let me be thine habitation; I can give thee only what is thine own already; but here, with the poor widow, I cast my two mites, my soul and my body, into thy treasury, fully resigning them up to thee, to be sanctified by thee, to be servants to thee. They shall be thy patients; cure thou their malady. They shall be thy subjects; govern thou their motions. Too long have I served the world; too long have I hearkened to Satan; but now I renounce them all, and will be ruled by thy dictates and directions, and guided by thy counsel. O blessed Trinity! O glorious Unity! I deliver up myself to thee; receive me; write thy name, O Lord, upon me, and upon all that I have, as thy property; set thy mark upon me, upon every member of my body, and on every faculty of my soul. I have chosen thy precepts; thy law will I keep in mine eye, and study to follow. According to this rule, do I resolve, through thy grace, to walk; after this law shall my whole man be governed; and though I cannot perfectly keep one of thy commandments, yet I will allow myself in the breach of none. I know my flesh will hang back; but I resolve, in the power of thy grace, to cleave to thee and thy holy ways, whatever it costs me. I am sure I cannot come off a loser by thee, and therefore I will be content with reproach, and difficulties, and hardships here; and will "deny myself, and take up my cross, and follow thee." Lord Jesus, thy yoke is easy, thy cross is welcome: as it is the way to thee, I lay aside all hopes of worldly happiness; I will be content to tarry till I come to thee. Let me be poor, and low, and despised here, so I may but be admitted to live and reign with thee hereafter. Lord, thou hast my heart and hand to this agreement: be it as the laws of the Medes and Persians, never to be reversed. To this I will stand; in this resolution, through grace, I will live and die; "I have sworn,' and will perform it, that "I will keep thy righteous judgments;" I have given my free consent; I have made my everlasting choice: Lord Jesus, confirm the contract. Amen. CHAPTER VII. CONTAINING THE MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. THOUGH What is already said of the "necessity of conversion," and of the "miseries of the unconverted," might be sufficient to induce any considerate mind to resolve upon a present turning unto God; yet, knowing what a piece of desperate obstinacy and untractableness the heart of man naturally is, I have thought it necessary to add, to the means of conversion and directions for a covenant-closure with God and Christ, some motives to persuade you hereunto. Lord, fail me not now, at my last attempts. If any soul hath read hitherto, and is yet untouched, now, Lord, fasten on him, and do thy work; now take him by the heart, overcome him, persuade him, till he say, Thou hast prevailed; for thou art stronger than I. Lord, didst not thou make me a fisher of men, and I have toiled all this while, and caught nothing? Alas! that I should have spent my strength for nought! and now I am casting my last; Lord Jesus, stand thou upon the shore, and direct how and where I shall spread my net; and let me so enclose with arguments the souls I seek, that they may not be able to get out. Now, Lord, for a multitude of souls! now for a full draught! O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me this once, O God. But I turn me unto you. Men and brethren, heaven and earth call upon you; yea, hell itself preaches the doctrine of repentance unto you; the ministers of the churches labour for you. The angels of heaven wait for you, for your repenting and turning unto God. O sinner, why Gal, iv. 19. should the devils make merry with thee? why shouldst thou be a morsel for that devouring leviathan? why should harpies and hell-hounds tear thee, and make a feast upon thee, and when they have got thee into the snare, and have fastened their talons in thee, laugh at thy destruction, and deride thy misery, and sport themselves with thy ruinous folly? This will be thy case, except thou turn. And were it not better thou shouldst be a joy to angels, than a laughingstock and sport for devils? Verily, if thou wouldst but come in, the heavenly hosts would take up their anthems and sing, "Glory be to God in the highest ;" the morning-stars would sing together, and all the sons of God shout for joy, and celebrate this new creation as they did the first. Thy repentance would, as it were, make a holiday in heaven, and the glorious spirits would rejoice, in that there is a new brother added to their society; another heir born to the Lord; and the lost son received safe and sound. The true penitent's tears are indeed the wine that maketh glad both God and man. 1 If it be little, that men and angels would rejoice at thy conversion, know thou that God himself would rejoice over thee, even with singing, and rest in his love. Never did Jacob with such joy weep over the neck of his Joseph, as thy heavenly Father would rejoice over thee upon thy coming to him. Look over the story of the prodigal. Methinks I see how the aged father lays aside his state, and forgetteth his years; behold how he runneth! Oh! the haste that mercy makes! the sinner makes not half that speed. Methinks I see how his bowels move, how his compassions yearn. How quick-sighted is love! Mercy spies him a great way off, forgets his riotous courses, unnatural rebellion, horrid unthankfulness, debauched practices, (not a word of these,) but receives him with open arms, clasps about his neck, forgets the filthiness 1 Rev. xxii. 9. 2 Isa lxii. 5; Zeph. iii, 17. 3 Luke xv. 20. of his rags, kisses his lips that deserve to be loathed; the lips that had been joined to harlots', that had been common with the swine; calls for the fatted calf, the best robe, the ring, the shoes, the best cheer in heaven's store, the best attire in heaven's wardrobe.1 Yea, the joy cannot be held in one breast, others must be called to participate; the friends must meet and make merry. Angels must wait, but the prodigal must be set at table, under his father's wing; he is the joy of the feast, he is the sweet object of his father's delight. The friends sympathize, but none knows the felicity the father takes in his new-born son, whom he hath received from the dead. Methinks I hear the music and dancing at a distance. Oh! the melody of the heavenly choristers! I cannot learn the song, but methinks I overhear the burden, at which all the harmonious choir with one consent strike sweetly in; being none other than, "For this my son was dead, and is alive again; was lost and is found."3 I need not farther explain the parable: God is the father; Christ is the provision; his righteousness the robe; his grace the ornaments; ministers, saints, and angels, the friends and servants; and thou that readest (if thou wilt but unfeignedly repent and turn) the welcome. prodigal, the happy instance of this grace, and blessed subject of this joy and love! 2 O rock! O adamant! what! not moved yet! not yet resolved to turn forthwith, and to close with mercy! I will try thee yet once again; if one were sent to thee from the dead wouldst thou be persuaded? Why, hear the voice from the dead, from the damned, crying to thee that thou shouldst repent: "I pray thee that thou wouldst send him to my father's house, (for I have five brethren,) that he may testify to them, lest they also come into this place of torment; if one went to them from the dead, they will repent.' Hear, O man! thy predecessors in impenitence preach to thee from the 1 Luke xv. 6, 9, 20. "4 3 Luke xv. 23, 24, 32. infernal world, from the flames, from the rack, that thou shouldst repent. Oh! look but down into the bottomless pit; seest thou how the smoke of their torment ascendeth for ever and ever!"1 how black are the fiends! how furious are their tormentors! It is their only music to hear how the miserable sufferers roar. What thinkest thou of those chains of darkness, those instruments of cruelty? Canst thou be content to burn? Seest thou how the worm gnaweth, how the oven gloweth, how the fire rageth? What sayest thou to the river of brimstone, that dark and horrible vent, that gulf of perdition? wilt thou take up thine habitation there? Oh! lay thine ear to the door of hell; hearest thou the curses and blasphemies, the weepings and wailings, how they lament their follies, and curse their day? How do they roar, and yell, and gnash their teeth! how deep are their groans! how feeling are their moans! how inconceivable are their miseries! If the shrieks of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, were so terrible, (when the earth clave asunder, and opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and all that appertained to them,) that all Israel fled at the cry of them,3 Oh! how fearful would the cry be, if God should take off the covering from the mouth of hell, and let the cry of the damned ascend in all its terror among the children of men; and of all their moans and miseries, this is the piercing, killing emphasis and burden, "for ever, for ever! 2 Why, as God liveth that made thy soul, thou art but a few hours distant from all this, except thou “repent and be converted." Oh! I am even lost and swallowed up in the abundance of those arguments that I might suggest. If there be any point of wisdom in all the world, it is to repent and come in. If there be anything righteous, anything reasonable, this is it. If there be anything in the world that may be called madness and folly, and 1 Rev. xiv. 11. 2 Matt. xxii. 13; Rev. xvi. 9. 3 Numb, xvi. 33, 34. |