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 King Agrippa. believest thou the prophets? " 
 
 ACTS XXVlV.27. 
 
*f£0 yoxx,0 Men j c ^ f . 
 
 © 8 TOl- 
 
BAXTER'S CALL. 
 
 CALL 
 
 TO 
 
 THE UNCONVERTED. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED 
 
 SEVERAL VALUABLE ESSAYS. 
 
 BY RICHARD BAXTER. 
 v^ v OF THE 
 
 WITH 
 
 jTJNIVEESITYl 
 
 A %I |gR D<g£ T _R\ E S,g A Y , 
 
 BOSTON: 
 CHARLES H. PEIRCE, 
 
 3 CORNHILL. 
 
 1848. 
 
£3 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 The works of the Rev. Richard Baxter are distinguished 
 for great energy of style, and a fervent zeal for the salva- 
 tion of sinners. The present work holds a prominent rank 
 among his publications. A rapid succession of editions has 
 been published in various countries, and multitudes have 
 undoubtedly jeen trained for heaven, whose attention was 
 first awakened to the concerns of the soul by reading his 
 ■ Call to the Unconverted.' With a view to extend the circu- 
 lation of so useful a work, the present edition has been ste- 
 reotyped, believing that many benevolent persons will take 
 pleasure in procuring a neat pocket edition for gratuitous 
 circulation. Different copies have been carefully compared, 
 and great pains taken to secure accuracy to this edition ; and, 
 to render the work more welcome to readers of the present 
 day, in a few instances the diction has been improved. The 
 Discourse, entitled ' Now or Never,' which is added to the 
 work, is greatly abridged, to compress it to a size which 
 would admit of its insertion ; and the other selections from 
 Baxter's works, which are here presented, it is believed will 
 meet a cordial reception. That the work may continue to 
 exert a powerful influence in favour of vital godliness, is the 
 earnest wish of 
 
 THE PUBLISHERS. 
 
 Boston, Jan. 1329. ,^* 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 PRESS OF GEORGE C. RAND & CO. 
 
i 
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 Having already introduced to the notice of our 
 readers one of Richard Baxter's most valuable 
 Treatises,* in the Essay to which we adverted to 
 the character and writings of this venerable author, 
 we count it unnecessary at present to make any allu- 
 sion to them, but shall confine our remarks to the 
 subject of the three Treatises which compose the 
 present volume, namely, "A Call to the Uncon- 
 verted TO TURN AND LIVE; " " Now OR NEVER; " 
 
 and " Fifty Reasons why a sinner ought to 
 turn to God this day without delay." 
 
 These Treatises are characterized by all that so- 
 lemn earnestness, and urgency of appeal, for which 
 the writings of this much-admired author are so pe- 
 culiarly distinguished. He seems to look upon man- 
 kind solely with the eyes of the Spirit, and exclusive- 
 ly to recognise them in their spiritual relations, and 
 in the great and essential elements of their immortal 
 being. Their future destiny is the all-important 
 concern which fills and engrosses his mind, and he 
 regards nothing of any magnitude but what has a 
 distinct bearing on their spiritual and eternal condi- 
 tion. His business, therefore, is always wuth the 
 conscience, to which, in these Treatises, he makes 
 the most forcible appeals, and which he plies with 
 all those arguments which are fitted to awaken the 
 sinner to a deep sense of the necessity and importance 
 
 * The Saints* Everlasting Rest, with an Essay by Mr. 
 Erskine. 
 
of immediate repentance. In his " Call to the Un- 
 converted," he endeavours to move them by the 
 most touching of all representations, the tenderness 
 of a beseeching God waiting to be gracious, and not 
 willing that any should perish; and while he employs 
 every form of entreaty, which tenderness and com- 
 passion can suggest, to allure the sinner to " turn 
 and live," he does not shrink from forcing on his 
 convictions those considerations which are fitted to 
 alarm ;iis fears, the terrors of the Lord, and the 
 wrath, not merely of an offended Lawgiver, but of a 
 God of love, whose threatenings he disregards, whose 
 grace lie despises, and whose mercy he rejects. And 
 aware of the deceitfulness of sin in hardening the 
 hear:, and in betraying the sinner into a neglect of 
 his spiritual interests, he divests him of every refuge, 
 and strips him of every plea for postponing his pre- 
 paration for eternity. "He forcibly exposes the delu- 
 sion of convenient seasons, and the awful infatuation 
 and hazard of delay; and knowing the magnitude of 
 the stake at issue, he urges the sinner to immediate 
 repentance, as if the fearful and almost absolute al- 
 ternative were " Now or Never." And to secure 
 the commencement of such an important work 
 against all the dangers to which procrastination 
 might expose it, he endeavours to arrest the sinner 
 in his career of guilt and unconcern, and resolutely 
 to fix his determination on " turning to God this day 
 without delay." 
 
 There are two very prevalent delusions on this 
 subject, which we should like to expose; the one re- 
 gards the nature, and the other t\\c .season of re- 
 pentance; both of which are pregnant with mischief 
 to the minds of men. With regard to the first, 
 much mischief has arisen l'rom mistakes respecting 
 the meaning of the term rtpfftfaRK. The word 
 repentance occurs with tWO different meanings in the 
 New Testament; and it is to be regretted, that two 
 different words could not have hern devised to ex- 
 press these. This is chargeable upon the poverty 
 
of our language; for it is to be observed, that in the 
 original Greek the distinction in the meanings is 
 pointed out by a distinction in the words. The em- 
 ployment of one term to denote two different thing:*} 
 has the effect of confounding and misleading the un- 
 derstanding; and it is much to be wished, that every 
 ambiguity of this kind were cleared away from that 
 most interesting point in the process of a human soul, 
 at which it turns from sin unto righteousness, and 
 from the power of Satan unto God. 
 
 When, in common language, a man says, c I re- 
 pent of such an action,' he is understood to say, ' I 
 am sorry for having done it.' The feeling is fami- 
 liar to all of us. How often does the man of dissi- 
 pation prove this sense of the word repentance, when 
 he awakes in the morning, and, oppressed by the lan- 
 guor of his exhausted faculties, looks back with 
 remorse on the follies and profligacies of the night 
 that is past? How often does the man of unguard- 
 ed conversation prove it, when he thinks of the 
 friend whose feelings he has wounded by some hasty 
 utterance which he cannot recall? Plow often is it 
 proved by the man of business, when he reflects on 
 the rash engagement which ties him down to a losing 
 speculation? All these people would be perfectly 
 understood when they say, 'We repent of these 
 doings.' The word repentance so applied is about 
 equivalent to the word regret. There are several 
 passages in the New Testament where this is the 
 undoubted sense of the word repentance. In Matt, 
 xxvii. 3. the wretched Judas repented himself of his 
 treachery; and surely, when we think of the awful 
 denunciation uttered by our Saviour against the man 
 who should betray him, that it were better for him 
 if he had not been born, we will never confound the 
 repentance which Judas experienced with that re- 
 pentance which is unto salvation. 
 
 Now here lies the danger to practical Christiani- 
 ty. In the above-cited passage, to repent is just to 
 • egret, or to be sorry for; and this we conceive to 
 
be by far the most prevailing sense of the term in 
 the English language. But there are other places 
 where the same term is employed to denote that which 
 is urged upon us as a duty — that which is preach- 
 ed for the remission of sins — that which is so indis- 
 pensable to sinners, as to call forth the declaration 
 from our Saviour, that unless we have it, we shall 
 all likewise perish. Now, though repentance, in all 
 these cases, is expressed by the same term in our 
 translation as the repentance of mere regret, it is ex- 
 pressed by a different term in the original record of 
 our faith. This surely might lead us to suspect a 
 difference of meaning, and should caution us against 
 taking up with that, as sufficient for the business of 
 our salvation, which is short of saving and scriptural 
 repentance. There may be an alternation of wilful 
 sin, and of deeply-felt sorrow, up to the very end of 
 our history — there may be a presumptuous sin com- 
 mitted every day, and a sorrow regularly succeeding 
 it. Sorrow may imbitter every act of sin — sorrow 
 may darken every interval of sinful indulgence — and 
 sorrow may give an unutterable anguish to the 
 pains and the prospects of a deathbed. Couple all 
 this with the circumstance that sorrow passes, in the 
 common currency of our language, for repentance, 
 and that repentance is made, by our Bible, to lie at 
 the turning point from a state of condemnation to n 
 state of acceptance with God; and it is difficult Dot 
 to conceive that much danger may have arisen from 
 this, leading to indistinct views of the nature oi' re- 
 pentance, and to slender and superficial conceptions 
 of the mighty change which is implied in It 
 
 We are far from saying that Ihe eve of Chris- 
 tians is not open to this danger — and that the vigi- 
 lant care of Christian authors has not been employed 
 in averting it. Where will weget abetter delini- 
 tion of repentance unto life than in onr Shorter 
 Catechism: by which the sinner is represented not 
 merely a,s grieving, but, along with his grief and 
 hatred of sin, as turning from it unto God with full 
 
purpose of, and endeavour after new obedience. 
 But the mischief is, that the word repent has a com- 
 mon meaning, different from the theological; that 
 wherever it is used, this common meaning is apt to 
 intrude itself, and exert a kind of habitual imposi- 
 tion upon the understanding — that the influence of 
 the single word carries it over the influence of the 
 lengthened explanation — and thus it is that, for a 
 steady progress in the obedience of the gospel, many 
 persevere, to the end of their days, in a wretched 
 course of sinning and of sorrowing, without fruit 
 and without amendment. 
 
 To save the practically mischievous effect arising 
 from the application of one term to two different 
 things, one distinct and appropriate term has been 
 suggested lor the saving repentance of the New 
 Testament. The term repentance itself has been 
 restricted to the repentance of mere sorrow, and is 
 made equivalent to regret; and for the other, able 
 translators have adopted the word reformation. The 
 one is expressive of sorrow for our past conduct; 
 the other is expressive of our renouncing it. It de- 
 notes an actual turning from the habits of life that 
 we are sorry for. Give us, say they, a change from 
 bad deeds to good deeds, from bad habits to good 
 habits, from a life of wickedness to a life of confor- 
 mity to the requirements of heaven, and you give 
 us reformation. 
 
 Now there is often nothing more unprofitable 
 than a dispute about . words; but if a word has got 
 into common use, a common and generally under- 
 stood meaning is attached to it; and if this mean- 
 ing does not just come up to the thing which Ave 
 want to express by it, the application of that word 
 to that thing has the same misleading effects as in 
 the case already alluded to. Now, we have much 
 the same kind of exception to allege against the term 
 reformation, that we have alleged against the term 
 repentance. The term repentance is inadequate — 
 and why? because, in the common use of it, it is 
 
equivalent to regret, and regret is short of the saving 
 change that is spoken of in the New Testament. 
 On the very same principle, we count the term re- 
 formation to be inadequate. We think that, in com- 
 mon language, a man would receive the appellation 
 of a reformed man upon the mere change of his out- 
 ward habits, without any reference to the change of 
 mind and of principle which gave rise to it. Let the 
 drunkard give up his excesses — let the backbiter 
 give up his evil speakings — let the extortioner give 
 up his unfair charges — and we would apply to one 
 and all of them, upon the mere change of their ex- 
 ternal doings, the character of reformed men. Now, 
 it is evident that the drunkard may give up his 
 drunkenness, because checked by a serious impres- 
 sion of the injury he has been doing to his health 
 and his circumstances. The backbiter may give 
 up his evil speaking, on being made to perceive that 
 the hateful practice has brought upon him the con- 
 tempt and alienation of his neighbours. The ex- 
 tortioner may give up his unfair charges, upon tak- 
 ing it into calculation that his business is likely to 
 suffer by the desertion of his customers. Now, it is 
 evident, that though in each of these cases there has 
 been wh^t the world would call reformation, there 
 has not been scriptural repentance. The deficiency 
 of this term consists in its having been employed to 
 denote a mere change in the deeds or in the habits 
 of the outward man; and if employed as equivalent 
 to repentance, it may delude us into the idea that 
 the change by which we are made meet for a happy 
 eternity is a far more slender and superficial thing 
 than it really is. It is of little importance to be told 
 that the translator means it only in the sense 01 a 
 reformed conduct, proceeding from the inrluenceof 
 a new and a right principle within. The common 
 meaning of the word will, as in the former instance, 
 be ever and anon intruding itself, and get the better 
 of all the formal cautions, and all the qualifying 
 clauses of our Bible commentators. 
 
^ or the T ; 
 
 [UtflVIT-SITT 
 
 But, will not the original itarcjr^tsejf throw some 
 light upon this important quesrl^n>«trjie repentance 
 which is enjoined as a duty — the repentance -which 
 is unto salvation — the repentance which sinners un- 
 dergo when they pass to a state of acceptance with 
 God from a state of enmity against him — these are 
 all one and the same thing, and are expressed by one 
 and the same word in the original language of the 
 New Testament. It is different from the word 
 which expresses the repentance of sorrow; and if 
 translated according to the parts of which it is com- 
 posed, it signifies neither more nor less than a 
 change of mind. This of itself is sufficient to prove 
 the inadequacy of the term reformation — a term 
 which is often applied, to a man upon the mere 
 change of his conduct, without ever adverting to the 
 state of his mind, or to the kind of change in motive 
 and in principle which it has undergone. It is true, 
 that there can be no change in the conduct without 
 some change in the inward principle. A reformed 
 drunkard, before careless about health or fortune, 
 may be so far changed as to become impressed with 
 these considerations; but this change is evidently 
 short of that which the Bible calls repentance to- 
 ward God. It is a change that may, and has taken 
 place in many a mind, when there was no effectual 
 sense of the God who is above us, and of the eter- 
 nity which is before us. It is a change, brought 
 about by the prospect and the calculation of worldly 
 advantages; and, in the enjoyment of these advan- 
 tages, it hath its sole reward. But it is not done 
 unto God, and God will not accept of it as done unto 
 him. Reformation mav signify nothing more than 
 the mere suriace-dressi ng of those decencies, and 
 proprieties, and accomplishments, and civil and pru- 
 dential duties, which, however fitted to secure a 
 man's acceptance in society, may, one and all of 
 them, consist with a heart alienated from God, and 
 having every principle and affection of the inner 
 man away from him. True it is, such a change 
 
as the man will reap benefit from, as his friends will 
 rejoice in, as the world will call reformation; but it 
 is not such a change as will make him meet for 
 heaven, and is deficient in its import from what our 
 Saviour speaks of when he says, " I tell you nay, 
 except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." 
 
 There is no single word in the English language 
 which occurs to us as fully equal to the faithful ren- 
 dering of the term in the original. Renewedness of 
 mind, however awkward a phrase this may be, is 
 perhaps the most nearly expressive of it. Certain 
 it is, that it harmonizes with those other passages 
 of the Bible where the process is described by which 
 saving repentance is brought about. We read of 
 being transformed by the renewing of our minds, of 
 the renewing of the Holy Ghost, of being renewed 
 in the spirit of our minds. Scriptural repentance, 
 therefore, is that deep and radical change whereby 
 a soul turns from the idols of sin and of self unto 
 God, and devotes every movement of the inner and. 
 the outer man, to the captivity of his obedience. 
 This is the change which, whether it be expressed 
 by one word or not in the English language, we 
 would have you well to understand; and reform- 
 ation or change in the outward conduct, instead 
 of being saving and scriptural repentance, is what, 
 in the language of John the Baptist, we would call 
 a fruit meet lor it. But if mischief is likely to arise, 
 from the want of an adequate word in our lan- 
 guage, to that repentance which is unto salvation, 
 there is one effectual preservative against it — a linn 
 and consistent exhibition of the whole counsel and 
 revelation of God. A man who is well read in his 
 New Testament, and reads it with docility, will 
 dismiss all his meagre conceptions of repentance, 
 when he comes to the following statements; — bi Ex- 
 cept a man be horn again, he cannot see the king- 
 dom of God." "Except ye he converted, and be- 
 come as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
 kingdom of heaven." " If any man have not the 
 
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." " The carnal 
 mind is enmity against God; and if ye live after the 
 flesh, ye shall die: but if ye, through the Spirit, do 
 mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." " By 
 the washing of regeneration ye are saved." " Be 
 not then conformed to this world, but be ye trans- 
 formed by the renewing of your minds." Such are 
 the terms employed to describe the process by which 
 the soul of man is renewed unto repentance; and, 
 with your hearts familiarized to the mighty im- 
 port of these terms, you will carry with you an 
 effectual guarantee against those false and flimsy im- 
 pressions, which are so current in the world, about 
 the preparation of a sinner for eternity. 
 
 Another delusion which we shall endeavour to 
 expose, is a very mischievous application of the par- 
 able of the labourers in the vineyard, contained in 
 the twentieth chapter of the Gospel by Matthew. 
 The interpretation of this parable, the mischief and 
 delusion of which we shall endeavour to lay open, is, 
 that it relates to the call of individuals, and to the 
 different periods in the age of each individual at 
 which this call is accepted by them. We almost 
 know nothing more familiar to us, both in the works 
 of authors, and in the conversation of private Chris- 
 tians, than when the repentance of an aged man is 
 the topic, it is represented as a case of repentance at 
 the eleventh hour of the day. We are far from 
 disputing the possibility of such a repentance, nor 
 should those who address the message of the gospel 
 ever be restrained from the utterance of the free call 
 of the gospel, in the hearing of the oldest and most 
 inveterate sinner whom they may meet with. But 
 what we contend for, is, that this is not the drift of 
 the parable. The parable relates to the call of 
 nations, and to the different periods in the age of 
 the world at which this call was addressed to each 
 of them, and not as we have already observed, tq the 
 call of individuals, and to the different periods in 
 the age of each individual, at which this call is ac- 
 
Xll 
 
 cepted by them.* It is not true that the labourers 
 who began to work in the vineyard on the first hour 
 of the clay, denote those Christians who began to 
 remember their Creator, and to render the obe- 
 dience of the faith unto his Gospel with their first 
 and earliest education. It is not true, that they 
 who entered into this service on the third hour of 
 the day, denote those Christians, who after a boy- 
 hood of thoughtless unconcern about the things of 
 eternity, are arrested in the season of youth, by a 
 visitation of seriousness, and betake themselves • to 
 the faith and the following of the Saviour who died 
 ibr them. It is not true, that they who were hired 
 
 * To render our argument more intelligible, we shall 
 briefly state what we conceive to be the true explanation 
 of the parable. In the verses preceding the parable, Pe- 
 ter had stated the whole amount of the surrender that 
 he and his fellow disciples had made by the act of fol- 
 lowing after Jesus; and it is evident, that they all looked for- 
 ward to some great and temporal remuneration — some share 
 in the glories of the Israelitish monarchy — some place of 
 splendour or distinction under that new government, which 
 they imagined was to be set up in the world; and they nev- 
 er conceived any thing else, than that in this altered state 
 of tilings, the people of their own country were to be raised 
 to high pre-eminence among the nations which had op- 
 pressed and degraded them. It was in the face of this ex- 
 pectation, that our Saviour uttered a sentence, which we 
 meet oftener than once among his recorded sayings in the 
 New Testament, " Main that are first shall be last, and 
 the last shall be first." The Israelites, whom God distin- 
 guished at an early period of the world, by a revelation of 
 himself, were first invited in the doing «>f his will (which is 
 
 fitly enough represented by working in his vineyard) to the 
 
 possession of his favour, and the enjoyment of his rewards. 
 
 This offer to work in that peculiar vineyard, where God as- 
 signed to them a performance, and bestowed on them a re- 
 compense, was made to Abraham and to his descendants at 
 a very early period in history, and a succession ofprophetl 
 and righteous mm were sent to renew the otter, and the 
 communications from God to the world, followed the Btream 
 of ages, down to the time of the utterance of this parable. 
 And a few years afterwards, the same offers, and ihe same 
 
on the sixth and ninth hours, denote those Chris- 
 tians, who, after having spent the prime of their 
 youthful vigour in alienation from God, and perhaps 
 run out some mad career of guilt and profligacy, put 
 on their Christianity along with the decencies of 
 their soher and established manhood. Neither is it 
 true, that the labourers of the eleventh hour, the 
 men who had stood all day idle, represent those 
 aged converts who have put off their repentance to 
 the last — those men who have renounced the world 
 when they could not help it — those men who have 
 put on Christianity, but not till they had put on 
 their wrinkles — those men who have run the varied 
 stages of depravity, from the frivolous unconcern of 
 
 invitations, were addressed to another people; and at this 
 late period, at this eleventh hour, the men of those countries 
 which had never before been visited by any authoritative call 
 from heaven, had this call lifted up in their hearing, and 
 many Gentiles accepted that everlasting life, of which the 
 Jews counted themselves unworthy. And as to the people 
 of Israel, who valued themselves so much on their privi- 
 leges — who had turned all the revelations, by which their 
 ancestors had been honoured, into a matter of distinction 
 and of vain security — who had ever been in the habit of 
 eyeing the profane Gentiles with all that contempt which is 
 laid upon outcasts, this parable received its fulfilment at the 
 time when these Gentiles, by their acceptance of the Sa- 
 viour, were exalted to an equal place among the chiefest 
 favourites of God; and these Jews, by their refusal of him, 
 had their name rooted out from among the nations — and 
 those first and foremost in all the privileges of religion, are 
 now become the last. Now this we conceive to be the real 
 design of the parable. It was designed to reconcile the 
 minds of the disciples to that part of the economy of God, 
 which was most offensive to their hopes and to their pre- 
 judices. It asserted the sovereignty of the Supreme Being 
 in the work of dispensing his calls and his favours among 
 the people whom he had formed. It furnished a most de- 
 cisive and silencing reproof to the Jews, who were filled 
 with envy against the Gentiles; and who, even those of them 
 that embraced the Christian profession, made an obstinate 
 struggle against the admission of those Gentiles into the 
 church on equal terms with themselves. 
 
XIV 
 
 a boy, and the appalling enormities of misled and 
 misguided youth, and the deep and determined world- 
 liness of middle age, and the clinging avarice of him, 
 who, while with slow and tottering footsteps he de- 
 scends the hill of life, has a heart more obstinately 
 set than ever on all its interests, and all its sordid 
 accumulations, but who, when death taps at the door, 
 awakens from his dream, and thinks it now time to 
 shake away his idolatrous affections from the mam- 
 mon of unrighteousness. 
 
 Such are the men who, after having taken their 
 full swing of all that the world could offer, and of 
 all that they could enjoy of it, defer the whole work 
 of preparation for eternity to old age, and fbr the 
 hire of the labourers of the eleventh hour, do all 
 that they can in the way of sighs, and sorrows, and 
 expiations of penitential acknowledgement. What! 
 will we offer to liken such men to those who sought 
 the Lord early, and who found him ? Will we say 
 that he who repents when old, is at all to be com- 
 pared to him, who bore the whole heat and burden 
 of a life devoted throughout all its stages to the 
 glory and the remembrance of the Creator? Who, 
 from a child, trembled at the word of the Lord, and 
 aspired after a conformity to all his ways? Who, 
 when a young man, fulfilled that most appropriate 
 injunction of the apostle, " Be thou strong?" Who 
 fought it with manly determination against all the 
 enemies of principle by which he was surrounded, 
 and spurned the enticements of vicious acquaintances 
 away from him; and nobly stood it out, even though 
 unsupported and alone, against the unhallowed con- 
 tempt of a whole multitude of ecorners; and with 
 intrepid defiance to all the assaults of ridicule, main- 
 tained a firmness, which no wile could seduce from 
 the posts of vigilance; and cleared his unfaltering 
 way through all the allurements of a perverse and 
 crooked generation. Who, even in the midst of a 
 most withering atmosphere on every side of him, 
 kept all his purposes unbroken, and all his delicacies 
 
untainted. Who, with the rigour of self-command, 
 combined the softening lustre which a pure and 
 amiable modesty sheds over the moral complexion 
 of him who abhors that which is evil, and cleaves to 
 that which is good, with all the energy of a holy de- 
 termination. Can that be a true interpretation, 
 which levels this youth of promise and of accom- 
 plishment, with his equal in years, who is now prose- 
 cuting every guilty indulgence, and crowns the au- 
 dacity of his rebellion by the mad presumption, that 
 ere he dies, he shall be able to propitiate that God, 
 on the authority of all whose calls, and all whose 
 remonstrances he is now trampling? Or follow each 
 of them to the evening of their earthly pilgrimage — 
 will you say that the penitent of the eleventh hour, 
 is at all to be likened to him who has given the whole 
 of his existence to the work and the labour of Chris- 
 tianity? to him who, after a morning of life adorned 
 with all the gracefulness we have attempted to de- 
 scribe, sustains through the whole of his subsequent 
 history such a high and ever brightening example, 
 that his path is like the shining light, which shineth 
 more and more unto the perfect day; and every year 
 he lives, the graces of an advancing sanctification 
 form into a richer assemblage of all that is pure, and 
 lovely, and honourable, and of good report; and 
 when old age comes, it brings none of the turbulence 
 or alarm of an unfinished preparation along with 
 it — but he meets death with the quiet assurance of 
 a man who is in readiness, and hails his message as 
 a friendly intimation; and as he lived in the splen- 
 dour of ever-increasing acquirements, so he dies in 
 all the radiance of anticipated glory. 
 
 This interpretation of the parable cannot be sus- 
 tained ; and we think, that, out of its own mouth, 
 a condemnation may be stamped upon it. Mark 
 this peculiarity. The labourers of the eleventh 
 hour are not men who got the offer before, but men 
 who for the first time received a call to work in the 
 vineyard; and they may therefore well represent the 
 
people of a country, who, for the first time, received 
 the overtures of the Gospel. The answer they 
 gave to the question, Why stand you so long idle? 
 was, that no man had hired I hem. We do not read 
 of any of the labourers of the third, or sixth, or 
 ninth hours, refusing the call at these times, and 
 afterwards rendering a compliance with the evening 
 call, and getting the penny for which they declined 
 the offer of working several hours, but afterwards 
 agreed, when the proposal was made, that they 
 should work one hour only. They had a very good 
 answer to give, in excuse for their idleness. They 
 never had been called before. And the oldest men 
 of a Pagan country have the very same answer to 
 give, on the first arrival of Christian missionaries 
 amongst them. But we have no part nor lot in this 
 parable. We have it not in our power to offer any 
 such apology. There is not one of us who can ex- 
 cuse the impenitency of the past, on the plea that no 
 man had called us. This is a call that has been 
 sounded in our ears, from our very infancy. Every 
 time we have seen a bible in our shelves, we have 
 had a call. Every time we have heard a minister 
 in the pulpit, we have had a call. Every time we 
 have heard the generous invitation, " Ho, every one 
 that thirsteth, come ye unto the waters," we have 
 had a solemn, and what ought to have been a most 
 impressive, call. Every time that a parent has 
 piied us with a good advice, Qr a neighbour come 
 forward with a friendly persuasion, we have had a 
 call. Every time that the Sabbath bell has rung 
 torus to the house of God, we have had a call. 
 These are all so many distinct and repeated calls. 
 These are past events in our life, which rise in judg- 
 ment against us, and remind us, with a justice nf 
 argument, that there is no evading) that we have no 
 ri«rht whatever to the privileges of the eleventh 
 hour. 
 
 This, then, is the train to which we feel ourselves 
 directed by this parable. The mischievous interpre- 
 
tation which has been put upon it, has wakened up 
 our alarms, and set us to look at the delusion which 
 it fosters, and, if possible, to drag out to the light of 
 day, the fallacy which lies in it. We should like to 
 reduce every man to the feeling of the alternative of 
 repentance now, or repentance never. We should 
 like to flash it upon your convictions, that, by put- 
 ting the call away from you now, you put your eter- 
 nity away from you. We should like to expose the 
 whole amount of that accursed infatuation which 
 lies in delay. We should like to arouse every soul 
 out of its lethargies, and giving no quarter to the 
 plea of a little more sleep, and a little more slumber, 
 we should like you to feel as if the whole of your 
 future destiny hinged on the very first movement to 
 which you turned yourselves. 
 
 The work of repentance must have a beginning; 
 and we should like you to know, that, if not begun 
 to-day, the chance will be less of its being begun 
 to-morrow. And if the greater chance has failed, 
 what hope can we build upon the smaller? — and 
 a chance too that is always getting smaller. Each 
 day, as it revolves over the sinner's head, finds him a 
 harder, and a more obstinate, and a more helplessly 
 enslaved sinner, than before. It was this considera- 
 tion which gave Richard Baxter such earnestness 
 and such urgency in his " Call." He knew that the 
 barrier in the way of the sinner's return, was 
 strengthened by every act of resistance to the call 
 which urges it. That the refusal of this moment 
 hardened the man against the next attack of a Gospel 
 argument that is brought to bear upon him. That 
 if he attempted you now, and he failed, when he 
 came back upon you, he would find himself working 
 on a more obstinate and uncomplying subject than 
 ever. And therefore it is, that he ever feels as if the 
 present were his only opportunity. That he is now 
 upon his vantage ground, and he gives every energy 
 of his soul to the great point of making the most of 
 it. He will put up with none of your evasions. He 
 
will consent to none of your postponements. He 
 will pay respect to none of your more convenient 
 seasons. He tells you, that the matter with which 
 he is charged, has al! the urgency of a matter in hand. 
 He speaks to you with as much earnestness as if he 
 knew that you were going to step into eternity in 
 half an hour. He delivers his message with as much 
 solemnity as if he knew that this was your last meet- 
 ing on earth, and that you were never to see each 
 other till you stood together at the judgment-seat. 
 He knew that some mighty change must take place 
 in you, ere you be fit for entering into the presence 
 of God; and that the time in which, on every plea 
 of duty and of interest, you should bestir yourselves 
 to secure this, is the present time. This is the 
 distinct point he assigns to himself; and the whole 
 drift of his argument, is to urge an instantaneous 
 choice of the better part, by telling you how you 
 multiply every day the obstacles to your future re- 
 pentance, if you begin not the work of repentance 
 now. 
 
 Before bringing our Essay to a close, we shall 
 make some observations on the mistakes concerning 
 repentance which we have endeavoured to expose, 
 and adduce some arguments for urging on the con- 
 sciences of our readers the necessity and importance 
 of immediate repentance. 
 
 1. The work of repentance is a work which must 
 be done ere we die; for, unless we repent, we shall 
 all likewise perish. Now, the easier this work is 
 in our conception, we will think it the less necessary 
 to enter upon it immediately. We will look upon 
 it as a work that may be done at any time, and let 
 us, therefore, put it oil" a little longer, and a -little 
 longer. We will perhaps look forward to taat re- 
 tirement from the world and its temptations which 
 we figure old age to bring along with it, and falling 
 in with the too common idea, that the evening of 
 life is the appropriate season of preparation for anoth- 
 er world, we will think that the author is bearing 
 
too closely and too urgently upon us, when, in the 
 language of the Bible, he speaks of " to-day," while 
 it is called to-da}^ and will let us off with no other re- 
 pentance than repentance " now" — seeing that now 
 only is the accepted time, and now only the day of 
 salvation, which he has a warrant to proclaim to us. 
 This dilatory way of it is very much favoured by the 
 mistaken and very defective view of repentance which 
 we have attempted to expose. We have some how 
 or other got into the delusion, that repentance is sor- 
 row, and little else; and were we called to fix upon 
 the scene where this sorrow is likely to be felt in the 
 degree that is deepest and most overwhelming, we 
 would point to the chamber of the dying man. It 
 is awful to think that, generally speaking, this re- 
 pentance of mere sorrow is the only repentance of a 
 deathbed. Yes ! we will meet with sensibility deep 
 enough and painful enough there — with regret in all 
 its bitterness — with terror mustering up its images 
 of despair, and dwelling upon them in all the gloom 
 of an affrighted imagination; and this is mistaken, not 
 merely for the drapery of repentance, but for the 
 very substance of it. We look forward, and we 
 count upon this — that the sins of a life are to be ex- 
 punged by the sighing and the sorrowing of the last 
 days of it. We should give up this wretchedly 
 superficial notion of repentance, and cease, from this 
 moment, to be led astray by it. The mind may sor- 
 row over its corruptions at the very time that it is 
 under the power of them. To grieve because we 
 are under the captivity of sin is one thing — to be re- 
 leased from that captivity is another. A man may 
 weep most bitterly over the perversities of his moral 
 constitution; but to change that constitution is a 
 different affair. Now, this is the mighty work of 
 repentance. He who has undergone it is no longer 
 the servant of sin. He dies unto sin, he lives unto 
 God. A sense of the authority of God is ever pres- 
 ent with him, to wield the ascendency of a great 
 master-principle over all his movements — to call forth 
 
XX 
 
 every purpose, and to carry it forward, through all the 
 opposition of sin and of Satan, into accomplishment. 
 Tins is the grand revolution in the state of the mind 
 which repentance brings along with it. To grieve 
 because this work is not done, is a very different 
 thing from the doing of it. A deathbed is the very 
 best scene for acting the first; but it is the very worst 
 for acting the second. The repentance of Judas has 
 often been acted there. We ought to think of the 
 work in all its magnitude, and not to put it off to 
 that awful period when the soul is crowded with 
 other things, and has to maintain its weary struggle 
 with the pains, and the distresses, and the shiver- 
 ings, and the breathless agonies of a deathbed. 
 
 2. There are two views that may be taken of the 
 way in which repentance is brought about, and which- 
 ever of them is adopted, delay carries along with it 
 the saddest infatuation. It may be looked upon as 
 a step taken by man as a voluntary agent, and we 
 would ask you, upon your experience of the powers 
 and the performances of humanity, if a deathbed is 
 the time for taking such a step ? Is this a time for 
 a voluntary being exercising a vigorous control over 
 his own movements? When racked with pain, and 
 borne down by the pressure of a sore and over- 
 whelming calamity ? Surely the greater the work of 
 repentance is, the more ease, the more time, the more 
 freedom from suffering, is necessary for carrying it on; 
 and, therefore, addressing you as voluntary beings, 
 as beings who will and who do, we call upon yon lo 
 seek God early that you may find him — to haste, 
 and make no delay in keeping his commandments. 
 The other view is, that repentance is not a self- 
 originating work in man, but the work of the Holy 
 Spirit in him as the subject of its influences. This 
 uVw is not opposite to the former. It is true that 
 (linn wills and does at every step in the business of 
 bis salvation; and it is as true that God works in 
 him so to will and to do. Take this last view of 
 it then. Look on repentance as the work of God^a 
 
Spirit in the soul of man, and we are furnished with 
 a more impressive argument than ever, and set on 
 higher vantage for urging you to stir yourselves, and 
 set about it immediately. What is it that you pro- 
 pose? To keep by your present habits, and your 
 ]) resent indulgences — and build yourselves up all the 
 while in the confidence that the Spirit will interpose 
 with his mighty power of conversion upon you, at the 
 very point of time that you have fixed upon as conve- 
 nient and agreeable? And how do you conciliate the 
 Spirit's answer to your call then? Why, by doing ail 
 you can to grieve, and to quench, and to provoke him 
 to abandon you now. Do you feel a motion towards 
 repentance at this moment? If you keep it alive, 
 and act upon it, good and well. But if you smother 
 and suppress this motion, you resist the Spirit — you 
 stillc his movements within you: it is what the im- 
 penitent do day after day, and year after year — and 
 is this the way for securing the influences of the Spirit 
 at the time that you would like them best? When 
 you are done with the world, and are looking forward 
 to eternity because you cannot help it? God says, 
 " My Spirit will not always strive with the children 
 of men." A good and a free Spirit he undoubtedly 
 is, and, as a proof of it, he is now saying, " Let 
 whosoever will, come and drink of the water of life 
 freely." He says so now, but we do not promise 
 that he will say so with eflect upon your deathbeds, 
 if you refuse him now. You look forward then for 
 a powerful work of conversion being done upon you, 
 and yet you employ yourselves all your life long in rais- 
 ing and multiplying obstacles against it. You count 
 upon a miracle of grace before you die, and the way 
 you take to make yourselves sure of it, is to grieve and 
 offend him while you live, who alone can perform the 
 miracle. O what cruel deceits will sin land us in ! 
 and how artfully it pleads for a " little more sleep, 
 and a little more slumber; a little more folding of 
 the hands to sleep." We should hold out no longer, 
 nor make not such an abuse of the forbearance of 
 
XX11 
 
 God: we will treasure up wrath against the day of 
 wrath if we do so. The genuine effect of his good- 
 ness is to lead to repentance; let not its effect upon 
 us be to harden and encourage ourselves in the ways 
 of sin. We should cry now for the clean heart and 
 the right spirit; and such is the exceeding freeness 
 of the Spirit of God, that we will be listened to. 
 If we put off the cry till then, the same God may 
 laugh at our calamity, and mock when our fear 
 cometh. 
 
 3. Our next argument for immediate repentance 
 is, that we cannot bring forward, at any future period 
 of your history, any considerations of a more pre- 
 vailing or more powerfully moving influence than 
 those we may bring forward at this moment. We 
 can tell you now of the terrors of the Lord. We can 
 tell you now of the solemn mandates which have is- 
 sued from his throne — and the authority of which is 
 upon one and all of you. We can tell you now, that 
 though, in this dead and. darkened world, sin appears 
 but a very trivial affair — for every body sins, and it 
 is shielded from execration by the universal counte- 
 nance of an entire species lying in wickedness — yet it 
 holds true of God, what is so emphatically said of 
 him, that he cannot be mocked, nor will he endure it 
 that you should riot in the impunity of your wilful 
 resistance to him and to his warnings. We can tell 
 you now, that he is a God of vengeance; and though, 
 ibr a season, he is keeping back all the thunders of it 
 from a world that he would like to reclaim unto him- 
 self, yet, if you put all his expostulations away from 
 vou, and will not be reclaimed, these thunders will be 
 'lei loose upon you, and they will fall on your guilty 
 beads, armed with tenfold energy, because you have 
 not only defied his threats, 'but turned your back on 
 his oilers of reconciliation. These are the arguments 
 by which we would try to Open our way to your 
 consciences, and to waken up your tears, and to put 
 the inspiring activity of hope into your bosoms, by 
 laying before you those invitations which are address- 
 
ed to the sinner, through the peace-speaking blood of 
 Jesus, and, in the name of a beseeching God, to win 
 your acceptance of them. At no future period can 
 we address arguments more powerful and more affec- 
 ting than these. If these arguments do not prevail 
 upon you, we know of none others by which a victo- 
 ry over the stubborn and uncomplying will can be 
 accomplished, or by which we can ever hope to beat 
 in that sullen front of resistance wherewith you now 
 so impregnably withstand us. We feel that, if any 
 stout-hearted sinner shall rise from the perusal of 
 these Treatises with an unawakened conscience, and 
 give himself to an act of wilful disobedience, we feel 
 as if, in reference to him, we had made our last dis- 
 charge, and it fell powerless as water spilt on the 
 ground, that cannot be gathered up again. We 
 would not cease to ply him with our arguments, and 
 tell him, to the hour of death, of the Lord God, mer- 
 ciful and gracious, who is not willing that any should 
 perish, but that all should turn to him, and live. And 
 if in future life we should meet him at the eleventh 
 hour of his dark and deceitful day — a hoary sinner, 
 sinking under the decrepitude of age, and bending on 
 the side of the grave that is open to receive him — 
 even then we. would testify the exceeding freeness of 
 the grace of God, and implore his acceptance of it. 
 But how could it be away from our minds that he is 
 not one of the evening labourers of the parable? 
 We had met with him at former periods of his exist- 
 ence, and the offer we make him now we made him 
 then, and he did what the labourers of the third, and 
 sixth, and ninth hours of the parable did not do — he 
 rejected our call to hire him into the vineyard; and 
 this heartless recollection, if it did not take all our 
 energy away from us, would leave us little else than 
 the energy of despair. And therefore it is, that we 
 speak to you now as if this was our last hold of you. 
 We feel as if on your present purpose hung all the 
 preparations of your future life, and all the rewards 
 or all the horrors of your coming eternity. We will 
 
not let you off with any other repentance than re- 
 pentance now; and if this be refused now, we cannot, 
 with our eyes open to the consideration we have now 
 urged, that the instrument we make to hear upon 
 you afterwards is not more powerful than we are 
 wielding now, coupled with another consideration 
 which we shall insist upon, that the subject on which 
 the instrument worketh, even the heart of man, gath- 
 ers, by every act of resistance, a more uncomplying 
 obstinacy than before; we cannot, with these two 
 thoughts in our mind, look forward to your future 
 history, without seeing spread over the whole path 
 of it the iron of a harder impenitency — the sullen 
 gloom of a deeper and more determined alienation. 
 
 4. Another argument, therefore, for immediate 
 repentance is, that the mind which resists a present 
 call or a present reproof, undergoes a progressive 
 hardening towards all those considerations which 
 arm the call of repentance with all its energy. 
 It is not enough to say, that the instrument by 
 which repentance is brought about, is not more 
 powerful to-morrow than it is to day; it lends a 
 most tremendous weight to the argument, to say 
 further, that the subject on which this instrument 
 is putting forth its efficiency, will oppose a firmer re- 
 sistance to-morrow than it does to-day. It is this 
 which gives a significancy so powerful to the call of 
 " To-day while it is to-day, harden not your hearts;" 
 and to the admonition of " Knowest thou not, O 
 man, that the goodness of God leadeth thee to re- 
 pentance; but after, thy hardness and impenitent 
 heart treasurest up wrath against the day of wrath 
 and revelation of the righteous judgments of God? " 
 It is not said, either in the one or in the other of 
 these passages, that, by the present refusal, you cut 
 yourself off from a future invitation. The invita- 
 tion may be sounded in your hearing to the last half 
 hour of your earthly existence, engraved in all those 
 characters of freehand gratuitous kindness which 
 mark the beneficent religion of the New Testament. 
 
But the present refusal hardens you against the 
 power and tenderness of the future invitation. This 
 is the fact in human nature to which these passages 
 seem to point, and it is the fact through which the 
 argument for immediate repentance receives such 
 powerful aid from the wisdom of experience. It 
 is this which forms the most impressive proof of 
 the necessity of plying the young with all the weight 
 and all the tenderness of earnest admonition, that 
 the now susceptible mind might not turn into a sub- 
 stance harder and more uncomplying than the rock 
 which is broken in pieces by the powerful applica- 
 tion of the hammer of the word of God. 
 
 The metal of the human soul, so to speak, is like 
 some material substances. If the force you lay 
 upon it do not break it, or dissolve it, it will beat it 
 into hardness. If the moral argument by which it 
 is plied now, do not so soften the mind as to carry 
 and to overpower its purposes, then, on another day, 
 the argument may be put forth in terms as impres- 
 sive — but it falls on a harder mind, and, therefore, 
 with a more slender efficiency. If the threat, that 
 ye who persist in sin shall have to dwell with the de- 
 vouring fire, and to lie down amid everlasting burn- 
 ings, do not alarm you out of your iniquities from 
 this very moment, then the same threat may be 
 again cast out, and the same appalling circumstances 
 of terror be thrown around it, but it is all discharged 
 on a soul hardened by its inurement to the thunder 
 of denunciations already uttered, and the urgency of 
 menacing threatenings already poured forth without 
 fruit and without efficacy. If the voice of a be- 
 seeching God do not win upon you now, and charm 
 you out of your rebellion against him, by the per- 
 suasive energy of kindness, then let that voice be 
 lifted in your hearing on some future day, and 
 though armed with all the power of tenderness it 
 ever had, how shall it find its entrance into a heart 
 sheathed by the operation of habit, that universal 
 law, in more impenetrable obstinacy? l^ with the 
 3 
 
XXVI 
 
 earliest dawn of your understanding, you have been 
 offered the hire of the morning labourer and have 
 refused it, then the parable does not say that you 
 are the person who at the third, or sixth, or ninth, 
 or eleventh hour, will get the offer repeated to you. 
 It is true, that the offer is unto all and upon ail who 
 are within reach of the hearing of it. But there is 
 all the difference in the world between the impression 
 of a new offer, and of an offer that has already been 
 often heard and as often rejected — an offer which 
 comes upon you with all the familiarity of a well- 
 known sound that you have already learned how to 
 dispose of, and how to shut your every feeling 
 against the power of its gracious invitations — an 
 offer which, if discarded from your hearts at the 
 present moment, may come back upon you, but 
 which will have to maintain a more unequal con- 
 test than before, with an impenitency ever strength- 
 ening, and ever gathering new hardness from each 
 successive act of resistance. And thus it is that the 
 point for which we are contending is not to carry 
 you at some future period of your lives, but to carry 
 you at this moment. It is to work in you the instan- 
 taneous purpose of a firm and a vigorously sustained 
 repentance; it is to put into you all the freshness <»f 
 an immediate resolution, and to stir you up to all 
 the readiness of an immediate accomplishment — it is 
 to give direction to the very first footstep you are now 
 to take, and lead you to take it as the commencement 
 of that holy career, in which all old things are done 
 away, and all things become new — it is to press it 
 upon you, that the state of the alternative, at this 
 moment, is " now or never" — it is to prove how fear- 
 ful the odds are against you, if now you sutler the call 
 of repentance to light upon your consciences, and still 
 keep by your determined posture of careless, and 
 thoughtless, and thankless unconcern about God. 
 You have resisted to-day. and by that resistance you 
 have acquired a firmer metal of resistance against 
 the power of every future warning that may be 
 
brought to bear upon you. You have stood your 
 ground against the urgency of the most earnest ad- 
 monitions, and against the dreadfulness of the most 
 terrifying menaces. On that ground you have fixed 
 yourself more immovably than before; and though 
 on some future day the same spiritual thunder be 
 made to play around you, it will not shake you out 
 of the obstinacy of your determined rebellion. 
 
 It is the universal law of habit, that the feelings 
 are always getting more faintly and feebly impressed 
 by every repetition of the cause which excited them, 
 and that the mind is always getting stronger in its 
 active resistance to the impulse of these feelings, by 
 every new deed of resistance which it performs; and 
 thus it is, that if you refuse us now, we have no oth- 
 er prospect before us than that your cause is every 
 day getting more desperate and more irrecoverable, 
 your souls are getting more hardened, the Spirit is 
 getting more provoked to abandon those who have so 
 long persisted in their opposition to his movements. 
 God, who says that his Spirit will not always strive 
 with the children of men, is getting more offended. 
 The tyranny of habit is getting every day a firmer 
 ascendency over you; Satan is getting you more help 
 lessly involved among his wiles and his entanglements; 
 the world, with all the inveteracy of those desii^s 
 which are opposite to the will of the Father, is more 
 and more lording it over your every affection. And 
 what, we would ask, what is the scene in which you 
 are now purposing to contest it, with all this mighty 
 force of opposition you are now so busy in raising up 
 against you? What is the field of combat to which 
 you are now looking forward, as the place where you 
 are to accomplish a victory over all those formidable 
 enemies whom you are at present arming with such 
 a weight of hostility, as, we say, within a single hair- 
 breadth of certainty, you will find to be irresistible? 
 the bigness of such a misleading infatuation! The 
 proposed scene in which this battle for eternity is to 
 be fought, and this victory for the crown of glory is to 
 
 1 
 
be won, is a deathbed. It is when the last messenger 
 stands by the couch of the dying man, and shakes at 
 him the terrors of his grisly countenance, that the 
 poor child of infatuation thinks he is to struggle and 
 prevail against all his enemies; against the unrelenting 
 tyranny of habit — against the obstinacy of his own 
 heart, which he is now doing so much to harden — 
 against the Spirit of God who perhaps long ere now 
 has pronounced the doom upon him, "He will take his 
 own way, and walk in his own counsel; I shall cease 
 from striving, and let him alone" — against Satan, to 
 whom every day of his life he has given some fresh 
 advantage over him, and who will not be willing to 
 lose the victim on whom he has practised so many 
 wiles, and plied with success so many delusions. 
 And such are the enemies whom you, who wretch- 
 edly calculate on the repentance of the eleventh 
 hour, are every day mustering up in greater force and 
 formidableness against you; and how can we think 
 of letting you go, with any other repentance than 
 the repentance of the precious moment that is now 
 passing over you, when we look forward to the hor- 
 rors of that impressive scene, on which you propose 
 to win the prize of immortality, and to contest it sin- 
 glehanded and alone, with all the weight of opp< isition 
 which you have accumulated against yourselves — a 
 deathbed — a languid, breathless, tossing, and agita- 
 ted deathbed; that scene of feebleness, when the 
 poor man cannot help himself to a single mouthful — 
 when ho must have attendants to sit around him, 
 and watch his every wish, and interpret his every sig- 
 nal, and turn him to every posture where he may 
 find a moments ease, and wipe away the cold sweat 
 that is running over him — and ply him with cordials 
 for thirst, and sickness, and insufferable languor. 
 And this is the time, when occupied with such feel- 
 ings, and heset with such agonies as these, you pro* 
 pOtte to crowd within the compass ofa lew wretched 
 days, the work of winding up the concerns of a neg- 
 lected eternity ! 
 
5. But it may be said, if repentance be what you 
 represent it, a thing of such mighty import, and such 
 impracticable performance, as a change of mind, in 
 what rational way can it be made the subject of a 
 precept or an injunction? you would not call upon 
 the Ethiopian to change his skin — you would not call 
 upon the leopard to change his spots; and yet you call 
 upon us to change our minds. You say, " Repent;" 
 and that too in the face of the undeniable doctrine, 
 that man is without strength for the achievement of 
 so mighty an enterprise. Can you tell us any plain 
 and practicable thing that you would have us to per- 
 form, and that we may perform to help on this busi- 
 ness? This is the very question with which the 
 hearers of John the Baptist came back upon him, 
 after he had told them in general terms to repent, 
 and to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. He 
 may not have resolved the difficulty, but he pointed 
 the expectations of his countrymen to a greater than 
 he for the solution of it. Now that Teacher has al- 
 ready come, and we live under the full and the finish- 
 ed splendour of his revelation. O that the greatness 
 and difficulty of the work of repentance, had the ef- 
 fect of shutting you up into the faith of Christ! 
 Repentance is not a paltry, superficial reformation. 
 It reaches deep into the inner man, but not too deep 
 for the searching influences of that Spirit which is at 
 his giving, and which worketh mightily in the hearts 
 of believers. You should go then under a sense of 
 your difficulty to Him. Seek to be rooted in the Sa- 
 viour, that you may be nourished out of his fulness, 
 and strengthened by his migjit. The simple cry for 
 a clean heart, and a right spirit, which is raised from 
 the mouth of a believer, brings down an answer from 
 on high, which explains all the difficulty and over- 
 comes it. And if what we have said, of the extent 
 and magnitude of repentance, should have the effect 
 to give a deeper feeling than before of the wants un- 
 der which you labour; and shall dispose you to seek 
 after a closer and more habitual union with Him 
 
 1 
 
who alone can supply them, then will our call to re- 
 pent have indeed fulfilled upon you the appointed end 
 of a preparation for the Saviour. But recollect now 
 is your time, and now is your opportunity, for enter- 
 ing on the road of preparation that leads to heaven. 
 We charge you to enter this road at this moment, 
 as you value your deliverance from hell, and your 
 possession of that "blissful place where you shall be 
 for ever with the Lord — we charge you not to parry 
 and to delay this matter, no not for a single hour — 
 we call on you by all that is great in eternity — by all 
 that is terrifying in its horrors — by all that is allur- 
 ing in its rewards — by all that is binding in the au- 
 thority of God — by all that is condemning in the se- 
 verity of his violated law, and by all that can aggra- 
 vate this condemnation in the insulting contempt of 
 his rejected gospel; — we call on you by one and all 
 of these considerations, not to hesitate but to flee — 
 not to purpose a return for to-morrow, but to make 
 an actual return this very day — to put a decisive end 
 to every plan of wickedness on which you may have 
 entered — to cease your hands from all that is forbid- 
 den — to turn them to all that is required — to betake 
 yourselves to the appointed Mediator, and receive 
 through him, by the prayer of faith, such constant 
 supplies of the washing of regeneration and renewing 
 of the Holy Ghost, that, from this moment, you 
 maybe carried forward from one degree of grace un- 
 to another, and from a life devoted to God here, to 
 the elevation of a triumphant, and the joys of a bliss- 
 ful eternity hereafter. 
 
 T. 6. 
 
 St. Andrew's, October, 1S25. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 The Advertisement, - - - 33 
 
 The Preface, - 35 
 
 The Text opened, - - - 49 
 
 Doct. 1. It is the unchangeable law of God, that 
 wicked men must turn or die — Proved, 52 
 
 God will not be so unmerciful as to damn us — 
 Answered, - 53 
 
 The Use, 57 
 
 Who are wicked men, and what conversion is; and 
 how we may know whether we are wicked or 
 converted, - 59 
 
 Applied, ----- 63 
 
 Doct. 2. It is the promise of God, that the wicked 
 shall live, if they will but turn; unfeignedly and 
 thoroughly turn — Proved, - 76 
 
 Doct. 3. God taketh pleasure in men's conversion 
 and salvation, but not in their death or damna- 
 tion. He had rather they would turn and live, 
 than go on and die — Expounded — Proved, 82 
 
 Doct. 4. The Lord hath confirmed it to us by 
 his oath, That he hath no pleasure in the death 
 of the wicked, but that he turn and live; that he 
 may leave man no pretence to doubt of it, 89 
 
 Use. Who is it then that takes pleasure in men's 
 sin and death? — Not God, nor ministers, nor any 
 good men, * - - - - 90 
 
 Doct. 5. So earnest is God for the conversion of 
 sinners, that he doubleth his commands and ex- 
 hortations with vehemency, " Turn ye, Turn 
 ye," — Applied, - - - 96 
 
 Some motives to obey God's call, and turn. 
 Doct. 6. The Lord condescendeth to reason the 
 case with unconverted sinners, and to ask them, 
 Why they will die? - 109 
 
S2 CONTENTS. 
 
 A strange disputation: — 1. For the question. 
 2. The disputants. 
 Wicked men will die, or destroy themselves. 
 Use. The sinner's case is certainly unreasonable, 113 
 Their seeming reasons confuted, - - 116 
 
 Quest. Why are men so unreasonable, and loath 
 
 to turn, and will destroy themselves? — Answered, 128 
 Doct. 7. If after all this, men will not turn, it is not 
 God's fault that they are condemned, but their 
 own, even their own wilfulness. They die be- 
 cause they will; that is, because they will not 
 turn, _---- 131 
 
 Use, 1. How unfit the wicked are to charge God 
 with their damnation. It is not because God is 
 unmerciful, but because they are cruel and mer- 
 ciless to themselves, - - - 138 
 Object. We cannot convert ourselves, nor have 
 
 we Free-will — Answered, (and in Preface) 142 
 
 Use, 2. The subtlety of Satan, the deceitfulness of 
 
 sin, and the folly of sinners manifested, - 143 
 Use, 3. No wonder if the wicked would hinder the 
 
 conversion and salvation of others, - 144 
 
 Use, 4. Man is the greatest enemy to himself, 144 
 
 Man's destruction is of himself — Proved, - 145 
 
 The heinous aggravations of self-destroying, 151 
 
 The concluding exhortation, - - 152 
 
 Ten Directions for those that had rather turn than 
 
 die, 156 
 
 Now or Never, - 165 
 
 Fifty Reasons, - 203 
 
 Extractsfrom Baxter's Dying Thoughts, 231 
 
%^, 
 
 Uflff/f 
 
 OF THB 
 
 fuHivsasi 
 
 THE GREAT SUCCESS 
 
 WHICH ATTENDED THE CALL 
 
 WHEN FIRST PUBLISHED. 
 
 It may be proper to prefix an account of this book 
 given by Mr. Baxter himself, which was found in his 
 study, after his death, in his own words: 
 
 * I published a short treatise on conversion, entitled, 
 A Call to the Unconverted. The occasion of this was 
 my converse with Bishop Usher while I was at London ; 
 who, approving my method and directions for Peace of 
 Conscience, was importunate with me to write directions 
 suited to the various states of Christians, and also against 
 particular sins. I reverenced the man, but disregarded 
 these persuasions, supposing I could do nothing but what 
 is done better already: but when he was dead, his words 
 went deeper to my mind, and I purposed to obey his 
 counsel; yet, so as that to the first sort of men, the un- 
 godly, I thought vehement persuasions meeter than di- 
 rections only: and so for such I published this little book, 
 which God hath blessed with unexpected success, be- 
 yond all the rest that I have written, except The Saint's 
 Rest. In a little more than a year, there were about 
 twenty thousand of them printed by my own consent, and 
 about ten thousand since, beside many thousands by 
 stolen impressions, which poor men stole for lucre's sake. 
 Through God's mercy, I have information of almost 
 whole households converted by this small book which I 
 set so light by: and, as if all this in England, Scotland, 
 
34 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 and Ireland, were not mercy enough to me, God, since 
 I was silenced, hath sent it over in his message to many 
 beyond the seas; for when Mr. Elliot had printed all the 
 Bible in the Indian language, he next translated this my 
 Call to the Unconverted, as he wrote to us here. And 
 yet God would make some farther use of it; for Mr. 
 Stoop, the pastor of the French Church in London, be- 
 ing driven hence by the displeasure of his superiors, was 
 pleased to translate it into French. I hope it will not 
 be unprofitable there; nor in Germany, where it is print- 
 ed in Dutch.' 
 
 It may be proper also to mention Dr. Bates's account 
 of the author, and of this useful treatise. In his sermon 
 at Mr. Baxter's funeral, he thus says : • His books of 
 practical divinity have been effectual for more conver- 
 sions of sinners to God than any printed in our time; and 
 while the church remains on earth, will be of continual 
 efficacy to recover lost souls. There is a vigorous pulse 
 in them, that keeps the reader awake and attentive.' 
 His Call to the Unconverted, how small in bulk, but 
 how powerful in virtue! Truth speaks in it with that 
 authority and efficacy, that it makes the reader to lay 
 his hand upon his heart, and find that he has a soul and 
 a conscience, though he lived before as if he had none. 
 He told some friends, that six brothers were converted by 
 reading that Call; and that every week he received 
 letters of some converted by his books. This he spake 
 with most humble thankfulness, that God was pleased to 
 use him as an instrument for the salvation of souls. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 To all unsanctified Persons that shall read this Book; 
 especially of my hearers in the Borough and Parish 
 of Kidderminster. 
 
 MEN AND BRETHREN, 
 
 The eternal God, that made you for a life everlasting, 
 and hath redeemed you by his only Son, when you had lost 
 it and yourselves, being mindful of you in your sin and mis- 
 ery, hath indited the gospel, and sealed it by his Spirit, and 
 commanded his ministers to preach it to the world, that par- 
 don being freely offered you, and Heaven being set before 
 you, he might call you off from your fleshly pleasures, and 
 from following after this deceitful world, and acquaint you 
 with the life that you were created and redeemed for, before 
 you are dead and past remedy. He sendeth you not prophets 
 or apostles, that receive their message by immediate revela- 
 tion; but yet he calleth you by his ordinary ministers, who 
 are commissioned by him to preach the same gospel which 
 Christ and his apostles first delivered. The Lord seeth how 
 you forget him and your latter end, and how light you make 
 of everlasting things, as men that understand not what they 
 have to do or suffer. He seeth how bold you are in sin, 
 and how fearless of his threatenings, and how careless of 
 your souls, and how the works of infidels are in your lives, 
 while the belief of Christians is in your mouths. He seeth 
 the dreadful day at hand, when your sorrows will begin, and 
 you must lament all this with fruitless cries in torment and 
 desperation: and then the remembrance of your folly will 
 tear your hearts, if true conversion now prevent it not. In 
 compassion to your sinful miserable souls, the Lord, that 
 better knows your case than you can know it, hath made it 
 our duty to speak to you in his name, (2 Cor. v. 19.) and to 
 tell you plainly of your sin and misery, and what will be your 
 end, and how sad" a change you will shortly see, if yet you 
 go on a little longer. Having bought you at so dear a rate 
 as the blood of his Son Jesus Christ, and made you so free 
 
36 PREFACE. 
 
 and general a promise of pardon, and grace, and everlasting 
 glory; he commandeth us to tender all this to you, as the gift 
 of God, and to entreat you to consider of the necessity and 
 worth of what he offers. He sees and pities you, while you 
 are drowned in worldly cares and pleasures, eagerly fol- 
 lowing childish toys, and wasting - that short and precious 
 time for a thing of nought, in which you should make ready 
 for an everlasting life; and therefore he hath commanded 
 us to call after you, and tell you how you lose your labour, 
 and are about to lose your souls, and to tell you what great- 
 er and better things you might certainly have, if you would 
 hearken to his call. Isa. lv. 1, 2, 3. We believe and obey 
 the voice of God; and come to you on his message, who hath 
 charged us to preach, and be instant with you in season and 
 out of season, to lift up our voice like a trumpet, and 
 show you your transgressions and your sins. Isa. lviii. 1, 2; 
 Tim. iv. 1, 2. But, alas! to the grief of our souls and your 
 undoing, you stop your ears, you stiffen your necks, you 
 harden your hearts, and send us back to God with groans, 
 to tell him that we have done his message, but can do no 
 good on you, nor scarcely get a sober hearing. Oh! that 
 our eyes were as a fountain of tears, that we might lament 
 our ignorant careless people, that have Christ before them, 
 and pardon, and life, and heaven before them, and have not 
 hearts to know or value them! that might have Christ, and 
 grace, and glory, as well as others, if it were not for their 
 wilful negligence and contempt! O that the Lord would fill 
 our hearts with more compassion to these miserable souls, 
 that we might cast ourselves even at their feel, and follow 
 them to their houses, and speak to them with our bitter 
 tears. For, long have we preached to many of them in vain. 
 We study plainness to make them understand, and many of 
 them will not understand us; we study serious piercing words, 
 to make them feel, but they will not feel. If the greatest 
 matters would work with them, we should awake them; if 
 the sweetest things would work, we should entice them and 
 win their hearts; if the most dreadful things would work, we 
 should at least affright them from their wickedness; if truth 
 and certainty would take with them, we should soon convince 
 them; if the God that made them, and the Christ that bought 
 them, might be heard, the case would soon be altered with 
 them; if scripture might be heard, we should soon prevail; if 
 reason, even the best and strongest reason, might be heard, 
 we should not doubt but we should speedily convince them; 
 if experience might be heard, even their own experience and 
 the experience of all the world, the matter would be mended; 
 yea, if the conscience within them might be heard, the case 
 
PREFACE. 37 
 
 would be better with them than it is. But if nothing can be 
 heard, what then shall we do for tnem'? If the dreadful God 
 of heaven be slighted, who then shall be regarded! if the 
 inestimable love and blood of a Redeemer be made light 
 of, what then shall be valued'? If heaven have no desirable 
 glory with them, and everlasting joys be nothing worth; if 
 they can jest at hell, and dance about the bottomless pit, and 
 play with the consuming fire, and that when God and man 
 do warn them of it, what shall we do for such souls as these! 
 Once more, in the name of the God of heaven, I shall 
 do the message to you which he hath commanded us, and 
 leave it in these standing lines to convert you or condemn 
 you: to change you, or rise up in judgment against you, and to 
 be a witness to your faces, that once you had a serious call 
 to turn. Hear all you that are drudges of the world, and 
 the servants of flesh and Satan! that spend your days in look- 
 ing after prosperity on earth, and drown your conscience 
 in drinking, and gluttony, and idleness, and foolish sports, 
 and know your sin, and yet will sin, as if you set God at defi- 
 ance, and bid him do his worst and spare not! Hearken, all 
 you that mind not God, and have no heart to holy things, 
 and feel no savour in the word or worship of the Lord, or in 
 the thoughts or mention of eternal life, that are careless of your 
 immortal souls, and never bestow one hour in inquiring what 
 case they are in, whether sanctified or unsanctified, and wheth- 
 er you are ready to appear before the Lord! Hearken all you 
 that, by sinning in light, have sinned yourselves into infide- 
 lity, and do not believe the word of God. He that hath an 
 ear to hear, let him hear the gracious and yet dreadful call of 
 God! His eye is all this while upon you. Your sins are re- 
 gistered, and you shall surely hear of them all again. God 
 keepeth the book now; and he will write it all upon your 
 consciences with his terrors; and then you also shall keep it 
 yourselves! O sinners, that you but knew what you are do- 
 ing, and whom you are all this while offending! The sun it- 
 *elf is darkness before the glory of that Majesty, which you 
 daily abuse and carelessly provoke. The sinning angels 
 were not able to stand before him, but were cast down to be 
 tormented with devils. And dare such siily worms as you 
 so carelessly offend, and set yourselves against your Maker! 
 O that you did but a little know what case that wretched 
 soul is in, that hath engaged the living God against him! The 
 word of his mouth, that made thee, can unmake thee; the 
 frown of his face will cut thee off and cast thee out into ut- 
 ter darkness. How eager are the devils to be doing with 
 thee that have tempted thee, and do but wait for the word 
 from God to take and use thee as their own! and then in a 
 
r 
 
 38 PREFACE. 
 
 moment thou wilt be in hell. If God be against thee, all 
 things are against thee: this world is but thy prison, tor all 
 thou so lovest it; thou art but reserved in it to the day of 
 wrath (Job xxi. 30.); the Judge is coming, thy soul is even 
 going. Yet a little while, and thy friend shall say of thee 
 * He is dead;' and thou shalt see the things that thou now dost 
 despise, and feel that which now thou wilt not believe. Death 
 will bring such an argument as thou canst not answer; an 
 argument that shall effectually confute thy cavils against the 
 word and ways of God, and all thy self-conceited dotages. 
 And, then how soon will thy mind be changed? Then be an 
 unbeliever if thou canst; stand then to all thy former words, 
 which thou wast wont to utter against a holy and a heavenly 
 life. Make good that cause then before the Lord, which thou 
 wast wont to plead against thy teachers, and against the peo- 
 ple that feared God. Then stand to thy old opinions and eon- 
 temptuous thoughts of the diligence of the saints: make ready 
 now thy strongest reasons, and stand up then before the Judge, 
 and plead like a man for thy fleshly, thy worldly, thy ungodly 
 life. But know that thou wilt have one to plead with, that will 
 not be outfaced by thee; nor so easily put off as we thy fellow- 
 creatures. O poor soul ! there is nothing but a slender veil of 
 flesh between thee and that amazing sight, which will quickly 
 silence thee, and turn thy tone, and make thee of another mind! 
 As soon as death hath drawn this curtain, thou shalt see that 
 which will quickly leave thee speechless. And how quickly 
 will that day and hour come! When thou hast had but a few 
 more merry hours, and but a few more pleasant draughts and 
 morsels, and a little more of the honours and riches of the 
 world, thy portion will be spent, and thy pleasures ended, and 
 all is then gone that thou settest thy heart upon; of all that thou 
 coldest thy Saviour and salvation for, there is nothing left but 
 the heavy reckoning. As a thief, that sits merrily spending 
 the money which he hath stolen, in an alehouse, when mm 
 are riding in post haste to apprehend him, so is it with you. 
 While you are drowned in cares or fleshly pleasures, and 
 making merry with your own shame, death is coming in post 
 haste to seize upon you, and carry your souls to such a place 
 and state as now you little know or think of. Suppose, w lun 
 you are bold and busy in your sin, that a messenger were but 
 coming post from London to apprehend you and tftfce away 
 your lives; though you saw him not, yet if you knew thai he 
 was Doming, it would mar your mirth, and you would he 
 thinking of the haste he makes, and hearkening when he 
 knocked at your door. O that you could but see what baste 
 Death makes, though he vet has not overtaken you! No pott 
 so swift. No messenger more sure. As sure as the sun will 
 
PREFACE. 39 
 
 be with you in the morning, though it hath many thousand 
 and hundred thousand miles to go in the night, so sure will 
 Death be quickly with you: and then where is your sport and 
 pleasure] Then will you jest and brave it out? Then will 
 you jeer at them that warned you? Then is it better to be a 
 believing saint or a sensual worldling? And then whose shall 
 all these thing3 be that you have gathered? Luke xii. 19, 
 20, 21. Do you not observe that days and weeks are quickly 
 gone, and nights and mornings come apace, and speedily 
 succeed each other? You sleep, but your damnation slum- 
 bereth not; you linger, but your judgment this long time ling- 
 creth not, to which you are reserved for punishment. 2 Pet. 
 ii. 3, 4, 5, 8, 9. O that you were wise to understand this, 
 and that you did consider your latter end! Deut. xxxii. 29. 
 He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear the call of God in 
 this day of his salvation. 
 
 O careless sinners! that you did but know the love that you 
 unthank fully neglect, and the preciousness of the blood of 
 Christ which you despise! O that you did but know the 
 riches of the go.spel! O that you did but know, a little know, 
 the certainty, and the glory, and blessedness of that everlast- 
 ing life, which now you will not set your hearts upon, nor 
 be persuaded first and diligently to seek. Heb. xi. 6, and 
 xii. 2S; and Matt. vi. 13. Did you but know the endless 
 life with God which you now neglect, how quickly would 
 you cast away jour sin, how quickly would you change your 
 mind and life, your course and company, and turn the streams 
 of your affections, and lay your care another way? How re- 
 solutely would you scorn to yield to such temptations as now 
 deceive you and carry you away? How zealously would you 
 bestir yourselves for that most blessed life? How earnest 
 would you be with God in prayer? How diligent in hearing 
 and learning, and inquiring? How serious in meditating on 
 the laws of God? Ps. i. 2. How fearful of sinning in 
 thought, word, and deed? and how careful to please God and 
 grow in holiness? O what a changed people you would be! 
 And why should not the certain word of God be believed by 
 you, and prevail with you, which openeth to you these glori- 
 ous and eternal things? 
 
 Yea, let me tell you that even here on earth, you little 
 know the difference between the life which you refuse, and 
 the life which you choose? The sanctified are conversing 
 with God, when you dare scarce think of him, and when you 
 are conversing with but earth and flesh. Their conversation 
 is in heaven, when you are utter strangers to it, and your bel- 
 ly is your God, and you are minding earthly things. Phil, 
 iii. 18, 19, 20. They are seeking after the face of God, 
 
40 PREFACE. 
 
 when you seek for nothing higher than this world. They 
 are busily laying up for an endless life, where they shall be 
 equal with the angels, (Luke xx. 36.) when you are taken up 
 with a shadow and a transitory thing of nought. How low 
 and base is your earthly, ileshly, sinful life, in comparison of 
 the noble spiritual life of true believers'? Many a time have I 
 looked on such men with grief and pity, to see them trudge 
 about the world, and spend their lives, and care, and labour, 
 for nothing but a little food and raiment, or a little fading pelf, 
 or Ileshly pleasures, or empty honours, as if they had no higher 
 things to mind. What difference is there between the lives 
 of these men and of the beasts that perish, that spend their time 
 in working and eating, and living, but that they may live? 
 They taste not of the inward heavenly pleasures upon which 
 believers taste and live. I had rather have a little of their com- 
 fort, which the forethoughts of their heavenly inheritance af- 
 ford them, though I had all their scorns and sufferings with 
 it, than to have all your pleasures and treacherous prosper- 
 ity. I would not have one of your secret pangs of con- 
 science, and dark and dreadful thoughts of death and the life 
 to come, for all that ever the world hath done for you, or all 
 that you can reasonably hope that it should do. If I were 
 in your unconverted carnal state, and knew but what I know, 
 and believe but what I now believe, methinks my life would 
 be a foretaste of hell: How oft should T be thinking of the 
 terrors of the Lord, and of the dismal day that is hastening 
 on! Sure death and hell would be still before me. I should 
 think of them by day, and dream of them by night; I should 
 lie down in fear, and rise in fear, and live in fear, jest death 
 should come before I were converted. I should have small 
 felicity in any thing that I possessed, and little pleasure hi 
 any company, and little joy in any tiling in the world, as 
 long as I knew myself to be under the curse and wrath of 
 God. I should be still afraid of hearing that voice, Thou 
 fool, this night shall thy soul he required of thee. Luke, Nii. 
 20. And that fearful sentence would be written upon mv eon- 
 science, There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. 
 Isaiah, xlviii. 22. Ivii. 21. O poor sinners! It is a more joy- 
 ful life than this, that you might live, if you were but willing, 
 but truly willing to hearken to Christ, and come borne to God. 
 You might then draw near to God with boldness, and call 
 him your Father, and comfortably trust him with your souls 
 and bodies. If you look upon the promises, you may say, 
 They are all mine. If upon the curse, you may say, Prom 
 this I am delivered. When yap read the law, yon ma\ see 
 what you are saved from. When you read the Gospel, you 
 may see him that redeemed you, and see the course of hia 
 

 love, and holy life, and sufferings, and trace him in his temp- 
 tations, tears, and blood, in the work of your salvation 
 You may see death conquered, and heaven opened, and your 
 resurrection and glorification provided for in the resurrection 
 and glorification of the Lord. If you look on the saints, 
 you may say, They are my brethren and companions. If 
 on the unsanctified, you may rejoice to think that you are 
 saved from that state. If you look upon the heavens, the sun, 
 and moon, and stars innumerable, you may think and say, 
 My Father's face is infinitely more glorious; it is higher mat- 
 ters that He hath prepared for his saints; yonder is but the 
 outward court of heaven. The blessedness that He hath pro- 
 mised me is so much higher that flesh and blood cannot be- 
 hold it. If you think of the grave, you may remember that 
 the glorified Spirit, a living Head, and a loving Father, have 
 all so near a relation to your dust, that it cannot be forgot- 
 ten or neglected, but will more certainly revive than the 
 plants and flowers in the spring: because that the soul is still 
 alive that is the root of the body; and Christ is ali\e, that 
 is the root of both. Even death, which is the king of fears, 
 may be remembered and entertained with joy, as being the 
 day of your deliverance from the remnant of sin and sorrow, 
 and the day which you believed, and hoped, and waited for, 
 when you shall see the blessed things which you had heard 
 of, and shall find by present joyful experience what it was to 
 choose the better part, and to be a sincere believing saint. 
 What say you, sir'? Is not this a more delightful life, to be as- 
 sured of salvation, and ready to die, than to live as the un- 
 godly, that have their hearts overcharged with surfeiting, 
 and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so that dav 
 comes upon them unawares'? Luke xxi. 34, 36. Might you 
 not live a comfortable life, if once you were made the heirs 
 of heaven, and sure to be saved when you leave the world! 
 O look about you then, and think what you do, and cast not 
 away such hopes as these for very nothing. The flesh and 
 world can give you no such hopes or comforts. 
 
 And besides all the misery that you bring upon yourselves, 
 you are the troublers of others as long as you are unconvert- 
 ed. You trouble magistrates to rule you by their laws; you 
 trouble ministers by resisting the light and guidance which 
 they offer you. Your sin and misery aVe the greatest grief 
 and trouble to them in the world. You trouble the com- 
 monwealth, and draw the judgments of God upon you. It 
 is you that most disturb the holy peace and order of the 
 churches, and hinder our union and reformation, and are the 
 shame and trouble of the churches where you intrude, and 
 of the places where vou are. Ah, Lord! how r heavy and 
 4 
 
4% PREFACE. 
 
 sad a case is this, that even in England, where the gospel 
 doth abound above any other nation in the world, where 
 teaching is so plain and common, and all the helps we can 
 desire are at hand; when the sword has been hewing us, 
 and judgment has run as a fire through the land; when deliv- 
 erances have relieved us, and so many admirable mercies 
 have engaged us to God, and to the Gospel, and a holy life; 
 that, after all this, our cities, and towns, and countries, 
 shall abound with multitudes of unsanctitfed men, and 
 swarm with so much sensuality, as every where, to our grief, 
 we see] One would have thought, that after all this light, 
 and all this experience, and all these judgments and mercies 
 of God, the people of this nation should have joined togeth- 
 er, as one man, to turn to the Lord, and should have come 
 to their godly teacher, and lamented all their former sins, 
 and desired him to join with them, in public humiliation, to 
 confess them openly, and beg pardon of them from the Lord, 
 and should have craved his instruction for the time to come, 
 and be glad to be ruled by the Spirit within, and the minis- 
 ters of Christ without, according to the word of God. One 
 would think that, after such reason and Scripture evidence 
 as they hear, and after all these means and mercies, there 
 should not be an ungodly person left among us, nor a world- 
 ling, nor a drunkard, nor a hater of reformation, nor an ene- 
 my to holiness, to be found in all our towns and countries. 
 If we be not all agreed about some ceremonies or forms of 
 government, one would think that, before this, we should 
 have been agreed to live a holy and heavenly life, in obedi- 
 ence to God, his word, and ministers, and in love and peace 
 with one another. But, alas! how far are our people from 
 this course! Most of them, in most places, do set their hearts 
 on earthly things, and seek not " first the kingdom of God 
 and the righteousness thereof," but look on holiness as a 
 needless thing; their families are pravi rl( \»s, or else a few 
 heartless lifeless words must serve instead of lieartv In- 
 vent daily prayers (or perhaps only on the Lord's day, in the 
 evening): their children are not taught the knowledge of 
 Christ, and the covenant of grace, nor brought up in the 
 nurture of the Lord, though they firmly promised all this at 
 their baptism. 
 
 They instruct not their servants in the matters of salvation; 
 but so their work be done, they care not. There are 
 more railing speeches in their families than graciotM words 
 that tend to edification. I low few are the families that fear 
 the Lord, and inquire at his word and ministers how they 
 should live, and what they should do, and are willing to be 
 taught and ruled, and that heartily look after everlasting 
 
life! And those few that God hath made so happy are 
 commonly the by-word of their neighbours. When we see 
 some live in drunkenness, and some in pride and worldli- 
 ness, and most of them have little care of their salvation, 
 though the cause be gross and past all controversy, yet will 
 they hardly be convinced of their misery, and more hardly 
 recovered and reformed; but, when we have done all that 
 we are able to save them from their sins, we leave the most of 
 them as we find them. And if, according to the law of God, 
 we cast them out of the communion of the church, when 
 they have obstinately rejected all our admonitions, they rage 
 at us as if we were their enemies, and their hearts are filled 
 with malice against us, and they wil? sooner set themselves 
 against the Lord, and his laws, and church, and ministers, 
 than against their deadly sins. This is the doleful case of 
 England: we have magistrates that countenance the ways of 
 godliness, and a happy opportunity for unity and reforma- 
 tion is before us, and faithful ministers long to see the right 
 ordering of the church and of the ordinances of God: but the 
 power of sin in our people doth frustrate almost all. No- 
 where can almost a faithful minister set up the unquestiona- 
 ble discipline of Christ, or put back the most scandalous 
 impenitent sinners from the communion of the church and 
 participation of the sacraments, but the most of the people 
 rail at them and revile them; as if these ignorant careless souls 
 were wiser than their teachers, or than God himself. And 
 thus, in the day of our visitation, when God calls upon us to 
 reform his church, though magistrates seem willing, and 
 faithful ministers seem willing, yet are the multitude of (he 
 people still unwilling, and have so blinded themselves, and 
 hardened their hearts, that, even in these days of light and 
 grace, they are the obstinate enemies of light and grace, 
 and will not be broitght by the calls of God to see their 
 folly, and know what is for their good. O that the people 
 of England knew at least in this their day, the things that 
 belong unto their peace, before they are hid from their 
 eyes! Luke xix. 42. 
 
 O foolish miserable souls! Gal. iii. 1. Who hath bewitched 
 your minds into such madness, and your hearts unto such 
 deadness, that you should be such mortal enemies to your- 
 selves, and go on so obstinately towards damnation, that 
 neither the word of God, nor the persuasions of men, can 
 change your minds, or hold your hands, or stop you, till you 
 are past remedy! Well, sinners! this life will not last al- 
 ways; this patience will not wait upon you still. Do not 
 think that you shall abuse your Maker and Redeemer, and 
 serve his enemies, and debase your souls, and trouble the 
 
world, and wrong the church, and reproach the godly, and 
 grieve your teachers, and hinder reformation, and all this 
 upon free cost. You know not yet what this must cost you, 
 but you must shortly know, when the righteous God shall 
 take you in hand, who will handle you in another manner 
 than the sharpest magistrates or the plainest dealing pastors 
 did, unless you prevent the everlasting torments, by a sound 
 conversion and a speedy obeying of the call of God, " He 
 that hath an ear to hear, let him hear," while mercy hath a 
 voice to call. 
 
 One objection I find most common in the mouths of the 
 ungodly, especially of l^te years; they say, * We can do noth- 
 ing without God, Ave cannot have grace, if God will not give 
 it us; and, if he will, we shall quickly turn; if he have not 
 predestinated us, and will not turn us, how can we turn our- 
 selves, or be saved! It is not in him that wills nor in him that 
 runs.* And thus they think they are excused. 
 
 I have answered this formerly, and in this book; but let 
 me now say this much. 1. Though you cannot cure your- 
 selves, you can hurt and poison yourselves. It is God that 
 must sanctify your hearts; but who corrupted them! Will you 
 wilfully take poison, because you cannot cure yourselves! 
 Methinks you should the more forbear it. You should the 
 more take heed of sinning, if you cannot mend what sin doth 
 mar. 2. Though you cannot be converted without the spe- 
 cial grace of God, yet you must know that God giveth his 
 grace in the use of his holy means which he hath appointed to 
 that end; and common grace may enable you to forbear your 
 gross sinning (as to the outward act) and to use those means. 
 Can you truly say, that you do as much as you are able to do! 
 Are you not able to go by an alehouse door, or to forbear 
 the company that hardeneth you in sin! Are you not able to 
 hear the word, and think of what you heard when you come 
 home, and to consider with yourselves of your own condition 
 and of everlasting things! Are you not able to read good 
 books from day to day, at least on the Lord's day, and to 
 converse with those that fear the Lord! You cannot say 
 that you have done what you arc able. 3. And therefore 
 you must know that you can forfeit the grace and help of 
 God by your wilful sinning or negligence, though you can- 
 not, without grace, turn to God. If you will not do what 
 you can, it is just with God to deny you that grace by 
 which you might do more. 4. And, for GodV decrees, you 
 must know that they separate not the end and means, hut 
 tie them together. God never d ec ree d 10 Save any but the 
 sanctified, nor to damn any bat the nnsanctifird God doth 
 as truly decree whether your land this year shall be barren or 
 

 fruitful, and just how long you shall live in the world, as he 
 hath decreed Avhether you shall be saved or not; and yet you 
 would think that man but a fool that would forbear ploughing 
 and sowing, and say, ' If God hath decreed that my ground 
 shall bear corn, it will bear, whether I plough and sow or 
 not. If God have decreed that I shall live, I shall live, 
 whether I eat or not; but, if he have not, it is not eating that 
 will keep me alive.' Do you know how to answer such a 
 man, or do you not? If you do, then you know how to an- 
 swer yourselves; for, the case is alike: God's decree is as 
 peremptory about your bodies as your souls: if you do not, 
 then try first these conclusions upon your bodies, before you 
 venture to try them on your souls: see first whether God will 
 keep you alive without food or raiment, and whether he will 
 give you corn without tillage and labour, and whether he 
 will bring you to your journey's end without your travel or 
 carriage; and, if you speed well in this, then try whether he 
 will bring you to heaven without your diligent use of means, 
 and sit down and say, We cannot sanctify ourselves. 
 
 Well, sirs, I have but three requests to you, and I have 
 done. 
 
 First, That you will seriously read over this small treatise; 
 and, if you have such as need it in your families, that you 
 would read it over and over^to them; and if those that fear 
 God would go now and then to their ignorant neighbours, 
 and read this or some other book to them of this sub- 
 ject, they might be a means of winning souls. If we can- 
 not entreat so small a labour of men for their own salvation, 
 as to read such short instructions as these, they set little by 
 themselves and will most justly perish. 
 
 Secondly, W^hen you have read over this book, I would 
 entreat 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 nearly touch your souls, and whether it 
 be not time to look about you. And also entreat 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 which 
 you have so long neglected, and follow it on from day to 
 day, till your hearts be changed. And withal, that you will 
 go to your pastors, (that are set over you to take care of the 
 health and safety of your souls, as physicians 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 ministeri- 
 al help. 
 
46 PREFACE. 
 
 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 pres- 
 ently forsake your sinful company and courses, and turn to 
 God, and obey his call. As you love your souls, take heed 
 that ye go not on against so loud a call of God, and against 
 your own knowledge and conscience, lest it go worse with 
 you in the day of judgment than with Sodom and Gomorrah. 
 Inquire of God, as a man that is willing to know the truth, 
 and not be a wilful cheater 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 heaven or earth, 
 and whether it be better to follow God or man, the Spirit or 
 the flesh, and better to live in holiness or sin, and whether 
 an unsanctified state 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. 
 Tf you will be true to your own souls, and do not love ever- 
 lasting torments, I beseech you, as from the Lord, that you 
 will but take this reasonable advice. O what happy towns 
 and countries, and what a happy nation might we have, if 
 we could but persuade our neighbours to agree to such a 
 necessary motion! What joyful men would all faithful min- 
 isters be, if they could but see their people truly heavenly 
 and holy; this would be the unity, the peace, the safely, the 
 glory, of our churches; the happiness of our neighbours, and 
 the comfort of our souls. Then how comfortably should we 
 preach pardon and peace to you, and deliver the sacraments, 
 which are the seals of peace to you! And with what love 
 and joy might we live among you! At your deathbed 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, igno- 
 rant, fleshly, worldly, or unholy life, and all our desires and 
 labours cannot BO far prevail as to keep you from the wilful 
 damning of yourselves, we must then imitate our Lord, who 
 delighteth himself in those few that are jewels, and in a 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 is but a little of the earth that is gold or silver. Princes 
 and nobles are but a small part of the sons of men: and it 
 
PREFACE. 47 
 
 is no great number that are learned, judicious, or wise, here in 
 the world. And, therefore, if the gate being strait and very 
 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 ven- 
 geance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, his coming will be glorified in his 
 saints, and admired in all true believers. 2 Thess. i. 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 sufferings 
 in 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. xlix. 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 persuaded to have done with the deadly reigning sin. I 
 have written thee this persuasive, as one that is going into 
 another world, where the things are seen that I here speak 
 of, and as one that knoAveth 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 catho- 
 lic church; and as ever thou hopest to see the face of Christ 
 the Judge, 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 mayst live. But, if thou wilt not, even when thou 
 hast no true reason for it, but because thou wilt not, I sum- 
 mon 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, 
 
 RICHARD BAXTER. 
 
 December 11, 1657. 
 
A CALL. 
 
 TO THE UNCOXVERTEI). 
 
 EZEKIEL XXXIII. 11. 
 
 Say unto them, As Hive, saith the Lord God, I have 
 no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that 
 the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, 
 turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, 
 O house of Israel? 
 
 It hath been the astonishing wonder of many a 
 man as well as me, to read in the holy Scriptures 
 how few will be saved, and that the greatest part 
 even of those that are called, will be everlastingly 
 shut out of the kingdom of heaven, and be tor- 
 mented with the devils in eternal fire. Infidels be- 
 lieve not this when they read it, and therefore they 
 must feel it; those that do believe it, are forced to 
 cry out with Paul, (Rom. xi. 13,) " O the depth of 
 the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of 
 God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and 
 his ways past finding out!" But nature itself doth 
 teach us all to lay the blame of evil works* upon the 
 doers; and therefore when we see any heinous thing 
 done, a principle of justice doth provoke us to in- 
 quire after him that did it, that the evil of the work 
 may return the evil of shame upon the author. If 
 we saw a man killed and cut in pieces by the way 
 we would presently ask, Oh! who did this cruel 
 5 
 
50 A CALL TO 
 
 deed? If the town was wilfully set on fire, you 
 would ask, what wicked wretch did this? So when 
 we read that many souls will be miserable in hell 
 for ever, we must, needs think with ourselves, how 
 comes this to pass? and w T hose fault is it? Who is 
 it that is so cruel as to be the cause of such a thing 
 as this ? and we can meet with few that will own the 
 guilt. It is indeed confessed by all, that Satan is 
 the cause; but that doth not resolve the doubt, be- 
 cause he is not the principal cause. He doth not 
 force men to sin, but tempts them to it, and leaves 
 it to their own wills whether they will do it or not. 
 He doth not carry men to an alehouse and force 
 open their mouths and pour in the drink; nor doth 
 he hold them that they cannot go to God's service; 
 nor doth he force their hearts from holy thoughts. 
 It lieth therefore between God himself and the sin- 
 ner; one of them must needs be the principal cause 
 of all this misery, whichever it is, for there is no 
 other to lay it upon; and God disclaimeth it; he 
 will not take it upon him; and the wicked disclaim it 
 usually, and they will not take it upon them, and this 
 is the controversy that is here managing in my text. 
 The Lord complaineth of the people; and the peo- 
 ple think it is the fault of God. The same controversy 
 Is handled, chap, xviii. 25; they plainly say, " that 
 the way of the Lord is not equal*' So here they 
 say, verse 19, " [f our transgressions and our sins 
 be upon us, and we pine away in them, how shall 
 we then live?" As if they should say, if we must 
 die, and be miserable, how can we help it? as if it 
 were not their fault but God's. Hut God, in my 
 text, doth clear himself of it, and telleth them how 
 they may help it if they will, ami persuadeth them 
 to use the means, and if they will not. he persuaded, 
 he lets them know that it is the fault of themselves; 
 and if this will not satisfy them, he will nut forbear 
 to punish them. It is he that will he the .Judge, and 
 he will judge them according to (heir ways; Ihey are 
 no judge of him or of themselves, as wanting au 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 51 
 
 thority, and wisdom, and impartiality, nor is it the 
 cavilling and quarrelling with God that shall serve 
 their turn, or save them from the execution of jus- 
 tice at which they murmur. 
 
 The words of this verse contain, 1 . God's purg- 
 ' ation or clearing himself from the blame of their des- 
 1 truction. This he doth not by disowning his law, 
 that the wicked shall die, nor by disowning his judg- 
 ments and execution according to that law, or giving 
 them any hope that the law shall not be executed; 
 but by professing that it is not their death that he 
 takes pleasure in, but their returning, rather that 
 they may live; and this he confirmeth to them by 
 his oath. 2. An express exhortation to the wicked 
 to return; wherein God doth not only command, but 
 persuade and condescend also to reason the case with 
 them. Why will they die? The direct end of this 
 exhortation is, that they may turn and live. The 
 secondary or reserved ends, upon supposition that 
 this is not attained, are these two: First, To con- 
 vince them by the means which he used, that it is 
 not the fault of God if they be miserable. Secondly, 
 To convince them from their manifest wilfulness in 
 rejecting all his commands and persuasions, that it is 
 the fault of themselves, and they die, even because 
 they will die. 
 
 The substance of the texi doth lie in these ob- 
 servations following: — 
 
 Doctrine 1. It is the unchangeable law of God, 
 that wicked men must turn or die. 
 
 Doctrine 2. It is the promise of God, that the 
 wicked shall live, if they will but turn. 
 
 Doctrine 3. God takes pleasure in men's conver- 
 sion and salvation, but not in their death or damna- 
 tion, he had rather they would return and live, than 
 go on and die. 
 
 Doctrine 4. This is a most certain truth, which 
 because God would not have men to question, he 
 hath confirmed it to them solemnly by his oath. 
 
52 A CALL TO 
 
 Doctrine 5. The Lord doth redouble his com- 
 mands and persuasions to the wicked to turn. 
 
 Doctrine 6. The Lord condescendeth to reason 
 the case with them; and asketh the wicked why 
 they will die? 
 
 Doctrine 7. If after all this the wicked will not 
 turn, it is not the fault of God that they perish but 
 of themselves; their own wilfulness is the cause of 
 their own damnation; they therefore die because 
 they will die. 
 
 Having laid the text open in these propositions, 
 I shall next speak somewhat of each of them in order, 
 though very briefly. 
 
 Doctrine 1. It is the unchangeable law of God, 
 that wicked men must turn, or die. 
 
 If you will believe God, believe this : there is but 
 one of these two ways for every wicked man, either 
 conversion or damnation. I know the wicked will 
 hardly be persuaded either of the truth or equity 
 of this. No wonder if the guilty quarrel with the 
 law. Few men are apt to believe that which they 
 would not have to be true, and fewer would have 
 that to be true which they apprehend to be against 
 them. But it is not quarrelling with the law, or with 
 the judge, that will save the malefactor. Believing 
 and regarding the law might have prevented his death, 
 but denying and accusing it will but hasten it. If it 
 were not so, an hundred would bring their reason 
 against the law, for one that would bring his reason 
 to the law, and men would rather choose to give 
 their reasons why they should nut be punished, than 
 to hear the commands and reasons of their governors 
 which require them to obey. The law was not 
 made for you to judge, but that you might be ruled 
 and judged by it. 
 
 But if there be any so blind as to venture to ques- 
 tion either the truth or the justice of this law of God, 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 53 
 
 I shall briefly give you that evidence of both, which, 
 methinks, should satisfy a reasonable man. 
 
 And first, if you doubt whether this he the word 
 of God, or not, besides a hundred other texts, you 
 may be satisfied by these few: — Matt, xviii, 3. " Ver- 
 ily I say unto you, except ye be converted and be- 
 come as little children, ye cannot enter into the king- 
 dom of God." John iii. 3. " Verily, verily, I say unto 
 vou, except a man be born again, he cannot see the 
 kingdom of God. " 2 Cor. v. 17. " If any man be in 
 Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed 
 away; behold, all things are become new." Col. iii. 
 9, 10. " Ye have put off the old man with his deeds, 
 and have put on the new man, which is renewed in 
 knowledge after the image of him that created him." 
 Heb. xii. 14. "Without holiness none shall see 
 God." Rom. viii. 8, 9. " So then they that are in 
 the flesh cannot please God. Now if any man have 
 not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Gal. vi. 
 15. " For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avail- 
 eth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new crea- 
 ture." 1 Pet. i. 3. "According to his abundant 
 grace he hath begotten us to a lively hope." Ver. 23. 
 " Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of 
 incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and 
 abideth for ever." 1 Pet. ii. 1,2." Wherefore laying 
 aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and 
 envies, and evil speaking, as new born babes desire 
 the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow 
 thereby." Psalm ix. 17. " The wicked shall be turn- 
 ed into hell, and all the nations that fdrget God." 
 Psalm xi. 4. " And the Lord loveth the righteous, 
 l)ut the wicked his soul hateth." 
 
 As I need not stay to open these texts which are 
 60 plain, so I think I need not add any more of that 
 multitude which speak the like. If thou be a man 
 that dost believe the word of God, here is already 
 enough to satisfy thee, that the wicked must be con- 
 verted or condemned. You are already brought so 
 far, that you must either confess that this is true, or 
 
54 k CALL TO 
 
 say plainly, you will not believe the word of God. 
 And if once you be come to that pass, there is but 
 small hopes of you: look to yourselves as well as you 
 can, for it is like you will not be long out of hell. 
 You would be ready to fly in the face of him that 
 should give you the lie; and yet dare you give the lie 
 to God ? But if you tell God plainly you will not be- 
 lieve him, blame him not if he never warn you more, 
 or if he forsake you, and give you up as hopeless; for 
 to what purpose should he warn you, if you will not 
 believe him ? Should he send an angel from heaven to 
 you, it seems you would not believe. For an angel 
 can speak but the word of God; and if an angel should 
 bring you any other gospel, you are not to receive it, 
 but to hold him accursed. Gal. i. 8. And surely 
 there is no angel to be believed before the Son of God, 
 who came from the Father to bring us this doctrine. 
 If he be not to be believed, then all the angels in 
 heaven are not to be believed. And if you stand on 
 these terms with God, I shall leave you till he deal 
 with you in a more convincing way. God hath a 
 voice that will make you hear. Though he entreat 
 you to hear the voice of his gospel, he will make you 
 hear the voice of his condemning sentence, without 
 entreaty. We cannot make you believe against your 
 wills; but God will make you feel against your wills. 
 
 But let us hear what reason you have why you 
 will not believe this word of God, which tells us that 
 the wicked must be converted, or condemned. I 
 know your reason; it is because that you judge it un- 
 likely that God should be so unmerciful: you think 
 it cruelty to damn men everlastingly lor so small a 
 thing as a sinful life. And this leads us to the 
 second thing, which is to justify the equity of God 
 in his laws and judgments. 
 
 And first, I think you will not deny but that it is 
 most suitable to an immortal soul, to be ruled by laws 
 that promise an immortal reward, and threaten an 
 endless punishment Otherwise the law should not 
 be suited to the nature of the subject, who will not 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 55 
 
 be fully ruled by any lower means than the hopes or 
 fears of everlasting things : as it is in cases of temporal 
 
 Eunishment, if a law were now made that the most 
 einous crimes shall be punished with a hundred 
 years' captivity, this might be of some efficacy, as be- 
 ing equal to our lives. But, if there had been no 
 other penalties before the flood, when men lived 
 eight or nine hundred years, it would not have been 
 sufficient, because men would know that they might 
 have so many hundred years impunity afterwards. 
 So it is in our present case. 
 
 2. I suppose that you will confess, that the promise 
 of an endless and inconceivable glory is not so unsuit- 
 able to the wisdom of God, or the case of roan: and 
 why then should you not think so of the threatening 
 of an endless and unspeakable misery! 
 
 3. When you find it in the word of God that so 
 it is, and so it will be, do ve think yourselves fit 
 to contradict this word? Will you call your Maker 
 to the bar, and examine his word upon the accusa- 
 tion of falsehood ? Will you sit upon him, and judge 
 him by the law of your conceits? Are you wiser, 
 and better, and more righteous than he? Must the 
 God of heaven come to school to you to learn wis- 
 dom? Must Infinite Wisdom learn of folly, and 
 Infinite Goodness be corrected by a swinish sinner, 
 that cannot keep himself an hour clean? Must the 
 Almighty stand at the bar of a worm ? O horrid 
 arrogancy of senseless dust! shall ever mole, or clod, 
 or dunghill, accuse the sun of darkness, and under- 
 take to illuminate the world? Where were you 
 when the Almighty made the laws, that he did not 
 call you to his counsel ? Surely he made them before 
 you were born, without desiring your advice; and 
 you came into the world too late to reverse them, if 
 you could have done so great a work. You should 
 have stepped out of your nothingness and have con- 
 tradicted Christ when he was on earth, or Moses be- 
 fore him, or have saved Adam and his sinful progeny 
 from the threatened death, that so there might have 
 
56 A CALL TO 
 
 been no need of Christ. And what if God withdraw 
 his patience and sustaining power, and let you drop 
 into hell while you are quarrelling with his word, 
 will you then believe that there is a hell ? 
 
 4. If sin be such an evil that it requireth the death 
 of Christ for its expiation, no wonder if it deserve our 
 everlasting misery. 
 
 5. And if the sin of the devils deserved an endless 
 torment, why not also the sin of man ? 
 
 6. And methinks you should perceive that it is not 
 possible for the best of men, much less for the wick- 
 ed, to be competent judges of the desert of sin. 
 Alas! we are both blind and partial. You can 
 never know fully the desert of sin, till you fully know 
 the evil of sin; and you can never fully know the 
 evil of sin, till you fully know, 1. The excellency of 
 the soul which it deformeth. 2. And the excellen- 
 cy of holiness which it obliterates. 3. The reason 
 and excellency of the law which it violates. 4. The 
 excellency of the glory which it despises. 5. The 
 excellency and office of reason which it treadeth 
 down. 6. No, nor till you know the infinite excel- 
 lency, almightiness and holiness of that God against 
 whom it is committed. When you fully know all 
 these, you shall fully know the desert of sin besides. 
 You know that the offender is too partial to judge the 
 law, or the proceeding of his judge. We judge by 
 feeling which blinds our reason. We see, in common 
 worldly things, that most men think the cause is right 
 which is their own, and that all is wrong that is done 
 against them; and let the most wise or just impartial 
 friends persuade them to the contrary, and it is all in 
 vain. There are few children but think the father 
 is unmerciful, or dealeth hardly with them if he 
 whip them. There is scarce the vi lest wretch but 
 thinketh the church doth wrong him Lf I hey excom- 
 municate him: or scarce a thief or murderer that is 
 hanged, but would accuse the law and judge of cru- 
 elty, if that would serve their turn. 
 
 7. Can you think that an unholy soul is fit for 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 57 
 
 heaven? Alas, they cannot love God here, nor do 
 him any service which he can accept. They are 
 contrary Jto God; they loathe that which he most 
 loveth, and love that" which he abhorreth. They 
 are incapable of that imperfect communion with him 
 which his saints here partake of. How then can 
 they live in that perfect love of him, and full delights 
 and communion with him, which is the blessedness 
 of heaven? Ye do not accuse yourselves of unmerci- 
 fulness, if you make not your enemy your bosom 
 counsellor; or if you take not your swine to bed and 
 board with you : no, nor if you take away his life 
 though he never sinned ; and yet you will blame the 
 absolute Lord, the most wise and gracious Sovereign 
 of the world, if he condemn the unconverted to 
 perpetual misery. 
 
 Use. — I beseech you now, 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 to turn or die. When God, 
 that cannot lie, hath told you this; when you hear 
 it from the Maker and Judge of the world, it is 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 lie. Should I hide this from you, I should 
 undo you, and be guilty of your blood, as the verses 
 before my text assure me. Verse 8. " When I say 
 to the wicked man, O wicked man, thou shalt surely 
 die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from 
 his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; 
 but his blood will I require at thine hand." You 
 see then, though this be a rough and unwelcome 
 doctrine, it is such as we must preach, and you must 
 hear. It is easier to hear of hell than feel it. If 
 
58 A CALL TO 
 
 your necessities did not require it, we would not gall 
 your tender ears with truths that seern 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 con- 
 version, and go the narrow way of holiness, while 
 they have time : and they strive not, because they 
 are not awakened to a lively feeling of the danger they 
 are in; and they are not awakened because they are 
 loth to hear or think of it: and that is partly through 
 foolish tenderness and carnal self love, and partly be- 
 cause they do not well believe the word that threat- 
 eneth it. If you will not thoroughly believe this 
 truth, methinks 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 minds, and haunt you 
 night and day? so that in your sinning you would re- 
 member 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 fbrgetfulness or 
 unbelief, how can it work to your conversion and sal- 
 vation? But take this with you to your sorrow, 
 though you may put this out of your minds, you can- 
 not 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 is the matter then that the hearts of sin- 
 nys are not pierced with such ;i 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 drowsy careless tern- 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 59 
 
 per will not last long. Conversion and condemna- 
 tion are both of them awakening things, and one of 
 them will make you feel ere long. I can foretell 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 
 foolish 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 pre- 
 sumptuous dream will be at an end, and then their 
 wits and feeling will return. 
 
 But I foresee there are two things that are likely 
 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 on those two words, 
 the wicked and turn. Some will tlunk to themselves, 
 ' It is true, the wicked must turn or die; but what is 
 that to me, I am not wicked; though I am a sinner, 
 all men are. 5 Others will think, ' It is true that we 
 must turn from our evil ways, 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 al- 
 ready converted, we lose all our labour in persuading 
 them to turn. I shall therefore, before I go any fur- 
 ther, tell you here who are meant by the wicked ; 
 and who they are that must turn or die; and also 
 what is meant by turning, and who they are that are 
 truly converted. And this I have purposely reserved 
 for this place, preferring the method that fits my 
 end. 
 
 And here you may 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 convert- 
 ed; 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, anu fetch up 
 the matter from the beginning. 
 
60 A CALL TO 
 
 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 to dwell on earth. Brute? 
 were made flesh, without immortal souls, and there- 
 fore they were made only for earth, and not for heav- 
 en. Man is of a middle nature, hetween both, as 
 partaking of both flesh and spirit, and therefore lie 
 was made both for heaven and earth. 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 heav- 
 en, and not that this should be his home or happi- 
 ness. 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 a heart disposed 
 and inclined to Gcxl 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 han^s of 
 his own free will. For the second, God did that 
 which belonged to him; that is, he gave him a per- 
 fect law, required 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 ever- 
 lasting life, but also turned his heart from God, and 
 fixed it on these lower fleshly things, and hereby 
 blotted 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 pi 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 ar^inclinat ion 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 this life was suited 
 to the bent and inclination of his heart; he lived to 
 his carnal self, and not to God; he sought the crea- 
 ture, 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?" Job 
 xvi. 4. As a lion hath a fierce and cruel nature be- 
 fore he doth devour; and an adder hath a venomous 
 nature before she sting, so in our 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 loth to be brought out of it, 
 and therefore are set against the means of our recov- 
 ery: and though custom hath taught us to thank 
 Christ for his good-will, yet carnal self persuades us 
 to refuse his remedies, and to desire to be excused, 
 when we are commanded to take the medicines which 
 he offers, 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 wicked man; 
 for every man that is in the 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 caus- 
 ing his Son to take our nature, and being, in one per- 
 son, 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 
 
1 
 
 62 A CALL TO 
 
 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 Scrip- 
 tures by miracles and wonders, and to illuminate and 
 convert the souls of the elect. 
 
 So 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 Father's works were, to create us, to rule us, 
 as his rational creatures, by the law of nature, and 
 judge us thereby; and in mercy to provide us a Re- 
 deemer when we were lost; and to send his Son, and 
 accept his ransom. 
 
 The works of the Son for us were these: to ran- 
 som and redeem us by his suffering and righteous- 
 ness; 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 guid- 
 ing the Apostles, and sealing the word, by his mi 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 63 
 
 raculous 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 con- 
 verting 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 sanctify you. 
 
 So that by this time you may see the several causes 
 of this work. The Father sendeth the Son : the Son 
 redeems 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 to proclaim it, and per- 
 suade men to open 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 a heavenly course, which before was earthly; 
 and all this by entertaining of Christ by faith, who 
 is the Physician of the soul. 
 
 By what 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 affections 
 on earth, and loveth the creature more than God, and 
 his fleshly prosperity above the heavenly febcity. 
 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 than earth, 
 yet he doth not really so esteem it to himself. If he 
 might be sure of earth, he would let go heaven, and 
 had rather stay here than be removed thither. A 
 
64 A CALL TO 
 
 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 falsely 
 profess that he loves 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 
 than on God. In a word, whoever loves earth above 
 heaven, and fleshly prosperity more than God, is a 
 wicked, unconverted man. 
 
 On the other hand, 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 with it and set more upon it than any 
 thing in this world. He had rather see the face of 
 God, and live in his everlasting love and praises, than 
 have all the wealth or pleasures of the 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 treasures and 
 hopes in heaven, and for that he is resolved to let go 
 all. fAs the fire doth mount upward, and the needle 
 that is touched with the loadstone still turns to the 
 north, so the converted soul is inclined unto God. 
 Nothing else can satisfy 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 better than 
 all the world, and the heavenly felicity is dearer to 
 them than their fleshly prosperity. The proof of 
 what I have said you may find in these places «>f 
 Scripture: Phil. iii. 18, 21. Matt. vi. 19, 20, 21. 
 Col. iii. 1—4. Rom. viii. 5—9, 18, 23. Psalm lxxiii. 
 25, 26. 
 
 Secondly, A wicked man is one that makes 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 by the by, and he never makes it the principal 
 business of his life to please God, and attain ever- 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 65 
 
 lasting glory, and puts off God with the leavings 
 of the worid, and gives him no more service than 
 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 bless- 
 ings of this life but as accommodations in his journey 
 towards another life, and useth the creature in sub- 
 ordination to God; he loves a holy life, and longs 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 rises again and lamenteth it, 
 and dares 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 
 glorv. All this you may see in Col. iii. 1 — 5. Matt, 
 vi. 20, 33. Luke xviii. 22, 23, 29. Luke xiv. 18, 24, 
 26, 27. Rom. viii. 13. Gal. v. 24. Luke xii. 21, &c. 
 
 Thirdly, The soul of a wicked man did never tru- 
 ly discern and relish the mystery of redemption, nor 
 thankfully entertain an offered Saviour, nor is he 
 taken up with the love of the Redeemer, nor willing 
 to be ruled by him as the Physician of his soul, that he 
 may be saved from the guilt and power of his sins, 
 and recovered to 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 outwardly religious, 
 yet he never resigns 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 en- 
 tertain the tidings of redemption, and believing in the 
 Lord Jesus as his only Saviour, resigns himself up 
 to him for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and 
 6 
 
66 A CALL TO 
 
 redemption He takes Christ as the life of his soul, 
 and lives by him, and uses him as a salve for every 
 sore, admiring the wisdom and love of God in this 
 wonderful work of man's 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 loved him, and gave himself for him ; 
 yea, it is not so much he that liveth, as Christ in 
 him. For these, see Job i. 11, 12. and iii. 19, 20. 
 Rom. viii. 9. Phil. iii. 7—10. Gal. ii. 20. Job xv. 
 2, 3, 4. 1 Cor. i. 20. ii. 2. 
 
 You see now in plain terms from the Word of God, 
 who are the wicked and who are the converted. Ig- 
 norant people think, that if a man be no swearer, nor 
 curser, nor railer, nor drunkard, nor fornicator, nor 
 extortioner, nor wrong any body in his dealings, 
 and if he come to church and say his prayers, 
 he cannot be a wicked man. Or if a man that hath 
 been guilty of drunkenness, swearing or gaming, or 
 the like vices, do but forbear them for the time to 
 come, they think that this is a converted man. Oth- 
 ers think if a man that hath been an enemy, and 
 scorner at godliness, do but approve it, 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 that they are converted, by taking up some 
 new opinion, and falling into some dividing party. 
 And some think, if they have but been affrighted by 
 the fears of hell, and had convictions of conscience; 
 and thereupon have purposed and promised amend- 
 ment, and take up a life of civil behaviour, and out- 
 ward religion, that this must needs be true conver- 
 sion. And these are the poor deluded souls that, 
 are like to lose the benefit of all our persuasions; and 
 when they hear that the Wicked must turn or die, 
 they think that this is not spoken t<> them, for they 
 are not wicked, but are turned already. And there- 
 fore it is that Christ told some of the rulers of the 
 Jews who were greater and more civil than the com- 
 mon people, that " publicans and harlots go into the 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 67 
 
 kingdom of Christ before them." Matt. xxi. 31. Not 
 that a 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, than the more civil sort, who 
 ' delude themselves by thinking that they are convert- 
 ed already, when they are not. 
 
 O sirs, conversion is another kind of work than 
 most are aware of. It is not a small matter to bring 
 an earthly mind to heaven, and to show man the 
 amiable excellencies of God, till he be taken up in 
 such love to him that can never be quenched; to 
 break the heart for sin, and make him fly for refuge 
 to Christ, and thankfully embrace him as the life 
 of his soul; to have the very drift and bent of the 
 heart and life changed; so that a man renounceth 
 that which he took for his felicity, and placeth his* 
 felicity where he never did before; and lives not 
 to the same end, and drives not on the same design 
 in the world, as he formerly did. In a word, he 
 that is in Christ is a " new creature: old things are 
 passed away: behold, all things are become new." 
 2. Cor. v. 17. He hath a new understanding, a new 
 will and resolution, new sorrows, and desires, and love, 
 and delight; new thoughts, new speeches, new com- 
 pany, (if possible,) and a new conversation. Sin, that 
 before was a jesting matter with him, is now so 
 odious and terrible to him, that he flies from it as 
 from death. The world, that was so lovely in his 
 eyes, doth now appear but as vanity and vexation: 
 God, that was before neglected, is now the only 
 happiness of his soul : before he was forgotten, and 
 every lust preferred before him, but now he is set 
 next the heart, and all things must give place to 
 him; the heart is taken up in the attendance and 
 observance of him, is grieved when he hides his 
 face, and never thinks itself well without him. Christ 
 himself, that was wont ito be slightly thought of, is 
 now his only hope and refuge, and he lives upon him 
 as on his daily bread; he cannot pray without him, 
 
63 A CALL TO 
 
 nor rejoice without him, nor think, nor speak, nor 
 live without him. Heaven itself, that before was 
 looked upon hut as a tolerable reserve, which he 
 hoped might serve his turn better than hell, when 
 he could not stay any longer in the world, is now 
 taken for his home, the place of his only hope and 
 rest, where he shall see, and love, and praise that 
 God that hath his heart already. Hell, that did 
 seem before but as a bugbear to frighten men from 
 sin, doth now appear to be a real misery, that is not 
 to be ventured on, nor jested with. The works of 
 holiness, of which belbre he was weary, and thought 
 to be more than needful, are now both his rec- 
 reation, and his business, and the trade that he lives 
 upon. The Bible, which was before to him but al- 
 most as a common book, is now as the law of God; 
 as a letter written to him, and subscribed with the 
 name of the Eternal Majesty; it is the rule of his 
 thoughts, and words, and deeds; the commands are 
 binding, the threats are dreadful, and the promises 
 of it speak life to his soul. The godly, that seemed 
 to him but like other men, are now the most excel- 
 lent and happy on earth. And the wicked that were 
 his playfellows, are now his grief; and he that could 
 laugh at their sins, is readier now to weep for their 
 sin and misery: — Psalm xvi. 3. xv. 4. Phil. iii. 18. 
 " But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the 
 excellent, in whom is all my delight." " In whose 
 eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth 
 them that fear the Lord: he that sweareth to his 
 own hurt, and changeth not." " For many walk, 
 of whom I have told you often, and now tell you 
 even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross 
 of Christ." In short, he hath a new end in his 
 thoughts, and a new way in his endeavours, and 
 therefore his heart and life are new. Before, his car- 
 nal self was his end, and his pleasure and world- 
 ly profits and credit were his way; and now God and 
 everlasting glory are his end, and Christ, and the Spir- 
 it, and word, and ordinances. Holiness to God, and 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. Wf 
 
 righteousness and mercy to men, these are his way. 
 Before, self was the chief ruler, to which the mat- 
 ters of God and conscience must stoop and give 
 place; and now God, in Christ, by the Spirit, word 
 and ministry, is the chief ruler, to whom both self 
 and all the matters of self, must give place. So that 
 this is not a change in one, or two, or twenty points, 
 but in the whole soul, and in the very end and bent of 
 the conversation. A man may step out of one path 
 into another, and yet have his face the same way, 
 and be still going towards the same place; but it is 
 another matter to turn quite back, and take his 
 journey quite the contrary way, to a contrary place. 
 So it is here, a man may turn from drunkenness to 
 thrifliness, and forsake his good fellowship, and other 
 gross disgraceful sins, and set upon some duties of 
 religion, and yet be still going to the same end as be- 
 fore, intending his carnal self above all, and giving it 
 still the government of his soul; but when he is con- 
 verted, this self is denied, and taken down, and God 
 is set up, and his face is turned the contrary way : 
 and he that before was addicted to himself, and lived 
 to himself, is now, by sanctification, devoted to God, 
 and liveth unto God. Before, he asked himself 
 what he should do with his time, his parts, and his 
 estate, and for himself he used them; but now he 
 asketh God what he shall do with them, and useth 
 them for him. Before he would please God so far 
 as might accord with the pleasure of his flesh and 
 carnal self, but not to any great displeasure of them; 
 but now he will please God, let flesh and self be 
 never so much displeased. This is the great change 
 that God will make upon all that shall be saved. 
 
 You can say, that the Holy Ghost is our sanc- 
 tifier: but do you know what sanctification is? 
 Why, this is what I have now opened to you; and 
 every man and woman in the world must have this, 
 or be condemned to everlasting misery. They must 
 turn or die. 
 
 Do you believe all this, sirs, or do you not? 
 
70 A CALL TO 
 
 Surely you dare not say, you do not; for it is past 
 a doubt or denial. These are not controversies, 
 where one learned pious man is of one mind, and 
 another of another; where one party saith this, and 
 the other saith that. Every sect among us that 
 deserve to be called Christians, are all agreed in 
 this that I have said; and if you will not believe 
 the God of truth, and that in a case where every 
 sect and party do believe him, you are utterly 
 inexcusable. 
 
 But if you do believe this, how comes it to pass 
 that you live so quietly in an unconverted state? 
 Do you know that you are converted? and can you 
 find this wonderful change upon your souls? Have 
 you been thus born again, and made new? Are not 
 these strange matters to many of you, and such as 
 you never felt within yourselves? If you cannot tell 
 the day or week of your change, or the very sermon 
 that converted you, yet do you find that the work is 
 done, and such a change indeed there is, and that 
 you have such hearts as are before described ? Alas ! 
 the most do follow their worldly business, and little 
 trouble their minds with such thoughts. And if 
 they be restrained from scandalous sins, and can say, 
 "Tarn no whoremonger, nor thief, nor curser, nor 
 swearer, nor tippler, nor extortioner; 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 yourselves. 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 corpse will shortly 
 lie in the dust, and angels or devils will presently 
 seize upon your sours; and every man or woman of 
 you all will shortly be among other company, and 
 in another case than now you are. You will dwell 
 in these houses but a little longer: you will work in 
 your shops and fields but a little longer; you will sit 
 in these seats and dwell on this earth but a little long- 
 er; you will see with these eyes, and hear with these 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 
 
 71 
 
 ears, and speak with these tongues, but a little long- 
 er, till the resurrection-day; and can you make shift 
 to forget this? O what a place will you shortly be 
 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 horror ! 
 What work will you be employed in ! to praise the 
 Lord with saints and angels, or to cry out in fire un- 
 quenchable with devils; and should all this be forgot- 
 ten ? And all this will be endless, and sealed up by 
 an unchangeable decree. Eternity, eternity will be 
 the measure of your joys or sorrows: and can this be 
 forgotten? And all this is true, sirs, most certainly 
 true. When you have gone up and down a little 
 longer, and slept and awaked a few times more, you 
 will be dead and gone, and find all true that now I 
 tell you: and yet canyon now so much forget it? 
 You shall then remember that you heard this ser- 
 n ion, and that, this day or this place, you w r ere re- 
 minded of these things, and perceive them matters a 
 thousand times greater than either you or I could 
 iiere 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 myself, I 
 should have remained in a 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 myself. If your eyes 
 were so far opened as to see hell, and you saw your 
 neighbours, that were unconverted, dragged thither 
 with hideous cries; though they were such as you 
 accounted honest people on earth, and feared no such 
 danger themselves, such a sight would make you 
 go home and think of it, and think again, and make 
 you warn all about you, as that lost worldling 
 (Luke xvi. 28.) w r ould have had his brethren warn- 
 ed, 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 not seen. If I believe God, it is 
 
^2 A CALL TO 
 
 next to seeing; and therefore I beseech you excuse 
 me, if I he half as earnest with you about these mat- 
 ters, as if I had seen them. If I must die to-mor- 
 row, 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 Scriptures and ministers, and 
 he will not humour unbelievers so far as to send men 
 from the dead to them, and alter his established 
 way; if any man quarrel with the sun, God will not 
 humour him so far as to set 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 it is possible for one from the dead to de- 
 ceive you; but Jesus Christ can never deceive you; 
 the Word of God delivered in Scripture, and seal- 
 ed by 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 (feny me not: That you would, without any 
 more delay, when you are gone from hence, remem- 
 ber what you have heard, and enter into an earnest 
 search of your hearts, and say to yourselves — It is 
 so indeed; must I turn or die?" Must I be converted 
 or condemned ? It is time for me then to look about 
 me before it be too late. O why did not I look after 
 this till now? Why did I venturously put off or neg- 
 lect so great a business? Was I awake, or in my 
 wits? O blessed God, what a mercy it is that thou 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 73 
 
 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 converted, 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 him- 
 self with pardon and life for my soul? Do I hate my 
 former sinful life, and the remnant of every sin that 
 is in me? Do I fly from them as my deadly enemies? 
 Do I give up myself to a life of holiness and obedi- 
 ence to God? Do I love it, and delight in it? Can 1 
 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 ? Hath heaven more of my estimation and 
 resolution than earth? And is God the dearest and 
 highest in my soul? Once, I am sure, I lived princi- 
 pally to the world and flesh, 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 affec- 
 tions? Have I set my hopes and heart in heaven? 
 And is it not the scope, and design, and bent of my 
 heart, to get well to heaven and see the glorious face 
 of God, and live in his love and praise? And when 1 
 sin, is it against the habitual bent and design of my 
 heart? And do I conquer all gross sins, and am I 
 weary and willing to be rid of my infirmities? This 
 is the state of converted souls. And thus it must be 
 with me, or I must perish. Is it thus with me in- 
 deed, or is it not? It is time to get this doubt resolv- 
 ed before the dreadful Judge 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 
 7 
 
74 A CALL TO 
 
 soul with false conceits and hopes. I am resolved 
 no more to deceive myself, but endeavour to know 
 truly whether I be converted or not : that if I be, I 
 may rejoice in it, and glorify my gracious Lord, and 
 comfortably go on till I reach the crown: and if I am 
 not, I may set myself 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 re- 
 covered, but if I stay till either my heart be forsaken 
 of God in blindness or hardness, or till I be catched 
 away by death, it is 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 P And if you cannot find it out by your own en- 
 deavours, go to your ministers, if they be faithful 
 and experienced men, and desire their assistance. 
 The matter is great, let not bashfulness, nor care- 
 lessness hinder you. They are set over you, to ad- 
 vise you, for the saving of your soul, as physicians 
 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, it' 
 they pick the fairest path, and avoid some of the foul- 
 est 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 because we cannot persuade 
 them to a few serious thoughts of their condition, 
 and to spend a few hours in the examining of their 
 states. Are there not many sell -deceivers who hear 
 me this day, that never bestowed one hour, or 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 75 
 
 quarter of an hour, in all their lives, to exam- 
 ine 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 the state of damnation, did but know it, they 
 eta rat not cgntinue 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 were 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 heart- 
 ily laugh, or be merry in such a state? What ! And 
 m >t know but you may be snatched away to hell in 
 an hour? Sure it would constrain you to forsake 
 your former company and courses, and to betake 
 yourselves to the ways of holiness, and the commu- 
 nion of 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 are none of you that 
 cares not for being damned. Well, then, I beseech 
 you presently make inquiry into your hearts, and 
 give them no rest till you find out your condition, 
 that if it be good, you may rejoice 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 prom- 
 o be at thus 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 all shortly ap- 
 pear, that you do not deny me this reasonable re- 
 
76 
 
 A CALL TO 
 
 quest. For the sake of those souls that must turn 
 or die, I beseech you deny me not; but make it 
 your business to understand your own conditions, 
 and build upon sure ground, and know whether you 
 are converted or not; and venture not your souls 
 on negligent security. 
 
 But perhaps you will say, e What if we should 
 find ourselves yet unconverted, what shall we do 
 then? ' This question leads me to my second Doc- 
 trine; which will do much to the answering of it, to 
 which I now proceed. 
 
 Doctrine 2. It is the promise of God, that the 
 wicked shall live, if they will but turn, unfeignedly 
 and thoroughly turn. 
 
 The Lord here professeth that this is what 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 die. 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 
 magnify his mercy. Sinners, there are none of you 
 shall have cause to go home, and say I preach des- 
 peration to you. Do we use to shut the door of 
 mercy against you? O that you would not shut it 
 up against yourselves ! 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 cavil 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, though you 
 repent, and be converted? No, it is the direct con- 
 trary that we daily proclaim from the Lord; and 
 whoever is born again, and by faith and repentance 
 dotli become a new creature, shall certainly be sav- 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 77 
 
 ed; and so far are we from persuading you to despair 
 of this, that we persuade you not to make any doubt 
 of it. It is life, not death, that is the first part of 
 our message to you; our commission is to offer sal- 
 vation, certain salvation; a speedy, glorious, ever- 
 lasting salvation, to every one of you; to the poorest 
 beggar as well as the greatest lord ; to the worst of 
 you, even to drunkards, swearers, worldlings, thieves, 
 yea, to the despisers, and reproachers of the holy 
 way of salvation. We are commanded by the Lord 
 our Master, to offer you a pardon for all that is past, 
 if you will but now at last return and live; we are 
 commanded to beseech and entreat you to accept 
 the offer, and return; to tell you what preparation is 
 made by Christ; what mercy stays for you; what 
 patience waiteth for you; what thoughts of kindness 
 God hath towards you; and how happy, how cer- 
 tainly and unspeakably happy you may be if you 
 will. We have indeed also a message of wrath and 
 death, yea, of a twofold wrath and death; but neither 
 of them is our principal message. We must tell you 
 of the wrath that is on you already, and the death 
 that you are born under, for the breach of the law 
 of works; but this is but to show you the need of 
 mercy, and to provoke you to esteem the grace of 
 the Redeemer. And we tell you nothing but the 
 truth, which you must know; for who will seek for 
 physic that knows not that he is sick? Our telling 
 you of your misery, is not that which makes you 
 miserable, but driveth you out to seek for mercy. 
 It is you that have brought this death upon your- 
 selves. We tell you also of another death, even 
 remediless, and much greater torment, that will fall 
 on those that will not be converted. But as this is 
 true, and must be told you, so it is but the last 
 and saddest part of our message. We are first to 
 offer you mercy, if you will turn; and it is only those 
 that will not turn, nor hear the voice of mercy, to 
 whom we must foretell damnation. Will you but 
 cast away your transgressions, delay no longer, but 
 
78 A CALL TO 
 
 come away at the call of Christ, and be converted, 
 and become new creatures, and we have not a word 
 of damning wrath, or death to speak against you. 
 1 do here, in the name of the Lord of Liie, proclaim 
 to you all that hear me this day, to the worst of you, 
 to the greatest, to the oldest sinner, that you may 
 have mercy and salvation, if you will but turn. 
 There is mercy in God, there is sufficiency in the 
 satisfaction of Christ, the promise is free, and full, 
 and universal; you may have life, if you will but 
 turn. But then, as you love your souls, remember 
 what turning it is that the Scripture speaks of. It 
 is not to mend the old house, but to pull down all, 
 and build anew on Christ, the Rock, and sure foun- 
 dation. It is not to mend somewhat in a carnal 
 course of life, but to mortify the flesh, and live after 
 the Spirit. It is not to serve the flesh and the world, 
 in a more reformed way, without any scandalous 
 disgraceful sins, and with a certain kind of religious- 
 ness; but it is to change your master, and your 
 works, and end ; and to set your face the. contrary 
 way, and do all for the life that you never saw, and 
 dedicate yourselves, and all you have to God. This 
 is the change that must be made, if you will live. 
 
 Yourselves are witnesses now, that it is salvation, 
 and not damnation, that is the great doctrine I preach 
 to you, and the first part of my message to you. 
 Accept of this, and we shall go no further with you : 
 for we would not so much as affright, or trouble 
 you with the name of damnation, without necessity. 
 
 But if you will not be saved, there is no remedy, 
 but damnation must take place, for there is no mid- 
 dle place between the two; you must have either lile 
 or death. 
 
 And we are not only to offer you life, but to show 
 you the grounds on which we do it, and call you to 
 believe that God doth mean, indeed, as he speaks; 
 that the promise is true, and extendeth conditionally 
 to you, as well as others; and that heaven is no fan- 
 cy, but a true felicity. 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 79 
 
 If you ask, Where is your commission for this of- 
 fer? Among a hundred texts of scripture, I will 
 show it to you in these few : 
 
 First, You see it here in my text, and the follow- 
 ing verses, and in the 18th of Ezekiel, as plain as can 
 be spoken; and in 2 Cor. v. 17 — 21. you have the 
 very sum of our commission; "If any man be in 
 Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed 
 away; behold, all things are become new. And all 
 things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself 
 by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of 
 reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ recon- 
 ciling the world unto himself, not imputing their 
 trespasses to them, and hath committed unto us the 
 word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassa- 
 dors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by 
 us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled 
 unto God. For he hath made him to be sin for 
 us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the 
 righteousness of God in him." So Mark xvi. 15, 
 16. " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gos- 
 pel to every creature. He that believeth, (that is 
 with such a converting faith as is expressed) and is 
 baptized, shall be saved; and he that believeth not, 
 shall be damned." And Luke xxiv. 46, 47. "Thus 
 it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead 
 the third day: and that repentance (which is conver- 
 sion) and remission of sins should be preached in his 
 name among all nations." And, Acts, v. 30, 31. 
 "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye 
 slew, and hanged on a tree: him hath God exalted 
 with his right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, to 
 give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." 
 And Acts xiii. 3S, 39. " Be it known unto you, there- 
 fore, men and brethren, that through this man is 
 preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by 
 him all that believe are justified from all things, from 
 which ye could not be justified by the law of Mo- 
 ses." And lest you think this offer is restrained to 
 the Jews, see Gal. vi, 15. " For in Christ Jesus, nei- 
 
80 A CALL TO 
 
 ther circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircum- 
 cision, but a new creature." And Luke xiv. 17. 
 " Come, for all things are now ready." 
 
 You see by this time that we are commanded to 
 offer life to you all, and to tell you from God, That 
 if you will turn, you may live. 
 
 Here you may safely trust your souls; for the love 
 of God is the fountain of this offer, (John iii. 16,) and 
 the blood of the Son of God hath purchased it; the 
 faithfulness and truth of God is engaged to make the 
 promise good; miracles oft sealed the truth of it; 
 preachers are sent through the world to proclaim it; 
 the sacraments are instituted and used for the solemn 
 delivery of the mercy offered to them that will ac- 
 cept it; and the Spirit doth open the heart to enter- 
 tain it, and is itself the earnest of the full possession. 
 So that the truth of it is past controversy, that the 
 worst of you all, and every one of you, if you will 
 but be converted, may be saved. 
 
 Indeed, if you will needs believe that you shall be 
 saved without conversion, then you believe a false- 
 hood; and if I should preach that to you, I should 
 preach a lie. This were not to believe God, but the 
 devil and your own deceitful hearts. God hath his 
 promise of* life, and the devil hath his promise of life. 
 God's promise is, Return and live. The devil's 
 promise is, You shall live whether you turn or not. 
 The words of God are, as I have showed you, " Ex- 
 cept ye be converted and become as little children, 
 ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
 Matt, xviii. 8. "Except a man be bom again, he 
 cannot enter into the kingdom of God." .John iii. 
 3, 5. "Without holiness none shall see God." 
 Heb. xii. 14. The devil's word, " You may be sa- 
 ved without being born again and converted; you 
 may do well enough without being holy, God doth 
 but frighten you; he is more merciful than to do as 
 he saith, he will be better to you than his word." 
 And, alas, the greatest part of the world believe 
 this word of the devil, before \hv word of God; just 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 81 
 
 as our sin and misery came into the world. God 
 said to our first parents, * If ye eat ye shall die;" 
 and the devil contradicted him, and said, " Ye shall 
 not die:" and the woman believed the devil before 
 God. So now the Lord saith, Turn or die: and the 
 devil saith, You shall not die, if you do but cry for 
 God's mercy at last, and give over the acts of sin 
 when you can practise it no longer. And this is the 
 word that the world believes. O heinous wicked- 
 ness, to believe the devil before God. 
 
 And yet that is not the worst; but blasphemously 
 they call this a believing and trusting in God, when 
 they put him in the shape of Satan, who was a liar 
 from the beginning; and when they believe that the 
 word of God is a lie, they call this a trusting God and 
 say they believe in him, and trust in him for salva- 
 tion. Where did ever God say, that the unregene- 
 rate, unconverted, unsanctified, shall be saved ? Show 
 me such a word in Scripture. I challenge you if you 
 can. Why this is the devil's word, and to believe it 
 is to believe the devil, and the sin that is commonly 
 called presumption; and do you call this a believing 
 and trusting in God? There is enough in the word 
 of God to comfort and strengthen the heart of the 
 sanctified; but not a word to strengthen the hands of 
 wickedness, nor to give men the least hope of being 
 saved, though they be never sanctified. 
 
 But if you will turn, and come into the way of 
 mercy, the mercy of the Lord is ready to entertain 
 you. Then trust God for salvation, boldly and con- 
 fidently; for he is engaged by his word to save you. 
 He will be a father to none but his children; and he 
 will save none but those that forsake the world, the 
 devil, and the flesh, and come into his family to be 
 members of his Son, and have communion with his 
 saints. But if they will not come in, it is the fault 
 of themselves: his doors are open; he keeps none 
 back; he never sent such a message as this to any 
 of you, 'It is now too late; I will not receive thee, 
 though thou be converted. 5 He might have don<* so 
 
82 A CALL TO 
 
 and done you no wrong; but he did not; lie doth not 
 to this day. He is still ready to receive you, if you 
 were but ready unfeigned ly, and with all your hearts 
 to turn. And the fulness of this truth will yet more 
 appear in the two following doctrines, which I shall 
 therefore next proceed to, before I make any further 
 application of this. 
 
 Doctrine S. God taketh pleasure in men's con- 
 version and salvation, but not in their death or 
 damnation. He had rather they would turn and 
 live, than go on and die. 
 
 I shall first teach you how to understand this, 
 and then clear up the truth of it to you. 
 
 And for the first you must observe these following 
 things: 1. A simple willingness or complacency is 
 the first act of the will following the single apprehen- 
 sion of the understanding, before it proceedeth to 
 compare things together; but the choosing act of the 
 will is a following act, and supposeth the comparing 
 practical act of the understanding; and these two acts 
 may often be carried to contrary objects, without 
 any fault at all in the person. 
 
 2. An unfeigned willingness may have divers de- 
 grees; some things I am so far willing of as that I 
 will do all that lieth in my power to accomplish it, 
 and some things I am truly willing another should 
 do, when yet I will not do all that I am ever able to 
 procure it, having many reasons to dissuade me 
 therefrom, though yet I will do all that belongs to 
 me to do. 
 
 3. The will of a ruler, as such, is manifested in 
 making and executing laws: but the will of man hi 
 his simple natural capacity, or as absolute lord of his 
 own, is manifested in desiring or resolving of events. 
 
 4. A ruler's will, as lawgiver, is lirst and princi- 
 pally that his laws be obeyed, and not at all that the 
 penalty be executed on any, but only on supposition 
 that they will not obey his laws; but a ruler's will, 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 85 
 
 as judge, supposeth the law already either kept or 
 broken, and therefore he resolveth our reward or 
 punishment accordingly. 
 
 Having given you those necessary distinctions, I 
 shall next apply them to the case in hand, in these 
 following propositions: — 
 
 1 . It is in the glass of the word and creatures, that 
 in this life we must know God; and so according to 
 the nature of man we ascribe to him understanding 
 and will, removing all the imperfections that we can, 
 because we are capable of no higher positive concep- 
 tions of him. 
 
 2. And on the same grounds we do, with the 
 scripture, distinguish between the acts of God's will, 
 as diversified from the respects or the objects, though 
 as to God's essence they are all one. 
 
 3. And the bolder, because that when we speak 
 of Christ, we have the more ground for it from his 
 human nature. 
 
 4. And thus we say, that the simple complacency, 
 will, or love of God, is to all that is naturally or 
 morally good, according to the nature and degree of 
 its goodness, and so he hath pleasure in the conver- 
 sion and salvation of all, which yet will never come 
 to pass. 
 
 5. And God, as Ruler and Lawgiver of the 
 world, had so far a practical will for their salvation, 
 as to make them a free deed of gift of Christ and life, 
 and an act of oblivion for all their sins, so be if they 
 will not unthankfully reject it, and to command his 
 messengers to offer this gift to all the world, and per- 
 suade them to accept it. And so he doth all that, 
 as Lawgiver or Promiser, belongs to him to do for 
 their salvation. 
 
 6. But yet he resolveth, as Lawgiver, that they 
 that will not turn shall die; and as Judge, when their 
 day of grace is past he will execute that decree. 
 
 7. So that he thus unfeignedly willeth the conver- 
 sion of those that never will be converted, but not 
 as absolute Lord with the fullest efficacious resolu- 
 
84 A CALL TO 
 
 tion, nor as a thing which he resolveth shall un- 
 doubtedly come to pass, or would engage all his pow- 
 er to accomplish. It is in the power of a prince to 
 set a guard upon a murderer, to see that he shall not 
 murder, and be hanged; but if, upon good reason, 
 he forbear this, and do but send to his subjects to 
 warn and entreat them not to be murderers, I hope 
 he may well say that he would not have them mur- 
 der and be hanged; he takes no pleasure in it, but 
 rather that they forbear and live, and if he do more 
 for some upon some special reason, he is not bound 
 to do so by all. The king may well say to all mur- 
 derers and felons in the land, c I have no pleasure in 
 your death, but rather that you would obey my 
 laws and live; but if you will not, I am resolved, for 
 all this, that you shall die.' The judge may truly 
 say to a thief, or the murderer, ( Alas, I have no de- 
 light in thy death; I had rather thou hadst kept the 
 law and saved thy life; but seeing thou hast not, I 
 must condemn thee, or else I should be unjust.' So, 
 though God have no pleasure in your damnation, 
 and therefore calls upon you to return and live, yet 
 he hath pleasure in the demonstration of his own 
 justice, and the executing his laws, and therefore he 
 is, for all this, fully resolved, that if you will not be 
 converted, you shall be condemned. If God was so 
 much against the death of the wicked, as that he 
 were resolved to do all that he can to hinder it, then 
 no man shall be condemned; whereas Christ telleth 
 you, that few will be saved. But so far God is 
 against your damnation, as that he will teach you, 
 and warn you, and set before you life and death, 
 and offer you your choice, and command his minis- 
 ters to entreat you not to destroy yourselves, bu. 
 accept his mercy, and so to leave you without excuse. 
 But if this will not do, and if still you be unconvert- 
 ed, he professeth to you, he is resolved on your dam- 
 nation, and hath commanded us to say to you in his 
 name, verse 8, " O wicked man thou shalt surely 
 die!" And Christ hath little less than sworn it, 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 85 
 
 over and over, with a "verily, verily, except ye be 
 converted, and born again, ye cannot enter into the 
 kingdom of heaven. 5 ' Matt, xviii. 8. John iii. 3. 
 Mark that he saith " you cannot. " It is in vain to 
 hope for it, and in vain to dream that God is willing 
 for it; for it is a thing that cannot be. 
 
 In a word, you see then the meaning of the text, 
 that God, the great Lawgiver of the world, doth 
 take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but 
 rather that they turn and live; though yet he be re- 
 solved that none shall live but those that turn; and 
 as a Judge even delighteth in justice, and manifesting 
 his hatred of sin, though not in their misery, which 
 they have brought upon themselves, in itself consid- 
 ered. 
 
 And for the proofs of the point, I shall be very 
 brief in them, because I suppose you easily believe 
 it already. 
 
 1. The very gracious nature of God proclaimed: 
 " And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaim- 
 ed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gra- 
 cious, long-sufiering, and abundant in goodness and 
 truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniqui- 
 ty, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no 
 means clear the guilty; " (Exod. xxiv. 6. and xxvi. 
 6.) and frequently elsewhere, may assure you of this, 
 That he hath no pleasure in your death. 
 
 2. If God had more pleasure in thy death, than in 
 thy conversion and life, he would not have so fre- 
 quently commanded thee in his word, to turn; he 
 would not have made thee such promises of life, if 
 thou wilt but turn; he would not have persuaded 
 thee to it by so many reasons. The tenor of his 
 gospel proveth the point. 
 
 3. And his commission that he hath given to the 
 ministers of the gospel, doth fully prove it. If God 
 had taken more pleasure in thy damnation, than in 
 thy conversion and salvation, he would never have 
 charged us to offer you mercy, and to teach you the 
 way of life, both publicly and privately: and to en- 
 
86 A CALL TO 
 
 treat and beseech you to turn and live; to acquaint 
 yon with your sins, and foretell you of your danger; 
 and to do all that possibly we can for your conver- 
 sion, and to continue patiently so doing, though you 
 should hate or abuse us for our pains. Would God 
 have done this, and appointed his ordinances for 
 your good, if he had taken pleasure in your death? 
 4. It is proved also by the course of his provi- 
 dence. If God had rather you were damned than 
 converted and saved, he would not second his word 
 with his works, and entice you by his daily kindness 
 to himself, and give you all the mercies of this life, 
 which are his means " to lead you to repentance," 
 (Rom. ii. 4.) and. bring you so often under his rod 
 to lead you to your senses; he would not set so many 
 examples before your eyes, no, nor wait on you so 
 patiently as he does from day to day, and year to 
 year. These are not signs of one that taketh pleas- 
 ure in your death. If this had been his delight, how 
 easily could he have had thee long ago in hell ? How 
 oft, before this, could he have catched thee away in 
 the midst of thy sins with a curse, or oath, or lie in 
 thy mouth, in thy ignorance, and pride, and sensu- 
 ality ? When thou wert last in thy drunkenness, or 
 last deriding the ways of God, how easily could he 
 have stopped thybieath, and tamed thee with plagues, 
 and made thee sober in another world ! Alas ! how 
 small a matter is it for the Almighty to rule the 
 tongue of the profanest railer, and tie the hands of 
 the most malicious persecutor, or calm the fury of 
 the bitterest of his enemies, and make them know 
 that they are but worms? W he should but frown 
 upon thee thou wouldst drop into thy grave. K he 
 gave commission to one of his angels to go and de- 
 stroy ten thousand sinners, how quickly would it be 
 done! how easily can he lay thee upon the bed of 
 languishing, and make thee lie roaring there in pain, 
 and make thee eat the wdtds of reproach which thou 
 hast spoken against his servants, his word, his wor- 
 ship, and his holy ways, and make thee send to beg 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 87 
 
 their prayers whom thou didst despise in thy pre- 
 sumption? How easily can he lay that flesh under 
 pains, and groans, and make it too weak to hold thy 
 soul, and make it more loathsome than the dung of 
 the earth? That flesh which now must have what 
 » it loves, and must not be displeased, though God be 
 displeased, and must be humoured in meat, and 
 drink, and clothes, whatever God say to the contra- 
 ry, how quickly would the frowns of God consume 
 it? When thou wast passionately defending thy 
 sin, and quarrelling with them that would have 
 drawn thee from it, and showing thy splSen against 
 the reprover, and pleading for the works of darkness; 
 how easily could God have snatched thee away in a 
 moment, and set thee before his dreadful Majesty, 
 where thou shouldst see ten thousand times ten 
 thousand glorious angels waiting on his throne, and 
 have called thee there to plead thy cause, and asked 
 thee c What hast thou now to say against thy Crea- 
 tor, his truth, his servants, or his holy ways ? Now 
 plead thy cause, and make the best of it thou canst. 
 Now what canst thou say in excuse of thy sins? 
 Now give account of thy worldliness and fleshly life, 
 of thy time, of all the mercies thou hast had. 5 O 
 how thy stubborn heart would have melted, and thy 
 proud looks be taken down, and thy countenance be 
 appalled, and thy stout words turned into speechless 
 silence, or dreadful cries, if God had but set thee 
 thus at his bar, and pleaded his own cause with thee, 
 which thou hast here so maliciously pleaded against ! 
 How easily can he at any time say to thy guilty 
 soul, Come away, and live in that flesh no more till 
 t^e resurrection, and it cannot resist ! A word of 
 his mouth would take off the poise of thy present 
 lite, and then all thy parts and powers would stand 
 still; and if he say unto thee, Live no longer, or, live 
 in hell, thou couldst not disobey. 
 
 But God hath yet done none of this, but hath pa- 
 tiently forborn thee, and mercifully upheld thee, and 
 given thee that breath, which thou didst breathe 
 
88 A CALL TO 
 
 out against him, and given those mercies which thou 
 didst sacrifice to thy flesh, and afforded thee that 
 provision which thou spentest to satisfy thy greedy 
 throat: he gave thee every minute of that time 
 which thou didst waste in idleness, or drunkenness, 
 or worldliness; and doth not all his patience and mer- 
 cy show that he desired not thy damnation? Can 
 the candle burn without the oil? Can your houses 
 stand without the earth to bear them ? No more 
 can you live an hour without the support of God. 
 And why did he so long support thy life, but to 
 see when thou wouldst bethink thee of the folly of 
 thy ways, and return and live? Will any man pur- 
 posely put arms into his enemy's hands to resist him, 
 or hold a candle to a murderer that is killing his chil- 
 dren, or to an idle servant that plays or sleeps the 
 while? Surely it is to see whether thou wilt at last 
 return and live, that God hath so long waited on 
 thee. 
 
 5. It is further proved by the sufferings of his Son, 
 that God taketh no pleasure in the death of the 
 wicked. Would he have ransomed them from death 
 at so dear a rate? Would he have astonished angels 
 and men by his condescension? Would God have 
 dwelt in flesh, and have come in the form of a servant, 
 and have assumed humanity into one person with the 
 Godhead; and would Christ have lived a life of suf- 
 fering, and died a cursed death for sinners, if he had 
 rather taken pleasure in their death? Suppose you 
 saw him but so busy in preaching and healing of 
 them, as you find him in Mark iii. 21. or so long in 
 fasting, as in Matt. iv. or all night in prayer, as in 
 Luke vi. 12. or praying with the drops of blood 
 trickling from him instead of sweat, as Luke m 
 44. or suffering a cursed death upon the cross, and 
 pouring out his soul as a sacrifice lor our sins. 
 Would you have thought these the signs of one that 
 delighted in the death of the wicked? 
 
 And think not to extenuate it by saying, that it 
 was only for his elect: for it was thy sin, and the 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 89 
 
 sin of all the world, that lay upon our Redeemer; 
 and his sacrifice and satisfaction is sufficient for all, 
 and the fruits of it are offered to one as well as 
 another. But it is true, that it was never the intent 
 of his mind to pardon and save any that would not, 
 by faith and repentance, be converted. If you had 
 seen and heard him weeping and bemoaning the 
 state of disobedience in impenitent people: — Luke 
 xix. 41, 42. " And when he was come near, he be- 
 held the city, and wept over it, saying, if thou hadsit 
 known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the 
 things which belong unto thy peace ! but now they 
 are hid from thine eyes. " Or complaining of their 
 stubbornness, as Matt, xxiii. 37. " O Jerusalem, 
 Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy 
 children together, even as a hen gathereth her 
 chickens under her wings, and ye would not ! " Or 
 if you had seen and heard him on the cross, praying 
 for his persecutors — Father, forgive them, for they 
 know not what they do — would you have suspected 
 that he had delighted in the death of the wicked, 
 even of those that perish by their wilful unbelief? 
 When God hath so loved, (not only loved, but so 
 loved,) as to give his only begotten Son, that who- 
 soever beiieveth in him (by an effectual faith) should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life, I think he hath 
 hereby proved, against the malice of men and devils, 
 that he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, 
 but had rather that they w T ould " turn and live." 
 
 6. Lastly, If all this will not yet satisfy you, take 
 his own word, that knoweth best his own mind, or at 
 least believe his oath: but this leads me to the fourth 
 doctrine. 
 
 Doctrine 4. The Lord hath confirmed to us by 
 his oath, that he hath no pleasure in the death of 
 the wicked, but rather that he turn and live; that 
 he may leave man no pretence to question the 
 truth of it. 
 
90 A CALL TO 
 
 H you dare question his word, I hope you dare 
 not question his oath. As Christ hath solemnly 
 protested that the unregenerate and unconverted 
 cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven; (Matt, 
 xviii. 3. John iii. 3;) so God hath sworn that his 
 pleasure is not in their death, but in their conversion 
 and life. And as the Apostle saith, (Heb. iv. 1 3—18,) 
 Because he can swear by no greater, he swear by 
 himself. ( For men verily swear by the greater : and 
 an oath for confirmation is to them an end of strife. 
 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto 
 the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, 
 confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable 
 things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we 
 might have strong consolation, who have fled for 
 refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us : which 
 hope we have- as an anchor of the soul both sure and 
 steadfast.' If there be any man that cannot recon- 
 cile this truth with the doctrine of predestination, 
 or the actual damnation of the wicked, that is his 
 own ignorance; he hath no pretence left to question 
 or deny therefore the truth of the point in hand ; for 
 this is confirmed by the oath of God, and therefore 
 must not be distorted, to reduce it to other points : 
 but doubtful points must rather be reduced to it, 
 and certain truths must be believed to agree with it, 
 though our shallow minds hardly discern the agree- 
 ment. 
 
 Use. — I do now entreat thee, if thou be an uncon- 
 verted sinner that hearest these words, that thou 
 wouldst po?jder a little upon the forementioned doc- 
 trines, and bethink thyself awhile, who it is that 
 takes pleas h re in thy sin and damnation. Certainly, 
 it is not God: he hath sworn for his part that he 
 takes no pleasure in it. And I know it is not the 
 pleasing of him that you intend. You dare not say 
 that you drink, and swear, and neglect holy duties, 
 and quench the motions of the Spirit to please God. 
 That were as if you should reproach the prince, and 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 91 
 
 break his laws, and seek his death, and say, you did 
 all this to please him. 
 
 Who is it then that takes pleasure in your sin and 
 death? Not any that bear the image of God, for 
 they must be like minded to him. God knows, it is 
 small pleasure to your faithful teachers to see you 
 serve your deadly enemy, and madly venture your 
 eternal state, and wilfully run into the flames of hell. 
 It is small pleasure to them to see upon your souls (in 
 the sad effects) such biindness, and hard-heartedness, 
 and carelessness, and presumption; such wilfulness 
 in evil, and such unteachableness and stiffness against 
 the ways of life and peace; they know these are 
 marks of death, and of the wrath of God, and they 
 know, from the word of God, what is like to be the 
 end of them, and therefore it is no more pleasure to 
 them, than to a tender physician to see the plague- 
 marks broke out upon his patient. Alas, to foresee 
 your everlasting torments, and know not how to 
 prevent them ! To see how near you are to hell, 
 and we cannot make you believe it and consider it. 
 To see how easily, how certainly you might escape, 
 if we knew but how to make you willing. How fair 
 you are for everlasting salvation, if you would turn 
 and do your best, and make it the care and business 
 of your lives! but you will not do it; if our lives lay 
 on it, we cannot persuade you to it. We study day 
 and night what to say to you, that may convince and 
 persuade you, and yet it is undone: we lay before 
 you the word of God, and show you the very chap- 
 ter and verse where it is written, that you cannot be 
 saved except you be converted; and yet we leave the 
 most of you as we find you. We hope you will be- 
 lieve the word of God, though you believe not us, 
 and regard it when we show you the plain scripture 
 for it; but we hope in vain, and labour in vain as to 
 any saving change upon your hearts ! And do you 
 think that this is a pleasant thing to us ? Many a 
 time, in secret prayer, we are fain to complain to God 
 with sad hearts, ( Alas, Lord, we have spoken to 
 
92 A CALL TO 
 
 them in thy name, but they little regard us; we have 
 told them what thou bidst us tell them concerning 
 the danger of an unconverted state, but they do not 
 believe us : we have told them that thou hast pro- 
 tested that there is no peace to the wicked. ' Isa. 
 xlviii. 2, and lvii. 21. c But the worst of them all will 
 scarcely believe that they are wicked; we have 
 showed them thy word, where thou hast said, that 
 if they live after the flesh they shall die.' Rom. viii. 
 13. 'But they say, they will believe in thee, when 
 they will not believe thee, and that they will trust in 
 thee, when they give no credit to thy word; and 
 when they hope that the threatenings of thy word 
 are false, they will yet call this a hoping in God; and 
 though we show them where thou hast said, that 
 when a wicked man dieth, all his hopes perish, yet 
 cannot we persuade them from their deceitful hopes. 5 
 Prov. xi. 7. f We tell them what a base, unprofita- 
 ble thing sin is; but they love it, and therefore will 
 not leave it. We tell them how dear they buy this 
 pleasure, and what they must pay for it in everlast- 
 ing torment; and they bless themselves, and will not 
 believe it, but will do as the most do; and because 
 God is merciful, they will not believe him, but will 
 venture their souls, come on it what will. We tell 
 them how ready the Lord is to receive them, and 
 this doth but make them delay their repentance and 
 be bolder in their sin. Some of them say they pur- 
 pose to repent, but they are still the same; and some 
 say they do repent already, while yet they are not 
 converted from their sins. We exhort them, we 
 entreat them, we offer them our help, but we cannot 
 prevail with them; but they that were drunkards, 
 are drunkards still; and they that were voluptuous 
 flesh-pleasing wretches, are such still; and they that 
 were worldlings, are worldlings still; and they that 
 were ignorant, and proud, and self-conceited, are so 
 still. Few of them will see and confess their sin, 
 and fewer will forsake it, but comfort themselves 
 thaf. ail men are sinners, as if there were no differ- 
 
^v 
 
 of THK 
 
 THE UNCONVER! 
 
 
 ence between a converted sinner and an unconverted. 
 Some of them will not come near us, When we are 
 willing to instruct them, but think they know enough 
 already, and need not our instruction; and some of 
 them will give us the hearing, and do what they list; 
 and most of them are like dead men that cannot 
 feel; so that when we tell them of the matters of 
 everlasting consequence, we cannot get a word of it 
 to their hearts. If we do not obey them, and hu- 
 mour them in baptizing the children of the most ob- 
 stinately wicked, and giving them the Lord's Supper, 
 and doing all that they would have us, though never 
 so much against the word of God, they will hate us, 
 and rail at us; but if we beseech them to confess, 
 and forsake their sins, and save their souls, they will 
 not do it. We tell them, if they will but turn, we 
 will deny them none of the ordinances of God, neith- 
 er baptism to their children, nor the Lord's Supper 
 to themselves, but they will not hear us; they would 
 have us disobey God and damn our own souls, to 
 please them; and yet they will not turn and save 
 their own souls to please God. They are wiser in 
 their own eyes than all their teachers; they rage and 
 are confident in their own way, and if we were never 
 so fain, we cannot change them. Lord, this is the 
 case of our miserable neighbours, and we cannot help 
 it; we see them ready to drop into hell, and we can- 
 not help it; we know if they would unfeignedly turn, 
 they might be saved, but we cannot persuade them; 
 if we would beg it of them on our knees, we cannot 
 persuade them to it; if we would beg it of them with 
 tears, we cannot persuade them; and what more can 
 we do ? 
 
 These are the secret complaints and moans that 
 many a poor minister is fain to make. And do you 
 think that he hath any pleasure in this ? Is it a plea- 
 sure to him to see you go on in sin, and cannot stop 
 you? to see you so miserable, and cannot so much 
 as make you sensible of it? to see you merry, when 
 you are not sure to be an hour out of hell? to think 
 
94 
 
 what you must for ever suffer, because you will not 
 turn ? and to think what an everlasting life of glory 
 you wilfully despise and cast away? What sadder 
 thing can you bring to their hearts, and how can you 
 devise to grieve them more? 
 
 Who is it then that you please by your sin and 
 death? It is none of your understanding godly 
 friends. Alas, it is the grief of their souls to see 
 your misery, and they lament you many a time when 
 you give them little thanks for it, and when you 
 have not hearts to lament yourselves. 
 
 Who is it then that takes pleasure in your sin ? It 
 is none but three great enemies of God, whom you 
 renounced in your baptism, and now are turned 
 falsely to serve. 
 
 1. The devil indeed takes pleasure in your sin and 
 death: for this is the very end of all his temptations; 
 f ?r this he watches night and day; you cannot devise 
 to please him better than to go on in sin. How glad 
 is he when he sees thee going into the alehouse, or 
 other sin, and when he heareth thee curse, or swear, 
 or rail J How glad is he when he heareth thee re- 
 vile the minister that would draw thee from thy sin, 
 and help to save thee? These are his delight. 
 
 2. The wicked are also delighted in it; for it is 
 agreeable to their nature. 
 
 3. But I know, for all this, that it is not the pleas- 
 ing of the devil, that you intend, even when you 
 please him; but it is your own flesh, the greatest and 
 most dangerous enemy, that you intend to please. 
 It is the flesh that would be pampered, that would 
 be pleased in meat, and drink, and clothing; that 
 would be pleased in your company, and pleased in 
 applause and credit with the world, and pleased in 
 sports, and lusts, and idleness; this is the gulf that 
 devoureth all. This is the very god that you serve, 
 for the scripture saith of such, that their bellies are 
 their gods. Phil. iii. 19. But I beseech you stay 
 a little and consider the business. 
 
 1. Question. Should your flesh be pleased before 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 95 
 
 your Maker? Will you displease the Lord, and dis- 
 please your teacher, and your godly friends, and all to 
 please your brutish appetites, or sensual desires? 
 Is not God worthy to be the ruler of your flesh? If 
 he shall not rule it, he will not save it; you cannot 
 in reason expect that he should. 
 
 2. Question. Your flesh is pleased with your sin; 
 but is your conscience pleased ? Doth not it grudge 
 within you, and tell you sometimes that all is not 
 well, and that your case is not so safe as you make it 
 to be; and should not your souls and consciences be 
 pleased before your corruptible flesh? 
 
 3. Question. But is not your flesh preparing for 
 its own displeasure also? It loves the bait, but doth 
 it love the hook ? It loves the strong drink and sweet 
 morsels; it loves its ease, and sports and merriment: 
 it loves to be rich, and well spoken of by men, and 
 to be somebody in the world; but doth it love the 
 curse of God? Doth it love to stand trembling be- 
 fore his bar, and to be judged to everlasting fire? 
 Doth it love to be tormented with the devils for 
 ever? Take all together; for there is no separating 
 sin, and hell, but only by faith and true conversion; 
 if you will keep one, you must have the other. If 
 death and hell be pleasant to thee, no wonder then 
 if you go on in sin: but if they be not (as I am sure 
 they are not), then what if sin were never so pleas- 
 ant, is it worth the loss of life eternal? Is a little 
 drink, or meat, or ease; is the good word of sinners, 
 is the riches of this world to be valued above the joys 
 of heaven? Or are they worth the sufferings of 
 eternal fire? Sirs, these questions should be consid- 
 ered before you go any further, by every man that 
 hath reason to consider, and that believes he hath a 
 soul to save or lose. 
 
 Well, the Lord here sweareth that he hath no 
 pleasure in your death, but rather that you would 
 turn and live; if yet you will go on and die rather 
 than turn, remember it was not to please God that 
 you did it: it was to please the world, and to please 
 
96 A CALL TO 
 
 yourselves. And if men will damn themselves to 
 please themselves, and run into endless torments for 
 delight, and have not the wit, the hearts, the grace, to 
 .learken to God or man that would reclaim them, 
 what remedy but they must take what they get by 
 it, and repent it in another manner, when it is too 
 late? Before I proceed any further in the applica- 
 tion, I shall come to the next doctrine, which gives 
 me a fuller ground for it. 
 
 Doctrine 5. So earnest is God for the conversion 
 of sinners, that he doubleth his commands and 
 exhortations, with vehemency — Turn ye, turn 
 ye, why will you die? 
 
 This doctrine is the application of the former, as 
 by a use of exhortation, and accordingly I shall han- 
 dle it. Is there ever an unconverted sinner that 
 heareth these vehement words of God? Is there 
 ever a man or woman in this assembly that is yet 
 a stranger to the renewing sanctifying work of the 
 Holy Ghost? It is a happy assembly, if it be not so 
 with the most. Hearken then to the voice of your 
 Maker, and turn to him by Christ without delay. 
 Would you know the will of God? Why this is his 
 will, that you presently turn. Shall the living God 
 send so earnest a message to his creatures, and 
 should they not obey? 2. Hearken then, all you 
 that live alter the flesh: the Lord that gave thee thy 
 breath and being, hath sent a message to thee from 
 heaven; and this is his message, Turn ye, turn ye, 
 why will ye die? — He that hath ears to hear, let him 
 hear. Shall the voice of the eternal Majesty be neg- 
 lected? If he do but terribly thunder, thou art 
 afraid. O but this voice doth more nearly concern 
 thee. If he did but tell thee thou shalt die to-mor- 
 row, thou wouldst not make light of it. O but this 
 word concerneth thy life or death everlasting. It is 
 both a command and an exhortation. As if he hud 
 said to thee, " I charge thee upon the allegiance that 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 97 
 
 thou owest to me thy Creator and Redeemer, that 
 thou renounce the flesh, the world, and the devil, 
 and turn to me that thou mayst live. I condescend 
 to entreat thee, as thou either lovest or fearest him 
 that made thee; as thou 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 yourselves, and all 
 that regard your own salvation; here is the most 
 joyful message that was ever sent to the ears of man, 
 " Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die? " You are not 
 yet shut up under desperation. Here is mercy offer- 
 ed you; turn, and you shall have it. O sirs! with 
 what glad and joyful hearts should you receive these 
 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 glut- 
 tons, and drunkards, and whoremongers, and swear- 
 ers; you railers and backbiters, slanderers and liars 
 — Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die? 
 
 Hear, all you cold and outside 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 ye 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 pros- 
 perity and delights than by the joys of heaven; all 
 you that are religious but a little by the by, and give 
 God no more than your flesh can spare; that have 
 not denied your carnal selves, and forsaken all that 
 you have for Christ, in the estimation and grounded 
 9 
 
9* 
 
 A CALL TO 
 
 resolution of your souls, but have some one thing in 
 the world so dear to you, that you cannot spare it 
 for Christ, if he required it, but will rather venture 
 on his displeasure than forsake it — " Turn ye, turn 
 ye, why will ye die? 
 
 If you never heard it, or observed it before, re- 
 member 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 reso- 
 lution? Will you turn, or will you not? Halt not 
 any longer between two opinions. If the Lord be 
 God, follow him; if your flesh be God, then serve it 
 still. If heaven be better than earth and fleshly 
 pleasures, come away, then, and seek a better 
 country, and lay up your treasure where rust and 
 moths 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 mov- 
 ed, Heb. xii. 28. and to employ your lives on a high- 
 er design, and turn the stream of your cares, and la- 
 bours, another way than formerly you have done. 
 But if earth be better than 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 re- 
 solved 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 pity 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 God's law would have kept thee 
 back, if thou hadst been never so willing to turn to 
 God. The time was, when thyself, and all the 
 friends that thou hast in the world, could never have 
 produced 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 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 99 
 
 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 entreat- 
 eth 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 
 reconciliation." 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. Sinners, we too 
 are commanded to deliver this message to you all, 
 as from the Lord: " Come, for all things are ready." 
 Luke xiv. 17. Are all things ready, and are you 
 unready ? God is ready to entertain you, and par- 
 don all that you have done against him, if you will 
 but come. As long as you have sinned, as wilfully 
 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 em- 
 brace you in his arms, and rejoice in your conversion, 
 if you will but turn. Even the worldlings and drunk- 
 ards will find God ready to bid them welcome, if they 
 will but come. Doth not this turn thy heart within 
 thee? O sinner ! if thou hast a 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 glorify 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 is not all: Christ bath done his part on 
 the cross, and made such way for thee to the Father, 
 that, on his account, thou mayst be welcome, if thou 
 wilt come. And yet art thou not ready? 
 
 A pardon is already expressly granted, and offered 
 thee in the Gospel. And yet art thou not ready? 
 
100 A CALL TO 
 
 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 adminis- 
 tration of the holy sacrament. And yet art thou not 
 ready? 
 
 All that fear God about thee, are ready to rejoice 
 in thy conversion, and to receive thee into the com- 
 munion 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 reproach thee 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 Jieartily be converted and come 
 in, 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 itself is ready: the Lord will receive 
 thee into the glory of his saints. Vile as thou hast 
 been, if thou wilt but be cleansed, thou mayst have 
 a place before his throne; his angels will be ready to 
 guard thy soul to the place of joy, if thou do but un- 
 feignedly come in. And is God ready, the sacrifice 
 of Christ ready, the promise ready, and pardon rea- 
 dy? are ministers ready, and the people of God ready, 
 and heaven itself 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 xv. 17. when thou hast been beside 
 thyself 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 sink into damnation? 
 Art thou not ready to be drawn from hell, when thou 
 art even ready to be cast remediless into it? Alas, 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 101 
 
 man! dost thou know what thou doest? 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 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 warnings, and so ma- 
 ny examples ? Hast thou seen so many lai^ in the 
 grave, and yet art thou not ready to let go thy sins, 
 and come to Christ? What! after so many convic- 
 tions and pangs of conscience, after so many pur- 
 poses and promises, art thou not yet ready to turn 
 and live? O 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 ! 
 
 II. Consider also, what calls thou hast to turn and 
 live. How many, how loud, how earnest, how 
 dreadful : and yet what encouraging, joyful calls ! 
 
 For the principal inviter is God himself. He that 
 commandeth heaven and earth, commands thee to 
 turn, and that presently, without delay. He com 
 mands the sun to run its course, and to rise upon 
 thee every morning; and though it be so glorious an 
 orb, and many times bigger than all the earth, yet it 
 obeyeth him, and faileth not one minute of its ap- 
 pointed time. He commandeth all the planets, and 
 the orbs of heaven, and they obey. He command- 
 eth the sea to ebb and flow, and the whole creation to 
 keep its course, and all obey him : the angels of hea- 
 ven obey his will, when he sends them to minister to 
 such worms as we on earth, Heb. i. 14; and yet if 
 he command but a sinner to turn, he will not obey 
 him. He only thinks himself wiser than God, and 
 he cavils and pleads the cause of sin, and will not 
 obey. If the Lord Almighty say the word, the hea- 
 vens and all therein obey him : but if he call but a 
 
102 A CALL TO 
 
 drunkard out of an alehouse, he will not obey: or if 
 he call a worldly fleshly sinner to deny himself, and 
 mortify the flesh, and set his heart upon a better in- 
 heritance, he will not obey. 
 
 If thou hadst any love in thee, thou wouldst know 
 the voice, and say, O this is my Father's call ! how 
 can I find in my heart to disobey? For the sheep of 
 Christ " know and hear his voice, and they follow 
 him, and he giveth them eternal life." John x. 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 hi. 8.) " The lion hath roared, who 
 will not fear?" God is not a man, that thou shouldst 
 dally and trifle with him. Remember what he said 
 to Paul at his conversion, " It is hard for thee to 
 kick against the pricks." Acts ix. 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 
 disobey est, 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 thv bare hands, 
 or put thine head into the burning fire. " Be not 
 deceived, God will not be mocked." Gal. vi. 7. 
 Whoever else be mocked, God will not: you had 
 better play with the fire in your thatch, than with 
 the fire of his burning wrath. " For our God is a 
 consuming fire." Heb. xii. 29. O how unmeet 
 a match art thou for God ! " It is a fearful thing to 
 fall into his hands." Heb. x. 31. And therefore 
 it is a fearful thing to contend with him, or resist 
 him. As you love your own 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 judg- 
 ment, as now ye do against his grace? Issu xxvii. 
 4, 5. cc Fury is not in me:" saith the Lord, (that is) 
 I delight not to destroy you: I do it, as it were un- 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 103 
 
 willingly; but yet " who will set the briers 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." It 
 is an unequal combat ibr the briers and stubble to 
 make war with the fire. 
 
 And thus you see, who it is that calleth you, that 
 would move you to hear his call, and turn: so con- 
 sider also by what instruments, and how often, and 
 how earnestly he doth it. 
 
 1. Every leaf of the blessed book of God hath, as 
 it were, a voice, and calls out to 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? 
 
 2. It is the voice of every sermon that thou near- 
 est: for what else is the scope and drift of all, but to 
 call and persuade, and entreat 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 sometimes convinced that 
 all is not well with thee? And doth not thy con- 
 science tell thee that thou must be a new man, 
 and take a new course, and often call upon thee to 
 return ? 
 
 5. It is the voice of the gracious examples of the 
 godly. When thou seest them live a heavenly life, 
 and fiy from the sin which is thy delight, this really 
 calls on thee to turn. 
 
 6. It is the voice of all the works of God : for they 
 also are God's books that teach thee this lesson, by 
 showing thee his greatness, and wisdom, and good- 
 ness, and calling thee to observe them, and admire 
 the Creator. Psalm xix. 1, 2. "The heavens 
 declare the glory of God, and the firmament show- 
 eth his handy work: day unto day uttereth speech, 
 night unto night showeth knowledge." Every time 
 the sun riseth unto thee, it really calleth thee to 
 
104 A CALL TO 
 
 turn, as if it should say, " What do I travel and 
 compass the world for, but to declare to men the 
 glory of their Maker, and to light them to do his 
 work? And do I still rind thee doing the work of sin, 
 and sleeping out thy life in negligence? Awake thou 
 that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ 
 shall give thee light." Ephes. v. 14. "The night is 
 far spent, the day is at hand; it is now high time to 
 awake out of sleep. Let us therefore cast off the 
 works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of 
 light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in 
 rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and 
 wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for 
 the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Rom. xiii. 11— 
 14. This text was the means of Austin's conversion. 
 7. It is the voice of every mercy thou dost pos- 
 sess; if thou couldst but hear and understand them, 
 they all cry out unto thee, Turn. Why doth the 
 earth bear thee, but to seek and serve the Lord? 
 Why dpth it afford thee its fruits, but to serve him ? 
 Why doth the air afford thee breath, but to serve 
 him? Why do all the creatures serve thee with 
 their labours and their lives, but that thou mightst 
 serve the Lord of them and thee? Why doth he 
 give thee time, and health, and strength, but only to 
 serve him ? Why hast thou meat, and drink, and 
 clothes, but for his service ? Hast thou any thing 
 which thou hast not received? and if thou didst re- 
 ceive them, it is reason thou shouldst bethink thee 
 from whom, and to what end and use thou didst re- 
 ceive them. Didst thou never cry to him lor help 
 in thy distress, and didst thou not then understand 
 that it was thy part to turn and serve him, if he 
 would deliver thee? He hath done Ins part, and 
 spared thee yet longer, and tried thee another, and 
 another year; and yet dost thou not turn? You 
 know the parable of the unfruitful fig-tree, Luke xiii. 
 7-9. When the Lord had said, " Cut it down, 
 why cumbereth it the ground?" he was entreated 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 105 
 
 to try it one year longer, and then if it proved not 
 fruitful, to cut it down. Christ himself there makes 
 the application twice over, ver. 3 and 5. " Except 
 ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." How many 
 years hath God looked for the fruits of love and ho- 
 liness from thee, and hath found none, and yet he 
 hath spared thee ? How many a time, by thy wil- 
 ful ignorance, and carelessness, and disobedience, 
 hast thou provoked justice to say, " Cut him down, 
 why cumbereth he the ground ?" And yet mercy hath 
 prevailed, and patience hath forborne the fatal blow, 
 to this day. If thou hadst the understanding of a 
 man within thee, thou wouldst know that all this 
 calleth thee to turn. " Dost thou think thou shalt 
 still escape. the judgment of God? or despisest thou 
 the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long 
 suffering? not knowing that the goodness of God 
 leadeth thee to repentance. But, after thy hardness 
 and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself 
 wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of 
 the righteous judgment of God; who will render to 
 every man according to his deeds." Rom. ii. 3 — 6. 
 
 8. Moreover, it is the voice of every affliction to 
 call thee to make haste and turn. Sickness and pain 
 cry Turn: and poverty, and loss of friends, and 
 every twig of the chastening rod, cry Turn, and 
 yet wilt thou not hearken to the call? These have 
 come near thee, and made thee feel; they have 
 made thee groan, and can they not make thee 
 turn? 
 
 9. The very frame of thy nature and being itself, 
 bespeaketh thy return. Why hast thou reason, but 
 to rule thy flesh, and serve thy Lord? Why hast 
 thou an understanding soul, but to learn and know 
 his will and doit? Why hast thou a heart within 
 thee, that can love, and fear, and desire, but that 
 thou shouldst fear him, and love him, and desire af- 
 ter him ? 
 
 10. Yea, thine own engagements by promise to 
 the Lord, call upon thee to turn and serve him. 
 
106 A CALL TO 
 
 Thou hast bound thyself to him by a baptismal cov- 
 enant, and renounced the world, the flesh, and the 
 devil. This thou hast confirmed by the profession 
 of Christianity, and renewed it at Sacraments, and 
 in times of affliction; and wilt thou promise and 
 vow, and never perform and turn to God? 
 
 Lay all these together now, and see what should 
 be the issue. The holy Scriptures call upon thee to 
 turn; the ministers of Christ call upon thee to turn; 
 the Spirit cries Turn; thy conscience cries Turn; 
 the godly, by persuasions and examples, cry Turn; 
 the whole world, and all the creatures therein that 
 are presented to thy consideration, cry Turn; the 
 patient forbearance of God, cries Turn; all the mer- 
 cies which thou receivest, cry Turn; the rod of 
 God's chastisement, cries Turn; thy reason and the 
 frame of thy nature bespeaks thy turning; and so do 
 all thy promises to God; and yet art thou not re- 
 solved to turn? 
 
 III. Moreover, poor hard-hearted sinner, didst thou 
 ever consider upon what terms thou standest all this 
 while with Him that calleth on thee to turn? Thou 
 art his own, and o west him thyself, and all thou hast; 
 and may he not command his own ? Thou art his 
 absolute servant, and shouldst serve no other mas- 
 ter. Thou standest at his mercy, and thy life is in 
 his hand, and he is resolved to save thee upon no 
 other terms; thou hast many malicious spiritual ene- 
 mies, that would be glad if God would but forsake 
 thee, and let them alone with thee, and leave thee to 
 their will; how quickly would they deal with thee 
 in another manner ! and thou canst not be delivered 
 from them but by turning unto God. Thou art 
 fallen under his wrath by thy sin already; and thou 
 knowest not how long his patience will yet wait. 
 Perhaps this is the last year, perhaps the last day. 
 His sword is even at thy heart, while the word 
 is in thine ear; and if thou turn not, thou art a 
 dead and undone man. Were thy eyes hut open 
 to see where thou standest, even upon the brink of 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 107 
 
 hell, and to see how many thousands are there al- 
 ready that did not turn, thou wouldst see that it is 
 time to look about thee. 
 
 Well, sirs, look inwards now and tell me how your 
 hearts are affected with those offers of the Lord, 
 You hear what is his mind: he delighteth not in 
 your death; he calls to you, Turn, turn: it is a fear- 
 ful sign if all this move thee not, or if it do but half 
 move thee; and much more if it make thee more 
 careless in thy misery, because thou hearest of the 
 mercifulness of God. The working of the medicine 
 will partly tell us whether there be any hope of the 
 cure. O what glad tidings would it be to those that 
 are now in hell, if they had but such a message from 
 God ! What a joyful word would it be to hear this, 
 Turn and live ! Yea, what a welcome word would 
 it be to thyself, when thou hast felt that wrath of 
 God but an hour! Or, if after a thousand or ten 
 thousand years' torment, thou couldst but hear such 
 a word from God, Turn and live; and yet wilt thou 
 neglect it, and suffer us to return without our er- 
 rand? 
 
 Behold, sinners, we are sent here as the messen- 
 gers of the Lord, to set before you life and death. 
 What say you? which of them will you choose? 
 Christ standeth, as it were, by thee, with heaven in 
 the one hand, and hell in the other, and offereth thee 
 thy choice. Which wilt thou choose? The voice 
 of the Lord maketh the rocks to tremble. Psalm 
 xxix. And is it nothing to hear him threaten thee, 
 if thou wilt not turn? Dost thou not understand 
 and feel this voice, " Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye 
 die?" Why? It is the voice of love, of infinite 
 love, of thy best and kindest friend, as thou mightst 
 easily perceive by the motion; and yet canst thou 
 neglect it? It is the voice of pity and compassion. 
 The Lord seeth whither thou art going better than 
 thou dost, which makes him call after thee, Turn, 
 turn. He seeth what will become of thee, if thou 
 turn not. He thinketh with himself, c Ah! this 
 
108 A CALL TO 
 
 poor sinner will cast himself into endless torments, 
 if he do not turn. I must in justice deal with him 
 according to my righteous law.' And therefore he 
 calleth after thee, Turn, turn. O sinner! If thou 
 didst but know the thousandth part as well as God 
 doth, the danger that is near you, and the misery 
 that you are running into, we should have no more 
 need to call after you to turn. 
 
 Moreover, this voice that calleth to thee, is the 
 same that hath prevailed with thousands already, 
 and called all to heaven that are now there; and 
 they would not now for a thousand worlds that they 
 had made light of it, and not turned to God. Now 
 what are they possessing that turned at God's call? 
 Now they perceive that it was indeed the voice of 
 love, that meant them no more harm than their sal- 
 vation; and if thou Avilt obey the same call, thou 
 shalt come to the same happiness. There are mil- 
 lions that must forever lament that they turned not; 
 but there is never a soul in heaven that is sorry that 
 they were converted. 
 
 Well, sirs, are you yet resolved, or are you not? 
 Do I need to say any more to you? What will you 
 do? Will you turn or not? Speak, man, in thy 
 heart to God, though you speak not out to me; 
 speak, lest he take thy silence for denial; speak 
 quickly, lest he never make thee the like otier 
 more; speak resolvedly, and not waveringly, for he 
 will have no indifFerents to be his followers. Say in 
 thine heart now, without any more delay, even be- 
 fore thou stir hence, l By the grace of God I am re- 
 solved presently to turn. And because I know my 
 own insufficiency, i am resolved to wait on God lor 
 his grace, and to follow him in his ways, and for- 
 sake my former courses and companions, and give 
 up myself to the guidance of the Lord. ' 
 
 Sirs, you are not shut up in the darkness of heath- 
 enism, nor in the desperation of the damned. Life 
 is before you, and you may have it on reasonable 
 terms, if you will; yea, on free cost, if you will ao 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 109 
 
 cept it. The way of God lieth plain before you; 
 the church is open to you. You may have Christ, 
 and pardon, and holiness, if you will. What say 
 you? Will you or will you not? If you say nay, 
 or say nothing, and still go on, God is witness, and 
 this congregation is witness, and your own conscien- 
 ces are witnesses, how fair an oner you had this day. 
 Remember, you might have had Christ, and would 
 not. Remember, when you have lost it, that you 
 might have had eternal life, as well as others, and 
 would not; and all because you would not turn! 
 
 But let us come to the next doctrine, and hear 
 your reasons. 
 
 Doctrine 6. The Lord condescend eth to reason 
 the case with unconverted sinners, and to ask 
 them why they will die. 
 
 A strange disputation it is, both as to the contro- 
 versy and as to the disputants. 
 
 I. The controversy, or question propounded to 
 dispute of is, Why wicked men will destroy them- 
 selves? or, Why they will rather die than turn; 
 whether they have any sufficient reason for so doing? 
 
 II. The disputants are God and man: the most 
 holy God, and wicked unconverted sinners. 
 
 Is it not a strange thing, which God doth here 
 seem to suppose, that any man should be willing to 
 die and be damned? yea, that this should be the case 
 of the wicked? that is, of the greatest part of the 
 world. But you will say, ' This cannot be; for 
 nature desireth the preservation and felicity of itself; 
 and the wicked are more selfish than others, and not 
 less; and therefore how can any man be willing to 
 be damned? 5 
 
 To which I answer : — 1 . It is a certain truth that 
 no man can be willing of any evil, as evil, but only 
 as it hath some appearance of good; much less can 
 any maD be willing to be eternally tormented. Mis- 
 ery, as such, is desired by none. 2. But yet for all 
 
110 A CALL TO 
 
 that, it is most true which God here teacheth us, 
 that the cause why the wicked die is, because they 
 will die. And this is true in several respects. 
 
 1. Because they will go the way that leads to hell, 
 although they are told by God and man whither it 
 goes and whither it ends; and though God hath so 
 often professed in his word, that if they hold on in 
 that way they shall be condemned; and that they 
 shall not be saved unless they turn, Isa. xlviii. 22. 
 lvii. 21. lix. 8, " There is no peace, saith the Lord, 
 to the wicked." " The way of peace they know not; 
 there is no judgment in their goings; they have 
 made them crooked paths. Whosoever goeth there- 
 in, shall not know peace." They have the word 
 and the oath of the living God for it, that if they 
 will not turn, they shall not enter into his rest: and 
 yet, wicked they are, and wicked they will be, let 
 God and man say what they will: fleshly they are, 
 and fleshly they will be, 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 iv. 4. ; 1 
 John ii. 15.; so that consequently these men are wil- 
 ling to be damned, though not directly; they are wil- 
 ling to walk in the way to hell, and love the certain 
 cause of their torment; though they do not will 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 sins, and cast yourselves 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 ratsbane, or other poi- 
 son, but yet I will not die. I will cast myself head- 
 long from the top of a steeple, but yet I will not kill 
 myself. 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 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. Ill 
 
 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 lead to the end ? and 
 that God hath, by his righteous law, concluded that 
 ye must repent or perish? He that will take poison, 
 may as well say plainly, 1 will kill myself, for it will 
 prove no better in the end; though perhaps he loved 
 it ibr the sweetness of the sugar that was mixed with 
 it; and would not be persuaded that it was poison, 
 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 steal 
 and kill, but I will not be hanged, when he knows 
 that if he does 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; 
 and 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 wrell 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 than 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 
 was never done before. 
 
 3. Yea, this is not all; but the wicked are unwil 
 ling even to partake of salvation itself; though they 
 
112 A CALL TO 
 
 may desire somewhat which they call by the name 
 of heaven, yet heaven itself, considered in the true 
 nature of the felicity, they desire not; yea, their 
 hearts are quite against it. Heaven is a state of per- 
 fect holiness, and of continual love and praise to God, 
 and the wicked have no heart to this. The imper- 
 fect 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 joys 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 ven- 
 ture on certain misery, than be converted; and then 
 to quiet themselves in their sins, they will make 
 themselves believe that they shall nevertheless es- 
 cape. 
 
 II. And as this controversy is matter of wonder, 
 that ever men should be such enemies to themselves 
 as wilfully to cast away their souls, so are the dispu- 
 tants 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 that they will not hear us that are 
 men, when they will not hear the Lord himself. 
 As God saith, Ezek. iii. 7, when he sent the proph- 
 et 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? " Mai. ii. 17. The priests that 
 
THE UNCONTESTED. 113 
 
 despised his name durst ask, " Wherein have we des- 
 pised thy name?" And "when they polluted his 
 altar, and made the table of the Lord con: emptible," 
 they durst say, " Wherein have we polluted thee?" 
 Mai. i. 6, 7. But " Wo unto him (saith the Lord) 
 that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherds 
 strive with the potsherds of the earth: shall the clay 
 say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? " 
 
 Quest. — But why is it that God will leason the 
 case with man? 
 
 Answ. — 1. Because that man being a reasonable 
 creature, is accordingly to be dealt with, and by rea- 
 son to be persuaded and overcome; God hath there- 
 fore endowed them with reason that they might use 
 it for him. One would think a reasonable creature 
 should not go against the clearest, the greatest rea- 
 son 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 both in 
 what he commandeth them, and what he forbids 
 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 justify God, and confess that it 
 was only reasonable that they should have turned to 
 him; and they shall be forced to condemn them- 
 selves, and confess that they had little reason to cast 
 away themselves by the neglecting of his grace in the 
 day of their visitation. 
 
 Use.— Look up your best and strongest reasons, 
 sinners, if you will make good your way. You see 
 now with whom you have to deal. What sayest 
 thou, unconverted sensual sinner? Darest thou ven- 
 ture upon a dispute with God ? Art thou able to con- 
 fute him ? Art thou ready to enter the lists ? God 
 asketh thee, Why wilt thou die? Art thou furnish- 
 ed with a sufficient answer? Wilt thou undertake to 
 prove that God is mistaken, and that thou art in the 
 right? O what an undertaking is that! Why, either 
 10 
 
114 A CALL TO 
 
 he or you are mistaken, when he is for your conver- 
 sion, and you are against it; he calls upon you to 
 turn, and you will not; he bids you do it presently, 
 even to-day, while it is called to-day, and you delay, 
 and think it time enough hereafter. He saith it 
 must be a total change, and you must be holy and 
 new creatures, and born again: and you think that 
 less may serve the turn, and that it is enough to 
 patch up the old man, without becoming new. Who 
 is in the right now ? God or you ? God calleth 
 you to turn, and to live a holy life, and you will 
 not; — by your disobedient lives, it appears you will 
 not. If you will, why do you not? Why have you 
 not done it all this while? And why do you not fall 
 upon it yet? Your wills have the command of your 
 lives. We may certainly conclude that you are un- 
 willing to turn, when you do not turn. And why 
 will you not? * 
 
 Can you give any reason for it, that is worthy to 
 be called a reason ? 
 
 I that am but a worm, your fellow creature, of a 
 shallow capacity, dare challenge the wisest of you all 
 to reason the case with me, while I plead my Ma- 
 ker's cause; and I need not be discouraged when I 
 know I plead but the cause that God pleadeth, and 
 contend for him that will have the best at last. Had 
 I but these two general grounds against you, I am 
 sure that you have no good reason on your side. 
 
 I am sure it can be no good reason which is against 
 the God of truth and reason. It cannot be light that 
 is contrary to the sun. There is no knowledge in 
 any creature but what it had from God ; and therefore 
 none can be wiser than God. It were fatal presump- 
 tion for the highest angel to compare with his Crea- 
 tor! What is it then for a lamp of earth, an igno- 
 rant sot, thai knoweth not himself nor his own soul, 
 that knoweth but little of the things which he seeth, 
 yea, that is more ignorant than many of his neigh- 
 bours, to set himself against the wisdom of the Lord ! 
 It is one of the fullest discoveries of the horrible wick- 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 115 
 
 edness of carnal men, and the stark-madness of such 
 as sin, that so silly a mole dare contradict his Maker, 
 and call in question the word of God : yea. that those 
 people in our parishes, that are so ignorant that they 
 cannot give us a reasonable answer concerning the 
 very principles of religion, are yet so wise in their 
 own conceit, that they dare question the plainest 
 truths of God, yea, contradict them and cavil against 
 them, when they can scarcely speak uense, and will 
 believe them no further than agreeth ivith their fool- 
 ish wisdom! 
 
 And as I know that God must needs be in the 
 right, so I know the case is so palpable and gross 
 which he pleadeth against, that no man can have 
 reason lor it. Is it possible that a man can have any 
 reason to break his Maker's laws, and reason to dis- 
 honour the Lord of glory, and reason to abuse the 
 Lord that bought him ? Is it possible that a man can 
 have any good reason to damn his own immortal 
 soul? Mark the Lord's question, Turn ye, turn ye, 
 why will ye die? Is eternal death a thing to be de- 
 sired? Are you in love with hell? What reason 
 have you wilfully to perish? If you think you have 
 some reason to sin, should you not remember that 
 death is the wages of sin, Rom. vi. 23. and think 
 whether you have any reason to undo yourselves, 
 body and soul for ever ? You should not only ask 
 whether you love the adder, but whether you love 
 the sting? It is such a thing for a man to cast away 
 his everlasting happiness, and to sin against God, 
 that no good reason can be given for it; but the more 
 any one pleads for it, the more mad he showeth him- 
 self to be. Had you a lordship, or a kingdom offered 
 you for every sin that you commit, it were not reason 
 but madness to accept it. Could you by every sin 
 obtain the highest thing on earth that flesh desireth, 
 it were of no considerable value to persuade you in 
 reason to commit it. If it were to please yourgreat- 
 est or dearest friends, or to obey the greatest prince 
 on earth, or to save your lives, or to escape the great- 
 
116 A CALL TO 
 
 est eaithly misery; all these are of no consideration 
 to draw a man in reason to the committing of one 
 sin. If it were a right hand or a right eye that 
 would hinder your salvation, it is the most gainful 
 way to cast it away, rather than to go to hell to save 
 it; for there is no saving a part when you lose the 
 whole. So exceedingly great are the matters of eter- 
 nity, that nothing in this world deserveth once to be 
 named in comparison with them; nor can any earth- 
 ly thing, though it were life, or crowns, or kingdoms, 
 be a reasonable excuse for the neglect of matters of 
 such high and everlasting consequence. A man can 
 have no reason to cross his ultimate end. Heaven 
 is such a thing, that if you lose it, nothing can supply 
 the want or make up the loss; and hell is such a thing, 
 that if you suffer it, nothing can remove your misery, 
 or give you ease and comfort; and therefore nothing 
 can be a valuable consideration to excuse you for 
 neglecting your own salvation; for, saith our Saviour, 
 t( What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the 
 whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mark, viii. S6. 
 O sirs, that you did but know what matters they 
 are that we are now speaking to you of! you would 
 have other kind of thoughts of these things. If the 
 devil could come to them, the saints in heaven, that 
 live in the sight and love of God, and should offer 
 them sensual pleasures, or merry company, or sports 
 to entice them away from God and glory, I pray you 
 tell me, how do you think they would entertain the 
 motion ? Nay, or if he should offer them to be kings 
 on the earth, do you think this would entice them 
 down from heaven? O with what hatred and holy 
 scorn would they reject the motion ! And why should 
 not you do so, that have heaven opened to your 
 faith, if you had but faith to Bee it? There is never 
 a soul in hell, but knows, by tin's time, that it was a 
 mad exchange to let go heaven tor fleshly pleasure; 
 and that it is not a little mirth or pleasure, or world- 
 ly riches, or honour, or the good will or word of men. 
 that will quench hell fire, or make him a gainer that 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 117 
 
 Joseth his soul. O if you had heard what 1 believe, 
 if you had seen what I believe, and that on the cred- 
 it of the word of God, you would say there can be 
 no reason to warrant a man to destroy his soul; you 
 durst not sleep quietly another night, before you had 
 resolved to turn and live. 
 
 If you see a man put his hand into the fire till it 
 burn off, you will marvel at it; but this is a thing that 
 a man may have a reason for, as Bishop Cranmer 
 had, when he burnt off his hand for subscribing to 
 Popery. If you see a man cut off a leg, or an arm, 
 it is a sad sight; but this is a thing, that a man may 
 have a good reason for, as many a man hath it done 
 to save his life. If you see a man give his body to 
 be tormented with scourges and racks, or to be burn- 
 ed to ashes, and refuse deliverance when it is offered, 
 this is a hard case to flesh and blood; but this a man 
 may have good reason for, as you may see in Heb. 
 xi. 33 — 36. and as many a hundred martyrs have 
 done. But for a man to forsake the Lord that made 
 him, and to run into the fire of hell, when he is told 
 of it, and entreated to turn that he may be saved, — 
 this is a thing that can have no reason in the world 
 to justify or excuse it. For heaven will pay for 
 the loss of any thing that we can lose to obtain it, 
 or for any labour which we bestow for it; but 
 nothing can pay for the loss of heaven. 
 
 I beseech you now let this word come nearer to 
 your heart. As you are convinced that you have no 
 reason to destroy yourselves, so tell me what reason 
 have you to refuse to turn and live to God ? What 
 reason has the veriest worldling, or drunkard, or ig- 
 norant careless sinner of you all, why he should not 
 be as holy as any you know, and be as careful for 
 his soul as any other? Will not hell be as intolera- 
 ble to you as to others ? Should not your own souls 
 be as dear to you as theirs to them ? Hath not God 
 as much authority over you ? Why then will you 
 not become a sanctified people, as well as they? 
 
 O sirs, when God bringeth the matter down to 
 
118 A CALL TO 
 
 the very principles of nature, and shows that you 
 have no more reason to be ungodly than you have 
 to damn your own souls, — if yet you will not under- 
 stand and turn, it seems a desperate case that you 
 are in. 
 
 And now, either you have good reason for what 
 you do, or you have not: if not, will you go against 
 reason itself? Will you do that which you have no 
 reason for? But if you think you have, produce it, 
 and make the best of your matter. Reason the case 
 a little with me, your fellow-creature, which is far 
 easier than to reason the case with God; tell me, 
 man, here before the Lord, as if thou wert to die 
 this hour, why shouldst thou not resolve to turn this 
 day; before thou stir from the place thou standest 
 in, what reason hast thou to deny or to delay? 
 Hast thou any reason that satisfieth thine own con- 
 science for it, or any that thou darest own and plead 
 at the bar of God? If thou hast, let us hear them, 
 bring them forth, and make them good. But, alas! 
 what poor stuff, what nonsense, instead of reasons, 
 do we daily hear from ungodly men! But for their 
 necessity I should be ashamed to name them. 
 
 Object. 1. One saith, if none shall be saved but 
 such converted and sanctified ones as you talk of, 
 then heaven would be but empty; then God help 
 a great many. • 
 
 Answ. Why, it seems you think that God doth not 
 know, or else that he is not to be believed ! Measure 
 not all by yourselves : God hath thousands and mil- 
 lions of his sanctified ones; but yet they are few in 
 comparison of the world, as Christ himself hath told 
 us, Matt. vii. 13, 14. Luke xi. 32. It better beseems 
 you to make that use of this truth which Christ 
 teacheth you: ' Strive to enter in at the strait gate; 
 for strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that 
 leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it; but 
 wide is the gate and broad is the way which leadeth 
 to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat, ' 
 Luke xiiL 22-24. Fear not, little flock (saith Christ 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 119 
 
 to his sanctified ones) for it is your Father's good 
 pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke xii. 32. 
 
 Object. 2. I am sure, if such as I go to hell, we 
 shall have store of company. 
 
 Answ. And will that be any ease or comfort to 
 you? Or do you think you may not have company 
 enough in heaven ? Will you be undone for com- 
 pany, or will you not believe that God will execute 
 his threatenings, because there be so many that are 
 guilty? These are all unreasonable conceits. 
 
 Object. 3. But all men are sinners, even the best 
 of you all. 
 
 Jlnsw. But all are not unconverted sinners. The 
 godly live not in gross sins : and their very infirmi- 
 ties are their grief and burden, which they daily 
 long, and pray, and strive to be rid of. Sin hath 
 not dominion over them. 
 
 Object. 4. I do not see that professors are any bet- 
 ter than other men; they will overreach and oppress, 
 and are as covetous as any. 
 
 Jlnsw. Whatever hypocrites are, it is not so with 
 those that are sanctified. God hath thousands, and 
 tens of thousands that are otherwise, though the 
 malicious world doth accuse them of what they can 
 never prove, and of that which never entered into 
 their hearts; and commonly they charge them with 
 heart-sins, which none can see but God, because 
 they can charge them with no such wickedness in 
 their lives, as they are guilty of themselves. 
 
 Object. 5. But I am no whoremonger, nor drunk- 
 ard, nor oppressor; and therefore why should you 
 call upon me to be converted ? 
 
 Answ. As if you were not born after the flesh, 
 and had not lived after the flesh, as well as others ! 
 Is it not as great a sin as any of these, for a man to 
 have an earthly mind, and to love the world above 
 God, and to have an unbelieving, unhumbled heart? 
 Nay, let me tell you more, that many persons that 
 avoid disgraceful sins, are as fast glued to the world, 
 and as much slaves to . the flesh, and as strange to 
 
120 A CALL TO 
 
 God, and averse to heaven in their more civil course, 
 as others are in their more shameful, notorious sins. 
 
 Object. 6. But I mean nobody any harm, nor do 
 any harm; and why then should God condemn me? 
 
 Jlnsvj. Is it no harm to neglect the Lord that 
 made thee, and the work for which thou earnest in- 
 to the world, and to prefer the creature before the 
 Creator, and to neglect grace that is daily offered 
 thee? It is the depth of thy sinfulness to be so in- 
 sensible of it: the dead feel not that they are dead. 
 If once thou vvert made alive, thou wouldst see more 
 amiss in thyself, and marvel at thyself for making so 
 light of it. 
 
 Object 7. I think you would make men mad, un- 
 der pretence of converting them; it is enough to rack 
 the brains of simple people to muse so much on mat- 
 ters so high for them. 
 
 Jinsw. 1. Can you be more mad than you are al- 
 ready? or, at least, can there be a more dangerous 
 madness than to neglect your everlasting welfare, 
 and wilfully undo yourselves? 
 
 2. A man is never well in his wits till he be con- 
 verted: he never knows God, nor knows sin, nor 
 knows Christ, nor knows the world, nor himself, nor 
 what his business is on earth, so as to set himself 
 about it, till he be converted. The Scripture saith, 
 that the wicked are unreasonable men, 2 These, iii. 
 2, and that the wisdom of the world is foolishness 
 with God, 1 Cor. i. 20. and Luke xv. 17. It is said 
 of the prodigal, that when he came to himself, he 
 resolved to return. It is a wise world when men 
 will disobey God, and run to hell, for fear of being 
 out of their wits. 
 
 3. What is there in the work that Christ calls 
 you to, that should drive a man out of his wits? 
 Is it the loving God, and calling upon him, and com- 
 fortably thinking of the glory to come, and the fbr- 
 sakingof our sins, and loving one another, and de- 
 lighting ourselves in the service of God? Are these 
 such things as should make men mad? 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 121 
 
 4. And whereas you say that these matters are 
 too high for us; you accuse God himself, for making 
 this our work, and giving us his word, and com- 
 manding ail that will be blessed to meditate on it 
 day and night. — Are the matters which we are made 
 for, and which we live for, too high for us to meddle 
 with ? This is plainly to unman us, and to make 
 beasts of us, as if we were like them that must med- 
 dle with no higher matters than what belongs to flesh 
 and earth. If heaven be too high for you to think 
 on and provide ibr, it will be too high for you ever 
 to possess. 
 
 5. If God should sometimes suffer any weak-head- 
 ed persons to be distracted by thinking of eternal 
 things, this is because they misunderstand them, 
 and run without a guide: and of the two I had rath- 
 er be in the case of such a one, than of the mad un- 
 converted world, that take their distraction to be 
 their wisdom. 
 
 Object. 8. I do not think that God cares so much 
 what men think, or speak, or do, as to make so great 
 a matter of it. 
 
 Answ. It seems then you take the word of God 
 to be false; then what will you believe? But your 
 own reason might teach you better, if you believe 
 not the Scriptures: for you see God sets not so light 
 by us but that he vouchsafed to make us, and still 
 preserveth us, and daily upholdeth us, and provideth 
 for us; and will any wise man make a curious frame 
 for nothing? Will you make or buy a clock or 
 watch, and daily look at it, and not care whether it 
 go true or false? Surely, if you believe not a partic- 
 ular eye of Providence observing your hearts and 
 lives, you cannot believe or expect any particular 
 Providence to observe your wants and troubles, or to 
 relieve you; and if God had so little care for you as 
 you imagine, you would never have lived till now; a 
 hundred diseases would have striven which should 
 first destroy you; yea, the devils would have haunts 
 ed you, and fetched you away alive, as the great 
 11 
 
122 A CALL TO 
 
 fishes devour the less, and as ravenous beasts and 
 birds devour others. You cannot think that God 
 made man for no end or use; and if he made him for 
 any, it was surely for himself; and can you think he 
 cares not whether his end be accomplished, and 
 whether we do the work that we are made for? 
 
 Yea, by this atheistical objection, you make God 
 to have made and upheld all the world in vain : for 
 what are all other lower creatures for, but for man? 
 What! doth the earth but bear us, and nourish us, 
 and the beasts do serve us with their labours and. 
 lives, and so of the rest? And hath God made so 
 glorious a habitation, and set man to dwell in it, and 
 made all his servants; and now doth he look for 
 nothing at his hands, nor care how he thinks, or 
 speaks, or lives? This is most unreasonable. 
 
 Object. 9. It was a better world when men did 
 not make so much ado in religion. 
 
 Jlnsw. 1 . It hath ever been the custom to praise 
 the times past; that world that you speak of was 
 wont to say it was a better world in their forefath- 
 ers' days; and so did they of their forefathers. This 
 is but an old custom, because we all feel the evil of 
 our own times, but we see not that which was be- 
 fore us. 
 
 2. Perhaps you speak as you think. Worldlings 
 think the world is at the best when it is agreeable to 
 their minds, and when they have most mirth and 
 worldly pleasure; and I doubt not but the devil, as 
 well as you, would say, that then it was a better 
 world; for then he had more service and less disturb- 
 ance. But the world is at the best when God is 
 most loved, regarded, and obeyed; and how else will 
 you know when the world is good or bad, but by 
 this? 
 
 Object. 10. There are so many ways and religions, 
 that we know not which to be of, and therefore we 
 will be even as we are. 
 
 Jinsw. Because there are many, will you be of 
 that way that you may be sure is wrong? None 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 123 
 
 are further out of the way than worldly, fleshly, un- 
 converted sinners; for they do not only err in this 
 or that opinion, as many sects do, but in the very 
 scope and drift of their lives. If you were going a 
 journey that your life lay on, would you stop or turn 
 again, because you met with some cross-ways, or 
 t because you saw some travellers go the horse-way, 
 and some the foot-way, and some perhaps break 
 over the hedge, yea, and some miss the way? Or 
 would you not rather be the more careful to inquire 
 the way? If you have some servants that know not 
 how to do your work right, and some that are un- 
 faithful, would you take it well of any of the rest 
 that would therefore be idle and do you no service, 
 because they see the rest so bad ? 
 
 Object. 11. I do not see that it goes any better 
 with those that are so godly, than with other men; 
 they are as poor 2 and in as much trouble as others. 
 
 JSnsvj. And perhaps in much more, when God 
 sees it meet. They take not earthly prosperity for 
 their wages; they have laid up their treasure and 
 hopes in another world; or else they are not Chris- 
 tians indeed; the less they have, the more is behind, 
 and they are content to wait till then. 
 
 Object. 12. When you have said all that you can, 
 I am resolved to hope well, and trust in God, and do 
 as well as I can, and not make so much ado. 
 
 Answ. 1. Is that doing as well as you can, when 
 you will not turn to God, but your heart is against 
 his holy and diligent service? It is as well as you 
 will, indeed, but that is your misery. 
 
 2. My desire is, that you should hope and trust in 
 God. But for what is it that you will hope ? Is it to 
 be saved, if you turn and be sanctified? For this 
 you have God's promise, and therefore hope for it 
 and spare not. But if you hope to be saved without 
 conversion and a holy life, this is not to hope in God, 
 but in Satan, or yourselves; for God hath given you 
 no such promise, but told you the contrary; but it i3 
 
124 A CALL TO 
 
 Satan and self-love that made you such promises, 
 and raised you to such hopes. 
 
 Well, if these, and such as these, be all you have 
 to say against conversion and a holy life, your all is 
 nothing, and worse than nothing; and if these, and 
 such as these, seem reasons sufficient to persuade 
 you to forsake God, and cast yourselves into hell, 
 the Lord deliver you from such reasons, and from 
 such blind understandings, and from such senseless 
 hardened hearts. Dare you stand to aver one of 
 these reasons at the bar of God? Do you think it 
 will then serve your turn to say, c Lord, I did not 
 turn, because I had so much to do in the world, or 
 because I did not like the lives of some professors, or 
 because I saw men of so many minds!' O how 
 easily will the light of that day confound and shame 
 such reasonings as these! Had you the world to 
 look after? Let the world which you served now 
 pay you your wages, and save you if it can. Had 
 you not a better world to look after first, and were 
 ye not commanded to seek first God's kingdom and 
 righteousness, and promised that other things should 
 be added to you ? Matt. vi. S3. And were ye not 
 told, that godliness was profitable to all things, hav- 
 ing the promise of this life, and of that which is to 
 come? 1 Tim. iv. 8. Did the sins of professors 
 hinder you ? You should rather have been the more 
 heedful, and learned, by their falls, to beware, and 
 have been the more careful, and not to be more 
 careless. It was the Scripture, and not their lives, 
 that was your rule. Did the many opinions of the 
 world hinder you? Why, the Scripture, that was 
 your rule, did teach you but one way, and that was 
 the right way. If you had followed that, even in so 
 much as was plain and easy, you should never have 
 miscarried. Will not such answers as these con- 
 found and silence you? If these will not, God hath 
 those that will. When he asked the man, " Friend, 
 how earnest thou in hither, not having on a wedding* 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 125 
 
 garment? " Matt. xxii. 12. that is, what dost thou 
 in my Church among professed Christians, without 
 a hoiy heart and life, — what answer did he make? 
 Why the text saith, " he was speechless; " he had 
 nothing to say. The clearness of the case, and the 
 majesty of God, will then easily stop the mouths of 
 the most confident of you, though you will not be 
 put down by any thing we can say to you now, but 
 will make good your cause, be it ever so bad. I 
 know already that never a reason that now you can 
 give me will do you any good at last, when your 
 case must be opened before the Lord and all the 
 world. 
 
 Nay, I scarce think that your own consciences 
 are well satisfied with your reasons; for if they are, 
 it seems then you have not so much as a purpose to 
 repent. But if you do purpose to repent, it seems 
 you do not put much confidence in your reasons 
 which you bring against it. 
 
 What say you, unconverted sinners? Have you 
 any good reasons to give why you should not turn, 
 and presently turn with all your hearts? Or will 
 you go to hell in despite of reason itself? Bethink 
 you what you do in time, for it will shortly be too 
 late to bethink you. Can you find any fault with 
 God, or his work, or his wages? Is he a bad master? 
 Is the devil, whom ye serve, a better? or is the flesh 
 a better? Is there any harm in a holy life? Is a 
 life of worldliness and ungodliness better? Do you 
 think in your consciences that it would do you any 
 harm to be converted and live a holy life? What 
 harm can it do you? Is it harm to you to have the 
 Spirit of Christ within you, and to have a cleansed 
 purified heart? If it be bad to be holy, why doth 
 God say, " Be ye holy, for I am holy? 55 1 Pet. i. 15, 
 16. Lev. xx. 7. Is it evil to be like God? Is it 
 not said that God made man in his own image? 
 Why, this holiness is his image; this Adam lost, and 
 this Christ by his word and Spirit would restore 
 to you, as he doth to all that he will save. Why 
 
126 
 
 A CALL TO 
 
 were you baptized into the Holy Ghost, and why do 
 you baptize your children into the Holy Ghost, as 
 your Sanctifier, if you will not be sanctified by him, 
 but think it a hurt to you to be sanctified ? Tell me 
 truly, as before the Lord, though you are loth to 
 live a holy life, had you not rather die in the case of 
 those that do so, than of others ? If you were to 
 die this day, had you not rather die in the case of a 
 converted man than of an unconverted? of a holy 
 and heavenly man than of a carnal earthly man? 
 and would you not say as Baalam, Numb, xxiii. 10. 
 "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my 
 last end be like his ! " And why will you not now 
 be of the mind that you will be of then? First or 
 last you must come to this, either to be converted, 
 or to wish you had been, when it is too late. 
 
 But what is it that you are afraid of losing, if you 
 turn? Is it your friends? You will but change 
 them; God will be your friend, and Christ and the 
 Spirit will be your friend, and every Christian will 
 be your friend. You will get one friend that will 
 stand you in more stead than all the friends in the 
 world could have done. The friends you lose would 
 have but enticed you to hell, but could not have 
 delivered you : but the friend you get will save you 
 from hell, and bring you to his own eternal rest. 
 
 Is it your pleasures that you are afraid of losing? 
 You think you shall never have a merry day again 
 if once you be converted. Alas! that you should 
 think it a greater pleasure to live in foolish sports 
 and merriments, and please your flesh, than to live 
 in the believing thoughts of glory, and in the love of 
 God, and in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the 
 Holy Ghost, in which the state of grace consisteth. 
 Rom. xiv. 17. If it would be a greater pleasure for 
 you to think of your lands and inheritance, if you 
 were lord of all the country, than it is for a child 
 to play at pins; why should it not be a greater joy 
 to you to think of the kingdom of heaven being 
 yours, than of all the riches or pleasures of the 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 127 
 
 world? As it is but foolish childishness that makes 
 children so delight in toys, that they would not leave 
 them for all your lands, so it is but foolish world- 
 liness, and ileshliness, and wickedness, that makes 
 you so much delight in your houses and lands, 
 and meat and drink, and ease and honour, as that you 
 would not part with them for the heavenly delights. 
 But what will you do for pleasure when these are 
 gone? Do you not think of that? When your 
 pleasures eni in horror, and go out like a taper, the 
 pleasures of the saints are then at the best. I have 
 had myself but a little taste of the heavenly pleas- 
 ures in the forethoughts of the blessed approaching 
 day, and in the present persuasions of the love of 
 God in Christ; but I have taken too deep a draught 
 of earthly pleasures: so that you may see, if I be 
 partial, it is on your side; and yet I must profess 
 from that little experience, that there is no compari- 
 son. There is more joy to be had in a day, if the 
 sun of life shine clear upon us, in the state of holi- 
 ness, than in a whole life of sinful pleasures. " I 
 had rather be a door-keeper in the house of God, 
 than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." Ps. lxxxiv. 
 10. " A day in his courts is better than a thous- 
 and " any where else. Ps. lxxxiv. 10. The mirth 
 of the wicked is like the laughter of a madman, that 
 knows not his own misery; and therefore Solomon 
 says of such laughter, " it is mad; and of mirth, 
 what doth it?" Eccles. ii. 2. vii. 2—6. " It is better 
 to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the 
 house of feasting; for that is the end of all men, and 
 the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better 
 then laughter; fbr by the sadness of the countenance 
 the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in 
 the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in 
 the house of mirth. It is better to bear the rebuke 
 of the wise, than to hear the song of fools; for as 
 the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laugh- 
 ter of the fool." All the pleasure of fleshly things 
 is but like the scratching of a man that hath the 
 
128 A CALL TO 
 
 itch; it is his disease that makes him desire it, and a 
 wise man had rather be without his pleasure than be 
 troubled with his itch. Your loudest laughter is but 
 like that of a man that is tickled; he laughs when he 
 has no cause of joy. Judge, as you are men, whether 
 this be a wise man's part. It is but your carnal un- 
 sanctified nature that makes a holy life seem grievous 
 to you, and a course of sensuality seem more delight- 
 ful. If you will but turn, the Holy Ghost will give 
 you another nature and inclination, and then it will 
 be more pleasant to you to be rid of your sin, than 
 now it is to keep it; and you will then say, that you 
 knew not what a comfortable life was till now, and 
 that it was never well with you till God and holiness 
 were your delight. 
 
 Quest. But how cometh it to pass that men 
 should be so unreasonable in the matters of salva- 
 tion ? They have wit enough in other matters : what 
 makes them so loth to be converted, that there 
 should need so many words in so plain a case, and 
 all will not do, but the most will live and die uncon- 
 verted ? 
 
 Jlnsw. To name them only in a few words, the 
 causes are these : 
 
 1. Men are naturally in love with the earth and 
 flesh; they are born sinners, and their nature hath 
 an enmity to God and goodness, as the nature of a 
 serpent hath to a man : and when all that we can say 
 goes against an habitual inclination of their natures, 
 no marvel if it prevail little. 
 
 2. They are in darkness, and know not the very 
 things they hear. Like a man that was born blind, 
 and hears a high commendation of the light; but 
 what will hearing do, unless he sees it? They know 
 not what God is, nor what is the power of the cross 
 of Christ, nor what the spirit of holiness is, nor what 
 it is to live in love by faith: they know not the cer- 
 tainty, and suitableness, and excellency of the heav- 
 enly inheritance. They know not what conversion 
 and a holy mind and conversation is, even when they 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 129 
 
 hear of it. They are in a mist of ignorance. They 
 are lost and bewildered in sin; like a man that has 
 lost himself in the night, and knows not where he is, 
 nor how to come to himself again, till the day-light 
 recover him. 
 
 ; 3. They are wilfully confident that they need no 
 conversion, but some partial amendment; and that 
 they are in the way to heaven already; and are con- 
 verted when they are not. And if you meet a man 
 that is quite out of his way, you may long enough 
 call on him to turn back again, if he will not believe 
 you that he is out of the way. 
 
 4. They are become slaves to their flesh, and 
 drowned in the world to make provision for it. 
 Their lusts, and passions, and appetites have dis- 
 tracted them, and got such a hand over them, that 
 they cannot tell how to deny them, or how to mind 
 any thing else; so that the drunkard saith, I love a 
 cup of good drink, and I cannot forbear it: the glut- 
 ton saith, I love good cheer, and I cannot forbear; 
 the fornicator saith, I love to have my lust fulfilled, 
 and I cannot forbear; and the gamester loves to have 
 his sports, and he cannot forbear. So that they are 
 become even captivated slaves to their flesh, and 
 their very wilfulness is become an impotency; and 
 what they would not do, they say they cannot. And 
 the worldling is so taken Tip with earthly things, 
 that he hath neither heart, nor mind, nor time, lor 
 heavenly; but, as in Pharaoh's dream, Gen. xli. 4. 
 the lean kine did eat up the fat ones; so this lean and 
 barren earth doth eat up all the thoughts of heaven. 
 
 5. Some are so carried away by the stream of evil 
 company, that they are possessed with hard thoughts 
 of a godly life, by "hearing them speak against it; or 
 at least they think they may venture to do as they 
 see most do, and so they hold on in their sinful ways; 
 and when one is cut off, and cast into hell, and 
 another snatched away from among them to the 
 same condemnation, — it doth not much daunt them, 
 because they see not whither they are gone. Poor 
 
ISO ■ A CALL TO 
 
 wretches, they hold on in their ungodliness for all 
 this; for they little know that their companions are 
 now lamenting it in torments. In Luke xvi. the 
 rich man in hell would fain have had one to warn 
 his five brethren, lest they should come to that place 
 of torment. It is likely he knew their minds and 
 lives, and knew that they were hasting thither, and 
 little dreamt that he was there, yea, and would little 
 have believed one that should have told them so. 
 I remember a passage that a gentleman, yet living, 
 told me he saw upon a bridge over the Severn.* A 
 man was driving a flock of fat lambs, and something 
 meeting them, and hindering their passage, one of 
 the lambs leapt upon the wall of the bridge, and his 
 legs slipping from under him, he fell into the stream; 
 the rest seeing him, did, one after one, leap over the 
 bridge into the stream, and were all or almost all 
 drowned. Those that were behind did little know 
 what was become of them that were gone before; 
 but thought they might venture to follow their com- 
 panions; but as soon as ever they were over the 
 wall, and falling headlong, the case was altered. 
 Even so it is with unconverted carnal men. One 
 dieth by them, and drops into hell, and another fol- 
 lows the same way; and yet they will go after them, 
 because they think not whither they are gone. O, 
 but when death hath once opened their eyes, and 
 they see what is on the other side of the wall, even 
 in another world, then what would they give to be 
 where they were ! 
 
 6. Moreover, they have a subtle malicious enemy, 
 that is unseen of them, and plays his game in the 
 dark; and it is his principal business to hinder their 
 conversion; and therefore to keep them where they 
 are, by persuading them not to believe the Scrip- 
 tures, or not to trouble their minds with \\iv$v mat- 
 ters; or by persuading them to think ill of a godly 
 life, or to think that more is enjoined than need be, 
 
 *Mr. R. Rowly, of Shrewsbury, upon Acham-B ridge. 
 
 , 
 

 THE UNCONVER' 
 
 and that they may be saved without conversion, and 
 without all this stir; and that God is* so merciful, 
 that he will not damn any such as they; or at least, 
 that they may stay a little longer, and take their 
 pleasure, and follow the world a little longer yet, 
 and then let it go, and repent hereafter. And by 
 such juggling, deluding cheats as these, the devil 
 keeps the most in his captivity, and leadeth them to 
 his misery. 
 
 These, and such like impediments as these, do 
 keep so many thousands unconverted, when God 
 hath done so much, and Christ hath suffered so 
 much, and ministers have said so much for their 
 conversion; when their reasons are silenced and they 
 are not able to answer the Lord that calls after them, 
 " Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?" yet all comes 
 to nothing with the greatest part of them; and they 
 leave us no more to do after all, but to sit down and 
 lament their wilful misery. 
 
 I have now showed you the reasonableness of 
 God's commands, and the unreasonableness of wick- 
 ed men's disobedience. If nothing will serve their 
 turn, but men will yet refuse to turn, we are next to 
 consider who is in fault if they be damned. And 
 this brings me to the last doctrine; which is, 
 
 Doctrine 7. That if after all this men will not 
 turn, it is not the fault of God that they are con- 
 demned, but their own, even their own wilfulness. 
 They die because they will, that is, because they 
 will not turn. 
 
 If you will go to hell, what remedy? God here 
 acquits himself of your blood; it shall not lie on him 
 if you be lost. A negligent minister may draw it 
 upon him; and those that encourage you or hinder 
 you not in sin, may draw it upon them; but be sure 
 of it, it shall not lie upon God. Saith the Lord 
 concerning his unprofitable vineyard: Isa. v. 1—4. 
 " Judge, I pray you 3 betwixt me and my vineyard : 
 
132 
 
 A CALL TO 
 
 what could have been done more to my vineyard 
 that I have not done in it ?" When he had planted 
 it in a fruitful soil, and fenced it and gathered out 
 the stones, and planted it with the choicest vines, 
 what should he have done more to it? He hath 
 made you men, and endowed you with reason; he 
 hath furnished you with all external necessaries; all 
 creatures are at your service; he hath given you a 
 righteous perfect law. When ye had broken it, and 
 undone yourselves, he had pity on you, and sent his 
 Son by a miracle of condescending mercy to die for 
 you, and be a sacrifice for your sins; and he was in 
 Christ reconciling the world to himself! 
 
 The Lord Jesus hath made you a deed of gift of 
 himself, and eternal life with him, on the condition 
 you will but accept it, and return. He hath on this 
 reasonable condition offered you the free pardon of 
 all your sins! he hath written this in his word, and 
 sealed it by his Spirit, and sent it by his ministers : 
 they have made the offer to you a hundred and a 
 hundred times, and called you to accept it, and to 
 turn to God. They have in his name entreated you, 
 and reasoned the case with you, and answered all 
 your frivolous objections. He hath long waited on 
 you, and staid your leisure, and suffered you to 
 abuse him to his lace ! He hath mercifully sustained 
 you in the midst of your sins; he hath compassed 
 you about with all sorts of mercies; he hath also 
 intermixed afflictions, to remind you of your folly, 
 and call you to your senses, and his Spirit has been 
 often striving with your hearts, and saying there, 
 * Turn, sinner, turn to him that calleth thee: Whith- 
 er art thou going? What art thou doing? Dost 
 thou know what will be the end? How long wilt 
 thou hate thy friends, and love thine enemies? 
 When wilt thou let go all, and turn and deliver thy- 
 self to God, and give thy Redeemer the possession 
 of thy soul? When shall it once be? 5 These plead- 
 ings have been used with thee, and when thou hast 
 delayed, thou hast been urged to make haste, and 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 133 
 
 God hath called to thee, " To-day, while it is called 
 to-day, harden not thy heart:" Why not now, 
 without any more delay? Life hath been set be- 
 fore you; the joys of heaven have been opened to 
 you in the gospel; the certainty of them hath been 
 manifested; the certainty of the everlasting torments 
 of the damned hath been declared to you; unless 
 you would have had a sight of heaven and hell, 
 what could you desire more? Christ hath been, as 
 it were, set forth crucified before your eyes, Gal. iii. 
 1. You have been a hundred times told that you 
 are but lost men till you come unto him; as oft you 
 have been told of the evil of sin, of the vanity of sin, 
 the world, and all the pleasures and wealth it can 
 afford; of the shortness and uncertainty of your 
 lives, and the endless duration of the joy or torment 
 of the life to come. All this, and more than this 
 have you been told, and told again, even till you 
 were weary of hearing it, and till you could make 
 the lighter of it, because you had so often heard it, 
 like the smith's dog, that is brought by custom to 
 sleep under the noise of the hammers and when the 
 sparks fly about his ears; and though all this have 
 not converted you, yet you are alive, and might 
 have mercy to this day, if you had but hearts to 
 entertain it. And now let reason itself be the judge, 
 whether it be the fault of God or yours, if after this 
 you will be unconverted and be damned. If you 
 die now, it is because you will die. What should 
 be said more to you, or what course should be taken 
 that is more likely to prevail? Are you able to say, 
 and make it good, 'We would fain have been con- 
 verted and become new creatures, but we could not ; 
 we would fain have forsaken our sins, but we could 
 not; we would have changed our company, and our 
 thoughts, and our discourse, but we could not.' 
 Why could you not, if you would ? What hindered 
 you but the wickedness of your hearts? Who forc- 
 ed you to sin, or who held you back from duty? 
 Had not you the same teaching, and time, and lib- 
 
134 
 
 A CALL TO 
 
 erty to be godly, as your godly neighbours had? 
 Why then could not you have been godly as well as 
 they? Were the church doors shut against you, or 
 did you not keep away yourselves, or sit and sleep, 
 or hear as if you did not hear? Did God put in 
 any exceptions against you in his word, when he 
 invited sinners to return; and when he promised 
 mercy to those that do return? Did he say, ' I will 
 pardon all that repent except thee?' Did he shut 
 thee out from the liberty of his holy worship? Did 
 he forbid you to pray to him any more than others? 
 You know he did not. God did not drive you away 
 from him, but you forsook him, and ran away your- 
 selves, and when he called you to liim, you would 
 not come. If God had excepted you out of the 
 general promise and offer of mercy, or had said to 
 you, c Stand off*, I will have nothing to do with such 
 as you; pray not to me, for I will not hear you; if 
 you repent never so much, and cry for mercy never 
 so much, I will not regard you.' If God had left 
 you nothing to trust to but desperation, then you 
 had had a fair excuse; you might have said, * To 
 what end do I repent and turn, when it will do no 
 good?' But this was not your case: you might have 
 had Christ to be your Lord and Saviour, your head 
 and husband, as well as others, and you would not, 
 because you felt yourselves not sick enough for the 
 physician: and because you could not spare your dis- 
 ease. In your hearts you said as those rebels, Luke 
 xix. 1 4. " We will not have this man to reign over 
 us." Christ would have gathered you under the 
 wings of his salvation, and you would not. Matt, 
 xxiii. 37. What desires of your welfare did the 
 Lord express in his holy word ? With what com- 
 passion did he stand over you, and say, " O that my 
 j)eopie had hearkened unto me, and that they had 
 walked in my ways!" Psalm xvii. 13. lxxvi. 13. " O 
 that there were such a heart in this people, that they 
 would fear me, and keep all my commandments al- 
 ways; that it might be well with them and with 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 135 
 
 their children for ever !" Deut. v. 29. " O that they 
 were wise, that they understood this, that they 
 would consider their latter end I" Deut. xxxii. 29. 
 He would have been your God, and done all for you 
 that your souls could well desire: but you loved the 
 world and your flesh above him, and therefore you 
 would not hearken to him: though you compliment- 
 ed him, and gave him high titles; yet when it came 
 to the closing, you would have none of him. Psalm 
 Jxxxi. 11, 12. No marvel then if he gave you up 
 to your own hearts' lusts, and you walked in your 
 own counsels. He condescends to reason, and pleads 
 the case with you, and asks you, ' What is there in 
 me, or my service, that you should be so much 
 against me? What harm have I done thee, sinner? 
 Have I deserved this unkind dealing at thy hand? 
 Many mercies have I showed thee: for which of 
 them dost thou thus despise me ? Is it I, or is it Satan, 
 that is thy enemy? Is it I, or is it thy carnal self 
 that would undo thee? Is it a holy life, or a life of 
 sin that thou hast cause to fly from? If thou be 
 undone, thou procurest this to thyself, by forsaking 
 me, the Lord that would have saved thee. 5 Jer. ii. 
 7. " Doth not thy own wickedness correct thee, 
 and thy sin reprove thee? Thou mayst see that 
 it is an evil and bitter thing that thou hast forsaken 
 me." Jer. ii. 19. " What iniquity have you found 
 in me that you have followed after vanity, and for- 
 saken me?" Jer. ii. 5,6. He calleth out, as it 
 were, to the brutes, to hear the controversy he hath 
 against you. Mic. ii. 3—5. " Hear, O ye mountains, 
 the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations 
 of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with 
 his people, and he will plead with Israel. O my 
 people, what have I done unto thee, and wherein 
 have 1 wearied thee? testify against me, for I 
 brought thee up out of Egypt, and redeemed thee." 
 " Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the 
 Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought 
 up children, and they have rebelled against me. 
 
136 A CALL TO 
 
 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's 
 crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not 
 consider ! Ah sinful nation, a people laden with in- 
 iquity, a seed of evil doers ! " &c. Is. i. 2-4. " Do 
 you thus requite the Lord, O foolish people, and 
 unwise? Is not he thy Father that bought thee? 
 Hath he not made thee, and established thee?" 
 Deut. xxxii. 6. When he saw that you forsook 
 him, even for nothing, and turned away from your 
 Lord and life, to hunt after the chaff and feathers 
 of the world, he told you of your folly, and called 
 you to a more profitable employment, Isa. lv. 1—3. 
 " Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which 
 is not bread, and your labour for that which satis- 
 fieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye 
 that which is good, and let your soul delight itself 
 in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me; 
 hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an 
 everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mer- 
 cies of David. Seek ye the Lord while he may be 
 found : call ye upon him while he is near. Let the 
 wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man 
 his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and 
 he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for 
 he will abundantly pardon," and so Isa. i. 16—18. 
 And when you would not hear, what complaints 
 have you put him to, charging it on you as your 
 wilfulness and stubbornness. Jer. ii. 12, 13. "Be as- 
 tonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; 
 for my people have committed two evils; they have 
 forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and 
 hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can 
 hold no water." Many a time hath Christ proclaim- 
 ed that free invitation to you, Rev. xxii. 17. " Let 
 him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let 
 him take the water of life freely." But you put 
 him to complain, after all his offers; " They will not 
 come to me, that they may have lite." John v. 40. 
 He hath invited you to feast with him in the king- 
 dom of his grace, and you have had excuses from 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 137 
 
 your grounds, and your cattle, and your worldly 
 business; and when you would not come, you have 
 said you could not; and provoked him to resolve 
 that you should never taste of his supper, Luke xiv. 
 1 6 — 25. And who is it the fault of now hut your- 
 selves? and what can you say is the chief cause of 
 your damnation but your own wills? you would be 
 damned. The whole case is laid open by Christ 
 himself, Prov. i. 20—33. " Wisdom crieth without, 
 she uttereth her voice in the streets; she crieth in 
 the chief place of the concourse, — How long, ye 
 simple ones, will ye love simplicity, and the scorners 
 delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge ? 
 Turn ye at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my 
 Spirit upon you, I will make known my words unto 
 you. Because I have called, and ye refused. I have 
 stretched out my hands and no man regarded; but 
 ye have set at naught all my counsels, and would 
 none of my reproofs. I also will laugh at your ca- 
 lamity, I will mock when your fear cometh: when 
 your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction 
 cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish 
 cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but 
 I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they 
 shall not find me; for that they hated knowledge, 
 and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They 
 would none of my counsels : they despised all my re- 
 proof; therefore, shall they eat of the fruit of theii 
 own way, and be filled with their own devices. For 
 the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and 
 the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But who- 
 so hearkeneth to me shall dwell safely, and shall be 
 quiet from the fear of evil." I thought best to re- 
 cite the whole text at large to you, because it doth 
 so fully show the cause of the destruction of the 
 wicked. It is not because God would not teach 
 them, but because they would not learn. It is not 
 because God would not call them, but because they 
 would not turn at his reproof. Their wilfulness is 
 their undoing. 
 
 12 
 
138 A CALL TO 
 
 Use. — From what hath been said, you may fur- 
 ther learn these following things : 
 
 1. From hence you may see, not only what blas- 
 phemy and impiety it is to lay the blame of men's 
 destruction upon God; but also how unfit these 
 wicked wretches are to bring in such a charge 
 against their Maker! They cry out upon God, and 
 say he gives them not grace, and his threatenings 
 are severe, and God forbid that all should be con- 
 demned that be not converted and sanctified; and 
 they think it hard measure that a short sin should 
 have an endless suffering; and if they be damned, 
 they say they cannot help it, when in the mean time 
 they are busy about their own destruction, even the 
 destruction of their own souls, and will not be per- 
 suaded to hold their hands. They think God were 
 cruel, if he should condemn them; and yet they 
 are so cruel to themselves, that they will run into 
 the fire of hell, when God hath told them it is a lit- 
 tle before them; and neither entreaties, nor threat- 
 enings, nor any thing that can be said, will stop 
 them. We see them almost undone; their careless, 
 worldly, fleshly lives tell us that they are in the 
 power of the devil; we know, if they die before they 
 are converted, all the world cannot save them; and 
 knowing the uncertainty of their lives, we are afraid 
 every day lest they drop into the fire: and therefore 
 we entreat them to pity their own souls, and not. to 
 undo themselves when mercy is at hand; and they 
 will not hear us. We entreat them to cast away 
 their sin, and come to Christ without delay, and to 
 have some mercy on themselves, but they will have 
 none; and yet they think that God must be cruel if 
 he condemn them. O wilful miserable sinners ! it is 
 not God that is cruel to you, it is you that are cruel 
 to yourselves; you are told you must turn or burn, 
 and yet you turn not. You are told that if you will 
 needs keep your sins, you shall keep the curse of 
 God with them; and yet you will keep them. You 
 are told that there is no way to happiness but by 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 139 
 
 holiness; and yet you will not be holy. What 
 would you have God say more to you? What 
 would you have him do with his mercy? He 
 onereth it to you, and you will not have it. You 
 are in the ditch of sin and misery, and he would 
 give you his hand to help you out, and you refuse 
 his help; he would cleanse you of your sins, and you 
 had rather keep them; you love your lust, and love 
 your gluttony and sports, and drunkenness, and will 
 not let them go; would you have him bring you to 
 heaven whether you will or not? Or would you 
 have him bring you and your sins to heaven togeth- 
 er? Why that is an impossibility; you may as well 
 expect he should turn the sun into darkness. What ! 
 an unsanctified fleshly heart be in heaven? it cannot 
 be. There entereth nothing that is unclean. Rev. 
 xxi. 17. "For what communion hath light with 
 darkness, or Christ with Belial? " 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15. 
 "All the day long hath he stretched out his hands 
 to a disobedient and gainsaying people." Rom. x. 
 21. What w T ill you do now? Will you cry to God 
 for mercy? Why, God calleth upon you to have 
 mercy upon yourselves, and you will not ! Minis- 
 ters see the poisoned cup in the drunkard's hand, 
 and tell him there is poison in it, and desire him to 
 have mercy on his soul, and forbear, and he will not 
 hear us! Drink it he must and will; he loves it, 
 and therefore, though hell comes next, he saith he 
 cannot help it. What should one say to such men 
 as these? We tell the ungodly careless worldling, 
 it is not such a lite that will serve the turn, or ever 
 bring you to heaven. If a bear were at your back, 
 you would mend your pace; and when the curse of 
 God is at your back, and Satan and hell are at your 
 back, will you not stir, but ask, What needs all this 
 ado? Is an immortal soul of no more worth? O 
 have mercy upon yourselves! But they will have 
 no mercy on themselves, nor once regard us. We 
 tell them the end will be bitter. Who can dwell 
 with the everlasting fire? And yet they will have 
 
140 A CALL TO 
 
 no mercy on themselves. And yet will these shame- 
 less transgressors say, that God is more merciful than 
 to condemn them; when it is themselves that cruelly 
 and unmercifully run upon condemnation; and if we 
 should go to them, and entreat them, we cannot stop 
 them; if we should fall on our knees to them, we 
 cannot stop them, but to hell they will go, and yet 
 will not believe that they are going thither. If we 
 beg of them for the sake of God that made them, 
 and preserveth them; for the sake of Christ, that 
 died for them; for the sake of their own souls, to 
 pity themselves, and go no further in the way to 
 hell, but come to Christ while his arms are open, 
 and enter into the stats of life while the door stands 
 open, and now take mercy while mercy may be had, 
 they will not be persuaded. If we should die for it, 
 we cannot so much as get them now and then to 
 consider with themselves of the matter, and to turn: 
 and yet they can say, i I hope God will be merciful.' 
 Did you never consider what he saith, Isa. xxvii. 1 1 . 
 " It is a people of no understanding; therefore, he 
 that made them will not have mercy on them, and 
 lie that formed them will show them no favour." 
 If another man will not clothe you when you are 
 naked, and feed you when you are hungry, you will 
 say he is unmerciful. If he should cast you into 
 prison, or beat and torment you, you would say he 
 is unmerciful; and yet you will do a thousand times 
 more against yourselves, even cast away both soul 
 and body for ever, and never complain of your 
 own unmerci fulness! Yea, and God that waited 
 upon you all the while with his mercy, must be ta- 
 ken to be unmerciful, if he punish you after all this. 
 Unless the holy God of heaven will give these 
 wretches leave to trample upon his Son's blood, 
 and with the Jews, as it were, again to spit in his 
 face, and do despite to the spirit of grace, and make 
 a jest of sin, and a mock at holiness, and set more 
 light by saving mercy than by the filth of their flesh- 
 ly pleasures; and unless, after all this, he will save 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 141 
 
 them by the mercy which they cast away and would 
 have none of, God himself must be called unmerci- 
 ful by them ! But he will be justified when he judg- 
 eth, and he will not stand or fall at the bar of a sin- 
 ful worm. 
 
 I know there are many particular cavils that are 
 brought by them against the Lord; but I shall not 
 here stay to answer them particularly, having done 
 it already in my Treatise of Judgment , to which 1 
 shall refer them. Had the disputing part of the 
 world been as careful to avoid sin and destruction, 
 as they have been busy in searching after the cause 
 of them, and forward indirectly to impute it to God, 
 they might have exercised their wits more profitably, 
 and have less wronged God, and sped better them- 
 selves. When so ugly a monster as sin is within 
 us, and so heavy a thing as punishment is on us, 
 and so dreadful a thing as hell is before us, one 
 would think it should be an easy question, who is in 
 the fault, whether God or man be the principal 
 or culpable cause? Some men are such favourable 
 judges of themselves, that they are more prone to 
 accuse the infinite perfection and goodness itself, than 
 their own hearts, and imitate their first parents, that 
 said, "The serpent tempted me; and the woman 
 that thou gavest me gave unto me, and I did eat;" 
 secretly implying that God was the cause. So say 
 they, " The understanding that thou gavest me was 
 unable to discern; the will that thou gavest me was 
 unable to make a better choice; the objects which 
 thou didst set before me did entice me; the tempta- 
 tions which thou didst permit to assault me prevailed 
 against me." And some are so loth to think that 
 God can make a self-determining creature, that they 
 dare not deny him that which they take to be his 
 prerogative, to be the determiner of the will in every 
 sin, as the first efficient immediate physical cause; 
 and many could be content to acquit God from so 
 much causing of evil, if they could but reconcile it 
 with his being the chief cause of good, as if truths 
 
142 A CALL TO 
 
 would be no longer truths than we are able to see 
 them in their perfect order and coherence: because 
 our ravelled wits cannot see them right together, nor 
 assign each truth its proper place, we presume to 
 conclude that some must be cast away. This is 
 the fruit of proud self-conceitedness, when men re- 
 ceive not God's truth as a child his lesson, in holy- 
 submission to the omniscience of our Teacher, but 
 censurers, that are too wise to learn. 
 
 Object. But we cannot convert ourselves till God 
 convert us; we can do nothing without his grace; it 
 is not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, 
 but in God that showeth mercy. 
 
 Answ. 1. God hath two degrees of mercy to 
 show; the mercy of conversion first, and the mercy 
 of salvation last; the latter he will give to none 
 but those that will and run, and hath promised it 
 to them only. The former is to make them willing 
 that are unwilling; and though your own willing- 
 ness and endeavours deserve not his grace, yet^our 
 wilful refusal deserveth that it should be denied to 
 you. Your disability is your very unwillingness it- 
 self, which excuseth not your sin, but maketh it 
 the greater. You could turn if you were but truly 
 willing; and if your w T ills themselves are so corrupt- 
 ed, that nothing but effectual grace will move them, 
 you have the more cause to seek for that grace, and 
 yield to it, and do what you can in the use of means, 
 and not neglect it, and set against it. Do what you 
 are able first, and then complain of God for denying 
 you grace, if you have cause. 
 
 Object. But you seem to intimate all this while 
 that man hath free-will. 
 
 JLnsw. 1. The dispute about free-will is beyond 
 your capacity; I shall therefore now trouble you with 
 no more but this about it. Your will is naturally a 
 free, that is, a self-determining faculty; but it is vi- 
 ciously inclined, arid backward to do good : and there- 
 fore we see, by sad experience, that it hath not a 
 virtuous moral freedom: but that it is the wickedness 
 
THE I ^CONVERTED. 143 
 
 of it which deserveth the punishment; and I pray you, 
 let us not befool ourselves with opinions. Let the 
 case be your own. If you had an enemy that was 
 so malicious, as to fall upon you and beat you, or 
 take away the lives of your children, would you 
 excuse him, because he said, I have not free-will, it 
 is my nature; I cannot choose unless God give me 
 grace? If \^ou had a servant that robbed you, would 
 you take such an answer from him? Might not 
 every thief and murderer that is hanged at the assize 
 give such an answer: I have not free-will; I cannot 
 change my own heart; what can I do without God's 
 grace? and shall they therefore be acquitted? If 
 not, why then should you think to be acquitted for 
 a course of sin against the Lord? 
 
 2. From hence also you may observe these three 
 things together: — 1. What a subtle tempter Satan 
 is. 2. What a deceitful thing sin is. 3. What a 
 foolish creature corrupted man is. A subtle tempter 
 indeed, that can persuade the greatest part of the 
 world to go into everlasting fire, when they have so 
 many warnings and dissuasives as they have ! A de- 
 ceitful thing is sin indeed, that can bewitch so many 
 thousands to part with everlasting life, for a thing so 
 base and utterly unworthy ! A foolish creature is 
 man indeed, that will be cheated of his salvation for 
 nothing, yea, for a known nothing; and that by an 
 enemy, and a known enemy. You would think it 
 impossible that any man in his wits should be per- 
 suaded for a little to cast himself into the fire, or 
 water, or into a coal-pit, to the destruction of his 
 life; and yet men will be enticed to cast themselves 
 into hell. If your natural lives were in your own 
 hands, that you should not die till you would kill 
 yourselves, how long would most of you live? And 
 yet when your everlasting life is so far in your own 
 hands under God, that you cannot be undone till 
 you undo yourselves, how few of you will forbear 
 your own undoing ! Ah, what a silly thing is man ! 
 and what a bewitching. and befooling thing is sin. 
 
144 
 
 A CALL TO 
 
 3. From hence also you may learn, that it is no 
 great wonder if wicked men be hinderers of others 
 in the way to heaven, and would have as many un- 
 converted as they can, and would draw them into 
 sin, and keep them in it. Can you expect that they 
 should have mercy on others, that have none upon 
 themselves? and that they should hesitate much at 
 the destruction of others, that hesitate not to destroy 
 themselves? They do no worse by others than 
 they do by themselves. 
 
 4. Lastly, You may hence learn that the greatest 
 enemy to man is himself; and the greatest judgment 
 in this lite that can befall him, is to be left to himself; 
 that the great work that grace hath to do, is to save 
 us from ourselves; that the greatest accusations and 
 complaints of men should be against themselves; 
 that the greatest work that we have to do ourselves, 
 is to resist ourselves; and the greatest enemy that we 
 should daily pray, and watch, and strive against, is 
 our own carnal hearts and wills; and the greatest 
 part of your work, if you would do good to others, 
 and help them to heaven, is to save them from them- 
 selves, even from their blind understandings and cor- 
 rupted wills, and perverse affections, and violent pas- 
 sions, and unruly senses. I only name all these tor 
 brevity's sake, and leave them to your further con- 
 sideration. 
 
 Well, sirs, now we have found out the great de- 
 linquent and murderer of souls (even men's selves, 
 their own wills,) what remains but that you judge 
 according to the evidence, and confess this great in- 
 iquity before the Lord, and be humbled for it, and do 
 so no more? To these three ends distinctly, I shall 
 add a few words more. 1. Further to convince 
 you. 2. To humble you. And, S. To reform 
 you, if there yet be any hope. 
 
 1. We know so much of the exceeding gracious 
 nature of God, who is willing to do good, and de- 
 lighteth to show mercy, that we have no reason to 
 suspect him of being the culpable cause of our death, 
 
THE UNCONVERTED 145 
 
 or to call him cruel; he made all good, and he pre- 
 served! and maintaineth all; the eyes of all wait up- 
 on him, and he giveth them their meat in due season; 
 he openeth his hand, and satisfieth the desires of all 
 the living. Psalm cxlv. 15, 16. He is not only 
 righteous in all his ways, and therefore will deal just- 
 ly; and holy in all his works, and therefore not the 
 author of sin; but he is also good to all, and his tender 
 mercies are over all his works. Psalm cxlv. 17, 19. 
 
 But as for man, we know his mind is dark, his 
 will perverse, and his affections carry him so head- 
 long, that he is fitted by his folly and corruption to 
 such a work as the destroying of himself. If you 
 saw a lamb lie killed in the way, would you sooner 
 suspect the sheep, or the dog, or the wolf, to be the 
 author of it, if they both stand by? Or if you see 
 a house broken open and the people murdered, would 
 you sooner suspect the prince or judge, that is wise 
 and just, and had no need, or a known thief or mur- 
 derer? I say therefore, as James i. 13 — 15, "Let no 
 man say, when he is tempted, that he is tempted of 
 God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither 
 tempteth he any man, to draw him to sin; but every 
 man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own 
 lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, 
 it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, 
 bringeth forth death." You see here that sin is the 
 offspring of your own concupiscence, and not to be 
 charged on God ; and that death is the offspring of 
 your own sin, and the fruit which it will yield you 
 as soon as it is ripe. You have a treasure of evil in 
 yourselves, as a spider hath of poison, from whence 
 you are bringing forth hurt to yourselves, and spin- 
 ning such webs as entangle your own souls. Your 
 nature shows it is you that are the cause. 
 
 2. It is evident that you are your own destroyers, 
 in that you are so ready to entertain any temptation 
 almost that is offered you. Satan is scarcely more 
 ready to move you to any evil, than you are ready 
 to hear, and to do as he would have you. If he 
 13 
 
146 A CALL TO 
 
 would tempt your understanding to error and preju- 
 dice, you yield. If he would hinder you from good 
 resolutions, it is soon done. If he would cool any 
 good desires or affections, it is soon done. If he 
 would kindle any lust, or vile affections and desires 
 in you, it is soon done. If he will put you on to 
 evil thoughts, or deeds, you are so free, that he 
 needs no rod or spur. If he would keep you from 
 holy thoughts, and words, and ways, a little doth it, 
 you need no curb. You examine not his sugges- 
 tions, nor resist them with any resolution, nor cast 
 them out as he casts them in, nor quench the sparks 
 which he endeavoureth to kindle; but you set in 
 with him, and meet him halfway, and embrace his 
 motions, and tempt him to tempt you. And it is 
 easy to catch such greedy fish that are ranging for a 
 bait, and will take the bare hook. 
 
 3. Your destruction is evidently of yourselves, in 
 that you resist all that would help to save you, and 
 would do you good, or hinder you from undoing 
 yourselves. God would help and save you by his 
 word, and you resist it, it is too strict for you. He 
 would sanctify you by his Spirit, and you resist and 
 quench it. If any man reprove you for your sin, 
 you fly in his face with evil words: and it' he would 
 draw you to a holy life, and tell you of your present 
 danger, you give him little thanks, but either bid 
 him look to himself, he shall not answer for you; or 
 else, at best, you put him off with heartless thanks, 
 and wil\ not turn when you are persuaded. If min- 
 isters would privately instruct and help you, you will 
 not come to them; your unhumbled souls reel but 
 little need of their help; if they would catechise you, 
 you are too old to be catechised, though you are not 
 too old to be ignorant and unholy. Whatever they 
 can say to you for your good, you are so sell-conceit- 
 ed and wise in your own eyes, even in the depth of 
 ignorance, that you will regard nothing that agreeth 
 not with your present conceits, but contradict your 
 teachers, as if you were wiser than they; you resist 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 147 
 
 all that they can say to you by your ignorance, and 
 wilfulness, and foolish cavils, and shifting evasions, 
 and unthankful rejections, so- that no good that is 
 offered can find any welcome acceptance and enter- 
 tainment with you. 
 
 4. Moreover, it is apparent that you are self-des- 
 troyers, in that you "draw the matter of your sin 
 and destruction even from the blessed God himself." 
 You like not the contrivances of his wisdom; you 
 like not his justice, but take it for cruelty; you like 
 not his holiness, but are ready to think he is such 
 an one as yourselves, Psalm 1. 21. and makes as 
 light of sin as you; you like not his truth, but would 
 have his threatenings, even his peremptory threat- 
 enings, prove false; and his goodness, which you 
 seem most highly to approve, you partly resist, as it 
 would lead you to repentance; and partly abuse, to 
 the strengthening of your sin, as if you might more 
 freely sin because God is merciful, and because his 
 grace doth so much abound. 
 
 5. Yea, you fetch destruction from the blessed 
 Redeemer, and death from the Lord of life himself! 
 and nothing more emboldeneth you in sin, than that 
 Christ hath died for you; as if now the danger of 
 death were over, and you might boldly venture; as 
 if Christ were become a servant to Satan and your 
 sins, and must wait upon you while you are abusing 
 him; and because he is become the Physician of 
 souls, and is able to save to the uttermost all that 
 come to God by him, you think he must suffer you 
 to refuse his help, and throw away his medicines, 
 and must save you whether you will come to God 
 by him or not: so that a great part of your sins are 
 occasioned by your bold presumption upon the death 
 of Christ, — not considering that he came to redeem 
 his people from their sins, and to sanctify them a 
 peculiar people to himself, and to conform them in 
 holiness to the image of their heavenly Father, and 
 to their head. Matt. i. 21. Tit. ii. 14. 1 Pet. i. 15, 
 16 Col. Hi. 10, 11. Phil. iii. 9 5 10. 
 
148 A CALL TO 
 
 6. You also fetch your own destruction from all 
 the providences and works of God. When you 
 think of his eternal fore-knowledge and decrees, it is 
 to harden you in your sin, or possess your minds 
 with quarrelling thoughts, as if his decrees might 
 spare you the labour of repentance and a holy life, 
 or else were the cause of sin and death. If he afflict 
 you, you repine; if he prosper you, you the more 
 forget him, and are the more backward to the 
 thoughts of the life to come. If the wicked prosper, 
 you forget the end that will set all reckonings 
 straight, and are ready to think it is as good to be 
 wicked as godly; and thus you draw your death 
 from all. 
 
 7. And the like you do from all the creatures and 
 mercies of God to you. He giveth them to you as 
 the tokens of his love and furniture for his service, 
 and you turn them against him, to the pleasing of 
 your flesh. You eat and drink to please your appe- 
 tite, and not for the glory of God, and to enable you 
 to perform his work. Your clothes you abuse to 
 pride; your riches draw your hearts from heaven, 
 Phil. iii. 18; your honours and applause pufi'.you up; 
 if you have health and strength, it makes you more 
 secure, and forget your end. Yea, other men's 
 mercies are abused by you to your hurt. If you 
 see their honours and dignity, you are provoked 
 to envy them; if you see their riches, you are ready 
 to covet them; if you look upon beauty, you are 
 stirred up to lust; and it is well if godliness be not 
 an eye-sore to you. 
 
 8. The very gifts that God bestoweth on you, and 
 the ordinances of grace which he hath instituted for 
 his church, you turn to sin. If you have better 
 parts than others, you grow proud and st'll-coiueit- 
 ed;ifyou have but common gifts, you take them 
 for special grace. You take the bare hearing of 
 your duty for so good a work, as if it would excuse 
 you for not obeying it. Your prayers are turned 
 into sin, because you " regard iniquity in your 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 149 
 
 hearts," Ps. lxvi. 18. and depart not from iniquity 
 when you call on the name of the Lord. 2 Tim. ii. 
 19. Your "prayers are abominable, because you 
 turn away your ear from hearing the law," Prov. 
 xxviii. 9. and are more ready to offer the sacrifice of 
 fools, thinking you do God some special service, 
 than to hear his word and obey it Eccles. y. 1. 
 
 9. Yea, the persons that you converse with, and 
 all their actions, you make the occasions of your sin 
 and destruction; if they live in the fear of God, 
 you hate them. If they live ungodly, you imitate 
 them; if the wicked are many, you think you may 
 the more boldly follow them; if the godly be few, 
 you are the more emboldened to despise them. If 
 they walk exactly, you think they are too precise; 
 if one of them fall in a particular temptation, you 
 stumble and turn away from holiness, because 
 that others are imperfectly holy; as if you were 
 warranted to break your necks, because some others 
 have by their heedlessness strained a sinew, or put. 
 out a bone. If a hypocrite discover himself you 
 say, 'They are all alike,' and think yourselves as hon- 
 est as the best. A professor can scarce slip into any 
 miscarriage, but because he cuts his finger, you 
 think you may boldly cut your throats. If minis- 
 ters deal plainly with you, you say they rail. If 
 they speak gently or coldly, you either sleep under 
 them, or are little more affected than the seats you 
 sit upon. If any errors creep into the church, some 
 greedily entertain them, and others reproach the 
 Christian doctrine for them, which is most against 
 them. And if we would draw you from any ancient 
 rooted error, which can but plead two, or three, or 
 six, or seven hundred years' custom, you are as much 
 offended with a motion for reformation as if you 
 were to lose your life by it, and hold fast old errors, 
 while you cry out against new ones. Scarce a dif- 
 ference can arise among the ministers of the gospel, 
 but you will fetch your own death from it; and you 
 will not hear, or at least not obey, the unquestiona- 
 
150 A CALL TO 
 
 ble doctrine of any of those that agree not with yon? 
 conceits. One will not hear a minister, because he 
 saith the Lord's prayer; and another will not hear 
 him because he doth not use it. One will not hear 
 them that are for episcopacy; and another will not 
 hear them that are against it. And thus I might 
 show it you in many other cases, how you turn all 
 that comes near you to your own destruction; so 
 clear is it that the ungodly are self-destroyers, and 
 that their perdition is of themselves. 
 
 Methinks now, upon the consideration of what is 
 said, and the review of your own ways, you should 
 bethink you what you have done, and be ashamed 
 and deeply humbled to remember it. If you be not, 
 I pray you consider these following truths: — 
 
 1. To be your own destroyers, is to sin against 
 the deepest principle in your natures, even the prin- 
 ciple of self-preservation. Every thing naturally de- 
 sireth or inclineth to its own felicity, welfare, or per- 
 fection; and will you set yourselves to your own 
 destruction? When you are commanded to love 
 your neighbours as yourselves, it is supposed that 
 you naturally love yourselves; but if you love your 
 neighbours no better than yourselves, it seems you 
 would have all the world to be damned. 
 
 2. How extremely do you cross your own inten- 
 tions! I know you intend not your own damnation, 
 even when you are procuring it; you think you are 
 but doing good to yourselves, by gratifying the desires 
 of your rlesh. But, alas, it is but as a draught of cold 
 water in a burning fever, or as the scratching of an 
 itching wild-fire, which increaseth the disease and 
 pain. If indeed you would have pleasure, profit, or 
 honour, seek them where they are to be found, and 
 do not hunt after them in the way to hell. 
 
 8. What pity is it that you should do that against 
 yourselves which none else on earth or in hell can 
 do! If all the world were combined against you, or 
 all the devils in hell were combined against you, they 
 could not destroy you without yourselves, nor make 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 151 
 
 you sin but by your own consent : and will you do 
 that against yourselves which no one else can do ? 
 You have hateful thoughts of the devil, because he 
 is your enemy, and endeavoureth your destruction* 
 and will you be worse than devils to yourselves? 
 Why thus it is with you, if you had hearts to un- 
 derstand it: when you run into sin, and run from 
 godliness, and refuse to turn at the call of God, you 
 do more against your own souls than men or devils 
 could do besides; and if you should set yourselves 
 and bend your wits to do yourselves the greatest 
 mischief, you could not devise to do a greater. 
 
 4. You are false to the trust that God hath re- 
 posed in you. He hath much intrusted you with 
 your own salvation; and will you betray your trust? 
 He hath set you, with all diligence, to keep your 
 hearts; and is this the keeping of them? Prov. iv. 28. 
 
 5. You do even forbid all others to pity you, when 
 you will have no pity on yourselves. If you cry to 
 God in the day of your calamity, fbr mercy, mercy — 
 what can you expect, but that he should thrust you 
 away, and say, 'Nay, thou wouldst not have mercy 
 on thyself; who brought this upon thee but thy own 
 wilfulness? 5 And if your brethren see you everlast- 
 ingly in misery, how shall they pity you that w T ere 
 your own destroyers, and would not be dissuaded? 
 
 6. It will everlastingly make you your own tor- 
 mentors in hell, to think that you brought yourselves 
 wilfully to that misery. O what a piercing thought 
 it will be for ever to think with yourselves that this 
 was your own doing ! that you were warned of this 
 day, and warned again, but it would not do; that 
 you wilfully sinned, and wilfully turned away from 
 God ! that you had time as well as others, but you 
 abused it; you had teachers as well as others, but 
 you refused their instruction; you had holy exam- 
 ples, but you did not imitate them; you were offer- 
 ed Christ, and grace, and glory, as well as others, 
 but you had more mind of your fleshly pleasures ! 
 you had a price in your hands, but you had not a 
 
152 A CALL TO 
 
 heart to lay it out. Prov. xvii. 16. Can it fail to 
 torment you to think of this your present folly? O 
 that your eyes were opened to see what you have 
 done in the wilful wronging of your own souls ! and 
 that you better understood these words of God. 
 Prov. viii. 33 — 36. " Hear instruction and be wise, 
 and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth 
 me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts 
 of my doors: for whoso findeth me findeth life, and 
 shall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that sin- 
 neth against me, wrongeth his own soul. All they 
 that hate me love death." 
 
 And now I am come to the conclusion of this 
 work, my heart is troubled to think how I shall 
 leave you, lest after this the flesh should still deceive 
 you, and the world and the devil should keep you 
 asleep, and I should leave you as I found you, till 
 you awake in hell. Though in care of your poor 
 souls, I am afraid of this, as knowing the obstinacy 
 of a carnal heart; yet I can say with the prophet 
 Jeremiah, xvii. 16. "I have not desired the woful 
 day, thou Lord knowest." I have not with James 
 and John desired that " fire might come from heav- 
 en" to consume them that refused Jesus Christ. 
 Luke ix. 54. But it is the preventing of the eternal 
 fire that I have been all this while endeavouring: and 
 O that it had been a needless work ! That God and 
 conscience might have been as willing to spare me 
 this labour as some of you could have been. Dear 
 friends, I am so loth that you should lie in everlast- 
 ing fire, and be shut out of heaven, if it be possible 
 to prevent it, that I shall once more ask you, what 
 do you now resolve? Will you turn or die? I look 
 upon you as a physician on his patient, in a danger- 
 ous disease, that saith to him, 'Though you are 
 far gone, take but this medicine, and forbear but 
 those few things that are hurtful to you, and I dare 
 warrant your life; but if you will not do this, you 
 are but a dead man. 5 What would you think of 
 such a man, if the physician, and all the friends he 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 153 
 
 hath, cannot persuade him to take one medicine to 
 save his life, or to forbear one or two poisonous 
 things that would kill him? This is your case. As 
 far as you are gone in sin, do but now turn and 
 come to Christ, and take his remedies, and your 
 souls shall live. Cast up your deadly sins by repent- 
 ance, and return not to the poisonous vomit any 
 more, and you shall do well. But yet, if it were 
 your bodies that we had to deal with, we might 
 partly know what to do for you. Though you 
 would not consent, yet you might be held or bound 
 while the medicine were poured down your throats, 
 and hurtful things might be kept from you. But 
 about your souls it cannot be so; we cannot convert 
 you against your wills. There is no carrying mad- 
 men to heaven in fetters. You may be condemned 
 against your wills, because you sinned with your 
 wills; but you cannot be saved against your wills. 
 The wisdom of God has thought meet to lay men's 
 salvation or destruction exceedingly much upon the 
 choice of their own will, that no man shall come to 
 heaven that chose not the way to heaven; and no 
 man shall come to hell, but shall be forced to say, ' I 
 have the thing I chose; my own will did bring me 
 hither. 5 Now, if I could but get you to be willing, 
 to be thoroughly, and resolvedly, and habitually wil- 
 ling, the work were more than half done. And alas ! 
 must we lose our friends, and must they lose their 
 God, their happiness, their souls, for want of this? 
 O God forbid ! It is a strange thing to me that men 
 are so inhuman and stupid in the greatest matters, 
 who in lesser things are civil and courteous, and 
 good neighbours. For aught I know, I have the 
 love of all, or almost all my neighbours, so far, that 
 if I should send to any man in the town, or parish, 
 or country, and request a reasonable courtesy of 
 them, they would grant it me; and yet when I come 
 to request of them the greatest matter in the world, 
 for themselves, and not for me, I can have nothing 
 of many of them but a patient hearing. I know not 
 
154 A CALL TO 
 
 whether people think a man in the pulpit is in good 
 earnest or not, and means as he speaks; for I think 
 I have few neighbours, but, if I were sitting famil- 
 iarly with them, and telling them what I have seen 
 and done, or known in the world, they themselves 
 shall see and know in the world to come, they would 
 believe me, and regard what I say; but when 1 tell 
 them, from the infallible word of God, what they 
 themselves shall see and know in the world to come, 
 they show by their lives, that they do either not be- 
 lieve it or not much regard it. If I met any one of 
 them on the way, and told them yonder is a coal-pit, 
 or there is a quicksand, or there are thieves lying in 
 wait for you, I could persuade them to turn by; but 
 when I tell them that Satan lieth in wait for them, 
 and that sin is poison to them, and that hell is not a 
 matter to be jested with, they go on as if they did 
 not hear me. Truly, neighbours, I am in as good 
 earnest with you in the pulpit as I am in my famil- 
 iar discourse; and if ever you will regard me, 1 be- 
 seech you let it be here. I think there is not a man 
 of you all, but, if my own soul lie at your w r ills, you 
 would be willing so save it, though I cannot promise 
 that you would leave your sins for it. Tell me, thou 
 drunkard, art thou so cruel to me, that thou wouldst 
 not forbear a few cups of drink, if thou knowest it 
 would save my soul from hell? Hadst thou rather 
 that I did burn there for ever than thou shouldst 
 live soberly as other men do? If so, may I not say, 
 thou art an unmerciful monster, and not a man? If 
 I came hungry or naked to one of your doors, would 
 you not part w r ith more than a cup of drink to re- 
 lieve me? I am confident you would. If it were 
 to save my life, I know you would, some of you, 
 hazard your own; and yet will you not be entreated 
 to part with your sensual pleasures for your own sal- 
 vation? Wouldst thou Ibrbear a hundred cups of 
 drink, to save my life, if it were in thy power, and 
 wilt thou not do it to save thy own soul? I profess 
 to you, sirs, I am as hearty a beggar with you this 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 155 
 
 day for the saving of your own souls, as I would be 
 for my own supply, if I were forced to come beg- 
 ging to your doors; and therefore if you would hear 
 me then, hear me now. If you would pity me then, 
 be entreated now to pity yourselves. I do again be- 
 seech you, as if it were on my bended knees, that 
 you would hearken to your Redeemer, and Turn, 
 that you may live. All you that have lived in igno- 
 rance, and carelessness, and presumption to this day; 
 all you that have been drowned in the cares of the 
 world, and have no mind of God, and eternal glory; 
 all you that are enslaved to your fleshly desires of 
 meats and drinks, sports and lusts; and all you that 
 know not the necessity of holiness, and never were 
 acquainted with the sanctifying work of the Holy 
 Ghost upon your souls; that never embraced your 
 blessed Redeemer by a lively faith, and with admir- 
 ing and thankful apprehensions of his love; and that 
 never felt a higher estimation of God and heaven, 
 and a heartier love to them than to your fleshly 
 prosperity, and the things below, — I earnestly be- 
 seech you, not only for my sake, but for the Lord's 
 sake, and for your soul's sake, that you go not one 
 day longer in your former condition, but look about 
 you, and cry to God for converting grace, that you 
 may be made new creatures, and may escape the 
 plagues that are a little before you. And if ever 
 you will do any thing for me, grant me this request, 
 to turn from your evil ways and live. Deny me any 
 thing that ever I shall ask you for myself, if you will 
 but grant me this; and if you deny me this, I care 
 not for any thing else that you would grant me. 
 Nay, as ever you will do any thing at the request of 
 the Lord that made you and redeemed you, deny 
 him not this; for if you deny him this, he cares for 
 nothing that you shall grant him. As ever you 
 would have him hear your prayers, and grant your 
 requests, and do for you at the hour of death and 
 day of judgment, or in any of your extremities, de- 
 ny not his request now in the day of your prosperi- 
 
156 A CALL TO 
 
 ty. O, sirs, believe it, death and judgment, and 
 heaven and hell, are other matters when you come 
 near them, than they seem to carnal eyes afar off; 
 then you would hear such a message as I bring you 
 with more awakened regardful hearts. 
 
 Well, though I cannot hope so well of all, I will 
 hope that some of you are by this time purposing 
 to turn and live : and that you are ready to ask me, 
 as the Jews did Peter, (Acts ii. 37.) when they were 
 pricked in their hearts, and said, "Men and brethren, 
 what shall we do?" How might we come to be tru- 
 ly converted ? We are willing, if we did but know 
 our duty. God forbid that we should choose des- 
 truction, 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 peo- 
 ple, Deut. v. 28, 29. « They have well said all that 
 they have spoken: O that there were such a heart in 
 them, that they would fear me, and keep all my 
 commandments always ! " Your purposes are good : 
 O that there were but a 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 prac- 
 tice. 
 
 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 bond slaves to the devil, and daily em- 
 ployed in his work against the Lord, yourselves, 
 and others: you are spiritually dead and deformed, 
 as being devoid of the holy life, and nature, and lm- 
 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 157 
 
 age of the Lord. You are unfit for any holy work, 
 and do nothing that is truly pleasing to God. You 
 are without any promise or assurance of his protec- 
 tion, and live in continual danger of his justice, not 
 knowing what hour you may be snatched away to 
 hell, and most certain to be lost if you die in that con- 
 dition; and nothing short of conversion can prevent 
 it. Whatever civilities, or amendments, are snort 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 I. For what must we turn? 
 
 Jlnsw. For these ends following, which you may 
 attain: 1. You shall immediately be made living 
 members of Christ, and have an interest in him, and 
 be renewed after the image of God, and be adorned 
 with all his graces, and quickened with a new and 
 heavenly life, and saved from the tyranny 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 sanctify and guide 
 you; you shall have part in the brotherhood, com- 
 munion, and prayers of the saints; you shall be fit- 
 ted for God's service, and be freed from the domin- 
 ion of sin, and be useful 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 noth- 
 ing that is truly good for you, and your necessary af- 
 flictions you will be enabled to bear; you may have 
 some taste of communion with God in the Spirit, 
 especially in all holy ordinances, where God prepar- 
 eth a feast for your souls; you shall be heirs of hea 
 
15S A CALL TO 
 
 ven while you live on earth, and may foresee by faith 
 the everlasting glory, and so may live and die in 
 peace; and you shall never be so low but your happi- 
 ness will be incomparably greater than 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 judgment both soul and 
 body shall be justified and glorified, and enter into 
 your Master's joy, where your happiness will con- 
 sist in these particulars: 
 
 1. You shall be perfected yourselves; your mor- 
 tal bodies shall be made immortal, and the corrup- 
 tible 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 employment shall be to behold your glo- 
 rified 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 than to have a private felicity to yourselves. 
 
 4. Your glory will contribute to the glorifying of 
 your Redeemer, who will everlastingly be magnified 
 and pleased in that you are the travail of his soul; 
 anil this is more than the glorifying of yourselves. 
 
 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 communieateth of his glory 
 and goodness to you, and as he is pleased in you, 
 and in the accomplishment of his glorious work, in 
 the glory of the New Jerusalem, and of his Son. 
 
 All this the poorest beggar of you that is convert 
 ed, shall certainly and endlessly enjoy. 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 159 
 
 II. You see for what you must turn: next you 
 must understand from what you must turn; and 
 this is, in a word, from your carnal self, which is the 
 end of all the unconverted: — from the flesh that 
 would be pleased before God, and would still be en- 
 ticing you; — 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 wilful sins. 
 
 III. Next you must know to what end you must 
 turn; and that is, to God as your end; to Christ as 
 the way to the Father; to holiness as the way ap- 
 pointed you by Christ; and to the use of all the helps 
 and means of grace afforded you by the Lord. 
 
 IV. 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 sav- 
 ed, be much in serious secret consideration. Incon- 
 siderateness 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, of the time you have lost, the sins you 
 have committed; of the love and sufferings, and ful- 
 ness of Christ; of the danger you are in; of the near- 
 ness of death and judgment; of the certainty and 
 excellency of the joys of heaven; and of the certainty 
 and terror of the torments of hell, and the eternity 
 of both; and of the necessity of conversion and a 
 holy life. Absorb your hearts in such considera- 
 tions as these. 
 
 Direction III. — If you will be converted and 
 saved, attend upon the word of God, which is the 
 ordinary means. Read the Scripture, or hear it 
 read, and other holy, writings that do apply it; con- 
 
160 A CALL TO 
 
 stantly attend on the public preaching of the word. 
 As God will light the world by the sun, and not by 
 himself without it, so will he convert and save men 
 by his ministers, who are the lights of the world. 
 Acts xxvi. 17, 18. Matt. v. 14. When he had mi- 
 raculously humbled Paul, he sent him to Ananias, 
 Acts ix. 10; and when he had sent an angel to Cor- 
 nelius, it was but to bid him send for Peter, who 
 must tell him what to believe and do. 
 
 Direction IV. — Betake yourselves to God in a 
 course of earnest constant prayer. Confess and la- 
 ment your former lives, and beg his grace to illumi- 
 nate and convert you. Beseech him to pardon what 
 is past, and to give you his Spirit, and change your 
 hearts and lives, and lead you in his ways, and save 
 you from temptation. Pursue this work daily, and 
 be not weary of it. 
 
 Direction V. — Presently give over your known 
 and wilful sins. Make a stand, and go that way no 
 farther. Be drunk no more, but avoid the very 
 occasion of it. Cast away your lusts and sinful 
 pleasures with detestation. Curse, and swear, and 
 rail no more; and if you have wronged any, restore, 
 as Zaccheus did : if you will commit again your old 
 sins, what blessing can you expect on the means 
 for conversion ? 
 
 Direction VI. — Presently, if possible, change 
 your company, if it hath hitherto been bad; not by 
 forsaking your necessary relations, but your unne- 
 cessary sinful companions; and join yourselves with 
 those that fear the Lord, and inquire of them the 
 way to heaven. Acts ix. 1 9, 26. Psalm xv. 4. 
 
 Direction VII. — Deliver up yourselves to the 
 Lord Jesus, as the physician of your souls, that he 
 may pardon you by his blood, and sanctity you by 
 his Spirit, by his word and ministers, the instru- 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 161 
 
 ments of the Spirit. He is the way, the truth, and 
 the life; there is no coming to the Father but by 
 him. John xiv. 6. Nor is there any other name un- 
 der heaven, by which you can be saved. Acts iv. 12. 
 Study, therefore, his person and natures, and what, 
 he hath done for you, and what he is to you, and 
 what he will be, and how he is fitted to the full sup- 
 ply of all your necessities. 
 
 Direction VIII. — If you mean indeed to turn 
 and live, do it speedily, without delay. If you be 
 not willing to turn to-day, you are not willing to do 
 it at all. Remember, you are all this while in your 
 blood, under the guilt of many thousand sins, and 
 under God's wrath, and you stand at the very brink 
 Df hell; there is but a step between you and death: 
 and this is not a case for a man that is well in his 
 wits to be quiet in. Up therefore presently, and fly 
 as for your lives, as you would be gone out of your 
 house if it were all on fire over your head. O, if 
 you did but know in what continual danger you live, 
 and what daily unspeakable loss you sustain, and 
 what a safer and sweeter life you might live, you 
 would not stand trifling, but presently turn. Mul- 
 titudes miscarry that wilfully delay, when they are 
 convinced that it must be done. Your lives are 
 short and uncertain; and what a case are you in if 
 you die before you thoroughly turn! Ye have 
 staid too long already, and wronged God too long. 
 Sin getteth strength while you delay. Your con- 
 version will grow more hard and doubtful. You 
 have much to do, and therefore put not all off to 
 the last, lest God forsake you, and give you up to 
 yourselves, and then you are undone for ever. 
 
 Direction IX. — If you will turn and live, do it 
 unreservedly, absolutely, and universally. Think 
 not to capitulate with Christ, and divide your heart 
 between him and the world; and to part with some 
 sins, and keep the rest; and to let that go which 
 14 
 
162 A CALL TO 
 
 your flesh can spare. This is but self-deluding; you 
 must in heart and resolution forsake all that you 
 have, or else you cannot be his disciples. Luke xiv. 
 26, S3. If you will not take God and heaven for 
 your portion, and lay all below at the feet of Christ, 
 but you must needs also have your good things here, 
 and have an earthiy portion, and God and glory are 
 not enough for you, — it is in vain to dream of salva- 
 tion on these terms; for it will not be. If you seem 
 never so religious, if yet it be but a carnal right- 
 eousness, and if the flesh's prosperity, or pleasure, 
 or safety, be still excepted in your devotedness to 
 God, this is as certain a way to death as open pro- 
 faneness, though it be more plausible. 
 
 Direction X. — If you will turn and live, do it 
 resolvedly, and stand not still deliberating, as if it 
 were a doubtful case. Stand not wavering, as if 
 you were uncertain whether God or the flesh be the 
 better master, or whether sin or holiness be the bet- 
 ter way, or whether heaven or hell be the better 
 end. But away with your former lusts, and pre- 
 sently, habitually, fixedly resolve. Be not one day 
 of one mind, and the next day of another; but be at 
 a point with all the world, and resolvedly give up 
 yourselves and all you have to God. Now, while 
 you are reading, or hearing this, resolve; before you 
 sleep another night, resolve; before you stir from 
 the place, resolve; before Satan have time to take 
 you ofF, resolve. You never turn indeed till you do 
 resolve, and that with a firm unchangeable resolu- 
 tion. 
 
 And now I have done my part in this work, that 
 you may turn to the call of God, and live. What 
 will become of it I cannot tell. I have cast the seed 
 at God's command; but it is not in my power to 
 give the increase. I can go no further with my 
 message; I cannot bring it to your heart, nor make 
 
THE UNCONVERTED. 163 
 
 it work; 1 cannot do your parts for you to entertain it 
 and consider it; nor can I do God's part, by opening 
 your heart to entertain it; nor can I show heaven or 
 hell to your sight, nor give you new and tender 
 hearts. If I knew what more to do for your conver- 
 sion, 1 hope I should do it. 
 
 But O thou that art the gracious Father of spir- 
 its, thou hast sworn thou delightest not in the death 
 of the wicked, but rather that they turn and live; 
 deny not thy blessing to these persuasions and di- 
 rections, and suffer not thine enemies to triumph in 
 thy sight, and the great deceiver of souls to prevail 
 against thy Son, thy Spirit, and thy Word ! O pity 
 poor unconverted sinners, that have no hearts to 
 pity or help themselves! Command the blind to 
 see, and the deaf to hear, and the dead to live, and 
 let not sin and death be able to resist thee. Awak- 
 en the secure, resolve the unresolved, confirm the 
 wavering; and let the eyes of sinners, that read these 
 lines, be next employed in weeping over their sins, 
 and bring them to themselves, and to thy Son, be- 
 fore their sins have brought them to perdition. If 
 thou say but the word, these poor endeavours shall 
 prosper to the winning of many a soul to their ever- 
 lasting joy, and thine everlasting glory. — Amen. 
 
]YOW OR NEVER. 
 
 EXTRACTED FROM 
 
 A DISCOURSE OF REV. RICHARD BAXTER. 
 
 ECCLES. IX. 10. 
 
 Whatsoever thy hand findeth, to do, do it with thy 
 might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor 
 knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither 
 thou goest. 
 
 The mortality of man being the principal sub- 
 ject of Solomon in this chapter, and observing that 
 wisdom and piety exempt not men from death, he 
 first hence infers, that God's love or hatred to one 
 man above another, is not to be gathered by his 
 dealings with them here, where all things in the com- 
 mon course of providence come alike to all. The 
 common sin hath introduced death as a common 
 punishment, which levels all, and ends all the con- 
 trivances, businesses, and enjoyments of this life, 
 to good and bad; and discriminating justice is not 
 ordinarily manifested here: an epicure or infidel 
 would think Solomon was here pleading his unman- 
 ly impious cause: but it is not the cessation of the 
 life, or operations, or enjoyments of the soul that 
 he is speaking of, as if there were no life to come, 
 or the soul of man were not immortal; but it is the 
 cessation of all the actions, and honours, and pleas- 
 ures of this life, which to good or bad shall be no 
 
166 now or NEVER. 
 
 more. Here they have no more reward, the memo- 
 ry of them will be here forgotten. " They have no 
 more a portion for ever in any thing that is done 
 under the sun." 
 
 From hence he further infers, that the comforts 
 of life are but short and transitory, and therefore 
 that what the creature can afford, must be presently 
 taken: and as the wicked shall have no more but 
 present pleasures, so the faithful may take their law- 
 ful comforts in the present moderate use of the crea- 
 tures. For if their enjoyment be of right and use 
 to any, it is to them; and, therefore, .though they 
 may not use them to their hurt, to the pampering of 
 their flesh, and strengthening their lusts, and hin- 
 dering spiritual duties, benefits, . and salvation; yet 
 must they u serve the Lord with joy fulness, and with 
 gladness of heart, for the abundance of all tlungs " 
 which he giveth them. 
 
 Next he infers, from the brevity of man's life, the 
 necessity of speed and diligence in his duty. And 
 this is in the words of my text; where you have, 
 1. The duty commanded. 2. The reason or mo- 
 tive to enforce it. 
 
 The duty is in the first part, " Whatsoever thy 
 hand findeth to do," that is, whatever work is as- 
 signed thee by God to do in this thy transitory life, 
 " do it with thy might;" that is, 1. Speedily, without 
 delay. 2. Diligently; and not with slothfulness, or 
 by halves. 
 
 2. The motive is in the latter part, " For there 
 is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, 
 in the grave, whither thou goest;" that is, it must 
 be now or never. The grave, where thy work can- 
 not be done, will quickly end thy opportunities. 
 The sense is obviously contained in these two pro- 
 positions : — 
 
 Doctrine 1. — "The work of this life cannot 
 be done when this life is ended : or, There is no 
 working in the grave, to which we are all making 
 haste." 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 167 
 
 Doctrine 2. — "Therefore, while we have time, 
 we must do our best: or do the work of this pres- 
 ent life with vigour and diligence." 
 
 I. It is from an unquestionable and commonly ac- 
 knowledged truth, that Solomon here urgeth us to 
 diligence in duty; and therefore to prove it would 
 be but loss of time. As there are two worlds for 
 man to live in, and so two lives for man to live, so 
 each of these lives hath its peculiar employment. 
 This is the life of preparation : the next is the life 
 of rewards or punishments. We are now but in the 
 womb of eternity, and must live hereafter in the open 
 world. We are now but sent to school to learn the 
 work that we must do for ever: this is the time of 
 our apprenticeship; we are learning the trade that 
 we must live upon in heaven. We run now, that 
 we may then receive the crown; we fight now, that 
 we may then triumph in victory. The grave hath 
 no work; but heaven hath work, and hell hath suf- 
 fering: there is no repentance unto life hereafter; 
 but there is repentance to torment and to despera- 
 tion. There is no believing of a happiness unseen 
 in order to the obtaining of it; or of a misery unseen 
 in order to the escaping of it; nor believing in a 
 Saviour in order to these ends. But there is the 
 fruition of the happiness which was here believed; 
 and feeling of the misery that men would not be- 
 lieve; and suffering from him as a righteous Judge, 
 whom they rejected as a merciful Saviour. So that 
 it is not all work that ceaseth at our death; but only 
 the work of this present life. 
 
 And indeed no reason can show us the least proba- 
 bility of doing our work when our time is gone, that 
 was given us to do it in. If it can be done, it must 
 be, 1. By the recalling of our time. 2. By there- 
 turn of life. 8. Or, by opportunity in another life. 
 But there is no hope of any of these. 
 
 1. Who knoweth not that time cannot be re- 
 called? That which once was, will be no more. 
 Yesterday will never come again. To-day is pass- 
 
163 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 ing, and will not return. You may work while it 
 is day; but when you have lost that, day, it will not 
 return for you to work in. While your candle 
 burnetii, you may make use of its light; but when it 
 is done, it is too late to use it. No force of medi- 
 cine, no orator's elegant persuasions, no worldling's 
 wealth, no prince's power, can call back one day or 
 hour of time. K they could, what endeavours would 
 there be used, when extremity hath taught them to 
 value what they now despise! What bargaining 
 would there be at last, if time could be purchased 
 for any thing that man can give. Then misers 
 would bring out their wealth, and say, l All this will 
 I give for one day's time of repentance more. 5 And 
 lords and knights would lay down their honours, and 
 say, t Take all, and let us be beggars, if we may 
 have but one year of the time that we unspent.* 
 Then kings would lay down their crowns, and say, 
 ' Let us be equal with the lowest subjects, so we 
 may but have the time again that we wasted in the 
 cares and pleasures of the world.' Kingdoms would 
 then seem a contemptible price for the recovery of 
 time. 
 
 The time that is now idled and talked away; the 
 time that is now feasted and complimented away, 
 that, is unnecessarily sported and slept away; that is 
 wickedly and presumptuously sinned away; how 
 precious will it one day seem to all ! How happy a 
 bargain would they think they had made, if at the 
 dearest rates they could redeem it? 
 
 The profanest mariner falls a praying, when he 
 fears his titne is at an end. If importunity would 
 then prevail, how earnestly would they pray for the 
 recovery of time that formerly derided praying! 
 What a liturgy would death teach the trilling time- 
 despising gallants, the idle, busy, dreaming, active, 
 ambitious, covetous lovers of this world, if time could 
 be entreated to return! How passionately then 
 would they pour out their requests! 'O that we 
 might once see the days of hope, and means, and 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 169 
 
 mercy, which once we saw, and .would not see! O 
 that we had those days to spend in penitential tears 
 and prayers, and holy preparations for an endless 
 life, which we spent at cards, in needless recreations, 
 in idle talk, in humouring others, in the pleasing of 
 our flesh, or in the inordinate cares and businesses 
 of the world ! O that our youthful vigour might 
 return! that our years might be renewed! that the 
 days we spent in vanity might be recalled ! that min- 
 isters might -again be sent to us publicly and private- 
 ly, with the message of grace which we once made 
 light of ! that the sun would once more shine upon 
 us ! and that patience and mercy would once more 
 reassume their work ! ' 
 
 If cries or tears, or price or pains, would bring 
 back lost abused time, how happy were the now 
 distracted, dreaming, dead-hearted, and impenitent 
 world ! If it would then serve their turn to say to 
 the vigilant believers, " Give us of your oil, for our 
 lamps are gone out;" or to cry, " Lord, Lord, open 
 to us," when the door is shut; the foolish would be 
 saved as well as the wise. But " this is the day of 
 salvation ! this is the accepted time." While it is 
 called to-day, hearken, and harden not your hearts. 
 Awake, thou that sleepest, and use the light that is 
 afforded thee by Christ; or else the everlasting utter 
 darkness will shortly end thy time and hope. 
 
 2. And as time can never be recalled, so life shall 
 never be here restored: "If a man die, shall he 
 live (here) again?" All the days of our appointed 
 time we must therefore wait, in faith and diligence, 
 till our change shall come. One life is appointed 
 us on earth, to despatch the work on which our 
 everlasting life dependeth: and we shall have but 
 one. Lose that, and all is lost for ever : yet you may 
 hear, and read, and learn, and pray; but when this 
 life is ended, it shall be so no more. You shall rise 
 from the dead indeed to judgment, and to the life 
 that you are now preparing for; but never to such a 
 life as this on earth • your life is as the fighting of a 
 15 
 
170 NOW OR NEVLft. 
 
 battle, that must be won or lost at once. There is 
 no coming hither again to mend what is done amiss. 
 Oversights must be presently corrected by repent- 
 ance, or else they are everlastingly past remedy. 
 Now, if you be not truly converted, you may be; if 
 you find that you are carnal and miserable, you may 
 be healed; if you are unpardoned, you may be par- 
 doned; if you are enemies, you may be reconciled 
 to God: but when once the thread of life is cut, 
 your opportunities are at an end. Now you may 
 inquire of your friends and teachers what you must 
 do to be saved; and you may receive particular 
 instructions and exhortations, and God may bless 
 them, to the illuminating, renewing, and saving of 
 your souls. But when life is past, it will be so 
 no more. O then, if departed souls might but re- 
 turn, and once more be tried with the means of life, 
 what joyful tidings would it be! How welcome 
 would the messenger be that bringeth it! Had 
 hell but such an offer as this, and would any cries 
 procure it from their righteous Judge, O what a 
 change would be among them ! How importunately 
 would they cry to God, * O send us once again to 
 the earth ! Once more let us see the face of mercy, 
 and hear the tenders of Christ and of salvation ! 
 Once more let the ministers offer us their helps, and 
 teach in season and out of season, in public and in 
 private, and we will refuse their help and exhorta- 
 tions no more: we will hate them, and drive them 
 away from our houses and towns no more. Once 
 more let us have thy word, and ordinances, and try 
 whether we will not believe them, and use them bet- 
 ter than we did. Once more let us have the help 
 and company of thy saints, and we will scorn them, 
 and abuse them, and persecute them no more. O 
 for the great invaluable mercy of such a life as once 
 we had ! O try us once more with such a life, and 
 see whether we will not contemn the we 
 close with Christ, and live as strictly, and , 
 earnestly, as those that we hated and abuse 3 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 171 
 
 doing ! O that we might once more be admitted in- 
 to the holy assemblies, and have the Lord's days to 
 spend in the business of our salvation ! We would 
 plead no more against the power and purity of the 
 ordinances; we would no more call that day a bur- 
 den, nor hate them that spent it in works of holi- 
 ness, nor plead for the liberty of the flesh therein.' 
 
 He that would have Lazarus sent from the dead 
 to warn his unbelieving brethren on earth, no doubt 
 would have strongly purposed himself on a reforma- 
 tion, if he might once more have been tried : and 
 how earnestly would he have begged for such a trial, 
 that begged so hard for a drop of water ? But, alas ! 
 such mouths must be stopped for ever with — " Re- 
 member that thou, in thy lifetime, received thy good 
 things." 
 
 So that " it is appointed for men once to die, and 
 after that the judgment." But there is no return 
 to earth again: the places of your abode, employ- 
 ment, and delight, shall know you no more. You 
 must see these faces of your friends, and converse 
 in flesh with men no more. This world, those 
 houses, that wealth and honour, as to any fruition, 
 must be to you as if you had never known them. 
 
 You must assemble here but a little while. Yet 
 a little longer, and we must preach, and you must 
 hear it no more for ever. That therefore which 
 you will do, must presently be done, or it will be 
 too late. If ever you will repent and believe, it 
 must be now. If ever you will be converted and 
 sanctified, it must be now. If ever you will be par- 
 doned and reconciled to God, it must be now. If 
 ever you will reign, it is now that you must fight 
 and conquer. "O that you were wise, that you 
 understood this, and that you would consider your 
 latter end !" And that you would let those words 
 sink down into your hearts, which came from the 
 heart of the Redeemer, as was witnessed by his 
 tears: " If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in 
 this thy day, the things which belong unto thy 
 
172 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." 
 And that these warnings may not be the less re- 
 garded, because you have so often heard them; when 
 often hearing increaseth your obligation, and dimin- 
 isheth not the truth, or your danger. 
 
 3. And as there is no return to earth, so is there no 
 doing this work hereafter. Heaven and hell are for 
 other work. The harvest doth presuppose the seed- 
 time, and the labour of the husbandman. It is now 
 that you must sow, and hereafter that you must 
 reap. It is now that you must work, and then that 
 you must receive your wages. 
 
 Is this believed and considered by the sleepy 
 world? Alas! sirs, do you live as men that must 
 live here no more? Do you work as men that must 
 work no more, and pray as men that must pray no 
 more, when once the time of work is ended ? What 
 thinkest thou ! will God command the sun to stand 
 still while thou rebeliest or forgettest thy work and 
 him! Dost thou expect he should pervert the 
 course of nature, and continue the spring and seed- 
 time till thou hast a mind to sow? Will he renew 
 thy age, and make thee young again, and call back 
 the hours that thou hast prodigally wasted on thy 
 lusts and idleness? Canst thou look for this at the 
 hand of God, when nature and Scripture assure 
 thee of the contrary? If not, why hast thou not 
 yet done with thy beloved sins ? Why hast thou 
 not yet begun to live? Why sittest thou still while 
 thy soul is unrenewed, and all thy preparation tor 
 death and judgment is yet to make? How fain 
 would Satan find thee thus at death? How lain 
 would he have leave to blow out thy candle, before 
 thou hast entered into the way of life? Dost thou 
 look to have preachers sent after thee, to bring thee 
 the mercy which thy contempt here left behind? 
 Wilt thou hear and be converted in the grave and 
 hell? or wilt thou be saved without holiness? that 
 is, in despite of God that hath resolved it shall not 
 be. ye sons of sleep, of death, of darkness, 
 
 

 NOW OR NE_ 
 
 awake, and live, and hear the IXQrd, before the grave 
 and hell have shut their mouthsfiipo'ri- you !i H lijgr^^ 
 now, lest hearing be too late ! Hear now, if you 
 will ever hear. Hear now, if you have ears to hear ! 
 And, O ye sons of light, that see what sleeping sin- 
 ners see not, call to them, and ring them such a peal 
 of lamentations, tears, and compassionate entreaties, 
 as is suited to such a dead and doleful state; who 
 knows but God may bless it to awake them? 
 
 II. If any of you be so far awakened as to ask me 
 what I am calling you to do, my text tells you in 
 general. Up and be doing; look about you, and see 
 what you have to do, and do it with your might. 
 
 1. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do," that 
 is, whatsoever is a duty imposed by the Lord, what- 
 soever is a means conducing to thy own or others 5 
 welfare; whatsoever necessity calleth thee to do, 
 and opportunity alloweth thee to do. 
 
 " Thy hand findeth;" that is, thy executive powers 
 by the conduct of thy understanding, is now to do. 
 
 " Do it with thy might." Do thy best in it. 
 
 1. Trifle not, but do it presently, without un- 
 necessary delay. 
 
 2. Do it resolutely; remain not doubtful, unre- 
 solved, in suspense, as if it were yet a question with 
 thee whether thou shouldst do it, or not. 
 
 3. Do it with thy most awakened affections, and 
 serious intention of the powers of thy soul. Sleepi- 
 ness and insensibility are most unsuitable to such 
 works. 
 
 4. Do it with all necessary forecast and contri- 
 vance: not with a distracting hindering care; but 
 with such a care as may show that you despise not 
 your Master, and are not regardless of his work: 
 and with such a care as is suited to the difficulties 
 and nature of the thing, and is necessary to the due 
 accomplishment of it. 
 
 5. Do it not slothfully, but vigorously and with 
 diligence. " Hide not thy hand in thy bosom with 
 the slothful," and say not, "There is a lion in the 
 
174 
 
 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 way." The negligent and the vicious, the waster 
 and the slothful, differ but as one brother from 
 another. As the self-murder of the wilful ungodly, 
 so also the desire of the slothful killeth him, because 
 his hands refuse to labour. " The soul of the slug- 
 gard desireth and hath nothing; but the soul of the 
 diligent shall be made fat." "Be not slothful in 
 business, but be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." 
 
 6. Do it with constancy, and not with destruc- 
 tive pauses and intermissions, or with weariness and 
 turning back. " The righteous shall hold on his 
 way, and he that is of clean hands shall be stronger 
 and stronger." " Be steadfast, unmoveable, always 
 abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as 
 you know that your labour is not in vain in the 
 Lord." "Be not weary in well-doing: for in due 
 season we shall reap if we faint not." 
 
 But, that misunderstanding hinder not the per- 
 formance, I shall acquaint you further with the 
 sense, by these few explicatory cautions. 
 
 1. The might and diligence here required, ex- 
 clude not the necessity of deliberation and prudent 
 conduct. Otherwise, the faster you go, the further 
 you may go out of the way; and misguided zeal may 
 spoil all the work, and make it but an injury to 
 others or yourselves. A little imprudence in the 
 season, and order, and manner of a duty, sometimes 
 may spoil it, and hinder the success, and make it do 
 more hurt than good. How many a sermon, or 
 prayer, or reproof, is made the matter of derision 
 and contempt, for some imprudent passages or de- 
 portment! God sendeth not his servants to be 
 jesters of the world, or to play the madman as Da- 
 vid in his fears; we must be wise and innocent, as 
 well as resolute and valiant: though fleshly and 
 worldly wisdom be not desirable, as being but fool- 
 ishness with God; yet the wisdom which is from 
 above, and is first pure and then peaceable, and is 
 acquainted with the high and hidden mysteries, and 
 is justified of her children, must be the guide of all 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 175 
 
 our holy actions. Holiness is not blind: illumina- 
 tion is the first part of sanctification. Believers are 
 children of the light. Nothing requireth so much 
 wisdom as the matters of God, and of our salvation. 
 Folly is most unsuitable to such excellent employ- 
 ments, and most unbeseeming the sons of the Most 
 High. It is a spirit of wisdom that animateth all 
 the saints. " Howbeit we speak wisdom among them 
 that are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world, 
 nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: 
 but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even 
 the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the 
 world unto our glory." It is the treasures of wisdom 
 that dwell in Christ, and are communicated to his 
 members. We must "walk in wisdom toward 
 them that are without." And our works must be 
 " shown out of a good conversation, with meekness 
 of wisdom." 
 
 2. Though you must work with your might, yet 
 with a diversity agreeable to the quality of your sev- 
 eral works. Some works must be preferred before 
 others: all cannot be done at once. That is a sin 
 out of season, which in season is a duty. The 
 greatest, and the most urgent work must be pre- 
 ferred. And some works must be done with double 
 fervour and resolution, and some with less. Buy- 
 ing, and selling, and possessing, and using the world, 
 must be done with a fear of overdoing, and in a 
 manner as if we did them not, though they also 
 must have a necessary diligence. God's " kingdom 
 and its righteousness must be first sought." And 
 our labour for the meat that perisheth, must be 
 comparatively as none: " Labour not for the meat 
 which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth 
 unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall 
 give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed." 
 
 3. Lastly, it is not an irregular, nor a selfolisturb- 
 ing vexatious violence that is required of us; but a 
 sweet well settled resolution, and a delightful expe- 
 ditious diligence, that make the wheels more easily 
 
176 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 get over those difficulties that clog and stop a sloth- 
 ful soul. 
 
 And now will you lend me the assistance of your 
 consciences, for the transcribing of this command of 
 God upon your hearts, and taking out a copy of this 
 order, for the regulating of your lives? Whatsoever 
 is not a work so comprehensive as to include any 
 vanity or sin; but so comprehensive as to include all 
 our duty. 
 
 1. To begin with the lowest: the very works of 
 your bodily callings must have diligence. " In the 
 sweat of your brows you must eat your bread." " Six 
 days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to 
 do." " He that will not work, let him not eat." 
 Disorderly walkers, busybodies, that will not work 
 with quietness, and eat their own bread, are to be 
 avoided and shamed by the church. " For we hear 
 that there are some which walk among you disorder- 
 ly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now 
 them that are such we command and exhort by our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and 
 eat their own bread." Lazy servants are unfaithful 
 to men and disobedient to God, who commandeth 
 them to " obey their masters according to the flesh, 
 (unbelieving, ungodly masters) in all things, (that 
 concern their service) and that not with eye-service, 
 as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, and in 
 the fear of God, do whatsoever they do as to the 
 Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord 
 (even for this) they shall receive the reward of the 
 inheritance." " But he that doth wrong (by sloth- 
 fulness, or unfaithfulness) shall receive for the wrong 
 which he hath done." 
 
 Success is Go^'s ordinary temporal reward of 
 diligence: "The hand of the diligent shall bear 
 rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute. The 
 slothful man roasteth not that which he took in 
 hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is pre- 
 cious." And diseases, poverty, shame, disappoint- 
 ment, or self-tormenting melancholy, are his usual 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 177 
 
 punishments of sloth. Hard labour redeemeth time : 
 you will have the more to lay out on greater works : 
 the slothful is still behindhand, and therefore must 
 leave much of his work undone. 
 
 2. Are you parents or governors of families? 
 You have work to do for God, and for your chil- 
 dren and servants' souls. Do it with your might: 
 deal wisely, but seriously and frequently with them 
 about their sin, their duty, and their hopes of heav- 
 en; tell them whither they are going, and which way 
 they must go. Make them understand that they 
 have a higher Father and Master that must be first 
 served, and greater work than yours. Waken them 
 from their natural insensibility and sloth: turn not 
 all your family duties into lifeless customary forms; 
 whether extemporary, or by rote; speak about God, 
 and heaven, and hell, and holiness, with that serious- 
 ness which beseems men that believe what they say, 
 and would have those believe it to whom they speak. 
 Talk not either drowsily, or lightly, or jestingly of 
 such dreadful, or joyful, inexpressible things. Re- 
 member, that your families and you are going to 
 the grave, and to the world where there is no more 
 room for your exhortations. There is no catechis- 
 ing, examining, or serious instructing them in the 
 grave, whither they and you are going. — It must 
 be now or never: and therefore do it with your 
 might. " The words of God must be in your hearts, 
 and you must diligently teach them to your children, 
 talking of them when you sit in your houses, when 
 you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when 
 you rise up." 
 
 3. Have you ignorant or ungodly neighbours, 
 whose misery calls for your compassion and relief ? 
 Speak to them, and help them with prudent dili- 
 gence. Lose not your opportunities: stay not till 
 death hath stopped your mouths, or stopped their 
 ears. Stay not till they are out of hearing, or till 
 heaven be lost, before you have seriously called on 
 them to remember it. . Go to their houses: take all 
 
178 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 opportunities: stoop to their infirmities: bear with 
 unthankful frowardness; it is for men's salvation. 
 Remember there is no place for your instructions or 
 exhortations in the grave or hell. Your dust can- 
 not speak, and their dust cannot hear. Up, there- 
 fore, and be doing with all your might. 
 
 4. Hath God intrusted you with the riches of the 
 world; with many talents or with few, by which he 
 looketh you should relieve the needy, and especially 
 should promote those works of piety which are the 
 greatest charity? Give prudently, but willingly and 
 liberally, while you have to give. It is your gain : 
 the time of laying up a treasure in heaven, and fur- 
 thering your salvation by that winch hindereth 
 other men's, and occasioneth their perdition. " As 
 you have opportunity, do good to all men, but es- 
 pecially to them of the household faith." "Cast 
 thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt fmd it 
 after many days. Give a portion to seven and to 
 eight; for thou knowest not what evil may be upon 
 the earth." " In the morning sow thy seed, and in 
 the evening withhold not thy hand : for thou know- 
 est not whether shall prosper, this or that, or wheth- 
 er they both shall be alike good." "Withhold not 
 good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the 
 power of thy hand to do it. Say not to thy neigh- 
 Dour, go and come again, and to-morrow I will give, 
 when thou hast it by thee." Lay up a foundation 
 for the time to come. Do good before thy heart be 
 hardened, thy riches blasted and consumed, thy op- 
 portunities taken away; part with it before it part 
 with thee. Remember it must be now or never. 
 There is no working in the grave. 
 
 5. Hath God intrusted you with power or inter- 
 est, by which you may promote his honour in the 
 world, and relieve the oppressed, and restrain the 
 rage of impious malice? Hath he made you govern- 
 ors, and put the sword of justice into your hands? 
 Up then and be doing with your might. Defend 
 the innocent, protect the servants of the Lord, cher- 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 179 
 
 ish them that do well, be a terror to the wicked, 
 encourage the strictest obedience to the universal 
 Governor, discountenance the breakers of his laws. 
 Your trust is great, and so is your advantage to do 
 good; and how great will be your account, and how 
 dreadful, if you be unfaithful! 
 
 6. To come yet a little nearer to you, and speak 
 of the work that is yet to be done in your own souls; 
 are any of you yet in the state of unrenewed nature, 
 born only of the flesh, and not of the Spirit? 
 " Minding the things of the flesh, and not the things 
 of the Spirit," and consequently yet in the power of 
 Satan, taken captive by him at his will? Up and 
 be doing, if thou lovest thy soul. If thou carest 
 whether thou shalt be in joy or misery for ever, be- 
 wail thy sin and spiritual distress. Go to Christ, 
 cry mightily to him for his renewing, reconciling, 
 and pardoning grace. Plead his satisfaction, his 
 merits, and his promises; away with thy rebellion, 
 and thy beloved sin; deliver up thy soul entirely to 
 Christ, to be sanctified, governed and saved by him. 
 Make no more demurs; it is not a matter to be ques- 
 tioned, or trifled in. Let the earth be acquainted 
 with thy bended knees, and the air with thy com- 
 plaints and cries, and men with thy confessions and 
 inquiries after the way of life; and heaven with thy 
 sorrows, desires, and resolutions, till thy soul be ac- 
 quainted with the Spirit of Christ; and with the 
 new, the holy and heavenly nature, and thy heart 
 have received the transcript of God's law, the im- 
 press of the Gospel, and so the image of thy Crea- 
 tor and Redeemer. For there is no conversion, reno- 
 vation, or repentance unto life, in the grave whither 
 thou goest. It must be now or never. And never 
 saved if never sanctified: "Without holiness no 
 man shall see the Lord." 
 
 7. Hast thou any prevailing sin to mortify, that 
 either reigneth in thee, or woundeth thee and keep- 
 eth thy soul in darkness and unacquaintedness with 
 God ? Assault it resolutely; reject it speedily; abhor 
 
180 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 the motions of it; turn away from the persons or 
 things that would entice thee. Hate the doors of 
 the harlot and of the ale-house, or the gaming-house; 
 and go not as the "ox to the slaughter, and as a 
 hird to the fowler's snare, and as a fool to the correc- 
 tion of the stocks, as if thou knewest not that it is 
 for thy life." Why wilt thou be tasting of the poi- 
 soned cup? Wilt thou be sporting with the bait? 
 Hast thou no where to walk or play, but at the 
 brink of ruin? Must not the flesh be crucified, with 
 its "affections and lusts?" Must it not be tamed 
 and mortified, or thy soul condemned? " For if ye 
 live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through 
 the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall 
 live." Run not therefore as at uncertainty; fight 
 not as one " that beats the air." Seeing this must 
 be done, or thou art undone, delay and dally with 
 sin no longer. Let this be the day; resolve, and 
 resist it with thy might: it must be now or never: 
 when death comes it is too late. 
 
 8. Art thou in a declined, fallen state? Decayed 
 in grace? Hast thou lost thy first desires and love? 
 Do thy first works, and do them with thy might. 
 Delay not, but remember from whence thou art 
 fallen. Cry out with Job, " O that I were as in 
 months past; as in the days when God preserved 
 me! when his candle shined upon my head, and 
 when, by his light, I walked through darkness. As 
 I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of 
 God was on my tabernacle, when the Almighty was 
 yet with me." Return, while thou hast day, lest 
 the night surprise thee. 
 
 9. Art thou in the darkness of uncertainty con- 
 cerning thy conversion, and thy everlasting state? 
 Dost thou not know whether thou art in a state of 
 life or death? And what should become of thee, 
 if this were the day or hour of thy change? If thou 
 art careless in thy uncertainty, and mindest not so 
 great a business, be awakened, and call thy soul to 
 its account; search and examine thy heart and life; 
 
NOW OR NEVER 181 
 
 read and consider, and take advice of faithful guides. 
 Canst thou carelessly sleep, and laugh, and sport, 
 and follow thy business, as if thy salvation were 
 made sure, when thou knowcst not where thou must 
 dwell for ever? " Examine yourselves whether you 
 be in the faith; prove yourselves; know ye not your 
 own selves, that Christ is in you, except ye be rep- 
 robates?" " Give all diligence to make your calling 
 and election sure." In the grave and hell there is no 
 making sure of heaven; you are then past inquiries 
 and self-examination, in order to any recovery or 
 hope. Another kind of trial will finally resolve you. 
 It must be now or never. 
 
 10. In all the duties of thy profession of piety, 
 justice, or chanty, to God, thyself, or others, up 
 and be doing with thy might. Art thou seeking to 
 inflame thy soul with love to God ? Plunge thyself 
 in the ocean of his love; admire his mercies; gaze 
 upon the representations of his transcendent good- 
 ness; " O taste and see that the Lord is gracious!" 
 Remember that he must be loved with all thy heart, 
 and soul, and might; canst thou pour out thy love 
 upon a creature, and give but a few barren drops 
 to God? 
 
 When thou art fearing, let his fear command thy 
 soul, and conquer all the fear of man. When thou 
 art trusting him, do it without distrust, and cast all 
 thy care and thyself upon him: trust him as a crea- 
 ture should trust his God, and the members of 
 Christ should trust their head and dear Redeemer. 
 When thou art making mention of his great and 
 dreadful name, O do it with reverence, and awe, and 
 admiration : and " take not the name of God in 
 vain !" When thou art reading his word, let the 
 majesty of the Author, and the greatness of the 
 matter, and the gravity of the style, possess thee 
 with an obedient fear. Love it, and let it be sweeter 
 to thee than the honey-comb, and more precious 
 than thousands of gold and silver. Resolve to do 
 what there thou findest to be the will of God. 
 
182 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 When thou art praying in secret, or in thy family, 
 "do it with thy might:' 5 cry mightily to God, as a 
 soul under sin, wants, and danger, that is stepping 
 into an endless life, should do. Let the reverence 
 and the fervour of thy prayers, show that it is God 
 himself that thou art speaking to: that it is heaven 
 itself that thou art praying for; hell itself that thou 
 art praying to be saved from. Wilt thou be dull 
 and senseless on such an errand to the living God ? 
 Remember what lieth upon thy failing or prevailing: 
 and that it must be now or never. 
 
 Art thou a preacher of the gospel, and takest 
 charge of the souls of men? "Take heed to thy- 
 self and to the whole flock, over which the Holy 
 Ghost hath made thee an overseer, to feed the 
 church of God, which he hath purchased with his 
 own blood." Let not the blood of souls, and the 
 blood that purchased them, "be required at thy 
 hands." Thou art charged " before God, and the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and 
 the dead at his appearing, and his kingdom, that thou 
 preach his word: be instant in season, and out of 
 season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with all long- 
 suffering and doctrine." "Teach every man, and 
 exhort every man, — even night and day with tears." 
 " Save men with fear, pulling them out of the fire. 
 Cry aloud: lift up thy voice like a trumpet; tell them 
 of their transgressions." Yet thou art alive, and 
 they alive; yet thou hast a tongue, and they have 
 ears: the final sentence hath not yet cut off their 
 hopes. Preach, therefore, and preach with all thy 
 might. Exhort them, privately and personally, 
 with all the seriousness thou canst. Quickly, or it 
 will be too late; prudently, or Satan will overreach 
 thee; fervently, or thy words are likely to be disre- 
 garded. Remember, -when thou lookest them in 
 the faces, when thou beholdest the assemblies, that 
 they must be converted or condemned, sanctified on 
 earth, or tormented in hell; and that this is the day: 
 jt must be now or never. 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 183 
 
 In a word, apply this, quickening precept to all 
 the duties of the Christian course. Be religious, 
 and just, and charitable, in good earnest, if you 
 would be taken for such when you look for the re- 
 ward. "Work out your salvation with fear and 
 trembling." " Strive to enter in at the strait gate; 
 tor many shall seek to enter, and shall not be able." 
 Many run, but few receive the prize: so run that 
 you may obtain. " If the righteous scarcely be 
 saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?" 
 Let the doting world deride your diligence, and set 
 themselves to hinder and afflict you: it will be but a 
 little while before experience change their minds, 
 and make them talk differently. Follow Christ 
 fully: be diligent, and lose no time. The Judge is 
 coming. Let not words, nor any thing that man 
 can do, prevail with you to sit down, or stop you in 
 a journey of such importance. Please God, though 
 flesh, and friends, and all the world should be dis- 
 pleased. Whatever come of your reputation, or 
 estates, or liberties, or lives, be sure you look to life 
 eternal; and cast not that, on any hazard, for a 
 withering flower, or a pleasant dream, or a picture of 
 commodity, or any vanity that the Deceiver can pre- 
 sent. "For what shall it profit you, to win the 
 world, and lose your soul ?" Obey God, though all 
 the world forbid you. No power can save you from 
 his justice; and none of them can deprive you of 
 his reward. Though you lose your heads, you shall 
 save your crowns; you no way save your lives so 
 certainly, as by such losing them. One thing is ne- 
 cessary: do that with speed, and care, and diligence, 
 which must be done, or you are lost for ever. They 
 that are now against your much and earnest pray- 
 ing, will shortly cry as loud themselves in vain. 
 When it is too late, how fervently will they beg for 
 mercy, that now deride you for valuing and seeking 
 it in time ! But " then they shall call upon God, but 
 he will not answer; they shall seek him early, but 
 shall not find him : for that they hated knowledge, 
 
184 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would 
 none of his counsel, hut despised all his reproof." 
 Up, therefore, and work with all thy might. Let 
 unbelievers trifle, that know not that the righteous 
 God stands over them, and know not that they are 
 now to work for everlasting, and know not that hea- 
 ven or hell is at the end. Let them delay, and 
 laugn, and play, and dream away their time, that are 
 drunk with prosperity, and mad with fleshly lusts 
 and pleasures, and have lost their reason in the cares, 
 and delusions, and vain-glory of the world. But 
 shall it be so with thee, whose eyes are opened, who 
 seest the God, the heaven, the hell, which they do 
 but hear of as unlikely things? Wilt thou live 
 awake, as they that are asleep? Wilt thou do in 
 the day-light, as they do in the dark? Shall free- 
 men live as Satan's slaves? Shall the living lie as 
 still and useless as the dead? " Work then while it 
 is day; for the night is coming, when none can 
 work. 55 
 
 But you will say, perhaps, ' Alas! what might 
 have we? We have no sufficiency of ourselves: 
 without Christ we can do nothing. And this we 
 find when it comes to the trial. 5 
 
 1. I answer, It is not might that is originally 
 thine own, that I am calling thee to exercise; but 
 that which thou hast already received from God, 
 and that which he is ready to bestow. Use well 
 but all the might thou hast, and thou shalt find thy 
 labour is not in vain. 
 
 2. Art thou willing to use the might thou hast, 
 and to have more, and use it if thou hadst it? If 
 thou art, thou hast then the strength of Christ: 
 thou standest not, and workest not, by thy own 
 strength; his promise is engaged to thee, and his 
 strength is sufficient for thee. But if thou art not 
 willing, thou art without excuse; when thou hast 
 heaven and hell set open in the word of God to 
 make thee willing, God will distinguish thy wilful- 
 ness from unwilling weakness. 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 185 
 
 3. There is more power in all of you than you 
 use, or than you are well aware of. It wanteth but 
 awakening to bring it into act. Do you not find, in 
 your repentings, that the change is more in your 
 will, than in your power? And in the awakening 
 of your will and reason into act, than in the addition 
 of mere abilities? And that therefore you befool 
 yourselves for your sins and your neglects, and won- 
 der that you had no more use of your understand- 
 ings? Let but a storm at sea, or violent sickness, 
 or approaching death, rouse up and awaken the 
 powers which you have, and you will find there was 
 much more asleep in you than you used. 
 
 I shall, therefore, next endeavour to awaken 
 your abilities, or tell you how you should awaken 
 them. 
 
 When your souls are drowsy, and you are forget- 
 ting your God, and your latter end, and matters of 
 eternity have little force and favour with you, when 
 you grow lazy and superficial, and religion seems a 
 lifeless thing, and you do your duty as if it were in 
 vain, or against your wills; when you can lose your 
 time, and delay repentance; and friends, and profit, 
 and reputation, and pleasure, can be heard against 
 the word of God, and take you off; when you do all 
 by halves, and languish in your Christian course, as 
 near to death — stir up your souls with the urgency 
 of such questions as these: 1 — 
 
 Question 1. Can I do no more than this for 
 God, who gave me all, who deserveth all? Who 
 seeth me in my duties and my sins? When he 
 puts me purposely on the trial, what can 1 do for 
 his sake and service? Can I do no more? Can 1 
 love him no more, and obey, and watch, and work 
 
 no more.' 
 
 Question 2. Can I do no more than this for 
 Christ? For him that did so much for me? That 
 obeyed so perfectly; walked so meekly; despising all 
 the baits, and honours, and riches of the world ? 
 That loved me to the death; and offereth me freelv 
 16 
 
186 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 all his benefits, and would bring me to eternal glory? 
 Are these careless, cold, and dull endeavours, my 
 best return for all his mercy? 
 
 Questiori 3. Can I do no more, when my salvation 
 is the prize? when heaven or hell depends upon it? 
 When 1 know this beforehand, and may see, in the 
 glass of the Holy Scriptures, what is prepared for 
 the diligent and the negligent, and Avhat work there 
 is, and will he for ever, in heaven and hell, on these 
 accounts? Could I not do more, if my house were 
 on fire, or my estate, or life, or friend, in danger, 
 than I do for my salvation? 
 
 Question 4. Can I do no more for the souls of 
 men; when they are undone for ever if they be not 
 speedily delivered? Is this my love and compas- 
 sion to my neighbour, my servant, friend, or child? 
 
 Question 5. Can I do no more for the Church of 
 God? for the public good? for the peace and wel- 
 fare of the nation, and our posterity? in suppressing 
 sin? in praying for deliverance? or in promoting 
 works of public benefit? 
 
 Question 6. Can I do no more, that have loit- 
 ered so long? and go no faster, that have slept till 
 the evening of my days, when diligence must be 
 the discovery of my repentance ? 
 
 Question 7. Can I do no more, that know not 
 now but I am doing my last? that see how fast my 
 time makes haste, and know I must be quickly 
 gone? that know it must be now or never. 
 
 Question 8. Can I do no better, when I know 
 beforehand what a vexatious and heart-disquieting 
 thing it will then be, to look back on time as irre- 
 coverably,, lost, and on a life of trial as cast away 
 upon impertinences, while the work that we Jived 
 for lay undone! Shall I now, by trilling, pre- 
 pare such tormenting thoughts for my awakened 
 conscience? 
 
 Question 9. Can I do no more, when I am sure 
 I cannot do too much, and am sure there is nothing 
 else to be preferred ? 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 137 
 
 Question 10. Can I do no more, that have so 
 much help? that have mercies of all sorts encourag- 
 ing me, and creatures attending me ; that have 
 health to enable me, or affliction to remember and 
 excite me; that have such a master, such a work, 
 such a reward ? who is less excusable for neglect 
 than I? 
 
 Question 11. Could I do no more, if I were sure 
 that my salvation lay on this one duty? that, accord- 
 ing to this prayer, it should go with me for ever ? 
 or if the soul of my child, or servant, or neighbour, 
 must speed for ever, as my endeavours speed with 
 them now for their conversion? For ought 1 know, 
 it may be thus. 
 
 By this time you may see what difference there 
 is between the judgment of God and of the world; 
 and what to think of the understandings of those 
 men, be they high or low, learned or unlearned, 
 who hate or oppose this holy diligence. God bids 
 us love, and seek, and serve him, with ail our heart, 
 and soul, and might : and these men call them Zeal- 
 ots and Puritans that endeavour it; though, alas! 
 they fall exceedingly short, when they have done 
 their best. It is one of the most wonderful, mon- 
 strous deformities that ever befell the nature of man; 
 that men, learned men — that men who in other 
 things are wise, should seriously think that the ut- 
 most diligence to obey the Lord, and save our souls, 
 is needless; and that ever they should take it for a 
 crime, and make it a matter of reproach: that the 
 serious, diligent obeying of God's laws, should be 
 the matter of the common disdain and hatred of the 
 world. It is not in vain that the Holy Ghost saith, 
 " Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you;" 
 implying, that we are apt to marvel at it; as 1 con- 
 fess I have oft and greatly done. Methinks, it is 
 so wonderful a plague and stain in nature, that 
 it doth very much to confirm me of the truth of 
 Scripture; of the doctrine of man's fall and origin- 
 
183 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 al sin, and the necessity of a Reconciler, and of 
 renewing grace. 
 
 Look upwards, sirs, and. think whether heaven be 
 worth our labour. Look downwards, and think 
 whether earth be more worthy of it. Lay up your 
 treasures where you must dwell for ever. If that 
 be here, then scrape, and flatter, and get all that 
 you can : but if it be not here, but in another life, 
 then hearken to your Lord, and lay up for yourselves 
 a treasure in heaven, and there let your very hearts 
 be set. And, upon the peril of everlasting misery, 
 hearken not to any man that will tempt you from a 
 diligent holy life. It is a serious business, deal se- 
 riously in it; and be not laughed or mocked out of 
 heaven. 
 
 All the commands, and promises, andthreatenings 
 of God, the most powerful preaching that, as it were, 
 sets open heaven and hell, do not prevail with fleshly 
 men, to leave the most sordid and unmanly sin: and 
 shall the words or frowns of creeping dust prevail 
 with thee against the work for which thou livest in 
 the world, when thou hast still at hand unanswer- 
 able arguments from God, from thyself, from heaven 
 and hell, to put thee on? Were it but for thy life, 
 or the life of thy children, friend, yea, or enemy, or 
 for the quenching of a fire in thy house, or in the 
 town, wouldst thou not stir and do thy best? And 
 wilt thou be idle when eternal life lies on it? Let 
 Satan roar against thee by his instruments. Let 
 sinners talk awhile of they know not what, till God 
 hath made them change their note. These are not 
 matters for a man to observe, that is engaged lor 
 an endless life. O what are these to the things that 
 thou art called to prosecute? Hold on then, Chris- 
 tians, in the work that you have begun. Do it pru- 
 dently, and do it universally. Take it together, 
 works of piety, justice, and charity: but do it now 
 without delay, and do it seriously with your might. 
 I know not what cloud of darkness hath seized on 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 189 
 
 those men's minds that speak against this, or what 
 deadly damp hath seized on their hearts, that hath 
 so henumbed and unmanned them. 
 
 For my own part, though I have long lived in a 
 sense of the preciousness of time, and have not 
 been wholly idle in the world; yet, when I have 
 the deepest thoughts of the great everlasting con- 
 sequence of my work, and of the uncertainty and 
 shortness of my time, I am even amazed to think 
 that my heart can be so slow and senseless, as to do 
 no more in such a case. The Lord knows, and my 
 conscience knows, that my slothfulness is so much 
 my shame and admiration, that I am astonished to 
 think that my resolutions are no stronger, my affec- 
 tions no livelier, and my labour and diligence no 
 greater, when God is the commander, and his love 
 the encourager, and his wrath the spur, and heaven 
 or hell must be the issue. O, what lives should all 
 of us live, that have things of such unspeakable 
 consequence on our hands, if our hearts were not 
 almost dead within us ! Let who will speak against 
 such a life, it shall be my daily grief and moan, 
 that I am so dull, and do so little. I know that 
 our works do not profit the Almighty, nor bear any 
 proportion with his reward; nor can they stand in 
 his sight, but as accepted in the Lord our right- 
 eousness, and perfumed by the odour of his merits. 
 But I know they are necessary, and they are sweet. 
 Without the holy employment of our faculties, this 
 life will be but a burden or a dream, and the next 
 an inexpressible misery. O, therefore, that I had 
 more of the love of God, that my soul could get 
 but nearer to him, and move more swiftly upward 
 by faith and love ! O that I had more of holy life, 
 and active diligence, though I had with it the scorns 
 of all about me, and though they made me, as they 
 once did better men, " as the filth of the world, and 
 the off-scouring of all things!" O that I had more 
 of this derided diligence, and holy converse with the 
 Lord, though " my name was cast out as an evil 
 
190 
 
 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 doer," and I were spit at and buffeted by those that 
 do now but secretly reproach ! Might I more close- 
 ly follow Christ in holiness, why should I grudge to 
 bear his cross, and to be used as he was used? 
 Knowing, that "if we suffer with him, we shall al- 
 so reign with him; and the sufferings of this present 
 time are not worthy to be compared with the glory 
 which shall be revealed in us." 
 
 Alas, sirs! it is nothing but intoxicating pros- 
 perity, and sensual delights, and worldly diversions, 
 that make you think well of ungodly slothfulness, 
 and make you think contemptuously of a heavenly 
 life. There is not the boldest infidel in the world, nor 
 the bitterest enemy to holiness, but shortly would 
 wish they had rather been saints, with all the scorn 
 and cruelty that malice can inflict on such, than to 
 have braved it out in pride and gallantry, with the 
 neglect of everlasting things. 
 
 Methinks I even see how you will passionately 
 rage against yourselves, and tear your hearts with 
 self-revenge, (if grace prevent it not by a safe re- 
 pentance,) wnen you think too late how you lived 
 on earth, and w T hat golden times of grace you lost, 
 and vilified all that would not lose them as foolishly 
 as you. If repentance unto life made St. Paul call 
 himself foolish, disobedient, deceived, and exceeding 
 mad, (Tit. iii. 3. Acts xxvi. 11.) you may imagine 
 how tormenting repentance will make you call your- 
 selves too late. 
 
 O sirs! you cannot now conceive, what different 
 thoughts will then possess you of a holy and unholy 
 life. How mad you will think them that had but 
 one life's time of preparation for eternal life, and 
 desperately neglected it! And how sensible you 
 will then be of the wisdom of believers, that knew 
 their time, and used it while they had it ! "Now 
 wisdom is justified of all her children;' 5 but then 
 how sensibly will it be justified of all its enemies ! 
 O, with what remorse will undone souls look back 
 on a life of mercy and opportunities, thus basely 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 191 
 
 undervalued, and slept away in dreaming idleness, 
 and fooled away for things or nought ! 
 
 The language of that rich man, Luke xvi. may 
 help you in your predictions. O how will you won- 
 der at yourselves, that ever you could be so blind 
 and senseless, as to be no more affected with the 
 warnings of the Lord, and with the forethoughts of 
 everlasting joy and misery! To have but one small 
 part of time to do all that ever must be done by 
 you for eternity, and say all that ever you must say, 
 ibr your own or others' souls, and that this was spent 
 in worse than nothing ! To have but one uncertain 
 life, in which you must run the race that wins or 
 loses heaven for ever; and that you should he tempted 
 with a thing of nought, to lose that one irrecoverable 
 opportunity, and to sit still or run another way, when 
 you should have been making haste with all your 
 might! O sirs, the thoughts of this will be other 
 kind of thoughts another day than now you feel 
 them; you cannot now think how the thoughts of 
 this will then affect you ! That you had a time in 
 which you might have prayed, with promise of ac- 
 ceptance, and had no hearts to take that time ! That 
 Christ was offered to you as well as he was offered 
 to them that entertained him; that you are called 
 on, and warned as well as they, but obstinately des- 
 pised and neglected all! That life and death were 
 set before you, and the everlasting joys were offered 
 to your choice, against the charms of sinful pleasures, 
 and you might have freely had them if you would, 
 and Were told that holiness was the only way, and 
 that it must be now or never, and yet that you chose 
 your own destruction ! These thoughts will be part 
 of hell to the ungodly. They will wonder that rea- 
 son could be so unreasonable; and that they, who 
 had the common wit of man in other matters, should 
 be so far beside themselves in that which is the only 
 thing that is commendable to be wise for; that such 
 reasonings should prevail with them against the 
 clearest light, and nothing should be preferred before 
 
192 NOW OR NEV*.R. 
 
 all things, and arguments fetched from chaff should 
 conquer those that were fetched from heaven ! O 
 what heart-rending thoughts will these be, when 
 eternity shall afford them leisure for an impartial 
 review ! 
 
 Come away speedily from the snares of sin- 
 ners, and the company of deceived hardened men, 
 and cast away the works of darkness. Heaven is 
 before you ! Death is at hand ! The eternal God 
 hath sent to call you ! Mercy doth yet stretch forth 
 its arms! You have stayed too long, and abused 
 patience too much already: stay no longer! O now 
 please God, and comfort us, and save yourselves, 
 by resolving that " this shall be the day:" and faith- 
 fully performing this your resolution, " up and be 
 doing:" believe, repent, desire, obey, and do all this 
 with all your might; love him that you must love for 
 ever, and love him with all your soul and might; seek 
 that which is truly worth seeking, and will pay for 
 all your cost and pains, and seek it first with all your 
 might, remembering still it must be now or never. 
 And now I should conclude, I am loath to end, 
 for fear lest I have not yet prevailed with you. 
 What are you now resolved to do, from this day 
 forward ? It is work that we have been speaking 
 of, and necessary work of endless consequence, 
 which must be done, and quickly done, and thorough- 
 ly done. Are you not convinced that it is so? that 
 ploughing and sowing are not more necessary to 
 your harvest, than the work of holiness in this day 
 of grace is necessary to your salvation? You are 
 blind, if ypu see not this: you are dead, if you feel it 
 not: what then will you do? O hear the God of 
 heaven, if you will not hear us, who calleth to you, 
 Return, and live ! O hear him that shed his blood 
 for souls, and tendereth you now salvation by his 
 blood! O hear without any more delay, before all 
 is gone, and you are gone, and he that now deceiv- 
 eth you, torment you ! Yet hold on a little longer 
 in a carnal, earthly, unsanctih'ed state, and it is too 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 193 
 
 late to hope, or pray, or strive for your salvation. 
 Yet a little longer, and mercy will have done with 
 you for ever; and Christ will never invite you more, 
 nor ever offer to cleanse you by his blood; nor sanc- 
 tify you by his Spirit. Yet a little longer, and you 
 shall never hear a sermon more, and never more be 
 troubled with those preachers that were in good ear- 
 nest with yon, and longed once for your conversion 
 and salvation. O sleepy, dead-hearted sinners, what 
 should I do to show you how near you stand to eter- 
 nity, and what is now doing in the world that you 
 are going to, and how these things are thought on 
 there! What should I do to make you know how 
 time is valued, how sin and holiness are esteemed in 
 the world where you must live for ever! What 
 should I do to make you know those things to-day, 
 which I will not thank you to know when you are 
 gone hence ! O that the Lord would open your eyes 
 in time ! O that I could but make you know these 
 things as believers should know them ! I say not as 
 those that see them, nor yet as dreamers, that do 
 not regard them, but as those that believe that they 
 must shortly see them, what a joyful hour's work 
 should I esteem this ! how happy would it be to you 
 and me ! If every word were accompanied with 
 tears; if this sermon cost me as many censures or 
 slanders as ever sermon did, I should not think it too 
 dear, if I could but help you to such a sight of the 
 things we speak of, that you might truly understand 
 them as they are: that you had but a true awakened 
 apprehension of the shortness of your day, of the 
 nearness of eternity, and of the endless consequence 
 of your present work, and what holy labour and sin- 
 ful loitering will be thought of in the world to come 
 for ever. But when we see you sin, and trifle, and 
 no more regard your endless life, and see also what 
 haste your time is making, and yet cannot make you 
 understand these things; when we know ourselves 
 as sure as we speak to tju, that you will shortly be 
 astonished at the review of your present sloth and 
 17 
 
194 NOW OR NEVER 
 
 folly, and when we know that these matters are not 
 thought of in another world, as they are among 
 sleepy sinners here, and yet know not how to make 
 you know it, whom it doth so exceedingly much 
 concern, this amazeth us, and almost breaks our 
 hearts, lea, when we tell you of things that are 
 past doubt, and can be no further matter of contro- 
 versy, than men have sold their understandings, and 
 betrayed their reason to their sordid lusts, and yet 
 we cannot get reasonable men to know that which 
 they cannot choose but know, to know that serious- 
 ly and practically which always hath a witness in 
 their breasts, and which none but the profligate dare 
 deny; this, even this, is worse than a prison to us. 
 It is you that are our persecutors; it is you that are 
 the daily sorrow of our hearts; it is you that disap- 
 point us of our hopes, and make us lose so much of 
 the labour of our lives. 
 
 Sinners, whatever the devil and raging passion 
 may say against a holy life, God and your own con- 
 sciences shall be our witnesses, that we desired 
 nothing unreasonable, or unnecessary at your hands. 
 
 The question that I am putting to you, is not 
 whether you will be for this form of church-govern- 
 ment, or fbr that; but it is, whether you will heark- 
 en in time to God and conscience, and be as busy to 
 provide fbr heaven, as ever you have been to pro- 
 vide for earth? It is godliness, serious and practical 
 godliness, that thou art called to. It is nothing but 
 what all Christians in the world are agreed in. 
 That 1 may not leave thee in any darkness which I 
 can deliver thee from, I will tell thee distinctly, 
 though succinctly, what it is that thou art thus im- 
 portuned to; and tell me, then, whether it be that 
 which any Christian can make doubt of. 
 
 1. That which I entreat of thee, is but to live 
 as one that verily believeth there is a God; and that 
 this God is the Creator, the Lord and Ruler of the 
 world: and that it is incomparably more our business 
 to understand and obey nis laws, and as faithful 
 subjects to be conformed to them, than to observe 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 195 
 
 or be conformed to the laws of man: and to live as 
 men that do believe that this God is Almighty, and 
 that the greatest of men are less than crawling 
 worms to him; and that he is infinitely wise, and the 
 wisdom of man is foolishness to him; and that he is 
 "infinitely good and amiable; that his love is the only 
 felicity of man; and that none are happy but those 
 that do enjoy it; and none that do enjoy it can be 
 miserable; and that riches, and honour, and fleshly 
 delights are brutish vanities in comparison of the 
 eternal love of God. Live but as men that heartily 
 believe all this, and I have that I come for; and is 
 any of this a matter of controversy or doubt? Not 
 among Christians I am sure: not among wise men. 
 It is no doubt to those in heaven, nor to those in 
 hell, nor to those that have not lost their under- 
 standings upon earth. Live then according to these 
 truths. 
 
 2. Live as men that verily believe that mankind 
 is fallen into sin and misery; and that all men are 
 corrupted, and under the condemnation of the law 
 of God, till they are delivered, pardoned, reconciled 
 to God, and made new creatures, by a renewing, 
 restoring, sanctifying change. Live but as men 
 that believe that this cure must be wrought, and this 
 great restoring change must be made upon ourselves, 
 if it be not done already. Live as men that have 
 so great a work to look after; and is this a matter of 
 any doubt or controversy? Sure it is not to a Chris- 
 tian: and methinks it should not be to any man else 
 that knoweth himself, any more than to a man in a 
 dropsy, whether he be diseased, when he feels the 
 thirst and sees the swelling. Did you but know 
 what cures and changes are necessarily to be made 
 upon your diseased miserable souls, if you care 
 what becomes of them, you would soon see cause to 
 look about you. 
 
 3. Live but as men that verily believe that the 
 Son of God, hath suffered for your sins,,and brought 
 you the tidings of pardon and salvation, which you 
 may have, if you will give up yourselves to him 
 
196 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 who is the Physician of souls, to be healed by him. 
 Live as men that believe that the infinite love of 
 God, revealed to lost mankind in the Redeemer, doth 
 bind us to Jove .him with all our hearts, and serve 
 him with all our restored faculties, and to work as 
 those that have the greatest thankfulness to show, 
 as well as the greatest mercies to receive, and mis- 
 ery to escape: and as those that believe, that if sin- 
 ners that, without Christ, had not hope, shall now 
 love their sins and refuse to leave them, and to 
 repent and be converted, and unthankfully reject 
 the mercy of salvation so dearly bought, and freely 
 offered them, their damnation will be doubled as 
 their sin is doubled. 
 
 Live but as men that have such redemption to 
 admire, such mercy to entertain, and such a salva- 
 tion to attain, and that are sure they can never 
 escape if they continue to " neglect so great salva- 
 tion. 33 And is there any controversy among Chris- 
 tians in any of this ? There is not, certainly. 
 
 4. Live but as men that believe that the Holy 
 Ghost is given by Jesus Christ to convert, to quick- 
 en, and to sanctify all that he will save; that 
 " except you be born again of the Spirit, you shall 
 not enter into the kingdom of heaven; 33 and that 
 " if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, the same 
 is none of his; 33 and that without this, no mending 
 of your lives, by any common principles, will serve 
 the turn for your salvation, or make you acceptable 
 to God. Live as men that believe that this Spirit 
 is given by the hearing of the word of God, and 
 must be prayed for, and obeyed, and not resisted, 
 quenched, and grieved. And is there any contro- 
 versy among Christians in any of this? 
 
 5. Live but as men that believe that sin is the 
 greatest evil, the thing which the holy God abhor- 
 reth; and then you will never make a mock of it, as 
 Solomon saith the foolish do; nor say, What harm 
 is in it? 
 
 6. Live but as men that believe no sin is pardon- 
 ed without repentance; and that repentance is the 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 197 
 
 loathing and forsaking of sin: and that if it be 
 true, it will not suffer you to live in any sin, nor to 
 desire to keep the least infirmity, nor to be loath to 
 know your unknown sins. 
 
 7. Live as those that believe that you are to be 
 members of the Holy Catholic Church, and therein 
 co hold the communion of saints. And then you 
 will know that it is not as a member of any sect or 
 party, but as a holy member of this holy church, 
 that you must be saved : and that it is the name of 
 a Christian, which is more honourable than the name 
 of any division, or subdivision among Christians. 
 
 8. Live as those that believe that there is a life 
 everlasting, where the sanctified shall live in endless 
 joy, and the unsanctified in endless punishment and 
 wo : live but as men that verily believe a heaven 
 and a hell, and a day of judgment, in which all the 
 actions of this life must be revised, and all men 
 judged to their endless state. Believe these things 
 heartily, and then think a holy diligence needless if 
 you can. Then be of the mind of the deriders and 
 enemies of godliness if you can. If one sight of 
 heaven or hell would serve without any more ado, 
 instead of other arguments, to confute all the cavils 
 of the distracted world, and to justify the most dili- 
 gent saints in the judgment of those that now abhor 
 them, why should not a sound belief of the same 
 thing in its measure do the same? 
 
 9. Live but as those that believe this life is given 
 us as the only time to make preparation for eternal 
 life: and that all that ever shall be done for your sal- 
 vation, must be now, just now, before your time is 
 ended: live as those that know, and need not faith 
 to tell them, that this time is short, and almost at an 
 end already, and stayeth for no man, but, as a post, 
 doth haste away. It will not stay while you are 
 taken up at stage plays, in compliments, in idle 
 visits, or any impertinent, needless things: it will 
 not tarry while you spend yet the other year, or 
 month, or day, in your worldliness, or ambition, or 
 in your lusts and sensual delights, and put off your 
 
198 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 repentance to another time. O sirs, for the Lord's 
 sake, do but live as men that must shortly be buried 
 in the grave, and their souls appear before the Lord, 
 and as men that have but this little time to do all 
 *br their everlasting life, that ever must be done. 
 O live as men that are sure to die, and are not sure 
 xo live till to-morrow: and let not the noise of 
 pleasure or worldly business, or the chat or scorns 
 of miserable fools, bear down your reason, and make 
 you live as if you knew not what you know; or as 
 if there was any doubt about these things. Who 
 is the man and what is his name, that dares contra- 
 dict them, and can make it good? O do not sin 
 against your knowledge: do not stand still and 
 see your glass running, and time making such haste, 
 and yet make no more haste yourselves, than if you 
 were not concerned in it : do not, O do not slum- 
 ber, when time and judgment never slumber; nor 
 sit still when you have so much to do, and know all 
 that is now left undone must be undone for ever ! 
 Alas, sirs, how many questions of exceeding weight 
 have you yet to be resolved in! whether you are 
 truly sanctified? whether your sins be pardoned? 
 whether you shall be saved when you die ? whether 
 you are ready to leave this world and enter upon 
 another? I tell you, the answering of these and 
 many more such questions, is a matter of no small 
 difficulty or concern. And all these must be done 
 in this little and uncertain time. It must be now 
 or never. Live but as men that believe and con- 
 sider these certain unquestionable things. 
 
 10. Lastly, Will you but live as men that be- 
 lieve that the world and the flesh are the deadly 
 enemies of your salvation? and that believe, that 
 " if any man love the world, (so far) the love of the 
 Father is not in him?" and as men that believe 
 that, "if ye live after the flesh ye shall die; but if 
 by the Spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye 
 shall live; " and that those who are in Christ Jesus, 
 and are freed from condenmat ion, are such as " walk 
 not after the flesh, but after the Spirit? " And that 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 199 
 
 we must " make no provision for the flesh to satisfy 
 the will or lusts thereof; " and must not " walk in 
 gluttony and drunkenness, in chambering and wan 
 tonness, in strife and envying," but must " have our 
 hearts where our treasure is," and our conversation 
 in heaven; and being risen with Christ, must seek 
 the things that are above, and set our affections on 
 them, and not on the things that are on earth. 
 
 Sirs, will you say that any of this is our singular 
 opinion, or matter of controversy and doubt? Are 
 not all Christians agreed in it? Do you not, your 
 ownselves profess that you believe it? Live then 
 but as those that do believe it, and condemn not 
 yourselves in the things that you confess. 
 
 I have done my part to open to you the necessity 
 of serious diligence, and to call up the sluggish souls 
 of sinners to mind the work of their salvation, and 
 to do it speedily, and with all their might. I must 
 now leave the success to God and you. What use 
 you will make of it, and what you will be and do 
 for the time to come, is a matter that more concern- 
 eth yourselves than me. 
 
 Sirs, the matter is now laid before you. What 
 will you now do ? Have I convinced you now, that 
 God and your salvation are to be sought with all 
 your might? If I have not, it is not for want of evi- 
 dence in what, is said, but for want of willingness in 
 yourselves to know the truth. 
 
 It is wonderful, to think that learned men, and 
 gentlemen, and men, that pretend to reason and in- 
 genuity, can quietly betray their souls, and do the 
 evil that they have no more to say for, and neglect, 
 that duty that they have no more to say agains', 
 when they know they must do it now or never. 
 That while they confess that there is a God, an/ a 
 life to come, a heaven and a hell, and that this life 
 is purposely given us lor preparation for eternity, 
 while they confess that God is most wise, and holy, 
 and good, and just, and that sin is the greatest evil, 
 and that the word of God is true, they can yet make 
 shift to quiet themselves in an unholy, sensual, care- 
 
200 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 less lif j; and that while they honour the apostles 
 and martyrs, and saints that are dead and gone, they 
 hate t leir successors and imitators, and the lives 
 that tl ey lived. 
 
 Alas ! all this comes from the want of a sound 
 belief f the things which they never saw; and the 
 distance of those things, and the power of passion, 
 and sensual objects and inclinations, that hurry them 
 away after present vanities, and conquer reason, and 
 rob them of their humanity; and from the noise of 
 the company of sensual sinners, that harden and 
 deafen one another, and by the just judgment of God 
 forsaking those that would not know him, and leav- 
 ing them to the blindness and hardness of their 
 hearts. But is there no remedy? O Thou, the 
 Fountain of mercy and relief, vouchsafe these mise- 
 rable sinners a remedy ! O Thou, the Saviour of lost 
 mankind, have mercy upon these sinners in the depth 
 of their security, presumption, and misery! O Thou, 
 the Illuminator and Sanctifier of souls, apply the 
 remedy so dearly purchased ! 
 
 Poor sleepy sinners, hear us ! Though we speak 
 not to you as men would do that had seen heaven 
 and hell; and were themselves in a perfectly awak- 
 ened frame, yet hear us while we speak to you the 
 words of truth, with some seriousness, and com- 
 passionate desire for your salvation. O look up to 
 your God ! Look out unto eternity : Look inwardly 
 upon your souls: Look wisely upon your short and 
 hasty time: and then bethink you how the little 
 remnant of your time should be employed; and what 
 it is that most concerneth you to despatch and secure 
 before you die. Now you have sermons, and books, 
 and warnings: it will not be so long. Preachers 
 must have done: God threateneth them, and death 
 threateneth them, and men threaten them, and it is 
 you, it is you that are most severely threatened, and 
 that are called on by God's warnings. " If any 
 man have an ear to hear, let him hear." Now you 
 have abundance of private helps, you have abun- 
 dance of understanding gracious companions; yor 
 
NOW OR NEVER. 201 
 
 have the Lord's day to spend iR holy exercises, fo* 
 the edification and solace of your souls ; you have 
 choice of sound and serious books : O what invalu- 
 able mercies are all these ! O know your time, and 
 use these with industry, and improve this harvest 
 for your souls! For it will not be thus always: it 
 must be now or never. You have yet time and 
 leave to pray and cry to God in hope : yet if you 
 have hearts and tongues, he hath a hearing ear; the 
 Spirit of grace is ready to assist you. It will not be 
 thus always : the time is coming when the loudest 
 cries will do no good. O pray, pray, pray, poor 
 need}'- miserable sinners; for it must be now or never. 
 
 You have yet health and strength, and bodies fit 
 to serve your souls: it will not be so always: lan- 
 guishing, and pains, and death are coming. O use 
 your health and strength for God; for it must be 
 wow or never. 
 
 Yet there are some stirrings of conviction in your 
 consciences: you find that all is not well with you; 
 and you have some thoughts or purposes to repent 
 and be new creatures. There is some hope in this, 
 that yet God hath not quite forsaken you. O trifle 
 not, and stifle not the convictions of your conscien- 
 ces, but hearken to the witness of God within you. 
 It must be now or never. 
 
 Would you not be loath to be left to the despair- 
 ing case of many poor distressed souls, that cry out, 
 4 O it is now too late! I fear my day of grace is past; 
 God will not hear me now if I should call upon him : 
 he hath forsaken me, and given me over to myself. 
 It is too late to repent, too late to pray, too late to 
 think of a new life; all is too late.' This case is sad; 
 but yet many of these are in a safer and better case 
 than they imagine, and are but frightened by the 
 Tempter : and it is not too late, while they cry out, 
 'It is too late;' but if you are left to cry in hell, ' It 
 is too late;' alas, how long and how doleful a cry 
 and lamentation will it be ! 
 
 O consider, poor sinner, that God knoweth the 
 time and season of thy mercies. He giveth the 
 
202 NOW OR NEVER. 
 
 spring and harvest in their season; and all his mer- 
 cies in their season, and wilt thou not know thy time 
 and season, or love, and duty, and thanks to him? 
 Consider that God, who hath commanded thee 
 thy work, hath also appointed thee thy time. And 
 this is his appointed time. To-day, therefore, heark- 
 en to his voice, and see that thou harden not thy 
 heart. He that bids thee " repent and work out 
 thy salvation with fear and trembling, 55 doth also bid 
 thee do it now. Obey him in the time, if thou wilt 
 be indeed obedient; he best understand eth the fit- 
 test time. One would think to men that have lost 
 so much already, and loitered so long, and are so 
 lamentably behind hand, and stand so near the bar 
 of God, and their everlasting state, there should be 
 no need to say any more, to persuade them to be up 
 and doing. I shall add but this: 'You are never 
 like to have a better time. 5 Take this, or the work 
 will grow more difficult, more doubtful, if through 
 the just judgment of God, it become not desperate. 
 If all this will not serve, but still you will loiter till 
 time be gone, what can your poor friends do but 
 lament your misery! The Lord knows, if we knew 
 what words, what pains, what cost would tend to 
 your awakening, and conversion, and salvation, we 
 should be glad to submit to it: and we hope we 
 should not think our labours, or liberties, or our 
 lives too dear to promote so blessed and so necessary 
 a work. But if when all this is done that we can 
 do, you will leave us nothing but our tears and 
 moans for self-destroyers, the sin is yours, and the 
 suffering shall be yours. If I can do no more, I 
 shall leave this upon record, that we took our time 
 to tell you, that serious diligence is necessary to 
 your salvation; and that God is the " Rewarder of 
 them that diligently seek him, 55 and that this was 
 your day, your only day. It must be now or never , 
 
FIFTY REASONS 
 
 WHY A SINNER OUGHT TO TURN TO GOD 
 WITHOUT DELAY. 
 
 [With some abridgement.] 
 
 HEBREWS III. 7, 8. 
 
 To-day t if ye will hear his voice, harden not your 
 
 hearts. 
 
 1 ^Consider to whom it is that you are com- 
 manded to turn ; and then Aei\ me whether there 
 can be any reason for delayer It is not to an empty 
 deceitful creature, but to the faithful all-sufficient 
 God; to Him that is the cause of all things; the 
 strength of the creation; the joy of angels; the 
 felicity of the saints; the sun and shield of all the £ 
 righteous; the refuge ofthe distressed; and the^jj 
 glory of the whole world^jfcf such power, that his r 
 word can take down the sun from the firmament, 
 and turn the earth and all things into nothing; for 
 he doth more in giving them their being and con- 
 tinuance: of such wisdom, that he was never guilty 
 of mistake; and therefore will not mislead you, nor 
 draw you to any thing that is not for the best: of v 
 such goodness, as that evil cannot stand in his sight, / 
 and nothing but your evil could make him displeas- p 
 ed with you; and it is from, nothing but evil, that he 
 
* 
 
 V 
 
 204 FIFTY REASONS. 
 
 calleth you to turn. It is not to a malicious ene- 
 my, that would do you mischief, but to a gracious 
 God, that is love itself; not to an implacable jus- 
 tice, but to a reconciled Father; not to revenging 
 indignation, but to the embrace of those arms, and 
 the mercy of that compassionate Lord, that is 
 enough to melt the hardest heart, when you find 
 yourself, as the poor returning prodigal, in his bo- 
 som, when you deserved to have been under his 
 feet. And will the. great and blessed^GoiL in\dte 
 thee to his favour^ and wilt thou delav and_denmr 
 upon the return? The greatest of the angels of 
 ('(heaven are glad of his favour, and value no happi- 
 jness but the light of his countenance. Heaven 
 ^and earth are supported by.hkn, and nothing can 
 /stand without him. How glad would those very 
 
 I' devils be of his favour, that tempt thee to neglect 
 his favour ! And wilt thou delay to turn to such a 
 God? Why, man, thou art every minute at his 
 mercy. And yet dost thou delay? There are all 
 "^things imaginable in him to draw thee. There is 
 nothing that is good fbr thee, but it is perfectly in 
 him, where thou mayst have it certain and perpet- 
 ual. There is nothing in him to give the least dis- 
 couragement: let all the devils in hell, and all the 
 enemies of God on earth, say the worst they can 
 against his majesty, and they are not able to find 
 the smallest blemish in his absolute holiness, and 
 wisdom, and goodness. And yet wilt thou delay 
 to return? 
 
 2. Consider also, to what it is that thou must 
 turn. Not to uncleanness, but to holiness; not to 
 the sensual life of a beast, but to the noble rational 
 life of a man, and the more noble heavenly life of 
 a Christian; not to an unprofitable worldly toil, but 
 to the most gainful employment that ever the sons 
 of men were acq uainted with; not to the deceitful 
 drudgery of sin, but to that godliness which is pro- 
 fitable to all things, " having the promise of the 
 life that now is, and of that which is to come' 
 
FIFTY REASONS. 205 
 
 Sirs, do you know what a life of holiness is ? You 
 do not know it, if you turn away from it. I am 
 sure, if you knew it you would never fly from it. 
 No, norendure to live without it. Why, a life of 
 holiness is nothing but living unto God; to be con- 
 versant with him, as the wicked are with the world; 
 and to be devoted to his service, as sensualists are 
 to the flesh. It is to live in the love of God, and 
 of our Redeemer; and in the foretastes of his ever- 
 lasting glory, and of his love; and in the sweet fore- 
 thoughts of that blessed life that shall never end; 
 and in the honest self-denying course that leadeth 
 to that blessedness. A godly life is nothing else 
 but a sowing the seed of heaven on earth; and a 
 learning, in the school of Christ, the songs of praise 
 which we must use before the throne of God; and 
 by suffering, — a learning how to triumph and reign 
 with Christ. 
 
 Can you delay to come into your Father's fa- 
 mily; into the vineyard of the Lord; into the 
 kingdom of God on earth; to be " fellow-citizens 
 of the saints, and of the household of God;" to 
 have the pardon of all your sms, and the sealed pro- 
 mise of everlasting glory ? Why, sirs, when you 
 are called on to turn, you are called to the porch of 
 heaven, into the beginning of salvation; and will 
 you delay to accept everlasting life? 
 
 3. Consider also, From what you are called to 
 turn; and then judge whether there be any reason 
 of delay. It is from the devil, your enemy; from 
 the love of a deceitful world; from the seductions of 
 corrupted brutish flesh; it is from sin the greatest 
 evil. What is there in sin that you should delay to 
 part with it? Is there any good in it? Or what 
 hath it ever done for you that you should love it? 
 Did it ever do you good ? Or did it ever do any 
 man good ? It is the deadly enemy of Christ and 
 you, that caused his death, and will cause yours, 
 and is working for your condemnation, if converting 
 and pardoning grace. prevent it not. And are you 
 
206 FIFTY REASONS. 
 
 loath to leave it ? It is the cause of all the miseries 
 of the world, of all the sorrows that ever did befall 
 you, and the cause of the damnation of them that 
 perish; and do you delay to part with it? 
 
 4. Your delaying shows that you love not God, 
 and that you prefer your sin before him, and thai 
 you would never part with it if you could have your 
 will. For if you loved God, you would long to be 
 restored to his favour, and to be near him, and em- 
 ployed in his service and his family. Love is quick 
 and diligent, and will not draw back. And it is a 
 sign also that you are in love with sin: for else, 
 why should you be so loath to leave it? He that 
 would not leave his sin and turn to God, till the 
 next week, or the next month, or year, would never 
 turn if he might have his desire. For that which 
 makes you desirous to stay a day or a week longer, 
 doth indeed make you loath to turn at all. And 
 therefore it is but hypocrisy to say, that you are 
 willing to turn hereafter, if you are not willing to do 
 it now without delay. 
 
 5. Consider, what a case you are in, while you 
 thus delay? Do you think you stand in a safe 
 condition? If you knew where you are, you would 
 sit as upon thorns as long as you are unconverted; 
 you would be as a man that stood up to the knees in 
 the sea, and saw the tide coming towards him, who 
 certainly would think that there is no standing still 
 in such a place. You have all your sin unpardoned; 
 you are under the curse of the law; the wrath of 
 God is upon you, and the fulness of it hangs over 
 your heads; judgment is coming to pass upon you 
 the dreadful doom; the Lord is at hand; death is at 
 the door, and waits but for the word from the 
 mouth of God, that it may arrest you, and bring 
 
 l you to everlasting misery: and is this a state for a 
 k>C\man to continue in? 
 
 6. Moreover, Your delaying giveth great advan- 
 tage to the Tempter. If you would presently turn 
 and forsake your sins, and enter into a faithful cove- 
 
FIFTY REASONS. 207 
 
 nanl with God, the devil would be almost out of 
 hope, and the very heart of his temptations would be 
 broken. He would see that now it is too late; 
 there is no getting you out of the arms of Christ. 
 But as long as you delay, you keep him in heart and 
 hope; he hath time to strengthen his prison and 
 fetters, and to renew his snares; and if one temp- 
 tation serve not, he hath time to try another and 
 another; as if you would stand as a mark for Satan 
 to shoot at, as long as he pleases. What likelihood 
 is there that ever so foolish a sinner should be re- 
 covered and saved from his sin ? 
 
 7. Moreover, Your delaying is a vile abuse of 
 Christ and the Holy Ghost, and may so far provoke 
 him, as to leave you to yourself, and then you are 
 past help. If you delight so to trample on your 
 crucified Lord, and will so long put him to it by re- 
 fusing his grace and grieving his Spirit, what can 
 you expect but that he should turn away in wrath, 
 and utterly forsake you. 
 
 8. Consider also, I beseech you, If you ever 
 mean to turn, what it is that you stay for. Do 
 you think to bring down Christ and heaven to your 
 own terms, and to be saved hereafter with less ado ? 
 Sure, you cannot be so foolish: for God will be 
 still the same; and Christ the same; and his pro- 
 mise hath still the same condition, which he will 
 never change; and godliness will be the same, and 
 as much against your carnal interest hereafter as it 
 is now. When you have looked about you ever so 
 long, you will never find a fairer or nearer way; but 
 this same way you must go or perish. If you can- 
 not leave sin now, how shall you leave it then ? It 
 will still be as sweet to your flesh as now: or if one 
 grow stale by the decay of nature, another that is 
 worse will spring up in its stead, and though the acts 
 abate, they will all live still at the root; for sin was 
 never mortified by age. So that if ever you wili 
 ti^n, you may best turn now. 
 
208 FIFTY REASONS. 
 
 9. Yea, more than that, the longer you stay, the 
 harder it will be. If it be hard to-day, it is like to 
 be harder to-morrow. For as the Spirit of Christ 
 is like to forsake you for your wilful delays, so cus- 
 tom will strengthen sin : and custom in sinning will 
 harden your hearts, and make you " past feeling, to 
 work all uncleanness with greediness." Cannot you 
 crush this serpent when it is but weak; and can you 
 encounter it in its serpentine strength? Cannot you 
 pluck up a tender plant; and can you pluck up an 
 oak or cedar? O sinners! what do you mean, to 
 make your recovery so difficult by delay ? You are 
 never like to be fairer for heaven, and to find con 
 version an easier work, than now you may do. Will 
 you stay till the work be ten times harder, and yet 
 do you think it so hard already? 
 
 10. Consider also, that sin gets daily victories by 
 your delay. We lay out batteries against it, and 
 preach, and exhort, and pray against it, and it gets 
 a kind of victory over all, as long as we prevail not 
 with you to turn. It conquereth our persuasions 
 and advice; it conquereth all the stirrings of your 
 consciences; it conquereth all your heartless pur- 
 poses and deceitful promises. And these frequent 
 conquests strengthen. your sin, and weaken your re- 
 sistance, and leave the matter almost hopeless. Be- 
 fore a physician hath used remedies, he hath more 
 hope of a cure, than when he hath tried all means, 
 and finds that the best medicines do no good, but 
 the man is still as bad or worse. So when all means 
 have been tried with you, and yet you are uncon- 
 verted, the case draws towards desperation itself: 
 the very means are disabled more than before; that 
 is, your hearts are harder to be wrought upon by 
 them. When you have long been under sermons 
 and reading, and among good examples, and yet 
 you are unconverted; these ordinances lose much of 
 their force with you. Custom will make you slight 
 them, and be dead-hearted under them. And it is 
 these very same means and truths, that you have 
 
FIFTY REASONS. 209 
 
 frustrated, that must do the work, or it will never 
 be done. 
 
 11. Moreover, age itself hath many inconveni- 
 ences, and youth hath many great advantages: and 
 therefore it is folly to delay. In age the under- 
 standing and memory grow dull, and people grow 
 incapable, and almost unchangeable. We see, by 
 our every day's experience, that men think they 
 should not change when they are old ; that opinion 
 or practice, in which they have been brought up, 
 they think they should not then forsake. To learh 
 when they are old, and to turn when they are old— 
 you see how much they are against it. Besides, 
 now unfit is age to be at that pains that youth can 
 undergo? How unfit to begin the holy warfare 
 against the flesh, the world, and the devil ? God's 
 way is to list his soldiers as soon as may be, when 
 in youth; but the devil will persuade them that it 
 is yet too soon; and when he can no longer persuade 
 them that it is yet too soon, he will then persuade 
 that it is too late. O what a happy thing it is to 
 come to God betimes, and with the first! What 
 advantage hath youth ! They have the vigour of 
 wit and of body; they are not rooted and hardened 
 in sin, nor filled with prejudice and obstinacy against 
 godliness, as others are. 
 
 12. You have such times of advantage and en- 
 couragement as few ages of the world have ever 
 seen, and few nations on earth enjoy at this day. 
 What plain and plentiful teaching have you ! What 
 abundance of good examples, and the society of 
 the godly! Private and public helps are common. 
 Seldom has the church seen such days on earth. 
 And yet is not the way to heaven fair enough for 
 you? Yet are you not ready to turn to God? Will 
 you delay till harvest time be over, and the winter 
 of persecution come again? Have you sun, and 
 wind, and tide, to serve you, and will you stay to 
 set out in storms and darkness ? 
 
 13. Moreover, Your delay doth cast your con- 
 
 18 
 
210 FIFTY REASONS. 
 
 version and salvation into hazard, yea, inti many 
 and grievous hazards. And is your everlasting 
 happiness a matter to be wilfully hazarded, by cause- 
 less and unreasonable delays ? If you delay to-day, 
 you are utterly uncertain of living till to-morrow. 
 If you put by this one motion, you know not wheth- 
 er ever you may have another. You know not 
 whether ever the Spirit of God will put another 
 thought of turning into your hearts; or at least, 
 whether he will incline your hearts to turn. 
 
 14. Moreover, The delay of conversion continu- 
 eth your sin, and so you will daily increase their 
 number, and increase your guilt, and make your 
 souls abundantly miserable. Are you not deep 
 enough in debt to God already, and have you not 
 sins enough to answer for upon your souls? Would 
 you fain have one year's sins more, or one day's sins 
 more, to be charged upon you? O, if you did but 
 know what sin is, it would amaze you to think what 
 a mountain lieth already upon your consciences! 
 One sin unpardoned will sink the sinner into hell; 
 and you have many a thousand upon your souls 
 already, and would you yet have more? Methinks 
 you should rather look about you, and bethink you 
 how you may get a pardon for all that is past. 
 
 15. And as sin increaseth daily by delay, so con- 
 sequently the wrath of God increaseth, and you will 
 run further into his displeasure, and possibly you 
 may cut down the bough that you stand upon, and 
 hasten destruction to yourselves. When you live 
 daily upon God, and are kept out of hell, by a mira- 
 cle of his mercy, methinks you should not desire yet 
 longer to provoke him, lest he withdraw his mercy, 
 and let you fall into misery. 
 
 16. And do but consider, What will become of 
 you if ye be found in these delays? You are then 
 lost, body and soul, for ever. Now if you had but 
 hearts to know what is good for you, the worst of 
 you might be converted and saved; for God doth 
 freely offer you his grace. But if you die in your 
 
IJfTY SEASONS 211 
 
 delays, <n the- uvft&ing of an eye you will find your- 
 selves utterly ui^lone for ever. 
 
 17. Consider, That your very time, which you 
 lose by these delays, is an inconceivable loss. When 
 time is gone, what would you then give for one of 
 those years, or days, or hours, which you now fool- 
 ishly trifle away? O wretched sinners, are there so 
 many thousand souls in hell that would give a 
 world, if they had it, for one of your days; and yet 
 can you afford to throw them away in worldliness, 
 and sensuality, and loitering delays? 1 tell you, 
 time is better worth than all the wealth and honours 
 of the world. The day is coming when you will 
 value time: when it is gone you will know what a ) 
 blessing you made light of. 
 
 18. Consider also, that God hath given you no 
 time to spare. He hath not lent you one day or 
 hour, more than is needful for the work that you 
 have to do; therefore you have no reason to lose 
 any by your delays. Do you imagine that God 
 would give a man an hour's time for nothing? much 
 less to abuse him and serve his enemy. No, let me 
 tell you, that if you make your best of every hour, 
 if you should never lose a moment of your lives, 
 you would find all little enough for the work you 
 have to do. I know not how others think of time, 
 but for my part I am forced daily to say, How swift, 
 how short is time ! And how great is our work ! 
 And when we have done our best, how slowly it 
 goeth on! O precious time! What hearts have 
 they, what lives do those men lead, that think time 
 long ! That have time to spare, and to pass in idle- 
 ness ! 
 
 19. To convince you more, Consider, 1 beseech 
 you, the exceeding greatness of the work you have 
 to do; and tell me then, whether it be time for you 
 to delay. Especially you, that are yet unconverted, 
 and strangers to the heavenly nature of the saints, — 
 you have far more to do than other men. You have 
 a multitude of head-strong passions to subdue, and 
 
212 FIFTY REASONS. 
 
 abundance of deadly sins to kill, and rooted vices to 
 root up: you have a false opinion of God, and his 
 ways, to be plucked up; and the customs of many 
 years' standing to be broken: you have blind minds 
 that must be enlightened with heavenly knowledge, 
 and abundance of spiritual truths that are above the 
 reach of flesh and blood, that you must needs learn 
 and understand: you have much to know, that is 
 hard to be known: you have a dead soul to be made 
 alive, and a hard heart to be melted; and a seared 
 conscience to be softened, and made tender; and 
 the guilt of many thousand sins to be pardoned: 
 you have a new heart to get, and a new end to aim 
 at, and seek after, and a new life to live; abundance 
 of enemies you have to fight with, and overcome; 
 abundance of temptations to resist and conquer; 
 many graces to get, and preserve and exercise, and 
 increase; and abundance of holy work to do for the 
 service of God, and the good of yourselves and 
 others. O what a deal of work doth every one of 
 these words contain! And yet what abundance 
 more might I name! And have you all this to do, 
 and yet will you delay? And they are not indiffer- 
 ent matters that are beiore you: it is no less than 
 the saving of your souls, and obtaining the blessed 
 glory of the saints. Necessity is upon you. These 
 are things that must be done, or else wo to you that 
 ever you were born ! And yet have you another 
 day to lose? Why, sirs, if you had a hundred miles 
 to go in a day or two, upon pain of death, would 
 you delay? think of the work that you have to 
 do, and then judge whether it be not time to stir? 
 
 20. And methinks it should exceedingly terrify 
 you to consider, What multitudes perish by such 
 delays; and how few that wilfully delay, are ever 
 converted and saved! Many a soul, that once had 
 purposes hereafter to repent, is now in the misery 
 where there is no repentance that will do them any 
 good. For my part, though I have known some 
 very few converted when they were old; yet I must 
 
FIFTY REASONS. 213 
 
 needs say, both that they were very few indeed, and 
 I had reason to believe, that they were such as had 
 sinned before in ignorance, and did not wilfully put 
 off repentance, when they were convinced that they 
 must turn. Though I doubt not but God may con- 
 vert even these if he please, yet I cannot say that 1 
 have ever known many, if any such, to be converted. 
 Sure I am that God's usual time is in childhood, or 
 youth, before they have long abused grace, and wil- 
 fully delayed to turn when they were convinced. 
 Some considerable time, I confess, may have elapsed, 
 before their first convictions and purposes be brought 
 to any great ripeness of performance: but O how 
 dangerous it is to delay ! 
 
 21. Consider also, Either conversion is good or 
 bad for you; either it is needful or unnecessary. 
 If it be bad, and a needless thing, then let it alone 
 altogether. But if you are convinced that it is good 
 and necessary, is it not better now than to stay any 
 longer? Is it not the sooner the better? Are you 
 afraid of being safe or happy too soon? If you are 
 sick, you care not how soon you are well; if you 
 have a bone out, you care not how soon it is set; if 
 you fall into the water, you care not how soon you 
 get out; if your house be on fire, you care not how 
 soon it be quenched; if you are put in fear by any 
 doubts or ill tidings, you care not how soon your 
 fears be over. And yet are you afraid of being too 
 soon out of the power of the devil, and the danger 
 of hell; and of being too soon the sons of God, and 
 the holy, justified heirs of heaven ? 
 
 22. Consider also, Either you can turn now, or 
 not. If you can and yet will not, you are utterly 
 without excuse. If you cannot to-day, how much 
 less will you be able hereafter, when strength is less, 
 and difficulties greater, and burdens more? Is it not 
 time, therefore, to apply to Christ for strength; and 
 should not the very sense of your inability dissuade 
 you from delay? 
 
 23. Consider, How long you have stayed already, 
 
214 FIFTY REASONS. 
 
 and put God's patience to it by your folly. Have 
 not the devil, the world, and the flesh, had many 
 years' time of your life already? Have you not 
 long enough been swallowing the poison of sin; 
 and long enough been abusing the Lord that made 
 you; and the blood of the Son of God that was shed 
 for you; and the Spirit of grace, that hath moved 
 and persuaded you? Are you not yet gone far 
 enough from God? And have you not yet done 
 enough to the destroying of yourselves, and casting 
 away everlasting life? O wretched sinners! it is ra- 
 ther time for you to fall down on your faces before 
 the Lord, and with tears and groans to lament it day 
 and night, that ever you have gone so far in sin, and 
 delayed so long to turn to him as you have done. 
 Sure, if after so many years' rebellion, you are yet 
 so far from lamenting it, that you had rather have 
 more of it, and had rather hold on a little longer, 
 no wonder if God forsake you, and let you alone. 
 
 24. Have you any hopes of God's acceptance and 
 your salvation, or not? If you have such hopes, — 
 that, when you turn, God will pardon all your sins, 
 and give you everlasting life, — is it, think you, an 
 ingenuous thing to desire to offend him yet a little 
 longer, from whom you expect such exceeding mer- 
 cy and glory ? Have you the faces to s|)eak out what 
 is in your hearts and practice; and to go to God 
 with such words as these ? * Lord, I know I can- 
 not have the pardon of one sin without the blood of 
 Christ, and the riches of thy mercy. Nor can I he 
 saved from hell without it: but yet I hope for all this 
 from thy grace. I beseech thee let me live a little 
 longer in my sins; a little longer let me trample on 
 the blood of Christ, and despise thy commandments, 
 and abuse thy mercies; and then pardon me all that 
 ever I did, and take me into Glory.' — Could you for 
 shame put such a request to God as this? If you 
 could, you are past shame: if not, then do not prac- 
 tise and desire that which you cannot, for shame, 
 speak out and request. 
 
FIFTY REASONS. 215 
 
 25. Moreover, It is an exceeding advantage to 
 you to come to God betimes; and an exceeding 
 loss, tli at you will suffer by delay, if you were sure 
 to be converted at the last. If you speedily come 
 in, you may have time to learn, and get more under- 
 standing in the matters of God, than otherwise can 
 be expected. For knowledge will not be had but 
 by time and study. You may also have time to get 
 strength of grace, when beginners can expect no 
 more tban infant strength. You may grow to be 
 men of parts and abilities, to be useful in the church, 
 and profitable to those about you, when others can- 
 not go or stand, unless they lean on the stronger for 
 support. If you come in betimes, you may do God 
 service; which, in the evening of the day, you will 
 neither have strength nor time to do. You may 
 have time to get assurance of salvation, and to be 
 ready with comfort, when death shall call; when 
 a weakling is like to be perplexed with doubts and 
 fears, and death is like to be terrible, because of 
 their unreadiness. 
 
 26. And did you ever consider, who and how 
 many stay for you while you delay? Do you 
 know who it is that you make to wait your leisure? 
 God himself stands over you with the offers of his 
 mercy, as if he thought it long till you return, say- 
 ing, "O that there were such a heart in them!" 
 and " when will it once be !" " How long, ye simple 
 ones, will ye love simplicity, and scorners delight in 
 scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn ye at 
 my reproof." And do you think it wise, or safe, for 
 you to make the God of heaven wait on you, while 
 you are serving his enemy? Can you oner God a 
 baser indignity, than to expect he should support 
 your lives, and feed you, and preserve you, and 
 patiently forbear while you abuse him to his face, 
 and drudge for the flesh, the world, and the devil? 
 Should a worm thus use the Lord that made him? 
 Marvel not, if he withdraw his supporting mercy, 
 and let sucli wretches drop into hell ! 
 
? 
 
 y ! 
 
 (And it is not God onlv, but "his Servants, and 
 
 ^q [creatures, and ordinances, that are alrwaiting on 
 %you. The angels stay for the joy that is due to 
 them upon your conversion. Ministers are study- 
 ing", and preaching, and praying for you; godly 
 neighbours are praying, and longing for your change. 
 The springs and rivers are flowing for you; the 
 winds blow for you; the sun shines for you: the 
 clouds rain for you; the earth bears fruit for you; 
 the beasts must labour, and suffer, and die for you : 
 all things are doing, and would you stand still, or 
 else do worse? What haste makes the sun about 
 the world, to return in its time to give you light! 
 What haste make other creatures in your service ! 
 And yet must you delay? Must God stay, and 
 Christ and the Spirit stay? Must angels stay, must 
 ministers stay, must the godly stay, and the ordi- 
 nances stay, and all the creatures stay your leisure, 
 while you are abusing God, and your souls, and 
 others, and while you delay, as if it were too soon 
 to turn? 
 
 27. Consider, That when you were lost, the Son 
 of God did not delay the work of redemption. He 
 presently undertook it, and turned by the stroke of 
 condemning justice. In the fulness of time he came 
 and performed what he undertook; he failed not one 
 day of his appointed time. And will you now delay 
 to accept the benefit and to turn to him? Must he 
 make such haste to save you at so dear a rate, and 
 now will you delay to be saved? 
 
 28. Moreover, God doth not delay to do you 
 good. You have the day and night in their proper 
 seasons; the sun doth not fail to rise upon you at 
 the appointed time; you have the*spring and harvest 
 in their proper seasons; the former and the latter 
 rain in season. When you are in want, you have 
 seasonable supplies; and when_you are in danger, 
 you have seasonable deliverances. And i<; it meet 
 or equal that you should refuse to bring forth sea- 
 
FIFTY REASONS. 217 
 
 sonable fruit, but still be putting off God with your 
 
 29. Moreover, When you are in trouble and ne- 
 cessity, you are then in haste for deliverance and re- 
 lief. Then you think every day a week, till your 
 danger or suffering be past. If you be under the 
 pain of a disease, or in danger of death, or under 
 poverty, or oppression, or disgrace, you would have 
 God relieve you without delay; and yet you will 
 not turn to him without delay. Then you are ready 
 to cry out, ' How long, Lord, how long till deliver- 
 ance come?' But you will not hear God, when he 
 crieth to you, in your sins — How long will it be ere 
 you turn from your transgressions? When shall it 
 once be? When you are to receive any outward 
 deliverance, you care not how soon; but when you 
 are to turn to God, and receive his grace and title to 
 glory, then you care not how late, as if you had 
 no mind of it. Can you, for shame, beg of God to 
 hasten your deliverance, when you remember your 
 delays, and still continue to trifle with him and draw 
 back ? 
 
 30. Your present prosperity, and worldly delights, 
 are passing away without delay; and should you de- 
 lay to make sure of better in their stead ? Time ' 
 going; and health is going; youth is going; yea, life 
 is going; your riches are taking wing; your fleshly 
 pleasures do perish in the very using. Shortly you 
 must part with house and lands, with goods and 
 friends; and all your mirth and earthly business will 
 be done. All this you know, and yet. will you delay 
 to lay up a durable treasure, which you may trust 
 upon, and to provide you a better tenement before 
 you be turned out of this? What will you do for 
 a habitation, for pleasures and contents, when all 
 that you have now is spent and gone, and earth will 
 afford you nothing _but a grave? If you could but 
 keep that you have, I should not much wonder, 
 fehat knowing so little of God and another world, you 
 look not much after it; but when vou perceive death 
 
 19 
 
 ?) 
 
 IS I 
 
218 FIFTY REASONS. 
 
 knocking at your doors, and seeing all your worldly 
 comforts are packing up and hasting away, me- 
 thinks you should presently turn, and make sure of 
 heaven, without any more delay. 
 
 31. Consider also, Whether it be equal that you 
 should delay your conversion, when you can season 
 ably despatch your worldly business; and when your 
 flesh would be provided for, you can hearken to it 
 without delay. You have wit enough to sow your 
 seed in season, and will not delay it till the time of 
 harvest. You will reap your corn when it is ripe, 
 and gather your fruit when it is ripe, without de- 
 lay. You observe the seasons in the course of your 
 labours, day by day, and year by year. You will not 
 lie in bed, when you should be at your work, nor 
 delay all night to go to your rest; nor sutler youi 
 servants to delay your business. If you be sick, 
 you will seek help without delay, lest your disease 
 should grow to be incurable. And yet will you 
 delay your conversion, and the making sure of 
 heaven? Why, sirs, shall these trifles be done 
 without delay, and shall your salvation be put off ? 
 Can you have time for every thing, except that one 
 thing which all the rest are merely to promote, and 
 in comparison of which they are all but dreams? 
 Can you have time to work, to plough, and sow, 
 and reap, and cannot you have time to prepare for 
 eternal life? Why, sirs, if you cannot find time yet 
 to search your hearts, to turn to God, and prepare 
 for death, give over eating and drinking, and sleeping, 
 and say, you cannot have time for these. You may 
 as wisely say so for these smaller matters, as lor 
 the greater. 
 
 82. Moreover, if men offer you conveniences and 
 commodities for your bodies, you will not stand de- 
 laying, and need so many persuasions to accept 
 them. If your landlord would lor nothing renew 
 your lease; if any man would give you houses or 
 lands, would you delay so long before you would 
 accept them? A beggar at your door will not only 
 
FIFTtf REASONS. 219 
 
 thankfully take your alms, without your entreaty 
 and importunity, but will beg for it, and be impor- 
 tunate with you to give it. And yet will you delay 
 to accept the blessed offers of grace, which are so 
 much greater? 
 
 33. Yet consider, that it is God that is the giver, 
 and you that are the miserable beggars and receiv- 
 ers. And therefore it is fitter you should wait on 
 God, and call on him for his grace, when he seem- 
 eth to delay, and not that he should wait on you. 
 He can live without your receiving, but you cannot 
 live without his giving. The beggar must be glad 
 of an alms at any time; and the condemned person 
 of a pardon at any time; but the giver may well 
 expect that his gifts be received without delay, or 
 else he may let them go without. 
 
 34. And methinks you should not deal worse 
 with God, when he comes to you as a physician to 
 save your own souls, than you would do with a 
 neighbour, or a friend, when it is not for your own 
 good, but for theirs. If your neighbour lay a dy- 
 ing, you would go and visit him without delay. If 
 he fell down in a swoon, you would catch him up 
 without delay. If he fell into the fire or water, 
 you would pluck him out without delay. Yea, you 
 would do thus much to a very beast. And yet will 
 you delay, when it is not another, but yourselves 
 that are sinking and drowning, and within a step of 
 death and desperation? 
 
 35. If yet you perceive not how unreasonably 
 you deal with God and your souls, I beseech you, 
 consider, whether you do not deal worse with him 
 than you do with the devil himself. If Satan or his 
 servants persuade you to sin, you delay not so long 
 but you are presently at it. You are ready to fol- 
 low every tippling companion or gamester that puts 
 up the finger. You are as willing to go, as they 
 are to invite you. The very sight of the cup does 
 presently prevail with the drunkard ; and the sight 
 of a harlot prevaileth with the fornicator; and sin 
 
220 FIFTY REASONS. 
 
 can be presently entertained without delay. But 
 when God comes, when Christ calleth, when the 
 Spirit moveth, when the minister persuadeth, when 
 conscience is convinced, we can have nothing but 
 wishes, and purposes, and promises, with delays. 
 
 Nay, more than this: so eager are they on their 
 sin, that we are not able to entreat them to delay it. 
 When the passionate man is but provoked, we can- 
 not persuade him to delay his railing language, so 
 long as to consider first of the issue. We cannot 
 entreat the drunkard to put off his drunkenness but 
 for one twelvemonth, while he trieth another course. 
 All the ministers in the country cannot persuade 
 the worldling to forbear his worldliness, and the 
 proud persons their pride, and the ungodly person 
 his ungodliness, for the space of one month, or week, 
 or day. And yet when God hath a command and 
 a request to them, to turn to him and be saved, 
 here they can delay, without our entreaty. 
 
 36. Consider also, that it is not possible for you 
 to turn too soon: nor will yopsver have, «ause-4o 
 repen^^ef^our speediness. j|5elay. mav'^undo you; 
 but sr^dV/furning can^go^yo^^o]^Srn.'*^^uld 
 there be lmy delay, wh ereTF^not possible to be too 
 
 ^Jngtyf TTo ^ou thiriltt hat tlre reis-crertr saint in 
 heaven, yea or on earth, that is sorry he continued 
 not longer unconverted? No: you shall never hear 
 of such a repentance from the mouth of any that is 
 indeed converted. 
 
 37. But I must tell you on the contrary, that if 
 ever you be so happy as to be converted, you will 
 repent it, and a hundred times repent it, that you 
 delayed so long before you yielded. O, how it will 
 grieve you, when your hearts are melted with the 
 love of God, and are overcome with the infinite 
 kindness of his pardoning, saving grace, that ever 
 you had the hearts to abuse such a God, and deal 
 so unkindly with him, and stand out so long against 
 that compassion that was seeking your salvation! 
 O r how it will grieve your hearts, to consider that 
 
FIFTY REASONS. 221 
 
 you have spent so much of your lives in sin, for the - 
 devil, and the flesh, and the deceitful world ! O, 
 you will think with yourselves, 'Was not God more 
 worthy of my youthful days? Had I not better 
 have spent them in his service, and in the work of 
 my salvation? Alas, that I should waste such pre- 
 cious days, and now be so far behind-hand as I am ! 
 Now I want that faith, that hope, that love, that 
 peace, that assurance, that joy in the Holy Ghost, 
 which I might have had, if I had spent those years 
 for God, which I spent in the service of the world 
 and the flesh.' 
 
 38. And I pray you, consider whether it helongs 
 of right to God or you, to determine of the day and 
 hour of your coming in. It is he that must give 
 you the pardon of your sins; and doth it not belong 
 to him to appoint the time of your receiving it? 
 You cannot have Christ and life without him : it is 
 he that must give you the kingdom of heaven: and 
 is he not worthy, then, to appoint the time of your 
 conversion, that you may be made partakers of it? 
 But if he say, To-day, dare you say, I will stay 
 till to-morrow? " 
 
 39. Nay, consider, whether God or you be like- 
 lier to know the meetest time. Dare you say that 
 you know better when to turn than God doth? I 
 suppose you dare not; and if you dare not say so, 
 for shame, let not your practice say so. God saith, 
 "To-day, while it is called to-day, hear my voice, 
 and harden not your hearts." And dare you say, 
 It is better to stay one month longer, or one day 
 longer? God saith, " Behold, this is the accepted 
 time! Behold, this is the day of salvation!" 
 And will you say, It is time enough to-morrow? 
 Do you know better than God? If your physi- 
 cian do but tell you in a pleurisy or a fever, You 
 must let blood this day before to-morrow; you 
 have so much reason as to submit to his under 
 standing, and think that he knows better than you 
 
222 FIFTY REASONS. 
 
 and cannot you allow as much to the God of wis 
 dom ? 
 
 40. Consider also, that the speediness of your 
 conversion, when God first calls you, doth make 
 you the more welcome, and is a thing exceedingly 
 pleasing to God. Our proverb is, a speedy gift is 
 a double gift. If you ask any thing of a friend, 
 and he give it you presently and cheerfully at the 
 first asking, you will think you have it with a good- 
 will; but if he stand long delaying first, and de- 
 murring upon it, you will think that you have it 
 with an ill-will, and that you owe him the smaller 
 thanks. If a very beggar at your door must stay 
 long for an alms, he will think he is the less be- 
 holden to you. How much mor,e may God be dis- 
 pleased, when he must stay so long for his own, and 
 that for your benefit ! God ioveth a cheerful giver, 
 and consequently, a cheerful obeyer of his call; and 
 if it be hearty and cheerful, it is the likelier to be 
 speedy, without such delays. 
 
 41. And I wou ld desire you but to do with God 
 as you w ould be done jw: Wo"uT6f you take it well 
 of you v children, if theyshould tear all their clothes, 
 and cast their meat to the dogs, and tread it in the 
 dirt, and when you entreat them, they will not re- 
 gard you? Would you stand month after month 
 entreating and waiting on them, as God doth on you? 
 If your servant will spend the whole day and year 
 in drinking and playing, when he should do your 
 work, will you wait on him all the year with en- 
 treaties, and pay him at last, as if he had served 
 you? And can you expect that God should deal 
 so with you ? 
 
 42. Andconsider, I entreat you, that your delay 
 is a derjjaj , and So may God interpret it, lor the 
 trnTe^T your t urning ispart of the command. He 
 tfiat saith, Turn, saith, Nowyeven to-day, without 
 delay. He giveth you no longer day. if time be 
 lengthened, and the offer made again and again, 
 
/%*■ 
 
 ?*7^ 
 
 FIFTT REASONS. 223 
 
 that is more than he promised you, or you could 
 have promised yourselves. His command is, Now 
 return and live. And if you refuse the time, the 
 present time, you refuse the offer, and forfeit the 
 benefit. And if you knew but what it is to give 
 God a denial in such a case as this, and what a 
 case you were in, if he should turn away in wrath 
 and never come near you more; you would then be 
 afraid of jesting with his hot displeasure, or trifling 
 with the Lord. 
 
 43. And, methinks, you should remember, that 
 God does not stay thus on all, as he doth on you. 
 Thousands are under despair, and past all remedy, 
 while patience is waiting yet upon you. Can you 
 forget that others are in hell at this very hour, for 
 as small sins as those that you are yet entangled 
 and linger in? Good Lord, what a thing is a sense- 
 less heart ! That at the same time when millions 
 are in misery, for delaying or refusing to be convert- 
 ed, their successors should fearlessly venture in their 
 steps ! 
 
 44. And I must tell you, that God will not al- 
 ways thus wait on you, and attend you by his pa- 
 tience, as hitherto he hath done. Patience hath 
 his appointed time. And if you out-stay that time, 
 you are miserable. I can assure you, sirs, the glass 
 is turned upon you, and when it is run out, you 
 shall never have an hour of patience more. Then 
 God will no more entreat you to be converted. He 
 will not always stand over you with salvation, and 
 say, O that this sinner would repent and live ! O 
 that he would take the mercies that I have provided 
 for him ! Do not expect that God should do this 
 always with you; for it will not be. 
 
 45. Your delays weary the servants of Christ 
 that are employed for your recovery. Ministers 
 will grow weary of preaching to you, and persuad- 
 ing you. When we come to men t hat were nev- 
 er warnednbefore, we come in hopes that they 
 will hear ancT obey; and this hope puts life ancl 
 
224 FIFTY REASONS. 
 
 earnestness into our persuasions: but when we 
 have persuaded men but a few times in vain, and 
 leave them as we found them, our spirits begin 
 to droop and flag; much more, when we have 
 preached and persuaded you many years, and still 
 you are the same, and are but where you were, — 
 this dulls a minister's spirit, and makes him preach 
 heavily and coldly, when he is almost out of heart 
 and hope. 
 ' Truly, sirs, I must tell you, for my own part, 
 
 pfchat if it had not been for those that gave me better 
 encouragement by their obedience, I should never 
 
 ' have held out with you a quarter of this time. If 
 all had profited as little as some, and all remain- 
 ed in an unconverted state as some; if the hum- 
 ble, penitent, obedient ones among you, had not 
 been my comfort and encouragement under Christ, 
 I had been gone from you many years ago; I could 
 never have held out till now: either my corruption 
 would have made me run away with Jonah, or my 
 judgment would have commanded me to shake off 
 the dust off my feet as a witness against you, and 
 
 ! depart. 
 
 But to what end do I speak all this to_y ou? 
 To what end? Why, to let you see how you 
 abuse both God and man, by your delays and disobe- 
 dience. You cannot possibly do us, that are you r 
 teachers, a greater injury or mischief in the world. 
 It is not in your power to wrong us more. Are 
 our studies and our labours worth nothing? Are 
 our watchings and waitings worth nothing? Are 
 our prayers, and tears, and groans to be despised? 
 God will not despise them, if ydu7io"; believe it, he 
 will set them all on your account, and v< >u will one day 
 Have a heavy reckoning of them, and pay full dear 
 (or them. Is it equal dealing with us, that when 
 we are watching for your souls, as men that know 
 we must give an account, you should rob us of our 
 comfort, and make us do it with sighs and sorrow • 
 Yea, that you should undo all that Ave are doing, 
 
FIFTY REASONS. 225 
 
 and make us lose our labour and our hopes? And 
 yet do you not think to pay for this? Many years 
 we have been persuading you but to turn and live, 
 and yet you are unturned; you have been convinced 
 long, and thinking on it; and wishing long, and talk- 
 ing of it; and promising long, and yet it is undone, 
 and here is nothing but delays. We see, while you 
 delay, death takes away one this week, and another 
 the next week, and you are passing into the other 
 world apace; and yet those that are left behind will 
 take no warning, but still delay : we see that Satan 
 delays not while you delay : he is day and night at 
 work against you: if he seem to make a truce with 
 you, it is that he may be doing secretly, while you 
 suspect him not : we see that sin delayeth not while 
 you delay; it is working like poison or infection in 
 your bodies, and seizing upon your vital powers; it 
 is every day blinding you more and more, it is hard- 
 ening your hearts more and more, and searing your 
 consciences, to bring you past all feeling and hope. 
 And must we stand by and see this miserable work 
 with our people's souls, and all be frustrated and re- 
 jected by themselves that we do for their deliver- 
 ance? I pray you deal but fairly with us, and tell 
 us whether ever you will turn or not. If you will 
 not, but are resolved for sin and hell, say so, that 
 we may know the worst; speak out your minds, 
 that we may know what to trust to. But if 
 still you say, you will turn — when will you do it? 
 You will do it, and you hope you shall: but when? 
 How long would you have us wait yet? Nay, I 
 must tell you, that you even weary God himself. 
 It is his own expression, (Mai. ii. 17. Isa. xliii. 24.) 
 " Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. " 
 (Isa. i. 14.) And I must say to you as the Prophet 
 (Isa. vii. 13.) " Is it a small thing for you to weary 
 men, but you will weary my God also? " Consider 
 what it is that you do. 
 
 46. Consider also, that you are at a constant and 
 unspeakable loss every day and hour that you delay 
 
L 2Zb FIFTY REASONS. 
 
 your conversion. O ! little do you know what you 
 deprive yourselves of every day. If a slave in the 
 galleys or prison might live at court, as a favourite 
 of the prince, in honour, and delight, and ease, 
 would he delay either years or hours? Or would 
 he not rather think within himself, Is it not better to 
 be at ease and in honour, than to be here? As the 
 prodigal said, "How many lured servants of my 
 father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish 
 with hunger! " All this while I might be in plenty 
 and delight. — All the while that you live in sin, you 
 might be in favour of God, in the high and heaven- 
 ly employments of the saints; you might have the 
 comforts of daily communion with Christ and with 
 the saints; you might be laying up for another 
 world, and might look death in the face with faith 
 and confidence, as one that cannot be conquered by 
 it; you might live as the heirs of heaven on earth. 
 All this, and more than this, you lose by your 
 delays; ail the mercies of God are lost upon you; 
 your food and raiment, your health and wealth, 
 which you set so much by, all is lost and worse than 
 lost, for they turn to your greater hurt; all our pains 
 with you, and all the ordinances of God which you 
 possess, and all your time is lost and worse. And 
 do you think it, indeed, a wise man's part to live any 
 longer at such a loss as this, and that wilfully and 
 for nothing? If you knew your loss, you would 
 not think so. 
 
 47. Nay more, you are all this while doing that 
 which must be undone again, or you will be undone 
 for ever. You are running from God, but you must 
 cume back again, or perish when all is done. You 
 are learning a hundred carnal lessons and false con- 
 ceits, that must be all unlearned again; you are 
 shutting up your eyes in wilful ignorance, which 
 must be opened again : you must learn the doctrine 
 of Christ, the great Teacher of the Church, if you 
 stay never so long, or else you would be cut off' from 
 his people. Acts iiL 22. and vii. 87. 
 
FIFTY REASONS. 227 
 
 ■ When you have been long accustoming yourselves 
 to sin, you must unlearn and break all these cus- 
 toms again. You are hardening your hearts daily, 
 and they must again be softened. And I must tell 
 you, that though a little time and labour may serve 
 to do mischief, yet it is not quickly undone again. 
 You may sooner set your house on fire than quench 
 it. You may sooner cut and wound your bodies, 
 than heal them again; and sooner catch a cold or a 
 disease than cure it; you may quickly do that which 
 must be longer undoing. Besides, the cure is ac- 
 companied with pain; you must take many a bitter 
 draught, in groans or tears of godly sorrow, for 
 these delays; the wounds, that you are now giving 
 your souls, must smart, and smart again, before they 
 are searched and healed to the bottom. And what 
 man of wisdom would make himself such work and 
 sorrow? Who would travel on an hour longer, 
 that knows he is out of his way, and must come 
 back again ? Would you not think him a madman 
 that would say, I will go on a little further, and 
 then I will turn back. 
 
 48. And methinks if it were but this, it would 
 terrify you from your delays, that it is likely to 
 make your conversion more grievous, if you should 
 have so great mercy from God, after all, to be con- 
 verted. God must send either some grievous afflic- 
 tion to fire and frighten you out of your sins, or else 
 some terrible horrors of conscience, that should 
 make you groan, and groan again, in the feeling of 
 your folly. The pangs and throes of conscience, in 
 the work of conversion, are far more grievous in some 
 than in others. Some are even on the rack, and 
 almost brought beside their wits, and the next step 
 to desperation, with horror of soul and the sense of 
 the wrath of God; so that they lie in doubts and 
 complaints many a year together, and think that 
 they are even forsaken of God. And to delay your 
 conversion is the way to draw on either this or 
 worse. 
 
5«KJ FIFTY REASOjnS. 
 
 49. Consider also, that delays are contrary to the 
 very nature of the work, and the nature of your 
 souls themselves. If indeed you ever mean to turn, 
 it is a work of haste, and violence, and diligence, that 
 you must needs set upon. You must " strive to 
 enter in, for the gate is strait, the way is narrow 
 that leads to life, and few there be that find it." 
 " Many shall seek to enter, and shall not be able." 
 " When once the master of the house is risen up, 
 and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand 
 without, and knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, 
 open to us, he shall answer, I know you not whence 
 you are, depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity." 
 It is a race that you are to run, and heaven is the 
 prize. "And you know that they which run in a race 
 run all, but one receiveth the prize; and therefore 
 you must so run, as that you may win and obtain." 
 
 And what is more contrary to this than delay? 
 You are soldiers in fight, and your salvation lieth in 
 the victory; and will you trifle in such a case, when 
 death or life is even at hand? You are travellers 
 to another world, and will you stay till the day is al- 
 most past, before you will begin your journey? 
 Christianity is a work of that infinite consequence, 
 and requireth such speedy and vigorous despatch, 
 that delay is more unreasonable in this than in any 
 thing in all the world. 
 
 50. If all this will not serve to make you turn, 
 let me tell you, that while you are delaying, your 
 judgment doth not delay; and that when it comes, 
 these delays will multiply your misery, and the re- 
 membrance of them wuT be your everlasting torment. 
 Whatever you are thinking of, or whatever you are 
 doing, your dreadful doom is drawing on apace, and 
 misery will overtake you, before you are aware. 
 When you are in the alehouse, little thinking of 
 ruin, even then is your damnation coming in haste; 
 when you are drowned in the pleasures or cares, of 
 the world, your judgment is still hastening. You 
 may delay, but it will not delay. It is the saying of 
 
FIFTY REASONS. 229 
 
 the Holy Ghost, " Whose judgment now of a long 
 time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth 
 not." You may slumber, and that so carelessly, 
 that we cannot awake you, but your damnation 
 slumbereth not, nor hath done of a long time, while 
 you thought it slumbered; and when it comes, it 
 will awaken you. As a man that is in a coach on 
 the road, or in a boat on the water, whatever he is 
 speaking, or thinking, or doing, he is still going on, 
 and hastening to his journey's end, or going down 
 the stream; so whatever you think, or speak, or do, 
 whether you believe it, or mock at it, whether you 
 sleep or wake, whether you remember it or forget it, 
 you are hastening to destruction, and you are every 
 day a day nearer to it than before. " Behold the 
 Judge standeth before the door." The Holy Ghost 
 hath told you, " the Lord is at hand." " The day 
 is at hand; the time is at hand; the end of all things 
 is at hand." Rom. xiii. 12. Rev. xxii. 10. 1 Pet. iv. 
 7. " Behold, saith the Lord, I come quickly, and my 
 reward is with me, to give to every man according 
 as his work shall be." And do ^ QJkJ^tjy^iey-see- 
 the Judge approaching, and yeFwill you delay? 
 
 "And withal consider, that when it comes, it will 
 be most sore to such as you; and then what thoughts 
 do you think you shall have of these delays? You 
 are unable to conceive how it will torment your con- 
 sciences, when you see that all your hopes are gone, 
 to think to what you have brought yourselves by 
 your trifling. To feel yourselves in remediless mis- 
 ery, and remember how long the remedy was offered 
 you, and you delayed to use it till it was too late. 
 To see that you are for ever shut out of heaven, and 
 remember that you might have had it as well as 
 others, but you lost it by delay. O then it will 
 come with horror into your mind, How often was I 
 persuaded, and told of this ? How often had I in- 
 ward motions to return? How often did I purpose 
 to be holy, and to give up my heart and life to God? 
 I was even ready to have yielded, but I still delayed, 
 and now it is too late. 
 
230 FIFTY REASONS. 
 
 And now, having laid you down no less than fiity 
 moving considerations, if it he possible to save__y^u 
 from these delays, T concluli'e~with this request jto 
 you, whoever you be. that read, these lines, that you 
 would but consider of all these reasons, and then_en- 
 textaiajthgm as they deserve. There is not one of 
 them that you are able to gainsay, much less all of 
 them. If after the reading of all these, you can yet 
 believe that you have reasons to delay, your under- 
 standings are forsaken of God; but if you are forced 
 to confess that you should not delay, what will you 
 do then? Will you obey God and your own con- 
 sciences, or will you not? Will you turn this hour 
 without delay? Take heed of denying it, lest you 
 have never such a motion more. You know not 
 but God, who calls you to it, may be resolved that 
 it should^ bgjapw or never. I do beseecrr you, yea, 
 as his messenger, I charge you m his name, "that you 
 delay not an hour longer, hu.t pie^nily he rpanlvArlj 
 and make-an unchangeable covenant wkkGod; and, 
 as ever you would Eave favour in that day of your 
 distress, delay not now to accept his favour in the 
 day of your visitation. 
 
 O what a blessed family were that, who upon the 
 reading of this, would presently say, We have done 
 exceeding foolishly in delaying so great a matter so 
 long; let us agree together to give up ourselves to 
 God without any more delay. This shall be the 
 day; we will stay no longer. The flesh, and the 
 world, and the devil, have had too much already. 
 It is a wonder of patience that hath borne with us so 
 long; we will abuse the patience of God no longer, 
 but begin to be absolutely his this day. If this may 
 be the effect of these exhortations, you shall have 
 the everlasting blessing; but i f still you delay, I hope 
 I am free from the guilt oi your~blood. 
 
■I 
 
 EXTRACTS 
 
 FROM 
 
 BAXTER'S DYING THOUGHTS. 
 
 The reader has witnessed in the preceding pages the 
 fervent zeal and deep anxiety of the pious author in 
 urging on the impenitent the necessity of immediately 
 turning to God and repairing to the Saviour in order 
 to escape eternal death. In the following selections, 
 are exhibited some of the peaceful and happy reflec- 
 tions which the author indulged, in relation to his own 
 prospects in the near view of death. 
 
 The sanctifying operations of the Spirit of God 
 are the earnest of heaven, and the sure prognostic 
 of our immortal happiness. It is " a change of 
 grand importance " to man, to be renewed in his 
 mind, his will, and life. It repairs his depraved fac- 
 ulties. It causes man to live as man, who was de- 
 generated to a life too much like the brutes. Men 
 are " slaves to sin, till Christ makes them free." 
 " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 
 If "the love of God shed abroad on our hearts," be 
 not our excellence, health, and beauty, what is ? 
 " That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that 
 which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Without 
 Christ, and his Spirit, we can do nothing. Our 
 dead notions and reason, though we see the truth, 
 have not power to overcome temptations, nor raise 
 up man's soul to its original, and end, nor possess us 
 with the love and joyful hopes of future blessedness. 
 It were better for us to have no souls, than have 
 our souls void of the Spirit of God Heaven is tlie 
 
232 DYING THOUGHTS. 
 
 design and end of this important change. What is 
 our knowledge and faith, but to know and believe 
 that heaven consists in the glory and love of God 
 there manifested, and that it was purchased by- 
 Christ, and given by his covenant r What is our 
 hope, but " the hope of glory," which we through 
 the Spirit wait for ? What is our love, but a desire 
 of communion with the blessed God, begun here, 
 and perfected hereafter ? What Christ teaches and 
 commands, he works in us by his Spirit. He sends 
 not his Spirit to make men craftier than others for 
 this world, but " wiser to salvation," and more holy 
 and heavenly. " The children of this world are in 
 their generation wiser than the children of light." 
 Heavenly mindedness is the special work of the Spir- 
 it. In producing this change, the SpiHt overcomes 
 all opposition from the worlds the flesh, and the devil, 
 Christ first overcame the world, and teaches and 
 causes us to overcome it, even its flatteries and its 
 frowns. " Our faith is our victory." Christ prom- 
 ised his Spirit to all true believers, to be in them as 
 his advocate, agent, seal, and mark ; and indeed, the 
 Spirit here, and heaven hereafter, are the chief of 
 all his promises. That this Spirit is given to all 
 true believers, is evident by the effects of it. They 
 have ends, affections, and lives, different from the 
 rest of mankind. They live upon the hopes of a 
 better life, and their heavenly interest overrules all 
 the opposite interests of this world : in order to 
 which they live under the conduct of divine authori- 
 ty; and to obey and please God is the great business 
 of their lives. The men of the world discern tins 
 difference, and therefore hate and oppose them, be- 
 cause they find themselves condemned by their 
 heavenly temper and conversation. Believers are 
 conscious of this difference ; for they desire to be 
 better, and to trust and love God more, and to have 
 more of the heavenly life and comforts ; and when 
 their infirmities make them doubt of their own sin- 
 cerity, they would not change their governor, rule, 
 
DYING THOUGHTS. 288 
 
 or hopes, for all the world ; and it is never so well 
 and pleasant with them, as when they can trust and 
 love God most ; and in their worst and weakest 
 condition they would fain be perfect. Indeed, what- 
 ever real goodness is found among men, it is given 
 by the same Spirit of Christ ; but it is notorious, 
 that in heavenly mindedness and virtue, no part of 
 the world is comparable to serious Christians. This 
 Spirit, Christ also expressly promised, as the means 
 and pledge, the first fruits and earnest of the heaven- 
 ly glory ; and, therefore, it is a certain proof that we 
 shall have such a glory. He that gives us a spiritual 
 change, which in its nature and tendency is heaven- 
 ly ; he that sets our hopes and hearts on heaven, 
 and turns the endeavours of our lives towards future 
 blessedness, and promised this preparatory grace as 
 the earnest of that felicity, may well be trusted to 
 perform his word in our complete eternal glory. 
 
 " And now, O my soul ! why shouldst thou draw 
 back, as if the matter was doubtful ? Is not thy 
 foundation firm ? Is not the way of life, through 
 the valley of death, made safe by him that conquered 
 death ? Art thou not yet delivered from the bond- 
 age of thy fears ? Hast thou not long ago found in 
 thee the motions and effectual operations of this 
 Spirit ? and is he not still residing and working in 
 thee, as the agent and witness of Christ ? If not, 
 whence are thy aspirations after God, thy desires to 
 be nearer to his glory, to know him and love him 
 more ? Whence came all the pleasure thou hast 
 had in his sacred truth, and ways, and service ? 
 Who subdued for thee thy folly, pride, and vain de- 
 sires ? Who made it thy choice to sit at the feet of 
 Jesus, and hear his word, as the better part, and 
 count the honors and preferments of the world but 
 dross ? Who breathed in thee all those requests 
 thou hast sent up to God ? Remember what thou 
 wast in the hour of temptation, how small a matter 
 has drawn thee to sin. Forget not the days of thy 
 youthful vanity. Overlook not the case of thy sin- 
 20 
 
234 DYING THOUGHTS. 
 
 fill neighbours, who, in the midst of light, still live 
 in darkness, and hear not the loudest calls of God. 
 Is it no work of Christ's Spirit that has made thee 
 to differ ? Thou hast nothing to boast of, and much 
 to be humbled, and also to be thankful for. Thy 
 holy desires are, alas I too weak 5 but they are holy. 
 Thy love has been too cold ; but it is the most holy 
 God whom thou hast loved. Thy hopes have been 
 too low ; but thou hast hoped in God, and for his 
 heavenly glory. Thy prayers have been too dull 
 and interrupted ; but thou hast prayed for holiness 
 and heaven. Thy labours have been too slothful ; 
 but thou hast laboured for God and Christ, and the 
 good of mankind. Though thy motion was too 
 weak and slow, it has been god ward, and therefore 
 it is from God. O bless the Lord, not only for giv- 
 ing thee his word, and sealing it with uncontrolled 
 miracles, but also for frequently and remarkably ful- 
 filling his promises, in the answer of thy prayers, 
 and in great deliverance of thyself and of many oth- 
 ers ; and that he has by regeneration been prepar- 
 ing thee for the light of glory ! And wilt thou yet 
 doubt and fear, against all this evidence, experience, 
 and foretaste?" 
 
 Why should it seem a difficult question, How my 
 soul may willingly leave this world, and go to Christ 
 in peace ? The same grace which regenerated me, 
 must bring me to my desired end. " Believe and 
 trust thy Father, thy Saviour, and thy Comforter. 
 Hope for the joyful entertainments of the promised 
 blessedness. And long by love for nearer divine 
 union and communion. Thus, O my soul, mayst 
 thou depart in peace," 
 
 How clearly does reason command me to trust 
 him, absolutely and implicitly to trust him, and to 
 distrust myself I He is essential, infinite perfection, 
 wisdom, power, and love. There is nothing to be 
 trusted in any creature, but God working in it, or 
 by it I am altogether his own, by right, by devo- 
 tion, and by consent. He is the giver of all good 
 
DYING THOUGHTS. 235 
 
 to every creature, as freely as the sun gives its light, 
 and shall we not trust the sun to shine ? He is my 
 Father, and has taken me into his family, and shall 
 I not trust my heavenly Father ? He has given me 
 his Son, as the greatest pledge of his love, and " shall 
 he not with him also freely give me all things ?" 
 His Son purposely came to reveal his Father's un- 
 speakable love, and shall I not trust him who has 
 proclaimed his love by such a messenger from heav- 
 en ? He has given me the spirit of his Son, even 
 the spirit of adoption,' the witness, pledge, and ear- 
 nest of heaven, the seal of God upon me, "holiness 
 to the Lord," and shall I not believe his love, and 
 trust him ? He has made me a member of his Son, 
 and will he not take care of me, and is not Christ to 
 be trusted with his members ? I am his interest, 
 and the interest of his Son, freely beloved, and dear- 
 ly bought, and may I not trust him with his treasure? 
 He has made me the care of angels, who " rejoiced 
 at my repentance," and shall they lose their joy, or 
 ministration ? He is in covenant with me, and has 
 "given me many great and precious promises," and 
 can he be unfaithful ? My Saviour is the forerun- 
 ner, who has entered into the holiest, and is there 
 interceding for me, having first conquered death to 
 assure us of a future life, and ascended into heaven, 
 to show us whither we must ascend, and having 
 " said to his brethren, I ascend to my Father and 
 your Father, to my God and your God ;" and shall 
 I not follow him through death, and trust such a 
 guide and captain of my salvation ? He is there to 
 " prepare a place for me, and will receive me unto 
 himself," and may 1 not confidently expect it ? He 
 told a malefactor on the cross, " to day shalt thou be 
 with me in paradise," to show believing sinners what 
 they may expect. His apostles and other saints 
 have served him on earth with all these expectations. 
 " The spirits of just men made perfect," are now 
 possessing what I hope for, and I am a " follower of 
 them, who, through faith and patience, inherit the 
 
236 DYING THOUGHTS. 
 
 promised " felicity ; and may I not trust him to save 
 me, who has already saved millions ? 
 
 What abundant experience have I had of God's 
 fidelity and love, and after all shall I not trust him ? 
 His undeserved mercy gave me being, chose my pa- 
 rents, gave them affectionate desires for my real 
 good, taught them to instinct me early in his word, 
 and educate me in his fear, made my habitation and 
 companions suitable, endowed me with a teachable 
 disposition, put excellent books into my hands, and 
 placed me under wise and faithful schoolmasters and 
 ministers. His mercy fixed me in the best of lands, 
 and in the best age that land had seen. His mercy 
 early destroyed in me all great expectations from the 
 world, taught me to bear the yoke from my youth, 
 caused me rather to groan under my infirmities, than 
 struggle with powerful lusts, and chastened me be- 
 times, but did not give me over unto death. Ever 
 since I was at the age of nineteen, great mercy has 
 trained me up in the school of affliction, to keep my 
 sluggish soul awake in the constant expectations of 
 my change, to kill my proud and worldly thoughts, 
 and to direct all my studies to things the most neces- 
 sary. How has a life of constant but gentle chas- 
 tisement urged me to " make my calling and election 
 sure," and to prepare my accounts, as one that must 
 quickly give them up to God ? The face of death, 
 and nearness of eternity, convinced me what books 
 to read, what studies to prosecute, what companions 
 to choose, drove me early into the vineyard of the 
 Lord, and taught me to preach as a dying man to 
 dying men. It was divine love and mercy which 
 made sacred truth so pleasant to me, that my life, 
 under all my infirmities, has been almost a constant 
 recreation. How far beyond my expectations has a 
 merciful God encouraged me in his sacred work, 
 choosing every place of my ministry and abode to 
 this day, without my own seeking, and never send- 
 ing me to labour in vain ! How many are gone to 
 heaven, and how many are in the way, through a 
 
DYING THOUGHTS. 237 
 
 divine blessing on the word which in weakness I de- 
 livered ! Many good Christians are glad of now and 
 then an hour to meditate on God's word, and refresh 
 themselves in his holy worship, but God has allow- 
 ed and called me to make it the constant business of 
 my life. In my library, I have profitably and pleas- 
 antly dwelt among the shining lights, with which 
 the learned, wise, and holy men of all ages, have il- 
 luminated the world. How many comfortable hours 
 have I had in the society of living saints, and in the 
 love of faithful friends ! How many joyful days 
 in solemn worshipping assemblies, where the Spirit 
 of Christ has been manifestly present, both with 
 ministers and people ! 
 
 " To thee, O Lord, as to a faithful Creator, I 
 commit my soul. I know that thou art ' the faith- 
 ful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with 
 them that love thee, and keep thy commandments. 
 Thou art faithful, who hast called me to the fellow- 
 ship of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.' Thy faith- 
 fulness has saved me from temptation, and kept me 
 from prevailing evil, and will 'preserve my whole 
 spirit, and soul, and body, unto the coming of 
 Christ.' It is ' in faithfulness thou hast afflicted 
 me ;' and shall I not trust thee to save me ? c It is 
 thy faithful saying, that thy elect shall obtain the 
 salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glo- 
 ry ; lor if we be dead with him, we shall also live 
 with him ; if we suffer, we shall also reign with him.' 
 To thee, O my Saviour, I commit my soul ; it is 
 thine by redemption, thine by covenant ; it is sealed 
 by thy Spirit, and thou hast promised not to lose it. 
 Thou wast i made like unto thy brethren, that thou 
 mightst be a merciful and faithful high priest in 
 things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for 
 our sins. By thy blood we have boldness to enter 
 into the holiest, by a new and living way consecrat- 
 ed for us.' Cause me to ' draw near with a true 
 heart, in full assurance of faith.' Thy name is 
 faithful and true. True and faithful are all thy 
 
288 DYING THOUGHTS. 
 
 promises. Thou hast promised { rest to weary souls 
 that come to thee.' I am weary of suffering, sin, 
 and flesh ; weary of my darkness, dulness, and dis- 
 tance. Whither should I look for rest, but to my 
 heavenly Father? I am but a < bruised reed, 1 but thou 
 * wilt not break ' me. I am but < smoking flax,' but 
 thou ' wilt not quench ' what thy grace hath kindled. 
 Thou, in whose name the nations trust, ' wilt bring 
 forth judgment unto victory. The Lord redeemeth 
 the souls of his servants, and none of them that 
 trust in him shall be desolate. I will wait on thy 
 name, for it is good ; I trust in the mercy of God 
 for ever and ever. The Lord is good, a strong hold 
 in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that 
 trust in him. Sinful fear brings a snare, but whoso 
 putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Blessed 
 is the man that maketh the Lord his trust. Thou 
 art my hope, O Lord God, thou art my trust from 
 my youth. By thee have I been holden up from 
 the womb, my praise shall be continually of thee. 
 Mine eyes are unto thee, O God, the Lord ! in thee is 
 my trust, leave not my soul destitute. I had faint- 
 ed, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the 
 Lord in the land of the living,' even where they 
 that live shall die no more." The sun may cease to 
 shine on man, and the earth to bear us ; but God 
 will never cease to be faithful to his promises. Bles- 
 sed be the Lord, who has commanded me so sale 
 and quieting a duty, as to trust in him, and cast all 
 my cares upon him, who has promised to care ibr 
 me ! 
 
 I viill hope for the salvation of God. Hope is the 
 ease, yea the life of our hearts, which would other- 
 wise break, and even die, within us. Despair is no 
 small part of hell. God cherishes hope, as he is the 
 lover of souls. Satan, our enemy, cherishes despair, 
 when his more usual way of presumption fails. 
 Hope anticipates salvation, as fear does evil. It is 
 the hypocrite's hope that perishes ; and all who hope 
 for durable happiness on earth, must be deceived. 
 
DYING THOUGHTS. 239 
 
 But " happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for 
 his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, which 
 made heaven and earth, which keepeth truth for ever. 
 Wo to me, if in this life only I had hope. But the 
 righteous hath hope in his death. And hope mak- 
 eth not ashamed. Blessed is the man that trusteth 
 in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. Lay hold, 
 then, O my soul, upon the hope set before thee ; it 
 is thy sure and steadfast anchor, without which thou 
 wilt be as a shipwrecked vessel. Thy foundation is 
 sure, even God himself. Our faith and hope are 
 both in God. Christ, who dwells in our hearts by 
 faith, is in us the hope of glory. By this hope, bet- 
 ter than the law of Moses could bring, we draw nigh 
 unto God. We hope for that we see not, and with 
 patience wait for it. We are saved by hope." It 
 is an encouraging grace, it excites our diligence, and 
 helps to full assurance unto the end. It is a desir- 
 ing grace, and is earnest to obtain the glory hoped 
 for. It is a comforting grace, for " the God of hope 
 fills us with all joy and peace in believing, that we 
 may abound in hope through the power of the Holy 
 Ghost." 
 
 God needs not flatter such worms as we are, nor 
 promise us what he never means to perform. He has 
 laid the rudiments of our hope in a nature capable of 
 desiring, seeking, and thinking of another life. He 
 has called me by grace to actual desires and endeav- 
 ours, and has vouchsafed some foretastes. I look 
 for no heaven, but the perfection of divine life, light, 
 and love in endless glory, with Christ and his saints ; 
 and this he has already begun in me. And shall 1 
 not boldly hope, when I have capacity, the promise, 
 and the earnest and foretaste ? Is it not God him- 
 self that caused me to hope ? Was not nature, 
 promise, and grace from him ? And can a soul mis- 
 carry and be deceived, that departs hence in a hope 
 of God's own producing and encouraging ? " Lord, 
 I have lived in hope, I have prayed, laboured, suf- 
 fered, and waited in hope, and by thy grace I will 
 
240 DYING THOUGHTS. 
 
 die in hope; and is not this according to thy word 
 and will ? And wilt thou cast away a soul that 
 hopes in thee, by thine own command and opera- 
 tion ?" Had wealth, and honour, and continuance 
 on earth, or the favour of man, been my reward and 
 hope, my hope and I had died together. Were this 
 our best, how vain were man. But the Lord liv- 
 eth, and my Redeemer is glorified, and intercedes for 
 me ; and the same Spirit is in heaven, who is in my 
 heart, as the same sun is in the firmament and in 
 my habitation. The promise is sure to all Christ's 
 seed ; for millions are now in heaven, who once liv- 
 ed and died in hope ; they were sinners once, as I 
 now am ; they had no other Saviour, Sanctifier, or 
 promise, than I now have. " Confessing that they 
 were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, they de- 
 sired a better country, that is, a heavenly, where 
 they now are. And shall I not follow them in hope, 
 who have sped so well ? Then, O my soul, hope 
 unto the end. Hope in the Lord, from henceforth 
 and for ever. I will hope continually, and will yet 
 praise him more and more. My mouth shall show 
 forth his righteousness and salvation. The Lord is 
 at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore 
 my heart is glad, and my glory rejoice th, my flesh 
 also shall rest in hope. God hath showed me the 
 path of life ; in his presence is fulness of joy, at his 
 right hand there are pleasures for evermore." 
 
 Lord, let me come to thee in the confidence of thy 
 love. I long to be nearer, in the clearer sight, the 
 fuller sense, and more joyful exercise of love for 
 ever ' Father, into thy hand I commend my spirit ! 
 Lord Jesus, receive my spirit ! Amen. 
 
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