James Renwick

“ O we tremble to think upon the multitude that prays themselves into hell; This is David indeed, who kills his ten thousands. What shall I liken you to? Ye are like a man that digeth deep down, and casts out the old earth, but brings new earth of his own mould, but goes not the length of the rock. ”

“ No, no, be must either have it all on his back, or else he will have none of it; therefore take heed to yourselves. Secondly, You must close with a full Christ, as a prophet, priest and king; as a prophet
to to teach you his will; he must be your school master: As priest, thro' whose sacrifice only the Father must accept you, and who continually makes intercession at his right hand for you: And as king, to sway a scepter in your souls, to rule you according to his own law, and to cast down, and to cast out every thing exalting itself against his kingdom within you. ”

“ THE bowels of the Lord's sympathy towards his people, are always at the bursting out, and he dow not see them forsaking their own mercy, and straying from him, but is much taken up in lamenting over their folly, and with giving them many a moving and sweet invitation to come to him, where their happiness lies, and lays himself open to them, and the riches that are with him, with his arms spread abroad,inviting them by his precious and hearty promises, seeking nothing of folk, but only that they would come and receive freely ”

“ Yet not in truth nor in righteousness: O take heed what ye are doing, and do not deceive yourselves; for ye may win this length, as to be convin- ced, that it is good to come unto Christ and think ye have done it, being blinded by your pride, and may some way comfort yourselves, as if ye had done it, in this your presumptuous dream, and yet really never have done it: Never really, have been brought to deny your own Righteousness, and to receive Christ, relying only upon him for attaing of life through his righteousness and satisfaclion. ”

“ We must invite all to come, ye who are enemies, lay down your arms against him, and come; ye who are upholding his enemies, and complying with them in their sinful courses and abominations, by paying them cess and locality, and by furnishing them meat and drink, (which is more than a bidding them God speed, which the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of John, forbids, second epistle of John 10, verse.) Quit the putting the Sword in God's enemies hands, and come; ye who have given bonds to the adversary, break your covenant with hell and death, and come ”

“ Tho' ye should bestow all your goods too feed the poor, tho' I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing : Yea, the same Apostle supposeth, Gal. iii. 4. That there may be much suffering in vain ; have ye suffered to many things in vain ? If it be yet in vain. There are many of you that are suffering matterially for Christ; materially, we say, and not formally; for hypocrites never wins to sincerity in their doings and sufferings, nor to do them as to God; and yet he will get hell to suffer in throughout all eternity ”

“ The Lord sends forth, first, a man clothed in linen, with a writer’s inknorn by his side, to let a mark upon the foreheads of them that sigh and cry, for all the abominations that be done in the earth, and commands his men, with the slaughtering weapon in their hands, to go after, aud smite, and not to spare nor pity, but to slay utterly, old and young, both maids and little children and women ”

“ Is it not this, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? ”

“ Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not; to wit, first, purposedly, secondly, willingly, thirdly, af- fectionately, fourthly, not unto death: For the Lord's people have, (1.) Grief. (2.) Care to recover. (3.) Fear to sin. O! can ye run on in sin, without returning and care of repentance; if it be so, ye are not in this living root.
⁠Secondly, If ye come unto Christ, then ye will find this in you, a right and high esteem of the Lord's mercy, he and his salvation will be only precious in your eyes. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sín is covered, Psal. xxxii. 1. ”

“ In a word, it is these who are righteous, and who live righteously. These who are righteous, are these who are fled into Christ for his righteousness, and have gotten themselves clothed therewith. But that ye may the more clearly take up who these are who come unto Chrift; be-fore we give some marks of them, and some rules how to apply these marks, we shall first declare who it is that comes not. ”

“ Secondly, A sense of this, that there is nothing in you, or that ye can do, that will help you; it is beyond all created power to recover you; and so, not at all seek-ing to establish a self-righteousness; it is, come unto me ye tha labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Thirdly, A right fight of the all-sufficiency that is in Jesus Christ, and his ex-cellency drawing the heart out after him, as all the desire of the Soul, and so closing with him. Therefore, ye who remain sense-less of your lost condition, have a care; ye are not yet in these chambers. ”

“ Come, come, it is a rich commodity, and there is no sticking at the price, only receive and have; the easiest of all terms; there is no more required at your hands, But say ye, Ha sir, ye go without your bounds, the invitation in your text is to his people. Ye are all wrong, we are not so far out, as ye trow; the invitation is to his people, to enter into their chambers,
and and to all, who will come and become his people, to enter into their chambers ”

“ His invitation is unto all ; every one come, he that thirsteth, come, he that hath no money, come, Ifa. 55.1. Now, why will ye be so ill to your- selves, as to debar yourselves? For he doth not do it; ye may as well, and as rationally say, that ye are not a body, as to say, he debars yon. His invitation is to every one. Now, assent to this, and then, before you except yourself out thereof, ye must first not have a being, neither of soul nor body. We say, for you to think that he excepts you, it is all one as to deny yourself to be one of the children of Adam. ”

“ Omnia nos Christi vita docere potest.
⁠First, They live righteously, beginning all things with God, referring all things to God. Secondly, They do all things by the warrand of the word, contemning their own wills, that they might do the Lord's: Not my will, but thy will be done; they must lose their life, before they lose their obedience. Thirdly, They walk holily, be ye holy, as I am holy. John iii. 3. Every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure. Fourthly, They walk fruitfully, they go about doing good ”

“ O what shall we say of it! do what they will, and come as great a length as they can, they never come unto Christ, who are not fully denied to themselves, and positively rest only upon jesus Christ, for justification and sanc-tification. True faith hath two voices. First, it calls and crys, O sinner, lean not to thyself, rest not there. ”

“ He that faith he abideth in him, ought himself also to walk even as he walked. And it leads us unto the third thing in the opening up of this point, to wit, to declare who are his people; they, as we were saying, who are righteous, and live righteously. ”

“ Ans. By the strict union and communion betwixt Christ and the christians, which is from the Strictness of the bond; viz his word and spirit on his part, and faith and love on their part. Now, we say, how will that be known? well, we will give you these marks; therefore try yourselves. For, First, First, If ye be come to Christ, then ye will find in you a hatred of all sin naturally, and a desire to all good, tho' often ye may fail in the performance, Rom. ”

“ We have already spoken of the danger of resting upon apprehended sorrow for sin, so there may be much also of the flashes of joy, tenderness, and heart-meltings, which hypocrites may have at some times by another. ”

“ For in such a case thou art under the law, law, and as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the law, to do them. ”

“ Take heed to this, ye who care not tho' a tyrant possess his throne, and as it were, spoil him of his princely robes. Take heed to this, ye who stand not to hold down his kingdom, by upholding of his enemies. Thirdly, Ye must (if ye would enter into these chambers) close with all the in conveniences that follow him, his cross must be taken up, Luke 9. 23, 24. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it : But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. ”

“ Then be more in prayer, and be more single in prayer, and all other duties, than ever heretofore.
⁠Thirdly, improve it by loving the Lord himself, who hath granted you it, Psal.cxvi. I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and supplication.
⁠Fourthly, Improve it, by separating yourselves more from the abominations of the time, by making clean hearts and clean hands, Psal. vi. 8. Depart from me ye workers of iniquity, the Lord hath heard the voice of my supplication. ”

“ O stand still amazed, and wonder at his tender love and fatherly care of his childrsn, who will not come with his cloak of zeal and cloathes of vengeance, to give out, and to execute his sentence of justice upon his enemies, until that he give his people fair warning thereof ”