though you Repent and be Converted No it is the clean 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 perswading you to despair of this that we perswade you not to make any doubt of it It is Life and 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 Lords to the worst of you even to drunkards swearers worldlings thieves yea to the despisers and reproachers of the holy way of salvation We are commanded by the Lord our Master to offer you a pardon for all that 's past if you will but now at last Return and Live we are commanded to beseech and intreate you to accept the offer and Return to tell you what preparation is made by Christ what Mercy stayes for you what Patience waiteth on 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 shew you the need of Mercy and 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 out for Physick that knows not that he is sick Our telling you of your misery is not it that makes you miserable but driveth you out to seek for mercy It is you that have brought this death upon your selves 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 Mercy that we must fore-tell damnation to Will you but cast away your transgressions delay no longer but come away at the Call of Christ and be Converted and become new creatures and we have not a word of 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 Remember 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 foundation It is not to mend somewhat in a Carnal course of life but to mortifie 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 Work and End and set your face the contrary way and do all for the life that you never saw and Dedicate your selves and all you have to God This is the change that must be made if you will live Your selves 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 Accept 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 's 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 offer you Life but to shew 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 extendeth Conditionally to you as well as others and that Heaven is no fancy but a true felicity If you ask where is our Commission for this offer among an hundred Texts of Scripture I will shew it you in these few First you see it here in my Text and the following verses and in the 18. of Ezek. as plain as can be spoken And in 2 Cor. 5.17 18 19 20 21. you have the very sum of our Commission If any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are past away â—ehold all things are become new And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Iesus Christ and hath given to us the Ministry of Reconciliation 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 Reconciliation now then we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled unto God for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin thaâ— we might be made the Righteousnes of God in him So Mark 1â— 15 16. Go ye into all the word and preach the Gospel to every creature He that believeth that 〈◊〉 with such a Converting faith as â— expressed and is baptized shall 〈◊〉 saved and he that believeth 〈◊〉 shall be damned And Luke 2â— 46 47. Thus it behoved Chriâ—â— to suffer and to rise from the deâ—â— the third day and that Repentanâ—â— which is Conversion and Remission of sins should be preached in his name among all Nations And Acts 5.30.31 The God of our Fathers raised up Iesus whom ye flew and hanged on a tree him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins And Acts 13.38 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. 6.15 For in Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature And Luke 14.17 Come for all things are now ready and ver 23 24. 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
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
read over this Book I would intreate you to go alone and ponder a little what you have read and bethink you as in the sight of God whether it be not true and do not neerly touch your souls and whether it be not time for you to look about you And also I intreate you that you will upon your knees 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 that you have so long neglected and follow it on from day to day till your hearts be changed And withall that you will go to your Pastors that are set over you to take care of the health and safety of your souls as Physitians 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 Ministerial 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 Aâ— you love your souls take heed that you go not on against so loud a Call of God and against your own knowledge and consciences lest it go worse with you in the day of Iudgement then with Sodom and Gomorrah Enquire of God as a man that is willing to know the truth and not to be a wilful Câ—eater 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 to Heaven or Earth and whether it be better follow God or man the Spirit or the flesh and better live in Holiness or sin and whether an unsanctified estate be safe for you to abide in one day longer And when you have found 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 advices O what happy Towns and Countreys and what a happy nation might we have if we could but perswade 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 Vnity 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 Absolution and Peace to you and deliver the Sacraments which are the Seals of Peace to you And with what Love and Ioy might we live among you At your death-bed how boldly might we comfort and encourage your departing souls and at your Burial how comfortably might we leave 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 wordly or unholy life and all our desires and labours cannot so far prevail as to keep you from the wilful damning of your selves we must then imitate our Lord who delighteth himself in those few that are his jewels and in the 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 s but a little of the earth that 's gold or silver Princes and Nobles are but a small part of the Sons of men And it is no great number that are Learned Iudicious or wise here in the world And therefore if the gate being strait and the way 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 Iesus Christ his coming will to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all true believers 2 Thes. 1.7 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 of their sins upon the cross and did not judge such suffering 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 49 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 perswaded to have done with the deadly reigning sin I have written thee this perswasive as one that is going into another world where the things are seen that here I speak of and as one that knoweth thou must be shortly there thy self As ever thou wilt meet me with Comfort before the Lord that made us as ever thou wilt escape the everlasting plagues prepared for the final neglecters 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 Catholick Church and as ever thou hopest to see the face of Christ thy Iudge 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 maist 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 serious Monitor Rich. Baxter Decemb. 11. 1657. The Contents A Preface to the Unsanctified exhorting them to turn and answering some Objections The text opened p. 1. to 9. Doct. 1. It is the unchangeable Law of God that wicked men must Turn or Die p. 9. Proved p. 11. Obj. God will not be so unmerciful as to Damn us Answered p. 14 15. The Use p. 22. Who are wicked men and what Conversion is and how we may know whether we are wicked or Converted p. 27. to p. 45. Applyed p. 45. to p. 70. Doct. 2. It is the Promise of God that the wicked shall live if they will
their worldly business and little trouble their minds with such thoughts And if they be but restrained from scandalous sins and can say I am no whore-monger nor thief nor curser nor swearer nor tipler nor exâ—ortioner 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 your selves This is too much contempt of an endless glory and too gross neglect of your immortal souls Can you make so light of Heaven and Hell Your corpses will shortly all lye in the dust and Angels or Devils will presently seize upon your souls and every man and woman of you all will shortly be among other company and in another case then now you are you will dwell in those houses but a little longer you will work in your shops and fields but a little longer you will sit in those seats and dwell on this earth but a little longer you will see with those eyes and hear with those ears and speak with those tongues but a little longer till the Resurrection day and can you make shift to forget this O what a place will you be shortly 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 Horrour 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 Joyes or sorrows and can this be forgotten And all this is true Sirs most certain true when you have gone up and down a little longer and slept and awak't a few tunes more you 'l 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 Sermon and that this day from this place you were remembered of these things and perceive them matters a thousand times greater then either you or I could here conceive and yet shall they be now so much forgotten Beloved friends if the Lord had not awakened me to believe and lay to heart these things my self I should have remained in the 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 my self If your eyes were so far opened as to see Hell and you saw your neighbours that were Unconverted dragg'd thither with hideous cries though they were such as you accounted honest people on earth and feared no such matter by themselves such a sight would make you go home and think of it and think again and make you warn all about you as the damned worldling in Luke 16.28 would have had his Brethen warned lest they come to that place of torment Why faith is a kind of sight it is the eye of the soul the Evidence of things aot 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 morrow 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 Scripture and Ministers and he will not humour Unbelievers so far as to send men from the dead to them and to alter his establisht way if any man quarrel with the Sun God will not humour him so far as to set him up a clearer light Friends I beseech 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 its possible for one from the dead to deceive you but Jesus Christ can never deceive you the Word of God delivered in Scripture and sealed up by the Miracles and holy workings of the Spirit can never deceive you Believe this or 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 heard and enter into an earnest search of your hearts and say to your selves Is it so indeed must I Turn or Die Must I be Converted or Condemned It s time for me then to look about me before it be too lâ—te Oh why did I not look after this till now Why did I venturously poste off or flubber over so great a business Was I awake or in my wits Oh 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 eternal life Well God forbid that I should neglect this work any longer What state is my soul in Am I Câ—nverted 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 Excellencies of God and Glory Is my heart broken or humbled within me for my former life Have I thankfully entertained my Saviour and Lord that offered himself with pardon and life to my soul Do I hate my former sinful life and the remnant of every sin that is in me Do I flie from them as my deadly enemies Do I give up my self 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 promised Haâ—h Heaven more of my Estimation and Resolution then Earth And is God the dearest and the Highest in my soul Once I am sure I lived principally to the world and flâ—sh 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 affectâ—ons Have I set my hopes and heart in heaven And is it now the scope and design
God and do as well as I 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 and diligent service It is as well as you will indeed but that 's your misery 2. My desire is that you should Hope and Trust in 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 Gods promise and therefore hope for it and spare not But if you Hope to be saved without Conversion and an Holy Life this is not to Hope in God but in Satan or your selves For God hath given you no such promise but told you the contrary but its 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 an Holy Life your All is Nothng and worse then Nothing And if these and such as these seem Reasons sufficient to perswade you to forsake God and cast your selves into Hell the Lord deliver us from such Reasons and from such blind understandings and from such sensless hardened hearts Dare you stand to ever an one of these Reasons at the Barr 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 lives 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 your wages and save you if it can Had you not a better world to look after first And were you not commanded to seek first Gods Kingdom and Righteousness and promised that other things should be added to you Mat. 6.33 And were you not told that godliness was profitable to all things having the promise of this life and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 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 the 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 Scripture 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 easie 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 asketh the man Mat. 22.12 Friend how camest thou in hither not having on a wedding garment that is What dost thou in my Church among professed Christians without an 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 that we can say to you now but will make good your cause be it never so bad I know already that never a Reason that now you can give 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 yet Unconverted sinners Have you any good Reason to give why you should not Turn and presently Turn with all your hearts Or will you go to Hell in despight of Reason it self 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 wages Is he a bad Master Is the Devil whom you serve a better or is the flesh a better Is there any harm in an 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 an 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 why doth God say Be ye holy for I am holy 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Leviticus 20.7 Is it evil to be like God Is it not said that God made man in his 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 were you 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 an hurt to you to be sanctified Tell me truly as before the Lord Though you are loath to live an Holy life had you not rather die in the case of those that do so then of others If you were to die this day had you not rather die in the case of a Conveted man then of the Unconverted of an holy and heavenly man then of a carnal earthly man and would you not say as Balaam Numb 23.10 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 wish you had been when it is to 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 then all the friends in the world could have done The friends you lose would but have ticed you to hell but could not have delivered you But the friend you get will save you from 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 merriments and please your flesh then to live in the Believing 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 Romans 14.17 If it be a greater pleasure to you to think of your Lands and inheritance if you were Lords of all the Country
in their hearts said Men and Brethren what shall we do How might we come to be truly converted We are willing if we did but know our duty God forbid that we should choose destruction by refusing 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. 5.28 29. They have well said all that they have spoken O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandements alwaies Your Purposes are good O that there be but an 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 I. 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 bondslaves to the Devil and daily imployed in his work against the Lord your selves and others you are spiritually dead and deformed as being void of the holy life and nature and image of the Lord. You are unfit for any holy work and do nothing that is truly pleasing unto God You are without any promise or assurance of his pâ—otection and live in continual danger of his Justice not knowing what hour you may be snatcht away to Hell and most certain to be damned if you die in that condition And nothing short of Conversion can prevent it What ever civilities or amendments or vertues 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 converted It is to have a New Heart or Disposition and a New Conversation Quest. 1. For what must you Turn Answ. For these ends following which you may attain 1. You shall immediately be made living Members of Christ and have interest in him and be renewed aâ—ter the Image of God and be adorned with all his graces and quickned with a new and heavenly life and lived from the tyrannie of Satan and the dominion of sin and be justified from 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 acceptance you shall have the Holy Ghost to dwell in you to sâ—nctifie and guide you you shall have part in the brother-hood communion and prayers of the Saints You shall be fitted for Gods service and be freed from the Dominion of sin and be usefull 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 shall 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 shall be heirs of heaven while you live on earth and may for-see by faith the everlasting glory and so may live and die in peace and you will never be so low but your happiness will be incomparably greater then 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 judgement both soul and body shall be Justifyed and Glorified and enter into your Masters Joy where your happiness will consist in these particulars 1. You shall be perfected your selves your mortal bodies shall be made immortal and the corruptible shall put on incorruption you shall no more be hungry 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 imployment 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 then to have a private felicity to your selves 4. Your Glory will contribute to the Glorifying of your Redeemer who will everlastingly be magnified and pleased in you that are the travail of his soul and this is more then the Glorifying of your selves 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 pleaâ—ed in you and in the accomplishment of his glorious works in the glory of the â—ew Jerusalem and of his Son All this the pooâ—est beggar of you that is Converted shall Certainly and Eâ—â—lâ—sly enjoy 2. You see For what you must Turn Next you must understand From what you must Turn Aâ—d that is in a word From your Carnal Self which is the End of all the Unconverted Fâ—om the flesh that would be pleased before God and would still be enticing you thereto 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 wilfull sin 3. Next you must know To what you must Turn And that is To God as your End To Christ as the way to the Father To Holiness as the way appointed you by Christ And so to the use of all the helps and means of grace afforded you by the Lord. 4. Lastly you must know By what you must Turn And that is by Christ as the only Redeemer and Intercessor 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 secret serious Consideration Inconsiderateness undoes the world Withdraw your selves oft into retired secrecy and there bethink you of the end why you were made of the life you have lived the time you have lost the sin you have committed of the love and sufferings and fulness of Christ of the danger you are in of the nearness of death
A CALL TO THE Unconverted TO Turn and Live AND Accept of Mercy while Mercy may be had as ever they would find Mercy in the day of their extremity From the Living God By his unworthy Servant RICHARD BAXTER To be Read in Families where any are Unconverted London Printed by R. W. for Nevil Simmons Book-seller in Kederminster and are to be sold by him there and by Nathaniel Ekins at the Gun in Pauls Church-Yard 1658. The Reason of this Work IN that short acquaintance I had with that Reverend Learned servant of Christ Bishop Vsher he was oft from first to last importuning me to write a directory for the several ranks of Professed Christians which might distinctly give each one their portion beginning with the Unconverted and then proceeding to the babes in Christ and then to the strong and mixing some special helps against the several sins that they are addicted to By the suddenness of his motion at our first congress I perceived it was in his mind before And I told him both that it is abundantly done by many already and that his unacquaintedness with my weakness might make him think me fitter for it then I was But this did not satisfie him but still he made it his request I confess I was not moved by his Reasons nor did I apprehend any great need of doing more then is done in that way nor that I was likely to do more And therefore I parted from him without the least purpose to answer his desire But since his death his words oft came into my mind and the great Reverence I bore to him did the more incline me to think with some complacency of his motion And having of late intended to write a Family Directory I began to apprehend how congruously the forementioned work should lead the way and the several conditions of mens souls be spoken of before we come to the several Relations Hereupon I resolved by Gods assistance to proceed in the order following First to speak to the impenitent Unconverted sinners who are not yet so much as purposing to Turn or at least are not setting about the work And with these I thought a wakening Perswasive was a more necessary means then meer Directions For Directions suppose men willing to obey them but the persons that we have first to deal with are wilful and asleep in sin and as men that are past feeling having given themselves over to sin with greediness Ephes. 4.19 My next work must be for those that have some purposes to Turn and are about the work to Direct them for a through and true Conversion that they miscarry not in the birth The third part must be Directions for the younger and weaker sort of Christians that they may be stablished built up and persevere The fourth part Directions for lapsed and back-sliding Christians for their safe recovery Besides these there is intended some short Perswasives and Directions against some specâ—al errours of the times and against some common killing sins As for Directions to Doubting troubled Consciences that is done already And the strong I shall not write Directions for because they are so much taught of God already And then the last part is intended more specially for Families as such Directing the several Relations in their Duties Some of these are already written whether I shall have life and leisure for the rest God only knoweth And therefore I shall publish the several parts by themselves as I write them and the rather because they are intended for men of different states and because I would not deter them by the bulk or price from reading what is written for their benefit The use that this part is published for is 1. For Masters and Parents to read often in their Families if they have servants or children that are yet unconverted 2. For all such Unconverted persons to read and consider of themselves 3. For the richer sort that have any pitty on such miserable souls to give to the unsanctified that need them if they have not fitter at hand to use and give The Lord awake us to work while it is day for the saving of our own and others souls in subserviency to the Blessed God the Maker the Redeemer and the Sanctifier of souls Rich. Baxter Decemb. 10. 1657. To all unsanctified persons that shall read this Book Especially of my Hearers in the Burrough and Parish of Kederminster 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 Ministers to preach it to the world that pardon being 〈◊〉 offered you and Heaven bâ—ing â—ot before you he might call you off from your fleshly pleasures and from following after this deceitfull world and acquaint you with the life that you were Created and Redeemed for before you are dead and past remedy He sendeth not you Prophets or Apostles tâ—at receive their message by immediate Revelation 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 standeth over you and 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 suffer He seeth how bold you are in sin and how fearless of his threatnings 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 will begin and you must lament all this with fruitless cries in torment and desperation and when the remembrance of your folly will tear your hearts if true Conversion now prevent it not in comparison of your sinful miserable souls the Lord that better knows your case then you can know it hath made it our duty to speak to you in his name 2 Corinth 5.19 and to tell yâ—u plainly of your sin and misery and what will be your end and how sad a change you 'l shortly see if yet you go on a little longer Having bought you at so dear a rate as the blood of his Son Iesus Christ and made you so free and general a promise of pardon and grace and everlasting glory he commandeth as to tender all this to you as the gift of God and to intreate you to consider of the necessity and worth of what he offereth He seeth and pittieth you while you are drowned in worldly cares and pleasures and eagerly following childish toyes 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 to lose your souls
Doth he give us Sun and Moon and Stars the earth and all the creatures to attend us and serve us with their lives and virtues and yet doth he not care for our hearts or service This is as foolish as to say that he hath made all the world in vain and careth not for it now he hath made it 7. If he cared not for the frame of our hearts and lives he would not have sent his Son to Redeem us and to cleanse us from all iniquity and sanctifie us a peculiar people to himself Tit. 2.14 Surely the price that was paid for sinners and the wonderful design of God in our Redemption doth shew that he makes not light of sin and that he is wonderfully in love with holiness 8. If God did not regard our hearts and lives he would not have made it the office of his Ministers to call us daily to Repentance and an holy life Nor commanded them to make such a stir with sinners to win them unto God He would not have appointed all his Ordinances publick and private also to this end Doth God command all this ado for a thing that he regards not 9. Nor would he punish the world with Hell hereafter or so many dreadful judgements here as thousands feel if he cared not what they think or do Methinks men that are so often groaning under his rod should feel that he looks after their hearts and wayes 10. And how can the Holy Ghost be our Sanctifier if God be so indifferent whether we be clean or unclean Dare you think that the Holy Ghost doth take upon him a needless work 11. Methinks you might perceive even in the malice of the Tempter that God is holy and hateth iniquity and his Word is true that telleth us of the eternal punishment of sin This Scripture tells us of the Angels fall and that many of them are become Devils by their sin and are malicious enemies of mans salvation And do you not easily perceive it to be true How come they else to be such importunate Tempters of men which we feel alas by too much experience Or if this evidence be not palpable enough to convince the Infidel How come they to make so many bargains with Conjurers and Witches to draw them from God and Salvation as they have done How come they to appear in terrible shapes to so many as they have done and still upon designs that declare their own dejected base Condition and their enmity to God and man and their eager desire to engage men in a way of sin If any Infidel will not believe that really there have been Witches and Apparitions and consequently that there are Devils who are miserable and malicious spirits who by sin are cast out of the favour of God and would draw men into their miserable case let them come and reason the case with me and I shall quickly tell them of so many sure undenyable instances and give them so much proof of the truth of it as shall leave them nothing to say against it â—â—less they will still say We will not believe Yea so much as that I will not be beholden to the vilest Atheist or Infidel to believe it if he will not quite renounce his Reason but give it leave to see the Light 12. Lastly if yet you think that God the Soveraign Ruler of the world that is everywhere present and preserveth all doth care so little what men are or what they do whether they are holy or unholy obedient or disobedient to his Laws then methinks that you your selves and all the rest of your fellow-creatures should little care Two Questions therefore I must here propound to you 1. Do not you care what men say of you or do to you Are you contented that men slander you and abase you or set your houses or Towns on fire or destroy your cattle or wives and children and imprison wound or kill your selves If you will make a great matter of what men say or do against you can you be so mad for it is no better as to think that the Omnipotent Holy God should little regard what 's said or done against himself and against hâ—s servants and that by such silly worms as men that are his workmanship Did not selfishness make you blind and partial you would know that one sin against God deserves more punishment then ten thousand thousand times as much against such silly things as you Do you make no matter of difference between a bad servant and a good an obedient and a disobedient child a Son that would lay down his life for you and a Son that longs for your death that he may have your Lands between a faithful friend and a deadly enemy If you do not you are not men but something else in humane shape If you do then you are somewhat worse then men if yet you would have the Blessed God to make no great difference between those that love him above all the world and those that regard him not between the Holy and unholy soul. And 2. I would ask you Whether you would have the Rulers of the world to take no care what men say or do or would you not If not then you would have all the world turned loose and you would have every man that is poorer then you have leave to rob you and every man that hateth you have leave to beat you or to kill you and every man that liketh your house or lands or goods or cattle to have leave to take them from you and every man to defile your wives or daughters that hath a mind to it And so we should see whether it is that Infidelity leads men But if you like not this then you are most unreasonable if you would have Magistrates to be regardful of mens actions and not God If Magistrates must hang men for wronging you and the Eternal Majesty must not punish them for wronging him and breaking his Laws which is infinitely a greater matter As if you would have a Constable punish men and the King or Iudge to have no regard of it For Kings are under God as Constables are under Kings and a thousandfold lower The truth is wicked men are fallen so far from God to themselves that they are as gods to themselves in their own esteem and besides themselves they know no God and therefore any wrong that is done against them or any good that is done for them they would have regarded but the wrong and disobedience that is against God they would have nothing made of And they have such narrow blasphemous thoughts of God as if he were a finite creature like themselves that can be but in one place at once that makes them so blaspheme his Providence and think he minds not Good or Evil and will not reward the godly or punish the ungodly but â—ere like the Idols of the Heathen that have eyes and see not ears and hear not and hands without
sure of earth he would let go heaven and had rather stay here then be removed thither A life of perfect holiness in the sight of God and in his love and praises for ever in heaven doth not find such liking with his heart as a life of health and wealth and honour here upon earth And though he falsly profess that he loveth God above all yet indeed he never felt the power of Divine Love within him but his mind is more set on the world or fleshly pleasures then on God In a word whoever Loveth earth above heaven and fleshly prosperity more than God is a wicked unconverted man On the other side 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 to it and set more upon it then on any thing in this world He had rather see the face of God and live in his everlasting love and praises then have all the wealth or pleasure of this 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 treasure 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 load-stone still turneth to the North so the Converted soul is enclined unto God Nothing else can satisfie him nor can he find any Content and Rest but in his Love In a word All that are Converted do Esteem and Love God beetter then all the world and the Heavenly felicity is dearer to them then their fleshly prosperity The proof of what I have said you may find in these places of Scripture Phil. 3.18 21. Mat. 6.19 20 21. Col. 3.1 2 3 4. Rom. 8.5 6 7 8 9 18 23. Psal. 73.25 26. Secondly a wicked man is one that maketh 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 outward duties of Religion and forbear disgraceful sins yet this is all but upon the by and he never makes it the trade and principal business of his life to Please God and attain everlasting glory but puts off God with the leavings of the world and gives him no more service then 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 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 unto God he loveth an holy life and longeth 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 dare 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. 3.1 2 3 4 5. Mat. 6.33 20. Luk. 18.22 23 29. Luk. 14.18 24 26 27. Rom. 8.13 Gal. 5.24 Luk. 12.21 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 not willing to be ruled by him as the Physitian of his soul that he may be saved from the guilt and power of his sins and recovered unto God but his heart is insensible of this unspeakable benefit and is quite against the healing means by which he should be recovered Though he may be willing to be carnally Religious yet he never resigneth up his soul to Christ and to the motions and conduct of his Word and Spirit On the contrary the Converted soul having felt himself undone by sin and perceiving that he hath lost his peace with God and hopes of 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 resigneth up himself to him for wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption He taketh Christ as the Life of his soul and liveth by him and useth him as his salve for every sore admiring the wisdom and Love of God in this wonderful work of mans Redemption In a word Christ doth even dwell in his heart by faith and the life that he now liveth is by the Faith of the Son of God that hath loved him and gave himself for him Yea it is not so much he that liveth as Christ in him For these see Iohn 1.11 12. 3.19 20. Rom. 8.9 Phil. 3.7 8 9 10. Gal. 2.20 Ioh. 15 2 3.4 1 Cor. 1.20 2.2 YOU see now in plain terms from the Word of God who are the wicked and who are the Converted Ignorant people think that if a man be no swearer not curser nor rayler nor drunkard nor fornicator nor extortioner nor wrong any body in their dealings and if they come to Church and say their prayers these cannot be wicked men Or if a man that hath been guilty of drunkenness or swearing or gameing 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 joyn himself with those that are godly 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 they are Converted by taking up some new and false opinion and falling into some dividing party as Anabaptists Quakers Papists or such like And some think if they have but been affrighted by the fears of Hell and had Convictions and Gripes of Conscience and thereupon have purposed and promised amendment and taken up a life of Civil behavour 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 perswasions 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 graver and civiler then the common people that Publicans and Harlots do go into the Kingdom of God before them Mat. 21.31 Not that an harlot or gross sinner can be saved without Conversion but because it was easier to make these gross sinners perceive their sin and misery and the necessity of a change
when the civiler sort do delude themselves by thinking that they are Converted already when they be not O Sirs Conversion is another kind of work then most are ware of It s not a small matter to bring an Earthly mind to Heaven and to shew man the amiable excellencies of God till he be taken up in such Love to him that never can be quenched to break the heart for sin and make him flie forrefuge unto Christ and thankfully embrace him as the lâ—fe of his soul to have the very drift and bent of the heart and life to be changed so that a man renounceth that which he took for his felicity and placeth his felicity where he never did before and liveth not to the same end and driveth not on the same design in the world as formerly he did in a word he that is in Christ is a new creature old things are past away behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.17 He hath a new understanding a new will and resolution new sorrows and desires and love and delight new thoughts new speeches new company if possible and a new conversation 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 Happiness 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 and the heart is taken up in the attendance and observance of him and is grieved when he hides his face and never thinks it self well without him Christ himself that was wont to be slightly thought of is now his only hope and refuge and he liveth upon him as on his daily bread he cannot pray without him nor rejoyce without him nor think nor speak nor live without him Heaven it self that before was lookt upon but as a tolerable reserve which he hoped might serve turn as better then 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 before did seem but as a bugbear to frighten men from sin doth now appear to be a real misery that is not to be ventured on nor jested with The works of holiness which before he was weary of and seemed to be more ado then needs are now both his recreation and his 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 from heaven 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 excellentest and happyest on earth And the wicked that were his play-fellows are now his grief and he that could laugh at their sin is readyer now to weep for their sin and misery Psalm 16.3 15.4 Phil. 3.18 In short he hath a New End in his thoughts and a New Way in his endeavours and therefore his Heart and life is 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 is 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 Self 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 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 t is another matter to turn quite back again and take his journey the clean contrary way to a contrary place So it is here A man may turn from drunkenness to thriftiness and forsake his good fellowship and other gross disgraceful sins and set upon some duties of Religion and yet be going still 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 denyed and taken down and God is set up and his face is turned the contrary way and he that before was addicted to himself and lived to himself is now by Sanctification devoted to God and liveth unto God before he asketh 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 he useth them for him Before he would Please God so far as might stand 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 displeasd This is the great change that God will make upon all that shall be saved You can say that the Holy-Ghost is your Sanctifier but do you know what Sanctification is Why this is it that 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 Dye Do you believe all this Sirs or do you not Surely you dare not say you do not For t is past doubt or denyal These are not Controversies where one learned pious man is of one mind and another of another where one party saith this and the other saith that Papists and Aanbaptists and every Sect among us that deserve to be called Christians 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 utterly unexcusable 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 anew Be not these strange matters to many of you and such as you never felt upon your selves If you cannot tell the day or the week of your change or the very Sermon that Converted you yet do you find that the work is done and such a change indeed there is and that you have such hearts as are before described Alas the most do follow
hath no pretence left to deny or question 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 brains do hardly discern the agreeement Vse I Do now intreate thee if thou be an Unconverted sinner that hearest these words that thou wouldst ponder a little upon the forementioned Doctrines and bethink thy self 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 pleasure in it And I know it is not the pleasing of him that you intend in it You dare not say that you drink and swear and neglect holy duties and quench the motions of the Spirit to please God That were as if you shouâ—d 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-manded to him God knows its 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 s small pleasure to them to see upon your souls in the sad effects such blindness and hard-heartedness and carelesness and presumption such wilfulness in evil and such unteachableness and stifness against the waies 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 's like to be the end of them And therefore it is no more Pleasure to them then to a tender Physitian to see the Plague-marks break out upon his Patient Alas to foresee your everlasting Torments and know 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 scape if we knew but how to make you willing How fair you are for everlasting salvation if you would but Turn and do your best and make it the care and business of your lives but you will not do it If our lives lay on it we cannot perswade you to it We study day and night what to say to you that may convince you and perswade you and yet it is undone we lay before you the word of God and shew you the very Chapter and verse where it is written that you cannot be Saved except you be Converted 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 that you will regard it when we shew 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 Isaiah 48.22 and 57.21 but the worst of them all will scarce believe that they are wicked we have shewed them thy word where thâ—u hast said that if thâ—y live after the flesh they shall die Rom. 8.13 but they say they will believe in thee when 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 threatnings of thy word are false they will yet call this a hoping in God and though we shew them where thou hast said that when a wicked man dyeth all his hopes perish yet cannot we perswade them from their deceitful hopes Prov. 11.7 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 because God is merciful they will not believe him but will venture their souls come on it what will we telâ— 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 when yet they are not Converted from their sins We exhort them we intreat them we offer them our help but we cannot prevail with them but they that were drunkards are drunkards still and they that were voluptuous flesh pleasing wretches are such still and they that were worldlings are wordlings 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 forsake it but comfort themselves that all men are sinners as if there were no difference between a Converted sinner and an Vnconverted 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 hearing and do what their list and most of them are like dead men that cannot feâ—l 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 Lords 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 but 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 Lords Supper to themselves but they will not hear us they would have us to 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 then all their Teachers they rage and are confident in their own way and if we would 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 perswade them if we would beg it of them on our knees we cannot
much daunt them because they see not whither they are gone poor wretches they hold on in their ungodliness for all this for they little know that their companions are now lamenting it in torments In Luke 16. the rich man in hell would fain have had one to warn his five Brethren left they should come to that place of torment It s like he knew their minds and lives and knew that they were hasting thither and little dreamt that he was there yea and would little have believed one that would have told them so I remember a passage that a Gentleman yet living told me he saw upon a bridge over Severn A man was driving a flock of fat lambs and something meeting them and hindring 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 was altered Even so it is with Unconverted Carnal men One dyeth by them and drops into hell and another follows the same way and yet they will go after them because they think not whether they are gone Oh but when death hath once opened their eyes and they see what 's 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 subtile malicious enemy that is unseen of them and playes his game in the dark and it is his principal business to hinder their Conversion and therefore to keep them where they are by perswading them not to believe the Scriptures or not to trouble their minds with these matters or by perswading them to think ill of a godly life or to think that it s more ado then needs 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 may stay a little longer and take their pleasure and follow the world a little longer yet and then let it go and repent hereafter And by such jugling deluding cheats as these the Devil keeps the most in his captivity 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 Ministers have said so much for their Conversion when their Reasons are silenced and they are not able to answer the Lord that calls after them Turn ye Turn ye Why will you die yet all comes to nothing with the greatest part of them and they leave us no more to do after all but to sit down and lament their wilful misery I Have now shewed you the Reasonableness of Gods commands and the unreasonableness of wicked mens disobedience If nothing will serve turn but men will yet refuse to Turn we are next to consider who it is long of if they be damned And this brings me up to the last Doctrine which is Doct. 7. THAT if after all this men will not Turn it is not long of God that they are condemned but of themselves even their own wilfulness They die because they will die that is because they will not Turn If you will go to hell what remedy God here acquits 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 unprofitable Vineyard Isaiah 5.1 2 3 4. Iudge 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 Vine What should he have done more to it He hath made you men and endued you with Reason he hath furnished you with all external necessaries all creatures are at your service He hath given you a righteous perfect Law When you had broke it and undone your selves he had pitty on you and sent 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 world to himself The Lord Jesus hath made you a deed of gift of himself and eternal life with him on the condition you will but accept it and return He hath on this reasonable condition offered you the free pardon of all your sins he hath written this in his Word and sealed it by his Spirit and sent it you by his Ministers they have made the offer to you an hundred and an 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 slaid your leisure and suffered you to abuse him to his face He hath mercifully sustained you in the midst of your sin he hath compassed you about with all sorts of mercies He hath also intermixt afflictions to mind you of you folly and call you to your wits And his spirit hath 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 will be the end How long wilt thou hate thy friends and love thine enemies when wilt thou let go all and Turn and deliver up thy self to God and give thy Redeemer the possession 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 hast and God hath called to thee To day while it is called to day harden not thy heart Why not now without any more delay Life hath been set before you The Joyes 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 damned hath been declared to you Unless you would have had a sight of Heaven and Hell what could you desiâ—â— more Christ hath been as it were set forth crucified before your eyes Gal. 3.1 You have been an hundred times told that you are but lost men till you come unto him As oft have you been told of the evil of sin of the vanity of sin the world and all the pleasures and wealth it can afford of the shortness and uncertainty of your lives and the endless duration of the Joy or Torment of the life
everlasting fire And yet they will have no mercy upon themselves And yet will these shameless wretches say that God is more merciful then to condemn them when it is themselves that cruelly and unmercifully run upon Condemnation and if we should go to them with our hats in our hands and intreate them we cannot stop them If we should fall down on our knees to them we cannot stop them but to Hell they will 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 dyed for them for the sake of their own poor souls to pitty themselves and go no further in the way to Hell but come to Christ while his arms are open and enter into a state of life while the door stands open and now take mercy while mercy may be had they will not be perswaded If we should die for it we cannot get them so much as now and then to consider with themselves of the matter and to Turn And yet they can say I hope God will be merciful Did you ever consider what he saith Isa. 27.11 It is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he hath formed them will show them no favour If another man will not cloath you when you are naked and feed you when you are hungry you will say he is unmerciful If he should cast you into prison or beat and torment you you would say he is unmerciful And yet you will do a thousand times more against your selves 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 all this Unless the holy God of Heaven will give these wretches leave to trample upon his Sons blood and with the Jews as it were again to spit in his face and do despight to the Spirit of grace and make a jest of sin and a mock at holiness and set more light by saving mercy then by the filth of their fleshly pleasures and unless after all this he will save them by the mercy which they cast away and would none of God himself must be called unmerciful by them 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 in my Treatise of Iudgement 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 busie 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 easie question who is in the fault and whether God or man be the principal or culpable cause Some men are such favourable Judges of themselves that they are proner to accuse the Infinite Perfection and Goodness it self then 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 diast set before me did entice me the temptation which thou didst permit to assault me prevailed against me And some are so loth to think that God can make a self-determining creature that they dare not deny him that which they take to be his prerogative to be the determiner of the will in every 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 must be no longer truths then we are able to see them in their perfect order and coherence because our râ—velled wits cannot set 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-conceitedness when men receive not Gods truths as a child his lesson in an holy submission to the omniscience of our Teacher but as Censurers that are too wise to learn Object But we cannot Convert our selves till God Convert us we can do nothing without his grace It is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy Answ. 1. God hath two degrees of mercy to shew the mercy of Conversion first and the mercy of Salvation list the latter he will give to none but those that will and run and hath promised it to them only The former is to make them willing that were unwilling and though your own willing and endeavours deserve not this grace yet your wilfull refusal deserveth that it should be denyed to you Your disabily is your very unwillingness it self 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 the 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 or set against it Do what you are able first and then complain of God for denying you grace if you have cause Object But you seem to intimate all this while that man hath free will Answer 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 vitiously inclined and backward to good and therefore we see by sad experience that it hath not a vertuous moral freedom But that is the wickedness of it which deserveth the punishment And I pray you let us not befool our selves with opinions Let the case be your own If you have an enemy so malicious that he falls upon you and beats you every time he meets you and takes away the lives of your children will you excuse him because he saith I have not free will it is my nature I cannot choose unless God give me grace If you have a servant that robbeth you will you take such an answer from him Might not every Thief and Murderer that is hanged it the Assize give such an answer I have not free-will
sanctifie 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 an 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 or else at best you put him off with an heartless thanks and will not Turn when you are perswaded If Ministers would privately instruct and help you you will not come at them your unhumbled souls do feel but little need of their help If they would Catechize 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-conceited and wise in your own eyes even in the depth of ignorance that you will regard nothing that agreeth not with your present conceits but contradict your Teachers as if you were wiser then they you resist all that they can say to you by your ignorance and wilfulness and foolish Cavils and shifting evasions and unthankfull rejections so that no good that is offered can find any welcome acceptance and entertainment with you 4. Moreover its apparent that you are self-destroyers in that you draw the matter of your sin and destruction even from the blessed God himself You like not the contrivances of his Wisdom You like not his Justice but take it for cruelty You like not his Holiness but are ready to think he is such a one as your selves Psal. 50.21 and makes as light of sin as you You like not his Truth but would have his Threanings even his peremptory Threatnings prove false And his goodness which you seem most highly to approve you partly resist as it would lead you to repentance and partly abuse to the strengthning of you sin as if you might the freelyer sin because God is Merciful and because his Grace doth so much abound Yea you fetch destruction from â—he blessed Redeemer and Death from the Lord of life himself And nothing more emboldneth you in sin then 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 Physitian of souls and he is able to save to the utmost 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 no so that a great part of your sins are occasioned by your bold presumption upon the death of Christ. Not considering that he came to redeem his people from their sins and to sanctifie them a peculiar people to himself and to conform them in Holiness to the image of their heavenly Father and to their head Mat. 1.21 Tit. 2.14 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Col. 3.10 11. Phil. 3.9 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 an holy life or else were the cause of your sin and death If he afflict you you repine If he prosper you you the more forget him and are the backwarder to the thoughts of the life to come If the wicked prosper you forget the end that will set all reckonings strait and are ready to think it s as good be wicked as godly And thus you draw your death from all 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 for his work Your cloathes you abuse to pride Your Riches draw your hearts from heaven Phil. 3.18 Your honours and applause do puff you up If you have health and strength it makes you more secure and forget your end Yea other mens mercies are abused by you to your hurt If you see their honours and dignity 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 lust and it s well if godliness be not an eye-fore to you 8. The very gifts that God bestoweth on you and the Ordinances of grace which he hath instituted for his Church you turn to sin If you have better parts then 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 for so good a work as if it would excuse you for not obeying it Your Prayers are turned into sin because you regard iniquity in your hearts Psalm 66.18 and depart not from iniquity when you call on the name of the Lord 2 Tim. 2.19 Your prayers are abominable because you turn away your ear from hearing the Law Prov. 28.9 And are more ready to offer the Sacrifice of fools thinking you do God some special service then to hear his word and obey it Eccles. 5.1 You examine not your selves before you receive the Supper of the Lord but not discerning the Lords body do eat and drink judgement to your selves 1 Cor. 11.28 29. 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 ungodlily 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 particular temptation you stumble upon them and turn away from holiness because that others are imperfectly holy as if you were warranted to break your necks because some others have by their heedlesness sprained a sinnew or put out a bone If an hypocrite discover himself you say They are all alike and think your selves 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 eiâ—her sleep under them or are little more affected then the seats you sit upon If any errours creep into the Church some greedily entertain them and others reproach the Christian Doctrine for them which is most against them And if we would draw you from any ancient rooted errour which can but plead two or three