1. But then know, of all eftates in the world, none fo fearful, fo damnable,as the unbeleeving eftate. A man may lofe every farthing of his inheritance, and yet faith will bring bim to heaven; he may lofe every friend that he hath, and yet faith may bring him to heaven; He may lofe every spirit in his members, and every drop of blood in his body, and yet faith may bring him to heaven, He may be as poor as fob, as diftreffed as David, as fick as Lazarus, as forfaken as Paul, as derided as Chrift, and yet faith may bring his foul to heaven. But if a man had as much wifdome as Solomon, greatnese as Nebuchadnezzar, ftrength as Samplon, dayes as Metbufalah, riches as Dives; were his dwellings like the doors of the Sanctuary, and fhaped into the most imaginable Paradife of all exquifite and earthly delights. If yet his foul remained, and expired unbelieving, if he had not faith, His unbelieving soul shall be caft out into the lake which burnes with fire and brimstone, Revel. 21. 8.

2. Nay again, A man may (perhaps) be guilty of many fins, and thofe very fowle, high, and crying, he hath perhaps been an Idolater, or else an Adulterer, or elle a Blafphemer, or elfe a Perfecutor, yea even of Chrift, yet upon his repentance and faith in Chrift his foul shall be faved in the day of the Lord. For no former finnes fhall prejudice the foul, which is now truly turned from them, and hath by faith yeilded up it felf to Chrift: But the unbeleeving perfon, hath every finne and every guilt upon a fevere and fure account; he rejects his own fatisfacti ons by refufing Chrift: The Law of God will fue him cut for every rebellion, and the juftice of God will break out upon him for all his iniquities and confcience,will give up all his guilts; and because he is unbelieving, vengeance to the utmost shall cease on him, and there is none to deliver him, nor he ever able to deliver himself. Unbelief it bindes all the finnes upon the foul, and condemnation faft unto the finnes: It leaves the finning foul naked to the eye of divine Juftice, neither hath the foul any Shelter which is out of Chrift. O thou who wilt not kisse the Sunne now, who wilt not have Chrift to rule thee, who depifeft the tender love of God, the precious blood of Chrift, who wilt receive him for thy Prieft, for thy Prophet, for thy King; In the laft day thou shalt curfe thy heart, and accurfe thy fins

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and cry to the mountaines, but they will not cover thee, to mercy, but that will not pitty thee, to Chrift, but he will not regard thee; to Justice, but it will not heare thee; thou wouldst not believe, thou wouleft not receive Chrift as Lord and Saviour, but thou wouldst have the love of fin, and therefore thou shalt have the portion of a finner, thou shalt not fee life, but the wrath of God Shall abide upon thee.

Nay, if the father hath given and offered unto thee his own Sonne, and thou harden thy heart by unbelief, thou wilt not take him upon thofe termes, I tell thee in the name of the Lord fe fus, that if thou wilt thus bid Chrift farewell, thou doft bid God farewell, all mercy farewell, all falvation farewell, all hope of it farewell and thou bindeft all thy finnes upon thy foul, aud all the cuife of the Law upon thy foul; Woe unto thee, its better thou hadst never been borne? If thou haft any fenfe as an ordinary creature, any reason as a man, any understanding as a Chri. ftian, any true ettimation of an immortal foul, any conceptions of heaven, or hell; if falvation be any comfortable thing, if damnation be any miferable thing; then, Ibeseech thee, I beleech thee, labour for faith. get out of an unbelieving condition; thou per theft if thou ftay'ftthere,thou art loft for ever, be that believes not shall be damned laid the Prince of falvation, O repent and believe, why will you die, O house of Ifrael?

Confider, throughly of the love of God in giving Chrift, and of 2. Motive. the love of Chrift in giving himself, and perhaps this may perfwade thee to labour for faith.

The love of God in giving of Chrift. See Joh. 3. 16. God fo loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life, 17. For God fent not his Sonne into the world to condemne. the world, but that the world through him might be fa ved.

Óthis love of God to finners: To give his Son, and not a fervant, his own Son, and no another,his only Son,and not a fecond, his only begotten Son, and not an adopted childe, and that not for any ill, but for good; he did not fend him as an enemy, but as a friend, not to deliver a poor and mean good, but the best and highest good, to fave us; not to deliver us from an ordina ry danger, but from condemnation; Yea, and he is fent, and

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given

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given, he was not fought by us, but given by him; Yea, and no way deferved, but freely given; yea, and given to us, not friends, but enemies.

Thou haft bewed this day (faid Saul to David 1 Sam. 24.18) How that then haft dealt well with me, forafmuch as when the Lord. bad delivered me into thine hand, thou killedft me not. 19. For if a man finde his enemy, will he let him go well away? Thus here 'twixt man and man, but faith the Apostle) God commendeth bis love towards us in that whiles we were yet finners Chrift dyed for Now, fhall all this love be in vaine? fhall God think of a Chrift and we país by him? fhall be give a Saviour, and we reject him? fhall he bring falvation to our doores, and we not accept of it? Why? you need my Son, and you are damned if you take him not, and I freely offer him unto you, that you may be faved, and fhall not we strive for faith to receive him?

The Love of Chrift: O, how wonderfull was his love to us! it was not a love to the fallen Angels, but to fallen man, and fuch a love to fallen man as the like cannot be found. He laid a fide his glory to do us good, he humbled himself to raise us, be be came poor to enrich us; he fafted and prayed and endured the contradiction of finners, Reproaches,Crucifying, Wrath, Bloody agon ies, Conflicts with Satan, forrows in his foul piercings in his body, and a bitter death to fatis fie for us, and to reconcile us, and fhall we not accept of him? fhall all this be in vaine? Why doeft thou not heare Chrift calling and crying out unto thee,never were any forrowes like my forrowes, never was any love like to my love. Ó unbelieving and finning foul! look upon me, why doeft thou paffe by why doeft thou hide thine eyes from me? why doest thou ftop thine eares at me? I am the Saviour of finners, and there is none else befides me; thy own miferies might caufe thee to look up and embrace me; And let my love unto thee a little draw thee, move thee, melt thee. Haft thou not heard of the revilings and fcoffes which Lufteined?my love to thy foul made me a willing patient; Haft thou not heard of the agonies of my foul, which made me to sweat drops of blood, and my foul was exceeding heavy even to the death?yet my love to thy foul made me willing to drink that cup: Haft thou not heard of that defertion, and of that wrath which made me to cry out,my God, my God, why hast thou for

Saken

faken me? And yet my love to thy foul made me to paffe through it: Haft thou not heard of that accurfed and defpitfull death which I was put to; numbred with tranfgreffors, caft out of the City, nailed to the croffe, pierced through the heart? and yet my love to thy foul, made me to poure out my foul an offering for thy fins. Why! and fhall I veile my glory under the condition of a fervant in vaine? fhall I combate, and conquer Satan in vainė? fhall I beare the fcorne of men, the wrath of God, the terrors of death, the curfe of the Law, in vaine? was not all this for thee, fhouldft not thou have fufteined all this, if I had not and must thou not, if thou refuseft him who hath done it?and yet wile thou prefer thy fins before me? yet wilt thou not accept of me? yet wilt thou not get faith to receive me? have I fought thee free ly, bought thee fo dearly,and thou neglect and refuse me lo eafily?

Thirdly, confider, thon haft extreame need of a Lord Jesus 3. Motives (brift.

Excellency prevailes much with an ingenious nature, and neoffity with the worst: when the Lepers faw that they must either venture their lives or die,they would out into the Camp;when the Prodigal faw he muft familh abroad, or repaire home, he would then back to his fathers boufe. Why Brethren ! the Captive doth not more need a Redeemer, and the fick doth not more need a Phyfician,then the finner doth need a Chrift and a Saviour.

Were we in Adams created innocency, then we need not to look after a Saviour, but we are fallen, but we are broken, but we are fold under fin, but we are tranfgrefors from the womb but we are by nature the children of disobedience

wrath.

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Had we any stock left in our hands to fet up our broken fouls againe, had we any strength to repaire our loffe, to recover our good, to purchase our own peace and falvation, but we are dead in trefpaffes, Eph. 2. 1. we all fall short of the glory of God, Rom. 3.23. we are all without strength, Rom. 5.6.

Could any thing be a Plank to the Shipwrack, but Christ, or an band to lay bold on the rock, but faith then we needed not to give such diligence for faith to believe; but there is no falvation

. Motive,

in any other name, and there is no quality but faith to get us into Chrift.

It is not the confidence which thou mayeft put upon the faith. of another, which will do it:as every mans foul is for his own body, fo every mans faith is for his own foul; the wife virgins bad no more oile then would ferve their own Lamps; and no mans faith is more then enough for himself: Though Chrift can fave many, yet faith faves him only who hath it.

It is not the confidence of a naked decree which will do it, if God hath decreed to fave me, I fhall be faved; O no his decrees are his own fecret wayes, and the way which he hath opened to us, is to get farth and to believe in his Son

It is not an empty profeffion, nor the worthleffe acceffe of all the creatures that can enfure or fave thy foul. Only Christ, none but Chrift, thou art wounded, and Chrift is thy plaister; thou art dead, and Chrift is thy life; thou art fold, and Christ is thy ranfome; thou art an enemy, and Chrift is thy peace. The debts are infinite, the curfe great, the juftice of God pure, thy ftrength nothing, and nothing fatisfies and delivers but Chrift, and none hath Chrift but the believer, why then wilt thou not labor for faith?

Fourthly, confider, Christ is every way fitted to thy need: Why! Brethren, gold will ransome a debtor to man, it will not ranfome a finner from the Law, an offender against God. Why! look upon your need aright, and then judge, who but Chrift for a finner.

There is guilt, much guilt lying upon thy foul, and who is the Prieft to fuffer, to offer, to fatisfie, to take away tranfgreffions but Chrift? None can blot out the guilt of fin for us, but he who had not a spot of fin in himself.

There is filth, much filth defiling our natures, poyfoning our: actions, and who is the Prophet to enlighten, to teach, to change, to cleanfe from finfulneffe but Chrift? None can teach us holineffe, and obedience, but he who was Holy undefiled feparated from finners and was obedient to the death.

There is dominion, much dominion of fin, prescribing a Law to our members, fending out all infolent inclinations, holding us