Death reveals the secrets of the heart; then words are spoken with most feeling and least affectation. This excellent saint was the same in his life and death: his last hours were spent in preparing others and himself to appear before God. He said to his friends that visited him, “You come hither to learn to die, I am not the only person that must go this way: I can assure you, that your whole life, be it ever so long, is little enough to prepare for death. Have a care of this vain deceitful world and the lusts of the flesh: Be sure you choose God for your portion, heaven for your home, God’s glory for your end, his word for your rule, and then you need never fear but we shall meet with comfort.”

Never was penitent sinner more humble and debasing, never was a sincere believer more calm and comfortable. He acknowledged himself to be the vilest dunghill-worm (it was his usual expression) that ever went to heaven; he admired the divine condescension to man, after saying “Lord, what is man? what am I? a vile worm to the great God!” Many times he prayed, “God be merciful to me a sinner!” and blessed God, that that he was left upon record in the Gospel as an effectual prayer: He said, “God may justly condemn me for the best duty I ever did; and all my hopes are from the free mercy of God in Christ,” which he often prayed for.

After a slumber he awaked and said, “I shall rest from my labour.” A minister then present said, “and your work follow you.” To whom he replied “No works! I will leave out works, if God will grant me the other.”—When a friend was comforting him with the remembrance of the good many had received by his preaching and writings, he said, “I was but a pen in God’s hand, and what praise is due to a pen?”

His resigned submission to the will of God, in his sharp sickness, was eminent. When extremity of pain constrained him earnestly to pray to God for his release by death, he would check himself: “It is not fit for me to prescribe;” and said, “when thou wilt, what thou wilt.”

At another time he said, “That he found great comfort and sweetness in repeating the words of the Lord’s prayer; and was sorry that some good people were prejudiced against the use of it; for, there were all necessary petitions for soul and body contained in it.”

At other times he gave excellent counsel to young ministers that visited him, and earnestly prayed to God to bless their labours, and make them very successful in converting many souls to Christ; and expressed great joy that they were of moderate peaceful spirits.

During his sickness, when the question was asked, how he did, his reply was, “almost well,” His joy was most remarkable when in his own apprehension death was nearest; and his spiritual joy was at length consummate in eternal joy.

Thus lived and died that blessed saint.—I have, without any artificial fiction in words, given a sincere short account of him. All our tears are below the just grief for such an invaluable loss. It is the comfort of his friends that he enjoys a blessed reward in heaven, and hath left a precious remembrance on earth.

Now, blessed be the gracious God, that he was pleased to prolong the life of his servant, so useful and beneficial to the world, to a full age: that he hath brought him slowly and safely to heaven.

I shall conclude this account with my own deliberate wish: “May I live the remainder of my life as entirely to the glory of God as he lived; and when I shall come to the period of my life, may I die in the same blessed peace wherein he died: may I be with him in the kingdom of light and love for ever.”

I shall also add Dr. Calamy’s account of this Treatise; his words are thus: “In 1657, Mr. Baxter published a Call to the Unconverted; a book blessed by God with marvellous success, in reclaiming persons from their impieties. Twenty thousand of them were printed and dispersed in little more than a year. It was translated into French, and Dutch, and other European languages; and Mr. Elliot translated it into the Indian language; and Mr. Cotton Mather, in his life, gives an account of an Indian prince, who was so well affected with this book, that he sat reading it, with tears in his eyes, till he died.”

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 neighbour, and read this or some other book to them on this subject, they might be a means of winning of souls). If we cannot intreat so small a labour of men, for their own salvation, as to read such short instructions as these, they set little by themselves, and will most justly perish.

Secondly, When you have read over this book, I would intreat 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, anti whether it be not time to took about you. And also intreat 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, and that you may have the benefit of their advice and ministerial help.

Or, if you have not a faithful pastor at home, make use of some other in so great a need.

Thirdly, When by reading, consideration, prayer, and ministerial advice, you are once acquainted with your sin and misery, with your duty and remedy, delay not, but presently forsake your sinful company and courses, and turn to God, and obey his call. As you love your souls, take heed that you go not on against so loud a call of God, and against your own knowledge and consciences, lest it go worse with you in the day of 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 estate be safe for you to abide in one day longer; and, when you have found out which is best resolve accordingly, and make your choice without any more ado. If you will be true to your own souls, and do not love everlasting torments, I beseech you, as from the Lord, that you will but take this reasonable 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 ministers be, if they could but see their people truly heavenly and holy; this would be the unity, the peace, the safety, the glory, of our churches; the happiness of our neighbours, and the comfort of our souls. ‘Then how comfortably should we preach 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 death-bed how boldly might we comfort and encourage your departing souls! And at your burial, how comfortably might we leave you in the grave, in expectation to meet your souls in heaven, and to see your bodies raised to that glory!

But, if still the most of you will go on in a careless, ignorant, fleshly, worldly, or unholy life, and all our desires and labours cannot so 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 the little flock that shall receive the kingdom, when the most shall reap the misery which they sowed. In nature excellent things are few. The world hath not many suns or moons: it 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 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 vengeance 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 sanctifications 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 knoweth thou must be shortly there thyself. 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 neglectors 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 catholic 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 Go4, and resolvedly to turn that thou mayest live. But, if thou wilt not, even when thou hast no true reason for it but because thou wilt not, I summon thee to answer it before the Lord, and require thee there to bear me witness that I gave thee warning, and that thou wast not condemned for want of a call to turn and live, but because thou wouldest not believe it and obey it; which also must be the testimony of

Thy serious Monitor,

Dec. 11, 1657.

RICHARD BAXTER.

The substance of the text doth lie in these observations following.

Doct. 1. It is the unchangeable law of God, that wicked men must turn or die.

Doct. 2. It is the promise of God, that the wicked shall live, if they will but turn.

Doct. 3. God taketh pleasure in men’s conversion and salvation; but not in their death or damnation: he had rather they would return and live, than go on and die.

Doct. 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.

Doct. 5. The Lord doth redouble his commands and persuasions to the wicked to turn

Doct. 6. The Lord condescendeth to reason the case with them, and asketh the wicked, why they will die?

Doct. 7. If after all this the wicked will not turn, it is not the long of God that they perish, but of themselves; their own wilfulness is the cause of their damnation; they therefore die, because they will die.

Having laid the text open before your eyes in these plain propositions, I shall next speak somewhat of each of them in order, though briefly.

Doct. 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, a hundred would bring their reason against the law, for one that would bring his reason to the law. And men would rather give their reasons, why they should not 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 question either the truth or the justice of this law of God, I shall briefly give you that evidence of both, which methinks should satisfy a reasonable man.

And first, if you doubt whether this be the word of God or not, besides a hundred other texts, you may be satisfied by these few.—Matt. xviii. 5. “Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.”—John iii. 3. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, 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 no man 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. 45. “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.”—1 Pet. i. 3. “According to his abundant grace he hath begotten us to a lively hope.”—Verse 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 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.”—Psal. ix. 17. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”—Psal. xi. 5. “And the Lord loveth the righteous, but the wicked his soul hateth.”

As I need not stay to open these texts, which are so 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 converted or condemned. You are already brought so far, that you must either confess that this is true, or say plainly you will not believe the word of God. And, if once you come to that pass, there are but small hopes of you: look to yourselves as well as you can, for, it is likely 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 believe 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 intreat you to hear the voice of his gospel, he will make you hear the voice of his condemning sentence, without intreaty. We cannot make you believe against your will; but God will make you feel against your will.

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 unlikely that God should be so unmerciful: you think it cruelty to damn men everlastingly for 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 eternal reward and threaten an endless punishment. Otherwise the law should not be suited to the nature of the subject, who will not be fully ruled by any lower means than the hopes or fears of everlasting things: As it is in case of temporal punishment; if a law were now made, that the most heinous crimes shall be punished with a hundred years captivity, this might be of some efficacy, as being 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 the present case.

2. I suppose that you will confess, that the promise of an endless and inconceivable glory is not so unsuitable to the wisdom of God, or the case of man. 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 you think yourselves fit to contradict this word?—Will you call your Maker to the bar, and examine his word upon the accusation or falsehood? Will you set 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 you to learn wisdom? Must infinite wisdom learn of folly? and infinite Holiness be corrected by a selfish sinner that cannot keep himself an hour clean? Must the Almighty stand at the bar of a worm? O! horrid arrogance of senseless dust! Shall every mole, or clod, or dunghill, accuse the sun of darkness, and undertake to illuminate the world? Where were you when the Almighty made these 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 contradicted Christ when he was on earth, or Moses before him, or have saved Adam and his sinful progeny from the threatened death, that so there might have been no need of Christ! And what if God withdraw his patience and sustenation, and let you drop into hell while you are quarrelling with his word?—Will you then believe that there is no hell?

4. If sin be such an evil that it requires 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 wicked, 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 excellency of holiness, which it doth obliterate: 3. And the reason and excellency of the glory, which it violateth: And 4. the excellency of the glory which it doth despise: And, 5. the excellency and office of reason, which it treadeth down: 6. No, nor till you know the infinite excellency, 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 proceedings of the 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 vilest wretch, but thinketh the church doth wrong him, if they excommunicate him; or scarce a thief or murderer that is hanged, but would accuse the law and judge of cruelty, if that would serve his turn.

7. Can you think that an unholy soul is fit for heaven? Alas! they cannot love God there, nor do him any service which he can accept. They are contrary to God; they loathe that which he most loveth; and love that which he abhoreth: they are incapable of that imperfect communion with him; which his saints do here partake of. How then can they live in that perfect love of him, and full delight and communion with him, which is the blessedness of heaven? You do not accuse yourselves of unmercifulness, if you make not your enemy your bosom counsellor; 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 good. All you that are 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: ver. 8. “When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you 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 thy 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 your necessities did not require it, we would not gall your tender ears with truths that seem so harsh and grievous. Hell would not be so full, if people were but willing to know their case, and to hear and think of it. The reason why so few escape it is, because they strive not to enter in at the strait gate of conversion, and 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 loathe to hear or think of it, and that is partly through foolish tenderness and carnal self-love, and partly because they do not well believe the word that threateneth 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 mind, and haunt you night and day, so that in your sinning you would remember it, as if the voice were still in your ears, “turn, or die!” O happy were your souls if it might thus work with you, and never be forgotten or let you alone till it have driven home your heart to God. But if you will cast it out by forgetfulness or unbelief, how can it work to your conversion and salvation? But take this with you to your sorrow, though you may put this out of your minds, you cannot put it out of the Bible; but there it will stand as a settled truth, which you shall experimentally know forever, that there is no other way but, turn, or die.

O what is the matter then, that the hearts of sinners be not pierced with such a weighty truth! A man would think now, that every unconverted soul that hears these words should be pricked to the heart, and think with themselves, this is my own case, and never be quiet till they found themselves converted.—Believe it, Sirs, this drowsy careless temper will not last long. Conversion and condemnation are both of them awakening things. I can foretel it as truly as if I saw it with my eyes, that either grace or hell will shortly bring these matters to the quick, and make you say, “What have I done? what a 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 presumptuous 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 think 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, as all men are. 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 already converted, we lose all our labour in persuading them to turn. I shall therefore, before I go any farther, 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 converted, and no man is a converted man that is wicked; so that to be a wicked man, and to be an unconverted man, is all one. And therefore in opening one, we shall open both.

Before I can tell you what either wickedness or conversion is, I must go to the bottom, and fetch up the matter from the beginning.

It pleased the great Creator of the world to make three sorts of living creatures.—Angels he made pure spirits, without flesh, and therefore he made them only for heaven, and not to dwell on earth. Beasts were made flesh, without immortal souls, and therefore they were made only for the earth, and not for heaven: Man is of a middle nature between both, as partaking of both flesh and spirit, so is he made for earth, but as his passage or way to heaven, and not that this should be his home or happiness. The blessed state that man was made for was to behold the glorious majesty of the Lord, and to praise him among his holy angels; and to love him, and to be filled with his love forever. 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 disposition of the mind of man; Secondly, the right ordering of his life. For the first, God suited the disposition of man unto the end; giving him such knowledge of God as was fit for his present state, and a heart inclined to God in holy love. But yet he did not fix or confirm him in this condition; but, having made him a free agent, he left him in the hands of his own free will. For the second, God did that which belongeth to him: that is, he gave man a perfect law, requiring him to continue in the love of God, and perfectly to obey him. By the wilful breach of this law, man did not only forfeit his hopes of everlasting life, but also turned his heart from God, and fixed it on these lower fleshly things, and hereby did blot out our spiritual image of God, from the soul: So that man did both fall short of the glory of God, which was his end, and put himself out of the way by which he should have attained it; and this both as to the frame of his heart, and of his life. The holy inclination and love of his soul to God, he lost, and instead of it, he contracted an inclination and love to the pleasing of his flesh, or carnal self, by earthly things; growing strange to God, and acquainted with the creature: and the course of this life was suited to the inclination of his heart; he lived to his carnal self, and not to God, he sought the creature, for the pleasing of his flesh, instead of seeking to please the Lord. With this nature, or corrupt inclination, we are all now born into the world; for, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?” Job xiv. 4. As a lion hath a fierce and cruel nature before it 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 loathe to be brought out of it, and therefore are set against the means of our recovery. And, though custom have taught us to thank Christ for his good will, yet carnal self persuadeth us to refuse his remedies, and to desire to be excused when we are commanded to take the medicines which he offereth, and are called to forsake all and follow him to God and glory.

I pray you read over this leaf again, and mark it: for in these few words you have a true description of our natural state, and consequently of a wicked man. For every man that is in this state of corrupted nature is a wicked man, and in a state of death.

By this also you are prepared to understand what it is to be converted; to which end you must farther know, that the mercy of God, not willing that man should perish in his sin, provided a remedy, by causing his Son to take our nature, and being in one person God and man, to become a mediator between God and man; and, by dying for our sins on the cross, to ransom us from the curse of God and the power of the devil: and, having thus redeemed us, the Father has 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 lay down their 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 that Holy Ghost hath undertaken it as his office, to inspire the apostles, and seal up the scriptures by miracles and wonders, and to illuminate and convert the sons of the elect.

So that by this much you see, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, have each 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 Redeemer, when we were lost, and to send his Son, and accept his ransom.

The works of the Son for us were these; to ransom and redeem us by his sufferings and righteousness, to give out the promise or law of grace, and rule and judge the world as their Redeemer, on terms of grace, and to make intercession for us, that the benefit of his death may be communicated; and to send the Holy Ghost, which the Father also doth by the Son. The works of the Holy Ghost for us are these; to indite the holy scriptures, by inspiring and guiding the prophets and apostles, and sealing the word by his miraculous gifts and works; and the illuminating and exciting the ordinary ministers of the gospel, and so enabling them and helping them to publish that word; and, by the same word, illuminating and converting the souls of men. So that, as you could not have been reasonable creatures if the Father had not created you; nor have had any access to God if the Son had not redeemed you; so neither can you have a part in Christ, or be saved, except the Holy Ghost do sanctify you.

So that by this time you may see the several causes of this work:— The Father sendeth his Son: the Son redeemeth us, and maketh the promise of grace; the Holy Ghost inditeth and sealeth this gospel; the apostles are the secretaries of the Spirit to write it; the preachers of the gospel to proclaim it, and persuade men to obey it; and the Holy Ghost doth make their preaching effectual, by opening the hearts of men to entertain it; and all this to repair the image of God upon the soul, and to set the heart upon God again, and take it off the creature and carnal self to which it is revolted, and so turn the current of the life into a heavenly course, which before was earthly, and all this by the entertainment 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 yet be 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 places his chief content on earth, and loveth the creature more than God, and his fleshly prosperity above the heavenly felicity: He favoureth 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 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 life of perfect holiness, in the sight of God, and in his love and praise 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 loveth God above all, yet indeed he never felt the power of divine love within him, but his mind is more set on the world, or fleshly pleasures than on God. In a word, whoever loveth 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 to 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 resolves to let go all. As the fire doth mount upwards, and the needle that is touched with the loadstone still turneth to the north, so the converted soul is inclined to 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 of scripture: Phil. iii. 18, 21. Matt. vi. 19, 20, 21. Col. iii. 1, 2, 4, 5. Rom. viii. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 18, 23. Psal. lxxiii. 25, 26.

Secondly, a wicked man is one that maketh it the principal business of his life to prosper in the world, and attain his fleshly ends. And though he may read and hear, and do much in the outward duties of religion, and forbear disgraceful sins, yet this is all but the by, and he never makes it the principal business of his life to please God, and attain everlasting glory, and puts off God with the leavings of the world, 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 blessings of this life but as accommodations in his journey towards another life, and useth the creature in subordination to God: he loveth a holy life, and longeth to be more holy: he hath no sin but what he hateth, and longeth, and prayeth, and striveth to be rid of. The drift and bent of his life is for God; and, if he sin, it is contrary to the very bent of his heart and life, and therefore he 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 glory.—All this you may see in Col. iii. 1, 2, 3, 4, 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 truly discern and relish the mystery of redemption, nor thankfu1ly 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 unto God; but his heart is insensible of this unspeakable benefit, and is quite against the healing means by which he should be recovered. Though he may be willing to be carnally religious, yet he never resigneth up his soul to Christ, and to the motion and conduct of his word and spirit.

On the contrary, the converted soul having felt himself undone by sin, and perceiving that he hath lost his peace with God, and hopes of heaven, and is in danger of everlasting misery, doth thankfully entertain the tidings of redemption, and, believing in the Lord Jesus as his only Saviour, resigneth up himself to him for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; he taketh Christ as the life of his soul, and liveth by him, and useth him as 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 he hath 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. 20. John xv. 2, 3, 4. 1 Cor. i. 20, and ii. 2.

You see now in plain terms, from the word of God, who are the wicked and who are the converted. Ignorant people think that if a man be no swearer, nor curser, nor railer, nor drunkard, nor fornicator, nor extortioner, nor wrong any body in their dealings, and if they come to church, and say their prayers, receive the sacrament, and sometimes extend their hands to the relief of the poor, these cannot be unconverted men. Or if a man, that hath been guilty of drunkenness, or swearing, or gaming, or the like vices, do but forbear them for the time to come, they think that this is a converted man.—Others think, if a man, that hath been an enemy and scorner at godliness, do but approve it, and join himself with those that are godly, and be hated for it by the wicked, as the godly are, that this must needs be a converted man. And some are so foolish as to think that they are converted by taking up some new opinion. And some think, if they have but been affrighted by the fears of hell, and had conviction and tortures of conscience, and thereupon have purposed and promised amendment, and take up a life of civil behaviour and outward religion, that this must needs be true conversion. And these are the poor deluded souls that are like to lose the benefit of all our persuasions; and, when they hear that the wicked must turn or die, they think that this is not spoken to them; for they are not wicked, but are turned already. And therefore it is that Christ told some of the rulers of the Jews who were graver and civiler than the common people, that “publicans and harlots go into the 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 civiler sort delude themselves by thinking that they are converted 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 shew 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 felicity, and placeth his felicity where he never did before, and liveth not to the same end, and driveth not on the same design in the world, as 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 company, (if possible) and new conversation. Sin, that was before a jesting matter with him, is now so odious and terrible to him, that he flies from it as from death. The world, that was so lovely in his eyes, doth now appear but as vanity and vexation: God, that was before neglected, is now the only happiness of his soul; before he was forgotten, and every lust preferred before him: but now he is set next the heart, and all things must give place to him, and the heart is taken up in the attendance and observance of him, and is grieved when be hides his face, and never thinks itself well without him. Christ himself, that was wont to be slightly thought of, is now his only hope and refuge, and he liveth upon him as on his daily bread; he cannot pray without him, nor rejoice without him, nor think, nor speak, nor live without him.—Heaven itself, that before was looked upon but 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 before did seem but as a bug bear to frighten men from sin, doth now appear to be a real misery, that is not to be ventured on, nor jested with.—The works of holiness, which before he was weary of, and seemed to be more ado than needs, are now both his recreation, and his business, and the trade that he lives upon. The Bible, which was before to him but almost as a common book, is now as the law of God, as a letter written to him from heaven, and subscribed with the name or the eternal Majesty; it is the rule of his thoughts, and words, and deeds; the commands are binding, the threats are dreadful, and the promises of it speak life to his soul. The godly, that seemed to him but like other men, are now the excellentest and happiest on earth. And the wicked that were his play-fellows, 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. and xv. 4. Phil. iii. 18. 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 carnal self was his end; and his pleasure and worldly profits, and credit were his way; and now God and everlasting glory are his end; and Christ, and the spirit, and word, and ordinances, holiness to God, and righteousness, and mercy to men, these are his way. Before, self was the chiefest ruler; to which the matters of God and conscience must stoop and give place. And now God in Christ, by the spirit, word and ministry, is that 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 again, and take his journey the contrary way, to a contrary place. So it is here: a man may turn from drunkenness to thriftiness, and forsake his good fellowship, and other gross disgraceful sins, and set upon some duties of religion, and yet be still going to the same end as before, intending his carnal self above all, and giving it still the government of his soul. But, when he is converted, this self is 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 stand with the pleasure of his flesh and carnal self, but not to any great displeasure of them. But now he will please God, let flesh and self be ever 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 sanctifier; but do you know what sanctification is? Why, this is that I have now opened to you; and every man and woman in the world must have this, or be condemned to everlasting misery. They must turn or die.

Do you believe all this, or do you not? 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 another saith that; every denomination 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 party do believe him, you are utterly inexcusable.

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 are engaged to make the promise good; miracles have sealed up 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 accept it; and the spirit doth open the heart to entertain 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 falsehood; 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 word of God is, as I have shewn you, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven,” Matt. xviii. 3. “Except a man be born 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 is, “you may be saved 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 the word of God: just as our sin and misery came into the world. God saith to our first parents, “if ye eat ye shall die:” And the devil contradicted him and said, “Ye shall not die, if you do but cry, God have mercy, at last, and give over the acts of sin when you can practice it no longer.” And this is the word that the world believes.—O heinous wickedness, 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 salvation. Where did ever God say, that the unregenerate, unconverted, unsanctified, shall be saved? Shew 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 God? There is every thing in the word of God to comfort and strengthen the hearts 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; 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 long of themselves. His doors are open, he keeps none back. He never sent such a message as this to any of you, “It was now too late; I will not receive thee though thou be converted.”—He might have done so, and done you no wrong: But he did not; he doth not to this day: He is still ready to receive you, if you were but ready unfeignedly, 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 farther application of this.

Doct. 3. God takes pleasure in men’s conversion 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 simple apprehension of the undertaking, 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 degrees. Some things I am so far willing of as that I will do all that lieth in my power to accomplish them: and some things I am truly willing another should do, when yet I will not do all that ever I am able to procure them, having many reasons to dissuade me therefrom, though yet I will do all that belongs me to do.

3. The will of a ruler, as such, is manifested in making and executing laws; but the will of a man, in 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 first and principally 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, as judge, supposeth the law already either kept or broken; and therefore he resolveth on rewards or punishments accordingly.

Having given up these 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 conceptions 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 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 conversion and salvation of all, which yet will never come to pass.

5. And God, a ruler and law-giver of the world, hath so far a practical will for their salvation as to make them a free deed of gift of Christ and life, and an act of oblivion for all their sin, if so be they will not unthankfully reject it, and to command his messengers to offer this gift to all the world, and persuade them to accept it. And so he doth all that, as a 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 conversion of those that will never be converted; but not as absolute Lord, with the fullest efficacious resollution, nor as a thing which he resolveth shall undoubtedly come to pass, or would engage all his power to accomplish. It is in the power of a prince to set a guard upon a murderer, to see that he shall not murder and be hanged: But, if upon good reason he forbear this, and do but send to his subjects, and warn and intreat them not to be murderers, I hope he may well say, that he would not have them murder and be hanged: He takes no pleasure in it, but rather that they forbear and live: And, if he do more for some, upon some special reason, he is not found to do so by all. The king may well say to all the murderers and felons in the land, “I have no pleasure in your death, but rather that you would obey my laws and live: But, if you will not, I have resolved for all this, that you shall die.”—The judge may truly say to the thief or murderer, “Alas, man, I have no delight in your death: I had rather thou had 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 has for all this fully resolved, that, if you will not be converted, you shall be condemned. If God were so much against the death of the wicked as that he were resolved to do all that he can to hinder it, then no man should be condemned; whereas Christ telleth you that few will be saved. But so far God is against your damnation as that he will teach you and warn you, and set before you life and death, and offer you your choice, and command his ministers to intreat you not to damn yourselves, but accept his mercy, and so to leave you without excuse. But, if this will not do, and if still you be unconverted, he professeth to you, he is resolved on your damnation, and hath commanded us to say to you in his name, ver. 18, “O wicked man, thou shalt surely die!” And Christ hath little less than sworn it over and over, with a “Verily, verily, except you be converted, and born again, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven” Matt. xviii. 3. John iii. 3. Mark that he said, 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 law giver of the world, doth take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn and live; though yet he be resolved that none shall live but those that turn, and, as a judge, even delighteth in justice, and in manifesting his hatred of sin, though not in the misery, which they have brought upon themselves, in itself considered.

2. And for the proofs of the point, I shall be very brief in them, because I suppose you easily believe it already.

1. The very gracious nature of God, proclaimed, Exod. xxxiv. 6. and xx. 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 your conversion and life, he would not have so frequently commanded thee in his word, to turn; he would not have made thee such promises of life, if thou wilt but turn; he would not have persuaded thee to it by so many reasons. The tenor of his gospel proves the point.

3. And his commission, that he had given to the ministers of the gospel, doth fully prove it. If God had taken more pleasure in your 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 intreat and beseech you to turn and live; to acquaint you with your sins, and foretel you of your danger, and to do all that possibly we can for your conversion, and to continue patiently so doing, though you should hate 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 providence. 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 force you to your wits. He would not set so many examples before your eyes, no, nor wait on you so patiently as he doth, from day to day, and year to year. These are no signs of one that taketh pleasure in your death.—If this had been his delight, how easily could he have had thee long ago in hell? How often before this could he have caught thee away in the midst of thy sins, with a curse or oath, or lie in thy mouth, in thy ignorance, and pride, and sensuality? When thou wast last in thy drunkenness, or last deriding the ways of God, how easily could he have stopped thy breath, and tamed thee with his 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? If he should frown upon thee, thou wouldst drop into thy grave. If he gave commission to one of his angels to go and destroy ten thousand sinners, how quickly would it be done. How easily can he lay thee upon the bed of languishing, and make thee lie roaring there in pain, and make thee eat the words of reproach which thou hast spoken against his servants, his word, his worship, and his holy ways, and make thee send to beg their prayers whom thou didst despise in your presumption! How easily can he lay thy flesh under gripes 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 humored in meat, drinks, and clothes, whatever God says to the contrary, 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 shewing thy spleen 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 shouldest see ten thousand times ten thousand glorious angels waiting on his throne? and have called thee there to plead thy cause, and asked thee, “What hast thou now to say against your Creator, 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!” O how thy stubborn heart would have melted, and thy proud looks be taken down, and thy countenance turned pale, and thy stout words changed into speechless silence, or dreadful cries, if God had but set you 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 the resurrection,” and it cannot resist! A word of his mouth would take off the poise of thy present life, and then all thy parts and powers would stand still: And, if he say unto thee, “Live no longer, or live in hell,” thou couldest not disobey.

But God hath yet done none of this, but hath patiently forborne thee, and mercifully upheld thee, and given thee that breath which thou didst breathe out against him, and given those mercies which thou did 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 mercy shew that he desired not thy damnation? Can the candle burn without the oil? Can your houses stand without the earth to bear them? As well can you live one hour without the support of God. And why did he so long support thy life, but to see when thou wouldest bethink thee of the folly of thy ways, and return and live. Will any man purposely put arms into his enemy’s hands to resist him; or hold a candle to a murderer that is killing his children, or to an idle servant that plays or sleeps the while? Surely it is to see whether you will at last return and live, that God hath so long waited on thee.

5. It is farther proved, by the suffering 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 suffering, 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 xxii. 44. or suffering a cursed death upon the cross, and pouring out his soul as a sacrifice for our sins: Would you have thought these the signs of one that delighted in the death of the wicked?

1. Because they will go the way that leads to hell, though they are told by God and man whither it goes, and where 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, Isaiah xlviii. 22. and lvii. 21. “There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.” Isaiah lix. 8. “The way of peace they know not; there is no judgment in their goings; they have made them crooked paths; whosoever goeth therein 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, the love of the Father is not in him,” James 4. iv. 1 John ii. 15. So that, consequently, these men are willing to be damned, though not directly; they are willing to walk in the way to hell, and love the certain cause of their torment; though they be not willing of hell itself, and do not love the pain which they must endure.

Is not this the truth of your case, sinners? 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 poison, but you I will not die. I will cast myself headlong 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 it.”—Just so it is with wicked men; they will be wicked, and they will live after the flesh and the world, and yet they would not be damned. But do you not know that the means do lead to the end? and that God hath by his righteous law concluded, that you must repent or perish? He, that will take poison, may as well say plainly, “I will kill myself;” for it will prove no better in the end: Though perhaps he loved it for the sweetness of the sugar that was mixt with it, and would not be 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 will 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 shall not be hanged,” when he knows that, if he do the one, the judge in justice will see that the other be done? If he say, “I will steal and murder,” he may as well say plainly, “I will be hanged.” So, if you will go on in a carnal life, you may as well say plainly, “We will go to hell.”

2. Moreover, the wicked will not use those means, without which there is no hope of their salvation. He that will not eat, may as well say plainly, he will not live, unless he can tell how to live without meat; he that will not go his journey, may as well say plainly he will not come to the end. He that falls into the water, and will not come out, nor suffer another to help him out, may as well say plainly, he will be drowned. So if you be carnal and ungodly, and will not be converted, nor use the means by which you should be converted, but think it more ado 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. Yes, this is not all; but the wicked are unwilling even to partake of salvation itself. Tho’ they may desire somewhat which they call by the name of heaven, yet heaven itself, considered in the true nature of its felicity, they desire not; yea, their hearts are quite against it. Heaven is a state of perfect holiness, and of continual love and praise to God and the wicked have no heart to this. The imperfect love, and praise, and holiness, which is here to be attained, they have no mind of; much less of that which is so much greater: The joys of heaven are of so pure and spiritual a nature, that the heart of the wicked cannot desire them.

So that by this time you may see on what ground it is, that God supposeth that the wicked are willing their own destruction; they will rather venture on certain misery than be converted; and then, to quiet themselves in their sins, they will make themselves believe that they shall nevertheless escape.

2. And as this controversy is matter of wonder (that even men should be such enemies to themselves, as wilfully to cast away their souls) so are the disputants too. That God should stoop so low as thus to plead the case with man; and that men 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 prophet to the Israelites, “The house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted” No wonder if they can plead against a minister, or a godly neighbour, when they will plead against the Lord himself; even against the plainest passages of his word, and think that they have reason on their side. When they weary the Lord with their words, they say, “Wherein have we wearied Him?” Mal. ii. 17. The priests, that despised His name, durst ask, “Wherein have we despised your name?” And when they polluted his altar, and made the temple of the Lord contemptible they durst say, “Wherein have we polluted thee?” Mal. i. 6, 7. But “Wo unto him, saith the Lord, that striveth with his Maker: Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth: Shall the clay say to him that fashioned it, What makest thou?” Isaiah xlv. 9.

Quest. But why is it that God will reason the case with man?

Ans. 1. Because that man being a reasonable creature, is accordingly to be dealt with, and by reason to be persuaded and overcome; God hath therefore endowed them with reason, that they might use it for him. One would think a reasonable creature should not go against the clearest and the greatest reason in the world, when it is set before him.

2. At least, men shall see that God did require nothing of them that was unreasonable, but that whatever forbideth 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 themselves, 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 say thou, unconverted, sensual sinner? Darest thou venture upon a dispute with God? Art thou able to confute him? Art thou ready to enter the lists? God asketh thee, Why wilt thou die? Art thou furnished 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 he or you are mistaken, when he is for your conversion, 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 on 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 unwilling 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 Maker’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.

1. 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 has from God; and therefore none can be wiser than God. It were fatal presumption for the highest angel to compare with his Creator. What is it then for a lump of dirt, an ignorant sot, that knoweth not himself, nor his own soul, that knoweth but little of the things which he seeth, yet that is more ignorant than many of his neighbours, to set himself against the wisdom of the Lord? It is one of the fullest discoveries of the horrible wickedness 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 scarce speak sense, and will believe them no farther than agreeth with their foolish wisdom.

2. 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 for it. Is it possible that a man can have any reason to break his master’s laws? and reason to dishonor 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 desired? Are you in love with hell? What reason have you wilfully to perish? If you think you have 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 anyone pleads for it, the madder he sheweth himself 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 no considerable value to persuade you in reason to commit it. If it were to please your greatest or dearest friends, or to obey the greatest prince on earth, or to save your lives, or to escape the greatest earthly 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 gainfullest 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 eternity, that nothing in this world deserveth once to be named in comparison with them; nor can any earthly 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 its 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, “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark viii. 36.

O sirs, that you did but know what matters they are that we are now speaking to you of! The saints in heaven have other kind of thoughts of these things. If the devil could come to them that live in the sight and love of God, and should offer them a cup of ale, or a whore, or merry company, or sport 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 of the earth, do you think this would entice them down from heaven? O with what hatred and holy scorn would they disdain and reject the motion! And why should not you do so, that have heaven opened to your faith, if you had but faith to see it? There is never a soul in hell but knows, by this time, that it was a mad exchange to let go heaven for fleshly pleasure, and that it is not a little mirth, or pleasure, or worldly riches, or honour, or the good will or word of men, that will quench hell fire, or make him a saver that loseth his soul. Oh! if you had heard what I believe, if you had seen what I believe, and that on the credit of the word of God, you would say there can be no reason to warrant a man to damn 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 in 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 arm, it is a sad sight; but this is a thing that a man may have a good reason for; as many a man doth to save his life. If you see a man give his body to be burnt to ashes, and to be tormented with racks, and refuse deliverance when it is offered, that 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, 34, 35, 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 intreated to turn that he may be saved; this is a thing that can have no reason in the world, that is reason indeed, to justify or excuse it. For heaven will pay for the loss of any thing that we can lose to get it; but nothing can pay for the loss of heaven.

I beseech you now let this word come nearer to your hearts. 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 hath the veriest worldling, or drunkard, or ignorant careless sinner of you all, why you should not be as holy as any you know, and be as careful for your souls as any other? Will not hell be as hot to you as to others? Should not your own souls be as dear to you as theirs is 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 the very principles of nature, and shews that you have no more reason to be ungodly than you have to damn your own souls! if yet you will not understand and turn, it seems a desperate case that you are in. And now, either you have 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 reasons for? But, if you think you have, produce them, 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 conscience 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.

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!

Ans. What! 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 millions 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 xii. 32. It better beseems you to make that use of this truth which Christ teaches 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, that leads to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat.” Luke xiii. 22, 23, 24.—“Fear not, little flock, (saith Christ 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.

Ans. 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 company? Or will you not believe that God will execute his threatnings, because there be so many that are guilty? All these are silly unreasonable conceits.

Object. 3. But all men are sinners, even the best of you all?

Ans. But all are not unconverted sinners. The godly live not in gross sins; and their very infirmities 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 better than other men; they will over-reach, and oppress, and are as covetous as any.

Ans. 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 drunkard, nor oppressor, and therefore why shouldest thou call me to be converted?

WELL, Sirs, now we have found out the great delinquent 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 iniquity 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. Farther to convince you. 2. To humble you. And 3. To reform you, if there yet be any hope.

1. We know so much of the exceeding gracious nature or God, who is so willing to do good, and delighteth to shew mercy, that we have no reason to suspect him of being the culpable cause of our death, or to call him cruel: he hath made all good, and he preserveth and maintaineth all; the eyes of all things do wait upon him, and he giveth them their meat in due season; he openeth his hand, and satisfieth the desires of all the living, Psal. cxlv. 15, 16. He is not only “righteous in all his ways (and therefore will deal justly) 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.” Psal. cxlv. 17, 19. But as for man, we know his mind is dark, his will perverse, his affections carry him so headlong, 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 wolf to be the author of it, if they both stand by? Or, if you see a house broken, 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 murderer? I say therefore as James i. 13, 14, 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 brings forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. You see here that sin is the offspring of your own concupiscence, and not to be fathered on God; and that death is the offspring of your own sin, and the fruit which it will yield you as soon as 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 spinning such webs as entangle your own souls. Your nature shews 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 scarce readier to move you to any evil than you are ready to hear and to do as he would have you. If he would tempt your understanding to error and prejudice, 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 not 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 suggestions, 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 half-way, and embrace his notions, and tempt him to tempt you. And it is easy for him 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 if 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 thank, and will not turn when you are persuaded. If ministers would privately instruct and help you, you will not come to them; your unhumbled souls do feel 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 self-conceited and wise in your own eyes, (even in the depth of ignorance) that you will regard nothing that agreeth not with your present conceits; but contradict your teachers, as if you were wiser than they; you resist all that they can say to you, by your ignorance, unwilfulness, and foolish cavils, and shifting evasions, and unthankful rejections; so that no good that is offered can find any welcome acceptance and entertainment with you.

4. Moreover, it is apparent that you are self-destroyers, in that you draw the matter of your sin and destruction even from the blessed God himself. You like not the contrivance of his wisdom; you like not his justice, but take it for cruelty; you like not his holiness, but are ready to think he is such a one as yourselves, Psalm i. 21. and make as light of sin as you do; you like not his truth, but would have his threatnings, even his peremptory threatnings prove false. And his goodness, which you seem most highly to approve, you partly resist, as it would lead you to repentance; and partly abuse, to the strengthening of your sin, as if you might 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 utmost all that come to God by him, you think he must suffer you to refuse his help, and throw away 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 confirm 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. iii. 10, 11. Phil. iii. 9, 10.

6. You also fetch your own destruction from all the providences and works of God. When you think of his eternal fore-knowledge and decrees, it is to harden you in your sin, or possess your minds with quarrelling thoughts, as if his decrees might spare you the labour of repentance and 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 backwards to the thoughts of the life to come. If the wicked prosper, you forget the end that will set all reckonings strait; and are ready to think it 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 appetite, 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 do puff you up. If you have wealth 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 itself 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 self-conceited. If you have but common gifts, you take them for special grace. You take the bare hearing of your duty for so good a work, as if it would excuse you for not obeying it. Your prayers are turned into sin, because you regard iniquity in your hearts, Psa. 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 or fools (thinking you do God some special service) than to hear his word and obey it,”Eccles. v. 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 upon them, and turn away from holiness, because that others are imperfectly holy; as if you were warranted to break your necks, because some others have by heedlessness sprained a sinew or put out a bone. If a hypocrite discover himself, you say, they are all alike, and think yourselves as honest. A professor can scarce slip into any miscarriage, but, because he cuts his finger, you think you may boldly cut your throats. If ministers deal plainly with you, you say they rail. If they speak gently or coldly, you 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 difference can arise among the ministers of the gospel, but you will fetch your own death from it. And you will not hear, or at least not obey, the unquestionable doctrine of any of those that jump not with your 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 shew it you in many other cases, how you turn all that come 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 principle of self-preservation. Every thing naturally desireth or inclineth to its own felicity, welfare, or perfection. 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 be damned.

2. How extremely do you cross your own intentions! I know you intend not your own damnation, even when you are procuring it. You think you are but doing good to yourselves, by gratifying the desires of your flesh: 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, or profit, or honour, seek them where they are to be found, and do not hunt after them in the way to hell.

3. What 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 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 understand it, when you run into sin, and run from godliness, and refuse to turn at the call of God, you do more against your own souls 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 reposed in you. He hath much entrusted you with your own salvation; and will you betray your trust? He hath set you with all diligence to keep your hearts; and is this the keeping of them? Prov. iv. 23.

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, for 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?” And if your brethren see you everlastingly in misery, how shall they pity you, that were your own destroyers, and would not be dissuaded?

6. It will everlastingly make you your own tormentors in hell to think on it, that you brought yourselves wilfully to that misery. O what a torturing 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! That you had teachers as well as others, but you refused their instructions! You had holy examples, but you did not imitate them. You were offered Christ, and grace, and glory, as well as others; but you had more mind of your fleshly pleasure. You had a price in your hands, but you had not a heart to lay it out, Prov. xvii. 16.—Can it chuse but torment you to think of this your present folly? O that your eyes were open 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, 34, 35, 36. “Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not: Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors: For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain the favour of the Lord: But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: All they that hate me love death.”

And now I am come to the conclusion of this work, my heart is troubled to think how I shall leave, 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 woeful day, the Lord knoweth:” I have not, with James and John, desired that “fire might come from heaven” 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 loathe that you should die in everlasting fire, and be shut out of heaven, if it be possible to prevent it, that I shall once more ask you, what do you now resolve? Will you turn, or die? I look upon you as a physician on his patient, in a dangerous disease, that says to him, “Though you are far gone, take but this medicine, and forbear but these few things that are hurtful to you, and I dare warrant your life: but if you will not do this, you are but a dead man.”—What would you think of such a man, if the physician, and all the friends he 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 sou1s shall live: Cast up your deadly sins by repentance, and turn 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 madmen 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 hath thought meet to lay men’s salvation or destruction exceedingly much upon the choice of their own wills; 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.”—Now, if I could but get you to be willing, to be thoroughly, and resolvedly, and habitually willing, 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? Oh! God forbid! It is a strange thing to me, that men are so inhuman and stupid in the greatest matters, that in less things are very civil and courteous, and good neighbours. For ought 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 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 whether people think a man in the pulpit is in good sadness or not, and means as he speaks; for I think I have few neighbours, but, if I were sitting familiarly with them, and telling them what I have seen, or done, or known in the world, they would believe me, and regard what I say: But when I tell them, from the infallible word of God, what they themselves shall see and know in the world to come, they shew by their lives that they do either not believe it, or not much regard it. If I met ever a one of them on the way, and told them, yonder is a coal-pit, or there is a quicksand, or there are thieves lie 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 any familiar discourse, and, if ever you will regard me, I beseech you let it be here. I think there is never a man of you all, but, if my own soul lay at your wills, you would be willing to save it, (though I cannot promise that you would leave your sins for it.) If I come hungry or naked to one of your doors, would you not part with more than a cup of drink to relieve 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 intreated to part with your sensual pleasures for your own salvation? I profess to you, Sirs, I am as hearty a beggar with you this day, for the saving of your own souls, as I would be for my own supply, if I were forced to come begging to your own doors. And, therefore, if you would hear me then, hear me now: if you would pity me then, be intreated now to pity yourselves. I do again beseech 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 ignorance, 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 drink, 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 admiring and thankful apprehensions of his love; and that never felt a higher estimation of God and heaven, and heartier love to them, than your fleshly prosperity, and the things below: I earnestly beseech you, not only for my sake, but for the Lord’s sake, and for your souls’ 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 anything for me, grant me this request, to turn from your evil ways and live. Deny me anything 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, deny not his request now in the day of your prosperity. O 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.—Well tho’ 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 say, “God forbid that we should choose destruction by refusing conversion, as hitherto we have done.”

If these be the thoughts and purposes of your hearts, I shall gladly give you direction what to do, and that but briefly, that you may the easier remember it for your practice.

DIRECTION I

IF you will 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 feel 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 employed in his work against the Lord, yourselves, and others; you are spiritually dead and deformed, as being void of the holy life, and nature, and image of the Lord. You are unfit for any holy work, and do nothing that is truly pleasing unto God. You are without any promise or assurance of his protection, and live in continual danger of his justice, not knowing what hour you may be snatched away to hell, and most certain to be damned if you die in that condition. And nothing short of conversion can prevent it. Whatever civilities, or amendments, or virtues, are short of true conversion, will never procure the saving of your souls. Keep the true sense of this natural misery, and so of the necessity of conversion on your hearts.

And then you must understand what it is to be converted: it is to have a new heart or disposition, and a new conversation.

Quest. 1. For what must we turn?

Ans. 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 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, communion, and prayers of the saints; you shall be fitted for God’s service, and be freed from the dominion 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 nothing that is truly good for you, and your necessary afflictions 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 prepareth a feast for your souls; you shall be heirs of heaven 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 happiness 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 consist in these particulars:

1. You shall be perfected yourselves:—Your mortal bodies shall be made immortal, and the corruptible shall put on incorruption: You shall no more be hungry, or thirsty, or weary, or sick; nor shall you need to fear either shame, or sorrow, or death, or hell. Your souls shall be perfectly freed from sin, and perfectly fitted for the knowledge, and love, and praises of the Lord.

2. Your employments shall be to behold your glorious 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 you that are the travail of his soul; and 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 communicateth 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 converted, shall certainly and endlessly enjoy.

2. You see for what you must turn: next you must understand from what you must turn: And that 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 enticing 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.

3. 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 appointed you by Christ; and to the use of all the helps and means of grace afforded you by the Lord.

4. Lastly; you must know by what you must turn: And that is, by Christ, as the only Redeemer and Intercessor; and by the Holy Ghost, as the sanctifier; and by the Word, as his instrument or means; and by faith and repentance, as the means and duties on your part to be performed. All this is of necessity.

Direct. II. If you will be converted and saved, be much in secret serious consideration. Inconsiderateness undoes the world. Withdraw yourselves often into retired secrecy, and there bethink you of the end why you were made; of the life you have lived; the time you have lost; the sin you have committed; of the love and sufferings, and fulness of Christ; of the danger you are in; of the nearness of death and judgment; of the certainty and excellency of the joys of heaven; and of the certainty and terror of the torments of hell; and eternity of both; and of the necessity of conversion and a holy life. Steep your hearts in such considerations as these.

Direct. III If you will be converted and saved, attend upon the word of God, which is the ordinary means. Read the scripture, or hear it read, and other holy writings that do apply it: Constantly attend on the public preaching of the word. As God will lighten the world by the sun, and not by himself alone without it, so will he convert and save men by his ministers, who are the lights of the world, Acts xxvi. 17, 18. Matt. v. 14. When he had miraculously humbled Paul, he sendeth him to Ananias, Acts ix. 10. And when he hath sent an angel to Cornelius, it was but to bid him send for Peter, who is to tell him what he is to believe and do.

Direct. IV. “Betake yourselves to God in a course of earnest constant prayer. Confess and lament your former lives, and beg his grace to illuminate and convert you. Beseech him to pardon what is past, and to give you his Spirit, and change your hearts and lives, and lead you in his ways, and save you from temptations.” And ply this work daily, and be not weary of it.

Direct. 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 place and occasion of it. Cast away your lusts and sinful pleasures with detestation, and rail no more; and, if you have wronged any, restore as Zaccheus did. If you will commit again your old sins, what blessings can you expect on the means for conversion?

Direct. VI. “Presently, if possible, change your company, if it have hitherto been bad.” Not by forsaking your necessary relations, but your unnecessary sinful companions, and join yourselves with those that fear the Lord, and inquire of them the way to heaven. Acts ix. 19, 26. Psalm xv. 4.

Direct. VII. “Deliver up yourselves to the Lord Jesus as the physician of your souls,” that he may pardon you by his blood, and sanctify you by his Spirit, by his word and ministers, the instruments of the Spirit. He is the way, the truth, and the life; there is no coming to the Father but by him, John xiv. 6. “Nor is there any other name under heaven by which you can be saved,” Acts iv. 12. Study therefore His person and nature, and what he hath done and suffered for you, and what he is to you, and what he will be, and how he is fitted to the full supply of all your necessities.

Direct. 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 of hell; there is but a step between you and death. And this is not a case for a man that is well in his wits to be quiet in. Up therefore presently, and fly as for your lives; as you would be gone out of your house, if it were all on fire over your heads.—O if you did but know in what continual danger you live in, and what daily unspeakable loss you do sustain, and what a safer and sweeter life you might live, you would not stand trifling, but presently turn. Multitudes miscarry that wilfully delay, when they are convinced that it must be done. Your lives are short and uncertain; and, what a case are ye in, if you die before you thoroughly turn! You have staid too long already, and wronged God too long; sin getteth strength and rooting while you delay. Your conversion will grow more hard and doubtful. You have much to do, and therefore put not all off to the last, lest God forsake you, and give you up to yourselves, and then you are undone for ever.

Direct. IX. If you will turn and live, do it “unreservedly, absolutely, and universally.” Think not to capitulate with Christ, and divide your heart betwix him and the world, and to part with some sins, and keep the rest; and to let that go that which your flesh can spare. This is but self-deluding; you must in heart and resolution forsake all that you have, or else you cannot be his disciples, Luke xiv. 26, 33. If you will not take God and heaven for your portion, and lay all below at the feet of Christ, but you must needs also have your good things here, and have an earthly portion, and God and glory are not enough for you, it is in vain to dream of salvation on these terms, for it will not be. If you seem never so religious, if yet it is but a carnal righteousness, and 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 profaneness, tho’ it may be more plausible.

Direct. X. If you will turn and live, do it “resolvedly,” and stand not still deliberating, as if it were a doubtful case. Stand not wavering, as if you were yet uncertain whether God or the flesh be the better master; or whether heaven or hell be the better end; or whether sin or holiness is the better way. But away with your former lusts, and presently, 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 resolution.—So much for the Directions.

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 farther with my message: I cannot bring it to your hearts, nor make it work; I cannot do your parts for you to entertain it and consider it; I cannot do God’s part, by opening your heart to cause you to entertain it; nor can I shew heaven or hell to your eye-sight, nor give you new and tender hearts. If I knew what more to do for your conversion, I hope I should do it.

But O thou, that art the gracious Father of spirits, thou hast sworn thou delightest not in the death of the wicked, but rather that they may turn and live; deny not thy blessing to those persuasions and directions, 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 themselves: Command the blind to see, and the deaf to hear, and the dead to live, and let not sin and death be able to resist thee.—Awaken the secure, resolve the 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, before their sins have brought them to perdition. If thou sayst but the word, these poor endeavours shall prosper to the winning of many a soul, to their everlasting joy, and everlasting glory. Amen.

THE END.