The Holy Spirit convincing the World of Sin,
Righteousness, and Judgment.
JOHN xvi. 8.
_And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment._
THESE words contain part of a gracious promise, which the blessed JESUS
was pleased to make to his weeping and sorrowful disciples. The time
was now drawing near, in which the Son of man was first to be lifted
up on the cross, and afterwards to heaven. Kind, wondrous kind! had
this merciful High-priest been to his disciples, during the time of
his tabernacling amongst them. He had compassion on their infirmities,
answered for them when assaulted by their enemies, and set them right
when out of the way, either in principle or practice. He neither called
nor used them as servants, but as friends; and he revealed his secrets
to them from time to time. He opened their understandings, that they
might understand the scriptures; explained to them the hidden mysteries
of the kingdom of GOD, when he spoke to others in parables: nay, he
became the servant of them all, and even condescended to wash their
feet. The thoughts of parting with so dear and loving a Master as this,
especially for a long season, must needs affect them much. When on a
certain occasion he intended to be absent from them only for a night,
we are told, he was obliged to constrain them to leave him; no wonder
then, that when he now informed them he must entirely go away, and that
the Pharisees in his absence should put them out of their synagogues,
and excommunicate them; yea, that the time should come, that whosoever
killed them, would think they did GOD service (a prophecy, one would
imagine, in an especial manner designed for the suffering ministers of
this generation); no wonder, I say, considering all this, that we are
told, verse 6. Sorrow had filled their hearts: “Because I have said
these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your hearts.” The expression
is very emphatical; their hearts were so full of concern, that they
were ready to burst. In order, therefore, to reconcile them to this
mournful dispensation, our dear and compassionate Redeemer shews them
the necessity he lay under to leave them; “Nevertheless I tell you the
truth; it is expedient for you that I go away:” As though he had said,
Think not, my dear disciples, that I leave you out of anger: no, it is
for your sakes, for your profit, that I go away: for if I go not away,
if I die not upon the cross for your sins, and rise again for your
justification, and ascend into heaven to make intercession, and plead
my merits before my Father’s throne; the Comforter, the Holy Ghost,
will not, cannot come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto
you. And that they might know what he was to do, “When he is come, he
will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”
The person referred to in the words of the text, is plainly the
Comforter, the Holy Ghost; and the promise was first made to our LORD’s
apostles. But though it was primarily made to them, and was literally
and remarkably fulfilled at the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost
came down as a mighty rushing wind, and also when three thousand were
pricked to the heart by _Peter_’s preaching; yet, as the Apostles were
the representatives of the whole body of believers, we must infer, that
this promise must be looked upon as spoken to us, and to our children,
and to as many as the LORD our GOD shall call.
My design from these words, is to shew the manner in which the Holy
Ghost generally works upon the hearts of those, who, through grace, are
made vessels of mercy, and translated from the kingdom of darkness into
the kingdom of GOD’s dear Son.
I say, _generally_: For, as GOD is a sovereign agent, his sacred Spirit
bloweth not only on whom, but when and how it listeth. Therefore, far
be it from me to confine the Almighty to one way of acting, or say,
that all undergo an equal degree of conviction: no, there is a holy
variety in GOD’s methods of calling home his elect. But this we may
affirm assuredly, that, wherever there is a work of true conviction and
conversion wrought upon a sinner’s heart, the Holy Ghost, whether by a
greater or less degree of inward soul-trouble, does that which our LORD
JESUS told the disciples, in the words of the text, that he should do
when he came.
If any of you ridicule inward religion, or think there is no such thing
as our feeling or receiving the Holy Ghost, I fear my preaching will be
quite foolishness to you, and that you will understand me no more than
if I spoke to you in an unknown tongue. But as the promise in the text,
is made to the world, and as I know it will be fulfilling till time
shall be no more, I shall proceed to explain the general way whereby
the Holy Ghost works upon every converted sinner’s heart; and I hope
that the LORD, even whilst I am speaking, will be pleased to fulfil it
in many of your hearts. “And when he is come, he will reprove the world
of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.”
The word, which we translate _reprove_, ought to be rendred _convince_;
and in the original it implies a conviction by way of argumentation,
and coming with a power upon the mind equal to a demonstration. A great
many scoffers of these last days, will ask such as they term pretenders
to the Spirit, how they feel the Spirit, and how they know the Spirit?
They might as well ask, how they know, and how they feel the sun when
it shines upon the body? For with equal power and demonstration does
the Spirit of GOD work upon and convince the soul. And,
_First_, It convinces of sin; and generally of some enormous sin, the
worst perhaps the convicted person ever was guilty of. Thus, when our
LORD was conversing with the woman of _Samaria_, he convinced her first
of her adultery: “Woman, go call thy husband. The woman answered, and
said, I have no husband. JESUS said unto her, Thou hast well said, I
have no husband: for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now
hast, is not thy husband: in this saidst thou truly.” With this there
went such a powerful conviction of all her other actual sins, that
soon after, “she left her waterpot, and went her way into the city,
and saith to the men, Come, and see a man that told me all things that
ever I did: is not this the CHRIST?” Thus our LORD also dealt with
the persecutor _Saul_: he convinced him first of the horrid sin of
persecution; “_Saul_, _Saul_, why persecutest thou me?” Such a sense
of all his other sins, probably at the same time revived in his mind,
that immediately he died; that is, died to all his false confidences,
and was thrown into such an agony of soul, that he continued three
days, and neither did eat nor drink. This is the method the Spirit of
GOD generally takes in dealing with sinners; he first convinces them
of some heinous actual sin, and at the same time brings all their other
sins into ♦remembrance, and as it were sets them in battle-array before
them: “When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin.”
♦ “remembrace” replaced with “remembrance”
And was it ever thus with you, my dear hearers? (For I must question
you as I go along, because I intend, by the Divine help, to preach not
only to your heads, but your hearts). Did the Spirit of GOD ever bring
all your sins thus to remembrance, and make you cry out to GOD, “Thou
writest bitter things against me?” Did your actual sins ever appear
before you, as though drawn in a map? If not, you have great reason
(unless you were sanctified from the womb) to suspect that you are not
convicted, much more not converted, and that the promise of the text
was never yet fulfilled in your hearts.
Farther: When the Comforter comes into a sinner’s heart, though it
generally convinces the sinner of his actual sin first, yet it leads
him to see and bewail his original sin, the fountain from which all
these polluted streams do flow.
Though every thing in the earth, air, and water; every thing both
without and within, concur to prove the truth of that assertion in
the scripture, “in _Adam_ we all have died;” yet most are so hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin, that notwithstanding they may give an
assent to the truth of the proposition in their heads, yet they never
felt it really in their hearts. Nay, some in words professedly deny it,
though their works too, too plainly prove them to be degenerate sons of
a degenerate father. But when the Comforter, the Spirit of GOD, arrests
a sinner, and convinces him of sin, all carnal reasoning against
original corruption, every proud and high imagination, which exalteth
itself against that doctrine, is immediately thrown down; and he is
made to cry out, “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
He now finds that concupiscence is sin; and does not so much bewail
his actual sins, as the inward perverseness of his heart, which he now
finds not only to be an enemy to, but also direct enmity against GOD.
And did the Comforter, my dear friends, ever come with such a
convincing power as this into your hearts? Were you ever made to see
and feel, that in your flesh dwelleth no good thing; that you are
conceived and born in sin; that you are by nature children of wrath;
that GOD would be just if he damned you, though you never committed
an actual sin in your lives? So often as you have been at church and
sacrament, did you ever feelingly confess, that there was no health in
you; that the remembrance of your original and actual sins was grievous
unto you, and the burden of them intolerable? If not, you have been
only offering to GOD vain oblations; you never yet prayed in your lives;
the Comforter never yet came effectually into your souls: consequently
you are not in the faith properly so called; no, you are at present in
a state of death and damnation.
Again, the Comforter, when he comes effectually to work upon a sinner,
not only convinces him of the sin of his nature, and the sin of his
life, but also of the sin of his duties.
We all naturally are Legalists, thinking to be justified by the works
of the law. When somewhat awakened by the terrors of the LORD, we
immediately, like the Pharisees of old, go about to establish our
own righteousness, and think we shall find acceptance with GOD, if we
seek it with tears: finding ourselves damned by nature and our actual
sins, we then think to recommend ourselves to GOD by our duties, and
hope, by our doings of one kind or another, to inherit eternal life.
But, whenever the Comforter comes into the heart, it convinces the
soul of these false rests, and makes the sinner to see that all his
righteousnesses are but as filthy rags; and that, for the most pompous
services, he deserves no better a doom than that of the unprofitable
servant, “to be thrown into outer darkness, where is weeping, and
wailing, and gnashing of teeth.”
And was this degree of conviction ever wrought in any of your souls?
Did the Comforter ever come into your hearts, so as to make you sick
of your duties, as well as your sins? Were you ever, with the great
Apostle of the _Gentiles_, made to abhor your own righteousness which
is by the law, and acknowledge that you deserve to be damned, though
you should give all your goods to feed the poor? Were you made to feel,
that your very repentance needed to be repented of, and that every
thing in yourselves is but dung and dross? And that all the arguments
you can fetch for mercy, must be out of the heart and pure unmerited
love of GOD? Were you ever made to lye at the feet of sovereign Grace,
and to say, LORD, if thou wilt, thou mayest save me; if not, thou
mayest justly damn me; I have nothing to plead, I can in no wise
justify myself in thy sight; my best performances, I see, will condemn
me; and all I have to depend upon is thy free grace? What say you? Was
this ever, or is this now, the habitual language of your hearts? You
have been frequently at the temple; but did you ever approach it in the
temper of the poor Publican, and, after you have done all, acknowledge
that you have done nothing; and, upon a feeling experimental sense of
your own unworthiness and sinfulness every way, smite upon your breasts,
and say, “GOD be merciful to us sinners?” If you never were thus minded,
the Comforter never yet effectually came into your souls, you are out
of CHRIST; and if GOD should require your souls in that condition, he
would be no better to you than a consuming fire.
But there is a fourth sin, of which the Comforter, when he comes,
convinces the soul, and which alone (it is very remarkable) our LORD
mentions, as though it was the only sin worth mentioning; for indeed it
is the root of all other sins whatsoever: it is the reigning as well as
the damning sin of the world. And what now do you imagine that sin may
be? It is that cursed sin, that root of all other evils, I mean the sin
of _unbelief_. Says our LORD, verse 9. “Of sin, because they believe
not on me.”
But does the christian world, or any of you that hear me this day,
want the Holy Ghost to convince you of unbelief? Are there any infidels
here? Yes, (O that I had not too great reason to think so!) I fear most
are such: not indeed such infidels as professedly deny the LORD that
bought us (though I fear too many even of such monsters are in every
country); but I mean such unbelievers, that have no more faith in
CHRIST than the devils themselves. Perhaps you may think you believe,
because you repeat the Creed, or subscribe to a Confession of Faith;
because you go to church or meeting, receive the sacrament, and are
taken into full communion. These are blessed privileges; but all this
may be done, without our being true believers. And I know not how to
detect your false hypocritical faith better, than by putting to you
this question: How long have you believed? Would not most of you say,
as long as we can remember; we never did disbelieve? Then this is a
certain sign that you have no true faith at all; no, not so much as
a grain of mustard-seed: for, if you believe now, (unless you were
sanctified from your infancy, which is the case of some) you must know
that there was a time in which you did not believe on the LORD JESUS
CHRIST; and the Holy Ghost, if ever you received it, convinced you of
this. Eternal truth has declared, “When he is come, he will convince
the world of sin, because they believe not on me.”
None of us believe by nature: but after the Holy Ghost has convinced
us of the sin of our natures, and the sin of our lives and duties,
in order to convince us of our utter inability to save ourselves, and
that we must be beholden to GOD, as for every thing else, so for faith
(without which it is impossible to please, or be saved by CHRIST) he
convinces us also, that we have no faith. “Dost thou believe on the
Son of GOD?” is the grand question which the Holy Ghost now puts to the
soul: at the same time he works with such power and demonstration, that
the soul sees, and is obliged to confess, that it has no faith.
This is a thing little thought of by most who call themselves believers.
They dream they are christians, because they live in a christian
country: If they were born _Turks_, they would believe on _Mahomet_;
for what is that which men commonly call faith, but an outward consent
to the established religion? But do not you thus deceive your own
selves; true faith is quite another thing. Ask yourselves, therefore,
whether or not the Holy Ghost ever powerfully convinced you of the sin
of unbelief? You are perhaps so devout (you may imagine) as to get a
catalogue of sins; which you look over, and confess in a formal manner,
as often as you go to the holy sacrament: but among all your sins, did
you ever once confess and bewail that damning sin of unbelief? Were you
ever made to cry out, “LORD, give me faith; LORD, give me to believe
on thee; O that I had faith! O that I could believe!” If you never were
thus distressed, at least, if you never saw and felt that you had no
faith, it is a certain sign that the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, never
came into and worked savingly upon your souls.
But is it not odd, that the Holy Ghost should be called a Comforter,
when it is plain, by the experience of all GOD’s children, that this
work of conviction is usually attended with sore inward conflicts,
and a great deal of soul-trouble? I answer, The Holy Ghost may well
be termed a Comforter, even in this work; because it is the only way
to, and ends in, true solid comfort. Blessed are they that are thus
convicted by him, for they shall be comforted. Nay, not only so, but
there is present comfort, even in the midst of these convictions: the
soul secretly rejoices in the sight of its own misery, blesses GOD
for bringing it out of darkness into light, and looks forward with a
comfortable prospect of future deliverances, knowing, that, “though
sorrow may endure for a night, joy will come in the morning.”
Thus it is that the Holy Ghost convinces the soul of sin. And, if so,
how wretchedly are they mistaken, that blend the light of the Spirit
with the light of conscience, as all such do, who say, that CHRIST
lighteth every man that cometh into the world, and that light, if
improved, will bring us to JESUS CHRIST? If such doctrine be true, the
promise in the text was needless: our LORD’s apostles had already that
light; the world hereafter to be convinced, had that light; and, if
that was sufficient to bring them to CHRIST, why was it expedient that
CHRIST should go away to heaven, to send down the Holy Ghost to do this
for them! Alas! all have not this Spirit: it is the special gift of GOD,
and, without this special gift, we can never come to CHRIST.
The light of conscience will accuse or convince us of any common sin;
but the light of natural conscience never did, never will, and never
can, convince of unbelief. If it could, how comes it to pass, that
not one of the heathens, who improved the light of nature in such an
eminent degree, was ever convinced of unbelief? No, natural conscience
cannot effect this; it is the peculiar property of the Holy Ghost the
Comforter: “When he is come, he will reprove (or convince) the world of
sin, of righteousness, and judgment.”
We have heard how he convinces of sin: we come now to shew,
_Secondly_, What is the righteousness, of which the Comforter convinces
the world.
By the word _righteousness_, in some places of scripture, we are to
understand that common justice which we ought to practise between
man and man; as when _Paul_ is said to reason of temperance and
righteousness before a trembling _Felix_. But here (as in a multitude
of other places in holy writ) we are to understand by the word
righteousness, the active and passive obedience of the dear LORD JESUS;
even that perfect, personal, all-sufficient righteousness, which he
has wrought out for that world which the Spirit is to convince. “Of
righteousness, (says our LORD) because I go to the Father, and ye see
me no more.” This is one argument that the Holy Spirit makes use of to
prove CHRIST’s righteousness, because he is gone to the Father, and we
see him no more. For, had he not wrought out a sufficient righteousness,
the Father would have sent him back, as not having done what he
undertook; and we should have seen him again.
O the righteousness of CHRIST! It so comforts my soul, that I must be
excused if I mention it in almost all my discourses. I would not, if I
could help it, have one sermon without it. Whatever infidels may object,
or _Arminians_ sophistically argue against an _imputed righteousness_;
yet whoever know themselves and GOD, must acknowledge, that
“JESUS CHRIST is the end of the law for righteousness, (and perfect
justification in the sight of GOD) to every one that believeth,” and
that we are to be made the righteousness of GOD in him. This, and this
only, a poor sinner can lay hold of, as a sure anchor of his hope.
Whatever other scheme of salvation men may lay, I acknowledge I can see
no other foundation whereon to build my hopes of salvation, but on the
rock of CHRIST’s personal righteousness, imputed to my soul.
Many, I believe, have a rational conviction of, and agree with me in
this: but rational convictions, if rested in, avail but little; it must
be a spiritual, experimental conviction of the truth, which is saving.
And therefore our LORD says, when the Holy Ghost comes in the day
of his power, it convinces of this righteousness, of the reality,
compleatness, and sufficiency of it, to save a poor sinner.
We have seen how the Holy Ghost convinces the sinner of the sin of his
nature, life, duties, and of the sin of unbelief; and what then must
the poor creature do? He must, he must inevitably despair, if there be
no hope but in himself. When therefore the Spirit has hunted the sinner
out of all his false rests and hiding-places, taken out the pitiful
fig-leaves of his own works, and driven him out of the trees of the
garden (his outward reformations) and placed him naked before the bar
of a sovereign, holy, just, and sin-avenging GOD; then, then it is,
when the soul, having the sentence of death within itself because of
unbelief, has a sweet display of CHRIST’s righteousness made to it by
the Holy Spirit of GOD. Here it is, that he begins more immediately to
act in the quality of a Comforter, and convinces the soul so powerfully
of the reality and all-sufficiency of CHRIST’s righteousness, that the
soul is immediately set a hungering and thirsting after it. Now the
sinner begins to see, that though he has destroyed himself, yet in
CHRIST is his help; that, though he has no righteousness of his own
to recommend him, there is a fulness of grace, a fulness of truth, a
fulness of righteousness in the dear LORD JESUS, which, if once imputed
to him, will make him happy for ever and ever.
None can tell, but those happy souls who have experienced it, with what
demonstration of the Spirit this conviction comes. O how amiable, as
well as all-sufficient, does the blessed JESUS now appear! With what
new eyes does the soul now see the LORD its righteousness! Brethren,
it is unutterable. If you were never thus convinced of CHRIST’s
righteousness in your own souls, though you may believe it doctrinally,
it will avail you nothing, if the Comforter never came savingly into
your souls, then you are comfortless indeed. But
What will this righteousness avail, if the soul has it not in
possession?
_Thirdly_, The next thing therefore the Comforter, when he comes,
convinces the soul of, is judgment.
By the word _judgment_, I understand that well-grounded peace, that
settled judgment, which the soul forms of itself, when it is enabled
by the Spirit of GOD to lay hold on CHRIST’s righteousness, which I
believe it always does, when convinced in the matter before-mentioned.
“Of judgment (says our LORD) because the Prince of this world is
judged;” the soul, being enabled to lay hold on CHRIST’s perfect
righteousness by a lively faith, has a conviction wrought in it by the
Holy Spirit, that the Prince of this world is judged. The soul being
now justified by faith, has peace with GOD through our LORD JESUS
CHRIST, and can triumphantly say, It is CHRIST that justifies me, who
is he that condemns me? The strong man armed is now cast out; my soul
is in a true peace; the Prince of this world will come and accuse, but
he has now no share in me: the blessed Spirit which I have received,
and whereby I am enabled to apply CHRIST’s righteousness to my poor
soul, powerfully convinces me of this: why should I fear? or of what
shall I be afraid, since GOD’s Spirit witnesses with my spirit, that
I am a child of GOD? The LORD is ascended up on high; he has led
captivity captive; he has received the Holy Ghost the Comforter, that
best of gifts for men: and that Comforter is come into my heart: he
is faithful that hath promised: I, even I, am powerfully, rationally,
spiritually convicted of sin, righteousness and judgment. By this I
know the Prince of this world is judged.
Thus, I say, may we suppose that soul to triumph, in which the promise
of the text is happily fulfilled. And though, at the beginning of
this discourse, I said, most had never experienced any thing of this,
and that therefore this preaching must be foolishness to such; yet I
doubt not but there are some few happy souls, who, through grace, have
been enabled to follow me step by step; and notwithstanding the Holy
Ghost might not directly work in the same order as I have described,
and perhaps they cannot exactly say the time when, yet they have a
well-grounded confidence that the work is done, and that they have
really been convinced of sin, righteousness and judgment in some way,
or at some time or another.
And now, what shall I say to you? O thank GOD, thank the LORD JESUS,
thank the ever-blessed Trinity, for this unspeakable gift: for you
would never have been thus highly favoured, had not he who first
spoke darkness into light, loved you with an everlasting love, and
enlightened you by his Holy Spirit, and that too, not on account of
any good thing foreseen in you, but for his own name’s sake.
Be humble therefore, O believers, be humble: look to the rock from
whence you have been hewn: extol free grace; admire electing love,
which alone has made you to differ from the rest of your brethren. Has
GOD brought you into light? Walk as becometh children of light. Provoke
not the Holy Spirit to depart from you: for though he hath sealed you
to the day of redemption, and you know that the Prince of this world is
judged; yet if you backslide, grow luke-warm, or forget your first love,
the LORD will visit your offences with the rod of affliction, and your
sin with spiritual scourges. Be not therefore high-minded, but fear.
Rejoice, but let it be with trembling. As the elect of GOD, put on,
not only humbleness of mind, but bowels of compassion; and pray, O pray
for your unconverted brethren! Help me, help me now, O children of GOD,
and hold up my hands, as _Aaron_ and _Hur_ once held up the hands of
_Moses_. Pray, whilst I am preaching, that the LORD may enable me to
say, This day is the promise in the text fulfilled in some poor sinners
hearts. Cry mightily to GOD, and, with the cords of holy violence,
pull down blessings on your neighbours heads. CHRIST yet lives and
reigns in heaven: the residue of the Spirit is yet in his hand, and a
plentiful effusion of it is promised in the latter days of the church.
And O that the Holy Ghost, the blessed Comforter, would now come
down, and convince those that are Christless amongst you, of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment! O that you were once made willing to
be convinced!
But perhaps you had rather be filled with wine than with the Spirit,
and are daily chasing that Holy Ghost from your souls. What shall I
say for you to GOD? “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
do.” What shall I say from GOD to you? Why? That “GOD was in CHRIST
reconciling the world unto himself:” Therefore I beseech you, as in
CHRIST’s stead, be ye reconciled to GOD. Do not go away contradicting
and blaspheming. I know _Satan_ would have you be gone. Many of you may
be uneasy, and are ready to cry out, “What a weariness is this!” But I
will not let you go: I have wrestled with GOD for my hearers in private,
and I must wrestle with you here in public. Though of myself I can
do nothing, and you can no more by your own power come to and believe
on CHRIST, than _Lazarus_ could come forth from the grave; yet who
knows but GOD may beget some of you again to a lively hope by this
foolishness of preaching, and that you may be some of that world, which
the Comforter is to convince of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment?
Poor Christless souls! do you know what a condition you are in? Why,
you are lying in the wicked one, the devil; he rules in you, he walks
and dwells in you, unless you dwell in CHRIST, and the Comforter is
come into your hearts. And will you contentedly lie in that wicked one
the devil? What wages will he give you? Eternal death. O that you would
come to CHRIST! The free gift of GOD through him is eternal life. He
will accept of you even now, if you will believe in him. The Comforter
may yet come into your hearts, even yours. All that are now his living
temples, were once lying in the wicked one, as well as you. This
blessed gift, this Holy Ghost, the blessed JESUS received even for the
rebellious.
I see many of you affected: but are your passions only a little wrought
upon, or are your souls really touched with a lively sense of the
heinousness of your sins, your want of faith, and the preciousness
of the righteousness of JESUS CHRIST? If so, I hope the LORD has been
gracious, and that the Comforter is coming into your hearts. Do not
stifle these convictions! Do not go away, and straightway forget what
manner of doctrine you have heard, and thereby shew that these are
only common workings of a few transient convictions, floating upon
the surface of your hearts. Beg of GOD that you may be sincere (for he
alone can make you so) and that you may indeed desire the promise of
the text to be fulfilled in your souls. Who knows but the LORD may be
gracious? Remember you have no plea but sovereign mercy; but, for your
encouragement also, remember it is the world, such as you are, to whom
the Comforter is to come, and whom he is to convince: wait therefore at
wisdom’s gates. The bare probability of having a door of mercy opened,
is enough to keep you striving. CHRIST JESUS came into the world to
save sinners, the chief of them: you know not but he came to save you.
Do not go and quarrel with GOD’s decrees, and say, if I am a reprobate,
I shall be damned; if I am elected, I shall be saved; and therefore I
will do nothing. What have you to do with GOD’s decrees? Secret things
belong ♦to him; it is your business to “give all diligence to make your
calling and election sure.” If there are but few who find the way that
leads to life, do you strive to be some of them: you know not but you
may be in the number of those few, and that your striving may be the
means which GOD intends to bless, to give you an entrance in. If you
do not act thus, you are not sincere; and, if you do, who knows but you
may find mercy? For though, after you have done all that you can, GOD
may justly cut you off, yet never was a single person damned who did
all that he could. Though therefore your hands are withered, stretch
them out; though you are impotent, sick, and lame, come, lie at the
pool. Who knows but by and by the LORD JESUS may have compassion on you,
and send the Comforter to convince you of sin, righteousness, and of
judgment? He is a GOD full of compassion and long-suffering, otherwise
you and I had been long since lifting up our eyes in torments. But
still he is patient with us!
♦ duplicate word “to” removed
O Christless sinners, you are alive, and who knows but GOD intends
to bring you to repentance? Could my prayers or tears effect it, you
should have vollies of the one, and floods of the other. My heart is
touched with a sense of your condition: May our merciful High-priest
now send down the Comforter, and make you sensible of it also! O
the love of CHRIST! It constrains me yet to beseech you to come
to him; what do you reject, if you reject CHRIST, the LORD of glory!
Sinners, give the dear Redeemer a lodging in your souls. Do not be
_Bethshemites_; give CHRIST your hearts, your whole hearts. Indeed he
is worthy. He made you, and not you yourselves. You are not your own;
give CHRIST then your bodies and souls, which are his! Is it not enough
to melt you down, to think that the high and lofty One, who inhabiteth
eternity, should condescend to invite you by his ministers? How soon
can he frown you to hell? And how know you, but he may, this very
instant, if you do not hear his voice? Did any yet harden their hearts
against CHRIST, and prosper? Come then, do not send me sorrowful away:
do not let me have reason to cry out, O my leanness, my leanness! Do
not let me go weeping into my closet, and say, “LORD, they will not
believe my report; LORD, I have called them, and they will not answer;
I am unto them as a very pleasant song, and as one that plays upon
a pleasant instrument; but their hearts are running after the lust
of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.” Would you
be willing that I should give such an account of you, or make such a
prayer before GOD? And yet I must not only do so here, but appear in
judgment against you hereafter, unless you will come to CHRIST. Once
more therefore I intreat you to come. What objections have you to make?
Behold, I stand here in the name of GOD, to answer all that you can
offer. But I know no one can come, unless the Father draw him: I will
therefore address me to my GOD, and intercede with him to send the
Comforter into your hearts.
O blessed JESUS, who art a GOD whose compassions fail not, and in
whom all the promises are yea and amen; thou that sittest between the
cherubims, shew thyself amongst us. Let us now see thy outgoings! O
let us now taste that thou art gracious, and reveal thy almighty arm!
Get thyself the victory in these poor sinners hearts. Let not the word
spoken prove like water spilt upon the ground. Send down, send down,
O great High-priest, the Holy Spirit, to convince the world of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment. So will we give thanks and praise
to thee, O Father, thee O Son, and thee O blessed Spirit; to whom, as
three Persons, but one GOD, be ascribed by angels and archangels, by
cherubims and seraphims, and all the heavenly hosts, all possible power,
might, majesty, and dominion, now and for evermore. Amen, Amen, Amen.