Chap. 3. "return. against his being tempted to Delay. 31 "Thou shouldst cut me off in this critical and import"ant Moment, before my Thoughts grow to any Ripe66 ness; and blast in eternal Death, the first Buddings "and Openings of it in my Mind. But Ob spare me, "I earnestly intreat Thee; for Thy Mercies' Sake, spare 66 me a little longer! It may be through Thy Grace, I shall It may be, if Thou continuest Thy Patience towards me a little longer, there may be some better "Fruit produced by this Cumberer of the Ground (n). "And may the Remembrance of that long Forbearance, "which Thou hast already exercised towards me, pre"vent my continuing to trifle with Thee, and with 66 my own Soul! From this Day, O LORD, from this "Hour, from this Moment, may I be able to date 66 more lasting Impressions of Religion, than have ever yet been made upon my Heart by all that I have ever read, or all that I have heard! Amen.". 32 The Sinner charged with Guilt, Chap. 4. CHAP. IV. The Sinner arraigned and convicted. Conviction of Guilt necessary. §. 1. A Charge of Rebellion against GOD advanced. §. 2. Where it is shewn, (1.) That all Men are born unto GOD's Law. §. 3. (2.) That no Man hath perfectly kept it. §. 4. An Appeal to the Reader's Conscience on this Head, that he hath not. §. 5. (3.) That to have broken it, is an Evil inexpressibly great. §. 6. Illustrated by a more particular View of the Aggravations of this Guilt, arising, [1.] From Knowledge. §. 7. [2.] From Divine Favours received. §. 8. [3.] From Convictions of Conscience overborne. §. 9.[4.] From the Strivings of GOD's Spirit resisted. §. 10. [5.] From Vows and Resolutions broken. §. 11. The Charge summed up, and left upon the Sinner's Conscience. §. 12. The Sinner's Confession under a general Conviction of Guilt. §. 1. AS I am attempting to lead you to true Reli gion, and not merely to some superficial Form of it, I am sensible I can do it no otherwise, than in the Way of deep Humiliation. And therefore, supposing you are persuaded, through the Divine Blessing on what you have before read, to take it into Consideration, I would now endeavour, in the first Place, with all the Seriousness I can, to make you heartily sensible of your Guilt before GOD. For I well know, that unless you are convinced of this, and affected with the Conviction, all the Provisions of Gospel Grace will be slighted, and your Soul infallibly destroyed, in the Midst of the noblest Means appointed for its Recovery. I am fully persuaded that Thousands live and die in a Course of Sin, without feeling Chap..4. as having broken the Law of GOD. 33 feeling upon their Hearts any Sense that they are Sin. ners; though they cannot for Shame, but own it in Words. And therefore let me deal faithfully with you, though I may seem to deal roughly for Complaisance is not to give Law to Addresses in which the Life of your Soul is concerned. §. 2. Permit me, therefore, O Sinner, to consider myself at this Time, as an Advocate for GOD: as one employed in His Name, to plead against thee, and to charge thee with nothing less, than being a Rebel, and a Traitor, against the Sovereign Majesty of Heaven and Earth. However thou mayest be dignified or distinguished among Men; if the noblest Blood run in thy Veins; if thy Seat were among Princes, and thine Arm were the Terror of the Mighty in the Land of the Living (a); it would be necessary, thou shouldest be told, and told plainly, Thou hast broken the Law of the King of Kings, and by the Breach of it art become obnoxious to His righteous Condemnation. §. 3. Your Conscience tells you, that you were born the natural Subject of Gop; born under the indispensi ble Obligations of His Law. For it is most apparent, that the Constitution of your Rational Nature, which makes you capable of receiving Law from GOD, binds you to obey it. And it is equally evident and certain, that you have not exactly obeyed this Law; nay, that you have violated it in many aggravated Instances, §. 4. Will you dare deny this? Will you dare to as, sert your Innocence? Remember it must be a complete Innocence: Yes, and a perfect Righteousness too; or it can stand you in no stead, farther than to prove, that, though a condemned Sinner, you are not quite so crimi nal as some others, and will not have quite so hot a Place in Hell as they. And when this is considered, will you plead Not Guilty to the Charge; Search the Records of your own Conscience; for GoD searcheth them; Ask it seriously; "Have you never in your Life sinned "against Go?" Solomon declared, that in his Day there was not a just Man upon Earth, who did Good, and sinned not (b): And the Apostle Paul, that all had sinned, and come short of the Glory of GOD (c); that both (a) Ezek, xxxii, 27. (b) Eccles, vii, 20, (c) Rom. iii, 23. 34 The many Instances of his transgressing it. Chap. 4. both Jews and Gentiles, (which you know, comprehended the whole Human Race,) were all under Sin (d). And can you pretend any imaginable Reason, to believe the World is grown so much better since their Days, that any should now plead their own Case as an Exception? Or will you, however, presume to arise in the Face of the Omniscient Majesty of Heaven, and say, I am the Man? §. 5. Supposing, as before, you have been free from those gross Acts of Immorality, which are so pernicious to Society, that they have generally been punishable by Human Laws; can you pretend, that you have not, in smaller Instances, violated the Rules of Piety, of Temperance, and of Charity? Is there any one Person, who has intimately known you, that would not be able to testify, you had said, or done something amiss? Or if others could not convict you, would not your own Heart do it? Does it not prove you guilty of Pride, of Passion, of Sensuality; of an excessive Fondness for the World, and its Enjoyments? of murmuring, or at least of secretly repining, against GoD, under the Strokes of his afflicting Providence; of misspending a great deal of your Time; of abusing the Gifts of God's Bounty, to vain, if not (in some Instances) to pernicious Purposes; of mocking Him, when you have pretended to engage in his Worship, drawing near to Him with your Mouth, and your Lips, while your Heart has been far from Him (e) ? Does not Conscience condemn you of some one Breach of the Law at least? And by one Breach of it, you are in a Sense, a scriptural Sense, become guilty of all (f); and are as incapable of being justified before GOD by any Obedience of your own, as if you had committed Ten Thousand Offences. But, in Reality, there are Ten Thousand, and more, chargeable to your a account. When you come to reflect on all your Sins of Negli gence, as well as on those of Commission; on all the Instances, in which you have failed to do Good, when it was in the Power of your Hand to do it (g); on all the Instances, in which Acts of Devotion have been omit ted, especially in secret; and on all those Cases in which you (f) Jam, ii. 10. (d) Rom, iit, 9. (e) Isai. xxix. 13. Chap. 4. The great Evil of offending GOD. 35 you have shewn a stupid Disregard to the Honour of Gon, and to the Temporal and Eternal Happiness of your Fellow-Creatures: When all these, I say, are reviewed, the Number will swell beyond all Possibility of Account, and force you to cry out, Mine Iniquities are more than the Hairs of my Head (h). They will appear in such a Light before you, that your own Heart will charge you with countless Multitudes; and how much more then that GOD who is greater than your Heart, and knoweth all Things (i). §. 6. And say, Sinner, Is it a little Thing, that you have presumed to set light by the Authority of the Gop of Heaven, and to violate His Law, if it had been by mere Carelessness and Inattention? How much more hei nous, therefore, is the Guilt, when in so many Instances you have done it knowingly and wilfully? Give me Leave seriously to ask you, and let me intreat you to ask your own Soul, Against whom hast thou magnified thy self? Against whom hast thou exalted thy Voice (k), or lifted up thy rebellious Hand? on whose Law, Oh Sinner, hast thou presumed to trample? and whose Friendship, and whose Enmity hast thou thereby dared to affront? Is it a Man like thyself, that thou has insulted? Is it only a Temporal Monarch? Only one, who can kill thy Body, and then hath no more that he can do (1) ? Nay, Sinner, thou wouldst not have dared to treat a Temporal Prince, as thou has treated the King Eternal, Immortal, and Invisible (m). No Price could haye hired thee, to deal by the Majesty of an Earthly Sovereign, as thou hast dealt by that GOD, before whom the Cherubim and Seraphim are continually bowing: Not one opposing or complaining, disputing or murmuring Word is heard among all the Celestial Legions, when the Intimations of His Will are published to them. And who art thou, Oh wretched Man? who art thou, that thou shouldst oppose and provoke a GOD of infinite Power and Terror, who needs but exert one single Act of His Sovereign Will, and thou art in a Moment stripped of every Possession; cut off from every Hope; destroyed and rooted up from Existence, (h) Psal. xl. 12. (i) John iii. 20. (k) 2 Kings xix, 22. (1) Luke xii. 4. (m) 1 Tim. i. 17. |