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
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
God the Father rejoiceth and Jesus Christ rejoiceth and the Angels rejoice above and his Ministers and People rejoice beneath It is said of Paul and Silas that passing through Phenice and Samaria and declaring the Conversion of the Gentils they caused Quoties benè agimus gaudent Angeli tristantur Daemones quoties à bono deviamus Diabolum laetificamus Angelos suo gaudio defraudamus great joy unto all the brethren Acts 15. 3. and Acts 11. 21. A great number believing and turning unto the Lord it is said of Barnabas that coming v. 23. and seeing the grace of God he was glad c. and 2 Cor. 7. 9. Now I rejoyce not that ye were made sorry simply made sorry but that ye sorrowed to repentance and for that I greatly rejoyce What 's the reason and ground of this why the point tells you because when a sinner repents and turns again to God and he causes his face to shine and vouchsafes him his favour he is blessed and happy and safe and it is and shall certainly be well with him he is in a good case and condition all things shall happily succeed to him here and he shall be eternally saved hereafter His repentance is repentance unto life and unto salvation never to be repented of and is not here cause of joy and rejoycing indeed when a soul is saved that was lost more worth than a whole world what should be matter of joy and rejoycing if not this Luke 15. 23. And bring hither the fatted Calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry v. 24. for this my son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found and they began to be merry and v. 32. It was meet we should make merry and be glad for this thy brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found So that God is so far from refusing any that turn to him that he rejoyceth very much therein and is more ready to receive them than they can be to come unto him 9. This informs us and gives us to see what a choice mercy and singular priviledg it is for a people to enjoy the ministery of the Word to have God's messengers and ambassadours sent among them to preach and dispense the same why because for a people to be saved the onely way it being for God to turn them again and cause his face to shine this is the way and means which God hath ordered and appointed to effect this to bring about this as the Scripture abundantly declares Thus when the Lord had appeared to Paul and made him a Minister this he declares as the great work and business of his Ministery To open peoples eyes and to turn Acts 26. 18. 20. them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ and this he shewed 1. to them of Damascus and at Jerusalem and throughout all the coasts of Judaea and then to the Gentils that they should repent and turn to God c. and we preach unto Acts 14. 15. you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God which made heaven and earth c. This is the great work and business of Ministers to shew this preach this press this urge this exhort and excite to this yea and to pray for this This was the great work and business of the Prophets of old and so ever since in Jerem. 25. 4. the Lord there tells the Jews that he sent unto them all his servants the Prophets rising early and sending them and what was their errand what did they say v. 5. They said turn ye again now every one from his evill way and from the evil of your doings c. So Zach. 1. 4. Be ye not as your Fathers unto whom the former Prophets have cryed and what did they cry Turn ye now from your evill way and from your evil doings c. This the Prophets still said and cry'd and press'd and urg'd O turn ye to God and his ways and walk no longer in the ways of sin for they are dangerous ways there are Lyons in those ways that roaring Lyon that seeks to devour and there is hell and death and damnation and all the curses of God in those ways and there 's no going to heaven in them they are not ways to live in much less to dye in and therefore come off from them and speedily turn to better and do this or you dye or you perish And this is made the great end and business of John the Baptist's ministery to turn people to the Lord and turn the hearts of Luke 1. 15 16. the Fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just c. And many of the Convertet ratione sui ministerii praedicando poenitentiam c. Winckelman children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God that is he by his preaching being accompanied with the power of the holy Ghost to make it effectual shall be a means of many of their conversions and so of their happiness and salvation this was the work and should be the happy effect and fruit of his office and employment as it further follows And he shall go before Luke 1. 17. him that is before Christ the Messias in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just c. The former of these seems at first harsh and difficult that the hearts of the fathers should be turned to the children one would think the hearts of the children rather should have been turned to their fathers the place is difficult and is variously interpreted if we understand it simply and properly of Parents and Children we must interpret it of evil Parents and of good Children that are converted Thus many times children are converted and are godly when parents are wicked and unconverted and thus for the hearts of the fathers of the Parents continuing as yet the Devils children to be by the ministery of the Word turned to their children being good and God's children and so to be converted and to be of the same mind as they are is a blessed thing indeed and much to be wish'd and desired But 2. some understand it of the stubborn and refractory Jews that he by his ministery should make to become children of the Church that is of the number of those new converts and Christians in those days Thus some by Fathers understand the unconverted Jews by Children the Apostles and other Christians newly converted according Psalm 45. 16. to that In stead of thy fathers shall be thy children which thou mayest make Princes in all the Earth Thus when the Jews were converted to become Christians and to be of one heart and mind and to consent in
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
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
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