Direct. 1. If ever you bring the treaty betwixt Christ and your souls to a happy issue and conclusion, you must, as before was noted, sit down and count the cost, Luke xiv. 28. it will be vain else to engage youi'selves in the profession of religion : it is not Christ's design to draw you under a rash inconsiderate engagement, and so to reap more dishonour by your apostasy and hypocrisy than ever he shall have glory by your profession. No, he would have you foresee and seriously bethink yourselves of all the outward trou- bles and inconveniences you may afterwards meet with for his sake. You are to embark yourselves with Christ, and abide with him in storms as well as in halcyon days; you must follow the Lamb whither- soever he goeth, Rev. xiv. 4. There is no retreating after engage- ment to Christ : '' If any man draw back, my soul shall have no " pleasure in him," Heb. x. 38. It is eternal death by that mar- tial law of heaven, to run from Christ's colours in the day of battle. Well then, retire thyself into the iimermost closet of thy soul ; sit quiet and patiently there, until thou hast debated this matter fully with thy own thoughts, and hast balanced the good and the evil, the profits and losses of religion ; for want of this the church is fiUed with hypocrites, and hell with inconsiderate and rash profes- sors : the more we dehberate the better we shall conclude.
Direct. 2. Having debated the matter over and over in thy most sedate and serious thoughts, let not Satan discourage thee from cast- ing thy soul at Christ's feet with a hearty consent to all his terms, for want of such and sqch qualifications as thou canst not find in thine own soul. It is usual for Satan to suggest at tliis time, the want of greater sorrow and humiliation for sin ; that the soul hath not lain long enough under the humbling work of the law ; that the aggravations of its sins have been such, that there is no hope of acceptance. Free thy soul from these snares of Satan, by the con- sideration of this unquestionable truth ; that Christ expects from thee no more humihation than what produceth such a hearty de- liberate consent as thy will is now to give ; and such a consent once gained, no aggravation of sin is pleadable against the duty of be- lieving.
Direct. 3. Distrust not the sincerity of Christ in those gracious offers he makes unto coming souls. Be satisfied, he speaks his very heai't in them to thee ; the devil labours to sow jealousy and beget suspicions in the hearts of poor convinced sinners, that they will not ^nd such a welcome entertainment with Christ as he seems to pro- mise them in those encouraging scriptures, Mat. xi. 28, 29. John vi. 37. but that something else lies hid in those scriptures, as a mystery which they understand not, and so by shaking the as-
sentinw act, labours to hinder the accepting act of faith. This is a case as common as it is sad. The Lord help poor souls to avoid this snare, lest instead of honouring Christ, by a resolved adherence to him, they make him a liai', and impute insmcerity to the God of truth : F(yr he that belteveth not hath made him a liar.
Direct. 4. Look up to God for power to enable you to come to Christ in this supernatural and difficult work of faith. Do not think faith is of the growth of thine own heart ; " No man can come " unto me, (saith Christ) except my father which hath sent me, " draw him.*" There is a legal spirit working under evangelical pretences in many souls ; they look Avithin them to find that which is quite above them. The apostle points you to the fountain of faith, in Eph. ii. 8. " It is not of yourselves ; it is the gift of " God." It is one of the greatest difficulties in the world to be- lieve. For if the power of God must be owned as the cause of every new degree of faith in the greatest believers in the world, as is plain, Luke xvii. 5. " The apostles said unto the Lord, increase " our faith ;" how much more is the production of faith itself, and the first vital act thereof to be ascribed to the Almighty Power of God?
Direct. 5. Keeping thine eye of expectation upon that Almighty Power, pray and plead with the Lord assiduously and importunately for the exerting that poAver upon thy soul ; and give not over thy suit, until thou feel that power coming upon thee. The time of beheving is a time of earnest pleading thine own danger and necessity ; and the Spirit of the Lord, improving them, will abun- dantly 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 pre- sumption, 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 John iii. 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 thou not said, John vi. 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 en- courage 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 these examples in drawing encouragement from them ; for it was thy very design in recording them, that they might lie so many patterns to all that should hereafter believe on thee, 1 Tim. i. 10. (4.) 0 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 in men, in 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, Gal. iii. 23. here I must speed or perish ; my soul is burdened and wearied ; I know not how to dispose of it, but into thy hands ; nor where to lay the burden of my guilt, but upon thee : If I miss hercy I am gone for ever. (5.) Lord, I am willing to renounce and abandon all other hopes, refuges, and righteousness, and to stick to ^nd rely upon thee only. Duties cannot justify me, tears cannot wash me, reformation cannot save me ; nothing but thy righteous- ness can answer my end ; I come to thee a poor naked creature, saying as the church, Hos. xiv. 3. " Ashur shall not save us^ &c. " for in thee do the fatherless find mercy.'" Thus plead it with God, and still remember you are pleading for life, yea, for your eternal life.