Application. And now Conscience do thine office. Speak out, and speak home to him that heareth or readeth these lines. If thou find any of these marks upon him, thou must pronounce him utterly unclean. Levit. 13. 44. Take not up a lie into thy mouth: speak not peace to him, to whom God speaks no peace. Let not lust bribe thee, or self-love, or carnal prejudice blind thee. I subpoena thee from the Court of Heaven, to come and give in evidence. I require thee in the name of God to go with me to the search of the suspected house. As thou wilt answer it at thy peril, give in a true report of the state and case of him that readeth this book. Conscience wilt thou altogether hold thy peace at such a time as this? I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us the truth. Mat. 26. 63. Is the man converted or is he not? Doth he allow himself in any way of sin, or doth he not? Doth he truly love, and please, and prize and delight in God above all other things, or not? Come, put it to an issue. How long shall this soul lie at uncertainties? Oh Conscience bring ⟨p. 102⟩in th• verdict. Is this man a new man, or is he •iot? How dost thou find it? hath there passed a through and mighty change upon him, or not? When was the time, where was the place, or what was the means, by which this through change of the new birth was wrought in this soul? Speak Conscience. Or if thou canst not tell time and place, Canst thou show scripture evidence, that the work is done? Hath the man been ever taken off from his false bottom, from the false hopes, and false peace wherein once he trusted? Hath he been deeply convinced of sin, and of his lost and undone condition, and brought out of himself, and off from his sins, to give up himself entirely to Jesus Christ? Or dost thou not find him to this day under the power of ignorance, or in the mire of profaneness? Hast not thou taken upon him the gains of unrighteousness? Dost not thou find him a stranger to prayer, a neglecter of the word, a lover of this present world? Dost not thou often catch him in a lie? Dost not thou find his heart fermented with malice, or burning with lust, or going after his covetousness? Speak plainly to all the forementioned particulars: canst thou acquit this man, this woman, from being any of the two and twenty sorts here described? If he be found with any of them, set him aside, his portion is not with the Saints.
Application. And now Conscience do thine office. Speak out, and speak home to him that heareth or readeth these lines. If thou find any of these marks upon him, thou must pronounce him utterly unclean. Levit. 13. 44. Take not up a lie into thy mouth: speak not peace to him, to whom God speaks no peace. Let not lust bribe thee, or self-love, or carnal prejudice blind thee. I subpoena thee from the Court of Heaven, to come and give in evidence. I require thee in the name of God to go with me to the search of the suspected house. As thou wilt answer it at thy peril, give in a true report of the state and case of him that readeth this book. Conscience wilt thou altogether hold thy peace at such a time as this? I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us the truth. Mat. 26. 63. Is the man converted or is he not? Doth he allow himself in any way of sin, or doth he not? Doth he truly love, and please, and prize and delight in God above all other things, or not? Come, put it to an issue. How long shall this soul lie at uncertainties? Oh Conscience bring ⟨p. 102⟩in th• verdict. Is this man a new man, or is he •iot? How dost thou find it? hath there passed a through and mighty change upon him, or not? When was the time, where was the place, or what was the means, by which this through change of the new birth was wrought in this soul? Speak Conscience. Or if thou canst not tell time and place, Canst thou show scripture evidence, that the work is done? Hath the man been ever taken off from his false bottom, from the false hopes, and false peace wherein once he trusted? Hath he been deeply convinced of sin, and of his lost and undone condition, and brought out of himself, and off from his sins, to give up himself intirely to Jesus Christ? Or dost thou not find him to this day under the power of ignorance, or in the mire of prophaneness? Hast not thou taken upon him the gains of unrighteousness? Dost not thou find him a stranger to prayer, a neglecter of the word, a lover of this present world? Dost not thou often catch him in a lie? Dost not thou find his heart fermented with malice, or burning with lust, or going after his covetousness? Speak plainly to all the forementioned particulars: canst thou acquit this man, this woman, from being any of the two and twenty sorts here described? If he be found with any of them, set him aside, his portion is not with the Saints.
