104 A CALL TO turn, as if it should say, "What uo I travel and compass the world for, but to declare to men the glory of their Maker, and to light them to do his work? And do I still find thee doing the work ofsin, and sleeping out thy life in negligence? Awake thon that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Ephes. v. 14. "The night is far spent, the day is at hand; it is now high time to awake out of sleep. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord .Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Rom. xiii. 1114. This text was the means of Austin's conversion. ' 7. It is the voice of every mercy thou dost possess; if thou couldst but hear and understand them, they all cry out unto thee, Turn. Why doth the earth bear thee, but to seek and serve the Lord? Why cloth it afford thee its fruits, but to serve him? Why doth the air afford thee breath, but to serve him? vVhy do all the creatures serve thee with their labours and their lives, but that thou mightst serve the Lord of them and thee? Why doth he give thee time, and health, and strength, but only to serve him? W hy hast thou rneat, and drink, and clothes, but for his service? Hast thou any thing which thou hast not received? and if thou didst receive them, it is reason thou shouldst bethink thee from whom, anu to what end and use thou didst receive them. Didst thou never cry to him for help in thy distress, an<l di<lst thou not then understand that it was thy part to turn and serve him, if he would deliver th~e? He hath done his part, and spared thee yet longer, and tried thee another, and another year;· and yet dost thou not turn? You know the parable of the unfruitful fig-tree, Luke xili. 7-9. When the Lord had said, "Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?" he was e~treated
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