there is no surer evidence of an unconverted state than to have the things of the world uppermost in our aim, love and estimation with the sound convert Christ has the supremacy how dear is his name to him how precious is his favour the name of Jesus is engraved on his heart honour is but air, and laughter but madness, and man is fallen like Dagon before the Ark, with hands and head broken off on the threshold, when once Christ is savingly revealed.

Here is the pearl of great price to the true convert, here is his treasure, here is his hope, this is his glory, my beloved is mine, and I am his. oh it is sweeter to him to be able to say Christ is mine than if he could say the kingdom is mine the Indies are mine

we turn from our own righteousness before conversion man seeks to cover himself with his own fig leaves and make himself whole with his own duties he's apt to trust in himself and set up his own righteousness and to reckon his counters for gold and not to submit to the righteousness of God but conversion changes his mind now he counts his own righteousness as filthy rags he casts it off as a man would the verminous tatters of a nasty beggar now he is brought to poverty of spirit complains of and condemns himself and all his inventory is poor and miserable and wretched and blind and naked he sees a world of iniquity in his holy things and his once idolized righteousness but filth and loss and would not for a thousand worlds be found in it

now he begins to set a high price upon Christ's righteousness he sees the need of Christ in every duty to justify his person and sanctify his performances he cannot live without him he cannot pray without him Christ must go with him or else he cannot come into the presence of God he leans upon Christ and bows himself in the house of his God he sets himself down for a lost undone man without him his life is hidden in Christ as the root of a tree spreads in the earth for stability and nourishment

before the news of Christ was a stale and tasteless thing but now how sweet is Christ Augustine could not relish his once admired Cicero because he could not find in his writings the name of Christ how emphatically he cries, O most sweet, most loving, most kind, most dear, most precious, most desired, most lovely, most fair. All in a breath when he speaks of and to Christ.

In a word, the voice of the convert is, with that of the martyr, none but Christ. the object to which we turn in conversion is God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost whom the true convert takes as his all-sufficient and eternal blessedness a man is never truly sanctified till his heart be truly set upon God above all things as his portion and chief good these are the natural breathings of a believer's heart thou art my portion my soul shall make her boast in the Lord my expectation is from him he only is my rock and the salvation and my glory the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God Psalm 119 verse 57 Psalm 34 verse 2 and Psalm 42 would you be certain whether you are converted or not now let your soul and all that is within you attend have you taken God for your happiness? where does the desire of your heart lie? what is the source of your greatest satisfaction? come then and with Abraham lift up your eyes eastward and westward and northward and southward and look around you what is it that you would have in heaven or on earth to make you happy? if God should give you the choice as he did to Solomon or should say to you as Ahasuerus did to Esther what is thy petition and what is thy request and it shall be granted thee what would you ask?

go into the gardens of pleasure and gather all the fragrant flowers there would these satisfy you? go to the treasures of Mammon suppose you may carry away as much as you desire go to the towers, to the trophies of honour. What do you think of being a man of renown and having a name like the name of the great men of the earth? Would any of these, would all of these satisfy you and make you count yourself happy?

If so, then certainly you are carnal and unconverted. If not, go further, wade into the divine excellences and store up his mercies, the hiding of his power, the depths unfathomable of his all-sufficiency. Does this suit you best and please you most? Do you say, it is good to be here, here will I pitch, here will I live and die? Will you let all the world go rather than this? then it is well between God and you happy art thou O man? happy art thou that ever thou wast born if God can make you happy you must be happy for you have taken the Lord to be your God did you say to Christ as he to us thy father shall be my father and thy God my God?

here is the turning point a sound convert never takes up his resting guard but converting grace does the work and so cures the fatal misery of the fall by turning the heart from its idol to the living God now the soul says Lord whither shall I go? thou hast the words of eternal life here he centers here he settles this is the entrance of heaven to him he sees his interest in God when he discovers this he says return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Psalm 116 verse 7 and he is ever ready to breathe out Simeon's song Lord now let us thy servant depart in peace and says with Jacob when his old heart received the welcome tidings it is enough Genesis 45 verse 28 when he sees he has a God in covenant to go to this is all his salvation and all his desire 2 Samuel 23 verse 5 is this the case with you? have you experienced this? if so then blessed thou art of the Lord God has been at work with you He has laid hold of your heart by the power of converting grace or else you could never have done this

more particularly in conversion we turn to Christ the only mediator between God and man 1 Timothy 2 verse 5 His work is to bring us to God 1 Peter 3 verse 18 He is the way to the Father John 14 verse 6 the only plank on which we may escape the only door by which we may enter John 10 verse 9 conversion brings the soul to Christ to accept him as the only means of life as the only way as the only name given under heaven he does not look for salvation in any other but him he throws himself on Christ alone

Here, says the convinced sinner, I will venture, and if I perish, I perish, if I die, I will die here. But Lord, do not let me perish under the eye of thy mercy. Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. Here I will throw myself, if thou slay me, I will not go from thy door. Thus the poor soul ventures on Christ and resolvedly adheres to him.

Before conversion the man made light of Christ, minded his farm, friends, merchandise, more than Christ. Now Christ is to him as his necessary food, as his daily bread, the life of his heart, the staff of his life. his great desire is that Christ may be magnified in him his heart once said as they to the spouse what is thy beloved more than another? canticles 5 verse 9 he found more sweetness in his merry company wicked games earthly delights than in Christ he took religion for a fancy and the talk of great enjoyment for an idle dream but now to him to live is Christ he sets light by all that he accounted precious for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ

all of Christ is accepted by the sincere convert he loves not only the wages but the work of Christ not only the benefits but the burden of Christ he's willing not only to tread out the corn but to draw under the yoke He takes up the commands of Christ, yes the cross of Christ.

The unsound convert takes Christ by halves. He is all for the salvation of Christ but he is not for sanctification. He is for the privileges but he does not appropriate the person of Christ. He divides the offices and the benefits of Christ. This is an error in the foundation. whoever loves life let him beware here it is an undoing mistake of which you have often been warned and yet none is more common

Jesus is a sweet name but men do not love the Lord Jesus in sincerity they will not have him as God offers to be a prince and a saviour Acts chapter 5 verse 31 they divide what God has joined, the king and the priest they will not accept the salvation of Christ as he intends it, they divide it here every man's vote is for salvation from suffering but they do not desire to be saved from sinning they would have their life saved but they would still have their lusts indeed many defy here again they would be content to have some of their sins destroyed but they cannot leave the lap of Delilah or divorce that beloved Herodias they cannot be cruel to the right eye or the right hand Oh be infinitely careful here, your soul depends upon it.

The sound convert takes a whole Christ and takes him for all intents and purposes without exception, without limitation, without reserve. He is willing to have Christ upon any terms. He is willing to have the dominion of Christ as well as deliverance by Christ. he says with Paul, Lord what wilt thou have me to do? anything Lord he sends the blank for Christ to set down his own conditions

in conversion we turn to the laws ordinances and ways of Christ the heart that once was set against these and could not endure the strictness of these bonds the severity of these ways now falls in love with them and chooses them as a rule and guide forever

for things I observe God works in every sound convert with reference to the laws and ways of Christ by which you may come to know your states if you will be faithful to your own souls therefore keep your eyes upon your hearts as you go along the judgment is brought to approve of them and to subscribe of them as most righteous and most reasonable the mind is brought to like the ways of God and the corrupt prejudices that were once against them as unreasonable and intolerable are now removed the man assents to them all as holy just and good Romans chapter 7 verse 12

How is David taken up with the excellences of God's law? How does he expiate upon the praises both from their inherent qualities and admirable effects? Psalm 19 verses 8 to 10 etc.

there is a two-fold judgment of the understanding the absolute and the comparative the absolute judgment is when a man thinks such a course is best in general but not for him or not under his present circumstances now a godly man's judgment is for the ways of God and that not only the absolute but comparative judgment He thinks them not only the best in general, but the best for him. He looks upon the rules of religion not only as tolerable, but desirable, yea, more desirable than gold, fine gold, yea, much fine gold. His judgment is fully determined that it is best to be holy, that it is best to be strict, that it is in itself the most eligible course and that it is for him the wisest and most rational and desirable choice.

Hear the godly man's judgment. I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right. I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way. Psalm 119 verses 127 to 128

Mark, he approves of all that God requires and disapproves of all that he forbids. Righteous, O Lord, and upright are thy judgments. Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful. Thy word is true from the beginning and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever Psalm 119

see how readily and fully he subscribes he declares his ascent and consent to it and all and everything contained therein the desire of the heart is to know the whole mind of Christ He will not have one sin undiscovered, nor be ignorant of one duty required. It is the natural and earnest breathing of a sanctified heart. Lord, if there be any wickedness in me, do thou reveal it. What I know not, teach thou me. And if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more.

The unsound convert is willingly ignorant. He does not love to come to the light. He is willing to keep such and such a sin, and therefore is loath to know if it be a sin, and will not let in the light at that window. Now the gracious heart is willing to know the whole latitude and compass of his Maker's law. He receives with all acceptation the word which convinces him of any duty that he knew not or minded not before or which uncovers any sin that lay hid before.

The free and resolved choice of the will is for the ways of Christ before all the pleasures of sin and prosperities of the world. His consent is not exhorted by some extremity of anguish, nor is it only a sudden and hasty resolve, but he is deliberately purposed and comes freely to this choice. True, the flesh will rebel, yet the prevailing part of his will is for Christ's laws and government, so that he takes them up not as a toil or burden, but as his bliss. While the unsanctified goes in Christ's ways, as in chains and fetters, the true convert does it heartily and counts Christ's laws his liberty. He delights in the beauties of holiness and has this inseparable mark. He'd rather, if he might have his choice, live a strictly holy life than the most prosperous and flourishing worldly life.

that went with Saul a band of men whose hearts God had touched 1 Samuel chapter 10 verse 26 when God touches the hearts of his chosen they presently follow Christ and though drawn do freely run after him and willingly devote themselves to the service of the Lord seeking him with their whole desire fear has its issues but this is not the mainspring or motion of a sanctified heart Christ does not control his subjects by force but is the king of a willing people they are through his grace freely devoted to his service they serve out of choice not as slaves but as a son or a spouse from a spring of love and a loyal mind

In a word, the laws of Christ are the convert's love, delight and continual study. The bent of his course is directed to keep God's statutes. It is the daily care of his life to walk with God. He seeks great things. He has noble designs, though he fall too short. he aims at nothing less than perfection he desires it, he reaches after it he would not rest in any degree of grace till he were quite rid of sin and perfected in holiness Philippians chapter 3 verses 11 to 14

here the hypocrite's rottenness may be discovered he desires holiness as one well said only as a bridge to heaven and inquires earnestly what is the least that will serve his turn and if he can get but so much as may bring him to heaven this is all he cares for but the sound convert desires holiness for holiness's sake and not merely for heaven's sake he would not be satisfied with so much as might save him from hell but desires the highest degree yet desires are not enough

What is your way and your course? Are the drift and scope of your life altered? Is holiness your pursuit and religion your business? If not, you fall short of sound conversion.

and this which we have described the conversion that is of absolute necessity to salvation then be informed that straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and there are few that find it that there is need of divine power savingly to convert a sinner to Jesus Christ

again be exhorted O man to examine thyself What does conscience say? Does it begin to accuse? Does it not pierce you as you go? Is this your judgment and this your choice and this your way that we have described? If so, then all is well. But does your heart condemn you and tell you of a certain sin which you are living in against your conscience? Does it not tell you that there is such and such a secret way of wickedness that you wish to pursue? such and such a duty that you make no conscience of? Does not conscience carry you to your closet and tell you how sodom prayer and reading were performed there? Does it not carry you into your family and show you the charge of God and the souls of your children that are neglected there? Does not conscience lead you to your shop your trade and tell you of some iniquity there? Does it not carry you to the public house or to the private club and blame you for those loose companies you have kept there, the precious time you have misspent there, the talents that you have wasted there? Does it not carry you into your secret chamber and read there your condemnation?

O conscience, do your duty. In the name of the living God I command you, discharge your office. Lay hold upon this sinner, fall upon him, arrest him, apprehend him, undeceive him. What, will you flatter and soothe him while he lives in sin? Awake, O conscience, what meanest thou, O sleeper? What, have you no reproof in your mouth? What, shall this soul die in his careless neglect of God and of eternity, and you altogether hold your peace? What, shall he go on still in his trespasses, and yet have peace? O, rouse yourself, do your work. Now let the preacher in your bosom speak. Cry aloud and spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet. Let not the blood of his soul be required at your hands.

5. The necessity of conversion. It may be you are ready to say, and what does this stare mean, and are apt to wonder why I follow you with such earnestness, still ringing the same lesson in your ears, that you should repent and be converted. But I must say to you, as Ruth to Naomi, entreat me not to leave thee, or return from following after thee. Where it is a matter of indifference, might you be saved as you are, I would gladly let you alone. But would you not have me concerned for you when I see you ready to perish?

As the Lord liveth before whom I am, I have not the least hope of seeing your face in heaven except you be converted. I utterly despair of your salvation, except you will be prevailed with thoroughly to turn and give yourself to God in holiness and newness of life. As God said, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.

And yet do you wonder why your ministers labour so earnestly for you? Do you think it strange that I am in earnest with you to follow after holiness and long to see the image of God upon you?

never did any nor shall any enter into heaven by any other way than this the conversion described is not a high attainment of some advanced Christians but every soul that is saved undergoes this change

it was the saying of the noble Roman when he was hasting with corn to the city in the famine and the mariners were loath to set sail for foul weather it is necessary for us to sail it's not necessary for us to live

what is it that you count necessary? is your bread necessary? is your breath necessary? your conversion is much more necessary indeed this is one thing the one thing which is necessary

your possessions are not necessary you may sell all for the pearl of great price and yet be a gainer by the purchase your life is not necessary you may part with it for Christ to infinite advantage your reputation is not necessary you may be reproached for the name of Christ and yet be happy yes you may be much more happy in reproach than in repute but your conversion is necessary your salvation depends upon it

and is it not needful and so important a matter to take care on this one point depends your making or marring to all eternity

shall I more particularly show the necessity of conversion in five things

without conversion your being is in vain is it not a pity that you should be good for nothing an unprofitable burden on the earth a mere wart on the body of the universe thus you are while unconverted for you cannot answer the end of your being

Is it not for the divine pleasure that you are and were created? Did not God make you for himself? Are you a man and have you reason? Then think how you came into being and why you exist. Behold God's worksmanship in your body and ask yourself for what purpose did God rear this fabric?

consider the noble faculties of your heaven-born soul. To what end did God bestow these excellences? Was it for no other end than that you should please yourself and gratify your senses? Did God send men into the world only like swallows to gather a few sticks and mud and build their nests and rear their young and then fall away? The very heathen could see farther than this.

Are you so fearfully and wonderfully made, and do you not yet reason with yourself, surely this must be for some noble and exalted end? O man, set your reason a little in the chair. Is it not a pity that such a goodly fabric should be raised in vain? If everly it is in vain, except you are in God, it were better you had no being at all than not to be in Him.

Would you serve your end, you must repent and be converted. Without this you are to no purpose indeed to a bad purpose. For to no purpose our converted man is like a choice instrument that has every string broken or out of tune. The spirit of the living God must repair and tune it by the grace of regeneration, and sweetly move it by the power of actuating grace. Or else your prayers will be but howlings, and all your service will make no music in the ears of the Most High.

all your powers and faculties are so corrupt in your natural state that except you be purged from dead works you cannot serve the living God an unsanctified man cannot work the work of God he has no skill in it he's altogether as unskillful in the work as in the word of righteousness there are great mysteries in the practice as well as the principles of godliness now the unregenerate do not know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven you may as well expect him to read that never learn the alphabet or look for goodly music on a lute from one that never set his hand to an instrument as that a natural man should do the Lord any pleasing service

he must first be taught of God John 6 verse 45 talk to pray Luke 11 verse 1 talk to prophet Isaiah 48 verse 17 talk to walk Hosea 11 verse 3 or else he will be utterly at a loss he has no strength for it how weak is his heart Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 30 he is soon tired the Sabbath what a weariness is in it Malachi 1 verse 13 he is yet without strength Romans 5 verse 6 yea dead in sin Ephesians chapter 2 verse 5 he has no mind to it he desires not the knowledge of God's ways Job 21 verse 14 he does not know them and he does not care to know them Psalm 82 verse 5 he knows not neither will he understand

He has neither due instruments nor materials for it. A man may as well hew the marble without tools, or paint without colours or brushes, or build without materials, as perform any acceptable service without the graces of the Spirit, which are both the materials and the instruments in this work.

Almsgiving is not a service of God, but a vain glory, if it does not spring from love to God. What is the prayer of the lips, without grace in the heart, but a carcass without life? What are all our confessions, unless they are exercises of godly sorrow and unfeigned repentance? What are our petitions, unless animated with holy desires and faith in the attributes and promises of God? what are our praises and thanksgiving unless they spring from the love of God and a holy gratitude and sense of God's mercies in the heart

so that a man may as well expect that trees should speak or look for motion from the dead as look for any service holy and acceptable to God from the unconverted when the tree is evil how can the fruit be good also without conversion you live to bad purpose the unconverted soul is a very cage of unclean birds Revelation chapter 18 verse 2 a sepulcher full of corruption and rottenness Matthew chapter 23 verse 27 a loathsome carcass full of crawling worms sending forth a most noxious stench in the nostrils of God Psalm 14 verse 3

O dreadful case! Do you not see that a change is needful? Would it not have grieved one to see the golden consecrated vessels of God's temple turned into quaffing bowls for drunkenness and polluted with an idle service? And Daniel chapter 5 verses 2 to 3 Was it such an abomination to the Jews when Antiochus set up an image of a swine at the entrance of the temple? how much more abominable then would it have been to have had the very temple itself turned into a stable or a sty and to have the holy of holies serve as the house of Baal this is just the case of the unregenerate all your members are turned into instruments of unrighteousness servants of Satan and your inmost heart into a receptacle of uncleanness you may see what kinds of guests are within by what come out for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies Matthew 15 verse 19 this troop shows what a hell there is within

O abuse insufferable! To see a heaven-born soul abased to such vileness! To see the glory of God's creation, the chief of the works of God, the Lord of this lower world, eating husks with a prodigal! Was it such a lamentation to see those that did feed delicately sitting desolate in the streets? And the precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, esteemed as earthen pictures? And those that were clothed in scarlet, embracing dung-hills? Lamentations chapter 4 verses 2 and 5. and is it not much more fearful to see the only being that has immortality in this lower world and carries the stamp of God become as a vessel wherein is no pleasure and to be put to the most sordid use? O indignity intolerable! Better you were dashed in a thousand pieces than continue to be abased in so vile a service.

not only man but the whole visible creation is in vain without conversion God has made all the visible creatures in heaven and earth for the service of man and man only is the spokesman for all the rest man is in the world like the tongue to the body which speaks for all the members the other creatures cannot praise their maker except by dumb signs and hints to man that he should speak for them man is as it were the high priest of God's creation to offer a sacrifice of praise for all his fellow creatures the Lord God expects a tribute of praise from all his works now all the rest do bring in their tribute to man and pay it by his hand so then if the man is false and faithless and selfish God is robbed of all and has no active glory from his works no dreadful thought that God should build such a world as this and lay out infinite power and wisdom and goodness thereupon and all in vain and that man should be guilty at last of robbing and spoiling him of the glory of all Oh, think of this!

While you are unconverted, all the offices of the creatures are in vain to you. Your food nourishes you in vain. The sun holds forth its light to you in vain. Your clothes warm you in vain. Your beast carries you in vain. In a word, the unwearied labour and continuing travail of the whole creation as to you are in vain. The service of the creatures that drudge for you, and yield forth their strength unto you, with which you should serve their maker is all but lost labour it is hence that the whole creation groaneth Romans chapter 8 verse 22 under the abuse of unsanctified men who pervert all things to the service of their lusts quite contrary to the very end of their being

without conversion your religion is in vain all your religious performances will be lost for they can neither please God nor save your soul which are the very ends of religion Romans 8 verse 8 1st Corinthians 13 verses 2 to 3 be your services ever so specious yet God has no pleasure in them Isaiah chapter 1 verse 14 Malachi chapter 1 verse 10 is not the man's case dreadful whose sacrifices are as murders whose prayers are a breath of abomination Isaiah 66 verse 3 Proverbs 28 verse 9 many under conviction think they will sat upon mending and that a few prayers and alms will set all to rights again but alas sirs while your hearts remain unsanctified your duties will not pass how punctilious was Jehu and yet all was rejected because his heart was not upright see 2nd Kings chapter 10 with Hosea chapter 1 verse 4 blameless was Paul and yet being unconverted all was but loss Philippians chapter 3 verses 6 to 7

men think they do much in attending to God's service and are ready to set him down so much their debtor whereas their persons being unsanctified their duties cannot be accepted O soul, do not think when your sins pursue you that the little praying and reforming your ways will pacify God. You must begin with your heart. If that is not renewed, you can no more please God than one who, having unspeakably offended you, should bring you the most loathsome things in an attempt to pacify you, or having fallen into the mire, should think that his filthy embraces would reconcile him to you.

It is a great misery to labour in the fire. the poets could not invent a worse hell for Sisyphus than ever toiling to get a stone up the hill and then that it should presently roll down again and renew all his labor. God threatens it as the greatest temporal judgments that they should build and not inhabit, plant and not gather, and that their labors should be eaten up by strangers. Deuteronomy chapter 28 verses 30 and 38 to 41

Is it so great a misery to lose our common labours to sow in vain and to build in vain? How much more to lose our pains in religion, to pray, to hear, to fast in vain? This is an undoing and eternal loss. Be not deceived. If you go on in your sinful state, though you should spread forth your hands, God will hide his eyes. so you make many prayers he will not hear Isaiah chapter 1 verse 15

if a man without skill sets about our work and spoils it in the doing so he takes much pains we will give him but small thanks God will be worshipped after his due order if a servant do our work but quite contrary to our orders he shall have stripes rather than praise God's work must be done according to God's mind or he will not be pleased and this cannot be so except it be done with a holy heart without true conversion your hopes are vain the hope of the hypocrite shall perish Job chapter 8 verses 12 to 13 The Lord hath rejected thy confidences. Jeremiah 2 verse 37.

The hope of comfort here is vain. It is not only necessary for the safety but comfort of your condition that you be converted. without this you shall not know peace Isaiah 58 chapter 8 without the fear of God you cannot have the comfort of the Holy Ghost Acts chapter 9 verse 31 God speaks peace only to his people and to his saints Psalm 85 verse 8 if you have a false piece continuing in your sins it is not of God speaking and therefore you may guess who is the author

sin is the real sickness Isaiah 1 verse 5 yea the worst of sicknesses it is a leprosy in the head Leviticus 13 44 a plague in the heart 1 Kings 8 38 brokenness in the bones, Psalm 51 verse 8 it pierces, it wounds, it wracks, it torments 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 10 a man may as well expect ease when his diseases are in their full strength or his bones are out of joint as true comfort whilst living in his sins O wretched man, there can have no ease in this case but what comes from the deadliness of the disease. You shall have the poor sick man saying in his wildness, he is well. When you see death in his face, he would be up and about his business, when the very next step is likely to be to his grave. The unsanctified often see nothing amiss, they think themselves whole, and cry not for the physician. but this only shows the danger of their case.

Sin naturally breeds diseases and disturbances of the soul. What a continual tempest is there in a discontented mind! What a corroding evil is inordinate care! What is passion but a very fever of the mind? What is lust but a fire in the bones? What is pride but a deadly dropsy? Or covetousness but an insatiable and insufferable thirst? What is malice? An envy, but venom in the very heart. Spiritual sloth is but a scurvy in the mind, and carnal security a mortal lethargy. How can that soul have true comfort, which is laboring under so many diseases?

But converting grace cures, and so eases the mind, and prepares the soul for a settled, standing, immortal peace.

great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them. Psalm 119 verse 165

They are the ways of wisdom that afford pleasure and peace. Proverbs chapter 3 verse 17 David had infinitely more pleasure in the word than in all the delights of his court. Psalm 119 verses 103 and 127 The conscience cannot be truly pacified until soundly purified. Hebrews 10 verse 22 cursed is that peace which is maintained in the way of sin Deuteronomy chapter 29 verses 19 to 20

two sorts of peace are more to be dreaded than all the troubles in the world peace with sin and peace in sin the hope of salvation hereafter is in vain this hope is most injurious to God most pernicious to yourself there is death, despair and blasphemy in this hope there is death in it your confidence shall be rooted out of your tabernacles God will up with it, root and branch it will bring you to the king of terrors Job chapter 18 verse 14 though you may lean upon this house it will not sound but will prove like a ruinous building to you which when a man trusts to it falls down about him Job chapter 8 verse 15

there is despair in it where is the hope of the hypocrite when God taketh away his soul Job chapter 27 verse 8 then there is an end forever of this hope Indeed the hope of the righteous has an end, but it is not destructive, but a perfect end. His hope ends in fruition, others in frustration. The godly may say at death, it is finished, but the wicked, it is perished, and may earnestly bemoan himself as Job did, though mistakenly in his case, where is now my hope? he hath destroyed me I am gone and my hope is removed like a tree Job chapter 19 and verse 10

but the righteous hath hope in his death Proverbs 14 verse 32 when nature is dying his hopes are living when his body is languishing his hopes are flourishing his hope is a living hope But others are dying, yea, a damning soul, undoing hope. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish, and the hope of the unjust man perisheth. it shall be cut off and prove like a spider's web Job chapter 8 verse 14 which he spins out of his own barrels but then comes death and destroys it all and so there is an eternal end to all the confidence in which he trusted the eyes of the wicked shall fail and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost Job chapter 11 verse 20

Wicked men are fixed in their carnal hope and will not be beaten out of it. They hold it fast, they will not let it go, but death will knock it off their fingers. Though we cannot undeceive them, death and judgment will. When death strikes his dart through your liver it will ruin your soul and your hopes together. The unsanctified have hope only in this life and therefore are of all men the most miserable. When death comes, it lets them out into the amazing gulf of endless despair.

There is blasphemy in it. To hope we shall be saved, though continuing unconverted, is to hope that we will prove God a liar. he's told you that merciful and compassionate as he is he will never give you never save you notwithstanding if you go on in a course of ignorance and unrighteousness in a word he has told you that whatever you are or do nothing shall avail you to salvation unless you become new creatures now to say God is merciful and to hope he will save you without conversion is in effect to say we hope that God will not do as he says we must not set God's attributes at variance God has resolved to glorify his mercy but not at the prejudice of his truth as the presumptuous sinner will find to his everlasting sorrow

objection but we hope in Jesus Christ we put our whole trust in God and therefore do not doubt that we shall be saved answer this is not hope in Christ but hope against Christ to hope to see the kingdom of God without being born again to hope to find eternal life in the broad way is to hope Christ will prove a false prophet David's plea is I hope in thy word Psalm 119 verse 81 but this hope is against God's word show me a word for Christ for your hope that he will save you in your ignorance in your profane neglect of his service and I will never again try to shake your confidence but God rejects this hope with abhorrence those condemned by the prophet went on in their sins yet says the prophet they will lean upon the Lord Micaiah chapter 3 verse 11 God will not endure to be made a prop to men in their sins the Lord rejected those presumptuous sinners that went on still in their trespasses and yet would stay themselves or say they did upon Israel's God as a man would shake off the briars that cleave to his garment if your hope is worth anything it will purify you from your sins 1 John chapter 3 verse 3 but cursed is that hope which cherishes men in their sins objection would you have us despair?

answer you must despair of ever coming to heaven as you are, that is, while unconverted you must despair of ever seeing the face of God without holiness you must by no means despair of finding mercy upon your thorough repentance and conversion neither may you despair of attaining to repentance and conversion in the use of God's means without conversion all that Christ has done and suffered will be as to you in vain that is it will in no way avail you to salvation many urge this as a sufficient ground for the hope that Christ died for sinners but I must tell you Christ never died to save impenitent and unconverted sinners so continuing

A great divine was accustomed in his private dealings with souls to ask two questions. What has Christ done for you? What has Christ wrought in you? Without the application of the Spirit in regeneration we have no saving interest in the benefits of redemption. I tell you from the Lord that Christ himself cannot save you if you go on in this state. to save men in their sins would be against his trust the mediator is the servant of the Father he shows his commission from him, acts in his name and pleads his commands for his justification John chapter 10 verse 18 verse 36 John chapter 6 verses 38 and 40 God has committed all things to him entrusted his own glory and the salvation of his elect to him Matthew chapter 11 verse 27 and John chapter 17 and verse 2 accordingly Christ gives his father an account of both parts of his trust before he leaves the world John chapter 17 now Christ would quite thwart his father's glory tarnish his greatest trust if he should save men in their sins for this would overturn all his counsels and offer violence to all his attributes he would overturn all God's counsels of which this is the order that men should be brought to salvation through sanctification 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13 he has chosen them that they should be holy Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 they are elected to pardon and life through sanctification 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 2 if you can repeal the law of God's immutable counsel or corrupt him whom the Father has sealed to go directly against his commission then and not otherwise you may get to heaven on this condition to hope that Christ will save you while unconverted is to hope that Christ will prove false to his trust he never did nor ever will save one soul but whom the Father has given him in election and drawn to him by effectual calling John chapter 6 verses 37 and 44 be assured Christ will save none in a way contrary to his Father's will to save men in their sins would offer violence to all the attributes of God to his justice the righteousness of God's judgment lies in rendering to all according to their works now should men sow to the flesh and yet of the spirit reap everlasting life where were the glory of divine justice since it would be given to the wicked according to the works of the righteous to his holiness if God should not only save sinners but save them in their sins his most pure and strict holiness would be exceedingly defaced the unsanctified in the eyes of God's holiness are worse than a swine or viper it would be offering the extremist violence to his infinite purity the purity of his divine nature to have such dwell with him they cannot stand in his judgment so they cannot abide in his presence if holy David would not endure such sinners in his house nor in his sight Psalm 101 verses 3 and 7 can we think that God will should he take men as they are from the mire of their filthiness straight to the glory of heaven the world would think that God was not at such a great distance from sin nor had any such dislike to it as we are told that he has they would be ready to conclude that all together God was such and one as themselves as some of the old wickedly did from the forbearance of God Psalm 1 verse 21 to his veracity God has declared from heaven that if any say he shall have peace though he should go on in the imagination of his own heart his wrath shall smoke against that man Deuteronomy 29 verses 19 to 20 He has declared that they only who confess and forsake their sins shall find mercy Proverbs chapter 23 verse 13 he has declared that they shall never enter into his hill unless they are of clean hands and a pure heart Psalm 24 verses 3 and 4 where were God's truth if not withstanding all of this he should bring men to salvation without conversion oh desperate sinner that dares to hope that Christ will make his father a liar and nullify his word to save you

to his wisdom this were to throw away the choices of mercies on them who would not value them nor were anyway suited to them they would not value them the unsanctified sinner puts but little price upon God's great salvation he thinks no more of Christ than they that are whole do of the physician he prizes not his balm values not his cure but tramples on his blood Now would it stand with wisdom to force pardon and life on those who would return no thanks for them? Will an all-wise God, who has forbidden us to do it, throw his holy things to dogs, and his pearls to swine, that would as it were but turn again and rent him? This would make mercy to be despised indeed. Wisdom requires that life be given in a way suitable to God's honour and that God provide for the securing of his own glory as well as of man's felicity.

It would be dishonourable in God to bestow his choicest riches on those that have more pleasure in their sins than in the heavenly delights that he offers. God would lose the praise of his glory and of his grace if he should cast it away upon those who are not only unworthy, but unwilling. Also, the mercies of God are in no way suited to the unconverted. God's wisdom is seen in suiting things to each other, the means to the end, the object to the faculty, the quality of the gift to the capacity of the receiver. now if Christ should bring the unregenerate sinner to heaven he could take no more felicity there than a beast would if you should bring him into a beautiful room and a society of learned men whereas the poor thing had much rather be grazing with his fellows in the field alas what could an unsanctified man do in heaven? He could not be content because nothing would suit him there. The place doesn't suit him. He would be quite out of his element as a fish out of water. The company doesn't suit him. What communion has darkness with life? Corruption with perfection. Violence and sin with glory and immortality. The employment does not suit him. The anthems of heaven do not fit in his mouth, do not suit his ear. Can you charm a donkey with music? Or will you bring him to your organ and expect that he should make melody for you, or keep time with a tuneful choir? Had he skill, he would not have the will, and so could find no pleasure in it. Spread your table with delicacies before a languishing patient, and it will be but an offence. Alas, if the poor man think a sermon long and serve the Sabbath day, what a weariness is in it! How miserable would he be to be engaged in an everlasting Sabbath! to his immutability or else to his omniscience and omnipotence it is enacted in heaven and enrolled in the decree of the cult above that none but the pure in heart shall see God Matthew 5 verse 8 now if Christ bring any to heaven unconverted either he must get them in without his father's knowledge and then where is his omniscience or against his will and then where is his omnipotence? or he must change his will and then where is his immutability? sinner will you not give up your vain hope of being saved in this condition? Bildad says shall the earth be forsaken for thee? or the rocks be moved out of their place? Job chapter 18 and verse 4 May I not much more reason thus with you? Shall the laws of heaven be reversed for you? Shall the everlasting foundation be overturned for you? Shall Christ put out the eye of his Father's omniscience or shorten the arm of his eternal power for you? Shall divine justice be violated for you? Or the brightness of his holiness be blemished for you?

owing impossibility, absurdity, blasphemy of such a confidence to think Christ will ever save you in this condition is to make the Saviour become a sinner and do more wrong to the infinite majesty than all the wicked on earth or devils in hell ever did or ever could do

and yet will you not give up such a false and blasphemous hope

to save men in their sins would be against the word of Christ we need not say who shall ascend into heaven to bring down Christ from above or who shall descend into the deep to bring up Christ from beneath the word is nigh us Romans chapter 10 verses 6 to 8

are you agreed that Christ shall end this controversy? hear then his own words

except you be converted you shall no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven ye must be born again if I wash you not you have no part in me except you repent ye shall perish Matthew chapter 18 verse 3 John chapter 3 verse 7 John chapter 13 verse 8 Luke chapter 13 verse 3

one word and one would think we're enough from Christ but how often and earnestly does he reiterate it

verily, verily except a man be born again he shall not see the kingdom of God John chapter 3 verse 3 yea, he not only asserts but proves the necessity of the new birth from the fleshliness and sinfulness of man from his first birth by reason of which man is no more fit for heaven than the beast is for the chamber of the king

and will you yet rest in your own presumptuous confidence directly against Christ's words

he must go quite against the law of his kingdom and the rule of his judgment to save you in this state

to save men in their sins would be against the oath of Christ he has lifted up his hand to heaven he has sworn that those who remain in unbelief and know not his ways that is ignorant of them or disobedient to them shall not enter into his rest Hebrews chapter 3 verse 18

and will you not yet believe O Senna that he is in earnest

the covenant of grace is confirmed by an oath and sealed by blood but all must be made void and another way to heaven found out if you are to be saved living and dying still unsanctified

God has come to his last terms with man and has condescended as far as in honour he could man cannot be saved while unconverted except they should get another covenant made and the whole frame of the gospel which was established for ever with such dreadful solemnities quite altered

and must not they be demented who hope that it shall

to save men in their sins would be against his honour God will so show his love to the sinner but at the same time show his hatred to sin therefore he that names the name of Jesus must depart from iniquity and deny all ungodliness and he that hopes of life by Christ must purify himself as he is pure otherwise Christ would be thought a favorer of sin 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 19, Titus chapter 2 verse 12 1st Epistle of John chapter 3 verse 3 the Lord Jesus would have all the world know that though he pardons sin he will not protect it

if Holy David says depart from me all ye workers of iniquity Psalm 6 verse 8 and shuts the doors against them Psalm 101 verse 7 shall we not much more expect it from Christ's holiness?

would it be for his honour to have dogs at the table? or lodge the swine with his children? or have Abraham's bosom become a nest of vipers? to save men in their sins would be against his offices God has exalted him with the offices of being a prince and a saviour Acts chapter 5 verse 31 he would act against both should he ever save men in their sins it is the office of a king to be a terror to evil doers and to praise them that do well he is the minister of God a revenger to execute wrath on him that doeth evil Romans chapter 13 verse 4 now should Christ favour the ungodly so continuing and take those to reign with him that would not that he should reign over them this would be quite against his office he therefore reigns that he may put his enemies under his feet now should he instead lay them in his bosom? he would frustrate the end of his regal power it belongs to Christ as a king to subdue the hearts and slay the lusts of his chosen Psalm 45 verse 5 and Psalm 110 verse 3 what king would take rebels in open hostility to him into his court? What would this but to betray life, kingdom, government and all together? If Christ is a king, he must have honour, homage, subjection. Now to save men, while in their natural enmity, were to obscure his dignity, lose his authority, bring contempt on his government and sell his dear bought rights for naught. again, as Christ would not be a prince, so neither a saviour if he should do this for his salvation is spiritual, he is called Jesus because he saves his people from their sins, Matthew 1 chapter 21 so that should he save them in their sins, he would be neither Lord nor Jesus to save men from punishment and not from the power of sin were to do his work by hearts and be an imperfect saviour his office as the deliverer is to turn ungodliness from Jacob Romans chapter 11 verse 26 he is sent to bless men in turning them from their iniquities Acts chapter 3 verse 26 to make an end of sin Daniel chapter 9 verse 24 so that he would destroy his own designs and nullify his own offices if he were to save men in their unconverted state arise then What meanest thou, O sleeper? Awake, O secure sinner, lest you be consumed in your iniquities, lest, as the lepers, if we sit here we shall die. 2nd Kings chapter 7 verses 3 and 4 Verily, it is not more certain that you are now out of hell than that you shall speedily be in it, except you repent and be converted. There is but this one door for you to escape by Arise then, O sluggard! Make away with your excuses! How long will you slumber and fold your hands in sleep? Will you lie down in the midst of the sea, or sleep on top of a mast? Proverbs chapter 23 verse 34 There is no remedy, but you must either turn or burn. there is an unchangeable necessity of the change of your condition unless you have resolved to abide the worst of it and try matters out with the Almighty if you love your life, oh man, arise and come away I think I see the Lord Jesus laying the merciful hands of a holy violence upon you I think he acts like the angels a lot Then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, lest thou be consumed. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, the Lord being merciful unto him. And they brought him without the city, and said, Escape for thy life, stay not in all the plain, escape to the mountains, lest thou be consumed. Genesis 19 verses 15 to 17 oh how willful will your destruction be if you should yet harden yourself in your sinful state but none of you can say that you have not had a fair warning yet I cannot leave you so it's not enough for me to have delivered my own soul what shall I go without my errand will none of you arise and follow me Have I been all this while speaking to the wind? Have I been charming the deaf adder or allaying the restless ocean with arguments? Do I speak to the trees or the rocks or to men? To the tombs and the monuments of the dead or to the living? If you are men and not senseless stocks, stop and consider where you are going. If you have the reason and the understanding of men, do not dare to run into the flames and fall into hell with your eyes open, but stop and think, and set about the work of repentance. What, men, and yet run into the pit, where the very beasts will not be forced into? What, endowed with reason, and yet trifle with death and hell and the vengeance of the Almighty? Are men only distinguished from brute sin, that these, having no foresight, have no care to provide for the things to come? And will you, who are warned, not hasten to escape from eternal torments? O show yourselves to be men, and let reason prevail with you. It is a reasonable thing for you to contend against the Lord your Maker, do you think? or to harden yourself against his word as though the strength of Israel should lie Isaiah 45 verse 9 Job chapter 9 verse 4 1st Samuel chapter 15 verse 29 is it reasonable that an understanding creature should lose yea live quite against the very end of its being Is it reasonable that the only being in this world that God has made capable of knowing his will and bringing to glory should yet live in ignorance of its maker and be unserviceable to him, yea, should be engaged against him and spit his venom in the face of his creator? Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, and let the creatures without sense judge if this be reason, that man whom God has nourished and brought up should rebel against him. Judge in your own selves. Is it a reasonable undertaking for briars and thorns to set themselves in battle against the devouring fire, or for the pot-shards of the earth to strive at its maker? you will say this is not reason or surely the eye of reason is quite put out and if this be not reason then there is no reason that you should continue as you are but there is every reason in the world that you should immediately turn and repent what shall I say? I could spend myself on this argument oh that you would only hearken to me that you would now set upon a new course will you not be made clean? when shall it once be? reader will you sit down and consider the four mentioned arguments and debate it whether it is not best to turn come and let us reason together is it good for you to be here is it good for you to try whether God will be as good as he says he would in his word or to harden yourself in conceit that all will be well with you while you yet remain unsanctified alas for such sinners Must they perish at last by hundreds? What cause shall I use with them that I have not tried? What shall I do for the daughter of my people? Jeremiah 9 verse 7 O Lord God, help! Alas, shall I leave them thus? If they will not hear me, yet do thou hear me. O that they might live in thy sight, Lord save them or they perish. My heart would melt to see their houses on fire while they were fast asleep in their beds and shall not my soul be moved within me to see them falling into endless perdition. Lord have compassion and save them out of this burning. Put forth thy divine power and the work will be done. 6. The marks of the unconverted. While we keep aloof in general statements, there is little fruit to be expected. It is the hand-to-hand fight that does the execution. David was not awakened by the prophet hovering at a distance in parabolical insinuations. Nathan was forced to close with him and tell him plainly, Thou art the man. Few will, in words, deny the necessity of a new birth, but they have a self-deluding confidence that the work is not to be done now, and because they know themselves to be free from that gross hypocrisy which takes up religion merely for colour to deceive others, and for covering wicked designs, they are confident of their sincerity, and do not suspect that more close hypocrisy in which the greater danger lies, and by which a man deceives his own soul. But man's deceitful heart is such a matchless cheat, and self-delusion is so reigning and so fatal a disease that I do not know which is the greater, the difficulty or the necessity of the undeceiving work that I am now upon. Alas for the unconverted! They must be undeceived, or they will be undone. But how shall this be effected? help, O O searching light, and let thy discerning eye disclose the rotten foundations of the self-deceiver. Lead me, O Lord God, as thou didst the prophet, into the chambers of imagery, dig through the wall of the sinner's heart, and reveal the hidden abominations that are lurking out of sight in the dark. O send thy angel before me to open the sundry wards of their hearts, as thou didst before Peter, and make even the iron gates fly open of their own accord. And as Jonathan no sooner tasted the honey but his eyes were enlightened, O grant, O Lord, that when the poor deceived souls with whom I have to do shall cast their eyes upon these lines, their minds may be illuminated, and their consciences convinced and awakened, that they may see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and be converted, and thou mayest heal them. This must be premised before we proceed, that it is most certain that men have a confident persuasion that their hearts and states are good, whilst yet they are unsound. here the truth himself who shows in Laodicea's case that men may be wicked and miserable and poor and blind and naked and yet not know it yes they may be confident that they are rich and increased in grace Revelation chapter 3 verse 17 there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet are not washed from their filthiness Proverbs 30 verse 12 who better persuaded of his state than Paul while he was yet remaining unconverted Romans 7 verse 9 so that they are miserably deceived who take a strong confidence for a sufficient evidence they have no better proof than barely a strong persuasion that they are converted as certainly as yet they are strangers to conversion but to come closer as it was said to the adherents of Antichrist so here some of the unconverted carry their marks on their forehead more openly and some in their hands more covertly the apostle reckons up some among whom he writes the sentence of death as in these dreadful catalogues which I beseech you to attend to with all diligence for this you know that no whoremonger or unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Ephesians chapter 5 verses 5 to 6 but the fearful and unbelieving and abominable and murderous and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death Revelation chapter 1 verse 8

know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Corinthians 6 9-10

Woe to them that have their names written in this catalogue such may know as certainly as if God told them himself from heaven that they are unsanctified and under an impossibility of being saved in that condition

there are then the several classes that beyond all dispute are unconverted they carry their marks in their foreheads

one the unclean These are ever reckoned among the goats, and have their names, whatever else is left out, in all the aforementioned catalogue.

2. The Covetous. These are ever branded for idolaters, and have the doors of the kingdom shut against them by name.

3. Drunkards. Not only such as drink away their reason, but withal, yea, above all, such as are too strong for strong drink. the Lord fills his mouth with woes against these and declares them to have no inheritance in the kingdom of God Isaiah chapter 5 verses 11 and 12 and 22 and Galatians chapter 5 verse 21

4 Liars! God that cannot lie has told them that there is no place for them in his kingdom no entrance into his hill but their portion is with the father of lies whose children they are in the lake of burnings Revelation 21 verse 8 and verse 27 John chapter 8 verse 44 Proverbs chapter 6 verse 17

5 Swearers the end of these without deep and speedy repentance is swift disruption and most certain and unavoidable condemnation James chapter 5 verse 12 Zechariah chapter 5 verses 1 to 3

6 Railers and backbiters that love to take up a reproach against their neighbor and fling all the dirt they can in his face or else wound him secretly behind his back Psalms 15 verses 1 and 3 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 11

7 Thieves and extortioners, oppressors that grind the poor or defraud their brethren when they have the opportunity these must know that God is the avenger of all such 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 6

O you false and paloining and wasteful servants hear O you deceitful tradesmen hear your sentence God will certainly shut his door against you and turn your treasures of unrighteousness into the treasures of wrath and make your ill-gotten silver and gold to be a torment to you like burning metal on your flesh James chapter 5 verses 2 to 3

8 All that do ordinarily live in the profane neglect of God's worship that do not hear his word that will not call upon his name nor that restrain prayer before God that do not mind their own nor their family's souls but live without God in the world John 8 verse 47 Job chapter 15 verse 4 Psalm 14 verse 4 Psalm 79 verse 6 Ephesians 2 verse 12 and Ephesians 4 verse 18

9 Frequenters and lovers of vain company God declared that he will be the destroyer of all such and that they shall never enter into the hill of his rest Proverbs chapter 9 verse 6 and chapter 13 verse 20

10 Scoffers at religion that make a scorn of precise living, and mock at the messengers and diligent servants of the Lord, and at their holy profession, and make themselves merry with the weakness and failings of professing Christians. Hear, ye despisers, hear your dreadful doom! Proverbs 19.29 2 Chronicles 36.16