The Soul of Man, Conclusion
The VSE.
I shall close all with a word of Exhortation, perswading (if it be possible) the careless and unthinking Neglecters of their precious Time and Souls, to awaken out of that deep and dangerous security in which they lye fast asleep upon the very brink of Eternity: and to day, whilst it is yet called to day, to hear the Voice of God calling them to Repentance and Faith, and thereby to Christ and everlasting Blessedness. Behold, he yet standeth at the door and knocks, Rev. 3.20. the door of Hope is not yet finally shut, there are yet some stirrings at certain times in mens Consciences; God comes near them in his Word, and in some rouzing acts of Providence, the death of a near Relation, the seizure of a dangerous Disease, the blasting and disappointment of a mans great Design and Project for this World, a fall into some notorious Sin; these and many such like Methods of Providence, as well as the convincing voice of the Word, have the efficacy of an awaking voice to mens drowsie Consciences; and if careless Sinners would but attend to them, and follow home those motions they make upon their hearts, who knows to what these weak beginnings might arise and prosper. The Souls of men are as it were imbarked in the Calls of God, your life is bound up in them; if these be lost, your Souls are lost; if these abide upon you, and grow up to sound Conversion, you are saved by them. More particularly consider,
(1.) What a mercy it is to have your Lot providentially cast under the Gospel? To be born under and bred up with the means and instruments of Conversion and Salvation? We have lived from our youth up under the Calls of God, and within the joyful sound of the Gospel: God hath not dealt so with other Nations, Psal. 147.20. Though others should seek the means of life, they cannot find them; and though you seek them not, you can hardly miss them.
(2.) How great a mercy is it to have your lives lengthened out hitherto by the patience of God under the Gospel? That neither that golden Lamp, nor the Lamp of your life (both which are liable to be extinguished every moment) are yet put out. Thousands and ten thousands your Contemporaries are gone out of the hearing of the voice of the Gospel, they shall never hear another Call, the Treaty of God is ended with them, the Master of the house is risen up, and the doors are shut: Your neglects and provocations have not been inferiour to theirs, but the patience and goodness of God hath exceeded and abounded to you beyond whatever it did to them.
(3.) Bethink your selves what an aggravation of your misery it will be to sink into Hell with the Calls of God sounding in your ears! to sink into eternal misery betwixt the tender out-stretched arms of Mercy; this is the Hell of Hell, the Emphasis of Damnation; the racking Engine on which the Consciences of the damned are tortured. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be brought down to hell, Matt. 11.23. Such a fall after so high an exaltation is the very Strappado which will torment your Consciences. Hell will prove a cooler and milder place to the Heathens that never enjoyed your light, means, and mercies in this world, than it will to you. None sink so deep into misery in the world to come, as they that fall from the fairest opportunities of Salvation in this world.
(4) Let no man expect that God will hear his cryes and intreaties in time of misery, who neglects and slights the Calls of God in the time of Mercy. God calls, but men will not hear, the day is coming when they shall cry, but God will not hear, Prov. 1.24, 25 will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? Iob 27.9. no, no, he will not: and this is but a just retribution from the righteous God, whose calls and counsels men have set at nought; but whatever men now think of it, it is certainly the greatest misery incident to man in all the world: for as no words can make another fully sensible what a priviledge it is to have the ear, favour, pity, and help of God in a day of straits; so it is impossible for any words to express the doleful state and case of that Soul whom God casts off in trouble, and whose cryes he shuts out.
(5) Beware of neglecting any Call of God, because that Call you are now tempted to neglect, may be the last Call that ever God intendeth to give thy Soul. Sure I am there is a Call which will be the last Call of God to rebellious Sinners, and after that no more Calls, but an eternal deep silence: his Spirit shall not always strive with man; and the more motions and calls you have already slighted, the more probable it is, that this may be the last Voice of God in a way of Mercy to thy Soul: and what if after this, God should seal up thy heart, and judicially harden it; make thy will utterly inflexible, and thine ears deaf, as he threatens, Isa 6.10. What an undone miserable man or woman art thou then! O beware of provoking the forest of all Judgments, by persisting any longer in a course of rebellion against Light and Mercy.
(6) Whilst your hearts put off and neglect the Calls of God, you can never by any means arrive to the evidence and assurance of your Election; for your Election is only secured to you by your effectual calling, 2 Pet. 1.10. there is no way for men to discern their Names written in the Book of Life, but by reading the work of Sanctification in their own hearts, Rom. 10.8. I desire no miraculous Voice from Heaven, no extraordinary signs or unscriptural notices and informations in this matter, Lord, let me but find my heart complying with thy calls, my will obediently submitting to thy commands; Sin my burden, and Christ my desire: I will never crave a fairer or surer evidence of thy electing love to my Soul; and if I had an Oracle from Heaven, an extraordinary Messenger from the other World, to tell me thou lovest me, I have no reason to give credit to such a Voice, whilst I find my heart wholly sensual, averse to God, and indisposed to all that is spiritual.
(7.) What reason have you why you should not presently embrace the Call of God, and thankfully lay hold upon the first opportunity and season of Salvation? Have you any greater matters in hand than the Salvation of your precious Souls? Is there any thing in all this world that more concerns you? If the affairs of this life be so indispensably necessary, and those of the world to come so indifferent: if you think that meat and drink, trade and business, wife and children be such great things, and Christ, Soul, and Eternity such little things; or if you think the Salvation be a work of the greatest necessity, yet it may safely enough be put off to a time of uncertainty, I may assure you, you will not long be of this mind. How soon are all the mistakes of men in these matters rectified in a few moments after death? Rectified, I say, but not remedied; your opinion will be changed, but not your condition.
(8.) Do you not every day easily and readily obey the Calls of Satan and your own Lusts, whilst God and Conscience are suffered to call and strive with you in vain? If Satan or your Lusts call you to the Tavern, to the World, and your sinful Pleasures, you speedily comply with their Call, and yield a ready obedience: if Pride call, if Covetousness call, if Passion and Revenge call, they need not call twice; and shall God call, and Conscience call only in vain? Lord, what a Creature is Man become! If a vain Companion call, you have no power to deny him; if God call, you have no ear to hear him.
(9.) You cannot but observe the obedience and diligence of many others, how seriously, painfully, and assiduously they ply and follow on the work of their own Salvation, and yet they are no more concerned in the events and consequences of these things than you are. Doth it not trouble you when you compare your selves with them? Do not such thoughts as these sometimes arise in your hearts upon such observations? Lord, what a difference is there like to be betwixt their end and mine, when there is so apparent a difference in our course and conversation? Doth not God distinguish persons in this world by the frames of their hearts and tenor of their lives, in order to the great distinction he will make betwixt one and another in the Day of Judgment? Have not I as precious a Soul to save, or lose, as any of them? What is the matter that I sit with folded arms, whilst they are working out Salvation with fear and trembling? Why should any man or woman in the world be more careful for their Souls, than I for mine? Surely its capacity and excellency is equal with theirs, though our care and diligence be so unequal.
(10.) To conclude, God will shortly give you an irresistible Call to the Grave, and after that his Voice shall call to you in your Graves, Arise ye dead, and come to Iudgment: but wo be to you, wo and alas that ever you were born, if you should hear the Call of God to dye, before you have heard and obeyed his Call to Christ. Will your Death-bed be easie to you? Can you with any hope or comfort shoot the Gulph of Eternity, before you have done one act for the securing your Souls from the wrath to come? 'Tis a dreadful thing for a poor Christless Soul to sit quivering up on the lips of a dying Sinner, not able to stay, nor yet to endure a parting pull from the Body in such a case as it is.
In a word, if the God that made, and will shortly judge you; if the Redeemer that shed his invaluable Blood, and now offers you the purchaces and benefits of it; if you have any love to, or care of your own Souls, which are more worth than the whole world; if you have any value for Heaven or dread of Hell, then for Gods sake, for Christs sake, for your precious Souls sake, trifle with Heaven and Hell no longer, but be in earnest to work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling. Could I think of any other means or motives that might secure your Souls from danger, I would surely use them. Could I reach your hearts effectually, I would deeply impress this great concern upon them…punc; but I can neither do Gods part of the work, nor yours; it is some ease to me I have in sincerity (though with much imperfection and feebleness) done part of my own: the Lord prosper it by the Blessing of his Spirit on the hearts of them that read it. Amen.
FINIS.