148 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LXVIII.
seek the Lord's favour ? ready to fell flat, and beg terms of grace in and through Christ Jesus ? Eahab, when the Lord had by his mes- sengers threatened destruction to Jericho, only Eahab's house was to be safe. She hanged out a scarlet thread ere the spies were departed, Josh. ii. ; she did not delay till the army came and the city was sur- prised. When the Lord is marching against sinners with vengeance and fury, you cannot come soon enough to God to prevent it, Luke xiv. 32. That king that had twenty thousand marching against him, doth not stay till they were in his quarters, but while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an embassage, and desireth conditions of peace. God is ready to execute all his vengeance and curses of the law ; therefore, while you may, seek conditions of peace. You have been spared long ; it may be for the next sin you may pay for all. A thief that hath long escaped, when he is taken at length, all his villany is recompensed into his bosom ; if he had not stolen the last time, he had escaped. God hath spared you hitherto ; it may be u])on the next sin he will strike you, and hold his hands no longer. If God now strike, in what a woful case would you be ?
4. There was never any that came to God too soon ; many have come too late, the foolish virgins are an instance. When they brought little children to Christ, Christ received them. There are none so little but the great God can form and fashion them into a temple for himself. Usually God chooseth his people from among the youth. There may be some converted in old age, but few ; usually it is in our youth, or as soon as we come to our maturity. Eeason thus : I may be too late, I cannot be too early ; let me no longer dally with God.
Secondly, As to the particular duties which are pressed upon you, let me caution you and direct you.
1. By way of caution.
[1.] When you have any stirrings of heart, any anxious thoughts about your eternal condition, beware you do not believe the devil, that hereafter will be a more convenient season. I shall give directions suitable to the grand enemies of our salvation, the devil, the world, and the flesh, Now, do not believe the devil. This was Felix's case. Paul was reasoning of justice and temperance, graces that he was little accjuainted withal, and Paul quickens all by a remembrance of judg- ment to come, and then Felix trembled. But how doth he put off this heart-work ? Hereafter we shall have * a more convenient season,' Acts xxiv. 25. Oh ! never will it be better with you than now when the waters are stirred. Still there is something in the sinner's way when God hath any business for him. When young, we want wisdom; when old, we want strength; in the middle of business, we want leisure ; in the midst ©f leisure, we are corrupted and want a heart. We are lazy, and then every molehill seems a mountain. Kemember, if the devil can but get us to delay, he hath us fast enough. If he can but get us to put it off to-day, then to-morrow, then the next day, shall be as tliat. Austin, when he had conviction upon him, he prays from his conscience. Lord, mortify my lusts, but not yet. Satan's morrow will never come. There is no end of delays. He tells you of to-morrow and another season, but that season will never come.
[2.] Let not the world choke the word. It is notable the choking
Yew. 60.] sermons upon tsalm cxix. 149
the good seed which was scattered among thorns. Christ expounds it of the world. Now what of the world choketh it ? Mat. xiii. 22, he instanceth in * the cares of the world ; ' and Luke instanceth in ' the pleasures of this life ; ' he adds ' voluptuous living,' Luke viii. 14 ; and Mark hath it more generally, ' the cares of this lite,' Mark iv. 19 ; ' and the lusts of other things choke the word.' The meaning of all those places is this : Many a man hath some beams of light darted into his bosom, and he begins to have serious and anxious thoughts of his eternal condition. Ay ! but then the pleasures and cares of the world interpose, and they must be first served, and so the conviction is lost. Sometimes a man is full of business, and cannot attend to carrying on this work ; at other times he is loath to forego his voluptuous course ; there is some sport he must attend upon, and so the word is lost. When you have conviction upon you, you are under God's arrest ; when you go and get out of the chains of conscience without God's leave, you break prison. All business must give way to your great business, and follow that close till you come to some issue : Mat. viii. 21, ' Follow me,' saith Christ. ' Suffer me first to go bury my father.' ' Nay,' saith Christ, ' let the dead bury the dead, but do thou follow me.' How specious soever the work be, we must call off our souls. Let not these beams of conviction which are darted into your bosom be quenched.