We shall seldom meet with one broken with Sin, but how few are broken from Sin also? And hence it is many a tall Cedar that were s•t down in the Table-Book for converted Men, once much humbled, and now comforted; stay but a few Years, you shall see more dangerous Sins of a second Growth; one turns Drunkard, another Covetous, another Proud, another a Sectary, another a very dry Leaf, a ⟨p. 89⟩very Formalist; another full of humorous Opinions, another laden with scandalous Lusts: Woe to you that lament not now; for you shall mourn. Dost thou think that Christ shall ever wipe off thy Tears that sheddest none at all? Dost thou think to reap in Joy, that sowest not with these Showers? Verily God will make his Word good, Prov. 29.1. He that hardens his own Heart, shall perish suddenly; hear this you secure sorrowless Sinners, if ever God's Hand be stretched out suddenly against thee, in blasting thy Estate, snatching away thy Children, the Wife of thy Bosom, the Husband of thy Delight; in staining thy Name, vexing thee with Debts and Crosses, sharp and sore, or lingering Sicknesses; know that all these come upon thee for a hard Heart: But Oh mourn for it now, you Parents, Children, Servants, the Tokens of Death are upon you; desire the Lord to break your Hearts for you: Lie under God's Hammer, be not above the Work, and suffer the Lord to take away that which grieves him most, even thy stony Heart, because it grieves thee least: Meditate much of thy woeful Condition, chew the bitter Pill; remember Death and rotting in the Grave, that many are now in Hell for thy Sins, that Christ must die, or thou die for the least Sin; remember how patient and long-suffering the Lord hath been to thee, and how long he hath groaned under thy Burden, that it may be, tho' he would, yet he cannot bear the Load long: Let these Things be mused on, that thy Heart may be at last sorrowful before it be too late. But Oh the sad Estate of many with us, that can mourn for an Evil, except it be for the greatest, Sin and Death, and Wrath that lie upon them.
We shall seldom meet with one broken with Sin, but how few are broken from Sin also? And hence it is many a tall Cedar that were s•t down in the Table-Book for converted Men, once much humbled, and now comforted; stay but a few Years, you shall see more dangerous Sins of a second Growth; one turns Drunkard, another Covetous, another Proud, another a Sectary, another a very dry Leaf, a ⟨p. 89⟩very Formalist; another full of humorous Opinions, another laden with scandalous Lusts: Wo to you that lament not now; for you shall mourn. Dost thou think that Christ shall ever wipe off thy Tears that sheddest none at all? Dost thou think to reap in Joy, that sowest not with these Showers? Verily God will make his Word good, Prov. 29.1. He that hardens his own Heart, shall perish suddenly; hear this you secure sorrowless Sinners, if ever God's Hand be stretcht out suddenly against thee, in blasting thy Estate, snatching away thy Children, the Wife of thy Bosom, the Husband of thy Delight; in staining thy Name, vexing thee with Debts and Crosses, sharp and sore, or lingering Sicknesses; know that all these come upon thee for a hard Heart: But Oh mourn for it now, you Parents, Children, Servants, the Tokens of Death are upon you; desire the Lord to break your Hearts for you: Lie under God's Hammer, be not above the Work, and suffer the Lord to take away that which grieves him most, even thy stony Heart, because it grieves thee least: Meditate much of thy woful Condition, chew the bitter Pill; remember Death and rotting in the Grave, that many are now in Hell for thy Sins, that Christ must die, or thou die for the least Sin; remember how patient and long-suffering the Lord hath been to thee, and how long he hath groaned under thy Burthen, that it may be, tho' he would, yet he cannot bear the Load long: Let these Things be mused on, that thy Heart may be at last sorrowful before it be too late. But Oh the sad Estate of many with us, that can mourn for an Evil, except it be for the greatest, Sin and Death, and Wrath that lie upon them.
