be toucht for their sin they asking him and the rest of the Apostles what they should do he answers first to them in general Repent but then afterward that so good a work might not be hindered nor obstructed he gives them withall that special advice Save your selves from this untoward generation Acts 2. 40. as if the Apostle had said I perceive God has begun indeed to touch your hearts for your sins and my advice to you is to repent and turn to the Lord but now that you be not hindered therein this I testifie and exhort too that you associate no longer as you have done with this untoward generation but save your selves from it else they will flatten and deaden that work again and so
the world especially if they be of consequence and must there onely be delays here were a mans house on fire would he delay to seek to quench it or was his estate much more his life in danger to be lost would he delay to seek to save it But is not the loss of the Soul ten thousand times sadder If ever you mean to turn from your sins to the Lord are there not the same reasons for it now as hereafter Is not sin evil bitter and destructive now as well as afterward and does it not now dishonour God thwart oppose provoke offend burden yea weary him and debase defile and wrong your own souls and threaten your ruine and hinder your own happiness comfort and peace separate between you and Is 59. 2. God the chief good and his favour which is better than life and is not God you should turn to as full lovely desireable soveraign excellent and all-sufficient a Good now as he will be afterward or what other reasons are there for turning from your sins to God that are not now and the reasons being the same now as hereafter why should you defer and go on still to adde further to your own shame trouble and grief O how much more peace and comfort Castigemus igitur mores moras nostras might sinners have did they sooner break off from their sins and turn to God and were they but betimes converted and brought home to him in their younger days how much more honour might they bring to him and how much more service might they do for him which they are not capable of till they come to be converted for till then they are in the flesh that is in Rom. 8. 8. the state of corrupt nature and so cannot please God nor serve nor honour him and yet what is our end or what were we made for but this or what is it worth the while to live for but in reference to this which makes our life to be life indeed without which it is no better than death that being the very end and business of our living and though we be we do not properly Fuit non vixit live 'till then For she that liveth in pleasure 1 Tim. 5. 6. is dead while she liveth And what an honour is it to please honour and serve the great God which is the honour of Angels and of those blessed Heroes above Thousand thousands Dan. 7. 10. Rev. 22. 3. ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him c. And his servants shall serve him c. But 'till you are turned again you neither do nor can serve God but serve sin Satan your lusts instead of the Lord of life and glory And who would not hasten out of such an estate O how good is it to bear the yoke in our youth and feel the bitterness of sin and abandon it betimes and not defer what is so infinitely for our own happiness and good and yet this is that people are exceeding prone unto still to put off and procrastinate their turning to God They deny not but it is to be done and they say they purpose and resolve to do it but not yet all in good time and so never set upon it and this is occasioned partly from their sloath and idleness partly from their excessive love of their lusts and sins and vanities as also from their hearts being so much glued to the world and the cares and incumbrances they have about the same and their still continuing in a prosperous estate in health and strength and not being in those troubles as Psal 73. 5. Jer. 22. 21. others are I spake to thee in thy prosperity but thou saidst I will not hear c. But what contempt do these delays cast upon God and his favour and so upon the soul and upon heaven and salvation as if these were not worthy the minding and regarding presently But the vain things of the world which cannot profit nor deliver were to be preferred before them and therefore the more to put you upon speed and expedition herein I shall leave with you these following considerations 1. Consider Repentance is not in your power nor at your command to repent when you please no it is God that gives it and the Spirit that works it which is a free agent and Qui poenitentiae indulgentiam promisit secure in peccatis pergenti poenitentiam non promittit works when and where he pleases and is not at thy beck and God who promises pardon to such as repent does not promise repentance to the secure thou mayest have time but want power have space but want grace to repent If God peradventure will give them repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25. c. and therefore put it not off 2. It is a great work even the work of thy whole man and thy whole life and thy whole strength and will you still put it off when as so much of thy time and life and strength is spent already does it need all and shall it yet have less 3. The longer it is deferr'd the greater it will be It may be as yet thou hast some meltings some relentings but sin the longer it is liv'd in the more it hardens and the hardlier it is left lest any of you be heardened through the deceitfulness Heb. 3. 13. of sin There is an inbred natural hardness Ezek. 36. 26. that is in all by nature we have all stony hearts but sinners by going on still in sin and refusing to turn adde acquired hardness and the heart becomes more stony and less capable of the impressions of God's Spirit and so the sinners condition less hopeful continuance in sin taking away the sense and feeling of it and becomes as a milstone about the sinners neck He Qui non est hodie cras minùs aptus erit that is not fit to repent and turn to God to day will be more unfit to morrow and the less time he will have to do it in and the less strength to do it with there will be one day more to repent of and one day less to repent in The further any go on in the ways of sin the further off still they go from God and so their turning again is the more difficult and therefore it is good to stop betimes else it will be the harder task and seldom is it seen that such as have been long in travel from God in the ways of sin do bethink themselves of returning Can the Jer. 13. 23. Principiis obsta c. Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil Wounds are presently to be healed else their cure will be harder and how much easier might this work be would sinners but set upon it betimes 4. The time is short It is as the Apostle expresses 1 Cor. 7.
step further in those dangerous ways in which while you go on hell is gaping for you and utter destruction is ready to come upon you yea and which unless you turn from you cannot escape O seek ye the Lord while he Is 55. 6. may be found and call ye upon him while he is near and Give glory to the Lord before he Jer. 13 16. 2 Cor. 6. 2. cause darkness c. Behold now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation Remember the watchman's answer when he was enquired of as concerning the night Watchman what of the night watchman what of the night The Is 21. 11 12. watchman said the morning cometh and also the night yea it hastens and it will quickly come upon you and therefore says he if ye will enquire enquire ye return come that is do it speedily least the night surprize you O to day and while it is called to day as the holy Ghost saith hearken to his voice else know if you shall still despise the grace and mercy of God inviting you to repent you will be sure to find and feel too his power in punishing you for refusing to repent Thus though you cannot convert your selves nor of your selves turn again to God yet there are several things you see which you may yea and ought for to do as in reference to this turn and which if you do not do you will be found wholly without excuse and self-destroyers and your bloud will be upon your own heads because you did not do what you might For you must not think God should do all and you do nothing hence in Scripture conversion is spoken of not onely as Acts 11. 18. 2 Tim. 2. 25. c. God's work as most truly and properly it is but in some sense as man's he really indeavouring it and making use of all ways and means Ezek. 33. 18. Zach 1. 3. c. prescribed to further it not that we can turn our selves but that we to our utmost use the best means and take the most effectual course for to do that in some sense we may be said to do And thus though the work of conversion be properly God's work yet as one well observes it is sometimes ascribed to our selves that we should not be negligent sometimes to Ministers and instruments to shew we must not contemn their help and sometimes to God that we may not be self-confident or unthankful And the great reason indeed why sinners do not repent nor turn from their sins to God is not because they cannot though they cannot but because they will not for they think they can and yet will not nay they will not try whither they can or no nor use the power which God hath given them they can do more than they do but will not do it they are slothful and negligent and will not set themselves to use all the means they might and besides they are content with their Cannots and therefore they may thank themselves that they perish and do not repent nor turn to God But for farther satisfaction as to this great point I shall refer the Reader to that excellent Tract of Mr. William Fenner called Wilful impenitency the greatest self-murder and shall here answer an objection that may arise in our way viz. this that if we cannot convert our selves nor turn again to the Lord why are we then so often called upon and exhorted to this as if it was in our power To this I answer 1. It is true indeed we cannot turn our selves no we may as soon create a world as do it the work of Conversion is a greater work than the work of Creation and man that cannot so much as make one hair of his head black or white nor adde one cubit to his stature nor do the less how should he do the greater And therefore for any to interpret those Texts that call upon man to turn to God as if it was in man's power to convert himself as the Papists Arminians and some others do it is to misinterpret and pervert the true sense and meaning of them But 2. though we cannot convert our selves yet that we are so often exhorted and called upon to do that which is not in our power to do viz. to turn to God it is not in vain For 1. these mind us and shew us our duty not our ability what we are and ought to do A praecepto ad posse non valet consequentia sed docet quid fieri debeat c. not what we are able to do what must be done not what we can do they are a measure not of our power but point out to us our duty which we once had ability to but wilfully depriv'd our selves of but that does not hinder but that God may yet require his own 2. They are to convince us of our impotency Si in manu nostra positum esset quicquid Deus requirit supervacua esset gratia Spiritûs sancti and inability that so in and under the sense thereof we might be humbled and laid low and look out for ability and help elsewhere which had we of our selves the grace of the Spirit would be in vain and of no use 3. Though we cannot convert our selves yet these exhortations calls and commands are not in vain for God many times works in them and by them and makes them effectual as to the work as to turn sinners again they are ways and instruments in and by which the Spirit putteth forth his power and comes into the heart As when God at first said Let there be light there was light and when Christ said to Lazarus come forth he came forth thus God many times by his Spirit and grace and the secret virtue and power thereof is pleased so effectually to operate in and by those means as to make them effectual as to that great work so that while a man speaks to the ear he many times speaks to the heart and does so accompany what is spoken with his own power as to make it the power of God to conversion and salvation as while Peter spake the holy Ghost Acts 10. 44. 16. 14. fell on them which heard the word and as Paul was preaching and Lydia hearing the Lord opened her heart Thus such as are dead attending on the means of life come to be quickened and live according to that Hear and your Is 55. 3. soul shall live c. and God in speaking does at once both direct what to do as also inable for to do it calls and converts counsels and makes to obey and comply c. says turn and he turns and be converted and converts 4. Though we cannot convert our selves yet Deus jubet quae non possumus ut noverimus quid ab eo petere debeamus Aug. there are several things as you have heard that we may do as in reference to conversion for God does not exhort