of his own free-will For the second God did that which belonged to him that is he gave man a perfect Law requiring him to continue in the Love of God and perfectly to obey him By the wilful breach of this Law man did not only forfeit his hopes of everlasting life but also turned his heart from God and fixed it on these lower fleshly things and hereby did blot 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 himself 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 Inclination and Love to the pleasing of his flesh or carnal-self by earthly things growing strange to God and acquainted with the creature And the course of his life was suited to the Bent and Inclination of his heart he lived to his carnal self and not to God he sought the creature for the pleasing of his flesh instead of seeking to please the Lord. With this Nature or Corrupt inclination we are all now born into the world For who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Iob 14.4 As a Lyon hath a fierce and cruel nature before he doth devour and as an Adder hath a venemous nature before he sting so in our very 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 â—oth to be brought out of it and therefore are set against the means of our Recovery and though custom have taught us to thank Christ for his good will yet carnal self perswadeth us to refuse his Remedies and to desire to be excused when we are commanded to take the Medicines which he offereth 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 a wicked man For every man that is in this 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 Remedy by causing 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 delivered us into his hands as his own Hereupon the Father and the Mediator do make a New Law and Covenant 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 Scripture by Miracles and Wonders and to illuminate and convert the souls of the Elect. So that 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 several works which are eminently ascribed to them The Fathers works were to Create us to Rule us 〈◊〉 his â—ational creatures by the Law of Nature and Judge us thereby And in mercy to provide us a Redeemer when we were lost and to send his Son and accept his Ransom The works of the Son for us were these To Ransom and Redeem us by his Sufferings 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 the Prophets and 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 sanctifie you So that by this time you may see the several causes of this work The Father sendeth the Son the Son Redeemeth us and maketh the Promise of Grace the Holy Ghost inditeth and sealeth this Gospel the Apostles are the Secretaries of the Spirit to write it the Preachers of the Gospel do proclaim it and perswade men to obey 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 life into an heavenly course which before was earthly and all this by the entertainment of Christ by Faith who is the Physitian of the soul. By this which I have said you may see what it is to be Wicked and what it is to be Converted Which I think will be yet plainer to you if I describe them as consisting of their several parts and for the first a wicked man may be known by these three things First he is one who placeth his chief content on earth and loveth the creature more then God and his fleshly prosperity above the heavenly felicity He savoureth the things of the flesh but neither discerneth nor savoureth the things of the Spirit though he will say that Heaven is better then earth yet doth he not really so esteem it to himself If he might be
and judgement and of the certainty and excellency of the Joys of Heaven and of the certainty and terrour of the torments of Hell and the Eternity of both and of the necessity of Conversion and an holy life Steep 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 publike preaching of the Word As God will lighten the world by the Sun and not by himself alone without it So will he Convert and save men by his Ministers who are the Lights of the world Acts 26.17 18. Mat. 5.14 When he hath miraculously humbled Paul he sendeth him to Ananias Acts 9.10 and when he haâ—h sent an Angel to â—oâ—nelius it is but to bid him send for Peter who must tell him what he is to believe and do DIRECTION IV. BEtake your self to God in a course of earnest constaâ—t Prayer Confess and lament 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 waies and save you from temptations And ply this work daily and be not weary of it DIRECTION V. PResently give over your known and wilâ—ul sins Make a stâ—nd and go that way no further Be drunk no more but avoid the place and occasion of it Cast away your lusts and sinful pleasures with detestation Curse and swear and rail no more and if you have wronged any restore as Zacheus did If you will commit again your old sins what blessing can you expect on the means for your Conversion DIRECTION VI. PResently if possible change your Company if it have hitherto been bad Not by forsaking your necessary Relations but your unnecessary sinful companions and joyn your selves with those that fear the Lord and enquire of them the way to heaven Acts 9.19 26. Psal. 15.4 DIRECTION VII DEliver up your selves to the Lord Iesus as the Physitian of your souls that he may pardon you by his blood and sanctifie you by his Spirit by his word and Ministers the instruments of the Spirit He is the way the truth and the life there is no coming to the Father but by him Iohn 14.6 Nor is there any other name under heaven by which you can be saved Acts 4.12 Study therefore his Person and Natures and what he hath done and suffered for you and what he is to you and what he will be and how he is fitted to the full supply of all your necessities DIRECTION VIII IF you mean indeed to Turn and Live Do it speedily without delay If you be not willing to Turn to day you be 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 Gods 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 what continual danger you live in and what daily unspeakable loss you do sustain and whaâ— a safer and sweeter life you might live you would not stand trâ—flâ—ng but presently turn Multitudes miscarry that wilfulâ—y deâ—ay 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 throuâ—hly turn You have staid too long already and wronged God too long sin getteth strength and rooting 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 your selves and then you are undone for ever DIRECTION IX IF you will Turn and Live do it unreservedly absolutely and universally Think not to capitulate with Christ and devide your heart betwixt him and the world and to part with some sins and keep the rest and to let go that 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 14.26 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 portion and God and Glory is not enough for you it is in 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 Carnâ—l Religiousness and the fleshes prosperity or pleasure or safety be still exâ—epted in your devotedness to God this is as certain a way to death as open prophaness though it be more plausible DIRECTION X. IF you will Turn and Live do it Resolvedly and stand not still deliberating as if it were a doubtful case Stand not wavering as if you were yet uncertain whether God or the flesh be the better Master or whether Heaven or Hell be the better End or whether sin or holiness be the better way But away with your former lusts and presently habitually fixedly Resolve Be not one day of one mind and the next of another but be at a point with all the world and Resolvedly give up your selves and all you have to God Now while you are reading or hearing 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 unchangeable Resolution So much for the Directions AND now I have done my part in this work that you may Turn at the Call of God and Live What will become of it I cannot tell I have cast the seed at Gods command but it is not in my power to give the increase I can go no further with my message I cannot bring it to your hearts not make it work I cannot do your parts for your to entertain it and consider of it Nor I cannot do Gods part by opening your heartâ— to cause you to entertain it Nor can I shew you Heaven or Hell to your eye-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 〈◊〉 thou that art the gracious Father of Spirits that hast sworn thâ—n delightest not in the death of the wicked but rather that they Turn and Live deny not thy blessiâ—g to theâ—e Perswasions and Directions and suffer not thine enemies to triumph in thy sight and the great deceiver of souls to prevail against the Son thy Spirit and thy Word O pitty poor Vnconverted sinners that have not hearts to pitty or help themselves Command the blind to see and the deaf to hear and the dead to live and let not sin and death be able to resist thee Awaken the secure Resolve the uâ—resolved 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 sin have brought them to perdition If thâ—u say but the word these poor endeavours shall prosper to the winning of many a soul to their everlasting Ioy and thine everlasting glory Amen Finitur 1656. Decemb. 31. Mr. R. Rowly of Sâ—rew bury upon Aâ—ham-bridge
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 Assembly take this as the undoubted truth of God You must ere long be converted or condemned There is no other way but Turn or Dye When God that cannot lye hath told you this When you hear it from the Maker and Judge of the world its time 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 lye Should I hide this from you I should undoe you and be guilty of your blood as the verses before my Text assure me Ver. 8. When I say to the wicked O wicked man thou shalt surely dye if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way that wicked man shall dye in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thine hand You see then though this be a rough unwelcome Doctrine it s such as we must preach and you must hear It is easier to hear of Hell then 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 of it The reason why so few escape it is because they strive not to enter in at the strait gate of Conversion and to go the narrow way of holinesâ— while they have time and they strive not because they be not wakened to a lively feeling of the danger they are in and they be not wakened because they are doth 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 threatneth it If you will but throughly believe this truth me thinks 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 mind and haunt you night and day so that in your sinning you would remember it and at your labour 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 forgetfulness or unbelief how can it work to your Conversion and Salvation But take this with you to yoâ—r sorrow though you may put this out of your minds you cannot 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 's the matter then that the hearts of sinners be 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 found themselves converted Believe it Sirs this drowsie 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 foretel 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 foolâ—â—â— 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 like 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 of these two words The Wicked and Turn Some will think with themselves It s true the wicked must Turn or Die but whâ—â—'s that to me I am not wicked though I am a sinner as all men be Others will think It s true thaâ— we maâ— Turn from our evil waies 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 perswading them to Turn I shall therefore before I go any further tell you here who are meant by the wicked and who they be that must turn or die and also what is meant by Turning and who they be that are truly converted And this I have purposely reserved for this place preferring the Method that fits my end And here you must observe that in the sense of the Text a wicked man and a converted man are contraries 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 Conversion 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 for to dwell on earth Bruits 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 Earth and Heaven 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 Majesty of the Lord and to praise him among his holy Angels and to love him and 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 attaining 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 an Heart Disposed and Inclined to God in holy Love But yet he did not fix or confirm him in this condition but having made him a free agent he left him in the hands