fury falleth upon thee, and thou shalt feel what thou readest? If, when Daniel's enemies were cast into the den of lions, both they and their wives and their children, the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces, or ever they came at the bottom of the den,' what shall become of thee, when thou fallest into the hands of the living God, when he shall gripe thee in his iron arms, and grind and crush thee into a thousand pieces in his wrath? O do not then contend with God. "Repent and be converted," so none of this shall come upon thee. "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." 2 CHAPTER VI. CONTAINING DIRECTIONS FOR CONVERSION. And there came one, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?—Mark x. 17. BEFORE thou readest these directions I advise thee, yea, I charge thee, before God and his holy angels, that thou resolve to follow them, (as far as conscience shall be convinced of their agreeableness to God's word and thy state,) and call in his assistance and blessing that they may succeed. And, as I have sought the Lord, and consulted his oracles what advice to give thee, so must thou entertain it with that awe, reverence, and 2 Isa. lv. 6, 7, 1 Dan. vi, 24, purpose of obedience, which the word of the living God requires. Now, then, attend: "Set your heart unto all that I shall testify unto you this day; for it is not a vain thing, it is your life."1 This is the end of all that has been spoken hitherto, to bring you to set upon turning, and making use of God's means for your conversion. I would not trouble 66 you, nor torment you before your time," with the sore thoughts of your eternal misery, but in order to your making your escape. Were you shut up under your present misery without remedy, it were but mercy (as one speaks) to let you alone, that you might take in that little poor comfort which you are capable of in this world; but you may yet be happy, if you do not wilfully refuse the means of your recovery. Behold, I hold open the door to you; arise, take your flight; I set the way of life before you; walk in it, and you shall live, and not die.2 It grieves me to think you should be your own murderers, and throw yourselves headlong, when God and man cry out to you, as Peter in another case to his Master, "Spare thyself." The destruction of ungodly men is wilful. God that made them crieth out to them, as Paul to the distracted jailor when about to murder himself, "Do thyself no harm." The ministers of Christ forewarn them, and follow them, and fain would have them back; but alas! no expostulations or entreaties will prevail, but men will hurl themselves into perdition, while pity itself looketh on. What shall I say ? Would it not grieve a person of any humanity, if, in the time of a raging plague, he should have a remedy (as one said well) that would infallibly cure all the country, and recover the most hopeless patients, and yet his friends and neighbours should die by hundreds about him, because they would not use it? Men and brethren, though you carry the certain symptoms of death in your faces, yet I have a receipt that will cure you all infallibly. Follow but 1 Deut, xxxii. 46, 47, 2 Ibid, xxx, 19; Jer. vi, 16, these directions, and, if you do not then reach heaven, I will be content to lose it. Hear, then, O sinner! and, as ever thou wouldst be converted and saved, embrace this following counsel. Direct. I. Set it down with thyself, as an undoubted truth, that it is impossible for thee ever to get to heaven in this thy unconverted state. Can any other but Christ save thee? and he tells thee he will never do it except thou be regenerated and converted.1 Doth he not keep the keys of heaven ? and canst thou go in without his leave? as thou must, if ever thou come thither in thy natural condition, without a sound and thorough renovation. Direct. II. Labour to get a thorough sight, and lively sense and feeling, of thy sins. Till men are weary and heavy laden, and pricked at the heart and quite sick of sin, they will not come unto Christ, in his way, for ease and cure, nor to purpose inquire, "What shall we do? "2 They must set themselves down for dead men, before they will come unto Christ, that they may have life.3 Labour, therefore, to set all thy sins in order before thee; never be afraid to look upon them, but let thy spirit make diligent search.1 Inquire into thine heart, and into thy life; enter into a thorough examination of thyself and all thy ways,5 that thou mayest make a full discovery, and call in the help of God's Spirit, in the sense of thine own inability hereunto, for it is his proper work to convince of sin." Spread all before the face of thy conscience till thy heart and eyes be set weeping. Leave not striving with God and thine own soul, till it cry out, under the sense of thy sins, as the enlightened jailor, "What must I do to be saved? "7 To this purpose, Meditate on the number of thy sins. David's heart failed when he thought of this, and considered that Matt. xviii. 3; John iii. 3. 2 Matt. xi. 28; Acts ii. 37; Matt. ix. 12. 3 John v. 40. 4 Psalm lxxvii. 6. he had more sins than hairs on his head.1 This made him cry out upon the multitude of God's tender mer 2 cies. An unsanctified soul swarms with filthy lusts: - they fill the head, the heart, the eyes, and the mouth of him. Look backward; where was ever the place, what was ever the time, in which thou didst not sin ? Look inward; what part or power canst thou find in soul or body, but it is poisoned with sin? what duty dost thou ever perform, into which this poison is not shed? Oh! how great is the sum of thy debts, who hast been all thy life running upon trust, and never did or canst pay off one penny! Look over the sin of thy nature, and all its cursed brood, the sins of thy life. Call to mind thy omissions and commissions; the sins of thy thoughts, words, and actions; the sins of thy youth, and the sins of thy riper years. Be not like a desperate bankrupt, that is afraid to look over his books. Read the records of conscience carefully. These books must be opened, sooner or later.3 4 Meditate on the aggravations of thy sins, as they are the grand enemies of the God of thy life, and of the life of thy soul: in a word, they are the public enemies of all mankind. How do David, Ezra, Daniel, and the good Levites, aggravate their sins, from the consideration of their rebellion against God, their opposition to his good and righteous laws, and the mercies, and warnings, they were committed against. Oh the work that sin has made in the world! This is the enemy that has brought in death; that has robbed and enslaved man; that has done the work of the devil, and digged hell. This is the enemy that has turned the world upside down, and sown dissension between man and the creatures, betwixt man and man, yea, between man and himself, setting the animal part against the rational, the will against the judgment, lust against conscience; yea, worst of all, between God and man, making the sinner both hateful to God and the hater of 5 1 Psalm xl. 12. 2 Ibid. li. 1. 3 Rev. xx. 12. Ezra ix.; Neh. ix.; Dan. ix. 5 Rom. v. 12; 2 Pet. ii. 4; John viii. 34. himself.1 O man! how canst thou make so light of sin? This is the traitor that thirsted for the blood of the Son of God, that sold him, that mocked him, that scourged him, that spit in his face, that tore his hands, that pierced his side, that pressed his soul, that mangled his body, that never left till he had bound him, condemned him, nailed him, crucified him, and put him to an open shame. This is that deadly poison, so powerful of operation, that one drop of it, shed on the root of mankind, has corrupted, spoiled, poisoned, and ruined his whole race at once.3 This the bloody executioner, that has killed the prophets, burnt the martyrs, murdered all the apostles, all the patriarchs, all the kings and potentates; that has destroyed cities, swallowed empires, butchered and devoured whole nations. Whatever was the weapon it was done by, it was sin that caused the execution. Dost thou yet think it but a small thing? If Adam and all his children could be dug out of their graves, and their bodies piled up to heaven, and an inquest were made, what matchless murderer were guilty of all this blood; it would be all found in sin. Study the nature of sin, till thy heart incline to fear and loathe it; and meditate on the aggravations of thy particular sins, how thou hast sinned against all God's warnings, against thy own prayers, against mercies, against corrections, against clearest light, against freest love, against thine own resolutions, against promises, vows, and covenants, of better obedience, &c. Charge thy heart home with these things, till it blush for shame, and be brought out of all good opinion of itself." 4 Meditate on the desert of sin. It crieth up to Heaven; it calls for vengeance." Its due wages are death and damnation; it draws the curse of God upon the soul and body. The least sinful word or thought lays thee under the infinite wrath of God Almighty. ¡ Zech. xi. 8. 2 Isa. liii. 4-6. 7 3 Rom. v. 18, 19. 5 Ezra ix. 6. 6 Gen. xviii. 21. 7 Gal. iii. 10 ; Deut. xxviii. |