3. Believe Ministers, what they preach out of the Word of God▪ it is not their own, but is of Divine Authority, and therefore is true infallibly. Believe in Christ whom they tender to you by the preaching of the Gospel; they call you to repentance, hearken unto them; they hold forth Christ, believe in him, close with him by faith. If you do not repent and believe by their preaching, you will not by any other means, no, though God should send some out of the other world to preach unto you. If a Dives should come from Hell to his wicked brethren, and tell them what torments he felt, and must endure there for ever for such sins as they lived in the practice of, and that they were like to come to the same place if they did not repent, this might affrighten them, but it would not convert them: If they believe not Moses and the Prophets, neither would they be persuaded though one should rise from the dead and preach unto them, Luke 16.31. Suppose that God should send unto you which are wicked from Hell, and let loose one of your wicked companions out of ⟨p. 27⟩the dark prison, where he hath been filled with unexpressible anguish under the sense of Gods immediate wrath, which hath immediately been laid upon him; and he should appear to any of you who are going on in a course of such sins as once he joined with you in, and should come, and should appear to you in the dark, silent night, and awaken you out of your sleep with a hideous noise, and there roar out before you under the sense of the pain which he doth endure, crying out of his drunkenness, his uncleanness, his swearing, and Sabbath-breaking, and should tell you that for such sins he is tormented most horribly, and must be tormented eternally; and that your sins unrepented of will certainly be punished with the like plagues. This might startle you, and scare you (it may be) out of your wits, but it would not convert you from your sins. If you be not persuaded to repent by the preaching of Ministers, who as certainly foretell you of the same eternal Judgements out of the Word of God, which are prepared in Hell for the impenitent, and with whose preaching God hath promised his blessing, which alone can make any means effectual for working repentance; surely the other means without his blessing, which he hath no where promised, would be ineffectual.
3. Believe Ministers, what they preach out of the Word of God▪ it is not their own, but is of Divine Authority, and therefore is true infallibly. Believe in Christ whom they tender to you by the preaching of the Gospel; they call you to repentance, hearken unto them; they hold forth Christ, believe in him, close with him by faith. If you do not repent and believe by their preaching, you will not by any other means, no, though God should send some out of the other world to preach unto you. If a Dives should come from Hell to his wicked brethren, and tell them what torments he felt, and must endure there for ever for such sins as they lived in the practice of, and that they were like to come to the same place if they did not repent, this might affrighten them, but it would not convert them: If they believe not Moses and the Prophets, neither would they be perswaded though one should rise from the dead and preach unto them, Luke 16.31. Suppose that God should send unto you which are wicked from Hell, and let loose one of your wicked companions out of ⟨p. 27⟩the dark prison, where he hath been filled with unexpressible anguish under the sense of Gods immediate wrath, which hath immediately been laid upon him; and he should appear to any of you who are going on in a course of such sins as once he joyned with you in, and should come, and should appear to you in the dark, silent night, and awaken you out of your sleep with a hideous noise, and there roar out before you under the sense of the pain which he doth endure, crying out of his drunkenness, his uncleanness, his swearing, and Sabbath-breaking, and should tell you that for such sins he is tormented most horribly, and must be tormented eternally; and that your sins unrepented of will certainly be punished with the like plagues. This might startle you, and scare you (it may be) out of your wits, but it would not convert you from your sins. If you be not perswaded to repent by the preaching of Ministers, who as certainly foretell you of the same eternal Judgements out of the Word of God, which are prepared in Hell for the impenitent, and with whose preaching God hath promised his blessing, which alone can make any means effectual for working repentance; surely the other means without his blessing, which he hath no where promised, would be ineffectual.
