A69449:51
The doctrine & directions but more especially the practice and behaviour of a man…The doctrine & directions but more especially the practice and behavior of a man…
The doctrine & directions but more especially the practice and behaviour of a man in the act of the new birth A treatise by way of appendix to the former. By Isaac Ambrose, minister of Christ at Preston in Amounderness in Lancashire.The doctrine & directions but more especially the practice and behavior of a man in the act of the nevv birth A treatise by way of appendix to the former. By Isaac Ambrose, minister of Christ at Preston in Amounderness in Lancashire.
London: printed by J.F. for Nathanael Webb and William Grantham, 1650
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
3. The Lord doth not only command a poor sinner to come in, but when he is nice in this case, saying, There is mercy with God, but not for me; the Lord then followeth him still, and sends another cord after him, that if it be possible he may win him, and woo him to receive mercy of him: If command therefore prevail not, he entreats and beseeches him to come and receive mercy, and this (me thinks) should move the hardest heart under heaven. We (saith the Apostle) are ambassadors for Christ, as 1though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christs stead, be reconciled unto God: rather then you should go away from Christ, even Mercy it self will come and kneel down before you, and beseech you, and entreat you, for the Lord Jesus sake to pity your poor souls, and to receive pardon for your sins: A sinner is not able to comprehend this, but he begins to be at a stand, and at amazement, What, that the Lord should beseech him! O that thou wouldst receive pardon for thy sins, and be blessed for ever! Good Lord (saith the Soul) is this possible, that the great King of Heaven should come and beseech such a Traitor, such a Rebel as I am, to take pardon? That a King on Earth should proclaim a pardon to some notorious Traitor, this were much; but that the King of Heaven should lay down his Crown, and come creeping to me, and beseech me (on his knee as it were) to take mercy; this is a thing beyond all expectation: What, shall Heaven stoop to earth? shall Majesty stoop to misery? shall the great God of Heaven and Earth, that might have condemned my soul, and if I had perished and been damned, might have took glory by my destruction—Is it possible, is it credible, that this God should not only entertain me when I come, and command me for to come, but entreat and beseech me to come and receive mercy from him? O the depth of the incomprehensible love of God! Imagine you saw God the Father entreating you, and God the Son beseeching you, as he doth this day, Come now, and forsake your sins, and take mercy, which is prepared for you, and shall be bestowed upon you: Would not this make a soul think thus with it self, What, for a Rebel? not only to have mercy offered, but to be entreated to receive mercy, it were pity (if I will not take it) but I should go to Hell and be damned for ever. The Lord he complains, Why will ye dye?
3. The Lord doth not onely command a poor sinner to come in, but when he is nice in this case, saying, There is mercy with God, but not for me; the Lord then followeth him still, and sends another cord after him, that if it be possible he may win him, and woo him to receive mercy of him: If command therefore prevail not, he intreats and beseeches him to come and receive mercy, and this (me thinks) should move the hardest heart under heaven. We (saith the Apostle) are embassadors for Christ, as