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C A L .L 
 
 TO T H E 
 
 UNCONVERTED. 
 
 t By RICHARD BAXTER. 
 
 
 N D N: 
 
 Printed by G. Pa ram Ore, North-Green, Worflnp-Street: 
 Sold by G. Whitfield, at the Crftpel, City-Road; and at the 
 Methodifl Preaching-Houfes, in Town and Country. 1795* 
 
 [. Price S^Hf£eT~] 
 
C A L L 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 UNCONVERTED; 
 
 <0* O* -C* <T* <•£♦ *0" O 1, *2»* *3* *2* *&* 
 
 Ezek, xxxiii. 1 1. 
 
 Say unto them, As I live, faith the Lord God, I have no 
 pleafure in the death of the wicked; but that the 
 wicked turn from his way and live : turn ye, turn ye 
 from your evil ways ; for why will ye die, O houfe 
 of Ifrael ? 
 
 IT has been the wonder of many, to read in the holy 
 fcripture, how few will be faved : and that the 
 greated part even of thofe that are called, will be (hut 
 out of heaven, and tormented with the devils in eternal 
 fire. Infidels believe not this, and therefore mud feel 
 it. Thofe that do believe it, are forced to cry out with 
 Paul, Rom. xi. 33, " O the depth of the riches, both 
 of the wifdom and knowledge of God ! How unfearch- 
 able are his judgments, and his ways pail finding out If 
 But nature itfclf teaches us all to lay the blame of evil 
 works upon the doers; and therefore when we fee any 
 heinous thing committed, a principle of judice pro- 
 vokes us to enquire after him that did it. If we (aw 
 a man killed, and cut in pieces by the way, we fhould 
 prefently afk, O who did this cruel deed ? If a town 
 were fet on fire, you would afk, What wicked wretch 
 did this ? So when we read that the mod will be fire- 
 brands of hell for ever, we mud needs think with our- 
 felves, How comes this to pafs ? Who is it that is fa 
 cruel as to be the caufe of fuch a thing as this? And 
 we can meet with few that will own the guilt. It is 
 indeed confed by all, that Satan is the caufe ; but that 
 refolves not the doubt, becaufe he is not the principal' 
 caufe. He does not force men to fin, but tempt then* 
 A 2 to 
 
4 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 ;o it, and leaves it to their own wills, .whether they 
 will do it or not. It lies therefore between God him- 
 felf and the Tinner ; one of them mull be the principal 
 caufe of all this mifery ; for there is no other to cafl it 
 upon : and God difclaims it : he will not take it upon 
 him. And the wicked difclaim it ufuaUy, and they 
 will not take it upon them. And this is the contro- 
 >erfy which is here carried on in my text. 
 
 The Lord complains of the people ; and the people 
 think it is the fault of God. They fay, ver. 10, "If 
 our tranfgreflions and our fins be upon us, and we pine 
 away in them, how {hall we then live ? " As if thev 
 fhould fay, if we muft die, how can we help it ? As 
 if it were not their fault, but God's. But God, in my 
 text, clears himfelf of it, and tells them how they may 
 help it if they will,, and perfuades them to ufe the 
 means; and if ihey will not be perfuaded, he lets them 
 .know that it. .is .their own fault: and if this will not 
 Satisfy them, he will .not, therefore forbear to punifti 
 them. It is he that will be the Judge; and, he will 
 judge them according to their ways ; they are no judge* 
 of him or of themielves, i as wanting authority, arid 
 
 • wiidom, and impartiality: nor is it the cavilling with 
 God, that fhall ferve their turn, or fa vc them from the 
 
 • execution of juftice. 
 
 The words of this verfe contain, l. God's clearing 
 of himfelf fi-om the blame of their deltru&ion. This 
 he does not by dilowning his law, that the wicked jhail 
 
 -die, nor by dilowning his execution according to that 
 law, or giving them any hope that the law fhall not be 
 executed; but by profeMing that it is not their death 
 that he takes pleafure in, but their returning rather, 
 that they may live: and this he confirms to them by 
 his o<uh. 2. An exprefs exhortation to the wicked ta 
 return ; wherein God does not only command, but per- 
 fuade, and condefcend alio to reafon the cafe with 
 them. Whv whl they die ? The direft end of this ex- 
 hortation is, That they may turn and live. The fecond- 
 avy ends, .upon fuppolition that this is not attained, are 
 thefc two. Firil, to convince them, that it-is not the 
 fault of God if they be milcrable. vSecondly, to con- 
 vince them from their manifcit wilfulnefs in rejecting 
 
 -ail his commands and perfuahons, that it is their own 
 fault ; and they die^ even becauic they will die. 
 
 The 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 5 
 
 The fubftance of the text lies in thefe obfervations 
 following : 
 
 Docl. l. It is the unchangeable law of God, that 
 wicked men muft turn or die. 
 
 Doft. 2. It is the promife of God, that the wicked 
 fhalllive, if they will turn. 
 
 Docl:. 3. God takes pleafure in men's conversion and 
 falvation, but not in their death or damnation : he 
 had rather they would return and live, than go on and 
 die. 
 
 Docl;. 4. This is a moil certain truth, which becaufe 
 God would not have men to queftion, he has confirmed 
 to them folemnly by his oath. 
 
 Docl:. 5. The Lord redoubles his commands and per- 
 fuanons to the wicked to turn. 
 
 Doer.. 6. The Lord condefcends to reafon the cafe 
 with them, and aflks the wicked, why they will die. 
 
 Docl:. 7. If after all this the wicked will not turn, 
 it is not the fault of God that they perifh, but of them- 
 felves; their own wilfulnefs is the caufe of their dam- 
 nation ; they therefore die, becaufe they will die. 
 
 Having laid the text open before your eyes in thefe 
 plain proportions, I fhall next fpeak fomewhat of eacfy 
 of them in order, though very briefly. 
 
 DOCTRINK I. 
 
 IT is the unchangeable Law of God, that wicked men? 
 muft turn or die. 
 
 If you will believe God, believe this : there is but 
 one of thefe two ways for every wicked man, either 
 Converfion or Damnation. I know, the wicked will 
 hardly be perfuaded either of the truth or equity of 
 this. No wonder if the guilty quarrel with the lav/. 
 Few men are apt to believe that, which they would not 
 have to be true ; and fewer would have that to be true r 
 which they apprehend to be againft them.. But it is not 
 quarrelling .with the law, or with the Judge, that will 
 lave the malefactor. Believing and regarding the law 
 might have prevented his death : but denying and ac-s 
 cuiingit, will but haften it. If it were not fo, an hun-*-- 
 dred would bring their reafons againft the law, for one' 
 that would bring his rcal'on to the law:- and mern would 
 lather choofe to give their reafons why they mould not. 
 A 3, be 
 
6 A Call to the Unconverted: 
 
 be punifhed, than to hear the commands and reafons 
 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 bv it. 
 
 But if there be any fo blind as to queftipn either the 
 truth, or the juilice of the law of God, I fhall briefly 
 give you evidence of both. 
 
 Anctfi'rfl, If you doubt whether this be the word of 
 God, or not, belides an hundred' orher texts, you may 
 be futisfied by thefe few, Matt, xviii. 3, *« Verily I 
 lay unto you, except ye be converted, and become as 
 .little children, ye cannot enter into the kingclom of 
 heaven." John iii. 3, "Verily, verily, I fay unto 
 thee, except a man be born again, he cannot. fee the 
 kingdom of God." 2 Cor, v. 17, " If any man be in 
 Chnfr, he is a new creature : old things are pafled away; 
 behold, all things aie become new." Heb. xii. 14, 
 « : Without holincl's no man fhall fee God." Rom. viii. 
 8, 9, "They that are in the flefh, cannot pleafe God. 
 Now if any man have not the Spirit of Chrift, he is 
 none of his." Pfalm. ix, 17, " The wicked fhall be 
 turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." 
 "Pfalm. xi, 5, " The Lord loveth the righteous, but the 
 wicked his foul hateth." 
 
 I need not add any more of that multitude which 
 fpeak the like : if thou be a man that believe ft the word 
 of God, here is already enough to fatisfy thee, that 
 the wicked mufl be converted or condemned. You 
 Tnuft either confefs that this is true, or lay. plainly, 
 you will not believe the word of God. And if once 
 you become to that pal's, 'tis likely you will not be long 
 out of hell. But if you tell God plainly you will not 
 believe him, blame him not if he never warn you more: 
 for to what purpofe fhoujd he warn you. if you will 
 not believe him ? Should lie fend an angel fiom heaven 
 to you. it feerns you would not believe. For an angel 
 can fpeak but the word of God : and if an angel ihould 
 bring you any other gofpel, you are not fo receive it, 
 but to hold him accurfed. And 1'nrcly there is no angel 
 to be believed before the Son of God, who eamefrom 
 the' Father to bring us this doctrine. And if you (land 
 on thefe terms with God. I fhall l-.-ave you till he deal 
 •with you in a more convincing way, God has a voice 
 that \n\l\ make you hear. Though he mtrcat you to 
 
 hear 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. ^j 
 
 the voice oF his gofpel, he will make you hear the voice 
 of his condemning fentence. We cannot make you 
 'believe, againft your wills ; but God will make you feel 
 againft your wills. 
 
 But why will you not believe this word of God, 
 which tells us that the wicked mufl be converted, or 
 condemned P It is becaufe you judge it unlikely that 
 .God fhould be fo unmerciful ; you think it cruelty to 
 damn men everlaftingly for fo fmall a thing as a tinful 
 life. And this leads us to the fecond thing, which is, 
 to juftify the equity of God in his laws and judg- 
 ments. 
 
 And firft, I think you will not deny that it is mod 
 fuitable to an immortal foul, to be ruled by laws which 
 promife an immortal reward, and threaten an endlefs 
 punifhment. Othcrwife the law would not be fuited 
 to the nature of the fubject., who will not be fully ruled 
 by any lower means, than the hopes or fears of ever- 
 . lalting things : as it is in the cafe of temporal punifh- 
 ment, if a law were now made that the molt heinous 
 crimes fhould be punifhed with a hundred years cap- 
 tivity, this might be of fome efficacy, it being equal 
 to our lives. But if there had been no other penalties 
 before the flood, when men lived eight or nine hun- 
 ,dred years, it would not have been fuflicient, bcaufe 
 jnen. would know, that they might have fo many hun- 
 dred years impunity afterwards. So it is in our pre- 
 sent cafe. 
 
 2. When you find in the word of God that fo it is t 
 and fo it will be, do you think yourfelves fit to contra- 
 dict this word ? Will you call your Maker to the bar ; 
 and examine } v ; s word p [Will you fit upon him, and 
 judge him by the law of your conceits? Are you wi|er 
 and better than he ? Mult the God of heaven come to 
 , i'chool to you to learn wifdom ? Mull infinite wifdom 
 learn of folly ? Muit the Aln.ighty Hand at the bar of 
 , fi worm ? O horrid arrogancy of ienfelefs dull ! Shall 
 every mole, or clod, or dunghill, accule the fun of ciark- 
 rieis, and undertake to illuminate the woild? Where 
 were you when the Almighty made the laws, that he 
 d u rot call you to his couniel : i ir< ly ne made them, 
 before you were born, without d: uring your advife ; 
 . and you came into the world too L.te to reverie ihcm ; 
 if you could haye done fu great a .work, you fhould 
 
 have 
 
8 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 have ftept out of nothing, and have contradicted Chrift 
 when he was on earth, or Mofes before him, or have 
 faved Adam and his finful progeny from the threatened 
 death, that fo there might have been no need of Chrift. 
 
 3. If fin be fuch an evil that it requires the death of 
 Chrift for its expiation, no wonder if it deferve our 
 everlafting mifery. 
 
 4. And methinks you {hould perceive, that it is not 
 poiTible for the bed of men, much lefs for the wicked, 
 to be competent judges of the defert of fin. Alas, we 
 are ?.ll both blind and partial. You can never know 
 fully the defert of fin, till you fully know the evil of 
 fin : and you can never fully know the evil of fin, till 
 you fully know the excellency of the foul which it de- 
 forms : no, nor till you know the infinite excellency, 
 
 «lmightinefs, and holinefs of that God, againft whom 
 it is committed. When you fully know thefe, you 
 {hall fully know the defert of fin. You know that the 
 offender is too partial to judge the law, or the pro- 
 ceeding of his Judge. 
 
 5. Can you think that unholy fouls are fit for heaven ? 
 Alas, they cannot love God here, nor do him any fer- 
 vice which he can accept. They are contrary to God, 
 they loathe that which he mod loves ; and love that 
 which he abhors : they are incapable of that imperfect 
 communion with him, which his faints here partake of* 
 How then can they live in that moft perfeft love of 
 him, and full delight, and communion with bim, which: 
 ii the bleflednefs of heaven ! 
 
 USE. 
 
 IBefeech you now all that love your fouls, that in- 
 ftead of quarrelling with God and his word, you will 
 prefently ftoop to it, and ufe it for your gaod. You 
 mud ere long be converted or condemned: there is no 
 other way. but turn or die. When God, who cannot 
 lie. has told you this, when you hear it from th« 
 .er and Judge of the world ; it is time for him that 
 has ears, to hear. By this time you may fee what you> 
 have to trufl to. You are but dead and damned men, 
 except you will be converted. Should I tell you other- 
 wise, 1 feould deceive you with a lie. Should 1 hide 
 this from you, I fhouid undo you, and be guilty of 
 your blood. You fee then, though this be a rough, 
 
 unwelcome 
 
A Call . to the Unconverted. 9 
 
 unwelcome do£lrine, it is fuc*h as we muft preach, and 
 you mufl hear. Jt. is eafier to hear of hell, than feel it. 
 Hell would not be fo full, if people were but willing 
 .to know their cafe, and to hear and think of it. The 
 reafon why fo few efcape it, is, becaufe they ft rive not 
 to enter in at the ftrait gate of converfion, and to go 
 the narrow way of holinefs, while they have time : 
 and they ftrive not, becaufe they are not awakened to 
 a lively feeling of the danger that they are in ; and 
 jthoy are not awakened, becaufe they are loth to hear, 
 or think of it ; and that is partly through foolifh ten- 
 dernefs, and carnal fclf-love; and partly, becaufe they 
 .do not well believe the word that threatens it. If you 
 will not thoroughly believe this truth, methinks the 
 weight cf it fhould force you to remember it; and it 
 ihould follow you, and give you no reft, till you were 
 converted. If you had but once heard this word, by 
 the voice of an angel, Thou muft be converted or con- 
 demned : turn or die : would it not faften on your 
 mind, and haunt you night and day ? So that in your 
 finning you wouhd remember it ) as if the voice were 
 itill in your ears. Turn or uie ! O happy were your 
 fouls, if it might thus work upon you, and never be 
 forgotten, or let you alone till it have driven home 
 your hearts to God. But if you will cait it out by 
 forgctfulnels, or unbelief, how can it work to your 
 converfion and falvation ? But take this with you to 
 your forrow, though you may put it out of your minds, 
 you cannot put it out of the Bible : but there it will 
 ftand as a fealed truth which you (hall experimentally 
 know for ever, that there is no other way but Turn 
 or die. 
 
 O what is the reafon then that the hearts of Tinners 
 .are net pierced with fuch a weighty truth. Believe it, 
 this drowfy, carelefs temper will not laft long. Con- 
 verfion and condemnation are both of them awakening 
 things; and one of .$he*n.will make you feeL ere long. 
 I can foretel it as -truly, as if I law it with my eyes, 
 that either grace or hell will fhortly bring theie matters 
 to the quick, and make you fay, What have I done? 
 What a foolifh wicked courle have I taken ? The 
 fcornful and the ftupid flate of finners will laft but a 
 little while. As foon as, .they,. either turn or die, the 
 .prefumptuous dream will be at an. end ; and then their 
 wils and feelings will return. But 
 
to A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 But there are two things which are like to hardea 
 the unconverted, except they can be taken out of the 
 ■way ; and that is the mifunderflanding of thofe two 
 words, the zvicked, and turn. Some think it is true, the 
 wicked mufl turn or die : but What is that to me ? I 
 am not wicked though I am a fmner, as all men are. 
 Others think, It is true that we mull turn from our 
 evil ways ; but I am turned long ago. And thus, while 
 wicked men think they are not wicked, but are al- 
 ready converted, we lofe all our labour in perfuading 
 them to turn. I {hall therefore, before Igo any far- 
 ther, tell you, who are meant by the wicked, and wh6 
 they are that mufl turn, or die ; and alfo what is meant 
 by turning ; and who they are that are truly con- 
 verted. 
 
 You may obferve, no man is a wicked man that rs 
 converted ; and no man is a converted man that is 
 wicked ; fo that to be a wicked man, and to be an un- 
 converted man, is all one. And therefore in opening 
 one, we fhall open both. 
 
 Before I cavn tell you what either wickednefs, or con- 
 verfion is ; I muft go to the bottom, and fetch up the 
 matter from the beginning. 
 
 It pleafed the great Creator of the world, to make 
 three forts of living creatures ; Angels he made pure 
 fpirits without flefh, and therefore he made them only 
 for heaven, and not to dwell on earth. Brutes were 
 made flefh ; and therefore they were made only for 
 earth, and not for heaven. Man is of a middle nature, 
 between both ; as partaking of both flefh and fpirit, 
 and therefore he was made both for heaven and earth. 
 But as his flefh is made to be but a fervant to his fpirit, 
 fo is he made for earth but as his way to heaven ; and 
 not that earth fhould be his home, or happinefs. The 
 bleiTed ftate which man was made for, was to behold 
 the glorious Majefty of the Lord, and to praife him 
 among his holy angels ; and to love him, and be filled 
 with his love for ever. And as this was the end which 
 man was made for, fo God gave him means fitted to 
 attain it. Thefe means were principally two. Firft, 
 the right inclination and difpofition of the mind of 
 man. Secondly, the right ordering of his life and 
 pra&ice. For the firft, God fuited the difpofition of 
 man to his end ; giving him fuch knowledge of God 
 
 as 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. n 
 
 as was fit for his prefent ftate, and a heart inclined to 
 God in holv love. But yet he did not 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 
 fecond, God did that which belonged to him ; that is, 
 he gave man a perfect law, requiring him to continue 
 in the love of God, and perfectly to obey him. By 
 the wilful breach of this law, man did not only for- 
 feit his hopes of everlafting life, but alfo turned his 
 heart from God, and fixed it on thefe lower things ; 
 and hereby blotted out the fpiiitual image of God from 
 his foul. So that man did both fall (hoit of the glory 
 of God which was his end, and put himfelf out of the 
 ■way by which he fhould have attained it ; and this 
 both as to the frame of his heart, and of his life. The 
 holy inclination of his foul to God, he loft : and in- 
 ftead of it, he contracted an inclination to the pleafing 
 of his flefh by earthly things ! Growing ftrange to God, 
 and acquainted with the creature: and the courfe of 
 his life was fuited to the inclination of his heart ; he 
 lived to his own will and not to God : he fought the 
 creature for the pleafing of his flefh, infteadof ieeking 
 to pleafe the Lord. With this nature, or corrupt in- 
 clination, 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 has a fierce and cruel nature, before 
 he does devour : and as an adder has a venomous na- 
 ture, before fhe flings ; fo in our very infancy we have 
 thofe finful natures, or inclinations, before we think, 
 or fpeak, or do amifs. And hence fprings all the lin 
 of our lives. And not only fo, but when God has, 
 of his mercy, provided us a remedy, even the Lord 
 Jefus Chrift, to be the Saviour of our fouls, and bring 
 us back to God, we naturally love our prefent ftate, 
 and are loth to be brought out of it, and therefore are 
 fet again ft the means of our recovery : and though 
 cuftom has taught us to thank Chiift for his good-will, 
 yet we refufe his remedies, and defire to be excufed, 
 when we are commanded to take the medicines which 
 he offers, and are called to forfake all, and follow him 
 to God and glory. 
 
 In thefe few words you have a true defcription of our 
 natural ftate ; and consequently of a wicked man. For 
 every Tan that is in this ftate of corrupted nature, is a 
 wicked man, and in a ftate of death. By 
 
t2 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 By this you may underftand what it is to be con- 
 verted : to which end you muft further know, that the 
 mercy of God, not willing that man fhould periih in his 
 fin, provided a remedy by caufing his Son to take our 
 nature upon him, and being in one pcrfon, God and 
 man, to become a Mediator between God and man ; 
 and by dying for our fins on the crofs, to ranfom us 
 from the curie 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 make a new law and covenant for man : 
 not like the firft, which gave life to none but the per- 
 fectly obedient, and condemned man for every fin : but 
 thrift has made a law of grace, or a promife of par- 
 don and everlafting life to all that by true repentance, 
 end by faith in Chrift, are converted unto God. Like 
 an act of oblivion, which is made by a prince, to a 
 Company of rebels, on condition they will lay dowri 
 their arms, and come in, and be loyal fubje&s for the 
 time to come. 
 
 But, becaufe the Lord knows that the heart of man 
 is grown fo wicked, that men will not accept of the 
 remedy, if they be left to themfelves, therefore the 
 Holy Ghoft has undertaken it as his ofHce to infpire the 
 Apoftles, and feal the fcripture by miracles ; and to 
 illuminate and convert the fouls of men. 
 
 So that you fee, as there are three perfons in the 
 Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghoft ; fo 
 £ach of thefe perfOns have their feveral works, which 
 are eminently afcribed to them. 
 
 The Father's works were, to create us, to rule us, 
 as his rational creatures, by the law of nature ; and 
 judge us thereby : and in mercy to provide us a Re- 
 deemer when we were loft : and to fend his Son, and 
 accept his ranfom. 
 
 The works of the Son, for us, were thefe : to ranfom, 
 and redeem us by his fufferings and righteoufnefs ; to 
 give out the promife or law of grace ; and rule and 
 judge the world as their Redeemer, on terms of gracej 
 and to make interceflion for us, that the benefits of his 
 death may be communicated, and to fend the Holy 
 Ghoft, which the Father alfo does by the Son. 
 
 The works of the Holy Ghoft, for us, are thefe : to 
 indite- the holy fcriptures, by infpiring and guiding the 
 
 prophets 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 13 
 
 prophets and apoflles; and fealing the word, by his 
 miraculous gifts, and works: and the illuminating, and 
 exciting the ordinary minifters of the gofpcl ; and fo 
 enabling them, and helping them to publilh that word : 
 and by the fame word, illuminating, and converting 
 the fouls of men. So that as you could not have been 
 reafonable creatures, if the Father had not created you; 
 nor have had any accefs to God, if the Son had not 
 redeemed you : fo neither can you be faved, except the 
 Holy Ghofl do fan&ify you. 
 
 So you may fee the feveral caufes of this work. The 
 Father fends the Son : the Son redeems us, and makes 
 the promife of grace : the Holy Ghofl indites, and- 
 feals this gofpel: the Apoflles arc the Secretaries of the. 
 Spirit to write it: the Preachers of the gofpcl proclaim 
 it : and the Holy Ghofh makes their preaching effectual, 
 by opening the hearts of men to entertain it. And all 
 this to repair the image of God upon the foul: and to 
 fet the heart upon God again, and take it off the crea- 
 ture, to which it is revolted; and fo to turn the cur- 
 rent of the life into a heavenly courfe, which before 
 was earthly; and all this by the entertainment of Chrift, 
 by faith, who is the phyfician of the foul. 
 
 By this you may fee what it is to be zoickedy and what 
 it is to be converted. Which \ think will be yet plainer, 
 if I defcribe them as confifbing of their feveral parts ; 
 and for the nrft, a wicked man may be known by thefe 
 three things. 
 
 Fir ft, He is one who places his chief content on 
 earth, and loves the creature more than God ; and his 
 fleQily profperity above the heavenly felicity : he 
 favours the things of the flefh, but neither difecrns, 
 nor favours the things of the Spirit : though he will 
 fay, that heaven is better than earth, yet does he not 
 really fo efteem it. If he might be lure of earth, he 
 would let go heaven ; and had rather ftay here, than 
 be removed thither. A life of perfe6b holinefs, in the 
 fight of God, and in his love, and praifes for ever iu 
 heaven, do not find fuch liking with his heart, *s a life 
 of health, and wealth, and honour upon earth. And 
 though he falfely profefs that he loves God- above all, 
 yet indeed he never felt the power of divine love, but 
 his mind is more fet on the world, or fielhly plcafures, 
 than on God, In a word, whoever loves earth' above 
 
 £ heaven, 
 
14 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 heaven, and flefhly profperity more than God, is a 
 wicked unconverted man. 
 
 On the other fide, a converted man is enlightened to 
 difcern the lovelinefs of God : and fo believes the glory 
 that is to be had with God, that his heart is fet more 
 upon it, than on any thing in this world. He had 
 rather fee the face of God, and live in his everlafting 
 love, than have all the wealth or pleafure of the world. 
 He fees that all things elfe are vanity ; and nothing but 
 God can fill the foul: and therefore, let the world go 
 which way it will, he lays up treafures and hopes in 
 heaven ; and for that he is refolved to let go all. As 
 the fire mounts upward, and the needle that is touched 
 with lhe load-done turns to the North : fo, the con- 
 verted foul is inclined to God. Nothing elfe can fatisfy 
 him ; nor can he find any content and reft but in his 
 love. In a word, all that are converted, efleem and 
 love God better than all the world; and the heavenly 
 felicity is dearer to them, than their flefhly profperity. 
 
 Secondly, A wicked man is one that makes it the 
 principal bufinefs of his life, to prosper in the world, 
 and attain his flefhly ends. And though he may read 
 and hear, and do much in the outward duties of religion, 
 and forbear difgraceful fins; yet this is but by the by, 
 and he never makes it the bufinefs of his life, to pleafe 
 God, and attain everlafting glory. He puts off God 
 with the leavings of the world, and gives him no more 
 fervice, than the fle{h can fpare. 
 
 On the contrary, a converted man is one that makes 
 it the principal bufinefs of his life, to pleafe God, and 
 to be faved-, and takes all the bleflings of this life, but 
 as accommodations in his journey towards another life, 
 and ufes the creature in fubordination to God: he loves 
 a holy life, and longs to be more holy 34 he has no fin, 
 but what he hates ; and longs, and prays, and ftrives 
 to be rid of. The bent of his life is for God : and if 
 he fin, it is contrary to the bent of his heart and life, 
 and therefore he rifes again, and laments it, and dare 
 not wilfully live in any known fin. There is nothing 
 in this world fo dear to him, but he can give it up to 
 God, and forfake it for the hopes of glory. 
 
 Thirdly, The foul of a zvitked man does not truly dif- 
 cern and reliih the myftcry of redemption, nor thank- 
 fully entertain an offered Saviour, nor is he taken up 
 with the love of .the Redeemer, nor is willing to be ruled 
 
 by 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 15 
 
 by him, that he may be faved from the guilt and power 
 of his fins, and recovered unto God : but his heart is 
 infenfible of this unfpeakable benefit, and is quite 
 againft the healing means, by which he fhould be re- 
 covered. He never refigns up his foul to Chrift, an4 
 to the motions and conduct of his word and fpirit. 
 
 On the contrary, the converted foul having felt hirn- 
 felf undone by fin; and perceiving that he has loll his 
 peace with God, and hopes of heaven, and is in dan- 
 ger of everlafting mifery, does thankfully entertain the 
 tidings of redemption ; and believing in the Lord Jefus 
 as his only Saviour, refigns up himfelf to him for Wif- 
 dom, Rightcoufnefs, San&ification, and Redemption, 
 He takes Chrift as the life of his foul, and lives by him, 
 and ufes him as^ a falve for every fore, admiring the 
 wifdom and love of God in this wonderful work of 
 man's redemption. In a word, Chrift does even dwell 
 in his heart by Faith, and the life which he now lives is 
 by F aiih of tad Sen of Gcd, who iGVeu mm, and gave 
 himfelf for him. Yea, it is not fo much he that lives, as 
 Chi ill in him. 
 
 You lee now, who are the wicked, and who are the 
 converted. Ignorant people think, that if a man be 
 no fwearer, or curfer, or railer, or drunkard, or for- 
 nicator, or extortioner, nor wrong any body in his deal- 
 ings, and if he go to church, and fay his prayers, he 
 cannot be a wicked man. Or if a man who has been 
 guilty of drunkennefs, fwearing, or the like vices, do 
 but forbear them, they think that this is a converted 
 man. Others think, if a man who has been an enemy 
 and fcorner of religion, do bufc now approve of it, and 
 join himfelf with good men, and be hated for it by 
 the wicked, that this muff needs be a converted man. 
 And fome are fo fooliih as to think they are converted, 
 by taking up fome new opinion ; or by falling into fome 
 party, as Anabaptifts, Quakers, Papifts, or fuch like. 
 And fome think, if they have but been affrighted by the 
 fears of hell, and thereupon have prop of cd, and pro- 
 xnifed amendment, and taken up a civil behaviour, and 
 outward religion, this mud needs be true converfion. 
 And thefe are the poor deluded fouls that are like to lofe 
 the benefit of all our perfuafions : and when they hear 
 that the wicked mud turn or die, they think that this 
 is not fpoken to them j for they are not wicked, but are 
 B 2 turned 
 
16 A Call to the Unconverted, 
 
 turned already. And therefore it is that Chrift told 
 fome of the Rulers of the Jews, who were more moral 
 and civil than the common people, that publicans and 
 harlots go into the kingdom of God before them, Matt, 
 xxi. 31. Not that a harlot or grofs finner can be faved 
 without converfion ; but becaufe it was eafier to make 
 thefe grofs Tinners perceive their fin and the neceflity 
 of a change. 
 
 O Sirs, converfion is another kind of work, than 
 moil are aware of : it is not a fmall matter to (hew man 
 the excellencies of God, till he be taken up with fuch 
 love to him as cannot eafily be quenched; to break the 
 heart for fin, and make him fly for refuge to Chrift, 
 and thankfully embrace him as the life of his foul; to 
 have the very bent of the heart and life changed ; fo 
 that he renounces that which he took for his felicity, 
 and places his felicity where he never did before; and 
 lives not to the fame end, and drives not on the fame 
 defign in the world, as formerly he did. " He that is 
 in Chrift, is a new creature : old things are pad away ; 
 behold, all things are become new," 2 Cor. v. 17 r He 
 has a new underflanding, a new will and refolution, 
 new forrows, and defires, and love, and delight ; new 
 thoughts, new fpeeches, new company (if poflible,) and 
 a new converfation. Sin which before was a jetting 
 matter with him, is now fo odious, that he flies from ir, 
 as from death. The world which was fo lovely in his 
 eyes, does now appear but as vanity a»d vexation; 
 God who was before negle&ed, is now the only hap- 
 pinefs of his foul; before, he was forgotten; but now 
 he is next the heart, and all things mult give place to 
 him : and the heart is taken up in the attendance, and 
 obfervance of him : and is grieved when he hides his 
 face, and never thinks himfelf well without him, Chrift 
 himfelf who was wont to be (lightly thought of, is now 
 his only hope and refuge, and he lives upon him, as on 
 his daily bread; he cannot pray without him, nor re- 
 joice without him. Heaven itfelf which before was 
 looked upon but as a tolerable referve, which he hoped 
 might ferve better than hell, when he could not flay any 
 longer in the world, is now taken for his home, ths 
 place of his only hope and reft, where he fhall fee, and 
 love, and praife that God who has his heart already. 
 The Bible which was before to him but as a common 
 
 book, 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 17 
 
 book, is now as the law of God, as a letter written to 
 him from heaven, and fubfcribed with the name of the 
 Eternal Majejiy j it is the rule of his thoughts, and 
 words, and deeds ; the commands are binding, and the 
 promifes of it fpeak life to his foul. In fhort, he has 
 a new end in his thoughts, and a new way in his en- 
 deavours, and therefore his heart and life are new. So 
 that this is not a change in one or two, or twenty 
 points; but in the whole foul and converfation. 
 
 Do you believe this, Sirs, or do you not ? Surely 
 you dare not fay, you do not. Thefe are not contro- 
 verfies, where one pious man is of one mind, and 
 another, of another; all Chriflians are agreed in this, 
 and if you will not believe the God of truth, and that 
 in a cafe were every feci and party believe him, you are 
 utterly incxcufable. 
 
 But if you do believe this, how comes it to pafs that 
 you live fo quietly in an unconverted itate ? Do you 
 know that you are converted ? Can you find this won- 
 derful change upon your fouls ? Have you been thus 
 born again, and made anew ? If you cannot tell the 
 day or week of your change, do you find that the work 
 is done ? And that you have fuch hearts as are before 
 defcribed ? Alas, the molt follow their worldly bufinefs, 
 and little trouble their rnind with fuch thoughts. And 
 if they be but retrained from fcandalous fins, and can 
 lay, 1 am no whoremonger, or thief, or curfer, or 
 f wearer, or tipler, or extortioner, I go to church, and 
 fay my prayers, they think this is true converhon, and 
 they fhall be faved as well as any. Alas, this is a fool- 
 ilh cheating of yourielves. This is too grofs neglect of 
 your immortal fouls. Can you make fo light of heaven 
 and hell ? Your corpfes will fhortly lie in the duft, 
 and angels or devils will prefently feize upon your 
 fouls, and every man and woman of you all will fhortly 
 be among other company, and in another cafe than now 
 you arc ; you will dwell in thofe houfes but a little Ion* 
 ger ; you will work in your fhops, and fields, but a 
 little longer ; you will fit in thefe feats, and dwell on 
 this earth but a little longer ; you will fee with thofe 
 eyes, and hear with thofe ears, and fpeak with thofe 
 tongues but a little longer; and can you forget this ? O 
 what a place will you be fhortly in of joy or torment ! 
 O what a fight will you fhortly fee in heaven or hell J 
 E a O what 
 
18 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 O what thoughts will {hortly fill your hearts with un- 
 fpeakable delight or horror ! What work will you be 
 employed in ? To praife the Lord with faints and 
 angels, or to cry out in fire unquenchable with devils ? 
 And fhould all this be forgotten ? And all this will 
 be endlefs, and fealed up by an unchangeable decree. 
 Eternity, eternity will be the meafure of your joys or 
 forrows, and can this be forgotten? And all this 13 
 true, molt certainly true : when you have gone up and 
 down a little longer, and flept and awaked a few times 
 more, you will be dead and gone, and find all true 
 Which now I tell you ; and can you now forget it \ 
 You {hail then lemember that you heard this fermon, 
 and that on this day and in this place you were remem- 
 bered of thefe things; and yet fhall they be now fo 
 much forgotten ? 
 
 Beloved, if the Lord had not awakened me to be- 
 lieve and lay to heart thefe things myfelf, I fhould 
 have perifhed for ever : but if he has made me feniible 
 of them, it will conflrain me to companionate you. 
 If your eyes were fo far opened as to fee hell, and you 
 faw your neighbours, that were unconverted, dragged 
 thither with hideous cries, though they were fuch as 
 you accounted honeft people on earth ; fuch a fight 
 would make you warn all about you, left they fhould 
 go to that place of torment.. Why, faith is a kind of 
 light ; it is the eye of the foul, the evidence of things 
 not feen ; if I believe God, it is next to feeing: and 
 therefore I befeech you excufe me, if I be as earneft 
 with you about thefe matters, as if I had feen them. 
 If I were to die to morrow, and it were in my power 
 to come again from another world, and. tell you what 
 I have feen; would you not be willing to hear me ? 
 And would you not believe, and regard what I mould 
 tell you ? If I might preach one fermori to you after I 
 am dead, and have feen what is done in the world to 
 come, would you not lay it to heart ? But this mud 
 not be ; God has his appointed way of teaching you ; 
 and he will not humour unbelievers fo far as to fend 
 men from the dead to them, and to alter his eftablifhed 
 way : if any man quarrel with the Sun, God will not 
 - humour him lo far as to fet him up a clearer light. 
 Friends, I bcleech you regard me now, as you would 
 do if 1 fhould come from the dead to you j for I can 
 
 give 
 
- A Call to the Unconverted, tg 
 
 give you as full affurance of the truth of what I fay to 
 vou, as if I had been there, and feen it with my eyes ; 
 for it is poftible for one from the dead to deceive 
 you : but Jefus Chrift can never deceive you : the 
 word of God delivered in Scripture, and fealcd up by 
 the miracles, and holy workings of the Spirit, can 
 never deceive you. Believe this, or believe nothing. 
 Believe, and obey this, or you are undone : now as 
 ever you believe tbe word of God, and as ever you 
 care for the falvation of your fouls, let me beg of you 
 this reafonable re que ft ; that you would without any 
 more delay, when you are gone from hence, remember 
 what you heard, and enter into an earner! fearch of 
 your hearts, and fay unto yourielvcs, — Is it fo indeed ? 
 Muft I turn or die? Muft I be converted or con- 
 demned ? It is time for me then to look about me, 
 before it be too late. O why did I not look after t His 
 till now ? Why did I venturouily put off fo great a 
 bufinefs ? Was I awake ! O bleffed God, what a great 
 mercy is it that thou didft not cut off my life all this 
 while ? Well, God forbid that I mould neglect this 
 work any longer. What Mate is my foul in ? Am I 
 converted, or am I not ? Was ever fuch a work done 
 upon my foul ? Have I been illuminated by the word 
 and Spirit of the Lord, to fee the odioufnefs of fin, 
 the need of a Saviour, the love of Chrift, and the ex- 
 cellencies of God and glory ? Is my heart broken, or 
 humbled within me, for my former life ? Have I 
 thankfully entertained my Saviour and Lord, who of- 
 fered himfelf with pardon and life to my foul ? Do I 
 hate my former finful life, and the remnant of every 
 lin that is in me ? Do I fly from them as my deadly 
 enemies ? Do I give up myfelf to a life of holinefs ? 
 Do I love it, and delight in it ? Can I truly fay that 
 I am dead to the world ; and that I live for God, and 
 the glory which he has promifed ? Has heaven" more 
 of my eftimation than earth ? And is God the deareft 
 and higher! in my foul ? Once, I am fure, i lived 
 principally to the world and flefh, and God had no- 
 thing but fome heartlefs ferviccs, which the world could 
 fpare, and which were the leavings of the flcfh. Is 
 my heart now turned another way? Have I a new 
 defign, and a new end, and a new train of holy af- 
 fections ? Have I fet my hopes, and heart on heaven.? 
 
 And 
 
to A Call to the Unconverted.' 
 
 And is it the defign of my heart and life, to get well 
 to heaven, and fee the glorious face of God, and live 
 in his everlafting love and praife ? Do I conquer all 
 grofs fms, and am I weary, and willing to be rid of 
 mine infirmities ? This is the ftate of a converted 
 foul. And thus mud it be with me, or I muft perifh. 
 Is it thus with me indeed, or is it not ? It is time to 
 get this doubt refolved before the dreadful Judge re- 
 folve it. I am not fuch a fti anger to my own heart and 
 life, but I may perceive whether I am thus converted, 
 ©r not : if I be not, it will do me no good to flatter 
 my foul with falfe hopes. I am refolved no more to 
 deceive myfelf, but endeavour to know truly, whether 
 I am converted ; that if I be, 1 may rejoice in it, and 
 glorify my gracious Lord, and comfortably go on till I 
 reach the crown : but if I be not, I may beg and feek 
 after the grace that will convert me, and turn without 
 any delay : for, if I find in time that I am out of the 
 way, by the help of Chrift 1 may turn and be reco- 
 vered : but if I flay till either my heart be forfaken of 
 God in blindnefs and hardnefs, or till I be caught away 
 by death ; it is then too late. There is no place for 
 Tepentance, and converfion then j I know it mult be 
 now or never. 
 
 Sirs, this is my requeft to you, that you will but 
 take your hearts to tafk, and thus examine them till 
 you fee, if it may be, whether you are converted or 
 not? It undoes many thoufands that they think they 
 are in the way of falvation, when they are not ; and 
 that they are converted, when it is no fuch thing. 
 And then when we call to them daily to turn, they* 
 think this concerns not them ; for they are turned al- 
 ready, and hope they {hall do well enough in the way 
 that they are in ; when, alas, all this while they live 
 to the world and flefh, and arc ftrangers to God and 
 eternal life. And all this, becaufe we cannot perfuade 
 them to fpend a few hours in the examining of their 
 ftates. Are there not many felf-deceiving wretches 
 that hear me this day, who never bellowed one hour in. 
 all their lives, to examine their fouls, and try whether 
 they were truly converted or not ? O merciful God, 
 who will care for fuch wretches that care no more for 
 therofelves? If all that are in the itate of damnation, 
 did but know it, they durlt not continue in it. The 
 
 ijreateft 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 2i 
 
 greatefl hope that the devil has of bringing you to 
 damnation without a refcue, is by keeping you blind- 
 fold, and making you believe that vou may do well 
 enough in the way that you are in. If you knew that 
 you were loft for ever, if you fhould die as you are ; 
 durft you fleep another night in the irate that you are 
 in ? Durft you live another day in it ? Could you 
 laugh, or be merry in fuch a ftate ? What! And not 
 know but you may be (hatched away to hell in an 
 hour ! Sure it would conftrain you to forfake your 
 former company, and courfes ; and to betake your- 
 felves to the ways of holinefs. Sure it would drive 
 you to cry to God for a new heart, and to feek help 
 of thofe who are fit to counfel you. Tiiere is none of 
 you, fure, that cares not for being damned. Well, then 
 I befeech you prefently make enquiry into your heaits, 
 and give them no reft, till you find out your con- 
 dition ; that, if it bo good, ycu may rejoice in it, and 
 go on ; and if it be bad, you may prefently look about 
 'you for recovery, as men who believe they mull turn, 
 or die. What fay you ? Will you refolve, and promife 
 to be at fo much labour for your own fouls ? Will you 
 fall upon this felf-examination when you go home ? 
 Is my requeft unreafonable ? Your coniciences know, 
 it is not : refolve on it then, before you ftir ; knowing 
 how much it concerns your fouls. I befeech you for 
 the fake of that God who does command you, at whofe 
 bar you will fhortly all appear, that you will not deny 
 me this reafonable requeft. Foi the fake of thofe fouls 
 that muft turn, or die, 1 befeech you deny me not ; 
 make it your buhnefs to underftand your own con- 
 ditions, and build upon fure ground, and know for a 
 certainty, whether you are converted, or no ; and ven« 
 ture not your own fouls on negligent fecurity, 
 
 But perhaps you will fay, What if we fhould find 
 ourfelves yet unconverted, what (hall we do then ? 
 This queflion leads me to my fecond doftrine, 
 
 DOCTRINE II. 
 
 «« TT is the promife of God, that the wicked fhall live, 
 *' JL if they will turn to him." 
 
 The Lord here profeffes that this is what he takes 
 pleafure in, that the w r icked turn and live. Turn and 
 
 livCi 
 
S2 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 live, is as certain a truth, as turn or die. Sinners, there 
 are none of you fhall have caufe to go home, and fay I 
 preach defpair to you. Are we itfed to ihut up the 
 door of mercy againft you ? O that you would not 
 fhut it up againft yourfelves ! Are we ufed to tell you 
 that God will have no mercv on you, though you turn? 
 When did you hear a Preacher fay fuch a word ? You 
 that bark at the Preachers of the gofpel for defiring to 
 keep you out of hell, and fay, that they preach de- 
 fpair; tell me, when did you ever hear any fober man 
 fay, that there is no hope for you, though you repent, 
 and be converted ? No, it is quite the contrary which 
 we daily proclaim from the Lord ; that whoever is born 
 again, fhall be faved : fo far are we from perfuading 
 you to defpair of this, that we perluade you not to 
 make any doubt of it. It is life, and not death, which 
 is the firft part of our meffage to you ; our commiffion 
 is to offer fai vat ion, a fpeedy 3 glorious, everlafting fal- 
 vation to every one or you ; to the poorell beggar, as 
 well as the greateft lord; to the worit of you, even to 
 drunkards, fwearers, thieves, yea, to the defpifers and 
 reproachers of the holy way of falvation : we are com- 
 manded by the Lord our Mafter to offer you a pardon 
 for all that is paft, if you will now at lafl return and 
 live ; we are commanded to befeech and intreat you to 
 accept the offer, and to tell you what preparation is 
 made by Chrift, what mercy flays for you ; what 
 patience waiteth on you ; what thoughts of kindnef* 
 God has towards you : and how happy, how certainly 
 and unfpeakably happy you may be if you will. We 
 have indeed alfo a menage of wrath and death : yea, of 
 a two-fold wrath and death : but neither of them is 
 our principal meffage : we muff tell you of the wrath 
 that is on you already, and the death that you are born 
 under : but this is only to fhew you the need of mercy. 
 For who will feek out for phyfic, that knows not he is 
 fick ? Our telling you of your mifery, is not that 
 which makes you miferable, but that which drives you 
 to feek for mercy. It is you that have brought this 
 death upon yourfelves. We tell you alfo of another 
 death, and much greater torment, which will fall on 
 thofe who will not be converted. But as this is true ; 
 fo it is but the lafl, and faddefl part of our meffage. 
 We are firft to offer you mercy, if you will turn : and it 
 
 i& 
 
ft Call to the Unconverted. 23 
 
 it is only thofe that will not turn, nor hear the voice 
 of mercy, to whom we muff foretel damnation. If you 
 will call away your tr.tnl^relTions, and come at the call 
 of Chriftj and be converted, we have not a word of 
 damning wrath, or death to fpeak againft you. I do 
 here in the name of the Lord of life proclaim to you 
 alL to the worft of you, to the greateil, to the oldeft 
 (inner, that you may have mercy and falvation, if you 
 will but turn. There is mercy in God, there is fuf- 
 ficiency in the fatisfa&ion of Chriit, the promifes is 
 fice, and full, and univerfal ; you may have life, if 
 you will but turn. But then, as you love your fouls, 
 remember what turning it is which the Scripture fpeaks 
 of. It is not to mend the old houfe, but to pull down 
 all, and build anew, on Chriii the Rock and fure foun- 
 dation. 
 
 Yourfelves are witnefTcs now, that it is falvation, 
 and not damnation, which is the great doctrine 1 preach 
 to you ; and the firfl part of my meffagc to you. Ac- 
 cept of this, and we fhall go no farther ; for we would 
 not trouble you with the name of damnation, without 
 , nccefhty. 
 
 But if you will not be faved, there is no remedy, 
 but damnation mult take place. For there is no middle 
 place between the two : you mufl have either life, or 
 death. 
 
 And we are not only to offer you life ; but to fhew 
 you the grounds on which we do it, and call you to be- 
 lieve that God does mean, indeed, as he fpeaks: that 
 the promife is true, and extends conditionally to yon 
 as well as others 
 
 If you ?(k, where is our commiflion for this offer ?— 
 Among a hundred texts of Scripture, I will fhew it to 
 you in thefe few. 
 
 Firft, you fee it here in my text, and the following ver- 
 fes, and in the 18th of Ezckiel as plain as can be fpoken. 
 And in 2 Cor. v. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, you have the very 
 fum of our cemmiiiion : "If any man be in Chrift, he 
 is a new creature : old things are pad away ; behold, 
 all things are become new. And all things are of God, 
 who hath reconciled us to himfelf by Jefus Chriii, and 
 hath given us the miniftry of reconciliation; to wit, 
 that God was in Chrift reconciling the world unto him- 
 felf j not imputing their trefpafles to tiiem ; and ha^th 
 
 committed 
 
24 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 committed unto us the word of reconciliation: now 
 then we are ambaifadors for Chrift, as though God did 
 befeech you by us, we pray you in Chrifl's ftead, be 
 ye reconciled unto God: for he hath made him to be 
 fin for lis, who knew no fin,' that we might be made 
 the righteoufrefs of God in him •' 
 
 You lee that we aie commanded to offer life to you 
 all, and to tell you from God, that if you will turn, 
 you may live* 
 
 Here you may fafely trufl your fouls ; for the love 
 cf God is the founiain of this offer, John iii. 16, and 
 the blocd of the Son of God has purchafed it : the 
 faithfulnefs and truth of God are engaged t*> make the 
 promife good: miracles have fealed the truth of it: 
 preachers are fent through the world to proclaim it : 
 the facraments are instituted for the folemn delivery of 
 the mercy offered, to them that will accept it : and 
 the Spirit opens the heart to entertain it, and is itfelf 
 the earned of the full pofiefiion. So that the truth of 
 it is pad controverfy, that the worlt of you all, and 
 every one of you, if you will but be converted, may be 
 faved. 
 
 Indeed, if you believe that you fhall be faved with- 
 out converfion, then you believe a falfehood ; and if 
 I fhould preach that to you, I mould preach a lie : 
 this were not to believe God, but the devil and your 
 own deceitful hearts. God has his promife of life, and 
 the devil has his promife of life. God's promife is, 
 return and live ; the devil's promife is, you Jliall live 9 
 whether you turn or not. The words of God are as I 
 have fhe wed you, " Except ye be converted and be- 
 come at little children, ye cannot enter into the king- 
 dom of heaven," Matt, xviii. 3. u Except a man be 
 born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," 
 John iii. 3. 5. " Without holincfs none (hall fee God," 
 Heb. xii. 14. The devil's word, you may be faved 
 without being born again or converted ; you may do 
 well enough without being holy ; God does but frighten 
 you, he is more merciful than to do as he fays, he will 
 be better to you than his word. And alas, the greatelt 
 part of the world believe this word of the devil, be- 
 fore the word of God : juft as our firft fin and mifery 
 came into he world. God faid to our firft parents, If 
 ye eat. ye ihall die. And the devil contradicis him, 
 
 and 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 25 
 
 and fays, Ye fhall not die : and the woman believed 
 the devil before God. So now the Lord faith, turn or 
 die: and the devil fays, you fhall not die, if you do 
 but cry to God for mercy at laft. And this is the word 
 which the world believes: O heinous wickednefs, to 
 believe the devil before God ! 
 
 And yet, that is not the word : but blafphemoufly 
 they call this a believing and trufling God, when they 
 put him in the fhape of Satan, who was a Iyar from 
 the beginning: and when they believe that the word 
 of God is a lie, they call this a trufling God % and fay 
 they believe in him, and trufl on him for falvation. 
 Where did ever God fay, that the unconverted (hall 
 be faved ? Shew fuch a word in Scripture. I chal- 
 lenge you if you can. Why this is the devil's word, 
 and to believe it, is to believe the devil. And do you 
 call this believing and trufling God ? There is enough, 
 in the word of God to comfort and flrcngthen the 
 hearts of the fanclified : but not a word to flrengthcrt 
 the hands of wickednefs, or to give men the lead hope 
 of being faved, though they be never fantlified. 
 
 But if you will turn, and come into the way of 
 mercy, the mercy of the Lord is ready to entertain 
 you. Then trull God for falvation, boldly, and con- 
 fidently ; for he is engaged by his word to fave you. 
 He will be a father to none but his children, and he 
 will fave none but thofe that foifake the world, the 
 devil, and the flefh, and come into his family to be 
 members of his Son, and have communion with his 
 faints. But if they will not come in, it is their own 
 fault : his doors are open. He keeps none back : he 
 is (till ready to receive you, if you were but ready un- 
 feignedly, and with all your hearts to turn. And the 
 fulnefs of this truth will yet more appear in the two 
 following doclrines. 
 
 DOCTRINE III. 
 
 GOD takes pleafure in men's converfion, and fal- 
 vation ; but not in their death and damnation : 
 he had rather they would return and live, than go on 
 and die. 
 
 For the proof of this point, I fhall be very brief, be- 
 caufe I fuppofe you believe it already. 
 
 C 1. The 
 
nd 
 
 26 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 1. The gracious nature of God has proclaimed, and 
 frequently aflured you of this: that he has no pleafure 
 in your death. 
 
 2. If God had more pleafure in thy death, than in 
 -thy converfion and life, he would not have fo fre- 
 quently commanded thee in his word, to turn ; he 
 -would not have made thee fuch promifes of life, if 
 thou wilt turn : he would not have perfuaded thee to 
 it by fo many reafons. The tenor of his gofpcl proves 
 the point. 
 
 3. And his commiflion which he has given to the 
 Ministers of the gofpel, does fully prove it. If God 
 had taken more pleafure in thy damnation, than in thy 
 converfion and falvation, 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 
 befeech you to turn and live ; to acquaint you with 
 your fins, and tell you of your danger; and to do all 
 that poffibly we can for your converfion, and to con- 
 tinue patiently fo doing, though you fhould hate or 
 -abufe us for our pains. Would God have done this, 
 -if he had taken pleafure in your death ? 
 
 4. It is proved alfo by the courfe of his providence. 
 If God had rather you were damned, than favcd> he 
 would not fecond his word with his works, and entice 
 you by his daily kindnefs, and give you all the mercies 
 •of this life, which are means to lead you to repen- 
 tance, Rom. ii. 4, and To bring you fo often under his 
 Tod, to force you into your wits: he would not fet fo 
 many examples before your eyes, no, nor wait on you 
 fo patiently as he docs from day to day, and year to 
 year. Thefe are not figns of one that takes pleafure 
 in your death. If this had been his delight, how eafily 
 could he have had thee long ago in hell ? How oft 
 before this, could he have fnatched thee away in the 
 midft of thy fins with a curfe, or oath, or lie in thy 
 mouth? When thou waft laid in thy drunkennefs or 
 deriding the ways of God, how eafily could he have 
 itopt thy breath, and made thee fober in another world! 
 Alas, how fmall a matter is it for the Almighty to rule 
 the tongue of the profaneft railer, and tie the hands 
 of the mod malicious perfecutor, or calm the fury of 
 the biltereil of his enemies, and mah them know that 
 they are but worms ? If lie did but frown upon thee, 
 
 thou 
 
A Call to the Unconverted 1 . 27 
 
 thou wouldft drop into thy grave. If he gave com- 
 million to one of his angels to go and deftroy ten thou- 
 fand finners, how quickly would it be done ! how eafily 
 can he lay thee upon the bed of languifhing, and make 
 thee lie roating there in pain, and eat the words of re- 
 proach which thou haft fpoken againft his fervants, 
 his word, his worfhip, and his holy ways ? Mow cahly 
 can he lay that flefh under groans, and make it more 
 loathfome than the dung of the earth ? That flefh, 
 which now mud have what it loves, and mud not be 
 difpleafed, though God be difplcafcd ; and muft be hu- 
 moured in meat, and dtink, and clothes, whatever God 
 fay to the contrary, how quickly would the frown of 
 God confumc it? When thou waft paflionately de- 
 fending thy fin, and quarrelling with them that would 
 have drawn thee from it, and pleading for the woiksof 
 darknefs; how eafily could God have fnalched thee 
 away in a moment, and fet thee before his dreadful 
 Majefty, (where thou fhoulcift fee ten thoufand times 
 ten thoufand glorious angels waiting on his throne) and 
 have afked thee, What hall thou now to fay agdinft 
 thy Creator, his truth, his fervants, or his holy ways? 
 Now plead thy caufe, and make the befl of it thou 
 Can ft. Now what canft thou fay in excufe of thy fins ? 
 Now give account of thy time, and of all the mercies 
 thou haft had. O how thy ftubborn heart would have 
 melted, and thy countenance have been appalled, and 
 thy flout words turned into fpeechlefs filencc, or dread- 
 ful cries ; if God had but fet thee thus at his bar, and 
 pleaded his own caufe with thee! How eafily c<n he 
 at any time fay to thy guilty foul, Come away, and live 
 in that flefh no more, till the refurreftion. And it 
 cannot refift. A word of his mouth would take oft the 
 poife of thy prefent life, and then all thy parts and 
 powers would ftand (till. And if he were to fay to 
 thee, Live no longer, or live in hell ; thou couldft not 
 difobey. 
 
 But God has done none of this ; but has patiently 
 forborn thee, and mercifully upheld thee ; and given 
 thee that breath which thou didft breathe out againft 
 him, and given thee thofe mercies which thou didft 
 facrificc to thy flefh, and afforded thee that provifion 
 which thou fpenteft to fatisfy thy greedy appetite : 
 he gave thee every minute of that time which thou 
 C 2 didft 
 
fl 8 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 didft wade In idlcnefs or drunkennefs. And docs not 
 all this patience and mercy fhc\v that he defires not thy 
 damnation ? Can the candle burn without the oil ? 
 Can your houfes (land without the earth to bear them? 
 As well as you can live an hour without the fupport of 
 God. And why did he To long fupport thy life, but to 
 fee when thou wouldft bethink thee of the folly of thy 
 ways, and return and live ? Will any man purpofely 
 put arms into his enemies' hands to refifl him ? Or 
 hold a candle to a murderer who is killing his chil- 
 dren ? Surely it is to fee whether thou wilt at laft re- 
 turn and live, that God has fo long waited on thee. 
 
 5« It is further proved by the fuffcrings of his Son, 
 that God takes no pleafure in the death of the wicked : 
 would he have ranfomed them from death at fo dear a 
 rate? Would he have aftonifhed angels and men by 
 his condefcenfion ? Would God have dwelt in flefh, 
 and have come in the form of a fervant, and have lived 
 a life of fuffering, and died a curfed death for finners, 
 if he had taken pleafure in their death? Suppofe you 
 law him praying with the drops of blood trickling from 
 him inilead of Tweat, or fuffering a curfed death upon 
 the crofs, and pouring out his foul as a facrificc for our 
 iins : would you have thought thefe the figns of one 
 that delights in the death of the wicked ? If you had 
 feen and heard him weeping and bemoaning the flate 
 of difobedience in impenitent people, or complaining 
 of their ftubbornnefs, as Matt, xxiii. 37. " O Jeru- 
 salem, Jerufalem, how oft would 1 have gathered thy 
 children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens 
 under her wings, and ye would not ? " Or if you had 
 feen and heard him on the ciofs, praying for his per- 
 fecutors, Father, forgive them, for they know not 
 what they do; would you have fcrfpe6ted that he had 
 delighted in the death of the wicked; even of thole 
 that perifh by their wilful unbelief? When God hath 
 fo loved, (not only loved, but fo loved) as to give his 
 only begotten Son, that whofoever belie vet h in him, 
 fhould not perifh, but have everlafling life : he has 
 proved againft the malice of men and devils, that he 
 takes no pleafure in the death of the wicked, but had 
 rather that they would turn and live. 
 
 6. Laftly, If all this will not fatisfy you, take his 
 own word, who knows befl his own mind, or at 
 
 leatt 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 59 
 
 leaft believe his oath : but this leads me to the fourth 
 Doctrine. 
 
 DOCTRINE IV. 
 
 THE Lord has confirmed to us by his oath, that he 
 has no pleafurc in the death of the wicked, but 
 had rather that he fhould turn and live : that he may- 
 leave man no pretence to queftion the truth of it. 
 
 If you dare queftion his word, I hope you dare not 
 queftion his oath. As Chrift has folemnly protefted 
 that the unconverted cannot enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven : fo God has fworn that his pleafure is not in 
 their death, but in their convcrfion and life. And as 
 the Apoftle fays, Heb. vi. 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, " Becaufe 
 he could fwcar by no greater, he fware by himfelf. 
 For men verily fwear by the greater, and an oath for 
 confirmation is to them as an end of all ftrife. Where- 
 in God willing more abundantly to (hew unto the heirs 
 of promife the immutability of his counfel, confirmed 
 it by an oath ; that by two immutable things, in which 
 it was impoflible for God to lie, we might have a ftrong 
 confolation, who have fled for refuge- to lay hold on 
 the hope fet before us ; which hope we have as an an- 
 chor of the foul both fure and ftedfaft." If there be 
 any man who cannot reconcile this truth with the 
 damnation of the wicked, that is owing to his own 
 ignorance : he has no pretence left to deny or queftion 
 therefore the truth of the point in hand : for this is 
 confirmed by the oath of God, and therefore muff, not 
 be diftorted to reduce it to other points ; but doubtful 
 points mud rather be reduced to it, and certain truths 
 muft be believed to agree with it, though our fhallow 
 brains hardly difcern the agreement. 
 
 USE. 
 
 I Do now intreat thee, if thou be an unconverted fin- 
 ner, who heareft thefe words, that thou would ft be- 
 think thyfelf awhile, who it is that t;ikes pleafure in 
 thy fin and damnation ? Certainly it is not God; he 
 has fworn for his part, that he takes no pleafure in it* 
 And I know it is not the pleafing of him that you in- 
 tend in it, You dare not fay, that you drink and fwear r 
 
 C 3 and 
 
30 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 and neglecl holy duties, and quench the motions of the 
 Spirit, to pleafe God. That were as if you fhould re- 
 proach the prince, and break his laws, and feek his 
 death, and fay, You did all this to pleafe him. 
 
 Who is it then that takes pleafure in your fin and 
 death ? Not any that bear the image of God, for they 
 mull be like minded to him. God knows, it is fmail 
 pleafure to your Teachers to fee you wilfully run into 
 the flames of hell. Alas, to forefee your everlafling 
 torments, and know not how to prevent them, is to 
 fee how near you are to hell, and we cannot make you 
 believe it, and confider it. To fee how eafily, how 
 certainly you might cfcape, if we knew but how to 
 make you willing ! Mow fair you are for everlafling 
 falvation, if you would but turn and do your beft, and 
 make it the care and bufinefs of your lives ! But you 
 will not do it ! Do you think that this is a plcafant 
 thing to us ? 
 
 Again, It is none of your godly friends. Alas, it is 
 the- grief of their fouls to fee your mifery, and they 
 lament for you many a time when you give them little 
 thanks for it, and when you have not hearts to lament 
 yourfelves. 
 
 Who is rt then that takes pleafure in your fin ? It is 
 none but three great enemies of God, whom you re- 
 nounced in your baptifm. 
 
 i. The devil takes pleafure in your fin and death : 
 Tor this is the end of all his temptations. You cannot 
 pleafe him better than to go on in fin : how glad is he 
 when he fees thee go to the alehoufe, and when he 
 hears thee curfe, or fwear, or rail ? Thefc are his 
 delight. 
 
 2. The wicked are alfo delighted in it : for it is 
 agreeable to their nature. 
 
 3. But I know, for all this, that it is not the pleafing of 
 the devil, that you intend : but it is your own Jle/h, 
 the greateft and moft dangerous enemy. It is the fle(h 
 that would be pleafed in meat, and drink, and cloath- 
 ing, that would be pleafed in company and in applaufe 
 and credit with the world ; and this is the gulph that 
 devours all. This is the very god you ferve. For the 
 Scripture fays of fuch, "That their belly is their god," 
 
 "Phil. iii. 19. 
 
 But I befeech you flay a little, and confider th$ 
 bufinefs. Your 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 31 
 
 Your Jlejh is pleafed with your fin : but is your con~ 
 Jcience pleafed ? Does not it tell you fometimes that all 
 is not well, and that your cafe is not fo fafe as you 
 make it to be ? And fhould not your foul and con- 
 ference be pleafed before that corruptible flefti? Again, 
 Is not your Jlefti preparing for its own difpkafurc alfo ? 
 It loves the bait ; but does it love the hook ? It loves 
 the ftrong drink and fwcet morfels ; it loves its cafe, 
 and fports, and merriment ; it loves to be rich, and 
 well fpoken of by men, and to be fomebody in the 
 world : but docs it love the curfe of God ? Does it 
 love to ftand trembling before his bar, and to be judged 
 to everlading fire ? Does it love to be tormented with 
 devils for ever? Take all together; for there is no 
 feparating fin and hell ; if you will keep one, you 
 mud have the other. If death and hell be pleafant to 
 you, no wonder then if you go on in fin : but if they 
 be not, then what if fin were ever fo pleafant, is it 
 worth the lofs of life eternal? Is a little drink, or 
 meat, or eafe ; is the good word of fuiners, or the 
 riches of the world to be valued above the joys of 
 heaven? Or are they worth the fufterings of eternal 
 fire ? Thefe queftions fliould be confidered before you 
 go any further, by every man that hath reafon to con- 
 iidcr, and believes he has a foul to fave or loie. 
 
 Well, the Lord here fwcars that he has no plcafure 
 in your death, but had rather that you would turn and 
 live. If yet you will go on, and die rather than turn, 
 remember it was not to pUafe God that you did it ; 
 it was to pleafe the world, and to pleafe yourfelves. 
 And if men will damn themfelves, to pleafe them- 
 felves, and run into endlefs torments for delights what 
 remedy but they muft take what they get by it, and 
 repent it in another manner, when it is too late ! 
 
 DOCTRINE V. 
 
 SO earned is God for the converfion of finners, that 
 he doubles his commands and exhortations with ve- 
 hemency ; " Turn ye, Turn ye, why will you die ? " 
 
 Is there ever an unconverted finner that hears thefe 
 vehement words of God ? Is there ever a man or 
 woman that is yet a ftrangcr to the renewing, fanc- 
 tifying work of the Holy Gholt? Hearken then to 
 
 the 
 
£2 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 the voice of your Maker, and turn to him by Chrifl 
 without delay. Would you know the will of God? 
 Why "this is his will, that you prefently turn. Shall 
 the living God fend fo earned a meffage to his crea- 
 tures, and {hould they not obey? Hearken then, all 
 ye that live after the fleih ; the Lord that gave thee 
 thy breath, has fent a meffage to thee from heaven ; 
 and this is his meffage, "Turn ye, Turn ye, why will- 
 ye die?" He that has ears to hear, let him hear. 
 Shall the voice of the eternal Majefty be ncglefted ? 
 If he do but terribly thunder, thou art afraid. O but 
 this voice does more nearly concern thee. If he did 
 but tell thee,, thou fhalt die to-morrow, thou wouldfl 
 not make light of it. O but this word concerns thy 
 life, or death everlafiing. It is both a command, and 
 an exhortation. As if he had faid to thee, " I charge 
 thee upon the allegiance which thou owed to me thy 
 Creator and Redeemer, that thou renounce the flefh, 
 the world, and the devil, and turn to me, that thou, 
 mayeft live. I condefcend to intreat thee, as thou, 
 either loved or feared him that made thee : as thou 
 loved thine own life, even thine everlading life, Turn 
 and Live : as ever thou wouldd efcape eternal mifery, 
 Turn, turn, for why wilt thou die ? " And is there a 
 heart in man, in a reafonable creature, that can refufe- 
 f'uch a meffage, fuch a command, fuch an exhortation 
 as this ! O what a thing then is the heart of man ! 
 
 Hearken then, all ye that love yourfclves, and all that 
 regard your own falvation ; here is the joyfulled mef- 
 fage that ever was fent to the ears of man, Turn ye, 
 turn ye, why will ye die ? You are not fhut up under 
 defperation. Here is mercy offered you ; Turn, and 
 you fhall have it. With what joyful hearts (hould you 
 receive thefe tidings ! I know this is not the flrft time 
 that you have heard them ; but how have you regarded 
 them, or how do you regard them now ? Hear, all 
 you ignorant, carelefs iinners, the word of the Lord ? 
 Hear, all ye gluttons, drunkards, whoremongers, and 
 fwearers ; railers and backbiters, danders and liars : 
 Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ? 
 
 Hear, all ye cold, and outlide profeffors, all that are 
 ftrangers to the life of Chrid, and never knew the 
 power of his refurreflion, never felt your hearts warm- 
 ed with his love j Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ? 
 
 Hear 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. pj 
 
 Hear, all that are void of the love of God, whofe 
 hearts are not toward him, nor taken up with the hope9 
 of glory, but let more on earthly profperity and delights, 
 than on the joys of heaven ; all you that are religious 
 but by the by, and give God no more than your fleih 
 can fpare ; that have not denied yourfelves, and for- 
 faken all that you have for Chrift; but have fome one 
 thing in the world fo dear to you, that you cannot 
 fpare it for him, but will rather venture on his difplea- 
 fure than forfake it, Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye 
 die. 
 
 If you never heard it, or obferved it before, Re- 
 member that you were told from the word of God this 
 day, that if you will but turn, you may live; and if 
 you will not turn, you fhall furely die. 
 
 What now will you do? \\ hat is your refolution ? 
 Will you turn, or will you not ? Halt no longer be- 
 tween two opinions: if the Lord be God, follow him; 
 if your fleih be God, then ferve it flill. If heaven be 
 better than earth, come away and leek a better coun- 
 try, and lay up your treafure where ruft and moths do 
 not corrupt, or thieves break through and ileal ; and 
 with all your might, feek the kingdom that cannot be 
 moved: employ your lives on a higher defign, and 
 turn the dream of your care and labours another way 
 than formerly you have done. But if earth be letter 
 than heaven, then keep it, and make your bed of it, 
 and follow it ftill. Are you refolved what to do? If 
 you be not, I will fet a few more confidcrations before 
 you. 
 
 Confider, firfl, What preparations mercy has made 
 for your falvation : and what pity it is that any man 
 fhould be damned after all this. God has made to thee 
 a free act. of oblivion, and a free deed of gift of Chrift 
 and life, and offers it to thee, and intreats thee to ac- 
 cept it, and it may be thine if thou wilt. For, he was 
 in Chi ill reconciling the world unto himfelf, and hath 
 committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Sinners, 
 we are commanded to deliver this meflage to you alL, 
 as from the Lord, Come, for all things are now ready, 
 Luke xiv. 17. Are all things ready, and are you un- 
 ready ? God is ready to pardon all that you have done 
 againft him, if you will hut come. As long as you 
 have finned, as wilfully as you have fumed, as hcin- 
 
 oufly 
 
|) A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 oufly as you have finned, he is ready to caft all behind 
 his back, if you will but come. Though you have 
 been prodigals, and run away from God, and have Maid 
 fo long, he is ready to meet you, and embrace you in 
 his arms, if you will but turn. Even the fwinifh drunk- 
 ards may find God ready to bid them welcome, if they 
 will but come. Does not this turn thy heart within 
 thee ? O (inner, if thou have an heart of flefh; and 
 not of (tone, methinks this fhould melt it. Shall the 
 dreadful infinite Majefty of heaven wait for thy re- 
 turning, and be ready to receive thee, who hail abufed 
 him, and forgotten him fo long ? Shall he delight in 
 thy converlion, who might at any time glorify his juf- 
 tice in thy damnation, and yet does it not melt thy heart 
 within thee, and art thou not yet ready to come in ? 
 I!a(l thou not as much reafon to be ready to come, as 
 God has to invite thee, and bid thee welcome ? 
 
 Chrift has done his part on the Crofs, and made fuch 
 way for thee to the Father, that on his account thou 
 inayeft be welcome, if thou wilt come. And yet art 
 thou not ready ? 
 
 A pardon is already exprefsly granted, and offered 
 thee in the gofpel. And yet art thou not ready ? 
 
 The Minifters of the gofpel are ready to ailift thee, 
 to inftru£r. thee", and pronounce peace to thy foul ; they 
 are ready to pray for thee, and to feal thy pardon by 
 the adminiftration of the holy facrament, and yet art 
 thou not ready ? 
 
 Yea, Heaven itfelf is ready: the Lord will receive 
 thee into the glory of his faints, as vile a bead as thou 
 haft been, if thou wilt but be cleanfed : thou mayft 
 have a place before his throne : his angels will be ready 
 to guard thy foul to the place of joy, if thou do but 
 unfeignedly come in. And is God ready, the facrifice 
 of Chrift ready, and pardon ready? Are miniitcrs 
 ready, and heaven itfelf reacjy, and angels ready, and 
 all thefe waiting for thy converfion ; and yet art thou 
 not ready ? What not ready to live, when thou haft 
 been dead fo long ? Not ready to come to thy right 
 underftanding, when thou haft been befides thyfelf fo 
 long ? Art thou not ready to lay hold on Chrift, who 
 would deliver thee, when thou art even ready to drown 
 and fink into damnation ? Art thou not ready to be 
 laved from hell, when thou art ready to be caft into 
 
 it? 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 35 
 
 it ? Alas, man ! doft thou know what thou doft ? If 
 thou die unconverted, there is no doubt to be made of 
 thy damnation : and thou art not fure to live an hour : 
 and yet art thou not ready to turn, and to come in ? O 
 miferable wretch ! haft thou not ferved the flefh and 
 the devil long enough ? Haft thou not yet enough of 
 fin ? Is it fo good to thee, or fo profitable for thee ? 
 Doft thou know what it is, that thou wouldft yet have 
 more of it ? Haft thou had fo many calls, and fo 
 many mercies, and fo many blows, and fo many ex- 
 amples : haft thou feen fo many laid in the grave, and 
 yet art thou not ready to let go thy fins, and come to 
 Chrift? What, after fo many convictions, and gripes 
 of confeience, after fo many purpofes, and promifes, 
 art thou not yet ready to turn and live ? O that thy 
 eyes, thy heart were opened to know how fair an offer 
 is now made to thee ! and what a joyful meffage it is 
 that we are fent on, to bid thee come, for all things are 
 ready. 
 
 2 a Con fide r alfo what calls thou haft to turn and 
 live. How many, how loud, how earneft, how dread- 
 ful, and yet what encouraging joyful calls? 
 
 For the principal inviter, it is God himfeif. He that 
 commands heaven and earth, commands thee to turn, 
 and now without delay, to turn : he commands the fun 
 to run its courfe, and to rife upon thee every morning; 
 and though it is fo glorious a creature, yet it obeys him, 
 and fails not one minute of its appointed time. He 
 commands all the planets, and the orbs of heaven, and 
 they obey ; he commands the lea to ebb and flow, and 
 the whole creation to keep its courfe, and all obey him: 
 the angels of heaven obey his will, when he fends them 
 to minifter to fuch filly worms as we on earth. And 
 yet if he command but a finner to turn, he will not 
 ©bey him : he only thinks himfeif wifer than God, and 
 he cavils and will not obey. 
 
 If thou hadft any love in thee thou wouldft know 
 the voice and fay, O this is my Father's call i how can 
 I find in my heart to difobey ? If thou h:;dft any fenfe 
 in thee, at leafi. thou wouldft fay, This call is the dread- 
 ful voice of God, and who dare difobey ? God is not 
 a man that thou fhouldft trifle and play with him: 
 wilt thou yet go on, and defpife his word, and rcfifb 
 his Spirit, and flop thine ear againft his call ? Who 
 
 is 
 
3? A Call to the Unconverted: 
 
 is it that will have the woift of this ? Dofl thou know 
 whom thou difobeyeft, and contended with, and what 
 thou art doing ? It were a far wifer and ealier tafk for 
 thee to contend with the thorns, and fpurn them with 
 thy bare feet, and beat them with thy bare hands, or 
 put thy head into the burning fire. Be not deceived, 
 God will not be mocked. Whoever elfe be mocked, 
 God will not : you had better play with the fire in 
 your thatch, than with the fire of his burning wrath. 
 4i For our God is a confuming fire," Heb. xii. 29. O 
 how unmeet a match art thou for God ! " It is a fear- 
 ful thing to fall into his hands," Heb. x. 31. And 
 therefore it is a fearful thing to contend with him, 
 or to refifl him. As you love your own fouls, take 
 heed what you do. What will you fay, if he be^in 
 in wrath to plead with you ? What will you do, if 
 he take you once in hand ? Will you then ftrive 
 againfh his judgment, as now ye do againft his grace ? 
 "Who would fet the briars and thorns againft me in 
 battle ? I would go through them : I would burn them 
 together. Or let him take hold of my ftrength, that 
 he may make peace with me, and he {hall make peace 
 with me." It is an unequal combat for the briars and 
 ftubble to make war with the fire. 
 
 You fee, Who it is that calls you. Conftder alfo, by 
 what inflruments, and how often and how earneflly 
 he does it. 
 
 1. Every leaf of the blefled book of God has as it 
 were a voice, and calls out, < c Turn and live ; turn or 
 thou wilt die." How canft thou open it, or read a 
 leaf, or hear & chapter, and not perceive God bids 
 thee Turn, 
 
 2. The voice of many a motion of the Spirit fe- 
 cretly urges thee to Turn. 
 
 3. The voice of Confcienee. Art thou not fometimes 
 convinced that all is not well with thee ? and does not 
 thy conference tell thee that thou mufl be a new man, 
 and take a new courfe. 
 
 4. The voice of all the works of God. For they 
 alfo are God's books, that teach thee this lelTon, by 
 fhewing thee his greatnefs, and wifdom, and good- 
 nefs, and calling thee to obferve them, and admire 
 the Creator, Pfalm xix. 1, 2. "The heavens declare 
 the glory of God, and the firmament fheweth his 
 
 handy- 
 
A Call to the Unconverted, 37 
 
 handy-work. Day unto clay uttereth fpeech, and night 
 unto night fheweth knowledge." Every time the fua 
 rifes upon thee, it calls thee to turn, as if it fhould fay, 
 "What do I travel and compafs the world for, but to 
 declare to men the glory of their Maker, and to light 
 them to do his work? And do I ftill find thee doing 
 the work of fin, and fleeping out thy life in negli- 
 gence ? Awake thou that fleepeft, and ariie from th<j 
 dead, and Chrift (hall give thee light." 
 
 5. The voice of every mercy thou doft poiTefs. If 
 thou couldft but hear and under ft and them, they all 
 cry unto thee turn : why does the earth beat thee, but 
 to feek, and ferve the Lord ? Why does it afford thee 
 its fruit, but to ferve him ? Why does the air afford 
 thee breath, but to ferve him f Why do all the crea- 
 tures ferve thee with their labours, and their lives : 
 but that thou mightcfl ferve the Lord of them and 
 thee ? Why does he give thee time, and health and 
 ftrength, but to ferve him ? Why haft thou meat, and 
 drink, and clothes, but for his fervice ? Haft thou 
 any thing which thou haft not received ? And if thou 
 didft receive them, it is reafon thou ftiouldft bethink 
 thee, from whom, and to what end, and ufd, thou didft 
 receive them. Didlt thou never cry to him for hcl}> 
 in thy diftrefs? And didft thou not then underftancl 
 that it was thy part to turn and ferve him, if he would 
 deliver thee ! He has done his part, and fpared thee 
 yet longer, and tried thee another, and another year ; 
 and yet doft thou not turn ? How many years has God 
 looked for the fruits of love and holinefs from thee, 
 and has found none ? And yet he has fpared thee. 
 How many a time by thy wilful ignorance, and carc- 
 leffnefs and difobedience, haft thou provoked ju(lir(* 
 to fay, M Cut him down, why cumbereth he the 
 ground." And yet mercy has prevailed, and patience 
 has forborn the killing, damning blow, to this day. 
 If thou hadft the underftanding of a man within 
 thee, thou wouldft know that all this calls thee to 
 Turn, 
 
 6. Moreover, the voice of every afniftion calls thee 
 to make hafte and turn. Sicknefs and pain cry Turn.: 
 and poverty, and lofs of friends, and every charliiing 
 rod cry Turn j and yet wilt thou not hearken to the 
 call ? 
 
 D 7. Yea, 
 
38 
 
 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 7. Yea, thine own engagements by promife to the 
 Lord, call upon thee to turn and ferve him. Thou 
 haft bound thyfelf to him by a baptifmal covenant, 
 and renounced the world, the flefh, and the devil : 
 this thou haft confirmed by the profeffion of chril- 
 tianity, and renewed it at facraments, and in times 
 of affliction : and wilt thou promiie and vow, and 
 never perform and turn to God ? 
 
 Lay all thefe together now. The holy fcripture calls 
 upon thee to Turn ; the Spirit cries Turn : thy con- 
 fcience : the whole world, and all the creatures therein 
 cry Turn : the patient forbearance of God cries Turn: 
 all the mercies thou received cry Turn : the rod of 
 God's chaflifement cries Turn : and fo do all thy 
 promifes to God 4 and yet art thou not refolvcd to 
 *urn ? 
 
 8. Moreover, poor hard-hearted fmner ! Didft thou 
 •ever confider upon what terms thou itandeft all this 
 While with him who calls on thee to Turn : thou art 
 his own, and oweft him thyfelf and all thou haft ; and 
 may he not command his own ? Thou art his abfolute 
 fervant, and fhouldft ferve no other mailer. Thou 
 Handed at his mercy, and thy life is in his hand : and 
 he is refolved to fav.e thee upon no other terms : thou 
 haft many malicious, fpirituai enemies, who would be 
 glad if God would but forfake thee, and let them alone 
 with thee, and leave thee to their will : how quickly 
 %vou>ld they deal with thee in another manner ? And 
 thou canft not be delivered from them, but by turning 
 unto GocL Thou art fallen under his wrath by thy fin 
 already : and thou knoweft not how long his patience 
 will yet wait. Perhaps this is the lafl year j perhaps 
 the la ft day.: his fword is even at thy heart, while the 
 word is in thine ear ; and if thou turn not, thou art 
 a dead man. Were thy eyes but open to fee where 
 thou ftandeft, even upon the brink of hell, and to fee 
 how many thoufands are there already, thou wouldft 
 fee that it is time to look about thee. 
 
 O what glad tidings would it be to thofe that are now 
 in hell, if they had but fuch a mefTage from God 1 
 what a joyful word would it be to hear this, Turn and 
 live: yea, what a welcome word would it be to thy- 
 Jelf, if thou hadft felt that wrath of God but an hour 2 
 Or, if after a thoufand, or ten thouland years tor- 
 ment, 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 39 
 
 mcnt, thou could ft but hear fuch a word from God 
 " Turn and live." And yet wilt thou now neglect it 3 and. 
 fuffer us to return without our errand ? 
 
 Behold, finners, we are fent here as the meflengers- 
 of the Lord, to fet before you life and death : what 
 fay you? which of them will you choofe ? Chrilt 
 fbands as it were by thee, with heaven in one hand, 
 and hell in the other, and offers thee thy choice %■ 
 which wilt thou choofe ? The voice of the Lord maketh 
 the rocks to tremble. But is it nothing to hear him 
 threaten thee, if thou wilt not turn ? Doll thou not 
 underftand and feel this voice, Turn ye, turn ye, why 
 will ye die ? Why, it is the voice of Love, of in- 
 finite Love, of thy beft and kindeft friend; and yet 
 canft thou neglect it ? It is the voice of pity and com- 
 panion. The Lord fees whither thou art going, better 
 than thou dofl, which makes him call after thee. Turn^ 
 Turn ! he fees what will become of thee, if thou turn; 
 not : he thinks with himfelf, Ah, this poor finner will 
 call himfelf into endlcfs torments if he does not turn : 
 I mud in juflice deal with him according to my righ- 
 teous law : and therefore he calls after thee, Turn,, 
 Turn, O finner ! If you did but know the thoufsndtll 
 part as well as God does, of the danger that is near 
 you, and the mifery you are running into, we mould 
 have no more need to call after you to Turn. 
 
 Well, are you yet refolved, or are you not ? Do P 
 need to fay any more to you ? What will you do ? 
 Will you turn or not ? Speak man in thy heart to> 
 God : fpeak, left he take thy filence for denial. Speak, 
 quickly, left he never make thee the like offer more- 
 Speak rcfolvedly, and not waveringly ; for he will- 
 have no indifferents to be his followers. Say in thy 
 heart now without any more delay, even before thou 
 flir hence, By the grace of God I am refolved pre- 
 fently to turn. And becaufe I know mine own in- 
 fufheiency, I am refolved to wait on God for his grace, 
 and to follow him in his ways, and forfake my foimer 
 companions, and give up myfelf to the guidance of the 
 Lord. 
 
 DOCTRINE VI. 
 
 THE Lord condeicends to reafon the cafe with un- 
 converted finners, and to afk them why they will 
 die J D 2 A ftrange 
 
40 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 A ftrange difputation it is, both as to the contro- 
 verfy : and as to the difputants. 
 
 1. The controverfy, or queftion propounded, Why 
 wicked men will damn themfelves ? Or, Why they 
 will rather die than turn ? Whether they have any 
 iufficient reafon for fo doing ? 
 
 2. The difputants are God and man : the molt holy 
 God, and wicked unconveited fmners. 
 
 Is it not a ftrange thing, that any man fhould be wil- 
 ling to die, and be damned ? Yea, that this fhould be 
 the cafe of the greateil part of the world ? But you 
 will fay, This cannot be ; for nature defires the pre- 
 fcrvation of itfelf, 
 
 I anfwer, 1. It is a certain truth that no man can 
 will any evil as evil, but only as it has fome appear* 
 >nce of good. Mifery, as fuch, is defired by none. 
 2. But yet, it is molt true that the caufe why the 
 wicked die and are damned, is becaufe they will die 
 and be damned. And this is true in feveral refpe&s. 
 
 l. They will go the way that leads to hell ; though 
 they are told by God, and man, whither it leads *, and 
 though God has fo often profefled in his word, that if 
 they hold on in that way, they fhall be condemned ; 
 and that they fhall not be faved, unlefs they turn. 
 They have the word, and the oath of the living God 
 for it, that ifjhey will not turn, they (hall not enter 
 into his reft. And yet, wicked they are, and wicked 
 they will be, let God and man fay what they will. 
 So that consequently thefe men are willing to be 
 damned, though not directly : they chufe the way to 
 hell, and love the certain caufe of their torments : 
 though they do not will hell itfelf, and do not love 
 the pain which they mufl endure. 
 
 Is not this the truth of your cafe ? You would not 
 burn in hell ; but you will call yourfelves into it. You 
 would not be tormented with devils for ever, but you 
 will do that which will certainly procure it. It is as if 
 you would fay, I will drink this ratfbane; but I will 
 not die. I will cafl myfelf headlong fr®m the top of a 
 fleeple, yet I will not' kill myfelf: I will thruit this 
 knife into my heart, but I will not take away my life. 
 Juft fo it is with wicked men ; they will be wicked, 
 and yet they would not be damned. But do you not 
 know that God has by his righteous law cgncluded that 
 
 you 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 41 
 
 you muft repent or perifh ? He that will take poifon, 
 may as well fay plainly, I will kill myfelf ; for it will 
 prove no better in the end ; though perhaps he loved 
 it for the fweetnefs of the fugar that was mixt with it, 
 and would not be perfuaded that it was poilbn ; but it 
 is not his conceit and confidence that will fave his life. 
 So if you will be drunkards, or fornicators, or world- 
 lings, or live after the flefh, you may as well fay plainly, 
 we will be damned : for fo you mail be, unlefs you turn* 
 Would you not rebuke the folly of a thief, or murderer, 
 that would fay, I will Ileal or kill, but I will not ba 
 hanged, when he knows if he do the one, the Judge 
 will fee that the other be done ? If he fay, I will fteal 
 and murder, he may as well fay plainly, I will be hang- 
 ed ; and if you will go on in a carnal life, you may as 
 well fay plainly, We will go to hell. 
 
 2. Moreover, The wicked will not ufe thofe means, 
 without which there is no hope of their falvation. He 
 that will not eat, may as well fay plainly he will not 
 live, unlefs he can tell how to live without meat. He 
 that will not go his journey, may as well fay plainly, 
 he will not come to the end of it. He that falls into 
 the water, and will not come out, or fuffer another to 
 help him out, may as well fay plainly, I will be drown- 
 ed. So if you be ungodly, and will not be converted, 
 or ufe the means by which you fhould be converted, 
 you may as well fay plainly, you will be damned. For 
 if you have found out a way to be laved without con- 
 verfion, you have done that which was never done 
 before. 
 
 So that you may fee on what ground it is that God 
 fuppofes that the wicked will their own deflruttion ; 
 they will not turn, though they mud turn or die ; they 
 will rather venture on certain mifery, than be convert- 
 ed ; and then to quiet themfelves in their fins, they 
 make themfelves believe that they fhall neverthelefs 
 efcape. 
 
 3. And as this controverfy is matter of wonder, fo 
 are the difputants too. That God fhould ftoop fo low, 
 as thus to plead the cafe with man ; and that men mould 
 be fo ttrangcly blind, and obftinate, as to need all this 
 in fo plain a cafe, yea, and to refift all this, when their 
 Dwn ialvation lies upon the iffue, 
 
 V 3 No 
 
4t A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 No wonder if they will not hear us, who arc men, 
 when they will not hear the Lord himfelf : as God fays, 
 Ezek. iii. 7, when he lent the prophet to the Ifraelites, 
 The houfe of Ifrael will not hearken unto thee ; for 
 they will not hearken unto me : for all the houfe of 
 Ifrael are impudent, and hard-hearted. But, Woe unto 
 him (faith the Lo:d) that ftrivcth with his Maker! Let 
 the potfherd drive with the potfherds of the earth : fhall 
 the clay fay to him that fafhioneth it, What makeft 
 thou ? Ifa. xlv. 9. 
 
 USE. 
 
 WHAT fayefl thou, unconverted wretch ? Dareft 
 thou venture upon a difpute with God ? Art 
 thou able to confute him ? Art thou ready to enter the 
 lifts ? God afks thee, Why wilt thou die ? Art thou 
 furnifhed with a fufficient anfwer ? Wilt thou under- 
 take to prove that God is miftaken ? O what an un- 
 dertaking is that ? Why, either he or you is miftaken, 
 when he is for your converfion, and you are againfl it ; 
 he calls upon you to turn, and you will not ; he bids 
 you do it prefently, even to-day, while it is called to- 
 day, and you delay, and think it time enough here- 
 after. He fays it mufl be a total change, and you mufl 
 be holy, and new creatures ; and you think it is enough 
 to patch up the old man, without becoming new. 
 Who is in the right now ? God, or you ? God calls 
 •n you to turn, and to live a holy life, and you will 
 not ; by your difobedient lives, it appears you loill 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 reafon for it, that is worthy to be 
 called a reafon ? 
 
 It can be no good reafon which is againfl the God of 
 truth. That cannot be light which is contrary to the 
 fun. There is no knowledge in any creature, but what 
 it had from God ; and therefore none can be wifer 
 than God. It were damnable prefumption for the 
 higheft angel to compare with his Creator: what is it 
 then for a lump of dirt, an ignorant fot, that knows 
 riot himfelf, nor his own foul, that knows but little of 
 
 the 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 43 
 
 the things which he fees, to fct himfelf again ft the 
 wifdom of the Lord ? It is one of the fulleft dif- 
 coveries of the horrible wickednefs, and the ftark- 
 madnefs of finners, that fo filly a mole dare con- 
 tradict his Maker, and call in quefbion the word of 
 God. 
 
 And as I know that God mull needs be in the right, 
 fo I know the cafe is fo palpable which he pleada 
 againft, that no man can have reafon for it. Is it pof- 
 fible that a man can have any reafon to break his maf- 
 ter's laws? Reafon to difhonour the Lord of glory? 
 Reafon to abufe the Lord that bought him ? Is it pof- 
 fible that a man can have any good reafon to damn his 
 own immortal foul ? Mark the Lord's queflion, Turn 
 ye, turn ye, why will ye die ? Is eternal death a thing 
 to be dcfircd ? Are you in love with hell ? What 
 reafon have you, wilfully to periih ? If you think 
 you have fome reafon to lin, ihould you not remember 
 that Death is the wages of fin ? And think whether 
 you have any reafon to undo yourfelves, body and foul 
 for ever. You fhould not only afk whether you love 
 the adder, but whether you love the lling ? Is it fuch 
 a thing for a man to call away his everlafting happi- 
 ncfs, that no good reafon can be given for it : but the 
 more any one pleads for it, the madder he fhews him- 
 felf to be. Had you a lordfhip, or a kingdom offered 
 you for every fin that you commit, it were not reafon, 
 but madnefs to accept it. Could you by every fin ob- 
 tain the higheft thing on earth, that flelh defires, it 
 were of no considerable value to perfuade you to com- 
 mit it. If it were to pleafe your greatefl or dcareit 
 friends, or to obey the greatclt Prince on earth, or to 
 fave your lives, or to efcape the greateft earthly mifery ; 
 all thefe are of no confide,ration, to draw a man to the 
 committing of one fin. If it were a right hand, or a 
 right eye that would hinder your falvation, it is the 
 gatnfulleft way to cut it off, or pluck it out. For there 
 is no faving a part, when you lofe the whole. So ex- 
 ceeding great are the matters of eternity, that nothing 
 in this world deferves to be named in comparifon with 
 them ; nor can any earthly thing, though it were life, 
 or crowns, or kingdoms, be a reasonable excufe for the 
 neglcft of matters or everlafting confequence. Heaven 
 is luch a thing, that if you loie it, nothing can fupply 
 
 the 
 
44 A Call to the Unconverted 
 
 the want, or make up your lofs : and hell is fuch a 
 thing, that if you fuffer it, nothing can remove your 
 mifery, or give you eafe and comfort. And there- 
 fore nothing can be a valuable confideration to ex- 
 cufe you for neglefting your own falvation : What 
 fhall it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lofe 
 his own foul ? 
 
 O that you did but know what matters they are 
 which we are now fpeaking of! There is never a foul 
 in hell but knows, "by this time, that it was a mad ex- 
 change to let go heaven for flefhly pleafure ; and that 
 it is not a little mirth, or pleafure, or worldly riches, 
 or honour, that will make him a faver that lofes his 
 foul. 
 
 If you fee a man put his hand into the fire till it 
 burn off, you will marvel at it ; but this is a thing 
 which a man may have reafon for ; as Bifhop Cranmer 
 had. when he burnt off his hand for fubferibing to 
 Popery. If you fee a man cut off a leg, or an arm, 
 it is a fad fight ; but this is a thing that a man may 
 have a good reafon for : as many a man does, to favc 
 his life. If you fee a man give his body to be burnt 
 to afhes, and refufe deliverance when it is offered ; 
 this is a hard cafe to flefh and blood : but this a man 
 may have good reafon for, as many hundred'Martyrs 
 have done. But for a man to run into the fire of hell ; 
 this is a thing which can have no reafon in the world 
 to juftify it. For heaven will pay for the lofs of any 
 thing we can lofe to get it, or for any labour which 
 we beftow for it. But nothing can pay for the lofs of 
 heaven. 
 
 I befeech you now let this word come nearer to your 
 hearts. As you are convinced that you have no reafon 
 to deflroy yourfelves, tell me what reafon you have to 
 refufe to turn and live to God ? What reafon has the 
 mod ignorant, carelefs finner of you all, that he fhould 
 not be as careful for his foul as any other ? Will not 
 hell be as hot to you as to others ? Should not your 
 own fouls be as dear to you as theirs to them ? Has 
 not God as much authority over you ? Why then 
 will you not become a fanftified people^ as well as 
 they? 
 
 And now either you have reafon for what you do, 
 i>r you have not, If not; will you go on againft rea- 
 fon 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 45 
 
 fon itfelf ? But you think you have ; reafon the cafe 
 a little with me your fellow-creature, which is far 
 eafier than to reafon the cafe with God. » Tell mc, 
 man, here before the Lord, as if thou wert to die this 
 hour, why fhouldft thou not refolve to turn this day, 
 before thou ftir from the place thou ftandeft in ? What 
 reafon haft thou to deny, or to delay ? Haft thou any 
 reafon that fatisfies thine own conscience for it ? Or 
 any that thou dareft plead at the bar of God ? If thou 
 haft, let us hear them, bring them forth. But alas, 
 what npnfcnfe, inflead of reafons, do we daily hear 
 from ungodly men ? 
 
 1. One fays, "If none fhall be faved but fuch fanc- 
 tified ones as you talk of, heaven will be but empty : 
 God help a great many." 
 
 What ! It feems you think that God does not know, 
 or el(e that he is not to be believed ! Meafure not all 
 by yourfelves ; God has thoufands and millions of his 
 fanftificd ones : but yet they are few in comparifon of 
 the world. It better becomes you to make that ufe of 
 this truth which Chrift teaches you : " Strive to enter 
 in at the ftrait gate ; for ftrait 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 leadeth to deftruftion, and many they be 
 that go in thereat.'* 
 
 Object.. 2. " I am furc, if fuch as I go to hell, we fhall 
 have ftore of company." 
 
 Anfw. And will that be any cafe, 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 threatenings, 
 kecaufe there are fo many that are guilty ? 
 
 Object. 3. " But I am no whoremonger, nor drunkard, 
 nor opprelfor ; and therefore why fhould you call upon 
 mc to be converted. '* 
 
 Anfw. As if you were not born after the flefh, and 
 had not lived after the flefh as well as others ! Is it 
 not as great a fin as any of thefe, for a man to have 
 an earthly mind, and to love the world above God, 
 and to have an unbelieving, unhumbled heart ? Nav, 
 let me tell you more, that many perfons who avoid 
 difgraceful fins, are as faft glued to the world, and as 
 much f:avcs to the flefh, and as great Itrangers to God, 
 
 and 
 
4fi A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 and avcrfe to heaven, as others are in their more fliame- 
 ful notorious fins. 
 
 Object. 4. M But I mean nobody any harm, nor do any 
 harm ; and why then mould God condemn me ? m 
 
 Anfw. Is it no harm to negleft the Lord that made 
 thee, and the work for which thou earned into the 
 world, and to prefer the creature before the Creator, 
 and to neglett grace which is daily offered thee ? It 
 is the depth of thy finfulnefs to be fo infenfible of it : 
 the dead feel not that they are dead. If once thou 
 wert alive, thou wouldft fee enough amifs in thyfelf, 
 and marvel at thyfelf for making fo light of it. 
 
 Objeft. 5. " I think you would make men mad, under 
 pretence of converting them." 
 
 Anfw. 1. Can you be madder than you are already ? 
 Or at leaft can there be a more dangerous madnefs, 
 than to neglect your everlafting welfare, and will undo 
 yourfelves ? 
 
 A man is never well in his wits till he be converted ; 
 he never knows God. nor knows fin, nor knows Chrift, 
 nor knows the world, nor himfelf, nor what his bufi- 
 nefs is on earth, fo as to fet himfelf about it. It is a 
 wife world, when men will run into hell for fear of 
 being out of their wits. 
 
 2. What is there in the work which Chrift calls you 
 to, that fhould drive a man out of his fenles ? Is it 
 the loving God, and calling upon him, and thinking 
 of the glory to come, and the forfaking our fins, and 
 loving one another, and delighting ourfelves in the 
 fervice of God ? Are thefe fuch things as make men 
 jnad? 
 
 3. And whereas you fay that thefe matters are too 
 high for us; are the matters which we are made for, 
 and which we live for, too high for us to meddle with ? 
 This is plainly to un-man us, and to make beads of us, 
 as if we were like them that mufl meddle with no 
 higher matters than what belong to flefh and earth. If 
 heaven be too high for you to think on, it will be too 
 high for you ever to poflefs. 
 
 4. If God fhould fometimes fuffer any weak-headed 
 perfons to be diflrafted by thinking of eternal things ; 
 this is becaufc they mifunderftand them, and run with- 
 out a guide. But of the two, I had rather be in the 
 cafe of fuch a one, than in that of the mad uncon- 
 verted 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 47 
 
 Verted world, who take their diftraclion to be their 
 wifdom. 
 
 Object. 6. " I do not fee that it goes any better with 
 thofe who are fo godly, than with other men. They 
 are as poor, and in as much trouble as others.'* 
 
 Anfw. And perhaps much more'fo, when God feea 
 it meet. They take not earthly profperity for their 
 wages. They have laid up their treafure in another 
 world, or elfe they are not chnftians. The lefs they 
 have, the more is behind j and they are content to wait 
 till then. 
 
 Obje£l. 7. " When you have faid all that you can, I 
 am refblved to hope well, and trufl in God, and do as 
 well as I can, and not make fo much ado." 
 
 Anfw. 1. Is that doing as well as you can, when 
 you will not turn to God, but your heart is againft 
 his holy fervice ? It is as well as you will indeed ; but 
 that is your mifery. 
 
 2. My defire is, that you fhould hope in God : but 
 for what is it that you will hope ? Is it to be faved, 
 if you turn and be fanftified ? For this you have 
 God's promife ; and therefore hope for it, and fparc 
 not. But if you hope to be faved without converfion ; 
 this is not to hope in God, but in Satan. For God has 
 given you no fuch p.romife, but told you the contrary : 
 but it is Satan that made you fuch promifes, and railed 
 you to fuch hopes. 
 
 What fay you, unconverted finners ? Have you 
 any good reafon to give, why you fhould not turn, and 
 prefently turn with all your hearts? Or will you go 
 <o hell in defpite of reafon itfelf ? Confider what you 
 do in time, for it will fhortly be too late to confider. 
 Can you find any fault with God, or his work, or 
 wages ? Is he a bad matter ? Is the devil whom you 
 ferve, a better ? Is there any harm in a holy life ? 
 Is a life of ungodlinefs better ? Do you think in your 
 •confeiences that it would do you any harm to be con- 
 verted, and live a holy life ? What harm can it do 
 you ? Is it harm to you to have the Spirit of Chriit 
 within you ? And to have a purified heart ? Is it 
 «vil to be like God? Is it not faid that God made 
 man in his image ? Why, this holinefs is his image : 
 this Adam loll, and this Chriit by his word and fpirit 
 would reftore to you, as he does to all that will be 
 
 faved. 
 
48 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 faved. Tell me truly, as before the Lord; though 
 you are loth to live a holy life, had not you rather die 
 in the cafe of thofe that do fo, than of others? If 
 you were to die this day, had not you rather die in 
 the cafe of a converted man, than of the unconverted ? 
 Of a holy, and heavenly man, than of a carnal, earthly 
 man ? And would you not fay as Balaam, Numb, xxiii. 
 10, " Let me die the death of the righteous, and let 
 my lall end be like his?" And why will you not now 
 be of the mind which you will be of then ? Firfl, or 
 lad, you mufl come to this ; either to be converted, or 
 to wifh you had been, when it is too late. 
 
 But what is it that you are afraid of lofing, if you 
 turn ? Is it your friends ? You will but change them : 
 God will be your Friend, and Chrift, and the Spirit, 
 will be your Friend, and every Chriftian will be your 
 Friend. You will get one friend that will {land you 
 in more ftead than all the friends in the world could 
 have done. The friends you lofc would but have en- 
 ticed you to hell, but could not have delivered you ; 
 but the friends you get will favc you from hell, and 
 bring you to eternal reft. 
 
 Is it your pleafures that you are afraid of lofing? 
 You think you fhall never have a merry day again, if 
 once you be converted. Alas, that you mould think 
 it a greater pleafure to live in foolifli fports and merri- 
 ments, than live in the love of God, and in righteouf- 
 nefs, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghoft. If it be 
 a greater pleafure to you to think of your lands and 
 inheritance (if you were Lord of all the country) than 
 it is to a child to play for pins ; why fhould it not be a 
 greater joy for you to think of the kingdom of heaven 
 being yours, than of all the riches or pleafures of the 
 world ? I have had myfelf but a little tafte of the 
 heavenly pleafures in the fore-thoughts of the blcfled 
 tlay, and in the prefent perfuafion of the Love of God 
 in Chrift; but 1 have taken too deep a draught of 
 earthly pleafures ; and yet I mufl profefs from that 
 little experience, that there is no comparifon : there 
 is more joy to be had in a day (if the Sun of life fbine < 
 clear upon us) in the ftate of holinefs, than in a whole 
 life of finful pleafures. It is but your unfanciified na- 
 ture, that makes a holy life feem grievous to you. If 
 you will turn, the Holy Ghoft will give you another 
 
 nature, 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 49 
 
 nature, and then it will be more pleafant to you to be 
 rid of your fin, than now it is to keep it : and you 
 will then fay, that you knew not what a comfortable 
 life was till now, and that it was never well with you 
 till God and holinefs were your delight. 
 
 DOCTRINE VII. 
 
 IF after all this, men will not turn, it is not the fault 
 of God that they are condemned, but of themfelves, 
 even their own wilfulnefs. They die becaufe they will 
 die. that is, becaufe they will not turn. 
 
 If you will go to hell, what remedy ; God here ac- 
 quits himfelf of your blood : it (hall not lie on him, 
 if you be loft. A negligent Minifler may draw it upon 
 himfelf; and thofe that encourage you, or hinder you 
 not in fin, may draw it upon themielvcs ; but be lure 
 of it, it (hall not lie upon God. The Lord fays, con- 
 cerning his unprofitable vineyard, Ifa. v. 3, 4, *' Judge, 
 I pray, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could 
 have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not 
 done in it ? " What could he have done more ? He 
 has made you men, and endued you with reafon ? He 
 has furnifhed you with all external neceffarics, all 
 creatures are at your fervice ; he has given you a righ- 
 teous perfect law. When you had broke it, and un- 
 done yourfelvcs, he had pity on you, and fent hh Son 
 by a miracle of condefcending mercy to die for you, 
 and be a facrifice for your fins, and he was in Chriifc 
 reconciling the world unto himfelf. The Lord Jefus 
 has made you a deed of gift of himfelf, and eternal life 
 with him, on the condition you will but accept it, and 
 return. He has on this reafonable condition offered 
 you the free pardon of all your fins ; he has written 
 this in his word, and fealed it by his Spirit, and fent 
 it you by his Minifters : they have made the offer to 
 you an hundred, and an hundred times, and called 
 you to accept it, and turn to God. They have in his 
 Name intreated you, and rcefoned the cafe with you, 
 and anfwered all your frivolous objections. He has 
 long waited on you, and flayed your leifure, and fuf- 
 fcred you to abui'e him to his face. lie has mercifully 
 fuftairjed you in the midlt of your fins : he has com- 
 pared you about with all forts of mercies; he has alio 
 intermixed afilittions to remind you of your foil/, and 
 E call 
 
£o A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 rail you lo your fenfes : and his Spirit has been often 
 ftriving with your hearts, and faying, "Turn, finner, 
 mm to him that calls thee? Whither art thou going? 
 "What art thou doing ? Doft thou know what will be 
 the end ? How long wilt thou hate thy friends, and 
 love thine enemies? When wilt thou let go all, and 
 turn, and deliver up thvfelf to Cod, and give thy Re- 
 deemer the pofleiTion of thy foul ? When {hall it once 
 be? " Thefc pleadings have been ufed with thee. And 
 when thou haft delayed, thou haft been urged to make 
 hafte, and God has called to thee, " To-day, while it is 
 called to-day, harden not your heart : "• Why not now 
 without any more delay ? Life has been fet before 
 you ; the joys of heaven have been opened to you in 
 the gofpel ; the certainty of them has been manifeited : 
 the certainty of the everlafting torments of the damned 
 has been declared to you. Unlcfs you would have had 
 a iight of heaven and hell, what could you have de- 
 iued more ? Chrift has been, as it were, fet forth 
 crucified before your eyes. You have been a hundred 
 times told, that you are but loft men till you come to 
 him : as often you have been told of the evil of fin, 
 of the vanity of fin, the world, and all the pleafures 
 and wealth it can afford; of the (hortnefs and uncer- 
 tainty of your lives, and the endlefs duration of the 
 joy, or torment of the life to come. All, this, and 
 more than this you have been told, and told again ; 
 and though all this has not converted you, yet you are 
 alive, and might have mercy this day, if you had but 
 hearts to entertain it. And now let Reafon itfelf be 
 judge : whether it be the fault of God or you, if after 
 all this you will be unconverted and be damned ! If 
 you die now, it is becaufe you will die. What could 
 be faid more to you ? Or what courie can be taken, 
 that is likelier to prevail ? Are you able to fay, and : 
 make it good, We would fain have been converted, 
 and become new creatures, but we would not ; we 
 would have fain forfaken our fins, but could not ; we 
 would have changed our company, and our thoughts, 
 and our difcourfe, but we could not. Why could you 
 riot, if you would? What hindered you but the 
 wickednefs of your hearts? Who forced you to fin ? 
 Or who held you back from duty ? Did God put in 
 any exception* againft you in his word, when he in- 
 vited 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 5* 
 
 vited Tinners to return ; and when he promifed mercy 
 to thoie who do return ? Did he fay, <; I will pardon 
 all that repent except thee ? " Did he (hut you oux 
 from the liberty of his holy worfhip ? Did he foibid 
 you to pray to him any more than others ? You know 
 he did not. God did not drive you away from him, 
 but you ran away yourfelves. And when he called 
 you to him, you would not come. If God had ex- 
 cepted you out of the general promife and offer of 
 mercy ; or had faid to you, " Stand off, I will have 
 nothing to do with fuch as you, pray not to me, for I 
 will not hear you : if you repent ever fo much, and 
 cry for mercy ever fo much, I will not regard you : " 
 then you had a fair excufe. You might have faid, " To 
 what end fhould I repent and turn, when it will do 
 no good ? " But this was not your cafe. You might 
 have had Chriit. to be your Lord and Saviour, your 
 Head and Hufband as well as others, and you would 
 not, becaufe you felt not yourfclf fick enough for the 
 Phyiician ; and becaufe you could not (pare your diU 
 eafe ; in your hearts you faid as thofc rebels, Luke xix. 
 14, "We will not have this man to reign over us." 
 Chrift would have gathered you under the wings of 
 his falvation, and you would not. What defiies of 
 your welfare did the Lord exprefs in his holy word ? 
 With what companion did he fland over you and fay„ 
 w O that my people had hearkened unto mc, and that 
 they had walked in my ways ! O that there were fuck 
 a heart in this people, that they would fear me, and 
 keep all my commandments always, that it might be 
 well with them, and with their children for ever ! O 
 that they weie wife, that they undcrftood this ! And 
 that they would confider their latter end ! " He would 
 have been your God, and done all for you that your 
 fouls could defire : but you loved the world and your 
 ficlh above him, and therefore you would not heafken 
 to him : though you complimented with him, and 
 gave him high titles, yet when it came to the clofing, 
 you would have none of him. No marvel then, if 
 He gave you up to your own hearts lulls, and you 
 walked in your own counfels. He condelccnds to 
 rcalon, and pleads the cafe with you, and aiks you 
 u What is there in me, or my fe.rvice, that you fhould 
 be fo much again ft me i What harm have I done thee } 
 E 2 fmneri 
 
5* A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 finner ! Have I defervcd this unkind dealing at thy 
 hand ! Many mercies have I (hewed thee ; for which 
 of them doft thou thus dcfpife me ? Is it I, or is it 
 Satan, that is thy enemy ? Is it I, or is it thvfelf, 
 th?t would undo thee. ? Is it a holy life, or a life of 
 fin wl ich thou haft caufe to fly from ? If thou be 
 urdone, thou procured this to thyfelf, by forfaking 
 me the Lord that would have faved thee." * s Do ye 
 thus requite the Lord, O foolifh people, and unwife ? 
 Is he not thy Father that hath bought thee ? Ka.h he 
 n t made thee, and eftablifned thee ? " Dent, xxxii. 6. 
 When he faw that you forfook him even tor nothing, 
 and turned away from your Lord, to hunt after the 
 chaff and feathers of the world, he told you of your 
 folly, and called you to a more profitable employment, 
 Ifa. lv. 2. 3, " Wherefore do ye fpend money for that 
 Which is not bread, and your labour for that which 
 fatisrieth not ? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye 
 that which is good, and let your foul delight itfelf in 
 fatnefs. Incline your ear, and come unto me : hear, 
 and your foul fhall live; and I will make an ever- 
 Jafting covenant with you, even the fure mercies of 
 David." And when you would not hear, what com- 
 plaints have you put him to, charging it on you as 
 your wilfulness and (tubbornnefs ! " Be aitomfhed, O 
 ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid.— For my 
 people have committed two evils : they have forfaken 
 me the Fountain of living waters: and hewed them 
 out cifterns, broken ciiierns that can hold no water.*' 
 Many a time has Chrift proclaimed the free invitation 
 to you, Rev. xxii. 17, " Let him that is athirit, come : 
 and wholoever will, let him take the water of life 
 freely*" But you oblige him to complain after all his 
 offers, ° They will not come unto me that they may 
 have life," John v. 40. He has invited you to a featfc 
 with him in the kingdom of his grace ; and you have 
 had excufes from your grounds, and your cattle, and 
 your worldly hufinefs, and when you would not come, 
 you faid you could not : and provoked him to refolve, 
 that you ftiould never tafte of his fupper. And whofe 
 fault is it now but your own ? And what can you fay 
 is the chief caufe of your damnation, but your own 
 Wills ? You would be damned. 
 
 USE. 
 
A Call to the Unconverted, 53 
 
 U S E. 
 
 I. TT'R.OM hence you may fee, not only what blaf- 
 Jl phemy and impiety it is, to lay the blame of 
 men's deftru&ion upon God; but alfo how unfit thefe 
 wicked wretches are to bring in fuch a charge againfl: 
 their Maker. They cry out againfl God, and Fay, He 
 gives them not grace, and his threatenings are fevcre, 
 and God forbid that all fhouhi be damned that are not 
 converted ; and they think it hard mcafure that a fhort 
 fin fhould have an endlefs fuffering: and if they be 
 damned, they fay, they cannot help it : when, in the 
 mean time, they are bufy about their own deltruction, 
 even cutting the throat of their own fouls, and will 
 not be perfuaded to hold their hands. They think God 
 would be cruel, if he fhould damn them : and yet they 
 are fo cruel to themfelves, that they will run into the 
 fire of hell, when God has told them it is a little be- 
 fore them : and neither intreaties nor threatenings, nor 
 any thing that can be faid, will (top them. We fee 
 them almoft undone : their carelefs, worldly lives tell 
 us that they are in the power of the devil ; we know 
 if they die before they are converted, all the world 
 cannot fave them : and knowing the uncertainty of 
 their lives, we are afraid every day left they drop into 
 the fire. And therefore we intrcat them to pity their 
 own fouls, and not to undo themfelves when mercy is 
 at hand ; and they will not hear us. We intrcat them 
 to cafl away their fin, and come to Chrift without de- 
 lay, and to have fome mercy on themfelves ; but they 
 will have none. And yet they think, that God muit 
 be cruel, if he- condemn them. O wilful, wretched 
 iinncrs ! It is not God that is cruel to you ; it is you 
 that are cruel to yourfelves. You are told you muit 
 turn or burn, and yet you turn not. You are told that 
 if you will keep your fins, you fhall keep the curfe of 
 God with them; and yet you will keep them. You 
 are told that there is no way to happinefs but by holi- 
 nefs, and yet you will not be holy. What would you 
 have God fay more to you ? What would you have 
 him do with his mercy ? He offers it you, and you 
 will not have it. You are in the ditch of fin and 
 miiery, and he would give you his hand to help you 
 E 3 out, 
 
 , 
 
54 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 out, and you refufe his help : he would cleanfe you 
 from your fins, and you would rather keep them. 
 Would you have him bring you to heaven, whether 
 you will or no ? Or would you have him bring you 
 ?nd your fins to heaven together? Why, that's an 
 impombility ; you may as well expeft he fhould turn 
 the fun into darknefs. What ! an unfanctified heart 
 be in heaven? It cannot be: ''There nothing en- 
 tereth that is unclean," Rev. xxi. 27. "All the day 
 long hath he flretched out his hand to a difobedient 
 and gain-faying people." What will you do now? 
 Will you cry to God for mercy? Why God calls 
 upon you to have mercy upon yourfelves, and you 
 will not. Minifters lee the poifoned cup in the drunk- 
 ard's hand, and tell him, There is poifon in it, and 
 defire him to have mercy on his foul, and forbear, and 
 he will not hear us: drink it he muft and will: he 
 loves it, and therefore though hell comes next, he fays 
 he cannot help it. What fhould one fay to fuch men 
 as thefe ? We tell the ungodly, " It is not fuch a life 
 that will ferve the turn, or ever bring you to heaven. 
 If a bear was at your back, you would mend your 
 pace : and when the curfe of God is at your back, and 
 Satan and hell are at your back, will you not ftir, but 
 afk, what needs all this ado ? Is an immortal foul of 
 no more worth? O have mercy upon. . yourfelves ! " 
 But they will have no mercy on themfelves. We 
 tell them, the end will be bitter. Who can dwell with 
 everlafting fire ? And yet they will have no mercy 
 upon themfelves. And will thefe fhamelefs wretches 
 fay, that God is more merciful than to condemn them ? 
 When it is themfelves that cruelly run upon condem- 
 nation, and we cannot flop them. If we fall down 
 on our knees to them, we cannot Hop them ; but to 
 hell they will go, and yet will not believe that they 
 are going thither. If we beg of them for the fake of 
 God that made them, and preferves them ; for the 
 fake of Chrift who died for them ; for the fake of 
 their own poor fouls, to pity themfelves, and go no 
 further in the way to hell, but come to Chrifl while 
 his arms are open, and enter into the ftate of life 
 while the door Hands open, and now take mercy, 
 while mercy may be had ; they will not be perfuaded. 
 And yet they fay, We hope God will be merciful. 
 
 Did 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 55 
 
 Did you never confider what he fays, Ifa. xxvii. 11. 
 " It is a people of no underftanding ; therefore he that 
 made them will fhew them no favour." If another 
 man will not clothe you when you are naked, and feed 
 you when you are hungry, you will fay he is unmer- 
 ciful. If he fhould caft you into prifon, or beat and 
 torment you, you would fay he is unmerciful. And 
 yet you will do a thoufand times more againft your- 
 felves, even caffc away both foul and body for ever, 
 and never complain of your own unmercifulnefs. Yea, 
 and God, who waited upon you all the while with his 
 mercy, muft be taken to be unmerciful, if he punifh 
 you after all this. Unlefs the holy God of heaven 
 will give thefe wretches leave to trample upon his 
 Son's blood, and do defpite to the Spirit of grace, and 
 fet more lightly by faving mercy, than by the filth of 
 their flefhly pleafures ; and unlefs after all this he will 
 fave them by the mercy which they call away, God 
 himfelf muft be called unmerciful. But he will be 
 juftified when he judgeth : and he will not ftand or 
 fall at the bar of a finful worm. 
 
 2. From hence you may obferve, 1. What a fubtil 
 tempter Satan is. 2. What a deceitful thing fin is. 
 3. What a foolifh creature corrupted man is. A fubtil 
 tempter indeed, that can periuade the greateft part of 
 the world to go wilfully into everlafting fire, when 
 they have fo many warnings and difTuafives. A de- 
 ceitful thing is fin indeed, that can bewitch fo many 
 thoufands to part with everlafting life, for a thing fo 
 bafe and utterly unworthy ! A foolifh creature is man, 
 that will be cheated of his falvation for nothing, yea, 
 for a known nothing; and that by an enemy, and a 
 known enemy. You would think it impoflible that 
 any man fhould be perfuaded for a little to caft him- 
 felf into the fire, or water, to the deftru&ion of his 
 life ; and yet men will be enticed to caft themfelves 
 into hell. If your natural lives were in your own 
 hands, fo that you fhould not die till you would kill 
 yourfelves, how long would molt of you live ? And 
 yet when your everlafting life is fo far in your own 
 hands under God, that you cannot be undone till you 
 undo yourfelves, how few of you will forbear your 
 own undoing ? Ah, what a filly thing is man • And 
 "what a bewitching and befooling thing is fin ! 
 
 Laflly; 
 
56 
 
 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 Laflly : you may hence learn, that the greatefl enemy 
 to man is himfelf ; and the greatefl: judgment in this 
 life that can befal him, is to be left to himfelf: and 
 that the great work which grace has to do, is to fave us 
 from ourfelves : and the greatefl; complaints of men 
 ttiould be againfl themfelves ; and that the greatefl 
 work that we have to do ourfelves, is to refill: our- 
 felves; and the greatefl enemy which we fhould daily 
 pray, and watch, and ftrive againfl, is our own hearts 
 and wills; and the greatefl part of your work, if you 
 would do good to others, and help them to heaven, is 
 to lave them from themfelves, even from their own 
 blind understandings, and corrupted wills, and perverfe 
 affecT.ions, and violent paflions, and unruly fenfes ; I 
 only name all thefe for brevity's fake, and leave them 
 to your further confideration. 
 
 Well, now we have found out the great murderer of 
 fouls, (even men's felves, their own wills) what re- 
 mains but that you confefs this great iniquity before the 
 Lord, and be humbled for it, and do fo no more ? To 
 thefe three ends diflinftly, I (hall add a few words 
 more. i. Further to convince you. 2. To humble 
 you. And 3. To reform you. 
 
 1. We know fo much of the exceeding gracious na- 
 ture of God who is willing to do good, and delights to 
 fhew mercy, that we have no reafon to fufpeel him 
 of being the caufe of our death, or to call him cruel. 
 He made all good, and he preiei ves and maintains all ; 
 the eyes of all things wait upon him, and he gives 
 them their meat in due fcafon ; he opens his hand, and 
 fatisfies the defires of all the living. He is not only 
 righteous in all his ways, (and therefore will deal juflly) 
 and holy in all his works, (and therefore not the author 
 of fin) but he is alfo good to all ; and his tender mercies 
 are over all his works. 
 
 But as for man, we know his mind is dark, his will 
 is perverfe, his affections carry him fo headlong, that he 
 is fitted by his folly and corruption tofuch a work as the 
 deftroying of himfelf. " Let no man fay 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 fin) but every man is tempted, when he is 
 drawn away of his own lull, and enticed. Then when 
 iuft hath conceived, it bringeth forth ftnj and fin when 
 
 it 
 
A Call to the Unconverted 57 
 
 it is finifhed, bringeth forth death." You fee here that 
 fin is the brat of your own concupifcence, and that 
 death is the offspring of your own fin. and the fruit 
 which it will yield you as foon as it is ripe. You have 
 a treafure of evil in yourfelvcs, as a fpider hath of 
 poifon, from whence you are bringing forth hur f to 
 yourfelves, and fpinning fuch webs as entangle your 
 own fouls. 
 
 2. It is evident that you are your own dcitroyers, in 
 that you are fo ready to entertain any temptation that is 
 offered. Satan is fcarce readier to move you to any 
 evil, than you are ready to do as he would have you. 
 If he would tempt your underflanding to error and 
 prejudice, you yield. If he would hinder you Frojti 
 good refolutions, it is foon done. If he would kindle 
 any vile affeftion or defire in you, it is foon done : if he 
 would drive you on to evil thoughts, or deeds, you are 
 fo free, that he needs no fpur: if he would keep you 
 from holy thoughts, and words, and ways, a little doe* 
 it, you need no curb. You examine not his fuggettions, 
 nor refiif. them with any relolution, nor caff; them out 
 as he cads them in, nor quench the fparks when he en- 
 deavours to kindle ; but let in with him, and meet him 
 half way, and embrace his motions, and tempt him to 
 tempt you. 
 
 3. Your deftru&ion is evidently owing to yourfelves, 
 in that you refill all who would help to fave you. God 
 would help and fave you by his word, and you refill it; 
 it is too drier, for you. He would fan£tify you by his 
 Spirit, but you re lift and quench it. If any man re- 
 prove you for your fin, you fly in his face; if he tell 
 -you of your danger, you give him little thanks, but 
 either bid him look to himfelf, or at belt put him off 
 with heartlefs thanks. 
 
 4. Moreover, it is apparent, that you are felf- deft rov- 
 ers, in that you draw the matter of your fin and de- 
 ftruftion even fiomthe bleffed God himfelf. You like 
 not the contrivances of his* wifdom : you like not his 
 juftice, but take it for cruelty ; you like not his holi- 
 nefs, but are ready to think he is fuch a one as your- 
 felves, Pfal. 1. 21, and makes as light of fin as you: 
 you like not his truth, but would have his threatenings, 
 even his peremptory threatenings prove falfc. And 
 his goodnefs, which you feem moil highly to approve, 
 
 you 
 
5*3 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 you partly refift, as it would lead you to repentance; 
 and partly abufe, to the ftrengthcning of your fin, as 
 if you might the more freely fin, becaufe God is mer- 
 ciful. 
 
 5. Yea, you fe:ch deltru&ion from the blefled Re- 
 deemer, and dearh from the Lord of Life himfclf. No- 
 thing more emboldens you in fin, than that Chrifl has 
 died for you ; as if now the danger of death were over, 
 and you might boldly venture : as if Chrifl were be- 
 come a fervant to Satan, andmufl wait upon you while 
 you are abufing him. And becaufe he is become the 
 Phyfician of fouls, and is able to fave to the uttermofl 
 el] that come to God by him; you think he mull fave 
 you whether you will come to God by him or no. So 
 that a great part of your fins are occafioned by your 
 bold prefumption upon the death of Chrifl. 
 
 6. He gives them to you as the tokens of his love, 
 and furniture for his ferviee, and you turn them again fl 
 him to the pleafmg of your flefh. You eat and drink 
 to pleafe your appe.ite, and not for the glory of God. 
 Your clothes you abufe to pride. Your riches draw 
 your hearts from heaven. Your honours and applaufe 
 puff you up. If you have health and flrength, it 
 makes you more fecure. Yea, other men's mercies are 
 abufed by you to your hurt. If you fee their honours 
 and dignity, you are provoked to envy them. If you 
 fee their riches, you are ready to covet them. If you 
 look upon beauty, you are flirred up to lull. And it is 
 well if godlinefs be not an eye- fore to you. 
 
 7. The very gifts which God bellows on you, and 
 the ordinances of grace, you turn to fin. If you have 
 better parts than others, you grow proud and felf-con- 
 ceited. You take the bare hearing of your duty for fo 
 good a work, as will excufe you for not obeying it. 
 Your prayers are turned into fin, becaufe you regard 
 iniquity in your hearts, Pfal. lxvi. 18, and depart not 
 from iniquity, when you call on the name of the Lord. 
 Your prayers are abominable, becaufe you turn away 
 your ear from hearing the law, Prov. xxviii. 9. And 
 are more ready to offer the facrifice of fools, ^thinking 
 you do God fome fpecial ferviee) than to hear his woid, 
 and obey it, Ecclef. v. 1. 
 
 And thus I might ihew you in many other cafes, how 
 you turn all that comes near you to your own de- 
 
 ftruciioh ; 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 59 
 
 ftrufHon ; fo clear is it that the ungodly are felf-de- 
 ftroyers, and that their perdition is of themfelves. 
 
 Methtnks, now, upon the consideration of what is 
 faid, and the review of your own ways, you fhould 
 confidcr what you have done, and be afhamed and 
 deeply humbled. If you be not, I pray you confidcr 
 thefe following truths. 
 
 1. To be your own deftroyers, is to fin againfl the 
 deeped principle in your natures, even the principle 
 of felf-prefcrvation. Every thing naturally defires its 
 ©wn welfare or perfection. And will you fet your- 
 felves to your own dcftruclion ? When you are com- 
 manded to love your neighbours as yourfelves, it is 
 fuppofed that you naturally love yourfelves : but if you 
 love your neighbours no better than yourfelves, it fcems 
 you would have all the world damned. 
 
 2. How extremely do you crofs 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 yourfelves, by gratifying the defires of 
 your fleih. But, alas, it is as a draught of cold water in 
 a burning fever, which increafes the difeafe. If in- 
 deed you would have pleafure, profit, or honour, feek 
 them where they are to be found, not in the way to 
 hell. 
 
 3. What pity is it that you fhould do that againfl: 
 yourfelves, which none elfe in earth or hell can do. 
 If all the world were combined againfl: you, or all the 
 devils in hell, they could not deltroy you without 
 yourfelves. And will you do that againffc yourfelves, 
 which no one elfe can do ? You have hateful thoughts 
 of the devil, becaufe he is your enemy, and endeavours 
 your deflruclion. And will you be worfe than devils 
 to yourfelves ? But thus it is with you, when you run 
 into fin, and refufc to turn to the c<:ll of God ; you do 
 more againfl your own fouls, than men or devils could 
 do befide. And if you fhould fet yourfelves to do your- 
 felves the greatelt mifchief, you could not devife a 
 greater. 
 
 4. It will everlaflingly make you your own tormen- 
 tors in hell, to think that you brought yourfelves wil- 
 fully to that mifery. O what a griping thought it will 
 be to think with yourfelves, That this was your own 
 doing ! That you were warned of this day, and warned 
 
 again, 
 
60 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 again, but it would not do : that you wilfully finned, 
 and wilfully turned away from God : you had time as 
 well as others, but you abufed it : you had teachers as 
 well as others, but you lefufed their inftruftions ; you 
 had holy examples, but you did not imitate them ; you 
 were offered Chriit, and grace, and glory as well as 
 others, but you preferred your flefhly pleafure ; you had 
 a price in your hands, but you hod not an heart to lay it 
 out. Can it choofe but torment you to think of this 
 your folly? O that your eyes were opened to fee what 
 you have done in the wilful wronging of your own 
 fouls ! and that you better underftood thefe words of 
 Cod, Prov. viii. 33, 34, 35, 36, " Hear inftruction and 
 be wife, and refuie it not. BleiTed is the man that 
 heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the 
 pods of my doors. For whofo findeth me, findethlife, 
 and ihall obtain the favour of the Lord. But he that 
 finneth againft me, wrongeth his own foul: all they 
 that hate me, love death." 
 
 conclusion: 
 
 AND, now I am come to the conclufion of this 
 work, myheait is troubled to think how I {hall 
 leave you: left, after this, the flefli fliould Hill deceive 
 you, and the world and the devil fhould keep you 
 aileep, and I fliould leave you as I found you, till you 
 awake in hell. Dear friends! I am fo loth \ou ftiould 
 lie in everlafting fire, that I once more afk you what 
 you refolve on ? Will you turn or die ? As far as you 
 are gone in fin, do but now turn and come to Chrift, 
 and vour fouls {hall live. If it were your bodies which 
 we had to deal with, we might know what to do for 
 you, Though you would not conlent, you might be, 
 held or bound, wlile the medicine was poured down 
 your throats, and hurtful things might be kept from 
 you. But about your fouls it cannot be fo ; we cannot 
 convert you againll your wills. There is no carrying 
 mad-men to heaven in fetters. You may be condemned 
 againft your wills, becaufe you finned with your 
 wills: but you cannot be faved againil your wills. 
 The wifdom of God has thought meet to lay man's fal- 
 vation or deflruction exceeding much upon the choice 
 of hi r own will; that no man (hall go to heaven who 
 chutes not the way to heaven ; and no man ihall go.to 
 
 hell, 
 
A Call to the Unconverted, 6"i 
 
 hell, but fhall be forced to fay, I have the thing I 
 chofe; my own will did bring me here. Nov. 
 could but get you to be willing, to be thoroughly and 
 refolutely willing, the work were more than half done. 
 And, alas, mull we lofe our friends, and mud they lofe 
 their God, their happinefs, their fouls, for want of 
 this ? I do again befeech you^ as if it were on my 
 bended knees, that you would hearken to your Re- 
 deemer, and Turn, that you may live. All you that 
 have lived in ignorance, and careleiTnefs, and pre- 
 emption to this day : all you that have been drowned 
 in the cares of the world; and have no defire after 
 God, and eternal glory ; all you that are enflaved to 
 your flefhly defires, of meats, and drinks, fports, and 
 lufts : and all you that know not the neceflity of holi- 
 nefs, and never were acquainted with the fanclifying 
 work of the Holy Ghoit upon your fouls ; that never 
 embraced your bleffed Redeemer by a lively faith, and 
 with admiring and thankful apprehenfions of his love, 
 and that never felt a higher estimation of God and 
 heaven, and a heartier love to them, than to the things 
 below : I earneflly befeech you, not only for my fake, 
 but for the Lord's fake, and for your foul's fake, that 
 you go not one day longer in your prefent condition ; 
 but look about you, and cry to God for converting 
 grace, that you may efcape the plagues which are before 
 you. Deny me any thing that ever I (hall afk you for 
 myfelf, if you will but grant me this. Nay, as ever 
 you will do any thing at the requefl 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 fhall 
 grant him. As ever you would have him hear your 
 prayers, and grant your requefls, and blefs you at the 
 hour of death, and day of judgment, deny not his re- 
 quell now in the day of your profperity. O believe 
 it, death and judgment, and heaven and hell, are 
 other matters when you come near them, than they feem 
 afar off. 
 
 Well, I hope that fome of you are by this time pur- 
 pofing to turn and live ; and that you are ready to afk 
 me, as the Jews did Peter, when they were pricked in 
 their hearts, What fhall we do ? How may we come to 
 be truly converted ? We are willing, if we did but 
 know our duty. God forbid that we fhould chufe de- 
 F flru&ion, 
 
£i A Call to the Unconverted: 
 
 ftruclion, by refilling converfion, as hitherto we have 
 done. 
 
 If thefe be the purpofes of your hearts, I fay of you 
 as God did of a promifing people, Deut. v. 28, 29, 
 •«« They have well laid, all that they have fpoken. O 
 "that there were fuch a heart in them, that they would 
 fear me, and keep all my commandments always ! " 
 Your purpofes are good : O that there were but a heart 
 in you to perform thefe purpofes ! And, in hope hereof, 
 I fhall gladly give you direction what to do : and that 
 but briefly, that you may the eafier remember it for 
 your practice. 
 
 DIRECTION I. 
 
 IF you would be converted and faved, labour to un« 
 derftand the neceffity and nature of converfion. 
 
 Confider what a lamentable condition you are in till 
 your converfion, that you may fee it is not a flate to be 
 refted in. You are under the guilt of all the fins that 
 ever you committed ; and under the wrath of God, and 
 the curfe of his law : you are bond-Haves to the devil, 
 and daily employed in his work, againft the Lord, 
 yourfelves, and others : you are fpiritually dead, 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 pleafing to God. You are with- 
 out any promife oraflurance of his protection, and live 
 in continual danger of his juftice, not knowing what 
 hour you may be fnatched away to hell : and mod cer- 
 tain to be damned, if you die in that condition. And 
 nothing fhort of converfion can prevent it. Whatever 
 amendments are fhort of true converfion, will never 
 procure the faving of your fouls. Keep the true fenfe 
 of this natural mifery, and of the neceffity of conver- 
 fion on your hearts. And then you muff, understand 
 what it is to be converted: it is to have a new heart, 
 or difpofition, and a new converfion. 
 
 Queft. 1. For what muft we turn ? 
 
 Anfw. For thefe ends following, which you may at- 
 tain : you fhall hereby be made living members of 
 Chrift, and have an intereft in him, and be renewed 
 after the image of God, quickened with a new and 
 Jieavenly life, and faved from the tyranny of Satan, and 
 £he dominion of Tin, and be justified from the curfe of 
 
 the 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. 63. 
 
 the law, and have the pardon of all the fins of your 
 whole lives, and be accepted of God, and made his 
 fons, and have liberty with boldnefs to call him Father,. 
 and go to him by prayer in all your wants, with a pro- 
 mife of acceptance ; you fhall have the Holy Ghoft to 
 dwell in yoa, to fanctify and guide you : you fhall have 
 part in the communion, and prayers of the faints: you 
 fhall be fitted for God's fervice ; and fhall have the 
 promife of this life, and that which is to come. 
 
 And, at death, your fouls fhall go to Chrift ; and at 
 the day of judgment both foul and body fhall be juftified 
 and glorified, and enter into your Mailer's joy. 
 
 All this the pooreft beggar of you that is converted^ 
 fhall certainly and endlefsly enjoy. 
 
 DIRECTION IK 
 
 IF you will be converted and faved, be much in fecrer, 
 ferious confideration. Inconfideratenels undoes the 
 world. Withdraw yourfelvcs often into fecrefy, and 
 meditate on the end for which you were made ; on the 
 life you have lived ; the time you have loft, the fins you 
 have committed ; on the love, and fuffcrings and ful- 
 nefs of Chrift: on the danger you are in ; on the near- 
 nefs of death and judgment; and on the certainty 
 and excellency of the joys of heaven; and on the cei • 
 lainty and terror of the torments of hell, and eternity 
 of both; and on the neceifity of converfion and a holy 
 life. 
 
 DIRECTION III. 
 
 IF you will be converted and faved, attend upon the 
 word of God, which is the ordinary means. Read 
 the Scripture, or hear it read, and other holy writings, 
 which do apply it, conftantly ; and attend on the pub- 
 lic preaching of the word. As God will lighten the 
 world by the fun, and not by himfelf alone without it : 
 fo will he convert and fave men by his minifters, who 
 are the lights of the world. When he has miraculoufly 
 humbled Paul, he fends Ananias to him, Acts ix. 10 ; 
 and when he has fent an angel to Cornelius, it is but to 
 bid him fend for Peter, who muft tell him what he is to 
 believe and do, 
 
 F 2 D I R E C- 
 
64 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 DIRECTION IV* 
 
 BETAKE yourfelves to God in a courfe of earned:, 
 conftant prayer. Confefs and lament your former 
 lives, and beg his grace to illuminate and convert you. 
 Befeech him to pardon what is pail, and to give you 
 his Spirit, and change your hearts and lives, and lead 
 you in his ways, and fave you from temptation. And 
 ply his work daily, and be not weary of it. 
 
 DIRECTION V. 
 
 PRESENTLY give over your known and wilful fins. 
 Make a ftand, and go that way no farther. Be 
 drunk no more : but avoid the place and occafion of it. 
 Caft away your luits and finful pleafures with detef- 
 tation. Curfe and fwear and rail no more : and if you 
 have wronged any, reftore as Zaccheus did. If you 
 will commit again your old fins, what blefllng can you 
 expeel on the means for conveifion ? 
 
 DIRECTION VI. 
 
 PRESENTLY, if poflible, change your company. 
 Not by forfaking your neceffary relations, but your 
 unneceflary finful companions ; and join yourfelves 
 with thofe that fear the Lord. 
 
 DIRECTION VII. 
 
 DELIVER up yourfelves to the Lord Jefus as the 
 Phyfician of your fouls, that he may pardon you 
 "by his blood, and fanciify you by his Spirit, by his 
 Word and Minifters, the inftruments of his 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 faved," Afts iv. 12. Study therefore his 
 perfon and nature, and what he has done and fuffered 
 lor you, and what he is to you ; and what he will be : 
 and how he is fitted to the full fupply of all your ne- 
 ceflitics. 
 
 DIRECTION VIII. 
 
 IF you mean, indeed, to turn and live, do it 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 
 
A Call to the Unconverted. €g 
 
 this while in your blood ; under the guilt of many 
 thoufand fins, and under God's wrath, and you ftand 
 at the very brink of hell ; there is but a ftep between 
 you and death. And this is not a cafe for a man to be 
 quiet in. Up therefore prefently, and fly for your 
 lives ; as you would be gone out of your houfe, if it 
 were all on fire over your head. O, if you did but 
 know what danger you live in, and what daily un- 
 fpeakable lofs you do fuftain, and what a fafer and 
 fweeter life you might live, you would not {land tri- 
 fling, but prefently turn. Multitudes mifcarry who 
 wilfully delay, when they are convinced that it muft 
 be done. Your lives are fhort and uncertain ; and 
 what a cafe are you in, if you die before you thoroughly 
 turn ? You have Hayed too long already ; and wronged 
 God too long ; fin gets ftrength and rooting, while you 
 delay. Your converfion will grow more hard and doubt- 
 ful . You have much to do, and therefore put not all 
 off to the laft, left God forfake you, and give you up 
 to yourfelves, and then you are undone for ever. 
 
 DIRECTION IX. 
 
 TF you will turn and live, do it unrefervedly, abfo- 
 JL lutely, and univerfally. Think not to capitulate 
 with Chrift, and divide your heart betwixt him and 
 the world ; and to part with fome fins, and keep the 
 reft. This is but felf-deludihg ; you muft forfake all 
 you have, or elfe you cannot be his Difciples, Luke 
 xiv. 26. 33. If you will not take God and heaven for 
 your portion, and lay all below at the feet of Chrift, 
 but muft needs alfo have your good things here, and 
 have an earthly portion, and God and glory is not 
 enough for you ; it is in vain to dream of falvation on 
 thefe terms: for it will not be. If you feem ever fo 
 religious, if yet it be but out fide righteoufnefs, this is 
 as certain a way to death, as open profanenefs, though 
 ii be plaufible. 
 
 DIRECTION X. 
 
 IF you will turn and live, do it refolvedly, and ftand 
 not Mill deliberating, as if it were a doubtful cafe. 
 Stand not wavering, as if you were yet uncertain, 
 whether God or the flefh be the better mafter ; or 
 Whether heaven or hell be the better end : or whether 
 
 fin 
 
66 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 fin or holinefs be the better way. But away with your 
 former luits, and prefently, habitually, fixedly refolve ; 
 be not one day of one mind, and the next of another, 
 but be at a point with all the world, and refolvedly 
 give up yourfelves and all you have, to God. Now, 
 while you are reading or hearing this, refolve. Before 
 you Qeep another night, refolve. Before you ilir from 
 the place, refolve. Before Satan have tiwe to take you 
 off, refol M e. You never turn indeed, till you dp re- 
 folve ; and that with a firm, and unchangeable Refo- 
 lution. 
 
 And now I have done my part in this work, that you 
 may turn at the call of God, and live. What will be- 
 come of it, I cannot tell. I have caft the feed at God's 
 command : but it is not in my power to give the in- 
 creafe. I can go no farther with my meffage : I cannot 
 bring it to your heart, or make it work : I cannot do 
 your parts for you, to entertain it. I cannot do God'5 
 part by opening your heart to caule you to entertain it: 
 nor can I fhew you heaven or hell to your eye-fight, nor 
 give you new and tender hearts. 
 
 But, O thou that art the gracious Father of Spirits, 
 thou haft fworn thou delighteft not in the death of the 
 wicked, but rather that they turn and live ; deny not 
 thy bleffing to thefe perfuafions and directions, and 
 fuffer not thine enemies to triumph in thy fight, and 
 the great Deceiver of fouls to prevail againft thy Son, 
 thy Spirit, and thy Word. O pity poor, unconverted 
 finners, that have no hearts to pity or help themfelves : 
 command the blind to fee, the deaf to hear, and the 
 dead to live, and let not fin and death be able to refill 
 thee. Awake the fecure : refolve the unrefolved : con- 
 firm the wavering ; and let the eyes of finners that read 
 thefe lines, be next employed in weeping over their 
 fins ; and bring them to themfelves, and to thy Son, 
 before their fin have brought them to perdition. If 
 thou fay but the word, thefe poor endeavours fhall prof- 
 per to the winning of many a foul to their everlaiting 
 Joy, and thine everlafting Glory. Amen, 
 
 An 
 
( 6 7 ) 
 
 An HYMN. 
 
 AND am I born to die ? 
 To lay this body down ? 
 And mud my trembling fpirit fly 
 Into a world unknown ? 
 A land of deeped fliado, 
 Unpierced by human thought ! 
 The dreary regions of the dead, 
 Where all things are forgot I 
 
 Soon as from earth I go, 
 
 What will become of me ? 
 Eternal happinefs or woe 
 
 Mud then my portion be ! 
 
 Wak'd by the trumpet's found, 
 
 I from my grave (hall rife, 
 And fee the Judge with glory crown'd, 
 
 And fee the flaming flues ! 
 
 How (hall I leave my tomb ? 
 
 With triumph or regret ? 
 A fearful, or a joyful doom ? 
 
 A curfe, or blefling meet? 
 
 Will angel-bands convey 
 
 Their brother to the bar ? 
 Or devils drag my foul away 
 
 To meet its ientence there ? 
 
 Who can refolve the doujbt, 
 
 That hovers in my bread ? 
 Shall I be with the damn'd cad out ; 
 
 Or number'd with the bled ? 
 
 I mud from God be driven, 
 
 Or with my Saviour dwelj, 
 Mud come at his command to heaven, 
 
 Or elfe depart to hell. 
 
 O thou. 
 
( 68 ) 
 
 thou, that wouldft not have 
 One wretched (inner die, 
 
 "Who diedft thyfelf my foul to fave 
 
 From endlefs mifery ! 
 
 Shew me the way to fhun 
 
 Thy dreadful wrath fevere, 
 That, when thou comefl on thy throne^ 
 
 1 may with joy appear 1 
 
 Thou art thyfelf the way, V 
 
 Thyfelf in me reveal ; 
 So fhali I fpend my life's ftiort day 
 
 Obedient to thy will ; 
 
 So fhall I love my God, 
 
 Becaufe he firll lov'd me* 
 And praife thee in thy bright abode, 
 
 To ail eternity. 
 
 f I N J S. 
 

 -4T'.