( 40) this, you that ~ay you hopt to beJ~ved, !Hutufe God u merciful : You have found mdeed that God i.J merciful) by large experience: But i.f you ~o not learn, and quickly learn to make a br:tter ufe of h1s merctes, abufed mercy W1ll prove your everlafting mi fery : 0 what a reckoning will you have ? What a load to prefs you down to Hell? Unlefs you womld have ufed them better, it had been eafier for you, if thefe temporal mercies had been denyed yot;I : Can that mJn look to be faved hy mercy, that would not be mtreated to co-,Jjent that mercy .fhould j11ve him in the day of falvation ? in the accepted time ? but ferved the Devil with thofe very mercies that w~uldhave faved him? God fendcth you bis mercies to kill your fins, and fandifie you, and engage you to llimfelf; a,nd if you will feed your fins with them, and make them your idols, and for fake God for them, and be falfe to him; to your Covenant. and your duty, and negleCt: chat One thing for which he gave them to you, you do not only lofethem, but rurn them eo a curfe. And,alas,poor finners,what will you have to fly to,to truft in, or to comfort you, when mercy abufed hath not only forfaken you, but falls upon you as a mountain, and feedeth your aggravated endlefs mifery ? . 6. Moreover, whilefi you neglect the One thing nueffary, you neglect Chrifi himfelf, and reject the faving benefic of his blood– fhed, and refufe the healing work of his Spirit, and the precious benefits which he bath otfl!red you in the Gofpel. And how can you efcape if you . neglect fo great falvation ? Hcb. 2 · 3. How will you be faved, when you refufe the only Saviour? There is indeed enough in Chrift to heal and fa.ve the humbled foul, that thirfl:eth for his righteoufRefs and falvation, and valueth and feeketh him a:; a Saviour ~ and if you would thus come to him, · youmight have life, 'fohn 5. 40. But whiles you give your felves to pleafe the fldh, and follow the world, and look fo littleafter Cqrifi, or after the ends and benefits of his fufferings and grace, ChriO: is .as no Chrift to yeu ; and Grace is as no Gr~ce to you ; an.d the Gofpel is as no Gofpel to ·you;. and you wtll ~e never the more faved, then if thetie had no Savtour ever come meo the world, or there had never Grace been given to the world , or t.here had never been promife made , or Gofpd p~eachecl to the world : For Chrifi will not fave them that contmue to neglect him, and fet light by all the mercy that he offereth , and th~ fal– _vationwhich be hat,h pur,hafed, ~n~ 9~ ~~~~~~em~!]~ufe hm1 as ·- -·-·- ·--- - ·· ·--· -- - -·-- -----· - a ~a:
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