f^fy^7/ _
THE
PRACTICAL WORKS
REV. RICHARD BAXTER.
THE
>■
PRACTICAL WORKS
THE REV. RICHARD BAXTER:
A UFE OF THE AUTHOR,
AND
A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF HIS WRITINGS,
BY THE
REV. WILLIAM ORME,
Al'THOR OF " THE LIFK OF JOHN OWEN, D.D.j" "bIBLIOTHECA BIBLICA," ETC
VOL. VIL
IN TWENTY-THREE VOLUMES.
LONDON:
JAMES DUNCAN, 37, PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCXXX.
I
1 I
LONDON:
PRINTED BY MILLS, JOWETT, AND MILLS,
BOLT-COURT, FLEET-STREET.
THE
PRACTICAL WORKS
REV. RICHARD BAXTER.
VOLUME VII.
CONTAINING
A TREATISE OF CONVERSION; A CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED j
NOW OR NEVER.
I
VOL. Vll
RICHARD EDWARDS, CRANE COURT, FLEET STREET, LONDON.
CONTENTS
OF
THE SEVENTH VOLUME.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Preface * • iii
Introduction 13
The Text explained 15
How Conversion, Repentance, Regeneration, Vocation, Sanc-
tification, agree or differ 18
What an unconverted state is, and what Conversion is, ac-
tively and passively taken 22
The first part of Conversion is the change of the mind,
1 . From ignorance, by illumination 24
2. From inconsiderateness to sober consideration 25
3. From unbelief to true believing 26
4. It healeth their errors about God, and the necessary mat-
ters of salvation 28
The second part of Conversion is on the heart or will, which
hath,
1 . A new inclination and complacency 32
2. New intentions or ends 38
3. New choice of means j 1. Principal, Christ and his Spirit 44
2. Subservient j as,
(I.) Confession of sin, with godly sorrow 51
(2.) Earnest prayer to God- 55
(3.) The word read or heard 59
(4.) The communion of saints 63
4. The will hath new resolutions 67
5. The next part is in new affections, which are,
(1.) A new love and hatred 71
(2.) New desires and aversion 72
(3.) New delight and sorrow 73
(4.) New hope and despair 76
(5.) New courage and fear 78
(6.) New anger 81
(7.) New content and discontent * 85
Conversion makes men to become as children : in humility,
teachableness, and beginning the world anew 87
Conversion changeth the life, which,
1 . Beginneth with a holy covenant with God, described . . 98
CONTENTS-
PAGE
2. Sin is actually forsaken, and cast away 104
3. Even omissions : the man hath another work to do. . . . 109
4. A new tongue followeth a new heart Ill
5. And new company, usually. 114
6. Conversion makes men compassionate the unconverted 1 15
CHAPTER II.
That none but the Converted can be saved, is proved,
1 . From express words of Scripture 120
2. By Scripture reasons :
1. From Christ's office 122
2. From the drift of the Gospel 125
3. From the work of the ministry 126
4. From God's providences 127
5. From all men's duty ................ 1 138
Quest. Are there not many born of godly parents, baptized,
and well educated, and that need no Conversion ? Answered 129
Reasons: 1. From God's absolute dominion and will 131
2. From man's state, and God's government 132
3. From God's nature 134
4. From God's offer, and their refusal of salvation 136
5. Frorh the flat impossibility 139
CHAPTER III.
I
Use 1 . There is a heaven to be obtained 141
2. Of examination : whether you are converted. Reasons
moving hereto 143
Things to be inquired after 151
Signs of an unconverted person 154
3. For awakening, and humbling the unconverted 1^6
CHAPTER IV.
THE MISERY OF THE UNCONVEKTED.
1. They are no children of God, and members of Christ. ... 151
2. They have no hope of salvation till converted I64
3. No sin pardoned iqj
4. They are satan's slaves I70
5. They please not God • 174
6. Are in continual danger of hell 181
7. No cause of one hour's peace and true comfort 182
8. Their many warnings will multiply their misery 184
9. The further they go the worse 186
,10. Lose a hfe of blessedness, which they might have 18/
CONTENTS. V
CHAPTER V.
THE BENEFITS OF CONVERSION,
PAGE
1. To be delivered from the power of satan 190
2. United to Christ 193
3. A member of the catholic church 195
4. All sin pardoned ibid.
5. Reconciled to God » -^ » 197
6. Adopted sons of God 198
7. Have the Spirit of Christ 199
8. The promises are theirs ibid.
9. All their service pleaseth God 200
10. Angels attend them ' 01
11. Communion with the church 202
12. Christ's intercession 205
13. All things are theirs, and work for their good • • • 208
14. In a safe case to die 210
15. The heirs of glory, which they shall possess 211
16. The new life is the happy beginning of everlasting life,
and peace, and joy 215
17. No evil canbefalhim, which may be a sufficient reason to
lay by these joys 218
18. The further they go, the greater their happiness 222
19. Conversion makes men useful to others ••••.... 225
20. It rejoiceth the angels, and Christ himself 226
A persuasion on the foregoing grounds 228
CHAPTER VI.
A Use of Exhortation ; set on by ten questions 230
CHAPTER VII.
THE HINDRANCES OF CONVERSION, WITH DIRECTIONS CONTRARY TO
THEM.
Hindrance 1. The wilful neglect of means, where the cavils
against the means are answered 25 1
Hindrance 2. Bad company 262
Hindrance 3. Gross ignorance of those truths that should
be the instruments of conversion 265
Hindrance 4. Unbelief * 270
Hindrance 5. Inconsiderateness 272
Hindrance 6. Hardness of heart 274
Hindrance 7- The great esteem and interest of the world* • • • 283
Hindrance 8. Custom in sin, subduing reason to the flesh* • • • 286
Hindrance 9. Foolish self-love, cherishing presumption and
false hopes 288
Hindrance 10. Counterfeit graces, or hulf-conversion, occa-
sioning self-deceit 290
vi CONTENTS.
PAGE
Hindrance 11. Living among strong temptations and occasions
of sin 291
Hindrance 12. The scandalous lires, and many opinions of
professors 293
Hindrance 13. The ill education of children 295
Hindrance 14. Striving against the Spirit of grace 297
Hindrance 15. Unresolved ness, and half-purposes 298
Hindrance 16. Delay 302
Hindrance 17. When good beginnings are not followed on • • 304
Hindrance 18. A misunderstanding of some Scriptures, and
erroneous thoughts of God's ways. As 1 . Mistaking the na-
ture of Conversion. 2. Thinking sanctification is but acon-
ceit. 3. Or that godliness is more ado than needs : an-
swered in twelve questions. 4. Trusting to their own good
meaning, and works. 5. Misunderstanding particular pro-
mises : as that '' Whoever believeth, calleth on the name
of the Lord," &c. '' shall be saved." 6. False thoughts of
predestination, and God's grace. 7.111 conclusions from
men's impotency. 8. And from the unprofitableness of our
willing and running. 9. And from God's hardening. 10.
Placing holiness in mere opinions and siding. 1 1 . False con-
ceits against ordinances: 1. Family duties. 2. Against
joining with our assemblies, on pretence of their pollution :
of our no-ministry : no-baptism. 3. Against singing Psalms 304
Hindrance 19. A proud, unteachable frame of Spirit 323
Hindrance 20. Wilful obstinacy 324
Conclusion 325
A CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED
TO TURN AND LIVE.
A PREFACE to the Unsanctified, exhorting themto Turn ) and
answering some objections cccxxxiii
The text opened 355
Doct. I. It is the unchangeable law of God that wicked men
must Turn or Die 357
Proved , 358
Object. God will not be so unmerciful as to damn us : Answered 359
Use 362
Who are wicked men, and what Conversion is ; and how we
may know whether we are wicked or converted 363
Applied 369
Doct. II. It is the promise of God that the wicked shall live if
they will but turn j that is, unfeignedly and thoroughly turn 378
Proved 380
Doct. III. Godtaketh pleasure in men's conversion and salva-
tion ; but not in their death or damnation. He had rather
they would Turn and Live, than go on and Die : Expounded 383
Proved 386
CONTENTS. vii
PAGE
Doct. IV. The Lord hath confirmed it to us by his oath, that he
hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he Turn
and Live : that he may leave man no pretence to doubt of it. 389
Use. Who is it then that takes pleasure in men's sins and
death ? Not God, nor ministers, nor any good men . . 390
Doct. V. So earnest is God for the Conversion of sinners, that he
doublethhis exhortations with vehemency,"Turn ye,turnye.** 394
Applied 396
Some motives to obey God's call and Turn 397
Doct. VI. The Lord condescendeth to reason the case with
unconverted sinners, and to ask them why they will Die. 406
A strange disputation. 1 . For the question. 2. The disputants ibid.
Wicked men will die, or destroy themselves ibid.
Use. The sinner's cause is certainly unreasonable 409
Their seeming reasons confuted 414
Doct. VII. If after all this, men will not Turn, it is not long of
God that they are condemned, but of themselves, even of
their own wilfulness. They Die because they will Die,
that is, because they will not Turn 425
Use 1 . How unfit the wicked are to charge God with their
damnation. It is not because God is unmerciful, but
because they are cruel and merciless to themselves 430
Object. We cannot convert ourselves j nor have we freewiU.
Answered 434
2. The subtlety of satan j the deceitfulness of sin j and the
folly of sinners manifested 435
3. No wonder if the wicked would hinder the conversion
and salvation of others ibid.
4 . Man is the greatest enemy to himself . , .;-*^.i; . ...... 436
Man's destruction is of himself, proved . .» vu/ irr ibid.
The heinous aggravations of self-destruction 441
The concluding Exhortation 443
Ten Directions for those that had rather Turn than Die . . . 446
Five prayers : one for families j one for the Lord's day ; one
for a penitent sinner ; one for children and servants j one
in the method of the Lord's prayer, being an exposition of it. 452
NOW OR NEVER.
Preface. The question resolved whether a man may be saved
in any religion, that is serious in practising it? No religion
will save a man that is not true to it, and serious, and dili-
gent in practising it. Why the author rather publisheth
such common necessary things, than confutation of the ma-
ny calumnies published against himself. His expectations
from men j and answers with Tertullian about sufferings.
An advertisement about a passage cited out of the Homilies.
viii CONTENTS.
PAGE
His justification for opposing scorners and enemies of holi-
ness, out of the church Homilies. A passage about Philip
-Nerius, the Father of the Oratorians cccclxxiv
The text opened 487
Doct. I. The work of this life cannot be done when this
lifeis ended 488
Doct, IT. Therefore, while we have time, we must do the
work of this present life, with vigour and diligence .... ibid.
1. Time cannot be recalled 489
2. Life shall never be here restored 491
3. There is no doing this work in the life to come 493
What it is to do it with our might 494
Some cautions 496
Instances of the work to be done with our might 497
What might have we ? Answered 508
How to rouse up ourselves to seriousness ibid.
What to think of them that oppose a holy, serious diligence
in the service of God 511
The greatness of the sin 513
Especially if they are preachers 515
What it is in religion that hypocrites hate 517
Seneca's testimony for seriousness 520
A terrible passage in our Homilies against scorners at godliness 523
The greatness of their sin 524
Object. It is not godliness, but humour, faction, disobedience,
hypocrisy, &c. Answered 532
Advice to the flocks 535
Object. Be not righteous overmuch. Answered 537
Exhortation to serious diligence • «• 538
Object. 1 . I have lost my time. Answered 544
Object. "■-.. I have opposition and hindrances 545
Object. 3. 1 am dull and cold 546
Directions and cautions 547
Reasons for pleading this cause with ministers 549
The Exhortation re-enforced 551
The devil's design to make use of diflFerences in smaller
matters against Christianity and godliness itself 554
Such differences, sects, divisions, shall be no excuse to the
ungodly, but aggravate their sin, as being against that
which all sects and parties were agreed in 555
What that religion is that we call men to be serious and dili-
gent in, 1. To live according to the principles of faith
that among Christians are past controversy. Ten named ibid.
2 .To do that materially that all are agreed on. Ten duties named 56Q
3. To do that in the very manner of God's service that
all are agreed in. Ten particulars mentioned 564
Object. I will never believe that God delights in long and
earnest prayers, or is moved by the words of men. Answered 574
Object, Is not your strict observance of the Lord's day a
controversy. Answered 576
The Conclusion exhortatory 577
TREATISE
OF
CONVERSION,
J^R CACHED AND NOW PUBLISHED FOR THE USE OF THOSE THAT
ARE STRANGERS TO A TRUE CONVERSION, ESPECIALLY
THE GROSSLY IGNORANT AND UNGODLY.
If an^ man be in Christ, he is a new creature : old things are passed away ; behold
all things are become new.
2 Cor. v. 17.
VOL. VII.
TO THE INHABITANTS
BOROUGH AND FOREIGN
KIDDERMINSTER.
Dearly beloved Friends in the Lord,
As it was the unfeigned love of your souls, that hath hither-
to moved me much to print v^^hat I have done, that you might
have the help of those truths, which God hath acquainted
me with, when I am dead and gone, so is it the same affec-
tion that hath persuaded me here to send you this familiar
discourse. It is the same that you heard preached : and
the reasons that moved me to preach it, do move me now to
publish it ; that if any of you have forgot it, it may be
brought to your remembrance ; or if it worked not upon
you in the hearing, yet in the deliberate perusal it may work.
I bless the Lord that there are so many among you that
know by experience the nature of conversion, which is the
cause of my abundant affection towards you, above any
other people that I know, (especially in that you also walk
in so much humility, unity, and peace, when pride and divi-
sions have caused so many ruins abroad). But I see that
there is no place or people on earth that will answer our de-
sires, or free us from those troubles that constantly attend
our earthly state. I have exceeding cause to rejoice in very
many of you ; but in many also I have cause of sorrow.
Long have I travailed (as Paul speaks. Gal. iv. 19.) as in
IV PREPACK.
birth, till Christ be formed in you. For this have I studied
and prayed, and preached ; for this have I dealt with you in
private exhortation ; for this have I sent you all such books
as J conceived suitable to your needs : and yet to the grief
of my soul I must speak it, the lives of many of you declare
that this great work is yet undone. I believe God, and
therefore I know that you must every soul of you be con-
verted, or condemned to everlasting punishment. And
knowing this, I have told it you over and over again : I
have shewed you the proof and reasons of it, and the cer-
tain misery of an unconverted state : I have earnestly be-
sought you, and begged of you to return ; and if I had
tears at command, I should have mixed all these exhortations
with my tears ; and if I had but time and strength, (as I
have not,) I should have made bold to have come more to
you, and sit with you in your houses, and entreated you on
the behalf of your souls, even twenty times, for once that I
have entreated you. The God that sent me to you knows
that my soul is grieved for your blindness, and stubborn-
ness, and wickedness, and misery, more than for all the
losses or crosses in the world, and that my heart's desire
and prayer for you to God, is, that you may yet be con-
verted and saved. But alas ! I see not the answer of my
desires, some few of you (andi thank God they be but few)
will not so much as come to me, nor be willing that I should
come to you to be catechised or instructed. Some of you still
quarrel with the holy way in which you must walk if ever you
will be saved. Some of you give up yourselves to the world,
and thrust God out of your hearts and houses, and have not so
much as a chapter read, or an earnest prayer put up to God
nor once a savoury word of heaven, from morning to night.
I would there were none of you that secretly hate the dili-
gent strictness that God hath commanded us, and think this
daily care for our salvation to be more ado than needs ; as
if you had found out something else, that better deserved
your care and diligence, and would better pay you for it.
Too many among you are carping and cavilling against those
humble, godly Christians whom you should carefully imi-
tate ; you are hearkening after and aggravating all their
infirmities, and charging them as hypocrites, because they
will not be as careless as yourselves : but you consider not
PREFACF. V
that in so doing, you censure yourselves, and speak the
greatest terror to your souls, that you can imagine ; for if
they that go so far be hypocrites, what will become of you
that come not near them? If they that set their minds on
the life to come, and think nothing too much that they can
do to be saved, be yet but hypocrites ; if they that dare not
swear, or curse, or drink, or whore, or deceive, or wilfully
live in any sin, are yet but hypocrites ; what then shall be-
come of such as you, that so much neglect a holy life, and
live so much to the world and flesh, and never did a quar-
ter so much as they for the saving of your souls? If the
righteous themselves are scarcely saved, (that is, with much
striving and suffering, and with much ado,) and if hypocrites
cannot be saved at all ; where then shall the ungodly and
the sinners appear*? Your Judge hath told you that " ex-
cept your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the
kingdom of heaven ^" If these men then be no better than
pharisees, you must exceed them, or there is no possibility
of your salvation. Go beyond them first, and then you may
the better condemn them. Till then, you doubly condemn
yourselves that come so short of them. If malice did not
blind you, you would have seen that this stone which you
cast at others, would fly back in your faces.
But above all, it is the odious, swinish sin of tippling
and drunkenness, and such like sensuality, that declareth
too many of you to be yet strangers to conversion. I have
told you the danger of it : I have shewed you the word of
God against it, resolving that drunkards shall not inherit
the kingdom of God ^, and commanding us not to keep com-
pany with you, or to eat with you ^. I have told you, and
told you an hundred times, with what a face these sins will
look upon you in the end. And yet all will not do, for
aught yet I see, as I found you I must leave you ; and after
all my pains and prayers, instead of rejoicing in the hopes of
your salvation, I must part with you in sorrow, and appear
against you before the Lord, as a witness of your wilfulness,
and negligence, and impenitency. Ah Lord ! is there no
remedy, but I must leave so many of my poor neighbours
» 1 Pet. iv. 17, 18. Matt, xxiii. 33. •» Matt. v. 20.
c 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. ^ 1 Cor. v. 11—13.
VI PREFACE.
in the power of satan, and in a slavery to their flesh, and a
contempt of heaven, and a wilful neglect of a holy life? Is
there no persuading them to cast away their known and
wilful sin ; and to seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness ? Must I see them condemned by Christ that
would have saved them ? Must my preaching and persua-
sions be brought in against them, that were intended by me
for their conversion and salvation ? O, what is the matter,
that we cannot prevail with reasonable men in so plain a
case ? Can they imagine that sin is better than holiness ;
or that it is better to obey their flesh than God ? Do they
think that this life will last always ? Or that the pleasures
of sin will never have an end ? Or that they shall never be
called to a reckoning for all this ? Can they imagine that
heaven is not worthy to be sought, and eternal things to be
preferred before those that are transitory ? Or that a care-
less, loose, and fleshly life will be better at last than a life
of diligence, obedience, and holiness ? O that we did but
know what to say to these men that would go to their
hearts, and bring them to their wits, or what to do for them
that might turn them from their sin, and fetch them home
to God, and save them. Is there no hope to prevail with
them before they find themselves in hell ? Poor miserable
souls ! O that I knew but what to do for you, that might
do you good, and save you before it be too late. But alas !
what should we do more ? If my life lay* on it, I cannot
persuade a drunkard from his filthy drunkenness, nor a co-
vetous man from his worldly mind and life, how much less
to a thorough conversion, and a heavenly conversation ?
The example of their godly neighbours at the next doors
will not allure them, but they will go on towards hell with
the voice of prayers and exhortations in their ears ! The
reproofs of their neighbours do but anger them, and they
cry out, that all is said in malice : as if it were a malicious
thing to go about to save them from sin and hell. Minis-
ters cannot prevail with them in public nor in private.
Many of them will speak me fair ; but they will not be per-
suaded to turn and live a holy life. And if neither neigh-
bours, nor friends, nor ministers can be heard; if con-
science itself cannot be heard ; if the God that made them,
if Christ that bought them cannot be heard ; if the plain-
PREFACE. Vll
est Scripture cannot be regarded ; ^f mercies and afflictions,
if heaven and hell cannot prevail to draw a sinner to be
willing to be saved, and for so reasonable a matter, as to let
go his filthy vice and vanity, and to be ruled by his Maker
rather than by his flesh ; then what remedy, and who shall
pity them that sees them in damnation ?
Neighbours, my request to you is now but this much ;
and as your friend, as your teacher, I beseech you deny me
not so small a matter : even that you will be but at so much
labour, as to read over this book to yourselves, and with
your families ; and that you will consider of it as you go,
between God and your own hearts, whether it be not a mat-
ter that concerneth you to the quick : and that you will
daily beg of God upon your knees to give you this neces-
sary mercy of conversion. Away with your known sins,
and with the unnecessary company and occasions that
would draw you to them. You were baptized into the name
of the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier : and will you hate
sanctification, or refuse it, or neglect it ? You say, you be-
lieve the communion of saints, and will you abhor their
communion, and choose the company of ignorant, ungodly
men ? Well ! if after all this you be still the same, and any
of you shall appear before the Lord in an unconverted state,
this book, besides the rest of my labours, shall witness to
your faces, that you were told of the danger, and told of
the necessity of a thorough conversion. And you that now are
always telling us, that all are sinners, and quiet yourselves
with this, that all men have their faults, shall then be con-
vinced to your everlasting confusion, that there is so great
a difference between sinners and sinners, the converted sin-
ners and the unconverted, that the former shall enter into
the joy of their Lord, when you with the rest must be cast
into perdition. Matt. xxv. 13. That you were forewarned
of this, is here witnessed against you, under the hand of.
Your faithful monitor,
RICHARD BAXTER.
Kidderminster,
June t, 1657.
TO
THE READER
AN ACCOUNT OF THIS SLENDER WORK.
You have here presented to you a common subject, handled
in a mean and vulgar style, not only without those subtleties
and citations, which might suit it to the palates of learned
men, but also without that conciseness, sententiousness and
quickness, which might make it acceptable to the ingenious
and acute. If you wonder why I should trouble the world
with such an ordinary, dull discourse, as I owe you an ac-
count of it, so I shall faithfully give it you. Besides my
defect of leisure and acuteness to satisfy the expectations of
these sharper wits, I did here purposely avoid that little
which I could have done. I was to preach not only to a
popular auditory, but to the most ignorant, sottish part of
that auditory ; for it is they that are principally concerned
in the matter. And knowing that the whole nation abounds
with such, I was easily persuaded to permit the press to offer
it to their view, and that, as it was preached without altera-
tion. For the subject, I know it is the most needful that
can be offered them. The reason why they must be con-
demned is, because they are not converted ; and were they
but truly converted they would escape. To convert a sinner
from the error of his way, is to save a soul from death, and
to cover a multitude of sins * : to convert them, is to pull
them out of the fire^: it is to recover them out of the snare
of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will s.
Conversion is the most blessed work, and the day of con-
version the most blessed day that this world is acquainted
with. It takes a slave from satan, and a hand from his ser-
• Jaraes v. 19, 20. »' Jude 23. « 2 Tim. ii. 25, 26.
PREFACE. IX
vice ; it addeth a subject, a son, a member to the Lord
Jesus : it rescueth a soul from everlasting torments, and
maketh him an heir of everlasting joys. And for such a
work, we can never do too much. And alas, the most are
little sensible of the nature, or necessity of this change.
Many that say, they believe in God as their Creator, and in
Christ as their Redeemer, do declare that they are deluded
by their deceitful hearts, in that they believe not in the
Holy Ghost as their Sanctifier : for they know not what
sanctification is, nor ever much looked after it in them-
selves. The commonness and the greatness of men's ne-
cessity, commanded me to do any thing that I could for
their relief, and to bring forth some water to cast upon this
fire, though I had not at hand a silver vessel to carry it in,
nor thought it the most fit. The plainest words are the
most profitable oratory in the weightiest matters. Fineness
is for ornament, and delicacy for delight ; but they answer
not necessity, though sometimes they may modestly attend
that which answers it. Yea, when they are conjunct, it is
hard for the necessitous hearer or reader to observe the
matter of ornament and delicacy, and not to be carried from
the matter of necessity ; and to hear or read a neat, concise,
sententious discourse, and not to be hurt by it; for it
usually hindereth the due operation of the matter, and keeps
it from the heart, and stops it in the fancy, and makes it
seem as light as the style. We use not to stand upon com-
pliment or precedency, when we run to quench a common
fire, nor to call men out to it by an eloquent speech. If we
see a man fall into fire or water, we stand not upon manner-
liness in plucking him out, but lay hands on him as we can
without delay. I shall never forget the relish of my soul,
when God first warmed my heart with these matters, and
when I was newly entered into a seriousness in religion :
when I read such a book as Bishop Andrew's Sermons, or
heard such kind of preaching, I felt no life in it : methought
they did but play with holy things. Yea, when I read such
as Bishop Hall, or Henshaw's Meditations, or other such
Essays, Resolves and witty things, I tasted little sweetness
in them ; though now I can find much. But it was the plain
and pressing downright preacher, that only seemed to me to
»e in good sadness, and to make somewhat of it, and to
X PREFACE.
speak with life, and light, and weight : and it was such kind
of writings, that were wonderfully pleasant and savoury to
my soul. And I am apt to think that it is thus now with
my hearers ; and that I should measure them by what I was,
and not by what I am. And yet I must confess, that though
I can better digest exactness and brevity, than I could so
long ago, yet I as much value seriousness and plainness ;
and I feel in myself in reading or hearing, a despising of
that wittiness as proud foolery, which savoureth of levicy,
and tendeth to evaporate weighty truths, and turn them all
into very fancies, and keep them from the heart. As a
stage-player, or morris-dancer differs from a soldier or a
king, so do these preachers from the true and faithful mi-
nisters of Christ : and as they deal liker to players than
preachers in the pulpit, so usually their hearers do rather
come to play with a sermon, than to attend a message from
the God of heaven about the life or death of their souls.
Indeed, the more I have to do with the ignorant sort of
people, the more I find that we cannot possibly speak too
plainly to them. If we do not speak in their own vulgar
dialect, they understand us not. Nay, if we do so, yet if we
compose those very words into a handsomeness of sentence,
or if we speak any thing briefly, they feel not what we say :
nay, I find, if we do not purposely draw out the matter into
such a length of words, and use some repetition of it, that
they may hear it inculcated on them again, we do but over-
run their understandings, and they presently lose us : that
very style and way, that is apt to be a little offensive to the
exact, and that is tedious and loathsome to the curious ear,
whose religion is most in air and fancy, must be it that
must do good upon the ignorant, and is usually most sa-
voury and acceptable to them. Upon such considerations,
I purposely chose so coarse a style in the handling of this
subject : for I preached and wrote it, not for the judicious,
but for the special use of the most senseless, ignorant sort.
And indeed, I am very sensible that herein I have not
reached the thing that I desired ; and yet have not spoke
half so plainly as I should : especially, that there wanteth
that life and piercing quickness, which may concur with
plainness, and a subject of such necessity doth require
The true causes of this were, the dulness and badness of ny
PREFACE. XI
own heart, and a continual decay of the quickness of my
spirits, through the increase of pituitous scotomatical dis-
tempers, together with that exceeding scarcity of leisure,
which weakness and oppressing business have caused. But
if God will give help and leisure, I shall seek a little to
amend it, in something more which on the same subject I
have begun.
One other reason that moved me to consent to this pub-
lication, is the scarcity of books that are wrote purposely
on this subject : though, on the by and by parts, I know
that nothing is more common in English, yet on this sub-
ject purposely and alone I remember scarce any besides
Mr. Whateley's " New Birth," (and some Sermons of Re-
pentance) : and indeed I have long persuaded all that I had
opportunity to persuade, to buy that book of Mr. Whateley's,
and to give them abroad among the ignorant, ungodly peo-
ple. And if I had seen any such fruit of my persuasions as
I desired, I think I should never have published this. But
when I could not prevail with the one sort to buy them, nor
with the other sort to give them, I resolved to print some-
what on so necessary a point, were it never so meanly done,
if it were but that I might have some books to give myself
to some that need, and also that the newness and other ad-
vantages might entice this book into the hands of some,
that are never like to read those, which heretofore I have
commended to them.
One thing more I observe is like to be offensive in this
writing, and that is, that the same things do here and there
fall in, which formerly have been spoken. I confess my
memory oft lets slip the passages that I have before written,
and in that forgetfulness I write them again : but I make
no great matter of it. The writing of the same things is
safe to the reader, and why then should it be grievous to
me •" ? not because it is displeasing to the curious, till I set
more by their applause, and take the approbation of men for
my reward. I like to hear a man dwell much on the same
essentials of Christianity. For we have but one God, and
one Christ, and one faith to preach ; and I will not preach
another Gospel to please men with variety, as if our Saviour
and our Gospel were grown stale. This speaking the same
h Phil. iii. 1.
Xll PREFACE.
things is a sign that a man hath considered what he speaks
and that he hath made it his own, and utters not that which
accidentally falls in. And it is a sign that he is still of the
same belief, and doth not change, and that he loves the
truth, which he so much dwells upon ; and that he looketh
more at the feeding of men's souls, and strengthening their
graces, than at the feeding of their itching fancies, and mul-
tiplying their opinions. For it is the essentials and com-
mon truths (as I have often said) that we daily live upon as
our bread and drink. And we have incomparably more
work before us, to know these better, and use them better,
than to know more. The sea will afford us more water after
we have taken out a thousand tuns, than a hundred of those
wells and pits from whence we never yet fetched any. I
speak not against the need of clothing the same truths with
a grateful variety in representing it to the world, nor against
a necessary compliance with the diseases of some itching
novelists in order to the cure ; but only give you an account
of this publication, by him that had rather be charged with
the greatest rudeness of style, than with the guilt of neg-
lecting what he might have done for the saving of one soul.
RICHARD BAXTER.
A
TREATISE OP CONVERSION.
MA'rrHEW XVIII. s.
Verily I say uriio you, except ye be converted, and become as little
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Beloved Hearers,
Though the Gospel doth not presuppose grace in men,
but bringeth it to them, yet doth it suppose them to be
men, and therefore endued with natural principles. And
though there is not enough in nature to convert men, yet
doth grace find some advantage in nature for its reception,
and somewhat which it may improve for a further good :
otherwise we might as well plead with beasts as men.
Supernatural light supposeth natural ; the doctrine of
faith supposeth reason ; and he that would draw you to be
everlastingly happy, doth suppose you so much to love
yourselves as to be willing to be happy, and loath to be ab-
solutely miserable. I come not therefore to persuade any
of you to these things, which are supposed : we are not sent
to entreat men to be men, or reasonable creatures, or to love
themselves, or to be willing to be happy ; I will not be be-
holden to any of you for this, for you cannot do otherwise :
but we are sent to tell you where your happiness lieth, and
where not, and to advise you to exercise your reason aright,
and to know the way to happiness, and take that course by
which it may obtained.
14 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
I must confess to you that ever since I knew what it was
to be a minister of the Gospel, what labour it must cost, and
how cold a reward is to be expected from our hearers, and
what a troublous errand we come upon, in the judgment of
the most, I never could think any thing below the pleasing
of God, and the saving of the souls of our people and our-
selves, to be a motive suflSlcient to draw a man to this em-
ployment. Nor do I think it meet to come once into the
pulpit, with any lower ultimate ends than these. He that
is a minister for lower ends than these, in heart and deed is
no minister of Christ ; but as he seeks himself, so will he
serve himself, and must reward himself as he can ; and no
wonder if he be unfaithful in all his course. And he that
preacheth one sermon for lower ultimate ends than these,
will seek himself, and not Christ, and so be unfaithful in
that sermon : and if such study smooth words and fine sen-
tences, which tend more to please, than to save men's souls,
it is no wonder. Considering these things, when I had
purposed this day's work in this place, I remembered in
whose name I must speak, and on whose errand I must go,
and therefore that from him I must receive my message :
and I remembered also to whom I was to speak, even to men
that must be everlastingly happy or miserable, and that are
now in the way, and have that to do in a little time, which this
their everlasting state doth depend upon : I remembered also,
that Christ hath assured me that of the many that are called,
few are chosen ; and that most men perish, for all the mercy
that is in God, and for all that Christ hath done and suffered,
and for all the grace that is offered them in the Gospel ; and I
considered the reason, even because they will not receive
this grace, nor entertain Christ and the mercy of God, as it
is offered to them. I therefore resolved to preach to you,
as one that hath but one sermon to preach to you, and
knows not whether he shall ever speak to you more, and
therefore to choose no lower subject than that which your
life or death depends upon, and to handle it as far as I am
able accordingly, with that plainness as a matter of such
concernment should be handled with. If my business hi-
ther were to be thought a learned man, or to procure your
applause, or to please your ears, I should then have pre-
pared some pleasing matter, and tried to have adorned it
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 15
with some flourishes of wit, and presented it to you in a
mixture of languages, which you do not understand, and
with such pretty jingles and gaudy allusions as carnal fan-
cies are used to be tickled with ; but knowing that this is
not the way to please God, but to please the devil, nor to
save myself, or those that hear me, but to hinder the salva-
tion of me and you, I soon resolved not only to avoid the
study of such unprofitable, carnal ostentation, but even to
study to avoid it : for I should be loath to please satan any
way by the doing his work, but doubly loath to please him
in preaching the Gospel, and to be serving him in the
choicest service of my Lord.
Will the Lord but bless the word that I shall speak to
the conversion of any souls here present, I have the ends
I come for ; and shall believe that I have cause to bless his
name that sent ine hither to day; and in hope of this suc-
cess, which I have begged of the Lord, I shall cheerfully
address myself to the work.
The occasion of these words of Christ, was the carnal
thoughts of his disciples concerning the state of his king-
dom, as if it had been of earthly pomp and glory, like the
great monarchs of the world ; and also their carnal, aspiring
desires and contrivances to get the highest place in his
kingdom. They found these conceits among the Jews, and
nature easily entertained and cherished them, which is so
dark and so disaffected to higher things. Christ thought it
not yet seasonable to give them the full discovery of his
kingdom, it being reserved for the Holy Ghost, who was mi-
raculously to possess them, and teach them all things in
Christ's iDodily absence, that the world might see that his
doctrine was not of his devising, but from above : but yet he
presently falls upon that sin which these inquiries did dis-
cover in them ; and before he fully telleth them the nature
of his kingdom, he plainly telleth them what they must be
if they will have a part in that kingdom. It may seem a
great doubt, whether the disciples were at this time uncon-
verted, that Christ telleth them of the necessity of a con-
version, or whether it be but a particular conversion from
some particular sins that he here speaks of; as there is a
general conversion or repentance necessary to the unrege-
i^ TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
nerate, and a particular conversion or repentance necessary
to the godly upon their particular falls. To this I answer,
1. Judas was undoubtedly unconverted, and so did conti-
nue. 2. The apostles were then ignorant of many truths
which afterwards became of absolute necessity to salvation ;
as Christ's death, resurrection, ascension, the nature of his
kingdom, 8cc. Yet I dare not say, that they were not in a
state of salvation when they were thus ignorant of them,
because they were not then fundamentals, or of absolute
necessity, as afterwards they were : but yet Christ might
well tell them tliat these truths must be believed hereafter,
and they could not have that eminent measure of faith which
was proper to his more illuminated church after his ascen-
sion, without believing of them. Yea, if they had not be-
lieved them when they were made fundamentals of absolute
necessity to be believed, they had ceased to be true disciples
of Christ. And whether there be not some noble effects of
this Gospel-doctrine upon the heart, which are also proper to
the church after Christ's ascension, as well as these articles
of belief were proper to them, and so that this text may
speak of both, I leave to further consideration. 3. Many
think that it is but a particular conversion and repentance
that is here spoken of; that is, from this sin of ambition
which the disciples did now manifest : but then they ob-
serve not that it will hence be concluded, that a true dis-
ciple may by a particular sin be in such a state, that if he
should die in it, he should not be saved. But others that
are learned and godly think that no hard conclusion, as
long as God will not suffer them to die in it. 4. I pur-
posely forbear to trouble you with the names of expositors,
but I make no doubt but they are in the right, that suppose
that Christ doth here reprehend their ambition, by describ-
ing the contrary temper of his true followers, shewing them
the absolute necessity of conversion, without any determi-
nation whether they were or were not converted at present :
he telleth them that except they be converted, humble per-
sons, they cannot be saved, but doth not determine that
now they are otherwise. And indeed it seemeth not likely
that the disciples of Christ had not then that conversion
and humility of mind that was of absolute necessity to sal-
vation : these words may well be used to converted men, to
TREATISE OF CONVEKblON. 17
shew them the necessity of that conversion which they
have. As if a Christian begin to grow covetous, you may
say, except you be a man converted from earthljrminded-
ness to heavenlymindedness, you cannot enter into the
kingdom of heaven ; which doth not deny him to be already
converted. Though as to our present purpose the matter
is not great which of these be taken for the sense, because
they all afford us that doctrine that we shall gather : for if
there be no salvation without a particular conversion from
a particular sin, much less without a conversion from
a state of sin. But the plain sense of the text I doubt not
is this ; as if he should say, * You strive for pre-eminency
and worldly greatness in my kingdom ; why I tell you my
kingdom is a kingdom of babes ; it containeth none but the
humble that are small in their own eyes, and look not after
great matters in this world ; and though nature be proud,
yet except you be (now or hereafter) converted men, and be-
come as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom
of heaven.' By the kingdom of heaven is here meant, both
the estate of true grace, and so of glory. Not as if conver-
sion were a preparation to their entering into this kingdom
as begun on earth, but it is their very entrance itself, and so
the beginning of it. The doctrine we shall hence handle,
shall be given you in no other but the words of the text,
lest I seem to force them.
Doctrine. It is a most certain truth, protested by Jesus
Christ, that except men be converted and become as little
children, they cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.
The order which we shall observe in handling this, is, — -
I. To shew you what this kingdom of heaven is.
II. What it is to be converted, and particularly what to
become as little children.
III. Confirm the doctrine from other Scriptures.
IV. I shall give you the reasons why no man can enter
into the kingdom of heaven that is not converted.
V. We shall make use of all, and therein shew you the
hindrances of conversion, the marks of it^ the motives to
it, and the Directions for attaining it ; as the Lord shall en-
able me.
I. The kingdom of heaven is taken in Scripture both for
the state of grace and glory. As all men are by nature in
VOL. VII. c V .
18 ' TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
the kingdom of satan here, by a willing obeying of him, and
hereafter to be tormented by him ; so all the converted are
by grace in the kingdom of Christ, by a willing submission
and obedience here, and hereafter to be glorified by him for
ever. This is all one kingdom, because there is the same
king and the same subjects ; yet they are diversified in this,
that one is the way or means to the other, and that the laws
and duties which belong to us in the way, are not all the
same as those that shall continue at the end. It is called
the kingdom of heaven, both because the king is from above,
and not a mere man as earthly kings are, and reigneth in
heaven invisibly, and not as earthly monarchs whom you
may see; and because it is heaven which all grace and
means, and duties do tend to, and it is heaven where is the
end and full felicity, and the most glorious part of the king-
dom. The Guide and Sanctifier of the church also is from
heaven, even the Holy Ghost : the law is from heaven by
the inspiration of the Spirit : the hearts of the subjects are
heavenly, and their lives must be heavenly : it is here in the
seed, it will be hereafter in the full tree. The difference be-
tween the egg and the bird, the acorn and the oak, is not
near so great as the difference between the kingdom of grace
and of glory. And yet a man that had never seen or known
the production of such creatures would little believe, if you
should shew him an acorn, that that would come to be an
oak. And it is no marvel if a carnal heart will not believe
that the weak, despised graces of the saints, do tend to such
an inconceivable glory. When a poor Christian that is dead
to this world lieth praying and panting after God, and look-
ing and longing after glory, little doth the unbelieving world
think, what a blessed harbour it is that by these gales he is
moving and hasting to ; they now see him praying, and
shall then see him possessing and praising ; they now see
his labour and suffering, but they will not believe his bles-
sedness, and perfection, till they see it to their own sorrow
who have lost it.
Before I proceed to open the nature of conversion,
shall say somewhat more of the word : and I shall shew you
the difference between Conversion, Repentance, Regenera-
tion, Sanctification, Vocation.
1. The truth is, all these five words are used in Scrip-
ture to express the same work upon the soul : only they hav<
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 1^
some respective and other smaller differences, which I shall
now manifest to you. And the first word Vocation is taken
often for God's act of calling when it hath no success, and
this is called uneffectual calling. So it is used Pro v. i.
24. ** Because I called, and ye refused, I have stretched
forth my hands and no man regarded ; but ye have set at
nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof." So
Isa. Ixv. 12. Jer. vii. 13. " I called, but ye answered not :**
and many other places. 1. Sometimes it is taken for the
act of God when it is successful ; as 1 Thess. ii. 12. and
many more places. 2. This success itself is termed our
calling in a passive sense : and it is twofold. (1.) Common;
when men are brought but to outward profession and com-
mon gifts ; and so the word is used often. (2.) Special ;
when men are savingly converted to Christ : the former is
Common effectual Calling; the latter is Special effectual
Calling. And this last is the same with conversion : only
these two differences are observable. 1. As to the name, it
is metaphorically taken from the outward call of the Gospel,
and so applied to the effect on the soul. 2. It hath usually
in Scripture a principal respect to the first effect on the
soul, even the act of faith itself above all other graces, and
following obedience ; yet not excluding the latter, but some-
times plainly comprehending them. So that some divines
conceive that Vocation is a work different from Sanctifica-
tion, because they conceive that it is only the Spirit's caus-
ing the first act of faith in the soul, and by that act a habit
is effected, and therewith the seed of all graces, which they
call the work of sanctification. And indeed the word Vo-
cation hath special respect to the Gospel-call, to the act of
believing in Christ, and the proper effect of that call, even
our actual belief. But sometimes it comprehendeth the
whole Christian relation and state, as Heb. iii. 1. and 2 Pet.
i. 10, &c.
2. Repentance is the same thing as special effectual
calling ; so we take not calling in the most narrow sense of
all, for the bare act of faith ; only this difference there is :
1. The word Repentance doth specially denote our motion
from the * terminus ^ quo,' even that sinful state from which
we turn, and which we repent of; yet including essentially
also the state to which we turn. Whereas the word Voca-
20 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
tion doth principally express the state to which we are call-
ed. 2. Also the word Repentance doth principally respect
our turning to God from whom we fell : but the word Vo-
cation doth as much or more respect our coming to Christ
the Mediator as the way to the Father. There is a twofold
repentance ; (1.) One is our turning from a state of sin and
misery, such as the unconverted are in, and this is it that we
mean now, as the same with conversion from the same state.
(2.) There is also a particular repentance, which is a turning
from a particular sin, and this must be daily renewed while
we live. Repentance signifieth and containeth two things.
The first is a hearty sorrow that ever we sinned ; the second
is a change of the mind from that sin to God. Indeed the for-
mer is but part of the latter: the changed mind is changed
in this part, and manifesteth its change in a special manner,
by remorse for former sins : though all remorse is not from
such a change.
3. The word Regeneration also signifieth the same
thing with Conversion, but with this small difference; 1.
The term is metaphorical, taken from our natural genera-
tion ; because there is so great a change, that a man is as it
were another man. 2. The word is in Scripture-sense, I
think more comprehensive than Conversion, Repentance or
Vocation ; for it signifieth not only the newness of our
qualities, but also of our relations, even our whole new
state. This is not ordinarily acknowledged, but if we view
the places where the word is used, it will prove so : for as
Paul describing the thing though he useth not the word,
2 Cor. V. 11. saith, " He that is in Christ is a new creature,
old things are passed away, behold all things are become
new :" where relations must needs be a part of that all as
the context will shew. So Tit. iii. 5. it is called ** the laver
or washing of regeneration ;" and is distinguished from re-
newing of the Holy Ghost ; at least as the general, compre-
hending that as a part. 1. Most expositors think that the
word hath reference to baptism, and expresseth its effects or
consequents : and no doubt baptism is for remission of sins,
and therefore the laver of regeneration is for remission of
sins. 2. The very text maintaineth plainly that grace by
which we are saved ; by free grace, and that is our free jus-
tification as well as free sanctification : and our divines
i
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 21
commonly cite that text against the Papists upon that ac-
count, as pleading for free justification : " Not by works of
righteousness that we have done, but according to his mer-
cy, he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the re-
newing of the Holy Ghost." Is not saving from the guilt
of sin a part of our salvation? What reason to restrain sa-
ving here to sanctification only ? Doubtless if there were
reason to restrain the word Regeneration to either, it would
be to justification only; because the giving of the Holy
Ghost is next mentioned by itself, but justification is not
mentioned at all, if regeneration comprehends it not. And
it is certain, that the apostle intendeth not only to tell us,
that we are freely sanctified without works, but also that we
are freely justified by grace without works. So John iii. 3»
" Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can
not enter into the kingdom of God ;" where he at least
hath some respect to baptism, as most suppose, and bap-
tism is for the remission of sins : to be born of water there-
fore must needs include remission of sin. And this regene-
ration maketh a man a new creature, and as Paul saith, '* in
the new creature all things are become new," and not the
qualities only. But in the main. Regeneration is the same
with Conversion.
4. The word Sanctification also signifieth the same
thing for the main, as Conversion doth, only with these
small difterences following: 1. The word is more compre-
hensive, for it signifieth our whole state of dedication or
devotedness to God, which comprehendeth in it these four
things : 1. The change of a man's qualities, whereby he is
made fit for the service of God, having his heart bent to-
wards him, and set upon him. 2. The actual dedication or
devoting of a man's self to God by faith and a holy cove-
nant ; especially in baptism, by solemn vow or engagement.
3. The relation of a person so dedicated or devoted to God,
as he is one set apart to him for holy uses, and it is from
this relation especially that the word Sanctification is used.
4. The holiness of life that followeth hereupon, in the actual
living to God, to whom we are devoted. Sar^ctification
comprehendeth all this, and so comprehends in it Vocation,
and somewhat more.
But then perhaps it may be found, that the word is
22 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
sometimes, if not often used in Scripture for holiness of the
life alone, as presupposing all the rest. Indeed there are
more words than one, which we translate Sanctification,
which yet are not all of one sense. As ^iKaiomg, St/caiw^ua,
and dLKaio(wvr} differ : so doth dyiaafiog, ayiorr/c* and
dyiaavvT) differ : but I shall purposely forbear to trouble
you with such matters. So that having opened before to
you the word Conversion, and now these four. Vocation,
Repentance, Regeneration and Sanctification, you may see
how far they are the same, or differ. The like may be said
of the word Changing, Renewing or making new, and the
like, which all signify the same work of God upon the soul.
Those therefore that inquire whether Vocation, Regene-
ration, Repentance, Sanctification, &c. are the same thing,
or divers ; and which of them goeth first, 8cc., must first be
resolved of the sense of the term, before they proceed to
the matter; for most of these words are used in several
senses, and that ambiguity must first be removed,
II. I am next to shew you what it is to be converted
and become as little children ; which cannot be so well
done till I have first given some brief description of the
state of a man unconverted : to which end you must knoyv,
that God made man perfect, and gave him a perfect law to
keep, which commanded perfect obedience upon pain of
everlasting death : by the temptation of satan, man broke
this law, and cast himself out of the favour of God, and
made himself the slave of satan, and the child of death ;
this he did by a wilful adhering to the creature, and de-
parting from God, so that the nature of man was thus be-
come corrupt ; and such as the first man Adam was, such
must his posterity needs be, for who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean *. And how can Adam convey to
his posterity that image of God, which he had lost himself,
or that right to the favour of God, and further happiness ?
So that we are all born with corrupted natures, inclined to
earth and earthly things, aiid strange and averse to heaven
and heavenly things ; prone to evil and backward to good !
estranged from God, and making our carnal selves our God ;
pride, self-love, covetousness, voluptuousness, unbelief, ig-
norance, error, hypocrisy, ungodliness, strife, contention,
* Jub xiv. 4.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. "23
cruelty and all wickedness have their roots at once in us,
and if temptation serve, we shall bring forth the fruit.
This being the state of every man by nature, by practice
and custom in sinning men become worse, and tbe longer
they delay before they are converted, the worse usually do
they grow, and the further do they go from God, and from
their happiness. By all which methinks you may easily
see, both what conversion is, and why there is such a neces-
sity of it.
The word Conversion is sometimes taken actively, for
that act or work that doth convert us ; and sometimes pas-
sively, for that change that is thereby wrought : as man is
the subject or patient, so is he also an agent in the actual
turning of his own soul ; so that God and man are both
agents in this work. The word here in my text is active,
and maketh it the act of man, ** except ye convert your-
selves :" but we translate it, " be converted :" because the
word is used reciprocally, as some speak in Scripture : in a
word, God, as the most laudable, principal cause, doth
cause man's will to turn itself. So that conversion actively
taken, as it is the work of the Holy Ghost, is a work of the
Spirit of Christ, by the doctrine of Christ, by which he ef-
fectually changeth men's minds, and heart, and life from the
creature to God in Christ : conversion, as it is our work, is
the work of man, wherein by the effectual grace of the Holy
Ghost, he turneth his mind, and heart, and life from the
creature to God in Christ. And conversion as taken pas-
sively, is the sincere change of a man's mind, heart and life
from the creature to God in Christ, which is wrought by the
Holy Ghost, through the doctrine of Christ, and by himself
thus moved by the Holy Ghost. Here you may see, 1. Who
is the cause of this conversion, and what is the means. 2.
What is the change wrought. 3. On whom. 4. From
what, and to what. 1. The most laudable, principal cause
is the Holy Ghost, who is the Sanctifier of the elect. 2.
The instrumental cause is the doctrine of Christ, either
read, or heard, or some way known, and brought by the
Spirit to men's understandings and consideration. 3. Man
himself is the subject of the Spirit's operation, and the pro-
per agent of these holy actions of believing, repenting, &c.
which the Holy Ghost doth cause him to perform. It is
24 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
not the Holy Ghost that believeth, but he Qauseth man to
believe. 4. That which we are turned from, is as to the
object, the creature, which sinful man doth adhere to above
God ; and as to the act, it is sin, that is, he ceaseth this vi-
cious adhering to the creature. 5. That which man turueth
to, is God in and by Christ the Mediator. God hath again
the heart of a sinner, when he is converted, and God will be
his happiness ; his reformation, recovery, reward and felicity
consisteth in this.
The parts of this conversion are these three, i. It is a
change of the mind. n. Of the heart, in. Of the life.
I. Conversion changeththe mind.
1. From ignorance.
2. From inconsiderateness.
3. From unbelief.
4. From error.
1. Every unconverted man is ignorant of the saving-
truths of the Gospel, either by a total ignorance of the
thing, or by an insufficient, superficial, ineffectual appre-
hension of it : the most of the world do not know, what
man is by nature and actual sin ; how hateful sin and sin-
ners are to God ; how it deserveth his everlasting wrath,
and maketh it our portion ; how Christ hath satisfied and
redeemed us from this misery ; and on what terms, and in
what order he offereth to man that pardon and life which
he hath purchased ; how he will judge them that believe,
repent and obey him at last to everlasting glory, and the
rest to everlasting misery. Many poor souls are utterly
ignorant of these very principles of the Christian religion,
in the midst of Gospel-light, and under all our most dili-
gent instructions ; and of those that have some knowledge
of them, many know them but superficially and ineffec-
tually.
Now the first thing that the Spirit of God doth either in
or to the work of conversion, is to open men's eyes to un-
derstand these mysteries : so that, the man that was wont
to hear them as a strange thing, as if we spoke Greek or
Hebrew to him, is now like a man that is brought out of a
dungeon into the open light ; or that hath his eye-sight re-
covered, and doth not only know these things, but knows
them with a somewhat clear and affecting knowledge ; and
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 25
is much taken with the light, and rejoiceth in it, and mar-
velleth at his former ignorance. I shall prove all this to
you by Scripture. In 1 Cor. ii. 14. the apostle tells us, " The
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned." In 2 Cor. iv. 3.
the apostle saith, " If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them
that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the
glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them.'' And then the cure you may see. Acts
xxvi. 18. "I send thee to open their eyes, and turn them
from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto
God." Many poor people think that utter ignorance may
stand with grace, and that they may be saved without
knowledge because they are not book-learned ; but you
hear God telleth you otherwise. Many have much brain-
knowledge that have no grace, but no man can have grace
without solid knowledge : for who can hate sin till he know-
eth it, and the evil of it? And who can love God till he
know him to be lovely ? And who can do the duty that he
understandeth not, or go the way to heaven that he is igno-
rant of? So that this is the first part of the change of the
mind from ignorance to knowledge.
2. The second part of the change of the mind, is, from
careless inconsiderateness to sober consideration; and this
is a great help to all that foUoweth. The main reason why
we cannot bring men out of love with this vain world, nor to
yield to the call of God, and make out after Christ, and
their everlasting salvation, is, because we cannot bring them
to consideration : men are heady and rash, and drown their
own reason with wilfulness, or passion, or worldly busi-
nesses, and will not give reason leave to work. Their vi-.
cious wills command their understandings to other objects,
and will not let them dwell long enough on those that
should do them good. All wicked men are inconsiderate
men, and therefore inconsiderate, because wicked ; and
therefore wicked, because inconsiderate. If they hear of
the greatest truths in the congregation, they go home and
talk of other matters, and all runs out, and they are never
the better : we cannot get them to go alone one hour, and
26 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
seriously consider of what they heard: ignorance doth
much to men's perdition, but inconsiderateness much more.
Oh ! if that little which our common people know% were but
frequently and earnestly considered of, it would not suffer
them to be such as they are ! Well, but when the Spirit of
God comes effectually to convert the soul, he maketh them
consider : he awakeneth the sleepy soul, and eheweth them
that the matter so nearly concerns them, that if they love
themselves, it is time to consider of it : he setteth these
truths still before their eyes, which formerly they cast be -
hind their backs ; he holdeth their thoughts upon them so,
that they must needs consider them. They had heard per-
haps an hundred times before of sin, and Christ, and the
necessity of conversion, of judgment, and heaven, and hell,
but they never thoroughly considered it till now. Oh, this
is a great part of the renewing work of the Spirit, to fix a
man's thoughts upon the truths of God till they work, and
to bring a man's reason to do its office. I will shew you
this but in two or three texts of Scripture. In Acts xvii. 11.
it is said, that the Jews of Berea had more ingenuity than
the rest, " for they searched the Scriptures daily, whether
those things were so, therefore many of them believed:'
when they came home they did not turn their thoughts pre-
sently to other matters, and think no more of what they had
heard, but they took their Bibles, and considered and ex-
amined the sermons which they had heard, that they might
be resolved whether it were so indeed or not ; that if it were
so, they might obey it accordingly ; and therefore they be-
lieved. In Psalm cxix. 59, 60. David saith, " I thought on
my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies ; I made
haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments :" when he
thought of his ways, he turned without delay. And God
complaineth of the disobedient Israelites in Isaiah i. 2, 3.
that he had nourished and brought up children, and they
rebelled against him ; and what was the cause ? why, " The
ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but
Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." So
that you may see the second part of the conversion of the
mind is from inconsiderateness to consideration.
3. The third part of the change of the mind, is, from
unbelief to true believing. A customary belief upon the
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 27
bare credit of their forefathers, and the common vote of the
country they dwell in, most among us may have of the Gos-
pel ; but this faith is like the ground of it and will not serve
to establish and renew the soul. Men are not soundly per-
suaded of the infallible truth of all the Word of God till
converting grace doth bring them to believe it : they think
it may be true, and it may be false for ought they know,
they cannot tell : and therefore it is that when we come to
those particulars that displease them, they will not believe
them. When they do confess in general that the Scripture
is true, yet when we tell them particularly of those passages
that speak of the necessity of conversion, the difficulty of
salvation, the fewness of the saved, and the multitude that
shall perish, with many the like truths, they will plainly
shew that they do not believe them. A word of such
matters of heaven and hell, if it were well believed, would
doubtless prevail against sensual allurements, and make
them see that they have something else than this deceitful
world to look after. Certainly all unconverted sinners are
at best but such half believers as in Scripture are called
rightly unbelievers. But when the Spirit by the Word
doth illuminate their understanding, they see then that all
this is most certainly true : that the talk of sin, and misery,
and Christ, and grace, and glory, and of everlasting tor-
ments to the impenitent are no dreams or doubtful suppo-
sitions. God telleth them then to the very heart, that these
are matters not to be questioned, but presently and seriously
to be regarded : for God will prove true when all men prove
liars : heaven and earth shall pass away, but a jot or tittle
of his Word shall not pass away till all be fulfilled ''. What-
ever unbelievers think of it now, nothing is more certain
than that all men on earth shall shortly find themselves in
heaven or hell. Now the soul perceiveth that this is true,
as the God of heaven is true, and that it is madness to
question the truth of his Word, who is truth itself, and to
think that Word will shake or fail which beareth up heaven
and earth and is the best security that is possible to be had ;
and that he should deceive them who never deceived any ;
and doth so much to save them from being deceived by
satan, and their own deceitful hearts. Before conversion
^ Mall. V. 18.
28 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
you might have heard by his cold prayers, and carnal con-
ference, and seen by his careless, sinful life, that he did not
heartily believe the Word of God ; but now you may hear,
and see by him that he doth believe it. If you tell a man
that a bear or a cut-throat thief is following after him, if you
see him not stir any faster, nor mend his pace, you will say,
sure he doth not believe it; but if you see him run as for
his life, it is a sigrn that he believes it. When once a man
is truly converted, you may see by his affection, and dili-
gence, and self-denial, that he owneth and believeth the
Word of God indeed : if you over-heard him in his prayers,
his tears, or at least his hearty groans will tell you that he
believeth : if he talk with you of his former life, his sobs
and sighs, and his deep self-accusings will tell you that he
believeth it : his careful endeavours for the saving his soul,
his earnest inquiries what he shall do to be saved, will tell
you that he believeth. The change of his company, his
talk, his life, his casting away those sins with hatred which
were his delight, and taking up that holy life with delight
which before he had no heart to ; all this will shew that he
is now a true believer. Because " Noah believed, he was
moved with fear, and prepared the ark *^." He that had
seen him at work might perceive that he believed : he would
never else have so laboured to escape the danger.
4. The fourth part wherein the change of the under-
standing doth consist, is, in the healing of men's errors, and
turning them from those false conceits which they had about
God and his ways, and the matters of salvation. While
they were unconverted, satan had taught them, and the
world had taught them, and the flesh had taught them many
things against God and their own safety : they were per-
suaded that either there was no heaven and hell, or that God
would save them though they did not much look after it
themselves. They thought sin was better than holiness,
and it was a more desirable life to please the flesh, and to be
honourable, and eat and drink, and be merry, than to live
in the thoughts of another world, and deny the flesh that
pleasure it desireth, and to spend so much time in reading,
hearing, praying and meditating. They thought this was a
tedious, unnecessary life, and that all this was more ado
«= Heb. xi. 7.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. W
than needs ; and that the wisest way was to follow their
business in the world, and take their pleasure while they
might have it, and only come to church, and forbear some
heinous sins, and then believe that God will be merciful to
them, and they shall do well enough without all this stir,
and that they may take what they can get of the pleasure of
the world, and when they have done, if there be any heaven,
they may have it with a short repentance when they can
keep the world no longer. Abundance more such errors as
these are in the minds of unconverted sinners, through the
seducements of the deceiver: indeed they live a life of
error. Some heretics err in one particular, and some in
another, but wicked men err in the very drift of their lives.
But when God converteth, he changeth all these opinions.
The man is then of another mind. He that thought sin so
pleasant, would now fain spit it out ; he that desired so to
glut himself with the world and sinful delights, would now
be rid of them : like a foolish person that will needs take
poison, because it is sweet, and will not believe him that
tells him it is deadly ; but when he feeleth it begin to gripe
him in the bowels, and to burn him at the heart, then he
crieth out, ' Oh now I believe you that it is poison ! Oh
give me a vomit that I may cast it up quickly, or else I die.'
Then, if you see him retching and straining himself to get
it up again, and groaning, and crying out, ' Oh my heart,
it burns me, it tears me ; Oh that I could get it up !' you
may see then that the man's opinion is changed. Sinners,
believe it, if ever God will save you, it will be thus with
you. You thought there was no great harm in taking now
and then a cup with good fellows ; in neglecting God and
your souls, while you provide for your bodies ; in dropping
a curse or a small oath in the heat of your passion : you
could ask, what harm is it to spend the Lord's day in idle-
ness, or vain-talking, or recreations, when you had a God,
and a soul, and an everlasting state to look after, which
should have been the business of that day. Perhaps you
let down now and then some sharper poison of covetousness,
malice, fornication, &c. Oh, but if ever God convert you,
all this must up again ; you will groan and strain at it by
the vomit of repentance, and cry out, * Oh that I had never
known it ! Oh that I had never seen the faces of such un-
30 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
godly companions ! Oh that I could get up the very roots
of this sin, I would never return to it again/ You that now
think it so grievous a life to be godly, and that there needs
not so much ado for your salvation ; if ever God convert
you, he will make you see that it is both necessary and de-
lightful : you will then say, * What, shall I sit still when my
everlasting salvation is at stake ? I have but a little time
to make sure of escaping eternal misery : I must very
shortly be in heaven or hell ; and now is the time that must
turn the scales, for then I must be judged according to my
works ; and is this a time to loiter in ? Or is this a matter
to be forgotten or made light of?' Oh sinners, if God open
your eyes, you will marvel, I tell you, you will a thousand
times marvel, that ever you should be so sottish, and in a
manner besides yourselves, as to follow your business in the
vain world, and eat and drink, and sleep so quietly, while
you knew not what should become of you for ever. You
will cry out of yourselves, * Oh where was my wit, that I
should make so light of that which was my only business ?
And that I should sleep out that short time of my life which
was given me of purpose to work out my salvation in ? And
that I should forget that judgment that was told again and
again was at the door V Sinners, if God do once truly con-
vert your souls, you will' see, that if wife, children, friend,
estate, life require your labour and care, your salvation re-
quireth an hundred times more. You will then say, * What,
can I make too much haste to heaven ? Or be at too much
care or pains to make sure of it ? Can any labour be too
much to obtain such a glory, or to escape the flames of ever-
lasting misery ? If I lose the world and my life, I may be
a saver and a gainer in the life eternal ; but if I lose that
life, how shall I be a saver? Or which way shall I hope
for a reparation of my loss? And what good will it then do
me that I had pleasure, or credit, or riches in the world ?
Is it worth the labour of all my life to rake in this earth,
and to live in more plenty of worldly vanity than other men
a little while, till I drop into my grave ? And is it not
worth ten thousand times more care and pains to make sure
that I live among the angels, and see the face of God in
endless glory V Oh Lord, where is that man's brains that
thinks he can pay too dear for heaven, and yet that all the
stir of his life is not too dear a price for earth ! To get him
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. ,11^
a pleasant passage to his grave, when he might have as
much pleasure upon other terms ? Where is that man's
reason that will be at all this trouble for nothing, and yet
will cry out to God, or to his minister, ' What need all this
ado to be saved V Ask a gasping man on his death-bed,
whether this labour had not been better laid out for heaven?
And whether heaven or earth will pay a man better for his
care and pains ? What ! doth the Lord himself cry out to
sinners, " Lay not up for yourselves a treasure on earth,
where rust and moth doth corrupt, but lay up for yourselves
a treasure in heaven, &c." ** Seek first the kingdom of
God, and his righteousness, &c." " Labour not for the food
which perisheth, but for that which endureth to everlasting
life'^." And shall men that call themselves Christians say,
that this is more ado than needs ?
Thus, sinners, will your minds be changed, if ever you be
converted : you will then be quite of another mind con-
cerning the world, and God, and the wicked, and the godly,
than now you are. I tell you, God will unteach you again
all these false opinions about these matters, which the devil,
the world, and the flesh have been so long teaching you.
It is his work to unteach you first, and then to teach you
better things : this will be so. You that now say you will
never believe but a man may be saved without so much ado ;
you will never believe that none shall be saved but those
that are thus changed ; you will never believe that God
maketh so great a matter of sin as preachers talk of: if God
will convert and save you, he will make you believe it.
Even the most confident of these conceits will be changed.
Be not too peremptory, man, God can yet shew thee so
much mercy as to change thy mind : he hath changed as
self-conceited men's minds as thine, and hath shaken as
confident opinions as these : Paul thought himself as wise
as you, before his conversion, and telleth us, " I verily
thought myself that I ought to do many things contrary to
the name of Jesus." But when God had struck him down,
and amazed him with his glory, and then illuminated him
with his saving light, he cried out, " Lord, what wouldst
thou have me to do ?" Acts ix. 6. And this with trembling
and astonishment. And Tit. iii. 3. He telleth you what
«» Malt. Ti. 19, 20. 35. John vi. 27.
32 TREATISE OP CONVERSION.
he thought then of his former courses : " We ourselves
were sometime foolish, disobedient, serving divers lusts and
pleasures ;" but hovi^ vv^as he healed? ver. 4, 5. " But after
that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man
appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." You say
you will never be of another mind ; aye, but God can make
you of another mind : his light cannot be overcome by
your darkness, if he mean you so much mercy as to shine
in upon your souls. This is the fourth part of the change
of men's understandings from error to saving truth in the
matters of salvation.
11. The second part of the work of conversion is upon
the Heart or Will, to which this change of the mind or un-
derstanding is preparative : and in this change of the heart,
there are these several parts observable. 1. The will is
brought to like what it disliked, and to dislike what it liked
before. 2. It is brought to choose what it refused ; and to
consent to that which it would not consent to. 3. It is
brought to resolve, where it was, either resolved on the con-
trary, or unresolved. 4. The several Affections are changed,
of love and hatred, desire and aversion, delight and sorrow,
hope and despair, courage and fear, and anger, and content,
and discontent. In all these respects the converted is
changed, which we must therefore speak of in their order.
1. The first change that God maketh on the heart or
will in the work of conversion (after the preparatory works
which we now pass over) is, in the complacency or displa-
cency of it : he causeth that to savour or relish as sweet to
the will, which before was bitter : the soul receiveth a new
inclination ; it liketh that which before it disliked, not only
by a mere approbation, but by a willing closure of the heart
therewith. So that, these two things, a New Inclination,
and a New Complacency, do go to make up this first part
of the work. Before conversion the very bent of man's
mind is toward the things below, and his heart is against
the things of God : he relisheth the things below as sweet ;
and it pleaseth him to possess them, or to think of possess-
ing them, but he hath no pleasure in God, nor in thinking
or hearing of the life to come : all things please or displease
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 33
a man, according as they agree or disagree to his inclina-
tion ; and as they seem to him either suitable or unsuitable.
Things do not please or displease according to their own
goodness or badness, but according to the qualification of
him that apprehendeth or entertaineth them. To the hungry
soul every bitter thing is sweet, but the full soul loatheth
the honey-comb ^, What life can be more pleasant to a
glutton or drunkard, than to pour in and stuff their paunch?
And to any sharp stomach, how good is their meat? But
when a man is sick, there is scarce a greater torment than
to eat or drink, when the stomach goeth against it. Oh
how they loathe it, and cannot get it down ! They had
rather cast the daintiest fare into the channel, than take it
into their stomachs ; so it is with the sick, unrenewed soul :
he hath no pleasure in God, nor any holy things : it goeth
against his heart to think of them, or seriously to speak or
hear much of them. He marvelleth how other men can find
so much delight in reading, and hearing, and praying, and
the like ; for his part he is weary to bear it ; though for
fashion, or fear of God's wrath he comes to church, orsaith
over a few words of hypocritical, heartless prayer, yet he
usually makes no long matter of it ; but he longeth till it
be done, and he is glad when it is over; therefore the
Scripture calleth such, enemies to God, and haters of him ;
for their heaits are not with him, though with their tongues
they may draw near hini^. I know it is a very common
thing with almost all men to profess that God hath more of
their hearts than their pleasures, profits, or any thing else ;
but it hath blinded them so, that they know not themselves :
otherwise it would be a very easy matter for them to per-
ceive that their very hearts are turned away from God.
Many poor sinners are even willing to cheat their souls with
a lie, when they might know that their hearts have no de-
light in God ; but that the very thoughts of him and of his
word, and service, and everlasting life, are rather grievous
to them ; and as the psalmist saith, " God is not in all their
thoughts ." '* The Lord knoweth their thoughts, that they
are vain ^" Well, this is then the first change that God by
his renewing grace doth make upon the heart j he turneth it
d Prov. xxvii. 7.
« IsB. xxix. 13.
Matt. XV. 8.
^ Psal. X. 4. xciv. 11.
«
VOL. VII.
O
34 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
to himself, he giveth it a new inclination and bias : he first
openeth men's eyes to see God's excellency and the excel-
lency of those glorious things which he hath promised ; and
thereby draweth their hearts unto them. It is a great and
difficult matter to set the heart of "man upon heaven, but
God can do it, and doth it in this great change. I know
the best are still earthly in part, and too much in the dark,
and too backward to the things of God, and God hath not
near that room in their hearts as he deserves, and as they
could wish he had : yet a wonderful change is made on them :
they that had no savour of God and glory before, do now
savour nothing else so much ; they can truly say as David,
though perhaps not so feelingly as he, " Whom have I in
heaven but thee, and there is none on earth that I de-
sire besides thee ^" He that scarce thought of God before,
now his mind runs upon him ; now his thoughts are,
whether God be reconciled to him, or not : and how God
appro veth of him, and his ways : were he sure of his favour
he would think himself happy : could he but know him, and
enjoy him more, he had the very desire of his heart. It is
his greatest trouble that he is no nearer him, and no more
fit to please and honour him ; and God hath no more room
in his heart. Unfeignedly he grudgeth at the remnants of
sin, that they should so weary and grieve the Spirit of God,
and hinder his more sensible enjoyment of his love ; it
grieveth him that any of that room in his heart should be
taken up by fleshly and worldly vanities, which he knoweth
doth of right belong to Christ. It is his care to give him
yet better entertainment, and to get out those remnants of
sin and vanity, that God at last may have it all to himself.
It is his daily business to sweep out this dung, and dress up
his disordered heart for Christ; and glad he is when he
can but find any signs of his presence, and feeleth any
stirring of his grace ; and when he can but move towards
him more swiftly by a stronger love ; this is the true condi-
tion and temper of a converted soul ; all other men do but
talk of God, but it is only these that give him their heart.
Sirs, I would fain make this as plain as I can to you, and I
would fain have you try as we go along, whether this change
has been made in your own hearts or not. You know that
s Psal. Ixxiii. '25.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 35
there is something or other that every man is most pleased
in, and his mind is most towards ; and this complacency
and bent of the mind, is the very spring of almost all his
conversation ; but if he have no pleasure in it, nor mind to
it, he will neglect it, whatsoever you can say or do. Here
is the true root of the difference between the hearts of the
carnal, and of the spiritual : before a man is converted, his
mind is not towards God, but upon other things ; but after-
wards nothing is so near and dear to him. Mark the dis-
covery of both these states, Rom. viii. 5 — 9. ** For they that
are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh ; but they
that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be
carnally minded is death ; but to be spiritually minded is life
and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God :
for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
be. So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Here you see in the
very words of the Holy Ghost a plain description of these
two different conditions of men ; till a man be converted,
his mind is more on his fleshly pleasure or commodity, or
credit in the world, than in God or the happiness of the
world to come. Whatsoever he may say or pretend to the
love of God, yet God knoweth that his mind is another way :
but when converting grace comes, it taketh oft' the old bias,
and setteth on a new one ; and now the man that was car-
nally minded is become spiritually minded. Sinners, if you
would but enter into your own hearts, and ask them what
it is that seemeth best to you in all the world ; what it is
that most pleaseth you ; what you would have if you might
have your choice ; by this you might know the bent of your
mind ; and so know whether you are indeed converted, or
not. You think, it may be, that you may have worldly and
fleshly minds, and yet have grace too : and that you may
set your hearts most upon your fleshly and worldly pleasures,
and yet be the children of God; but deceive not yourselves,
it cannot be : believe it, it cannot be. Oh that those men
did think of this, that drown their hearts in the cares of this
life ; or wilfully run on in gluttony, drunkenness, or other
fleshly delights. If ever you escape the torments you have
36 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
deserved, if ever you will see the face of God in peace, those
hearts must be turned quite another way ; those delights
must grow bitter to you : you must be ashamed of your pre-
sent pleasure ^. And your souls must abhor them in com-
parison of Christ, and even abhor yourselves for all your
abominations '. And cast them all away as dross and dung,
and account all as loss for the winning of Christ, which now
you think your greatest gain*". Oh sinners, how low will
all these things be then in your hearts ? When you look
upon all the glory of this world, it will be no more lovely
than a dead carcase in your eyes : for you will be cruci-
fied to the world, ^nd the world to you. If a man would
then offer you all the kingdoms and glory of the earth, it
would be but as a chip to you, it would stink in your
thoughts if it tended to deprive you of everlasting glory.
Many infirmities may stand with grace, but a carnal or
worldly mind in a prevailing sense cannot. *' Love not the
world nor the things of the world, for if any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him °^." I know there
are few men so foolish and ungodly, but will say with their
tongues, that God is better than the creature, and heaven
than earth, and would give it as their judgment under their
hand, and confirm it with an oath, that they do not dissem-
ble: yea, but the question is of the inclination and com-
placency of their hearts ; which do these men love better,
and which do they mind as the most suitable good ? Never
tell me that their estimation of God is sincere, unless it
affect the heart with an answerable complacency and incli-
nation to him : they may apprehend it as truth that God is
the chief good, but they do not truly, that is thoroughly, ap-
prehend it.
But when converting grace comes, it doth this work. I
know when the best Christians have reached to the great-
est knowledge of God, and sense of his love, which in this
life they may expect, they will still be looking higher after
more. And the apprehension of that which they yet come
short of, will much darken the apprehension of their present
attainment : infiniteness will quite overmatch both our ap-
prehensions and our affections : but though we are ready to
h Rom. vi. 21. i Ezek. xxxvi. 21. ^ Phil. iii. 8, 9.
^ 1 John ii- 15.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 37
call our present glimpse and taste of Gocl, a very nothing,
when we compare our knowledge of him with our ignorance,
and our enjoyments with our wants ; yet when we compare
these small things with all the pleasures or profits of this
world, we see that we have chosen the better part. Alas,
the poor converted soul hath quickly a taste of the vanity of
this world in the very first heart-breaking and humbling
that he was brought into ; when his sin is set in order be-
fore him, and the voice of the law doth make his heart to
tremble, and an angry God doth look him into terrors, what
then can all the world do for his relief? How sensibly then
doth he say. Oh, silly comforters ! what should I do if I had
no better hopes ! Oh, what contemptuous thoughts and
speeches then hath he of all these things that he once so
much valued ! He thinketh he can scarce find words that
are base enough for them. If he could find worse than
Paul's losses, and dross, and dung, and dogs-meat, he
would do it. O that men would now in the day of their
prosperity bethink themselves of this, which all shall
know at last. It is a most doleful sight to any man of
wisdom and compassion to see men that have wounded
and loaden consciences, to run up and down, after pleasure
and profit', as if these would heal them, which have made
their wounds ; men that are even undone for want of heal-
ing, and are within a step of hell, and will certainly and
very speedily be there, if Christ, by saving, renewing grace,
do not recover them, do quite forget the nature of their
distress, and the thing they want, and mind the toys of
worldly things, as if they would save them. What, still is
sin sweet to you, when it hath made such work against
your souls? Still is this world so lovely in your eyes, when
it hath enticed you already to the very brink of hell ? Oh
poor bewitched souls, that will dote upon that which you
confess deceiveth you! That will dig your own graves
with such excessive pains, and purchase a room in ever-
lasting torments at so dear a rate ? Well, if ever God will
have mercy on your souls, he will show you another kind of
pleasure and felicity ; he will acquaint you with that which
shall be worth your labour ; he will bring those sick dis-
tempered souls to another relish than now they have. He
will make you spit out this dirt and dung, and thirst for the
38 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
living water that shall spring up in you to everlasting life ".
And instead of your over-eager seeking the food that
perisheth, he will make you hunger after the bread of life **.
What the unsanctified man doth most love, we may see by
experience ; we see what he seeks after partly by his life ;
and will you see out of Scripture yet more fully which way
the heart of the sanctified is inclined ? " The love of God
is shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Ghost p." They
** are confident that nothing can separate them from this
love, neither height nor breadth i, &c." They can some-
times appeal to Christ himself with Peter, " Lord, thou
knowest that I love thee^" "Oh howl love thy Law!"
said David, '* it is my meditation day and night, yea, I love
them exceedingly %" saith he ; " above gold ^" above their
appointed or necessary food "," saith Job. " Thy word was
the joy and rejoicing of my heart ''," saith Jeremiah. So
vehement was Paul against those men that could not love
the Lord of love, that he pronounceth them accursed with
the greatest curse ^. " Thy law," saith David, " is within
my heart. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord. My
soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord,
my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Blessed
are they that dwell in thy house ; blessed is the man whose
strength is in thee, in whose hearts are the ways of them.
My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgments
at all times. Thou art my God, early will I seek thee ; my
soul^thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee ; to see thy
power and thy glory as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Because thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips
shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live, I will
lift up my heart in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as
with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee
with joyful lips, when I remember thee upon my bed, and
meditate on thee in the night season""."
2. The second part of the change of the heart is in its
intents. Conversion setteth a man upon right ends. All
the work of a man*s life lieth in intending certain ends, and
n John iv. 14. " John vi. 17. P Rom. v. 5.
1 Rora. viii. 39. ^ j^hn xxi. 15. « Psal. cxix. 167.
' Ver. 127. » Chap, xxiii. 12. " Chap.xv. 16.
y 1 Cor. xvi. 22. ^ Psal. xl. 8. Ixxxiv. 1, 2. cxix. 520. Ixiii. 1 — 3.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 39
using certain means to obtain them. And all the work of
Christianity lieth in intending right ends, and in using
right means to obtain them. The chief part of man's cor-
ruption in his depraved natural state, doth consist in this,
that he intendeth wrong ends : that is a man's end, which
he accounteth his felicity, his treasure, his chiefest good,
and which he useth all things else to obtain. Whatsoever
you think the best thing in the world for you, and had
rather have it than any thing else ; and whatsoever you
principally seek after in your life, and think yourself most
happy if you could obtain it, and think yourself most
miserable if you miss of it, and therefore had rather lose all
than that, and make it your main business to be sure that
you may enjoy it, that, and nothing else but that, is your
end. In general, every man's happiness is his end, and this
nature itself, as nature, doth so far adhere to, and intend,
that no man can do otherwise, and there is no note of man's
not intending this. But generals are nothing, but as they
are found in particular things : when it comes to the parti-
cular object of fruition, and what it is wherein men's hap-
piness doth consist, there it is that the depraved nature
doth most damnably err. For every carnal man doth
apprehend it the best condition for him to enjoy his carnal
pleasure, and profit, and vain-glory in this world ; or if he
look for a life to come, he would have it consist of such
kind of pleasures as he here enjoyed in this life ; and, there-
fore, his very heart is most set upon these sensual worldly
things : he hath a nature so suitable to them, that he
savoureth these as the sweetest delights, and things fittest
for him ; and, therefore, his very business, and daily care
and work in the world, is to get, or increase, or keep, or
enjoy and draw out the sweetness of these sensual things.
So that an earthly man hath an earthly mind, and earthly
ends, as Christ said to Nicodemus^. That which is born of
the earth is earthly ; and a fleshly man hath a fleshly mind,
and fleshly ends, as I before shewed, from Rom. viii. 7. they
cannot see in the love of God, or the enjoyment of him, so
certain, so suitable a good for them, as may be their felicity,
and better to them than these earthly things. Either they
doubt whether the happiness which they see not be
WM ' John iii. 6.
40 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
true, or a mere delusion ; or else they think that it is too far
off, and a place too strange to them to be their felicity.
They think that God and man are at too great a distance to
be so mutually loved, and that he is so strange to us, as to
be an unsuitable object for our highest love. Nay, because
of his holiness, justice, and the other blessed perfections
of his nature, and because he will judge the ungodly world
unto perdition ; therefore their hearts are even against him,
and they that call him their God, have a secret enmity to
him. So that, before conversion, it is the sinful miserable
state of all men, that God is not their end ; he hath not
their hearts. It is not he that they most seek after in their
lives, nor in whom, their souls apprehend the chiefest delight
and felicity to consist. But it is in the fleshly pleasures, or
profits, or honour of this world. It is some creature, and
not God, that hath men's hearts, their care, and earnest dili-
gence. Hence it is, that they are said to " have their por-
tion in this life," Psa. xviii. 14. and are there called " the men
of the world." They are such as " lay up a treasure on earth '""
They think none can shew them any greater good, and
apprehend not the joy of the light of God's countenance '\
They seek only " what they shall eat or drink, or wherewith
they shall be clothed," for this is the custom of the '* na-
tions of the worlds" " They make light of Christ," and
the kingdom that he promiseth, in comparison of their
farms, their oxen, their worldly wealth and pleasure^,
*' They lay up treasures for themselves here, but are not
rich towards God ^" If they have abundance, they cheer
their souls, as having " enough for many years," and so re-
solve to " eat, drink, and be merry ^" If they are called by
a trial to part with all for Christ, and the hope of everlast-
ing glory, " they go away sorrowful because of their riches,"
or the dearness of that which they are called to forsake. In
a word, they are such as a compassionate man should men-
tion with tears, " they are enemies to the cross of Christ,"
though not always to his name. " Their end is destruction,
their God is their belly, their glory is in their shame, they
mind earthly things s." They " make provision for the flesh
a Matt. vi. 18, 19. •» Psal. iv. 6, 7. « Luke xii. 29—31.
«! Luke xii. 21. Matt. xxii. 5. *^ Luke xii. 21. *" Luke xii. 19.
s Phil. iii. 19.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 41
to fulfil the lusts thereof V They have their " good things
in this life," when the godly have their " evil things," and
therefore when others " are comforted, they shall be torment-
ed '." All these Scriptures declare to you what are the ends
of unconverted men, and where are their hearts. " For where
their treasure is, there will their hearts be ''.
But when the Spirit comes with converting grace; the
very ends and intents of a man are changed : as he findeth
the greatest excellency in God, and the things of the life to
come ; so hath he there laid up his treasure ^, and fixed his
hopes : he hath reckoned what the world is worth, and how
much it can afford him, and how long it will last him, and
what it will do for him in the greatest need ; and upon cer-
tain knowledge of its vanity and insufficiency he hath re-
solved that this cannot make him happy. If ever you be
converted, you will know all this to be true by experience
that I say : that it is the work of converting grace to make
a man consider whether all that he can hope for in this
world will make him indeed a happy man, and upon consi-
deration he findeth it will not serve his turn. Godbringeth
it now close to his thoughts and affections, so that the mere
splendour, and sugared taste, and glozing appearances of
worldly things cannot deceive him as formerly they did ;
but he understandeth now the utmost they can do for him ;
he considereth how that they do but flatter him into the
grave and hell, and leave him when he is in the depth of
his distress : before he was as the prodigal, that thought it
hard keeping to live in his father's house, but abroad and
among his companions and pleasures he would go ; but
when he comes to himself, he finds that he must home again,
or perish with hunger : the poor soul then layeth all these
things to heart ; alas, thinks he, I may be merry a few days
more if 1 hold on in this company and course, but will this
life last for ever? I may be somebody in the world for a
while, if I can be rich or honourable ; but how long can I
keep it when I have got it? I may please my mind among
my friends and worldly businesses, my corn and cattle, my
pleasures and prosperity ; but what shall I do shortly when
these things are gone? I may think now that I can live
'■ Rom. xiii. 12, 14. ' Luke xvi. 25. '' Matf. vi. 21.
» Matt. vi. 20.
42 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
without the favour of God, but can I do so when I haveJ no-
thing else to live on ? Alas ! is that fit to be instead of
God and heaven to me, that will not keep me out of the
grave, nor keep my strongest or most beautiful parts from
rotting in the dust; no, nor keep my soul from everlasting
torments ? Oh, what shall I do if I have not a better por-
tion than this ? Woe to me that ever I was born, if I be
not better provided for before I die ! Thus doth God take
off* the soul in conversion from its former ends, and makes it
say. Lord, these will not serve my turn ; O put me not off"
with such things as these. When the soul is thus loosened
from its former delight, and seeth that it must be some-
thing else that must be his happiness ; then doth the Spirit
by the word of God reveal to him the certainty and the
fulness of that glory that is to be had by Christ in the ever-
lasting love and fruition of God ; and then he sees that
though it be not here to be had, yet it is to be had hereaf-
ter ; and that man was made to higher things than he hath
hitherto minded. Now he begins to bethink himself in
good sadness, that heaven may be had, and that for him as
well as others ; the impossibility is taken away by Christ,
and the door is set open ; the glory is inconceivable, and if
he can but once get it he is made for ever. These thoughts
now work in the heart of the man that never had such lively
working thoughts of it before. So that now he feeleth his
heart burn within him, when he hath once found where his
happiness is to be had ; presently, the Spirit having touched
his heart with an effectual inclination thereto, he is bent
upon it, and sets his heart and face to seek it. And now
this is his business ; comparatively he hath nothing else to
do. Now it must be God or none ; heaven, or nothing that
will serve his turn. Now if God should offer him, * I will
give thee mirth and riches for a thousand years without in-
terruption, I will give thee the good word of all about thee, I
will make thee the greatest man on earth, and thou shalt have
the world at will ; but not my love and grace in Christ, nor
the hope of everlasting glory :' this would be the saddest
news that ever came to his soul. It is not now the same
thing that would please him as before. Tell not him now
of profit and pleasure ; it is everlasting pleasure that he
must have. He hath another journey to go, another home
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 43
to regard, another kind of trade to drive on in the world
than before he had. Now he ** looketh for a city that hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is God ;" and there-
fore doth take himself but as a stranger on earth, and one
that sojourneth in a foreign country'. Now the best of
worldly things will no longer satisfy them ; but they " desire
a better country, that is, an heavenly. Wherefore God is
not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for
them a city "\" Now they are soundly persuaded that ** there
is a God, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently
seek him ;" and that this reward is beyond the grave, and
therefore they have respect to the recompence of reward,
and are content to submit to the sufferings of this life, that
so they may obtain a better resurrection ". He now is to
this world as a dead man in comparison ; " crucified to the
world, and the world to him''.'' " And his life is hid with
Christ in God ; and when Christ, who is his life, shall ap-
pear, then shall he appear also with him in glory p."
Beloved hearers, you may easily conceive that it is a very
great change, that causeth a man to have other ends than
ever he had before, and that quite turneth the very bent of
his heart and life, and maketh Jiim have quite a contrary
business in the world, than before he had ; that setteth a
man's face another way, so that he that before went one
way, doth now go the clean contrary. Alas ! it is not the
restraint of a wicked work or two, or the outward civilizing
of your lives, that is true conversion. It is such a change
as I am now describing to you, that turneth you quite ano-
ther way. If you are true Christians that hear me, you know
it, or may know it, to be thus with yourselves. For cer-
tainly you have had experience of this in your souls. It
were no impossible thing for you now, if you were but will-
ing, to know certainly whether you be converted, yea or no.
One would think that a man's end might be discerned above
all things. Cannot you know what you like and love best?
And what you would fain have ? And what you cannot be
content without? And what you drive at in the course of
your lives ? And what you place your hopes and happiness
in, which you will have, though you part with all to get it?
' Heb. xi. 9, 10, 13. ™ Heb. xi. 16. " H<b. xi. 6, 26, 3.5.
" Gal. ri. 14. >» Col. iii. 3, 4.
44 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
And what it is that beareth down all things else in your
hearts and lives? Why something or other doth this, what-
soever it be, and this is your end. And one would think,
that this which so much takes one up, and so much sways,
and is the business of his life, might be well discerned.
Sirs, deal truly between God and your souls. What hath
your hearts ? What game do you follow ? What do you
mind above all? I ask not whether you set not a foot now
and then out of the way : but which way are you travelling ?
For earth or for heaven ? O that you would but be faithful
to your souls in this trial ! I have often told you, and will
tell you yet again, and desire you to remember it as long as
you live, that this is the true difference between every true
converted soul, and all hypocrites and carnal men in the
world ; ' That to the true Christian indeed, God and ever-
lasting glory is his main end, and religion is his business,
and all worldly things come in but upon the bye, and there-
fore he can have them, or be without them ; whereas with
all hypocrites and carnal men, the pleasing of their flesh in
this world, is their main end, and therefore worldliness, vo-
luptuousness, or ambition is their business, and the matters
of God and religion come in but upon the bye, and there-
fore they can taste of them, or they can be without them.'
I would you would keep this one mark by you while you
live: by which you may judge yourselves without deceit ;
and so the true Christian need not deny his sincerity, nor
the hypocrite imagine that he is what he is not, but might
certainly know that he is yet in the flesh. And thus I have
shewn you what is the second part of Conversion of the
Will or Heart, even the change of a man's ends and inten-
tions.
3. The third part of the work of Conversion on the Will,
is this. The same Spirit in the word, which changeth a man's
ends, doth also change him as to the choice of means, and
causes him to choose what before he refused, and to consent
to that which before he did reject. Heaven is not obtained
in every way, but in God's own way, and if a man should
never so much intend God as his end, and yet not seek him
in the means of his appointment, (though I think there is
none that doth so, or that ever these indeed are separated,
yet I say, if such a thing were,) it would not save him. It is
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 45
not enough to know where we must be happy, but we must
also know how to come thither. There is but one right way
to salvation in the main, and he that will be saved, must be
sure to hit it.
(1 ) There are two sorts of means or ways to salvation ;
not contrary, but one subordinate to the other ; but one is
the chief and principal way, and that is Jesus Christ and the
Holy Ghost ; the other is the subservient way, and that is
the means that Christ hath appointed under himself. When
man was lost, there was no remedy for him in heaven or
earth, but the ever-living Son of God to come down from
heaven, and take our nature, and perfectly obey the law,
and suffer for our disobedience ; this he did in compassion
to mankind. He was born of a virgin, without man, and
without sin, by the power of the Holy Ghost. He lived on
earth without sin also, and proved his Godhead and doc-
trine by his works ; he raised the dead, healed the lame, the
blind, the sick, and at last offered himself on the cross a sa-
crifice for our sins, in suffering that which we must else
have suffered ; and being buried, he rose again on the third
day, and after forty days in the sight of his disciples, ascended
into heaven, where he is now in our nature interceding for
us, and preparing us a place. And before he departed from
earth, he ordained this law, and sent his disciples to preach
it to all the world ; that all they that would renounce their
own works, and trust their souls upon his redemption and
ransom, and forsake the world, the flesh, and the devil, and
take him for their only Lord and Saviour, and so return to
God himself, shall receive the pardon of all their sin, and
be made the heirs of everlasting glory. And he hath pro-
mised also to send his sanctifying Spirit to dwell and work
in those that believe. Thus you see what is the principal
means of salvation : it is the Lord Jesus Christ, who having
suffered for us, is offered to us in the Gospel, to be our Head
and Husband, our Saviour and our Lord.
Two things are here of absolute necessity to our salva-
tion : the one is, to believe unfeignedly that Christ is the
Messiah and Redeemer of the world : and the second is, to ac-
cept him as he is offered to us in the Gospel. Now the heart of
an unconverted sinner is against both these. 1. It doth not
soundly believe the truth of Christ's incarnation, resurrec-
40 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
tion, and ascension, but only by a common, customary, su-
perficial belief: but of this I spoke before. 2. He doth not
welcome Christ to his soul, as he is offered to him ; partly
because men are unhumbled and feel not the need of Christ ;
for ** the whole need not a physician, but they that are
sick :" and partly, because that Christ would reclaim them
from the way that they take pleasure in, and would brin^ them
into a way that is against their hearts ; and many other causes
there are. So that, even where Christ seemeth to be much
honoured, and men will bow, and do the greatest reverence
to his name, and profess themselves his faithful servants,
and that they trust their salvation on him alone : yet for all
this they do not savingly or sincerely believe in him. They
have learned to speak well of Christ, and they are willing to
be forgiven by him; but they never laid hold on him, as a
drowning man would do on that which might save him ;
nor did they ever feel at their hearts, what a glorious work
of mercy he hath wrought in their redemption ; and how
much he hath done for them, and how much he hath engag-
ed their souls unto himself. They never had any of the
saints' admiration at the height, and breadth, and length,
and depth "i, nor have they been taken up with this astonish-
ing project of love, as men thus redeemed at such a rate
must be ; nor would they ever consent that Christ should
rule over them, and mortify their lusts, and bring them back
from the flesh to God : and therefore they are unbelievers,
even while they profess the faith of Christ. But when con-
verting grace comes, as it raiseth the soul's estimation of
Christ, as I have said before, so doth it open the heart to
his entertainment. O what glad news is it to desolate,
self-condemned souls to hear that the Son of God hath
bought them with his blood ! It is life to them to hear the
glad tidings of their redemption. It is the very work of the
Spirit in conversion, to bring the soul into this admiration
of redemption ; and to shew it the riches of grace in Christ,
and the mystery of this blessed work, when his eyes are
opened to see how God designed here the magnifying of his
love ; and how glorious God is in his mercy in the work of
redemption, even as glorious as in his power in the work of
creation. And when his wounded soul hath well understood
a Eph. iii. 18.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION 47
how Christ hath made him a plaster of his blood, this makes
him have other thoughts of Christ and redemption than be-
fore he had. O how much sweeter to him are the hearing,
and reading, and thinking of this Christ, than before they
were ! He that before did shut the door, and let Christ
knock and knock again, and could so often churlishly resist
him ; O how the case is now altered with him ! Now Christ
is to him as cordial waters to a man in a swoon ; as a hand
to a drowning man ; as drink to a man in a burning fever ;
as a pardon to a man condemned to die : the name of Christ
doth even revive him, when withal he can but have some
hope that he is his. O could you now assure him that
Christ is willing to pass over all his unkind resistance, and
to be friends with him, and wash his soul in his blood, how
glad a man would he be ! When sin stares him in the face,
O then for a Christ to make his peace ! When conscience
is up in arms against him, now how doth Christ befriend
him, to step in and bear the stroke ! He saith not as Pha-
raoh, ** Who is the Lord that I should serve him?'' Nor
as they in Job xxi. 14. ** Depart from us, we desire not the
knowledge of thy ways :" nor as the common rebels of the
world, ** We will not have this man to reign over us "^i" but
as Laban to Abraham's servants, " Come in thou blessed of
the Lord ; wherefore standest thou without? For the house
and room is prepared for thee ^" Too long have I made
my soul a sink, a sty, a dungeon, when it might and should
have been thy dwelling, and the temple of thy Holy Spirit.
Come in. Lord, and let sin possess thy room no longer.
Hath here been room for the world, and room for fleshly
lusts and pleasures, and is there no room for thee? Let thy
graces dwell where sin hath dwelt; here is room for them
all ; or if there be not room, O cast out sin, and make thee
room. Thou that madest all things ready for me, before
thou calledst me by the voice of the Gospel, make all within
me ready for thyself, and cast out him that is stronger than
I, and hath held my heart so long in a peaceable captivity.
Only thy presence now will do me good : I die if thou revive
me not : I am devoured by the jaws of the devouring lion, if
thou do not rescue me. 1 am tormented by my own con-
science, and nothing but thine appHed blood can mollify it.
•^ Luke xix. i7- » (ien.xxiv. 31.
48 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
I am accused and condemned by the law, which I have bro-
ken, and what shall I say or do, if thou come not in, and
plead thy blood, and answer for me ? I have many thou-
sand sins that will be brought in against me ; and how shall
I come off, but by the virtue of thy sacrifice? Hell is ready
to devour me everlastingly, if thou do not save me. Save
me, save me. Lord, or I perish ! I am lost, undone, a damn-
ed man if thou do not save me. The devils that have de-
ceived me, do but stay to torment me if thou do not save
me. A just and angry God will be to me everlastingly a
consuming fire, if his indignation be not quenched by thy
blood and intercession. There is no other name under hea-
ven by which I can be saved*. No, no, it must be Christ
alone, it must be Christ or none, Christ, or 1 am lost. Now
doth the poor soul look upon Christ as on the fire or air,
that he cannot live without ; he sees an absolute necessity
for him in the main, and an absolute necessity for every par-
ticular. Every sin that he remembereth, telleth him that
he hath need of Christ. Every corruption that he feeleth
stirring within him, telleth him of the absolute need of
Christ. Every temptation that assaulteth him, telleth him
of the need of Christ. He never falleth into any known sin
again, (which alas ! is too often,) but it maketh him see the
need of Christ. He findeth he could not live a day or an
hour safely without him : he cannot wash away one spot,
nor master one corruption without him. When he goes to
God in prayer for his soul, he then findeth the need of Christy
he dare not draw near if Christ take him not by the hand ;
he knows there is no admittance in any other name. He
durst not look God in the face, nor name him, nor worship
him, nor hope for any mercy from him, but through Christ. In
a word, without Christ he dares neither live nor die. You
see then where another part of conversion lieth in this true
belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. You may know and say all
this of Christ before conversion ; but you never rightly ap-
prehend it and feel it, till then.
And as the merit, so the Spirit of Christ is here compre-
hended ; for I join both together for brevity. It is by his
Spirit that Christ takes down the strong contradiction of
the flesh, and bringeth all in subjection to himself; as light
' Acts iv. U.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 49
prevaileth against darkness, and strength against weakness,
and life against death, so doth the Spirit prevail for Christ
in the souls of the elect. Before conversion, there is no-
thing but grieving and striving against, and quenching the
Spirit, and using it like an enemy. But now how glad is
the soul of his presence ! how loath to grieve him ! how
fearful of quenching it ! And if by some unkindness the
Spirit seem to be withdrawn, what moan doth he make !
and how sadly doth he cry out as David did ; " Restore
to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me by thy free
Spirit":" and if he feel the Spirit as it were, departing from
him, he calls aloud with David, " Cast me not away from
thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me "".^ As
a living man is loath to die, and knoweth that when his
Spirit is gone from his body, he will be a carcase, and there-
fore will use all possible means to keep the soul and body
from parting, even so the true believer knows that if the
Spirit of God were gone from his soul, the soul were dead
or worse than dead, and therefore it is his daily care to
keep the Spirit and his soul from parting. He apprehend-
eth it now to be a blessed privilege indeed, to have the Spi-
rit of Jesus still within him, to be his temple, and by him to
be preserved from temptation, excited to duties, and anima-
ted in them, and sanctified to the service of him that did re-
deem him.
And now sirs, I must needs say to those of you that are
unconverted, that all these matters are strange to you ; you
hear me, but you have felt no such things as these within
yourselves. Oh what a difference is there between this
living faith in Christ, and the name of faith, and the image
of Christianity, which you boast of and presume upon !
What a difference is there between these warm heart-re-
viving closures with Christ, and your cold belief and dull
profession ! It is one thing for Christ to dwell in the heart
by faith, and another thing for him to have the custom of
the country, and the law of the land on his side, to make
way for him. It is one thing for a man that is well, to ho-
nour a physician, and another thing for a sick man to seek
out to him, and beg his help, and take him for his physi-
cian, and willingly take down any think;' that he giveth him.
« PsaLluia. =* Ver. 11.
VOL. VII. E
50 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
I pray you mark what I say, because it is the most common
delusion of unconverted men among us, that they verily
think that they truly believe in Christ already : and there is
a common belief that will never save them, and that they
take up with, and look not after the saving faith : I cannot
better open the difference to ordinary capacities, than by
the aforesaid comparison. You know a man in health may
truly believe that such- a man is an able physician, and he
may speak well of him, and honour him : now suppose a man
were deadly sick of a consumption, and did not know it ; if
this man bono ureth the physician as much as any other health-
ful man, will this cure him, or save his life ? No, but the pa-
tient that prayeth him to cometohim, and will trust his life in
his hands, and will take the bitterest medicine that he gives
him, and will forbear any hurtful meat or drink, be it never so
pleasant to him, this is he that is like to be healed by him.
Christ is known among us to be the able physician of souls ;
we all confess and praise his skill, and know that he can save
us. We all hear of the freeness of his cure, that he takes no-
thing, but doth it as soon for the poorest beggar, as the
greatest prince ; but knowing all this, and speaking well of
him, will cure no man ; no, but you must go to him believ-
ingly, and beg his help, and take him for your physician,
and trust your souls upon his blood and Spirit, and apply
his means, and take the bitterest cup that he shall reach
you, and forsake the morsels of fleshly pleasure that have
been sweet to you heretofore. Do not say, this is to be
justified by works ; for this is no other kind of works than
what standeth in a necessary subserviency to Christ, even
the work of grace itself. This is but the work that Christ
calls thee to, John vi. 29. " This is the work of God, that
ye believe in him whom the Father hath sent :" this is but
" coming to Christ that ye may have life ^:" and " taking
his yoke and burden on you, that you may find rest to your
souls ^" When the poor people followed him on earth
from place to place, and hearkened to his words, and took
up his cross that they might be his disciples, and be justified
and saved by him ; he did not tell them, this is sinful work-
ing for justification. To conclude, if ever you be converted,
y John V. 40. z Matt, xi. 29.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 61
thus must you follow Christ, and thus must you yield to the
Spirit which you now resist.
Thus I have shewed you how the converted soul doth
accept of Christ and the Spirit, on the terms and to the
ends that are mentioned in the Gospel. Christ Jesus is ac-
cepted as the Redeemer of their souls, that hath satisfied
justice by being a ransom for their sins, and hath merited
everlasting glory for them ; and as the Lord that by the ti-
tle of his redemption, must rule them ; as their head that
must provide for them and supply all their wants ; and as
the fountain and treasure of all that grace that must save
them ; the Holy Ghost is entertained as he that must sanc-
tify and guide them in the way to life everlasting, having
already sealed the truth of the doctrine.
2. We are next to consider how the work of conversion
doth turn the heart or will of man to these means that stand
in a subordination to Christ : and indeed a natural man is
disaffected not only to Christ, but to all his ordinances :
he that mindeth not the end nor the means, cannot heartily
mind the subordinate means.
(1.) One means that God hath appointed to salvation, is,
confession of sin, with a broken heart for the sin confessed.
A man unconverted doth neither see any such evil in sin as
to drive him to this confession, nor to break his heart in
godly sorrow ; nor will his heart be brought to consent to
the faithful performance of that. A heart unhumbled and
unchanged doth think it but a piece of childish folly to
weep and mourn for sin, and lament it before the world :
they are too stout to stoop to a disgraceful acknowledg-
ment : they scorn to be so base as to make an open confes-
sion of their sins, or to lament their misery. They feel no
such burden upon their consciences as should drive them
into such repentance to seek to God and man for ease ; and
if they confess to God in secret, it is without a broken
heart ; they will not endure so much pain as to feel their
own condition, and have their sores so faithfully searched
as is necessary to a cure : this afflicting of the soul, their
souls abhor.
But when converting grace hath changed their hearts,
O how the case is altered with them ! Then godly sorrow is
even as it were, natural to them ; and they that could not en-
52 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
dure it, do now even cherish and indulge it. It is a volun-
tary sorrow ; they mourn and would mourn like him that
cried out, "Labour not to comfort me * ;" that is, till God
will comfort me. As a sore that is not ripe will not break
nor run, and that which is not suppurable is oft incurable,
but when it is brought to suppuration and ripeness, then it
will even break of itself, and run without any more ado : so
is it with the impenitent soul and the penitent ; till repen-
tance comes, the soul is not ripe ; ministers are every day
applying to it all the mollifying, dissolving remedies they
can devise, to bring it to suppuration, but all will not do ;
their hearts will not break, not a tear of unfeigned repen-
tance will come forth ; they hide their sin, and scorn to
make a penitent confession. But Oh! when grace hath
done the work, and softened the heart, and ripened the sore,
then it will come out of its own accord. I would not have
you take this upon my bare word, but see whether the
Scripture say not so before me. Acts ii. 37. They were
once a stubborn generation of sinners that the apostles had
there to deal withal, that durst have their hands in the
blood of Christ himself ; but when they were once con-
verted, " they were pricked at the heart, and said to Peter
and the rest of the apostles. Men and brethren, what shall
we do ? " This did imply a confession of their sin : q. d.
We confess ourselves guilty, and we find our souls in a
miserable case under the wrath and curse of God : O give
us your advice what we shall do. These were three thou-
sand people at once that were brought to this conviction
and confession. See how freely all comes out, when the
heart is once pricked by the Word and Spirit ! The like
you know was the case of Saul at his conversion. Acts ix.
5, 6. as stout a hearted sinner before as another ; but when
God overpowered him by converting grace, then he calls
out with trembling and astonishment, " Lord, what wilt
thou have me to do ? " And when he relateth his own life
and manner of conversion. Acts xxii. 4, 5. how freely doth
he confess his former persecution i And again, in Acts
xxvi. 10, 11. confessing that he was a persecutor, **yea, and
punished Christians in the synagogue, and compelled them
to blaspheme ; yea, was mad, yea, exceedingly mad against
* Isa. xxii. 4.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 53
them." The like doth he confess. Tit. iii. 3. Acts xvi. the
apostles met with a sturdy jailor that put them in the inner
prison, and their feet fast in the stocks ; but when an
earthquake opened the doors and set them free, and a heart-
quake brought him in, and laid him at their feet, and grace
took the opportunity to do its work, then he crieth out with
trembling, ver. 30. " Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? ' '
David tells you his own experience, Psal. xxxii. 5, 6. " I
acknowledged my sins unto thee, and mine iniquity have I
not hid : I said, I will confess my transgression unto the Lord ;
and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin : for this shall
every one that is godly, pray unto thee in a time when thou
mayst be found." And after his grievous fall, the fifty-first
Psalm will shew you his confession. So Acts xix. 18.
" Many confessed and shewed their deeds, and brought
their books and burned them before all men." These were
such as were reputed wise and learned before ; but when
grace had changed them, they openly confess that all was
folly. Many more such examples we have, and precepts
where God requireth it ; Ezra x. 1. Neh. ix. 2, 3. Lev. y
5. xvi. 21. xxvi 40. Numb. v. 7. And indeed, pardon
itself is offered on these terms, 1 John i. 9. " If we confess,
he is faithful and just to forgive." Prov. xxviii. 13. "He
that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso con-
fesseth them and forsaketh them, shall have mercy." James
v. 16. ** Confess your faults one to another, and pray one
for another." And indeed in the first times, no man was
baptized that did not confess his sins openly before, and
renounce them ; even John himself caused the Jews to con-
fess their sins before he would baptize them ; Matt. iii. 6.
Mark i. 5. So in Jer. iii. 12, 13. " Return, thou backsliding
Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger to
fall upon you ; for I am merciful, saith the Lord ; and I will
not keep mine anger for ever; only confess thine iniquity,
that thou hast transgressed against the Lord, &c. Turn, O
backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married to
you, &c." You see here that conversion hath ever confes-
sion accompanying it. He that turneth, must and will con-
fess, as the repenting church, Jer. xiv. 20. " We acknow-
ledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fa-
thers ; for we have sinned against thee : do not abhor us
54 TREAl'ISE OF CONVERSION.
for thy name's cake." And Hos. v. 15. it was the Lord's
threatening against them, " I will go and return unto my
place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face ;
in their afflictions they will seek me early." So that ic is
most evident that conversion openeth the heart and mouth
to confess, even to God or man, or both, according as the
case requireth : not but that a Judas will do it at last in
horror, and cry out, " I have sinned in betraying the inno-
cent blood :" but this is forced by horror, and not by a gra-
cious change. Many a thief will confess their sin at the
gallows, that are not converted ; but when conversion
comes, the very mind being changed, is set against the sin,
and therefore they long to cast it up. Hiding tendeth to
keeping, confession tendeth to parting with sin : therefore
he that is penitent doth not hide it, so far as he hath any
call to confess it. O sirs, that the Lord would bring this to
the hearts of some of you that most need it : one may hear
by your speeches that conversion is far from your hearts.
How many among us are there that have little cause to jus-
tify themselves, and yet we cannot bring them to any con-
fession, but what is general and common with all. That we
are sinners ! But for any hateful and disgraceful sin, they ex-
cuse it, and hide it ; and have nothing but good almost to say of
themselves. You shall not hear one sad complaint almost .,
that they will make against themselves. If you have a fro- I
ward wife, you will complain of that; if disobedient chil-
dren, if careless or stubborn servants, you will complain of
them. If you have unkind friends or neighbours, you will
complain of them ; but of yourselves, where you have
greatest reason to complain, we can scarce hear a word. If
any do you wrong, you are still harping upon it, and mak-
ing the worst of it ; but for all the wrong that you have
done to God and your own souls, you can lightly pass it
over, and make little of it : and who heareth you half so oft
complain of yourselves as others ? What say you, is it not
thus with many among us ? You know not how sad a mark
this is. I tell you, if ever converting grace come to your
hearts, it will make you pour out complaints against your-
selves ; it will make you cry with David, " I have done
foolishly ^ :" ' and with Paul, " I was foolish, disobe-
^ 2 Sam. xxiv. 10.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 55
dient, I was mad, yea, exceedingly mad *= : "and, " O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me<* ?" Mark the uncon-
verted man in his talk, and you shall hear him, if not as the
Pharisee, saying, *' I am not like other men ;" yet at least
saying nothing against himself, but nibbling at the good
names of others, and making the devil more servants than
indeed he hath, and God fewer, by their venturous censures ;
they have the hypocrite's eye that was not made to see it-
self, that is good for little, but to spy motes in others' eyes ;
but the beam in their own they cannot see. The infirmities
of those that fear God they can talk of; but a graceless
heart and a worldly, fleshly life of their own doth little trou-
ble them. But when converting grace comes, you may
hear by their very talk, that the case is changed ; they have
nobody then to talk against, so much as themselves ; their
censures ao-ainst themselves do seem the most uncharitable j
their talk is most of the sins of their own hearts and lives :
and blame them not, for these are nearest them, and most
concern them : the mote in their own eye doth most grieve
them, and till they have wiped out that, thpy have less mind
to look into the eyes of others. In a word, whosoever is
justified of God, and freed from condemnation, is ajudger
and condemner of himself ; 1 Cor. xi. 31. But they that lie
under the condemnation of God, are commonly self-justi-
fiers; Luke xvi. 15.
(2.) Another means that converting grace doth turn the
heart to, is, earnest prayer to God. A man unconverted is
a stranger to true prayer ; either he doth nothing in his duty,
or that which is next to nothing : commonly they will not
be brought so much as to the outside and form of the duty ;
but if they be, that is all ; till some affliction or conviction
come and awaken them to a little more for a time : but they
never fall to this work to the purpose, till saving grace do
truly change them : a carnal heart feeleth no such need of
God or mercy, as to drive him to beg for it from day to day.
He feels himself well enough, and therefore saith with them
in Job xxi. 15. ** What is the Almighty that we should
serve him? and what profit should we have if we pray unto
him?" as Mai. iii. 14. they scarce think it worth their la-
bour. It may be for fear of perishing with the ungodly, and
* Act* xx»i. 11. Tit. iii. 3. '^ Horn. vii. 24.
56 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
from some general conviction of conscience, they may use
some formal, cold expressions, or perhaps take up the out-
side of this duty : but it is not prayer, without the desires
of the soul which carry out a man to seek for mercy and re-
lief to God : unconverted men are either dumb to this holy
duty, or their hearts are dumb while their tongues are
speaking : either they have nothing to say to God ; or no-
thing but some words that they get by rote, and utter with-
out the feeling of their souls ; or else they have little else
but words. Their consciences witness, and God himself is
a w^itness, that they do not in secret beg earnestly for his
mercy : they do not heartily call to him for pardoning grace
and sanctifying grace : with their families they do not
earnestly beg of God the same mercy, as a people that de-
sire that he should dwell among them. For where there is
no true feeling of sin and misery, and desire after grace,
there can be no hearty prayers to God : what need you any
further mark of a graceless soul, than that they are prayer-
less.
But converting grace doth open the heart, and let in the
Holy Ghost, which is a Spirit of supplication ® ; and this
Spirit doth help their infirmities, and whereas, of themselves,
" they know not what to pray for as they ought, he maketh
request for them with groans that are unutterable ^" As
the new-born infant, or any living creature, will quickly
shew whether it be alive, by making towards the parent or
dam for its nourishment ; so w^ill the new-born Christian,
It is not unlikely that the apostle referreth to this : " We
have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba,
Father." As the child doth first learn to cry dad or mam ;
so doth the Christian first learn to make out to God as a
Father, and by prayer to seek to him for relief; and for
certain, as the Spirit of Christ is a Spirit of prayer, so if
any man ** have not this Spirit, he is none of his s." The
evidence that God giveth Ananias of Saul's conversion, was
this, ** Behold he prayeth ^." It was the proof of Cornelius's
grace, that " he prayed to God always \" And the angel
takes the time of his prayer, to appear to him; and Peter
that must be sent unto him, is found at prayer^. The new
e Zech. xii. 10. f Rom. viii. 26, 27. e Rora. viii. 15. 9.
h Acts ix. 11. i Acts X. 2. ^ Acts x. 9.
^ TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 57
converted disciples ** continued in prayer ^'* It is no small
part of a Christian's life to " continue instant in prayer,
and watch in the same '"." It were easy to prove this by
multitudes of Scripture texts : he that hath not this breath
of prayer, is either a dead man, or in a dangerous swoon.
As the poor child when any thing hurteth it, or affrighteth
it, runs to the mother or father for help ; so doth the poor
Christian to Christ. He may go to ministers, and go to
other Christians (as Cornelius to Peter, because Christ
sendeth him, and so under Christ) ; but it is Christ that he
goeth directly to, and that he is most with. He hath a very
praying spirit within him, contrary to that dumb spirit that
possesseth the ungodly : so that he must needs go to God
when any thing aileth him, and he will not be held back.
His soul would be disconsolate, and as David in the wilder-
ness, Psal. xlii. if he were kept from God : he would be
overwhelmed with his troubles if he might not go ease his
mind with God : some ease he may get from ministers and
friends, but Oh ! if he had not more from God, his case
were very sad : he is in prayer as Jeremiah in preaching ;
" The word was a consuming fire shut up in his bones, he
was weary of forbearing and could not stay ^.'* So are his
sins and his necessities like a consuming fire shut up in his
heart ; he is weary with forbearing, he cannot hold them, to
God he must go, as David, while he held his tongue, his
sorrow was stirred, his heart was hot within him, the fire
burned till he spake to God : " While I kept silence my
bones waxed old °.'" You may better keep the converted
Christians from food, or raiment, or home, or friends, than
keep them from God : they had rather be without a shop to
work in, a house to dwell in, a bed to lie in, than a place to
pray in. But the best is, that God hath sanctified every
place to him, and commanded him every where to lift up
pure hands P. His Lord and Saviour hath left him his ex-
ample, who was sometimes in a wilderness, and sometimes
in a garden, and sometimes in other solitary places, pur-
posely for prayer, and so accustomed to one, that Judas
knew of it*». He that was perfect would shew us his de-
' Acts ii.42. "' Rom. xii.2. Col.iv. 2. Ephes. vi. 18. » Jcsr. xx. 8, 9.
« Paal. xxxix. 2, 3. xxxii. 3. PI Tim. ii. 8.
1 Mark xiv. 23. xxvi. 36. vi. 46. xiv. 32. Luke xxii. 41. 44.
58 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
pendance on the infinite Godhead, by giving us an example
of constancy in this duty : so that we find him even all
night in prayer to God"". And all his disciples do learn this
lesson of him, and imitate him in their measure, in this holy
work. If we ask for other examples, we may find Cornelius
and Daniel at it in their families % Peter at it in the house
top * ; Paul and Silas at midnight are at it in the inner
prison in the stocks ". From every place can the prayers of
the godly have access to heaven. For God is every where
present, and therefore though the places of public assem-
blies be in a special sort the house of prayer "" ; yet doth he
not confine his prayer to that house. The very soul of a
Christian is habituated to prayer, and therefore he doth it
as it were continually ^ : and in every thing he maketh
known his wants by it to God^. So that he is seldom so
deep asleep in any lapse through security but that more or
less he breathes his breath of ^race in holy prayer. If he
want wisdom, he asketh it of God, for he knoweth that he
giveth liberally, and upbraideth not *. If he want the
Spirit itself in a further measure, he goes to God that hath
promised to give it to them that ask it**. If he want for-
giveness of sin, deliverance from any evil or temptation, it
is the matter of his daily prayer, yea, so is his very daily
bread, his health and life, and all the comforts of it : for he
knoweth that all things are sanctified by the word and
prayer *=. If he be afflicted, he prayeth ; and if in sickness,
he desireth the elders of the church to pray with him ^ : for
he knoweth that the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous
availeth much ^. If the servants of Christ be in troubles,
it is prayers without ceasing that is the means of their re-
lief. Even besides secret prayers and church prayers upon
any such occasion of their own and others ; if a few Chris-
tians can get together to prayer, it is more pleasant to them,
than to the drunkard or voluptuous, when they can get to-
gether for sports or wickedness. When Peter was in prison,
many were got together in a house to prayer, when he came
and knocked at the door, when the angel had set him free^
' Luke vi. 12. » Acts x. Dan. vi. » Acts x. 9.
« Acts xvi.25. " Matt. xxi. 13. v I Thess. v. 17.
» Phil.iv. 6. a James i. 5. ^ Luke xi. 13.
e 1 Tim. iv. 5. <i James v. 13, 14, 16. « James v. 15. 17.
f Acts xiL 12.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 59
In a word, the true convert beginneth his new life in prayer j
he continueth it in prayer habitual or actual ; sometime!*
by the secret motions of the heart, and sometimes by the
expression also of his mouth ; and he endeth it, as to this
world, most commonly in prayers : as the Lord Jesus him-
self, as his blessed martyr Stephen did, committing their
spirits to God at the closing of their eyes ; and the saints
do commonly follow them in that course : so by the help of
these blessed gales we are carried through the waves and
troubles of this world, and by this we land at the last in
glory. Never think therefore to find a prayerless convert,
any more than to find a breathless living man. O ! the
poor Christian feeleth that he cannot live without prayer,
because he cannot live without God. He cannot be with-
out it one day ; he cannot be at home without it, or abroad
without it; he cannot travel or return home without it ; he
cannot labour without it in the shop or in the field \ but
when he wants a place to bow his knee in, he hath yet an
opportunity to bow his soul ; and if company or business
do shut his mouth, yet it must be business indeed that quite
taketh off his heart ; for his eyes are on God, as the eye of
the servant on the hand of his master, saith David s. Why
may I not say, as the eye of our dogs, when they wait on us
at our tables, is towards us for every bit they have ; so the
eye and dependance of the Christian for soul and for body,
is upon God : and many a secret ejaculation doth he send
up, and many a groan doth pass his heart, that those that
even stand by him are unacquainted with. As a beggar is
known by his needy begging tone, so is he known by his
begging of God ; " The poor useth entreaties **," or speaketh
supplication ; you may know them by it ; they make a trade
of it ; they live by begging ; they will have no nay : such
an one is the Christian, that even liveth by begging as his
very trade : as one that must always pray, and not be weary
or wax faint*. So that this is the second means that con-
verting grace doth turn men's hearts to.
(3.) The third means, subordinate to Christ and the
Spirit, which converting grace doth turn the heart to, is,
the Word of God, whether heard, or read, or preached, or
any way fitly made known. The Word is the very seed that
» Psal. cxxiii. i. *» Prov. xviii. 23. * Luke xviii. 1.
CO TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
doth beget him to this life, the immortal seed of God, which
always must remain in him''. Of this incorruptible seed is
he new born ^ And therefore it cannot be but he must love
it, and desire it. The Scripture to a carnal man is as a
common book : many things in it seem to be unlikely, and
many things even next to foolishness, because he hath not
the Spirit to discern them. To all the ungodly it is as a
sealed book ; though some of them know the grammatical
and logical sense, none of them taste the spiritual sweetness,
nor partake of the life that it begets in the soul. Therefore
we find the learned Papists so many of them making a jest
of Scripture, even while they confess it to be the Word of
God. Some of them daring to accuse the matter, and some
the style, and many the words and manner of expression,
as if it were obscure, or unfit, or insufficient to its proper
use : a carnal man can easily spare it ; a chapter in the
Bible to him is but as a common story. Many an one of
them can delight to read a romance, or a book of fables and
fictions, like " The Knight of the Sun," " The Seven Cham-
pions," or " Palmarine," or " Guy of Warwick," or such
like wicked devices of men's brains that are made to rob
God of men's hearts, and to rob themselves of their time and
wit ; than to read over the sacred story, and the holy pre-
cepts of Christ, and the spiritual doctrine of faith and sal-
vation. We may see the difference between men's dispo-
sitions towards God's Word in the Papists and poor Pro-
testants, in the time and place of persecution. The Protes-
tants would make much of one leaf of the Bible ; they
would get together to hear a chapter read, as to a feast,
when they knew their lives were endangered by it. The
Papists used all their power to suppress it, to hinder the
promulgation of it, and keep the people from the knowledge
of it, and burned them at a stake for the using of it. Their
inquisition in Spain and Italy inquire after it, as if it were
some book of treason or witchcraft ; when the poor Chris-
tians whose hearts are touched with it, do hide it and keep
it, as the chiefest jewel in the world. Luther would not
take a world for one leaf of the Bible ; his adversaries would
have been glad if they could have banished it out of the
world. In the primitive church the heathen persecutors did
'' Luke viii. 11. 1 John iii.9. ' 1 Pet.i. 23.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 61
first seek after the Christian Bibles and other good books,
that they might burn them. And if the ministers would
deliver them all the books, sometimes they would spare
their lives ; but the poor Christians would be torn in pieces
and suffer any kind of death before they would deliver them
one of those books to be burnt. And if any through fear
had yielded to deliver them, they were ever after looked
upon by the other Christians, as if they were apostates and
deniers of Christ, and were commonly called by the name
of Traditors, and the very posterity of such was in disgrace
after them. In so much that the schism of the Donatists
sprung from an excessive zeal on this occasion ; because a
bishop was but ordained by one that had been a son of a
Traditor of the Bible, they separated from him, and from all
the church that held communion with him, for his sake.
So that you may see what thoughts the servants of Christ
have ever had of the Holy Scriptures, and how contrary to
these are the men of the world.
And we cannot blame them, for they know that it was
by this word that God did first quicken them ; by this he
convinced them of sin and misery ; by this he revealed to
them Christ and glory. In this is contained the covenant of
grace, the charter for salvation, and that title to all the mer-
cies of this life and that which is to come. Here are the
laws of heaven by which they must live, and by which they
must all be judged. Here are those promises which first
revived their distressed souls ; the first cordials that did
refresh their fainting spirits : the first news of pardon and
glad tidings of salvation that ever they had was from hence.
They know it is a book inspired from heaven by the Spirit
of God, containing the discovery of the will of God ; and
the highest mysteries, which flesh and blood cannot reveal ;
and that they are matters also of everlasting consequence,
to which all the matters in this world are as nothing, and
not worthy the naming or once remembering. And do you
blame a poor Christian for being in love with this blessed
book ? Especially when he knoweth these things not by
bare hear-say only, but by many a sweet experience in his
soul ; many a sweet draught hath he here drank in his ex-
tremity J and many a feast hath his soul here had, if he be a
Christian of long standing and experience. But, however.
62 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
this was the means of his conversion, and the very instru-
ment of the Spirit for raising him from the dead ; and as the
Christian is so in love with the book of God, so is he with
the doctrine of it, wherever he finds it. Any other book
that is written to explain and apply this, is savory to him ;
especially the public preaching of this word, which is most
eminently the standing ordinance of God for man's conver-
sion and edification. The same sermons that would have
made him sleep, or made his head ache before his conversion,
do now awaken him, and make his heart ache for his former
folly; and yet he loveth them, though they trouble and
grieve him, for he loveth that kind of trouble and grief
which they beget. Oh how sweet is that word to his soul,
which heretofore he was wont to loathe or quarrel at ! He
could live with David in the temple, even day and night :
other men can scarce be drawn to it, but for customs or by-
respects, but it would be a death to him to be kept away.
If there were a famine in the land of the word of God, he
would wander from sea to sea before he would be without
if". It is as natural, according to this new nature, for a
true convert to seek after the word of God, as for the infant
to make to the breast". As new-born babes, they desire
the sincere milk of the word, that they may live and grow
thereby ; they receive with meekness the engrafted word ;
Tov \6yov Efi(f)VTov the word which is innaturalized to them,
and connatural with them : for it is it that is able to save
their souls ; James i. 21. Able to do its own part thereto.
Never did you know that Christian that could live without
this word, any more than a man can live without meat. I
told you the language of Job, David, and Jeremiah before.
O how certainly do the careless neglecters and despisers of
this word discover, that yet they are unconverted souls,
that taste no more sweetness in it than in a chip ; that will
rather make it a matter of derision, when they see people
read and hear so diligently, and talk so much of the word of
God : and do in their hearts almost as one of the Papist re-
bels in Ireland did with his feet, even stamp the Bible in
the dirt, and curse it, and said, " This is it that hath bred
all this, and set us together by the ears." Little better
thoughts have many secret infidels of it in their hearts. But
«n Amos viii. 12. "1 Pet. i. SJ.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 63
here the Christian hath grounded his hopes ; here hath he
built and bottomed his soul ; and here will he live and die.
This then is another part of the work of conversion, it turn-
eth men's hearts to the word of God, and maketh them
value it as their necessary food.
(4.) The fourth means of salvation which conversion
turneth the heart of a man to, is the Communion of the
Saints. Before conversion, the nature, and sometimes the
very name of a saint is loathsome to them, though God
hath told us, that without holiness none shall see him°.
And that all his people are called and sanctified ; and that
none but they shall be glorified, yet how commonly do we
hear men make a mock at the very name of saints. These
are the saints, say they, these are the holy brethren. When
the blood of Christ is shed to sanctify men, when the Spirit
of grace is sent from heaven to sanctify men, and hath
made it his office, when all that God doth by his word and
ordinances is to sanctify men. When all true Christians
are sanctified men, or saints, and the church itself is a com-
pany of saints ; and when sanctification is nothing else but
our devotedness to God that made and redeemed us. Yet,
dare these impious wretches open their mouths against
sanctity, coming near to the scorning of God himself, and
to reproaching the word and the will of God ! Yea, and to
some kind of blaspheming the Holy Ghost. It is natural to
a wicked man to hate a saint i'. An enmity is put between
them. And the first two men that were born into the world
did manifest that enmity, for Cain killed his brother Abel,
because his own works were evil, and his brother's righte-
ous 'I. And Christ himself telleth his disciples, that be-
t^ause they are not of the world, but he hath chosen them
out of the world, therefore the world hateth them ; but if
they were of the world, the world would love his own \
Yea, on this very account, it first hated Christ himself\
And therefore no wonder if the communion of the saints be
abhorred, or not delighted in by the ungodly, even while
they make it an article of their creed. But when once the
soul is truly converted, there is a likeness to God and his
saints put upon them, and a natural love to them implanted
" Heb. xii. 14. »* Oeii. Hi. 15. «» 1 Jolmiii. 12. Hcb. xi.4.
"" John XV. 19. * John xv. 8.
64 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
in their hearts, and thereupon a strong inclination to have
communion with them in the worship of God, and the way
to heaven ; as many drops of water will gather into one, or
many streams will run into one river, or many small flames,
if you bring them near, will make all into one, and every
thing is inclined as it were to incorporate with its like, so is
it with the truly sanctified soul. The same means will not
serve their turns, if they have it not in communion *. The
multitude of them that believed were of one heart, and of
one soul, and they distributed to one another, as every one
had need, and charity made that common which law had
made proper". They continued stedfast in the apostles'
doctrine and fellowship, and breaking of bread and prayer ;
and they that believed were together, and had all things
common, (that is, by charity, as I said before) and they
continued daily with one accord in the temple, breaking
bread from house to house. Certainly, there is in all the
children of God, such a love to their brethren, that they love
their company, especially in the holy worship of him that
redeemed them. False hearted Christians, that have but
the name, may have the hearts of heathens, and do as they
did, who were unacquainted with Christian love, but so will
not the true. Hence it is, that the Christians in all ages
have so valued the sacrament, which hath been still called
the Communion of the church, or of saints ; because there
they all join together to feed upon one Christ, and taste of
the supper of the Lord, as the fellow heirs of his glory.
And as many corns made one loaf of bread, so are they, as
the apostle speaks, one bread and one body. For the bread
which they break, it is the communion of the body of
Christ, and the cup which they drink, is the communion of
his blood "", And hence it is, that it hath ever been so heavy
a punishment in the eyes of all Christians to be excommu-
nicate, and shut out of the fellowship of the church,
(though there are also other reasons greater than this). So
that the poor Christians, if they had fallen into any sin
that deserved excommunication, they would have stood
with tears at the church doors, month after month, entreat-
ing the prayers of the church that they might be pardoned,
and be fit to be taken in again ; and this even when Chris-
* Acts iv. 3^. »• Acts ij. 43. " 1 Cor. x. 16.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 65
tianity was so persecuted, that it was a matter of danger to
a man's life to be a Christian, so precious then was the
communion of saints. Every Lord's day did they adminis-
ter the Lord's supper, that they might be frequent in that
part of communion. And, therefore, they highly esteemed
the Lord's days, because they were the days of the churches'
holy communion. Do not marvel then, if any true converted
soul have a closing, uniting, combining, disposition; and
if they love to be together in the holy worship and service
of God ; and if they are glad when they can get together in
the public meeting place, or any other convenient place, to
join together, and help each other in the work that is
common to all. I know there may be some upright
souls live among such as hinder them from that com-
munion which they would have ; but their hearts are to-
wards it, and they will have it if they can. I know also,
that the heathens and the Papists, and all enemies of the
church, have still defamed the communion of Christians,
and such as join to seek the Lord. And if any evil fall out
among them, they would lay it all on their meeting and
communion. But yet this malice of the devil could
never break the assembly and communion of the saints.
1 know also, that many heretics are much addicted to secret
combination, and to tie together in their way ; but that is
natural for men to love their like in evil ; so drunkards can
flock together to an alehouse ; but it is not so natural to de-
light in good ; other men's communion in evil, doth not dis-
grace, but commend our communion in the fear of God.
Satan hath his legions that can agree in one man ; but they
are not such as the legions that attended upon Christ.
What, must Christ have no school or army, because satan
hath one? Must we dissipate, because the wicked always
associate? There are means sufficient left us to discern the
communion of the church of Christ from all ungodly and
heretical combinations whatsoever. Though there be some
stings in the church of Christ among the bees, yet there is
more honey. The meetings of heretics are like the nests of
wasps, they are all sting and no honey. Saith TertuUian,
•* Vespae habent favos, et Marcionitae ecclesias :" — ** Wasps
have combs too, and heretics make churches." The combs
of the bees and of the wasps may be very like to look upon,
VOL. VII. F
(16 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
but the honey is not like, nor the sting altogether. It is not
to feed on the doctrine of Christ, and live to him, that here-
tics do combine ; but it is to divide the church, and to shew
their error and pride, and to sting and despise others. So
that their meetings are nothing like the meeting of the church
in many regards. I beseech you now beloved hearers, try
how your hearts are affected to the matter in hand. If you
are true converts, your very hearts are among the saints : it
doth you good especially to join with them in public, and
especially in the two duties of praising God, and receiving
the sacraments, which are the most proper to the church.
And also it will do you good to have communion with them
in private, in prayer, in conference, in any holy work. You
are where you would be, when you are thus employed.
You do not do like the hypocritical world, to say, *' I be-
lieve the communion of saints," and at the same time either
hate and scorn, or at least neglect and set light by the com-
munion of saints. It is not to every wicked man that the
promise is made, ** Where two or three are met together in
Christ's name, there is he in the midst of them." And it is
not for nothing, that the saints delight in this communion.
For as here is most of God's blessing, and most help from
one another, so when they are nearest to one another, they
are all nearest to Christ. And their closure and communion is
a foretaste of their communion in glory : for their happiness
lieth in their being one with Christ and among themselves ^ :
and Christ died of purpose to " gather into one the children
of God, that are scattered throughout the world "= :" and it is
God's design in the work of redemption to " gather together in
one all things in Christ '".'' And as he therefore " gives his pro-
phets, apostles, and ministers to the church, for the perfec-
tion of the saints, and edifying the body, till it be all come
in the unity of the faith to a perfect man, that we may grow
up in him, who is the Head in all things from whom the-
body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which
pvery joint supjdieth, according to the effectual working in
the measure of every part, makelh increase of the body, to
the edifying of itself in love**." So also at the day of judg-
ment shall the " angels gather the elect together from the
^ John xvii. 21. ^ John xi. 52.
1
Ephes. i. 10. b Eph. iv. 11—16.
i
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 67
four winds V' and they shall be one in Christ for ever*.
Great reason therefore have the saints to make out after
more of that, which their perfection doth so much consist
in. Other men may have some delight in the company and
assembly of Christians for bye-respects ; but to love the
communion of the saints, as such, and delight in them as
the body of Christ employed in his praises, this is the proper
disposition of a saint. And this is another thing that con-
version doth turn their hearts unto.
4. Having spoken of the third part of the Conversion of
the Heart, which consisteth in the right choice of the means
to salvation ; I proceed to the fourth, which consisteth in
the thorough resolving of the yet wavering and unsettled
soul. I make not this a part in itself different from all that
are beforementioned, but the very life and perfection of
them, especially of the two last. Some kind of willingness
and unsound consent there may be in the half-converted,
and many times it is long after the beginning of this change
before it reach to a sound resolution ; but it is never a saving
work of special grace indeed, and proper to the saints till
then. Men may have many convictions, and be brought to
engage themselves in covenant to God, and yet for want of
this true resolution, their hearts may not be right with God,
nor they be stedfast in his covenant®. We are suitors for
Christ to a backward and obstinate generation of men ; we
are long persuading them before they will yield, and when
they seem to yield, they are long in the beginning, delibe-
rating and wavering before they will resolve. Sometimes
God turneth the heart more suddenly at a sermon ; but or-
dinarily, for aught I can find, men stick long under convic-
tion and half purposes, before they are thus converted.
When they see that all is not well with them, and that they
are not in a safe condition to appear before God at judgment,
in that they have not taken the right course that Christian
wisdom required them to take, they feel then within them
many persuadings of the Spirit of God, and their conscience
reasoning the case with them, and saying, * This life will
not serve thy turn long, if death find thee in this condition,
thou art an undone man : away then with thy negligence
and idle company and courses, and set thyself to seek after
« Malt. xxiv. SI. '' John xvii. «1. « Psal. Ixxviii. ST.
68 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
Christ before it be too late;' and under these persuasions
the mind is sometimes purposed to do it. But these purpo-
ses are either for the time to come, that hereafter they will
be new men ; or else they are but half purposes, that reach
not to a resolution : and therefore if at present they make
some kind of change, it is but by the halves; and they usu-
ally turn back again : this is the case of the best men ordi-
narily before conversion.
But when conversion comes, it turns over the mind un-
feignedly to God ; it brings the soul beyond its former wa-
verings ; it shews men that there is no other remedy, the
thing is of necessity, and that all is but vanity that can be
said against it ; and no good reason can be given to take
any wise man off from the work of repentance and a heaven-
ly life, and therefore he is resolved that this shall be his
way. He hath considered and found for certain that there
is no true felicity but in the favour of God ; and that
his love and promised glory are everlasting, and all things
else are vain and transitory ; and therefore he is resolved
that God should be his portion, and nothing but God ; hea-
ven shall be the end of his desire and labour, and nothing
but heaven. He hath also considered that there is no par-
don of sin, but by the blood of Christ, and no hope of sal-
vation, but by cleaving to him, and yielding to his renewing
Spirit ; and therefore he is now resolved that Christ shall
have his heart, and his Spirit shall do its work, and that the
wordof God hereafter shall be his rule. He is now deter-
mined to know nothing but Christ crucified ^ Before he
was like a man that was weighing somewhat in the scales,
and the other end was the heavier, or the scales stood as it
were even : but now the Holy Ghost hath brought in those
arguments, and set them home on the conscience, with that
life that hath turned the scales. Before he was like a man
that had lost his way, and standeth still, considering whe-
ther he shall turn back or not, or whether he shall go this
way or that; but now he is resolved, and he stands no lon-
ger considering, but turns without anymore ado. And this
resolution is not rash or ungrounded, but having considered
what can be said for God and for the world, for sin and for
repentance ; and considering what he may meet with in the
f 1 Cor. ii. 2.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 69
way to heaven, he resolveth whatever it cost him, repent he
will, return he will, for saved he must be. Though he meet
with hard dealing from the world, there is no remedy, he will
go through it ; though he may suffer much in the flesh, yet
that shall not take him off; though he knows he must leave
his former pleasure and wicked company, and live that life
that the flesh doth abhor, yet all this shall not take him off.
O what a pleading and reasoning there is commonly between
the flesh and the Spirit, before the heart will be thus resolv-
ed. As it was with Carraciolus, the marquis of Vicum, when
his conscience bid him leave his land, and friends, and all
for Christ, to forsake Popery, and betake himself to these
countries, where he might enjoy the Gospel ; his house and
lands then came in his eyes ; * What must I leave all these
for mere conscience, and live I know not how?* His wife
hangs upon him, his children with tears do cry after him,
* O father, leave us not!' And many a sob and sigh it costs
his heart before he could resolve to get away : and as it
was with many of the martyrs when they were to die for
Christ and for his truth ; wife, and children, and friends fol-
low them to the fire, crying out, ' O turn, turn, and do not
undo yourselves and us ;* so that they had almost as much
ado to overcome that temptation, as to bear the flames : so
is it with a sinner in the work of conversion ; when he looks
to Christ and everlasting glory, and considereth withal that
these cannot be obtained without the loss of earthly, sinful
pleasure ; and when he thinketh of his old merry company
and course, his ease and fleshly pleasure that he must leave;
when he thinks of the strangeness of the way that he must
now turn to, and how unacquainted he is with it, and how
many bitter scorns, and worse, he is like to meet with, and
how much care and pains it must cost him to be saved ; this
keepeth him sometimes at a stand, and breedeth in him many
troublous thoughts, so that he scarce knows which way to
turn him, or what to do. If he repent and turn to God, he
must deny his flesh, and forsake all this world, and for
aught he knows, have scarce any more of that kind of plea-
sure that he lived upon before; and if 'he do not this, he
must forsake God, and all hope of everlasting glory, and
give up himself to eternal misery. This seemeth a very sad
straight to one at the first ; because he yet hath had no ex-
70 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
perience of the joy of the Holy Ghost, and the higher com-
forts of a Christian life, nor of the help which God will af-
ford him in his way : and therefore we cannot marvel if ma-
ny a poor soul do here stick in the birth ; and if it be long
before they resolve for God ; and if others turn back and
perish for ever ; and grace, and only grace will resolve them ;
when Christ opens their eyes effectually and to the purpose,
he lets them see, that between heaven and earth, God and
the world, grace and sin, there is no comparison. They see
then, it is not a matter to doubt of, or to stick at: God must
be pleased, but there is no necessity that the world or the
flesh be pleased. God's favour must be had, but we may
live without the favour of the world ; death and judgment
must be provided for, but it is needless to provide for the
desires of the flesh : an hundred considerations come in
upon his soul, which make him say. Away with all these
worldly vanities, and welcome Christ and a holy life.
Now he " casteth ofl" that weight that hangeth on him, and
that sin that did so easily beset him, that he may run with
patience the race that is before him, looking to Jesus the
Author and Finisher of his faith, who for the joy that was
set before him, endured the cross, despised the shame, and
is sat down at the right hand of God e." In a word, he is
now thoroughly convinced that one thing is necessary, and
therefore he hath chosen the better part, which shall not be
taken from him ^. O sirs, you are never truly converted
till this resolution of the soul ; whatever good purposes you
may have for the time to come, if you be not presently resolved
presently to return ; I say, presently without delay, you
are not yet truly converted to Christ, though you may ve-
rily think that the life of faith and holiness is the best life,
and may have some mind to it, and purpose one of these
days to return ; nay, though you may have some present
purposes that are cold and faint, and come not up to the
height of resolution ; and though you make some trial here-
after, and change some of your company and your courses,
all this is well, but it will not serve the turn without this
resolution. Many a man that is lost for ever, hath had
many a good wish and purpose, and made some essay to
mend his life, and made some half reformation, aid yet, be-
S Heb. xii. 1,2. ^* Luke x. 42.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION^. 71
ing not resolved for Christ, they have perished. The very
principal part of the work of saving grace in the soul doth
lie in this resolution. O that the wavering, and the loiter-
ing, and the delaying soul would lay this well to heart. O
that they understood this, who are convinced that they
must return and be new men, and yet cannot be brought to
present resolution, but linger in their sins, as being loath to
come away ; as Lot did in Sodom, till God being merciful to
him, caused the angel to carry him out. Well this is the
next work of converting grace. If ever you be converted,
you will be resolved for Christ.
5. The fifth part of the work of Conversion in the heart,
consisteth in the change that is made upon the Affections.
Though these are not so evident and certain always to try a
man's state by ; and therefore I would have Christians try
especially by the former, yet it is certain that conversion
changeth these also ; and because they are many, and 1
have been long in the description of this work already, I will
the more briefly run them over.
(1.) The first of the affections that appeareth in this
change, are, love and hatred. Before conversion, the heart
loveth not spiritual things and ways : there is an opposi-
tion to them, and enmity against them '. It loveth not in-
ward holiness, nor a holy life ; it loveth not the people that
are holy; nay, it loveth not God himself as he is just and
holy ; yea, it hath an inward loathing of him, and of his
image and way ; though yet it be so deceitful as perhaps
not to know thus much by itself. But on the contrary, it
loveth fleshly pleasure, and earthly profit, aad vain-glory,
and ease, and honour of the world ; for it only savoureth
these kind of things ''. But conversion turneth a man*s
love and hatred, and maketh him love the holy God, and
those holy people and ways that he could not heartily love
before, and it maketh him loathe those sins, that before he
loved ; that this is so, in all that are converted, is evident
from many texts of Scripture. "He that loveth father or
mother ', &c." ** His delight is in the law of the Lord, and
in his law doth he meditate day and night '"." " In his eyes
a vile person is contemned ; but he honoureth them that
» Rom. viii. 5. T. ^ Rom. ?iii. 7. ' M«ut. x. .?7.
"' Psal.i. '2, 3.
72 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
fear the Lord "." " By this we may know that we are pas-
sed from death unto life, because we love the brethren ; he
that loveth not his brother abideth in death °." They hated
the light before, because it was against their deeds, but now
they love it, and come to it p. The very evil actions that
they do, they now hate "i. Yea, they hate even the garments
spotted of the flesh. All that beareth the mark of a fleshly
sensual course '". Sirs, if you be truly converted, this
change will be upon your aflections.
(2.) The second pair of affections that shew themselves
in this change, are, desire and aversion. These are so near
akin to love and hatred, that I need to say the less of
them. The unconverted man's desires are after the fleshly
pleasures which he loveth ; of these they think they can
never have enough, but cry as the horse-leech, give, give.
When do you hear the covetous man say he hath enough ?
or the ambitious man say, I would be no higher ? or the
sensual man say, my appetite and lust are now satisfied,
I would have no more ? Their very life is a thirsting after
provision for the flesh * ; and the fulfilling its desires *.
And sometimes God giveth them much of that they do de-
sire for a time, but it is in judgment, and a curse to them
through their sin ". But as for God and Christ, and the
Spirit, and holiness, to these they have no appetite, but na-
turally loathe them, and at the best have but cold and heart-
less wishes after them. Hence it is, that they refuse so
many motions for their own good. Move them to spiritual
things, and there is somewhat within them that is against
the motion, so that they will not hear us, or be persuaded
by us. O how backward is an unconverted soul to spiritual
good ! They will go no further than they are drawn, and
they will not be drawn to give up themselves to it. Hence
it is, that our ministerial labours are so much lost. We
persuade sick men to their meat, that have no appetite to it.
Nay, whose stomachs rise against it and loathe it. It goeth
against their carnal natures, against their former customs,
against their ease, and profit, and pleasure, and therefore it
will not down with them, they cannot away with it ^. We
» Psal. XV. 4. "1 John iii. 14. P John Hi. 19, 20.
q Rom. vii. 15. «• Jude23. » Rom. xiii. 12.
t Kph. ii. 3. « Psal Ixxviii. 29. " Job. xxi. 14.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 73
heave a stone that will stir no further than main force doth
move it. O had they but desire after Christ and grace, as
they have after worldly, fleshly vanity, how happy might
they be.
But when converting grace comes, it changeth their de-
sire. God calls to them then effectually by his word and
Spirit. " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come and drink of
the water of life freely ''." As if he should say, * What mean
you to desire that which will do so little good, and to lay
out your labour for that which will not profit you, and fol-
low my direction, and I will give you that which is worthy
your desire.' When God hath once effectually touched the
heart with converting grace, it leaves a secret thirsting after
him in the soul. As when he called Peter and the other
apostles, and said unto them, follow me, they presently left
all and followed him. Then they cry out with David, " My
soul thirsteth after thee as the thirsty land y." " The de-
sire of their soul is to his name, and to the remembrance of
him '." Now they see that excellency in God's word, and
ways, and graces, that all things that may be desired, are
not to be compared with it*. " They are more to be de-
sired than gold, yea than fine gold ^.'* Before they desired
many things, and nothing would satisfy them ; now give
them but one thing and they will be satisfied to the full ^.
Before their desires were only after vanity ; but now, so far
as they are renewed, they are only after good*^. And that
God that gave them these desires, will fulfil them *. He
that caused them to hunger and thirst after righteousness,
will satisfy them ^ And he that turned their minds from
this world, and gave them to desire after a better country «,
will give them that promised land which they desire.
(3.) The next affections, whose change is discovered in
the work of conversion, are their delight and sorrow. This is
the next pair. An unconverted man doth naturally find no
pleasure in God or spiritual things : for a fool hath no de-
light in understanding •". It is fleshly lust and pleasure that
they desire *. And the " pleasure of sin for a season," for
* Isa. Iv. 1— S. ' Psal cxliii 6. xlii.3. Ixiii. 1. *Isa. xxvi. 8.
» Prov viii. 11. •> Psal. xix. 10. <= Psal. xxvii, 4. Ixxiii. 25.
«» Prov. xi. 23. « Psal. cxiv. 19. ' Matt. v. 6.
t Heb. xi. 16. '• Prov, xviii.2. ' Tit. iii. 3.
74 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
which they part with the highest delight ^. " They live in plea-
sures on earth, and fat themselves as for a day of slaughter ^"
They account it pleasure to riot in the daylight of the
gospel, in that day that is given for other kinds of works "".
They not only do evil, but have " pleasure in them that do
it ""." These " fools hate knowledge, and scorners delight in
scorning °." And if they have any delight in better things
through a common work of grace, it is but a superficial fad-
ing delight P. "A rejoicing in the light for a season*'."
But no sound well-grounded delight. But when convert-
ing grace comes, it giveth a man those new delights which
he knew not of before. Then the things that he before saw
not, nor well believed, the things which he distasted and
loathed, are in his delight. God himself is his delight ^
The doing of his will is their delight ^ His law, his word,
his statutes, are their delight *. On the Lord's day they de-
light in him ^ In the multitude of troubling, perplexing
thoughts, his comforts delight their souls*. Their delight
is in the saints on earth, and those that excel in virtue ^.
It is their meat and drink to draw nigh to God. It doth
them good at the heart, when they can but be enlarged to-
wards him, and have more light and life than before they had.
These are the new delights of a converted soul. He doth
not part with all delight at his conversion ; he doth but
change a brutish and sensual delight, for such as are fit for
a man and a Christian. The wicked think they shall never
have a merry day again, if they should be thus changed ;
but he meets with more truly comfortable days than ever he
did before : Nay, he never knew what true comfort was till
now. I know every poor Christian hath not that measure
of these delights as some have. Some are cloud-ed with
darkness, and infirmities, and live much more sadly than
others do, but yet the delight which they have in these
things, is more than in the things which they before de-
lighted in. It glads them when they can but see a beam of
^ Heb. xi. 25. ' James v. 5. "2 Pet. ii. 13.
n Rom. i. 32. « Prov. i. 2^. p Isa. Iviii. 2,
q John V. 35. •• Psal. xxxvii. 4. * Psal. xl. 8.
* Psal. i. 2. cxix. 24. Ixxix. 16, 35, 47,70. " Isa. Iriil. 14.
" Psal. xciv. 19. y Psal. xvi. 3.
J
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 75
heavenly light from the face of God. They have so much
as sheweth the change that is made upon their souls.
The like we may say also of the sorrow of the un-
converted. It is not the same that it was before. Before
it went nearer their hearts to lose any pleasure or commo-
dity in the world, or to be wronged, or suffer any disgrace
from men, or to suffer any want in -their estates, or any pain
in their bodies, than it did to lie under the wrath of God,
and live as without him, and his favour in the world. They
were truly such as satan fully reported Job to be ; had you
but touched them in their estates or bodies, they would
have quickly shewed you what was next their hearts. But
all the misery of their soul was no great trouble to them.
A man would marvel, that knoweth what a miserable state
that of sinful nature is, that so many thousands in the
world can be void of God's image, strangers to the Spirit,
and know no more of Christ but the very name, and yet be
no more troubled at it. That they can bear such a weight
of unpardoned sins as they do every day, and feel it no
more. That they can live under the curse of God's righte-
ous law, and remain in daily danger of damnation, so that if
they should die before conversion, they are lost for ever,
and yet be no more troubled at it. But alas, they are blind,
and see not the case that they are in ; they are dead and
stupid, and therefore feel it not. It is the nature of their
miserable condition to make them so; they are more trou-
bled for a worldly trifle, than for all these things of ever-
lasting consequence. But it is far otherwise with the con-
verted soul ; one doubt of the love of God is more grievous
to them, than to doubt of their worldly happiness ; the rem-
nant of their mortified sins is heavier on their soul, than
the mountains of unmortified sin was to them before ; they
send out more groans and cries to God, because of their
daily failings and infirmities, than they did before for all
their iniquity ; the utter gracelessness of their hearts was
then not so grievous to them as the weakness of their
graces now. He never before knew what it was to have the
least spiritual communion with God, and yet he bare it
lightly ; now the miss of it one day and in one duty, is
more grievous to him. What need we prove this to you,
when every gracious soul doth feel it, and the world about
76 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
them may see it, that their sorrows are of another nature
than they were before ? Were they wont to lie in tears for
sin, and mourn for God's absence as now they do ? Before
they were sorrowful, that they might not come to heaven
without such a course as would impoverish them in
the world y; but now they are sorrowful that they can
shake off the world and sin no better, and get ground of
their corruptions no faster than they do. Object, Perhaps
you will say, if conversion bring so much sorrow, is it not
better to be without it? Arisw. No, for it is a willing sor-
row, a necessary healing sorrow, that worketh repentance to
salvation, not to be repented of; and not the sorrow of the
world that caused death "". See there the blessed effects of
it at large "". It is a sorrow mixed with greater joy ; for we
are as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing ^. It is a very short
sorrow that will quickly be forgotten ; for God hath pro-
mised himself to wipe away all tears from our eyes ^. It is
a sorrow of God's own giving, and therefore it cannot choose
but be good, for God giveth not evil : it is a sorrow prepar-
ing for everlasting joy ; and he that hath called us to it,
hath foretold us, that we " shall be sorrowful, but our
sorrow shall be turned into joy, which none shall take from
us. We shall weep and lament, and the world shall re-
joice ^ ;" but mark the end, who it is that will be sorrowful,
or joyful then. " Mark the upright man, and behold the
just, for the end of that man is peace*." What wise man
will refuse so short a sorrow for so long a joy? Who that
is well in his wits, will choose rather to die of his sore, than
to endure the smart of the lancet to open it ? Nay, there is
an ingenuity in a converted soul, which makes it in a kind
of holy revenge even be willing to taste somewhat of the
smart of his own folly. He sees that it was himself that
caused it, and brought all this upon himself, and the desert
of a thousand times more, and therefore he even chooseth
in some measure to afflict his soul, and doth not thrust
away sorrow from him, as before he was wont to do.
(4.) The next pair of affections that shew their change,
are, hope and despair. Before conversion, the soul of sin-
y Matt. xiv. 22. Luke xviii. 23. ^ 2 Cor. vii. 10. » 2 Cor. vii. 9, 10.
»» 2 Cor. vi. 10. c Rev. vii. 17. xxi. 4- •* Jolin xvi. '<iO.
e Psal. XXX vii. 37.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 77
ners is either borne up on false, ungrounded hopes, which is
the common case, or else they drop into desperation. The
hopes of an unconverted man, are foolish and contrary to
the word of God, and do but shew the delusion of his soul,
and tend to his destruction: they are like the hopes of a
man that thinketh he is travelling to London, when he is in
the way to York, and yet goes on, and hopes he shall come
to London for all that, as well as they that go the right
way : so do these men commonly hope to come to heaven,
while they go in the way to hell. And though God have
told them, and passed his word on it, that he that goes in
these ways shall not see peace ^: and hath assured the
world, that there is no peace to the wicked ^ : yet still they
will hope to find peace in evil ways : these deceiving hopes
are the common cause of the damnation of the world ; as
the Scripture frequently acquainteth us. But when con-
verting grace comes, O ! what work it maketh on the soul in
this particular ! How it battereth down all the false hopes
of sinners ; and maketh them see that they are all this while
deceived ! O ! it maketh the poor soul even undone in its
own apprehension, and shews then that all his hopes were
vain that before he trusted in. Then he cries out, * I had
hoped to come to heaven without conversion, but now I see
it will not be : I had hoped I was well enough before ; and
that God would have mercy on me in that condition without
any more ado, but now I see I did but deceive myself. I
had hoped that I had a saving part in Christ, though I loved
the world and followed my sins ; but now I see it is not
so. I had hoped I might have been saved if I had died in
that condition ; but now I see that I had certainly been
damned.' Now the soul is brought to a kind of despair;
not an absolute despair that God will have no mercy on
him ; no, he never escaped that till now ; but a conditional
despair, that ever he should come to heaven without con-
version ; he despaireth of ever being saved in the old con-
dition that he was in : and then comes in another kind of
hope than ever he knew before : then the Spirit of grace
Joth bring him to hope upon grounds that will not deceive
him : now he hath a hope that quickeneth him, and that
comforteth him : before he had a dull and dead hope to es-
' Isa. lix. 8. K Isa. Ivii. 31. xlviii. 22.
78 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
cape damnation ; but now he hath a living hope of seeing
the face of God for ever. He hath now that hope toward
God by which we are saved, even the hope of the resurrec-
tion of the dead, and the hope of things not seen •*. Now
he hath a hope which is built on the Scripture, and bred by
experience, and which will not make him ashamed ^ : before,
as he was without God, so was he without hope ^ ; but now
he hath that hope which is an anchor of the soul ' ; a hope
that he can give a reason of "" ; a hope that purifieth him " ;
even the hope of eternal life, which none have but those that
are heirs by faith, and are brought to it by this regenera-
tion". And for this blessed hope at the glorious appearing
of the great God our Saviour, doth his faith and patience
expect and wait p. So that now he hath some reason for
his hopes, for he hath the promise of the faithful God to
support them. The least hope that a poor troubled soul
hath after conversion in the midst of all his fears and doubts,
is of more value than all the most confident boastings of the
unconverted : for there can be no hope of being saved out
of the way that God hath appointed to salvation : and the
bolder men are^ and the more they hope and boast in a
wrong way, the blinder they shew themselves, and the more
is their misery ; but the godly are safe in an objective hope,
even when they want much of the subjective. There is
hope, yea, and assurance in itself, when they know it not ;
and they are safe in that which they do not perceive.
(5.) The next pair of affections that manifest their con-
version, are, courage and fear ; an unconverted man is bold
in sin, but feareth not much the wrath of God, and the
sorest evil that he threateneth in his word. But when he
should encounter with any of the enemies of his salvation,
there he hath no courage. It is a marvel to see the
strange distemper of a graceless soul. These poor wretches
are so valiant in their wickedness, that they dare sin when
the converted dare not; they dare break the Lord's-day,
and dare drink, and revel, and take their pleasure, and neg-
lect their souls, and slight God and all his mercy : they
dare run upon his sorest wrath and upon hell itself. Tell
^ Acts xxiv. 15. xxiii. 6. Rom. viii. 24. • Rom. xv. 4. v. 4, 5.
^ Ephes. ii. 12. ' Heb. vi. 19. »' 1 Pef. iii. 15.
» 1 John iii. 3. » Tit. iii. 5—7. P Tit. ii. 13.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 79
them of these things, and you cannot much daunt them.
It is their mad valour that they dare damn their own souls :
like a distracted man, that dares leap into water and drown
himself; or a blind man that dares run into a coal-pit, be-
cause he knows not what he doth : such a kind of valour
have unconverted nien, when as in the way of their duty,
they are the most notorious cowards in the world : they
dare not venture upon a little suffering to prevent eternal
sufferings ; or upon the frowns of men, or the danger of
being undone in their worldly estates, though it be for a
hope of everlasting glory. Nay, they dare not venture upon
a very scorn ; but when they have some mind to turn and
set upon duty, a wicked man can mock them out of all.
Are not these valiant men indeed, that dare not look the
feeblest enemy of their souls in the face, and yet dare ven-
ture on the flames of hell? This is the common case of the
unconverted.
But when grace hath made this change, then they are
clean contrary affected ; then they are the most fearful men
in the world, of God and his displeasure, and the most
courageous against all the opposition of the world. Alas !
they find then that it is madness, not valour, to be fearless
of the wrath of God : there is no standmg before his indig-
nation, and no dealing with Almightiness, if it be set against
us. Therefore doth the poor soul throw down all weapons
of opposition, and lay himself at th^ feet of God, as Saul,
Acts ix. 3. and say, " Lord, what wouldst thou have me to
do ?" Therefore we find converts use to come in trembling
to Christ, Acts xvi. 29. and ix. 6. And Scripture tells us,
" The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom ''." Now he
dare not for his life do that which before he did : he durst
have let fall an oath or a curse in his passion before ; but
now he dares not : he durst have secretly deceived others,
and have committed secret filthiness ; because no body saw
him, he was out of fear ; but now he dares not ; for he fear-
eth him that is greater than all. He durst have neglected
duty, and have been indifferent for all company, and taken
his fleshly pleasures, but now he dare not : for his life he
dare not. O ! thinketh he, what if I should die in the act
of that sin ? What if God should deny me repentance and
1 P»al. c«. 10. Prov. i. 6. ix. 10.
80 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
forgiveness ? Where were I then ? He durst before lie in
a state of death, and now he dares not live quietly, till he
have laboured after assurance of his salvation ; that he may-
know it shall go well with him when he must be here
no more. Now if he be tempted to know sin, this is
his answer, ' I dare not do it, because I fear God^' Other
rulers oppressed the people, and so did not he ; because Tie
feared God. It is the description of the ungodly, that
*' there is no fear of God before his eyes ^" And the des-
cription of a wicked place, " There is no fear of God in this
place *." And the description of the godly, that " they
fear God"." By this **^fear of the Lord it is that men de-
part from evil \" This " tendeth to life y." In this " is
strong consolation''.*' So that it is the work of conversion
to bring the presumptuous, hardened sinner to this fear of
the Lord : none do so much fear God as they.
But then for the threats of men, for worldly troubles or
crosses, or losses, or any such thing that may stand in the
way to heaven, how little do they fear them all ? Here
where the wicked are most cowardly, the converted soul is
most courageous. Alas ! he knows the difference between
the creature and the Creator. And therefore, when he hath
once got God on his side, he seeth he is safe, and the danger
is most over. Then, O what light thoughts hath he of man,
or of all that he can do ! " In God have I put my trust,"
saith David, ** I will not fear what flesh can do unto me* "q.d.
What is flesh to be compared with God ? Can flesh resist
him, and cross his pleasure, and overcome him? as Psal.
cxviii. 6. " The Lord is on my side, I will not fear what man
can do unto me ;" and Psal. xlvi. 1 — 3. " God is our refuge
and strength, a very present help in trouble ; therefore will
we not fear though the earth be removed, and though the
mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the
waters thereof roar." So xxvi. 3. He knoweth what en-
couragement God hath given him, la. xli. 10. " Fear not, for
I am with thee ;" and vii. 4, 35. xiv. xli. 13, 14. xliv. 2, 8,
li. 7. " Fear ye not the reproach of man, neither be afraid of
their revilings ; for the moth shall eat them up like a gar-
«• Nehem. v. 15. » Psal. xxxvi. 1. * Gen. xx. 11.
« Psal. Ixvi. 16. Ecclcs. vHi. 12. xii. 13. * Prov. xvi. 6.
y Prov. xix. 23. » Prov. xiv. 26. * Psal. Ivi. 9.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 81
ment, and the worm shall eat them like wool. But my righ-
teousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from genera-
tion to generation." These words of God are the instru-
ments of that change that is made on the converted soul,
and therefore will make an impression like themselves.
When God doth change men, he maketh them soldiers un-
der the banner of Christ, and setteth them in fight against
principalities and powers, even against a world of wicked
enemies ; and therefore he will certainly give them courage.
This courage is an essential part of our change, and without
some measure of it we cannot be Christians. He that will
come to heaven must forsake all, and tread down all, and
despise all in comparison of Christ, that he may not be a
forsaker and a despiser of Christ. Therefore we find the
apostle, in the name of himself and his fellow-soldiers, cou-
rageously triumphing over death, and the grave, and every
enemy, 1 Cor. xv. 55. "O death, where is thy sting? O
grave, where is thy victory ?" And Rom. viii. 18, 31. to the
end : " The sufferings of this life are not worthy to be com-
pared to the glory that shall be revealed in us ; what shall
we say then to these things ? If God be for us, who can be
against us? It is God that justifieth, who shall condemn?
What shall separate us from the love of God?" Read these
triumphant words at leisure. Certain, a true believer hath
more valour than to be turned out of the way to heaven, by
any assault that a creature can make upon him.
(6.) The next passion that sheweth the change, is anger.
This is a single passion, and hath no contrary. Before
conversion, men are angry with those that trouble them in
their sins. If you would but teach the ignorant, or per-
suade the obstinate, or cross them in the way of their be-
loved sins, O how angry will they be ! as if you were their
enemy, and did them some deadly hurt. You cannot speak
.to them so tenderly in a reproof, but they will think you do
it to disgrace them, or in ill will to them, or at least that
you make them worse than they are, and they think you
make more ado than needs ; as Amaziah did by the pro-
phet ''. They would atop his mouth if they could, who
would stop their course of sinning. You shall not see one
of many of them that have so much ingenuity as to take a
^ a Chron. xxv. 16.
VOL. VII. O
82 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
close reproof in good part ! no, not from a minister, whose
calling doth specially bind him to it. Hence is the com-
mon indignation that we meet with from poor blind
wretches, when we do but our duty. Nay, when we do not
half, nor the tenth part of our duty, in persuading them to
a greater care of their salvation, they are offended with us,
as if we did too much. O what a difference is there be-
tween their j udgment, and the j udgment of God, and our own
conscience ! And what a strait a poor minister, or private
Christian, must needs be in between both ! I confess to
you all here, to my shame, that I remember no one sin in
the world, that my conscience doth so much accuse and
judge me for, as for doing so little for the saving of men's
souls, and dealing no more fervently and earnestly with
them for their conversion, or reformation. And yet every
body is not pleased with that little which I do. I confess
to you, that when I am alone, and think of the case of poor,
ignorant, worldly, earthly, unconverted sinners, that live
not to God, nor set their hearts on the life to come, my
conscience telleth me, that I should go to as many of them
as I can, and tell them plainly and roundly what will be-
come of them, if they do not turn ; and to beseech them
with all the earnestness that I can, to come in to Christ,
and change their course, and make no delay. And though
I have many excuses come in from other business, and from
disability and want of time, yet none of them all do satisfy
my own conscience, when I consider what heaven and hell
are, which will one of them be the end of every man's life ;
my conscience telleth me, that I should follow them with all
possible earnestness night and day, and take no nay of
them till they return to God. But if a man should do thus,
how would it be taken ? Some of them would think of
him as Christ's natural kindred did of him% when they
were about to lay hands on him, and thought that he was
besides himself; some would think him a precise fellow,
that thought nobody should be saved but a few that make
more stir than needs ; and most would be angry with a
man, as if he did them wrong, when he doth but seek to
save them with fear, pulling them or keeping them out of
the fire of sin^. Christ himself is an offence to the ungodly
«^Markiii.21. 'i Jude 23.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 83
world '^. And therefore no wonder if we offend them. They
will even bear a secret grudge in their minds at those men
that trouble them in their sins ; and " anger resteth in the
bosom of these fools ^" If you should suddenly come in
upon a thief or an adulterer with a light, who thought to
have hidden his sin in the dark, he would be offended at it ;
and so are most wicked men with us.
But when converting grace hath changed the heart, the
case is quite contrary. Then he will thank you for that
which before he was angry at ; he loveth no man so well as
him that hath sought to save his soul. O, those reproofs
and exhortations that God did bless to his conversion will
stick by him for ever. He will bless God that ever he saw
your face, and remember those words that helped to save
him, as long as he liveth ; he will take it for a greater bene^
fit than if you had given him all your wealth. A special
extraordinary love to those that were made the means of
their conversion will stick for ever in their mmds ; thel
very words that you speak to them will be so remembered,
that they would not for a world but they had heard these
words. O, what a change is here suddenly wrought ! He
that was wont to say, ' Look to yourselves, you shall not
answer for me,' and be angry with them that troubled him
in the way to hell, now loveth their very names, and the re-
membrance of their kindness is pleasant to him. Even like
a poor distracted man, that layeth about him, and abuseth
the physician, and calls them all to naught that would cure
him, as if they came to kill him ; but when he is come to
himself again, then he will give them hearty thanks. Some-
what like it is in a beast ; if he have a thorn in his foot he
will strive against you, and not let you pull it out ; and if
you cast him down to force him to it, he lieth as if you were
about to kill him : but when it is out, and he perceiveth the
ease, he will perceive you did not mean him any harm. So
it is with a sinner before his conversion : he is angry with
those that would do him good ; but when once God hath
turned his heart, he is quite of another mind. Then he saith,
•* Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness ; and
let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil, which shall
not break my head «." And he taketh open ** rebuke better
« 1 Pet. ii. 8. Rom. ix. 35. ' Eccl. vii. 9. KPsal. cxii. 5.
84 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
than secret love ; and the wounds of a friend to be better
than the kisses of an enemy b." I know, by sad experience,
that too much heart-rising against reproof doth remain in
many that I hope are converted, but that is from their un-
converted part ; and if it were predominant, it would prove
them unconverted men. For so far as they are gracious,
thus it will be.
Yea, not only so ; but when a man is converted, his an-
ger is turned against himself. He was never so angry with
others for reproving him, as he is now for sinning against
God, and doing so much wrong to his own soul. Certainly
there is in every converted soul a great indignation against
themselves for their sin. They fall out with themselves,
and think ill of themselves, and speak ill of themselves ;
yea, and could find in their hearts to be in part revenged
upon themselves. You may see as much said by Paul,
2 Cor. vii. 11. where, among other effects of godly sorrow,
he nameth indignation and revenge. A true repenting sin-
ner could even find in his heart to execute some punish-
ment upon himself. O, how he calls himself almost all that
is naught ! O, thinks he, what a fool, what a wretch, what a
beast was I, to love the filth of sin better than the favour of
God and the hopes of everlasting glory ! What a madman
was I, to be angry with those that would have kept me
from damnation ! Where was my wit and reason, when I
so long forgot the work that I was born for, and made so
light of the Lord that bought me, and thought so little of the
place that I must live in for ever ? Sirs, I do not speak this
of mine own head. I have heard many, and many a one,
through God's great mercy, after conversion, calling them-
selves worse than all this comes to ; and expressing greater
anger against themselves, than the wicked now express
against those that would convert them. And you read, that
even the saints in Scripture did the like ; and that not by a
secret confession, but left it on record to all generations.
David calls himself an ** ignorant fool," and as *' a beast ^"
He cries out, when his heart smote him by true repentance,
" I have sinned greatly ; I have done foolishly *." Paul him-
self saith, that he was " even mad, and exceedingly mad,
« Prov. xxvii. 5, 6. ^ Psal. Ixxiii. 9.2. « 2 Sam. xxiv. 10.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 85
against" the Christians before his conversion''. And of
himself and the rest, he confesseth, "We ourselves were
sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers
lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and
hating one another ^" So that you see converted men are
very angry with themselves for their sinful lives ; you hear
how they call themselves. If they used such language
against another man, you would think it were railing ; to
call them fools and madmen, and all to naught. But, alas !
they know by sad experience what they say, and yet by glad
experience that it is now better with them. Therefore it is
that they can easier bear the hard words of another, when
they are forced to say as bad by themselves. Therefore is
every converted sinner a man that loatheth himself for his
iniquity "". Yea, they could find in their hearts, as I said,
to be partly revenged on themselves. For though they
must not destroy their own bodies, because they are not
their own but Christ's, nor must any way hurt them, so
far as to make them the less serviceable unto God ; yet, in
any other case, they can find in their heart to punish this
flesh, and to make it smart, that hath led them to so much
evil. Therefore they are the easier brought to fasting, and
denying the flesh its desires, though they put it to trouble
and pain ; for as this doth tend to master it, and subdue it
for the time to come, so a vindictive penance for the time
past voluntarily undertaken, is but a lawful fruit of repent-
ance, so that it do no whit disable us from the service of
God. Hence it is, that a thorough convert doth more easily
forbear a carnal pleasure, than a hypocrite or half-convert
will do. For when they are pleading the lawfulness of
their pleasure, and saying, * what harm is it,* and * why may
I not do this or that,' he is willing to avoid it, though it
should be but indifferent, as long as there is any great dan-
ger of sin in it. For what careth he if the flesh do smart
for it, if they be the worat ? Seeing it is the flesh that he
is fallen out with, and hath done so much wrong to God and
him. So that you see what a change conversion makes on
a man's anger as well as other passions.
(7.) The last change we shall mention on the affections,
that is made by converting grace, is in regard of a man's
'' Acts xxvi. 11. ' Til. iij. 3. »" Ezek. xxxvi. 31. xx. 43.
80 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
content and discontent. Before conversion, a man is dis-
content if he had not the desires of his flesh. He hath no
rest-in his mind, if he be poor or afflicted, and see not some
hope of coming out of it. But for the love of God, and the hfe
of grace, and the joys of the godly, he can be well enough
content vi^ithout these. If he had but what he would have
in the world, take you the rest, for he thinks he can live
well enough without them. When Cain's sacrifice was not
accepted as his brother's, he was discontented at his bro-
ther, and consequently at God himself. He " was very
wroth, and his countenance fell "." Because his brother
was preferred before him, and was judged righteous when
he was judged unrighteous. But he could be content with-
out true righteousness itself, though he could not be content
without the estimation of it. So can all ungodly men be
content well enough to be ungodly, but not to be called
ungodly ; the name troubleth them, when the thing is so far
from troubling them, that they will not be persuaded by
any means to leave it. In a word, it is the things of this
world that wicked men do seek content in, though they find
it not. But as for spiritual and heavenly things, they can
be better content in the case that they are now in ; without
them, than with them.
But conversion turneth the heart also in this regard. For
when a man is once truly changed, he can be contented
with any state, if he have but the favour of God, and the
life of his grace, and communion with him ; and without
this he can be content with nothing. Nothing but Christ
will serve his turn. If God will give him more upon the by,
he will take it and be thankful ; but without Christ he takes
all things to be as nothing. What if he had lands and
lordships, honour and dignity, what will this do for him
without God in Christ ? And blame him not, for he hath
felt such a disease, that these things could not heal, when
Christ, and Christ alone, could do it. And therefore Christ
he must have whatsoever else he go without. A little of the
world will serve with Christ, but nothing in the world will
serve without him. As a wicked man is troubled and rest-
less, because he hath not that which he would have, when
every thing is not according to his mind. If friends, if es-
» Gen. iv. 5.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 87
tates, if his house, or his body, or any thing be out of order,
he is in discontent, because it is here that he seeks content,
and therefore is troubled when he misseth of it. So is it with
a believer in respect of Christ. If God hide his face, if the
Spirit seem to withdraw, if Christ seem strange to him, if
doubts of salvation come in upon his soul, he is as a bone
out of joint, pained and troubled, and nothing will quiet
him till he be set in joint again. Like a child that will be
quieted with nothing but that which he cries for. If you
offer him any thing else, he throweth it away, for that is not
it which he crieth for. So is it with this poor Christian; if
you tell him of riches, or honour, or pleasure, and not of
Christ, and grace, and glory, you do but trouble him, for
these are not the things that he looks after. There is but
one thing in the world that can give him content ; let him
have that and he hath enough. O, did he but know that
God is reconciled to him, and that he is united to Christ,
and the Spirit is in him, and that he is in the safe way to
the kingdom of glory, then if he have but food and raiment
he can therewith be content"*. Yea, or if he were without
them, if God so dispose of it. For he hath learned by the
teaching of converting grace, to abound and to want, and
in what state soever he is, therewith to be content »'. And
therefore, his conversation is without covetousness, and he
is content with such things as he hath, because God hath
promised him that he will never leave him nor forsake him*J.
So this is another fruit of conversion about men's content, or
discontent.
Having said thus much of the change of the affections,
I might proceed to shew you, what particular reigning sins
it is, that this work doth cast out of the heart, and what
particular graces it there setteth up, and so go over all the
chief sins and graces. But because this would hold me
longer than I intend to stand upon this subject, and be-
cause these are comprehended in the change already men-
tioned, I shall pass these over; only that part which my
text dotli particularly express, I take it to be my duty par-
ticularly to handle.
" Except ye become as little children." You see here,
that Christ plaoeth much of tlie work of conversion in the
" 1 Tim. vi. «. I' Fliil. iv. 11. 'i Hcb. xiii. /»
88 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
making us to become " as little children." I shall here,
therefore, stay awhile to tell you, 1. What is not meant
by this ; and 2. What is meant by it. 1. Christ doth not
by this intend, that little children are altogether innocent,
and that there is nothing in them that is hateful to God : for
certainly they have all original sin ; for who can bring a
clean thing out of an unclean ? or how can the parents be-
get holy children that are unholy themselves ? and righte-
ous children, that are themselves unrighteous ? I mean,
without sin, when they are not themselves without sin. I
remember what an outcry there was ^ once against me in
this town, for saying, that children by nature, considered
as sinful and unsanctified, were as hateful in the eyes of
God, as any toads or serpents are in ours : so that the peo-
ple railed at me as I went along the streets ; but doubtless
the comparison is far too short ; for every child by nature
hath original sin, and sin is more hateful to God a thousand
times, than any toad or serpent is to us. And therefore it
is not by nature that children are righteous, or come to hea-
ven. But it is by grace, through the blood of Christ that
washeth them ; and the covenant that forgiveth them ; and
baptism that sealeth this unto them ; and they are capable
also of the Spirit, to sanctify them. If there were not a
willing nature in infants disposing them to evil, before they
do it ; as there is a stinging venomous nature in a serpent
before he stings, or in a wasp even in the comb. How
should it come to pass, that children should be so forward
to evil as soon as they can commit it? Why are they not
as forward to good ? If children be not by nature, through
original sin, even hateful to God, what need have we of the
blood of Christ, to wash them and cleanse them from it?
And of the water of baptism to seal this cleansing ? Doubt-
less, there is not an infant in the world but would be for
ever damned, if Christ's blood did not procure their pardon
and reconciliation with God. It is not therefore in abso-
lute innocence, that Christ here means that we must be-
come as little children, before we can enter into the
kingdom.
2. Nor yet is it in point of safety from the wrath of God,
as if every child, or any by nature, were free from all dan-
1 Fifteen years ago.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. ^ 89
ger of everlasting perdition. By grace many are, but by
nature none at all. From the hour of their birth many may
be sanctified ; but it is the covenant of grace, and the grace
of the covenant, that sanctifieth them ", and not the parent
or nature.
The things, therefore, that Christ intendeth in the words
of my text, are these two : First, That as children are but
men entered into the world, and beginning their lives, and
all things are new to them, so he that will be saved, must
by conversion, as it were, begin the world anew. I pray
you mark it, sirs, for Christ hath not given you this doc-
trine and example for nothing. Therefore it is that we And
so often in Scripture mention made, of laying by, or de-
stroying, or putting off the old man. In Rom. vi. 6. ** Our
old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might
be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."
He that hath truly learned Christ, " hath put off concerning
the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts, and are renewed in the spi-
rit of their mind ; and put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness ^'* " Mortify
therefore your members which are upon the earth ; fornica-
tion, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence
and covetousness, which is idolatry : for which things'
sake, the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedi-
ence : in the which ye also walked sometimes, when ye
lived in them. But now ye also put off all these ; anger,
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your
mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing ye have put off the
old man with his deeds ; and have put on the new man
which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that
created him *." Upon consideration of which great change,
they are said also to be ** dead, and risen again, and their life
now hidden with Christ in God "." You see then that here
is an old man to be put off, and destroyed, and a new man
to be put on. That is, there must be such a change of the
qualities of the soul, and the practice of the life, that a man
must not, in his affection and conversation, be the same
man that he was before. For though he be the same in
r 1 Cor. vii. 14. * Eph. iv. 2S{. » Col. iii. 5—10.
" Col. iii. 1—3.
90 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
substance and person, and the natural faculties of his soul,
yet not the same in disposition and practice. In regard of
his old corrupt disposition and conversation, he is called the
old man, and in regard of his new disposition and conver-
sation, he is called the new man. As a man that hath been
an ill husband, and run out of all, and having nothing left,
is cast into prison, and when he lieth there, he bethinks
him of his folly, and at last a friend comes and payeth his
debts, and setteth him up again, and giveth him a stock to
trade with; we say of this man, * he begins the world anew.'
So when a poor sirmer is in prison, under the wrath of God
for his sin, and Christ comes in his gospel and telleth him,
* I have paid thy debt, and now I will set thee free, and give
thee the help of my Spirit, and means ; only see thou be
faithful to me, and make better use of my mercy for the
time to come/ Now this converted sinner is to begin the
world, as it were, anew. As a man that hath fallen into a
fever, that hath consumed all his flesh to the very bones,
when he is cured his natural parts do make him new blood
and flesh again. So when Christ hath cured the diseased
soul, the old flesh is as it were consumed, and we are made
anew. As a man that hath missed his way at the first set-
ting out, and gone the contrary way all day, and at last
comes to know that he was all this while out of his way, he
is then to begin his journey anew. So is it with the con-
verted man. When the illumination of the Spirit by the
word, doth acquaint him, that he hath all this while been
out of the way to heaven, he turneth again and saith, * I am
now to begin my life again/ The building that he hath
been setting up all this while, is blown down by the breath
of God's displeasure, or consumed by the fire of his curse.
And therefore he must begin again, and build all anew from
the very ground. Not an earthly building like the old, but
a spiritual house for himself, that may be fit for his holy
Spirit to dwell in"". And may attain at last to the building
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ^.
I beseech you, beloved hearers, mark this as we go, and
see whether this be so with your own souls. I must tell
every carnal, worldly sinner of you all, in the name of God,
that your old condition is a miserable condition, and will
« Rom. viii. 11. % Tim. i. 54. > 2 Cor, v. 1, 2.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 91
not serve the turn of heaven. If ever you will be saved, you
must become as little children, and even begin the world
anew. A new heart you must have, a new life you must
lead, a new course you must take, and a new end you must
aim at, and intend. But of this I must speak more anon,
under the further proof and application.
Secondly, Another thing that Christ here principally
intendeth in the text, is, that we must become as little chil-
dren, in regard of humility, and all our designs and contri-
vances of the world. Though this be not the whole that
he intends, yet this is the very reason for which he men-
tioneth the whole work of conversion, as necessary to sal-
vation ; and therefore he particularly giveth instance in
this part : though children have the seed of all these in
their natures, yet are they not acquainted with the acts of
all, even when they begin to be acquainted with some.
Children will very young shew their frowardness and dis-
obedience, and sensuality, and some pride, but not by as-
piring after great things in the world, and seeking after do-
minions, and dignities, and honours. They are in no care
for enlarging possessions, for heaping up riches, for buying
lands and lordships ; they envy not the princes and lords of
the world, but are as well contented with their lower mat-
ters, as kings and emperors are with their crowns ; if they
have meat, and drink, and clothes, and play, they are pleas-
ed : you never hear them murmur that they are not prefer-
red to this office or that, in church or commonwealth ; they
do not contrive how to undermine others ; nor to get above
them in worldly dignities ; nor to blast the name of others,
that they may magnify their own. They disdain not those
of the lowest rank ; but the children of a lord, will play fa-
miliarly, if they be not dissuaded by others, with the chil-
dren of beggars ; in a word, though they have pride, and
shew it in lower things, yet do they not look after the great
matters of the world, as ambitious and covetous persons do.
And this is the thing that Christ intendeth to his disciples,
and to all Christians, that if ever they will enter into the
kingdom of heaven, they must lay by their pride and vain-
glory, and covetousness, and become as little children to
all these honours and riches of the world. So that it is
plain, that Christ maketh humility an essential part of the
92 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
work of conversion, and altogether inseparable from the
heirs of his kingdom. As pride is thought to be the first
sin of the devil, and was certainly the first, or one of the
first that tainted the nature of man, when he would needs
be as God, knowing good and evil; so is it not the last or
least of the works of Christ on the soul in its recovery, to
take down this pride, and humble us, and make us little in
our own eyes. Satan drew us to aspire after a kind of god-
head,[and to be more than men ; and Christ brings us to be
as little children, and almost less than men. Satan drew us
to be like him in pride, and Christ draweth us by doctrine
and example, to be like to him in meekness and lowliness :
satan would lift us up, that he might cast us down, and our
fall might be the greater, by how much we attempted to
mount the higher ; and Christ casteth us down, that he may
lift us up, and that our glory may be the greater, by how
much we are made the baser by humility. Satan did but
unsettle us by taking us off our rock and foundation, when
he pretended to exalt us ; and Christ doth settle us again
by laying us low ; and'by teaching us meekness, he causeth
us to find that rest to our souls, which in pride and vain-
glory could not be found ^. Satan by sin did make us low
and vile in God's eye, and high and excellent in his own;
and Christ by converting grace doth make us low and vile
in our own eyes, and high and excellent in God's. By cor-
rupted nature, men are still inclined to rise higher, and lift
up themselves ; but by grace he is disposed to think meanly
of himself, and to set light by the honours and greatness of
this world. And why is this, think you ? Is it because
grace debaseth men's spirits ? No, but because it raiseth
and ennobleth them. The converted soul doth slight the
glory and greatness of the world, not on the same reasons
as children do ; i. e. because they know it not, or because
it is above them ; but because he is now acquainted with
far greater things, and because that all on earth is below
them. It is not because he would fain have greater matters,
and cannot get them, but because he hath got a sight of
such things in the world to come, in comparison of which,
these things are as nothing, and therefore to be set light by,
and even trodden under foot. He slighteth not crowns and
^ Matt, xi, 28, W.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. ' 93
kingdoms as things above him, but as things below him.
The very humility of the saints hath a high design : when
they lie in the dust, in self-abhorrency and self-condemna-
tion, they are aspiring thence as high as heaven : their hum-
ble confession, and tears, and groans, have a tendency to
that glory, which is above the sun. As a child that casteth
his ball to the ground, that it may rebound the higher ; or
as a man that means to make the highest building, will dig
deepest to lay the foundation ; in the depth of their debase-
ment they are seeking to be as the angels of God. It is
heaven that they mean in every duty, in every prayer, in
every lamentation they make for their infirmities, yea, in all
they do in the world, it is nothing lower than heaven that
they intend.
Perhaps you will by this time turn your judgment of
them, as much as the barbarians did of Paul, Acts xxviii. 3.
And as before you thought them too base, now you will say,
that grace doth make them proud : but it is no such mat-
ter. Pride is the undue estimation of a man's self, and a
desire of undue estimation from others ; and it provoketh
a man to seek after an unnecessary seeming greatness in
the world, which tendeth to lay him as low as hell. But
these high desires, and attempts, and expectations of the
saints are accompanied with a deep sense of their own un-
deservings : they confess beforehand that they are worthy
of nothing, when they live in hope of all things ; they ac-
knowledge that hell is their desert, when they aspire after
heaven. And when they come thither, they will confess it
was not from their merit, but will for everlasting glorify
that grace that did bestow it. They lean in all their endea-
vours upon Christ, and never think to rise so high by any
strength that is properly their own. They will readily con-
fess, that they have nothing but what they received, and
that it was God, and not themselves, that made them to
differ ; and therefore they dare not glory as if they received
it not. When they have most, they most honour the giver :
and when they do best, they magnify him that quickened,
and strengthened them ; and say, " Not to us, O Lord, not
to us, but to thy Name give the glory "." The more they
have, the better they know whence they had it. And as
* Psal cxv. 1.
04 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
their light increaseth, so doth it lead them further from
themselves, and shew them their natural darkness, and the
glory of that sun from whence all flows. It is not impossi-
ble for a low spirit to have high designs ; and for a man to
lie in deep self-accusations, with strongest hope of an an-
gelical glory. A man may look toward heaven that lieth
flat on the earth, so that his back be towards it, and not his
face. It is no pride to desire that which God made for us ;
nor to seek after any greatness, that he hath promised and
offered, and commanded us to seek for. The sin of pride
lieth not in the elevation, and aspiring after things so great ;
but in the undueness and error of it, and in the falseness of
the estimation ; unless when it comes to desire to be even
as God. It is not pride, but spiritual wisdom, to desire to
be like to God in holiness, and to bear his image, for that
is our perfection. It is not pride, to be unsatisfied with all
the greatness and glory of this world ; and restlessly to
seek after a heavenly kingdom, and to hope to be like the
Son in glory, and to be equal with the angels of God ^ : for
God hath made us for this, and set it before us, as the prize
we run for, and given us an infallible promise of it in his
word : God would not have us base, when he forbids us to
be proud. His service dignifieth us, if any thing be a dig-
nity. He would not have us to be such earth-worms, so
poor, so miserable, so blind, so naked, as to take up with
the trifles and dirt of the world ; but would have us live
like men that have souls, which are immortal. Pride is the
tympany of the soul, which consumeth the substance, and
is a mortal disease : he loveth not our barrenness, nor is he
against our substantial growth and nourishment, because he
would cure us of this tympany that would kill us. It is
wind and water, and not flesh and substance that is the
matter of this disease. So that, when God takes you down,
it is that he may lift you up ; and he makes you lesser, that
he may make you greater. And if you should yet imagine
that humiliation is an unlikely way to exaltation, the Spirit
of God and the life of grace have taught the true convert the
contrary by experience : he knows it is God's ordinary way
to bring life out of death, and light out of darkness, and all
things out of nothing, and to be glorified by weak things.
b Luke XX. 36.
TREATISK OF CONVERSION. 95
He knoweth that Christ went by the cross unto the crown,
and was nearest his glory, when he was lowest in his humi-
liation ; and so must he. For he that will be conformed to
him in his glory, must be conformed to him in his suffer-
ings ^ We must suffer with him, that we may reign with
him*^. The prison, and the stocks, and scourging, and
scorns, were the preparation for the throne, that Paul and
many another must undergo. The lark that soareth high-
est, and singeth as it were in the face of the sun, was bred
under a clod, as low as any other bird.
Beloved hearers, I beseech you hear not these things as
matters that concern you not, but as the true description of
the heirs of heaven. Thus must it be with you if you will
be saved. While you are unconverted; O what stoutness
and stubbornness is in the heart ! How fain would men be
somebody in the world ! How ill do you take it to be light-
ly esteemed ! You would think it a gallant thing, if you
could but be greatest, and have all things done as you
would have them, and all men beholden to you, and depend
upon you, and you to be beholden to none, and to have
men's knees bow to you, and your word to be the law, and
all men give you the preeminency ; to have your name to be
great and famous, and to be honoured by all. O what an
excellent life were this in the eyes of a carnal man ! But
converting grace will bring you down, if God in mercy
please to give it you. 2. It will make you call yourselves
less than the least of all his mercies ^. " A worm and no
man^:" a wretched man^. It will make you think your-
selves unworthy to live ; unworthy to come among the
saints ; unworthy to mention the name of God ; or taste of
his favour ; and this not feignedly, but from your very
hearts. It will make you marvel, that God should do so
much for such a wretch as you ; and that he had not damn-
ed you long ago. It will make confession of sin, even na-
tural to you, and make you lay your mouth in the dust ^\
You will say worse of yourselves to God and man, than
most others will say of you, and you will the more easily
bear all slightings and reproaches, and unworthy usage
from the world, because you know how ill you deserve of
c PJiil, iii. 10. «• R^)in. viii. 17. « Geii. xxxii. 10.
f Psal. xxii. 6. «f lloni. vii. ^4. '' LHiu.iii. 29.
96 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
God, as having used him and his grace so ill. Instead of
snuffing at those that observe you not, and honour you not,
you will think yourselves unworthy to be observed, and
think the dishonour less than your due. Instead of snuffing
that any should go before you, or be preferred above you,
you will be ready to stoop to the feet of the meanest, for
their good. You will esteem others, as f^ir as reason will
bear it, better than yourselves ; and in honour prefer others
before yourselves ^. Instead of lording it over your bre-
thren, you will think it your greatness to be the servants of
all'.
It may be you will say, this is a strange person whom I
now describe, and if there be no true converts but such as
these, God help us all ! for they are but few. I answer, this
is the description that I find in the word ; and be they few
or many, it is these, and only these, that are the disciples
that Christ will own. ** For thus saith the Lord, the high
and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy ;
I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of
a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the
humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones'"."
** To this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of
a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word'." ** Blessed
are the poor in spirit; for their's is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn ; for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth'"."
Read the text that Christ preached on Luke iv. 18. Rom.
xii. 16. " Mind not high things, but condescend to men
of low estate." And Job xxii. 29. " He shall save the hum-
ble person." " He that humbleth himself shall be exalted,
and he that exalte th himself shall be brought low "." *' God
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble °." I
shall but trouble you to recite one half of the Scriptures
that speak in this strain, and assure us that there is no true
grace and Christianity without true humility. I confess
there are several degrees of it in the sanctified, according to
the several degrees of their sanctification, but it is predomi-
nant in them all.
^» Rom. xii. 10. * Matt. xx. 27. xxiii. It. •' Isa. Ivii. 15.
I Tsa. Ixvi. 2. m Matt. V. 3 — 5. " Lukexiv.lt.
* James iv. 6.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 97
O that the ambitious great ones of the world, would lay
this to heart. O that even all the leaders of Christ's flock, the
preachers of humility, would lay this to heart ! Then we
should not have had the church so torn in pieces, by con-
tending after precedency and preeminency, who should be
lords, bishops, and above the rest ; especially after such a
check from Christ, as this text and divers others do contain.
When his disciples strove who should be the greatest, this
is Christ's decision of the controversy. Not by telling them
that Rome shall be the ruler of all other churches, and the
other four patriarchs shall be next to it ; and the bishop of
the metropolis or greatest cities, shall rule those of the lesser
cities, and these shall rule those that dwell in a village. No,
Christ takes another course to decide the controversy, by
setting before them a child, by telling them that the " kings
of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that
exercise authority are called benefactors : but ye shall not
be so ; but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the
younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve?." One
would think that the very thoughts of Christ's washing his
disciples' feet, and saying to them, that thus they should do
by one another, should shame proud ambition from among
the preachers of such a Gospel. O that our stubborn peo-
ple also would remember this ! that are too good to obey
the word of the Lord ; and too stout to be admonished, or
come for instruction to their ministers ; yea, or patiently to
bear a reproof. All these persons, and many more may call
themselves Christians as long as they will, but Christ that
knows his sheep will not own them. Believe it, sirs, it is
as impossible to be a true Christian without true humility,
as for a house to be without a foundation.
I have shewed you now what it is to become as little
children, so far as is beyond controversy. But there is
somewhat more that might be worth our inquiry, whether
they were not baptized and purified children, as such, that
Christ here intendeth ; in whom even the root of pride is
mortified? But this I will not presume to meddle with,
because on this subject I would deliver you nothing, but
what among the godly is commonly agreed on. But this I
may well say in general ; that this text in part, and others
P Luke xxii. 95, 26.
VOL. VII. H
98 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
nat)re fully do tell us, that Christ did not look upon in-
fants as at so great a distance from him, as the Anabaptists
now do.
J II. Having done with the work of Conversion on the
Judgment, and on the Heart, the next thing to be done, is to
shew you the change that it makes on Men's Lives : for this
must be looked after as well as the former. The same God
that ruleth the heart, doth rule the life ; and he that requi-
reth the cleansing of the heart, doth require also the clean-
sing of the hands. The soul commandeth the body, and the
heart will dispose of the life ; if therefore the heart be chan-
ged, the life must needs be changed too. The root is for
the fruit ; and the life within, is much to enable us to action
without. When God giveth us the root and life of grace
and holiness, it is that we may bring forth the fruit, and do
the works of grace and holiness. He makes not the new
creature for nothing, or to be idle, much less to go on in
serving the devil : but he makes him for a new work, even
to serve the living God*i. " For we are his workmanship,
created to good works, which God hath ordained that we
should walk therein ■■." The excellency of his peculiar people,
is "to be zealous of good works ^" A good heart and a good life
ure inseparable, as to the main ; but the life may further outgo
the heart, than the heart can outgo the life : for there may
be a reformed life that is in many respects good, while the
heart is bad ; but the life is never worse than the heart : for
there can be no evil of sin in this life, but what the heart is
the proper cause of. " For out of the heart come murders,
adulteries, theft, false-witnessing, blasphemy, and such like
sins, which defile the man *." It is therefore a vain boast
of those men, that take on them to be converted, when they
live as they did before : neither God nor any wise man will
believe them, though they may thus deceive themselves.
Seeing then, there must be a new life, with a new heart, or
no salvation, let us a little particularly inquire, wherein that
newness of life doth consist.
1. The first and principal change of the life, consist-
eth in the covenant which the converted soul doth make
with Christ. As this is principally in the heart, and so
containeth faith and holy resolution, we have spoken of it
q 1 Thess. t. 9. ' Ephes. ii. 10. » Tit. ii. 14. » Matt. xv. 18— JO.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 99
before ; but now I mention it as expressed with the tongue;
for as with the heart we believe to righteousness ; so with
the mouth is confession made to salvation". A resolved
heart will have a resolved tongue ; it will carry a man to ex-
press his resolution, as there is convenient opportunity,
both to God and man ; this covenant might be verbally en-
tered before in the face of the congregation, in our baptism
by our parents, who are authorized by God in Scripture,
and nature to enter their children into it for their good ; but
if the heart did never truly own that covenant, when you
come to the use of reason, you cannot expect to be saved by
it. Your own covenant with Christ, when you come to age,
is then as necessary to your salvation, as your covenant by
your parent in baptism was before, to put you into that
right which infants have by virtue of the promise ; this co-
venant is the very bond, and foundation of all the following
obedience of your lives, when God hath opened the eyes of
a sinner to see his great necessity of Christ, and the glory
and felicity that he hath procured, and withal to see the
universality and freeness of the promise : and that God doth
call to him to consent to his terms, and accept the mercy
freely offered. Converting grace doth move the heart to
acceptance, and the tongue and life to make expression of
it. There might be half-covenant, and false, hypocritical
promises before, which for want of sincerity were soon
broken, and come to nought ; but conversion entereth us into
a true, and firm, and durable covenant ; when the poor sin-
ner doth once understand that it is not long of God, if he
be shut out, and that Christ hath put in no bar of exception
against him more than any other in the promise of pardon
and salvation ; and when he understandeth that God doth
but stay for his consent, and all the stop is at his own will,
and when he understandeth thoroughly what reason he hath
to be willing, and how little there is to be said against it ;
then he doth set up his resolution, and give up himself in
covenant unto God. It may be before he misunderstood
the covenant, and thought that Christ was unwilling to shew
mercy to such an one that had done him so much wrong,
and he doubted whether God would bid him welcome, if he
should come home ; but when he is better informed, he ma-
" Rom. X. 10.
100 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
nifesteth his consent. God saith to him in the Gospel,
* Sinner, wilt thou be mine?* And he answereth, * Yea,
Lord, with all my heart ; and glad that thou wilt accept of
such a wretch as I.' God saith to him in his Gospel and
by his ministers, * Sinner, thou hast undone thyself, and art
under my wrath and curse, I have redeemed thee by the
blood of my dear Son ; he hath bought thee and will save
thee, if thou wilt be his; what say est ^ thou? Wilt thou
heartily give up thyself to him to be saved ? Shall he be
thy Saviour and thy Lord V And the sinner answereth,
' Yea Lord, with all my heart ; nothing more welcome to me
than Christ. It is Christ that my wounded soul doth want.
It is he, and only he that can save me : I will be his, and
take him to be mine, and gladly make with him an ever-
lasting covenant.' Before, though Christ were offered a
thousand times, the stupid sinner laid it not to heart, and
would not come to him that he might have life "" : but when
he is drawn by the Father, and secretly illuminated and
converted by his grace, then is he heartily glad of the match ;
he takes this as the day of marriage between Christ and
him. Christ giveth up himself to the sinner, and the sin-
ner giveth up himself to Christ. I know that the mere co-
venant of the lips alone, will prove no man to be heartily
converted ; but this in connexion with that of the heart will
prove it. Have you been brought to this, beloved hearers ?
To do that by yourselves at age, which you did by your pa-
rents in baptism ? Have you gladly taken Christ, as he is
offered to you? And have you delivered up yourselves to
him ? I tell you, converting grace will bring you into co-
venant : this covenant is the very sum of all your change :
all is contained in this one word, ' The making up the
match between Christ and you,' Yea, and it will make you
upon fit opportunity, even manifest this to others ; and even
glory in your Saviour, and be willing openly to confess him
before the world, and let them know that you are in cove-
nant with him.
(1.) And I must tell you in a word, that if this covenant be
sincere, it will have these qualifications following. 1. It
will be done in some competent measure of understanding
and judgment : you will know what Christ is, and what he
» John V. 40.
I
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 101
hath done, and what need you have of him, and how he is
offered, and upon what terms he is to be received and made
yours. For there can be no true covenant, when you are
utterly ignorant of the very substance of the covenant. 2.
If it be a true covenant, it must be entire, you must take
that is offered you, and not only a part : you must yield to
the terms of the covenant, and give up yourselves wholly to
Christ again. It is not to take Christ to some uses, and
not to others, as to justify and save you from hell, and not
to sanctify or save you from sin. 3. You must do it re-
solvedly and habitually, from a rooted habit and resolution
of the very heart ; and not from a sudden fear, or flash of
conviction under a moving sermon, and as many will do in
sickness and extremity, and then forget all, or grow cold
again, and return to their vomit, when the fit is over: like
those, Psal. Ixxviii. 34 — 37. " When he slew them, then
they sought him, and they returned and inquired early after
God, and they remembered that God was their Rock, and
the High God their Redeemer : nevertheless they did flatter
him with their mouth, and lied unto him with their tongues,
for their heart was not right with him, neither were they
stedfast in his covenant." And ver. 10. ** They kept not
the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law." 4.
If you covenant sincerely, it must be for a present return,
and not only for the time that is to come. It must be from
that day forward, without any more delay. It is not a true
covenant, which excepteth but a day. 5. And if you truly
covenant with Christ, you will do it unreservedly : yea, and
resolve against all reservation. You will not secretly make
exceptions, and say in your hearts, * I will be the servant of
Christ, if he would use me as I would have him, and deal
easily with my flesh, and not destroy my worldly interest;
1 will follow him as far as the way is fair, and no further :*
No, but you will unreservedly give up yourselves to his dis-
pose, and say, * I am sure I cannot have Christ, and life
upon terms loo hard. I am sure that however he deal with
me, I can have no better master, nor can I take a better
course ; and if he do as hardly by me as ever he did by any
of his servants, 1 know 1 shall be no loser by him, nor ever
have cause to repent of the bargain. And therefore I am
resolved I will give up myself to him. He is wise, and just.
102 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
and merciful, let him do with me as he will/ This is the
principal effect of true conversion, to bring the soul thus to
close with God in Christ.
(2.) And in the same covenant, as the converted soul doth
close with Christ, so doth it renounce all other competitors.
Before he served another master, but now he understandeth
it must be so no more. There is no serving God and mam-
mon, the Spirit and the flesh. Christ and satan are as un-
reconcileable as light and darkness. It is the purpose of
Christ to bring men from the captivity of satan, and of sin y.
He letteth the sinner know, that there is no hopes of join-
ing these together : either the devil or Christ must be for-
saken ; either sin or mercy must be renounced. The word,
and Spirit, and minister say to him, * Thou seest, sinner,
how the case standeth, God is resolved, he will not change.
Never think of any other way ; either let sin go, or let hea-
ven go ; take which thou wilt, and leave which thou wilt ;
but never think of keeping both.* Hereupon the sinner lets
go his sins, and renounceth the world, the flesh, the devil ;
and engageth himself that Christ alone shall be his Saviour
and his Lord, and God alone his chiefest good. He will
take the promised glory for his portion ; and this is the
other part of the covenant. At this one blow the root of
every sin is destroyed. But principally, that which is the
centre and sum of all the rest, and that is, self-love, and
self-seeking. Every unconverted sinner liveth to himself,
and is addicted principally to his carnal interest, and the
main work that Christ hath to do upon the soul, is, to take
down this carnal self. This is the great enemy that he
bendeth his force against. And the subduing of this is his
chiefest victory. This is the great idol of every unregene-
rate man, that must be taken down, or there is no salvation.
The very nature of conversion, is, a turning from carnal-self
to God by Christ.. This therefore is to be inquired after
by all that would find this change upon themselves^ And I
beseech you brethren be very careful in this particular* For
as this part of the work is of absolute necessity, so the in-
terest of carnal-self is very strong and deep-rooted, and
exceeding much befriended by our nature. So that here is
the main difficulty of all your work. O, it is no easy mat-
? Acts xxvi. 18. 2 Tim. ii. 24, ?5.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 103
ter for a man unfeignedly to deny himself : it is a subtle
enemy that will keep much secret life and strength, when it
seemeth to be overcome. And though you may think in
an affliction, or time of humiliation, that self is brought very
low ; yet, when prosperity comes again, or when its interest
lieth at the stake, and you are called either to costly duties
or sufferings, you will then see better what strength your
carnal-self yet retaineth. Many a man hath gone far, and
done much, and shamefully fallen away at the last, because
they were never brought thoroughly to self-denial. It is the
remaining interest of carnal-self that leadeth some to fleshly
lusts, and some to proud ambitious ways, and some to drown
themselves in the cares of this world, and so prove wretched
hypocrites at the last. I do therefore as earnestly advise
every soul of you to all possible care in this point, as I
would do to any thing in the world. Whatever you do, be
jealous of this sin. Fight neither against small nor great,
but against this enemy, carnal-life ; and do not too easily
believe that it is overcome. Conquer this and conquer all.
This is the life and soul of all sins. The very use and end
of all sin is flesh-pleasing. As he that hath right ends, hath
done more than half his work for his salvation, so he that
keepeth up his fleshly ends is still a servant of the flesh,
whatever he may do that seemeth to be for God. He that
hath got the victory of this self, hath broke the heart of
every sin. And in this fall of carnal-self, there are three
great master sins go down. I, Pride. 2. Covetousness.
3. Voluptuousness. He that before was set upon the exalt-
ing of himself, is now set upon the glorifying of God. And
he that lived to tlie world, and was a drudge for earth, is
now employed for higher things, and he that must have his
sports and pleasures, and fleshly ease, hath now learned to
use his body as a servant, and no longer to suffer it to be
the ruler of his soul. But of these I have spoken elsewhere,
so that I will say no more of them now. Only this, that the
destroying of these three sins, pride, covetousness, and vo-
luptuousness, and in them carnal-self, is one half of the wonk
of true conversion. As the other half is the setting up of
God, and the turning of the soul by Christ to him, and
an unreserved dedication and resignation of ourselves to
him.
104 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
2. When the sinner is thus engaf^ed in covenant to God,
the next thing that he doth, is, actually to forsake that sin
which he hath renounced, and make good the covenant that
even now he made. For it is not a false dissembling pro-
mise, that converted sinners make to God. There is no hold
to take of another man*s word. Before conversion, all pro-
mises come from so low a principle that they quickly vanish,
and the heart of such a man is as changeable as the moon ;
but when they are converted, you shall see that they are
men of their word, and did mean as they said, and were in
good sadness with God, and that they are indeed fallen out
with sin. They do not now think to put off the righteous
God with words, and keep that sin which in their covenant
they did renounce : no, they know that that would but
bring greater wrath upon them, and cause God to deal with
them as perjured covenant breakers, besides all the rest of
their sins ; and therefore the same grace that caused them
to promise, causeth them to perform. O what a sudden
change doth appear in the lives of such as these, when God
hath thoroughly done his work ! I know the work on the
heart is the greatest work, but that is not seen so much by
men, and therefore not so much admired. But the life is
seen by others, and therefore it is a wonder in the eyes of
the world many times, to see the change of a converted sin-
ner : when they see, that he that lived in fleshly pleasures,
doth now despise them, and hath no such mind of his for-
mer sports and delights ! They marvel what aileth the man
that he is so changed, when they hear him that was wont to
curse and swear, and deride those that feared God, to la-
ment now his wickednesses, to reprove others that do as he
was wont to do, and warn them to take heed of going that
way. People will marvel what hath befallen the man that
hath made this alteration. They do not see what he hath
seen, nor know the workings of the Spirit of God upon his
soul. They know not how God hath been hammering his
hard heart, and melting it, and forming it to this. They
were not witnesses of the strivings and conflict in his spirit,
which was between Christ and the flesh ; and therefore when
they see not the cause within, the change without will seem
the stranger to them. And indeed it is a kind of miracle to
see the eflfects of the power of Christ, and how suddenly oft-
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 105
entimes the change is made, that would never have been
made by any other means. Take a man that hath only some
light convictions, and a half-repentance, and how long is he
in making a half-reformation. If he were wont to swear or
curse, or frequent alehouses and vain company, he cannot
suddenly leave it, but sometimes he restrains it a little, as
if he were reformed, and sometimes he falls to it again, be-
cause he is not truly changed. But when he is converted
indeed, you shall see him ordinarily leave all these sins
even on a sudden. He that was wont to swear or curse,
you shall never hear him do it again. He will flee from the
places that before he delighted in. He is moved by a more
effectual principle, and therefore will not stand trifling in
the business. Grace makes a man know, that sin, and sa-
tan, and the flesh are his deadly enemies, that seek the ever-
lasting damnation of his soul, and thereforf^ it is the less
marvel, if he use them as enemies. If friends have weapons
in their hands, they will but play with them, but deadly
enemies will seek the blood of one another. There is dif-
ference between fencing and fighting for life. Though a
man that knoweth nothing of their meaning, might think a
fencer is fighting in good sadness, seeing he seemeth to
make as great a stir as if it were so indeed. Yet the issue
will shew you, that it is otherwise, because you see that
there is no blood shed, nor men killed. So is it with an hy-
pocrite in his seeming reformation ; when he makes the great-
est stir against his sin in confessing and prayer, and other
means, yet he will not resolvedly cast it away, but he se-
cretly useth it as his friend, while he openly abuseth it as
his enemy ; and he puts it into his bosom, while he calls it
all to naught. He will not be brought unfeignedly to re-
nounce it, and give it a bill of divorce, and cast it out as a
man doth his vomit, with resolution never to take it in more.
O how sweetly doth he roll it in his thoughts in secret,
when he frowneth upon it with the severest countenance !
How easily is he drawn to it again and again, when he takes
on him to repent of it and abhor it ! But it is clean contrary
with a man that is converted. Though the remnants of sin
will remain in him while he liveth, yet as to the reign of it,
he presently casteth it off*, and biddeth defiance to it. He
fighteth against it in good earnest, as knowing that either
106 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
he or it must die. He casteth it up as a loathsome vomit
which he will not take into his stomach again ; you shall
quickly see by the course of his life, that his heart is
changed. Before true conversion comes, what a stir have
we with wretched sinners to leave a base lust ? To forsake
their drunkenness, or covetousness, or uncleanness, to leave
their swearing and cursed speaking, and yet we cannot pre-
vail with them; sometimes they will, and then again they
will not ; sometimes a flash of conviction flieth in their
faces, and they are ^a little affrighted, and then they will
presently repent and mend ; but when the tit is over, you
shall see that it is not a change of his disposition or nature ;
it was but a little falling out with their sin, which leaveth
them faster friends when they are reconciled. But conver-
sion maketh an unreconcileable enmity. Away goes former
sinful customs and courses ; away goes covetous practices,
and wicked speeches, and proud fashions, and courses. As
Sarah thrust out Hagar and Ishmael out of her house, and
would receive them no more. If you have deadly enemies
in your house, you will thrust out them and all that they
have. If a man should sit in a dark room among snakes
and toads, and think verily that there were no such matter,
but he were in his bed-chamber, you might persuade him
long enough to come away, and tell him of the danger ; but
he will not stir, but laugh at you, because he doth not be-
lieve you. But if you come into the room with a light, and
he see them crawling all about him, and making at him, then
you need not another word to bid him be gone ; he [is
quickly up, and leaveth them with abhorrency. We tell
unconverted sinners of the hatefulness of sin, and the dan-
ger that they are in, and pray them to leave it, but they be-
lieve us not, and do but laugh at it ; but when the Spirit of
God bringeth in the light, and they see all this with their
own eyes, that it is even worse than ever we made it, then
away goes their sins without any more ado. Like a child
that hath a fine yellow crab which he taketh for an apple,
he will not part with it, nor let you take it from him ; but
when he hath set his teeth in it once, and tasted it, he will
throw it away without any more ado. If such a foolish
child be playing with a nettle, while he taketh it for a com-
mon herb, he is bold with it, but when he feels the sting, he
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 107
throweth it away ; or if he be playing about a nest of wasps
or bees, while he takes them to be but harmless flies, you
cannot call him away, but when once they have stung him,
he cries and runs away of himself, without another word.
Even so is it with a poor sinner about his sins before
conversion. We pray him to come away, and tell him
that sin hath a sting, and a deadly sting, and assure him
from the word of God that it will be bitterness in the latter
end, and he makes no great matter of our words, but can
hear us, as if we came into the pulpit to tell him a tale, and
not to save his soul from hell. And therefore he can go on
in his old way for all this, and take his cups, or follow the
world and his fleshly lusts, and give the preacher leave to
talk. But when converting grace comes, it makes them
taste the bitterness and sourness of sin, and then they
quickly spit it out. It makes them feel the sting and smart,
and then they cry to .God for help, and wish they had never
known it, and run away from it with detestation. Grace
bringeth in that light from God, which shews them that
which they did not see before. How that all this while they
have had a multitude of crawling serpents in their bosom,
and they have been playing even at the brink of hell. And
when they see this with their own eyes, it is time for them
to take another course.
If you doubt all this that I say, whether conversion doth
make a man thus cast away his sin, while the hypocrite
stands dallying with it, and cannot leave it, look into the
example of all true converts. Or if that do not satisfy you,
look into the infallible word of God. How eagerly was
Saul going on in his persecution, till the light from heaven
did stop his course, and the voice and grace of Christ did
change his mind ! Acts ix. But do you read ever Paul did
persecute any more ? or doth he delay and take time to con-
sider of the matter before he would leave his former sin ?
No ; but he presently forbears, and betakes himself to ano-
ther course. And Tit. iii. 2 — 5. when he confessed the for-
mer sinful course of himself and others, he telleth you now
how the matter is mended. And no marvel ; for the man
that liveth in his former sinful way, can never be saved, what-
ever change of the heart he may pretend. ** Know ye not
that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God ?
108 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adul-
terers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with man-
kind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revellers,
nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And
such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanc-
tified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus,
and by the Spirit of God ""." Now you see that conversion
makes an effectual change of the life. Ye were such ; but
now it is not so, ye are washed, ye are sanctified by the Spi-
rit of God. And, Isa. xxx. 22. when God mentioneth the
conversion of these people, he saith concerning their former
sins : * Thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth,
thou shalt say to it, get thee hence.* With what detestation
will a converted sinner say to his former sin, ' Get thee
hence ! It is by thee that I have suffered, and had like to
have been undone for ever. It is by thee that I have so
much wronged God, and therefore, away with thee, get thee
hence.' So in Isa. xxxi. 6, 7. " Turn ye unto him, from
whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted ; for in
that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and
his idols of gold, which your own hands have made you for
a sin." And the description of conversion runs thus, Ezek.
xviii. 31. *' Cast away from you all your transgressions,
whereby ye have transgressed against me, and make you a
new heart, and a new spirit : for why will you die, O ye
house of Israel?" And Ezek. xx. 7. God commandeth
them : ** Cast ye away every man the abomination of his
eyes ;" and ver. 8. " They rebelled, and did not cast away
every man the abomination of his eyes." " Let us therefore
cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour
of light : let us walk honestly, as in the day ; not in rioting
and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in
strife and envying y." " Wash ye, make ye clean, put away
the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do
evil, learn to do well^." ** Seek the Lord while he may be
found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; and let
him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon
him, and to our God for he will abundantly pardon*."
** Amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of
* 1 Cor. vi. 9—1 1. y Rom. xiii. 12, 13. * Isa. i. 16, 17. » Isa. Iv. 6, 7.
I
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 109
the Lord your God, and he will repent him of the eviP."
An hundred more such passages might be cited, wherein it
is most evident, that there is no true conversion of the heart,
if the sin of the life be not also cast away.
If any will here desire to be curious, and to know just
how much conquest the least degree of grace doth make,
and how much actual sins may stand with sincerity of grace ?
Or if any will imagine, that because there is actual sin in
the converted, that, therefore, there is no discernible differ-
ence between their reformation and other men's, I answer
them as followeth. 1. A strong degree of grace is easily
known by him that hath it, by the thorough reformation
both of heart and life. 2. The weakest degree of grace is
not ordinarily known, and therefore you cannot expect that
I should make it known. For he that hath so little grace
as to sin as much as will stand with true grace, shall scarce
ever know that he hath any true grace at all in that condi-
tion. He is not fit for such a condition, nor would it do
him good till he were fitter for it. 3. There is no change
of the life that will discover sincerity certainly to others,
nor to themselves considered alone, without the change of
the heart, but there is a wickedness of the life that will
prove a wickedness of the heart even unto others ; much
more to men themselves, who may know both immediately.
4. By this one mark you may know whether the sins of
your lives, be they great or small, are certain proofs of an
unconverted, graceless heart or not. In every true converted
man, the main bent of his heart and life is against sin, and
his chief desire and endeavour is to destroy it ; but in others
it is not so. Whatsoever kind of sinning therefore will not
stand with such a bent of heart and life, with such a desire
and endeavour, will prove that man to be graceless or un-
converted that doth commit it. Now how far a man's sin is
with, or against the main predominant bent of his own heart
and life, he may discern himself by diligent observation.
3. I have hitherto spoke only of sins of commission,
which are cast away when the soul is changed. The next
part of the reformation of the life is in point of duty. A
converted soul hath presently another work to do. As he
hath set his heart upon another end, and looketh after ano-
•» JiT, xxvi. 13.
110 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
ther portion and inheritance ; so hath he other means to use,
which are suitable to the nature of the end which is to be
obtained. A heavenly felicity is not gotten by earthly
means. " Learning to do well," therefore is ever joined with
" ceasing to do evil*=." ** Seeking the Lord while he may
be found, and calling on him while he is near,*' is joined
with ** forsaking wicked ways **." He that is " turned from
the power of satan, is turned to God*." Before conversion
the wretched sinner had no pleasure in God, and therefore no
pleasure in his service ; and therefore was seldom, and cold,
and careless in it; and gave God nothing but the leavings
of the world and the flesh, and what he could spare ; and
put him off* with some formal, superficial, cheap kind of ser-
vice that would cost him but little. But when converting
grace hath made a change, as God is his delight, so is his
work and worship. He sees a world of work before him,
which they made no conscience of before. As I told you
of Paul, Acts ix. 11. he falls a praying as soon as he is con-
verted ; and from praying, he proceeds to the preaching of
that Gospel which he persecuted before. It made the peo-
ple wonder to see him that had been persecuting all that
called upon the name of Jesus, but a little before, to preach
for them a little after. Acts ix. 20, 21. The text saith, " all
that heard him were amazed, and said. Is not this he that
destroyed them which called on this name at Jerusalem, and
came hither to that intent, to bring them bound to the chief
priests ?" So is it to this day : when a poor sinner that was
wont to mock at a holy life, and never was used to call
upon God, or at least but heartlessly, and with the lips ;
that made no conscience of praying in his family, or in-
structing them, or holy spending the Lord's day, shall now
be as diligent in these as any : when the Bible is in his
hands, or other good books, that had rather before have had
a pack of cards, or dice, or worldly business : when a man
was wont to set light by these things, is now set upon
them, and cannot live without them : this makes the
world about him amazed, and say. Is not this the man
that scorned sermons, who now followeth after sermons?
Is not this he that was against these things as much as any,
that now is set so much upon them ? I know a man that is
" Isa. I. 17. '» Isa. Ir, 6. « Acts xxvi. 18.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. ] 1 I
now unconverted, may be much in the use of means; but
here is the difference : to a converted man, the obedience
of God is his chiefest work and business, to which all other
things are made to stoop : but to the unconverted, the work
of the flesh, and world is the chief, and the service of God
must stoop to that. Sirs, if any of you dream that you are
converted, and yet will not be brought to the works of obe-
dience, both in holiness to God, and righteousness to men,
you do but wilfully deceive yourselves. Do you think a
man can love God above all, as every true Christian doth,
and not seek him above all ? Or that a man can have a hea-
venly heart, and not a heavenly life ? It cannot be. If you
had rather sit at home, when you should be attending upon
God in the public assembly, or enjoying private helps for
your souls ; or are cumbered about many things, when you
should be looking after the one thing necessary ; it is a
sign that you have not chosen the better part : whenever the
heart is changed to God, the main bent of the life will pre-
sently consist in the seeking of God.
4. A new heart will have a new tongue. The fruit of it
will appear in the scope of a man's discourse ; " for out of
the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh ^." I know
a man may force his words, and therefore I still say to you,
that these proofs from the outward actions, are stronger for
the negative, than the affirmative. An evil tongue will
prove an evil heart, but to prove a man sincere, there must
be both heart and tongue. But certain it is, that though
words may be counterfeit, yet true conversion doth al-
ways change the speech, and make the tongue also ser-
viceable to those higher ends, which the heart is newly set
upon. He that before had no mind to speak of any thing
but earthly and fleshly matters, is now inquiring after other
matters. The first words that we read of the converted
Jews* Acts ii. 37. and the converted Jailer, Acts ix. and
Paul, when he was converted, Acts ix. were, what God
would have them do that they might be saved. Before, the
very discourse of sin, and grace, and Christ, and the life to
come, were a trouble to them, but now it is otherwise.
They know they have their tongues for no greater use, nor
can they better employ them, than in seeking direction for
( Matt. xii. S4.
112 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
their everlasting happiness. Now, if you mark them in the
company that they come into, if they have any fit opportu-
nity, they are lamenting their former sinful life, or warning
others to avoid the way that they were led into, or telling
men of the evil of sin, and the need of Christ and grace, or
asking help of those that can help them ; how to search
their hearts ; how to overcome the remnant of their sins ;
and how to carry on the work of God, that they may be
ready for death and judgment, and get safe to heaven. You
that are carnal, do wonder that men speak so much of these
things, and you are weary to hear them, but you know not
the change that is made upon their hearts. Can you blame
a man to talk of his everlasting condition, and of that which
is of greater moment than all the matters of the world ? Can
you blame a man to talk most of that which he mindeth
most, and which his very heart is set upon? If his tongue
be of heaven, while his heart is on earth, then he is an hy-
pocrite : but would you not have a man's tongue to follow
his heart, when his heart is right ? Yet some men are so
perverse, and so against the things of God, that they are
ready to say. Why cannot they keep their religion to them-
selves ? Cannot they be religious in secret, without talking
of it so much to others ? As if the heart only were made
for God, and the tongue for the world, the flesh or the devil.
As if a man should talk of nothing but the childish toys
and trifles of the world, for fear of seeming an hypocrite, or
for fear of troubling these queazy souls. Shall the Holy
Ghost make such a change on the heart of a sinner, and shall
not the tongue partake of it, or express it? Can Christ and
his Spirit dwell in the heart, and the tongue conceal so
blessed an inhabitant ! Can a man have a taste of hea-
ven upon his heart, and the kingdom of God begun
within him, and yet not express his life or joy ? Or is
it meet for him that hath found the way to heaven, to
hold his tongue, and let others quietly post to hell ? Should
a man that hath narrowly escaped damnation, himself be si-
lent, when he seeth others go in the same way that he had
liked to have perished in ? Who will not call to another to
take heed, that hath escaped a quicksand himself? Or set
up a bush, that those that follow may see the danger ? Is
it not a strange conceit of these men, that would have the
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 113
converted so cruel to all that are yet unconverted ; so un-
thankful to God that hath mercifully delivered them ; so
senseless of matters of the greatest weight, and so service-
able to satan the great deceiver, as to say nothing of such
unspeakable things as these? What! have the love of God
shed abroad in their hearts, and say nothing of it ! Have
the pardon of sin in the blood of Christ, and say nothing of
it I What ! see many hundred souls in danger of damnation,
and say nothing, but let them perish ! It cannot be ; it
must not be ; it is a most unreasonable thing to desire it.
Our tongue is our glory, it is the principal instrument of ma-
nifesting our mind, by which man differeth from all other
inferior creatures : and should we not use it for God and
the greatest things? What sottish people are these to
think their worldly matters fit for their discourse, and the
matters of everlasting life, unfit ! To think it no harm to
jest and talk foolishly, and tell idle tales, and such a man
they take for a pleasant companion, and never find fault
with him. But for the things that may honour God, or tend
to men's salvation, or to destroy sin and cross the devil,
here we must be silent, and keep our religion to ourselves.
Did ever these wretches believe Jesus Christ ; " that by
their words they shall be justified, and by their words they
shall be condemned ^ ?" Did they ever believe, or regard
the words of the Holy Ghost, Eph. v. 3, 4.? " But fornica-
tion, uncleanness or lasciviousness, let it not be once named
among you, as becometh saints ; nor filthiness, nor foolish
talking, nor jestings, which are not convenient, but rather
giving of thanks." And Eph. iv. 29, 30. " Let no corrupt
communication proceed out of your mouth ; but that which
is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to
the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." " Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teach-
ing and admonishing one another *"." " Exhort one another
daily while it is called to-day, lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin '." •* If any man speak, let
him speak as the oracles of God, that God in all things may
be glorified ^." Abundance of such passages are in Scrip-
ture, which may tell you what to think of the folly of such
f Matt, xii. 37. »' Col. iii. 16. * Heb, iii. 13. •' 1 Pet iy. 11.
VOL. Vll. I
114 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
carnal men ; and may assure you that a converted, heavenly
heart, will always have a new and heavenly tongue.
5. A changed heart will have change of company, if it
may be had. There is somewhat in nature that disposeth
all men to delight in that company which is most suitable
to their disposition. While their hearts are carnal, they
love the company of such : a man that is of their mind and
way, and will break a jest, and be merry with them, or talk
with them about their worldly matters, is the best compan-
ion for them ; for the company of mortified and heavenly
men, they have no pleasure in it. They do but mar their
mirth with putting in words about the evil of sin, and death,
and judgment, and everlasting things : they do but trouble
them, and cast them into dumps, and therefore they have
no mind to their company. But when converting grace
hath changed them, their minds in this are changed also.
O how sapless and unsavoury then is it to them to sit or
walk in the company of such that have never a word of
God, or that may help them in the matters that their hearts
are set upon ! Their merry talk, and fine discourse, is to
him but as the crackling of thorns in the fire. It doth but
trouble him, and move him to compassionate such empty
souls that have no God, no Christ, no heaven to talk of, but
mere unprofitable trifles; but the company of those is sweet
to him, that will discourse about the matters of his salva-
tion ; that will tell him how he may get more grace, and
open to him more the mysteries of the Gospel, and speak of
the riches of God's love in Christ, or tell him of the dangers
that are yet before him, or the duties that he must per-
form. These matters are now savoury to him, for these he
knows do indeed concern him, and are worth the talking of.
When a man is in a strange country a thousand miles off,
it doth him good to meet with his own countrymen, and
talk with them about his friends, and family, and his es-
tate, and inheritance, and home, which he must return to ;
one hour of this discourse is sweeter to him, than an hun-
dred with the strangers of the country, about matters that
are little to him : so is it here ; a Christian that knoweth
he is a stranger in this world, and that his God, his salva-
tion, his home, his inheritance are all in the world to come ;
had rather far discourse with a heavenlyminded man about
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 115
his Father, and everlasting works and blessedness, than
with worldly men about this world. Who loveth not the
company of his dearest friends and brethren more than of
strangers or enemies ? We know, those that fear God are
like to be our companions for ever, and therefore we would
have them our companions here. You may see by Scrip-
ture that it is thus with true Christians. " In his eyes a
vile person is contemned, but he honoureth them that fear
God V " They take sweet counsel together, and walk to
the house of God in company ""." " They that feared the
Lord, spake often one to another °, &c." '* I am a compa-
nion," saith David, " of all them that fear thee, and of them
that keep thy precepts °." And it is one of the Hebrews'
commendations, that they " became companions of them
that suffered for Christ p." And on the contrary side, it was
feigned to be one of Job's iniquities, to go in company with
the workers of iniquity ^. For men are supposed to be such
as their company is ; and we are commanded with such, no,
not to eat ^ And " to have no company with them, that
they may be ashamed *." And Solomon saith, " A compa-
nion of fools shall be destroyed *."
6. Another part of the change of the life is this, true
conversion makes a man compassionate to those that are
unconverted, and very desirous of their conversion, and
therefore sets men upon such endeavours as they can use to
bring it to pass; yea, it makes men zealous of good works",
and very careful and studious to do what good they can.
It is the disposition of wicked men to draw others with them
into wickedness, and to make others as bad as themselves :
" They not only do that which is evil, but have pleasure in
them that do if." They would have others as loose as they,
and as careless of their own souls as they, and to make as
light a matter of sin as they do. The drunkard would have
companions, and the gamester would have companions;
every one that hates and derides a godly life, would have
all others do so too. Men are loath to go to hell alone ; but
like men that are running violently down a hill, they draw
' Psalm XV. 4. Psalm Iv. 14. " Mal.iil. 16.
° Psalm cxix. 63. p Heb. x. 33. i Job xxxiv. 8.
^ 1 Cor. V. 11. • 2 Thess. iii. 14. > Prov. xiii. 20.
" Tit. ii- 19. » Rom. i. 32.
H6 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
one another with them. It somewhat comforts them to see
most of the world as bad as themselves, because they think
then God will not condemn so many : as if the number of
sinners did extenuate the wrong. And those unconverted
men that are not so bad as to wish others as bad as them-
selves, yet have little zeal for men's recovery : for how can
they love other men better than themselves ?
But when conversion hath given a man a sight and sense
of the evil of sin, it makes him pity all that are misled, and
earnestly desire their conversion and recovery. O how fain
would the gracious soul have others to see the folly of sin,
as he hath seen it ! How fain would he have them see the
need of Christ, that glory above, that felicity that lieth in
the favour of God, as he hath seen them ! It doth him good
to have companions in good : he hath no mind to be happy
alone. The number of partakers he knows will not at all
diminish his joys. If he could tell how, he would have all
the world to be as happy as himself, the more the better.
And therefore he prayeth heartily for the conversion of other
men : he pleadeth with them, and persuadeth them ; and
fain he would have their eyes to be opened, and their hearts
to be softened and turned to God. He remembereth that
their case was once his own, and how foolish and froward
he was, even as they now are ! He remembereth how
miserable he then was, though he knew it not, and would
not for all the world be in the same case again ; and there-
fore he cannot choose but pity those that he hath left behind
him, and long for their deliverance.
Truly, sinners, it is from hence that men fearing God. do
trouble you so much in your sins, and make such a stir with
you about matters of your souls ; and tell you of your dan-
ger, and persuade you to turn, and take another course : it
is because they are loath to see you perish, if they could
help it. You would have them let you alone, but they are
loath to let you alone, in such a case and way as that. If
some that are running to drown themselves, or do any mis-
chief to themselves, should bid you let them alone, and
meddle with yourselves, and take no care for them, you
would not let them alone for all that, but would hinder them
if you could from making away with themselves. So, if you
are angry with men that would keep you out^of hell, and bid
I
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 117
them let you alone, and take no care for you, because you
shall answer for yourselves, this will not satisfy them to
stand still, and see you run into damnation, if they knew how
to help it. Alas ! it is not because they love to be meddling
with other folks' matters, or take pleasure in reproving and
controlling other men. If it were not for your sakes and
the glory of God, it is easier for us to let you alone. We
have work enough of our own to do, and dangers enough of
our own to prevent. It is small pleasure to any man that
is well in his wits to meddle needlessly with other men's
' matters, and to contradict wilful sinners, when he knows
how little thanks he is like to have for it. What do you
think we long to have men hate us and fly in our faces t Is
it a pleasure to us to vex men, and make them our enemies ?
No. Alas ! it is so great a displeasure, that it becomes a
strong temptation to us to be unfaithful or negligent in our
duty. Many a minister is so loath to get the ill will of his
people, that he lets them alone in their sins, or only telleth
them of it in public, or at the most but in an easy, ineffec-
tual way, and so falls in danger of perishing with them for
company. Nothing makes more negligent, unconscionable
ministers, (next to the unfaithfulness of their own hearts,)
than people's hating their instructions and reproofs, and im-
patiently bearing the means that should recover them.
Carnal ministers will not cast themselves upon the people's
displeasure, but rather let them alone and venture them.
They that dare venture their own souls to escape the ill will
of men, will venture other men's too. And so it is also
with private Christians. The reason why so few will be
brought to deal plainly and faithfully for the saving of
others, is because it is commonly so ill taken. Alas ! sin-
ners, what ease, what profit, what good is it, think you, to
other men to trouble you in your sins, if it were not for your
good, and for the command and glory of God? But what
man that is not a tyger, or hath not a heart of stone within
a little of damnation, and let them alone ? Who can be so
cruel as to hold his tongue, while he seeth men in the high-
way to hell? If we were yet in our unbelief, and did not
believe that the word of God is true, or that unconverted
men shall certainly perish, then we might well be silent ; for
who would go to make men sad with melancholy fancies or
118 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
fearful dreams that have no truth in them? But O ! do not
blame a man that hath been in the same condition himself,
and is mercifully delivered by converting grace, if he look
back to those he hath left behind, and tell them of their
danger ! Do not blame a man that hath his eyes opened by
faith, and seeth hell-fire a little before you, if he should call
to you, and call again, and call with tears and greatest ear-
nestness, to entreat you to stop, and go no further. I dare
say, if you did but see what he seeth, you would be of the
same mind, and would be as loath to go on in an unconvert-
ed condition, as any one would be to suffer you. When
the eyes of sinners are shut that they see not their own con-
dition, nor what a storm is rising in heaven against them,
they are content and quiet at the gates of hell ! But when
either grace or torments have opened their eyes, the case
will be quite changed with them. Well, this is certain,
that whenever God converteth the soul, he maketh men very
desirous of other men's conversion, and very compassionate
to them that are yet in darkness and in bondage by their
sins. Not only Paul and the preachers of the Gospel say,
" Necessity is laid upon me, and woe unto me if I preach
not the Gospel;" but every Christian in his place doth find
a necessity upon him to endeavour the good of others ; and
he findeth an earnest desire to it, and a delight in that which
God hath made so necessary. And it is not in this matter
of conversion only, but in all other things also, that a true
Christian hath a special inclination to do good. As he that
is evil, delighteth to do evil ; so he that is good, delighteth
to do good Though he be not perfectly good, for so is none
till he come to heaven ; much less primitively, and of him-
self good, for so there is none good but God y. Yet hath he
a derived, an imperfect goodness, and in that measure as he
is good, he must needs be prone to do good ; for every thing
will work according to its nature. It is a death to wicked
men to do that which is a godly man's delight. A man or
beast cannot fly in the air, but a bird can do it as easily as
we can walk on the earth. A good man is never in his own
element, but when he is doing some good. His mind run-
neth on it : he studieth how he may effect it ; and he is not
content to do good, unless he do much good. He knoweth
y Matt. xix. 17.
I
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 11.9
what Christ hath said ; " Herein is my Father glorified, that
ye bring forth much fruit ^." He findeth by experience that
which others will not believe, that doing good is either a
receiving of good, or inseparably conjunct with it. The
more a man giveth to the poor or to other good uses, with
right intents, the more he receiveth. Whatever others re-
ceive by his endeavours, he is sure that he shall not lose his
labour or cost, as to himself. " He that giveth to the poor,
lendeth to the Lord ;" and look what he layeth out, it shall
be paid him again. A carnal man is ever selfish, and draws
all to him, as if there were no one but himself that he cared
for : but a gracious man is in his place and measure like
God, a communicative good. As ** God is good and doth
good V' so is he. That which a man's nature inclineth him
to, he cannot forget. A good man forgets not in the main
to do good, for he knoweth that with such sacrifice God is
well pleased ^. Mark this all you that profess more zeal for
God than others : believe it, true conversion will appear in
good works. The true servants of Christ do as much exceed
the world in a contempt of earthly things, and in compassion
to the miserable, and in readiness and bounty, according to
their ability to those that want, as they do exceed them in
praying, or other duties. Other men part with the world
as their treasure, and almost as their blood, but the heavenly
Christian parteth with it as his superfluity, or at least as
that which he can spare. Faith teacheth men to do good ;
and good works are part of the riches of a saint ''. Doing
good is so excellent and necessary a thing, that even an
enemy must be made partaker of it**.. And want of thank-
fulness or requital from men, is no excuse to them that neg-
lect it*. Some works of piety may be forborn for doing
good to others ^
So much for that part of the change.
» John XV. 8. • Psal.cxix. 68. '» Heb. xiii 16. « 1 Tmi. ri. 18.
«» Matt. V. 4-4. « Luke vi. 35. ^ Mark iii. 4.
120 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
CHAPTER II.
I HAVE spoken of the work of conversion, as it containeth
the change of the judgment, and of the heart, and of the
life, and so have finished the third particular promised :
vi^hich was to shew you w^hat conversion is, and wherein it
doth consist. By what is said, you may easily see that it
is a great change that is made on the soul and in the life, by
this renewing grace of Christ. Methinks now all those men
that know, or may know, that never such a work was
wrought upon their hearts, should see that it is time to look
about them, and to lay to heart the sad conclusion, which
Christ hath here protested in my text. What ! have all the
people of this congregation found all this change upon judg-
ment, heart, and life, as I have here spoken of? O that it
were so well. What a joy were that to us, to angels, to
Christ himself! And what everlasting joy would that be to
themselves ! But, alas ! their conversations and careless
lives do tell us, that with too many of them it is far other-
wise. And what keepeth such guilty souls in peace? Can
so many men hear such a text as this ; that except they be
converted they cannot be saved, and yet not look about
them, nor be awakened from their security ? Yet it is too
evident by sad experience, that they that read this and know,
or might know, that they are not converted, are yet as care-
less as if they could endure damnation well enough. And
what is the matter ? And how comes this to pass ? Doubt-
less, because they do, not thoroughly believe the truth of
what is said.
IV. I shall therefore come now to the next thing
promised : briefly to shew you from the word of God
the certain truth of what we have in hand, that you may see
it is a matter past all doubt and question.
I. And first. What need you any more than the very
words of the text ? Do you need further proof, where you
have the words of Christ himself? But you shall see yet
more, John iii. 3. He telleth Nicodemus, *' That except a
man be regenerate and born again, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of heaven :" that is, as a child is as it were a new
creature that lately received life, which had none before, and
newly entereth into the "orld ; so must every man that will
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 121
be saved, as it were receive a new spiritual life, and enter
into the world of grace, even into the church of God, and
begin his life as it were again ; " If any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold,
all things are become new/' See here both the necessity,
and the nature of this change. It is not one or two, but
every man that is in Christ, that is thus converted. And
he that is not in Christ, is not a Christian, and he that is
not a Christian cannot be saved. Every true Christian then
is a new creature ; not in substance, but in quality and in
life ; '* old things are passed away, behold, all things are be-
come new !" What are these * all things V but those that
I have before expressed to you ? A true converted man,
hath not the same ends and intentions that he had before :
he hath a new hope and happiness, new love, new desires,
new sorrow, new delight, new resolution, and a new conver-
sation : all is become new. He entereth a new covenant
with Christ, and so he hath a new master, a new head, and
husband and Lord : and is now a member of a new society,
and entereth into a new kingdom and family. He hath a
new work to do, he hath a new company to converse with,
he hath new thoughts in his heart, and speaks a new lan-
guage. He leadeth his life by a new law : and thus all
things are become new. Even relations are here included,
as well as physical qualifications. For he hath a new Fa-
ther, a new inheritance, and so of the rest. It must needs
be a great change indeed, where all things are become new.
If it were but one or two of these, it would make a great
alteration ; much more when it is in all. So in 1 Pet. ii. 2.
The apostle likeneth them to " new born babes, who must
therefore desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may
live and grow by it." And in Gal. vi. 15. " For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircum-
cision, but a new creature. The world must be crucified to
us, and we to the world, that we may live anew to God."
ver. 14. And I told you before out of Ephes. iv. 22 — 24.
That in conversion we '* put off the old man, which accord-
ing to the deceitful lusts, is corrupt ; and are renewed in the
spirit of our mind, and put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness." And Tit. iii.
5. " According to his mercy he saved us by the washing
122 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which
he sheddethon us, through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that
being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs accord-
ing to the hope of eternal life/' So Col. iii. 10. " We put
on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of him that created us." Ezek. xviii. 31. He com-
mandeth them to " make them a new heart, and a new spi-
rit." And what he commandeth all, he declareth himself
resolved to give to his elect. Ezek. xxxvi. 26. " A new
heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put into
you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you a heart of flesh ; and I will put my Spi-
rit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye
shall keep my judgments and do them." So in Ezek. xi.
19. " I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spi-
rit within them ; and I will take the stony heart out of their
flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh ; that they may
walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them,
and they shall be my people, and I will be their God." And
as they are new creatures, so they have a new command-
ment, or law to live by ; and a new promise, or covenant for
their inheritance ^. They have a " new name, that no man
knoweth but he that hath it "" :" or at least they shall have.
They have " new employments, even serving God in new-
ness of life, that as they were planted together in the like-
ness of Christ's death, they should be also in the likeness
of his resurrection. Knowing this, that their old man is
crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth they should not serve sin. For he that is
dead is justified or freed from sin ^." And thus they " serve
God in newness of spirit *." And so the whole church is
" one new man in Christ ^" And a " new lump that is
purged from the old leaven," must all particular churches of
Christians be «. But lest any doubt should be left, I will
reduce the rest to some particular arguments.
1. It is the very office of Jesus Christ, which he came
into the world to perform, to bring back ungodly sinners
unto God. And shall we think that Christ came on a
needless errand ? Believe it, sirs, as his suffering was ne-
»» John xiii. 34. Luke xxii, 20. 2 Cor. iii. 6. Heb, ix. 15.
» Rev. ii. 17. ^ Rom. vi. 4—7. « Rom. vii. 6-
f Ephes. ii. 15. ? 1 Cor. v. 7.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. * 1'23
cessary for our ransom, so was his doctrine and Spirit as
necessary for our conversion, and we can no more be saved
without the one, than without the other. Think with your-
selves whether it be a likely thing, that God should send
his Son on earth by a miracle, surpassing all miracles, and
this on purpose to call home straying sinful souls, if they
might be saved without conversion ? If it had been pos-
sible for men to be happy without holiness, and to escape
misery without escaping sin, what need Christ have come
to sanctify them ? The Lord Jesus is the great Physician
of souls, and he comes not to heal any petty diseases, that
might as well have been healed without him ; but he comes
to cure a killing plague, that no one else could have
cured but himself. It was never the mind of Christ to come
down from heaven to suffer for our sins, that we might be
saved in them without a change. Never did it enter into
his holy thoughts, to bring men to glory in their sins ; but
to destroy their sins that would keep them out of glory.
He never meant to bring you and your disease to heaven
together ; but to heal your disease, that else would be your
ruin. What shall we think, that Christ came to impute a
righteousness to the impenitent and unconverted ? And to
make God believe that they are j ust in him, who are not in
him at all ? And to make men seem to be what they are
not? Why, this were to fain the blessed Son of God to be
the patron of iniquity, and to die for the upholding of sin;
and not for the destroying of it. What greater blasphemy
against Christ can there be, than to imagine that he be-
friendeth sin, which he doth so hate ? And that he taketh
part with satan, and strengtheneth his kingdom, when it
was his very business in the world to destroy it, and his
works'"? What must Christ come, and so miraculously
condescend and do, and suffer what he did, and all to heal
diseased souls, and kill that sin that else would kill them,
and after all this, shall he be made the patron of it ? Take
this home with thee to thy heart, unconverted sinner, who-
ever thou art. If men could have been saved without
conversion, Christ would never have done so much to con-
vert them as he hath done. You comfort yourselves in
Christ, while you live in wilful sinning ; and you think that
though you be not renewed, yet you shall be pardoned and
*» 1 John iiJ. 8.
124 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
saved by his blood-shed. Why, I tell you from the word of
God, you may fetch much terror from the thoughts of Christ;
but hope of salvation without conversion he will afford you
none. You may rather think with yourselves, that if the
changing of a sinner had not been a work of great necessity,
Christ would never have come down to do it. I know that
we have free pardon of sin by his blood, or else we had no
hope ; but it is none but the converted that partake of that
pardon, as you may see, Mark iv. 12. " Lest at any time
they be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them."
So Acts xxvi. 18. iii. 9. " Repent ye therefore, that your
sins may be blotted out." If you had but that one chapter,
Luke XV. to tell you in what manner Christ doth save men,
you might easily see, it is not by bringing them to heaven
in their ungodliness. He likeneth himself to one that hav-
ing lost a sheep in the wilderness, goeth and seeketh after
it, till he find it. And when he hath found it, (what, doth
he leave it? no, but) layeth it on his shoulders, and bring-
eth it home rejoicing ; ver. 4, 5. Or like one that sweepeth
the house to find a piece of silver that was lost ; ver. 8. Or
like the father that gladly receiveth the returning prodigal.
But without returning, there had been no receiving him,
nor any rejoicing over him.
Object. But doth not Christ tell us of some that needed
no repentance ? ver. 7, Answ. True, why is that ? Because
they had truly repented before. They needed no conver-
sion ; or such conversion as the new converts have, which
consists in a change, from a state of sin to God : but only
a proceeding in obedience, and particular repentance for
their particular slips. But if they had not been converted
before, they would have needed such a conversion or re-
pentance. For so the prophet saith, Isa. liii. 6. " All we
like sheep have gone astray, and have turned every one to
his own way." And so, 1 Pet. ii. 25. " For ye were as
sheep going astray, but are returned to the shepherd and
bishop of your souls." Or if there be any that were sancti-
fied in their infancy, as no doubt there is, so that their ac-
tual going astray was prevented ; yet as they went astray
in Adam and their parents, so had they a straying disposi-
tion in their corrupted natures, which needeth a turn, as
well as the sins, which appear in the life. And thus it
r
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 125
appeareth that Christ came of purpose to convert men. and
not to pardon any soul without conversion. " The Son of
Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost */*
" Who gave himself for us (not to pardon us, and to save
without converting us, but) to redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good
works ^," So that hence you may see the absolute neces-
sity of conversion to salvation.
2. It is the very drift of the Gospel, and main
design of the whole word of God, to convert men from
sin to God, and build them up when they are once
converted. And do you think that God would have
made it the scope of his word, if it had not been neces-
sary ? If a man could be saved without conversion, what
need God to inspire prophets and apostles to deliver his
word to the world, and to seal it with the miraculous
gifts of the Holy Ghost, and all to convert men, and build
up the converted ? Would God make all this stir with us,
as he doth in the Bible, for a needless thing ? Alas ! if he
did not know that your disease will kill you except it be
cured, he would never have prepared so many remedies
against it. This is the very use and glory of the law of God.
" The law of God is pure, converting the souP." What else
doth Scripture call sinners to, but to repent and turn to God
by Christ. " As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure
in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from
his way and live ; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways ; for
why will ye die, O house of Israel ""." " But if the wicked
shall turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and
keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right,
he shall surely live ; he shall not die. Have I any pleasure
at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God; and
not that he should turn from his ways and live? Repent and
turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity
shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your trans-
gressions, whereby you have transgressed, and make you a
new heart, and a new spirit ; for why will ye die, O house
of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that
dieth, saith the Lord God ; wherefore turn yourselves and
« Luke xix. 10. ^ Tit. ii. 14. ' Psal. xix. 7.
•» Ezck. xxxiii. 1 1.
(26 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
liveye^/' So Ezek. xiv. 6. iii. 18— 21. Isa. xxxi. 6 ILx. 20,
21. Jer. iii. 7, 14. xviii. 8. xxvi. 3. Prov. i. 23. " Turn
ye at my reproofs, and I will pour out my Spirit unto you ;"
Hos. V. 4. xii. 6. Joel ii. 12. " Turn ye to me with all your
hearts, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning ; rend your
hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your
God ; Jonah iii. 8. An hundred such places might be brought
in which it is apparent, that the turning of sinners to God,
is the main scope of the holy Scriptures.
3. It is as certain, that it is the very business that the
ministers of the gospel are appointed to, to convert men to
God by the faith of Jesus Christ. And is it likely that God
would send us to trouble the world with a needless work?
For my part, if I did not know that repentance and conver-
sion are absolutely necessary to the glory of God's grace
and saving of the sinner, I should be loath to trouble my-
self and others so much about such matters as 1 do. Who
could find in his heart to study, and preach, and weary him-
self, and vex the world, and call men to such unwelcome
duties, and preach to them such unpleasant truths, and set
them upon works that are so hard to flesh and blood, and
put them upon so many sufferings in the world, if all this
were for a needless thing ? John Baptist began to preach
repentance ; Christ followed him in preaching repentance,
and tells them, " except they repent, they shall all perish °."
The apostles follow him in preaching the same repentance,
^s that without which there is no salvation p. They tell us,
*' God commandeth all men everywhere to repent *i." PauFs
business was, " to shew all men that they must repent and
turn to God, and do works meet for repentance "■." And " to
open men's eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and
the power of satan to God, that they may receive remission
of sins, and an inheritance among the sanctified by faith in
Christ \" As Christ himself came to " call sinners to re-
pentance *," so doth he send his ministers on the same er-
rand ; and after all his sufferings, he will give men pardon
on no other terms. But " repentance and remission of sins
must be preached in his name among all nations "." Mark
n Ezek. xviii. 23, 30—32. ® Luke xiii. 3, 5. p Acts ii. 38. viii. 22.
1 Acts xvii. 30. ' Acts xxvi. 20. « Acts ixvi. 18.
« Matt. ix. 13, u Luke xxiv. 46, 47.
TREATISE OF CONVERSIOK. 127
the way of gospel-preaching and salvation : " The God of
our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a
tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be a
Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and for-
giveness of sins ''^ Repentance in order before forgiveness.
When men turn from sin, God turneth from his punishing
wrath ; but not before. God hath " granted to the gentiles
repentance unto life y." The sum of Paul's doctrine was,
** Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ^." For this do God's ministers " instruct in meek-
ness them that oppose themselves, if God peradventure
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the
truth, that they may recover themselves out of the snare
of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will*;"
and 2 Pet. iii. 9. it is said, that " God is not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to repent-
ance ;" which plainly implieth, that if they come not to re-
pentance, they must perish for all that. And therefore re-
pentance is one of the fundamentals, and preaching repent-
ance is laying the foundation, as appeareth, Heb. vi. 1 . And he
that is grown uncurable, and remediless by apostasy, is said
to be one that " cannot be renewed by repentance ^. Which
supposeth that there can be no other way of renewing. And
a desperate man is one that " findeth no place for repent-
ance *=." And in the godly, all the fruits of holiness are
made the " fruits of repentance ^."
4. The very providence of God in mercy and affliction,
are purposely to bring sinners to repentance. And there-
fore certainly, " Repentance is necessary to salvation *."
" Despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbear-^
ance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of
God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness
and impenitent heart, treasurest up to thy self wrath against
the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment
of God ^" If conversion were not necessary to salvation,
God would not make so much ado by affliction and mercy
to bring us to it.
« Acts V. 30, 31. y Acts xi. 18. * Acts xx. 21.
a 2 Tim. ii. 25, 26. *» Heb. vi. 6. «^ Heb. xii. 17.
«« 2 Cor.vii.9— 11. " * Rom. ii. 4. 'Rev. ix. 20. xvi. 9, 11.
128 T'REATISE OF CONVERSION.
5. God makes it the duty even of every man in hi«
place, to do all that he can for the conversion of others :
and this he would never do, if there were another way to
salvation. " They that turn many to righteousness shall
shine as the stars for ever and ever ^" James saith, " If any
of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him
know, that he that converteth a sinner from the error of his
ways, shall save a soul from death, and cover a multitude of
sins s/' And David promiseth, if God would pardon and
restore him, that he "will teach transgressors his way, that
sinners may be converted to him **." So that, lay all this
now together, and judge whether it be likely that God would
have set all the world on work for the conversion of sinners,
if there had been any other way to save them. Should
Christ himself have come upon this errand ? Should the
word of God be written to this end ? Should all the pro-
phets, apostles, and ministers of the Gospel be sent on this
message ? Should all mercies, and all afflictions be directed
to this use ? Should it be made the duty of every Chris-
tian to endeavour it ? If men could be saved without con-
version, by any other way ? Doubtless the case is plain, it
should not be.
I beseech you therefore, let this be received by you as
an unquestionable truth : make no halt or doubt in the bu-
siness ; shift it not off with foolish cavils ; but ground it
even in the bottom of your heart, that without true conver-
sion, there is no hope of salvation.
You have as good proof of it as you can desire of any
truth in the world. Yea, besides all that I have said, it
is a thing that in general is confessed by heathens, and
discerned even by the light of nature. They that will
not believe in Christ, will confess the necessity of re-
pentance and reformation, which yet cannot be wrought
without faith in Christ. Though I know there is a great
deal more necessary to this work, yet I should think I had
done something to-day, if you would but all go home
resolved without all doubt of the truth of my text : and
would never more think that there is any other way to sal-
vation, besides conversion. For certainly, if you were
once well resolved, that you must every man of you be con-
f Dan. xii. 3. f James v. 19, 20. •• Psal. li. 13.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 129
verted, or condemned, you would look a little better about
you than most do. At least this would destroy your de-
ceiving hopes and presumption, and make you see what is
yet to be done, and would much help to prepare you for a
further work. And that none of you may say another day,
that you never heard or knew the truth, I do here solemnly
proclaim it to you all in the name of Christ, that there is no
hope of salvation without true conversion. And I have
fully proved it to you from the word of God. So that if
ever a man or woman that is here before the Lord this day,
shall yet dare to live in an unconverted state, you are left
without a cloak for your sin. You shall not be able to tell
the Lord atjudgment, that you never heard or knew so much.
If he ask any of you at that day, how it came to pass that
you turned not to God, nor sought after converting grace,
and how you could ever think to look God in the face with-
out conversion ? you shall not be able to say, ' We lived
under a minister that never told us of it ; we thought we
might have done well enough without it, and some particu-
lar repentance might have served the turn.' The truth hath
shone this day in your eyes : you have heard what Christ
saith, and what his apostles say, and what is the drift of all
the Scripture. If yet you will believe that a man may be
saved without conversion, it is your wilful obstinacy and un-
belief that maketh you think it : you must wink hard, and
draw the curtains of carnal security about your ears, if in
the midst of this day-light you will sleep as in the night of
former darkness.
Quest. But are there not many in the world that need no
conversion, even from their infancy ? Doth not God rege-
nerate men by baptism, or at least before, which baptism
sealeth ; or at least by Christian education in their infancy ?
And what need have these of after conversion ?
Jlnsw. To this I shall answer briefly, but plainly, in
these propositions following : 1. No doubt but God doth
pardon original sin to multitudes of infants by the blood of
Christ, through the covenant of grace, which is made to
the faithful, and their seed. And being thus pardoned, they
may be truly said to be new creatures, or regenerate rela-
tively. And this pardon bestowed by the covenant, is seal-
ed by baptism, which solemnly couferreth it. 2. It is most
VOL. VII. K
J30 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
probable that God doth also make some change on the
hearts of infants, secretly giving them some seed of inward
grace before, or in their baptism. 3. It is certain, that
sometimes before their death, he doth give this Spirit to
elect infants, according to their capacity, and thereby fit
them for glory. I mean those that die in infancy. 4. Holy
education of parents may be a means through God's bless-
ing, of actual converting those that were before but semi-
nally changed, yea, and of those that were not. And if pa-
rents did their duty first in a believing dedication of their
children to God by baptism, and then in a careful bringing
them up in his fear ; it is most certain, that this would be
the most ordinary age and season of regeneration and sanc-
tification to life. For God would not be wanting to his
own ordinances used in faith by his own people. He did
not appoint them in vain, neither hath he given them a pre-
cept without a promise. 5. If any one did receive the seed
of true grace in their infa?icy, it will certainly appear in a
holy life, even from their infancy upwards. And therefore
there is the same work done in the hearts of such as were
converted in infancy, and after were brought up in the fear
of God, as I have before described to you in the truly con-
verted. If any man did but live one year, or month, or
week of his childhood after he had the use of reason, in a
state utterly graceless, that man hath no reason to take the
least comfort now to himself, upon any conceit that he was
regenerate in his infancy. If he have from his childhood
unfeignedly loved God above all, and been heavenlymind-
ed, and hated sin, and delighted in all holiness, and feared
God, and repented of all known sin, and laboured to subdue
it, and had the rest of the marks of grace in his heart, then
he may be sure that he was sanctified betime. But if any
man have lived to the world or the flesh but one month,
since his infant state, never minding the life to come, nor
loving the holy ways of God, nor hating iniquity, he may
be sure that he must have another conversion, than any he
had in his infancy, or it will not serve his turn for heaven.
An infant- conversion may serve for an infant state of salva-
tion ; but he that hath after that lived to sin, must have an
actual conversion, as he was actually a sinner. And if he
had grace in infancy, he must have the same working of it
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 131
toward God and heaven, which in the work of conversion I
described before. So that I do not call you to judge of
your state by the time or manner of your change, so much
as by the matter or thing itself. Find all that work upon
your judgments, heart, and life, which I have before laid
down, and be sure it is there, and then, whensoever you
came by it, you are happy. But if it be not now there, it is
a silly delusion, to glory in the conceits of an infant-bap-
tismal change. Yet I doubt not but there is many a true
Christian, who hath received this grace so early, that they
have the greater cause to be for ever thankful for it to God.
So much for the confirmation of the point. That cer-
tainly this work of conversion is necessary to all that will
be saved. One time or other the image of God must be
imprinted on the heart, and in those at age expressed in
the life.
II. I am next, according to the method propounded, to
give you the reasons of it. Why a man cannot enter into
the kingdom of heaven except he be converted. The case
is so clear, that we may easily see reason for it, if we be
willing to see.
1. If there were no other reason apparent to us but the
word of God, one would think it might satisfy such as we.
Heaven is his own, and he may give it to whom he will, and
he hath told us in his word, that he will give it to no other,
and should not that suffice us ? May not he do with his
own as he list ? It is his hand that must set on the crown ;
and may not he set it on what head he please ? We are
sure of these two things : I. That God hath full power to
dispose of it, and therefore can do no wrong to others by
denying it. 2. And that he is infinitely wise, and good,
and just, and therefore it must needs be the wisest and best
way that he takes, though such dark sinners as we could
not see the wisdom, or the goodness, or justice of it. Do
you grudge at this doctrine, that none shall be saved but
those who are converted? Why, then you grudge at God.
And do you think indeed that he knoweth not what he
doth ? Are you wiser than he ? or are you more righteous
than he ? What ! must the God of heaven come down to
you to learn wisdom, or justice, or mercy? Will you ques-
tion him at the bar of judgment, and ask him why he doth
132 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
SO ? Will you charge him with injustice, or unmercifulness,
and say, * Lord, why art thou so unmerciful as to condemn
all the unconverted? O poor fools ! (for so I dare call you
that dare so far presume) how easily will God answer you,
and justify his wisdom, his justice, and his mercy. It is a
fine world, when the Creator must be judged at the bar of a
silly creature ! What ! if a fly or a flea could speak, should
it expostulate the case with God, that he made him not a
man ? or should a toad, or a snake, reprove him of injustice
for making him such, that never had sinned ? or tell him that
this is an act of unmercifulness ? How much less should a
wretched sinner, that hath done so much wrong to the Lord
that made him, that hath refused his grace by which he
would have saved him, presume to open his mouth against
God, and tell him after all this, that if he condemn him, he
is unmerciful. But more of this anon.
Sirs, I tell you my religion, and my resolution. I believe
all that God saith to be true, though the matter were never
so much beyond my reach. And of this I am so confident,
that I will venture my soul upon it. I have looked up and
down to see if there be any better and surer grounds for a
wise man to venture his happiness upon, and I can find no
better : nay, I am sure there is no better. If any man have
found any better, let him take it, and make his boast of the
gain when he hath it. For my part, I will take God's word,
and I will trust my soul and hopes on this, and I will look
for satisfaction of all my doubts and scruples, when I come
to possess the promised felicity. And I am sure I can lose
nothing, or no great matter by this resolution. For sure I
am that all other happiness is a shadow and delusion : and
all other foundations are sandy, and will deceive. If God
tell me in his word, that " no man shall be saved except he
be converted," I will take his word, and let them look well
to their standing that do refuse it. I will set this word of
God against all the reasons in the world that you can bring.
Well, you say it is a hard saying, that so few should be
saved : will you say you cannot believe that God will deal
so hardly ? Against all these vain cavils I set the word of
God. God hath said it, and will he not do it ?
2. Well, but if we must needs go farther, to reasoning
the case with you, and God's word will not satisfy you, I
TRKATISE OF CONVERSION. 133
will proceed to shew you some nearer reasons from the na-
ture of the thing. And the first of these reasons shall be
from the nature of God's government, and the state of men
in this present life. We are set here as in the way to a fur-
ther end. God never intended that this should be our home,
nor that we should have the victory without a combat, nor
the crown without the victory. God never meant that we
should have the wages of his glory, how free soever, without
a faithful performing of our work ; at least the work of un-
feigned repentance and conversion. Would you have God
reward men for serving the devil ? Or to say at the last day,
*Corae, sinner, thou hast lived to the devil all thy life, and
set thy heart on the world, and abused or despised me and
my grace, enter now into the promised glory.' Why, sinners,
if self-love did not blind you, and make fools of you, you
could tell that this were a sentence unfit for the most wise
and righteous God. What ! must he reward the devil's ser-
vants ? Shall not the Judge of all the world do righteously • ?
And what is righteousness, but to give every man his due?
And is not punishment naturally due to the disobedient ?
Especially when they have refused, or set light by a pardon.
Sirs, the case is plain. A wise and righteous governor, let
him be never so merciful, must make a difference between the
righteous and the wicked. And therefore God will so do.
" A righteous judge must pass sentence according to the
law ''." Tell me, would you think well of that governor,
that should let men rob you, or beat you, or violently take
possession of your house or land, and never punish him?
And will you think that God will put up infinitely greater
injury at your hands ? Would you like such a law, that
shall bid all men steal, and kill, and spare not, for the judge
will not be so cruel as to hang or punish them ? I think you
would say, this were but a foolish and unmerciful judge,
that pretended thus to be merciful. Do not then for shame
impute this folly and unrighteousness to God. If he should
not have made righteous laws, which threaten punishment
to sin, for the restraining of it, how should the world be
governed? And if he should make laws, and never execute
them, how should he be wise and righteous ? He is not so
weak as to be put to govern the world by mere deceit. It
• Gen. xviii. v5. ^ Mai. Hi. 18.
134 TREATISE OF CON VERSION.
belongeth to a righteous governor, to see that it go well
with the good, and ill with the bad ; ' ut bonis bene sit, et
malis male.' And I think if God should deal so well with
the worst as with the best, your own reason would be ready
to question it. Why, what can he do more to the best, than
to save them in his glory, for what more are they capable
of? And should he do this also to the worst? And sure,
if he must shut them out of glory, they must need be in
misery. For if there were no more, but to look towards the
happiness which they so lost, and see Lazarus in Abraham's
bosom, and the righteous whom they derided, possessing
that glory which they set light by, it must needs fill their
minds with anguish and vexation ; and their own consci-
ences would torment them for ever. Well, you see then
some reason why the unconverted should not enter into the
kingdom of heaven.
3. But further consider this. The holy nature of God will
not permit the unclean and unholy soul in his presence.
" There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth,
or whatsoever worketh abomination ^" ** Thou art of purer
eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity "V*
" For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness,
neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not
stand in thy sight, thou hatest all the workers of iniquity.
The righteous Lord loveth righteousness; but the wicked his
soul hateth "" " Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in
judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righte-
ous °." " For God shall judge the world in righteousness,
and minister judgment to the people in uprightness. And
he is known by the judgment which he executeth, when the
wicked is snared in the work of his own hand. So that the
wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that for-
get God ^.' ^What reason would you have more ? There is
a contradiction between the nature of God and the uncon-
verted. " What fellowship hath righteousness with unrigh-
teousness, and what communion hath light with dark-
ness^?" Therefore it is that God also putteth an " enmity
between the seed of the woman, and of the serpent ^" And
» Rev. xxi. a7. «" Hab. i. 13. « PsaJ. v. 4. xi. 5.
o PsaK i. 5. P Psal. ix. 8. 16, 17. 'i 2 Cor. vi. 14.
' Gen.iii. 15.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 135
calleth his converted people to come out from the impeni-
tent unbelieving world ; not by a schismatical, but by a
godly separation. " For what concord hath Christ with
Belial ? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel ?
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols ?
For ye are the temple of the living God ; as God hath said, I
will dwell in them, and walk in them ; and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out
from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord 5 and
touch not the unclean thing ; and he will receive you, and
be a father to you ^" If God himself could endure com-
munion with the unholy, then he would allow his people to
endure it. But because they are his, and must be like him,
therefore must they withdraw from such. Sinners, I pray
you judge as you would be judged of. Would you have
communion yourselves with that which is against your na-
ture ? Would you be tied to feed upon toads or snakes, or
to put them in your bosom, or lay them in bed with you ?
or if a toad could speak, would it be a reasonable argument
to say. Why art thou so unmerciful as to refuse my company
or thus to abhor me, and cast me away ? Why, the holy
nature of God is infinitely more against unholy sinners, a&
such, than your nature is against the most venomous toad.
And therefore he cannot admit the unconverted into his
kingdom. Therefore it is, that he will redeem and sanctify
them, and cleanse them from their sin, that they may be pre-
sented spotless and unblamable to him by Christ, before
they shall come to glory *. Believe it, sinners, light and
darkness, holiness and unholiness, God and sin, are utterly
unreconcilable. If ever God and you must live together in
glory, you must become holy as he is holy, that you may
be such as he can dwell withal, and delight in. Either he
must turn unholy like you, or you must turn holy like him.
And which do you think is the more likely to be done ?
Can you expect that the Sun of righteousness should turn
dark to comply with your darkness ? or that the immutable
God should lay by his excellency, to suit himself with your
vileness ? Why, this were for God to cease to be God. For
to be an unholy God, is to be an evil God, and this is to be
no God. For to be God, is to be the chiefest good. See
• « Cor. vi. 1*— le. » £phe». v. 26, «7.
136 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
then what a fair issue the carnal reasonings, and confident
hopes of wicked men have. They hope to be saved without
conversion and holiness. And the issue is this, they hope
that God will cease to be God, lest they should be damned
and shut out of his kingdom. Do not say I make worse of
your reasoning than it is. The case is plain, it is no better.
And I appeal to thy own conscience, whether the brains of
a man be capable of greater madness. O sirs, what a be-
fooling thing is sin ! Is it not more reasonable that thou
shouldst cease to be ungodly, than that God should cease
his blessed nature ? There is some possibility yet that thou
mayst cease to be a wilful impenitent sinner. But there is
no possibility that God should cease to be God. Woe to
thee, if thou ^ast thy soul upon such hopes. Should God
cease his goodness and blessed perfection, all the world
would be confounded, or turn to nothing. Turn, therefore,
for be sure of it, he will not turn to thee. He hath com-
manded his servants, that they come not one jot nearer the
wicked. " Let them return to thee, but return not thou to
them "." And will he then do that which he forbiddeth his
servants ? Many a sinner hath thought that God is like
himself, even of his mind, and thought as lightly of sin as
.they, Psal. 1. But they never found it so in the end. He
did, by wonderful incomprehensible condescension, become
man to save sinners, but he will never become a sinner to
save sinners ; nor unholy to save the unholy. He took our
flesh, and he took our curse, and in that sense became sin
for us, who knew no sin ; but he will never take to him sin
itself. He is yet reconcilable to sinners, but he will never
be reconcilable to sin. Yet, if thou wilt turn to him, thou
mayst be welcome ; but never look he should turn like
thee !
4. And do you not yet see reason enough, why no uncon-
verted sinner should be saved ? Why come along with me,
and I will shew you yet more. God offered them salvation in
this life, for the very taking. I may well say upon easy and
reasonable terms, when it was no more but accept it, and
have it ; and they would not. It was propounded to their
choice, and they refused it. They might have had Christ,
and pardon, and holiness, and happiness if they would, and
" Jcr. XV. 19.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 137
they would not : and would you have God to save them,
whether they will or no? He set life and death before
them, and bids them choose life, that they might live^.
He set before them blessing and cursing, and denounced to
them, that they should certainly perish if their hearts turned
away, and they would not hear. He called heaven and
earth to record against them ^ : and he sent his Son, his
apostles to them, to entreat them, and in his name to be-
seech them to turn to him, and to be reconciled ^; he charg-
ed us to be " instant with them, in season, and out of sea-
son '';" and " to reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffer-
ing and doctrine ;" as suitors that would take no nay. He
bids us even " compel them to come in *";" and yet they
would not come, we could not prevail. Some would make
excuses from one thing, and some from another : some had
their farms, and some their trades, and some their wives,
and all their sins to regard ; they could not have while to
be converted and fear God : and some set light by us and
our message '^ : and some did openly oppose it, and contra-
dicting the truth and cavilling at it, as if they were wiser
than to be converted and saved ; as if they had more reason
than to come in to God that called them, and accept of his
salvation ; and therefore even scorned the Holy word and
way of God, that should have saved them. Sirs, to our
heart's grief we must witness it against the face of thousands
of our poor hearers, that this was the true case, and thus
things were carriedbetween God and them : Christ called out
to them when he was on earth, even with tears, and bids us
do the like with tears now in his stead. " Oh, that thou
hadst known at least in this thy day, the things that belong
to thy peace!" but they would not, till they were hid from
their eyes, and it was too late **. " How often would I
have gathered thee, as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not^." Sinners, I beseech you,
let not sin and flesh befool you, to make you fly in the face
of God, instead of returning to him at his call. Can you
think that God is unjust or unmerciful, that would have
given you heaven, and you would not accept of it ? If he
" Deut. XXX. 19. y Deut. xxx. 17—19. * 2 Cor. v. 20.
> 2 Tim. iv. f. * Matt. xxii. 9. Luke xiv. 23.
c M att. xxii. V. <> Luke xix. 41, 42. « Matt, xxiii. 37.
138 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
deny you that everlastingly, which you would not accept of,
can you blame him or yourselves ? I know what some
hearts will be ready to imagine : you will say, * I was wil-
ling to be saved, and therefore this is nothing to me/ But
were you willing to take salvation as it was offered ? If not,
you may as well say plainly, you will have none of it ; for
you shall have none of it upon any other terms. You would
have had mercy by the halves and not in whole. You would
have picked out that part of salvation, which pleased you,
and left the rest. God would have saved you from the
guilt and power of sin, from hell, and from unholiness ; and
you would have but one of these, without the other : or
would have been saved from hell and all other punishments ;
but you would not be sanctified and brought near to God,
and taken off from this world, and set your hearts on the
world to come : and you knew, or might know, that God
would not halve and part his salvation : you shall have all,
or you shall have none. If you will keep sin, you shall
keep the curse with it : if you will keep the serpent, you
shall have the sting and venom with it. If you will not
take Christ for your master, as well as your Saviour, and be
ruled by him, when his yoke is so easy, and his burden so
light, never look to find rest to your souls ^ If you will
not be converted, you may as well speak out, and say plain-
ly you will not be saved : for it is all one. He that saith,
he will not eat and drink, may as well say he will not live :
and he that will not take the physic, may as well say, he
will not be cured. Sirs, if Christ, and grace, and glory
had never been offered to you, nor you had any means to
have brought you to the knowledge of him, then you had
had some excuse. As Christ saith, John xv. 22. " If I had
not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin, but
now they have no cloak for their sin." If we had not in
Christ's name entreated you to return, and offered you sal-
vation, you had some excuse. But now, what can you rea-
sonably say ? I dare challenge the reason of all the world,
to answer this one reason, by which God will prove, that
the unconverted should be condemned. It is reason, that
he that would not have heaven upon such reasonable terms
as Christ did tender it him, should for ever be shut out.
' Matt. xi. 27—^9.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 139
What will you say to this, when God shall question thee,
and say, * What sayst thou, sinner, did not I freely offer
thee my grace and salvation?' Do you believe you shall
have the face at the day of judgment, to tell Christ he is un-
merciful if he damn you, when he shall tell you, that he
would often have gathered you to him, as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not? Will not
that one word stop thy mouth for ever ? What dost thou
complain of, man ? Is it for want of mercy? Why, what
tenderer mercy wouldst thou have had ? "I would have
gathered thee as the hen, &c." Sinners, I witness to you
this day, that God, and angels, and men shall judge of you,
that if you be thrust into hell, it is because you would not
be saved ; and it is not because God was cruel to you, but
because you were cruel and unmerciful to yourselves. I
tell you this will prove true at the last.
5. If all these reasons do not satisfy you, I will shew you
more, and such as methinks should satisfy any man on
earth, that the unconverted cannot be saved. Even because
it is an impossible thing. It is a flat contradiction. Why,
conversion is part of salvation here, and the perfection of it
is an higher part hereafter. Why, sirs, sin is the soul's
sickness, and wound, and death ; and grace and holiness is its
health and life : and were not that man a fool, that expecteth
you should make him well, and not remove his sickness ?
And cure his wounds, and never heal or close them ? Or
make a dead man alive, and yet let him be dead still ? Why,
it is as great a contradiction and impossibility for a man to
be saved and not converted. What is it that we must be
saved from, but sin and hell? And there is no saving from
hell but by saving from sin. "He shall save his people
from their sins ^." Do you know what the salvation is that
God hath promised us in glory? Why it is this; that we
should be perfectly freed from all sin, and have the image of
his holiness perfected on our souls : that we shall be per-
fectly in love with God, and perfectly beloved of him, and
live in the sight of his majesty, and fill ourselves with the
view of his pleased face, and breathe out his praise with the
heavenly host for e\ er. Doth such a heaven as this is like
you? or doth it not? If it do not, you must have none ; for
•• Matt. i. 21.
140 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
there is no other, except you will call an alehouse or an
whorehouse, or other sensual pleasures your heaven. But
if you will have this heaven which God doth offer you, you
may easily see that it cannot be had without conversion.
Can you be saved from sin, and yet keep it? Can you be
perfected in holiness, and yet be unholy ? Can you live in
the everlasting love of God, and have no true love to him at
all? Can you delight in him, and yet have no delight in
him, but be weary of him, and delight in your worldly vani-
ties more ? Well, sinners ! I think I need to say no more.
The contradiction is so evident, that you may as well say,
' I will be saved, and I will not,' as to say, ' I will be saved,
but not converted.'
But perhaps some vain caviller will say, ' It is true, we
cannot be glorified without conversion and holiness, but
God might have given us that in another world, though he
change us not here.'
Answ. But do you not know, that this life is the appoint-
ed time of working, and running, and fighting for the crown ?
The life to come is the time of reward, and of your receiving
the prize that here you run for. Would you have God help
you in your race, when you are past it, and your time is
gone? Or contrary to wisdom and governing justice, to
confound the way and the end, this life and that to come?
You may with far more wisdom expect, that when you have
loitered till the sun be set, God should call it back again,
at your desire, that you may have daylight to work by. He
gave thee time, and gave thee warning to use it while thou
hadst it ; and told thee, " this was the accepted time, this
was the day of salvation \" And to trifle out this time, and
then to think that God should give thee both grace and
glory in that life, where he hath resolved only to perfect
grace in glory, and crown those that have overcome on
earth. This is such folly in so great a business, as I desire
no friend of mine may be guilty of.
Object. * But it is our ignorance of God that maketh us
unholy ; and therefore when death hath opened our eyes,
as we shall know him better, so we shall the more love him
according to that knowledge ; and so we shall be sanctified.
» 2 Ck)r. vi. 2.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 141
And God cannot but love those that love him ; and there-
fore they w^ill be saved.
Answ. It is not all knowledge of God, that will cause a
love to him. If you know him as excellent, and yet as your
enemy, and one that standeth resolved everlastingly to pu-
nish you, this will provoke no love to him, but hatred. The
dignity and worth of an enemy may be some matter of ad-
miration to us, and of reverence, but not of such love as may
tend to fruition. It is inseparable from your natures to love
yourselves ; and therefore you will love that which you
think is for your good, and hate that which you think is
against you, and tends to your destruction. You will then
find that your damnation was part of God's righteous go-
vernment of the world : and that the whole work of govern-
ment, was one inseparable frame, begun by legislation, and
finished by judgment and execution : and that God will no
more break the frame of government, than he will the frame
of nature : nor so much. For that he may do when he
please, though he will do it rarely, but this his own perfec-
tion is against. So that when you see God, as it were
obliged everlastingly to destroy you, you cannot close in
love with him, as your friend or chiefest good, as those do
that enjoy him in the promised glory.
CHAPTER ni.
V. Having thus cleared the way, by shewing you the
meaning, and the truth of the point in hand, I shall next
come to the application of it to ourselves.
Use I. And first, by way of inference you see from hence,
that there is a kingdom of heaven to be obtained. It were in
vain to talk who shall come thither, and who shall not, if there
were no such thing to be had. Doubt not Christian, thou hast
the word of the God of heaven for it. Challenge the tempter,
if he would draw thee to doubting, to prove that ever the God
of this word deceived any. If he would tempt thee to
question, whether it be his word or not ; shew him upon it
his image and superscription, with the seal of his manifold
uncontroled miracles. And ask him what better evidence
142 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
mortals can expect, unless they would have God, who can-
not be seen, to walk among them, and speak to every parti-
cular man. Oh ! that thou wouldst be true to God and thy-
self, and then thou shalt find God will be true to thee. As
sure as there is an earth for thee to tread on, and as sure as
there is a sun whose light thou seest; so sure is there an
heavenly everlasting glory, for every converted, persevering
soul. There can be no better ground of assurance than the
word of God. I know, that man, whilst he is in this flesh,
is strange to things beyond his sense, and hath a natural de-
sire to have his senses themselves to be the inlets of his
knowledge ; and therefore he is apt to., think that either he
is uncertain of ajl that he seeth not, (unless he hath seen the
like that may help him to understand it) ; or else that his
knowledge of it, is as no knowledge ; but this is a weakness
unworthy of a man. What if you had never seen London,
or any such city, and should hear the glory of it described
by others ; would you think it uncertain that there is such a
place, because you have not seen it? Nay, further, you
have not seen your souls, do you think il therefore uncertain
whether you have a soul or no ? A man that is born blind
did never see the sun, and yet he will not doubt whether
there be a sun, when all the world about him telleth him so :
and shall not the word of God be taken as soon as the word
of a man? You never saw God himself, and yet it is the
grossest error in the world to think that there is no God,
when we see every hour the works that he hath made ; and
which we know could none of them make themselves : you
see that which assureth you of the things that art; unseen.
You see the word of God ; you see his works, and daily
providences ; you see a divine testimony, the sufficient
ground of your belief. Noah did not see the flood, when he
laboured so many years in making the ark. But though the
unbelieving world might deride him in the beginning, at the
last the flood came and did convince them. " By faith
Noah being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved
with fear, prepared an ark, to the saving of his house ; by the
which he condemned the world, and became heir of the
righteousness, which is by faith ^." O, if the devil could
once make you stagger at the truth of the promise, and
^ Heb. xl. 7.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 143
make you doubt whether there be a heaven and a hell, be-
cause you see them not ; he might then delude you with the
vanities which you do see* But when you believe it upon
God's word, as verily as if you saw it, then you will be
likely to be Christians indeed. Therefore the apostle bring-
eth such proof of the doctrine of the resurrection, and when
he hath done, he buildeth this exhortation upon it.
" Wherefore my beloved brethren, be stedfast, unmovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as
you knowyour labour is not in vain in the Lord**."
Use II. Having gone thus far with you, and shewed you
that a kingdom of heaven there is j and that certainly none
but the converted shall enter it : my next business is, to
come nearer your hearts, and to inquire of, and beseech you
to inquire of, yourselves, whether you are the converted
heirs of this kingdom, or not? Sirs, you hear from the
mouth of Christ himself, how the case standeth. He that
spoke this will be your judge, and according to this word it
is that he will judge you. Believe you not this? I hope
you do believe it. Methinks now I should need to say no
more to reasonable men, to warn them presently to enter
into their own consciences, and try, and try again whether
they are converted. But because that this is so necessary
a work, I will tell you some of those reasons that should
move you presently to set upon this trial : and shew you
how desirable it is to be well resolved in this point. For I
know that the devil will be such an enemy to it, and the
heart so backward to it, that all we can say, is likely to be
too little to bring the most, but to a faithful examination of
their own souls.
1. The first reason that moveth me to entreat you to try
yourselves, is, the weight of the business in hand. A wise
man may put a small thing to a venture, but he will not ven-
ture all his estate, or liberty, or life, if he can help it. How
much less should a wise man venture his soul ! Great
things and eternal things should be made as sure of as we
can. For a man to be in endless happiness or misery, is a
matter that should not have one cold, or dull and careless
thought : much less should it be ordinarily, or wholly made
light of. 1 profess to you brethren, I wonder how you can
•» 1 Cor. XT. olt.
144 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
SO little regard the assurance of your conversion and salva-
tion, as most of the v^rorld doth ! As if hell w^ere grown
sufferable : or heaven grovv^n of smaller value ; and the glory
of it did begin to fade. For, a man that is no heathen, but
believeth that a departing soul goes some v^^hither, either to
heaven or hell : methinks he should be willing to know
whither it should go before it is gone. For, when it is once
gone, it is past recalling. Methinks, as long as you are in
much doubting of your salvation, this one thought should
often be running in your mind : * What if I should not be
converted or saved ? What a case were I then everlast-
ingly in V Your hearts, it is like, do cherish some hopes
that you are converted, and all shall be well enough with
you when you die : O, but what if it should prove other-
wise ? Methinks this one thought should even amaze you,
whilst you are in that estate. For all my hopes, what if I
should perish ? O, what wise man would put his everlasting
salvation or damnation to the venture, if he could possibly
get it out of doubt ? Therefore Sirs, I beseech you for the
Lord's sake ; get alone again and again, and put this ques-
tion to your own consciences, ' How can I tell that I am
truly converted ?' And if you are ready to say, ' I hope it
is so,' when you have nothing for these hopes, but because
you would have it so ; call to your consciences for the proof
of what they say, and do not take your own bare words.
It is proof that must carry it, and not mere saying that you
are converted. Ask therefore conseience, * How canst thou
prove it? What canst thou shew that will evidence a con-
version, more than unsanctified persons may shew V And
I pray you, see that you be not put off too easily, and take
not every gloss for evidence ; but in a matter of such con-
sequence, see that you deal faithfully, and go to the very
quick : alas ! almost all the comfort of your lives lieth upon
it : and your everlasting salvation lieth upon it ; which is
much more.
2. Another reason, which makes me the more earnestly
desire that you would try, whether you are truly converted, or
not, is, because all men by nature are children of wrath, and
need conversion, and the greatest part of the world do live
and die in their natural state, and never come to be truly
converted. Seeing therefore, that it is a thing that every
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 145
one must have that will be saved, and yet most men gb
without it, and therefore are damned, should it not waketi
you to examine, whether you are of the number of those
that are converted, yea or nay ? If it were a needless thing
that might be spared without your undoing ; or if it were a
thing that every body hath, or that almost all, or most have ;
you might be the more secure ; but it is not so. What need
we more proof than God's express word ? ** The gate is
strait, and the way narrow, and few there be that find it *=."
And common experience seconding this word of God. Do
you see that most men are converted, and such as I before
described to you ? O that it were so ! But we shall speak
more of this towards the end. Will any man that hath not
lost his senses, now stand cavilling, and quarrelling that so
few should be saved, instead of making sure of his own sal-
vation ? The reason that there are so few, is, because they
will not be saved upon God's terms. And if you will take
their course, and quarrel with the gracious word and ways
of God, instead of submitting to them, you will speed as
they, and be carried down the stream for company. But
those that care for their souls, will take warning by other
mep's miscarriages, and be awakened to make sure.
3. Another reason that should move you to examine,
whether you be indeed converted or not, is, because the
want of this is one of the greatest causes why so few come
to be converted, and to be saved. Nothing doth more keep
a man from turning back again, when he hath lost his way,
than when he doth not know that he hath lost it : and how
can he know, that wandereth in the night, and will not in-
quire and ask the way, or that is so wilful and self-conceited,
that he will not believe any man that telleth him he hath
lost his way? As long as he is of this mind, he will never
turn again. So is it with most of the careless world : they
are going into the way of worldliness or vainglory, and live
to the flesh, which is clean contrary to the way to heaven,
and yet they will not once seriously ask a minister, or ask
any one that can inform them, whether that be the way or
not? Or whether they shall ever come to heaven in that
way ? But they trudge on after their fleshly business, as if
they had no tongue in their heads ; or as if it were not
« Malt. vii. 14.
VOL. VIJ. L
140 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
worth the asking, to know whether they were in the way to
heaven or hell. Surely, if men will not so much as inquire,
or consider with themselves, and examine their way by the
word of God, to see whether they are right or wrong, they
are never like to be saved. If you, that never had this great
cure done upon your souls, did but know so much, you
would not rest sure, till it were done. You could not lie
down quietly, nor rise quietly : you could not eat or drink,
or sleep quietly. Tell me, ever a man or woman of you : could
you be quiet, if you were sure that you were yet unconverted,
and in a state, that if death should find you in, you must be
damned? If you knew this by yourselves, how could you
choose but get presently to God on your knees in secret, and
cry out, * Help Lord, or I am everlastingly undone ! O forgive
me, and change my heart and life, or else I am a lost man and
woman for ever !' How could you choose, if you knew
yourselves unconverted, but follow God with your prayers
day and night till he had changed your hearts. You could
not sit at home, but you would go to the ministers, and to
experienced Christians, and ask them for some help, and ad-
vice for your salvation. But, when men think all is well
with them, who can expect that they should put themselves
to so much trouble ? Or seek much to God or man for cure,
or make any great matter of the greatest misery ? I do not
fear any one thing more, to make me lose all this labour,
and leave many of you after all this, unconverted, than this
conceit that you are already converted, when you are not.
This is it that is most like to hinder our work, and to undo
your souls. And therefore for the Lord's sake, sirs, deny
me not this one request, to take a little pains to try
whether you are converted. " For if any man think he is
something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."
4. Another reason that should make you never rest till
you know that you are converted, is, because of the many
exceeding benefits that the true knowledge of this one thing
would afford you. For the truly converted, holding on to
the death, shall certainly be saved. O sirs, if you had but
this assurance once, you might live quietly, and abound
with comforts ! You might lie down, and nothing make
you afraid : you might rejoice in the mercies of the Lord,
as the tokens of his love ; and bear his rod with greater
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 147
peace, as being the chastisement of a father. Had you but
this assurance once, you might hear and read the word with
comfort ; and when you come to the promises, say, ' These
are mine :' you might secretly and publicly pray with com-
fort, " and have access with boldness to the throne of grace' :'*
you might run to God when any thing aileth you, and call
him your Father in confidence of his acceptance : you might
gladly feast with the saints in the holy communion of the
church : you might cheerfully sing God's praises, and glory
in the thoughts of his great salvation. And when you are
dying, you might look to heaven as your home, " and long
to be dissolved and to be with Christ ^" And might joyful-
ly let go your departing souls, and say as Christ, " Father,
into thy hand I commend my spirit." O sirs, what a blessed
life is this, when a man can look upon every thing with com-
fort ! If he look on the godly, he can say, * They are my
brethren :' if on the wicked, he can say, * I am delivered
from their sad estate.' If he look on any of the mercies
which he possesseth, he can say, * They are the fruits of the
blood of Christ, and the tokens of his Father's love.' If on
his poverty or want, he can say, ' My greater wants are sup-
plied, and these prepare for the everduring riches.' If he
look on the law, he can say, * It hath nothing against him,'
because he hath pardon through him that hath borne the
curse. If on the Gospel, he can rejoice in it, as the glad
tidings of his salvation. If he look on the threatening, he
can say, ' It reacheth not a pardoned sinner :' if on the pro-
mise, he can say, * It is my charter for heaven.' If he look
upward to heaven, he can say, * It is my own inheritance,
thither I am going, and there I shall shortly be.' If he look
downward, toward the place of torments, he can say, * From
thence did grace deliver me.' If there were any terror to a
man's soul, it would be in sin, and satan, and death, and
hell, but none of these are matter of terror to him. Not sin,
for it is pardoned, and mortified in part, and will be perfect-
ly ere long. Not satan, for he is conquered, and cast out of
his possession. Not death, for it hath lost its sting, and is
become the passage into everlasting life. Not hell, for it
will be our perpetual joy, to see that we are delivered from
such everlasting torments. In a word, because he can say,
•Heb. X. 19. Eph.iii. la. 'Phil.l.f3.
148 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
* God is my Father, Christ is my Saviour and my Head, the
Holy Ghost is my Sanctifier ;' therefore he can say, ** All is
mine, as I am Christ's, and Christ is God's s." O sirs, what
would you give ; nay, what would you not give, to be pre-
sently put into such a condition ? Had you not as lief as have
all the world now, that you were sure that you are convert-
ed, and in this state of life? Sure, if you were well in your
wits, you had. Who would care what becomes of the world,
if he were once sure of heaven ? Or what become of his
corruptible flesh, if he were sure it should go well with
his soul, and that flesh itself should rise again to glory. O
what a terrible thing it is, for a soul to go out of the body,
and not know whither ! And how much more to depart un-
d^r the curse of God ! From the damnation of the law, to
the condemnation of the judge. But how blessed is it, to
remove from the state of a frail and sinful man, to live with
Christ, to be " equal with the angels ^"
What say you now, beloved hearers ? Is there not weight
enough in these reasons to persuade you to try whether you
are converted or not? Dare you say there is not? If you
dare not, you are witness yourselves that you are convinced.
You see it is your duty ; or see it is necessary for your own
good. Your labour will be small in comparison of the pro-
fit : the loss will be nothing ; the commodity may be un-
speakable. Shall I then as your minister beseech you pre-
sently to fall to this work ? As a messenger of Christ shall
I entreat it of you ? As a friend to your souls shall I entreat
it of you? It is for yourselves : it is no unreasonable mat-
ter, you see, that I ask of you. Conscience shall witness
one day to the face of refusers, that it was not unreasonable.
Neighbours, I pray you for the Lord's sake, and for your
soul's sake, do not deny it me. I profess in the presence of
the Lord, I had rather you would grant me this small re-
quest, than give me all you have in the world : even that you
would but make it your business to try, and thoroughly try,
whether you are yet converted, or no? But then, let me
entreat you to do it seriously, and make somewhat of it, and
leave it not till you have done your best to be resolved whe-
ther it be so with you or not. You do not need to ask me
what aileth me to be so earnest with you for such a thing.
8 I Cor. iii. 21 2 Cor. iv. 15. '' Lukexx 36,
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 14^
You have heard by the foregoing reasons what aileth me.
You may see here in my text what aileth me. When Christ
himself saith, ** Except you be converted, and become as
little children, you cannot enter into the kingdom of hea-
ven." This is the thing then that I entreat you to do : that
you would betake yourselves at your next opportunity with-
out delay into some private place, and there bethink your-
selves what you have heard ; or at least what is said here
in my text : and say thus with yourselves ; * I see there is
no hope of salvation without conversion ; my heart must be
turned from the world, and flesh, and sin, to God by Christ,
or else I cannot enter into heaven. I know 1 shall shortly
leave this life : doth it not concern me then to see betimes
that I be converted ? Was ever such a change as this
wrought in my heart, or not? There is no dissembling with
God ; he will not be mocked. What sayest thou, con-
science? Have I ever had such a change, or not? Thus
follow on the inquiry, and leave it not, till you can say off
or on whether you have been converted, or not. Or at
least till you have some more light into the business than
you had before. And if you cannot do it at one time, as it
is likely you cannot fully, go do it again and again : think
on it as you lie in bed : think on it when you are alone, and
say to yourselves, * Seeing I must be converted or condemn-
ed, is it not time for me to know whether it be so with me,
or not?' And if you cannot get the case well resolved, let
me entreat one thing more, which I have often entreated of
you ; that you would come to one of us that are your teach-
ers, or go to some judicious, able Christian, and ask advice
to help you in trial : for in so great a business, it is dange-
rous to be mistaken. I do not speak all this to those Chris-
tians that have lived long in the fear of God, and have doubts
raised in their minds by the temptations of the enemy, or by
their own great care of the matter of their salvation, and
have asked help of ministers, and taken pains, and done
what lieth in them to be resolved, and yet find some doubts
remaining. It is not these that I now speak to. Though I
would not grudge my labour to these whensoever I can have
time for it, to do them any good I could. Yet I would ra-
ther advise them to acknowledge the light of grace that
shineth in their eyes, and not forget their own experiences,
150 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
nor make light of the abundance of that mercy, which hath
translated them from darkness into the kingdom of Christ,
and feed upon that glory that is propounded to their faith.
But I speak to those that either never did yet set to the
work of examination, or never followed it, till they discern-
ed their miserable estate, or at least not till they got out of
it, but are still sticking in the world and flesh : and also to
those young, unsettled Christians that be not yet well re-
solved for a change ; or at least those that never yet had the
advice of any minister, or judicious person, for the right
settling of their spiritual estate : for all these, but espe-
cially for those that never set upon examination before, I
would entreat them, if they find themselves in the dark, and
cannot well manage it themselves, or cannot find whether
they are converted or not, that they would come to us, and
seek advice. I pray you, neighbours, do not think that we
are either so stout, or so careless of your souls, as to des-
pise you, or to think it much to take this pains with you.
The poorest beggar in town shall be welcome to us, that
will come to us on this errand. Indeed, ministers are set in
every church, as the physician is in the town, for all that are
in distress to resort to for advice, that their diseases may
not prove their death. It is not only to preach to you that
we are made ministers, but especially to give advice and di-
rection for their salvation to all that have special need, and
come to us. Indeed for small matters you should no more
trouble a minister, than you should trouble a physician for
a cut finger, because you have others enough at hand to give
you advice. If all the people of England would use their
ministers to this kind of employment, it would be happier
for their souls, and happy for the nation, and would make
men know better the nature and need of the office of the
ministry. We do not desire you to come to us, as the Pa-
pist priests make all their people do, to confess every secret
sin that they have committed in Lent, before they receive
the sacrament at Easter. But when you hear out of the
word of God, that no man can be saved except he be con-
verted, and you set yourselves to try whether you are con-
verted or not, and cannot find it out : here your salvation
lieth much on the business, and therefore common reason
telleth you, that you should take the best advice you can.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 151
and that presently, without delay. And so, you may be
much better resolved, and your minds more quieted, and
you may go upon surer grounds for your salvation, than
perhaps you would otherwise do. There is never an honest
minister in England, but would be willing to forbear his
meat, or sleep, as far as nature would bear, to help his peo-
ple in such straits as these ; when they come to us, and tell
us, ' I have taken some pains to try whether I am converted
truly, or not, and I am not able to discern ; I know it is
your office to help me ; I pray you help to resolve my doubt,
for I am resolved I will not venture my soul so carelessly
as I have done till now.' You do not know what good you
might get, if you would but take this course to be resolved.
For God will bless his own ordinances. I pray you, there-
fore, let no carelessness, or bashfulness hinder you ; for mat-
ters of salvation are not such things that you should either
be careless, or ashamed of. However, say not but we offered
you our help.
But perhaps you will ask me, When I am examining my
conscience, how shall you know whether I am converted or
not? By what marks may it be discerned? To this I an-
swer, I have so often given you divers marks already, in the
sermons I have preached, and the books that I have written
for your use, that I am loath to do the same thing over too
often. But for this time it may suffice, if you will but re-
member that description of the work of conversion, which
I gave you before. For in that are all the marks that are
necessary.
When you are examining your own hearts inquire then :
(1.) Whether you ever found that change upon your
mind that I before mentioned. Are you soundly persuaded
of the truth of the word of God, and the life to come ? And
do you know and believe how vile a thing sin is ? And
what need you have of Christ? and what he hath done for
you, and ofFereth to do ? And do you esteem of the love of
God, and the hopes of salvation above all things in this world,
and account of all but as dung, that you may win Christ?
Are you fully persuaded of the riches of free grace, and of
the necessity of a holy life, how much soever you may have
slighted them heretofore ?
(2.) And have your hearts been so far changed hereupon.
152 TRATISE OF CONVERSION.
as that you have laid up your treasure and hopes in the life
to come ; and that is it that you take for your felicity : so
that you can truly say, that the main bent and drift of your
life is, not for the pleasure or jirofits of the world, but
how to please God, and be happy for ever ? Though you
may step out of the way by human infirmity, yet this is the
bent and scope of your life : this is your chief care, and this
hath your most serious thoughts and business. Can you
truly say, you use the world for God and for heaven, and
do not serve God for the world ? And that you take all
these outward things, but as necessaries in your journey,
but look at heaven as your home and happiness ? And that
God hath the highest room in your hearts, and the world
and flesh stand under him ; and that you do not prefer
these things before him? And that you are resolved, what-
soever it cost you, to stick to God though you lose the
world; and not stick to the world, when it loses you the fa-
vour of God ? And that God shall be first served, and that
the world shall have his leavings ; and not the world first
served, and God have its leavings ? Have you tasted of the
infinite love, which he hath manifested for your salvation in
the blood of his Son, and admired that free grace, that hath
thus purchased your redemption ? And fled to Christ, as
the only refuge of a guilty soul, from the curse of the law,
and the wrath of God ; renouncing all conceits of any me-
rits, or legal righteousness of your own, taking Christ and
his merits for your righteousness ? Do you find that you
hate the former sins that you loved, and take pleasure in
those holy ways that you had no pleasure in before ? And
are you resolved thus to hold on to the death?
(3.) Is all this to be seen in your life ? Have you in
good sadness changed your former courses, and resolved to
turn to them no more ? Have you left your own ungodly
company further than your calling, or necessity, or charity
requireth you to be with them ? And have you betaken
yourselves into the company of those that fear God, and
take pleasure in their holy communion, and in their help
and company in the way to heaven ? Especially do you
avoid those great transgressions, by which you were carried
away in your ignorance ! And are you willing to destroy
the remains of your sin, whatsoever it cost you, and not to
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 153
spare, or cherish, or befriend it ? So that there is no known
sin, that you wilfully live in ; nor known duty that you wil-
fully cast off. But you would fain be what God would
have you be, and your greatest sorrow is, that you can be no
better. And if you fall by any temptation, you rise again
with shame and grief, and free confession, and renew your
resolution by the grace of God, to take better heed for the
time to come.
This is the sum of the work of conversion, and this is
the state of a gracious soul. I have left out divers particu-
lars, lest I should be too long, because you may see them
together before you ; but the rest are implied in these.
When you go then to examine your hearts, set these
few questions before you, and put them to your hearts, or
else peruse those marks that I have given you in my " Direc-
tions of Peace of Conscience," or those in my " Treatise of
Judgment," or those in my " Book of Rest." You do not need
to be at a loss for marks to try by. Books will help you,
or ministers will help you, or friends will help you. But all
the difficulty is in two things. 1. To get your heart to the
work. 2. To be able to know your own hearts. For they
are so dark and deceitful, that without a special light and
diligence, you may easily be mistaken in yourselves.
Well, brethren, I again renew my request to you, that see-
ing you must be converted, or condemned, will you set your-
selves to try whether you are converted or not ? I hope you
be not willing to be deceived ; and I hope you do not think
that salvation is not worth this much labour. I should hope
that I might request as much as this from you, if it were for
myself, or a friend ; how much more, when it is for your sal-
vation. Tell me, therefore, will you do this much at my re-
quest, at Christ's request, yea, and at his command, or will
you not? Will you bestow now and then a secret hour about
it, and follow it on till you get resolution, and know whether
you are converted or not ? Truly, neighbours, I do not speak
these words to you carelessly or customarily, as matters that
I shall never look after when I am out of the pulpit ; or as
if I cared not whether you ever more minded them, or not.
But it* is the matter of practice that 1 regard : whether
you will do the thing that I am desiring of you. I am loath
you should spend another day in a state of condemnation.
154 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
and not know it. I am loath you should spend another day
in negligent uncertainty of your everlasting state. If you
are converted, I would fain have you know it ; if 1 could
procure it, I would have you sure to go to heaven when you
die, before you pass another week, or before you go this
night to bed. And if you are not yet converted, I would
fain have you know it, that you may lay to heart your con-
dition, and without any more delay, may make out for the
grace of Christ, that must recover you. 1 pray you do not
think that it is utter despair that I am driving you to. If
you should upon trial find that you are unconverted, you
need not despair, and say, * there is no hope.' No, but you
must know, that there is mercy before you. Christ hath
prepared it for you, and ofFereth it to you, and is willing you
should have part in it if you be willing. Only you must
consent to be changed now at last, and resolve to go no
further in the old way. It is conversion, and not despera-
tion, that God requireth. And I hope a man may seek after
his error to amend it, rather than to despair of the amend-
ment. What, if upon examination, you should perceive
that till this hour, you have been in a state of death ? It
doth not follow, that you must live and die so ; but that
you must make haste to get out of it, which you will hardly
ever do, till you find that you are in it. It were a foolish
traveller that will say, * I will not ask the way, lest I find
that I have missed it, and then I have no hope of getting
home.' But rather he should ask the way, that if he have
missed it, he may know it, and get in the right way before
it be night. And because it is my present business, rather
to convince the unconverted for their recovery, than the
converted for their comfort, I shall here tell you for the ne-
gative, who they be that are yet unconverted, and must be
changed, if ever they will be saved.
(1.) That man or woman, that never yet perceived and felt
that sin is a great and detestable evil, deserving the wrath
of God, and that never felt what need they stand in of the
pardon of sin, by the blood of the Lord Jesus, nor was ever
humbled in the apprehension of his unworthy dealing with
God, but can bear his sin as a tolerable burthen, is yet un-
converted ; and without conversion cannot be saved *.
> Matt. X). 28. Luke xiii. 3, 51. Psal, li. 17. Isa. Ivii. 15. Luke xiv. 11. xviii. 14.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 155
(2.) That man or woman that was never driven to
Christ for deliverance, nor beaten out of the conceits of
merit, or sufficiency in himself; nor brought to admire the
glorious design of God in the great work of redemption ;
nor savoured the sweetness of the glad tidings of salvation,
which are brought to distressed sinners in the Gospel. So
that his heart was never warmed with the sense of the Re-
deemer's love and blood ; but heareth and readeth the Gos-
pel as a common story. Or, as if it were not he that was thus
redeemed, is yet unconverted, whatsoever he may seem ''.
(3.) That person that hath not his heart and hopes in
heaven, and looketh not at that as his only happiness, and
doth not make it the business of his life to attain it ; but
setteth his heart more upon the things of this life, is cer-
tainly unconverted, whatever he may pretend ^
(4.) That person that is not weary of all known sin, and
hateth it not, and would not be rid of it with all his heart,
and is not willing to be at the labour or cost of duty, in the
use of those means which God hath required for the ob-
taining of a conquest ; but will venture his soul upon a
careless life, rather than he will be brought to diligent god-
liness ; and taketh up godliness in part upon mere neces-
sity, having rather let it alone if he durst, and taketh it for
a grievous thing to be hindred from his sin : that person is
not as yet converted, but must have a further change before
he can be brought into a state of life '".
(5.) That person that doth not set himself to the duties
of holiness to God and righteousness, and mercy toward
man, that hath not the Spirit of Christ within him, and the
image of God upon him, and doth not express it in his wor-
ship and obedience, and is not loving, compassionate, and
merciful to others, nor humble and low in his own eyes, nor
delighteth in doing good, nor is willing to do as he would
be done by ; I say, that person is not yet truly converted,
whatsoever seemings of conversion he may have ; but must
yet be otherwise converted, or be condemned ".
'' Phil. ill. 8, 9. Eph. iii. 18, 19. Lulce vii. 47, 48. Rora. x. 15. Acts xiii.S2.
' PhU. m, 21. Matt. vi. 21. Rora. v. «. Tit. i. 2. Heb. xi. 1 Cor. xv. 19. Col,
i. 5. 23.
"> Lulce xviii. 23, 24. Rom. vi. 14. 16, 17. 21. vii. 13. 22. 24. Pttul. cxix. 5.
" Matt. V. Heb. xii. 14. 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. ii. 5. 2 Pet. iii. It. Heb. iii. 1.
Psai. i. 2.
15(j TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
(6.) That man or woman that hath any thing in this
world, that is so dear to them that they cannot spare it,
and part with it for Christ, and obedience to his command,
but will rather venture their souls upon his threatenings, and
will only take up so much of religion as may stand with
their worldly prosperity or seeming felicity, and are not re-
solved by strength of grace, rather to let go all than Christ:
I say, that person is yet unconverted, and must have a fur-
ther change, or be condemned °.
Now, the Lord have mercy' on poor sinners ! What a
world of them are yet in the state of death ! And how little
do they believe it, or lay it to heart ! I wonder what men
think of such words in Scripture, when they meet with them.
Sure they cannot choose but consider that they concern them
as well as others. And if no man can be saved without con-
version, they must needs know they cannot. What then
do these men think of themselves ? Do they think that
they are converted, or that they are not ? If they think
they are not, then surely they durst not rest till they are.
Fori do ngt think they are willing to be damned. It must
needs be, therefore, that they think they are converted, when
they are not ; and that is the thing that deceiveth and
quieteth them in their misery. But it is worth inquiry to
find out what it is that so deceiveth men, that the grossest
worldling, or the vilest sensualist, are yet persuaded that
they are converted, gracious men ; and I find among others
these three things are the cause. 1. They do not know
what conversion is, but take that to be true conversion,
which is no such thing. 2. They do not know themselves,
but take themselves to have what they have not, and do
what they do not, and be what they be not. And 3. They
are resolved to believe what they would have to be true, be
it never so false ; and therefore will rather think they are well
already, than they will be at the trouble to know that it is
otherwise, and to use the means for a thorough discovery.
Use III. By the foregoing inquiry, we have certainly
found, that conversion is too strange a thing in the world ;
and that the greatest part of the world, yea, of those that
are called by the preaching of the Gospel, are yet uncon-
verted. The consideration of this must needs be a grief to
o Matt, xvi. <^4. X.37, 38. Luke xiv. 3;?. Phil. iii. 19. Matt. xiii. 6. 20,21.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. l67
the heart of every faithful minister, that knoweth the misery
of an unconverted man, and foreseeth his latter end. It will
be a grief to any honest physician, if he have a whole hos-
pital of sick persons under cure, to see that the most of
their diseases are mortal, and to find but few recovered by
the greatest skill and care that he can use; how much
more must the everlasting danger of men's souls be grievous
to those that are appointed to watch over them ? Would
the Lord but cause you to know your own misery, as we
know it, and to compassionate yourselves, as we must com-
passionate you, we should have the more hope of your re-
covery. Will you now join with us in lamenting your own
condition, and lay to heart what a case it is to be uncon-
verted? Truly humanity, and much more Christianity,
doth bind us to think on your condition with lamentation.
Should we see an enemy ; should we see a very dog in tor-
ment, and have no compassion ? How much less, so many
men and women that are so near us, and so dear to us in
the flesh ? Alas, that there is such a glory, and most men
will miss of it ! That there is such a fire prepared for the
devil and his angels, and the most will run themselves wil-
fully into it ! Why, faith maketh things absent as if they
were present. That which will be so one of these days, I
look on it as if it were even so already. Oh ! methinks I
see the thousands of the unconverted, departing from the
face of an angi-y Judge ; who hath newly shut them up un-
der his final sentence, ** Depart ye cursed into everlasting
fire P." If you ask me, why I tell you of such sad things?
Truly, brethren it is, because they are much more sad to suf-
fer, than to hear of ; and because you are yet alive in a pos-
sibility of preventing them. If you marvel that I should
believe such things, when no man seeth them : it is because
I am a Christian. And if you believe them not as well as
I, you would do well to say so plainly, and do not dissem-
ble any longer, and take on you to be Christians, when you
are not ; and to believe God's word, when you do not. I
profess to you, I should take it but for a paltry profession,
to ride up and down to preach the Gospel, and trouble the
minds of men in vain, and get the ill will of most of our
neighbours, and tire and spend ourselves in this work, if it
, P Matt. XXV. 41.
158 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
were not certainly true, which we must tell them ; and if the
Gospel were a fable or human device. If the word of God
were not true, ministers have the most unworthy employ-
ment upon earth. But if it be true (as nothing is more
certain), O Lord, what hard hearts then have we, that we
are no more affected with your condition! And what
hearts have you, that are no more affected with your own !
The Lord knows, if I were not confident that this word is
true, that telleth us of the danger of all that are unconverted,
I would not have been here to-day ; nay, I would shut up
my books, and take another trade in hand, and never preach
more. But shall a man that knows the unconverted will be
condemned, forbear to tell them of the misery that is near
them? Then were our case more sinful than yours, for you
know it not, and therefore love not to hear of it. 1 believe
it, and know it, and yet should I silence it? I know it is
unpleasant doctrine, but it is necessary, and it is most true !
God never yet did prove a liar ; if he were not true, he were
not God. You will believe yourselves the things that you
see not, upon common experience ; and why should not I
believe that which I see not, upon a better ground ? You
see not the sun at midnight, and yet you believe that it will
rise the next morning, because it useth to do so. You see
no flowers or fruits on the earth in winter, and yet you be-
lieve that you shall see them the next year, because they
use to come in their seasons. You are now all alive, and
see not your graves digged, nor your friends about you,
there laying you, and leaving you in darkness to the worms,
and yet you know that such a day will come, though now
you see it not; as truly do I know, that there is endless
woe to every sinner that dieth unconverted. I see not the
flames, nor do 1 hear the cries of damned souls, but yet I
know that there they are, while we sit here, and there they
will be to all eternity. It is like, the man in Luke xvi. was
a gentleman of quality, that had so bountiful a table, and
was clothed so gorgeously every day. Alas, his poor bre-
thren it is like, did little think what was become of his
soul, when they had laid his body in the earth. If a preacher
should have told them he was afraid he was in hell, do you
think they would not have been ready to fly in his face, or
account him intolerably self-conceited, or precise ; and yet
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 159
the Lord Jesus brings us news that he was in hell-torment,
wishing that one might be sent from the dead, to warn those
his poor brethren that he had left behind him on the earth.
No doubt, he knew that they were all of the same mind as
he was, when he was alive ; and as fleshly, and worldly,
and careless of their salvation, and therefore were in the
road-way to the same condemnation ; or else if he had
known them to be godly, heavenlyminded men, he would
never have thought them in such danger, as it seems he did.
But we read not that they had any such fears of themselves
as he had. If one had come to them from the dead, and
told them, that their late worshipful brother was in hell for
his sin, and knowing them to be all in the way to the same
misery, had sent to them to beseech them presently to be
converted, lest they also come to that place of torment :
what welcome do you think such a messenger would have
had ? I know not well what fear of a dead man appearing to
them, might have done ; but I partly imagine what enter-
tainment a minister should have had, that had said the like.
Verily, sirs, the case of careless sinners is never the safer,
because they see not, and fear not the danger. A man in a
consumption or dropsy, is never the further from death,
though he be never so confident that he shall not die. If a
thief at the gallows have a conceit that he shall escape,
that will not save his life. What if you should have an
hundred men that you had known on earth, sent to you
from the dead one after another, and all of them should tell
you this one sentence in my text. That there is none enter
into heaven but converted souls ; would you not begin to
look about you, and say to yourselves. Am I converted or
not ? What a case am I in then, that am yet in the flesh ?
It may be if one appeared to you in your chamber in the
night, and told you this news, it would only affright you a
little, and you would forget it. Perhaps if two or three on-
ly should appear to you, and tell you it, you might forget it
again ; but if twenty should tell it you, methinks it should
awaken you. Why, sirs, the words of the Lord are of more
weight, than the words of a thousand dead men are. " If
you will not believe him, neither will you be persuaded
though one rise from the dead**." Seeing these things are
4 Luke xtI. 31.
H>0 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
SO, I do not blame ministers, if they be plain and earnest with
you, though some may think them precise, and besides
themselves. Paul was put to make this answer ; ** For
whether we be besides ourselves, it is to God ; or whether
we be sober, it is for your cause \" Truly, we are like a
physician, that seeth a foolish man eating arsenic, or mer-
cury, and telleth him, O what are you doing ? it is deadly
poison, you must presently take a vomit, or it will kill you.
But because it is sweet, derides the physician, and bids him
look to himself, he hopes he shall do as well as he, till he
feel the griping and burning at his heart, and then he will
believe it. Oh ! the gripes of a damned man's conscience,
when he reflects on the day of grace which he lost on earth !
We tell you not of this to drive you to despair, but to per-
suade you to take the vomit of repentance, and to cast up
your sins before you are past hope. Do not think we wrong
you, to foretel you what will come of it, if you die uncon-
verted. If there were any wrong in it, it must be laid on
God that can do no wrong. If he have not bid us tell you
of them, then take us for your enemies and spare not : call
us liars, if we shew you not his word for it. But alas, when
God hath revealed your danger, must we hide it ? And that
when he hath foretold us, that if we tell you not of it, your
blood shall be required at our hands, Ezek. iii. 18. Read
that text well, and tell me then, whether you would have us
such cruel enemies ; I had almost said such devils to you
and to ourselves, as to hide a matter of such inconceivable
moment from your eyes ? What good would it do you to
be thus flattered into hell ? What good would it do you to
have us to be damned with you, for being unfaithful for the
preventing of your damnation ? Who will laugh at this but
satan, the great enemy both of us and you ? Alas, you may
easily think with yourselves that it is no pleasure to a mi-
nister to tell you so sad a story of your misery. But if a
Balaam must say, '* If Balak would give me the house full of
gold and silver, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord,
to do less or more^;" must not Christ's ministers be as
faithful ? I say again, if this Gospel were not true, I would
be a sweeper of channels, rather than a preacher ; and I
would join in a petition to have all ministers banished the
"^ 2 Cor. V. 13. ^ Numb. xxii. 18.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 161
land : but seeing it is otherwise, I appeal to your con-
sciences, who it is that wrongeth you: whether Christ and
his ministers to tell you of your danger, or yourselves to
make light of it, and to refuse the cure ?
CHAPTER IV.
Thus much I have spoken to you, to make you willing to
hear and know the truth of your condition ; ray next desire
is, that you will lay it well to heart. You will never make
out aright for the remedy, till you feel your misery. Alas,
what abundance of people are there in the world that never
were converted, and yet live as carelessly as if all were well
with them ! Come among twenty that are as merry as the
best, and ask them one by one, whether they are converted
or not? And some will tell you, they hope so, they cannot
tell ; and some will deride you ; and most of them perhaps
know not what conversion is, nor ever much minded any
such thing ; and yet these very men do read, or hear the
word of God, that telleth them so plainly, that, " Except
they be converted, they shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven." What do you think, sirs, of such words, when
you hear them, or read them ? Are you never touched at
the heart with them, and doth conscience never make you
cry out, Alas, then, what will become of me ? Well, be-
cause I would have you sensible of your condition, lest you
should rest in it to your undoing, I will tell you a little fur-
ther, what it is in some particulars : and the Lord awake
you to lay them to heart !
1. As long as you are unconverted, you are no true
children of God, nor members of Jesus Christ. And there-
fore you have no part in that fatherly, special love, but still
stand before his eyes as enemies. For your hearts are not
towards him, but toward the things below, as you know, or
might know if you would. The world is divided into two
sorts, the children of God, and the children of the devil : the
converted, and they only, are the children of God, as you
may see, John i. 10, 11. Rom. viii. 9. All the unconvert-
ed are the children of the devil, as Christ himself calls some
of them, John viii. 44. And so 1 John iii. 10. it is said of
VOL. VII. M
16'2 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
them all ; and long ago they were called the seed of the ser-
pent, Gen. iii. 15. It is by faith in Christ Jesus that we are
made the sons of God ''; and the unconverted have not true
faith. When you go to God in prayer, if you cannot call
him your Father, what comfort can you expect? If you
look up for a blessing on your labours, and for supply of
your wants, if it be not to a father's hand that you look,
how cold will the comfort of them be ! Why, it is conver-
sion that turneth the heart to God, and if he have not your
hearts, you are not his children, and therefore none of the
unconverted are his children. You are " all by nature the
children of wrath ^ ;" and therefore not the children of God.
And by regeneration you are new-born children of God:
and it is conversion that is this regeneration. You may
call him Father as long as you will, but he will never call
you children till you are converted. You may think
you have as good right in him as another, but he will
never own you, till you are converted. You may call
him. Lord, Lord, even to the last, but he will tell you, " he
knoweth you not*^." It is not nature, but renewing grace,
that putteth upon you his image, and putteth within you^his
Spirit and holy nature, and if you have not that image, that
Spirit, that holy nature, whatsoever you may think your-
selves, he will never take you for his children**. All the
children of God are somewhat like him : " they are holy, as
he is holy*." And it is conversion that maketh men in their
places and measure like to God. It is plain therefore, that
the unconverted are none of his children ; and then how can
they expect his fatherly love, or his fatherly care of them in
the time of their necessity ? The goodness of God is the
foundation of all the creature's hopes, but if you will keep
out of the way of his goodness, and yet expect the benefit
of it, you are like to be deceived ; for an enemy or a stran-
ger cannot look for the portion of a child.
And as you are no children of God, so you are no mem-
bers of Christ without conversion ; for we are adopted only
in Christ ; and therefore children of God, because members
of Christ, who is his natural son. It is conversion that
makes us members of Christ. I suppose you will confess,
a Gal. iii. 26. Eph. iii. 17. *» Eph. ii. 3. « Matt. vii. 22.
«» Gal. iv. 6, Rom. viii, 9. 1 Pet. i. 14. « 1 Pet. i. 16.
TREATI8E OF CONVERSION.' 163
that if you were not Christians, you were miserable : and if
you be not converted, you are not true Christians. You
may have the name, but you have not the nature. You may
keep a room among those that profess themselves Chris-
tians ; but God that knoweth the heart will ask you,
" Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having on a wed-
ding garment '^?" And then you will be speechless. That
man that hath no part in Christ, how sad and miserable a
condition is he in ! It was the terrible description of the
case of Simon Magus, " Thou hast no part nor lot in this
matter ; thou art yet in the gall of bitterness, and the bond
of iniquity f^." And the proof was, " because his heart was
not right in the sight of God ^J* He was baptized, and had
a kind of belief, but yet he was not converted, and therefore
had no part in Christ. All the hopes and life of the world,
is laid up in Jesus Christ, 1 John v. 11, 12. He therefore
that hath no part in him, hath no hope, no life, no ground
of peace, or comfort. Without a Saviour, how dare you
draw near to God in prayer ? How dare you think of death
or judgment ? What a sad appearance are you there like to
make ? Oh ! woe, and ten thousand woes to that man, that
must stand at the bar of God, without a part in the blood of
Christ, and must answer there without that advocate. Nay,
he will be judge himself, and will justify none but those that
are his members. You will sure confess yourselves, that if
you have no part in Christ, you are in a most miserable
case. Why brethren, the case is as plain in Scripture as
the high way, * That if you are yet unconverted, you are no
true Christians, and have no part in Christ, as to any saving
interest. You are by nature in another stock, and it is con-
verting grace that must cut you out, and plant you into
Christ, the living vine. This is the very nature of true con-
yersion : therefore must men be humbled, and mortified, and
broken off from themselves and all creatures, that they may
be removed and planted into Jesus Christ ; and may abide
in him, and he in Ikem, and that in him they may bring
forth fruit ; for out of him you are nothing, and can do no-
thing. And whatsoever you may profess, you are but
withered branches, and must be gathered up, and cast away,
and burnt in the fire '. It is all one to be a man, and not to
f Matt. xxif. VZ. V Acti viii. 2S. ^ Act* viii. tl, > John xv. 1, 4—6.
164 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
be born ; as to be a true Christian, and not to be new-born:
for as our conception and birth is the passage into the life
and world of nature, so our conversion or new-birth is the
passage into the life of grace. We that know not your
hearts, do call you all Christians that seem to be so ; but if
we certainly knew who they be that are yet unconverted, we
should tell these men to their faces, they are no Christians.
Their souls are not yet washed with the blood of Christ, nor
are they sanctified by his Spirit, and therefore having not
his Spirit, they are none of his ^. O therefore in the name
of God look about you sirs, and you that have lived so
long unconverted, remember you have lived so long without
a part in Christ. And therefore lament that you have taken
on you to be Christians so long, when it is not so, and now
be such as you have seemed to be. The union between
Christ and true Christians, is internal, in the heart : mere
words and ceremonies unite not men to Christ.
2. Consider further, I beseech you ; there is no hope of
the salvation of any unconverted man, that so liveth and
dieth. This is true, whether you like it or not. If you are
offended at this saying, you are offended with the saying of
Christ that redeemed you : and it were better for you to be
offended with your sins, than with Christ that condemneth
them. If you say, it is a hard saying, I am sure it is a true
saying, for God cannot lie. I gave you the proofs of it
before at large : if you forget them, remember my text, and
you need no more. What hypocrites then are those
wretches, that say they will not believe it, and yet for all
that, will take on them to be Christians, and to believe the
word of God. You read here that Christ protesteth, " Ve-
rily, that except ye be converted ye shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven." And when you read it, yet you say,
you will not believe it. And yet you will say, that you are
Christians and believe Christ. What contradictions are
these ! What ! wilt thou worship a God, whom thou takest
to be a liar? This cannot be : no man can heartily trust
him, especially in so great a matter as his salvation, whom
he takes for a liar. Thou wouldst not give God the lie ?
If he be not perfectly good, he is not God : and wilt thou
then feign a God that is like to liars, or wicked men ? No
^ Rom. viii. 9.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 165
marvel then if you be liars yourselves, if you think God be
one ; for no man is bound to be better than God. And
therefore I will never marvel to see any man do that evil
which he conceits that God himself will do.
But what will sinners get by this unbelief? It is but the
way of their own self-delusion, and undoing. He that will
not believe God, I cannot expect he *should believe me, or
any man : nor can he rationally expect to be believed him-
self. Yet I will ask him the question.
You that see what Christ saith, and yet say you will not
believe it, but that unconverted men may be saved ; what
say you? Do you know any man in the world that you will
believe, if he speak to you with such protestation as Christ
here doth? If you do not, it seems you measure other men
by yourselves. If you do, I would fain know of you> whe-
ther you think that any man is better than God ? I had
rather believe that God is true, and every man a liar, than
that men are true, and God is a liar, Rom. iii. 4. And I would
further ask you ; would you have any man believe you, or
take your words ? If you say no, he is not wise that will
have any thing to do with you, if he can choose : and then
you openly proclaim what you are, even such liars that you
would not wish men to believe you : but if you say aye, then
I would further ask you, whether you dare take on you ta
be better than God ? Why, thou sinful lump of clay, thou
frail, imperfect, mutable wretch, wouldst thou be believed
thyself, and wilt thou not believe God? Darest thou say
that thou art truer and better than God, and that thy word
is to be taken before his word ? If thou dare, do not blame
him if he shortly stop that presumptuous mouth of thine,
with his confounding indignation ; and if he make that blas-
pheming tongue to be speechless, when he shall say, " Take
him, bind him hand and foot, and cast him into utter dark-
ness '." And then thou wilt have weeping and gnashing
of teeth.
Well then, if God be not to be believed, no one is ; and
if God be to be believed, then no unconverted man shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven. And is it not time for
you then to consider of your condition, and look about,
whether you be converted or not? I pray you be not so
i MaU. xxii. It, IS.
166 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
silly, as to take these words as mine, and so to think that it
is I that make the matter so terrible. If I had not found
them in the Bible, I had never preached them to you ; and
we have nothing to preach, but what we here find, and to
open this to you, that you may understand it. It will be
nevertheless true, if neither I, nor any preacher in England
should tell you of it ; or if none of us did believe it. For
our unbelief maketh not the word of God of none effect.
I do therefore entreat you all, as you are men of reason, see
that you be truly converted, because no unconverted man
shall be saved ; it is God that saith it, it is the devil that
denieth it, and will you believe the devil before God ? This
was it that brought destruction first upon the world, when
God told our first parents, that if they sinned they should
die ; and the devil told them, they should not die, and they
believed the devil rather than God. And have you this
warning, and will you do so too ? Is that a Christian, yea,
is that a man, or worthy the name of a man, that will consi-
derately believe the devil before God ? And believe his own
flesh and carnal reason before God ? Whether is God or
the devil think you, the better, and the more to be believed,
and the better friend to your souls, and more to be trusted
and regarded ? O horrible wickedness ! that ever men
should put us on such a question, or make any comparison !
And what are you, that you should presume to set your rea-
son against Christ ? God saith, ' Verily the unconverted
shall not be saved,' and you say, for all this you hope they
shall : and what are you, that you should be believed be-
fore God ? What, do you know more than he ? Why,
where had you that knowledge ? Is there any knowledge
in the world, that comes not from God ? And doth he give
you more than he hath himself? Is a dungeon lighter than
the sun t Or is there any light here below, but what comes
from the sun mediately or immediately ? Why, a dungeon
may better compare with the sun, and say, ' I have more
light than thou ;' than thou canst compare with God, and
say, * I have more knowledge than thou :' Oh ! that ever
dust and ashes should be so blind, as not to know this !
And that ever they should prefer their blindness, to the in-
finite knowledge of him that made them I If you do not,
how dare you say, you hope that will prove false which God
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 167
hath spoken? But do you think that this unbelief will
make your danger ever the less? No, it is this that in-
creaseth your danger. What if a man in the midst of evil,
will wink, or put his eyes out, is he therefore safe, because
he seeth not his danger ? Again, therefore, I beseech you,
if you be men of reason, if you be not resolved to be your
own enemies, and to do the worst you can against yourselves,
if you do not long for damnation ; O, then believe God, and
take time while you have it, and make out for conversion
without delay. And instead of hoping to be saved against
the word of God, and as it were in despite of him, and whe-
ther he will or no ; see that you presently yield to the word,
by which he would convert you, if you do not resistit. Be-
lieve your present misery, and look out presently to Christ
for the remedy, and thank God that you may, and that the
day of his patience is not past. And if the devil and sin do
still so harden your hearts, that you will not believe, nor
take this counsel, remember that thou wast told, that the
unconverted shall not enter into heaven. Remember that
this was preached to thee from the word of God, and thou
wouldst not believe it. Yea, thou shalt remember it whe-
ther thou wilt or no.
3. I beseech you consider further ; that while a man is
unconverted, he hath no sin pardoned ; all the sin that ever
he committed, is yet upon his own score, and he shall an-
swer for it before God, and suffer for it for ever, if he thus
continue. I do not speak this either of my own head : I
will now give you but three texts of Scripture to prove it,
which is as good as three hundred. Mark iv. 12. When
Christ speaks of those that were judicially hardened, be-
cause they had wilfully resisted grace, he addeth, " Lest at
any time they should be converted, and their sin should be
forgiven them." By which you see, that till men are con-
verted, their sin is not forgiven them. And Acts xxvi. 18.
" I send thee to open their eyes, and turn them from dark-
ness to light, and from the power of satau unto God, that
they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance,"
&c. You see then, that men receive not forgiveness of sins,
till they are turned from the power of sin to God. Rom. viii.
30. This is the order of God's saving grace. " Whom he
calleth, (that is, couverteth) them he justifieth; and whom
168 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
he justifieth, them he glorifieth." So that no man is justi-
fied, before he be called.
Consider then, what a fearful case it is to have a load of
unpardoned sin upon your souls. One unpardoned sin
would as sure condemn a man for ever, as one stab at the
heart would kill a man. What then will so many thousands
do ? Poor sinner, if Christianity, and humanity did not
bind me to compassionate thy soul, I would not tell thee
these things to trouble thee. But I cannot forbear, unless
I would be cruel to thee. It seemeth an easy matter to a
felon to think of his crime, while he is not apprehended,
because he lives in hope to escape, and therefore he can
laugh when he talks of the gallows ; but when he comes to
it, the case is altered : offenders may escape the justice of
men, but no man can so escape the hand of God. It may
now seem a small and easy matter to you, to think and talk
of unpardoned sin ; but the day is coming when you would
give all the world if you had it, for a pardon, as light as you
do now make of it : all are sinners, but all are not unpar-
doned sinners : it is not all sinners that shall perish ; for
then we should all perish ; but all unpardoned sinners shall
perish ; and all unconverted sinners are iinpardoned. When
sin is pardoned, the terror of it is gone ; then a man hath a
sure refuge against the accusation : he can say at judgment,
if he be accused of his sin, that he hath a pardon of all
through the blood of Christ, and then there is no more to be
done against him : but so cannot the unpardoned. O, heavy
case for a poor trembling sinner to hear, ' At such a time
thou didst abuse God's creatures, and his name, and his
word, and his ordinances ; at such a time thou didst neglect
duty, and misspend thy time, even the Lord's day,* and to
have nothing to say against the accusation. What a sight
will it be for him, to have all his sins set in order before
him ' ! All the sins of his youth, and his riper age ; of
ignorance, and of knowledge, and have no remedy against
the justice and the wrath of God! Once there was a re-
medy offered them, but being finally neglected, there re-
maineth no more sacrifice for sin, " but a certain looking for
of judgment, and fiery indignation that shall devour the ad-
versary >"." Tell me, I beseech you, sirs, what do you think
' Psal. 1. 21. « Heb. x, 26.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 169
to do by the sins that you are guilty of? Do you believe
that you shall come to judgment for them, or not? If not ;
what do you here among Christians ? If you do, will you
tell me what you mean to say, or how do you think to come
off, and to escape ? Either you must have a pardon, or
not : if you have not pardon, what do you think will become
of you ? There is no question of it, but an unpardoned
sinner must be damned, as sure as the devils themselves are
damned : for Christ telleth you this will be the sentence,
" Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels "/' O, woe to that man that ever he was
born, that shall stand at God's bar with unpardoned sin. It
will be heavier upon thy soul, than a mountain upon thy
body, and press thee down to everlasting misery. Unpar-
doned sin is the very fuel of hell. If angels and men should
all join together to save an unpardoned sinner at judgment,
they could not do it. What hope have you then to escape,
or to see the face of God with comfort? I beseech you,
bethink you what you mean to say, or how you think to
come off? Should a wise man be going to such a judgment,
and never once think what to say for himself, or how to es-
cape when he comes thither? Will you then plead, that
* you hope you are pardoned by the blood of Christ V Why,
alas ! that will be utterly vain ; for there is no hope that God
will be false to his word ; and God hath assured you, that
the blood of Christ and the mercy of God shall never par-
don any sinner, but he that repenteth and is converted of
his sin. Will you say, * Though I am not pardoned now,
yet I hope I may beg pardon then.' And do you think to
cry aloud, and persuade the Judge ? Oh ! if that would do,
what a cry would there then be ! How many thousand and
thousand souls would cry, * Mercy, mercy. Lord, on a poor
miserable wretch ! O pity a lost sinner ! O do not con-
demn thy creature ; do not deliver me up to the tormentor ;
do not send me away from thy presence into those flames !
O, as ever thou hadst pity on a sinner, have pity on me.'
If crying, and praying would then serve the turn, how would
they ring in the ears of Christ ! Oh ! but it is then too
late ! too late, sinners ! you should have done this sooner.
The day of grace is now past, and there is no remedy. Now
" Matt. xxr. 41.
170 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
prayer might do good (with forsaking sin through the blood
of Christ) and men will not use it, but then it will do no
good at all.
Do not say that I make this terrible doctrine of myself;
the Scripture is full of it. Christ hath told you over and
over of it : that if you are then found without the oil of sav-
ing grace in your lamps, you shall in vain cry * Lord, Lord,
open to us ;' and long enough may you knock, before you
can have any hearing ; but Christ will say, " Verily, I know
you nof*." It is not they that will cry " Lord, Lord, that
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but they that do the
will of our Father which is in heaven." For many in that
day will plead acquaintance with Christ, to whom he will
profess, " I never knew you, depart from me all ye that
work iniquity." They are his own words in Matt. vii.
21 — 23. I tell you again, if all the angels in heaven should
fall down before the Lord Jesus Christ, and beg for you,
(which they will never do) and beseech him to pardon your
sins, he will not do it. For it is in this life that pardon
must be gotten, or never. We have no hope to be wholly
free from sin, but we may procure the pardon of it through
Christ, and if it be not done now, it will never be done.
Now must the pardon be procured, and sued out, and then
it must be brought forth that you may not be condemned.
Now, as ever you would stand with boldness in judg-
ment ; sinners, repent and be converted, that you all may
have the pardon of all your sins. As ever you would stand
then at Christ's right hand, and not be sent into everlasting
torment, look about you now for the pardon of your sins ;
for there was never man that got a pardon after he was
dead, who died unpardoned. I give you but the same coun-
sel which Peter gave the Jews. " Repent ye, therefore, and
be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the
Lord P." I pray you mark these words ; you see there no
man's sins will then be blotted out, but those that now re-
pent and are converted.
4. The next thing that I would entreat you to consider,
is this ; that as long as you are unconverted, you are the
servants and slaves of satan, and under his power, and led
« Matt. XXV. 11, 12. P Acts Hi. 19.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 171
about as his captives at his will. It may be you do not
think so much, nor believe this, but perhaps would take it
ill to be told so. But God hath told us that so it is. There
are but two sorts of men in the world, the slaves of sin, and
the servants of Christ. All the world is in two armies : sa-
tan is the general of one, and Christ of the other, and these
two are in continual conflict with one another. In his first
assault with Adam our first father, satan overcame him by
drawing him to sin, and thereby got him and his posterity
into his power. The Lord Jesus comes of purpose to res-
cue us out of his hands, and this he doth by converting
grace, and justification thereupon. So that, till a man be -
converted, he remaineth in the bondage and slavery of the
devil ; and when he is converted, he is entered among the
freemen and sons of God.
What think you of this ? Is it not a miserable state to
be the devil's bond-slaves ? Why, if you will believe God,
it is the case of all that are unconverted : nay, you may
feel it in yourselves. Do you not feel that your wills are
to do evil ? That he leadeth you to worldliness, to drunk-
enness, or wickedness at his will? If he bid you rail or
swear, you do it. If he bid you neglect everlasting life, you
do it, and you have no heart to God and the life to come.
Why, these are the marks of satan's bondage. Hear whe-
ther the Sripture speaks it not plainly : " Know ye not that
to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants
ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of
obedience unto righteousness *<.*' " He that committeth sin
is of the devil. In this the children of God are manifest,
and the children of the devil : whosoever doth not righteous-
ness, is not of God '." The meaning of both is, that he
that hath the main bent of his heart and life for sin, that
is, for the flesh and the world, is of the devil : and he that
hath the main bent of his heart and life for God, that is, for
righteousness, is a converted child of God. So, 2 Pet. ii.
19. " For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he
brought in bondage." And in 2 Tim. ii. 26. they are said
to be in the " snare of the devil, taken captive of him at his
will." And in AcU xxvi. 18. it is expressly said, that con-
version " tumeth men from the power of satan uuto God." So
n Rom. rl 16. ' 1 John iii. 8. 10.
172 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
that you see the case is plain in Scripture: that, till men
are converted, they are in the power of satan.
It may be you perceive not the misery of your condition ;
and no marvel, for satan's servants are all volunteers, and he
useth to keep his possession in peace, till a stronger than
he shall come upon him, and cast him out ; Luke xi. 21.
O that the eyes of poor sinners were but opened to see
who it is that leadeth them about! Poor soul ! didst thou
but see that the devil is thy ruler, that he standeth by thee,
and puts thee on in all thy wickedness, it would sure make
thee desire to change thy master. You are afraid of seeing
him appear to you in any shape, and if you should but see
him, it would make your joints to tremble. O! why are
you not afraid to be ruled by him, and to follow him to your
destruction ? Why are you not more afraid, lest you should
dwell with him for ever ? A man that is in the favour of
God, were not much the worse if he should see all the de-
vils in hell, no more than a soldier to see the enemies,
when they are conquered ; but a man that is unconverted,
whether he see them or not, should tremble to think that he
is yet in their snares. O that you did but know, and well
consider, that it is the devil himself within you that cavil-
leth against the word of God, and contradicteth the truth,
and draweth you to doubt, and enticeth you to sin. If you
did hear the devil say to you with a voice, ' Come, follow me
to the alehouse,' it would sure frighten you from going.
Or if you heard him speak out, and say against the Gospel,
' It is not true, do not you believe it,' how would this affect
you? Why, it is he that speaks this in you, whenever you
have these thoughts in your hearts. Your own corrupt
hearts are the mother, but he is the father of them all.
When you feel such thoughts as these within you, that sin
is a small matter, and that God doth not hate it so much as
preachers talk of, and that God will not condemn all the
unconverted, that so live and die, and that men may be
saved without a holy life, and that this is but preciseness,
and more ado than needs, all this is as truly the very in-
ward persuasions and motions of the devil, as if you heard
him speak it openly in a voice. It is he that bids you * go
on in sin and fear not, and yet at least take a little more of
your fleshly pleasure, and if you must turn, let it not be
I
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. IW
yet.' It is he that bids you hate them that endeavour your
conversion, and make a scorn of those that fear God. It is
he that bids you lose your time, especially on the Lord's
day, and talk of filthiness or vanity, and rail, or lie, or back-
bite, or hate your brother ; as truly as if you saw and heard
him, this is he. The Scripture telleth us so, that this is his
vv^ork, which Christ did come into the world to destroy*.
We can certainly know the workman by his work. So bad
a work hath no better an author. I beseech you, therefore,
in the name of God, bethink you where you are, and what a
case you are in. Have you known all this while, that you
were in the power and captivity of the devil? What, and
yet be so merry or careless as you have been ? What, sleep
quietly, and live quietly, and yet be in such a case ? Why,
if a man be taken prisoner by the Turks, and laid in a dun-
geon, or put into their gallies, how sadly doth he take it ?
How many a sigh and groan comes from him, to think where
he is, and what a case he is in, in comparison of other men !
And many a time he cries, ' O that I were free !* And yet
all the servants of satan are willing of their bondage. This
is it that makes you deserve the less pity, because it is your
own doing, and you will not be delivered. A Turkish slave
would be delivered if he could, and would give a. thousand
thanks to him that would deliver him : but you might be
delivered and will not. Christ hath provided a remedy in
his blood, he ofFereth it to you, and entreateth you to ac-
cept it, and yet you will not. He hath commanded us to
entreat you, and you will not be entreated. " God would
have all men saved, and come to the knowledge of his truth,"
and many will not be saved. Christ " would gather them
as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wing, and they
will not *.'* When God offers you help, and ministers offer
you help, and godly friends offer you help, and fain they
would have you delivered, and you will not; what pity do
you deserve, if you perish everlastingly ? It is a strange
thing to see how people hate the devil, and yet love his
service ! How they speak ill of him and yet obey him !
How they even spit at bis name, as men that abhor him,
and yet will not be persuaded by any means that we can
use, to come out of this captivity, when the doors are set
• 1 John Ui. 8. '1 Tim. ii. 4. Matt. xxUi. 37.
174 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
open by Christ that bought them. Not that I suspect that
any of you do really love him ; for I know that God hath
put an enmity in the beginning, even between the nature of
satan and of man ". I know you hate him, even while you
wilfully serve him. But the matter lieth here ; though you
hate him, you love the sin, because it is pleasant to flesh
and blood, and you do not know, or will not consider that it
is he indeed that leadeth you to it ; or else you durst not
continue in that case. Well sirs, lay this to heart, and be-
lieve that all men are slaves to satan till they be converted ;
and if you are not willing to live and die his slaves, and to
be used for ever as his slaves, delay not your conversion.
5. Moreover, the misery of the unconverted doth further
appear in this ; that while men are unconverted, nothing
that they do can truly please God. There are many works
which, for the matter of them, are commanded, which such
men may do, but yet there are so many defects, and so
much of the venom of their corruption mixt in them, that
God hath no delight in them, but doth abhor them. I
would not be misunderstood in this, as if I said or thought,
that therefore, all that the unconverted can do, is to no pur-
pose, in order to their salvation : and that, therefore, it is
as good for them to let all alone, and sit still and be care-
less till God shall convert them ; or as if it were better, or
as good for them not to pray, as to pray, and not to hear or
read, or ask advice, as to do it, because that all is displeas-
ing to God. But I mean, and say, that there is more in
their best duties to displease God, than to please him, and
that they are such as he hath made them no promise of ac-
cepting, so far as to give them any special grace, or reward
thereupon. Or if this please not any, yet this much is out
of controversy, that the duties of no unconverted man are
pleasing to God, so as to prove their persons pleasing to
him, as his own servants are ; and that God takes no de-
light in their duties, as he doth in those that are performed
by the righteous. And thus at least you may take it as be-
yond all question, that God is comparatively displeased
with, and abhors even the best works that are performed
by the unconverted. The works of wicked men are of four
sorts. (1.) Some are such as have no tendency to their con-
" Gen. iii. 15.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 175
version and recovery, nor to the good of any others, but are
either plainly wicked for the substance, or but indifferent for
the matter, and wicked in the ends and manner. These God
abhors in the highest degree. (2.) And there are some that
are common civil actions, in themselves neither good or
evil. But yet, because the common ends of such are wrong,
and the manner sinful, these therefore are said to be abomi-
nation to the Lord. (3.) And then there are their best works
which are done by them with evil intents, to settle them in
their present state, without any thoughts of turning from it,
as their alms-deeds which are done to merit, or to quiet their
consciences in a sinful state, or the like. These. also God
abhon-eth, for all the good that is in them. For these they
do as wicked men, wickedly, for all the goodness that is in
the action. (4.) But then, there are some actions of the un-
converted, that are in order to their conversion, and these
God accepteth not, so as to accept their persons, as of one
reconciled to him in Christ, nor as he accepteth the works
of his people, nor so as to be engaged by promise for their
reward. But yet he so far accepteth them, that they are or-
dinarily the way in which he will be found ; and in which
he will give them greater things. They are means of his
appointing for the conversion of their souls, which he hath
not appointed them to use in vain. So that by this time
you may see my meaning here in this particular. The three
first sorts of the works of wicked men, God doth plainly ab-
hor, even their works that are both such for matter and end ;
and their civil and natural works, that are wicked for the
end ; and their religious works, that are wicked for the end.
But the fourth sort, which are works that are done in order
to their conversion, though they please not God as the
works of the regenerate do, yet he abhorreth them not as he
doth the rest : for as they come from a common faith,
though not from a special faith, so they may please God in
a common manner, though not in a special. And as they
have an end that is good in its place ; that is, the saving of
their souls by turning from their sins, though they have not
the true ultimate end of the saints ; that it, the glory and
pleasing of God everlastingly, and the enjoyment of him
therein, so are they proportionably acceptable to God. So
that it is the first three sorts of action that I mean in this
176 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
application. And in regard of them, I say it is a matter of
great terror to the unconverted, that God abhorreth all that
they do.
I will first prove it to you, and then shew you the terror
of it. As for their wicked works, there is no question, they
are abominable to God, and he hateth them. See Jer. Ixiv.
4. Psal. liii. 1. 14. Ezek. xvi. 52. Tit. i. 16. Prov. viii.
16. xi. 1. 20. xii. 22. And the " very thoughts of the wick-
ed are abominable to him," as Prov. xv. 26. But the ques-
tion is of their better works. And we find in Scripture,
that their very trades, and works of their callings, are sin.
The " ploughing of the wicked is sin ^ ;" or if perhaps the
sense of that text may be that their preparations and con-
trivances are sinful, which are metaphorically called plough-
ing, yet of their best works the Scripture is plain. The
*' sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but
the prayer of the upright is his delight y." Note, that he
saith not, the humiliation or the repentance, or thoughts of
conversion that may be in a wicked man, but his sacrifice,
which is somewhat that he thinketh God should accept, as
a matter of worth. And therefore it was that Cain^s sacri-
fice was abhorred, when Abel's was accepted. And that
you may see that it is not only because of the wicked de-
signs that they may have in it, the Spirit of God speaketh
of both. " The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination,
how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind^."
Yea, the very prayer of wicked men is abominable. Yet do
not say that God is a respecter of persons, and will take
that well from one, which he hateth from another without
any just cause. For there is^ just cause. If you will not do
the main things that God requireth, he careth not for the
rest. " He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law,
even his prayer shall be an abomination '^." The law of God
commandeth you to take another course, and condemneth
your wicked life, and if you will turn away your ear from
this law, that would turn away your heart from sin, God will
not accept your prayer. " If I regard iniquity in my heart
God will not hear my prayer ^." " He that calleth on the
name of the Lord, must depart from iniquity ^" Yea, the
* Prov. xxi. 4. y Prov. xv. 18. ^ Prov. xxi. 27,
» Prov. xxviii. 9. •• Psal. Ixvi. 18. « jTim. ii. 19.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 177
fasting and self-afflicting of the wicked, is disregarded''.
Little doth a poor blind sinner think when he is boasting of
his praying and religious duties, that God abhorreth them ;
but if they be unconverted, they will find it so. " Ye are
they that justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth
your hearts **." For that which is highly esteemed among
men, is abomination in the si^ht of God. And one reason
is, because that the person himself is such as God doth hate ;
and therefore no wonder if he hate his works. For a fig-
tree beareth not thorns and thistles, nor the bramble grapes,
but as the tree is, so is the fruit. ** Thou hatest all the
workers of iniquity. The wicked is made for the day of
evil, and every one that is proud in heart, is an abomination
to the Lord '." Though men bless, yet the Lord abhorreth
them^ When he seeth their wickedness, he abhors, even
those that profess themselves his people^. Yea, and his own
sanctuary, and the very place of his worship ^, Especially
when they often deal falsely with him ^ And no wonder
when wicked men do loathe the Lord and his service, if he
do also loathe them. " My soul loatheth them, and their
soul also abhorreth me''." Sinners, the case in a word is
this : God is a Spirit, and will be worshipped in spirit and
in truth, and such worshippers only doth he choose ; and
wicked men can give him but the shell, and the shadow of
his service. God made all things for himself, and will ac-
cept of nothing but what is intended for himself. But
wicked men are turned from God, and do all for their carnal
selves, even when they pretend to do it for God. It is your
hearts that God hath lost, and your hearts that he regardeth,
and your hearts he will have again, or he will have nothing;
but you may even keep all to yourselves if you will, except
you will give him this. What need hath God of your
prayers, or other services, or what good can you do him by
all ? It is yourselves that he desireth, and then he will ac-
cept your service, though he need it not, and will make it
good to you, though it can do no good to him. Therefore
this is his first demand : " My son, give me thine heart ' ;'*
and if you deny him this, you deny him all. He careth not
c Isa. If ill. f , S. * Luke xvl. 15. • PmJ. ▼. 5. Prov. It, 5,
' Pnl. z. S. « Deut. IH. 19. ^ Lament, ii. 7.
t PmL IxzviU. At. ^ Zech. li. 8. ' Prov. nMl t6.
YOL. rii. N
178 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
for your lips, nor your religious duties, without it. If you
will not first give him yourselves, he will not accept of any
thing that you offer him. And, indeed, when it is not in a
returning way, but in an offering way that wicked men will
serve him, he plainly telleth them it is in vain, and telleth
them he hateth it, and bids them keep it with them ; for he
will have none of it till they leave their sins, and give up
themselves to him. " To what purpose is the multitude of
your sacrifices to me ? saith the Lord : I am full of your
burnt-offerings. When you come to appear before me, who
required this at your hands, to tread in my courts ? Bring
no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination to
me ; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies,
I cannot away with, it is iniquity, even the solemn meet-
ings : your new moons, and your appointed feasts, my soul
hateth, they are a trouble to me ; I am weary to bear them.
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes
from you ; yea, when you make many prayers, I will not
hear ; your hands are full of blood. Wash ye, make you clean,
put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ;
cease to do evil ; learn to do well. Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the Lord "\" If a prince have sub-
jects, that are in rebellion, he will not take any gift at their
hands, till they come in themselves : no more will God at
your hands. There is no true minister of the Gospel, but
feeleth some exposition of this in his own heart. If the peo-
ple would send us any tokens of their love and expressions
of kindness, if it were not for exasperating them, who would
not return it them with contempt, as long as they refuse to
be reformed, and will not yield to the word of the Gospel ?
To let go their goods, if it were all they have, for us, is a
matter that we regard not, if they will not let go their sins ;
because we seek not theirs, but them : and much more is it
so with Jesus Christ. If you should be as punctual in his
worship as any, and give him never so much of your knees
or tongues, yea, or your goods, and all you have, he will not
take it as a thing that pleaseth him, unless withal you give
him yourselves. " If I suffer my body to be burnt," saith
Paul, " and have not love, it availeth nothing ".'' Many a
poor unconverted wretch considereth not this, that comes
™ Isa. I 11—14. n 1 Cor. xiii. 3.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 17&
constantly to church, and receiveth the sacrament, and useth
some kind of praying every day, and thinks, that if God
should not accept of such as them, there should almost no-
body be saved ; and therefore he makes no question of his
acceptance. O but one thing is necessary, and that is yet
wanting. If God had your hearts first, then he would take
the rest in good part : but when the world hath your hearts,
and though you sit and hear with some delight, as if you
were his people, yet your '* heart goeth after your covetous-
ness P." When your fleshly pleasure and profit have your
hearts, God will not regard your service, were it much more.
Now it is the work of conversion to bring the heart to
God, that was never brought to him, and set upon him be-
fore : therefore till this work be done, all is but abominable.
" For without faith it is impossible to please God '^." You
think to live to the flesh, and then to please God by your
good praying and meanings, or by being of the right reli-
gion, or by some good works ; but remember what God him-
self hath told you, who best knoweth what it is that pleas-
eth him ; " They that are in the flesh cannot please God ' ;"
and all that are unconverted, are said to be in the flesh, be-
cause they " mind the things of the flesh," and live accord-
ing to their carnal inclinations, and for carnal ends. O what
a sad consideration would this be to your hearts, if you did
but understand and feel your own condition! You talk
against this man and that man for being of a wrong religion,
and you think you are better than this party or that, where-
as you are miserable, whatsoever your religion be, because
yon are heartily of no religion. You think God will be
pleased with your serrice, and it doth but add to the load of
your sin. You read the word, and think you do God service
by it, when you do but read your own condemnation, be-
cause you have your hearts against the doctrine that you
read. You think you serve God by coming to church, but
if you refuse to let the word convert you, how should God
be pleased with such a service as this ? It is as if you should
tell your servant what you have for him to do, and because
he hath given you the hearing, he thinks he should have his
wages, though he do nothing of that which you set him to
do. Were not this an unreasonable servant ? Or would you
P E«ek. iisW. SI. n H«b. il. 7. ' Rom. fiU. 8.
180 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
give hiin according to his expectation ? It is a strange
thing that men should think that God will save them for
dissembling with him ; and save them for abusing his name
and ordinances. Every time you hear, or pray, or praise
God, or receive the sacrament, while you deny God your
heart, and remain unconverted, you do but desy)ise him, and
shew more of your rebellion than your obedience. Would
you take him for a good tenant, that at every rent-day would
duly wait on you, and put off his hat to you, but bring you
never a penny of rent? Or would you take him for a good
debtor, that brings you nothing but an empty purse, and ex-
pects you should take that for payment? God biddeth you
come to church, and hear the word ; and so you do, and so
far you do well : but withal, he chargeth you to suffer the
word to work upon your hearts, and to take it home and
consider of it, and obey it, and cast away your former cour-
ses, and give up your hearts and lives to him ; and this
you will not do. And yet you think that he will accept
of your service. Dare you plead such services with God
for a reward, and say, * Lord, though we shut thee out of our
hearts, yet we gave thee the hearing.'
Sirs, I beseech you lay this well to heart, What will you
do in a day of affliction ? What will you do at an hour of
death ? Will you not fall a praying ? Will you not call to
God for mercy, when you see that nothing but his mercy can
relieve you ? Why, if you be unconverted, God will not
hear your prayers ; he abhorreth them, because he hath not
your hearts. O sad case for a man in misery to look about
him, and see no hope in heaven or earth but God alone, and
when he begins to cry for help to him, he will loathe their
prayers, and turn away his ears, and will not hear ! Hear
his own word, Prov. i. 26 — 29. ** Because I have called, and
ye refused, I have stretched forth my hands, and no man re-
garded," &c. to the end of that chapter. For my part, I
foresee the day is coming, when I would not take all the
world to be without a God to pray to. O then, to have a
man's prayers themselves thought but iniquity, and charged
on him as his sin, when he must have present help or perish,
what sadder case can there be ? For a man that is going into
another world, and calls to God to receive his soul, to have
prayers and soul cast out together, how sad a case is it?
I
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 181
Sirs, do not mistake me, as if I took you off from prayers or
other holy duties by this; but I tell you, that if you go on
in any kind of duty, and remain unconverted, you cannot
look that God should take any kind of pleasure in them or
in you. If you say then, ' It is as good never a whit, as ne-
ver the better :' I answer, do your great duty first, and then
all the rest will be accepted ; yield to the word and Spirit,
resist not the grace of God any longer; give him your
hearts, and give them no longer to this deceitful world ; and
then come and welcome. And for the duties that tend to
conversion, as, hearing the word, and begging true grace of
God, which may convert you, and considering of those truths
that must be the instruments to do it ; these are the very
beginnings of the work, and therefore it is not these that we
discourage you from : it is time for you to use these, that the
rest may be accepted.
6. Another sad consideration, concerning the state of an
unconverted man, is this, as long as they remain in that con-
dition. They live in continual danger of damnation. They
are under the wrath of God ; and though patience have long
forborne them, to ti*y whether they will repent, yet are they
not sure whether it will stay for them one day longer : they
are under the curse of the law, and when it will be executed
they cannot tell. I have told you already from the word of
God, that an unconverted man cannot be saved, and I need
not tell you sure, that he is uncertain how long he shall con-
tinue in this world And methiiiks a man that is sure to go
to hell if he dieth, and knoweth not whether it may not be
this day, should have little comfort in his life till he were
changed. Now the Lord have mercy on poor, hard-hearted
sinners, what do they mean then that they look no more
about them? Why will not the word of the living God awa-
ken them, which telleth them how near they are to perdi-
tion ? I do here make known to you from the word of truth,
that if there be any unconverted souls in this assembly, they
are not certain to be out of hell an hour. God knows, sirs,
I would not tell you of this if it were needless. But alas !
what do you mean to continue in such a case as this ? At
sure as the word of God is true, every soul that goeth uncon-
verted out of the body, is shut out of all hope of mercy for
ever, and enteretb into a remediless misery. Remember then.
182 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
man, in the name of God, every morning thou arisest, and eveiy
night thou liest down, that thou art uncertain to be out of
hell till the next day. Alas ! it is enough to amaze a poor
Christian, that is indeed converted, when he doth but find
himself in doubt of it ; how much more should it awaken them
that are yet in the flesh ? Many a one that truly feared
God, having wanted assurance at the time of death, O how
terrible hath it made death to them ! To look before them and
think they must be gone, and they know not whither ; to think
that it is but one day or two more, and my soul will be among
angels or devils, and I know not which of the two it will be !
O what a dreadful thought is this, even to many that are con-
verted, for want of assurance at the time of death ! But
alas ! this is but a small matter in comparison of the case of
the unconverted : for as soon as the soul is out of the flesh,
all the fears of the godly are at end, and they shall never
more have a doubting thought ; but for the rest, if you should
die with never so great confidence, death would dispel it all ;
and as soon as you were out of the body, your eyes would
be opened to see that which would never let you have a
thought of hope or comfort more. I speak none of this of
myself. " When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall
perish ; and the hope of the unjust man perisheth \" " For
what is the hope of the wicked, though he have gained,
when God taketh away his soul? Will God hear his cry,
when trouble cometh upon him*?" " So are the paths of all
that forget God, and the hypocrite's hope shall perish ;
whose hope shall be cut ofl', and whose trust shall be a spi-
der's web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not
stand ; he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure "." ** The
eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and
their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost ''." Take
this home with you then, and let it cause you to have no
rest till you are truly converted, that till then you are never
certain to be one day or hour more in safety.
7. From all this you may see another sad consideration,
which is. That as long as a man is unconverted, he hath no
ground for one hour's true peace or comfort, but hath reason'
to live in continual terror, and to be the grief of all that know
his misery. For should a man be merry that is in such a
« Prov. xi. 7. t Job xxvii. 8. " Job viii. 13. 18. '^ Job xi.20.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 183
case as this? O no, if his eyes were opened, it would cer-
tainly affright him, either out of his sins, or out of his wits.
Many worldly vanities and sensual delights such men may
have, to delight their thoughts ; but this is their weakness,
and not their happiness. Some malefactors when they are
to be hanged, will make themselves drunk beforehand, that
death may not be terrible to them ; but this is but a medi-
cine against repentance, and not against hell. So do thou-
sands of poor sinners make themselves drunk with merry
company, and false conceits, and worldly businesses, and
fleshly pleasures ; but though this do ease their hearts
awhile, and keep away the feeling of their misery, it will not
do so long, but only till the hope of cure be past. Brethren,
the desire of my soul is to advance the consolation of the
saints, and to take from you no peace or hope, but what
death will take from you, if it be not done before ; and if I
had any hopes that your men*y days would last after death,
and would not end in everlasting sorrow, I would not be one
that should interrupt your mirth. Truly you should hold
on in your careless, drowsy course for me, if I did not see
the after-reckoning ; but seeing the case is such as I have
proved, with all that are unconverted, I must say to all in
that condition, that mirth is very unsuitable to your state,
and laughter doth ill become you. And if ever a man might
say of it, as Solomon, * Thou art mad,' it is when it appear-
eth in the face of such a man that stands all the while on
the very brink of hell. What ! be merry in the power of
satan, under the wrath of God, before you are pardoned,
and before you know whether ever you shall be saved, or
escape the everlasting pains of hell ? O doleful mirth !
What wise man would be partner with you in such plea-
sure ? Now sirs, I beseech you that are in this case, for
your poor souls* sake, when you are next among your merry
companions, let this thought come into your mind, * O, but
1 am not yet converted.' When you are next in your world-
ly cares and businesses, or careless of your souls, bethink
you then, * it 1 am not yet converted.* And every
day and in icrever you are, whatever you do, O think
still, * I am yet unconverted ;* that so you may look about
you, and come to yourselves, and get into that condition,
wherein yon may have cause indeed to be merry. Methinks
184 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
every time you hear the bell toll, it should frighten you ;
every time you go among the sick, or see any brought to the
grave, it should frighten you : yea, every thing that you
look on, should be matter of terror to you till you are out
of this condition. Sure there is no believing friend that
you have that knows your case, but must needs pity you.
They are bound to lament you. Only this comfort doth yet
remain, that a sufl&cient remedy is provided in the blood of
Christ, which will recover you, if you do not proceed to
make light of it. This is all your comfort, that your case is
not remediless, as long as you are under the calls of grace.
Take heed, in the name of God take heed, of going on any
longer in that condition, lest you make it remediless ; there
is yet a possibility of your salvation, but not without your
conversion ; you have to do with a merciful God, and that
you find by experience, or else you had not been here now.
But O go not out of the reach of mercy : never did God's
mercy save one unconverted soul, any other way than by
converting them. And the greater are your possibilities
now, and the more freely the blood of Christ is offered you,
the greater will be your sorrow if you lose all this, and by
neglecting it, do make your case remediless.
8. Consider further. The warnings that the unconverted
have of their danger, are so many, and so great, that if they
be neglected, they will multiply their misery. To be an
unconverted man among the Turks or heathens, is no won-
der, any more than to be in the dark at midnight. To be
unconverted among Papists, is not so much wonder, any
more than to miss your way by moonshine : but to be un-
converted in the midst of Gospel-light, this is a sin that
hath no excuse, and a misery that liveth in despite of the
remedy. All the preachers that have told you of your mi-
sery, and persuaded you to return, shall be witnesses against
you : yea, all the examples of the wicked that have gone before
you, that were set forth for your bettering, shall be witnesses
against you. The way to hell is abeaten road, and most of the
world do tread it continually ; and therefore you might have
known and avoided it, when God had told you how to know
it. God hath not left you in darkness, but you shut your
eyes ; the light shines round about you, and you will not
see ; you have Bibles, and you have other good books, and
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 185
you have teachers, and you may have neighbours that are
able and willing to help you, but you will not make use of
them. O sirs, consider I beseech you, to get well to hea-
ven, is a business and not a play. It is a matter to be in-
quired after, and prayed for, and learned with all diligence
and care, and not to be put off with heartless shews. Hear
then, O hear the call of God that soundeth in thine ears, to
bring thee to conversion : wilt thou run on when God is
calling after thee ? He calleth by his word ; he calleth by
his ministers ; he calleth by his judgments, and by his mer-
cies, by conscience, and by his Spirit ; and will you stop
your ears, and slight them all ? Many an one hath come
in at the first call that ever they had by the preaching of
the Gospel, and you have had an hundred and an hundred,
and yet will not return ! Believe it, sirs, the calls of God
will convert you, or confound you ; his word will not re-
turn in vain : you cannot resist his grace after all this war-
ning, at such easy and cheap rates as many others in the
world may do. Your impenitency and wilfulness hath the
more obstinacy in it, by how much the greater light you do
resist. If the Gospel do not convert you, you will wish you
had never heard or read it. Hear what Christ himself saith
of those that were not converted by his word. "Whoso-
ever shall not receive you, nor hear your word, when you
depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your
feet ; verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for
Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that
city y." Christ did upbraid the cities where his works were
done, because they repented not : " Woe to thee Chorazin,
woe to thee Bethsaida, for if the mighty works, which have
been done in thee, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they
had repented long ago, in sackcloth and ashes ; but I say
unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in
the day of judgment than for you. And thou Capernaum,
which art exalted to heaven, shalt be brought down to hell ;
for if the mighty works which have been done in thee ', &c/
The Lord grant that I may never hear Christ upbraiding any
of this congregation with the warnings that they did neg-
lect. It is a h^vy case, that when Christ sendeth to men
the Gospel of salvation, they must be upbraided with it, be-
1 Matt. X. 14, 15. • Matt. li. tO— tS.
f86 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
cause they would not be saved by it. And that Sodom and
Gomorrah, those places of abomination that bore the
most remarkable plagues of God, being consumed with
fire and brimstone from the Lord, should yet speed better in
the day of judgment, than many of our poor people that sit
under our teaching from day to day. In a word, sirs, re-
member this, all unconverted sinners that so lived and died,
shall be condemned, but those that had the greatest means
and warnings, shall have the greatest condemnation.
9. Consider further. That the further men go on in an un-
converted state, the deeper is their sin, the harder is their
cure, and the greater will be their punishment. It is not a
state wherein you may safely abide, no, not a day, if you
were sure to have time for repentance. Is it a small thing
to go on in sin, and to add to that heap that is so great al-
ready, and to increase that mountain which is so insuppor-
table? As long as you are unconverted, you live in the
continual abuse of God, and all his mercies : you abuse him
most unworthily, for you prefer the unworthy creature be-
fore him, as if he and his glory were no better than this
earth, nor so good neither : you abuse him by denying him
that which is his own ; you deny him your hearts ; you de-
ny him your service ; that which he hath made and redeem-
ed ; you deny him that which none can lay claim to but him-
self. You abuse his word by rejecting it ; you abuse his
sabbaths by profaning them ; you abuse his image in his
servants by contemning it ; you abuse his name by taking
it in vain ; you abuse his mercy, and all his creatures by be-
holding them in vain, and receiving them in vain ; and by
advancing them into the throne, and giving them that which
is not their due : though you worship not sun and moon, yet
you worship meat, and drink, and ease, and money : and thus
you live in the abuse of all things, and besides the rest, you
abuse your own souls. They were made for the High God,
and fitted to love him and honour him, and live to him here,
and to see his face in glory hereafter ; and all unconverted
men do abuse them to the basest drudgery of the devil :
they make them sinks of sin, and dunghills to receive the
excrements of the earth. God hath advanced you above the
beasts that perish, and made you for a life with angels in
his glory, if you would but believe it, and set your hearts
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 187
upon it : and you debase your own souls, and make them
brutish, as if they had no better a happiness than a swine !
or as if you were worms that live in the earth ; or rather
beetles that live in dung. Who can marvel, if a carnal man
abuse God, and the godly, and all things else, when he wil-
fully and delightfully doth so abuse himself? It may turn
the passion of those they abuse into compassion, when they
consider, whatsoever they do against others, they do an
hundred times more against themselves : they scorn us, and
they wound themselves : they tempt others to sin, but they
cast themselves into it : they wrong our names, or estates,
or bodies, and they damn their own souls. Alas, poor
wretches, who would have thoughts of revenge on such men
that are the most cruel persecutors and destroyers of them-
selves ? O what a base indignity do they put upon a noble
and immortal soul, to make it like the body, inclining unto
earth, as if it had been taken hence as the body was, to take
it down from living upon God, and engage it in a life of
mere vanity !
Moreover consider, that all the while you continue un-
converted, you grow hardened in your sin ; and as you for-
sake God more, so doth his Spirit withdraw from you ; and
custom will still make you worse and worse. Your recovery
will be harder the next week than this, and therefore it is
not a state to be continued in : but of this we shall speak,
when we come to the particular exhortation.
10. As long as you remain in an unconverted state, you
Deprive yourselves of a world of happiness, that God doth
offer you, and you might possess. You might have God
instead of the creature ; and Christ instead of a carnal self
and the Spirit instead of the devil that doth deceive you
you might have holiness instead of the filth of wickedness
and justification for condemnation ; and a blessing for the
curse; and the state ofreconciledness, instead of the enmity
that you are in to God : you might have peace of conscience
instead of terrors or groundless security : you might serve
a better master now and in better company ; and have better
wages both here and hereafter. You do not know what you
lose every day that you remain unconverted, more than all
the pleasures of sin can afford you. Ask any of them that
have escaped out of tliat condition that you are in, whether
188 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
they are willing to return ? You see not perhaps that they
have got any thing by the change, and therefore you think
you lose nothing by continuing as you are ; hut their gains
are out of sight : it is almost out of their own sight, and
therefore it may well be out of yours. But if themselves
should deny it, it is not therefore an uncertain or contemp-
tible thing ; for the foundation of God standeth sure ; he
knoweth who are his. If it were but to be employed upon
higher things, and to escape the deadly wounds of con-
science which you give yourselves, or else prepare for, it is
no small gain to be a true believer ; and if they found them-
selves in no better a case than they were before, they would
be tempted to return to their former state ; but that they
will not do for a world. I dare say, if you did know but the
danger and horrible misery of the life that you now live, you
would make as much haste out of it, as a man would do out
of a house that was on fire over his head ; or as a man that
was at sea in a leaking vessel, that if he did not bestir him-
self as for his life to get it to the shore, would sink and
drown him. And if you knew but the case of a converted
soul, even of those that walk most heavily, and most bewail
their own condition, you would not be out of it one day
longer, if you could possibly help it. Well, I have shewed
you what it is to be unconverted : if any of you dare yet go
on in such a case, and unbelievingly cavil at the word of
God, or carelessly trample it under your feet ; if God do for-
sake you and leave you to yourselves, and if death do find
you in that sad estate, you may thank yourselves.
CHAPTER V.
Having said thus much to you by way of terror, if it may
be to drive you from an unconverted state, I shall not so
leave you ; but shall next say somewhat also by way of al-
lurement to draw you to a better state. For as there is
enough in your misery to drive a sober man from it, so is
there enough in the hope that is set before you, to draw any
believing heart to embrace it. The Gospel is a joyful mes-
sage, and bringeth glad tidings of salvation to all that enter-
tain it ; if you will not shut your eyes by unbelief, orincon-
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 189
siderateness, you shall see that God calls you not to your
hurt or loss. If there be not more to be had in his service
than in the service of the world, the flesh, or the devil, take
your course, and never regard me more. If I do not give
you sufficient reason to prove to you that you may make a
better bargain by speedy conversion, than by continuing in
your carnal, unconverted state, I am contented that you ne-
ver more give me the hearing: for my part, I would not per-
suade you to your hurt or loss, nor make such a stir about
an uncertain gain ; nor about a small matter, were it never
so certain : but my principal arguments are yet behind.
Fear is not the principal affection of a true convert ; and
therefore terrifying arguments are not the principal means ;
yet these must be used, or else God had never put such an
affection into man's heart ; nor such terrifying passages into
his word : and we all feel the need and usefulness of it ; for
in reason he that is in danger should know it. But yet, it
is love that must be the predominant affection, and therefore
it is the discovery of the amiableness of God, and the won-
derful gain that comes by godliness that must be the princi-
pal argument that we must use with you. For we know
that men will not be directly affrighted into love, though
they must be affrighted from the contrary that hindereth it :
do not think that God hath no better argument to use with
you, than to take you by the throat, and say, * Love me or
I will damn thee.' Thus he will use to wean you from the
contrary love, and to let you know the fruit of your folly,
that he may equally carry on his work upon all the affec-
tions of your souls together. But he that principally re-
quireth your love, doth give you undeniable reason, why you
should love him : and he that calls for your hearts, doth
shew you that which might take with your hearts, and effec-
tually win them, if your eyes were opened to see what he
aheweth you. He draweth them as the loadstone doth the
iron, by the force of his attractive love. If there be not more
in God that is worth your love than in all the world, if all
were yours, then hold on your present course and spare not.
But why make I any comparison in such a case ? It were
a dangerous irreverence in me, but that your necessity re-
quireth it ; because wicked men do not only make a com-
parison first, but also prefer the world before God, though
190
TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
not in their tongues, yet in their hearts and lives : if I were
but able to make you thoroughly know what that condition
is that I persuade you to, I would desire no better argument
to prevail with you ; were it in my power but to open your
eyes to make you know what conversion is, and what it doth
for those that have it, I should make no doubt of your speedy
conversion : for none withdraw their hearts from God, but
for want of knowing him ; and none are against a holy life,
but those that understand not sufficiently what it is : and
none do prefer this world, and the pleasures and profits of
it before the glorious things that God doth offer them, but
only they that are cheated and bewitched by it, and know
not what it is that they dote upon. If I were but able to
give you such a sight as Stephen had, (Acts vii, 56.), when
he saw the heavens opened, and Christ standing at the right
hand of God, I should have no need to call you from your
fleshly vanities. O how contemptuously would you throw
away your former pleasure, and run to see and be possessors
of that glory ! If I could but bring you with Paul into the
third heaven, to see the unutterable things that every true
believer shall possess, I would give you no thanks to cast
off this world, and presently to turn to God. Nay, if you
had but the light about you that Paul had at his conversion,
it would do much : but what talk I of these extraordinary
things ? If you did but know by a sound belief such as all
the converted have, what a blessed life it is that we invite
you to, away you would come without delay ; as the apos-
tles when Christ called them from their trades and friends,
and bid them follow him, they presently left all, though they
saw nothing in the world to draw them on ; so would you,
if you were but well illuminated. And because all that I
can do in this work, is to propound to your understandings
the excellency of that condition which I persuade you to, I
shall next fall upon that, and leave the issue to God, desiring
him to open your eyes, to see what shall be propounded.
1. When a sinner is converted, he is delivered from the
power of satan. Acts xxvi. 18. The bonds of your captivity
will all be broken in your return to Christ, as Peter's chains
fell off him, and the prison doors were set open, when the
angel raised him up, (Acts xii. 7.) ; so will it be with thy soul
when God converteth thee. Ignorance and wilfulness in
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 191
fleshly pleasures, and the love of this world, these are the
chains that satan holds men in ; and conversion will bring
thee "from darkness to light," Acts xxvi. 18. Even from
the " power of darkness into the kingdom of Christ," Col. i.
13. It will bring such a marvellous light into thy mind, as
thou never hadst before, which will make thee marvel at the
riches of grace and glory, and marvel at the wonderful love
of God, and wonder at that thy former folly that couldst neg-
lect it. Thus will God bring thee " out of darkness into his
marvellous light," 1 Pet. ii.9. Telling you what this light is,
will not be sufficient to make you know it, till you see it your-
selves. You shall then have other apprehensions of things
than now you have, even of the same things which you see
and seem to know. You will have another knowledge of
the world, and of Christ, and grace, and duty, and all spi-
ritual things, even of good and evil than now you have. As
the first sin did open Adam's eyes to know good and evil by
sad experience, as having lost the good and felt the evil,
and also to know them in a separated sense, as distinct and
separated in his thoughts from God ; so true conversion will
open your eyes to know good and evil by a blessed expe-
rience, even to see God the chiefest good, as recovered to
you for your felicity ; and sin and hell the greatest evils
from which you are delivered ; and to see God in all the
creatures, and the respect and tendency they have all to
him. I cannot by bare telling you make you conceive what
a marvellous change will be in your understanding ; what an
excellent and marvellous light you will see, when once con-
version hath opened your eyes. Let me endeavour by a fa-
miliar comparison to acquaint you with somewhat of it in
general, though I cannot give you the thing itself. You
know that a dog that liveth in the house with you doth see
the same things, and place, and persons in the house as you
do ; he knoweth every room, and every person in the house :
suppose now that God should turn this dog suddenly into a
man ; do. you think there would not be a marvellous change
in his apprehension ? Would he not see something in every
thing, and place, and person to marvel at? Would he not
know all these things in another manner than before he did ?
I do not say, that the change which conversion makes is
just of such a kind as this ; but it is very marvellous, and
192 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
we may by such a similitude help our apprehensions of it.
When some of the poor naked Indians have been brought
into this land, how strange did every thing seem to them?
When they came into London, with what wondering would
they gaze about them, as if they had been in another world ?
And will not a poor converted soul do so, when God hath
newly opened his eyes, and made him see that which he
never saw before ? O then he sees that evil in sin that
maketh him wonder ! That ravishing love in Christ that
maketh him wonder ! That amiable glory in the face of
God, and that truth in the promises of eternal blessedness,
that makes him wonder ! When before he could see no-
thing to wonder at in any of them. Oh ! sirs, if you knew
but the pleasure of this marvellous light that God by con-
version would let into your souls, you would never rest till
you found yourselves converted. Every man hath a natural
desire of knowledge, and in a natural way they are seeking
after it ; and many do even in the use of these means, which
should be spiritual, employ themselves but in natural seek-
ing. One man thinks that common learning can help him
to this light, and therefore he readeth and studieth day and
night ; and I deny not but in its place it is good. Another
thinks that among this or that party it is to be found, and in
the discovery of this or that low opinion it doth consist ; but
when all is done, it is the great and common truths that are
most wonderful, and converting grace that must shew men
the glory of them. It is not in rarities of new discoveries,
nor strange principles that were never heard of till now, that
this light is to be found. But it is in the substance of
Christian verity. I tell you, sirs, you that now use to mut-
ter over your creed for a prayer, and hear the catechism
without understanding it, if your eyes were opened by con-
verting grace, you would marvel at the very doctrine of the
creed and catechism. You would see that excellency, and
feel that weight in common truths, that would exceedingly
take up your very hearts. You now know not what it is to
believe in God the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost ; but
then these three words would seem to you of greater glory,
than the sun at noon-day ; they would find you both work
and wonder, and yet delight, if you had no more than these
to think of.
I
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 193
And do you love the darkness rather than such light ?
Have you been so long in the dungeon, that you are fallen in
love with it, and are loath to come out? Is all this light
so small a matter in your eyes ? Are you like an owl or bat
that cannot endure the light of the sun ? Or rather like a
thief that hates the daylight, because he is afraid of being
made known ? Oh ! sinners, I beseech you come away and
leave your dungeon state of darkness, and live in the light
of the countenance of God. " It is a pleasant thing for the
eyes to see the sun *." Deprive not yourselves of the plea-
sure which is offered you.
And it is not only your chains of darkness, but also your
wilfulness and blind affections that converting grace will
turn you from : these bonds of worldly profits and pleasure
that seem so strong to others that they cannot overcome
them, you will shake them off as Samson did his bonds,
and they will not be able to separate you from the love of
God : the same tempter that so easily prevails with others,
will not be able to prevail against you; ** The God of peace
will tread him under your feet^." In the work of conver-
sion Christ layeth siege to the heart of a sinner, which na-
turally is Satan's garrison, and he battereth it, and starveth
it, and forceth it to yield, " and bindeth that strong man
that possesseth it in peace ^^.^ So he is cast out of his pos-
session by converting grace ; he hath not the same power
there that he had before ; once he could have commanded
the man to swear, or be drunk, or neglect his soul, and he
would have done it ; but now he hath no such power : once
he could have turned their thoughts against Christ, and their
tongues to cavil against his word, but now he cannot ; they
are now under another government. They have now that re-
pentance to the acknowledgment of the truth, by which they
are recovered out of the snares of the devil, who formerly
led them captive at his will **. The very first day that you
are converted, you are the freemen of Christ, who were the
bond-slaves of the devil all your lives before. As ever then
you would partake of this blessed privilege, resist no longer,
but yield to the call of grace, that you may be converted.
2. Another excellent privilege of a converted soul, is this;
As soon as ever a man is converted, he is united or join^
» Eccle». xi. 7. »» Roro. x?i. «0. « Luke x\, «1. •* 2 Tira. ii. «5.
VOL. VII O
194 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
to Jesus Christ. This is the very root of all the rest. Con-
version turneth men from satan to God ; it breaketh them
oiF from their former lovers, and uniteth them to Christ as
the husband of their souls. He is " the vine, and we are the
branches, and into him we must be grafted, if we will have
life *." He is the Head, and conversion is it that makes us
his members ; giving us that faith, by which we receive him
to dwell in our hearts ^: so that as the sovereign and subject
make one commonwealth ; as the head and the body make
one man, so Christ and his church are one. Whether or no
the union be any more than relative, taking union in the
strictest sense; yet it is wonderful and glorious, and a com-
munication of holy qualifications doth follow it. We are
one in relation, and one in judgment, as being of the same
mind ; and one in affection, and one in regard of the simili-
tude of nature, and many ways one in a larger sense. Here
is the root of the saints' felicity. If you were one with the
prince, you would not fear the want of honour or riches •
you would not fear any thing that he could save you from.
When Jonathan loved David as his own soul, he ventured
his life to save him from his father's indignation: when La-
zarus, whom Christ loved, was sick, he raised him from the
dead. If you be once so near to Christ as to be one with
him, what will he not do for you ? Will he neglect his own
members ? Will he hurt himself? The apostle could use
this argument with husbands to love their wives, because
they are as their own body ; and " whoever hated his own
flesh ? But nourisheth it and cherisheth it, even as Christ
doth the church." From hence doth the apostle fetch the
example of conjugal love; "husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ loved the church :" yea, from this union ;
" for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his
bones ^." ** This is a mystery," saith the apostle, speaking
of Christ and the church ^ ;" and a mystery of unspeakable
consolation to the saints. O therefore resist not that grace
that should convert you. If you would be united to Christ,
come to him, and yield to the drawings of his love that you
may be one with him, who is one with the Father, according
to your capacity, for that is his will, concerning all that are
truly converted. Judge now, whether it be not a most ho-
« John XV. f Eph. iii. 17. ^ Epii. v. 5J5. 28—30. '' Ver. 32.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 195
nourable and inconceivable felicity, that conversion doth
advance the soul into. It was the greatest miracle of all
God*s works, that ever he revealed to the sons of men, to take
the human nature into union with the divine ; that Christ,
who was God, should condescend to be made man : and the
next is, that he will take his church into union with himself,
and will magnify his love, in such a wonderful advancement
of poor sinners, that without his grace they could not well
believe it.
3. Another benefit that followeth conversion, is this; As
soon as ever a man is truly converted, he is made a member
of the true church of Christ : for he is at once united to the
head and to the body. A man may be a member of the vi-
sible church, or rather, be visibly made a member of the
church before conversion : but that is but as a wooden leg
to the body ; or, as Bellarmine himself acknowledge th, they
are not living but dead members : and as many of his friends
whom he mentioneth, confess, they are but as the hair, or
the nails, which are not properly members of the body,
though they are in the body. Or, as Austin saith, like the
chaff among the com, which is so a part of the field, as to
be an appurtenance of the corn. So that till conversion,
even the baptized and the most understanding men, are but
as the straw and chaff in God's barn, and as the tares in his
field, as Christ himself compareth them. But conversion
doth effectually ingraft them into the body, and make them
living members ; and so " by one Spirit we are all baptized
into one body ' ;" and so, " we are the body of Christ and
members in particular''." " All are not Israel that are of
Israel," saith the apostle to the Romans. And " in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircum-
cision, but a new creature, and faith that worketh by love '.*'
" For circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the
letter '"." " They are the circumcision that worship God in
the spirit"." And it is not the mere baptism of water, but
the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which is given in conversion
that maketh you living members of the body.
4. As soon as ever a sinner is truly converted, he hath a
pardon of all the sins that ever he committed, be they never
' 1 Cor. xii. IS. ^ Ver. «7. ' Gal. »i. 5. 15. Col. iii. 11.
Rom. ii. 99. " Pliil. iii. S.
196 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
SO many, and never so great. Though with Paul he have
been a persecutor of the church of God ; though he have
with Manasseh, been a veiy sorcerer ; though he have hated
godliness, and made a mock at it; though his very heart
hath been against Christ all his days ; yet when he is once
truly converted, he is pardoned. Though he have spent the
flower of his youth in vanity ; though he have been a drudge
for this world, and forgotten his soul, and the world to come ;
though he have hindered others from conversion and salva-
tion ; yet when he is once truly converted, he is forgiven.
Though he have long resisted grace, and strove against his
own salvation ; though he have stifled many convictions of
conscience, and broke many purposes and promises, and
much abused the patience of God ; yet, if the work of con-
version be true, all this shall be pardoned and done away.
For the Lord Jesus hath made satisfaction for all ; and there-
upon hath made a conditional promise, that all that truly re-
• pent and believe, shall be pardoned : and as soon as ever
they perform the condition through his grace, the promise
becomes effectual to them, and their iniquities are therein
forgiven them.
O what news is this to a weary, heavy-laden sinner ; to
them that are bruised and broken under the sense of sin and
wrath, that would give a world if they had it, for a pardon !
Why, come to Christ, sinner, and take it freely. He hath
purchased it, and he freely offereth it ; but only to them that
take himself: for God hath made these benefits appurtenances
to himself; take Christ himself, and all is thine. O what
comfort is it to such a sinner as Mary,that lay wiping Christ's
feet with the hairs of her head, and washed them with her
tears, to hear him say, " Thy sins are forgiven thee." Those
sins that do so terrify the conscience, and those that lie
asleep till conscience be enlightened ; thy secret sins, which
the world knoweth not of, and thy open sins that have been
thy shame, at the very hour of true conversion will be par-
doned. All thy sinful thoughts, words, and actions ; sins
against knowledge, conscience, consideration ; sins of igno-
rance, and presumptuous sins, all shall be done away°.
" Whom he calleth, them he justifieth p." " Christ is exalt-
ed to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and for-
• Actsxxvi. 18. Mark iv. 12. P Rom. viii. 30.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 197
giveness of sins *J." And thus doth " he bless them, in turn-
ing them from their iniquities'^;" and in turning away from
them the punishment of that iniquity. He that sent John
Baptist first to preach ** repentance, for the remission of
sins * ;" and hath shed ** his own blood for the remission of
sins * ;" and calleth men to repent for that end " ;" hath pro-
mised to give it to all that thus repent and believe in him,
and are converted to him "" ; and commanded his ministers to
join these together, and " that repentance and remission of
sin be preached in his name^." And may we not say with
David, and after him with Paul, that they " are blessed
whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered, and to
whom the Lord will not impute sin^ ?" O therefore receive
converting grace, that you may be made partakers of this
blessedness. Take the counsel of Peter to Simon Magus,
" Repent of thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the
thoughts of thy heart may be forgiven thee *." Or as the
same Peter to the Jews, " Repent ye, therefore, and be con-
verted, that your sins may be blotted out **." O blessed hour
that freeth the soul from such a load, that else would have
sunk it as low as hell ! A day and a mercy that must never
be forgotten by us.
5. Another benefit is this ; As soon as a sinner is con-
verted, he is reconciled to God : the former enmity is done
away : though this be in substance the same with the former,
yet doth it shew us our happiness in another consideration.
A future reconciliation was purchased before by the blood
of Christ, and a conditional reconciliation given out in the
Gospel ; but the soul was never actually reconciled till the
time of conversion. Before, a sinner did either presump-
tuously intrude into the presence of God to his own danger,
or else fled back through the terrors of his conscience. Oh !
the frowns of the face of God, were enough to deter a guilty
soul ! What comfort could that man have to think of God,
that lay under his continual curse and wrath ? But when
once they are converted, the face of God then smileth on
them, and his arms are open to embrace them, as the father's
were to the returning prodigal. God cannot shew himself
«» Acts V. St. ' Acts iU. '26. • Mark i.4. Luke HI. 3.
» Malt, xxrl «8. " Acts ii. 38. « Acts x. 43. y Lake xxlv. 47.
» Psal. xxxii. 1. Roiu. lv.7. » Acts viii. S2. "» Acts iii. 19.
198 TREATI.se OB' CONVERSION.
pleased with a graceless, carnal soul ; nor can he choose but
be reconciled to the soul that is once possessed of his image,
and reconciled unto him. As you are, so will he be to you.
He did but stay for the turning of your hearts, that you
might be fit to receive that kindness from him, which you
are not fit for in the bondage of your sins. This is the hap-
piness of a converted soul, that he hath the love and favour
of Almighty God. Therefore doth Christ call them his
friends*^. And what is it that he will not do for his friends,
that did so much for us while we were enemies ^, O there-
fore yield to the calls of God. The word of conversion is a
word of reconciliation ; and this it is that he hath commit-
ted to us, that we might " beseech men in his name and stead
to be reconciled to God *." Which is only by being con-
verted to God. Did you know the worth of peace with God
you would quickly yield to return unto him.
6. Another precious benefit to the converted, is. That they
are the adopted sons of God ; which is a step higher, than
to be barely reconciled and his friends. When they are
planted into Christ the natural Son, they become adopted
sons. For ** God sent his own Son made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons ; wherefore we are no
more servants only but sons ^" This is a benefit not com-
mon to all. It is as '* many as are led by the Spirit of God
that are his sons s/* And they that are in their measure
" blameless and harmless, without rebuke, in the midst of a
crooked and perverse nation, among whom they shine as
lights in the world V Christians, know your own felicity,
that you may rejoice in it, and give glory to God. You may
boldly draw near him, and call him your Father, and look for
the love and bounty of a Father, at his hands. O wretched
world, to despise so great a mercy as this is ! Doth it seem
a small thing to them to be the sons of God ? It raised the
blessed apostles into an admiration : " Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should
be called the sons of God \'* And as a Father tendereth a
son that he delights in, so doth the Lord the poorest of his
<= John XV. 13—15. James ii. 23. ^ Rom. v. 10. « 2 Cor. v. 18 — 20.
f Gal. iv. 4, 5. 7. g Rom. vili. 14. ^ Phil. ii. 15.
* 1 John iii. 1.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 199
people. The world, I told you, is divided into the children
of God, and the children of the devil. And it is by conver-
sion from sin to God, that men are known to be the children
of God. If, therefore, you value this wonderful privilege,
yield then to the grace of God, which would convert you.
7. Another benefit of the converted, is. That they have
the Spirit of Christ within them. By it doth Christ possess
and govern them ; by it doth he make them like to himself,
and work out all that is contrary to his holiness. For it is
a cleansing Spirit, and a Spirit of holiness ^, By this he
helpeth them against the flesh, and effectually mortifieth it '.
By this doth he quicken them to newness of life ; for it is
a "quickening spirit ""." By this it is that " he helpeth their
infirmities, and teacheth them to pray "." By this he ** teach-
eth them his law, and writeth it in their hearts °." By this
he possesseth them with filial affection, and causeth them
to " cry to him, Abba, Father i"." By this one Spirit, all his
people have access to him*^. And by this they are made his
habitation ^ And in the unity of this Spirit, they are one
with the Lord, and among themselves ^ This Spirit is the
earnest of their future glory *. And where this Spirit is,
there is liberty from former slavery ". So that you see how
great a mercy it is to have the Spirit of Jesus Christ within
us ; and this is the case of all that are converted, and none
but them. " For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ,
the same is none of his ''." If you did but know what it is
to be possessed by the Holy Ghost, when ungodly men have
the spirit of uncleanness, you would not rest without this
blessedness.
8. Another part of the happiness of the converted, is.
That all the promises of grace are theirs. They are the chil-
dren of the promise, and God is, as it were, obliged to them,
and hath engaged his word for their security y. All the pro-
mises are in Christ, yea, and amen '. They, therefore, that
are in Christ, must needs have part in them. O how full is
the book of God, of free and precious promises to his peo-
^ Rom. i. 4. ' G«l. V. 16, 17. Rom. vUi. 1, «. 14. » Rora. viii. ] 1,
n Rom. viii, 26. E|>h. vi. 18. " t Cor. iii. 3. P Gal. i?. 6.
q EpJi. ii. 18. ' Eph. ii. ««. • 1 Cor. »1. IT. xii. 12, IS.
t 2 Cor. i. 22. ». 5 "2 Cor. iii. 17. » Rom. viii. 9.
y Gal. iv. 28. iii. tt. Eph. iii. 6. » t Cor. I. 20.
200 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
pie ! and all belong to thee that art converted. There hast
thou promises for remission ; and promises for assistance
against temptation ; and promises for acceptance of thy per-
son, and duties ; and promises for protection and deliverance
from evil ; and when thou readest them, thou mayst say * all
those are mine/ He that knoweth that God is true, will not
take a promise as an inconsiderable mercy. If men account
it such a matter to have a lease, or deed of gift of land, and
worldly riches, how should we value that covenant and tes-
tament of our Lord ? In a word, " Godliness is profitable
to all things ; having the promise of the life that now is, and
of that which is to come ^. And what can any man desire
more ?
Yield therefore to the voice of grace, that you may be
converted, and all the promises of grace will be yours : and
then it will be an unspeakable comfort to you, that whatso-
ever condition you are in, you have a promise of God that
you shall be better. If you be in poverty, if in sickness, if
at the hour of death, yet you have a promise, which is
enough to support a believing soul. As one saith, ' I had
rather be at the bottom of the sea with a promise, than in
paradise without it." For there is no misery so deep, but
we shall certainly be delivered from it, if we have but a pro-
mise. But without it, Adam was not safe in innocency.
9. Another benefit of the converted, is. That all their
duties are pleasing to God. I mean not their sins, nor the
failings of their duties ; for God will never be reconciled to
these, when he is reconciled to the sinner. But the failings
of all their duties are forgiven them, through the blood of
Christ ; and the failing being forgiven, the duty is accepted
and well-pleasing to God. ** By faith Abel offered a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. By faith
Enoch had this testimony that he pleased God ^. The
" sacrifice of their good works is pleasing to him ^." Their
" prayer and alms-deeds come up before him ; for in every
nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness, is ac-
cepted of him *." And it is their study and work to do those
things that please him, and walking in all pleasingness is
•> 1 Tim. iv. 8. <= Heb. xi. 4, 5. «* Heb. xiii. 16.
e Acts X. 4. 35.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 201
accepted of him ^ And all this is through Christ in whom
the Father was first well pleased «. O how great a consola-
tion is this to the saints ! See that you be truly converted,
and go to God, and fear not lest he reject you further than
is necessary to reverence and caution. When he abhorreth
the gilded sacrifice of the hypocrite, he will accept that
which seemeth weaker from thee. He will hear thy very
groans and tears, and broken expressions. Lament over thy
weaknesses, and see that thou disown them, and then thou
shalt find, that God will not disown thy services for them.
O what a comfort is this in a time of extremity, in trouble
of conscience, in sickness, and at death, to have God to be
well pleased with all our duties, and to know that he will
not abhor our prayers. The time is near. Christian, when
thou wilt find this privilege more worth to thee than a thou-
sand worlds, that God will let thee come near him with ac-
ceptance, and bid thee welcome, and hear thy prayers ; and
the time is coming when unconverted sinners would give a
world if they had it, for such a privilege, and say, O that I
could go to God, and have a gracious hearing as well as
they ! But it will not be, because they knew not the day of
their visitation.
10. Another benefit of the converted, is this ; The angels
of God have a special order and commission to attend them.
They are all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for
them who shall be heirs of salvation ^. Note here, that an-
gels are servants, not to us, but to God for us ; and that it
is in a special manner for the heirs of salvation : and that it
seems it is all the angels that are designed to this office. I
say not, all the glorious spirits that are before the throne of
God. For, I presume not to determine whether there be
not other spirits besides the angels ; for the word angel
si^nifieth a messenger, and therefore it is only these that are
employed as God's messengers, that are called by that name ;
and those that believe in Christ, are said to have their own
angels always beholding the face of God ». These doth he
send to deliver his servants in distress, as they did, Dan. iii.
21. vi. 22. And Peter, Acts xii. For, " he giveth his an-
gels charge over them to keep them in all their ways, they
'Heb.iii.«l. PhU.hr. 18. t JohniU.sy. Col. 1 10. r Bfatt. iii. 17. xvii. 5.
^ >| Ueb. i. 14. ' Mutt, zviii. 10.
202 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
shall bear them up in their hands, lest they dash their foot
against a stone ''." Yea, they have their office also for the
good of souls. An angel appeared to Christ himself, and
strengthened him in his agony '. And as evil spirits can
hurt the souls of the wicked, so no doubt but the good can
help the souls of the righteous ; and, therefore, when satan
comes to deceive, he is said to be transformed into an angel
of light "". Yea, when the soul goeth out of the body, these
angels are the conductors of it into the presence of God",
where we shall be made equal to the angels themselves °.
O, if the eyes of true Christians were but opened to see
their glorious attendance, they would be more sensible of
this privilege, and thankful for it, than now they be. God
could do all things for us without instruments if he pleased,
but as he rather chooseth to work by instruments and second
causes for our bodies, so also by these invisible instruments
both for body and soul. When Saul had sinned against
God, and was forsaken by him, the good Spirit was taken
from him, and an evil spirit given him. Some common be-
nefits even common men may have by these angels while
they forfeit not their helps, but not that special benefit as
the saints. The world cannot distinguish the righteous
from the wicked, but the angels of God can ; for they must
needs know their own charge, and who it is that Christ hath
especially committed to their trust.
11. Another excellent benefit of the converted, is this.
As they are true members of the catholic church, (whatso-
ever any schismatics may say to the contrary, that would
confine the catholic church to their own party,) so have they
communion with the whole church, and many spiritual ad-
vantages by that communion. Besides that external com-
munion in church order and ordinances, which the ungodly
may have as well as they, there is a spiritual internal com-
munion, which is proper to the living, converted members.
All the saints have one Spirit of holiness, to animate them p.
And they all intend the same end, and conspire in the same
way for the accomplishment. God is their common end, as
he is their common original "i. They have all " one God,
^ Psal. xci. 11, 12. ' Luke xxii. 43. " 2 Cor. xi. t4.
" Luke xvi. 22. ** Luke xx. 36. p Rom, viii. 9. 1 Cor. xii.
1 Rom. xi. 36. 1 Cor. viii. 6. 11, 12.
TREATISK OF CONVERSION. 203
one Christ, one faith," though they may differ in many
smaller opinions, and to " every one of them is given grace,
according to the measure of the gift of Christ "■." And so
they " are all one body and one Spirit," and must endeavour
to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace*."
They are members of one heavenly city, *' even Jerusalem,
which is above, the mother of us all," where they shall be
perfected *. And of the militant church, the city of God,
while they are here on earth. It is the design of God in the
fulness of time, to gather them all into one, in Christ, yea,
to make them and the angels in heaven to be one body ".
They have here the same officers and means, even apostles,
and prophets, and their holy writings, pastors and teachers,
and the use of ordinances, and this for the edifying and per-
fection of the body, " till they all come in the unity of the
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect
man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
That speaking the truth in love, they may grow up into him
in all things which is the head, Christ : from whom the whole
body fitly joined together and compacted by that which
every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in
the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, to
the edifying of itself in love *."
Moreover, all the whole church doth constantly pray for
every member ; not only as for those that are yet unconvert-
ed, that they may have grace, because they have no absolute
promise to -be heard in that; and that they shall hot be
heard for all men in general, they are certain, and therefore
may not so ask it. But when they pray for the godly, it is
as for those for whom they have a promise. As they live in
the constant love of one another, which is the mark by
which the world must know them, and an effect of the Spi-
rit which doth animate the whole body y, so doth this love
express itself in the breathings forth of constant desires for
the prosperity of the whole, and each part. O Christians,
what an excellent privilege is this, that the poorest man or
woman of you that is converted, hath thousands and thou-
sands of the prayers of the saints going for you to God from
' Epii. iv. 5—7. • E|)h. iv. 3, 4. ' Heb. xii. J2, 23.
" E|)h. i. 10. « Eph. It. U, l3. 15, 16. ^ I Pet. i. ««, 1 John iv.
7,8. Johuzlii.34, 35.
204 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
day to day. Which way ever you are going, or whatsoever
you are doing, this stock is improving for you, this work is
going on. When you are about other matters and think not
of it, there are thousands of holy people praying for you.
When you grow cold and faint in prayer, there are thou-
sands of fervent Christians at prayer for you. When you
have caught a fall, and conscience is troubled, and you dare
scarce go to God again, there are thousands of Christians
that are at prayer for you, tliat have clearer consciences and
boldness with God. Is not this a comfort when your graces
are weak, when temptations are strong, and troubles, and
fears, and doubts are many, to remember you have thousands
of the people of God at prayer for you? Is not this a great
comfort in the greatest dangers, when you are afraid of your
salvation, to remember how many thousands are at prayer
for your salvation ? Nay, it is even all the whole church of
God. And you may well think that God will not easily de-
ny the prayer of his whole church. He that hath promised
to hear two or three, yea, every single person, that asketh
any thing in the name of Christ according to his will, is un-
likely to deny his whole church, when they join together for
any such thing. And this is a matter that is according to
his will, that his truly converted people should persevere,
and be preserved in his love, and safely brought on to his
heavenly kingdom^. O remember this in your doubts and
troubles, that all the church of Christ is daily at prayer with
God for your salvation. And is not this a great comfort to
you ; in time of sickness, or at the hour of death, to remem-
ber, that how the whole church of God is at prayer for you?
You send to this-friend and that friend which you think have
interest in God, and you are glad if you can but get them to
pray for you. Htow glad then should you be, that all the
church prayeth for you, who most certainly have so great an
interest in him ? The spirit of prayer, which teacheth the
people of God to pray, will not forget you, nor suffer them
to forget you, but will make them pray for all the body, and
every member of it ; as the very tenor of the Lord's prayer
shewethyou: and Col. i. 3. Eph. vi. 18. Col. iv. 3. 1 Tim.
ii. 1. Rom. i. 9. xv. 30. O then, sirs, if you be wise, yield
to that grace of Christ that would convert you, that you may
»2Tim. iv. 18.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 205
be members of this body, and live in the spiritual commu-
nion of it. For, alas ! to join externally in the communion
of the church, when you have not communion with them in
the Spirit, will but increase your condemnation at the last.
You are every day among the saints of God, but you know
them not, nor the Spirit by which they live, nor the spiritual
part of the work which they do. Such a communion as the
dead corps have together which you tread upon (whose bones
and dust lie mingled in the earth) in comparison of our com-
munion that are here together in the presence of God among
the living ; even such a communion have the unconverted in
the visible church, in comparison of that spiritual commu-
nion with the people that are converted.
12. Another excellent benefit to the converted, is. That
they have the constant intercession of Jesus Christ, God and
man, in his heavenly priesthood, at his Father's right hand
in the heavenly glory. Their head is not insensible of their
wants, noB doth he disregard them ; the wrong that is done
you, he takes as done to himself. " Saul, Saul, why perse-
cutest thou me?" said he to one that trod upon his foot*.
And the good that is done to you, or denied to you by others,
he takes as done or denied to himself, as may be seen in
Matt. XXV. 40. 45. Surely then he doth not forget us,
though he be exalted to his glory. He is not like the poor
silly creatures, that cannot bear exaltation without being
puffed up, and forgetting themselves ; yea, their friends and
their God. No ; his exaltation is spiritual and heavenly,
perfecting his human nature to the greatest height that it is
capable of : he liveth in the face of God who is love ; nay,
into the personal union with the Godhead which is love,
hath he assumed our nature long ago ; he was never more
tender of Jerusalem, when he wept over them *»; or of his
people when he wept, and bled, and died for them, than he
is now of them in his glory. Though he caanot weep or
grieve now as he did on earth, yet he can love now as much
as ever he loved ; and therefore his eye is still upon our
wants, his heart is set upon us for our good, he looks down
from heaven upon every particular member ; he seeth that
this man wants this grace, and that man wants that, and the
other is in danger of this or that corruption or temptation ;
• Acu ix. i. ^ Luke zis. 41.
20(J TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
and he is daily carrying on the cure. It is he that sends this
minister and the other minister as his apothecaries, with his
medicines, and persuadeth you to take them for your good ;
it is he that directeth this or that affliction to be a purge for
some dangerous disease, when he seeth that easier means
prevail not. You see not your chief Physician, he standeth
out of your sight ; but he seeth you, and it is he that doth
all for you that is done : as he prepared a medicine of his
own blood to cure sick souls, while he was here upon earth,
so he is now continually applying it to them for their cure.
Do not think that all his love was shewed upon the cross,
or tftat all that he doth for you by his blood was then done ;
no : he is still pleading as it were that blood on your be-
half unto his Father, and offering the sacrifice for you again
in the holiest, which he once offered for you on the cross ;
and is there a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek*^.
And " because he continueth ever, he hath an unchangeable
priesthood ; wherefore he is able also to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he everliveth
to make intercession for them ^." " For as by his own blood
he entered once into the holy place, having obtained eter-
nal redemption : so shall this blood of Christ, who through
the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge
our consciences from dead works to serve the living God *."
For Christ " is not entered into the holy place made with
hands, which is the figure of the true, but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God, for us ^." For " after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever, he is sat down
on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his
(and our) enemies be made his footstool ; for by one offer-
ing he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified s."
So that we have a perfect high-priest that perfectly loveth
us, who is representing our case before his Father, and
pleading a perfect sacrifice for us ; and through him it is
that we ourselves have *'" boldness to enter into the holiest,
even by his blood, by the new and living way which he hath
consecrated for us, through the veil, even his flesh : for,
" having such an high-priest over the house of God, we may
draw near in full assurance of faith," if we have a " true heart
c Heb. viii. 1— 4. vil. S. 11. 15. ** Heb. vii. 24, ^5.
* Heb. ix. 11. 14. f Heb. ix. 24. e Heb. x. 12—14.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 207
sprinkled from an evil conscience, as our bodies are washed
with his baptismal water ^." O what an unspeakable com-
fort is this, to every truly converted soul ! The Son of God
is at prayer for thee. Christian. If thou think that God will
not hear thy own prayers ; no, nor hear the whole church's
prayers ; dost thou think he will hear his Son's prayers, or
not? The poor man that was born blind, could tell that
" God heareth not sinners," that is, unconverted sinners ; but
" if any man be a worshipper of God, and doth his will, him he
heareth '." How then can he choose but hear him that had
no sin ? and hear him that taketh away the sins of the
world? He that said, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well-pleased, hear him ;" will sure hear him himself, because
he is so. He telleth his Father, " I know that thou hearest
me always ^'" and it is not only his common intercession for
his common salvation, which he giveth to the world : for so,
when " he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered
among the transgressors, and bare the sins of many, he made
intercession for the transgressors ^'* And said, " Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do." And so he
procureth them a conditional pardon and salvation, with the
means and mercies that have a tendency thereto. But it is
the special intercession for that special grace which he com-
municateth to none but his living members. Read that ex-
cellent prayer, John xvii. which he putteth up to the Father
for his own, and remember that these requests are for you,
and that it is for all that shall believe in him through the
world that he thus intercedeth, verse 20. O what a com-
fort is it to a poor Christian, that in his greatest infirmities,
and deepest sense of unworthiness, he hath the beloved of
the Father to take his prayers and present them to God,
and to plead his cause more effectually than he can do his
own. What say you then to this, you that are yet in the
flesh, and unacquainted with the life of grace; would you
have a Saviour to speak for you to the Father? Yea, one
who hath all power in heaven and earth committed to him,
and "is able to save to the uttermost, all those that come
to God by him." O yield then speedily to converting
grace, and rest not till this work be wrought upon your
'• Heb. X. 19— «. « John ix. 31. k John xi. 4«.
> Isa. Iui.1%.
208 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
souls : this blessed state may be yours as well as other
men's, if you do not now neglect it and refuse it.
13. Another excellent benefit to the converted, is. That
God hath assured them that all things are theirs, and shall
work to their good. The promise is expressed, 2 Cor. iv. 15.
1 Cor. iii. 21. Rom. viii. 28. Not that they have a pro-
priety in other men's possessions in civil respects ; but
finally, other men, and their possessions, and all the world
are for their good. As the world at first was made for Adam
and his offspring, so is it redeemed from ruin for the second
Adam and his offspring, in a special manner ; the earthly
proprietors shall have it in possession, and many of them
not have a thousandth part of the benefit by it as others
that possess it not : the physician hath his skill in
his own profession : but the patient that is recovered by it,
may have more benefit by it than he that possesseth it : the
whole frame of heaven and earth are in perpetual motion for
the glory of the saints; are all conjoined by the overruling
Providence, and are carrying on the same design of God,
when they seem at the greatest odds among themselves.
When the instruments themselves are unacquainted with
their own employment, and know not what it is that they
are doing, yet God knoweth, who seeth and ruleth them all.
The business that God hath in hand is to build the heavenly
Jerusalem, to gather to himself the whole number of his
elect that are scattered through the world "^. And to make
them a city for his own habitation, and a people for his ever-
lasting praise : and the very persecutors of the church are
but now hewing them and squaring them, and fitting them
for the building : when God seeth us sick of a pleurisy, he
often useth the sword of an enemy to let us blood, which
shall as certainly do the cure as the tenderest hand. The
medicine knoweth not that it is healing a man's disease ;
the lancet knoweth not that it is saving a man's life by tak-
ing away his blood, but he that useth them knoweth what
he is doing. Herod and Pilate, and the people of the Jews
thought they had been securing their own seats, and the
liberty of their nation, by crucifying one that called himself
King of the Jews : they little knew that they were shedding
that blood that was to be a sacrifice for the sins of the world,
»" Matt. xxiv. SI. John xi. 52.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 209
and crucifying that flesh that was given for the life of the^
world ° : but God knew what he was doing by them : for,
they did nothing but what his counsel had determined should
come to pass °. Pharaoh thought he was securing his in-
terest ; but God knew he was getting himself glory, and his
people a wonderful deliverance by his obstinacy. And even
satan himself is as much overreached in his devices and en-
terprises against the saints as their earthly enemies are. He
is but exercising their graces, and driving them to Christ,
and honouring the power of his blood and Spirit eventually,
when he seeketh to devour them : his temptations do but
make them the more watchful : or if they fall, they rise with
the greater hatred of sin, and love to Christ, and thankful-
ness for his blood and pardoning grace, and renewed reso-
lution to walk more carefully for the time to come : O bles-
sed state, where all the world, both good and bad, both
friends and foes, both angels and devils are all carrying on
the work of our salvation, some with delight, and some un-
willingly, some with understanding, and some not knowing
what they do ! What a state of comfort hath that man,
that may be assured that whatsoever befalleth him,
shall be for his good, and that all things do work together
for the best ! I confess I have had myself so much comfort
from that one promise, Rom. viii. 28. that I would not have
been without it for a world. When I have had no particular
discovery of the tendency of a providence, and under afflic-
tion, and the appearance of death, have had nothing from
below to support me, that one promise hath appeared so full,
that I thought if there were no more, it might abundantly
supply my soul with consolation : what fear should we have
of want, or enemies, of sickness, or death, or any thing that
may be terrible to the flesh, as long as we know that all
things do but conspire to our salvation ? And though none of
the wheels in the chariot of providence should know which
way or whither they are moving themselves, yet do they all
serve to convey us to our glory ; it is a matter that is past
the belief of the carnal world, but it is a certain, sealed
truth, that when the persecutor is treading down and tor-
menting the poor, despised saints, it is the saint that is the
gainer, and all this is for his good, and his ignorant enemy
• John vi. 51. " Act* iv. 28.
VOL. VII. P
210 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
is scouring off his rust, and preparing him for his master's
use, and for his glory, and is himself the loser, and the mi-
serable wretch, when he is highest in his honour, and deep-
est in his cruelty, and proudest in his triumphs. Why poor
sinners, do not your hearts within you long to be partakers
of this blessed state ? Is it not worth all that you can do
or suffer, yea, worth ten thousand worlds, to be such an one
as I have now described to you ? Why, you may be such
if your own folly and neglect exclude you not, God hath not
shut you out of the promise ; O do not shut out yourselves
by refusing his converting grace.
14. Another most excellent benefit to the converted, is.
That they are past their greatest danger, and have done the
greatest business of their lives, and now are ready for death
and judgment, whensoever it shall come. Not that all dan-
ger is over, or all enemies yet overcome, or all their work
done, nor that they are yet perfectly ready to die ; but the
main work is done, and the main conquest of the enemy is
over, and the main danger is past, and in the main they are
prepared for their change. What had we to do here but to
prepare for glory, and in this short and troublesome life to
get interest in a better, that shall never end ? And with all
that are truly converted this is done : at the very hour that
God converted them, he made them his sons, he pardoned
their sins, and gave them right to everlasting glory : when
he gives you Christ, he gives you all things, or puts you
into a condition wherein you may well think he will give
you all things, Rom. viii. 32. O, happy day ! may that man
or woman say, as long as they live, when God did translate
them out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of
his dear Son ! Many keep their birth-days as a day of re-
joicing or feasting while they live, when Solomon saith,
" the day of death is better than the day of birth p." But
they that know the day of their new birth may well make
that a day of rejoicing while they live. Oh ! sirs, what a
blessed change doth that one day or hour make, when God
shall presently bring up the heart of a sinner to himself, and
join them truly to Jesus Christ, and forgive all the sins that
ever they did, and give them right to everlasting glory !
You are like a man that is pursued by his enemies, and as
P Eccles. vii. 1.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 211
soon as ever he can but get into such a castle or garrison,
he is safe : so, when you first get into Christ by a living, ef-
fectual faith, that very hour were you out of the reach of the
prevailing, commanding power of hell ; then was the strong
man cast out of your souls ; then were you brought from
under the curse of the law, and the wrath of God, If death
had found you one hour before that change, you had been
damned wretches in hell for ever : and if death should come
but one hour after that change, you will certainly be glori-
fied saints with Christ. This is true, sirs, how strange so-
ever it may seem to you : and the reason is at hand, because
that the hour before your conversion, you were the members
of satan, you were in the flesh, and had no saving interest
in Christ or in the promise : and the hour after true conver-
sion, you are members of Christ and children of the promise,
and have part in him who is Lord of all. I deny not but
you must still " watch and pray, that you enter not into
temptation ;" and for all the " promise that is left you of
entering into rest," you must ** fear lest you should seem to
come short of it ^i." And you must still stand on your guard
in all the spiritual armour, and work and fight out your sal-
vation, and quit yourselves like men to the end : but yet I
may well say that the main brunt is over ; the enemy is dis-
possessed of his chiefest hold ; he that ruled you is now cast
out, and though he be not quite under your feet, yet he
shortly will be : and your greatest business now is to keep
him out and to stand on your defence, and " keep that you
have, that none may take your crown from you ;" and to fol-
low on the conquered enemy, in the pursuit, till none re-
main : and to ** grow in grace, and perfect your holiness in
the fear of God," and cast out the remnants of your former
filthiness ^ Hearken, therefore, poor sinners, and as ever you
are friends to your own souls, neglect not that grace that
would bring you into this condition. Wduldyou not think
yourselves happy, if it were thus with you ?
15. Another most excellent benefit of the converted, is.
That they are the rightful heirs of everlasting glory, and as
soon as the soul is gone out of the body, they shall have
possession of it : and at the day of judgment they shall have
a blessed resurrection, and shall themselves be justified in
4 Heb. iv. 1 '9 Pet iii. ult. t Cor. v'tu 1. xiii. 9. Heb. vi. 1.
212 TREATISE OF IIONVERSION.
judgment, and also with Christ shall judge the world,
and so shall be fully possessed of that glory in soul and
body, and shall live in the everlasting praise of their Re-
deemer. Here are many particular benefits, which for bre-
vity I join together. (1.) They are now the heirs of e;lory,
for being the sons of God, they are co-heirs with Christ,
though they must follow him in sufferings, before they come
to the possession of their inheritance. " The Spirit wit-
nesseth with our spirits that we are the children of God ; and
if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with
Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be
glorified together *." Though now in our minority we differ
not from servants, yet "being sons we are heirs of all V
When moved with holy fear we prepare the ark, and hide
ourselves in Christ by faith, and become the heirs of the
righteousness of faith, even then also do we become heirs of
the end of that righteousness ". When we receive our in-
terest in the promise, that promise makes us heirs''. O,
brethren, that you could but conceive the greatness of this
blessedness, which even the poorest beggar in the world may
have that is rich in faith ; for even they " are heirs of that
kingdom which God hath promised to them that love him ^"
How certainly shall these be partakers of that glory, when
they " have finished their course, and fought the good
fight ^" For God hath " laid up a crown of salvation, for
all such as love his appearing." And it is conversion that
bringeth us into this blessed state, and the unconverted
have no part or fellowship in it. See Tit. iii. 4 — 7. " But
after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward
man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the wash-
ing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ; which
he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour :
that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life." So that it is conver-
sion that bringeth us into this happy condition : O, therefore,
bless God if you find he hath wrought this work upon your
souls. Yet be not careless for the time to come, but " let
every one of you shew the same diligence to the full assu-
» Rora. viii. 16, 17. ' Gal.iv. 1.7. " Heb. xi. 7.
» Gal. iii. 29. y Jame» ii. 5. ' » Tim. iv. 7, 8,
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 213
ranee of hope unto the end : that ye be not slothful, but
followers of them that through faith and patience inherit the
promise." And then doubt not, for God hath confirmed
your salvation by his oath. " For God being willing abun-
dantly to shew to the heirs of promise the immutability of
his counsel, confirmed it by an oath ;" saith the apostle,
" that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who
have fled for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before us,
which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and
stedfast, and which entereth into that which is within the
vail ; whither Jesus Christ the forerunner, is for us entered *."
(2.) Hereupon it follows that whensoever the righteous
die, their souls are conveyed by angels into that glory *».
And when they ** depart, they are with Christ ^." And when
they are '* absent from the body, they are present with the
Lord *^." Of which they may ** be confident as walking by
faith, and not by sight, and knowing that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of
God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ;"
and therefore may '* groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed
upon with our house which is from heaven *." And when
we die, we may say with Stephen, ** Lord Jesus receive my
spirit ^" And were our death as ignominious as the thieves
on the cross, yet that day should we be with Christ in para-
dise, Luke xxiii. 43. O blessed people that live in such a
case, so near the door of a more blessed life ! How can
you endure to be out of this condition of hope and peace,
one day or hour ? Oh ! that you did but know the blessed-
ness that you neglect.
(3.) But yet, this is not all, but the greatest part of the
blessedness remains till the day of judgment, and then there
are these four benefits to be received. 1. The righteous
shall have a blessed resurrection ; not the resurrection of
damnation, which will be the lot of all the rest ; but the re-
surrection of life, as Christ distinguisheth them, John v. 28,
29. The graves shall be no longer able to detain them, but
he that conquered death by his own resurrection, will by the
same divine power again overcome it by the resurrection of
» Heb. yi. 11, It. IT— tO. * Luke xvi. ««. * Phil. i. «3.
«» a Cor. V. 8. ' t Cor. v. 1—3. 6, 7. ' Acts vii. 59.
214 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
his people. And as his natural body hath already triumphed
over it, so shall his mystical body at that day : he that
made heaven and earth of nothing, will by the same al-
mightiness accomplish this : read 1 Cor. xv. throughout.
2. And being raised and brought to judgment, the next be-
nefit will be their final justification. They have now the
justification and pardon of the Gospel, and then they shall
have the final j ustification of the Judge. For he will give to
every man according to right, and his promise made this
their right through the blood of Christ. For, " there is no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit e." Whatsoever sin
can then be charged on them, they can answer all by shew-
ing the Gospel pardon in the blood of Christ, and if their
title be questioned, they can prove it by their faith and sin-
cere obedience. So all that repent and are converted, will
then '* have their sins blotted out, when that time of refresh-
ing shall come from the presence of the Lord •*." It is not
possible that Christ should condemn his own body and con-
demn those that have believed in him, and sincerely loved
him: so dear a friend, so tender-hearted a Saviour, that
hath bought us so dearly, and sanctified us and cleansed us,
and given us aright to that justification by his promise, can-
not possibly condemn us after all this. As certainly as
Christ himself is justified, and his promise true, and his love
unchangeable, so certainly shall all the converted be then
absolved. 3. And not only so, but also with Christ they
shall judge the world : for so is the plain word of promise,
1 Cor. vi. 2. Yea, they shall judge the angels themselves.
(4.) And lastly, they shall take possession of their glory ;
and enter into the joy of their Lord^ " Then shall the
righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Fa-
ther, when the wicked are cast into that furnace of fire,
where shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth''." " He that
hath ears to hear let him hear," saith Christ, when he had
spoken these words : and he that will not hear such things
as these, and regard them, will one day wish that he never
had ears, and never had a heart in his breast, or else that it
had been better.
Oh ! dear friends ! that I were but able to make you
s Rom. viii. l. h Actsiii. J 9. ' Matt. xxv. 21, 23, ^ Matt. xiii. 42, 43.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 215
know the difference between the righteBlis and the wicked
at that day. Surely I should not need then to say any more
to you to make you apprehensive of the necessity of conver-
sion, and to make haste to entertain that grace that is of-
fered you. If the crown of glory be worth seeking, then
must converting grace be sought : if an everlasting blessed-
ness with Christ and his holy angels be worth the having,
renewing grace is worth the having. Lift up your heads
then Christians, and rejoice in the hope that is set before
you. O bless the Lord that ever he brought you into the
kingdom of grace, which is but the beginning of the kingdom
of glory. As sure as your natural birth was your entrance
into this natural world, so sure was your new birth the en-
trance into a better world. For your life eternal was begun
when you began to have the saving knowledge of God, and
his Son Jesus Christ. He that hath given you the earnest
of his Spirit, and who *' hath sealed us with the holy Spirit
of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, till the
redemption of the purchased possession ^" will doubtless^
give us the inheritance itself. Fear not. Christian, the Lord
that hath promised will not deceive thee, for he never yet
deceived any. But as sure as the sun doth shine in the fir-
mament, so sure shalt thou live in the heavenly Jerusalem,
and be joined with the holy angels of God in his everlasting
praises, and then thou wilt better know than now thou canst
do, what God did for thee that day that he did convert thee.
I know it is the business of the enemy of thy salvation, if it
might be, to draw thee back into thy former state of death
and darkness ; and when he cannot do that, to rob thee at
least of the comfort of thy felicity, that thou mightest doubt,
and fear, and live in perplexity, as if thou wert not the heir
of glory. Because as he is loath to be tormented before the
time, so is he loath that thou shouldst be comforted before
the time ; but do not thou believe him ; suffer him not to
hide thy blessedness from thine eyes ; O, remember it can-
not be loved, if it be not believed; thou wilt lose thy joy
and God his praise, if the tempter prevail with thee to deny
thy mercy. Believe then, and give God the glory by
believing.
16. Another of the blessings of a converted man, is. That
• % Cor. i. St. V. 5.
216 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
new life which he hath begun, is a life of health, and peace,
and comfort, and the very beginning of his everlasting peace
and life ; and the more he hath of it, the more happy will his
life be. It is not only our suffering that is the way to reign-
ing, and our tribulation by which we must enter into the
kingdom of God ; but we have also peace the way to peace,
and life the way to life, and joy the way to joy and glory.
Our tribulation and sufferings are but some accidental atten-
dants of this our militant state; but the life itself consists of
other kind of matter. How blessed a life is it to live in so
near a relation to God, as is above mentioned ! And how
pleasant a thing is the believing exercise of his graces ! O
how sweet is it to live here in any lively beginnings of the
love of God ! How pleasant is it to know that we are be-
loved of him ! How sweet is it to draw near to him, and
plead our cause with him in faith, and to call him Father in
confidence through Christ ! How sweet is it to live under
the power of his ordinances, when by his Spirit he blesseth
them to our souls ! What a joy is it believingly to think
beforehand of their eternal blessedness ! And what comfort-
able communion have the people of God together, and what
good doth it do them to hear and speak of the glory that
they shall possess ! O poor deceived sinners, that think the
way of the Lord to be so grievous, and fly from it, as if it
were an insufferable toil. Did you but know the safety and
the comfort which the life of godliness doth afford, you
would be of another mind, and take another course than you
do. I do profess to you all in the name of the Lord, that
you will never have a safe, nor truly peaceable and comfort- .
able life, till you are converted, and live a spiritual and hea-
venly life. The joy of the world is sorrow in comparison of
that which you might have from Christ. The laughter of a
fool doth not so much differ from the highest content of the
greatest prince on earth, as your carnal mirth and peace doth
differ from that which is fetched by true faith from the face
of God, and the life to come. You fly from godliness for
fear of sorrow and trouble, and I tell you it is joy and peace
that you fly from, and sorrow and trouble that you continue
in, and that you are preparing for. Believe the Lord Jesus
himself, if you will not believe those that have tried. "Come
unto me all you that are weary and heavy-laden, and 1 will
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 217
give you rest ; take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for
I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your
souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light "*."
" For this is the love of God, that we keep his command-
ments, and his commandments are not grievous °." ** Being
justified by faith we have peace with God, through our Lord
Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith unto
this grace, wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the
glory of God : and not only so, but we glory in tribulation °."
" Whom not having seen, ye love ; though now you see him
not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation
of your souls p." " We are the circumcision that worship
God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh "i/* " Rejoice evermore ^" " Rejoice
in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice ^" " Rejoice in
the Lord, ye righteous, for praise is comely for the upright*.*'
" Ye that love the Lord, hate evil ; he preserveth the souls
of his saints, he delivereth them out of the hand of the wick-
ed. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the
upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous, and
shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart"."
What say you to all this now ? Is it a life of trouble and
misery that God hath prescribed for his people to live in ?
Is this a burdensome, grievous life ? Will you not believe
him, concerning his own way ? I tell you again, and declare
to you from the Lord, that you shall never have any true
peace and comfort till you are converted, and lead a holy
life. And you that say you shall never have a merry day
more, if you leave your sins, and give up yourselves to a life
of holiness, I do profess and proclaim to you, that you shall
never have a merry life indeed till you do it : I mean, you
shall never have that solid and lasting joy, which beseemeth
a man of wisdom to regard. Believe the Lord himself that
hath told you it twice over ; Isa xlviii. 32., " There is no
peace saith the Lord to the wicked ;" Isa. li. 21., " There is
no peace saith my God to the wicked.** " The way of peace
they know not, there is no judgment in their goings ; they
"> Matt, xl 27, <8. » 1 John ▼. 3. « Rom. v. 1— S.
P 1 Pet. L 8, 9. t Phil. ill. 3. ' 1 Thcb». v 16.
* Phil. iv.4. ' Psal. xxxiii. 1. • Psal. \xxix. 10—12.
218 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
have made them crooked paths ; whosoever goeth therein,
shall not know peace''." I confess, a carnal peace you may
awhile maintain, and for a time may have a merry dream, but
the day is near, when you will have a terrible awakening. And
you may think that the godly have no such joy, because you
see it not, or because you see them sad and heavy: but their
" joy is such as strangers meddle not with." I know the righ-
teous have many troubles, and are oftener in tears and groans
than others; but that is from the remnants of their sins, which
as it consisteth with prevailing grace, so doth that sorrow with
prevailing joy, or may do at least. A dead man groaneth not,
when a sick man doth : and yet that is no disparagement to life.
What is sweeter than life? and yet sickness may make it
grievous ; but we do not therefore prefer death before life,
because some are sick : so what is sweeter than the life of
grace ? and yet spiritual sickness may make us walk heavily,
and yet we do not therefore prefer a death in sin before it.
O come and try, sinners, the pleasures that be in the ways
of God, and do not for shame speak against them, till you
have thoroughly tried them. The Lord himself doth testify
of them, Prov. iii. 13. xxi.20. " Happy is the man that find-
eth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding ; for
the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver,
and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious
than rubies : all the things thou canst desire are not to be
compared to her. Length of days is in her right hand, and
in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of
pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of
life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is every one
that retaineth her." You see then that conversion is the be-
ginning of consolation.
17. Another of the privileges of the converted, is this;
As he hath cause of continual joy, so no evil that can befal
him, is a sufficient reason to lay by these joys, as to the ha-
bit at least, and the prevailing degree. I know that so far
as we have sin, we may, we shall, we must have sorrow : but
then, so far as we have that sin pardoned and mortified, we
may, we should have greater joy. And because a converted
man hath no unmortified, unpardoned sin, therefore his cause
of joy is greater than his cause of sorrow. Though yet
5^ Isa. lix. 8.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 219
I must say, that there are seasons when sorrow must
be most expressed, as in days of humiliation, and in great
falls, and in some afflictions; yet habitually then our
joy should be the greater, though it be not the season to
express it. But my special meaning here is about the
eril of affliction, which is sanctified to the godly, and hath
lost its sting, and is turned by a hand of grace to their ad-
vantage. Should not that man live in continual joy, that is
the heir of heaven, and a friend of God, and a member of
Christ, and doth but wait for the hour of death to be pos-
sessed of that unspeakable, endless glory ? What should
trouble the heart of him that is escaped out of the power of
satan, and the greatest trouble, which is the wrath of God,
and the danger of everlasting misery? That which may
torment the heart of another day and night, even the thoughts
of the endless flames of hell; this is not only taken out of
his way, but turned into the matter of his joy and praise, to
think but of the fearful misery that he hath escaped. O
what heart that hath received a pardon of all sins, and is saved
thereby from the everlasting torments, can choose but daily
rejoice in that salvation? Would not a Judas have been
glad, while he was hanging himself in despair, if any one
would have given him assurance, yea, or but hope of that
salvation? Go to any despairing sinner, or any one under
the terrors of the Lord, and ask them whether or no they
would be glad if they could but be assured that they should
escape that misery which they fear? You need not doubt
what answer they would give you. They would be glad,
and a thousand times glad ; much more if you could assure
them of an everlasting glory, instead of that deserved misery.
O then, what a blessed state are all those in that are truly
converted ! How many times doth the mouth of Christ pro-
nounce them blessed ! " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
their's is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled . Bless-
ed are they that are persecuted for righteousness^ "sake, for
their's is the kingdom of God ^** What case soever that
man be in that is the heir of heaven, he cannot choose but
be a blessed man. If any thing might make him seem mi-
serable, it would be to be persecuted and hated, and made
y MiitU V. 3. 6 8. 10.
220 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
the scorn of the world ; and yet Christ saith, that even then
he is blessed ; and biddeth them even then ** rejoice and be
exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven ; for so
persecuted they the prophets that were before you." That
man that hath a reward in heaven, may be exceeding glad,
whatsoever befal him here on earth. Will a prince be trou-
bled for the loss of a farthing, or the barking of a dog ? That
man that hath not clothes to his back, nor a house to put his
head in, nor a good word from any about him, and yet hath
assurance of living in glory with God and his holy angels, as
soon as ever he is gone out of the flesh, I think is a happy
man in the eye of reason itself. And he that professeth to
have assurance of such a glory, and yetliveth not comforta-
bly in every condition, I will not believe him, whatsoever
he profess. Sure I am the great monarchs and princes of
the world, when they are parting with their crowns, would
be glad to have assurance of the everlasting crown, on con-
dition they had lived as poor as the vilest beggar on the
earth. There is not the stoutest gallant and proudest sinner
but would be glad to change states with the poorest saint,
when he seeth the end. O, but they must be wise in time,
that will be ever the better for their wisdom. Balaam could
say, " O that I may die the death of the righteous, and that
my last end may be like his ^." All the world would say at
last as the foolish virgins, if it would do any good, ** Give
us of your oil, for our lamps are out*." Who would not be
a saint, when he is past the pleasure of his sin, and cast off
by the world, which deceived him in his prosperity ?
Methinks the greatest men on earth should tremble in
the midst of all their glory, to remember the everlasting
misery that they are near, if they be not living members of
Christ, as Belshazzar did in the midst of his joviality ''.
And methinks the poorest true believer should have his
heart abound with joy, to remember the things that God
hath promised him, and which he must certainly ere long
possess. O think not what you are. Christians, but what
you shali be. Yet a little while, and you shall groan, and
weep, and complain no more : you shall not know what po-
verty, or trouble, or any other sufferings do mean. You are
almost past all your sorrow, as the unconverted are almost
* Nurab. xxiii. 10. * Malt. xxv. 8. ** Dan, v. 6.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 221
past their joy. O what difference is between their part and
yours; between the good things which they have here, and
the portion which you have there ! Is it not better go by
the dunghill to the everlasting crown, than by a fading crown
to everlasting torments ? They will forget their honour and
delicious fare, when they want a drop of water to cool their
tongues ; and you will forget your present sorrow, when
you are in Abraham's bosom, or in the presence of the Lamb.
If one day in the courts of God on earth seemed better to
David than a thousand elsewhere, what will an endless life
in glory seem to a believing soul ? O sirs, we want nothing
but soundness of faith, and spiritual life and seriousness to
make our hearts to leap within us, and to make our lives a
foretaste of heaven, and to make us pity poor worldlings in
the height of their vain-glory. What should be a terror to
that man that hath overcome the prince of terrors ? That
hath God on his side, that hath a promise of everlasting life,
and that hath evidence to shew for his interest in the pro-
mise, and a lively faith to improve it, and live upon it? Me-
thinks if the devils should appear to him in his way ; if they
should walk before him in the ugliest shape, he should but
look upon them as conquered miscreants. Methinks if he
were passing by death from this world, it would be a joyful
hour to him, that is presently to step into a world of glory.
And now, dearly beloved neighbours and friends, I beseech
you for the Lord's sake, hear these things, as men that be-
lieve the word of God. Is it not a thousand pities, that
God should offer you such consolations as these, and you
refuse them ? Is it not a thousand follies that you should
neglect such a blessed state as this, when it is set before
you ? God hath made you for high and excellent things,
even to live with angels in the heavens in glory. Yield but
to the work of converting grace, and see that Christ be form-
ed in you once, and all is yours. These things are far off
you, and out of sight, and therefore seem strange to flesh
and blood, and carnal hearts will not believe them ; but they
are true as the living God is true. The souls of all the con-
verted that are dead in Christ from the beginning to this
day, are now in the possession of that glory that I am speak-
ing of. They see it, though we do not ; and we shall see it,
if unbelief and neglect do not hinder us: believing is the
222 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
only way to seeing and possessing. I told you before what
a miserable case it is that every unconverted sinner is in,
that he is not sure to be safe an hour ; and would you not
be out of that state ? Would it not be a blessed state for
you to be sure that you shall live with Christ an endless
life ? Then you may challenge death with Paul, ** O death
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory ''?"
Then you may challenge all the world, even earth and hell,
as he did. " If God be for us, who shall be against us? It
is God that justifieth, who shall condemn? Who shall se-
parate us from the love of God ? Shall life or death, ^ V^ &c.
I do here proclaim to you in the name of the Lord, that you
may have this blessedness if you will be converted, and that
without conversion it will never be had. Get once into
this state, and you may have cause to joy as long as you
live, and far greater cause when your present life is ended.
I tell you, a true converted man is never in so sad or low a
case, but still he hath more matter for his joy than for his
sorrow. O therefore do not set light by such a happiness,
and choose not to yourselves a life of terror, when you may
have better if you will.
18. Another great benefit of the converted, is this ; The
longer they go on, and the further they proceed, the greater
will be their felicity : the case of the wicked, is, the longer
the worse ; but the case of the converted, is, the longer the
better : when a wicked man hath had the sweetness, it may
kill his heart to think what a bitter cup is kept for the last :
but when the godly have had the bitterest here, it may
sweeten all to think of what remaineth. If a wicked man
should have never so much trouble in the flesh, there is
another kind of trouble to be endured hereafter : the worst
of their condition is still behind ; but the best is still behind
with the converted : you shall have what is good for you
here ; you shall have pardon of sin, and peace with God
through Jesus Christ, and access to him in peace, when
other men are shut out; and help in your distress, and
strength in your temptation : but all this is as nothing in
comparison of that which is yet to come. You know partly
what you have, but you know not what you shall be, but
only in general, that when Christ appeareth, you shall be
" 1 Cor. XV. 55. '1 Rom. viil. 31.33. 38.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 223
like him*. Your glory is not within the sight of flesh and
blood. You walk here as other men in the same frail flesh,
and compassed with infirmities, and as men of sorrows ; and
the world knoweth not that you are the children of the God
of heaven, and that you shall reign with him in glory : for
the heir in his minority differeth not to outward appearance
from a servant^; but yet by right he is lord of all : no won-
der if it be thus with you, for so it was with your head the
Lord of all : he was found in shape as a man, and there ap-
peared no worldly glory or comeliness in him, for which he
should be desired, but was despised, and became a man of
sorrows, bearing our iniquity, and the chastisement of our
peace «. But he that was, among men, of no reputation,
was worshipped by angels, and dearly beloved by the Father,
and for his humiliation is highly exalted, and hath a name
given him above every name, and hath seen of the travail of
his soul, and been satisfied ^. And so it is also in their
measure with his members ; for if you suffer with him, you
shall also reign with him ; and if you be made conformable
to him in his death, so shall you also be in his resurrection
and glorification \ Though your way to heaven may seem
uneven and troublesome, yet still the further you go, the
nearer you are to it ; and though sometimes you must pass
through the valley of the shadow of death, where the place
of your happiness may seem out of sight, yet still you are
going on towards it ; and the foul way as well as the fair, is
the way to heaven, and the waves and storms shall help you
to the harbour. Though you be delivered to death for
Jesus' sake, it is that the life of Jesus might be manifested
in you. And though you always bear about in the body,
the dying of the Lord Jeeus, it is that his life may be mani-
fested in your bodies ^. " For we know that he which
raised up the Lord Jesus, will also raise us up by Jesus ; for
which cause we faint not ; for though our outward man pe-
rish, yet our inward man is renewed day by day : for our
light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ; while we
look not at the things that are seen, but at the thin^ that
e John iii. t. ' Gal. i». 1. c Phil. ii. 7, 8. I»u. liii. «— 4.
h Phil. ii. 7.9, 10. In. liii. 11, tt.
> Rom. vliu 17. vi. S. Phil. iii. 10,11. i" t Cor. 10, 11.
224 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
are not seen ; for the things which are seen are temporal,
but the things which are not seen are eternaP." Great
cause therefore have we to " groan earnestly, desiring to be
clothed with our house, which is from heaven, that immor-
tality may be swallowed up of life "\" As Christ was nearer
his glory on the cross, and in the grave than before, when
no man laid hands on him ; so are his members in the last of
their afflictions : for though the last enemy, death, must yet
be encountered with, yet he also shall be overcome through
the strength of him that hath conquered him for us ; and
who through death destroyed him that had the power of
death ".
O sirs, if there were but this one thing to shew you the
difference between a converted and an unconverted state,
methinks it should sink down into your hearts, that the last
day of the ungodly is still the worst, because that all endeth
in their eternal misery ; and the last state of converted souls
is still the best, because all will end in everlasting glory.
Careless sinners do seem to have some merry days for
awhile ; but O, how will they answer that question of Peter's,
" Judgment must begin at the house of God : and if it first
begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the
Gospel of God ? And if the righteous scarcely be saved,
where shall the ungodly and the sinners appear ° ?" " Their
ways do now seem right in their own eyes, but the end
thereof are the ways of death p." " O that they were wise
to consider this, and that they would remember their latter
end''." The not considering of their end, is the cause that
it proveth so miserable ^ But the end of a believing, holy
life is another kind of end. '* Mark the upright man, and
behold the just, for the end of that man is peace. But
transgressors shall be destroyed together ; the end of the
wicked shall be cut ofF^" " For eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man, what God
hath prepared for them that love him*." And this end is
not far off: we have but a little while to wait, and we shall
see the Lord upon the throne of his glory, and see the ac-
complishment of his promise to his saints. *' For yet a lit-
* 2 Cor. iv. 14. 16 — 18. ™ 2 Cor. v. 2. 4. 7. " Heb. ii. 14.
« 1 Pet.iv. 17, 18. V Prov. xiv. 12. xvi. 25. "J Deut. xxxii. 29.
r Isa. xItu. 7. Lam. i. 9. • Psal.vii. 37, 38. ' 1 Cor. 11.9.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 225
tie while, and he that cometh will come, and will not tarry ".*'
It is many ages since the apostle said, ** the end of all things
is at hand "." *' Seeing therefore all things shall be dissol-
ved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy
conversation and godliness y." O therefore yield to that
grace that would convert you. Conversion is the first gate,
and an holy life the way to heaven. Though this gate be
strait, and this way be narrow, and few find it, yet the end
is it that will pay for all : as ever you would have this bles-
sed end, see that you make this happy beginning.
19. Yet this is not all ; but besides all these benefits to
yourselves. Conversion will make you useful to others : it
will make you become a blessing to the place where you
live : as a wicked man hath a curse upon him, so usually he
is a curse to others ; and judgments many times follow him,
and those about him may fare the worse for his sake. And
as a true Christian hath a heart full of the blessing of God's
right hand, and is himself a blessed man, so is he usually a
blessing to others, and many fare the better for his sake.
As you may see in the case of Joseph, Gen. xxxix. 3. 5.
While you are ignorant and ungodly, what are you but hin-
derers of other men's salvation ; and temptations to those
about you? But when God hath illuminated you, and
changed your hearts, you will be forward to do good to
others, and to help them to that life and hope, which you
have received. If they want instruction, you will be more
able to instruct them : if they are ignorant or careless, you
will have some words to say to them for the awakening of
their souls : if they be in danger, you can tell them of it ;
and you can go to God, and pray for them in their distress :
you have a spirit of prayer which you had not before ; and
you have interest in God, which you had not before, and
therefore you may speed better for others, though not so
certainly as for yourselves. I tell you, sinners, the stoutest
of you all may be glad of the fellowship of a godly man, if
it be but for the benefit of his prayers. Jeroboam that did
stretch forth his hand against the prophet, was glad to beg
his prayers, for the restoring of that hand *. And Simon
Magus was glad to crave the prayer of Peter '. A few more
Heb. I. Sr. t Pet. W. 7. » t Pet. lii. It.
» I King* xiii. 6. ' AcU vUl. t4.
VOL. VII. Q
226 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
such as Lot was, might have saved Sodom from the flames,
when his ungodly neighbours were the cause of that heavy
judgment. You are made the fitter for to do God's service,
when you are converted, for that is it that maketh you his
servants ; this is it that bendeth your hearts and thoughts
to God, and causeth you to devote yourselves, and all that
you have to him, and therefore you can never do him accep-
table service till this work be wrought. That is the most
happy and honourable nation, that hath most of these con-
verted people in it. Let the world think of them as basely
as they please, it is these that are the honour and safety of
your country, and of your towns and parishes, and of the
families where they live. If England be any better than the
nations of infidels, it is by the godly. If the Lord would
make this town to abound more with true converts and god-
liness than any other, I dare say, it would be a happier
town than any other. I tell you that is the best place where
there is most of the fear of God ; that is the best family in
the town that hath most true converted persons in it ; or
where those that are, are the most eminentin holiness. Were
there but such hearts within you, that you would all agree
together to yield to the saving work of the Gospel, and set
yourselves in good earnest to the work of your salvation,
this would make you the happiest, the most honourable
place in the world. Every good man is a common good:
their light shines abroad to others, and such light will not
be hid : the heat of their graces doth help to warm others,
and happy are they that live near them, and have but the
opportunity of conversing with them, so they have but
hearts to improve such opportunities.
20. If all this be not enough to shew you the blessedness
of the truly converted ; consider in the last place. That it is
not only to themselves, nor only to the world about them,
that the comfort doth redound, but the heavenly host of God
do in some sort partake of it. For the Lord Jesus telleth
us, ** there is joy in heaven at the conversion of a sinner that
repenteth^. Hearken to this all you that live a worldly,
fleshly life; it would be the very joy of angels to see your
true conversion ; and will you rob them of their joy ? They
know what good this change would do you, when you do
'' Lykexv. 10,
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 227
not know it ; and therefore they have compassion of you in
your misery, and it would rejoice them to see your recovery.
O that you did believe this, and that you did consider it.
Can you find in your hearts to stand out any longer, when
you consider how many would be glad of your conversion?
Turn then, O turn to Christ poor sinners, and make glad the
very angels of God by your returning.
Yea, more than so. 2. The Son of God himself would
rejoice at your conversion. For the recovery of sinners is
the fruit of his blood ; and when he " seeth the travail of his
soul, he will be satisfied." He that came into the wilderness
of this world to seek such lost and scattered sheep, doth
bring them home with joy, when he findeth them*". " He
came to seek, and save that which is losf^." " He came not
to condemn the world, but that the world through him might
be saved *." Though he must and will condemn them, if they
reject his salvation. Nothing pleaseth him better than the
conversion and salvation of straying souls : or else he would
never have done so much to accomplish it as he hath done.
He would never have sent abroad the doctrine of salvation,
and established a ministry in the church to that end, if a
returning sinner were not his delight. O that you knew,
sirs, how welcome you would be to Christ after all the wrong
that you have done him, if you would but speedily and
heartily return. Those arms that were nailed open upon the
cross, are still ready to embrace a returning soul. He that
had tears to weep over his enemies in their obstinacy ^ hath
joy for them that return from their impenitency. He that
would have gathered Jerusalem, as a hen gathereth her chick-
ens under her wing, if they would have been gathered S doth
shew what kind and tender welcome repenting sinners should
find with him. If you had but hearts to repent, you would
find that Christ hath a heart to receive you. I have for-
merly told you how tenderly he would meet a poor sinner
half way, and fall upon his neck, and comfort his broken
heart, and forget his miscarriages, and never hit him in the
teeth with his sin ; as the father did by the returning prodi-
gal •*. If you did but know the worth of Christ's embrace-
ments, and tender love that he hath to shew toward you, you
< Luke XT. ' Lake xix. 10. * John fil. 17.
' Luke xix. 41. > Matt, sxiii. 97. *" Luke xv.
228 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
could not find in your heart to stand out so long. You
would rather be in your Saviour's arms, than among the
swine where you have nothing but the husks. Can you find
in your hearts to delay your return, and to despise this love?
In the name of God take heed what you do ; for I must tell
you, if you are so barbarous, and will so abuse that grace
that would save you, you will find that he hath wrath as well
as grace ; and the Lamb of God is a lion to his enemies, and
will slay those without mercy, that would not have him rule
over them, nor accept of his mercy '. Abuse not mercy too
much, lest it turn to unavoidable indignation. For '* our
God is also a consuming fire •"." And " if his wrath be kin-
dled, yea, but a little, then blessed are they that put their
trust in him." Then blessed are they that were converted by
his grace, for only they shall be saved from his burning in-
dignation, and be made partakers of the kingdom of his
glory.
By this time you may see, if you be not wilfully blinded,
that when we persuade you to be converted, we are not
drawing you into a miserable life ; and that it is no ill bar-
gain, which we offer you from the Lord. If I had nothing
to plead with you, but the danger of damnation, I might
justly expect you should believe and tremble, and yield such
obedience as fear alone can cause. But I could not expect
that you should receive it with love, nor yield the delightful
obedience of the saints. But now you may see that we
move you, not to your loss. I dare say I have shewn you
enough to win the heart of any man that is not obstinately
blind and wicked. If you would be rich, I have shewed
you the only riches ; if you would be honourable, it is only
conversion that can make you so ; if you would have plea-
sure, I have shewed you the way to pleasure,and how you may
be possessed even of your Master's joy. In a word, if you
would be happy, I have shewed you the only way to happi-
ness ; a life of peace and safety hath been offered you ; a
life of honour and pleasure hath been offered you ; and re-
member that it was offered you. If you refuse it, remember
you might have been happy if you would. You might have
lived with the image of God upon your souls, and the Holy
Ghost within you, and the everlasting kingdom a little be-
» Luke xix. 27. ^ Heb. xii. 29.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 229
fore you, and with the eye of faith upon the promise of it in
the word, and the eye of hope upon the glory that is pro-
mised. With the love of God in your hearts, now breathing
after him in holy desires, which, when you have reached
him, and are come to him, will turn into those endless and
inconceivable enjoyments. You might have lived here in
the spiritual communion of the saints, in the spiritual and
fruitful use of God's ordinances, the chariots to convey your
souls to life, and that glass in which you may see the Lord ;
you might have been much freed from the terrible gripes of
conscience which the guilty feel, or certainly shall feel ; and
secured from that sin that " lieth at the door *," and from all
the everlasting misery that now waiteth for you. In a word,
instead of a life of brutish sensuality and folly, and slavery
to satan, and preparation to eternal torment, you were offer-
ed that life which consisteth in " righteousness, and peace,
and joy in the Holy Ghost "". Beloved hearers, I now be-
seech you, in the name of the Lord, that you would not wil-
fully refuse to be happy ; and that you would not neglect
so great salvation. Our office obligeth us to invite you, and
to be earnest with you ; and O that we were able even to
compel you to come in ". The nature of Christian charity
obligeth us to desire that you might partake of that felicity
that is offered you. We know that you may live everlast-
ingly in glory, if you prefer not the world and your flesh
before it. Through the great mercy of God, we have tasted
somewhat of this felicity ourselves, and cannot choose but
wish that you might be companions of our joy. Methinks
I should be of so much credit with you myself, as that you
should take my word in a matter that I have tried. Why, if
you will take my word, sirs, I do profess to you before the
Searcher of hearts, that the safety and peace, and comfort of
a converted state, is such, that I would not be without it for
all the world. Shall I say, I would not change it for a life
of drunkenness, or filthiness, or fleshly pleasure, or for all
the gains of a covetous worldling ? 1 am ashamed of the
comparison. As bad as we know our own hearts to be, I
will confidently say, through the grace of God, if the king-
doms of the world were oflered us in exchange, we should
scorn them, and tread them under foot. I give you my word
> Gen. if. 7. " Rom. ut. 17. • Luke il?. 29.
1^30 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
and experience, but to persuade you to come near and try.
But, alas ! if you will not believe God, how can I expect my
words should be believed. O that you would but come and
try, and when you have tried the way of holiness, but a
quarter as much as you have done the ways of the world and .
the flesh, then if you like it not, take your course. If you
find by experience that the way of sin is safer and better,
when you have tried both, then turn back again and spare
not ; I would trouble you no more, would you but come and
try ; it is all that I now desire of you. But to think hardly
of a state that you never tried ; to draw back from a life that
you never tried ; this is not equal dealing with God, nor im-
partial faithful dealing for your souls. I know some that
have forborne some outward sins awhile, and stepped into
an outward profession, and into the company of the godly,
have fallen back again. But if you will but try the inward
nature, and spiritual life of a saint ; the love, the trust, the
,zeal, the joy, the endeavours, and the hopes of a saint, then
judge and spare not, as experience shall direct you, and for-
sake God if you really find that the flesh and the world are
better. Remember what I say to you. It will leave you
unexcusable, and be the confusion of your faces, when you
shall answer this another day, that when your everlasting
joy or torment did lie upon it, you would not be persuaded
by all that we could say, so much as to leave your sins
awhile, and come and make trial of a godly life. O wretches !
you will one day be ready to eat your own hearts, to think
that you refused, and wilfully refused, and impenitently and
obstinately refused, so fair, so necessary, so good a motion.
CHAPTER VI.
Use of Exhortation.
Beloved hearers, I am not come hither to-day of my own
head, nor in my own name, nor on my own business ; but in
the name of Christ, and on the business of your salvation.
I know this great assembly will be all very shortly in ano-
ther world, and we shall meet ere long in a far greater as-
sembly at the day of Christ's judgment, which will be upon
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 231
US for all the seeming delay, before the careless world i»
aware. That you may be ready for that day, and stand with
boldness before the Judge, when the unconverted world
stands trembling and amazed, as overwhelmed with the un-
expected terrors of the Lord, this is the business that I come
hither about to day; no less, no lower business than this.
That I have not trifled with you, and filled your ears with
witty toys and strange matters, I hope you will easily par-
don me, when you have considered your condition, and the
business of our office. I hate that preaching that passeth
over the one thing necessary, and only tickleth the ears of
miserable men, when it should endeavour their relief. If
the town were on fire, it were no commendable matter to be
fiddling and dancing, when you should quench it. If 1 saw
you but sinking in a broken vessel, and ready to drown, if
you had not help, it would seem no part of wisdom to me to
make a learned oration to you, when I should be helping you
out of present danger. I must tell you, therefore, that I
came not hither only to talk to you, that you might go home
and say, you had heard a fine or a learned sermon ; but I
come to help you out of the misery of an unconverted state.
I see the gulf of remediless destruction is a little before you,
and I come to require you in the name of the Lord to make
a stand, and go no further in the way of wickedness: but
look about you and consider your way, and presently re-
turn. Have you been ignorant, inconsiderate worldlings,
and forgotten that God that should have had your hearts,
and forgotten the life where you must live for ever ? Be
awakened then, and look before you ; lift up the eye of
faith, and see that joy or torment that is even at hand. Have
you lived to the flesh, as if you had nothing but it to care
for? and thought it more ado than needs to provide forever-
lastingness ? In a word, have your hearts been set more on
this life, than on that to come ? and on the things below, than
on God above ? If this be so, flatter not yourselves in vain
hopes. Delay not a day longer, but presently return from
that condition. Believe the word of God, it will else be
thy undoing. " For if you live after the flesh, ye shall
die ".'' " For they that are far from thee shall perish ; but
it is good for me to draw nigh to God **." " Where your
> Rom. vUL IS. ^ PmI. luui. tf.
232 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
treasure is, there will your hearts be also *=." What say you,
sirs, will you return to God from the lusts of the flesh, and
the love of this world, and a lazy, careless, ungodly life, or
will you not? Will you justify yourselves no longer in a
state of death, nor excuse, nor befriend the sins that have
endangered you, but yield to the converting work of the
Spirit, and strive not against that grace that would recover
you? I pray you give me not the bare hearing, but let
your'hearts make answer, aye or no. Will you return and
be converted, or will you not? Dare any of you say, no ?
I hope you dare not. But it is next to saying no, if your
hearts say nothing. Tell me not of your cold wishes and
purposes, and you hope you shall. A thousand such faint
and heartless meanings have left souls to perish in endless
misery. It is resolution, strong resolution, and present re-
solution that you must have, and that God expects. What
say you? Are you resolved to return, or are you not?
Take heed what you say, for God is here present and seeth
your hearts. Do not halt between two opinions; but if
Baal be God follow him ; if the flesh and the world be God,
and will make you happy, follow them; but if the Lord be God,
follow him ^. Do not put me off with to-morrow, or some-
time hereafter, as if it were not yet time, or you could not
spare your sin, as yet. No resolution is sincere, but present
resolution : he that would keep his sins a day longer, would
keep Ahem a year, and seven years, and for ever if he might.
He that would not close with Christ to-day, would never do
it by his good will. No man loveth God, that longeth not
presently to be such as God would have him be. Again, there-
fore, I ask you, are you resolved presently to return, or not?
This is the business I come hither upon, and I do not mean
to go away thus, till I have my errand, unless you say me
shameful nay ; I am resolved to leave you better or worse,
either converted, or more inexcusable than you were before,
and to say that which shall be a witness against you,if it con-
vert you not. And here, first, if you be not yet resolved, I
shall desire that you will soberly answer me these few ques-
tions following :
Quest, I. What do you think had come of you, if God
had cut you off" by death all this while before you were con-
« Matt. vi. 21. d 1 Kings xviii. 21.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 233
verted ? Where do you think you should have been this
very hour, if death had found you in an unconverted state ?
Do you not know ? Why, doth not my text tell you ? Will
not you believe Jesus Christ? I know, if you do not, you
had been as sure in hell, as you are now on earth. Oh !
sirs, how many a fair advantage hath God had against you !
He could have killed you with one frown ; with a bit of bread,
with a draught of drink, by the turning of a hand, by the
slipping of a foot, by the stumbling of a horse ; besides
many hundred diseases that would have opened the door,
or rather have broken down your dusty cottages, and let out
your guilty, unprepared souls into another world. Oh ! you
cannot now apprehend what a dreadful thing it is for an un-
changed soul to appear before the Holy God ! Doth it not
sometimes amaze the best to think what a change it is that
death makes? And what it is for a man that hath lived
among mortals on earth, to find himself in a moment among
angels and other spirits ? How much more should the
thoughts of a more lamentable change amaze the uncon-
verted ? It is only, or chiefly some doubts, and some
strangeness to that heavenly place, that amazeth the godly ;
which will all be dispelled at the twink of an eye, by that
joy and glory that they shall find themselves possessed of.
But it is another kind of matter, even the everlasting misery
that should amaze the wicked. O, dear friends, what a case
had you been in, if you had died before conversion ? Your
hearts are not able to conceive of the thousandth part of the
misery that you would have been in. And have you lived
all this while in so much danger, and will you live in it still?
God forbid. Hath a wonder of mercy kept you out of hell
80 long, and will you loiter yet longer in the old condition?
Methinks I look upon you as imitating Lot, when he was
called out of Sodom • ; that after he had been warned by the
angel to get away out of Sodom with all that he had, as he
loved his life ; yet sons and daughters, or one thing or other
so long detain him, that he lingereth away the time, till God
being merciful unto him, the angels did even carry him
forth ^ and said, *' Escape now for thy life, look not behind
thee, and make no stay '.'' So God hath mercifully called
you out of the Sodom of your sins, and you have lingered
• Oen. xia. ' Vcr. 16. f Ven 17.
234 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
till now. Oh ! that the Lord would be so merciful to you
as to lay hands as it were upon those hearts, and take them
off the world and your lusts, and bring you away ! This
warning however I am bound to give you : * Escape now for
your lives, look not behind you, stay not any longer, lest
you perish in your negligence.' So much for my first ques-
tion, * What had become of you, if you had died before
conversion V
Quest. 2. My next question is this ; Are you sure if you
delay returning another day, that you shall be that day out
of hell ? If you refuse this offer that God maketh you now,
are you sure you shall ever have another ? Can you say,
that your bodies shall not lie in the churchyard, and your
souls past hope and help in misery, before the next meeting
in this place, if you so long delay and harden your hearts ?
You are not sure of it ; if you are, let us see your evidence
of security. Hath God any where promised you another
day's time ? Why, can you live a day whether God will or
not? You know you cannot; I dare say you know it. You
know that many an one as strong as you, and that feared
death as little, hath been quickly gone ; and go you must,
however, at the last. Well, brethren, do I need to ask you
such a question now, whether it be wisdom, or madness ra-
ther, for any man wilfully or negligently to live one day or
night longer in such a condition, as if you should die in it,
you were undone for ever ? Will you venture to live another
day in such a case in which you cannot be sure that one day
to be out of hell ? O, methinks, while you are unconverted,
this saying of Christ should be still ringing in your ears ;
" Verily, I say unto you, except ye be converted, and be-
come as little children, you cannot enter into the kingdom
of heaven." And methinks every night when you lie down
in bed, you should think with yourselves, * What if I should
die in an unconverted state before the next morning V Me-
thinks the very dreams of this should awake you with terror.
Methinks when you rise in the morning, you should think
with yourselves, * What if I should die in an unconverted
state before night V Methinks the daily thoughts of this
should mar your mirth, and sour to you all the sweetness of
the world. How can you forbear in such a danger to think
of it, in your shops, and at your plough ; at home and
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 235
abroad, which way soever you go, or whatsoever you are
doing? If you say, 'Though I am not sure to hve a day,
yet I am hkely, for I have many an one already, when I had
no assurance of it. I answer, but who would leave such a
matter as his everlasting salvation upon such hazard? I
warn thee therefore from God, in the words of God, " Boast
not thyself of to-morrow, for who knoweth what a day may
bring forth ^ ?
Quest. 3. My third question to you is this ; Which
dost thou really think is better, God or the creature, heaven
or earth, a life in glory, or the present pleasure of sin ? Is
it indeed thy settled judgment, that it is better be drunk
than sober, and better take the delight of thy flesh, and fol-
low this world, than live to God here, and with God here-
after? Is this thy settled judgment, or is it not? If it be,
thou art an infidel, or an atheist, and not a Christian. Nay
worse than most infidels or heathens in the world. If it be
notthy judgment, how darest thou do it? Wilt thou go
against thy own knowledge ? Wilt thou not do that which
thou knowest is both pleasing to God, and best for thyself?
Shall God shew thee thy misery, and wilt thou wilfully run
into it ? And shall he shew thee thy happiness, and wilt
thou wilfully forsake it? Dost thou think that it is better
to be converted, or not ? If thou think it to be a better state,
how darest thou neglect it, or refuse it as thou dost ? Who
can help thee, if thou know that thou dost evil, and yet wilt
do it? If thou know that thy way is the way of death, and
yet wilt go on in it ? And who shall pity thee, if knowingly
thou wilt damn thyself?
Quest. 4. My fourth question to thee is this ; Dost thou
believe that man is made for this world only, or for a better ?
If heaven were never so desirable, if it be not attainable, it
is in vain to seek it : but if it may be had, what hearts have
they that will neglect it, or prefer any other thing before it?
Do you think that man was only made to take a life of plea-
sure on this earth, and go no further, and there is an end of
him? If you think so, you are blinder than most heathens
in the world. Three sorts of creatures did God create ; one
sort are pure spirits without flesh; and these were placed in
their happiness at the first to be nearest to God, and em-
* Pro*. «x»U. I.
236 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
ployed by him in his noblest works ; only being not at first
confirmed, some of them fell away, and are become devils •.
another sort of creatures have flesh without immortal souls,
having no other life than what is fitted to their earthly state ;
I mean beasts and birds and all other unreasonable crea-
tures : these are not capable of any higher felicity than they
here enjoy : they were never intended for it, and therefore
their natures are not fitted to it. But man is of a middle
sort, partaking somewhat of both these ; he hath flesh like
the beasts, because he must live on earth as they, and so
must eat, and drink, and sleep, and die, and his flesh must
perish as well as theirs : but with this flesh he hath a soul
that is akin to angels, and therefore is capable of an endless
life, and fitted for it : so that so far as he is fleshly, so far
he is earthly, and is like the beasts that perish ; but as he is
a living soul, he is disposed to an endless life, and may there
be like to the angels of God, Luke xx. 36. You may see
this difference between brutes and men, in their very natures
here. They know not that there is another life, and we do :
they live not in hopes and fears of another life, but we do.
Experience certainly discovers this, they fear but one death,
and we fear two, in fearing a misery after death. We go-
vern them only by present objects ; but God ruleth us by
promises and threatenings of unseen things, and by the hopes
and fears of another life : it is our nature to be thus go-
verned, and theirs to be ruled by sensual objects.
Well then, if man was made for higher things, should he
not seek them, and live for them? Remember then, 1 be-
seech you, that the work of conversion is but to set your
hearts on the things that you were made for : it is to make
you know that you are men and not beasts, and to bring you
to live the life of men. Sin doth unman us, and in a sort
even brutify us ; and conversion restoreth us, in our present
measure to the ends that we were created for, and to the
image of God that we were created in, which disposeth us
to those ends : if you believe then that man is not a beast,
but made for an everlasting life with God, away with fleshly,
worldly vanities, and live as strangers here, and as those
that are heirs of that everlasting life.
Quest. 5. My next question to you is ; Have you ever
soberly and considerately compared the gain and the loss
* TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 237
that conversion will bring you ? Did you ever on the one
side consider of all the present peace and safety, and that
everlasting glory, which is the portion of them that cleave
to God, and of the misery of all others, as 1 have before
discovered it to you ? And on the other side, have you con-
sidered how small a matter it is that you can lose, if you
yield to that grace that would prepare you for this glory ?
Sure if you had ever considered both of the winning and the
losing, and laid one in the one end of the scales, and the
other in the other, the case might have been resolved with
you long before now. Sinners, when God and his ministers
make such a stir with you to persuade you to be converted,
and all will not serve, but year after year you are still the
same, there is somewhat sure that is the cause. If some-
what did not stick with you, you would have yielded before
this time. Somewhat there is sure that you are afraid of
losing by the change, or else what should be the matter that
you refuse, or delay ? Well, let us hear what it is that you
are afraid it will deprive you of. Is it any thing that is
better than God, than heaven, than the saving of your souls ?
This is the benefit that conversion bringeth, and if it would
take from you any thing that is better, refuse it then, and
spare not. I tell you, sinners, God hath no need of you ; it
is for your own good, and that honour and pleasure that he
takes in doing good, that he is so earnest with you to come
in. And if any of you dare charge the God of heaven with
dissembling, as if he meant your hurt, while he thus pre-
tendeth your good, and would take from you more than he
offereth you, or would give you ; make good thy charge if
thou canst, or rather take heed, if thou love thyself, of such
blasphemous imaginations. O poor soul, if God would do
thee harm, who dost thou think will do thee good ? If the
chief good be not good, where wilt thou find good ? Dost
thou fear lest the sun should deprive thee of thy light, when
thou canst have none but what it afFordeth thee ? Dost thou
run away from the fire, lest it should make thee cold ? What,
fear lest God should do thee harm, when there is no good
but what doth stream from him ? Who wilt thou go to for
any good, if thou flee from him? Hath any creature the
least relief for thee, except they receive it from God, and he
send it thee by their hands ? They have nothing but what
238 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
he lendeth them, nor can they give thee any succour, but by
his consent. What is it then that thou art afraid of losing,
by being converted ? Is it any thing that is worth the keep-
ing ? It is incredible that God should envy thee thy hap-
piness ; that is the work of the devil, which moved him to
tempt us from it. And dare you make God like him, or
father on God his nature, or his works ? It is incredible
wrong that men do to God while they question his goodness,
and dislike his holy laws and ways, and quarrel with him,
as if he were their enemy : and when he would draw them
out of the prison of the devil, and the power of sin, they draw
back, as if he would draw them into bondage. O base, un-
thankful wretches ! must salvation be so dearly bought, and
so kindly offered you, and do you thus reject it? Oh!
foolish self-destroying wretches, are you so far delivered
from all your enemies, that your happiness is brought to
your own choice, and you may freely have it if you will, and
now will you not have it? And will you be the last and
deadly enemy to yourselves ? Why, what is it that you are
so loath to leave ? Is it your sins ? Is it your fleshly plea-
sures ? Or your worldly profits, or your ease, or credit, or
which of these ? Is it not a sad case that reasonable men
should come to such a pass, that they are afraid of return-
ing to the favour of God, and of coming from the thraldom
of the devil, into his service, lest they should lose their plea-
sure ? As if there were less delight in the love of God, than
in fleshpleasing filthiness ; or as if the joys of heaven were
less than the mirth of an alehouse. Is it not a sad case that
ever men should be afraid of being losers by God ? or of
missing their money, or their houses, or lands, when they
come to heaven ? As if there were any want there where all
are glorious kings : and as if Lazarus had not changed his
state. And is it not a shameful thing, that men should be
ashamed to be the servants of the God of heaven, and think
it a discredit to be the heirs of gloiy ? Is it to any purpose
to talk to such men as these ? Will they ever hear reason
that are so unreasonable ? If preaching were not the ordi-
nance of God, which he hath commanded us to use, and there-
fore may set it in with his blessing, when he pleaseth, we
should even throw by all, and look on such as these as mad-
men, and think, till God shall bring them to their wits, there
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 239
is no good to be done by speaking to them. If a man will fly
from God, to an alehouse, or gaming-house for pleasure, or
from God to the world for profit or honour, what shall we
say to such a man, but even take him in this as besides him-
self ? For who will think better of him that will run into a
prison, or to his enemies, for his liberty? or that will tumble
in the chanel, or lie down in the sink, and will not come out
for fear of being befouled ? I would ask the drunkard, or
fornicator, or worldling, or whosoever he be that hath the
most that sin can do for him ; dost thou think that thou
hast a more comfortable life than those that are furthest from
thy sin ? Dost thou think that they that abhor thy drunk-
enness, whoredom, or worldly courses of life, have not a
more comfortable life than thou ? Besides that which they
shall have in heaven, when sin hath brought thee into tor-
ment (if true conversion do not prevent it), even in this life,
which, think you, have the more peaceable and comfortable
life ? I am even ashamed to make the comparison. A wise
and godly man doth abhor these things that are the felicity
of ungodly men. Your filthy lives, which you are loath to
leave, would make the heart of a sober man to rise to think
of them. What wise man would not think it a misery, if he
were condemned to live your lives but a few days. A swine
takes pleasure to tumble in the mire, but a man in his wits
will take no pleasure to bear him company. And is this all
that you are like to lose by it, if you be converted, and yet
will you stand off? Well, I say no more of it now but this :
If, after all this, you take the world to be better than God,
and the pleasures of sin to be greater than the pleasures of
a holy life, and the joy that God would give you with himself.
And if you are afraid of turning to God lest you be losers by
him, you may take your course, and stay till the end shall
make you wiser to your cost.
Quest, 6. My next question to you, is this : Have you
now any reason to give against your speedy effectual con-
version, which you will undertake to stand to, and justify at
the bar of God ? Do you know any harm by that state and
life that God by converting grace would bring yxiu to?
You have heard much that may be said for it ; what now
have you to say against it ? 1 know that a great many of
senseless words are poured out by foolish sinners against
240 ^ TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
the holy ways of God. But they are such as shew their
folly and malice, and proceed from wilfulness and not from
reason. Not one of all these that you hear in a corner
scorning at godliness, or reasoning against it, dare stand to
these reasons when God shall deal with him. For my part,
sirs, I would persuade you to nothing unreasonable and un-
fit. I have told you my reasons for the necessity of conver-
sion : if you are against it now, either you have reason to
be against it, or you have not ; if you have no reason for it,
how dare you, how can you do it ? What ! will you renounce
your reason in the greatest matters, where you have the
greatest use for it ? or, will you be wilfully brutes ? Or will
you set yourselves knowingly against God and your own
souls ? In the name of God consider first what you do. It
must be either deluded reason or mere wilfulness that cause
you now to refuse or delay to be converted. I beseech you
let me have the answer of your hearts here before the Lord.
Deal truly, have you any reason why you should not be con-
verted and turn to God before to-morrow ? I pray you do
not pass it over carelessly, but give me your answer : Have
you any reason for it, or have you not ? If you have not,
your conscience is then witness that you are wilful in your
neglect. You turn not to God because you will not turn.
You go on in sin, because you will go on. You do then in
your hearts, as it were, set God at defiance, and say, ' I
confess I have no reason to sin, but yet 1 will do it: I have
no reason to delay my return to God an hour, but yet I will
do it. And I will do it, though reason as well as the word
of God cry out against it.' Who can you blame then, if
the plagues of God shall reach such a rebel, and if he deal
with you as wilful sinners should be dealt with ? If you had
done it ignorantly, you had some excuse, or you might have
been beaten with the fewer stripes : but wilful sin hath no
excuse, and as such the Lord will pour out his wrath. If
your own reason tell you, you should presently return to
God, and you will not, how can you expect in reason to find
mercy with the Lord ? O that you knew what a heinous
thing it is to sin wilfully after the knowledge of the truth :
it would make every joint of you to tremble, lest if you go
a little further, there should be no more sacrifice for sin,
"but a certain looking for of judgment, and fire which de-
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 241
voureth the adversary '." Well, sirs, let me again put the
question to you : What say you? Will you presently re-
turn to God, or will you not? Halt not between both, but
resolve off, or on. Say plainly, you will, or you will not ;
if you will not, tell me then, why will you not? Have you
any reason for it, or have you none ? If none, how dare you
be wilful ? but if you have any reason, I pray you answer
my next question. Is your reason such as you will under-
take to stand to at the bar of God ? It is an easy matter to
deceive yourselves and others, and to daub over a cause
that is apparently naught, and to bring fair pretences for the
most foul actions. Something men will have to say, to
stop the mouth of those that would convince them, be their
course never so ungodly : but the question is, whether you
have any reasons for your sin, and against your speedy and
effectual return, which you will undertake to stand to before
the Lord. I pray you bethink yourselves soberly of an an-
swer, before you hold on your course any longer ; lest you
be at the bar before you are aware. One man*s reason is,
his sin is sweet, and he hopes he may safely keep it a little
longer, and then he means to let it go. It seemeth, then,
you had rather sin than not ; and that shews that at present
thou art a graceless wretch. But is the sweetness of thy
sin a sufficient reason for thee to refuse the sweetness of a
pardon, and the sweetness of the reconciled face of God,
and the sweetness of everlasting glory ? Dare you stand to
such a reason as this is before God ? I know you dare not.
How then dare you delay your conversion upon such rea-
sons? Is sin sweet to thee, and is not holiness sweeter?
is not pardon, and life, and grace, and Christ, and God, and
glory sweeter ? O what kind of reasons be these for a rea-
sonable man to venture his salvation upon? I shall not
stand to try the rest of them, because they will fall under a
more particular consideration hereafter. Only in general I
charge and require you, plead not such reasons as you dare
not stand to at the bar of God.
Quest, 7. My next question to you, is this ; Have you
ever well considered who they be that are for your conver-
sion, and who they be that are against it? You may
easily conjecture by this, whether it be good or bad. You
• Hil>. X. 26.
VOL. vii. K
242 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
have heard already who they be that are for it : God is for
it, Christ is for it, the Holy Ghost is for it, the angels of
heaven are for it, the ministers of the Gospel are for it, and
every wise and godly man is for it. God is so much for it,
that he sent his Son to purchase it, and his word to com-
mand and call you to it, and to give you directions how it
must be done, and his ministers to persuade you to hear and
submit. He is so much for it, that he hath sworn that he
hath ** no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that
he return and live ;" and pleadeth the case with you, and
asketh yon, *' Why you will die ''." Christ is so much for it,
that he hath made it his office ; he took the nature of man
on him to that end, that he might seek and save that which
was lost ; and for that end he submitted to the cursed death
of the cross, and for that end hath he made the promises of
his Gospel, and sent abroad his ministers to proclaim them.
He is so much for it, that he is purposely become the " Cap-
tain of our salvation ;" and having first given us his own
example, doth lead us on in all encounters, and calleth us to
follow him, that we may conquer as he hath done. He is so
much for it, that upon this very ground will he condemn at
last the impenitent world, because they would not be con-
verted by him. The Holy Ghost is so much for it, that he
moveth and importuneth sinners thereunto, and effectually
worketh it in all the elect. The angels of heaven, as you
have heard, are so much for it, that it is their joy when a
sinner is converted. The ministers of Christ are so much
for it, that they make it their business and study, and preach
and pray, and sufier, and think nothing too much if they
might but accomplish it. " They are willing to spend and
be spent for this end ^" " They account not their lives dear
to them, so they may but finish their course with joy, and
the ministry which they have received of the Lord in preach-
ing the Gospel of the grace of God"*." They are content to
** instruct those in meekness that oppose themselves, if God
peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledg-
ing of the truth, that they may escape out of the snares of
satan "." All the godly are so much for it, that it is their
daily prayer and earnest desire : and they would do any
thing they could to accomplish it. O how heartily do they
pray for your conversion, that the kingdom of God may
^ Ezek. xxxiii. 11. ' 2 Cor. xii. 15, •» Acts xx. 24. " 2 Tim. ii, 25.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 243
come into your hearts ! How glad are they when they hear
of the conversion of a sinner ! Well, sinners, methinks you
should consider with yourselves, * For what reason do all
these desire my conversion ? Who is it that shall be the
gainer by it? What doth God get by it? What doth
Christ the Redeemer get by it? What doth the Spirit that
moveth me get by it? What profit is it to the ministers of
the Gospel ? Might they not as easily let me alone, and
please me in my sins, and tell me of no danger? What pro-
fit is it to all my godly friends, that they should so earnestly
desire it, and pray for it ? Is it not I that am like to have
the gain ? And should I set against all the friends I have
that endeavour my own good, even my everlasting good ?
You see who they be that are for your conversion: will
you now consider who they be that are against it ? Are
they better than God ? Are they truer friends to you than
Christ and his ministers, and those that persuade you to re-
pent and live ? Are they such as love you better than all
these do ? Why, who are they? First, the chiefest enemy
to your conversion is the devil himself. It is he that dis-
suadeth you ; that raiseth doubts and temptations in your
mind, and casteth so many rubs in your way. He would not
have you converted if he could hinder it. If all his subtlety
can hinder it ; if all his power and malice can hinder it ;
if all the instruments that he can raise up against it, can
hinder it, you shall never be converted. He knows he shall
lose a servant and subject of his kingdom ; he shall be cast
out of that possession which he hath kept in peace. If he
do not rule you, he shall not torment you, which is plea-
sant to his malice. No one in all the world is so much
against your conversion as the devil. When you say, you
will never be so pure, nor so godly, nor live so holy and hea-
venly a life, O how you please him ! You could not have
said a word that he more delighteth to hear ; for it is as
if you had said, * I will never leave ray master, the devil, to
serve Christ* Nay, it is all one as if you said, * I am re-
solved, I will never be saved, seeing there is no salvation
without conversion.* When you say you will do as your
forefathers have done ; and you will take your pleasure and
follow the world ; and not be so precise, nor trouble your
minds so much about the case of your souls, or the matters
244 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
of eternal life ; O how you please the devil by this ! This
is that he would have. You speak even as he would have
you speak ; for indeed it is he that tempteth you to speak it.
But for God's sake, and your soul's sake, sinners, will you
consider whether God or the devil is your better friend?
You are the cause that I am put upon such a strange ques-
tion to you : whether that be liker to be for your good,
which God would have, and Christ would have, and the holy
Ghost would have, and ministers would have, and all godly
people would have ; or that which the devil himself would
have? Do I need to bid you consider of this? A little
consideration sure may resolve it. Can you think that all
these forementioned are against you, and satan for you?
That all these are your enemies, and satan is for your friend?
If you will indeed take God, and Christ, and his Spirit, and
people, and all for your enemies, and him that is your great-
est enemy, for your friend, and that after such warnings, as
you have had ; you may reap those fruits of his friendship
which you little think of.
But there are some other besides the devil against your
conversion. True; but who be they ? None, but his agents,
and those that are deceived by him themselves. Perhaps
you will hardly think so ; for one may be your father, ano-
ther your mother, another your husband or wife, or those
that profess themselves your friends, and some perhaps may
be thought wise and learned in the world. But what doth
God say of them, who is most to be believed? He telleth
you, they are foolish, and wicked, and enemies to the cross
of Christ. You call them friends, but God tells you they
are your enemies. If you think I speak too hardly of them,
in telling you they are ignorant, blinded sinners, believe God
that saith the same. I hope you will not accuse him of
wronging them, or any one. Never man spake against con-
version that knew what he said, and was converted himself.
It is only those that never knew or tried the ways of God,
that persuade you from them. Will you go to the blind for
direction ? or to the slaves of satan for counsel whether you
should return to God? If they were wise men they would
return themselves ; and if they be not wise they are unfit to
give you counsel. And methinks your own reason might
tell you, that that man cannot be wise that wou'd draw the
TREATISK OF CONVERSION. 245
hearts of others from God, and would have them venture
upon the drawn sword of his vengeance ; and do that which
he hath threatened everlasting destruction to. Can that be
a wise man that doth himself prefer this dunghill world, and
the swinish mirth of a sinner before all the holy joy and
glory of the saints, even before the present life of grace, and
the future life of glory ? Ask your reason whether this can
be a wise man ? I may boldly say, then, that there is none
but the devil and wicked fools that are against your conver-
sion. Tell them how T call them, and spare not ; for God
calls them more, and their own consciences will call them so
for ever, if they do not do that themselves which they would
dissuade you from doing. I say it again, there is not one
in the world, but the devil and wicked fools that are against
your conversion. And if these shall be your counsellors,
and ye will be ruled more by them than God, and all the
truest friends you have in the world, let your own con-
sciences judge whether you have dealt well with God, or
with yourselves ?
Quest, 8. Yet I have some more questions to ask you,
and my next is this ; Had you rather die in a converted, or
unconverted state ? And in which of these had you rather
appear before the Lord ? I pray you put this question to
your own hearts, and soberly answer it. I say, which of
these two conditions had you rather be in at death and
judgment? Had you rather die the death of the righteous,
or of the wicked ? And had you rather stand among the
unconverted, or the converted, at the bar of God ? Had you
rather that death should find you with clean hands, an in-
nocent life, and an heavenly mind, delighting in God, and
hoping for Christ's appearing ; or that it should find you
either in your ignorance, or worldliness, or fornication, or
drunkenness, or with the guilt of any of these upon your
souls, and with an heart that is not unfeignedly turned from
them unto God ? I do not think there is the most blockish
or stout-hearted sinners among you ; no, not they that make
a mock at godliness, and discourage others from it, but they
had rather be among the godly, than the ungodly, at the
last. And is it not a strange thing, that men should set against
that course, which they would wish to be found in? and
should live contrary to it, when yet at the same time they
240 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
had rather die in it, than as they are ? Sinners, should you
not be now such as you would be found then? And should
you not live in that state as you would die in ? Will it be
best then, and is it worst now ? how can that be ? Believe
it, sirs, you have neither your lives, nor the grace of God at
your will. If you would be found among the converted at
the last, become such quickly, lest the last should come be-
fore you are aware. If life forsake you not, you cannot tell
whether the Spirit of God may forsake you. If grace must
be had, or else you are undone, take it while you may have
it, lest you be given over to the hardness of your hearts.
Quest, 9. My next question is this ; If God should send
an angel from heaven to you, to plead against your sinful
course, and to persuade you to be converted, would you
hearken to him and obey him; or would you not? If he
should appear to you in your careless and worldly course of
life, or if he should come to you in the very act of your sin,
and tell you how the Lord abhorreth your iniquity, and how
his vengeance hangs over your head, and will fall upon you,
if you speedily repent not ; and should persuade and entreat
you to lament your folly, and turn to God with all your
heart, without delay, what would you do? and what answer
would you give ? Would you tell him to his face, * I will
not be converted ; I will take my pleasure, and follow the
world, and venture my soul rather than live so strict a life ?
Would you say thus to him? You would not, sure you
durst not do it ! Would you not tell him, * I am sorry for
my sins, and resolve to turn without delay ;' but if you
should so tell him, if you did not do it, your promise would
but prove you hypocrites, and rise up against you to your
condemnation. O, you do not know how such a sight would
amaze you, and awaken you from security. An hand that
appeared writing upon a wall, did make the knees of a sen-
sual king to tremble \ it loosed his very loins, it changed
his countenance, it troubled his thoughts, Dan. v. 6. The
appearance of an angel, at the resurrection of Christ, did
make the keepers of the grave to shake, and become as dead
men. Matt, xxviii. 4. How an angeFs appearance affected
Cornelius ; and an earthquake with the effects did move the
jailor, may be seen in Acts x. and xvi. and many the like
examples we might give you. What if an angel of God
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 247
should but come and speak over this text to you, that I am
preaching : " Verily, except you be converted, you shall not
enter into the kingdom of heaven," would you yield, or
would you not ? If you would not, you are hardened with
a witness. If you would, let me follow my question a little
further with you. Should not the written word of Christ
himself, and the voice of his messengers that speak in
his name, and all the judgments and mercies that second
these ; I say, should not all these prevail with you as much,
and more than an angel's voice? You have here the pro-
testation, or vehement asseveration of the Lord himself,
and should not that be of greatest authority with us ? An-
gels are but servants of Christ and ministering spirits for
the good of his elect : would you hear them, and will you
not hear their master ? Would you hear an unusual mes-
senger, and will you not learn in Christ's appointed way ?
If it be a doctrine to be received from angels, tell me, if you
can, why it should not be received now from the word of
God, and from his ministers ?
Quest. 10. The last question that I shall now trouble you
with, is this; Do you think that man who after all this shall
refuse to turn to God, and after all this shall remain uncon-
verted, will have any just excuse before the Lord? Or will
he not be left speechless, and under the condemnation of his
own conscience for ever? Is it any pity to cast away that
man, that will without all pity cast away himself, and no
saying will serve him, and no reason will satisfy him? Or
when he is convinced and silenced, yet for all that will not
be converted ? When it is their own doing, and they were
their own undoing ; and when God did not spare for cost
and persuasion to have done them good ; and when he shall
say after all, as in Isa. v. 4. "What could have been done
more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?" What
sliould I have said more to this sinner, than I hdve said ?
What plea is left for such a sinner ? Or what can he say
why he should not be sentenced to perdition ? Will you say
you did it ignorantly, or you had no warning ? You cannot
say it. Indians may say it, and many barbarous nations of
the world may say it ; but England cannot say it, nor you
that hear me cannot say it. You have warning after warn-
ing, and all said to you that we knew how to say, that was
248 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
likely to move the heart of a sinner. Will you say that you
were not able, because it was a work above your power?
Why, you cannot thus excuse your sin : for if you had been
but truly willing, you might have done it ? Your disability
lay in your obstinate unwillingness. Are you willing this
day, unfeignedly willing, to turn to God, or are you not? If
you be, you will return without delay. For if you are will-
ing, who can hinder you ? But if you be not truly willing,
how can you say, that you would have done it if you could?
Or how can you excuse yourselves by your disability ? Un-
willingness is a disability which excuseth no men, but ag-
gravateth their sin. If you could have said that you would
have returned with all your hearts, but were not able for all
that you were willing, then you had some excuse; but now
you have nothing to say for yourselves.
Object. We know there is no pleading for ourselves, nor
any excuse to be made with God, but yet we hope we may be
saved for all that ?
A71SV:, How can you have any hope, if you have no ground
of hope to shew ? If you have no reason to give against the
sentence of your condemnation, how can you think to es-
cape it? God is just, and will judge in righteousness ac-
cording to his word ; and they that have not now a title in
the word for their justification at judgment, shall never be
there justified, whatsoever they may dream.
Beloved hearers, I have been all this while pleading with
you by the reasons of the word of God, to see if it were pos-
sible for me to persuade you to yield to the light, and be con-
verted, that you may live. I have meant you no harm, un-
less salvation be your harm. The threatening of the Scrip-
ture, and the miserable state of unconverted souls were all
this while before me, which moved me to use so many per-
suasions with you. Have I prevailed with you, or have I
not ? Are you resolved for conversion, fully resolved, or are
you not ? God bath all this while stood by and heard what
I have said to you, and seeth now what answer is in your
hearts, and what effect these words have had. Shall all this
be lost ? And when we have said all that we can, must we
sit down in sorrow, and say, who hath believed our reports ?
Is there one man or woman of you that dare go on in an un-
converted state, and draw back from God, and loiter out your
1
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 249
time, and still return to your former sins after all that I have
said ? If you do so, do it at your peril ; and when you find
yourselves in hell, remember the sermons that have been
preached to you on this text, and blame not me, but your
wilful negligence. Think not much that I bid you remem-
ber these sermons when you find yourselves in hell, for you
shall do it then, whether you will or not. There is not a
soul of you that shall live or die in an unconverted state, but
shall remember the warnings that I have now and formerly
given you. Sermons will be remembered in hell, that are
forgotten on earth ; and they that were weary to hear them
here, and would not be at the small labour to repeat them,
or hear them repeated, or else ponder in secret of what they
heard, shall there think of it, and think again to their sor-
row. As Abraham said to the condemned worldling, " Re-
member that thou in thy life receivedst thy good things, and
Lazarus his evil things ; but now he is comforted and thou
art tormented"." So shall you remember the time, and
means, and warnings that you once had. If you ask me how
I know that? Why because the word of God doth tell me,
that the consciences of wicked men will be their accusers p.
And that they shall mourn at the last, and say, " How have
1 hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof, and
have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine
ear to them that instructed me *» ?" And many other Scrip-
tures assure me of the same. O how much better were it now
to believe the Lord, and foresee this evil, and think of your way
while you have opportunity to escape ? How much safer were
this for you ! And how much more pleasing would it be to
God and us ? O do not cast away your souls, and displease
God, and all the true friends you have, only to please the devil
and your flesh ! Let me urge you a little further in the words
of your Maker, and I charge you to regard them, as you
will answer the contempt of them at your peril. Did you
never observe how God doth pity the stir that poor sinners
make in the world for nothing, and the unprofitable trade of
sinning that they drive on, and how he inviteth them to
himself, as the true gain and felicity ? " Wherefore do you
spend money for that which is not bread, and your la-
bour for that which satisfieth not ? Hearken diligently unto
o Luke »»i. «5. P Koiii. ii. IS. h Pruv, v. il— 13.
250 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear
and your soul shall live ^" " Wash you, make you clean ;
put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes :
cease to do evil ; learn to do well. Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the Lord ; though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow \" " How long ye
simple ones will ye love simplicity ? And ye scorners de-
light in scorning? And fools hate knowledge ? Turn ye at
my reproof; behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you. I will
make known my words unto you ^" ** Turn ye even to me with
all your hearts ; with fasting, and weeping, and mourning :
rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the
Lord your God ; for he is gracious and merciful to them that
turn, but not to them that go on in their iniquity "." " When
a wicked man turneth away from his wickedness, which he
hath committed, and doth that which is lawful and right, he
shall save his soul alive. Repent, and turn yourselves from
all your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth ; where-
fore turn yourselves and live ye "." The like I recited to you
from Ezek. xxxiii. 11.
These are the calls of the God of mercy, inviting you
into the way wherein his saving mercy is only to be found.
O how glad would many thousands be that are now past
hope, if they had but the call of God to repent, as you have
this day ! How glad should you be that you have such an
oflPer, and that it is not yet too late ? And therefore how
cheerfully should you yield to be converted ? I shall in con-
clusion say but this ; If ever a man or woman of you all shall
appear before the Lord in judgment, in a carnal, unconvert-
ed state, after all the warnings you have received, I hope
God will not charge it upon me, who faithfully, though
weakly, endeavoured to prevent it.
•■ Isa. Iv. 1—3. » Isa. i. 16. » Prov. i. 22, 23.
" Josh. ii. 12. ^ Ezek. xviii. 23. 30—32.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 251
CHAPTER VII.
By this time I hope many of you are willing to be converted,
and are ready to inquire what you should do to that end ?
and whether there be any thing on your parts to be done
that may further it? And in hope that you are willing, I
shall next proceed to give you my best advice herein. And
if it were so that you could do nothing to further it, because
I am sure you may do much to hinder it, and have done all
this while, or else it had been better with you than it is;
therefore I shall shew you what are the common hindrances
of conversion, which you must carefully endeavour to remove
or conquer; and with them I shall adjoin the contrary di-
rections, which concern your necessary duty to this end.
And though some of their contraries are real parts of con-
version, yet the reason that I mention them here is, because
the not yielding to the initial acts in the understanding, is
the hindrance of the completive acts on the heart and life.
Hindrance 1. Thejfirst hindrance of conversion that I
shall warn you of, is. The wilful neglect of those ordinary
means which God hath appointed for the work of conversion.
When God will give any man saving grace, ordinarily he
will do it by the means of grace. He that hath appointed
his ordinances to that end, will so far stand to his own ap-
pointment, and honour his own ordinances, as to work by
them, and not ordinarily without them. If men therefore
will not use God's means, no wonder if they go without his
grace. For, 1. Such are out of the way of grace, and
when they avoid the causes, they cannot in reason look for
the effects. 2. And moreover, they do provoke God to
withhold and deny his grace when they set so light by it, as
that they will not so much as use the means to get it. A
man by the help of common grace may see the absence and
the necessity of special grace, and may do something io the
use of means to obtain it if he will ; and when men will not
so far use their common grace, it is just with God to deny
them special grace. For example :
(1.) One particular means of conversion, is. The hearing
of the word preach^ by the ministers of Christ in the pub-
252 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
lie assembly. " How shall they believe in him of whom
they have not heard ? And how shall they hear without a
preacher ? So then, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God ^." God sent Paul " to open men's eyes
and convert them ^" God would so far favour Cornelius,
as to send an angel to him, but not to preach the Gospel,
but only to bid him send for a preacher, because he would
keep to his standing ordinance, and make use of his ministers
and appointed means. So he would stop Paul by a vision in
his way, and do more for him in acquainting him extraordi-
narily with his name, than he doth with others ; and yet he
sendeth him to Ananias for instruction '^. It was by hearing
Peter preach that the Jews were pricked at the heart, and
converted, and three thousand were added to the church at
once ^, It was God that must open the heart of Lydia ; but
what did he open it for, but to attend the things that were
spoken by Paul, that thereby she might be converted ' ? God
would vouchsafe an earthquake to prepare the heart of the
jailor for conversion, but he would not convert him without
the preaching of Paul and Silas ^. It was those that had
ears and heard not, and hearts that were hardened against
the word, that were not converted, healed or forgiven s. By
teaching sinners the way to God, David assured himself,
they shall be converted to him*'. The word of God is the
seed of life, which is sown and takes root in the hearts of
them that God will save*. It is the word ,of God which
" abideth for ever," which is " the incorruptible seed by which
we are born again ''." God hath made those promises of a
blessing on his word, which should draw us to attend it :
" Incline your ears, come unto me, hear and your souls shall
live^" And he hath threatened those that will not hear
and obey, severely. Matt. x. 14. If a people will not hear
the ministers of Christ, they must " shake off the dust of
their feet in witness against them." And Christ hath attest-
ed that it " shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomor-
rha in the day of judgment than for that people." It is by
his ministers that Christ doth teach his church, and every
* Rom X. 14. 17. ^ Acts xxvi. 17, 18. x. 3. 5. «= Acts ix. 6. 10.
«» Acts ii. 37. 41. « Acts xvi. 14. f Acts xvi. 32.
s Mark iv. 12. John xii. 40. Acts xxviii. 27. '' Psal. li. 13.
' Matt. xiii. 8. 19. 23. Luke viii. 11. •'1 Pet. i. 23. 25.
' Prov. i. 23. Isa. Iv. 3.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 253
soul that heareth not him, shall be cut off from his people ™.
If you will be at home when the message of God is delivered
to the congregation, you cannot expect the blessing and be-
nefit of it. If you can find something else to do when you
should hear the word of God, God will find something else
to do when he should give you his saving grace.
Object, * But the minister is but a weak man, and I can-
not profit by him.'
Answ. Doth he not deliver the profitable word of God ?
Doth he not preach the doctrine of faith, and repentance,
and justification by Christ, and shew you the way of life?
If you can hear the doctrine of everlasting life, and not pro-
fit by it, because the minister is not so able as others, blame
your own hearts, and give more attendance and regard to
what you hear ; and lament that ignorance or carelessness
of your own that hindereth you from profiting.
Object, * But I have more temptations in the congrega-
tion, than I have when I sit at home. Satan is troubling me
with vain thoughts, and I cannot attend.'
Atisw, Is that a reason against duty, and so necessary a
duty ? Will you think to overcome the devil's temptations
by yielding to them ? That is it that he would have. If he
could drive you from God's ordinances, he hath his will.
Will you make your own sin a pretence against your neces-
sary duty ? That is to make one sin a pretence for another;
yea, a lesser sin a pretence for a greater : it is your sin to
hear with a careless, wandering mind, but it is a greater sin
not to hear at all.
Object, * I can profit as much by staying at home, and
reading the Scripture, or some good book : it is the word of
God which they preach, and it is that which I read at home.
The books that are written by learned men, are better than
the sermons that are preached by our ministers.'
Answ. 1. What foolish pretences are these against the
plain command of God, and our own necessary duty ? When
God hath appointed you your duty, will he allow you to for-
sake it upon your own reason, as if you were wiser than God,
and knew what will profit you better than he? If your phy-
sician give you a medicine, and bid you take it for the cure
of your disease, will you be wiser than he, and say, why may
• Acts Hi. ««.
254 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
not such and such a thing serve turn as well, or fetter ? If
you will needs be your own physician, and forsake God's di-
rection, and cure yourselves, do it as well as you can, and
what will become of it. It is a strange thing that a sottish
sinner should think himself wiser than God, and take upon
him to mend his word, and find out a better way to heaven
than he hath prescribed him.
2. Can you have grace think you without the gift of God ?
If you cannot, do you think God will give it you in away of
disobedience, when you run from his appointed means ; or
rather in a way of duty and obedience, when you wait on
him in that which he hath promised to bless ? Find you
such promises to those that turn their back on God's pub-
lic ordinances, as we can shew you to them that diligently
use them, if you can.
3. Is it not horrible pride in you to think that you are
able to understand the word of God as well without a
teacher, as with one ? The eunuch said to Philip, when he
asked him whether he understood what he read; "How can
I except some man should guide me " ?" And yet you think
you can read the word at home as profitably without a guide :
as if your children that go to school should say, ' We have
the same books at home, and therefore we will not go to
school, our master doth but teach us our grammar, and other
books, and these we can read at home.' You are wise men
that while, that know no more of your own ignorance ; and
humble men, that think you have no need of teaching ; as if
God had appointed his ministers and ordinances in vain.
4. It is a certain mark that you never heard or read as.
you should ; or else your hearing or reading would have
taught you, that both must go together, and not one shut
out the other ; and that the greatest, which is God's public
work, must be preferred. It is a mark of a graceless heart
and worse ; even of one that hath much blinded common
reason itself, when wretched sinners do know no more of
their own necessity, but think they can live as well without
God's public means as with it. If ever sermon or book had
done you saving good, and you had the least spark of grace,
and had felt the power of divine truth upon your soul, you
would have been far from these conceits ; you would feel
» Acts viii. 30, ol.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 255
the necessity of the preaching of the word, as an hungry
man feeleth the need of his food. Your own necessity would
drive you, and the good which you feel by the word would
draw you, and your love to it would not suffer you to for-
bear. If you were necessarily kept away by any business,
you would take it for your loss, when it is not your sin, and
would lament that you were deprived of that which you find
so sweet and profitable. To find no profit by the preaching
of the word of God, nor any great need of it, is a mark of a
dead and graceless soul.
5. Look through the Scripture, and see whether the
common way of conversion were not by the hearing the
word of God preached.
6. If you may thus forbear it, then why may not all
others ? And then all Christian assemblies should be dis-
solved, and forborn; and then what churches should we
have ? And do you think that this is the will of God ? All
sorts of Christians in the world would have assemblies.
Papists have their meetings, and Anabaptists have theirs ;
and even the Separatists have theirs ; and would you have
none ? Doth not God expressly charge you, that ** you for-
sake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the man-
ner of some is **." And to what end else hath he appointed
ministers in his church ?
7. Do you think that there should be any ministers, or
not? If not, then no church, no baptism, and then no
Christ, and no salvation. If there should, what should they
do, if not preach the Gospel ? Paul so far preferred it be-
fore other ordinances, that he thanketh God that he bap-
tized not any himself save some few among them, because
of an inconveniency that might have followed. " For God
sent me not" saith he, " to baptise, but to preach the Gos-
pel ''." If you would have no preaching, you should have
no ministers. And if you would have us preach, who should
we preach to ? to walls, or to men ? If to men, why not to
you as well as to others ? Are others bound to hear any
more than yoa? And how can we preach without hearers?
Paul saith, and so must we, " Necessity is laid upon me, and
woe to me if I preach not the Gospel." And may we not
then say, neceiMiity it laid on you, and woe to you if you
• Heb. t.Sb. »• 1 Cor. i. 17.
25t) TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
hear not the Gospel ? The Scripture saith, " How beauti-
ful are the very feet of them that bring the glad tidings of
peace !" And you can profit as well without them at home.
Is not your spirit then contrary to God's Spirit, which thus
speaks *i : and what spirit is it that is contrary to God's Spi-
rit but the devil's ?
8. It was never God's end in writing the Scripture, nor
the end of ministers in writing good books to keep you from
the public hearing of the word. Each duty must know its
place. I had rather the books that I have written were all
burnt, than that men should by them be kept from the pub-
lic and greater ordinances. Do not these very books which
you say you read, command you to hear, and condemn those
that do not hear ? Do they not shew you that your words
are the words of wickedness ; and say, as much for hearing
as now I do ? What an hypocritical trick of you is this,
when the Bible and other good books do command you to
be constant hearers, and condemn you if you will not, that
you will say you can profit more by reading these books
than by hearing? What, can you profit more by reading
your duty, when you refuse to do it, than by obedient doing
it? Can you profit most by reading your own condemna-
tion ? You read in Scripture that " he that turneth away
his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomi-
nation '^." The truth is, you shew by this, that you do but
make reading a pretence against hearing, when indeed you
never did either of them with understanding and grace in
your hearts.
9. What do you by withdrawing from the public assem-
blies, but excommunicate yourselves ? And is it not our
duty then to excommunicate or avoid you if you continue
obstinate after admonition ? Do you believe the commu-
nion of saints, and yet do you avoid it ? Well, if you had
any grace in your hearts, you would make the assembly and
public worship of God, the delight of your souls, and it
would do you so much good to call on God, and praise him
with his people, and hear his instruction, that you could not
be without it. You would do as David, when he was ba-
nished from the temple and worship of God, he crieth out,
•* As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my
1 Rom. X. 15. ^ Prov. xxviii. 9.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 257
soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the
living God : when shall I come and appear before God ? My
tears have been my meat day and night, while they conti-
nually say to me. Where is thy God ? When I remember
these things, I pour out my soul in me ; for I had gone
with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God ;
with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that
kept holy-day'."
The sixth council at Constantinople decreed, that who-
soever was absent from the congregation three Lord's days
together without necessity ; if he were a minister, should be
put from the ministry, and if he were a private man, he
should be cast from the communion of the church. If you
cast out yourselves, blame not us if we cast you out.
Object. * But, say some (that the Quakers have taught,)
when a minister preacheth a month, or two, or three, or a
year upon one text, how can he choose but add to the word
of God, and therefore why should we hear them V
Answ. A foolish cavil. What ! is expounding and ap-
plying the word of God, adding to it ? Do we tell you that
any thing is the word of God that is not? Why doth not
one of these ignorant objectors come and tell us in any one
particular, what it is that we have added to the word of God ?
I am now persuading you to hear the word of God, is this
adding to it ? Doth not the word do the like ? And doth
not God in the word bid us acquaint you with it, and make
it plain to you, and press it upon you ? What if a lawyer
bestow a day, or twenty days in pleading your cause before
the judge, that he may save your estate, or your life from the
malice of an adversary ? Will you say, that this lawyer doth
add to the law of the land by his pleading? What if the
judge pass sentence according to law, and give the reason
of it ? Or what if he make a charge of many hours long
wherever he comes \ doth he add to, or diminish from the
law by so doing ? 1 must crave pardon of the hearers that
are of common reason, that I have spent so much time in
answering such senseless, sottish cavils as these. But they
must consider that such people we have to deal with, and
the more unreasonable and blockish they are, the greater
need they have to be taught.
• PmJ. xlii.
VOL. VII. •
258 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
(2.) Another means that God hath appointed for con-
version, is ; The reading of his word, and of such good books
as are written for the opening and applying of it. Though
this must not thrust out hearing, yet is it an excellent means
in its own time and place, or else God would not have ap-
pointed it as he hath done *. Many a soul hath had happy
e:^perience of the success of reading. The word read is the
word, and therefore may convert, for " the law of the Lord
is perfect, converting the soul "." It is a very great privi-
lege to have the truths of God before our eyes, where we
may view them over and over at our leisure, till they be fas-
tened in our hearts.
(3.) Another means that God hath appointed us to use
for the obtainment of his grace, is, A serious inquiry of
those that should and can instruct us. In common, easy
matters, you may go either to ministers or private Christians
as you see fit ; but in matters of great difficulty, where pri-
vate men are in danger of mistaking, or are not able to do it
as your case requires, there it is your duty especially to re-
pair to your teachers ; or the most able, faithful ministers
that you can well get, and make known your case to them,
and desire their direction for your effectual recovery. Ni-
codemus came to Jesus by night for counsel, because he
perceived that he was a teacher sent from God : and Christ
thereupon did give him advice in the matter of the new birth.
So Matt. xix. 16. Another inquireth what he shall do that
he may have eternal life. The eunuch desires instruction of
Philip * ; and Paul of Ananias, and Cornelius of Peter, as
was said before. The Jews that were pricked at the heart,
ask Peter and the rest of the apostles what they shall do y.
And the jailor asks Paul and Silas, what he shall do to be
saved ? See further, Mai. ii. 7. " The priest's lips should
keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth*;
for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts." Luke xii. 42.
Col. i. 28. If poor unconverted sinners would but take this
course, and go to their teachers for direction for their salva-
tion, and resolve to practise it when it is given them, con-
t Exod. xxiv. 7. Josh. viii. 34, 35. 2 Chron. xxxiv. 30. Neh. viii. 3. 8. 18.
ix. 3. Matt. xii. 3. 5. xxi. 26. xxii. 31. Acts xiii. 27. xv. 21. Deut. xxxi.
11. Acts viii. 30. Gol. iv. 16. Rev. i. 3. 1 Tim. iv. 13.
" Psal. xix. 7. * Acts viii. > Acts ii. 37.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION, 259
version would not be so rare, nor so many miscarry as now
do ; but most are so careless that they feel no need of it, and
think it were but to trouble themselves and their teachers
to no purpose ; and others are so stout that they will not
stoop to it ; but if we send for them to come and speak with
us, that we may afford them the best advice we can, they
ask us by what authority we do it ; and think it too much
to come near us, and speak to us : others are so sinfully
bashful, that they cannot open their mouths, when their sal-
vation is concerned in the matter ; and others are conceited
beforehand that ministers will but slight them, and are too
stout to speak to them, at least with any seriousness and
tenderness of their case. And thus satan keeps men from
grace, by keeping them from the means of grace.
(4.) Another means of conversion, is. The frequent com-
pany of those that fear God, and would afford us their help
in the way to heaven, and conference with them about these
things. Company hath a transforming power, and the
speeches and examples of heavenly Christians, will do much
to bring others to a consideration of their ways. Commonly
men are, or seem to be, such as their familiar company is.
(5.) Another means for conversion, is. Frequent and ear-
nest prayers to God. When we know we want grace, and
that God is the giver of it, what should we do but betake our-
selves to him, and ask saving grace and " wisdom of him,
who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not^?" I
know some would persuade us that we may not exhort un-
converted men to pray ; because their prayer is an abomina-
tion to God, and without faith they cannot please God. To
whom I answer briefly. 1. Nature itself teacheth a man in
misery to cry to him, that is able to relieve him, and to beg
pardon of him whom he hath offended, and especially when
he knoweth that he is of a merciful nature : and may we not
persuade men to that which the very light of nature doth
direct them to, and the law of nature oblige them to ? Or
will these men go against the light and law of nature ? 2.
Scripture commandeth these to pray, and seek God, " Seek
the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his ways ; and the unrigh-
teous man his thoughts ".** Peter exhorts Simon Magus to
> James i. 5. • la*. U. 6, 7. So Hut. i. If. Hi. 5. Amos t. 6.
260 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
•
" pray, if perhaps the thoughts of his heart may be forgiven
him," when he pronounceth him " in the gall of bitterness,
and bond of iniquity **." 3. We do not exhort men to pray,
while they continue wicked, but to return with prayer in
their mouths from their wickedness. Our exhortation is as
those before mentioned, " Let the wicked forsake his way ;"
and thus seek the Lord. " Repent of this thy wickedness,"
and so pray for pardon as Peter exhorteth. When we bid
them pray, we bid them desire, for desire is the soul of
prayer, and words are but the body ; and when we exhort
them to desire grace, we exhort them to the beginning of
grace. Prayer is a returning act, and when we exhort them
to pray, we exhort them to return, and by prayer to begin
the work, and so this beginning may be a means of the rest
of the change that is yet behind.
Direct. 1. Having shewed you the first hindrance of
conversion, I come to give you the first direction, which is
contrary thereto ; and that is. That you would presently fall
upon the use of these means, that God hath appointed you
to use for your conversion. Are you sensible of the neces-
sity of it ? and are you truly willing to be converted, or are
you not ? If you would, let us see your willingness in the
use of the means without delay. Particularly, let me en-
treat of you these following things.
(1.) See that you be constant hearers of the word
preached, and take delight in the public assembly of the
church, and let nothing but necessity keep you at home.
Live under the ablest ministry that you can : and neglect
not one such opportunity for your souls. If you be absent
without necessity but from one sermon, God may justly de-
ny you the blessing of the rest : and you know not which it
is that is most suitable to your condition, and therefore miss
not any. The devil is aware what a minister is studying
about all the week, and when he seeth that we have pro-
vided that which is likeliest to do you good, he will do all
that he can to keep you away that day. He will find one
business or other, or tempt you to be negligent ; because
he is afraid, lest if you come, you should be converted.
Miss not one sermon, therefore, lest you miss that one that
fihould have done you good. And as you hear, so take heed
•> Acts viii. 22.
TREATISE OF CONVBR8ION. 261
how you hear, and attend to it as to a message sent from
God, concerning your salvation ; and '* set your hearts to all
the words that you hear, for it is not a vain thing, but it is
for your life "=." ** He that hath ears to hear, let him hear,"
saith Christ often in cases of greatest moment ! And he
that will not hear, and diligently hear a message from free
grace for the saving of his soul, is unworthy to have ears.
(2.) If you would be converted by the word, do not let
it slip as soon as you have heard it ; but call it to remem-
brance again, and bring it home to your hearts : ponder of
what you have heard,and speak of it to those about you. And
if you be not able to remember it, through the weakness of
your memories, go to some of your neighbours' houses that
do repeat it, that you may have the benefit of their assist-
ance. Have not you as much need as they ? and should not
you be at as much pains as they ? Make the word your
own before you leave it.
(3.) Be much in reading the word of God, and such prac-
tical books as will help you to apply it ? And lay to heart
the truths you shall read.
(4.) Especially do all this on the Lord's day, which is
purposely set apart for such holy works. Lose none of that
precious season of grace : but when the public worship is
over, betake yourselves with your families, and in secret to
the improvement of it ; and take as much pains that day for
your souls, as you do on the rest of the days of the week for
your bodies. You cannot then pretend that you have no
leisure, when it is at a time that is wholly to be employed
in such things. O make the best of that day, and seek after
the knowledge of God therein, if you would be partakers of
his grace.
(6.) Will you go, m case you want direction, to those
that are able to direct you ? Especially to your teachers,
and ask them what course you must take for conversion,
and tell them your case, and the hindrances thaE you meet
with, and resolve to obey the counsel that they shall give
you?
(6.) Will you betake yourselves daily to God in hearty
prayer, and beg of him that he would give you converting
grace ? Beseech him to open your eyes, and shew you the
« Dcut. ii&vi. 46, 47.
262 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
greatness of your sin and misery, till you be unfeignedly
humbled ; and that he would shew you the need of his grace
in Christ, till you can thirst after him and his righteousness ;
and that he would shew you the certainty and excellency of
hisr glory, till your hearts be set upon it above all ? O beg
hard of God that he would not let you live unconverted any
longer, lest death should find you in that miserable state.
Beseech him to pardon all your former rebellions and resist-
ance of his Spirit, and now at last to give you that grace that
you have set so lightly by ; and bring you into the hatred of
those ways of sinful pleasure or profit, which had your
hearts before.
These are the means that God hath appointed to bring
you into a state of saving grace. What say you ? Are
you willing ? Are you resolved to use these means, or are
you not? If you think that this is too much ado, and that
your salvation is not worth it, you may take your ease and
go without it. But if God have not given you up to so
much unreasonableness, but that you had rather be at the
sweet and comfortable pains of duty, than endure the into-
lerable pains of hell : if you do not set more by the ease of
your flesh for a few days, than the ease and peace of soul
and body for ever, then take my counsel, and set upon these
means without delay. Look who doth most for God, and
their salvation, of all that you know, and strive to do as
much as they. You have the same God, and the same law,
and the same, and greater necessity, than they : you are
farther behind hand : you have more work undone which
must be done : your danger is greater, and your souls should
be as precious to you, as theirs to them. O, therefore, take
time while you have it, and set yourselves to the work.
Hindrance 2. The second hindrance of conversion,
which I shall mention, is bad company. It is a dangerous
thing to be wilfully a companion of ignorant,careless,ungod-
ly men. If they will say nothing directly against that which
is good, yet will they do much to hinder your salvation, by
keeping your thoughts, and talk, and delight upon other
things, and by giving you an evil example, as if these mat-
ters were not necessary. Vain talk, and vain practices, set-
tle the minds of men in vanity, and in a forgetfulness and
neglect of heavenly things. Besides, they will be enticing
d
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 263
you to such kind of business and delight, as strengthen the
flesh, and contradict the Spirit, and fasten you in sin, and
are the common causes of the perdition of the world. The
noise of their foolish laughter and giddy discourse, will
drown the voice of conscience, and of the Spirit of God. It
is hard keeping the heart in a sense of duty, or the evil of
sin,' in the midst of sin. As it is certainly a vain and
graceless heart that delighteth most in vain company, so
such will make the heart more vain. When men sit over
their pots, cherishing their flesh, (which they once vowed to
fight against as their enemies,) pouring out a deal of foolish,
senseless discourse ; the sense of the evil of sin and of the
love of Christ, and of the worth of glory, is then far from the
heart : and if they do make any mention of God or holy
things, it is commonly irreverently and most abusively, tak-
ing the name of God in vain, and sinning more by their
Scripture discourse, than by any other. And it is a wonder
if the devil and their fleshly reason do not lead them to plead
against God, and to take part with the flesh, and perhaps to
make a scorn of godliness. O what a dangerous thing it is
to live among such company as will be still hindering, but
never helping, in the way to heaven ! Especially among
those who are worldly or sensual, or that are enemies to
godliness, and set themselves against it to their power. In
a way that is up hill, and all against the interest and inclina-
tion of our flesh, and in which we are so weak and back-
ward ourselves, we had need of all the help that we can get,
and a little hindrance may be our undoing. But when poor
sinners shall live MMMUg such, where they shall hear almost
no discourse, bat Tain, and almost no talk of religion, but
in distaste and contempt of it, despising the way to heaven,
which is in eflect, to despise heaven itself; how can it be
expected that such should be brought to the knowledge of
the truth, and the love of those ways that they hear so much
reproached ? 1 know God can do it, and sometimes doth,
where people are unavoidably cast into such company ; but
if men will choose such, when they may avoid it, the case
is dangerous indeed. "He that walketh with wise men
shall be yet wiser, but a companion of fools shall be de-
stroyed " Some of these ungodly wretches are so cunning
in their discourse, that weak, silly people be not able to dis-
264 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
cern their folly. Some of them also have some worldly in-
terest in them, and therefore are the liker to do them hurt.
When those that they dwell with, and those that they de-
pend upon, and those that seem to love them are ungodly,
and speak against the way of salvation, it commonly takes
so much with the ignorant, that they either say as they say,
and are of their minds, or at least it hindereth them from
thorough conversion, and setting themselves diligently to
the saving of their souls. Thousands have been everlastingly
undone by evil company.
Direct, 2. The second direction, therefore, that I shall
give you is this ; Do all that you can to avoid the company
of those that would hinder you, and to live in the company
of those that would help you, in the matters of your salva-
tion. I do not mean, that a servant that is bound should go
from his master before he hath served according to their
agreement ; nor that a child should forsake his parents that
are ungodly ; nor that a woman should forsake her husband,
or a man his wife on this account ; for here they are not at
their own choice, but are fixed to their relations, which tie
them to duty and faithfulness to their places ; but I mean,
that no man shall willingly cast himself into evil company,
that can avoid it. Particularly. 1. If a master be to take a
servant, take not such as are ungodly, if you can have better.
If a servant be to choose a master, come not into an ungod-
ly family, if you can help it. If young people be intended
to marry, take heed of being yoked unequally, and
joining yourselves with the members of the devil, and
the enemies of Christ, and those that are likely to be hin-
derers of your salvation, and so to prove the damnation of
your souls. You will be backward enough and bad enough
in the best company that you get ; what then will you be in
the worst ? Especially when it is so near you, and continu-
ally with you, and that of your own choice. I confess a
minister or other Christian when he hath a call to endeavour
the good of such, and to reprove their sin, may go among
them as a physician among the sick ; and so did Christ him-
self when he was on earth. But to make them our compa-
nions willingly,' we may not. Grace is hardly got, and
hardly kept, and more hardly increased in such company as
this.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 265
On the other side, get into the company of such as will
further you. *' The tongue of the just is as choice silver ;
the heart of the wicked is little worth ; the lips of the righ-
teous feed many, but fools die for want of wisdom. The lips
of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of
the wicked speaketh frowardness. Go from the presence of
a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of
4cnowledge **." If you were children of God yourselves, you
would delight in those that are such. For, ** by this we
know that we are translated from death to life, because we
love the brethren." And David saith, " the saints on the
earth, and the excellent are all his delight*." Get there-
fore, if it be possible, into the company of such ; with them
you shall hear that which may humble you for sin, and you
shall hear that of Christ which may tend to kindle the love
of him in your breasts ; and you shall hear that of the good-
ness of God, and his way, and the privilege of the saints ;
the precious promises of the Gospel, the life of grace, and
the hopes of everlasting glory which may make your hearts
to burn within you. When you live with those that by their
example disgrace sin to you, and draw you from it, and
watch Qver you against it, and that will be still minding you
of those truths that should sanctify your hearts, O what an
advantage is this to your salvation ! If you be ignorant,
they will teach you ; if you are unskilful in prayer, or other
holy duties, they will help you by their instruction and ex-
ample. Choose, therefore, the best company you can get,
if you be free, and all little enough. Live among that com-
pany on earth, that you must live with in heaven, if ever you
come thither.
Hindrance 3. The next hindrance of conversion, is,
A gross ignorance of those truths which should be the in-
struments of their conversion. He that turneth to God,
must needs know God ; and he that turneth from sin, must
needs know the evil and danger of sin. No man will make
80 great a change, and not know why. No man will part
with his present contents, and set upon a course that his
nature is against ; nor forsake all the world, even that which
is dearest to him, till he know that there is a flat necessity
of so doing, or know of something better to be had by the
* Prw. X. W, «1. 3t. »i». r. • Psal. xvi. S.
2W TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
change. When we find that even men of knowledge are too
often ungodly, and they will not leave sin when they know
the evil of it, and know that everlasting damnation is threat-
ened against it. How then can they forsake it that know
not this ? When many that can speak of the vanity of this
world, and the glory of the saints in the life to come, and
the amiableness of God, and his all-sufficiency to make them
happy, do yet cleave to this world, and neglect God and
the glory which they so extol, how then can we expect that
they should turn to God, and set their minds to seek his
kingdom that do not know him ? All the wickedness in the
world is cherished by ignorance, total or partial. Even
those that say they know these things, and yet live ungodly,
do not soundly know them, but hold them as an opinion,
and not as a point of saving faith. O, if poor sinners, that
set so light by the everlasting kingdom, did but thoroughly
know what they slight, they would quickly change their
mind and courses. If you knew heaven as well as you knew
your own houses and lands, and if you saw what the souls
do now enjoy that depart in the faith, as you see what is
done in the houses where you dwell, I would not thank the
worst of you all to become far more devout and diligent than
the best in the town or country is now. I would not thank
the vilest worldling to become heavenly ; or the vilest
drunkard to become sober; or the scorner of godliness to
be the most godly in the country. If you knew heaven as
well as you know earth, it were no thanks to you if every fa-
mily of you were a society of saints, but this cannot be ex-
pected. God will not have us live by sight and sense, but
by faith. But yet a knowledge of divine revelation we may
and must have. No man loveth sin but for want of know-
ing what he loveth. No man doteth upon this deceitful
world, but for want of knowing the worthlessness of it ; no
man makes light of eternal glory, but for want of knowing
what he makes light of ; and no man is against a holy life,
but he that knoweth not what it is, nor what will be the end
of it. O, sirs, if you knew God, your hearts would be in-
flamed in love to him. There are some of you now stand
wondering at the diligence of the godly, and some of you
are secretly reproaching them, and casting forth your igno-
rant scorns against them; but if you did but know what it
TREATISE OF CONVERMON. 267
is that they are doing, and who it is that setteth them on
work, and what it is that they make all this ado for, you
would wonder more at your own folly, and would be as for-
ward as they, and would presently take that course which
you now reproach. Alas ! poor sinners durst not sport with
sin if theyiknew what they did ; they durst not run in crowds
to damnation if they knew what they did. The kingdom of
satan is a kingdom of darkness ; and his works are the works
of darkness ; and himself the ruler of the darkness of this
world, and under chains of darkness is he reserved to the
judgment of the great day; and the mist and blackness of
darkness is reserved to him and his servants for ever. " If
the Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost ; in whom
the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which
believe not, lest the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the
image of God should shine unto them. He that walketh
in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth '." They that
are converted can truly say, " we were sometimes darkness,
but now we are light in the Lord ^" For they are " trans-
lated from the power of darkness.*'
Direct. 3. If ever you would be converted, labour for
true knowledge : come into the light that your deeds may
be manifested ; and that your own hearts may be manifest
to yourselves. Nothing but light will expel your darkness,
the devil haunteth men in the night of ignorance, and sel-
dom appeareth in the open daylight : bring in but the saving
light of knowledge, and he will vanish and be gone : the first
part of saving grace is illumination. The opening of the eye
causeth the opening of the heart : Oh if you had but a little
of the heavenly light of the saints, it would shew you that
which would turn your hearts ; you could not be of the
same mind as you are, if you had but saving light : now you
think highly of the world, and meanly of the world to come ;
you now think nothing too much for your flesh, and all too
much that is done for heaven ; you could not be of this
mind if you had the light of the Spirit : you labour now for
that which profiteth not, and neglect that which would pay
« Luke xxU. 5S. John t.5. iii. 19. Roro.ziii. IS. % Cor. vi. 14. Epli. vL
If. Col. i. IS. «Pet. ii4. 17. Jude 6. 13. Matt. xxii.lS. «v. «0. John
z'u* 35.
' Eph. *. 8.
268 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
you for your labour: you vilify Christ, and grace, and holi-
ness, while you magnify the dreams and dung of the world ;
you could not do thus if you were savingly illuminated. I
beseech you, therefore, if ever you would be converted and
saved, labour presently to know the Lord, and his will and
ways ; lament your former ignorance and negligence which
did maintain it. It is not so great a shame for you to be
ignorant how to do your work in the world ; no, nor how
to eat or drink, or how to dress yourselves, as it is to be ig-
norant of the kingdom of heaven, and the way thereto : you
will never hit the way to heaven if you do not know it ; he
that knoweth most, knoweth too little ; what then will they
do that know almost nothing at all? O think not know-
ledge a needless thing, but make out after it, and rest not
till you do obtain it ; to which end you must use these
means following.
(1.) Be much in hearing and reading the word of God,
as was before directed ; for that is it that " giveth light to
the simple s;" this "will make you wise unto salvation^."
(2.) Read good books that are written for the expounding
and applying of the Scripture. Many have received much
information by these. (3.) Converse with wise and godly
men : these are the means of knowledge that were before
made mention of.
Object. ' We are not learned, and therefore God will not
require much knowledge at our hands.*
Answ. You may say, * Therefore God will not require
learning at your hands, further than you are without it
through your own neglect.' But first, every man that hath
a reasonable soul should know God that made him ; and
the end for which he should live ; and know the way to his
eternal happiness as well as the learned : have not you souls
to save or lose as well as the learned have ? 2. God hath
made plain his will to you in his word ; he hath given you
teachers and many other helps ; so that you have no excuse
if you are ignorant; you must know how to be Christians if
you are no scholars. You may hit the way to heaven in
English, though youhave no skill in Hebrew or Greek: but
in the darkness of ignorance you can never hit it. 3. Will
not God judge you as well as the learned ? And will not
» Psal. cxix. 105. 130. •' 2 Tim. iii. 15.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 269
he require an account of the talents which you possess ? He
hath set you on his work as well as others, and therefore
you must know how to do his work. If you think there-
fore that you may be excused from knowledge, you may as
well think that you may be excused from love and from all obe-
dience ; for there can be none of this without knowledge.
Object. * But I am not of so quick an apprehension as
others; and therefore I cannot learn so well. And I have
been brought up in ignorance, and therefore it cannot be
expected from me.'
Answ. Can any man have excuse for ignorance that liveth
among such teaching, and books, and Christian company
as we now do ? You may as well shut your eyes at noon-
day, and say you cannot do your work for want of light.
Were you but as willing to get the knowledge of God and
heavenly things as you are to know how to work in your
trade, you would have set yourselves to it before this day,
and you would have spared no cost or pains till you had got
it. But you account seven years little enough to learn your
trade, and will not bestow one day in seven in diligent learn-
ing the matters of your salvation. Is there not many an
opportunity of getting knowledge, which you miss of through
your own neglect ? You are at home or upon other busi-
ness, when you might have been hearing the word of God,
and in the company of diligent Christians, that are inqui-
ring and learning these necessary things ; and when you
neglect the means, you think to be excused for your igno-
rance. The way that God commandeth you for getting
knowledge, is, that you receive the word of God, and hide
his commandments with you; and incline your ears to wis-
dom, and apply your hearts to understand, and that you cry
after knowledge : and lift up your voice for understanding,
and seek it as silver, and search for it as hid treasures.
And if you would do thus, the Lord hath promised that you
shall understand the fear of the Lord, and find the know-
ledge of God '. Methinks light itself should be pleasant to
you. Did Adam so desire unnecessary knowledge as to
undo himself and his posterity to procure it? and will not
you so desire that knowledge which is necessary to your
salvation, and by which you may be recovered from that
miserable estate ^ ? How many years study will men spend
•Pror. n. t— 5. •» Actsxifi.lB.
270 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
to know a little of the creature, and will you not take pains
to know the Maker and End of the whole creation ?
Object, ' But we hope we may be saved without so much
knowledge.'
Answ, Not without knowing the necessary, fundamental
points of Christianity ; and a desire to know more. Doth
Christ say, " It is life eternal to know God and Jesus
Christ ^" and do you think to have life eternal without it ?
God saith of people that have no understanding, " That he
that made them will not save them, and he that formed
them will shew them no favour "" :" and that "Christ shall
come in flaming fire to render vengeance to them that know
not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ °."
And that they shall be "punished with everlasting destruc-
tion from the presence of the Lord."
Hindrance 4. The next hindrance of conversion, is.
Unbelief : when men will not be persuaded that the word of
God is true, but doubt of the things which he hath revealed
to them, concerning the everlasting state of men. Men have
but a slight opinion of the truth of the word of God, which
will not serve turn to prevail against their fleshly inclination.
Three great enemies of the Christian faith we have to
deal with, which if we overcome not, we lose all. 1. The
one is our own unbelieving hearts, and our carnal inclina-
tions and interests ; flesh and blood cannot reveal the things
of God to us, nor discern them when they are revealed °.
A sound belief of the life to come, and of the whole Chris-
tian faith, would certainly turn the heart to God, and turn
the course of all your lives. It is this faith that purifieth
the heart p ; and without it no wonder if the word be unpro-
fitable **, as to the producing of any further work of sancti-
fication, for it must first beget faith before it can do the
.rest. 2. Another enemy to the Christian faith, is the devil ;
who believeth and trembleth himself, but laboureth to keep
others unbelieving and secure. So great is his malice
against Christ and our souls, that when he seeth that he
cannot make a poor sinner forget God, and make light of
his word any longer, he flieth openly in the very face of
God, and disturbeth the soul with blasphemous suggestions.
» John xvii. 3. "» Isa.xxvii. 11. "2 Thess. i.8, 9.
« Matt. xvi. 17. 1 Cor.n. 14. p Acts xv. 9. *» Heb.iv. 3.
I
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 271
and tempteth them to doubt whether there be a God, or not,
or whether Scripture be his word, or whether it be true. It
was his first way of deceiving, to make the woman doubt of
the truth of God*s word, which had told her, that if she
sinned, she should die. And experience teacheth him to
follow on this course, which he hath found to be so suc-
cessful ; most of the world are destroyed by this unbelief.
How sensible is many a poor Christian of the incessant ma-
lice of satan in this point ; when he followeth them from
day to day with such violence, that their hearts are ready to
be overwhelmed with the horror of the temptation. But
the ungodly do yield to them without so much reluctance.
3. Another sort of enemies of the Christian faith, are, noto-
rious ungodly men ; such as either by the power of their
own unbelieving hearts, have prevailed against the light
that should have drawn them to believe, or such as have by
the reasonings of infidels, been made infidels themselves,
and are desirous to make others such as they are : these are
the devil's instruments to draw men to unbelief.
Direct, 4. If ever you would be savingly converted, see
that you soundly believe the word of God : believe soundly
that there is an everlasting happiness, which is the reward
of a holy life, and an everlasting torment, which is the pu-
nishment of ungodliness ; and you cannot choose but for-
sake your ungodliness, and become holy. To this end ob-
serve these few things following. 1 . Watch over your car-
nal hearts with jealousy : do not take your hearts to be
clear and impartial ; and therefore commit not the matter to
their trust : they are naturally enemies to the word of God,
and therefore no wonder if they hardly believe it. 2. Do
not think too highly of your own understandings, as if you
were able to comprehend the depths of God ; or were com-
petent judges of each passage in his word, before you have
had time and means to understand them, or before you have
improved your time and means by diligent study and prayer
to God ; search the Scripture, as a learner, and not as a
foolish caviller. 3. Abhor the very first temptation of satan
that tends to draw your souls to unbelief, and suffer not his
malice to make too deep impressions in your fancies : cast
out such horrid thoughts with detestation, and give them
not the least countenance or willing entertainment. 4. De-
272 TREATISE OF CONVEKSION.
test the company of atheistical men, or any infidels that dare
open their mouths to speak against the word of God. Yea,
though they pretend to do it but by way of question. Hear
every word against the Scripture from such deceivers, as if
you heard it from the devil himself, or as if you saw him be-
hind them, prompting them what to say, and putting them
on : for it is he that doth it by their mouth. As it was
satan that caused Judas to betray Christ, and filled the
heart of Ananias and Sapphira to lie againstthe Holy Ghosts
so is it satan that fiUeth the hearts of these unbelievers to
speak against Christ, and to contradict the word, which the
Holy Ghost hath delivered. 5. Labour to understand the
sense of Scripture, and the great evidence of its truth, and
of the Christian faith ; and have recourse to those for your
confirmation that are of better understandings herein than
yourselves, and read those books that are written to that
end, to manifest thfe divine authority of Scripture. 6. Sub-
mit to the truth, which you know, and strive not against
the light, but let it have its due impress upon your souls,
that you may have the experience of its power and excellen-
cy to confirm you : by these means you may do much to
overcome your unbelief; and if that were once done, the
rest of the work would go on apace.
Hindrance 5. The next hindrance, is, Inconsiderateness :
of which I spoke in the beginning, but shall add somewhat
in this place. When truths are not considered of, they are
but as medicines that lie in a box, and therefore are not like
to work ; it is the work of consideration to bring down
truths from the understanding to the heart, and to hold them
there till they do work. We cannot get poor sinners so
much an soberly to bethink them of their ways, and to call
to mind the things we speak to them, and consider of them
for their good. Because I intend, if the Lord will, to speak
hereafter more fully of this subject, I shall pass it over now
thus briefly.
Direct. 5. If ever you would be converted, use to consi-
der frequently and seriously of those truths of God that
must do the work. The word of God is pure and powerful
to convert the soul, but can you look it should convert you,
if you will not so much as soberly think upon it ? How can
«■ Luke xxii. 3. Acts v. 3.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 273
that work upon your hearts, which is out of your minds ?
It is you that must join with us for your own conversion,
and do the rest of the work, when you come home, and not
think that a sermon can do it, when you forget it, and never
mind it more. If you seek to the ablest physician for your
body, he can but give you physic, it is you that must take
it and keep it, and observe directions till it work. If you will
presently cast it up again, how can it do you good ? We tell
you of those truths that are most useful to your conversion,
and if you will take them home, and keep them, and ponder of
them when you are alone, till they sink into your hearts,
and take rooting, you may be happy men ; but if you will
cast them all up again, and will not be persuaded to bestow
now and then a few of your deepest serious thoughts for the
further entertainment of them, how should they do you sa-
ving good ? If I could prevail with this congregation to be
but considerate, and now and then to bestow some time to
get the truth to their hearts, I should have great hopes of
the conversion of you all ; for light is stronger than dark-
ness : if you would but open the window by consideration,
and let it in, you should find the darkness presently dispel-
led, and it would be day with you that have sat in the sha-
dow of death. The Spirit of God is able to overcome the
flesh, and Christ is able to conquer satan, and bind him, and
cast him out of your souls. And if you would but set in,
and take his part, and open him the door by sober conside-
ration, when he knocks and seeks admittance, and not dis-
courage him by your wilful neglect, you would feel the
working of his power to your salvation. There have now
been many sermons preached to you on this text ; have you
considered of them when you came home ? Have you taken
yourselves alone, and asked your own hearts, whether you
are converted or not? And have you bethought you of the
blessedness of the converted, and the misery of the uncon-
verted, which you have heard ? Have you dwelt upon these
thoughts, till they have sunk down into your hearts ? If
you have, I dare say this doctrine hath done you good ; but
if you have not, what wonder if you be unconverted still,
and if you live and die so, and if you be damned among the
unconverted, when you will not be persuaded so much as
seriously to consider of the matter? If it be not a matter
VOL. vii. T
274 TREATISE OF CONVEKSION.
worthy the thinking of, it is not worth the hearing, and if
this be not to be thought on, I know not what is. We do
not go home with you from church into your houses, nor
see what you think of there in secret, nor whether you fall
down there before the Lord, and pray over the sermons that
you hear; nor do we hear what you say of it to others ; but
God followeth you home, and he seeth and heareth all ; and
he that is here ready with his grace to enter into your hearts,
if you do not resist or slight him, is there also ready to help
you to make use of what you have heard, if you do not wil-
fully throw it ofFyourselves. O, did you but earnestly con-
sider what God is, and what your duty is, and what you
were made for, and whither you are going, and what sin and
the world are, and what grace is, and what Christ is, and
hath done for you, and what death is, and what judgment is,
and what heaven is, and what hell is, how is it possible you
should continue unconverted ? How is it possible but you
should presently run out of your present carnal, worldly
state, as you should do out of a house that is all on fire over
your head ; and should become most zealous and diligent
Christians ? Certainly consideration would do very much
to your conversion. *' I thought on my ways, and turned
my feet to thy testimonies, I made haste and delayed not to
keep thy commandments \"
Hindrance 6. The next great impediment to your con-
version, is. Hardness of heart, and searedness of conscience.
Though every man have some of this in his original corrup-
tion, yet resisting of light and motions of grace doth usually
bring men to a far greater measure of it ; both by the nature
of the thing, and by the just judgment of God. When men
have sinned often or long against knowledge and conscience,
and receive not the truth in the love of it that they may be
saved, but suppress the light, and live not up to the convic-
tions that are upon their consciences, it is usual for such to
grow blockish and senseless, and for the brutish part so far
to prevail,that they are in a sort" unreasonable men*." Men
are naturally dead in sin, but when they have sinned wil-
fully, they grow more dead ; that is, they are more insensi-
ble, and have more of death upon them. And when they
fall, especially from former conviction and profession, they
* Psal. cxix. 59. '2 Thess. iii. 2.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 275
" biecome twice dead, and plucked up by the roots " ;" and then
the work of conversion is hard indeed. When the heart is
thus hardened, no words are much regarded by them : no
saying will serve ; you speak as to a post. We shoot our
arrows as at a wall of flint, where they will not enter : the
dew of holy instructions doth fall upon a stone where no
fruit can be expected. You cannot devise what to say that
will touch them, because they are stupid, and will not lay
it to heart : you cannot tell how to sharpen your words to
make them enter. The Lord have mercy upon poor wretches,
for their case is lamentable. It would make a man of con-
sideration wonder to see what piercing, weighty truths a
hard heart will make light of. Speak to them as from the
God that made them, and they regard you not : speak to
them of their everlasting state, and they regard you not :
tell them of the heinous evil of sin, and all its aggravations,
and they take it all but as words of course ; and will say,
* God help us, we are all sinners/ and there is an end. Tell
them of the infinite love of God, and the precious blood of
Christ that was shed for them, and the free pardon that is
offered, and the rich abundant grace, which they might have,
and it will increase their presumption and security, but it
will not raise their estimation of it, nor quicken their de-
sire after it, nor make them forsake all and follow Christ.
Tell tli,em of an everlasting state of glory, which they may
obtain in the presence of the Lord, and they make light of
it, and hear it as they do a story of the fortunate islands, or
the Elysian fields : tell them of the endless torments of the
damned that despised grace in the day of tiieir visitation,
and either they feel not, and fear not what you say ; or 'i£
they fear a little, it is not so much as to move them from
their courses, nor bring them to a change of heart and life.
O what a sad work it is to have to deal with a hardened
heart ! It is to hew at a stone ; and to cleave a knotty
block that will not receive the wedge ; to plough and sow
on a rock, where you cannot make the plougL to enter.
This is the trouble of a preacher's life ; this dulleth his
hopes, this wearieth and tireth him ; this maketh him say,
* I have laboured in vain, and spent my strength for nougth :*
and this hath broken many of their hearts. Alas ! to see
•• Jude 12.
276 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
our poor people within a few days or years of eternal fire,
which they might prevent if they would look about them in
time, and we cannot get them to lay it to heart ! Alas ! to
hear what a feeling they must have for ever, and yet we can-
not get them to feel or fear, and prevent it now. Oh ! thinks
a poor minister, if I could but awaken him, and make him
regard the case of his soul, I should have hope yet to pre-
vent his damnation : for no man can destroy him against his
will ; and the light is so clear, that me thinks he should see
it, if he would not wilfully shut his eyes. But alas ! we
cannot get them to regard it. How sad a case is it to think
of an everlasting glory, which they might have, and how
freely Christ hath purchased it, and how freely he doth offer
it to them, and they might have it if they would, and if they
did not wilfully slight it and reject it. And yet that we can-
not awaken them to consideration, nor bring such matters
as these to their hearts ; I have formerly said it, and I will
say it again, that I profess that I often marvel that the weight
of everlasting matters doth not rather overmatch your spi-
rits, and overwhelm them. I have wondered that it doth
not even amaze and astonish you to think how great a change
you are near, and what a thing it is to be everlastingly in
heaven or in hell : and yet we cannot get our people to feel
or lay to heart these things. O, what lamentable hearts are
these ! What will they regard and feel if they will not feel
everlasting matters ? What words will ever pierce their
hearts if the words of the living God will not do it, and the
words by which they know they shall be judged ? Do but
call one of them by some disgraceful name, and he will
quickly feel : threaten him with death ; promise him but
a hundred pounds, and he will regard it : but let God de-
clare his sin and misery to him, and he will not feel it : let
God threaten him with hell, and promise him everlasting
life, if he will return, and he will not regard it. O, what a
happy life might a minister have if it were not for hard-
hearted men ! If we could deal with them, but on such
terms for their souls as we do for their bodies, how cer-
tainly should we prevail, and then how comfortable would
our employments be. If a lawyer tell them their evidence,
or cause is nought, they will hear and regard him : if a phy-
sician tell them they must take physic or die, they will lay
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 277
it to heart. If their landlord tell them they must pay their
rent, or be turned out of their houses, they can feel what he
saith ; but if we tell them that they must repent and be con-
verted, or be condemned for ever, and miss of salvation, we
cannot be regarded ; their hearts are blocked up from us, by
the world, and pride, and lust, and sin, and we cannot get
into their bosom ; we know not how to come at their hearts.
Alas ! if it were not for their own sakes this trouble were
small to us ; for what good else should it do us to trouble
them, and break their hearts and change them ? But when
we consider, if we could but. convert them we should save
them ; and if we could help them to grace, we might meet
them in everlasting glory, this maketh us long for better
success. Fain then would we get them to hear, and regard,
and feel what we say, that it might go well with them for
ever ; but we cannot. Alas ! to the grief of our hearts we
cannot. It is a tiring life to have none but hard-hearted
sinners to persuade ; we lose our study for them ; we lose
our breath upon them. Some of them can think of other
things while we are speaking to them of the greatest matters
in all the world ; and some of them can drop asleep under
it, and some of them sit as dull as blocks ; and some of them
will look upon us as if they were affected, and yet it never
goes to the quick ; and some of them that seem to be some-
what sensible, do shake off all again in a few days time, and
when they have been awhile among their old companions,
and about their old business, they shew us that they are
the old men, and that it is one thing to be a little affrighted
for a few days, and another thing to have a changed, softened
heart. Were it not for this sin of hardness of heart, it were
not possible that so many sermons should be lost ; nor that
so many ministers in England should see so little fruit of
their labours. Why, alas I sinners, what else can be the
matter ? We come on as reasonable an errand as any men
in the world can come on ; it is but that men would accept
salvation that is freely purchased and offered them, and that
they would be content to change a life of sin and misery, for
a life of grace" and everlasting glory. One would think that
such a message as this should take with every man and wo-
man in the congregation ; especially when it is sent from
God himself, and brought to them with such evidence of
278 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
certain truth, and themselves profess to believe what we say.
One would think a message so reasonable as this should
prevail with every man in a whole country or kingdom where
it comes : and yet it doth not. Nay, alas ! how few are they
with whom it doth prevail ! If we" came hither to offer every
man in this congregation that he should live in a palace as
a prince, on condition he would leave his cottage and ac-
cept it, who would make any question of the success ? I
should not doubt but every man and woman of you would
yield : and yet when we come in the name of God to offer
them grace and glory on free cost, if they will but let go sin
and the world, they will not be persuaded ; — say what we can,
though they will not tell us so, yet they will not be per-
suaded : and whence can this come but from a hardened
heart ? Did we not speak to men that have lost their sense
and reason, and are past feeling, it could not be : when every
man naturally desireth his own happiness, and yet men will
not be happy when it is offered them.
Yea, this is not all ; but when the heart is thus hardened,
some of them are given over to such a desperate case that
they hear the word with a malicious mind ; and instead of
receiving it in power to their salvation, they do but cavil at
it, and pick quarrels with it, to their condemnation ; and
prate among their companions against that which they un-
derstand not, nor ever laid to heart. If a physician would
heal them for nothing, and they should maliciously reproach
him or quarrel with all that he doth for them, did they not
deserve to be left to perish by the disease ? If ihey had for-
feited their lives and a free pardon were offered them, what
would you think of him, that instead of a thankful accepting
of the pardon, would pick quarrels with it, and prove it non-
sense, or scorn the messenger? This is the case of many of
our hearers. Poor souls, their Hves declare their misery,
and God sendeth us to them with the offers of a remedy, and
one goes home and makes a jest of it ; and another foolishly
cavilleth against it, and another thinks it a needless thing ;
and this is our success with hard-hearted men. Now the
Lord have mercy upon you that hear me in this congrega-
tion, and grant that this may be none of your case, or if it
be, that he would powerfully and quickly cure it : for it is
one of the saddest cases in this world : and of all sorts of
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 27^
men, there are few or none that we have so little hope of as
hard-hearted men. If a man were never so much mistaken
and never so far out of the way, yet if he had but any re-
gard or feeling with him, we might hope by the force of
reason and the light of the word of God, to bring him to
himself, and set him in the way : but when men are past
feeling, what shall we say to them, or what can we do for
them? Nay, it is not only words but even the works of
God that are lost upon such men : mercies do but harden
them, and judgments themselves do but harden them, which
one would think, should humble and soften them, if any out-
ward means could do it. When the Jews had sinned, God
punished them with war, and let loose plundering, robbing
soldiers Jupon their estates, and destroyers upon their bodies;
and yet they were so far from being humbled and softened
by it, that they did not so much as regard the cause, nor the
hand that did it. " Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel
to the robbers ? Did not the Lord, he against whom we
have sinned ? For they would not walk in his way, neither
were they obedient to his law. Therefore he hath poured
upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle,
and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not,
and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart. " " And hath
not this been our own case in England ? Who would have
thought, if people had but had life, and sense, and reason in
them, but that so many years' war should have humbled
them for their sins, and made them willing to learn and to
be reformed ? Who would have thought but they would
have searched and tried their ways, and turned to the Lord
that did afflict them ; and have loved his word, and have
given up themselves to his will, and even in the open as-
semblies have voluntarily acknowledged and bewailed their
iniquities ? And yet we see how many are the same. As
the sword found them, so it hath left them, if not worse :
and if the fury of God's anger cannot be felt, no wonder if
they cannot feel our preaching: and if they lay not to heart
the fire that bumeth them up, what wonder if they lay not
to heart the message we deliver? If Peter and Paul, yea,
or Christ himself, had preached to one of these hardened
sinners, they would have made light of it ; or gone home
« Isa. xlii. i4, 35.
280 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
and ignorantly cavilled against them as they do against the
ministers now, unless the powerful arm of God had inwardly
concurred to the softening of their hearts : for indeed they
did thus by Christ and his apostles while they were upon
earth : and by all the prophets that went before them ; Ezek,
iii. 7. saith the Lord, ver. 4. " Son of man, get thee to the
house of Israel, and speak with my words to them. Not to
many people of a strange speech and a hard language, whose
words thou canst not understand. Surely had I sent thee
to them, they would have hearkened to thee, but the house
of Israel will not hearken to thee, for they will not hearken
to me, for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-
hearted." And Christ himself when he had wrought even
miracles to confirm his doctrine, was put to grieve for the
hardness of their hearts y. And when the apostles preached
the Gospel of salvation, " divers were hardened and believed
not, but spoke evil of the way of God before the people,"
till the apostles resolved to leave them to themselves ^ So
that, hardness of heart is the great impediment of conversion.
Direct, 6. The advice therefore that I would give you
for this work of conversion, is. That you especially take
heed of this dangerous case of an hardened heart. In the
name of God see that you run not into this miserable state ;
or if you be in it, O that I could awaken you, that you might
speedily be brought out of it. Have you yet time of repen-
tance? And are your souls and bodies yet together? Yet
hath God's patience kept you out of hell? O harden not
your hearts, lest time be gone, and death and darkness be
upon you before you are aware. " Behold, now is the ac-
cepted time, behold now is the day of salvation," saith the
Holy Ghosts Doth God give you warning once again be-
fore he smiteth you into everlasting vengeance, and doth he
once more call you to repent before he summon you to judg-
ment? O take the counsel of the Holy Ghost; " To-day if
ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts ''." I say, to-
day, lest he bear not with thee till to-morrow, ** Boast not
of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring
forth *=." And if God do call thine impenitent soul out of
this world before our next meeting in this place, or at least,
y Mark Hi, 5. » Acts ix. 9. ^ •£ Cor. vi. 2.
*» Heb. iii. 7, 8. 16. Psal. xcv. 8. •= Piov. xxvii. 1.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 281
ere long, remember then that thou hadst time to have pre-
vented the misery which thou must feel to all eternity.
There is not a more fearful plague on earth than a har-
dened heart ; none is more like to be sealed up to damna-
tion than such an one. Dost thou hear of the greatness of
thy sin, and hear of judgment and eternal life, and hear of
the love and severity of the Lord, and yet dost thou not feel
it ? O sad case, and sadly to be lamented by all that under-
stand it ! For from thyself it cannot be expected. Believe
it, sinner, God hath a voice that will be heard and regarded.
If the voice of mercy be made light of, the voice of judg-
ment shall not be made light of. When we have told thee
of thy danger, and of the remedy by Christ, thou canst go
home and cast it out of thy mind. But when God hath said,
" Go ye cursed to everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels," then make light of that if thou canst. When
he hath newly said, ** Take him and bind him hand and
foot, and cast him into utter darkness, where shall be weep-
ing and gnashing of teeth ;" then forget this, and cast this
out of thy mind if thou canst. O poor wretch, if thou hadst
to do but with such an one as I, or any one of the sons of men,
perhaps thou mightest think to escape well enough : but
thou hast to do with the eternal Majesty, and how then wilt
thou escape? Canst thou grapple with his Almighty
strength? Or canst thou make good thy part against him?
When we call on thee to repent and reform, thou wilt not ;
when we call on thee to a holy and heavenly life, thou wilt
not ; but when he shall say, * Depart from me, thou cursed
wretch,' wilt thou then say, thou wilt not? When he shall
deliver thee to the devils to be tormented by them for ever,
who deceived thee in thy lifetime, and bid them take thee to
everlasting flames, wilt thou then say, thou wilt not go ?
Alas, poor wretch ! What power hast thou to resist? It is
the same Almighty God that made all the world of nothing,
and beareth it up in his hand, and disposeth of it at his will,
which then will command thee to remediless perdition. If
he bid the sun in the firmament move, it moveth ; and once
when he bad it stand still, it did stand still, and nothing is
able to resist his power; and canst thou resist it? Why, if
he send but a disease upon thee, thou art unable to resist it !
If he bid thee die, wilt thou say, I will not die ? Alas ! If
282 TREATISfe OF CONVERSION.
sinners could have resisted God, and saved themselves from
the stroke of justice, the church-yard would not have been
so full of graves, nor hell so full of damned souls as it is at
this day. " But who hath hardened himself against him,
and hath prospered^?" Name me the man, and tell me
where he dwells, that hardened his heart against the Lord,
and sped well by it in the latter end ? I tell you again, if
sermons cannot make you feel ; if mercies and warning, if
threatening and affliction cannot make you feel, judgment
and hell shall make you feel. Say not, but thou wast told
so, and remember this when thou seest not me. Remember
that I foretold thee that God will not be always jested with,
or abused, and that thou canst not make so light of hell, as
thou didst of the warnings of God and man. If thou be
turned into a rock, God hath a hammer that can batter and
dash in pieces that rock.
Object. * But if God will harden my heart, how can I help
it? It is he that hardened Pharaoh's heart, and so he did
the Jews ^ And if he will do it, what remedy V
Answ. 1. Dost thou think to have any excuse or comfort
by accusing the righteous and holy God ? O what a foolish
thing is sin, and how it bereaveth poor sinners of their un-
derstanding ! Thou mightest better have laid the blame
upon any one in the world, than upon the righteous and
most holy God. For never sin came from him, nor was
caused by him. Dost thou think he will not be justified in
his judging? God's hardening men is but his leaving them
to themselves, to go on in that hardness that he found them
in, and denying them that grace which he no way oweth
them. 2. And God doth not this neither, till thou abusest
his grace, and strivest against the light, and castest away thy
own mercy; and is it not just then that he should take his
mercy from thee? If children will play with their meat, or
cast it to the dogs, and tread it under feet, it is time to take
it away. This is God's hardening of the hearts of sinners ;
he leaveth them as he found them, after they have abused
and refused his grace. And withal, he letteth loose the
tempter upon them, that seeing they will be wicked, they
may be taken in their own wickedness, and destroy them-
selves by it; as you will lay a purse in the way to catch a
•'Jobix.4, » Mark iv.l2.
TREATISE OF CaNVERSION. 283
thief by, when you do not make him thievish ; so God will
try and catch u sinner when yet he never gives him any in-
clination to the sin. But when he seeth that they are and
will be such, it is just with him to let them take their course,
and smart by their folly. And as, if you see a thief that is
running into a pit, you are not bound to keep him out; no
more is God to keep a sinner from destroying of himself, es-
pecially when he hath so often refused his assistance.
Quest. ' But what can I do for the softening of my own
heart?'
Answ. O that thou wert but willing to do what thou
shouldst and mightestdo. If thou be willing ; 1. Get alone
and consider of the misery of thy condition ; and of the
time when thou shalt feel whether thou wilt or no. 2. Keep
under the most powerful preaching of the word, which is
God's ordinary means for the melting of the heart. 3. Keep
in the company of those that will remember thee of those
holy truths which have a softening nature, and will^ bring
everlasting things into thy mind. 4. Keep out of the com-
pany of foolish and ungodly men, who by their words and
practices will harden thee more. 5. Resolve that thou go
not on in the practice of thy known sin ; no, not once more.
For sinning against knowledge doth harden the heart, and
tempt the Lord to leave thee to thyself. If thou wilt be
drunk when thou knowest it to be a sin ; and wilt be world-
ly, and wilt be fleshly, when God and conscience speak
against it ; this will desperately harden thy heart. 6. Beg
daily of God that he would soften thy heart. Beseech him
upon thy knees to pardon those sins by which thou hast
hardened it, and to give thee his Spirit which must deliver
thee from this misery : and follow him hard with these re-
quests from day to day ; for if thou prevail not, thou art un-
done and lost for ever. For, saith the Holy Ghost, " he that
covereth his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesseth
and forsaketh them, shall have mercy. Happy is the man
that feareth always, but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall
into mischief ^" *' He that being often reproved, hardeneth
his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without re-
medy e."
Hindrance 7. Another hindrance of conversion, is. The
' Prov.xxviH. IS, 14. i Pi"v. xxix. 1.
284 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
too great esteem that men have of this world, and the great
interest that it hath gotten in their hearts. By this it is that
God is shut out, that Christ is so neglected, that heavenly
things are so much undervalued ; because men have that in
their hands already, or at least in their eyes, which they like
better. God and mammon cannot be loved ; these two
masters cannot be both served. While the world is leaned
to, Christ will be made light of. The glory to come can ne-
ver be obtained, but by the hearty forsaking of this present
world. It is this that stole the heart from God ; and it is this
that possesseth it, till grace recoverethit to God again : and
therefore it is the work of grace to cast out the world, and
to set up God ; to dethrone this usurper, and to give God
again the possession of his own. As truly as darkness goeth
out of the room when light comes in, so truly doth the love
of the world depart where the love of God doth enter into
the soul. For ** if any man (predominantly) love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him **." Men^ cannot make
God their end, and the world their end too. They cannot
love God above all, and the world above all too. They can-
not set their hearts on heaven, nor make it their treasure and
their chiefest good, while they set their hearts on earth, and
make it tlieir treasure, " For where their treasure is, their
hearts will be \" When men are drowned in worldly cares,
and taken up so much with worldly contrivances and busi-
nesses, there is then no room for the matters of their salva-
tion. If they would go to consider of their sin and misery,
and think of these things that might further their conver-
sion, their worldly matters step in, and turn away their
thoughts ; so that, when they are alone, and have opportu-
nity for such considerations, yet they have no hearts to such
a work. When they are considering, and begin to perceive
that they must either change or perish, and that this life will
not serve the turn, presently the world doth turn their minds,
and telleth them of other matters to be minded, and so all
is forgotten again. If their hearts be a little wakened and
troubled for sin, the pleasure or business of the world doth
quiet them, and while it maketh them forget their misery,
they live as if it were cured, and all their trouble vanisheth
away. If they are moved to set up the worship of God in
'• IJohn ii. 15. . » Matt. vi. 21.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 285
their families, to read, and pray, and instruct those that are
under them, the world will not give them leave, they have
somewhat else to mind, which it seemeth they think of
greater necessity. And thus the world is an enemy to God,
and the love of it keepeth out the love of God, and the serv-
ing of it excludeth his service, and they that are friends of
it, are certainly his enemies ''." And this is a grievous hin-
drance of conversion.
Direct. 7. Let go the world then, if ever you would be
converted. You renounced it in your baptism, see that your
hearts now unfeignedly renounce it, unless you will renounce
your part in Christ and the world to come. Think not to
keep both, and make up a felicity to yourselves between
them. It is now become your enemy, and as an enemy it
must be affected and used, or else as an enemy it will effec-
tually destroy you. It is a killing, conquering enemy, to
those that take it not heartily for their enemy. But it is
only a troubling, but a conquered enemy to them that take
it and use it as an enemy. O that poor worldlings did but
know what a feather, what a shadow, what an empty un
profitable thing they do pursue. You run after it eagerly,
but when you overtake it, you will befool yourselves, and
say, ' What have I gotten ? Is this all that I have cared and
toiled for? Is this all that I forsook God and my salvation
for V For your souls' sake, sinners, forsake not God till
you know for what. Neglect not heaven till you have
somewhat better to regard. Renounce not your salvation
till you know such reason for it as you dare own, and stand
to at death and judgment. Is a little plenty of wealth and
worldly trifles a matter for a man to sell his soul for ? You
think, I know, that you do not sell your salvation for it, be-
cause you hope that you may have both : but this is but
your wilful delusion. If you will not believe God now that
telleth you you cannot have two portions, two treasures, two
ends, or two masters, you will find it true when your deceit
hath undone you. Doth God tell you that you cannot love
both, and that the world and he cannot both have your
hearts, and will you not believe him? If the world be bet-
ter than God, then take it, and let him go. If it be more
durable than heaven, then follow it and spare not. But,
^ James iv. 8.
280 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
alas ! what a dream, what a shadow is it. How soon will it
be gone ! Will you always dwell in these houses ? or will
your friends and riches stay with you for ever? Will you
carry your lands and wealth, and fleshly provision to ano-
ther world ? Alas, that men should wilfully undo them-
selves ! There is not a worldling, but will confess all this
to be true that I say, and yet their hearts are still the same,
and the world hath their love, and care, and pleasure, and
worldlings they will be still. O what a self-condemning
sinner is a worldling, and how much against his knowledge
doth he sin ! He knows that he mis-placeth his affections,
and yet he will do it. He foreseeth that the world will de-
ceive him at the last, and yet he will follow it, to the neglect
of his salvation. Christ hath made but ** one thing neces-
sary K" Do that and do all : get that and get all. But they
needlessly incumber themselves about many things,and make
themselves more work than God hath made them ; and wi^l
uot see that they have lost their labour, till they find that
they have lost their souls. O poor foolish sinners, that now
are so busy for you know not what, and rejoicing in your
possessions as if you were happy, when " your souls shall
be required of you, whose then shall these things be "" V*
When death and j udgment shall awaken you to your account,
and help you better to understand your reckoning, then
make your boast of the world, and boast of your gain, if you
find it worth your boasting of. Then tell us who was the
wiser merchant, he that sold all for the pearl of grace and
glory, or he that let go that treasure for the world. Then
tell us whether a heavenly or an earthly conversation was
the wiser course ; aad who it was that choose the better
part.
Bsndrance 8. Another great impediment to conver-
sion, is. When custom in sinning hath given it the mastery,
and made the flesh the ruler of your reason, and made men
think that they have a kind of necessity to sin. Nature as
corrupted, doth bring forth sin in too great strength ; but
custom doth make it stronger, and blotteth out the remnants
of moral wisdom and honesty from the soul. When men
have long taken a custom of sinning, they grow hardened
nd senseless, as the higa way doth by being often trod
• Luke X. 4'iJ. »» Luke x\\. 10.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 287
upon, or as a labourer's hand grows hard by constant la-
bour. And so sin becometh familiar to them, and they be-
come ** pastfeeling/'and are "given up to work uncleanness
with greediness"." A custom of sinning against reason
doth make men in a sort unreasonable, by giving their sen-
suality the rule of their reason. We see by sad experience,
when men grow old in ignorance, how hardly they are
brought to knowledge, yea, or to be willing to leai-n. And
when men are often drunk, or commit any other heinous sin^
how it prostitute th their souls to the next temptation, and
maketh sin as familiar to them as water to the fish. It must
be by a miracle, or next to a miracle, that an old, ignorant,
worldly or sensual sinner must be converted. By often sin-
ning they have lost their understandings, and hardened their
hearts, and think the greatest good to be evil, and think they
cannot live without their sin. But as a man in a fever calls
for cold water, so do they for the pleasure of their flesh.
They must have it, they cannot forbear it, their flesh wiU
have no nay. " If the blackmore can change his skin, or
the leopard his spots, then may they that are accustomed to
do evil, learn to do well°." We see in public cases, what a
power custom hath. If men be but used to any thing in God's
worship, that is unmeet or contrary to the word of God, they
will not hearken to the Scripture, but cry out, * Custom,
custom,' against that plain word that must judge them, and
should direct them ; as if the custom of their forefathers
were of more authority than the word of God. No wonder
then if a custom of swearing, or drunkenness, or worldliness,
o); wickedness, or contempt of a religious, godly life, do pre-
vjEoJ with thousands to harden them to perdition ; and this
be a grievous hindrance to their conversion.
Direct, 8. You that are yet young, take heed of a custom
in sin, and you that are hardened in it already, in the fear
of God make a stand and go no further. It is sad that you
have gone so far. But if you wilfully go on but one day
more, you know not but God may leave you to yourselves;
and if you wilfully add but one sin more to the heap, it may
seal you to perdition, it may break your backs, and sink you
into hell. O what a folly is it then for men to delay their
repentajjce to the last, when custom in sinning doth make
Eph. iv. 19, 20. « Jer. xiU. «S.
288 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
the work of their conversion to be more difficult. Remem-
ber, I beseech you, that your custom is the aggravation of
your sin, and not any just excuse. What ! if you had taken
a custom of spitting in the face of your own father or dear-
est friend, or any way abusing him, would you think it good
excuse for you to continue it, because you are accustomed
to it ? Why, the oftener you have sinned, the oftener you
have wronged God; and the oftener you have wronged him,
the more should you now bewail it, and not therefore go on
to wrong him more. If you had oftentimes hurt yourselves
by falls, or cut your fingers by negligence or carelessness,
will you do so still to keep a custom ? What greater mad-
ness can there be than to plead custom for sinning against
the living God, and hastening your own souls to everlasting
perdition ? You shall have custom for suffering then, as
you have for sinning now, and see whether you will there-
fore love your suffering. If you will love sin, because you
are accustomed to it, you shall try whether you can love
hell, because you are accustomed to it.
Hindrance 9. Another hindrance of conversion, is.
Foolish self-love, that makes men unwilling to know the
worst of themselves, and so keepeth them from believing
their sinfulness and misery ; and causeth them to presume
and keep up false deceiving hopes, that they may be saved
whether they are converted or not ; or that they are convert-
ed, when indeed they are not They think it is every one's
duty to hope well of themselves, and therefore they will do
so ; and so while they hope they are converted already, or
may be saved without conversion, no wonder if they look
not seriously after it. Like many a sick man that I have
known in the beginning of a consumption, or some grievous
disease, they hope there is no danger in it; or they hope it
will go away of itself, and it is but some cold ; or they hope
that such or such an easy medicine may cure it, till they are
past hope, and then they must give up these hopes, and
their lives together, whether they will or no. Just so do
poor wretches by their souls. They know that all is not
well with them, but they hope God is so merciful, that he
will not damn them, or they hope to be converted sometime
hereafter, or they hope that less ado may serve turn, and
that their good wishes and prayers may save their souls, and
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 289
that in these hopes they hold on, till they find themselves to
be past remedy, and their hopes and they be dead together.
I speak not this without the Scripture; Prov. xi. 17. "When
a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish, and the
hope of the unjust man perisheth." Job xxvii. 8, 9. " What
is the hope of the hypocrite, though he have gained, when
God taketh away his soul ? Will God hear his cry when trou-
ble cometh upon him?" Job xi. 20. " And the eyes of the
wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape ; and their hope
shall be as the giving up of the ghost." There is scarce a
greater hindrance of conversion, than these false, deceiving
hopes of sinners ; that think they are converted when they
are not ; or hope to be saved, when they have no ground
for their hopes. Were it not for this, men would look about
them and return.
Direct. 9. I have formerly spoke and wrote to you of
this point, and I have told you that it is none of my desire
that any man should despair. But despair you must of ever
being saved without conversion, or finding heaven in the
way to hell. Till that kind of despair possess your hearts,
we cannot expect a saving change. For men will not let go
all their pleasure, and cast themselves upon these difficulties,
which flesh and blood apprehendeth to be in the way of God,
as long as they hope to do well enough without it. No
wonder if men be unholy, that hope to be saved, whether
they be holy or not. It is hope that keepeth your hearts
from breaking, which must be broken for your former sins.
It is hope of doing well enough in your present case, that
keeps you from seeking out for a better : if you knew that
you must be converted or condemned, and had no hopes of
being saved, unless you were born again, then you would
look about you, and run to God by prayer for his grace, and
run to the word by reading for instruction, and run to the
minister with inquiry for direction, and be glad of that com-
pany which would help you to heaven. I tell you, it is these
carnal hopes that deceive the world, and hinder them from
seeking Christ and life. The thing, therefore, that I request
of you for the sake of your own souls, is but this. That you
would but try your hopes by the word of God, and prove
them sound before you trust them ; and content not your-
selves to say, I hope I shall be saved, but prove and try,
VOL. vn. u
290 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
whether you are such as God hath promised salvation to,
or not : for there are hopes that will never deceive men;
that is, those that are well grounded on the word of God :
and there are hopes, as you have heard, that will die with
men, and undo them ; that is, those that had no ground but
their own self-love ; when men hope they shall be saved, be-
cause they would have it so, and hope to come to heaven,
when they will not go the way to heaven. Is it not one of
the dreadfullest sights in the world, to see a man ready to
leave this world, and have no hopes but what will die when
he dieth ? O, if you did but know what a terrible thing it
will be for a man in his lifetime to hope for salvation, and
as soon as he is dead to find himself in damnation, and all
his hopes to vanish like a dream, you would sure be per-
suaded to try your hopes. Prove once by the marks of
grace in your souls, that thou art one of those that God hath
promised salvation to ; that is, one of the regenerate, the
heavenly, and the holy, and then hope for salvation and
spare not, and the Lord confirm and maintain thy hopes.
For these hopes are grounded on the word of God, which
never yet deceived any. But if you hope well, and know
not why, and you have nothing to shew for your hopes of
heaven, but what an ungodly man can shew, or the most of
the world may shew that shall perish, and cannot prove that
you are new creatures, and holy, and heavenly, these hopes
do but hinder your conversion and salvation.
Hindrance 10; The next hindrance of conversion, is.
Those counterfeit graces, or half-conversion, which are like
to true graces, but are not them, and so do not bring over
the soul to God, but strengthen the false hopes, which we
mentioned before. There is somewhat in the heart of an
unconverted man, which is like in his eyes to true conver-
sion. Some fears and accusation of conscience he may have,
and some change thereupon : he may be convinced of his
sin and misery, and see the necessity of another course, and
hereupon may change his company, and betake himself to
many duties, and break off many of his former sins, and seem
to himself to be truly converted, and glory in this as long
as he liveth, and think verily that he is indeed a converted
man. He may know the very time, the book, the sermon,
the words that were the means of doing this work upon his
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 291
soul, and therefore think that it is truly done. He may re-
member so great change that was made on him, that he may
confidently conclude that it was a saving change, and yet it
may be but common preparation, or mere terrors or convic-
tions, or some common works, which many that perish, par-
take of. He may have hereupon somewhat that in his eye
is like to every grace of the Spirit, and therefore think that
these are they indeed ; and this is a fearful, deceiving state,
and mightily quieteth men in a miserable condition ; when
these common gifts should be otherwise used.
Direct. 10. Take heed, therefore, of trusting to counterfeit
graces, or superficial works that do not effectually convert
the soul. Labour to discern by the light of the word of
God, whether the work be savingly done or not ; how you
may discern it, 1 have told you before. If God be set up
highest in your souls, and brought nearest to your hearts,
and your hopes are set upon the life to come, and all things
in this world seem vain to you in comparison of it ; if sin
be bitter to you, and Christ, and grace, and holiness be
sweet, then you may conclude that it is a saving work, but
otherwise not. And therefore rest not in common works.
Hindrance 11. Another hindrance, is. When men live
among strong temptations, and occasions of sin ; as when
they depend upon some great men, or parents, or other
friends that are enemies to godliness, and would undo them
if they should follow it ; or when they are so engaged in a
course of sin, that they cannot break it off without their
worldly undoing or suffering ; when their credit or their
gain depends upon it. As the oppressor liveth by oppres-
sion, and the ale-seller liveth by the sins of drunkards, or
tippling, idle companions, and because they think this gain is
sweet, therefore they will not leave the sin. As Acts xix.
24, 26. because Demetrius and the rest of the craftsmen had
their wealth and living by making shrines for the idol Diana,
therefore they stirred up the people against the Gospel and
the preachers of it, that would take down the idol that
caused their commodity. In like manner, when men that
are addicted to drunkenness will live among such company,
or temptations, as will draw them to it : when lustful per-
sons will live among those that do provoke or tempt them :
when ignorant, unresolved persons live among those that
292 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
speak ill of godliness, it is a hard thing to be converted un-
der these temptations ; especially if men wilfully cast them-
selves upon them.
Direct. 11. Fly therefore the occasions and appearances
of evil. If you would not be drowned, what do you so near
the water-side ? If you would not be wounded, why do you
thrust yourselves among your enemies ? If you would es-
cape the hook, meddle not with the bait : walk not among
the lime-twigs if you would not be entangled. You may fly
from temptation, and yet resist the devil, and make him fly.
Be not too confident of your own strength ; consider whe-
ther it be safe to die in your sin and ungodliness ? If not,
why should you live in it? And if you may not live in it,
why should you commit it? If you cannot digest it when it
is down, but it must up again by repentance, or you perish,
why then should you let it down? If you may not let it down,
what reason have you to be tasting it ? And if you may not
take it, why should you once look upon it, to entice your
taste ? And if you may not look on, why should you
think on it, and make your own fancy to be your tempter.
Present and strong temptations have shaken those that
seemed to be cedars ; therefore take heed of them ; for they
may much more hinder the conversion of the impenitent, and
such difficulties may easily block up the way of life to you.
Hindrance 12. Another common hindrance of conversion,
is. The scandalous lives of the professors of religion ; when
those that seem godly, or indeed are so, shall fall into divi-
sion among themselves, and withdraw from each other, and
censure one another, and cry out against one another as de-
ceived ; when the common people see so many religions, as
they think, and so many several minds and ways, they
think it is as good to be of none, as to venture among so
many, where they are not sure to hit on the right ; and it
maketh them question all, when they see so many that they
know not which to own. When they see men change their
opinions, which awhile ago they seemed so zealous for, this
makes them think that the rest may be as uncertain as these.
And thus we have seen by sad experience in these times,
that many have been kept off" from the approving, and prac-
tice of a godly life, because of the unhappy differences that
are among us. And, alas ! when they see one that seemed
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 293
religious to be worldly, and another to fall into this or that
sin, this makes them think that religion is but hypocrisy,
and themselves are already in as good a condition as the
godly are.
Direct. 12. I will not excuse the sins of any. Offence
must come, but woe to him by whom it comes. If they be
godly, their profession doth aggravate it, and therefore I do
not intend to extenuate it. But yet, as I must needs say,
that the malice of the ungodly doth frequently make even
holiness to be a crime, and virtue itself to be the greatest
vice, and those to be faults that are really none, and those
to be common that are seldom, and but the case of very few ;
and those to be great that are not so. So I must needs tell
you, that there is no sufficient reason in the faults, and divi-
sions of those that are religious to dissuade any from reli-
gion, or excuse them in their sin, or sinful neglect of their
own salvation. For consider these things following.
(1.) It is not men's lives that are any disgrace to the word
of God, any more than it is a dishonour to the sun that some
men are blind, or others wilfully abuse his light. Will you
fall a railing at the sun, because a thief may steal by the
light of it, or a murderer may kill men by the light of it?
or some men may miss their way ? This is not long of it,
but of themselves. (2.) Yea, consider that it is for want of
being more religious that men are so bad, and not because
they are religious. Can you prove that ever religion did
teach men to be bad ? Doth the word of God teach men to
be worldly, to be proud, to divide the church, and abuse one
another ? You know it doth not : nay, you know that it for-
biddeth and condemneth all this ; and that no one in the
world hath said and done so much against these sins as God
hath done. And no religion is so much against them as
the Christian religion. And is it not an abuse beyond all
modesty then, to think ill of the word of God, or of his
way, because men offend against it, and forsake it? To
accuse the law, because men break it ? To wrong God be-
cause others have wronged him ? (3.) Consider, that the sins
of others will be no excuse to you. Their fall should be
your warnings, and not your hardening. Will God pardon
or save without repentance and faith, because some that
seemed religious have miscarried ? If they are wicked while
294 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
they seem religious, they and you, if you so continue, shall
be damned together. But if they rise by repentance, and
hate and forsake the sins which they did fall into, and you
stumble upon them, and will not rise with them, but quar-
rel with religion, because of their falls, they shall be par-
doned, and you shall perish. I tell thee, man, if all the world
should fall from God, he will not therefore change his law,
nor admit one unconverted sinner into heaven. Do you
think to be saved without holiness, because some men coun-
terfeit holiness that have it not? Methinks this should
cast you into greater terrors, and make you think with your-
selves how much you have yet to do, that must go further,
and be better than any hypocrite was, before you can have
any durable hopes of salvation. If you will have any part
in God, you must stick to him, though all men else should
forsake him, and not forsake him, because you think that
others do so that seemed to stick to him. (4.) Consider also,
that as to the divisions that offend you, it is not every dif-
ference in judgment or practice that makes a new religion.
While we are here we shall know but in part, and therefore
shall differ in part, but as long as we all agree in the funda-
mentals, and live to God, we are of one religion, for all our
differences. (5.) And can you think that it will excuse you
to be of no religion, because that other men are of a wrong
religion ? Will you sit still and let heaven go, because some
men have missed the way to it? Do you think that this is
a reasonable conclusion ? Surely they that would fain know
the way if they could, and are diligent to seek it, are likelier
to be accepted, though they fall into many errors, than those
that mind it not, but prefer the things of the world before
it. (6.) The more bye ways there be, the more need have
you to look about you, and see that you miss not the way
yourselves. Salvation is not a matter that we can spare,
and therefore the difficulty must make us more diligent, and
not more negligent. 7. Among all the religions and opi-
nions in the world, God hath not left you at a loss, he hath
given you his word to tell you which is the right, and many
means to understand it. So that if proud and careless men
will err, it followeth not that therefore the humble and dili-
gent may not be certain, which way is the right. Go you
to the Scripture with an humble reverence, willing to know
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 295
the will of God, that you may do it, and take the helps that
you may have from ministers and private Christians, and
shew not by your neglect that you despise the word of God,
and your salvation, and then you shall have no cause to
complain that you cannot find the right religion, and not
hit the way to heaven, because there are so many opinions.
(8.) I pray you consider of that which I have often answered
you to this objection. Will you but faithfully practise that
which all, or almost all these different parties are agreed in?
If not, then make not their differences any more a pretence
for your ungodliness. If you will, then consider, whether
they be not all agreed of the necessity of conversion and a
holy life. Will they not all acknowledge that there is no
salvation without sanctification and newness of life ? Let
their agreement then move you, and do not for shame neg-
lect so great and necessary a thing, which is owned by them
all, who differ much in other things.
Hindrance 13. The next hindrance of conversion, is.
The ill education of children : when they are trained up in
ignorance, or kept unacquainted with the truths of God till
they are grown hardened in their evil way ; especially when
they are taught from their childhood to think hardly of god-
liness, and speak reproachfully of it, and hear nothing of
the godly, but by slander or contempt. That which people
receive in their youth, doth usually possess them all their
days : they receive it with more advantage, when they are
most teachable and tractable : and when they receive it
from parents, and those that have the greatest interest in
their affections, and the most absolute rule over them. And
therefore we see that most of the world are such as they
were tauscht in their childhood to be : and it is hard to
change them from the way that they were brought up in.
Direct, 13. O, you that have children, remember they
are Christ's. (1.) If you are Christians, both you and
yours are devoted to God : will you be so forward to devote
them to God in baptism, and will you rob him afterwards of
his own ; and break these covenants, and, contrary to your own
promises, will you hinder them from the knowledge and fear
of God? O what desperate hypocrisy and wickedness is
this ? Will you come here in the face of the congregation,
and consecrate and offer your children to Christ, and when
296 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
you have done, will you keep them from the way of Christ,
and make them believe that godliness is more ado than
needs, and that holiness is but foolish preciseness? Will
you here undertake to bring them up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord, and when you have done, never
once instruct them in his fear, nor persuade them to a holy
life, nor restrain them from sin, but rather teach them to
rail, and curse, and swear, and be carnal ? O cruel wretches
that dare thus murder your children's souls ! To murder
the body is an heinous sin, yea, though it were the body of
an enemy ; but to murder the soul, yea, and the soul of a
child, and so to be guilty of their eternal damnation ; what
greater sin can you commit ? O what a horror it will be to
you to see your own children in eternal flames by your pro-
curement ; and to hear them there cry out against you, and
say, you hardened them in evil, you discouraged them from
good. You gave them ill examples, you used to rail, curse
and swear before them : you took no pains to convince them
of their natural sin and misery ; and to get them to Christ
that they might be healed by him. O pity your poor chil-
dren, and do not hinder them from that glory that is offered
them : if the devil be against their salvation, be not you so
too. It is more excusable in the devil himself to seek to
destroy the souls of your children, than it is in their own
parents to do it : for nature and Christianity doth bind them
to do otherwise. If you settle them in an ignorant, carnal
course, they will remember it as long as they live ; and if
you possess them with hard thoughts of the holy ways of
God, they will make this an argument against us, whenever
we would seek to reform and convert them. Do we not
hear it from them daily ? Our fathers, say they, taught us
otherwise, and we hope they are saved, and therefore we
will venture to do as they did : so that it is the false con-
ceits that you put into their minds in childhood, which mi-
nisters have to encounter with all their days after. The de-
vil hath instruments enough to seek your children's damna-
tion besides you : be not you his instruments as ever you
would not lie with them in everlasting misery ; take some
more pity on yourselves and them. You could not find in
your hearts to dash your children against the stones, or cut
their throats, and if you should, the world would ring of
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 297
youT wickedness, and the law of the land would deservedly
put you to a painful death ; and will you do them a greater
mischief? Will you blind them, and keep them off from
Christ and godliness ? And will you embolden them in the
way of sin, and help them to damnation? God forbid. But
alas ! they that have no more pity on their own souls, but
to use them thus, what wonder if they have no more pity of
others.
(2.) The next part of my Direction, therefore, is to you
that have been brought up in ignorance and ungodliness
from your youth. O look about you while you have time
and means. If your parents have been false to you, be not
false to God and your souls. If your parents have betrayed
your souls, do not you betray your own. They kept you in
ignorance because they were ignorant themselves ; they
bred you up in worldliness and ungodliness, because they
were worldly aud ungodly themselves ; they spoke against
holiness, because they knew it not, but were themselves un-
holy : but you have one that hath more interest in you than
your parents, that calls to you for your conversion. Hear-
ken to him if all the world should gainsay it : do not care
as little for your own souls as your parents cared for them :
do not take on you, even to love your parents so well as to
follow them to damnation ; their company will not make
hell any easier to you. Should not the love of your heaven-
ly Father do more to draw you to heaven, than the love of
your parents to draw you to hell? O hearken then to God
and to his word, though all the world should say against it.
Hindrance 14. Another hindrance of conversion, is. Stri-
ving against the Spirit of grace. When God would illumi-
nate a sinner, and he is unwilling to see, when God would
take off a sinner from his lusts and evil ways, and he is loath
to be taken off; God sheweth him his sin to humble him,
and he is unwilling to be humbled, but striveth against the
Spirit, and runneth into worldly businesses, or merry com-
pany, or turneth his thoughts to other things. As Christ
said to the Jews, " How oft would I have gathered you, but
you would not '';" so he may say to many a sinner. How oft
did I shew thee a better way, and thou wouldst not walk in
it; how oft did I shew thee the sinfulness and misery of thy
P Matt, xxiii. 37.
298 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
estate, and thou wouldst not come off from it. When men
fight against Christ, and purposely wink because they hate
the light that would reform them, and when they strive
against the Spirit that would convert them, what wonder if
they be unconverted !
Direct. 14. If ever you would be converted, yield to the
Spirit of God that would convert you. It is his office to
sanctify all that shall be saved : be not you unwilling to be
sanctified by him. If you refuse help when it is offered you,
you may justly be left helpless and perish for want of that
which you did despise. You are baptized into the name of
the Holy Ghost, by which you have professed to take him
for your Sanctifier, and are you now unwilling to be sancti-
fied by him ? And will you now strive against him when
you are so solemnly engaged to him? You cannot be saved
unless you be sanctified, and you cannot be sanctified unless
it be done by the Holy Ghost, whom you now resist. O
how easily and prosperously doth the work go on, when the
Spirit of God assisteth, and how impossible is it to be done
without him ! They that would have a prosperous voyage
will take wind and tide, and not be so foolish as to set
against them when they stand to their advantage : he that
would have health will not abuse the physician, and drive
him away from him. O take heed how you use the Spirit
of God if ever you would be converted!
Hindrance 15. Another hindrance of conversion, is, Un-
resolvedness and half-purposes ; when men will hang wa-
vering between God and the world ; and though the light be
never so clear to convince them, yet they will not be per-
suaded to resolve. " A double-minded man," saith James,
*' is unstable in all his ways "i." O how many shall perish for
want of resolution ! They have been convinced that they
must be changed or else they arc undone, and yet they would
not resolve : they have long been inclining to a better
course, and had some thoughts of it, but the world hinder-
eth, or friends hinder, or the flesh hindereth, and they will
not resolve ; and thus they hang loose from God, and never
unfeignedly resign up themselves to him, till either God in
judgment leave them to themselves, or death and hell do
find them unresolved.
'1 James i. 8.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 299
Direct, 15. If you would be converted and saved, do not
stand wavering, but resolve, and presently turn to God. If
it were a doubtful business, I would not persuade you to do
it rashly, or if there were any danger to your souls in resolv-
ing, then I would say no more. But when it is a case that
should be beyond all dispute with men of reason, why should
you stand staggering, as if it were a doubtful case ? What
a horrible shame is it to be unresolved whether God or the
world should have your hearts? Were it not a disgrace to
that man's understanding that were unresolved whether
gold or dung were better ? or whether a bed of thorns, or a
feather-bed were the easier? or whether the sun or a clod
of earth were the more light and glorious ? It is a far greater
shame for a man to be unresolved, whether it be God or the
world that must make him happy, and that should have his
heart, and whether a life of sin or holiness be the better.
What ! have you read Scripture, and heard sermons so long,
and yet are you unresolved of this ? Nay, have you common
reason, and do you believe that there is a God, and a world
to come, and yet are you unresolved whether you must be
godly or not ? I say to you, as Elias did to Israel, " How
long halt ye between two opinions ? If God be God follow
him, if Baal be God follow him^" If it be better to be
damned than leave your sins, then keep them, and the curse
of God with them. But if it be better to deny your flesh,
than to suffer everlastingly the wrath of God, then away
with your iniquities, and meddle with them no more ; if it be
better to live in an alehouse awhile, than in heaven for ever,
then drink on and spare not ; but if it be not, why do you not
consider and come away. If God and godliness be not bet-
ter than the world and wickedness, then take your course ;
but if they be, why do you stand wavering, and do not re-
solve to be the people of God with all your hearts ? O what
a blind and miserable creature is a wicked man, that such
matters as these should seem doubtful to him ! or that he
should yet be unresolved of them ! What, unresolved whe-
ther it be best to go to heaven, or not ! and whether it be
best to be damned, or not! And all this for the love of a
stinking unprofitable lust ! If this be wisdom, what thenis
folly ?
'' 1 Kiugs xviit.Sl.
300 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
Hindrance 16. Another hindrance of conversion, is.
Delay. When men are resolved that they must be con-
verted or condemned, and purpose to let go sin, and to
take another course, yet they delay and put off the time.
They would yet have a little more of the pleasure of their
sin before they part vy^ith it. Yet they cannot spare it, but
shortly they v^^ill do it. They are yet young, and they hope
they have daylight, and time enough before them. They
are yet in health, and therefore they hope there is no such
haste, but they may have time to think on it. Because
God w^ill receive a sinner whensoever he returneth, they
think they may stay a little longer. And thus some grow
hardened by custom in their sin, and others are cut off while
they are purposing to return ; and many thousand souls are
lost for ever that once were purposed to have turned to God,
and all because they delayed their return ; as the sluggard
saith, " Yet a little sleep, a little slumber ^ ; " so saith the
sinner, yet I may sin a little while, till they have sinned
themselves into a reprobate sense, or provoked God to leave
them to themselves, and so they must perish everlastingly
by their delay.
Direct, 16. O consider, therefore, sinners, that conversion
is not a work to be delayed. Would a man lie under the wrath
and curse of God one day, that knew what it is ? Methinks
he should not. Are you loath to come out of the bondage
of the devil ? Why, your delay doth shew that your heart
is false, and that you be not willing truly to be converted.
He that is loath to leave his sin this day or hour, would ne-
ver leave it, if he knew how to keep it : if he did not love it,
he would be willing to be rid of it without delay. He that
loveth God, had rather return and be reconciled to him, and
partake of the joy of his Spirit to-day, than to-morrow. Did
you but know what God is, you would not delay your con-
version to him. Did you but know what the glory is that
he ofFereth you, you would not delay to make sure of it any
longer. Did you but see the nature of sin, and know the
miserable effects of it, O how hastily would you endeavour
to be rid of it ! If you had so many serpents or toads in your
bosoms, you would not say, I will cast them out to-morrow,
but how quickly would you shake them from you ? If you
» Prov. vi. 10. xxiv.33.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 301
had but felt the sting of sin, it would appear another matter
to you than now it doth. It is one kind of face that sin hath
in an alehouse, or in the height of your filthy lust, or in the
seeming gain of your covetous practices ; and it is another
kind of face that it hath when God will reckon for it with
the guilty soul . Should a man trifle in such a course, where-
in, if he die, he is lost for ever? Why, poor, wretched sin-
ner, how long wilt thou delay ? And why wilt thou delay ?
Wilt thou delay till death shall seize upon thee, and thou drop
into hell before thou art aware ? Dost thou not know that
sin gets advantage by thy delay ? God hath not promised
thee that ever his Spirit shall be offered to thee more ; if thou
refuse his assistance, and delay thy conversion but one day
longer. And woe be to thee if he depart from thee * ! When
people will have none of God, nor will hearken to his voice,
he often giveth them up to their own heart's lusts, to walk in
their own counsels"." O unworthy wretch! if thou hadst
any of the ingenuity of a Christian within thy breast, thou
wouldst say, * I have abused Christ and his grace so long,
that I am utterly ashamed of it, and will abuse him no more ;
I have too long slighted Christ already, and too long hear-
kened to his enemy's voice. If thy dead heart were but
well awakened to consider and feel thy own condition, thou
wouldst be quickly affrighted out of thy delay, and run as
hastily from thy state of sin, as thou wouldst out of a house
that were all on fire over thy head, or out of a boat that were
sinking under thee. What, hast thou not yet served the
devil long enough? Hast thou not yet sufficiently abused
Christ, not oft enough rejected the grace of God ? Hast
thou not yet wallowed long enough in the filth of sin ? But
must thou needs have more of it? Hast thou not yet done
enough to the destruction of thy soul ? Nor drunk in enough
of that deadly poison, nor stabbed thyself sufficiently by
thy wickedness, but thou must needs have more ? Will sin
come up easier, when it is deeper rooted? And canst thou
more easily be converted, when thou hast driven away the
Spirit of God that should convert thee ? Wilt thou travel
out of thy way till night, before thou wilt turn back again ?
And wilt thou drive the nail yet faster to the head, which
thou knowest must be drawn out again ? O be not wilfully
« Hos. ix. 1«. Jer. vi. 8. •» Psal. Ixxxi. 11,12.
302 TREATISIi: OF CONVERSION.
befooled by sin. Wilt thou be converted, or wilt thou n6t?
If not, thou art a lost man. If thou know thou must, why
not to-day rather than to-morrow ? What reason have you
for any longer delay ? Is a state of sin, or a state of grace
better? If sin be better, keep it, and make the best of it :
but if grace, and holiness, and happiness be better, why
then should you delay? If you were sick you would not
care how soon you were well : and if you had a bone bro-
ken, you care not how soon it were set ; and when your souls
are in a state of sin and misery, are you afraid of being safe
and happy too soon ? Remember another day, that a day,
and many a day of grace thou hadst ; and if thou lose this
day, thou mayst thank thyself, if thou lose thy soul, and if
thou never have another day like this. " To-day, whilst it
is called to-day, therefore, hear his voice, and harden not
your hearts ""J" When David thought of his ways, he made
haste and delayed not to turn to God, and keep his precepts,
Psal. cxix. 60. as was aforesaid.
Hindrance 17. Another great hindrance of conversion,
is. When good beginnings are not followed on, but suffered
to die and come to nothing before they bring men over to
God. Commonly preparing works of grace go before tho-
rough sanctifying works ; and men have many convictions,
and half-reformations, and troubles of mind, before they
come to close with Christ upon the terms that he is offered.
These common preparatory works are the way to more : if
men would but cherish these, and follow them on, and im-
prove the light and motions which they have, they know not
what a blessed issue they might see : but when they will
forget the truth that once did move them, and lose the pur-
poses that once they had, and turn back again to the sins
they were in before; no wonder if these be left in their ini-
quities. Is not this the case of you that hear me this day?
You have been convinced that God and your souls must be
regarded, whatsoever else be neglected ; and did you not
thereupon begin to pray, and to use means, and take the
helps in public and private that are necessary for your sal-
vation? And have not some of you fallen into company
that have taken you off by foolish cavils or vain objections,
and evil examples, and enticing you to sin ? And have not
« Heb. iii. 7, 8.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 303
others of you grown cold, and lost your feeling, as if you
were not the same men, and had never heard or felt such
things? And others of you turned to this present world,
and choked the word with the cares of this life ? And so
the hopeful beginnings that you once had, are turned to a
relapse into your old condition.
Direct, 17. If there be any such sinners that hear me this
day, (as I fear there be too many,) consider whence you are
fallen, and be zealous and amende. Are you turned with
" the dog to his vomit, and with the sow that was washed,
to her wallowing in the mire ^ V What ! Do you " look
back when you had put your hand to the plough of God * '?"
Did Christ give you any cause to repent of his service, or to
forsake him? Have you found indeed that the devil is the
better master, and that the way of sin is the better way, and
the wages of sin the better wages ? What ! did the thoughts
of everlasting life once move you, and will they not move you
now ? Is heaven become as no heaven to you, and God as
no God, and Christ as no Christ, and the promises as no pro-
mises ? And are you grown abler to resist the terrors of the
Lord ? O poor souls, that you did but know the misery of
apostates I The Lord hath professed, that " if any draw
back, his soul shall have no pleasure in him^." And they
that draw back, shall find they do it to their own perdition ;
when they should have " believed and persevered to the
saving of their souls ^.** There are none of all the damned
more miserable than they that were sometimes fair for hea-
ven,-and did once begin to look after godliness ; for the " lat-
ter end of these men is worse than their beginning*^." Alas !
how sad will it be to see the faces of such among the wicked
and condemned at the last, and to think that once we saw
the faces of these men among the godly, and once they
seemed to set themselves for heaven, and are they fallen off
to this ! And is this the end of them ? In the name of God,
sirs, I warn and charge every one of you that ever had a
thought of returning to God, and giving up yourselves to a
holy life, that you presently bethink you, what is gone with
these thoughts and purposes, and why did you turn from
these beginnings ? What reason had you for it ? And what
y Rev. ill. 19. ' 'i Pet. ii. ««. a J.uke ix. 6-2.
»» Heb. X. 38 « Ver. 39. J * Pet. ii. 20, 21.
304 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
cause hath Christ given you ? What ! will the world now be
a faster friend to yoa than before ? And will you now con-
tinue with it, and never die ? Or can you better be without
God and his grace than before ? O be awakened from this
desperate folly, and once again renew your former resolu-
tions, and consider whether you are not nearer eternity than
you were ; and have not as much need of Christ as ever?
And sleep not on till hell awake you.
Hindrance 18. The next hindrance of conversion to be
mentioned, is, A misunderstanding of Scripture, and erro-
neous thoughts of the ways of God. If error possess the
mind, it will keep out grace from possessing the heart, so
far as the error prevaileth. I shall instance in some few
particulars.
(1 .) Some men know not what true grace or conversion is,
and therefore think they have it when they have none, and
do not set themselves to look after it. They think that it is
but to forsake some gross sins, and to use some outward ser-
vice of God, and do no one any wrong, and then they think
they have true conversion ; because they have turned from
many sins that once they lived in. But these must know,
that conversion is the withdrawing of the soul from the
world, and from carnal self, and the devoting of ourselves,
and all that we have to God. If you should be never so
zealous in forms, and take up never so strict principles, and
stick to the strictest party ; this is no proof of true conver-
sion, if your souls do not cleave to God, as your portion, and
to Christ as the only way to God.
(2.) Some there be that do not think there is any such
thing as saving grace, or true conversion in the world ; be-
cause they have none themselves, they do not think that any
one else hath. When they hear of a hope and heart in
heaven, and of loving God above all creatures, they do not
think that any one doth reach to it, but that men merely
talk of such things, which they never had experience of.
But these men must know, that it is an arrogant madness to
contradict the scope of the word of God, and the common
experience of the best men in the world ; and all because
they are so bad themselves. Doth God talk so much of sanc-
tifying his people, and putting the Spirit of Jesus into their
hearts, and ruling them, and dwelling in them, and crucify-
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 30^.
ing the world to them, and " purifying a peculiar people to
himself, that are zealous of good works ^ ; and now dare they
say there is no such thing? Whether is God or they to be
believed ? What ! hath Christ died to procure it, and is it
the office of the Holy Ghost to work it, and now is there no
such thing ? Are the word, and ministers, and all the ordi-
nances to that end, and now is there no such thing? God
will make them know that such a thing was offered once to
them, and such a thing as grace and a heavenly life were ne-
cessary to their salvation. And if they will not believe the
experience of the saints, nor will see the graces of God, as
they shine in the conversation of his people, they shall be
forced one day to see, and be ashamed.
(3.) Others there be that think holiness is but needless
preciseness ; and that to meditate on God and heaven, and
make it our main business, is but more ado than needs ; and
that this is but to be godly overmuch, and God will accept
less ; and this is the way even to drive men beside them-
selves.
Answ. Though I have formerly answered this objection,
yet because it here again falls in my way, I shall distinctly
answer it in these particulars.
Quest. 1. Tell me truly, do you think that God or you
are fitter to be judges of what is necessary to the salvation
of a sinner? Doth God command it? and dare you say it
is more ado than needs ? Why, what is this, but plainly to
say, that God hath set us upon a needless work ? Yea, what
is it but to say, you are wiser than he ? There is no master
so foolish and unmerciful, as will set his servant to pick
straws, and labour to no purpose : and will you impute such
unmerciful folly to God ? Dare you say he makes you more
ado than needs ?
Quest. 2. And then I ask. Is it more ado than Scripture
doth require ? Doth not the word of God make it necessary,
which you call unnecessary ? Read and judge. — " Lay not
up for yourselves treasures on earth : but lay up for your-
selves treasures in heaven. Seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness V " The kingdom of heaven suffer-
eth violence, and the violent take it by force «." '* Strive to
enter in at the strait gate ; for many, I say unto you. shall
* Tit. ii. 14. ' Matt vi. 19, «0. 23. » Matt. xi. !«.
VOL. VII. X
306 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
beek to enter in, and shall not be able''." *' Labour not for
the food which perisheth, but for that which endureth to
everlasting life'." *' See then that ye walk circumspectly,
redeeming the time''." "What manner of persons ought
ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness ' f And an
hundred more such places may be mentioned. So that if it
be an error to require so much ado for our salvation, it is God
himself that is the cause of it. And who is most likely to
be in the right ? The Lord that made you, or such silly, ig-
norant worms as you ? You scarce know good from bad ;
and will you take on you to be wiser than God, and to con-
trol his law ?
Quest. 3. Do you think indeed in your consciences, that
a man can do too much for heaven, (as long as he doth but
what God bids him,) and that he can be at more cost and
labour for it, than it is worth? Is that man worthy or meet
to see the face of God in glory, that thinks it not worth his
utmost diligence? Do you set so much by your labour, or
do you set so light by God and glory, as to think the ever-
lasting Enjoyment of it to be unworthy of your pains?
Quest. 4. Do you think there ever was a man that got
well to heaven, that repented of coming thither at so dear a
rate ; or that was there of your mind, that this godliness is
more ado than needs ? If we could but speak with one of
the glorified saints that see the face of God and put the case
to him, which is the wiser man, he that doth all that he can
to be saved, or he that saith what needs all this ado ? which
side do you think he would be on ? Cannot you easily con-
jecture?
Quest. 6. Is Christ, or the apostles, or any of the servants
of God of your mind? Judge by their conversations whe-
ther they thought it more ado than needs. The best of his
saints never had so much grace but they longed for more ;
they never were so holy, but they longed to be better ; and
do you think that you are wiser than all they, and that nei-
ther prophets, apostles, nor any saints of God did know
what they did ?
Quest. 6. What is it that you think is so painful a life as
to be too much for God and heaven ? Do you know what
you talk of? Why, it is the only joyful life on earth. It is
^ L»tke Jtiii. 24. ' John vi. 27. *' Eph. v. 15. '2 Pet. iii. 11.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 307
more a receiving from God, than a giving to him. It is an
employment that is suited both to the new nature of the
saints, and to their necessity and good. What is holiness
but a living in the love of God and joy of the Holy Ghost,
and hope of the life to come, and a daily communion with
God in the Spirit, in the use of his holy ordinances ? Tp
hear of his love, and the promise of his glory, and the par-
don of our sins, and to beg of him what we want, and thank
and praise him for what we have received ? And do you
think this is so tedious a life? Is it a toil to you to eat and
drink of the best, when your bodies do require it? Or to
rest when you are weary? Or to love your dearest friend,
and to be in his company? If not, why should we think it
a toil to live in the love of God, and in holy communion
with him in his service ?
Quest, 7. And is it not a certain mark of a graceless
heart to think that this is such a grievous work ? Sure that
soul is void of the love of God, that thinks it a grievous
thing to love him. A man that hates his wife, and loveth
harlots, will say, * I cannot love her, nor abide to dwell with
^^ ;' but if he loved her he would think otherwise. If you
did not hate God you would not think it so grievous to live
in the love of him, and to be much in his holy worship.
Quest, 8. Do you desire to come to heaven, or not ? If
not, then remember, if you are shut out, it is by your own
consent. If you would come thither, then do you not know
that all your employment there must be such as this, and
much more holy and perfect than this ? Will you account
heaven itself grievous ? And the praises of God there, to
be more ado than needs ? If not, how dare you say so of a
far lower degree which we have in this life ? If you are
weary of this little, how weary would you be of heaven ?
Quest. 9. I pray you tell me, do you think indeed that
any man on earth is as good as he should be ? Do you not
know, that he that is best is too bad ; and he that doth most
comes unspeakably too short of what he should do ? And
dare you say then, that this is more ado than needs ? Why
if you had spoken to Peter or Paul, or the holiest man that
ever lived, he would have rather complained that he could
be no better, and cried out, ' O that I were more holy, and
could be more taken up in the Ipve of God, alas ! I fall ex-
308 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
ceedingly short of what is my duty/ And shall such sin-
ners as we are, yea, some of the vilest sinners, say, that this
is more ado than needs ? Why, thou proud, insensible
wretch, dost thou no better know thy own needs than so ?
Doth not thy soul need this, and more than this ? What,
darest thou justify thyself in thy ungodliness, and judge of
godliness as a needless thing ?
Quest. 10. Canst thou tell me how long thou wilt be of
that mind ? When thou liest a dying wilt thou then think
that holiness was more ado than needs ? When thou seest
that the world hath left thee, and that thou art presently to
appear before the Lord, speak as thou thinkest, man, hadst
thou not rather then be found in the case of the holiest and
most diligent saints on earth, than in the case of the care-
less, proud, or carnal ? Will holy duty, or the neglect and
deriding of it, be then more comfortable ? Wouldst thou
not then change states with one of those that did the most
for God, and for their souls, and wouldst thou not say with
Balaam, " Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my
last end be as his'"?"
Quest, 11. What is it, do you think that is worth a man's
'pains and care, if God and everlasting glory be not ? Is
there any thing of greater worth ? Man was not made for
nothing, and idleness is no delight to him. Something he
would be doing and looking after, and something he expects
to make him happy, and that which he takes for his happi-
ness, he cannot choose but think it worth all his pains.
And have you found out any thing that is better than heaven ?
Will this world last longer ? Or stand you in greater stead
at last ? Alas, that we should be put to ask or answer such
questions as these ! Why, sirs, either heaven or earth must
have your love, and care and labour, and which do you think
doth more deserve it? You can talk of the world from day
to day, and you can work and toil for the world all the year
long, and yet you never say it is more ado than needs. If
your servant labour harder for you one day than God's
servants do for him in a week, you will not tell him that
he doth more than needs. Foolish worldlings, let me deal
plainly with you, and tell you to your faces, it is you that
make more ado than needs. Is the world worth all this care
Nunib. xxiii. 10.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 309
and stir that you make about it? Is it worth your thoughts
and unwearied diligences, and is it worth the venturing of
your salvation to obtain it? I tell you it is not, and you
partly know yourselves it is not. Why, where are your wits,
to toil yourselves, all your lives for these trifles ; and to tell
them that labour for salvation, that they make more ado than
needs ? Well, hearken of the end, and then you shall see
whether it be labour for heaven or for earth, that will be re-
pented of. If you know not now, you shall shortly know it.
Quest. 12. One question more I shall yet put to you.
Do you think the pains of duty to be greater than the pains
of hell? If you do not, should not we choose the lesser to
escape the greater ? If you had not the love of God to
make you delight in his service, methinks you should have
that love of yourselves to make you fear his everlasting
wrath. Never flatter yourselves with other thoughts. Be-
lieve it, if you will needs take it for a pain which should be
your pleasure, you must undergo the pain of an unfeignedly
holy life, or the pain of hell, choose you whether.
(4.) Another of their errors that hindereth conversion,
is. That their own good meanings, and praying, and good
works will make God amends for their sins, and after all
will procure their acceptance with God. And if these will
not do, they think the case is hard, for there is nothing else
for us to do. And so they see not the evil of their own
meanings and good works, and how much sin is in them to
be wailed ; nor do they see the need of a Christ in all, nor
the need of a thorough change of their condition, that they
may be made the justified sons of God, and have new hearts
and new conversations. But they think while they live to
the world and the flesh, to make up all and procure accep-
tance by good meaning, and good praying, and good works.
I would not be misunderstood, as if I were speaking against
that which is truly good in any. But I would desire these
people well to consider ; 1. That the meanings and works
of unconverted men are not truly and properly good ; but it
is the end that denominateth the work ; and seeing no un-
converted man doth make God his ultimate end, therefore
he hath properly no good meaning, nor work ; for he mean-
eth all ultimately for his carnal self, for the flesh, and for
the world, and for these are his works. As the true Chris-
SlO TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
tian doth make his worldly labour to be ultimately for God,
so*doth the ungodly make his seeming service of God to be
ultimately for his flesh. 2. You should consider that all
your good works must have a ])drdon themselves, and there ;
fore cannot satisfy for your sins. 3. That if your works
were perfectly good without any blemish, yet could they not
satisfy for that sin which is past, but that must be expected
only from the blood of Christ. It is, therefore, a lamentable
case to hear many of the grossly ignorant people to talk of
all their good meanings and praying, as if their confidence
were all in these, while they make no mention of the blood
of a Redeemer ; or feel not the need of it ; nor what it is
that Christ hath done for them, nor how much they are be-
holden to him. 4. It is no patching up of your old unre-
generate state, that will serve turn for your salvation, but
you must be wholly made new. '* He that is in Christ is a
new creature ; old things are passed away, behold all things
have become new "." It is not forsaking this or that sin, or
falling to your prayers, that will serve turn; but you must
have new hearts, and new ends, and a new conversation, and
the main business and drift of your lives must be new. Those
hearts that were set on the world before must be set on God ;
and those desires that run to the pleasures of the flesh, must
run out after the pleasing of God. I say, it is not patch-
ing up the old condition, but all must be new.
(5.) Another error that hindereth conversion, is. The
misunderstanding of those Scriptures that promise salvation
to some particular graces or duties. As because the Scrip-
ture saith, " whosoever believeth in him shall not perish,"
therefore they say that they truly believe ; and, therefore,
though they have not such holiness of life, yet God hath
promised them salvation. So, also, where it is said, that
'* whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be
saved," therefore they say, we call on the name of the Lord,
and so shall be saved, though we be not converted, nor so
holy as you require.
To these men I have these several things to say for the
cure of this dangerous error.
1. Poor ignorant souls, they talk of they know not
what : and suffer themselves to be deceived by words which
" 2 Cor. V. 17.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. ,311
they understand not. If they did but know well what faith
is, and what calling upon God is, they would never be
troubled with this objection. To believe in Christ, is
to believe him to be the Saviour of the church, to save
them from their sins, and heartily to consent that he shall
be so to us, to save us from our sins ; and can you believe
in him as a Saviour, and yet be unwilling to be saved by
him ? Sin is the mischief from which he saveth you, and
conversion is one half of his saving work ; and can you then
say you believe, and therefore need not be converted? Why
you may as well say, * I take such a man for my physician,
and I trust in him for a cure, and therefore I need not be
cured.' Is not this nonsense, or a contradiction? And
what is it better, to say, * I believe in Christ as my Saviour,
that is, to save me from my sins, and therefore I may be
saved, though I be not saved from my sins.' These are the
wise reasonings that many of our self-conceited hearers
make use of to delude themselves and other men. And the
very nature of faith is to take Christ as Christ, and as he is
offered in the Gospel. As our teacher to guide us in the
way of holiness, and as our king to rule us, as well as a sa-
crifice for our sins. And how can he do this for us, if we
will not be converted ?
2. Moreover, faith in Jesus Christ is always annexed to
a belief in God the Father. ** If you believe in God, believe
also in me°." ** This is life eternal to know thee the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent p." Now
to believe in God, is to take him for our Maker, that hath
absolute right in us, and absolute power over us, whom we
must obey before all, and our happiness and chief good,
whom we must love and desire above all. And can this be
done without conversion ?
3. To believe in Christ is ever accompanied with be-
lieving in the Holy Ghost, which is the receiving him to be
our sanctifier j and can you do this, and yet be unconverted?
4. By this much that hath been said, you may perceive
that conversion and faith is in a sort one and the same
thing ; to be a true believer, and to be converted, is all one;
for conversion is to make you true believers. And is it not
t)ien a wise kind of cavil to say, that if you believe, you
* Jolm %\Vt 1. c Juhn xvii. S.
312 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
may be saved without conversion ? As much as to say, if I
have the sunshine I may see without light ; or if I have a
soul, I need not life or understanding. I tell you there is
ho such thing as true faith without conversion.
5. Moreover, where true faith is, all other saving graces
do accompany it; there is ever repentance, hope, love, hu-
mility, and a heavenly mind. So that it is no true faith
which is separated from these, and which the ungodly de-
ceive themselves with, but an opinion, and a mere unground-
ed presumption.
(6.) Another error which hindereth men's conversion, is.
Some false apprehensions of the doctrine of God's eternal
decree of election or predestination ; from which many des-
perate consequences are raised by them, to the deceiving of
their own souls : and this I find abundance among us in this
country deluded by ; how the devil hath brought it to pass,
I know not. They have many of them learned this foolish
pretence ; if God hath chosen us we shall be saved, and if he
hath not, we shall not, whatsoever we do : no diligence will
save a man that is not elected, and " it is not in him that
willeth, nor in him that runneth, but in God that sheweth
mercy." Those that God will save, shall be saved, what-
soever they be; and those that he will damn, shall be
damned ; and no man can have grace except God give it
him ; for we can do nothing of ourselves : and upon these
grounds they think they may be secure, and cast all upon
God, as a matter that they have little to do with ; and think
that their endeavours are to little purpose, if they should
make never so much ado.
Answ. One would think common reason should teach
men to answer such silly cavils as these ; but because I find
so many ignorant souls do stick at them, I shall give you a
full answer in these particulars.
1. God electeth no man to the end without means, but
to the end and means together. All that he electeth to sal-
vation, he electeth to conversion and sanctification, and all
that he denieth conversion to, he denieth salvation to also.
2. If therefore you care whether you are saved or
damned, it concerneth you to make both your calling and
election sure, 2 Pet. i. 10. Make but your calling sure, and
you need not make any question of your election. Make
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 313
sure that you are converted, and hold fast what you have,
and then you may be certain you shall be saved. You be-
gin at the wrong end, if you would first ask whether you are
elected, that you may know whether you shall be saved ; but
you must first try whether you are converted and saved from
the power of sin, and then you may certainly gather that
you are elected and shall be saved from hell. Will you be-
gin at the top of the ladder, and not the bottom? Did God
ever damn any man that was truly converted and sanctified,
because he was not elected ? No such matter : prove any
such thing if you can : nay, we can fully prove the contrary,
for he hath promised salvation to all that are truly converted
and sanctified, ** Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall
see God ^i." With abundance the like which have been
named frequently to you. And can you prove that ever God
saved any man that was not converted, because he was
elected ? No such matter ; for he electeth all that are con-
verted. And he hath resolved to save none but the conver-
ted, as is plain, John iii. 3. Heb. xii. 14. and many other
places formerly quoted.
3. These reasonings therefore of yours, if they keep
you from conversion and a heavenly life, are a certain mark
that you are without the evidence of your election ; and if
you so live and die, that you are none of the elect. And,
therefore, by such reasonings you do but shew your own mi-
sery, like a man that hath the plague that will glory in his
botch : it should make your hearts to tremble to find so sad
a mark as this upon your souls, that you have a heart that
dares hold off from conversion, and fetch vain pretences from
the decree of God.
4. Consider also, that God's decrees are not the cause
of your impenitency or any sin; though his grace be the
cause of men's conversion ; he is the beginner of our good,
but we are the causes of our own evil : all our grace is from
him, but all our sin is from ourselves : he giveth us grace
before we so much as willed it, and accordingly he decreed
to give it before the foresight of our own willing it; but he
causeth not our sin, but only permitteth us to cause it, and
accordingly he decreed not the event of sin before he did
foresee that we would be sinners, and our wills of themselves
1 Matt. V. 8.
314 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
would turn from God, and so proceed till grace recover us.
You have no more ground therefore of excusing yourselves,
because of the decree of God, than if he had made no such
decree at all. What if I could foretel, from the obstinate
wickedness of such a thief, or such a drunkard, that he w^ill
never be cured ; is it long of me because I foreknew it ?
What if the prophet foretel Hazael, what cruelty he shall
commit on the children of Israel, is the prophet therefore
the cause of it ?
5. Consider also, that if you knew not how to answer
any objection of this nature, yet you have the very princi-
ples of reason and all religion to assure you that God is
most wise, and good, and just, and holy. And, therefore,
that he cannot be the author of your sin, nor shall you ever
be able to fetch any just excuse from him. You might bet-
ter have looked about you any where in the world for one
to bear the blame of your miscarriages than the most wise
and holy God. For nothing is more certain, than that the
Infinite Good cannot be the author of evil ; and whosoever
it comes from, it cannot come from him. O how easily will
God stop their mouths that excuse themselves by accusing
him in so foul a cause !
6. And why do you not consider what madness it
would be to argue about your bodies as you do about your
souls. It is as true that God hath decreed how many years
and days you shall live, as that he hath decreed whether you
shall be saved. And I will refer it to your own reason, what
you would think of the wit of that man that would give
over eating and drinking, and say, ' God hath decreed how
long I shall live, and if he have decreed that I shall live any
longer, I shall, whether I eat and drink or not. And if he
have not decreed that I shall live, it is not eating nor drink-
ing that will keep me alive?' What would you say to such
a man but this, that God decreeth no man to live, but by
the ordinary means of living. And therefore ordinarily if
you will give over eating and drinking, it is certain that you
will give over living : and that God hath made no decree to
save you alive whether you eat and drink, or not? So if a
man should have a journey to go on life or death, what
would you think of that man that will say, *If God have de-
creed that I shall come to my journey's end, I shall do it.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 315
whether I go or not ; and if he have not decreed it, I shall
never come thither, though I travel never so hard V This is
true ; but if you hence infer, that therefore it is as good to
sit still as go, you will shew your own folly, and not procure
an excuse for your neglect. Why even so it is in our pre-
sent case. If you will say, * If God have elected me, I shall
be saved ; and if he have not, 1 shall not, whatsoever I do,
and therefore I may spare my pains,' it is no wiser than to
give over eating and drinking, because God hath decreed
how long you shall live ; or to give over travelling because
God hath decreed whether you shall come to your journey's
end. Will you be thus mad about the matters of your
trades and callings in the world ? Why do not all the wea-
vers in this town then give over their trades, and say, * If
God have decreed that I shall live well and be rich, I shall
be so whether I labour or not ; and if he have not, my la-
bour will not serve?' Why do you not give over ploughing
and sowing, and say, * If God have decreed that I shall have
a crop, I shall have one, whether I plough and sow or not ;
and if he have not, I shall not, whatsoever I do?' If you
will needs be fools, let it be about these worldly things,
which you may better spare. Try your own opinion awhile,
and give over eating and drinking and working ; but do not
befool yourselves about the one thing necessary, and play
not the madman about the flames of hell ; and do not in such
jest throw away your salvation. It were an hundred times
a wiser course for a man to set his house on fire, and say,
* If God have decreed the saving of it, the fire shall not burn
it ; if he have not, it will perish whatsoever I do.' I tell
you again, God hath not ordinarily decreed the end without
the means ; and if you will neglect the means of salvation,
it is a certain mark that God hath not decreed you to sal-
vation. But you shall find that he hath left you no excuse,
because he hath not thus predestinated you.
(7.) But you say. We cannot convert ourselves ; what
can man do without the grace of God ? And, therefore, if
God give us not grace we are excusable.
Answ. Do your consciences justify you, that you have
done all that you can ? Can you not go to church when
you stay at home ? Can you not go among the servants of
God when you go to your worldly businesses, or to an ale-
316 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
house ? Cannot you keep out of evil company ? or cannot
you so much as consider of your ways, or bethink you of
the things of the life to come ? I say, cannot you do these
things if you will ? and have you done these, or have you
not? Have you avoided temptations and occasions of
evil, and used the means of grace, and attended God in the
use of his ordinances, and marked diligently what is said to
you, and considered it when you came home ? Have you
not sinned and neglected the means of grace, both know-
ingly and wilfully ? Conscience may tell you that you have,
and God shall make you know that you have ; and shortly
you shall be convinced past denial, that you did not all that
you could, nor forbore the evil that you might have forborne.
And if you will refuse and abuse the help of God, can you
expect that he should follow you still with his assistance ?
God will make you know one day, that nobody carried you
into an alehouse, nor opened your mouth, nor poured down
the drink ! and nobody forced you to swear, or to rail, or
hate religion, or quarrel with the word that should have
saved you, but it was the malicious wickedness of your
naughty hearts.
And for the power of conversion and believing itself,
you must know that there is a two-fold power, the one na-
tural, the other moral. The natural faculty of understand-
ing and willingness every man hath ; and if they have the
use of reason, they have no physical impediment but they
may use them, and if they hear the word, they have no such
absence of the necessary object, as may make the word im-
possible to them. The moral power is nothing but a dispo-
sition or habit of the soul to believe or repent, &c. or a free-
dom of contrary habits. And this it is acknowledged that
none have, but those that have proportionably received that
grace that doth aftect it : or, to speak as plain as I can to
you, there is a power which lieth in being able to believe
and repent if you will, or to do whatsoever we will, that
concerneth us to do ; and there is a willingness itself to ex-
ecute this power, and that both actual and habitual. The
former every one hath, the latter none but the godly have in
sincerity, and those that make so great a stir about this in
the church, do seem to be agreed in it for the main, and do
not know it. For every man on both parties confesseth
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 317
that all men have the natural faculty of understanding and
will, and that they have so much power that they can be-
lieve and love God above all if they will, and on the other
side, I hope we are all agreed that wicked, unregenerate men
are not truly willing to repent and believe, and that they
have not the habit and disposition thereto, but have the
contrary habits. Experience telleth us this, without any
more ado. The latter sort of power then, about which all
the controversy lieth, is nothing but the very willingness or
grace itself, actual or habitual, or the absence of the con-
trary. And, therefore, it is all one to ask whether a wicked
man have power to believe ; and to ask whether he be a be-
liever actually or habitually, or not an unbeliever ; so that
when we are all agreed that the natural power or faculty is
present, and the moral, which is but the willingness, is ab-
sent, you can ground none of your excuses on the differences
of the churches in this point. And as I have formerly said
to you, if you will but reduce this last kind of power and
impotency to its most proper expression, you will open the
shame of your excuses. For morally to be unable to believe,
is no more than to be unwilling to believe. And if you
should say, ' I will not believe or repent, and therefore I am
excusable,' what would your own conscience say to such an
excuse ? Natural impotency excuseth faults. He that can
say, * I would believe, but cannot, is excusable ;' but never
a one of you all shall ever be able to say this ; but moral
impotency aggravateth faults : the more will, the more sin.
All the government and justice in the world is grounded
upon this principle, and therefore all rewards and punish-
ments are founded in the will of man, and all moral virtue
and vice is resolved into that. And if you can but prove
that a man offended willingly, you have proved him cul-
pable : for nature hath taught all the world to bring the
fault to the will, and there to leave it, and look no further
for the cause : unless, as seducers may be made accessary
by their persuasions, which yet is no excuse to the offender.
(8.) And whereas you allege that of the apostle, " It is
not in him that willeth, or in him that runneth, but in God
that sheweth mercy."
I answer, that the meaning is not, that our salvation is
not in him that willeth, or in him that runneth. The apos-
318 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
tie talketh of no such thing. But it is about the giving of
the gospel to them that had it not, and taking it from them
that had forfeited it by their sin ; or the giving of the first
special grace to them that had it not, and the denying it
them that had forfeited it by their neglects ; and the mean-
ing is no more than this, that the reason why God giveth
one man or nation the preaching of the Gospel, when others
for their sins are left in darkness, is not from any merit or
precedent willing or running of their own, but from his mere
mercy. And the reason why he blesseth the Gospel to the
conversion of some, when he leaveth others to despise it by
their wilful obstinacy, is not from the merits of any of those
unregenerate men, or from any willing or running of theirs,
but from God that sheweth mercy. So that you must note
that it is, 1. One thing to ask the cause of man's damnation
in himself considered, and this is not said to be because God
will damn him, but because he hath deserved it by his sin :
and so the cause of his preterition in the matter of special
grace, is not barely because God will pass him by, but be-
cause he hath deserved it ; for God denieth the Gospel, and
faith by the Gospel, or his grace to effect it, to no man that
hath not first deserved that denial. 2. It is another thing to
ask the reason of men's salvation, which is not given iu
Scripture barely from the will of God, but from the faith and
obedience of men, for it is an act of rewarding justice as
well as of paternal love and mercy. 3. And it is yet another
thing to ask the reason why God giveth any man the first
special grace to repent and believe considering him simply
in himself, and this is because that God is gracious, and no
reason can be given but his own mercy ; and thus far most
of us are agreed. 4. And it is yet another thing to ask the
reason why God giveth the special grace to this man, rather
than that, comparatively considered, when he might justly
have denied it to them both, and neither of them could plead
their desert of it ? And to this it is that the apostle's an-
swer doth most square, or at least is fitly applied : ** It is
not in him that willeth or runneth, but of God that sheweth
mercy :" so that, though no man can give any turning reason
besides the mere will of God, why God should give this
grace to Peter, rather than to Judas, yet we well know that
he denieth it not to Judas without his own desert; though
he gives it to Peter contrary to his desert.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 319
(9.) And whereas it is further objected, that " whom he
will he hardeneth," and if God will harden us, how can we
repent V
Answ. 1. That he hardeneth no man without his own de-
sert ; it is not till you have forfeited his softening grace by
your resisting and abuse of it. 2. That his hardening is
but his leaving you to yourselves, and taking away or de-
nying you that Spirit which you have quenched ; or his car-
rying the just course of his providence so, as he knoweth
your corrupt natures will be hardened thereby ; but he doth
not put any hardness into your hearts, and therefore these
afford you no excuse.
(10.) Another error that hindereth conversion, is. The
placing of holiness in holding of certain opinions, and so
turning from the life of faith and love, to speculation and
vain j anglings. If once men place their religion in their
opinions, they may as well be hypocrites and self-deceivers
in a true opinion, as in a false. This is a habit by which
the devil hath caught multitudes of souls in all ages of the
church, and especially of late : when he cannot keep men
in open profaneness, then he will tempt them to think that
such a party and such a sect are the only right and holy
people ; and therefore if thou get but among them, and be
one of that opinion and party, then thou shalt be saved.
And hence it is that we see that men who are so zealous for
their parties, and glory so much in several opinions, do yet
many, and very many of them, live so unacquaintedly with
God and heaven, and are such strangers to Christian cha-
rity, and can freely reproach both common Christians and
ministers, and speak evil of the things they understand not,
and take their railing accusations for their piety, and walk
in discord, and hatred, and disunion from the church of God,
and be glad when they can bear down the reputation of their
brethren whose labours are necessary for the good of souls.
And it is a common mark of an opinionative hypocrite, that
he preferreth the interest of his opinion and party, before
the interest of these common truths which salvation is clear-
ly laid upon, and all Christians are agreed in. And he car-
eth not to hinder ministers from propagating these common
truths for the conversion of souls, so he might withal but
hinder them from propagating that opinion which is con-
320 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
trary to his. And withal he layeth out more of his zeal and
diligence for these opinions, than for the mortification of
his lusts, and the maintaining of the union and communion
of the saints, and walking holily with God, and uprightly
with men.
I shall now say no more to these, but that ** the king-
dom of God consisteth not in meats and in drink, but in
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost "^i"
and *' that circumcision availeth nothing, nor uncircumci-
sion, but faith that worketh by love%" " and the new crea-
ture *." '* For in Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Gen-
tile, bond nor free, male nor female ;" and why may I not
say on the same ground, young nor old, " but Christ is all,
and in all "." And that we have many promises of life and
salvation to as many as repent and believe, and love God,
and hope for the coming of Christ ; but we have none to
those that are of this or that party or opinion without these
graces. And withal we know how tender God is of the
unity of his church and people, and how much he hath spo-
ken against division : and they that know not this, when
they pretend to know things that are not half so clearly re-
vealed, may be ashamed of their ignorance. I do not know
where God hath commanded men to avoid them that hold
this or that tolerable different opinion, or that follow this
or that tolerable different practice ; but I know where he
hath commanded us to *' mark them that cause division, and
avoid them''."
(11.) Another error that hindereth conversion, is. When
men have gotten false conceits against the lawfulness or ne-
cessity of those holy ordinances, that are used by the peo-
ple of God. For the life of religion lieth so much in the
use of ordinances, that if people be brought out of conceit
with these, they will not know what it is to be religious, nor
what necessity there is of it. To give you an instance in
some particulars.
1. Some grow into doubt of the necessity of family duty,
and ask, where hath God commanded us to pray in our fa-
milies ? And that so oft? To which I answer. That it is
sufficient that he hath bid us " pray always, and in all
»■ Rom. xiv. 17. 8 Gal. v. 6. 'Gal. vi. 15.
" Col. ii. 11. Gal. iii. 28. '^ Rom. xvi. 17.
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 321
things make our requests known to God with prayers, sup-
plication, and thanksgiving y." " All things are sanctified
by the word and prayer^." And therefore our families and
callings are so. What have we common reason for, but to
circumstantiate these duties, that God hath commanded to us
for the substance. And common reason telleth us, that as
we daily need God, we must daily seek supply of our needs;
and so not only our persons, but our families as families, do
need this mercy, and receive his mercy, and are related to
him as the Head : so our families as families must call on
him, and praise him, and love his headship. Besides the
example of Daniel, that prayed three times a day in his
house, so openly that his enemies had matter of accusation
from the matter of his prayer. But I have had occasion to
write more largely of this, and therefore will not now stand
on it.
2. Others are brought to question the lawfulness of
joining with our solemn assemblies, in hearing, or praying,
or other public worship of God. The reasons are such as I
am ashamed to stand to mention and confute them, and
shall be weary to go over them, they are so vain and super-
ficial, and answered at large by many. Some of their rea-
sons are, because we are so bad, when many of the accusers
are such themselves, that they deserve to be severely cen-
sured by the church ; and because the church will not deal
with them, they will judge the church, and take themselves
too good to have communion with it, and the church unwor-
thy to have communion with them. In a word, they would
have not one but many cast out, whom they never dealt
with in Christ's way, by admonition ; and because it is not
done out of Christ's way, to save a labour, they will turn
schismatics.
And others of them withdraw on the pretence that we
have no ministry. And how prove they that? You may
wait long enough till you can have a word of Scripture or
reason for the proof, or before they can answer that suffi-
cient proof that is brought to the contrary. And if you do but
put them to tell you which is the true church and ministers,
and where it hath been ? you shall see what work they will
make in the end.
J Phil. i». 6. I Thess. v. 17. » 1 Tim. iv. 4, 5.
vcfl. vn. Y
3M TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
Others withdraw on pretence that we are unbaptized, to
which end they must coin a new baptism, or else they are at
a loss. And their arguing with us, will be much like the
Papists in the point of transubstantiation, which requireth
that men renounce their sense, and say, that they see not
that which they see, and feel not or taste not that which in-
deed they feel and taste, and then they may come to be in
the right. And so we must believe that we see none bap-
tized in our churches, nor hear it, nor know of any such
thing, and then we may come to be a church. If these bre-
thren had half so much humility, or Christian love, and sense
of the unity of the church of Christ as they should have,
they would think on it, and think again, before they would
either say of the universal church of Christ for one age,
much more so for many ages, that it was no church, or not
to be joined with. For he that dares renounce communion
with the whole, doth make it hard to be discerned that he is
a part : and he that is not a member of the body, will not
find another body of Christ, whose communion is desirable.
For my part, I believe the church hath had many errors in
many ages, but I know no age since the creation, in which,
if I had lived, I durst have disclaimed communion with her.
Much less dare I think of nmning out of the way to heaven,
which almost all they went in that are there ; or of separating
from all the church of Christ, from Adam till within this
two hundred years, or thereabout: for if there were no
church till then, there waB no Head, no Christ, and so no
Christianity. Yea, if there were none but for any one time.
01 if it were the will of God that we could have as clear
light in some other weighty points, as we have in Scripture
for the baptism of the children of believers ; how much
would it do to quiet the understandings of many that are
willing to know.
3. Others there be that despise the solemn praises of
the congregations, because some psalms are such as all
cannot truly, they think, recite.
1. As if no recital were lawful, but that which per-
sonally owneth the words, which can never be proved.
2. And do they not know that God himself hath
prevented their objection? And that it flieth in his own
face? Who knoweth not that these psalms, or at least very
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 323
many of them, were appointed for the solemn praise of God
in the temple and congregations of the Jews in those times ?
And if those could lawfully use them, whose hearts were
generally no more fitted to them than ours, may not we do
so too ?
3. And do they not know that their scruple doth
make not only against psalms, but all public prayer also to
be unlawful ? For you cannot so speak in any such public
prayers or praises, but there will be somewhat which will not
suit with the particular dispositions of many in the congre-
gation personally to own, or else your duty will be very de-
fective. If you express rejoicing, must all drooping spirits
separate from the assembly that cannot rejoice ? But I will
trouble you no more with this. If any are unsatisfied, let
them read but Mr. Cotton's book on this question, and Mr.
Ford's, and they may receive satisfaction. And if they will
in this, and the aforesaid cases of baptism, separation, and
the rest, divide from the church, and venture on damnation
to save themselves the labour of reading that which is writ-
ten to give them information, they must take what they get
by it. Who can help it ?
Hindrance 19. Another hindrance of conversion, is, A
proud, unteachable frame of spirit : when people are so wise
in their own eyes, they think they know enough already ;
and they scorn to be taught. If the wisest minister in En-
gland should live with such, they would but despise his
counsel in every thing almost that crosseth their conceits.
As long as he will humour them, and say as they say, he
shall be a good man, and well spoken of by all; but if he
will trouble them, and cross them, and tell them that which
is against their present opinion, they think themselves wiser
in this than he, and if they do not bid him look to himself,
and let them alone, at least they will give him little thanks,
and shew it by their small regard. Some of them will not
come near us, nor give us the hearing, when we would teach
them ; and others, though they hear, do think themselves
too wise to believe or obey. And thus they are fixed in a
state of misery.
Direct. 19. If ever you will be converted, humbly sub-
mit to the word of God, and the instructions of those whom
he hath appointed to inform you. What unreasonable pride
324 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
is it in you that are ignorant, unlearned men, to despise the
counsel of the most able, godly ministers, and that in points
wherein the godly through all the world are agreed ? Yea,
where God himself doth lead them by his word ? Are not
they likely to know more than you that have studied it all
their days ? Discourse with them, and try whether they or
you have more knowledge. Consider what you do when
you proudly reason against the necessity of conversion and
a holy life. What, are you wiser than your teachers, and
thah the ablest teachers in the land ? Yea, than all the mi-
nisters in the world, and than all the godly people in the
world ? Silly souls, that scarce know any of the principles
of religion, are yet so proud as to despise the instruction
from the wisest whoever. But if you think yourselves
wiser than all the ministers in the world, will you also think
yourselves wiser than God ? I tell you, either illuminating
grace, or the conviction of God's judgment, shall take down
your lofty hearts ere long, and make you wish you had
stooped to instruction. The day is coming that will abate
your pride, and make you talk a little more submissively.
Hearken therefore in time, lest that befal you that is men-
tioned, Prov. V. 11 —13. " Lest thou mourn at last when
thy flesh and body are consumed ; and say, how have I
hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof? And
have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine
ear to them that instructed me V If you are too wise to
learn, you will prove in the end too foolish to be saved.
Hindrance 20 The last hindrance of conversion that I
shall mention, is. Wilful obstinacy. When men have long re-
sisted grace, they are given over oftentimes to themselves,
and then they grow wilful : and when they have nothing else
to say, why they should not be converted and become the
people of God, they can say, they will not : they will never
be so holy, nor deny their flesh, nor forsake the world, nor
set themselves to a heavenly life : they will not believe that
this is so necessary : nor will they ever yield to such a
course : come on it what will, they are resolved against it ;
before they will do it they will venture their souls, and let
God do with them what he will : and this desperate wilful-
ness is the devil's last hold.
Direct. 20. What direction should I give you against
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 325
this hindrance ? When th©- will is so corrupt and obstinate,
whatsoever I give it will be rejected. If you were but will-
ing I should make no doubt but the work might prosper ;
or if you were but reasonable, and teachable, and persuad-
able, I should make no doubt, through the blessing of God,
but the former means might make you yield ; but if men be
wilful and resolved to perish, what remedy t If men could
give us any reason against conversion and a holy life, and
did err through the mere mistake of their understandings,
I should make no doubt, through the blessing of God, but
by bare reason they might be rectified. But when their will
is their reason,' and they are resolved whatsoever comes of
it, to hold on, and stop their ears against advice, what can
we say to these men ? All that I can do, is, to commend to
them the former considerations, and to desire them to think
of those motives before delivered, which may change their
wills. But I have but little hope to prevail with them so
much as soberly to think of it. And because so many of
our poor people are of this strain, I am forced here to end
this subject with lamentation.
I have preached now many sermons to you of conversion,,
and whether any souls be converted by it, the Lord knows,
I know not. But the sad observation of the state of
the world, and the uneffectualness of such endeavours,
doth justly make me fear the issue. I know that both I and
this congregation shall shortly appear before our Judge, to
give a strict account of our lives, and if I have not preach-
ed these sermons in sincerity, with a true desire after the
saving of your souls, then how shall I stand before the Lord,
if the blood of Christ through faith and repentance prevail
not for remission ? And if any man or woman in this town
or parish shall there appear in an unconverted state, what
will they be able to say for themselves ? Or how will they
escape the threatened damnation ? I am not out of hope
that I shall meet some souls there, though yet I know not of
them, that will be able to say, they were converted by these
sermons ; but I am so much afraid lest I shall meet abun-
dance of you in an unconverted state, that I could even find
in my heart to sit down and weep over these sermons now
I have preached them. Alas ! that you should be con-
demned by that which was intended to further your salva-
326 TREATISE OF CONVERSION.
tion. Have I studied and preached all this to be a witness
against you ? I know, as true as you sit in these seats, that
every soul of you shall be for ever in hell, that passeth out
of the body in an unconverted state. And I know when
you have heard so much of it, and been so often warned, and
now are left without excuse, you will have a double con-
demnation. For now it is your mere wilfulness that must
keep you unconverted. If you say, you cannot convert
yourselves, I ask in a word, will you do what you can 't Tell
me, will you, or will you not? If you will not, what re-
medy ? If you will, look over the directions I have given
you, and set upon the faithful practice of them. Particu-
larly, see that you presently search the Scriptures, and read
good books, and forsake your evil company, and come not
near them, but get among those that fear the Lord, and take
all opportunities public and private, and inquire of your
teachers and neighbours that can help you, what you shall do
to be saved ? And sin no more wilfully, but avoid the very
temptations and appearances of evil, and be much with God
in secret and open prayer : and dwell in the consideration of
your own estate, of your own sin and danger, of Christ and
duty, of grace and glory, and think not any pains too much
for your salvation. What say you ? Will you do but thus
much, or will you not? If you will, you shall find no cause
to repent of it, and God will not be wanting to that soul
that doth not wilfully forsake him, but is willing to be con-
formed to the image of his Son ; and to be what God would
have him be. But, alas ! it is this wilfulness, and obsti-
. nacy that undoes men : that is, that which shuts up the
heart of God and man from compassionating the wicked in
their everlasting misery. They did it wilfully ; they would
take no_ warning ; they would hear no counsel ; no saying
would serve them ; they chose their own destruction ; it was
their own doing ; they were told of it a hundred times ; they
were entreated to consider, but they would not be entreated.
What could have been said more to them ? What could we
do more for them? O that any one of you could tell me
what I should say more, or what I should do now to save the
souls of ignorant, fleshly, worldly sinners from damnation !
And to convert the unconverted, and turn the hearts of men
to God ! O that you could but tell me how I might accom-
TREATISE OF CONVERSION. 327
plish it ! Would I not do it ? The Lord knows, if any
lawful and honest means would accomplish it I would do it,
if I know my own heart. But if Christ could not be heard,
why should I wonder if many will make light of what is
said by such an one as I. If they will not hear the Lord
that made them speaking in his word, why should I wonder
if they will not hear him speaking by such a worm as I ?
Sinners, what shall I say more to you ? I have told you of
an everlasting glory which you might have; if you will set
light by it, and prefer your worldly things before it, who can
help it? I have told you of eternal misery that you are in
danger of; if you will venture on it, and not believe it till
you feel it, and are past remedy, who can help it ? I have
proved to you from the word of God, that without conver-
sion there is no salvation : if you dare go on in an uncon-
verted state, and keep your sin, and follow your fleshly de-
sires and delights, and your worldly vanities and wicked
company, if you will not be drawn to the ways of God, what
remedy ? I have delivered my message, and I hope God will
not require your blood at my hands. You shall all be forced
to bear me witness that I told you there was no salvation
without conversion ; and that I manifested to you the rea-
sonableness of the offers of God : and if you be not convert-
ed, it is because you would not : and what a torment it will
be everlastingly to your consciences to think that you wil-
fully damned yourselves, and to think that you wilfully re-
fused your salvation ; and that you might have been in hea-
ven as well as others, if you had not wilfully and obstinately
rejected it. I say, what tormenting thoughts these will
prove to you everlastingly, you cannot possibly now con-
ceive, but then you shall know and feel it, if true conversion
do not prevent it. Which that it may do, as it hath been
the end of all these sermons, so shall it now, and as long as
I have life and strength, be the matter of my prayers for you.
THE END OF THE JREATISE OF CONVERSION.
A CALL
UNCONVERTED
TURN AND LIVE,
AND ACCEPT OF MERCY WHILE MERCY MAY BE HAD, AS EVER
THEY WOULD FIND MERCY IN THE DAY OF THEIR EXTREMIIT :
FROM THE LIVING GOD.
TO WHICH ARE ADDED,
FORMS OF PRAYER FOR MORNING AND EVENING FOR A FAMILY,
FOR A PENITENT SINNER, AND FOR THE LORD'S DAY.
PREFACE
IN that short acquaintance I had with that reverend learned
servant of Christ, Bishop Usher, he was oft, from first to
last, importuning me to write a Directory for the several
ranks of professed Christians, which might distinctly give
each one their portion; beginning with the unconverted,
and then proceeding to the babes in Christ, and then to the
strong; and mixing some special helps against the several
sins that they are addicted to. By the suddenness of his
motion at our first congress, I perceived it was in his mind
before ; and I told him, both that it was abundantly done
by many already ; and that his unacquaintedness with
my weakness, might make him think me fitter for it than I
was. But this did not satisfy him, but still he made it his
request. I confess I was not moved by his reasons, nor did
I apprehend any great need of doing more than is done in
that way : nor that I was likely to do more. And, there-
fore, I parted from him without the least purpose to answer
his desire. But since his death, his words often came into
my mind ; and the great reverence I bore to him, did the
more incline me to think with some complacency of his mo-
tion. And having of ^ate intended to write a " Family Di-
rectory,*' I began to apprehend how congruously the fore-
mentioned work should lead the way ; and the several con-
ditions of men's souls be spoken of, before we come to the
several relations. Hereupon I resolved, by God's assistance,
to proceed in the order following. First, to speak to the
impenitent, unconverted sinners, who are not yet so much
as purposing to turn ; or at least are not setting about the
work. And with these, I thought, a wakening persuasive
was a more necessary means than mere directions ; for di-
rections suppose men willing to obey them. But the per-
CCCXXXll PREFACE.
sons that we have first to deal with, are wilful and asleep in
sin, and as men that are past feeling, having given them-
selves over to sin with greediness. My next work must be
for those that have some purposes to turn, and are about
the work, to direct them for a thorough and a true conver-
sion, that they miscarry not in the birth. The third part
must be directions for the younger and weaker sort of
Christians, that they may be established, built up, and
persevere. The fourth part, directions for lapsed and back-
sliding Christians, for their safe recovery. Besides these,
there is intended some short persuasions and directions
against some special errors of the times, and against some
common, killing sins. As for directions to doubting, trou-
bled consciences, that is done already. And the strong I
shall not write directions for, because they are so much
taught of God already. And then the last part is intended
more especially for families, as such, directing the several
relations in their duties. Some of these are already written.
Whether I shall have life and leisure for the rest, God only
knoweth ; and therefore I shall publish the several parts by
themselves, as I write them. And the rather because they
are intended for men of different states, and because I would
not deter them by the bulk or price, from reading what is
written for their benefit. The use that this part is publish-
ed for, is, 1. For masters and parents to read often in their
families, if they have servants or children that are yet un-
converted. 2. For all such unconverted persons to read and
consider of themselves. 3. For the richer sort, that have
any pity on such miserable souls, to give to the unsanctified
that need them, (if they have not fitter at hand to use and
give). The Lord awake us to work while it is day, for the
saving of our own and others* souls, in subserviency to the
blessed God, the Maker, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier
of souls.
RICHARD BAXTER.
December 10, 1657.
PREFACE. CCCXXXH
To all Unsanctified Persons that shall read this Book; especially
my Hearers in the Parish of Kidderminster.
Men and Brethren,
The eternal God that made you for life everlasting, and
hath redeemed you by his only Son, when you had lost it,
and yourselves ; being mindful of you in your sin and mi-
sery, hath indited the Gospel, and sealed it by his Spirit,
and commanded his ministers to preach it to the world, that
pardon being freely offered you, and heaven being set before
you, he might call you off from your fleshly pleasures, and
from following after this deceitful world, and acquaint you
with the life you were created and redeemed for, before you
are dead and past remedy. He sendeth you not prophets or
apostles, that receive their message by immediate revelation,
but yet he calleth you by his ordinary ministers, who are
commissioned by him to preach the same Gospel, which
Christ and his apostles first delivered. The Lord standeth
over you, and seeth how you forget him and your latter
end, and how light you make of everlasting things, as men
that understand not what they have to do or suffer. He
seeth how bold you are in sin, and how fearless of his threat-
enings, and how careless of your souls, and how the works of
infidels are in your lives, while the belief of Christians is in
your mouths. He seeth the dreadful day at hand, when
your sorrows will begin, and you must lament all this with
fruitless cries in torment and desperation ; and then the re-
membrance of your folly will tear your hearts, if true con-
version now prevent it not. In compassion of your sinful,
miserable souls, the Lord that better knows your case
than you can know it, hath made it our duty to speak to
you in his name*, and to tell you plainly of your sin and
- 2 Cor. V. 19.
CCCXXXIV PREFACE.
misery, and what will be your end, and how sad a change
yoQ will shortly see, if yet you go on a little longer.
Having bought you at so dear a rate as the blood of his Son
Jesus Christ, and made you so free and general a promise of
pardon, and grace, and everlasting glory, he commandeth us
to tender all this to you, as the gift of God, and to entreat
you to consider of the necessity and worth of what he offer-
eth. He seeth and pitieth you, while you are drowned in
worldly cares and pleasures, and eagerly following childish
toys, and wasting that short and precious time for a thing of
naught, in which you should make ready for an everlasting
life, and therefore he hath commanded us to call after you,
and to tell you how you lose your labour, and are about to
lose your souls, and to tell you what greater and better things
you might certainly have, if you would hearken to his call ^.
We believe and obey the voice of God ; and come to you daily
on his message, who hath charged us to preach and be in-
stant with you in season, and out of season, and to lift up
our voice like a trumpet, and shew you your transgressions
and your sins *=. But woe and alas ! to the grief of our souls
and your own undoing, you stop your ears, you stiffen your
necks, you harden your hearts, and break our hearts, and
send us back to God with groans, to tell him that we have
done his message, but can do no good, nor scarcely get a
sober hearing. O that our eyes were as a fountain of tears,
that we might lament our ignorant, careless people that have
Christ before them, and pardon, and life, and heaven before
tliem, and have not hearts to know and value them ! That
might have Christ, and grace, and glory, as well as others,
if it were not for their wilful negligence and contempt. O
that the Lord would fill our hearts with more compassion to
these miserable souls, that we might cast ourselves even at
their feet, and follow them to their houses, and speak to
them with our bitter tears. For long have we preached to
many of them, as in vain : we study plainness to make them
understand, and many of them will not understand us : we
study piercing words to make them feel, but they will not
feel. If the greatest matters would work with them, we
should awake them. If the sweetest things would work, we
should entice them, and win their hearts. If the most
»» Isa. Iv. 1—3. c isa. jvjji. i, 2. 2 Tim. iv. 1, 2.
PREFACE. CCCXXXV
dreadful things would work, we should at least affright them
from their wickedness. If truth and sincerity would take
with them, we should soon convince them. If the God that
made them, and the Christ that bought them might be heard,
the case would soon be altered with them. If Scripture
might be heard, we should soon prevail. If reason, even the
best and strongest reason might be heard, we should not
doubt but we should speedily convince them. If experience
might be heai'd, and even their own experience, and the ex-
perience of all the world, the matter might be mended. Yea,
if the conscience within them might be heard, the case would
be better with them than it is. But if nothing can be heard,
what then shall we do for them ? If the dreadful God of
heaven be slighted, who then shall be regarded ? If the in-
estimable love and blood of a Redeemer be made light of,
what then shall be valued ? If heaven have no desirable
glory with them, and everlasting joys be worth nothing ; if
they can jest at hell, and dance about a bottomless- pit, and
play with the consuming fire, and that when God and man
do warn them of it : what shall we do for such souls as these ?
Once more in the name of the God of heaven, I shall do
the message to you which he hath commanded us, and leave
it in these standing lines to convert you or condemn you ;
to change you, or rise up in judgment against you, and to be
a witness to your faces, that once you had a serious call to
turn. Hear, all you that are the drudges of the world, and the
servants of flesh and satan ; that spend your days in look-
ing after prosperity on earth, and drown your consciences
in drinking, and gluttony, and idleness, and foolish sports,
and know you sia, and yet will sin, as if you set God at de-
fiance, and bid him do his worst, and spare not. Hearken
all you that mind not God, and have no heart to holy things,
and feel no savour in the word or worship of the Lord, or in
the thoughts or mention of eternal life ; that are careless of
your immortal souls, and never bestowed one hour in in-
quiring what case they are in, whether sanctified or unsanc-
tified, and whether you are ready to appear before the Lord !
Hearken all you that by sinning in the light, have sinned
yourselves into atheism and infidelity, and do not believe
the word of God. '* He that hath an ear to hear, let liim
hear" the gracious and yet dreadful call of God ! His eye
CCCXXXVI PREFACE.
is all this while upon you, your sins are registered, and you
shall surely hear of them again ; God keepeth the book
now ; and he will write it upon your consciences with his
terrors ; and then you also shall keep it yourselves. O
sinners ! that you knew but what you are doing ! And who
you are all this while offending ! The sun itself is darkness
before the glory of that Majesty which you daily abuse and
carelessly provoke. The sinning angels were not able to
stand before him, but were cast down to be tormented with
devils. And dare such silly worms as you so carelessly of-
fend, and set yourselves against your Maker ! O that you
did but a little know what a case that wretched soul is in,
that hath engaged the living God against him ! The word
of his mouth that made thee can unmake thee ; a frown of
his face will cut thee off, and cast thee out into utter dark-
ness : how eager are the devils to be doing with thee that
have tempted thee, and do but wait for the word from God
to take and use thee as their own ! And then in a moment
thou wilt be in hell. If God be against thee, all things are
against thee. This world is but thy prison for all that thou
so lovest it : thou art but reserved in it to the day of wrath**.
The Judge is coming, thy soul is even going : yea, a little
while and thy friends shall say of thee, * He is dead ;' and
thou shalt see the things that thou dost now despise, and
feel what now thou wilt not believe. Death will bring such
an argument as thou canst not answer : an argument that
shall effectually confute thy cavils against the word and ways
of God, and all thy self-conceited dotages : and then how
soon will thy mind be changed ! Then be an unbeliever if
thou canst ! Stand then to all thy former words which
thou wast wont to utter against the Scriptures, or against a
holy and heavenly life ! Make good that cause then before
the Lord, which thou wast wont to plead against thy
teachers, and against the people that feared God. Then
stand to thy old opinions, and contemptuous thoughts of the
diligence of the saints. Make ready now thy strongest rea-
sons, and stand up then before the Judge, and plead like a
man, for thy fleshly, thy worldly, and ungodly life ; but
know that thou must have one to plead with thee, that will
not be outfaced by thee, nor so easily put off as we thy fel-
'' Job xxi. 30.
PREFACE. CCCXXXVII
low creatures. O poor deceived, wretched soul ! there is
nothing but a slender veil of flesh betwixt thee and that
amazing sight, which will quickly silence thee and turn thy
tune, and make thee of another mind ! As soon as death
has drawn this curtain, thou shalt see that which will quickly
leave thee speechless. And how quickly will that day and
hour come ! When thou hast had but a few more merry
hours, and but a few more pleasant draughts and morsels,
and a little more of the honours and riches of the world, thy
portion will be spent, and thy pleasures ended, and all is
then gone that thou settest thy heart upon, of all that thou
soldest thy Saviour and salvation for, there is nothing left
but the heavy reckoning. As a thief that sits merrily spend-
ing the money in an alehouse which he hath stolen, when
men are riding in post haste to apprehend him : so it is with
you|; while you are drowned in cares or fleshly pleasures,
and making merry with your own shame, death is coming
in post haste to seize upon you and carry your souls to such
a place and state, as now you little know or think of. Sup-
pose when you are bold and busy in your sin, that a mes-
senger were but coming post from London to apprehend you,
and take away your life, though you saw him not : yet if you
knew of his coming it would mar your mirth, and you would
be thinking of the haste he makes, and hearkening when he
knocketh at your door. O that ye could but see what haste
death makes, though yet it hath not overtaken you! No
post so swift ! No messenger more sure ! As sure as the
sun will be with you in the morning, though it hath many
thousand, and hundred thousand miles to go in the night:
so sure will death be quickly with you, and then where is
your sport and pleasure ? Then will you jest and brave it
out? Then will you jeer at them that warned you? Then
is it better to be a believing saint, or a sensual worldling ?
And then whose shall all those things be that you have ga-
thered*? Do you not observe that days and weeks are
quickly gone, and nights and mornings come apace, and
speedily succeed each other ? You sleep, but " your dam-
nation slumbereth not;" you linger, ** but your judgment
this long time lingereth not ^ ;" to which you are reserved
for punishment «. '* O that you were wise to understand this,
- Luke xii. 19-21. ' t Pet. ii. 3—5. « 3 Pet. 8, 9.
VOL. VII. Z
CCCXXXVlll PREFACE.
and that you did consider your latter end ''." " He that
hath an ear to hear, let him hear" the call of God in this day
of his salvation.
O careless sinners, that you did but know the love that
you unthankfully neglect, and the preciousness of the blood
of Christ which you despise ! O that you did but know the
riches of the Gospel ! O that you did but know a little the
certainty, and the glory, and blessedness of that everlast-
ing life, which now you will not set your hearts upon, nor
be persuaded first and diligently to seek \ Did you but
know the endless hfe with God which you now neglect, how
quickly would you cast away your sin ! How quickly would
you change your mind and life, your course and company,
and turn the streams of your affections, and lay out your
care another way ! How resolutely would you scorn to yield
to such temptations as now deceive you, and carry[you away !
How zealously would you bestir yourselves for that most
blessed life 1 How earnest would you be with God in prayer!
How diligent in hearing, learning, and inquiring ! How
serious in meditating on the laws of God ^ ! How fearful of
sinning in thought, word, or deed ! And how careful to
please God and grow in holiness ! O what a changed peo-
ple would you be ! And why should not the certain word
of God be believed, and prevail with you, which openeth to
you these glorious and eternal things ? Yea, let me tell you,
that even here upon earth, you little know the difference be-
tween the life you refuse and the life you choose. The
sanctified are conversing with God, when you scarce dare
think of him, and when you are conversing but with earth
and flesh, their conversation is in heaven, when you are utter
strangers to it, and your belly is your god, and you are mind-
ing earthly things ^ They are seeking after the face of God
when you seek for nothing higher than this world. They
are busily laying out for an endless life, where they shall be
equal with the angels "", when you are taken up with a sha-
dow, and a transitory thing of naught. How low and base
is your earthly, fleshly, sinful life, in comparison of the noble,
spiritual life of true believers? Many a time have I looked
on such men with grief and pity to see them trudge about
'• Dm.t. xxxii. 20. i Hcb. xi.6. xii. 28. Matt. vi. 13.
•* I'sal. i. 2. 1 Phil. iii. 18—20. «• Luke xx. 36.
PREFACE. CCCXXXIX
the world, and spend their lives, care, and labour for nothing
but a little food and raiment, or a little fading pelf, or fleshly
pleasures, or empty honours, as if they had no higher thing
to mind. What difference is there between the lives of these
men, and of the beasts that perish, that spend their time in
working, and eating, and living, but that they may live ?
They taste not of the inward heavenly pleasures which be-
lievers taste and live upon. I had rather have a little of their
comfort, which the forethoughts of their heavenly inheri-
tance doth afford them, though I had all their scorn, and
sufferings with them, than to have all your pleasures and
treacherous prosperities ; I would not have one of your se-
cret gripes and pangs of conscience, dark and dreadful
thoughts of death and the life to come, for all that ever the
world hath done for you or all that you should reasonably
hope that it should do. If I were in your unconverted, car-
nal state, and knew but what I know, believed but what I
now believe, methinks my life would be a foretaste of hell.
How oft should I be thinking of the terrors of the Lord,
and of the dismal day that is hasting on ! Sure death and
hell would be still before me. I should think of them by
day, and dream of them by night ; I should lie down in fear^
and rise in fear, and live in fear, lest death should come be-
fore I were converted : I should have small felicity in any
thing that I possessed, and little pleasure in any company,
and little joy in any thing in the world, as long as I knew
myself to be under the curse and wrath of God : I should
still be afraid of hearing that voice, " Thou fool, this night
shall thy soul be required of thee "." And that fearful sen-
tence would be written upon my conscience ; " There is no
peace, saith my God, to the wicked®." O poor sinner! it
is a more joyful life than this that you might live, if you
were but willing, but truly willing to hearken to Christ, and
to come home to God. You might then draw near to God
with boldness, and call him your Father, and comfortably
trust him with yonr souls and bodies. If you look upon pro-
mises, you may say, * They are all mine ;* if upon the curse,
you may say, * From this I am delivered.* When you read
the law, you may see what you are saved from : when you
fead the Gospel, you may see him that redeemed you, and
" Luke xii. 20. «» Taa. xlviii. ««. Ivii. 21.
CCCXl PREFACE.
see the course of his love, and holy life, and sufferings, and
trace him in his temptations, tears, and blood, in the work
of your salvation. You may see death conquered, and hea-
ven opened, and your resurrection and glorification provided
for, in the resurrection and glorification of your Lord. If
you look on the saints, you may say, * They are my brethren
and companions.' If on the unsanctified, you may rejoice
to think that you are saved from that state. If you look
upon the heavens, the sun, and moon, and stars innumera-
ble, you may think and say, * My Father's face is infinitely
more glorious ; it is higher matters that he hath prepared
for his saints. Yonder is but the outward court of heaven.
The blessedness that he hath promised me, is so much
higher, that flesh and blood cannot behold it.' If you think
of the grave you may remember that the glorified spirit, a
living Head, and a loving Father, have all so near relation
to your dust, that it cannot be forgotten or neglected ; but
will more certainly revive than the plants and flowers in the
spring ; because the soul is still alive, that is the root of the
body, and Christ is alive, that is the root of both. Even
death, which is the king of fears, may be remembered and
entertained with joy, as being the day of your deliverance
from the remnants of sin and sorrow, and the day which you
believed, and hoped, and waited for, when you shall see the
blessed things which you have heard of, and shall find by
present joyful experience, what it was to choose the better
part, and be a sincere believing saint. What say you sirs ?
is not this a more delightful life, to be assured of salvation,
and ready to die, than to live as the ungodly, that have their
hearts ** overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and
the cares of this life, and so that day comes upon them un-
awares P." Might you not live a comfortable life, if once
you were made the heirs of heaven, and sure to be saved
when you leave the world ? O look about you then, and
think what you do, and cast not away such hopes as these
for v€ry nothing. The flesh and world can give you no
such hopes or comforts.
And besides all the misery that you bring upon your-
selves, you are the troublers of others as long as you are un-
converted. You trouble magistrates to rule you by their
V Luke xxi. 34. 36.
PREFACE. CCCxIi
laws. You trouble ministers, by resisting the light and
guidance which they offer you : your sin and misery is the
greatest grief and trouble to them in the world. You trou-
ble the commonwealth, and draw the judgments of God upon
us: it is you that most disturb the holy peace and order of
the churches, and hinder our union and reformation, and are
the shame and trouble of the churches where you intrude,
and of all the places where you are. Ah, Lord ! how heavy
and sad a case is this, that even in England, where the Gos-
pel doth abound above any other nation in the world ; where
teaching is so plain and common, and all the helps we can
desire are at hand, when the sword hath been hewing us,
and judgment hath run as a fire through the land : when 'de-
liverances have relieved us, and so many admirable mercies
have engaged us to God, and to the Gospel, and to an holy
life ; that yet after all this our cities, and towns, and coun-
tries, shall abound with multitudes of unsanctified men, and
swarm with so much sensuality, as every where to our grief
we see. One would have thought, that after all this light,
and all this experience, and all these judgments and mer-
cies of God, the people of this nation should have joined to-
gether, as one man, to turn to the Lord ; and should have
come to their godly teachers, and lamented all their former
sins, and desired them to join with them in public humilia-
tion to confess them openly, and beg pardon of them from
the Lord, and should have craved their instruction for the
time to come, and be glad to be ruled by the spirit within,
and the ministers of Christ without, according to the word
of God. One would think, that after such reason and
Scripture evidence as they hear ; and after all these means
and mercies, there should not be an ungodly person left
among us, nor a worldling, nor a drunkard, or abater of re-
formation, or an enemy to holiness, be found in all our
towns or countries. If we be not all agreed about some ce-
remonies or forms of government, one would think that,
before this, we should have been all agreed to live a holy
and heavenly life, in obedience to God, his word and mi-
nisters, and in love and peace with one another. But, alas !
how, far are our people from this course ! Most of them, in
most places, do set their hearts on earthly things, and seek
not first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof.
CCCXlii PREFACE.
but look at holiness as a needless thing ; their families are
prayerless, or else a few heartless, lifeless words must serve
instead of hearty, fervent, daily prayer; their children are
not taught the knowledge of Christ, and the covenant of
grace, nor brought up in the nurture of the Lord, though
they falsely promised this in their baptism. They instruct
not their servants in the matters of salvation ; but so their
work be done they care not. There are more oaths, and
curses, and ribald and railing speeches in their families, than
gracious words that tend to edification. How few are the
families that fear the Lord, and inquire after his word and
ministers, how they should live, and what they should do ;
and are willing to be taught and ruled, and that heartily
look after everlasting life ! And those few that God hath
made so happy, are commonly the bye word of their neigh-
bours ; when we see some live in drunkenness, and some in
pride and worldliness, and most of them have little care of
their salvation, though the cause be gross, and past all con-
troversy, yet will they hardly be convinced of their misery,
and more hardly recovered and reformed ; but when we have
done all that we are able, to save them from their sins, we
leave them, most of them, as we find them. And if, ac-
cording to the law of God, we cast them out of the com-
munion of the church, when they have obstinately rejected
all our admonitions, they rage at us as if we were their
enemies, and their hearts are filled with malice against us,
and they will sooner set themselves against the Lord, and
his laws, and church, and ministers, than against their deadly
sins. This is the doleful case of England ; we have magis-
trates that countenance the ways of godliness, and a happy
opportunity for unity and reformation is before us ; and
faithful ministers long to see the right ordering of the
church, and of the ordinances of God ; but the power of sin
in our people doth frustrate almost all. No where almost
can a faithful minister set up the unquestionable discipline
of Christ, or put back the most scandalous, impenitent sin-
ners from the communion of the church, and participation
of the sacrament, but the most of the people rail at them,
and revile them : as if these ignorant, careless souls were
wiser than their teachers, or than God himself; and fitter to
rule the church than they. And thus in the day of our vi-
PREFACE. cccxiiii
sitation, when God calls upon us to reform his church,
though magistrates seem willing, and faithful ministers are
willing, yet are the multitude of the people still unwilling ;
and sin hath so blinded them, and hardened their hearts,
that even in these days of light and grace, they were the ob-
stinate enemies of light and grace, and will not be brought
by the calls of God, to see their folly, and know what is
for their good. O that the people of England knew, " at
least in this their day, the things that belong unto their
peace, before they are hid from their eyes ** !" O foolish and
miserable souls ! who hath bewitched "^your minds into such
madness, and your hearts into such deadness, that you
should be such mortal enemies to yourselves, and go on so
obstinately towards damnation, that neither the word of God,
nor the persuasions of men can change your minds, or hold
your hands, or stop you till you are past remedy! Well,
sinners ! this life will not last always ; this patience will not
wait upon you still. Do not think that you shall abuse
your Maker and Redeemer, and serve his enemies, and de-
base your souls, and trouble the world, and wrong the
church, and reproach the godly, and grieve your teachers,
and hinder reformation, and all this upon free cost. You
know not yet what this must cost you, but you must shortly
know, when the righteous God shall take you in hand, who
will handle you in another manner than the sharpest ma-
gistrates, or the plainest dealing pastors did, unless you pre-
vent the everlasting torments by a sound conversion, and a
speedy obeying the call of God. " He that hath an ear to
hear, let him hear," while mercy hath a voice to call.
One desperate objection (which I have after touched, but
with too much brevity,) 1 find sticks close to the hearts of
many ungodly men. They think that God doth not so
much care what men think, or say, or do, as we persuade
them ; and therefore they care so little themselves. For
the convincing of such atheistical men as these, I shall pro-
pound the following questions.
1. Dost thou think God careth whether thou be a man
or not? If not, who made thee, and preserved thee ? If he
do, then sure he careth whether thou behave thyself as a
man. No man is so foolish as to make any instrument,
<i Lakr lii. 4f. ' Oal. Hi. 1.
CCCXliv PREFACE.
build a house, or a ship, and not care, when he hath done,
whether it be good for the use he made it. Do not, for
shame then, impute such folly to the God of wisdom, as if he
made so noble a creature as man, and endowed him with
such noble faculties, and all for nothing, and careth not
what becometh of him when he hath done. Why should
God give thee a mind that can know him, and a heart that
can love him, when he careth not whether thou know him,
and love him, or not ? Do you not see, that in the course
of nature, every thing is fitted to its use ? The beasts know
not God, nor are capable of loving him, because they were
made for no such use ; but thy capacity shews that thou
wast made for God, and for a life to come.
2. Dost thou think that God is every where present, and
infinite, and all-sufficient ? If not, thou dost not believe
that he is God, and it is unreasonable to imagine, that God
hath made a world that is greater, and more extensive or
comprehensive than himself ! For none can communicate
more than he hath. But if thou art forced to confess that
God is every where, and as sufficient for every single man,
as if he had never another creature to regard, thou must
needs confess then that he is not careless of the hearts and
ways of the sons of men : for they are things that are still
before his eyes. It is base and blasphemous thoughts of
God, as if he were limited, absent, or insufficient, that makes
men think him so regardless of their hearts and ways.
3. Dost thou think that God careth what becomes of
thy body? Whether thou be sick or well ? Whether thou
live or die ? If not, then how earnest thou by thy life, and
health, and mercies ? If they came from any other foun-
tain, tell us from whence : is it not to God that thou pray-
est for thy life and health ? Darest thou say to him, ' I will
not depend upon thee ? I will not be beholden to thee for
the life and mercies of another day V If so, then thou art a
blind atheist. But if thou thinkest he cares for thy body,
canst thou think he cares not more for thy soul ? If he
must regard to furnish thee with mercies, he will sure have
a regard whether thou love and live to him that gave them.
4. Dost thou believe that God is the governor of the
world, or not ? If not, then there can be no rightful go-
vernment. For as no justice of peace can have a power.
PREFACE. CCCxlv
but from the sovereign ; so no sovereign can have power,
but from God ; nor be a lawful governor, but under him :
and then all the world would be turned into confusion. But
if thou must needs confess that God is the Governor of the
world, what an unwise, unrighteous governor wouldst thou
make him, if thou thinkest that he regardeth not the hearts
and ways of those whom he doth govern ! This still is but
to deny him to be God.
5. If God do not care so much what is in our hearts, or
what we do, why then should he make a law for our hearts,
and words, and ways? Would he command us that which
he doth not care for? Would he so strictly forbid sin, if he
were indifferent whether we sin or not? Would he promise
eternal life to the holy and obedient, if he cared not whether
we be holy and obedient, or no? Would he threaten hell
to all that are ungodly, if he cared not whether we are godly
or not ? Darest thou say, that the Almighty, Holy God is
fain to rule the world by a lie, and to deceive men into
obedience ? Yea, the very law of nature itself, doth contain
not only precepts of our duty, but the hopes and fears of
the life to come, without which the world could not be go-
verned : and certainly they are no deceits, by which an in-
finite wisdom, and power, and goodness, doth govern the
world.
6. If God did not much regard our hearts and lives, why
doth he make all the world to be our servants ? Doth he
give us the sun, and moon, and stars, the earth, and all crea-
tures to attend us, and serve us with their lives and virtues,
and yet doth he not care for our hearts or service ? This is
as foolish as to say, that he hath made all the world in vain,
and careth not for it, now he hath made it.
7. If he cared not for the frame of our hearts and lives,
he would not have sent his Son to redeem us, and to cleanse
us from iniquity, and sanctify us a peculiar people to him-
self •• Surely the price that was paid for sinners, and the
wonderful design of God in our redemption, doth shew that
he makes not light of sin, and that he is wonderfully in love
with holiness.
8. If God did not regard our hearts and lives, he would
not have made it the office of his ministers, to call us daily
to repentance and a holy life ; nor commanded them to
• Tit. ii. 14.
CCCxlvi PREFACE.
make such a stir with sinners to win them unto God ; he
would not have appointed all his ordinances, public and
private, also to this end. Doth God command all this ado
for a thing he regards not ?
9. Nor would he punish the world with hell hereafter, or
so many judgments here, as thousands feel, if he cared not
what they think or do. Methinks, men that are so often
groaning under his rod, should feel that he looks after their
hearts and ways.
10. And how can the Holy Ghost be our Sanctifier, if
God be so indifferent, whether we be clean or unclean ? Dare
you think that the Holy Ghost doth take upon him a need-
less work ?
11. Methinks you might perceive, even in the malice of
the tempter, that God is holy, and hateth iniquity ; and his
word is true, that telleth us of the eternal punishment of sin.
The Scripture tells us of the angels* fall, and that many of
them are become devils by their sin, and are malicious ene-
mies of man*s salvation. And do you not easily perceive it
to be true ? How came they else to be such importunate
tempters of men, which we feel, alas ! by too much expe-
rience ? Or if this evidence be not palpable enough to con-
vince the infidel ; how come they to make so many bargains
with conjurers and witches, to draw them from God and
salvation, as they have done l How come they to appear
in terrible shapes to so many as they have done, and still
upon designs that declare their own dejected, base condi-
tion, and their enmity to God and man, and their eager de-
sire to engage men in a way of sin ? If any infidel will not
believe that really there have been witches and apparitions,
and consequently that there are devils, who are miserable,
malicious spirits, who by sin are cast out of the favour of
God, and would draw men into their miserable case ; let
them come and reason the case with me, and I shall quickly
tell them of so many sure and undeniable instances, and give
them so much proof of the truth of it, as shall leave them no-
thing to say against it, unless they will still say, * We will
not believe.' Yea, so much, as that I will not be beholden
to the vilest atheist or infidel to believe it, if he will not
quite renounce his reason, but give it leave to see the light.
12. Lastly, if yet you think that God (the Sovereign
Ruler of the world, that is every \yhere present, and pre-
PREFACE. CCCxlvii
serveth all) doth care so little what men are, or what they do,
whether they are holy or unholy, obedient or disobedient to
his laws ; then methinks that you yourselves, and all the rest
of your fellow-creatures, should little care.
Two questions therefore I must propound to you :
1. Do not you care what men say of you, or do to you?
Are you contented that men slander you, and abuse you,
or set your houses or towns on fire, or destroy your cattle,
or wives or children, and imprison, wound or kill your^
selves ? If you will make a great matter what men say or
do against you, can you be so mad, (for it is no better) as
to think that the omnipotent, holy God, should little regard
what is said or done against himself, and against his ser-
vants, and that by such silly worms as men, that are his
workmanship? Did not selfishness make you blind and
partial, you would know that one sin against God, deserves
more punishment than ten thousand thousand times as much
against such silly things as you. Do you make no matter
of difference between a bad servant and a good ? an obe-
dient and disobedient child ? a son that will lay down his
life for you, and a son that longs for your death, that he
may have your land ? Between a faithful friend and a dead-
ly enemy ? If you do not, you are not men, but something
else in human shape. If you do, then you are somewhat
worse than men, if yet you would have the blessed God, to
make no great difference between those that love him above
all the world, and those that regard him not ; between the
holy and unholy soul.
And 2. I would ask you whether you would have the
rulers of the world to take care what men say or do, or
would you not? If not, then you would have all the world
turned loose, and you would have every man that is poorer
than you, have leave to rob you : and every man that hateth
you, have leave to beat, or kill you ; and every man that
liketh your house, or lands, or goods, or cattle, to have
leave to take them from you ; and every man defile your
wives or daughters, that hath a mind to it? And so we
should see whither it is that infidelity leads men. But if
you like not this, then you are most unreasonable, if you
would have magistrates to be regardful of men's actions, and
not God. If magistratCB must hang men for wronging you.
CCCxlviii PREFACE.
and the eternal Majesty must not punish them for wronging
him, and breaking his laws, which is infinitely a greater
matter. As if you would have a constable punish men, and
the king or judge, to have no regard of it. For kings are
under God, as constables are under kings, and a thousand
fold lower.
The truth is, wicked men are fallen so far from God to
themselves, that they are as God*s to themselves in their
own esteem, and besides themselves they know no God ;
and therefore any wrong that is done against them, or any
good that is done for them, they would have regarded : but
the wrong and disobedience that is against God, they would
have nothing made of it. And they have such narrow, blas-
phemous thoughts of God, as if he were a finite creature like
themselves, that can be but in one place at once, that makes
them so blaspheme his providence, and think he minds no
good or evil, and will not regard the godly, or punish the
ungodly, but were like the idols of the heathen, that have
eyes and see not, and ears that hear not, and hands without
an executive power. But when the memorial book of God
is opened, which is written for them that fear the Lord, and
think upon his name ; and when the Lord shall say of them,
" These are mine," as he is making up his jewels, and spareth
them, as a man spareth his son that serveth him, then shall
these infidels return to their wits, and the righteous shall
return from their fears and sufferings, and shall discern be-
tween the righteous and the wicked, between those that
serve God, and those that serve him not *.
Another objection I find most common in the mouths of
the ungodly, especially of late years ; they say, * We can do
nothing without God ; we cannot have grace, if God will
not give it us ; and if he will, we shall quickly turn ; if he
have not predestinated us, and will not turn us, how can we
turn ourselves or be saved? It is not in him that wills, or
in him that runs.' And thus they think they are excused.
I have answered this formerly, and in this book ; but let
me now say thus much. L Though you cannot cure your-
selves, you can hurt and poison yourselves ; it is God that
must sanctify your hearts ; but who corrupted them ? Will
you wilfully take poison, because you cannot cure your-
» Mai. Hi. 16—18.
PREFACE. CCCxlix
selves? Methinks you should the more forbear it: you
should the more take heed of sinning, if you cannot mend
what sin doth mar. 2. Though you cannot be converted
without the special grace of God, yet you must know, that
God giveth his grace in the use of his holy means which he
hath appointed to that end ; and common grace may enable
you to forbear your gross sinning, as to the outward act,
and to use those means. Can you truly say, that you do as
much as you are able to do ? Are you not able to go by an
alehouse door, or to shut your mouths and keep out the
drink ? Or to forbear the company that hardeneth you to
sin ? Are you not able to go hear the word, and think of
what you heard when you come home ? And to consider
with yourselves of your own condition, and of everlasting
things ? Are you not able to read good books, from day to
day, at least on the Lord's day, and to converse with those
that fear the Lord ? You cannot say that you have done
what you are able. 3. And therefore you must know
that you can forfeit the grace and help of God, by your wil-
ful sinning or negligence, though you cannot, without grace,
turn to God. If you will not do what you can, it is just
with God to deny you that grace by which you might do
more. 4. And for God's decrees, you must know that they
separate not the end and means, but tie them together.
God never decreed to save any but the sanctified, nor to
damn any but the unsanctified. God doth as truly decree
from everlasting, whether your land this year shall be bar-
ren, or fruitful, and just how long you shall live in the
world, as he hath decreed, whether you shall be saved or
not. And yet you would think that man but a fool, that
would forbear ploughing and sowing, and say, ' If God have
decreed tliat my ground shall bear corn, it will bear whether
I plough and sow or not. If God have decreed that I shall
live, I shall live whether I eat or not ; but if he have not, it
is not eating will keep me alive.' Do you know how to an-
swer such a man, or do you not ? If you do, then you know
how to answer yourselves ; for the case is alike : God's de-
cree is as peremptory about your bodies as your souls ; if
you do not then try first these conclusions upon your bo-
dies, before you venture to try them on your souls ; see first
whether God will keep you alive without food or raiment,
CCCI PREFACE.
and whether he will give you corn without tillage and la-
bour, and whether he will bring you to your journey's end
without your travel or carriage : and if you speed well in
this, then try whether he will bring you to heaven without
your diligent use of means, and sit down and say, * We can-
not sanctify ourselves.'
And for the point of Freewill, which you harp so long
upon, divines are not so much disagreed about it as you
imagine. Augustine as well as Pelagius, Calvin as well as
Arminius, the Dominicans as well as the Jesuits, all do ge-
nerally maintain, that man hath freewill ; the orthodox say,
that freewill is corrupted and disposed to evil. Epiphanius
condemned Origen for saying, that man had lost the image
of God, and makes it a point of heresy. And yet one may
truly say, * That man hath lost God's image ;' and another
may truly say, * That he hath not lost it.' For there is a
twofold image of God on man : the one is natural, and that
is our reason and freewill, and this is not lost; the other is
qualitative and ethical, and this is our holiness, and this is
lost, and by grace restored. No man of brains denieth,
that a man hath a will that is naturally free ; it is free from
violence, and it is a self-determining principle ; but it is not
free from evil dispositions. It is habitually averse to God
and holiness, and inclined to earthly, fleshly things. It is
enslaved by a sinful bias. This, no man, methinks, that is a
Christian, should deny ; and of the aged, I see not how an
infidel can deny it. Alas, we easily confess to you, that
you have not this spiritual, moral freewill, which is but your
right inclination, and your habitual willingness itself.
If you had a will that were freed from wicked inclina-
tions, I had no need to write such books as these
to persuade you to be willing in a case which your
own salvation lieth on. To the grief of our souls, we per-
ceive after all our preachings and persuasions, that the im-
godly have not this spiritual freewill. But this is nothing
but your willingness itself, and inclination to be willing ;
and therefore the want of it is so far from excusing you,
that the more you want it (that is, the more you are wilful
in sin), the worse you are, and the sorer will be your pu-
nishment. And our preaching and persuasions, and your
hearing and considering, are the appointed means to get
this moral power of freedom, that is to make you truly willing.
PUEFACE. CCcli
Well sirs, I have but three requests to you, and I have
done : First, That you will seriously read over this small
treatise ; (and if you have such that need it in your fami-
lies, that you read it over and over to them : and if those
that fear God would go now and then to their ignorant
neighbours, and read this or some other book to them of
this subject, they might be a means of winning of souls).
If we cannot entreat so small a labour of men for their own
salvation, as to read such short instructions as these, they
set little by themselves, and will most justly perish. Se*-
condly. When you have read over this book, I would en-
treat you to go alone, and ponder a little what you have
read, and bethink you, as in the sight of God, whether it
be not true, and do not nearly touch your souls, and whe-
ther it be not time for you to look about you : and also en-
treat that you will fall upon your knees and beseech the
Lord that he will open your eyes to understand the truth,
and turn your hearts to the love of God, and beg of him all
that saving grace, that you have so long neglected, and fol-
low it on from day to day, till your hearts be changed ; and
withal, that you will go to your pastors (that are set over
you, to take care of the health and safety of your souls, as
physicians do for the health of your bodies) and desire them
to direct you what course to take, and acquaint them with
your spiritual estate, that you may have the benefit of their
advice and ministerial help. Or if you have not a faithful
pastor at home, make use of some other in so great a need.
Thirdly, When by reading, consideration, prayer and minis*
terial advice, you are once acquainted with your sin and
misery, with your duty and remedy, delay not, but presently
forsake your sinful company and courses, and turn unto
God, and obey his call, and as you love your souls, take
heed that you go not on against so loud a call of God, and
against your own conscience, lest it go worse with you in
the day of judgment, than with Sodom and Gomorrah. In-
quire of God. as a man that is willing to know the truth,
and not be a wilful cheater of his soul. Search the Holy
Scripture daily, and see whether these things be so or not ;
try impartially whether it be safer to trust heaven or earth ;
and whether it be better to follow God or man, the Spirit or
the flesh ; and better to live in holiness or sin. And whe-
CCclii PREFACE.
ther an unsanctified estate be safe for you to abide in one
day longer ; and when you have found out which is best,
resolve accordingly, and make your choice without any
more ado. If you will be true to your own souls, and do
not love everlasting torments, I beseech you, as from the
Lord, that you will but take this reasonable advice. O what
happy towns and countries, and what a happy nation might
we have, if we could but persuade our neighbours to agree
to such a necessary motion! What joyful men would all
faithful ministers be, if they could but see their people truly
heavenly and holy ! This would be the unity, the peace,
the safety, the glory of our churches, the happiness of our
neighbours, and the comfort of our souls. Then how com-
fortable should we preach absolution and peace to you, and
deliver the sacraments, which are the seals of peace to you.
And with what love and joy might we live among you ; at
your death-bed, how boldly might we comfort and encou-
rage your departing souls ; and at your burial, how comfor-
tably might we leave you in the grave, in expectation to
meet your soul in heaven, and to see your bodies raised to
that glory.
But if still the most of you will go on in a careless, ig-
norant, fleshly, worldly, or unholy life ; and all our desires
and labours cannot so far prevail, as to keep you from the
wilful damning of yourselves, we must then imitate our
Lord, who delighteth himself in those few that are his jew-
els, and the little flock that shall receive the kingdom, when
the most shall reap the misery which they sowed. In na-
ture excellent things are few. The world hath not many
suns or moons ; it is but a little of the earth that is gold or
silver ; princes and nobles are but a small part of the sons
of men. And it is no great number that are learned, judi-
cious or wise, here in this world. And therefore the gate
being strait, and the way narrow, there be but few that find
salvation ; yet God will have his glory and pleasure in those
few. And when Christ** shall come with his mighty angels
in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not
God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, his
coming will be glorified in his saints, and admired in all
true believers "."
« 2 Thess. i. 7—10.
PREFACE. CCcliii
And for the rest, a8 God the Father vouchsafed to cre-
ate them, and God the Son disdained not to bear the penal-
ty of their sins upon the cross ; and did not judge such suf-
ferings vain, though he knew that by refusing the sanctifi-
cation of the Holy Ghost, they would finally destroy them-
selves ; so we that are his ministers, though these be not
gathered, judge not our labour wholly lost. See Isa. xlix. 5.
Reader, I have done with thee, (when thou hast perused
this book) ; but sin hath not yet done with thee (even those
that thou though test had been forgotten long ago), and satan
hath not yet done with thee (though now he be out of sight) ;
and God hath not yet done with thee, because thou wilt not
be persuaded to have done with deadly, reigning sin. I
have written thee this persuasive, as one that is going inta
another world, where the things are seen that 1 here speak
of, and as one that knoweth thou must shortly be there thy-
self. As ever thou wouldst meet me with comfort before
the Lord that made us ; as ever thou wilt escape the ever-
lasting plagues prepared for the final neglecters of salvation,
and for all that are not sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and
love not the communion of the saints, as members of the
holy catholic church ; and as ever thou hopest to see the
face of Christ the Judge, and of the majesty of the Father,
with peace and comfort, to be received into glory, when
thou art turned naked out of this world : I beseech thee, I
charge thee, to hear and obey the call of God, and resolved-
ly to turn, that thou mayst live. But if thou wilt not, even
when thou hast no true reason for it, but because thou wilt
not ; 1 summon thee, answer for it before the Lord, and re-
quire thee there to bear me witness I gave thee warning, and
that thou wert not condemned for want of a call to turn and
live, but because thou wouldst not believe it, and obey it;
which also must be the testimony of thy serious monitor,
RICHARD BAXTER.
December 11, 1657.
VOL. Vll. A A
A CALL
UNCONVERTED
EZEKIEL XXXIII. 11.
Say unto them. As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in
the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way,
and live. Turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways ; for why will ye
die, O house of Israel 9
It hath been the astonishing wonder of many a man, as well
as me, to read in the holy Scripture, how few will be saved,
and that the greatest part even of those that are called, will
be everlastingly shut out of the kingdom of heaven, and tor-
mented with the devils in eternal hre. Infidels believe not
this when they read it, and therefore must feel it. Those
that do believe it, are forced to cry out with Paul, " O the
depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God ! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways
past finding out"." But nature itself doth teach us all, to
lay the blame of evil works upon the doers, and therefore
when we see any heinous thing done, a principle of justice
doth provoke us to inquire after him that did it, that the
evil of the work may return the evil of shame upon the au-
thor. If we saw a man killed and cut in pieces by the way,
we should presently ask, ' Oh ! who did this cruel deed V If
the town were wilfully set on fire, you would ask, * What
wicked wretch did this?' So when we read that the most will
be firebrands of hell for ever, we must needs think with our-
* iUm. xi. IS.
356 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
selves, how comes this to pass ? And, who is it long of?
Who is it that is so cruel as to be the cause of such a thing
as this ? And we can meet with few that will own the guilt.
It is indeed confessed by all, that satan is the cause, but
that doth not resolve the doubt, because he is not the prin-
cipal cause. He doth not force men to sin, but tempt them
to it, and leaves it to their own wills, whether they will do
it or not. He doth not carry men to an alehouse, and force
open their mouths, and pour in the drink ; nor doth he hold
them that they cannot go to God's service, nor doth he
force their hearts from holy thoughts. It lieth, therefore,
between God himself, and the sinner, one of them must needs
be the principal cause of all this misery, which ever it is :
for there is no other to cast it upon. And God disclaimeth
it. He will not take it upon him. And the wicked dis-
claim it usually, and they will not take^ it upon them, and
this is the controversy that is here managed in the text.
The Lord complaineth of the people, and the people
think it is long of God : the same controversy is handled in
chap, xviii. where, (ver. 25.) they plainly say, " That the way
of the Lord is not equal." And God saith, " It is their ways
that are not equal.*' So here they say, (ver. 19.) " If our
transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away
in them, how shall we then live ?" As if they should say.
If we must die and be miserable, how can we help it ? As
if it were not long of them but God. But God, in my text,,
doth clear himself of it, and telleth them how they may help
it if they will, and persuadeth them to use the means : and
if they will not be persuaded, he lets them know that it is
long of themselves ; and if this will not satisfy them, he will
not, therefore, forbear to punish them. It is he that will be
their Judge, and he will judge them according to their ways ;
they are no judges of him, or of themselves, as wanting au-
thority, wisdom, and impartiality, nor is it their cavilling
and quarrelling with God, that shall serve their turn, or save
them from the execution of justice which they murmur at.
The words of this verse contain, I. God's purgation or
clearing himself from the blame of their destruction. This
he doth, not by disowning his law, that the " wicked shall
die;" nor by disowning his judgments and execution ac-
cording to that law, or giving them any hope that the law
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 357
shall not be executed ; but by profession that it is not their
death that he takes pleasure in, but their returning rather,
that they may live. And this he confirraeth to them by his
oath. 2. An express exhortation to the wicked to return ;
wherein God doth not only command, but persuade and con-
descend also to reason the case with them. Why will they
die ? The direct end of this exhortation is, that they may
turn and live. The secondary, or reserved ends, upon sup-
position that this is not attained, are these two : First, To
convince them by the means which he used, that it is not
long of God if they be miserable. Secondly, To convince
them from their manifest wilfulness, in rejecting all his com-
mands and persuasions, that it is long of themselves ; and
they die even because they will die.
The substance of the text doth lie in these observations
following.
Doct. I. It is the unchangeable law of God, that wicked
men must turn or die.
Doct. II. It is the promise of God that the wicked shall
live, if they will but turn.
Doct. III. God takes pleasure in men's conversion and
salvation, but not in their death or damnation : he had ra-
ther they would return and live, than go on and die.
Doct. IV. This is a most certain truth, which because
God would not have men to question, he hath confirmed it
to them solemnly by his oath.
;Doct. V. The Lord doth redouble his commands and
persuasions to the wicked to turn.
Doct. VI. The Lord condescendeth to reason the case
with them, and asketh the wicked, why they will die?
Doct. VII. If after all this, the wicked will not return, it
is not long of God that they perish, but of themselves : their
own wilfulness is the cause of their damnation ; they there-
fore die because they will die.
Having laid the text open before your eyes in these plain
propositions, I shall next speak somewhat of each of them
in order, though very briefly.
Doct. I. It is the unchangeable law of God, that wicked
men must turn or die.
If you will believe God, believe this. There is but one
of these two ways for every wicked man, either conversion
358 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
or damnation. I know the wicked will hardly be persuad-
ed, either of the truth or equity of this. No wonder if the
guilty quarrel with the law. Few men are apt to believe
that which they would not have to be true ; and fewer would
have that to be true, which they apprehend to be against
them. But it is not quarrelling with the law, or with the
judge, that will save the malefactor : believing and regard-
ing the law might have prevented his death ; but denying
and accusing it, will but hasten it. If it were not so, a
hundred would bring their reason against the law, for one
that would bring his reason to the law : and men would ra-
ther choose to give their reasons why they should not be
punished, than to hear the commands and reasons of their
governors which require them to obey. The law was not
made for you to judge, but that you might be ruled and
judged by it. But if there be any so blind, as to venture to
question either the truth or justice of the law of God, I shall
briefly give you that evidence of both, which, methinks,
would satisfy a reasonable man. And first, if you doubt
whether tjiis be the word of God or not, besides a hundred
other texts, you may be satisfied by these few. " Verily, I say
unto you. Except ye be converted, and become as little
children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven^."
" Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God''." " If any man
be in Christ he is a new creature : old things are passed
away, behold all things are become new **." " Ye have put
off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new
man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him
that created him*." "Without holiness no man shall see
God V " So then they that are in the flesh cannot please
God. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is
none of his s." •* For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature *"."
" According unto his abundant grace, he hath begotten us
again to a lively hope'.** " Being born again, not of cor-
ruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which
liveth and abideth for ever ''." *' Wherefore laying aside
all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envyings, and
^ Malt, iviii. 3.
c j„},n iji. 3,
«» 2 Cor. V. 17.
e Col. iii. 9, 10.
fHeb. xii. 14.
s Rom. viii. 8, 9.
h Gal. vi. 15.
* 1 Pet. i. 3.
" Ver. 23.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 359
evil-speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of
the word, that ye may grow thereby ^" " The wicked shall
be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God™."
" And the Lord loveth the righteous ; but the wicked his
soul hateth "." As I need not stay to open these texts which
are so plain, so I think I need not add any more of that mul-
titude which speak the like. If thou be a man that dost be-
lieve the word of God, there is already enough to satisfy
thee, that the wicked must be converted or condemned.
You are already brought so far, that you must either confess
that this is true, or say plainly, you will not believe the word
of God. And if once you be come to that pass, there is but
small hopes of you : look to yourselves as well as you can ;
for it is like you will not be long out of hell. You would be
ready to fly in the face of him that should give you the lie ;
and yet dare you give the lie to God ? But if you tell God
plainly you will not believe him, blame him not if he never
warn you more, or if he forsake you, and give you up as
hopeless : for to what purpose should he warn you, if you
would not believe him. Should he send an angel from hea-
ven to you, it seems you would not believe, for an angel can
speak but the word of God ; and if an angel should bring
you any other Gospel, you are not to receive it, but to
hold him accursed '', And surely there is no angel to be
believed before the Son of God, who came from the Father
to bring us this doctrine. If he be not to be believed, then
all the angels in heaven are not to be believed. And if you
stand on these terms with God, I shall leave you till he deal
with you in a more convincing way. God hath a voice that
will make you hear ! Though he entreat you to hear the
voice of his Gospel, he will make you hear the voice of his
condemning sentence, without entreaty. We cannot make
you believe against your wills ; but God will make you feel
against your wills. But let us hear what reason you have,
why you will not believe this word of God, which tells us,
that the wicked must be converted or condemned. I know
your reason ; it is because that you judge it unlikely that
God should be so unmerciful ; you think it cruelty to damn
men everlastingly for so small a thing as a sinful life. And
1 1 Pet. U. 1. 1. VuJL u. ir. » PsaL »i. 4. « Gal. i. 8.
360 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
this leads us up to the second thing, which is to justify the
equity of God in his laws and judgment.
And first, I think you will not deny but that it is most
suitable to an immortal soul, to be ruled by laws that pro-
mise an immortal reward, and threaten an endless punish-
ment. Otherwise the law should not be suited to the nature
of the subject, who will not be fully ruled by any lower
means than the hopes or fears of everlasting things : as it is
in case of temporal punishment. If a law were now made,
that the most heinous crimes should be punished with a
hundred years captivity, this might be of some efficacy, as
being equal to our lives. But if there had been no other
penalties before the flood, when men lived eight or nine hun-
dred years, it would not have been sufficient, because men
would know that they might have so many hundred years
impunity afterward. So it is in our present case.
2. 1 suppose you will confess, that the promise of an end-
less and inconceivable glory, is not unsuitable to the wis-
dom of God, or the case of man. And why then should you
not think so of the threatening of an endless and unspeak-
able misery ?
3. When you find it in the word of God, that so it is,
and so it will be, do you think yourselves fit to contradict
this word ? Will you call your Maker to the bar, and exa-
mine his word upon the imputation of falsehood ? Will you
sit upon him, and judge him by the law of your conceits?
Are you wiser and better, and more righteous than he?
Must the God of heaven come to school to you to learn
wisdom ? Must Infinite Wisdom learn of folly ; and Infinity
Goodness be corrected by a swinish sinner, that cannot keep
himself an hour clean? Must the Almighty stand at the
bar of a worm? O horrid arrogancy of senseless dust!
Shall every mole, or clod, or dunghill, accuse the sun of
darkness, and undertake to illuminate the world ? Where
were you when the Almighty made the laws, that he did not
call you to his counsel? Surely he made them before you
was born, without desiring your advice, and you came into
the world too late for to reverse them. If you could have
done so great a work, you should have steptout of your no-
thingness, and have contradicted Christ when he was on
earth, or Moses before him, or have saved Adam and his
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 361
sinful progeny from the threatening death, that so there
might have been no need of Christ. And what if God with-
draw his patience and sustentation, and let you drop into
hell while you are quarrelling with his words, will you then
believe that there is a hell ?
4. If sin be such an evil that it required the death of
Christ for its expiation, no wonder if it deserve our everlast-
ing misery.
5. And if the sins of the devils deserved an endless tor-
ment, why not also the sin of man ?
6. And methinks, you should perceive that it is not pos-
sible for the best of men, much less for the wicked to be
competent judges of the desert of sin. Alas! we are both
blind and partial. You can never know fully the desert of
sin, till you fully know the evil of sin ; and you can ne-
ver know the evil of sin, till you fully know, 1. The
excellency of the soul which it deformeth. 2. And the
excellency of holiness, which it doth obliterate. 3. And
the reason and the excellency of the law which it violateth.
And, 4. The excellency of the glory which it doth despise.
And, 5. The excellency and oflSce of reason which it tread-
eth down. 6. No, nor till you know the infinite excellency,
almightiness, and holiness of that God, against whom it is
committed. When you fully know all these, you shall fully
know the desert of sin. Besides, you know that the offender
is too partial to judge the law, or the proceedings of his
judge. We judge by feeling, which binds our reason. We
see in common worldly things, that most men think the
cause is right which is their own ; and that all is wrong that
is done against them ; and let the most wise, or just, or im-
partial friends persuade them to the contrary, and it is all in
vain. There are few children but think the father unmerci-
ful, or that he dealeth hardly with them, if he whip them.
There is scarce the vilest, swinish wretch, but thinketh the
church doth wrong him, if they excommunicate him ; or
scarce a thief or murderer that is hanged, but would accuse
the law and judge of cruelty, if that would serve turn.
7. Can you think that an unholy soul is fit for heaven?
Alas ! they cannot love God here, nor do him any service
which he can accept. They are contrary to God, they
loathe that which he most loveth ; and love that which he
362 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTKD.
abhorreth. They are incapable of that imperfect commu-
nion with him, which his saints here do partake of. How
then can they live in that perfect love of him, and full de-
lights and communion with him, which is the blessedness
of heaven? You do not accuse yourselves of unmerciful-
ness, if you make not your enemy your bosom counsellor ;
or if you take not your swine to bed and board with you :
no, nor if you take away his life, though he never sinned.
And yet will you blame the absolute Lord, the most wise
and gracious Sovereign of the world, if he condemn the un-
converted man to perpetual misery.
USE. I beseech you now, all that love your souls, that
instead of quarrelling with God, and with his word, you will
presently stoop to it, and use it for your good. All you that
are yet unconverted in this assembly, take this as the un-
doubted truth of God; you must ere long be converted or
condemned, there is no other way but Turn or Die. When
God, that cannot lie, hath told you this, when you hear from
the Maker and Judge of the world, it is time for him that
hath ears to hear ; by this time you may see what you have
to trust to. You are but dead and damned men, except you
will be converted. Should I tell you otherwise I should de-
ceive you with a lie. Should I hide this from you I should
undo you, and be guilty of your blood, as the verses before
my text assure me, ver. 8. " When I say to the wicked man,
O wicked man, thou shalt surely die ; if thou dost not speak
to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall
die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand."
You see then, though this be a rough, unwelcome doctrine,,
it is such as we must preach, and you must hear. It is
easier to hear of hell than feel it. If your necessities did
not require it we should not gall your tender ears, with truths
that seem so harsh and grievous. Hell would not be so full,
if people were but willing to know their case, and to hear
and think of it. The reason why so few escape it, is, be-
cause they strive not to eiiter in at the strait gate of con-
version, and to go the narrow way of holiness while they have
time ; and they strive not, because they be not awakened to
a lively feeling of the danger they are in : and they be not
awakened, because they are loath to hear or think of it ; and
that is partly, through foolish tenderness, and carnal self-
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 363
truth, methinks the weight of it should force you to remem-
ber it, and it should follow you and give you no rest till you
love ; and partly, because they do not well believe the word
that threateneth it. If you will not thoroughly believe this
are converted. If you had but once heard this word, by the
voice of an angel, * Thou must be converted or condemned ;
turn or die !' Would it not stick in your mind, and haunt
you night and day ? So that in your sinning you would re-
member it, as if the voice were still in your ears, * Turn or
Die !' O happy were your souls, if it might thus work with
you, and never be forgotten, or let you alone till it hath driven
home your hearts to God. But if you will cast it out by for-
getfulness, or unbelief, how can it work to your conversion
and salvation ? But take this with you, to your sorrow,
though you may put this out of your minds, you cannot put
it out of the Bible ; but there it will stand as a sealed truth,
which you shall experimentally know for ever, that there is
no other way, but Turn or Die.
O what is the matter then that the hearts of sinners be
not pierced with such a weighty truth ! A man would think
now that every unconverted soul that hears these words
should be pricked to the heart, and think with themselves,
* This is my own case,' and never be quiet till they found
themselves converted. Believe it, sirs, this drowsy, careless
temper will not last long. Conversion and condemnation,
are both of them awakening things : and one of them will
make you feel ere long, I can foretell it as truly, as if I saw
it with my eyes, that either grace or hell will shortly bring
these matters to the quick, and make you say, * What have
I done? What foolish, wicked courses have I taken?' The
scornful and the stupid state of sinners, will last but a little
while: as soon as they either Turn or Die, the presumptuous
dream will be at an end, and then their wits and feeling will
return.
But; I foresee there are two things that are like to har-
den the unconverted, and make me lose all my labour, ex-
cept they can be taken out of the way : and that is, the mis-
understanding of those two words, * The wicked/ and* Turn.'
Some will think with themselves, it is true, the wicked must
Turn or Die ; but what is that to me ? 1 am not Wicked,
though I am a sinner, as all men be. Others will think, it
364 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
is true that we must turn from our evil ways ; but I am tunr-
ed long ago, I hope this is not now to do. And thus, while
wicked men think they are not wicked, but are already con-
verted, we lose all our labour in persuading them to turn. I
shall therefore, before I go any further, tell you here, who
are meant by ' the wicked,' and who they be that must Turn
or Die, and also what is meant by Turning ; and who they be
that are truly converted ; and this I have purposely reserv-
ed for this place, preferring the method that fits my end.
And here you may observe, that in the sense of the text,
a wicked man and a converted man are contraries. No man
is a wicked man that is converted, and no man is a convert-
ed man that is wicked : so that to be a wicked man, and to
be an unconverted man, is all one. And therefore in open-
ing one, we shall open both.
Before I can tell you what either wickedness or conver-
sion is, I must go to the bottom, and fetch up the matter
from the beginning.
It pleased the great Creator of the world, to make three
sorts of living creatures ; angels he made pure spirits with-
out flesh, and therefore he made them only for heaven and
not to dwell on earth. Beasts were made flesh without im-
mortal souls ; and therefore they were made only for earth,
and not for heaven. Man is of a middle nature, between
both, as partaking of both flesh and spirit : and therefore he
was made both for heaven and earth. But as his flesh is
made to be but a servant to his spirit, so is he made for earth,
but as his passage, or way to heaven, and not that this should
be his home or happiness. The blessed state that man was
made for, was to behold the glorious majesty of the Lord
and to praise him among his holy angels, and to love him,
and be filled with his love for ever. And as this was the end
that man was made for, so God did give him means that
were fitted to the attaining of it. These means were princi-
pally two. First, The right inclination and disposition of
the mind of man. Secondly, The right ordering of his life
and practice. For the first, God suited the disposition of
man to his end ; giving him such knowledge of God, as was
fit for his present state, and a heart disposed and inclined to
God in holy love. But yet he did not fix or confirm him in
this condition ; but having made him a free agent, he left
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 365
him in the hands of his own free-will. For the second, God
did that which belonged to him ; that is, he gave man a per-
fect law requiring him to continue in the love of God, and
perfectly to obey him. By the wilful breach of this law,
man did not only forfeit his hopes of everlasting life, but
also turned his heart from God, and fixed it on these lower,
fleshly things, and hereby did blot out the spiritual image of
God from his soul. So that man did both fall short of the
glory of God, which was his end, and put himself out of the
way, by which he should have attained it ; and this, both as
to the frame of his heart, and of his life. The holy inclina-
tion and love of his soul to God, he lost ; and instead of it,
he contracted an inclination and love to the pleasing of his
flesh, or carnal self, by earthly things : growing strange to
God, and acquainted with the creature : and the course of
his life was suited to the bent and inclination of his heart ;
he lived to his carnal self, and not to God ; he sought the
creature for the pleasing of his flesh, instead of seeking to
please the Lord. With this nature or corrupt inclination,
we are all now bom into the world ; for ** who can bring a
clean thing out of an unclean ?" As a lion hath a fierce
and cruel nature, before he doth devour, and as an adder
hath a venomous nature before she stings, so in our very in-
fancy we have those sinful natures or inclinations, before we
think, or speak, or do amiss. And hence springeth all the
sin of our lives. And not only so, but when God hath of his
mercy provided us a remedy, even the Lord Jesus Christ, to
be the Saviour of our souls, and bring us back to God again,
we naturally love our present state, and are loath to be
brought out of it, and therefore are set against the means of
our recovery ; and though custom hath taught us to thank
Christ for his good will, yet carnal self persuadeth us to re-
fuse his remedies, and to desire to be excused when we are
commanded to take the medicines which he oflereth, and are
called to forsake all, and follow him to God and glory.
I pray you read over this leaf again, and mark it ; for
in these few words you have a true description of our natu-
ral state ; and consequently of a wicked man. For every
man that is in this state of corrupted nature, is a wicked man,
and in a state of death.
By this also you are prepared to understand what it is to
366 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
be converted, to which end you must further know, that the
mercy of God, not willing that man should perish in his sin,
provid^ a remedy, by causing his Son to take our nature,
and being in one person God and man, to become a Media-
tor between God and man ; and by dying for our sins on the
cross, to ransom us from the curse of God, and the power of
the devil : and having thus redeemed us, the Father hath de-
livered us into his hands, as his own. Hereupon the Father
and the Mediator do make a new law and covenant for man.
Not like the tirst, which gave life to none but the perfectly
obedient, and condemned man for every sin ; but Christ
hath made a law of grace, or a promise of pardon and ever-
lasting life to all, that by true repentance, and by faith in
Christ, are converted unto God. Like an act of oblivion,
which is made by a prince, to a company of rebels, on con-
dition they will lay down their arms, and come in, and be
loyal subjects for the time to come.
But because the Lord knoweth that the heart of man is
grown so wicked, that for all this, men will not accept of
the remedy if they be left to themselves ; therefore the Holy
Ghost hath undertaken it as his office, to inspire the apos-
tles, and seal up the Scripture by miracles and wonders, and
to illuminate and convert the souls of the elect.
So that by this much you see, that as there are Three
Persons in the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost ; so each of these Persons have their several works,
which are eminently ascribed to them.
The Father's works were, to create us, to rule us as his
rational creatures, by the law of nature, and judge us there-
by ; and in mercy to provide us a Redeemer when we were
lost ; and to send his Son, and accept his ransom.
The works of the Son for us were these ; to ransom and
redeem us by his sufferings and righteousness, to give out
the promise or law of grace, and rule and judge the world
as their Redeemer, on terms of grace, and to make interces-
sion for us, that the benefits of his death may be communi-
cated, and to send the Holy Ghost, (which the Father also
doth by the Son).
The works of the Holy Ghost for us are these : to indite
the holy Scriptures, by inspiring, and guiding the prophets
and apostles ; and sealing the word, by his miraculous gifts
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 367
and works ; and the illuminating and exciting the ordinary
ministers of the Gospel ; and so enabling them, and helping
them to publish that word, and by the same word illuminat-
ing and converting the souls of men. So that as you could
not have been reasonable creatures, if the Father had not
created you ; nor have had any access to God, if the Son
had not redeemed you ; so neither can you have a part in
Christ, or be saved, except the Holy Ghost do sanctify you.
So that by this time you may see the several causes of
this work. The Father sendeth the Son ; the Son redeemeth
us, and maketh the promise of grace ; the Holy Ghost in-
diteth and sealeth this Gospel ; the apostles are the secre-
taries of the Spirit, to write it ; the preachers of the Gospel
to proclaim, and persuade men to obey it ; and the Holy
Ghost doth make their preaching effectual, by opening the
hearts of men to entertain it. And all this to repair the
image of God upon the soul, and to set the heart upon God
again, and take it off the creature, and carnal self, to which
it is revolted, and so turn the current of this life into a hea-
venly course, which before was earthly ; and all this by the
entertainment of Christ by faith, who is the physician of
the soul.
By this which I have said, you may see what it is to be
wicked, and what it is to be unconverted. Which I think,
will be yet plainer to you, if I describe them, as consisting
of their several parts : and for the first, A wicked man may
be known by these three things :
First, He is one that placeth his chief content on earth ;
and loveth the creature more than God ; and his fleshly pros-
perity, above the heavenly felicity ; he savoureth the things
of the flesh, but neither discerneth nor savoureth the things
of the Spirit : though he will say, that heaven is better than
earth, yet doth he not really so esteem it to himself. If he
might be sure of earth, he would let go heaven, and had ra-
ther stay here than be removed thither. A life of perfect
holiness, in the sight of God, and in his love, and praises for
ever in heaven, doth not find such liking with his heart as a
life of health, and wealth, and honour here upon earth. And
though he falsely profess that he loveth God above all, yet
indeed he never felt the power of divine love within him, but
his mind is more set on the world, or fleshly pleasures, than
368 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
on God, In a word, whoever loveth earth above heaven,
and fleshly prosperity more than God, is a wicked, uncon-
verted man.
On the other side, a converted man is illuminated to dis-
cern the loveliness of God ; and so far believeth the glory
that is to be had with God, that his heart is taken up to it,
and set more upon it than on any thing in this world. He
had rather see the face of God, and live in his everlasting
love and praises, than have all the wealth or pleasure of the
world. He seeth that all things else are vanity, and nothing
but God can fill the soul : and therefore let the world go
which way it will, he layeth up his treasures and hopes in
heaven ; and for that he is resolved to let go all. As the
fire doth mount upward, and the needle that is touched with
the loadstone, still turneth to the north, so the converted
soul is inclined unto God. Nothing else can satisfy him :
nor can he find any content and rest but in his love. In a
word, all that are converted do esteem and love God better
than all the world, and the heavenly felicity is dearer to them
than their fleshly prosuerity The proof of what I have said,
you may find in these places of Scripture, Phil. iii. 18. 21.
Matt. vi. 19—21. Col. iii. 1—4. Rom. viii. 3.6—9. 18. 23.
Psal. Ixxiii. 25, 26.
Secondly, A wicked man is one that maketh it the prin-
cipal business of his life to prosper in the world, and attain
his fleshly ends. And though he may read and hear, and do
much in the outward duties of religion, and forbear dis-
graceful sins ; yet this is all but upon the bye, and he never
makes it the trade and principal business of his life to please
God, and attain everlasting glory, but puts off" God with the
leavings of the world, and gives him no more service than
the flesh can spare ; for he will not part with all for heaven.
On the contrary, a converted man is one that makes it
the principal care and business of his life to please God, and
to be saved ; and takes all the blessings of this life, but as
accommodations in his journey towards another life, and
useth the creature in subordination unto God, he loveth a
holy life, and longeth to be more holy ; he hath no sin but
what he hateth, and longeth, and prayeth, andstriveth to be
rid of. The drift and bent of his life is for God ; and if he
sin, it is contrary to the very bent of his heart and life, and
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 369
therefore he rises again, and lamenteth it, and dare not wil-
fully live in any known sin. There is nothing in this world
so dear to him but he can give it up to God, and forsake it
for him and the hopes of glory. All this you may see in Col.
iii. 1—5. Matt. vi. 20. 33. Luke xviii. 22, 23. 29. xiv.
18. 24. 26, 27. Rom. viii. 13. Gal. v. 24. Luke xii. 21., &c.
Thirdly, the soul of a wicked man did never truly dis-
cern and relish the mystery of redemption, nor thankfully
entertain an offered Saviour, nor is he taken up with the
love of the Redeemer, nor willing to be ruled by him, as the
physician of his soul, that he may be saved from the guilt
and power of his sins, and recovered unto God ; but his
heart is insensible of this unspeakable benefit, and is quite
against the healing means by which he should be recovered.
Though he may be willing to be carnally religious, yet he
never resigned up his soul to Christ, and to the motions and
conduct of his word and Spirit.
On the contrary, the converted soul having felt himself
undone by sin ; and per^^eiving that he hath lost his peace
with God, and hopes of heaven, and is in danger of everlast-
ing misery, doth thankfully entertain the tidings of redemp-
tion, and believing in the Lord Jesus as his only Saviour,
resigneth up himself to him for wisdom, righteousness, sanc-
tifi cation, and redemption. He taketh Christ as the life of
his soul, and liveth by him, and useth him as a salve for
every sore, admiring the wisdom and love of God in his won-
derful work of man's redemption. In a word, Christ doth
even dwell in his heart by faith, and the life that he now
liveth is by the faith of the Son of God, that hath loved him,
and gave himself for him. Yea, it is not so much he that
liveth, as Christ in him : for these, see John i. 11, 12. iii.
19, 20. Rom. viii. 9. Phil. iii. 7—10. ' Gal. ii. 20. John
XV. 2—4. 1 Cor. i. 20. ii. 2.
You see now in plain terms, from the word of God, who
are the wicked, and who are the converted. Ignorant peo-
ple think, that if a man be no swearer, nor curser, nor railer,
nor drunkard, nor fornicator, nor extortioner, nor wrong any
body in their dealings, and if they come to church, and say
their prayers, these cannot be wicked men. Or if a man that
hath been guilty of drunkenness, swearing, gaming, or the
like vices, do but forbeai' them for the time to come, they
VOL. VII. B B
/
370 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTKD.
think that this is a converted man. Others think, that if a
man that hath been an enemy, and a scorner of godliness, do
but approve it, and join himself with those that are godly,
and be hated for it by the wicked, as the godly are, that
this needs must be a converted man. And some are so fool-
ish as to think they are converted, by taking up some new
and false opinion ; and falling into some dividing party as
Baptists, Quakers, Papists, or such like. And some think,
if they have but been affrighted by the fears of hell, and had
convictions, and gripes of conscience, and thereupon have
purposed, and promised, amendment, and taken up a life of
civil behaviour, and outward religion, that this must needs
be true conversion. And these are the poor deluded souls
that are like to lose the benefit of all our persuasions. And
when they hear that the wicked must Turn or Die, they
think that this is not spoken of them ; for they are not
wicked, but are Turned already. And therefore it is, that
Christ told some of the rulers of the Jews, who were more
grave and civil than the common people, that " Publicans
and harlots do go into the kingdom of God before them p."
Not that a harlot or gross sinner can be saved without con-
version, but because it was easier to make those gross sin-
ners perceive their sin and misery, and the necessity of a
change, when the more civil sort do delude themselves by
thinking that they are converted already when they be not.
O sirs, conversion is another kind of work than most are
aware of. It is not a small matter to bring an earthly mind
to heaven, and to shew man the amiable excellencies of God,
till he be taken up in such love to him, that can never be
quenched, to break the heart for sin, and make him fly for
refuge unto Christ, and thankfully embrace him as the life
of his soul, to have the very drift and bent of the heart and
life to be changed ; so that a man renounceth that which he
took for his felioity, and placeth his felicity where he never
did before, and liveth not to the same end, and driveth not
on the same design in the world as formerly he did : in a
word, he that is in Christ, " is a new creature ; old things
are passed away, behold all things are become new^." He
hath a new understanding, a new will and resolution, new
sorrows, and desires, and love and delight ; new thoughts,
P Matt. xxi. 31. 12 Cor. v. 17.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 371
new speeches, new company, (if possible) and a new con-
versation. Sin that before was a jesting matter with him,
is now so odious and terrible to him, that he flies from it as
from death. The world that was so lovely in his eyes, doth
now appear but as vanity and vexation ; God that was be-
fore neglected, is now the only happiness of his soul ; before
he was forgotten and every lust preferred before him ; but
now he is set next the heart, and all things must give place
to him ; and the heart is taken up in the attendance, and ob-
sei-vance, of him, and is grieved when he hides his face, and
never thinks itself well without him. Christ himself, that
was wont to be slightly thought of, is now his only hope
and refuge, and he lives upon him, as on his daily bread, he
cannot pray without him, nor rejoice without him, nor think,
nor speak, nor live, without him. Heaven itself, that before
was looked upon but as a tolerable reserve, which he hoped
might serve turn better than hell, when he could not stay any
longer in the world, is now taken for his home, the place of
his only hope and rest, where he shall see, and love, and praise
that God that hath his heart already. Hell, that did seem be-
fore but as a bugbear to frighten men from sin, doth now ap-
pear to be a real misery, that is not to be ventured on or jested
with. The works of holiness, which before he was weary of, and
seemed to be more ado than needs, are now both his recrea-
tion, and his business, and the trade he lives upon. The
Bible, which was before to him but almost as a common
book, is now as the law of God, as a letter written to him
from heaven, and subscribed with the name of the Eternal
Majesty ; it is the rule of his thoughts, and words, and
deeds ; the commands are binding, the threats are dreadful
and the promises of it speak life to his soul. The godly
that seemed to him but like other men, are. now the most
excellent and happiest on earth. And the wicked, that
were his playfellows, are now his grief; and he that could
laugh at their sins, is more ready now to weep for their sin
and misery ^ In short, he hath a new end in his thoughts,
and a new way in his endeavours^ and therefore his heart
and life are new. Before, his carnal self was his end ; and
his pleasure, and worldly profits and credits were his way.
And now, God and everlasting glory are his end ; and Christ,
' ISatai XV. 4. xvL 3. PfiH. iii. IB.
372 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
and the Spirit, and word, and ordinances, holiness to God,
and righteousness and mercy to men, these are his way.
Before, self was the chiefest ruler, to which the matters of
God and conscience must stoop and give place : and now,
God in Christ, by the Spirit, word, and ministry, is the
chiefest ruler, to whom both self, and all the matters of self,
must give place. So that this is not a change in one, or two,
or twenty points, but in the whole soul ; and the very end and
bent of the conversation. A man may step out of one path
into another, and yet have his face still the same way, and
be still going towards the same place; but it is another mat-
ter to turn quite back again, and take his journey the clean
contrary way to a contrary place. So is it here ; a man
may turn from drunkenness to thriftiness, and forsake his
good fellowship, and other gross, disgraceful sins, and set
upon some duties of religion, and yet be going still to the
same end as before, intending his carnal self above all, and
giving it still the government of his soul. But when he is
converted, this self is denied, and taken down, and God is
set up, and his face is turned the contrary way ; and he that
before was addicted to himself, and lived to himself, is now
by sanctification devoted unto God, and liveth unto God.
Before he asked himself what he should do with his time,
his parts, and his estate, and for himself he used them; but
now he asketh God what he shall do with them, and useth
them for him : before he would please God so far as might
stand with the pleasure of his flesh and carnal self, but not
to any great displeasure of them ; but now he will please
God, let flesh and self be never so much displeased. This
is the great change that God will make upon all that shall
be saved.
You can say that the Holy Ghost is our Sanctifier ; but
do you know what sanctification is ? Why, this is it that I
have now opened to you : and every man or woman in the
world must have this, or be condemned to everlasting misery.
They must Turn or Die.
Do you believe all this, sirs, or do you not? Surely
you dare not say you do not ; for it is past all doubt or de-
nial. These are not controversies, where one learned, pious
man is of one mind, and another of another ; where one party
saith this, and the other saith that ; Papists and Baptists,
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 373
and every sect among us, that deserve to be called Chris-
tians, are all agreed in this that I have said ; and if you will
not believe the God of truth, and that in a case v^^here every
sect and party doth believe him, you are utterly inexcusable.
But if you do believe this, how comes it to pass that you
are so quiet in an unconverted state ? Do you think you
are converted ? And can you find this wonderful change
upon your souls ? Have you been thus born again, and
made anew ? Be not these strange matters to many of you ?
And such as you never felt upon yourselves ? If you can-
not tell the day or week of your change, or the very sermon
that converted you, yet do you find that the work is done,
and such a change indeed there is ? And that you have
such hearts as are before described ? Alas, the most do
follow their worldly business, and little trouble their minds
with such thoughts. And if they be but restrained from
scandalous sins, and can say, ' I am no whoremonger, nor
thief, nor curser, nor swearer, nor tippler, nor extortioner ;
I go to the church and say my prayers ;' they think that
this is true conversion, and they shall be saved as well as
any. Alas, this is foolish cheating of yourselves ; this is
too much contempt of an endless glory, and too gross neg-
lect of your immortal souls. Can you make so light of hea-
ven and hell ? your corpse will shortly lie in the dust, and
angels or devils will presently seize upon your souls ; and
every man or woman of you all, will shortly be among other
company, and in another case than now you are ; you will
dwell in these houses but a little longer ; you will work in
your shops and fields but a little longer ; you will sit in
these seats, and dwell on this earth but a little longer ; you
will see with those eyes, and hear with those ears, and speak
with those tongues but a little longer, till the resurrection
day ; and can you make shift to forget this ? O what a
place will you be shortly in of joy or torment! O what a
sight will you shortly see in heaven or hell ! O what
thoughts will shortly fill your hearts with unspeakable de-
light or horror ! What work will you be employed in ! To
praise the Lord with saints and angels, or to cry out in fire
unquenchabl- " Hs ; and should all this be forgotten ?
And all thiss v i uess, and sealed up by an unchange-
able decree. Eternity, eternity will be the measure of your
0^4 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
joys or sorrows, and can this be forgotten? And all this
k true sirs, most certainly true : when you have gone up and
down a little longer, and slept and awaked but a few times
more, you will be dead and gone, and find all true that now
I tell you; and yet can you now so much forget it? You
shall then remember you heard this sermon, and that this
day, in this place, you were remembered of these things, and
perceive them matters a thousand times greater than either
you or I could here conceive, and yet shall they now be so
much forgotten ?
Beloved friends, if the Lord had not awakened me to
believe and lay to heart these things myself, I should have
remained in the dark and selfish state, and have perished for
ever : but if he have truly made me sensible of them, it will
constrain me to compassionate you, as well as myself. If
your eyes were so far open as to see hell, and you saw your
neighbours that were unconverted, dragged thither with
hideous cries; though they were such as you accounted
honest people on earth, and feared no such matter by them-
selves, such a sight would make you go home and think of
it ; and think again, and make you warn all about you, as
that damned worldling in Luke xvi. 28. would have had his
brethren warned, lest they come to that place of torment.
Why, faith is a kind of sight, it is the eye of the soul, the
evidence of things not seen : if I believe God, it is next to
seeing ; and therefore I beseech you excuse me, if I be half
as earnest with you about these matters, as if I had seen
them. If I must die to-morrow, and it were in my power to
come again from another world, and tell you what I had
seen, would you not be willing to hear me ? And would
you not believe, and regard what I should tell you ? If I
might preach one sermon to you after I am dead, and have
seen what is done in the world to come, would you not have
me plainly speak the truth? and would you not crowd to
hear me ? and would you not lay it to heart ? But this
must not be ; God hath his appointed way of teaching you
by Scripture and ministers ; and he will not humour unbe-
lievers so far, as to send men from the dead to them, and
alter his established way ; if any man quarrel with the sun,
God will not humour him so far, as to set up a clearer light.
Friends, I beseech you regard me now, as you would do if
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED 375
I should come from the dead to you ; for I can give you the
full assurance of the truth of what I say to you, as if I had
been there and seen it with my eyes ; for it is possible for
one from the dead to deceive you ; but Jesus can never de-
ceive you ; the word of God delivered in Scripture, and
sealed up by the miracles, and holy workings of the Spirit,
can never deceive you. Believe this, or believe nothing.
Believe, and obey this, or you are undone. Now, as ever
you believe the word of God, and as ever you care for the
salvation of your souls, let me beg of you this reasonable
request, and I beseech you deny me not, That you would
without any more delay, when you are gone from hence, re-
member what you heard, and enter into an earnest search of
your hearts, and say unto yourselves, * Is it so indeed? Must
I Turn or Die? Must I be converted or condemned? It is
time for me then to look about me, before it be too late.
why did not I look after this till now ? Why did I ven-
turously put off or slubber over so great a business ? Was
1 awake, or in my wits ? O blessed God, what a mercy is
it that thou didst not cut otf my life all this while, before 1
had any certain hope of eternal life ! Well, God forbid,
that I should neglect this work any longer. What state is
my soul in ? Am 1 converted, or am I not ? Was ever
such a change, or work done upon my aoul ? Have I been
illuminated by the word and Spirit of the Lord, to see the
odiousness of sin, the need of a Saviour, the love of Christ,
and the excellencies of God and glory ? Is my heart bro-
ken, or humbled within me, for my former life ? Have I
thankfully entertained my Saviour and Lord, that offered
iiimself with pardon and life to my soul ? Do I hate my
former sinful life, and the remnant of every sin that is in
me? Do I fly from them as my deadly enemies? Do 1
give up myself to a life of holiness and obedience to God ?
Do 1 love it and delight in it ? Can I truly say, that I am
dead to the world, and cainal self; and that I live for God,
and the glory which be hath promised ? Hath heaven mure
of my estimatiua and resolution than earth ? Aud is God
the dearest and highest in my soul ? Once, I am sure, i
lived principally to the world and fle^h, and God had no-
thing but some heartless services which the world could
spare, and which were the leavings of the flesh. Is my
376 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
heart now turned another way ? Have I a new design, and
a new end, and a new train of holy affections ? Have I set
my hope and heart in heaven ? And is it the scope and de-
sign, and bent of my heart and life, to get well to heaven,
and see the glorious face of God, and live in his everlasting
love and praise ? And when I sin, is it against the habitual
bent and design of my heart? And do 1 conquer all gross
«ins, and am I weary and willing to be rid of my infirmities?
This is the state of a converted soul. And thus must it be
with me, or I must perish. Is it thus with me indeed, or is
it not ? It is time to get this doubt resolved, before the
dreadful Judge resolve it. I am not such a stranger to my
own heart and life, but I may somewhat perceive whether I
am thus converted or not : if I be not, it will do me no good
to flatter my soul with false conceits and hopes. T am re-
solved no more to deceive myself, but to endeavour to know
truly, off or on, whether I be converted, yea or no ; that if
I be, I may rejoice in it, and glorify my gracious Lord, and
comfortably go on till I reach the crown ; and if I am not,
I may set myself to beg and seek after the grace that should
convert me, and may turn without any more delay : for if I
find in time that I am out of the way, by the help of Christ
I may turn and be received ; but if I stay till either my heart
be forsaken of God in blindness and hardness, or till I be
catched away by death, it is then too late. There is no
place for repentance and conversion then ; I know it must
be now or never.'
Sirs, this is my request to you, that you will but take
your hearts to task, and thus examine them, till you see, if
it may be, whether you are converted or not ; and if you
cannot find it out by your own endeavours, go to your mi-
nisters, if they be faithful and experienced men, and desire
their assistance. The matter is great, let not bashfulness,
nor carelessness hinder you. They are set over you to ad-
vise you for the saving of your souls, as physicians advise
you for the curing of your bodies. It undoes many thou-
sands, that they think they are in the way to salvation,
when they are not ; and think that they are converted, when
it is no such thing. And then when we call to them daily
to turn, they go away as they came, and think that this con-
cerns not them ; for they are turned already, and hope they
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 377
shall do well enough in the way that they are in, at least if
they do pick the fairest path, and avoid some of the foulest
steps ; when alas, all this while, they live but to the world,
and flesh, and are strangers to God, and eternal life, and are
quite out of the way to heaven. And all this is much, be-
cause we cannot persuade them to a few serious thoughts of
their condition, and to spend a few hours in the examination
of their states : is there not many a self-conceited wretch
that hears me this day, that never bestowed one hour, or a
quarter of an hour in all their lives, to examine their souls,
and try whether they are truly converted or not? O merci-
ful God that will care for such wretches that care no more
for themselves, and that will do so much to save them from
hell, and help them to heaven, who will do so little for it.
themselves ! If all that are in the way to hell, and in the
state of damnation, did but know it, they durst not conti-
nue in it. The greatest hope that the devil hath, of bring-
ing you to damnation without a rescue, is by keeping you
blindfold and ignorant of your state, and making you be-
lieve that you may do well enough in the way that you are
in. If you knew that you were out of the way to heaven,
and were lost for ever, if you should die as you are, durst
you sleep another night in the state that you are in ? Durst
you live another day in it ? Could you heartily laugh, or
be merry in such a state ? What ! and not know but you
may be snatched away to hell in an hour ! Sure it would
constrain you to forsake your former company and courses,
and to betake yourselves to the ways of holiness, and the
communion of the saints. Sure it would drive you to cry
to God for a new heart, and to seek help of those that are
fit to counsel you. There is none of you sure, that cares
not for being damned. Well then, I beseech you presently
make inquiry into your hearts, and give them no rest, till
you find out your condition, that if it be good, you may re-
joice in it and go on : and if it be bad, you may presently
look about you for recovery, as men that believe they must
Turn or Die. What say you, sirs, will you resolve and pro-
mise to be at thus much labour for your souls ? Will you
fall upon this self-examination when you come home ? Is
my request unreasonable? Your consciences know it is
not ; resolve on it then, before you stir ; knowing how much
378 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
it concerneth your souls, I beseech you for the sake of that
God that doth command you, at whose bar you will shortly
appear, that you will not deny me this reasonable request.
For the sake of those souls that must Turn or Die, I beseech
you deny me not ; even but to make it your business to un-
derstand your own conditions, and build upon sure ground,
and know off or on, whether you are converted or no, and
venture not your souls on negligent security.
But perhaps you will say. What if we should find our-
selves yet unconverted, what shall we do then ? This ques-
tion leadeth me to my second doctrine ; which will do much
to the answering of it, to which I shall now proceed.
Doct. II. It is the promise of God, that the wicked shall
live if they will but turn ; unfeignedly and thoroughly turn.
The Lord here professeth, that this is it he takes plea-
sure in, that the wicked Turn and Live. Heaven is made
as sure to the converted, as hell is to the unconverted.
Turn and Live, is as certain a truth as Turn or Die. God
was not bound to provide us a Saviour, nor open to us the
door of hope, nor call to us to repent and turn, when once
we had cast ourselves away by sin. But he hath freely done
it to magnify his mercy. Sinners, there are none of you
shall have cause to go home and say, I preach desperation
to you. Do we use to shut up the door of mercy against
you ? O that you would not shut it up against yourselves !
Do we use to tell you that God will have no mercy on you,
though you turn and be sanctified? When did you ever
hear a preacher say such a word ? You that bark at the
preachers of the Gospel, for desiring to keep you out of
hell, and say that they preach desperation ; tell me if you
can, when did you ever hear any sober man say, that there
is no hope for you, though ye repent and be converted ?
No, it is the clean contrary that we daily proclaim from the
Lord, That whosoever is born again, and by faith and repen-
tance doth become a new creature, shall certainly be saved ;
and so far we are from persuading you to despair of this,
that we persuade you not to make any doubt of it. It is
life and not death, that is the first part of our message to
you ; our commission is to offer salvation ; certain salva-
tion, a speedy, glorious, everlasting salvation, to every one
of you ; to the poorest beggar, as well as to the greatest
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 379
lord ; to the worst of you, even to the drunkards, swearers,
worldlings, thieves, yea, to the despisers and reproachers of
the holy way of salvation. We are commanded by our
Lord and Master, to offer you a pardon for all that is past,
if you will but now at last return and live ; we are com-
manded to beseech and entreat you to accept the offer and
return ; to tell you what preparation is made by Christ,
what mercy stays for you, what patience waiteth on you,
what thoughts of kindness God hath towards you ; and how
happy, how certainly and unspeakably happy, you may be
if you will. We have indeed, also, a message of wrath and
death : yea, of a twofold wrath and death ; but neither of
them is our principal message : we must tell you of the
wrath that is on you already, and the death that you are
born under, for the breach of the law of works : but this is
only to shew you the need of mercy, and provoke you to es-
teem the grace of the Redeemer. And we tell you nothing
but the truth, which you must know : for who will seek out
for physic, that knows not that he is sick ? For telling you
of your misery, is not it that makes you miserable, but dri-
veth you to seek for mercy. It is you that have brought
this death upon yourselves. We tell you also of another
death, even remediless, and much greater torment will fall
on those that will not be converted. But as this is true,
and must be told you ; so it is but the last, and saddest
part of our message ; we are first to offer you mercy, if you
will turn : and it is only those that will not turn nor hear
the voice of mercy, that we must foretel damnation to.
Will you but cast away your transgressions, delay no lon-
ger, but come away at the call of Christ, and be converted,
and become new creatures, and we have not a word of damn-
ing wrath or death to speak against you. I do here in the
name of the Lord of Life proclaim to you all that hear me
this day, to the worst of you, to the greatest, to the oldest
sinner, that you may have mercy and salvation if you will
but turn. There is mercy in God, there is sufficiency in the
satisfaction of Christ, the promise is free, full and univer-
sal : you may have life if you will but turn. But then, as
you love your souls, remember what turning it is the Scrip-
ture speaks of. It is not to mend the old house, but to pull
down all, and build anew on Christ the rock and sure foun-
380 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
dation. It is not to mend somewhat in a carnal course of life,
but to mortify the flesh, and live after the Spirit. It is not to
serve the flesh and the world in a more reformed way, without
any scandalous disgraceful sins, and with a certain kind of re-
ligiousness; but it is to change your master, and your works,
and end, and set your face a contrary way, and do all for the
life that you never saw, and dedicate yourselves, and all you
have to God. This is the change that must be made, if you
will live.
Yourselves are witness now, that it is salvation and not
damnation, that is the great doctrine I preach to you,
and the first part of my message to you. Accept of this,
and we shall go no further with you ; for we would not so
much as affright or trouble you with the name of damnation
without necessity.
But if you will not be saved, there is no remedy, but
damnation must take place ; for there is no middle place
between the two. You must have either life or death.
And we are not only to offer you life, but to shew you
the grounds on which we do it, and call you to believe, that
God doth mean indeed as he speaks ; that the promise is
true, and extendeth conditionally to you as well as others,
and that heaven is no fancy, but a true felicity.
If you ask, where is our commission for this offer?
Among a hundred texts of Scripture, I will shew it unto
you in these few ;
First, you see it here in my text, and the following
verses ; and Ezek. xviii. as plain as can be spoke. And in
2 Cor. V. 17 — 21. you have the very sum of our commission,
(** If any man be in Christ he is a new creature. Old things
are passed away, behold all things are become new. And
all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by
Jesus Christ, who hath given to us the ministry of reconci-
liation. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto himself; not imputing their trespasses to them;
and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God
did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye
reconciled unto God ; for he hath made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteous-
ness of God in him). So Mark xvi. 15, 16. " Go ye into
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 381
the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He
that believeth (that is, with such a converting faith as is
expressed) and is baptized, shall be saved ; and he that be-
lieveth not, shall be damned." And Luke xxiv. 46, 47.
" Thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead
the third day, and that repentance (which is conversion) and
remission of sins, should be preached in his name among all
nations.*' And Acts v. 30, 31. "The God of our fathers
raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree, him
hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a
Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of
sins." And Acts xiii. 38, 39. ** Be it known unto you,
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preach-
ed unto you the forgiveness of sins ; and by him all that
believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not
be justified by the law of Moses." And lest you think
this offer is restrained to the Jews, see Gal. vi. 15. " For in
Christ, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncir-
cumcision, but a new creature." And Luke xiv. 17. " Come,
for all things are now ready ; and ver. 23, 24.
You see by this time, that we are commanded to offer
life to you all, and to tell you from God, that if you will
Turn you may Live.
Here you may safely trust your souls ; for the love of
God is the fountain of this offer '. And the blood of the
Son of God hath purchased it ; the faithfulness and truth of
God is engaged to make the promise good ; miracles have
sealed up the truth of it ; preachers are sent through the
world to proclaim it ; the sacraments are instituted and used
for the solemn delivery of the mercy offered, to them that
will accept it ; and the Spirit doth open the heart to enter-
tain it, and is itself the earnest of the full possession. So
that the truth of it is past controversy, that the worst of
you all, and every one of you, if you will but be converted,
may be saved.
Indeed, if you will needs believe you shall be saved with-
out conversion, then you believe a falsehood ; and if I should
preach that to you, I should preach a lie. This were not to
believe God, but the devil and your own deceitful hearts.
God hath his promise of life, and the devil hath his promise
* John iii. 16.
382 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
of life. God's promise is, ' Return and Live ;* the devil's
is, ' Thou shalt live whether thou turn or not.' The words
of God are, as I have shewed you, ** Except ye be converted
and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the king-
dom of heaven *." " Except a man be born again, he can-
not enter into the kingdom of God "." " Without holiness
none shall see God *." The devil's word is, ' You may be
saved without being born again, and converted ; you may
go to heaven well enough, without being holy; God doth
but frighten you ; he is more merciful than to do as he
saith ; he will be better to you than his word.' And, alas !
the greatest part of the world believe this word of the devil
before the word of God, just as our first sin and misery came
into the world. God saith to our first parents, * If ye eat
ye shall die;' the devil contradicts him, and saith, * Ye
shall not die ;' and the woman believed the devil before God.
So now the Lord saith, ' Turn or Die ;' and the devil saith,
' You shall not die if you do but cry mercy at last, and give
over the acts of sin, when you can practise it no longer.'
And this is the word that the world believes. O heinous
wickedness, to believe the devil before God !
And yet that is not the worst, but blasphemously they
call this a believing and trusting in God, when they put
him in the shape of satan, who was a liar from the begin-
ning ; and when they believe that the word of God is a lie,
they call this a trusting God, and say they believe in him,
and trust on him for salvation. Where did ever God say,
that the unregenerate, unconverted, unsanctified, shall be
saved ? Shew such a word in Scripture, I challenge you if
you can. Why, this is the devil's word, and to believe it, is
to believe the devil, and is the sin that is commonly called
presumption. And do you call this a believing and trusting
sGod ? There is enough in the word of God to comfort and
strengthen the hearts of the sanctified. But not a word to
strengthen the hands of wickedness, nor to give men the
least hope of being saved, though they be never sanctified.
But if you will turn, and come into the way of mercy,
the mercy of the Lord is ready to entertain you. Then trust
God for salvation boldly and confidently, for he is engaged
by his word to save you.
' Matt, xviii. 3. " John iii. 3. 5. " Heb. xii. 14.
CALL TO THE UN CONVERT ED. 383
He will be a father to none but his children, and he will
save none but those that for^sake the world, the devil, and
the flesh, and come into his family, to be members of his
Son, and have communion with the saints. But if they will
not come in, it is long of themselves ; his doors are open ;
he keeps none back ; he never sent such a message as this
to any of you, * It is now too late, I will not receive thee,
though thou be converted.' He might have done so, and
done you no wrong, but he did not, he doth not to this day,
he is still ready to receive you, if you were but ready un-
feignedly, and with all your hearts, to turn. And the ful-
ness of this truth will yet more appear in the two following
doctrines, which I shall, therefore, next proceed to, before I
make a farther application of this.
Doct. III. God taketh pleasure in men's conversion and
salvation, but not in their death and damnation. He had
rather they would return and live, than go on and die.
I shall first teach you how to understand this ; and then
clear up the truth of it to you.
And for the first, you must observe these following
things : 1. A simple willingness and complacency is the
first act of the will, following the simple apprehension of the
understanding, before it proceedeth to compare things to-
gether. But the choosing act of the will is a following act,
and supposeth the comparing practical act of the under-
standing ; and these two acts may often be carried to con-
trary objects, without any fault at all in the person.
2. An unfeigned willingness may have divers degrees.
Some things I am so far willing of, as that I will do all
that lieth in my power to accomplish them. And some
things I am truly willing another should do, when yet I will
not do all that ever I am able to procure it, having many
reasons to dissuade me therefrom ; though yet I will do all
that belongs to me to do.
3. The will of a ruler, as such, is manifest in making
and executing laws ; but the will of a man in his simple na-
tural capacity, or as absolute Lord of his own, is manifested
in desiring or resolving of events.
4. A ruler's will, as law-giver, is, first and principally,
that his law be obeyed, and not at all that the penalty be ex-
ecuted on any, but only on supposition that they will not
384 CALL TO THR UNCONVERTED.
obey his laws. But a ruler's will, as judge, supposeth the
law already either kept or broken. And, therefore, he re-
solveth on reward or punishment accordingly.
Having given you these necessary distinctions, I shall
next apply them to the case in hand, in these following pro-
positions :
1. It is in the glass of the word and creatures that in this
life we must know God. And so, according to the nature of
man, we ascribe to him understanding and will, removing all
the imperfections that we can, because we are capable of no
higher positive conceptions of him.
2. And on the same grounds we do (with the Scriptures)
distinguish between the acts of God's will, as diversified
from the respects, or the objects, though as to God's essence
they are all one.
3. And the bolder, because that when we speak of
Christ, we have the more ground for it from his human
nature.
4. And thus we say, that the simple complacency, will,
or love of God, is to all that is naturally or morally good,
according to the nature and degree of its goodness. And
so he hath pleasure in the conversion and salvation of all,
which yet will never come to pass.
5. And God, as Ruler and Law-giver of the world, had
so far a practical will for their salvation, as to make them a
free deed of gift of Christ and life, and an act of oblivion for
all their sins, so be it they will not unthankfully reject it;
and to command his messengers to offer this gift to all the
world, and persuade them to accept it. And so he doth all
that, as Law-giver or Promiser, belongs to him to do for their
salvation.
6. But yet he resolveth, as Law-giver, that they that will
not Turn, shall Die. And as Judge, when their day of grace
is past, he will execute that decree.
7. So that he thus unfeignedly willeth the conversion of
those that never will be converted, but not as absolute Lord,
with the fullest efficacious resolution, nor as a thing which
he resolveth shall undoubtedly come to pass, or would en-
gage all his power to accomplish. It is in the power of a
prince to set a guard upon a murderer, to see that he shall
not murder and be hanged. But if upon good reason he
CALL TO THi: UNCONVERTED. 385
forbear this, and do but send to his subjects, and warn and
entreat them not to be murderers, I hope he may well say,
that he would not have them murder and be hano;ed ; he
takes no pleasure in it, but rather that they forbear, and
live. And if he do more for some, upon some special rea-
son, he is not bound to do so by all. The king may well
say to all the murderers and felons in the land, * I have no
pleasure in your death, but rather that you would obey my
laws and live ; but if you will not, I am resolved for all this,
that you shall die.' The judge may truly say to the thief,
or a murderer, * Alas ! man, I have no delight in thy death,
I had rather thou hadst kept the law, and saved thy life, but
seeing thou hast not, I must condemn thee, or else I should
be unjust.' So, though God have no pleasure in your dam-
nation, and therefore calls upon you to return and live,
yet he hath pleasure in the demonstration of his own justice,
and the executing his laws ; and, therefore, he is for all this
fully resolved, that if you will not be converted, you shall
be condemned. If God were so much against the death of
the wicked, as that he were resolved to do all that he can to
hinder it, then no man should be condemned, whereas Christ
telleth you, that few will be saved. But so far God is against
your damnation, as that he will teach you and warn you, and
set before you life and death, and offer you your choice,
and command his ministers to entreat you not to damn *^
yourselves, but accept his mercy, and so to leave you with-
out excuse ; but if this will not do, and if still you be un-
converted, he professeth to you he is resolved of your dam-
nation, and hath commanded us to say to you in his name,
ver. 18. " O wicked man, thou shalt surely die !" And Christ
hath little less than sworn it over and over, with a ** Verily,
verily ; except ye be converted and born again, ye cannot
enter into the kingdom of heaven y." Mark that he saith,
" You cannot." It is in vain to hope for it, and in vain to
dream,that God is willing of it ; for it is a thing that cannot be.
In a word, you see then the meaning of the text, that
God, the great Law-giver of the world, doth take no plea-
sure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn
and live ; though yet he be resolved that none shall live but
those that turn ; and as a Judge even delighteth in justice,
y Matt, xviii. 3. John iii. 3.
VOL. VII. C C
380 CALL TO THK UNCONVERTED.
and manifesteth his hatred of sin, though not in their misery
which they have brought upon themselves, in itself considered.
2. And for the proofs of this point, I shall be very brief
in them, because I suppose you easily believe it already.
1. The very gracious nature of God proclaimed. Exodus
xxxiv. 6. XX. 6. and frequently elsewhere, may assure you
of this, that he hath no pleasure in your death.
2. If God had more pleasure in thy death, than in thy
conversion and life, he would not have so frequently com-
manded thee in his word to turn, he would not have made
thee such promises of life, if thou wilt but turn ; he would
not have persuaded thee to it by so many reasons. The te-
nor of his Gospel proveth the point.
3. And his commission that he hath given to the minis-
ters of the Gospel, doth fully prove it. If God had taken
more pleasure in thy damnation, than in thy conversion and
salvation, he would never have charged us to offer you men-
cy, and to teach you the way of life, both publicly and pvi-
vately ; and to entreat and beseech you to turn and live ; to
acquaint you of your sins, and foretel you of your danger :
and to do all that possibly we can for your conversion, and
to continue patiently so doing, though you should hate or
abuse us for our pains. Would God have done this and ap-
pointed his ordinances for your good, if he had taken plea-
sure in your death ?
4. It is proved also by the course of his providence. If
God had rather you were damned than converted and saved,
he would not second his word with his works, and entice
you by his daily kindness to himself, and give you all the
mercies of this life, which are his means to lead you to re-
pentance, and bring you so often under his rod, to force you
into your wits. He would not set so many examples before
your eyes ; no, nor wait on you so patiently as he doth from
d^y to day, and year to year. These be not signs of one
that taketh pleasure in your death ; if this had been his de-
light, how easily could he have had thee long ago in hell ?
How oft, before this, could he have catched thee away in
the midst of thy sins, with a curse or oath, or lie in thy
mouth, in thy ignorance and pride, and sensuality ; when
thou wert last in thy drunkenness, or last deriding the ways
of God ? How easily could he have stopped thy breath.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 387
and tamed thee with his plagues, and made thee sober in-
another world ? Alas ! how small a matter is it for the Al-
mighty to rule the tongue of the profanest railer, and tie
the hands of the most malicious persecutor ; or calm the
fury of the bitterest of his enemies, and make them know
they are but worms. If he should but frown upon thee,
thou wouldst drop into thy grave. If he gave commission
to one of his angels to go and destroy ten thousand sinners,
how quickly would it be done ? How easily can he lay thee
upon the bed of languishing, and make thee lie roaring there
in pain, and make thee eat the words of reproach which
thou hast spoken against his servants, his word, his wor-
ship, and his holy ways ; and make thee send to beg their
prayers, whom thou didst despise in thy presumption?
How easily can he lay that flesh under gripes and groans,
and make it too weak to hold thy soul, and make it more
loathsome than the dung of the earth ? That flesh which
now must have what it loves, and must not be displeased,
and must be humoured with meat, drink, and clothes, what-
soever God says to the contrary, how quickly would the
frowns of God consume it ? When thou wast passionately
defending thy sin, and quarrelling with them that would have
drawn thee from it, and shewing thy spleen against the re-
provers, and pleading for the works of darkness ; how easily
could God snatch thee away in a moment, and set thee before
his dreadful Majesty, where thou mayst see ten thousand
times ten thousand of glorious angels waiting on his throne,
and call thee there to plead thy cause, and ask thee, * What
hast thou now to say against thy Creator, his truth, his ser-
vants, or his holy ways ; now plead thy cause, and make the
best of it thou canst. Now what canst thou say in excuse
of thy sins ? Now give account of thy worldliness and
fleshly life, of thy time, of all thy mercies thou hast had.'
O how thy stubborn heart would have melted, and thy proud
looks be taken down, and thy countenance appalled, and thy
stout words turned into speechless silence, or dreadful cries ;
if God had but set thee thus at his bar, and pleaded his
own cause with thee, which thou hast here so maliciously
pleaded against. How easily can he, at any time, say to thy
guilty soul, * Come away, and live in that flesh no longer, till
the resurrection,' and it cannot resist ? A word of his mouth,
388 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
would take off the noise of thy present life, and then all thy
parts and powers would stand still ; and if he say unto thee,
' Live no longer ;' or * Live in hell,' thou couldst not disobey.
But God hath yet done none of this ; but hath patiently
forborne thee, and mercifully upheld thee, and given thee
that breath which thou didst breathe out against him, and
given those mercies which thou didst sacrifice to the flesh,
and afforded thee that provision which thou spentest to sa-
tisfy thy greedy throat : he gave thee every minute of that
time which thou didst waste in idleness, and drunkenness,
or worldliness. And doth not all his patience and mercy
shew that he desired not thy damnation? Can the candle
burn without the oil ? Can your houses stand without the
earth to bear them ? As well as you can live one hour with-
out the support of God. And why did he so long support
thy life, but to see when thou wouldst bethink thee of the
folly of thy ways, and return and live? Will any man pur-
posely put arms into his enemy's hands to resist him? Or
hold a candle to a murderer that is killing his childrexi ?
Or to an idle servant that plays and sleeps the while ? Sure-
ly it is to see whether thou wilt at last return and live, that
God has so long waited on thee.
5. It is further proved by the sufferings of his Son .that
God taketh no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Would
he have ransomed them from death at so dear a rate ? Would
he have astonished angels and men by his condescension?
Would God have dwelt in flesh, and have come in the form
of a servant, and have assumed humanity into one person
with the Godhead ? And would Christ have lived a life of
suffering, and died a cursed death for sinners ; if he had ra-
ther taken pleasure in their death ? Suppose you saw him
but so busy in preaching and healing of them, as you find
him in Mark iii. 21. ; or so long in fasting, as in Matt. iv. ;
or all night in prayer, as in Luke vi. 12. ; or praying with
drops of blood trickling from him instead of sweat, as Luke
xxii. 44. ; or suffering a cursed death upon the cross, and
pouring out his soul as a sacrifice for our sins : would you
have thought these the signs of one that delighteth in the
death of the wicked ?
And think not to extenuate it by saying, that it was only
for his elect. For it was thy sin, and the sin of all the
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 389
world, that lay upon our Redeemer ; and his sacrifice and
satisfaction is sufficient for all, and the fruits of it are offer-
ed to one as well as another ; but it is true that it was neve
the intent of his mind, to pardon and save any that would
not by faith and repentance be converted. If you had seen
and heard him weeping and bemoaning the state of disobe-
dience in impenitent people, Luke xix. 41, 42., or complain-
ing of their stubbornness, as Matt.xxiii. 37. " O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered thy children to-
gether, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,
and ye would not?" Or if you had seen and heard him on
the cross, praying for his persecutors, " Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do;" would you have suspect-
ed that he had delighted in the death of the wicked, even of
those that perish by their wilful unbelief? *' When God
hath so loved" (not only loved, but so loved) " the world as to
give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him,"
(by an effectual faith,) '* should not perish, but have everlast-
ing life," I think he hath hereby proved, against the ma-
lice of men and devils, that he takes no pleasure in the death
of the wicked, but had rather that they would Turn and Live.
6. Lastly, If all this will not yet satisfy you, take his
own word, that knoweth best his own mind, or at least be-
lieve his oath. But this leadeth me up to the fourth doctrine.
Doct, IV. The Lord hath confirmed it to us by his oath,
that he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but ra-
ther that he Turn and Live ; that he may leave man no pre-
tence to question the truth of it.
If you dare question his word, I hope you dare not ques-
tion his oath. As Christ hath solemnly protested, that the
unregenerate and unconverted cannot enter into the king-
dom of heaven, in Matt, xviii. 3. John iii. 3. ; so God hath
sworn, that his pleasure is not in their death, but in their
conversion and life. And as the apostle saith, Heb. Ai. 13.
16 — 18. *' Because he can swear by no greater than himself,
he saith. As I live, &c. For men verily swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the
heirs of promise, the immutability of his counsel, confirmed
it by an oath : that by two immutable things, in which it was
impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consola-
390 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
tion, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set be-
fore us ; which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both
sure and steadfast." If there be any man that cannot recon-
cile this truth with the doctrine of predestination, or the ac-
tual damnation of the wicked, that is his own ignorance ; he
hath no pretence left to deny or question therefore the truth
of the point in hand ; for this is confirmed by the oath of
God, and therefore must not be distorted, to reduce it to
other points, but doubtful points must rather be reduced to
it, and certain truths must be believed to agree with it, though
our shallow brains do hardly discern the agreement.
USE. I do entreat thee, if thou be an unconverted sinner
that hearest these words, that thou wouldst ponder a little
upon the forementioned doctrines, and bethink thyself
awhile, who it is that takes pleasure in thy sin and damna-
tion. Certainly it is not God. He hath sworn for his part,
that he takes no pleasure in it. And I know it is not the
pleasing of him that you intend in it. You dare not say
that you drink and swear, and neglect holy duties, and quench
the motions of the Spirit, to please God. That were as if
you should reproach the prince, and break his laws, and
seek his death, and say, you did all this to please him.
Who is it then that takes pleasure in your sin and death ?
Not any that bear the image of God, for they must be like-
minded to him. God knows, it is small pleasure to your
faithful teachers, to see you serve your deadly enemy, and
madly venture your eternal state, and wilfully run into the
flames of hell. It is small pleasure to them, to see upon
your souls (in the sad effects) such blindness, and hard-
heartedness, and carelessness, and presumption ; such wil-
fiilness in evil, and such uncharitableness, and stiffness,
against the ways of life and peace ; they know these are
marks of death, and of the wrath of God, and they know
from the word of God what is like to be the end of them ;
and therefore it is no more pleasure to them, than to a ten-
der physician to see the plague-marks break out upon his
patient. Alas ! to foresee your everlasting torments, and
know not how to prevent them ! To see how near you are
to hell, and we cannot make you believe it, and consider it I
To see how easily, how certainly you might escape, if we
knew but how to make you willing I How fair you are for
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 391
everlasting salvation, if you would but turn and do your
best, and make it the care and business of your lives ! But
you will not do it, if our lives lay on it, we cannot persuade
you to do it. We study day and night what to say to you,
that may convince you, and persuade yon, and yet it is un-
done : we lay before you the word of God, and shew you
the very chapter and verse where it is written, that you
cannot be saved except you be converted ; and yet we leave
the most of you as we find you : we hope ye will believe the
word of God, though you believe not us, and that you will
regard it when we shew you plain Scripture for it : but we
hope in vain, and labour in vain, as to any saving change
upon your hearts. And do you think that this is a pleasant
thing to us ? Many a time in secret prayers we are fain to
complain to God with sad hearts, ' Alas, Lord, we have spo-
ken it to them, in thy name, but they little regard us ; we
have told them what thou bidst us tell them, concerning the
danger of an unconverted state, but they do not believe us ;
we have told them that thou hast protested, '* That there is
no peace to the wicked '^," but the worst of them all will
scarcely believe that they are wicked ; we have shewed them
the word, where thou hast said, " That if they live 'after the
flesh they shall die ''," but they say, they will believe in
thee, when they will not believe thee : and that they will
trust in thee, when they give no credit to thy word, and
when they hope that the threatenings of thy word are false,
they will yet call this a hoping in God ; and though we
shew them where thou hast said, " That when a wicked man
dieth, all his hopes perish^," yet cannot we persuade them
from their deceitful hopes. We tell them what a base, un-
profitable thing sin is, but they love it, and therefore will
not leave it. We tell them how dear they buy their plea-
sure, and what they must pay for it in everlasting torment,
and they bless themselves and will not believe it, but will
do as the most do ; and because God is merciful, they wiU
not believe him, but will venture their souls, come on it
what will. We tell them how ready the Lord is to receive
them ; and this does but make them delay their repentance,
and be bolder in their sin. Some of them say, they purpose
to repent, but they are still the same ; and some say, they
* I»a.xlTiu. tt. Itu. t\. • Hon>. viii. 13. ^ Pror. xi. 7.
392 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
do repent already, while yet they are not converted from
their sins. We exhort them, we entreat them, we offer them
our help, but we cannot prevail with them, but they that
were drunkards are drunkards still, and they that were vo-
luptuous, flesh-pleasing wretches, are such still ; and they
that were worldlings are worldlings still ; and they that
were ignorant, proud and self-conceited, are so still. Few
of them will see and confess their sin, and fewer will for-
sake it, but comfort themselves that all men are sinners ; as
if there were no difference between a converted sinner, and
an unconverted. Some of them will not come near us when
we are willing to instruct them, but think they know enough
already, and need not our instruction : and some of them
will give us the hearing, and do what they list ; and most
of them are like dead men that cannot feel ; so that when
we tell them of the matters of everlasting consequence, we
cannot get a word of it to their hearts. If we do not obey
them, and humour them in baptizing children of the most
obstinately wicked, and giving them the Lord's supper, and
doing all that they would have us, though never so much
against the word of God, they will hate us, and rail at us ;
but if we beseech them to confess and forsake their sins,
and save their souls, they will not do it. We tell them if
they will but turn, we will deny them none of the ordinances
of God, neither baptism to their children, nor the Lord's
supper to themselves ; but they will not hear us : they
would have us to disobey God, damn our own souls to please
them, and yet they will not turn, and save their own souls
to please God. They are wiser in their own eyes than all
their teachers ; they rage, and are confident in their own
way ; and if we would never so fain we cannot change them.
Lord, this is the case of our miserable neighbours, and we
cannot help it ; we see them ready to drop into hell, and we
cannot help it ; we know if they would unfeignedly turn,
they mightbe saved ; but we cannot persuade them : if we
would beg it of them on our knees, we cannot persuade them
to it ; if we would beg it of them with tears, we cannot per-
suade them : and what more can we do?'
These are the secret complaints and moans that many a
poor minister is fain to make, and do you think that he hath
any pleasure in this ? Is it a pleasure to him to see you go
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 393
on in sin and cannot stop you ? To see you so miserable,
and cannot so much as make you sensible of it? To see you
merry, when you are not sure to be an hour out of hell ? To
think what you must for ever suffer because you will not
turn ? And to think what an everlasting life of glory you
wilfully despise and cast away ? What sadder things can
you bring to their hearts, and how can you devise to grieve
them more?
Who is it then that you pleasure by your sin and death?
It is none of your understanding, godly friends. Alas, it is
the grief of their souls to see your misery, and they lament
you many a time, when you give them little thanks for it,
and when you have not hearts to lament yourselves.
\ Who is it then that takes pleasure in your sin ? It is
^one but the three great enemies of God, whom you re-
iounced in your baptism, and now are turned falsely to serve.
1 . The devil, indeed, takes pleasure in your sin and death ;
fo- this is the very end of all his temptations : for this he
w£tches night and day : you cannot devise to please him
beter, than to go on in sin : how glad is he when he sees
theegoing to the alehouse, or other sin ; and when he hear-
eth t\ee curse, or swear, or rail. How glad is he when he
heareh thee revile the minister that would draw thee from
thy sii, and help to save thee ? These are his delight.
2. ^he wicked are also delighted in it, for it is agreeable
to theii nature.
3. Itit I know, for all this, that it is not the pleasing of
the devi that you intend, even when you please him ; but
it is youiown flesh, the greatest and most dangerous enemy,
tliat you intend to please. It is the flesh that would be pam-
pred, that would be pleased in meat and drink, and cloth-
iig, that would be pleased in your company, and pleased in
applause and credit with the world, and pleased in sports
aid lusts, and idleness ; this is the gulf that devoureth all.
Tiis is the very God that you serve, for the Scripture saith
osuch, " That their bellies are their God^"
But I beseech you stay a little and consider the business.
\1. Quest. Should your flesh be pleased before your
Mker? Will you displease the Lord, and displease your
teaher, and your godly friends, and all to please yourbrut-
•= Phil. iii. 18.
394 CALL TO THE UNCONVEKTED.
ish appetites, or sensual desires ? Is not God worthy to be
a ruler of your flesh ; if he shall not rule it, he will not save
it; you cannot in reason expect that he should.
2. Quest. Your flesh is pleased with your sin ; but is your
conscience pleased ? Doth not it grudge within you, and
tell you sometimes that all is not well, and that your case is
not so safe as you make it to be ? And should not your
souls and consciences,be pleased before that corruptible flesh ?
3. Quest, But is not your flesh preparing for its own dis-
pleasure also ? It loves the bait, but doth it love the hook ?
It loves the strong drink and sweet morsels ; it loves its
ease, and sport, and merriment, it loves to be rich, and well
spoken of by men, and to be somebody in the world, but
doth it love the curse of God ? Doth it love to stand trem-
bling before his bar, and to be judged to everlasting fire.
Doth it love to be tormented with the devils for ever ? Tate
altogether ; for there is no separating sin and hell, but ony
by faith and true conversion ; if you will keep one, you mist
have the other. If death and hell be pleasant to thee no
wonder then if thou go on in sin ; but if they be not (is I
am sure they be not) then what if sin be never so plejsant,
is it worth the loss of life eternal ? Is a little drink, meat,
ease, the good word of sinners, or the riches of thisA'orld,
to be valued above the joys of heaven? Or are the^ worth
the sufferings of eternal fire? Sirs, these question? should
be considered, before you go any farther, by every nan that
hath reason to consider, and that believes he hath i soul to
save or lose.
Well, the Lord here sweareth that he hath no pfeasure in
your death, but rather that you would Turn and Live : if
yet you will go on and die, rather than turn, remember it
was not to please God that you did it, it was to please tie
world, and to please yourselves. And if men will dann
themselves to please themselves, and run into endless tr-
ments for delight, and have not the wit, the heart* the grce
to hearken to God or man that would reclaim them, w^at
remedy ? But they must take what they get by it, andre-
pent in another manner, when it is too late. Before I ro-
ceed any farther in the application, 1 shall come to the ^ext
doctrine ; which giveth a fuller ground for it.
Doct. V. So earnest is God for the conversion of sixers.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 396
that he doubleth his commands and exhortations with ve-
hemency ; *' Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?"
This doctrine is the application of the former, as by a
use of exhortation, and accordingly I shall handle it. I«
there ever an unconverted sinner, that heareth these vehe-
ment words of God ? Is there ever a man or woman in this
assembly, that is yet a stranger to the renewing, sanctify-
ing works of the Holy Ghost? (It is a happy assembly if
it be not so with the most.) Hearken then to the voice of
your Maker, and turn to him by Christ without delay.
Would you know the will of God? Why this is his will,
foat you presently turn. Shall the living God send so ear-
nest a message to his creatures, and should they not obey ?
Hearken then all you that live after the flesh ; the Lord that
gare thee thy breath and being, hath sent a message to thee
from heaven, and this is his message, " Turn ye, turn ye,
why will ye die ?" " He that hath ears to hear, let him
h^r." Shall the voice of the Eternal Majesty be neglected?
If he do but terribly thunder, thou art afraid. O but this
voite doth more nearly concern thee : if he do but tell thee
thoushalt die to-morrow, thou wouldst not make light of
it : O but this word concerneth thy life or death everlasting !
It is both a command and an exhortation : as if he had said
to thee\ * I charge thee upon the allegiance thou owest to
me thy Creator and Redeemer, that thou renounce the flesh,
the worll, and the devil, and turn to me that thou mayst
live. I condescend to entreat thee, as thou lovest or fearest
him that nade thee ; as thou lovest thine own life, even
thine evenasting life. Turn and Live ; as ever thou wouldst
escape eternal misery. Turn, turn, ** for why wilt thou die ?" '
And is there a heart in man, in a reasonable creature, that
can once refuse such a message, such a command, such an
exhortation as this ? O what a thing then is the heart of man !
Hearken then, all that love yourselves and all that re-
gird your own salvation. Here is the most joyful message
tlat ever was sent to the ears of man, ** Turn ye, turn ye,
wiy will you die V* You are not yet shut up under despe-
ration. Here is mercy offered, turn and you shall have it.
O^irs, with what glad and joyful hearts should you receive
th6»e tidings ! I know that this is not the first time that
youhave heard it : but how have you regarded it, or how
396 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
do you regard it now ? Hear, all you ignorant, careless sin-
ners, the word of the Lord ! Hear all you worldlings, you
sensual fleshpleasers, you gluttons and drunkards, and
whoremongers and swearers; you railers and backbiters,
slanderers and liars ; ** Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ?"
Hear all you cold and outside professors, and all that
are strangers to the life of Christ, and never knew the power
of his cross and resurrection, and never felt your hearts
warmed with his love, and live not on him as the strength
of your souls ; '* Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ?"
Hear all that are void of the love of God, whose hearts
are not towards him, nor taken up with the hopes of glorf,
but set more by your earthly prosperity and delights, thin
by the joys of heaven ; you that are religious but a littleon
the bye, and give God no more than your flesh can spare ;
that have not denied your carnal selves, and forsaken all thst
you have for Christ, in the estimation and grounded resoU-
tion of your souls, but have some one thing in the world so
dear to you, that you cannot spare it for Christ, if he requ'res
it, but will rather even venture on his displeasure, than for-
sake it ; " Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ?"
If you never heard it, or observed it before ; remember
that ye were told it from the word of God this day, that if
you will but turn, you may live ; and if you will not tarn you
shall surely die.
What now will you do sirs? What is your resolution ?
Will you turn or will you not? Halt not any bnger be-
tween two opinions : if the Lord be God follow hin ; if your
flesh be God, then serve it still. If heaven be better than
earth and fleshly pleasures, come away then and seek a bet-
ter country, and lay up your treasure where rust and moths
do not corrupt, and thieves cannot break through and steal,
and be awakened at last with all your might, to seek thi
kingdom that cannot be moved, Heb. xii. 28. And to eir-
ploy your lives on a higher design, and turn the stream t£
your cares and labours, another way than formerly you ha^e
done ; but if earth be better than heaven, or will do more br
you, or last you longer, then keep it and make your bestof
it, and follow it still. Sirs, are you resolved what to cb ?
If you be not, I will set a few more moving considerations
before you, to see if reason will make you resolve.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 397
Consider first, what preparations mercy hath made for
your salvation. And what pity it is that any man should be
damned after all this. The time was, when the flaming
sword was in the way, and the curse of God's law would
have kept thee back, if thou hadst been never so willing to
turn to God : the time was, when thyself, and all the friends
that thou hadst in the world, could never have procured
thee the pardon of thy sins past, though thou hadst never so
much lamented, and reformed them. But Christ hath re-
moved this impediment, by the ransom of his blood. The
time was, that God was wholly unreconciled, as being not
satisfied for the violation of his law : but now he is so far
satisfied and reconciled, as that he hath made thee a free
act of oblivion, and a free deed of the gift of Christ and
life, and ofFereth it to thee, and entreateth thee to accept it,
and it may be thine if thou wilt. For, " He was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself, and hath committed to
us the word of actual reconciliation^.*' Sinners, we are
commanded to do this message to you all, as from the Lord.
" Come, for all things are ready *." Are all things ready, and
are you unready ? God is ready to entertain you and par-
don all that you have done against him, if you will but come.
As long as you have sinned, as wilfully as you have sinned,
as heinously as you have sinned, he is ready to cast all be-
hind his back, if you will but come. Though you have been
prodigals, and run away from God, and have staid so long,
he is ready even to meet you, and embrace you in his arms,
and rejoice in your conversion, if you will but turn. Even
the earthly worldling and swinish drunkard, may find God
ready to bid him welcome, if they will but come. Doth
not this turn thy heart within thee ? O sinner, if thou hast
a heart of flesh, and not of stone in thee, methinks this
should melt it ; shall the dreadful Infinite Majesty of hea-
ven, even wait for thy returning, and be ready to receive
thee who hast abused him, and forgotten him so long? Shall
he delight in thy conversion, that might at any time glorify
his justice in thy damnation ? and doth it not yet melt thy
heart within thee, and art thou not yet ready to come in?
Hast thou not as much reason to be ready to come, as God
hath to invite thee and bid thee welcome?
'» « Cor. V. 18, 19. « Luke xiv. 17.
398 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
But that is not all ; Christ hath done his part on the
cross, and made such a way for thee to the Father that on
his account thou mayst be welcome, if thou wilt come. And
yet art thou not ready ? '
A pardon is already expressly granted, and offered thee
in the Gospel. And yet art thou not ready ?
The ministers of the Gospel are ready to assist thee, to
instruct thee, and pronounce the absolving words of peace
to thy soul ; they are ready to pray for thee, and to seal up
thy pardon by the administration of the holy sacrament; and
yet art thou not ready ?
All that fear God about thee, are ready to rejoice in thy
conversion, and to receive thee into the communion of saints,
and to give thee the right hand of fellowship, yea, though
thou hadst been one that had been cast out of their society ;
they dare not but forgive where God forgiveth, when it is
manifest to them by thy confession and amendment : they
dare not so much as hit thee in the teeth with thy former
sins, because they know that God will not upbraid thee with
them. If thou hadst been never so scandalous, if thou
wouldst but heartily be converted and come in, they would
not refuse thee, let the world say what they would against
it. And are all these ready to receive thee, and yet art thou
not ready to come in ?
Yea, heaven itself is ready ; the Lord will receive thee
into the glory of the saints, as vile a beast as thou hast been,
if thou wilt but be cleansed thou mayst have a place before
his throne ; his angels will be ready to guard thy soul to
the place of joy, if thou do but unfeignedly come in. And
is God ready, the sacrifice of Christ ready, the promise
ready, and pardon ready ? Are ministers ready, the people
of God ready, and heaven itself ready, and angels ready, and
all these but waiting for thy conversion, and yet art thou
not ready ? What, not ready to live, when thou hast been
dead so long? Not ready to come to thy right understand-
ing ; (as the prodigal is said to come to himself, Luke xv.
17.) when tliou hast been besides thyself so long? Not
ready to be saved, when thou art even ready to be condem-
ned ? Art thou not ready to lay hold on Christ that would
deliver thee, when thou art even ready to drown, and sink
into damnation ? Art thou not ready to be saved from hell.
CALL TO THE UNCON VERTIiD. 39Q
when thou art even ready to be cast remediless into it ; alas !
man, dost thou know what thou dost? If thou die uncon-
verted, there is no doubt to be made of thy damnation : and
thou art not sure to live an hour : and yet art thou not ready
to turn, and to come in ? O miserable wretch ! Hast thou
not served the flesh and the devil long enough ! Yet hast
thou not enough of sin ? Is it so good to thee, or so pro-
fitable for thee? Dost thou know what it is; that thou
wouldst yet have more of it? Hast thou had so many calls,
and so many mercies, and so many blows, and so many ex-
amples ? Hast thou seen so many laid in the grave and yet
art thou not ready to let go thy sins, and come to Christ?
What, after so many convictions, and gripes of conscience,
after so many purposes and promises, art thou not yet ready
to turn and live? O that thy eyes, thy heart were opened,
to know how fair an offer is now made to thee ! And what
a joyful message it is that we are sent on, to bid thee come,
for all things are ready.
3. Consider also, what calls thou hast to Turn and Live.
How many, how loud, how earnest, how dreadful, and yet
what encouraging, joyful calls.
For the principal inviter, it is God himself. He that
commandeth heaven and earth, commandeth thee to Turn :
and presently, without delay to Turn. He commandeth the
sun to run its course, and to rise upon thee every morning ;
and though it be so glorious a creature, and many times
bigger than all the earth, yet it obeyeth him, and faileth not
one minute of its appointed time. He commandeth all the
planets, and orbs of heaven, and they obey. He command-
eth the sea to ebb and flow, and the whole creation to keep
its course, and all they obey him. The angels of heaven
obey his will, when he sends them to minister to such silly
worms as we on earth *. And yet if he command but a sin-
ner to Turn, he will not obey him : he only thinks himself
wiser than God, and he cavils and pleads the cause of sin,
and will not obey. If the Lord Almighty says the word,
the heavens and all therein obey him : but if he call a drun-
kard out of an alehouse he will not obey : or if he call a
worldly, fleshly sinner to deny himself, and mortify the flesh,
and set his heart on a better inheritance, he will not obey.
•^ Hcb. i. 14.
400 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
If thou hadst any love in thee, thou wouldst know the
voice, and say, ' O this is my Father's call ! How can I
find in my heart to disobey V For the sheep of Christ do
*' know and hear his voice ; and they follow him, and he
giveth them eternal life^'* If thou hast any spiritual life
and sense in thee, at least thou wouldst say, ' This call is
the dreadful voice of God, and who dare disobey V For
saith the prophet, " The lion hath roared, who will not fear e?"
God is not a man that thou shouldst dally and play with
him. Remember what he^said to Paul at his conversion,
" It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks *>." Wilt
thou yet go on and despise his word, and resist his Spirit,
and stop thine ears against his call ? Who is it that will
have the worst of this? Dost thou know whom thou dis-
obeyest and contendest with, and what thou art doing ? It
were a far wiser and easier task for thee, to contend with the
thorns, and spurn them with thy bare feet, and beat them
with thy bare hands, or put thy head into the burning fire.
" Be not deceived, God will not be mocked *." Whosoever
else be mocked God will not ; you had better play with the
fire in your thatch, than with the fire of his burning wrath.
" For our God is a consuming fire ^." O how unmeet a
match are you for God : " It is a fearful thing to fall into
his hands K" And therefore it is a fearful thing to contend
with him, or resist him. As you love your own souls take
heed what you do. What will you say, if he begin in wrath
to plead with you ? What will you do if he take you once
in hand? Will you then strive against his judgment, as
now you do against his grace ? Saith the Lord " Fury is
not in me :" that is, I delight not to destroy ; I do it as it
were unwillingly but yet, " Who would set the briars and
thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I
would burn them together. Or let him take hold of my
strength, that he may make peace with me, and he shall
make peace with me ""." It is an unequal combat for the
briars and stubble to make war with the fire.
And thus you see who it is that calleth you, that should
move you to hear this call, and Turn : so consider also, by
what instruments, and how often, and earnestly he doth it.
f John xii. 4. i Amos iii. 8. *• Acts ix. 5- i Gal. vl. 7.
k Heb. xii. 29. I Heb. x. 31. "' Tsa. xxvii. 4. 6.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 401
1. Every leaf of the blessed Book of God hath, as it
were, a voice, and calls out unto thee. " Turn and Live ; Turn
or thou wilt Die." How canst thou open it, and read a leaf,
or hear a chapter, and not perceive God bids thee Turn ?
2. It is the voice of every sermon thou hearest ; for what
else is the scope and drift of all, but to call, and persuade,
and entreat thee to Turn ?
3. It is the voice of many a motion of the Spirit, that
secretly speaks over these words again, and urgeth thee to
Turn.
4. It is likely sometimes, it is the voice of thy own con-
science. Art thou not sometimes convinced, that all is not
well with thee ; and doth not thy conscience tell thee, that
thou must be a new man, and take a new course, and often
call upon thee to Return ?
5. It is the voice of the gracious examples of the godly.
When thou seest them live a heavenly life, and fly from the
sin which is thy delight, this really calls upon thee to Turn.
6. It is the voice of all the works of God. For they also
are God's books that teach thee this lesson, by shewing
thee his greatness, and wisdom, and goodness, and calling
thee to observe them, and admire the Creator. " The hea-
vens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth
his handy works ; day unto day uttereth speech, night unto
night sheweth knowledge °.'* Every time the sun riseth
upon thee it really calleth thee to Turn, as if it should say,
' What do I travel and compass the world for, but to declare
to men the glory of their Maker, and to light them to do
his work ? And do I still find thee doing the work of sin,
and sleeping out thy life in negligence V " Awake thou that
sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee
light"." " The night is far spent, the day is at hand. It is
now high time to awake out of sleep ; let us, therefore, cast
off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of
light. Let as walk honestly, as in the day ; not in rioting
and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in
strife and envying ; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts there-
of p." (This text was the means of Augustine's conversion.)
n Psal. xix, 1, «. o Eph. T. 14. p Rom xiil. 11— U-
VOL.YII. D D
402 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
7. It is the voice of every mercy thou dost possess. If
thou couldst but hear, and understand them, they all cry out
unto thee. Turn. Why doth the earth bear thee, but to
seek and serve the Lord ? Why doth it afford thee fruit, but
to serve him ? Why doth the air afford thee breath, but to
serve him ? Why do all the creatures serve thee with their la-
bours, and their lives, but that thou mightest serve the Lord
of them and thee ? Why doth he give thee time, and health,
and strength, but to serve him ? Why hast thou meat, drink,
and clothes, but for his service ? Hast thou any thing which
thou hast not received ? And if thou didst receive them, it is
reason thou shouldst bethink thee from whom, and to what
end and use, thou didst receive them. Didst thou never cry to
him for help in thy distress ? And didst thou not then un-
derstand that it was thy part to turn and serve him if he
would deliver thee ? He hath done his part, and spared thee
yet longer, and tried thee another and another year, and
yet thou dost not Turn. You know the parable of the un-
fruitful fig-tree "i. When the Lord had said, " Cut it down,
why cumbereth it the ground ;" he was entreated to try it
one year longer, and then, if it proved not fruitful, to cut it
down. Christ himself there makes the application twice
over, " Except ye repent, you shall all likewise perish ^"
How many years hath God looked for the fruits of love and
holiness from thee, and hath found none? And yet hath
spared thee. How many times, by thy wilful ignorance,
carelessness, and disobedience, hast thou provoked justice
to say, " Cut him down, why cumbereth he the ground ?"
And yet mercy hath prevailed, and patience hath forborne
the killing, damning blow to this day. If thou hadst the
understanding of a man within thee, thou wouldst know that
all this calleth thee to Turn. *' Dost thou think thou shalt
still escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the
riches of his goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering ; not
knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repent-
ance ? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, trea-
surest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and
revelation of the righteous judgment of God ; who will ren-
der to every one according to his deeds ^"
8. Moreover, it is the voice of every affliction, to call
1 Luke xiii. 6—9, ' Ver. 3. 5. • Rom. ii. S-^6.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 403
thee to make haste and Turn. Sickness and pain cry Turn.
Poverty, the loss of friends, and every twig of the chastis-
ing rod, cry Turn ; and yet wilt thou not hearken to the call ?
These have come near thee, and made thee feel. They
have made thee groan, and can they not make thee Turn ?
9. The very frame of thy nature and being itself be-
speaketh thy return. Why hast thou reason, but to rule thy
flesh, and serve the Lord ? Why hast thou an understand-
ing soul, but to learn and know his will, and do it ? Why
hast thou a heart within thee that can love, fear, and desire,
but that thou shouldst fear him, and love him, and desire
after him ?
10. Yea, thine own engagements by promise to the Lord
do call upon thee to turn and serve him. Thou hast bound
thyself to him by a baptismal covenant, and renounced the
world, the flesh, and the devil ; this thou hast confirmed by
the profession of Christianity, and renewed it at sacraments,
and in times of affliction. And wilt thou promise, and vow,
and never perform, and turn to God ?
Lay all these together now, and see what should be the
issue. The Holy Scriptures call upon thee to Turn ; the
ministers of Christ do call upon thee to Turn ; the Spirit
cries Turn ; thy conscience cries Turn ; the godly, by per-
suasions and examples, cry Turn ; the whole world, and all
the creatures therein that are presented to thy consideration,
cry Turn : the patient forbearance of God cries Turn ; all
the mercies which thou receivest, cry Turn ; the rod of God's
chastisement cries Turn ; thy reason, and the frame of thy
nature bespeaks thy Turning ; and so do all thy promises to
God, and yet art thou not resolved to Turn ?]
3. Moreover, poor hard-hearted sinner, didst thou ever
consider upon what terms thou standeth all this while with
him that calleth thee to Turn ? Thou art his own, and ow-
est him thyself, and all thou hast : and may he not com-
mand his own ? Thou art his absolute servant, and shouldst
serve no other master. Thou standest at his mercy, and thy
life is in his hand ; and he is resolved to save thee upon no
other terms. Thou hast many malicious spiritual enemies,
that would be glad if God would but forsake thee, and let
them alone with thee, and leave thee to their will; how
quickly would they deal with thee in another manner. And
404 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
thou canst not be delivered from them, but by turning unto
God. Thou art fallen under his wrath by thy sin already ;
and thou knowest not how long his patience will yet wait.
Perhaps this is the last year ; perhaps the last day. His
sword is even at thy heart, while the word is in thine ear ;
and if thou turn not, thou art a dead and undone man.
Were thy eyes but open to see where thou standest, even
upon the brink of hell, and to see how many thousands are
there already that did not turn, thou wouldst see that it is
time to look about thee.
Well, sirs, look inwards now, and tell me how are your
hearts affected with these offers of the Lord ? You hear
what is his mind ; he delighteth not in your death. He
calls to you. Turn, Turn ; it is a fearful sign, if all this move
thee not, or if it do but half move thee ; and much more if
it make thee more careless in thy misery, because thou hear-
est of the mercifulness of God. The working of the medi-
cine will partly tell us, whether there be any hope of the cure.
O what glad tidings would it be to those that are now in
hell, if they had but such a message from God ! What a
joyful word would it be to hear this, * Turn and Live !' Yea,
what a welcome word would it be to thyself, when thou hast
felt that wrath of God but an hour; or, if after a thousand, and
ten thousand years torment, thou couldst but hear such a
word from God, * Turn and Live,' and yet wilt thou neglect
it, and suffer us to return without our errand ?
Behold, sinners, we are set here as the messengers of the
Lord, to set before you life and death ; what say you, which
of them will you choose ? Christ standeth, as it were, by thee,
with heaven in one hand and hell in the other, and offereth
thee thy choice ; which wilt thou choose ? The voice of
the Lord maketh the rock to tremble *. And is it nothing
to hear him threaten thee, if thou wilt not turn ? Dost thou
not understand and feel this voice, " Turn ye, turn ye, why
will ye Die ?" Why, it is the voice of love, of infinite love,
of thy best and kindest friend, as thou mightest easily per-
ceive by the motion, and yet canst thou neglect it ? It is the
voice of pity and compassion. The Lord seeth whither thou
art going, better than thou dost, which makes him call after
thee, * Turn, turn.' He seeth what will become of thee, if
» See Psal. xxix.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 405
thou turn not : he thinketh with himself, ' Ah ! this poor
sinner will cast himself into endless torment, if he do not
turn: I must in justice deal with him according to my
righteous law :' and therefore he calleth after thee, * Turn,
turn.' O sinner! if thou didst but know the thousandth
part as well as God doth, the danger that is near you, and
the misery that you are running into, we should have no
more need to call after you to Turn.
Moreover, this voice that calleth to thee, is the same
that hath prevailed with thousands already and called all to
heaven that are now there : and they would not now for a
thousand worlds that they had made light of it, and not
turned to God. Now what are they possessing that turned
at God's call ? Now they perceive indeed that it was the
voice of love, that meant them no more harm than their sal-
vation. And if thou wilt obey the same call thou shalt come
to the same happiness. There be millions that must forever
lament that they turned not, but there is never a soul in hea-
ven that is sorry that they were converted.
Well, sirs, are you yet resolved, or are you not ? Do I
need to say any more to you, what will you do ? Will you
turn or not ? Speak, man, in thy heart to God, though thou
speak not out to me : speak, lest he take thy silence for a
denial ; speak quickly, lest he never make thee the like of-
fer more ; speak resolvedly, and not waveringly ; for he will
have no indifFerents to be his followers. Say in thy heart
now, without any more delay, even before you stir hence,
* By the grace of God, I am resolved presently to turn. And
because 1 know mine own insufficiency, I am resolved to
wait on God for his grace, and follow him in his ways, and
forsake my former courses and companions, and give up
myself to the guidance of the Lord.*
Sirs, you are not shut up in the darkness of heathenism,
nor in the desperation of the damned. Life is before you,
and you may have it on reasonable terms if you will ; yea,
on free-cost if you will accept it. The way of God lieth
plain before you, the church is open to you, and you may
have Christ, pardon and holiness, if you will. What say
you ? Will you or will you not ? If you say nay, or say
nothing, and still go on, God is witness, and this congre-
gation is witness, and your ow^ consciences are witness, how
406 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
fair an offer you had this day. Remember you might have
Christ, and you would not. Remember, when you have
lost it, that you might have had eternal life, as well as others,
and would not : and all this because you would not Turn !
But let us come to the next Doctrine, and hear your
reasons.
Doct. VI. The Lotd condescendeth to reason the case with
unconverted sinners, and to ask them why they will die.
A strange disputation it is, both as to the controversy ;
and as to the disputants.
1. The controversy or question propounded to dispute
of, is, Why wicked men will damn themse^lves ? Or, Whe-
ther they will die rather than turn ? Whether they have any
sufficient reason for so doing ?
2. The disputants are God and man : the most holy God,
and wicked, unconverted sinners.
Is it not a strange thing which God doth seem here to
suppose, that any man should be willing to die, and be
damned ; yea, that this should be the case of all the wicked :
that is, of the greatest part of the world ? But you will say,
* This cannot be ; for nature desireth the preservation and
felicity of itself, and the wicked are more selfish than others,
and not less ; and therefore how can any man be willing
to be damned ? '
To which I answer, 1. It is a certain truth, that no man
can be willing of any evil, as evil, but only as it hath some
appearance of good ; much less can any man be willing to
be eternally tormented. Misery, as such, is desired by
none. 2. But yet for all that, it is most true, which God
here teacheth us, that the cause why the wicked die and are
damned, is, because they will die and be damned. And
this is true in several respects.
1. Because they will go the way that leads to hell, though
they are told by God and man whether it goes and where it
ends. And though God hath so often professed in his word,
that if they hold on in that way they shall be condemned :
and that they shall not be saved unless they Turn. " There
is no peace (saith the Lord) unto the wicked "." '* The way
of peace they know not ; there is no judgment in their going j
they have made them crooked paths, whosoever goeth
" Isa. xlviii, 22. Ivii. 21.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 407
therein shall not know peace ''." They have the word, and
the oath of the living God for it, that if they will not turn,
they shall not enter into his rest. And yet wicked they are,
and wicked they will be, let God and man say what they will :
fleshly they are, and fleshly they will be ; worldlings they
are, and worldlings they will be, though God hath told them,
that " the love of the world is enmity to God ; and that if
any man love the world, (in that measure) the love of the
Father is not in him ?." So that consequentially these men
are willing to be damned, though not directly : they are
willing of the way to hell, and love the certain cause of their
torment, though they be not willing of hell itself, and do
not love the pain which they must endure.
Is not this the truth of your case, sirs ? You would not
burn in hell, but you will kindle the fire by your sins, and
cast yourselves into it ; you would not be tormented with de-
vils in hell, but you will do that which will certainly procure
it in despite of all that can be said against it. It is j ust as if you
would say, * I will drink this ratsbane, or other poison, but yet I
would not die. I will cast myself headlong from the top of a
steeple, but yet I will not kill myself. I will thrust my
knife into my heart, but yet I will not take away my life.
I will put this fire into the thatch of my house, but yet I
will not burn it.* Just so it is with wicked men ; they will
be wicked, and live after the flesh and the world, and yet
they would not be damned. But do you not know, that the
means do lead unto the end ? and that God hath, by his
righteous law, concluded, that ye must repent or perish ?
He that will take poison may as well say, * I will kill my-
self,' for it will prove no better in the end : though perhaps
he loved it for the sweetness of the sugar that was mixed
with it, and would not be persuaded it was poison, but that
he might take it and do well enough ; but it is not his con-
ceits and confidence that will save his life. So if you will
be drunkards, or fornicators, or worldlings, or live after the
flesh, you may as well say plainly, * We will be damned ;'
for so you shall be unless you turn. Would you not re-^
buke the folly of a thief or murderer that would say, * I will
steal or kill, but I will not be hanged ;* when he knows,
that if he do the one, the judge in justice will see that the
« Isa. lix. R. ' James iv, 4. JohnH. 15.
408 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
other be done. If he says, ' I will steal and murder/ he
may as well say plainly, ' I will be hanged ;' so if you will
go on in a carnal life, you may as well say plainly, * We
will go to hell.*
'2. Moreover, the wicked will not use those means with-
out which there is no hope of their salvation : he that will
not eat, may as well say plainly he will not live, unless he
can tell how to live without meat. He that will not go his
journey, may as well say plainly he will not come to the end.
He that falls into the water, and will not come out, nor suf-
fer another to help him out, may as well say plainly, he will
be drowned. So if you be carnal and ungodly, and will not
be converted, nor use the means by which you should be
converted, but think it more ado than needs, you may as
well say plainly, you will be damned. For if you have found
out a way to be saved without conversion, you have done
that which was never done before.
3. Yea, this is not all, but the wicked are unwilling even
of salvation itself. Though they may desire somewhat
which they call by the name of heaven, yet heaven itself,
considered in the true nature of the felicity, they desire not:
yea, their hearts are quite against it. Heaven is a state of
perfect holiness, and of continual love and praise to God,
and the wicked have no heart to this. The imperfect love,
praise, and holiness which is here to be obtained, they have
no mind of; much less of that which is so much greater :
the joys of heaven are of so pure and spiritual a nature, that
the heart of the wicked cannot truly desire them.
So that by this time you may see on what ground it is
that God supposeth that the wicked are willing of their own
destruction ; they will not Turn, though they must Turn or
Die. They will rather venture on certain misery, than be
converted ; and then to quiet themselves in their sins, they
will make themselves believe, that they shall nevertheless
escape.
2. And as the controversy is matter of wonder (that ever
men should be such enemies to themselves, as wilfully to
cast away their souls), so are the disputants too. That God
should stoop so low, as thus to plead the case with man ;
and that man should be so strangely obstinate as to need all
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 409
this in so plain a case ; yea, and to resist all this, when their
own salvation lieth upon the issue.
No wonder, if they will not hear us that are men, when
they will not hear the Lord himself: as God saith, when he
sent the prophet to the Israelites, " The house of Israel will
not hearken unto thee : for they will not hearken unto me :
For all the house of Israel are impudent, and hard-hearted V
No wonder, if they can plead against a minister, or a godly
neighbour, when they will plead against the Lord himself,
even against the plainest passages of his word, and think they
have reason on their side. * When they weary the Lord with
their words,' they say, "Wherein have we wearied him*?"
The priests that despised his name, durst ask, " Wherein
have we despised thy name." And when they " polluted his
altar, and made the tables of the Lord contemptible," they
durst say, " Wherein have we polluted thee '' ? " But " Wo
unto him (saith the Lord) that striveth with his Maker !
Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall
the clay say to him that fashioneth it. What makest thou "" ?"
Quest. * But why is it that God will reason the case
with man V
Answ. 1. Because that man, being a reasonable creature,
is accordingly to be dealt with ; and by reason to be per-
suaded and overcome. God hath therefore endowed them
with reason, that they might use it for him. One would
think a reasonable creature should not go against the clear-
est and greatest reason in the world, when it is set before him.
2. At least men shall see that God did require nothing
of them that was unreasonable, but that whatever he com-
mandeth them, and whatever he forbiddeth them, he hath
all the right reason in the world on his side, and they have
good reason to obey him, but none to disobey. And thus
even the damned shall be forced to justify God, and confess
that it was but reason that they should have turned to him,
and they shall be forced to condemn themselves, and con-
fess that they have little reason to cast away themselves by
the neglecting of his grace in the day of their visitation.
USE. Look up your best and strongest reasons sinners,
if you will make good your way : you see now with whom
you have to deal. What sayst thou unconverted, sensual
" Eack. iii.r. • Mai. ii. 7. «> Mai. wi. 1. 7. • Isa. xlv. 9.
410 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
wretch ? Darest thou venture upon a dispute with God :
art thou able to confute him ? Art thou ready to enter the
lists ? God asketh thee, ' Why wilt thou die?' Art thou
furnished with a sufficient answer? Wilt thou undertake to
prove that God is mistaken, and that thou art in the right ?
what an undertaking is that ! Why either he or you is
mistaken, when he is for your conversion, and you are
against it. He calls upon you to turn, and you will not : he
bids you do it presently, even to-day, while it is called to-
day, and you delay, and think it time enough hereafter. He
saith, it must be a total change, and you must be holy and
new creatures, and born again ; and you think that less may
serve the turn, and that it is enough to patch up the old
man, without becoming new. Who is in the right now, God
or you ? God calleth on you to turn, and to live a holy life,
and you will not ; by your disobedient lives it appears you
will not. If you will, why do you not ? Why have you not
done it all this while ? And why do you not fall upon it
yetj? Your wills have the command of your lives. We may
certainly conclude, that you are unwilling to turn, when you
do not turn. And why will you not ? Can you give any
reason for it, that is worthy to be called a reason ?
I that am but a worm, your fellow-creature, of a shallow
capacity, dare challenge the wisest of you all to reason the
case with me, while I plead my Maker's cause, and I need
not be discouraged, when I know I plead but the cause that
God pleadeth, and contend for him that will have the best
at last. Had I but these two general grounds against you,
1 am sure that you have no good reason on your side.
1. I am sure it can be no good reason, which is against
the God of truth and reason ; it cannot be light that is con-
trary to the sun. There is no knowledge in any creature,
but what it had from God ; and therefore none can be wiser
than God. It were damnable presumption for the highest
angel to compare with his Creator, what is it then for a
lump of dirt, an ignorant sot, that knoweth not himself, nor
his own soul ; that knoweth but little of the things which
he seeth, yea, that is more ignorant than many of his neigh-
bours, to set himself against the wisdom of the Lord ? It is
one of the fullest discoveries of the horrible wickedness of
carnal men, and the stark madness of such who sin, that so
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 411
silly a mole dare contradict his Maker, and call in question
the word of God : yea, that those people in our parishes,
that are so beastly ignorant, that they cannot give us a rea-
sonable answer, concerning the very principles of religion,
and yet so wise in their own conceit, that they dare question
the plainest truths of God, yea, contradict them, and cavil
against them, when they can scarce speak sense, and will be-
lieve them no farther than agreeth with their foolish wisdom.
2. And as I know that God must needs be in the right,
so I know the case is so palpable and gross which he plead-
eth against, that no man can have reason for it. Is it pos-
sible that a man can have any good reason to break his mas-
ter's laws, and reason to dishonour the Lord of glory, and
reason to abuse the Lord that bought him ? Is it possible
that a man can have any good reason to damn his own im-
mortal soul ? Mark the Lord's question, " Turn ye, turn
ye. Why will ye die ? Is eternal death a thing to be desired ?
Are you in love with hell ? What reason have you wilfully
to perish ? If you think you have some reason to sin, should
you not remember that *' death is the wages ofsin*^ ?" And
think whether you have any reason to undo yourselves, body
and soul for ever ? You should not only ask whether you
love the adder, but whether you love the sting. It is such
a thing for a man to cast away his everlasting happiness,
and to sin against God, that no good reason can be given
for it ; but the more any one pleads for it, the more mad he
sheweth himself to be. Had you a lordship or a kingdom
offered to you, for every sin that you commit, it were not
reason but madness to accept it. Could you by every sin
obtain the highest thing on earth that flesh desireth, it were
of no considerable value to persuade you in reason to com-
mit it. If it were to please your greatest and dearest friends,
or obey the greatest prince on earth, or to save your lives,
or to escape the greatest earthly misery, all these are of no
consideration to draw a man in reason to the committing of
one sin. If it were a right hand, or a right eye that would
hinder your salvation, it would be the most gainful way to
cast it away, rather than go to hell to save it. For there is
no saving a part, when you lose the whole. So exceedingly
great are the matters of eternity, that notliing in this world
«* Roni. vi. iS.
412 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
deserveth once to be named in comparison with them, nor
can any earthly thing, though it were life, and crowns, and
kingdoms, be a reasonable excuse for matters of so high and
everlasting consequence. A man can have no reason to
cross his ultimate end. Heaven is such a thing, that if you
lose it, nothing can supply the want, or make up the loss.
And hell is such a thing, that if you suffer it, nothing can re-
move your misery, or give you ease and comfort. And
therefore nothing can be a valuable consideration to excuse
you for neglecting your own salvation. For saith our
Saviour, " What shall it profit a man to win all the world
and lose his own soul*."
O, sirs ! did you but know what matters they are, we are
now speaking to you of! The saints in heaven have other
kind of thoughts of these things. If the devil could come
to them that live in the sight and love of God, and should
offer them a cup of ale, or a whore, or merry company, or
sport to entice them away from God, and glory, I pray you
tell me, how do you think they would entertain the motion.
Nay, if he should offer them to be kings on the earth, do
you think this would entice them down from heaven ? O,
with what hatred, and holy scorn would they disdain, and
reject the motion ; and why should not you do so that havp
heaven opened to your faith, if you had but faith to see it ?
There is never a soul in hell, but knows by this time, that it
was a mad exchange to let go heaven for fleshly pleasure :
and that it is not a little mirth, or pleasure, or worldly riches
or honour, or the good will, or the word of men that will
quench hell-fire, or make him a saver that loseth his soul.
O if you had heard what I believe, if you had seen what I
believe, and that on the credit of the word of God, you
would say, there can be no reason to warrant a man to damn
his soul ; you durst not sleep quietly another night, before
you had resolved to Turn and Live.
If you see a man put his hand into the fire till it burn off,
you marvel at it ; but this is a thing that a man may have
reason for, as Bishop Cranmer had when he burnt off his
hand for subscribing to Popery. If you see a man cut off
a leg, or an arm, it is a sad sight ; but this is a thing a man
may have good reason for ; as many a man doth to save his
• Mark viii. 36.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 413
life. |f you see a man give his body to be burnt to ashes,
and to be tormented with strappadoes and racks, and refuse
deliverance when it is offered ; this is a hard case to flesh
and blood. But this a man hath good reason for ; as you
may see in Heb. xi. 33 — 36. And as many a hundred mar-
tyrs have done. But for a man to forsake the Lord that
made him, and for a man to run into the fire of hell, when he
is told of it, and entreated to turn, that he may be saved;
this is a thing that can have no reason in the world, that is
reason indeed, to justify, or excuse it. For heaven will pay
for the loss of any thing that we can lose to get it, or for
any labour which we bestow for it. But nothing can pay
for the loss of heaven.
I beseech you now, let his word come nearer to your
hearts. As you are convinced you have no reason to des-
troy yourselves, so tell me what reason you have to refuse
to turn, and live to God ; what reason hath the veriest world-
ling, or drunkard, or ignorant, careless sinner of you all, why
you should not be as holy as any you know, and be as care-
ful for your souls as any other ? Will not hell be as hot to
you as to others ? Should not your own souls be as dear to
you, as theirs to them ? Hath not God as much authority
over you? Why then will ye not become a sanctified peo-
ple, as well as they ?
O sirs, when God bringeth down the matter to the very
principles of nature, and shews you that you have no more
reason to be ungodly, than you have to damn your own
souls : if yet you will not understand and Turn, it seems a
desperate case that you are in.
And now either you have reason for what you do, or you
have not. If not, will you go on against reason itself? Will
you do that which you have no reason for? But if you
think you have, produce them, and make the best of your
matter, reason the case a little while with your fellow-crea-
ture, which is far easier than to reason the case with God.
Tell me, man, here, before the Lord, as if thou wert to die
this hour, why shouldst thou not resolve to turn this day,
before thou stir from the place thou standest in? What
reason hast thou to deny, or to delay ? Hast thou any rea-
son that satisfieth thine own conscience for it? Or any
that thou darest own and plead at the bar of God ? If thou
414 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
hast, let us hear them, bring them forth, and make them
good. But alas ! what poor stuff, what nonsense, instead of
reasons, do we daily hear from ungodly men ? But for their
necessity, I should be ashamed to name them.
ii; One saith, ' If none shall be saved but such convert-
ed and sanctified ones as you talk of, heaven would be but
empty ; then God help a great many.'
Answ. What, it seems you think God doth not know, or
else that he is not to be believed : measure not all by your-
self; God hath thousands and millions of his sanctified
ones ; but yet they are few in comparison of the world, as
Christ himself hath told us in Matt. vii. 13, 14. and Luke
xii. 32. It better beseems you to make that use of this
truth which Christ teacheth you ; " Strive to enter in at the
straight gate ; for straight 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 des-
truction, and many there be that go in thereat h" " And
fear not little flock, (saith Christ to his sanctified ones,) for
k is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom ^**
Object. 2. * I am sure if such as I go to hell, we shall
have store of company.'
Answ, And will that be any ease or comfort to you ? Or
do you think you may not have company enough in heaven?
Will you be undone for company ? Or will you not believe
that God will execute his threatenings, because there are so
many that are guilty ? All these are silly, unreasonable
conceits.
Object. 3. ' But all men are sinners, even the best of
you all.' ; n 5/j.ai «io/ .iii9 '
Amw. But all are not unconverted sinners. The godly
live not in gross sins ; and their very infirmities are their
grief and burden, which they daily long, and pray, and strive
to be rid of. Sin hath not dominion over them.
Object, 4. * I do not see that professors are any better
than other men : they will overreach and oppress, and are
as covetous as any.*
Answ. Whatever hypocrites are, it is not so with those
that are sanctified. God hath thousands and ten thousands
that are otherwise. Though the malicious world doth ac-
' Luke xiu. 2?— 24. « Luke xii. 23.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 415
cuse them of what they can never prove, and of that which
never entered into their hearts. And commonly they charge
them with heart-sins, which none can see but God ; be-
cause they can charge them with no such wickedness in their
lives, as they are guilty of themselves. ' i-^vfh lAno>
Object, 5. * But I am no whoremonger, nor drunkard, nor
oppressor ; and therefore why should you call upon me to
be converted ?* ^itiouB uiio o
Ansio. As if you were not born after the flesh, and had
not lived after the flesh, as well as others. Is it not as great
a sin, as any of these, for a man to have an earthly mind,
and to love the world above God, and to have a faithless,
unhumbled heart ? Nay, let me tell you more, that many
persons that avoid disgraceful sins, are fast glued to the
world, -and as much slaves to the flesh, and as strange to
God, and averse to heaven in their more civil course, as
others are in their more shameful, notorious sins. i'
Object. 6. * But I mean nobody any harm, or do no harm ;
and why then should God condemn me V ii .i.'' '^h/y^u^
Amw, Is it no haim to neglect the Lord that made thee,
and the work for which thou camest into the world, and prefer
the creature before the Creator, and neglect grace that is
daily offered thee ? It is the depth of thy sinfulness, to be
insensible of it. The dead feel not that they are dead. If
once thou wert made alive, thou wouldst see more amiss in
thyself, and marvel at thyself for making so light of it.
Object. 7. ' I think you will make men mad under a pre-
tence of converting them : it is enough to rack the brains of
simple people, to muse so much on matters too high forthem.*
^:^Answ, 1. Can you be madder than you are already? Or
at least, can there be a more dangerous madness, than to
neglect your everlasting welfare, and wilfully- uado youv^
selves? ' f}(t: • irtioJ !)s»irat'a« ov
-' 2. A man is never well in his wits till he be converted ;
he neither knows God, nor sin, nor Christ, nor the world,
nor himself, nor what his business is on the earth, so as to
set himself about it, till he be converted. The Scripture
saith that the wicked are unreasonable men ^\ and *' that the
wisdom of the world is foolishness with God V' and Lukt
XV. 17. it is said of the prodigal, " that when he came to
»» % Th«». iii. «. » i Cor. \. 20. ^
416 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
himself," he resolved to Return. It is a wise world when
men will disobey God, and run to hell for fear of being out
of their wits.
3. What is there in the work that Christ calls you to,
that should drive a man out of his wits i Is it the loving of
God, and calling upon him, and comfortable thinking of the
glory to come, and the forsaking of our sins, and the loving
of one another, and delighting ourselves in the service of
God ? Are these such things as should make men mad?
4. And whereas you say, that these matters are too high
for us, you accuse God himself for making this our work,
and giving us his word, and commanding all that will be
blessed, to meditate in it day and night. Are the matters
which we are made for, and which we live for, too high for
us to meddle with ? This is plainly to unman us, and to
make beasts of us, as if we were like to them that must
meddle with no higher matters than what belongeth to flesh
and earth, if heaven be too high for you to think on, and to
provide for, it will be too high for you ever to possess. .
5. If God should sometimes suffer any weak-headed
person to be distracted by thinking of eternal things ; this
is because they misunderstand them, and run without a
guide. And of the two, I had rather be in the case of such
an one, than of the mad, unconverted world, that take their
distraction to be their wisdom.
Object. 8. * I do not think that God doth care so much
what men think, or speak, or do, as to make so great a mat-
ter of it.'
Answ» It seems then, you take the word of God to be
false, and then what will you believe? But your own rea-
son might teach you better, if you believe not the Scriptures :
for you see God doth not set so light by us, but that he
vouchsafed to make us, and still preserveth us, and daily
upholdeth us, and provideth for us ; and will any wise man
make a curious frame for nothing ? Will you make, or Buy
a clock, or a watch, and daily look to it, and not care whe-
ther it go true or false ? Surely if you believe not a parti-
cular eye of Providence observing your hearts and lives,
you cannot believe or expect any particular Providence to
observe your wants and troubles, to relieve you. And if
God had so little cared for you, as you imagine, you would
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 417
never have lived till now : a hundred diseases would have
striven which should first destroy you. Yea, the devil
would have haunted you, and fetched you away alive, as the
great fishes devour the less ; and as ravenous beasts and
birds devour others. You cannot think that God made
man for no end or use : and if he made him for any, it was
sure for himself. And can you think he cares not whether
his end be accomplished, and whether we do the work that
we are made for ?
Yea, by this atheistical objection, you make God to
have made, and upheld all the world, in vain. For what are
all other lower creatures for, but for man ? What doth the
earth but bear us, and nourish us ? And the beasts do serve
us with their labours aud lives : and so of the rest. And
hath God made so glorious an habitation, and set man to
dwell in it, and made all his servants ; and now doth he
look for nothing at his hands ? Nor care how he thinks,
or speaks, or lives ? This is most unreasonable.
Object, 9. ' It was a better world when men did not make
so much ado in religion.'
Answ, It hath ever been the custom to praise the time
past. That world that you speak of, was wont to say. It
was a better world in our forefathers' days, and so did they
of their forefathers. This is but an old custom, because we
all feel the evil of our own times, but we see not that which
was before us.
2. Perhaps you speak as you think : worldlings think
the world is at the best, when it is agreeable to their minds ;
and when they have most mirth and worldly pleasure. And
I doubt not but the devil, as well as you, would say, that
then it was a better world ; for then he had more service,
and less disturbance ; but the world is best, when God is
most loved, regarded and obeyed. And how else will you
know when the world is good or bad, but by this ?
Object. 10. ' There are so many ways and religions, that
we know not which to be of; and therefore we will be even
as we are.'
Answ. Because there are many, will you be of that way
that you may be sure is wrong ? None are farther out of
the way, than worldly, fleshly, unconverted sinners. For
they do not err in this or that opinion, as many sects do;
VOL. VII. E E
418 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
but in the very scope and drift of their lives. If you were
going a journey that your life lay on, would you stop or
turn again, because you meet some cross-ways, or because
you see some travellers go the horse-way, and some the
foot-way, and some perhaps break over the hedge, yea, and
some miss the way? Or would you not rather be more
careful to inquire the way ? If you have some servants that
know not how to do your work right, and some that are un-
faithful, would you take it well at any of the rest, that
would therefore be idle and do you no service, because
they see the rest so bad ?
Object. 11. * I do not see that it goes any better with
those that are so godly, than with other men. They are as
poor, and in as much trouble as others.
Amw, And perhaps in much more, when God sees it
meet. They take not an earthly prosperity for their wages.
They have laid up their treasure and hopes in another
world, or else they are not Christians indeed. The less
they have, the more is behind : and they are content to
wait till then.
Object. 12. * When you have said all that you can, I am
resolved to hope well, and trust in God, and do as well as
I can, and not make so much ado.'
Answ, 1. Is that doing as well as you can, when you will
not turn to God, but your heart is against his holy and di-
ligent service ? It is as well as you will, indeed : but that
is your misery.
2. My desire is that you should hope and trust in God.
But for wh9,t is it that you will hope ? Is it to be saved, if
you turn and be sanctified ? For this you have God's pro-
mise ; and therefore hope for it, and spare not ; but if you-
hope to be saved without conversion and a holy life, this
is not to hope in God, but in satan, or yourselves; for God
hath given you no such promise, but told you the contrary ;
but it is satan and self-love that made you such promises,
and raised you to such hopes.
Well, if these, and such as these, be all you have to say
against conversion, and a holy life, your all is nothing, and
worse than nothing ; and if these, and such as these, seem
reasons sufficient to persuade you to forsake God, and cast
yourselves into hell, the Lord deliver you from such reasons.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 419
and from such blind understandings, and from such sense-
less, hardened hearts. Dare you stand to every one of
these reasons at the bar of God ? Do you think it will then
serve your turn, to say, * Lord I did not turn, because I had
so much to do in the world, or, because I did not like the
lives of some professors, or, because I saw men of so many
minds V O how easily will the light of that day confound
and shame such reasons as these ! Had you the world to
look after? Let the world which you served, now pay you
your wages, and save you if it can ! Had you not a better
world to look after first ? And were ye not commanded to
seek first God's kingdom and righteousness, and promised,
that other things should be added to you''? And were you
not told, " that godliness was profitable to all things, having
the promise of this life, and of that which is to come ^ ? Did
the sins of professors hinder you ? You should rather have
been the more heedful, and learned by their falls to beware ;
and have been the more careful, and not the more careless ;
it was the Scripture and not their lives, that was your rule.
Did the many opinions of the world hinder you ? Why, the
Scripture that was your rule, did teach you but one way, and
that was the right way ; if you had followed that, even in so
much as was plain and easy, you would never have miscar-
ried. Will not such answers as these confound and silence
you ? If these will not, God hath those that will. When
he asketh the man, Matt. xxii. 12. "Friend how earnest
thou in hither, not having on a wedding garment?" That
is, what dost thou in my church amongst professed Chris-
tians, without a holy heart and life ? What answer did he
make ? Why, the text saith, '* He was speechless," he had
nothing to say. The clearness of the case, and the majesty
of God, will then easily stop the mouths of the most confi-
dent of you, though you will not be put down by any thing
that we can say to you now, but will make good your cause,
be it never so bad. I know already, that never a reason
that now you can give me, will do you any good at last, when
your case must be opened before the Lord and all the world.
Nay, I scarce think that your own consciences are well
satisfied with your reasons. For if they are, it seems then
you have not so much as a purpose to repent : but if you do
*»■ Matt. Ti. S3. » 1 Tim. !▼. 8.
420 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
but purpose to repent, it seems you do not put much confi-
dence in your reasons which you bring against it.
What say you, unconverted sinners? Have you any
good reason to give, why you should not Turn, and present-
ly Turn with all your hearts ? Or, will you go to hell in des-
pite of reason itself? Bethink you what you do, in time,
for it will shortly be too late to bethink you. Can you find
any fault with God, or his work, or wages ? Is he a bad
master? Is the devil whom you serve a better? Or is the
flesh a better ? Is there any harm in a holy life? Is a life
of worldliness and ungodliness better? Do you think in
your conscience, 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 Christ within you ?
And to have a cleansed, purified heart? If it be bad to be
holy, why doth God say, " Be ye holy, for I am holy ^ V*
Is it evil to be like God ? Is it not said, that " God made
man in his own image ?" Why, this holiness is his image :
this Adam lost, and this Christ by his word and Spirit would
restore to you, as he doth to all that he will save. Why were
you baptized into the Holy Ghost ; and why do you baptize
your children into the Holy Ghost, as your Sanctifier, if ye
will not be sanctified by him, but think it a hurt to be sanc-
tified ? Tell me truly, as before the Lord, though you are
loath to live a holy life, had you not rather die in the case
of those that do so, than of others ? If you were to die this
day, had you not rather die in the case of a converted man,
than of the unconverted ? Of a holy and heavenly man,
than of a carnal, earthly man ? And would you not say as
Balaam, ** Let me die the death of the righteous, and let
my last end be like his° ?" And why will you not now be
of the mind that you will be of then ? First or last you
must come to this ; either to be converted, or to wish you
had been, when it is too late.
But what is it you are afraid of losing if you Turn ? Is
it your friends ? You will but change them : God will be
your friend, and Christ and the Spirit will be your friend,
and every Christian will be your friend. You will get one
friend that will stand in more stead than all the friends in
the world could have done. The friends you lose would
« 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. Lev. XX. 7. « Numb, xxiii. 10.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 42 J
have but enticed you to hell, but could not have delivered
you ; but the friend you get will save you from hell, and
bring you to his own eternal rest.
Is it your pleasures that you are afraid of losing? You
think you shall never have a merry day again, if once you be
converted. Alas ! that you should think it a greater plea-
sure to live in foolish sports and merriments, and please
your flesh, than live in the believing thoughts of glory, and
in the love of God, and in righteousness, and peace, and joy
in the Holy Ghost, in which the state of grace consisteth.
If it be a greater pleasure 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 with pins ; why should it not be a greater
joy to you to think of the kingdom of heaven being yours,
than all the riches or pleasures of the world ? As it is but
foolish childishness that makes children so delight in gawds,
that they would not leave them for all your lands ; so it is
but foolish worldliness, and fleshliness, and wickedness,
that makes you so much delight in your houses, and lands,
and meat, and drink, and ease, and honour, as that you would
not part with them for heavenly delights. But what will
you do for pleasure when these are gone ? Do you not think
of that? When your pleasures end in horror, and go out
with a stinking snuff, the pleasures of the saints are then
at the best. I have had myself but a little taste of the hea-
venly pleasures, in the forethoughts of the blessed approach-
ing day, and in the present persuasions of the love of God in
Christ ; but I have taken too deep a draught of earthly plea-
sures, (so that you may see, if I be partial, it is on your side,)
and yet I must profess from that little experience, that there
is no comparison. There is more joy to be had in a day (if
the sun of life shine clear upon us), in the state of holiness,
than in a whole life of sinful pleasure ; I had " rather be a
door-keeper in the house of God, than to dwell in the tents
of wickedness. A day in his courts is better than a thou-
sand" any where else »*. The mirth of the wicked is like the
laughter of a madman, that knows not his own misery : and
therefore Solomon saith of such laughter, " it is mad, and of
mirth, what doth it? — It is better to go to the house of
mourning, than to go to the house of feasting ; for that is
V Psal. Ixxxiv. 10.
422 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter ; for by the sadness of the
countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the
wise is in the house of mourning, "but the heart of fools is
in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the
wise, than to hear the song of fools ; for as the crackling of
thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool*^." All the
pleasure of fleshly things, is but like the scratching of a
man that hath the itch ; it is his disease that makes him
desire it : and a wise man had rather be without his plea-
sure, than be troubled with his itch. Your loudest laugh-
ter is but like that of a man that is tickled, he laughs when
he hath no cause of joy. And it is a wiser thing for a
man to give all his estate and his life, to be tickled to make
him laugh, than for you to part with the love of God, and the
comforts of holiness, and the hopes of heaven, and to cast
yourselves into damnation, that you may have your flesh
tickled with the pleasure of sin for a little while. Judge as
you are men whether this be a wise man's part. It is your
carnal, unsanctified nature that makes a holy life seem grie-
vous to you, and a course of sensuality seem more delight-
ful. If you will but Turn, the Holy Ghost will give you ano-
ther nature and inclination, and then it will be more plea-
sant to you to to be rid of your sin, than now it is to keep
it ; and you will then say that you knew not what a comfor-
table life was till now, and that it was never well with you,
till God and holiness were your delight.
Quest. * But how cometh it to pass, that men should be
so unreasonable in the matters of salvation ? They have wit
enough in other matters ; what makes them so loath to be
converted, that there should need so many words in so plain
a case 5 and all will not do, but the most will live and die
unconverted V
Answ. To name them only in few words, the causes are
these.
1. Men are naturally in love with earth and flesh, they
are born sinners, and their nature hath an enmity to God
and godliness, as the nature of a serpent hath to a man. And
when all that we can say, goes against the habitual inclina-
tions of their natures, no marvel if it little prevail.
"i Eccl. ii. 2. vii. 2. 6.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED, 423
2. They are in darkness and know not the very things
that they hear. Like a man that was born blind, and hears
a high commendation of the light : but what will hearing do,
unless he sees it? They know not what God is, nor what is
the power of the cross of Christ, nor what the Spirit of ho-
liness is, nor what it is to live in love by faith. They know
not the certainty, and suitableness, and excellency of the
heavenly inheritance. They know not what conversion, and
a holy mind and conversation are, even when they hear of
them. They are in a mist of ignorance, they are lost and
bewildered in sin, like a man that hath lost himself in the
night, and knows not where he is, nor how to come to him-
self again, till the daylight do recover him.
3. They are wilfully confident that they need no conver-
sion, but some partial amendment; and that they are in the
way to heaven already, and are converted, when they are
not. And if you meet a man that is quite out of his way,
you may long enough call on him to turn back again, if he
will not believe you that he is out of the way.
4. They are become slaves to their flesh, and drowned in
the world to make provision for it. Their lusts, and pas-
sions, and appetites have distracted them, and got such a
hand over them, that they cannot tell how to deny them, or
how to mind any thing else. So that the drunkard saith,
* I love a cup of good drink and cannot forbear it.' The
glutton saith, * I love good cheer, and I cannot forbear/ The
fornicator saith, ' I love to have my lusts fulfilled, and I can-
not forbear.' And the gamester loveth to have his sports,
and he cannot forbear. So that they are even become cap-
tivated slaves to their flesh, and their very wilfulness is be-
come an impotency, and what they would not do, they say
they cannot. And the worldling is so taken up with earthly
things, that he hath neither heart, nor mind, nor time for hea-
venly ; but as in Pharaoh's dream, the lean kine did eat
up the fat ones ; so this lean and barren earth do eat up all
the thoughts of heaven.
5. Some are so carried away by the stream of evil com-
pany, that they are possessed with hard thoughts of a godly
life, by hearing them speak against it : or at least they think
they may venture to do as they see most do; and so they
hold on in their sinful ways. And when one is cut ofl^ and
' Gen. ili. 4.
424 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
cast into hell, and another snatched away from among them,
to the same condemnation, it doth not much daunt them,
because they see not whither they are gone. Poor wretches !
They hold on in their ungodliness for all this ; for they little
know that their companions are now lamenting it in torments.
In Luke xvi. the rich man in hell would fain have had one to
warn his five brethren, lest they should come to that place
of torment. It is like he knew their minds and lives, and
knew that they were hasting thither, and little dreamed that
he was there ; yea, and little would have believed one that
should have told them so. I remember a passage a gentle-
man told me he saw upon a bridge over the Severn ', A man
was driving a flock of fat lambs, and something meeting
them and hindering their passage^ one of the lambs leaped
upon the wall of the bridge, and his legs slipping from under
him, he fell into the stream, and the rest seeing him, did
one after another leap over the bridge into the stream, and
were all, or almost all, drowned. Those that were behind,
did little know what was become of them that were gone be-
fore, but thought that they might venture to follow their
companions. But as soon as ever they were over the wall
and falling headlong, the case was altered. Even so it is
with unconverted, carnal men. One dieth by them, and
drops into hell, and another follows the same way ; and yet
they will go after them, because they think not whither they
are going. Oh ! but when death has once opened their eyes,
and they see what is on the other side of the wall, even in ano-
ther world, then what would they give to be where they were?
6. Moreover, they have a subtle, malicious enemy, that
is unseen of them, and plays his game in the dark ; and it is
his principal business to hinder their conversion; and there-
fore to keep them where they are, by persuading them not to
believe the Scriptures, or not to trouble their minds with
these matters ; or by persuading them to think ill of a godly
life, or to think that it is more ado than needs, and that they
may be saved without conversion, and without all this stir ;
and that God is so merciful, that he will not damn any such
as they, or, at least, that they may stay a little longer, and
take their pleasure, and follow the world a little longer yet,
and then let it go, and repent hereafter ; and by such jug-
•■ Mr, R. Rowley, of Shrewsbury, upon Acliam bridge.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 425
gling, deluding cheats as these, the devil keeps most in his
captivity, and leadeth them to his misery.
These, and such like impediments as these, do keep so
many thousands unconverted, when God hath done so much,
and Christ hath suffered so much, and ministers have said so
much, for their conversion ; when their reasons are silenced,
and they are not able to answer the Lord that calls after
them, '* Turn ye, turn ye, why] will ye die ?" yet all comes
to nothing with the greatest part of them ; and they leave
us no more to do after all, but to sit down and lament their
wilful misery.
I have now shewed you the reasonableness of God's com-
mands, and the unreasonableness of wicked men's disobe-
dience. If nothing will serve turn, but men will yet refuse
to Turn, we are next to consider who it is long of if they be
damned. And this brings me to the last Doctrine ; which is,
Doct. VII. That if, after all this, men will not turn, it is
not long of God that they are condemned but of themselves,
even their own wilfulness. They die because they will die,
that is, because they will not Turn.
If you will go to hell, what remedy ? God here acquits
himself of your blood ; it shall not lie on him if you be lost.
A negligent minister may draw it upon him ; and those that
encourage you, or hinder you not, in sin, may draw it upon
them ; but be sure of it, it shall not lie upon God. Saith
the Lord concerning his unprofitable vineyard, " Judge I
pray you, between me and my vineyard, what could have
been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it?"
When he had " planted it in a fruitful soil, and fenced it,
and gathered out the stones, and planted it with the choic-
est vines*." What should he have done more to it? He
hath made you men, and endued you with reason ; he hath
furnished you with external necessaries, all creatures are at
your service; he hath given you a righteous, perfect law;
when you had broke it, and undone yourselves, he had pity
on you, and sent his Son by a miracle of condescending
mercy to die for you, and be a sacrifice for your sins, and he
" was in Christ reconciling the world to himself." The
Lord Jesus hath made you a deed of gift of himself, and
eternal life with him, on the condition you will but accept it,
• 1m. v. 1—4.
426 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
and return. He hath on this reasonable condition, offered
you the free pardon of all your sins : he hath written this in
his word, and sealed it by his Spirit, and sent it you by his
ministers ; they have made the offer to you a hundred and
a hundred times, and called you to accept it, and turn to
God. They have in his name entreated you, and reasoned
the case with you, and answered all your frivolous objec-
tions. He hath long waited on you, and staid your leisure ;
and suffered you to abuse him to his face. He hath mer-
cifully sustained you in the midst of your sins : he hath
compassed you about with all sorts of mercies : he hath
also intermixed afflictions, to mind you of your folly, and
call you to your wits : and his Spirit hath been often striv-
ing with your hearts, and saying there, ' Turn sinner, turn
to him that calleth thee : whither art thou going ? What
art thou doing ? Dost thou know what will be the end ?
How long wilt thou hate thy friends, and love thine ene-
mies? When wilt thou let go all, and Turn, and deliver up
thyself to God, and give thy Redeemer the possession of thy
soul? When shall it once be?' These pleadings have
been used with thee ; and when thou hast delayed, thou hast
been urged to make haste, and God hath called to thee.
*' To-day, while it is called to-day, harden not your heart ?
Why not now without any more delay V Life hath been set
before you ; the joys of heaven have been opened to you in
the Gospel : the certainty of them hath been manifested ;
the certainty of the everlasting torments of the damned
hath been declared to you, unless you would have had a
sight of heaven and hell, what could you desire more ?
Christ hath been, as it were, set forth crucified before your
eyes. Gal. iii. 1. You have been a hundred times told, that
you are but lost men, till you come unto him ; as oft as you
have been told of the evil of sin, and of the vanity of sin,
the world, and all the pleasures and wealth it can afford ; of
the shortness and uncertainty of your lives, and the endless
duration of the joy or torment of the life to come. All this
and more than this, have you been told, and told again,
even till you were weary of hearing it, and till you could
make the lighter of it, because you had so often heard it ;
like the smith's dog, that is brought, by custom, to sleep
under the noise of the hammers, when the sparks do fly about
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 427
his ears ; and though all this have not converted you, yet
you are alive, and might have mercy, to this day, if you had
but hearts to entertain it. And now let reason itself be
judge, whether it be long of God or you, if after all this you
will be unconverted, and be damned ? If you die now it is
because you will die. What should be said more to you ?
Or what course should be taken, that is more like to prevail?
Are you able to say and make it good, ' We would fain have
been converted and become new creatures, but we could
not ; we would have changed our company, and our thoughts,
and our discourse, but we could not.* Why could you not
if you would ? What hindered you, but the wickedness of
your hearts? Who forced you to sin? Or who did hold
you back from duty ? Had you not the same teaching, and
time, and liberty to be godly as your godly neighbours had ?
Why then could you not have been godly as well as they?
Were the church doors shut against you, or did you not
keep away yourselves? Or sit and sleep, or hear as if you
did not hear ? Did God put in any exceptions against you
in his word, when he invited sinners to return, and when he
promised mercy to those that do return ? Did he say, ' I will
pardon all that repent, except thee V Did Jie shut you out
from the liberty of his holy worship ? Did he forbid you to
pray to him any more than others ? You know he did not.
God did not drive you away from him, but you forsook him,
and run away yourselves. And when he called you to him,
you would not come. If God had excepted you out of the
general promise and offer of mercy, or had said to you, ' Stand
off, I will have nothing to do with such as you ; pray not to
me, for I will not hear you. If you repent never so much,
and cry for mercy never so much, I will not regard you.' If
God had left you nothing to trust to but desperation, then
you had had a fair excuse. You might have said, ' To what
end should I repent and turn, when it will do no good V
But this was not your case. You might have had Christ to
be your Lord and Saviour, your Head and Husband, as well
as others, and you would not ; because that ye felt not
yourselves sick enough for the physician ; and because you
could not spare your disease ; in your hearts ye said as those
rebels, Luke xix. 14. *' We will not have this man to reign
over us." Christ would have gathered you under the wings
428 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
of his salvation, and you would not*. What desires of your
welfare did the Lord express in his holy word? With what
compassion did he stand over you and say, *' O that my
people had hearkened unto me, and that they had walked in
my way "." " O that there were such 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 chil-
dren for ever ''." " O that they were wise, that they under-
stood this ; and that they would consider their latter end y."
He would have been your God, and done all for you that
your souls could well desire : but you loved the world and
your flesh above him ; and, therefore, you would not hear-
ken to him ; though you complimented with him, and gave
him high titles, yet when he came to the closing, you would
have none of him. No marvel then, if " he gave you up to
your own heart's lusts, and you walked in your own coun-
sels ^." He condescends to reason, and pleads the case with
you, and asks you, ** What is there in me, or my service, that
you should be so much against me ? What harm have I done
thee, sinner? Have I deserved this unkind dealing at thy
hands ? Many mercies have I shewed thee ; for which of
them dost thou despise me? Is it I, or is it satan, that is
thy enemy ? Is it I, or is it thy carnal self that would un-
do thee ? Is it a holy life, or a life of sin, that thou hast
cause to fly from? If thou be undone, thou procurest this
to thyself, by forsaking me the Lord, that would have saved
thee *." " Doth not thine own wickedness correct thee, and
thy sin reprove thee. Thou mayst see that it is an evil and
bitter thing, that thou hast forsaken me ^." " What iniquity
have ye found in me, that you have followed after vanity,
and forsaken me ^.*' He <jalleth out, as it were, to the brutes
to hear the controversy that he hath against you. " Hear
O mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foun-
dations of the earth ; for the Lord hath a controversy with
his people, and he will plead with Israel. O my people,
what have I done to thee, and wherein have I wearied thee,
testify against me ; for I brought thee out of Egypt, and re-
deemed thee ^" " Hear, O heavens, and give ear O earth,
* Matt, xxiii. 27. " Psal. Ixixl 13. " Deut. v. 29.
y Deut. xxxii. 29. ^ Psal. Ixxxi. 11, 12. » Jer. ii. 17.
b Jer. ii. 19. c jgr. ii. 5, 6. a Mic. vi. 2— ,>
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED 429
for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought
up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox
knovi^eth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel
doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah, sinful
nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers*!"
&c. " Do you thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and
unwise ? Is not he thy father that bought thee, and estab-
lished thee^?" When he saw that you forsook him even for
nothing, and turned away from your Lord and life, to hunt
after the chaff and feathers of the world, he told you of your
folly, and called you to a more profitable employment.
" Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not
bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not ? Hear-
ken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and
let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and
come unto me ; hear, and your soul shall live, and I will
make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mer-
cies of David. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found,
call ye upon him, while he is near. Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him
return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon s." And so Isa.
i. 16 — 18. And when you would not hear, what complaints
have you put him to, charging it on you as your wilfulness,
and stubbornness? " Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and
be horribly afraid ; for my people have committed two evils ;
they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters ; and
hewed them out cisteims, broken cisterns, that can hold no
water ^.'* Many a time hath Christ proclaimed that free in-
vitation to you, ** Let him that is athirst come : and whoso-
ever will, let him take the water of life freely '." But you
put him to complain after all his offers ; " They will not
come to me that they may have life ''." He hath invited you
to feast with him in the kingdom of his grace ; and you have
had excuses from your grounds, and your cattle, and your
worldly business, and when you would not come, you have
said you could not, and provoked him to resolve that you
should never taste of his supper '. And who is it long of
* Isa. i. ie--4. ' Deuf. xxxU. 6. r ba. Ir. 1-.^. 6, 7.
•* Jer. ii. If, 15. • Rev. xxYu 17 ^ John v. 40.
^ Luke xiv. 15— «3.
430 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
now but yourselves ? And what can you say is the chief
cause of your damnation, but your own wills ? You would
be damned. The whole case is laid open by Christ himself,
Prov. i. 20. to the end : " Wisdom crieth without, she utter-
eth her voice in the streets : she crieth in the chief place of
concourse. How long, ye simple ones, will ye love sim-
plicity, and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools
hate knowledge ? Turn you at my reproof; behold, I will
pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words
unto you. Because I have called and ye refused, I have
stretched out my hand, and no man regarded ; but ye have
set at naught all my counsel, and would have none of my re-
proof : I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when
your fear cometh ; when your fear cometh as desolation, and
your destruction cometh as a whirlwind ; when distress and
anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they callupon me, but
I will not answer ; they shall seek me early, but they shall
not find me ; for that they hated knowledge, and did not
choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my coun-
sel; they despised all my reproof: therefore shall they eat
of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own
devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them,
and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso
hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from
the fear of evil.'* I thought best to recite the whole text at
large to you, because it doth so fully shew the cause of the
destruction of the wicked. It is not because God would not
teach them but because they would not learn. It is not be-
cause God would not call them, but because they would not
turn at his reproof. Their wilfulness is their undoing.
USE. From what hath been said, you may further learn
these following things :
1. From hence you may see, not only what blasphemy
and impiety it is, to lay the blame of men's destruction upon
God : but also how unfit these wicked wretches are, to bring
in such a charge against their Maker. They cry out upon
God, and say, he gives them no grace, and his threatenings
are severe, and God forbid that all should be damned that be
not converted and sanctified, and they think it hard mea-
sure, that a short sin should have an endless suffering ; and
if they be damned, they say, they cannot help it. When in
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 431
the meantime they are busy about their own destruction,
even cutting the throat of their own souls, and will not be
persuaded to hold their hand. They think God were cruel
if he should damn them, and yet they are cruel to themselves,
and they will run into the fire of hell, when God hath told
them it is a little before them ; and neither entreaties nor
threatenings, nor any thing that can be said, will stop them.
We see them almost undone ; their careless, worldly, fleshly,
lives do tell us, that they are in the power of the devil ; we
know, if they die before they are converted, all the world
cannot save them; and knowing the uncertainty of their
lives, we are afraid every day lest they drop into the fire.
And, therefore, we entreat them to pity their own souls, and
not to undo themselves when mercy is at hand, and they
will not hear us. We entreat them to cast away their sin,
and come to Christ without delay, and to have some mercy
on themselves; but they will have none. And yet they
think that God must be cruel if he condemn them. O wil-
ful, wretched sinners ! It is npt God that is so cruel to you ;
it is you that are cruel to yourselves. You are told, you
must Turn or Bum, and yet you turn not. You are told,
that if you will needs keep your sins, you shall keep the
curse of God with them, and yet you will keep them.
You are told, that there is no way to happiness but by holi-
ness, and yet you will not be holy. What would you have
God say more to you ? What would you have him do with
his mercy ? He offered it to you, and you will not have it.
You are in the ditch of sin and misery, and he would give
you his hand to help you out, and you refuse his help ;
he would cleanse you of your sins, and you had rather keep
them. You love your lusts, and love your gluttony, and
sports, and drunkenness, and will not let them go; and
would you have him bring you to heaven whether you will
or no ? Or would you have him to bring you and your sins
to heaven together ? Why, that is an impossibility ; you
may as well expect he should turn the sun into darkness.
What, an unsanctified, fleshly heart be in heaven! it cannot
be ! " There entereth nothing that is unclean," Rev. xxi.
17. " For what communication hath light with darkness,
or Christ with Belial ?" 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15. *' All the day
long hath he stretched out his hands to a disobedient and
432 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
gainsaying people," Rom. x. 25. What will ye do now?
Will you cry to God for mercy ? Why, God calleth upon
you to have mercy upon yourselves, and you will not ; mi-
nisters see the poisoned cup in the drunkard's hand, and tell
him, ' There is poison in it,' and desire him to have mercy
on his soul, and forbear, and he will not hear us ; drink it
he must, and will ; he loves it, and, therefore, though hell
comes next, he saith, he cannot help it. What should one
say to such men as these ? We tell the ungodly, careless
worldlings, * It is not such a life that will serve the turn, or
ever bring you to heaven. If a bear were at your back, you
would mend your pace ; and when the curse of God is at
your back, and satan and hell are at your back, you will not
stir, but ask, * What needs all this ado V Is an immortal
soul of no more worth? O have mercy upon yourselves !
But they will have no mercy on themselves, nor once regard
us. We tell them the end will "be bitter. Who can dwell
with the everlasting fire ? And yet they will have no mer-
cy upon themselves. And yet will these shameful wretches
say, that God is more merciful than to condemn them?
when it is themselves that cruelly and unmercifully run upon
condemnation? And if we should go to them with our
hats in our hands, and entreat them, we cannot stop them ;
if we should fall down on our kness to them, we cannot stop
them ; but to hell they will, and yet will not believe that
they are going thither. If we beg of them, for the sake of
God that made them, and preserveth them ; for the sake of
Christ that died for them ; for the sake of their own poor
souls, to pity themselves, and go no farther in the way to
hell, but come to Christ while his arms are open, and enter
into the state of life, while the door stands open, and now
take mercy while mercy may be had, they will not be per-
suaded. If we should die for it, we cannot get them so much
as now and then to consider with themselves of the matter,
and to Turn. And yet they can say, * I hope God will be
merciful.' Did you never consider what he saith, Isa. xxvii.
11. '* It is a people of no understanding, therefore he that
made them will not have mercy on them ; and he that form-
ed them will shew them no favour.*' If another man will
not clothe you when you are naked, and feed you when you
are hungry, you will say he is unmerciful. If he should cast
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 433
you into prison, or beat or torment you, you would say he
is unmerciful. And yet you would do a thousand times
more against yourselves, even cast away both soul and body
for ever, and never complain of your own unmercifulness.
Yea, and God that waited upon you all the while with his
mercy, must be taken to be unmerciful, if he punish you af-
ter all this. Unless the holy God of heaven will give these
wretches leave to trample upon his Son's blood, and with the
Jews, as it were, again to spit in his face, and do despite to
the Spirit of Grace, and make a jest of sin, and a mock at
holiness, and set more light by saving mercy, than by the
filth of their fleshly pleasure ; and unless, after all this, he
will save them by the mercy which they cast away, and
would none of, God himself must be called unmerciful by
them ; but he will be justified when he judgeth ; and he will
not stand or fall at the bar of a sinful worm.
I know there are many particular cavils, that are brought
by them against the Lord, but I shall not here stay to an-
swer them particularly, having done it already in my '* Trea-
tise on Judgment,'' to which I shall refer them. Had the
disputing part of the world been as careful to avoid sin and
destruction, as they have been busy in searching after the
cause of them, and forward indirectly to impute it to God,
they might have exercised their wits more profitably, and
have less wronged God, and sped better themselves. When
so ugly a monster as sin is within us, and so heavy a thing
as punishment is on us, and so dreadful a thing as hell is
before us, one would think it should be an easy question
who is in the fault, and whether God or man be the princi-
pal or culpable cause ? Some men are such favourable
judges of themselves, that they are proner to accuse the In-
finite Perfection and Goodness itself, than their own hearts,
and imitate their first parents, that said, ** The serpent
tempted me, and the woman that thou gavest me, gave unto
me, and 1 did eat," secretly implying that God was the cause.
So say they, * The understanding that thou gavest me was
unable to discern ; the will that thou gavest me, was unable
to make a better choice ; the objects which thou didst set
before me, did entice me ; the temptation which thou didst
permit to assault me, prevailed against me.' And some are
so loath to think, that God can make a self-determining
VOL. Vll. F F
434 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
creature, that they dare not deny him that which they take
to be his prerogative, to be the determiner of the will in every
sin, as the first efficient, immediate, physical cause. And
many could be content to acquit God from so much caus-
ing; of evil, if they could but reconcile it with his being the
chief cause of good. As if truths would be no longer truths,
than we are able to see them in their perfect order and co-
herence, because our ravelled wits cannot set them right to-
gether, nor assign each truth its proper place, we presume to
conclude, that some must be cast away. This is the fruit
of proud self-conceitedness, when men receive not God's
truth as a child his lesson, in a holy submission to the holy
omniscience of our teacher, but as censurers that are too wise
to learn.
Object. ' But we cannot convert ourselves till God con-
vert us ; we can do nothing without his grace. It is not in
him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, but in God that
sheweth mercy.'
Answ. 1 . God hath two degrees of mercy to shew : the
mercy of conversion first, and the mercy of salvation last.
The latter he will give to none but those that will and run,
and hath promised it to them only. The former is to make
them willing that were unwilling ; and though your own
willingness and endeavours deserve not his grace, yet your
wilful refusal deserveth that it should be denied unto you.
Your disability is your very unwillingness itself, which ex-
cuseth not your sin, but maketh it the greater. You could
turn, if you were but truly willing, and if your wills them-
selves are so corrupted, that nothing but effectual grace will
move them, you have- the more cause to seek for that grace,
and yield to it, and do what you can in the use of the means,
and not neglect it, nor set against it. Do what you are able
first, and then complain of God for denying you grace, if
you have cause.
Object. * But you seem to intimate, all this while, that
man hath freewill.'
Answ. The dispute about freewill is beyond your capaci-
ty, I shall, therefore, now trouble you with no more but this
about it. Your will is naturally a free, that is, a self-deter-
mining faculty, but it is viciously inclined, and backward to
do good ; and, therefore, we see by sad experience that it
CALL TO TPIE UNCONVERTED. 43S
hath not a virtuous, moral freedom. But that is the wick-
edness of it which deserveth the punishment. And I pray
you let us not befool ourselves with opinions. Let the case
be your own. If you had an enemy so malicious, that he
falls upon you and beats you every time he meets you, and
takes away the lives of your children, will you excuse him,
because he saith, ' I have not freewill, it is my nature, I
cannot choose, unless God give me grace V If you have a
servant that robbeth you, will you take such an answer from
him? Might not every thief and murderer that is hanged
at the assize, give such an answer, * I have not free will, I
cannot change my own heart. What can I do without God's
grace V And shall they, therefore, be acquitted ? If not,
why then should you think to be acquitted for a course of
sin against the Lord ?
2. From hence also you may observe these three things to-
gether. (1.) What a subtle tempter satan is. (2.) What a deceit-
ful thing sin is. (3.) What a foolish corrupted creature man is.
A subtle tempter, indeed, that can persuade the greatest part
of the world to go wilfully into everlasting fire, when they
have so many warnings and dissuasives as they have ? A
deceitful thing is sin, indeed, that can bewitch so many thou-
sands to part with everlasting life, for a thing so base and
utterly unworthy ! A foolish creature is man, indeed, that
will be so cheated of his salvation for nothing ; yea, for a
known nothing ! and that by an enemy, and a known ene-
my ! You would think it impossible that any man in his
wits should be persuaded for a trifle, to cast himself into the
fire or water, into a coal-pit, to the destruction of his life ;
and yet men will be enticed to cast themselves into hell. If
your natural lives were in your own hands, that you should
not die till you would kill yourselves, how long would most
of you live ? And yet, when your everlasting life is so far
in your own hands, under God, that you cannot be undone
till you undo yourselves, how few of you will forbear your
own undoing ? Ah, what a silly thing is man ! and what
a bewitching and befooling thing is sin I
3. From hence also you may learn, that it is no great
wonder, if wicked men be hinderers of others in the way to
heaven, and would have as many unconverted as they can,
and would draw them into sin, and keep them in it. Can
43(J CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
you expect that they should have mercy on others, that have
none upon themselves ? and that they should much stick at
the destruction of others, that stick not to destroy them
selves ? They do no worse by others, than they do by them-
selves.
4. Lastly, You may hence learn that the greatest enemy
to man is himself, and the greatest judgment in this life,
that can befal him, is to be left to himself ; and that the
great work that grace hath to do, is to save us from ourselves,
and the greatest accusations and complaints of men should
be against themselves, and that the greatest work we have to
do ourselves, is to resist ourselves ; and the greatest enemy
we should daily pray, and watch, and strive against, is our
carnal hearts and wills ; and the greatest part of your work,
if you would do good to others, and help them to heaven, is
to save them from themselves, even from their own blind un-
derstandings, and corrupted wills, and perverse affections,
and violent passions, and unruly senses. I only name all
these for brevity sake, and leave them to your farther consi-
deration.
Well, sirs, now we have found out the great delinquent
and murderer of souls (even men's selves, their own wills) ;
what remains, but that you judge according to the evidence,
and confess this great iniquity before the Lord, and be hum-
bled for it, and do so no more? To these three ends dis-
tinctly, I shall add a few words more. 1. Farther to con-
vince you. 2. To humble you. And 3. To reform you, if
there be yet any hopes.
1. We know so much of the exceeding gracious nature of
God, who is willing to do good, and delighteth to shew mer-
cy, that we have no reason to suspect him of being the cul-
pable cause of our death, or call him cruel. He made all
good, and he preserveth and maintaineth all. " The eyes
of all things do wait upon him, and he giveth them their
meat in due season ; he openeth his hand, and satisfieth the
desires of all the living ""." He is not only *' righteous in all his
ways," (and, therefore, will deal justly) " and holy in all his
works, (and, therefore, not the author of sin) but " he is al-
so good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works "."
But as for man, we know his mind is dark, his will per-
"1 Psal.cxiv. 15, 16. n Psal. cxiv. 17. 9.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 437
verse, his aflPections carry him so headlong, that he is fitted
by folly and corruption, to such a work as the destroying of
himself. If you saw a lamb lie killed in the way, would you
sooner suspect the sheep, or the dog, or wolf to be the au-
thor of it, if they both stand by ; or if you see a house bro-
ken, and the people murdered, would you sooner suspect the
prince, or judge, that is wise and just, and had no need ; or
a known thief, or murderer? I say, therefore, as James, i.
13 — 15. " Let no man say when he is tempted, that he is
tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, nei-
ther tempteth he any man," (to draw him to sin) " but every
man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and
enticed. Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth
sin : and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
You see here, that sin is the brat of your own concupiscence,
and not to be fathered on God ; and that death is the off-
spring of your own sin, and the fruit which it will yield you
as soon as it is ripe. You have a treasure of evil in your-
selves, as a spider hath of poison, from whence you are
bringing forth hurt to yourselves ; and spinning such webs
as entangle your own souls. Your nature shews it is you
that are the cause.
2. It is evident, you are your own destroyers, in that you
are so ready to entertain any temptation almost that is of-
fered you. Satan is scarce readier to move you to any evil,
than you are ready to hear, and to do as he would have you.
If he would tempt your understanding to error, and preju-
dice, you yield. If he would hinder you from good resolu-
tions, it is soon done. If he would cool any good desires
or affections, it is soon done. If he would kindle any lust,
or vile affections and desires in you, it is soon done. If he
would put you on to evil thoughts, words, or deeds, you are
so free, that he needs no rod or spur. If he would keep you
from holy thoughts, and words, and ways, a little doth it ;
you need no curb. You examine not his suggestions, nor
resist them with any resolution, nor cast them out as he
casts them in, nor quench the sparks which heendeavoureth
to kindle. But you set in with him and meet him half-
way, and embrace his motions, and tempt him to tempt you.
And it is easy to catch such greedy fish that are ranging for
a bait, and will take the bare hook.
438 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
3. Your destruction is evidently long of yourselves, in
that you resist all that would help to save you, and would
do you good, or hinder you from undoing yourselves. God
would help and save you by his word, and you resist it, it is
too strict for you. He would sanctify you by his Spirit,
and you resist and quench it. If any man reprove you for
your sin, you fly in his face with evil words ; and if he would
draw you to a holy life, and tell you of your present danger,
you give him little thanks, but either bid him look to him-
self, he shall not answer for you ; or else at best, you put
him off with a heartless thanks, and will not turn when you
are persuaded. If ministers would privately instruct and
help you, you will not come at them, your unhumbled souls
do feel but little need of their help. If they would cate-
chise you, you are too old to be chatechised, though you
are not too old to be ignorant and unholy. Whatever they
can say to you for your good, you are self-conceited and
wise in your own eyes, (even in the depth of ignorance) that
you will regard nothing that agreeth not with your present
conceits, but contradict your teachers, as if you were wiser
than they ; you resist all that they can say to you, by your
ignorance and wilfulness, and foolish cavils, and shifting
evasions, and unthankful rejections ; so that no good that is
offered, can find any welcome acceptance or entertainment
with you.
4. Moreover, it is apparent that you are self-destroyers,
in that you draw the matter of your sin and destruction,
even from the blessed God himself. You like not the con-
trivance of his wisdom. You like not his justice, but take
it for cruelty. You like not his holiness, but are ready to
think he is such an one as yourselves. Psal. 1. 21. and makes
as light of sin as you. You like not his truth, but would
have his threatenings, even his peremptory threatenings,
prove false. And his goodness, which you seem most
highly to approve, you partly abuse to the strengthening of
your sin, as if you might the freelier sin, because God is mer-
ciful, and because his grace doth so much abound.
5. Yea, you fetch destruction from your blessed Re-
deemer, and death from the Lord of life himself. And no-
thing more emboldeneth you in sin, than that Christ hath
died for you ; as if now the danger of death were over, and
I
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 439
you might boldly venture. As if Christ were become a ser-
vant to satan, and your sins, and must wait upon you while
you are abusing him ; and because he is become the physi-
cian of souls, and is able to save to the utmost, all that come
to God by him, you think he must suffer you to refuse his
help, and throw away his medicines, and must save you,
whether you will come to God by him or no ; so that a great
part of your sins are occasioned by your bold presumption
by the death of Christ.
Not considering that he came to redeem his people from
their sin, and to sanctify them a peculiar people to himself,
and to conform them in holiness to the image of their hea-
venly Father, and to their head, p
6. You also fetch your own destruction from all the pro-
vidences, and works of God. When you think of his eter-
nal foreknowledge and decrees, it is to harden you in your
sin, or possess your minds with quarrelling thoughts, as if
his decrees might spare you the labour of repentance, and
a holy life, or else were the cause of your sin and death. If
he afflict you, you repine ; if he prosper you, you the more
forget him, and are the more backward to the thoughts of
the life to come. If the wicked prosper, you forget the end
that will set all reckonings straight ; and are ready to think,
it is as good to be wicked as godly. And thus you draw
your death from all.
7. And the like you do from all the creatures, and mer-
cies of God to you, he giveth them to you as the tokens of
his love, and furniture for his service, and you turn them
against him to the pleasing of your flesh. You eat and
drink to please your appetite, and not for the glory of God,
and to enable you for his work. Your clothes you abuse to
pride. Your riches draw your hearts from heaven i. Your
honours and applause do puff you up ; if you have health
and strength, it makes you more secure, and forget your
end. Yea, other men's mercies are abused by you to your
hurt. If you see their honours and dignity, you are pro-
voked to envy them. If you see their riches, you are ready
to covet them. If you look upon beauty, you are stirred up
to lust. And it is well if godliness be not an eye-sore to you.
P Matt. I. ^1. nt. ii. 14. 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. Cul. iii. 10, 11. Pliil. iii. 9, 10.
1 Phil. iii. 18.
440 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
8. The very gifts that God bestoweth on you, and the
ordinances of grace which he hath instituted for his church
you turn unto your sin. If you have better parts than others,
you grow proud and self-conceited. If you have but com-
mon gifts you take them for special grace. You take the
bare hearing of your duty for so good a work, as if it would
excuse you for not obeying it. Your prayers are turned
into sin, because you "regard iniquity in your hearts ^"
" And depart not from iniquity when you call on the name of
the Lord '." " Your prayers are abominable, because you
turn away your ear from hearing the law *." And are more
ready to ** offer the sacrifice of fools," (thinking you do God
some special service) "than to hear his word, and obey it"**
You examine not yourselves before you receive the supper
of the Lord, but not discerning the Lord's body, do eat and
drink judgment to yourselves''.
9. Yea, the persons you converse with, and all their ac-
tions, you make the occasions of your sin and destruction.
If they live in the fear of God, you hate them. If they live
ungodly you imitate them. If the wicked are many, you
think you may the more boldly follow them. If the godly
be few, you are the more emboldened to despise them : if
they walk exactly, you think they are too precise : if one of
them fall into a particular temptation, you stumble upon
them, and turn away from holiness, because others are im-
perfectly holy : as if you were warranted to break your
necks because some others have, by their heedlessness,
sprained a sinew or put out a bone. If a hypocrite disco-
ver himself, you say, ' They are all alike,' and think your-
selves as honest as the best. A professor can scarce slip
into any miscarriage, but because he cuts his finger, you
think you may boldly cut your throats. If ministers deal
plainly with you, you say they rail : if they speak gently or
coldly, you either sleep under them, or are little more af-
fected than the seats you sit upon. If any errors creep into
the church, some greedily entertain them, and others re-
proach the Christian doctrine for them, which is most against
them. And if we would draw you from any ancient, rooted
^ Psal. Ixvi. 18. » 2 Tim. ii. 19* ' Prov. xxviii. 9.
« Eccl. V. 1. X 1 Cor. xU 28, 29.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 441
error, which can but plead two, or three, or six, or seven
hundred years custom, you are as much offended with a mo-
tion for reformation, as if you were to lose your life by it,
and hold fast old errors while you cry out against new ones.
Scarce a difference can arise among the ministers of the Gos-
pel, but you will fetch your own death from it. And you
will not hear, or at least, not obey the unquestionable doc-
trine of any of those that jump not with your conceits ; one
will not hear a minister, because he readeth his sermons,
and another will not hear him, because he doth not read them.
One will not hear him because he saith the Lord's prayer ;
and another will not hear him, because he doth not use it.
One will not hear them that are for episcopacy, and another
will not hear them that are against it. And thus I might
shew you in many other cases, how you turn all that comes
near you to your own destruction ; so clear is it, that the
ungodly are self-destroyers, and that their perdition is of
themselves.
Methinks, now, upon the consideration of what is said,
and the review of your own ways, you should bethink you
what you have done, and be ashamed, and deeply humbled
to remember it. If you be not, I pray you consider these
following truths.
1. To be your own destroyers, is to sin against the deep-
est principle in your natures, even the principle of self-pre-
servation. Evei7 thing naturally desireth or inclineth to its
own felicity, welfare, or perfection. And will you set your-
selves to your own destruction ? When you are commanded
to love your neighbours as yourselves, it is supposed that
you naturally love yourselves : but if you love your neigh-
boirs no better than yourselves, it seems you would have all
the world be damned.
2. How extremely do you cross your own intentions ! I
know you intend not your own damnation, even when you
are procuring it ; you think you are but doing good to your-
selves, by gratifying the desires of your flesh. But alas ! it
is but as a draught of cold water in a burning fever, or as
|he scratching of an itching wildfire, which increaseth the
disease and pain. If indeed you would have pleasure, profit,
a honour, seek them where they are to be found, and do not
hunt after them in the way to hell.
44S CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
3. What pity is it, that you should do that against your-
selves which none else in earth or hell can do ! If all the
world were combined against you, or all the devils in hell
were combined against you, they could not destroy you with-
out yourselves, nor make you sin, but by your own consent.
And will you do that against yourselves which none else can
do. You have hateful thoughts of the devil, because he is
your enemy, and endeavoureth your destruction. And will
you be worse than devils to yourselves ? Why thus it is with
you, if you had hearts to understand it ; when you run into
sin, and run from godliness, and refuse to turn at the call of
God, you do more against your own souls than men or devils
could do besides. And if you should set yourselves, and
bend your wits to do yourselves the greatest mischief, you
could not devise to do a greater.
4. You are false to the trust that God hath reposed in
you. He hath much intrusted you with your own salva-
tion ; and will you betray your trust ? He hath set you with
all diligence to keep your hearts ; and is this the keeping of
them "".
5. You do even forbid all others to pity you, when you
will have no pity on yourselves. If you cry to God in the day
of your calamity, for mercy, mercy ; what can you expect,
but that he should thrust you away, and say, * Nay, thou
wouldst not have mercy on thyself; who brought this upon
thee but thine own wilfulness V And if your brethren see you
everlastingly in misery, how should they pity you, that were
yuur own destroyers, and would not be dissuaded.
6. It will everlastingly make you your own tormentors
in hell, to think on it, that you brought yourselves wilfully
to that misery. O, what a griping thought it will be for
ever, to think with yourselves, that this was your own doing.
That you were warned of this day, and warned again, but it
would not do ; that you wilfully sinned, and turned away from
God ; that you had time as well as others, but you abused
it ; you had teachers as well as others, but you refused their
instructions : you had holy examples, but you did not imitate
them : you were offered Christ, grace, and glory as well af
others, but you had more mind to fleshly pleasures : yoi
had a prize in your hands, but had not a heart to lay it ouf.
" Prov. Iv. 23. y Prov. xvii. 16.
CALL TO THE UNCONVFRTED. 443
Can it choose but torment you, to think of this your present
folly ? O that your eyes were opened to see what you have
done in the wilful wronging of your own souls ! And that
you better understood those words of God, Prov. viii.33 — 35.
" Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed
is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates,
waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me,
findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord : but he that
sinneth against me, wrongeth his own soul ; all they that
hate me, love death."
And now I am come to the conclusion of this work, my
heart is troubled to think how I shall leave you, lest after
this the flesh should deceive you, and the world and the de-
vil should keep you asleep, and I should leave you as I found
you, till you awake in hell. Though, in care of your poor
souls, I am afraid of this, as knowing the obstinacy of a
carnal heart, yet I can say with the prophet Jeremiah, " I
have not desired the woeful day, the Lord knoweth y." I
have not with James and John, desired that fire might come
down from heaven, to consume them that refused Jesus
Christ. But it is the preventing of the eternal fire that I
have been all this while endeavouring; : and O that it had
been a needless work! That God and conscience might
have been as willing to spare me this labour, as some of you
could have been. But dear friends, I am so loath you should
lie in everlasting fire, and be shut out of heaven, if it be pos-
sible to prevent it, that I shall once more ask you. What
do you now resolve? Will you Turn or Die ? I look upon
you as a physician on his patient, in a dangerous disease,
that saith unto him, * Though you are so far gone, take but
this medicine, and forbear but these few things that are so
hurtful to you, and I dare warrant your life ; but if you will
not do this, you are a dead man.* What would you think of
such a man, if the physician and all the friends he hath, can-
not persuade him to take one medicine to save his life, or
to forbear one or two poisonous things that would kill him ?
This is your case. As far as you are gone in sin, do but now
Turn and come to Christ, and take his remedies, and your
souls shall live. Cast up your deadly sins by repentance,
and return not to your poisonous vomit any more, and yoii
> Jer. xx'u. 16'
444 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
shall do well. But yet if it were your bodies, that we had
to deal with, we might partly know what to do with you.
Though you would not consent, you might be held or bound,
while the medicine was poured down your throats, and
hurtful things might be kept from you. But about your
souls it cannot be so ; we cannot convert you against your
wills. There is no carrying madmen to heaven in fetters.
You may be condemned against your wills, because you sin-
ned with your wills ; but you cannot be saved against your
wills. The wisdom of God hath thought meet to lay men's
salvation or destruction exceeding much upon the choice of
their own wills : that no man shall come to heaven that
choose not the way to heaven ; and no man shall come to
hell, but shall be forced to say, ' I have the thing I chose,
my own will did bring me hither.' Now if I could but get
you to be willing, to be thoroughly, and resolvedly, and ha-
bitually willing, the work were more than half done. And
alas ! must we lose our friends, and must they lose their God,
their happiness, their souls, for want of this ? O God for-
bid ! It is a strange thing to me, that men are so inhuman
and stupid in the greatest matters, that in lesser things are
very civil and courteous, and good neighbours. For aught
I know, I have the love of all, or almost all my nei ghbours,
so far, that if I should send to every man in the town, or pa-
rish, or country, and request a reasonable courtesy of them,
they will grant it me ; and yet when 1 come to request of
them the greatest matter in the world, for themselves, and
not for me, I can have nothing of many of them, but a pa-
tient hearing. I know not whether people think a man in
the pulpit is in good sadness or not, and means as he speaks :
for I think I have few neighbours, but if I were sitting fa-
miliarly with them, and telling them of what I have seen or
done, or known in the world, they would believe me, and re-
gard what I say ; but when I tell them from the infallible
word of God, what they themselves shall see and know in
the world to come, they shew by their lives that they do
either not believe it, or not much regard it. If I met ever
an one of them on the way, and told them, yonder is a
coal-pit, or there is a quicksand, or there are thieves lay in
wait for you, I could persuade them to turn by. But when I
tell them that satan lieth in wait for them, and that sin is
1
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 445
poison to them, and that hell is not a matter to be jested
with, they go on as if they did not hear me. Truly, neigh-
bours, I am in as good earnest with you in the pulpit, as I
am in any familiar discourse, and if ever you will regard me,
I beseech you let it be here. I think there is never a
man of you all, but if my own soul lay at your wills, you
would be willing to save it (though I cannot promise that
you would leave your sins for it). Tell me thou drunkard,
art thou so cruel to me that speaks to thee, that thou wouldst
not forbear a few cups of drink, if thou knewest it would
save my soul from hell ? Hadst thou rather I did burn there
for ever, than thou shouldst live soberly as other men do?
If so, may I not say, thou art an unmerciful monster, and not
a man ? If I came hungry or naked to one of your doors,
would you not part with more than a cup of drink to relieve
me ? I am confident you would ; if it were to save my life,
I know you would (some of you) hazard your own. And
yet will not be entreated to part with your sensual pleasures
for your own salvation? Wouldst thou forbear a hundred
cups of drink, man, to save my life, if it were in thy power,
and wilt thou not do it to save thy own soul ? I profess to
you, sirs, I am as hearty a beggar with you this day, for the
saving of your souls, as I would be for my own supply, if I
were forced to come a begging to your doors. And, there-
fore, if you would hear me then, hear me now. If you would
pity me then, be entreated now to pity yourselves. I do
again beseech you, as if it were on my bended knees, that
you would hearken to your Redeemer, and Turn, that you
may Live. All you that have lived in ignorance, and care-
lessness, and presumption, to this day ; and all you that
have been drowned in the cares of the world, and have no
mind of God and eternal glory ; all you that are enslaved to
your fleshly desires of meats and drinks, sports and lusts; and
all you that know not the necessity of holiness, and never
were acquainted with the sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost
upon your souls ; that never embraced your blessed Re-
deemer by a lively faith, and with admiring and thankful ap<
prehensions of his love, and that never felt a higher estima-
tion of God and heaven, and a heartier love to them, than to
your fleshly prosperity, and the things below : I earnestly
beseech you, not only for my sake, but for the Lord's sake,
446 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
and for your souFs sake, that you go not on one day longer
in your former condition, but look about you and cry to God
for converting grace, that you may be made new creatures,
and may escape the plagues that are a little before you. And
if ever you will do any thing for me, grant me this request
to Turn from your evil ways and live : deny me any thing
that ever I shall ask you for myself, if you will but grant me
this. And if you deny me this, I care not for any thing else
that you would grant me. Nay, as ever you will do any thing
at the request of the Lord that made you, and redeemed you,
deny him not this ; for if you deny him this, he cares for no-
thing that you shall grant him. As ever you would have
him hear your prayers, and grant your requests, and do for
you at the hour of death and day of judgment, or in any of
your extremities, deny not his request now in the day of
your prosperity. O sirs, believe it, death and judgment,
and heaven and hell, are other matters when you come near
them, than they seem to carnal eyes afar oflf. Then you will
hear such a message as I bring you, with more awakened,
regardful hearts.
Well, though I cannot hope so well of all, I will hope
that some of you are by this time purposing to Turn and
Live ; and that you are ready to ask me, as the Jews did
Peter, when they were pricked to their hearts, and said,
' " Men and brethren, what shall we do ''?" How might we
come to be truly converted ? We are willing, if we did but
know our duty. God forbid that we should choose destruc-
tion, by refusing conversion, as hitherto we have done/
If these be the thoughts and purposes of your hearts, I
say of you, as God did of a promising people, " They have
well said, all that they have spoken : O that there was such
a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my
commandments always *." Your purposes are good : O that
there were but a heart in you to perform these purposes !
And in hope thereof, I shall gladly give you direction what
to do, and that but briefly, that you may the more easily re-
member it for your practice.
Direct, 1. If you would be converted and saved, labour
to understand the necessity and true nature of conversion ;
* Acts ii. 37. "" Deut. v. 28, 29.
CALL TO THE UNCONVKRTED. 447
for what, and from what, and to what, and by what, it is that
you must Turn.
Consider what a lamentable condition you are in till the
hour of your conversion, that you may see it is not a state to
be rested in. You are under the guilt of all the sins that
ever you committed, and under the wrath of God, and the
curse of his law ; you are bond-slaves to the devil, and daily
employed in his work against the Lord, yourselves, and
others. You are spiritually dead and deformed, as being
void of the holy life, and nature, and image of the Lord.
You are unfit for any holy work, and do nothing that is truly
pleasing unto God. You are without any promise or assu-
rance of his protection ; and live in continual danger of his
justice, not knowing what hour you may be snatched away
to hell, and most certain to be damned in that condition.
And nothing short of conversion can prevent it. Whatever
civilities, or amendments, or virtues, are short of true con-
version, will never procure the saving of your souls. Keep
the true sense of this natural misery, and so of the necessity
of conversion, on your hearts.
And then you must understand what it is to be converted ;
it is to have a new heart or disposition, and a new conver-
sation.
Quest, 1. * For what must we Turn?'
Answ. For these ends following, which you may attain.
1. You shall immediately be made living members of Christ,
and have interest in him, and be renewed after the image of
God, and be adorned with all his graces, and quickened with
a new and heavenly life, and saved from the tyranny of satan
and the dominion of sin, and be justified from the curse of
the law, and have the pardon of all the sins of your whole
lives, and be accepted of God, and made his sons, and have
liberty with boldness to call him Father, and go to him by
prayer in all your needs, with a promise of acceptance ; you
shall have the Holy Ghost to dwell in you, to sanctify and
guide you. You shall have part in the brotherhood, commu-
nion, and prayers of the saints. You shall be fitted for
God's service, and be freed from the dominion of sin, and
be useful and a blessing to the place where you live, and
shall have the promise of this life and that which is to come.
You shall want nothing that is truly good for you, and your
448 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
necessary afflictions you will be enabled to bear. You may
have some taste of the communion of God in the Spirit ; es-
pecially in all holy ordinances, where God prepareth a feast
for your souls. You shall be heirs of heaven while you live
on earth, and may foresee, by faith, the everlasting glory,
and so may live and die in peace ; and you shall never be so
low, but your peace and happiness will be incomparably
greater than your misery.
How precious is every one of these blessings, which I do
but briefly name, and which in this life you may receive !
And then, 2. At death your souls shall go to Christ, and
at the day of judgment both soul and body shall be justified
and glorified, and enter into your Master's joy; where your
happiness will consist in these particulars.
(1.) You shall be perfected yourselves : your mortal bo-
dies shall be made immortal, and the corruptible shall put
on incorruption ; you shall no more be hungry, thirsty, wea-
ry, or sick ; nor shall you need to fear either shame, sorrow,
death, or hell. Your souls shall be perfectly freed from sin,
and perfectly fitted for the knowledge, love, and praises of
the Lord.
(2.) Your employment shall be to behold your glorified
Redeemer, with all your holy fellow-citizens of heaven ; and
to see the glory of the most blessed God, and to love him
perfectly, and be loved by him, and to praise him everlast-
ingly-
(3.) Your glory will contribute to the glory of the New
Jerusalem, the city of the living God, which is more than to
have a private felicity to yourselves.
(4.) Your glory will contribute to the glorifying of your
Redeemer, who will everlastingly be magnified and pleased .
in you, that are the travail of his soul. And this is more than
the glorifying of yourselves.
(5.) And the Eternal Majesty, the living God, will be
glorified in your glory, both as he is magnified by your prai-
ses, and as he communicateth of his glory and goodness to
you, and as he is pleased in you ; and in the accomplish-
ment of his glorious works, in the glory of the New Jerusa-
lem, and of his Son.
All this the poorest beggar of you that is converted,
shall certainly and endlessly enjoy.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED 449
2. You see for what you must turn ; next you must un-
derstand from what you must turn. And that is, in a word,
from your carnal self, which is the end of all the unconverted.
From the flesh, that would be pleased before God, and would
still be enticing you thereto. From the world, that is the
bait ; and from the devil, that is the angler for souls, and the
deceiver. And so from all known and wilful sins.
3. Next you must know to what you must turn. And
that is, to God, as your end ; to Christ, as the way to the
Father ; to holiness, as the way appointed you by Christ ;
and so, to the use of all the helps and means of grace offered
you by the Lord.
4. Lastly, You must know by what you must turn. And
that is, by Christ, as the only Redeemer and Intercessor ;
and by the Holy Ghost, as the Sanctifier ; and by the word,
as his instrument or means ; and by faith and repentance,
as the means and duties on your part to be performed. All
this is of necessity.
Direct, 2. ' If you would be converted and saved, be
much in secret, serious consideration.' Inconsiderateness
undoes the world. Withdraw yourselves off'into retired se-
cresy, and there bethink you of the end why you were made,
of the life you have lived, the time you have lost, the sins
you have committed ; of the love, and sufferings, and ful-
ness of Christ ; of the danger you are in ; of the nearness of
death and judgment ; and of the certainty and excellency of
the joys of heaven; and of the certainty and terror of the
torments of hell, and the eternity of both; and of the neces-
sity of conversion and a holy life : steep your hearts in such
considerations as these.
Direct. 3. * If you will be converted and saved, attend
upon the word of God, which is the ordinary means.* Read
the Scripture, or hear it read, and other holy writings that
do apply it; constantly attend upon the preaching of the
word. As God will lighten the world by the sun, and not
by himself alone, without it ; so will he convert and save
men by his ministers, who are the lights of the world ''. When
he hath miraculously humbled Paul, he sendethhim to Ana-
nias^. And when he hath sent an angel to Cornelius, it is
h Acts xx»i. 17, 18. Malt. v. 14. ' Acts ix. 1().
VOL. VIJ. ti G
4t50 CALL to THE UNCONVERTED.
but to bid him send for Peter, who must tell him what he is
to believe and do.
Direct, 4. ' Betake yourselves to God, in a course of
earnest, constant prayer/ Confess and lament your former
lives, and beg his grace to illuminate and convert you. Be-
seech him to pardon what is past, and give you his Spirit,
and change your hearts and lives, and lead you in his ways,
and save you from temptation. And ply this work daily,
and be not weary of it.
Direct. 5. * Presently give over your known and wilful
sins, make a stand, and go that way no further.' Be drunk
no more, but avoid the places and occasion of it. Cast away
your lusts and sinful pleasures with detestation. Curse and
swear, and rail no more ; and if you have wronged any, res-
tore as Zaccheus did. If you will commit again your old
sins, what blessing can you expect on the means of conver-
sion?
Direct. 6. ' Presently, if possible, change your company,
if it hath hitherto been bad.' Not by forsaking your neces-
sary relations, but your unnecessary, sinful companions,
and join yourselves with those that fear the Lord, and in-
quire af them the way to heaven **.
Direct, 7. * Deliver up yourselves to the Lord Jesus, as
the physician of your souls, that he may pardon you by his
blood, and sanctify you by his Spirit, by his word and mi-
nisters, the instruments of his Spirit. " He is the way, the
truth, and the life : there is no coming to the Father but by
him * ;" " nor is there any other name under heaven by which
,you can be saved V Study therefore his person, and na-
ture, and what he hath done and suffered for you, and what
he is to you, and what he will be, and how he is fitted to the
full supply iof all your necessities.
Direct. 8. If you mean indeed to Turn and Live, * Do it
speedily without delay.' If you be not willing to Turn to-
day, you will not be willing to do it at all. Remember you
are all this while in your blood ; under the guilt of many
thousand sins, and under God's wrath, and you stand at the
very brink of hell ; there is but a step between you and
death. And this is not a case for a man that is well in his
wits to be quiet in. Up therefore presently, and fly as for
•i Acts ix. 19. 26. Psal. xv. 4. * John xiv.6. ^ Acts iv. ISJ.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 451
your lives j as you would be gone out of you house if it were
all on fire over your heads. O if you did but know what
continual danger you live in, ai)d what daily unspeakable
loss you sustain, and what a safer and sweeter life you
might live, you would not stand trifling, but presently Turn.
Multitudes miscarry that wilfully delay when they are con-
vinced that it must be done. Your live^ are short and un-
certain; and what a case are you in, if you die before you
thoroughly Turn ! You have staid too late already ; and
wronged God too long ; sin getteth strength and rooting ;
while you delay, your conversion will grow more hard and
doubtful. You have much to do, and therefore put not all
off to the last, lest God forsake you, and give you up to
yourselves, and then you are undone for ever.
Direct. 9. If you will Turn and Live, do it unreservedly,
absolutely and universally. Think not to capitulate with
Christ, and divide your heart between him and the world,
and to part with some sins and keep the rest: and to let go
that which your flesh can spare. This is but self-deluding :
you must in heai:t and resolution forsake all that you have,
or else you cannot be his disciples ?. If you will not take
God and heaven for your portion, and lay all below at the
feet of Christ, but you must needs also have your good
things here, and have an earthly portion, and God and glory
is not enough for you ; it is in vain to dream of salvation on
these terms ; for it will not be. If you seem never so reli-
gious, if yet it be hut a carnal righteousness, and the flesh's
prosperity, or pleasure, or safety, be still excepted in your
devotedness to God ; this is as certain a way to death, a^
open profaneness, though it be more plausible.
Direct. 10. If you will Turn and Liye, do it resolvedly,
and not stand still deliberating, as if it were a doubtful case.
Stand not wavering, as if you were yet uncertain, whether
God or the flesh be the better master : whether heaven or
hell be the better ead ; or whether sin or holiness be the
better way : -but away with your former lusts, and presently,
habitually, and iixediy resolve : be not one day of one mind,
and the next of another ; but l^ at a point with all the
world, and resolvedly give up yourselves, and all you have,
to God. Now, while yxiu are reading or hearing this, re-
t Luke xir. t6. SS.
452 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
solve. Before you sleep another night, resolve. Before
you stir from the place, resolve. Before satan hath time to
take you off, resolve. You will never turn indeed till you
do resolve; and that with a firm, unchangeable resolution.
So much for the Directions.
And now I have done my part in this work, that you
may Turn at the call of God and Live. What will become
of it, I cannot tell. I have cast the seed at God's command ;
but it is not in my power to give the increase. I can go no
farther with my message, I cannot bring it to your hearts,
nor make it work : I cannot do your parts for you to enter-
tain it, and consider of it ; nor can T do God's part, by open-
ing your heart, to cause you to entertain it ; nor can I shew
you heaven or hell to your eyesight, nor give you new and
tender hearts. If I knew what more to do for your conver-
sion, I hope I should do it.
But O thou that art the gracious Father of Spirits, thou
hast sworn thou delightest not in the death of the wicked,
but rather that they turn and live, deny not thy blessing to
these persuasions and directions, and suffer not thine ene-
mies to triumph in thy sight; and the great deceiver of
souls to prevail over thy Son, thy Spirit, and thy Word. O
pity poor unconverted sinners, that have no hearts to pity or
help themselves : command the blind to see, and the deaf to
hear, and the dead to live, and let not sin and death be able
to resist thee. Awaken the secure ; resolve the unresolved :
confirm the wavering : and let the eyes of sinners, that read
these lines, be next employed in weeping over their sins ;
and bring them to themselves, and to thy Son, before their
sins have brought them to perdition. If thou say but the
word, these poor endeavours shall prosper, to the winning
many a soul to their everlasting joy, and thine everlasting
glory. Amen.
Five Prayers : one for Families : one for a Penitent Sinner :
one for the Lord's day : one for Children and Servants : one
in the method of the Lords Prayer, being an Exposition of
it: for the use of those only who need such helps.
Two reasons moved me to annex these prayers ; 1. I ob-
serve that abundance of people, who have some good desires.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 453
do forbear, through disability, to worship God in their fam-
ilies, who I hope would do it, if they had some helps. And
though there be many such extant, yet few of these poor
families have the books, and I can give them my own at a
little cheaper rate, than I can buy others to give them.
2. Some that seem to have been brought to true repen-
tance and newness of life, by God's blessing, on the reading
of my books, have earnestly entreated me to write them a
form of prayer for their families, because long disuse hath
left them unable to pray before others.
For the service of God, and the good of men, I am con-
tented to bear the censures of those who account all forms
of book-prayers to be sin ; for in an age when pride (the fa-
ther), and ignorance (the mother), hath bred superstition (the
daughter), and taught men to think that God as fondly valu-
eth their several modes of speaking to him, as they do them-
selves, and thinketh as contemptuously of the contrary as
they, the question whether form or no form, book or no
book, hath been resolved unto such tragical and direful ef-
fects, that I were too tender, if a censure should discourage
me.
A Prayer for Families , Morning and Evening,
Almighty, all-seeing, and most gracious God, the, world
and all therein, is made, maintained and ordered by thee :
thou art everywhere present, being more than the soul of all
the world. Though thou art revealed in thy glory to those
only that are in heaven, thy grace is still at work on earth
to prepare men for that glory : thou madest us not as the
beasts that perish, but with reasonable, immortal souls, to
know, and seek, and serve thee here, and then to live with
all the blessed in the everlasting sight of thy heavenly gloiy,
and the pleasures of thy perfect love, and praise. But we
are ashamed to think how foolishly and sinfully we have for-
gotten and neglected our God and our souls, and our hopes
of a blessed immortality, and have overmuch minded the
things of this visible, transitory world, and the prosperity
and pleasure of this corruptible flesh, which we know must
turn to rottenness and dust. Thou gavest us a law which
was just and good, to guide us in the only way to life, and
4/>4 CAf.L TO THE UNCONVERTED.
when by sin we had undone ourselves, thou gavest us a Sa-
viour, even thy Eternal Word made man, who by his holy life
and bitter sufferings reconciled us to thee, and both pur-
chased salvation for us, and revealed it to us, better than an
angel from heaven could have done, if thou hadst sent him
to us sinners on such a message : but alas, how light have
we set by our Redeemer ! and by all that love which thou
hast manifested by him, and how little have we studied and
understood, and less obeyed that covenant of grace which
thou hast made by him to lost mankind !
But O God, be merciful to us vile and miserable sinners ;
forgive the sins of our natural depravity and the follies of
our youth, and all the ignorance, negligence, omissions and
commissions of our lives : and give us true repentance for
them, or else we know that thou wilt not forgive them. Our
life is but as a shadow that passeth away, and it is but as a
moment till we leave this world, and appear before thee to
give up our account, and to speed for ever as here we have
prepared. Should we die before thou hast turned our hearts
from this sinful flesh and world to thee by true faith and re-
pentance, we shall be lost for evermore. O woe to us that
ever we were born, if thou forgive not our sins, and make us
not holy before this short, uncertain life be at an end : had
we all the riches and pleasures of this world, they would
shortly leave us in the greater sorrows. We know that all
our life is but the time which thy mercy allotteth us to pre-
pare for death ; therefore we should not put off our repen-
tance and preparation to a sick bed : but now Lord, as if it
were our last and dying words, we earnestly beg thy pardon-
ing and sanctifying grace, through the merits and interces-
sion of our Redeemer : O thou that hast pitied and saved so
many millions of miserable sinners, pity and save us also,
that we may glorify thy grace for ever ; surely thou delight-
est not in the death of sinners, but rather that they return
and live : hadst thou been unwilling to shew mercy, thou
wouldst not have ransomed us at so precious a price, and
still entreat us to be reconciled unto thee , we have no cause
to distrust thy truth or goodness, but we are afraid lest un-
belief, and pride, and hypocrisy, and a worldly, fleshly
mind, should be our ruin. O save us from satan^ and this
tempting world, but especially from ourselves : teach us to
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 466
deny all ungodliness and fleshly lusts, and to live soberly,
righteously, and godly in this world. Let it be our chiefest
daily work to please thee, and to lay up a treasure in hea-
ven, and to make sure of a blessed life with Christ, and qui-
etly to trust thee with soul and body. Make us faithful in
our callings, and our duties to one another, and to all men,
to our superiors, equals and inferiors : bless the king, and
all in authority, that we may live a quiet and peaceable life
in all godliness and honesty : give wise, holy, and peaceable
pastors to all the churches of Christ, and holy and peaceable
minds to the people : convert the heathen and infidel nations
of the world ; and cause us, and all thy people to seek first
the hallowing of thy name, the coming of thy kingdom, the
doing of thy will on earth as it is done in heaven: give us
our daily bread, even all things necessary to life and godli-
ness, and let us be therewith content. Forgive us our daily
sins, and let thy love and mercy constrain us to love thee
above all ; and for thy sake to love our neighbours as our-
selves, and in all our dealings, to do justly and mercifully,
as we would have others do by us. Keep us from hurtful
temptations, from sin, and from thy judgments, and from the
malice of our spiritual and corporal enemies ; and let our
thoughts, affections, passions, words, and actions, be go-
verned by thy word and Spirit to thy glory : make all our
religion and obedience pleasant to us ; and let our souls be
so delighted in the praises of thy kingdom, thy power, and
thy glory, that it may secure and sweeten our labour by
day, and our rest by night, and keep us in a longing and
joyful hope of the heavenly glory : and let the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God our Father, and the
communion of the Holy Spirit be with us now and for ever.
Amen.
A Cmfession and Prayer for a Penitent Sinner,
O most great, most wise and gracious God, though thou
hatest all the workers of iniquity, and canst not be recon-
ciled unto sin ; yet through the mediation of thy blessed
Son, with pity behold this miserable sinner who casteth him-
self down at the footstool of thy grace : had I lived to those
high and holy ends, for which I was created and redeemed.
456 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
I might now have coQie to thee in the boldness and confi-
dence of a child, in assurance of thy love and favour ; but I
have played the fool and the rebel against thee I I have
wilfully forgotten the God that made me, and the Saviour
that redeemed me, and the endless glory which thou didst
set before me : I forgot the business which I was sent for
into the world ; and have lived as if I had been made for
nothing, but to pass a few days in fleshly pleasure, and pam-
per a carcase for the worms : I wilfully forgot what it is to
be a man, who had reason given him to rule his flesh, and to
know his God, and to foresee his death, and the state of im-
mortality : and I made my reason a servant to my senses,
and lived too like the beasts that perish. O the precious
time which I have lost, which all the world cannot call
back ! O the calls of grace, which I have neglected !
O the calling of God, which I have resisted ! The wonder-
ful love which I unthankfully rejected ! And the manifold
mercies which I have abused, and turned into wantonness
and sin ! How deep is the guilt which I have contracted !
And how great are the comforts which I have lost ! I might
have lived all this while in the love of thee my gracious God ;
and in the delight of thy holy word and ways ! In the daily
sweet foresight of heaven, and in the joy of the Holy Ghost,
if I would have been ruled by thy righteous laws : but I
have hearkened to the flesh, and to this wicked and deceit-
ful world, and have preferred a short and sinful life before
thy love and endless glory.
Alas, what have I been doing since I came into the
world ! Folly and sin have taken up my time. I am asha-
med to look back upon the years that I have spent ; and to
think of the temptations that I have yielded to. Alas, what
trifles have enticed me from my God I How little have I had
for the holy pleasures which I have lost ! Like Esau, I have
profanely sold my birthright for one morsel, to please my
fancy, my appetite, and my lust; I have set light by all the
joys of heaven; I have unkindly despised the goodness of
my Maker ; I have slighted the love and grace of my Re-
deemer; I have resisted thy Holy Spirit, silenced my own
conscience, and grieved thy ministers, and my own faithful
friends, and have brought myself into this woeful case.
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 457
wherein I am a shame and burden to myself, and God is my
terror, who should be only my hope and joy.
Thou knowest my secret sins, which are unknown to
men ; thou knowest all their aggravations. My sins O Lord,
have found me out. Fears and sorrows overwhelm me ! If
I look behind me, I see my wickedness pursue my soul, and
as an army, ready to overtake me, and devour me. If I
look before me I see the just and dreadful judgment, and I
know that thou wilt not acquit the guilty. If I look within
me, I see a dark, defiled heart. If I look without me, I see
a world still offering fresh temptations to deceive me. If I
look above me, I see thine offended dreadful Majesty ; and
if I look beneath me, I see the place of endless torment, and
the company which I deserve to suffer with. I am afraid to
live, and more afraid to die.
But yet when I look to thy abundant mercy, and to thy
Son, and to thy covenant, I have hope. Thy goodness is
equal to thy greatness; thou art love itself, and thy mercy
is over all thy works. So wonderfully hath thy Son condes-
cended unto sinners, and done and suffered so much for
their salvation, that if yet I should question thy willingness
to forgive, I should but add to all my sins, by dishonouring
that matchless mercy which thou dost design to glorify.
Yea more, I find upon record in thy word, that through
Christ thou hast made a covenant of grace, and act of obli-
vion, in which thou hast already conditionally, but freely
pardoned all ; granting them forgiveness of all their sins,
without any exception, whenever by unfeigned faith and re-
pentance, they turn to thee by Jesus Christ. And thy pre-
sent mercy doth increase my hope, in that thou hast not cut
me off, nor utterly left me to the hardness of my heart, but
shewest me my sin and danger, before I am past remedy.
O, therefore, behold this prostrate sinner, which with the
publican smiteth on his breast, and is ashamed to look up
towards heaven : " O God, be merciful to me a sinner." I
confess not only my original sin, but the follies, and furies
of my youth, ray manifold sins of ignorance and knowledge,
of negligence and wilfulness, of omission and commission ;
against the law of nature, and against the grace and Gospel
of thy Son ; forgive and save me, O my God, for thy abun-
dant mercy, and for the sacrifice and merit of thy Son, and
458 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
for the promise of forgiveness which thou hast made through
him, for in these alone is all my trust. Condemn me not
who condemn myself. O thou that hast opened so precious
a fountain for sin, and for uncleanness, wash me thoroughly
from my wickedness, and cleanse me from my sin. Though
thy justice might send me presently to hell, let mercy
triumph in my salvation. Thou hast no pleasure in the
death of sinners, but rather that they repent and live : if my
repentance be not such as Ihou requirest, O soften this har-
dened, flinty heart, and give me repentance unto life. Turn
me to thyself, O God of my salvation, and cause thy face to
shine upon me. " Create in me a clean heart, and renew a
right Spirit within me." Meet not this poor, returning pro-
digal in thy wrath, but with the embracement of thy tender
mercies. Cast me not from thy presence, and sentence me
not to depart from thee with the workers of iniquity. Thou
who didst patiently endure me when I despised thee, refuse
me not now I seek unto thee, and here in the dust implore
thy mercy. Thou didst convert and pardon a wicked Ma*
nasseh, and a persecuting Saul. And there are multitudes
in heaven, who were once thine enemies. Glorify also thy
superabounding grace, in the forgiveness of my abounding
sins.
I ask not for liberty to sin again, but for deliverance
from the sinning nature. O give me the renewing Spirit of
thy Son, which may sanctify all the powers of my soul. Let
me have the new and heavenly birth, and nature, and the
spirit of adoption to reform me to thine image, that I may
be holy as thou art holy. Illuminate me with the saving
knowledge of thyself, and thy Son Jesus Christ. O fill me
with thy love, that my heart may be wholly set upon thee ;
and the remembrance of thee be my chief delight : let the
freest and sweetest of my thoughts run after thee : and the
freest and sweetest of my discourse be of thee, and of thy
glory, and of thy kingdom, and of thy word and ways ! O
let my treasure be laid up in heaven, and there let me daily
and delightfully converse. Make it the great and daily bu-
siness of my devoted soul, to please thee, and to honour
thee, to promote thy kingdom, and to do thy will ! Put thy
fear into my heart, that I may never depart from thee. This
world hath had too much of my heart already ; let it now be
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 459
crucified to me, and I to it, by the cross of Christ : let me
not love it, nor the things which are therein ; but having
food and raiment, cause me therewith to be content. Des-
troy in me all fleshly lusts, that I may not live after the
flesh, but the Spirit. Keep me from the snares of wicked
company, and from the counsel and ways of the ungodly.
Bless me with the hopeful communion of the saints, iamd
with all the means that thou hast appointed to further our
sanctification and salvation. O that my ways were so di-
rected, that I might keep thy statutes ! Let me never re-
turn again to folly, nor forget the covenant of my God : help
me to quench the first motion of sin, and to abhor all sinful
desires and thoughts ; and let thy Spirit strengthen mfe
against all temptations ; that I may conquer and endure to
the end. Prepare me for sufferings, and for death, and
judgment, that when I must leave this sinful world, I may
yield up my departing soul with joy into the faithful hands
of my dear Redeemer, that I be not numbered with the un-
godly, which die in their unpardoned sin, and pass into
everlasting misery ; but may be found in Christ, having the
righteousness which is of God by faith : and may attain to
the resurrection of the just : that so the remembrance of the
sin and miseries from which thou hast delivered me, may
farther my perpetual thanks and praise to thee my Creator,
my Redeemer, and my Sanctifier.
And O that thou wouldst call and convert the miserable
nations of idolaters and infidels, and the multitudes of un-
godly hypocrites, who have the name of Christians, and not
the truth, and power, and life. O send forth labourers into
thy harvest and let not satan hinder them. Prosper thy
Gospel, and the kingdom of thy Son, that sinners may more
abundantly be converted to thee, and this earth may bfe
made like unto heaven ; that when thou hast gathered us all
into unity with Christ, we may all, with perfect love and
joy, ascribe to thee the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
A Form of Praise and Prayer for the Lord*s-duy,
Glorious Jehovah, while angels and peifected spirits are
praising thee in the presence of thy glory, thou hast allowed
460 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. ^
and commanded us to take our part in the presence of thy
grace : we have the same most holy God to praise ; and
though we see thee not, our Head and Saviour seeth thee,
and our faith discerneth thee in the glass of thy holy works
and word. Though we are sinners, and unworthy, and can-
not touch those holy things, without the marks of our pol-
lution ; yet have we a great High Priest with thee, who was
separated from sinners, holy, harmless, and undefiled, who
appeareth for us, in the merits of his spotless life and sacri-
fice, and by whose hands only we dare presume to present a
sacrifice to the most holy God. And thou hast ordained this
day of holy rest, as a type and means of that heavenly rest
with the triumphant church to which we aspire, and for
which we hope. Thou didst accept their lower praise on
earth, before they celebrated thy praise in glory : accept ours
also by the same Mediator.
Glory be to thee, O God in the highest : on earth peace,
goodwill towards men. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Al-
mighty, who wast, and art, and art to come ; Eternal, with-
out beginning or end ; Immense, without all bounds or mea-
sure ; the Infinite Spirit, Father, Word, and Holy Ghost.
The infinite Life, Understanding, and Will, infinitely power-
ful, wise, and good ; of thee, and through thee, and to thee
are all things : to thee be glory for evermore. All thy works
declare thy glory ; for thy glorious perfections appear t»n
all, and for thy glory, and the pleasure of thy holy will,
didst thou create them. The heavens, and all the hosts
thereof; the sun and all the glorious stars; the fire with
its motion, light and heat ; the earth and all that dwell
thereon, with all its sweet and glorious ornaments ; the air
and all the meteors ; the great deeps and all that swim there-
in ; all are the preachers of thy praise, and shew forth the
great Creator's glory. How great is that power which made
so great a world of nothing ; which with wonderful swift-
ness moved those great and glorious luminaries, which in a
moment send forth the influences of their motion, light and
heat through all the air, to sea and earth ; thy powerful life
giveth life to all ; and preserveth this frame of nature which
thou hast made. How glorious is that wisdom which or-
deretli all things, and assigneth to all their place and office,
and by its perfect law maintaineth the beauty and harmony
CALL TO THK UNCONVERTED. 46 f
of all ; how glorious is that Goodness and Love, which made
all good and very good !
We praise and glorify thee our Lord and Owner ; for we
and all things are thine own. We praise and glorify thee
our King and Ruler ; for we are thy subjects, and our per-
fect obedience is thy due ; just are all thy laws and judg-
ments ; true and sure is all thy word. We praise and glo-
rify thee, our great Benefactor ; in thee we live, and move,
and are ; all that we are, or have, or can do, is wholly from
thee, the Cause of all ; and all is for thee, for thou art our
End. Delightfully to love thee, is our greatest duty, and
our only felicity ; for thou art love itself, and infinitely
amiable.
When man by sin did turn away his heart from thee,
believed the tempter against thy truth, obeyed his senses
against thy authority and wisdom, and forsaking thy Fa-
therly love and goodness, became an idol to himself, thou
didst not use him according to his desert ; when we forsook
thee, thou didst not utterly forsake us ; when we had lost
ourselves, and by sin became thine enemies, condemned by
thy law ; thy mercy pitied us, and gave us the promise of a
Redeemer, who in the fulness of time did assume our nature,
fulfilled thy law, and suffered for our sins, and conquering
death, did rise again, ascended to heaven, and is our glori-
fied Head and Intercessor. Him hast thou exalted to be a
Prince and Saviour to give us repentance and remission of
sins. In him thou hast given pardon and justification, re-
conciliation and adoption, by a covenant of grace, to every
penitent believer. Of enemies, and the heirs of death, thou
hast made us sons and heirs of life.
We are the brands whom thou hast plucked out of the
fire ; we are the captives of satan whom thou hast redeemed ;
we are the condemned sinners, whom thou hast pardoned ;
we praise thee, we glorify thee our merciful God, and gra-
cious Redeemer. Our souls have now refuge from thy re-
venging wrath. Thy promise is sure : satan, and the world,
and death are overcome : our Lord is risen ; he is risen, and
we shall rise through him. O death, where is thy sting ! O
grave, where is thy victory ! Our Saviour is ascended to his
Father and our Father, to his God and our God ; and we
shall ascend ; to his hands we may commit our departing
402 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTRD.
souls ; our Head is glorified, and it is his will and promise
that we shall be with him where he is to see his glory ; he
hath sealed us thereunto by his Holy Spirit; we were dead
in sins, and he hath quickened us ; we were dark in ignorance,
and unbelief, and he hath enlightened us ; we \yere unholy
apd carnal, sold under sin, and he. hath sanctified our wills,
and killed our concupiscence. We praise and glorify this
Spirit of life, with the Father and the Son from whom he is
sent to be life, and light, and love to our dead, and dark,
and disaffected souls We are created, and redeemed, and
sanctified for thy holy love, and praise, and service : O let
these be the very nature of our souls, and the employment
and pleasure of all our lives ! O, perfect thy weak and lan-
guid graces in us, that our love and praise may be more per-
fect ! We thank thee for thy word, and sacred ordinances,
for the comfort of the holy assemblies and communion of the
saints, and for the mercy of these thy holy days. But let
not thy praise be here confined ; but be our daily life and
bread, and work.
Fain we would praise thee with more holy and more joy-
ful souls ; but haw can we do it with so weak a faith and so
great darkness and strangeness to thee ? With so little as-
«^rance of thy favour and our salvation? Can we rightly
thank thee for the grace which we are still in doubt of?
fain we would be more like to those blessed souls who
praise thee without our fears and dulness : but how can it
be, while we love thee so little, and have so little taste and
feeling of thy love ? And while this load of sin doth press
us down, and we are imprisoned in the remnant of our carnal
affections ? O kill this pride and selfishness, these lusts
and passions ! I)estroy this unbelief and darkness, and all
our sins, which are the enemies of us, and of thy praise.
Make us more holy and heavenly ; and O bring us nearer
thee in faith and love, that we may be more suitable to the
heavenly employment of thy praise.
Vouchsafe more of thy Spirit to all thy churches and
servants in the world; that as their darkness, and selfish-
ness, and imperfections, have defiled, and divided, and weak-
ened them, and made them a scandal and hardening to infi-
dels ; so their knowledge, self-denial and impartial love, may
truly reform, unite and strengthen them ; that the glory of
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTJED. 46.1
their holiness may win the unbelieving world to Christ. O
let not satan keep up still so large a kingdom of tyranny,
ignorance and wickedness in the earth, and make this world
as the suburbs of hell : but let the earth be more conforma-'
ble to heaven, in the glorifying of thy holy name, the ad-
vancing of thy kingdom, and the doing of thy just and holy
will. Let thy way be known upon earth, and thy saving
health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O
God, let all the people praise thee ! Yea, give thy Son the
heathen for his inheritance, and let his Gospel enlighten the
dark, forsaken nations of the earth. Let every knee bow to
him, and every tongue confess that he is Christ, to their
salvation and thy glory. Provide and send forth the mes-
sengers of thy grace through all the earth. Deliver all the
churches from sin, division and oppression. Let thy holy
word and worship continue in these kingdoms, whilst this
world endureth. Bless the king and all in authority, with
all that wisdom, justice and holiness, which are needful to
his own and his subjects' safety, peace and welfare. Let
every congregation among us have burning and shining
lights, that the ignorant and ungodly perish not for want of
teaching and exhortation. And open men's hearts to re-
ceive thy word, and cause them to know the day of their vi-
sitation. Be merciful to the afflicted, in sickness, dangers,
wants or sorrows, according to thy goodness and their ne-
cessities. Let all the prayers and praises of the faithful
throughout the world sent up this day in the name of our
common Mediator, by him be presented acceptable unto
thee ; notwithstanding the imperfections and blemishes that
are on them, and the censures, divisions and injuries, which
in their frowardness they are guilty of against each other :
let them enter as one in Christ our Head, who are too sadly
and stiffly distant among themselves. Prepare us all for
that world of peace, where the harmony of universal love,
and praise shall never be interrupted by sins, or griefs, or
fears, or discord ; but shall be everlastingly perfect to our
joy and to thy glory, through our glorified Mediator, who
taught us when we pray to say. Our Father which art in hea-
ven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth, as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily
bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that
464 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
trespass against us : And lead us not into temptation ; but
deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and
the glory, for ever. Amen.
A short Prayer for Children and Servants,
Ever-living and most glorious God, Father, Son and
Holy Ghost ! Infinite is thy power, thy wisdom, and thy
goodness ! Thou art the Maker of all the world, the Re-
deemer of lost and sinful man, and the Sanctifier of the elect !
Thou hast made me a living, reasonable soul, placed awhile
in this flesh and world to know, and love, and serve thee,
my Creator, with all my heart, and mind, and strength, that
I might obtain the reward of the heavenly glory. This
should have been the greatest care, and business, and plea-
sure of all my life : I was bound to it by thy law : I was in-
vited by thy mercy. And in my baptism I was devoted to
this holy life, by a solemn covenant and vow. But alas, I
have proved too unfaithful to that covenant : I have forgot-
ten and neglected the God, the Saviour, and the Sanctifier,
to whom I was engaged : and have too much served the de-
vil, the world and flesh, which I renounced : I was born in
sin, and sinfully I have lived. I have been too careless of
my immortal soul, and of the great work for which I was
created and redeemed : 1 have spent much of my precious
time in vanity, in minding and pleasing this corruptible
flesh : and I have hardened my heart against those instruc-
tions, by which thy Spirit, and my teachers, and my own
conscience, did call upon me to repent and turn to thee.
And now. Lord, my convinced soul doth confess, that I
have deserved to be forsaken by thee, and given over to my
lust and folly, and to be cast out of thy glorious presence
into damnation. But seeing thou hast given a Saviour to
the world, and made a pardoning and gracious law, promis-
ing forgiveness and salvation through his merits, to every
true penitent believer, I thankfully accept the mercy of thy
covenant in Christ ; I humbly confess my sin and guiltiness ;
I cast ray miserable soul upon thy grace, and sacrifice, and
intercession of my Saviour. O pardon all the sins of my
corrupted heart and life ; and as a reconciled Father, take
me to be thy child ; and gjive me thy renewing Spirit, to be
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 466
in me a principle of holy life, and light, and love, and thy
seal and witness, that I am thine. Let him quicken my dead
and hardened heart ; let him enlighten my dark, unbelieving
mind by clearer knowledge and firm belief; let him turn my
will to the ready obedience of thy holy will ; let him reveal
to my soul the wonders of thy love in Christ, and fill it with
love to th«e and my Redeemer, and to all thy holy word
and works, till all my sinful carnal love be quenched in me,
and my sinful pleastires turhed into a sweet delight in God j
give me self-denial, humility, and lowliness, and save me
from the great and hateful sins of selfishness, worldlinessy
and pride. O set my heart upon the heavenly glory, where
I hope, ere long, to live with Christ and all his holy ones, in
the joyful sight, and love, and praise of thee, the God of
love, for ever. Deny me not any of those helps and mer-
cies, which are needful to my sanctification and salvation.
And cause me to live in a continual readiness for a safe and
comfortable death. For what would it profit me to win all
the world, and lose my soul, my Saviour, and my God ?
Additions for Children.
Let thy blessings be upon my parents and governors,
cause them to instruct and educate me in thy fear, and cause
me with thankfulness to receive their instructions : and to
love, honour, and obey them in obedience to thee. Keep
me from the snares of evil company, temptations, and youth-
ful pleasures, and let me be a companion of them that fear
thee. Let my daily delight be to meditate on thy law; and
let me never have the mark of the ungodly, to be a lover of
pleasures more than of God. Furnish my youth with those
treasures of wisdom and holiness, which may be daily in-
creased and used to thy glory.
Additions for Servants,
And as thou hast made me a servant, make me conscion-
able and faithful in my place and trust, and careful of my
master*s goods and business, as I would be if it were my
own. Make me submissive and obedient to my governors;
keep me from self-will and pride, from murmuring and un*
VOL. VII. H H
4(56 CALL TO THK UNCONVERTED.
reverent speeches, from falsehood, slothfulness, and all de-
ceit. That I might not be an eye-servant, pleasing my lust
and fleshly appetite ; but may cheerfully and willingly do
my duty, as believing that thou art the revenger of all un-
faithfulness ; and may do my service not only as unto man,
but as to the Lord, expecting from thee my chief reward.
All this I beg and hope for, on the account of the merits
and intercession of Jesus Christ, concluding in the words
which he hath taught us. Our Father, which art in heaven.
Hallowed be thy name : Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done
on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily
bread : And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them
that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation ;
but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the
power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
A Prayer for the Morning, in the method of the hordes Prayer,
being an Exposition of it.
Most glorious God, who art power, and wisdom, and
goodness itself, the Creator of all things ; the Owner, the
Ruler, and the Benefactor of the world, but especially of thy
church and chosen ones. Though by sin original and ac-
tual we were thy enemies, the slaves of satan and our flesh,
and under thy displeasure and the condemnation of thy law,
yet thy children, redeemed by Jesus Christ thy Son, and re-
generated by thy Holy Spirit, have leave to call thee their
reconciled Father. For by thy covenant of grace, thou hast
given them thy Son to be their Head, their Teacher, and
their Saviour. And in him thou hast pardoned, adopted,
and sanctified them ; sealing and preparing them by thy
Holy Spirit for thy celestial kingdom, and beginning in
them that holy life, and light, and love, which shall be per-
fected with thee in everlasting glory. O with what won-
drous love hast thou loved us, that of rebels we should be
made the sons of God ! Thou hast advanced us to this dig-
nity that we might be devoted wholly to thee as thine own,
and might delightfully obey thee, and entrely love thee with
all our heart ! And so might glorify thee here and for ever.
O cause both us, and all thy churches, and all the world
to hallow thy great and holy name ! And to live to thee
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 467
as our ultimate end ! that thy shining image on holy souls
may glorify thy divine perfection.
And cause both us and all the earth, to cast 6ff the ty-
ranny of satan and the flesh, and to acknowledge thy su-
preme authority, and to become the kingdoms of thee and
thy Son Jesus, by a willing and absolute subjection. O per-
fect thy kingdom of grace in ourselves and in the world, and
hasten the kingdom of glory.
And cause us and thy churches, and all the people of the
earth, no more to be ruled by the lusts of the flesh, and their
erroneous conceits, and by selfwill, which is the idol of the
wicked ; but by thy purest wisdom and holy will revealed
in thy laws, make known thy word to all the world, and send
them the messengers of grace and peace ; and cause men
to understand, believe, and obey, the Gospel of salvation.
And that, with such holiness, unity, and love, that the earth,
which is now too like to hell, may be made like unto hea-
ven ; and not only thy scattered, imperfect flock, but those
also who in their carnal and ungodly minds do now refuse a
holy life, and think thy words and ways too strict, may de-
sire to imitate even the heavenly church ; where thou art
obeyed, and loved, and praised, with high delight, in har-
mony and perfection.
And because our being is the subject of our well-being,
maintain us in the life, which thou hast here given us, un-
til the work of life be finished ; and give us such health of
mind and body, and such protection, and supply of all our
wants, as shall best fit us for our duty ; and make us con-
tented with our daily bread, and patient if we want. And
save us from the love of riches, honours, and pleasures of
this world, and the pride, and idleness, and sensuality which
they cherish; and cause us to serve thy Providence by our
diligent labour, and to serve thee faithfully with all that thou
givest us ; and let us not make provision for the flesh, to
satisfy its desires and lusts.
And we beseech thee of thy mercy, through the sacrifice
ani propitiation of thy beloved Son, forgive us all our sins,
ori^nal and actual, from our birth to this hour ; our omis-
sionfe of duty, and committing of what thou didst forbid ;
our siis of heart, and word, and deed ; our sinful thoughts
and afltctions, our sinful passions and discontents ; our se-
4CB CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
pr€t and our open sins; our sins of negligence and ignorance,
and rashness ; but especially our sins against knowledge
and conscience, which have made the deepest guilt and
wounds. Spare us, O Lord, and let not our sin so find us
out as to be our ruin ; but let us so find it out as truly tore-
pent and turn to thee ! Especially punish us not with the
loss of thy grace ! Take not thy Holy Spirit from us, and
deny us not his assistance and holy operations. Seal to us
by that Spirit the pardon of our sins, and lift up the light of
thy countenance upon us, and give us the joy of thy favour
and salvation. And let thy love and mercy to us fill us not
only with thankfulness to thee, but with love and mercy to
our brethren and our enemies, that we may heartily forgive
them that do us wrong, as through thy grace we hope to do.
And for the time to come, suffer us not to cast ourselves
wilfully into temptations, but carefully to avoid them, and
resolutely to resist and conquer what we cannot avoid ; and
O mortify those inward sins and lusts, which are our con-
stant and most dangerous temptations. And let us not be
tempted by satan or the world, or tried by thy judgments,
above the strength which thy grace shall give us. Save us
from a fearless confidence in our own strength ; and let us
not dally with the snare, nor taste the bait, nor play with
the fire of wrath. But cause us to fear and depart from evil ;
lest before we are aware, we be entangled and overcome, and
wounded with our guilt and with thy wrath, and our end
should be worse than our beginning. Especially save us
from those radical sins of error and unbelief, pride, hypo-
crisy, hardheartedness, sensuality, slothfulness, and the love
of this present world, and the loss of oui* love to thee, to thy
kingdom and thy ways.
And save us from the malice of satan and of wicked
men, and from the evils which our sins would bring upon us.
And as we crave all this from thee, we humbly tender
our praises with our future service to thee! Thou art
the King of all the world, and more than the life of all th^
living ! Thy kingdom is everlasting ; wise, and just, aid
merciful, is thy government. Blessed are they that ^re
faithful subjects; but who hath hardened himself against
thee, and hath prospered ? The whole creation procla^meth
thy perfection. But it is heaven where the blessed *ee thy
CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 469
glory, and the glory of our Redeemer, where the angels and
saints behold thee, admire thee, adore thee, love thee, and
praise thee with triumphant, joyful songs, the holy, holy,
holy God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who was, and
is, and is to come ; of thee, and through thee, and to thee
are all things. To thee be glory for ever. Amen.
The Creed,
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of hea-
ven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin
Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead,
and buried. He descended into hell ; the third day he rose
again from the dead ; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth
on the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence
he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe
in the Holy Ghost ; the holy catholic church ; the commu*-
nion of saints ; the forgiveness of sins ; the resurrection of
the body ; and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Ten Commandments,
1. I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou
shalt have no other God before me.
IL Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or
the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is
in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth ;
thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve tliem ;
for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the ini-
quity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and
fourth generation of them that hate me, and shewing mercy
unto thousands of them that love me and keep my com-
mandments.
III. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God
in vain ; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh
his name in vain.
IV. Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy ; six days
shalt thou labour and do all thy work : but the seventh day
is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do
470 CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-ser-
vant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger
that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested
the seventh day ; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-
day, and hallowed it.
V. Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days
may be long in the land, which the Lord thy God giveth
thee.
VL Thou shalt not kill.
VIL Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Vin. Thou shalt not steal.
IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neigh-
bour.
X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house ; thou
shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant,
nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing
that is thy neighbour's.
END OF THE CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED.
NOW OR NEVER
THE HOLY, SERIOUS, DILIGENT BELIEVER JUSTIFIED, ENCOU-
RAGED, EXCITED, AND DIRECTED. AND THE OPPOSERS
AND NEGLECraRS CONVINCED BY THE LIGHT
OF SCRIPTURE AND REASON.
TO BE COMMUNICATED BY SUCH AS WANT ABILITY OR OP-
PORTUNITY THEMSELVES TO PLEAD THE CAUSE OF
SERIOUS HOLINESS FOR MEN'S CONVICTION.
** But wisdom is justified of all her children."
LvKK vii. 35.
Nihil est ad defendendum puritate tutius : nihil ad dicenduiu veritate faciliiis.
Ambbos.
PREFACE.
It is a question, more boldly than accurately debated by
inany^ * Whether a man may not be saved in any religion,
that is faithful to the principles of it by serious, diligent
practice?* The true solution is this : religion is that which
men hold and do to serve and please God. 1. If men make
themselves a religion of serving idols or devils' instead of
Ood. 2. Or if they place their service to God himself in
things that are evil (as what evil is there that some men have
not brought into their religion, and fathered upon God ?) the
more diligent such men are in their religion, the more they
sin. 3. Or if they make themselves a religion of irrational,
ludicvous ceremonies, their greatest diligence in this will
not save them. 4« Or if they hold all the essentials of the
true religion, except some one, it cannot save them while
Qne thing is wanting which is essential to that religion, and
so necessary to salvation (which is the case of real heretics) :
for they are not indeed of that religion, if they want that
which is essential to it. 5. Or if they hold all that is essen-
tial to the true religion only notionally, and hold any thing
with it practically, which is contradictory and inconsistent
with it, the soundness of the notional belief will not save
them from the mortal poison of their practical heresy or error.
But, 1. Whosoever holdeth all that is necessary to sal-
vation, and is serious and diligent in living according there-
unto, shall be saved, whatever error he holdeth with it. For
if he be serious and diligent in the practice of all things ne-
cessary to salvation, he hath all that is necessary to salva-
tion, viz. In belief and practice ; and it must needs follow;^
that his errors are either not contradictory to the things ne-
cessary which he holdeth and practiseth, or that he holdeth
not those errors practically but notionally, as an opinion, or
uneffectual cogitation in a dream, which provoketh not to
CCCclxxiv PREFACE.
action : and in such a case the error keepeth no man from
salvation.
What is necessary to be believed by them that never hear
the Gospel, it so little concerneth us to know, that God hath
not thought meet to make it so pfain to us, as things that
more concern ourselves. But as it is certain, that v^^ithout
the atonement, satisfaction, and reconciliation made by
Christ, and without new terms of grace to be judged by, and
without his grace for the performance of their part, no man
can be saved (that hath the use of reason), so there is so
much knowledge necessary to salvation, as is necessary, to
engage the heart to love God above all, and sincerely to
obey his revealed will, and to prefer the life to come before
the transitory pleasures of this life. Now if any man can
prove to me, that those that never heard the Gospel, can thus
love God, and the life to come, and obey sincerely, without
the knowledge of the person, life, death, resurrection of
Jesus Christ, and the declaration of the attractive love and
goodness of God in him, and in the work of our redemption,
then I should believe that such negative infidels may be
saved ; for God cannot damn a sanctified soul, that sincerely
loveth him. But if the discovery of the love of God in our
redemption be so necessary a moral means to engage the
heart (now corrupted by sin and creature-love) to the true
love of God, that this love cannot be wrought without it ; or
if Christ give not his Spirit to produce the love of God in any
but those that hear the Gospel, and believe in him, then no
such persons can be saved by their religion. For Christ is
the way to the Father, and no man cometh to the Father but
by him ; and the love of God is absolutely and of itself ne-
cessary to salvation ; and faith in Christ is so far necessary
to salvation, as it is necessary to bring men to the love of
God, as pardoning sin and reconciled to them.
But if any should never so confidently conclude, that
some that hear not of Christ may be saved, yet he must needs
confess that the want of this clear and great discovery of the
love and goodness of God, in his pardoning grace, and of
the glorious life which he hath prepared for us, must needs
make the love of God a very rare and difficult thing, and con-
sequently their salvation rare and difficult, in comparison
of ours.
PREFACE. GCCCIXXV
The Christian faith, is, ' The believing an everlasting life
of happiness to be given by God (with the pardon of all sin)
as procured by the sufferings and merits of Jesus Christ, to
all that are sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and do persevere
in love to God and to each other, and in a holy and heavenly
conversation.' This is saving faith and Christianity, if we
consent as well as assent. All that was necessary to salva-
tion to be believed, was formerly thought to be contained in
the creed, and that was the test or symbol of the Christian
faith ; and the Christian religion is the same, and hath the
same rule, and test, and symbol in all ages. But since fac-
tion and tyranny, pride and covetousness became the mat-
ters of the religion of too many, vice and selfish interest
hath commanded them to change the rule of faith by their
additions, and to make so much necessary to salvation, as
is necessary to their affected universal dominion, and to their
commodity and carnal ends. And since faction entered,
and hath torn the church into many sects (the Greek, the
Roman, the Armenian, the Jacobites, the Abassine, and
many more), it seemeth meet to the more tyrannical sect to
call these several religions, and to say that every man that
differeth from them in any of their opinions or addition,
which they please to call articles of faith, is of another,
religion. •!
* And if the word * Religion ' be taken in this sense, and
if all that agree in one Christian religion, are said to be of
as many religions, as different opinions, in points that some
call necessary, then I answer the question thus. He is the
true Catholic Christian that hath but one, even the Chris-
tian religion : and this is the case of the Protestants, who
casting off the additions of Popery, adhere to the primitive
* And yet when they have divided the church, and damned the greatest part
of Christians, and raged with fire and sword against the brotiiren, they confess them-
selves that it is no point of faith at all, that it is of Divine right, that the Bishop of
Rome is St. Peter's successor, and not only of human right. And must the cliurch he
divided, and most be damned for not beliering or submitting to n human ordinance P
If we be of many religions, is not Popery then a human religion? The very words of
Smith Bishop of Chalcedon, the chief of the English Popish clergy are these, " Survey"
chap v. • To us it sufficeth that the Bishop of Rome is St. Peter's successor, and
this all the fathers testify, and all the Catholic Church belleveth ; but whether it hr
* jure divino,' or ' humano,' is no |)oint of faith.' And how do thoir laics here know
what is a point of faith, but by the testimony of their prieitt?
CCCclxXVi PREFACE.
simplicity and unity : if Papists, or any others, corrupt this
religion with human additions and innovations, the great
danger of these corruptions, is, lest they draw them from
the sound belief and serious practice of that ancient Chris-
tianity, which we are all agreed in : and (among the Papists,
or any other sect) where their corruptions do not thus cor-
rupt their faith and practice in the true essentials, it is cer-
tain that those corruptions shall not damn them. For he
that truly believeth all things that are essential to Christia-
nity, and liveth accordingly with serious diligence, hath the
promise of salvation : and it is certain, that what error that
man holdeth, it is either not inconsistent with true Chris-
tianity, or not practically, but notionally held, and so not
inconsistent as held by him ; for how can that be inconsis-
tent which actually doth consist with it?
If a Papist or any other sectary do seriously love God,
and his brother ; and set his heart upon the life to come, and
give up himself to the merits and grace of Jesus Christ, and
the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, to be fitted for that
glory, and liveth by faith above the world, and mortifieth
the desires of the flesh, and liveth wilfully in no known sin,
but presseth after further degrees of holiness, I doubt not
of the salvation of that person ; no more than of the life of
him that hath taken poison but into his mouth and spit it
out again, or let down so little as nature and antidotes do
expel ; but I will not therefore plead for poison, nor take it,
because men may live that thus take it.
Having answered this great question, reader, I am now
come up to the subject of my following discourse, and to
tell thee that though it be a great question whether serious
diligence in a corrupt religion will save a man, it is past all
question, and agreed on by all sides, that no religion will
save a man, that is not serious, sincere, and diligent in it.
If thou be of the truest religion in the world, and art not
true thyself to that religion, the religion is good, but it is
none of thine. Objectively thou art of a true and good re-
ligion, the things in themselves are true and good, but sub-
jectively thou art sincerely of no religion at all ; for if thou
art not serious, hearty, and diligent in it, it is certain that thou
dost not truly entertain it, and make it thine ; but it is thy
books that have the true religion, or thy tongue, or fantasy.
PREFACE. CCCClxxvii
or brain, but not thy heart : and the best meat on thy table,
or that goeth no farther than thy mouth, will never feed thee,
or preserve thy life. So certain is the salvation of every
holy, mortified Christian, and so certain the damnation of
every ungodly, worldly, fleshly sensualist ; that I had a thou-
sand-fold rather have my soul in the case of a godly Ana-
baptist, yea, or a monk, or friar among the Papists, that
liveth a truly heavenly life, in the love of God and man, and
in a serious, diligent obedience to God, according to his
knowledge, than in the case of a Protestant, or whomsoever
you can imagine to be rightest in his opinions, that is
worldly, and sensual, and a stranger (if not an enemy) to
the power and serious practice of his own profest religion,
and void of a holy and heavenly heart and life. If ever such
a man be saved, the principles of all religion do deceive us.
And certainly such men's hypocrisy doth aggravate their
sin, and will increase their misery. So many as there be in
the world, that profess themselves Christians, and yet are
not serious and dilfgent in their religion, but are ungodly
neglecters or enemies of a holy life, so many hypocrites are
in the world. And I wonder that their consciences call them
not hypocrites when they stand up at the creed, or profess
themselves believers : though the congregation seeth not
* hypocrite ' written in their foreheads, God seeth it written
on their hearts, and those that converse with them may see
it written in their lives. And yet these men are the most
forward to cry out against hypocrites. The devil hath taught
it them to stop the suspicion and the chase of conscience,
as he hath taught the greatest schismatics or church-divid-
ers (the Papists) to cry out most against schism and divi-
sion, and pretend to unity. But these shifts do blind none
but fools, and forsaken consciences ; and the cheat tliat is
now detected by the wise, will quickly by God be detected
before all the world. Till then let them make merry in their
deceits : who would envy the drunkard the pleasure of an
hour's swinish, sick delight ? This is their portion ; and
this is their time : as we have chosen and covenanted for
another portion, we are content to stay the time assigned,
till God shall tell them and all the world, who was sincere,
and who the hypocrite. For our parts, we believe that he
is most or least sincere, that is most or kast serious in the
practice of his own professed religion.
cccclxxviii preface.
For my part, 1 must profess that (by the mercy of God)
I have made it the work of many a year, to look about me,
and think wherein the felicity of man doth indeed consist ;
and I have long been past doubt (as much as I am that I am
a man) that it is not in transitory, sensual delights, and that
these are such lean and dry commodities, and pitiful plea-
sures, leaving men so speedily in a forlorn state, that I am
contented that my greatest enemy have my part of them.
I have renounced them to God (as any part of my felicity)
and I renounce them to men. Let them do with me about
these things as God will give them leave. I will have a
portion after death, or 1 will have none.
And the case is so palpable, that it is my admiration
that the contrary deceit is consistent with the nature and
reason of a man ; and that so many gentlemen, and scholars,
and persons of an ingenious education, can no better distin-
guish, and can possibly conquer their reason so easily with
the presence of sensual delights, and so easily make nothing
of that which will be to-morrow and for ever, merely because
it is not to-day. Well, 1 must say, the wisdom and justice
of God is abundantly seen in the government of the world
with the liberty of the will, and determining that all men
should speed as they choose.
It may be the reader will say, he expected that instead
of writing such popular discourses, I should have vindica-
ted myself against the accusations, that in multitudes of li-
bels and pamphlets are scattered abroad against me. But
doth he think that man is seriously a Christian that is not
more zealous for God, and religion, and the souls of men,
than for himself? Have I nothing else to do with my time
and labour, but plead a cause of my own, which God will so
speedily and effectually plead ? Will it not be time enough
to be justified at the bar and day of God ? I am content that
they carry it as they desire till then (were it not more for
their own and other men's sakes than mine). Am I like to
forsake my life and all for Christ, and endure torments if I
were called to it, if I cannot endure to be reviled and slan-
dered by passionate men ? Was it nothing that our Lord
would not answer for himself, when he was accused before
Pilate ? Shall they be able to calumniate under the threat-
en! ngs of the revenge of heaven, and shall 1 not be able to
PREFACE. CCCclxxix
be silent under such a promise, as Matt. v. 10 — 12. ? The
servant of the Lord must not strive. Our Lord gave us an
example of not reviling again when he was reviled ; he made
himself of no reputation, but endured the cross and contra-
diction of sinners, despising the shame. I confess I think
when God's interest, and the good of others doth require it,
a man should not be wanting to his own defence, and I have
long ago written that which will satisfy the impartial : but
when I saw that it is like to tend to heats, and set more on
work, I had rather let men call me all the names they can
devise, and voluminously accuse me of any thing that malice
shall suggest, than do any thing to foment contentions in
the church. But if God convince me that it is my duty to
detect the calumnies of men, it is a work soon done.
But what good will it do the world for me to open the
numerous untruths that other men have published, or to con-
fute every script, when all that I converse with are satisfied
already, and believe not the reproachers ; and all the evi-
dence in the world will not satisfy those that will not read
it, or are resolved by their malice or interest never to be sa-
tisfied?
For my part, I doubt not but God and their consciences
will give them such a confutation, as shall be sufficient to
them and me to end the controversy.
My work is to plead the cause of God and holiness against
the profane and sensual world, and no further to plead any
cause of my own, than is necessary to that. If I must bear
the effects of men's displeasure, I had a hundred times ra-
ther it were pleading for holiness, and love, and peace, and
concord against impiety, uncharitableness, and divisions,
than for defending myself, or upon the account of ceremo-
nies or smaller matters. And if for these I bear it, I doubt
not of more comfort at the present, much less do I doubt of
abetter issue than false accusers can expect. We shall be
shortly upon even ground : the time is short ; the pleasures
of sin, the triumphs of malice, the sufterings of innocency,
are but for a moment. I envy them not so short and dark
a day : the Judge is at the door that will judge all again,
and set all straight, and judge in righteousness. When I am
afraid of leaving a noisome and unrighteous world, and end-
ing all my pain and trouble, and being beyond the reach of
CCCClxXX PREFACE.
malice, then I will fear what man can do. Let thewi keep
me out of heaven, or deprive me of my peace and comfort,
if they can. If they fear not the threatenings of God against
the malicious and unjust, surely I have less reason to fear
their threatenings. When they have done their worst to
others, let them save themselves from death if they can : I
am devoted to God, and I never yet found cause to repent it :
I am resolved to use the utmost of my power for the interest
of holiness, charity and peace, and for loyalty to the king,
and obedience or patient submission to superiors ; and if yet
I bear the fruits of fury, let those who insult over sufferers
as if they were therefore guilty or miserable, remember that
we could have avoided it if we would, and have found the
way of applause and prosperity as well as they ; and that
no man takes that for his misery which he chooseth. If
this kind of preaching or writing offend, could not I have
avoided it? I am not in love with sufferings from men, nor
will I escape them at the rates of God's displeasure. I never
think myself in the highest form of Christians, till I am more
conformed to the sufferings of Christ, and have endured
more than yet I have.
It is the Christians* old apology in Tertullian : " Quasi
non totum quod in nos potestis nostrum sit arbitrium ! Cer-
te si velim, Christianus sum ; tunc ergo me damnabis, si
damnari velim ; quam vero quod in me potes, nisi velim non
potes, jam mea voluntatis est quod potes, non tuse potesta-
tis. Proinde et vulgus vane de nostra vexatione gaudet:
proinde et nostrum est gaudium quod sibi vendicant, qui
malumus damnari quam a Deo excidere. Contra, ibi qui
nos oderunt, dolere non gaudere debebant, consecutis nobis
quod eligimus." Tert. Apologet. cap. 30. That is, *' As if
all that you can do against us were not our own choice (or
will). Certainly it is because I will, that I am a Christian-;
therefore if I will be condemned, thou wilt condemn me.
And when that which thou canst do against me, thou canst
not do, unless I will, it is not now from thy power that thou
canst do it, but from my will ; and therefore the vulgar do
in vain rejoice at our vexation. And therefore it is our joy,
which they challenge to themselves, while we had rather be
condemned than fall from God. On the contrary, they that
PREFACE. CCCclxXxi
hate us, should grieve, and not rejoice, while we attain but
what we choose."
For my part, if the world will needs be mad, I think both
the laughing and the weeping philosopher are more excusa-
ble than he that would be over-angry at them, or over-busy
in disputing with them. Saith Seneca, " Quare fers segri
rabiem et phrenetici verba? nempe quia videnter nescire
quid faciunt. Quid interest quo quisque vitio fiat impru-
dens ? Sen. de Ira. lib. 3. cap. 26. Anger and frenzy are but
several ways of a man*s losing his wit ; and therefore he that
can bear with one, should somewhat bear with the other ;
(though indeed voluntariness or involuntariness maketh a
great difference). It is not worth a man's time, and labour,
and cost, to be over-solicitous in his own vindication, let the
world say of him what they please. " Multum temporis ul-
tio absumit ; multis se injuriis objicit, dum unam dolet.
Diutius irascimur^omnes^quam laedimur." Sen. de Ira. lib. 3.
cap. 27." Revenge takes up a deal of time. He that complain-
eth of one injury, objects himself to many. We are all an-
gry longer than we are hurt."
I have truly given you now the reasons, why I rather
choose to speak these common necessary things, against the
devil's party, the ungodly, the enemies, or neglecters of se-
rious holiness (agreeable to the subject of his Majesty's
Christian and excellent declaration against debauchery, at
his entrance upon his royal government) than to meddle with
any of the contending parties of these times (who are so an-
gry because in obedience to authority I once endeavoured to
reconcile them) or to be unseasonable in pleading any cause
that is my own. And now referring the reader to this short
discourse, I must first desire that he misunderstand me not
in one or two passages. 1. That my citation of the passage
in the Homilies, be not taken as if I spoke a word against
it, though I say, I dare not myself subscribe it ; for though
I think myself, that seeing a persecutor like Saul may re-
pent, and be pardoned, a mocker at godliness may repent
and be forgiven also ; yet I am resolved still to suspect my
own understanding, rather than to speak against the doc-
trine of the church.
2. Think it not strange that I reprehend even ministers
that are secret or open opposers of a holy diligence ; for our
VOL. VII. II
cccrlxxxii preface. '
aforesaid Homily telleth us as followeth : Horn, for Informa-
tion, &c. part 2. pp. 150, 151 . " Examples of such scorners,
we read in 2 Chron. when the good king Hezekiah, in the
beginning of his reign had destroyed idolatry, purged the
temple, and reformed religion in his realm, he sent messen-
gers into every city to gather the people to Jerusalem to so-
lemnize the feast of Easter in such sort as God had appoint-
ed ; the posts went from city to city. And what did the
people, think ye? Did they laud and praise the name of the
Lord that had given them so good a king, so zealous a prince
to abolish idolatry, and to restore again God*s true religion ?
No, no, the Scripture saith, the people laughed them to
scorn, and mocked the king's messengers. And in the last
chapter of the same book it is written, that Almighty God
having compassion on his people, sent his messengers the
prophets to them, to call them from their abominable idola-
try, and wicked kind of living : but they mocked his mes-
sengers, they despised his words, and misused his prophets,
until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, and till
there was no remedy. The wicked people that were in the
days of Noah made but a mock at the word of God, when
Noah told them that God would take vengeance on them for
their sins. Lot preached to the Sodomites, that except
they repented, both they and their city should be destroyed ;
they thought his sayings impossible to be true ; they scorn-
ed and mocked his admonitions, and reputed him as an old
doting fool. But God burnt up those scorners and mock-
ers of his holy word. And what estimation had Christ's
doctrine among the Scribes and Pharisees ? what reward had
he among them ? The Pharisees which were covetous, did
scorn him in his doctrine. O then ye see that worldly, rich
men do scorn the doctrine of their salvation ; the worldly
wise men do scorn the doctrine of Christ as foolishness to
their understandings. These scorners have ever been, and
ever shall be to the world's end. For St. Peter prophesied
that such scorners should be in the end before the latter
day. Take heed, therefore, my brethren, take heed ; be ye
not scorners of God's most holy word : provoke him not to
pour out his wrath upon you, as he did upon those gibers
and mockers: be not wilful murderers of your own souls."
Thus far the Homily.
PREFACE. cccclxxxiii
And no marvel if priests may be guilty as well as people,
if it be true that is said by the church in Hom. 3. against
Peril of Idolatry, pp. 56, 57. " But a true preacher to stay
this mischief, is in very many places scarcely heard once in
the whole year, and somewhere not once in seven years, as
it is evident to be proved. Further, it appeareth not by any
story of credit, that true and sincere preaching hath endured
in any one place above a hundred years. But it is evident
that images, superstition, and worshipping of images, and
idolatry, have continued many hundred years For preach-
ing of God's word (most sincere in the beginning) by process
of time waxed less and less pure, and after corrupt, and last
of all altogether laid down and left off, and other inventions
of men crept in place of it : So that laity and clergy,
learned and unlearned, all ages, sexes, and degrees of men,
women and children of whole Christendom (a most horrible
and dreadful thing to think), have been at once drowned in
abominable idolatry, of all other vices most detested of God,
and most damnable in man, and that by the space of eight
hundred years." So far the Church of England.
And though I am far from crediting the many fabulous
stories in that and such other books ; yet I shall recite one
instance in the Life of Philip Nerius, the father of the Orato-
rians, which shall shew you, that even among the Papists,
holy, serious diligence where it is, hath the same usage from
the profane, both clergy and laity, as in other places, and
so that every where holiness is persecuted by men professing
the same religion with those they persecute.
The meetings of the Oratorians and their exercises, so
like those now abhorred by many, are by Baronius (that was
one of them) thus described, as you may see in the Life of
Nerius, p. 45.
" Certainly by the Divine wisdom was it brought to pass,
that in our times Assemblies were instituted in the city,
much what after the form of those apostolical conventions ;
such especially as by the apostle were appointed for dis-
coursing of divine matters, both for edifying the hearers, and
for propagating the church. It was agreed, that the zea-
lous Christians should meet a-days at Saint Hierom's Ora-
tory, and there a religious meeting should be held after this
manner. First, silence being made, they began with prayer.
CCcdxXXiv PREFACE.
and one of the brothers reads some pious lesson. At the
reading of which, the father used to interpose upon occasion,
explaining more fully, enlarging and vehemently inculca-
ting on the minds of the auditors the things read, continu-
ing his discourse sometime a whole hour (to the great satis-
faction of the hearers) dialogue-wise, asking some of the
company their opinions of such a thing. Afterward, by his
appointment, one of them went up into the desk, raised up-
on steps, and made an oration, without flourishes or varnish
of language, composed out of the approved and choice lives
of saints, sacred writ, and sentences of holy fathers. He
that succeeded him, discoursed after the same manner, but
on a differing matter. Then followed the third, who related
some part of the church story in the order of its several ages.
Every one of these had his half-hour allotted him, and per-
formed all with marvellous delight and approbation ; then
singing some hymn, and going to prayers again, the compa-
ny broke up. All things thus ordered, and ratified by the
pope as far as the times would suffer, the beautiful face of
the primitive apostolical assembling, seemed to be revived
again; whereat all good men rejoicing, and many taking
their model from them, the like exercises of piety were set
up and practised in other places." So far Baronius.
If any say that this long and zealous exercise was not in
private houses ; I answer, allow us an oratory, as the pope
himself allowed them, and we had rather far be there than in
private houses : but if any that hinder such from being pub-
lic, shall then reproach it for being in a less public place,
they scarce play fair. The church of England, in the third
part of the sermon against Peril of Idolatry, pp. 66, 67.
saith. In Maximinian and Constantius the emperor's pro-
clamation, the places where Christians resorted to public
prayer, were called conventicles. See further.
But how were the Oratorians esteemed and used ? In
Chap. xvi. of Nerius's Persecutions, after the mention of
men's rancour and railing that maligned him, it follows, p.
56. " that the prelate that was deputy of the city, moved by
the reports of them that bore a spleen to Philip, sent for
him, and reprehended him sharply : ' Is it not a shame (saith
he) that you who profess a contempt of the world, should
PREFACE. CCCCIXXXV
hunt for popular applause, and walk through the city guard-
ed with troops, with such nets as these, fishing for church-
preferments V When having shrewdly taunted him with
such like expressions, he prohibits him the hearing of con-
fessions for fifteen days, and to use the customs of the Ora-
tory, but by leave first obtained, or to lead about with him
any companies of men, threatening imprisonment upon his
disobedience : neither would he let him depart till he put in
security for his appearance, saying, * Come, you do all this
not for the glory of God, but to make a party for yourself.
Meantime, while the good man was commending himself to
God, having entreated divers religious persons to be instant
in prayer about this business, one appeareth, and saith,
* This trouble shall be quickly over, and the work that is
begun be more strongly confirmed ; they who resist now,
shall assist hereafter ; and if any one shall dare to oppose it
any longer, God shall speedily avenge it on him : The pre-
late, that is your chiefest adversary, shall certainly die with-
in fifteen days.' And it fell out precisely as he foretold ; for
the prelate (the Pope's deputy) relating the proceedings to
his Holiness somewhat partially, died suddenly. No sooner
was this blaze of persecutions out, but a much fiercer was
kindled against the order : for under pretext of piety and
religion, some possessed the Pope that the preachers of St.
Hieroms, many times delivered things ridiculous, and un-
sound, which argued high indiscretion, or ignorance, and
must needs endanger their hearers."
I would not have troubled you with any of these citations,
but, to let those know that are offended at my reproof of
impious Ministers, that in all places and parties in the world,
where there is any serious diligence for salvation, there are
always enemies of the same profession even among the
Clergy as well as others. The hindering of holy diligence
and seriousness, is the work of the devil and his instruments
in the world. The promoting it is the work of Christ, and
of his servants. The great actions of the world are but the
conflicting of these two armies, the salvation of the conque-
rors, and the damnation of the conquered being the end. By
this contending for faith and holiness, and bearing the cross,
I take myself bound to perform my covenant of ' professing
CCCClxXXvi PREFACE.
the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully fighting under
his banner, against the devil, the world, and the flesh, to my
lives' end/ Reader, thou art engaged to the like as well as
I, and shalt be judged accordingly, and reap as thou hast
sowed. CHOOSE and DO as thou wilt SPEED.
NOW OR NEVER.
ECCLESIASTES ix. to.
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might ,• for there is
no work, ngr deince, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grace whither
thou goest.
The mortality of man being the principal subject of Solo-
mon in this chapter, and observing that wisdom and piety
exempt not men from death, he first hence infers, that God*s
love or hatred to one man above another, is not to be gather-
ed by his dealing with them here, where " all things" in the
common course of providence ** do come alike to all." The
common sin hath introduced death as a common punishment,
which levelleth all, and endeth all the contrivances, busi-
nesses, and enjoyments of this life, to good and bad ; and
the discriminating justice is not ordinarily manifested here.
An epicure or infidel would think Solomon were here plead-
ing their unmanly, impious cause ; but it is not the cessa-
tion of the life, or operations, or enjoyments of the soul that
he is speaking of, as if there were no life to come, or the
soul of man were not immortal ; but it is the cessation of all
the actions, and honours, and pleasures of this life, which to
good or bad shall be no more. Here they have no more re-
ward, the memory of them will be here forgotten. " They
have no more a portion for ever in any thing that is done un-
der the sun •."
From hence he further inferreth, that the comforts of life
are but short and transitory, and, therefore, that what the
creature can afford, must be presently taken : and as the
wicked shall have no more but present pleasures, so the
faithful may take their lawful comforts in the present mode-
• Ecclcs. ix. 5, 6.
488 NOW OR NEVER.
rate use of creatures ; for if their delightful goodness be of
right and use to any, it is to them : and therefore, though
they may not use them to their hurt, to the pampering of their
flesh, and strengthening their lusts, and hindering spiritual
duties, benefits, and salvation, yet must they " serve the
Lord with joy fulness, and with gladness of heart, for the
abundance of all things," which he giveth them**.
Next, he inferreth from the brevity of man's life, the ne-
cessity of speed, and diligence in his duty. And this is in
the words of my text : where you have, I. The Duty com-
manded. II. The Reason or Motive to enforce it.
The Duty is in the first part, "Whatsoever thy hand
findeth to do," that is, whatever work is assigned thee by
God to do in this transitory life, **do it with thy might ;"
that is, 1. Speedily, without delay. 2. Diligently, and as
well as thou art able, and not with slothfulness, or by the
halves.
The Motive is in the latter part ; " For there is no work
nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither
thou goest ;" that is, it must be now or never : the grave,
where thy work cannot be done, will quickly end thy oppor-
tunities. The Chaldee paraphrase appropriates the sense too
narrowly to works of charity, or alms ; * whatsoever good
and alms-giving thou findest to do :' and the moving reason
they read accordingly, ' for nothing but thy works of righ-
teousness and mercy follow thee.' But the words are more
general, and the sense is obvious, contained in these two
propositions.
Doct. I. The work of this life cannot be done, when this
life is ended. Or, There is no working in the grave, to which
we are all making haste.
Doct. II. Therefore while we have time, we must do our
best. Or, Do the work of this present life with vigour and
diligence.
It is from an unquestionable and commonly acknowledg-
ed truth, that Solomon here urgeth us to diligence in duty ;
and therefore to prove it would be but loss of time. As
there are two worlds for man to live in, and so two lives for
man to live, so each of these lives hath its peculiar employ-
ment. This is the life of preparation ; the next is the life of
•» Dout. xxviii. 47.
NOW OR NEVER. 489
dnr reward or punishment : we are now but in the womb of
eternity, and must live hereafter in the open world. We are
now but set to school to learn the work that we must do for
ever. This is the time of our apprenticeship ; we are learn-
ing the trade that we must live upon in heaven. We run now,
that we may then receive the crown ; we fight now, that we
may then triumph in victory. The grave hath no work, but
heaven hath work ; and hell hath suffering : there is no re-
pentance unto life hereafter ; but there is repentance unto
torment, and to desperation. There is no believing of a hap-
piness unseen in order to the obtaining of it ; or of a misery
unseen in order to the escaping of it ; nor believing in a Sa-
viour in order to these ends : but there is the fruition of the
happiness which was here believed ; and feeling of the mi-
sery that men would not believe ; and suffering from him as
a righteous Judge, whom they rejected as a merciful Saviour.
So that it is not all work that ceaseth at our death ; but only
the work of this present life.
And indeed no reason can shew us the least probability
of doing our work when our time is done, that was given us
to do it in. If it can be done, it must be, 1. By the recall-
ing of our time. 2. By the return of life. 3. Or, by oppor-
tunity in another life : but there is no hope of any of these.
'. ^ 1. Who knoweth not that time cannot be recalled?
That which once was will be no more. Yesterday will never
come again. To-day is passing, and will not return. You
may work while it is day ; but when you have lost that day,
it will not return for you to work in. While your candle
burneth, you may make use of its light, but when it is done,
it is too late to use it. No force of medicine, no orator's
elegant persuasions, no worldling's wealth, no prince's
power, can call back one day or hour of time. If they could,
what endeavours would there be used, when extremity hath
taught them to value what they now despise ? What chaf-
ferings would there be at last, if time could be purchased
for any thing that man can give ! Then misers would bring
out their wealth and say, * All this will I give for one day's
time of repentance more.' And lords and knights would lay
down their honours, and say, * Take all, and let us be the
basest beggars, if we may but have one year of the time that
we misspent.' Then kings would lay down their crowns
490 NOW OK NEVER.
and say, * Let us be equal with the lowest subjects, so we
may but have the time again that we wasted in the cares
and pleasures of the world/ Kingdoms would then seem a
contemptible price for the recovery of time. The time that
is now idled and talked away ; the time that is now feasted
and complimented away ; that is unnecessarily sported and
slept away ; that is wickedly and presumptuously sinned
away ; how precious will it one day seem to all ! How hap-
py a bargain would they think that they had made, if at the
dearest rates they could redeem it ! The profanest mariner
falls a praying, when he fears his time is at an end. If im-
portunity would then prevail, how earnestly would they pray
for the recovery of time, that formerly derided praying, or
minded it not, or could not have while, or mocked God with
lip-service, and customary forms, and feigned words instead
of praying ! What a liturgy would death teach the trifling,
time-despising gallants, the idle, busy, dreaming-active, am-
bitious, covetous lovers of this world, if time could be en-
treated to return ! How passionately then would they roar
out their requests ! ' O that we might once see the days of
hope, and means, and mercy, which once we saw, and would
not see ! O that we had those days to spend in penitential
tears and prayers, and holy preparations for an endless life,
which we spent at cards, in needless recreations, in idle talk,
in humouring others, on the pleasing of our flesh, or in the
inordinate cares and businesses of the world ! O that our
youthful vigour might return ! that our years might be re-
newed ! that the days we spent in vanity might be recalled !
that ministers might again be sent to us publicly and pri-
vately, with the message of grace that we once made light
of ! that the sun would once more shine upon us ! and pa-
tience and mercy would once more reassume their work !*
If cries or tears, or price or pains, would bring back lost,
abused time, how happy were the now distracted, dreaming,
dead-hearted, and impenitent world ! If it would then serve
their turn to say to the vigilant believers, " Give us of your
oil, for our lamps are gone out," or to cry, ** Lord, Lord, open
to us," when the door is shut, the foolish would be saved as
well as the wise ^ But " this is the day of salvation ! this
is the accepted time*^." " While it is called to-day, hear-
«: Matt. sxv. 8. iO, 11. '» ^Cor. vi. ?.
NOW OR NEVER. 491
ken, and harden not your hearts *." Awake thou that sleep-
est, and stand up from thy slothful, wilful death, and use
the light that is afforded thee by Christ ^ or else the
everlasting, utter darkness, will shortly end thy time and
hope.
2. And as time can never be recalled, so life shall never
be here restored. " If a man die, shall he live (here) again ?
All the days of our appointed time we must therefore wait
(in faith and diligence) till our change shall come^." One
life is appointed us on earth to dispatch the work that our
everlasting life dependeth on ; and we shall have but one.
Lose that, and all is lost for ever. Yet you may hear, and
read, and learn, and pray ; but when this life is ended, it shall
be so no more. You shall rise from the dead indeed to judg-
ment, and to the life that now you are preparing for; but
never to such a life as this on earth : your life is as the fight-
ing of a battle, that must be won or lost at once. There is
no coming hither again to mend what is done amiss. Over-
sights must be presently corrected by repentance, or else
they are everlastingly past remedy. Now if you be not truly
converted, you may be : if you find that you are carnal and
miserable, you may be healed : if you are unpardoned, you
may be pardoned : if you are enemies, you may be recon-
ciled to God : but when once the thread of life is cut, your
opportunities are at an end. Now you may inquire of your
friends and teachers, what a poor soul must do that he must
be saved, and you may receive particular instructions and
exhortations, and God may bless them to the illuminating,
renewing, and saving of your souls ; but when life is past, it
will be so no more. O then, if desperate souls might but re-
turn, and once more be tried with the means of life, what
joyful tidings would it be ! How welcome would the mes-
senger be that bringeth it ! Had hell but such an offer as
this, and would any cries procure it from their righteous
Judge, O what a change would be among them ! How im-
portunately would they cry to God, ' O send us once again
unto the earth ! Once more let us see the face of mercy, and
hear the tenders of Christ and of salvation ! Once more let
the ministers offer us their helps, and teach in season and
out of season, in public and in private, and we will refuse
« PsijI. xcv. 8. ' Kpliff*. V. 11. S Joh xiv. 11,
492 NOW OR NEVER.
their help and exhortations no more ; we will hate them and
drive them away from our houses and towns no more. Once
more let us have thy word and ordinances, and try whether
we will not believe them, and use them better than we did.
Once more let us have the help and company of thy saints,
and we will scorn them, and abuse them, and persecute them
no more. O for the great, invaluable mercy of such a life as
once we had ! O try us once more with such a life, and see
whether we will not contemn the world, and close with
Christ, and live as strictly, and pray as earnestly, as those
that we hated and abused for so doing ! O that we might
once more be admitted into the holy assemblies, and have
the Lord's days to spend in the business of our salvation !
We would plead no more against the power and purity of
the ordinances : we would no more call that day a burden,
nor hate them that spent it in works of holiness, nor plead
for the liberty of the flesh therein.'
It makes my heart even shake within me, to think with
what cries those damned souls would strive with God, and
how they would roar out, ' O try us once again,' if they had
but the least encouragement of hope ! But it will not be ;
it must not be ! They had their day, and would not know
it. They cannot lose their time and have it. They had
faithful guides, and would not follow them : teachers they
had, but would not learn. The dust of their feet must wit-
ness against them, because their entertained obeyed mes-
sage cannot witness for them. Long did Christ wait with
the patient tenders of his blood and Spirit : his grace was
long and earnestly offered them, but could not be regarded
and received. And they cannot finally refuse a Christ, and
yet have a Christ ; or refuse his mercy, and yet be saved by
it. He that would have Lazarus sent from the dead to warn
his unbelieving brethren on earth, no doubt would have
strongly purposed himself on a reformation, if he might once
more have been tried. And how earnestly would he have
begged for such a trial, that begged so hard for a drop of
water ! But, alas ! such mouths must be stopped for ever
with a " Remember, that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy
good things*"."
So that " it is appointed for all men once to die, and af-
'' I.uke xvi. 24, 25. 27, ^^8.
NOW OR NEVER. 493
ter that the judgment'/' But there is no return to earth
again. The places of your abode, employment, and delight
shall know you no more. You must see these faces of your
friends, and converse in flesh with men, no more! "This
world, these houses, this wealth and honour, as to any frui-
tion, must be to you as if you had never known them. You
must assemble here but a little while ! yet a little longer,
and we must preach, and you must hear it no more for ever.
That, therefore, which you will do, must presently be done,
or it will be too late. If ever you will repent and believe,
it must be now. If ever you will be converted and sancti-
fied, it must be now. If ever you will be pardoned, and re-
conciled to God, it must be now. If ever you will reign, it
is now that you must fight and conquer. O that you were
wise, that you understood this, and that you would consider
your latter end ^. And that you would let those words sink
down into your hearts, which came from the heart of the
Redeemer, as was witnessed by his tears : " If thou hadst
known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which
belong unto thy peace. But now they are hidden from
thine eyes ^" And that these warnings may not be the less
regarded, because you have so often heard them, when often
hearing increaseth your obligation, and diminisheth not the
truth, or your danger.
3. And as there is no return to earth, so there is no do-
ing this work hereafter. Heaven and hell are for other work .
If the infant be dead-born, the open world will not revive
him. That which is generated, and born a beast or serpent,
will not, by all the influences of the heavens, or all the
powers of sun or earth, become a man. The second and
third concoction presuppose the first ; the harvest doth pre-
suppose the seed-time, and the labour of the husbandman.
It is now that you must sow, and hereafter that you must
reap. It is now that you must work, and then that you
must receive your wages. Is this believed and considered
by the sleepy world ? Alas, sirs, do you live as men that
must live here no more ? Do you work as men that must
work no more, and pray as men that must pray no more,
when once the time of work is ended ? What thinkest thou,
poor besotted sinner ! will God command the sun to stand
' H«b. lis. t7. " Deut. xxxii.f9. > Luke xix. M.4«.
494 NOW OR NEVER.
still while thou rebellest or forgettest thy work and him ?
Dost thou look he should pervert the course of nature, and
continue the spring and seed-time till thou hast a mind to
sow ? or that he will return the dead-born, or mishapen in-
fant into the womb, that it may be better formed or quick-
ened ? Will he renew thy age and make thee young again,
and call back the hours tJiat thou prodigally wastedst on thy
lusts and idleness ? Canst thou look for this at the hand of
God, when nature and Scripture assure thee of the contrary?
If not, why hast thou not yet done with thy beloved sins ?
Why hast thou not yet begun to live ? Why sittest thou
still, while thy soul is unrenewed, and all thy preparation for
death and judgment is yet to make ? How fain would sa-
tan find thee thus at death. How fain would he have leave
to blow out thy candle, before thou hast entered into the
way of life. Dost thou look to have preachers sent after
thee, to bring thee the mercy which thy contempt here left
behind ? Wilt thou hear and be converted in the grave and
hell ? or wilt thou be saved without holiness ? that is, in the
despite of God, that hath resolved, it shall not be ? O ye
sons of sleep, of death, of daikness, awake and live, and hear
the Lord, before the grave and hell have shut their mouths
upon you ! Hear now, lest hearing be too late ! Hear now
if you will ever hear ! Hear now if you have ears to hear \
And O ye sons of light, that see what sleeping sinners see
not, call to them, and ring them such a peal of lamentations,
tears, and compassionate entreaties, as is suited to such a
dead and doleful state ; who knows but God may bless it to
awake them ?
If any of you be so far awakened, as to ask me, what I
am calling you to do, my text tells you in general, Up and
be doing. Look about you, and see what you have to do,
and do it with your might.
1. " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do ;" that is, what-
soever is a duty imposed by the Lord, whatsoever is a means
conducing to thy own or other's welfare ; whatsoever neces-
sity calleth thee to do, and opportunity alloweth thee
to do.
" Thy hand findeth ;" that is, thy executive power by
the conduct of thy understanding is now to do.
" Do it with thy might." Do thy best in it. 1. Trifle
NOW OR NKVER. 495
not, but do it presently, without unnecessary delay. 2. Do
it resolutely. Remain not doubtful, unresolved, in suspense
as if it were yet a question with thee whether thou shouldst
do it or not.
3. Do it with thy most awakened affections, and serious
intention of the powers of thy soul. Sleepiness and insen-
sibility are most unsuitable to such works. It is a peculiar
people, zealous of good works that Christ hath purchased to
himself"".
4. Do it with all necessary forecast and contrivance.
Not with a distracting, hindering care ; but with such a care
as may shew that you despise not your master, and are not
regardless of his work. And with such a care as is suited
to the difficulties and nature of the thing, and is necessary
to the due accomplishment.
5. Do it not slothfully, but vigorously, and with dili-
gence. Stick not at thy labour, lest thou hear, " Thou
wicked and slothful servant °." " Hide not thy hand in thy
bosom with the slothful," and say not, " There is a lion in
the way °." The negligent and the vicious, the waster and
the slothful, differ but as one brother from another p. As the
self-murder of the wilfully ungodly, so also " the desire of
the slothful killeth him, because his hands refuse to labour ^."
'* The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing ; but
the soul of the diligent shall be made fat ^" " Be thou not
slothful in business, but be fervent in Spirit serving the
Lord'."
6. Do it with constancy, and not with destructive pauses
and intermissions, or with weariness and turning back.
*' The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that is of
clean hands shall be stronger and stronger *." " Be steadfast,
immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord ;
forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in
the Lord »." " Be not weary of well doing ; for in due sea-
son we shall reap if we faint not "." These six particulars
are necessary, if you will observe the precept in my text.
But that misunderstanding hinder not the performance,
"» Tit, ii. 14. " Man. xxv.lf6. • Prov. jtxvi. 13, 14.
P Prov. xviji. 9. •> Prov. xxi 2.5. •" Prov. xiii. 4.
• Ronu xii. 11. « Job xvii. 9. " 1 Cor. xt. 58.
s Gal. vi. 9.
496 NOW OK NEVER.
I shall acquaint you further with the sense, by these few ex-
plicatory cautions.
1. The Migjht and Diligence here required, excludeth
not the necessity of deliberation and prudent conduct.
Otherwise, the faster you go, the further you may go out of
the way ; and misguided zeal may spoil all the work, and
make it but an injury to others or yourselves. A little im-
prudence in the season, and order, and manner of a duty,
sometimes may spoil it, and hinder the success, and make it
to do more hurt than good. How many a sermon, or prayer,
or reproof is made the matter of derision and contempt, for
some imprudent passages or deportment ? God sendeth not
his servants to be jesters of the world, or to play the mad-
men as David in his fears : we must be wise and innocent,
as well as resolute and valiant. Though fleshly and worldly
wisdom be not desirable, as being but foolishness with God,
yet the " wisdom which is from above, and is first pure, and
then peaceable," and is acquainted with the high and hid-
den mysteries, and is "justified of her children," must be
the guide of all our holy actions. Holiness is not blind.
Illumination is the first part of sanctification. Believers are
children of the light. Nothing requireth so much wisdom
as the matters of God, and of our salvation. Folly is most
unsuitable to such excellent employments, and most unbe-
seeming the sons of the Most High. It is a spirit of wis-
dom that animateth all the saints y. It is the treasures of
wisdom that dwelleth in Christ, and are communicated to
his members.^ We must " walk in wisdom toward them that
are without*." And our "work must be shewn out of a
good conversation, with meekness of wisdom ^." Yet I must
needs say, that it is more in great things than in small, in
the substance than the circumstances ; in a sound judgment
and estimate of things, and suitable choice and prosecution,
than in fine expressions or deportment, answering proud
men's expectations.
2. Though you must work with your might, yet with a
diversity agreeable to the quality of your several works.
Some works must be preferred before others. All cannot
be done at once. That is a sin out of season, which in sea-
y 1 Cor. iii. 19. ii 6, 7. Eph. i. 8. 17. Col. iii. 16. » Col. ii. 3.
»Col.iv.5. b Jam. iii. 13.
NOW OR NKVER. 497
son is a duty. The greatest and the most urgent work must
be preferred. And some works must be done with double
fervour and resolution, and some with less. Buying, and
selling, and marrying, and possessing, and using the world,
must be done with a fear of overdoing, and in a sort as if we
did them not, though they also must have a necessary dili-
gence ^. God's kingdom and its righteousness must be first
sought *=. And our labour for the meat that perisheth, must
be comparatively as none**.
3. Lastly, it is not an irregular, nor a self-disturbing,
vexatious violence that is required of us ; but a sweet, well-
settled resolution, and a delightful, expeditious diligence,
that makes the wheels go merrily on, and the more easily
get over those rubs and difficulties, that clog and stop a
slothful soul.
And now will you lend me the assistance of your consci-
ences, for the transcribing of this command of God upon
your hearts, and taking out a copy of this order, for the re-
gulating of your lives ? * Whatsoever,' is not a word so
comprehensive as to include any vanity or sin ; but so com-
prehensive as to include all your duty.
1. To begin with the lowest: the very works of your
bodily callings must have diligence. " In the sweat of your
brows you must eat your bread ^." " Six days shalt thou la-
bour, and do all that thou hast to do V " He that will not
work, let him not eat s." " Disorderly walkers, busybodies,
that will not work with quietness, and eat their own bread,
are to be avoided and shamed by the church ^" Lazy ser-
vants are unfaithful to men, and disobedient to God, who
commandeth them to " obey their masters according to the
flesh" (unbelieving, ungodly masters) " in all things," (that
concerns their service) " and that not with eye-service, as
men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, and in the fear of
God, doing whatsoever they do as to the Lord, and not unto
men ; knowing that of the Lord" (even for this) " they shall
receive the reward of the inheritance '.*' '* But he that doth
wrong" (by slothfulness, or unfaithfulness) shall receive for
the wrong which he hath done ''."
i> 1 Cor. vii. €9—31. < Matt. ▼!. 33. <* John vi. S7.
« Gen. iii- 19. ' Exod. xx. 9. 't Thcss. !ii. 10.
•» 2 Thess. iii. 6. 11 . 12. 14. ' Col. iii. i'i—4'i. ^ Verac t5.
VOL. VII. K K
498 NOW OR NEVER,
Success is God's ordinary temporal reward of diligence*.
And diseases, poverty, shame, disappointment, or self-tor-
menting melancholy, are his usual punishments of sloth.
Hard labour redeemeth time : you will have the more to lay
out in greater works. The slothful is still behindhand, and
therefore must leave much of his work undone.
2. Are you Parents, or Governors of Families? You
have work to do for God, and for your children's and ser-
vants' souls. Do it with your might. Deal wisely, but se-
riously and frequently with them about their sins, their duty,
and their hopes of heaven. Tell them whither they are go-
ing, and which way they must go. Make them under-
stand they have a higher Father and Master that must be
first served, and greater work than yours. Waken them from
their natural insensibility and sloth. Turn not all your fa-
mily duties into lifeless, customary forms, (whether extem-
porate, or by rote) ; speak about God, and heaven, and hell,
and holiness with that seriousness as beseems men that be-
lieve what they say, and would have those they speak to, to
believe it. Talk not either drowsily or lightly, or jestingly,
of such dreadful, or joyful, unexpressible things. Remem-
ber, that your families and you, are going to the grave, and
to the world where there is no more room for your exhorta-
tions. There is no catechising, examining, or serious in-
structing them in the grave, whither they and you are going.
It must be now ov never ; and, therefore, do it with your
might. The words of God must be "in your hearts, and you
must diligently teach them to your children, talking of them
when you sit in your houses, when you walk by the way,
when you lie down, and when you rise up ""."
3. Have you ignorant and ungodly neighbours, whose
misery calls for your compassion, and relief? Speak to
them and help them with prudent diligence. Lose not your
opportunities. Stay not till death hath stopt your mouths,
or stopt their ears. Stay not till they are out of hearing,
and taken from your converse. Stay not till they are in hell
before you warn them of it, or till heaven be lost, before
you have seriously called to them to remember it. Go to
their houses ; take all opportunities ; stoop to their infirmi-
ties ; bear with unthankful frowardness ; it is for men's sal-
vation. Remember there is no place for your instructions or
• Prov. X. 4. xii. 24. 27. » Deut. vi. 6 — 8. xi. 18—20.
NOW OR NEVER. 499
exhortations in the grave or hell. Your dust cannot speak,
and their dust cannot hear. Up, therefore, and be doing
with all your might !
4. Hath God intrusted you with the Riches of the world;
with many talents or with few, by which he looketh you
should relieve the needy, and especially should promote
those works of piety which are the greatest charity ? Give
(prudently, but willingly and liberally) while you have to
give. It is your gain. The time of market for your souls,
and of laying up a treasure in heaven, and setting your mo-
ney to the most gainful usury ; and of making you friends
of the mammon of unrighteousness ; and furthering your
salvation, by that which hindereth other men's, and occa-
sioneth their perdition. " As you have opportunity, do
good to all men, but especially to them of the household of
faith °." *' Cast thy bread upon the waters ; for thou shalt
find it after many days. Give a portion to seven and also
to eight ; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the
earth.*' " In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening
withhold not thy hand ; for thou knowest not whether shall
prosper, this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good**."
" Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it
is in the power of thy hand to do it. Say not to thy neigh-
bour, Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give, when
thou hast it by thee p." Lay up a foundation for the time
to come. Do good before thy heart be hardened, thy riches
blasted and consumed, thy opportunities taken away ; part
with it before it part with thee. Remember it must be now
or never. There is no working in the grave.
5. Hath God intrusted you with Power, or Interest, by
which you may promote his honour in the world, and relieve
the oppressed, and restrain the rage of impious malice !
Hath he made you Governors, and put the sword of justice
into your hands ? Up, then, and be doing with your might.
Defend the innocent, protect the servants of the Lord, che-
rish them that do well, be a terror to the wicked, encourage
the strictest obedience to the Universal Governor, discoun-
tenance the breakers of his laws. Look not to be reverenced
or obeyed before him, or more carefully than he. Openly
maintain his truth and worship without fear or shame. Deal
" Gal. vi. 6. 9. 1 d. " Ecclcii. xi. 1, «. 6. » Fror. iii. 27, ^8.
500 NOW OR NEVER.
gently and tenderly with his lambs and little ones. Search
after vice that you may successfully suppress it. Hate those
temptations that would draw you to man-pleasing, tempo-
rizing, remissness,or countenancing sin ; but especially those
that would ensnare you in a controversy with heaven, and in
quarrels against the ways of holiness, or in that self-con-
founding sin of abusing and opposing the people that are
most careful to please the Lord. Your trust is great, and
so is your advantage to do good. And how great will be
your account, and how dreadful, if you be unfaithful. As
you signify more than hundreds or thousands of the meaner
sort, and your actions do most good or hurt, so you must
expect to be accordingly dealt with, when you come to the
impartial, final judgment. Befriend the Gospel as the char-
ter of your everlasting privileges ; own those that Christ
hath told you he will own. Use them as men that are rea-
dy to hear. " Insomuch as you did it to one of the least of
these my brethren, you did it unto me "i." ** Know not a
wicked person ;" but let " your eyes be on the faithful of
the land, that they may dwell therein, and lead a quiet and
peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty ""." ** Let those
that work the work of the Lord, be with you without fear^"
Remember that it is the character of a Pharisee and hypo-
crite, to see the mote of the non-observance of a ceremony,
or tradition, or smaller matter of difference in religion in
their brother's eye, and not to see the beam of hypocrisy,
injustice, and malicious, cruel opposition of Christ and his
disciples in their own. And that it is the brand of them
that please not God, that are filling up their sins, on whom
God's wrath is coming to the utmost, to " persecute the ser-
vants of the Lord, forbidding them to preach to the people
that they might be saved *."
Learn well the second and the hundred and first Psalm.
And write these sentences on your walls and doors, as an
antidote against that self-undoing sin. *' Whosoever shall
offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were
better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck,
and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea"." " He
that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye V *' Him
I Matt. XXV. f Psal. ci. 1. « 1 Cor. xvi. 10.
I I Thess.ii. 15, 6. " Matt, xviii. 16. ^ Zcch. ii. 8.
NOW OR NEVER. 501
that is weak in the faith, receive you ; but not to doubtful
disputations. For God hath received him^." ** He that
receiveth you, receiveth me ; and he that receiveth me, re-
ceiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth a righteous
man, in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righte-
ous man's reward. And whoso shall give to drink to one of
these little ones, a cup of cold water only, in the name of a
disciple, verily, I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his
reward ^.'* If you love not the godly, love yourselves (so far
as to such self-love is possible), wound not your own hearts,
to make their fingers bleed. Damn not your own souls, (and
that by the surest, nearest way) that you may hurt their bo-
dies. Provoke not God to thrust you from his presence, and
deny your suits, by your dealing so with them. Stop not
your own mouths, when your misery will bespeak your loud-
est cries for mercy, by your stopping the mouths of the ser-
vants of the Lord, and refusing to hear their requests for
justice. If you have the serpent's enmity against the wo-
man's seed, you must expect the serpent's doom. Your
heads will be bruised, when you have bruised their heels *."
" Kick not against the pricks **." Let not " briars and thorns
set themselves in battle against the Lord, lest he go, there-
fore, through them, and burn them together *"."
I speak not any of this by way of accusation or disho-
nourable reflection on the Magistrate. Blessed be God that
hath given us the comfort of your defence. But knowing
what the tempter aimeth at, and where it is that your dan-
ger lieth, and by what means the rulers of the earth have
been undone, faithfulness commandeth me to tell you of the
snare, and to set before you good and evil, as ever I would
escape the guilt of betraying you by flattery, or cruel and
cowardly silence.
And especially when your Magistracy is but annual, or
for a short time, it concerneth you to be doing with your
might. It is but this year, or short space of time that you
have to do this special service in ; lose this, and lose all.
By what men on earth should God be eminently served and
honoured, if not by Magistrates, whom he hath eminently
advanced, impowered, and intrusted ? With considerate
y Rora. xW. t, «. »▼, 1. » Matt. x. 40—42. • Gen.iii. 15.
«»Act8ix.5. « Isa xxvii. 4. .
602 NOW OR NEVER.
foresight, seriously ask yourselves the question, Are you
willing to hear, at the day of your accounts, that you had but
one year, or a few, to do God special service in, and that
you knew this, and yet would not do it ? Can your hearts
bear it then, to hear and think, that you lost, and wilfully
lost such an opportunity ? Look about you then, and see
what is to be done. Are there not alehouses to be sup-
pressed, and drunkards, and riotous persons to be restrain-
ed ? Preaching and piety to be promoted ? Do it with
your might. For it must be now or never.
6. To come yet a little nearer you, and speak of the work
that is yet to be done in our own souls. Are any of you yet
in the state of unrenewed nature, born only of the flesh, and
not of the Spirit '^. ** Minding the things of the flesh, and
not the things of the Spirit *," and consequently yet in the
*' power of satan, taken captive by him, at his will ^" Up
and be doing, if thou love thy soul. If thou care whether
thou be in joy or misery for ever, bewail thy sin and spiri-
tual distress. Make out to Christ, cry mightily to him for
his renewing and reconciling, pardoning grace. Plead his
satisfaction, his merits, and his promises. Away with thy
rebellion, and thy beloved sin ; deliver up thy soul entirely
to Christ, to be sanctified, governed, and saved by him.
Make no more demurs about it ; it is not a matter to be
questioned, or trifled in. Let the earth be acquainted with
thy bended knees, and the air with thy complaints and cries,
and men with thy confessions and inquiries after the way of
life ; and heaven with thy sorrows, desires, and resolutions,
till thy soul be acquainted with the Spirit of Christ s, and
with the new, the holy, and heavenly nature ; and thy heart
have received the transcript of God's law, the impress of the
Gospel, and so the image of thy Creator and Redeemer.
Ply this work with all thy might. For there is no conver-
sion, renovation, or repentance unto life in the grave, whi-
ther thou goest. It must be now or never. And never sav-
ed, if never sanctified ^.
7. Hast thou any prevailing sin to mortify, that either
reigneth in thee, or woundeth thee and keepeth thy soul in
darkness and unacquaintedness with God ? Assault it re-
•1 John iii. 3, 5, 6. • Rom. viii. 1. 5. 7. 9. 13. ' Acts xxvi. 18. 2 Tim. ii. 26.
P R«ra. viii. 9. *• Heb. xii. 14.
NOW OR NEVER. 503
solutely ; reject it speedily; abhor the motions of it; turn
away from the persons or things that would entice thee.
Hate the doors of the harlot, and of the alehouse, or the
gaming-house ; and go not as the " ox to the slaughter, and
as a bird to the fowler's snare, and as a fool to the correction
of the stocks, as if thou knewest not that it is for thy life '."
Why, thou befooled, stupid soul ! wilt thou be tasting of
the poisoned cup ? wilt thou be sporting thee with the bait ?
Hast thou no where to walk and play thee, but at the brink
of hell ? " Must not the flesh be crucified with its affections
and lusts ''.'' Must it not be tamed and mortified, or thy
soul condemned ' ? " Run not, therefore, as at uncertainty :
fight not as one that beats the air ™," seeing this must be
done, or thou art undone, delay and dally with sin no longer.
Let this be the day ; resolve, and resist it with thy might.
It must be now or never. When death comes, it is too late.
It will be then no reward to leave thy sin, which thou canst
keep no longer. No part of holiness or happiness that thou
art not drunk, or proud, or lustful in the grave or hell. As
thou art wise, therefore, know and take thy time.
8. Art thou in a declined, lapsed state? decayed in
grace? Hast thou lost thy first desires and love? Do thy
first works, and do them with thy might. Delay not, but
remember from whence thou art fallen, and what thou hast
lost by it, and into how sad a case thy folly and negligence
hath brought thee ; say, " I will go and return to my first
husband ; for then was it better with me than now"." Cry
out with Job, ** O that I were as in months past I as in the
days when God preserved me ! when his candle shined upon
my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness.
As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God
was on my tabernacle, when the Almighty was yet with
meV Return while thou hast day, lest the night sur-
prise thee : loiter and delay no more ; thou hast lost by it
already : thou art far behindhand. Bestir thee therefore
with all thy might.
9. Art thou in the darkness of uncertainty concerning
thy conversion, and thy everlasting state ? Dost thou not
know whether thou be in a state of life or death ? and what
» Prov. tH. tty «3. •' Gal. v. S4. • Rom. tiii. IS. 1 Cor.U. f7.
» I Cor. ii. 16. " Ho«,u,7. • Jobxxuc. «— 5.
504 NOW OR NEVKR.
should become of thee, if this were the day or hour of thy
change ? If thou art careful about it, and inquirest, and
usest the means that God hath appointed thee for assurance,
I have then no more to say to thee now, but wait on God,
and thou shalt not be disappointed or ashamed ! Tliou shalt
have assurance in due time, or be saved before thou wouldst
believe thou shouldst be saved. Be patient and obedient,
and the light of Christ will shine upon thee, and yet thou
shalt see the days of peace. But if thou art careless in thy
uncertainty, and mindest not so great a business, be awa-
kened, and call thy soul to its account ; search and examine
thy heart and life : read, and consider, and take advice of
faithful guides. Canst thou carelessly sleep, and laugh,
and sport, and follow thy lesser business as if thy salvation
were made sure, when thou knowest not where thou must
dwell for ever ? ** Examine yourselves whether you be in the
faith ? prove yourselves ; know ye not your own selves, that
Christ is in you except you are reprobates p." " Give all dili-
gence (in time) to make your calling and election sure *i."
In the grave and hell there is no making sure of heaven : you
are then past inquiries and self-examinations, in order to anv
recovery or hope. Another kind of trial will finally resolve
you. Up therefore and diligently ply the work ; it must be
now or never,
10. In all the duties of thy profession, of piety, justice,
or charity, to God, thyself, or others, up and be doing with
thy might. Art thou seeking to inflame thy soul with love .
to God? plunge thyself in the ocean of his love ; admire his
mercies ; gaze upon the representations of his transcendent
goodness ; O taste and see that the Lord is gracious ! Re-
member that he must be loved with all thy heart, and soul,
and might; canst thou pour out thy love upon a creature,
and give but a few barren drops to God ?
When thou art fearing him, let his fear command thy
soul, and conquer all the fear of man.
When thou art trusting him, do it without distrust, and
cast all thy care and thyself upon him : trust him as a crea-
ture should trust his God, and the members of Christ should
trust their Head and dear Redeemer.
When thou art making mention of his great and dreadful
P 2 Cor. xiii. 5. 12 Pet. i. 10.
NOW OR NEVER. 505
name, O do it with reverence, and awe, and admiration ; and
take not the name of God in vain.
When thou art reading his word, let the majesty of the
author, and the greatness of the matter, and gravity of the
style, possess thee with an obediential fear. Love it, and
let it be sweeter to thee than the honeycomb, and more pre-
cious than thousands of gold and silver. Resolve to do
what there thou findest to be the will of God. When thou
art praying in secret, or in the family, do it with thy might ;
cry mightily to God as a soul under sin. and wants, and dan-
ger, that is stepping into an endless life, should do. Let
the reverence and the fervour of thy prayers shew that it is
God himself that thou art speaking to ; that it is heaven itself
that thou art praying for ; hell itself that thou art praying to
be saved from. Wilt thou be dull and senseless on such an
errand to the living God ? Remember what lieth upon thy
failing or prevailing, and that it must be now or never.
Art thou a Preacher of the Gospel, and takest charge of
the souls of men? " Take heed to thyself and to the whole
flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made thee an over-
seer, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased
with his own blood ^" Let not the blood of souls, and the
blood that purchased them, be required at thy hands. " Thou
art charged before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who
shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing, and his
kingdom, that thou preach the word, be instant in season and
out of season ; reprove, rebuke and exhort with all longsuf-
fering and doctrine •.*' " Teach every man, and exhort every
man *." ** Even night and day with tears "." " Save men
with fear, pulling them out of the fire ''.'* " Cry aloud ; lift
up thy voice like a trumpet ; tell them of their transgres-
sions y." Yet thou art alive, and they are alive; yet thou
hast a tongue, and they have ears : the final sentence hath
not yet cut off their hopes. Preach therefore, and preach
with all thy might. Exhort them privately and personally
with all the seriousness thou canst. Quickly, or it will be
too late. Prudently, or satan will overreach thee ; fervently,
or thy words are like to be disregarded. Remember when
thou lookest them in the faces, when thou beholdest the
' Act* x%, «8. Ezek iii. 18. «0. • 8 Tira. it. 1, if. • Col. i. 28.
» Acts XX. SI. * Jude «5. y Iso. ItmI. 1.
506
NOW OR NEVER.
assemblies, that they must be converted or condemned,
sanctified on earth, or tormented in hell ; and that this is
the day : it must be now or never.
In a word : apply this quickening precept to all the du-
ties of the Christian course. Be religious, and just, and
charitable in good earnest, if you would be taken for such
when you look for the reward. " Work out your salvation
with fear and trembling ^" " Strive to enter in at the strait
gate ; for many shall seek to enter and shall not be able *."
** Many run, but few receive the prize : so run that you may
obtain ^" " If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall
the ungodly, and the sinner appear*^?" Let the doating
world deride your diligence, and set themselves to hinder and
afflict you : it will be but a little while before experience
change their minds, and make them sing another song. Fol-
low Christ fully : ply your work and lose no time. The
Judge is coming. Let not words or any thing that man can
do, prevail with you to sit down, or stop you in a journey of
such importance. Please God, though flesh, and friends,
and all the world should be displeased. Whatever come of
your reputation, or estates, or liberties, or lives, be sure you
look to life eternal ; and cast not that on any hazard, for a
withering flower, or a pleasant dream, or a picture of com-
modity, or any vanity that the deceiver can present. " For
what shall it profit you to win the whole world and lose
your soul ^ ?" Or to have been honoured and obeyed on
earth, when you are under the wrath of God in hell? Or
that your flesh was once provided with variety of delights,
when it is turned to rottenness, and must be raised to tor-
ments ? Hold on therefore in faith, and holiness, and hope,
though earth and hell should rage against you, though all
the world by force or flattery, should do the worst they can
to hinder you. This is your trial ; your warfare is the re-
sisting of deceit, and of all that would tempt you to consent
to the means of your own destruction : consent not, and you
conquer: conquer and you are crowned. The combat is all
about your wills ; yield, and you have lost the day. If the
prating of ungodly fools, or the contemptuous jeers of har-
dened sinners, or the frowns of unsanctified superiors, could
^ Phil. ii. 12. * Matt.vH. 13. Luke xii. 24.
b 1 Cor. ix. 24. « i Pet. iv. 18. ^ Matt, xvi 26.
NOW OR NKVER. 507
prevail against the Spirit of Christ, and the workings of an
enlightened mind, then what man could be saved ? You de-
serve damnation, if you will run into it to avoid a mock, or
the loss of any thing that man can take from you. You are
unmeet for heaven, if you can part with it to save your
purses. " Fear not them that can kill the body, and after
that have no more that they can do ; but fear him that can
destroy both soul and body in hell *." Obey God, though
all the world forbid you. No power can save you from his
justice : and none of them can deprive you of his reward.
Though you lose your heads, you shall save your crowns;
you no way save your lives so certainly, as by such losing
them. ** One thing is necessary^;" do that with speed, and
care, and diligence, which must be done, or you are lost for
ever. They that are now against your much and earnest
praying, will shortly cry as loud themselves in vain. When
it is too late, how fervently will they beg for mercy, that
now deride you for valuing and seeking it in time ! But
** then they shall call upon God, but he will not answer ;
they shall seek him early, but shall not find him : for that
they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the
Lord : they would none of his counsel, but despised all his
reproof «."
Up therefore and work with all thy might. Let unbe-
lievers trifle, that know not that the righteous God stands
over them, and know not that they are now to work for ever-
lasting, and know not that heaven or hell is at the end. Let
them delay, and laugh, and play, and dream away their time,
that are drunk with prosperity, and mad with fleshly lusts
and pleasures, and have lost their reason in the cares, and
delusions, and vainglory of the world. But shall it be so
with thee whose eyes are opened, who seest the God, the
heaven, the hell, which they do but hear of as unlikely
things? Wilt thou live awake, as they that are asleep?
Wilt thou do in the daylight, as they do in the dark ? Shall
freemen live as satan's slaves ? Shall the living lie as still
and useless as the dead ? " Work then while it is day, for
the night is coming when none can work **."
It is not the works of the Mosaical law, nor works that
are conceited for their proper value to deserve any thing at
« Matt. X. iH. f Matt. x. S9. v Prov. i. «4 to the en<). *' .lulin ix. 4.
508 NOW OR NEVER.
the hands of God, that I am all this while persuading you
to : but it is the works prescribed you by Christ in the Gos-
pel, according to which you shall be shortly judged to joy
or misery, by Christ himself, that will call you to account.
These must be done with all your might.
Object, ' But (you will say perhaps) alas, what might have
we? We have no sufficiency of ourselves; without Christ
we can do nothing ! And this we find when it comes to the
trial.'
Answ. 1. It is not a might that is originally thine own,
that I am calling thee to exercise ; but that which thou hast
already received from God, and that which he is ready to
bestow. Use well but all the might thou hast, and thou
shalt find thy labour is not vain. Even the strength of na-
ture, and of common grace, are talents which thou must im-
prove.
2. Art thou willing to use the might thou hast, and to
have more, and use it if thou hadst it ? If thou art, thou
hast then the strength of Christ : thou standest not, and
workest not by thy own strength ; his promise is engaged
to thee, and his strength is sufficient for thee. But if thou
art not willing, thou art without excuse ; when thou hadst
heaven and hell set open in the word of God to make thee
willing, God will distinguish thy wilfulness from unwilling
weakness.
3. There is more power in all of you than you use, or
than you are well aware of. It wanteth but awakening to
bring it into act. Do you not find in your repentings, that
the change is more in your will than in your power ? and in
the awaking of your will and reason into act, than in the ad-
dition of mere abilities ? and that therefore you befool your-
selves for your sins and your neglects, and wonder that you
had no more use of your understandings ? Let but a storm
at sea, or violent sickness, or approaching death, rouse up
and waken the powers which you have, and you will find
there was much more asleep in you than you used.
I shall therefore next endeavour to awaken your abilities,
or tell you how you should awaken them.
When your souls are drowsy, and you are forgetting
your God, and your latter end, and matters of eternity have
little force and favour with you ; when you grow lazy and
NOW OR NEVER. 509
superficial, and religion seems a lifeless thing, and you do
your duty as if it were in vain, or against your wills ; when
you can lose your time, and delay repentance ; and friends,
and profit, and reputation, and pleasure, can be heard
against the word of God, and take you off; when you do all
by the halves, and languish in your Christian course, as
near to death ; stir up your souls with the urgency of such
questions as these ?
Quest 1. ' Can I do no more than this for God V Who
gave me all? Who deserveth all? Who seeth me in my
duties and my sins? When he puts me purposely on the
trial, what I can do for his sake and service, can I do no
more ? Can I love him no more ? And obey, and watch,
and work no more ?
Quest. 2. * Can I do no more than this for Christ V For
him that did so much for me ? that lived so exactly ; obey-
ed so perfectly ; walked so inoffensively and meekly ; des-
pising all the baits, and honours, and riches of the world ?
That loved me to the death ; and offered me freely all his
benefits, and would bring me to eternal glory ? Are these
careless, cold and dull endeavours my best return for all
this mercy ?
Quest, 3. * Can I do no more, when my salvation is the
prize?' When heaven or hell depend much on it ? When
I know this beforehand, and may see in the glass of the Holy
Scriptures what is prepared for the diligent and the negli-
gent, and what work there is and will be for ever in heaven
and hell on these accounts ? Could I not do more, if my
house were on fire, or my estate, or life, or friend in danger,
than I do for ray salvation ?
Quest, 4. ' Can I do no more for the souls of men V When
they are undone for ever if they be not speedily delivered ?
Is this my love and compassion to my neighbour, my ser-
vant, friend or child ?
Quest, 6. * Can I do no more for the church of God?*
For the public good ? For the peace and welfare of the na-
tion and our posterity ? In suppressing sin ? In praying
for deliverance ? Or in promoting works of public benefit ?
Quest, 6. ' Can I do no more, that have loitered so long?'
And go no faster, that have slept till the evening of my days,
when diligence must be the discovery of my repentance ?
510 NOW OR NEVER.
Quest. 7. ' Can I do no more, that know not now but I
am doing my last V That see how fast my time makes haste,
and know 1 must be quickly gone ? That know it must be
now or never ; and that this is all the time I shall have, on
which an endless life dependeth ?
Quest. 8. ' Can I do no better, when I know beforehand,
what different aspects diligence and negligence will have, to
the awakened soul in the review V What a comfort it will
be at death and judgment, to be able to say, * I did my best,
or loitered not away the time I had V And what a vexatious,
and heart-disquieting thing it will then be, to look back on
time as irrecoverably lost, and on a life of trial, as cast away
upon impertinencies, while the work that we lived for lay
undone ? Shall I now by trifling prepare such griping and
tormenting thoughts, for my awakened conscience ?
Quest. 9. * Can I do no more, when I am sure I cannot
do too much, and am sure there is nothing else to be prefer-
red V And that it is this I live for ; and that life is for ac-
tion, and disposeth thereunto, (and holy life for holy action) :
and that it is better not live, than not attain the ends of liv-
ing ; when I have so many and unwearied enemies ; when
sloth is my danger, and the advantage of my enemy ; when
I know that resolution and vigorous diligence, is so neces-
sary that all is lost without it? Will temptations be resist-
ed, and self denied, and concupiscence mortified, and flesh-
ly desires tamed and subdued, and sin cast out, and a holy
communion with heaven maintained with idleness and sloth ?
Will families be well ordered, and church, or city, or coun-
tries be well governed ? Will the careless sinners that I am
bound to help, be converted and saved, with sitting still,
and with some heartless, cold endeavours ?
Quest. 10. * Can I do no more that have so much help?'
That have mercies of all sorts encouraging me, and crea-
tures attending me ; that have health to enable me, or afflic-
tion to remember and excite me, that have such a master,
such a work, such a reward, as better cannot be desired ;
who is less excusable for neglect than I ?
Quest. 11. ' Could I do no more, if I were sure, that my
salvation lay on this one duty V That according to this
prayer, it should go with me for ever ; or if the soul of my
child, or servant, or neighbour must speed for ever, as my
NOW OR NEVER. 511
endeavours speed with them now for their conversion ? for
aught I know it may be thus.
Quest, 12. * Would I have God to come with the spur
and rod V How do I complain when affliction is upon me ?
And will I neither endure it, nor be quickened without it?
Is it not better mend my pace and work, on easier terms ?
I would not have distressed souls to use these considera-
tions merely to disquiet themselves for their infirmities, and
so live in heaviness and self- vexation, because they cannot
be so good as they desire, or do as much and as well as they
should do : it is not despair that will mend the matter, but
make it worse. But I would wish the lazy, slothful soul, to
plead these Questions with itself, and try whether they have
no quickening power, if closely urged, and seriously con-
sidered.
Believe it, sirs, it is the deceitfulness of prosperity that
keeps up the reputation of a slothful life, and makes holy
diligence seem unnecessary. When affliction comes, awa-
kened reason is ashamed of this, and seeth it as an odious
thing.
By this time you may see, what difference there is be-
tween the judgment of God, and of the world, and what to
think of the understandings of those men (be they high or
low, learned or unlearned) that hate or oppose this holy dili-
gence. God bids us love, and seek, and serve him, with all
our heart, and soul, and might ; and these men call them
Zealots, and Precisians, and Puritans, that endeavour it ;
though, alas, tliey fall exceeding short, when they have done
their best. It is one of the most wonderful monstrosities
and deformities that ever befel the nature of man, that men,
that learned men, that men that in other things are wise,
should seriously think that the utmost diligence to obey the
Lord and save our souls, is needless, and that ever they
should take it for a crime, and make it a matter of reproach :
that the serious, diligent obeying of God's laws, should be
the matter of the common disdain and hatred of the world ;
that no men are more generally abhorred, and tossed up and
down by impatient men ; that great and small, the rulers
and vulgar rabble, in most places of the earth cannot endure
them. To think how the first man that ever was bom into
512 NOW OR NEVER.
the world, did hate his own brother till he had proceeded to
murder him, because he served God better than himself, ** be-
cause his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous *."
And how constantly this horrid, unnatural madness hath
succeeded and raged in the world from Cain until this day !
It is not in vain that the Holy Ghost addeth, in the next
words, " Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you '',"
implying that we are apt to marvel at it, as I confess I have
oft and greatly done. Methinks, it is so wonderful a plague
and stain in nature, that it doth very much to confirm me of
the truth of Scripture ; of the doctrine of man's fall and ori-
ginal sin, and the necessity of a Reconciler, and of renewing
grace.
Distracted, miserable souls ! Is it not enough for you
to refuse your own salvation, but you must be angry with
all that will not imitate you ! Is it not mad enough, and
bad enough to choose damnation, but you must be offended
with all that are not of your mind ? If you will not believe
God, that without regeneration, conversion, holiness, and a
heavenly, spiritual life, there is no salvation to be hoped for*,
must we all be unbelievers with you ? If you will laugh at
hell till you are in it, must we do so too ? If God and glory
seem less worth to you than your fleshly pleasure for a time,
must we renounce our Christianity, and our reason, for fear
of differing from you ? If you dare differ from your Maker,
and the Redeemer, and the Holy Ghost, and all tlie prophets,
apostles, and evangelists, and all that ever came to heaven,
might not we be bold to differ from you ? If you will needs
be ungodly, and choose your everlasting woe, be patient with
them that have more understanding, and dare not be so hardy
as to leap after you into the unquenchable fire : mock not at
holiness if you have no mind of it. Hinder not them that
" strive to enter in at the strait gate," if you refrain your-
selves. Be not so desirous of company to hell. It will prove
no comfort to you, or abatement of your pain.
But because you have the faces to contradict the God of
truth, and to reproach that work which he commandeth, and
to say, ' What needs so much ado V when he bids us do it
with all our might ; I will briefly tell you what you are doing,
• 1 John Hi. 12. '' 1 John iii. 13.
» 1 John iii. 3. 5, 6. Matt, xviii. 3. Heb. xii. 14. Rom. viij, 9—13.
NOW OR NEVER. 5(3^
and shew you the ugly face of the scorner, and the filthy
heartB of the enemies of holiness, that if it may be, you may
loathe yourselves.
1. These enemies of holy diligence, deny God with their
works and lives, and are practical atheists ; and it seems are
so near of kin to " that wicked one *"," that they would have
all others to do so too. And then how soon would earth be
turned into hell ! The case is plain : if God deserve not to
be loved and served with all the heart, and soul, and might,
he is not God. And if thy wealth, or honour, or flesh, or
friend deserveth more of thy love, and care, and diligence
than God, then that is thy God that deserveth best. See
now what these deriders of purity and obedience do think
of God, and of the world.
2. These Cainites do blaspheme the governor of the
world : when he hath given laws to the creatures that he
made of nothing, these wretches deride and hate men for
obeying them. If God have not commanded that which you
oppose, contradict it, and spare not: I would you were
much more against that pretended religion which he com-
mandeth not. But if he have commanded it, and yet you
dare revile them as too pure and precise that would obey it,
what do you but charge the King of saints with making laws
that are not to be obeyed ? which must needs imply that they
are foolish, or bad, though made by the most Wise and Good.
3. These enemies of holiness oppose the practice of the
very first principles of all religion : for " He that cometh to
God, must believe that God is, and that he is the re warder of
them that diligently seek him °.*' And it is diligent seeking
him that they hate and set themselves against.
4. Do not they judge heaven to be less worth than earth ;
when they will do less for it, and would have others to do
so too ?
5. They would have us all unchristian and unman our-
selves, as if there were no life to come ; as if our reason and
all our faculties were given us in vain. For if they are not
given us for greater matters than all the honours and plea-
sures of the world, they are in vain, or worse ; and the life of
man is but a dream and misery. Were not a beast less mi-
serable, if this were all ?
" See 1 Johu iii. 12. » Heb. si. 6.
VOL. VII. L L
514 NOW OR NEVER.
6. How base a price do these Cainites set on the immor-
tal soul of man, that think it not worth so much ado, as the
careful obedience of the laws of Christ? Not worth so much
as they do themselves for their filthy sins and perishing flesh?
But would have us so mad as to sell heaven and our souls
for a little sinful sloth and ease.
7. These enemies of holiness would have men take their
mercies for their hurt, and their greatest blessings for a bur-
den or a plague, and to run into hell to be delivered from
them. Why man, dost thou know what holiness is ? and
what it is to have access to God? I tell thee it is the fore-
taste of heaven on earth. It is the highest glory, and sweet-
est delight, and chiefest commodity to the soul. And art
thou afraid of having too much of this ? What, thou that
hast none (which should make thee tremble), art thou afraid
of having too much? Thou that never fearest too much mo-
ney, nor too much honour, nor too much health, art thou
afraid of too much spiritual health and holiness ? What shall
be thy desire, if thou loathe and fly from thy felicity?
8. You that are loyal subjects, take heed of these ungodly
scorners ; for by consequence they would tempt you to des-
pise your king, and make a mock at the obeying of his com-
mands and laws. For if a man persuade you to despise a
judge, he implieth that you may despise a constable. No
king is so great in comparison of God, as a fly or worm is to
that king. He therefore that would relax the laws of God,
and make it seem a needless thing to obey him diligently and
exactly, implieth that obedience to any of the sons of men,
is much more needless.
And you that are children or servants, take heed of the
doctrine of these men. Masters, admit it not into your fa-
milies. If he be worthy to be scorned as a Puritan or Pre-
cisian that is careful to please and obey the Lord ; what
scorn do your children or servants deserve, if they will be
obedient and pleasing to such as you ?
9. All you that are poor tradesmen, take heed of the con-
sequences of the Cainites' scorns, lest it make you give over
the labours of your calling, and turn yourselves and families
into beggary. For if heaven be not worth your greatest la-
bour, your bodies are not worth the least.
10. These Cainites speak against the awakened con-
NOW OR NEVER. 515
sciences, and the confessions of all the world. Whatsoever
they may say in the dream of their blind presumption and
security, at last, when death hath opened their eyes, they all
cry, * O that we had been saints ! " O that we might die
the death of the righteous, and that our last end might be as
his !" O that we had spent that time, and care, and labour
for our souls, which we spent on that which now is gall to
our remembrance !' And yet these men will take no warn-
ing, but now oppose and deride that course that all the world
do wish at last they had been as zealous for as any.
11. The enemy himself hath a conscience within him,
that either grudge th against his malicious impiety, and wit-
nesseth that he abuseth them that are far better than him-
self, or at least will shortly call him to a reckoning, and tell
him better what he did, and make him change his face and
tune, and wish himself in the case of those that he did oppose.
12. To conclude, the Cainite is of that wicked one °, of
his father the devil p ; and is his walking, speaking instru-
ment on earth, saying what he himself would say : he is the
open enemy of God : for who are his enemies, but the ene-
mies of holiness, of his laws, of our obedience, of his image,
and of his saints ? And how will Christ deal at last with his
enemies i ? O that they knew, that foreseeing, they might
escape ! This is the true, the ugly picture of a Cainite, or
enemy of a holy life, that reproacheth serious diligence as a
precise and needless thing, when God commandeth us, and
death, and the grave, and eternity admonish us to do his
work with all our might. " Now consider this ye that forget
God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deli-
ver you '."
But of all the opposers of serious holiness in the world,
there are none more inexcusable and deplorably miserable,
than those that profess themselves Ministers of Christ.
Would one believe Uiat had not known them, that there are
such men in the world ? Alas, there are too many. Though
education, and the laws of the land engage them to preach
true doctrine, yet are they false teachers in the application.
For they never well learned the holy and heavenly doctrine
which they preach, nor digested it, or received the power and
impress of it upon their hearts ; and therefore, retaining their
o 1 John Hi. If. P John viii. 4«. 44. ^ Luke xix. 97. ' Psal. I. «$.
516 NOW OR NEVER.
natural corruptions, impiety, and enmity to the life, and
power, and practice of that doctrine, they indirectly destroy
what directly they would seem to build ; and preach both
for God, and against him, for Christ and the Holy Spirit,
and against them ; for godliness, and against it, both in the
same sermon. In general, they must needs speak for the
word of God, and a holy life ; but when they come to the
particulars, they secretly reproach it, and condemn the parts,
while they commend the whole. In general, they speak well
of religious, godly, holy people ; but when they meet with
them, they hate them, and make them Precisians, " a sect
that is every where spoken against, pestilent fellows, and
movers of sedition,*' as the apostles were accused ^ ; and
any thing that malice can invent to make them odious. And
what they cannot prove, they will closely intimate, in the
false application of their doctrines, describing them so as
may induce the hearers to believe that they are a company
of self-conceited hypocrites, factious, proud, disobedient,
turbulent, peevish, affecting singularity, desiring to engross
the reputation of godliness to themselves, but secretly as
bad as others. And when they have thus represented them
to the ignorant sort of people, they have made the way of
godliness odious, and sufficiently furnished miserable souls
with prejudice and dislike ; so that because the persons are
thus made hateful to them, all serious diligence for heaven,
all tenderness of conscience, and fear of sinning, all heavenly
discourse, and serious preaching, reading, or praying, are
also made odious for their sakes ; for hearing so ill of the
persons, and seeing that these are the things wherein they
differ from others, they reduce their judgment of their prac-
tices to their foresettled judgment of the persons. When
their diligence in their families, in prayer and instructions,
in reading and fruitful improvement of the Lord's-day, or any
other actions of strictness and holy industry are mentioned,
these ungodly ministers are ready to blot them with some
open calumnies, or secret reproaches, or words of suspicion,
to vindicate their own unholy lives, and make people believe
that serious piety is faction and hypocrisy. The black tinc-
ture of their minds, and the design and drift of their preach-
ing may be perceived in the jeers, girds, and slanderous in*
* Acts xxiv. 5. xxviii. 22.
NOW OR NEVER. 517
timations against the most diligent servants of the Lord.
The controverted truths that such maintain, they represent
as errors : their unavoidable errors they represent as heresy :
their duties they represent as faults ; and their human frail-
ties, as enormous crimes : they feign them to be guilty of
the things that never entered into their thoughts : and if
some that have professed godliness, be guilty of greater
crimes, they would make men believe that the rest are such,
and that the family of Christ is to be judged of by a Judas,
and the scope is to intimate that either their profession is
culpable, or needless, and less commendable. Regeneration
they would make to be but the entrance into the church by
baptism, and any further conversion, than the leaving off
some gross sins, and taking up some heartless forms of duty,
to be but a fancy or unnecessary thing : and they would
draw poor people to believe, that if they be born again sa-
cramentally of water, they may be saved, though they be
not born again by the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Being
strangers themselves to the mystery of regeneration, and to
the life of faith and a heavenly conversation, and to the lov-
ing and serving God with all their soul and might ; they
first endeavour to quiet themselves with a belief that these
are but fancies or unnecessary, and then to deceive the peo-
ple with that by which they have first deceived themselves.
And it is worthy your observation, what it is in religion
that these formal hypocrites are against. There are scarce
any words so sound or holy, but they can bear them, if they
be but deprived of their life : nor scarce any duty, if it be
but mortified, but they can endure. But it is the spirit and
life of all religion which they cannot bear. As a body dif-
fereth from a carcase, not by the parts, but by the life ; so
there is a certain life in preaching, and prayer, and all other
acts of worship, which is perceived by several sorts of hear-
ers. The godly perceive it to their edification and delight :
for here it is that they are quickened and encouraged. Life
begetteth life, as fire kindleth fire. The ungodly often per-
ceive it to their vexation, if not to their conviction and con-
version : this life in preaching, praying, discipline, reproof,
and conference, is it which biteth, and galleth, and disquiet-
eth their consciences. And this they kiok and rail against:
this is the thing that will not let them sleep quietly in their
5t8 NOW OR NEVER.
sin and misery; but is calling and jogging them to awake,
and will not let them sin in peace, but will either convert
them, or torment them before the time. It is the life of re-
ligion that the hypocrite wants ; and the life that he is most
against. A painted fire burneth not : a dead lion biteth not :
the carcase of an enemy is not formidable. Let the word
of that sermon that most ofFendeth them, be separated from
the life, and put into a homily, and said or read in a formal,
drowsy, or a schoolboy's tone, and they can bear it and com-
mend it. Let the same words of prayer which now they like
not, be said over as a lifeless, customary form, and they can
like it well. I speak not against the use of forms, but the
abuse of them : not against the body, but the carcase. Let
forms themselves be used by a spiritual, serious man, in a
spiritual, serious manner, with the interposition of any quic-
kening exhortations, or occasional passages, that tend to
keep them awake and attentive, and make them feel what
you mean and are about, and you shall see they love not
such animated forms. It is the living Christian, and lively
worship, and serious, spiritual religion, which they hate :
kill it and they can bear it. Let the picture of my enemy
be nearer and comelier than his person was, and I can en-
dure it in my bedchamber, better than himself in the mean-
est dress. It is the living Christians that in all parts of the
world are chiefly persecuted. Let them be once dead, and
dead-hearted hypocrites themselves will honour them, es-
pecially at a sufficient distance : they will destroy the living
saints, and keep holydays for the dead ones. " Woe unto you
Scribes, and Pharisees, hypocrites ; because ye build the
tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the
righteous, and say. If we had been in the days of our fathers,
we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of
the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves,
that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye
generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of
hell*?" The dog that will not meddle with the dead crea-
ture, will pursue the living ; and when he sees it stir no
more, will leave it. Christianity without seriousness is not
Christianity, and therefore not liable to the hatred of its
t Matt, xxiii. 29—33.
NOW OR NEVER. 519
enemies as such. Say any thing, and do any thing how
strict soever, if you will but act it as a player on the stage,
or do it coldly, slightly, and as if you were but in jest, you
may have their approbation. But it is this life, and serious-
ness, and worshipping God in spirit and truth, that convin-
ce th them that they themselves are lifeless, and therefore
troubleth their deceitful peace, and therefore must not have
their friendship. If it were the mere bulk of duty that they
were weary of, how comes it to pass that a Papist at his
psalter, beads, and mass-books, can spend more hours with-
out much weariness or opposition, than we can do in serious
worship ? Turn all but into words and beads, and canonical
hours and days, and shews and ceremony, and you may be
as religious as you will, and be righteous overmuch, and few
will hate, or reproach, or persecute you among them, as too
precise or strict. But living Christians and worship come
among them like fire, that burneth them, and makes them
smart, with " a word that is quick and powerful, sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of
soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart"."
And the enmity of the Cainites may teach the Christian,
what he should be, and wherein his excellency lieth. It is
life and seriousness that your enemies hate ; and therefore
it is life and seriousness that you must above all maintain,
though dead-hearted hypocrites never so much oppose and
contradict you.
O sirs, they are no trifles, but the greatest things that
God hath set before you in his word, and called you out to
prosecute and possess : and your time of seeking them is
short, and therefore you have no time for trifles, nor any to
lose in idleness and sloth. And of all men, preachers
should be most sensible of this. If they were not against
serious holiness in others, it is double wickedness for such
as they, to be against it in themselves It is great things
that they have to study and to speak of; and such as call
for the greatest seriousness, and reverence, and gravity in
the speaker, and condemn all trifling in matter or in manner.
A man that is sent of Christ to run for an immortal crown,
or to direct others in such a race, to save his own, or other
" Hrl). iv. 12.
520 NOW OR NEVER.
men's souls from endless misery, should be ashamed to fill
up his time with trifles, or to be slight and cold about such
great and weighty things : all the heart, and soul, and might,
is little enough for matters of such unspeakable importance.
When I hear preachers or people spend their time in little,
impertinent, fruitless things, that do but divert them from
the great business of their lives, or to dally with the great-
est matters, rather than to use them, and treat of them with
a seriousness suitable to their importance, I oft think of the
words of Seneca the serious moralist, as shaming the hypo-
crisy of such trifling preachers and professors of the Chris-
tian faith ; * Verba copiosa componis, et interrogans vincula
nectis, et dicis. Acuta sunt ista ! Nihil acutius arista ; et in
quo est utilis ? Qusedam inutilia, et inefficacia ipsa subtili-
tas reddit :' that is, * You compose copious words, and tie
hard knots by curious questions ; and you say, O these are
acute things ! What is more acute than the peal of corn?
and yet what is it good for ? Subtlety itself makes some
things unprofitable and ineff*ectual/
'* Istae ineptiae poetis relinquantur, quibus aures oblec-
tare propositum est et dulcem fabulam nectere. Sed qui
ingenia sanare, et fidem in rebus humanis retinere, ac memo-
riam officiorum animis ingerere volunt, serio loquantur, et
magnis viribis rem agant ;" that is, * Leav© these toys or
fooleries to poets, whose business is to delight the ear, and
to compose a pleasant fable. But they that mean to heal
men's understandings, and retain credibility among men, and
to bring into men's minds the remembrance of their duties,
must speak seriously, and do their business with all their
might.'
* Demens omnibus merito videret ' * He would justly
by all be taken for a madman, that when the town expect-
eth to be stormed by the enemies, and others are busy at
work for their defence, will sit idle, proposing some curious
questions.' * Nunquid tibi demens videtur, si istis impen-
dero operam, et nunc obsideor? quid agam? mors me sequi-
tur, vita fugit ; adversis haec me doce aliquid : effice ut ego
mortem non timeam, et vita me non eflugiat.' * And shall
not I be taken for a madman, if I should busy myself about
such things, that* am now besieged? What shall I do?
Death pursueth me : life flieth from me : teach me some-
NOW OR NEVER. 621
thing against these : make death not dreadful to me, or life
not to fly from me/ ' Si multura esset aetatis, parce dispen-
sandum erat, ut sufficeret necessariis : nunc quae dementia
est, supervacua discere in tanta temporis egestate !' * If we
had much time, we should sparingly lay it out, that it might
suffice for necessary things : but now what a madness is it,
to learn things needless or superfluous in so great a scarcity
of time !' ' Metire ergo aetatem tuam : tam multa non capit.'
* Measure thy age : it is not enough for so many things/
* Relinque istum ludum literarura philosophis. Rem mag-
nificam ! ad syllabas vocant qui animum minuta discendo
diminuunt et conterunt, et id agunt, ut philosophia potius
difficilis quam magna videatur : Socrates, qui totam philo-
sophiam revocavit ad mores, hanc summam dixit esse sapi-
entiam, bona malaque distinguere/ * Leave this learned
play to philosophers : a gallant business ! They call us to
syllables, and debase and depress the mind by learning such
little, trivial things, and make philosophy rather to seem a
matter of difficulty than great. Socrates, that revoked all
philosophy to manners, did call this the highest wisdom, to
distinguish good and evil/
Did a Seneca see by the light of nature, so much of the
necessity of seriousness and diligence, about the matters of
the soul ? And so much of the madness of spending words
and time, and trifles ? And yet shall there be found a man
among professed Christians, and among the preachers of
faith and holiness, that plead for trifling, and scorn at seri-
ousness, and account them moderate and wise that a heathen
brands as toyish and distracted ?
What is it that cloudeth the glory of Christianity, and
keepeth so great a part of the world in heathenism and infi-
delity, but this, that among Christians there are so few that
are Christians indeed ? And those few are so obscured by
the multitude of formal, trifling hypocrites, that Christianity
is measured and judged of by the lives of those that are no
Christians? Religion is a thing to be demonstrated, and
honoured, and commended by practice : words alone are
ineffectual to represent its excellency to so blind a world,
that must know by feeling, having lost their sight. In our
professed faith we mount unto the heavens, and leave poor
unbelievers wallowing in the dirt. O what a transcendent.
522 NOW OR NEVER.
inconceivable glory, do we profess to expect with God unto
eternity, and what manner of persons should they be, in all
holy conversation and godliness, that look for such a life as
this ! How basely should they esteem those transitory things,
that are the food and felicity of the sensual world ! How
patiently should they undergo contempt and scorn, and
whatsoever man can inflict upon them ! How studiously
should they devote and refer all their time, and strength,
and wealth, and interest, to this their glorious, blessed end !
How seriously should they speak of, and how industriously
should they seek, such sure, such near, such endless joys !
Did professed Christians more exactly conform their hearts
and lives to their profession and holy rule, their lives would
confute the reproaches of their enemies, and command a re-
verent and awful estimation from the observers ; and do more
to convince the unbelieving world of the truth and dignity
of the Christian faith, than all the words of the most subtle
disputants. Christianity being an affecting practical science,
must practically and affectionately be declared, according
to its nature : arguments do but paint it out : and pictures
do no more make known its excellency, than the picture of
meat and drink makes known its sweetness. When a doc-
trine so holy, is visibly exemplified, and liveth, and walketh,
and worketh in serious Christians before the world ; eitlier
this or nothing will convince them, and constrain them to
glorify our Lord, and say, that God is among us, or in us of
a truth ". But it is unchristian lives, that darkeneth the
glory of the Christian faith. When men that profess such
glorious hopes, shall be as sordidly earthly, and sensual, and
ambitious, and impotent, and impatient as other men, they
seem but fantastical dissemblers.
And yet shall there be found such a perfidious wretch
under the heavens of God, as a professed Minister of Christ,
that shall subtlely or openly labour to make an exact, and
holy, and heavenly conversation a matter of reproach and
scorn, and that under pretence of reproving the sins of hypo-
crites and schismatics, shall make the most exact conformity
to the Christian rule, and most faithful obedience to the al-
mighty Sovereign, to seem to be but hypocrisy or self-con-
ceitedness, or needless trouble, if not the way of sedition,
^ Matt. V. 16. 1 Cor. xiv. 25,
NOW OR NEVER. 523
and public trouble, and turning all things upside-down?
That cannot reprove sin, without malicious, insinuating
slanders or suspicions against the holy law, and holy life,
that are most contrary to sin, as life to death, as health to
sickness, and as light to darkness ?
For any man, especially any professed Christian, any
where to oppose or scorn at godliness, is a dreadful sign, as
well as a heinous sin ; but for a Preacher of Godliness to
oppose and scorn at godliness, and that in the pulpit, while
he pretendeth to promote it, and plead for it in the name of
Christ, is a sin that should strike the heart of man with hor-
ror to conceive of.
Though I cannot subscribe myself to that passage in
the second part of the tenth Homily, Tom. 2. p. 150. (how-
ever I very much love and honour the Book of Homilies)
yet for their sakes that not only can subscribe to it, but
would have all kept out of the ministry that cannot, and
that take it for that doctrine of the church of England which
they will believe and preach, I will recite it to the terror of
the guilty, not to drive to despair, but to awake them, or to
shame them for their opposition to the ways of godliness.
Expounding Psalm i. 1. "Blessed is the man that hath
not walked after the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the
way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful," having
shewed who are the " ungodly" and the " sinners," it addeth
these words :
" The third sort he calleth scorners ; that is, a sort of
men whose hearts are so stuffed with malice, that they are
not contented to dwell in sin, and to lead their lives in all
kind of wickedness, but also they do contemn and scorn in
others all godliness, true religion, all honesty and virtue. Of
the two first sorts of men, I will not say, but they may take
repentance, and be converted unto God. Of the third sort,
I think I may without danger of God's judgment pronounce,
that never any yet were converted unto God by repentance,
but continued still in their abominable wickedness, heaping
up to themselves damnation against the day of God's inevi-
table judgment."
Though I dare not say, but some such have repented,
yet let the scorners that believe this, remember, that they
subscribe the sentence of their own condemnation.
524 NOW OR NEVER.
Though I look upon this sort of the enemies of holiness
as those that are as unlikely to be recovered and saved, as
almost any people in the world, except apostates and mali-
cious blasphemers of the Holy Ghost, yet in compassion to
the people and themselves, I shall plead the cause of God
with their consciences, and try what light can do with their
understandings, and the terrors of the Lord with their har-
dened hearts.
1. A Preacher of the Gospel should much excel the peo-
ple in understanding: and therefore this sin is greater in
them than other men : what means, what light do they sin
against ! Either thou knowest the necessity of striving for
salvation with the greatest diligence, or thou dost not. If
not, what a sin and shame is it to undertake the sacred office
of the ministry, while thou knowest not the things that are
necessary to salvation, and that which every infant in the
faith doth know! But if thou dost know it, how dost thou
make shift maliciously to oppose it, without feeling the be-
ginnings of hell upon thy conscience ? When it is thy work
to read the Scriptures, and meditate on them, dost thou not
read thy doom, and meditate terror ? How canst thou choose
but perceive that the scope of the word of God is contrary
to the bent of thy affections and suggestions ? Yea, what
is more evident by the light of nature, than that God and
salvation cannot be regarded with too much holy serious-
ness, exactness and industry ? Should not the best things
be best loved ; and the greatest matters have our greatest
care ? And is there any thing to be compared with God and
our eternal state ? O what overwhelming subjects are these
to a sober and considerate mind ! What toys are all things
in comparison of them ! And yet dost thou make light of
them, and also teach men so to do ; as if there were some-
thing else that better deserved men's greatest care and dili-
gence than they ? What ! a Preacher, and not a Believer !
Or a Believer, and yet not see enough in the matters of eter-
nity to engage all our powers of soul and body against all
the world that should stand in competition !
2. Is it not sinful and terrible enough, to be thyself in a
carnal, unrenewed stated; and to be without the Spirit and
life of Christ ^\ but thou must be so cruel as to make others
y Horn. i. 13. ^ Horn. i. 9.
NOW OR NEVER. 525
miserable also ? " But to the wicked, saith God, what hast
thou to do to declare my statutes ? or that thou shalt take
my covenant in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction,
and castest my words behind thee * ?" " Whosoever shall
break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men
so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven :
but whosoever shall do and teach the same, shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven''."
3. What an aggravation is it of thy impiety and soul-
murder, that thou art bound by office to teach men that life
of holiness which thou opposest ; and to persuade them to
that with all thy might, which thou endeavourest closely
and cunningly to disgrace ! And wilt thou be a traitor to
Christ in the name of a Messenger and Preacher of the Gos-
pel? Wilt thou engage thyself to promote his interest, and
to use all thy skill and power to build men up in holiness
and obedience ; and when thou hast done this, wilt thou dis-
grace and hinder it? Dost thou take on thee to go on the
message of Christ, and then speak against him ? We do
not find that Judas dealt thus with him : when he sent him
as he did other preachers, we read not that he preached
against him. O let not my soul be numbered with such
men in the day of the Lord ! It will be easier for Sodom
and Gomorrah, than for the refusers of the word and grace
of Christ. What then will be the doom of the opposers !
And above all of those treacherous opposers, that pretend
themselves to propagate and promote them !
If the wit and malice of satan's instruments were sharp-
ened against the ways and servants of the Lord, it belongs
to you to plead Christ's cause, and shame these absurd, un-
reasonable gainsayers, and stop the mouth of impious con-
tradiction : and will you join with gainsayers, and secretly
or openly say as they? Who should confound the deriders
of a holy life but you ? Who should lay open the excellen-
cies of Christ, the glory of heaven, the terrors of the Lord,
and all other obligations to the most serious religiousness,
but you that have undertaken it as your calling and employ-
ment? If any man in the parish were so atheistical and
brutish, as to think God unworthy of our dearest love, our
most exact obedience, and most laborious service, who should
» Psal.l.ie, ir. »» Matt. V. 19.
52(5 NOW OR NEVER.
display this atheist's folly, tut you that are doubly (as Chris-
tians and ministers) obliged to defend the honour of your
Lord ? If any of the people should fall into such a dream
or dotage, as to question the necessity of our utmost dili-
gence in our preparations for eternal life, who should awake
them by lifting up their voices as a trumpet, and help to re-
cover their understandings, but you that are the watchmen,
and know their blood will be required at your hands, if you
give them not loud and timely warning ? If any subtle, ma-
licious servant of the devil, should plead against the neces-
sity of holiness, and dissuade the people from serving God
with all their might, who should be ready to confirm the
weak, and strengthen and encourage them that are thus as-
saulted, and help to keep up their zeal and forwardness, but
you that are leaders in the army of the Lord ? Is it riot a
holy God that you are engaged to serve ? and a holy church
in which you have your station ? and a communion of saints
in which you have undertaken to administer the holy things
of God ? Have you not read what was done to Nadab, and
Abihu, when Moses told Aaron, " This is it that the Lord
spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh
me, and before the people I will be glorified *=." Is it not a
holy law and Gospel which you publish ? You have under-
taken to warn the slothful, the sensual, the worldly, and the
profane, " that they strive to enter in at the strait gate, and
seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness**," and to
give diligence to make sure their calling and election ®," and
to " give all diligence in adding virtue to their faith V' and
" with all diligence to keep their hearts ^." And are you the
men that would quench their zeal, and destroy the holy di-
ligence which you should preach ? The Lord touch your
hearts, and recover you in time, or how woful will it be with
such hardened hypocrites, that in the light, and in his fami-
ly and livery, and under his standard and colours, dare prove
traitors and enemies to the Lord.
4. And what an addition is it to your guilt, that you
speak against God in his own name ? By office you are to
deliver his message, and speak to the people in his name,
and in his stead ^. And dare you before the sun, and under
<= Lev. X. 3. «« Luke xiii. 21. Matt. vi. 33. « 2 Pet. i. JO.
f 2 Pet. i. 5. s Prov. iv. 23. '' 2 Cor. v. 19, 20.
NOW OR NEVER. 527
the heavens of God, and in his hearing, persuade men that
the most holy God is against holiness ? and the King of
saints is an adversary to sanctity ? and that he that made his
holy law, is against the most exact obeying of it ? Dare
you prefix a * Thus saith the Lord/ to so impious a speech as
* It is in vain to serve the Lord ? What needs there so much
ado for your salvation?' Dare you go to men as from the
Lord, and say, * You are too careful and diligent in his ser-
vice ! Less ado may serve the turn ! What needs this fer-
vour, and redeeming time ! This is but Puritanism and pre-
ciseness. It is better to do as the most, and venture your
souls without so much ado.' Who could at last hold up his
face, or stand before the dreadful tribunal, that should be
found in the guilt of such a crime ! What ! to put God in-
to the similitude ofsatan, and describe the Most Holy as the
enemy of holiness ! and make him plead against himself, and
disgrace his own image, and dissuade men from that which
he himself hath made of necessity to their salvation ! What
viler blasphemy can be uttered !
5. And it aggravateth your sin, that your relation oblig-
eth you to the most tender affections to your people. And
yet that you should seduce them to damnation. For the
nurse to poison them ; for the parents to cut the children's
throats, is worse than for an enemy to do it. If the devil,
our professed enemy, should himself appear to us, and say,
* Prepare not so seriously for death. Be not so strict, and
diligent, and holy,' it were not, in many respects, so bad as
for you to do it, that should help to save us from his
snares. You that profess yourselves their fathers ; that
should travail in birth till Christ be formed in your people's
hearts ! that should love your people as your own bowels,
and tender the weak, and pity the wicked, and stick at no la-
bour, suffering, or cost, that might advance their holiness,
and further their salvation. For you to tempt men into a
careless life, and turn them out of the holy way, is an aggra-
vated cruelty. It is worse for the shepherd to destroy us
than the wolf. Read Ezek. xxxiii. xxxiv.
6. Are you not ashamed thus to contradict yourselves ?
What can you find to preach from the word of God, that
tendeth not to this holy dihgence which you are against ?
528 NOW OR NEVEK.
How can you make shift to preach an hour, and not acquaint
men with the duty and necessity of seeking God with all
their might? Do you not tell them, that " except they be
converted and new born, they shall not enter into the king-
dom of God '.'* And *' that without holiness none shall see
the Lord''." And "that if they live after the flesh, they
shall die'/- And " that except their righteousness exceed
the righteousness of Scribes and Pharisees, they shall in no
case enter the kingdom of heaven '"." And will you in your
application, or private discourses unsay all this again, and
give God and yourselves the lie ? And let people see, that
the pulpit is to you but as a stage, and that you believe not
what you speak ?
7. Consider that your place and calling maketh you the
most successful servants of the devil, and so the most bloody
murderers of souls, while you give your judgment against a
strict and heavenly life. For a drunkard in an alehouse to
mock the minister, and rail at serious religion, is less re-
garded by sober men, and small advantage to his master's
cause ; nay, the wickedness of his life is so great a shame to
his judgment, that it inclineth many to think well of those
that he speaks against. But when a man that pretendeth to
learning and understanding, and to be himself a Pastor of
the church, and Preacher of the mysteries of Christ, shall
make them odious that are most careful of their souls, and
most exact in pleasing God, and shall make all serious dili-
gence for heaven to seem but intemperate zeal and self-con-
ceitedness. And shall describe a saint as if the formal life-
less hypocrite, that giveth God but the leavings of the world,
and never set his heart on heaven, were indeed the man.
What a snare is here for the perdition of the ignorant !
They that are naturally averse from holiness, and are easily
persuaded to think that to be unnecessary or bad, which
seems so much above them and against them, will be much
confirmed in their mistakes and misery, when they hear their
teachers speak without them, the same that satan by his
suggestions doth within them. This turneth a trembling
sinner into a hardened scorner. He that before went under
the daily correction of his conscience, for neglecting God,
' Johniii. 3. 5. Matt, xviii. 2. ^ Heb. xii. 14. * Rom. viii. 13.
«» Matt. V. -ZO.
NOW OR NEVER. 529
and omitting holy duties, and living to the flesh, grows bold
and fearless, when he hears the preacher disgrace the stricter,
purer way. By that time he hath heard awhile the fear of
God derided as preciseness, and a tender conscience reproach-
ed as a scrupulous, foolish thing, his conscience grows more
pliable to his lusts, and hath little more to say against them.
When God's own professed ministers, that should be wiser
and better than the people, are against this zeal and indus-
try for heaven, the people will soon think, that at least it is
tolerable in them. And they will sooner learn to deride a
saint from a sermon, or discourse of a preacher, or a learned
man, than from the scorns or talk of hundreds of the igno-
rant. And wilt thou teach them to hate godliness, who hast
undertaken before the righteous God, to teach them to prac-
tise it ? He that dispraiseth it, though under other names,
and representeth it as odious, though masked with the title
of some odious vice, doth indeed endeavour to make men
hate it. And what a terrible account wilt thou have to
make, when the seduction and transgression of all these sin-
ners shall be charged upon thee. When Christ shall say to
the haters, deriders, and opposers of his holy ways and ser-
vants, " Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these
my brethren, you did it unto me." How durst you scorn
the image of your Maker, and hate the saints whose com-
munion you professed to believe j and deride or oppose that
serious holiness, without which you had no hope of being
saved ? If then the sinners become your accusers, and say,
* Lord, we thought it had been but unnecessary preciseness,
and that serious Christians had been but self-conceited, fac-
tious hypocrites, and that lip-service with a common worldly
life, might have served the turn. We heard our preachers
represent such strict and zealous men, as turbulent, sediti-
ous and refractory, as odious, and not as imitable. Their ap-
plication was against them. Their discourse derided them.
Of them we learnt it. We thought they were wiser and bet-
ter than we. Of whom should we learn but of our teachers ?*
Wo to the teachers that ever they were born, that must be
then found guilty of this crime.
If Adam's excuse was Eve's accusation, " The woman
which thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree,
and 1 did eat," and the woman's excuse did charge the ser-
VOL. VII. M M
530 NOW OR NEVER.
pent, " The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat"," (though
it freed not the excusers), how will it load you, when your
people shall say, * The teachers that we thought thou gavest
us, did teach us, and go before us in setting against this
holy diligence ; and we did but learn of them, and follow
them!'
8. Are not the people backward enough to the serving
of God with all their might, unless you hinder them ? Is not
the corrupted heart of lapsed man averse enough to the mat-
ters of salvation, but you must make them worse ? If you
had to do with the best and holiest person in the world that
walketh with God in the most heavenly conversation, he
would tell you that his dull and backward heart hath no
need of clogs, and pull-backs, and discouragements, but of
all the help that can be afforded him, to quicken him up to
greater diligence. The most zealous lament that they are
so cold. The most heavenly lament that they are so earthly
and so strange to heaven. The most laborious lament that
they are so slothful, and the fruitfullest believers that they
are so unprofitable ; and those that are most watchful of
their words and deeds, that they are so careless ; and those
that most diligently redeem their time, lament it that they
lose so much ; and those that walk most accurately and ex-
actly, that they are so loose, and keep no closer to the rule.
And yet darest thou increase the backwardness of the un-
godly ? Will not their carnal interest and lust serve turn to
keep them from a holy life? Is not satan strong enough of
himself? Will not the common distaste of godliness in the .
world, sufficiently prejudice and avert them without thy
help ? Do you see your people so forward to do too much
for heaven, that you must pull them back ? Cannot fools
be damned without your furtherance ? or is it a desirable
work, and will it pay for your cost and labour? The way
is up hill ; the best of us are weak, and frequently ready to
sit down ! A thousand impediments are cast before us by
satan and the world, to make us linger till the time be past,
and many a charm of pleasure and diversion to make us
sleep till the door be shut. And Ministers are sent to keep
us walking, and take us by the hand, and lead us on, and
remove impediments. And shall they set in with th^ ene-
" Gen. iii. 12, 13.
NOW OR NEVKK. 53 1
my, and be our chiefest hinderers ? O treacherous guides !
O miserable helps ! Are not our dark understandings, our
earthly, dull and backward hearts, our passions and trou-
bled affections, our appetites and sensual inclinations, our
natural strangeness and averseness to God, and heaven, and
holiness, enough to hinder us without you ? Are not all the
temptations of the devil, the allurements of the flesh and
world, the impediments of poverty and riches, of flattery and
of frowns, of friends and foes, in our callings, and in our di-
vertisements, are not all these enough to cool and dull us,
and keep us from serving God too much, and being too
careful and diligent for our souls, but Preachers themselves
must be our impediments and snares ? Now the Lord deli-
ver us from such impediments, and his church from such
unhappy guides !
9. Consider whom thou imitatest in this. Is it Christ
or satan ? Christ calleth men to strive, to labour, to seek,
to watch, to pray always, and not wax faint °. The apostles
call men to be " fervent in spirit, serving the Lord ; to be a
peculiar people, zealous of good works; to pray continually;
to be a chosen generation, a royal priesthood a holy nation,
a peculiar people, to show forth the praises of him that
hath called us, and offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to
God by Jesus Christ p." " To fight the good fight of faith,
and lay hold upon eternal life "^.^ ** To serve God accept-
ably, being as a consuming fire, with reverence and godly
fear "." " To be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding
in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as we know that our la-
bour is not in vain in the Lord'." And dare you gainsay
the Lord and his apostles, and concur with satan, and the
Pharisees and enemies of Christ?
10. You do your worst to make the sacred office of the
ministry to become contemptible, as Eli's sons did. Poor
people that cannot sufficiently distinguish the doctrine from
the application, the office from the person, the use from the
abuse, will be tempted to run from the ordinances of God,
and think the worse of others for your sakes, and suspect
all their food, because you mix such poison in it. And the
oLukexii. 24. John vi. 27. Matt. vi. 33. xxv. 13. Luke xvili, I.
P 1 Pet. ii. 5.9. 1 Thws. v. 17. Tit. ii. 14. Rom. xii. 11.
1 1 Tim. vl. 151. ' Heb. xii. «8, «9. " 1 Cor, xv. 58.
532 NOW OK NEVER.
more holy and necessary the office and work is, the greater
is your sin in corrupting it, or making it suspected or ab-
horred.
Consider soberly of these things, and then go on and
speak against a life of holy diligence if you dare.
I know you will say, ' It is not godliness, but singularity,
or humour, or disobedience, or hypocrisy, or faction, that
you oppose ; and perhaps you will instance in some that are
guilty of some of these, or seem so at the least.
But 1. I do here solemnly profess that I hate these crimes
as well as you ; and that it is not any part of my intention
to plead for intemperance, disobedience in lawful things, for
schism, or faction, or any irregularity. And this I here put
in against those that are disposed to misunderstanding, and
misreport us, and leave it as on record to prove them slan-
derers, that shall accuse me of defending any such thing.
And I do protest against those on the other side, that will
fetch encouragement for any transgression, from my neces-
sary plea for the holy industry and vigilancy of believers.
And, moreover, I do profess that it is only the opposers of
holiness that I mean in this defence, and have not the least
intent to intimate that any others are guilty of that crime
that are not. But having premised this protestation, to
prevent mistakes and false reports, I answer now to the
guilty.
2. If it be crimes only that you are against, deliver your-
self so, as may not lay reproach or suspicion on godliness,
which is most opposite to all crimes. Cannot you preach
against divisions, disobedience, or any other sin, without any
scornful intimations or reflections against men's diligent
serving of the Lord?
3. Why do not you commend those that are not liable
to your accusations, and encourage them in holiness, and
draw others to imitate them ? And why do you not com-
mend the good, where you discommend the evil that is
commixt ?
4. Shall health and life be made a scorn, because there
are few but have some distemper and disease ? Shall Chris-
tianity and holiness be secretly reproached, because all
Christians have some fault to be accused of? If men be
faulty, you should persuade them to be more strict and dili-
NOW OK NF.VER. 53,1
gent, and not less. It is for want of watchfulness and strict-
ness that they sin. Nothing is more contrary to their faults
than holiness. There is no other way for their full reforma-
tion. And therefore all true humbled Christians are ready
to confess their faultiness themselves ; but so far are they
from thinking the worse of piety for it, that it is one great
reason that moveth them to go on, and to read, and hear,
and pray, and meditate, and do so much that they may get
more strength against their faults. Must they think ill of
food, and physic, and exercise, because they are infirm ?
All faithful ministers tell their people plainly of their sins
(so far as they are acquainted with them) as well as you.
But they do it not in a way reproachful to their holy dili-
gence. They do not, therefore, call them off from godli-
ness, nor tempt them to be less in the use of means, but
more, by how much their need is greater. A holy heart,
and a malignant heart, will shew their difference in the re-
proving of the same fault. The one layeth all the odium on
the vice, and honoureth the holy obedience of the saints.
The other fasteneth his sting upon the godly, and under pre-
tence of dishonouring their faults, doth seek to fasten the
dishonour on their holiness. And those that are so minded,
will never want occasion or pretence, for the worst that sa-
tan would have them say. The church will never be with-
out some hypocrites, and scandals, nor the best without
some faults and passions ; nor the holiest action without
some mixture of human frailty and infirmity ; nor will the
very goodness and holiness of the action, be free from plau-
sible calumnies and scorns, while there is the wit and venom
of the serpent in the heads and hearts of wicked men.
How easy is it to put a name of ignominy upon every per-
son, and every duty ? To charge any man with hypocrisy,
or pride. To take the wisest man for self-conceited, be-
cause he is not of the accuser's mind. To call our obedi-
ence to God by the name of disobedience unto man, when
man forbids it, as they used the three witnesses *, and
Daniel himself for praying in his house ", though they con-
fessed they had nothing else against him. To call God's
truth by the name of heresy, and heresy by the name of
truth. To charge all with schism that dare not subject their
» Dan, iii. " JOaw. vi- , ,
534 NOW OR NEVER.
souls to the usurpation and arrogant impositions of the
sons of pride, that have neither authority nor ability to
govern us, as the Papists deal by the greatest part of the
Christian world. To lay snares for men's consciences, and
then accuse them for falling into those snares. To make
new articles of faith, till they have transcended the capacity
of divine and rational belief, and then condemn us for not
believing them. To make laws for the church, unnecessary
in their own opinion, and sinful in other men's, and com-
mand things which they know that others think the Lord
forbids, and then load them with the sufferings and re-
proaches of the disobedient, turbulent, heretical, schismati-
cal, or seditious. To call men factious, if they will not be
of their faction. And sectaries, if they will not unreason-
ably subject their souls to them, and join with an imperious
sect against the catholic unity and simplicity. All which
the Romanists practise upon the church of Christ. How
easy, but how unreasonable, and yet how unresistible is all
this. How easy is it to call a meeting of sober Christians,
for prayer and mutual edification, such as that was. Acts
xii. 12. by the name of a factious, schismatical conventicle ;
and a meeting of drunkards, or gamesters, by a more gentle,
less disgraceful name. To say a man becomes a preacher,
when he modestly reproveth another for his sins, or chari-
tably exhorteth him in order to his salvation, or giveth any
necessary plain instruction to his family, for whom he must
give account. Believe it, it will be a poor excuse to any
man, that becomes an enemy to the diligence of a saint,
that he could thus cloak his malice, and clothe a saint with
the visor of an hypocrite, and the rags of any odious sect.
If the Pharisees were to be believed, it was not they,
but Christ that was the hypocrite ; nor was it the Son of
God, but an enemy to Caesar, and a blasphemer, that they
put to death. But will not Christ know his sheep though
he find them torn in a wolf's skin ? You say it is turbu-
lent precisians that you strike ; but what if Christ find but
one of the least of his brethren bleeding by it ? It is but
hypocrites or schismatics that you reproach ; but if Christ
find a humble, serious Christian suffering by your abuse, and
you to answer it, I would not be in your coats for all the
greatness and honour that you shall have before your ever-
I
NOW OK NtlVfcLR. 535
lasting shame. If Tertullus accuse a pestilent fellow, and a
mover of sedition, and Christ find a holy, laborious apostle
in bonds and suffering by it, it is not his names that will ex-
cuse him, and make an apostle, or persecution to be another
thing.
To return to the endangered flocks : Look upwards,
sirs, and think whether heaven be worth your labour ! Look
downwards, and think whether earth be more worthy of it !
Lay up your treasures where you must dwell for ever. If
that be here, then scrape, and flatter, and get all that you
can. But if it be not here, but in another life, then hearken
to your Lord, and lay up for yourselves a treasure in hea-
ven, and there let your hearts be set ". And upon the peril
of everlasting misery, hearken not to any man that will tempt
you from a diligent, holy life. It is a serious business, deal
seriously in it ; and be not laughed or mocked out of hea-
ven, by the flouts of a distracted, sensual atheist. If any of
them will pretend sobriety and wisdom, and undertake to
prove that God should not be loved and served, and your
salvation sought with all your might, and with greater care
and diligence than any earthly thing, procure me a sober
conference with that man, and try whether I prove him to be
a befooled servant of the devil, and a mischievous enemy of
your salvation and his own. O that we might have but so-
ber debates, instead of jeers, and scorns, and railing, with
this sort of men ! How quickly should we shew you that
they must renounce the Scripture, and renounce Christia-
nity, and (if that be nothing with them) that they must re-
nounce God, and renounce right reason, and unman them-
selves, if they will renounce a holy, heavenly life, and blame
them that make it their principal business in the world to
prepare for the world to come.
But if they will not be entreated to such a sober confer-
ence, will you that hear them (if you care what becomes of
you) but come to us, and hear what we can say for a holy
life, before you hearken to them ; and let your souls have
fair play, and shew that you have so much love to yourselves,
as not to cast away salvation at the derision of a fool, be-
fore you have heard the other side.
If I make not good the strictest law of God Almighty,
* Matl. vi. !^0, 21.
536 NOW OR NEVER.
against the most subtle cavils of any of the instruments of
satan, then tell me that infidels or epicures are in the right.
Compare their words with the words of God ; consider well
but that one text, 2 Pet. iii. 11., and tell me whether it suit
with their opinions, " Seeing all these things must be dis-
solved, what manner of persons ought we to be in all manner
of holy conversation and godliness ; looking for and hast-
ing to the coming of the day of God !" Did these words
but sink into your hearts, the next time you heard any man
reproach a holy, heavenly life, it would perhaps make you
think of the words of Paul to such another : " O full of all
subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil ; thou ene-
my of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the
right ways of the Lord^?"
And if holiness be evil spoken of by them that never
tried it, what wonder! Christ hath foretold us that it
must be so. *' Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and
persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely
for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is
your reward in heaven ; for so persecuted they the pro-
phets which were before you ^." If ye were of the world,
the world would love his own ; but because ye are not of
the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you^," &c. " They think it strange that
you run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking-
evil of you, who shall give account to him that is ready to
judge the quick and dead. If ye be reproached for the
name of Christ, happy are ye ; for the Spirit of glory, and
of God, resteth upon you. On their part he is evil spoken
of, but on your part he is glorified ^." Seneca himself oft
telleth us, that among the heathens, virtue was a derision,
so far is the nature of man degenerated. The question is
not what you are called or taken to be, but what you are.
* Intus teipsum considera, (inquit Sen.) non qualis sis aliis
credas ; plerumque boni inepti, et inertes vocantur. Mihi
contingat iste derisus. jEquo animo audienda sunt imperi-
torum convitia, et ad honesta vadendi contemnendus est
iste contemptus ;" that is * Inwardly consider of thyself and
judge not what thou art by the words of others. For the
y Acts xiii. 10. z MuU. V. 11, 12. * Johii.w. 19, 20,
^ 1 Pet. iv. 4, .<>. 14.
NOW OR NliVIiR. 537
most part good men are called fools and dullards. Let me
be so derided. The reproaches of the ignorant (or unskil-
ful) must be patiently heard, and this contempt of one that
followeth virtue, must be contemned.' Yea, it is the high-
est honour to be content to be counted bad, that we may.
not be so ; and the greatest trial whether we be indeed sin-
cere, to be put to it, to be either accounted hypocrites, or to
be such. Methinks I can scarce too oft recite that excellent
saying of Seneca, Epist. 72. ' Nemo plus videtur sestimare
virtutem, nemo magis illi esse devotus, quam qui boni viri
famam perdidit ne conscientiam perderet :' * No man seems
to set a higher price on virtue ; no man seems to be more
devoted to it, than he that hath lost the reputation of being
a good man, lest he should lose his conscience.'
But perhaps you will ask, * May not a man be righteous
overmuch V as is intimated, Eccles. vii. 17.
I answer, it is making a man's self over wise or righte-
ous, that is there reproved. And no doubt but, 1. Many
take on them, or make themselves more wise and righteous
than they are; that is, are hypocrites. 2. As righteousness
is taken materially and in common estimation, so a man may
be too righteous. He may be too rigorous ; which is cal-
led justice ; and too much in grief, or fear, or trouble : and
too much in any outward act that goeth under the name of
duty. But it is not then truly and formally duty and righteous-
ness, but sin. As to fast to the disabling the body for God's
service. To pray when we should hear. To hear when we
should be about some greater work of mercy or necessity.
To neglect our outward labour and calling on pretence of
religion. To set up sacrifice against or before mercy. To
sorrow when we should rejoice. To meditate, and fear, and
grieve, beyond what the brain can bear, till it distract us.
This is called, being righteous overmuch. As also to make
us a religion of our own inventions, and to overdo with will-
worship, and the traditions of men, as the Pharisees and
Papists. But indeed this is not righteousness, but sin. To
be formally overmuch righteous, is a contradiction and im-
possible. For to go beyond the rule is unrighteousness.
And to do too much, is to go beyond the rule. Unless you
dare imagine, that God hath erred, and the rule itself is
over strict, and the law is unrighteous. But then how shall
6^8 NOW OR NEVER.
God judge the world «=?" saith the apostle. " Shall not the
Judge of all the world do righteously*^." Nay, how then
should he be God ?
And is there any thing now left but ignorance or wick-
edness to stand up against thy speedy diligence ? Away
then with thy delays and slothfulness : if thou wilt serve
God with all thy might, let it be seen. If thou wilt be a
Christian indeed, let deeds declare it. Christianity is not
a dead opinion. If really thou live in hope of heaven, such
hopes will make thee stir for the attainment. Why stand-
est thou idle, when thou art born for work, and all thy fa-
culties are given thee for work, and thou art redeemed for
work ? (for evangelical work.) If thou be sanctified, thou
hast the Spirit of Christ, a quickening, working principle
within thee ; which way canst thou look, that thou mayst
see that which would shame a slothful soul, and fire a cold
and frozen heart, and call thee up to a speedy industry ?
What quickening words shalt thou find in Scripture, if thou
wilt but bring thy heart thither, as one that is willing to be
quickened ? What powerful commands, what promises,
what threatenings, what holy examples of exceeding dili-
gence of Christ and his apostles ! See how the godly about
thee are at work, though the world oppose them and deride
them ! How earnestly they pray ! how carefully they walk !
how sadly they complain that they are no better! And
hast thou not an immortal soul to save or lose as well as
they? See what a stir the proud, ambitious person makes
for less than nothing ! what a stir the covetous and the vo-
luptuous make for a sweetened draught of mortal poison!
And shall we be idle that are engaged for heaven ? Is it
reason that we should do less for God and our salvation, than
they do for sinful pleasure to damnation ? You cannot mock
them out of their pride or covetousness ; and shall they
mock thee out of thy religion, and thy hopes of heaven ?
All the commands, and promises, and threatenings of God,
the most powerful preaching, that, as it were, sets open hea-
vien and hell to them, doth not prevail with fleshly men, to
leave the most sordid and unmanly sin : and shall the words
or frowns of creeping dust prevail with thee against the
work for which thou livest in the world, when thou hast still
'^ Rom. iii. 6. '' Gen. xviii. 25.
NOW OR NEVER. 53§
at hand unanswerable arguments from God, from thyself,
from heaven and hell, to put thee on ? Were it but for thy
life, or the life of thy children, friend, yea, or enemy ; or for
the quenching of a tire in thy house, or in the town, wouldst
thou not stir and do thy best ? And wilt thou be idle when
eternal life lies on it? Let satan bawl against thee by his
instruments : let senseless sinners talk awhile of they know
not what, till God hath made them change their note : let
what will be the consequent to thy flesh : these are not mat-
ters for a man much to observe, that is engaged for an end-
less life. O what are these to the things that thou art called
to prosecute ! Hold on then, Christians, in the work that
you have begun. Do it prudently, and do it universally.
Take it together, both works of piety, justice, and charity ;
but do it now without delay, and do it seriously with your
might. I know not what cloud of darkness hath seized on
those men's minds that speak against this, or what deadly
damp hath seized on their hearts that hath so benumbed and
unmanned them. For my own part, though I have long
lived in a sense of the preciousness of time, and have not
been wholly idle in the world ; yet when I have the deepest
thoughts of the great, everlasting consequents of my work,
and of the uncertainty and shortness of my time, I am even
amazed to think that my heart can be so slow and senseless,
as to do no more in such a case. The Lord knows, and my
accusing, wounded conscience knows, than my slothfulness
is so much my shame and admiration, that I am astonished
to think that my resolutions are no stronger, my affections
no livelier, and my labour and diligence no greater, when
God is the commander, and his love the encourager, and his
wrath the spur, and heaven or hell must be the issue. O
what lives should all of us live, that have things of such un-
speakable consequence on our hands, if our hearts were not
almost dead within us ? Let who will speak against such a
life, it will be my daily grief and moan, that I am so dull,
and do so little. I know that our works do not profit the
Almighty, nor bear any proportion with his reward ; nor can
they stand in his sight, but as accepted in the Lord our
righteousness, and perfumed by the odour of his merits.
But I know they are necessary, and they are sweet. With-
out the holy employment of our faculties, this life will be
640 NOW OR NEVER.
]but a burden or a dream, and the next an inexpressible mi-
sery. O, therefore, that I had more of the love of God, that
my soul could get but nearer to him, and more swiftly move
upward by faith and love ! O that I had more of that holy
life, and active diligence, which the serpentine, Cainish na-
ture doth abhor, though I had with it the scorns of all about
me, and though they made me, as they once did better men,
as the filth of the world, and the ofFscouring of all things* !
O that I had more of this derided diligence, and holy con-
verse with the Lord, though my name were cast out as an
evil doer ^ : and I were spit at and buffeted by those that do
now but secretly reproach ! Might I nearly follow Christ
in holiness, why should I grudge to bear his cross, and to
be used as he was used^? knowing that "if we suffer with
him, we shall also reign with him ; and the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
that shall be revealed in us ^."
If when we have done all, we are but unprofitable ser-
vants, and must say we have done but our duty ', have we
not all more need of monitors to humble us for doing so
much less than our duty, than to be reprehended for being
too diligent and exact ?
I again protest, that it is not any works of supereroga-
tion, or human invention, superstition, or self-appointment
that I am defending, but only the accurate obeying of the
laws of God, and the utmost diligence in such obedience,
for the obtaining of everlasting life. Either God hath com-
manded these works of holiness, justice, and charity, or not.
If he have not, then I have done, and yield the cause : it is
only what he hath commanded that I plead for. O that be-
fore you either speak against any holy duty, or yourselves
neglect it, you would but come to us, and soberly join in
searching the Holy Scriptures, to see whether it be required
there or not ; and resolve but to obey it, if we prove it
thence : and if it be but a matter of human imposition, we
leave you to yourselves, and should desire that you may be
much left to yourselves in such things ; and that you place
not too much of your religion therein. But if indeed it be
commanded in the word of God, I beseech you, as you are
e 1 Cor. \'i\. 13. ' Luke vi. ^22. S Matt, xxvi.27. Luke xvili. 32.
1' Rom. viii. 17, 18. • Luke xvii. 10.
NOW OR Ni:vHR. 541-
Christians, and as you are men, remember that whenevei*
you blame or scorn a holy duty, it is God himself that you
blame or scorn. If it be naught, it is long of him that did
command it : the subject must obey. Should not such
worms as we obey the infinite God that made us ? If it be
a fault to obey, it is a duty to rebel, or disobey ; and that
must be because that God hath no authority to command,
and that must be because he is not God. See whither you
bring your opposition to a holy life. And dare you stand
to this ? Dare you as openly mock God for making these
strict and holy laws, as you do men for obeying them '' None
but a professed atheist dare.
Alas, sirs, it is nothing but intoxicating prosperity, and
sensual delights, and worldly diversions, that turn your
brains, and leave you not the sober use of reason, that makes
you think well of ungodly slothfulness, and makes you think
so contemptuously or senselessly of a heavenly life. I tell
you (and remember another day that you were told of it),
that there is not the boldest infidel in the world, nor the
bitterest enemy to holiness in this assembly, but shortly
would wish they had rather been saints in rags, with all the
scorn and cruelty that malice can inflict on such, than to
have braved it out in pride and gallantry, with the neglect
of the great, everlasting things. I tell you again, there is
not an ungodly wretch that heareth me, but ere long would
give a world if he were owner of a holy heart and life, that
he had spent his days in holy, watchful preparations for his
change, which he spent for that which will deceive him and
forsake him.
Methinks I even see how you will passionately rage
against yourselves, and tear your hearts with self-revenge
(if grace prevent it not by a more safe repentance), when you
think too late how you lived on earth, and what golden
times of grace you lost, and vilified all that would not lose
them as foolishly as you. If repentance unto life made
Paul so call himself foolish, disobedient, deceived, and ex-
ceeding mad '', you may imagine how tormenting repentance
will make you call yourselves too late.
O sirs, you cannot now conceive, while you sit here in
health, and ease, and honour,what different thoughts will
^ Tit. iii.3. Acts xxvi. 11.
54f NOW OK NEVER.
then possess you of a holy and unholy life ! How mad you
will think them that had but one life's time of preparation
for eternal life, and desperately neglected it : and how sen-
sible you will then be of the wisdom of believers, that knew
their time, and used it while they had it. Now " wisdom is
justified of all her children ;" but then how sensibly will it
be justified of all its enemies ! O with what gripes will un-
done souls look back on a life of mercy and opportunities,
thus basely undervalued, and slept away in dreaming idle-
ness, and fooled away for things of naught.
The language of that damned rich man, Luke xvi. may
help you in your predictions. O how will you wonder at
yourselves that ever you could be so blind and senseless as
to be no more affected with the warnings of the Lord, and
with the forethoughts of everlasting joy or misery ! To have
but one small part of time to do all that ever must be done
by you for eternity, and say all that ever you must say for
your own or others' souls, and that this was spent in worse
than nothing ! To have but one uncertain life, in which you
must run the race that wins or loseth heaven for ever ; and
that you should be tempted by a thing of naught, to lose
that one irrecoverable opportunity, or to sit still or run
another way, when you should have been making haste with
all your might ! O sirs, the thoughts of this will be other
kind of thoughts another day, than now you feel them ; you
cannot now think how the thoughts of this will then affect
you ! That you had a time in which you might have prayed,
with promise of acceptance, and had no hearts to take that
time ! That Christ was offered you as well as he was offer-
ed them that entertained him ; that you were called on and
warned as well as they, but obstinately despised and neg-
lected all ! That life and death were set before you, and the
everlasting joys were offered to your choice, against the
charms of sinful pleasures, and you might have freely had
them if you would, and were told that holiness was the only
way, and that it must be now or never, and yet that you
chose your own destruction ! These thoughts will be part
of hell to the ungodly. They will wonder that reason could
be so unreasonable ; and they that had the common wit of
man in other matters should be so far beside themselves in
that which is the only thing that it is commendable to be
NOW OK NEVER. 543
wise for, that such sottish reasonings should prevail with
them against the clearest light, and nothing should be pre-
ferred before all things, and arguments fetched from chaff
and dung, should conquer those that were fetched from hea-
ven ! O what heart-rending thoughts will these be, when
eternity shall afford them leisure for an impartial review !
Yea, that they should deceive others also with such a gross
deceit, and scorn at all that would not be as mad as they ;
that being drunken with the world's delusion, they should
abuse all that were truly sober ; that the one thing needful,
should seem to them a needless thing ; that their tongues
should plead for these delusions of their wicked hearts, and
they should be enemies to those that would not be enemies
to God, and to themselves, and cast away their time and
souls as they did ! They will wonder with self-indignation,
what could bewitch them into so great unreasonableness,
below a man, against the light of nature, as well as of super-
natural revelation.
Honourable and beloved hearers, I beseech you do not
take it ill, that I speak so much of these matters that are so
unpleasant and unwelcome to unbelieving, careless, carnal
hearts ; it is, that I may prevent all this in time, by the awa-
kenings of true repentance : and O that this might be the
success ! That I might hear by your penitent confessions,
and see by your universal, speedy reformations, that God
hath so great mercy for you, and that these persuasions
might be the means of so much happiness to you, and com-
fort unto me ! However, this assembly shall be witnesses
that you were warned ; and conscience shall be witness, that
if you waste the rest of your days in the pleasures and vani-
ties of this deceitful world, it was not because you could
have no better, and were not called to higher things ; that
if you yet stand idle, it is not because you could not be
hired ; for in the name of Christ I have called you into his
vineyard, and told you of his woik and wages, and shamed
your excuses and objections this day. Come away then
speedily from the snares of sinners, and the company of
hardened, deceived men, and cast away the works of dark-
ness. Heaven is before you ! Death is at hand ! The eter-
nal God hath sent to call you ! Mercy doth yet stretch
forth its arms ! You have staid too long, and abused pa-
544 NOW OK NEVER.
tience too much already : stay no longer ! O now please
God, and comfort us, and save yourselves by resolving that
this shall be the day ; and faithfully performing of this your
resolution. Up and be doing : believe, repent, desire, obey,
and do all this with all your might. Love him that you must
love for ever, and love him with all your soul and might ;
seek that which is truly worth a seeking, and will pay for all
your cost and pains : and seek it first with all your might ;
remembering still it must be now or never.
Before I conclude, I have two messages yet to deliver to
the servants of the Lord : the one is of Encouragement :
the other of Direction.
I know that many of you have a three-fold trouble, which
requireth a three-fold comfort and encouragement.
One is, that you have done so little of your work ; but
lost so much of your time already : another is, that you are
so opposed and hindered. And the greatest of all is, that
you are yet so dull and slow ; the cure of which must be the
matter of my Directions.
1. For the first : That you have lost your time, must be
the matter of your humiliation : but that all is not lost, be-
fore you see your sin and duty ; but yet the patience and
mercy of the Lord are attending you, and continuing your
hope ; this is the matter of your comfort and encourage-
ment. Repent, therefore, that you came no sooner home ;
but rejoice that you are come home at last; and now be
more diligent in redeeming your time, in remembrance of the
time already lost : and though it must be your grief that
your master hath been deprived of so much of his service,
and others of so much good which you should have done
them, and that time is lost that cannot be recalled ; yet it is
your comfort, that your own reward may be equal with them
that have borne the burden and heat of the day ; for many
that are last (in the time of their coming in) shall be first (in
receiving the reward). This is the meaning of that parable
in Matt. xx. which was spoken to encourage them that
had stood out too long, and to rebuke the envy and high
expectations of them that came in sooner ; and it is no whit
contradictory to those passages in Matt. xxv. which inti-
mate a different degree of glory to be given to them that have
different degrees of grace upon their industrious improve-
NOW OR NEVER. 545
ment. The one parable, (Matt, xx.) shews that men shall
not be rewarded differently for their longer or shorter con-
tinuance in the work, but that those that come in late, and
yet are found with equal holiness, shall be rewarded equally
with the first; and more, if their holiness be more ; which
the second parable expresseth, declaring God*s purpose to
give them the greatest glory, that have improved their holi-
ness to the greatest measure. O, therefore, that the sense
of your former unkindness might provoke you the more re-
solvedly to give up yourselves in fervent love, and full obe-
dience : and then you will find that your time is redeemed,
though it cannot be recalled ; and that mercy hath secured
your full reward. O what an unspeakable mercy is this ;
that if yet you will devote yourselves entirely to Christ, and
serve him with your might, the little time that yet remains,
he will take it as if you had come in at the first hour of the
day!
2. And as for the opposition and hindrances in your
way, they are no other than what your Lord foretold. He
hath gone before you, and conquered much more than ever
you will encounter from without, (though he had not a body
of sin to conquer ; and in that respect the conquest of his
Spirit in his members, hath the preeminence of his personal
conquest). He hath bid you be of good cheer, because he
hath overcome the world. If you will not take up your cross
and follow him, you cannot be his disciples'. Would you
be soldiers on condition you may not fight, or fight and yet
have no opposition? Follow the captain of your salvation ;
if mocking, or buffeting, or spitting in his face, or hanging
him upon a cross, or piercing his side, would have made him
give up the work of your redemption, you had been left to
utter desperation. The opposition that is conquerable,
should serve but to excite your courage and resolution in a
case of such necessity, where you must prevail or perish.
Have you God himself on your side, and Christ your Cap-
tain, and the Spirft of Christ to give you courage, and the
]^ promise to invite you, and heaven before you, hell behind
m you, and the examples of such an army of conquering be-
lievers ; and shall the scorns or threats of a crawling worm
prevail against all these for your discouragement? You are
' John xvi. 33. Luke xv 27. 33.
VOL. VII. N N
540 NOW OR NEVER.
ROt afraid lest any man should pull down the sun, or dry up
the sea, or overturn the earth ; and are you afraid that man
should conquer God "" ? or take you out of the hands of
Christ"? Mark how they used David ; " Every day they
wrest my words ; all their thoughts are against me for evil.
They gather themselves together, they hide themselves,
they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.'* But
what, did he therefore fear, or fly from God 1 No ; " What
time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God will I praise
his word ; in God have I put my trust ; I will not fear what
flesh can do unto me °." *' Hearken unto me, ye that know
righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law ; fear ye
not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revi-
lings : for the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and
the worm shall eat them like wool : but my righteousness
shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to gene-
ration V.'' You deserve to be shut out of heaven, if you will
not bear the breath of a fool's derision for it.
3. But (saith the self-accusing soul) * I am convinced
that I ought to be laborious for my salvation, and that all
this is too little that I can do ; but I am dull, and cold, and
negligent in all: I am far from doing it with my might: I
hear, and read, and pray as if I did it not, and as if I were
half asleep, or my heart were away upon somewhat else. I
fear I am but a lazy hypocrite.'
^nsw. I shall first speak to thy doubt, and then to direct
thee against thy sin.
And first, you must be resolved whether your sloth be
such as is predominant, or mortified ; such as proveth that
you are dead in sin ; or only such as proveth you but dis-
eased and infirm.
And to know this, you must distinguish, 1. Between the
dulness and coldness of the affections, and the unresolved-
ness and disobedience of the soul. 2. Between a slothful-
ness that keepeth men from a godly life in a life of wicked-
ness ; and that which only keepeth them from some particu-
lar act of duty, or abateth the degree of their sincere affec-
tion and obedience. 3. Between that sloth that is the vi-
cious habit of the will, and that which is the effect of age,
or sickness, or melancholy, or other distemper of the body.
»" Rom. viii. 37. « John x, 1^8, 29. ° Psal. h'u 3—6. p l»a.li. 7, 8.
NOW OR NEVER. 547
And so the case lieth plain before you. 1. If it be not
only your affections that are dull, but your will through
sloth is unresolved ; and this not only in a temptation to the
abatement of some degrees, and the neglect of some particu-
lar duty, but against a holy life, and against the forsaking
of your reigning sin ; and this be not only through some bo-
dily distemper, disabling your reason, but from this vicious
habit of your wills ; then is your sloth a mortal sign, and
proves you in a graceless state ; but if the sloth which you
complain of be only dulness of your affections, and the
backwardness of your wills to some high degrees, or parti-
cular duties, and the effect of some bodily distemper, or the
weakness of your spiritual life, while your wills are habitu-
ally resolved for God and a holy life, against a worldly,
fleshly life : this is your infirmity, and a sin to be lamented,
but not a mark of death and gracelessness.
You will have a backward, slothful heart to strive with
while you live ; but bless God that you are offended with it,
and would fain be delivered from it. This was Paul's evi-
dence, Rom. vii. 24. You will have flesh, and flesh will
plead for its interest, and will be striving against the Spirit ;
but bless God that you have also the Spirit to strive against
the flesh. Be thankful that you have life to feel your sick-
ness, though you languish under it, and cannot work as
healthful men ; and that you are in the way to heaven, though
you go not so fast as you should and would.
2. But yet though you have life, it is so grievous to be
diseased and languish under such an infirmity as sloth, that
I advise you to stir up yourselves to the utmost, and give
not way to a lazy temper ; and that you may serve the Lord
with all your might, I recommend these few Directions to
your observation.
Direct. 1. When you would be quickened up to serious-
ness and diligence, have ready at hand such quickening
considerations as are here before propounded to you ; and
set them before you, and labour to work them upon your
hearts. Powerful truths would have some power upon your
souls, if you will but soberly apply your reason to them, and
plead them with yourselves, as you would do with another
in any of your reproofs or exhortations.
548 NOW OR NEVER.
Direct. 2. Take heed lest any worldly design or interest,
or any lusts or sensual delight, divert your minds from God
and duty.' For all the powers of your soul will languish,
when you should set them on work on spiritual things, and
your hearts will be abroad, when you should be wholly taken
up with God, if once they be entangled with worldly things.
Watch therefore over them in your callings, lest the crea-
ture steal too deep into your affections : for if you be alive
to the world, you will be in that measure dead to God.
Direct. 3. ' If it be possible, live under a lively ministry,
that when your hearts go cold and dull unto the assemblies,
they may come warm and quickened home.' Life cherish-
eth life as fire kindleth fire. The word and ordinances of
God " are quick, powerful, and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spi-
rit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart '^;" and therefore it may do much to make you feel.
Many a thousand hath it pricked at the heart, and sent them
home alive, that before were dead ^ Much more may you
expect, that it should excite the principle which you have
already.
Direct. 4. * If it may be, converse with lively, active,
stirring Christians :' but especially have one such for a bo-
som friend, that will warm you when you are cold, and help
to awake you when you drop asleep, and will not comply
with you in a declining, lazy and unprofitable course. " Two
are better than one, because they have a good reward for
their labour : for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow ;
but woe to him that is alone when he falleth ; for he hath
not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then
they have heat ; but how can one be warm alone ? And if
one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a
threefold cord is not quickly broken*."
Direct. 5. 'Put not away from you the day of death.
Look not for long life.' It is the life to come that must be
the life of all your duties here, and distant things do lose
their force. Set death, and judgment, and eternal life con-
tinually as near at hand : live in a watchful expectation of
your change : do all as dying men, and as passing to receive
the recompence of endless joy or woe, and this will quicken
••Heb. iv. 12. • Acts ii. 37. » Eccles. iv.9— 12.
NOW OR NEVER. 549
you. To this end, go often to the house of mourning, and
be not unseasonably or immoderately in the house of mirth.
When you observe what is the end of all men, the heart will
be made better by it". But excess of carnal mirth doth in-
fatuate men, and destroy their wisdom, seriousness and so-
briety. Keep always a sense of the brevity of life, and of
the preciousness of time, and remember that it is posting on
whether you work or play. Methinks if you forget any of
the rest, this one consideration that we have in hand, should
make you bestir you with your might, that it must be now
or never,
I shall only add two needful cautions, lest while we cure
one disease, we cause another, (as knowing that corrupted
nature is used to run from extreme into extreme).
1. Desire and labour more for an high estimation of
things spiritual and eternal, and a fixed resolution, and an
even and diligent endeavour, than for passionate feelings
and affections. For these latter are*more inconstant in the
best, and depend much on the temper of the body, and are
not of so great necessity as the former, though excellent in
a just degree and season. (For it is possible that passion
even about good things may be too much ; when estimation,
resolution, and regular endeavours cannot.)
2. Be suspicious when you have the warmest and liveliest
affections, lest y our j udgmen ts should be perverted by follow-
ing, when they should lead. It is very common for zeal
and strong afl'ections, even to that which is good, to occa-
sion the mistakes of the understanding, and make men look
all on one side, and think they can never go far enough from
some particular sins, till ignorantly they are carried into
some perhaps as great on the other hand. Be warned by the
sad experience of these times to suspect your judgments in
the fervour of your affections.
And observing these cautions, let nothing abate your zeal
and diligence ; but whatever duty is set before you, do it
with your might ; for it must be now or never.
Though I know that the enmity to a holy, heavenly life
is 80 radicated in corrupted nature, that all that 1 have said
is necessary and too little ; yet some I know will think it
strange that I should intimate that any that preach the Gos-
" Eccles. vii. *2— fi.
550 NOW OR NEVER.
pel are guilty of any measure of this sin, and will think that
I intend by it to reflect upon some parties above the rest.
But again I profess, that it is no party but the devil's party,
and the ungodly party that I mean. And it is hard if you
will not believe me concerning my own sense. Nor is it my
desire that any of the odiousness of schism, sedition, rebel-
lion, or disobedience to authority, should be so much as di-
minished by any man's profession of godliness. No, I be-
seech you, by how much the more godly you are, by so much
the more you will detest all these ; godliness tendeth to
shame and condemn these odious sins, and not to be a cloak
for them or any extenuation ; nay, what can more aggravate
them, than that they should be found in the professors of
godliness ? I again profess that I have no design but to
plead for serious diligence in the religion which we are all
agreed in, and to stop the mouths of those that wickedly
speak against it.
But, alas, it is too evident that I have too many to speak
to, that are not innocent ; why else doth Scripture tell us
that such there will be still to the end of the world? and
tliat there are some that preach Christ of strife and envy, to
add affliction to the bonds of the afflicted ? and how came
holy Mr. Bolton to find so much work for these rebukes so
lately in his time, as in his books you find ? And can we
already forget what abundance of Antinomian teachers were
among us, that turned out the very doctrine of practical di-
ligence, and cried it down as a setting up ourselves and our
own works, and as injurious to free grace, and under pretence
of exalting Christ, did set up a heartless, lifeless doctrine,
that tended to turn out the life of Christianity, and take men
off their necessary diligence, as a legal, dangerous thing ?
And what ordinance of God hath not been cast out by
preachers themselves upon religious pretences, family-duties,
catechising, singing of psalms, baptism, the Lord's supper,
and which not? And if all these were down, wherein should
the practice of religion consist ? And what abundance of
pamphlets had we that laboured to make the orthodox, faith-
ful ministry a very scorn, and deride them for their faithful
service of God, and their faithfulness to their superiors in
opposition to their unrighteous ways ? I am loath to blot
my papers and trouble your ears with the names of the Mar-
NOW OR NEVER. 651
tin-mar-priests,;and a multitude of such others, which I mean.
And let no Papist, or any enemy of our church, reproach
us because such enemies to holiness are found among us.
Can it be expected that our church should be better than
the family of Adam, that had a Cain ? Or of Noah, that had
a Ham ? Or of Christ, that had a Judas ? And are there not
far more enemies to serious godliness among the Papists
themselves, than among us ? One instance out of the life
of Philip Nerius, the father of the Oratorians, I will put in-
to the preface, because it is too long to be here inserted.
There is no place, no rank of men in the world, where some
of the enemies of a holy life are not to be found, even among
those that profess the same religion in doctrinals, with those
whom they oppose. Christ and the devil have their several
armies ; and if once the devil disband his soldiers, and have
none to oppose a holy life, then tell me that it is a needless
thing to defend it and to confute them. But I am listed
under Christ, and will never give over pleading for him, till
his adversaries give over pleading against him, and his
cause, as long as he continueth my liberty and duty. And
blessed be the Lord that if an hypocritical preacher be found
among us, that secretly or openly disgraceth a diligent, holy
life, there are more able, holy, faithful ones to confute him
both by doctrine and by their lives, than are to be found in
any other kingdom in the world proportionably, that ever I
could hear of. And that the faithful disciples are so many
and the Judases so few, how great a blessing is it to this land,
and how great an honour to his majesty's government, and
to the church in his dominions ! The Lord teach this sinful
nation to be thankful, and pardon their ingratitude, and ne-
ver deprive them of this forfeited mercy. The Lord teach
them to hearken to the friends, and not to the enemies, of
holiness, and never to receive a wound at the heart of reli-
gion, however they hear their smaller differences about things
circumstantial.
And now I should conclude, I am loath to end, for fear
lest I have not yet prevailed with you. What are you now
resolved to do, from this day forward ? It is work that we
have been speaking of, and necessary work of endless con-
sequence, which must be done, and quickly done, and tho-
roughly done. Are you not convinced that it isso? that
552 . NOW OR NEVER.
ploughing and sowing are not more necessary to your har-
vest, than the work of holiness in this day of grace is neces-
sary to your salvation ? You are blind if you see not this ;
you are dead if you feel it not ; what then will you do ?
For God's sake, and for your own sake, stand not demurring
till time be gone. It is all that the devil desireth, if he can
but find you one thing or other to be thinking, and talking,
and doing about, to keep you from this till time be gone ;
and then he that kept you from seeing and feeling, will help
you to see and to feel your calamity ; then the devil will
make you feel that which preachers could not make you feel;
and he will make you think of that, and lay it close enough
to your hearts, which we could not get you to lay to heart.
Now we study and preach to you in hope ; but then (alas,
it breaks our hearts to think of it) we have done with you
for ever, because all hope is gone. Then the devil may
challenge a minister, * Now do thy worst to bring this sin-
ner to repentance : flow call to him to consider, and believe,
and come to Christ : now offer him mercy, and entreat him
to accept it : now cry to him to take heed of sin and of temp-
tations, that he come not to this place of torments : now
tell him of the beauty or necessity of holiness, and call up-
on him to .turn and live : now do thy worst to rescue him
from my power, and save his soul.' Alas, poor sinners ! will
you stop your ears, and go on in sin, and damn yourselves
and break our hearts to foresee that day ! Must we see the
devil go away with such a prey, and shall we not rescue your
captivated souls, because you will not hear, you will not
stir, you will not consent ! O hear the God of heaven, if you
will not hear us, who ealleth to you. Return and Live ! O
hear him that shed his blood for souls, and tendereth you
now salvation by his blood! O hear without any more de-
lay, before all is gone, and you are gone, and he that now
deceiveth you, torment you ! Yet hold on a little longer in
a carnal, earthly, unsanctified state, and it is too late to
hope, or pray, or strive for your salvation ; yet a little longer
and mercy will have done with you for ever ; and Christ will
never invite you more, nor ever offer to cleanse you by his
blood, or sanctify you by his Spirit ! Yet a little longer,
and you shall never hear a sermon more, and never more be
troubled with those preachers that were in good sadness
NOW OR NEVER. 553
with you, and longed once for your conversion and salva-
tion ! O sleepy, dead-hearted sinners, what should I do to
shew you how near you stand to eternity, and what is now
doing in the world that you are going to, and how these
things are thought on there ! What should I do to make
you know how time is valued, how sin and holiness are es-
teemed in the world where you must live for ever! What
should I do to make you know those things to-day, which
I will not thank you to know when you are gone hence !
O that the Lord would open your eyes in time ! Could I
but make you know these things as believers should know
them, I say not, as those that see them, nor yet as dreamers
that do not regard them, but as those that believe that they
must shortly see them; what a joyful hour's work should I
esteem this ! How happy would it be to you and me, if
every word were accompanied with tears ! If I followed you
home and begged your consideration on my bare knees, or
as a beggar begs an alms at your doors : if this sermon cost
me as many censures or slanders as ever sermon did, I should
not think it too dear, if I could but help you to a sight of
the things we speak of, that you might truly understand
them as they are ; and that you had but a true, awakened
apprehension of the shortness of your day, of the nearness
of eternity, and of the endless consequence of your present
work, and what holy labour and sinful loitering will be
thought of in the world to come for ever I But when we
see you sin, and trifle, and no more regard your endless life,
and see also what haste your time is making, and yet cannot
make you understand these things; when we know our-
selves as sure as we speak to you, that you will shortly be
astonished at the review of your present sloth and folly, and
when we know that these matters are not thought of in
another world, as they are among the sleepy or the Bedlam
sinners here, and yet know not how to make you know it,
whom it doth so exceeding much concern, this amazeth us,
and almost breaks our hearts ! Yea, when we tell you of
things that are past doubt, and can be no further matter of
controversy, that men have sold their understandings, and
betrayed their reason to their sordid lusts, and yet we cannot
get reasonable men to know that which they cannot choose
but know ; to know that seriously and practically which al-
554 Now OR NEVER.
ways hath a witness in their breasts, and which none but the
profligate dare deny ; I tell you, sinners, this, even this, is
worse than a prison to us : it is you that are our persecutors ;
it is you that are the daily sorrow of our hearts ; it is you
that disappoint us of our hopes, and make us lose so much
of the labour of our lives ! And if all others did as some do
by us, alas, how sad an employment should we have ; and
how little would it trouble us to be silenced and laid aside !
If we were sick of the ambitious or covetous thirst, we
should then say that it is they that deny us wealth and ho-
nour that disappoint us. But if we are Christians, this is
not our case, but it is the thirst after your conversion and
salvation that aflecteth us : and therefore it is to you, even
you that linger in your sins and delay repentance, and for-
get your home, and neglect your souls ; it is you that dis-
appoint, and you that are our afflicters : and as much as you
think you befriend us when you plead our cause against
men of violence and rage, it is you that shall answer for the
loss of our time, and labour, and hope, and for the grieving
of your teachers* hearts.
Sinners, whatever the devil and raging passion may say
against a holy life, God and your own consciences shall be
your witnesses, that we desired nothing unreasonable, or un-
necessary at your hands. I know it is the master-piece of
the devil's craft, when he cannot keep all religion in con-
tempt, to raise up a dust of controversy in the world about
names, and forms, and circumstances in religion, that he may
keep men busily striving about these, while religion itself is
neglected or unknown ; and that he may make men believe
that they have some religion, because they are for one side
or other in these controversies ; and especially that he may
entice men to number the substantials of religion itself,
among these less doubtful points, and make sinners believe
that it is but the precise opinion of one party that they re-
ject, while they reject the serious practice of all true reli-
gion. And so the devil gets more by these petty quarrels
and controversies, occasioned by contentious, empty men,
than he could have done by the open opposition of infidels,
heathens, or the profane : so that neither I nor any man,
that opinionative men have a mind to quarrel with, can tell
how to exhort you to the very practice of Christianity it-
NOW OR NEVER. 555
self, but you are presently casting your thoughts upon some
points wherein we are reported to differ from you, or re-
membering some clamours of malicious men, that prejudice
against the person of the speaker may keep your souls from
profiting to salvation by the doctrine which even yourselves
profess.
If this be the case of any one of you, I do not mean your
consciences shall escape the power or evidence of the truth.
Dost thou talk of our differences about forms and cere-
monies ? Alas, man, what is that to the message which we
come about to thee ? What is that to the business that we
are preaching of? The question that I am putting to yow,
is not whether you will be for this form of church-govern-
ment, or for that, for a ceremony, or against it ; but it is,
whether you will hearken in time to God and conscience,
and be as busy to provide for heaven, as ever you have been
to provide for earth ? And whether you will set yourselves
to do the work that you are created and redeemed for ? This
is the business that I am sent to call you to : What say you ?
Will you do it, and do it seriously without delay? You
shall not be able to say that I called you to a party, a fac-
tion, or some opinion of my own, or laid your salvation upon
some doubtful controversy. No, sinner, thy conscience shall
have no such shift for its deceit : it is godliness, serious and
practical godliness that thou art called to. It is nothing but
what all Christians in the world, both Papists, and Greeks,
and Protestants, and all the parties among those that are
true Christians, are agreed in the profession of. That I may
not leave thee in any darkness which I can deliver thee from,
I will tell thee distinctly, though succinctly, what it is that
thou art thus importuned to ; and tell me then, whether it
be that which any Christian can make doubt of.
1. That which I entreat of thee, is but to live as one that
verily believeth there is a God, and that this God is the
Creator, the Lord, and Ruler of the world : and that it is in-
comparably more of our business to understand and obey
his laws, and as faithful subjects to be conformed to them,
than to observe or be conformed to the laws of man : and to
live as men that do believe that this God is almighty, and
the greatest of men are less than crawling worms to him ;
and that he is infinitely wise, and the wisdom of man is
550 NOW OR *LEVER.
foolishness to him ; and that he is infinitely good and amia-
ble ; and the best of creatures is dung and filth in compa-
rison of him ; and that his love is the only felicity of man ;
and that none are happy but those that do enjoy it ; and
none that do enjoy it can be miserable ; and that riches, and
honour, and fleshly delights are brutish vanities in compa-
rison of the eternal love of God. Live but as men that
heartily believe all this, and I have that I come for. And
is any of this matter of controversy or doubt? Not among
Christians I am sure ; not among wise men. It is no doubt
to those in heaven, nor to those in hell, nor to those that
have not lost their understandings upon earth. Live then
according to these truths.
2. Live as men that verily believe that mankind is fallen
into sin and misery ; and that all men are corrupted, and
under the condemnation of the law of God, till they are de-
livered, pardoned, reconciled to God, and made new creatures
by a renewing, restoring, sanctifying change. Live but as
men that believe that this cure must be wrought, and this
great restoring change must be made upon ourselves, if it
be not done already. Live as men that have so great a work
to look after. And is this a matter of any doubt or contro-
versy ? Sure it is not to a Christian : and methinks it
should not be to any man else that knoweth himself, any
more than to a man in a dropsy, whether he be diseased,
when he feels the thirst and sees the swelling. Did you but
know what cures and changes are necessarily to be made
upon your diseased, miserable souls, if you care what be-
comes of them, you would soon see cause to look about you.
3. Live but as men that verily believe that you are re-
deemed by the Son of God, who hath suffered for your sin,
and brought you the tidings of pardon and salvation, which
you may have if you will give up yourselves to him who is
the physician of souls, to be healed by him. Live as men
that believe that the infinite love of God revealed to lost
mankind in the Redeemer, doth bind us to love him with all
our hearts, and serve him with all our restored faculties, and
to work as those that have the greatest thankfulness to shew,
as well as the greatest mercies to receive, and misery to es-
cape ; and as those that believe that if sinners that without
Christ had no hope, shall now love their sins and refuse to
NOW OR NEVER. 557
leave them, and to repent and be converted, and unthankfully
reject the mercy of salvation so dearly bought, and so freely
offered them, their damnation will be doubled as their sin is
doubled. Live but as men that have such redemption to
admire, such mercy to entertain, and such a salvation to at-
tain, and that are sure they can never escape if they con-
tinue to neglect so great salvation : and is there any contro-
versy among Christians in any of this ? There is not certainly.
4. Live but as men that believe that the Holy Ghost is
given by Jesus Christ to convert, to quicken, to sanctify all
that he will save ; and that except you be born again of the
Spirit, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven ; and
that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, the same is
none of his " : and that without this no patching or mend-
ing of your lives by any common principles will serve the
turn for your salvation, or make you acceptable to God ^.
Live as men that believe that this Spirit is given by the hear-
ing of the word of God, and must be prayed for, and obeyed,
and not resisted, quenched, and grieved. And is there any
controversy among Christians in any of this? Ask those
that make a mock at holiness, sanctification and the Spirit,
whether they be not baptized into the name of the Holy
Ghost, and profess to believe in him as their Sanctifier, as
well as in the Son their Redeemer ? And then ask them
whether it be not a thing that should make even a devil to
tremble to come so near the blasphemy against the Holy
Ghost, as to mock at his office and sanctifying work, and at
the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord ^ ! and
this after they are baptized and profess to believe in the
Holy Ghost as their Sanctifier.
5. Live but as men that believe that sin is the greatest
evil, the thing which the Holy God abhorreth. And then
you will never make a mock of it, as Solomon saith the
foolish do * ; nor say, * What harm is in it?'
6. Live but as men that believe no sin is pardoned with-
out repentance ; and that repentance is the loathing and for-
saking of sin ; and that if it be true, it will not suffer you to
live wilfully in any gross sin, nor to desire to keep the least
infirmity, nor to be loath to know your unknown sins.
7. Live as those that believe that you are to be members
« John iii. 5, 6. Rom. viii. 9. i Heb. xi. 6. * Heb. xii. 14. » Prov. xiv. 9.
558 NOW OR NEVER.
of the holy catholic church, and therein to hold the com-
munion of saints. And then you will know that it is not
as a member of any sect or party, but as a holy member of
this holy church, that you must be saved ; and that it is the
name of a Christian which is more honourable than the name
of any division or subdivision among Christians, whether
Greek, or Papist, or Protestant, or Prelatist, or Presbyte-
rian, or Independent, or Anabaptist. It is easy to be of any
one of these parties ; but to be a Christian, which all pre-
tend to, is not so easy. It is easy to have a burning zeal
for any divided party or cause ; but the zeal for the Chris-
tian religion is not so easy to be kindled or kept alive ; but
requireth as much diligence to maintain it, as dividing zeal
require th to quench it. It is easy to love a party as a party :
but to keep up catholic charity to all Christians, and to live
in that holy love and converse which is requisite to a com-
munion of saints is not so easy. Satan and corrupted na-
ture befriend the love and zeal of faction, which is confined
to a party on a controverted cause ; but they are enemies to
the love of saints, and to the zeal for holiness, and to the
catholic charity which is from the Spirit of Christ. You see
I call you not to division, not to side with sects ; but to live
as members of a holy catholic church, which consisteth of
all that are holy in the world ; and to live as those that be-
lieve the communion of saints.
8. Live as those that believe that there is a life everlast-
ing, where the sanctified shall live in endless joy, and the
unsanctified in endless punishment and woe. Live but as
men that verily believe a heaven and a hell, and a day of
judgment, in which all the actions of this life must be re-
vised, and all men judged to their endless state. Believe
these things heartily, and then think a holy diligence need-
less if you can. Then be of the mind of the deriders and
enemies of godliness if you can. If one sight of heaven or
hell would serve without any more ado, instead of other ar-
guments, to confute all the cavils of the distracted world ;
and to justify the most diligent saints in the judgment of
those that now abhor them, why should not a sound belief
of the same thing in its measure do the same ?
9. Live but as those that believe this life is given us as
the only time to make preparation for eternal life ; and that
NOW OR NEVER. 559
all that ever shall be done for your salvation, must be now,
just now, before your time is ended. Live as those that
know (and need not faith to tell them) that this time is
short, and almost at an end already, and stayeth for no man,
but as a post doth haste away. It will not stay while you
are trimming you, or sporting you. It will not stay while
you are taking up in stage plays, in compliments, in idle
visits, or any impertinent, needless things. It will not tarry
while you spend yet the other year, or month, or day, in
your worldliness, or ambition, or in your lusts or sensual de-
lights, and put off your repentance to another time. O, sirs,
for the Lord's sake, do but live as men that must shortly be
buried in the grave, and their souls appear before the Lord,
and as men that have but this little time, to do all for their
everlasting life, that ever must be done. O live as men that
are sure to die, and are not sure to live till to-morrow. And
let not the noise of pleasure or worldly business, or the chat
or scorns of miserable fools, bear down your reason, and
make you live as if you knew not what you know, or as if
there were any doubt about these things. Who is the man,
and what is his name, that dare contradict them, and can
make it good ? O do not sin against your knowledge. Do
not stand still and see your glass running, and time making
such haste, and yet make no more haste yourselves, than if
you were not concerned in it. Do not, O do not slumber,
when time and judgment never slumber, nor sit still when
you have so much to do, and know all that is now left un-
done must be undone for ever ! Alas ! sirs, how many ques-
tions of exceeding weight have you yet to be resolved in ?
Whether you are truly sanctified ? whether your sins be par-
doned ? whether you shall be saved when you die ? whether
you are ready to leave this world, and enter upon another?
I tell you, the answering of these and many more such ques-
tions, is a matter of no small difficulty or concernment.
And all these must be done in this little and uncertain time.
It must be now or never. Live but as men that believe and
consider these certain unquestionable things.
10. Lastly. Will you but live as men that believe that the
world and the flesh are the deadly enemies of your salvation.
And that believe, that if any man love the world, (so far)
5(j0 ' NOW OR NEVER.
the love of the Father is not in him ^. And as men that be-
lieve, that, if ye live after the flesh ye shall die ; but if by
the Spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live '^.
And those that are in Christ Jesus, and are freed from con-
demnation, are such as walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit. And that v^e must make no provision for the flesh
to satisfy the will or lusts thereof, and must not walk in
gluttony and drunkenness, in chambering and wantonness, in
strife and envying ; but must have'our hearts where our trea-
sure is*^, and converse in heaven*, and being risen with Christ,
must seek the things that are above, and set our affections
on them, and not on the things that are on earth ^
Sirs, will you say that any of this is our singular opinion,
or matter of controversy and doubt ? Are not all Christians
agreed in it? Do you not, your ownselves profess that
you believe it ? Live then but as those that do believe it,
and condemn not yourselves in the things that you confess.
I tell thee, if now thou wilt refuse to live according to
these common acknowledged truths, thou shalt never be
able to say before the Lord, that men's controversy about a
ceremony, or church-government, or the manner of worship,
were the things that hindered thee. But all sorts and sects
shall be witnesses against thee, and condemn thee : for they
all agreed in these things ; even the bloodiest sect, that im-
prison, torment, and kill others for their differences in
smaller matters, are yet agreed with those that they persecute
and murder, about these things. Papists are agreed in them,
and Protestants are agreed in them. All the sects that are
now quarrelling among us, and in the world, are agreed in
them, who are but meet for the name of Christians. All
these will be ready to bear witness against the profane, the
sensual, the slothful neglecter of God and his salvation,
and to say, we all confessed, notwithstanding our other dif-
ferences, that all these things were certain truths, and that
men's lives should be ordered according unto these.
But if yet you pretend controversy to cover your malig-
nity or ungodliness, I will go a little further, and tell you
that in the matter as well as in the principles, it is things
»> 1 John ii. 15, 16. « Rora. viii. 13. ^ Rom. viii. 1. xui. 10. 13. Malt, vi, 21.
e Phil.iii. 18—20. f Col. in. 1—3.
NOW OR NEVER. 561
that we are all agreed in, which I call you to, and which the
ungodly do refuse. I will briefly name them.
1. One part of your work which we urge you to do with
all your might, is seriously and soberly to consider often of
all these truths before mentioned, which you say you do be-
lieve. And is it any controversy with reasonable men, whe-
ther they should use their reason ? or with believers, whe-
ther they should consider and lay to heart the weight and
use of the things which they believe ?
2. Another part of your work is, to love God with all
your soul and might ; and to make him your delight, and to
seek first his kingdom, and the righteousness thereof; and
to set your affections on the things above, and to live on
earth as the heirs of heaven. And is there any controversy
among Protestants, Papists, or any about this ?
3. Another part of your work is, to see the honouring of
God in the world, the promoting of his kingdom and go-
vernment in yourselves and others, the doing of his will, and
obeying of his laws. And is there any controversy in this ?
4. Another part of your work is, to mortify the flesh, and
reject its conceits, and desires, and lusts, which resist the
aforesaid obedience to God ; and to cast out the inordinate
love and care of worldly things ; to refuse the counsels, the
commands, the will, the enticements and persuasions of
men, which contradict the commands and will of God ; and
to forsake all that you have in the world rather than forsake
your dear Redeemer, and hazard your salvation by any wil-
ful sin. To take up your cross and follow Christ through a
life of suflering to glory. I know there is difficulty enough
in all this, and that flesh will repine against it and abhor it.
But is there any controversy about it among any true be-
lievers ? Is not all this the express command of God, and
necessary to salvation?
5. Another part of your work is to avoid temptations,
and fly from the occasions and appearances of evil ; and not
only to avoid that which is directly evil itself, but that also
which would draw you into evil (as far as you can) and to
keep as far as may be from the brink of hell and danger, and
to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
nor be companions with them, but reprove them, and mourn
VOL. VII. o o
562 NOW OR NEVER.
for the unclean and wicked conversation of the world. This
is it that we entreat of you ; and is there any matter of con-
troversy in all this ?
6. Another part of the work which we call you to, is, to
redeem this little time that is allotted you. To make the
best of it, and improve it to the greatest furtherance of your
salvation. To lose none of it upon unprofitable things. To
spend it in those works which will comfort you most when
time is gone. If it will be more comfortable to you in the
day of judgment, that you have spent your time in plays,
and sports, and idleness, and worldly cares, and pleasures,
than in serving God, and preparing for another life, then
hold on, and do so to the end. But if it will not, then do
what you would hear of, seeing you must hear of it. Spend
none of your time in idleness and unfruitful things, till you
have no better and more necessary things to spend it in,
and till you have time to spare from more important work.
This is our request to you, that you would not lose one hour
of your precious time, but spend it as those that have lost
too much, and have but a little more to spend in prepara-
tion for eternity. And is this any schismatical or factious
notion ? Is there any thing controvertible, or which any
Christian can speak against, in any of this ?
7. Another part of your work is, to search the Scripture
as that which containeth your directions for eternal life ^.
To love the word of God more than thousands of gold and
silver, and prefer it before your necessary food «, and to me-
ditate in it day and night, as that which is your pleasure
and delight ^, and as that which is able to make you wise
unto salvation*, and to build you up, and give you an inhe-
ritance among the sanctified ''. That you lay up the word
of God in your hearts, and teach them diligently to your
children, and talk of them when you sit in your houses, and
when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and
when you rise up ^ that so you and your households may
serve the Lord "". This is the work that we call you to.
And is there any thing that a Christian can make a contro-
f John V. 39. s Psal. cxix. 72. Job xxiii. 12. ^ Psal. i. 2.
» 2 Tim. Hi. 1 5. ^ Acts xx. 32. ' Deut. vi. 7. xi. 1 8, 19.
» Josh. xxiv. 15.
NOW OR NEVER. 5^
versy of in all this ? Is there any thing that Protestants are
not agreed of?
8. Another part of your work is, that you guard your
tongues, and take not the name of God in vain, and speak
no reproaches or slanders against your brethren ; and that
no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouths, but
that which is good to the use of edifying, and that it may
minister grace unto the hearers ^, and that fornication, un-
cleanness, and covetousness be not once named among you,
as become th saints ; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking,
nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of
thanks °. And is there any thing of doubt or controversy
in this ?
9. Another part of the work which we persuade you to,
is to pray continually p, and not to wax faint '^ ; to be fer-
vent and importunate with God, as those that know the
greatness of their necessity *". That you pray with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit % and in every thing by prayer
and supplication to make known your requests to God *.
That you pray for kings and all in authority, that we lead a
quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty".
And is there any thing in all this that any Christian can
deny?
10. Lastly, the work we call you to, is, to love your
neighbours as yourselves, and to do to others as you would
have them (arbitrio sano) do to you. To scorn, deride, mo-
lest, imprison, slander, or hurt no man, till you would be so
used yourselves on the like occasion. To rejoice in other
men's profit and reputation as your own. To envy none, to
hate no man, to wrong none in their persons,estates,or names.
To preserve the chastity, honour, and estate of your neigh-
bour as your own. To love your enemies, and forgive them
that wrong you, and pray for them that hate, and hurt, and
persecute you. This is your work. And is there any thing
of faction, schism, or controversy in this ? No : you shall
shortly be convinced, that the differences and controversies
of believers, and the many opinions about religion, were a
n Eph. iv. 29. " Epli. v. 3, 4. p 1 Thesa. v. 17.
<i Luke xviii. 1. "■ Luke xviii. 6, 7. James ▼. 15. • Eph.vi. 18.
» Phil, iv.6 " 1 Tina.H. 1, 2.
564 NOW OR NEVER.
wretched, iiypocritical pretence for your neglect and con-
tempt of the substance of religion, about which there was
no difference, but all parties were agreed in the confession
of the truth, however hypocrites would not live according
to their own professions.
But perhaps you will say, that there is such difference in
the manner yet among them that agree in the principles and
the matter, that you know not which way God is to be wor-
shipped.
I answer, 1 . Do you practise as aforesaid, according to
the principles and matter agreed on, or not? If you do not,
it is but gross hypocrisy to pretend disagreements in the
manner, as an excuse for your contempt or omission of the
matter, which all agree in. Forsooth, your families shall be
prayerless, and you will make a jest of serious prayer, be-
cause some pray on a book, and some without, and some
that are wisest, think that either way is lawful. Will God
be deceived by such silly reasonings as these ?
2. But this shall not hide the nakedness of your impiety.
Will you also, in the manner of your obedience, but go so
far as all Christians are agreed in ? I will briefly then give
you some particular instances.
1. The work of God must be done with reverence, in his
fear; not like the common works of men, with a common,
careless frame of mind. God will be " sanctified of all that
draw near him"." He will be served as God, and not as
man. He will not be prayed to with a regardless mind, as
those do that can divide their tongues from their hearts, and
say over some customary words, while they think of some-
thing else. It is a dreadful thing for dust to speak to God
Almighty ; and a dangerous thing to speak to him as slight-
ly and regardlessly, as if we were talking to one of our com-
panions, it beseemeth a believer to have more of the fear
of God upon his heart, in his ordinary converse in the world,
than hypocrites and formalists have in their most solemn
prayers. Knowest thou the difference between God and
man? Put then such a difference between God and man
in thy addresses as his Majesty requireth. And see also
that thy family compose themselves to a reverent behaviour
^ Lev. X. 3.
NOW OR NEVER. 566
when they join with thee in the worship of God, What
have you to say now against this reverent manner of beha-
viour? Is there any thing controvertible in this?
2. It is also requisite that you be serious and sober in
all the service you perform to God. Do it not ludicrously,
and with half a heart. Be as much more fervent and seri-
ous in seeking God and your salvation, than you are in seek-
ing worldly things, as God and your salvation is better than
any thing in the world. Or if that be beyond your reach
(though else there is reason for it), at least let the greatest
things have the greatest power upon your hearts. You can-
not pray more fervently for heaven than heaven deserveth.
O let but the excellency and greatness of your work appear
in the serious manner of your performance. I hope you can-
not say that this is any point of controversy, unless it be a
controversy whether a man should be a hypocrite, or be se-
rious in the religion which he doth profess.
3. It is requisite that your service of God be performed
understandingly y. God delighteth not in the blind devo-
tion of men that know not what they do. Prayers not un-
derstood are indeed no prayers ; for no man's desire goeth
further than his knowledge. And he expresseth not his de-
sires that knoweth not what he expresseth himself. Nor
can he expect the concurrence of another man's desires, that
speaketh what another understandeth not. The word that is
not understood cannot sink into the heart and sanctify it ;
or if it be not well and soundly understood, it is easily stole
away by the tempter^. If understanding be necessary in
our common conversations, much more in our holy addresses
to the Almighty*. ** A man of understanding is of an ex-
cellent spirit ; but God hath no pleasure in fools or in their
sacrifices'';" nor is pleased with a parrot-like lip-service
which is not understood. He saith in detestation of the
hypocrites, " This people draweth nigh unto me with their
mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is
far from me*^." I hope then when we call you to serve God
in judgment and with understanding, we call you to nothing
that a Christian should make question of.
y Psal. xlrii. 7. 1 Cor. xiv. 15. ' Matt. xHi. 19. tS.
» Pro»'. xvii. 27. '' Etcle^. v. 1.4. « Mntt. xv. 8, 9.
566 NOW OK NEVER.
4. " God is a Spirit, and they that serve him must
serve him in spirit and in truth '^.^ " The Father seek eth
such to worship him */' He calleth for the heart ; he look-
eth for the inward desires of the soul ; he converseth with
minds that are abstracted from vanity, and are seriously ta-
ken up in attending him, and are intent upon the work they
do. The carcase of a prayer separated from the life of it,
stinketh before" the Holy God. As he will be loved, so will
he be served, " with all the heart, and soul, and might/'
And do we call you then to any thing that is doubtful, when
we call you to the spiritual worshipping of God ?
5. Yet we maintain that the body hath its part in the ser-
vice of God as well as the soul ; and the body must express
the inward reverence and devotion of the soul ; though not
in a way of hypocritical ostentation, yet in a way of serious
adoration. The bowing of the knee, the uncovering of the
head, and reverent deportment, and whatsoever nature, or
common use, and holy institution hath made an expression
of holy affections, and a decent and grave behaviour of our-
selves, should be carefully observed in the presence of the
Most High, and the holy things of God more reverently to
be respected than the presence of any mortal man. And
the rather, because that a grave, and reverent, and holy man-
ner of deportment in God's worship, reflecteth upon the
heart, and helpeth us in our inward and spiritual devotion ;
and it helpeth the beholders, and awakeneth them to reve-
rent thoughts of God and holy things, which a regardless
and common manner of deportment would extinguish. And
it is no dishonour to reverent behaviour, that it is the use of
hypocrites, but rather an honour to it ; for it is something
that is good that the hypocrite useth for the cloak of his se-
cret emptiness or evil. If there were nothing good in reve-
rent behaviour before God, it would not serve the hypo-
crite's turn. As it is a commendation to long prayer, that
the Pharisees made it their pretence for the devouring of
widows' houses. And those that call them hypocrites, that
are much in holy exercises and speeches, should consider
that if holy exercises and speeches were not good, they were
not fit for the hypocrite's design ; evil will not be a fit cloak
'' John iv. 21. e Ver. 'iS.
NDW OR NEVER. 567
for evil ; that which the hypocrite thinks necessary to the
covering of his sin, we must think more necessary to the
cure of our sin and the saving of our souls. The Way
to avoid hypocrisy, is not by running into impiety and pro-
faneness ; we must do more than the hypocrite, and not less,
else he will rise up in judgment against you and condemn
you, if he would do more to seem good, than you would do to
be good, and to please your Maker : if a Pharisee will pray lon-
ger to colour his oppression, than you will to attain salvation.
The mischief of hypocrisy is, that the soul of religion is want-
ing, while the corpse is present. And will you cast away both
soul and body, both inside and outside, in opposition to hy-
pocrisy ? If others do seem to love God when they do not,
will you therefore not so much as seem to doit? So here
about reverence in the service of God ; the hypocrite should
not exceed the sincere in any thing that is truly good. This
is the manner of God's service that I persuade you to, and
to no other. And is there any thing of controversy in this?
Prefer but the spiritual part, and know but what that mean-
eth, " I will have mercy and not sacrifice," that so you may
not condemn the innocent, and you shall never say that we
will be more backward than you to decency, and reverent
behaviour in God's service.
6. God will be served in Purity and Holiness, with cleans-
ed hearts and hands, and not with such as remain defiled
with the guilt of any wilful sin. He abhorreth the sacrifice
of the wicked and disobedient. '* He that turneth away his
ear from hearing the law, his prayers are abominable ^"
" To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto
me? saith the Lord, (to oppressing, wicked men). When
you come to appear before me, who hath required this at
your hands, to tread my courts ? Bring no more vain obla-
tions : incense is an abomination to me ; the new moons and
sabbaths, the calling of assemblies I cannot away with : it
is iniquity, even the solemn meeting, &c. And when you
spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you ;
yea, when you make many prayers I will not hear. Your
hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put
away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease
f Prov. xxviii. 9. xv. 8. xxi. 27, Isa. i. 13.' Eccles. t. 1— i.
568 NOW OR NEVER.
to do evil ; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the op-
pressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come
now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord s."
To play the glutton, or drunkard, or filthy fornicator in
the day-time, and then to come to God at night, as if it were
to make him amends by an hypocritical prayer; to blas-
pheme God*s name, and oppose his rule, yea, oppose his
kingdom and government in yourselves and others, and to
do your own will, and hate and scorn them that do his will,
and study his will that they may do it, and then to pray
that God's name may be hallowed, his kingdom come, and
his will be done, is an abusing God, and not serving or
pleasing him. Live according to your prayers, and let your
lives shew as well as your words what it is that you desire.
This is the service of God that we call you to : and can you
say that there is any thing controvertible in all this ? Are
there any men of any party among Christians, or sober infi-
dels that dare contradict it?
7. God will be served entirely and universally, in all his
commands ; and with all your faculties ; in works of Piety,
Justice and Charity, which must never be separated. You
must not pretend your charity against your duties of piety ;
for God is to be preferred in your estimation, love and ser-
vice ; and all that is done for man must be done for his sake.
You must not set up duties of Piety, against duties of Jus-
tice, Charity and Sobriety : it is not true Piety that will not
bring forth these. God must be loved above all, and our
neighbour as ourselves ; and these two sorts of love are in-
separable. Do all the good you can to all while you have
opportunity ; especially to them of the household of faith '".
What good you would hear of in the day of your accounts^
that do now, speedily, diligently, and sincerely, according
to your power. Say not, * 1 may come to want myself,' but
*' cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after
many days ; give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for
thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth * ;" and
whether all may not quickly be taken from thee ; and then
thou wilt wish thou hadst done good with it while thou hadst
it, and lent it to the Lord, and trusted him with thy remain-
8 Isa. i, H— la. '• Gal. vi. 10. « Kccles. xi. I. 2.
NOW OR NEVER. 569
der, who entrusted thee with his blessings : and hadst made
thee friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when
all fail they might receive thee into the everlasting habita-
tions. Drop not now and then a scant and grudging alms,
as if thou wert a loser by it, and God must be beholden to
thee ; but believe, that the greatest gain is to thyself, and
look after such bargains, and do good as readily, and gladly,
and liberally, as one that verily expecteth a full reward in
heaven. This is part of the service of God that we exhort
you to, even to visit, and relieve, and love Christ in his mem-
bers and brethren''. And is there any thing of doubt or
controversy in all this?
8. Moreover, God will be served with love, and willing-
ness, and delight : it is the most gainful, honourable, and
pleasant work in the world, which he hath appointed you,
and not a toilsome task or slavery ; and therefore it is not a
melancholy, pining, troublesome course of life that we per-
suade you to, under the name of godliness ; but it is to re-
joice in the Lord, and to live in the joyful expectations of
eternal life, and in the sense and assurance of the love of
God. If you could shew us any probability of a more plea-
sant and joyful life on earth, than that which serious holi-
ness doth afford, I should be glad with all my heart to hear-
ken to you. I am ready to tell you what is the ground of
our comforts, which faith revealeth : if you will come, and
soberly debate the case, and shew us the matter and ground
of your comforts, which you have or hope for in any other
way ; if yours prove greater, and better, and surer than the
joys of faith, we will hearken to you, and be of your mind
and side.
The matter of the joys of a believer is that all his sins
are pardoned ; that God is reconciled to him in Christ ;
that he hath the promise of God, that all things, even the
greatest sufferings, shall work together for his good ; that
he is always in the love, and care, and hands of God ; that
he hath leave to draw near him by holy prayer, and open his
heart to him in all his straits and wants ; that he may solace
himself in his praise and thanksgiving, and in other parts of
holy worship; that he may read and hear his holy word, the
^ Matt. XXV.
670 NOW OR NEVER.
sure discovery of the will of God, and revelation of the things
unseen, and the charter of his inheritance ; that he may ex-
ercise his soul in the serious believing thoughts of the love
of God, revealed in the wonderful work of our redemption,
and of the person, and office, and grace of Jesus Christ our
Redeemer ; and that he may love that God that hath so won-
derfully loved him ; that he hath the Spirit of God to quick-
en and actuate his soul, to supply his spiritual defects, and
kill his sins, and help him to believe, to love, to rejoice, to
pray. That this Spirit is God's seal upon him, and th6 ear-
nest of everlasting life ; that death shall not kill his hopes,
nor end his happiness, but that his felicity and fullest joy
beginneth, when that of worldlings hath an end, and their
endless misery begins ; that he is delivered from everlasting
torment by the redemption of Christ, and the sanctification
of the Spirit; that angels will attend his departing soul in-
to the presence of his Father ; that he shall be with his glo-
rified Redeemer and behold his glory ; that his body shall
be raised to everlasting life ; that he shall be justified by
Christ from all the accusations of the devil, and all the slan-
ders of the malicious world ; that he shall live with God in
endless glory, and see and enjoy the glory of his Creator,
and shall never more be troubled with enemies, with sin or
sorrow, but among his holy ones shall perfectly and most
joyfully love and praise the Lord for ever.
These are the matter of a believer's joy : these, purcha-
sed by Christ, revealed in his word, sealed by his miracles,
his blood, his sacraments, and his Spirit, are our comfort.
This is the religion, the labour that we invite you to : it is
not to despair, nor to some dry, unprofitable toil, nor to self-
troubling, grieving, miserable melancholy, nor to costly sa-
crifices, or idle ceremonies, or irrational service, such as the
heathens offered to their idols ; it is not to cast away all
mirth and comfort, and to turn unsociable, and morose, and
sour; but it is to the greatest joys that the world alloweth,
and nature is here capable of, and reason can discern and
own : it is to begin a truly merry, sociable life : it is to fly
from fear and sorrow, in flying from sin and hell, and from
the consuming wrath of God : it is to the foretastes of ever-
lasting joys, and to the beginnings of eternal life. This is
NOW OR NKVKR. 571
the labour, the religion which we would have you follow
with all your might.
If you have better things tu seek, and follow, and find,
let us see them, that we may be as wise as you. If you have
not, for your souls' sake, make not choice of vanity, which
will deceive you in the day of your necessity.
But you must not think to make us believe that a great
house, or a horse, or a whore, or a feast, or a flatterer, or
fine clothes, or any childish toys, or brutish filthiness, are
more comfortable things than Christ, and everlasting life ;
or that it is sweeter and better to love a harlot, or lands, or
money, than to love God, and Grace, and Glory ; nor that
any thing that will go no further than the grave with you,
is as good as that which will endure to eternity ; nor that
any pleasure which a dog or swine hath, is equal to the de-
lights of the angels of heaven. If you would have us of your
mind, you must not be of this mind, nor persuade us to such
horrible things as these. But we profess to you and all the
world that we are not so in love with sorrows or sourness,
nor so fallen out with joy and pleasure, as to choose a life of
miserable sadness, or refuse a life of true delight. If we
could hear from any man, or find by the most diligent inqui-
ry, that there is a more full, and sweet, and rational, and sa-
tisfactory, and durable delight to be had in any other way
than that of serious faith and holiness, which Christ in
Scripture hath revealed to us, we are like enough to hearken
after it.
But can the distracted, sensual world believe that it is
sweeter and happier to ruffle it out in fleshly gallantry and
sport, and to rage against the godly for awhile till the ven-
geance of God lay hold upon them, and give them their re-
ward, than to live in the love of God, and wait in patience
for the performance of God's promise of everlasting joy ? O
what a thing is fleshly passion, and raging sensuality, and
blind unbelief! The Lord have mercy upon deluded sin-
ners ! The devil's business is to turn the world into a Bed-
lam, and alas, how strangely hath he prevailed ! That so
many men can take their greatest misery for their happiness,
and the only happiness for an intolerable life ! Yea, and be
so angry with all that are not of their mind, and will not set
572 NOW OR NEVriR.
as much by filth and foolery, and as little by God and glory
as they ! Like the nobleman that was lunatic, or mad by
fits, and whenever he was mad, he would swear all were mad
that said not as he said, and would make all his servants be
sent to Bedlam that would not imitate him, and there they
must lie as madmen till their lord was recovered from his
madness. So are God*s servants used and talked of in the
world, as if they were besides themselves, as long as the
world is uncured of its madness. As the man is, so is his
judgment, and such is his relish, and desire, and delight.
When I was a child, I had far more desire to fill my pin-box,
than now I have to fill my purse, and accounted it a greater
treasure, and had much more delight and contentment in it.
And, alas, we may remember since we were strangers to the
relish of heavenly things, that we found more pleasure in
that of which we are now ashamed, than we did in the most
high and excellent things. Let us therefore pity and pray
for those that are distempered with the same disease.
I have been longer on this than I thought to have been,
because men think that we call them from all mirth, and joy,
and pleasure, to a sour, heavy, melancholy life, when we call
them to a serious diligence for their salvation. As if levity
and folly were the only friends to pleasure, and it were only
to be found in childish, worthless, transitory things. And
as if the greatest everlasting happiness were no matter of
true delight ; nor seriousness, nor diligence, a friend to joy.
9. Moreover, as to the manner ; God will be served with
absolute self-resignation, without exceptions, limitations or
reserves : not with the leavings of the flesh, nor with a pro-
viso that you may not suffer by your religion, or be poor, or
despised, or abused by the world : but with self-denial you
must lay down all the flesh's interest at his feet ; and you
must take up your cross, and follow a suffering Christ to
glory. You must serve him as those that are wholly his,
and not your own, and have nothing but what is his, and
therefore nothing to be excepted, reserved, or saved from
him ; but must be content that you and all your interest be
in his hands, and saved by him, if saved at all. I know
these terms seem hard to flesh and blood, (and should hea-
ven be the crown and reward to them that have undergone
NOW OK NEVER. 573
no trial for it?) But here is nothing but what is past all
controversy, and all Christians do confess is the word of
Christ.
10. Lastly, God will be served resolvedly and constant-
ly : if you will reign, you must conquer and endure to the
end. Opposition you must expect; and overcome it, if you
would not be overcome. It is not good beginnings that will
serve turn, unless you also persevere, and fight out the good
light of faith, and finish your course, and patiently wait out
the last breath, for the crown of righteousness, which the
righteous Judge will give the conquerors, when the unbeliev-
ing world shall say of all their delight and hope, * It is-past
and gone, we shall never see or taste it more, but must now
taste of that endless wrath of God which we were treasuring
up, when we should have worked out our salvation/
Well sirs, I have all this while been describing to you,
both as to the Principles, the Matter and the Manner, what
that religion, and service of God is, in which you must la-
bour with all your might ; that you may see that it is no
factious or private opinions or practices that we call you to
do ; and that your consciences may no longer be deluded
with the pretences of men's different opinions in religion ;
and that the names of Prelatical, Presbyterian, Puritan, Pa-
pist, or any other sounding in your ears, may not so dis-
tract or doat you, as to make you forget the name of Chris-
tian, which you have all undertaken, nor what the Christian
religion is. You see now that it is nothing (no, not a syl-
lable or tittle) which all sober Christians are not agreed in,
that we persuade you to do as the work of your religion ;
and therefore I tell you again here, before that God that
shall be your Judge, and that conscience that shall be as a
thousand witnesses, that if you will go on in ungodly, world-
ly lives, and refuse the serious diligence of Christians in
this religion which yourselves profess, it shall be so far from
being any excuse or ease to you, that there were hypocrites,
or heretics, or schismatics, or different opinions in religion
in the world, that this very thing shall aggravate your sin
and condemnation, that all these hypocrites, schismatics, or
different parties in the church, did agree in the confession of
all these things, and yet for all that you would not practise
574 NOW OK NEVEl<.
them; no, nor practise what yourselves confessed: all these
parties or sects shall rise up against the sensual and profane,
ungodly sinner, and say, ' Though we are ignorant or doubt-
ful of many other things, yet we are all agreed in these ; we
gave our concurrent testimony of them ; we tempted no man
to doubt of these, or to deny them.' If you will err more
than an hypocrite or a schismatic, and be far worse than
those that are such, or you account such, and think to ex-
cuse it, because they erred in lesser things, it is as if the
devil should excuse his sin, by saying, * Lord, thy saints did
none of them love thee as they should, and hypocrites did
but seem to love thee, and therefore I thought I might hate
thee and set against thy ways/
* But (saith the ungodly sensualist) 1 will never believe
that God delighteth in long and earnest prayers ; or that he
is moved by the passions or the words of men ; and there-
fore I take this but for babbling, which you call the serious
diligence of believers, in their serving God/
To this impious objection, I return these several answers.
1. Suppose this were true as you imagine, what is this to
you that serve God no way at all with any serious diligence ?
that live in sensuality, and wilful disobedience to his laws,
and do more for your bodies than for your souls, and for
temporal things than for eternal ?
2. Who do you think is most like to understand God's
mind, and what is pleasing to him? Himself or you? Is
any thing more plainly commanded in God's word, than
praying with frequency, fervency and importunity ''? And
will you tell God that he hath but dissembled with you, and
told you that he is pleased with that which is not pleasing
to him ?
3. And what is the reason of your unbelief? Forsooth,
because God is not moved with human words or passions ?
I grant he is not. But what of that ? Hath prayer no other
use but to move God ? It is enough, 1 . That it moveth us, and
fitteth us to receive his mercies. 2. And that God hath
made it necessary to the effect, and a means or condition
without which he will not give the blessing. Do you think
(if you judge but by natural reason) that a person is as fit for
^ Luke xviii. I — 7. 1 Thcss, v. 17. James v. 16.
NOW OR NEVER. 575
a mercy that knoweth not the want or worth of it, and would
not be thankful for it if he had it, as one that valueth it,
and is disposed to thankfulness and improvement? And do
not you know that holy prayer is nothing but the actuating
of holy desires, and the exercise of all those graces which
are suited to the due estimation and improvement of the
mercy ? And is it not the way when we would draw the
boat to the bank, to lay hold of the bank and pull, as if we
would draw it to the boat ? If God be not moved and drawn
to us, it is enough that we are moved and drawn to God :
and withal that God may give us his own blessings, to whom
and upon what terms he please, and that he hath assured us
he will give them but to those that value, desire, and seek
them, and that with faith, and fervency, and importunity.
And yet I may add, that God is so far above us, as^that
his incomprehensible essence, and blessed nature is very lit-
tle known to us ; and therefore though we know and confess
that he hath no human passions nor imperfections, yet if he
assume to himself the title of such a thing as love, desire,
joy or wrath, we must in reason believe, that though these
are not in God as they are in man with any imperfection ;
yet there is something in God that cannot more fitly be re-
presented to man, nor be understood by man, than by the
images of such expressions as God himself is pleased to use.
3. But I beseech you hearken to nature itself. Doth it
not teach all rational creatures in necessity to pray to God ?
A storm will teach the profanest seaman to pray, and that
with continuance and fervency. The mariners could say to
Jonah in their danger, " What meanest thou, O sleeper ?
arise, call upon thy God ; if so be, that God will think up-
on us, that we perish not." And they themselves *' cried
every man unto his God K*' When thou comest to die, and
seest there is no more delay, nor any more hope from the
pleasures of sin, or from any of thy old companions or old
deceits, then tell me whether nature teach thee not to cry,
and cry mightily for pardon, and mercy, and help to God i
Then we shall hear thee crying, ' O mercy, mercy. Lord, up-
on a miserable sinner,' though now thou wilt not believe
that prayer doth any good.
' Jon. i. 5, 6.
576 NOW OR NEVER.
I will say no more to thee of this ; if nature be not con-
quered, and grace have not forsaken thee, thou wilt be taught
at home to answer this objection. Sure thou canst not easily
so far conquer reason, as to believe that there is no God,
And if thou believe that there is a God, thou canst not be-
lieve that he is not to be worshipped, and that with the
greatest seriousness and diligence. Nor that he is not the
giver of all that thou dost want. Or that the Governor of
the world regardeth not the dispositions and actions of
his subjects, but will equally reward the good and bad, and
give to all alike, and have no respect to men's preparations
for his reward. What heathen that believeth that there is a
God, doth not believe that prayer to him is a necessary part
of his worship ?
Object. * But is not your strict observation of the Lord's
day, a controverted thing?'
Answ. In this also I will strip thee of this excuse. 1.
Spend the Lord's day but according to the common princi-
ples of Christianity and reason, and it shall suffice : spend
it but as one that loveth God better than any thing in the
world, and that taketh more pleasure in his service than in
sin and vanity : spend it but as the necessities of thy own
soul, and thy families require ; as one that is glad of so ho-
nourable, gainful and delightful an employment, as the pub-
lic and private worshipping of God, and the serious contem-
plation of the life to come : as one that knoweth the need
and benefit of having stated times for the service of God :
and what would come of all religion, if the time were left to
each one's will ? Spend it as men that put a just difference
between the common business of this world, and things that
concern your endless state ; and that have considered the
proportion of one day in seven, in reference to this different
consequence of the work : spend it as men that have lost as
much time as you have done, and have need to make the
best of the little that is left; and that are behindhand so
far in the matters of your salvation, and have need to work
with all your might, and should be more glad of the helps
of such a day, than of thousands of gold and silver : spend
it as those that believe that we owe God as much service as
the Jews did : spend it as the ancient Christians spent it.
NOW OR NEVER. 577
that were wont to stay together almost from morning till
night in public worship and communion : spend it as the
king's declaration requireth, which saith, ' Our purpose and
resolution is, and shall be, to take care that the Lord's day
be applied to holy exercises, without unnecessary divertise-
ments.'
2. And if yet there be any doubt in this, I refer you to
the judgment of the church of England, expressed in the
Homily of the Time and Place of Prayer. And for the time,
the name, the antiquity, and authority, and the work itself,
I desire you but to receive what is there delivered, not by
any factious persons, but by the church. Do this, and we
are agreed and satisfied. And I make it my request to the
reader, to peruse both parts of that Homily, that he may
know how far the church of England is from the loose con-
ceits of the enemies of godliness ; and if also you will read
over the Homilies against the Peril of Idolatry, you will the
more fully know the judgment of the church about the man-
ner of God's worship. (Indeed the whole book is such as
the people should be acquainted with.)
I have done my part to open to you the Necessity of
SERIOUS DILIGENCE, and to call up the sluggish souls
of sinners to mind the work of their salvation, and to do it
SPEEDILY, and with all their MIGHT ; I must now leave
the success to God and you. What use you will make of it,
and what you will be and do for the time to come, is a mat-
ter that more concerneth yourselves than me. If long speak-
ing, or multitude of words, were the way to prevail with you,
I should willingly speak here while my strength would en-
dure, and lengthen out my exhortations yet sevenfold. But
that is not the way : a little wearieth you : you love long
feasts, and long visits, and plays, and sports, much better
than long sermons, or books, or prayers. But it is no small
grief to us, to leave you in a case of such importance, with-
out some considerable hopes of your deliverance.
Sirs, the matter is now laid before you, and much in
your own hands : it will not be so long ! What will you
now do? Have I convinced you now, that God and your
VOL. VII. p P
578 NOW OR NEVER.
salvation are to be sought with all your might i If I have
not, it is not for want of evidence in what is said, but for
want of willingness in yourselves to know the truth : I have
proved to you that it is a matter out of controversy, unless
your lusts, and passions, and carnal interest will make a
controversy of it. I beseech you tell me if you be of any
religion at all, why are you not strict, and serious, and dili-
gent, and mortified, and heavenly in that religion that you
are of ? Sure, you will not so far shame your own religion,
whatever it be, as to say that your religion is not for morti-
fication, holiness, heavenliness, self-denial, or that your re-
ligion alloweth you to be ambitious, covetous, gluttonous,
drunken ; to curse, and swear, and whore, and rail, and op-
press the innocent : it is not religion, but diabolical, serpen-
tine malignity that is for any of this.
It is wonderful to think, that learned men, and gentle-
men, and men that pretend to reason and ingenuity, can
quietly betray their souls to the devil upon such silly
grounds, and do the evil that they have no more to say for,
and neglect that duty that they have no more to say against,
when they know they must do it NOW or NEVER ! That
while they confess that there is a God, and a life to come, a
heaven and a hell, and that this life is purposely given us
for preparation for eternity ; while they confess that God is
most wise, and holy, and good, and just, and that sin is the
greatest evil, and that the word of God is true, they can yet
make shift to quiet themselves in an unholy, sensual, care-
less life : and that while they honour the apostles and mar-
tyrs, and saints that are dead and gone, they hate their suc-
cessors and imitators, and the lives that they lived, and are
inclined to make more martyrs by their malicious cruelty.
Alas, all this comes from the want of a sound belief of
the things which they never saw ; and the distance of those
things, and the power of passion, and sensual objects and
inclinations that hurry them away after present vanities,
conquer reason, and rob them of their humanity ; and by the
noise of the company of sensual sinners, that harden and
deafen one another, and by the just judgment of God forsa-
king those that would not know him, and leaving them to
NOW OR NEVER. 570
the blindness and hardness of their hearts. But is there no
remedy ! O Thou, the Fountain of mercy and relief, vouch-
safe these sinners a remedy ! O Thou, the Saviour of lost
mankind, have mercy upon those sinners in the depth of
their security, presumption and misery ! O Thou, the nomi-
nator and Sanctifierofsouls, apply the remedy so dearly pur-
chased ! We are constrained oft to fear lest it be much long
of us, that should more seriously preach the awakening truths
of God unto men's hearts. And verily our consciences can-
not but accuse us, that when we arc most lively and serious,
alas, we seem but almost to trifle, considering on what a
message we come, and of what transcendent things we
speak. But satan hath got his advantage upon our hearts,
that should be instrumental to kindle theirs, as well as on
theirs that should receive the truth. O that we could thirst
more after their salvation ! O that we could pray harder for
it ; and entreat them more earnestly ; as those that were
loath to take a denial from God or man. I must confess to
you all with shame and sorrow, that I am even amazed to
think of the hardness of my own heart that melteth no more
in compassion to the miserable, and is no more earnest and
importunate with sinners, when I am upon such a subject as
this ; and am telling them that it must be NOW or NEVER ;
and when the messenger of death within, and the fame of
men*s displeasure from without, doth tell me how likely it is
that my time shall be but short, and that if I will say any
thing that may reach the hearts of sinners, for aught I know,
it must be NOW or NEVER. O what an obstinate, what
a lamentable disease is this insensibility and hardness of
heart! If I were sure this were the last sermon that ever I
should preach, I find now my heart would shew its sluggish-
ness, and rob poor souls of the serious fervour which is suit^
able to the subject and their case, and needful to the desired
success.
But yet, poor sleepy sinners, hear us : though we speak
not to you as men would do, that had seen heaven and hell,
and were themselves in a perfectly awakened frame, yet
hear us while we s-peak to you the words of truth, with some
seriousness and compassionate desire of your salvation. O
680 NOW OR NEVER.
look up to your God ! Look out unto eternity : look in-
wardly upon your souls : look wisely upon your short and
hasty time : and then bethink you how the little remnant of
your time should be employed ; and what it is that most
concerneth you to dispatch and secure before you die. Now
you have sermons, and books, and warnings. It will not be
so long. Preachers must have done. God threateneth
them, and death threateneth them, and men threaten them,
and it is you, it is you that are most severely threatened,
and that are called on by God's warnings. " If any man
have an ear to hear, let him hear." Now you have abund-
ance of private helps, you have abundance of understand-
ing, gracious companions ; you have the Lord's days to
spend in holy exercises, for the edification and solace of
your souls ; you have choice of sound and serious books j
and blessed be God, you have the protection of a Christian
and a Protestant king and magistracy. O what invaluable
mercies are all these ! O know your time, and use these
with industry ; and improve this harvest for your souls !
For it will not be thus always. It must be NOW or
NEVER.
You have yet time and leave to pray and cry to God in
hope. Yet if you have hearts and tongues, he hath ail
hearing ear. The Spirit of grace is ready to assist you. It
will not be thus always. The time is coming when the
loudest cries will do no good. O pray, pray> pray,
poor, needy, miserable sinners ; for it must be NOW ot
NEVER.
You have yet health and strength, and bodies fit to serve
your souls. It will not be so always. Languishing and
pains, and death are coming. O use your health and
strength for God ; for it must be NOW or NEVER.
Yet there are some stirrings of conviction in your con-
sciences. You find that all is not well with you ; and you
have some thoughts or purposes to repent and be new crea-
tures. There is some hope in this, that yet God hath not
quite forsaken you. O trifle not, and stifle not the convic-
tions of your consciences, but hearken to the witness of
God within you. It must be NOW or NEVER.
NOW OR NEVER. 581
Would you not be loath to be left to the despairing case
of many poor distressed souls, that cry out, ' O it is now too
late ! I fear my day of grace is past ; God will not hear me
now if I should call upon him ; he hath forsaken me, and
given me over to myself. It is too late to repent, too late to
pray, too late to think of a new life ; all is too late/ This
case is sad. But yet many of these are in a safer and
better case thun they imagine, and are but frightened by
the tempter, and it is not too late, while they cry out, * It is
too late.* But if you are left to cry in hell, * It is too late,'
alas, how long, and how doleful a cry and lamentation will
it be!
O consider, poor sinner, that God knoweth the time and
season of thy mercies. He giveth the spring and harvest in
their season, and all his mercies in their seasons, and wilt
thou not know thy time and season, for love and duty, and
thanks to him?
Consider that God who hath commanded thee thy work,
hath also appointed thee thy time. And this is his appoint-
ed time. To-day, therefore, hearken to his voice, and see
that thou harden not thy heart. He that bids thee " repent
and work out thy salvation with fear and trembling," doth
also bid thee do it now. Obey him in the time, if thou wilt
be indeed obedient. He bestunderstandeth the fittest time.
One would think to men that have lost so much already,
and loitered so long, and are so lamentably behindhand, and
stand so near the bar of God, and their everlasting state,
there should be no need to say any more, to persuade them
to be up and doing. I shall add but this : you are never
like to have a better time. Take this, or the work will grow
more difficult, more doubtful ; if through the just judgment
of God, it become not desperate. If all this will not serve,
but still you will loiter till time be gone, what can your poor
friends do but lament your misery ! The Lord knows, if we
knew what words, what pains, what cost would tend to your
awakening, and conversion, and salvation, we should be glad
to submit to it ; and we hope we should not think our la-
bours, or liberties, or our lives too dear to promote so bless-
ed, and so necessary a work But if, when all is done, that
582 NOW OR NEVER.
we can do, you will leave us nothing but our tears and
moans for self-destroyers, the sin is yours, and the suffering
shall be yours. If I can do no more, I shall leave this upon
record, that we took our time to tell you home, that SERI-
OUS DILIGENCE is necessary to your salvation ; and that
" God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him "\"
and that this was your day, your only day. It must be
NOW or NEVER.
« Heb. xi. 6.
END OF THE SEVENTH VOLUME.
n. F.DWAKD8, CRANI COV UT,. FLElrT STREET, I>ONOON.
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