Englands duty under the present gospel liberty from Revel. III, vers. 20

Object. ¹But have you not told us that no sinner can open his own Heart, nor bow his own Will to Christ?

1. 1Object.

Answ. ¹True he cannot convert himself, but yet he may do many things in order to it, and which have a remote tendency towards it, which he doth not do; and so he perisheth not, though he cannot, but because he will not.

1. 1Answ.

Divers things may be done by poor sinners with their own Hearts, which are not done; and though in themselves they are insufficient, yet being the way and method in and by which the Spirit of God usually works, we are bound to do them. As for Example, (1.) Though it be not in your power to open your Hearts to Christ▪ yet it is in your power to forbear the external acts of sin, which fasten your Hearts the more ⟨p. 66⟩against Christ: Who forceth thine Hands to steal, thy Tongue to swear or lye, who forces the cup of excess down thy Throat? (2ly.) Though you cannot open your Hearts under the Word, yet it is in your power to wait and attend upon the external Duties and Ordinances of the Gospel: Why cannot those Feet carry thee to the Assemblies of the Saints, as well as to an Ale-house? (3ly.) And though you cannot let the Word effectually into your Hearts, yet certainly you can apply your minds with more attention and consideration to it than you do: Who forces thine Eyes to wander, or closes them with sleep, when the awful matters of eternal Life and Death, are founding in thine Ears? (4ly.) Though you cannot open your Hearts to embrace Christ, yet certainly you can reflect upon your selves when the obvious characters of a Christless state are plainly held forth before your Eyes; God hath given you a self-reflecting power; The spirit of a Man knoweth the things of a Man,