of the Lord. God hath been at work with thee he hath laid hold on thine 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 Ioh. 14. 6. the only plank on which we may escape the only door by which we may enter Ioh. 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 die 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 Mat. 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 desigâ— is that Christ may be magnified in him Philâ— 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 gâ—mes earthly delights than in Christ. He took Religion for 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 Rom. 7. 22. not only the benefits but the burden of Christ. He is willing not only to tread out tâ—e corn but to draw under the yoak he takes up the commands of Christ yea and the 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 but appretiates not the person of Christ. He divides the offices and benefits of Christ. This is an error in the foundation Who so loveth life let him beware here 'T is an undoing mistake of which you have been often warned and yet none more common Jesus is a sweet name but men love not the Lord Jesus in sincerity Eph. 6. 24. They will not have him as God offers To be a Prince and a Saviour Acts 5. 3â— They divide what God hath joyned the King and the Priest Yea they will not accept the salvation of Christ as he intends it they divide here Every mans voâ—e is for salvation from suffering but they desire not to be saved from sinning They would have their lives saved but withall they would have their lâ—â—ts saved Yea many divide here again they would be content to have some of their sins destroyed but they cannot leave the lap of Dalilah or divorce the beloved Herodias They cannot be cruel to the right eye or right hand the Lord must pardon them in this thing 2 Kings 5. 18. Oh be infinitely tender here your souls lie upon it The sound Convert takes a whole Christ and takes him for all intents and purposes without exceptions without limitations without reserves He is willing to have Christ upon his terms upon any terms He is willing of the dominion of Christ as well as deliverance by Christ he saith with Paul Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9. 6. Any thing Lord. He sends the blank to Christ to set down his own Conditions Acts 2. 37. Acts 16. 30. The less Principal is the Laws Ordinances and ways of Christ. The heart that was once set against these and could not endure the strictness of these bonds the severity of these ways now falls in love with them and chuses them as its rule and guide for ever Psal. 119. 111 112. Four things I observe God doth work in every sound Convert with reference to the Laws and ways of Christ by which you may come to know your estates if you will be faithful to your own souls and therefore keep your eyes upon your hearts as you go along 1. The Iudgment is brought to approve of them and subscribe to them as most righteous and most reasonable Psal. 119. 128 137 138. The mind is brought to like the ways of God and the corrupt prejudices that were once against them as unreasonable and intolerable are now removed The understanding assents to them all as holy just and good Rom. 7. 12. How is David taken up with the excellencies of Gods Laws How Doth he expatiate in their praises both from their inherent qualities and admirable effects Psal. 19. 8 9 10 c. There is a twofold judgment of the understanding Iudicum absolutum comparatum The absolute judgment is when a man thinks such a course best in the general but not for him or not under the present circumstances he is in pro hic nunc Now a Godly mans judgment is for the wayes of God and that not only the absolute but comparative judgment he thinks them not only best in general but best for him He looks upon the rules of Religion not only as tolerable but desirable yea more desirable than gold fine gold yea much fine gold Psal. 19. 10. His judgment is setledly determined that 't is best to be holy that 't is best to be strict that it is in it self the most eligible course and that 't is for him the wisest and most rational and desirable choice Hear the godly mans Judgment I know O Lord that thy judgments are right I love thy Commandments above Gold Yea above fine gold I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way Psal. 119. 127 128. Mark he did approve of all that God required and disallowed of all that he forbad Righteous are thou O Lord and upright are thy judgments Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful Thy word is true from the beginning and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever Psal. 119. 86. 160. 102 163. See how readily and fully he â—ubcribes he declares his assent and consent to it and all and every thing therein contained 2. The desire of the heart is to know
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 Ioh. 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 mitigation 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. 5. 10. Rev. 20. 12. as a prisoners others debts will but they will to judgement 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 thot these will make with thee Oh 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 then do when they shall altogether lay it in against thee Hold open the eyes of conscience to consider this that thou maist 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 raginglusts 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 fuell 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 burning they are but laying in powder and bullets and adding to the pile of Tophet and flinging 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 is thy case such is thy work Every stroke is a thrust at thine heart 1 Tim. 6. 10. Conscience indeed is now asleep but when death and judgment shall bring thee to thy senses then thou wilt feel the raging smart and anguish of every wound The convinced sinner is a sensible instance of the miserable bondage of sin Conscience flies upon him and tells him what the end of these things will beâ— and yet such a slave is he to his lusts that on he must though he see it will be his endless perdition and when the temptation comes lust gets the bit in his mouth breaks all the cords of his vows and promises and carries him head-long to his own destruction VI. The furnace of eternal Vengeance is heated ready for thee Esay 30. 33. Hell and destruction open their mouths upon thee they gape for thee they groan for thee Esay 5. 14. waiting as it were with a greedy eye as thou standest upon the brink when thou wilt drop in If the wrath of a man may be as the roaring of a Lion Prov. 19. 12. more heavy than the sand Prov. 27. 3. What is the wrath of the infinite God If the burning furnace heated in Nebuchadnezars fiery rage when he commanded it to be made yet seven times hotter were so fierce as to burn up even those that drew near it to throw the three children in Dan. 3. 19 22. How hot is that burning oven of the Almighty's fury Mal. 4. 1. Surely this is seventy times seven more fierce What thinkest thou O man of being a faggot in hell to all eternity Can thine heart endure or can thine hands be strong in the day that I shall deal with thee saith the Lord of hosts Ezek. 22. 14. Canst thou dwell with everlasting burnings Canst thou abide the consuming fire Esay 33. 4. When thou shalt be as a glowing Iron in hell and thy whole body and soul shall be as perfectly possessed by Gods burning vengeance as the fiery sparkling iron when heated in the fiercest forge Thou canst not bear Gods whip how then wilt thou endure his scorpions Thou art even crushed and ready to wish thy self dead under the weight of his finger how then wilt thou bear the Weight of his loyns The most patient man that ever was did curse the day that ever he was born Iob 3. 1. and even woo death to come and end his misery Iob 7. 15 16. when God did but let out one little drop of his wrath How then wilt thou endure when God shall pour out all his vials and set himself against thee to torment thee when he shall make thy conscience the tunnel by which he will be pouring his burning wrath into thy soul for ever and when he shall fill all thy powers as full of torment as they be now full of sin When immortality shall be thy misery and to die the death of a bruit and be swallowed into the gulf of annihilation shall be such a felicity as a whole eternity of wishes and an Ocean of tears shall never purchase Now thou canst put off the evil day and canst laugh and be merry and forget the terrour of the Lord 2 Cor 5. 11. but how wilt thou hold out or hold up when God shall cast thee into a bed of torments Rev. 2. 22. and make thee to lie down in sorrows Esay 50. 11. When roarings and blasphemy shalt be thine only musick and the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the Cup of his indignation shall be thine only drink Rev. 14. 10. When thou shalt draw in flames for thy breath and the horrid stench of sulphur shall be thine only perfume In a word when the smoak of thy torment shall ascend for ever and ever and thou shalt have no rest night nor day no rest in thy conscience no ease in thy bones but thou shalt be an execration and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach for evermore Ier. 42. 18. O sinner stop here and consider
renew me by the power of his Grace this man is in the likeliest way to win Grace Obj. But God heareth not sinners their prayer is an abomination Ans. Distinguish between sinners 1. There are resolved sinners their prayers God abhors 2 returning sinners these God will come forth to and meet with mercy though yet afar off Luke 15. 20. Though the prayers of the unsanctified cannot have full acceptance yet God hath done much at the request of such as at Ahabs humiliation and Ninevehs fast 1â— Kings 21. 26. Ionah 3. â— 9 10. Surely thou maist go as far as theseâ— though thou hast no Grace and how dost thou know but thou maist speed in thy suit as they did in theirs Yea is he not far more likely to Grant thee than them since thou askest in the name of Christ and that not for temporal blessings as they but for things much more pleasing to him viz. for Christ Grace Pardon that thou maist be justified sanctified renewed and fitted to serve him Turn to those soul incouraging Scriptures Prov. 2. 1. to 6. Luke 11. 9 10 11 12 13. Prov. 8. 34 35. Is it not good comfort that he calleth thee Mark 10. 49. Doth he set thee on the use of means and dost thou think he will mock thee Doubtless he will not fail thee if thou be not wanting to thy self O pray and faint not Luke 18. 1. A person of great Quality having offended the Duke of Buckingham the King 's great Favourite being admitted into her presence after long waiting prostrates himself at his feet saying I am resolved never to â—isâ— more till I have obtained your Grace's favour with which carriage he did overcome him With such a resolution do thou throw thy self at thee feet of God 'T is for thy life and therefore follow him and give not over Resolve thou wilt not be put off with bones with common mercies What though God do not presently open to thee Is not grace worth the waiting for Knock and wait and no doubt but sooner or later mercy will come And this know that thou hast the very same encouragement to seek and wait that the Saints now in glory once had for they were once in thy very case And have they sped so well and wilt thou not go to the same door and wait upon God in the same course Dir. XV. Forsake thy evil company Prov. 9. 6. and forbear the occasions of sin Prov. 23. 31. Thou wilt never be turned from sin till thou wilt decline and forgoe the temptations to sin I never expect thy Conversion from sin unless thou art brought to some self-denial as to fly the occasions If thou wilt be nibling at the bait and playing on the brink and tampering and medling with the share thy soul will surely be taken Where God doth expose men in his providence unavovidably to temptations and the occasions are such as we cannot remove we may expect special assistance in the use of his means But when we tempt God by running into danger he will not engage to support us when we are tempted And of all temptation one of the most fatal and perniclous is evil company Oh what hopeful beginnings have these often stisled 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 sevenfold more the child of Hell In one word I have no hopes of thee except thou wilt snake off thy evil company Christ speaketh to thee as to them in another case If thou seek me then let these go their way Iob. 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 thy way Num. 22. 33. Let this sentence be written in Capitals upon thy conscience A COMPANION OF FOOLS SHALL BE DESTROYED Pro. 13. 20. The Lord hath spoken it and who shall reverse it And wilt thou run upon destruction when God himself doth forwarn 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 cast in thy lot among us Walk not thou in the way with them reâ—rain 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 lay 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 aâ—e like to perish both they and their houses by this wretched mischeif even the haunting of such places and company whereby they 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! flie them as you would those that had the Plague sores running in their foreheads 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 ruine Dir. XVI Lastly Set apart a day to humble thy soul in secret by fasting and prayer and 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 joyn thy self solemnly to the Lord in that Covenant set down in the 9. 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 mâ—ke what excuse wilt thou have if thou shoulâ—â—st 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 last 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
of the world uppermost in our aims love and estimations Ioh. 2. 15. Iam. 4. 4. With the sound convert Christ hath the supremacy How dear is this name to him How precious is its savour Cant. 1. 3. Psal. 45. 8. The name of Jesus is engraven upon his heart Gal. 4. 19. and lies as a bundle of mirth between his breasts Cant. 1. 13. 14. Honour is but air and laughter is but madness and Mammon is fallen like Dagon before the Ark with hands and head broken off on the threshold when once Christ is savingly revealed Here is the pearl of great price to the true Convert here is his treasure here is his hope Mat. 13. 44. 45. This is his glory My beloved is mine and I am his Gal. 6. 14. Cant. 2. 16. O 't is sweeter to him to be able to say Christ is mine than if he could say the Kingdom is mine the Indies are mine Fourthly your own Righteousness Before conversion man seeks to cover himself with his own sig-leaves Phil. 3. 6 7. and to lick himself whole with his own duties Mic. 6. 6 7. He is apt to trust in himself Luk. 16. 15. and 18. 9. and set his own righteousness and to reckon his Counters for Gold and not submit to the righteousness of God Rom. 10. 3. But Conversion changes his mind now he casts away his filthy rags and counts his own righteousness but a menstruous cloth he casts it off as a man would the verminous tatters of a nasty beggar Esay 64. 6. Now he is brought to poverty of spirit Mat. 5. 3. complains of and condemns himself Rom. 7. and all his inventory is poor and miserable and wretched and blind and naked Rev. 3. 17. he sees a world of iniquity in his holy things calls his once idolized righteousness but flesh and loss and dogs-meat and would not for a thousand worlds be found in himself Phil. 3. 4 7 8 9. His finger is ever upon his sores Psal. 51. 3. his sins his wants Now he begins to set a high price upon Christs righteousness he sees the need of a Christ in every duty to justifie his person and justifie his performances he cannot live without him he cannot pray without him Christ must go with him or else he cannot come into the presence of God he leans upon the hand of Christ and so he bows himself in the house of his God He sets himself down for a lost undone man without him His life is hid in Christ as the life of a man in the heart He is fixed in Christ as the roots of the tree spread in the earth for stability and nutriment 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 amantisbenignis Caris c. quando te videbo quando satiabor de pulcritudine 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 Vltimate or Subordinate and Mediate The Vltimate 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 O Lord Psal. 1. 9. 57. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord Psal. 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 my strength and my refuge is in God Psal. 62. 1 2 5 6 7. Psal. 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 mightest 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 further wade into the divine excellencies the store of his mercies the hiding of his power the deeps unfathomable of his All-sufficiency Doth this suit 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 Ioh. 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 saies the soul Lord whither should I go Thou hast the words of eternal life Ioh. 6. 68. Here he centers here he settles Oh 't is as the entrance of Heaven to him to see his interest in God When he discovers this he saith Returne unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Psal. 116. 7. and it is even ready to breath out Simeons 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 aud all his desire 2 Sam. 23. 5. Man is this thy case Hast thou experienced this Why then blessed art thou