Before the news of a Christ was a stale and sapless thing but now how sweet is a Christ Augustine could not relish his before so much admired Cicero because he could not find the name of Christ how pathetically cries he Dulcissime amantis benignis caris c. quando te videbo quando satiabor de pulchritudine tua Medit. c. 37. O most sweet most loving most kind most dear most precious most desired most lovely most fair c. all in a breath when he speaks of and to his Christ in a word the voice of the Convert is with the Martyr None but Christ. 2. The terms which are either ultimate or Subordinate and Mediate The ultimate is God the Father Son and Holy Ghost whom the true Convert takes as his All-sufficient and eternal blessedness A Man is never truly sanctified till his very heart be in truth set upon God above all things as his portion and chief good These are the natural breathings of a believers heart Thou art my portion Psal. 119. 57. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord Psalm 34. 2. My expectation is from him he only is my rock and my salvation he is my defence in God is my salvation and my glory the Rock of my strength and my Refuge is in God Psalm 62. 1. 2 5 6 7. Psalm 18. 1 2. Would you put it to an issue whether you be converted or not Now then let thy soul and all that is within thee attend Hast thou taken God for thy happiness Where doth the content of thy heart lie Whence doth thy choicest comfort come in Come then and with Abraham lift up thine eyes Eastward and Westward and Northward and Southward and cast about thee what it is that thou wouldst have in Heaven or Earth to make thee happy If God should give thee thy choice as he did to Solomon or should say to thee as Ahashuerus to Esther What is thy petition and what is thy request and it shall be granted thee Esther 5. 3. What wouldst thou ask go into the gardens of pleasure and gather all the fragrant flowers from thence would these content thee Go to the treasures of Mammon suppose thou might'st lade thy self while thou wouldst from hence go to the towers to the trophies of honour what thinkest thou of being a man of renown and having a name like the name of the great men of the earth Would any of this all this suffice thee and make thee count thy self a happy man If so then certainly thou art carnal and unconverted If not go farther wâ—de into the divine excellencies the store of his mercies the hiding of his power the deeps unfathomable of his All-sufficiency Doth this sâ—it thee best and please thee most Dost thou say 'T is good to be here Mat. 17. 4. Here I will pitch here I will live and dye Wilt thou let all the world go rather than this Then 't is well between God and thee Happy art thou O man happy art thou that ever thou wast born If a God can make thee happy thou must needs be happy for thou hast avouched the Lord to be thy God Deut. 26. 17. Dost thou say to Christ as he to us Thy Father shall be my Father and thy God my God John 20. 17. Here is the turning Point An unsound professor never takes up his rest in God but converting grace does the work and so cures the fatal misery of the fall by turning the heart from its idols to the living God 1 Thes. 1. 9. Now says the soul Lord whither should I go Thou hast the words of eternal life Iohn 6. 68. Here he centers here he settles O 't is as the entrance of Heaven to him to see his interest in God When he discovers this he saith Return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Psalm 116. 7. and it is even ready to breath out Simons Song Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Luke 2. 29. and saith with Iacob when his old heart revived at the welcome tidings It is enough Gen. 45. 28. When he sees he hath a God in Covenant to go to this is all his salvation and all his desire 2 Sam. 23. 5. Man is this thy case Hast thou experienced this Why then blessed art thou of the Lord. God hath been at work with thee he hath laid hold on thy heart by the power of converting grace or else thou couldst never have done this The Mediate term of Conversion is either Principal or less Principal The Principal is Christ the only Mediator between God and Man 1 Tim. 2. 5. His work is to bring us to God 1 Pet. 3. 18. he is the way to the Father Iohn 14. 6. the only plank on which we may escape the only door by which we may enter Iohn 10. 9. Conversion brings over the soul to Christ to accept of him Col. 2. 6. as the only means to life as the only way the only name given under Heaven Acts 4. 12. He looks not for salvation in any other but him nor in any other with him but throws himself on Christ alone as one that should cast himself with spread arms upon the Sea. Here saith the convinced sinner here I will venture and if I perish I perish If I dâ—â— I will die here But Lord suffer me not to perish under the pitiful eyes of thy mercy Intreat me not to leave thee or to turn away from following after thee Ruth 1. 16. Here I will throw my self If thou kick me if thou kill me Job 13. 15. I will not go from thy door Thus the poor soul doth venture on Christ and resolvedly adhere to him Before Conversion the man made light of Christ minded the Farm Friends Merchandise more than Christ Mâ—t. 22. 5. Now Christ is to him as his necessary food his daily bread the life of his heart the staff of his life Phil. 3. 9. His great design is that Christ may be magnified in him Phil. 1. 20. His heart once said as they to the Spouse What is thy Beloved more than another Cant. 5. 9. He found more sweetness in his merry company wicked games earthly delights than in Christ. He took Religion of a fancy and the talk of great enjoyments for an idle dream But now to him to live is Christ. He sets light by all that he accounted precious for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Phil. 3. 8. All of Christ is accepted by the sincere Convert He loves not only the Wages but work of Christ. Ro. 7. 12. not only the benefits but the burden of Christ He is willing not only to tread out the corn but to draw under the yoak he takes up the commands of Christ yea and Cross of Christ Mat. 11. Mat. 16. 24. The unsound closes by the halves with Christ He is all for the Salvation of Christ but he is not for sanctification he is for the priviledges
pitty the poor Indians that worship the Devil for their God but little think that 't is your own case Why 't is the common misery of all the unsanctified that the Devil is their God 2 Cor. 4. 4. Not that they do intend to do him homage and worship they will be ready to defie him and him that should say so by them but all this while they serve him and come and go at his beck and live under his government His servants you are to whom you yield your selves to obey Rom. 6. 16. Oh how many then will be found the real servants of the Devil that take themselves for no other than the Children of God he can no sooner offer a sinfull delight or opportunity for your unlawful advantage but you embrace it If he suggest a lie or prompt you to revenge you readily obey If he forbid you to read or pray you hearken to him and therefore his servants you are Indeed he lies behind the curtain he acts in the dark and sinners â—ee not who setteth them on work but all the while he leads them in a string Doubtless the Lâ—ar intends not a service to Satan but his own advantage yet 't is he that stands in the corner unobserved and putteth the thing into his heart Acts 5. 3. Iohn 8. 44. Questionless Iudas when he sold his Master for money and the Chaldeaâ—s and Sabeans when they plundred Iob intended not to do the Devil a pleasure but to satisfie their own covetous thirst yet 't was he that actuated them in their wickedness Iohn 13. 27. Iob 1. 12 15 17. Men may be very slaves and common drudges for the Devil and never know it nay they may please themselves in the thoughts of a happy liberty 2 Pet. 2. 19. Art thou yet in ignorance and not turned from darkness to light Why thou art under the power of Satan Acts â—6 18. Dost thou live in the ordinary and wilful practice of any known sin Know that thou art of the Devil 1 Iohn 3. 8. Dost thou live in striâ—â— or envy or malice verily he is thy Father Ioâ— 8. 40. 41. O dreadful case However Satan 〈…〉 his slaves with divers pleasures Tit. 3. 5. 〈…〉 to 〈◊〉 them into endless perdition 〈…〉 with the â—pple in his Mouth 〈…〉 thou seest not the deadly sting 〈…〉 that is now thy temprer will be one 〈…〉 could bâ—â— give thee to see how 〈…〉 how filthy 〈…〉 thou gratified all whose pleasure is to set thee on work to make thy perdition and damnation sure and to hear the 〈◊〉 hotter and hotter in which thou must burn for millions of miâ—â—ions of Ages IV. The 〈…〉 like a Mountain upon thee Poor Soul â— Thou feelest it not but this is that which seals thy misery upon thee While unconverted none of thy sins are blotted out Acts 3. 19. They are all upon the score against thee Regeneration and remission are never separated the unsanctified are unquestionably unjustified and unpardoned 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1 Pet. 1. 2. Heb. 9. 14. Beloved it 's a fearful thing to be in debt but above all in God's debt for there is no arrest so formidable as his no prison so horrible as his Look upon an enlightned sinner who feels the weight of his own guilt oh how frightful are his looks how fearful are his complaints His comforts are turned into Wormwood and his Moisture into Drought and his sleep departeth from his eyes He is a terror to himself and all that are about him and is ready to envy the very stones that lie in the Street because they are senseless and feel not his misery and wishes he had been a Dog or a Toad or a Serpent rather than a man because then death had put an end to his misery whereas now it will be but the beginning of that which will know no ending How light soever you may make of it now you will one day find the guilt of unpardoned sin to be a heavy burden This is a Milstone that whosoever falleth upon it shall be broken but upon whomsoever it shall fall it shall grind him to powder Mat. 21. 44. What work did it make with our Saviour It pressed the very blood to a wonder out of his veins and broke all his bones and if it did this in the green tree what will it do in the dry Oh think of thy case in time Canst thou think of that threat without trembling Ye shall die in your sins John 8. 24. Oh better were it for thee to die in a Goal die in a Ditch in a Dungeon than die in thy Sins If death as it will take away all thy other Comforts would take away thy sins too it were some â—itigation But thy sins will follow thee when thy friends leave thee and all worldly enjoyments shake hands with thee Thy sins will not die with thee 2 Cor. 5â— 10. Rev. 20. 12. as a prisoners other debts will but they will to judgment with thee there to be thine accusers and they will to Hell with thee there to be thy tormentors Better to have so many fiends and furies about thee than thy sins to fall upon thee and fasten in thee Oh the work that these will make thee O look over thy debts in time How much art thou in the Books of every one of Gods Laws How is every one of Gods Commandments ready to arrest thee and take thee by the throat for innumerable Bonds that it hath upon thee What wilt thou do then when they shall altogether lay in against thee Hold open the eyes of conscience to consider this that thou mayst despair of thy self and be driven to Christ and fly for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before thee Heb. 6. 18. V. Thy raging lâ—sts do miserably enslave thee While unconverted thou art a very servant to sin it reigns over thee and holds thee under its dominion till thou art brought within the bond of Gods Covenant Iohn 8. 34. 36. Tit. 3. 3. Rom. 6. 12 14. Rom. 6. 16 17. Now there 's no such Tyrant as sin Oh the filthy and fearful work that it doth ingage its servants in would it not pierce a mans heart to see a company of poor creatures drudging and toiling and all to carry together faggots and fuel for their own burning Why this is the employment of sins drudges Even while they bless themselves in their unrighteous gains while they sing and swill in pleasures they are but treasuring up wrath and vengeance for their eternal burnings they are but laying in Powder and Bullers and adding to the Pile of Tâ—pher and slinging in Oyl to make the flame rage the fiercer Who would serve such a Master whose work is drudgery and whose wages is death Rom. 6. 23. What a woful spectacle was that poor wretch possessed with the legion Would it not have pitied thine heart to have seen him among the Tombs cutting and wounding of himself Mark. 5. 5. This
But when we tempt God by running into danger he will not engage to support us when we are tempted And of all temptations one of the most fatal and pernicious is evil company Oh what hopeful beginnings have these often stifled Oh the souls the estates the families the towns that these have ruined How many a poor sinner hath been enlightned and convinced and hath been just ready to give the Devil the slip and hath even escaped his snare and yet wicked company have pull'd him back at last and made him seven fold more the Child of Hell. In one word I have no hopes of thee except thou wilt shake off thy evil company Christ speaketh to thee as to them in another case If thou seek me then let these go their way Joh. 18. 8. Thy life lies upon it Forsake these or else thou canst not live Prov. 9. 6. Wilt thou be worse than the beast to run on when thou seest the Lord with a drawn sword in the way Numb 22. 33. Let this sentence be written in Capitals upon thy Conscience A COMPANION OF FOOLS SHALL BE DESTROYED Prov. 13. 20. The Lord hath spoken it and who shall reverse it And wilt thou run upon destruction when God himself doth forewaâ—â— thee If God do ever change thy heart it will appear in the change of thy company Oh fear and fly this Gulf by which so many thousand souls have been swallowed into perdition It will be hard for thee indeed to make thine escape Thy Companions will be mocking thee out of thy Religion and will study to fill thee with prejudices against strictness as ridiculous and comfortless They will be flattering thee and alluring thee but remember the warnings of the Holy Ghost My Son if sinners entice thee consent thou not If they say come with us eâ—st in thy lot among us walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path Avoid it pass not by it turn from it and pass away For the way of the wicked is as darkness they know not at what they stumble They lâ—y wait for their own blood they lurk privily for their own lives Prov. 1. 10. to the 18. Prov. 4. 14. to the 19. My soul is moved within me to see how many of my hearers are like to perish both they and their houses by this wretched mischief even the haunting of such places and company whereby thâ—y are drawn into sin Once more I admonish you as Moses did Israel Num. 16. 26. And he spake unto the Congregation saying Depart I pray you from the Tents of these wicked men Oh! flee them as you would those that had the Plague-Sores running in their fore-heads these are the Devils Panders and Decoys and if thou dost not make thine escape they will toll thee into perdition and will prove thine eternal ruin Direct XVI Lastly Set apart a day to humble thy soul in secret by fasting and prayer to work the sense of thy sins and miseries upon thy heart Read over the Assemblies Exposition of the Commandments and write down the duties omitted and sins committed by thee against every Commandment and so make a Catalogue of thy sins and with shame and sorrow spread them before the Lord. And if thy heart be truly willing to the terms join thy self solemnly to the Lord in that Covenant set down in the IXth Direction and the Lord grant thee mercy in his sight Thus I have told thee what thou must do to be saved Wilt thou not now obey the voice of the Lord Wilt thou arise and set to thy work Oh man what answer wilt thou make what excuse wilt thou have if thou shouldst perish at last through very wilfulness when thou hast known the way of life I do not fear thy miscarrying if thine own idleness do not at 〈◊〉 undo thee in neglecting the use of the means that are so plainly here prescribed Rouze up Oh sluggard and ply thy work Be doing and the Lord will be with thee A Short Soliloquy for an Unregenerate Sinner AH wretched man that I am What a condition have I brought my self into by sin Oh! I see my heart hath but deceived me all this whâ—â—e in flattering me that my condition was good I see I see I am but a lost and undone man for ever undone unless the Lord help me out of this condition My sins My sins Lord what an unclean polluted wretch am I more loathsome and odious to thee than the most hateful Venom or noisome carcase can be to me Oh! what a Hell of sin is in this heart of mine which I have flattered my self to be a good heart Lord how universally am I corrupted in all my parts powers performances All the imaginations of the thoughts of my heart are only evil continually I am under an inability to averseness from and enmity against any thing that is good and am prone to all that is evil My heart is a very sink of all sin And Oh the innumerable hosts and swarms of sinful thoughts words and actions that have flown from thence Oh the load of guilt that is on my soul My â—â—ad is â—ull my heartfull my mind and my members they are all full of sin Oh my sins How do they stare upon me How do they witness against me Wo iâ— me my Creditors are upon me every Commandmâ—â—â— taketh hold upon me for more than ten thousand 〈◊〉 Talents yea ten thousand times ten thousand How endless then is the sum of all my debts If this whole world were filled up from Earth to Heaven with paper and all this paper written over within and without by Arithmeticians yet when all were case up together it would come unconceivably short of what I owe to the least of Gods Commandments Wo unto me for my debts are infinite and my sins are increased They are wrongs to an infinite Majesty And if he that committeth Treason against a silken Mortal is worthy to be racked drawn and quartered What have I deserved that have so often lifted up my hand against Heaven and have struck at the Crown and Dignity of the Almighty Oh my sins my sins Behold a Troop cometh Multitudes Multitudes there is no number of their Armies Innumerable evils have compassed me about Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me they have set themselves in aray against me Oh! it were better to have all the Regiments of Hell come against me than to have my sins to fall upon me to the spoiling of my soul. Lord how am I surrounded How many are they that rise up against me They have beset me behind and before They swarm within me and without me They have possessed all my powers and have fortified mine unhappy soul as a Garison which this brooâ— of Hell doth man and maintain against the God that made me And they are as mighty as they be many The Sands are many but then they are not great The Mountains great but then they are not many