 35 For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. It is evident by some passages in this psalm, that when it was penned it was a time of affliction and danger with David. This appears particularly by the fifteenth and following verses. My eyes are ever towards the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net, etc. His distress makes him think of his sins, and leads him to confess them, and to cry to God for pardon, as is suitable in a time of affliction. Verse 18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins. It is observable in the text what arguments the psalmist makes use of in pleading for pardon. 1. He pleads for pardon for God's name's sake. He has no expectation of pardon for the sake of any righteousness or worthiness of his own for any good deeds he had done, or any compensation he had made for his sins. Though if man's righteousness could be a just plea, David would have had as much to plead as most. But he begs that God would do it for his own name's sake, for his own glory, for the glory of his own free grace, and for the honour of his own covenant faithfulness. 2. The psalmist pleads the greatness of his sins as an argument for mercy. He not only doth not plead his own righteousness or the smallness of his sins. He not only doth not say, pardon mine iniquity, for I have done much good to counterbalance it. Or pardon my iniquity, for it is small, and thou hast no great reason to be angry with me. Mine iniquity is not so great that thou hast any just cause to remember against me. Mine offence is not such, but that thou mayest well enough overlook it. But on the contrary, he says, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. He pleads the greatness of his sin, and not the smallness of it. This enforces his prayer with this consideration, that his sins are very heinous. 3. But how could he make this plea for a pardon? I answer, because the greater his iniquity, the more need he had of pardon. It is as much as if he had said, pardon mine iniquity, for it is so great that I cannot bear the punishment. My sin is so great that I am in necessity of pardon. My case will be exceedingly miserable, unless thou be pleased to pardon me. He makes use of the greatness of his sin, to enforce his plea for pardon, as a man would make use of the greatness of calamity in begging for relief. When a beggar begs for bread, he will plead the greatness of his poverty and necessity. When a man in distress cries for pity, what more suitable plea can be urged than the extremity of his case? And God allow such a plea as is, for he is moved to mercy towards us by nothing in us but the miserableness of our case. He does not pity sinners because they are worthy, but because they need his pity. 4. Doctrine. If we truly come to God for mercy, the greatness of our sin will be no impediment to pardon. If it were an impediment, David would never have used it as a plea for pardon. And as we find he does in the text, the following things are needful in order that we truly come to God for mercy. 1. That we should see our misery and be sensible of our need of mercy. They who are not sensible of their misery cannot truly look to God for mercy, for it is the very notion of divine mercy that is the goodness and grace of God to the miserable. Without misery in the object there can be no exercise of mercy. To suppose mercy without supposing misery or pity without calamity is a contradiction. Therefore, men cannot look upon themselves as proper objects of mercy, unless they first know themselves to be miserable. And so, unless this be the case, it is impossible that they should come to God for mercy. They must be sensible that they are the children of Roth, that the law is against them and that they are exposed to the curse of it, that the Roth of God abideth on them and that he is angry with them every day while they are under the guilt of sin. They must be sensible that it is a very dreadful thing to be the object of Roth of God, that it is a very awful thing to have him for their enemy, and that they cannot bear his Roth. They must be sensible that the guilt of sin makes immeasurable creatures, whatever temporal enjoyments they have, that they can be no other than miserable, undone creatures, so long as God is angry with them. That they are without strength and must perish and that eternally unless God helped them. They must see that their case is utterly desperate for anything anyone else can do for them, that they hang over the pit of eternal misery, and that they must necessarily drop into it if God have not mercy on them. Part 2 They must be sensible that they are not worthy, that God should have mercy on them. They who truly come to God for mercy come as beggars and not as creditors. They come for mere mercy, for sovereign grace, and not for anything that is due. Therefore, they must see that the misery under which they lie is justly brought upon them, and that the Roth to which they are exposed is justly threatened against them, and that they have to serve that God should be their enemy, and should continue to be their enemy. They must be sensible that it would be just with God to do as he has threatened in his holy law. Viz make them the objects of his Roth, and curse in hell to all eternity. They who come to God for mercy in a right manner are not disposed to find fault with his severity, but they come in a sense of their own utter unworthiness, as with ropes about their necks and lying in the dust at the foot of mercy. Part 3 They must come to God for mercy in and through Jesus Christ alone. All their hope of mercy must be from the consideration of what he is, what he has done, and what he has suffered, and that there is no other name given under heaven among men, whereby we can be saved but that of Christ, that he is the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world, that his blood cleanses from all sin, and that he is so worthy, that all sinners who are in him may well be pardoned and accepted. It is impossible that any should come to God for mercy, and at the same time have no hope of mercy. Their coming to God for it implies that they have some hope of obtaining. Otherwise, they would not think it worth the while to come. But they that come in a right manner have all their hope through Christ, or from the consideration of his redemption, and the sufficiency of it. If persons thus come to God for mercy, the greatness of their sins will be no impediment to pardon. Let their sins be ever so many, and great, and aggravated. It will not make God in the least degree more backward to pardon them. This may be made evident by the following considerations. 1. The mercy of God is as sufficient for the pardon of the greatest sins as for the least, and that because his mercy is infinite. That which is infinite is as much above what is great as it is above what is small. Thus, God being infinitely great, he is as much above kings as he is above beggars. He is as much above the highest angel as he is above the meanest worm. One finite measure does not come any nearer to the extent of what is infinite than another. So the mercy of God being infinite, it must be as sufficient for the pardon of all sin as of one. If one of the least sins be not beyond the mercy of God, so neither are the greatest, or ten thousand of them. However, it must be acknowledged that this alone does not prove the doctrine. For though the mercy of God may be as sufficient for the pardon of great sins as others, yet there may be other obstacles besides the want of mercy. The mercy of God may be sufficient, and yet the other attributes may oppose the dispensation of mercy in these cases. Therefore, I observe. 2. That the satisfaction of Christ is as sufficient for the removal of the greatest guilt as the least. 1 John 1.7. The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin. Acts 13.39. By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. All the sins of those who truly come to God for mercy, let them be what they will, are satisfied for. If God be true who tells us so, and if they be satisfied for, surely it is not incredible that God should be ready to pardon them. So that Christ having fully satisfied for all sin and having wrought out a satisfaction that is sufficient for all. It is now no way inconsistent with the glory of the divine attributes to pardon the greater sins of those who, in a right manner, come unto him for it. God may now pardon the greatest sinners without any prejudice to the honour of his holiness. The holiness of God will not suffer him to give the least countenance to sin, but inclines him to give proper testimonies of his hatred of it. But Christ having satisfied for sin, God can now love the sinner and give no countenance at all to sin. However great a sinner he may have been. It was a sufficient testimony of God's abhorrence of sin that he poured out his wrath on his own dear son, when he took the guilt of it upon himself. Nothing can more show God's abhorrence of sin than this. If all mankind had been eternally damned, it would not have been so great a testimony of it. God may, through Christ, pardon the greatest sinner without any prejudice to the honour of his majesty. The honour of the divine majesty indeed requires satisfaction. But the sufferings of Christ fully repair the injury. Let the contempt be ever so great, yet if so honourable a person as Christ undertakes to be a mediator for the offender, and suffers so much for him, it fully repairs the injury done to the majesty of heaven and earth. The sufferings of Christ fully satisfy justice. The justice of God as a supreme governor and judge of the world requires the punishment of sin. The supreme judge must judge the world according to a rule of justice. God does not show mercy as a judge, but as a sovereign. Therefore his exercise of mercy as a sovereign and his justice as a judge must be made consistent one with another, and this is done by the sufferings of Christ in which sin is punished fully and justice answered. Romans 3, 25 and 26. Him God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. The law is no impediment in the way of the pardon of the greatest sin. If men do but truly come to God for mercy, for Christ hath fulfilled the law. He hath borne the curse of it in his sufferings. Galatians 3, 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. 3. Christ will no refuse to save the greatest sinner, who in the right manner come to God for mercy, for this is his work. It is his business to be a saviour of sinners. It is the work upon which he came into the world, and therefore he will not object to it. He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Matthew 9.13. Sin is the very evil which he came into the world to remedy. Therefore he will not object to any man that he is very sinful. The more sinful he is, the more need of Christ. The sinfulness of man was the reason of Christ coming into the world. This is the very misery from which he came to deliver men. The more they have offered, the more need they have of being delivered. They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. Matthew 9.12. The physician will not make it an objection against healing a man who applies to him, that he stands in great need of his help. If a physician of compassion comes among the sick and wounded, surely he will not refuse to heal those that stand in most need of healing. If he be able to heal them. 4. Herein doth the glory of grace by the redemption of Christ must consist. Viz in its efficiency for the pardon of the greatest sinners. The whole contrivance of the way of salvation is for this end. To glorify the free grace of God. God had on his heart from all eternity to glorify this attribute. And therefore it is that the device of saving sinners by Christ was conceived. The greatness of divine grace appears very much in this, that God by Christ saves the greatest offenders. The greater the guilt of any sinner is, the more glorious and wonderful is the grace manifested in his pardon. Romans 4.20. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. The apostle when telling how great a sinner he had been takes notice of the abounding of grace in his pardon, of which his great guilt was the occasion. 1 Tim 1.13. Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious. But I obtain mercy and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. The redeemer is glorified and that he proves sufficient to redeem those who are exceeding sinful. In that his blood proves sufficient to wash away the greatest guilt. In that he is able to save men to the uttermost. And in that he redeems even from the greatest misery. It is the honour of Christ to save the greatest sinners when they come to him, as it is the honour of a physician that he cures the most desperate diseases or wounds. Therefore, no doubt, Christ will be willing to save the greatest sinners if they come to him, for he will not be backward to glorify himself and to commend the value and virtue of his own blood. Seeing he has so laid out himself to redeem sinners, he will not be unwilling to show that he is able to redeem to the uttermost. 5. Pardon is as much offered and promised to the greatest sinners as any if they will come a right to God for mercy. The invitations of the Gospel are always in universal terms, as, O everyone that thirsteth, come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and whosoever will let him come. And the voice of wisdom is to men in general. Proverbs 8.4 Unto you, O men, I call, and my voices is to the sons of men, not to moral men or religious men. But to you, O men, so Christ promises. John 6.37 Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. This is the direction of Christ to his apostles after his resurrection. Mark 16, 15 and 16 Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, which is agreeable to what the apostle said, that the Gospel was preached to every creature which is under heaven. Colossians 1.23 Application The proper use of this subject is to encourage sinners whose consciences are burdened with a sense of guilt immediately go to God through Christ for mercy. If you go in the manner we have described, the arms of mercy are open to embrace you. You need not be at all the more fearful of coming because of your sins. Let them be ever so black. If you had as much guilt lying on each of your souls as all the wicked men in the world, and all the damned souls in hell, yet if you come to God for mercy, sensible of your own vileness, and seeking pardon only through the free mercy of God in Christ, you would not need to be afraid. The greatness of your sins would be no impediment to your pardon. Therefore, if your souls are burdened and you are distressed for fear of hell, you need not bear that burden and distress any longer. If you are but willing, you may freely come and unload yourselves and cast all your burdens on Christ and rest in him. But here I shall speak to some objections which some awakened sinners may be ready to make against what I now exhort to them. 1. Some may be ready to object. I have spent my youth and all the best of my life in sin. I am afraid God will not accept of me when I offer him only my old age. To this I would answer. Part 1. Had God said anywhere that he will not accept of old sinners who come to him, God has often made offers and promises in universal terms, and is there any such exception put in? Does Christ say, All that thirst, let them come to me and drink, accept old sinners? Come to me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, accept old sinners, and I will give you rest. Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out, if he be not an old sinner. Did you ever read any such exception anywhere in the Bible? And why should you give way to exceptions which you make out of your own heads, or rather which the devil puts into your heads, and which have no foundation in the Word of God? Indeed it is more rare that old sinners are willing to come than others, but if they do come, they are as readily accepted as any whatever. Part 2. When God accepts of young persons, it is not for the sake of the service which they are like to do him afterwards, or because youth is better worth accepting than old age. You seem entirely to mistake the matter in thinking that God will not accept of you because you are old, as though he readily accepted of persons in their youth, because their youth is better worth his acceptance. Whereas it is only for the sake of Jesus Christ that God is willing to accept of any. You say your life is almost spent, and you are afraid that the best time for serving God is past, and that therefore God will not now accept of you. As if it were for the sake of the service which persons are like to do him, after they are converted, that he accepts of them. But a self-righteous spirit is at the bottom of such objections. Men cannot get off from the notion that it is for some goodness or service of their own either done or expected to be done that God accepts of persons and receives them into favour. Indeed, they who deny God their youth the best part of their lives and spend it in the service of Satan, dreadful as sin and provoke God, and he very often leaves them to hardness of heart when they are grown old. But if they are willing to accept of Christ when old, he is ready to receive them as any others. For in that matter God hath respect only to Christ and his worthiness. 2. But, says one, I fear I have committed sins that are peculiar to reprobates. I have sinned against light and strong convictions of conscience. I have sinned presumptuously and have so resisted the strivings of the Spirit of God, that I am afraid I have committed such sins as none of God's elect ever commit. I cannot think that God will ever leave one whom he intends to save, to go on and commit sins against so much light and conviction, and with such horrid presumption. Others may say, I have had ricings of heart against God, blasphemous thoughts, a spiteful and malicious spirit, and have abused mercy and the strivings of the Spirit, trampled upon the Saviour, and my sins are such as are peculiar to those who are reprobate to eternal damnation. To all this I would answer. 1. There is no sin peculiar to reprobates, but the sin against the Holy Ghost. Do you read of any other in the Word of God? And if you do not read of any there, what ground have you to think any such thing? What other rule have we by which to judge of such matters, but the Divine Word? If we venture to go beyond that, we shall be miserably in the dark. When we pretend to go further into our determinations than the Word of God, Satan takes us up and leads us. It seems to you that such sins are peculiar to the reprobate, and such as God never forgives. But what reason can you give for it? If you have no Word of God to reveal it, is it because you cannot see how the mercy of God is sufficient to pardon, or the blood of Christ to cleanse from such presumptuous sins? If so, it is because you never yet saw how great the mercy of God is. You never saw the sufficiency of the blood of Christ, and you know not how far the virtue of it extends. Some elect persons have been guilty of all manner of sins, except the sin against the Holy Ghost. And unless you have been guilty of this, you have not been guilty of any that are peculiar to reprobates. Part 2 Men may be less likely to believe, for sins which they have committed, and not the less readily pardon when they do believe. It must be acknowledged that some sinners are in more danger of hell than others, though all are in great danger. Some are less likely to be saved. Some are less likely ever to be converted and to come to Christ. But all who do come to Him are alike readily accepted. And there is as much encouragement for one man to come to Christ as another. Such sins, as you mentioned, are indeed exceeding heinous and provoking to God, and do in a special manner bring the soul into danger of damnation, and into danger of being given to final hardness of heart. And God more commonly gives men up to the judgment of final hardness for such sins than for others. Yet they are not peculiar to reprobates. There is but one sin that is so, is that against the Holy Ghost. And notwithstanding the sins which you have committed, if you can find it in your hearts to come to Christ and close with Him, you will be accepted not at all the less readily because you have committed such sins. Though God doth more really cause some sorts of sinners to come to Christ than others, it is not because His mercy or the redemption of Christ is not as sufficient for them as others. But because in wisdom He sees fit so to dispense His grace, for a restraint upon the wickedness of men, and because it is His will to give converting grace in the use of means, among which this one is one, viz to lead a moral and religious life, and agreeable to our light and the convictions of our consciences. But when once any sinner is willing to come to Christ, mercy is as ready for Him as for any. There is no consideration at all had of His sins. Let Him have been ever so sinful. His sins are not remembered. God doth not upgrade Him with them. 3. But had I not better stay till I shall have made myself better, before I presume to come to Christ, I have been and seen myself to be very wicked now, but am in hopes of mending myself and rendering myself at least not so wicked. Then I shall have more courage to come to God for mercy. In answer to this. 1. Consider how unreasonably you act. You are striving to set up yourself for your own saviours. You are striving to get something off your own, on the account of which you may the more readily be accepted. So that by this it appears that you do not seek to be accepted only on Christ's account. And it is not this to rob Christ of the glory of being your only saviour, yet this is the way in which you are hoping to make Christ willing to save you. 2. You can never come to Christ at all, unless you first see that He will not accept of you the more readily for anything that you can do. You must first see that it is utterly in vain for you to try to make yourself better on any such account. You must see that you can never make yourselves any more worthy or less unworthy by anything which you can perform. 3. If ever you truly come to Christ, you must see that there is enough in Him for your pardon, though you be no better than you are. If you see not the sufficiency of Christ to pardon you, without any righteousness of your own to recommend you, you never will come so as to be accepted of Him. The way to be accepted is to come, not on any such encouragement, that now you have made yourselves better, and more worthy, or not so unworthy. But on the mere encouragement of Christ's worthiness and God's mercy, 4. If ever you truly come to Christ, you must come to Him to make you better. You must come as a patient comes to His physician, with His deceases or wounds to be cured. Spread all your wickedness before Him, and do not plead your goodness, but plead your badness, and your necessity on that account, and say, as a psalmist in the text, not pardon mine iniquity, for it is not so great as it was, but pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. In these words two things may be observed. First, wherein the work and the office of John the Baptist consisted, that is, in preaching the kingdom of God, to prepare the way for its introduction to succeed the law and the prophets. By the law and the prophets, in the text, seems to be intended the ancient dispensation under the Old Testament, which was received from Moses and the prophets. These are said to be until John, not that the revelations given by them are out of use since that time, but that the state of the church founded and regulated under God by them, the dispensation of which they were the ministers, and wherein the church depended mainly on light received from them, fully continued till John. He first began to introduce the New Testament dispensation, or gospel state, of the church, which, with its glorious spiritual and eternal privileges and blessings, is often called the kingdom of heaven, or kingdom of God. John the Baptist preached that the kingdom of God was at hand. Repent, says he, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Since that time, says Christ, the kingdom of God is preached. John the Baptist first began to preach it, and then, after him, Christ and his disciples preached the same. Thus Christ preached, Matthew 4.17. From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So the disciples were directed to preach, Matthew 10.7. And as you go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It was not John the Baptist, but Christ, that fully brought in, and actually established this kingdom of God, but he, as Christ's forerunner to prepare his way before him, did the first thing that was done towards introducing it. The old dispensation was abolished, and the new brought in by degrees, as the night gradually ceases and gives place to the increasing day which succeeds in its room. First the day-star arises, next follows the light of the sun itself, but dimly reflected, in the dawning of the day, but this light increases and shines more and more, and the stars that served for light during the foregoing night gradually go out, and their light ceases, as being now needless, till at length the sun rises and enlightens the world by his own direct light, which increases as he ascends higher above the horizon till the day-star itself gradually disappears, agreeable to what John says of himself, John 3.30. He must increase, but I must decrease. John was the forerunner of Christ, and harbinger of the Gospel day, much as the morning star is the forerunner of the sun. He had the most honorable office of any of the prophets. The other prophets foretold Christ to come, he revealed him as already come, and had the honor to be that servant who should come immediately before him and actually introduce him, and even to be the instrument concerned in his solemn inauguration as he was in baptizing him. He was the greatest of the prophets that came before Christ, as the morning star is the brightest of all stars, Matthew 1111. He came to prepare men's hearts to receive that kingdom of God which Christ was about more fully to reveal and erect, Luke 117, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Secondly, we may observe wherein his success appeared, that is, in that, since he began his ministry, every man pressed into that kingdom of God which he preached. The greatness of his success appeared in two things. One, in the generalness of it, with regard to the subject or the persons in whom the success appeared, every man. Here is the term of universality, but it is not to be taken as universal with regard to individuals, but kinds, as such universal terms are often used in Scripture. When John preached, there was an extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit of God that attended his preaching. An uncommon awakening and concern for salvation appeared on the minds of all sorts of persons and even in the most unlikely persons, and those from whom such a thing might least be expected, as the Pharisees, who were exceeding proud and self-sufficient and conceited of their own wisdom and righteousness, and looked on themselves fit to be teachers of others, and used a scorn to be taught, and the Sadducees, who are kind of infidels that denied any resurrection, angel, spirit, or any future state, so that John himself seems to be surprised to see them come to him under such concern for their salvation as in Matthew 3.7. But when he saw many of the Pharisees come to his baptism, he said to them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come. And besides these, the publicans, who were some of the most infamous sort of men, came to him, inquiring what they should do to be saved. And the soldiers, who were doubtless of very profane, loose, and prolificate sort of persons, made the same inquiry, Luke 3.12 and 14. Then came also publicans to be baptized and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, and what shall we do? 2. His success appeared in the manner in which his hearers sought the kingdom of God, they pressed into it. It is elsewhere set forth by their being violent for the kingdom of heaven and taking it by force. Matthew 11.12. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. The doctrine that I observe from the words is this. It concerns everyone that would obtain the kingdom of God to be pressing into it. In discoursing of this subject, I would first show what is that way of seeking salvation that seems to be pointed forth in the expression of pressing into the kingdom of God. Secondly, give the reasons why it concerns everyone that would obtain the kingdom of God to seek it in this way, and then make application. 1. I would show what manner of seeking salvation seems to be denoted by pressing into the kingdom of God. 1. This expression denotes strength of desire. Men in general who live under the light of the gospel and are not atheists desire the kingdom of God, that is, they desire to go to heaven rather than to hell. Most of them indeed are not much concerned about it, but on the contrary live a secure and careless life, and some who are many degrees above these, being under some degrees of the awakening of God's spirit, are not yet pressing into the kingdom of God. But they that may be said to be truly so have strong desires to get out of a natural condition, and to get an interest in Christ. They have such a conviction of the misery of their present state, and of the extreme necessity of obtaining a better, that their minds, or as it were, possessed with, and wrapped up in a concern about it. To obtain salvation is desired by them above all things in the world. This concern is so great that it very much shuts out other concerns. They used before to have the stream of their desires after other things, or it may be had their own concern divided between this and them. But when they come to answer the expression of the text of pressing into the kingdom of God, this concern prevails above all others. It lays other things low, and does in a manner engross the care of the mind. This seeking eternal life should not only be one concern that our souls are taken up about with other things, but salvation should be sought as the one thing needful, Luke 10.42, and as the one thing that is desired, Psalm 27.4. 2. Pressing into the kingdom of heaven denotes earnestness and firmness of resolution. There should be strength of resolution, accompanying strength of desire, as it was in the Psalmist, in the place just now referred to. One thing have I desired, and that will I seek after. In order to have a thorough engagedness of the mind in this affair, both of these must meet together. Besides desires after salvation, there should be an earnest resolution in persons to pursue this good as much as lies in their power, to do all that in the use of their utmost strength they are able to do, in an attendance on every duty, and resisting and militating against all manner of sin, and to continue in such a pursuit. There are two things needful in a person, in order to these strong resolutions. There must be a sense of the great importance and necessity of the mercy sought, and there must also be a sense of opportunity to obtain it, or the encouragement there is to seek it. The strength of resolution depends on the sense which God gives to the heart of these things. Persons without such a sense may seem to themselves to take up resolutions. They may, as it were, force a promise to themselves and say within themselves, I will seek as long as I live, I will not give up till I obtain, when they do but deceive themselves. Their hearts are not in it, neither do they indeed take up any such resolution as they seem to themselves to do. It is the resolution of the mouth more than of the heart, their hearts are not strongly bent to fulfill what their mouth says. The firmness of the resolution lies in the fullness of the disposition of the heart to do what is resolved to be done. Those who are pressing into the kingdom of God have a disposition of heart to do everything that is required and that lies in their power to do and to continue in it. They have not only earnestness but steadiness of resolution. They do not seek with a wavering, unsteady heart by turns or fits, being on and off, but it is the constant bent of the soul if possible to obtain the kingdom of God. Three, by pressing into the kingdom of God is signified greatness of endeavor. It is expressed in Ecclesiastes 1010. By doing what our hand finds to do with our might. And this is the natural and necessary consequence of the two aforementioned things. Where there is strength of desire and firmness of resolution there will be answerable endeavors. Persons thus engaged in their hearts will strive to enter in at the straight gate and will be violent for heaven. Their practice will be agreeable to the counsel of the wise man in Proverbs 2 at the beginning. My son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding. Yea, if thou cryest after knowledge and lifteth up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Here the earnestness of desire and strength of resolution is signified by inclining the ear to wisdom and applying the heart to understanding, and the greatness of endeavor is denoted by crying after knowledge and lifting up the voice for understanding, seeking her as silver and searching for her as for hid treasures. Such desires and resolutions and such endeavors go together. Four, pressing into the kingdom of God denotes an engagedness and earnestness that is directly about that business of getting into the kingdom of God. Persons may be in very great exercise and distress of mind, and that about the condition of their souls, their thoughts and cares may be greatly engaged and taken up about things of a spiritual nature, and yet not be pressing into the kingdom of God nor towards it. The exercise of their minds is not directly about the work of seeking salvation in a diligent attendance on the means that God hath appointed in order to it, but something else that is beside their business. It may be God's decrees and secret purposes prying into them, searching for signs whereby they may determine, or at least conjecture, what they are before God makes them known by their accomplishment. They distress their minds with fears that they be not elected, or that they have committed the unpardonable sin, or that their day is passed, and that God has given them up to judicial and final hardness and never intends to show them mercy, and therefore that it is in vain for them to seek salvation, or they entangle themselves about the doctrine of original sin and other mysterious doctrines of religion that are above their comprehension. Many persons that seem to be in great distress about a future eternal state get much into a way of perplexing themselves with such things as these. When it is so, let them never be so much concerned and engaged in their minds that they cannot be said to be pressing towards the kingdom of God, because their exercise is not in their work, but rather that which tends to hinder them in their work. If they are violent, they are only working violently to entangle themselves and lay blocks in their own way. Their pressure is not forwards. Instead of getting along, they do but lose their time, and worse than merely lose it. Instead of fighting with the giants that stand in the way to keep them out of Canaan, they spend away their time and strengthen conflicting with shadows that appear by the wayside. Hence, we are not to judge of the hopefulness of the way that persons are in, or of the probability of their success in seeking salvation, only by the greatness of the concern and distress that they are in, for many persons have needless distresses that they had much better be without. It is thus very often with persons overrun with the distemper of melancholy, once the adversary of souls is want to take great advantage. But then are persons in the most likely way to obtain the kingdom of heaven, when the intent of their minds and the engagedness of their spirits be about their proper work and business, and all the bent of their souls is to attend on God's means and to do what he commands and directs them to. The apostle tells us, 1 Corinthians 926, that he did not fight as those that beat the air. Our time is short enough, we had not need to spend it in that which is nothing to the purpose. There are real difficulties in enemies enough for persons to encounter to employ all their strength, they had not need to waste it in fighting with phantoms. Five. By pressing into the kingdom of God is denoted a breaking through opposition and difficulties. There is in the expression a plain intimation of difficulty. If there were no opposition, but the way was all clear and open, there would be no need of pressing to get along. They, therefore, that are pressing into the kingdom of God, go on with such engagedness that they break through the difficulties that are in the way. They are so set for salvation that those things by which others are discouraged and stopped and turned back do not stop them, but they press through them. Persons ought to be so resolved for heaven that if by any means they can obtain, they will obtain. Whether those means be difficult or easy, cross or agreeable, if they are requisite means of salvation, they should be complied with. When anything is presented to be done, the question should not be, is it easy or hard? Is it agreeable to my carnal inclinations or interest or against them? But is it a required means of obtaining an interest in Jesus Christ and eternal salvation? Thus the Apostle, Philippians 311. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, he tells us there in the context what difficulties he broke through, that he suffered the loss of all things, and was willingly made conformable even to Christ's death, though that was attended with such extreme torment and ignominy. He that is pressing into the kingdom of God commonly finds many things in the way that are against the grain, but he is not stopped by the cross that lies before him, but takes it up and carries it. Suppose there be something incumbent on him to do, that is crossed to his natural temper, and irks him to him on that account. Suppose something that he cannot do without suffering in his estate, or that he apprehends will look odd and strange in the eyes of others, and exposes him to ridicule and reproach, or anything that will offend a neighbor and get his ill will, or something that will be very crossed to his own carnal appetite. He will press through such difficulties. Everything that is found to be a weight that hinders him in running of this race he casts from him, though it be a weight of gold or pearls, yea, if it be a right hand or foot that offends him, he will cut them off, and will not stick at plucking out a right eye with his own hands. These things are insuperable difficulties to those who are not thoroughly engaged in seeking their salvation. They are stumbling blocks that they never get over. But it is not so with him that presses into the kingdom of God. Those things, before he was thoroughly roused from his security, about which he was want to have long parlayings and disputings with his own conscience, employing carnal reason to invent arguments and pleas of excuse, he now sticks it no longer. He is done with this endless disputing and reasoning, and presses violently through all difficulties. Let what will be in the way, heaven is what he must and will obtain, not if he can without difficulty, but if it be possible. He meets with temptation. The devil is often whispering in his ear, setting allurements before him, magnifying the difficulties of the work he is engaged in, telling him that they are insuperable and that he can never conquer them, and trying always in the world to discourage him. But still he presses forward. God has given and maintained such an earnest spirit for heaven that the devil cannot stop him in his course. He is not at leisure to lend an ear to what he has to say. I come now, one, to show why the kingdom of heaven should be sought in this manner. It should thus be sought, one, on account of the extreme necessity we are in of getting into the kingdom of heaven. We are in a perishing necessity of it. Without it we are utterly and eternally lost. Out of the kingdom of God is no safety. There is no other hiding place. This is the only city of refuge, in which we can be secure from the avenger that pursues all the ungodly. The vengeance of God will pursue, overtake, and eternally destroy them that are not in this kingdom. All that are without this enclosure will be swallowed up in an overflowing fiery deluge of wrath. They may stand at the door and knock and cry, Lord, Lord, open to us, in vain. They will be thrust back, and God will have no mercy on them. They shall be eternally left of him. His fearful vengeance will seize them, the devils will lay hold of them, and all evil will come upon them, and there will be none to pity or help. Their case will be utterly desperate and infinitely doleful. It will be a gone case with them. All offers of mercy and expressions of divine goodness will be finally withdrawn, and all hope will be lost. God will have no kind of regard to their well-being, will take no care of them to save them from any enemy, or any evil, but himself will be their dreadful enemy, and will execute wrath with fury, and will take vengeance in an inexpressibly dreadful manner. Such a shall be in this case will be lost and undone indeed. They will be sunk down into perdition, infinitely below all that we can think. For who knows the power of God's anger, and who knows the misery of that poor worm on whom that anger is executed without mercy? 2. On account of the shortness and uncertainty of the opportunity for getting into this kingdom. When a few days are past, all our opportunity for it will be gone. Our day is limited. God has set our bounds, and we know not where. While persons are out of this kingdom, they are in danger every hour of being overtaken with wrath. We know not how soon we shall get past that line, beyond which there is no work, device, knowledge, nor wisdom, and therefore we should do what we have to do with all our might. Ecclesiastes 9-10. 3. On account of the difficulty of getting into the kingdom of God. There are innumerable difficulties in the way, such as few conquer. Most of them that try have not resolution, courage, earnestness, and constancy enough, but they fail, give up, and perish. The difficulties are too many and too great for them that do not violently pressed forward. They never get along, but stick, by the way, are turned aside or turned back and ruined. Matthew 7-14. Straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Luke 13-24. Strive to enter into the straight gate, for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able. 4. The possibility of obtaining. Though it be attended with so much difficulty, yet it is not a thing impossible. Acts 8-22. If perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. 2 Timothy 2-25. If per adventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. However sinful person is, and whatever his circumstances are, there is not withstanding a possibility of salvation. He himself is capable of it, and God is able to accomplish it, and has mercy sufficient for it, and there is sufficient provision made through Christ, that God may do it consistent with the honor of His Majesty, Justice, and Truth, so that there is no want, either of sufficiency in God, or capacity in the sinner in order to this. The greatest and vilest most blind, dead, hard-hearted sinner living is the subject capable of saving light and grace. Seeing therefore there is such a necessity of obtaining the kingdom of God, and so short a time in such difficulty, and yet such a possibility, it may well induce us to press into it. Jonah 3-8-9. 5. It is me that the kingdom of heaven should be thus sought because of the great excellency of it. We are willing to seek earthly things of trifling value with great diligence and through much difficulty, it therefore certainly becomes us to seek that with great earnestness, which is of infinitely greater worth and excellence, and how well may God expect and require it of us that we should seek it in such a manner in order to are obtaining it. 6. Such a manner of seeking is needful to prepare persons for the kingdom of God. Such earnestness and thoroughness of endeavors is the ordinary means that God makes use of to bring persons to an acquaintance with themselves, to a sight of their own hearts, to a sense of their own helplessness, and to a despair in their own strength and righteousness, and such engagedness and constancy in seeking the kingdom of heaven prepare the soul to receive it, the more joyfully and thankfully, and the more highly to prize and value it when obtained, so that it is in mercy to us as well as for the glory of his own name that God has appointed such earnest seeking to be the way in which he will bestow the kingdom of heaven. 7. Application The use I would make of this doctrine is of exhortation to all chriceless persons to press into the kingdom of God. Some of you are inquiring what you shall do. You seem to desire to know what is the way wherein salvation is to be sought and how you may be likely to obtain it. You have now heard the way that the holy word of God directs to. Some are seeking, but it cannot be said of them that they are pressing into the kingdom of heaven. There are many that in time past sought salvation, but not in this manner, and so they never obtained, but are now gone to hell. Some of them sought it year after year, but failed of it and perished at last. They were overtaken with divine wrath and are now suffering the fearful misery of damnation and have no rest day or night, having no more opportunity to seek, but must suffer and be miserable throughout the never-ending ages of eternity. Be exhorted, therefore, not to seek salvation as they did, but let the kingdom of heaven suffer violence from you. Here I would first answer an objection or two and then proceed to give some directions how to press into the kingdom of God. Objection one, some may be ready to say, we cannot do this of ourselves, that strength of desire and firmness of resolution that have been spoken of are out of our reach. If I endeavor to resolve and to seek with engagedness of spirit, I find I fail. My thoughts are presently off from the business and I feel myself dull and my engagedness relaxed in spite of all I can do. Answer one, Though earnestness of mind be not immediately in your power, yet the consideration of what has been now said of the need of it may be a means of stirring you up to it. It is true, persons never will be thoroughly engaged in this business unless it be by God's influence, but God influences persons by means. Persons are not stirred up to a thorough earnestness without some considerations that move them to it. And if persons can but be made sensible of the necessity of salvation and also dually consider the exceeding difficulty of it and the greatness of the opposition and how short and uncertain the time is, but yet are sensible that they have an opportunity and that there is a possibility of their obtaining, they will need no more in order to their being thoroughly engaged and resolved in this matter. If we see persons slack and unresolved and unsteady, it is because they do not enough consider these things. 2. Though strong desires and resolutions of mind be not in your power, yet painfulness of endeavors is in your power. It is in your power to take pains in the use of means, yea, very great pains. You can be very painful and diligent in watching your own heart and striving against sin. Though there is all manner of corruption in the heart continually ready to work, yet you can very laboriously watch and strive against these corruptions, and it is in your power with great diligence to attend the matter of your duty towards God and towards your neighbor. It is in your power to attend all ordinances and all public and private duties of religion and to do it with your might. It would be a contradiction to suppose that a man cannot do these things with all the might he has, though he cannot do them with more might than he has. The dullness and deadness of the heart and slothfulness of disposition do not hinder men being able to take pains, though it hinders their being willing. That is one thing wherein your laboriousness may appear, even striving against your own dullness. That men have a dead and sluggish heart does not argue that they be not able to take pains. It is so far from that that it gives occasion for pains. It is one of the difficulties in the way of duty that persons have to strive with, and that gives occasion for struggling and labor. If there were no difficulties attended seeking salvation, there would be no occasion for striving. A man would have nothing to strive about. There is indeed a great deal of difficulty attending all duties required of those that would obtain heaven. It is an exceeding difficult thing for them to keep their thoughts. It is a difficult thing seriously, or to any good purpose, to consider matters of greatest importance. It is a difficult thing to hear or read or pray attentively. But it does not argue that a man cannot strive in these things because they are difficult. Nay, he could not strive therein if there were not difficulty in them. For what is there accepting difficulties that any can have to strive or struggle with in any affair or business? Earnestness of mind and diligence of endeavor tend to promote each other. He that has a heart earnestly engaged will take pains, and he that is diligent and painful in all duty probably will not be so long before he finds the sensibleness of his heart and earnestness of his spirit greatly increased. Objection two. Some may object that if they are earnest and take a great deal of pains they shall be in danger of trusting to what they do. They are afraid of doing their duty for fear of making a righteousness of it. Answer. There is ordinarily no kind of seekers that trust so much to what they do as slack and dull seekers. Though all seeking salvation that have never been the subjects of a thorough humiliation do trust in their own righteousness yet some do it much more fully than others. Some though they trust in their own righteousness yet are not quiet in it and those who are most disturbed in their self-confidence and therefore in the likeliest way to be wholly brought off from it are not such as go on in a remiss way of seeking but such as are most earnest and thoroughly engaged partly because in such a way conscience is kept more sensible. A more awakened conscience will not rest so quietly in moral and religious duties as one that is less awakened. Adult seekers conscience will be in a great measure satisfied and quieted with his own works and performances but one that is thoroughly awakened cannot be stilled or pacified with such things as these. In this way persons gain much more knowledge of themselves and acquaintance with their own hearts than in a negligent slight way of seeking for they have a great deal more experience of themselves. It is experience of ourselves in finding what we are that God commonly makes use of as the means of bringing us off from all dependence on ourselves. But men never get acquaintance with themselves so fast as in the most earnest way of seeking. They that are in this way have more to engage them to think of their sins and strictly to observe themselves and have much more to do with their own hearts than others. Such a one has much more experience of his own weakness than another that does not put forth and try his strength and will therefore sooner see himself dead in sin. Such a one though he hath a disposition continually to be flying to his own righteousness yet finds rest in nothing. He wanders about from one thing to another seeking something to ease his disquieted conscience. He is driven from one refuge to another, goes from mountain to hill, seeking rest in finding none, and therefore will the sooner prove that there is no rest to be found nor trust to be put in any creature whatsoever. End of Section 36 Section 37 of Select Sermons of Jonathan Edwards This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording by Anna Roberts. Select Sermons of Jonathan Edwards Part 37 Pressing into the Kingdom of God Part 2 It is therefore quite a wrong notion that some entertain that the more they do the more they shall depend on it, whereas the reverse is true, the more they do or the more thorough they are in seeking, the less will they be likely to rest in their doings and the sooner will they see the vanity of all that they do, so that persons will exceedingly miss it if ever they neglect to do any duty either to God or man, whether it be any duty of religion, justice, or charity, under a notion of exposing them to trust in their own righteousness. It is very true that it is a common thing for persons when they earnestly seek salvation to trust in the pains that they take, but yet commonly those that go on in a more slight way trust a great deal more securely to their dull services than he that is pressing into the Kingdom of God does to his earnestness. Men's slackness in religion and their trust in their own righteousness strengthen and establish one another. Their trust in what they have done and what they now do settles them in a slothful rest and ease and hinders their being sensible of their need of rousing up themselves and pressing forward. And on the other hand their negligence tends so to benumb them in such ignorance of themselves that the most miserable refugees are stupidly rested in as sufficient. Therefore we see that when persons have been going on for a long time in such a way and God afterwards comes more thoroughly to awaken them and to stir them up to be in good earnest he shakes all their old foundations and rouses them out of their old resting places so that they cannot quiet themselves with those things that formerly kept them secure. I would now proceed to give some directions how you should press into the Kingdom of God. 1. Be directed to sacrifice everything to your soul's eternal interest. Let seeking this be so much your bent and what you are so resolved in that you will make everything give place to it. Let nothing stand before your resolution of seeking the Kingdom of God. Whatever it be that you used to look upon as a convenience or comfort or ease or thing desirable on any account if it stands in the way of this great concern let it be dismissed without hesitation. And if it be of that nature that it is likely always to be a hindrance then wholly have done with it and never entertain any expectation from it more. If in time past you have for the sake of worldly gain involved yourself in more care in business than you find to be consistent with your being so thoroughly in the business of religion as you ought to be then get into some other way though you suffer in your worldly interest by it. Or if you have here to fore been conversant with company that you have reason to think have been and will be a snare to you and a hindrance to this great design in any ways break off from their society however it may expose you to reproach from your old companions or let what will be the effect of it. Whatever it be that stands in the way of your most advantageously seeking salvation whether it be some dear sinful pleasure or strong carnal appetite or credit and honor or the good will of some persons whose friendship you desire and whose esteem in liking you have highly valued and though there be any danger if you do as you ought that you shall be looked upon by them as odd and ridiculous and become contemptible in their eyes or if it be your ease and indolence and aversion to continual labor or your outward convenience in any respect whereby you might avoid difficulties of one kind or other let all go offer up such things together as it were in one sacrifice to the interest of your soul let nothing stand in competition with this but make everything to fall before it if the flesh must be crossed then cross it spare it not crucify it and do not be afraid of being too cruel to it Galatians 5 24 they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts have no dependence on any worldly enjoyment whatsoever let salvation be the one thing with you this is what is certainly required of you and this is what many stick at this giving up other things for salvation is a stumbling block that few get over while others pressed into the kingdom of God at the preaching of John the Baptist Herod was pretty much stirred up by his preaching it is said he heard him and observed him and did many things but when he came to tell him that he must part with his beloved Herodias here he stuck this he would never yield to Mark 7 18 through 20 the rich young man was considerably concerned for salvation and accordingly was a very strict liver in many things but when Christ came to direct him to go and sell all that he had and give to the poor and come and follow him he could not find it in his heart to comply with it but went away sorrowful he had great possessions and set his heart much on his estate and could not bear to part with it it may be if Christ had directed him only to give away a considerable part of his estate he would have done it yea perhaps if he had bit him part with half of it he would have complied with it but when he directed him to throw up all he could not grapple with such a proposal here in the straightness of the gate very much consists and it is on this account that so many seek to enter in and are not able there are many that have a great mind to salvation and spend great part of their time in wishing they had it but they will not comply with the the necessary means 2. be directed to forget the things that are behind that is not to keep thinking and making much of what you have done but let your mind be wholly intent on what you have to do in some sense you ought to look back you should look back to your sins Jeremiah 2 23 see thy way in the valley know what thou hast done you should look back on the wretchedness of your religious performances and consider how you have fallen short in them how exceedingly polluted all your duties have been and how justly God might reject and loathe them and you for them but you ought not to spend your time in looking back as many persons do thinking how much they have done for their salvation what great pains they have taken how that they have done what they can and do not see how they can do more how long a time they have been seeking and how much more they have done than others and even than such and such who have obtained mercy they think with themselves how hardly God deals with them that he does not extend mercy to them but turns a deaf ear to their cries and hence discourage themselves and complain of God do not thus spend your time in looking back on what is past but look forward and consider what is before you consider what it is that you can do and what it is necessary that you should do and what God calls you still to do in order to your salvation the apostle in the third chapter to the Philippians tells us what things he did while a Jew how much he had to boast of if any could boast but he tells us that he forgot those things and all other things that were behind and reached forward towards the things that were before pressing forwards towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus 3. Labor to get your heart thoroughly disposed to go on and hold out to the end many that seem to be earnest have not a heart thus disposed it is a common thing for persons to appear greatly affected for a little while but all is soon passed away and there is no more to be seen of it labor therefore to obtain a thorough willingness and preparation of spirit to continue seeking in the use of your utmost endeavors without limitation and do not think your whole life too long and in order to do this be advised to do two things 1. Remember that if ever God bestows mercy upon you he will use his sovereign pleasure about the time when he will bestow it on some in a little time and on others not till they have sought it long if other persons are soon enlightened and comforted while you remain long in darkness there is no other way for you but to wait God will act arbitrarily in this matter and you cannot help it you must even be content to wait in a way of laborious and earnest striving till his time comes if you refuse you will but undo yourself and when you shall hear after find yourself undone and see that your case is past remedy how will you condemn yourself for forgoing a great probability of salvation only because you had not the patients to hold out and was not willing to be at the trouble of a persevering labor and what will it avail before God or your own conscience to say that you could not bear to be obliged to seek salvation so long when God had bestowed it on others that sought it but for a very short time though God may have bestowed the testimonies of his favor on others in a few days or hours after they have begun earnestly to seek it how does that alter the case as to you if there proves to be a necessity of your laboriously seeking many years before you obtain them is salvation less worth taking a great deal of pains for because through the sovereign pleasure of God others have obtained it with comparatively little pains if there are two persons the one of which has obtained converting grace with comparative ease and another that has obtained it after continuing for many years in the greatest and most earnest labors after it how little difference does it make it last when once salvation is obtained put all the labor in pains the long continued difficulties and struggleings of the one in the scale against salvation and how little does it subtract and put the ease with which the other has obtained in the scale with salvation and how little does it add what is either added or subtracted is lighter than vanity and a thing worthy of no consideration when compared with that infinite benefit that has obtained indeed if you were 10,000 years and all that time should strive and press forward with its great earnestness as ever a person did for one day all this would bear no proportion to the importance of the benefit and it will doubtless appear little to you when once you come to be in the actual possession of eternal glory and to see what that eternal misery is which you have escaped you must not think much of your pains and of the length of time you must press towards the kingdom of God and do your utmost and hold out to the end and learn to make no account of it when you have done you must undertake the business of seeking salvation upon these terms and with no other expectations than this that if ever God bestows mercy it will be in his own time and not only so but also that when you have done all God will not hold himself obliged to show you mercy at last to endeavor now thoroughly to weigh in your mind the difficulty and to count the cost of perseverance in seeking salvation you that are now setting out in this business as there are many here who have very lately said about it praise be the name of God that he has stirred you up to it be exhorted to attend this direction do not undertake in this affair with any other thought but of giving yourself wholly to it for the remaining part of your life and going through many and great difficulties in it take heed that you do not engage secretly upon this condition that you shall obtain in a little time promising yourself that it shall be within this present season of the pouring out of God's spirit or with any other limitation of time whatsoever many when they begin seeming to set out very earnestly do not expect that they shall need to seek very long and so do not prepare themselves for it and therefore when they come to find it otherwise and meet with unexpected difficulty they are found unguarded and easily overthrown but let me advise you all who are now seeking salvation not to entertain any self flattering thoughts but weigh the utmost difficulties of perseverance and be provided for them having your mind fixed in it to go through them let them be what they will consider now beforehand how tedious it would be with utmost earnestness in labor to strive after salvation for many years in the meantime receiving no joyful or comfortable evidence of your having obtained consider with a great temptation to discouragement there probably would be in it how apt you would be to yield the case how ready to think that it is in vain for you to seek any longer and that God never intends to show you mercy in that he has not yet done it how apt you would be to think with yourself what an uncomfortable life do I live how much more unpleasantly do I spend my time than others that do not perplex their minds about the things of another world but are at ease and take the comfort of their worldly enjoyments consider what a temptation there would probably be in it if you saw others brought in that began to seek the kingdom of heaven long after you rejoicing in a hope and sense of God's favor but after little pains and a short time of awakening while you from day to day and from year to year seem to labor in vain prepare for such temptations now lay in beforehand for such trials and difficulties that you may not think any strange thing has happened when they come I hope that those who have given attention to what has been said have by this time conceived in some measure what is signified by the expression in the text and after what manner they ought to press into the kingdom of God here is this to induce you to a compliance with what you have been directed to if you sit still you die if you go backward behold you shall surely die if you go forward you may live and though God has not bound himself to anything that a person does while destitute of faith and out of Christ yet there is great probability that in a way of hearkening to this council you will live and that by pressing onward and persevering you will at last as it were by violence take the kingdom of heaven those of you who have not only heard the directions given but shall through God's merciful assistance practice according to them are those that probably will overcome these we may well hope at last to see standing with a lamb on Mount Zion clothes in white robes with palms in their hands when all your labor and toil will be abundantly compensated and you will not repent that you have taken so much pains and denied yourself much and waited so long this self-denial this waiting will then look little and vanish into nothing in your eyes being all swallowed up in the first minutes enjoyment of that glory that you will then possess and will uninterruptedly possess and enjoy to all eternity fourth direction improve the present season of the pouring out of the spirit of God on this town prudence in any affair whatsoever consists very much in minding and improving our opportunities if you would have spiritual prosperity you must exercise prudence in the concerns of your souls as well as an outward concerns when you seek outward prosperity the prudent husband men will observe his opportunities he will improve seed time and harvest he will make his advantage of the showers and shines of heaven the prudent merchant will discern his opportunities he will not be idle on a market day he is careful not to let slip his seasons for enriching himself so will those who prudently seek the fruits of righteousness and the merchandise of wisdom improve their opportunities for their eternal wealth and happiness God is pleased at this time in a very remarkable manner to pour out his spirit amongst us glory be to his name you that have a mind to obtain converting grace and to go to heaven when you die now is your season now if you have any sort of prudence for your own salvation and have not a mind to go to hell improve this season now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation you that in time past have been called upon and have turned a deaf ear to God's voice and long stood out and resisted his commands and counsels hear God's voice today while it is called today do not harden your hearts at such a day as this now you have a special and remarkable price put into your hands to get wisdom if you have but a heart to improve it God hath his certain days or appointed seasons of exercising both mercy and judgment there are some remarkable times of wrath laid out by God for his awful visitation in the executions of his anger which times are called days of vengeance Proverbs 6 34 wherein God will visit sin Exodus 32 34 and so on the contrary God has laid out in his sovereign counsels seasons of remarkable mercy wherein he will manifest himself in the exercises of his grace and loving kindness more than at other times such times in scripture are called by way of eminency accepted times and days of salvation and also days of God's visitation because they are days wherein God will visit in a way of mercy as in Luke 19 44 and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee and they shall not leave in the one stone upon another it is such a time now in this town it is with us a day of God's gracious visitation it is indeed a day of grace with us as long as we live in this world in the enjoyment of the means of grace but such a time as this is especially and in a distinguishing manner a day of grace there is a door of mercy always standing open for sinners but such a day as this God opens an extraordinary door we are directed to seek the Lord while he may be found 6 if you that are hitherto Christless be not strangely besotted and infatuated you will by all means improve such an opportunity as this to get heaven when heaven is brought so near when the fountain is opened in the midst of us in so extraordinary a manner now is the time to obtain a supply of the necessities of your poor perishing souls this is the day for sinners that have a mind to be converted before they die when God is dealing forth so liberally and bountifully amongst us when conversion and salvation work is going on amongst us from Sabbath to Sabbath and many are pressing into the kingdom of God now do not stay behind but press in amongst the rest others have been stirred up to be in good earnest and have taken heaven by violence be entreated to follow their example if you would have a part of the inheritance with them and would not be left at the great day when they are taken how should it move you to consider that you have this opportunity now in your hands you're in the actual possession of it if it were passed it would not be in your power to recover it or in the power of any creature to bring it back for you but it is not passed it is now at this day now is the accepted time even while it is called today will you sit still at such a time will you sleep in such a harvest will you deal with the slack hand or stay behind out of mere sloth or love to some lust or loathness to grapple with some small difficulty or to put yourself a little out of your way when so many are flowing to the goodness of the Lord you're behind still and so you will be in danger of being left behind when the whole number is completed that are to enter in if you do not earnestly bestow yourself to be left behind at the close of such a season as this will be awful next to being left behind on that day when God's saint shall mount up as with wings to meet the Lord in the air and will be what will appear very threatening of it God is now calling you in an extraordinary manner and it is agreeable to the will and word of Christ that I should now in his name call you as one set over you and sent to you to that end so it is his will that you should harken to what I say as his voice I therefore beseech you in Christ's stead now to press into the kingdom of God whoever you are whether young or old small or great if you are a great sinner if you have been a backslider if you have quenched the spirit be who you will do not stand making objections but arise apply yourself to your work do what you have to do with your might Christ is calling you before and holding forth his grace and everlasting benefits and wrath is pursuing you behind therefore fly for your life and look not behind you but here I would particularly direct myself to several sorts of persons one to those sinners who are in a measure awakened and are concerned for their salvation you have reason to be glad that you have such an opportunity and to prize it above gold to induce you to prize and improve it consider several things one God has doubtless a design now to deal forth saving blessings to a number God has done it to some already and it is not probable that he has yet finished his work amongst us we may well hope still to see others brought out of darkness into marvelous light and therefore too God comes this day and knocks at many persons doors and at your door among the rest God seems to become in a very unusual manner amongst us upon a gracious and merciful design a design of saving a number of poor miserable souls out of a lost and perishing condition and of bringing them into a happy state and eternal glory this is offered to you not only as it has always been in the word and ordinances but by the particular influences of the spirit of Christ awakening you this special offer is made to many amongst us and you are not passed over Christ has not forgot you but has come to your door and there as it were stands waiting for you to open to him if you have wisdom and discretion to discern your own advantage you will know that now is your opportunity three how much more easily converting grace is obtained at such a time than at other times the work is equally easy with God at all times but there is far less difficulty in the way as to men at such a time than at other times it is as I said before a day of God's gracious visitation a day that he has as it were set apart for the more liberally and bountifully dispensing of his grace a day wherein God's hand is opened wide experience shows it God seems to be more ready to help to give proper convictions to help against temptations and lead in divine light he seems to carry on his work with a more glorious discovery of his power and Satan is more chained up than at other times those difficulties and temptations that persons before struck at from year to year they are soon helped over the work of God is carried on with greater speed and swiftness and there are often instances of sudden conversion at such a time so it was in the apostles days when there was a time of the most extraordinary pouring out of the spirit that ever was how quick and sudden were conversions in those days such instances as that of the jailer abounded then in fulfillment of that prophecy as a 66 7 and 8 before she travelled she brought forth before her pain came she was delivered of a man child who hath heard such a thing who hath seen such things for as soon as Zion travelled she brought forth her children so it is in some degree whenever there is an extraordinary pouring out of the spirit of God more or less so in proportion to the greatness of that effusion there is seldom such quick work made of it at other times persons are not so soon delivered from their various temptations and entanglements but are much longer wandering in a wilderness and groping in darkness and yet for there are probably some here present that are now concerned about their salvation that will never obtain it is not to be supposed that all that are now moved and awakened will ever be savingly converted doubtless there are many now seeking that will not be able to enter when has it been so in times past when there has been times of great outpourings of God's spirit but that many who for a while have inquired with others what they should do to be saved have failed and afterwards grown hard and secure all of you that are now awakened have a mind to obtain salvation and probably hope to get a title to heaven in the time of this present moving of God's spirit but yet though it be awful to be spoken and awful to be thought we have no reason to think any other then that some of you will burn in hell to all eternity you all are afraid of hell and seem at present disposed to take pains to be delivered from it and yet it would be unreasonable to think any other than that some of you will have your portion in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone though there are so many that seem to obtain so easily having been but a little while under convictions yet for all that some never will obtain some will soon lose the sense of things they have now though their awakening seem to be very considerable for the present they will not hold they have not hearts disposed to hold on through very many difficulties some that have set out for heaven and hope as much as others to obtain are indeed but slightly in slack even now in the midst of such a time as this and others who for the present seem to be more in earnest will probably before long decline and fail and gradually return to be as they were before the convictions of some seem to be great while that which is the occasion of their convictions is new which when that begins to grow old will gradually decay and wear off thus it may be the occasion of your awakening has been the hearing of the conversion of some person or seeing so extraordinary a dispensation of providence as this in which god now appears amongst us but by and by the newness and freshness of these things will be gone and so will not affect your mind as now they do and it may be your convictions will go away with it end of section 37 section 38 of select sermons of jonathan edwards this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this recording by Anna Roberts select sermons of Jonathan Edwards section 38 pressing into the kingdom of god part three though this be a time wherein god doth more liberally bestow his grace and so a time of greater advantage for obtaining it yet there seems to be upon some accounts greater danger of backsliding than when persons are awakened at other times for commonly such extraordinary times do not last long and then when they cease there are multitudes that lose their convictions as it were together we speak of it as a happy thing that god is pleased to cause such a time amongst us and so it is indeed but there are also some to whom it will be no benefit it will be an occasion of their greater misery they will wish they had never seen this time it will be more tolerable for those that never saw it or anything like it in the day of judgment then for them it is an awful consideration that there are probably those here whom the great judge will hear after call to a strict account about this very thing why they know better improved this opportunity when he said open the fountain of his grace and so loudly called upon them and came and strove with them in particular by the awakening influences of his spirit and they will have no good account to give to the judge but their mouths will be stopped and they will stand speechless before him you had need therefore to be earnest and very resolved in this affair that you may not be one of those who shall thus fail that you may so fight as not uncertainly and so run as that you may win the prize five consider in what sad circumstances times of extraordinary fusion of god's spirit commonly leave persons when they leave them unconverted they find them in a doleful because in a natural condition but commonly leave them in a much more doleful condition they are left dreadfully hardened and with a great increase of guilt and their souls under a more strong dominion and possession of satan and frequently seasons of extraordinary advantage for salvation when they pass over persons and they do not improve them nor receive any good in them seal their damnation as such seasons leave them god forever leaves them and gives them up to judicial hardness luke nineteen forty one and forty two and when he was come near he beheld the city and wept over it saying if thou hath known even thou the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes six consider that it is very uncertain whether you will ever see such another time as this if there should be such another time it is very uncertain whether you will live to another time and it is very uncertain whether you will ever live to see it many that are now concerned for their salvation amongst us will probably be in their graves and may be in hell before that time and if you should miss this opportunity it may be so with you and what good will that do you to have the spirit of god poured out upon the earth in the place where you once lived while you are tormented in hell what will it avail you that others are crying what shall I do to be saved while you are shut up forever in the bottomless pit and are wailing and gnashing your teeth in everlasting burnings wherefore improve this opportunity while god is pouring out his spirit and you are on earth and while you dwell in the place where the spirit of god is thus poured out and you yourself have the awakening influences of it that you may never wail and gnash your teeth in hell but may sing in heaven forever with others that are redeemed from amongst men and redeemed amongst us seven if you should see another such time it will be under far greater disadvantages than now you will probably then be much older and will have more hardened your heart and so will be under less probability of receiving good some persons are so hardened in sin and so left of god that they can live through such a time as this and not be much awakened or affected by it they can stand their ground and be but little moved and so it may be with you by another such time if there should be another amongst us that you should live to see it the case in all probability will be greatly altered with you by that time if you should continue christless and graceless till then you will be much further from the kingdom of god and much deeper involved in snares and misery and the devil will probably have a vastly greater advantage against you to tempt and confound you eight we do not know but that god is now gathering in his elect before some great and sore judgment it has been god's manner before he casts off a visible people or bring some great and destroying judgments upon them first together in his elect to that they may be secure so it was before the casting off of the jews from being god's people there was first a very remarkable pouring out of the spirit and gathering in of the elect by the preaching of the apostles and evangelists as we read in the beginning of the acts but after this the harvest and its gleaning were over the rest were blinded and hardened the gospel had little success amongst them and the nation was given up and cast off from being god's people and their city and land was destroyed by the romans in a terrible manner and they have been cast off by god now for a great many ages and still remain the hardened and rejected people so we read in the beginning of the seventh chapter of the revelations that god when about to bring destroying judgments on the earth first sealed his servants in the forehead he set his seal upon the hearts of the elect gave them the saving influences and indwelling of his spirit by which they were sealed to the day of redemption revelations seven one two three and after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth nor on the sea nor on any tree and I saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal of the living god and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea saying hurt not the earth neither the sea nor the trees till we have sealed the servants of our god in their foreheads and this may be the case now that god is about in a great measure to forsake this land and give up this people and to bring most awful and overwhelming judgments upon it and that he is now gathering in his elect to secure them from the calamity the state of the nation and of this land never looked so threatening of such a thing as at this day the present aspect of things exceedingly threatens vital religion and even those truths that are especially the foundation of it out of this land if it should be so how awful will be the case with those that shall be left and not brought in while god continues the influences of his spirit to gather in those that are to be redeemed from amongst us nine if you neglect the present opportunity and be finally unbelieving those that are converted in this time of the pouring out of god's spirit will rise up in judgment against you your neighbors your relations acquaintance or companions that are converted will that day appear against you they will not only be taken while you are left mounting up with joy to meet the lord in the air at his right hand with glorious saints and angels while you are left with devils but how they will rise up in judgment against you however friendly you have been together and have taken pleasure in one another's company and have often familiarly conversed together they will then surely appear against you they will rise up as witnesses and will declare what a precious opportunity you had and did not improve how you continued unbelieving and rejected the offers of a savior when those offers were made in so extraordinary a manner and when so many others were prevailed upon to accept of christ how you were negligent and slack and did not know the things that belong to your peace in that your day and not only so but they shall be your judges as assessors with the great judge and as such will appear against you they will be with the judge 1st Corinthian 6 too no ye not that the saints shall judge the world Christ will admit them to the honor of judging the world with him they shall sit with him in his throne Revelation 3 21 they shall sit with Christ in his throne of government and they shall sit with him in his throne of judgment and shall be judges with him when you are judged and as such shall condemn you 10 and lastly you do not know that you shall live through the present time of the pouring out of God's spirit you may be taken away in the midst of it or you may be taken away in the beginning of it as God in his providence is putting you in mind by the late instance of death in a young person in the town God has of late been very awful in his dealings with us in the repeated deaths of young persons amongst us this should stir every one up to be in the more haste to press into the kingdom of God so that you may be safe whenever death comes this is a blessed season and opportunity but you do not know how little of it you may have you may have much less of it than others may by death be suddenly snatched away from all advantages that are here enjoyed for the good of souls therefore make haste and escape for thy life one moment's delay is dangerous for wrath is pursuing and divine vengeance hanging over every uncovered person let these considerations move everyone to be improving this opportunity that while others receive saving good and are made heirs of eternal glory you may not be left behind in the same miserable doleful circumstances in which you came into the world a poor captive to sin and to Satan a lost sheep a perishing undone creature sinking down into everlasting perdition that you may not be one of them spoken of Jeremiah 17 6 that shall be like the heath in the desert and shall not see when good comes if you do not improve this opportunity remember I have told you you will hear after lamented and if you do not lamented in this world then I will leave it with you to remember it throughout a miserable eternity two I would address myself to such as yet remain unawakened it is an awful thing that there should be any one person remaining secure amongst us at such a time as this but yet it is to be feared that there are some of this sort I would hear a little expostulate with such persons one when do you expect that it will be more likely that you should be awakened and wrought upon than now you are in a christless condition and yet without doubt intend to go to heaven and therefore intend to be converted sometime before you die but this is not to be expected till you are first awakened and deeply concerned about the welfare of your soul and brought earnestly to seek grace and when do you intend that this shall be how do you lay out things in your own mind or what projection have you about this matter is it ever so likely that a person will be awakened as at such a time as this how do we see many who before were secure now roused out of their sleep and crying what shall I do to be saved but you are yet secure do you flatter yourself that it will be more likely you should be awakened when it is a dull and dead time do you lay out matters thus in your own mind that though you are senseless when others are generally awakened that yet you shall be awakened when others are generally senseless or do you hope to see another such time of the pouring out of God's spirit hereafter and do you think it will be more likely that you should be wrought upon then than now and why do you think so is it because then you shall be so much older than you are now and so that your heart will be grown softer and more tender with age or because you will then have stood out so much longer against the cause of the gospel and all means of grace do you think it more likely that God will give you the needed influences of his spirit then than now because then you will have provoked him so much more and your sin and guilt will be so much greater and do you think it will be any benefit to you to stand it out through the present season of grace as proof against the extraordinary means of awakening there are do you think that this will be a good preparation for a saving work of the spirit hereafter too and what means do you expect to be awakened by as to the awakening awful things of the word of God you have had those set before you times without number in the most moving manner that the dispensers of the word have been capable of as to particular solemn warnings directed to those that are in your circumstances you have had them frequently and have them now from time to time do you expect to be awakened by awful providences those also you have lately had of the most awakening nature one after another do you expect to be moved by the deaths of others we have lately had repeated instances of these there have been deaths of old and young the deaths of young persons in the bloom of life and some of them very sudden deaths will the conversion of others move you there is indeed scarce anything that is found to have so great a tendency to stir persons up as this and this you have been tried with of late infrequent instances but are hitherto proof against it will a general pouring out of the spirit and seeing a concern about salvation amongst all sorts of people do it this means you now have but without effect yay you have all these things together you have the solid warnings of god's word and awful instances of death and the conversion of others and see a general concern about salvation but all together do not move you to any great concern about your own precious immortal and miserable soul therefore consider by what means it is that you expect to ever be awakened you have heard that it is probable some who are now awakened will never obtain salvation how dark then does it look upon you that remain stupidly unawakened those who are not moved at such a time as this come to adult age have reason to fear whether they are not given up to judicial hardness I do not say they have reason to conclude it but they have reason to fear it how dark does it look upon you that god comes and knocks at so many persons doors and misses yours that god is giving the strivings of his spirit so generally amongst us while you are left senseless three do you expect to obtain salvation without ever seeking it if you are sensible that there is a necessity of your seeking in order to obtaining and ever intend to seek one would think you could not avoid it at such a time as this inquire therefore whether you intend to go to heaven living all your days a secure negligent careless life or four do you think you can bear the damnation of hell do you imagine that you can tolerably endure the devouring fire and everlasting burnings do you hope that you shall be able to grapple with the vengeance of god almighty when he girds himself with strength and close himself with wrath do you think to strengthen yourself against god and to be able to make your part good with him first Corinthians 10 22 do we provoke the lord to jealousy are we stronger than he do you flatter yourself that you shall find out ways for your ease and support and to make it out tolerably well to bear up your spirit in those everlasting burnings that are prepared for the devil and his angels is equal 22 14 can thine heart endure or can thine hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee it is a difficult thing to conceive what such christless persons think that are unconcerned at such a time 3 I would direct myself to them who are grown considerably into years and are yet in a natural condition I would now take occasion earnestly to exhort you to improve this extraordinary opportunity and press into the kingdom of god you have lost many advantages that once you had and now have not the same advantages that others have the case is very different with you from what it is with many of your neighbors you above all had need to improve such an opportunity now is the time for you to bestow yourself and take the kingdom of heaven consider one now there seems to be a door opened for old sinners now god is dealing forth freely to all sorts his hand is opened wide and he does not pass by old ones so much as he used to do you are not under such advantages as others who are younger but yet so wonderfully has got ordered it that now you are not destitute of great advantage though old in sin god has put a new an extraordinary advantage in your hands oh improve this price you have to get wisdom you that have been long seeking to enter in at the straight gate and yet remain without now take your opportunity and press in you that have been long in the wilderness fighting with various temptations laboring under discouragements ready to give up the case and have been often tempted to despair now behold the door that god opens for you do not give way to discouragements now this is not a time for it do not spend time in thinking that you have done what you can already and that you are not elected and in giving way to other perplexing weakening disheartening temptations do not waste away this precious opportunity in such a manner you have no time to spare for such things as these god calls you now to something else improve this time in seeking and striving for salvation and not in that which tends to hinder it it is no time now for you to stand talking with the devil but harken to god and apply yourself to that which he does now some of you have often lamented the loss of past opportunities particularly the loss of the time of youth and have been wishing that you had so good an opportunity again and have been ready to say oh if i was young again how would i improve such an advantage that opportunity which you have had in time past is irrecoverable you can never have it again but god can give you other advantages of another sort that are very great and he is so doing at this day he is now putting a new opportunity into your hands though not of the same kind with that which you once had and have lost yet in some respects as great of another kind if you lament your folly in neglecting and losing past opportunities then do not be guilty of the folly of neglecting the opportunity which god now gives you this opportunity you could not have purchased if you would have given all that you had in the world for it but god is putting it into your hands himself of his own free and sovereign mercy without your purchasing it therefore when you have it do not neglect it two it is a great deal more likely with respect to such persons than others that this is their last time there will be a last time of a special offer of salvation to impenitent sinners god's spirit shall not always strive with man Genesis 6 3 god sometimes continues long knocking at the doors of wicked men's hearts but there are the last knocks and the last calls that ever they shall have and sometimes god's last calls are the loudest and then if sinners do not he finally leaves them how long has god been knocking at many of your doors that are old in sin it is a great deal more likely that these are his last knocks you have resisted god's spirit in times past and have hardened your heart once again but god will not be thus dealt with always there is danger that if now after so long a time you will not harken he will utterly desert you and leave you to walk in your own councils it seems by god's providence as though god had yet an elect number amongst old sinners in this place that perhaps he is now about to bring in it looks as though there were some that long lived under mr. Stoddard's ministry that god has not utterly cast off though they stood it out under such great means as they then enjoyed it is to be hoped that god will now bring in a remnant from among them but it is more likely that god is now about finishing with them one way or another for there having been so long the subjects of such extraordinary means you have seen former times of the pouring out of god's spirit upon the town when others were taken and you left others were called out of darkness into marvelous light and were brought into a glorious and happy state and you saw not good when good came how dark will your circumstances appear if you shall also stand it out through this opportunity and still be left behind take heed that you be not of those spoken of Hebrews six seven and eight that are like the earth that has rain coming off upon it and only bears briars and thorns as we see there are some pieces of ground the more showers of rain fall upon them the more fruitful seasons there are the more do the briars and other useless and hurtful plants that are rooted in them grow and flourish of such ground the apostle says it is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned the way that the husbandmen takes with such ground is to set fire to it to burn up the growth of it if you miss this opportunity there is danger that you will be utterly rejected and that your end will be to be burned and if this is to be it is to be feared that you are not far from but nigh unto cursing those of you that are already grown old in sin and are now under awakenings when you feel your convictions begin to go off if ever that should be then remember what you have been told it may well then strike you to the heart four I would direct the advice to those that are young and now under their first special convictions I would earnestly urge such to improve this opportunity and press into the kingdom of god consider two things one you have all manner of advantages now centering upon you it is a time of great advantage for all but your advantages are above others there is no other sort of persons that have now so great and happy an opportunity as you have you have the great advantage that is common to all who live in this place namely that now it is a time of the extraordinary pouring out of the spirit of god and have you not that great advantage the awakening influences of the spirit of god on you in particular and besides you have this peculiar advantage that you are now in your youth and added to this you have another unspeakable advantage that you are now under your first convictions happy as he that never has hardened his heart and blocked up his own way to heaven by backsliding and has now the awakening influences of god's spirit if god does but enable him thoroughly to improve them such above all in the world bid fair for the kingdom of god god is want on such above any kind of persons as it were easily and readily to bestow the saving grace and comforts of his spirit instances of speedy and sudden conversion are most commonly found among such happy are they that have the spirit of god with them and never have quenched it if they did but know the price they have in their hands if you have a sense of your necessity of salvation and the great worth and value of it you will be willing to take the surest way to it or that which has the greatest probability of success and that certainly is thoroughly to improve your first convictions if you so go it is not likely that you will fail there is the greatest probability that you will succeed what is it not worth to have such an advantage in one's hands for obtaining eternal life the present season of the pouring out of god's spirit is the first that many of you who are now under awakenings have ever seen since you came to years of understanding on which account it is the greatest opportunity that ever you had and probably by far the greatest that you ever will have there are many here present who wish they had such an opportunity but they never can obtain it they cannot buy it for money but you have it in your possession and can improve it if you will but yet to there is on some accounts greater danger that such as are in your circumstances will fail of thoroughly improving their convictions with respect to steadfastness and perseverance than others those that are young are more unstable than elder persons they who never had convictions before have less experience in the difficulty of the work they have engaged in they are more ready to think that they shall obtain salvation easily and are more easily discouraged by disappointments and young persons have less reason in consideration to fortify them against temptations to backsliding you should therefore labor now the more to guard against such temptations by all means make but one work of seeking salvation make thorough work of it the first time there are vast disadvantages that they bring themselves under who have several turns of seeking with great intermissions by such a course persons exceedingly wound their own souls and entangle themselves in many snares who are those that commonly meet with so many difficulties and are so long laboring and darkness and perplexity but those who have had several turns at seeking salvation who have once had convictions and then have quenched them and then have said about the work again and have backslidden again and have gone on after that manner the children of Israel would not have been forty years in the wilderness if they had held their courage and had gone on as they set out but they were of an unstable mind and were for going back again into Egypt otherwise if they had gone right forward without discouragement as God would have led them they would have soon entered and taken possession of Canaan they had got to the very borders of it when they turned back but were thirty-eight years after that before they got through the wilderness therefore as you regard the interests of your soul do not run yourself into a like difficulty by unsteadiness intermission and backsliding but press right forward from henceforth and make but one work of seeking converting and pardoning grace however great and difficult and long a work that may be end of section thirty-eight