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

V. Direction.

Fifthly, Keeping thine Eye of Expectation upon that Almighty Power, pray and plead with ⟨p. 223⟩the Lord assiduously, and importunately for the exerting of that Power upon thy Soul; and give not over thy Suit till thou feel that Power coming upon thee: The time of believing is a time of earnest pleading, thine own danger and necessity; and the Spirit of the Lord improving them, will abundantly furnish thee with Pleas, and Arguments to enforce this Suit. Such as these, (1.) Lord, I have thy call and invitation, yea, I have thy command to encourage me to believe; it is not presumption therefore in thy poor Creature to come after thou hast invited and commanded me; hadst thou not encouraged me, I durst not have moved towards thee; Lord, whose Word is it, 1 Joh. 3. 23. is it not thine own? This makes my Faith an act of obedience. (2.) Yea, Lord, I have thy promise as well as thy command, made upon no other condition but my coming to thee; blessed Jesus, hast not thou said, John 6. 37. Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out? An invitation is much, but thy promise is more. (3.) O my God I have not only thy command making it my duty to believe, and thy promise to encourage me to that duty, but I have the examples of other sinners that came unto thee long ago, and thou didst not reject them; nor do I abuse those examples in drawing encouragement from them, for it was thy very design in recording them, that they might be so many patterns to all that should hereafter believe on thee, 1 Tim. 1. 16. (4.) O my God I am shut up under a plain necessity, I have no other way to take, thus stands the case with me, I am beaten off from all other refuges, there is no help for me in Angels nor Men, in ⟨p. 224⟩duties or self-righteousness, in thee only my Soul can find rest. I am shut up to thee as to the only door of hope,