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Thus you see who it is that calls you, that should move you to hear this call, and turn: so consider also, by what instruments, how often, and how earnestly he doth it.

all the planets, and orbs of heaven, and they | with me, and he shall make peace with me.' It obey he commands the sea to ebb and flow, is an unequal combat for the briars and stubble and the whole creation to keep its course, and to make war with the fire. they all 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 sinner to turn, he will not obey him: he only thinks himself wiser than God, 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 drunkard out of an ale-house he will not obey; or if he call a worldly, fleshly sinner to deny himself, mortify the flesh, and set his heart on a better inheritance, he will not obey.

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If thou hadst any love in thee, thou wouldst know the voice, and say, O this is my Father's call! How can I find in my heart to disobey? For the sheep of Christ know and hear his voice, and they follow him, and he giveth them eternal life.' 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? For saith the prophet, 'The lion hath roared, who will not fear?' God is not a man, that thou shouldst trifle 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, 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 disobeyest 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 among gunpowder than with the fire of his burning wrath. For our God is a consuming fire.' O how unmeet a match art thou for God; it is a fearful thing to fall into his hands.' 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 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

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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?

It is the voice of every sermon thou hearest; for what else is the scope of all, but to call, persuade, and intreat thee to turn.

It is the voice of many a motion of the Spirit, that secretly speaks over these words again, and urges thee to turn.

It is likely sometimes, it is the voice of thy own conscience. Art thou not sometimes convinced, that all is not well with thee; doth not thy conscience tell thee, that thou must be a new man, take a new course, and often call upon thee to return?

It is the voice of the gracious examples of the godly. When thou seest them live an heavenly life, and fly from the sin which is thy delight, this really calls upon thee to turn.

It is the voice of all the works of God. For they also are God's books that teach thee this lesson, by showing thee his greatness, wisdom, and goodness, and calling thee to observe them, and admire the Creator. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy work; day unto day uttereth speech, night unto night showeth knowledge:' every time the sun rises upon thee, it really calls 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? Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. The night is spent, the day is at hand. It is now high time to awake out of sleep, let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.' This text was the means of Augustine's conversion.

It is the voice of every mercy thou dost pos-
If thou couldst but hear, and understand

sess.

Why hast thou an understanding soul, but to learn and know his will, and do it? Why hast thou an heart within thee that can love, fear and desire, but that thou shouldest fear him, love him, and desire after him?

Yea, thine own engagements by promise to the Lord, call upon thee to turn and serve him. Thou hast bound thyself to him by a baptismal coven

devil; this thou hast confirmed by the profession of Christianity, and renewed it at sacraments, and in times of affliction: wilt thou promise and vow, but never perform, and turn to God?

Lay all these together now, and see what should be the issue. The holy scriptures call upon thee to turn: the ministers of Christ call upon thee to turn: the Spirit, thy conscience,

cry turn: the whole world and all the creatures therein that are presented to thy consideration, cry turn: the patient forbearance of God, all the mercies which thou receivest, the rod of God's chastisement cry 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?

them, they all cry out unto thee, Turn: why | son, but to rule thy flesh, and serve thy Lord? 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, to serve him? Why do all the creatures serve thee with their labours, and their lives, but that thou mightest serve the Lord of them and thee? Why doth he give thee time, health, and strength, but to serve him? Why hast thou meat, drink and clothes, but for his service?ant, and renounced the world, the flesh, and the Hast thou any thing which thou hast not received? If thou didst receive them, it is reason thou shouldest 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 understand 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 ano-and the godly, by persuasions and examples, ther year, yet thou dost not turn. You know the parable of the unfruitful fig-tree; when the Lord had said, 'Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?' he was intreated 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, ye shall all likewise perish.' How many years hath God looked for the fruits of love and holiness 3. Moreover, poor hard-hearted sinner, didst from thee, and hath found none? And yet hath thou ever consider upon what terms thou standspared thee. How many times by thy wilful est all this while with him that calleth on thee ignorance, carelessness, and disobedience, hast to turn? Thou art his own, and owest him thythou provoked justice to say, Cut him down, self, and all thou hast; and may he not comwhy cumbereth he the ground? Yet mercy hath mand his own? Thou art his absolute servant, prevailed, and patience hath forborne the killing, and shouldest serve no other master, thou standdamning blow to this day. If thou hadst the est at his mercy, and thy life is in his hand; understanding of a man within thee, thou wouldst and he is resolved to save thee upon no other know that all this calls thee to turn. Dost thou terms: thou hast many malicious spiritual enethink thou shalt still escape the judgment of mies, that would be glad if God would but forGod? Or despisest thou the riches of his good-sake thee; and let them alone with thee, and ness, forbearance, and long suffering, not know-leave thee to their will; how quickly would they ing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous God, who will render to every one according to his deeds.'

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Moreover, it is the voice of every affliction, to call thee to make haste and turn. Sickness and pain cry turn: poverty, the loss of friends, and every twig of the chastising rod cry turn; 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.

The very frame of thy nature and being itself bespeaks thy return. Why hast thou rea

deal with thee in another manner? 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; 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.

Look inwards now, and tell me, how are your hearts affected with these offers of the Lord: you hear what is his mind; he delights not in

your death: he calls to you, Turn, turn; it is a fearful sign if all this move thee not, or if it but half move thee, and much more if it make thee more careless in thy misery, because thou hearest of the mercy of God. The working of the medicine will partly tell us, whether there be any hope of the cure. O what glad tidings would it be to those that are now in hell, if they had but such a message from God! What a joyful word would it be to hear this, Turn and live! Yea, what a welcome word would it be to thyself, when thou hast felt that wrath of God but an hour: or, if after a thousand, 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 with out our errand?

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not a soul in heaven that is sorry that they were converted.

Are you yet resolved, or are you not; do I need to say no more to you; what will you do; will you turn or not? Speak 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 like offer more. Speak resolvedly, and not waveringly; for he will have no indifferent persons to be his followers. Say in thy heart now, without any more delay, even before thou stir hence, By the grace of God, I am resolved presently to turn. Because I know mine own insufficiency, I am resolved to wait on God for his grace, follow him in his ways, forsake my former courses and companions, and give up myself to the guidance of the Lord.'

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Behold, sinners, we are set here as the messengers of the Lord, to set before you life and You are not shut up in the darkness of headeath; what say you, which of them will you thenism, nor in the desperation of the damned. choose? Christ stands as it were by thee, with Life is before you, and you may have it on reaheaven in one hand, and hell in the other, and sonable terms if vou will; vea, on free cost, if offers thee thy choice, which wilt thou choose? you will accept it. The way of God lies plain The voice of the Lord makes the rocks to trem- before you, the church is open to you, and you ble.' And is it nothing to hear him threaten may have Christ, pardon and holiness, if you thee, if thou wilt not turn? Dost thou not unwill. What say you; will you or will you not? derstand and feel this voice, 'turn ye, turn If you say nay, or say nothing, and still go on, ye, why will ye die? Why, it is the voice of God is witness, this congregation is witness, love, of infinite love, of thy best and kindest he who now announces to you these awful friend, as thou mightest easily perceive by the motion, and yet canst thou neglect it? It is the voice of pity and compassion. The Lord sees whither thou art going, better than thou dost, which makes him call after thee, Turn, turn: he sees what will become of thee, if thou turn not he thinks 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 calls 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 calls to thee, is the same that hath prevailed with thousands already, and called all to heaven that are now there: they would not now for a thousand worlds that they nad neglected 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 salvation. And if thou wilt obey the same call thou shalt come to the same happiness. There are millions that must for ever lament that they turned not, but there is

truths is witness, and your own consciences are witness, how fair an offer you had this day. Remember you might have had 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 near your reasons.

DocT. VI. The Lord condescends 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.

The controversy or question propounded to dispute of is, why wicked men will damn themselves? Or, whether they will rather die than Whether they have any sufficient reason

turn?

for so doing?

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 desires the

preservation and felicity of itself, and the wicked are more selfish than others, not less; and therefore how can any man be willing to be damned?

To which I answer, First, 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. Second, But yet for all that, it is most true, which God here teaches us, that the cause why the wicked die and are damned, is, because they will die and be damned. 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. Though God hath so often professed in his word, that if they hold on in that way they shall be condemned; 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; they have made them crooked paths, whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.' They have the word and the oath of the living God for it, that if they will not turn, they shall not enter into his rest. 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 consequently 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? You would not burn in hell, but you will kindle the fire by your sins, and cast yourselves into it; you would not be tormented with devils in hell, but you will do that which will certainly procure it in despite of all that can be said against it. It is just as if you would say, 'I will drink poison, but yet I will not die. I will cast myself headlong from the top of a steeple, but yet I will not kill myself. I will thrust my knife into my heart, but yet I will not take away my life. I will put this fire into my bosom, but yet I will not be burned by it. Just so it is with wicked men; they will be wicked, and live after the flesh and the world, yet they would not be damned. But do you not know, that the means

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 myself, 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 conceits and confidence that will save his life: so if you will be drunkards, fornicators, worldlings, or live after the flesh, you may as well say plainly, we will be damned; for so you shall be unless you turn. Would you not rebuke the folly of a thief or murderer that would say, I will steal 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 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 without which there is no hope of their salvation: he that will not eat, may as well say plainly he will not live, unless he can tell how to live without meat. He that will not go his journey, may as well say plainly, he will not come to the end. He that falls into the water, and will not come out, nor suffer another to help him out, may as well say plainly, he will be drowned. So if you be carnal and ungodly, and will not be converted, nor use the means by which you should be converted, but think it more ado than needs, you may as well say plainly, you will be damned. For if you have found out a way to be saved without conversion, you have done that which was never done before.

3. 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 supposes 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 con

verted; and then to quiet themselves in their sins, they will make themselves believe, that they shall nevertheless escape.

Look up your best and strongest reason, sinners, if you will make good your way: you see now with whom you have to deal. What As the controversy is matter of wonder, sayest thou, O unconverted, sensual sinner? that ever men should be such enemies to them-Darest thou venture upon a dispute with God: selves, as wilfully to cast away their souls, so are art thou able to confute him? Art thou ready the disputants too. That God should stoop so to enter the list? God asks thee, why wilt thou low, as thus to plead the case with man; and die? Art thou furnished with a sufficient answer? that man should be so strangely blind and obsti- Wilt thou undertake to prove that God is misnate as to need all this in so plain a case, yea, taken, and that thou art in the right? O what and to resist all this, when their own salvation an undertaking is that! Why, either he or you lies upon the issue. 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, but you delay, and think it time enough hereafter. He saith it must be a total change, that you must

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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-be holy and new creatures, and born again; but hearted.' No wonder, if they can plead against you think that less may serve the turn, and that a minister, or a godly neighbour, when they will it is enough to patch up the old man, without plead against the Lord himself, even against the becoming new. Who is in the right now, God plainest passages of his word, and think they or you; God calls on you to turn and to live an have reason on their side: when they weary holy life, and you will not; by your disobedient the Lord with their words;' they say, 'wherein lives, it appears you will not. If you will, why have we wearied him?' The priests that de- do you not? Why have you not done it all this spised his name, durst ask, wherein have we while? And why do you not fall upon it yet? despised thy name.' And when they 'polluted Your wills have the command of your lives, we his altar, and made the tables of the Lord con- may certainly conclude, that you are unwilling temptible,' they durst say, wherein have we to turn, when you do not turn. Why will you polluted thee;' but 'woe unto him,' saith the not? Can you give any reason for it, that is Lord, 'that striveth with his Maker! Let the worthy to be called a reason? potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth; shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, what makest thou?'

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

But why is it that God will reason the case plead my Maker's cause, and I need not be diswith man?

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

At least men shall see that God did require nothing of them that was unreasonable, but that whatever he commands them, and whatever he forbids them, he hath all the right reason in the world on his side, and they have good reason to obey him, but none to disobey. And thus even the damned shall be forced to justify God, and confess that it was but reason that they should have turned to him, and they shall be forced to condemn themselves, and confess that they have little reason to cast away themselves by the neglecting of his grace in the day of their visitation.

couraged, when I know I plead but the cause that God pleads, and contend for him that will have the best at last. Had I but these two general grounds against you, I am sure that you have no good reason on your side.

1. I am sure it can be no good reason which is against the God of truth and reason; it cannot be light, that is contrary to the sun. There is no knowledge in any creature, but what it had from God, and therefore none can be wiser than God; it were reckless presumption for the highest angel to compare with his Creator. It is one of the fullest discoveries of the horrible wickedness of carnal men, and the madness of such who sin, that so silly a worm dare contradict his Maker, and call in question the word of God: yea, that those people in your parishes, that are so beastly ignorant, that they cannot give us a reasonable answer concerning the very principles of religion, and yet so wise in their own conceit, that they dare question the

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