sure of earth he would let go heaven and had rather stay here then be removed thither A life of perfect holiness in the sight of God and in his love and praises for ever in heaven doth not find such liking with his heart as a life of health and wealth and honour here upon earth And though he falsly profess that he loveth God above all yet indeed he never felt the power of Divine Love within him but his mind is more set on the world or fleshly pleasures then on God In a word whoever Loveth earth above heaven and fleshly prosperity more than God is a wicked unconverted man On the other side a Converted man is illuminated to discern the Loveliness of God and so far believeth the Glory that is to be had with God that his heart is taken up to it and set more upon it then on any thing in this world He had rather see the face of God and live in his everlasting love and praises then have all the wealth or pleasure of this world He seeth that all things else are vanity and nothing but God can fill the soul and therefore let the world go which way it will he layeth up his treasure and hopes in heaven and for that he is resolved to let go all As the fire doth mount upward and the Needle that is touched with the load-stone still turneth to the North so the Converted soul is enclined unto God Nothing else can satisfie him nor can he find any Content and Rest but in his Love In a word All that are Converted do Esteem and Love God beetter then all the world and the Heavenly felicity is dearer to them then their fleshly prosperity The proof of what I have said you may find in these places of Scripture Phil. 3.18 21. Mat. 6.19 20 21. Col. 3.1 2 3 4. Rom. 8.5 6 7 8 9 18 23. Psal. 73.25 26. Secondly a wicked man is one that maketh it the principal business of his life to prosper in the world and attain his fleshly ends And though he may read and hear and do much in the outward duties of Religion and forbear disgraceful sins yet this is all but upon the by and he never makes it the trade and principal business of his life to Please God and attain everlasting glory but puts off God with the leavings of the world and gives him no more service then the flesh can spare for he will not part with all for heaven On the contrary a Converted man is one that makes it the principal care and business of his life to Please God and to be saved and takes all the blessings of this life but as accommodations in his journey towards another life and useth the creature in subordination unto God he loveth an holy life and longeth to be more holy he hath no sin but what he hateth and longeth and prayeth and striveth to be rid of The drift and bent of his life is for God and if he sin it is contrary to the very bent of his heart and life and therefore he riseth again and lamenteth it and dare not wilfully live in any known sin There is nothing in this world so dear to him but he can give it up to God and forsake it for him and the hopes of glory All this you may see in Col. 3.1 2 3 4 5. Mat. 6.33 20. Luk. 18.22 23 29. Luk. 14.18 24 26 27. Rom. 8.13 Gal. 5.24 Luk. 12.21 c. Thirdly the soul of a wicked man did never truly discern and relish the mystery of Redemption nor thankfully entertain an offered Saviour nor is he taken up with the love of the Redeemer not willing to be ruled by him as the Physitian of his soul that he may be saved from the guilt and power of his sins and recovered unto God but his heart is insensible of this unspeakable benefit and is quite against the healing means by which he should be recovered Though he may be willing to be carnally Religious yet he never resigneth up his soul to Christ and to the motions and conduct of his Word and Spirit On the contrary the Converted soul having felt himself undone by sin and perceiving that he hath lost his peace with God and hopes of heaven and is in danger of everlasting misery doth thankfully entertain the tidings of Redemption and believing in the Lord Jesus as his only Saviour resigneth up himself to him for wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption He taketh Christ as the Life of his soul and liveth by him and useth him as his salve for every sore admiring the wisdom and Love of God in this wonderful work of mans Redemption In a word Christ doth even dwell in his heart by faith and the life that he now liveth is by the Faith of the Son of God that hath loved him and gave himself for him Yea it is not so much he that liveth as Christ in him For these see Iohn 1.11 12. 3.19 20. Rom. 8.9 Phil. 3.7 8 9 10. Gal. 2.20 Ioh. 15 2 3.4 1 Cor. 1.20 2.2 YOU see now in plain terms from the Word of God who are the wicked and who are the Converted Ignorant people think that if a man be no swearer not curser nor rayler nor drunkard nor fornicator nor extortioner nor wrong any body in their dealings and if they come to Church and say their prayers these cannot be wicked men Or if a man that hath been guilty of drunkenness or swearing or gameing or the like vices do but forbear them for the time to come they think that this is a Converted man Others think if a man that hath been an enemy and scorner at godliness do but approve it and joyn himself with those that are godly and be hated for it by the wicked as the godly are that this must needs be a Converted man And some are so foolish as to think they are Converted by taking up some new and false opinion and falling into some dividing party as Anabaptists Quakers Papists or such like And some think if they have but been affrighted by the fears of Hell and had Convictions and Gripes of Conscience and thereupon have purposed and promised amendment and taken up a life of Civil behavour and outward Religion that this must needs be true Conversion And these are the poor deluded souls that are like to lose the benefit of all our perswasions and when they hear that the wicked must Turn or Die they think that this is not spoken to them for they are not wicked but are Turned already And therefore it is that Christ told some of the Rulers of the Jews who were graver and civiler then the common people that Publicans and Harlots do go into the Kingdom of God before them Mat. 21.31 Not that an harlot or gross sinner can be saved without Conversion but because it was easier to make these gross sinners perceive their sin and misery and the necessity of a change
Worldlings they are and Worldlings they will be though God hath told them that the Love of the world is enmity to God and that if any man love the world in that measure the love of the Father is not in him James 4.4 1 John 2.15 so that consequentially these men are willing to be damned though not directly They are willing of the way to Hell and Love the certain cause of their torment though they be not willing of Hell it self and do not love the pain which they must endure Is not this the Truth of your case Sirs You would not burn in Hell But you will kindle the fire by your sin and cast your selves into it you would not be tormented with Devils for ever But you will do that which will certainly procure it in despite of all that can be said against it It is just as if you would say I will drink this rats-bane or other poison but yet I will not die I will cast my self headlong from the top of a steeple but yet I will not kill my self I will thrust this knife into my heart but yet I will not take away my life I will put this fire into the thatch of my house but yet I will not burn it Just so it is with wicked men they will be wicked and they will live after the flesh and the world and yet they would not be damned But do you not know that the means do lead unto the end and that God hath by his righteous Law concluded that you must repent or perish He that will take poyson may as well say plainly I will kill my self for it will prove no better in the end Though perhaps he loved it for the sweetness of the Sugar that was mixt with it and would not be perswaded that it was poyson but that he might take it and do well enough But it is not his conceits and confidence that will save his life So if you will be Drunkards or Fornicators or worldlings or live after the flesh you may as well say plainly we will be damned For so you shall be unless you Turn would you not rebuke the folly of a thief or murderer that would say I will steall and kill but I will not be hanged when he knows that if he do the one the Judge in justice will see that the other be done If he say I will steal and murder he may as well say plainly I will be hanged So if you will go on in a carnal life you may as well say plainly we will go to Hell 2. Moreover The wicked will not use those means without which there is no hope of their Salvation He that will not eat may as well say plainly he will not live unless he can tell how to live without meat He that will not go his journey may as well say plainly he will not come to the end He that falls into the water and will not come out nor suffer another to help him out may as well say plainly he will be drowned So if you be carnal and ungodly and will not be converted nor use the means by which you should be converted but think it more ado then needs you may as well say plainly you will be damned For if you have found out a way to be saved without Conversion you have done that which never was done before 3. Yea this is not all but the wicked are unwilling even of salvation it self Though they may desire somewhat which they call by the name of Heaven yet Heaven it self considered in the true nature of the felicity they desire not Yea their hearts are quite against it Heaven is a state of perfect holiness and of continual Love and Praise to God And the wicked have no heart to this The imperfect Love and Praise and holiness which is here to be attained they have no mind of Much less of that which is so much greater The joyes of Heaven are of so pure and spiritual a nature that the heart of the wicked cannot truly desire them So that by this time you may see on what ground it is that God supposeth that the wicked are willing of their own destruction They will not turn though they must Turn or die they will rather venture on certain misery then be converted and then to quiet themselves in their sin they will make themselves believe that they shall nevertheless escape 2. And as the Controversie is matter of wonder that ever men should be such enemies to themselves as wilfully to cast away their souls so are the Disputants too That God should stoop so low as thus to plead the case with man and that man should be so strangely blind and obstinate as to need all this in so plain a case yea and to resist all this when their own salvation lieth upon the issue No wonder if they will not hear us that are men when they will not hear the Lord himself As God saith Ezek. 3.7 when he sent the Prophet to the Israelites The house of Israel will not hearken unto thee For they will not hearken unto me For all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted No wonder if they can plead against a Minister or a godly Neighbour when they will plead against the Lord himself even against the plainest passages of his word and think that they have Reason on their side When they weary the Lord with their words they say wherein have we wearied him Mal. 2.17 The Priests that despised his name durst ask Wherein have we despised thy name And when they polluted his Altar and made the Table of the Lord contempâ—ible they durst say Wherein have we polluted thee Mal. 1.6 7. But Wo unto him saith the Lord that striveth with his Maker Let the Potsheards strive with the Potsheards of the earth Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it What makest thou Isa. 45.9 Quest. But why is it that God will reason the Cause with man Answ. 1. Because that man being a reasonable creature is accordingly to be dealt with and by Reason to be perswaded and overcome God hath therefore endued them with Reason that they might use it for him One would think a reasonable creature should not go against the clearest and greatest Reason in the world when it is set before him 2. At least men shall see that God did require nothing of them that was unreasonable but that whatever he commandeth them and whatever he forbiddeth them he hath all the right Reason in the world on his side and they have good Reason to obey him but none to disobey And thus even the damned shall be forced to justifie God and confess that it was but Reason that they should have turned to him and they shall be forced to condemn themselves and confess that they had little reason to cast away themselves by the neglecting of his Grace in the day of their visitation Vse LOOK up your best and strongest Reasons
and bent of my heart and life to get well to heaven and see the glorious face of God and live in his everlasting Love and Praise And when I sin is it against the very habitual bent and design of my heart And do I conquer all gross sins and am I weary and willing to be rid of mine infirmities This is the state of a Converted soul. And thus must tâ— be with me or I must perish Is it thus indeed with me or is it not It s time to get this doubt resolved before the dreadful Iudge resolve it I am not such a stranger to my own heart and life but I may somewhat perceive whether I am thus Converted or not if I be not it will do me no good to flatter my soul with false conceits and hopes I am resolved no more to deceive my self but to endeavour to know truly off or on whether I be Converted yea or no that If I be I may rejoyce in it and glorifie my gracious Lord and comfortably go on till I reach the Crown and if I am not I may set my self to beg and seek after the Grace that should convert me and may turn without any more delay For if I find in time that I am out of the way by the help of Christ I may turn and be recovered but if I stay till either my heart be forsaken of God in blindness and hardness or till I be catcht away by death it s then too late There is no place for Repentance and Conversion then I know it must be now or never Sirs this is my request to you that you will but take your hearts to task and thus examine them till you see if it may be whether you are Converted or not and if you cannot find it out by your own endeavours go to your Ministers if they be faithful and experienced men and desire their assistance The matter is great let not bashfulness nor carelesness hinder you They are set over you to advise you for the saving of your souls as Physitians advise you for the curing of your bodies It undoes many thousands that they think they are in the way to salvation when they are not and think that they are Converted when it is no such thing And then when we call to them daily to Turn they go away as they came and think that this concerns not them for they are turned already and hope they shall do well enough in the way that they are in at least if they do pick the fairest path and avoid some of the foulest steps when alas all this while they live but to the world and flesh and are strangers to God and Eternal life and are quite out of the way to Heaven And all this is much because we cannot perswade them to a few serious thoughts of their Condition and to spend a few hours in the examining of their states Is there not many a self-deceiving wretch that heareth me this day that never bestowed one hour or quarter of an hour in all their lives to examine their souls and try whether they are truly Converted or not O merciful God that will care for such wretches that care no more for themselves and that will do so much to save them from Hell and help them to Heaven who will do so little for it themselves If all that are in the way to Hell and in a state of damnation did but know it they durst not continue in it The greatest hope that the Devil hath of bringing you to damnation without a rescue is by keeping you blindfold and ignorant of your state and making you believe that you may do well enough in the way that you are in If you knew that you are out of the way to heaven and were lost for ever if you should die as you are durst you sleep another night in the state that you are in durst you live another day in it Could you heartily laugh or be merry in such a state What! And not know but you may be snatcht away to hell in an hour Sure it would constrain you to forsake your former company and courses and to betake your selves to the waies of Holiness and the Communion of the Saints Sure it would drive you to cry to God for a new heart and to seek help of those that are fit to counsel you There 's none of you sure that cares not for being damned Well then I beseech you presently make enquiry into your hearts and give them no rest till you find out your condition that if it be good you may rejoyce in it and go on and if it be bad you may presently look about you for recovery as men that believe they must Turn or Die What say you Sirs Will you resolve and promise to be at this much labour for your own souls Will you fall upon this self examination when you come home Is my request unreasonable Your consciences know it is not Resolve on it then before you stir Knowing how much it concerneth your souls I beseech you for the sake of that God that doth command you at whose Bar you will shortly all appear that you will not deny me this reasonable request For the sake of those souls that must turn or dye I beseech you deny me not even but to make it your business to understand your own Conditions and build upon sure ground and know off or on whether you are Converted or no and venture not your souls on negligent security But perhaps you 'l say What if we should find our selves yet unconverted what shall we do then This question leadeth me to my second Doctrine which will do much to the answering of it to which I shall now proceed Doct. 2. IT is the Promise of God that the wicked shall Live if they will but Turn Vnfeignedly and throughly Turn The Lord here professeth that this is it that he takes pleasure in that the wicked Turn and Live Heaven is made as sure to the Converted as Hell is to the Unconverted Turn and Live is as certain a truth as Turn or Dye God was not bound to provide us a Saviour nor open to us a door of hope nor call us to Repent and Turn when once we had cast our selves away by sin But he hath freely done it to magnifie his Mercy Sinners there 's none of you shall have cause to go home and say I preach desperation to you Do we use to shut up the door of Mercy against you O that you would not shut it up against your selves Do we use to tell you that God will have no mercy on you though you Turn and be Sanctified When did you ever hear a Preacher say such a word You that bark at the Preachers of the Gospel for desiring to keep you out of Hell and say that they Preach Desperation tell me if you can when did you ever hear any sober man say that there is no hope for you
they would not refuse thee let the world say what they would against it And are all these ready to receive thee and yet art thou not ready to come in Yea Heaven it self is Ready the Lord will receive thee into the glory of his Saints as vile a beast as thou hast been if thou wilt but be cleansed thou maist have a place before his throne his Angels will be ready to guard thy soul to the place of Joy if thou do but unfeignedly come in And is God ready the Sacrifice of Christ Ready the Promise Ready and Pardon Ready are Ministers Ready and the People of God Ready and Heaven it self Ready and Angels Ready and all these but waiting for thy Conversion and yet art thou not Ready What not Ready to live when thou hast been dead so long not Ready to come to thy right understanding as the Prodigal is said to come to himself Luke 15.17 when thou hast been besides thy self so long Not ready to be saved when thou art even ready to be condemned Art thou not ready to lay hold on Christ that would deliver thee when thou art even ready to drown and sink into damnation Art thou not ready to be saved from Hell when thou art even ready to be cast remedilesly into it Alas man dost thou know what thou dost if thou die unconverted there is no doubt to be made of thy damnation and thou art not sure to live an hour And yet art thou not ready to turn and to come in O miserable wretch hast thou not served the flesh and the Devil long enough Yet hast thou not had enough of sin Is it so good to thee or so profitable for thee Dost thou know what it is that thou wouldst yet have more of it Hast thou had so many calls and so many mercies and so many blows and so many examples hast thou seen so many laid in the grave and yet art thou not ready to let go thy sins and come to Christ What! after so many convictions and gripes of Conscience after so many purposes and promises art thou not yet ready to turn and live Oh that thy eyes thy heart were opened to know how fair an offer is now made to thee and what a Joyful message it is that we are sent on to bid thee come for all things are ready 2. Consider also what Calls thou hast to Turn and Live How many how loud how earnest how dreadful and yet what encourageing joyful Calls For the principal Inviter it is God himself He that commandeth Heaven and Earth commandeth thee to turn and presently without delay to turn He commands the Sun to run its course and to rise upon thee every morning and though it be so glorious a creature and many times bigger then all the earth yet it obeyeth him and faileth not one minute of its appointed time He commandeth all the planets and the orbs of Heaven and they obey He commandeth the Sea to ebb and flow and the whole Creation to keep its course and all obey him The Angels of heaven obey his will when he sends them to Minister to such silly worms as we on earth Hebrews 1.14 And yet if he command but a sinner to Turn He will not obey him He only thinks himself wiser then God and He cavils and pleads the cause of sin and will not away If the Lord Almighty say the word the Heavens and all therein obey him but if he call but a drunkard out of an Ale-house he will not obey or if he call a worldly fleshly sinner to deny himself and mortifie the flesh and set his heart on a better inheritance he will not obey If thou hadst any love in thee thou wouldst know the voice and say Oh this is my Fathers Call how can I find in my heart to disobey For the sheep of Christ do know and hear his voice and they follow him and he giveth them eternal life Iohn 10.4 If thou hadst any spiritual life and sense in thee at least thou wouldst say this Call is the dreadful voice of God and who dare disobey For saith the Prophet Amos 3.8 The Lyon hath roared who will not fear God is not as man that thou shouldst dally and play with him Remember what he said to Paul at his Conversion It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks Act. 9.5 Wilt thou yet go on and despise his word and resist his Spirit and stop thine ear against his Call Who is it that will have the worst of this Dost thou know whom thou disobeyest and contendest with and what thou art doing It were a far wiser and easier task for thee to contend with the thorns and spurn them with thy bare feet and beat them with thy bare hands or put thy head into the burning fire Be not deceived God will not be mocked Galat. 6.7 Whoever else be mocked God will not you were better play with the fire in your thatch then with the fire of his burning wrath For our God is a consuming fire Hebrews 12.29 O how unmeet a match art thou for God! It is a fearful thing to fall into his hands Hebrews 10.31 and therefore it is a fearful thing to contend with him or resist him As you love your souls take heed what you do What will you say if he begin in wrath to plead with you What will you do if he take you once in hand Will you then strive against his Judgement as now you do against his grace faith the Lord Isa. 27.4 5. Fury is not in me that is I delight not to destroy you I do it as it were unwillingly but yet who would set the bryars and thorns against me in battle I would go through them I would burn them together Or let him take hold of my strength that he may make peace with me and he shâ—ll make peace with me It s an unequal combat for the bryars and stubble to make war with the fire As thus you see Who it is that calleth you that should move you to hear his Call and Turn so consider also by what instruments and how often how earnestly he doth it 1. Every leâ—f of the blessed Book of God hath as it were a voice and calls out unto thee Turn and live Turn or thou wilt die How canst thou open it and read a leaf or hear a Chapter and not perceive God bids thee Turn It is the voice of every Sermon that thou hearest For what else is the scope and drift of all but to call and perswade and intreat thee for to Turn 3. It is the voice of many a motion of the Spirit that secretly speaks over these words again and urgeth thee to Turn 4. It is likely sometime it is the voice of thy own Conscience Art thou not sometime convinced that all is not well with thee and doth not conscience tell thee that thou must be a new man and take a new course and often call upon
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
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
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
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
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