Though what has already been 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 to God; yet,
knowing what a piece of desperate obstinacy and untractableness the heart
of man naturally is, I have thought it necessary to add some motives to
persuade you to be reconciled to God.
'O Lord, do not fail me now, at my last attempts. If any
soul has read hitherto, and is yet untouched, Lord, fasten on him now, and
do Your work. Take him by the heart, overcome him, persuade him,
until he says, "You have prevailed, for You are stronger than I." Lord, did
not You make me a fisher of men, and have I toiled all this while and caught
nothing? Alas, that I should have spent my strength for nothing! and now I
am casting my last net. Lord Jesus, stand upon the shore, and direct how and
where I shall spread my net; and let me so with arguments, enclose 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 You, and
strengthen me this once, O God.'
Men and brethren, heaven and earth call upon you; yes,
hell itself preaches the doctrine of repentance unto you. The ministers of
the churches labor for you. The angels of heaven wait for you, for your
repenting and turning unto God. O sinner, why should devils laugh at your
destruction, and deride your misery, and sport themselves with your folly?
This will be your case, except you turn. And were it not better you should
be a joy to angels—than a laughingstock and sport for devils. Truly, if you
would but come in, the heavenly hosts would take up their anthems and sing,
'Glory 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. Your 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 a lost son received
safe and sound. The true penitent's tears are indeed the wine that makes
glad both God and man.
If it be little that men and angels would rejoice at your
conversion, know also that God Himself would rejoice over you, even with
singing (Luke 15:9; Isa 62:5). Never did Jacob with such joy weep over the
neck of his Joseph, as your heavenly Father would rejoice over you upon your
coming to Him. Look over the story of the Prodigal Son. I think I see how
the aged father lays aside his state and forgets his years; behold, how he
runs. O the haste that mercy makes: the sinner makes not half that speed. I
think I see how his heart moves, how his compassions yearn. How
quick-sighted is love! Mercy spies him a great way off; forgets his riotous
course, unnatural rebellion, horrid unthankfulness—not a word of these—and
receives him with open arms, clasps him about his neck, kisses him; calls
for the fattened calf, the best robe, the ring, the shoes—the best cheer in
heaven's store, the best attire in heaven's wardrobe. Yes, the joy cannot be
held in his own bosom. Others must be called to participate. The friends
sympathize; but none know the joy the father has in his newborn son, whom he
has received from the dead. I think I hear the music at a distance. O the
melody of the heavenly choristers! I cannot learn the song (Rev 14:3) but I
think I overhear the theme at which all the harmonious choir with one
consent strike sweetly in: 'For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he
was lost, and is found.' [Luke 15:24] I need not explain the parable
further. 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 you that read, if you will but sincerely repent and turn, the
welcome prodigal, the happy instance of this grace, the blessed subject of
this joy and love.
O rock! O adamant! What! not moved yet? Not yet resolved
to turn and to close with mercy? I will try yet once again. If one were sent
to you from the dead, would you be persuaded? Why, hear the voice from the
dead, from the damned, crying to you, that you should repent: 'I pray you
that you would 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' (Luke 16:27-28). Hear, O
man; your predecessors in impenitence preach to you from the infernal
flames, that you should repent. O look down into the bottomless pit. Do you
see how the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever? What do you
think of those chains of darkness? Can you be content to burn? Do you see
how the worm gnaws, how the fire rages? What do you say to that gulf of
perdition? Will you take up your habitation there? O lay your ear to the
door of hell. Do you hear the curses and blasphemies, the weepings and
wailings, how they lament their follies and curse their day? How do they
roar and gnash their teeth! how deep their groans! how inconceivable 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 (Num
16:33-34), O how fearful would the cry be, if God would 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 their moans and miseries this
is the piercing, killing emphasis and burden, 'Forever! forever!'
As God lives—who made your soul, you are but a few hours
away from all this—unless you be converted.
O! 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 that may be called
madness and folly, and anything that may be counted sottish, absurd,
brutish, and unreasonable, it is this, to go on in your unconverted state.
Let me beg of you, as you would not willingly destroy yourself, sit down and
weigh, besides what has been said, these following motives, and let
conscience say if it be not most reasonable that you should repent and turn.
1. The God who made you, most graciously invites you.
His most sweet and merciful nature invites you. O the
kindness of God, His boundless compassion, His tender mercies! As the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways above our ways, and His
thoughts above our thoughts. 'He is full of compassion, and gracious,
longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy' (Psalm 86:15). This is a great
argument to persuade sinners to come. 'Return to the Lord your God, for he
is gracious and merciful. He is not easily angered. He is filled with
kindness and is eager not to punish you.' [Joel 2:13]
If there were no hope of mercy, it would be no wonder
that rebels should stand out; but never had subjects such a gracious prince,
such pity, patience, and clemency to deal with, as you have. 'Who is a God
like unto You, that pardons iniquity?' (Mic 7:18). O sinners, see what a God
you have to deal with. If you will but turn, 'He will have compassion on
you; He will subdue your iniquities, and cast all your sins into the depths
of the sea!' 'Return unto me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return unto
you' (Mal 3:7).
Sinners do not fail in that they have too high thoughts
of God's mercies—but in that they overlook His justice—or they promise
themselves mercy outside of God's way. His mercies are beyond all
imagination; great mercies, manifold mercies (Neh 9:19), tender mercies,
sure mercies, everlasting mercies—and all is yours, if you will but turn.
Are you willing to come in? The Lord has laid aside His terror and erected a
throne of grace. He holds forth the golden scepter: touch and live! Would a
merciful man slay his enemy when prostrate at his feet, acknowledging his
wrong, begging pardon, and offering to enter with him into a covenant of
peace? Much less will the merciful God. Study His name (Exod 34:7), 'Keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.' Also
read experience, Neh 9:17.
God's soul-encouraging calls and promises invite you. Ah,
what an earnest suitor is mercy to you! How lovingly, how instantly, it
calls after you! How earnestly it woos you! 'Return O backsliding Israel,
says the Lord, and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you; for I am
merciful, says the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever; only acknowledge
your iniquity. Turn, O backsliding children, says the Lord; return, and I
will heal your backslidings. You have played the harlot with many lovers;
yet return unto me, says the Lord' (Jer 3:12-13). 'As I live, says the Lord
God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked—but that he turn from his
way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house
of Israel?' (Ezek 33:11). 'If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he
has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and
right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All the transgressions that
he has committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him; in his righteousness
that he has done, he shall live [Ezek 18:21-22]. ... Repent, and turn you
from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away
from you all your transgressions, and make you a new heart and a new spirit;
for why will you die, O Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him
who dies, says the Lord God, therefore turn yourselves, and live!' (Ezek
18:30-32).
O melting, gracious words: the voice of God, and not of a
man! This is not the manner of men, for the offended sovereign to sue to the
offending, traitorous rebel. O how does mercy follow you, and plead with
you! Is not your heart broken yet? O that today you would hear His voice!
2. The doors of heaven are thrown open to you.
The everlasting gates are set wide open for you, and an
abundant entrance into the kingdom of heaven is administered to you.
Christ now addresses you, and calls upon you to arise and
take possession of this good land. View the glory of the other world, as set
forth in the map of the gospel. Get up into the Pisgah of the promises, and
lift up your eyes northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward, and
see the good land that is beyond Jordan, and that goodly mountain. Behold
the Paradise of God, watered with the streams of glory. Arise and walk
through the land, in the length of it, and in the breadth of it; for the
land which you see, the Lord will give it to you forever, if you will but
return. Let me say to you, as Paul to Agrippa, 'Do you believe the
prophets?' [Acts 26:27] If you believe indeed, view what glorious things are
spoken of the city of God, and know that all this is here offered in the
name of God to you. As truly as God is true, it shall be forever yours, if
you will but thoroughly turn.
Behold the city of pure transparent gold, whose
foundations are garnished with all manner of precious stones, whose gates
are pearls, whose light is glory, whose temple is God. Do you believe this?
If you do, are you not beside yourself, that will not take possession when
the gates are thrown open to you, and you are bidden to enter? O you sons of
folly, will you embrace the ash-heap and refuse the kingdom? Behold, the
Lord takes you up into the mountain, shows you the kingdom of heaven and all
the glory thereof, and tells you, 'All this I will give you, if you will
fall down and worship me; if you will submit to mercy, accept my Son, and
serve me in righteousness and holiness.' 'O fools and slow of heart to
believe!' [Luke 24:25] Will you seek and serve the world, and neglect
eternal glory? What! not enter into paradise when the flaming sword, which
was once set to keep you out, is now used to drive you in? But you will say
I am uncharitable to think you infidels and unbelievers. What, then, shall I
think of you? Either you are desperate unbelievers that do not believe it;
or that you are beside yourselves, that you know and believe the excellence
and eternity of this glory, and yet do so fearfully neglect it.
Do but attend to what is offered you: a blessed kingdom,
a kingdom of glory, a kingdom of righteousness, a kingdom of peace, and an
everlasting kingdom. Here you shall dwell, here you shall reign forever, and
the Lord shall seat you on a throne of glory, and with His own hand shall
set the royal diadem upon your head, and give you a crown—not of thorns, for
there shall be no sinning nor suffering there: not of gold, for this shall
be viler than the dirt in that day; but a crown of life, a crown of
righteousness, a crown of glory, yes, you shall put on glory as a robe, and
shall shine like the sun in the firmament of your Father.
Look now on your worthless flesh. This flesh, which is
mere dust and ashes, shall be brighter than the stars. In short, you shall
be made like unto the angels of God and behold His face in righteousness.
Look now and tell me, do you not yet believe? If not, conscience must
pronounce you an infidel; for it is the very word of God that I speak.
But if you say you believe, let me next know your
resolution. Will you embrace this for your happiness? Will you forgo your
sinful gains, your forbidden pleasures? Will you trample on the world's
esteem, and stop your ears to its flatteries, and wrest yourself out of its
embraces? Will you be content to take up with reproach and poverty, if they
lie in the way to heaven, and follow the Lord with humble self-denial, in a
mortified and flesh-displeasing life? If so, all is yours—and that forever!
And is not the offer a fair one? Is it not just that he
should be damned, who will go on and perish, when all this may be had by
taking it? Will you not take God at His word? Will you not let go your hold
of the world, and lay hold on eternal life? If not, let conscience tell you
whether you are not beside yourself, that you should neglect so happy a
choice, by which you might be made happy forever.
3. God will give you unspeakable privileges in this life.
Though the fullness of your blessedness shall be reserved
until hereafter—yet God will give you no little things in hand. He will
redeem you from your thraldom. He will pluck you from the paw of the lion.
The serpent shall bruise your heel—but you shall bruise his head. He shall
deliver you from this present evil world. Prosperity shall not destroy you;
adversity shall not separate Him and you. He will redeem you from the power
of the grave, and make the king of terrors to be a messenger of peace to
you. He will take out the curse from the cross, and make affliction the
refining-pot to purify the metal, the fan to blow off the chaff, the
medicine to cure the mind. He will save you from the arrest of the law, and
turn the curse into a blessing to you. He has the keys of hell and of death,
and shuts and no man opens, and He will shut its mouth, as once He did the
lions', that you shall not be hurt of the second death.
Besides, He will not only save from misery—but install
you into unspeakable prerogatives. He will bestow Himself upon you; He will
be a Friend and a Father unto you. He will be a Sun and a Shield to you. In
a word, He will be a God to you. And what more can be said? What may you
expect that God should do for you, and be to you? That He will be, that He
will do. She who marries a prince expects he should do for her like a
prince—that she may live in suitable state, and have an answerable dowry. He
who has a king for his father or a friend, expects he should do for him like
a king. Alas, the kings and monarchs of the earth, so much above you, are
but like the painted butterflies among the rest of their kind—or the fair
colored palmerworm among the rest of the worms, if compared with God. As He
infinitely exceeds the glory and power of His glittering dust, so He will,
beyond all proportion, exceed in doing for His favorites whatever princes
can do for theirs. He will give you grace and glory, and withhold no good
thing from you. He will take you for His sons and daughters, and make you
heirs of His promises, and establish His everlasting covenant with you. He
will justify you from all that law, conscience and Satan can charge upon
you. He will give you free access into His presence, and accept your person,
and receive your prayers. He will abide in you, and hold a constant and
friendly communion with you. His ear shall be open, His door open, His store
open, at all times to you. His blessing shall rest upon you, and He will
make your enemies serve you, and work out all things for good unto you.
4. The terms of mercy are brought as low as possible to
you.
God has stooped as low to sinners as with honor He can.
He will not be the author of sin, nor stain the glory of His holiness; and
how could He come lower than He has, unless He should do this?
God does not impose anything unreasonable or impossible,
as a condition of life, upon you. Two things were necessary to be done,
according to the tenor of the first covenant. 1. That we should fully
satisfy the demands of justice for past offences. 2. That we should perform
personally, perfectly, and perpetually, the whole law for the time to come.
By our sins we render salvation through either of these ways impossible. But
behold God's gracious provision in both. He is content to take of the
Surety, and He of His own providing too, what He might have exacted from
you. 'All things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus
Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation: namely, that God
was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them; and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation'
(2 Cor 5:18-19). He declares Himself to have received a ransom, and that He
expects nothing but that you should accept His Son, and He shall be
righteousness and redemption to you. If you come in His Christ, and set your
heart to please Him, making this your chief concern, He will graciously
accept you.
O consider the condescension of your God! Let me say to
you, as Naaman's servant to him, 'My father, if the prophet had bid you do
some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather when he says
to you, Wash and be clean!' [2 Kings 5:13] If God demanded some great, some
severe and rigorous thing of you, to escape eternal damnation, would you not
have done it? Suppose it had been to spend all your days in sorrow in some
howling wilderness—or pine with famine, would you not have thankfully
accepted eternal redemption, though these had been the conditions? Nay,
farther, if God had told you that you should burn in the fire for millions
of ages—or be so long tormented in hell, would you not have accepted it?
Alas, all these are not so much as one grain of sand in the glass of
eternity. If your offended Creator should have held you but one year upon
the rack, and then bid you come and forsake your sins, accept Christ, and
serve him a few years in self-denial or lie in this case forever and ever;
do you think you would have hesitated at the offer, and disputed the terms,
and have been unresolved whether to accept the proposal? O sinner, return
and live; why should you die when life is to be had for the taking, when
mercy entreats you to be saved? Could you say, 'Lord, I knew you, that you
were a hard man', [Matt 25:24] even then you would have no excuse; but when
the God of Heaven has stooped so low, and condescended so far, if still you
stand off, who shall plead for you?
Objection: Notwithstanding all the advantages of the
new covenant, I am unable to repent and believe, and so comply with its
conditions.
Answer: These you may perform by God's grace
enabling; but let the next consideration serve for a fuller answer.
5. God offers all needed grace to enable you.
'I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded' (Prov
1:24). What though you are plunged into the ditch of that misery from which
you can never get out? Christ offers to help you out; He reaches out His
hand to you; and if you perish, it is for refusing His help. 'Behold, I
stand at the door and knock; if any man open to me, I will come in.' (Rev
3:20). What though you are poor, and wretched, and blind, and naked? Christ
offers a cure for your blindness, a covering for your nakedness, riches for
your poverty. He offers you His righteousness, His grace: 'I counsel you to
buy of me gold, that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be
clothed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.' [Rev 3:18]
Do you say, 'The condition is impossible; for I have nothing with which to
buy?' You must know that this buying is 'without money and without price.' [Isa
55:1] This buying is by begging and seeking with your whole heart. God
commands you to know Him, and to fear Him. Do you say, 'Yes—but my mind is
blinded, and my heart is hardened from His fear?' I answer that God offers
to enlighten your mind, and to teach you His fear. So that now, if men live
in ignorance and estrangement from the Lord, it is because they will not
understand, and do not desire the knowledge of His ways. 'If you cry after
knowledge, if you Seek her as silver, then shall you understand the fear of
the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.' (Prov 2:3-5). Is not this a fair
offer? 'Turn at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you' (Prov
1:23). Though of yourselves you can do nothing—yet you may do all through
His Spirit enabling you, and He offers assistance to you. God bids you 'wash
and be made clean' [Isa 1:16]. You say you are unable, as much as the
leopard to wash out his spots. Yes—but the Lord offers to cleanse you; so
that if you are filthy still, it is through your own wilfulness: 'I have
purged you, and you were not purged' (Ezek 24:13). 'O Jerusalem, will you
not be made clean: when shall it once be?' (Jer 13:27). God invites you to
be made clean, and entreats you to yield to Him. O accept His offers, and
let Him do for you, and in you, what you cannot do for yourselves!