If when he understandeth these things, he be not moved by them; or if you find that the stop lieth in his will and affections, and in the hardness of his heart, and in the interest that the flesh and the world have got in him; Then show him the excellency of the Glory which he neglecteth; and the intolerableness of the loss of it; and the extremity and eternity of the torments of the damned; and how certainly they must endure them, and how just it is for their wilful refusals of grace; and how heinous a sin it is to reject such free and abundant mercy, and to tread under foot the blood of the Covenant: Show him the certainty, nearness and terrors of death and judgment, and the vanity of all things below which now he is taken up with; and how little they will bestead him in ⟨p. 463⟩that time of his extremity. Show him, that by nature he himself is a child of wrath, and enemy to God; and by actual sin much more: Show him the vi•e and heinous nature of sin; the absolute necessity he standeth in of a Saviour; the freeness of the promise; the fullness of Christ; the sufficiency of his Satisfaction; his readiness to receive all that are willing to be his; the Authority and Dominion which he hath purchased over us: Show him also the absolute necessity of Regeneration. Faith and Holiness of life; how impossible it is to have Salvation by Christ without these; and what they are, and the true nature of them. If when he understandeth all this, you find his Soul enthralled in presumption and false hopes, persuading himself that he is a true Believer, and pardoned, and reconciled, and shall be saved by Christ, and all this upon false grounds, or merely because he would have it so, (which is a common case:) Then urge him hard to examine his state: show him the necessity of trying; the danger of being deceived; the commonness and easiness of mistaking through the deceitfulness of the heart; the extreme madness of putting it to a blind adventure; or of resting in negligent or wilful uncertainty: Help him in trying himself: Produce some undeniable Evidences from Scripture: Ask him, Whether these be in him or not? Whether ever he found such workings or dispositions in his heart? Urge him to a rational answer: do not leave him, till you have convinced him of his misery: and then seasonably and wisely show him the remedy. If he produce some common gifts, or duties, or works;
If when he understandeth these things, he be not moved by them; or if you find that the stop lieth in his will and affections, and in the hardness of his heart, and in the interest that the flesh and the world have got in him; Then shew him the excellency of the Glory which he neglecteth; and the intolerableness of the loss of it; and the extremity and eternity of the torments of the damned; and how certainly they must endure them, and how just it is for their wilful refusals of grace; and how hain•us a sin it is to reject such free and abundant mercy, and to tread under foot the blood of the Covenant: Shew him the certainty, nearness and terrors of death and judgment, and the vanity of all things below which now he is taken up with; and how little they will bestead him in ⟨p. 463⟩that time of his extremity. Shew him, that by nature he himself is a child of wrath, and enemy to God; and by actual sin much more: Shew him the vi•e and hainous nature of sin; the absolute necessity he standeth in of a Saviour; the freeness of the promise; the fulness of Christ; the sufficiency of his Satisfaction; his readiness to receive all that are willing to be his; the Authority and Dominion which he hath purchased over us: Shew him also the absolute necessity of Regeneration. Faith and Holiness of life; how impossible it is to have Salvation by Christ without these; and what they are, and the true nature of them. If when he understandeth all this, you find his Soul inthralled in presumption and false hopes, perswading himself that he is a true Believer, and pardoned, and reconciled, and shall be saved by Christ, and all this upon false grounds, or meerly because he would have it so, (which is a common case:) Then urge him hard to examine his state: shew him the necessity of trying; the danger of being deceived; the commonness and easiness of mistaking through the deceitfulness of the heart; the extream madness of putting it to a blind adventure; or of resting in negligent or wilful uncertainty: Help him in trying himself: Produce some undenyable Evidences from Scripture: Ask him, Whether these be in him or not? Whether ever he found such workings or dispositions in his heart? Urge him to a rational answer: do not leave him, till you have convinced him of his misery: and then seasonably and wisely shew him the remedy. If he produce some common gifts, or duties, or works;
