Gods husbandry

Use 3 But to what purpose do we thus earnestly fight against Hypocrites, with the sword of Christs mouth,¹ wch he hath put into our mouths? Only, only, at least chiefly, if it may be, to convert him, and to make him cease to be an Hypocrite. when he sees the lamentable condition of such kind of men. It is your conversion which we wish, O all ye that have been dissemblers; and your reformation, which we aim at, which we are well assured, can never be effected, but by showing you the woe which is coming upon you. Now therefore, seeing the case of counterfeit Christians is so bad, so hard, so intolerably, so desperately, so inevitably ⟨p. 38⟩wretched, but by turning; we beseech you suffer your selves to be wrought upon, to be converted, to become true, and to receive the Spirit of uprightness, which the Lord of heaven is now ready to pour forth upon you. Be it known unto thee, O thou that hast been hither to but an Hypocrite, that thy case is not altogether irrecoverable, but that thou mayest, if thou wilt not at this time also refuse Gods gracious offer, be made sincere, and so be received into grace. For brethren, be ye well assured of this truth, that when the Lord of heaven sends his servants unto you, in his own name, to call upon you to perform any good duty, tending to your own salvation, that then he is also present in his ordinance, by the gracious cooperation of his good Spirit, to enable you with strength from himself to perform that duty. For Gods ordinances are not idle, neither shall his Word return in vain, but shall be effectual for all for which he sendeth it, and he that desireth not the death of the sinner, but rather that he may turn and live, will effectually turn him from his evil way, if he do not wilfully harden himself therein, and even refuse to be converted. Be willing therefore to be made upright, that thou mayest be so indeed, and be it for certain delivered unto thy soul, that thou shalt be made able to become such, if thou do not stiffen thy self in the natural unwillingness of thy corrupted nature. I demand therefore of thee in the same question that our Saviour used to the sick man that lay at the Poole of Bethesda, Wilt ⟨p. 39⟩thou be made whole?

Vse 3 BVt to what purpose doe we thus earnestly fight against Hypocrites, with the sword of Christs mouth,