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God. He seeks great things, he hath noble designs, he aims at nothing less than perfection; he desires it, he reaches after it, he would not rest in any pitch of grace till he were quite rid of sin, and had perfected holiness.

A sound convert desires holiness for holiness' sake, and not only for heaven's sake. He would not be satisfied with so much as might save him from hell, but desires the highest pitch; yet desires are not enough. What is thy way and thy course? Is the drift and scope of thy life altered? Is holiness thy trade, and religion thy business? If not, thou art short of sound conversion.

And is this that we have described the conversion that is of absolute necessity to salvation? Then be informed, 1. That strait is the gate, and narrow the way, that leadeth unto life. 2. That there are but few that find it. 3. That there is need of a divine power to convert a sinner to Jesus Christ.

Again, Then be exhorted, O thou that readest, to turn it upon thy own self. What saith conscience? Doth it not twitch thee as thou goest? Is this thy judgment, and is this thy choice, and this thy way, that we have described? If so, 'tis well. But doth not thy heart condemn thee, and tell thee, there is such a sin thou livest in against thy conscience? Doth it not tell thee, there is such and such a secret way of wickedness that thou makest no bones of? such or such a duty, that thou makest no conscience of?

Doth not conscience carry thee to thy closet, and tell thee how seldom prayer and reading are performed there? Doth it not carry thee to thy family, and show thee the charge of God, and the souls of thy children and servants, that are neglected there? Doth not conscience lead thee to thy shop, thy trade, and tell thee of some mystery of iniquity there? Doth it not sound thee in thine ear for the loose company thou keepest, and the precious time thou mis-spendest?

O conscience! do thy duty: in the name of the living God, I command thee, discharge thine office,

lay hold upon the sinner, fall upon him, arrest him, apprehend him, undeceive him! What! wilt thou flatter and smooth him while he lives in his sins? Awake, O conscience! What meanest thou, O sleeper? What! hast thou never a reproof in thy mouth? What! shall this soul die in this neglect of God and eternity, and thou altogether hold thy peace? Shall he go on still in his trespasses, and yet have peace? O! rouse up thyself, and do thy work; now let the preacher in thy bosom speak; cry aloud and spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet; let not the blood of his soul be required at thy hands.

CHAP. III.

Of the Necessity of CONVERSION.

Ir may be you are apt to wonder why I follow you with such earnestness, still ringing one lesson in your ears, that you should repent, and be converted. Were it a matter of indifferency, I would never keep so much ado: but would you not have me so solicitous for you, when I see you ready to perish? As the Lord liveth, before whom I am, I have not the least hopes to see one of your faces in heaven, except you be converted; I utterly despair of your salvation, except you will be persuaded to turn thoroughly, and give up yourselves to God. Hath God said, Except ye be born again, ye cannot see the kingdom of God, John iii. 3. and yet do you wonder why your ministers so painfully travail in birth with you? Think it not strange that I am earnest with you to follow after holiness, and long to see the image of God upon you; never did any, nor shall any, enter into heaven by any other way but this.

What is it that thou dost count necessary? Is thy bread necessary? Is thy breath necessary?— Then thy conversion is much more necessary. Indeed, this is the one thing necessary. Thine estate is not necessary; thou mayest sell all for the

pearl of great price, and yet be a gainer by the purchase. Thy life is not necessary, thou mayest part with it for Christ to infinite advantage. Thine esteem is not necessary; thou mayest be reproached for the name of Christ, and yet be happy; yea, much more happy in reproach than in repute. But thy conversion is necessary, thy damnation lies upon it; and is it not needful, in so important a case, to look about thee? On this one point depends thy making or marring to all eternity.

But I shall more particularly show the necessity of Conversion in five things, without this.

1. Thy being is in vain. Is it not a pity thou shouldst be good for nothing, an unprofitable burden of the earth? Thus thou art whilst unconverted; for thou canst not answer the end of thy being. Is it not for the divine pleasure thou art and wert created? Did he not make thee for himself? Art thou a man, and hast thou reason? Then bethink thyself why and whence thy being is: behold God's workmanship in thy body, and ask thyself, To what end did God rear this fabric? Consider the whole faculties of thy heaven-born soul; to what end did God bestow these excellencies? To no other, than that thou shouldst gratify thy senses? Did God send men, like the swallows, into the world only to gather a few sticks and dirt, and build their nests, and breed up their young, and then away? The very heathens could see farther than this.

O man! set thy reason a little in the chair. Is it not pity such a goodly fabric should be raised in vain? Verily thou art in vain, except thou art for God: better thou hadst no being, than not to be for him. Wouldst thou serve thy end? Thou must repent and be converted: without this, thou art to no purpose; yea, to bad purpose.

First, To no purpose. Man unconverted is like a choice instrument that hath every string broke or out of tune; the Spirit of the living God must repair and tune it, and sweetly move it by the power of grace, or else'thy prayers will be but howlings, and all thy ser

vices will make no music in the ears of the most Holy. All thy powers and faculties are so corrupt in thy natural state, that except thou be purged from dead works, thou canst not serve the living God.

An unsanctified man cannot work the work of God: 1. He hath no skill in it: he is as unskilful in the work as in the word of righteousness, Heb. v. 13. There are great mysteries, as well in the practice as principles of godliness: now the unregenerate know not the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. You may as well expect him to read that never learned the alphabet, as that a natural man should do the Lord any pleasing service. 2. He hath no strength for it. How weak is his heart! He is presently tired: the Sabbath, what a weariness is it! He is without strength, yea, stark dead in sin. 3. He hath no mind to it: he desires not the knowledge of God's ways; he doth not know them, and he doth not care to know them. He knows not, neither will he understand. So that a man may as well expect the trees should speak, or look for motion from the dead, as for any service, holy and acceptable to God, from the unconverted.

Secondly, To bad purpose. The unconverted soul is a very cage of unclean birds; a sepulchre full of corruption. O dreadful case! Was it such an abomination to the Jews, when Antiochus set up the picture of a swine at the entrance of the temple? How much more abominable then would it have been, to have had the very temple itself turned into a stable or a sty; and to have had the Holy of holies served like the house of Baal, turned into a draught house! This is the very case of the unregenerate: all thy members are turned into instruments of unrighteousness, servants of Satan.

O abuse insufferable! To see a heaven-born soul abused to the filthiest drudgery! To see the glory of God's creation, the chief of the works of God, the Lord of the universe, lapping with the prodigal at the trough! Was it such a lamentation to see those that fed delicately, sit desolate in 'the streets; and those

that were clothed in scarlet, embrace dunghills? And is it not much more fearful to see the only thing that hath immortality in this lower world, and carries the stamp of God, become as a vessel wherein there is no pleasure? (which is but a modest expression of the vessel men put to the most sordid use.) O indignity intolerable! Better thou wert dashed into a thousand pieces, than continue to be abased to so filthy a service.

II. Not only man, but the whole visible creation, is in vain without this. Beloved, God hath made all the visible creatures in heaven and earth for the service of man, and man only is the spokesman for all the rest. Man is in the universe like the tongue to the body, which speaks for all the members; the other creatures cannot praise their Maker, but by dumb signs and hints to man, that he may speak for them. Man is as it were the high-priest of God's creation, to offer the sacrifice of praise for all his fellow-creatures. The Lord God expecteth a tribute of praise for all his works. Now all the rest bring in their tribute to man, and pay it in by his hand; so then if a man be false and faithless, God is wronged of all, and shall have no active glory from his works.

O dreadful thought! that God should build. such a world as this, and lay out such infinite power, and wisdom, and goodness, thereupon; and man should be guilty of robbing and spoiling him of the glory of all! O think of this! While thou art unconverted, all the offices of the creatures to thee are in vain! Thy meat nourishes thee in vain; the sun holds forth his light to thee in vain; thy clothes warm thee in vain; thy beast carries thee in vain. In a word, the unwearied labour and continual travail of the whole creation (as to thee) is in vain. The service of all the creatures, that yield forth their strength unto thee, (that therewith thou shouldst serve their Maker) is all lost labour. Hence the whole creation groaneth under the abuse of this unsanctified world, that pervert them to the service of their lusts, quite contrary to the very end of their being.

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