Last Warning to Secure Sinners, Prefatory letter
To thoſe who were Hearers of theſe Two Sermons, eſpecially ſuch of them who yet continue in their Security.
I Would hope (if not the bare reading, yet) the due conſidering the Title prefixed to this little Book, would cauſe at leaſt this reflection: It is high time now to awake out of ſleep: they are ſecure ſinners indeed, who (after a Boanerges hath ſounded his Trumpet as loud as Thunder, till his breath was ſtopt, eſpecially conſidering his laſt breath was ſhrilleſt of all) will not be awakened: God forbid the Judgment threatned, Iſa. 29.10, ſhould be the ſad fate of any that heard him: I will pour out, ſaith God, the ſpirit of a deep ſleep upon them. Every word of which threatning is terrible; Sleep, deep ſleep, the ſpirit of a deep ſleep, and then the pouring out the ſpirit of a deep ſleep: It affected me to think that this holy man of God (when he went up and took his Farwel in the Pulpit) ſhould, as it were, go to the top of lofty Nebo, and (though from thence as to his own particular, he had as clear a view as …ny ever within my forty years obſervation had of the Holy Land, not that of Caanan, which flowed with Milk and Honey; but that which Stephen ſaw, Acts 7, yet) ſhould be directed by his Text, and aſſiſted with ſuch a mighty preſence, with ſo great authority to warn ſinners, as if he ſaw a flood coming upon them, that would drown them elſe ſuddenly in perdition: and when he had done, that he ſhould come down, as Moſes did, and die as ſoon (it may be) as he did; and (without a may-be) go to Heaven as Moſes did. My friends whom I love, pity and pray for; 'tis true, we have now no new Revelations, no infallible predictions; but Verba noviſſima, the laſt words of ſo well qualified a Watchman, a man ſo ſolid, ſelf-denying, ſo holy and heavenly, that it was even natural to him to be ſo: I ſay the words of ſuch a dying Miniſter methinks ſhould be always ſounding in your ears; My friends, get you into the Ark, for the flood is a coming; repent quickly; elſe, if you be not drowned, you may be burnt, you will be damned. Read ſeriouſly theſe Sermons, and give ſlumber to thine eyes before thou haſt ſmote upon thy breaſt, and cried God be merciful to thee a ſinner, if thou canſt.
The great wonder-working God, who of old ſmote the Rock, to fetch water in abundance, reward thee, who ever thou art, that wilt ſeriouſly read over and over this warm diſcourſe, with ſmiting thy rocky heart, till thou canſt read no longer for weeping bitterly.
I have called it a warm Diſcourſe, which is no impertinent or inſignificant adjunct: when people are in bed, and the houſe the while a fire about their ears, I think he ſpeaketh beſt who ſpeaks loudeſt to awaken them. This ſervant of God now knows and feels whether ſpeaking as he ſpake, to reach hearts, not tickle ears, or humour fancies, was not better than the rareſt compoſure of any Tertullus in the World.
Sinners, ſinners, it is more than two Months ſince this holy Saint, (who hath turn'd preaching to men into praiſing God with Angels, and with the heavenly Inhabitants) preached theſe Sermons. Are you yet in your ſins? could you have thought you ſhould live ſo long, and not be cut down like dead trees for the fire of Tophet? and do you preſume ſtill? what, curſe and ſwear, be drunk and debauched ſtill! What, is the ſpirit of the old world in you! will ye take no warning! you do not take your ſelves to be bruits, not to have immortal ſouls; and yet you will not act like men; Reaſon, as well as the Word of God, doth tell you, you are the worſt and deareſt purchaſers in all the world; to give a ſoul for ſin, is the maddeſt bargain that ever was made; the eternal happineſs of the ſoul, for the dirty pleaſure of ſin for a ſeaſon. O let not the Devil jear and reproach you in hell for this folly.
Is there not a merciful God that would forgive and forget all that is paſt, if you would even now to day fully, without any heſitation, return to him? would not his boſom be open to receive you? ſhould not you find a father that would fall upon your neck, and kiſs you, as well as the prodigal did? To you God crys, upon you God waits that he may be gracious to you. O ye ſimple ones, how long will ye love ſimplicity! Turn ye at my rebuke, and I will pour out my ſpirit upon you; though your ſins were as ſcarlet, I'le make them as white as ſnow. Turn ye, turn ye, why will you die? Will you not be made clean? when ſhall it once be? What would you have God ſay more to encourage penitent ſinners? to perſwade men to ceaſe loving their luſts, which will elſe damn their ſouls?
But if you will be deceived by the Devil, and will gratifie your luſts for a moment, though you die eternally for it: I muſt tell you, ſuch a reſolution is like theirs, who have made a covenant with hell, and with death, and cry a ſhort life and a ſweet; who forget they have ſouls, while they thus ſpeak, and reſolve; and will not believe there is a God, till they wiſh for rocks and, mountains to fall upon them, to hide them from him; nor believe there is a hell, till they feel it.
O what a deep ſenſe had the Apoſtle Paul of the miſery and immergent ruins of his Countrymen, Rom. 10.1, His hearts deſire unto God for them was, that they might be ſaved; he could wiſh himſelf accurſed that they might eſcape. I know no man more like-minded to him than this Servant of God, who is with the Lord, who delighted in nothing, no work in the world, like plucking brands out of the fire, ſaving men from hell, and ſending men and women before him to heaven, if he could.
I hope the impreſſion upon my heart from the conſideration of that incomparable tranſport of his Soul in the Preaching the laſt Sermon (as if he had known his time was ſo ſhort, and that Sermon his laſt) ſhall ſtill remain freſh upon me. After Sermon, I told him of it; and he told me, His heart was carried out with zeal and pity, that he could not keep to method, but he could not help it.
All that knew him, can bear him witneſs, that he was able to write or ſpeak for matter and form gratefully to any; but he ſtudied plainneſs; and therefore purpoſely declined great Auditories, to my knowledg; a clear proof of his meek and ſelf-denying ſpirit: Gain-ſay it who can. He ſought not honour from men whilſt alive; and now he is dead, let his own Works praiſe him in the gates.
If any ſhould enquire why, or who call'd me to interpoſe theſe few rude lines? I only ſay, It is pia fraus, to ſteal an opportunity to teſtifie more publickly the great veneration I have for the name of this holy man, who indeed was one of the Sons of Davids Worthies. As alſo to ſignifie my longing after the Souls happineſs of all that were his ordinary Hearers: Whom again I beſeech to read, and afterwards to ponder, who and what moved him to ſpeak his heart in theſe laſt words unto them, if peradventure God may give them repentance unto life by the Miniſtry of him who not only ſaved himſelf, but ſhall then ſave alſo them that heard him.
A.P.