III. I shall give you some reasons, why repentance is necessary
to salvation. And
IV. Exhort all of you, high and low, rich and poor, one with
another, to endeavour after repentance.
I. Repentance, my brethren, in the first place, as to its nature, is
the carnal and corrupt disposition of men being changed into a renewed
and sanctified disposition. A man that has truly repented, is truly
regenerated: it is a different word for one and the same thing; the
motley mixture of the beast and devil is gone; there is, as it were,
a new creation wrought in your hearts. If your repentance is true, you
are renewed throughout, both in soul and body; your understandings are
enlightened with the knowledge of GOD, and of the LORD JESUS CHRIST;
and your wills, which were stubborn, obstinate, and hated all good, are
obedient and conformable to the will of GOD. Indeed, our deists tell
us, that man now has a free will to do good, to love GOD, and to repent
when he will; but indeed, there is no free will in any of you, but to
sin; nay, your free-will leads you so far, that you would, if possible,
pull GOD from his throne. This may, perhaps, offend the Pharisees; but
(it is the truth in CHRIST which I speak, I lie not) every man by his
own natural will hates GOD; but when he is turned unto the LORD, by
evangelical repentance, then his will is changed; then your consciences,
now hardened and benumbed, shall be quickened and awakened; then
your hard hearts shall be melted, and your unruly affections shall be
crucified. Thus, by that repentance, the whole soul will be changed,
you will have new inclinations, new desires, and new habits.
You may see how vile we are by nature, that it requires so great
a change to be made upon us, to recover us from this state of sin,
and therefore the consideration of our dreadful state should make
us earnest with GOD to change our condition, and that change, true
repentance implies; therefore, my brethren, consider how hateful your
ways are to GOD, while you continue in sin; how abominable you are unto
him, while you run into evil: you cannot be said to be christians while
you are hating CHRIST, and his people; true repentance will entirely
change you, the biass of your souls will be changed, then you will
delight in GOD, in CHRIST, in his law, and in his people; you will then
believe that there is such a thing as inward feeling, though now you
may esteem it madness and enthusiasm; you will not then be ashamed of
becoming fools for CHRIST’s sake; you will not regard being scoffed at;
it is not then their pointing after you and crying, “Here comes another
troop of his followers,” will dismay you; no, your soul will abhor
such proceedings, the ways of CHRIST and his people will be your whole
delight.
It is the nature of such repentance to make a change, and the greatest
change as can be made here in the soul. Thus you see what repentance
implies in its own nature; it denotes an abhorrence of all evil, and a
forsaking of it. I shall now proceed
_Secondly_, To shew you the parts of it, and the causes concurring
thereto.
The parts are, sorrow, hatred, and an entire forsaking of sin.
Our sorrow and grief for sin, must not spring merely from a fear
of wrath; for if we have no other ground but that, it proceeds from
self-love, and not from any love to GOD; and if love to GOD is not the
chief motive of your repentance, your repentance is in vain, and not
to be esteemed true.
Many, in our days, think their crying, GOD forgive me! or, LORD have
mercy upon me! or, I am sorry for it! is repentance, and that GOD
will esteem it as such; but, indeed, they are mistaken; it is not the
drawing near to GOD with our lips, while our hearts are far from him,
which he regards. Repentance does not come by fits and starts; no, it
is one continued act of our lives; for as we daily commit sin, so we
need a daily repentance before GOD, to obtain forgiveness for those
sins we commit.
It is not your confessing yourselves to be sinners, it is not knowing
your condition to be sad and deplorable, so long as you continue
in your sins; your care and endeavours should be, to get the heart
thoroughly affected therewith, that you may feel yourselves to be lost
and undone creatures, for CHRIST came to save such as are lost; and if
you are enabled to groan under the weight and burden of your sins, then
CHRIST will ease you and give you rest.
And till you are thus sensible of your misery and lost condition, you
are a servant to sin and to your lusts, under the bondage and command
of Satan, doing his drudgery: thou art under the curse of GOD, and
liable to his judgment. Consider how dreadful thy state will be at
death, and after the day of judgment, when thou wilt be exposed to such
miseries which the ear hath not heard, neither can the heart conceive,
and that to all eternity, if you die impenitent.
But I hope better things of you, my brethren, though I thus speak, and
things which accompany salvation; go to GOD in prayer, and be earnest
with him, that by his Spirit he would convince you of your miserable
condition by nature, and make you truly sensible thereof. O be humbled,
be humbled, I beseech you, for your sins. Having spent so many years in
sinning, what canst thou do less, than be concerned to spend some hours
in mourning and sorrowing for the same, and be humbled before GOD.
Look back into your lives, call to mind thy sins, as many as possible
thou canst, the sins of thy youth, as well as of thy riper years; see
how you have departed from a gracious Father, and wandered in the way
of wickedness, in which you have lost yourselves, the favour of GOD,
the comforts of his Spirit, and the peace of your own consciences; then
go and beg pardon of the LORD, through the blood of the Lamb, for the
evil thou hast committed, and for the good thou hast omitted. Consider,
likewise, the heinousness of thy sins; see what very aggravating
circumstances thy sins are attended with, how you have abused the
patience of GOD, which should have led you to repentance; and when thou
findest thy heart hard, beg of GOD to soften it, cry mightily unto him,
and he will take away thy stony heart, and give thee a heart of flesh.
Resolve to leave all thy sinful lusts and pleasures; renounce, forsake,
and abhor thy old sinful course of life, and serve GOD in holiness and
righteousness all the remaining part of life. If you lament and bewail
past sins, and do not forsake them, your repentance is in vain, you are
mocking of GOD, and deceiving your own soul; you must put off the old
man with his deeds, before you can put on the new man, CHRIST JESUS.
You, therefore, who have been swearers and cursers, you, who have been
harlots and drunkards, you, who have been thieves and robbers, you, who
have hitherto followed the sinful pleasures and diversions of life, let
me beseech you, by the mercies of GOD in CHRIST JESUS, that you would
no longer continue therein, but that you would forsake your evil ways,
and turn unto the LORD, for he waiteth to be gracious unto you, he is
ready, he is willing to pardon you of all your sins; but do not expect
CHRIST to pardon you of sin, when you run into it, and will not abstain
from complying with the temptations; but if you will be persuaded to
abstain from evil and chuse the good, to return unto the LORD, and
repent of your wickedness, he hath promised he will abundantly pardon
you, he will heal your back-slidings, and will love you freely. Resolve
now this day to have done with your sins for ever; let your old ways
and you be separated; you must resolve against it, for there can be
no true repentance without a resolution to forsake it. Resolve for
CHRIST, resolve against the devil and his works, and go on fighting
the LORD’s battles against the devil and his emissaries; attack him in
the strongest holds he has, fight him as men, as christians, and you
will soon find him to be a coward; resist him and he will fly from you.
Resolve, through grace, to do this, and your repentance is half done;
but then take care that you do not ground your resolutions on your own
strength, but in the strength of the LORD JESUS CHRIST; he is the way,
he is the truth, and he is the life; without his assistance you can do
nothing, but through his grace strengthening thee, thou wilt be enabled
do all things; and the more thou art sensible of thy own weakness and
inability, the more ready CHRIST will be to help thee; and what can all
the men of the world do to thee when CHRIST is for thee? thou wilt not
regard what they say against thee, for you will have the testimony of a
good conscience.
Resolve to cast thyself at the feet of CHRIST in subjection to him, and
throw thyself into the arms of CHRIST for salvation by him. Consider,
my dear brethren, the many invitations he has given you to come unto
him, to be saved by him; “GOD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
O let me prevail with you, above all things, to make choice of the LORD
JESUS CHRIST; resign yourselves unto him, take him, O take him, upon
his own terms, and whosoever thou art, how great a sinner soever you
have been, this evening, in the name of the great GOD, do I offer JESUS
CHRIST unto thee; as thou valuest thy life and soul refuse him not,
but stir up thyself to accept of the LORD JESUS, take him wholly as he
is, for he will be applied wholly unto you, or else not at all. JESUS
CHRIST must be your whole wisdom, JESUS CHRIST must be your whole
righteousness, JESUS CHRIST must be your whole sanctification, or he
will never be your eternal redemption.
What though you have been ever so wicked and profligate, yet, if you
will now abandon your sins, and turn unto the LORD JESUS CHRIST, thou
shalt have him given to thee, and all thy sins shall be freely forgiven.
O why will you neglect the great work of your repentance? do not defer
the doing of it one day longer, but to-day, even now, take that CHRIST
who is freely offered to you.
Now as to the _causes_ hereof, the first cause is GOD; he is the author,
“we are born of GOD,” GOD hath begotten us, even GOD, the Father of
our LORD JESUS CHRIST; it is he that stirs us up to will and to do of
his own good pleasure: and another cause is, GOD’s free grace; it is
owing to the “riches of his free grace,” my brethren, that we have
been prevented from going down to hell long ago; it is because the
compassions of the LORD fail not, they are new every morning, and fresh
every evening.
Sometimes the instruments are very unlikely: a poor despised minister,
or member of JESUS CHRIST, may, by the power of GOD, be made an
instrument in the hands of GOD, of bringing you to true evangelical
repentance; and this may be done to shew, that the power is not in men,
but that it is entirely owing to the good pleasure of GOD; and if there
has been any good done among many of you, by preaching the word, as
I trust there has, though it was preached in a field, if GOD has met
and owned us, and blessed his word, though preached by an enthusiastic
babbler, a boy, a madman; I do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice, let foes
say what they will. I shall now
_Thirdly_, Shew the reasons why repentance is necessary to salvation.
And this, my brethren, is plainly revealed to us in the word of GOD,
“The soul that does not repent and turn unto the LORD, shall die in
its sins, and their blood shall be required at their own heads.” It is
necessary, as we have sinned, we should repent; for a holy GOD could
not, nor ever can, or will, admit any thing that is unholy into his
presence: this is the beginning of grace in the soul; there must be a
change in heart and life, before there can be a dwelling with a holy
GOD. You cannot love sin and GOD too, you cannot love GOD and mammon;
no unclean person can stand in the presence of GOD, it is contrary to
the holiness of his nature; there is a contrariety between the holy
nature of GOD, and the unholy nature of carnal and unregenerate men.
What communication can there be between a sinless GOD, and creatures
full of sin, between a pure GOD and impure creatures? If you were to
be admitted into heaven with your present tempers, in your impenitent
condition, heaven itself would be a hell to you; the songs of angels
would be as enthusiasm, and would be intolerable to you; therefore you
must have these tempers changed, you must be holy, as GOD is: he must
be your GOD here, and you must be his people, or you will never dwell
together to all eternity. If you hate the ways of GOD, and cannot spend
an hour in his service, how will you think to be easy, to all eternity,
in singing praises to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb
for ever.
And this is to be the employment, my brethren, of all those who are
admitted into this glorious place, where neither sin nor sinner is
admitted, where no scoffer ever can come, without repentance from his
evil ways, a turning unto GOD, and a cleaving unto him: this must be
done, before any can be admitted into the glorious mansions of GOD,
which are prepared for all that love the LORD JESUS CHRIST in sincerity
and truth: repent ye then of all your sins. O my dear brethren, it
makes my blood run cold, in thinking that any of you should not be
admitted into the glorious mansions above. O that it was in my power, I
would place all of you, yea, you my scoffing brethren, and the greatest
enemy I have on earth, at the right-hand of JESUS; but this I cannot
do: however, I advise and exhort you, with all love and tenderness, to
make JESUS your refuge; fly to him for relief; JESUS died to save such
as you; he is full of compassion; and if you go to him, as poor, lost,
undone sinners, JESUS will give you his spirit; you shall live and
reign, and reign and live, you shall love and live, and live and love
with this JESUS to all eternity.
I am, _Fourthly_, to exhort all of you, high and low, rich and poor,
one with another, to repent of all your sins, and turn unto the LORD.
And I shall speak to each of you; for you have either repented, or you
have not, you are believers in CHRIST JESUS, or unbelievers.
And first, you who never have truly repented of your sins, and never
have truly forsaken your lusts, be not offended if I speak plain to
you; for it is love, love to your souls, that constrains me to speak:
I shall lay before you your danger, and the misery to which you are
exposed, while you remain impenitent in sin. And O that this may be a
means of making you fly to CHRIST for pardon and forgiveness.
While thy sins are not repented of, thou art in danger of death, and if
you should die, you would perish for ever. There is no hope of any who
live and die in their sins, but that they will dwell with devils and
damned spirits to all eternity. And how do we know we shall live much
longer: we are not sure of seeing our own habitations this night in
safety. What mean ye then being at ease and pleasure while your sins
are not pardoned. As sure as ever the word of GOD is true, if you die
in that condition, you are shut out of all hope and mercy for ever, and
shall pass into easeless and endless misery.
What is all thy pleasures and diversions worth? They last but for a
moment, they are of no worth, and but of short continuance. And sure it
must be gross folly, eagerly to pursue those sinful lusts and pleasures,
which war against the soul, which tend to harden the heart, and keep us
from closing with the LORD JESUS; indeed, these are destructive of our
peace here, and without repentance, will be of our peace hereafter.
O the folly and madness of this sensual world; sure if there were
nothing in sin but present slavery, it would keep an ingenuous spirit
from it. But to do the devils drudgery! and if we do that, we shall
have his wages, which is eternal death and condemnation; O consider
this, my guilty brethren, you that think it no crime to swear, whore,
drink, or scoff and jeer at the people of GOD; consider how your voices
will then be changed, and you that counted their lives madness, and
their end without honour, shall howl and lament at your own madness
and folly, that should bring you to so much woe and distress. Then you
will lament and bemoan your own dreadful condition; but it will be of
no signification: for he that is now your merciful Saviour, will then
become your inexorable Judge. Now he is easy to be entreated; but then,
all your tears and prayers will be in vain: for GOD hath allotted to
every man a day of grace, a time of repentance, which if he doth not
improve, but neglects and despises the means which are offered to him,
he cannot be saved.
Consider, therefore, while you are going on in a course of sin
and unrighteousness, I beseech you, my brethren, to think of the
consequence that will attend your thus mispending your precious time;
your souls are worth being concerned about: for if you can enjoy all
the pleasures and diversions of life, at death you must leave them;
that will put an end to all your worldly concerns. And will it not
be very deplorable, to have your good things here, all your earthly,
sensual, devilish pleasures, which you have been so much taken up with,
all over: and the thought for how trifling a concern thou hast lost
eternal welfare, will gnaw thy very soul.
Thy wealth and grandeur will stand in no stead; thou canst carry
nothing of it into the other world: then the consideration of thy
uncharitableness to the poor, and the ways thou didst take to obtain
thy wealth, will be a very hell unto thee.
Now you enjoy the means of grace, as the preaching of his word, prayer,
and sacraments; and GOD has sent his ministers out into the fields and
highways, to invite, to woo you to come in; but they are tiresome to
thee, thou hadst rather be at thy pleasures: ere long, my brethren,
they will be over, and you will be no more troubled with them; but then
thou wouldst give ten thousand worlds for one moment of that merciful
time of grace which thou hast abused; then you will cry for a drop of
that precious blood which now you trample under your feet; then you
will wish for one more offer of mercy, for CHRIST and his free grace
to be offered to you again; but your crying will be in vain: for as you
would not repent here, GOD will not give you an opportunity to repent
hereafter: if you would not in CHRIST’s time, you shall not in your
own. In what a dreadful condition will you then be? What horror and
astonishment will possess your souls? Then all thy lies and oaths,
thy scoffs and jeers at the people of GOD, all thy filthy and unclean
thoughts and actions, thy mispent time in balls, plays, and assemblies,
thy spending whole evenings at cards, dice, and masquerades, thy
frequenting of taverns and alehouses, thy worldliness, covetousness,
and thy uncharitableness, will be brought at once to thy remembrance,
and at once charged upon thy guilty soul. And how can you bear the
thoughts of these things? Indeed I am full of compassion towards you,
to think that this should be the portion of any who now hear me. These
are truths, though awful ones; my brethren, these are the truths of
the gospel; and if there was not a necessity for thus speaking, I would
willingly forbear: for it is no pleasing subject to me, any more than
it is to you; but it is my duty to shew you the dreadful consequences
of continuing in sin. I am only now acting the part of a skilful
surgeon, that searches a wound before he heals it: I would shew you
your danger first, that deliverance may be the more readily accepted by
you.
Consider, that however you may be for putting the evil day away from
you, and are now striving to hide your sins, at the day of judgment
there shall be a full discovery of all; hidden things on that day shall
be brought to light; and after all thy sins have been revealed to the
whole world, then you must depart into everlasting fire in hell, which
will not be quenched night and day; it will be without intermission,
without end. O then, what stupidity and senselessness hath possessed
your hearts, that you are not frighted from your sins. The fear of
_Nebuchadnezzar_’s fiery furnace, made men do any thing to avoid it;
and shall not an everlasting fire make men, make you, do any thing to
avoid it?
O that this would awaken and cause you to humble yourselves for your
sins, and to beg pardon for them, that you might find mercy in the LORD.
Do not go away, let not the devil hurry you away before the sermon is
over; but stay, and you shall have a JESUS offered to you, who has made
full satisfaction for all your sins.
Let me beseech you to cast away your transgressions, to strive against
sin, to watch against it, and to beg power and strength from CHRIST,
to keep down the power of those lusts that hurry you on in your sinful
ways.
But if you will not do any of these things, if you are resolved to
sin on, you must expect eternal death to be the consequence; you
must expect to be seized with horror and trembling, with horror and
amazement, to hear the dreadful sentence of condemnation pronounced
against you: and then you will run and call upon the mountains to fall
on you, to hide you from the LORD, and from the fierce anger of his
wrath.
Had you now a heart to turn from your sins unto the living GOD, by
true and unfeigned repentance, and to pray unto him for mercy, in and
through the merits of JESUS CHRIST, there were hope; but at the day of
judgment, thy prayers and tears will be of no signification; they will
be of no service to thee, the Judge will not be entreated by thee: as
you would not hearken to him when he called unto thee, but despised
both him and his ministers, and would not leave your iniquities;
therefore, on that day he will not be entreated, notwithstanding all
thy cries and tears; for GOD himself hath said, “Because I have called,
and you refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded, but
ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would have none of my reproof;
I will also laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh as
desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress
and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will
not answer, they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.”
Now you may call this enthusiasm and madness; but at that great day, if
you repent not of your sins here, you will find, by woeful experience,
that your own ways were madness indeed; but GOD forbid it should be
left undone till then: seek after the LORD while he is to be found;
call upon him while he is near, and you shall find mercy: repent this
hour, and CHRIST will joyfully receive you.
What say you? Must I go to my Master, and tell him you will not come
unto him, and will have none of his counsels? No; do not send me on so
unhappy an errand: I cannot, I will not tell him any such thing. Shall
not I rather tell him, you are willing to repent and to be converted,
to become new men, and take up a new course of life: this is the only
wise resolution you can make. Let me tell my Master, that you will come
unto, and will wait upon him: for if you do not, it will be your ruin
in time, and to eternity.
You will at death wish you had lived the life of the righteous, that
you might have died his death. Be advised then; consider what is before
you, CHRIST and the world, holiness and sin, life and death: choose
now for yourselves; let your choice be made immediately, and let that
choice be your dying choice.
If you would not chuse to die in your sins, to die drunkards, to die
adulterers, to die swearers and scoffers, &c. live not out this night
in the dreadful condition you are in. Some of you, it may be, may say,
You have not power, you have no strength: but have not you been wanting
to yourselves in such things that were within your power? Have you not
as much power to go to hear a sermon, as to go into a playhouse, or to
a ball, or masquerade? You have as much power to read the Bible, as to
read plays, novels, and romances; and you can associate as well with
the godly, as with the wicked and prophane: this is but an idle excuse,
my brethren, to go on in your sins: and if you will be found in the
means of grace, CHRIST hath promised he will give you strength. While
_Peter_ was preaching, the Holy Ghost fell on all that heard the word:
how then should you be found in the way of your duty? JESUS CHRIST will
then give thee strength; he will put his Spirit within thee; thou shalt
find he will be thy wisdom, thy righteousness, thy sanctification, and
thy redemption. Do but try what a gracious, a kind, and loving Master
he is; he will be a help to thee in all thy burdens: and if the burden
of sin is on thy soul, go to him as weary and heavy laden, and thou
shalt find rest.
Do not say, that your sins are too many and too great to expect to
find mercy: No; be they ever so many, or ever so great, the blood of
the LORD JESUS CHRIST will cleanse you from all sins. GOD’s grace, my
brethren, is free, rich, and sovereign. _Manassah_ was a great sinner,
and yet he was pardoned; _Zaccheus_ was gone far from GOD, and went
out to see CHRIST, with no other view but to satisfy his curiosity;
and yet JESUS met him, and brought salvation to his house. _Manassah_
was an idolater and murderer, yet he received mercy; the other was an
oppressor and extortioner, who had gotten riches by fraud and deceit,
and by grinding the faces of the poor: so did _Matthew_ too, and yet
they found mercy.
Have you been blasphemers and persecutors of the saints and servants
of GOD? So was St. _Paul_, yet he received mercy: Have you been common
harlots, filthy and unclean persons? so was _Mary Magdalene_, and yet
she received mercy: Hast thou been a thief? the thief upon the cross
found mercy. I despair of none of you, however vile and profligate you
have been; I say, I despair of none of you, especially when GOD has had
mercy on such a wretch as I am.
Remember the poor Publican, how he found favour with GOD, when
the proud, self-conceited Pharisee, who, puffed up with his own
righteousness, was rejected. And if you will go to JESUS, as the
poor Publican did, under a sense of your own unworthiness, you shall
find favour as he did: there is virtue enough in the blood of JESUS,
to pardon greater sinners than he has yet pardoned. Then be not
discouraged, but come unto JESUS, and you will find him ready to help
in all thy distresses, to lead thee into all truth, to bring thee from
darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto GOD.
Do not let the devil deceive you, by telling you, that then all your
delights and pleasures will be over: No; this is so far from depriving
you of all pleasure, that it is an inlet unto unspeakable delights,
peculiar to all who are truly regenerated. The new birth is the very
beginning of a life of peace and comfort; and the greatest pleasantness
is to be found in the ways of holiness.
_Solomon_, who had experience of all other pleasures, yet saith of
the ways of godliness, “That all her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are paths of peace.” Then sure you will not let the
devil deceive you; it is all he wants, it is that he aims at, to make
religion appear to be melancholy, miserable, and enthusiastic: but
let him say what he will, give not ear to him, regard him not, for he
always was and will be a liar.
What words, what entreaties shall I use, to make you come unto the
LORD JESUS CHRIST? The little love I have experienced since I have been
brought from sin to GOD, is so great, that I would not be in a natural
state for ten thousand worlds; and what I have felt is but little to
what I hope to feel; but that little love which I have experienced,
is a sufficient buoy against all the storms and tempests of this
boisterous world: and let men and devils do their worst, I rejoice in
the LORD JESUS, yea, and I will rejoice.
And O if you repent and come to JESUS, I would rejoice on your accounts
too; and we should rejoice together to all eternity, when once passed
on the other side of the grave. O come to JESUS. The arms of JESUS
CHRIST will embrace you; he will wash away all your sins in his blood,
and will love you freely.
Come, I beseech you to come unto JESUS CHRIST. O that my words would
pierce to the very soul! O that JESUS CHRIST was formed in you! O that
you would turn to the LORD JESUS CHRIST, that he might have mercy upon
you!
I would speak till midnight, yea, I would speak till I could speak no
more, so it might be a means to bring you to JESUS: let the LORD JESUS
but enter your souls, and you shall find peace which the world can
neither give nor take away. There is mercy for the greatest sinner
amongst you; go unto the LORD as sinners, helpless and undone without
it, and then you shall find comfort in your souls, and be admitted at
last amongst those who sing praises unto the LORD to all eternity.
Now, my brethren; let me speak a word of exhortation to those of you,
who are already brought to the LORD JESUS, who are born again, who
do belong to GOD, to whom it has been given to repent of your sins,
and are cleansed from their guilt; and that is, be thankful to GOD
for his mercies towards you. O admire the grace of GOD, and bless his
name for ever! Are you made alive in CHRIST JESUS? Is the life of GOD
begun in your souls, and have you the evidence thereof? Be thankful
for this unspeakable mercy to you: never forget to speak of his mercy.
And as your life was formerly devoted to sin, and to the pleasures
of the world, let it now be spent wholly in the ways of GOD; and O
embrace every opportunity of doing and of receiving good. Whatsoever
opportunity you have, do it vigorously, do it speedily, do not defer
it. If thou seest one hurrying on to destruction, use the utmost of
thy endeavour to stop him in his course; shew him the need he has of
repentance, and that without it he is lost for ever; do not regard
his despising of you; still go on to shew him his danger: and if thy
friends mock and despise, do not let that discourage you; hold on, hold
out to the end, so you shall have a crown which is immutable, and that
fadeth not away.
Let the love of JESUS to you, keep you also humble; do not be high
minded, keep close unto the LORD, observe the rules which the LORD
JESUS CHRIST has given in his word, and let not the instructions be
lost which you are capable of giving. O consider what reason you have
to be thankful to the LORD JESUS CHRIST for giving you that repentance
you yourselves had need of: a repentance which worketh by love. Now
you find more pleasure in walking with GOD one hour, than in all your
former carnal delights, and all the pleasures of sin. O! the joy you
feel in your own souls, which all the men of this world, and all the
devils in hell, though they were to combine together, could not destroy.
Then fear not their wrath or malice, for through many tribulations we
must enter into glory.
A few days, or weeks, or years more, and then you will be beyond their
reach, you will be in the heavenly _Jerusalem_; there is all harmony
and love, there is all joy and delight; there the weary soul is at rest.
Now we have many enemies, but at death they are all lost; they cannot
follow us beyond the grave: and this is a great encouragement to us not
to regard the scoffs and jeers of the men of this world.
O let the love of JESUS be in your thoughts continually. It was his
dying that brought you life; it was his crucifixion that paid the
satisfaction for your sins; his death, burial, and resurrection that
compleated the work; and he is now in heaven, interceding for you
at the right-hand of his Father. And can you do too much for the
LORD JESUS CHRIST, who has done so much for you? His love to you
is unfathomable. O the height, the depth, the length and breadth of
this love, that brought the King of glory from his throne, to die
for such rebels as we are, when we had acted so unkindly against him,
and deserved nothing but eternal damnation. He came down and took our
nature upon him; he was made of flesh and dwelt among us; he was put
to death on our account; he paid our ransom: surely this should make us
love the LORD JESUS CHRIST; should make us rejoice in him, and not do
as too many do, and as we ourselves have too often, crucify this JESUS
afresh. Let us do all we can, my dear brethren, to honour him.
Come, all of you, come, and behold him stretched out for you; see his
hands and feet nailed to the cross. O come, come, my brethren, and
nail your sins thereto; come, come and see his side pierced; there is a
fountain open for sin, and for uncleanness: O wash, wash and be clean:
come and see his head crowned with thorns, and all for you. Can you
think of a panting, bleeding, dying JESUS, and not be filled with pity
towards him? He underwent all this for you. Come unto him by faith; lay
hold on him: there is mercy for every soul of you that will come unto
him. Then do not delay; fly unto the arms of this JESUS, and you shall
be made clean in his blood.
O what shall I say unto you to make you come to JESUS: I have shewed
you the dreadful consequence of not repenting of your sins: and if
after all I have said, you are resolved to persist, your blood will be
required at your own heads; but I hope better things of you, and things
that accompany salvation. Let me beg of you to pray in good earnest for
the grace of repentance. I may never see your faces again; but at the
day of judgment I will meet you: there you will either bless GOD that
ever you were moved to repentance; or else this sermon, though in a
field, will be as a swift witness against you. Repent, repent therefore,
my dear brethren, as _John the Baptist_, and as our blessed Redeemer
himself earnestly exhorted, and turn from your evil ways, and the LORD
will have mercy on you.
Shew them, O Father, wherein they have offended thee; make them to
see their own vileness, and that they are lost and undone without
true repentance; and O give them that repentance, we beseech of thee,
that they may turn from sin unto thee the living and true GOD. These
things, and whatever else thou seest needful for us, we entreat that
thou wouldst bestow upon us, on account of what the dear JESUS CHRIST
has done and suffered; to whom, with Thyself, and holy Spirit, three
persons, and one GOD, be ascribed, as is most due, all power, glory,
might, majesty, and dominion, now, henceforth, and for evermore, _Amen._