Eighteen Sermons, Sermon 5
SERMON V.
Repentance and Converſion.
ACTS iii. ver. 19.
Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your ſins may be blotted out, when the times of refreſhing ſhall come from the preſence of the Lord.
WHAT a pity it is that modern preachers attend no more to the method thoſe took who were firſt inſpired by the Holy Ghoſt, in preaching Jeſus Chriſt! the ſucceſs they were honored with, gave a ſanction to their manner of preaching, and the divine authority of their diſcourſes, and energy of their elocution, one would think, ſhould have more weight with thoſe that are called to diſpenſe the goſpel, than all modern ſchemes whatever. If this was the caſe, miniſters would then learn firſt to ſow, and then to reap; they would endeavour to plow up the fallow ground, and thereby prepare the people for God's raining down bleſſings upon them. Thus Peter preached when under a divine influence, as I mentioned laſt Wedneſday night: he charged the audience home, though many of them were learned and high and great, with having been the murderers of the Son of God. No doubt but the charge entered deep into their conſcience, and that faithful monitor beginning to give them a proper ſenſe of themſelves, the apoſtle lets them know that great as their ſin was, it was not unpardonable; that though they had been concerned in the horrid crime of murdering the Lord of Life, notwithſtanding they had thereby incurred the penalty of eternal death, yet there was a mercy for them, the way to which he points out in the text; Repent ye therefore, ſays he, and be converted, and adds, that your ſins may be blotted out. Tho' they are but few words, they are weighty; a ſhort ſentence this, but ſweet: may God make it a bleſſed ſweetneſs to every one of your hearts!
But muſt we preach converſion to a profeſſing people? Some of you, perhaps are ready to ſay, go to America; go among the ſavages and preach repentance and converſion there; or, if you muſt be a field-preacher, go to the highways and hedges; go to the colliers; go ramble up and down, as you uſed to do, preach converſion to the drunkards: would to God my commiſſion might be renewed, that I might have ſtrength and ſpirit to take the advice!
Poſſibly others will ſay, do not preach it to us; pray who are you? I anſwer, one ſent to call you to repentance; and although I might, yet I will not come ſo cloſe to you at preſent, as to enquire in my turn, who are you; yet permit me to pray, that while I am preaching God's Spirit may find you out; and not only let you know who you are, but what you are; and then you will not be eaſy with yourſelves, nor angry with a miniſter of Jeſus Chriſt for preaching converſion to your ſouls.
Repentance and converſion are nearly the ſame. The expreſſion in the text is complex, and ſeems to include▪ both what goes before and follows turning to God: and if the Lord is pleaſed to honor me ſo far to night to be uſeful to ſinners, as well as ſaints, I will endeavour to ſhew you,
Firſt, what it is not to be converted: ſecondly, what it is to be truly converted: thirdly, offer ſome motives why you ſhould repent and be converted: and fourthly, anſwer ſome objections that have been made againſt perſons repenting and being converted, and yet at the ſame time, if you come and examine them, they know not ſo much as ſpeculatively what real converſion is: the general notion many have of it is, a perſon's being a convert from the church of Rome to the church of England. There is a particular office in the large prayer book, to be uſed when any one publicly renounces popery in the great congregation. When this is done, that prayer read, and the perſon ſaid Amen to the collects upon the occaſion, every body wiſhes him joy, and thanks God he is converted; whereas, if this is all, he is as much unconverted to God as ever; he has in words renounced popery, but never took leave of the ſins of his heart. Well, after this he looks into the church, and does not like that white thing called a ſurplice; he looks, and thinks there are ſome rags of the whore of Babylon left ſtill: now, ſays he, I will be converted; how? I will turn Diſſenter: ſo after he is converted from the church of Rome to the church of England, he goes to the diſſenting church: may be, curioſity may bring him to the Methodiſts, thoſe monſtrous troubleſome creatures, and, perhaps, he may then be converted a third time, like their preaching, like their ſinging; O dear, I muſt have a Tabernacle-ticket, I muſt have a Pſalmbook, I will come as often as there is preaching, or at leaſt as often as I can; and there he ſits down, and becomes an outſide converted Methodiſt, as demure as poſſible: this is going a prodigious way, and yet all this is converſion from one party only to another. If the miniſter gives a rub or two he will take miff perhaps, and be converted to ſome other perſuaſion, and all the while Jeſus Chriſt is left unthought of; but this is converſion only from party to party, not real, and that which will bring a ſoul to heaven. Poſſibly, a perſon may go further, and be converted from one ſet of principles to another; he may, for inſtance, be born an Arminian, which all men naturally are; and one reaſon why I think Calviniſm, right is, becauſe proud nature will not ſtoop to be ſaved by grace. You that are brought up in an orthodox belief, under an orthodox miniſtry, cannot eaſily make an allowance for thouſands that have nothing ringing in their ears but Arminianiſm; you have ſucked in orthodoxy with your mother's milk, and that makes ſo many ſour and ſevere profeſſors. I knew a rigid man that would beat Chriſtianity into his wife; and ſo many beat people with their bibles, that they are likely, by their bitter proceeding, to hinder them from attending to the means God has deſigned for converſion. What is this but being converted from one ſet of principles to another; and I may be very zealous for them, without being transformed by them into the image of God. But ſome go further, they think they are converted becauſe they are reformed: they ſay, a reformed rake makes a good huſband, but I think a renewed rake will make a better. Reformation is not renovation: I may have the outſide of the platter waſhed; I may be turned from prophaneneſs to a regard for morality; and becauſe I do not ſwear, nor go to the play as I uſed to do; have left off cards, and perhaps put on a plain dreſs; and ſo believe, or rather fancy, that I am converted; yet the old man remains unmortified, and the heart is unrenewed ſtill. Comparing myſelf with what I once was, and looking on my companions with diſdain, I may there ſtick faſter in ſelf, and get into a worſe and more dangerous ſtate than I was before. If any of you think me too ſevere, remember you are the perſon I mean; for you think me ſo only becauſe I touch your caſe. The drunkards and ſabbath-breakers, curſers and ſwearers, ſay to us, you can never preach but you preach againſt us: as a good man once replied to a perſon, who complained againſt us miniſters for this preaching; I will put you in a way, ſaid he, that we ſhall never preach againſt you; how is that? why, leave off curſing and ſwearing, &c▪ then your conſciences will be clear, and the miniſter will look over your heads: happy they that are convinced of it! You have not heard me, I hope, ſpeak a word againſt reformation; you have not heard me ſpeak a word againſt being converted from the church of Rome; againſt being converted to the church of England; or, againſt being good: no; all theſe are right in their place; but all theſe converſions you may have, and yet never be truly converted at all. What is converſion then? I will not keep you longer in ſuſpenſe, my brethren: man muſt be a new creature, and converted from his own righteouſneſs to the righteouſneſs of the Lord Jeſus Chriſt; conviction will always preceed ſpiritual converſion: and therefore the proteſtant divines make this diſtinction, you may be convinced and not converted, but you cannot be converted without being convinced; and if we are truly converted, we ſhall not only be turned and converted from ſinful ſelf, but we ſhall be converted from righteous ſelf; that is the devil of devils: for righteous ſelf can run and hide itſelf in its own doings, which is the reaſon ſelf-righteous people are ſo angry with goſpel preachers; there are no ſuch enemies to the goſpel as theſe: there were Jews who truſted in themſelves that they were righteous, that ſet all in an uproar, and raiſed the mob on the apoſtles. Our Lord denounced dreadful woes againſt the ſelf-righteous Phariſees: ſo miniſters muſt cut and hack them, and not ſpare; but ſay wo, wo, wo to all thoſe that will not ſubmit to the righteouſneſs of Jeſus Chriſt! I could almoſt ſay, this is the laſt ſtroke the Lord Jeſus gave Paul, I mean in turning him to real Chriſtianity; for having given him a blow as a perſecutor and injurious, he then brought him out of himſelf by revealing his perſon and office as a Saviour. I am Jeſus,—Hence ſays the apoſtle, I count all things but loſs—that I may win Chriſt, and be found in him; not having my own righteouſneſs, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Chriſt; the righteouſneſs which is of God by faith. You hear him not only ſpeak of himſelf as injurious, as a blaſphemer, but alſo as a Phariſee; and in vain we may talk of being converted till we are brought out of ourſelves; to come as poor loſt, undone ſinners, to the Lord Jeſus Chriſt; to be waſhed in his blood; to be clothed in his glorious imputed righteouſneſs: the conſequence of this imputation, or application of a Mediator's righteouſneſs to the ſoul, will be a converſion from ſin to holineſs. I am almoſt tempted to ſay, it is perverſeneſs in people to preach againſt the doctrine of imputed righteouſneſs, becauſe they love holineſs, and charge the Calviniſts with being enemies to it: how can they be charged with being enemies to Sanctification, who ſo ſtrenuouſly inſiſt on its being the genuine fruit, and unqueſtionable proof of the imputation of the righteouſneſs of Chriſt, and application of it by the Spirit of grace? They that are truly converted to Jeſus, and are juſtified by faith in the Son of God, will take care to evidence their converſion, not only by the having grace implanted in their hearts, but by that grace diffuſing itſelf through every faculty of the ſoul, and making an univerſal change in the whole man. I am preaching from a bible that ſaith, He that is in Chriſt is a new creature, old things, not will be, but are paſſed away, all things, not only will, but are become new. As a child when born has all the ſeveral parts of a man, it will have no more limbs than it has now, if it lives to fourſcore years and ten; ſo when a perſon is converted to God, there are all the features of the new creature and growth, till he becomes a young man and a father in Chriſt; till he becomes ripe in grace, and God tranſlates him to glory. Any thing ſhort of this is but the ſhadow inſtead of the ſubſtance; and however perſons may charge us with being enthuſiaſts, yet we need not be moved either to anger or ſorrow, ſince St. Paul ſays, I travel in birth till Chriſt be formed in your hearts.
The author of this converſion is the Holy Ghoſt: it is not their own free will; it is not moral ſwaſion; nothing ſhort of the influence of the Spirit of the living God can effect this change in our hearts; therefore we are ſaid to be born again, born of God, of the Spirit, not of water only, but of the Holy Ghoſt; that which is born of the fleſh is fleſh, but that which is born of the Spirit is ſpirit: and though there is and will be a conteſt between theſe two oppoſites, fleſh and ſpirit, yet if we are truly converted, the ſpirit will get the aſcendency; and though for a while nature and grace may ſtruggle in the womb of a converted ſoul, like Jacob and Eſau, yet the elder ſhall ſerve the younger, Jacob ſhall ſupplant and turn out Eſau, or at leaſt keep him under: God grant we may all thus prove that we are converted. This converſion, however it begins at home, will ſoon walk abroad; as the Virgin Mary was ſoon found out to be with child, ſo it will be ſoon found out whether Chriſt is formed in the heart. There will be new principles, new ways, new company, new works; there will be a thorough change in the heart and life; this is converſion: at firſt it begins with terror and legal ſorrow, afterwards it leads to joyfulneſs; firſt we work for ſpiritual life, afterwards from it: firſt we are in bondage, afterwards we receive the Spirit of adoption to long and thirſt for God, becauſe he has been pleaſed to let us know that he will take us to heaven. Converſion means a being turned from hell to heaven, from the world to God. We have not ſo much as aſked a perſon to ſell his all, to leave his ſhop, to lay any thing at our feet: when we talk of being converted from the world, we mean being converted from the love of it: the heart once touched with the magnet of divine love, ever after turns to the pole. I think it is ſaid of a ſun-flower, tho' I queſtion whether it will always hold true, that it turns to the ſun; I am ſure it is true of the Redeemer's flowers that grow in his garden, they not only look to the ſun, but they find freſh life, warmth, and transforming influence from him who is their all in all. Here Chriſtianity appears in its glory; here the work done is worthy the Son of God. To be converted only to a party, is that worth Chriſt's coming from heaven to earth for; that we might have a ſet of principles without having them affect the heart? for to be baptized when young, or as ſome to come out of the water at age, and turn out as bad as ever, is a plain proof of the neceſſity of being baptized by the Holy Ghoſt.
What ſay you to this change, my dear ſouls? is it not god-like, is it not divine, is it not heaven brought down to the ſoul; have you felt it, have you experienced it? I begin to catechize you already, for I could ſpend a whole ſermon in ſpeaking of converſion; but I am afraid thoſe that ſit under the goſpel have more need of heat than light: would to God we had as much warmth in our hearts, as light in our underſtandings! But if there be any of you here that are not yet converted, upon what grounds do you hope for converſion? give me leave to ſay, that you ought to repent and be converted, for till then you never can, never will, never ſhall find true reſt for your ſouls. What wrong notions have people got of converſion! they think it is a wretched thing, and dread being converted; not knowing what it is, they think it is a frightful thing. I knew one ſometime ago, that came to ſome Methodiſts; dear, ſays the perſon, you are chearful, I could be glad if I was a Methodiſt too, if there was a majority of them in the land: but God help us to go to heaven with the minority, if the majority will not follow. But, my dear hearers, there is not a ſingle ſoul of you all that are ſatisfied in your ſtations: is not the language of your hearts when apprentices, we think we ſhall do very well when journeymen; when journeymen, that we ſhould do very well when maſters: when ſingle, that we ſhall do well when married; and to be ſure you think you ſhall do well when you keep a carriage. I have heard of one who began low; he firſt wanted a houſe, then, ſays he, I want two, then four, then ſix; and when he had them, he ſaid, I think I want nothing elſe; yes, ſays his friend, you will ſoon want another thing, that is, a hearſe and ſix to carry you to your grave; and that made him tremble. O if you are Chriſtians, if the Lord loves you, he will put a thorn in your fleſh. I have often thought of what a good man ſays in his Diary, the Lord put a thorn in my fleſh. Among politicians, when they find a man ambitious, they ſay, kick him up, that he may fall and break his neck: ſo it is in every condition; there is not one of you fifty years old, but have had many changes: have not you found thorns even on the roſe that ſmelt ſo ſweet, and thorns perhaps that pricked you ſo cloſely, that you have forgot the ſcent of the roſe by it? and what is all this for, but to teach you that happineſs is only to be found in the Lord. If a ſoul is truly converted, there will be a battle, and an awful chaſm that will never be filled up but with the love of God; and therefore when we ſay, Repent and be converted, it is no more than ſaying, repent and be happy. Indeed we ſhall never be completely happy till we get to heaven. O that every man could ſee the good of every thing of a ſublunary nature drop off like leaves in autumn: God grant this may be known by every one of you.
If it is aſked, why you ſhould repent and be converted? I anſwer, becauſe elſe you can never be happy hereafter. What do you think heaven is? why, ſays the covetous man, I think it is a place full of gold; ſo you think to ſteal ſome of the gold, do you? Others would like heaven very well if there was a good gaming-table in heaven; if there was card-playing in heaven. I have heard of a lady that was ſo fond of gaming, that tho' ſhe had the pangs of death upon her, yet when in the midſt of her fits, or juſt coming out of one, inſtead of aſking after Jeſus, where he was to be found, ſhe aſked, what is trumps? So the gamſter will aſk, where is the backgammon table? where is the box? he will want to ſhake his ungodly hand in heaven; he will ſay, let us have a gaming-table in heaven, where, as he will find, he has loſt the game; that God has damned him without an intereſt in Chriſt. Can two walk together unleſs they are agreed? If you die and do not love God here, if you cannot love praying to God here, and cannot watch one hour, ſuppoſe you was to be ſtruck by death and be taken to heaven, there is no ſuch language & amuſement there, what would you do? Why, ſay you, theſe Methodiſts are preſumptuous people, they can tell us whether we are to go to heaven or no. Good Mr. Rogers, a Welſh Boanerges, preaching in the mountains, ſaid, Chriſt is heaven, if I worſhip God here, and do all to God, and for God, without any hopes of reward upon the earth. My dear brethren, the devils would never be troubled with ſuch a wretch in hell, he would ſet all hell in an uproar; if a true Methodiſt was to go to hell, the devil would ſay, turn that Methodiſt out, he is come to torment us: therefore, you muſt be converted if you will go to heaven. Dr. Scott ſays, if a natural man was to be put into heaven, it would be ſuch a hell to him, that he would be glad to go to hell for ſhelter: angels they hate, God they hate; and as Adam was afraid to meet with God when he firſt fell from him, ſo his ſons hate God and flee away.
I mention one thing more, which is, that you muſt be converted, or be damned, and that is plain Engliſh, but not plainer than my Maſter made uſe of, He that believeth not ſhall be damned. I did not ſpeak that word ſtrong enough that ſays, He that believeth not ſhall be damned; that is the language of our Lord; and it is ſaid of one of the primitive preachers, that uſed to ſpeak the word damned ſo that it ſtruck all his auditory. We are afraid of ſpeaking the word damned for fear of offending ſuch and ſuch a one; at the ſame time they deſpiſe the miniſter for not being honeſt to his maſter. Some have ſaid, and ſtand to it, that hell is only a temporary puniſhment: Who told them ſo? A temporary puniſhment! nothing but a guilty conſcience. O go to Bedlam! Do aſk a child of God what he feels when his Lord is abſent? Aſk the ſpouſe what ſhe felt when ſhe cries, Saw ye him whom my ſoul loveth? Aſk a child of God when he is uſing this plaintive language, Why ſtandeſt thou afar off, O Lord? and he will tell you, it is hell to my ſoul to be but one moment without the preſence of my beloved. And if his abſence for a quarter of an hour can ſcarce be borne by a child of God, what muſt that ſoul undergo that is commanded to depart from him forever? and yet theſe very words were ſaid to thoſe that thought they bid fair for heaven; to theſe Jeſus ſays, I know ye not. God grant you may never know the meaning of theſe words by awful experience! Now, what ſay you? I could make a hundred heads more, but I chuſe to make as few as poſſible, that you may remember them. I ſay, converſion makes you happy hereafter, and without it you are damned forever.
Are theſe things ſo? why then, my dear hearers, do you think there can be any objection raiſed againſt converſion, do you think there can be any argument raiſed againſt turning to God directly? Is there any perſon here that will give himſelf time to conſider a moment that will not ſay, though you ſpeak in a rough, incoherent manner, yet there is ſome truth in what you ſay; I believe men ought to be converted, but the common ſaying is, I don't care to be converted yet; we think it is time enough to be converted. Is not this acting like the cardinal, when told he was elected pope, and deſired to come that night and have the honor of pope conferred on him; becauſe it was pretty late ſaid, it is not a work of darkneſs, I will put it off till the morning; before which they choſe another pope, and he loſt his triple crown. You may think to put it off till the morning, though before the morning you may be damned. Pray why will you not be converted now? if you was in priſon, & a perſon would take you out, you would chuſe to be let out to-night before morning, that you might ſleep the better; why will you not do that for your ſoul you would for your body? Well, I would be converted but I ſhall be laughed at: ſuppoſe you was to have it promiſed, you ſhould have a ten thouſand pound lottery ticket, but you muſt be laughed at all your life-time; there is none but would ſay, give me ten thouſand pounds, and call me Methodiſt as long as I live: ſo if you loved God and your ſouls, you would ſay, give me God and call me what you will. You are afraid of being laughed at and nick-named, and ſkulk into this and that place, becauſe it does not ſtink ſo much of Methodiſm as this. Put your cockades in your hats, and let the world ſee that you are not aſhamed of God's badge: let the devil and his agents preach to you; they can proclaim their ſin like Sodom; they are not aſhamed of going to balls and aſſemblies, to parties of pleaſure, and ſubſcribing to horſeraces. Is the goſpel the glory of the land, and are you aſhamed of the goſpel? What think you, if you had given a hundred pounds to learn ſuch a trade, would you ſay, I ſhall never attain it! no, you will perſevere, and by giving diligence make an excellent mechanic, an admirable tradeſman; and do you think to go to heaven without ſome trouble? do you think the leopard can change his ſpots, the Ethiopian put his ſkin entirely off? can we have any thing to nouriſh our bodies without the labour of particular perſons? and therefore we are commanded to work out our ſalvation with fear and trembling. Remember our Redeemer will not quench the ſmoaking flax, nor break the bruiſed reed; he will gently lead thoſe that are with young. We are like poor ſwimmers; ſome people will put one foot in and cry oh! and then another, but a good ſwimmer plunges in at once, and comes out braced up: would to God we could do ſo, plunge into God at once, and God will bear up our ſouls indeed.
But ſay you, all in good time, I do not chuſe to be converted yet; why, what age are you now? I will come down to a pretty moderate age; ſuppoſe you are fourteen: & do not you think it time to be converted? and yet there are a great many here, I dare ſay, twenty years old, and not converted. Some are of opinion, that moſt people that are converted, are ſo before thirty. There was a young man buried laſt night at Tottenham Court but ſeventeen, an early monument of free grace! Are you forty, or fifty, is not that time? Is it time for the poor priſoners to be converted that are to be hanged to-morrow morning? if it is time for them, it is time for you, for you may be dead before them. There was a poor woman, but two or three days ago, that was damning and curſing moſt ſhockingly, now ſhe is a dead corpſe, was taken ſuddenly, and died away. God grant, that may not be the caſe with any of you; the only way to prevent it is, to be enabled to think that now is an accepted time, that now is the day of ſalvation. Let me look round, and what do you ſuppoſe I was thinking? why, that it is a mercy we have not been in hell a thouſand times. How many are there in hell that uſed to ſay, Lord convert me, but not now? One of the good old Puritans ſays. Hell is paved with good intentions. Now can you blame me, can you blame the miniſters of Chriſt if this is the caſe, can you blame us for calling after you, for ſpending and being ſpent for your ſouls? it is eaſy for you to come to hear the goſpel, but you do not know what nights and days we have; what pangs we have in our hearts, and how we travel in birth till Jeſus Chriſt be formed in your ſouls. Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken, God help you, ſave, ſave, ſave yourſelves from an untoward generation. To-night ſomebody ſits up with the priſoners; if they find any of them aſleep, or no ſign of their being awake, they knock and call, and the keepers cry, awake! and I have heard that the preſent ordinary ſits up with them all the night before their execution: therefore, don't be angry with me if I knock at your doors, and cry, poor ſinners, awake! awake! and God help thee to take care thou doſt not ſleep in an unconverted ſtate to-night. The court is juſt ſitting, the executioner ſtands ready, and before to-morrow, long before to-morrow, Jeſus may ſay of ſome of you, Bind them hand and foot. The priſoners to-morrow will have their hands tied behind them, their thumbſtrings muſt be put on, and their fetters knocked off; they muſt be tied faſt to the cart, the cap put over their faces, and the dreadful ſignal given: if you were their relations would not you weep? don't be angry then with a poor miniſter for weeping over them that will not weep for themſelves. If you laugh at me, I know Jeſus ſmiles. I cannot force a cry when I will; the Lord Jeſus Chriſt be praiſed, I am free from the blood of you all; if you are damned for want of converſion, remember you are not damned for want of warning. Thouſands that have not the goſpel preached to them, may ſay, Lord, we never heard what converſion is; but you are goſpel-proof; and if there is any deeper place in hell than other, God will order a goſpel-deſpiſing Methodiſt to be put in there. You will have dreadful torments; to whom ſo much is given, much will be required. How dreadful to have miniſter after miniſter, preacher after preacher, ſay, Lord God, I preached, but they would not hear. Think of this, profeſſors, & God make you poſſeſſors!
You that do poſſeſs a little, and are really converted, God convert you and me every hour in the day; for there is not a believer in the world, but has got ſomething in him that he ſhould be converted from; the pulling down of the old houſe, and building up the new one, will be a work till death. Do not think I am ſpeaking to the unconverted only, but to you that are converted. God convert you from lying a-bed in the morning; God convert you from your conformity to the world; God convert you from lukewarmneſs; God convert us from ten thouſand things which our own hearts muſt ſay we want to be converted from; then you will have the Spirit of the living God. Do not get into a curſed Antinomian way of thinking, and ſay, I thank God, I have the root of the matter in me: I thank God, that I was converted twenty or thirty years ago; and once in Chriſt always in Chriſt; and though I can go to a publichouſe and play at cards, or the like, yet, I bleſs God, I am converted. Whether you was converted formerly or not, you are perverted now; and may God convert you all to cloſe Chriſtianity with God!
You that are old profeſſors, don't draw young ones back from God, by ſaying, ah! you will come down from the mount by and by; you will not always be ſo hot; and inſtead of encouraging poor ſouls, you will pull them down, becauſe you have left your firſt love: would you have Jeſus Chriſt catch you napping, with your lamps untrimmed?
O ye ſervants of the moſt high God, if any of you are here to-night, though I am the chief of ſinners, and the leaſt of all ſaints, ſuffer the word of exhortation. I am ſure I preach feelingly now; God knows I ſeldom ſleep after three in the morning; I pray every morning, Lord, convert me, and make me more a new creature to-day. I know I want to be converted from a thouſand things, and from ten thouſand more: Lord God, confirm me; Lord God, revive his work.
You young people, I charge you to conſider; God help you to repent and be converted, who woos and invites you. You middle-aged people, O that you would repent and be converted. You old grey-headed people, Lord make you repent and be converted, that you may thereby prove that your ſins are blotted out. O I could preach till I preached myſelf dead; I could be glad to preach myſelf dead, if God would convert you! O God bleſs his work on you, that you may bloſſom and bring forth fruits unto God. Amen and Amen.