t t o DireE1ionsforgetting and /eeflii dayof their converfion, then fome others do attain in many years And'thofe may know the time of their. true Converton, both becáufe the efe ft was fodif, cernable, and becaufe the fuddennefs makes the change more fen6ble and obfervable. But this is not the ordinary còurfe. Ordinarily Conviâions Fe long on the foul before they tome to a true converfion. Confcience is wounded, and Minting long, and long grudgingagainft our f nfull and negligent court;sand tellsn ; us of the Necefsity òf Chrift and a holy life, before we flncerely obey Confcience, and give up our felves toChrift, We fel- domyield to the firft conviáionor perfwafion. 1 he Flefhhath ufually too long time given it to plead its own Caufe ; and to fay to the Soul, gilt thou forfakeall thy pleafureandmerry company and courfes? Wilt thou beggar thyPelf? or make thy felfa(corn and stockingflock,to the world ? Art thou ever able to hold out in fó firic`I t courfe ? and to be undone ? and tofor fake all, and lay down thy life for Chrif ? Is it not better venture thy felf in thefame way as thou haft gone in, as well as others do, and as fo many of thy fore - fathers havedone before thee ? Under fuch fintul de- liberations as thefe we ufually continue long before we fullyRefolve . And many demurs and delayes wé make before we conclude to take Chrift on the terms that he is offered to us. Now I makenodciubt btu molt or many Chriftians can remember how Oad whenGod ftirred their Confciences; and wakened them from their fecurity , and made them look about them, and roufed them out of their natural Lethargy : Some can tell what Sermon firfi did it: Others canremember by what degrees and itepsGod was
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=