hear the command to believe it should make us cry out with the sick childes Father in the Gospel Lord help my unbelief When we hear the command to cast away every transgression it should make us beg with David Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have the dominion over me When we hear the command to turn it should make us to use the language of that penitent Jer. 31. 18. Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God 5. The Lord calls upon us to turn to leave the obstinate without excuse who will not turn who will not come to Christ that they may have life Of Israel he saith All the day long have I stretched forth my hand to a disobedient and gainsaying people Rom. 10. ult but this their disobedience rendred them without apology When the unconverted fall into God's revenging hands they are the less to be pitied they can have nothing to plead because Gods stretching forth his hands by way of invitation in the Gospel was in vain These sinners against their own souls whose neck is like an iron sinew who will neither be terrified by menaces nor mollified by the expressions of the greatest kindness and mercy when they are summon'd to the bar how will they be struck speechless having not one word to say against their own condemnation They were called unto grace and glory but they would not hearken They were told of their danger but they would not seek to prevent it they were informed of the wayes of sin and were dehorted from it nay wooed and intreated with the most passionate earnestness not to be cruel to themselves by giving way to such a cursed thing yet they would not consent to be freed from sin and become the servants of righteousness And surely their mouths must needs be stopped or if they say any thing when sentence is passed upon them it must be to side with the justice of God against themselves to acknowledge the equality of his wayes the inequality of their own 6. The Lord calls upon us to turn that those who are ordained to eternal life may be effectually wrought upon and prevailed with to turn indeed We read that the Gospel was preached both to the Jews and to the Gentiles and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed Act. 15. 48. And the truth is 't is much for the sake of the Elect who are scattered up and down among the multitude that the call to turn is so general as it is Hereby those whom the Father has given to Christ are brought home and coming home how welcome are they Joh. 6. 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out So much for the reasons why God calls upon sinners to turn In the Third place I promised to explain the nature of this conversion or turning And I find the Apostle does give a notable and full description of it Act. 26. 18. where he calls it A turning from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God Hence we gather that conversion lyes in four things 1. In being turned from darkness 2. In being turned unto light 3. In being turned from the power of Satan 4. In being turned unto God 1. Conversion implies a being turned from darkness As darkness was upon the face of the deep till God said Let there be light Gen. 1. 2. So truly darkness overspreads the soul of a natural man till he is enlightned from above Believers are delivered from the power of darkness when translated into the Sons Kingdom Col. 1. 13. which shews that sometimes they were in darkness as well as others and this darkness is said to have a power a power to hold a power to blind a power to ruin so that there is a necessity of being delivered from it Now there be several kinds of darkness from which they are made free 1. Converts are turned from the darkness of ignorance No longer are they contented to be ignorant of the way to salvation but are made inquisitive what they must do to â—e saved They are informed about the doctrine of Christ and are made to understand what believing and repenting mean They know that sin is to be sorrowed for as the worst of evils and that God is the chiefest good and that he so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 16. They are made to know that Christ is to be received by faith and that there is not salvation in any other and that 't is in vain to expect any thing from him as a Saviour unless there be a consenting to obey him as a Lord. These and such like truths are no longer hid from them They are sensible now of the mischief and danger of ignorance 't is therefore their desire to have it in a greater measure removed and they follow on to know the Lord. 2. Converts are turned from the darkness of unbelief The Spirit does work a perswasion in their hearts of the certain truth of whatever God has revealed in his word They dare not any longer make the Lord a lyar by not crediting what he has recorded They believe and admire and acknowledge the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ Col. 2. 2. Heretofore their unbelief did hide the Gospel from them and concluded them in a lost estate they saw not the Majesty of the Word they were not taken with the treasures of wisdom and grace which are there revealed neither were they awakened by the terrors with which the Word abounds against ungodly ones But now the vail is taken away and they assent to and are affected with what the Gospel speaks to them They believe that God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses to them And that being justified by his blood they shall be saved from wrath through him Rom. 5. 9. They believe that sin is deadly and the world a cheat and that solid and eternal happiness is to be found in God therefore they leave a shadow to embrace that which is substantial 3. Converts are turned from the darkness of prejudice Prejudice raises a strange kind of mist before the eyes which hinders the light of truth from shining into the mind The Jews prejudice against Christ was one great thing that blinded them a principal impediment to their embracing of the Faith Satan endeavours to fill the ungodly with these prejudices and to keep them up because by these his Kingdom is very much upheld Sometimes sinners are prejudiced against holiness as if it were a disgrace whereas it being the glory of the Divine Nature certainly 't is the greatest honour and perfection which the rational creature is capable of Sometimes holiness is lookt upon as needless and yet the Scripture affirms that none
THE CONVERSION OF A SINNER Explained and Applied FROM Ezek. 33. 11. Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes for why will ye die O house of Israel Part whereof was preached some while since at Saviours Southwark THE Day of Grace DISCOURSED OF FROM Luke 19. 41 42. If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace But now they are hid from thine eyes By Nathanael Vincent Minister of the Gospel London Printed for Thomas Parkburst at the Golden Bible on London-Brdge under the Gate 1669. The Dedication To his Sacred and most Glorious Majesty the God of Heaven and Earth the KING of KINGS and LORD of LORDS who is much more above the highest Potentates and Emperors in the World than they are above their meanest Slaves Almighty Lord TO Thee I dedicate my Book to whom I have devoted my self all that is good therein it is thy own and if it do any good to Thee I must ascribe the praise The In 〈…〉 nt indeed might be ashamed and discouraged if he did not know that thou canst work as well by weak means as by strong nay sometimes thou makest choice of weak on purpose that flesh may not glory but the excellency of the power may be of thee alone It was most free and rich Grace which Eternity it self will be short enough to admire and adore that I my self was pitied who once lay as much polluted in my blood as any other who had run so far in the broad way and had sinn'd my self so neer the destruction which is everlasting But if I am not only made a Convert but also made use of to convert others my obligation will be hightned which is infinitely vast already to shew forth thy praise 'T is the desire of my soul O Lord that thy Kingdom may be advanced and that the Dominion which sin and Satan have usurped may be overthrown Since thy yoak is easie and thy government so sweet so gracious why should not thy subjects also be most numerous Gird thy sword upon thy thing Oh most mighty one and ride forth conquering and to conquer and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things Let thine arrows be sharp and thy Word pierce like a two-edged sword and let the whole world either by conversion or subversion buâ— especially by conversion fall under thee Thou art the God of the spirits of all flesh is there any thing too hard for thee When the Devil sinn'd against thee and thereby became a Devil thou didst easily throw him out of heaven and shackle him in chains of darkness and canst thou not as easily throw him out of those sinners hearts which he has possessed and filled and pull down all his strong holds And as for sin though it be so mighty a thing that Adam in innocency was overcome by it that Angels in Heaven could not stand before it yet thou art able and hast promised to subdue it Oh shew thy power and Grace Since thy mercy is so great why should there be so few partakers of mercy Since thy Son is so able to save to the uttermost why should so small a number be saved by him Since the New Jerusalem is so spacious why should Hell fill so exceeding fast Oh let thy special love be more generally manifested Let thy healing and thy saving grace run in a much broader channel Let thy tents be enlarged and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitation Let not so many souls be the Devils prey which are of greater value than the world and which are capable of loving and admiring and glorifying thee for ever Answer O my God such desires as these so far â—â— consistent with the secrets of thy Counsel and thy Wayes and Judgments which are unsearchable and past finding out Let thy Gospel continue in this Land of England Let the Sun of righteousness shine forth in greater strength and glory and dispel the mists of error and chase away the night of Ignorance Let not the Sea be more full of water than this Land of the knowledge of thy glory As long as there is a Church on earth let there be a Church in England And let the Lamp of thy Word shine cleerly among us as long as the Sun and the Moon shall shine in the Firmament Thou who hast the hearts of all in thy own hand incline some to read these following Sermons and let all that read be the better by them Let them understand in this their day the things which concern their peace and obey thy Call to Turn before thou comest to this Resolution to call and cry no more after them Oh let none grow blâ—nder by the light 's shining in their eyes let none grow harder by the means which were design'd to soften them Let not the Word of Life prove unto any a deadly savour Let some souls date their conversion from their reading this Book and let those who are converted be further strengthned by it Encourage thy servant more and more by making his labours more abundantly successful who has resigned and given up himself to Thee and whose greatest Hâ—nour and truest Happiness it is to be Thine for ever NATHANAEL VINCENT THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Reader AS soon as thou hast looked on immediately look off again and look up to heaven How canst thou see to read with any profit unless the Father of lights do open thine eyes and give thee an understanding heart He can shew thee wonders in the most commune Truths which before thou wert unacquainted with Those doctrines that are most usually preached as thy Judgment may yet more fully be informed about them so I am sure thy affections have need to be stirr'd up to bear some more proportionable suitableness unto the weight and concernment of them It has moved my sorrow and almost my indignation to see how many Truths because often as 't is needful insisted on are nauseated by some Professors And yet alas these very Truths though they have often heard them they do not know them as they ought to know As to any heart-affecting and operative knowledge these persons who fancy and conceit themselves so very intelligent are very grosly ignorant Their consciences are stupid and they were never brought under the power of the Word which is preached to them Duties though plainly and frequently pressed are neglected and sins which they communly hear reproved are yet notwithstanding more communly given way to Thou who canst not like of a Discourse unless thy fancy be pleased and thy itching ear clawed what just reason hast thou to question whether thy nature has been indeed renewed for they who have been born again desire the sincere milk of the word though there be little mixture of what is humane that they may grow thereby Reader Art thou grosly ignorant and ungodly How much then doth it concern thee to use those means which are appointed for the attaining
shall see the Lord without it Sometimes the carnal heart rises against holiness because it imagines that nothing of delight and pleasure is consistent with it whereas indeed by being converted unto God our joy is not lost but only changed The Kingdom of God is not only righteousness but also peace and joy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. whereas the joy before was poor and low and bruitish and defiling being mixed with many secret grudgings of conscience and misgivings of heart Now upon conversion the joy is pure angelical satisfactory and an earnest of those pleasures which will be for evermore Psal 16. ult Neither is this unreasonable prejudice only against the wayes of holiness but also against the publishers of these wayes There was a prejudice against Elijah as if he had been a troubler of Israel against Jeremiah as if he had been unfaithful to the State and a secret friend to the Chaldeans against the Apostles as if they had been intolerable disturbers that had turned the world upside-down And truly the treasure oft-times is disregarded though of such inestimable value because of the vessel in which 't is brought But when any are turned the mist of prejudice is immediately scattered Then strict doctrine will go down which before was nauseated and made the heart to rise against it then a servant of Christ will be esteemed and obeyed that before was lookt upon as the filth and off-scouring of the world 1 Cor. 4. 13. 4. Converts are turned from the works of darkness These works are cast off Rom. 13. 12. No known presumptuous sin is allowed of they perceive the fruitlessness of their former wayes and therefore now are ashamed of them Rom. 6. 21. Formerly they went on securely in sin because they knew not whither they were going but now they perceive the tendency of these works of darkness even unto blackness of darkness for ever and so they are made free from sin that is from sins servitude and become the servants of righteousness Sin may plead hard against its being cast away but its pleas are all invalid The gainful sin does thus plead for it self I have raised thee from a mean to an high degree I have filled thy bag and furnished thy Table By me thou hast gotten a fair estate who else wouldst have been little differing from a beggar And what shall I now be cast off having been so beneficial and yielded so much advantage But the Convert has enough to reply to such a plea. Whatever he has gained unjustly he must restore and if he had trusted in God and done good he would have fared better the Mammon of unrighteousness is attended with a curse And all the while he thrived in a wicked way he was destitute of the true riches and 't is a wonder by such dishonest gaining of the world he lost not his soul long ago Now therefore he is resolved against sinful gain lest e're he is aware God and Christ and his soul be lost beyond recovery The pleasing sin also is not without arguments for its being cherished I have pleased thy flesh and rejoyced thy heart I have made dayes and nights to pass unsensibly away I have gratified thy senses and made thy tongue to sing for joy I have stupified and laid that Fury called conscience when it has begun to stir and torture thee I have chased away thy cares and made thee to forget thy sorrows Time was when the very thoughts of me were delightful and I was embraced as a darling and why should I now be banished and killed as if I were an enemy Is affliction of soul and brokenness of heart to be preferred before the sweetness I was wont to afford thee But the Converts ear is deaf unto such Syren-melody one word is enough to dash and answer all That the pleasures of sin are but for a season Heb. 11. 25. but the pains of Hell which without conversion are sure to follow will never have a period nor be in the least mitigated The rich man who had lived jocundly fared deliciously every day when he was cast into the flames begged but for a drop of water and 't was denied him Therefore the works of darkness are cast off by the Convert the pleasure of these works is nothing comparable to the pain nor the gain to the loss which will speedily follow 2. As this conversion implies a being turned from darkness so also a being turned unto light Eph. 5. 8. For ye were sometimes darkness but now are ye light in the Lord walk as children of light And so 2 Cor. 4. 6. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ This light has a threefold property to discover to direct to operate 1. This light discovers The Apostle tells us whatever does make manifest is light The Convert sees what he never saw before There may be many toads and serpents and other loathsom and hateful creatures in a dungeon but till the light shine in these are not perceived the breaking in of light discovers them And so in the heart of man many impure and noysom lusts have their abode but they are not indeed acknowledged neither are they any annoyance till the light does make them manifest The Convert sees his sin his shame he is sensible of the plagues of his own heart and the absolute necessity of a cure His interest likewise is discovered to him and that is in seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness in securing his soul which is of far greater value than the world in minding the one thing needful that good part which can never be taken away 2. This light directs It guides those who are turned into the way of peace and truth The Lamp of the Word the Spirit joyning with and teaching by it shews which are the perverse and crooked paths to the end that these may be shunned and avoided and it also directs into those wayes which are pleasing unto God and pleasant in themselves and moreover so exceeding safe that rone ever missed of heaven that continued to tread in them We are directed to believe and to obey and where faith and obedience are linked together the off-spring of that conjunction will most certainly be glory honour and immortality 3. This light operates in a powerful manner 'T is such a light as has heat along with it Converts were before told of the evil the folly of sin but now they see this by another light and their hearts are warmed with indignation against it They see sin so as to be deeply affected they sorrow for it and abhor it They were before informed of the mercy and alsufficiency and other perfections of God but now they have such a view of his glory in the face of Christ as that the fire of love is enkindled and that love does put
towards the unconverted Those who are turned have escaped danger and they cannot but be moved with others peril How can they chuse but mourn over their relations and acquaintance that are without Christ and God in the world Oh what hazard do such run when they go to sleep they know not but they may wake in the midst of flames that are unquenchable when they go out of their houses they may be in hell before they return They hang over the bottomless pit by the small thread of their lives and a thousand things may happen every day sufficient to break that thread asunder and then in they fall without redemption Oh doleful state of the ungodly If thou who art a religious Wife shouldst wake in the night and find thy Husband stone dead by thee would it not extreamly amaze and grieve thee Or if thou who art the Master of a family shouldst find all thy children and servants of a sudden dead before thy eyes would not thy heart be extreamly affected And surely if thy Husband thy Wife thy Children thy Servants are dead in sins in danger of being for ever damned much more reason hast thou to be concerned for them and to endeavour by advise and prayers and tears to have them turned and reconciled unto God Now Reader Try thy self by these signs of Conversion if thou findest them in thy self thou mayest rejoyce for these plainly shew that thy name is written in the Book of Life But if any sin be loved if thy mind and conscience and heart and life be all defiled and as thou art unrenewed so thou hast no desire after renewing grace if thou delightest in the carnal and art an hater of Saints This shews to conversion thou art a stranger and to this hour art in the gall of bitterness Use II. Of Terror Whoever thou art high or low rich or poor male or female that readest these lines and wast never turned I am sent to thee from God with heavy tydings such as if thou wert not a bruit a stock would make thee like Belshazzar when upon the view of the hand-writing upon the wall his countenance was changed his thoughts troubled him the joynts of his loyns were loosed and his knees smoâ—e one against another Dan. 5. 6. I am to prophecy not good concerning thee but evil I have a roll to deliver thee but 't is written within and without with lamentation and mourning and wo. Thou art perhaps jolly and secure but this is like the mirth and laughter of a sick man out of his senses which argues his distemper to be the sorer Alas sinner Thou hast not reason so much as once to smile while in a state of nature How many threatnings are denounced against thee And suppose thou wert surrounded with Cannons all ready at once to be discharged at thee these would be nothing neer so dreadful as the threatnings and curses which the just and jealous God has uttered Open thy eyes and look which way thou wilt enough may be perceived to cause thy heart to meditate terror above an angry God below a flaming Hell behind an innumerable host of sins pursuing thee before Satan and the world leading thee along in the broad way to destruction But more particularly I would have these following Truths laid to heart 1. Whilst thou art unconverted thou art also unpardoned Thou standest indebted many thousand talents and not so much as one mite of all that debt is paid The least transgression does make thee liable to the curse of the Law and guess then what an accursed wretch thy many and thy mighty sins have made thee Upon thy returning acknowledging of thy iniquity God has engaged to do it away he will lay the load upon the back of a Mediator but if thou wilt not consent to be turned thou alone must bear it Sin is another kind of thing than thou imaginest Adams first transgression in eating the forbidden fruit which was aggravated because he would have been as God and he believed the Serpent and made God a lyar and which was indeed a rejecting of the whole Covenant of life made with him Oh! how did it make himself to smart and not only himself but his whole progeny are the worse for it And if one sin has brought a curse upon all the children of men think O soul how thou wilt be able to stand under all the sins thou hast committed Sin does make the whole Creation groan it makes the damned to lament and to despair and will be an intolerable load for ever sin was found heavy by our Lord this caused his Agony and made his soul exceeding sorrowful even unto death Nay God himself complains that he is pressed with iniquity as a Cart is pressed which is full of sheaves And wilt thou sinner make light of it Oh! how heavy wilt thou one day feel it 2. Whilst unconverted thou art treasuring up more and more wrath against the day of wrath Thy scores are large already but every day thou runnest on the score afresh every day thou makest new wounds though conscience now be so stupid that it feels nothing As thy sin abounds proportionably the vials of divine indignation grow fuller which will at last be all emptied upon thy head Unnatural cruelty to be a Devil to thy self to be thy own souls murderer Thou art continually setting thy self at a greatter distance from God and engaging him more and more against thee who alone can be a refuge and salvation to thee Thou wilt perceive at last thou hast been thy own foe and acted to thy own confusion Jer. 7. 19. Do they provoke me to anger saith the Lord do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces 3. Whilst unconverted thou renderest thy self more and more unmeet for glory and blessedness The more impure thou art the more unfit also to see God The abominations which are loved and wrought by thee do make thee an improper inhabitant for the new Jerusalem The inheritance above is an inheritance of Saints 't is as an incorruptible so an undefiled inheritance 1 Pet. 1. 4. The company is all holy and so are the employments There is not a vain or sinful word spoken there nor an impure desire or thought to be found in any that are above And what wouldst thou do there among them unless a change be wrought in thee 4. If thou turnest not thou art sure to die As life is far off so death is neer The Psalmist tells us That God is angry with the wicked every day and if he turn not he hath whâ—t his sword he hath bent his bow and made it ready Psal 7. 11 12. And when the instruments of death are thus prepared 't is a sign God will make quick work and suddenly cut the offender off Death is called a King of Terrors and it well deserves that name in respect of the ungodly Then their good things are all received and the