11. God will not endure to be made a prop to men in their sins The Lord rejects those presumptâ—ous sinners that wentâ— on still in their tresposses and yet would stay themselves upon the God of Israel Esay 48. 1 2. as a man would shake off the briars as one well that cleave to his garment 3. If thy hope were any thing worth it would purifie thee from thy sins 1 Ioh. 3. 3. but cursed is that hope which doth cherish men in their sins Obj. Would you have us to despair Ans. You must despair of ever coming to Heaven as you are Act. 2. 37. that is while you remain unconverted You must despair ever to see the face of God without holiness but you must by no means despair of finding mercy upon your thorough repentance and conversion neither may you despair of attaining to repentance and conversion in the use of Gods means V. Without this all that Christ hath done and suffered will be as to you in vain Ioh. 13. 8. Tit. 2. 14. that is it will no way avail to your salvation Many urge this as sufficient ground for their hopes that Christ died for sinners but I must tell you Christ never died to save impenitent and unconverted sinners so continuing 2 Tim. 2. 19. A great divine was wont in his private dealings with souls to ask two questions 1. What hath Christ done for you 2. What hath Christ wrought in you Without the application of the spirit in Regeneration we can have no saving interest in the benefits of Redemption I tell you from the Lord Christ himself cannot save you if you go on in this estate I. It were against his trust The Mediatour is the servant of the Father Esay 42. 1. shews his commission from him acts in his name and pleads his command for his justification Iohn 10. 18 36. Iohn 6. 38 40. And God hath committed all things to him entrusted his own glory and the salvation of his elect with him Mat. 11. 27. Ioh. 17. 2. Accordingly Christ gives his Father an account of both parts of his trust before he leaves the world Ioh. 17. 4 6 12. Now Christ should quite cross his fathers glory his greatest trust if he should save men in their sins for this were to overturn all his counsels and offer violence to all his attributes First To overturn all his counsels of which this is the order that men should be brought through sanctification to salvation 2 Thes. 2. 13. He hath chosen them that they should be holy Eph. 1. 4. They are elected to pardon and life through sanctification 1 Pet. 1. 2. If thou canst repeal the Law of Gods immutable counsel or corrupt him whom the Father hath sealed to go directly against his Commission then and not otherwise maist thou get to Heaven in this condition To hope that Christ will save thee while unconverted is to hope that Christ will falsify his trust He never did nor will save one soul but whom the Father had given him in election and drawn to him in effectual calling Iohn 6. 37 44. Be assured Christ will save none in a way contrary to his Fathers will who came on purpose to do his will Iohn 6. 38. Secondly To offer violence to all his attributes 1. To his Iustice. For the righteousness of Gods Judgment lies in rendring to all according to their work Rom. 2. 5 6. Now should men sow to the flesh and yet of the spirit reap everlasting life Gal. 6. 7 8. where were the glory of Divine Justice since it should be given to the wicked according to the work of the righteous 2. To his holiness If God should not only save sinners but save them in their sins his most pure and strict holiness would be exceedingly defaced The unsanctified is in the eyes of Gods holiness worse than a swine or viper Mat. 23. 33. 2 Pet. 2. 22. Now what cleanly nature could endure to have the filthy swine bed and board with him in his parlour or bed chamber It would offer extremest violence to the infinite purity of the divine nature to have such to dwell with him They cannot stand in his judgement they cannot abide in his presence Psal. 1. 5. Psal. 5. 4 5. If holy David would not endure such in his house no nor in his sight Psal. 101. 3 7. shall we think God will Should he take men as they be from the trough to the table from the Harlots lips from the stye and draught to the glory of Heaven the world would think God were at no such a distance from sin nor had such dislike of it as we are told he hath they would conclude God were altogether such a one as themselves as they wickedly did but from the very forbearance of God Psal. 50. 21. 3. To his veracity For God hath declared from Heaven That if any shall say they shall have peace though he should go on in the imagination of his heart his wrath shall smoak against that man Deut. 29. 19 20. That they only that confess and for sake their sins shall find mercy Prov. 28. 13. That they that shall enter into his hill must be of clean hands and a pure heart Psal. 24. 3 4. Where were Gods truth if notwithstanding all this he should bring men to salvation without Conversion O desperate sinner that darest to hope that Christ will put the lie upon his Father and nullifie his word to save thee 4. To his wisdom For this were to throw away the choicest mercies on them that would not value them nor were any way suted to them First they would not value them The unsanctified sinner puts but little price upon Gods great Salvation Mat. 22. 5. He sets no more by Christ than the whole by the Physician Mat. 9. 12. he prises not his balm values not his cure tramples upon his blood Heb. 10. 29. Now would it stand with wisdom to force pardon and life upon them that would give him no thanks for them Will the all-wise God when he hath forbidden us to do it throw his holy things to dogs and his pearls to swine that would as it were but turn again and rent him Mat. 7. 6. This would make mercy to be despised indeed Wisdom requires that life be given in a way sutable to Gods honour and that God provide for the securing his own glory as well as mans felicity It would be dishonourable to God to set his Jewels in the snouts of swine continuing such and to bestow his choicest riches on them that have more pleasure in their swill than the Heavenly delights that he doth offer God should lose the praise and glory of his grace if he should cast it away on them that were not only unworthy but unwilling Secondly they are no way suited to them The Divine Wisdom is seen in suiting things each to other the means to the end the object to the faculty the quality of the gift to the capacity of
his way and walk are sensual and carnal you may trace him in his secret haunts and his footsteps will be found in some by-paths of sin The work is thorowout with him 3. Thorowout the motives or the life and practice The new man takes a new course Eph. 2. 2 3. His Conversation is in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. No sooner doth Christ call by effectual grace but he strait way becomes a follower of him Mat. 4. 20. When God hath given the new heart and writ his law in his mind he forthwith walks in his statutes and keeps his judgments Ezek. 36. 26 27. Though sin may dwell God knows a wearisome and unwelcome guest in him yet it hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6. 14 7. He hath his fruit unto holiness Rom. 6. 22. and though he makes many a blot yet the law and life of Jesus is that he eyes as his copy Psal. 119. 30. Heb. 12. 2. and hath an unfeigned respect to all Gods commandments Ps. 119. 6. He makes conscience even of little sins little duties Psal. 119. 113. His very infirmities which he cannot help though he would are his souls burden and are like the dust in a mans eye which though but little yet are not a little troublesome O man Dost thou read this and never turn in upon thy soul by self-examination The sincere Convert is not one man at Church and another at home he is not a Saint on his knees and a Cheat in his shop he will not tithe mint and cummin and neglect mercy and judgment and the weighty matters of the Law he doth not pretend piety and neglect morality Mat. 23. 14. but he turns from all his sins and keeps all Gods Statutes Ezek. 18. 21. though not perfectly except in desire and endeavour yet sincerely not allowing himself in the breach of any Rom. 7. 15 Now he delights in thy word and sets himself to prayer and opens his hand if able and draws out his soul to the hungry Rom. 7. 22. Psal. 109. 4 Esay 58. 10. He breaketh off his sins by righteousness and his iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor Dan. 4. 27. and hath a good conscience willing in all things to live honestly Hâ—b 13. 18. and to keep without offence towards God and men Here again you shall find the unsoundness of many professors that take themselves for good Christians They are partial in the law Mat. 2. 9. and take up with the cheap and easie duties of religion but they go not thorow with the work They are as a cake not turned half roasted and half raw It may be you shall have them exact in their words punctual in their dealings but then they do not exercise themselves unto godliness and for examining themselves and governing their hearts to this they are strangers You may have them duly at the Church but follow them to their families and there you shall see little but the world minded or if they have a road of family duties follow them to their closets and there you shall find their souls are little looked after It may be they seem otherwise religious but bridle not their tongues and so all their religion is in vain Iam. 1. 26. It may be they come up to closet and family prayer but follow them to their shops and there you shall find them in a trade of lying or some covert and cleanly way of deceit Thus the hypocrite goes not thorowout in the course of his obedience And thus much for the subject of Conversion 6. The terms are either from which or to which 1. The terms from which we turn in this motion of Conversion are sin Satan the world and our own righteousness first Sin When a man is converted he is for ever out with sin yea with all sin Psal. 119. 128. but most of all with his own sins and especially with his bosom sin Psal. 18. 23. Sin is now the But of his indignation 2 Cor. 7. 11. he thirsts to bathe his hands in the blood of his sins His sins set abroach in sorrows It is sin that pierces him and wounds him he feels it like a thorn in his side like a prick in his eyes he groans and struggles under it and not formally but feelingly cries out O wretched man he is not impatient of any burden so much as of his sin Psal. 40. 12. If God should give him his choice he would choose any affliction so he might be rid of sin He feels it like the cutting gravel in his shooes pricking and paining him as he goes Before Conversion he had light thoughts of sin he cherished it in his bosom as Vriah his lamb he nourished it up and it grew up together with him it did eat as it were of his own meat and drank of his own cup and lay in his bosom and was to him as a daughter but when God opens his eyes by conversion he throws it away with abhorrence Esay 30. 22. as a man would a loathsome toad which in the dark he had hugged fast in his bosome and thought it had been some pretty and harmless bird When a man is savingly changed he is not only deeply converted of the danger but defilement of sin and O how earnest is he with God to be purified He loaths himself for his sins Ezek. 36. 31. He runs to Christ and casts himself into the fountaine opened for sin and for uncleanness Zecâ— 13. 31. If he fall what a stir is there to get all clean again He flies to the word and washes and rubs and rinches labouring to cleanse himself from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit He abhors his once beloved sin Psal. 18. 23. as a cleanly nature doth the trough and mire wherein he sees the swine delight The sound Convert is heartily engaged against sin He wrestles with it he wars against it He is too often foiled but he never yields the cause nor lays down the weapons but he will up and to it again while he hath breath in his body He will never give quiet possession he will make no peace he will give no quarter he falls upon it and fires upon it and is still disquieting of it with continual alarms He can forgive his other enemies he can pity them and pray for them Acts 7. 60. but here he is implacable here he is set upon revenge he hunteth as it were for the precious life his eye shall not pity his hand shall not spare though it be a right hand or a right eye Be it a gainful sin most delightful to his nature a support to his esteem with carnal friends yet he will rather throw his gain down the kennel see his credit fall or the flower of pleasure whither in his hand than he will allow himself in any known way of sin Luke 19. 8. He will grant no indulgence he will give no toleration but he draws upon sin where ever he meets it and frowns upon it with
THE WAY TO True HAPPINESS In a Serious TREATISE SHEWING I. What Conversion is not and correcting some Mistakes about it II. What Conversion is and wherein it consisteth III. The Necessity of Conversion IV. The Marks of the Unconverted V. The Miseries of the Unconverted VI. Directions for Conversion VII Motives to Conversion By Ioseph Alleine late Preacher of the Gospel at Taunton in Somersetshire LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Nevil Simmons at the Princes Arms in St. Pauls Church-yard 1678. TO THE READER He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear Precious Souls THere is that Life and Light and Love in every true Believer but especially in every Faithful Minister of Christ which engageth them to long and labour for your Salvation Life is communicative and active It maketh us sensible that Faith is not a Fantasie nor true Religion a Stage-play nor our hopes of our Eternal Happiness a Dream And as we desire nothing more for our selves than to have more of the Holy Life whicâ—â— we have alas in so small a measure so what is it that we should more desire for others With the eye of an infallible though too weak faith we see the Heaven which you neglect and the blessed Souls in Glory with Christ whose companions you might be for ever we see the multitudes of Souls in Hell who came thither by the same way that you are going in who are shut out of the glorious presence of God and are now among those Devils that deceived them remembring that they had their good things here Luk. 16. 25. And how they spent the Day of their Visitation and how light they once set by God by Christ by Heaven by Mercy whilest Mercy was an earnest solicitour for their Hearts And with our bodily eyes we see at the same time abundance of poor sinners living about us as if there were no God no Christ no Heaven no Hell no Iudgment no nor Death to be expected as if a man were but a master beact to rule the rest and feed upon them and perish with them And if it were your own case to see what Souls do in Heaven and Hell and at once to see how unbelievingly carelesly and senselesly most men live on earth as if there were no such difference in another World would it not seem a pittiful sight to you If you had once seen the five Brethren of Dives on Earth eating drinking laughing and merry cloathed and faring daily with the best and at the same time seen their Brothers Soul in Hell begging in vain for a little â—ase and wishing in vain that one from the dead might go warn his Brethren that they come not to that place of Torment would it not seem to you a pittiful sight would not pity have made you think Is there no way to open these Gentlemens eyes No way to acquaint tâ—em what is become of their Brother and where Lazarus is and whither they themselves are going No one driveth or forceth them to Hell and will they go thither of themselves and is there no way to stop them or keep them back Did you but see your selves what we see by faith believing God and at once beheld the Saints in Heaven the lost despairing Souls in Hell and the sensless sensual sinners on earth that yet will lay none of this to heart sure it would make you wonder at the stupidity of mankind Would you not say O what a deceiver is the Devil that can thus lead on souls to their own damnation Oh what a cheater is this transitory World that can make men so forget the World where they must live for ever O what an enemy is this flesh that thus draweth down mens Souls from God! O what a besotting thing is sin that turneth a reasonable soul into worse than a beast what a bedlam is this wicked world when thousands are so busily labouring to undo themselves and others and gratifyingâ— the Devil against the God and Saviour who would give them everlasting blessed life And as we have such a sight as this by Faith to make us pity you so have we so much taste of the goodness of God the sweetness of his ways and the happiness of believers as must needs make us wish that you had but once tried the same delights which would turn the pleasures of sin into detestation God knoweth that we desire nothing more for our selves than the Perfection and Eternity of this Holiness and Happiness which we believe and taste And should we not desire the same for you And being thus moved with necessary pity we ask of God what he would have us to do for your Salvation And he hath told us in Scripture that the preaching of his Gospel to acquaint you plainlyâ— with the truth and earnestly and frequently intreat you to turn from the Flesh and World to God by Iesus Christ is the means with which his grace is ready to concur for your Salvation when obstinate resistance causeth the Holy Spirit to forsake the Sinner and leave him to himself to follow his own Counsels Lusts and Wills In this hope we undertook the Sacred Ministry and gave up our selves to this great and most important work in the great sense of our unworthiness but yet in the sense of your Souls Necessity We were not such Fools at our first setting out as not to know it muct be a life of labour self-denyal and patience and the Devil would do his worst to hinder us and that all sorts of his instruments would be ready to serve him against our Labours and against your Souls Christ our Captain saved us by Patient Conquest and so must we save â—â—r selves and you And so must you save your â—â—â—ives under Christ if ever you be saved It was no strange thing to Paul that bonds and afflictions did every where abide him nor did he account his life dear that he might finish his course with joy and the Ministry committed to him by the Lord Acts 20. 23 24. It was no strange thing to him to be forbidden to preach to the Gentiles that they might be saved by such as were filling up the measure of their sins and were under Gods uttermost wrath on Earth 1 Thes. 2. 15 16. Devils and Pharisees and most where they came both high and low were against the Apostles preaching of the Gospel and yet they would not sacrilegiously and cruelly break their Covenant with Christ and perfidiously desert the Souls of Men even as their Lord for the Love of Souls did call Peter Satan that would have tempted him to save his life and flesh instead of making it â— sacrifice for our sins Mat. 16. 23. What think you should move us to undertake a calling so contrary to our fleshly ease and interests Do we not know the way of Ease and Honour of Wealth and Pleasures as well as others and have we not flesh as well as others Could we not be content that the
which the Devil and sin will give thee if thou wilt sell thy soul and Heaven and that which God hath promised and sworn to give thee if thou wilt heartily give up thy self to him I know that thou maist possibly fall into Company at least among some sots and drunkards that will tell thee all this is but troublesome preciseness and making more ado than needs But I know withal what that Man deserveth who will believe a Fool before his Maker for he can be no better than a Miserable Fool that will contradict and revile the Word of God even the Word of Grace that would save Mens Souls And alas it is possible thou maist hear some of the Tribe of Levi or rather of Cain deriding this Serious Godliness as meer Hypocrisie and Fanaticism and Self-conceitedness As if you must be no better than the Devils slaves lest you be Proud in thinking that you are better than they That is you must go with them to Hell lest in Heaven you be Proud Hypocrites for thinking your selves happier than they It may be they will tell you that this talk of Conversion is fitter for Pagans and Infidels to hear than Christians and Protestants Because such mens big Looks or Coats may make the poyson the easilier taken down I will intreat thee but as before God to answer these following questions or to get them answered and then judge whether it be they or we that would deceive thee and whether as men use to talk against Learning that have none themselves so such men prate not against Conversion and the Spirit of God because they have no such thing themselves Quest. 1. I pray ask these men whether it be a Puritan or Fanatick Opinion that men must dye and what all the Pomp and Wealth and Pleasure of the World will signifie to a departing Soul Ask them whether they will live on Earth for ever and their merry hours and Lordly looks will have no end And whether it be but the conceit of Hypocrites and Schismaticks that their Carcases must be rotting in a dark-some Grave Quest. 2. Ask them whether man have not an Immortal Soul and a longer life to live when this is ended Luke 12. 41. Quest. 3. Ask them whether reason require not every man to think more seriously of the place or state where he must be for ever than of that where he must be for a little while and from whence he is posting day and night And whether it be not wiser to lay up our treasure where we must stay than where we must not stay but daily look to be called away and never more to be seen on earth Mat. 6. 19 20. 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18. and 5. 1 2 3 6 7 8. Quest. 4. Ask them whether God should not be loved with all our heart and soul and might Mat. 22. 27. And whether it be not the mark of an ungodly miscreant to be a lover of pleasure more than God 2 Tim. 3. 4. and a lover of this World above him 1 Joh. 2. 15 16. And whether we must not seek first Gods Kingdom and his Righteousness Mat. 6. 33. and labour most for the meat that never perisheth Ioh. 6. 27. and strive to enter in at the strait gate Luke 13. 24. and give all diligence to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. Quest. 5. Ask them whether without Holiness any shall see God Heb. 12. 14 Mat. 5. 8. Tit. 2. 14. And whether the carnal mind is not enmity to God and to be carnally minded is not death and to be spiritually minded life and peace And whether if you live after the flesh you shall not die and be condemned and they shall live and be saved that walk after the spirit and whether any man be Christs that hath not his spirit Rom. 8. 1 5 6 7 8 9 13. Quest. 6. Ask them whether any man have a Treasure in Heaven whose heart is not there Mat. 6. 21. And whether this be not the difference between the wicked and the Godly that the first do make their bellies their Gods and mind earthly things and are Enemies to the Cross of Christ though perhaps not his nameâ— and the latter have their conversation in Heaven and being risen with Christ do seek and set their affections on things above and not on the things that are on earth to which they are as dead and their life is hid or out of sight with Christ in God till Christ appear and then they shall appear eveâ— openly to all the world with him in Glory Phil. 3. 18 19 20. Col. 4. 1 2 3â— 4. 5. Quest. 7. Ask them whether it be creâ—â—ble or suitable to Gods word or workingsâ— that he that will not give thâ—m the fruits of the earth without their labour nor feed and cloath them without themselves will yet bring them to Heaven without any care desire or labour of their own When he hath bid himâ— Care not for thâ— one and called for their greatest diligence for the other Mat. 6. 25. 33. Joh. 6â— 27. Yea ask them whether these be not the two first articles of all Faith and Religion 1. That God is 2. That he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. Quest. 8. Ask them yea ask your eyes your ears your daily experience in the World whether all or most that call themselves Christians do in good sadness thus live to God in the Spirit and mortifie the flesh with its affections and iusts and seek first Gods Kingdom and Righteousness and love him above all and lay up treasure and heart in Heaven or rather whether most be not lovers of the World and lovers of pleasure more than God and live not after the flesh and mind not most the things of the flesh I mention not now the drunkards the flesh pleasing Gentlemen that live in Pride Fulness and Idleness and Sport and Play away their precious time nor the filthy Fornicator nor the merciless Oppressorsâ— nor the malignant Haters of a Godly life nor the perjured and perfidious betrayers of mens souls and of the Gospel or their Countries Good nor such other men of seared Conscience whose misery none questioneth but such as are as blind and miserable It 's not these only I am speaking of but the common worldly fleshly and ungodly ones Quest. 9. Ask them whether the name of a Christian will save any of these ungodly persons And whether God will like men the better for lying and calling themselves Christians when they are none indeed and whether they dare preach to the people that a Christian Drunkard or a Christian Fornicator or Oppressor or a Christian worldling needeth no Conversion Quest. 10. Ask them whether they say not themselves that Hypocrisie is a great aggravation of all other sin and whether God hath not made the Hypocrites and Unbelievers to be the standards in Hell Luke 25. 51. And whether seeking to abuse God by a Mock
askest What should I do to be Converted The Lord make thee willing and save thee from hypocrisie and I will quickly tell thee in a few words 1. Give not over sober thinking of these things till thy heart be changed Psal. 119. 59. 2. Come to Christ and take him for thy Saviour thy Teacher thy King and he will pardon all that 's past and save thee Joh. 1. 12. and 3. 16. and 5. 40. 1 Joh. 5. 11 12. 3. Believe Gods love and the pardon of sin and the everlasting Joys of Heaven that thou maiest feel that all the pleasures of the World and flesh are dung in comparison of the Heavenly delights of Faith and Hope and holy Love and peace of Conscience and sincere obedience 4. Sin no more wilfully but forbear that which thou maist forbear Isa. 55. 7. 5. Away from temptations occasions of sin and evil company and be a companion of the humble holy heavenly and sincere Psal. 119. 115 63. 6. Wait on Gods spirit in the diligent constant use of his own means Read hear meditate pray Pray hard for that grace that must convert thee wait thus and thou shalt not wait in vain Psal. 25. and 37. 34. and 69. 6. Pity O Lord and perswade these Souls Let not Christs Blood his Doctrine his Example his Spirit be lost unto them and they lost for ever Let not Heaven be as no Heaven to them while they dream and dote on the shadows in this world And O save this Land from the greater dectruction than all our late plagues and flames and divisions which our sins and thy threatnings make us fâ—ar O Lord in thee have we trusted Let us never be confounded Having thus contributed my endeavour in this Preface to the furtherance of the design of this excellent Book I must tell thee Reader that I take it for an honour to commend so masculine a birth unto the World The Midwife of Alexander or Aristotle need not be ashamed of her office Who the Author of this Treatise was how hâ— preached how he lived how he suffered and for what and how he died his Life and Letters lately printed fully tell you and I earnestly commend the reading of them to all but especially to Ministers not to tell them what men have been here forbidden to preach Christs Gospel and for what nor what men they are that so many years have done it but to tell you what men Christ's Ministers should be But say not he kill'd himself with excessive Labour and therefore I will take warning and take my ease For 1. He lived in perfect health all his days notwithstanding his labours till after his hard and long imprisonment 2. It was not the greatest labours of his times of liberty that hurt him but his preaching 6 or 7 or 8 times a weak after that he was silenced because he could not speak to all his people at once O make not an ill use of so excellent an example Say not like Judas what needs this waste His labour his life his sufferings his death were not in vain The ages to come that read his Life and read this little popular treatise and his Call to Archippus shall say they were not in vain And though he was cut off in the midst of his age and his longer labours and more elaborate writings thus prevented take thank fully this small but methodical warm and serious tractate Read it seriously and it cannot be but it must do thee good I am one that have lookt into Books and Sciences and Speculations of many sorts and seriously tell thee as a dying man that after all my searches and experience I have found that Philosophical enquiries into the Divine Artifices and the Nature of things hath among a greater number of uncertainties a great many pretty pleasant probabilities which a holy Soul can make good use of in admiring God and may find us a lawful kind of sport but in the moralities which Atheists count uncertainties the knowledge of God and our duty and our hopes the doctrine and practice of Holiness Temperance and Charity and Justice and the diligent seeking and joyful hopes of life everlasting is all the true Wisdom the goodness the Rest and Comfort of a soul whatever be our plea this is the satisfying certainty the Business and the beautifying improvement of our lives I have done when I have sought to remove a little scandal which I foresaw that I should my self write the Preface to his life where himself and two of his friends make such a mention of my name which I cannot own which will seem a praising him for praising me I confess it looketh ill favouredly in me But I had not the power of other mens writings and durst not therefore forbear that which was his due Had I directed their pens they should have gone a middle way and only esteemed me a very unworthy servant of Christ who yet longs to see the peace and prosperity of his Church and should have forborn their undeserved praise as other men should have done their slanderous libels But if the Reader get no harm by it I assure him the use I made of it was to lament that I am really so much worse than they esteemed me and fear lest I should prove yet worse than I discern my self who see so much sin and weakness in my betters and much more in my self as to make it the constant sentiment of my soul that PRIDE of mens GREATNESS WISDOM and GOODNESS is the first part of the DEVILS IMAGE on mans soul and DARKNESS is the second and MALIGNITY the third Richard Baxter READER HOW well were it if there were no more Unconverted ones among us than those to whom this is directed Unconverted persons how many are there but how few Unconverted Readers especially of such Books as this before thee A Play or a Romance better suits the lusts and therefore must have more of the eye of such what will cherish the evil heart is only grateful not what will change it How many are there to whom this is directed who will not know that they are the men and how little hope is there that this Excellent Treatise should reach its end with those who apprehend not themselves concern'd in it Art not thou one of them Art thou a Convert or art thou yet in thy Sins What is Sin What is Conversion It may be thou canst tell me neither and yet a Convert thou sayst thou art But to what purpose is it then like to be for the Servant of God to treat with thee about this matter Let him bid thee believe thou art a believer already let him bid thee repent and turn to the Lord that work thou sayst is not now to do What can there be said to this man that 's like to bâ—ing him to good Friend know thy self better or thou perishest without remedy Thou maist pray but what hope is there in thy praying Thou maist read but what
heart unto all that I shall testifie unto thee this day for it is not a vain thing it is your life Deut. 32. 4. 6. This is the end of all that hath been spoken hitherto to bring you to set upon turning and making use of Gods means for your Conversion I would not trouble you nor torment you before the time with the forethoughts of your eternal misery but in order to your making your escape Were you shut up under your present misery without remedy it were but mercy as one speaks to let you alone that you might take in that little poor comfort that you are capable of here in this world But you may yet be happy if you do not wilfully refuse the means of your recovery Behold I hold open the door unto you arise and take your flight I set the way of life before you walk in it and you shall live and not die Deut. 30. 19. Ier. 9. 16. It pities me to think you should be your own murderers and throw your selves headlong when God and men cry out to you as Peter in another case to his master Spare thy self A noble Virgin that attended the Court of Spain was wickedly ravished by the King and hereupon exciting the Duke her Father to revenge he called in the Moors to his help who when they had executed his design miserably wasted and spoiled the Country which this Virgin laying so exceedingly to heart shut her self up in a Tower belonging to her Fathers house and desired her Father and Mother might be called forth and bewailing to them her own wretchedness that she should have occasioned so much misery and desolation to her Country for the satisfying of her revenge she told them she was resolved to be avenged upon her self Her Father and Mother besought her to pity her self and them but nothing would prevail but she took her leave of them and threw her self off the battlements and so perished before their faces Just thus is the wilful destruction of ungodly men The God that made them beseecheth them and cryeth out to them as Paul to the distracted Jaylor when about to murder himself Do thy self no harm The Ministers of Christ forewarn them and follow them and fain would hold them back But alas No expostulations nor obtestations will prevail but men will hurl themselves into perdition while pity it self looketh on What shall I say Would it not grieve a person of any humanity if in the time of a reigning plague he should have a receipt as one well that would infallibly cure all the Countrey and recover the most hopeless patients and yet his friends and neighbours should die by the hundreds about him because they would not use it Men and Brethren though you carry the certain symptoms of death in your faces yet I have a receipt that will cure you all that will cure infallibly Follow but these few directions and if you do not then win Heaven I will be content to lose it Hear then Oh sinner and as ever thou wouldst be converted and saved embrace this following counsel Dir. I. Set it down with thy self as an undoubted truth that it is impossible for thee ever to get to Heaven in this thine unconverted state Can any other but Christ save thee And he tells thee he will never do it except thou be regenerated and converted Mat. 18. 3. Iohn 3. 3. Doth he not keep the keys of Heaven And canst thou get in without his leave as thou must if ever thou comest thither in thy natural condition without a sound and through renovation Dir. II. Labour to get a thorow sight and lively sense and feeling of thy sins Till men are weary and heavy laden and pricked at the heart and stark sick of sin they will not come to Christ in his way for ease and cure nor to purpose enquire What shall we do Mat. 11. 28. Acts 2. 37. Mat. 9. 12. They must set themselves down for dead men before they will come unto Christ that they may have life Iohn 5. 40. Labour therefore to set all thy sins in order before thee Never be afraid to look upon them but let thy spirit make diligent search Psal. 77. 6. Enquire into thine heart and into thy life Enter into a thorow examination of thy self and of all thy wayes Psal. 119. 59. that thou maist make a full discovery and call in the help of Gods spirit in the sense of thine own inability hereunto for it is his proper work to convince of sin Iohn 16. 8. Spread all before the face of thy conscience till thine heart and eyes be set abroach Leave not striving with God and thine own soul till it cry out under the sense of thy sins as the enlightned Jaylor What must I do to be saved Acts 16. 30. To this porpose Meditate of the numerousness of thy sins David's heart failed when he thought of this and considered that he had more sins than hairs Ps. 40. 12. This made him to cry out upon the multitudes of Gods tender-mercies Psal. 51. 1. The loathsom carcase doth not more hatefully swarm with crawling worms than an unsanctified soul with filthy lusts They fill the head the heart the eyes and mouth of him Look backward where was ever the place what was ever the time in which thou didst not sin Look inward what part or power canst thou find in soul or body but it is poisoned with sin What duty dost thou ever perform into which this poyson is not shed Oh how great is the sum of thy debts who hast been all thy life long running upon the hooks and never didst nor canst pay off one penny Look over the sin of thy nature and all its cursed brood the sins of thy life Call to mind thy Omissions Commissions the sins of thy thoughts of thy words of thine actions the sins of thy youth the sins of thy years c. Be not like a desperate Bankrupt that is afraid to look over his books Read the records of conscience carefully These books must be opened sooner or later Rev. 20. 12. Meditate upon the aggravations of thy sin as they are the grand enemies against the God of thy life against the life of thy soul in a word they are the publick enemies of all mankind How do David Ezra Daniel and the good Levites aggravate their sins from the consideration of their injuriousness to God their opposition to his good and righteous Laws the mercies the warnings that they were committed against Nehem. 9. Dan. 9. Ezra 9. O the work that sin hath made in the world This is the enemy that hath brought in death that hath robbed and enslaved man that hath blacked the devil that hath digged hell Rom. 5. 12. 2 Pet. 2. 4. Iohn 8. 34. This is the enemy that hath turned the creation upside down and sown dissension between man and the creatures between man and man yea between man and himself seting the sensitive part against the
that by the next night thou maist make thy bed in hell Is it a just matter to live in such a fearful ease to stand tottering upon the brink of the bottomless pit and to live at the mercy of every disease that if it will but fall upon thee will send thee forthwith into the burnings Suppose thou sawest a condemned wretch hanging over Nebuchadneâ—ar's burning fiery furnace by nothing but a twine thread which were ready to break every moment would not thine heart tremble for such an one Why thou art the man This is thy very case O man woman that readest this if thou be yet unconverted What if the thred of thy life should break Why thou knowest not but it may be the next night yea the next moment where wouldst thou be then whither wouldst thou drop Verily upon the crack but of this thread thou fallest into the lake that burneth with fire and Brimstone where thou must lie scalding and sweltering in a fiery Ocean while God hath a being if thou die in thy present case And doth not thy soul tremble as thou readest Do not thy tears bedew the paper and thy heart throb in thy bosom Dost thou not yet begin to smite on thy breast and bethink thy self what need thou hast of a change O what is thy heart made of Hast thou not only lost all regard to God but art without any love and pity to thy self Oh study thy misery till thy heart do cry out for Christ as earnestly as ever a drowning man did for a boat or the wounded for a Chirurgeon Men must come to see the danger and feel the smart of their deadly sores and sickness or else Christ will be to them a Physician of no value Mat. 9. 12. Then the man-slayer hastens to the City of râ—fuge when pursued by the avenger of blood Men must be even forced and fired out of themselves or else they will not come to Christ. 'T was distress and extremity that made the Prodigal think of returning Luke 15. 16 17. While Laodicea thinks her self rich increased in goods in need of nothing there is little hope She must be deeply convinced of her wretchedness blindness poverty nakedness before she will come to Christ for his Gold raiment eye-salve Rev. 3. 17 18. Therefore hold the eyes of conscience open amplifie thy misery as much as possible Do not flie the sight of it for fear it should fill thee with terror The sense of thy misery is but as it were the suppuration of the wound which is necessary to the cure Better fear the torments that abide thee now than feel them hereafter Dir. IV. Settle it upon thine heart that thou arâ— under an everlasting inability ever to recover thy self Never think thy praying reading hearing confessing amending will do the cure These must be attended buâ— thou art undone if thou restest in them Rom. 10. 3. Thou art a lost man if thou hopest to escape drowning upon any other plank but Jesus Christ Act. 4. 1â— Thou must unlearn thyself and renounce thine own wisdom thine own righteousness thine own strength and throw thy self wholly upon Christ as a man that swimmeth casteth himself upon the water or else thou canst not â—scape While men trust in themselves and establish their own righteousness and have confidence in the fleshâ— they will not come savingly to Christ Luke 18. 19. Phil. 3. 3. Thou must know thy gain to be but loss and dung thy strength but weakness thy rightâ—ousness rag's and rotteness before 〈◊〉 will be on effectual closure between Christ and â—hee Phil. 3. 7 8 9. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Esay 64 6. Can the liveless carcase shake off his grave cloths and loose the bonds of death Then maist thou recover thy self who 〈◊〉 dead in trespasses and sins and under an impossibility of serving thy maker acceptably in this condition Rom. 8. 8. Heb. 11. 6. Therefore when thou goest to pray or meditate or to do any of the duties to which thou art here directed go out of thy self call in the help of the spirit as despairing to do any thing pleasing to God in thine own strength Yet neglect not thy duty but lie at the pool and wait in the way of the spirit While the Eunuch was reading then the Holy Ghost sent Philip to him Act. 8. 28 29. when the Disciples were praying Act. 4. 31. when Cornelius and his friends were hearing Acts 10. 44. then the Holy Ghost fell upon them and filled them all Strive to give up thy self to Christ. Strive to pray strive to meditate strive an hundred and an hundred times try to do it as well as thou canst and while thou art endeavouring in the way of thy duty the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee and help thee to do what of thy self thou art utterly unable unto Prov. 1. 23. Dir. V. Forthwith renounce all thy sins If thou yield thy self to the contrary practice of any sin thou art undone Rom. 6. 16. In vain dost thou hope for life by Christ except thou depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. Forsake thy sins or else thou canst not find mercy Prov. 28. 13. Thou canst not be married to Christ except divorsed from sin Give up the traitor or you can have no peace with Heaven Cast the head of Sheba over the wall Keep not Dalilaâ— in thy lap Thou must part with thy sins or with thy soul. Spare but one sin and God will not spare thee Never make excuses thy sins must die or thou must die for them Psal. 68. 21. If thou allow of one sin though but a little a secret one though thou maist plead necessity and have a hundred shifts and excuses for it the life of thy soul must go for the life of that sin Ezek. 18. 21. and will it not be dearly bought Oh sinner hear and consider If thou wilt part with thy sins God will give thee his Christ Is not this a fair exchange I testifie unto thee this day that if thou perish it is not because there was never a Saviour provided nor life tendered but because thou preferredst with the Jews the Murderer before thy Saviour sin before Christ and lovedst darkness rather than light Iohn 3. 19. Search thy heart therefore with candles as the Jews did their houses for Leven before the Pass-over Labour to find out thy sins Enter into thy Closet and consider what evil have I lived in what duty have I neglected towards God! what sin have I lived in against my brother and now strike the darts through the heart of thy sin as Ioab did through Absalom's 2 Sam. 18. 14. Never stand looking upon thy sin nor rolling the morsel under thy tongue Iob 20. 12. but spit it out as poyson with fear and detestation Alas what will thy sins do for thee that thou shouldst stick at parting with them They will flatter thee but they will undo thee and cut thy throat while they smile upon thee and poyson
give me thy Holy Laws as the rule of my Life and the way in which I should walk to thy Kingdom I do here willingly put my Neck under thy Yoak and set my shoulder to thy burden and subscribing to all thy Laws as holy just and good I solemnly take them as the rule of my words thoughts and actions promising that though my flesh contradict and rebel yet I will endeavour to order and govern my whole life according to thy direction and will not allow my self in the neglect of any thing that I know to be my duty Only because through the frailty of my flesh I am subject to many failings I am bold humbly to protest That unallowed miscarriages contrary to the setled bent and resolution of my heart shall not make void this Covenant for so thou hast said Now Almighty God searcher of hearts thou knowest that I make this Covenant with thee this day without any known guile or reservation beseeching thee that if thou espiest any flaw or falshood therein thou wouldst discover it to me and help me to do it aright And now Glory be to thee O God the Father whom I shall be bold from this day forward to look upon as my God and Father that ever thou shouldst find out such a way for the recovery of undone sinners Glory be to thee O God the Son who hast loved me and washed me from my sins in thine own Blood and art now become my Saviour and Redeemer Glory be to thee O God the Holy Ghost who by the finger of thine Almighty Power hast turned about my Heart from Sin to God O dreadful Iehovah the Lord God Omnipotent Father Son and Holy Ghost thou art now become my Covenant-friend and I through thine infinite Grace am become thy Covenant-servant Amen So be it And the Covenant which I have made on Earth let it be ratified in Heaven The Authors advice THis Covenant I advise you to make not only in Heart but in Word not only in Word but in Writing and that you would with all possible reverence spread the Writing before the Lord as if you would present it to him as your Act and Deed. And when you have done this set your hand to it Keep it as a Memorial of the Solemn Transactions that have passed between God and you that you may have recourse to it in Doubts and Temptations Dir. XI Take heed of delaying thy Conversion and set upon a speedy and present turning I made haste and delayed not Psal. 119. 59. Remember and tremble at the sad instance of the foolish Virgins that came not till the door of mercy was shut Mat. 25. and of a convinced Felix that put of Paul to another season and we never find that he had such a season more Acts 24. 25. O come in while it 's called to day leâ—t thou shouldst be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin lest thy day of Grace should be over and the things that belong to thy peace should be hid from thine eyes Now mercy is wooing of thee Now Christ is waiting to be gracious to thee and the Spirit of God is striving with thâ—e Now Ministers are calling now Conscience is stirring now the Market is open and Oyl may be had thou hast opportunity for the buying Now Christ is to be had for the taking Oh! strike in with the offers of Grace Oh! now or never If thou make light of this offer God may swear in his wrath thou shalt never tast of his Supper Luk. 14. 24. Dir. XII Attend conscientiously upon the word as the means appointed for thy Conversion James 1. 18 19. 1 Cor. 4. 15. Attend I say not customarily but conscientiously with this desire design hope and expectation that thou maist be converted by it Every Sermon thou hearest come with this thought Oh I hope God will now come in I hope this day may be the time this may be the man by whom God will bring me home When thou art coming to the Ordinances lift up thine heart thus to God Lord let this be the Sabbath let this be the season wherein I may receive renewing Grace Oh let it be said that to day such a one was born unto thee Object Thou wilt say I have been long a hearer of the word and yet it hath not been effectual to my conversion Ans. Yea but thou hast not attended upon it in this manner as a means of thy Conversion nor with this design nor praying for and expecting of this happy effect of it Dir. XIII Strike in with the Spirit when he begins to work upon thy heart When he works convictions O do not stifle them but joyn in with him and beg the Lord to carry on convictions to Conversion Quench not the Spirit do not out-strive him do not resist him Beware of putting out convictions by evil company or worldly business When thou findest any troubles for sin and fears about thine eternal State bâ—g of God that they may never leave thee till they have wrought off thy heart throughly from sin and wrought it over to Jesus Christ. Say to him Strike home Lord leave not the work in the midst If thou seest that I am not yet wounded enough that I am not troubled enough wound me yet deeper Lord. O go to the bottom of my corruptions let out the life blood of my sins Thus yield up thy self to the workings of the Spirit and hoise thy sails to his gusts Dir. XIV Set upon the constant and diligent use of serious and fervent prayer He that neglects prayer is a prophane and unsanctified sinner Iob. 15. 4. He that is not constant in prayer is but an hypocrite Iob 27. 10. unless the omission be contrary to his ordinary course under the force of some instant temptation This is one of the first things Conversion appears in that it sets men on praying Acts 9. 11. Therefore set to this duty Let never a day pass over thee wherein thou hast not morning and evening set apart some time for set and solemn prayer in secret Call thy family also together daily and duly to worship God with thee Wo be unto thee if thine be found amongst the families that call not on Gods name Ier. 10. 25. But cold and lifeless devotions will not reach half way to Heaven Be servent and importunate Importunity will carry it But without violence the Kingdom of Heaven will not be taken Mat. 11. 12. Thou must strive to enter Luke 13. 24. and wrestle with tears and supplications as Iacob if thou meanest to carry the blessing Gen. 32. 24. comp with Hos. 12. 4. Thou art undone for ever without grace and therefore thou must put to it and resolve to take no denyal That man that is fixed in this resolution Well I must have Grace and I will never give over till I have a grace and I wiâ—â— never leave seeking and waiting and striving with God and mine own heart till he do
course you could wish that you were as some others be and could do as they can do How long will you rest in idle wishes and fruitless purposes when will you come to a fixed full and firm resolve Do not you see how Satan gulls you by tempting you to delays How long hath he toll'd you on in the way of perdition how many years have you been purposing to amend what if God should have taken you off this while Well put me not off with a dilatory answer Tell not me of hereafter I must have your present consent If you be not now resolved while the Lord is treating with you and woing of you much less are you like to be hereafter when these impressions are worn out and you are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Will you give me your hands Will you set open the doors and give the Lord Jesus the full and present possession Will you put in your names into his Covenant Will you subscribe What do you resolve upon If you are still upon your delays my labour is lost and all is like to come to nothing Fain I would that you should now put in your adventures Come cast in your lot make your choice Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation to day if you will hear his voice Why should not this be the day from whence thou shouldest be able to date thine happiness why shouldest thou venture a day longer in this dangerous and dreadful condition What if God should this night require thy soul O that thou mightest know in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace before they be hid from thine eyes Luke 16. 42. This is thy day and 't is but a day Iohn 9. 4. Others have had their day and have received their doom and now art thou brought upon the stage of this world here to act thy part for a whole eternity Remember thou art now upon thy good behaviour for everlasting If thou make not a wise choice now thou art undone for ever Look what thy present choice is such must thine eternal condition be Luke 10. 42. Luke 16. 25. Prov. 1. 27 28 29. And is it true indeed is life and death at thy choice yea 't is as true as truth is Deut. 30. 19. why then what hinders but that thou shouldest be happy Nothing doth or can hinder but thine own wilful neglect or refusal It was the passage of the Eunuch to Philip See here is water what doth hinder me to be baptized So I may say to thee see here is Christ here is mercy pardon life what hinders but that thou shouldst be pardoned and saved One of the Martyrs as he was praying at the stake had his pardon set by in a box which indeed he refused deservedly because upon unworthy terms But here the terms are most honourable and easie O sinner wilt thou burn with thy pardon by Why do but forthwith give up thy consent to Christ renounce thy sins deny thy self take up the Yoak and the Cross and thou carriest the day Christ is thine pardon peace life blessedness all are thine and is not this an offer worth the embracing Why shouldst thou hesitate or doubtfully dispute about the case Is it not past controversie whether God be better than sin and glory better than vanity Why shouldst thou forsake thine own mercy and sin against thine own life When wilt thou shâ—ke off thy sloth and lay by thine excuses Boast not thy self of to morrow thou knowest not where this night may lodge thee Prov. 27. 1. Beloved now the holy Spirit is striving with you He will not always strive Hast thou not felt thy heart warmed by the word and been almost perswaded to leave off thy sins and come in to God Hast thou not felt some good motions in thy mind wherein thou hast been warned of thy danger and told what thy careless course would end in It may be thou art like young Samuel who when the Lord called once and again he knew not the voice of the Lord 1 Sam. 3. 6 7. but these motions and items are the offers and essays and the calls and strivings of the spirit O take the advantage of the tide and know the day of thy visitation Now the Lord Jesus stretcheth wide his arms to receive you He beseecheth you by us How movingly how meltingly how pitifully how passionately he calleth The Church is put into a sudden extasie upon the sound of his voice The voice of my beloved Cant. 2. 8. O wilt thou turn a deaf ear to his voice it is not the voice that breaketh the Ceders and maketh the mountains to skip like a Calf that shaketh the Wilderness and divideth the flames of fire it is not Sinai's Thunder but the soft and still voice It is not the voice of Mount Ebal a voice of cursing and terror but the voice of Mount Gerizim the voice of blessing and of glad tidings of good things It is not the voice of the Trumpet nor the noise of War but a message of peace from the King of peace Eph. 6. 15. 2. Cor. 5. 18 20. Methinks it should be with thee as with the spouse My soul failed when he spake Cant. 5. 6. I may say to thee O sinner as Martha to her sister The Master is come and he calleth for thee Iohn 11. 28. Oh now with Mary arise quickly and come unto him How sweet are his invitations He cryeth in the open concourse If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink Iohn 7. 37. Prov. 1. 21. He broacheth his own body for thee Oh come and lay thy mouth to his side How free is he he excludeth none Whosoever with let him come and take the water of life freely Rev. 22. 17. Whoso is simple let him turn in hithâ—r Come eat of my bread drink of the wine which â— have mingled For sake the foolish and live Prov. 9. 4 5. 6. Come unto me c. Take my yoak upon you and learn of me and ye shall find rest unto your souls Mat. 11. 28 29. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out Joh. 6. 37. How doth he bemoan the obstinate refuser O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thy Children as a Hen guthereth her Chickens under hot wings and ye would not Mat. 23. 37. Behold me behold me I have stretched out my hands all the day to a rebellious people Esay 65. 1 2. O be perswaded now at last to throw your selves into the arms of love Behold O ye sons of men the Lord Jesâ—s hath thrown open the prisons and now he cometh to you as the Magistrates once to them Acts 16. 39. and bâ—â—eeâ—heth you to come out If it were from a Palace or a Paradise that Christ did call you it were no wonder if you were unwilling and yet how easily was Adam tolled from hence but it is from your prison sirs from your chains from the