Recommended from Phil. !2. 1 z, 13. 595 your Hearts and Confcienccs, when h bath been perfuading you to enter upon a Cou rfe of Obedience, did you never procraftinate and ufe Delays? Did you uevcr ftiflc the Breathings, _and refift the Motions of the Ho ly Spirit, thinking it time enough to do what lt puts you .upon hereafter ? What nnd I begin fo foon ro ve:o: FlcflJ and Blood? Whar, deny the Pleafi1res of my Lif~ . as form aJ I come to rdifo and tafte them; U'hen Sicknefi and grey Hain admonifb me, a nd teU me I am near Eternity ; when old Age promiftth me, tbat the feveritJ and ftriflm:[ i of Religion jludl not /aft long t• trouble nu, then wifl I repent and believe, ~rm:l. work out my own Salv,uion. Spc:!k truly and deal plainly with your own Corifciencesy have not thefc been the fooliJh. Reafonings of your own Hearts? Have you not often thus promifed God and your own Confciences? And doth not all this imply that you thought you had a Powder to do it? Why did you delay and put it off, if you thought you had no Powder to do it at !aft? Wherefore thou art intxcufabtt, 0 Man, whoever thou arc that wilt not work; it is in Vain to plead thou wanteft Powe r, God will confute thee by thy felf and out of thy own Mouth, What wilt thou fay, thou hadll no Power? Why thou thoughteft that thou hadft Power, and ye t wouldft not work, nor endeavour fo to do; and therefore thy Ruin, if thou per iJhefr, is as wilful_, and thy Condemnation will be as }ufr, as if thou hadft Power and wouldft not work. And this is the Fourth ..Anfwer to this ObjtOion, Men do really believe that they have Power to work, and therefore they are inexcufable if they will not endeavour to put it forth. (5 .) Fifthly, Men will not plead fo foolifuly, no not in matters of far lower Concernment tban the Salvation of their Souls is. Would a Ma fter, when he Commands his Servant to work. take this as a fufficient Excu fe for his Sloth and Idlenefs, that he bath no PoWer to work, till God AC\s and Mo ves him? Why this is a Truth, that he cannot do it unlefs God inable him ; and i t may as well be ob· jec:tcd by your Servants to you, and with more Reafon too, than by you unto God . Pray tell me, what Power have I to Speak one Word, or you to Hear one Word more unlefs God concurs to it? Nay, we are not fufficient to think as of our felves ; yet We do not make this a:n Excufe to forbear th ofe Aaions that arc neceffary. Do we therefore refolve to do nothing becaufe it i s impoffible for us to do any thing unlefs God concur? What llupid and dull Folly is this? No, but we put it plainly and hourly to the Trial; and never could any Olle produce that Man that could ever fay, God was wanting to him in his Concurrence~ when he would have done an Attion. What a miferable ridiculous Task wou ld it be, if in every ACl:ion of our Lives wherein we can do nothing without God , we Jhoul4 frill be queftioning God's Concurrence with us? When you Sit, do you d ifpute whether God will inable you ~o Arife? When you walk, do you ~very Step you t3-ke, queftion whether God will concur to another Step? No, ! Men put thefe ,hings tothi Trial; and though i~be impollible that theyfhould live, move or ftir, till God act and move them, yet this hinders not MeBs endeavours, no nor is it any matter of difcourage-· ment to them. Now why fuould not we do fo inSpirituals as well as in Temporals? Are thy not of greater Concernroent? Do they not more defe rve the Trial? It is true, we can do nothing without God's Concurrence; yet let let us put it to the Trial, whether or no God vrill not concur when we endeavo ur . Certainly that Man muft be for ever namelefs, that can fay, he was truly willi ng and did fincenHy endeavour to do any good Thing, and God did not inable him. · (6.) Sixthly, Confider this, althopgh wicked Men had Power to work out their Salvation, yet they would never do it; and therefore it is a v ain &nd' moft unreafonable pretence for Sloth, to plead want of Power ; for had wicked Men Powe r they would never ObeY.· But how cAn any ont te!J thAt l What, Trot Obty if we had Power l Why no ; and the Reafon is this, becaufe there is no wicked Man in the World that bath done fo much, or that dothfo much as he i s able to do, no not fo much as he is able to do without fpecial Grace and Affifta nce; and therefore, it is not Inability but wilful Sloth that deftroys Men. Sinners ! Ask your own Confciences this Quc:ftion, Was there not one Duty more th at you could have performed? Was there not one Temptation, nor one Corrupt ion. more that you could have refifted? Could you not have Prayed, and Read, a nd Heard, and Meditated more upon Heavenly Things, even then when your Hearts and Thoughts have been vain and worldly, yea, finful and .deviliJh.? Might not that time have bec:n fpent in holy Com·erfe, that you have trifted away in Idlenefs and in doing f f f f f • nothing,
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