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into the World this Loving Invitation: And am defirous for the Love 1 bear to the People of the Dutch Nation, that this might be tranflated into the Dutch Language; hoping it may be beneficial to fome well-inclined Souls, in order to ftir them up to feek, ferve, and love Almighty God. Amen.

So wifheth, and heartily prayeth, a Friend to, and Lover of all Mankind.

T. C.

A

A

Loving INVITATION

TO

YOUNG and OLD,

IN

HOLLAND, and Elsewhere, &c.

I

T is a Thing truly excellent for Mortals to love, 1709. serve, and fear him that made them, and gave

unto all Life and Being: And to begin this Work

betimes, is very advantageous to the never dying Soul. It is also an indifpenfable Duty, which is incumbent upon every one, Male and Female; and whoever is found in the Neglect thereof, will certainly have Cause dearly to repent it, and unless they do repent before they go hence, and fee Man no more, will be miferable to all Eternity. Which folid Confideration, hath often been weighty on my Mind, and I

could

1709. could not be clear (as I thought) in the Sight of God, without laying of it before Men and Women.

John 14

Now, that we may fo do, confider, Truth commands us, Reafon perfuades us, and Example is very powerful and inviting. Oh! that the Children of Men, would be wife to Salvation, and embrace the Love of God in his dear and well-beloved Son, our Lord Jefus Chrift, who himself faid, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Oh! furely here is a Three-fold Cord, (i. e. Truth, Reafon and Example) which is not eafily broken: God Almighty grant (for Chrift's Sake) that by it fome poor Soul might be drawn to him, even now in their tender Years: To Day, to Day, if any will hear the Voice of the Lord, Oh! Let them not harden their Hearts; for that is provoking to him that made us. How know we whether he, who made the Heavens, will be pleafed to give us another Hour? How know we, but that after this Day we may never open our Eyes, till we open them. in Eternity! Oh Eternity, Eternity, that boundless Ocean! who can fathom those Words, for Ever and Ever? What will this World, and all its Glories and Vanities fignify, or avail to poor Souls, when rowling from Side to Side on a Dying-bed.

It will therefore be well for both Old and Young to note this:

First, The Old, because it is not likely they fhould have many Days, according to the Courfe of Nature, and a common Proverb, i. e. The Young (may live, and they) may die, but the Old must die.

Secondly, The Young, because they know not būt they may die To-morrow.

In the great and notable Day of the moft High, Oh! then, then, heavenly Things will be found ferious and folid Truths, and not Toys and Trifles, nor indifferent Things; when He shall come as in Flames of Fire, to render Vengeance (which is only his) upon all the Workers of Iniquity, and shall come to judge the

Secrets

Secrets of Men's Hearts by that great Man, and just 1709 Judge, the Lord Jefus Chrift.

34

Wherefore, let me prevail with fome poor Souls, now in time, to lay the Truth to Heart, and to be found in the Work of God in their Day. That fo for their Pains here, they may receive their Penny hereafter; and that enlivening, that quickening Answer of Well-doing, may be their Portion, and the Lot (the Matt. glorious Lot) of their Inheritance: Come ye bleffed; 21, 23. Well done, good and faithful Servant: Enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord. Oh powerful Voice, and Heartravishing Sentence! Enough to make one alive, though dead; and exceeding joyful, though forrowful even to Death. Oh! this divine Favour and Grace, wherewith the moft High will favour thofe that love him, and faithfully ferve him, in this his great and notable Day, will far exceed the Favour of Kings and Princes: For thofe that get the latter, can only be happy (or fo accounted) in this World, which is but momentary; and those who are living and fenfible Witneffes of the former, are certainly happy, even in this World (although Men may not fee it) and likewife everlaftingly happy in that World which is to come. To be fenfible of God's Grace in the Heart, and to follow the holy Teachings of it, is preferable to all Things here below, it will make one more Wife and more Comely, than all outward Learning, Beauty, or Parts whatever. God Almighty grant, I befeech him, that all our young Men, our rich Men, our wife Men, may only glory in him, according to the Language of the Spirit in the holy Scriptures, Let not the young or Strong Man glory in his Youth or Strength, nor the rich Man in his Riches, nor the wife Man in bis Wifdom: But be that glories, let him glory in the Lord, or in this, That be knows the Lord. Let the Wits of the Age confider this well; let the Boafter and Difputer rightly note this, and he'll have Caufe to bow before Heaven's Majefty: What becomes of the

young

1709. young Man and young Woman's Strength, and love

ly Beauty, when their Heads are laid in their cold Grave? What will become of, or of what Service will the Riches of the rich Man be to him, when he fhall receive his Summons to his long Home? May he not then fay, Oh! that I had been as induftrious to get Heaven, and Peace with my Maker, as I have been to get this World. Let all Worldly-minded Men and Women remember the wonderful ExpoMatt. xix. ftulation of Chrift Jefus with the rich young Man.

16, 17,

&c.

This is not to hinder any in their outward Concerns :
For the Heart of a Man may be in Heaven, tho' his
Hands may be in his Employment.

And as to the wife Man: Pray what will become of his great Wit, his acquired Parts, his nice and farfetch'd Arguments and Criticifms, when pale-fac'd Death fhall look him in the Face, and strike him with his fharp Arrows? Then he'll find that it had been much better for him, that he had lived well, altho' he had nottalked fo much, or fo well: To talk well is good; but to live well is much better. To talk finely, and live badly, is of little Worth. Oh! that the great Mafter-workman of all, may drive home this Nail, in the Heart of him whofe Eye fhall look thereon, by his mighty Hammer, the Hammer of his Word, his Heart-breaking, Heart-melting, and Heart-piercing Word; according to the Doctrine of the holy Spirit 3. 23. in the holy Scriptures, Is not my Word as a Fire? Is not my Word as a Hammer? Is not my Word as a Sword? (i. e.) to burn, to break, to cut down all Manner of Sin: Not to destroy Man, but Sin in Man. Hear farther the Language of the holy Spirit; Say not in thine Heart, who shall afcend up into Heaven, to fetch it down from above? Or who shall go down into the Deep, or beyond the Seas, to fetch it from thence? But what faith it? The Word is nigh thee, in thy Heart, and in thy Mouth, that thou mayft do it. was, and is, and ever will be, the Doctrine of the

29.

Deut. 30.

4.

Rom. 10. 7, 8, 9.

This

Gospel:

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