A call to the unconverted ...

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PRINCETON, N. J.

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Division

Section

CALL

TO

THE UNCONVERTED;

TO WHICH ARE ADDED,

SEVERAL VALUABLE ESSAYS.
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BY RICHARD BAXTER.

WITH

AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY,

BY THOMAS CHALMERS, D. D.
FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITIOIT,

Weto*Yorlt :
ROBERT CARTER

58 Canal S t.reet.
1840.

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.

Having already introduced to the notice of our readers
one of Richard Baxter's most valuable Treatises,* in the
Essay to which, we adverted to the character and writings
of this venerable author, we count it unnecessary at present
to make any allusion to them, but shall confine our remarks
to the subject of the three Treatises which compose the pre-
sent volume, namely, " A Call to the Unconverted to
TURN AND LIVE ;" " Now OR Never ;" and " Fifty Reasons

WHY A sinner ought TO TURN TO GoD THIS DAT WITHOUT
DELAY."

These Treatises are characterized by all that solemn
earnestness, and urgency of appeal, for which the writings
of this much admired author are so pecviliarly distinguished.
He seems to look upon mankind solely with the eyes of the
Spjirit, and exclusively to recognise them in their spiritual
relations, and in the great and essential elements of their
inamortal being. Their future destiny is the all-important
concern which fills and engrosses his mind, and he regards
nothing of any magnitude but what has a distinct bearing
on their spiritual and eternal condition. His business,
therefore, is always with the conscience, to which, in these
Treatises, he makes the most forcible appeals, and which
he phes with all those arguments which are fitted to awaken
the sinner to a deep sense of the necessity and importance
of immediate repentance. In his " Call to the Unconverted,"
he endeavours to move them by the most touching of all
representations, the tenderness of a beseeching God waiting
to be gracious, and not willing that any should perish ; and
while he employs every form of enti'eaty, which tenderness
and compassion can suggest, to allure the sinner to "turn
and live," he does not shrink from forcing on his convictions
those considerations which are fitted to alarm his fears, the
terrors of the Lord, and the wrath, not merely of an offended
Lawgiver, but of a God of love, whose threatenings he dis-
regards, whose grace he despises, and whose mercy he
rejects. And aware of the deceitfulness of sin in hardening

* The Saint's Everlasting Rest, with an Essay by Mr. Erskine.

IV

the heart, and in betraying the sinner into a negkct of his
spiritual interests, he divests him of every refuge, and strips
hun of every plea for postponing his preparation for eternity.
He forcibly exposes the delusion of convenient seasons, and
the awful infatuation and hazard of delay; and knowing
the magnitude of the stake at issue, he urges the sinner to
immediate. repentance, as if the fearful and almost absolute
alternative were "Now or Never." And to secure the
commenceinent of such an important work against all the
dangers to which procrastination might expose it, he endeav-
ours to arrest the sinner in his career of guilt and unconcern,
and resolutely to fix his determination on *' turnmg to God
this day without delay."

There are two very prevalent delusions on this subject,
which we should like to expose ; the one regards the nature,
and the other the season of repentance ; both of which are
pregnant with mischief to the minds of men. With regard to
the first, much mischief has arisen from mistakes respecting
the meaning of the term repentance. The word repentance
occui'S with two different meanings in the New Testament j
and it is to be regretted, that two different words could not
have been devised to express these. This is chargeable
upon the poverty of our language ; for it is to be observed,
that in the original Greek the distinction in the meanings is
pointed out by a distinction in the words. The employ-
ment of one term to denote two different things has the effect
of confounding and misleading the understanding ; and iti»
much to be wished, that every ambiguity of this kind were
cleared away from that most interesting point in the process
of a human soul, at which it turns from sin unto righteous-
ness, and from the power of Satan unto God.

When, in common language, a man says, "I repent of
such an action," he is understood to say, " I am sorry for
having done it." The feeling is familiar to all of us. How
often does the man of dissipation prove this sense of the word
repentance, when he awakes in the morning, and, oppressed
by the languor of his exhausted faculties, looks back with
remorse on the follies and profligacies of the night that is
past? How often does the man of unguarded conversation
prove it, when he thinks of the friend whose feelings he has
wounded by some hasty utterance which he cannot recall ?
How often is it proved by the man of business, when he
reflects on the rash engagement which ties him down to a
losing speculation? All these people would be perfectly
understood when they say, " We repent of these doings."
The word repentance so applied is about equivalent to the

\vt)rd regret. There are several passages in the New Tes- 1
lament where this is the undoubted sense of the word'
repentance. In Matt, xxvii. 3. the wretched Judas repented
himself of his treachery ; and surely, when we think of the'
awful denunciation uttered by our Saviour against the man
who should betray him, that it were better for him if he had
not been born, we will never confound the repentance whicli
Judas experienced with that repentance which is unto
salvation.

Now here lies the danger to practical Christianity. In
the above cited passage, to repent is just to regret, or to be
sorry for ; and this we conceive to be by far the most pre-
vailing sense of the term in the English language. But
there are other places where the same term is employed to
denote that which is urged upon us as a duty — that which is
preached for the remission of sins — that which is so indis-
pensable to sinners, as to call forth the declaration from our
Sa^riour, that unless we have it, we shall all likewise perish.
Now, though repentance, in all these cases, is expressed by
the same term in our translation as the repentance of mere
regret, it is expressed by a different term in the original
record of our faith. This surely might lead us to suspect a
difference of meaning, and should caution us against taking
up with that, as sufficient for the business of our salvation,
which is short of saving and scriptural repentance. There
may be an alternation of wilful sin, and of deep-felt sorrow,
up to the very end of our history — there may be a presump-
tuous sin committed every day, and a sorrow regularly
succeeding it. Sorrow may imbitter every act of sin — soitow
may darken every interval of sinful indulgence — and sorrow
may give an unutterable anguish to the pains and the pros-
pects of a deathbed. Couple all this with the circumstance
that sorrow passes, in the common currency of our language,
for repentance, and that repentance is made, by our Bible,
to lie at the turning point from a state of condemnation to a
state of acceptance with God ; and it is difficult not to con-
ceive that much danger may have arisen from this, leading
to indistinct views of the nature of repentance, and to slender
and superficial conceptions of the mighty change which is
implied in it.

We are far from saying that the eye of Christians is not
open to this danger — and that the vigilant care of Christian
authors has not been employed in averting it. Where will
we get a better definition of repentance unto life than in our
Shorter Catechism ? by which the sinner is represented not
merely as grieving, but, along with his grief and hatred of

1*

VI

sin, as turning from it unto God with ftill purpose of, and
endeavour after new obedience. But the mischief is, that the
word repent has a common meaning, dilFerent from the
theological ; that wherever it is used, this common meaning
is apt to intrude itself, and exert a kind of habitual imposi-
tion upon the understanding — that the influence of the single
word carries it over the influence of the lengthened explana-
tion— and thus it is that, for a steady progress in the obedi-
ence of the gospel, many persevere, to the end of their days,
in a wretched course of sinning and of sorrowing, without
fruit and without amendment.

To save the practically mischievous effect arising from
the appUcation of one term to two different things, one dis-
tinct and appropriate term has been suggested for the saving
repentance of the New Testament. The tenii repentance
itself has been restricted to the repentance of mere sorrow,
and is made equivalent to regret ; and for the other, able
translators have adopted the word reformation. The one
is expressive of sorrow for our past conduct ; the other is
expressive of our renouncing it. It denotes an actual turn-
ing from the habits of life that we are sorry for. Give us,
say they, a change from bad deeds to good deeds, from bad
habits to good habits, from a life of wickedness to a life of
conformity to the requirements of heaven, and you give us
reformation.

Now there is often nothing more unprofitable than a dis-
pute about words ; but if a word has got into common use,
a common and generally understood meaning is attached to
it ; and if this meaning does not just come up to the thing
which we want to express by it, the application of that word
to that thing has the same misleading effects as in the case
already alluded to. Now, we have much the same kind of
exception to allege against the term reformation, that we
have alleged against the term repentance. The term re-
pentance is inadequate — and why ? because, in the common
use of it, it is equivalent to regret, and regret is short of the
saving change that is spoken of in the New Testament. On
the very same principle, we count the temi reformation to
\ be inadequate. We think that, in common language, a man
i would receive the appellation of a reformed man upon the
I mere change of his outward habits, without any reference to
j the change of mind and of principle which gave rise to it. Let
the drunkard give up his excesses — let the backbiter give up
his evil speakings — let the extortioner give up his unfair
charges — and we would apply to one and all of them, upon
the mere change of their external doings, \}\e character ot

va

refonned men. Now, it is evident that the drunkard may
give up his drunkenness, because checked by a serious im-
pression of the injury he has been doing to his health and
il\is circumstances. The backbiter may give up his evil
spaking, on being made to perceive that the liateful prac-
tice has brought upon him the contempt and alienation of
his neighbours. The extortioner may give up his unfair
charges, upon taking it into calculation that his business is
likely to suffer by the desertion of his customers. Now, if.
is evident, that though in each of these cases there has be'en
what the world would call reformation, there has not been
scriptural repentance. The deficiency of this term consists
an its having been employed to denote a mere change inXhe
•deeds or in the habits of the outward man ; and if employed
as equivalent to repentance, it may delude us into the idea
that the change by which we are made meet for a happy
eternity is a far more slender and superficial thing than it
really is. It is of little importance to be told that the trans-
lator means it only in the sense of a reformed conduct, pro-
ceeding from the iniluence of a new and a right principle
within. The common meaning of the world will, as in the
former instance, be ever and anon intruding itself, and get
the better of all ihe formal cautions, and all the qualifying
clauses of our Bible commentators.

But, will not the original word itself throw some light upon
this important question ? The repentance wliich is enjoined
as a duty — the repentance which is unto salvation — the re-
pentance which sinners undergo when they pass to a state

of acceptance with God from a state of enmity against him

these are all one and the same thing, and are expressed by
one and the same word in the original language of the New
Testament. It is different from the word which expresses
the repentance of sorrow ; and if translated according to
the parts of which it is composed, it signifies neither more
nor less than a change of mind. This of itself is sufficient to
prove the inadequacy of the term reformation — a term which
is often applied to a man upon the mere change of his con^
duct, Avithout ever adverting to the state of his mind, or to
the kind of change in motive and in principle which it has
undergone. It is true, that there can be no change in the
conduct without some change in the inward principle. A
reformed drunkard, before careless about health or fortune,
may be so far changed as to become impressed with these
considerations ; but this change is evidently short of that
which the Bible calls repentance toward God. It is a change
that may, and has taken place in many a mind, when there

v'lii

TTXis no effectual sense of the God who is above us, and of
the eternity which is before us. It is a change, brought about
by the prospect and the calculation of worldly advantages ;
and, in the enjoyment of these advantages, it hath its sole
reward. But it is not done unto God, and God will not
accept of it as done vmto him. Reformation may signify
nothing more than the mere surface-dressing of those decen-
cies, and proprieties, and accomplishments, and civil and
prudential duties, which, however fitted to secure a man's
acceptance in society, may, one and all of them, consist with
a heart alienated from God, and having every principle and
affection of the inner man away from him. True, it is such
a change as the man will reap benefit from, as his friends
will rejoice in, as the world will call reformation ; but it is
not such a change as will make him meet for heaven, and is
deficient in its innport from what our Saviour speaks of when
he says, " I tell you nay, except ye repent, ye shall all like-
wise perish."

There is no single word in the English language which
occurs to us as fully equal to the faithful rendering of the
term in the original. Renewedness of mind, however awk-
ward a phrase this may be, is perhaps the most nearly ex-
pressive of it. Certain it is, that it harmonizes with those
other passages of the Bible where the process is described
by which saving repentance is brought about. We read of
being transformed by the renewing of our minds, of the re-
newing of the Holy Ghost, of being renewed in the spirit of
our minds. Scriptural repentance, therefore, is that deep
and radical change whereby a soul turns from the idols of
sin and of self unto God, and devotes every moment of the
inner and the outer man, to the captivity of his obedience.
This is the change which, whether it be expressed by one word
or not in the English language, we would have you well to
understand ; and reformation or change in the outward con-
duct, instead of being saving and scriptural i-epentance, is
what, in the language of John the Baptist, we would call a
fruit meet for it. But if mischief is likely to arise, from the
want of an adequate word in our language, to that repen-
tance which is unto salvation, there is one effectual preserva-
tive against it — a firm and consistent exhibition of the whole
counsel and revelation of God. A man who is well read in
his New Testament, and reads it with docility, will dismiss
all his meagre conceptions of repentance, when he comes to
the following statements : — " Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God." "Except ye be con-
verted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into

IX

the kingdom of heaven." " If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his." "The carnal mind is enmity
against God ; and if ye Hve after the flesh, ye shall die ; but
if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body,
ye shall live." "By the washing of regeneration ye are
saved." " Be not then conformed to this world, but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your minds." Such are the
terms employed to describe the process by which the soul of
man is renewed unto repentance ; and, with your hearts
familiarized to the mighty import of these terms, you will
carry with you an effectual guarantee against those false
and flimsy impressions, which are so current in the world,
about the preparation of a sinner for eternity.

Another delusion which we shall endeavour to expose, is
a very mischievous appUcation of the parable of the labourers
in the vineyard, contained in the twentieth chapter of the
Gospel by Matthew. The interpretation of this parable,
the mischief and delusion of which we shall endeavour to lay
open, is, that it relates to the call of individuals, and to the
different periods in the age of each individual at which this
call is accepted by them. We almost know nothing more
familiar to us, both in the works of authors, and in the con-
versation of private Christians, than when the repentance
of an aged man is the topic, it is represented as a case of
repentance at the eleventh hour of the day. We are far
from disputing the possibility of such a repentance, nor
should those who address the message of the gospel ever be
restrained from the utterance of the free call of the gospel, in
the hearing of the oldest and most inveterate sinner whom
they may meet with. But what we contend for, is, that this is
not the drift of the parable. The parable relates to the call
of nations, and to the different periods in the age of the world
at which this call was addressed to each of them, and not,
as we have already observed, to the call of individuals, and
to the different periods in the age of each individual at which
this call is accepted by them.* It is not true that the labour-

* To render our argument more intelligible, we shall briefly state
what we conceive to be the true explanation of the parable. In the
verses preceding the parable, Peter had stated the whole amount of
the suiTcnder that he and his fellow-disciples had made by the act of
following after Jesus ; and it is evident, that they all looked forward to
some great and temporal remuneration — some share in the glories of
the Israelitish monarchy — some place of splendour or distinction under
that new government, which they imagined was to be set up in the
world ; and they never conceived any thing else, than that in this al-
tered state of things, the people of their own country were to be raised
to high pre-eminence among the nations which had oppressed and de-
graded them. It was in the face of this expectation, that our Saviour

ers who began to work in the vineyard on the first hour of
the day, denote these Christians who began to remember
their Creator, and to render the obedience of the faith unto
his Gospel with their first and earUest education. It is not
true, that they who entered into this service on the third
hour of the day, denote those Christians, who after a boyhood
of thoughtless unconcern about the things of eternity, are
arrested in the season of youth, by a visitation of serious-
ness, and betake themselves to the faith and the following
of the Saviour who died for them. It is not true, that they
who were hired on the sixth and ninth hours, denote those
Christians, who, after having spent the prime of their youth-
ful vigour in alienation from G od, and perhaps run out some
mad career of guilt and profligacy, put on their Christianity
along with the decencies of their sober and established man-
uttered a sentence, which we meet oftener than once among his re-
corded sayings in the New Testament, " Many that are first shall be
last, and the last shall be first." The Israelites, whom God distin-
guished at an early period of the world, by a revelation of himself,
were first invited in the doing of his will^ (which is fitly enough repre-
sented by working in his vineyard,) to the possession of his favour,
and the enjoyment of his rewards. This offer to work in that peculiar
vineyard where God assigned to them a performance, and bestowed on
them a recompense, was made to Abraham and to his descendants at
a very early period in history ; and a succession of prophets and right-
eous men were sent to renew the offer, and the communications from
God to the world followed the stream of ages, down to the time of the
utterance of this parable. And a few years afterwards, the same
offers, and the same invitations, were addressed to another people ;
and at this late period, at this eleventh hour, the men of those coun-
tries which had never before been visited by any authoritative call from
heaven, had this call hfted up in their hearing, and many Gentiles ac-
cepted that everlasting life, of which the Jews counted themselves un-
worthy. And as to the people of Israel, who valued themselves so
much on their privileges — who had turned all the revelations, by which
their ancestors had been honoured, into a matter of distinction and of
vain security — who had ever been in the habit of eyeing the profane
Gentiles with all that contempt which is laid upon outcasts, this para-
ble received its fulfilment at the time when these Gentiles, by their
acceptance of the Saviour, were exalted to an equal place among the
chiefest favourites of God ; and these Jews, by their refusal of him^ had
their name rooted out from among the nations — and those first and fore-
most in all the privileges of religion, are now become the last. Now
this we conceive to be the real design of the parable. It was designed
to reconcile the minds of the disciples to that part of the economy of
Ck)d, which was most off'ensive to their hopes and to their prejudices.
It asserted the sovereignty of the Supreme Being in the work of dis-
pensing his calls and his favours among the people whom he had
formed. It furnished a most decisive and silencing reproof to the Jews,
who were filled with envy against the Gentiles ; and who, even those
of them that embraced the Christian profession, made an obstinate
struggle against the admission of those Gentiles into the church oa
equal terms with themselves.

XI

hood. Neither is it true, that the labourers of the eleventh
hour, the men who had stood all day idle, represent those
aged converts who liave put off their repentance to the last—
those men who have renounced the world when they could
not help it— those men who have put on Christianity, but
not till they had put on their wrinkles — those men who have
run the varied stages of depravity, from the frivolous uncon-
cern of a boy, and the appalling enormities of misled and
misguided youth, and the deep and determined worldliness
of middle age, and the clinging avarice of him, who, while
with slow and tottering footsteps he descends the hill of hfe,
has a heart more obstinately set than ever on all its interests,
and all its sordid accumulations, but who, when death taps
at the door, awakes from his dream, and thinks it now time
to shake away his idolatrous affections from the mammon of
unrighteousness.

Such are the men who, after having taken their full swing
of all that the world could offer, and of all that they could
enjoy of it, defer the whole work of preparation for eternity
to old age, and for the hire of the labourers of the eleventh
hour, do all that they can in the way of sighs, and sorrows,
and expiations of penitential acknowledgment. What!
will we offer to liken such men to those who sought the
Lord early, and who found him ? Will we say that he who
repents when old, is at all to be compared to him, who bore
the whole heat and burden of a life devoted throughout all
Its stages to the glory and the remembrance of the Creator ?
Who, from a child, trembled at the word of the Lord, and
aspn-ed after a conformity to all his ways ? Who, when a
young man, fulfilled that most appropriate injunction of the
apostle, "Be thou strong?" Who fought it with manly de-
termmation against all the enemies of principle by which he
was surrounded, and spurned the enticements of vicious ac-
quaintances away from him ; and nobly stood it out, even
though unsupported and alone, against the unhallowed con-
tempt of a whole multitude of scorners ; and with intrepid
defiance to all the assaults of ridicule, maintained a firmness,
which no wile could seduce from the posts of vigilance ; and
cleared his unfaltering way through all the allurements of a
perverse and crooked generation. Who, even in the midst
of a most withering atmosphere on every side of him, kept
all his purposes unbroken, and all his delicacies untainted.
Who, with the rigour of self-command, combined the soften-
ing lustre which a pure and amiable modesty sheds over the
moral complexion of him who abhors that which is evil, and
cleaves to that which is good, with all the energy of a holy

Xll

determination. Can that be a true interpretation, which
levels this youth of promise and of accomplishment, with his
equal in years, who is now prosecuting every guilty indul-
gence, and crowns the audacity of his rebellion by tlie mad
presumption, that ere he dies, he shall be able to propitiate
that God, on the authority of all whose calls, and all whose
remonstrances, he is now trampling ? Or follow each of them
to the evening of their earthly prilgrimage — will you say
that the penitent of the eleventh hour, is at all to be likened
to him who has given the whole of his existence to the work
and the labour of Chi-istianity ? to him who, after a morning
of life adorned with all the gracefulness we have attempted
to describe, sustains through the whole of his subsequent
history such a high and ever-brightening example, that his
path is like the shining light, which shineth more and more
unto the perfect day ; and every year he lives, the graces of
an advancing sanctification form into a richer assemblage of
all that is pure, and lovely, and honorable, and of good re-
port ; and when old age comes, it brings none of the turbu-
lence or alarm of an mifinished preparation along with it —
but he meets death with the quiet assurance of a man who
is in readiness, and hails his message as a friendly intima-
tion ; and as he lived in the splendour of ever-increasing
acquirements, so he dies in all the radiance of anticipated
glory.

This interpretation of the parable cannot be sustained ;
and we think, that, out of its own mouth, a condemnation
may be stamped upon iL Mark this peculiarity. The la-
bourers of the eleventh hour are not men who got the offer
before, but men who for the first time received a call to
work in the vineyard ; and they may, therefore, well repre-
sent the people of a country, who, for the first time, received
the overtures of the Gospel. The answer they gave to the
question. Why stand you so long idle ? was, that no man
had hired them. We do not read of any of the labourers of
the third, or sixth, or ninth hours, refusing the call at these
times, and afterward rendering a compliance with the even-
ing call, and getting the penny for which they decUned the
offer of working several hours, but afterwards agreed, when
the proposal was made, that they should work one hour
only. They had a very good answer to give, in excuse for
their idleness. They never had been called before. And
the oldest men of a Pagan country have the very same
answer to give, on the first arrival of Christian missionaries
amongst them. But we have no part nor lot in this parable.
We liaye it not in our power to offer any such apology.

XUl

There is not one of ns who can excuse the impenitency of
the past, on the plea that no man has called us. This is a
call that has been sounded in our ears, from our very infancy.
Every time we have seen a bible on our shelves, we have
had a call. Every time we have heard a minister in the
pulpit, we have had a call. Every time we have heard the
generous invitation, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye
unto the waters," we have had a solemn, and what ought to
have been a most impressive, call. Every time a parent has
plied us with a good advice, or a neighbour come forward with
a friendly persuasion, we have had a call. Every time that
the Sabbath bell has rung for us to the house of God, we
have had a call. These are all so many distinct and repeated
calls. These are past events in our life, which rise in judg-
ment against us, and remind us, with a justice of argument
that there is no evading, that we have no right whatever to
the privileges of the eleventh hour.

This, then, is the train to which we feel ourselves directed
by this parable. The mischievous interpretation which has
been put upon it, has wakened up our alarms, and set us to
look at the delusion which it fosters, and, if possible, to drag
out to the light of day, the fallacy which lies in it. We
should like to reduce every man to the feeling of the alter-
native of repentance now, or repentance never. We should
like to flash it upon your convictions, that, by putting the
call away from you now, you put your eternity away from
you. We should like to expose the whole amount of that
accursed infatuation which lies in delay. We should like
to arouse every soul out of its lethargies, and giving no quar-
ter to the plea of a little more sleep, and a little more slum-
ber, we should like you to feel as if the whole of yoiu' future
destiny hinged on the very firi?t movement to which you
turned yourselves.

The work of repentance must have a beginning ; and we
should like you to know, that, if not begun to-day, the
chance will be less of its being begun to-morrow. And if
the greater chance has failed, what hope can we build upon
the smaller? — and a chance too that is always getting
smaller. Each day, as it revolves over the sinner's head,
finds him a harder, and a more obstinate, and a more help-
lessly enslaved sinner than before. It was this considera-
tion which gave Richard Baxter such earnestness and such
urgency in his "Call." He knew that the barrier in the
way of the sinner's return, was strengthened by every act
of resistance to the call wh ich urges it. That the refusal of
this moment hardened the man against the next attack o£

SL Gospel argument that is brought to bear upon him. That
if he attempted you now, and lie failed, when he came back
upon you, he would find himself working on a more obstinate
and uncomplying subject than over. And therefore it is, that
he ever feels as if the present were his only opportunity.
That he is now upon his vantage ground, and he gives every
energy of his soul to the gi-eat point of making the most of
it. He will put up with none of your evasions. He will
consent to none of your postponements. He will pay re-
spect to none of your more convenient seasons. He tells you,
that the matter with which he is charged, has all the urgency
of a matter in hand. He speaks to you with as much earn-
estness as if he knew that you were going to step into eter-
nity in half an hour. He dehvers his message with as
much solemnity as if he knew that this was your last meeting
on earth, and that you were never to see each other till you
stood together at the judgment seat. He knew that some
mighty change must take place in you, ere you be fit for
entering into the presence of God ; and that the time in
■which, on every plea of duty and of interest, you should be-
stir yourselves to secure this, is the present time. This is
the distinct point he assigns to himself; and the whole drift
of his argument, is to urge an instantaneous choice of the
better part, by telling you how you multiply eveiy day the
obstacles to your future repentance, if you begin not the
work of repentance now.

Before bringing our Essay to a close, we shall make some
observations on the mistakes concerning repentance which
we have endeavoured to expose, and adduce some arguments
for urging on the consciences of our readers the necessity and
importance of immediate repentance.

1. The work of repentance is a work which must be done
ere we die ; for, unless we repent, we shall all likewise perish.
Now, the easier this work is in our conception, we will think it
the less necessary to enter upon it immediately. We will look
upon it as a work that may be done at any time, and let us,
therefore, put it off a little longer, and a Uttle longer. We will
perhaps look forward to that retirement from the world and
Its temptations which we figure old age to bring along with it,
and falling in with the too common idea, that the evening of
life is the appropriate season of preparation for another
world, we will think that the author is bearing too closely
and too urgently upon us, when, in the language of the Bi-
ble, he speaks of " to-day,^'' while it is called to-day, and will
let us off with no other repentance than repentance " »iou)," —
seeing that now only is the accepted time, and uow only the

XV

day of salvation, which he has a warrant to proclaim to us.
This dilatory way of it is very much favoured by the mistaken
and very defective view of repentance which we have at-
tempted to expose. We have somehow or other got into the
delusion, that repentance is sorrow, and little else ; and were
we called to fix upon the scene where this sorrow is likely
to be felt in the degree that is deepest and most overwhelm-
ing, we would point to the chamber of the dying man. It
is awful to think that, generally speaking, this repentance
of mere sorrow is the only repentance of a deathbed. Yes !
we will meet with sensibility deep enough and painful enough
there — with regret in all its bitterness — with terror muster-
ing up its images of despair, and dwelling upon them in all
the gloom of an affrighted imagination ; and this is mistaken,
not merely for the drapery of repentance, but for the very
substance of iL We look forward, and we count upon this —
that the sins of a life are to be expvmged by the sighing and
the sorrowing of the last days of it. We should give up this
wretchedly superficial notion of repentance, and cease, from
this moment, to be led astray by it. The mind may sorrow
over its corruptions at the very time that it is under the
power of them. To grieve because we ai-e under the cap-
tivity of sin is one thing — to be released from that captivity
is another. A man may weep most bitterly over the perver-
sities of his moral constitution ; but to change that constitu-
tion is a different affair. Now, this is the mighty work of
repentance. He who has undergone it is no longer the ser-
vant of sin. He dies unto sin, he lives unto God. A sense
of the authority of God is ever present with him, to wield the
ascendency of a great master-principle over all his move-
ments— to call forth every purpose, and to carry it forward,
through all the opposition of sin and of Satan, into accomplish-
ment. This is the grand revolution in the state of the mind
which repentance brings along with it. To grieve because
this work is not done, is a very different thing from the do-
ing of it. A deathbed is the very best scene for acting the
first ; but it is the very worst for acting the second. The
repentance of Judas has often been acted there. We ought
to think of the work in all its magnitude, and not to put it
off to that awful period when the soul is crowded with other
things, and has to maintain its weary struggle with the pains
and the distresses, and the shiverings, and the breathless
agonies of a deathbed.

2. There are two views that may be taken of the way ia
which repentance is brought about, and whichever of them
is adopted, delay carries along with it the saddest infatua-

XVI

tion. It may be looked upon as a step taken by man as a
voluntary agent, and we would ask you, upon your experi-
ence of the powers and the performances of humanity, if a
deathbed is the time for taking such a step ? Is this a time
for a voluntary being exercising a vigorous control over his
own movements ? When racked with pain, and borne down
by the pressure of a sore and overwhelming calamity ?
Surely the greater the work of repentance is, the more ease,
the more time, the more freedom from sutTering, is necessary
for carrying it on ; and, therefore, addressing you as volun-
tary beings, as beings who will and who do, we call upon
you to seek God early that you may find him — to haste, and
make no delay in keeping his commandments. The other
view is, that repentance is not a self-originating work in man,
but the work of the Holy Spirit in him as the subject of its
influences. This view is not opposite to the former. It is
true that man wills and does at every step in the business of
his salvation ; and it is as true that God works in him so to
will and to do. Take this last view of it, then. Look on
repentance as the work of God's Spirit in the soul of man,
and we are furnished with a more impressive argument than
ever, and set on higher vantage for urging you to stir your-
selves, and set about it immediately. What is it that you
propose ? To keep by your present habits, and your pres-
ent indulgences — and build yourselves up all the while in
the confidence that the Spirit will interpose with his mighty
power of conversion vipon you, at the very point of time that
you have fixed vipon as convenient and agreeable ? And how
do you conciliate the Spirit's answer to your call then ? W hy,
by doing all you can to grieve, and to quench, and to pro-
voke him to abandon you now. Do you feel a motion to-
wards repentance at this moment ? If you keep it alive, and
act upon it, good and well. But if you smother and suppress
this motion, you resist the Spirit — you stifle his movements
within you ; it is what the impenitent do day after day, and
year after year — and is this the way for securing the influ-
ences of the Spirit at the time that you would like them best ?
When you are done with the world, and are looking forward
to eternity because you cannot help it ? God says, " Mv
Spirit will not always strive with the children of men." A
good and a free Spirit he undoubtedly is, and, as a proof of
it, he is now saying, "Let whosoever will, come and drink
of the water of life freely." He says so now, but we do not
promise that he will say so with effect upon your deathbeds,
if vou refuse him now. You look forward then for a pow-
er£il work of conversion being done upon you, and yet you

XV u

employ yourselves ail your life long in raising and multiply-
ing obstacles against it. You count upon a miracle of grace
before you die, and the way you take to make yourselves
sure of it, is to grieve and ofiend him while you live, who
alone can perform the miracle. O what cruel deceits will
sin land us in ! and how artfully it pleads for a " little more
sleep, and a little more slumber ; a little more folding of the
hands to sleep." We should hold out no longer, nor make
not such an abuse of the forbearance of God : we will treas-
ure up wrath against the day of wrath if we do so. The
genuine efiect of his goodness is to lead to repentance ; let
not its effect upon us be to harden and encourage ourselves
in the ways of sin. We should cry now for the clean heart
and the right spirit; and such is the exceeding freenessof
the Spirit of God, that we will be listened to. If we put off
the cry till then, the same God may laugh at our calamity,
and mock when our fear cometh.

3. Our next argument for immediate repentance is, tJiat
we cannot bring forward, at any future period of your his-
tory, any considerations of a more prevailing or more pow-
erfully moving influence than those we may bring forward at
this moment. We can tell you now of the terrors of the
Lord, We can tell you now of the solemn mandates which
have issued from his throne — and the authority of which is
upon one and all of you. We can tell you now, that though,
in this dead and darkened world, sin appears but a very tri-
vial affaii* — for every body sins, and it is shielded from execra-
tion by the universal countenance of an entire species lying
in wickedness — yet it holds true of God, what is so emphati-
cally said of him, that he cannot be mocked, nor will he en-
dure it that you should riot in the impunity of your wilful
resistance to him and to his warnings. We can tell you now,
that he is a God of vengeance ; and though, for a season, he
is keeping back all the thunder of it from a world that he
■would like to reclaim unto himself, yet, if you put all his ex-
postulations away from you, and will not be reclaimed, these
thunders will be let loose upon you, and they will fall on
your guilty heads, armed with tenfold energy, because you
have not only defied his threats, but turned your back on his
offers of reconciliation. These are the arguments by which
we would try to open our way to your consciences, and to
awaken up your fears, and to put the inspiring activity of
hope into your bosoms, by laying before you those invita-
tions which are addressed to the sinner, through the peace-
speaking blood of Jesus, and, in the name of a beseeching
God, to win your acceptance of them. At no future period

2*

XVUl

can we address ar^ments more powerful and more affecting
than these. If these argument do not prevail upon you, we
know of none others by which a victory over the stubborn
and vmcomplying will can be accomplished, or by which we
can ever hope to beat in that sullen front of resistance where-
with you now so impregnably withstand us. We feel that,
if any stout-hearted sinner shall rise from the perusal of these
Treatises with an unawakened conscience, and give himself
to an act of wilful disobedience, we feel as if, in reference to
him, we had made om* last discharge, and it fell powerless
as water spilt on the ground, that cannot be gathered up
again. We would not cease to ply him with our aguments,
and tell him, to the hour of death, of the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, who is not willing that any shovdd perish, but
that all should turn to him, and live. And if in future life
we should meet him at the eleventh hour of his dark and de-
ceitful day — a hoary sinner, sinking under the decrepitude
of age, and bending on the side of the grave that is open to
receive him — even theii we would testify the exceeding free-
ness of the grace of God, and implore his acceptance of it.
But how could it be away from our minds that he is not one
of the evening labourers of the parable ? We had met with
him at former periods of his existence, and the oft'er we make
him now we made him then, and he did what the labourers
of the third, and sixth, and ninth hours of the parable did
not do — he rejected our call to hire him into the vineyard ;
and this heartless recollection, if it did not take all our en-
ergy aAvay from us, would leave vis little else than the energy
of despair. And therefore it is, that we speak to you now
as if this was our last hold of you. We feel as if on your
present purpose hung all the preparations of your future
life, and all the rewards or all the horrors of your coming
eternity. We will not let you oif with any other repentance
than repentance now ; and if this be refused now, we cannot,
with our eyes open to the consideration Ave have now urged,
that the instrument we make to bear upon you afterwards
is not more powerful than we are wielding now, coupled
with another consideration which we shall insist upon, that
the subject on which the instrument worketh, even the heart
of man, gathers, by every act of resistance, a more uncom-
plying obstinacy than before ; we cannot, with these two
thoughts in our mind, look forward to your future history,
without seeing spread oA'^er the whole path of it the iron of a
harder impenitency — the sullen gloom of a deeper and more
determined alienation.

XIX

4. Another argument, therefore, for uTimediate repentance
is, that the mind whicli resists a present call or a present
reproof, undergoes a progressive hardening towards all those
considerations which arm tlie call of repentance with all its
energy. It is not enough to say, that the instrument by
which repentance is brought about, is not more powerful to-
morrow than it is to-day ; it lends a most tremendous weight
to the argument, to say further that the subject on which
this instrument is putting forth its efficiency, will oppose a
firmer resistance to-morrow than it does to day. It is this
which gives a significancy so powerful to the call of " To-day
while it is to-day, harden not your hearts ;" and to the ad-
monition of "Knowest thou not, O man, that the goodness
of God leadeth thee_to repentance; but after, thy hardness
and impenitent heart treasurest up wrath against the day of
wrath and revelation of the righteous judgments of God?"
It is not said, either in the one or in the other of these pas-
sages, that, by the present refusal, you cut yourself off from
a future invitation. The invitation may be sounded in yom*
hearing to the last half hour of your earthly existence, en-
graved in all those characters of free and gratuitous kindness
which mark the beneficent religion of the New Testament.
But the present refusal hardens you against the power and
tenderness of the future invitation. This is the fact in human
nature to which these passages seem to point, and it is the
fact through which the argument for immediate repentance
receives such powerful aid from the wisdom of experience.
It is this which forms the most impressive proof of the ne-
cessity of plying the young with all the weight and all the
tenderness of earnest admonition, that the now susceptible
mind might not turn into a substance harder and more un-
complying than the rock which is broken in pieces by the
powerful application of the hammer of the word of God.

The metal of the human soul, so to speak, is like some
material substances. If the force you lay upon it do not
break it, or dissolve it, it will beat it into hardness. If the
moral argument by which it is plied now do not so soften
the mind as to carry and to overpower its purposes, then, on
another day, the argument may be put forth in terms as im-
pressive— but it falls on a harder mind, and, therefore, with
a more slender efficiency. If the threat, that ye who persist
in sin, shall have to dwell with the devouring fire, and to lie
down amid everlasting burnings, do not alarm you out of
your iniquities from this very moment, then he same threat
may be again cast out, and the same appalling circumstan-
ces of terror be thrown around it, but it is ail discharged on

XX

tt soul hardened by its inurement to the thunder of denuncia-
tions already uttered, and the urgency of menacing threaten-
ings ah'eady poured forth without fi'uit and "without effi-
cacy. If the voice of a beseeching God do not win upon you
now, and charm you out of your rebeUion against him, by
the persuasive energy of kindness, then let that voice be
lifted in your hearmg on some future day, and though armed
■with all the power of tenderness it ever had, how shall it
find its entrance into a heart sheathed by the operation of
habit, that universal law, in more impenetrable obstinacy?
If, with the earliest dawn of your understanding, you have
been offered the hire of the morning labourer and have re-
fused it, then the parable does not say that you are the per-
son who at the third, or sixth, or ninth, or eleventh hour, will
get the offer repeated to you. It is true, that the offer is
unto all and upon all who are within reach of the hearing of
it. But there is all the difference in the world between the
impression of a new offer, and of an otTer that has already
been often heard and as often rejected — an offer which comes
upon you with all the familiarity of a well kuowm sound that
you have already learned how to dispose of, and how to shut
your every feeling against the power of its gracious invita-
tions— an ofi^er which, if discarded from your hearts at the
present moment, may come back upon you, but which v^ill
have to maintain a more unequal contest than before, with
an impenitency ever strengthening, and ever gathering new
hardness from each successive act of resistance. And thus
it is that the point for which we are contending, is, not to
carry you at some future period of your lives, but to cany
you at this moment. It is to work in you the instantaneous
purpose of a firm and a vigorously sustained repentance ; it
IS to put into you all the freshness of an immediate resolu-
tion, and to stir you up to all the readiness of an immediate
accomplishment — it is to give direction to the very first foot-
step you are now to take, and lead you to take it as the com-
mencement of that holy career, in which all old things are
dene away, and all things become new — it is to press it upon
you, that the state of the alternative, at this moment, is
" now or never" — it is to prove how fearful the odds are
against you, if now you suffer the call of repentance to light
upon your consciences, and still keep by your determined
posture of careless, and thoughtless, and thankless uncon-
cern about God. You have resisted to-day, and by that resis-
tance you have acquired a firmer metal of resistance against
tfie power of every future warning that may be brought
to bear upon you. You have stood your ground against the

XXI

urgency of the most earnest admonitions, and against the
dreadfulness of the most terrifying menaces. On that ground
you have fixed yourself more immovably than before ; and
though on some future day the same spiritual thunder be
made to play around you, it will not shake you out of the
obstinacy of your determined rebellion.

It is the universal laAv of habit, that the feelings are always
getting more faintly and feebly impressed by every repetition
of the cause which excited them, and that the mind is always
getting stronger in its active resistance to the impulse of
these feelings, by every new deed of resistance which it per-
forms ; and thus it is, that if you refuse us now, we have
no other prospect before us than that your course is every day
getting more desperate and more irrecoverable, your souls
are getting more hardened, the Spirit is getting more pro
voked to abandon those who have so long persisted in their
opposition to his movements. God, who says that his Spirit
will not always strive with the children of men, is getting
more offended. The tyranny of habit is getting every day a
firmer ascendancy over you; Satan is getting you more
helplessly involved among his wiles and his entanglements ;
the world, with all the inveteracy of those desires which are
opposite to the will of the Father, is more and more lording
it over your every affection. And what, we would ask,
what is the scene in which you are now purposing to contest
it, with all this mighty force of opposition you are now so
busy in raising up against you ? What is the field of com-
bat to which you are now looking forward, as the place
where you are to accomphsh a victory over all those formi-
dable enemies whom you are at present arming with such
a weight of hostility, as, we say, within a single hair-
breadth of certainty, you will find to be irresistible ? O the
bigness of such a misleading infatuation ! The proposed
scene in which this battle for eternity is to be fought, and
this victory for the crown of glory to be won, is a deathbed.
It is when the last messenger stands by the couch of the
dying man, and shakes at him the terrors of his grisly coun-
tenance, that the poor child of infatuation thinks he is to
struggle and prevail against all his enemies ; against the
unrelenting tyranny of habit — against the obstinacy of his
own heart, which he is now doing so much to harden —
against the Spirit of God who perhaps long ere now has pro-
nounced the doom upon him, " He will take his own viray,
and walk in his own counsel ; I shall cease from striving,
and let him alone ;" — against Satan, to whom every day of
his life he has given some fresh advantage over him, and

XXll

who will not be willing to lose the victim on whom he has
practised so many wiles, and plied with success so many-
delusions. And such are the enemies whom you, who
wretchedly calculate on the repentance of the eleventh hour,
are every day mustering up in greater force and formida-
bleness against you ; and how can we think of letting you
go, with any other repe)itance than the repentance of the
precious moment that is now passing over you, when we
look forward to the horrors of that impressive scene, on
which you propose to win the prize of immortality, and to
contest it singlehanded and alone, with all the weight of op-
position which you have accumulated against yourselves — a
deathbed — a languid, breathless, tossing, and agitated death-
bed ; that scene of feebleness, when the poor man cannot
help himself to a single mouthful — when he must have at-
tendants to sit around him, and watch his every wish, and
interpret his every signal, and turn him to every posture
where he may find a moment's ease, and wipe away the
cold sweat that is running over him — and ply him with cor-
dials for thirst, and sickness, and insufferable languor. And
this is the time, when occupied with such feelings, and beset
with such agonies as these, you propose to crowd within the
compass of a few wretched days, the woi'k of winding up
the concerns of a neglected eternity !

5. But it may be said, if repentance be what you represent
it, a thing of such mighty import, and such impracticable
performance, as a change of mind, in what rational way can
It be made the subject of a precept or an injunction? you
would not call upon the Ethiopian to change his skin — you
would not call upon the leopard to change his spots ; and
yet you call upon us to change our minds. You say, " Re-
pent ;" and that too in the face of the undeniable doctrine,
that man is without strength for the achievement of so mighty
an enterprise. Can you tell us any plain and practicable
thing that you would have us to perform, and that we may
perform to help on this business ? This is the very question
with which the hearers of John the Baptist came back upon
him, after he had told them in general terms to repent, and
to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. He may not have
resolved the difficulty, but he pointed the expectation of his
countrymen to a greater than he for the solution of it. Now
that Teacher has already come, and we live under the full
and the finished splendour of his revelation. O that the great-
ness and difficulty of the work of repentance, had the effect
of shutting you up into the faith of Christ ! Repentance is
not a paltry, superficial reformation. It reaches deeo into

XXlll

the inner man, but not too deep for the searching influences
of that Spirit which is at his giving, and which worketh
migutily in the hearts of beUevers. You should go then un-
der a sense of your difficuky to Him. Seek to be rooted in
the Saviour, that you may be nourished out of his fulness,
and strengthened by his might. The simple cry for a clean
heart, and a right spirit, which is raised from the mouth of
a believer, brings down an answer from on high, which ex-
plains all the difficulty and overcomes it. And if what we
have said of the extent and magnitude of repentance, should
have the effect to give a deeper feeling than before of the
wants under which you labour ; and shall dispose you to
seek after a closer and more habitual union with Him who
alone can supply them, then will our call to repent have in
deed fulfilled upon you the appointed end of a preparation
for the Saviour. But recollect, now is your time, and now
is your opportunity, for entering on the road of preparation
that leads to heaven. We charge you to enter this road at
this moment, as you value your deliverance from hell, and
your possession of that blissful place where you shall be for-
ever with the Lord — we charge you not to parry and to de-
lay this matter, no not for a single hour — we call on you by
all that is great in eternity — by all that is terrifying in its
horrors — by all that is alluring m its rewards — by all that is
binding in the authority of God — by all that is condemning ,
in the severity of his violated law, and by all that can aggra-
vate this condemnation in the insulting contempt of his re-
jected gospel ; — we call on you by one and all of these con-
siderations, not to hesitate but to flee — not to purpose a re-
turn for to-morrow, but to make an actual return this very
day — to put a decisive end to every plan of wickedness on
which you may have entered — to cease your hands from all
that is forbidden — to turn them to all that is required — to
betake yourselves to the appointed Mediator, and receive
through him, by the prayer of faith, such constant supplies
of the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy
Ghost, that, from this moment, you may be carried forward
from one degree of grace unto another, and from a life de-
voted to God here, to the elevation of a triumphant, and the
joys of a blissful eternity hereafter.

T. C»
St. Andrew's, October, 1825.

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

The Advertisement, 27

The Preface, 29

The Text Opened, 41

DocT. 1. It is the unchangeable law of God, that wicked

men must turn or die — Proved, . . . • 44

God will not be so unmerciful as to damn us — Answered, 63

The Use, 57

Who are wicked men, and what conversion is ; and how we

may know whether we are wicked or converted, . 59

Apphed, 63

DocT. 2. It is the promise of God, that the wicked shall live,
if they will but turn 5 unfeignedly and thoroughly turn —

Proved, 66

DocT. 3. God taketh pleasure in men's conversion and sal-
vation, but not in their death or damnation. He had
rather they would turn and live, than go on and die —
Expounded — Proved, ...... 72

DocT. 4. The Lord hath confirmed it to us by his oath,
That he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
but that he turn and hve ; that he may leave man no
pretence to doubt it, ...... 79

Ls£. Who is it then that takes pleasure in men's sin and

death? — Not God, nor ministers, nor any good men, . ib.

DocT. 5. So earnest is God for the conversion of sinners,
that he doubleth his commands and exhortations with
vehemency, " Turn ye, Turn ye," — Applied, . . 85

Some motives to obey God's calls, and turn.
DocT. 6. The Lord condescendeth to reason the case with
unconverted sinners, and to ask them, Why they will

die? 97

A strange disputation: — 1. For the question. 2. The
disputants.
Wicked men will die, or destroy themselves.
Use. The sinner's case is certainly unreasonable, « 101

3

26 CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Their seeming reasons confuted, 103

GluEST. Why are men so unreasonable, and loath to turn,

and will destroy themselves ? — Answered, . . 115

DocT. 7. If after all this, men will not turn, it is not God's
fault that they are condemned, but their own, even their
own wilfulness. They die because they will ; that is,

because they will not turn, 118

Use 1. How unfit the wicked are to charge God with their
damnation. It is not because God is unmerciful, but
because they are cruel and merciless to themselves, 124

Object. We cannot convert ourselves, nor have we Free-
will— Answered, (and in Preface,) .... 128
Use 2. The subtlety of Satan, the deceitfulness of sin, and

the folly of sinners manifested, .... 129

Use 3. No wonder if the wicked would hinder the conver-
sion and salvation of others, ..... ib.
Use 4. Man is the greatest enemy to himself, . . ib.
Man's destruction is of himself — Proved, . . . 131
The heinous aggravations of self-destroying, . . . 137

The concluding exhortation, 138

Ten Directions for those that had rather turn than die, . 141

NoAv OR Never, 149

Fifty Reasons, 185

Extracts from Baxter's Dying Thoughts, . . 211

THE GREAT SUCCESS WHICH ATTENDED THE
CALL WHEN FIRST PUBLISHED.

It maybe proper to prefix an account of this book given by Mr.
Baxter himself, which was found m his study, after his death, in
his own words :

'I pubhshed a short treatise on conversion, entitled, A Call to
the Unconverted. The occasion of this was my converse with
Bishop Usher while I was at London ; who, approving my method
and directions for Peace of Conscience, was importunate with
me to write directions suited to the various states of Christians,
and also against particular sins. I reverenced the man, but dis-
regarded these persuasions, supposing I could do nothing but what
is done belter already : but when he was dead, his words went
deeper to my mind, and I purposed to obey his counsel ; yet, so
as that to the first sort of men, the ungodly, I thought vehement

f)ersuasions meeter than directions only: and so for such I pub-
ished this little book, which God hath blessed with unexpected
success, beyond all the rest that I have written, except The
Saint's Rest. In a little more than a year, there were about
twenty thousand of them printed by my own consent, and about
ten thousand since, beside many thousands by stolen impressions,
which poor men stole for lucre's sake. Through God's mercy I
have information of almost whole households converted by this
small book which I set so light by: and, as if all this in England,
Scotland, and Ireland, were not mercy enough to me, God, since
I was silenced, hath sent it over in his message to many beyond
the seas ; for when Mr. Elliot had printed all the Bible in the
Indian language, he next translated this my Call to the Uncon-
verted, as he wrote to us here. And yet God would make some
farther use of it ; for Mr. Stoop, the pastor of the French Church
in London, being driven hence by the displeasure of his superiors
was pleased to translate it into French. I hope it will not be un-
profitable there ; nor in Germany, where it is printed in Dutch.'
It may be proper also to mention Dr. Bates's account of the
author, and of this useful treatise. In his sermon at Mr. Bax-
ter's funeral, he thus says: 'His books cf practical divinity have
been effectual for more conversions of sinners to God than any
printed in our time ; and while the church remains on earth, will
be of continual efficacy to recover lost souls. There is a vigor-
ous pulse in them, that keeps the reader awake and attentive.
His Call to the Unconverted how small in bulk, but how powerful

2S ADVERTISEMENT.

in virtue ! Truth speaks in it with that authority and efficacy,
that it makes the reader to lay his hand upon his heart, and find
that he has a soul and a conscience, though he lived before as if
he had none. He told some friends, that six brothers were con-
verted by reading that Call; and that every week he received
letters of some converted by his books. This he spake with most
humble thankfulness, that God was pleased to use him as an in-
strument for the salvation of souls.

PREFACE.

¥o all unsanciijied Persons that shall read this Book ; especially of
my hearers in the Borough and Parish of Kidderminster.

Men and Brethren,

The eternal God, that made you for a life everlasting, and hath
redeemed you by his only Son, when you had lost it and your-
selves, being mindful of you in your sin and misery, hath indited
the gospel, and sealed it by his Spirit, and commanded his minis-
ters to preach it to the world, that pardon being freely offered you,
and Heaven being set before you, he might call you off from your
fleshly pleasures, and from following after this deceitful world, and
acquaint you with the life that you were created and redeemed for,
before you are dead and past remedy. He sendeth you not pro-
phets or apostles, that receive their message by immediate reve-
lation ; but yet he calleth you by his ordinary ministers, who are
commissioned by him to preach the same gospel which Christ and
his apostles first delivered. The Lord seeth how you forget him
and your latter end, and how light you make of everlasting things,
as men that understand not what they have to do or sutfer. He
seeth how bold you are in sin, and how fearless of his threatenings,
and how careless of your souls, and how the works of infidels are
in your lives, while the belief of Christians is in your mouths. He
seeth the dreadful day at hand, when your sorrows v/ill begin, and
you must lament all this with fruitless cries in torment and des-
peration: and then the remembrance of your folly will tear your
hearts, if true conversion now prevent it not. In compassion to
vour sinful miserable souls, the Lord, that better knows your case
than you can know it, hath made it our duty to speak to you in his
name, (2 Cor. v. 19.) and to tell you plainly of your sin and misery,
and what will be your end, and how sad a change you will shortly
see, if yet you go on a little longer. Having bought you at so deai"
a rate as the blood of his Son Jesus Christ, and made you so free
and weneral a promise of pardon, and grace, and everlasting glory;
he commandeth us to tender all this to you, as the gift of God, and
to entreat you to consider of the necessity and worth of what he
offers. He sees and pities you, while you are drowned in worldly
cares and pleasures, eagerly following childish toys, and wasting
that short and precious time for a thing of nought, in which you
should make ready for an everlasting life ; and therefore he hath
commanded us to call after you, and tell you how you lose your
labour, and are about t© lose your souls, and to tell you what greater

3*

30 PREFACE.

and better things you might certainly have, if you would hearken
to his call. Isa. Iv. 1, 2, 3. We believe and obey the voice of
God ; and come to you on his message, who hath charged us to
preach; and be instant with you in season and out of season, to lift
up our voice like a trumpet, and show you your transgressions and
your sins. Isa. Iviii. 1.; 2 Tim. iv. 1, 2. But, alas I to the grief
of our souls and your undoing, you slop your ears, you stiffen your
necks, you harden your hearts ; and send us back to God with
groans, to tell him that we have done his message, but can do no
good on you, nor scarcely get a sober hearing. Oh ! that our eyes
were as a fountain of tears, that we might lament our ignorant
careless people, that have Christ before them, and pardon, and life,
and heaven before them, and have not hearts to know or value
them! that might have Christ, and grace, and glory, as well as
others, if it were not for their wilful negligence and contempt! O
that the Lord would fill our hearts with more compassion to these
miserable souls, that we might cast ourselves even at their feet,
and follow them to their houses, and speak to them with our bitter
tears. For, long have we preached to many of them in vain. We
study plainness to make them understand ; and many of them will
not understand us ; we study serious piercing words, to make them
feelj but they will not feel. If the greatest matters would work with
"them, we should awake them ; if the sweetest things would work,
we should entice them and win their hearts ; if the most dreadful
things would work, we should at least affright them from their
wickedness ; if truth and certainty would take with them, we should
soon convince them; if the God that made them, and the Christ
that bought them, might be heard, the case would soon be altered
with them ; if scripture might be heard, we should soon prevail ; if
reason, even the best and strongest reason, might be heard, we
should not doubt but we should speedily convince them ; if expe-
Ttence might be heard, even their own experience and the experi-
ence of all the world, the matter would be mended ; yea, if the
conscience within them might be heard, the case would be better
with them than it is. But if nothing can be heard, what then shall
we do for them? If the dreadful God of heaven be shghted, who
then shall be regarded? If the inestimable love and blood of a
Redeemer be made light of, what then shall be valued ? If heaven
have no desirable glory with them, and everlasting joys be nothing
worth ; if they can jest at hell, and dance about the bottomless pit,
and play with the consuming fire, and that when God and man do
warn them of it, what shall we do for such souls as these ?

Once more, in the name of the God of heaven I shall do the
message to you which he hath commanded us, and leave it in these
standing lines to convert you or condemn you: Vx^' change you, or
rise up in judgment against you, and to be a witness to your faces,
that once you had a serious call to turn. Hear all you that are
drudges of'^ the world, and the servants of flesh and Satan! that
spend your days in looking after prosperity on earth, and drown
your conscience in drinking, and gluttony, and idleness, and foolish
sports, and know your sin, and yet will sin, as if you set God at

PREFACE. 81

defiance, and bid him do his worst and spare not ! Hearken, all
you that mind not God, and have no heart to holy things, and feel
no savour in the word or worship of the Lord, or in the thoughts
or mention of eternal Ufe; that are careless of your immortal souls,
and never bestow one hour ia inquiring what case they are in,
whether sanctified or unsanctified, and whether you are ready to
appear before the Lord ! Hearken all you that, by sinning in light,
have sinned yourselves into infidelity, and do not believe the word
of God. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear the gracious
and yet dreadful call of God ! His eye is all this while upon you.
Your sins are registered, and you shall surely hear of them all
again. God keepeth the book now ; and he will write it all upon
your consciences with his terrors ; and then you also shall keep it
yourselves ! O sinnei-s, that you but knew what you are doing,
and whom you are all this while offending ! The sun itself is dark-
ness before the glory of that Majesty wliich you daily abuse and
carelessly provoke. The sinning angels were not able to stand
before him, but were cast down to be tormented with devils. And
dare such silly worms as you so carelessly offend, and set your-
selves against your Maker ! O that you did but a little know what
case that wretehed soul is in, that hath engaged the living God
against him ! The word of his mouth, that made thee, can unmake
thee ; the frown of his face will cut thee off and cast thee out into
utter darkness. How eager are the devils to be doing with thee
that have tempted thee, and do but wait for the word from God to
take and use thee as their own ! and then in a moment thou wilt
be in hell. If God be against thee, all things are against thee :
this world is but thy prison, for all thou so lovest it ; thou art but
reserved in it to the day of wrath (Job xxi. 30.) ; the Judge is
coming, thy soul is even going. Yet a httle while, and thy friend
shall say of thee, 'He is dead;' and thou shalt see the things that
thou now dost despise, and feel that which now thou wilt not be-
lieve. Death will bring such an argument as thou canst not an-
swer ; an argument that shall effectually confute thy cavils against
the word and ways of God, and all thy self-conceited dotages.
And then how soon will thy mind be changed ? Then be an un-
believer if thou canst; stand then to all thy former words, which
thou wast wont to utter against a holy and a heavenly life. Make
good that cause then before the Lord, which thou wast wont to
plead against thy teachers; and against the people that feared
God. Then stand to thy old opinions and contemptuous thoughts
of the diligence of the saints : make ready now thy strongest rea-
sons, and stand up then before the Judge, and plead hke a man
for thy fleshly, thy worldly, thy ungodly life. But know that thou
wilt have one to plead with, that will not be outfaced by thee ; nor
so easily put off as we thy fellow-creatures. O poor soul ! there
is nothing but a slender veil of flesh between thee and that amazing
sight, which will quickly silence thee, and turn thy tone, and make
thee of another mind ! As soon as death hath drawn this curtain,
thou shalt see that which will quickly leave thee speechless. And
how quickly will that day and hour come 1 When thou hast had

S2 PREFACE.

but a few more merry hours, and but a few more pleasant draughts
and morsels, and a little more of the honours and riches of the
world, thy portion will be spent, and thy pleasures ended, and all
is then gone that thou settest thy heart upon ; of all that thou soldest
thy Saviour and salvation for, there is nothing left but the heavy
reckoning. As a thief, that sits merrily spending the money which
he hath stolen, in an alehouse, when men are riding in post haste
to apprehend him, so is it with you. While you are drowned in
cares or fleshly pleasures, and making merry with your own shame,
death is coming in post haste to seize upon you, and carry your
souls to such a place and state as now you little know or think of.
Suppose, when you are bold and busy in your sin, that a messen-
ger were but coming post from London to apprehend you and take
away your lives ; though you saw him not, yet if you knew that he
was coming, it would mar your mirth, and you would be thinking
of the haste he makes, and hearkening when he knocked at your
door. O that you could but see what haste Death makes, though
he has not yet overtaken you ! No post so swift. No messenger
more sure. As sure as the sun will be with you in the morning,
though it hath many thousand and hundred thousand miles to go
in the night, so sure will Death be quickly with yon : and then
where is your sport and pleasure ? Then will you jest and brave
it out? Then will you jeer at them that warned you? Then is
it better to be a believing saint or a sensual worldling? And then
whose shall all these things be that you have gathered? Luke
jcii. 19, 20, 2L Do you not observe that days and weeks are
quickly gone, and nights and mornings come apace, and speedily
succeed each other? You sleep, but your damnation slumbereth
not ; you linger, but your judgment this Ion? time lingereth not, to
which you are reserved for punishment. 2 Pet. ii. 3, 4, 5, 8, 9. O
that you were wise to understand this, and that you did consider
your latter end ! Deut. xxxii. 29. He that hath an ear to hear,
let him hear the call of God in this day of his salvation.

O careiess sinners ! that you did but know the love that you
unthankfuUy neglect, and the preciousness of the blood of Christ
which you despise I O that you did but know the riches of the
gospel ! O that you did but know, a littk know, the certainty, and
tiie glory, and blessedness of that everlasting life, which now you
M'ill not set your hearts upon, nor be persuaded first and diligently
to seek. Heb. xi. 6, and xii. 28; and Matt. vi. 13. Did you but
know the endless life with God which you now neglect, how quickly
would you cast away your sm, how quickly would you change your
mind and life, your course and company, and turn the streams of
your affections, and lay your care another way? How resolutely
would you scorn to yield to such temptations as now deceive you
and carry you away ? How zealously would you bestir yourselves
for that most blessed life ? How earnest would you be with God
in prayer? How diligent in hearing, and learning, and inquiring?
How serious in meditating on the laws of God? Ps. i. 2. How
feartld of sinning in thought, word, and deed ? and how careful to
please God and grow in hoUness ? O what a changed people yoa

PREFACE. S3

■would be! And why should not the certain word of God be be-
lieved by you, and prevail with you, which openeth to you these
glorious and eternal things ?

Yea, let me tell you that even here on earth, you little know the
difference between the life which you refuse, and the life which
you choose ? The sanctified are conversing with God, when you
dare scarce think of him, and when you are conversing with but
earth and flesh. Their conversation is in heaven, when you are
utter strangers to it, and your belly is your God, and you are mind-
ing earthly things. Phil. iii. 18, 19, 20. They are seeking after
the face of God, when you seek for nothing higher than this world.
They are busily laying up for an endless life, where they shall be
equal with the angels, (Luke xx. 36.) when you are taken up with
a shadow and a transitory thing of nought. How low and base is
your earthly, fleshly, sinful life, in comparison of the noble and
spiritual life of true believers ? Many a time have I looked on such
men with grief and pity, to see them trudge about the world, and
spend their lives, and care, and labour, for nothing but a little food
and raiment, or a little fading pelf, or fleshly pleasures, or empty
honours, as if they had no higher things to mind. What difference
is there between the lives of these men and of the beasts that
perish, that spend their time in working, and eating, and living, but
that they may live? They taste not of the inward heavenly plea-
sures upon which believers taste and live. I had rather have a
little of their comfort, which the forethoughts of their heavenly in-
heritance afford them, though I had all their scorns and sufferings
with it, than to have all your pleasures and treacherous prosperity.
I would not have one of your secret pangs of conscience, and dark
and dreadful thoughts of death and the life to come, for all that
ever the world hath done for you, or all that you can reasonably
hope that it should do. If I were in your unconverted carnal state,
and knew but what I know, and beheve but what I now believe,
methinks my life would be a foretaste of hell. How oft should I
be thinking of the terrors of the Lord, and of the dismal day that
is hastening on! Sure death and hell would be still before me. I
should think of them by day, and dream of them by night ; I should
lie down in fear, and rise in fear, and live in fear, lest death should
come before I were converted. I should have small felicity in any
thing that I possessed, and little pleasure in any company, and little
joy in any thing in the world, as long as I knew myself to be under
the curse and wrath of God. I should be still afraid of hearing
that voice, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee.
Luke xii. 20. And that fearful sentence would be written upon
my conscience, There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
Isaiah xlviii. 22. Ivii. 2L O poor sinners! It is a more joyful life
than this, that you might live, if you were but wiUing, but truly
willing to hearken to Christ, and come home to God. You might
then draw near to God with boldness, and call him your Father,
and comfortably trust him with your souls and bodies. If you look
upon the promises, you may say, They are all mine. If upon the
ctixsGf you may say, From this I am delivered. When you read

34 PREFACE.

the law, you may see what you are saved from. When you read
the gospel, you may see him that redeemed you, and see the
course of his love, and holy life, and sufferings, and trace him in
his temptations, tears, and blood, in the work of your salvation.
You may see death conquered, and heaven opened, and your resur-
rection and glorification provided for in the resurrection and glori-
fication of the Lord. If you look on the saints, you may say, They
are my brethren and companions. If on the unsanctified, you may
rejoice to think that you are saved from that state. If you look
upon the heavens, the sun, and moon, and stars innumerable, you
mav think and say. My Father's face is infinitely more glorious ; it
is higher matters that He hath prepared for his saints ; yonder is
but the outward court of heaven. The blessedness that He hath
promised me is so much higher, that flesh and blood .cannot behold
it. If you think of the grave, you may remember that the glorified
Spirit, a living Head, and a loving Father, have all so near a rela-
tion to your dust, that it cannot be forgotten or neglected, but will
more certainly revive than the plants and flowers m the spring:
because that the soul is still alive, that is the root of ihe body; and
Christ is alive, that is the root of both. Even death, which is the
king of fears, may be remembered and entertained with joy, as
being the day of your dehverance from the remnant of sin and sor-
row, and the day which you believed, and hoped, and waited for,
when you shall see the blessed things which you had heard of, and
shall find by present joyful experience what it was to choose the
better part, and to be a sincere believing saint. What say you,
sir? Is not this a more delightful life, to be assured of salvation
and ready to die, than to live as the ungodly, that have their hearts
overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this
life, and so that day comes upon ihem unawares ? Luke xxi. 34,
36. Might you not live a comfortable life, if once you were made
the heirs of heaven, and sure to be saved when you leave the
world ? O look about you then, and think what you do, and cast
not away such hopes as these for very nothing. The flesh and
world can give you no such hopes or comforts.

And besides all the misery that you bring upon yourselves, you
are the troublers of others as long as you are unconverted. You
trouble magistrates to rule you by their laws; you trouble minis-
ters by resisting the light and guidance which they offer you.
Your sin and misery are the greatest grief and trouble to them in
the world. You trouble the commonwealth, and draw the judg-
ments of God upon you. It is you that most disturb the holy
peace and order of the churches, and hinder our union and refor-
mation, and are the shame and trouble of the churches where you
intrude, and of the places where you are. Ah, Lord! how heavy
and sad a case is this, that even in England, where the gospel doth
abound above any other nation in the world, where teaching is so
plain and common, and all the helps v^e can desire are at hand ;
when the sword has been hewing us, and judgment has run as a
fire through the land; when deliverances have relieved us, and so
many admirable mercies have engaged us to God, and to the gos-

PREFACE. 35

pel, and a holy life ; that, after all this, our cities, and towns, and
counties, shall abound with multitudes of unsanctilied men, and
swarm with so much sensuality, as every where, to our grief, we
see ? One would have thought, that after all this light, and all this
experience, and all these judgments and mercies of God, the peo-
ple of this nation should have joined together, as one man, to turn
to the Lord, and should have come to their godly teacher, and
lamented all their former sins, and desired him to join with them,
in public humiliation, to confess them openly, and beg pardon of
them from the Lord, and should have craved his instruction for the
time to come, and be glad to be ruled by the Spirit within, and the
ministers of Christ without, according to the word of God. One
would think that, after such reason and Scripture evidence as they
hear, and after all these means and mercies, there should not be
an ungodly person left among us, nor a worldhng, nor a drunkard,
nor a hater of reformation, nor an enemy to holiness, to be found
m all our towns and counties. If we be not all agreed about some
ceremonies or forms of government, one would think that, before
this, we should have been agreed to live a holy and heavenly life,
in obedience to God, his word, and ministers, and in love and peace
with one another. But, alas! how far are our people from this
course! Most of them, in most places, do set their hearts on
earthly things, and seek not " first the kingdom of God and the
righteousness thereof," but look on holiness as a needless thing:
their families are prayerless, or else a few heartless lifeless words
must serve instead of hearty fervent daily prayers, (or perhaps only
on the Lord's day, in the evening:) their children are not taught
the knowledge of Christ, and the covenant of grace, nor brought
up in the nurture of the Lord, though they firmly promised all this
at their baptism.

They instruct not their servants in the matters of salvation; but
so their work be done, they care not. There are more railing
speeches in their families than gracious words that tend to edifica-
tion. How few are the families that fear the Lord, and inquire at
his word and ministers how they should live, and what they should
do, and are willing to be taught and ruled, and that heartily look
after everlasting life ! And those few that God hath made so happy,
are commonly the by-word of their neighbours. When we see
some live in drunkenness, and some in pride and worldliness, and
most of them have little care of their salvation, though the cause
be gross and past all controversy, yet will they hardly be convinced
of their misery, and more hardly recovered and reformed ; but,
when we have done all that we are able, to save them from their
sins, we leave the most of them as we find them. And if^ accord-
ing to the law of God, we cast them out of the communion of the
church, when they have obstinately rejected all our admonitions,
they rage at us as if we were their enemies, and their hearts are
filled with malice against us, and they will sooner set themselves
against the Lord, and his laws, and church, and ministers, than
against their deadly sins. This is the dolefut case of Englana;
we have magistrates that countenance the ways of godliness, and

3S PEETACE,

a happy opportunity for unity and reformation is before us, and
faithful ministers long to see the right ordering of the church and
of the ordinances of God : but the power of sin in our people doth
frustrate almost all. No where almost can a faithful minister set
up the unquestionable discipline of Christ, or put back the most
scandalous impenitent sinners from the communion of the church
and participation of the sacraments, but the most of the people rai.
at them and revile them ; as if these ignorant careless souls were
wiser than their teachers, or than God himself. And thus, in the
day of our visitation, when God calls upon us to reform his church,
though magistrates seem wiUing, and faithful ministers seem will-
ing, yet are the multitude of the people still unwilling, and have so
blinded themselves, and hardened their hearts, that, even in these
days of light and grace, they are the obstinate enemies of light and
grace, and will not be brought by the calls of God to see their folly,
and know what is for their good. O that the people of England
knew at least in this their day, the things that belong unto then-
peace, before they are hid from their eyes ! Luke xix. 42.

O foohsh miserable souls! Gal. iii. 1. Who hath bewitched
your minds iiAo such madness, and your hearts unto such dead-
ness, that you should be such mortal enemies to yourselves, and go
on so obstinately towards damnation, that neither the word of God,
nor the persuasions of men, can change your minds, or hold your
hands, or stop you, till you are past remedy! Well, sinners ! this
life will not last always ; this patience will not wait upon you still.
Do not think that you shall abuse your Maker and Redeemer, and
serve his enemies, and debase your souls, and trouble the world,
and wrong the church, and reproach the godly, and grieve your
teachers, and hinder reformation, and all this upon free cost. You
know not yet what this must cost you, but you must shortly know,
when the righteous God shall take you in hand, who will handle
you in another manner than the sharpest magistrates or the plainest
dealing pastors did, unless you prevent the everlasting torments,
by a sound conversion and a speedy obeying of the call of God.
" He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear," while mercy hath a
voice to call.

One objection I find most common in the mouths of the ungodly,
especially of late years ; they say, ' We can do nothing without
God, we canned have grace, if God will not give it us ; and, if he
will, we shall quickly turn ; if he have not predestinated us, and
will not turn us, how can we turn ourselves, or be saved ? It is
not in him that wills nor in him that runs.' And thus they think
they are excused.

I have answered this formerly, and in this book ; but let me now
say this much. 1. Though you Ccumot cure yourselves, you can
hurt and poison yourselves. It is God that must sanctify your
hearts ; but who corrupted them ? Will you wilfully take poison,
because you cannot cure yourselves ? Methinks you should the
more forbear it. You should the more take heed of sinning, if you
cannot mend what sin doth mar. 2. Though you cannot be con-
verted without the special grace of God, yet you must know that

PREFACE. 37

God give'h his grace in the use of his holy means which he hath
appointed to that end ; and common grace may enable you to for-
bear your gross sinning (as to the outward act) and to use those
means. Can you truly say, that you do as much as you are able
to do? Are you not able to go by an alehouse door, or to forbear
the company that hardeneth you in sin ? Are you not able to hear
the word, and think of what you heard when you come home, and
to consider with yourselves of your own condition and of ever-
lasting things? Are you not able to read good books from day to
day, at least on the Lord's day, and to converse with those that
fear the Lord? You cannot say that you have done what you are
able. 3. And therefore you must know that you can forfeit the
grace and help of God by your wilful sinning or negligence, though
you cannot, without grace, turn to God. if you will not do wjiat
you can, it is just with God to deny you that grace by which you
might do more. 4. And. for God's decrees, you must know that
they separate not the end and means, but tie them together. God
never decreed to save any but the sanctified, nor to damn any but
the unsanctified. God doth as truly decree whether your land
this year shall be barren or fruitful, and just how long you shall
live in the world, as he hath decreed whether you shall be saved
or not; and yet you would think that man but a fool that would
forbear ploughing and sowing, and say, 'If God hath decreed that
my ground shall bear corn, it will bear, whether I plough and sow
or not. If God have decreed that I shall live, I shall live, whether
I eat or not; but, if he have not, it is not eating that will keep me
alive.' Do you know how to answer such a man, or do you not ?
If you do, then you know how to answer yourselves ; for, the case
is alike : God's decree is as peremptory about your bodies as your
souls ; if you do not, then try first these conclusions upon your
bodies, before you venture to try them on your souls : see first
whether God will keep you alive without food or raiment, and
whether he will give you corn without tillage and labour, and
whether he will bring you to your journey's end without your travel
or carriage ; and if you speed well in this, then try whether he
will bring you to heaven without your diligent use of means, and
sit down and say. We cannot sanctify ourselves.

Well, sirs, I have but three requests to you, and I have done.

First, That you will seriously read over this small treatise ; and,
if you have such as need it in your families, that you would read it
over and over to them ; and if those that fear God would go now
and then to their ignorant neighbours, and read this or some other
book to them of this subject, they might be a means of winning
souls. If we cannot entreat so small a labour of men for their
own salvation, as to read such short instructions as these, they set
little by themselves, and will most justly perish.

Secondly, When you have read over this book, I would entreat
you to go alone and ponder a little what you have read, and be-
think you, as in the sight of God, whether it be not true, and do
not nearly touch your souls, and whether it be not time to look
about you. And also entreat you, that you will upon your knees

4

38 PREFACE.

beseech the Lord that he will open your eyes to understand the
truth, and turn your hearts to the love of God, and beg of him all
that saving grace which you have so long neglected, and follow it
on from day to day, till your hearts be changed. And withal, that
you will go to your pastors, (that are set over ycu to take rare of
the health and safety of your souls, as physicians do for the health
of your bodies,) and desire them to direct you what course to take,
and acquaint them with your spiritual estate, that you may have
the benefit of their advice and ministerial help.

Or, if you have not a faithful pastor at home, make use of some
other in so great a need.

Thirdly, When, by reading, consideration, prayer, and minis-
terial advice, you are once acquainted with your sin and misery,
with your duty and remedy, delay not, but presently forsake your
sinful company and courses, and turn to God, and obey his call.
As you love your souls, take heed that ye go not on against so
loud a call of God, and against your own knowledge and con-
science, lest it go worse with you in the day of judgment than with
Sodom and Gomorrah. Inquire of God, as a man tiiat is willing
to know the truth, and not be a wilful cheater of his soul. Search
the holy Scriptures daily, and see whether these things be so or
not: try impartially whether it be safer to trust heaven or earth,
and whether it be better to follow God or man, the Spirit or the
flesh, and better to live in holiness or sin, and whether an unsanc-
tified state be safe for you to abide in one day longer; and when
you have foimd out which is best, resolve accordingly, and make
your choice without any more ado. If you will be true to your
own souls, and do not love everlasting torments, I beseech you, as
from the Lord, that you will but take this reasonable advice. O
what happy towns and counties, and what a happy nation might
we have, if we could but persuade our neighbours to agree to such
a necessary motion ! What joyful men would all faithful ministers
be, if they could but see their people truly heavenly and holy ; this
would be the unity, the peace, the safety, the glory, of our churches ;
the happiness of our neighbours, and the comfort of our souls.
Then how comfortably should we preach pardon and peace to you,
and deliver the sacraments, which are the seals of peace to you!
And with what love and joy might we live among you ! At your
deathbed how boldly might we comfort and encourage your de-

f)arting souls ! And at your burial, how comfortably might we
eave you in the grave, in expectation to meet your souls in heaven,
and to see your bodies raised to that glory !

But, if still the most of you will go on in a careless, ignorant,
fleshly, worldly, or unholy life, and all our desires and labours
cannot so far prevail as to keep you from the wilful damnmg of
yourselves, we must then imitate our Lord, who delighteth himself
m those few that are jewels, and in a little flock that shall receive
the kingdom, when the most shall reap the misery which they
sowed. In nature, excellent things are few. The world hath not
many suns, or moons ; it is but a little of the earth that is gold or
silver. Princes and nobles are but a small part of the sons of men*

PREFACE. 39

and it is no great number thart are learned, judicious, or wise, here
in this world. And, therefore, if the gate being strait and very
narrow, there be but few that find salvation, yet God will have his
glory and pleasure in those few. And, when Christ shall come
with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them
that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, his coming will be glorified in his saints, and admired in all
true believers. 2 Thess. i. 7, 8, 9, 10.

And for the rest, as God the Father vouchsafed to create them,
and God the Son disdained not to bear the penalty o their sins
upon the cross, and did not judge such sufferings in vain, though
he knew that by refusing the sanctification of the Holy Ghost they
would finally destroy themselves, so we, that are his ministers,
though these be not gathered, judge not our labour wholly lost.
See Isa. xlix. 5.

Reader, I have done with thee, when thou hast perused this
book ; but sin hath not yet done with thee, even those that thou
thoughtest had been forgotten long ago, and Satan hath not yet
done with thee, though now he be out of sight, and God hath not
yet done with thee, because thou wilt not be persuaded to have
done with the deadly reigning sin. I have written thee this per-
suasive, as one that is going into another world, where the things
are seen that I here speak of, and as one that knoweth thou must
be shortly there thyself. As ever thou wilt meet me with comfort
before the Lord that made us ; as ever thou wilt escape the ever-
lasting plagues prepared for the final neglect ers of salvation, and
for all that are not sanctified by the Holy Ghost; and love not the
communion of the saints as members of the holy catholic church;
and as ever thou hopest to see the face of Christ the Judge, and
of the majesty of the Father, with peace and comfort, and to be
received into glory when thou art turned naked out of this world ;
I beseech thee, I charge thee, to hear and obey the Call of God,
and resolvedly to turn, that thou mayst live. But, if thou wilt
not, even when thou hast no true reason for it, but because thou
wilt not, I summon thee to answer it before the Lord, and require
thee there to bear me witness that I gave thee warning, and that
thou wast not condemned for want of a call to turn and live, but
because thou wouldst not believe it, and obey it ; which also must
be the testimony of

Thy seriouis Monitor,

RICHARD BAXTER.

December 11. 1657.

A CALL

TO THE UNCONVERTED.

EZEKIEL XXXIII. 11.

Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have, no pleasure
ill the death of the xoicked; but that the wicked turn from
his way and live : turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways ; for
•why will ye die, 0 house of Israel ?

It hath been the astonishing wonder of many a man

ss well as me, to read in the holy Scriptures how few
will be saved, and that the greatest part even of those
that are called, will be everlastingly shut out of the
kingdom of heaven, and be tormented with the devils
in eternal fire. Infidels believe not this when they read
it, and therefore they must feel it; those that do be-
lieve it, are forced to cry out with Paul, (Rom. xi. 13,)
" O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judg-
ments, and his ways past finding out 1" But nature
itself doth teach us all to lay the blame of evil works
upon the doers ; and therefore when we see any hei-
nous thing done, a principle of justice doth provoke
us to inquire after hkn that did it, that the evil of the
work may return the evil of shame upon the author.
If we saw a man killed and cut in pieces by ihe way,
we would presently ask. Oh ! who did this cruel deed.'
If the town was wilfully set on fire, j^ou would ask,
what wicked wretch did this .'' So when we read that
many souls will be miserable in hell for ever, we must
needs think with ourselves, how comes this tc pass ■*

4*

45 A CALL TO

and whose fault is it ? Who is it that is so cruel as to
be the cause of such a thing as this? and we can meet
with few that will own the guilt. It is indeed con-
fessed by all, that Satan is the cau5e ; but that doth
not resolve the doubt, because he is not the principal
cause. He doth not force men to sin, but tempts them
to it, and leaves it to their own wills whether they will
do it or not. He doth not carry men to an alehouse
and force open their mouths and pour in the drink ;
nor doth he hold them that they cannot go to God's
service ; nor doth he force their hearts from holy
thoughts. It lieth therefore between God himself and
the sinner ; one of them must needs be the principal
cause of all this misery, whichever it is, for there is no
other to lay it upon ; and God disclaimeth it ; he w^ill
not take it upon him ; and the wicked disclaim it
usually, and they will not take it upon them, and this
is the controversy that is here managing in my text.

The Lord complaineth of the people ; and the peo
pie think it is the fault of God. The same contro-
versy is handled, chap, xviii. 25 ; they plainly say,
" that the way of the Lord is not equal." So here
they say, verse 19, " If our transgressions and our sins
be upon us, and we pine awa}'^ in them, how shall we
then live ?" As if they should say, if we must die,
and be miserable, how can we help it ; as if it were
not their fault but God's. But God, in my text, doth
clear himself of it, and telleth them how they may
help it if they will, and persuadeth them to use the
means, and if they will not be persuaded, he lets them
know that it is the fault of themselves ; and if this will
not satisfy them, he w^ill not forbear to punish them.
It is he that will be the Judge, and he will judge them
according to their ways ; they are no judge of him or
of themselves, as wanting authority, and wisdom, and
impartiality, nor is it the cavilling and quarrelling with
God that shall serve their turn, or save them from the
execution of justice at which they murmur.

The words of this verse contain, 1. God's purgation
or clearmg himself from the blame of their destruction-
This he doth not by disowning his law that the wicked

THE UNCONVERTED. 45

shall die, nor by disowning his judgments and execu-
tion according to that law, or giving them any hope
that the law shall not be executed ; but by professing
that it is not their death that he takes pleasure in, but
their returning rather, that they may live ; and this he
confirmeth to them by his oath. 2 An express exhor-
tation to the wicked to return ; wherein God doth not
only command, but persuade and condescend also to
reason the case with them. Why will they die ? The
direct end of this exhortation is, that they may turn
and live. The secondary or reserved ends, upon sup-
position that this is not attained, are these two : First,
To convince them by the means which he used, that it
is not the fault of God if they be miserable. Secondly,
To convince them from their manifest wilfulness in
rejecting all his commands and persuasions, that it is
the fault of themselves, and they die, even because they
will die.

The substance of the text doth lie in these observa-
tions following : —

Doctrine 1. It is the unchangeable law of God, that
wicked men must turn or die.

Doctrine 2. It is the promise of God, that the wick-
ed shall live, if they will but turn.

Doctrine 3. God takes pleasure in men's conversion
and salv^ation, but not in their death or damnation : he
had rather they would return and live, than go on and
die.

Doctrine 4. This is a most certain truth, which
because God would not have men to question, he hath
confirmed it to them solemnly by his oath.

Doctrine 5. The Lord doth redouble his commands
and persuasions to the wicked to turn.

Doctrine 6. The Lord condescendeth to reason the
case with them ; and asketh the wicked why they will
die ?

Doctrine 7. If after all this the wicked will not turn,
it is not the fault of God that they perish, but of tbem-
selves ; their own wilfulness is the cause of their own
*^^'*n\aation ; they therefore die because they will die.

.~v,i

44 A CALL TO

Having laid the text open in these propositions, I
shall next speak somewhat of each of them in order,
though very briefly.

Doctrine 1. It is the unchangeable law of God, that
wicked men must turn, or die.

If you will believe God, believe this : there is but
one of these two ways for every wicked man, either
conversion or damnation. I know the wicked will
hardly be persuaded either of the truth or equity of
this. No wonder if the guilty quarrel with the law.
Few men are apt to believe that which they would not
have to be true, and fewer would have that to be true
which they apprehend to be against them. But it is
not quarrelling with the law, or with the judge, that
will save the malefactor. Believing and regarding the
law might have prevented his death ; but denying and
accusing it will but hasten it. If it were not so, a
hundred would bring their reason against the law, for
one that would bring his reason to the law, and men
would rather choose to give their reasons why they
should not be punished, than to hear the commands
and reasons of their governors which require them to
obey. The law was not made for you to judge, but
that you might be ruled and judged by it.

But if there be any so blind as to venture to ques-
tion either the truth or the justice of this law of God,
I shall briefly give you that evidence of both, which,
methinks, should satisfy a reasonable man.

And first, if you doubt whether this be the word
of God, or not, besides a hundred other texts, you
may be satisfied by these few : — Matt, xviii. 3. " Veri-
ly I say unto you, except ye be converted and become
as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of
God." John iii. 3. " Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the king-
dom of God." 2 Cor. v. 17. " If any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature ; old things are passed
away ; behold, all things are become new." Col. iii.
9, 10. " Ye have put off the old man with his deeds,

THE UNCONVERTED. 4S

and have put on the new man, which is renewed in
knowledge after the image of him that created him."
Heb. xii. 14. " Without holiness, none shall see God."
Rom. viii. 8, 9. " So then they that are in the flesh
cannot please God. Now if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Gal. vi. 15. " For
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing,
nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." 1 Pet. i. 3.
" According to his abundant grace he hath begotten us
to a hvely hope." Ver. 23. " Being born again, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." 1 Pet. ii.
1, 2. " Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile,
and hypocrisies, and envies, and evil speaking, as new
born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye
may grow thereby." Psalm ix. 17. " The wicked shall
be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."
Psalm xi. 4. " And the Lord loveth the righteous,
but the wicked his soul hateth."

As I need not stay to open these texts which are so
plain, so I think I need not add any more of that multi-
tude which speak the like. If thou be a man that dost
believe the word of God, here is already enough to sa-
tisfy thee, that the wicked must be converted or con-
demned. You are already brought so far, that you
must either confess that this is true, or say plainly, you
will not beheve the word of God. And if once you
be come to that pass, there is but small hopes of you :
look to yourselves as well as you can, for it is like you
will not be long out of hell. You would be ready to
fly in the face of him that should give you the lie ; and
yet dare you give the lie to God ? But if you tell God
plainly you will not believe him, blame him not if he
never warn you more, or if he forsake you, and give
you up as hopeless ; for to what purpose should he
warn you, if you will not believe him ? Should he send
an angel from heaven to you, it seems you would not
believe. For an angel can speak but the word of God ;
and if an angel should bring you any other gospel, you
are not to receive it, but to hold liim accursed. Gal. i.
8. And surely there is no angel to be believed before the

46 A CALL TO

Son of God, who came from the Father to bring us this
doctrine. If he be not to be believed, then all the angels
in heaven are not to be beheved. And if you stand on
these terms with God, I shall leave you till he deal
"with you in a more convincing wa3^ God hath a voice
that will make you hear. Though he entreat you to
hear the v^oice of his gospel, he will make you hear the
voice of his condemning sentence, -without entreaty.
We cannot make you believe against your wills ; but
God will make you feel against your wills.

But let us hear what reason you liave why you will
not believe this word of God, which tells us that the
wicked must be converted, or condemned. I know
your reason ; it is because that you judge it unhkely
that God should be so unmerciful : you think it cruelty
to damn men everlastingly for so small a thing as a sinful
Hfe. And this leads us to the second thing, which is to
justify the equity of God in his laAvs and judgments.

And first, I think you w^ill not deny but that it is
most suitable to an immortal soul, to be ruled by laws
that promise an immortal rew^ard, and threaten an end-
less punishment. Otherwise the law should not be
suited to the nature of the subject, who will not be
fully ruled by any lower means than the hopes or fears
of everlasting things : as it is in cases of temporal
punishment, if a law were now made that the most
heinous crimes shall be punished with a hundred ^^ears'
captivity, this might be of some efficacy, as being equal
to our lives. But, if there had been no other penalties
before the flood, when men lived eight or nine hundred
years, it would not have been sufficient, because men
would know that they might have so many hundred
years' impunity afterwards. So it is in our present
case.

2. I suppose that you will confess, that the promise
of an endless and inconceivable glory is not so unsuita-
ble to the wisdom of God, or the case of nTan: and why
then should you not think so of the threatemng of an
endless and unspeakable misery !

3. When you find it in the word of God that so it is,
and so it will be, do ye think yourselves fit to contra-

THE UNCONVERTED, 47

diet this word ? Will you call your Maker to the bar,
and examine his word upon the accusation of false-
hood ? Will you sit upon him, and judge him by the
law of your conceits ? Are you wiser, and better, and
more righteous than he? Must the God of heaven
come to school to you to learn wisdom ? Must Infinite
Wisdom learn of folly, and Infinite Goodness be cor
rected by a swinish sinner, that cannot keep himself
an hour clean ? Must the Almighty stand at the bar of
a worm? O horrid arrogancy of senseless dust! shall
ever mole, or clod, or dunghill, accuse the sun of
darkness, and undertake to illuminate the world ?
Where were you when the Almighty made the laws,
that he did not call you to his council? Surely he
made them before you were born, without desiring
your advice ; and you came into the world too late to
reverse them, if you could have done so great a work.
You should have stepped oui of your nothingness and
have contradicted Christ when he was on earth, or
Moses before him, or have saved Adam and his sinful
progeny from the threatened death, that so there might
have been no need of Christ. And what if God with-
draw his patience and sustaining power, and let you
drop into hell while you are quarrelling with his word,
will you then believe that there is a hell ?

4. If sin be such an evil that it requireth the death
of Christ for its expiation, no wonder if it deserve our
everlasting misery.

5. And if the sin of the devils deserved an endless
torment, why not also the sin of man?

6. And methinks you should perceive that it is not
possible for the best of men, much less for the wicked,
to be competent judges of the desert of sin. Alas I we
are both blind and partial. You can never know fully
the desert of sin, till you fully know the evil of sin ; and
you can never fully know the evil of sin, till you fully
know, 1. The excellency of the soul which it deform-
eth. 2. And the excellency of holiness which it obli-
terates. 3. The reason and excellency of the law
which it violates. 4. The excellency of the glory
which it despises. 5. The excellency and office of

4S A CALL TO

reason which it treadeth down. 6. No, nor till you
know the infinite excellency, almightiness and holinesa
of that God against whom it is committed. When
you fully know all these, you shall fully know the
desert of sin besides. You knoAv that the offender is
too partial to judge the law, or the proceeding of his
judge. We judge by feeling, which blinds our reason.
We see, in common worldly things, that most men
think the cause is right which is their own, and that all
is wrong that is done against them ; and let the most
wise or just impartial friends persuade them to the
contrary, and it is all in vain. There are few children
but think the father is unmerciful, or dealeth hardly
with them, if he whip them. There is scarce the vilest
wretch but thinketh the church doth wnmg him if they
excommunicate him : or scarce a thief or murderer
that is hanged, but would accuse the law and judge of
cruelty, if that would serve their turn.

7. Can you think that an unholy soul is fit for hea-
ven ? Alas, they cannot love God here, nor do him any
service which he can accept. They are contrary to
God ; they loathe that which he most loveth, and love
that which he abhorreth. They are incapable of that
imperfect communion with him which his saints here
partake of How then can they live in that perfect love
of him, and full delights and communion with him,
which IS the blessedness of heaven? Ye do not accuse
yourselves of unmercifulness, if you make not your
enemy your bosom counsellor; or if you take not your
swine to bed and board with you : no, nor if you take
away his life, though he never sinned ; and yet you will
blame the absolute Lord, the most wise and gracious
Sovereign of the world, if he condemn the unconverted
to perpetual misery.

Use. — I beseech you now, all that love your souls,
that, instead of quarrelling with God and with his
word, you will presently stoop to it, and use it for your
good. All you that are yet unconverted in this assem-
bly, take this as the undoubted truth of God : — You
must, ere long, be converted or condemned ; there is

THE UNCONVERTED. 4^

no other way but to turn or die. When God, that
cannot lie, hath told you this ; when you hear it from
the Maker and Judge of the world, it is lime for him
that hath ears to hear. By this time you may see what
you have to trust to. You are but dead and damned
men, except you will be converted. Should I tell you
otherwise, I should deceive you with a he. Should I
hide this from you, I should undo you, and be guilty of
your blood, as the verses before my text assure me.
Verse 8. ''• When I say to the wicked man, O wicked
man, thou shalt surely die ; if thou dost not speak to
warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall
die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thine
hand." You see, then, though this be a rough and un-
welcome doctrine, it is such as we must preach, and
you must hear. It is easier to hear of hell than feel it.
If your necessities did not require it, we would not gall
your tender ears with truths that seem so harsh and
grievous. Hell would not be so full, if people were
but willing to know their case, and to hear and think
ot it. The reason why so few escape it is, because
they strive not to enter in at the strait gate of conver-
sion, and go the narrow way of holiness, while they
have time : and they strive not, because they are not
awakened to a lively feehng of the danger they are in ;
and they are not awakened because they are loath to
hear or think of it : and that is partly through foolish
tenderness and carnal self-love, and partly because
they do not well believe the word that threateneth it.
If you will not thoroughly believe this truth, methinks
the weight of it should force you to remember it, and
it should follow you, and give you no rest till you are
converted. If you had but once heard this word by
the voice of an angel, " Thou must be converted," or
" condemned : turn, or die :" would it not stick in
your minds, and haunt you night and day ? so that in
your sinning you would remember it, as if the voice
were still in your ears, " Turn, or die !" O happy were
your souls if it might thus work with you and never be
forgotten, or let you alone till it have driven home your
hearts to God. But if you will cast it out by forgetful-

5

50 A CALL TO

ness or unbelief, how'can it work to your conversion
and salvation? But take this with you to your sorrow,
though you may put this out of your minds, you can-
not put it out of the Bible, but there it will stand as a
sealed truth, which you shall experimentally know for
ever, that there is no other way but turn, or die.

O what is the matter, then, that the hearts of sin-
ners are not pierced with such a weighty truth ? A
man would think now, that every unconverted soul
that hears these words should be pricked to the heart,
and think with themselves, ' This is my own case,' and
never be quiet till they have found themselves con-
verted. Believe it, sirs, this drowsy careless temper
will not last long. Conversion and condemnation are
both of them awakening things, and one of them will
make you feel ere long. I can foretell it as truly as if
I saw it with my eyes, that either grace or hell will
shortly bring these matters to the quick, and make
you say, ' What have I done ? what a foolish wicked
course have I taken?' The scornful and the stupid state
of sinners will last but a little while ; as soon as they
either turn or die, the presumptuous dream will be at
an end, and then their wits and feeling will return.

But I foresee there are two things that are likely to
harden the unconverted, and make me lose all my
labour, except they can be taken out of the way ; and
that is, the misunderstanding on those two words, the
wicked and turn. Some will think to themselves, ' It
is true, the wicked must turn or die ; but what is that
to me, I am not wicked ; though I am a sinner, all men
are.' Others will think, ' It is true that we must turn
from our evil ways, but I am turned long ago ; I hope
this is not now to do.' And thus, while wicked men
think they are not wicked, but are already converted,
we lose all our labour in persuading them to turn. I
shall, therefore, before I go any further, tell you here
who are meant by the wicked ; and who they are that
must turn or die; and also what is meant by turning,
and who they are that are truly converted. And this
I have purposely reserved for this place, preferring the
method that fits my end.

THE UNCONVEIITED. 5|

And here you may observe, that in the sense of the
text, a wicked man and a converted man are contra-
ries. No man is a wicked man that is converted ; and
no man is a converted man that is wicked ; so that to
be a wicked man and to be an unconverted man, is all
one ; and therefore in opening one, we shall open both.

Before I can tell you what either wickedness or con-
version is, I must go to the bottom, and fetch up the
matter from the beginning.

It pleased the great Creator of the world to make
three sorts of living creatures. Angels he made pure
spirits without flesh, and therefore he made them only
for heaven, and not to dwell on earth. Brutes were
made flesh, without immortal souls, and therefore they
were made only for earth, and not for heaven. Man
is of a middle nature, between both, as partaking of
both flesh and spirit, and therefore he was made both
for heaven and earth. But as his flesh is made to be
but a servant to his spirit, so is he made for earth but
as his passage or way to heaven, and not that this
should be his home or happiness. The blessed state
that man was made for, was to behold the glorious ma-
jesty of the Lord, and to praise him among his Holy-
Angels, and to love him, and to be filled with his love
for ever. And as this was the end that man was made
for, so God did give him means that were fitted to the
attammg of it. These means were principally two:
First, the right inclination and disposition of the mind
of man. Secondly, the right ordering of his life and
practice. For the first, God suited the disposition of
man unto his end, giving him such knowledge of God
as was fit for his present state, and a heart disposed
and inclined to God in holy love. But yet he did not
fix or confirm him in this condition, but, having m^ade
him a free agent, he left him in the hands of his own
free will. For the second, God did that which belong-
ed to him ; that is, he gave him a perfect law, required
him to continue in the love of God, and perfectly to
obey him. By the wilful breach of this law, maii did
not only forfeit his hopes of everlasting life, but also
turned his heart from God, and fixed it on these lower

52 A CALL TO

fleshly things, and hereby blotted out the spiritual image
of God from his soul ; so that man did both fall short
of the glory of God, which was his end, and put him-
self out of the way by which he should have attained
it, and this both as to the frame of his heart, and of his
life. The holy inclination and love of his soul to God,
he lost, and instead of it he contracted an inchnation
and love to the pleasing of his flesh, or carnal self, by
earthl}'^ things ; growing strange to God and acquainted
"with the creature. And the course of this life was
suited to the bent and inclination of his heart; he lived
to his carnal self, and not to God ; he sought the crea-
ture, for the pleasing of his flesh, instead of seeking to
please the Lord. With this nature or corrupt inclina-
tion, we are all now born into the world ; " for who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ?" Job xiv.
4. As a lion hath a fierce and cruel nature before he
doth devour, and an adder hath a venomous nature
before she sting, so in our infancy we have those sinful
natures or inclinations, before we think, or speak, or
do amiss. And hence springeth all the sin of our lives ;
and not only so, but when God hath of his mercy
provided us a remedy, even the Lord Jesus Christ, to
be the Saviour of our souls, and bring us back to God
again, we naturally love our present state, and are loath
to be brought out of it, and therefore are set against
the means of our recovery : and though custom hath
taught us to thank Christ for his good-will, yet carnal
self persuades us to refuse his remedies, and to desire
to be excused, when w^e are commanded to take the
medicines which he offers, and are called to forsake all
and follow him to God and glory.

I pray you read over this leaf again, and mark it;
for in these few words you have a true description of
our natural state, and consequently of wicked man ;
for every man that is in the state of corrupted nature
is a wicked man, and in a state of death.

By this also you are prepared to understand what
it is to be converted : to which end you must further
know, that the mercy of God, not willing that man
should perish in his sin, provided a remed}'^, by causing

THE UNCONVERTED. 53

his Son to take our nature, and being, in one person,
God and man, to become a mediator between God and
man, and, by dying for our sins on the cross, to ransom
us from the curse of God and the power of the devil.
And having thus redeemed us, the Father hath de-
livered us into his hands as his own. Hereupon the
Father and the Mediator do make a new lav/ and cove-
nant for man, not like the first, which gave life to none
but the perfectly obedient, and condemned man for
every sin ; but Christ hath made a law of grace, or a
promise of pardon and everlasting life to all that, by
true repentance, and by faith in Christ, are converted
unto God ; like an act of oblivion, which is made by a
prince to a company of rebels, on condition they will
lay down arms and come in, and be loyal subjects for
the time to come.

But, because the Lord knoweth that the heart of
man is grown so wicked, that, for all this, men will not
accept of the remedy if they be left to themselves,
therefore the Holy Ghost hath undertaken it as his
office to inspire the Apostles, and seal up the Scriptures
by miracles and wonders, and to illuminate and con-
vert the souls of the elect.

So by this much you see, that as there are three
persons in the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost, so each of these persons have their seve-
ral works, which are eminently ascribed to them.

The Father's works were, to create us, to rule us,
as his rational creatures, by the law of nature, and
judge us thereby ; and in mercy to provide us a Re-
deemer when we were lost ; and to send his Son, and
accept his ransom.

The works of the Son for us were these : to ran-
dom and redeem us by his suffering and righteousness ;
to give out the promise or law of grace, and rule and
judge the world as their Redeemer, on terms of grace :
and to make intercession for us, that the benefits of his
death may be communicated ; and to send the Holy
Ghost, which the Father also doth by the Son.

The works of the Holy Ghost, for us, are these : to
indite the holy Scriptures, by inspiring and guiding

5*

54 A CALL TO

the Apostles, and sealing the word, by his miraculous
gifts and works, and the illuminating and exciting the
ordinary ministers of the gospel, and so enabling them
and helping them to publish that word ; and by the
same word illuminating and converting the souls of
men. So that as you could not have been reasonable
creatures, if the Father had not created you, nor have
had any access to God, if the Son had not redeemed
you, so neither can you have a part in Christ, or be
saved, except the Holy Ghost do sanctify you.

So that by this time you may see the several causes
of this work. The Father sendeth the Son : the Son
redeems us and maketh the promise of grace : the
Holy Ghost inditeth and sealeth this ^ospel : the Apos-
tles are the secretaries of the Spirit to write it : the
preachers of the gospel to proclaim it, and persuade
men to open it : and the Holy Ghost doth make their
preaching effectual, by opening the hearts of men to
entertain it And all this to repair the image of God
upon the soul, and to set the heart upon God again,
and take it off the creature and carnal self to which it
is revolted, and so to turn the current of the hfe into
a heavenly course, which before was earthly ; and all
this by entertaining of Christ by faith, who is the Phy-
sician of the soul.

By what I have said, you may see what it is to be
wicked, and what it is to be converted ; which, I think,
will yet be plainer to you, if I describe them as con-
sisting of their several parts. And for the first, a
wicked man may be known by these three thino;s : —

First, He is one w^ho placeth his chief affections on
earth, and loveth the creature more than God, and his
fleshly prosperity above the heavenly felicity. He
savoureth the things of the fiesh, but neither discern-
eth nor savoureth the things of the Spirit ; though he
will say, that heaven is better than earth, yet he doth
not really so esteem it to himself. If he might be sure
of earth, he would let go heaven, and had rather stay
here than be removed thither. A Ufe of perfect holi-
ness in the sight of God, and in his love and praises
for ever in heaven, doth not find such liking with his

THE UNCONVERTED. 55

heart, as a life of health, and wealth, and honour here
upon earth. And though he falsely profess that he
loves God above all, yet mdeed he never felt the power
of divme love within him, but his mind is more set on
the world or fleshly pleasures than on God. In a word,
whoever loves earth above heaven, and fleshly prospe-
rity more than God, is a wicked unconverted man.

On the other hand, a converted man is illuminated
to discern the loveliness of God, and so far believeth
the glory that is to be had with God, that his heart is
taken up with it and set more upon it than any thing
in this world. He had rather see the face of God, and
live in his everlasting love and praises, tVian have all
the wealth or pleasures of the world. He seeth that
all things else are vanity, and nothing but God can fill
the soul ; and therefore let the world go which way it
will, he layeth up his treasures and hopes in heaven,
and for that he is resolved to let go all. As the fire
doth mount upward, and the needle that is touched
with the loadstone still turns to the north, so the con-
verted soul is inclined unto God. Nothing else can
satisfy him : nor can he find any content and rest but
in his love. In a word, all that are converted do es-
teem and love God better than all the world, and the
heavenly felicity is dearer to them than their fleshly
prosperity. The proof of what I have said, you may
find in these places of Scripture : Phil. lii. 18, 21. Matt,
vi. 19, 20, 21. Col. iii. 1—4. Rom. viii. 5—9, 18, 23.
Psalm Ixxiii. 25, 26.

Secondly, A wicked man is one that makes it the
principal business of his life to prosper in the world,
and attain his fleshly ends. And though he may read,
and hear, and do much in the outAvard duties of reli-
gion, and forbear disgraceful sins, yet this is all but by
the by, and he never makes it the principal business of
his Hfe to please God, and attain everlasting glory, and
puts off God with the leavings of the world, and gives
him no more service than the flesh can spare, for he
will not part with all for heaven.

On the contrary, a converted man is one that makes
it the principal care and business of his life to please

56 A CALL TO

God, and to be saved, and takes all the blessings of
this life but as accommodations in his journey towards
another life, and useth the creature in subordination to
God ; he loves a holy life, and longs to be more holy ;
he hath no sin but what he hateth, and longeth, and
prayeth, and striveth to be rid of. The drift and bent
of his life is for God, and if he sin, it is contrary to the
very bent of his heart and life ; and therefore he riseth
again and lamenteth it, and dares not wilfully live in
any known sin. There is nothing in this world so
dear to him but he can give it up to God, and forsake
it for him and the hopes of glory. All this you may
see in Col. iii. 1—5. Matt. vi. 20, 33. Luke xviii. 22,
23, 29. Luke xiv. 18, 24, 26, 27. Rom. viii. 13. Gal.
v. 24. Luke xii. 21, &c.

Thirdly, The soul of a wicked man did never truly
discern and relish the mystery of redemption, nor
thankfully entertain an offered Saviour, nor is he taken
up with the love of the Redeemer, nor willing to be
ruled by him as the Physician of his soul, that he may
be saved from the guilt and power of his sins, and re-
covered to God ; but his heart is insensible of this un-
speakable benefit, and is quite against the healing means
by which he should be recovered. Though he may
be willing to be outwardly religious, yet he never re-
signs up his soul to Christ, and to the motions and
conduct of his word and Spirit.

On the contrary, the converted soul having felt him-
self undone by sin, and perceiving that he hath lost
his peace with God and hopes ot" heaven, and is in
danger of everlasting misery, doth thankfully entertain
the tidings of redemption, and believing in the Lord
Jesus as his only Saviour, resigns himself up to him
for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemp-
tion. He takes Christ as the life of his soul, and lives
by him, and uses him as a salve for every sore, admir-
ing the wisdom and love of God in this wonderful work
of man's redemption. In a word, Christ doth even
dwell in his heart by faith, and the life that he now liv-
eth, is by the faith of the Son of God, that loved him,
and gave himself for him ; yea, it is not so much he

THE UNCONVERTED. 37

that liveth, as Christ in him. For these, see Job i. 11,
12. and iii. 19, 20. Rom. viii. 9. Phil. iii. 7— 10. Gal.
li. 20. Job XV. 2, 3, 4. 1 Cor. i. 20. ii. 2.

You see now in plain terms from the Word of God,
who are the wicked and who are the converted. Igno-
rant people think, that if a man be no swearer, nor
curser, nor railer, nor drunkard, nor fornicator, nor ex-
tortioner, nor wrong any body in his dealings, and if
he come to church and say his prayers, he cannot be
a wicked man. Or if a man that hath been guilty of
drunkenness, swearing or gaming, or the like vices, do
but forbear them for the time to come, they think
that this is a converted man. Others think, if a man
that hath been an enemy, and scorner at godliness, do
but approve it, and be hated for it by the wicked, as
the godly are, that this must needs be a converted man.
And some are so foolish as to think that they are con-
verted, by taking up some new opinion, and falling into
some dividing party. And some think, if they have
but been affrighted by the fears of hell, and had con-
victions of conscience ; and thereupon have purposed
and promised amendment, and take up a life of civil
behaviour, and outward religion, that this must needs
be true conversion. And these are the poor deluded
souls that are like to lose the benefit of all our persua-
sions ; and when they hear that the wicked must turn
or die, they think that this is not spoken to them, for
they are not wicked, but are turned already. And
therefore it is that Christ told some of the rulers of the
Jews who were greater and more civil than the com-
mon people, that " publicans and harlots go into the
kingdom of Christ before them." Matt. xxi. 31. Not
that a harlot or gross sinner can be saved without con-
version ; but because it was easier to make these gross
sinners perceive their sin and misery, and the necessity
of a change, than the more civil sort, who delude them-
selves by thinking that they are converted already,
when they are not.

O, sirs, conversion is another kind of work than most
are aware of. It is not a small matter to bring an
earthly mind to heaven, and to show man the amiable

58 A CALL TO

excellencies of God, till he be taken up in such love to
him that can never be quenched ; to break the heart
for sin, and make him fly for refuge to Christ, and
thankfully embrace him as the life oi" his soul ; to have
the very drift and bent of the heart and life changed ;
so that a man renounceth that which he took for his
felicity, and placeth his felicity where he never did be-
fore ; and lives not to the same end, and drives not on
the same design in the world, as he formerly did. In
a word, he that is in Christ is a " new creature : old
things are passed away : behold, all things have be-
come new." 2 Cor. v. 17. He hath a new under-
standing, a new will and resolution, new sorrows, and
desires, and love, and delight ; new thoughts, new
speeches, new company, (if possible,) and a new con
versation. Sin, that before was a jesting matter with
him, is now so odious and terrible to him, that he flies
from it as from death. The world, that was so lovely in
his eyes, doth now appear but as vanity and vexation :
God, that was before neglected, is now the only hap-
piness of his soul : before he was forgotten, and every
lust preferred before him, but now he is set next the
heart, and all things must give place to him ; the heart
is taken up in the attendance and observance of him,
is grieved when he hides his face, and never thinks
itself well without him. Christ himself, that was wont
to be slightly thought of, is now his only hope and re-
fuge, and he lives upon him as on his daily bread ; he
cannot pray without him, nor rejoice without him,
nor think, nor speak, nor live without him. Heaven
itself, that before was looked upon but as a tolerable re-
serve, which he hoped might serve his turn better than
hell, when he could not stay any longer in the world,
is now taken for his home, the place of his only hope
and rest, where he shall see, and love, and praise that
God that hath his heart already. Hell, that did seem
before but as a bugbear to frio-hten men from sin, doth
now appear to be a real misery, that is not to be ven-
tured on, nor jested with. The works of holiness, of
which before he was weary, and thought to be more
than needfulj are now both his recreation and his

THE UNCONVERTED. 59

business, and the trade that he lives upon. The Bible,
which was before to him but almost as a common book,
is now as the law of God ; as a letter written to him,
and subscribed with the name of the Eternal Majesty; it
is the rule of his thoughts, and words, and deeds ; the
commands are binding, the threats are dreadful, and
the promises of it speak life to his soul. The godly,
that seemed to him but like other men, are now the
most excellent and happy on earth. And the wicked
that were his playfellows, are now his grief; and he
that could laugh at their sins, is readier now to weep
for their sin and misery : — Psalm xvi. 3. xv. 4. Phil,
lii. 18. " but to the saints that are in the earth, and to
the excellent, in whom is all my delight." " In whose
eyes a vile person is contemned ; but he honoureth them
that fear the Lord : he that sweareth to his own hurt,
and changeth not." " For many walk, of whom I
have told you often, and now tell you even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ." In
short, he hath a new end in his thoughts, and a new
way in his endeavours, and therefore his heart and Ufe
are new. Before, his carnal self was his end, and his
pleasure and worldly profits and credit were his way;
and now God and everlasting glory are his end, and
Christ, and the Spirit, and word, and ordinances,
Holiness to God, and righteousness and mercy to men,
these are his way. Before, self was the chief ruler, to
which the matters of God and conscience must stoop
and give place ; and now God, in Christ, by the Spirit,
word and ministry, is the chief ruler, to whom both selt
and all the matters of self, must give place. So that
this is not a change in one, or two, or twenty points,
but in the whole soul, and in the very end and bent of
the conversation. A man may step out of one path
into another, and yet have his face the same way, and
be still going towards the same place ; but it is another
matter to turn quite back, and take his journey quite
the contrary wayj to a contrary place. So it is here ;
a man may turn from drunkenness to thriftiness, and
forsake his good fellowship, and other gross disgrace-
ful sins, and set upon some duties of religion, and yet

6t) A CALL TO

be still going to the same end as before, intending his
carnal self above all, and giving it still the government
of his soul ; but when he is converted, this self is denied,
and taken down, and God is set up, and his face is
turned the contrary way : and he that before was ad-
dicted to himself, and lived to himself, is now, by sanc-
tification, devoted to God, and liveth unto God. Be-
fore, he asked himself what he should do with his time,
his parts, and his estate, and for himself he used them ;
but now he asketh God what he shall do with them,
and useth them for him. Before, he would please God
so far as might accord with the pleasure of his flesh
and carnal self, but not to any great displeasure of
them ; but now he will please God, let flesh and self
be never so much displeased. This is the great change
that God will make upon all that shall be saved.

You can say, that the Holy Ghost is our sanctifier ;
but do you know what sanctification is? Why, this is
what I have now opened to you ; and every man and
woman in the world must have this, or be condemned to
everlasting misery. They must turn or die.

Do you believe all this, sirs, or do you not ? Surely
you dare not say, you do not; for it is past a doubt or
denial. These are not controversies, where one learn-
ed pious man is of one mind, and another of another ;
where one party saith this, and the other saith that.
Every sect among us that deserve to be called Chris-
tians, are all agreed in this that I have said ; and if you
will not believe the God of truth, and that in a case
where every sect and party do believe him, you are ut-
terly inexcusable.

But if you do believe this, how comes it to pass that
you live so quietly in an unconverted state ? Do you
know that you are converted ? and can you find this
wonderful change upon your souls? Have you been
thus born again, and made new? Are not these strange
matters to many of you, and such as you never felt
within yourselves? If you cannot tell the day or
week of your change, or the very sermon that convert-
ed you, yet do you find that the work is done, and such
a change indeed there is, and that you have such

' ' THE UNCONVERTED. ^\

hearts as are before described ? Alas 1 the most do fol-
low their worldly business, and little trouble their minds
with such thoughts. And if they be restrained from
scandalous sins, and can say, " I am no whoremonger,
nor thief, nor curser, nor swearer, nor tippler, nor ex-
tortioner ; I go to church and say my prayers ;" they
think that this is true conversion, and they shall be
saved as well as any. Alas ! this is foolish cheating of
yourselves. This is too much contempt of an endless
fi*lory, and too gross neglect of your immortal souls.
Can you make so light of heaven and hell ? Your
corpse will shortly lie in the dust, and angels or devils
will presently seize upon your souls ; and every man
or woman of you all will shortly be among other com-
pany, and in other case than now you are. You will
dwell in these houses but a Uttle longer ; you will work
in your shops and fields but a little longer; you
will sit in these seats and dwell on this earth but a little
longer; you will see with these eyes, and hear with
these ears, and speak with these tongues, but a little
longer, till the resurrection-day ; and can you make
shift to forget this ? O what a place will you shortly be
in, of joy or torment! O what a sight will you shortly
see in heaven or hell ! O what thoughts will shortly fill
your hearts with unspeakable delight or horror ! What
work will you be employed in ! to praise the Lord with
saints and angels, or to cry out in fire unquenchable
with devils ; and should all this be forgotten ? And all
this will be endless, and sealed up by an unchangeable
decree. Eternity, eternity will be the measure of your
joys or sorrows : and can this be forgotten ? And all
this is true, sirs, most certainly true. When you have
gone up and down a little longer, and slept and awaked
a few times more, you will be dead and gone, and find
all true that now I tell you : and yet can you now so
much forget it? You shall then remember that you
heard this sermion, and that, this day or this place, you
were reminded of these things, and perceive them mat-
ters a thousand times greater than either you or I could
here conceive; and yet shall they be now so much for-
gotten ?

6

62 A CALL TO

Beloved friends, if the Lord had not awakened me
to believe and to lay to heart these things myself, I
should have remained in a dark and selfish state, and
have perished for ever ; but if he have truly made me
sensible of them, it will constrain me to compassionate
you as well as myself If your eyes were so far opened
as to see hell, and you saw your neighbours, that
were unconverted, dragged thither with hideous cries ;
though they were such as you accounted honest peo-
ple on earth, and feared no such danger themselves,
such a sight would make you go home and think of it,
and think again, and make you warn all about you, as
that lost worldling (Luke xvi. 28.) would have had his
brethren warned, lest they come to tliat place or tor-
ment. Why, faith is a kind of sight ; it is the eye of
the soul, the e\'idence of things not seen. If I believe
God, it is next to seeing ; and therefore I beseech you
excuse me, if I be half as earnest with you about these
matters, as if I had seen them. If I must die to-mor
row, and it were in my power to come again from
another world, and tell you what I had seen, would
you not be willing to hear me? and would you not
believe, and regard what I should tell you ? If I might
preach one sermon to you after I am dead, and have
seen what is done in the world to come, would you
not have me plainly speak the truth, and would you
not crowd to hear me, and would you not lay it to
heart? But this must not be ; God hath his appointed
way of teaching you by Scriptures and ministers, and
he will not humour unbelievers so far as to send men
from the dead to them, and alter his established way ;
if any man quarrel with the sun, God will not humour
him so far as to set up a clearer light. Friends, I be-
seech you regard me now, as you would do if I should
come from the dead to you ; for I can give you as full
assurance of the truth of what I say to you, as if I had
been there and seen it with my eyes ; for it is possible
for one from the dead to deceive you ; but Jesus Christ
can never deceive you ; the ^Yo^d of God delivered in
Scripture, and sealed by miracles, and holy workings
of the Spirit, can never deceive you. Believe this or

THE UNCONVERTED. 63

believe nothing. Believe and obey this, or you are
undone. Now, as ever you believe the word of God,
and as ever you care for the salvation of your souls, let
me beg of you this reasonable request, and I beseech
you deny me not: That you would, without any more
delay, when you are gone from hence, remember what
you have heard, and enter into an earnest search of
your hearts, and say to yourselves — Is it so indeed ;
must I turn or die ? Must I be converted or condemn-
ed ? It is time for me then to look about me before it
be too late. O why did not I look after this till now ?
Why did I venturously put off or neglect so great a
bu iness ? Was I awake, or in my wits ? O blessed
God, what a mercy is it that thou didst not cut off my
life all this while, before I had any certain hope of eter-
nal life ! Well, God forbid that I should neglect this
work any longer. What state is my soul in ? Am I
converted, or am I not? Was ever such a change or
work done upon my soul ? Have I been illuminated by
the word and Spirit of the Lord, to see the odiousness
of sin, the need of a Saviour, the love of Christ, and the
excellences of God and glory ? Is my heart broken or
humbled within me, for my former life? Have I thank-
fully entertained my Saviour and Lord, that offered
himself with pardon and life for my soul ? Do I hate
my former sinful life, and the remnant of every sin that
is in me ? Do I fly from them as my deadly enemies ?
Do I give up myself to a life of holiness and obedience
to God? Do I love it, and delight in it? Can I truly
say that I am dead to the world, and carnal self, and
that I live for God and the glory which he hath pro-
mised? Hath heaven more of my estimation and reso-
lution than earth ? And is God the dearest and highest
in my soul? Once, I am sure, I lived principally to
the world and flesh, and God had nothing but some
heartless services, which the world could spare, and
.which were the leavings of the flesh. Is my heart
now turned another way ? Have I a new design and a
new end, and a new train of holy aflections ? Have I
set my hopes and heart in heaven? And is it not the
scope, and design, and bent of my heart to get well to

64 A CALL TO

heaven, and see the glorious face of God, and live m
his love and praise ? And when I sin, is it against the
habitual bent and design of my heart? And do I con-
quer all gross sins, and am I weary and willing to be
rid of my infirmities ? This is the state of converted
souls. And thus it must be with me, or I must perish.
Is it thus with me indeed, or is it not ? It is time to get
this doubt resolved before the dreadful Judge resolve it.
I am not such a stranger to my own heart and life, but
I may somewhat perceive whether I am thus converted
or not : if I be not, it will do me no good to flatter my
soul with false conceits and hopes. I am resolved no
more to deceive myself, but endeavour to know truly
whether I be converted or not : that if I be, I may re-
joice in it, and glorify my gracious Lord, and com-
fortably go on till I reach the crown : and if I am not,
I may set myself to beg and seek after the grace -that
should convert me, and may turn without any more
delay. For, if I find in time that I am out of the way,
by the help of Christ I may turn and be recovered ;
but if I stay till either my heart be forsaken of God in
blindness or hardness, or till I be catched away by
death, it is then too late. There is no place for re-
pentance and conversion then ; I know it must be now
or never.

Sirs, this is my request to you, that you will but
take your hearts to task, and thus examine them, till
you see, if it may be, whether you are converted or
not? And if you cannot find it out by your own en-
deavours, go to your ministers, if they be faithful and
experienced men, and desire their assistance. The
matter is great ; let not bashfuhiess, nor carelessness
hinder you. They are set over you, to advise you, for
the saving of your soul, as physicians advise you for
the curing of your bodies. It undoes many thousands
that they think they are in the way to salvation, when
they are not ; and think that they are converted when
it is no such thing. And, then, when we call to them
daily to turn, they go away as they came, and think
that this concerns not them; lor they are turned
already, and hope they shall do well enough in the way

THE UNCONVERTED. 65

that they are in, at least if they pick the fairest path,
and avoid some of the foulest steps, when, alaa! all
this while they Uve but to the world and flesh, and are
strangers to God and eternal life; and are quite out of
the way to heaven. And all this because we cannot
persuade them to a few serious thoughts of their con-
dition, and to spend a few hours in the examining of
their states. Are there not many self-deceivers who
hear me this day, that never bestowed one hour, or
quarter of an hour, in all their lives, to examine their
souls, and try whether they are truly converted or not ?
O merciful God, that will care for such wretches that
care no more for themselves, and that will do so much
to save them from hell, and help them to heaven, who
will do so little for it themselves ! If all that are in the
way to hell, and in the state of damnation, did but
know it, they durst not continue in it. The greatest
hope that the devil hath of bringing you to damnation
without a rescue, is by keeping you blindfold, and
ignorant of your state, and making you believe that
you may do well enough in the way that you are in.
If you knew that you were out of the way to heaven,
and were lost for ever if you should die as you are ;
durst you sleep another night in the state that you are
in? Durst you live another day in it? Could you
heartily laugh, or be merry in such a state ? What !
And not know but you may be snatched away to hell
in an hour? Sure it would constrain you to forsake
your former company and courses, and to betake your-
selves to the ways of holiness, and the communion of
saints. Sure it would drive you to cry to God for a
new heart, and to seek help of those that are fit to
counsel you. There are none of you that cares not
for being damned. Well, then I beseech you presently
make inquiry into your hearts, and give them no rest
till you find out your condition, that if it be good, you
may rejoice in it. and go on ; and if it be bad, you may
presently look about you for recovery, as men that be-
lieve they must turn or die. What say you, sirs, will
you resolve and promise to be at thus much labour for
your own souls? Will you fall upon this self-exami-

6*

66 A CALL TO

nation when you come home ? Is my request unrea-
sonable ? Your consciences know it is not. Resolve
on it, then, before you stir ; knowing how much it con-
cerneth your souls. I beseech you, for the sake of
that God that doth command you, at whose bar you
will all shortly appear, that you do not deny me this
reasonable request. For the sake of those souls that
must turn or die, I beseech you deny me not ; but make
it your business to understand your own conditions,
and build upon sure ground, and know whether you
are converted or not ; and venture not your souls on
negligent security.

But perhaps you will say, ' What if we should find
ourselves yet unconverted, what shall we do then ?'
This question leads me to my second Doctrine ; which
will do much to the answering of it, to which I now
proceed.

Doctrine 2. It is the promise of God, that the
wicked shall live, if they will but turn, unfeignedly
and thoroughly turn.

The Lord here professeth that this is what he takes
pleasure in, that the wicked turn and live. Heaven is
made as sure to the converted, as hell is to the uncon-
verted. Turn and live, is as certain a truth as turn or
die. God was not bound to provide us a Saviour, nor
open to us a door of hope, nor call us to repent and
turn, when once we had cast ourselves away by sin.
But he hath freely done it to magnify his mercy. Sin-
ners, there are none of you shall have cause to go home,
and say I preach desperation to you. Do we use to
shut the door of mercy against you? O that you
would not shut it up against yourselves ! Do we use
to tell you that God will have no mercy on you, though
you turn and be sanctified ? When did you ever hear
a preacher say such a word ? You that cavil at the
preachers of the gospel, for desiring to keep you out
of hell, and say, that they preach desperation ; tell me
if you can, when did you ever hear any sober man say,
that there is no hope for you, though you repent, and

THE UNCONVERTED, 67

be converted ? No, it is the direct contrary that we
daily proclaim from the Lord ; and whoever is born
again, and by faith and repentance doth become a new
creature, shall certainly be saved ; and so far are we
from persuading you to despair of this, that we per-
suade you not to make any doubt of it. It is Hfe, not
death, that is the first part of our message to you ; our
commission is to offer salvation, certain salvation ; a
speedy, glorious, everlasting salvation, to every one of
you ; to the poorest beggar as well as the greatest lord ;
to the worst of you, even to drunkards, swearers,
worldlings, thieves, yea, to the despisers and reproach-
ers of the holy way of salvation. We are commanded
by the Lord our Master, to offer you a pardon for all
that is past, if you will but now at last return and live ;
we are commanded to beseech and entreat you to ac-
cept the offer, and return ; to tell you what preparation
is made by Christ; what mercy stays for you ; what
patience waiteth for you ; what thoughts of kindness
God hath towards you ; and how happy, how certainly
and unspeakably happy you may be if you will. We
have indeed also a message of wrath and death, yea,
of a twofold wrath and death ; but neither of them is
our principal message. We must tell you of the wrath
that is on you already, and the death that you are born
under, for the breach of the law of works ; but this is
but to show you the need of mercy, and to provoke
you to esteem the grace of the Redeemer. And we
tell you nothing but the truth, which you must know ;
for who will seek for physic that knows not that he is
sick? Our telling you of your misery, is not that
which makes you miserable, Ijut driveth you out to seek
for mercy. It is you that have brought this death upon
yourselves. We tell you also of another death, even
remediless, and much greater torment, that will fall on
those that will not be converted. But as this is true,
and must be told you, so it is but the last and saddest
part of our message. We are first to offer you mercy,
if you will turn ; and it is only those that will not turn,
nor hear the voice of mercv, to whom we must fore-
tell damnation. Will you l)ut cast away your trans-

68 A CALL TO

gressions, delay no longer, but come away at the call
of Christ, and be converted, and become new crea-
tures, and we have not a word oi' damning wrath or
death to speak against you. I do here, in the name of
the Lord of Life, proclaim to you all that hear me this
day, to the worst of you, to the greatest, to the oldest
sinner, that you may have mercy and salvation, if
you will but turn. There is mercy in God, there is
sufficiency in the satisfaction of Christ, the promise is
free, and full, and universal; you may have life, if you
will but turn. But then, as you love your souls, re-
member what turning it is that the Scripture speaks of.
It is not to mend the old house, but to pull down all,
and build anew on Christ, the Rock, and sure founda-
tion. It is not to mend somewhat in a carnal course ot
life, but to mortify the flesh, and live after the Spirit.
It is not to serve the flesh and the world, in a more
reformed way, without any scandalous disgraceful sins,
and with a certain kind of religiousness ; but it is to
change your master, and your works, and end ; and
to set your face the contrary way, and do all for the
life that you never saw, and dedicate yourselves and
all you have to God. This is the change that must be
made, if yon will live.

Yourselves are witnesses now, that it is salvation,
and not damnation, that is the great doctrine I preach
to you, and the first part of my message to you. Ac-
cept of this, and we shall go no further with you ; for
we would not so much as affright, or trouble you with
the name of damnation, without necessity.

But if you will not be saved, there is no remedy, but
damnation must take place ; for there is no middle place
between the two ; you must have either life or death.

And we are not only to ofler you life, but to show
you the grounds on which we do it, and call you to
believe that God doth mean, indeed, as he speaks ; that
the promise is true, and extended conditionally to you,
as well as others ; and that heaven is no fancy, but a
true felicity.

If you ask. Where is your commission for this ofler?

THE UNCONVERTED. ' ©9

Among a hundred texts of scripture, I will show it to
you in these few :

First, You see it here in my text, and the following
verses, and in the 18th of Ezekiel, as plain as can he
spoken; and in 2 Cor. v. 17 — 21, you have the very
sum of our commission ; " If any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature : old things are passed away ; be-
hold, all things are become new. And all things are
of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconcilia-
tion ; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the
world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses to
them, and hath committed unto us the word of recon-
ciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us : we pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled unto God. For he
hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
So Mark xvi. 15, 16. " Go ye into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that beheveth,
(that is, with such a converting faith as is expressed,)
and is baptized, shall be saved ; and he that believeth
not, shall be damned." And Luke xxiv. 46, 47. " Thus
it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead
the third day : and that repentance (which is conver-
sion) and remission of sins should be preached in his
name among all nations." And, Acts v. 30, 31. "The
God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew,
and hanged on a tree: him hath God exalted with his
right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give re-
pentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And
Acts xiii. 38, 39. " Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins ; and by him all that
believe are justified from all things, from which ye
could not be justified by the law of Moses." And lest
you think this offer is restrained to the Jews, see Gal.
vi. 15. "For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision
availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new
creature." And Luke xiv. 17. "Come, for all tilings
are now ready."

70 A CA.LL TO

You see by this time that we are commanded to
offer life to you all, and to tell you from God, That if
you will turn, you may live.

Here you may safely trust your souls ; for the love
of God is the fountain of this offer, (John iii. 16,) and
the blood of the Son of God hath purchased it ; the
faithfulness and truth of God is enoracred to make the
promise good ; miracles oft sealed the truth of i1 ;
preachers are sent through the world to proclaim it;
the sacraments are instituted and used for the solemn
delivery of the mercy offered to them that will accept
it; and the Spirit doth open the heart to entertain it,
and is itself the earnest of the full possession. So that
the truth of it is past controversy, that the worst of
you all, and every one of you, if you will but be con-
verted, may be saved.

Indeed, if you will needs believe that you shall be
saved without conversion, then you believe a falsehood ;
and if I should preach that to you, I should preach a
lie. This were not to believe God, but the devil and
your own deceitful hearts. God hath his promise of
life, and the devil hath his promise of life. God's pro-
mise is. Return and live. The devil's promise is. You
shall live whether you turn or not. The words of God
are, as I have showed you, " Except ye be converted
and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the
kingdom of heaven." Matt, xviii. 3. " Except a man
be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God." John iii. 3, 5. " Without holiness none shall
see God." Heb. xii. 14. The devil's word, " You
may be saved without being born again and converted ;
you may do well enough without being holy, God doth
but frighten you ; he is more merciful than to do as he
eaith, he will be better to you than his word." And,
alas, the greatest part of the world believe this word
of the devil, before the word of God ; just as our sin
and misery came into the world. God said to our first
parents, " If ye eat ye shall die ;" and the devil con-
tradicted him, and said, " Ye shall not die :" and the
woman believed the devil before God. So now the
Lord saith Turn or die: and the devil snith You

THE UNCONVERTED. 71

shall not die, if you do but cry for God's mercy at last,
and give over the acts of sin when you can practice it
no longer. And this is the word that the world be-
lieves. O heinous wickedness, to believe the devil
before God.

And yet that is not the worst ; but blasphemously
they call this a believing and trusting in God, when
they put him in the shape of Satan, who was a liar
from the beginning ; and when they believe that the
word of God is a lie, they call this a trusting God and
say they believe in him, and trust in him for salvation.
Where did ever God say, that the unregenerate, un-
converted, unsanctified, shall be saved? Show me such
a word in Scripture. I challenge you if you can.
Why, this is the devil's word, and to believe it, is to be-
lieve the devil, and the sin that is commonly called
presumption; and do you call this a believing and
trusting in God? There is enough in the word of God
to comfort and strengthen the heart of the sanctified ;
but not a word to strengthen the hands of wickedness,
nor to give men the least hope of l>eing saved, though
they be never sanctified.

But if you will turn, and come into the way of mercy,
the mercy of the Lord is ready to entertain you. Then
trust God for salvation, boldly and coniidently; for he
is engaged by his word to save you. He will be a
father to none but his children ; and he will save none
but those that forsake the world, the devil, and the
flesh, and come into his family to be members of his
Son, and have communion with his saints. But if
they will not come in, it is the fault of themselves : his
doors are open ; he keeps none back ; he never sent
such a message as this to any of you, ' It is now too
late ; I will not receive thee, though thou be converted.'
He might have done so and done you no wrong; but
he did not ; he doth not to this day. He is still ready
to receive you, if you were but ready unfeignedly. and
with all your hearts, to turn. And the fulness of this
truth will yet more appear in the two following doc-
trines, which I shall therefore next proceed to, before 1
make any tiirther application of this.

72 A CALL TO

Doctrine 3. God taketh pleasure in men's conver-
sion and salvation, but not in their death or damna-
tion. He had rather they would turn and live, than
go on and die.

I shall first teach you how to understand this, and
then clear up the truth of it to you.

And for the first, you must o]>serve these following
things : 1. A simple willingness or complacency is the
first act of the will following the single apprehension
of the understanding, before it proceedeth to compare
things together ; but the choosing act of the will is a
following act, and supposeth the comparing practical
act of the understanding ; and these two acts may
often be carried to contrary objects, without any fault
at all in the person.

2. An unfeigned willingness may have divers de-
grees ; some things I am so far willing of as that I will
do all that lieth in my power to accomplish it, and some
things I am truly ^\'illing another should do, when jyet
I will not do all that I am ever able to procure it, hav-
ing many reasons to dissuade me therefrom, thougiJ
yet I will do all that belongs to me to do.

3. The will of a ruler, as such, is manifested in
making and executing laws ; but the w^ill of man in
his simple natural capacity, or as absolute lord of his
own, is manifested in desiring or resolving of events.

4. A ruler's will, as lawgiver, is first and principally
that his laws be obeyed, and not at all that the penalty
be executed on any, but only on supposition that they
w^ill not obey his laws ; but a ruler's will, as judge, sup-
poseth the law already either kept or broken, and
therefore he resolve th our reward or punishment ac-
cordingly.

Having given you those necessary distinctions, I
shall next apply them to the case in hand, in these
following propositions : —

1. It is in the glass of the word and creatures, that
in this life we must know God ; and so according to
the nature of man we ascribe to him understanding
and will, removing all the impertections that we can,

THE UNCONVERTED. 73

because we are capable of no higher positive concep-
tions of him.

2. And on the same grounds we do, with the Scrip-
ture, distinguish between the acts of God's will, as
diversified from the respects or the objects, though as
to God's essence they are all one.

3. And the bolder, because that when we speak of
Christ, we have the more ground for it from his human
nature.

4. And thus we say, that the simple complacency,
will, or love of God, is to all that is naturally or mo-
rally good, according to the nature and degree of its
goodness, and so he hath pleasure in the conversion
and salvation of all, which yet will never come to pass.

5. And God, as Ruler and Lawgiver of the world,
had so far a practical will for their salvation, as to make
them a free deed of gift of Christ and life, and an act
of oblivion for all their sins, so be if they will not un-
thankfully reject it ; and to command his messengers
to offer this gift to all the world, and persuade them
to accept it. And so he doth all that, as Lawgiver or
Promiser, belongs to him to do for their salvation.

6. But yet he resolveth, as Lawgiver, that they that
will not turn shall die ; and as Judge, when their day
of grace is past, he will execute that decree.

7. So that he thus unfeignedly willeth the conversion
of those that never will be converted, but not as abso-
lute Lord with the fullest efficacious resolution, nor as
a thing which he resolveth shall undoubtedly come to
pass, or would engage all his power to accomplish. It
is in the power of" a prince to set a guard upon a mur-
derer, to see that he shall not murder, and be hanged ;
but it, upon good reason, he forbear this, and do but
send to his subjects to warn and entreat them not
to be murderers, I hope he may well say that he wouW
not have them murder and be hanged ; he takes nr
pleasure in it, but rather that they forbear and Hve, anc
if he do more for some upon some special reason, he \i
not bound to do so by all. The king may well say to al
murderers and felons in the land, 'I have no pleasure
in your death, but rather that you would obey mj

7

74 A CALL TO

laws and live ; but if you will not, I am resolved, for
all this, that you shall die.' The judge may truly say
to a thief, or the murderer, ' Alas, I have no delight
in thy death ; I had rather thou hadst kept the law
and saved thy life ; but seeing thou hast not, I must
condemn thee, or else I should be unjust.' So, though
God have no pleasure in your damnation, and there-
fore calls upon you to return and live, yet he hath plea-
sure in the demonstration of his own justice, and the
executing his laws ; and therefore he is, for all this,
fully resolved, that if you will not be conve-rted, you
shall be condemned. If God was so much against the
death of the wicked, as that he were resolved to do all
that he can to hinder it, then no man shall be con-
demned ; whereas Christ telleih you, that few will be
saved. But so far God is against your damnation, as
that he will teach you, and warn you, and set before
you life and death, and offer you your choice, and com-
mand his ministers to entreat you not to destroy your-
selves, but accept his mercy, and so to leave you
without excuse. But if this will not do, and if still you
be unconverted, he professeth to you, he is resolved on
your damnation, and hath commanded us to say to you
in his name, verse 8, " O wicked man, thou shalt surely
die !" And Christ hath Uttle less than sworn it, over
and over, with a " Verily, verily, except ye be con-
verted and born again, ye cannot enter into the king-
dom of heaven." Matt, xviii. 3. John iii. 3. Mark that
he saith " you cannot." It is in vain to hope for it,
and in vain to dream that God is willing for it: for it is
a thing that cannot be.

In a word, you see then the meaning of the text;
that God, the great Lawgiver of the world, doth take
no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that
they turn and live ; though yet he be resolved that
none shall hve but those that turn ; and as a judge even
delighteth in justice, and manifesting his hatred of sin,
though not in their mJsery, which they have brought
upon themselves, in itself considered.

And for the proofs of the point, I shall be very brief
in them, because I suppose you easily believe it already.

THE UNCONVERTED. 75

1. The very gracious nature of God proclaimed :
"And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed,
The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-
sufierinff, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and trans°
gression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the
guilty ;" (Exod. xxiv. 6. and xxvi. 6.) and frequently
elsewhere, may assure you of this, That he hath no
pleasure in your death.

2. If God had more pleasure in thy death, than in
thy conversion and life, he would not have so fre-
quently commanded thee in his word, to turn; he
would not have made thee such promises of life, if thou
wilt but turn ; he would not have persuaded thee to it
by so many reasons. The tenor of his gospel proveth
the point.

3. And his commission that he hath given to the
ministers of the gospel, doth fully prove it. If God
had taken more pleasure in thy damnation, than in thy
conversion and salvation, he wouki never have charged
us to offer you mercy, and to teach you the way of fife,
both publicly and privately : and to entreat and be-
seech you to turn and live ; to acquaint you with your
sins, and foretell you of your danger ; and to do aUthat
possibly we can for your conversion, and to continue pa-
tiently so doing, though you should hate or abuse us
for our pains. Would God have done this, and ap-
pointed his ordinances for your good, if he had taken
pleasure in your death ?

4. It is proved also by the course of his providence.
If God had rather you were damned than converted
and saved, he would not second his word with his
works, and entice you by his daily kindness to himself,
and give you all the mercies of this life, which are his
means " to lead you to repentance," (Rom. ii. 4.) and
bring you so often under his rod to lead you to your
senses; he would not set so many exarnples before
your eyes, no, nor wait on you so patiently as he does
from day to day, and year to year. These are not
signs of one that taketh pieasure'ia your death. If this
had been liis delight, how easily could he have had

76 A CALL TO

thee long ago in hell ? How oft, hefore this, could he
have catched thee away in the midst of thy sins, with
a curse, or oath, or lie in thy mouth, in thy ignorance,
and pride, and sensuality ? When thou wertlast in thy
drunkenness, or last deriding the ways of God, how
easily could he have stopped thy hreath, and tamed
thee with plagues, and made thee soher in another
world ? Alas ! how small a matter is it for the Almighty
to rule the tongue of the profanest railer, and tie the
hands of the most maUcioiis persecutor, or calm the
fury of the bitterest of his enemies, and make them
know that they are but worms ? If he should but irown
upon thee, thou wouldst drop into thy grave. If he
gave commission to one of his angels to go and destroy
ten thousand sinners, how quickly would it be done !
how easily can he lay thee upon the bed of languish-
ing, and make thee lie roaring there in pain, a^d make
thee eat the words of reproach which thou hast spoken
against his servants, his word, his worship, and his holy
ways, and make thee send to beg their prayers whom
thou didst despise in thy presumption ? How easily can
he lay that flesh under pains, and groans, and make it
too weak to hold thy soul, and make it more loathsome
than the dung of the earth ? That flesh which now
must have what it loves, and must not be displeased,
though God be displeased ; and must be humoured in
meat, and drink, and clothes, whatever God say to the
contrary., how quickly would the frowns of God con-
sume it? When thou wast passionately defending thy
sin, and quarrelling with them that would have drawn
thee from it, and showing thy spleen against the re-
prover, and pleading for the works of darkness ; how
easily could God have snatched thee away in a mo-
ment, and set thee before his dreadful Majesty, where
thou shouldst see ten thousand times ten thousand
glorious angels waiting on his throne, and have called
thee there to plead thy cause, and asked thee, ' What
hast thou now to say against thy Creator, his truth, his
servants, or his holy ways? Now plead thy cause, and
make the best of it thou canst. Now what canst thou
say in excuse of thy sins ? Now give account of thy

THE UNCONVERTED. 77

worJiHiness and fleshy life, of thy time, of all the mercies
thou hast had.' O how thy stubborn heart would
have melted, and thy proud looks be taken down, and
thy countenance be appalled, and thy stout words turn-
ed into speechless silence, or dreadful cries, if God had
but set thee thus at his bar, and pleaded his own cause
with thee, Avhich thou hast here so maliciously pleaded
against ! How easily can he at any time say to thy
guilty soul. Come away, and live in that flesh no more
till the resurrection; and it cannot resist! A word of
liis mouth would take off" the poise of thy present life,
and then all thy parts and powers would stand still ;
and if he say unto thee, Live no longer, or, live in hell,
ihou couldst not disobey.

But God hath yet done none of this, but hath pa-
tiently forborne thee, and mercifully upheld thee, and
given thee that breath, which thou didst breathe out
against bin?, and given those mercies which thou didst
sacrifice to thy flesh, and afforded thee that provision
which thou spentest to satisfy thy greedy throat : he
gave thee every minute of that time which thou didst
waste in idleness, or drunkenness, or worldliness ; and
doth not all his patience and mercy show that he de-
sired not thy damnation ? Can the candle burn without
the oil? Can your houses stand without the earth to
bear them ? No more can you live an hour without
the support of God. And why did he so long support
thy life, but to see when thou wouldst bethink thee of
the folly of thy ways, and return and live ? Will any
man purposely put arms into his enemy's hands to re-
sist him, or hold a candle to a murderer that is killing
his children, or to an idle servant that plays or sleeps
the while ? Surely it is to see whether thou wilt at
last return and Uve, that God hath so long waited on
thee.

5. It is further proved by the suffering of his Son,
that God taketh no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
Would he have ransomed them from death at so dear
a rate ? Would he have astonished angels and men by
his condescension ? W^ould God have dwelt in flesh,
and have come in the form of a servant, and have as-

■7*

73 A CALL TO

sumed humanity into one person with the Godhead ;
and would Christ have Uved a hfe of suffering, and
died a cursed death for sinners, if he had rather taken
pleasure in their death ? Suppose you saw him but so
busy in preaching and healing of them, as you find him
in Mark iii. 21 ; or so long in fasting, as in Matt. iv. ; or
all night in prayer, as in Luke vi. 12; or praying with
the drops of blood trickling from him instead of sw^eat,
as Luke xxii. 44 ; or suffering a cursed death upon the
cross, and pouring out his soul as a sacrifice for our
sins — would you have thought these the signs of one
that delighted in the death of the wicked?

And think not to extenuate it by saying, that it was
only for his elect : for it was thy sin, and the sin of all the
world, that lay upon our Redeemer : and his sacrifice
and satisfaction is sufficient for all, and the fruits of it
are offered to one as well as another. But it is true,
that it was never the intent of his mind to pardon and
save any that would not, by faith and repentance, be
converted. If you had seen and heard him weeping
and bemoaning the state of disobedience in impenitent
people : lAike xix. 41, 42. " And when he was come
near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying. If
thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day,
the things which belong unto thy peace ! but now they
are hid from thine eyes." Or complaining of their
stubbornness, as Matt, xxiii. 37. "O Jerusalem, Jeru-
salem, how often would I have gathered thy children-
together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not !" Or if you had seen
and heard him on the cross, praying for his persecu-
tors— Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do — would you have suspected that he had de-
lighted in the death of the wicked, even of those that
perish by their wilful unbelief? When God hath so
loved, (not only loved, but so loved,) as to give his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
(by an effectual faith) should not perish, but have ever-
lasting life, I think he hath hereby proved, against the
malice of men and devils, that he takes no pleasure in

THE UNCONVERTED. 79

the death of the wicked, but had rather that they would
* turn and Uve."

6. Lastly, if all this will not yet satisfy you, take his
own word, that knoweth best his own mind, or at least
believe his oath : but this leads me to the fourth doc-
trine.

Doctrine 4. The Lord hath confirmed to us by his
oath, that he hath no pleasure in the death of the
wicked, but rather that he turn and live ; that he
may leave man no pretence to question the truth
of it.

[f you dare question his word, I hope you dare not
question his oath. As Christ hath solemnly protested
that the unregenerate and unconverted cannot enter
into the kingdom of heaven (Matt, xviii. 3. John iii. S ;)
so God hath sworn that his pleasure is not in their death,
but in their conversion and life. And as the Apostle
saith, (Heb. iv. 13 — 18,) Because he can swear by no
greater, he sware by himself. ' For men verily swear by
the greater : and an oath for confirmation is to them an
end of strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of
his counsel, confirmed it by an oath ; that by two im-
mutable things in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled
for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us : which
hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and
steadfast.' If there be any man that cannot reconcile
this truth with the doctrine of predestination, or the
actual damnation of the wicked, that is his own igno-
rance; he hath no pretence left to question or deny
therefore the truth of the point in hand ; for this is
confirmed by the oath of God, and therefore must not
be distorted, to reduce it to other points : but doubtful
points must rather be reduced to it, and certain truths
must be believed to agree with it, though our shallow
minds hardly discern the agreement.

Use. — I do now entreat thee, if thou be an uncoa-

80 A CALL TO

verted sinner that hearest these words, that thou
wouldst ponder a httle upon the forementioned doc-
trines, and bethink thyself awhile, who it is that takes
pleasure in thy sin and damnation. Certainly, it is not
God : he hath sworn for his part that he takes no plea-
sure in it. And I know it is not the pleasing of him
that you intend. You dare not say that you drink,
and swear, and neglect holy duties, and quench the
motiens of the Spirit to please God. That were as if
you should reproach the prince, and break his laws,
and seek his death, and say, you did all this to please
him.

Who is it then that takes pleasure in your sin and
death ? Not any that bear the image of God, for they
must be like minded to him. God knows, it is small
pleasure to your faithful teachers to see you serve your
deadly enemy, and madly venture your eternal state,
and wilfully run into the flames of hell. It is small
pleasure to them to see upon your souls (in the sad
effects) such blindness, and hard-heartedness, and care-
lessness, and presumption ; such wilfulness in evil, and
such unteachableness and stiffness against the ways of
life and peace ; they know these are marks of death,
and of the wrath of God, and they know, from the
word of God, what is like to be the end of them, and
therefore it is no more pleasure to them, than to a
tender physician to see the plague-marks broke out
upon his patient. Alas, to foresee your everlasting
torments, and knoAV not how to prevent them ! To see
how near you are to hell, and we cannot make you
believe it and consider it. To see how easily, how
certainly you might escape, if we knew but how to
make you willing. How fair you are for everlasting
salvation, if you would turn and do your best, and
make it the care and business of your lives^. but you
will not do it; if our Uves lay on it, we cannot per-
suade you to it. We study day and night what to say
to you, that may convince and persuade you, and yet
it is undone : we lay before you the word of God, and
show you the very chapter and verse where it is writ-
ten, that you cannot be saved except you be converted ;

THE UNCONVERTED. 81

and yet we leave the most of you as we find you. We
hope you will believe the word of God, though you
believe not us, and regard it when we show you the
plain scripture for it ; but we hope in vain, and labour
in vain as to any saving change upon your hearts!
And do you think that this is a pleasant thing to us ?
Many a time, in secret prayer, we are fain to complain
to God with sad hearts, ' Alas, Lord, we have spoken
to them in thy name, but they little regard us : we
have told them what thou bidst us tell them concerning
the danger of an unconverted state, but they do not
believe us : we have told them that thou hast protested
that there is no peace to the wicked.' Isa. xlviii. 2,
and Ivii. 21. ' But the worst of them all will scarcely
believe that they are wicked ; we hav^e showed them
thy word, where thou hast said, that if they live after
the flesh they shall die.' Rom. viii. 13. ' But they say
they will believe in thee, wdien they will not believe
thee, and that they will trust in thee, when they give
no credit to thy word ; and when they hope that the
threatenings of thy word are false, they will yet call
this a hoping in God ; and though we show them where
thou hast said, that when a wicked man dieth, all his
hopes perish, yet cannot we persuade them from their
deceitful hopes.' Prov. xi. 7. ' We tell them what a
base, unprofitable thing sin is ; but they love it, and
therefore will not leave it. We tell them how dear
they buy this pleasure, and what they must pay for it
in everlasting torment ; and they bless themselves, and
will not believe it, but will do as the most do : and be-
cause God is merciPdl, they will not believe him, but
will venture their souls, come on it what will. We tell
them how ready the Lord is to receive them, and this
doth but make them delay their repentance and be
bolder in their sin. Some of them say they purpose
to repent, but they are still the same ; and some say
they do repent already, while yet they are not con-
verted from their sins. We exhort them, we entreat
them, we offer them our help, but we cannot prevail
with them ; but they that were drunkards, are drunk-
ards still ; and they that were voluptuous flesh-pleasing

82 A CALL TO

wretches, are such still ; and they that were world-
lings, are worldlings still ; and they that were ignorant,
and proud, and self-conceited, are so still. Few of
them will see and confess their sin, and fewer will for-
sake it, but comfort themselves that all men are sinners,
as if there were no difference between a converted
sinner and an unconverted. Some of them will not
come near us, when we are willing to instruct them,
but think they know enough already, and need not our
instruction ; and some of them will give us the hear-
ing, and do what they list ; and most of them are like
dead men that cannot feel; so that when we tell them
of the matters of everlasting consequence, we cannot
get a word of it to their hearts. If we do not obey
them, and humour them in baptizing the children of
the most obstinately wicked, and giving them the Lord's
Supper, and doing all that they would have us, though
never so much against the word of God, they will hate
us, and rail at us ; but if we beseech them to confess,
and forsake their sins, and save their souls, they will
not do it. We tell them, if they will but turn, we will
deny them none of the ordinances of God, neither
baptism to their children, nor the Lord's Supper to
themselves, but they will not hear us ; they would
have us disobey God and damn our own souls, to please
them ; and yet they will not turn and save their own
souls to please God. They are wiser in their own
eyes than all their teachers ; they rage and are confi-
dent in their own way, and if we were never so fain,
we cannot change them. Lord, this is the case of our
miserable neighbours, and we cannot help it ; we see
them ready to drop into hell, and we cannot help it ;
we know if they would unfeignedly turn, they might
be saved, but we cannot persuade them ; if we would
beg it of them on our knees, we cannot persuade them
to it ; if we would beg it of them with tears, we can-
not persuade them; and what more can we do .'*

These are the secret complaints and moans that
many a poor minister is fain to make. And do you
think that he hath any pleasure in this? Is it a pleasure
to him to see you go on in sin, and cannot stop you?

THE UNCONVERTED. 8S

to see you so miserable, and cannot so much as make
you sensible of it ? to see you merry, when you are not
sure to be an hour out of hell? to think what you must
for ever suffer, because you will not turn ? and to think
what an everlasting life of glory you wilfully despise
and cast away? What sadder thing can you bring to
their hearts, and how can you devise to grieve them
liiore?

Who is it then that you please by your sin and
death ? It is none of your understanding godly friends.
Alas, it is the grief of their souls to see your misery,
and they lament you many a time when you give them
little thanks for it, and when you have not hearts to
lament yourselves.

Who is it then that takes pleasure in your sin ? It
is none but three great enemies of God, whom you re-
nounced in your baptism, and now are turned falsely
to serve.

1. The devil indeed takes pleasure in your sin and
death : for this is the very end of all his temptations ;
for this he watches night and day ; you cannot devise
to please him better than to go on in sin. How glad
is he when he sees thee going into the alehouse, or
other sin, and when he heareth thee curse, or swear,
or rail ? How glad is he when he heareth thee revile
the minister that would draw thee from thy sin, and
help to save thee ? These are his delight.

2. The wicked are also delighted in it; for it is
agreeable to their nature.

3. But I know, for all this, that it is not the pleasing
of the devil, that you intend, even when you please
him ; but it is your own flesh, the greatest and most
dangerous enemy, that you intend to please. It is the
flesh that would be pampered, that would be pleased
in meat, and drink, and clothing ; that would be pleased
in your company, and pleased in applause and credit
with the world, and pleased in sports, and lusts, and
idleness ; this is the gulf that devoureth all. This is
the very god that you serve, for the scripture saith
of such, that their bellies are their gods. Phil. iii. 19.
But I beseech you stay a little and consider the business.

84 A CALL TO

1 Question. Should your flesh be pleased before
your Maker? Will you displease the Lord, and dis-
please your teacher, and your godly friends, and all to
please your brutish appetites, or sensual desires? Is
not God worthy to be the ruler of your flesh ? If lie
shall not rule it, he will not save it ; you cannot in rea-
son expect that he should.

2 Question. Your flesh is pleased with your sin ;
but is your conscience pleased ? Doth not it grudge
within you, and tell you sometimes that all is not well,
and that your case is not so safe as you make it to be ;
and should not your souls and consciences be pleased
before your corruptible flesh ?

3 Question. But is not your flesh preparing for
its own displeasure also? It loves the bait, but doth
it love the hook ? It loves the strong drink and sweet
morsels ; it loves its ease, and sports and merriment ;
it loves to be rich, and well spoken of by men, and to
be somebody in the world ; but doth it love the curse ot
God ? Doth it love to stand trembling before his bar,
and to be judged to everlasting fire ? Doth it love to
be tormented with the devils for ever ? Take all to-
gether ; for there is no separating sin and hell, but
only by faith and true conversion ; if you will keep
one, you must have the other. If death and hell be
pleasant to thee, no wonder then if you go on in sin :
but if they be not, (as I am sure they are not,) then
what if sin were never so pleasant, is it worth the loss
of life eternal ? Is a little drink, or meat, or ease ; is
the good word of sinners, is the riches of this world,
to be valued above the joys of heaven ? Or are they
worth the sufferings of eternal fire ? Sirs, these ques-
tions should be considered before you go any further,
by every man that hath reason to consider, and that
believes he hath a soul to save or lose.

Well, the Lord here sweareth that he hath no plea-
sure in your death, but rather that you would turn and
Hve ; if yet you will go on and die rather than turn,
remember it was not to please God that you did it : it
was to please the world, and to please yourselves. And
if men will damn themselves to please themselves, and

THE UI7C0NVERTED. 85

run into endless torments for delight, and have not the
wit, the hearts, the grace, to hearken to God or man
that would reclaim them, what remedy but they must
take what they get by it, and repent it in another man-
ner, when it is too late ? Before I proceed any further
in the application, I shall come to the next doctrine,
which mves me a fuller ground for it.

Doctrine 5. So earnest is God for the conversion of
sinners, that he doubleth his commands and exhor-
tations, with vehemency — Turn ye, turn ye, why
will you die ?

This doctrine is the application of the former, as by
a use of exhortation, and accordingly I shall handle it.
Is there ever an unconverted sinner that heareth these
vehement words of God ? Is there ever a man or
woman in this assembly that is yet a stranger to the
renewing sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost ? It is a
happy assembly, if it be not so with the most. Hearken
then to the voice of your Maker, and turn to him
by Christ without delay. Would you knov/ the will
of God ? Why, this is his will, that you presently turn.
Shall the living God send so earnest a message to his
creatures, and should they not obey ? 2. Hearken
then, all you that live after the flesh : the Lord that
gave thee thy breath and being, hath sent a message
to thee from heaven ; and this is his message. Turn
ye, turn t/e, why will ye die ? — He that hath ears to
hear, let him hear. Shall the voice of the eternal
Majesty be neglected • If he do but terribly thunder,
thou art afraid. O but this voice doth more nearly
concern thee. If he did but tell thee thou shalt die to-
morrow, thou wouldst not make light of it. O but this
word concerneth thy life or death everlasting. It is
both a command and an exhortation. As if he had
said to thee, ' I charge thee upon the allegiance that
thou owest to me thy Creator and Redeemer, that thou
renounce the flesh, the world, and the devil, and turn
to me that thou mayest live. I condescend to entreat
thee, as thou either lovest or fearest him that made

8

86 A CALL TO

thee ; as thou lovest thine own life, even thine ever-
lasting life, turn and live : as ever thou wouldst escape
eternal misery, turn, turn, for why wilt thou die ?' And
is there a heart in man, in a reasonable creature, that
can once refuse such a message, such a command, such
an exhortation as this? O what a thing, then, is the
heart of man!

Hearken, then, all that love yourselves, and all that
regard your own salvation; here is the most joyful
message that was ever sent to the ears of man, " Turn
ye, turn ye, why will ye die ?" You are not yet shut
up under desperation. Here is mercy offered you ;
turn, and you shall have it. O sirs ! with what glad
and joyfufhearts should you receive these tidings! I
know this is not the first time that you have heard it ;
but how have you regarded it, or how do you regard
it now ? Hear, all yoli ignorant, careless sinners, the
word of the Lord. "^Hear, all you worldlings, you sen-
sual flesh-pleasers ; you gluttons, and drunkards, and
whoremongers, and"^ swearers ; you railers and back-
biters, slanderers and liars — Turn ye, turn ye, why will
ye die ?

Hear, all you cold and outside professors, and all
that are strangers to the Ufe of Christ, and never knew
the power of his cross and resurrection, and never felt
your hearts -warmed with his love, and live not on him
as the strength of your souls—" Turn ye. turn ye, why
will ye die ?"

Hear, all that are void of the love of God, whose
hearts are not toward him, nor taken up with the hopes
of glory, but set more by your earthly prosperity and
delights than by the joys of heaven ; all you that are
religious but a Uttle by the by, and give God no more
than your flesh can spare ; that have not denied your
carnal selves, and forsaken all that you have for Christ,
in the estimation and grounded resolution of your souls,
but have some one thing in the world so dear to you,
that you cannot spare ft for Christ, if he required it,
but will rather venture on his displeasure than forsake
.t — " Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ?"

If you never heard it, or observed it before, remem-

THE UNCONVERTED. 87

ber that you were told from the word of God this day,
that if you will but turn, you may live ; and if you will
not turn, you shall surely die.

_ What now will you do, sirs? What is your resolu
lion? Will you turn, or will you not? Halt not any
longer between two opinions." If the Lord be God,
follow him: if your flesh be God, then serve it still!
If heaven be better than earth and fleshly pleasures,
come away, then, and seek a better country, and lay
up your treasure where rust and moths do not corrupt,
and thieves cannot break through and steal ; and be
awakened at last, with all your might to seek the kino--
dom that cannot be moved, Heb. xii. 28 ; and to em-
ploy your lives on a higher design, and turn the stream
of your cares, and labours, another way than formerly
you have done. But if earth be better than heaven,
or will do more for you, or last you longer, then keep
it, and make your best of it, and follow°it still. Sirs,
are you resolved what to do ? If you be not, I will set
a few more moving considerations before you, to see if
reason will make you resolve.

Consider, first, what preparations mercy hath made
for your salvation ; and what pity it is, that any man
should be damned after all this. The time was, when
the flaming sword was in the way, and the curse of
God's law would have kept thee back, if thou hadst
been never so willing to turn to God. The time was.
when thyself, and all the friends that thou hast in the
world, could never have produced thee the pardon of
thy sins past, though thou hadst never so much la-
mented and reformed them. But Christ hath removed
this impediment, by the ransom of his blood. The
time was, that God was wholly unreconciled, as beino-
not satisfied for the violation of his law ; but now he
is so far satisfied and reconciled, as that he hath made
thee a free act of oblivion, and a free deed of gift of
Christ and life, and offereth it to thee, and entreateth
thee to accept it ; and it may be thine, if thou wilt.
For, " he was in Christ reconciling the world to him-
self, and hath committed to us the word of reconcilia-
tion." 2 Cor. V. 18, 19. Sinners, we too are com-

88 A CALL, TO

manded to deliver this message to you all, as from the
Lord ; " Come, for all things are ready." Luke xiv.
17. Are all things ready, and are you unready? God
\s ready to entertain you, and pardon all that you have
done against him, if you will but come. As long as
you have sinned, as wilfully as you have sinned, he is
ready to cast all behind his back, if you will but come.
Though you have been prodigals, and run away from
God, and have staid so long, he is ready even to meet
you, and embrace you in his arms, and rejoice in your
conversion, if you Avill but turn. Even the worldlings
and drunkards will find God ready to bid them wel-
come, if they will but come. Doth not this turn thy
heart within thee ? 0 sinner 1 if thou hast a heart of
flesh, and not of stone in thee, methinks this should
melt it. Should the dreadful infinite Majesty of heaven
even wait for thy returning, and be ready to receive
thee, who hast abused him, and forgotten him so long?
Shall he delight in thy conversion, that might at any
time glorify his justice in thy damnation? and yet doth
it not melt thy heart within thee, and art thou not yet
ready to come in? Hast thou not as much reason to
be ready to come, as God hath to invite thee and bid
thee welcome ?

But that is not all : Christ hath done his part on the
cross, and made such way for thee to the Father, that,
on his account, thou mayst be welcome, if thou wilt
come. And yet art thou not ready ?

A pardon is already expressly granted, and offered
thee in the Gospel. And yet art thou not ready?

The ministers of the Gospel are ready to assist thee,
to instruct thee, and pronounce the absolving words of
peace to thy soul ; they are ready to pray for thee, and
to seal up thy pardon by the administration of the holy
sacrament. And yet art thou not ready ?

All that fear God about thee, are ready to rejoice in
thy conversion, and to i-eceive thee into the commu-
nion of saints, and to give thee the right hand of fel-
lowship, yea, though thou hadst been one that had
been cast out of their society: they dare not but for-
give where God forgiveth, Avhen it is manifest to them,

THE UNCONVERTED. 89

by thy confession and amendment ; they dare not so
much as reproach thee with thy former sins, because
they know that God will not upbraid thee with them.
If thou hadst been never soscandalous, if thou wouldst
but heartily be converted and come in, they would not
refuse thee, let the world say what they would against
it. And are all these ready to receive thee, and yet art
thou not ready to come in ?

Yea, heaven itself is ready : the Lord will receive
thee into the glory of his saints. Vile as thou hast
been, if thou wilt be but cleansed, thou mayest have a
place before his throne ; his angels will be ready to
guard thy soul to the place of joy, if thou do but un-
leignedly come in. And is God ready, the sacrifice of
Christ ready, the promise ready, and pardon ready .'*
are ministers ready, and the people of God ready, and
heaven itself ready? and angels ready? and all these
but waiting for thy conversion ; and yet art thou not
ready? What! not ready to live, when thou hast been
dead so long? not ready to come to thy right under-
standing as the prodigal is said to " come to himself,"
Luke XV. 17, when thou hast been beside thyself so
long ? Not ready to be saved, when thou art even
ready to be condemned ? Art thou not ready to lay
hold on Christ, that would deliver thee, when thou art
even ready to sink into damnation ? Art thou not ready
to be drawn from hell, when thou art even ready to be
cast remediless into it? Alas, man! dost thou know
what thou doest? If thou die unconverted, there is no
doubt to be made of thy damnation; and thou art not
sure to live an hour. And yet art thou not ready to
turn and to come in ? O miserable wretch ! Hast thou
not served the flesh and the devil long enough ? Yet
hast thou not enough of sin ? Is it so good to thee, or
so profitable for thee? Dost thou know what it is, that
thou wouldst yet have more of it? Hast thou had so
many calls, and so many mercies, and so many warn-
ings, and so many examples ? Hast thou seen so many
laid in the grave, and yet art thou not ready to let go
thy sins, and come to Christ? What ! after so many
convictions and pangs of conscience, after so many

8^

90 A CALL TO

purposes and promises, art thou not yet ready to turn
and live ? O that thy eyes, thy heart, were opened to
know how fair an offer is now made to thee ! and what a
joyful message it is that we are sent on, to bid thee
come, for all things are ready !

II. Consider also, what calls thou hast to turn and
live. How many, how loud, how earnest, how dread-
ful : and yet what encouraging, joyful calls ! For the
principal inviter is God himself He that eommandeth
heaven and earth, commands thee to turn, and that
presently, without delay. He commands the sun to
run its course, and to rise upon thee every morning ^
and though it be so glorious an orb, and many times
bigger than all the earth, yet it obeyeth him, and
faileth not one minute of its appointed time. He eom-
mandeth all the planets, and the orbs of heaven, and
they obey. He eommandeth the sea to ebb and flow,
and the w^hole creation to keep its course, and all obey
him : the angels of heaven obey his will, when he
sends them to minister to such worms as we on earth,
Heb. i. 14; and yet if he command but a sinner to
turn, he will not obey him. He only thinks himself
wiser than God, and he cavils and pleads the cause ol
sin, and will not obey. If the Lord Almighty say the
word, the heavens and all therein obey him : but if he
call but a drunkard out of an alehouse, he will not
obey : or if he call a Avorldly fleshly sinner to deny
himself, and mortify the flesh, and set his heart upon a
better inheritance, he will not obey.

If thou hadst any love in thee, thou wouldst know
the voice, and say, 0 this is my Father's call ! how
can I find in my heart to disobey? For the sheep of
Christ " know and hear his voice, and they follow him
and he giveth them eternal life." John x. 4. If thou
hadst any spiritual life and sense in thee, at least thou
wouldst say, This call is the dreadful voice of God, and
who dare disobey? For saith the prophet, (Amos iii.
S.) " The lion hath roared, who will not fear?" God is
not a man, that thou shouldst dally and trifle with him.
Remember what he said to Paul at his conversion,
" It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.'"' Acts

THE UNCONVERTED. 91

ix. 5. Wilt thou yet go on and despise his word, and
resist his Spirit, and stop thine ear against his call ?
who is it that will have the worst of this ? Dost thou
know whom thou disobeyest, and contendest with, and
what thou art doing ? It were a far wiser and easier
task for thee to contend with the thorns, and spurn
them with thy bare feet, and beat them with thy bare
hands, or put thine head into the burning fire. " Be
not deceived ; God will not be mocked." Gal. vi. 7.
Whoever else be mocked, God will not : you had bet-
ter play with the fire in your thatch, than with the fire
of his burning wrath. " For our God is a consuming
fire." Heb. xii. 29. O how unmeet a match art thou
{iw God ! "It is a fearful thing to fill into his hands."
Heb. X. 31. And therefore it is a fearful thing to con-
tend with him, or resist him. As you love your own
souls, take heed what you do : what will you say if he
begin in wrath to plead with you .'' What will you do
if he take you once in hand? will you then strive
against his judgment, as now ye do a^^ainst his grace ?
Isa. xxvii. 4, 5. " Fiwy is not in me, saith the Lord :
{that is,) I delight not to destroy you : I do it, as it were,
unwillingly ; but yet " ivho ivill set the briers and thorns
against me in battle? I would go through them; I
would burn them togethei'. Or let him take hold of my
strength, that he may make peace loith me.'' It is an
unequal combat for the briers and stubble to make war
with the fire.

And thus you see, who it is that calleth you, that
would move you to hear his call, and turn : so consider
also by what instruments, and how often, and how
earnestly he doth it.

1. Every leaf of the blessed book of God hath, as it
were, a voice, and calls out to thee. Turn, and live ;
turn, or thou wilt die. How canst thou open it, and
read a leaf, or hear a chapter, and not perceive God
bids thee turn ?

2. It is the voice of every sermon that thou hearest;
for what else is the scope and drift of all, but to call and
persuade, and entreat thee for to turn.

S. It is the voice of many a motion of the Spirit that

92 A CALL TO

secretly speaks over these words again, and urgeth
thee to turn.

4. It is likely, sometime it is the voice of thy own con-
science. Art thou not sometimes convinced that all is
not well with thee ? And doth not thy conscience tell
thee that thou must be a new man, and take a new
course, and often call upon thee to return.'*

5. It is the voice of the gracious examples of the
godly. When thou seest them live a heavenly life, and
fly from the sin which is thy delight, this really calls
on thee to turn.

6. It is the voice of all the works of God : for they
also are God's books that teach thee this lesson, by
showing thee his greatness, and wisdom, and goodness,
and calling thee to observe them, and admire the Crea-
tor. Psalm xix. 1,2. " The heavens declare the glory
of God, and the firmament showeth his handy-work :
day unto day uttereth speech, night unto night showeth
knowledge." Every time the sun riseth unto thee, it
really calleth thee to turn, as if it should say, " What
do I travel and compass the world for, but to declare to
men the glory of their Maker, and to light them to do
his work ? And do I still find thee doing the work of
sin, and sleeping out thy life in negligence? Awake
thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
shall give thee light." Ephes. v. 14. "The night is
far spent, the day is at hand ; it is now high time to
awake out of sleep. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of
.ight. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in riot-
ing and drunkenness, not in chambering and wanton-
ness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to
fulfil the lusts thereof." Rom. xiii. 11 — 14. This text
was the means of Austin's conversion.

7. It is the voice of every mercy thou dost possess ;
if thou couldst but hear and understand them, they all
cry out unto thee. Turn. Why doth the earth bear
thee, but to seek and serve the Lord ? Why doth it
afford thee its fruits, but to serve him ? Why doth the
air afford thee breath, but to serve him ? Why do all

THE UNCONVERTED. 93

the creatures serve thee wiih their lahours and their
Uves, but that thou mightst serve the Lord of them
and thee? Why doth he give thee time, and health,
and strength, hut only to serve him ? Why hast thou
meat, and drink, and clothes, but for his service ? Hast
thou anv thing which thou hast not received ? and if
thou didst receive them, it is reason thou shouldst be-
think thee from whom, and to what end and use thou
didst receive them. Didst thou never cry to him for
help in thy distress, and didst thou not then under-
stand that it was thy part to turn and serve him, if he
would deliver thee ? He hath done his part, and spared
thee yet longer, and tried thee another, and another
year; and j^et dost thou not turn? You know the
parable of the unfruitful fig-tree, Luke xiii. 7 — 9.
When the Lord had said, " Cut it down, why cumber-
eth it the ground?" he was entreated to try it one
year longer, and then if it proved not fruitful, to cut it
down. Christ himself there makes the application
twice over, ver. 3 and 5. " Except ye repent ye shall
all likewise perish." How many years hath God look-
ed for the fruits of love and holiness trom thee, and
hath found none, and yet he hath spared thee ? How
many a time, by thy wilful ignorance, and carelessness,
and disobedience, hast thou provoked justice to say,
"Cut him down, why cumbereth he the ground?"
And yet mercy hath prevailed, and patience hath for-
borne the fatal blow, to this day. If thou hadst the
understanding of a man within thee, thou wouldst know
that all this calleth thee to turn. " Dost thou think
thou shalt still escape the judgment of God ? or de-
spisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbear-
ance, and long suffering? not knowing that the goodness
of God leadeth thee to repentance. But, after thy
hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto
thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation
of the righteous judgment of God ; who will render
to every man according to his deeds." Rom. ii. 3 — €.
8. Moreover, it is the voice of every affliction to
call thee to make haste and turn. Sickness and pain
cry. Turn : and poverty, and loss of friendSj and every

94 A CALL TO

twig of the chasteu'ing rod, cry, Turn ; and yet wilt
thou not hearken to the call ? These have come near
thee, and made thee feel; they have made tliee groan,
and can they not make thee turn ?

9. The very frame of thy nature and being itself,
bespeaketh thy return. Why hast thou reason, but to
rule thy flesh, and serve thy Lord? Why hast thou
an understanding soul, but to learn and know his will
and do it? Why hast thou a heart within thee, that
can love, and fear, and desire, but that thou shouldst
fear him, and love him, and desire after liim ?

10. Yea, thine own engagements by promise to the
Lord, call upon thee to turn and serve him. Thou
hast bound thyself to him by a baptismal covenant,
and renounced the world, the flesh, and the devil. This
thou hast confirmed by the profession of Christianity,
and renewed it at Sacraments, and in times of afflic-
tion ; and wilt thou promise and vow, and never
perform and turn to God?

Lay all these together now, and see w^hat should be
the issue. The holy vScriptures call upon thee to turn ;
the ministers of Christ call upon thee to turn ; the-
Spirit cries. Turn: thy conscience cries, Turn; the
godly, by persuasions and examples cry, Turn; the
whole world, and all the creatures therein that are
presented to thy consideration, cry, Turn ; the patient
forbearance of God cries, Turn ; all the mercies which
thou receives t cry, Turn ; the rod of God's chastise-
ment cries, Turn ; thy reason and the frame of thy
nature bespeaks thy turning; and so do all thy pro-
mises to God : and yet art thou not resolved to turn ?

IIL Moreover, poor hard-hearted sinner, didst thou
ever consider upon what terms thou standest all this
while with Him that calleth on thee to turn ? Thou art
his own, and owest him thyself, and all thou hast ; and
may he not command his own ? Thou art his absolute
servant, and shouldst serve no other master. Thou
standest at his mercy, and thy life is in his hand, and
he is resolved to save thee upon no other terms ; thou
hast many malicious spiritual enemies, that would be
glad if God would but forsake thee, and let them alone

THE UNCONVEHTED. 95

with thee, and leave thee to their will ; how quickly
would they deal with thee in another manner ! and
thou canst not be delivered from them but by turning
unto God. Thou art fallen under his wrath by thy sin
already; and thou knowest not how long his patience
will yet wait. Perhaps this is the last year, perhaps
the last day. His sword is even at thy heart, while the
word is in thine ear ; and if thou turn not, thou art a
dead and undone man. Were thy eyes but open to
see where thou standest, even upon the brink of hell,
and to see how many thousands are there already that
did not turn, thou wouldst see that it is time to look
about thee.

Well, sirs, look inwards now and tell me how your
hearts are affected with those offers of the Lord. You
hear what is his mind: he delighteth not in your
death ; he calls to you. Turn, turn : it is e^ fearful sign
if all this move thee not, or if it do but half move thee ;
and much more if it make ihee more careless in thy
misery, because thou hearest of the mercifulness of
God. The working of the medicine will partly tell us
whether there be any hope of the cure. O what glad
tidings would it be to those that are now in hell, if they
had but such a message from God ! What a joyful
word would it be to hear this, Turn and live! Yea,
what a welcome word would it be to thyself, when
thou hast felt that wrath of God but an hour ! Or, if
afler a thousand or ten thousand years' torment, thou
couldst but hear such a word from God, Turn and
live ; and yet wilt thou neglect it, and suffer us to re-
turn without our errand ?

Behold, sinners, we are sent here as the messengers
of the Lord, to set before you life and death. What
say you? which of them will you choose? Christ
standeth, as it were, by thee, with heaven in the one
hand, and hell in the other, and offereth thee thy
choice. Which wilt thou choose ? The voice of the
Lord maketh the rocks to tremble. Psalm xxix. And
is it nothing to hear him threaten thee, if thou will not
turn ? Dost thou not understand and feel this voice,
* Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ?" Why ? It is the

96 A CALL TO

voice of love, of infinite love, of thy best and kindest
friend, as thou mightest easily perceive by the motion ;
and yet canst thou neglect it ? It is the voice of pity
and compassion. The Lord seeth whither thou art
going, better than thou dost, which makes him call
after thee, Turn, turn. He seeth what will become of
thee, if thou turn not. He thinketh with himself, ' Ah !
this poor sinner will cast himself into endless torments,
if he do not turn. I must in justice deal with him ac-
cording to my righteous law.' And therefore he call-
eth after thee. Turn, turn. O sinner! if thou didst
but know the tliousandth part as well as God doth, the
danger that is near you, and the misery that you are
running into, we should have no more need to call after
you to turn.

Moreover, this voice that calleth to thee, is the same
that hath prevailed with thousands already, and called
all to heaven that are now there ; and they would not
now for a thousand worlds that they had made light of
it, and not turned to God. Now, what are they pos-
sessing that turned at God's call? Now they perceive
that it was indeed the voice of love, that meant them
no more harm than their salvation ; and if thou wilt
obey the same call, thou shalt come to the same hap-
piness. There are millions that must for ever lament
that they turned not ; but there is never a soul in
heaven that is sorry that they were converted.

Well, sirs, are you yet resolved, or are you not ? Do
I need to say any more to you ? What will you do i
Will you turn or not ? Speak, man, in thy heart to
God, though you speak not out to me ; speak, lest he
take thy silence for denial ; speak quickly, lest he never
make thee the like offer more; speak resolvedly, and
not waveringly, for he will have no indiftferents to be
his followers. Say in thine heart now, without any
more delay, even before thou stir hence, ' By the grace
of God I am resolved presently to turn. And because
I know my own insufficiency, I am resolved to wait on
God for his grace, and to follow him in his ways, and
forsake my former courses and companions, and give
up myself to the guidance of the I-.ord.'

THE UNCONVERTED. 97

Sirs, you are not shut up in the darkness of hea-
thenism, nor in the desperation of the damned. Life
is before you, and you ma}' have it on reasonable
terms, if you will ; yea, on free cost, if you will accept
it. The way of God lieth plain before you ; the church
is open to you. You may have Christ, and pardon,
and holiness, if you will. What say you ? Will you
or will you not ? If you say nay, or say nothing, and
still go on, God is witness, and this congregation is
witness, and your own consciences are witnesses, how
fair an offer you had this day. Remember, you might
have had Christ, and would not. Remember, when
you have lost it, that you might have had eternal life,
as well as others, and would not ; and all because you
would not turn !

But let us come to the next doctrine, and hear your
reasons.

Doctrine 6. The Lord condescendeth to reason the
case with unconverted sinners, and to ask them why
they will die.

A strange disputation it is, both as to the contro-
versy, and as to the disputants.

L The controversy, or question propounded to dis-
pute of is. Why wicked men will destroy themselves ?
or, Why they will rather die than turn ; whether they
have any sufficient reason for so doing ?

II. The disputants are God and man : the most holy
God, and wicked unconverted sinners.

Is it not a strange thing, which God doth here seem
to suppose, that any man should be willing to die and be
damned ? yea, that this should be the case of the
wicked? that is, of the greatest part of the world. But
you will say, ' This cannot be ; for nature desireth the
preservation and felicity of itself; and the wicked are
more selfish than others, and not less ; and therefore
how can any man be willing to be damned?'

To which I answer : — 1. It is a certain truth that no
man can be willing of any evil, as evil, but only as it
hath some appearance of good ; much less can any

9

98 A CALL TO

man be willing to be eternally tormented. Misery, as
such, is desired by none. 2. But yet, for all that, it is
most true which God here teacheth us, that the cause
wliy the wicked die is, because they will die. And this
is true in several respects.

1. Because they will go the way that leads to liell,
although they are told by God and man whither it goes
and whither it ends ; and though God hath so often
professed in his word, that if they hold on in that way
lliey shall be condemned ; and that they shall not be
saved unless they turn, Isa. xlviii. 22. Ivii. 21. lix. 8.
" There is no peace, saith the Lord, to the wicked."
" The way of peace they know not ; there is no judg-
ment in their goings ; they have made them crooked
paths. Whosoever goeth therein, shall not know
peace." They have the word and the oath of the liv-
ing God for it, that if they will not turn, they shall not
enter into his rest : and yet, wicked they are, and
wicked they Avill be, let God and man say what they
will : fleshly they are, and fleshly they will be, world-
ings they are, and worldlings they will be, though God
hath told them that the love of the world is enmity to
God, and that if any man love the world (in that mea-
sure) the love of the Father is not in him. James iv.
4. ; 1 John ii. 15. ; so that consequently these men are
willing to damned, though not directly ; they are wil-
ling to walk in the way to hell, and love the certain
cause of their torment; though they do not will hell
itself, and do not love the pain which they must
endure.

Is not this the truth of your case, sirs ? You would
not burn in hell, but you will kindle the fire by your
sins, and cast yourselves into it ; you would not be
tormented with devils for ever, but you will do that
which will certainly procvire it in spite of all that can
be said against it. It is just as if you would say, ' I
will drink this ratsbane, or other poison, but yet I will
not die. I will cast myself headlong ir-om the top of a
steeple, but yet I will not kill myself. I will thrust this
knife into my heart, but yet I will not take away
my life. I will put this fire into the thatch of my

THE UNCONVERTED 99

house, but yet I will not burn it.' Just so it is with
wicked men ; they will be wicked, and they will live
after the flesh and the world, and yet they would not
be damned. But do you not know that the means lead
to the end? and that God hath, by his rio-hteous law,
concluded that ye must repent or perish ? He th.at
will take poison, may as well say plainly, I will kill my-
self, for it will prove no better in the end ; though per-
haps he loved it for the sweetness of the sugar that
was mixed with it ; and would not be persuaded that
It was poison, but that he might take it and do well
enough ; but it is not his conceits and confidence that
will save his life. So if you will be drunkards, or for-
nicators, or worldlings, or live after the flesh, you may
as well say plainly. We will be damned ; for so yob
shall be unless you turn. Would you not rebuke the folly
of a thief or murderer, that would say I wil" steal and kill,
but I will not be hanged, when he knows that if he
does the one, the judge in justice will see that the
other be done? If he say I will steal and murder, he
may as well say plainly, I will be hanged ; and if you
will go on in a carnal life, you may as well say plainly,
We will go to hell.

2. Moreover, the wicked will not use those means
without which there is no hope of their salvation.
He that will not eat, may as well say plainly, he will
not live, unless he can tell how to live without meat.
He that will not go his journey, may as well say
plainly he will not come to the end. He that falls into
the water, and will not come out, nor suffer another to
help him out, may as well say plainly, he will be
di"ovvned. So if you be carnal and ungodly, and will
not be converted, nor use the means by which you
should be converted, but think it more ado than needs,
you may as well say plainly you will be damned ; for
if you have found out a way to be saved without con-
version, you have done that which was never done
before.

3. Yea, this is not all ; but the wicked are unwilling
even to partake of salvation itself; though thev may
desire somewhat which they call by the name of hea-

100 A CALL TO

veil, yet heaven itself, considered in the tme nature of
the felicity, they desire not; yea, their hearts are quite
against it. Heaven is a state of perfect holiness, and
of continual love and praise to God, and the wicked
have no heart to this. The imperfect love and praise
and holiness which is here to he attained, they have no
mind of; much less of that which is so much greater.
The joys of heaven are of so pure and spiritual a nature,
that the heart of the wicked cannot truly desire them.

So that hy this time you may see on what ground
it is that God supposeth that the wicked are willing of
their own destruction. They will not turn, though
they must turn or die : they will rather venture on cer-
tain misery, than be converted ; and then to quiet them-
selves in their sins, they will make themselves believe
that they shall nevertheless escape.

II. And as this controversy is matter of wonder, thai
ever men should be such enemies to themselves as
wilfully to cast away their souls, so are the disputants
too. That God should stoop so low as thus to plead
the case with man ; and that man should be so strange-
ly bUnd and obstinate as to need all this in so plain a
case ; yea, and to resist all this, when their own salva-
tion lieth upon the issue.

No wonder that they will not hear us that are men,
when they will not hear the Lord himself. As God
saith, Ezek. iii. 7, when he sent the prophet to the
Israelites. " The house of Israel will not hearken unto
thee ; for they will not hearken unto me ; for all the
house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted." No
wonder if they can plead against a minister, or a godly
neighbour, when they will plead against the Lord him-
self, even against the plainest passages of his word, and
think that they have reason on their side. When they
weary the Lord with their words, they say, " wherein
have we wearied him?" Mai. ii. 17. The priests that
despised his name durst ask, " Wherein have we de-
spised thy name r" And " when they polluted his altar,
and made the table of the Lord contemptible," they
durst say, " Wherein have we polluted thee ?" Mai. i.
6, 7. But " Wo unto him (saith the Lord) that striv-

THE UNCONVERTED. 101

eth with his Maker ! Let the potsherds strive with the
potsherds of the earth : shall the clay say to him that
fashioneth it, What makest thou ?"

Quest. — But why is it that God will reason the case
with man ?

Answ. 1. — Because that man bemg a reasonable crea-
ture, is accordingly to be dealt with, and by reason to
be persuaded and overcome; God hath therefore en-
dowed them with reason, that they might use it for
him. One would think a reasonable creature should
not go against the clearest, the greatest reason in the
world, when it is set before him.

2. At least, men shall see that God did require
nothing of them that was unreasonable : but both in
what he commandeth them, and what he forbids them,
he hath all the right reason in the world on his side ; and
they have good reason to obey him, — ^but none to dis-
obey. And thus even the damned shall be forced to
justify God, and confess that it was only reasonable
that they should have turned to him ; and they shall
be forced to condemn themselves, and confess that they
had little reason to cast away themselves bv the neglect-
ing of his grace jn the day of their visitation.

Use. — Look up your best and strongest reasons,
sinners, if you will make good your way. You see
now with Vhom you have to deal. What sayest
thou, unconverted sensual sinner? Barest thou venture
upon a dispute with God ? Art thou able to confute
him ? Art thou ready to enter the lists ? God asketh
thee, W^hy wilt thou die ? Art thou furnished with a
sufficient answer ? Wilt thou undertake to prove that
God is mistaken, and that thou art in the right? O
what an undertaking is that! Why, either he or you
are mistaken, when he is for your conversion, and you
are against it ; he calls upon you to turn, and you will
not ; he bids you to do it presently, even to-day, while
it is called to-day, and you delay, and think it time
enough hereafter.' He saith it must be a total change,
and you must be holy and new creatures, and born
ao-airi : and you think that less may serve the turn,
° 9*

102 A CALL TO

and that it is enoufrh to patch up the old man, without
becoming new. Who is in the right now ? God or
you ? God calleth you to turn, and to live a holy life,
and you will not ; — by your disobedient lives, it ap-
pears you will not. If you will, why do you not? Why
have you not done it all this while ? And why do you
not fall upon it yet? Your wills have the command ot
your lives. We may certainly conclude that you are
unwilling to turn, when you do not turn. And why
will you not ?

Can you give any reason for it, that is worthy io be
called a reason?

I that am but a worm, your fellow creature, of a
shallow capacity, dare challenge the wisest of you all
to reason the case with me, while I plead my Maker's
cause ; and I need not be discouraged when I know I
plead but the cause that God pleadeth, and contend for
him that will have the best at last. Had I but these
two general grounds against you, I am sure that you
have no good reason on your side.

I am sure it can be no good reason which is against
the God of truth and reason. It cannot be light that
is contrary to the sun. There is no knowledge in
any creature but what it had from God ; and there-
fore none can be Aviser than God. It were fatal pre-
sumption for the highest angel to compare with his
Creator ! What is it then for a lump of earth, an ignor-
ant sot, that knoweth not himself nor his own soul,
that knoweth but little of the things which he seeth,
yea, that is more ignorant than many of his neigh-
bours, to set himself against the wisdom of the Lord '.
It is one of the fullest discoveries of the horrible wick-
edness oF carnal men, and the stark-madness of such
as sin, that so silly a mole dare contradict his Maker,
and call in question the word of God : yea, that those
people in our parishes, that are so ignorant that they
cannot give us a reasonable answer concerning the
very principles of rehgion, are yet so wise in their own
conceit, that they dare question the plainest truths of
God, yea, contradict them and cavil against them,
when they can scarcely speak sense, and will believe

THE UNCONVERTED. 103

them no further than agreeth with their foolish wis-
dom !

And as I know that God must needs he in the right,
so I know the cause is so palpable and gross which he
pleadeth against, that no man can have reason for it.
Is it possible that a man can have any reason to break
his Maker's laws, and reason to dishonour the Lord of
glory, and reason to abuse the Lord that bought him?
Is it possible that a man can have any good reason to
damn his own immortal soul ? Mark the Lord's ques-
tion, turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die? Is eternal death
a thing to be desired? Are you in love with hell?
What reason have you wilfully to perish? If you think
you have some reason to sin, should you not remember
that death is the wages of sin ; Rom. vi. 23. and think
whether you have any reason to undo yourselves, body
and soul forever? You should not only ask whether
you love the adder, but whether you love the sting?
It is such a thing for a man to cast away his everlast-
ing happiness, and to sin against God, that no good
reason can be given for it ; but the more any one
pleads for it, the more mad he showeth himself to be.
Had you a lordship, or a kingdom offered you for every
sin that you commit, it were not reason but madness
to accept it. Could you by every sin obtain the highest
thing on earth that flesh desireth, it were of no con-
siderable value to persuade you in reason to commit it.
If it were to please your greatest or dearest friends,
or to obey the greatest prince on earth, or to save
your lives, or to escape the greatest earthly misery ;
all these are of no consideration to draw a man in
reason to the committing of one sin. If it were a
right hand or a right eye that would hinder your sal-
vation, it is the most gainful way to cast it away,
rather than to go to hell to save it ; for there is no
saving a part when you lose the whole. So exceed-
ingly great are the matters of eternity, that nothing in
this world deserveth once to be named in comparison
with them ; nor can any earthly thing, though it were
life, or crowns, or kingdoms, be a reasonable excuse
lor the neglect of matters of such high and everlasting

104 A CALL TO

consequence. A man can have no reason to cross his
ultimate end. Heaven is such a thing, that if you lose
it, nothing can supply the want or make up the loss ;
and hell is such a thing, that if you suffer it, nothing
can remove your misery, or give you ease and comfort ;
and therefore nothing can be a valuable consideration
to excuse you for neglecting your own salvation ; for,
saith our Saviour, " What shall it profit a man if he
shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
Mark viii. 36.

O sirs, that you did but know what matters they are
that we are now speaking to you of! you would have
other kind of thoughts of these things. If the devil
could come to them, the saints in heaven, that live in
the sight and love of God, and should offer them sen
sual pleasures, or merry company, or sports to entice
them away from God and glory, I pray you tell me,
how do you think they would entertain the motion .''
Nay, or if he should offer them to be kings on the
earth, do you think this would entice them down from
heaven ? O with what hatred and holy scorn would
they reject the motion ! And why should not you do
so, that have heaven opened to your faith, if you had
but faith to see it? There is never a soul in hell, but
knows, by this time, that it was a mad exchange to let
go heaven for fleshly pleasure ; and that it is not a
little mirth or pleasure, or worldly riches, or honour,
or the good will or word of men, that will quench hell
fire, or make him a gainer that loseth his soul. O if
you had heard what I believe, if you had seen what I
believe, and that on the credit of the word of God,
you would say there can be no reason to warrant a
man to destroy his soul ; you durst not sleep quietly
another night, before you had resolved to turn and live.
If you see a man put his hand into the fire till it
burn off, you will marvel at it; but this is a thing that
a man may have a reason for, as Bishop Cranmer had,
when he burnt off his hand lor subscribing to Popery.
If you see a man cut off a leg, or an arm, it is a sad
sight ; but this is a thing, that a man may have a good
reason for, as many a man hath it done to save his life.

THE UNCONVERTED. lOS

If you see a man give his body to be tormented with
scourges and racks, or to be burned to ashes, and refuse
deliverance when it is ofiered, this is a hard case to
flesh and blood ; but this a man may have good reason
for, as you may see in Heb. xi. 33 — 36, and as many
a hundred martyrs have done. But for a man to for-
sake the Lord that made him, and to run into the fire
of hell, when he is told of it, and entreated to turn that
he may be saved, — this is a thing that can have no rea-
son in the world to justify or excuse it. For heaven
will pay for the loss of any thing that we can lose to
obtain it, or for any labour which we bestow for it ;
but nothing can pay for the loss of heaven.

I beseech you now let this word come nearer to your
heart. As you are convinced that you have no reason
to destroy yourselves, so tell me what reason have you
to refuse to turn and live to God ? What reason has
the veriest worlding, or drunkard, or ignorant careless
sinner of you all, why he should not be as holy as any
you know, and be as careful for his soul as any other ?
Will not hell be as intolerable to you as to others ?
Should not your own souls be as dear to you as theirs
to them ? Hath not God as much authority over you ?
Why then will you not become a sanctifiied people, as
well as they ?

O sirs, when God bringeth the matter down to the
very principles of nature, and shows that you have no
more reason to be ungodly ^han you have to damn
your own souls, — if yet you will not understand and
turn, it seems a desperate case that you are in.

And now, either you have good reason for what you
do, or you have not : if not, will you go against reason
itself? Will you do that which you have no reason for ?
But if you think you have, produce it, and make the
best of your matter. Reason the case a little with me,
your fellow-creature, which is far easier than to reason
the ease with God ; tell me, man, here before the Lord,
as if thou wert to die this hour, why shouldst thou not
resolve to turn this day; before thou stir from the place
thou standest in, what reason hast thou to deny or to
delay ? Hast thou any reason that satisfieth thine own

106 A CALL TO

conscience for ii, or any that thou darest own and plead
at the bar of God? If thou hast, let us hear them,
brmg them forth, and make them good. But, alas !
what poor stuff, what nonsense, instead of reasons, do
we daily hear from ungodly men ! But for their neces-
sity I should be ashamed to name them.

Object. 1. One saith, if none shall be saved but such
converted and sanctified ones as you talk of, then
heaven would be but empty ; then God help a great
many.

Answ. Why, it seems you think that God doth not
know, or else that he is not to be believed ! Measure
not all by yourselves : God hath thousands and millions
of his sanctified ones ; but yet they are few in com-
parison of the world, as Christ himself hath told us,
Matt. vii. 13, 14. Luke xi. 32. It better beseems you
to make that use of this truth which Christ teacheth
you : ' Strive to enter in at the strait gate ; for strait
is the gate, and narrow is the way, -^that leadeth unto
life, and few there be that find it ; but wide is the gate
and broad is the way which leadeth to destruction,
and many there be that go in thereat,' Luke xiii.
22 — 24. Fear not, little flock (saith Christ to his sanc-
tified ones) for it is your Father's good pleasure to
give you the kingdom. Luke xii. 32.

Object. 2. I am sure, if such as I go to hell, we shall
have store of company.

Answ. And will that be any ease or comfort to you .''
Or do you think you may not have company enough in
heaven? Will you be undone for company, or will
you not believe that God will execute his threat.enings,
because there be so many that are guilty ? These are
all unreasonable conceits.

Object. 3. But all men are sinners, even the best of
you all.

Answ. But all are not unconverted sinners. The
godly live not in gross sins : and their very infirmities
are their grief and burden, which they daily long, and
pray, and strive to be rid of. Sin hath not dominion
over them.

Object. 4. I do not see that professors are any better

THE UNCONVERTED. 107

than other men ; they will overreach and oppress, and
are as covetous as any.

Answ. Whatever hypocrites are, it is not so with
those that are sanctified. God hath thousands, and
tens of thousands that are otherwise, though the mali-
cious world doth accuse them of what they can never
prove, and of that which never entered into their
hearts; and commonly they charge them with heart-
sins, which none can see but God, because they can
charge them with no such wickedness in their lives,
as they are guilty of themselves.

Object. 5. But I am no whoremonger, nor drunkard,
nor oppressor ; and therefore why should you call upon
me to be converted ?

Jinsw. As if you were not horn after the flesh, and
had not lived after the flesh, as well as others ! Is it not
as great a sin as any of these, for a man to have an
earthly mind, and to love the world above God, and to
have an unbelieving, unhumbled heart? Nay, let me
tell you more, that many persons that avoid disgrace-
ful sins, are as fast glued to the world, and as much
slaves to the flesh, and as strange to God, and averse
to heaven in their more civil course, as others are in
their more shameful, notorious sins.

Object. 6. But I mean nobody any harm, nor do any
harm ; and why then should God condemn me ?

Answ. Is it no harm to neglect the Lord that made
thee, and the work for which thou camest into the
world, and to prefer the creature before the Creator,
and to neglect grace that is daily offered thee ? It is
the depth of thy sinfulness to be so insensible of it:
the dead feel not that they are dead. If once thou
wert made alive, thou wouldst see more amiss in thy-
self, and marvel at thyself for making so light of it.

Object. 7. I think you would make men mad, under
pretence of converting them : it is enough to rack the
brains of simple people to muse so much on matters so
high for them.

Jlnsw. 1. Can you be more mad than you are already?
or, at least, can there be a more dangerous madness

103^ A CALL TO

than to neglect your everlasting welfare, and wilfully
undo yourselves?

2. A man is never well in his wits till he be convert-
ed : he never knows God, nor knows sin, nor knows
Christ, nor knows the world, nor himself, nor what his
business is on earth, so as to set himself about it, till
he be converted. The Scripture saith, that the wicked
are unreasonable men, 2 Thess. iii. 2, and that the
wisdom of the world is foolishness with God, 1 Cor. i.
20. and Luke xv. 17. It is said of the prodigal, that
when he came to himself, he resolved to return. It is
a wise world when men will disobey God, and run to
hell, for fear of being out of their wits.

3. What is there in the work that Christ calls you
to, th^t should drive a man out of his wits ? Is it the
loving God, and calling upon him, and comfortably
thinkinor of the glory to come, and the forsaking of our
sins, and loving one another, and delighting ourselves
in the service of God ? Are these such things as should
make men mad ?

4. And whereas you say that these matters are too
high for us ; you accuse God himself, for making this
our work, and giving us his word, and commanding all
that will be blessed to meditate on it day and night. —
Are the matters which we are made for, and which we
live for, too high for us to meddle with? This is
plainly to unman us, and to make beasts of us, as if we
were like them that must meddle with no higher mat-
ters than what belongs to flesh and earth. If heaven
be too high for you to think on and provide for, it will
be too high for you ever to possess.

5. If God should sometimes suffer any weakheaded
persons to be distracted by thinking of eternal things,
this is because they misunderstand them, and run with-
out a guide : and of the two I had rather be in the case
of such a one, than of the mad unconverted world,
that take their distraction to be their wisdom.

Object. 8. I do not think that God cares so much
what men think, or speak, or do, as to make so great
a matter of it.

Answ. It seems then you take the word of God to

THE UNCONVERTED. 109

be false : then what will you believe ? But your own
reason might teach you better, if you believe not the
scriptures ; for you see God sets not so light by us but
that he vouchsafed to make us, and still preserveth us,
and daily upholdeth us, and provideth for us; and will
any wise man. make a curious frame for nothing? Will
you make or buy a clock or watch, and daily look at
it, and not care whether it go true or false ? Surely, if
you believe not a particular eye of Providence observ-
ing your hearts and lives, you cannot believe or ex-
pect any particular Providence to observe your wants
and troubles, or to relieve you ; and if God had so
little care for you as you imagine, you 'w^ould never
have lived till now ; a hundred diseases would have
striven which should first destroy you ; yea, the devils
would have haunted you, and fetched you away alive,
as the great fishes devour the less, and as ravenous
beasts and birds devour others. You cannot think that
God made man for no end or use ; and if he made him
for any, it was surely for himself; and can you think
he cares not whether his end be accomplished, and
whether we do the work that we are made for ?

Yea, by this atheistical objection, you make God to
have made and upheld all the world in vain : for what
are all other lower creatures for, but for man ? What !
doth the earth but bear us, and nourish us, and the
beasts do serve us with their labours and lives, and
so of the rest? And hath God made so glorious a
habitation, and set man to dwell in it, and made all
his servants ; and now doth he look for nothing at his
hands, nor care how he thinks, or speaks, or lives ?
This is most unreasonable.

Object. 9. It was a better world when men did not
make so much ado in religion.

Answ. 1. It hath ever been the custom to praise the
times past; that world that you speak of, was wont
to say it was a better world in their forefathers' days ;
and so did they of their forefathers.' This is but an
old custom, because we all feel the evil of our own
times, but we see not that which was before us.

2. Perhaps you speak as you think. Worldlings
10

no A CALL TO

think the world is at the best when it is agreeable
to their minds, and when they have most mirth, and
worldly pleasure ; and I doubt not but the devil, as
well as you, would say, that then it was a better
world ; for then he had more service and less dis-
turbance. But the world is at the best when God is
most loved, regarded, and obeyed ; and how else will
you know when the world is good or bad, but by this ?

Object. 10. There are so many ways and rehgions,
that we know not which to be of, and therefore we
will be even as we are.

Answ. Because there are many, will you be of that
way that you may be sure is wrong? None are fur-
ther out of the way than worldly, fleshly, unconverted
sinners; for they do not only err in this or that opi-
nion, as many sects do, but in the very scope and
drift of their lives. If you were going a journey that
your life lay on, would you stop or turn again, because
you met with some cross-ways, or because you saw
some travellers go the horse-way, and some the foot-
way, and some perhaps break over the hedge, yea,
and some miss the way ? Or would you not rather
be the more careful to inquire the way? If you have
some servants that know not how to do your work
right, and some that are unfaithful, would you take
it well of any of the rest that would therefore be idle
and do you no service, because they see the rest so bad ?

Object. 11. I do not see that it goes any better with
those that are so godly, than with other men ; they
are as poor, and in as much trouble as others.

Answ. And perhaps in much more, when God sees
it meet. They take not earthly prosperity for their
wages ; they have laid up their treasure and hopes in
another world ; or else they are not Christians indeed ;
the less they have, the more is behind, and they are
content to wait till then.

Object. 12. AVhen you have said all that you can, I
am resolved to hope well, and trust in God, and do
as well as 1 can, and not make so much ado.

Answ. 1. Is that doing as well as you can, when you
will not turn to God, but your heart is against his holy

THE UNCONVERTED. HI

and diligent service ? It is as well as you will, indeed,
but that is your misery.

2. My desire is, that you should hope and trust m
God. But for what is it that you will hope? Is it to
be saved, if you turn and be sanctified ? For this you
have God's promise, and therefore hope for it and
spare not. But if you hope to be saved without con-
version and a holy life, this is not to hope in God,
but in Satan, or yourselves ; for God hath given you
no such promise, but told you the contrary ; but it is
Satan and self-love that made you such promises, and
raised you to such hopes.

Well, if these, and such as these, be all you have to
say against conversion and a holy life, your all is no-
thing, and worse than nothing ; and if these, and such
as these, seem reasons sufficient to persuade you to
forsake God, and cast yourselves into hell, the Lord
deliver you from such reasons, and from such blind
understandings, and from such senseless hardened
hearts. Dare you stand to aver one of these reasons
at the bar of God ? Do you think it will then serve
your turn to say, ' Lord, I did not turn, because I had
so much to do in the world, or because I did not like
the Uves of some professors, or because I saw men of
so many minds !' O how easily will the light of that
day confound and shame such reasonings as these !
Had you the world to look after? Let the world
which you served now pay you your wages, and
save you if it can. Had you not a better world to
look after first, and were ye not commanded to seek
first God's kingdom and righteousness, and promised
that other things should be added to you ? Matt. vi.
S3. And were ye not told, that godliness was profita-
ble to all things, having the promise of this life, and
of that which is to come ? 1 Tim. iv. 8. Did the
sins of professors hinder you ? You should rather
have been the more heedful, and learned, by their
falls, to beware, and have been the more careful, and
not to be more careless. It was the Scripture, and
not their lives, that was your rule. Did the many
opinions of the world hinder you ? Why, the Scrip-

112 A CALL TO

ture, that was your rule, did teach you but one way,
and that was the right way. If you had followed
that; even in so much as was plain and easy, you
should never have miscarried. Will not such answers
as these confound and silence you ? If these will not,
God hath those that will. When he asked the man,
" Friend, how earnest thou in hither, not having on a
wedding garment?" Matt. xxii. 12. that is, what
dost thou in my Church among professed Christians,
without a holy heart and life, — what answer did he
make? Why the text, saith, "he was speechless;"
he had nothing to say. The clearness of the case,
and the majesty of God, will then easily stop the
mouths of the most confident of you, though you will
not be put down by any thing we can say to you
now, but will make good your cause, be it ever so
bad. I know already that never a reason that now
you can give me will do you any good at last, when
your case must be opened before the Lord and all the
world.

Nay, I scarce think that your own consciences are
well satisfied with your reasons ; for if they are, it
seems then you have not so much as a purpose to
repent. But if you do purpose to repent, it seems
you do not put much confidence in your reasons
which you bring against it.

What say you, unconverted sinners? Have you
any good reasons to give why you would not turn,
and presently turn with all your hearts ? Or will
you go to hell in despite of reason itself? Bethink
you what you do in time, for it will shortly be too
late to bethink you. Can you find any fault with
God, or his work, or his wages ? Is he a bad mas-
ter ? Is the devil, whom ye serve, a better ? or is
the flesh a better ^ Is there any harm in a holy
life? Is a life of worldliness and ungodliness better?
Do you think in your consciences that it would do
you any harm to be converted and live a holy life ?
What harm can it do you ? Is it harm to you to
have the Spirit of Christ within you, and to have a
cleansed purified heart ? If it be bad to be holy^

THE UNCONVERTED. 113

why doth God say, " Be ye holy, for I am holy ?" 1
Pet.i. 15, 16. Lev. xx. 7. Is it evil to he like God?
Is it not said that God made man in his own image ?
Why, this holiness is his image ; this Adam lost,
and this Christ by his word and Spirit would restore
to you, as he doth to all that he will save. Why
you are baptized into the Holy Ghost, and why do
you baptize your children into the Holy Ghost, as
your Sanctifier, if you will not be sanctified by him,
but think it a hurt to you to be sanctified ? Tell
me truly, as before the Lord, though you are loth
to live a holy life, had you not rather die in the case
of those that do so, than of others? If you were to
die this day, had you not rather die in the case of
a converted man than of an unconverted ? of a holy
and heavenly man than of a carnal earthly man?
and would you not say as Balaam, Numb, xxiii. 10.
" Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my
last end be like his !" And why will you not now
be of the mind that you will be of then ? First or
last you must come to this, either to be converted,
or to wish you had been, when it is too late.

But what is it that you are afraid of losing, if you
turn ? Is it your friends ? You will but change them ;
God will be your friend, and Christ and the Spirit
will be your friend, and every christian will be your
friend. You will get one friend that will stand you
in more stead than all the friends in the world could
have done. The friends you lose would have but en-
ticed you to hell, but could not have delivered you :
but the friend you get will save you ti-om hell, and
bring you to his own eternal rest.

Is it your pleasures that you are afraid of losing? You
think you shall never have a merry day again if once
you be converted. Alas ! that you should think it a
greater pleasure to live in foolish sports and merri-
ments, and please your flesh, than to live in the be-
lieving thoughts of glory, and in the love of God, and
in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost,
in which the state of grace consisteth. Rom. xiv. 17.
If it would be a greater pleasure for you to think of

10*

114 A CALL TO

your lands and inheritance, if you were lord of all the
country, than it is for a child to play at pins ; why
should it not be a greater joy to you to think of the
kingdom of heaven being yours, than of all the riches
or pleasures of the Avorld ? As it is but foolish childish-
ness that makes children so delight in toys, that they
would not leave them for all your lands, so it is but
foolish worldliness, and fleshliness, and wickedness,
that makes you so much delight in your houses and
lands, and meat and drink, and ease and honour, as
that you would not part with them for the heavenly
delights. But what will you do for pleasure when
the*ie are gone? Do you not think of that? When your
pleasures end in horror, and go out like a taper, the
pleasures of the saints are then at the best. I have
had myself but a little taste of the heavenly pleasures
in the forethoughts of the blessed approaching day,
and in the present persuasions of the love of God in
Christ ; but I have taken too deep a draught of earthly
pleasures : so that you may see, if I be partial, it is
on your side ; and yet I must profess from that little
experience, that there is no comparison. There is
more joy to be had in a day, if the sun of life shine
clear upon us, in the state of holiness, than in a whole
life of sinful pleasures. " I had rather be a door-
keeper in the house of God, than to dwell in the tents
of wickedness." Ps. Ixxxiv. 10. "A day in his courts
is better than a thousand" any where else. Ps. Ixxxiv.
10. The mirth of the wicked is like the laughter of a
madman, that knows not his own misery ; and there-
fore Solomon says of such laughter, " it is mad ; and
of mirth, what doth it ?" EccTes. ii. 2. vii. 2—6. " It
is better to go to the house of mourning, than to so to
the house of feasting ; for that is the end of all men,
and the living will lay it to his heart. vSorrow is better
than laughter ; for by the sadness of the countenance
the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in
the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the
house of mirth. It is better to bear the rebuke of the
wise, than to hear the song of fools ; for as the crack-
ling of thorns under a pot so is the laughter of the

THE UNCONVERTED. 115

fool." All the pleasure of fleshly things Is but like the
scratching of a man that hath the itch ; it is his dis-
ease that makes him desire it, and a wise man had
rather be without his pleasure than be troubled with
his itch. Your loudest laughter is but like that of a
man that is tickled ; he laughs when he has no cause
of joy. Judge, as you are men, whether this be a
wise man's part. It is but your carnal unsanctified
nature that makes a holy life seem grievous to you,
and a course of sensuality seem more delightful. If
you will but turn, the Holy Gliost will give you
another nature and inclination, and then it will be
more pleasant to you to be rid of your sin, than now
it is to keep it ; and you will then say, that you knew
not what a comfortable Ufe was till now, and that it
was never well with you till God and holiness were
your delight.

Ques. But how cometh it to pass that men should
be so unreasonable in the matters of salvation ? They
have wit enough in other matters : what makes them
so loth to be converted, that there should need so many
words in so plain a case, and all will not do, but the
most will live and die unconverted?

Answ. To name them only in a few words, the
causes are these :

1. Men are naturally in love with the earth and
flesh ; they are born sinners, and their nature hath an
enmity to God and goodness, as the nature of a serpent
hath to a man : and when all that we can say goes
against an habitual inclination of their natures, no
marvel if it prevail little.

2. They are in darkness, and know not the very
things they hear. Like a man that was born blind,
and hears a high commendation of the light ; but what
will hearing do, unless he sees it ? They know not what
God is, nor what is the power of the cross of Christ,
nor what the spirit of holiness is, nor what it is to liv^e
in love by faith : they know not the certainty, and suit-
ableness, and excellency of the heavenly inheritance.
They knovsr not what conversion and a holy mind and
conversation is, even when they hear of it. They are in

116 k CALL TO

a mist of ignorance. They are lost and bewildered in
sin ; like a man that has lost himself in the night, and
knoAvs not where he is, nor how to come to himself
again, till the daylight recover him.

"^3. They are wilfully confident that they need no
conversion, but some partial amendment ; and that they
are in the way to heaven already; and are converted
when they are not. And if you meet a man that is
quite out of his way, you may long enough call on him
to turn back again, if he will not believe you that he
is out of the way.

4. They are become slaves to their flesh, and
drowned in the world to make provision for it. Their
lusts, and passions, and appetites have distracted them,
and got such a hand over them, that they cannot tell
how to deny them, or how to mind any thing else ; so
that the drunkard saith, I love a cup of good drink,
and I cannot forbear it: the glutton saith, I love good
cheer, and I cannot forbear; the fornicator saith, I love
to have my lust fulfilled, and I cannot forbear ; and the
gamester loves to have his sports, and he cannot for-
bear. So that they are become even captivated slaves
to their flesh, and their very wilfulness is become an
impotency ; and what they would not do, they say they
cannot. And the worldling is so taken up with eartlily
things, that he hath neither heart, nor mind, nor time,
for heavenl3^ ; but, as in Pharaoh's dream. Gen. xli. 4.
the lean kine did eat up the fat ones ; so this lean and
barren earth doth eat up all the thoughts of heaven.

5. Some are so carried away by the stream of evil
company, that they are possessed with hard thoughts of
a godly life, by hearing them speak against it ; or at
least they think they may venture to do as they see
most do, and so they hold on in their sinful ways ; and
when one is cut off, and cast into hell, and another
snatched away from among tnem to the same condem-
nation,— it doth not much daunt them, because they
see not whither they are gone. Poor wretches, they
hold on in their ungodliness for ail this ; for they little
know that their companions are now lamenting it in
torments. In Luke xvi. the rich man in hell would

THE UNCONVERTED. 117

fain have had one to warn his five brethren, lest they
should come to that place of torment. It is Hkely he
knew their minds and lives, and knew that they were
hasting thither, and Uttle dreamt that he was there, yea,
and would little have believed one that should have
told them so. I remember a passage that a gentleman,
yet living, told me he saw upon a bridge over the
Severn.* A man was driving a flock of fat lambs, and
something meeting them, and hindering their passage,
one of the lambs leapt upon the wall of the bridge,
and his legs slipping from under him, he fell into the
stream ; the rest seeing him, did, one after one, leap
over the bridge into the stream, and were all or almost
all drowned. Those that were behind did little know
what was become of them that were gone before ; but
thought they might venture to follow their companions ;
but as soon as ever they were over the wall, and falling
headlong, the case wtis altered.

Even so it is with unconverted carnal men. One dieth
by them, and drops into hell, and another follows the
same way; and yet they will go after them, because
they think not whither they are gone. O, but when
death hath once opened their eyes, and they see what
is on the other side of the wall, even in another world,
then what would they give to be where they were !

6. Moreover, they have a subtle malicious enemy,
that is unseen of them, and plays his game in the
dark'; and it is his principal business to hinder their
conversion ; and therefore to keep them where they
are, by persuading them not to believe the Scriptures,
or not to trouble their minds with these matters ; or by
persuading them to think ill of a godly life, or to think
that more is enjoined than need be, and that they may
be saved without conversion, and without all this stir ;
and that God is so merciful, that he will not damn any
such as they ; or at least, that they m.ay stay a httle
longer, and take their pleasure, and follow the world a
little longer yet, and then let it go, and repent here-
after. And by such juggUng, deluding cheats as these,

* Mr, R. Rowly, of Shrewsbury, upon Acham-Bridge.

Il8 A CALL TO

the devil keeps the most in his capacity, and leadeth
them to his misery.

These, and such like impediments as these, do keep
so many thousands unconverted, when God hath done
so much, and Christ hath suffered so much, and minis-
ters have said so much for theij- conversion : when
their reasons are silenced and they are not ahle to an-
swer the Lord that calls after them, " Turn ye, turn
ye, why will ye die ?" yet all comes to nothing with the
greatest part of them ; and they leave us no ipore to
do after all, but to sit down and lament their wilful
misery.

I have now showed you the reasonableness of God's
commands, and the unreasonableness of wicked men's
disobedience. If nothing will serve their turn, but men
will yet refuse to turn, we are next to consider, who
is in fault if they be damned. A'^'i this brings me to
the last doctrine ; which is,

Doctrine 7. That if after all this, men will not turn,
it is not the fault of God that they are condemned,
but their own, even their own wilfulness. They die
because they will, that is, because they will not turn.

If you will go to hell, what remedy ? God here ac-
quits himself of your blood ; it shall not lie on him if
you be lost. A negligent minister may draw it upon
him ; and those that encourage you or hinder you not in
sin, may draw it upon them ; but be sure of it, it shall
not lie upon God. Saith the Lord concerning his un-
profitable vineyard : Isa. v. 1 — 4. " Judge, I pray you,
betwixt me and my vineyard : what could have been
done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it?"
When he had planted it in a fruitful soil, and fenced it,
and gathered out the stones, and planted it with the
choicest vines, what should he have done more to it?
He hath made you men, and endowed you with rea-
son ; he hath furnished you with all external necessa-
ries ; all creatures are at your service; he hath given
you a righteous perfect law. When ye had broken it,
and undone yourselves, he had pity on you, and sent

THE UNCONVERTED. 119

his Son by a miracle of condescending mercy to die for
you, and be a sacrifice for your sins ; and he was in
Christ reconciling the word to himself!

The Lord Jesus hath made you a deed of gift o*
himself, and eternal life with him, on the condition
you will but accept it, and return. He hath on this
reasonable condition otiered you the free pardon of all
your sins ! he hath written this in his word, and seal-
ed it by his Spirit, and sent it by his ministers : they
have made the ofl'er to you a hundred and a hundred
times, and called you to accept it, and to turn to God.
They have in his name entreated you, and reasoned
the case with you, and answered all your frivolous
objections. He hath long waited on you, and staid
your leisure, and suffered you to abuse him to his face !
He hath mercifully sustained you in the midst of your
sins ; he hath compassed you about with all sorts
of mercies ; he hath also intermixed afflictions, to re-
mind you of your folly, and call you to your senses,
and his Spirit has been often striving with your
hearts, and saying there, ' Turn, sinner, turn to him
that calleth thee : Whither art thou going? What art
thou doing? Dost thou know what Avi 11 be the end?
How long wilt thou hate thy friends, and love thine
enemies? When wilt thou let go all, and turn and de-
liver thyself to God, and give thy redeemer the pos-
session of thy soul ? When shall it once be ?' These
pleadings have been used with thee, and when thou
hast delayed, thou hast been urged to make haste, and
God hath called to thee, " To-day, while it is called
to-day, harden not thy heart." Why not now, with-
out any more delay? Life hath been set before you ;
the joys of heaven have been opened to you in the
gospel ; the certainty of them hath been manifested ;
the certainty of the everlasting torments of the danmed
hath been declared to you ; unless you would have had
a sight of heaven and hell, what could you desire
more? Christ hath been as it were, set forth crucified
before your eyes. Gal. iii. 1. You have been a hun-
dred times told that you are but lost men till you come
unto him ; as oft you have been told of the evil of sin,

120 A CALL TO

of the vanity of sin, the world, and all the pleasures
and wealth it can atford ; of the shortness and uncer-
tainty of your lives, and the endless duration of the
joy ov torment of the life to come. All this, and more
than this have you been told, and told again, even till
you were weary of hearing it, and till you could make
the lighter of it, because you had so often heard it, like
the smith's dog, that is brought by custom to sleep
under the noise of the hammers and when the sparks
fly about his ears ; and though all this have not con-
verted you, yet you are alive, and might have mercy
to this day, if you had but hearts to entertain it. And
now let reason itself be the judge, whether it be the
fault of God or yours, if after this you will be uncon-
verted and be damned. If you die now, it is because
you will die. What should be said more to you, or
what course should be taken that is more likely to pre-
vail ? Are you able to say and make it good, ' We
would fain have been converted and become new
creatures, but we could not ; we would fain have for-
saken our sins, but we could not ; we would have
changed our company, and our thoughts, and our dis-
course, but we could not.' Why could you not, if you
would ? What hindered you but the wickedness of
your hearts ? Who forced you to sin, or wlio held you
back from duty ? Had not you the same teaching, and
time, and liberty to be godly, as your godly neighbours
had ? Why then could not you have been godly as
well as they ? Were the church doors shut against you,
or did you not keep away yourselves, or sit and sleep,
or hear as if you did not hear? Did God put in any
exceptions against you in his word, when he invited
sinners to return; and when he promised mercy to
those that do return? Did he say, 'I will pardon all
that repent except thee ?' Did he shut thee out from
the liberty of his holy worship ? Did he forbid you to
pray to him any more than others ? You know he did
not. God did not drive you away from him, but you
forsook him, and ran away yourselves, and when he
called you to him, you would not come. If God had
excepted you out of the general promise and offer of

THE TJJPfCOKTERTED. 131

mercy, or had said to you, ' Stand off, I will have
nothing to do with* such as you ; pray not to me, for I
will not hear you ; if you repent never so much, and
cry for mercy never so much, I will not regard you.'
If God had left you nothing to trust to but despera-
tion, then you had had a fair excuse ; you might have
said, ' To what end do I repent and turn, when it will
do no good?' But this was not your case : you might
have had Christ to be your Lord and Saviour, your
head and husband, as well as others, and you would
not, because you felt yourselves not sick enough for the
physician ; and because you could not spare your dis-
ease. In your hearts you said as those rebels, Luke
xix. 14. " We will not have this man to reign over us."
Christ would have gathered you under the wings of
his salvation, and you would not. Matt, xxiii. 37.
What desires of your welfare did the Lord express in
his holy word ? With what compassion did he stand
over you, and say, " O that my people had hearkened
unto me, and that they had walked in my ways I"
Psalm xvii. 13. Ixxvi. 13. "O tlj^at there were such a
heart in this people, that they would fear me, and keep
all my commandments always ; that it might be well
with them and with their children for ever !'^ Deut. v.
29. " O that they were wise, that they understood
this, that they would consider their latter end I"
Deut. xxxii. 29. He. would have been your God, and
done all for you that your souls could well desire :
but you loved the world and your flesh above him, and
therefore you would not hearken to him : though you
complimented him, and gave him high titles ; yet when
it came to the closing, you would have none of him.
Psalm Ixxxi. 11. 12. No marvel then if he gave you
up to your own hearts' lusts, and you walked in your
own councils. He condescends to reason, and pleads
the case with you, and asks you, 'What is there in
me, or my service, that you should be so much against
me? What harm have I done thee, sinner? Havel
deserved this unkind dealing at thy hand? Many mer-
cies have I showed thee : for which of them dost thou
thus despise me? Is it I, oris it Satan, that is thy

11

122 A CALL TO

enemy? Is it I, or is it thy carnal self that would undo
thee? Is it a holy life, or a life of -sin that thou hast
cause to fly from? If thou be undone, thou procurest
this to thyself, by forsaking me, the Lord that would
have saved thee.' Jer. ii. 7. " Doth not thy own
wickedness correct thee, and thy sin reprove thee ?
Thou mayst see that it is an evil and bitter thing
that thou hast forsaken me." Jer. ii. 19. " What ini-
quity have you found in me that you have followed
after vanity, and forsaken me ?" Jer. ii. 5, 6. He
calleth out, as it were, to the brutes, to hear the con-
troversy he hath against you. Mic. ii. 3 — 5. " Hear,
O ye mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong
foundations of the earth ; for the Lord hath a contro-
versy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.
O my people, what have I done unto thee, and wherein
have I wearied thee ? testify against me, for I brought
thee up out of Egypt, and redeemed thee." " Hear, O
heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath
spoken. I have nourished and brought up children,
and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth
his owner, and the ass his master's crib ; but Israel
doth not know, my people doth not consider ! Ah sin-
ful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil
doers !" &.c. Is. i. 2 — 4. " Do you thus requite the
Lord, O foolish people, and unwise? Is not he thy fa-
ther that bought thee ? Hath he not made thee, and
established thee ?" Deut. xxxii. 6. When he saw that
you forsook him, even for nothing, and turned away
from your Lord and life, to hunt after the chaff and fea-
thers of the world, he told you of your folly, and called
you to a more profitable employment, Isa. Iv. 1 — 3.
" Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which
is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth
not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that
which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Incline your ear and come unto me ; hear, and your
soul shall Uve ; and I will make an everlasting cove-
nant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Seek
ye the Lord while he may be found : call ye upon him
while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and

THE UNCONVERTED. 123

the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return
unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him ; and
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon," and so
Isa. i. 16 — 18. And when you would not hear, what
complaints have you put him to, charging it on you as
your wilfulness and stubbornness. Jer. ii. 12, 13.
" Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly
afraid ; for my people have committed two evils ; they
have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and
hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold
no water." Many a time hath Christ proclaimed that
free invitation to you, Rev. xxii. 17. "Let him that
is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the
water of life freely." But you put him to complain,
after all his offers : " They will not come to me, that
they may have life." John v. 40. He hath invited
you to feast with him in the kingdom of his grace, and
you have had excuses from your grounds, and your
cattle, and your worldly business ; and when you would
not come, you have said you could not ; and provoked
him to resolve that you should never taste of his sup-
per, Luke xiv. 16 — 25. And who is it the fault of now
but yourselves ? and what can you say is the chief cause
of your damnation but your own wills ? you would be
damned. The whole case is laid open by Christ him-
self, Prov. i. 20 — 33. " Wisdom crieth without, she
uttereth her voice in the streets ; she crieth in the chief
place of the concourse, — How long, ye simple ones,
will ye love simplicity, and the scorners delight in iheir
scorning, and fools hate knowledge ? Turn ye at my
reproof. Behold, I will pour out my Spirit upon you,
I will make known my words unto you. Because I
have called, and ye refused. I have stretched out my
hands and no man regarded ; but ye have set at naught
all my counsels, and would none of my reproofs. I
also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when
your fear cometh : when your fear cometh as desola-
tion, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind ;
when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall
they call upon me, but I will not answer ; they shall
seek me early, but they shall not find me ; for that they

124 A CALL TO

hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the
Lord. They would none of my counsels : they des-
pised all my reproofs ; therefore shall they eat of the
fruit of their own w^ay, and be filled with their own
devices. For the turning away of the simple shall sla}''
them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth to me shall dwell safely, and
shall be quiet from the fear of evil." I thought best to
recite the whole text at large to you, because it doth
so fully show the cause of the destruction of the wicked.
It is not because God would not teach them, but be-
cause they would not learn. It is not because God
would not call them, but because they would not turn
at his reproof. Their wilfulness is their undoing.

Use. — From what hath been said, you may further
learn these folio winor things :

1. From hence you may see, not only what blas-
phemy and impiety it is to lay the blame of men's
destruction upon God ; but also 1k)w unfit these wicked
wretches are to bring in such a charge against their
Maker ! They cry out upon God, and say he gives
them not grace, and his threatenings are severe, and
God forbid that all should be condemned that be not
converted and sanctified ; and they think it hard mea-
sure that a short sin should have an endless suffering ;
and if they be damned, they say they cannot help it,
when in the mean time they are busy about their owa
destruction, even the destruction of their own souls,
and will not be persuaded to hold their hands. They
think God were cruel, if he should condemn them ;
and yet they are so cruel to themselves, that they will
run into the fire of hell, when God hath told them it is
a little before them ; and neither entreaties, nor threat-
enings, nor any thing that can be said, will stop them.
We see them almost undone ; their careless, worldly,
fleshly lives tell us that they are in the power of the
devil ; we know, if they die before they are converted,
all the world cannot save them; and knowing the
uncertainty of their lives, we are afraid every day lest
they drop into the fire : and therefore we entreat them

THE UNCONVERTED. 125

to pity their own souls, and not to undo themselves
when mercy is at hand ; and they will not hear us.
We entreat them to cast away their sin, and come to
Christ without delay, and to have some mercy oil
themselves, but they will have none ; and yet they
think that God must be cruel it' he condemn them. O
wilful miserable sinners ! it is not God that is cruel to
you, it is you that are cruel to yourselves ; you are
told you must turn or burn, and yet you turn not. You
are told that if you will needs keep your sins, you shall
keep the curse of God with them; and yet you will
keep them. You are told that there is no way to hap-
piness but by holiness ; and yet you will not be holy.
What would you have God say more to you ? What
v/ould you have him do with his mercy ? He ofTereth
it to you, and you will not have it. You are in the
ditch of sin, and misery, and lie would give you his
hand to help you out, and you refuse his help; he
would cleanse you of your sins, and you had rather
keep them ; you love your lust, and love your gluttony
and sports, and drunkenness, and will not let them go ;
would you have him bring you to heaven whether
you will or not ? Or would you have him bring you
and 3^our sins to heaven together? Why, that is an
impossibility ; you may as well expect he should turn
the sun into darkness. AVhat! an unsanctified fleshly
heart be in heaven ? it cannot be. There entereth
nothing that is unclean. Rev. xxi. 17. " For what
communion hath Hght with darkness, or Christ with
Belial !" 2 Cor. vi. i'4, 15. "All the day long hath he
stretched out his hands to a disobedient and gainsaying
people." Rom. x. 21. What will you do now? Will
you cry to God for mercy ? Why, God calleth upon
you to have mercy upon yourselves, and you will not!
Ministers see the poisoned cup in the drunkard's hand,
and tell him there is poison in it, and desire him to
have mercy on his soul, and forbear, and he will not
hear us ! Drink it he must and will ; he loves it, and
therefore, thoufrh hell comes next, he saith he can-
not help it. What should one say to such men as
these? We tell the ungodly careless worldling, it is

11*

126 A CALL TO

not such a life that will serve the turn, or ever bring
you to heaven. If a bear were at your back, you
would mend your pace ; and when the curse of God
is at your back, and Satan and hell are at your back,
will you not stir, but ask, What needs all this ado ?
Is an immortal soul of no more worth? O have mercy
upon yourselves ! But they will have no mercy on
themselves, nor once regard us. We tell them the
end will be bitter. Who can dwell with the everlast-
ing fire ? And yet they will have no mercy on them-
selves. And yet will these shameless transgressors
say, that God is more merciful than to condemn them ;
when it is themselves that cruelly and unmercifully run
upon condemnation ; and if we should go to them,
and entreat them, we cannot stop them; if we should
fall on our knees to them, we cannot stop them, but to
hell they will go, and yet will not believe that they
are going thither. If we beg of them for the sake of
God that made them, and preserveth them ; for the
sake of Christ, that died for them ; for the sake of their
own souls, to pity themselves, and go no further in
the way to hell, but come to Christ while his arms are
open, and enter into the state of life while the door
stands open, and now take mercy while mercy may be
had, they will not be persuaded, li^ we should die for
it, we cannot so much as get them now and then to
consider with themselves of the matter, and turn; and
yet they can say, ' I hope God will be merciful.' Did
you never consider what he saith, Isa. xxvii. 11. "It
is a people of no understanding ; therefore, he that
made them will not have mercy on them, and he that
formed them will show them no favour." If another
man will not clothe you when you are naked, and feed
you when you are hungry, you will say he is unmerci-
ful. If he should cast you into prison, or beat and tor-
ment you, you would say he is unmerciful ; and yet
you will do a thousand times more against yourselves,
even cast away both soul and body for ever, and never
complain of your own unmercifulness ! Yea, and God
that waited upon you all the while with his mercy,
must be taken to be unmerciful, if he punish you after

THE UNCONVERTED. 127

all this. Unless the holy God of heaven will give these
wretches leave to trample upon his Son's blood, and
with the Jews, as it were, again to spit in his face,
and do despite to the spirit of grace, and make a jest
of sin, and a mock at holiness, and set more light by
saving mercy than by the filth of their fleshly plea-
sures ; and unless, after all this, he will save them by
the mercy which they cast away and would have none
of, God himself must be called unmerciful by them I
But he will be justified when he judgeth, and he will
not stand or fall at the bar of a sinful worm.

I know there are many particular cavils that are
brought by them against the Lord ; but I shall not
here stay to answer them particularly, having done it
already in my Treatise of Judgment^ to which I shall
refer them. Had the disputing part of the world been
as careful to avoid sin and destruction, as they have
been busy in searching after the cause of them, and
forward indirectly to impute it to God, they might
have exercised their wits more profitably, and have
less wronged God, and sped better themselves. When
so ugly a monster as sin is within us, and so heavy a
thing as punishment is on us, and so dreadful a thing
as hell is before us, one would think it should be an
easy question, who is in the fault, whether God or man
be the principal or culpable cause ? Some men are
such favourable judges of themselves, that they are
more prone to accuse the infinite perfection and good-
ness itself, than their own hearts, and imitate their first
parents, that said, " The serpent tempted me ; and
the woman that thou gavest me, gave unto me, and I
did eat ;" secretly implying that God was the cause.
So say they ; " The understanding that thou gavest
me was unable to discern ; the will that thou gavest
me was unable to make a better choice ; the objects
which thou didst set before me did entice me ; the
temptations which thou didst permit to assault me pre-
vailed against me." And some are so loth to think
that God can make a self-deiermining creature, that
they dare not deny him that which they take to be his
prerogative, to be the determiner of the will in every

128 K CALL TO

sin, as the first efficient immediate physical cause ; and
many could be content to acquit God from so much
causing of evil, if they could but reconcile it with his
being the chief cause of good ; as if truths would be no
lonfirer truths than we are able to see them in their
perfect order and coherence : because our ravelled wits
cannot see them right together, nor assign each truth its
proper place, we presume to conclude that some must
be cast away. This is the fruit of proud self-conceit-
edness, when men receive not God's truth as a child
his less(m, in holy submission to the omniscience of our
Teacher, but censurers, that are too wise to learn.

Object. But we cannot convert ourselves till God con-
vert us; we can do nothing without his grace; it is
not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, but in
God that showeth mercy.

Answ. 1. God hath two degrees of mercy to show;
the mercy of conversion first, and the mercy of salva-
tion last ; the latter he Avill give to none but those that
will and run, and hath promised it to them only. The
former is to make them willing that are unwillins^ : and
though your own willingness and endeavours deserve
not his grace, yet your wilful refusal deserveth that it
should be denied to you. Your disability is your very
unwillingness itself, which excuseth not your sin,
but maketh it the greater. You could turn if you were
but truly willing ; and if your wills themselves are so
corrupted, that nothing but effectual grace will move
them, you have more cause to seek for that grace,
and yield to it, and do what you can in the use of
means, and not neglect it, and set against it. Do what
you are able first, and then complain of God for deny-
ing you grace, if you have cause.

Object. But you seem to intimate all this while that
man hath free will.

Answ. 1. The dispute about free will is beyond your
capacity ; I shall therefore now trouble you with no
.more but this about it. Your will is naturally a free,
that is, a self-determining faculty ; but it is viciously
inclined, and backward to do good ; and therefore we
see, by sad experience, that it hath not a virtuous

THE UNCONVERTED. 129

moral freedom : but that it is the wickedness of it
which deserveth the puaishment ; and I pray you,
let us not befool ourselves with opinions. Let the case
be your own. If you had an enemy that was so mali-
cious as to fall upon you, and beat you, or take away
the lives of your children, would you excuse him, be-
cause he said, I have not free will ; it is my nature ; I
cannot choose unless God give me grace ? If you had
a servant that robbed you, would you take such an
answer from him ? Might not every thief and mur-
derer that is hanged at the assize give such an answer :
I have not fj-ee will ; I cannot change my own heart ;
what can I do without God's grace ? and shall they
therefore be acquitted? If not, why then should you
think to be acquitted for a course of sin against the
Lord ?

2. From hence also you may observe these three
things together : — 1. What a subtle tempter Satan is.
2. What a deceitful thing sin is. 3. What a foolish
creature corrupted man is. A subtle tempter indeed, that
can persuade the greatest part of the world to go into
everlasting fire, when they have so many warnings
and dissuasives as they have ! A deceitful thing is sin
indeed, that can bewitch so many thousands to part
with everlasting life, for a thing so base and utterly
unworthy ! A foolish creature is man indeed, that will
be cheated of his salvation for nothing, yea, for a
known nothing ; and that by an enemy, and a known
enemy. You would think it impossible that any man
in his wits should be persuaded for a httle to cast him-
self into the fire, or water, or into a coal-pit, to the
destruction of his life ; and yet men will be enticed to
cast themselves into hell. If your natural lives were
in your own hands, that you should not die till you
would kill yourselves, how long would most of you
live.'' And yet when your everlasting life is so far in
your own hands under God, that you cannot be undone
till you undo yourselves, how few of you will forbear
your own undoing ? Ah, what a silly thing is man !
and what a bewitching and befooling thing is sin !

3. From hence also you may learn, that it is no great

130 A CA.LL TO

wonder if wicked men be hinderers of others in the
way to heaven, and would have as many unconverted
as they can, and would draw them into sin, and keep
them in it. Can you expect that they should have
mercy on others, that have none upon themselves? and
that they should hesitate much at the destruction of
others, that hesitate not to destroy themselves ? They
do no worse by others than they do by themselves.

4. Lastly, You may hence learn that the greatest
enemy to man is himself; and tiie greatest judgment
in this life that can befall him, is to be left to himself;
that the great work that grace hath to do, is to save
us from ourselves ; that the greatest accusations and
complaints of men should be against themselves ; that
the greatest work that we have to do ourselves, is to
resist ourselves ; and the greatest enemy that we should
daily pray, and watch, and strive against, is our own
carnal hearts and wills ; and the greatest part of your
work, if you would do good to others, and help them
to heaven, is to save them from themselves, even from
their blind understandings and corrupted wills, and
perverse affections, and violent passions, and unruly
senses. I only name all these for brevity's sake, and
leave them to your further consideration.

Well, sirs, now we have found out the great delin-
quent and murderer of souls, (even men's selves, their
own wills,) what remains but that you judge accord-
ing to the evidence, and confess this great iniquity
before the Lord, and be humbled for it, and do so no
more? To these three ends distinctly, I shall add a
few words more. 1. Further to convince you. 2. To
humble you. And, 3. To retbrm you if there yet be
any hope.

1. We know so much of the exceeding gracious
nature of God, who is willing to do good, and delight-
eth to show mercy, that we have no reason to suspect
him of being the culpable cause of our death, or to call
him cruel ; he made all good, and he preserveth and
maintaineth all: the eyes of all wait upon him, and he
giveth them their meat in due season ; he openeth his
hand, and satisfieth the dfisires of all the living. Psalm

THE UWCOKVEHTED. 131

cxlv. 15, 16. He is not only righteous in all his ways,
and therefore will deal justly ; and holy in all his worksj
and therefore not the author of sin ; but he is also good
to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.
Psalm cxlv. 17, 19.

But as for man, we know his mind is dark, his will
perverse, and his affections carry him so headlong, that
he is fitted by his folly and corruption to such a work
as the destroying of himself. If you saw a lamb lie
killed in the way, would you sooner suspect the sheep,
or the dog, or the wolf, to be the author of it, if they
both stand by ? Or if you see a house broken open
and the people murdered, would you sooner suspect
the prince or judge, that is wise and just, and had no
need, or a known thief or murderer ? I say therefore,
as James i. 13 — 15, "Let no man say, when he is
tempted, that he is tempted of God, for God cannot be
tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man to draw
him to sin ; but every man is tempted, when he is
drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when
lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin ; and sin,
when it is finished, bringeth forth death." You see
here that sin is the offspring of your own concupiscence,
and not to be charged on God, and that death is the
offspring of your own sin, and the fruit which it will
yield you as soon as it is ripe. You have a treasure
of evil in yourselves, as a spider hath of poison, from
whence you are bringing forth hurt to yourselves, and
spinning such webs as entangle your own souls. Your
nature shows it is you that are the cause.

2. It is evident that you are your own destroyers, in
that you are so ready to entertain any temptation
almost that is offered you. Satan is scarcely more
ready to move you to any evil, than you are ready to
hear, and to do as he would have you. If he would
tempt your understanding to error and prejudice, you
yield. If he would hinder you from good resolutions,
it is soon done. If he Avould cool any good desires or
affections, it is soon done. If he would kindle any lust,
or vile affections and desires in you, it is soon done. If
he will put you on to evil thoughts, or deeds, you are

132 A CALL TO

SO free, that he needs no rod or spur If he would
keep you from holy thoughts, and words, and ways, a
little doth it, you need no curb. You examine not hia
suo^gestions, nor resist them with any resolution, nor
cast them out as he casts them in, nor quench the
sparks which he endeavoureth to kindle ; but you set
in with him, and meet him half way, and embrace his
motions, and tempt him to tempt you. And it is easy
to catch such greedy fish that are ranging for a bait,
and will take the bare hook.

3. Your destruction is evidently of yourselves, in that
you resist all that would help to save you, and would
do you good, or hinder you from undoing yourselves.
God would help and save you by his word, and you
resist it : it is too strict for you. He would sanctify
you by his Spirit, and you resist and quench it. If
any man reprove you for your sin, you fly in his face
with evil words : and if he would draw you to a holy
life, and tell you of your present danger, you give him
little thanks, but either bid him look to himself, he shall
not answer for you ; else, at best, you put him off with
heartless thanks, and will not turn when you are per-
suaded. If ministers would privately instruct and help
you, you will not come to them ; your unhumbled souls
feel but little need of their help ; if they would catechise
you, you are too old to be catechised, though, you
are not too old to be ignorant and unholy. Whatever
they can say to you for your good, you are so self-con-
ceited and wise in your own eyes, even in the depth of
ignorance, that you will regard nothing thai agreeth not
with your present conceits, but contradict your teachers,
as if you were wiser than they ; you resist all that they
can say to you by your ignorance, and wilfulness, and
foolish cavils, and shifting evasions, and unthankful re-
jections, so that no good that is offered can find any wel-
come acceptance and entertainment with you.

4. Moreover, it is apparent that you are self-destroy-
ers, in that you " draw the matter of your sin and
destruction even from the blessed God himself" You
like not the contrivances oi^ his wisdom ; you like not
his justice, but take it for cruelty ; you like not his

THE UjCf CONVERTED. 133

holiness, but are ready to think he is such a one as
yourselves, Psalm 1. 21. and makes as light of sin as
you ; you like not his truth, but would have his threat-
enings, even his peremptory threatenings, prove false ;
and his goodness, which you seem most highly to ap-
prove, you partly resist, as it would lead you to repent-
ance ; and partly abuse, to the strengthening of your
sin, as if you might more freely sin because God is
merciful, and because his grace doth so much abound.

5. Yea, you fetch destruction from the blessed Re-
deemer, and death from the Lord of life himself! and
nothing more emboldeneth you in sin, than that Christ
hath died for you ; as if now the danger of death were
over, and you might boldly venture ; as if Christ were
become a servant to Satan and your sins, and must
wait upon you while you are abusing him ; and because
he is become the Physician of souls, and is able to save
to the uttermost all that come to God by him, you
think he must suffer you to refuse his help, and throw
away his medicines, and must save you whether you
will come to God by him or not : so that a great part
of your sins arc occasioned by your bold presumption
upon the death of Christ, — not considering that he
came to redeem his people from their sins, and to sanc-
tify them a pecuUar people to himself, and to conform
them in holiness to the image of their heavenly Father,
and to their head. Mat. i. 21. Tit. ii. 14. 1 Pet. i. 15,
16. Col. iii. 10, 11. Phil. iii. 9, 10.

6. You also fetch your own destruction from all the
providences and works of God. When you think of
his eternal fore-knowledge and decrees, it is to harden
you in your sin, or possess your minds with quarrelling
thoughts, as if his decrees might spare you the labour
of repentance and a holy life, or else were the cause of
sin and death. If he afflict you, you repine ; if he
prosper you, you the more forget him, and are the
more backward to the thoughts of the life to come. If
the wicked prosper, you forget the end that will set all
reckonings straight, and are ready to think it is as good
to be wicked as godly *, and thus you draw your death
from all.

12

134 A CALL TO

7. And the like you do from all the creatures and
mercies of God to you. He giveth them to you as the
tokens of his love and furniture for his service, and
you turn them against him, to the pleasing of your
flesh. You eat and drink to please your appetite, and
not for the glory of God, and to enable you to perform
his work. Your clothes you abuse to pride ; your
riches draw your hearts from heaven, Phil. iii. 18 ; your
honours and applause piifFyou up; if you have health
and strength, it makes you more secure, and forget
your end. Yea, other men's mercies are abused by
you to your hurt. If you see their honours and dig-
nity, you are provoked to envy them ; if you see their
riches, you are ready to covet them; if you look upon
beauty, you are stirred up to lusi ; and it is well if
godliness be not an eye-sore to you.

8. The very gifts that God bestovveth on you, and
the ordinances of grace which he hath instituted for
his church, you turn to sin. If you have better parts
than others, you grow proud and self-conceited ; if
you have but common gifts, you take them for special
grace. You take the bare hearing of your duty lor so
good a work, as if it would excuse you for not obeying
it. Your prayers are turned into sin, because you " re-
gard iniquity in your hearts," Ps. Ixvi. 18. and depart
not from iniquity when you call on the name of the
Lord. 2 Tim. ii. 19. Your " prayers are abominable,
because you turn away your ear from hearing the law,"
Prov. xxviii. 9, and are more ready to offer the sacri^
fice of fools, thinking you do God some special service,
than to hear his word and obey it. Eccles. v. 1.

9. Yea, the persons that you converse with, and all
their actions, you make the occasions of your sin and
destruction ; if they live in the fear of God, you hate
them. If they live ungodly, you imitate them; if the
wicked are many, you think you may the more boldly
follow them; if the godly be few, you are the more
emboldened to despise them. If they walk exactly, you
think they are too precise ; if one of them fall in a par-
ticular temptation, you stumble and turn away from
holiness, because that others are imperfectly holy ; as

THE UNCONVERTED. 135

if you were warranted to break your necks, because
some others have by their heedlessness strained a sinew,
or put out a bone. If a hypocrite discover himself, you
say ' They are all alike,' and think yourselves as honest
as the best. A professor can scarce slip into any
miscarriage, but because he cuts his finger, you think
you may boldly cut your throats. If ministers deal
plainly with you, you say they rail. If they speak gently
or coldly, you either sleep under them, or are little
more affected than the seats you sit upon. If any
errors creep into the church, some greedily en-
tertain them, and others reproach the Christian doc-
trine for them, which is most against them. And if we
would draw you from any ancient rooted error, which
can but plead two, or three, or six, or seven hundred
years' custom, you are as much offended with a motion
for reformation as if you were to lose your life by it,
and hold fast old errors, while you cry out against new
ones. Scarce a difference can arise among the minis-
ters of the gospel, but you will fetch your own death
from it; and you will not hear or at least not obey, the
unquestionable doctrine ol'any of those that agree not
with your conceits. One will not hear a minister, be-
cause he saith the Lord's prayer ; and another will
not hear him because he doth not use it. One will
not hear tfiem that are for episcopacy ; and another
will not hear them that are against it. And thus I
might show it you in many other cases, how you turn
all that comes near you to your own destruction ; so
clear is it that the ungodly are self-destroyers, and that
their perdition is of themselves,

Methinks now, upon the consideration of what is
said, and the review of your own ways, you should be-
think you what you have done, and be ashamed and
deeply humbled to remember it. If you be not, I pray
you consider these following truths : —

1. To be your own destroyers, is to sin against the
deepest principle in your natures, even the principle of
self-preservation. Every thing naturally desireth or in-
clineth to its own felicity, welfare, or perfection ; and
will you set yourselves to your own destruction?

136 A CAI.L TO

When you are commanded to love your neighbours as
yourselves, it is supposed that you naturally love your-
selves ; but if you love your neighbours no better than
yourselves, it seems you would have all the world to be
damned.

2. How extremely do you cross your own intentions !
I know you intend not your own damnation, even when
you are procuring it; you think you are but doing
good to yourselves, by gratifying the desires of your
flesh. But, alas, it is but as a draught of cold water in
a burning fever, or as the scratching of an itching
wild-fire, which increaseth the disease and pain. If
indeed you would have pleasure, profit, or honour, seek
them where they are to be found, and do not hunt after
them in the way to hell.

3. What pity is it that you should do that against
yourselves which none else on earth or in hell can do !
If all the world were combined against you, or all the
devils in hell were combined against you, they could
not destroy you without yourselves, nor make you sin
but by your own consent ; and will you do that against
yourselves which no one else can do ? You have hate-
ful thoughts of the devil, because he is your enemy, and
endeavoureth your destruction ; and will you be worse
than devils to yourselves ? Why, thus it is with you,
if you had hearts to understand it; when you run into
sin, and run from godliness, and refuse to turn at the
call of God, you do more against your own souls than
men or devils could do besides ; and if you should set
yourselves and bend your wits to do yourselves the
greatest mischief, you could not devise to do a greater.

4. You are false to the trust that God hath reposed
in you. He hath much intrusted you with your own
salvation ; and will you betray your trust ? He hath
set you, with all diligence, to keep your hearts ; and is
this the keeping of them. Prov. iv. 23.

5. You do even forbid all others to pity you, when
you will have no pity on yourselves. If you cry to God
in the day of your calamity, for mercy, mercy — what
can you expect, but that he should thrust you aAvay,
and say, ' Nay, thou wouldst not have mercy on thy-

THE UNCONVERTED. ]37

self; who brought this upon thee but thy own wilful-
ness?' And if your brethren see you everlastingly in
misery, how shall they pity you that were your own
destroyers, and would not be dissuaded ?

6. It will everlastingly make you your own tormen-
tors in hell, to think that you brought yourselves wil-
fully to that misery. O whai a piercing thought it will
be for ever to think with yourselves that this was your
own doing ! that you were warned of this day, and
warned again, but it would not do ; that you wilfully
sinned, and wilfully turned away from God ! that you
had time as well as others, but you abused it ; you had
teachers as well as others, but you refused their in-
struction ; you had holy examples, but you did not
imitate them; you were offered Christ, and grace,^
and glory, as well as others, but you had more mind of
your fleshly pleasures ! you had a price in your hands,
but you had not a heart to lay it out. Prov. xvii. 16.
Can it fail to torment you to think of this your present
folly ? O that your eyes were open to^ see what
you have done in the wilful wronging of your own
souls ! and that you better understood these words of
God, Prov. viii. 33 — 36. " Hear instruction and be
wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that hear-
eth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the
posts of my doors : for whoso findeth me findeth life,
and shall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that sin-
ncth against me, wrongeth his own soul. All they that
hate me love death."

And now I am come to the conclusion of this work,
my heart is troubled to think how I shall leave you, lest
after this the flesh should still deceive you, and the
world and the devil should keep you asleep, and I should
leave you as I found you, till you awake in hell.
Though in care of your poor souls, I am afraid of
this, as knowing the obstinacy of a carnal heart ; yet I
can say with the prophet Jeremiah, xvii. 16. "I have
not desired the woful day, thou Lord knowest." I have
not with James and John desired that " fire might
come from heaven" to consume them that refused Jesus
Christ. Luke ix. 54. But it is the preventing of the

12*

133 A CALL TO

eternal fire that I have been all this while endeavour-
ing : and O that it had been a needless work! That
God and conscience might have been as willing to spare
me this labour as some of you could have been. Dear
friends, I am so loth that you should lie in everlasting
fire, and be shut out of heaven, if it be possible to pre-
vent it, that I shall once more ask you, what do you
now resolve ? Will you turn or die ? I look upon you
as a physician on his patient, in a dangerous disease,
that saith to him, ' Though you are far gone, take but
this medicine, and forbear but those few things that are
hurtful to you, and I dare warrant your life; but if you
will not do this, you are but a dead man.' What
would you think of such a man, if the physician, and
all the friends he hath, cannot persuade him to take
one medicine to save his life, or to forbear one or two
poisonous things that would kill him ? This is your
case. As far as you are gone in sin, do but now turn
and come to Christ, and take his remedies, and your
souls shall live. Cast up your deadly sins by repent-
ance, and return not to the poisonous vomit any more,
and you shall do well. But yet, if it were your bodies
that we had to deal with, we might partly know what
to do for you. Though you would not consent, yet
you might be held or bound while the medicine were
poured down your throats, and hurtful things might be
kept from you. But about your souls it cannot be so;
we cannot convert you against your wills. There is no
carrying madmen to heaven in fetters. You may be
condemned against your wills, because you sinned with
your wills ; but you cannot be saved against your
wills. The wisdom of God has thought meet to lay
men's salvation or destruction exceedingly much upon
the choice of their own will, that no man shall come
to heaven that chose not the way to heaven ; and no
man shall come to hell, but shall be forced to say, 'I
have the thing I chose ; my own will did bring me
hither.' Now, if I could but get you to be wilhng, to
be thoroughly, and resolvedly, and habitually willing,
the work were more than half done. And alas I must
we lose our friends, and must they lose their God, their

THE UNCONVERTED. 139

happiness, their souls, for want of this ? O God forbid I
It is a strange thing to me that men are so inhuman
and stupid in the greatest matters, who in lesser things
are civil and courteous, and good neighbours. For
aught I know, I have the love of all, or almost all my
neighbours, so far, that if I should send to any man in
the town, or parish, or country, and request a reason-
able courtesy of them, they would grant it me ; and
yet when I come to request of them the greatest mat-
ter in the world, for themselves, and not for me, I can
have nothing of many of them but a patient hearing.
I know not whether people think a man in the pulpit
is in good earnest or not, and means as he speaks ; for
I think I have few neighbours, but, if I were sitting
familiarly with them, and telling them what I have
seen and done, or known in the world, they themselves
shall see and know in the world to come, they would
believe me, and regard what I say ; but when I tell
them, from the infallible word of God, what they them-
selves shall see and know in the world to come, they
show by their lives, that they do either not believe it or
not much regard it. If I met any one of them on the
way, and told them yonder is a coal-pit, or there is a
quicksand, or there are thieves lying in wait for you, I
could persuade them to turn by ; but when I tell them
that Satan lieth in wait for them, and that sin is poison
to them, and that hell is not a matter to be jested with,
they go on as if they did not hear me. Truly, neigh-
bours, I am in as good earnest with you in the pulpit
as I am in my familiar discourse ; and if ever you will
regard me, I beseech you let it be here. I think there
is not a man of you all, but, if my own soul lie at your
wills, you would be willing to save it, though I cannot
promise that you would leave your sins for it. Tell
me, thou drunkard, art thou so cruel to me, that thou
wouldst not forbear a few cups of drink, if thou knew-
est it would save my soul from hell ? Hadst thou ra-
ther that I did burn there for ever than thou shouldst
live soberly as other men do ? If so, may I not say,
thou art an unmerciful monster, and not a man ? If
I came hungry or naked to one of your doors, would

140 A CALL TO

you not part with more than a cup of drink to relieve
me ? I am confident you would. If it were to save
my life, I know you would some of you hazard your
own ; and yet will you not he entreated to part with
your sensual pleasures for your own salvation ?
Wouldst thou forheara hundred cups of drink, to save
my life, if it were in thy power, and wilt thou not do
it to save thy own soul ? I profess to you, sirs, 1 am
as hearty a beggar with you this day for the saving
of your own souls, as I would be for my own supply,
if I were forced to come begging to your doors ; and
therefore if you would hear me then, hear me now.
If you would pity me then, be entreated now to pity
yourselves. I do again beseech you, as if it were on
my bended knees, that you would hearken to your
Redeemer, and turn, that you may live. All you that
have lived in ignorance, and carelessness, and pre-
sumption to this day ; all you that have been drowned
in the cares of the world, and have no mind of God,
and eternal glory; all you that are enslaved to your
fleshly desires of meats and drinks, sports and lusts ;
and all you that know not the necessity of holiness,
and never were acquainted with the sanctifying work
of the Holy Ghost upon your souls ; that never em-
braced your blessed Redeemer by a lively faith, and
with admiring and thankful apprehensions of his love ;
and that never felt a higher estimation of God and
heaven, and heartier love to them than to your fleshly
prosperity, and the things below, — 1 earnestly beseech
you, not only for my sake, but for the Lord's sake, and
for your soul's sake, that you go not one day longer in
your former condition, but look about you, and cry to
God for converting grace, that you may be made new
creatures, and may escape the plagues that are a httle
before you. And if ever you will do any thing for me,
grant me this request, to turn from your evil ways and
live. Deny me any thing that ever I shall ask you for
myself, if you will but grant me this ; and if you deny
me this, I care not for any thing else that you would
grant me. Nay, as ever j'^ou will do any thing at the
request of the Lord that made you and redeemed you,

THE UNCOXVERTED. 141

deny him not this ; for if you deny him this, he cares
for nothing that you shall grant him. As ever you
would have him hear your prayers, and grant your re-
quests, and do for you at the hour of death and day of
judgment, or in any of your extremities, deny not his
request now in the day of your prosperity. O, sirs,
believe it, death and judgment, and heaven and hell,
are other matters when you come near them, than
they seem to carnal eyes afar off: then you would
hear such a message as I bring you with more awak-
ened regardful hearts.

Well, though I cannot hope so well of all, I will
hope that some of you are by this time purposing to
turn and live ; and that you are ready to ask me, as the
Jews did Peter, (Acts ii. 37.) when they were pricked
in their hearts, and said, " Men and brethren, what
shall we do ?" How might we come to be truly convert-
ed ? We are willing, if we did but know our duty.
God forbid that we should choose destruction, by re-
fusing conversion as hitherto we have done.

If these be the thoughts and purposes of your hearts,
I say of you as God did of a promising people, Deut.
V. 28, 29. " They have well said all that they have
spoken : O that there was such a heart in them, that
they would fear me, and keep all my commandments
always !" Your purposes are good : O that there
were but a heart in you to perform these purposes !
And in hope hereof I shall gladly give you direction
what to do, and that but briefly, that you may the
easier remember it for your practice.

Direction 1. — If you would be converted and saved,
labour to understand the necessity and true nature of
conversion : for what,, and from what, and to what,
and by what it is that you must turn.

Consider in what a lamentable condition you are till
the hour of your conversion, that you may see it is not
a state to be rested in. You are under the guilt of all
the sins that ever you committed, and under the wrath
of God and the curse of his law : you are bond slaves
to the devil, and daily employed in his work against

142 A CALL TO

the Lord, yourselves, and others .• you are spiritually
dead and deformed, as being devoid of the holy life,
and nature, and image of the Lord. You are unfit
for any holy work, and do nothing that is truly pleas
ing to God. You are without any promise or assu-
rance of his protection, and live in continual danger of
his justice, not knowing what hour you may be snatch-
ed away to hell, and most certain to be lost if you die
in that condition ; and nothing short of conversion can
prevent it. Whatever civilities or amendments are
short of true conversion, will never procure the saving
of your souls. Keep the true sense of this natural
misery, and so of the necessity of conversion on your
hearts.

And then you must understand what it is to be con-
verted ; it is to have a new heart or disposition, and a
new conversation.

Quest. I. For what must we turn ?

*dnsw. For these ends following, which you may
attain : I. You shall immediately be made living mem-
bers of Christ, and have an interest in him, and be re-
newed after the image of God, and be adorned with all
his graces, and quickened with a new and heavenly
life, and saved from the tyranny of Satan, and the do-
minicm of sin, and be justified by the curse of the law,
and have the pardon of all the sins of your whole lives,
and be accepted of God, and made his sons, and have
liberty with boldness to call him Father, and go to him
by prayer in all your needs, with a promise of accep-
tance ; you shall have the Holy Ghost to dwell in you,
to sanctify and guide you ; you shall have part in
the brotherhood, communion, and prayers of the
saints ; you shall be fitted for God's service, and be
freed from the dominion of sin, and be useful and a
blessing to the place where you live ; and shall have
the promise of this life and that which is to come ; you
shall want nothing that is truly good for you, and your
necessary afflictions you will be enabled to bear ; you
may have some taste of communion with God in the
Spirit, especially in all holy ordinances, where God
prepareth a feast for your souls ; you shall be heirs oT

THE UNCONVERTED. 143

heaven while you live on earth, and may foresee by
faith the everlasting glory, and so may live and die in
peace ; and you shall never be so low but your happi-
ness will be incomparably greater than your misery.

How precious is every one of these blessings, which
I do but briefly name, and which in this life you may

receive

And then, 2. At death your souls shall go to Christ,
and at the day of judgment both soul and body shall
be glorified and justified, and enter into your Master's
joy, where your happiness will consist in these par-
ticulars :

1. You shall be perfected yourselves; your mortal
bodies shall be made immortal, and the corruptible
shall put on incorruption ; you shall no more be hun-
gry, or thirsty, or weary, or sick, nor shall you need
to fear either shame, or sorrow, or death, or hell ; your
souls shall be perfectly freed from sin, and perfectly
fitted for the knowledge, and love, and praises of the
Lord.

2. Your employment shall be to behold your glorified
Redeemer, with all your holy fellow citizens of heaven,
and to see the glory of the most blessed God, and to
love him perfectly, and be beloved by him, and to
praise him everlastingly.

3. Your glory will contribute to the glory of the
New Jerusalem, the city of the living God ; which is
more than to have a private felicity to yourselves.

4. Your glory will contribute to the glorifying of
your Redeemer, who will everlastingly be magnified
and pleased in that your are the travail of his soul ; and
this is more than the glorifying of yourselves.

5. And the eternal Majesty, the living God, will be
glorified in your glory, both as he is magnified by your
praises, and as he communicateth of his glory and
goodness to you, and as he is pleased in you, and in
the accomplishment of his glorious work, in the glory
of the New Jerusalem, and of his Son.

All this the poorest beggar of you that is converted,
shall certainly and endlessly enjoy.
II. You see for what you must turn : next you must

144 A CALL TO

understand from what you must turn ; and this i«, in
a word, from your carnal self, which is the end of all
the unconverted : — from the flesh that would be pleased
before God, and would still be enticing you ; — from the
world, that is the bait; and from the devil, that is the
angler for souls, and the deceiver. And so from all
known and wilful sins.

III. Next you must know to what end you must
turn ; and that is, to God as your end ; to Christ as
the way to the Father ; to holiness as the way ap-
pointed you by Christ ; and to the use af all the helps
and means of grace afforded you by the Lord.

IV. Lastly, You must know by what you must turn ;
and that is by Christ, as the only Redeemer and In-
tercessor ; and by the Holy Ghost, as the Sanctifier ;
and by the word, as his instrument or means ; and by
faith and repentance, as the means and duties on
your part to be performed. All this is of necessity.

Direction II. — If you will be converted and saved,
"be much in serious secret consideration. Inconsider-
ateness undoes the Avorld. Withdraw yourselves oft
into retired secrecy, and there bethink you of the end
why you were made, of the hfe you have lived, of the
time you have lost, the sins you have committed ; of
the love and sufferings, and fulness of Christ ; of the
danger you are in ; of the nearness of death and
judgment ; of the certainty and excellency of the joys
of heaven, and of the certainty and terror of the tor-
ments of hell, and the eternity of both ; and of the
necessity of conversion and a holy life. Absorb your
hearts in such considerations as these.

Direction III. — If you will be converted and saved,
attend upon the word of God, which is the ordinary
means. Read the Scripture, or hear it read, and other
holy writings that do apply it ; constantly attend on
the public preaching of the word. As God will light
the world by the sun, and not by himself without it, sa
will he convert and save men by his ministers, who are
the lights of the world. Acts xxvi. 17, 18. Matt. v. 14.

THE UNCONVERTED. 145

When he had miraculously humbled Paul, he sent him
to Ananias, Acts ix. 10 ; and when he had sent an
angel to Cornelius, it was but to bid him send for Peter,
who must tell him what to believe and do.

Direction IV. — Betake yourselves to God in a
course of earnest constant prayer. Confess and la-
ment your former lives, and beg his grace to illuminate
and convert you. Beseech him to pardon what is
past, and to give you his Spirit, and change your
hearts and lives, and lead you in his ways, and save
you from temptation. Pursue this work daily, and be
not weary of it.

Direction V. — Presently give over your known and
wilful sins. Make a stand, and go that way no farther.
Be drunk no more, but avoid the very occasion of it.
Cast away your lusts and sinful pleasures with detes-
tation. Curse, and swear, and rail no more ; and if
you have wronged any, restore, as Zaccheus did ; if
you will commit again your old sins, what blessing can
you expect on the means for conversion .''

Direction VI. — Presently, if possible, change your
company, if it hath hitherto been bad ; not by forsak-
ing your necessary relations, but your unnecessary sin-
ful companions ; and join yourselves with those that
fear the Lord, and inquire of them the way to heaven.
Acts ix. 19, 26. Psalm xv. 4.

Direction VII. — Deliver up yourselves to the Lord
Jesus, as the physician of your souls, that he may
pardon you by his blood, and sanctify you by his
Spirit, by his word and ministers, the instruments of
the Spirit. He is the way, Ihe Iruth, and the life ; there
is no coming to the Father but by him. John xiv. 6.
Nor is there any other name under heaven, by which
you can be saved. Acts iv. 12. Study, therefore, his
person and natures, and what he hath done for you,
and what he is to you, amd what he will be, and how he
is fitted to the full supply of all your necessities.

13

146 A CALL TO

Direction VIII. — If you mean indeed to turn and
live, do it speedily, without delay. If you be not wil-
ling to turn to-day, \o\i are not willing to do it at all.
Remember, you are all this while in your blood, under
the guilt of many thousand sins, and under God's
wrath, and you stand at the very brink of hell ; there
is but a step between you and death : and this is not a
case for a man that is well in his wits to be quiet in.
Up therefore presently, and fly as for your lives, as you
would be gone out of your house if it were all on fire
over your head. O, if you did but know in what con-
tinual danger you live, and what daily unspeakable loss
you sustain, and what a safer and sweeter life you
might hve, you would not stand trifling, but presently
turn. Multitudes miscarry that wilfully delay, when
they are convinced that it must be done. Your lives
are short and uncertain ; and what a case are you in
if you die before you thoroughly turn ! Ye have staid
too long already, and wronged God too long. Sin
getteth strength while you delay. Your conversion
will grow more hard and doubtful. You have much
to do, and therefore put not all off to the last, lest God
forsake you, and give you up to yourselves, and then
you are undone for ever.

Direction IX. — If you will turn and live, do it un-
reservedly, absolutely, and universally. Think not to
capitulate with Christ, and divide your heart between
him and the world ; and to part with some sins, and
keep the rest ; and to let that go which your flesh can
spare. This is but self-deluding; you must in heart
and resolution forsake all that you have, or else you
cannot be his disciples. Luke xiv. 26, 33. If you will
not take God and heaven for your portion, and lay all
below at the feet of Christ, but you must needs also
have your good things here, and have an earthly por-
tion, and God and glory are not enough for you, — it is
vain to dream of salvation on these terms ; for it will
not be. If you seem never so religious, if yet it be but
a carnal righteousness, and if the flesh's prosperity, or
pleasure, or safety, be still excepted in your devatedness

THE UNCONVERTED. 147

to God, this is as certain a way to death as open pro-
faneness, though it be more plausible.

Direction X. — If you will turn and live, do it re-
solvedly, and stand not still deliberating, as if it were a
doubtful case. Stand not wavering, as if you were
uncertain whether God or the flesh be the better mas-
ter, or whether sin or holiness be the better way, or
whether heaven or hell be the better end. But away
with your former lusts, and presently, habitually, fix-
edly resolve. Be not one day of one mind, and the
next day of another ; but be at a point with all the
world, and resolvedly give up yourselves and all you
have to God. Now, while you are reading, or hearino'
this, resolve ; before you sleep another night, resolve ;
before you stir from the place, resolve ; before Satan
have time to take you off, resolve. You never turn
indeed till you do resolve, and that with a firm un-
chanareable resolution.

And now I have done my part in this work, that you
may turn to the call of God, and live. What willbe-
come of it I cannot tell. I have cast the seed at God's
command ; but it is not in my power to give the in-
crease. I can go no further with my message ; I can-
not bring it to your heart, nor make it work : I cannot
do your parts for you to entertain it and consider it ;
nor can I do God's part, by opening your heart to en-
tertain it ; nor can I show heaven or hell to your sight,
nor give you new and tender hearts. If I knew what
more to do for your conversion, I hope I should do it-

But O thou that art the gracious Father of spirits,
thou hast sworn thou delightest not in the death of the
wicked, but rather that they turn and live ; deny not
thy blessing to these persuasions and directions, and
suffer not thine enemies to triumph in thy sight, and
the great deceiver of souls to prevail against thy Son,
thy Spirit, and thy Word ! O pity poor unconverted
sinners, that have no hearts to pity or help themselves'
Command the blind to see, and the deaf to hear, ana

148 A CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.

the dead to live, and let not sin and death be able to re-
sist thee. Awaken the secure, resolve the unresolved,
confirm the wavering ; and let the eyes of sinners, that
read these lines, be next employed in weeping over
their sins, and bring them to themselves, and to thy
Son, before their sins have brought them to perdition.
If thou say but the word, these poor endeavours shall
prosper to the winning of many a soul to their ever-
lasting joy, and thine everlasting glory. — *dmen.

NOW OR NEVER.

EXTRACTED FROM

A DISCOURSE OF REV. RICHARD BAXTER.

ECCLES. IX. 10.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy
might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor know-
ledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

The mortality of man being the principal subject of
Solomon in this chapter, and observing that wisdom
and piety exempt not men from death, he first hence
infers, that God's love or hatred to one man above
another, is not to be gathered by his deaUngs with
them here, where all things in the common course of
providence come alike to all. The common sin hath
introduced death as a common punishment, which
levels all, and ends all the contrivances, businesses, and
enjoyments of this life, to good and bad ; and discri-
minating justice is not ordinarily manifested here : an
epicure or infidel would think Solomon was here plead-
ing his unmanly impious cause : but it is not the ces-
sation of the life, or operations, or enjoyments of the
soul that he is speaking of, as if there were no life to
come, or the soul of man were not immortal ; but it is
the cessation of all the actions, and honours, and plea-
sures of this life, which to good or bad shall be no
more. Here they have no more reward, the memory
of them will be here forgotten. " They have no more
a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the
sun."

13*

150 NOW OR NEVER.

From hence he further infers, that the comforts of
Hfe are but short and transitory, and therefore that
what the creature can afford, must be presently taken :
and as the wicked shall have no more but present plea-
sures, so the faithful may take their lawful comforts in
the present moderate use of the creatures. For if their
enjoyment be of right and use to any, it is to them ; and,
therefore, though they may not use them to their hurt,
to the pampering of their flesh, and strengthening their
lusts, and hindering spiritual duties, benefits, and salva-
tion ; yet must they " serve the Lord with joyfulness,
and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all
things" which he giveth them.

Next he infers, from the brevity of man's life, the
necessity of speed and diligence in his duty. And this
is in the words of my text; where you have, 1. The
duty commanded. 2. The reason or motive to en-
force it.

The duty is in the first part, " Whatsoever thy
hand findeth to do," that is, whatever work is assigned
thee by God to do in this thy transitory life, " do it
with thy might ;" that is, 1 . Speedily, without delay.
2. Diligently ; and not with slothfulness, or by halves.

2. The motive is in the latter part, " For there is
no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in
the grave, whither thou goest;" that is, it mustbenoio
or never. The grave, where thy work cannot be done,
will quickly end thy opportunities. The sense is ob-
viously contained in these two propositions : —

Doctrine 1. — " The work of this life cannot be
done when this life is ended : or, There is no working
in the grave, to which we are all making haste."

Doctrine 2. — " Therefore, while we have lime, we
must do our best : or do the work of this present life
with vigour and diligence."

1. It is from an unquestionable and commonly ac-
knowledged truth, that Solomon here urgeth us to
diligence in duty ; and therefore to prove it would be
but loss of time. As there are two worlds for man to
hve in, and so two fives for man to live, so each of
these lives has its peculiar employment. This is the

NOW OR NEVER. 151

life of preparation: the next is the life of rewards or
punishments. We are now but in the womb of eter-
nity, and must live hereafter in the open world. We
are now but sent to school to learn the work we must
do for ever : this is the time of our apprenticeship ; we
are learning the trade that we must live upon in hea-
ven. We run now, that we may then receive the
crown ; we fight now, that we may then triumph in
victory. The grave hath no work ; but heaven hath
work, and hell hath suffering : there is no repentance
unto life hereafter ; but there is repentance to torment
and to desperation. There is no believing of a happi-
ness unseen in order to the obtaining of it ; or of a
misery unseen in order to the escaping of it; nor be-
lieving in a Saviour in order to these ends. But there
is the fruition of the happiness which was here be-
lieved ; and feeling of the misery that men would not
believe ; and suffering from him as a righteous Judge,
whom they rejected as a merciful Saviour. So that it
is not all work that ceaseth at our death ; but only the
work of this present life.

And indeed no reason can show us the least proba-
bility of doing our work when our time is gone, that
was given us to do it in. If it can be done, it must be,
1. By the recalling of our time. 2. By the return of
life. 3. Or, by opportunity in another life. But there
is no hope of any of these.

1. Who knoweth not that time cannot be recalled.'*
That which once was, will be no more. Yesterday
will never come again. To-day is passing, and will
not return. You may work while it is day ; but when
you have lost that day, it will not return for you to
work in. While your candle burneth, you may make
use of its light ; but when it is done, it is too late to use
it. No force of medicine, no orator's elegant persua-
sions, no worldling's wealth, no prince's power, can
call back one day or hour of time. If they could, what
endeavours would there be used, when extremity hath
taught them to value what they now despise ! What
bargaining would there be at last, if time could be pur-
chased for any thing that man can give. Then misers

15"2 NOW OR NEVER.

would briniT out their wealth, and say, ' All this will I
give for one day's time of repentance more.' And
lords and knights would lay down their honours, and
say, ' Take all, and let us be beggars, if we may have
but one yearof the time that we mispent.' Then kings
would lay down their crowns, and say, ' Let us be
equal with the lowest subjects, so we may but have
the time again that we wasted in the cares and plea-
sures of the world.' Kingdoms would then seem a
contemptible price for the recovery of time.

The time that is now idled and talked away ; the
time that is now feasted and complimented away, that
is unnecessarily sported and slept away ; that is wick-
edly and presumptuously sinned aw^ay ; how precious
will it one day seem to all ! How happy a bargain
would they think they had made, if at the dearest rates
they could redeem it ?

The profanest mariner falls a praying, when he fears
his time is ai an end. If importunity would then pre-
vail, how eanestly would they pray for the recovery of
time that formerly derided praying ! What a liturgy
would death teach the tritiing time-despising gallants,
the idle, busy, dreaming, active, ambitious, covetous
lovers of this world, if time could be entreated to re-
ttirn ! How passionately then would they pour out their
requests ! ' O that we might once see the days of hope,
and means, and mercy, which once we saw, and would
not see ! O that we had those days to spend in peni-
tential tears, and prayers, and holy preparations for
an endless life, which we spent at cards, in needless
recreations, in idle talk, in humouring others, in the pleas-
ing ©four flesh, or in the inordinate cares and busi-
nesses of the world ! O that our youthful vigour might
return ! that our years might be renewed ! that the
days we spent in vanity might be recalled ! that minis-
ters might again be sent to us publicly and privately,
with the message of grace which w^e once made light
ofl that the sun would once more shine upon us ! and
that patience and mercy would once more reassume
their work !'

If cries or tears, or price or pains, would bring back

NOW OR NEVER. 153

lost abused time, how happy were the now distracted,
dreaming, dead-hearted, and impenitent world ! If it
would then serve their turn to say to the vigilant be-
lievers, " Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone
out ;" or to cry, " Lord, Lord, open to us," when the
door is shut, the foolish would be saved as well as the
wise. But " this is the day of salvation ! this is the
accepted time." While it is called to-day, hearken,
and harden not your hearts. Awake, thou that sleep-
est, and use the light that is afforded thee by Christ;
or else the everlasting utter darkness will shortly end
thy time and hope.

2. And as time can never be recalled, so life shall
never be here restored : " If a man die, shall he live
(here) again ?" All the days of our appointed time we
must therefore wait, in faith and diligence, till our
change shall come. One life is appointed us on earth,
to despatch the work on which our everlasting life de-
pendeth, and we shall have but one. Lose that, and
all is lost for ever : yet you may hear, and read, and
learn, and pray ; but when this life is ended, it shall
be so no more. You shall rise from the dead indeed
to judgment, and to the life that you are now prepar-
ing for ; but never to such a life as this on earth : your
life is as the fighting of a battle, that must be won or
lost at once. There is no coming hither again to mend
what is done amiss. Oversights must be presently cor-
rected by repentance, or else they are everlastingly
past remedy. Now, if you be not truly converted, you
may be ; if you find that you are carnal and mi-
serable, you may be healed ; if you are unpardoned,
you maybe pardoned; if you are enemies you may
be reconciled to God : but when once the thread of
life is cut, your opportunities are at an end. Now you
may inquire of your friends and teachers what you
must do to be saved ; and you may receive particular
instructions and exhortations, and God may bless
them, to the illuminating, renewing, and saving of
your souls. But when life is past, it will be so no more.
O then, if departed souls might but return, and once
more be tried with the means of life, what joyful tid-

154 NOW OR NEVER.

ings would it be ! How welcome would the messen-
ger be that bringeth it ! Had hell but such an otTer as
this, and would any cries procure it from their righte-
ous Judge, O what a change would be among them !
How importunately would they cry to God, ' O send
Us once again to the earth ! Once more let us see the
face of mercy, and hear the tenders of Christ and of
salvation ! Once more let the ministers offer us their
helps, and teach in season and out of season, in public
and in private, and we will refuse their help and ex-
hortations no more ! we will hate them, and drive them
away from our houses and towns no more. Once more
let us have thy word, and ordinances, and try whether
we will not believe them, and use them better than
we did. Once more let us have the help and company
of thy saints, and we will scorn them, and abuse them,
and persecute them no more. O for the great invalua-
ble mercy of such a life as once we had ! O try us once
more with such a life, and see whether we will not
contemn the world, and close with Christ, and hve as
strictly, and pray as earnestly, as those that we hated
and abused for so doing ! O that we might once more
be admitted into the holy assemblies, and have the
Lord's days to spend in the business of our salvation!
We would plead no more against the power and purity
of the ordinances ; we would no more call that day a
burden, nor hate them that spent it in works of holi-
ness, nor plead for the liberty of the flesh therein.'

He that would have Lazarus sent from the dead to
warn his unbelieving brethren on earth, no doubt
would have strongly purposed himself on a reforma-
tion, if he might once more have been tried ; and how
earnestly would he have begged for such a trial, that
begged so hard for a drop of water? But, alas ! such
mouths must be stopped for ever with — " Remember
that thou, in thy lifetime, received thy good things."

So that " it is appointed for men once to die, and
after that the judgment." But there is no return to
earth again : the places of your abode, emploj^ment,
and delight, shall know you no more. You nmst see
these faces of your friends, and converse in flesh with

NOW OR NEVER. 155

men no more. This world, those houses, that wealth
and honour, as to any fruition, must be to you as ii'you
hfKJ never known them.

You must assemble here but a little while. Yet a
little longer, and we must preach, and you must hear
it no more for ever. That therefore which you will
do, must presently be done, or it will be too late. If
ever you will repent and believe, it must be now. If
ever you will be converted and sanctified, it must be
now. If ever you will be pardoned and reconciled to
God, it must be now. If ever you will reign, it is now
that you must fight and conquer. " O that you were
wise, that you understood this, and that you would
consider your latter end !" And that you would let
those words sink down into your hearts, which came
from the heart of the Redeemer, as was witnessed by
his tears : " If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in
this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace !
but now they are hid from thine eyes." And that
these warnings may not be the less regarded, because
you have so ntr.en heard them; when often hearing in-
creaseth your obligation, and diminisheth not the truth,
or your danger.

3. And as there is no return to earth, so is there no
doing this work hereafter. Heaven and hell are for
other work. The harvest doth presuppose the seed-
time, and the labour of the husbandman. It is now
that you must sow, and hereafter that you must reap.
It is now that you must work, and then that you must
receive your wages.

Is this believed and considered by the sleepy world ?
Alas ! sirs, do you live as men that must live here no
more ? Do you work as men that must work no more,
and pray as men that must pray no more, when once
the time of work is ended ? Whatthinkest thou ! will
God command the sun to stand still while thou rebel-
lest or forgettest thy work and him ! Dost thou ex-
pect he should pervert the course of nature, and
continue the spring and seedtime till thou hast a
mind to sow ? Will he renew thy age, and make
thee young again, and call back the hours that thou

156 NOW OR NEVER.

hast prodigally wasted on thy lusts and idleness ? Canst
thou look for this at the hand of God, when nature and
Scripture assure thee of the contrary? If not, why
hast thou not yet done with thy beloved sins ? Why
hast thou not yet begun to live ? Why sittest thou
still while thy soul is unrenewed, and all thy prepara-
tion for death and judgment is yet to make '' How
fain would Satan find thee thus at death? How fain
would he have leave to blow out thy candle, before
thou hast entered into the way of life ? Dost thou
look to have preachers sent after thee, to brin^ thee the
mercy which thy contempt here left behind ? Wilt thou
hear and be converted in the grave and hell? or wilt
thou be saved without holiness ? that is, in despite of
God that hath resolved it shall not be. O ye sons of
sleep, of death, of darkness, awake, and live, and hear the
Lord, before the grave and hell have shut their mouths
upon you ! Hear now, lest hearing be too late ! Hear
now, if you will ever hear. Hear now, if you have
ears to hear 1 And, O ye sons of light, that see what
sleeping sinners see not, call to them, and ring them
such a peal of lamentations, tears, and compassionate
entreaties, as is suited to such a dead and doleful state ;
who knows but God may bless it to awake them ?

II. If any of you be so far awakened as to ask me
what I am calling you to do, my text tells you in gene-
ral, Up and be doing; look about you, and see what
you have to do, and do it with your might.

1. " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do," that is,
whatsoever is a duty imposed by the Lord, whatsoever
is a means conducing to thy own or others' welfare ;
whatsoever necessity calleth thee to do, and opportu-
nity alio we th thee to do.

" Thy hand findeth ;" that is, thy executive powers
by the conduct of thy understanding, is now to do.

" Do it with thy might." Do thy best in it.

1. Trifle not, but do it presently, without unneces-
sary delay.

2. Do it resolutely ; remain not doubtful, unresolved,
in suspense, as if it were yet a question with thee whe-
ther thou shouldst do it, or not.

NOW OR NEVER. 157

3. Do it with thy most awakened affections, and
serious intention of the powers of thy soul. Sleepiness
and insensibility are most unsuitable to such works.

4. Do it with all necessary forecast and contrivance ;
not with a distracting hindering care ; but with such
a care as may show that you despise not your Master,
and are not regardless of his v/ork : and with such a
care as is suited to the difficulties and nature of the
thing, and is necessary to the due accomplishment of it.

5. Do it not slothfully, but vigorously and with dili-
gence. " Hide not thy hand in thy bosom with the
slothful," and say not, " There is a lion in the way."
The negligent and the vicious, the waster and the
slothful, diner but as one brother from another. As
the self-murder of the wilful ungodly, so also the de-
sire of the slothful killeth him, because his hands refuse
to labour. " The soul of the sluggard desirelh and
hath nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be
made fat." " Be not slothful in business, but be fer-
vent in spirit, serving the Lord."

6. Do it with constancy, and not with destructive
pauses and intermissions, or with weariness and turn-
ing back. " The righteous shall hold on his way, and
he that is of clean hands shall be stronger and stronger."
" Be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the
work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your
labour is not in vain in the Lord." " Be not weary in
well-doing : for in due season we shall reap if we faint
not." ° ^

But, that misunderstanding hinder not the perform-
ance, I shall acquaint you further with the sense, by
these {ew explicatory cautions.

1. The might and diligence here required, exclude
not the necessity of deliberation and prudent conduct.
Otherwise, the faster you go, the further you may go
out of the way ; and misguided zeal may spoil all the
work, and make it but an injury to others or your-
selves. A little imprudence in the season, and order,
and manner of a duty, sometimes may 3p)oil it, and
hinder the success, and make it do more hurt than
good. How many a sermon, or prayer, or reproof, is

14

158 NOW OR NEVER.

made the matter of derision and contempt, for some
imprudent passages or deportment ! God sendeth not
his servants to be jesters of the world, or to play the
madman as David in his fears; we must be wise
and innocent, as well as resolute and valiant : though
fleshly and worldly wisdom be not desirable, as be-
in^ but foolishness with God ; yet the wisdom which
is from above, and is first pure and then peaceable,
and is acquainted with the high and hidden mysteries,
and is justified of her children, must be the guide of all
our holy actions. Holiness is not bUnd : illumination
IS the first part of sanctification. Believers are chil-
dren of the light. Nothing requireth so much wisdom
as the matters of God, and of our salvation. Folly is
most unsuitable to such excellent employments, and
most unbeseeming the Sons of the Most High. It is
a spirit of wisdom that animateth all the saints.
" Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are per-
fect ; yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the
princes of this world, that come to nought: but we
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden
wisdom, which God ordained before the w^orld unto
our glory." It is the treasures of wisdom that dwell
in Christ, and are communicated to his members. We
must " walk in wisdom toward them that are without."
And our works must be " shown out of a good conver-
sation, with meekness of wisdom."

2. Though you must work with your might, yet
with a diversity agreeable to the quality of your seve-
ral works. Some works must be preferred before
others : all cannot be done at once. That is a sin out
of season, which in season is a duty. The greatest,
and the most urgent work must be preferred. And
some works must be done with double fervour and re-
solution, and some with less. Buying and selling, and
possessing, and using the world, must be done with a
fear of overdoing, and in a manner as if we did them
not, though they also musi have a necessary diligence,
God's " kingdom and its righteousness must be first
sought." And our labour for the meat that perisheth,
must be comparatively as none : " Labour not for the

NOW OR NEVER. 159

meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endur-
eth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall
give unto you ; for him hath God the Father sealed."

3. Lastly, it is not an irregular, nor a self-disturbing
vexatious violence that is required of us ; but a sweet
well-settled resolution, and a delightful expeditious dili-
gence, that make the wheels more easily get over those
difficulties that clog and stop a slothful soul.

And now will you lend me the assistance of your
consciences, for the transcribing of this comimand of
God upon your hearts, and taking out a copy of this
order, for the regulating of your lives ? Whatsoever
is not a word so comprehensive as to include any
vanity or sin ; but so comprehensive as to include all
our duty.

1. To begin with the lowest: the very works of
your bodily callings must have diligence. " In the
sweat of your brows you must eat your bread." "Six
days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do."
" He that will not work, let him not eat." Disorderly
walkers, busybodies, that will not work with quietness,
and eat their own bread, are to be avoided and shamed
by the church. " For we hear that there are some
which walk among you disorderly, working not at all,
but are busybodies. Now them that are such we com-
mand and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with
quietness they work, and eat their own bread." Lazy
servants are unfaithful to men and disobedient to God,
who commandeth them to " obey their masters accord-
ing to the flesh, (unbelieving, ungodly masters,) in all
things, (that concern their service,) and that not with
eye-service, as men- pleasers, but in singleness of heart,
and in the fear of God, do whatsoever they do as to the
Lord, and not unto men ; knowing that of the Lord
(even for this) they shall receive the reward of the in-
heritance." " But he that doth wrong, (by slothful-
ness, or unfaithfulness,) shall receive for the wrong
which he hath done."

Success is God's ordinary temporal reward of dili-
gence : " The hand of the diligent shall bear rule :
but the slothful shall be under tribute. The slothful

160 NOW OR NEVER.

man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but
the substance of a diligent man is precious." And
diseases, jx)verty, shame, disappointment, or seli-tor-
menting melancholy, are his usual punishments of
sloth, fiard labour redeemeth time ; you will have the
more to lay out on greater works: the slothful is still
behindhand, and therefore must leave much of his
work undone.

2. Are you parents or governors of families ? You
have work to do for God, and for your children and
servants' souls. Do it with 3'our might : deal wisely,
but seriously and frequently with them about their
sin, their duty, and their hopes of heaven ; tell them
whither they are going, and which way they must go.
Make them understand that they have a higher Father
and Master that must be first served, and greater work
than yours. Waken them from their natural insensi-
bility and sloth : turn not all your family duties into
lifeless customary forms; whether extemporary, or by
rote ; speak about God, and heaven, and hell, and holi-
ness, with that seriousness which beseems men that be-
lieve what they say, and would have those believe it
to whom they speak. Talk not either drowsily, or
lightly, or jestingly of such dreadful, or joyful, inex-
pressible things. Remember, that your families and
you are going to the grave, and to the world where
there is no more room for your exhortations. Tliere
is no catechising, examining, or serious instructing
them in the grave, whither ihey and you are going. —
It must be now or never : and therefore do it with your
might. *' The words of God must be in your hearts,
and you must diligently teach them to your children,
talking of them when you sit in your houses, when
you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when
you rise up."

3. Have you ignorant or ungodly neighbours, whose
misery calls for your compassion and relief? Speak to
them, and help them with prudent diligence. Lose
not your opportunities : stay not till death hath stop-
ped your mouths, or stopped their ears. Stay not till
they are out of hearing, or till heaven be lost, before

NOW OR NEVER. 161

y<^u have seriously called on them to remember it. Go
to their houses ; take all opportunities : stoop to their
infirmities: bear with unthankful frowardness; it is
for men's salvation. Remember there is no place for
your instructions or exhortations in the grave or hell.
Your dust cannot speak, and their dust cannot hear.
Up, therefore, and be doing with all your might.

4. Hath God intrusted you with the riches of the
world ; with many talents or with {ew, by which he
looketh you should relieve the needy, and especially
should promote those works of piety which are the
greatest charity ? Give prudently, but willingly and
Hberally, while you have to give. It is your gain : the
time of laying up a treasure in heaven, and furthering
your salvation by that which hindereth other men's,
and occasioneth their perdition. " As you have oppor-
tunity, do good to all men, but especially to them of
the household of faith." " Cast thy bread upon the
waters ; for thou shalt find it after many days. Give
a portion to seven and to eight ; for thou knowest not
what evil may be upon the earth." " In the morning
sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy
hand : for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, this
or that, or whether they both shall be alike good."
" Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when
it is in the power of thy hand to do it. Say not to thy
neighbour, go and come again, and to-morrow I will
give, when thou hast it by thee." Lay up a founda-
tion for the time to come. Do good before thy heart
be hardened, thy riches blasted and consumed, thy op-
portunities taken away ; part with it before it part with
thee. Remember it must be now or never. There is no
working in the grave.

5. Hath God intrusted you with power or interest,
by which you may promote his honour in the world,
and relieve the oppressed, and restrain the rage of im-
pious malice ? Hath he made you governors, and put
the sword of justice into your hands? Up then and be
doing with your might. Defend the innocent, protect
the servants of the Lord, cherish them that do well, be
a terror to the wicked, encourage the strictest obedi-

14 * °

162 NOW OR NEVER.

ence to the universal Governor, discountenance the
breakers of his laws. Your trust is great, and so is
your advantage to do good ; and how great will be
your account, and how dreadful, if you be unfaithful !

6. To come yet a little nearer to you, and speak of
the work that is yet to be done in your own souls ; are
any of you yet in the state of unrenewed nature, born
only of the flesh, and not of the Spirit? "Minding
the things of the flesh, and not the things of the Spirit,"
and consequently yet in the power of Satan, taken
captive by him at his will? Up and be doing, if thou
lovest thy soul. If thou carest whether thou shalt be
in joy or misery for ever, bewail thy sin and spiritual
distress. Go to Christ, cry mightily to him for his
renewing, reconciling, and pardoning grace. Plead
his satisfaction, his merits, and his promises ; away
with thy rebellion, and thy beloved sin ; deliver up thy
soul entirely to Christ, to be sanctified, governed and
saved by him. Make no more demur ; it is not a
matter to be questioned, or trifled in. Let the earth
be acquainted with thy bended knees, and the air with
thy complaints and cries, and men with thy confessions
and inquiries after the way of life ; and heaven with
thy sorrows, desires, and resolutions, till thy soul be
acquainted with the Spirit of Christ, and with the new,
the holy and heavenly nature, and thy heart have
received the transcript of God's law, the impress of
the Gospel, and so the image of thy Creator and Re-
deemer. For there is no conversion, renovation, or
repentance unto life, in the grave whither thou goest.
It must be now or never. And never saved if never
sanctified : " Without holiness no man shall see the
Lord."

7. Hast thou any prevailing sin to mortify, that
either reigneth in thee, or woundeth thee and keepeth
thy soul in darkness and unacquaintedness with God?
Assault it resolutely; reject it speedily; abhor the
motions of it , turn away from the persons or things
that would entice thee. Hate the doors of the harlot
and of the ale-house, or the gaming-house ; and go
not as the " ox to the slaughter, and as a bird to the

NOW OR NEVER. 163

fowler's snare, and as a fool lo the correction of the
stocks, as if thou knewest not that it is for thy life,"
Why wilt thou be tasting of the poisoned cup? Wilt
thou be sporting with the bait ? Hast thou no where
to walk or play, but at the brink of ruin ? Must not
the flesh be crucified, w^ith its " affections and lusts ?"
Must it not be tamed and mortified, or thy soul con-
demned? " For if ye live after the flesh, ye slmll die:
hut if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of
the body, ye shall live." Run not therefore as at
uncertainty ; fight not as one " that beats the air."
Seeing this must be done, or thou art undone, delay
and dally with sin no longer. Let this be the day ;
resolve, and resist it with thy might : it must be now
or never : when death comes it is too late.

S. Art thou in a declined, fallen state ? Decayed in
grace ? Hast thou lost thy first desires and love ? Do
thy first w^orks, and do them with thy might. Delay
not, but remember from whence thou art fallen. Cry
out with Job, " O that I were as in months past ; as in
the days when God preserved me ! when his candle
shined upon my head, and when, by his light, I walked
through darkness. As I was in the days of my youth,
wiien the secret of God was on my tabernacle, when
the Almighty was yet with me." Return while thou
liast day, lest the night surprise thee.

"9. Art thou in the darkness of uncertainty concern-
ing thy conversion, and thy everlasting state? Dost
thou not know whether thou art in a state of life or
death ? And what should become of thee, if this were
the day or hour of thy change ? If thou art careless
in thy uncertainty, and mindest not so great a business,
be awakened, and call thy soul to its account ; search
and examine thy heart and life ; read and consider,
and take advice of faithful guides. Canst thou care-
lessly sleep, and laugh, and sport, and follow thy busi-
ness, as if thy salvation were made sure, when thou
knowest not where thou must dwell for ever? " Exa-
mine yourselves whether you be in the faith ; prove
yourselves ; know ye not your own selves, that Christ
is in you, except ye be reprobates?" Give all dill-

\

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164 wow OR NEVER.

gence to make your calling and election sure." In the
grave and hell there is no making sure of heaven ;
you are then past inquiries and self-examination, in
order to any recovery or hope. Another kind of trial
will finally resolve you. It must be now or never.

10. In all the duties of thy profession of piety, jus-
tice, or charity to God, thyself, or others, up and be
doing with thy might. Art thou seeking to inflame
thy soul with love to God? Plunge thyself in the ocean
of his love; admire his mercies; gaze upon the repre-
sentations of his transcendant goodness ; " O taste and
see that the Lord is gracious!" Remember that he
must be loved with all thy heart, and soul, and might ;
canst thou pour out thy love upon a creature, and give
but a few barren drops to God?

When thou art fearing, let his fear command thy
soul, and conquer all the fear of man. When thou art
trusting him, do it without distrust, and cast all thy
care and thyself upon him : trust him as a creature
should trust his God, and the members of Christ should
trust their head and dear Redeemer. When thou art
making mention of his great and dreadful name, O do
it with reverence, and awe, and admiration : and " take
not the name of God in vain !" When thou art read-
ing his word, let the majesty of the Author, and the
greatness of the matter, "and the gravity of the style,
possess thee with an obedient fear. Love it, and let
it be sweeter to thee than the honey-comb, and more
precious than thousands of gold and silver. Resolve
to do what there thou findest to be the will of God.
When thou art praying in secret, or in thy family,
" do it with thy might :" cry mightily to God, as a
soul under sin, wants, and danger, that is stepping into
an endless life, should do. Let the reverence and the
fervour of thy prayers, show that it is God himself
that thou art speaking to : that it is heaven itself that
thou art praying for ; hell itself that thou art praying
to be saved from. Wilt thou be dull and senseless on
such an errand to the living God ? Remember what
lieth upon thy failing or prevailing : and that it must
be now or never.

NOW OR NEVER. 165

Art thou a preacher of the gospel, and takest charge
of the souls of men ? " Take heed to thyself and to
the whole flock, over Avhich the Holy Ghost hath made
thee an overseer, to feed the church of God, which he
hath purchased with his own blood." Let not the
blood of souls, and the blood that purchased them,
" be required at thy hands." Thou art charged " be-
fore God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge
the quick and the dead at his appearing, and his king-
dom, that thou preach his word : be instant in season,
and out of season ; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with
all long-suffering' and doctrine." " Teach every man,
and exhort every man, — even night and day with tears."
" Save men with fear, pulling them out of the fire.
Cry aloud : Uft up thy voice like a trumpet; tell them
of their transgressions." Yet thou art alive, and they
alive ; yet thou hast a tongue, and they have ears :
the final sentence hath not yet cut off their hopes.
Preach, therefore, and preach with all thy might.
Exhort them, privately and personally, with all the
seriousness thou canst. Quickly, or it will be too late ;
prudently, or Satan will overreach thee ; fervently, or
thy words are hkely to be disregarded. Remember,
when thou lookest them in the faces, when thou be-
holdest the assemblies, that they must be converted or
condemned, sanctified on earth, or tormented in hell ;
and that this is the day : it must be now or never.

In a word, apply this quickening precept to all the
duties of the Christian course. Be religious, and
just, and charitable, in good earnest, if you would
be taken for such when you look for the reward.
" Work out your salvation with lear and trembling."
" Strive to enter in at the strait gait ; for many shall
seek to enter, and shall not be able." Many run, but
few receive the prize ; so run that you may obtain.
" If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the
ungodly and sinner appear.^" Let the doting world
deride your diligence, and set themselves to hinder and
afflict you : it will be but a little while before experi-
ence change their minds, and make them talk differ-
ently. Follow Christ fully : be diligent, and lose no

166 NOW OR NEVER.

time. The Judge is coming. Let not words, nor any
thing that man can do, prevail with you to sit down,
or stop you in a journey of such importance. Please
God, though flesh, and friends, and all the world
should be displeased. Whatever come of your repu-
tation, or estates, or liberties, or Hves, be sure you look
to life eternal ; and cast not that, on any hazard, for a
ivithering flower, or a pleasant dream, or a picture ot
commodity, or any vanity that the Deceiver can pre-
sent. " For what shall it profit you, to win the world,
and lose your soul ?" Obey God, though all the world
forbid you. No power can save you tirom his justice ;
and none of them can deprive you of his reward.
Though you lose your heads, you shall save your
crowns ; you no way save your lives so certainly,
as by such losing them. One thing is necessary :
do that with speed, and care, and diligence, which
must be done, or you are lost for ever. They that
are now against your much and earnest praying,
will shortly cry as loud themselves in vain. When
it is too late, how fervently will they beg for
mercy, that now deride you for valuing and seeking
it in time ! But " then they shall call upon God, but he
will not answer ; they shall seek him early, but shall
not find him : for that they hated knowledge, and did
not choose the fear of the Lord : they would none of
his counsel, but despised all his reproof." Up, there-
fore, and work with all thy might. Let unbelievers
trifle, that know not that the righteous God stands
over them, and know not that they are now to work
for everlasting, and know not that heaven or hell is at
the end. Let them delay, and laugh, and play, and
dream away their time, that are drunk with pros-
perity, and mad with fleshly lusts and pleasures, and
have lost their reason in the cares, and delusions, and
vain-glory of the world. But shall it be so with thee,
whose eyes are opened, who seest the God, the hea-
ven, the hell, which they do but hear of as unlikely
things ? Wilt thou live awake, as they that are asleep?
Wilt thou do in the day-lio;ht, as they do in the dark?
SJbi^ll freemen hve as Satan s slaves ? Shall the living lie

NOW Or never. 167

as still and useless as the dead ? " Work then while
it is day ; for the night is coming, when none can work."
But you will say, perhaps, ' Alas ! what might have
we ? We have no sufficiency of ourselves : without
Christ we can do nothing. And this we find when it
comes to the trial.'

1. I answer, It is not might that is originally thine
own, that I am calling thee to exercise ; but that which
thou hast already received from God, and that which
he is ready to bestow. Use well but all the might thou
hast, and thou shalt find thy labour is not in vain.

2. Art thou willing to use the might thou hast, and
to have more, and use it if thou hadst it? If thou art,
thou hast then the strength of Christ: thou standest not,
and workest not, by thy own strength ; his promise is
engaged to thee, and his strength is sufficient for thee.
But if thou art not willing, thou art without excuse:
when thou hast heaven and hell set open in the word
of God to make thee willing, God will distinguish thy
wilfulness from unwilling weakness.

3. There is more power in all of you than you use,
or than you are well aware oIT It wanteth but awak-
ening to bring it into act. Do you not find, in your
repentings, that the change is more in your will, than
in your power? And in the awakening of your will and
reason into act, than in the addition of mere abilities ?
And that therefore you befool yourselves for your sins
and your neglects, and wonder that you had no more
use of your understandings ? Let but a storm at sea,
or violent sickness or approaching death, rouse up and
awaken the powers which you have, and you will find
there was much more asleep in you than you used.

I shall, therefore, next endeavour to awaken your
abilities, or tell you how you should awaken them.

When your souls are drowsy, and you are forget-
ting your God, and your latter end, and matters of
eternity have little force and favour with you, when
you grow lazy and superficial, and religion seems a
lifeless thing, and you do your duty as if it were in
vain, or against your wills; when you can lose your
lime, and delay repentance ; and Iriends, and profit,

168 NOW OR NEVER.

and reputation, and pleasure, can be heard against
the word of God, and take you off; when you do all
by halves, and languish in your Christian course, as
near to death — stir up your souls with the urgency of
such questions as these : —

Question 1. Can I do no more than this for God, who
gave me all, who deserveth all ? Who seeth me in my
duties and my sins ? When he puts me purposely on
the trial, what can I do for his sake and service ? Can
I do no more ? Can I love him no more, and obey, and
watch, and work no more?

Question 2. Can I do no more than this for Christ?
For him that did so much for me ? That obeyed so
perfectly ; walked so meekly ; despising all the baits,
and honours, and riches of the world ? That loved me
to the death; and offereth me freely all his benefits, and
would bring me to eternal glory ? Are these careless,
cold, and dull endeavours, my best return for all his
mercy ?

Question 3. Can I do no more, when my salvation is
the prize? when heaven or hell depends upon it?
When I know this beforehand, and may see, in the
glass of the Holy Scriptures, what is prepared for the
diligent and the negligent, and what work there is, and
will be for ever, in heaven and hell, on these accounts?
Could I not do more, if my house were on fire, or my
estate, or life, or friend, in danger, than I do for my
salvation ?

Question 4. Can I do no more for the souls of men ;
•when they are undone for ever if they be not speedily
delivered? Is this my love and compassion to my
neighbour, my servant, friend, or child ?

Question 5. Can I do no more for the church of
God ? for the public good ? for the peace and welfare
of the nation, and our posterity ? in suppressing sin ?
in praying for deliverance ? or in promoting works of
public benefit ?

Question 6. Can I do no more, that have loitered so
long ? and go no faster, that have slept till the evening
of my days, when diligence must be the discovery of
my repentance ?

NOW OR NEVER. 169

Question 7. Can I do no more, that know not now
but I am doing my last? that see how fast my time
makes haste, and know I must be quickly gone ? that
know it must be now or never.

Question 8. Can I do no better, when I know be-
forehand what a vexatious and heart-disquieting thing
it will then be, to U)ok back on time as irrecoverably
lost, and on a life of trial as cast away upon imper-
tinences, while the work that we lived for lay undone !
Shall I now, by trifling, prepare such tormenting
thoughts for my awakened conscience ?

Question 9. Can I do no more, when I am sure I
cannot do too much, and am sure there is nothing else
to be preferred ?

Question 10. Can I do no moie, that have so much
help ? that have mercies of all sorts encouraging me,
and creatures attending me ; that have health to en-
able me, or affliction to remember and excite me ; that
have such a master, such a work, such a reward ? who
is less excusable for neglect than I?

Question 1 1 . Could I do no more, if I were sure
that my salvation lay on this one duty ? that, according
to this prayer, it should go with me for ever ? or if
the soul of my child, or servant, or neighbour, must
speed for ever, as my endeavours speed with them
now for their conversion ? For aught I know it may
be thus.

By this time you may see what difference there is
between the judgment of God and of the world ; and
what to think of the understandings of those men, be
they high or low, learned or unlearned, who hate or
oppose this holy diligence. God bids us love, and seek,
and serve him, with all our heart, and soul, and might :
and these men call them Zealots and Puritans that en-
deavour it ; though, alas ! they fall exceedingly short,
when they have done their best. It is one of the most
wonderful, monstrous deformities that ever befell the
nature of man ; that men, learned men — that men who
in other things are wise, should seriously think-iiiat
the utmost diligence to obey the Lord, and save our
souls, is needless ; and that ever they should iake it for

15

170 NOW OR NEVER.

a crime, and make it a matter of reproach : that the
serious, diligent obeying of God's laws, should be the
matter of the common disdain and hatred of the world.
It is not in vain that the Holy Ghost saith, " Marvel
not, my brethren, if the world hate you;" implying,
that we are apt to marvel at it ; as I confess I have oft
and greatly done. Methinks, it is so wonderful a
plague and stain in nature, that it doth very much to
confirm me of the truth of Scripture ; of the doctrine
of man's fall and original sin, and the necessity of a
Reconciler, and of renewing grace.

Look upwards, sirs, and think whether heaven be
worth our labour. Look downwards, and think whe-
ther earth be more worthy of it. Lay up your trea-
sures where you must dwell for ever. If that be here,
then scrape, and flatter, and get all that you can: but
if it be not here, but in another life, then hearken to
your Lord, and lay up for yourselves a treasure in
heaven, and there let your very hearts be set. And,
upon the peril of everlasting misery, hearken not to any
man that will tempt you from a diligent holy life. It
is a serious business; deal seriously in it, and be not
laughed or mocked out of heaven.

AH the commands, and promises, and threatenings
of God, the most powerful preaching, that, as it were,
sets open heaven and hell, do not prevail with fleshly
men, to leave the most sordid and unmanly sin : and
shall the words or frowns of creeping dust prevail with
thee against the work for which thou livest in the
world, when thou hast still at hand unanswerable ar-
guments from God, from thyself, from heaven and hell,
to put thee on ? Were it but for thy life, or the life of
thy children, friend, yea, or enemy, or for the quench-
ing of a fire in thy house, or in the town, wouldst thou
not stir and do thy best? And wilt thou be idle when
eternal Ufe lies on it? Let Satan roar against thee by
his instruments. Let sinners talk awhile of they know
not what, till God hath made them change their note.
These are not matters for a man to observe, that is
engaged for an endless life. O what are these to the
things that thou art called to prosecute ? Hold on, then,

NOW OR NEVER. 171

Christians, in the work that you have begun. Do it
prudently, and do it universally. Take it together,
works of piety, justice, and charity : but do it now
without delay, and do it seriously with your might.
I know not what cloud of darkness hath seized on those
men's minds that speak against this, or what deadly
damp hath seized on their hearts, that hath so benumb-
ed and unmanned them.

For my own part, though I have long lived in a
sense of the preciousness of time, and have not been
wholly idle in the world ; yet, when I have the deep-
est thoughts of the great everlasting consequence of my
work, and of the uncertainty and shortness of my time,
I am even amazed to think that my heart can be so slow
and senseless, as to do no more in such a case. The
Lord knows, and my conscience knows, that my sloth-
fulness is so much my shame and admiration, that I am
astonished to think that my resolutions are no stronger,
my affections no livelier, and my labour and diligence
no greater, when God is the commander, and his love
the encourager, and his wrath the spur, and heaven or
hell must be the issue. O, what lives should all of us
five, that have things of such unspeakable consequence
on our hands, if our hearts were not almost dead with-
in us ! Let who will speak against such a life, it shall
be my daily grief and moan, that I am so dull, and do
so little. I know that our w^orks do not profit the Al-
mighty, nor bear any proportion with his reward ; nor
can they stand in his sight, but as accepted in the Lord
our righteousness, and perfumed by the odour of his
merits. But I know they are necessary, and they are
sweet. Without the holy employment of our faculties,
this life will be but a burden or a dream, and the next
an inexpressible misery. O therefore, that I had more
of the love of God, that my soul could get but nearer
to him, and move more swiftly upward by faith and
love ! O that I had more of holy life, and active
diligence, thouo-h I had with it the scorns of all about
me, and though they made me, as they once did better
men, " as the filth of the world, and the ofiscouring
of all things !" 0 that I had more of this derided dili-

172 NOW OR NEVER.

gence, and holy converse with the Lord, though " my
name was cast out as an evil doer," and I were spit
at and buffeted by those that do now but secretly re-
proacb ! Might I more closely follow Christ in holiness,
why should I grudge to bear his cross, and to be used
as he was used ? Knowing that " if we suffer with him,
we shall also reign with him ; and the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with
the glory which shall be revealed in us."

Alas, sirs ! it is nothing but intoxicating prosperity,
and sensual delights, and worldly diversions, that make
you think well of ungodly slothfulness, and make you
think contemptuously of a heavenly lite. There is'not
the boldest infidel in the world, nor the bitterest enemy
to holiness, but shortly would wish they had rather
been saints, with all the scorn and cruelty that malice
can inflict on such, than to have braved it out in pride
and gallantry, with the neglect of everlasting things.

Methinks I even see how you will passionately rage
against yourselves, and tear your hearts with sell-re-
venge, (if grace prevent it not by a safe repentance,)
when you think too late how you lived on earth, and
what golden times of grace you lost, and vilified all
that would not lose them as foolishly as you. If re-
pentance unto life made St. Paul call himself foolish,
disobedient, deceived, and exceeding mad, (Tit. iii. 3.
Acts xxvi. 11.) you may imagine how tormenting re-
pentance will make you call yourselves too late.

0 sirs ! you cannot now conceive, what different
thoughts will then possess you of a holy and unholy
life. How mad you will think them that had but one
life's time of preparation for eternal life, and desperate-
ly neglected it ! And how sensible you will then be of
the wisdom of believers, that knew their time, and used
it while they had it! " Now wisdom is justified of all
her children ;" but then how sensibly will it be justified
of all its enemies ! O, with what remorse will undone
souls look back on a life of mercy and opportunities,
thus basely undervalued, and slept away in dreaming
idleness, and fooled away for things of nought !

The language of that rich man, Luke xvi. may

NOW OR NEVER.

173

help you m your predictions. O how will you wonder
at yourselves, that ever you could be so blind and
senseless, as to be no more affected with the warnings
of the Lord, and with the forethoughts of everlasting
joy and misery ! To have but one small part of time
to do all that ever must be done by you for eternity,
and say all that ever you must say, for your own or
others' souls, and that this was spent in worse than
nothing! To have but one uncertain life, in which
you must run the race that wins or loses heaven for
ever ; and that you should be tempted with a thing of
nought, to lose that one irrecoverable opportunity, and
to sit still or run another way, when you should have
been making haste with all your might! O sirs, the
thoughts of this will be other kind of thoughts another
day than now you feel them ; you cannot now think
how the thoughts of this will then affect you ! That
you had a time in which you might have prayed, with
promise of acceptance, and had no hearts to take that
time ! That Christ was offered to you as well as he was
offered to them that entertained him ; that you were
called on, and warned as well as they, but obstinately
despised and neglected all ! That life and death were
set before you, and the everlasting joys were offered
to your choice, against the charms of sinful pleasures,
and you might have freely had them if you would, and
were told that holiness was the only way, and that it
must be now or never, and yet that you chose your
own destruction ! These thoughts will be part of hell
to the ungodly. They will wonder that reason could
be so unreasonable ; and that they, who had the com-
mon wit of men in other matters, should be so far
beside themselves in that which is the only thing that
is commendable to be wise for; that such reasonings
should prevail with them against the clearest light, and
nothing should be preferred before all things, and argu-
ments fetched from chaff should conquer those that
were fetched from heaven! O what heart-rending
thoughts will these be, when eternity shall afford them
leisure for an impartial review!

Corne away speedily from the snares of sinners, and
15*

174 NOW OR KEVEH.

the company of deceived hardened men, and cast away
the works of darkness. Heaven is before you ! Death
is at hand ! The eternal God hath sent to call you !
Mercy doth yet stretch forth its arms ! You have
stayed too long, and abused patience too much already :
stay no longer ! O now please God, and comfort us,
and save yourselves, by resolving that " this shall be
the day :" and faithfully performing this your resolu-
tion, " up and be doing :" believe, repent, desire, obey,
and do all this with all your might ; love him that you
must love for ever, and love him with all your soul and
might ; seek that which is truly worth seeking, and
will pay for all your cost and pains, and seek it first
with all your might, remembering still it must be now
or never.

And now I should conclude, I am loath to end, for
fear lest I have not yet prevailed with you. What
are you now resolved to do, from this day forward ?
It is work that we have been speaking of, and necessary
work of endless consequence, which must be done, and
quickly done, and thoroughly done. Are you not con-
vinced that it is so ? that ploughing and sowing are
not more necessary to your harvest, than the work of
holiness in this day of grace is necessary to your sal-
vation ? You are blind, if you see not this ; you are
dead, if you feel it not : what then will you do ? O
hear the God of heaven, if you will not hear us, who
calleth to you. Return and live ! O hear him that shed
his blood for souls, and tendereth you now salvation
by his blood ! O hear without any more delay, before
all is gone, and you are gone, and he that now deceiv-
eth you, torment you \ Yet hold on a little longer in
a carnal, earthly, unsanctified state, and it is too late
to hope or pray, or strive for your salvation. Yet a
little longer, and mercy will have done with you for
ever ; and Christ will never invite you more, nor ever
offer to cleanse you by his blood ; nor sanctify you by
his Spirit. Yet a little longer, and you shall never hear
a sermon more, and never move be troubled with those
preachers that were in good earnest with you, and
longed once for your conversion and salvation. 0

«0W OR NEVER. 175

sleepy, dead-hearted sinners, what should I do to show
you how near you stand to eternity, and what is now
doing in the world that you are going to, and how
these things are thought on there ! What should I
do to make you know how time is valued, how sin and
holiness are esteemed in the world where you must live
for ever ! What should I do to make you know those
things to-day, which I will not thank you to know when
you are gone hence ! O that the Lord would open
your eyes in time ! O that I could but make you know
these things as believers should know them ! I say not
as those that see them, nor yet as dreamers, that do
not regard them, but as those that believe that they
must shortly see them ; what a joyful hour's work should
I esteem this ! how happy would it be to you and me !
If every word were accompanied with tears ; if this
sermon cost me as many censures or slanders as ever
sermon did, I should not think it too dear, if I could
but help you to such a sight of the things we speak of,
that you might truly understand them as they are :
that you had but a true awakened apprehension of the
shortness of your day, of the nearness of eternity, and
of the endless consequence of your present work, and
what holy labour and sinful loitering will be thought
of in the world to come for ever. But when we see
you sin, and trifle, and no more regard your endless
life, and see also what haste your time is making, and
yet cannot make you understand these things; when
we know ourselves as sure as we speak to you, that
you will shortly be astonished at the review of your
present sloth and folly, and when we know that these
matters are not thought of in another world, as they
are among sleepy sinners here, and yet know not how
to make you know it, whom it doth so exceedingly
much concern, this amazeth us, and almost breaks our
hearts. Yea, when we tell you of things that are past
doubt, and can be no further matter of controversy,
than men have sold their understandings, and betrayed
their reason to their sordid lusts, and yet we cannot
get reasonable men to know that which they cannot
choose but know, to know that seriously and practically

176 vow OR NEVER.

wliicb always hath a witness in their breasts, and which
none but the profligate dare deny ; tt)is, even this, is
worse than a prison to us. It is you that are our per-
secutors ; it is you that are the daily sorrow of our
hearts ; it is you that disappoint us of our hopes, and
make us lose so much of the labour of our lives.

Sinners, whatever the devil and raginor passion may
say against a holy Ufe, God and your own consciences
shall be our witnesses, that we desired nothing unrea-
sonable, or unnecessary at your hands.

The question that I am putting to you, is not whether
you will be for this form of church-government, or for
that : but it is, whether you will hearken in time to
God and conscience, and be as busy to provide for
heaven, as ever you have been to provide for earth .'*
It is godliness, serious and practical godUness, that thou
art called to. It is nothing but what all Christians in
the world are agreed in. That I may not leave thee
in any darkness Avhich I can deliver thee from, I will
tell thee distinctly, though succincdy, what it is that
thou art thus importuned to ; and tell me, then, whether
it be that which any Christian can make doubt of.

1. That which I entreat of thee, is but to live as
one that verily believeth there is a God ; and that this
God is the Creator, the Lord and Ruler of the world :
and that it is incomparably more our business to under-
stand and obey his laws, and as faithful subjects to be
conformed to them, than to observe or be conformed
to the laws of man : and to live as men that do believe
that this God is Almighty, and that the greatest of men
are less than erawUng worms to him ; and that he is
infinitely wise, and the wisdom of man is foolishness
to him ; and that he is infinitely good and amiable ; that
his love is the only felicity of man ; and that none are
happy but those that do enjoy it ; and none that do
enjoy it can be miserable ; and that liclies, and honour,
and fleshly delights are brutish vanities in comparison
of the eternal love of God. Live but as men that
heartily believe all this, and I have that I come for :
and is any of this a matter of controversy or doubt?
Not among Ciiristians I am sure : not among wise

wow X)-R KEVE-R. 177

men. It is no doubt to those in heaven, nor to those
in hell, nor to those that have not lost their under-
standings upon earth. Live then according to these
truths.

2. Live as men that verily believe that mankind is
fallen into sin and misery ; and that all men are cor-
rupted, and under the condemnation of the law of God,
till they are delivered, pardoned, reconciled to God,
and made new creatures, by a renewing, restoring,
sanctifying change. Live but as men that believe that
this cure must be wrought, and this great restoring
change must be made upon ourselves, if it be not done
already. Live as men that have so great a work to
iook after ; and is this a matter of any doubt or con-
troversy ? Sure it is not to a Christian : and methinks
it should not be to any man else that knoweth himself,
any more than to a man in a dropsy, whether he be
diseased, when he feels the thirst and sees the swelling.
Did you but know what cures and changes are neces-
sarily to be made upon your diseased miserable souls,
if you care what becomes of them, you would soon see
cause to look about you.

3. Live but as men that verily believe that the Son
of God hath suffered for your sins, and brought you
the tidings of pardon and salvation, which you may
have, if you will give up yourselves to him who is the
physician of souls, to be healed by him. Live as men
that beUeve that the infinite love of God, revealed to
lost mankind in the Redeemer, doth bind us to love
him with all our hearts, and serve him with all our
restored faculties, and to work as those that have the
greatest thankfulness to show, as well as the greatest
mercies to receive, and misery to escape : and as those
that believe, that if sinners that, without Christ, had
not hope, shall now love their sins and refuse to leave
them, and to repent and be converted, and unthankful-
ly reject the mercy of salvation so dearly bought, and
freely offered them, their damnation will be doubled as
their sin is doubled.

Live but as men that have such redemption to ad-
mire, such mercy to entertain, and such a salvation to

178 NOW OK NEVER.

attain, and that, are sure they can never escape if they
continue to "neglect so great salvation." And is there
any controversy among Christians in any of this ? There
is not, certainly.

4. Live but as men that beheve that the Holy Ghost
is given by Jesus Christ to convert, to quicken, and to
sanctify all that he will save ; that " except you be
born again of the Spirit, you shall not enter into the.
kingdom of heaven ;" and that " if any man have not
the^Spirit of Christ, the same is none of his," and that
without this, no mending of your lives, by any common
principles, will serve the turn for your salvation, or
make you acceptable to God. Live as men that be-
lieve that this Spirit is given by the hearing of the
word of God, and must be prayed^ for, and obeyed, and
not resisted, quenched, and grieved. And is there any
controversy among Christians in any of this ?

5. Live but as men that believe that sin is the great-
est evil, the thing which the holy God abhorreth ; and
then you will never make a mock of it, as Solomon
saith the foolish do ; nor say, What harm is in it.''

6. Live but as men that believe no sin is pardoned
without repentance ; and that repentance is the loath-
ing and forsaking of sin ; and that if it be true, it will
not suffer you to live in any sin, nor to desire to keep
the least infirmity, nor to be loath to know your un-
known sins.

7. Live as those that believe that you are to be
members of the Holy Catholic Church, and therein to
hold the communion of saints. And then you will
know that it is not as a member of any sect or party,
but as a holy member of this holy church, that you
must be saved : and that it is the name of a Christian,
which is more honourable than the name of any divi-
sion, or subdivision among Christians.

8. Live as those that believe that there is a life ever-
lasting, where the sanctified shall live in endless joy,
and the unsanctified in endless punishment and woe :
live but as men that verily believe a heaven and a hell,
and a day of judfrment, in which all the actions of this
life must be revised, and all men judged to their end-

NOW OR NEVER. 179

less state. Believe these things heartily, and then
think a holy diligence needless if you can. Then be
of the mind of the tleriders and enemies of godliness if
you can. If one sight of heaven or hell would serve
without any more ado, instead of other arguments, to
confute all the cavils of the distracted world, and to
justify the most diligent saints in the judgment of those
that now abhor them, why should not a sound belief ot
the same thing in its measure do the same ?

9. Live but as those that believe this life is given us
as the only time to make preparation for eternal life:
and that all that ever shall be done for your salvation,
must be now, just now, before your time is ended : live
as those that know, and need not faith to tell them,
that this time is short, and almost at an end already,
and stayeth for no man, but, as a post, doth haste
away. It will not stay while you are taken up at stage
plays, in compliments, in idle visits, or any impertinent,
needless things: it will not tarry while you spend yet
the other year, or month, or day, in your worldliness,
or ambition, or in your lusts and sensual delights, and
put off your repentance to another time. O sirs, for
the Lord's sake, do but Uve as men that must shortly
be buried in the grave, and their souls appear before
the Lord, and as men that have but this little time to
do all for their everlasting life, that ever must be done.
O live as men that are sure to die, and are not sure to
live till to-morrow : and let not the noise of pleasure or
worldly business, or the chat or scorns of miserable
fools, bear down your reason, and make you live as if
you knew not what you know ; or as if there was any
doubt abouc these things. Who is the man and what is
his name, that dares contradict them, and can make it
good ? O do not sin against your knowledge : do not
stand still and see your glass running, and time making
such haste, and yet make no more haste yourselves,
than if you were not concerned in it : do not, O do not
slumber, when time and judgment never slumber ; nor
sit still when you have so much to do, and know al\
that is now left undone must be undone for ever!
Alas, sirs, how many questions of exceeding weight

180" NOW OK NEVER,

have you yet to be resolved in ! whether you are truly
sanctified? whether your sins be pardoned? whether
you shall be saved when you die ? whether you are
ready to leave this world and enter upon another ? I
tell you, the answering of these and many more such
questions, is a matter of no small difficulty or concern.
And all these must be done in this little and uncertain
time. It must be now or never. Live but as men that
believe and consider these unquestionable things.

10. Lastly, Will you but live as men that believe
that the world and the flesh are the deadly enemies of
your salvation? and that believe, that " if any man love
the world, (so far) the love of the Father is not in
him ?" and as men that believe that, " if ye live after
the flesh ye shall die ; but if by the Spirit ye mortify
the deeds of the body, ye shall live ;" and that those
"who are in Christ Jesus, and are freed from condem-
nation, are such as " walk not after the flesh, but afier
the Spirit?" And that we must " make no provision
for the flesh, to satisfy the will or lusts thereof;" and
must not " walk in gluttony and drunkenness, in cham-
bering and wantonness, in strife and envy," but must
"have our hearts where our treasure is," and our con-
versation in heaven ; and being risen with Christ,
must seek the things that are above, and set our affec-
tions on them, and not on things that are on earth.

Sirs, will you say that any of this is our singu-lar
opinion, or matter of controversy and doubt ? Are
not all Christians agreed in it ? Do you not, your own
selves profess that you believe it? Live then but as
those that do believe it, and condemn not yourselves in
the things that you confess.

I have done my part to open to you the necessity of
serious diligence, and to call up the sluggish souls of
sinners to mind the work of their salvation, and to do
it speedily, and with all their might. I must now leave
the success to God and you. What use you will make of
it, and what you will be and and do for the time to come,
is a matter that more concerneth yourselves than me.

Sirs, the matter is now laid before you. What will
you now do ? Have I convinced you now, that God

NOW OR NEVER. ig|

and your salvation are to be sought with all your
might ." If I have not, it is not for want of evidence
m what IS said, but for want of wiihngness in your-
selves to know the truth.

It is wonderful, to think that learned men, and gen
tiemen, and men that pretend to reason and ino-enuitv
can quietly betray their souls, and do the evil that they
have no more to say for, and neglect that duty that
they have no more to say against, when they know
they must do it noio or never. That while they con-
fess that there is a God, and a life to come, a heaven
and a hell, and that this life is purposely o-iven us for
preparation for eternity ; while they conless"that God is
most wise, and holy, and good, and just, and that sin
IS the greatest evil, and that the word of God is true
they can yet make shift to quiet themselves in an un-
holy, sensual, careless life ; and that while they honour
the apostles and martyrs, and saints that are dead and
gone, they hate their successors and imitators, and the
hves that they lived.

Alas ! all this comes from the want of a sound belief
of the things which they never saw; and the distance
ot those things, and the power of passion, and sensual
objects and inclinations, that hurry them away after
present vanities, and conquer reason, and rob them of
their humanity; and from the noise of the company of
sensual sinners, that harden and deafen one another
and by the just judgment of God forsaking those that
would not know him, and leaving them to the blind-
ness and hardness of their hearts. But is there no
remedy? O Thou, the Fountain of mercy and relief
vouchsafe these miserable sinners a remedy ! O Thou'
the Saviour of lost mankind, have mercy upon these
sinners in the depth of their security, presumption, and
misery ! O Thou, the Illuminator and Sanctifier of
souls, apply the remedy so dearly purchased !

Poor sleepy sinners, hear us ! Though we speak not
to you as men would do that had seen heaven and hell ;
and were themselves in a perfectly awakened frame,'
yet hear us while we speak to you the words of truth,
with some seriousness, and compassionate desire for

16

182 NOW OR NEVER.

your salvation. O look up to your God ! Look om
unto eternity : Look inwardly upon your souls : Look
wisely upon your short and hasty time : and then he-
think you how the little remnant of your time should
be employed ; and what it is that most concerneth you
to despatch and secure before you die. Now you have
sermons, and books, and vv^arnings: it will not be so
long. Preachers must have done ; God threateneth
them, and death threateneth them, and men threaten
them, and it is you, it is you that are most severely
threatened, and that are called on by God's warnings.
" If any man have an ear to hear, let him hear." Now
you have abundance of private helps, you have abun-
dance of understanding gracious companions ; you
have the Lord's day to spend in holy exercises, for the
edification and solace of your souls ; you have choice
of sound and serious books: O what invaluable mer-
cies are all these! O know your time, and use these
with industry, and improve this harvest for your souls I
For it will not be thus always : it must be now or never.
You have yet time and leave to pray and cry to God
in hope ; yet if you have hearts and tongues, he hath
a hearing ear ; the Spirit of grace is ready to assist
you. It will not be thus always : the time is coming
when the loudest cries Avill do no good. O pray, pray,
pray, poor needy miserable sinners ; for it must be now
or neve)'.

You have yet health and strength, and bodies fit to
serve your souls : it will not be so always : languish-
ing, and pains, and death are coming. O use your
health and strength for God ; for it must be now or
never.

Yet there are some stirrings of conviction in your
consciences : you find that all is not well with you ;
and you have some thoughts or purposes to repent and
be new creatures. There is some hope in this, that
yet God hath not quite forsaken you. O trifle not,
and stifle not the convictions of your consciences, but
hearken to the witness of God within you. It must be
now or never.

Would you not be loath to be left to the despairing

NOW OR NEVER. 183

case of many poor distressed souls, that cry out, ' O it
is now too late 1 I fear my day of grace is past ; God
will not hear me now if I should call upon him : he
hath forsaken me, and given me over to myself. It is
too late to repent, too late to pray, too late to think
of a new life ; all is too late.' This case is sad; hut
yet many of these are in a safer and better case than
they imagine, and are but frightened by tlie Tempter:
and it is not too late, while they cry out, ' It is too
late ;' but if you are left to cry in hell, ' It is too late ;'
alas, how long and how doleful a cry and lamentation
will it be !

O consider, poor sinner, that God knoweth the time
and season of thy mercies. He giveth the spring and
harvest in their season, and all his mercies in their
season ; and wilt thou not know thy time and season, of
love, and duty, and thanks to him?

Consider that God, who hath commanded theethy
work, hath also appointed thee thy time. And this is
his appointed time. To-day, therefore, hearken to his
voice, and see that thou harden not thy heart. He
that bids thee " repent and work out thy salvation with
fear and trembling," doth also bid thee do it now.
Obey him in the time, if thou wilt be indeed obedient;
he best understandeth the fittest time. One would
think to men that have lost so much already, and
loitered so long, and are so lamentably behindhand,
and stand so near the bar of God, and their everlasting
state, there should be no need to say any more to per-
suade them to be up and doing. I shall add but this :
* You are never like to have a better time.' Take this,
or the work will grow more difficult, more doubtful, if
through the just judgment of God, it become not des-
perate. If all this will not serve, but still you will loiter
till time be gone, what can your poor friends do but
lament your misery ! The Lord knows, if we knew
what words, what pains, what cost would tend to your
awakening, and conversion, and salvation, we should
be glad to submit to it : and we hope we should not
think our labours, or liberties, or our lives too dear to
promote so blessed and so necessary a work. But if

184 NOW OR NEVER.

when all this is done that we can do, you will leave us
nothing but our tears and moans for self-destroyers,
the sin is yours, and the suffering shall be yours. If I
can do no more, I shall leave this upon record, that we
took our time to tell you, that set-ions diligence is ne-
cessary to your salvation ; and that God is the " Re-
warder of them that diligently seek him," and that this
was your day, your only day. It must be now or
never.

FIFTY REASONS

WHY A SINNER OUGHT TO TURN TO GOD
WITHOUT DELAY.

[with some abridgment.]

HEBREWS III. 7, 8.

To-day, if ye will hear his voict, harden not your hearts.

1. Consider to whom it is that you are commanded
to turn ; and then tell me whether there can be any
reason for delay. It is not to an empty deceitful crea-
ture, but to the faithful all-sufficient God ; to Him that
is the cause of all things; the strength of the creation;
the joy of angels ; the felicity of the saints ; the sun and
shield of all the righteous ; the refuge of the distressed;
and the glory of the whole world. Of such power, that
his word can take down the sun from the firmament,
and turn the earth and all things into nothing ; for he
doth more in giving them their being and continuance :
of such wisdom, that he was never guilty of mistake ;
and therefore will not mislead you, nor draw you to
any thing that is not for the best : of such goodness, as
that evil cannot stand in his sight, and nothing but
your evil could make him displeased with you ; and it is
from nothing but evil, that he calleth you to turn. It
is not to a malicious enemy, that would do you misr
chief, but to a gracious God that is love itself; not to an
implacable justice, but to a reconciled Father ; not to
revenging indignation, but to the embrace of those

16*

186 FIFTY REASONS.

arms, and the mercy of that compassionate Lord, that
is enough to melt the hardest heart, when you find
yourself, as the poor returning prodigal, in his bosom,
when you deserved to be under his feet. And will the
great and blessed God invite thee to his favour, and
wilt thou delay and demur upon the return ? The
greatest of the angels of heaven are glad of his favour,
and value no happiness but the light of his counte-
nance. Heaven and earth are supported by him, and
nothing can stand without him. How glad would
those very devils be of his favour, that tempt thee
to neglect his favour ! And wilt thou delay to turn
to such a God? Why, man, thou art every minute
at his mercy. And yet dost thou delay ? There are all
thincTS imacnnable in him to draw thee. There is
nothing that is good for thee, but it is perfectly in him,
where thou mayst have it certain and perpetual.
There is nothing in him to give the least discourage-
ment : let all the devils in hell, and all the enemies of
God on earth, say the worst they can against his ma-
jesty, and they are not able to find tlie smallest blemish
in his absolute holiness, and wisdom, and goodness.
And yet wilt thou delay to return ?

2. Consider, also, to what it is that thou must turn
Not to uncleanness, but to holiness ; not to the sensual
life of a beast, but to the noble rational life of a man,
and the more noble heavenly life of a Christian ; not to
an unprofitable worldly toil, but to the most gainful
employment that ever the sons of men were acquainted
with ; not to the deceitful drudgery of sin, but to that
godliness which is profitable to all things, " having the
promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to
come."" Sirs, do you know what a life of holiness is ?
You do not know it, if you turn away from it. I am
sure, if you knew it, you would never fly from it.
No, nor endure to live without it. Why, a life of ho-
liness is nothing but living unto God ; to be conversant
with him, as the wicked are with the world ; and to
be devoted to his service, as sensualists are to the flesh.
It is to live in the love of God, and of our Redeemer ;
and in the foretaste of his everlasting glory, and of his

FIFTY REASONS. 187

Icve ; and in the sweet fore-thoughts of that blessed
life that shall never end; and in the honest self-denying
course that leadeth to that blessedness. A godly life
is nothing else but a sowing the seed of heaven on
earth ; and a learning, in the school of Christ, the songs
of praise which we must use before the throne of God ;
and by suffering, — a learning how to triumph and reign
with Christ.

Can you delay to come into your Father's family ;
into the vineyard of the Lord ; into the kingdom of
God on earth ; to be " fellow-citizens of the saints, and
of the household of God;" to have the pardon of all
your sins, and the sealed promise of everlasting glory?
Why, sirs, when you are called on to turn, you are
called to the porch of heaven, into the beginning of sal-
vation ; and will you delay to accept everlasting life?

3. Consider also, From what you are called to turn ;
and then judge whether there be any reason of delay.
It is from the devil, your enemy; from the love of a
deceitful world; from the seductions of corrupted
brutish flesh ; it is from sin, the greatest evil. What
is there in sin, that you should delay to part with it?
Is there any good in it ? Or what hath it ever done
for you that you should love it? Did it ever do you
good? Or did it ever do any man good? It is the
deadly enemy of Christ and you, that caused his death,
and will cause yours, and is working for your condem-
nation, if converting and pardoning grace prevent it
not. And are you loath to leave it ? It is the cause
of all the miseries of the world, of all the sorrows that
ever did befall you, and the cause of the damnation of
them that perish ; and do you delay to part with it?

4. Your delaying shows that you love not God, and
that you prefer your sin before him, and that you
would never part \vith it if you could have your will.
For if you loved God, you would long to be restored
to his favour, and to be near him, and employed in his
service and his family. Love is quick and diligent,
and will not draw back. And it is a sign also that you
are in love with sin : f(>r else, why should you be so
loath to leave it ? He that would not leave his sin and

183 FIFTY REASONS.

turn to God, till the next week, or the next month, or
year, would never turn if he might have his desire.
For that which makes you desirous to stay a day or a
week longer, doth indeed make you loath to turn at
all. And therefore it is but hypocrisy to say, that you
are willing to turn hereafter, if you are not willing to
do it now without delay.

5. Consider, what a case you are in, while you thus
delay ? Do you think you stand in a safe condition ?
If you knew where you are, you would sit as upon
thorns as long as you are unconverted ; you would be
as a man that stood up to the knees in the sea, and saw
the tide coming towards him, who certainly would
think that there is no standing still in such a place.
You have all your sin unpardoned ; you are under the
curse of the law ; the wrath of God is upon you, and
the iiilness of it hangs over your heads ; judgment is
coming to pass upon you the dreadful doom ; the Lord
is at haiid ; death is at the door, and waits but for the
word from the mouth of God, that it may arrest you,
and bring you to everlasting misery : and is this a state
for a man to continue in?

6. Moreover, Your delaying giveth great advantage
to the Tempter. If you would presently turn and for-
sake your sins, and enter into a faithful covenant with
God, the devil would be almost out of hope, and the
very heart of his t mptations would be broken. He
would see that now it is too late ; there is no getting
you out of the arms of Christ. But as long as you
delay, you keep him in heart and hope ; he hath time
to strengthen his prison and fetters, and to renew his
snares ; and if one temptation serve not, he hath time
to try another and another; as if you would stand as
a mark for Satan to shoot at, as long as he pleases.
What likelihood is there that ever so foolish a sinner
should be recovered and saved from his sin ?

7. Moreover, Your delaying is a vile abuse of Christ
and the Holy Ghost, and may so far provoke him, as
to leave you to yourself, and then you are past help.
If you delight so to trample on your crucified Lord,
and will so long put him to it by refusing his grace and

FIFTY REASONS. 189

grieving his Spirit, what can you expect but that he
should turn away in wrath, and utterly forsake you.

8. Consider, also, I beseech you, if you ever mean to
turn, what it is that you stay for. Do you thinii to
bring down Christ and heaven to your own terms, and
to be saved liereafter with less ado ? Sure, you can-
not he so foolish : for God will be still the same ; and
Christ the same ; and his promise hath still the same
condition, which he will never change ; and godliness
will be the same, and as much against your carnal in-
terest hereafter as it is now. When you have looked
about you ever so long, you will never find a fairer or
nearer way ; but this same way you must go or perish.
If you cannot leave sin now, how shall you leave it
then ? It will still be as sweet to your flesh as now :
or if one grow stale by the decay of nature, another
that is worse will spring up in its stead, and though
the acts abate, they will all live still at the root ; for
sin was never mortified by age. So that if ever you
will turn, you may best turn now.

9. Yea, more than that, the longer you stay, the
harder it will be. If it be hard to-day, it is like to be
harder to-morrow. For as the Spirit of Christ is like
to forsake you for your wilful delays, so custom will
strengthen sin : and custom in sinning will harden
your hearts, and make you " past feeling, to work
all uncleanness with greediness." Cannot you crush
this serpent w^hen it is but weak : and can you en-
counter it in its serpentine strength ? Cannot you
pluck up a tender plant ; and can you pluck up an oak
or cedar? O sinners I what do you mean, to make
your recovery so difficult by delay ? You are never
like to be fairer for heaven, and to find conversion an
easier work, than now you may do. Will you stay
till the work be ten times harder, and yet do you think
it so hard already ?

10. Consider, also, that sin gets daily victories by
your delay. We lay out batteries against it, and preach,
and exhort, and pray against it, and it gets a kind of
victory over all, as long as we prevail not with you to
turn. It conquereth our persuasions and advice ; it

190 FIFTY REASONS^.

conquerelh all the stirrings of your consciences ; it
conquereth all your heartless purposes and deceitful
promises. And these frequent conquests strengthen
your sin, and weaken your resistance, and leave the
matter almost hopeless. Before a physician hath used
remedies, he hath more hope of a cure, than when he
hath tried all means, and finds that the best medicines
do no good, but the man is still as bad or worse. So
when all means have been tried with you, and yet you
are unconverted, the case draws towards desperation
itself: the very means are disabled more than before ;
that is, your hearts are harder to be wrought upon by
them. When you have long been under sermons and
reading, and among good examples, and yet you are
unconverted, these ordinances lose much of their force
with you. Custom will make you slight them, and be
dead-hearted under them. And it is these very same
means and truths, that you have frustrated, that must
do the work, or it will never be done.

1 1. Moreover, age itself hath many inconveniences,
and youth hath many great advantages : and therefore
it is folly to delay. In age the understanding and
memory grow dull, and people grow incapable, and
almost unchangeable. We see, by our every day's
experience, that men think they should not change
when they are old ; that opinion or practice, in which
they have been brought up, they think they should
not then forsake. To learn when they are old, and to
turn when they are old — you see how much they are
against it. Besides, how unfit is age to be at that
pains that youth can undergo ? How unfit to begin
the holy warfare against the flesh, the world, and the
devil ? God's way is to Ust his soldiers as soon as may
be, when in youth ; but the devil will persuade them
that it is yet too soon ; and when he can no longer
persuade them that it is yet too soon, he will then per^
suade that it is too late." O what a happy thing it is
to come to God betimes, and with the first ! What
advantage hath youth ! They have the vigour of wit
and of body ; they are not rooted and hardened in sin,

FIFTY REASONS. 191

nor filled with prejudice and obstinacy against godFiness,
as others are.

12. You have such times of advantage and encour-
agement as few ages of the world have ever seen, and
few nations on earth enjoy at this day. What plain
and plentiful teaching have you ! What abundance of
good examples, and the society of the godly ! Private
and public helps are common. Seldom has the church
seen such days on earth. And yet is not the way to
heaven fair enough for you ? Yet are you not ready to
turn to God ? Will you delay till harvest time be over,
and the winter of persecution come again ? Have you
sun, and wind, and tide to serve you, and will you stay
to set out in storms and darkness ?

13. Moreover, Your delay doth cast your conversion
and salvation into hazard, yea, into many and grievous
hazards. And is your everlasting happiness a matter
to be wilfully hazarded, by causeless and unreasonable
delays ? If you delay to-day, you are utterly uncertain
of living till to-morrow. If you put by this one mo-
tion, you know not whether ever you may have another.
You know not Avhether ever the Spirit of God will pu""
another thought of turning into your hearts ; or at least,
whether he will incline your hearts to turn.

14. Moreover, the delay of conversion continueth
your sin, and so you will daily increase their number,
and increase your guilt, and make your souls abun-
dantly miserable. Are you not deep enough in debt
to God already, and have you not sins enough to
answer for upon your souls ? Would you fain have
one year's sins more, or one day's sins more, to be
charged upon you ? O, if you did but know what sin
is, it would amaze you to think what a mountain lieth
already upon your consciences ! One sin unpardoned
will sink the sinner into hell ; and you have many a
thousand upon your souls already, and would you yet
have more ? Methinks you should rather look about
you, and bethink you how you may get a pardt^n for
all that is past.

15. And as sin increaseth daily by delay, so conse-
quently the wrath of God increaseth, and you will run

192 FIFTY REASONS.

further into his displeasure, and possibly you may cut
down the bough that you stand upon, and hasten
destruction to yourselves. When you live daily upon
God, and are kept out of hell, by a miracle of his mercy,
methinks you should not desire yet longer to provoke
him, lest he withdraw his meicy, and let you fall into
misery.

16. And do but consider. What will become of you
if ye be found in these delays ? You are then lost, body
and soul, for ever. Now if you had but hearts to know
what is good for you, the worst of you might be con-
verted and saved ; for God doth tieely otier you his
grace. But if you die in your delays, in the twinkling
of an eye you will find yourselves utterly undone for
ever.

17. Consider, That your very time, which you lose
by these delays, is an inconceivable loss. When time
is gone, what would you then give for one of those
years, or days, or hours, v/hich you now fooli hly trifle
away ? O wTetched sinners, are there so many thou-
sand souls in hell that would give a world, if they had
it, for one of your days ; and yet can you afford to
throw them away in worldliness, and sensuality, and
loitering delays? I tell you, time is better worth than
all the wealth and honours of the world. The day is
coming when you will value time : when it is gone
you will know what a blessing you made light of.

18. Consider also, that God hath given you no time
to spare. He hath not lent you one day or hour, more
than is needful for the work that you have to do ;
therefore you have no reason to lose any by your
delays. Do you imagine that God would give a man
an hour's time for nothing ? much less to abuse him
and serve his enemy. No, let me tell you, that if you
make your best of every hour, if you should never lose
a moment of your lives, you would find all little enough
for the work you have to do. I know not how others
think of time, but for my part I am forced daily to say,
How swift, how short is*^ time ! And how great is our
work ! And when we have done our best, how slowly
it goeth on ! O precious time ! What hearts have

PIFTT REASONS. 193

they, what lives do those men lead, that think time
long ! That have time to spare, and to pass in idle-
ness !

1 9. To convince }?ou more, Consider, I beseech you,
the exceeding greatness of the work you have to do;
and tell me then, whether it be time for you to delay.
Especially you, that are yet unconverted, and strangers
to the heavenly nature of the saints, — you have far
more to do than other men. You have a multitude of
headstrong passions to subdue, and abundance of
deadly sins to kill, and rooted vices to root up : you
have a false opinion of God, and his ways, to be plucked
up ; and the customs of many years' standing to be
broken : you have blind minds that must be enlighten-
ed \vith heavenly knowledge, and abundance of spiri-
tual truths that are above the reach of flesh and blood,
that you must needs learn and understand : you have
much to know, that is hard to be known : you have a
dead soul to be made alive, and a hard heart to be
melted ; and a seared conscience to be softened, and
made tender ; and the guilt of many thousand sins to
be pardoned : you have a new heart to get, and a new
end to aim at, and seek after, and a new life to live ;
abundance of enemies you have to fight with, and
overcome ; abundance of temptations to resist and
conquer ; many graces to get, and preserve, and exer-
cise, and increase ; and abundance of holy work to do
for the service of God, and the good of yourselves and
others. O what a deal of work doth every one of
these words contain ! And yet what abundance more
might I name 1 And have you all this to do, and yet
will you delay ? And they are not indifferent matters
that are before you : it is no less than the saving of
your souls, and obtaining the blessed glory of the saints.
Necessity is upon you. These are things that must be
done, or else woe to you that ever you were born !
And yet have you another day to lose ? Why, sirs,
if you had a hundred miles to go in a day or two, upon
pain of death, would you delay? O think of the work
that you have to do, and then judge whether it be not
time to stir f

17

194 FIFTY REASONS.

20. And methinks it should exceedingly terrify you
to consider, What multitudes perish by such delays;
and how few that wilfully delay, are ever converted
and saved ! Many a soul, that once had purposes
hereafter to repent, is now in the misery where there
is no repentance that will do them any good. For my
part, though I have known some very few converted
when they were old ; yet I must needs say, both that
they were very few indeed, and I had reason to believe,
that they were such as had sinned before in ignorance,
and did not wilfully put off repentance, when they were
convinced that they must turn. Though I doubt not
but God may convert even these if he please, yet I
cannot say that I have ever known many, if any such,
to be converted. Sure I am that God's usual time is
in childhood, or youth, before they have long abused
grace, and wilfully delayed to turn when they wxre
convinced. Some considerable time, I confess, may
have elapsed before their first convictions and purposes
be brought to any great ripeness of performance : but
O how dangerous it is to delay !

21. Consider, also. Either conversion is good or bad
for you ; either it is needful or unnecessary. If it be bad,
and a needless thing, then let it alone altogether. But
if you are convinced that it is good and necessary, is it
not better now than to stay any longer ? Is it not the
sooner the belter ? Are you afraid of being safe or hap-
py too soon ? If you are sick, you care not how soon
you are well ; if you have a bone out, you care not how
soon it is set ; if you fall into the Avater, you care not
how soon you get out ; if your house be on fire, you
care not how soon it be quenched ; if you are put in
fear by any doubts or ill tidings, you care not how soon
your fears be over. And yet are you afraid of being
too soon out of the power of the devil, and the danger
of hell ; and of being too soon the sons of God, and the
holy, justified heirs of heaven ?

22. Consider, also. Either you can turn now, or not.
If you can and yet will not, you are utterly without
excuse. If you cannot to-day, how much less will you
be able hereafter, when strength is less, and difficulties

FIFTY REASONS. 195

greater, and burdens more? Is it not time, therefore,
to apply to Christ for strength ; and should not the very-
sense of your inability dissuade you from delay?

23. Consider how long you have stayed already,
and put God's patience to it by your folly. Have not
the devil, the world, and the flesh, had many years' time
of your life already? Have you not long enough been
swallowing the poison of sin ; and long enough been
abusing the Lord that made you ; and the blood of the
Son of God that was shed for you; and the Spirit of
grace, that hath moved and persuaded you ? Are you
not yet gone far enough from God ? And have you not
yet done enough to the destroying of yourselves, and
casting away everlasting Ufe ? O wretched sinners ! it
is rather time for you to'fall down on your faces before
the Lord, and with tears and groans to lament it day
and night, that ever you have gone so far in sin, and
delayedso long to turn to him as you have done.
Sure, if after so many years' rebellion, you are yet so
far from lamenting it, that you had rather have more
of it, and had rather hold on a little longer, no wonder
if God forsake you, and let you alone.

24. Have you any hopes of God's acceptance and
your salvation, or not? If you have such hopes, — that,
when you turn, God will pardon all your sins, and give
you everlasting life, — is it, think you, an ingenuous
thing to desire to offend him yet a little longer, from
whom you expect such exceeding mercy and glory ?
Have you the faces to speak out what is in your hearts
and practice; and to go to God with such words as
these ? ' Lord, I know I cannot have the pardon of one
sin without the blood of Christ, and the riches of thy
mercy. Nor can I be saved from hell without it : but
yet I hope for all this from thy grace. I beseech thee
let me live a little longer in my sins ; a little longer let
me trample on the blood of Christ, and despise thy
commandments, and abuse thy mercies ; and then par-
don me all that ever I did, and take me into glory.' —
Could you for shame put such a request to God as this?
If you could, you are past shame : if not, then do not

196 FIFTY REASONS.

practise and desire that which you cannot, for shame,
speak out and request.

25. Moreover, It is an exceedino^ advantage to you
to come to God betimes ; and an exceeding loss, that
you will suffer by delaj'^, if you were sure to be con-
verted at the last. If you speedily come in, you may
have time to learn, and get more understanding in the
matters of God, than otherwise can be expected. For
knowledge will not be had but by time and study. You
may also have time to get strength of grace, when be-
ginners can expect no more than infant strength. You
may grow to be men of parts and abilities, to be useful
in the church, and profitable to those about you, when
others cannot go or stand, unless they lean on the
stronger for support. If you come in betimes, you may
do God service ; which, in the evening of the day, you
will neither have strength nor time to do. You may
have time to get assurance of salvation, and to be
ready with comfort, when death shall call; when a
weakling is Uke to be perplexed with doubts and
fears, and death is like to be terrible, because of their
unreadiness.

26. And did you ever consider, who and how many
stay for you while you delay ? Do you know who it is
that you make to wait your leisure ? God himself stands
over you with the offers of his mercy, as if he thought
it long till you return, saying, " O that there were such
a heart in them !" and " when will it once be !" " How
long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity, and
scorners delight in scorning, and fools hate knowledge •*
Turn ye at my reproof" And do you think it wise, or
safe, for you to make the God of heaven wait on you,
while you are serving his enemy ? Can you offer God
a baser indignity, than to expect he should support
your lives, and feed you, and preserve you, and pa-
tiently forbear while you abuse him to his face, and
drudge for the flesh, the world, and the devil? Should
a worm thus use the Lord that made him, marvel not.
If he withdraw his supporting mercy, and let such
wretches drop into hell !

Aud it is not God only, but his servants, and crea-

flPTy REASONS. 197

tures, and ordinances, that, are all waiting on you. The
angels stay for the joy that is due to them upon your
conversion. Ministers are studying, and preaching,
and praying for you ; godly neighbours are praying,
and longing for your change. The springs and rivers
are flowing for you ; the winds blow for you ; the sun
shines for you ; the clouds rain for you ; the earth
bears fruit for you ; the beasts must labour, and suffer,
and die for you ; all things are doing, and would you
stand still or else do worse ? What haste makes the
sun about the world, to return in its time to give you
light ! What haste make other creatures in your ser-
vice ! And yet must you delay? Must God stay, and
Christ and the Spirit stay? Must angels stay, must
ministers stay, must the godly stay, and the ordinances
stay, and all the creatures stay your leisure, while you
are abusing God, and your souls, and others, and while
you delay, as if it were too soon to turn ?

27. Consider, That when you were lost, the Son of
God did not delay the work of redemption. He pre-
sently undertook it, and turned by the stroke of con-
demning justice. In the fullness of time he came and
performed what he undertook ; he failed not one day
of his appointed time. And Avill you now delay to ac-
cept the benefit and to turn to him ? Must he make
such haste to save you at so dear a rate, and now will
you delay to be saved ?

28 Moreover, God doth not delay to do you good.
You have the day and night in their proper seasons ;
the sun doth not fail to rise upon you at the appointed
time ; you have the spring and harvest in their proper
seasons ; the former and the latter rain in season.
When you are in want, you have seasonable supplies ;
and when you are in danger, you have seasonable de-
hverances. And is it meet or equal that you should
refuse to bring forth seasonable fruit, but still be put-
ting off God with your delays ?

29. Moreover, When you are in trouble and neces-
sity, you are then in haste for deliverance and relief.
Then you think every day a week, till your danger or
sutfering be past. If you be under the pain of a dis-

17*

108 FIFTY REASONS.

ease, or in danger of death, or under poverty, or op-
pression, or disgrace, you would have God reheve you
without delay ; and yet you will not turn to him with-
out delay. Then you are ready to cry out, ' How long,
Lord, how long till deliverance come?' But you will
not hear God, w^hen he crieth to you, in your sins-
How long will it be ere you turn from your transgres-
sions ? When shall it once be ? When you are to re-
ceive any outward deliverance, you care not how soon ;
but when you are to turn to God, and receive his grace
and title to glory, then you care not how late, as if you
had no mind of it. Can you, for shame, beg of God to
hasten your deliverance, when you remember your
delays, and still continue to trifle with him and draw
back?

30. Your present prosperity, and worldly delights,
are passing away without delay ; and should you de-
lay to make sure of better in their stead ? Time is
going; and health is going; youth is going; yea, life
is going ; your riches are taking wing ; your fleshly
pleasures do perish in the very using. Shortly you
must part with house and lands, with goods and friends ;
and all your mirth and earthly business will be done.
All this you know, and yet will you delay to lay up a
durable treasure, which you may trust upon, and to
provide you abetter tenement before you be turned out
of this? What will you do for a habitation, for plea-
sures and contents, when all that you have now is
spent and gone, and earth w^ill afford you nothing but
a grave? If you could but keep that you have, I should
not much wonder, that knowing so little of God and
another world, you look not much after it ; but when
you perceive death knocking at your doors, and seeing
all your worldly comforts are packing up and hasting
away, methinks you should presently turn, and make
sure of heaven, without any more delay.

31. Consider, also. Whether it be equal that you
should delay your conversion, when you can season-
ably despatch your worldly business ; and when your
flesh would be*^ provided for, you can hearken to it
without delay. You have wit enough to sow your seed

FIFTY REASONS. 199

in season, and will not delay it till the time of harvest.
You will reap your corn when it is ripe, and gather
your fruit when it is ripe, without delay. You observe
the seasons in the course of your labours, day by day,
and year by year. You will not lie in bed, when you
■should be at your work, nor delay all night to go to your
rest ; nor suffer your servants to delay your business.
If you be sick, you will seek help without delay, lest
your disease should grow to be incurable. And yet
will you delay your conversion, and the making sure
of heaven ? Why, sirs, shall these trifles be done with-
out delay, and shall your salvation be put off? Can you
have time for every thing, except that one thing which
all the rest are merely to promote, and in comparison
of which they are all but dreams ? Can you have time
to work, to plough, and sow, and reap, and cannot you
have time to prepare for eternal life ? Why, sirs, if you
cannot find time yet to search your hearts, to turn to
God, and prepare for death, give over eating and
drinking, and sleeping, and say, you cannot have time
for these. You may as wisely say so for these smaller
matters, as for the greater.

31. Moreover, if men offer you conveniences and
commodities for your bodies, you will not stand delay-
ing, and need so many persuasions to accept them. If
your landlord would for nothing renew your lease ; if
any man would give you houses or lands, would you
delay so long before you would accept them ? A beggar
at your door will not only thankfully take your alms,
without your entreaty and importunity, but will beg
for it, and be importunate with you to give it. And
yet will you delay to accept the blessed offers of grace,
which are so much greater ?

33. Yet consider, that it is God that is the giver, and
you that are the miserable beggars and receivers. And
therefore it is fitter you should wait on God and call on
him for his grace, when lie seemeth to delay, and not
that he should wait on you. He can live without your
receiving, but you cannot live without his giving. The
beggar must be glad of an alms at any time; and the
condenined person of a pardon at any time ; but the

200 FIFTY REASONS*

giver may well expect thai his gifts be received with-
out delay, or else he may let them go without.

34. And methinks you should not deal worse with
God, when he comes to you as a physician to save your
own souls, than you would do with a neighbour, or a
friend, when it is not for your own good, but for theirs.
If your neighbour lay a dying, you would go and visit
him without delay. If he fell down in a swoon, you
would catch him 'up without delay. If he fell into the
fire or water, you would pluck him out without delay.
Yea, you would do thus much to a very beast. And
yet will you delay, when it is not another, but your-
selves that are sinking and drowning, and within a step
of death and desperation?

35. If yet you perceive not how unreasonably you
deal with God and your souls, I beseech you, consider,
whether you do not deal worse with him than you do
with the devil himself. If Satan or his servants per-
suade 5^ou to sin, you delay not so long but you are
presently at it. You are ready to follow every tippling
companion or gamester that puts up the finger. You
are as willing to go, as they are to invite you. The very
sight of the cup does presently prevail with the drunk-
ard ; and the sight of a harlot prevaileth with the for-
nicator ; and sin can be presently entertained without
delay. But when God comes, when Christ calleth,
when the Spirit moveth, when the minister persuadeth,
when conscience is convinced, we can have nothing
but wishes, and purposes, and promises with delays.

Nay, more than tliis : so eager are they on their sin,
that we are not able to entreat them to delay it. When
the passionate man is but provoked, we cannot per-
suade him to delay his raiUng language, so long as to con-
sider first of the issue. We cannot entreat the drunkard
to put off his drunkenness but for one twelve months,
while he trieth another course. All the ministers in
the country cannot persuade the worldling to forbear
his worldlincss, and the proud persons their pride, and
the ungodly person his ungodliness, for the space of one
month, or week, or day. And yet when God hath a

FIFTY REASONS. 201

command and a request to them, to turn to him and be
saved, here they can delay, without our entreaty.

36. Consider also, that it is not possible for you to
turn too soon: nor will you ever have cause to repent
of your speediness. Delay may undo you ; but speedy
turning can do you no harm. Should there be any
delay, where it is not possible to be too hasty ? Do you
think that there is ever a saint in heaven, yea, or on
earth, that is sorry he continued not longer unconvert-
ed ? No : you shall never hear of such a repentance
from the mouth of any that is indeed converted.

37. But I must tell you on the contrary, that if ever
you be so happy as to be converted, you will repent it,
and a hundred times repent it, that you delayed so long
before you yielded. O, how it will grieve you, when
your hearts are melted with the love of God, and are
overcome with the infinite kindness of his pardoning,
saving grace, that ever you had the hearts to abuse such
a God, and deal so unkindly with him, and stand out so
long against that compassion that was seeking your sal
vation ! O, how it will grieve your hearts, to consider
that you have spent so much of your lives in sin, for
the devil, and the flesh, and the deceitful world ! O,
you will think with yourselves, ' Was not God more
worthy of my youthful days ? Had I not better have
spent them in his service, and in the work of my sal-
vation? Alas, that I should waste such precious days,
and now be so far behindhand as I am ! Now I want
that faith, that hope, that love, that peace, that assur-
ance, that joy in the Holy Ghost, which I might have
had, if I had spent those years for God, which I spent
in the service of the world and the flesh.'

38. And I pray you, consider whether it belongs
of right to God or you, to determine of the day and
hour of your coming in. It is he that must give you
the pardon of your sins ; and doth it not belong to
him to appoint the time of your receiving it? You can-
not have Christ and life without him : it is he that
must give you the kingdom of heaven : and is he not
worthy, then, to appoint the time of your conversion,

S02 FIFTY REASONS.

that you may be made partakers of it? But if he say,
To-day, dare you say, I will stay till to-morrow ?

39. Nay, consider, whether God or you he hkeUer
to know the meetest time. Dare you say that you
know better when to turn than God doth ? I suppose
you dare not; and if you dare not say so, for shame,
let not your practice say so. God saith, " To-day,
while it is called to-day, hear my voice, and harden
not your hearts." And dare you say, It is better to
stay one month longer, or one day longer •/ God saith,
" Behold, this is the accepted time ! Behold, this is
the day of salvation !" And will you say. It is time
enough to-morrow ? Do you know better than God .•'
If your physician do but tell you in a pleurisy or a
fever. You must let blood this day — before to-morrow ;
you have so much reason as to submit to his under-
standing, and think that he knows better than you :
and cannot you allow as much to the God of wisdom ?

40. Consider, also, that the speediness of your con-
version, when God first calls you, doth make you the
more welcome, and is a thing exceedingly pleasing to
God. Our proverb is, A speedy gift is a double gift.
If you ask any thing of a friend, and hegivs it you pre-
sently and cheerfully at the first asking, you will think
you have it with a good-will ; but if he stand long
delaying first, and demurring upon it, you will think
that you have it with an ill-will, and that you owe him
the smaller thanks. If a very beggar at your door
must stay long for an alms, he will think he is the less
beholden to you. How much more may God be dis-
pleased, when he must stay so long for his own, and
that for your benefit 1 God loveth a cheerful giver,
and consequently, a cheerful obeyer of his call ; and
if it be hearty and cheerful, it is the likelier to be
speedy, Avithout such delays.

41. And I would desire you but to do with God as
you would be done by. Would you take it well of your
children, if they should tear all their clothes, and cast
their meat to the dogs, and tread it in the dirt, and
when you entreat them, they will not regard you.?
Would you stand month after month entreating and

FirTV REASONS. 203

waiting on them, as God doth on you? If your ser-
vant will spend the whole day and year in drinking and
playing, when he should do your work, will you wait
on him all the year with entreaties, and pay him at
last, as if he had served you ? And can you expect
that God should deal so with you ?

42. And consider, I entreat you, that j^our delay is a
denial, and so may God interpret it ; for the time of
your turning is part of the command. He that saith.
Turn, saith. Now, even to-day, without delay. He
giveth you no longer day. If time be lengthened, and
the offer made again and again, that is more than he
promised you, or you could have promised yourselves.
His command is, Now return and live. And if you
refuse the time, the present time, you refuse the offer,
and forfeit the benefit. And if you knew but what it
is to give God a denial in such a case as this, and what
a case you were in, if he should turn away in wrath
and never come near you more ; you would then be
afraid of jesting with his hot displeasure, or trifling
with the Lord.

43. And, methinks, you should remember, that God
does not stay thus on all, as he doth on you. Thou-
sands are under despair, and past all remedy, while
patience is waiting yet upon you. Can you foiget that
others are in hell at this very hour, for as small sins as
those that you are yet entangled and linger in ? Good
Lord, what a thing is a senseless heart! That at the
same time when millions are in misery, for dt laying or
refusing to be converted, their successors should fear-
lessly venture in their steps !

44. And I must tell you, that God will not always
thus wait on you, and attend you by his patience, as
hitherto he hath done. Patience hath his appointed
time. And if you out-stay that time, you are misera-
ble. I can assure you, sirs, the glass is turned upon
you, and when it is run out, you shall never have an
hour of patience more. Then God will no more en-
treat you to be converted. He will not always stand
over you with salvation, and say, O that this sinner
would repent and live! O that he would take the

204 FIFTY REASONS.

mercies that I have provided ibr him ! Do not expect
that God should do this always with you ; for it will
not be.

45. Your delays weary the servants of Christ that
are employed for your recovery. Ministers will grow
weary of preaching to you, and persuading you. When
we come to men that were never warned before, we
come in hopes that they will hear and obey ; and this
hope puts life and earnestness into our persuasions : but
when we have persuaded men but a few times in vain,
and leave them as we found them, our spirits begin to
droop and flag ; much more, when we have preached
and persuaded you many years, and still you are the
same, and are but where you were, — this dulls a
minister's spirit, and makes him preach heavily and
coldly, when he is almost out of heart and hope.

Truly, sirs, I must tell you, for my own part, that
11' it had not been for those that gave me better en-
couragement by their obedience, I should never have
held out with you a quarter of this time. If all had
profited as little as some, and all remained in an un-
converted state as some ; if the humble, penitent,
obedient ones among you, had not been my com-
fort and encouragement under Christ, I had been
gone from you many years ago ; I could never have
held out till now : either my corruption would have
made me run away, with Jonah, or my judgment
would have commanded me to shake off the dust off
my feet as a witness against you, and depart.

But to what end do I speak all this to you ? To
what end? Why, to let you see how you abuse
both God and man, by your delays and disobedience.
You cannot possibly do us, that are your teachers,
a greater injury or mischief in the world. It is not
in your power to wrong us more. Are our studies
and our labours worth nothing ? Are our watchings
and waitings worth nothing ? Are our prayers, and
tears, and groans, to be despised ? God will not de-
spise them, if you do ; believe it, he will set them
all on your account, and you will one day have a
heavy reckoning of them, and pay full dear for thenj.

FIFTY REASONS. 205

Is it equal dealing with us, that when we are watch-
ing for your souls, as men that know we must oive
an account, you should rob us of our comfort, "and
make us do it with sighs and sorrow? Yea, that
you should undo all that we are doing, and make
us lose our labour and our hopes ? And yet do you
not think to pay for this? Many years we have
been persuading you but to turn and live, and yei you
are unturned; you have been convinced long, and
thmkingon it; and wishing lonor, and talking°of it;
and promising long, and yet it is^undone, and "here is
nothing but delays. We see, while you delay, death
takes away one this week, and another the next week,
and you are passing into the other world apace ; and
yet tho^e that are left behind will take no warnino-, but
still delay : we see that Satan delays not while you
delay ; he is day and night at work against you : if he
seem to make a truce with you, it is that he may be
doing secretly, while you suspect him not ; we see that
sin delayeth not while you delay ; it is working like
poison or infection in your bodies, and seizing'^upon
your vital powers ; it is every day blinding you more
and more, it is hardening your hearts more and
more, and searing your consciences, to bring you
past all feeling and hope. And must we stand by and
see this miserable work with our people's souls, and all
be frustrated and rejected by themselves that we do for
their deliverance ? I pray you deal but fairlv with us,
and tell us whether ever you will turn or no't. If you
will not, but are resolved'for sin and hell, sav so, that
we may know the worst ; speak out your minds, that
we may know what to trust to. But if still you say,
you will turn— when will you do it? You will do it,
and you hope you shall : but when r How long would
you have us wait yet ? Nay, I must tell you, tTiat you
even weary God himself It is his own expression,
(Mai. ii. 17. Isa. xliii. 24.) " Thou hast wearied me
with thine iniquities." (Isa. i. 14.) And I must sav
to you as the Prophet, (Isa. vii. 13.) " Is it a small thing
^or you to weary men, but you will weary my God
also ?" Consider what it is that you do.

18

^06 FIFTY REASONS.

46. Consider, also, that you are at a constant and
unspeakable loss every day and hour that you delay
your conversion. O ! little do you know what you
deprive yourselves of every day. If a slave in the
galleys or prison might live at court, as a favourite of
the prince, in honour, and delight, and ease, would he
delay either years or hours ? Or would he not rather
think within himself, Is it not better to be at ease and
in honour, than to be here ? As the prodigal said,
" How many hired servants of my father have bread
enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!" All
this while I might be in plenty and delight. — All the
while that you live in sin, you might be in favour of
God, in the high and heavenly employments of the
saints ; you might have the comfoits of daily commu-
nion with Christ and with the saints ; you might be
layins up for another world, and might look death in
the face with faith and confidence, as one that cannot
be conquered by it; you might live as the heirs of
heaven on earth. All this, and more than this, you lose
by your delays ; all the mercies of God are lost upcm
you ; your food and raiment, your health and wealth,
which you set so much by, all is lost, and worse than
lost, for they turn to your greater liurt ; all our pains
with you, and all the ordinances of God which you
possess, and all your time is lost, and worse. And do
you think it, indeed, a wise man's part to live any
longer at such a loss as this, and that wilfully and for
nothing ? If you knew your loss, you would not think so.

47. Nay, more, you are all this while doing that
which must be undone again, or you will be undone
for ever. You are running from God, but you must
come back again, or perish when all is done. You are
learning a hundred carnal lessons and false conceits,
that must be all unlearned again ; you are shutting up
your eyes in wilful ignorance, which must be opened
ao"ain : you must learn the doctrine of Christ, the great
'ftacher of the Church, if you stay never so long, or
else you would be cut off from his people. Acts iii.
22. and vii. 37.

When you have been long accustoming yourselves

FIFTY REASONS. 207

to sin, you must unlearn and break all these customs
again. You are hardening your hearts daily, and they
must again be softened. And 1 must tell you, that
though a little time and labour may serve to do mis-
chief, yet it is not quickly undone again. You may
sooner set your house on fire than quench it. You
may sooner cut and wound your bodies, than heal them
again ; and sooner catch a cold or a disease than cure
it; you may quickly do that which must be longer
undoing. Besides, the cure is accompanied with pain ;
you must take many a bitter draught, in groans or
tears of godly sorrow, for these delays : the wounds,
that you are now giving your souls, must smart, and
smart again, before they are searched and healed to
the bottom. And what man of wisdom would make
himself such work and sorrow ? Who would travel
on an hour longer, that knows he ie out of his way,
and must come back again ? Would you not think
him a madman that would say, I will go on a little fur-
ther, and then 1 will turn back ?

48. And methinks if it were but this, it would terrify
you from your delays, that it is likely to make your
conversion more grievous, if you should have so great
mercy from God, after all, to be converted. God must
send either some grievous affliction to fire and frighten
you out of your sins, or else some terrible horrors of
conscience, that should make you groan, and groan
again, in the feelings of your folly. The pangs and
throes of conscience, in the work of conversion, are
far more grievous in some than in others. Some are
even on the rack, and almost brought beside their wits,
and the next step to desperafion, with horror of soul
and the sense of the wrath of God ; so that they lie
in doubts and complaints many a year together, and
think that they are even forsaken of God. And to
delay your conversion is the way to draw on either this
or worse.

49. Consider, also, that delays *are contrary to the
very nature of tlie work, and the nature of your souls
themselves. If indeed you ever mean to turn, it is a
}Sork of haste, and violence, and diligence, thai you

203 FIFTY REASONS.

must needs set upon. You must " strive to enter in, for
the gate is strait, the way is narrow that leads to life,
and few there be that find it." " Many shall seek to
enter, and shall not be able." " When once the mas-
ter of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door,
and ye beo^in to stand without, and knock at the door,
saying, Lord, Lord, open to us, he shall answer, I know
you not whence you are, depart from me, all ye work-
ers of iniquity." It is a race that you are to run, and
heaven is the prize. " And you know that they which
run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize ; and
therefore you must so run, as that you may win and
obtain."

And what is more contrary to this than delay ? You
are soldiers in fight, and your salvation lieth in the
victory ; and will you trifle in such a case, when death
or life is even at hand ? You are travellers to another
world, and will you stay till the day is almost past, be-
fore you will begin your journey? Christianity is a
work of that infinite consequence, and requireth such
speedy and vigorous despatch, that delay is more un-
reasonable in this than in any thing in all the world.

50. If all this will not serve to make you turn, let
me tell you, that while you are delaying, your judgment
doth not delay ; and that when it comes, these delays
will multiply your misery, and the remembrance of
them will be your everlasting torment. Whatever you
are thinking of, or whatever you are doing, your dread-
ful doom is drawing on apace, and misery will over-
take you, before you are aware. When you are in the
alehouse, little thinking of ruin, even then is your
damnation coming in ha^te ; when you are drowned
in the pleasures or cares of the world, your judgment
is still hastening. You may delay, but it will not delay.
It is the saying of the Holy Ghost, " Whose judgment
now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation
slumbereth not." You may slumber, and that so care-
lessly, that we cannot awake 3''0u, but your damnation
slumbereth not, nor hath done of a long time, while
you thought it slumbered ; and when it comes, it will
awaken you. As a man that is in a coach on the road,

FIFTY REASONS. 209

or in a boat on the water, whatever he is speakino-, or
thinking, or doing, he is still going on, and hastemno-
to his journey's end, or going down the stream; so
whatever you think, or speak, or do, whether you
believe it, or mock at it, whether you sleep or wake,
whether you remember it or forget it, you are hasten-
ing to destruction, and you are every day a day nearer
tx) it than before. " Behold the Judge standeth before
the door." The Holy Ghost hath told you, " the Lord
is at hand." " The day is at hand ; the time is at
hand ; the end of all things is at hand." Rom. xiii.
12. Rev. xxii. 10. 1 Pet. iv. 7. "Behold, saith the
I-ord, I eome quickly, and my reward is with me, to
give to every man according as his work shall be."
And do you, as it were, see the Judge approachino-,
and yet will you delay ? x- oj

And withal consider, that when it comes, it will be
most sore to such as you ; and then what thouo-hts do
you think you shall have of these delays? ^Tou are
unable to conceive how it will torment vour consciences,
when you see that all your hopes are gone, to think, to
what you have brought yourselves by your trifling. To
feel yourselves in remediless misery, and remember how
long the remedy was offered you, and you delayed to
use It till it was too late. To see that you are for ever
shut out of heaven, and remember that you might have
had it as well as others, but you lost it by delay. O
then it will come with horror into your mind. How often
was I persuaded, and told of this ? How often had
I inward motions to return ? Ht)w often did I purpose
to be holy, and to give up my heart and life to God ?
I was even ready to have yielded, but I still delayed,
and now it is too late.

And now, having laid you down no less than fifty
movinw considerations, if it be possible to save you from
these delays, I conclude with this request to you, who-
ever you be that read these lines, that you would but
consider of all these reasons, and then entertain them as
they deserve. There is not one of them that you are
able to gainsay, much less all of them. If after the read-
ing of all these, you can yet believe that vou have reasons

18*

810 FIFTY REASONS.

to delay, your understandings are forsaken of God ; but
if you are forced to confess that you should not delay,
what will you do then ? Will you obey God and your
own consciences, or will you not ? Will you turn this
hour without delay ? Take heed of denying it, lest you
have never such a motion more. You know not but
God, who calls you to it, may be resolved that it should
fee now or never. I do beseech you, yea, as his mes-
senger, I charge you in his name, that you delay not an
hour longer, but presently be resolved, and make an
unchangeable covenant with God ; and, as ever you
would have favour in that day of your distress, delay
not now to accept his favour in the day of your visita-
tion.

O what a blessed family were that, who upon the
reading of this, would presently say, We have done
exceeding foolishly in delaying so great a matter so long ;
let us agree together to give up ourselves to God with-
out any more delay. This shall be the day ; we will
stay no longer. The flesh, and the world, and the
devil, have had too much already. It is a wonder of
patience that hath borne with us so long ; we will
abuse the patience of God no longer, but begin to be
absolutely his this day. If this may be the effect ot
these exhortations, you shall have the everlasting bless
ing; but if still you delay, I hope I am free from the
guilt of your blood.

EXTRACTS

FROM

BAXTER'S DYING THOUGHTS.

The reader has witnessed hi the preceding pages the fervent zeal
and deep anxiety of the pious author in urging on the impenitent
the necessity of immediately turning to God and repairing to the
Saviour, in order to escape eternal death. In the following se-
lections are exhibited some of the peaceful and happy reflections
which the author indulged, in relation to his own prospects in the
near view of death.

The sanctifying operations of the Spirit of God are
the earnest of heaven, and tlie sure prognostic of our
immortal happiness. It is " a change of grand impor-
tance" to man, to be renewed in his mind, his will, and
life. It repairs his depraved faculties. It causes man
to live as man, who was degenerated to a life too much
like the brutes. Men are " slaves to sin, till Christ
makes them free." " Where the spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty." If " the love of God shed abroad on
our hearts," be not our excellence, health, and beauty,
what is ? " That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and
that which is born of the spirit is spirit." Without
Christ, and his Spirit, we can do nothing. Our dead
notions, and reason, though we see the truth, have not
power to overcome temptations, nor raise up man's
soul to its original and end, nor possess us with the love
and joyful hopes of future blessedness. It were better
for us to have no souls, than have our souls void of the
Spirit of God. Heaven is the design and end of this im
portant change. What is our knowledge and faith,
but to know and believe that heaven consists in the glory
and love of God there manifested, and that it was pur-

212 DYING THOUGHTS.

chased by Christ, and given by his covenant ? What
is our hope, but " the hope of glory," which we through
the Spirit wait for? What is our love, but a desire of
communion with the blessed God, begun here, and per-
fected hereafter ? What Christ teaches and commands,
he works in us by his Spirit. He sends not his Spirit
to make men craftier than others for this world, but
" wiser to salvation," and more holy and heavenly.
" The children of this world are in their generation
wiser than the children of light." Heavenly minded-
ness is the special work of the Spirit. In producing
this change, the Spirit overcomes all opposition from the
'loorld, the Jlesh, and the devil. Christ first overcame
the world, and teaches and causes us to overcome it,
even its flatteries, and its frowns. " Our faith is our
vietorj^" Christ promised his Spirit to all true be-
lievers, to be in them as his advocate, agent, seal, and
mark ; and indeed, the Spirit here, and heaven here-
after, are the chief of all his promises. That this Spirit
is given to all true believers, is evident by the effects of it.
They have ends, affections, and hves, different from the
rest of mankind. They live upon the hopes of a better
life, and their heavenly interest o venules all the oppo-
site interests of this world : in order to which they live
under the conduct of divine authority; and toobey
and please God is the great business of their lives. Tlie
men of the world discern this difference, and therefore
hate and oppose them, because they find themselves
condemned by their heavenly temper and conversation.
Believers are conscious of this difference ; for they de-
sire to be better, and to trust and love God more, and
to have more of the heavenly life and comforts; and
when their infirmities make them doubt of their own
sincerity, they would not change their governor, rule,
or hopes, for all the world ; and it is never so well and
pleasant with them, as when they can trust and love
God most ; and in their worst and weakest condition
they would fain be perfect. Indeed, whatever real
goodness is found among men, it is given by the same
fepirit of Christ; but it is notorious, that in heavenly
minded ness and virtue, no part of the world is com-

DYING THOUGHTS. 213

parable to serious Christians. This Spirit, Clirist also
expressly promised, as the means and pledge, the first
fruits and earnest of the heavenly glory ; and, therefore,
it is a certain proof that we shall have such a glory!
He that gives us a spiritual change, which in its nature
and tendency is heavenly ; he that sets our hopes and
hearts on heaven, and turns the endeavours of our lives
towards future blessedness, and promised this prepara-
tory grace as the earnest of that felicity, may well be
trusted to perform his word in our complete eternal
glory.

" And now, O my soul ! why shouldst thou draw
back, as if the matter was doubtful? Is not thy
foundation firm ? Is not the way of life, through the
valley of death, made safe by him that conquered death ?
Art thou not yet delivered from the bondage of thy
fears ? Hast thou not long ago found in thee the mo-
tions and effectual operations of this Spirit ? and is he
not still residing and working in thee, as the affent and
witness of Christ ? If not, whence are thy aspirations
after God, thy desires to be nearer to his glory, to know
him and love him more? Whence came all the pleas-
ure thou hast had in his sacred truth, and ways, and
service ? Who subdued for thee thy foUy, pride, and
vain desires? Who made it thy choice to sit at the
feet of Jesus, and hear his word, as the better part, and
count the honours and preferments of the world but
dross ? Who breathed in thee all those requests thou
hast sent up to God ? Remember what thou wast in
the hour of temptation, how small a matter has drawn
thee to sin. Forget not the days of thy youthful vanity.
Overlook not the case of thy sinful neighbours, who, in
the midst of light, still live in darkness, and hear not the
loudest calls of God. Is it no work of Christ's Spirit
that has made thee to differ? Thou hast nothing to
boast of, and much to be humbled, and also to be thank-
ful for. Thy holy desires are, alas! too weak; but
they are holy. Thy love has been too cold ; but it is
the most holy God whom thou hast loved. Thy hopes
have been too low ; but thou hast hoped in God, and
for his heavenly glory. Thy prayers have been too

214 DYING THOUGHTS.

dull and interrupted; but thou hast prayed for holiness
and heaven. Thy labours have been too slothful; but
thou hast laboured for God and Christ, and the good of
mankind. Though thy motion was too weak and
slow, it has been Godward, and therefore it is from
God. O bless the Lord, not only for ^ving thee his
word, and sealing it with miracles, but also for fre-
quently and remarkably fulfilling his promises, in the
answer of thy prayers, and in great deliverance of thy-
self and of many others; and that he has by regenera-
tion been preparing thee for the light of glory ! And
wilt thou yet doubt and fear, against all this evidence,
experience and foretaste ?"

Why should it seem a difficult question, How my soul
m tij willingly leave this world, and go to Christ in peace ?
The same grace which regenerated me, must bring me
to my desired end. " Believe and trust thy Father,
thy Saviour, and thy comforter. Hope for the joyful
entertainments of the promised blessedness. And long
by love for nearer divine union and communion. Thus,
0 my soul, mayst thou depart in peace."

How clearly does reason command me to trust him,
absolutely and implicitly to trust him, and to distrust
myself! He is essential, infinite perfection, wisdom,
psnver, and love. There is nothing to be trusted in any
creature, but God working in it, or by it. I am alto-
fjether his own, by right, by devotion, and by consent.
He is the giver of all good to every creature, as freely
as the sun gives its light, and shall we not trust the
sun to shine ? He is my Father, and has taken me
into his family, and shall I not trust my heavenly
Father? He has given me his Son, as the greatest
pledge of his love, and " shall he not with him also
freely give me all things ?" His Son purposely came
to reveal his Father's unspeakable love, and shall I not
trust him who has proclaimed his love by such a mes-
senger from heaven? He has given me the spirit of
his Son, even the spirit of adoption, the witness, pledge,
and earnest of heaven, the seal of God upon me, " holi-
ness to the Lord," and shall I not believe iiis love, and
trust him ? He has made me a roember of his Son,

DYING THOUGHTS. 215

and will he not take care of me, and is not Christ to be
trusted with his members ? 1 am his interest, and the
interest of his Son, freely beloved, and dearly bought,
and may I not trust him with this treasure? He lias
made me the care of angels, who " rejoiced at my re-
pentance," and shall they lose their joy, or ministration ?
He is in covenant with me, and has "given me many
great and precious promises," and can he be unfaithful?
My Saviour is the forerunner, who has entered into the
holiest, and is there interceding for me, having first
conquered death to assure us of a future life, and as-
cended into heaven, to show us whither we must as-
cend, and having " said to his brethren, I ascend to my
Father and your Father, to my God and your God ;''
and, shall I not follow him through death, and trust
such a guide and captain of my salvation? He is there
to " prepare a place for me, and will receive me unto
himself," and may I not confidently expect it? He
t&ld a malefactor on the cross, " to-day shalt thou be
with me in paradise," to show believing sinners what
they may expect. His apostles and other saints have
served him on earth with all these expectations. " The
spirits of just men made perfect," are now possessing
what I hope for, and I am a " follower of them, who,
through faith and patience, inherit the promised" fe-
licity ; and may I not trust him to save me, who has
already saved milHons?

What abundant experience have I had of God's
fidelity and love, and after all shall I not trust him r
His undeserved mercy gave me being, chose my pa-
rents, gave them affectionate desires for my real good,
taught them to instruct me early in his word, and edu-
cate me in his fear, made my habitation and compan-
ions suitable, endowed me with a teachable disposition,
put excellent books into my hands, and placed me un-
der wise and faithful schoolmasters and ministers.
His mercy fixed me in the best of lands, and in the best
age that land had seen. His mercy early destroyed in
me all great expectations from the world, taught me to
bear the yoke from my youth, caused me rather to
groan under my infirmities, than struggle with power=

210 ' DYING THOUGHTS.

ful lusts, and chastened me betimes, hut did not give
me over unto death. Ever since I was at the age of
nineteen, great mercy has trained me up in the school
of affliction, to keep my sluggish soul awake in the
constant expectations of my change, to kill my proud
and worldly thoughts, and to direct ail ray studies to
things the most necessary. How has a life of constant
but gentle chastisement urged me to " make my calling
and election sure," and to prepare my accounts, as one
that must quickly give them up to God ? The face of
death, and nearness of eternity, convinced me what
books to read, what studies to prosecute, what com-
panions to choose, drove me early into the vineyard of
the Lord, and taught me to preach as a dying man to
dying men. It was divine love and mercy which made
sacred truth so pleasant to me, that my hfe under all
my infirmities, has been almost a constant recreation.
How far beyond my expectations has a merciful God
encouraged me in his sacred work, choosing every
place of my ministry and abode to this day, without my
own seeking, and never sending me to labour in vain !
How many are gone to heaven and how many are in
the way, through a divine blessing on the word which
in weakness I delivered I Many good Christians are
glad of now and then an hour to meditate on God's
word, and refresh themselves in his holy worship, but
God has allowed and called me to make it the constant
business of my life. In my library, I have profitably
and pleasantly dwelt among the shining hghts, with
which the learned, wise, and holy men of all ages, have
illuminated the world. How many comfortable hours
have I had in the society of living saints, and in the love
of faithful friends. How many joyful days in solemn
worshipping assemblies, where the Spirit of Christ has
been manifestly present, both with ministers and peo-
ple !

" To thee, O Lord, as to a faithful Creator, I commit
my soul. I know that thou art ' the faithful God, which
keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love thee,
and keep thy commandments. Thou art faithful, who
hast called me to the fellowship of thy Son Jesus Christ

DTING THOUGHTS. 217

our Lord.' Thy faithfulness has saved me from temp-
tation, and kept me from prevailing evil, and will ' pre-
serve my whole spirit, and soul, and body, unto the
coming of Christ.' It is ' in faithfulness thou has afflict-
ed me ;' and shall I not trust thee to save me ? ' It is
thy faithful saying, that thy elect shall obtain the sal-
vation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory ;
for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him ;
if we suffer, we shall also reign with him.' To thee,

0 my Saviour, I commit my soul ; it is thine by redemp-
tion, thine by covenant; it is sealed by thy Spirit, and
thou hast promised not to lose it. Thou wast ' made
like unto thy brethren, that thou mightestbe a merciful
and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to
make reconciliation for our sins. By thy blood we have
boldness to enter into the holiest, by a new and living way
consecrated for us.' Cause me to ' draw near with a true
heart, in full assurance of faith.' Thy name is faithful
and true. True and faithful are all thy promises. Thou
hast promised * rest to weary souls that come to thee.'

1 am weary of suffering, sin, and flesh ; weary of my
darkness, dulness, and distance. Whither should I
look for rest, but to my heavenly Father ? I am but a
* bruised reed,' but thou * wilt not break' me. I am
out ' smoking flax,' but thou ' wilt not quench' what
thy grace hath kindled. Thou, in whose name the
nations trust, ' wilt bring forth judgment unto victory.
The Lord redeemeth the souls of his servants, and
none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. I will
wait on thy name, for it is good ; I trust in the mercy
of God for ever and ever. The Lord is good, a strong-
hold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that
trust in him. Sinful fear brings a snare, but whoso
putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Blessed is
the man that maketh the Lord his trust. Thou art my
hope, O Lord God, thou art my trust from my youth.
By thee have I been holden up from the womb, my
praise shall be continually of thee. Mine eyes are unto
thee, O God, the Lord ! in thee is my trust, leave not
my soul destitute. I had fainted, unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the liv-

19

218 DYING THOUGHTS

ing,' even where they that live shall die no more." The
sun may cease to shine on man, and the earth to bear
us ; but God will never cease to be faithful to his pro-
mises. Blessed be the Lord, who hath commanded me
so safe and quieting a duty, as to trust in him, and
cast all my cares upon him, who has promised to care
for me !

I will hope for the salvation of God. Hope is the
ease, yea the Ufe of our hearts, which would otherwise
break, and even die, within us. Despair is no small
part of hell. God cherishes hope, as he is the lover of
souls. Satan, our enemy, cherishes despair, when his
more usual way of presumption fails. Hope anticipates
salvation, as fear does evil. It is the hypocrite's hope
that perishes ; and all who hope for durable happiness
on earth, must be deceived. But " happy is he that
hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the
Lord his God, which made heaven and earth, which
keepeth truth for ever. Wo to me, if in this life only
I had hope. But the righteous hath hope in his death.
And hope maketh not ashamed. Blessed is the man
that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord js.
Lay hold, then, O my soul, upon the hope set before
thee; it is thy sure and steadfast anchor, without
which thou wilt be as a shipwrecked vessel. Thy
foundation is sure, even God himself. Our faith and
hope are both in God. Christ, who dwells in our hearts
by faith, is in us the hope of glory. By this hope, bet-
ter than the law of Moses could bring, we draw nigh
unto God. We hope for that we see not, and with
patience wait for it. We are saved by hope." It is
an encouraging grace, it excites our diligence, and
helps to full assurance unto the end. It is a desirinfr
grace, and is earnest to obtain the glory hoped for. ft
is a comforting grace, for " the God of hope fills us
with all joy and peace in believing, that we may
abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost."

God needs not flatter such worms as we are, nor
promise us what he never means to perform. He has
laid the rudiments of our hope in a nature capable of
desiring, seeking, and thinking of another life. He has

DYING THOUGHTS. 219

called me by grace to actual desires and endeavours,
and has vouchsafed some foretastes. I look for no
heaven, but the perfection of divine life, light, and love
in endless glory, with Christ and his saints ; and this
he has already begun in me. And shall I not boldly
hope, when I have capacity, the promise, and the
earnest and foretaste? Is it not God himself that caused
me to hope ? Was not nature, promise, and grace from
him? And can a soul miscarry and be deceived,
that departs hence in a hope of God's own produc-
ing and encouraging ? " Lord, I have lived in hope,
I have prayed, laboured, suffered, and waited in
hope, and by thy grace I will die in hope ; and is not
this according to thy word and will? And wilt
thou cast away a soul that hopes in thee, by thine
own command and operation?" Had wealth, and
honour, and continuance on earth, or the favour of
man, been my reward and hope, my hope and I had
died together. Were this our best, how vain were
man. But the Lord liveth, and my Redeemer is glori-
fied, and intercedes for me ; and the same Spirit is in
heaven, who is in my heart, as the same sun is in the
firmament and in my habitation. The promise is sure
to all Christ's seed ; for millions are now in heaven,
who once lived and died in hope ; they were sinners
once, as I now am ; they had no other Saviour, Sanc-
tifier, or promise, than I now have. " Confessing that
they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, they
desired a better country, that is, a heavenly, where they
now are. And shall I not follow them in hope, who
have sped so well ? Then, O my soul, hope unto the
end. Hope in the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.
I will hope continually, and will yet praise him more
and more. My mouth shall show forth his righteous-
ness and salvation. The Lord is at my right hand, I
shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and
my glory rejoiceth, my flesh also shall rest in hope.
God hath showed me the path of life ; in his presence
is fulness of joy, at his right hand there are pleasures
for evermore."

930

DYING THOUGHTS.

Lord, let me come to thee in the confidence of thy
love. I long to be nearer, in the clearer sight, the
mller sense, and more joyful exercise of love for ever !
Father, into thy hand I commend my Spirit ! Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit ! dmen.

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