greatness of your sin and misery, till you be unfeignedly humbled; and that he would shew you the need of his grace in Christ, till you can thirst after him and his righteousness; and that he would shew you the certainty and excellency of his glory, till your hearts be set upon it above all? O beg hard of God that he would not let you live unconverted any longer, lest death should find you in that miserable state. Beseech him to pardon all your former rebellions and resistance of his Spirit, and now at last to give you that grace that you have set so lightly by; and bring you into the hatred of those ways of sinful pleasure or profit, which had your hearts before. What say you? Are These are the means that God hath appointed to bring you into a state of saving grace. you willing? Are you resolved to use these means, or are you not? If you think that this is too much ado, and that your salvation is not worth it, you may take your ease and go without it. But if God have not given you up to so much unreasonableness, but that you had rather be at the sweet and comfortable pains of duty, than endure the intolerable pains of hell: if you do not set more by the ease of your flesh for a few days, than the ease and peace of soul and body for ever, then take my counsel, and set upon these means without delay. Look who doth most for God, and their salvation, of all that you know, and strive to do as much as they. You have the same God, and the same law, and the same, and greater necessity, than they: you are farther behind hand: you have more work undone which must be done: your danger is greater, and your souls should be as precious to you, as theirs to them. O, therefore, take time while you have it, and set yourselves to the work. Hindrance 2. The second hindrance of conversion, which I shall mention, is bad company. It is a dangerous thing to be wilfully a companion of ignorant,careless,ungodly men. If they will say nothing directly against that which is good, yet will they do much to hinder your salvation, by keeping your thoughts, and talk, and delight upon other things, and by giving you an evil example, as if these matters were not necessary. Vain talk, and vain practices, settle the minds of men in vanity, and in a forgetfulness and neglect of heavenly things. Besides, they will be enticing : you to such kind of business and delight, as strengthen the flesh, and contradict the Spirit, and fasten you in sin, and are the common causes of the perdition of the world. The noise of their foolish laughter and giddy discourse, will drown the voice of conscience, and of the Spirit of God. It is hard keeping the heart in a sense of duty, or the evil of sin, in the midst of sin. As it is certainly a vain and graceless heart that delighteth most in vain company, so such will make the heart more vain. When men sit over their pots, cherishing their flesh, (which they once vowed to fight against as their enemies,) pouring out a deal of foolish, senseless discourse; the sense of the evil of sin and of the love of Christ, and of the worth of glory, is then far from the heart and if they do make any mention of God or holy things, it is commonly irreverently and most abusively, tak ing the name of God in vain, and sinning more by their Scripture discourse, than by any other. And it is a wonder if the devil and their fleshly reason do not lead them to plead against God, and to take part with the flesh, and perhaps to make a scorn of godliness. O what a dangerous thing it is to live among such company as will be still hindering, but never helping, in the way to heaven! Especially among those who are worldly or sensual, or that are enemies to godliness, and set themselves against it to their power. In a way that is up hill, and all against the interest and inclination of our flesh, and in which we are so weak and backward ourselves, we had need of all the help that we can get, and a little hindrance may be our undoing. But when poor sinners shall live among such, where they shall hear almost no discourse, but vain, and almost no talk of religion, but in distaste and contempt of it, despising the way to heaven, which is in effect, to despise heaven itself; how can it be expected that such should be brought to the knowledge of the truth, and the love of those ways that they hear so much reproached? I know God can do it, and sometimes doth, where people are unavoidably cast into such company; but if men will choose such, when they may avoid it, the case is dangerous indeed. "He that walketh with wise men shall be yet wiser, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed" Some of these ungodly wretches are so cunning in their discourse, that weak, silly people be not able to dis cern their folly. Some of them also have some worldly interest in them, and therefore are the liker to do them hurt. When those that they dwell with, and those that they depend upon, and those that seem to love them are ungodly, and speak against the way of salvation, it commonly takes so much with the ignorant, that they either say as they say, and are of their minds, or at least it hindereth them from thorough conversion, and setting themselves diligently to the saving of their souls. Thousands have been everlastingly undone by evil company. Direct. 2. The second direction, therefore, that I shall give you is this; Do all that you can to avoid the company of those that would hinder you, and to live in the company of those that would help you, in the matters of your salvation. I do not mean, that a servant that is bound should go from his master before he hath served according to their agreement; nor that a child should forsake his parents that are ungodly; nor that a woman should forsake her husband, or a man his wife on this account; for here they are not at their own choice, but are fixed to their relations, which tie them to duty and faithfulness to their places; but I mean, that no man shall willingly cast himself into evil company, that can avoid it. Particularly. 1. If a master be to take a servant, take not such as are ungodly, if you can have better. If a servant be to choose a master, come not into an ungodly family, if you can help it. If young people be intended to marry, take heed of being yoked unequally, and joining yourselves with the members of the devil, and the enemies of Christ, and those that are likely to be hinderers of your salvation, and so to prove the damnation of your souls. You will be backward enough and bad enough in the best company that you get; what then will you be in the worst? Especially when it is so near you, and continually with you, and that of your own choice. I confess a minister or other Christian when he hath a call to endeavour. the good of such, and to reprove their sin, may go among them as a physician among the sick; and so did Christ himself when he was on earth. But to make them our companions willingly, we may not. Grace is hardly got, and hardly kept, and more hardly increased in such company as this. On the other side, get into the company of such as will further you. "The tongue of the just is as choice silver; the heart of the wicked is little worth; the lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for want of wisdom. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness. Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledged " If you were children of God yourselves, you would delight in those that are such. For, "by this we know that we are translated from death to life, because we love the brethren." And David saith, "the saints on the earth, and the excellent are all his delight." Get therefore, if it be possible, into the company of such; with them you shall hear that which may humble you for sin, and you shall hear that of Christ which may tend to kindle the love of him in your breasts; and you shall hear that of the goodness of God, and his way, and the privilege of the saints; the precious promises of the Gospel, the life of grace, and the hopes of everlasting glory which may make your hearts to burn within you. When you live with those that by their example disgrace sin to you, and draw you from it, and watch over you against it, and that will be still minding you of those truths that should sanctify your hearts, O what an advantage is this to your salvation! If you be ignorant, they will teach you; if you are unskilful in prayer, or other holy duties, they will help you by their instruction and example. Choose, therefore, the best company you can get, if you be free, and all little enough. Live among that company on earth, that you must live with in heaven, if ever you come thither. Hindrance 3. The next hindrance of conversion, is, A gross ignorance of those truths which should be the instruments of their conversion. He that turneth to God, must needs know God; and he that turneth from sin, must needs know the evil and danger of sin. No man will make No man will part so great a change, and not know why. with his present contents, and set upon a course that his nature is against; nor forsake all the world, even that which is dearest to him, till he know that there is a flat necessity of so doing, or know of something better to be had by the d Prov. x. 20, 21. 32. xiv. 7. e Psal. xvi. 3. change. When we find that even men of knowledge are too often ungodly, and they will not leave sin when they know the evil of it, and know that everlasting damnation is threatened against it. How then can they forsake it that know not this? When many that can speak of the vanity of this world, and the glory of the saints in the life to come, and the amiableness of God, and his all-sufficiency to make them happy, do yet cleave to this world, and neglect God and the glory which they so extol, how then can we expect that they should turn to God, and set their minds to seek his kingdom that do not know him? All the wickedness in the world is cherished by ignorance, total or partial. Even those that say they know these things, and yet live ungodly, do not soundly know them, but hold them as an opinion, and not as a point of saving faith. O, if poor sinners, that set so light by the everlasting kingdom, did but thoroughly know what they slight, they would quickly change their mind and courses. If you knew heaven as well as you knew your own houses and lands, and if you saw what the souls do now enjoy that depart in the faith, as you see what is done in the houses where you dwell, I would not thank the worst of you all to become far more devout and diligent than the best in the town or country is now. I would not thank the vilest worldling to become heavenly; or the vilest drunkard to become sober; or the scorner of godliness to be the most godly in the country. If you knew heaven as well as you know earth, it were no thanks to you if every family of you were a society of saints, but this cannot be expected. God will not have us live by sight and sense, but by faith. But yet a knowledge of divine revelation we may and must have. No man loveth sin but for want of knowing what he loveth. No man doteth upon this deceitful world, but for want of knowing the worthlessness of it; no man makes light of eternal glory, but for want of knowing what he makes light of; and no man is against a holy life, but he that knoweth not what it is, nor what will be the end of it. O, sirs, if you knew God, your hearts would be inflamed in love to him. There are some of you now stand wondering at the diligence of the godly, and some of you are secretly reproaching them, and casting forth your ignorant scorns against them; but if you did but know what it |