But must this be the Sentence I must leave upon you all, that at the beginning of this Text had no love to Jesus Christ? What, is there not one amongst you all that can say, Before I did love my Pleasures, but now I love Christ? I did love my Sin, but now I love my Lord and Saviour? My love is turned into another Channel? I have found another object for my love? I would not for a thousand Worlds have died ⟨p. 213⟩before I had sincere love to Christ? Not only one, but many of you, can say so, or else ye have basely dissembled, both with God, and this Congregation. Many of you that did not love the Lord Jesus Christ, now do, or ye have been wretched Hypocrites, while ye have been Hearers of these Sermons; for what did ye mean by all those Bills that ye did give in, day after day, ten or twenty in a day, acknowledging your former Sin, till now, in loving other things, and not Christ? Why did ye say, Ye never were convinced of the necessity of loving Christ before? I beseech you, Why have ye so many, and so often, with such earnest Requests, even for Jesus sake, and as we had any love for your Souls, desire Me, and the Congregation, to beg with Importunity, that God would give you such an Heart now, that ye might love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity; above all, with a Superlative Love, with a Predominant Love, with all your Heart, and with all your Soul, that you might not be Anathema when Maranatha? Were not these your own Words? Did not the Congregation hear them Read? When I reviewed your Papers at Home, did not I find these Words, and such like, whereby ye did express the former Condition, and the present Desires of your Souls? Tell me then, were ye in good earnest, or did ye jest with God and Men, in desiring Prayers that ye might so love the Lord Jesus? If so, repent of your Hypocrisy; lament your double Dealings; bitterly bewail such cursed Dissemblings. If ye were in earnest, and your Hearts, as well as your Hands, did guide your Pens, in Writing such Desires, and ye have indeed changed your Love; or rather, God hath turned your Love from Sin unto ⟨p. 214⟩his Son, from the World unto himself, I shall have cause to bless God that I Preached, and ye heard what was spoken of this subject; then are ye my Joy, and Crown, and Rejoicing, both now, and at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But must this be the Sentence I must leave upon you all, that at the beginning of this Text had no love to Jesus Christ? What, is there not one amongst you all that can say, Before I did love my Pleasures, but now I love Christ? I did love my Sin, but now I love my Lord and Saviour? My love is turned into another Channel? I have found another object for my love? I would not for a thousand Worlds have died ⟨p. 213⟩before I had sincere love to Christ? Not only one, but many of you, can say so, or else ye have basely dissembled, both with God, and this Congregation. Many of you that did not love the Lord Jesus Christ, now do, or ye have been wretched Hypocrites, while ye have been Hearers of these Sermons; for what did ye mean by all those Bills that ye did give in, day after day, ten or twenty in a day, acknowledging your former Sin, till now, in loving other things, and not Christ? Why did ye say, Ye never were convinced of the necessity of loving Christ before? I beseech you, Why have ye so many, and so often, with such earnest Requests, even for Jesus sake, and as we had any love for your Souls, desire Me, and the Congregation, to beg with Importunity, that God would give you such an Heart now, that ye might love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity; above all, with a Superlative Love, with a Predominant Love, with all your Heart, and with all your Soul, that you might not be Anathema when Maranatha? Were not these your own Words? Did not the Congregation hear them Read? When I reviewed your Papers at Home, did not I sind these Words, and such like, whereby ye did express the former Condition, and the present Desires of your Souls? Tell me then, were ye in good earnest, or did ye jest with God and Men, in desiring Prayers that ye might so love the Lord Jesus? If so, repent of your Hypocrisie; lament your double Dealings; bitterly bewail such cursed Dissemblings. If ye were in earnest, and your Hearts, as well as your Hands, did guide your Pens, in Writing such Desires, and ye have indeed changed your Love; or rather, God hath turned your Love from Sin unto ⟨p. 214⟩his Son, from the World unto himself, I shall have cause to bless God that I Preached, and ye heard what was spoken of this subject; then are ye my Joy, and Crown, and Rejoycing, both now, and at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
