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
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
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
an executive power But when the Memorial Book of God is opened which is written for them that fear the Lord and think upon his name and when the Lord shall say of them These are mine as he is making up his Iewels and spareth them as â— man spareth his Son that serveth him then shall those Infidels â—â—turn to their wits and the righteous shall return from their fears and sufferings and shall discern between the Righteous and the Wicked between those that served God and those that served him not Mal. 3.16 17 18. Another Objection I find most common in the mouths of the ungodly especially of late years They say We can do nothing without God We cannot have grace if God will not give it us and if he will we shall quickly Turn If he have not predestinated us and will not Turn us how can we Turn our selves or be saved It is not in him that wills nor in hâ—m that runs And thus they think they are excused I have answered this formerly and in this book but let me now say this much 1. Though you cannot cure your selves you can hurt and poison your selves It s God that must sanctifie your hearts but who corrupted them Will you wilfully take Poison because you cannot cure your selves Me think you should the more forbear it You should the more take heed of sinning if you cannot mend what sin doth marr 2. Though you cannot be converted without the special Grace of God yet you must know that God giveth this Grace in the use of his holy means which he hath appointed to that end and common grace may enable you to forbear your gross sinning as to the outward act and to use those means Can you truly say that you do as much as you are able to do Are you not able to go by an Ale-house door or to shut your mouths and keep out the drink or to forbear the company that hardneth you in sin Are you not able to go to hear the word and think of what you heard when you come home and to consider with your selves of your own condition and of everlasting things Are you not able to read good Books from day to day at least on the Lords day and to conversâ— with those that fear the Lord You cannot say that you have done what you were able 3. And therefore you must know that you can forfeit the Grace and help of God by your wilful sinning or negligence though you cannot without Grace turn to God If you will not do what you can its just with God to deny you that grace by which you might do more 4. And for Gods Decrees you must know that they separate not the end and means but tie them together God never decreed to save any but the sanctified nor to damn any but the unsanctified God doth as truly Decree from everlasting whether your Land this year shall be barren or fruitful and just how long you shall live in the world as he hath Decreed whether you shall be saved or not And yet you would think that man but a fool that would forbear plowing and sowing and say If God have Decreed that my ground shall bear corn it will bear it whether I plough and sow or not If God have decreed that I shall live I shall live whether I eat or not but if he have not it is not eating that will keep me alive Do you know how to answer such a man or do you not If you do then you know how to answer your selves for the case is alike Gods Decree is as peremptory about your bodies as your souls If you do not then try first these conclusions upon your bodies before you venture to try them on your souls see first whether God will keep you alive without food or rayment and whether he will give you corn without tillage and labour and whether he will bring you to your journeys and without your travel or carriage and if you speed well in this then try whether he will bring you to heaven without your diligent use of means and sit down and say we cannot sanctifie our selves And for the point of Free-will which you harp so long upon Divines are not so much disagreed about it as you imagine Augustine as well as Pelagius Calvin as well as Arminius the Dominicans as well as the Iesuits all do generally maintain that man hath Free-will but the Orthodox say that Free-will is corrupted and disposed to evil Epiphanius condemned Origen for saying that man had lost the image of God and makes it a point of Heresie And yet one may truly say that man hath lost Gods image and another may truly say that he hath not lost it For there is a twofold image of God on man the one is Natural and that is Our Reason and Free-will and this is not lost The other is Qualitative and Ethical and this is our Holiness and this is lost and by Grace restored No man of brains denyeth that man hath a will that 's Naturally free It s free from violence and its a self determining Principle But it is not free from evil Dispositions It is Habitually averse to God and Holiness and enclined to earthly fleshly things It is enslaved by a sinful byas This no man me thinks that it a Christian should deny and of the Aged I see not how an Infidel can deny it Alas we easily confess to you that you have not this Spiritual Moral-Free will which is but your right Inclination and your Habitual Willingness it self If you had a will that were freed from wicked Inclinations I had no need to write such Books aâ— this to perswade you to be willing in a case which your own salvation lyeth on To the grief of our souls we perceive after all our preaching and perswasions that the ungodly have not this spiritual free wil. But this is nothing but your willingness it self inclination to be willing and therefore the want of it is so far from excusing you that the more you want it that is the more you are wilful in sin the worse you are and the sorer will be your punishment And our preaching and perswasion and your Hearing and Considering are the appointed means it get this Moral power or Freedom that is to make you truly willing Well Sirs I have but three requests to you and I have done First that you will seriously read over this small Treatise and if you have such as need it in your Families that you would read it over and over to them and if those that fear God would go now and then to their ignorant neighbours and read â—his or some other Book to them of â—his subject they might be a meanâ— of winning of souls If we cannot intreate so small a Labour of men for their own salvation as to read such short Instructions as these they set little by themselves and will most justly perish Secondly when you have
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
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
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
of all which yet will never come to pass 5. And God as Ruler and Law-giver of the world hath so far a Practical Will for their salvation as to make them a free Deed of Gift of Christ and Life and an act of Oblivion for all their sins so be it they will not unthankfully reject it and to command his Messengers to offer this Gift to all the world and perswade them to accept it And so he doth all that as Law-giver or Promiser belongs to him to do for their salvation 6. But yet he resolveth as Law-giver that they that will not turn shall dye And as Iudge when their day of grace is past he will execute that Decree 7. So that he thus unfeignedly willeth the Conversion of those that never will be Converted but not as Absolute Lord with the fullest efficacious Resolution nor as a thing which he resolveth shall undoubtedly come to pass or would engage all his power to accomplish It is in the power of a Prince to set a guard upon a Murderer to see that he shall not murder and be hanged But if upon good reason he forbear this and do but send to his subjects and warn and intreate them not to be murderers I hope he may well say that he would not have them murder and be hanged he takes no pleasure in it but rather that they forbear and live And if he do more for some upon some special reason he is not bound to do so by all The King may well say to all the Murderers and Felons in the Land I have no pleasure in your death but rather that you would obey my Laws and live but If you will not I am resolved for all this that you shall die The Judge may truly say to the Thief or Murderer Alas man I have no delight in thy death I had rather thou hadst kept the Law and saved thy life but seeing thou wilt not I must condemn thee or else I should be unjust So though God have no Pleasure in your damnation and therefore calls upon you to Return and Live yet he hath Pleasure in the demonstration of his own Iustice and the executing his Laws and therefore he is for all this fully resolved that if you will not be Converted you shall be Condemned If God were so much against the death of the wicked as that he were resolved to do all that he can to hinder it then no man should be Condemned whereas Christ telleth you that few will be saved But so far God is against your damnation as that he will teach you and warn you and set before you life and death and offer you your choice and command his Ministers to intreate you not to damn your selves but accept his Mercy and so to leave you without excuse but if this will not do and if still you be Unconverted he professeth to you he is resolved of your damnation and hath commanded us to say to you in his name Verse 8. O wicked man thou shalt surely die And Christ hath little less then sworn it over and over with a Verily verily except ye be Converted and born again ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven Matth. 18.3 Iohn 3.3 Mark that he saith You cannot It is in vain to hope for it and in vain to dream that God is willing of it for it is a thing that cannot be In a word you see then the meaning of the Text that God the great Law-giver of the world doth take no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that they Turn and Live though yet he be resolved that none shall Live but those that Turn and as Iudge even delighteth in Justice and manifesting his hatred of sin though not in their misery which they have brought upon themselves in it self considered 2. And for the proofs of the point I shall be very brief in them because I suppose you easily believe it already 1. The very gracious nature of God proclaimed Exod. 34.6 20.6 and frequently elsewhere may assure you of this that he hath no Pleasure in your death 2. If God had more pleasure in thy Death then in thy Conversion and Life he would not have so frequently commanded thee in his word to Turn he would not have made thee such promises of Life if thou wilt but Turn he would not have perswaded thee to it by so many Reasons The tenour of his Gospel proveth the point 3. And his Commission that he hath given to the Ministers of the Gospel doth fully prove it If God had taken more pleasure in thy damnation then in thy Conversion and Salvation he would never have charged us to offer you Mercy and to teach you the Way of Life both publikely and privately and to intreate and beseech you to turn and live to acquaint you with your sins and foretell you of your danger and to do all that possibly we can for your Conversion and to continue patiently so doing though you should hate us or abuse us for our pains Would God have done this and appointed his Ordinances for your good if he had taken Pleasure in your death 4. It is proved also by the course of his providences If God had rather you were damned then Converted and Saved he would not second his word with his works and entice you by his daily kindness to himself and give you all the mercies of this life which are his means to lead you to Repentance Rom. 2.4 and bring you so often under his rod to force you into your wits he would not set so many examples before your eyes no nor wait on you so patiently as he doth from day to day and year to year These be not signs of one that taketh pleasure in your death If this had been his delight how easily could he have had thee long ago in Hell How oft before this could he have catcht thee away in the midst of thy sins with a curse or oath or lye in thy mouth in thy ignorance and pride and sensuality when thou wast last in thy drunkenness or last deriding the waies of God how easily could he have stopt thy breath and tamed thee with his Plagues and made thee sober in another world Alas how small a matter is it for the Lord Almighty to rule the tongue of the prophanest railer and tye the hands of the most malicious persecutor or calm the fury of the bitterest of his enemies and make them know that they are but worms If he should but frown upon thee thou wouldst drop into thy grave If he gave Commission to one of his Angels to go and destroy ten thousand sinners how quickly would it be done How easily can he lay thee on thy bed of languishing and make thee lie roaring there in pain and make thee eat the words of reproach which thou hast spoken against his Servants his Word his Worship and his holy Waies And make thee send to beg their prayers
lovest thine own life even thine everlasting Life Turn and Live as ever thou wouldst escape eternal misery Turn Turn for why wilt thou die And is there a heart in man in a reasonable creature that can once refuse such a Message such a Command such an Exhortation as this O what a thing then is the heart of man Hearken then all that love themselves and all that regard your own salvation Here is the joyfullest Message that ever was sent to the ears of man Turn ye Turn ye why will you die You are not yet shut up under desperstion Here is mercy offered you Turn and you shall have it O Sirs with what glad and Joyful hearts should you receive this tidings I know this is not the first time that you have heard it but how have you regarded it or how do you regard it now Hear all you ignorant careless sinners the word of the Lord Hear all you worldlings you sensual flesh-pleasers you gluttons and drunkards and whore-mongers and swearers you railers and backbiters slanderers and lyars Turn ye Turn ye why will you die Hear all you cold and out-side professors and all that are strangers to the life of Christ and never knew the power of his Cross and Resurrection and never felt your hearts warmed with his Love and live not on him as the strength of your souls Turn ye Turn ye why will you die Hear all that are void of the Love of God whose hearts are not toward him nor taken up with the Hopes of glory but set more by your earthly prosperity and delights then by the Joyes of Heaven all you that are Religious but a little on the by and give God no more then your flesh can spare that have not denyed your carnal selves and forsaken all that you have for Christ in the estimation and grounded resolution of your souls but have any one thing in the world so dear to you that you cannot spare it for Christ if he require it but will rather venture on his displeasure then forsake it Turn ye Turn ye Why will you die If you never heard it or observed it before remember that you were told from the Word of God this day that if you will but Turn you may Live and if you will not Turn you shall surely die What now will you do Sirs What is your resolution Will you Turn or will you not Halt not any longer between two opinions if the Lord he God follow him if your flesh be God then serve it still If Heaven be better then earth and fleshly pleasures come away then and seek a better Country and lay up your treasure where rust and motheâ— do not corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal and be awakened at last with all your might to seek the Kingdom that cannot be moved Heb. 12.28 and to employ your lives on an higher design and turn the stream of your cares and labours another way then formerly you have done But if earth be better then heaven or will do more for you or last you longer then keep it and make your best of it and follow it still Sirs are you resolved what to do if you be not I will set a few more moving Considerations before you to see if Reason will make you resolve Consider first What preparations Mercy hath made for your salvation and what pitty it is that any man should be damned after all this The time was when the flaming sword was in the way and the curse of Gods Law would have kept thee back if thou hadst been never so willing to turn to God The time was when thy self and all the friends that thou hast in the world could never have procured thee the pardon of thy sins past though thou hadst never so much lamented and reformed them But Christ hath removed this impediment by the ransom of his blood The time was that God was wholly unreconciled as being not satisfied for the violation of his Law But now he is so far satisfied and reconciled as that he hath made thee a free Act of Oblivion and a free deed of Gift of Christ and Life and offereth it to thee and intreateth thee to accept it and it may be thine if thou wilt For he was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and hath committed to us the word of actual reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.18 19. Sinners we are commanded to do this Message to you all as from the Lord Come for all things are ready Luke 14.17 Are all things ready and are you unready God is Ready to entertain you and pardon all that you have done against him if you will but come As long as you have sinned as wilfully as you have sinned as hainously as you have sinned he is ready to cast all behind his back if you will but come Though you have been Prodigals and run away from God and have staid so long he is ready even to meet you and embrace you in his arms and rejoyce in your Conversion if you will but Turn Even the earthly worldling the swinish drunkard may find God ready to bid them welcome if they will but come Doth not this turn thy heart within thee O sinner if thou have an heart of flesh and not of stone in thee methinks this should melt it Shall the dreadful infinite Majesty of heaven even wait for thy returning and be ready to receive thee who hast abused him and forgotten him so long Shall he delight in thy Conversion that might at any time glorifie his Justice in thy damnation and yet doth it not melt thy heart within thee and art thou not yet ready to come in Hast thou not as much reason to be ready to come as God hath to invite thee and bid thee welcome But that 's not all Christ hath done his part on the Cross and made such way for thee to the Father that on his account thou maist be welcome if thou wilt come And yet art thou not Ready A Pardon is Ready expresly granted and offered thee in the Gospel And yet art thou unready The Ministers of the Gospel are Ready to assist thee to instruct thee and pronounce the absolving words of peace to thy soul they are Ready to pray for thee and to seal up thy pardon by the administration of the holy Sacrament And yet art thou not ready Aâ—l that fear God about thee are Ready to rejoyce in thy Conversion and to receive thee into the Communion of Saints and to give thee the right hand of fellowship yea though thou hadst been one that had been cast out of their society they dare not but forgive where God forgiveth when it is manifest to them by thy confession and amendment they dare not so much as hit thee in the teeth with thy former sins because they know that God will not upbraid thee with them If thou hadst been never so scandalous if thou wouldst but heartily be Converted and come in
thee to Return 5. It is the voice of the gracious examples of the Godly When thou seest them live a heavenly life and fly from the sin which is thy delight this really Calls on thee to Turn 6. It is the voice of all the Works of God For they also are Gods books that teach thee this lesson by shewing thee his Greatness and Wisdom and Goodness and Calling thee to observe them and admire the Creator Psal. 19.1 2. The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work Day unto Day uttereth Speech night unto night sheweth Knowledge Every time the Sun riseth upon thee it really calleth thee to Turn as if it should say What do I travel and compass the world for but to declare to men the Glory of their Maker and to light them to do his work And do I still find thee doing the work of sin and sleeping out thy life in negligence Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Ephes. 5.14 The night is spent the day is at hand it is now high time to awake out of sleep Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkeness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying but put ye on the Lord Iesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Rom. 13.11 12 13 14. This Text was the means of Austins Coversion 7. It is the voice of every Mercy thou dost possess If thou couldst but hear and understand them they all cry out unto thee Turn Why doth the earth bear thee but to seek and serve the Lord why doth it afford thee its fruits but to serve him Why doth the air afford thee breath but to serve him Why do all creatures serve thee with their labours and their lives but that thou mightest serve the Lord of them and thee Why doth he give thee time and health and strength but for to serve him Why hast thou meat and drink and cloathes but for his service Hast thou any thing which thou hast not received And if thou didst receive them its reason thou shouldst bethink thee from whom and to what end and use thou didst receive them Didst thou never cry to him for help in thy distress and didst thou not then understand that it was thy part to Turn and serve him if he would deliver thee He hath done his part and spared thee yet longer and tryed thee another and another year and yet dost thou not Turn You know the Parable of the unfruitful fig-tree Luke 13.6 7 8 9. When the Lord had said Cut it down why cumbreth it the ground he was intreated to try it one year longer and then if it proved not fruitful to cut it down Christ himself there makes the application twice over ver 3. 5. Except ye Repent ye shall all likewise perish How many years hath God looked for the fruits of Love and Holiness from thee and hath found none and yet he hath spared thee How many a time by thy wilful ignorance and carelesness and disobedience hast thou provoked Justice to say Cut him down why cumbereth he the ground And yet mercy hath prevailed and Patience hath forborn the killing damning blow to this day If thou hadst the understanding of a man within thee thou wouldst know that all this calleth thee to Turn Dost thou think thou shalt still escaâ—e the Iudgement of God Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Iudgement of God who will render to every man according to his deeds Rom. 2.3 4.5 6. 8. Moreover it is the voice of every affliction to call thee to make haste and Turn Sickness and pain cry Turn and poverty and loss of friends and every twig of the chastising rod cry Turn and yet wilt thou not hearken to the Call These have come near thee and made thee feel they have made thee groan and can they not make thee Turn 9. The very frame of thy Nature and being it self bespeaketh thy Return Why hast thou Reason but to Rule thy flesh and serve thy Lord Why hast thou an understanding soul but to learn and know his will and do it Why hast thou an heart within thee that can love and fear and desire but that thou shouldst fear him and love him and desire after him 10. Yea thine own engagements by promise to the Lord do call upon thee to Turn and serve him Thou hast bound thy self to him by a Baptismal Covenant and renounced the world the flesh and the Devil this thou hast confirmed by the profession of Christianity and renewed it at Sacraments and in times of affliction And wilt thou promise and vow and never perform and Turn to God Lay all these together now and see what should be the issue The holy Scripture calls upon thee to Turn the Ministers of Christ do call upon thee to Turn The Spirit cries Turn thy Conscience cries Turn the godly by perswasions and examples cry Turn the whole world and all the creatures therein that are presented to thy consideration cry Turn The patient forbearance of God cries Turn All the Mercies which thou receivest cry Turn The rod of Gods chastisements cries Turn Thy reason and the frame of thy nature bespeaks thy Turning and so do all thy Promises to God And yet art thou not resolved to Turn 3. Moreover poor hard hearted sinner Didst thou ever consider upon what terms thou standest all this while with him that calleth on thee for to Turn Thou art his own and owest him thy self and all thou hast and may he not Command his own Thou art his absolute servant and shouldst serve no other Master Thou standest at his Mercy and thy life is in his hand and he is resolved to save thee upon no other terms thou hadst many malicious spiritual enemies that would be glad if God would but forsake thee and let them alone with thee and leave thee to their will how quickly would they deal with thee in another manner And thou canst not be delivered from them but by Turning unto God Thou art fallen under his wrath by thy sin already and thou knowest not how long his patience will yet wait Perhaps this is the last year perhaps the last day his sword is even at thy heart while the word is in thine ear and if thou Turn not thou art a dead and undone man Were thy eyes but open to see where thou standest even upon the brink of hell and to see how many thousands are there already that did not turn thou wouldst see that its time to look about thee
to come All this and more then this have you been told and told again even till you were a weary of hearing it and till you could make the lighter of it because you had so often heard it like the Smiths dog that is brought by custom to sleep under the noise of the hammers and when the sparks do fly about his ears and though all this have not converted you yet you are alive and might have mercy to this day if you had but hearts to entertain it And now let Reason it self be Judge whether it be long of God or you if after all this you be unconverted and be damned If you die now it is because you will die What should be said more to you Or what course should be taken that is liker to prevail Are you able to say and make it good We would fain have been converted and become new creatures but we would not we would fain have forsaken our sins but could not we would have changed our company and our thoughts and our discourse but we could not Why could you not if you would What hindered you but the wickedness of your hearts Who forced you to sin or who did hold you back from Duty Had not you the same teaching and time and liberty to be godly as your godly neighbours had Why then could not you have been godly as well as they Were the Church-doors shut against you or did you not keep away your selves or fit and sleep or hear as if you did not hear Did God put in any exceptions against you in his word when he invited sinners to return and when he promised mercy to those that do return Did he say I will pardon all that repent except thee Did he shut you out from the liberty of his holy worship Did he forbid you to pray to him any more then others You know he did not God did not drive you away from him but you forsook him and run away your selves And when he called you to him you would not come If God had excepted you out of the general promise and offer of mercy or had said to you Stand off I will have nothing to do with such as you Pray not to me for I will not hear you If you repent never so much and cry for mercy never so much I will not regard you If God had left you nothing to trust to but desperation then you had had a fair excuse You migh have said To what end should I repent and turn when it will do no good But this was not your case You might have had Christ to be your Lord and Saviour your Head and Husband as well as others and you would not because you felt not your selves sick enough for the Physitian and because you could not spare your disease In your hearts you said as those rebels Luke 19.14 We will not have this man to reign over us Christ would have gathered you under the wings of his salvation and you would not Mat. 23.37 What desires of your wel-fare did the Lord express in his holy word With what compassion did he stand over you and say O that my people had hearkened unto me and that they had walked in my waies Psal. 81.13 O that there were such a heart in this people that they would fear me and keep all my commandments alwaies that it might be well with them and with their children for ever Deut. 5.20 O that they were wise that they understood this and that they would consider their latter end Deut. 32.29 He would have been your God and done all for you that your souls could well desire but you loved the world and your flesh above him and therefore you would not hearken to him though you complemented with him and gave him high titles yet when it came to the closing you would have none of him Psal. 81.11 12. No marvel then if he gave you up to your own hearts lusts and you walked in your own counsels He condescended to reason and plead the case with you and ask you What is there in me or my service that you should be so much against me What harm have I done thee sinner Have I deserved this unkind dealing at thy hand Many mercies have I shewed thee for which of them dost thou thus despise me Is it I or is it Satan that is thy enemy Is it I or is it thy carnal self that would undo thee Is it an holy life or a life of sin that thou hast cause to fly from If thou be undone thou procurest this to thy self by forsaking me the Lord that would have saved thee Jer. 2.17 Doth not thy own wickedness correct thee and thy sin reprove thee that thou maist see that it is an evil and bitter thing that thou hast forsaken me Jer. 2.19 What iniquity have you found in me that you have followed after vanity and forsaken me Ier. 2.5 6. He calleth out as it were to the bruits to hear the controversie he hath against youâ— Mic. 2.3 4 5 Hear O ye mountains the Lords controversie and ye strong foundations of the earth for the Lord hath a Controversie with his people and he will plead with Israel O my people what have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against me for I brought thee up out of Egypt and redeemed thee c. Hear O heavens and give ear O earth for the Lord hath spoken I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me The Ox knoweth his owner and the Ass his Masters crâ—b but Israel doth not knâ—w my people doth not consider Ah sinful Nation a people laden with iniquity a Seed of evil doers c. Isaiah 1.2 3 4. Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy Father that bought thee Hath he not made thee and established thee Deut. 32.6 When he saw that you forsook him even for nothing and turned away from your Lord and Life to hunt after the chaffe and feathers of the world he told you of your folly and called you to a more profitable employment Isa. 55.1 2 3. Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness Enclinâ— your 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 unto me hear and yoâ—◠〈◊〉 shall live and I will make an â—verlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon ver 6 7. And so Isa. 1.16 17 18. And when you would not hear what complaints have you put him to charging it on you as your
or six or seven hundred years custom you are as much offended with a motion for Reformation as if you were to lose you lives by it and hold fast old errors while you cry out against new ones Scarce a difference can arise among the ministers of the Gospel but you will fetch your own death from it And you will not hear or at least not obey the unquestionable Doctrine of any thing that jumps not with your conceits One will not hear a Minister because he readeth his Sermon and another will not hear him because he doth not read them One will not hear him because he saith the Lords prayer and another will not hear him because he doth not use it One will not hear them that are for Episcopacy and another will not hear them that are against it And thus I might shew it you in many other cases how you turn all that comes near you to your own destruction so clear is it that the ungodly are self-destroyers and that their perdition is of themselves ME thinks now upon the consideration of what is said and the review of your own waies you should bethink you what you have done and be ashamed and deeply humbled to remember it If you be not I pray you consider these following truths 1. To be your own destroyers is to sin against the deepest principle in your Natures even the principle of self preservation Every thing naturally desireth or inclineth to its own felicity well-fare or perfection And will you set your selves to your own destruction When you are commanded to love your neighbours as your selves it is supposed that you naturally love your selves But if you love your neighbours no better then your selves it seems you would have all the world be damned 2. How extreamly do you cross your own intentions I know you intend not your own damnation even when you are procuring it you think you are but doing good to your selves by gratifying the desires of your flesh But alas it is but as a draught of cold water in a burning feaver or as the scratching of an itching wild-fire which increaseth the disease and pain If indeed you would have pleasure or profit or honour seek them where they are to be found and do not hunt after them in the way to hell 3. What pitty is it that you should do that against your selves which none else in earth or hell can do If all the world were combined against you or all the Devils in Hell were combined against you they could not destroy you without your selves nor make you sin but by your own consent And will you do that against your selves which no one else can do you have hateful thoughts of the Devil because he is your enemy and endeavoureth your destruction And will you be worse then Devils to your selves Why thus it is with you if you had hearts to understand it when you run into sin and run from godliness and refuse to turn at the Call of God you do more against your own souls then men or devils could do besides And if you should set your selves and bend your wits to do your selves the greatest mischief you could not devise to do a greater 4. You are false to the trust that God hath reposed in you He hath much entrusted you with your own salvation and will you betray your trust He hath set you with all diligence to keep your hearts and is this the keeping of them Prov. 4.23 5. You do even forbid all others to pitty you when you will have no pitty on your selves if you cry to God in the time of your calamity for Mercy Mercy what can you expect but that he should thrust you away and say Nay thou wouldst not have mercy on thy self who brought this upon thee but thy own wilfulness And if your Brethren see you everlastingly in misery how shall they pitty you that were your own destroyers and would not be disswaded 6. It will everlastingly make you your own Tormenters in Hell to think on it that you brought your selves wilfully to that misery O what a griping thought it will be for ever to think with your selves That this was your own doing That you were warned of this day and warned again but it would not do That you wilfully sinned and wilfully turned away from God That you had time as well as others but you abused it You had Teachers as well as others but you refused their instructions You had holy examples but you did not imitate them You were offered Christ and Grace and Glory as well as others but you had more mind of your fleshly pleasures You had a price in your hands but you had not an heart to lay it out Proverbs 17.16 Can it choose but torment you to think of this your present folly O that your eyes were opened to see what you have done in the wilful wronging of your own souls and that you better understood those words of God Pro. 8 33 34 35 36. Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not Blessed is the man that heareth me watching daily at my gates waiting at the posts of my doors For who so findeth me findeth life and shall obtain the favour of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul All they that hate me love death AND now I am come to the Conclusion of this work my heart is troubled to think how I shall leave you lest after this the flesh should still deceive you and the world and the Devil should keep you asleep and I should leave you as I find you till you awake in Hell Though in care of your poor souls I am affraid of this as knowing the obstinacy of a carnal heart yet I can say with the Prophet Ieremy 17.16 I have not desired the woful day the Lord knoweth I have not with Iames and Iohn desired that fire might come from heaven to consume them that refused Jesus Christ Luke 9.54 But it is the preventing of the eternal fire that I have been all this while endeavouring and O that it had been a needless work That God and conscience might have been as willing to spare me this labour as some of you could have been Dear friends I am so loth you should lie in everlasting fire and be shut out of Heaven if it be possible to prevent it that I shall once more ask you What do you now resolve Will you Turn or Die I look upon you as a Physitian on his Patient in a dangerous disease that saith to him Though you are far gone take this medicine and forbear but these few things that are hurtful to you and I dare warrant your life but if you will not do this you are but a dead man What would you think of such a man if the Physitian and all the friends he hath cannot perswade him to take one medicine to save his life or to forbear one or two poysonous things that
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
then it is to a child to play for pins why should it not be a greater Joy to you to think of the Kingdom of Heaven being yours then of all the riches or pleasure of the world As it is but foolish childishness that makes children so delight in gawds that they would not leave them for all your Lands so it is but foolish worldliness and fleshliness and wickedness that makes you so much delight in your houses and lands and meat and drink and ease and honour as that you would not part with them for the heavenly delights But what will you do for pleasure when these are gone Do you not think of that When your pleasures end in horrour and go out with a stinking snuff the Pleasures of the Saints are then at the best I have had my self but a little taste of the heavenly pleasures in the fore-thoughts of the blessed approaching day and in the present perswasions of the Love of God in Christ but I have taken too deep a draught of earthly pleasures so that you may see if I be partial it is on your side and yet I must profess from that little experience that there is no comparison there is more joy to be had in a day if the Sun of life shine clear upon us in the state of Holiness then in an whole life of sinful pleasures I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of God then to dwell in the Tents of wickedness Psalm 84.10 A day in his Courts is better then a thousand anywhere else Psal. 84.10 The mirth of the wicked is like the laughter of a mad man that knows not his own misery and therefore Solomon faith of such laughter It is mad and of mirth What doth it Eccles. 2.2 And Eccles. 7.2 3 4 5 6. It is better to go to the house of mourning then to go to the house of feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart Sorrow is better then laughter for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise then to hear the song of fools For as the crackling of thorns under a pot so is the laughter of the fool All the pleasures of fleshly things is but like the scratching of a man that hath the itch It is his disease that makes him desire it and a wise man had rather be without his pleasure and be troubled with his itch Your loudest laughter is but like that of a man that is tickled he laughs when he hath no cause of joy And it is a wiser thing for a man to give all his estate and his life to be tickled to make him laugh then for you to part with the Love of God and the comforts of Holiness and the Hopes of Heaven and to cast your selves into damnation that you may have your flesh tickled with the pleasures of sin for a little while Judge as you are men whether this be a wise mans part It is but your carnal unsanctified nature that makes an holy life seem grievous to you and a course of sensuality seem more delightful If you will but Turn the Holy Ghost will give you another nature and inclination and then it will be more plesant to you to be rid of your sin then now it is to keep it and you will then say that you know not what a comfortable life was till now and that it was never well with you till God and Holiness were your delight Quest. BVT how cometh it to pass that men should be so unreasonable in the matters of their salvation they have wit enough in other matters What makes them so loth to be Converted that there should need so many words in so plain a case and all will not do but the most will live and de Vnconverted Answ. To name them only in a few words the causes are these 1. Men are naturally in Love with earth and flesh They are born sinners and their nature hath an enmity to God and godliness as the Nature of the Serpent hath to a man And when all that we can say goes against an habitual inclination of their natures no marvail if it little prevail 2. They are in Darkness and know not the very things which they hear Like a man that was born blind and hears an high commendation of the light but what will bearing do unless he see it They know not what God is nor what is the power of the Cross of Christ nor what the Spirit of holiness is nor what it is to live in love by faith They know not the certainty and suitableness and excellency of the heavenly inheritance They know not what Conversion and an holy mind and Conversation is even when they hear of it They are in a mist of ignorance They are lost and bewildred in sin like a man that hath lost himself in the night and knows not where he is nor how to come to himself again till the day-light do recover him 3. They are wilfully confident that they need no Conversion but some partial amendment but that they are in the way to heaven already and are Converted when they are not And if you meet a man that is quite out of his way you may long enough call on him to turn back again if he will not believe you that he is out of his way 4. They are become slaves to their flesh and drowned in the world to make provision for it Their lusts and passions and appetites have distracted them and got such an hand over them that they cannot tell how to deny them nor how to mind any thing else So that the drunkard saith I love a cup of good dâ—ink and I cannot forbear it The glutton saith I love good â—hear and I cannot forbear The fornicator saith I love to have my lust fulfilled and I cannot forbear And the gamester loves to have his sports and he cannot forbear So that they are become even captivated slayes to their flesh and their 〈◊〉 wilfulness is become an impotency and what they would not do they say they cannot And the worldling is so taken up with earthly things that he hath neither heart nor mind nor time for heavenly but as in Pharaâ—â—s dâ—eam Gen. 41.4 the lean kine did eat up the fat ones so this lean and barren earth doth eat up all the thoughts of heaven 5. Some are so carried away by the stream of evil company that they are possessed with hard thoughts of a godly life by hearing them speak against it or at least they think they may venture to do as they see most do and so they hold on in their sinful waies and when one is cut off and cast into Hell and another snatcht away from among them to the same condemnation it doth not