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UNCONVERTED 8XXffXVES.S 



IN 



A Serious Ti*eatise obi Conversion. 



— 



BY JOSEPH ALLEINE. 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

NO. 150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW-YORK. 



D. Faushaw, Printer. 



* n * In this Edition some obsolete words and phrases are 
alt-ored, and a few passages omitted —The Author's Six 
Questions to the Unconverted, and Counsels for the Cos 
verted, are added 




5S4. 

Page. 
INTRODUCTION. 

An Earnest Invitation to Sinners to turn to God, in or- 
der to their eternal salvation, 5 

CHAPTER I. 

Showing what Conversion is not, and correcting some 
Mistakes about it, 7 

CHAPTER II. 

Showing positively what Conversion is, ... 14 

CHAPTER III. 

Of the Necessity of Conversion, .... 42 

CHAPTER IV. 

Showing the Marks of the Unconverted, - - C3 

CHAPTER V. 

Showing the Miseries of the Unconverted, - - - 78 
CHAPTER VI. 

Containing Directions to the Unconverted, - - 104 

CHAPTER VII. 
Containing the Motives to Conversion .... 133 
Six Questions to the Unconverted, .... ]47 
Conclusion, 150 



Counsels for the Converted, - 159 







AN EARNEST IN VITATION^ ¥0 SINNERS TO TURN 
TO GOD. 

Dearly beloved, I gladly acknowledge myself a debtor 
to you all, and am concerned, as I would be found a 
good steward to the household of God, to give to every 
one his portion. But the physician is most solicitous 
for those patients whose case is most doubtful and haz- 
ardous ; and the father's concern is especially turned 
toward his dying child. So unconverted souls among 
you call for special solicitude and earnest effort to pluck 
them as brands from the burning ; therefore to them I 
shall first apply myself in these lines. 

But whence shall I fetch my argument? Wherewith 
shall I win them ? O that I could tell ! I would write 
to them in tears, I would weep out every argument, I 
would empty my veins for ink, I would petition them 
on my knees. O how thankful should I be if they would 
be prevailed with to repent and live ! 

How long have I labored for you ! How often would 
I have gathered you ! This is what I have prayed for 
and studied for these many years, that I might bring you 
to God. O that I might now do it ! Will you yet be en- 
treated ? 

But, Lord, how insufficient am I for this work? Alas ! 
wherewith shall I pierce the scales of Leviathan, or 
make the heart to feel that it is as hard as adamant, hard 
as the nether mill-stone ? Shall I go and speak to the 
tenants of the grave, and hope the dead will obey me 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

and come forth ? Shall I make an oration to the rocks, 
or declaim to the mountains, and think to move them 
with arguments ? Shall I give the blind to see ? From 
the beginning of the world was it not heard that a man 
opened the eyes of the blind ; but thou, O Lord, canst 
pierce the heart of the sinner ; I can but draw the bow 
at a venture, but do thou direct the arrow, slay the sin, 
and save the soul of the sinner that casts his eyes on 
these pages. 

There is no entering into heaven but by the strait 
passage of the second birth ; " without holiness you 
shall never see God." Now set yourselves then to seek 
him. Set up the Lord Jesus in your hearts— kiss the 
Son, embrace the tenders of mercy, touch his sceptre 
and live ; for why will ye die ? I beg not for myself, 
but would have you happy : this is the prize I run for. 
My soul's desire and prayer for you is, that you may 
be saved. 

What greater joy to a minister than to hear of souls 
born unto Christ by his instrumentality ? 

I beseech you suffer plainness and freedom with you 
in your deepest concern. I am not playing the orator ; 
these lines are upon a weighty errand indeed — to con- 
vince, to convert, and to save you. If I would quiet a 
crying infant, I might sing to him in a pleasing mood, 
and rock him asleep; but when the child is fallen into 
the fire, the parent takes another course; he will not 
try to still him with a song or a trifle. I know, if we 
succeed not with you, you are lost ; if we cannot get 
your consent to " arise and come away," you perish 
for ever: no conversion, and no salvation: we must 
get your good will, or leave you miserable. 

Some of you do not know what I mean by conver- 
sion, and in vain shall I attempt to persuade you to that 



Chap. I.] MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 7 

which you do not understand ; therefore for your sakes 
I will show what this conversion is. Others cherish se- 
cret hopes of mercy, though they continue as they are; 
and for them I must show the necessity of conversion. 
Others are like to harden themselves with a vain con- 
ceit that they are converted already ; to them I must show 
the marks of the unconverted. Others, because they feel 
no harm, fear none, and so sleep upon the top of the 
mast ; to them I shall show the misery of the uncon- 
verted. Others sit still, because they see not their way 
of escape; to them I shall show the means of conver- 
sion. And finally, for the quickening of all, I shall 
close with the motives to conversion. 



CHAPTER I. 



Showing what Conversion is not, and correcting some mistakes 
about it. 

Let the blind Samaritans worship they know not 
what, John, 4 : 22. Let the heathen Athenians inscribe 
their altar " To the unknown God." Acts 17 : 22. Let 
Papists commend ignorance as the mother of devotion. 
They that know man's constitution, and the nature of 
the reasonable soul's operation, cannot but know that 
the understanding has such empire in the soul, that he 
who will go rationally to work must labor to let in 
light there. And therefore, that you may not mistake 
me, I shall first show you what I mean by conversion. 

Truly the devil hath made many counterfeits of 
conversion, and cheats one with this, and another with 
that; and such craft and artifice he hath in his mystery 



8 MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 

of deceits, that (if it were possible) he would deceive 
the very elect. Now, that I may cure the ruinous mis- 
take of some who think they are converted when they 
are not, I shall show you the nature of conversion, both 
what it is not, and what it is. 

We will begin with the negative. 

It is not the taking upon us the profession of Chris- 
tianity. Christianity is more than a name. If we will 
hear Paul, it lies not in word, but in power, 1 Cor. 4 : 
20. And are there not many that mention the name 
of the Lord Jesus, that yet depart not from iniquity ? 
2 Tim. 2:19, and "profess they know God, but in 
works deny him ?" Titus, 1 : 16. And will God re- 
ceive these for true converts? What! converts from 
sin, when yet they live in sin ! We find not only pro- 
fessors, but preachers of Christ, and wonder-workers, 
rejected because evil-workers. Matt. 7: 22, 23. 

It is not putting on the badge of Christ in baptism. 
Ananias, and Sapphira, and Simon Magus were baptized 
as well as the rest. How fondly do many mistake here, 
deceiving and being deceived! dreaming that effectual 
grace is necessarily tied to the external administration 
of baptism, (which, what is it but to revive the popisli 
tenet of the sacraments working grace?) and thus, that 
every baptized person is regenerated, not only sacra- 
mentally, but really and properly ! Hence men fancy, 
that, being regenerated already when baptized, they 
need no farther work. 

But if this were so, then all that have been baptized 
must necessarily be saved, because the promise of par- 
don and salvation is made to conversion and regenera- 
tion. Acts, 3:19. Matt. 19:28. 

And indeed, were conversion and baptism the same, 
then men would do well to carry but a certificate ol 



Chap. I.J MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 9 

their baptism when they died, and upon sight of this 
there were no doubt of their admission into heaven. 

In short, if there be no more necessary to conver- 
sion, or regeneration, than to be baptized, this will fly 
directly in the face of that scripture, Matt. 7: 13, 14, 
as well as multitudes of others. For, first, we shall 
then no more say, "Strait is the gate, and narrow is 
the way;" for if all that were baptized are saved, the 
door is exceeding wide, and we shall henceforth say, 
" Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth 
unto life." For if this be true, thousands may go in 
abreast; and we will no more teach that the righteous 
are scarcely saved, or that there is need of such a stir 
in taking the kingdom of heaven by violence, and striv- 
ing to enter in. Surely, if the way be so easy as ma- 
ny suppose, that there is little more necessary than to 
be baptized and to cry, " Lord, have mercy," we need 
not put ourselves to such seeking, and knocking, and 
wrestling, as the word requires in order to salvation. 
Secondly, if this be true, we shall no more say, "few 
there be that find it;" yea, we will rather say, "few- 
there be that miss it." We shall no more say, that of 
the "many" that are "called, but few are chosen," 
Matt. 22: 14, and that even of the professing "Israel 
ut a remnant shall be saved." Rom. 9:27. If this 
doctrine be true, we shall not say any more with the 
disciples, " Who then shall be saved ?" but rather, 
who then shall not be saved ? Then, if a man be bap- 
tized, though he be a fornicator, or arailer or covetous, 
or a drunkard, yet he shall inherit the kingdom of God. 
1 Cor. 5:11, and 6:9, 10. 

But some will reply, Such as these, though they did 
receive regenerating grace in baptism, are since fallen 
away, and must be renewed again or else they cannot 
be saved. 



10 MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. [Chap. I. 

I answer, 1, That there is an infallible connection 
between regeneration and salvation, as we have already 
shown; and I long to be farther evidencing, but that it 
is against designed brevity. 2. Then man must be 
born again a second time, which carries a great deal of 
absurdity in its face: and why may not men be twice 
born in nature as well as in grace ? But, 3, and above 
all, this grants however the thing I contend for, that 
whatever men do or pretend to receive in baptism, if 
they be found afterward to be grossly ignorant, or 
profane, or formal, without the power of godliness, 
they "must be born again," or else be shut out of the 
kingdom of God. So then they must have more to 
plead for themselves than their baptismal regeneration. 

Well, in this you see all are agreed, that, be it more 
or less that is received in baptism, if men are evident- 
ly unsanctified, they must be renewed again by a tho- 
rough and powerful change, or else they cannot escape 
the damnation of hell. Then "be not deceived; God 
is not mocked." Whether it be your baptism, or what- 
ever else you pretend, I tell you from the living God, 
that if any of you be a prayerless person, or unclean, 
or malicious, or covetous, or riotous, or a scoffer, or a 
lover of evil company, Prov. 13 : 20, in a word, if 
you are not a holy, strict, and self-denying Christian, 
you cannot be saved. 

Paul, while unconverted, touching the righteousness 
which is in the law, was blameless. The Pharisee 
could say, "I am no extortioner, adulterer, unjust," &c. 
Thou must have something more than all this to show, 
or else,however thou mayest justify thyself, God will 
condemn thee. I condemn not morality, but warn thee 
not to rest in it: piety includes morality, as Christianity 
doth humanity, and grace reason ; but we must not 
divide the tables. 



Chap. I.J MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 11 

It is also manifest that men may have a form of god- 
liness, without the power. Men may pray long, and 
fast often, and hear gladly, and be very forward in the 
service of God, though costly and expensive, and yet 
be strangers to conversion. They must have more to 
plead than that they go to church, give alms, and make 
use of prayer, to prove themselves sound converts. 
There is no outward service but a hypocrite may do if, 
even to the " giving all his goods to feed the poor, and 
his body to be burned." 

Conversion is not the mere chaining up of corrup- 
tion by education, human laws, or the force of incum- 
bent affliction. It is too common and easy to mi take 
education for grace 5 but if this were enough, who a 
better man than Jehoash? While Jehoiada his uncle 
lived, he was very forward in God's service, and calls 
upon him to repair the house of the Lord, 2 Kings, 12 : 
2, 7 ; — but here was nothing more than good education 
all this while ; for when his good tutor was taken out of 
the way, he appears to have been but a wolf chained up, 
and falls into idolatry. 

In short, conversion consists not in illumination or 
conviction, in a superficial change or partial reforma- 
tion. An apostate may be an enlightened man, and a 
Felix tremble under conviction, and a Herod do many 
things. It is one thing to have sin alarmed only by 
convictions, and another to have it crucified by con 
verting grace. Many, because they have been trou- 
bled in conscience for their sins, think well of their 
case, miserably mistaking conviction for conversion. 
With these Cain might have passed for a convert, who 
ran up and down the world like a man distracted, under 
the rage of a guilty conscience. Others think, that be- 
cause they have given over their riotous courses, and 



12 MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. [Chap. I. 

are broken off from evil company or some particular 
lust, and are reduced to sobriety and civility, they are 
now no other than real converts ; forgetting that there 
is a vast difference between being sanctified and civil- 
ized ; and that many seek to enter into the kingdom of 
heaven, and are not far from it, and arrive to the almost 
of Christianity, and yet fall short at last. While con- 
science holds the whip over them, many will pray, hear, 
read, and forbear their delightful sins ; but no sooner 
is the lion asleep than they are at their sins again. Who 
more religious than the Jews when God's hand was 
upon them : yet no sooner was the affliction over, than 
they forgot God. Thou mayst have forsaken a trouble- 
some sin, and have escaped the gross pollutions of the 
world, and yet in all this not have changed thy carnal 
nature. 

You may cast lead out of the rude mass into the more 
comely proportion of a plant, and then into the shape 
of a beast, and thence into the form and features of a 
man, yet all the while it is but lead still ; so a man may 
pass through divers transmutations, from ignorance to 
knowledge, from profaneness to civility, thence to a 
form of religion, and all this time he is but carnal and 
unregenerate whilst his nature remains unchanged. 

" Hear then, O sinners, hear as you would live. Why 
would you wilfully deceive yourselves, or build your 
hopes upon the sand ? I know that he may find hard 
work that goes to pluck away your hopes. It cannot but 
be ungrateful to you, and truly it is not pleasing to me ; 
I set about it as a surgeon when about to cut off a mor- 
tified limb from his well-beloved friend, which of ne- 
cessity he must do, though with an aching heart. But 
understand me — I am only taking down the ruinous 
house, which will otherwise speedily fall of itself and 



Chap. I.] MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 13 

bury you in the ruins, that I may build it fair, strong, 
and firm for ever. The hope of the wicked shall perish. 
And hadst not thou better, O sinner, let the word con- 
vince thee now in time, and let go thy false and self- 
deluding hopes, than have death too late to open thine 
eyes, and find thyself in hell before thou art aware ? I 
should be a false and faithless shepherd if I should not 
tell you, that you, who have built your hopes upon no 
better grounds than these before mentioned, are yet in 
your sins. Let conscience speak : What is it that you 
have to plead for yourselves ? Is it that you wear 
Christ's livery ? that you bear his name? that you are 
of the visible church ? that you have knowledge in the 
points of religion, are civilized, perform religious duties. 
are just in your dealings, have been troubled in con- 
science for your sins ? I tell you from the Lord, these 
pleas will never be accepted at God's bar ; all this, 
though good in itself, will not prove you converted, 
and so will not suffice to your salvation. O look about 
you and bethink yourselves of turning speedily and 
entirely. Study your own hearts ; rest not till God has 
made thorough work with you ; for you must be other 
men, or else you are lost men. 

But if these characters be short of conversion, what 
shall I say of the yvofane sinner? It may be he will 
scarcely cast his eyes or lend his ear to this discourse ; 
but if there be any such reading or within hearing, he 
must know from the Lord that made him, that he is 
far from the kingdom of God. May a man be true in 
his dealings, and yet not be justified of God ? what then 
will become of thee, O wretched man, whose con- 
science tells thee thou art false in thy trade, and false 
to thy word, and makest thy advantage by a lying 
tongue? If men may be enlightened and brought 
2 



14 THE NATURE OP CONVERSION. [Chap. II. 

to the external performance of holy duties, and yet 
go down to perdition for resting in them and sitting 
down on this side of conversion, what will become 
of you, O miserable families, that live without God 
in the world ? and of you, O wretched sinners, with 
whom God is scarcely in all your thoughts ; that are 
so ignorant that you cannot, or so careless that you 
will not pray ? O repent and be converted ; break off 
your sins by righteousness ; away to Christ for pardon- 
ing and renewing grace ; give up yourselves to him, to 
walk with him in holiness, or you shall never see God. 
O that you would take the warnings of God ! In his 
name I once more admonish you : turn ye at my re- 
proof. Forsake the foolish, and live. Be sober, righte- 
ous, and godly. Wash your hands, ye sinners ; purify 
your hearts, ye double-minded. Cease to do evil, learn 
to do well. But if you will not, you must die. 



CHAPTER II. 
Showing positively what Conversion is. 

I may not leave you with your eyes half open, like 
him that saw " men as trees walking." The word is 
profitable for doctrine as well as reproof. And therefore, 
having thus exposed some dangerous mistakes, I would 
guide you at length into the way of truth. 

Conversion then, in short, lies in the thorough change 
both of the heart and life. I shall briefly describe it in 
its nature and causes. 

1. The author is the Spirit of God, and therefore it is 
called " the sanctification of the Spirit," and " the re- 
newing of the Holy Ghost," yet not excluding the other 



Chap. II.] THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 15 

persons in the Trinity ; for the apostle teacheth us to 
" bless the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for that he 
hath begotten us again." And Christ is said to give re- 
pentance unto Israel, and is called the " everlasting Fa- 
ther," and we his seed, and the children which God 
hath given him. Yet this work is principally ascribed 
to the Holy Ghost, and so we are said to be " born of 
the Spirit." 

So then regeneration is a work of God : " We are 
born, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
but of God." John, 1 : 13. If ever thou wouldst be sav- 
ingly converted, thou must despair of doing it in thine 
own strength. It is a resurrection from the dead, Eph. 
2 : 1, a new creation, Gal. 6 : 15 ; Eph. 2 : 10, a work 
of absolute omnipotence, Eph. 1 : 19. If thou hast no 
more than thou hadst by thy first birth, a good nature, 
a meek and chaste temper, &c. thou art a stranger to 
true conversion ; this is a supernatural work. 

2. The causes are efficient and meritorious. The 
efficient cause is only free grace. " Not by works of 
righteousness which we have done, but of his mercy he 
saved us," and " by the renewing of the Holy Ghost." 
" Of his own will begat he us." 

God finds nothing in man to excite his complacency. 
Look back upon thyself, O Christian ! Do not thine 
own clothes abhor thee ? Job, 9 : 31. How then should 
holiness and pureness love thee ? Be astonished, O hea- 
vens, at this ; be moved, O earth. Who but must needs 
cry, grace ! grace ! Hear and blush, ye children of the 
Most High — O ye unthankful generation ! that free 
grace is no more in your mouths, in your thoughts ; no 
more adored, admired, and commended by such as 
you ! One would think you should be doing nothing 
but praising and admiring God wherever you are. 



16 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II 

How can you forget such grace, or pass it over with a 
slight and formal mention ? What but free grace could 
move God to love you, unless enmity could do it, un- 
less deformity could do it ? How affectionately doth 
Peter lift up his hands ! " Blessed be the God and Fa- 
ther of our Lord Jesus, who of his abundant mercy 
hath begotten us again." How feelingly doth Paul 
magnify the free mercy of God in it ! " God who is 
rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he has 
loved us, hath quickened us together with Christ. By 
grace ye are saved." 

The meritorious cause is the mediation and inter- 
cession of the blessed Jesus. He hath obtained gifts for 
the rebellious, and through him it is that God worketh 
in us what is well pleasing in his sight. Through him 
are all spiritual blessings bestowed upon us in heavenly 
things. Every convert is the fruit of his travail. He is 
made sanctiflcation to us. He sanctified himself, (that 
is, set apart himself as a sacrifice,) that we may be 
sanctified. 

It is nothing then beyond his own love, but the me- 
rit and intercession of Christ, that prevails with God 
to bestow on us converting grace. If thou art a new 
creature, thou knowest to whom thou owest it; to 
Christ's agonies and prayers. And whither else shouldst 
thou go 1 If any in the world can show that for thy 
heart which Christ can, let them do it. Doth Satan claim 
thee ? Doth the world court thee? Doth sin sue for 
thy heart ? Why ? were these crucified for thee ? O 
Christian, love and serve the Lord whilst thou hast a 
being. 

3. The instrument is either personal or real. Th© 
personal is the ministry. I have begotten you in Christ 
through the Gospel. Christ's ministers are they that 



Chap. II. J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 17 

are sent to open men's eyes, and to turn them to God* 
Acts, 26 : 18. 

O unthankful world, little do you know what you 
are doing while you are slighting the messengers of 
the Lord ! These are they whose business it is (under 
Christ) to save you. Whom have you reproached and 
blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your 
voice, and lifted your eyes on high ? " These are the 
servants of the most high God, that show unto you the 
way of salvation," and do you thus requite them, O 
foolish and unwise! sons of ingratitude! against 
whom do ye sport yourselves ! These are the instru- 
ments that God uses to convert and save sinners : and 
do you revile your physicians, and throw your pilots 
overboard ? " Father, forgive them ; for they know 
not what they do." 

The real instrument is the word. We are begotten 
by the word of truth. This it is that enlightens the 
eye; that converts the soul, Psalm 19 : 7, 8; that mak- 
eth wise to salvation. 2 Tim. 3 : 15. This is the in- 
corruptible seed, by which we are born again. 1 Pet. 
1 : 23. If we are washed, it is by the word. Eph. 5 : 
26. If we are sanctified, it is through the truth. John, 
17 : 17. 

O ye saints, how should ye love the word ! for by 
this you have been converted : O ye sinners, how 
should you ply the word ! for by means of this you 
must be converted. You that have felt its renewing 
power, make much of it while you live ; be for ever 
thankful for it ; tie it about your neck ; write it upon 
your hand; lay it in your bosom. When you go, let 
it lead yon ; when you sleep, let it keep you ; when you 
wake, let it talk with you : say with holy David, " I 
will never forget thy precepts, for by them thou hast 
2* 



18 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [diap. II. 

quickened me." You that are unconverted, read the 
word with diligence; flock to it where powerfully 
preached : pray for the coming of the Spirit in the 
word; come from your knees to the sermon, and come 
to your knees from the sermon. The seed doth not 
prosper, because not watered by prayers and tears, nor 
covered by meditation. 

4. The final cause is mail's salvation, and GocVs 
glory. We are chosen through sanctification to salva- 
tion ; called that we might be glorified ; but especially 
that God might be glorified, that we should " show 
forth his praise," and " be fruitful in good works." O 
Christian ! do not forget the end of thy calling ; " let 
thy light shine," let thy lamp burn ; let thy fruits be 
good, and many, and in season ; let all thy designs fall 
in with God's, that he may " be magnified in thee." 

5. The subject is the sinner, and that in all his parts 
and powers, members and mind. Thou beginnest at 
the wrong end, if thou disputest first about thine elec- 
tion. Prove thy conversion, and then never doubt of 
thy election : or, canst thou not yet prove it ? set upon 
a present and thorough turning. Whatever God's pur- 
poses be, (which are secret,) I am sure his precepts are 
plain. How desperately do rebels argue ! if I am elected 
I shall be saved, do what I will; if not, I shall be damn- 
ed, do what I can. Perverse sinner ! wilt thou begin 
where thou shouldest end? Is not the word before 
thee ? W T hat saith it? " Repent and be converted, that 
your sins may be blotted out." " If you mortify the 
deeds of the body you shall live." " Believe and be 
saved." What can be plainer ? Do not stand still dis- 
puting about thine election, but set to repenting and 
believing ; cry to God for converting grace. Revealed 
things belong to thee ; in these busy thyself. It is just 



Chap. II.] THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 19 

(as one well said) that they who will not feed on the 
plain food of the word should be choked with the 
bones. Whatever God's purposes be, I am sure his 
promises are true ; whatever the decrees of heaven be, 
I am sure that if I repent and believe, I shall be saved ; 
and that if I repent not, I shall be damned. Is not 
here plain ground for thee? and wilt thou yet run 
upon the rocks '? 

More particularly, this change of conversion passes 
throughout the whole man. A carnal person may 
have some shreds of good morality, but he is never 
good throughout the whole body of holiness and Chris- 
tianity. Conversion is not repairing of the old build- 
ing ; but it takes all down, and erects a new structure : 
it is not the putting in a patch of holiness; but with 
the true convert holiness is woven into all his powers, 
principles, and practice. The sincere Christian is quite 
a new fabric, from the foundation to the top-stone. He 
is a new man, a new creature. All things are become 
new. Conversion is a deep work, a heart-work. It goes 
throughout with men, throughout the mind, through- 
out the members, throughout the motions of the 
whole life. 

I. Throughout the mind. It makes a universal 
change within. 

1. It turns the balance of the judgment ; so that God 
and his glory do weigh down all carnal and worldly 
interests. It opens the eye of the mind, and makes the 
scales of its native ignorance to fall off, and turns men 
from darkness to light. The man that before saw no 
danger in his condition, now concludes himself lost, 
and for ever undone, except renewed by the power of 



20 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II. 

grace. He that formerly thought there was little hurt 
in sin, now comes to see it to be the chief of evils ; he 
sees the unreasonableness, the unrighteousness, the de- 
formity and filthiness of sin ; so that he is affrighted 
with it, loathes it, dreads it, flees from it, and even ab 
hors himself for it. He that could see little sin in him- 
self, and could find no matter for confession, now sees 
the rottenness of his heart, the desperate and deep pol- 
lution of his whole nature ; he cries, Unclean, unclean: 
Lord, purge me with hyssop, wash me thoroughly, 
create in me a clean heart. He sees himself altogether 
filthy, corrupt, both root and tree ; he writes unclean 
upon all his parts, and powers, and performances ; he 
discovers the filthy corners that he was never aware of, 
and sees the blasphemy, and theft, and murder, and 
adultery, that is in his heart, which before he was ig- 
norant of. 

Heretofore he saw no form nor comeliness in Christ, 
nor beauty, that he should desire him ; but now he 
finds the hidden treasure, and will sell all to buy this 
field. Christ is the pearl he seeks. 

Now, according to this new light, the man is of an- 
other mind, another judgment, than he was before. 
Now God is all with him, he hath none in heaven, nor 
in earth like him ; he prefers him truly before all the 
world; his favor is his life, the light of his counte- 
nance is more than corn, or wine, and oil. A hypo- 
crite may come to yield a general assent to this, that 
God is the chief good ; yea, the wiser heathens (some 
few of them) have at last stumbled upon this: but 
there is a difference between the absolute and compa- 
rative judgment of the understanding. No hypocrite 
comes so far as to look upon God as the most desirable 
and suitable good to him, and thereupon to acquiesce 



Chap. II.] THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 21 

in him. This is the convert's voice : " The Lord is my 
portion, saith my soul. Whom have I in heaven but 
thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside 
thee. God is the strength of my heart, and my portion 
for ever." 

2. It turns the bias of the will both as to means and 
end. The intentions of the will are altered. Now the 
man hath new ends and designs ; now he intends God 
above all, and desires and designs nothing in all the 
world so much as that Christ may be magnified in him. 
He counts himself more happy in this than in all that 
the earth could yield, that he may be serviceable to 
Christ, and bring him glory. This is the mark he 
aims at, that the name of Jesus may be great in the 
world. 

Reader, dost thou view this, and never ask thyself 
whether it be thus with thee? Pause a while, and 
breathe on this great concernment. 

The choice is also changed. He pitcheth upon God 
as his blessedness, and upon Christ and holiness as 
means to bring him to God. He chooseth Jesus for 
his Lord. He is not merely forced to Christ by the 
storm, nor doth he take Christ for bare necessity, but 
he comes freely ; he deliberately resolves that Christ 
is his best choice, and would rather have him than all 
the good of this world, might he enjoy it while he 
would. Again, he takes holiness for his path ; he does 
not of mere necessity submit to it, but he likes and 
loves it : " / have chosen the way of thy precepts." 
He takes God's testimonies, not as his bondage, but as 
his heritage ; yea, heritage for ever. He counts them 
not his burden, but his bliss; not his cords, but his 
cordials. He does not only bear, but takes up Christ's 
yoke : he takes not holiness as the stomach does the 



22 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II. 

loathed potion, (which a man will take rather than 
die,) but as the hungry doth his beloved food. No 
time passeth so sweetly with him (when he is him- 
self) as that he spends in the exercises of holiness. 
These are both his aliment and element, the desire of 
his eyes and the joy of his heart. Put thy conscience 
to it as thou goest, whether thou art the man. O hap- 
py man, if this be thy case! But see thou be impartial 
in the decision. 

3. It turns the bent of the affections. These run all 
in a new channel. Christ is his hope. This is his 
prize. Here his eye is : here his heart. He is con- 
tented to cast all overboard, (as the merchant in the 
storm ready to perish,) so he may but keep this jewel. 

The first of his desires is not after gold, but grace. 
He hungers after it, he seeks it as silver, he digs for it 
as for hid treasure ; he had rather be gracious than be 
great ; he had rather be the holiest man on earth than 
the most learned, the most famous, the most prosper- 
ous. While carnal, he said, O if I were but in great 
esteem, rolling in wealth, and swimming in pleasure I 
if my debts were paid, and I and mine provided for, 
then I were a happy man ! but now the tone is changed. 
O ! saith the convert, if I had but my corruptions sub- 
dued, if I had such measures of grace, such fellowship 
with God, though I were poor and despised 1 should 
not care, I should account myself a blessed man. Read- 
er, is this the language of thy soul? 

His joys are changed. He rejoiceth in the ways of 
God's testimonies as much as in all riches. He de- 
lights in the law of the Lord, wherein once he had 
little savor. He hath no such joy as in the thoughts 
of Christ, the fruition of his company, the prosperity 
of his people. 



Chap. II.] THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 23 

His cares are quite altered. He was once set for 
the world; now his cry is, "What 6hall I do to be 
saved?" His great solicitude is to secure his soul. 
O how would he bless you if you could but put him 
out of doubt of this! 

His fears, however, are not so much of suffering as 
of sinning. Once he was afraid of nothing so much 
as the loss of his estate or reputation; nothing sound- 
ed so terrible to him as pain, or poverty, or disgrace ; 
now these are little to him, in comparison of God's 
dishonor or displeasure. How warily doth he walk, 
lest he should tread upon a snare ! He feareth alway; 
he hath his eye upon his heart, and is ever watchful 
lest he should be overtaken with sin. No thought in 
the world would pain him so much as to think of part- 
ing with Christ. 

His love runs a new course. My love was crucified, 
(saith Ignatius,) that is, my Christ. This is my be- 
loved, saith the spouse. Cant. 5 : 16. 

How doth Augustine often pour his love upon Christ ! 
O "eternal blessedness!" &c. He can find no words 
sweet enough. "Let me see thee,.0 light of mine 
eyes. Come, O thou joy of my spirit. Let me behold 
thee, O life of my soul. Appear unto me, O my great 
delight, my sweet comfort: O my God, my life, and 
the whole glory of my soul. Let me find thee, O de- 
sire of my heart. Let me hold thee, O love of my soul. 
Let me embrace thee, O heavenly bridegroom. Let 
me possess thee !" 

His sorrows have now a new vent. The view of his 
sins, the sight of Christ crucified, that could scarcely 
stir him before, now how much do they affect his heart ! 

His hatred boils, his anger burns against sin. He 
aath no patience with himself: he calls himself fool 



24 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. 11. 

and beast, and thinks any name too good for himself, 
when his indignation is stirred up against sin. Psalm 
73 : 22. Prov. 30 : 2. He could once delight in it with 
much pleasure ; now he loathes the thought of return- 
ing to it. 

Commune then with thine own heart, and attend the 
general current of thine affections, whether they be 
toward God in Christ above all other concernments. 
Indeed, sudden and strong motions of the affections 
are oft-times found in hypocrites, especially where the 
natural temperament is warm. And, contrariwise, the 
sanctified themselves are many times without sensible 
stirring of the affections, where the temper is more 
slow, dry, and dull. The great inquiry is, whether the 
judgment and will be steadily determined for God 
above all other good, real or apparent ; if so, and if the 
affections do sincerely follow their choice and conduct, 
though it be not so strongly and sensibly as is to be 
desired, there is no doubt but the change is saving. 

II. Throughout the members. Those that were be- 
fore the instruments of sin, are now become the holy 
utensils of Christ's living kingdom. He that before 
dishonored his body, now possesses his vessel in sanc- 
tification and honor, in temperance, chastity, and so- 
briety, and dedicates it to the Lord. 

The eye that was once a wandering eye, a wanton 
eye, a haughty, a covetous eye, is now employed (as- 
Mary's) in weeping over its sins, in beholding God in 
his works, in reading his word, or in looking for ob- 
jects of mercy and opportunities for his service. 

The ear that was once open to Satan's call, is now 
open to the voice of Christ's house, and to his disci- 
pline. It saith. " Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.* 



Chap. II.] THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 25 

It waits for his words as the rain, and relishes them 
more than the appointed food, " more than the honey 
and the honey-comb." 

The head that was the shop of worldly designs, is 
now filled with other matters, and set on the study of 
God's will, and the man employs his head not so much 
about his gain as about his duty. The thoughts and 
cares that fill his head are, principally, how he may 
please God and flee sin. 

His heart that was filled with filthy lusts, is now be- 
come an altar of incense, where the fire of divine love 
is ever kept burning, and whence the daily sacrifices 
of prayer and praise, and the sweet incense of holy de- 
sires, ejaculations, and prayers, are continually as- 
cending. 

The mouth is become a well of life, his tongue as 
choice silver, and his lips feed many ; now the salt of 
grace has seasoned his speech, has eaten out the cor- 
ruption, Col. 4 : 6, and cleansed the mouth from its 
filthy communication, flattery, boasting, and backbiting, 
that once came like flashes that proceeded from the 
hell that was in the heart. The throat, that was once 
an open sepulchre, now sends forth the sweet breath of 
prayer and holy discourses, and the man speaks in ano- 
ther tongue, even the language of Canaan, and is never 
so well as when talking of God and Christ, and the 
matters of another world. His mouth bringeth wisdom ; 
his tongue is become the silver trumpet of his Maker's 
praise, his glory, and the best member that he hath. 

Now here you will find the hypocrite sadly deficient. 
He speaks (it may be) like an angel, but he hath a co- 
vetous eye, or the gain of unrighteousness in his hand ; 
or the hand is white, but his heart is full of rottenness, 
Matt. 23 : 27, full of unmortified cares, a very oven of 
3 



26 THE NATURE OP CONVERSION. [Chap. II. 

lust, a shop of pride, the seat of malice. It may be, 
with Nebuchadnezzar's image, he hath a golden head, 
a great deal of knowledge ; but he hath feet of clay, 
his affections are worldly, he minds earthly things, and 
his way and walk are sensual and carnal. 

III. Throughout the life and practice, the new man 
takes a new course. His " conversation is in heaven." 
No sooner doth Christ call by effectual grace, but he 
straightway becomes a " follower of him." When God 
hath given the new heart, and written his law in his 
mind, he forthwith walks in his statutes, and keeps his 
judgments. 

Though sin may dwell (truly a wearisome and un- 
welcome guest) in him, yet it hath " no more domi- 
nion over him." " He hath his fruit unto holiness," 
and though he makes many a blot, yet the law of life 
and Jesus is what he looks at as his copy, and he hath 
an unfeigned respect to all God's commandments, 
making conscience even of every duty. His very infir- 
mities, which he cannot help though he would, are his 
soul's burden, and are like the dust in a man's eye,, 
which though but little, yet is not a little troublesome. 
(O man ! dost thou read this and never turn in upon 
thy soul- by self-examination ?) The sincere convert 
is not one man at the place of worship and another at 
home ; he is not a saint on his knees, and a cheat in 
his shop ; he will not tithe mint and cummin, and ne- 
glect mercy and judgment, and the weighty matters 
of the law ; he doth not pretend to piety and neglect 
morality; but he turns from all his sins, and keeps all 
God's statutes, though not perfectly, (except in desire 
and endeavor,) yet sincerely; not allowing himself in 
the breach of any. Now he delights in the word, and 



Chap. II.J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 27 

sets himself to prayer, and opens his hand and draws 
out his soul to the hungry. " He breaketh off his sins 
by righteousness, and his iniquities by showing mercy 
to the poor," and hath " a good conscience, willing in 
all things to live honestly," and to keep it without of- 
fence toward God and man. 

Here again you find the unsoundness of many pro- 
fessors who consider themselves good Christians; they 
are partial in the law, and take up with the cheap and 
easy duties of religion, but go not through with the 
work. It may be you find them exact in their words, 
punctual in their dealings, but then they do not exer- 
cise themselves unto godliness ; and as for examining 
themselves and governing their hearts, to this they are 
strangers. You may see them duly at the church ; but 
follow them to their families, and there you shall see 
little but the world minded ; or if they have family 
duties, follow them to their closets, and there you shall 
find their souls are little looked after. It may be they 
seem otherwise religious, but bridle not their tongues, 
and so "all their religion is vain." It may be they 
come up to closet and family prayer ; but follow them 
to their shops, and there you find them in the habit of 
lying, or some covert and fashionable way of deceit. 
Thus the hypocrite goes not throughout in the course 
of his obedience. 

The objects from which we turn in conversion are, 
sin, Satan, the world, and our own righteousness. 

1. Sin. When a man is converted, he is for ever at 
enmity with sin ; yea, with all sin, but most of all -with 
his own sins, and especially with his bosom sin. Sin 
is now the object of his indignation. His sins swell his 



28 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [.Chap. IL 

sorrows. It is sin that pierces him and wounds him ; 
he feels it like a thorn in his side, like a prick in his 
eyes : he groans and struggles under it, and not for- 
mally, but feelingly cries out, " O wretched man !" He 
is not impatient of any burden so much as of his sin. 
If God should give him his choice, he would choose 
any affliction so he might be rid of sin ; he feels it like 
the cutting gravel in his shoes, pricking and paining 
him as he goes. 

Before conversion, he had light thoughts of sin ; he 
cherished it in his bosom, as Uriah his lamb ; he nou- 
rished it up, and it grew up together with him ; it did 
eat, as it were, of his own meat, and drank of his own 
cup, and lay in his bosom, and was to him as a daugh- 
ter. But when God opens his eyes by conversion, he 
throws it away with abhorrence, as a man would a 
loathsome toad, which in the dark he had hugged fast 
in his bosom, and thought it had been some pretty and 
harmless bird. When a man is savingly changed, he 
is deeply convinced not only of the danger but the de 
filement of sin : and O how earnest is he with God to 
be purified ! he loathes himself for his sins. He runs to 
Christ, and casts himself into the fountain set open for 
sin and for uncleanness. If he fall, he has no rest till 
he flees to the word, and washes in the infinite foun- 
tain, laboring to cleanse himself from all filthiness 
both of flesh and spirit : he abhors his once beloved 
sin, as a cleanly nature doth the mire wherein he sees 
the swine delight. 

The sound convert is heartily engaged against sin ; 
he struggles with it, he wars against it ; he is too often 
foiled, but he will never yield the cause, nor lay down 
the weapons, while he hath breath in his body; he will 
make no peace ; he will give no quarter. He can for- 



Chap. II. J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 29 

give his other enemies; he can pity them, and pray for 
them ; but here he is implacable, here he is set upon 
extermination ; he hunteth as it were for the pre- 
cious life ; his eyes shall not pity, his hand shall not 
spare, though it be a right hand or a right eye. Be it 
a gainful sin, most delightful to his nature or the sup- 
port of his esteem with worldly friends, yet he wi* ra- 
ther throw his gain down the kennel, see his credit 
fall, or the flower of pleasure wither in his hand, than 
he will allow himself in any known way of sin. He 
will grant no indulgence, he will give no tole/ation ; 
he draws upon sin wherever he meets it, and frowns 
upon it with this unwelcome salute, " Have I found 
thee, O mine enemy ?" 

Reader, hath conscience been at work while thou 
hast been looking over these lines? Hast thou pon- 
dered these things in thy heart? Hast thou searched 
the book within, to see if these things be so ? If not, 
read it again, and make thy conscience speak, whether 
or not it be thus with thee. 

Hast thou crucified thy flesh with its affections and 
lusts ? and not only confessed, but forsaken thy sins, 
all sin in thy fervent desires, and the ordinary practice 
of every deliberate and wilful sin in thy life? If not, 
thou art yet unconverted. Doth not conscience fly in 
thy face as thou readest, and tell thee that thou livest 
in a way of lying for thy advantage; that thou usest 
deceit in thy calling; that there is some way of secret 
wantonness that thou livest in ? why then, do not de- 
ceive thyself; thou art in the gall of bitterness and the 
bond of iniquity. 

Doth not thy unbridled tongue, thy indulgence of 
appetite, thy wicked company, thy neglect of prayer, 
of reading and hearing the word, now witness against 
3* 



30 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II. 

thee, and say, "We are thy works, and we will follow 
thee?" Or, if I have not hit thee right, doth not the 
monitor within tell thee, there is such or such a way 
that thou knowest to be evil, that yet for some carnal 
respect thou dost tolerate thyself in ? If this be thy 
case, thou art to this day unregenerate, and must be 
changed or condemned. 

2. Satan. Conversion binds the strong man, spoils 
his armor, casts out his goods, turns men from the 
power of Satan unto God. Before, the devil could no 
sooner hold up his finger to the sinner to call him to 
his wicked company, sinful games, and filthy delights, 
but presently he followed, like an ox to the slaughter, 
and a fool to the correction of the stocks ; as the bird 
that hasteth to the prey, and knoweth not that it is for 
his life. No sooner could Satan bid him lie, but pre- 
sently he had it on his tongue. No sooner could Satan 
offer a wanton object, but he was stung with lust. If 
the devil says, "Away with these family duties," be 
sure they shall be rarely enough c performed in his 
house. If the devil says, "Away with this strictness, 
thispreciseness," he will keep far enough from it: it 
he tells him, "There is no need of these closet-duties," 
he shall go from day to day and scarcely perform 
them. But since he is converted he serves another 
Master, and takes quite another course : he goes and 
comes at Christ's bidding. Satan may sometimes catch 
his foot in a trap, but he will no longer be a willing 
captive; he watches against the snares and baits of 
Satan, and studies to be acquainted with his devices; 
he is very suspicious of his plots, and is very jealous 
in what comes across him, lest Satan should have some 
design upon him; he "wrestles against principalities 
and powers;" he entertains the messenger of Satan 



Chap. II.] THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 31 

as men do the messenger of death ; he keeps his eye 
upon his enemy, and watches in his duties, lest Satan 
should put in his foot. 

3. The World. Before a man has lively faith, he is 
overcome of the world; either he bows down to mam- 
mon, or idolizes his reputation, or is a "lover of plea- 
sure more than a lover of God." Here is the root of 
man's misery by the fall; he is turned aside to the 
creature, and gives that esteem, confidence, and affec- 
tion to the creature, that is due to God alone. 

O miserable man, what a deformed monster hath sin 
made thee! God made thee "little lower than the an- 
gels;" sin, little better than the devils; a monster that 
hath his head and heart where his feet should be. 
The world that was formed to serve thee, is come to 
rule thee, — the deceitful harlot hath bewitched thee 
with her enchantments, and made thee bow down and 
serve her. 

But converting grace sets all in order again, and 
puts God on the throne, and the world at his footstool; 
Christ in the heart, and the world under the feet. So 
Paul, " I am crucified to the world, and the world to me." 
Before this change, all the cry was, "Who will show 
us any worldly good?" but now he prays, "Lord, lift 
thou up the light of thy countenance upon me," and 
take the corn and wine whoso will. Before, his heart's 
delight and content were in the world ; then the song 
was, "Soul, take thy ease, eat, drink, and be merry: 
thou hast much goods laid up for many years;" but 
now all this is withered, and there is no comeliness, 
that we should desire it; and he tunes up with the 
sweet Psalmist of Israel : "The Lord is the portion of 
my inheritance; the lines are fallen to me in a fair 
place, and I have a goodly heritage." He blesseth him- 



32 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II. 

self, and boasteth himself in God. Nothing else can 
give him content. He hath written vanity and vexa- 
tion upon all his worldly enjoyments, and loss and 
dung upon all human excellencies. He hath life and 
immortality now in pursuit. He pants for grace and 
glory, and hath a crown incorruptible in view. His 
heart is set in him to seek the Lord. He first seeks 
the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof, 
and religion is no longer a matter by-the-by with him, 
but his main care. 

Before, the world had the sway with him ; he would 
do more for gain than godliness, more to please his 
friend, or his flesh, than the God that made him ; and 
God must stand by till the world was first served. 
But now all must stand by ; he hates father and mo- 
ther, and life, and all, in comparison of Christ. Well 
then, pause a little, and look within. Doth not this 
nearly concern thee ? Thou pretendest for Christ, but 
does not the world sway thee ? Dost thou not take 
more real delight and content in the world than in him? 
Dost thou not find thyself better at ease when the 
world goes to thy mind, and thou art compassed with 
carnal delights, than when retired to prayer and medi- 
tation in thy closet, or attending upon God's word and 
worship ? No surer evidence of an unconverted state, 
than to have the things of the world uppermost in our 
aim, love, and estimation. 

With the sound convert, Christ has the supremacy. 
How dear is his name to him! How precious is his 
favor! The name of Jesus is engraven on his heart, 
Gil. 4 : 19, and lies as a bundle of myrrh between Lis 
br^arts. Cant. 1:13, 14. Honor is but air, and laugh- 
tei is but madness, and mammon is fallen like dagon 
teforu the ark, with hands and head broken off on the 



Chap. II.] THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 33 

threshold, when once Christ is savingly revealed. Here 
is the pearl of great price to the true convert ; here is 
his treasure, here is his hope. This is his glory ; my 
beloved is mine, and I am his. O ! it is sweeter to him 
to be able to say, Christ is mine, than if he could say, 
the kingdom is mine, the Indies are mine. 

4. Our own righteousness. Before conversion, man 
seeks to cover himself with his own fig-leaves, and to 
make himself whole with his own duties. He is apt 
to trust in himself, and set up his own righteousness, 
and to reckon his counters for gold, and not submit 
to the righteousness of God. But conversion changes 
his mind; now he casts away his filthy rags, and 
counts his own righteousness as a filthy cloth. He 
casts it off, as a man would the dirty tatters of a beg- 
gar. Now he is brought to poverty of spirit, complains 
of and condemns himself, and all his inventory is, 
"poor, and miserable, and wretched, and blind, and 
naked." He sees a world of iniquity in his holy things, 
and calls his once idolized righteousness but filth and 
loss ; and would not for a thousand worlds be found 
in it. Now he begins to set a high price upon Christ's 
righteousness : he sees the need of Christ in every duty, 
to justify his person, and sanctify his performances; 
he cannot live without him : he cannot pray without 
him. Christ must go with hi m, or else he cannot come 
into the presence of God ; r e leans upon Christ, and 
so bows himself in the house of his God ; he sets him- 
self down for a lost undone man without him ; his life 
is hid in Christ, as the root of a tree spreads in the 
earth for stability and nutriment. Before, the news of 
Christ was a stale and tasteless thing, but now how 
sweet is Christ ! Augustine could not relish his before 
so much admired Cicero, because he could not find in 



34_ THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II. 

his writing the name of Christ! How emphatically 
cries he, "O most sweet, most loving, most kind, most 
dear, most precious, most desired, most lovely, most 
fair !" &c. Meditat. c. 37, all in a breath, when he speaks 
of and to his Christ. In a word, the voice of the con- 
vert is with the martyr, "None but Christ." 

The ultimate end to which we turn in conversion is, 
God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; whom the true 
convert takes as his all-sufficient and eternal blessed- 
ness. A man is never truly sanctified till his very 
heart be in truth set upon God above all things, as his 
portion and chief good. These are the natural breath- 
ings of a believer's heart : " Thou art my portion." 
"My soul shall make her boast in the Lord." "My 
expectation is from him ; he only is my rock and my 
salvation ; he is my defence ; in God is my salvation 
and glory ; the rock of my strength, and my refuge is 
in God." 

Would you put it to an issue, whether you be con- 
verted or not ? Now let thy soul and all that is within, 
thee attend. 

Hast thou taken God for thy happiness ? Where doth 
the content of thy heart lie ? Whence doth thy choicest 
comfort come in ? Come then, and with Abraham lift 
up thine eyes eastward, and westward, and northward, 
and southward, and cast about thee, what is it that 
thou wouldst have in heaven or on earth to make thee 
happy ? If God should give thee thy choice, as he did 
to Solomon, or should say to thee, as Ahasuerus to 
Esther, " What is thy petition, and what is thy request, 
and it shall be granted thee ?" what wouldst thou ask? 
Go into the gardens of pleasure, and gather all the fra- 
grant flowers thence : would these content thee ? Go 



Chap. II.] THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 35 

to the treasures of Mammon ; suppose thou mightest 
lade thyself as thou wouldst from hence. Go to the 
towers, to the trophies of honor ; what thinkest thou 
of being a man of renown, and having a name like the 
name of the great men of the earth ? Would any 01 
this, all this suffice thee, and make thee count thyself 
happy ? If so, then certainly thou art carnal and un- 
converted. If not, go farther ; wade into the divine ex- 
cellences, the store of his mercies, the hiding of his pow- 
er, the depths unfathomable of his all-sufficiency. Doth 
this suit thee best and please thee most ? Dost thou 
say, " It is good to be here" — " Here will I pitch, here 
will I live and die ?" Wilt thou let all the world go ra- 
ther than this 1 Then it is well between God and thee : 
happy art thou, O man — happy art thou that ever thou 
wast born. If a God can make thee happy, thou must 
be happy ; for thou hast avouched the Lord to be thy 
God. Dost thou say to Christ as he to us, " Thy Fa- 
ther shall be my Father, and thy God my God ?" Here 
is the turning point ; an unsound professor never takes 
up his rest in God, but converting grace does the work, 
and so cures the fatal misery of the fall, by turning the 
heart from its idol to the living God. Now, says the 
soul, " Lord, whither shall I go ? Thou hast the words 
of eternal life." Here he centres, here he settles. It 
is the entrance of heaven to him j he sees his interest 
in God. When he discovers this, he saith, " Return 
unto thy rest, my soul, for the Lord hath dealt boun- 
tifully with thee." And he is even ready to breathe out 
Simeon's song, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant de- 
part in peace;" and saith with Jacob, when his old heart 
revived at the welcome tidings, " It is enough." When 
he sees he hath a God in covenant to go to, " this is all 
his salvation and all his desire." 



36 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. | Chap. II. 

Is this thy case ? hast thou experienced this ? Why 
then, " blessed art thou of the Lord ;" God hath been at 
work with thee ; he hath laid hold on thy heart by the 
power of converting grace, or else thou couldst never 
have done this. 

God effects this work through Christ, the only Me- 
diator between God and man. 1 Tim. 2 : 5. His work 
is to bring us to God. 1 Pet. 3 : 18. He is the way to 
the Father, John, 14 : 6, the only plank on which we 
may escape, the only door by which we may enter. 
John, 10 : 9. Conversion brings over the soul to Christ 
to accept him as the only means of life, as the only 
way, the only name given under heaven. He looks not 
for salvation in any other but him ; he throws himself 
on Christ alone, as one that would cast himself with 
spread arms upon the sea. 

" Here (saith the convinced sinner) I will venture ; 
and if I perish, I perish ; if I die, I will die here. But, 
Lord, suffer me not to perish under the eye of thy 
mercy. Entreat me not to leave thee, or to turn away 
from following after thee." Ruth, 1 : 16. " Here I will 
throw myself, if thou kill me." " I will not go from 
thy door." 

Thus the poor soul doth venture on Christ and re- 
solutely adhere to him. Before conversion, the man 
made light of Christ, minded his farm, friends, mer- 
chandise, more than Christ ; now Christ is to him as 
his necessary food, his daily bread, the life of his heart, 
the staff of his life. His great desire is, that Christ 
may be magnified in him. His heart once said, as they 
to the spouse, " What is thy beloved more than ano- 
ther?" Cant. 5:9. He found more sweetness in his 
merry company, wicked games, earthly delights, than 
m Christ. He took religion for a fancy, and the talk 



Chap. II J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 37 

of great enjoyments for an idle dream ; but now to him 
to live is Christ. He sets light by all that he accounted 
precious, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ 

All of Christ is accepted by the sincere convert : he 
loves not only the wages but the work of Christ ; not 
only the benefits but the burden of Christ; he is will- 
ing not only to tread out the corn, but to draw under 
the yoke ; he takes up the commands of Christ, yea, 
and cross of Christ. 

The unsound closeth by halves with Christ ; he is all 
for the salvation of Christ, but he is not for sanctifica- 
tion ; he divides the offices and benefits of Christ. This 
is an error in the foundation. Whoso loveth life, let 
him beware here; it is an undoing mistake, of which 
you have been often warned, and yet none more com- 
mon. Jesus is a sweet name ; but men " love not the 
Lord Jesus in sincerity." They will not have him as 
God offers, " to be a Prince and a Savior." They di- 
vide what God has joined, the king and the priest: yea, 
they will not accept the salvation of Christ as he in- 
tends it ; they divide it here. Every man's vote is for 
salvation from suffering ; but they desire not to be saved 
from sinning ; they would have their lives saved, but 
withal would have their lusts. Yea, many divide here 
again ; they would be content to have some of their 
sins destroyed, but they cannot leave the lap of Delilah, 
or divorce the beloved Herodias : they cannot be cruei 
to the right eye or right hand : the Lord must pardon 
them in this thing. O be carefully scrupulous here: 
your souls depend upon it. The sound convert takes 
a whole Christ, and takes him for all intents and pur- 
poses, without exceptions, without limitations, without 
reserve. He is willing to have Christ upon any terms; 
he is willing to have the dominion of Christ, as well a« 
4 



38 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II. 

deliverance by Christ ; he saith, with Paul, " Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do ?" Any thing. Lord. 
He sends the blank to Christ, to set down his own 
conditions. 

The heart that was once set against the laws, ordi- 
nances, and ways of Christ, and could not endure the 
strictness of these bonds, the severity of these ways, 
now falls in with them, and chooses them as its rule 
and guide for ever. 

Four things, I observe, God doth work in every 
sound convert, with reference to the laws and ways of 
Christ; by which you may come to know your state, 
if you will be faithful to your own souls, and therefore 
keep your eyes upon your hearts as you go along. 

1. The judgment is brought to approve of them, and 
subscribe to them, as most righteous and most reason- 
able. The mind is brought to like the ways of God ; 
and the corrupt prejudices that were once against them, 
as unreasonable and intolerable, are now removed. 
The understanding assents to them all, as holy, just, 
and good. Rom. 7 : 12. How is David taken up with 
the excellences of God's laws ! how doth he expatiate 
on their praises, both from their inherent qualities and 
admirable effects ! Psalm 19 : 8, 9, 10, &c. 

There is a twofold judgment of the understanding. 
The absolute judgment is, when a man thinks such a 
course best in the general, but not for him, or not under 
his present circumstances. Now, a godly man's judg- 
ment is for the ways of God, and that not only the ab- 
solute, but comparative judgment; he thinks them not 
only the best in general, but best for him : he looks 
upon the rules of religion not only as tolerable, but de- 



Chap. II. j THE 7 CONVERSION. 39 

sirable; yea. more desirable than gold, fine gold; yea. 
much fine gold. 

His judgment is fully determined that it is best to 
be holy, that it is best to be strict, that it is in i 
the most eligible course, and that it is for him the w 
and most rational and desirable choice. Hear the g 
man's judgment : " I know. O Lord, that thy judg- 
ments are right ; I love thy commandments above gold, 
yea. above fine gold ; I esteem all thy precepts con- 
cerning all things to be right; and I hate every false 
way/' Mark, he approves of all that God requires, and 
disallows of all that he forbids. •• Righteous, O Lord, 
and upright are thy judgments. Thy testimonies that 
thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful. 
Thy word is true from the beginning, and every one 
of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever." See 
how readily and fully he subscribes ; he declares his 
t and consent to it, and all and every thing therein 
contained. 

2. The desire of the heart is to know the whole n 
of Christ. He would not have one sin undiscov- 
nor be ignorant of one duty required. It is the natural 
and earnest breathing of a sanctified heart: u Lord, if 
there be any way of wickedness in me, do thou 
cover it. What I know not, teach thou me: and if I 
have done iniquity, I will do it no more." The unsound 
is willingly ignorant, loves not to come to the light. 
He is willing to keep such or such a sin, and therefore 
is loth to know it to be a sin, and will not let in the 
light at that window. Now the gracious heart is will- 
ing to know the whole latitude and compass of his 
Makers law. He receives with all acceptation the 
word which convinceth him of any duty that he knew 
not, or minded not before, or which discovereth any 
§in that lay hid before. 



40 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II. 

3. The free and decided choice of the will is for the 
ways of Christ, before all the pleasures of sin and pros- 
perities of the world. His consent is not extorted by 
some extremity of anguish, nor is it only a sudden and 
hasty resolve, but he is deliberately purposed, and 
comes off freely to the choice. True, the flesh will 
rebel, yet the prevailing part of his will is for Christ's 
laws and government; so that he takes them not up as 
his toil or burden, but his bliss. While the unsancti- 
ried goes in Christ's ways as in chains and fetters, he 
does it heartily, and counts Christ's laws his liberty. 
He delights in the beauties of holiness, and has this in- 
separable mark, " That he had rather (if he might have 
his choice) live a strict and holy life, than the most 
prosperous and flourishing mere worldly life." " There 
went with Saul a band of men whose hearts God had 
touched." When God toucheth the hearts of his chosen, 
they presently follow Christ, and (though drawn) do 
freely rim after him, and willingly devote themselves 
to the service of the Lord, seeking him with their 
whole desire. Fear hath its use ; but this is not the 
main spring of motion with a sanctified heart. Christ 
keeps not his subjects by force, but is king of a willing 
people. They are, through his grace, freely devoted 
to his service ; they serve out of choice, not as slaves, 
but as the son or spouse, from a spring of love and a 
loyal mind. In a word, the laws of Christ are the con- 
vert's love, delight, and continual study. 

4. The bent of his course is directed to keep God's 
statutes. It is the daily care of his life to walk with 
God. He seeks great things, he hath noble designs, 
though he fall too short. He aims at nothing less than 
perfection : he desires it, he reaches after it ; he would 
not rest in any degree of grace, till he were quite rid 
of sin, and had perfect holiness. 



Chap. II.J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 41 

Here the hypocrite's rottenness may be discovered. 
He desires holiness (as one well said) only as a bridge 
to heaven, and inquires earnestly what is the least that 
will serve his turn; and if he can get but so much as 
may bring him to heaven ; this is all he cares for. But 
the sound convert desires holiness for holiness' sake, 
and not merely for heaven's sake. He would not be 
satisfied with so much as might save him from hell, 
but desires the highest degree : yet desires are not 
enough. What is thy way and thy course? Is holi- 
ness thy pursuit, and religion thy business? If not, 
thou art short of sound conversion. 

Application. — And is this that we have described, 
the conversion that is of absolute necessity to salva- 
tion? Then be informed, That strait is the gate and 
narrow the way that leadeth unto life — that there are 
but few that find it — that there is need of a divine 
power savingly to convert a sinner to Jesus Christ. 

Again, Then be exhorted, O man, to turn in upon 
thine own self. What saith conscience? Doth it not 
begin to bite ? Doth it not pierce thee as thou goest? 
Is this thy judgment, and this thy choice, and this thy 
way, that we have described ? If so, then it is well. 
But doth not thy heart condemn thee, and tell thee 
there is such a sin thou livest in against thy conscience ? 
Doth it not tell thee there is such and such a secret 
way of wickedness that thou makest no account of? 
such or such a duty that thou makest no conscience of? 

Doth not conscience carry thee to thy closet, and 
tell thee how seldom prayer and reading are performed 
there ? Doth it not carry thee to thy family, and show 
thee the charge of God, and the souls of thy children 
and servants, that are neglected there? Doth not con- 
science lead thee to thy shop, thy trade, and tell thee 
4* 



42 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. HI. 

of some iniquity there? Doth it not carry thee to the 
dram-shop, or the resort of idleness, and blame thee 
for the loose company thou keepest there, the precious 
time thou misspendest there, for the talents which 
thou wastest there, for thy gaming, and thy drinking? 
&c. Doth it not carry thee into thy secret chamber, 
and read there thy condemnation? 

O conscience ! do thy duty : in the name of the liv- 
ing God, I command thee, discharge thine office ; lay 
hold upon this sinner, fall upon him, arrest him, ap- 
prehend him, undeceive him. What! wilt thou flatter 
and sooth him while he lives in his sins ? Awake, O 
conscience! what meanest thou, O sleeper? What! 
hast thou never a reproof in thy mouth ? What ! shall 
this soul die in his careless neglect of God and of eter- 
nity, and thou altogether hold thy peace? What ! shall 
he go on still in his trespasses, and yet have peace? 
Oh ! rouse up thyself, and do thy work. Now let the 
preacher in thy bosom speak : cry aloud, and spare 
not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet: let not the blood 
of his soul be required at thy hands. 



CHAPTER III. 

Of the Necessity of Conversion. 

It may be you are ready to say, What meaneth this 
stir ? and are apt to wonder why I follow you with such 
earnestness, still ringing one lesson in your ears, that 
"you should repent, and be converted." But I must 
say to you, as Ruth to Naomi, " Entreat me not to leave 
thee, or to return from following tutor thee." Were it 



Chnp. III.] THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 43 

a matter of indifference — might you be saved as you 
are — I would gladly let you alone: but would you 
not have me solicitous for you, when I see you rea- 
dy to perish? As the Lord liveth, before whom I 
am, I have not the least hope to see one of your faces 
in heaven, except you be converted. I utterly despair 
of your salvation, except you will be prevailed with to 
turn thoroughly, and give up yourselves to God in ho- 
liness and newness of life. Hath God said, " Except 
a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of 
God?" John, 3 : 3; and yet do you wonder why your 
ministers so earnestly labor for you? Think it not 
strange that I am earnest with you to follow after ho- 
liness, and long to see the image of God upon you. 
Never did any, nor shall any, enter into heaven by any 
other way but this. The conversion described is not 
a high attainment of some eminent Christians, but 
every soul that is saved passeth this change. 

It was a saying of the noble Roman, when he was 
hasting with corn to the city in the famine, and the 
mariners were loth to set sail in foul weather, It is ne- 
cessary for us to sail — it is not necessary for us to live. 
What is it that thou dost count necessary? Is thy 
bread necessary? Is thy breath necessary? Then thy 
conversion is much more necessary. Indeed, this is 
the one thing necessary. Thine estate is not necessary ; 
thou mayest sell all for the pearl of great price, and 
yet be a gainer by the purchase. Thy life is not ne- 
cessary ; thou mayest part with it for Christ, to infinite 
advantage. Thy reputation is not necessary; thou 
mayest be reproached for the name of Christ, and yet 
be happy ; yea, much more happy in reproach than in 
repute. But thy conversion is necessary ; thy salva- 
tion depends upon it ; and is it not needful, in so iin 



44 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. III. 

portant a case, to look about thee ? On this one point 
depends thy making or marring to all eternity. 

But I shall more particularly show the necessity of 
conversion in five things ; for without this, 

I. Thy being is in vain. Is it not a pity thoushouldst 
be good for nothing, an unprofitable burden of the earth, 
a wart or wen in the body of the universe ? Thus 
thou art, whilst unconverted ; for thou canst not an- 
swer the end of thy being. Is it not for the divine 
pleasure that thou art and wast created? Did not 
God make thee for himself? Art thou a man, and hast 
thou reason ? Then, bethink thyself why and whence 
thy being is. Behold God's workmanship in thy body, 
and ask thyself, to what end did God rear this fabric? 
Consider the noble faculties of thy heaven-born soul. 
To what end did God bestow these excellencies. To 
no other than that thou shouldst please thyself, and 
gratify thy senses ? Did God send men, like the swal- 
lows, into the world, only to gather a few sticks and 
dirt, and build their nests, and breed up their young, 
and then away ? The very heathens could see farther 
than this. Art thou so "fearfully and wonderfully 
made," and dost thou not yet think with thyself — sure- 
ly it was for some noble and exalted end? 

O man! set thy reason a little to work. Is it not a 
pity such a goodly fabric should be raised in vain? 
Verily thou art in vain, except thou art for God: bet- 
ter thou hadst no being, than not be for him. Wouldst 
thou serve thy end ? thou must repent and be convert- 
ed : without this, thou art to no purpose; yea, to bad 
purpose. 

Thou art to no purpose. Man, unconverted, is like 



Chap. III.J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 45 

a choice instrument that hath every string broken or 
out of tune. The Spirit of the living God must repair 
and tune it by the grace of regeneration, and sweetly 
move it by the power of actuating grace, or else thy 
prayers will be but bowlings, and all thy services will 
make no music in the ears of the Most Holy. All thy 
powers and faculties are so corrupt in thy natural state, 
that, except thou be purged from dead works, thou canst 
not serve the living God. 

An unsanctified man cannot work the work of God. 
1. He hath no skill in it; he is altogether as unskilful 
in the work as in the word of righteousness. There 
are great mysteries in the practice as well as in the 
principles of godliness. Now the unregenerate know 
not '"the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." You 
may as well expect him that never learned the alpha- 
bet to read, or look for goodly music on the lute from 
one that never set his hand to an instrument, as that a 
natural man should do the Lord any pleasing service. 
He must first be taught of God, taught to pray, taught 
to profit, taught to go, or else he will be utterly at a 
loss. 2. He hath no strength for it. How weak is his 
heart! he is presently tired. The Sabbath, what a 
weariness is it! He is without strength, yea, dead in 
sin. 3. He hath no mind to it; he desires not the know- 
ledge of God's ways; he doth not know them, and he 
doth not care to know them ; he knows not, neither will 
he understand. 4. He hath neither due instruments 
nor materials for it. A man may as well hew the mar- 
ble without tools, or paint without colors or instruments, 
or build without materials, as perform any acceptable 
service, without the graces of the Spirit, which are 
both the materials and instruments in the work. Alms- 
giving is not a service of God, but of vain-glory, if not 



46 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. III. 

held forth by the hand of divine love. What is the 
prayer of the lips without grace in the heart, but the 
carcass without the life? What are all our confes- 
sions, unless they be exercises of godly sorrow and 
unfeigned repentance? What our petitions, unless ani- 
mated with holy desires and faith in the divine attri- 
butes and promises? What our praises and thanks- 
givings, unless from the love of God, and a holy grati- 
tude and sense of God's mercies in the heart? So 
that a man may as well expect that trees should speak, 
or look for logic from the brutes, or motion from the 
dead, as to look for any service, holy and acceptable to 
God, from the unconverted. When the tree is evil, 
how can the fruit be good? 

Also, without conversion you live to bad purpose. 
The unconverted soul is a very cage of unclean birds, 
a sepulchre full of corruption and rottenness, a loath- 
some carcass full of worms, and sending forth a most 
noisome savor to God. O dreadful case! Dost thou 
not yet see a change to be needful ? Would it not have 
grieved one to have seen the golden consecrated ves- 
sels of God's temple turned into quaffing bowls of 
drunkenness, and polluted with the idol's service? Was 
it such an abomination to the Jews, when Antiochus 
set up the picture of a swine at the entrance of the 
temple? How much more abominable then would it 
have been to have had the very temple itself turned 
into a stable or a sty; and to have had the "holy of 
holies" served like the house of Baal, and have been 
turned into a draught-house ! This is the very case d 
the unregenerate : all thy members are turned into in- 
struments of unrighteousness, servants of Satan; and 
thy inmost powers into a receptacle of uncleanness. 
You may see the guests within, by what comes out; 



Chap. III. J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 4*7 

for, " out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, 
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphe- 
mies," &c. This black troop discovers what a hell 
there is within. 

O abuse insufferable ! to see a heaven-born soul abased 
to the filthiest drudgery ! to see the glory of God's crea- 
tion, the chief of the works of God, the Lord of the 
universe, lapping with a prodigal at the trough ! "Was 
it such a lamentation to see those that did feed delicately 
sit desolate in the streets ; and the precious sons of 
Zion, comparable to fine gold, esteemed as earthen 
pitchers ; and those that were clothed in scarlet em- 
brace dunghills 1 And is it not much more fearful to 
see the only thing that hath immortality in this lower 
world, and carries the stamp of God, become as a ves- 
sel wherein is no pleasure, and be put to the most sor- 
did use? O indignity intolerable! Better thou wert 
dashed in a thousand pieces, than continue to be abased 
to so vile a service. 

II. Not only man, but the whole visible creation, is 
in vain without this. God hath made all the visible 
creatures in heaven and earth for the service of man, 
and man only is the spokesman for all the rest. Man 
is, in the universe, like the tongue to the body, which 
speaks for all the members. The other creatures can- 
not praise their Maker, but by dumb signs and hints 
to man that he should speak for them. Man is, as it 
were, the high-priest of God's creation, to offer the sa- 
crifice of praise for all his fellow creatures. The Lord 
God expecteth a tribute of praise from all his works. 
Now, all the rest do bring in their tribute to man, and 
pay it by his hand. So then, if a man be false, and 
faithless, and selfish, God is wronged of all, and has 
no active glory from his works. 



48 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Cbap. lit 

O dreadful thought to think of ! that God should 
build such a world as this, and lay out such infinite 
power, and wisdom, and goodness thereupon, and all 
in vain ; and that man should be guilty, at last, of rob- 
bing and spoiling him of the glory of all ! O think of 
this. While thou art unconverted, all the offices of the 
creatures are in vain to thee : thy meat nourishes thee 
in vain; the sun holds forth his light to thee in vain ; 
the stars that serve thee in their courses by their pow- 
erful, though hidden influence, do it in vain; thy 
clothes warm thee in vain ; thy beast carries thee in 
vain; in a word, the unwearied labors of the whole 
creation (as to thee) are in vain. The service of all 
the creatures that drudge for thee, and yield forth their 
strength unto thee, that therewith thou shouldest serve 
their Maker, is all but lost labor. Hence the whole 
creation groaneth under the abuse of men unsanctified, 
who pervert all things to the service of their lusts, 
quite contrary to the very end of their being, a 

III. Without this, thy religion is vain ; all thy re- 
ligious performances will be but lost; for they can 
neither please God nor save thy soul, which are the 
very ends of religion. Be thy services ever so spe- 
cious, yet God hath no pleasure in them. Is not that 
man's case dreadful whose sacrifices are as murders, 
and whose prayers are a breath of abomination ? Many, 
under convictions, think they will set upon mending, 
and that a few prayers and alms will cover all again ; 
but alas, sirs! while your hearts remain unsanctified 
your duties will not pass. How punctual was Jehu ! 
and yet all was rejected because his heart was not up- 
right. How blameless was Paul ! and yet, being un 
converted, all was but loss. Men think they do much 



Chap. III.] THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 49 

in attending God's service, and are ready to charge 
him with it, and set him down so much their debtor; 
whereas their persons being unsanctified, their duties 
cannot be accepted. 

O soul ! do not think, when thy sins pursue thee, 
that a little praying and reforming thy course will pa- 
cify God. Thou must begin with thine heart. If that 
be not renewed, thou canst no more please God than 
one who, having unspeakably offended thee, should 
bring thee the most loathsome thing to pacify thee ; 
or having fallen into the mire, should think with his 
filthy embraces to reconcile thee. 

It is a great misery to labor in the fire. The poets 
could not invent a worse hell for Sisyphus than to be 
ever toiling to get the barrel up the hill, and then that 
it should presently roll down again and renew his la- 
bor. God threatens it as the greatest of temporal judg- 
ments, that they should build and not inhabit, plant 
and not gather, and that their labors should be eaten 
up by strangers. Is it so great a misery to lose our 
common labors, to sow in vain, and to build in vain? 
how much more to lose our pains in religion — to pray, 
and hear, and fast in vain ! This is an undoing and 
eternal loss. Be not deceived; if thou goest on in thy 
sinful state, though thou shouldst spread forth thy 
hands, God will hide his eyes; though thou make many 
prayers, he will not hear. If a man without skill set 
about our work, find spoil it in the doing, though he 
take much pains, we give him but small thauks. God 
will be worshipped after the due order. If a servant 
do our work, but quite contrary to our order, he shall 
have rather stripes than praise. God's work must be 
done according to God's mind, or he will not be pleased : 
and this cannot be, except it be done with a holy heart. 



50 THE NECESSITY OP CONVERSION. [Chap. III. 

IV. Without this, thy hopes are in vain. " The Lord 
hath rejected thy confidences." 

1. The hope of comfort here is in vain. It is not 
only necessary to the safety, but comfort, of your con- 
dition, that you be converted. Without this, you " shall 
not know peace." Without the " fear of God " you 
cannot have the " comfort of the Holy Ghost." God 
speaks peace only to his people and to his saints. If 
you have a false peace, continuing in your sins, it is 
not of God's speaking, and then you may guess the 
author. Sin is a real sickness, yea, the worst of sick- 
ness ; it is a leprosy in the head, the plague of the heart ; 
it is rottenness in the bones; it pierceth, it woundeth, it 
racketh, it tormenteth. A man may as well expect 
ease when his distempers are in their fell strength, or 
his bones out of joint, as true comfort while in his sins. 

O wretched man, that canst have no ease in this 
case but what comes from the deadliness of the dis- 
ease ! You shall hear the poor sick man saying, in 
his wildness, he is well, when you see death in his 
face ; he would be up and about his business, when the 
very next step is likely to be to his grave. The un- 
sanctified often see nothing amiss ; they think them- 
selves whole, and cry not for the physician; but this 
only shows the danger of their case. 

Sin doth naturally breed distempers and disturbances 
in the soul. What a continual tempest is there in a dis- 
contented mind ! what a corroding evil is inordinate 
care ! what is passion but a very fever in the mind? 
what is lust but a fire in the bones ? what is pride but 
a deadly dropsy? or covetousness, but an insatiable 
and insufferable thirst? or malice and envy, but venom 
in the very heart? Spiritual sloth is but a scurvy in 



Chap. III.] THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 51 

the mind, and carnal security a mortal lethargy ; and 
how can that soul have true comfort which is under 
so many diseases ? But converting grace cures, and 
so eases the mind, and prepares the soul for a settled, 
standing, immortal peace. " Great peace have they 
that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them." 
They are the ways of wisdom that afford pleasure and 
peace. David had infinitely more pleasure in the word 
than in all the delights of his court. The conscience 
cannot be truly pacified till soundly purified. Cursed 
is that peace which is maintained in a way of sin. 
Two sorts of peace are more to be dreaded than all the 
troubles in the world; peace with sin, and peace in sin. 
2. Thy hopes of salvation hereafter are in vain; yea, 
worse than in vain; they are most injurious to God, 
most pernicious to thyself. There is death, despera- 
tion and blasphemy in this hope. 1. There is death 
in it. Thy confidence shall be rooted out of thy taber- 
nacles, (God will up with it root and branch ;) it shall 
bring thee to the king of terrors. Though thou mayest 
lean upon this house, it will not stand, but will prove 
like a ruinous building, which, when a man trusts to 
it, falls down about him. 2. There is desperation in it : 
" Where is the hope of the hypocrite when God takes 
away his soul?" Then there is an end for ever of his 
hope. Indeed, the hope of the righteous hath an end ; 
but it is not a destructive, but a perfective end ; his 
hope ends in fruition, others in frustration. The godly 
may say at death, " It is finished ;" but the wicked, " It 
is perished," and in too sad earnest bemoan himself, as 
Job, in a mistake, " Where is now my hope ? He hath 
destroyed me; lam gone, and my hope is removed 
like a tree." " The righteous hath hope in his death." 
When nature is dying, his hopes are living ; when his 



52 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. 111. 

body is languishing, his hopes are flourishing; his hope 
is a living hope, but others' a dying, a damning, soul- 
undoing hope: " When a wicked man dieth, his expec- 
tation shall perish ; and the hope of unjust men pe- 
risheth." It shall be cut off and prove like a " spider's 
web," which he spins out of his own bowels ; but then 
comes death and destroys al 
nal end of his confidence wh< 
eyes of the wicked shall fail, and their hope shall be as 
the giving up of the ghost." 

Wicked men are fixed in their carnal hope, and will 
not be beaten out of it; they hold it fast ; they will not 
let it go: yea, but death will knock off their fingers. 
Though we cannot undeceive them, death and judg- 
ment will. When death strikes his dart through thy 
liver, it will ruin thy soul and thy hopes together. 
The unsanctified have hope only in this life, and there- 
fore are "of all men most miserable." W T hen death 
comes, it lets them out into the amazing gulf of end- 
less desperation. 3. There is blasphemy in it. To 
hope we shall be saved, though continuing unconvert- 
ed, is to hope that we shall prove God a liar. He hath 
told you, that so merciful and pitiful as he is, he will 
never save you notwithstanding, if you go on in igno- 
rance, or a course of unrighteousness. In a word, he 
has told you that, whatever you be or do, nothing shall 
avail you to salvation unless you become new crea- 
tures. Now, to say God is merciful, and we hope that 
he will save us, is in effect to say, " We hope that God 
will not do as he says." We must not set God's attri- 
butes at variance; God has resolved to glorify his 
mercy, but not to the prejudice of his truth, as the pre- 
sumptuous sinner will find to his everlasting sorrow. 

Object. But we hope in Jesus Christ; we put our 



Chap. III.] THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 53 

whole trust in God ; and therefore doubt not but we 
shall be saved. 

Ans. 1. This is not to hope in Christ, but against 
Christ. To hope to see the kingdom of God without 
being born again: to hope to find eternal life in the 
broad way, is to hope Christ will prove a false prophet. 
David's plea is, " I hope in thy word." But this hope 
is against God's word. Show me a word of Christ for 
thy hope that he will save thee in thine ignorance or 
profane neglect of his service, and I will never try to 
shake thy confidence. 

2. God doth with abhorrence reject this hope. Those 
condemned in the prophet, went on in their sins, yet 
(saith the text) they will lean upon the Lord. Micah, 
3:11. God will not endure to be made a prop to men 
in their sins. The Lord rejected tho:-e presumptuous 
sinners that went on still in their trespasses and yet 
would stay themselves upon Israel's God, as a man 
would shake off the briers that cleave to his garment. 

3. If thy hope be any thing worth, it will purify thee 
from thy sins ; but cursed is that hope which cherishes 
men in their sins. 

Oliject. Would you have us to despair ? 

Ans. You must despair of ever coming to heaven 
as you are, that is, while you remain unconverted. 
You must despair of ever seeing the face of God with- 
out holiness; but you must by no means despair of 
finding mercy upon your thorough repentance and con- 
version ; neither may you despair of attaining to re- 
pentance and conversion, if you set about the work 
immediately 

V. Without this, all that Christ hath done and suf- 
fered will be (as to you) in vain ; that is, it will no 
5* 



54 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. III. 

way avail you to salvation. Many urge this as a suffi- 
cient ground for their hopes, that Christ died for sin- 
ners; but I must tell you, Christ never died to save 
impenitent and unconverted sinners, (so continuing.) 
A great divine was wont, in his private dealings with 
souls, to ask two questions : 1. What hath Christ done 
for you ? 2. What hath Christ wrought in you 1 With- 
out the application of the Spirit in regeneration, we 
can have no saving interest in the benefits of redemp- 
tion. 

I tell you from the Lord, that Christ himself cannot 
save you if you go on in this state. 

First. It were against his trust. The Mediator is 
the servant of the Father, shows his commission from 
him, acts in his name, and pleads his command for his 
justification ; and God has committed all things to him, 
entrusted his own glory and the salvation of the elect 
with him. Accordingly Christ gives his Father an ac- 
count of both parts of his trust before he leaves the 
world. Now Christ would quite cross his Father's glo- 
ry and his greatest trust, if he should save men in their 
sins; for this were to overturn all his counsels, and to 
offer violence to all his attributes. 

1. To overturn all his counsels; of which this is the 
order, that men should be brought through sanctifica- 
tion to salvation. He hath chosen them, that they 
should be holy. They are elected to pardon and life 
through sanctification. If thou canst repeal the law 
of God's immutable counsel, or corrupt him whom the 
Father hath sealed, to go directly against his commis- 
sion, then, and not otherwise, mayst thou get to hea- 
ven in this condition. To hope that Christ will save 
thee while unconverted, is to hope that Christ will fal- 
sify his trust. He never did, nor ever will save one 



Chap. III.] THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 55 

soul but whom the Father hath given him in election, 
and drawn to him in effectual calling. Be assured, 
Christ will save none in a way contrary to his Fa- 
ther's will. 

2. To offer violence to all his attributes. 

(1.) To his justice; for the righteousness of God's 
judgment lies in rendering to all according to their 
works. Now, should men sow to the flesh, and yet of 
the Spirit reap everlasting life, where were the glory 
of divine justice, since it should be given to the wicked 
according to the work of the righteous ? 

(2.) To his holiness. If God should not only save 
sinners, but save them in their sins, his most pure and 
strict holiness would be exceedingly defaced. The un- 
sanctified are, in the eyes of God's holiness, exceed- 
ingly vile and hateful. It would be offering the ex- 
tremest violence to the infinite purity of the divine na- 
ture to have such to dwell with him. " They cannot 
stand in his judgment: they cannot abide his presence." 
If holy David would not endure such in his house, no, 
nor in his sight, can we think God will? Should he 
take men as they are, from the mire of their filthiness 
to the glory of heaven, the world would think that 
God was at no such great distance from sin, nor had 
any such dislike to it as we are told he hath ; they 
would be ready to conclude that God was altogether 
such a one as themselves, as some of old wickedly did, 
from the very forbearance of God. 

(3.) To his veracity. For God hath declared from 
heaven, that "if any shall say he shall have peace, 
though he should go on in the imagination of his heart, 
his wrath shall smoke against that man." That " they 
(only) that confess and forsake their sins shall find 
mercy." That " thev that shall enter into his hill must 



56 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. III. 

be of clean hands and a pure heart." Where were 
God's truth, if, notwithstanding all this, he should bring 
men to, salvation without conversion? O desperate 
sinner, that darest to hope that Christ will put the lie 
upon his Father, and nullify his word to save thee ! 

(4.) To his wisdom. For this were to throw away 
the choicest of mercies on them that would not value 
them, nor were any way suited to them. 

They would not value them. The unsanctified sin- 
ner puts but little price upon God's great salvation. 
He sets no more by Christ than the whole by the phy- 
sician. He prizes not his balm, values not his cure, 
but tramples upon his blood. Now, would it stand 
with wisdom to force pardon and life upon those that 
would return no thanks ? Will the all-wise God (when 
he hath forbidden us to do it) throw his holy things to 
dogs, and his pearls to swine, that would, as it were, 
but turn again and rend him ? This would make mer- 
cy to be despised indeed. Wisdom requires that life 
be given in a way suitable to God's honor, and that 
God provide for the securing of his own glory as well 
as man's felicity. It would be dishonorable to God to 
bestow his choicest riches on them that have more 
pleasure in their lusts than in heavenly delights. God 
would lose the praise and glory of his grace, if he 
should cast it away upon them that were not only un- 
worthy, but unwilling. 

Also, the mercies of God are no way suited to the 
unconverted. The divine wisdom is seen in suiting 
things to each other, the means to the end, the object 
to the faculty, the quality of the gift to the capacity of 
the receiver. Now, if Christ should bring the unre- 
generate sinner to heaven, he could take no more feli- 
city there than a beast if 3^011 should bring him into a 



Chap. III.] THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 57 

beautiful room, to the society of learned men; where- 
as the poor thing had much rather be grazing with his 
fellow-brutes. Alas! what could an unsanctified crea- 
ture do in heaven? he could not be contented there, 
because nothing suits him. The place doth not suit him ; 
he would be quite out of his element, a fish out of water. 
The company doth not suit him : what communion 
hath darkness with light? corruption with perfection? 
filth and rottenness with glory and immortality ? The 
employment doth not suit him ; the anthems of heaven 
fit not his mouth, suit not his ear. Canst thou charm 
thy beast with music? or wilt thou bring him to thy 
organ and expect that he should make thee melody, 
or keep time with the tuneful choir? or, had he skill, 
he would have no will, and so could find no pleasure 
in it. Spread thy table with delicacies before a lan- 
guishing patient, and it will be a very great offence. 
Alas! if the poor man say of a Sabbath-day, " What a 
weariness is it!" how miserable would he think it to 
be engaged in an everlasting Sabbath ? 

5. To his immutability, or else to his omniscience or 
omnipotence ; for this is enacted in the conclave of 
heaven, and enrolled in the decrees of the court above, 
that none but the "pure in heart shall ever see God;" 
this is laid up with him, and sealed among his trea- 
sures. Now, if Christ yet bring any to heaven uncon- 
verted, either he must get them in without his Father's 
knowledge, and then where is his omniscience? or 
against his will, and then where were his omnipotence? 
or he must change his will, and then where were his 
immutability? 

Sinner, wilt thou not give up thy vain hope of being 
saved in this condition? Saith Bildad, "Shall the 
earth be forsaken for thee? or the rocks be moved out 



58 THE NECESSITY OP CONVERSION. [Chap. HI. 

of their place ?" May I not much more reason so with 
thee? Shall the laws of heaven be reversed for thee? 
Shall the everlasting foundations be overturned for 
thee? Shall Christ put out the eye of his Father's 
omniscience, or shorten the arm of his eternal power 
for thee? Shall divine justice be violated for thee? or 
the brightness of his holiness be blemished for thee? 
O the impossibility, absurdity, blasphemy, that are in 
such a confidence! To think Christ will ever save 
thee in this condition, is to make the Savior become a 
sinner, and do more wrong to infinite Majesty than all 
the wicked on earth or devils in hell ever did, or ever 
could do ; and yet wilt thou not give up such a blas- 
phemous hope? 

Second. Against his word. 

We need not say, "Who shaU ascend into heaven, 
to bring down Christ from above? Or, who shall de- 
scend into the deep, to bring up Christ from beneath? 
The word is nigh us." Are you agreed that Christ 
shall end the controversy ? Hear then his own words : 
"Except ye be converted, ye shall in no wise enter in- 
to the kingdom of heaven." " You must be born again." 
"If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in me." "Re- 
pent or perish." One word, one would think, were 
enough from Christ ; but how often and earnestly doth 
he reiterate it ! "Verily, verily, except a man be born 
again, he shall not see the kingdom of God." Yea, he 
doth not only assert but prove the necessity of the 
new birth, namely, from the fleshliness and sinfulness 
of man from his first birth, by reason of which man is 
no more fit for heaven than the beast is for the chamber 
of the king's presence. And wilt thou yet believe thy 
own presumptuous confidence, directly against Christ's 
words ? He must go quite against the law of his king- 
dom, rule of his judgment, to save thee in this state. 



Chap. III.] THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 59 

Third. Against his oath. 

He hath lifted up his hand to heaven, he hath sworn 
that those who remain in unbelief and know not his 
ways (that is, are ignorant of them, or disobedient to 
them,) shall not enter into his rest. And wilt thou 
not yet believe, O sinner, that he is in earnest? Canst 
thou hope he will be forsworn for thee ? The covenant 
of grace is confirmed by an oath and sealed by blood; 
but all must be made void, and another way to heaven 
found out, if thou be saved, living and dying unsancti- 
fled. God is come to his last terms with man, and has 
condescended as far as in honor he could. Men can- 
not be saved while unconverted, except they could get 
another covenant made, and the whole frame of the 
Gospel (which was established for ever with such dread- 
ful solemnities) quite altered. And must not they be 
distracted, to hope that they shall? 

Fourth. Against his honor. 

God will so show his love to the sinner, as withal to 
show his hatred to sin ; therefore "he that names the 
name of Jesus must depart from iniquity and deny all 
ungodliness; and he that hath hope of life by Christ 
must "purify himself as he is pure," otherwise Christ 
would be thought a favorer of sin. The Lord Jesus 
would have all the world to know, that though he par- 
dons sin, he will not protect it. If holy David say, 
"Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity," Psa. 
6 : 8, and shut the doors against them, Psa. 101 : 7, shall 
not such more expect it from Christ's holiness? 

Fifth. Against his offices. 

"God hath exalted him to be a Prince and a Savior." 
He would act against both, should he save men in their 
sins. It is the office of a king to be "a terror to evil 
doers, and a praise to them that do well." "He is a 



60 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. III. 

minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath on him 
that doth evil." Now, should Christ favor the ungodly, 
(so continuing,) and take those to reign with him that 
would not that he should reign over them, this would 
be quite against his office; he therefore reigns that he 
may "put his enemies under his feet." Now, should 
he lay them in his bosom, he would cross the end of 
his regal power ; it belongs to Christ, as a King, to sub- 
due the hearts and slay the lusts of his chosen. What 
king would take rebels in open hostility into his court? 
What were this but to betray life, kingdom, govern- 
ment, and all together? If Christ be a King, he must 
have honor, homage, subjection. Now, to save men 
while in their natural enmity, were to obscure his dig- 
nity, lose his authority, bring contempt on his govern- 
ment, and sell his dear-bought rights for naught. 

Again, as Christ would not be a Prince, so neither a 
Savior, if he should do this : for his salvation is spiri- 
tual. He is called Jesus, because he saves his people 
from their sins. Matt. 1 : 21. So that, should he save 
them in their sins, he would be neither Lord nor Jesus. 
To save men from the punishment, and not from the 
power of sin, were to do his work by halves, and be an 
imperfect Savior. His office as the Deliverer, is " to 
turn away ungodliness from Jacob." " He is sent to 
bless men, in turning them from their iniquities." " To 
make an end of sin." So that he would destroy his 
own designs, and nullify his offices, to save men abid- 
ing in their unconverted state. 

Application. — Arise then ! W r hat meanest thou, O 
sleeper? Awake, O secure sinner! lest thou be con- 
sumed in thine iniquities : say, as the lepers, " If we 
sit here, we shall die." Verily, it is not more certain 
that thou art nowo.it of hell, than that thou shai: 



Chap. III. J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION G& 

speedily be in it, except thou repent and be converted : 
there is but this one door for thee to escape by. Arise 
then, O sluggard, and shake off thine excuses : how 
long wilt thou slumber, and fold thy hands to sleep 1 
Wilt thou lie down in the midst of the sea, or sleep on 
the top of a mast? There is no remedy, but thou must 
either turn or burn. There is an unchangeable neces- 
sity of the change of thy condition, except thou hast 
resolved to abide the worst of it, and try it out with the 
Almighty. If thou lovest thy life, O man, arise and 
coroe away. Methinks I see the Lord Jesus laying 
the merciful hands of a holy violence upon thee ; me- 
thinks he acts like the angels to Lot : " Then the an- 
gels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, lest thou be consumed. 
And, while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his 
hand, the Lord being merciful unto him ; and they 
brought him without the city, and said, Escape for thy 
life, stay not in all the plain ; escape to the mountains, 
lest thou be consumed." 

O how wilful will thy destruction be if thou 
shouldst yet harden thyself in thy sinful state ! But 
none of you can say that you have not had fair warn- 
ing. Yet methinks I cannot tell how to leave you so, 
It is not enough for me to have delivered my own soul. 
What! shall I go away without my errand? Will 
none of you arise and follow me ? Have I been all this 
while speaking to the wind? have I been charming 
the deaf adder, or allaying the restless ocean with ar- 
gument? Do I speak to the trees or rocks, or to men ? 
to the tombs or monuments of the dead, or to a living 
auditory? If you be men, and not senseless stocks, 
stand still and consider whither you are going ; if you 
have the reason and understanding of men, dare not to 
run into the flames, and fall into hell with your eyes 
6 



62 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. 111. 

open; but bethink yourselves, and set to the work of 
repentance. What ! men, and yet run into the pit, 
when the very beasts will not be forced in ! What ! en- 
dowed with reason, and yet trifle with death and hell, 
and the vengeance of the Almighty ! Are men herein 
only distinguished from very brutes, that these, having 
no foresight, have no care to provide for the things to 
come; and will you, who are warned, not hasten your 
escape from eternal torments? O show yourselves 
men, and let reason prevail with you. 

Is it a reasonable thing for you to contend against 
the Lord your Maker? or "to harden yourselves 
against his word," Job, 9 : 4, as though the Strength 
of Israel would lie? Is it reasonable that an under- 
standing creature should lose, yea, live quite against, 
the very end of his being, and be as a broken pitcher, 
only fit for the dunghill ? Is it reasonable that the only 
thing in this world that God hath made capable of 
knowing his! will and bringing him glory, should yet 
live in ignor ince of his Maker, and be unserviceable to 
his use, yea, mould be engaged against him, and resist 
his Creator? ''Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth," 
and let the creatures without sense judge if this be rea- 
son, that man, whom God hath " nourished and brought 
up, should rebel against him?" Judge in your own 
selves. Is it a reasonable undertaking for briers and 
thorns to set themselves in battle against the devouring 
fire ? or for the potsherd of the earth to strive with its 
Maker? You will say, " This is not reason ;" or sure- 
ly the eye of reason is quite put out. And, if this be 
not reason, then there is no reason that you should 
continue as you are, but there is all the reason in the 
world that you should forthwith turn and repent." 

What shall I say ? I could spend myself in this ar- 



Chap. IV.J THE MARK3 OF THE UNCONVERTED. 63 

gument. O that you would but hearken to me ! that 
you would now set upon a new course ! Will you not 
be made clean? When shall it once be? Wilt thou 
sit down and consider the forementioned argument, 
and debate it, whether it be not best to turn ? Come, 
and let us reason together ; is it good for thee to be 
bere ? Wilt thou sit till the tide come in upon thee ? 
[5 it good for thee to try whether God will be as good as 
his word, and to harden thyself in a conceit that all is 
well with thee while thou remainest unsanctified ? 

Alas ! for such sinners; must they perish at last by 
hundreds? What course shall 1 use with them that 
I have not tried? " What shall I do *or the daughter 
of my people?" O Lord God, help. Alas! shall I 
leave them thus? If they will not hear me, yet do 
thou hear me. O that they may yet live in thy sight ! 
Lord, save them, or else they perish. My heart would 
melt to see their houses on fire about their ears when 
they were fast asleep in their beds; and shall not my 
soul be moved within me to see them falling into end- 
less perdition ? Lord, have compassion, and save them 
out of the burning : put forth thy divine power, and 
the work will be done; but, as for me, I cannot prevail. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Showing the Marks of the Unconverted. 

While we keep aloof in generals there is little fruit 
to be expected it is the hand-fight that does execution. 
David is not awakened by the prophet's hovering at a 
distance in parabolical insinuations ; he is forced to 
close with him, and tell him plainly, " Thou art the 



64 THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. IV. 

man," Few will, in words, deny the necessity of the 
new birth ; but they have a self-deluding confidence 
that the work is not now to do. And because they 
know themselves free from that gross hypocrisy which 
takes up religion merely for a color to deceive others, 
and for covering wicked designs, they are confident of 
their sincerity, and suspect not that more close hypo- 
crisy (wherein the greatest danger lies) by which a 
man deceiveth his own soul. But man's deceitful 
heart is such a matchless cheat, and self-delusion so 
reigning and so fatal a disease, that I know not whe- 
ther be the greater, the difficulty or the necessity of 
the undeceiving work that I am now upon. Alas for 
the unconverted ! they must be undeceived, or they 
will be undone. But how shall this be effected? 

Help, O all-searching Light, and let thy discerning 
eye discover the rotten foundation of the self-deceiver; 
and lead me, O Lord God, as thou didst the prophet, 
into the chambers of imagery, and dig through the wall 
of sinners' hearts, and discover the hidden abomina- 
tions that are lurking out of sight in the dark. O send 
thy angel before me to open the sundry wards of their 
hearts, as thou didst before Peter, and make even the 
iron gates to fly open of their own accord. And as 
Jonathan no sooner tasted the honey but his eyes were 
enlightened, so grant, O Lord, that when the poor de- 
ceived souls with whom I have to do shall cast their 
eyes upon these lines, their minds may be illuminated, 
and their consciences convinced and awakened, that 
they may see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, 
and be converted, and thou mayest heal them. 

This must be premised before we proceed to the dis- 
covery, that it is most certain men may have a confi- 
dent persuasion that their hearts and states are good, 



Chap. IV.J THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 65 

and yet be unsound. Hear the Truth himself, who 
shows, in Laodicea's case, that men may be wretched, 
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, and yet 
not know it: yea, they may be confident they are rich, 
and increased in grace. Rev. 3 : 17. " There is a gene- 
ration that are pure in their own eyes, and yet not 
washed from their filthiness." Prov. 30 : 12. Who bet- 
ter persuaded of his state than Paul, while he yet re- 
mained unconverted ? Rom. 7:9. So that they are mi- 
serably deceived who take a strong confidence for a 
sufficient evidence. They that have no better proof 
than barely a strong persuasion that they are convert- 
ed, are certainly as yet strangers to conversion. 

But to come more close. As it was said to the adhe- 
rents of Antichrist, so here ; some of the unconverted 
carry their marks in their forehead more openly, and 
some in their hands more covertly. The apostle reckons 
up some upon whom he writes the sentence of death; 
as in these dreadful catalogues, which I beseech you to 
attend to with all diligence. " For this ye know, that 
no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous 
man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the 
kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive 
you with vain words ; for because of these things Com- 
eth the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." 
" But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and 
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and ido- 
laters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake 
that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second 
death." " Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not 
inherit the kingdom of God ? Be not deceived ; neither 
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, 
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, 
nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extor* 
6* 



66 THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. | Chap. IV. 

tioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." Wo to 
them that have their name written in this catalogue i 
Such may know, as certainly as if God had told them 
from heaven, that they are unsanctified, and under an 
impossibility of being saved in this condition. 

There are then these several sorts that, past all dis- 
pute, are unconverted ; they carry their marks in their 
foreheads. 

1. The unclean. These are ever reckoned among 
the goats, and have their names (whoever is left out) 
in all the forementioned catalogues. 

2. The covetous. These are ever branded for idola- 
ters, and the doors of the kingdom are shut against 
them by name. 

3. Drunkards. Not only such as drink away their 
reason, but withal (yea, above all) such as are too 
strong for strong drink. The Lord fills his mouth 
with woes against these, and declares them to have no 
inheritance in the kingdom of God. 

4. Liars. The God that cannot lie has told them 
that there is no place for them in his kingdom, no en- 
trance into his hill ; but their portion is with the father 
of lies, whose children they are, in the lake of burnings. 

5. Swearers. The end of these, without deep and 
speedy repentance, is swift destruction, and most cer- 
tain and unavoidable condemnation. 

6. Railers and backbiters, that love to take up a re- 
proach against their neighbor, and fling all the dirt 
they can in his face, or else wound him secretly be- 
hind his back. 

7. Thieves, extortioners, oppressors, that grind the 
poor, or over-reach their brethren when they have 
them at an advantage : these must know that God " is 



Chap. IV.] THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 67 

the avenger of all such." Hear, O ye false and pur- 
loining and wasteful servants ! hear, O ye deceitful 
tradesmen, hear your sentence! God will certainly 
hold his door against you, and turn your treasures of 
unrighteousness into the treasures of wrath, and make 
your ill-gotten silver and gold to torment you, like 
burning metal in your bowels. 

8. All that do ordinarily live in the profane neglect 
of God's worship, that hear not his word, that call not 
on his name, that restrain prayer before God, that mind 
not their own nor their families' souls, but "live with- 
out God in the world." 

9. Those that are frequenters and lovers of vain 
company. God hath declared, he will be the destroyer 
of all such, and that they shall never enter into the 
hill of his rest. 

10. Scoffers at religion, that make a scorn of precise 
walking, and mock at the messengers and diligent ser- 
vants of the Lord, and at their holy profession, and 
make themselves merry with the weakness and fail- 
ings of professors : " Hear, ye despisers," hear your 
dreadful doom ! 

Sinner, consider diligently whether thou art not to 
be found in one of these ranks ; for if this be thy case, 
thou art in the " gall of bitterness and bond of iniqui- 
ty;" for all these do carry their marks in their fore- 
heads, and are undoubtedly the sons of death. And if 
so, the Lord pity our poor congregations ! O how small 
a number will remain, when these ten sorts are left 
out ! May God show you your danger, and constrain 
you to cry, " Lord, ha^e mercy upon us !" 

Sirs, what shift do you make to keep up your con- 
fidence of your good state, when God from heaven de- 



63 THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. [chap. IV 

clares against you, and pronounces you in a state oi 
damnation? I would reason with you as God with 
them, " How canst thou say, I am not polluted ? See 
thy way in the valley; know what thou hast done." 
Man, is not thy conscience privy to thy tricks of de- 
ceit, to thy secret sins, to thy way of lying ? Yea, art 
not thy friends, thy family, thy neighbors, witnesses 
to thy profane neglect of God's worship, to thy cove- 
tous practices, to thy envious and malicious carriage ? 
Blay they not point at thee as thou goest — There goes 
a gaming prodigal ; there goes a drunken Nabal, a com- 
panion of evil-doers ; there goes a railer, or a scoffer, 
or a loose liver ? Beloved, God hath written it as with 
a sunbeam, in the book by which you must be judged, 
that these are not the spots of his children, and that 
none such (except renewed by converting grace) shall 
ever escape the damnation of hell. 

O that such as you would now be persuaded to " re- 
pent and turn from all your transgressions, or else ini- 
quity will be your ruin !" Alas ! for poor hardened 
sinners ! However, you must know that you have been 
warned, and that I am clear of your blood ; and whe- 
ther men will hear, or whether they will forbear, I will 
leave these Scriptures with them, which will prove 
either as thunder-bolts to awaken them, or as searing- 
irons to harden them. " God shall wound the head of 
his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as 
goeth on still in his trespasses." " He that, being often 
reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be de- 
stroyed, and that without remedy." "Because I have 
called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, 
and no man regarded, &c. I will laugh at your calami- 
ty — when your destructiou cometh as a whirlwind !" 

And now I imagine many will begin to bless them- 



Chap. IV.] THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 69 

selves, and think all is well, because they are not spot- 
ted with these grosser evils ; but I must tell you that 
there is another sort of unsanctified persons, that carry 
not their marks in their foreheads, but more secretly 
and covertly I These do frequently deceive themselves 
and others, and pass for good Christians, when they 
are all the while unsound at the foundation. Many 
pass undiscovered, till death and judgment bring all to 
light. Those self-deceivers seem to come even to hea- 
ven's gate with confidence of their admission, and yet 
are turned off at last. I beseech you deeply to lay to 
heart and firmly retain this awakening consideration, 
" that multitudes miscarry by the hand of some secret 
sin, that is not only hidden from others, but for want 
of observing their own hearts, even from themselves." 
A man may be free from open pollutions, and yet die 
at last by the fatal hand of some unobserved iniquity ; 
and there are these twelve hidden sins, through which 
souls go down by numbers into the chambers of eter- 
nal death: these you must search carefully for, and 
take them as black marks (wherever they be found) 
discovering a graceless and unconverted state ; and as 
you love your lives, read carefully, with a holy jea- 
lousy of yourselves, lest you should be the persons 
concerned. 

1. Gross wilful ignorance. O how many poor souls 
doth this sin kill in the dark! Hos. 4:6, while they 
think verily they have good hearts, and are in the rea- 
dy way to heaven ! This is the murderer that despatch- 
ed thousands in a silent manner, when (poor hearts!) 
they suspect nothing, and see not the hand that de- 
stroys them. You shall find, whatever excuses you 
ir ake for ignorance, that it is a soul-ruining evil. Isa. 



70 THE MARKS OP THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. IV j 

27:11. 2 Thess. 1 : 8. 2 Cor. 4 : 3. Ah ! would it not i 
have grieved a man's heart to have seen that woful 
spectacle, when the poor Protestants were shut up, (a 
multitude together in a barn,) and a butcher came, 
with his inhuman hands warmed in human blood, and 
led them one by one (blindfold) to a block, where he 
slew them, one after another, by scores, in cold blood? 
But how much more should your hearts bleed to think 
of the hundreds, in great congregations, that ignorance 
doth destroy in secret, and lead blindfold to the block ! 
Beware that this be not your case. Make no plea for 
ignorance ; if you spare that sin, know that it will not 
spare you ; and would a man keep a murderer in his 
bosom ? 

2. Secret reserves in closing with Christ. To for 
sake all for Christ, to hate father and mother, yea, a 
man's own life for him: Luke, 14:26.— "This is a hard 
saying." Some will do much, but they will not have 
the religion that will save them ; they never come to 
be entirely devoted to Christ, nor fully to resign to him, 
they must have the sweet sin; they mean to do them- 
selves no harm ; they have secret exceptions for life, 
liberty, or estate. Many take Christ thus, and never 
consider his self-denying terms, nor count the cost, 
and this error in the foundation mars all, and secretly 
ruins them for ever. 

3. Formality in religion. Many rest in the outside. 
of religion, and in the external performance of holy 
duties. And this oftentimes doth most effectually de- 
ceive men, and more certainly undo them than open 
profaneness ; as it was in the Pharisee's case. They 
hear, they fast, they pray, they give alms, and there- 
fore will not believe but their case is good. Whereas, 
resting in the work done, and coming short of the 



CJhap, IV.] THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 71 

heart-work and the inward power and vitality ot reli- 
gion, they fall at last into the burning, from the flatter- 
ing hopes and confident persuasions of their being in 
the ready way to heaven. O dreadful case, when a 
man's religion shall serve only to harden him, and ef- 
fectually to delude and deceive his own soul! 

4. False ends in holy duties. This was the ruin of 
the Pharisees. O how many a poor soul is undone 
by this, and drops into hell before he discerns his mis- 
take! He performs his 'good duties,' and so thinks 
all is well, but perceives not that he is actuated by car- 
nal motives all the while. It is too true, that, even 
with the really sanctified, many carnal ends will oft- 
times creep in ; but they are the matter of their hatred 
and humiliation, and never come to be habitually pre- 
valent with them and bear the greatest sway. But 
now, when the main thing that doth ordinarily carry 
a man out to religious duties shall be really some car- 
nal end; as to satisfy his conscience, to get the repu- 
tation of being religious, "to be seen of men," to show 
his own gifts and parts, to avoid the reproach of a pro- 
fane and irreligious person, or the like ; this discovers 
an unsound heart. O Christian ! if you would avoid 
self-deceit, see that you mind not only your acts, but 
withal (yea above all) your ends. 

5. Trusting in their own righteousness. This is a 
soul-ruining mischief. When men trust in their own 
righteousness they do indeed reject Christ's. Beloved, 
you had need be watchful on every hand ; for, not only 
your sins, but your duties may undo you. It may be 
you never thought of this, but so it is, that a man may 
as certainly miscarry by his seeming righteousness 
and supposed graces as by gross sins; and that is, 
when a man doth trust to these as his righteousness 



72 THE MARKS Of THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. IV. 

before God, for the satisfying his justice, appeasing his 
wrath, procuring his favor, and obtaining his own par- 
don ; for this is to put Christ out of office, and make a 
Savior of our own duties and graces. Beware of this ? 
O professors ; you are much in duties, but this one fly 
will spoil all the ointment. When you have done most 
and best, be sure go out of yourselves to Christ ; reck- 
on your own righteousness but filthy rags. 

6. A secret enmity against the strictness of religion. 
Many moral persons, punctual in their formal devo- 
tions, have a bitter enmity against strictness and zeal, 
and hate the life and power of religion. They like 
not this forwardness, nor that men should make such 
a stir in religion ; they condemn the strictness of reli- 
gion as singularity, indiscretion, and intemperate zeal, 
and with them a lively preacher or lively Christian is 
but an enthusiast. These men love not holiness as ho- 
liness, (for then they would love the height of holiness,) 
and therefore are undoubtedly rotten at heart, whatever 
good opinion they have of themselves. 

7 The resting in a certain degree of religion. When 
they have so much as will save them, (as they sup- 
pose,) they look no farther, and so show themselves 
short of true grace, which will ever put men upon as- 
piring to perfection. 

8. The predominant love of the world. This is the 
sure evidence of an unsanctified heart. But how close 
doth this sin lurk ofttimes under the fair covert of 
forward profession ! Yea, such a power of deceit is 
there in this sin, that many times, when every body 
else can see the man's worldliness and covetousness, 
he cannot see it himself, but hath so many colors, and 
excuses, and pretences for his eagerness after the 
world, that he doth blind his own eyes and perish in 



Chap. IV.] THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 73 

his self-deceit. How many professors are there with 
whom the world hath more of their hearts and affec- 
tions than Christ, "who mind earthly things," and 
thereby are evidently after the flesh, and like to end in 
destruction ! Yet ask these men, and they will tell you 
confidently they prize Christ above all ; for they see 
not their earthly-mindedness, for want of a strict obser- 
vation of the workings of their own hearts. Did they 
but carefully search, they would quickly find that their 
greatest satisfaction is in the world, and their greatest 
care and main endeavor to get and secure the world ; 
which are the certain signs of an unconverted sinner. 
May the professing part of the world take earnest heed 
that they perish not by the hand of this sin unobserved. 
Men may be, and often are, kept off from Christ as 
effectually by the inordinate love of lawful comforts, 
as by the most unlawful courses. 

9. Reigning malice and envy against those that dis- 
respect them, and are injurious to them. 0! how 
do many, that seem to be religious, remember injuries 
and carry grudges, rendering evil for evil, loving to 
take revenge, wishing evil to them that wrong them, 
directly against the rule of the Gospel, the pattern of 
Christ, and the nature of God ! Doubtless, where this 
evil is kept boiling in the heart, and is not hated, re- 
sisted, and mortified, but doth habitually prevail, that 
person is in the very gall of bitterness and in a state 
of death. 

Reader, doth nothing of this touch thee ? Art thou 
in none of the fore-mentioned ranks? O search, and 
search again; take thy heart solemnly to task. Wo 
unto thee, if, after thy profession, thou shouldst be 
found under the power of ignorance, lost in formality, 
drowned in earthly-mindedness, envenomed with ma- 
7 



74 THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. IV 

lice, exalted in an opinion of thine own righteousness, 
leavened with hypocrisy and carnal ends in God's ser- 
vice, and imbittered against strictness ; this would be a 
sad discovery, that all thy religion were in vain. But 
I must proceed. 

10. Unmodified pride. When men love the praise 
of men more than the praise of God, and set their 
hearts upon men's esteem, applause, and approbation, 
it is most certain that they are yet in their sins, and 
strangers to true conversion. When men see not, nor 
complain, nor groan under, the pride of their own 
hearts, it is a sign they are dead in sin. O, how se- 
cretly doth this sin live and reign in many hearts, and 
they know it not, but are very strangers to themselves ! 

11. The prevailing love of pleasure. This is a black 
mark. When men give the flesh the liberty that it 
craves, and pamper and please it, and do not deny and 
restrain it; when their great delight is in gratifying 
their appetites and pleasing their senses; whatever 
appearances they may have of religion, all is unsound. 
A flesh-pleasing life cannot be pleasing to God : " They 
that are Christ's have crucified the flesh," and are 
careful to keep it under, as their enemy. 

12. Carnal security, or a presumptuous ungrounded 
confidence that their condition is already good. Many 
cry, peace and safety, when sudden destruction is 
coming upon them. This was that which kept the fool- 
ish virgins sleeping when they should have been work- 
ing, upon their beds when they should have been at the 
markets. They perceived not their want of oil, till 
the bridegroom was come; and while they went to 
buy, the door was shut. And, O ! that these foolish 
virgins had no successors ! Where is the place, yea, 
where is the house almost, where these do not dwell 1 



Chap. IV.] IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 75 

Men are willing to cherish in themselves, upon ever so 
slight grounds, a hope that their condition is good, and 
so look not out after a change, and by these means 
perish in their sins. Are you at peace? Show me 
upon what grounds your peace is maintained. Is it 
Scripture peace? Can you show the distinguishing 
marks of a sound believer? Can you evidence that 
you have something more than any hypocrite in the 
world ever had ? If not, fear this peace more than 
any trouble ; and know that a carnal peace doth com- 
monly prove the most mortal enemy of the soul, and, 
whilst it smiles, and kisses, and speaks fairly, doth 
fatally smite, as it were, under the fifth rib. 

By this time I think I hear my readers crying out 
with the disciples, "Who then shall be saved?" Set 
out from among our congregations all those ten ranks 
of the profane on the one hand, and then beside take 
out all these twelve sorts of close and self-deceiving 
hypocrites on the other hand, and tell me then whether 
it be not a small remnant that shall be saved ! How 
few will be the sheep that shall be left, when all these 
shall be separated and set among the goats ! For my 
part, of all my numerous hearers, I have no hope to 
see any of them in heaven that are to be found among 
these two-and-twenty sorts that are here mentioned, 
except by sound conversion they are brought into an- 
other condition. 

Application. — And now, conscience, do thy office: 
speak out, and speak home to him that heareth or 
readeth these lines. If thou find any of these marks 
upon him, thou must pronounce him utterly unclean. 
Take not a lie in thy mouth ; speak not peace to him 
to whom God speaks no peace; let not lust bribe thee, 
or self-love or carnal prejudice blind thee. I summon 



76 IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUBJECT. [Chap. IV 

thee from the court of heaven to come and give evi- 
dence: I require thee, in the name of God, to go with 
me in search of the suspected house. As thou wilt 
answer it at thy peril, give in a true report of the state 
and case of him that readeth this book. Conscience, 
wilt thou altogether hold thy peace at such a time as 
this? I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell the 
truth. Is the man converted, or is he not? Doth he 
allow himself in any way of wickedness, or doth he 
not ? Doth lie truly love, and please, and prize, and 
delight in God above all things, or not ? Come, put it 
to an issue. 

How long shall this soul live at uncertainties ? O 
conscience, bring in thy verdict. Is this man a new 
man, or is he not ? How dost thou find it? Hath there 
passed a thorough and mighty change upon him, or 
not? When was the time, where was the place, or 
what were the means by which this thorough change 
of the new birth was wrought in his soul? Speak, 
conscience; or if thou canst not tell the time and 
place, canst thou show Scripture evidence that the 
work is done ? Hath the man been ever taken off from 
his false foundation, from the false hopes and false 
peace wherein once he trusted ? Hath he been deeply 
convinced of sin, and of his lost or undone condition, 
and brought out of himself, and off from his sins, to 
give up himself entirely to Jesus Christ? or dost thou 
not find him to this day under the power of ignorance, 
or in the mire of worldliness? Hast thou not taken 
upon him the gains of unrighteousness ? Dost thou 
not find him a stranger to prayer, a neglecter of the 
word, a lover of this present world? Dost thou not 
sometimes catch him in a lie? Dost thou not find his 
heart fermented with malice, or burning with lust, or 



Chap. IV.] IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 77 

going after his covetousness ? Speak plainly to all the 
forementioned particulars. Canst thou acquit this man, 
this woman, from being any of the two-and-tvventy 
sorts here described? If he be found with any of 
them, set him aside ; his portion is not with the saints. 
He must be converted and made a new creature, or he 
cannot enter the kingdom of God. 

Mortals, be not your own betrayers ; do not deceive 
your own hearts, nor set your hands to your own 
ruin by a wilful blinding of yourselves. Set up a tri- 
bunal in your own breasts : bring the word and con- 
science together. " To the law and to the testimony." 
Hear what the word concludes of your state. O follow 
the search till you find how the case stands. Mistake 
here, and you perish. And, such is the treachery of the 
heart, the subtlety of the tempter, and the deceitfulness 
of sin, all conspiring to flatter and deceive the poor 
soul, and withal so common and easy it is to mistake, 
that it is a thousand to one but you will be deceived, 
unless you be very careful, and earnest, and impartial 
in the inquiry into your spiritual condition. O there^- 
fore be diligent in your work ; go to the bottom ; search 
with candles; weigh you in the balance; come to the 
standard of the sanctuary; bring your coin to the 
touchstone. You have the archest cheats in the world 
to deal with ; a world of counterfeit coin is passing ; 
happy is he that takes no counterfeit for gold. Satan 
is master of deceit ; he can draw to the life : he is per- 
fect in the trade; there is nothing but he can imitate. 
You cannot wish for any grace, but he can fit you to a 
hair with a counterfeit. Be jealous ; trust not so much 
to your own hearts. Go to God to search you and try 
you, to examine you and prove your reins. If other 
helps suffice not to bring all to an issue, but you are 
7* 



78 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap,- V- 

still at a loss, open your case ingenuously to some 
godly and faithful minister, or Christian friend. Rest 
not till you have put the business of your eternal wel- 
fare out of doubt. " O Searcher of hearts, put thou 
this soul upon, and help him in his search." 



CHAPTER V. 

Showing the Miseries of the Unconverted. 

So unspeakably dreadful is the case of every uncon- 
verted soul, that I have sometimes thought if I could 
but convince men that they are yet unregenerate, the 
work were more than half done. 

But I find by sad experience that such a spirit of 
sloth and slumber possesses the unsanctified, that, 
though they be convinced that they are yet unconvert- 
ed, they oft-times carelessly sit still; and through the 
love of sensual pleasure, or the hurry of worldly busi- 
ness, or the noise and clamor of earthly cares, and 
lusts, and affections, the voice of conscience is drowned, 
and men go no farther than some cold wishes and 
general purposes of repenting and amending. 

It is therefore of high necessity that I not only con- 
vince men that they are unconverted, but that I also 
endeavour to bring them to a sense of the fearful 
misery of this state. 

But here I find myself aground at first setting off. 
What tongue can tell them sufficiently of their misery, 
unless it were his who was in that flame? Luke, 16 : 
24. Where is the ready writer whose pen can depict 
their misery who are without God in the world ? This 



Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 79 

cannot fully be done, unless we know the infinite ocean 
of bliss which is in perfection in God, and from which 
a state of sin doth exclude men. "Who knoweth" 
(saith Moses) "the power of thine anger?" And how 
shall I tell men that which I do not know ? Yet so 
much we know, as one would think would shake the 
heart of that man that had the least degree of spiritual 
life and sense. 

But this is yet the more perplexing difficulty, that I 
am to speak to them that are without spiritual sense. 
Alas ! this is not the least part of man's misery, that 
he is dead, quite dead, in trespasses and sins. 

Could I bring paradise into view, or represent the 
kingdom of heaven to as much advantage as the 
tempter did the kingdoms of the world, and all the glory 
thereof, to our Savior; or could I uncover the face of 
the deep and devouring gulf of Tophet in all its ter- 
rors, and open the gates of the infernal furnace j alas ! 
he hath no eyes to see it. Could I paint the beauties 
of holiness or the glory of the Gospel ; or could I ex- 
pose to view the more than diabolical deformity and 
ugliness of sin: he can no more judge of the loveli- 
ness and beauty of the one, and the filthiness and hate- 
fulness of the other, than a blind man of colors. He 
is alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance 
that is in him because of the blindness of his heart. 
He neither doth nor can know the things of God, be- 
cause they are spiritually discerned. His eyes cannot 
be savingly opened but by converting grace. He is a 
child of darkness, and walks in darkness. Yea, the 
light in him is darkness. 

Shall I ring his knell, or read his sentence, or sound 
in his ears the terrible trump of God's judgments, that 
one would think should make both his ears to tingle, 



80 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V. 

and strike him into Belshazzar's fit, even to change his 
countenance, and to loose his joints, and make his knees 
to smite one against another? Alas! he perceives me 
not: he hath no ears to hear. Or shall I call up the 
daughters of music, and sing the song of Moses and 
the Lamb? Yet he will not be stirred. Shall I allure 
him with the joyful sound, and lovely song, and glad 
tidings of the Gospel? with the most sweet and invit- 
ing calls, comforts, and cordials of the divine pro- 
mises so exceedingly great and precious ? It will not 
affect him savingly, unless I could find him ears as 
well as tell him the news. 

Shall I set before him the feast of fat things, the wine 
of wisdom, the bread of God, the hidden manna? He 
hath no appetite for them, no mind to them. Should I 
press the choicest grapes, the heavenly clusters of Gos- 
pel privileges, and drink to him in the richest wine of 
God's grace; or set before him the delicious honey- 
comb of God's testimonies ? Alas ! he hath no taste 
to discern them. Shall I invite the dead to rise and 
eat the banquet of their funerals? No more can the 
dead in sin relish the holy food wherewith the Lord of 
life hath spread his table. 

What then shall I do? shall I uncover to him the 
lake that burnetii with fire and brimstone? or shall I 
open the box of spikenard, very precious, that filleth 
the whole house of the universe with its perfume, and 
hope that the savor of Christ's ointments and the 
smell of his garments will attract him ? Alas ! dead 
sinners are like the dumb idols : they have mouths, but 
they speak not ; eyes have they, but they see not ; they 
have ears, but they hear not ; noses have they, but they 
smell not; they have hands, but they handle not; feet 
have they, but they walk not; neither speak they 



Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 81 

through their throat. They are destitute of spiritual 
sense and motion. 

But let me try the sense that doth last leave us, and 
draw the sword of the word; yet, though I choose 
mine arrows out of God's quiver, and direct them to 
the heart, nevertheless he feeleth not ; for how should 
he, being past feeling? so that, though "the wrath 
of God abideth on him," and the mountainous weight 
of so many thousand sins, yet he goes up and down as 
light as if nothing ailed him. In a word, he carries a 
dead soul in a living body, and his flesh is but the 
walking coffin of a corrupt mind that is twice dead. 
Jude, 12. 

Which way then shall I come at the miserable ob- 
jects that I have to deal with? Who shall make the 
heart of stone to relent, or the lifeless carcass to feel and 
move? That God who is able of "stones to raise up 
children unto Abraham j" " that raiseth the dead," 
"and melteth the mountains," and "strikes water out of 
the flint ;" that loves to work like himself, beyond the 
hopes and belief of man ; that peoplethhis church with 
dry bones, and planteth his orchard with dry sticks ; he 
is able to do this. Therefore " I bow my knees to the 
most high God ;" and as our Savior prayed at the se- 
pulchre of Lazarus, and the Shunamite ran to the man 
of God for her dead child, so doth your mourning mi- 
nister kneel about your graves, and carry you in the 
arms of prayer to that God in whom your help is found. 

" O thou all-powerful Jehovah, who workest, and 
none can hinder thee ! who hast the kej^s of death and 
hell ! pity thou the dead souls that lie here entombed, 
and roll away the grave-stone, and say as to the dead 
body of Lazarus, Come forth. Lighten thou this dark- 
ness, O inaccessible Light, and let the day-spring from 



82 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V 

on high visit the dark regions of the dead, to whom I 
speak ; for thou canst open the eye that death itself 
hath closed ; thou that formedst the ear, canst restore 
the hearing : say thou to these ears, Ephphatha, and 
they shall be opened. Give thou eyes to see thine 
excellencies, a taste that may relish thy sweetness, a 
scent that may savor thy ointment, a feeling that may 
discern the privilege of thy favor, the burden of thy 
wrath, the intolerable weight of unpardoned sin ; and 
give thy servant an order to prophesy to dry bones, 
and let the effects of this prophecy be as of thy pro- 
phet when he prophesied the valley of dry bones into 
a living army exceeding great." " The hand of the 
Lord was upon me, and carried me in the Spirit of the 
Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which 
was full of bones. He said to me, Prophesy to these 
bones, and say to them, O ye dry bones, hear the voice 
of the Lord, Thus saith the Lord unto these bones, Be- 
hold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall 
live ; and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring 
up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put 
breath in you, and ye shall live ; and ye shall know 
that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was com 
manded : and as I prophesied, there was a noise and a 
shaking; and the bones came together, bone to his 
bone. And when I beheld, lo ! the sinews and flesh 
came upon them, and covered them above ; but there 
was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Pro- 
phesy unto the wind ; prophesy, son of man, and say 
to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from 
the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, 
that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded 
me: and the breath came into them, and they lived, 
and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army.' 1 



Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 83 

But I must proceed, as I am able, to unfold that mys- 
tery which, I confess, no tongue can unfold, no heart 
can sufficiently comprehend. 

Know therefore, that, while thou art unconverted, 

1. The infinite God is engaged against thee. 

It is no small part of thy misery that thou art " with- 
out God." How doth Micah run crying after the 
Danites, "Ye have taken away my gods, and what 
have I more ?" O what a mourning then must thou 
lift up that art without God, that canst lay no claim 
to him without daring usurpation ! How piercing a 
moan is that of Saul in his last extremity, "The Phi- 
listines are upon me, and God is departed from me!" 
Sinners, but what will you do in the day of your visita- 
tion? Whither will you flee for help? Where will 
you leave your glory ? What will you do when the 
Philistines are upon you ; when the world shall take 
its eternal leave of you; when you must bid your 
friends, houses, and land, farewell for evermore ? 
What will you do then, I say, that have not God to go 
to? Will you call on him ? Will you cry to him for 
help? Alas ! he will not own you. He will not take 
any notice of you ; but send you away with, "I never 
knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity." 

They that know what it is to have a God to go to, a 
God to live upon — they know a little what a fearful 
misery it is to be without God. This made a holy 
man cry out, " Let me have God or nothing : let me 
know him and his will, and what will please him, and 
how I may come to enjoy him, or would I never had 
an understanding to know any thing!" &c. 

But thou art not only without God, but God is 
against thee. O if God would but stand neuter, though 
he did not own nor help the poor sinner, his case were 



84 MISERIES OP THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V 

not so deeply miserable ; though God should give up 
the poor creature to the will of his enemies, to do their 
worst with him; though he should deliver him over to 
the tormentors, that devils should tear and torture him 
to their utmost power and skill, yet this were not half 
so fearful. But God will set himself against the sin- 
ner; and, believe it, "it is a fearful thing to fall into 
the hands of the living God." There is no friend like 
him, no enemy like him. As much as heaven is above 
the earth, omnipotence above impotence, infinity above 
nullity ; so much more horrible is it to fall into the 
hands of the living God, than into the paws of bears 
and lions, yea, furies or devils. God himself will be 
thy tormentor; thy destruction shall come from the 
presence of the Lord. "Tophet is deep and large, the 
pile thereof is fire and much wood, and the breath 
of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kin- 
dle it." 

"If God be against thee, who shall be for thee? If 
one man sin against another, the judge shall judge 
him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall 
entreat for him ?" " Thou, even thou, art to be feared ; 
and who shall stand in thy sight when thou art angry?" 
Who or what shall deliver you out of his hands ? Can 
mammon? "Riches profit not in the day of wrath." 
Can kings or warriors ? No ; " They shall cry to the 
mountains and rocks to fall on them, and hide them 
from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and 
from the wrath of the Lamb ; for the great day of his 
wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand ?" 

Sinner ! I think this should go like a dagger to thy 
heart, to know that God is thine enemy. O whither 
wilt thou go ? where wilt thou shelter thee ? There is 
no hope for thee, unless thou lay down thy weapons 



Chap. V.J MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 86 

and sue out thy pardon, and get Christ to stand thy 
friend and make thy peace. If it were not for this, 
thou mightest go into some howling wilderness, and 
there pine in sorrow, and run mad for anguish of heart 
and horrible despair. But in Christ there is a possibil- 
ity of mercy for thee, yea, a proffer of mercy to thee, 
that thou mayest have God more for thee than he is 
now against thee. But if thou wilt not forsake thy 
sins, nor turn thoroughly and to some purpose to God, 
by a sound conversion, the wrath of God abideth on 
thee, and he proclaimeth himself to be against thee, as 
in the prophet: "Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, 
Behold I, even I, am against thee !" 

1. His face is against thee. "The face of the Lord 
is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance 
of them." Wo unto them whom God shall set his 
face against. When he did but look on the host of the 
Egyptians, how terrible was the consequence! "I 
will set my face against that man, and will make him 
a sign and a proverb, and will cut him off from the 
midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the 
Lord." 

2. His heart is against thee. He hateth all the 
workers of iniquity. Man, doth not thy heart tremble 
to think of thy being an object of God's hatred? 
" Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my 
mind could not be toward this people: cast them out 
of my sight." " My soul loathed them, and their soul 
also abhorred me." 

3. His hand is against thee. All his attributes are 
against thee. 

His justice is like a flaming sword unsheathed against 
thee : " If I whet my glittering sword, and my hand 
take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to mine 
8 



88 MISERIE8 OF THB UN'CONVERTED. [Chap. V. 

adversaries, and will reward them that hate me : I will 
make mine arrows drunk with blood," &c. 

So exact is justice, that it will by no means clear the 
guilty. God will not discharge thee, he will not hold 
thee guiltless, but will require the whole debt in person 
of thee, unless thou canst make a Scripture claim to 
Christ and his satisfaction. When the enlightened 
einner looks on justice, and sees the balance in which 
he must be weighed and the sword by which he must 
be executed, he feels an earthquake in his breast ; but 
Satan keeps this out of sight, and persuades the soul 
(while he can) that the Lord is all made up of mercy, 
and so lulls it asleep in sin. Divine justice is exact ; 
it must have satisfaction to the utmost farthing: it 
denounceth "indignation and wrath, tribulation and 
anguish, to every soul that doeth evil." It "curseth 
every one that continueth not in all things written in 
the law to do them." The justice of God to the unpar- 
doned sinner that hath a sense of his misery, is more 
terrible than the sight of the bailiff or creditor to the 
bankrupt debtor, or than the sight of the judge and 
bench to the robber, or of the irons and gibbet to the 
guilty murderer. When justice sits upon life and 
death, what dreadful work doth it make to the wretched 
sinner! "Bind him hand and foot; cast him into outer 
darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 
"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." 
This is the terrible sentence that justice pronounceth. 
Sinner, by this severe justice must thou be tried; and 
as God liveth, this killing sentence must thou hear, 
unless thou repent and be converted. 

The holiness of God is directly opposed to thee. He 
is not only angry with thee, (so he may be with his 
children,) but he hath a fixed, rooted, habitual displea- 



Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 87 

sure against thee. "He loathes thee." God's nature 
is infinitely contrary to sin, and so he cannot delight in 
a sinner out of Christ. 

O what misery is this, to be out of the favor, yea, 
under the hatred of God; that God, who can as easily 
lay aside his nature and cease to be God, as not to be 
contrary to thee and detest thee, except thou be changed 
and renewed. O sinner, how darest thou to think of 
the bright and radiant sun of purity, or the beauties, 
the glory of holiness that is in God ! " The stars are 
not pure in his sight." " He humbles himself to be- 
hold things that are done in heaven." O those light 
and sparkling eyes of his ! what do they spy in thee? 
and hast thou no interest in Christ neither, that he 
should plead for thee ? I think he should hear thee 
crying out (astonished) with the Bethshemites, "Who 
is able to stand before this holy Lord God?" 

The power of God is mounted like a mighty cannon 
against thee. The glory of God's power is to be dis- 
played in the wonderful confusion and destruction of 
them that obey not the Gospel. He will " make his 
power known in them," how mightily he can torment 
them. For this end he raiseth them up, " that he might 
make his power known." O man, art thou able to 
make thy party good with thy Maker ? No more can 
a silly reed against the cedars of God, or a little boat 
against the rolling ocean, or the children's bubble* 
against the blustering winds. 

Sinner, the power of God's anger is against thee, 
and power and anger together make fearful work; it 
were better thou hadst all the world in arms against 
thee than to have the power of God against thee. 
There is no escaping his hands, no breaking his prison. 
" The thunder of his power, who can understand ? M 



88 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V. 

Unhappy man that shall understand it by feeling it! 
" If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him 
one of a thousand. He is wise in heart, and mighty in 
strength : who hath hardened himself against him, and 
prospered 1 which removeth the mountains, and they 
know it not ; which overturneth them in his anger ; 
which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pil- 
lars thereof tremble ; which commandeth the sun, and 
it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars! Behold, he 
taketh away, who can hinder him? Who will say 
unto him, What doest thou ? If God will not withdraw 
his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him." And 
art thou a fit match for such an antagonist? " O con- 
sider this, ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, 
and there be none to deliver." Submit to mercy ; let 
not dust and stubble stand out against the Almighty; 
set not briars and thorns against him in battle, lest he 
go through them, and consume them together; but lay 
hold on his strength, that you may " make peace with 
him." "Wo to him that striveth with his Maker!" 

The wisdom of God is set to ruin thee. He hath 
ordained his arrows, and prepared instruments of 
death, and made all things ready. His counsels are 
against thee, to contrive thy destruction. He laughs 
to see how thou wilt be taken and ensnared in the evil 
day. " The Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that 
his day is coming." He sees how thou wilt come down 
mightily in a moment; how thou wilt wring thy hands 
and gnash thy teeth for anguish of heart, when thou 
seest thou art fallen irremediably into the pit of de- 
struction. 

The truth of God is sworn against thee. If he be 
true and faithful, thou must perish if thou goest on. 
Unless he be false to his word, thou must die, except 



Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 89 

thou repent. If we believe not, yet he abideth faith- 
ful; he cannot deny himself; that is, he is faithful 
to nis threatenings as well as to his promises, and will 
show his faithfulness in our confusion, if we believe 
not. God hath told thee as plain as it can be spoken, 
that " if he wash thee not, thou hast no part in him ;" 
that "if thou livest after the flesh, thou shalt die;" 
that "except thou be converted, thou shalt in no wise 
enter into the kingdom of heaven." Beloved, as the 
immutable faithfulness of God in his promise and oath 
affords believers strong consolation, so they are to un- 
believers for strong consternation and confusion. 

O sinner, tell me what dost thou think of all the 
threatenings of God's word that stand upon record 
against thee ? Dost thou believe they are truth or not? 
If not, thou art a wretched infidel. But, if thou dost 
believe them, heart of steel, that thou canst walk up 
and down in quiet, when the truth and faithfulness of 
God are engaged to destroy thee ! so that, if the Al- 
mighty can do it, thou must surely perish. The whole 
book of God doth testify against thee while thou re- 
mainest unsanctified : it condemns thee in every leaf, 
and is to thee like EzekiePs roll, written within and 
without with lamentation, and mourning, and wo. 
And all this shall surely come upon thee and overtake 
thee, except thou repent. " Heaven and earth shall 
pass away, but one jot or tittle of this word shall never 
pass away." 

Now, put all this together, and tell me if the case of 
the unconverted be not deplorably miserable. As we 
read of some persons that had bound themselves by 
an oath and a curse to kill Paul; so thou must know, 
O sinner, to thy terror, that all the attributes of an in- 
finite God are bound by an oath to punish thee, 
8* 



90 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V, 

man, what wilt thou do ? whither wilt thou flee ? If 
God's omniscience can find thee, thou shalt not escape. 
If the true and faithful God regard his oath, perish 
thou must, except thou believe and repent. If the Al- 
mighty hath power to torment thee, thou must be per- 
fectly miserable in soul and body to all eternity, unless 
it be prevented by speedy conversion. 

II. The whole creation of God is against thee. 
"The whole creation (saith Paul) groaneth and travail- 
eth in pain." But what is it that the creation groan- 
eth under ? why, the fearful abuse that it is subject to 
in serving the lusts of unsanctified me?. And what is 
it that the creation groaneth for ? why, for freedom 
and liberty from this abuse ; for the " creature is very 
unwillingly subject to this bondage." If the irrational 
and inanimate creatures had speech and reason, they 
would cry out under it, as a bondage insufferable, to be 
abused by the ungodly, contrary to their natures and 
the ends that the great Creator made them for. It is a 
saying of an eminent divine, ' The liquor that the drunk- 
ard drinketh, if it had reason, like a man, to know how 
shamefully it is abused, it would groan in the barrel 
against him, it would groan in the cup against him, 
groan in his throat, in his stomach against him ; it 
would fly in his face, if it could speak. And if God 
should open the mouths of his creatures, as he did the 
mouth of Balaam's ass, the proud man's garment on 
his back would groan against him. There is never a 
creature, but if it had reason to know how it is abused 
till a man be converted, would groan against him : the 
land would groan to bear him ; the air would groan to 
give him breath ; their houses would groan to lodge 
them ; their beds would groan to ease them, their food 



Chap. V.] MI9ERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 91 

to nourish them, their clothes to cover them, and the 
creature would groan to give them any help and com* 
fort, so long as they live in sin against God.' 

I think this should be a terror to an unconverted 
soul, to think he is a burden to the creation : " Cut it 
down ; why cumbereth it the ground ?" If inanimate 
creatures could but speak, thy food would say, Lord, 
must I nourish such a wretch as this, and yield forth 
my strength for him to dishonor thee? No, I will 
choke him rather, if thou wilt give me permission. 
The very air would say, Lord, must I give this man 
breath to speak against Heaven, and scorn thy people, 
and vent his pride and wrath, and filthy communica 
tion, and utter oaths and blasphemy against thee ? No, 
if thou but say the word, he shall be breathless for 
me. His poor beast would say, Lord, must I carry 
him upon his wicked design? No, I will break his 
bones, I will end his days rather, if I may have leave 
from thee. A wicked man ! the earth groans under 
him, and hell groans for him, till death satisfies both, 
and unburdens the earth. While the Lord of hosts is 
against thee, be sure the host of the Lord is against 
thee, and all the creatures, as it were, up in arms, till, 
upon a man's conversion, the controversy being set- 
tled between God and him, he makes a covenant of 
peace with the creature for him. 

III. The roaring lion, Satan, hath his full power up- 
on thee. Thou art led captive by him at his will. 
This is the spirit that worketh in the children of diso- 
bedience. He is the ruler of the darkness of this 
world, that is, of ignorant sinners who live in darkness. 
You pity the poor Indians that worship the devil for 
their god, but little think it is your own case. Why, 



92 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [ C hap« V « 

it is the common misery of all the unsanctioned, that 
the devil is their God. Not that they intend to do him 
homage; they will be ready to defy him, and him that 
should say so of them ; but all this while they serve 
him, and live under his government. His servants ye 
are to whom ye obey. Rom. 6 : 16. O how many 
then will be found the real servants of the devil, that 
take themselves for no other than the children of God ! 
He can no sooner offer a sinful delight or opportunity 
for your unlawful advantage, but you embrace it. If 
he suggest a lie, or prompt you to revenge, you readi- 
ly obey. If he forbid you to read or pray, you heark- 
en to him, and therefore his servants you are. Indeed 
he stands behind the curtain, he acts in the dark, and 
sinners see not who setteth them on work, but all the 
while he leads them. Doubtless the liar intends not 
a service to Satan, but his own advantage ; yet it is he 
that stands unobserved and putteth the thing into his 
heart. Undoubtedly Judas, when he sold his Master 
for money, and the Chaldeans and Sabeans, when they 
plundered Job, intended not to do the devil a pleasure, 
but to satisfy their own covetous thirst ; yet it was he 
that actuated them in their wickedness. Men may be 
very slaves and common drudges for the devil, and 
never know it : nay, they may please themselves in 
thoughts of liberty. 

Art thou yet in ignorance, and not turned from dark- 
ness unto light? Why, thou art under the power of 
Satan. Dost thou live in the wilful practice of any 
known sin ? Know that thou art of the devil. Dost 
thou live in strife, or envy, or malice ? Verily he is thy 
father. O dreadful case ! However Satan may pro- 
vide his slaves with divers pleasures, yet it is but to 
draw them into endless perdition. The serpent comes 



93 

with the fruit in his mouth, O but (with Eve) thou 
seest not the deadly sting in his tail! He that is now 
thy tempter, will one day be thy tormenter. O that I 
could but give thee to see how black a master thou 
servest, how filthy a drudgery thou dost, how merci- 
less a tyrant thou gratifiest ; all whose pleasure is to 
set thee on work to make thy perdition and damnation 
sure, and to heat the furnace hotter and hotter in which 
thou must burn for millions and millions of ages! 

IV. The guilt of all thy sins lies like a mountain 
upon thee. Poor soul ! thou feelest it not ; but this is 
that which seals thy misery upon thee. While un- 
converted, none of thy sins are blotted out, they are 
all upon the score against thee. Regeneration and re- 
mission are never separated j the unsanctified are un- 
questionably unjustified and unpardoned. It is a fear- 
ful thing to be in debt, but above all, in God's debt ; 
for there is no arrest so formidable as his, no prison so 
dreary as his. Look upon an enlightened sinner who 
feels the weight of his own guilt: O how frightful are 
his looks, how fearful are his complaints ! his comforts 
are turned into wormwood, and his moisture into 
drought, and his sleep is departed from his eyes. He 
is a terror to himself and all that are about him, and is 
ready to envy the very stones that lie in the street, be- 
cause they are senseless and feel not his misery, and 
wisheth he had been a dog, or a toad, or a serpent, 
rather than a man, because then death had put an end 
to his misery; whereas now it will be but the begin- 
ning of that which will know no ending. 

How light soever you may make it now, you will 
one day find the guilt of unpardoned sin to be a heavy 
burden. This is a mill-stone, that "whosoever falleth 



94 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V. 

upon it shall be broken; but upon whomsoever it shall 
fall, it shall grind him to powder." The guilt of our 
sins caused the agony and death of the blessed Savior. 
And if it did this in the green tree, what will it do in 
the dry? 

O think of thy case in time ! Canst thou think of 
that threat without trembling, "Ye shall die in your 
sins?" O, better were it for thee to die in a jail, in a 
ditch, in a dungeon, than die in thy sins! If death, as 
it will take away all thy comforts, would take away 
thy sins too, it were some mitigation ; but thy sins will 
follow thee when thy friends leave thee, and all worldly 
enjoyments shake hands with thee. Thy sins will not 
die with thee as a prisoner's other debts will ; but they 
will go to judgment with thee, there to be thy accusers; 
and they will go to hell with thee, there to be thy tor- 
mentors. Better to have so many fiends and furies 
about thee, than thy sins to fall upon thee and fasten 
on thee. O the work that these will make thee! O 
look over thy debts in time, how much thou art in the 
books of every one of God's laws ; how every one of 
God's commandments is ready to arrest thee, and take 
thee by the throat for the innumerable bonds it hath 
upon thee! What wilt thou do then, when they shall 
all together come in against thee? Hold open the 
eyes of thy conscience to consider this, that thou may- 
est despair of thyself and be driven to Christ, and flee 
lor refuge to "lay hold on the hope that is set before 
thee." 

V. Thy raging lusts do miserably enslave thee. 
While unconverted, thou art a very servant to sin : it 
reigns over thee, and holds thee under its dominion, 
till thou art brought within the bonds of God's cove- 



Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 95 

nant. There is not such another tyrant as sin. O the 
filthy and fearful work that it doth engage its ser- 
vants in ! 

Would it not pierce thy heart to see a company of 
poor creatures drudging and toiling to carry together 
fagots and fuel for their own burning ? This is the 
employment of sin's drudges. Even while they bless 
themselves in their unrighteous gains, while they sing 
in pleasures, they are but treasuring up vengeance for 
their eternal burning; they are but adding to the pile 
of Tophet, and flinging in oil to make the flame rage 
the fiercer. Who would serve such a master, whose 
work is drudgery, whose wages are death ? 

What a woful spectacle was the poor wretch pos- 
sessed with the legion ! Would it not have grieved 
thy heart to have seen him among the tombs cutting 
and wounding himself ? This is thy case ; such is thy 
work ; every stroke is a thrust at thy heart. Con- 
science indeed is now asleep; but, when death and 
judgment shall bring thee to thy senses, then wilt thou 
feel the anguish in every wound. The convinced sin- 
ner is a sensible instance of the miserable bondage of 
sin: conscience flies upon him, and tells him the end 
of these things ; and yet such a slave lie is to his lusts 
that on he goes, though he sees it will be his perdition: 
when the temptation comes, lust breaks the cords of all 
his vows and promises, and carries him headlong to 
his own destruction. 

VI. The furnace of eternal vengeance is heated ready 
for thee. Hell and destruction open their mouths upon 
thee ; they gape for thee ; they groan for thee, Isa. 5 : 
14; waiting as it were with a greedy eye as thou 
standest on the brink. If the wrath of men be " as the 



§8 MISERIES OP THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V 

roaring of a lion," " more heavy than the sands," what 
is the wrath of the infinite God 1 If the burning fur- 
nace heated in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery rage, when he 
commanded it to be made yet seven times hotter, was 
so fierce as to burn up even those that drew near to 
throw the three children in, how hot is that burning of 
the Almighty's fury ! Surely this is seventy times se- 
ven more fierce. What thinkest thou, O man, of be- 
ing a fagot in hell to all eternity 1 " Can thine heart 
endure, or can thine hands be strong in the day that I 
shall deal with thee ? saith the Lord of hosts." Canst 
thou abide the everlasting burnings 1 Canst thou dwell 
with consuming fire ? when thou shalt be as glowing 
iron in hell, and thy whole body and soul shall be as 
perfectly possessed by God's burning vengeance as the 
sparkling iron with fire, when heated in the fiercest 
furnace ? Thou canst not bear God's whip ; how then 
wilt thou endure his scorpions ? Thou art even crush- 
ed, and ready to wish thyself dead, under the weight 
of his finger, how then wilt thou bear the weight of his 
heavy arm ? Some of the choicest servants of God, 
when under the hidings of his face, and dreading the 
effects of his displeasure, have bewailed their condi- 
tion with bitter lamentations. How then wilt thou en- 
dure when God shall pour out all his vials, and set him- 
self against thee, to torment thee? when he shall make 
thy conscience the tunnel by which he will be pouring 
his burning wrath into thy soul for ever, and when he 
shall fill all thy pores as full of torment as they are 
now full of sin ; when immortality shall be thy misery, 
and to die the death of a brute, and be swallowed in 
the gulf of annihilation, shall be such a felicity as the 
whole eternity of wishes and an ocean of tears shall 
never purchase ? 



Chap. V.J MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 97 

Now thou canst put off the evil day, and laugh and 
be merry, and forget " the terror of the Lord." But how 
wilt thou hold out, or hold up, when God will cast 
thee into a " bed of torments," and make thee to " lie 
down in sorrow ?" when roarings and blasphemies shall 
be thy only music, and the wine of the wrath of God, 
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of 
his indignation, shall be thy only drink? and when 
thou shalt draw in flames for thy breath ? in a word, 
when the smoke of thy torment shall ascend for ever 
and ever, and thou shalt have no rest day nor night, no 
rest in thy conscience, no ease in thy bones ; but thou 
shalt be an execration and astonishment, and a curse 
and a reproach ! for evermore? Jer. 42 : 18. 

O sinner ! stop here, and consider. If thou art a man, 
and not a senseless block, consider. Bethink thyself 
where thou standest — why, upon the very brink of 
this furnace. As the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, 
there is but a step between thee and this. Thou know- 
est not, when thou liest down, but thou mayest be in 
hell before morning: thou knowest not, when thou 
risest, but thou mayest drop in before night. Darest 
thou make light of this ? Wilt thou go on in such a 
dreadful condition, as if nothing ailed thee? If thou 
puttest it off, and sayest, " This doth not belong to 
thee," look again over the foregoing chapter, and tell 
me the truth. Are none of those black marks found 
upon thee? Do not blind thine eyes; do not deceive 
thyself; see thy misery while thou mayest prevent it. 
Think what it is to be a vile outcast, a lost reprobate, 
a vessel of wrath, into which the Lord will be pouring 
out his tormenting fury while he hath a being. 

Divine wrath is a fierce, devouring, everlasting, un- 
quenchable fire, and thy soul and bodv must be the 
9 



98 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [.Chap, v* 

fuel upon which it must be feeding for ever, unless 
thou consider thy ways, and speedily turn to the Lord 
by a sound conversion. They that have been singed 
by this fire, and had but the smell thereof passing upon 
them before they died, O what amazing spectacles 
they have been ! Whose heart would not have melted 
to have heard Spira's outcries? — to have seen Chalo- 
ner, that monument of justice, worn to skin and bone, 
blaspheming the God of heaven, cursing himself, and 
continually crying out, " O torture, torture, torture ! 
O torture, torture !" as if the flames of wrath had already 
taken hold on him ? — to have heard Rogers crying out, 
" I have had a little pleasure, but now I must have hell 
for evermore!" wishing but for this mitigation, that 
God would but let him lie burning for ever behind the 
back of that fire, (on the hearth,) and bringing in his 
sad conclusion still, at the end of whatever was spoken 
to him to afford him some hope, " I must go to hell, I 
must go to hell, I must go to the furnace of hell, for 
millions and millions of ages!" O! if the fears and 
forethoughts of the wrath to come be so terrible, so in- 
tolerable, what must be the feeling of it ? 

Sinner, it is in vain to flatter you : this would be but 
to draw you into the unquenchable fire. Know ye 
from the living God, that here you must lie; with 
these burnings you must dwell till immortality die 
and immutability change, till eternity run out and om- 
nipotence is no longer able to punish, except you be in 
good earnest renewed throughout by sanctifying grace. 

VII. The law discharges all its threats and curses at 
thee. O how dreadfully doth it thunder ! It flashes de- 
vouring fire in thy face. Its words are as drawn swords, 
and as the sharp arrows of the mighty. It demands sa- 



Chap V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 99 

tisfaction to the utmost, and cries, Justice ! Justice! It 
6peaks blood, and war, and wounds, and death, against 
thee. 

Read Deuteronomy. O man, away to thy strong 
hold; away from thy sins; haste to the sanctuary, the 
city of refuge — even the Lord Jesus Christ ; hide thee 
in him, or else thou art lost, without any hope of re- 
covery. 

VIII. The Gospel itself bindeth the sentence of eter- 
nal damnation upon thee. If thou continuest in thine 
impenitent and unconverted state, know that the Gos- 
pel denounceth a much sorer condemnation than ever 
would have been for the transgression only of the first 
covenant. Is it not a dreadful case to have the Gospel 
itself fill its mouth with threats, thunder, and damna- 
tion? " To have the Lord to roar from mount Zion 
against thee ?" " Hear the terror of the Lord. He that 
believeth not shall be damned. Except ye repent, ye 
shall all perish." " This is the condemnation, that light 
is come into the world, and men love darkness rather 
than light." " He that believeth not, the wrath of God 
abideth on him." " If the word spoken by angels was 
steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience re- 
ceived a just recompense of reward, how shall we es- 
cape if we neglect so great salvation ?" " He that des- 
pised Moses' law died wilhout mercy : of how much 
sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy that hath 
trodden under foot the Son of God ?" 

Application. — And is this true indeed ? Is this thy 
misery ? Yea, it is as true as God is. Better open thine 
eyes and see it now, while thou mayest remedy it, than 
blind and harden thyself till (to thy eternal sorrow) 
thou shalt feel what thou wouldst not believe ; and if 



100 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V. 

it be true, what dost thou mean, to loiter and linger in 
such a case as this ? 

Alas for thee, poor man ! how effectually hath sin 
undone thee, and deprived and despoiled thee even of 
thy reason to look after thine own everlasting good ! 
O miserable wretch ! what stupidity and senselessness 
have surprised thee ! O let me knock up and awake 
this sleeper ! Who dwells within the walls of this 
flesh? Is there ever a soul here, a rational, under- 
standing soul? or art thou only a senseless lump? 

Art thou a reasonable soul, and yet so far brutified 
as to forget that thou art immortal, and to think thyself 
to be as the beasts that perish ? Art thou turned into 
flesh, that thou savorest nothing but gratifying the 
sense, and making provision for the flesh? or else, 
having reason to understand the eternity of the future 
state, dost thou yet make light of being everlastingly 
miserable, which is to be so much below the brute, as 
it is worse to act against reason than to act without it ? 
O unhappy soul, that wast the glory of man, the com- 
panion of angels, and the image of God ! that wast 
God's representative in the world, and hadst the su- 
premacy amongst the creatures, and the dominion over 
thy Maker's works ! art thou now become a slave to 
sense, a servant to so base an idol as thy belly, pam- 
pering a vile body that must soon be food for worms? 
or art thou heaping together a little refined earth, no 
more suitable to thy spiritual immortal nature than the 
dirt and sticks? O why dost thou not bethink thee 
where thou shalt be for ever ? Death is at hand ; " the 
Judge is even at the door." Yet a little while, and 
" time shall be no longer." And wilt thou run the 
hazard of continuing in such a state, in which, if thou 
be overtaken, thou art irrecoverably miserable ? 



Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 101 

Come then, arise, and attend thy nearest concern- 
ments ! Tell me whither art thou going ? What ! wilt 
thou live in such a course, wherein every act is a step 
to perdition; and thou dost not know but the next night 
thou mayest make thy bed in hell ? O ! if thou hast a 
spark of reason, consider, and turn and hearken to thy 
true friend, who would show thee thy present misery, 
that thou mightest in time make thine escape, and be 
eternally happy. 

Hear what the Lord saith : " Fear ye not me? saith 
the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence?" O 
sinners, do you make light of " the wrath to come?" 
I am sure there is a time coming when you will not 
make light of it. Why, the very " devils believe and 
tremble." What ! are you more hardened than they ? 
Will you run upon the edge of the rock? Will you 
play at the hole of the asp ? Will you put your hand 
upon the cockatrice's den? Will you dance upon the 
fire till you are burnt, or dally with devouring wrath as 
if you were indifferent whether you escape or endure 
it? O madness of folly! like that of a madman that 
casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, and saith, " Am 
not I in sport !" There is no one so insane as the wil- 
ful sinner, that goeth on in his unconverted state with- 
out sense, as if nothing ailed him. The man that runs 
into the cannon's mouth, and sports with his blood, or 
lets out his life in a frolic, is sensible, sober, and serious, 
compared with him that goeth on still in his trespasses; 
for "he stretcheth out his hand against God, and 
strengthened himself against the Almighty: he run- 
neth upon him, even upon his neck, upon the thick 
bosses of his buckler." Is it wisdom to sport with the 
second death, or to venture into the lake that burnetii 
with fire and brimstone, as if then wert but going to 



102 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V 

wash thee, or swim for recreation ? Wilt thou, as it 
were, jump into eternal flames, as the children through 
the bonfire ? What shall I say ? I can find out no ex- 
pression, no comparison, whereby to set forth the 
dreadful madness of the soul that will go on in sin. 

Awake, awake ! O sinner, arise and take thy flight. 
There is but one door that thou mayest flee by, and 
that is the strait door of conversion and the new birth. 
Unless thou turn unfeignedly from all thy sins, and 
come to Jesus Christ, and take him for the Lord thy 
righteousness, and walk in him in holiness and new- 
ness of life; as the Lord liveth, it is not more certain 
that thou art now out of hell, than that thou shalt with- 
out fail be in it but a few days or nights hence. O set 
thy heart to think of thy case. Is not thy everlasting 
misery or welfare that which doth deserve a little 
consideration ? Look again over the miseries of the 
unconverted. If the Lord hath not spoken by me, re- 
gard me not ; but if it be the very word of God that all 
this misery lies upon thee, what a case art thou in ! Is 
it for one that hath his senses to live in such a condi 
tion, and not to make all possible expedition for pre- 
venting his utter ruin? O man, who hath bewitched 
thee, Gal. 3 : 1, that in the matters of this present life 
thou shalt be wise enough to forecast thy business, 
foresee thy danger, and prevent thy ruin; but in mat- 
ters of everlasting consequence be slight and careless, 
as if they little concerned thee? Why, is it nothing 
to thee to have all the attributes of God engaged against 
thee? Canst thou do well without his favor? Canst 
thou escape his hands, or endure his vengeance ? Dost 
thou hear the creation groaning under thee, and hell 
groaning for thee, and yet think thy case good enough ? 
Art thou under the power of corruption, in the dark 



Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 103 

noisome prison, fettered with lusts, working out thy 
own damnation — and is not this worth a thought? 

Wilt thou make light of all the terrors of the law, of 
all its curses and thunderbolts, as if they were but the 
threatenings of a child? Dost thou laugh at hell and 
destruction, or canst thou drink the envenomed cup of 
the Almighty's fury, as if it were but a common po- 
tion? 

Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand 
of thee, and answer thou me. Art thou such a leviathan 
as that the scales of thy pride should keep thee from 
thy Maker's coming at thee? Wilt thou esteem his 
arrows as straw, and the instruments of death as rotten 
wood? Art thou chief of all the children of pride, even 
that thou shouldst count his darts as stubble, and laugh 
at the shaking of his spear? Art thou made without 
fear, and contemnest thou his barbed arrows? Art 
thou like the horse that paweth in the valley and re- 
joiceth in his strength, who goeth out to meet the armed 
men? Dost thou mock at fear, and art thou not af- 
frighted, neither turnest back from God's sword when 
his quiver rattleth against thee, the glittering spear and 
the shield? Well, if the threats and calls of the word 
will not fright thee nor awaken thee, I am sure death 
and judgment will. O what wilt thou do when the 
Lord cometh forth against thee, and in his fury falleth 
upon thee, and thou shalt feel what thou r^adest? If, 
when Daniel's enemies were cast into the den of lions, 
both they and their wives and their children, the lions 
had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in 
pieces ere they came at the bottom of the den, Dan. : 
24, what shall become of thee when thou fallest into 
the hands of the living God. when he shall gripe thee in 
his strong arms, and grind ind crush thee in his wrath? 



104 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI. 

O do not then contend with God. " Repent and 
be converted," so none of this shall come upon thee. 
"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 par- 
don." 



CHAPTER VI. 

CONTAINING DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 

And there came one, and kneeled to him, and asked him. Good 
Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? — 
Mark, 10 : 17. 

Before thou readest these directions, I advise thee, 
yea, I charge thee, before God and his holy angels, 
that thou resolve to follow them, (as far as conscience 
shall be convinced of their agreeableness to God's 
word and thy state,) and call in his assistance and 
blessing that they may succeed. And as I have sought 
the Lord and consulted his oracles what advice to give 
thee, so must thou entertain it with that awe, reverence, 
and purpose of obedience which the word of the liv- 
ing God requires. 

Now then, attend : " Set your heart unto all that I shall 
testify unto you this day; for it is not a vain tiling — it 
is your life." This is the end of all that has been spo- 
ken hitherto, to bring you to set your heart to this 
great work and turn without delay to the living God. 
T would not trouble you, nor "torment you before the 
time," with the thoughts of your eternal misery, but 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 105 

in order to your making your escape. Were you shut 
up under your present misery without remedy, it were 
but mercy (as one speaks) to let you alone, that you 
might take in that little poor comfort which you are 
capable of in this world ; but you may yet be happy, 
if you do not wilfully refuse the means of your re- 
covery. Behold, I hold open the door to you ; arise, 
take your flight; I set the way of life before you; walk 
in it, and you shall live, and not die. It grieves me to 
think you should be your own murderers, and throw 
yourselves headlong, when God and man cry out to 
you, as Peter in another case to his Master, u Spare 
thyself." 

The destruction of ungodly men is wilful. God 
that made them crieth out to them, as Paul to the dis- 
tracted jailor when about to murder himself, "Do thy- 
self no harm." The ministers of Christ forewarn them, 
and follow them, and would gladly have them back ; 
but alas ! no expostulations or entreaties will prevail, 
but men will hurl themselves into perdition, while pity 
itself looketh on. 

What shall I say ? Would it not grieve a person of 
any humanity, if, in the time of a raging plague, he 
should have a remedy (as one said well) that would 
infallibly cure all the country and recover the most 
hopeless patients, and yet his friends and neighbors 
should die by hundreds about him, because they would 
not use it? Men and brethren, though you carry the 
certain symptoms of death in your faces, yet I have a 
receipt that will cure you all infallibly. Follow but 
these directions, and if you do not then reach heaven, 
[ will be content to lose it. 

Hear then, sinner ! and as ever thou wouldst be 
converted and saved, embrace this following counsel. 



100 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [ Chap. VI. 

I. Attend conscientiously upon the word, as the 
means appointed for thy conversion. Attend, I say, 
not customarily, but conscientiously ; with this desire, 
design, hope, and expectation, that thou mayest be con- 
verted by it. To every sermon thou nearest come with 
this thought ; 'O I hope God will now come in; I hope 
this day may be the time, this may be the man by 
whom God will bring me home.' When thou art 
coming to the privileges of God's house, lift up thy 
heart thus to God: "Lord, let this be the Sabbath, let 
this be the season wherein I may receive renewing 
grace. O let it be said that this day such a one was 
born unto thee." 

Object. Thou wilt say, I have been long a hearer of 
the word, and yet it hath not been effectual to my con- 
version. Ans. Yea; but thou hast not attended upon 
it in this manner, nor resolved to receive it into thine 
heart, and obey all the words which the Lord your 
God should speak unto you. 

IT. Set upon the constant and diligent use of serious 
and fervent prayer. He that neglects prayer is a pro- 
fane and unsanctified sinner. He that is not constant 
in prayer is but a hypocrite, unless the omission be 
contrary to his ordinary course, under the force of 
some instant temptation. This is one of the first 
things conversion appears in, that it sets men a pray- 
ing. Therefore set to this duty ; let not one day pass 
over thee wherein thou hast not, morning and evening, 
set apart some time for set and solemn prayer in secret. 
Call thy family also together daily and duly to wor- 
ship God with thee. Wo be unto thee, if thou be 
found among the families that call not upon God's 
name. But cold and lifeless devotions will not reach 
half way to heaven. Be fervent and importunate. 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 107 

Importunity will carry it; but without violence the 
kingdom of heaven will not be taken. Thou must 
strive to enter, and wrestle with tears and supplica- 
tions, as Jacob, if thou meanest to carry the blessing. 
Thou art undone for ever without grace, and therefore 
thou must set to it, and resolve to take no denial. That 
man who is fixed in this resolution says: 'Well, I must 
have grace, or I will never give over till I have grace ; 
I will never cease earnestly pleading, and striving with 
God and my own heart, till he doth renew me by the 
power of his grace.' 

III. Forsake thy evil company, and forbear the occa- 
sions of sin. 

Thou wilt never be turned from sin till thou wilt de- 
cline and forego the temptations of sin. I never ex- 
pect thy conversion from sin, unless thou art brought 
to some self-denial, so as to flee the occasions. If thou 
wilt be nibbling at the bait, and playing on the brink, 
and tampering and meddling with the snare, thy soul 
will surely be taken. Where God doth expose men, 
in his providence, unavoidably to temptation, and the 
occasions are such as we cannot remove, we may ex- 
pect special assistance in the use of his means; but 
when we tempt God by running into danger, he will 
not engage to support us when we are tempted. And, 
of all temptations, one of the most fatal and pernicious 
is evil companions. O what hopeful beginnings have 
these often stifled ! O the souls, the estates, the fami- 
lies, the towns, that these have ruined ! How many 
poor sinners have been enlightened and convinced, 
and been just ready to give the devil the slip, and have 
even escaped the snare; and yet wicked company has 
pulled them back at last, and made them seven-fold 
more the children of hell ? In a word, I have no hopps 



108 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. | Chap. Vf. 

of thee, except thou wilt shake off thy evil company. 
Thy life depends upon it: forsake this, or else thou 
canst not live. Wilt thou be worse than the beast, to 
run on when thou seest the Lord with a drawn sword 
in the way 1 Let this sentence be written in capitals 
upon thy conscience: "a companion of fools shall 
be destroyed." The Lord hath spoken it, and who 
shall reverse it ? 

And wilt thou run upon destruction, when God him- 
self doth forewarn thee ? If God doth ever change 
thy heart, it will appear in the change of thy company. 
O fear and flee the gulf by which so many thousand 
souls have been swallowed up in perdition. It will be 
hard for thee indeed to make thy escape. Thy com- 
panions will be mocking thee out of thy religion, and 
will study to fill thee with prejudices against strictness, 
as ridiculous and comfortless. They will be flattering 
thee and alluring thee; but remember the warnings of 
the Holy Ghost, "My son, if sinners entice thee, con- 
sent thou not. If they say, Come with us, cast in thy 
lot among us ; walk thou not in the way with them, 
refrain thy foot from their path j avoid it, pass not by 
it, turn from it, and pass away. For the way of the 
wicked is as darkness, they know not at what they 
stumble. They lie in wait for their own blood, they 
lurk privily for their own lives." My soul is moved 
within me to see how many of my hearers and read- 
ers are likely to perish, both they and their houses, by 
this wretched mischief, even the haunting of such pla- 
ces and company, whereby they are drawn into sin. 
Once more I admonish you, as Moses did Israel. "And 
he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray 
you, from the tents of these wicked men." O flee them 
as you would those that had the plague-sores running 



Chap. VI.J DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 109 

in their foreheads. These are the devil's panders and 
decoys ; and if thou dost not make thy escape they 
will draw thee into perdition, and will prove thy eter- 
nal ruin. 

IV. Set apart a day to humble thy soul in secret by 
fasting and prayer, to work a sense of thy sins and 
miseries upon thy heart. 

Read over our Lord's discourse, Matt. 5, and write 
down the duties omitted and sins committed by thee 
against every commandment, and so make a catalogue 
of thy sins, and with shame and sorrow spread them 
before the Lord. 

V. Strike in with the Spirit when he begins to work 
upon thy heart. When he works convictions, O do not 
stifle them, but join in with him, and beg the Lord to 
give you saving conversion. "Quench not the Spi- 
rit ;" do not reject him, do not resist him. Beware of 
putting out convictions with evil company or worldly 
business. When thou art in anguish on account of 
sin, and fears about thy eternal state, beg of God that 
you may have peace only in thoroughly renouncing all 
sin, loathing it in thy inmost soul, and giving thy 
whole heart, without reserve, to Christ. Say to him, 
"Strike home, Lord; leave not the work in the midst. 
Show me all my guilt, so far as nature can bear it. O 
go to the bottom of my corruption, and let out the 
life-blood of my sins." Thus yield up thyself to the 
working of the Spirit, and hoist thy sails to his gusts. 

VI. Set it down with thyself as an undoubted truth, 
that it is impossible for thee ever to get to heaven in 
this thy unconverted state. 

Can any other but Christ save thee? and he tells 
thee he will never do it except thou be regenerated and 
10 



110 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI. 

converted. Doth he not keep the keys of heaven ? and 
canst thou go in without his leave? as thou must, if 
ever thou come thither in thy natural condition, with- 
out a sound and thorough renovation. 

VII. Labor to get a thorough sight and lively sense 
and feeling of thy sins. 

Till men are weary and heavy laden, and pricked at 
the heart, and quite sick of sin, they will not come to 
Christ, in his way, for cure, nor to purpose inquire, 
"What shall we do?" They must set themselves 
down for dead men, before they will come unto Christ 
that they may have life. Labor, therefore, to set all 
thy sins in order before thee ; never be afraid to look 
upon them, but let thy spirit make diligent search. 
Inquire into thine heart, and into thy life ; enter into 
a thorough examination of thyself and all thy ways, 
that thou mayest make a full discovery; and call in 
the help of God's Spirit, in the sense of thine own ina- 
bility hereunto, for it is his proper work to convince 
of sin. Spread all before thy conscience, till thy heart 
and eyes be set weeping. Leave not striving with God 
and thine own soul, till it cry out under the sense of 
thy sins, as the enlightened jailor, "What must I do to 
be saved ?" To this purpose, 

Meditate on the number of thy sins. David's heart 
failed when he thought of this, and considered that he 
had more sins than hairs on his head. This made him 
cry out upon the multitude of God's tender mercies. 
An unsannified soul swarms with filthy lusts: they 
fill tne head, the heart, the eyes, the mouth. Look 
backward ; where was ever the place, what was ever 
the time, in which thou didst not sin ? Look inward; 
what part or power canst thou find in soul or body but 
it is poisoned with sin ? what duty dost thou ever per- 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. Ill 

form, into which this poison is not shed ? O how great 
is the sum of thy debts, who hast been all thy life run- 
ning upon trust, and never didst or canst pay off one 
penny ! Look over the sin of thy nature, and all its 
cursed brood, the sins of thy life. Call to mind thy 
omissions and commissions ; the sins of thy thoughts, 
words, and actions; the sins of thy youth, and the sins 
of thy riper years. Be not like a desperate bankrupt, 
that is afraid to look over his books. Read the records 
of conscience carefully. These books must be opened 
sooner or later. 

Meditate on the aggravations of thy sins, as they are 
the grand enemies of the God of thy life, and of the 
life of thy soul : in a word, they are the public enemies 
of all mankind. How do David, Ezra, Daniel, and the 
good Levites, aggravate their sins, from the considera- 
tion of their rebellion against God, their opposition to 
his good and righteous laws, and the mercies and 
warnings they were committed against ! O the work 
that sin has made in the world ! This is the enemy 
that has brought in death ; that has robbed and en- 
slaved man ; that has done the work of the devil, and 
digged hell. This is the enemy that has turned the 
world upside down, and sown dissensions between man 
and the creatures, betwixt man and man, yea, between 
man and himself, setting the animal part against the 
rational, the will against the judgment, lust against 
conscience ; yea, worst of all, between God and man, 
making the sinner both hateful to God and the hater 
of himself. O man! how canst thou make so light of 
sin ? This is the traitor that thirsted for the blood of 
the Son of God, that sold him, that mocked him, that 
scourged him, that spit in his face, that tore his hands, 
that pierced his side, that pressed his soul, that man- 



112 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI. 

gled his body, that never left till he had bound him, 
condemned him, nailed him, crucified him, and put 
him to an open shame. This is that deadly poison, so 
powerful of operation that one drop of it, shed on the 
root of mankind, has corrupted, spoiled, poisoned, and 
ruined his whole race. This the bloody executioner 
that has killed the prophets, burnt the martyrs, mur- 
dered all the apostles, all the patriarchs, all the kings 
and potentates ; that has destroyed cities, swallowed 
empires, butchered and devoured whole nations. "What- 
ever was the weapon it was done by, it was sin that 
caused the execution. Dost thou yet think it but a 
small thing ? If Adam and all his children could be 
dug out of their graves, and their bodies piled up to 
heaven, and an inquest were made what matchless 
murderer were guilty of all this blood ; it would be all 
found in sin. Study the nature of sin, till thy heart 
incline to fear and loathe it ; and meditate on the ag- 
gravations of thy particular sins, how thou hast sinned 
against all God's warnings, against thy own prayers, 
against mercies, against corrections, against clearest 
light, against freest love, against thine own resolutions, 
against promises, vows, and covenants of better obe- 
dience. Charge thy heart home with these things till 
it blush for shame, and be brought out of all good 
opinion of itself. 

Meditate on the desert of sin. It crieth up to Hea- 
ven ; it calls for vengeance. Its due wages are death 
and damnation ; it draws the curse of God upon the 
soul and body. The least sinful word or thought lays 
thee under the infinite wrath of God. O what a load 
of wrath, what a weight of curses, what treasures of 
vengeance, have all the millions of thy sins deserved ! 
O judge thyself, that the Lord may not judge thee. 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. ! 13 

Meditate on the deformity and defilement of sin. It 
is as black as hell, the very image and likeness of the 
devil drawn upon the soul. 1 John, 3 : 8, 10. It would 
affright thee to see thyself in the hateful deformity of 
thy nature. There is no mire so unclean, no plague or 
leprosy so noisome as sin, in which thou art plunged 
and covered with its odious filth, whereby thou art 
rendered more displeasing to the pure and holy nature 
of the glorious God than the most filthy object, com- 
posed of whatever is hateful to all thy senses, can be 
to thee. Couldst thou take up a toad into thy bosom? 
Couldst thou cherish it, and take delight in it? Why, 
thou art as contrary to the pure and perfect holiness 
of the divine nature, and as loathsome as that is to 
thee, till thou art purified by the blood of Jesus and 
the power of renewing grace. 

Above all other sins, fix the eye of consideration on 
these two. 1. The sin of thy heart. It is to little 
purpose to lop off the branches while the root of cor- 
ruption remains untouched. In vain do men lave out 
the streams, when the fountain is running that fills up 
all again. Let the axe of thy repentance (with Da- 
vid's) go to the root of sin. Study how deep, how 
close, how permanent is thy natural pollution, how 
universal it is, till thou dost cry out, with Paul, upon 
thy body as dead. 

Look into all thy parts and powers, and see what 
unclean vessels, what sinks they are become. The 
heart is never soundly broken till thoroughly con- 
vinced of the heinousness of its original and deep- 
rooted depravity. Here fix thy thoughts; this is that 
which makes thee backward to all good, and prone to 
a!I evil. That sheds blindness, pride, prejudice, and 
unbelief into thy mind ; enmity, inconstancy, and ob- 
10* 



114 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI. 

stinacy into thy will; inordinate heats and colds into 
thy affections ; insensibleness and unfaithfulness into 
thy conscience ; slipperiness into thy memory ; and, in 
a word, hath put every wheel of the soul out of order, 
and made it, of a habitation of holiness, to become a 
very hell of iniquity. This is what hath defiled and 
perverted all thy members, and turned them into wea- 
pons of unrighteousness, and servants of sin ; that hath 
filled the head with carnal and corrupt designs ; the 
hand with sinful practices ; the eyes with wandering 
and wantonness ; the tongue with deadly poison ; that 
hath opened the ears to tales, flattery, and filthy com- 
munication, and shut them against the instructions of 
life; and hath rendered thy heart the cursed source of 
all deadly imaginations, so that it poureth out its wick- 
edness without ceasing even as naturally as a fountain 
doth pour forth its waters, or the raging sea doth cast 
forth mire and dirt. And wilt thou yet be in love with 
thyself, and tell us any longer of thy good heart? O 
never leave meditating on the desperate contagion, the 
original corruption of thy heart, till, with Ephraim, 
thou bemoan thyself; and with the deepest shame and 
sorrow smite on thy breast, as the Publican; and, 
with Job, abhor thyself, and repent in dust and ashes. 
2. The particular evil that thou art most addicted to: 
find out all its aggravations, set home upon thy heart 
all God's threats against it ; repentance drives before it 
the whole herd, but especially sticks the arrow in the 
beloved sin, and singles this out above the rest, to run 
it down. O labor to make this sin odious to thy soul, 
and double thy guard and resolutions against it, be- 
cause this doth most dishonor God and endanger thee. 
VIII. Strive to affect thy heart with a deep sense of 
Ury present misery. Read over the foregoing chapter 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 115 

again and again, and get it out of the book into thy 
heart. Remember, when thou liest down, that, for 
aught thou knowest, thou may est awake in flames; and 
when thou risest up, that by the next night thou may- 
est make thy bed in hell. Is it a just matter to live in 
such a fearful case, to stand tottering on the brink of 
the bottomless pit ; and to live at the mercy of every 
disease, that, if it but fall upon thee, will send thee 
forthwith into the burnings ? Suppose thou sawest a 
condemned wretch hanging over Nebuchadnezzar's 
turning fiery furnace by nothing but a thread which 
ivas ready to break every moment, would not thy 
<ieart tremble for such a one ? Why, thou art the man : 
this is thy very case, O man, woman, that readest this, 
if thou be yet unconverted. What if the thread of thy 
life should break, (why, thou knowest not but it may 
be the next night, yea, the next moment,) where 
wouldst thou be then? Whither wouldst thou drop? 
Verily, upon the breaking of this thread, thou fallest 
into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, where 
thou must lie scalding and burning in a fiery ocean 
while God hath a being, if thou die in thy present 
case. And doth not thy soul tremble as thou readest ? 
Do not thy tears bedew the paper, and thy heart throb 
in thy bosom ? Dost thou not yet begin to smite on thy 
breast, and bethink thyself what need thou hast of a 
change? O what is thy heart made of? Hast thou 
not only lost all regard to God, but hast thou lost all 
love and pity to thyself? 

O study thy misery till thy heart cry out for Christ 
as earnestly as ever a drowning man did for a boat, or 
the wounded for a surgeon. Men must come to see 
the danger and feel the smart of their deadly sores and 
sickness, or else Christ will be to them a physician of 



116 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI. 

no value. Then the manslayer hastens to the city of 
refuge when pursued by the avenger of blood. Men 
must be even forced and driven out of themselves, or 
else they will not come to Christ. It was distress and 
extremity that made the prodigal think of returning. 
While Laodicea thinks herself rich, increased in goods, 
in need of nothing, there is little hope. She must be 
deeply convinced of her wretchedness, blindness, po- 
verty, and nakedness, before she will come to Christ 
for his gold, raiment, and eye-salve. Therefore hold 
the eyes of conscience open, amplify thy misery as 
much as possible, do not flee the sight of it, for fear it 
should fill thee with terror. The sense of thy misery 
is but as it were the suppuration of the wound, which 
is necessary to the cure. Better now to fear the tor- 
ments that abide thee, than to feel them hereafter. 

IX. Settle it upon thy heart that thou must look out 
of thyself and away from thy own doings for help. 

Never think thy praying, reading, hearing, confess- 
ing, or amending will do the cure; these must be at- 
tended to, but thou art undone if thou rest in them ; 
thou art a lost man if thou hope to escape drowning 
on any other plank but Jesus Christ. Thou must un- 
learn thyself, and renounce thine own wisdom, thine 
own righteousness, thine own strength, and throw thy- 
self wholly upon Christ, as a man that swims casts 
himself upon the water, or else thou canst not escape. 
While men trust in themselves, and establish their own 
righteousness, and have confidence in the flesh, they 
will not come savingly to Christ. Thou must know 
thy gain to be but loss and dung, thy strength but 
weakness, thy righteousness rags and rottenness, be- 
fore there will be an effectual closure between Christ 
and thee. Can the lifeless corpse shake off its grave- 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 117 

clothes, and loose the bands of death ? Then mayest 
thou recover thyself, who art dead in trespasses and 
sins, and under an impossibility of serving thy Maker 
acceptably in this condition. Therefore, when thou 
goest to pray or meditate, or to do any of the duties to 
which thou art here directed, go out of thyself, call in 
the help of the Spirit, as despairing to do any thing 
pleasing to God in thine own strength; yet neglect 
not duty, put thyself in the way of the Spirit. While 
the eunuch was reading, then the Holy Ghost did send 
Philip to him. When the disciples were praying, when 
Cornelius and his friends were hearing, then the Holy 
Ghost fell upon them and filled them all. 

X. Forthwith renounce all thy sins. 

If, on the contrary, thou yield thyself to the practice 
of any sin, thou art undone. In vain dost thou hope 
for life by Christ, except thou depart from iniquity. 
Forsake thy sins, or else thou canst not find mercy. 
Thou canst not be married to Christ except divorced 
from sin. Give up the traitor, or you can have no 
peace in heaven. Cast the head of Sheba over the 
wall : keep not Delilah in thy lap. Thou must part 
with thy sins or with thy soul; spare but one sin and 
God will not spare thee. Never make excuses ; thy 
sins must die, or thou must die for them. If thou al- 
low of one sin, though but a little, a secret one — though 
thou mayest plead necessity, and have a hundred shifts 
and excuses for it, the life of thy soul must go for the 
life of that sin. And will it not be dearly bought? 

O sinner! hear and consider: if thou wilt part with 
thv sins God will give thee his Christ. Is not this a 
fair exchange ? I testify unto you this day, that if you 
perish, it is not because there was never a Savior pro- 
vided nor life tendered, but because you prefer (with 



118 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. Vf. 

the Jew) the murderer before the Savior, sin before 
Christ, " and love darkness rather than light." Search 
thy heart therefore with candles, as the Jews did their 
houses for leaven before the passover. Labor to find 
out thy sins ; enter into thy closet, and consider, What 
evil have I lived in ? what duty have I neglected to- 
ward God ? what sin have I lived in against my broth- 
er ? And now strike the darts through the heart of 
thy sin, as Joab did through Absalom's. Never stand 
looking upon thy sins, nor rolling the morsel under 
thy tongue, but cast it out as poison, with fear and de- 
testation. Alas ! what will thy sins do for thee, that 
thou shouldst hesitate to part with them ? They will 
flatter thee, but they will undo thee and poison thee 
while they please thee, and arm the justice and wrath 
of the infinite God against thee. They will open hell 
for thee, and pile up fuel to burn thee. Behold the 
gibbet that they have prepared for thee ! O serve them 
like Haman, and do upon them the execution they 
would else have done upon thee. Away with them 
crucify them, and let Christ only be Lord over thee 

XI. Make a solemn choice of God for thy portion 
and blessedness. 

With all possible devotion and veneration avouch 
the Lord for thy God : set the world, with all its glory, 
and paint, and gallantry, with all its pleasures and 
promotions, on the one hand ; and set God with all 
his infinite excellences and perfections on the other ; 
and see that thou do deliberately make thy choice. 
Take up thy rest in God. Sit thee down under his 
shadow. Let his promises and perfections turn the 
scale against all the world. Settle it upon thy heart, 
that the Lord is an all-sufficient portion, that thou 
eanst not be miserable while thou hast God to live upon. 



Chap. VI. J DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 119 

Take him for thy shield and exceeding great reward. 
God alone is more than all the world ; content thyself 
with him. Let others possess the preferments and 
glory of the world ; place thou thy happiness in the 
favor of God, and in the light of his countenance. 

Poor sinner ! thou hast fallen off from God, and hast 
engaged his power and wrath against thee; yet know, 
that of his abundant grace he doth offer to be thy God 
again in Christ. What sayest thou, man 9 wilt thou 
have the Lord for thy God? Why, take this counsel, 
and thou shalt have him; come to him by his Christ, 
renounce the idols of thy pleasures, gain, and reputa- 
tion, let these be pulled out of their throne, and set 
God's interest uppermost in thy heart. Take him as 
God, to be chief in thy affections, estimations, and 
purposes ; for he will not endure to have any set above 
him. In a word, thou must take him in all his per- 
sonal relations and in all his essential perfections. 

I. In all his personal relations. God the Father 
must be taken for thy father. O come to him with 
the prodigal ! " Father, I have sinned against heaven, 
and in thy sight, and am not worthy to be called thy 
son;" but since, of thy wonderful mercy, thou art 
pleased to take me, that am of myself most vile, even 
a beast and no man before thee, to be a child, I so- 
lemnly take thee for my Father, commend myself to 
thy care, and trust to thy providence, and cast my 
burden on thy shoulders. I depend on thy provision, 
and submit to thy corrections, and trust under the 
shadow of thy wings, and hide in thy chambers, and 
flee to thy name. I renounce all confidence in my- 
self; I repose my confidence in thee; I declare my 
engagement with thee ; I will be for thee, and not for 
another. Again, God the Son must be taken for thy 



120 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VT 

Savior, thy Redeemer, and thy righteousness. He 
must be accepted, as the only way to the Father, and 
the only means of life. O then put off the raiment of 
thy captivity, put on the wedding garment, and go and 
marry thyself to Christ. ' Lord, I am thine, and all 
I have, my body, soul, and estate. I give my heart to 
thee ; I will be thine undividedly, thine everlastingly. 
I will set thy name on all I have, and use it only as 
thy goods, during thy leave, resigning all to thee. I 
will have no king but thee to reign over me. Other 
lords have had the dominion over me : but now I will 
make mention of thy name only, and do here take an 
oath of fealty to thee, promising to serve and fear thee 
above all competitors. I disavow mine own right- 
eousness, and despair of ever being pardoned and 
saved for my own duties or graces, and lean solely on 
thy all-sufficient sacrifice and intercession for pardon, 
and life, and acceptance before God. I take thee for 
my only guide and instructor, resolving to be directed 
by thee, and to wait for thy counsel; for thine shall 
be the casting voice with me.' Lastly, God the Spirit 
must be taken for thy sanctifier, for thy advocate, thy 
counsellor, thy comforter, the teacher of thy ignorance, 
the pledge and earnest of thy inheritance. " Awake 
thou north wind, and come, thou south, and blow upon 
my garden." " Come, thou Spirit of the Most High ; 
here is a temple for thee ; here do thou rest for ever ; 
dwell here; lo, I give up the possession to thee, full 
possession ; I send thee the keys of my heart, that all 
may be thine. I give up the use of all to thee, that 
every faculty and every member may be th)*- instru- 
ment to work righteousness and do the will of my Fa- 
ther who is in heaven 
2. In all his essential perfections. Consider how the 



Chap. Vl.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 12i 

Lord hath revealed himself to you in his word. "Will 
you take him as such a God % O, sinner, here is the 
most blessed news that ever came to the sons of men : 
" The Lord will be thy God," if thou wilt but close 
with him in his excellencies. Wilt thou have the mer- 
ciful, the gracious, the sin-pardoning God to be thy 
God ? " O yes," saith the sinner, " I am undone else." 
But the Father tells thee, I am the holy and sin-hating 
God ; if thou wilt be owned as one of my people, thou 
must be holy — holy in heart, holy in life ; thou must 
put away all thy iniquities, be they ever so dear, ever 
so natural, ever so necessary to the maintaining thy 
fleshly interest. Unless thou wilt be at enmity with 
sin, I cannot be thy God. Cast out the leaven. "Put 
away the evil of thy doings ; cease to do evil ; learn 
to do well ;" else I can have nothing to do with thee. 
Bring forth mine enemies, or there is no peace to be 
had with me. What doth thine heart answer? "Lord, 
I desire to have thee as such a God ; I desire to be ho- 
ly as thou art holy, and to be made partaker of thy 
holiness. I love thee, not only for thy goodness and 
mercy, but for thy holiness and purity. I take thy ho- 
liness for my happiness : O be to me a fountain of ho- 
liness ; set on me the stamp and impress of thy holi- 
ness: I will thankfully part with all my sins at thy 
command. My wilful sins I do forthwith forsake; and 
for mine infirmities that cleave unto me, though I 
would be rid of them, I will strive against them con- 
tinually: I detest them, and will pray against them, 
and never let them have quiet rest in my soul." Be- 
loved, whoever of you will thus accept of the Lord for 
his God, shall have him. 

Again, he tells you, "I am the all-sufficient God." 
Will you lay all at my feet, give up all to my disposal, 
11 



122 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI. 

and take me for your only portion ? Will you own 
and honor my all-sufficiency ? Will you take me as 
your happiness and treasure, your hope and bliss? I 
am a sun and a shield all in one; will you have me 
for your all ? Now what dost thou say to this ? Doth 
thy soul long for the onions and flesh-pots of Egypt? 
Art thou loth to change thy earthly happiness for a 
portion in God? and though thou wouldst be glad to 
have God and the world too, yet canst thou not think 
of having him, and nothing but him ; but hadst rather 
take up with the earth below, if God would but let 
thee keep it as long as thou wouldst ? This is a fear- 
ful sign. But now, if thou art willing to sell all for 
the pearl of great price; if thine heart answer, "Lord, 
I desire no other portion but thee ; take the corn, and 
the wine, and the oil whoso will, so I may have the 
light of thy countenance ; I fix upon thee for my hap- 
piness; I gladly venture myself on thee, and trust my- 
self with thee ; I set my hope in thee ; I take up my 
rest with thee ; let me hear thee say, I am thy God, thy 
salvation, and I have enough, all I wish for; I will 
make no terms with thee but for thyself; let me but 
have thee sure; let me be able to make my claim and 
see my title to thyself; and for other things, I leave 
them to thee; give me more or less, any thing or no- 
thing, I will be satisfied in my God." Take him thus, 
and he is thy own. 

Again, he tells you, I am the sovereign Lord; if you 
will have me for your God you must give me the 
supremacy. 1 will not be an underling ; you must not 
make me a second to sin or any worldly interest. If 
you will be my people I must have the rule over you ; 
you must not live at your own choice. Will you come 
under my yoke? Will you bow to my government? 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 123 

Will you submit to my discipline, to my word, to my 
rod ? Sinner, what sayest thou to this? "Lord, I had 
rather be at thy command than live at my own will; I 
had rather have thy will to be done than mine ; I ap- 
prove of and consent to thy laws, and account it my 
privilege to lie under them. And though the flesh re- 
bel, and often break its bounds, I have resolved to take 
no other Lord but thee. I willingly take the oath of 
thy supremacy, and acknowledge thee for my Sove- 
reign, and resolve all my days to pay the tribute of 
worship, obedience, love and service to thee, and to 
live to thee to the end of my life." This is a right 
acceptance of God. 

To be short, he tells you, I am the true and faithful 
God. If you will have me for your God you must be 
content to trust me. Will you venture yourselves upon 
my word, and depend on my faithfulness, and take my 
bond for your security ? Will you be content to follow 
me in poverty, and reproach, and affliction here ; and 
to see much going out and little corning in j and to tarry 
till the next world for your preferment? I deal much 
upon trust. Will you be content to labor and suffer, 
and to tarry for your returns till the resurrection of 
the just? My promise will not always be instantly 
fulfilled; will you have the patience to wait? Now, 
what say you to this ? Will you have this God for 
your God? Will you be content to live by faith, and 
trust him for an unseen happiness, an unseen heaven, 
an unseen glory ? Do your hearts answer, " Lord, we 
will venture ourselves upon thee ; we commit our- 
selves to thee ; we cast ourselves upon thee ; we know 
whom we have trusted ; we are willing to take thy 
word ; we will prefer thy promises before our own 
possessions, and the hopes of heaven before all the en- 



124 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. | Chap. VI. 

joyments of the earth; we will do thy pleasure— what 
thou wilt here, so that we may have but thy faithful 
promise for heaven hereafter." If you can in truth, 
and upon deliberation, thus accept of God, he will be 
yours. Thus there must be, in a right conversion to 
God, a closing with him suitable to his excellences.. 
But when men close with his mercy, but yet love sin, 
hating holiness and purity ; or will take him for their 
benefactor, but not for their sovereign ; or for their 
patron, and not for their portion ; this is no thorough 
and sound conversion. 

XII. Accept of the Lord Jesus in all his offices, as 
thine. 

Upon these terms Christ may be had. Sinner, thou 
hast undone thyself, and art plunged into the ditch of 
most deplorable misery, out of which thou art never 
able to climb up ; but Jesus Christ is able and ready to 
help thee, and he freely tenders himself to thee. Be 
thy sins ever so many, ever so great, or of ever so long 
continuance, yet thou shalt be most certainly pardoned 
and saved, if thou dost not wretchedly neglect the of- 
fer that in the name of God is here made to thee. 
The Lord Jesus calleth thee to look to him and be 
saved. " Come unto him, and he will in no wise cast thee 
out." Yea, he beseecheth thee to be reconciled. He 
crieth in the streets; he knocketh at thy door; he in- 
viteth thee to accept of him, and live with him. If 
thou diest, it is because thou wouldst not come to him 
for life. 

Now accept of an offered Christ, and thou art made 
for ever ; now give thy consent to him, and the match 
is made ; all the world cannot hinder it. Do not stand 
off because of thy unworthiness. Man, I tell thee, no- 
thing in the world can undo thee but thy unwilling- 



Cbap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 125 

ness. Speak, man ; art thou desirous of the honor ? 
Wilt thou have Christ in all his relations to be thine; 
thy king, thy priest, thy prophet? Wilt thou have him 
with all the inconveniences? Take not Christ with- 



Wilt thou lay all at his feet? Wilt thou be content to 
run all hazards with him? Wilt thou take thy lot with 
him, fall where it will ? Wilt thou "deny thyself, take 
up thy cross and follow him?" Art thou deliberately, 
understanding^, freely determined to cleave to him, 
in all times and conditions? If so, thou shalt never 
perish, but art passed from death unto life. Here lies 
the main point of thy salvation, that thou be found in 
thy covenant-closure with Jesus Christ ; and therefore, 
if thou love thyself, see that thou be faithful to God 
and thy soul here. 

XIII. Resign up all thy powers and faculties, and 
thy whole interest to be his. 

" They gave their own selves unto the Lord." " Pre- 
sent your bodies a living sacrifice." The Lord seeks 
not yours, but you ; resign therefore thy body, with all 
its members, to him ; and thy soul, with all its powers, 
that he may be glorified in thy body and in thy spirit, 
which are his. 

In a right closing with Christ all thy faculties give 
themselves up to him. Thy judgment says, "Lord, 
thou art worthy of all acceptation, chief of ten thou- 
sand : happy is the man that finds thee. All the things 
that are to be desired are not to be compared with 
thee." Prov. 3 : 13-15. The understanding lays aside 
its corrupt reasonings and cavils, and its prejudices 
against Christ and his ways. It is now past question- 
ing, and carries it for Christ against all the world. It 
concludes it is " good to be here," and sees such a trea- 



126 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI. 

sure in this field, such a value in this pearl, as is worth 
all. Matt. 13 : 44-46. " O ! here is the richest bargain 
that ever I made; here is the richest prize that ever 
man was offered ; here is the most sovereign remedy 
that ever mercy prepared ; he is worthy of my esteem, 
worthy of my choice, worthy of my love, worthy to be 
embraced, adored, admired, for evermore. Rev. 5 : 12. 
I approve of his articles : his terms are righteous and 
reasonable, full of equity and mercy." Again, the will 
resigns. It stands no longer wavering, nor wishing, 
but is peremptorily determined : " Lord, thy love hath 
overcome me, thou hast won me, and thou shalt have 
me. Come in, Lord ; to thee I freely open ; I consent to 
be saved in thine own way. Thou shalt have any 
thing — nay, have all, let me have but thee." The me- 
mory gives up to Christ : " Lord, here is a storehouse 
for thee; out with this trash; lay in the treasure; let 
me be a repository of thy truth, thy promises, thy pro- 
vidences." The conscience comes in : " Lord, I will 
ever side with thee: I will be thy faithful registrar: 
I will warn when the sinner is tempted, and smite 
when thou art offended ; I will witness for thee, and 
judge for thee, and guide into thy ways, and will never 
let sin have quiet in this soul." The affections also 
come in to Christ : O, saith Love, " I am sick for thee : 
O, saith Desire, now I have my longing; here is the 
satisfaction I sought for ; here is the desire of nations ; 
here is bread for me, and balm for me : all that I want." 
Fear bows the knee with awe and veneration : " Wel- 
come, Lord, to thee will I pay my homage : thy word 
and rod shall command my motions ; thee will I re- 
verence and adore ; before thee will I fall down and 
worship." Grief likewise puts in: "Lord, thy dis- 
pleasure and thy dishonor, thy people's calamities and 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 127 

my own iniquities shall be what shall set me at work. 
I will mourn when thou art offended ; I will weep when 
thy cause is wounded." Anger likewise comes in for 
Christ: "Lord, nothing so enrages me as my folly 
against thee, that I should be so besotted and bewitch- 
ed as to hearken to the flatteries of sin and the temp- 
tations of Satan against thee." Hatred too will side 
with Christ : " I protest mortal enmity with thine en- 
emies, that I never will be a friend to thy foes ; I vow 
an eternal quarrel with every sin : I will give no quar- 
ter; I will make no peace." Thus let all thy powers 
yield to Jesus Christ. 

Again, thou must give up thy whole interest to 
him. If there be any thing that thou keepest back 
from Christ, it will be thy undoing. Luke, 14 : 33. 
Unless thou wilt forsake all, (in preparation and re- 
solution of thy heart,) thou canst not be his disciple. 
Thou must hate father and mother, yea, and thine 
own life also, in comparison with him, and as far 
as it stands in competition with him. In a word, 
thou must give him thyself, and all that thou hast, 
without reservation, or else thou canst have no part 
in him. 

XIV. " Make choice of the laws of Christ as the 
rule of thy words, thoughts, and actions." This is the 
true convert's choice. But here remember these three 
rules : — 1. You must choose them all, there is no get- 
ting to heaven by a partial obedience. None may 
think it enough to take up with the cheap and easy 
part of religion, and let alone the duties that are costly 
and self-denying, and oppose the interests of the flesh ; 
you must take all or none. A sincere convert, though 
he makes most conscience of the greatest sins and 
weightiest duties, yet he makes true conscience of little 



i28 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI. 

sins and of all duties. 2. You must choose Christ's 
laws for all times, for prosperity and adversity, whether 
it rain or shine. A true convert is resolved in his 
course ; he will stand to his choice, and will not set his 
back to the wind, and be of the religion of the times. 
" I have stuck to thy testimonies ; I have inclined my 
heart to perform thy statutes always, even to the end. 
Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage for ever. I 
will have respect to thy statutes continually." 3. This 
must not be done carelessly, but deliberately and un- 
derstandingly. The disobedient son said, "I go, sir; 
but he went nt)t." How fairly did they promise, " All 
that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee we will 
do it !" And it is likely they spake as they meant. 
But when it came to the trial it was found that there 
was not such a heart in them as to do what they had 
promised. 

If you would be sincere in closing with the laws and 
the ways of Christ, study the meaning, and breadth, 
and extent of them. Remember that they are spiritual ; 
they reach the very thoughts and inclinations of the 
heart \ so that, if you will walk by this rule, your very 
thoughts and inward motions must be under govern- 
ment. Again, they are very strict and self-denying, 
quite contrary to the grain of your natural inclinations. 
You must take the strait gate, the narrow way, and be 
content to have the flesh curbed from the liberty it de- 
sires. In a word, they are very large, for " thy com- 
mandments are exceeding broad." 

Rest not in generals, for there is much deceit in 
them, but bring down thine heart to the particular 
commands of Christ. Those Jews, in the prophet, 
seemed as well resolved as any in the world, and called 
God to witness that they meant as they said : but they 



Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 129 

stuck in generals; when God's command crosses their 
inclination, they will not obey. Art thou resolved, in 
the strength of Christ, to set upon the conscientious 
practice of every duty that thou findest to be there 
required of thee, and to set against every sin that 
thou findest there forbidden ? This is the way to be 
sound in God's statutes, that thou mayest never be 
ashamed. 

Observe the special duties that thy heart is most 
against, and the special sins that it is most inclined to, 
and see whether it be truly resolved to perform the 
one and forego the other. What sayest thou to thy 
bosom-sin, thy gainful sin ? What sayest thou to cost- 
ly, hazardous, and flesh-displeasing duties? If thou 
haltest here, and dost not resolve (by the grace of 
God) to cross the flesh and be in earnest, thou art 
unsound. 

XV. " Let all this be completed in a solemn cove- 
nant between God and thy soul." For thy better help 
therein, take these few directions. 

Set apart some time, more than once, to be spent in 
secret before the Lord — in seeking earnestly his special 
assistance and gracious acceptance of thee — in search- 
ing thy heart, whether thou art sincerely willing to 
forsake all thy sins, and to resign up thyself, body and 
soul, unto God and his service ; to serve him in holi- 
ness and righteousness all the days of thy life. Com- 
pose thy spirit into the most serious frame possible, 
suitable to a transaction of so high importance. Lay 
hold on the convenant of God, and rely on his promise 
of giving grace and strength, whereby thou mayest be 
enabled to perform thy promise. Trust not to thine 
own strength, to the strength of thine own resolutions : 
but take hold on his strength. 



130 A SHORT SOLILOQUY. [diap. VI. 

XVI. Take heed of delaying thy conversion, but 
make a speedy, an immediate surrender of thy heart 
to God. " I made haste, and delayed not." Remember 
and tremble at the sad instance of the foolish virgins, 
that came not till the " door of mercy was shut;" and 
of a convinced Felix, who put off Paul to another sea- 
son ; and we never find that he had such another sea- 
son. O come in while it is called to-day, lest thou 
shouldst be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin ; 
lest the day of grace should be over, and the things 
which belong to thy peace should be * hidden from 
thine eyes." Now mercy is inviting thee; now Christ 
is waiting to be gracious to thee, and the Spirit of God 
is striving with thee; now ministers are calling; now 
conscience is stirring : now the market is open, and 
oil may be had, thou hast opportunity for buying. 
Now Christ is to be had, if accepted. O strike in with 
the offers of grace : now or never ! If thou make light 
of this offer, God may swear in his wrath, thou shalt 
not taste of his supper. 

A SHORT SOLILOQUY. 

What meanest thou, O my soul, to go on thus ? art 
thou in league with hell ? hast thou made a covenant 
with death? art thou in love with thy misery? "Is it 
good for thee to be here?" Alas! what shall I do? shall 
I go on in my sinful ways ? Why then, certain damna- 
tion will be my end. And shall I be so besotted as to 
go and sell my soul to the flames for a little ale and a 
little ease, for a little pleasure, or gain, or satisfaction 
to my flesh ? Shall I linger any longer in this wretched 
state? No ; if I tarry here I shall die. What then ? 
Is there no help, no hope? None, except I turn. Why, 



Chap. VI. J A SHORT SOLILOQUY. 131 

but is there any remedy for such woful misery? any 
mercy, after such provoking iniquity ? Yes, as sure as 
God's oath is true I shall have pardon and mercy yet, 
if immediately, and unfeignedly, and unreservedly 
I turn by Christ to him. 

Why, then, I thank thee upon my bended knees, O 
most merciful Jehovah ! that thy patience hath waited 
for me hitherto ; for, hadst thou taken me away in this 
estate, I had perished for ever. And now I adore thy 
grace, and accept the offers of thy mercy : I renounce 
all my sins, and resolve by thy grace to set myself 
against them, and to follow thee in holiness and 
righteousness all the days of my life. 

Who am I, Lord, that I should make any claim unto 
thee, or have any part or portion in thee, who am not 
worthy to lick up the dust of thy feet ? yet, since thou 
holdest forth the golden sceptre, I am bold to come and 
touch. To despair, would be to disparage thy mercy; 
and to stand off when thou biddest me to come, would 
be at once to ruin myself and rebel against thee, under 
the pretence of humility. Therefore I bow my soul 
to thee, and with all possible thankfulness accept thee 
as mine, and give up myself to thee as thine. Thou 
shalt be Sovereign over me, " my King and my God :" 
thou shalt be on the throne, and all my powers shall 
bow to thee; they shall come and worship before thy 
feet. Thou shalt be my portion, O Lord, and I will 
rest in thee. 

Thou callest for my heart. O that it were any way 
fit for thine acceptance ! I am unworthy, O Lord, ever- 
lastingly unworthy to be thine; but since thou wilt 
have it so, I freely give up my heart to thee : take it t 
it is thine. O that it were better ! But, Lord. I put ii 
into thine hand, who alone canst mend it : mold it 



132 A SHORT SOLILOQUY. [Chap. VI. 

after thine own heart ; make it as thou wouldst have it, 
holy, humble, heavenly, soft, tender, flexible ; and write 
thy law upon it. 

" Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly ;" enter in triumph- 
antly ! take me up to thee for ever: I give up myself 
to thee ; I come to thee as the only way to the Father, 
as the only Mediator, the means ordained to bring me 
to God. I have destroyed myself, but in thee is my 
help; save, Lord, or else I perish!" I come to thee 
worthy to die and to be damned. Never was the hire 
more due to the servant, never was penny more due to 
the laborer, than death and hell (my just wages) are 
due to me for my sins. But I flee to thy merits ; I 
trust alone to the value and virtue of thy sacrifice, and 
the prevalence of thy intercession. I submit to thy 
teaching ; I make choice of thy government. " Stand 
open, ye everlasting doors, that the King of glory may 
come in." 

O thou Spirit of the Most High, the comforter and 
sanctifier of thy chosen ! come in with all thy glorious 
train, all thy courtly attendants, thy fruits and graces ; 
let me be thine habitation ; I can give thee only what 
is thine own already; but here, with the poor widow, 
I cast my two mites, my soul and my body, into thy 
treasury, fully resigning them up to thee, to be sancti- 
fied by thee, to be servants to thee. They shall be thy 
patients ; cure thou their malady. They shall be thy 
subjects; govern thou their motions. Too long have 
I served the world ; too long have I hearkened to Sa- 
tan ; but now I renounce them all, and will be ruled 
by thy dictates and directions, and guided by thy 
counsel. 

O blessed Trinity ! glorious Unity ! I deliver up 
myself to thee : receive me 5 write thy name, Lord, 



Chap. VII.] MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 133 

upon me, and upon all that I have, as thy property j 
set thy mark upon me, upon every member of my bo- 
dy, and on every faculty of my soul. I have chosen 
thy precepts ; thy law will I keep in mine eye, and 
study to follow. According to this rule do I resolve, 
through thy grace, to walk; after this law shall my 
whole man be governed; and though I shall come 
short in all thy commandments, yet I will allow my- 
self in the breach of none. I know my flesh will 
hang back ; but I resolve, in the power of thy grace, 
to cleave to thee and thy holy ways, whatever it costs 
me. I am sure I cannot come off a loser by thee, and 
therefore I will be content with reproach, and difficul- 
ties, and hardships here; and will "deny myself, and 
take up my cross, and follow thee." Lord Jesus, thy 
yoke is easy, thy cross is welcome : as it is the way to 
thee, I lay aside all hopes of worldly happiness ; I will 
be content to tarry till I come to thee. Let me be poor, 
and low, and despised here, so I may but be admitted 
to live and reign with thee hereafter. Lord, thou hast 
my heart and hand to this agreement : be it as the laws 
of the Medes and Persians, never to be reversed. To 
this will I stand ; in this resolution, through grace, I 
will live and die; "I have sworn," and will perform 
it, that " I will keep thy righteous judgments;" I have 
given my free consent; I have made my everlasting 
choice : Lord Jesus, confirm the contract. Amen. 



CHAPTER VII. 

CONTAINING THE MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 

Though what is already said of the "necessity 01 
conversion," and of the "miseries of the unconverted," 
12 



134 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [diap. VIL 

might be sufficient to induce any considerate mind to 
resolve upon a present turning unto God ; yet, know- 
ing what a piece of desperate obstinacy and untracta- 
bleness the heart of man naturally is, and thinking it 
therefore possible, after all that I have said, some might 
still refuse their whole selves to the Lord, I have added 
the following motives. 

Lord, fail me not now, at my last attempts. If any 
soul hath read hitherto, and is yet untouched, now, 
Lord, fasten on him, and do thy work ; now take him 
by the heart, overcome him, persuade him, till he say, 
Thou hast prevailed, for thou art stronger than I. 
Lord, didst not thou make me a fisher of men, and 
have I toiled all this while and caught nothing ? Alas ! 
that I should have spent my strength for naught! and 
now I am casting my last; Lord Jesus, stand thou up- 
on the shore, and direct how and where I shall spread 
my net; and let me so enclose with arguments the 
souls I seek, that they may not be able to get out. 
Now, Lord, for a multitude of souls ! now for a full 
draught ! O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and 
strengthen me this once, O God. 

But I turn me unto you. 

Men and brethren, heaven and earth call upon you ; 
yea, hell itself preaches the doctrine of repentance un- 
to you ; the ministers of the churches labor for you. 
The angels of heaven wait for you, for your repenting 
and turning unto God. O sinner, why should the de- 
vils make merry with thee ? why shouldst thou be a 
morsel for that devouring leviathan % why should har- 
pies and hell-hounds tear thee, and make a feast upon 
thee ; and when they have got thee into the snare, and 
have fastened their talons in thee, laugh at thy de- 
struction, and deride thy misery, and sport themselves 



Chap. VII.] MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 135 

with thy ruinous folly? This will be thy case, except 
thou turn. And were it not better thou shouldst be a 
joy to angels, than a laughing-stock and sport for de- 
vils? Verily, if thou wouldst but come in, the hea- 
venly hosts would take up their anthems and sing, 
"Glory be to God in the highest j" the morning stars 
would sing together, and all the sons of God shout for 
joy, and celebrate this new creation as they did the 
first. Thy repentance would, as it were, make a holi- 
day in heaven, and the glorious spirits would rejoice, 
in that there is a new brother added to their society, 
another heir born to the Lord, and the lost son re- 
ceived safe and sound. The true penitent's tears are 
indeed the wine that maketh glad both God and man. 
If it be little that men and angels would rejoice at thy 
conversion, know thou that God himself would rejoice 
over thee, even with singing, and rest in his love. Ne- 
ver did Jacob with such joy weep over the neck of his 
Joseph, as thy heavenly Father would rejoice over thee 
upon thy coming to him. Look over the story of the 
prodigal. Methinks I see how the aged father lays 
aside his state and forgetteth his years; behold how 
he runneth! O the haste that mercy makes! the sin- 
ner makes not half that speed. Methinks I see how 
his bowels move, how his compassions yearn. How 
quick sighted is love! Methinks I hear the music at 
a distance. O the melody of the heavenly choristers! 
I cannot learn the song, Rev. 14 : 3, but methinks I 
overhear the burden, at which all the harmonious choir 
with one consent strike sweetly in, being none other 
than, " For this my son was dead, and is alive again ; 
was lost, and is found." I need not farther explain the 
parable: God is the father; Christ is the provision; his 
righteousness the robe; his grace the ornaments; min- 



136 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. VII. 

isters, saints and angels the friends and servants; and 
thou that readest (if thou wilt but unfeignedly repent 
and turn) the welcome prodigal, the happy instance of 
this grace, and blessed subject of this joy and love ! 
O rock ! O adamant ! — what ! not moved yet ! not yet 
resolved to turn forthwith and to close with mercy ! 
I will try thee yet once again ; if one were sent to thee 
from the dead, wouldst thou be persuaded? Why, 
hear the voice from the dead, from the damned, crying 
to thee that thou shouldst repent : " I pray thee that 
thou wouldst send him to my father's house, (for I 
have five brethren,) that he may testify to them, lest 
they also come into this place of torment : if one went 
to them from the dead, they will repent." Hear, O 
man ! thy predecessors in impenitence preach to thee 
from the infernal world, from the flames, from the rack, 
that thou shouldst repent. O look but down into the 
bottomless pit; seest thou how the smoke of their tor- 
ment ascendeth for ever and ever ! What thinkest thou 
of those chains of darkness? Canst thou be content to 
burn ? Seest thou how the worm gnaweth, how the fire 
rageth ? What sayest thou to that gulf of perdition ? 
wilt thou take up thine habitation there ? O lay thine 
ear to the door of hell : nearest thou the curses and blas- 
phemies, the weepings and wailings, how they lament 
their follies and curse their day ? How do they roar 
and gnash their teeth! how deep their groans! how 
inconceivable their miseries! if the shrieks of Korah, 
Dathan and Abiram were so terrible (when the earth 
clave asunder, and opened its mouth and swallowed 
them up, and all that appertained to them) that all Is- 
rael fled at the cry of them, O how fearful would the 
cry be, if God should take off" the covering from the 
mouth of hell, and let the cry of the damned ascend 



Chap. VII.] MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 137 

in all its terror among the children of men ! and of all 
their moans and miseries this is the piercing, killing 
emphasis and burden, "for ever! for ever !" 

Why, as God liveth that made thy soul, thou art but 
a few hours' distant from all this, except thou "repent 
and be converted." 

0, I am even lost and swallowed up in the abun 
dance of those arguments that I might suggest. If 
there be any point of wisdom in all the world, it is to 
repent and come in. If there be any thing righteous, 
any thing reasonable, this is it. If there be any thing 
in the world that may be called madness and folly, and 
any thing that may be counted sottish, absurd, brutish, 
and unreasonable, it is this, "to go on in thine uncon- 
verted state." Let me beg of thee, as thou wouldst 
not willingly destroy thyself, to sit down and weigh, 
beside what has been said, these following motives, 
and let conscience say if it be not most reasonable 
that thou shouldst "repent and turn." 

1. The God that made thee, most graciously invites 
thee. 

His most sweet and merciful nature invites thee. O 
the kindness of God, his boundless compassion, his ten- 
der mercies ! As the heavens are higher than the earth, 
so are his ways above our ways, and his thoughts above 
our thoughts. " He is full of compassion, and gracious, 
long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy." This is a 
great argument to persuade sinners to come in, "Turn 
unto the Lord your God ; for he is gracious and mer- 
ciful, slow to anger, of great kindness, and repenteth 
him of the evil." 

If God would not repent of the evil, it would be 
some discouragement against our repenting. If there 
12* 



138 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. VII. 

were no hope of mercy, it would be no wonder that 
rebels should stand out ; but never had subjects such 
a gracious prince, such pity, patience, and clemency 
to deal with, as you have. "Who is a God like unto 
thee, that pardoneth iniquity ?" Micah, 7 : 18. O sin- 
ners ! see what a God you have to deal with : if you 
will but turn, "he will turn again, and have compas- 
sion on you ; he will subdue your iniquities, and cast 
all your sins into the depths of the sea." "Return un- 
to me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will return unto 
you." Sinners do not fail in that they have too high 
thoughts of God's mercies, but in that, 1, They over- 
look his justice. 2. They promise themselves mercy 
out of God's way. His mercy is beyond all imagina- 
tion ; great mercies, manifold mercies, Neh. 9: 19, ten- 
der mercies, sure mercies, everlasting mercies ; and all 
is thy own, if thou wilt but turn. Art thou willing to 
come in? The Lord hath laid aside his terror and 
erected a throne of grace. He holds forth the golden 
sceptre: touch and live. Would a merciful man slay 
his enemy when prostrate at his feet, acknowledging 
his wrong, begging pardon, and offering to enter with 
him into a covenant of peace? Much less will the 
merciful God. Study his name. 

His soul-encouraging call and promises invite thee. 
Ah, what an earnest suitor is mercy to thee ! how lov- 
ingly, how instantly, it calleth after thee ! how earnest- 
ly it wooeth thee! "Return, thou backsliding Israel, 
saith the Lord, and I will not cause my anger to fall 
upon you ; for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will 
not keep anger for ever ; only acknowledge thine ini- 
quity. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord ; 
return, and I will heal thy backslidings. Thou hast 
played the harlot with many lovers ; yet return unto 



Chap. VII.J MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 139 

me, saith the Lord." "As I live, saith the Lord God, 
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that 
he turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from 
your evil ways ; for why will ye die, O house of Is- 
rael ?" "If the wicked will 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. All the transgressions that he hath com- 
mitted they shall not be mentioned unto him ; in his 
righteousness that he hath done, he shall live. Repent, 
and turn you from all your transgressions : so iniquity 
shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your 
transgressions, 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 live ye." 
O melting, gracious words! the voice of God, and 
not of a man ! This is not the manner of men. for 
the offended sovereign to sue to the offending traitor- 
ous rebel. O how doth mercy follow thee, and plead 
with thee! Is not thy heart broken yet? O that "to- 
day you would hear his voice !" 

II. The doors of heaven are thrown open to thee, 
the everlasting gates are set wide for thee, and an abun- 
dant entrance into the kingdom of heaven is administer- 
ed to thee. 

Christ now addresses thee, and calls upon thee to 
arise and take possession of this good land. View the 
glory of the other world, as set forth in the map of 
the Gospel; get thee up into Pisgah of the promises, 
and lift up thine eyes northward, and southward, and 
eastward, and westward, and see the good land that is 
beyond Jordan, and that goodly mountain ; behold the 



140 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. Vli. 

Paradise of God, watered with the streams of glory. 
Arise and walk through the land, in the length of it, 
and in the breadth of it; for the land which thou seest, 
the Lord will give it to thee for ever, if thou wilt but 
return. Let me say to thee, as Paul to Agrippa, "Be- 
lievestthou the prophets?" If thou believest indeed, 
do but view what glorious things are spoken of the 
city of God, and know that all this is here tendered in 
the name of God to thee. As verily as God is true, it 
shall be for ever thine, if thou wilt but thoroughly turn, 
Behold the city of pure transparent gold, whose 
foundations are garnished with all manner of precious 
stones, whose gates are pearls, whose light is glory, 
whose temple is God. Believest thou this? if thou 
dost, art thou not worse than insane, that wilt not take 
possession when the gates are thrown open to thee, 
and thou art bid to enter ? O ye sons of folly, will ye 
embrace the dunghill and refuse the kingdom? Be- 
hold, the Lord takes you up into the mountain, shows 
you the kingdom of heaven and all the glory thereof, 
and tells you, All this will I give you, if you will but 
return unto me ; if you will submit to mercy, accept 
my Son, and serve me in righteousness and holiness. 
" O fools, and slow of heart to believe !" Will you 
seek and serve the world, and neglect eternal glory ? 
What! not enter into Paradise when the flaming sword, 
which was once set to keep you out, is now used to 
drive you in ! But you will say I am uncharitable, to 
think you infidels and unbelievers. Why, what shall 
I think of you ? Either you are desperate unbelievers, 
that do not credit it, or insane, that you know and be- 
lieve the excellence and eternity of this glory, and yet 
do so fearfully neglect it. Surely you have either no 
faith or no reason, and I had almost said conscience 

sWl trV, vrv 1 cr> hnfnrp T ] n nyp top. 



Chap. VI I.J MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 141 

Do but attend to what is offered you : a blessed king- 
dom, a "kingdom of glory," a "kingdom of righteous- 
ness," a " kingdom of peace," and an " everlasting king- 
dom." Here thou shalt dwell, here thou shalt reign for 
ever, and the Lord shall seat thee on a throne of glory, 
and with his own hand shall set the royal diadem upon 
thine head, and give thee a crown — not of thorns, for 
there shall be no sinning nor suffering there — not of 
gold, (for this shall be viler than the dirt in that day,) 
but a "crown of life," a "crown of righteousness," a 
"crown of glory," yea, "thou shalt put on glory as a 
robe," and shalt "shine like the sun in the firmament, 
in the glory of thy Father." Look now upon thy 
worthless flesh. This very flesh, which is mere dust 
and ashes, shall be brighter than the stars. In short, 
thou shalt be made like «nto the "angels of God," and 
"behold his face in righteousness." Look in now and 
tell me, Dost thou yet believe ? if not, conscience must 
pronounce thee an infidel ; for it is the very " word of 
God " that I speak. 

But if thou sayest thou believest, let me next know 
thy resolution. Wilt thou embrace this for thy happi- 
ness? Wilt thou forego thy sinful gains, thy forbid- 
den pleasures'? Wilt thou trample on the world's es- 
teem, and stop thy ears to its flatteries, and wrest thee 
out of its embraces? Wilt thou be content to take up 
with reproach and poverty, if they lie in the way to 
heaven, and follow the Lord with humble self-denial, 
in a mortified and flesh-displeasing life ? If so, all is 
thine, and that for ever. 

And is not the offer a fair one ? Is it not just that 
he should be damned that will go on and perish, when 
all this may be had by taking it? Wilt thou take God 
it his word ; wilt thou let go thy hold of the world. 



142 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. VII. 

and rid thy hands of thy sins, and lay hold on eternal 
life? If not, let conscience tell thee whether thou 
art not insane, that thou shouldst neglect so happy a 
choice, by which thou mightest be made happy for 
ever. 

III. God will settle unspeakable privileges at present 
upon thee. 

Though the full of your blessedness shall be de- 
ferred till hereafter,, yet God will give you no little 
things in hand. He will redeem you from your thral- 
dom. He will pluck you from the paw of the lion. 
The serpent shall bruise thy heel, but thou shalt bruise 
his head. He shall deliver you from this present evil 
world. Prosperity shall not destroy you; adversity 
shall not separate him and you. 

He will redeem you from the power of the grave, 
and make the king of terrors a messenger of peace to 
you. He will take out the curse from the cross, and 
make affliction the refining-pot, the fan, the medicine, 
to blow off the chaff, purify the metal, and cleanse the 
mind. He will save you from the arrest of the law, 
and turn the curse into a blessing to you. He hath the 
keys of hell and of death, and shutteth and no man 
openeth, and he will shut its mouth, as once he did the 
lions', that you shall not be hurt of the second death. 

Beside, he will not only save you from misery, but 
install you into unspeakable prerogatives. He will be- 
stow himself upon you ; he will be a friend and a fa- 
ther unto you. He will be a sun and a shield to you. 
In a word, he will be a God to you. And what can be 
said more ? What may you expect that a God should 
do for you, and be to you? that he will be, that he will 
do. She that marries a prince expects he should do 



Chap. VII.] MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 143 

for her like a prince, that she may live in a suitable 
state, and have an answerable dowry : he that hath a 
king for his father or a friend, expects he should do foi 
him like a king. Alas ! the kings and monarchs of the 
earth, so much above you, are but like the painted but- 
terflies amongst the rest of their kind, or the fair co- 
lored palmer-worm amongst the rest of the worms, if 
compared with God. As he does infinitely exceed the 
glory and power of his glittering dust, so he will, be- 
yond all proportion, exceed in doing for his favorites 
whatever princes can do for theirs. He will "give you 
grace and glory, and withhold no good thing from 
you." He will take you for his sons and daughters, 
and make you heirs of his promises, and establish his 
everlasting covenant with you. He will justify you 
from all that law, conscience, and Satan can charge 
upon you. He will give you free access into his pre- 
sence, and accept your person, and receive your prayers. 
He will abide in you, and hold a constant and friendly 
communion with you. His ear shall be open, his door 
open, his store open, at all times to you. His blessing 
shall rest upon you, and he will make your enemies to 
serve you, and work out " all things for good unto 
you." 

IV. The terms of mercy are brought as low as pos- 
sible to you. God has stooped as low to sinners as 
with honor he can. He will not be an author of sin, 
nor stain the glory of his holiness : and how could he 
come lower than he has, unless he should do this? 

God does not impose any thing unreasonable or im- 
possible, as a condition of life, upon you. Two things 
were necessary to be done, according to the tenor of 
the first covenant. 1. That we should fully satisfy 



144 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. VII 

the demands of justice for past offences. 2. That we 
should perform personally, perfectly, and perpetually, 
the whole law for the time to come. By our sins we 
render salvation through either of these ways impossi- 
ble. But, behold God's gracious provision in both. 
He does not insist upon your satisfaction : he is con- 
tent to take of the Surety (and he of his own pro- 
viding too) what he might have exacted from you. 
"All things are of God, who hath reconciled us te 
himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the min 
istry of reconciliation 3 to wit, that God was in Christ 
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their 
trespasses unto them ; and hath committed unto us the 
word of reconciliation." He declares himself to have 
received a ransom ; and that he expects nothing but 
that you should accept his Son, "who of God is made 
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, 
and redemption;" and he shall be righteousness and 
redemption to you; "who his own self bare our sins 
in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, 
should live unto righteousness." If therefore you 
come in his Christ, and set your heart to please him, 
making this your chief concern, he wiii graciously ac- 
cept, and even reward you, though your obedience be 
not perfect. 

O consider the condescension of your God ; let me - 
say to you, as Naaman's servants to him, "My father, 
if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, would 
you not have done it? How much rather when he 
says to thee, Wash and be clean!" If God had de- 
manded some terrible, some severe and rigorous thing 
of you, to escape eternal damnation, would you not 
nave done it? Suppose it had been to spend all your 
days in sorrow in some howling wilderness, or to 



Chap. VII.J MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 145 

a offer the fruit of your bodies for the sin of your 
souis," would you not have thankfully accepted eter- 
nal redemption, though these had been the conditions? 
Nay, farther, if God should have told you that you 
should have burned in the fire for millions of ages, or 
been so long tormented in hell, would you not have 
gladly accepted it? Alas! all these are not so much 
as one grain of sand in the glass of eternity. If your 
offended Creator should have holden you but one year 
upon the rack, and then bidden you come and forsake 
your sins, accept Christ, and serve him a few years in 
self-denial, or lie in this case for ever and ever ; do you 
think you should have hesitated at the offer, and dis- 
puted the terms, and have been unresolved whether you 
were to accept of the proposal ? O sinner, return and 
live; why shouldst thou die when life is to be had for 
taking, when mercy seems beholden to thee (as it were) 
to be saved? Couldst thou say, "Lord, I knew thee, 
that thou wast a hard man," even then thou wouldst 
have had no excuse ; but when the God of heaven has 
stooped so low, and condescended so far, if still thou 
shouldst stand off, who shall plead for thee? 

Object. Notwithstanding all the advantages of this 
new covenant, I am unable to repent and believe, and 
so comply with its conditions. 

Ans. Dare you thus charge your impenitency and 
unbelief upon God? Your ability is sufficient to ren- 
der it your duty to repent without delay. But let the 
next consideration serve for a fuller answer. 

V. God doth offer all needed grace to enable you. 

"I have stretched out mine hand, and no man re 
garded." What though you are plunged into the ditch 
of that misery from which you can never get out? 
13 



H6 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. Vil. 

Christ offereth to help you out; he rcacheth out his 
hand to you; and if you perish, it is for refusing his 
help. " Behold I stand at the door and knock ; if any 
man open to me I will come in." What though you 
are poor, and wretched, and blind, and naked 1 Christ 
offereth a cure for your blindness, a covering for your 
nakedness, a remedy for your poverty ; he tenders you 
his righteousness, his grace : "I counsel thee to buy of 
me gold, that thou mayest be rich ; and white raiment, 
that thou mayest be clothed ; and anoint thy eyes with 
eye-salve, that thou mayest see." Do you say, The 
condition is impossible ; for I have not wherewith to 
buy? You must know that this buying is "without 
money and without price." This buying is by beg- 
ging and seeking with your whole heart. God com- 
mandeth thee to know him, and to fear him. Dost 
thou say, Yea, but my mind is blinded, and my heart 
is hardened from his fear? I answer, God doth offer 
to enlighten thy mind, and to teach thee this fear that 
is presented to thy choice. So that now, if men live 
in ignorance and estrangement from the Lord, it is be- 
cause they will not understand and desire the know- 
ledge of his ways. "If thou criest after knowledge, if 
thou seekest her as silver, &c. then shalt thou under- 
stand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of 
God." Is not here a fair offer? "Turn ye at my re- 
proof; behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you." 
Though of yourselves you can do nothing, yet you may 
do all through his Spirit enabling you, and he offer? 
assistance to you. God bids you " wash and make you 
clean." You say you are unable, as much as the leo- 
pard to wash out his spots. Yea, but the Lord doth 
offer to purge you; so that if you are filthy still, it is 
through your own wilfulness, "I have purged thee, 



Chap. VII.] QUESTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 147 

and thou wast not purged." "O Jerusalem, wilt thou 
not be made clean ? When shall it once be?" God 
doth invite you to be made clean, and entreat you to 
yield to his proposals ; accept of his offers, and let him 
do for you, and in you, what you cannot do for your- 
selves. 



SIX QUESTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 

Q. 1. IVhat is my state by nature? Is it not a state 
of death? Eph. 2:1. A state of wrath ? ver. 3. Sirs, 
awake, and bethink yourselves where you are, and 
whither you are going. "While you are in your natu- 
ral, unconverted, unbelieving state, all your sins are 
unpardoned, and the wrath of God abideth on you. 
Suppose you saw a poor creature hanging over a 
burning fiery furnace by nothing but a slender thread, 
like to break every moment, would not your hearts 
ache for such a one ? Sirs, it is your very case ; you 
hang over the infernal burnings by nothing but the 
small thread of your lives, while you know not but it 
may break the next moment, and then where are 
you ? Is this a case for you to go on contentedly and 
merrily in ? 

Q. 2. What conditio?! is my soul now in ? Am I 
changed and renewed by conversion, or am I not ? 
Speak, conscience ; hath this man, this woman, this 
child, been soundly and savingly changed, both in 
heart and life ? Where are your evidences ? Can 
you show the marks of the Lord Jesus upon your 
souls? Let conscience answer. Where was the 
place ? what were the means ? when was the time 
that your soul was thoroughly renewed ? At least, if 
you cannot show the time, place, or means, can you 



148 QUESTIONS TO 'I HE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VII. 

prove the thing ? Can you say with him that was 
born blind, One thing I know, that whereas 1 was 
blind, I now see? Sirs, be not deceived; I tell you, 
whatever you do, nothing will avail you to salvation, 
except you be new creatures. 

Q. 3. What if I should lose my soul ? liTiat sad 
work should Imake of it then ? This is very possible ; 
yea, it is the case of the most. There are but few of 
the children of men that escape safe to heaven. Sirs, 
beware of your danger, and fear, lest a promise being 
left of entering into rest, any of you should at last 
come short of it. Suppose a man were to travel 
through some perilous wood or wilderness, having 
but one jewel in all the world, in which his all was 
bound up, and should see some stand on one hand and 
some on the other, and hear one company in this place 
and another in that cry out under the hands of some 
cruel robbers ; 0, in what fear would this traveler 
go lest he should lose this jewel, and be robbed of all 
at once ! Why, thou art the man ; this traveler is 
thyself; this jewel is thy soul; this wilderness or 
wood is this world thou art to travel through : swarms 
of sins, legions of devils, and a whole world of temp- 
tations — these are the robbers that lie in wait for thy 
soul ; and if all that these can do can keep thee out 
of heaven, thou shalt never enter there. O ! what ir 
thy pride or worldliness, thy delays and triflings in 
religion should at last betray thy soul into the 
robbers' hands ? Other losses may be repaired ; but 
thy soul being once lost, God is lost, Christ is lost, 
heaven is lost, all lost for evermore. 

Q. 4. What am I doing for my soul ? What ! 
have I a soul, an immortal soul to care for, and look 
no better after it, and bestow no more of my time or 



Chap. VII.] QUESTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 149 

pains upon it, no more of my thoughts about it ? 
When Augustus the emperor saw the outlandish wo- 
men carrying apes and such kind of strange creatures 
in their arms, he asked, What ! have the women in 
these countries no children? So it may be said of 
many among us, that are early and late at their worldly 
business, but let the care of religion lie by neglected, 
What ! have these men no souls ? Why, man ! hast 
thou a soul, and yet dost so little in thy closet, so little 
in thy family, from day to day, for it? What meanest 
thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, that thou 
perish not. What will become of thy soul if thou 
lookest to it only at this careless rate ? 

Q. 5. What if God should this night require my 
soul, where would death land me ? There was one 
that promised himself many merry days and years, as 
it is likely thou dost, but that same night God called 
for his soul. Sirs, are you prepared ? Are you fit to 
die ? O dare not to live in such a case, nor in that 
course in which you would not dare to die. 

Q. 6. Should I not be in a happy case, if I had 
but secured my soid ? O if this were but once done, 
how sweetly mightest thou live ! Then thou mightest 
eat thy bread and drink thy wine with a merry heart, 
when assured that God accepteth thee and thy works. 
Then thou mightest lie down in peace, rise up in peace, 
and go out in peace. Then thou mightest look death 
in the face, thou mightest look dangers in the face, yea, 
look devils in the face, and never be afraid. Go then 
to Christ, seek the pardon of your sins through his 
death, commit your soul into his hands, believe in 
him, and then this happiness shall be yours : but go, I 
beseech you, without delay. 



13" 



150 CONCLUSION. [Chap. VII. 

CONCLUSION. 

And now, to conclude, let me know your mind; 
what do you intend to do ? Will you go on and die, 
or will you immediately turn and lay hold on eternal 
life? How long will ye linger in Sodom? "How 
long will ye halt between two opinions ?" Have you 
not yet resolved whether Christ or Barabbas, whether 
bliss or torment, whether this vain and wretched 
world or the paradise of God be the better choice ? 
Is it a disputable case whether the Abana and Pharpar 
of Damascus be better than all the streams of Eden ; 
or whether the vile puddle of sin is to be preferred 
before the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding 
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb ? Can the 
world in good earnest do that for you which Christ 
can ? Will it stand by you to eternity ? Will plea- 
sures, land, titles and treasures descend with you ? If 
:iot, had you not need look after somewhat that will ? 
What mean you to stand wavering, to be off and on? 
Shall I leave you at last, like Agrippa, no further than 
almost persuaded ? W T hy, you are for ever lost if left 
here ! as good be not at all, as not altogether Chris- 
tians. You are half in mind to give over your former 
negligent life, and set to a strict and holy course ; 
you could wish you were as some others are, and 
could do as they can do. How long will you rest in 
idle wishes and fruitless purposes ? When will you 
come to a fixed, firm, and full resolve ? Do not you 
see how Satan cheats you by tempting you to delays ? 
How long hath he drawn you on in the way of perdi 
lion? How many years have you been purposing 
10 mend ? What if God should have taken you off all 
this while. 



Chap. VII.] conclusion. 151 

Well, put me not off with a dilatory answer ; tell 
me not of hereafter ; I must have your immediate 
consent ; if you be not now resolved, while the Lord 
is treating with you and inviting you, much less are 
you like to be hereafter, when these impressions are 
worn out, and you are hardened through the deceitful- 
ness of sin. Will you give me your hand ? Will you 
set open the door and give the Lord Jesus the full and 
ready possession? Will you put your name unto his 
covenant ? What do you resolve upon ? If you still 
delay, my labor is lost, and all is likely to come to no- 
thing. Come, cast in your lot ; make your choice. 
" Now is the accepted time ; now is the day of salva- 
tion : to-day, if you will hear his voice." Why 
should not this be the day whence thou shouldst be 
able to date thy happiness? Why shouldst thou 
venture a day longer in this dangerous and dreadful 
condition? What if God should this night require 
thy soul ? " O that thou mightest know in this thy 
day the things that belong to thy peace, befoie they 
be hid from thine eyes ! This is thy day, and it is 
but a day. Others have had their day, and have re- 
ceived their doom and now art thou brought upon 
the stage of this world, here to act thy part for the 
whole of eternity. Remember thou art now upon 
thy good behavior for everlasting; if thou make not a 
wise choice now, thou art undone for ever. Look 
what thy present choice is ; such must thine eternal 
condition be. 

And is it true indeed ? Are life and death at thy 
choice ? Why then, what hinders but th?.t thou 
shouldst be happy ? Nothing doth or can hinder but 
thine own willful neglect or refusal. It was the remark 
of the eunuch to Philip : " See, here is water ; what 



152 CONCLUSION. [Chap. VII 

doth hinder me to be baptized V So I may say to 
thee, See, here is Christ, here is mercy, pardon, life; 
what hinders but that thou shouldst be pardoned and 
saved ? One of the martyrs, as he was praying at the 
stake, had his pardon set by him in a box, which indeed 
he refused rightly, because upon unworthy terms ; but 
here the terms are most honorable and easy, O sin- 
ner ! wilt thou burn with thy pardon by thee ? do but 
forthwith give up thy consent to Christ to renounce 
thy sins, deny thyself, take up the yoke and the cross 
and thou carriest the day ; Christ is thine ; pardon, 
peace, life, blessedness are all thine. And is not this 
an offer worth embracing ? Why shouldst thou hesi- 
tate or doubtfully dispute about the case? Is it not 
past controversy whether God be better than sin, and 
glory than vanity ? Why shouldst thou forsake thy own 
mercy, and sin against thy own life ? When wilt thou 
shake off thy sloth, and lay by thine excuses ? " Boast 
not thyself of to-morrow, thou knowest not" where 
this night may lodge thee. 

Now the Holy Spirit is striving with you ; he will 
not always strive. Hast thou not felt thine heart 
aroused by the word, and been almost persuaded to 
leave off thy sins and come to Christ ? Hast thou not 
feit some motions in thy mind, wherein thou hast 
been warned of thy danger, and told what thy care- 
less course would end in 1 It may be thou art like 
young Samuel, who, when the Lord called once and 
again, knew not the voice of the Lord ; but these 
motions and desires are the offers, and essays, and 
callings, and strivings of the Spirit. O take advantage 
of the tide, and know the day of thy visitation. 

Now the Lord Jesus stretcheth wide his arms to 
receive you ; he beseecheth you by us. How movingly 



Chap. VII. J conclusion. 153 

how 'meltingly, how compassionately he calleth ! the 
church is put into a sudden ecstacy at the sound of 
his voice, " the voice of my beloved." O wilt thou 
turn a deaf ear to his voice ? Is it not the voice that 
breaketh the cedars, and maketh the mountains to skip 
like a calf? that shaketh the wilderness, and divideth 
the flames of fire ? It is not Sinai's thunder, but a 
soft and still voice. It is not the voice of Mount Ebal, 
a voice of cursing and terror, but the voice of Mount 
Gerizim, the voice of blessing and glad tidings of good 
things. It is not the voice of the trumpet nor the 
voice of war, but a message of peace from the King of 
peace. I may say to thee, O sinner, as Martha to her 
sister, " The Master is come, and he calleth for thee," 
Now then, with Mary, arise quickly and come unto 
him. How sweet are his invitations ! He crieth in 
the open concourse, " If any man thirst, let him come 
unto me and drink." How bountiful is he ! He ex- 
cludeth none. " Whosever will, let him come and 
take the water of life freely." " Whoso is wise, let 
him turn in hither. Come, eat of my bread, and 
drink of the wine that I have mingled. Forsake the 
foolish and live." " Come unto me, take my yoke 
upon you, and learn of me, and ye shall find rest to 
your souls." " Him that cometh unto me, I will in no 
wise cast out." How doth he bemoan the obstinate 
refuser ! " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! how often would 
I have gathered thy children as a hen gathereth her 
chickens under her wings, and ye would not !" " Be- 
hoLi me, behold me ! I have stretched out my hands 
all th°. day to a rebellious people." be persuaded 
now at last to throw yourselves into the arms of hi? 
love. 

Bene! J, ye sons of men, the Lord Jesus hath 



154 conclusion. [Chap. VII. 

thrown open the prison, and now he cometh to you 
by his ministers, and beseecheth you to come out. If 
it were from a palace or paradise that Christ did call 
you, it were no wonder that you were unwilling ; 
(and yet how easily was Adam tempted thence !) but 
it is from your prison, from your chains, from the 
dungeon, from the darkness, that he calleth you, and 
yet will you not come ? He calls you unto liberty, 
and yet will you not hearken ? His yoke is easy, his 
laws are liberty, his service is freedom, and (whatever 
prejudice you have against his ways) if God may be 
believed, you shall find them all pleasure and peace, 
and shall taste sweetness and joy unutterable, and 
take infinite delight and felicity in them. 

Sinners, I cannot tell how to give you over. I am 
now ready to close, but I would see a covenant made 
between Christ and you before I end. What ! shall I 
leave you at last as I found you ? Have you read 
hitherto, and not yet resolved immediately to abandon 
all your sins and to close with Jesus Christ 1 Alas ! 
what shall I say ? what shall I do ? Will you turn 
off all my importunity ? Have I run in vain ? Have 
I used so many arguments, and spent so much time 
to persuade you, and must I sit down at last in dis- 
appointment ? But it is a small matter that you turn 
me off ; you put a slight upon the God that made you ; 
you reject the compassion and beseechings of a Savior, 
and will be found resisters of the Holy Ghost, if you 
will not now be prevailed upon to repent and be con- 
verted. 

Well, though I have called you long, and you have 
refused, I shall yet this once more lift up my voice 
like a trumpet, and cry from the highest places of the 
city before I conclude with a miserable exclamation 



Chap. VII.] conclusion. 155 

4t All is over !" Once more I shall call after regard- 
less sinners, that (if it be possible) I may awaken 
them : " O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the 
Lord." Unless you be resolved to die, lend your ears 
to the last calls of mercy. Behold, in the name of 
God I make open proclamation unto you : " Hearken 
unto me, O ye children ; hear instruction and be wise, 
and refuse it not." 

" Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
waters ; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and 
eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money 
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend your 
money for that which is not bread, and your labor for 
that which satisiieth not? Hearken diligently unto 
me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul 
delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come 
unto me ; hear, and your soul shall live ; and I will 
make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure 
mercies of David." 

Ho, every one that is sick of any manner of disease 
or torment, or is possessed with an evil spirit, whether 
of pride, fury, lust, or covetousness, come ye to the 
Physician, bring away your sick ; lo, here is he that 
healeth all manner of sicknesses, and all manner of 
diseases, among the people. 

Ho, every one that is under conviction, and every 
one that is in distress, and every one that is discon- 
tented with himself, gather yourselves unto Christ, 
and he will become a Captain over you. He will be 
your protection from the arrests of the law ; he will 
save you from the hand of divine justice. Behold, he 
is an open sanctuary to you : he is a known refuge. 
Away with your sins and come in unto him, lest the 
avenger of blood seize you, lest devouring wrath over- 
take you. 



156 CONCLUSION. [Chap. VII. 

Ho, every blind and ignorant sinner, come and buy 
eye-salve, that thou mayest see. Away with thy ex- 
cuses ! thou art for ever lost if thou continue in this 
state. But accept Christ for thy Prophet, and he will 
be a light unto thee. Cry unto him for knowledge, 
study his word> take pains about religion, humble thy- 
self before God, and he will teach thee his way, and 
make thee wise unto salvation. But if thou wilt not 
follow him, but sit down because thou hast but one 
talent, he will condemn thee for a wicked and slothful 
servant. 

Ho, every profane sinner, come in and live. Return 
unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on thee ; be 
entreated. O return, come. Thou that hast filled thy 
mouth with oaths and execrations, all manner of sins 
and blasphemies shall be forgiven thee, if thou wilt 
but thoroughly turn unto Christ and come in. O 
unclean sinner, put away thy whoredoms out of thy 
sight, and thy adulteries from between thy breasts, 
and give up thyself unto Christ, as a vessel of holi- 
ness, alone for his use ; and then, " Though thy sins 
be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow ; and 
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
wool." 

Hear, O ye drunkards, how long will ye be drun 
ken ? Put away your wine. Though you have 
rolled in the filthiness of your sin, take the cup of 
repentance and heartily renounce your beloved lust, 
and the Lord will receive you. Give up yourselves 
unto Christ, to live soberly, righteously and godly ; 
embrace his righteousness : accept his government : 
and though you have been unclean, he will wash 
you. 

Hear, O ye loose companions, whose delight is in 



Chap. V1I.J conclusion. 157 

vain and wicked society, to sport away your time in 
carnal mirth ; come in at Wisdom's call, and choose 
her and her ways, and you shall live. 

Hear, O ye scorners, hear the word of the Lord ; 
though you make a sport at godliness and the pro- 
fessors thereof, though you have made a scorn of 
Christ and of his ways, yet even to you doth he call, 
to gather you under the wings of his mercy. In 
a word, though you should be found among the worst 
of the black roll, yet upon your thorough conversion 
you shall be washed, you shall be justified, you shall 
be sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the 
Spirit of our God. 

Ho, every formal professor, thou art but a luke- 
warm Christian, and restest in the form of godli- 
ness. Give over thy halting; be throughout a Chris- 
tian, and be zealous and repent : and then, though 
thou hast been an offence to Christ, thou shalt be the 
joy of his heart. 

And now confess that mercy hath been offered 
you. " I call heaven and earth to record against 
you this day, that I have set before you life and 
death, blessing and cursing ; therefore choose life, 
that you may live.'' I can but persuade and warn 
you ; I cannot otherwise compel you to be happy j 
if I could, I would. What answer will you send me 
with to my Master ? Let me speak to you as Abra- 
ham's servant to Nahor's family, " And now if you 
will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. M 

for such a happy answer as Rebecca gave them ! 
" And they said, We will call the damsel and inquire 
at her mouth. And they called Rebecca, and said 
unto her, Wilt thou go with this man ? and she said, 

1 will go. that I had but this from you ! W r hy 

14 



158 CONCLUSION. [Chap. VII. 

should I be your accuser, who thirst for your salva- 
tion ? Why should the passionate pleadings of mercy 
be turned into horrid aggravations of your obstinacy 
and additions to your misery 1 Judge in yourselves; 
do you not think their condemnation will be doubly 
dreadful, that shall still go on in their sins, after 
all endeavors to recall them ? Doubtless " it shall 
be more tolerable for Tyre and Sid on, yea, for 
Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than 
for you !" 

Sinners, if you have any pity for your perishing 
souls, close with the present offers of mercy. If the 
God that made you have any authority with you, 
obey his command and come in. If yoa are not the 
despisers of grace, and would not shut up the doors 
of mercy against yourselves, repent and be converted ; 
let not heaven stand open for you in vain ; let not the 
Lord Jesus open his stores, and bid you buy without 
money and without price in vain ; let not his Spirit 
and ministers strive with you in vain, and leave you 
now at last unpersuaded, lest the sentence of condem- 
nation go forth against you. 

Father of spirits, take the heart in hand that is too 
hard for my weakness. Do not thou end, though I 
have done. A word from thy effectual power will do 
the work. O thou that hast the key of David, that 
openest and no man shutteth, open thou this heart, as 
thou didst Lydia's, and let the King of glory enter in, 
and make this soul thy captive. Let not the tempter 
harden him in delays ; let him not stir from this 
place, nor take his eyes from these lines, till he re- 
solve to forego his sins, and accept of life on thy self- 
denying terms. In thy name, Lord Cod, did I go 



Chap. VII. J COUNSELS FOR the converted. 159 

forth to these labors : in thy name do I close them. 
Let not all the time they have cost be lost hours : let 
not all the thoughts of the heart, and all the pains that 
have been about them, be but lost labor. Lord, put 
thy hand upon the heart of this reader, and send thy 
Spirit, as once thou didst Philip, to join himself to the 
chariot of the eunuch while he was reading the word. 
And though I should never know it while I live, yet I 
beseech thee, O Lord God, let it be found at the last 
day that some souls are converted by these labors ; 
and let some be able to stand forth and say, that by 
these persuasions they were won unto thee. Amen, 
Amen. Let him that readeth say Amen. 

counsels for the converted. 

Value no mercy barely as it may promote your tem~ 
poral welfare, but view it rather in reference to eternity, 
and as it may serve to advance your Maker's glory. — 
The cipher put to the figure is of great signification ; 
but set by itself it signifies nothing at all. Creature 
comforts separated from their respect to God and 
eternity, are of no value ; but, in order to these ends, 
they signify much. We have ease and fullness when 
many others are in pain and poverty ; and we have 
much the start of them, if we be wise to improve our 
health, in laying in apace against a wet day, and pre- 
paring apace for eternity, and serving the Lord with 
more diligence, and cheerfulness, and gladness of 
heart, in the abundance of all things: but, if this be 
all we have by it, that our bones lie a little softer, and 
our palates are tickled with a little more delight, what 
profit have we by our health and estates ? If they 
that are sick or poor, love and serve the Lord better 



160 COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED. [Chap. VII. 

than we, they have the advantage of us ; and better 
were it for us to be poor and sick as they are. 

Rest not in probabilities for heaven, but labor for 
certainties. — Beloved, certainty may be had, else the 
counsel of God to make our calling and election sure 
is in vain, else the experience of the saints were but 
delusion, who tell us they " know they are passed 
from death to life," else the power of self-reflection 
were to no purpose, and the spirit which is in man 
would not know the things of man. Now, if a cer- 
tainty may be had, will you not try by all means to 
obtain it? Sirs, you have need to push hard to get 
assurance, and to get it now. We are ever at mise- 
rable uncertainties for all outward enjoyments ; we 
know not how soon we may be called to part with 
them all. Professing Christians, will you be content 
to have nothing sure ? "Will you not settle your 
everlasting condition, seeing you are so unsettled as 
to your outward condition ? What will you do in 
the day of visitation, when extremity comes in upon 
you, if you have no assurance that God will receive 
you? It would make one's heart tremble to think of 
being upon such a fearful temptation as to part with 
all for Christ, and not to be sure of him neither. O 
man, what an advantage will the tempter now have 
upon thee, when he shall suggest, ' Wilt thou be such 
a fool as to let go all at once ? Thou seest heaven is 
not sure, Christ is not sure ; therefore keep the world 
whilst thou hast it, and hold what thou hast sure.' 
Beloved, what a fearful slighting of God, and con- 
tempt of heaven and glory, and all the promises, doth 
this argue, that you can be content to be at uncer- 
tainties whether they be yours or not ! How many of 
you are there that do not know whether you be going 



Chap. VII.J COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED. 161 

to heaven or hell ! And what desperate carelessness 
doth this argue, to go on from week to week in sucn 
a case ! Some hopes you have that you shall do well, 
but put me not off with hopes. Never be satisfied till 
you are able to say, not only I hope I shall be saved, 
but I know I am " passed from death to life ;" I 
know that " when the earthly house of this taber- 
nacle shall be dissolved, I have a building not made 
with hands." 

Be not satisfied with some grace; but reach after 
growth in grace. — Do not think all is done when you 
have obtained the evidence of grace, but press toward 
the increase. That person who doth not desire and 
design perfection, never came up to sincerity. He 
that desires grace truly, desires it not barely as a bridge 
to heaven, and so to seek no more than will just bear 
his charges thither; but he desires it for its own sake, 
and therefore desires the height of it. That person 
who desires grace only for heaven's sake, and inquires 
what is the lowest measure of grace that any may have 
to come to heaven (by which he means to be saved 
from misery) upon this design, that if he could but 
come to that pitch he would desire no more; that 
person is rotten at the heart. Christians, the Lord doth 
expect of you that you should not be babes and dwarfs ; 
he looks now especially that you should make some 
progress. What do you more than heretofore ? What ! 
do you feel his spurs in your sides, and his whip at 
your backs, yet never mend your pace in religion, nor 
stir one jot the faster ? Let me commend you to Paul's 
study, It argues a base and unworthy spirit to content 
ourselves with small things in religion. 

Labor that holiness may become your nature, and re- 
ligion your business. — Then you are come to somewhat 
14* 



1G2 COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED. [Chap. VII. 

indeed in religion, when the work of God is become 
your natural and beloved employment, your meat and 
drink, your work and wages ; when your tongues and 
hearts naturally run on God, as others on and of the 
world. Much of that may be attained by constant care 
and prayer. Brethren, let God's work be done by you, 
not by the by, but as your greatest business: "Seek 
first the kingdom of God ;" that so, whatsoever you do, 
you may be able to give the same account of yourselves 
that our Savior did when they inquired of him — that 
you are about your Father's business. 

Confine not religion to your knees, but carry on an 
even thread of holiness through your whole course. — It 
is the disgrace of religion that Christians are so unlike 
themselves unless it be when they are in holy duties. 
This wounds religion to the quick, when it shall be 
said of professors, These men indeed will pray like 
angels, but, for aught we can see, they are as peevish 
and touchy as any other men, and they are as hard in 
their dealings, and make as little conscience of their 
words as others do. Beloved, do not think religion 
lies only or chiefly in praying, hearing, or reading; 
for you must be throughout religious. Sirs, bring forth 
your religion out of your closets into your ordinary 
course; let there not be a life of holiness on the outside 
of the cloth, but let holiness be woven into the whole of 
your conversation. Herein consists the excellency and 
difficulty of religion; when you have the baits of intem- 
perance before you, then to hold the reins hard and 
deny your flesh ; when you have provocation before 
you, then to restrain your passions and bridle the un- 
ruly member; when you have dealings with others, 
then to proceed by that golden rule of equity and cha- 
rity to do unto others as you would have them to do 



Chap. VII. J COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED. 163 

in like case to you ; when you are called upon by your 
several relations, then to behave yourselves with that 
tenderness and love, with that reverence and obedience, 
with that courtesy, condescension, and kindness which 
becomes you in your various capacities. In this, I say. 
lies the excellence of religion. 

Eve?' walk with your chief end in view. — It is true, 
according to the usual similitude, the traveler thinks 
not of his journey's end every step, nor need he; yet 
he never loses sight of it, it is never out of his mind. 
Brethren, there is nothing hinders but that, with 
prayer and watchfulness, you might come to this in 
every solemn action, to mind God as your chief end. 
Impose this on yourselves as your daily rule to walk 
by, never to lie down but with these thoughts, " Well, 
I will make use of my bed as an ordinance of God, for 
my natural refreshment, that a servant of his may be 
fitted for his work." Never to rise up but with these 
thoughts, " I will set out this day in the name of the 
Lord, and make it my business throughout the day to 
please him." Never to set about your callings, but in 
the entrance think thus, " I will set about my employ- 
ment in obedience to God, because it is his will I should 
walk with him in my place and station." Never to sit 
at your tables but thinking," I will now eat and drink, 
not merely to feed my flesh, but to cherish a servant 
of Christ Jesus, that he may have strength for his 
service." Charge this upon yourselves, and examine 
in the evening how you have minded it, and check 
yourselves wherein you come short. Once learn this, 
and you are come to something, and shall have the 
undoubted evidence of your sincerity, and shall know 
by experience the blessed mystery of walking with 
God. 



164 A CASE OF CONVERSION. 

Be and do more than ordinary in your closets and 
families. 

In your closets. — Be more than ever in self-examina- 
tion. And here let me put it to your consciences : Are 
you habitual in examining yourselves by the word of 
God? Do you try yourselves by it daily? Ah, wretch- 
ed negligence ! What, have you given your approba- 
tion and yet forget your duty? God expects it of you, 
that, now you know his will, you should with more 
zealous fear, and tender circumspection, and holy 
watchfulness and self-denial, walk before him ; else 
you will greatly excite his indignation. 

Finally — In your families. The Lord calls you to set 
your houses in order. O see what is amiss in them, 
and strive to cast out whatever may be a provocation. 



A CASE OF CONVERSION. 



Deacon B. had acquired such knowledge of divine 
things, such insight into character, and such skill in 
detecting the operations of mind under the truth, as 
very seldom to mistake in his treatment of sinners. 

On one occasion, which will now be related, he as- 
certained that a young woman of his acquaintance had, 
a short time previously, evinced some conviction of sin ; 
but that her concern of mind was now wearing off. 
He knew that she had been educated in a Christian 
family, and had been the subject of a gentle and long 
protracted seriousness. During this long seriousness 
she had had great light in the understanding, and now 
that she had, within a few days, been brought to deep- 
er anxiety than ever deacon B. felt that, should her 



A CASE OF CONVERSION. 165 

concern subside, she would, in all probability, grieve 
away the Holy Spirit for ever. What was to be done? 
He felt his impotence, and lifting up his heart to God 
for that influence which alone can make the truth ef- 
fectual, he resolved, as an immortal soul was probably 
in the crisis of its destiny, that he would use special 
efforts for its recovery. He told her his views of her 
condition. But when he urged her to surrender her 
heart to the Lord Jesus, she was unwilling to do it 
yet— she wished to put it off still longer. He en- 
treated — he urged the command of God, the joys of 
heaven, and the pains of hell— still she hesitated, and 
ran through the whole circle of cavilings about in- 
ability, election, Adam's sin, &c; but it was evident to 
the discerning mind of Deacon B. that it was only the 
device of an unreconciled heart, to put off the work of 
compliance with the command of Christ. 

Here then was the awful struggle. On the one hand, 
the Holy Spirit was spreading truth before the mind, 
and flashing conviction upon the conscience, through 
the instrumentality of this good man ; and on the other, 
a worm of the dust was engaged in resisting with des- 
perate strife every motive that would lead to submis- 
sion. It was enough to make the heart of piety trem- 
ble to see the conflict, knowing how much might de- 
pend on the issue. Deacon B. again told her in few 
words the state of her case; — her guilt as a rebel 
against God — a slighter of the Savior — a resister of the 
Holy Ghost. He demonstrated the preciousness of the 
present moment, and urged her to cast away the wea- 
pons of her rebellion. She wept, but remained un- 
changed in her determination. At length, raising his 
venerable form erect and throwing all the decision of 
his soul into his voice, he said, "Depend upon it, I am 



166 CONVERSION OF A FAMILY. 

resolved not to leave you till you make up your mind 
to be either for God or against him." He then repeat- 
ed the urgent motives of the Gospel, till, pressed down 
by the weight of truth and the power of the Holy 
Ghost, she fell upon her knees and exclaimed, "Lord, 
save me or I perish! I give myself to thee, do with me as 
seemeth good in thy sightP 

Subsequent fruits showed it to be a genuine surren- 
der of her heart to Christ. But had Deacon B. grown 
weary with her obstinacy, how awfully different might 
have been the result ! 



CONVERSION OF A FAMILY. 

From the American Pastor's Journal. 

During a short residence in the town of G in 

this state, I presented the Tract "Pause and think, am 
la Christian?'''' to a young lady, with a request that 
she would give it an attentive and prayerful perusal. 
God was pleased to bless the reading of this Tract to 
her awakening ; for on conversing with her the next 
day, she had a realizing sense of her guilt and danger, 
and was anxious to know what she must do to be saved. 
I endeavored to convince her that God was striving 
with her, that it was consequently a critical and so- 
lemn time with her; and that now it became her to 
work out her salvation with fear and trembling, while 
God was working in her by his Holy Spirit. A few 
days after this I saw her again. Her iniquities had 
now taken hold upon her, so that she was not able to 
look up ; and I was peculiarly struck with the anguish 
and solemnity of soul that her countenance expressed. 



CONVERSION OF A FAMILY. 167 

"It is deeply impressed on my mind," she said, "that 
God is now giving me the last call, and that if I do 
not obtain religion now, I never shall." I replied, "A — , 
I feel now more concern for your salvation than ever, 
as your eternal destinj' may now hang on the decisions 
of a moment. Whence is this impression? Surely 
from no evil influence, surely not from your wicked 
heart. There can be no doubt that this impression is 
made on your mind by the Spirit of truth, and is con- 
sequently a solemn truth. God in all probability is 
striving with you for the last time, and if you grieve, 
away the Holy Spirit, or defer the concerns of eternity, 
your soul may be lost for ever.''' She covered her face 
with her hands, and as her agitation appeared great, I 
thought it best to leave her alone. In about five min- 
utes I returned, feeling an indescribable concern for 
her salvation. She had changed her seat, her eyes 
were fixed toward heaven, her face beamed with de- 
light, and the storm within her soul appeared to be 
hushed. Fearing she had listened to temptations and 
had dismissed the subject of religion from her mind, 
and hoping to bring her again to solicitude about her 
eternal welfare, I asked her "Why is it, when we know 
we have sinned against a holy God, and are under the 
curse of his righteous law, that we have so little con- 
cern about our soul's salvation?" She replied, "I feel 
now no alarm — I am perfectly calm. I think I have 
found the Savior. I think I love him. I feel that lean 
trust in Mm? After cautioning her on the danger of 
self-deception, I retired to rest, determining tbst if on 
the morrow she gave evidence of a change of heart, 
I would mention it to the family, in hopes that it would 

affect them. In the morning A seemed to be still 

resting on the Savior, and to be greatly affected with 



168 CONVERSION OP A FAMltV. 

the sinfulness and ingratitute of her past life. When; 
the family were assembled for prayer, I read the third 
chapter of St. John's Gospel, made a few remarks on 
the New Birth, and mentioned that A was indulg- 
ing a hope that this great work had been wrought in 
her soul. I then told the family that if A — — was 
really a Christian, a separation had been made in the 
family that would continue through eternity, unless 
they repented of their sins, and became reconciled to 
God. The family was affected, every member being 
without God and without hope. They looked at A— —- ~ 
as if surprised at the expression of joy that beamed 
in her countenance. The Spirit of God came down 
upon that family. The father, mother, and another 
child became anxious to flee from the wrath to come. 
Soon they were all found sitting at the feet of Jesus. 
The family altar was erected, and there was great joy 
in that house. 

About a year after I passed through the place, and 
found they were still hoping and trusting in the Savior. 
The father, mother, and A had made a public pro- 
fession of their faith in Jesus Christ, and gave increas- 
ing evidence that they had passed from death unto 
life. "It is the Lord's work, and it is marvellous in 
our eyes." 



RELIGION 

AND 

ETERNAL LIFE, 

OR 
IRRELIGZON 

AND 

PERPETUAL RUIN, 

The only Alternative for Mankind. 



v^ 



BY J, G. PIKE, 

Author of " Persuasives to Early Piety, &c. 



" One thing is needful." 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU- STREET, NEW-YORK. 



D. Fanthaw, Printer. 



PREFACE. 



It is apprehended that though this little 
work scarcely requires a preface, yet that a 
few prefatory lines may not be unappropri- 
ate. The design of this book is to call the 
atteution of those who may deem it worthy 
of perusal, to the importance and necessity of 
decided religion. It is hoped that its con- 
tents may prove adapted to strengthen reli- 
gious feeling in the breasts of the pious ; but 
it is more especially addressed to the irreli- 
gious of any class, and at any period of life. 

The Sacred Scriptures are the source 
whence its lessons and statements are drawn. 
It offers no metaphysical refinements of reli- 
gious truth, but plain scriptural instruction. 
Its readers are addressed not as churchmen 
or dissenters, but as fallen, undone, and 
dying, yet immortal beings who need eternal 
salvation. It would humbly follow in the 
track of those " Calls" and " Alarms" to thu 
unconverted, by which Baxter, and Doolit- 
tle, and Alleine and others " being dead yet 



PREFACE. 

speak," and have for nearly two centuries, un- 
der the Eternal Spirit's blessing,been speaking 
to the hearts of many of the thoughtless chil- 
dren of men. The careless millions of man- 
kind need many such monitors; and if but 
one individual among those careless millions 
should by this volume be led to the Saviour, 
an object will be accomplished sufficiently 
important, to recompense the labours of even 
numerous years. 

Perhaps some readers may think that re- 
ferences to the eternal state are too frequently 
repeated in the following pages, but let such 
consider how solemn is eternity ! and how 
awfully important its momentous interests ! 
If a person were to spend one minute in a 
state of probationary existence, which minute 
should be followed by a century of holiness 
and happiness, or guilt and woe, could the 
solemnities and interests of the approaching 
century be pressed too much upon his atten- 
tion, through that single minute? yet that 
minute would bear some proportion to the 
following century, but the longest life bears 
none to eternity. 

Derby, Jan. 21, 1834. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. Introductory Address. Page 5, 

Sect. 1. The Reader's attention solicited. 2. Religion the most 
important and lasting of distinctions. 3. The choice of decided piety 
uever lamented. 4. The reader reminded of the transient nature of 
earthly things 5. That eternity presents the solemn contrast of per- 
fect blessedness, or utter ruin. 6. That each may be blessed, or 
must be undone. 7. That life Is the only time of offered mercy. 

8. And that the passing year, may perhaps, prove the Reader's last. 

9. Prayer. 

CHAPTER II. The necessity of Religion shon-n from 
the guilt and ruin of all mankind. Page 14. 

Sect! 1. Man an nnforgtven and perishing sinner, till possessed 
of Gospel blessings. 2. All liable to the charge of having not glorified 
God, and of having violated his law. 3. The subject further pursued. 
4. Appeal to the Reader on the sinfulness of his heart. 5. And on 
the countless number of his sins. 6. Sin not an inconsiderable evil. 
7. Man while unpardoned, is in a state of condemnation. 8. The 
question, Who are the wicked? answered. 9. The subject pursued in 
remarks on the wickedness of neglecting the Father and the Son. 

10. The aggravations of sin, many and great. 11. Further remarks 
on the wickedness of man, as alienated from God. 12. Evidences 
of alienation from God. 13. Men while alienated from God, mere 
cumberers of the ground. 14. Guilty man must meet his God. 
15. Various delusions on which the unconverted rest noticed and 
exposed. 16. Appeal to the Reader, on his own ruined condition. 

17. This subject pursued; and remarks on the wrath of God. 

18. Further expostulation with the Reader on the danger of an im- 
penitent state. 19. This danger, constant danger. 20. No blessing 
possessed, without forgiveness and every blessing with it. 

CHAPTER III. Religion described. Page 39. 

Sect. 1. The Reader's attention requested to the nature of Reli- 
gion. 2. All intelligent beings divided into two classes — the enemies 
or tae children of God. 3. Religion a solemn consecration of our- 
selves to God, as displayed in the Gospel. 4. Religion possessed 
when Christ is cordially received. 5. The Christian life, a life of 
active faith. 6. All the Christian's best interests committed to Christ. 
7. The Christian comes to Christ. 8. Has Christ in him, the hope 
of glory. 9. Thus the truly pious are the Lord's peculiar people. 

CHAPTER IV. Further illustrations of the nature of ' 
Religion. Page 50. 

Sect. 1. Religion connected with repentance — distinctions be- 
tween true and false repentance. 2. The true penitent enjoys 
forgiveness of sin. 3. Remarks on the evidences of possessing 
forgiveness. 4. Distinctions pointed out between genuine grace 
and u formal Religion. 5. The pious love Christ. 6. The pious are 
new creatures in Christ Jesus. 7. The reality and greatness of the 
change in regeneration further illustrated. 8. Various marks of pos- 
sessing the spirit of piety. 



Ti CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. The wortklessness and mischiefs of a 
formal Religion, and the necessity of decision. Page 71. 

Sect. 1. Many deluded by what they esteem Religion, but which 
is avain Religion. 2. No genuine piety without consecration to God. 
3. Various marks of a vain Religion. 4. Its evils— spiritual destitu- 
tion—most fatal deception. 5. Other dreadful consequences of a 
vain Religion. G. Necessity of decision, because, where Religion is 
concerned, there is no neutral state, no middle class. 7. Many 
varieties among the pious and irreligious, though all ultimately divide 
into those two bodies. 8. The Reader entreated to consider, that if 
not the friend, he is the foe of the Lord Jesus. 9. Indecision as 
ruinous to the soul as open hostility. 10. Decision in religion further 
urged. 

CHAPTER VI. Encouragements to embrace Religion 
furnished by the grace exhibited in the Gospel. Page 89. 

Sect. 1. Tlie Gospel displays the most precious blessings. 
2. The forgiveness of sin, and deliverance from its reign. 3. De- 
liverance from condemnation. 4. Blessings from the Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost, issuing in heavenly happiness. 5. Salvation an 
eternal salvation. 6. Brief notice of various errors as to the way of 
obtaining salvation. 7. Christ obtained eternal redemption for us. 

8. The matchless love of the Father displayed in the gift of Christ. 

9. The love of the Son equally incomprehensible. 10. The atoning 
sufferings of Christ, foretold by prophecies and types. 11. The for- 
giveness which the penitent receives, is through his sacrifice. 
12. The Saviour worthy of the most devout regard. 13. He is an 
Almighty Saviour. 14. An all-compassionate Saviour. 15. The 
tidings of his grace are for the Reader. 16. Verses expressing the 
feelings of a humble believer. 17. Further remarks to encourage the 
desponding penitent. 18. The same subject pursued, and some 
fears of the desponding noticed. 19. Salvation free for the most 
unworthy and the most undone. 20. The Reader reminded that the 
death of Christ, must be to him the greatest of blessings, or an 
aggravation of guilt. 21. Hymn by Newton. 22. Caution against 
abusing the doctrines of grace. 

CHAPTER VII. Religion urged by considerations con- 
nected with the goodness and claims of the Eternal 
God, and by the guilt and evils of neglecting the Lord 
Jesus. Page 115. 

Sect. 1. Attention solicited to the motives for Religion, and the 
importance of the choice. 2. The claims of God, and the blessedness 
of consecration to Him — Expostulation on this. 3. This further 
urged by the guilt of continuing to slight God. 4. Aggravations of 
this guilt from the cause of such neglect, and the objects preferred. 
5. Further aggravation in the abuse of divine mercies. 6. The 
Saviour's claims from his love — Expostulation on them. 7. From 
the good he would bestow which many have enjoyed. 8. Expostula- 
tion with the Reader on what he would desire if he could see the 
Saviour displaying his love. 9. Every evil escaped, and every 
good gained if Christ is won. 10. The subject pursued, Christ no 
feeb'eor common friend. 11. Neglect of Christ, a most common 



CONTENTS. vit 

sin among all classes. 12. Illustrations of the nature of neglect. 
13. The guilt of neglect, great beyond description. 14. The subject 
pursued in serious expostulation with neglectors. 16. Neglect of 
Christ binds all its other sins upon the soul. 16. Is what Satan 
desires a sinner to indulge in. 1". The folly of such neglect inex- 
pressible, as all good is neglected and lost by neglect of Christ. 
18. The sinner by neglecting Christ, changes every blessing to a 
curse, and does himself irreparable mischief. 19. In neglecting 
Christ, man neglects the only Saviour. 20. Neglect of Christ 
exposes the soul to numberless and dreadful evils, and to utter con- 
demnation. 21. The careless entreated to consider the end of such 
a course. 22. Neglectors of Christ are associated with all the vilest 
beings in the universe. — Some future consequences of such neglect. 
23. Life or death is before the Reader. 

CHAPTER VIII. Religion enforced by the solemnities 

of death and judgment. Page 151. 

Sect. 1. Death and judgment await all mankind. 2. The 

Reader must die — the solemnity of death and the worth of a Saviour 

in the dying hour. 3. Solemnities preceding eternal judgment. 

4. The great day come, and mankind before their Judge. 5. The 
welcome and blessedness of the Righteous. 0. The doom of the un- 
righteous. 7. The Reader urged to secure the blessings of that 
great day by welcoming the Saviour. 

CHAPTER IX. Decision in the choice of Religion urged 
by the ruin and misery that await the impenitent. 
Page 164. 

Sect. 1. Warnings respecting future punishment important 
2. Hell the certain portion of the finally impenitent. 3. Dreadful 
scriptural descriptions of hell. 4. Future punishment eternal. 

5. The poverty of the lost who are deprived of all temporal good. 

6. Other views of the dreadful condition of a lost soul. 7. No escape 
from this condition. 8. No change of character or relief from sin to 
be ever experienced. 9. Expostulation with the careless sinner on 
his danger. 10. The Reader entreated to consider what he must be 
hereafter if destitute of salvation. 11. The same subject continued. 

12. The careless warned that their own ruin will be endless. 

13. And entreated to think what reflections must be indulged when 
the day of salvation has ended. 14. Lessons of gratitude to be 
learned by the Christian from contemplating the horrors of hell. 

CHAPTER X. Decision as to Religion urged by the 
blessedness of heaven. Page 187. 

Sect. 1. The present happiness of departed Saints forms a sub- 
ject for pleasing meditation. 2. Heaven not to be reached without 
decided piety. 3. Scriptural representations of heaven. 4. Con- 
siderations assisting contemplation on The blessedness of heaven. 
5. All evils excluded from heaven. 6. The blest enjoy perfect safety 
and exalted triumph. 7. The happiness of heaven augmented by 
the perfection and holiness of its inhabitants. 8. Who dwell in the 
presence of God and the Lamb. 9. Heavenly happiness inconceiv- 
ably great. 10. The Reader urged to seek this happiness.—Appeal 
«n its worth, and anticipation of heaven. 11. Christians from con- 



viii CONTENTS. 

templations on heaven, should learn their great obligations. 12. Th« 
scenes of the future world eternal. 13. Illustrations of eternity. 
14. The joys or sorrows of eternity like itself unending. 

CHAPTER XL Serious questions proposed to neglectors 
of Religion. Page 208. 

Sect. 1. Is not your soul worth saving? 2. The love of God 
worth having? 3. Heaven worth possessing? 4. Is not the Lord 
Jesus worthy of regard ? 5. Is God's anger too insignificant to be 
dreaded? 0. Is not escape from hell worth attention? 7. What 
then do you mean in neglecting the salvation of your soul? 8. Do 
you mean to perish? 9. Can you be saved while careless? 10. Can 
you find another way of salvation ? 11. Would you slight salvation 
if this were your last day? 12. If God were to array your sins 
before you, would you say, " I scorn pardon, I will keep them all?" 
id. If you had seen the Saviour suffering, would you slight his 
dying sorrows ? 14. If you had seen the solemnities of the judg- 
ment day, would you continue careless? 15. If you could see hell 
opened before you, would you take the way to that-abyss? 16. If 
you could see the wicked one, would you not almost die through 
fear of being the slave of such a horrid being? 17. If you could 
hear the damned say, " You will soon be like us," would you go on 
in carelessness ? 18. If you could see heaven, would you say, u This 
shall not be my heme?" 19. If you could see the saints in light, 
would you say, I will not seek their Saviour, or their home ? 20. If 
you had felt for one hour what the blest enjoy and the lost suffer, 
would you think anything too valuable to be resigned for Christ? 
21. Is Satan's service so honourable and so profitable that you should 
be unwilling to renounce it ? 22. Why then are you so unwilling to 
yield yourself to God? 23. Delay— and questions to delayers. 
24. Have not millions perished through delay ? 25. Have you not 
delayed long enough ? 26. Delay is useless — God will not change 

27. Delay is inexcusable — There is nothing in God to justify delay 

28. Nothing in Christ to excuse it. 29. Nothing good in irreligiop 
to excuse delay. 30. Nothing pleasing in Satan to justify it 
31. Nothing good in the sinner's state to excuse delay. 32. Nothing 
in delay itself to excuse a delayer. 33. Nothing in man's unwilling- 
ness to turn to God that can palliate the guilt of delay. 34. The 
delayer is a rebel. 35. In a state of dreadful danger. 36. Deserving 
extreme divine wrath. 

CHAPTER XII. Concluding Addresses — To young 
Women — To young Men — To Readers generally. 
Page 230. 

Sect. 1. Inquiry as to the effect upon the heart of the truths 
presented to the Reader's attention. II. 1. Young Women addressed. 
2. Female characters destitute of piety described. 3. Description of 
pious female characters. HI. 1. Young men addressed — Profligate 
and infidel — Anecdote of a dying infidel. 2. Description of moral 
but irreligious young men. 3. Pious young men described. 
IV. Conclusion. 1. Further expostulation with the Reader on the 
value of Religion. 2. Concluding warning on the consequences ol 
Indecision. 3. Closing Address. 



RELIGION AND ETERNAL LIFE, 

&c. 



. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 



1. This little work is addressed to you, wYio 
now look upon this page, as a traveller to the 
eternal world. Its object is your immortal wel- 
fare; and to promote that object the writer re- 
quests a few moments of your fleeting time ; and 
solicits your attention to subjects that will infi- 
nitely concern you, when time with all its periods 
shall be no more. Were you sick, and health the 
subject of inquiry ; were you a prisoner or a slave, 
and liberty the object of pursuit, each would de- 
serve, and each would gain, attention. But that 
to which your atte»tion is now solicited, is far 
more momentous. It will concern you when 
health or sickness appear unutterable trifles; 
when liberty or slavery, through the span of time, 
seem scarcely worthy of a moment's care. Reli- 
gion is this subject. This is worthy of all atten- 
tion, and of all acceptation. In possession of its 
blessings the poorest are rich ; but destitute of 
them the richest are poor. Without its blessings 
riches are but splendid poverty; what man 
deems wisdom, pompous folly ; liberty, but re- 
fined slavery ; and life itself, the path to endless 
death. Without its blessings you must be poor 



6 RELIGION MAIN'S BEST DISTINCTION ' 

in the saddest sense, and soon be poor in every 
sense for ever. Ah, foolish world ! that can tri- 
fle with blessings which constitute an angel's 
wealth! Ah, wretched men ! who lose, in a few 
moments, what eternal ages never can restore ! 
and the loss of which will fill eternal ages with 
anguish, remorse, and despair ! Are you such a 
tritler ? If you are, stop, O stop ! and consider 
your ways! Many considerations claim your 
devout attention to the subjects discussed in this 
little volume. Think of a few of these — 

2. Religion constitutes the most important 
distinction in the human character, and forms, as 
it were, the dividing line between life and death 
eternal. All other distinctions will speedily 
vanish. -Those of character, of disposition, of 
conduct, of beauty or deformity, will soon be 
forgotten. Those of learning or ignorance, of 
wealth or poverty, of wearing the gem or digging 
the mine, of possessing a throne or toiling as a 
slave, of youth or of age, of revelling in health or 
lingering in agony, will shortly pass away, and 
be as if they had never been. They who were 
separated so widely apart in this world, will sink, 
if strangers to the converting grace of God, to an 
equal level of guilt and misery ; or rise, if pos- 
sessors of heartfelt piety, to equal heights of 
happiness and honour, and wear eternally the 
high distinction of being the lovers and children 
of God. 

3. Consider that no one ever repented of em- 
bracing religion, and becoming the humble dis- 
ciple of the adorable Saviour. Multitudes, that 
no man can number, have tried what satisfaction 
the paths of transgression and irreligion can im- 



ITS CHOICE NEVER LAMENTED. 7 

part. They have at length found the whole to be 
vanity and vexation of spirit ; and when quitting 
time for an awful eternity, have lamented, with 
bitter regret, their fatal choice. Not an hour 
elapses, but some are passing from beds of an- 
guish, to their final account, full of consternation 
and remorse at the recollection of lives spent 
without God and without Christ ; but no one ever 
lamented the choice of humble, persevering piety ; 
or reviewed with remorse the day that led him to 
the Saviour. Many, after vainly seeking happi- 
ness in worldly dissipation, sin, and folly, have 
been led, by the Divine Spirit's influence, to 
choose religion as their portion. Then they 
found the peace they never knew before ; and 
never felt regret, except regret that they trod the 
ways of sin so long, and came no sooner to the 
Saviour for salvation. While millions of the 
careless have mourned, at the approach of death, 
with unutterable anguish, trveir neglect of hum- 
ble piety, no dying believer ever lamented his 
choice, or wished that choice unmade ; but mul- 
titudes, departing in peace, have blessed their 
Saviour, with gratitude past utterance, for his 
grace, in making them the heirs of salvation. 
And will you make that choice of a careless ir- 
religious life, which, though the choice of count- 
less millions, must be by them all eternally re- 
gretted ? God forbid ! Why will you not choose 
that good part which shall never be taken away! 
and make that choice which, under divine grace, 
happy millions have made, and not one among 
them' ever lamented ! 

4. If indisposed to yield to this suggestion, 
think how transient are earthly things ! and how 



8 TRANSIENT NATURE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 

soon you will lose all, for which you slight the 
welfare of a deathless soul ! "The world passeth 
away and the desire thereof." Its cares, its plea- 
sures, and its businesses, like the waves of a ra- 
pid stream, are rushing by. Where are they, 
who, one hundred years ago, were amused with 
the vanities of life, or agitated with the cares of 
domestic scenes or the politics of conflicting na- 
tions ? Where are they now ? In that eternity 
where you must shortly be. What are they now ? 
How changed ! how happy, or how sad ! while 
the pleasures or sorrows of a world that once en- 
gaged them so much, seem as insignificant as a 
falling leaf, or a feather driven by the wind ! 
You, too, are going apace to a long long home. 
Whether young or aged, vigorous or sickly, you 
will soon be. there. For a few years, perhaps, 
you may inhabit some earthly dwelling, then 
must your dust "return to the earth as it ivas, and 
your spirit shall return unto God that gave it z" 1 
while over your grave the storms of ages shall 
beat, till that last day dawns, which shall perfect 
your happiness or complete your condemnation. 
And is it for so transient a world as this, that you 
will slight the interests of an immortal soul ! 

5. Consider, too, that in that eternal world, 
which lies before you and cannot be far off, there 
are two states only, and those infinitely opposite. 
The Lord Jesus, when urging every sacrifice to 
secure salvation, declares, in the compass of a few 
verses, three times over, that you must " enter 
into life or into hell, into the fire that never shall b* 
quenched"' 1 O, think how solemn, how dreaclfin 
is the contrast! Before you in eternity is all life 

(I) Eccles. xii. 7. (2) Mark, ix. 43—48. 



THE SOLEMN CONTRASTS OP ETERNITY. 9 

or all death — all holiness or all guilt — all joy or 
all woe — all triumph or all despair — all rapture 
or all wailing and anguish — al! light or all dark- 
ness — all praises and blessing?, or all blasphemy 
and cursing — all angels and saints as blest as 
they, or all devils and spirits damned like them — 
all heaven or all hell, Thus the good or evil, the 
gain or loss before you, is imnrensly great. If 
your undying soul be saved, all is saved ; if lost, 
all is lost. If blessed, all will to you eternally be 
blessing; if cursed, all for ever will be ruin. If 
this be lost, nothing for you can be saved ; no- 
thing bless you ; nothing benefit you. If this be 
saved, nothing can harm you, nothing can in- 
jure you. Satan's every effort will be defeated, 
and God's love gloriously triumphant. 

6. Pursue these considerations, and think 
what you may be, or what you must be. You 
may be a follower of the Lamb, and thus a child 
of God. You may enjoy true blessings here, 
and greater hereafter. You may in the world 
unseen, become a holy happy being. You may 
bear the image of your Father God, in spotless 
holiness. You may wear the likeness of your 
redeeming Lord, where his sainls shall "be like 
him, and see him as he is ;"* where they shall 
"never never sin." You may dwell in his 
kingdom, and may be*vith his saints in light, as 
holy and as happy as they'. You may possess 
with them the tranquil mansions of eternal rest ; 
may share in the triumphs of the resurrection 
day, and meet the welcome of the King, the 
Saviour God, who will sit as judge eternal. And 
when the solemnities of the judgment day shall 

(1)1 John, iii. 2. 

b3 



10 WHAT THE READER MAY BE OR MUST BE. 

have finished, you may possess all that heaven 
can give ; and enjoy freely, fully, ceaselessly, 
and eternally, the Son's love and the Father's 
favour. May all this be yours? yours who are 
now looking on this page? it may! can it be? 
yes it may ! All may be yours, and will you be 
so basely wicke.d, as to slight the grace, and de- 
spise the love that would give you all this ! or 
will you be so unutterably distracted as to neglect 
it all ! If by neglect of the gospel, you have 
hitherto done this, and will continue to act so 
vile, so horridly ungrateful, and madly foolish a 
part, then remember what you must be. Your 
soul must live. If debased by sensuality ; if 
sunk in sin ; if rendered earthly, sensual, devil- 
ish, yet it is immortal ; and you must live. You 
may undo your soul, but cannot put it out of 
being. If impenitent and unpardoned, you must 
drag on existence eternally, while existence will 
eternally be a curse. You must be infinitely 
unholy, and hellish; the object of abhorrence to 
every holy and happy being. You must wear 
Satan's likeness, in eternal enmity to God and 
goodness. You must be exposed for ever to 
the retributions of divine justice; to the wrath 
that burns to the lowest hell, and which will 
"beat upon your naked soul in one eternal storm." 
You must inhabit Satan's prison, instead of the 
sweet mansions of life and peace. You must roil 
in the lake of fire, and howl amidst the shrieks of 
the damned. Your gay companions, if undone 
with you, changed to tormentors; your employ, 
ments wailing, and cursing, and blasphemy ; 
your mercies ended ; your delights gone ; your 
sorrows unavailing ; your ruin hopeless; and 



THIS LIFE THE ONLY DAY OF GRACE. 11 

you must see ages of guilt and gloom beyond 
ages of guilt and gloom in never-ending succes- 
sion. What a change! Where then will be 
youth, gaiety, pleasure ? Alas, for ever sad ! 
Where the possessor of wealth and honour, who 
knew not Christ ? Alas, poor possessor, for ever 
ever poor ! O, think these statements are not 
cunningly devised fables. They are grounded 
on the testimony of that infallible word which is 
eternal truth, and by it are fully confirmed. And 
must you, even you, if not truly pious, be thus 
undone? Indeed you must. And will you tri- 
fle? or. will you flee from the wrath to come ? 
and turn your feet into the ways of God ? and 
lift up your heart to Him for pardoning mercy 
and renewing grace ? 

7. While meditating on these solemn subjects, 
consider also that this life is the only time of of- 
fered mercy. Hereafter no fears will alarm the 
pious, and no hopes will cheer the lost. If for 
ten thousand years the Lord Jesus would invite 
you to receive himself and the blessings of his 
grace, though delay would be base ingratitude, 
it would not insure such certain ruin. But he 
will not wait long. Not many years, or perhaps 
not one. Before the dawning of next new-year's 
day, the state of millions will be for ever fixed ; 
and perhaps you are one of those who are to die 
this year. Should you die unconverted and 
unsaved, if there were ever to come a period, 
though at the distance of millions of ages, when 
mercy and salvation should once more, for a sin- 
gle hour, be set before you, such a hope might 
almost change the gloom of hell to heaven. But 
no such hope will ever dawn upon you in the 



12 THIS YEAR PERHAPS THE READER'S LAST. 

eternal world. There are no pardons in eternity; 
no conversions beyond the grave. " Behold now 
is the accepted time ; behold now is the day of 
salvation. 3 ' 1 But a day, and if that day be lost 
all is lost. O heart-breaking guilt, pitiable mad- 
ness of miserable men, to waste that precious 
day of mercy and salvation ! Reader, have you 
wasted it hitherto? If you have, O praise the 
mercy that has kept you from the regions of de- 
spair ! While in the land of hope, repent and 
turn unto the Lord ! Listen to his admonition, 
" 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 return unto the Lord, and he will 
have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he 
will abundantly pardon." 5 

8. By one consideration more your attention 
to the pages that follow is earnestly requested. 
Perhaps this may be your last year, the last that 
God will give you in this probationary state. If 
it should, when another year begins, how chang- 
ed will be your state, according as you now re- 
gard or slight the great Author of salvation. 
If you are made a partaker of his blessings, short 
as may be your Christian race, it will conduct 
you to the kingdom of your God ; but if you 
slight him, and are cut down this year, how dif- 
ferent will be your state at its close, from that at 
its commencement ! How awful to begin the 
year with false hopes, and to end it in hell ; to 
begin with God mercifully offering his blessings, 
and the Saviour waiting to be gracious, and ere 
it end to be placed beyond the reach of mercy ! 

(1)2 Cor. Ti.2. (2) Is.lv. 6, 7. 



PRAYER. 13 

To begin it loving the world, and the things of 
the world, perhaps delighting in plays, and no- 
vels, and songs, and dances, and in all things that 
make the vain still vainer, and to end it with 
every pleasure vanished, and of all, the eternal 
sting only remaining! To begin the year with 
sinful men, and ere it end to be mingling with 
infernal spirits! Oh, awful change! yet if you 
slight the Saviour, and die this year, this change 
you must know by sad experience. The writer 
would, therefore, in this volume, with all the se- 
riousness he can feel, address you, as standing 
on the borders of eternity ; and would regard you 
as a dying mortal. When we meet at the judg- 
ment bar, will you then think it possible to be 
too earnest in recommending to your attention 
the things that belong to your eternal peace! 
You are entreated to read seriously what is seri- 
ously written, and not only read but pray. Pray 
for the grace of God. Ask for the Holy Spirit's 
aid or you will read in vain ; and whatever feel- 
ings may be excited in your mind, they will be 
transient as a morning cloud or as the early dew. 
9. From beseeching you to regard these things, 
I would turn to God on your behalf. "Father of 
all mercies, Giver of all blessings, who desirest 
not the death of a sinner, open the hearts of the 
readers of this book to receive the instruction 
it contains. All teaching as to eternal life, is 
vain without thy teaching. All admonition and 
entreaty vain, unless thy Spirit open the heart 
and seal instruction on the mind. All-gracious 
Lord, they who are here addressed, need a more 
powerful call than this, 'nor will they heed a 
feebler voice' than thine, which at length will 



14 MAN FALLEN AND UNDONE I 

wake the slumbering dead. O Thou that didst 
give thy best beloved for man's salvation, and 
-with whom is the residue of the Spirit, pour that 
Spirit down. Speak by the still small voice of 
his influence, and bring many to welcome the 
Saviour and salvation. And Thou that didst 
bleed and agonize and die for guilty men, Thou 
that on the day of pentecost didst shed that Spirit 
down, thatchanged thousandsof hearts in anhour, 
accompany this book with thy Spirit's influence, 
and magnify thy truth, thy love, and mercy, by 
bringing the lost, the guilty, and the ruined, as 
willing captives to thy feet. Amen." 



CHAPTER II. 

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION SHOWN FROM THE 
GUILT AND RUIN OF ALL MANKIND. 

In the last chapter your attention was invited 
to the subjects that are now to follow. 

1. Were you to enter the condemned cell of 
some gloomy prison, and there behold a wrttched 
criminal awaiting an ignominious death, you 
would not hesitate one moment to admit his 
need of mercy ; and the importance of his in- 
stantly employing every means by which mercy 
might be obtained. The state of man is very 
similar; and the importance of heartfelt piety is 
seen in the fact, that while you are a stranger to 
its blessings, you are an unforgiven and perish- 
ing sinner. Nothing short of being cleansed 
from sin can do you lasting good. While your 



LIABLE TO THE CHARGE ; DAN. V. 23. 15 

sins lie unpardoned on your soul, if the world 
were yours you would be poor; if all that man 
esteems lovely adorned you, in God's sight you 
would be hateful ; and if the love of all mankind 
were, fixed upon you, and ministering to your 
happiness, you would be, in truth, a miserable 
being, living under your Creator's frown. When 
we look at the state of mankind, we behold 
crowds thronging the path of transgression and 
woe. There are the aged and the young, the 
rich and the poor. There are profligates and 
scorners ; but there too we see multitudes, that 
are moral in their conduct, and pleasing in their 
dispositions ; respectable young men, and ami- 
able young women, yet, because strangers to true 
piety, still classed with the wicked, and perishing 
with the unforgiven. 

2. The solemn accusation brought of old 
against Belshazzar, may in substance be brought 
against every human being, while continuing in 
a state of nature. 1 "Thou hast praised the gods 
of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and 
stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know : and 
the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose 
are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified." If 
thou hast not bowed down to gods of stone or 
wood, of brass or iron, to silver saviours or 
saints of gold, thou hast had idols. All that 
has kept thy heart from God, has been an idol 
to thee. Perhaps thy sabbath-breaking parties ; 
perhaps thy sinful companions; perhaps some 
beloved sin. These, or things like these, have 
been thy idols ; and the God in whom thy breath 
is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not 

(1) Daniel, v. 23. 



16 THE REQUIREMENTS 

glorified. Is not this accusation too well 
founded r Does not conscience bear witness to 
its truth ? and " if our heart condemn us, God 
is greater than our heart, and knoweth all 
things." 1 To you will apply the awful declara- 
tion, 'Thou art weighed in the balances and art 
found wanting." 2 God examines your state. 
** His eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of 
men." 3 The rule by which your thoughts, 
actions, and words, are and must be tried, is his 
holy law. 

The requirements of the moral law were pro- 
claimed by God, witU terrific solemnity and 
grandeur, from Mount Sinai. "Thou shalt 
have no other gods before me. — Thou shalt not 
make unto thee any graven image, or any like- 
ness 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 them ;.for I the Lord 
thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity 
of the fathers upon the children unto the third 
and fourth generation of them that hate me, 
and showing mercy unto thousands of them 
that love me, and keep my commandments. — 
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. — Re- 
member th e 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 any work, 
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy 
man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy 

(V 1 John., iii. 20. (2) Daniel, v. 27. (3) Psalm, xi. 4. 



OF THE MORAL LAW. 17 

cattle, nor thy stranger, that is within thy 
gates: for in six days the Lord made hea- 
ven 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. — • 
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy 
days may be long - upon the land which the Lord 
ihy God giveth thee. — Thou shalt not kill. — 
Thou shalt not commit adultery. — Thou shalt 
not steal. — Thou shalt not bear false witness 
against thy neighbour. — 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." 1 Of this law a 
brief summary given by the Lord Jesus, 
is, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind. This is the first and great command- 
ment. And the second is like unto it, Thou 
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." 2 It reaches 
the thoughts and desires of the heart. Thus 
the Lord Jesus explains it in reference to one 
precept, and doubtless the spirit of his explana- 
tion is applicable to all. 3 " Ye have heard that it 
was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not 
commit adultery : but I say unto you, that 
whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, 
hath committed adultery with her already in his 
heart." The tenth commandment applies prin- 
cipally to the desires of the heart. This law 
reaches to the words of the lips, the Lord Jesus 
says, " I say unto you, That every idle word that 
men shall speak, they shall give account thereof 

(1) Exodus, xx. 3—17. (2) Matt. xxii. 37—39. (3) Matt. v. 26—27. 
C 



18 MEN VIOLATORS OF THE LAW. 

in the day of judgment. For by thy words 
thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou 
shalt be condemned." 1 "Ye have heard that it 
was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not 
kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger 
of the judgment: but I say unto you, that 
whosoever is angry with his brother without a 
cause, shall be in danger of the judgment ; and 
whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall 
be in danger of the council : but whosoever 
shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell- 
fire." 2 It requires sinless obedience ; and obedi- 
ence continued, and perfect without a flaw. 
" Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet 
offend in one point he is guilty of all." 3 "As 
many as are of the works of the law are under 
the curse : for it is written, Cursed is every one 
that continueth not in all things which are 
written in the book of the law to do them." 4 
Survey then and often survey its extent, for the 
commandment is exceeding broad. It requires 
love to God, the most fervent, entire, and unin- 
terrupted. It requires love to man, as perfect 
and continued. It requires perfect conformity 
to its directions at all times, in the actions of the 
life, the thoughts, and desires of the heart, and 
the words of the lips ; and its language is, 
"Do this and live; but for less than this you 
die." 

Weighed in these balances, are you not found 
wanting? Have you come up to the require- 
ments of God's holy law ? and loved him with 
all your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength ? 

(1) Matt. xii. 36—37. (2) Matt. v. 21—22. (3) James, ii. 10. 
(4) Galatians, iii. 10. 



ANECDOTE OF A NEGRO. 19 

and loved the adorable Saviour with supreme 
affection ? and loved your neighbour as yourself? 
You dare not declare you have. Then you 
are found wanting. Have you improved as you 
might have done talents and time, sabbaths and 
mercies? Ah no ! then you are found wanting. 
Have you obeyed, in full perfection, through 
every moment of life, the other precepts of the 
divine law ? Ah no ! then you are verily guilty 
before God. A poor negro thus described what 
passed in his own mind, when hearing a mis- 
sionary preach the gospel at Regent's Town, in 
Western Africa: "Yesterday morning when 
you preach, you talk about the ten command- 
ments. You begin at the first, and me say to 
myself, ' Me guilty !' — the second, ' Me guilty !' 
-the third, 'Me guilty!'— the fourth, 'Me 
guilty !' — the fifth, ' Me guilty !' Then you say 
the sixth, ' Thou shall not kill ;' me say, ' Ah ! me 
no guilty ! me never kill some person.' You 
say, 'I suppose plenty people live here, who 
say — Me no guilty of that !' Me say again in 
my heart, ■ Ah ! me no guilty.' Then you say, 
'Did you never hate any person ? did you never 
wish that such a person, such a man, or such 
a woman, was dead V — Massa, you talk plenty 
about that ; and what I feel that time t can't 
tell you. I talk in my heart, and say, f Me the 
same person !' My heart begin to beat — me 
want to cry — my heart heave so much me don't 
know what to do. Massa, me think me kill ten 
people before breakfast! 1 never think I so bad. 
Afterward you talk about the Lord Jesus, how 
he take all our sin. I think I stand the same 
like a person that have a big stone upon him 



20 APPEAL TO THE READER OH HIS GUILT 

head, and can't walk — want to fall down. O 
Massa, I have trouble too much— I no sleep all 
night. ( Wept much.) I hope the Lord Jesus 
Christ will take my sins from me ! Suppose 
he no save me, I shall go to hell for ever." 

3. Like tne awakened negro, unless you are 
miserably deluded, you must stand as condemn- 
ed before God, and say, " I am guilty of all the 
charges Thou canst bring against me." Think of 
the graces you ought to possess ; as, gratitude, 
faith, hope, love, humility, patience, resignation. 
Have you possessed them as they should be 
possessed ? Ah, no ! Here again you are found 
wanting. Think of the homage you should have 
paid to God ; devout, frequent, persevering. 
But has not prayer been often restrained and 
neglected ? or at other times, mere formality ? 
Here too you are found wanting. Think of re- 
solutions broken ; of convictions stifled ; of pious 
desires quenched ; of solemn impressions worn 
off; and in all this you are found wanting. Add 
to all this, the depravity of your heart; the sin- 
fulness of your nature ; and how can you stand ! 
Tried by a heart-searching God, and by the 
standard of a righteous law, there is not one 
point in which you would not be found wanting. 

4. Ah, reader, deceive not yourself on this 
momentous subject ! Though you may never 
have been profligate, you have had many sins. 
For through how many days and hours have 
you been a sinner ! Had you had but one sin 
a day, the load would be awful. But instead of 
one a day, if you know yourself, you will be 
sensible you have had many. Look back or. 
life, while you have been living careless of God 



AND THE SINFULNESS OF HIS HEART. 21 

and what has it been, but one scene of sin ? 
Look into your heart; how many evil passions 
have harboured there ! how many corrupt dispo- 
sitions and desires been cherished ! What 
thoughts of vanity, pride, resentment, love of the 
world, and alienation from a holy God have 
been allowed to take up their abode there ! What 
has your heart been? What, but the dwelling 
of iniquity, or a world of iniquity ! changing, in 
some respects, like the unstable waves of the 
ocean, yet always sinful ; and, according to cir- 
cumstances, a trifling heart, or an envious heart, 
or a careless heart, or a resentful heart, or an 
ungrateful heart, or a murmuring heart, or a 
di.Nobedient heart, or a worldly pleasure loving 
heart; or at the same moment all these together. 
The word of God describestheheartas "deceitful 
above ail things, and desperately wicked." 1 One 
way in which this wickedness is shown is, in 
contradicting the testimony of God. He says, 
all are by nature under condemnation ; the sin- 
ner, on the contrary, thinks himself too good to 
merit hell. God says, man has a bad heart ; the 
sinner thinks he has a good one. God declares, 
that sin is as destructive as the poison of asps, and 
as odious as the offensive fumes of an opened 
sepulchre; yet the sinner thinks sin pleasant, 
and true piety dismal. God bids the sinner re- 
pent to-day; the heart deceives him with the 
hope of repenting hereafter. God says to man, 
Turn or die; the sinner flatters himself, that he 
may live careless and be saved at last. 

5. But take another view. Look back on life : 
you sinned in childhood ; you have sinned in 

(1) Jer. xvii. 10. 

c3 



22 THE SINS OF MEN NUMBERLESS, 

youth; and, if riper years have rolled mtz your 
head, have been a sinner through those years. 
You have sinned in thought, you have sinned 
in words ; " for by thy words thou shalt be jus- 
tified, and by thy words thou shall be condemn- 
ed." 1 " The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity : 
so is the tongue among our members, that it de- 
fileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the 
course of nature ; and it is set on fire of hell."* 
You have sinned in actions. You have sinned 
by leaving duties undone ; and you have sinned 
by doing what God forbade. You have sinned 
against your fellow-creatures, when not doing to 
others as you would that they should do to 
you ; 3 when not loving your neighbour as your- 
self. You have sinned against your own soul, 
in slighting its eternal welfare ; in loving this 
world and trifling with a better. You have 
sinned in all these things ; and, as far as guilt is 
concerned, have, above all, sinned against God. 
You have sinned against the Father, by abusing 
his mercies, his time ; by slighting his word ; 
by breaking his laws ; by profaning his sabbaths. 
How many have you wasted or misimproved ! 
You have sinned against him by slighting inter- 
course with him. How many prayerless morn- 
ings, and prayerless evenings, and prayerless 
days have you known ! You hare sinned against 
the Son, by slighting his dying love, and by 
treating with wicked neglect his claims upon 
your service and your heart. You hare sinned 
against the Holy Spirit, 5 by resisting the im- 

(1) Matt. xii. 37. (2) Jas.iii.16. (3) Matt. Tii. 12. ( 4) Matt.xxii. 39. 
(5) Of course by this expression is not meant that peculiar sin against 
the Holy Ghost,which is never forgiven; and will; which it is to be hoped 
few persons are now chargeable, except the most hardened infidels. 



VARIED, AND GREAT. 23 

pressions he produced in your mind ; by griev- 
ing and quenching the Holy Ghost. Take such 
a view, and are your sins but as few as your 
days ? Rather are they not as numberless as 
your minutes? In one view only, passing 
others by, they literally are as many as your 
waking minutes. God's first and greatest com- 
mand is, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
with all thy strength, and with all thy mind." 1 

While you have been living without God, 
every minute of life this precept has been bro- 
ken. Thus every minute of life has wit- 
nessed a fresh violation of a just and holy, a 
righteous and reasonable law, which ought every 
moment to have been obeyed, but which has 
been every moment broken. Thus every minute 
of your waking existence, has in fact been a sea- 
son of sin. 

6. Sin is not a trifling evil ; nor are the sins 
of men light. One sin undid the world, when 
our first parents transgressed in their pleasant 
Paradise : that one transgression caused death 
and all our woe : " By one man sin entered into 
the world, and death by sin." 2 

When the Lord Jesus in figurative language 
describes the evil of sin, he compares it to an 
immense debt, a debt that hardly the wealth of 
empires would be sufficient to discharge, and 
that no humble individual ever could pay. He 
compares it to ten thousand talents : 3 to a sum 
of money equal in weight, if in gold, to nearly 
forty thousand pounds, and in value to almost 

(1) Luke, x. 27. (2) Rom. v. 12. (3) Matt, xriri 24, &e. 



24 A SINFUL STATE, A STATE 

two millions. He teaches us, that this debt has 
been contracted by every human being ; for the 
lessons of forgiveness which he meant for all, 
are plainly grounded on the fact, that all are 
such debtors. You then, reader, are such a 
debtor. Your numberless sins have in them an 
unutterable and fatal malignity, sufficient to 
undo your soul for ever. 

7. The scriptures describe mankind not only 
as in a state of guilt, but also of condemnation 
and ruin. "Now we know that what things so- 
ver the law saith, it saith to them who are under 
the law : that every mouth may be stopped, and 
all the world may become guilty before God. 
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory 
of God. 1 For as many as have sinned without 
law, shall also perish without law ; and as many 
as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the 
law. 2 The wages of sin is death ; but the gift of 
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. 8 As many as are of the works of the law, 
are under the curse : for it is written, Cursed is 
every one that continueth not in all things which 
are written in the book of the law to do them. 4 
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in 
trespasses and sins ; wherein in time past ye 
walked according to the course of this world, 
according to the prince of the power of the air, 
the spirit that now worketh in the children of 
disobedience : among whom also we all had our 
conversation in times past in the lusts of our 
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the 



(Jj^m.j". 1?,5&. £5 Sum.; li. 12. (3) Rom. vi. 23. (4) Gal. iii. 10. 



OP CONDEMNATION. 25 

mind ; and were by nature the children of wrath, 
even as others." 1 

It is an important inquiry, what is the curse 
of the holy law which men have violated, and 
under whose doom they have fallen? Is it 
temporal evil and natural death? or is it the 
everlasting ruin of the soul, the being cast soul 
and body into hell ? It may include the former ; 
but that the former is not principally intended 
is evident, because Christ is said to have " re- 
deemed us from the curse of the law, being 
made a curse for us;"' 2 but Christ has not re- 
deemed the heirs of grace from temporal evils 
and natural death. Like others they are affiict- 
«d, and like others die. This then is not the 
;urse under which man has fallen ; but Christ 
is said to have saved his followers from the 
wrath to come ; 3 to have made peace by the blood 
of his cross ; 4 to have reconciled them to God ; 5 
and to have obtained redemption and forgive- 
ness for them. 6 This curse therefore is the wrath 
of God. It is everlasting banishment from him. 
It is the direful punishment of sin. It is the 
damnation of hell. This is called the second 
death ; 7 and death, as opposed to endless life.* 
Every thing short of sinless obedience from the 
cradle to the grave, would leave man under the 
curse of God's holy and violated law. Its curse 
is awful, though by millions little feared; the 
soul that lies under its weight is separated from 
God ; is exposed to his wrath ; and must encoun- 
ter his frown. Its hopes are deception ; and its 
end, if it continue what it is, will be despair. It 

(1) Eph. ii 1—3. (2) Gal. iii. 13. (3) 1 Thess. i. 10. (4) Col. i. 20. 

(5) Rom. t. 10. (6) Heb. ix. 12. Eph. i. 7. (7) Rev. xxi. 8. 

\ii) Roin. ri. 23. 



26 WHO ARE THE WICKED ? 

is ready for hell. This danger is not fanciful, 
but real now. Death will seal the condemna- 
tion ; judgment will ratify the sentence; and 
eternity will witness its execution. 

8. Ask the question now, who are the wicked 
and undone ? and it may be answered, " The 
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of 
God. Be not deceived: neither fornicators, 
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor 
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, 
nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor 
extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."'- 
"The works of the flesh are manifest, which are 
these: adultery, fornication, uncieanness, la- 
sciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, vari- 
ance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 
envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and 
such like : of the which I tell you before, as I have 
also told you in time past, that they which do such 
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."* 

But repeat the question, who are the wicked ? 
Are they those only that have been mentioned ? 
Ah no, not less wicked than many of them is the 
moralist, who, however respectable in the do- 
mestic circle, or in the neighbourhood, has a 
heart estranged from God. The prodigal was 
wicked, 5 when a wanderer from his father, what- 
ever his gay companions might say of his friend- 
ship or good-nature. The young ruler was 
wicked, when he preferred his wealth to the Sa- 
viour and his service, 4 notwithstanding the 
moral excellences that adorned, to a certain 
extent, his character. So, though no stains ol 

(1) Cor. vi. 9, 10. (2) Gal. v. 19—21. (3) Luke, xv. 11, &c. 

(4) Mark, x. 22. 



WICKEDNESS OF NEGLECTING GOD. 27 

open immorality should have blackened yours, 
while a neglector of the gospel, you have been 
wicked ; and if to that neglect has been added 
the open crimes of the lewd, the drunkard, or 
the profane, there has been so much additional 
wickedness. 

9. If you have lived careless of religion you 
have been wicked ; for what a good, and gra- 
cious, and majestic God you have slighted ! 
-Against what infinite excellence you have rebel- 
led ! and on what infinite goodness cast the 
contempt of giddy indifference and base ingrati- 
tude! You have been wicked ; for what a Sa- 
viour you have neglected ! what love you have 
treated with unconcern ! love that fills even 
heaven with wonder; into which angels desire 
to look ; and which will fill eternity with praise! 
Yet all this love has had no charms for you ; 
and has by you been neglected through many 
long rebellious years. You have been wicked ; 
for what a gracious Spirit you have resisted ! 
the influences of that Spirit, who has trained 
millions for immortality ! yet that Spirit you 
have grieved by wicked neglect ! What impor- 
tant convictions you have stifled ! What impor- 
tant mercies abused ! What precious sabbaths 
wasted ! What gracious invitations slighted ! 
What calls, what promises, what warnings dis- 
regarded! What heavenly preparatives for 
immortal life, treated with an unconcern as cruel 
to your own soul, as it has been ungrateful to 
God ! Had Sodom enjoyed your mercies, 
Sodom might have repented and been saved. 
And for what has all this been done ! What 
hateful things, or what trifles at the best, have 



28 SATAN RULES THE IRRELIGIOUS. 

you preferred to the love, and service, and fa* 
vour of your Creator! What a complication, 
what a continuity of mercies have you in fact 
baffled ! You may say with the dying profli- 
gate, " I have been too strong for Omnipotence, 
I have plucked down ruin. What has God not 
done to save and bless me !" and yet I have 
slighted all ! And have you not been wicked ? 
Your delay has been wicked delay; and your 
days of unconcern wicked days. 

While thus living without God in the world, 
little as you have suspected it, and much as you 
may disbelieve the assertion, you have really 
been living in a state of subjection to Satan. He 
prompts the profligate and guides the trifler. 
He is described as the god of this world, who 
works in the children of disobedience. 1 Notice 
the expression, the children of disobedience. 
All who disobey the glorious gospel, whether by 
open hostility, or by trifling with its claims upon 
the heart. And so vast is the number, that when 
an apostle said of the little flock of Christ, " We 
are of God," he added, "and the whole world lieth 
in wickedness/' 2 or lieth under the power of the 
wicked one. Could you hear the infernal spirit 
say, "I rule thy heart; thou art a child of mine. 
Like me thou rebellest against our common 
Creator. I am preparing for thy reception, and 
expecting thy coming; and soon thou wilt be 
like me in this abyss of woe." Could you hear 
all this, how would you be alarmed ! yet all this 
might in effect be said. 

10. The aggravations of sin are numberless. 
The God you have sinned against is the Author 

(1) 2 Cor. iv. 4. Eph. ii. 2. (2) 1 John, v. 14. 



AGGRAVATIONS OF SIN. 29 

of your existence ;,the Giver of your*blessings ; 
the Source of all your mercies : the eternal God, 
who has pitied your soul, and who claims and 
deserves your utmost gratitude, and most fervent 
love. You are in his sight an insect, a worm, a 
nothing; just started into life, yet scarcely had 
you begun to live, before you began to sin. O 
patient mercy, that bears with such ingratitude! 
O miserable man, that begins to sin so soon ! 

11. Not only have you the guilt of all your 
transgressions, but the guilt of alienation and 
estrangement from God, and even of enmity 
against him. Man's misery began in leaving 
God ; and this departure is complete in heart 
and in life, and has proceeded till man is aliena- 
ted from God, and an enemy to him in his mind 
by wicked works. 1 In wandering from God, 
you broke off connexion with him. You were 
formed to love him, but you have not loved him. 
God created a world, that that world might love 
and serve him ; but that world has .become, 
through sin, a world of enemies and rebels, and 
you have been one of them. Could you create a 
single being, would you not claim that being's 
service, gratitude, and love ? and pronounce it 
vile and wicked ingratitude and rebellion, if 
these were denied you? and still worse if that 
being set himself in open opposition to your 
pleasure and authority ? Yet all this you have 
done to God. Did you ever do o:>c action out of 
simple love to God? perhaps you say, "I am 
charitable and honest." W hat of this, while you 
are a rebel against God ! You thought, perhaps, 
to secure heaven, and thus, as it were, to buy 

(1) Co!, i. 21, 
D 



30 EVIDENCES OF ALIENATION FROM GOD. 

blessedness by your chanty ;»but do you buy an 
article out of love to the seller, or to suit your 
own convenience ? 

12. This dreadful and ruinous estrangement 
from God, is evidenced in many ways, to some ot 
which allusion has been already made. The 
mind capable of knowing him, seeks not ac- 
quaintance with him. God is not in all its 
thoughts. Sinners think not of him, but choose 
any subject to occupy their thoughts, sooner 
than God. This marks the alienation of the 
heart from him. What we love, we love to 
think of. What we hate or disregard, we banish 
from our thoughts. When his name is profaned, 
his sabbaths broken, his book slighted, it marks 
the alienation of the heart. These are but 
streams from that fountain of wickedness. We 
are anxious for the favour of those we love, but 
when there is no love in the heart, we care little 
for the smile or frown of one we neither love nor 
dread. When there is little concern for God's 
favour;* no anxious inquiry after it; when his 
love is not prized, nor his anger dreaded, so 
dreaded as to cause the soul, at all events, to flee 
from it; there too is alienation from God. This 
indifference is but another stream from the 
fountain of inward wickedness. When his 
notice is not considered, nor his kingdom 
sought ; when his beloved Son is not welcomed 
as the treasure of the soul ; when some of his 
laws are broken without compunction, and 
others left undone without concern ; these are but 
so many indications of a heart at enmity with 
God. When trifles are preferred to his favour, 
and communion with him is disregarded ; this 



MEN MUST MEET GOD HEREAFTER. 31 

m;irks enmity lo him. We seek no intimacy 
with those we hate. When it is plain that the 
soul can love and hate, hope and desire, fear 
and prize, yet that it loves not God nor what he 
loves, hates not what he hates, desires not his 
favour, fears not his displeasure, prizes not 
his salvation; how blind is the sinner, that 
cannot perceive in his own heart, the fatal evi- 
dences that he is an enemy of God ! 

13. While such, reader, has been your state, 
you have been a mere cumberer of the ground ; 
and have lived in vain, or, in reality, worse than 
in vain. Past years have brought you no real 
good ; and you have brought to your Creator and 
Redeemer, no revenue of praise. No Saviour 
has been gained by you a sinner; no pardon 
for your transgressions obtained ; no title to 
eternal life acquired. Living worse than in 
vain, you have heaped up wrath against the 
day of wrath; and treasured up for yourself 
indignation, tribulation, and anguish. 1 

14. Guilty as you are, you must nevertheless 
meet your God. How solemn will be that im- 
portant, and not distant interview, when you, a 
rebellious child of man, shall stand before the 
awful Judge of earth and heaven ! How will 
you meet him ! Contrast his purity and your 
corruption; his hcliness and your sinfulness; 
his love and your ingratitude; and how will you 
meet him ! Consider his mercies and your 
abuse of them ; his commands and your dis- 
obedience; his justice and your rebellion; and 
how will you meet him ! If you continue as 
you are, how will you go before him ! W^hat 

(1) Rom. ii. 5, &c. 



32 SERIOUS EXPOSTULATION. 

can you expect but the sentence — Depart? Had 
you the righteousness of all the saints, would it 
blot out the guilt of fifteen or twenty, or more 
years of alienation and rebellion ? Had you 
the wealih of worlds, would it pay your enor- 
mous and ever-growjag debt? What can you 
do? You cannot undo the pUst. Will years 
of sorrow wash away transgression ? Will 
floods of tears? Ah no ! be not so deluded ! 
Would future obedience cancel past transgres- 
sions? If! perfect it would only be what every 
future moment claimed, and would pay nothing 
of the past I But will it be perfect ? If you be- 
come a child of God, will not defect still mingle 
with all you t\o and are? Do what you can, 
unless brought to Christ, the debt remains. 
Every sinful thought, and word, and action ; 
every sin of*every kind ; all you remember, and 
the many more that you have forgotten, but that 
God remembers ; all these, unless you become 
interested in the Saviour, will be brought into 
judgment against you. Can you flee where God 
is not at hand ? Ascend into heaven ; hide be- 
neath the mountains, or in the depths of the 
ocean's bed ; and he would find you there. Can 
you c'oak your transgressions or conceal them ? 
Ah no! they all glare before the Searcher of 
Hearts, in all their fearful malignity. For let it 
be deeply impressed upon your heart and con- 
science, that as you are a guilty creature, so you 
are a condemned creature, while you have no 
saving knowledge of the Lord, and thus are in 
fact a stranger to heartfelt piety. 

15. O reader, this is \ourcondition, while you 
are not united to Christ by a living faith ! But 



VARIOUS DELUSIONS NOTICED. 33 

perhaps you cling to some broken reeds of falla- 
cious hope. You have some pleas to offer, to 
show that your clanger is not so extreme. Bring 
them forward, and try them by God's word. 

Perhaps you plead, " I have not sinned greatly 
nor often." Poor self-deceiver ! Can any sins 
be little committed by an ungrateful worm 
against an infinitely good and glorious God ? 
But suppose your plea were correct, and your 
sins few, it avails you nothing ; for God declares, 
that his wrath is revealed against all ungodli- 
ness ; l that the wages of sin is death f that every 
one is cursed that continueth not in all things 
written in his law to do them ; 3 and he who 
should keep the whole law, but offend in one 
point, is guilty of all. 4 Were your sins small, 
in those awful denunciations the smallest are 
included. But you plead, "I have repented." 
If you have, will repentance pay a creditor ? or 
gain release for a criminal condemned to exile or 
to death ? Ask a criminal in such a situation. 
No more will it avail in your case ; and no more 
will promises not to offend for the future, blot 
out the guilt of the past. But you say, " I am 
as good as my neighbours ; better than many." 
Be it so ; but if they are unconverted, they are 
perishing too, for cursed is every one that vio- 
lates the divine law. 

Will it comfort you if you sink under the 
curse of God's violated law to the eternal prison, 
to meet some of your neighbours there? But 
you urge, "God is merciful. He did not make 
man to damn him." This is true: but God is 
just and true, as well as merciful ; and if man 

(1) Rom. i. 18. (2) Rom. vi. 33. (3) Gal. iii. 10. (4) James, ii. fr 

d3 



34 APPEAL TO THE READER ON HIS STATE. 

continue an impenitent sinner, God will con- 
demn him, though he did not make him lor that 
purpose. Satan, when commencing; rebellion 
against God, might have said, '• God is merciful 
He did not make angels to punish them." But 
though he did not, yet when they fell, that firo 
was prepared for the devil anil his angels, into 
which the impenitent and unpardoned will also 
eternally sink. 

16. It is a solemn question for you, "What is 
my state? Hope or despair ?" Till you come 
to Christ it is despair. Not despair that mercy 
is not ready to receive you ; hut despair of being 
saved in your present condition. " What is my 
state? Is it p<irliil ruin or utter ruin ?" The 
answer of truth and love to you must be, it is a 
state of utter ruin. Hence, you need the Saviour 
and the blessings of his salvation. While you 
continue in such a state, you are as helpless as 
you are ruined. You are like a condemned 
criminal, shut up in a cell, which he can never 
break, but whose gloomy door mercy can open; 
and in your case mercy waits to open a door of 
hope. Without this, however, you are helpless. 
On you is guilt. Before you is ruin. Your 
own conscience convicts you. God's law con. 
deinns you. No power of yours can avert the 
doom.- Fetch back your wasted sabbaths, if you 
can Unsay your words; unthink your thoughts; 
undo your deeds. Then, and not till then, 
you may blot out your own guilt. Then, without 
coming 10 Chri.-t, you may cancel your trans- 
gressions f:om the uook of God's remembrance, 
but never till then. 

O dinner! think while you live without heart- 



TUE IMPENITENT DESERVEDLY RUINED. 35 

felt piety, you are a condemned creature, and 
justly condemned. Was the Israelite who re- 
fused to consecrate the hest part of his flock to 
God, under a curse? And are not you deserv- 
ing of a curse, who have transgressed God's 
laws a thousand times, and delay or refuse to 
yield him your heart? While yon" will not love 
him, w ill not serve him ; w ill not come to Christ ; 
will not give up the world for him who died for 
man upon the cross, do you not deserve to he 
accursed s ;ind you are so doubly. You lie 
under the curse of the l;iw, and the curse of the 
gospel ; for the gospel has its curse, its anathema. 
If any man lo\e not the Lord Jesus Christ let 
him be anathema maranatha. 1 Thus you have 
not one blessing. .Christ said, Tf I wash thee 
not thou hast no part with me.* No purl : none 
whatever. Neither pardon nor peace ; neither 
divine favour nor undeceiving hope. Not one 
good in possession, or in siore. All ruin now; 
all darkness and gloom in prospect. Not one 
friend secured, hut exposed to every evil. While 
in this condition the Saviour who pitied must 
condemn you. You are worse than they who 
cried, " Xot this man, but Barabbas ;" for they 
knew not what they did. The law is against 
you; for you have broken its commandments, 
and lie under its curse. The gospel is against 
you ; for you slight its blessings, and neglecting 
its Author expose yourself to its anathema. The 
wrath of God is upon you ; and God, that would 
have compassion on you, is against you. 

17. Think not that the wrath of God is fury 
or passion. Add not to your sins by forming 

(1) 1 Cor. xvi. 22. (2) John, xiiL 8. 



36 NATURE OP DIVINE WRATH. 

such views of your awful Creator. No, it is not 
fury ; it is not the rage of weak passion ; but it 
is calm, determined, dreadful wrath. An awful 
narrative may perhaps illustrate this subject: — 
History relates, that an accusation was brought 
to an Irish judge, charging his own son with 
murder. The afflicted parent, regarding only 
the claims of justice, had his son apprehended. 
The young man was tried, convicted, and his 
father sat as judge when he was doomed to die. 
His frantic mother and other relatives sought to 
.snatch him from the ignominious death to which 
he was sentenced, but in vain. While the father 
mourned, the judge was inflexible ; and the 
young man suffered death close by the house of 
his agonized parent. He, after displaying such 
invincible regard to the claims of the law, which 
forbids a murderer to live, soon followed his 
wretched son to the grave, dying probably of a 
broken heart. 

Like this is the wrath of God : not fury, not 
passion; but a calm determined regard to jus- 
tice and holiness, that prompts him to be in 
flexible in punishing the impenitent transgressor 
If God be but as firm in justice and judgment 
as the afflicted parent, what, sinner, must become 
of you, if you die without a Saviour ? 

IS. While you continue unpardoned and im- 
penitent heaven is shut against you. Had you 
reached the pearly gates of the celestial city, and 
been refused admittance there, how would you 
feel! but they are shut, and will, unless you 
welcome Christ, be shut for ever. While in 
such a state salan is your master. Could you 
behold that infernal one, just ready to drag you 



THE IMPENITENT IN CONSTANT DANGER. 37 

to perdition, how would you tremble with tnrrid 
anguish ! yet continue as you are, and you must 
see him at another day. For hell, while you are 
unforgiven, is your home; and death is hasten- 
ing to you, to cut you down and send j'ou there. 
Many are already there ; and you are liable to 
the same ruin. Every unpardoned soul, every 
unconverted soul, is exposed to all this danger. 
Sin has exposed you to it. Alienation from 
God has fitted you for eternal banishment from 
him; and death, in an impenitent state, must 
seal your endless doom. 

19. Think too that this danger is constant 
danger. No moment of life is a moment of 
safety. Awake, asleep at home, abroad, you 
are always in danger. By day, by niy;ht, you 
have no security, But as without Christ yon 
are sure to perish, so you may perish any mo. 
ment; and perishing once you are lost for ever. 
O what a state is this to live in ! yet, reader, you 
have lived in it all your careless years! and if 
yet in your sins you are living in it still. One 
dreary winter's day without a simple comfort; 
food, or clothing, or fire, or habitation, would be 
a long and miserable day ; but what will eter- 
nity be without a comfort or a blessing ! A 
year spent without a friend, or intercourse wilh 
any human being, would be a long and gloomy 
year, and seem like ages in length ; but what 
will be an eternily of such gloom ! It is related 
that an offer was once made of a handsome re- 
ward, if not a competency for life, to any person 
who would spend seven years in utter solitude, 
during which no intercourse should be had with 
any human being ; but every needful accommo- 



38 EVILS OF UNFORGIVEN SIN. 

dation should be provided. Some attempted to 
earn the promised reward, but no one had forti- 
tude sufficient to secure it on the terms proposed. 
To pass seven years without seeing the counte- 
nance or hearing the voice of a friend, was too 
severe a trial for human perseverance. But 
what will eternity be without a blessing or a 
friend ! and every day you live without a Sa- 
viour, you are in danger of sinking into such an 
eternity. 

While you slight the divine Redeemer, your 
condition is like that of a condemned malefactor, 
mortally sick of the plague. Death threatens 
him in a double form : both the plague and the 
gallows. So you are exposed to condemnation 
as an actual transgressor, and dying of the dis- 
ease of sin, that would for ever shut you from 
the realms of holiness •, but Jesus Christ would 
give you a double cure. 

20. O consider it then as a decided point, 
that nothing can- benefit you without the forgive- 
ness of sin. Look at a perishing sinner. Why 
lias he no true peace ? Because sin lies on his 
soul. Why lies he under God's frown and fear- 
ful wrath ? Because his sins are charged to his 
account. Why must he soon be judged, and 
hear the doom, Depart, and die eternally ? Be- 
cause sin is imputed to him, and will eternally 
load his guilty and neglected soul. Why must 
he once fixed there never hope ? never have ease, 
peace, comfort? Because his sins will be for 
ever imputed to him. But reverse the scene. 
"Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, 
and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man 



BLESSINGS OF PARDON. 39 

to whom the XiOrd will not impute sin." 1 Why 
hns the Christian peace? Because the Lord 
will not impute sin unto him. Why can he view 
God as his Father ? Because no load of unfor- 
£iven sin separates him from his heavenly Fa- 
ther's love. Why is he blessed in all the v bless- 
edness of a Saviour's favour ? Because sin is no 
more charged to his account. Why does he not 
fear hell ? Because the lond that would have 
sunk him there is gone. Why does he antici- 
pate heaven? Why will he meet the solemni- 
ties of judgment with tranquillity ? Because no 
sin lies unpardoned on his soul. He has wash- 
ed his robes and made them white in the blood 
of the Lamb. He is prepared to join in the ce- 
lestial song, "Thou art worthy, for thou wast 
slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. 
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
and honour, and glory, and blessing." 2 

Reader, what is your state? O pray that the 
Christian's privileged condition may be yours ! 



CHAPTER III. 

RELIGION DESCRIBED. 

1. It is here designed to represent to you the 
nature of true religion. The religion here re- 
commended to you, is not a mere form or a pro- 
fession that may be worn through life, but 
which would leave you helpless in a dying hour. 
it is that heartfelt piety, which will yield you 

(1) Rom. iv. 7, 8. (2) Rev. v. 9. 12. 



40 RELIGION MAN'S CHIEF INTEREST. 

. 

support in death, and bless you when you lie co- 
vered wilh the ground, and forgotten in thegrave; 
which will pass the test of final judgment; which 
the eternal Judge will acknowledge to be ge- * 
nuine and divine; and which will insure your 
welcome to the realms of glory. The possession 
of this blessing is your own chief interest. '* If 
thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thyself; but 
if thou scornest thou alone shalt bear it." l If you 
receive the Saviour you will be blessed; but if 
you slight Him others will receive Him, and 
God will not want children, nor the Lord Jesus 
disciples, nor heaven inhabitants, because you 
may neglect or refuse the great salvation. 

2. All the distinctions between intelligent 
beings throughout God's vast creation, at length 
resolve into two; one part are his obedient chil- 
dren, the other wicked and rebellious enemies. 
Thus it is in the world unseen. In heaven are 
saints and angels, all the children of God ; in hell 
are demons and the damned, all his enemies. 
There is no middle class. On earth it is the 
same. Here there are. the converted and the un- 
converted. To which of these vast bodies do 
you belong? As there are, thus viewed, but 
two classes in God's creation; so there are but 
two states for mankind in the present world, in 
one or the other of which every child of man is 
found. One is the state of nature, the other that 
of grace. Each is a state. It cannot be asserted 
of any one, that he is a Christian to-day, and no 
Christian to-morrow; a Christian when the 
feelings are warm, and no Christian when they 
flag; safe when the passions are roused, and 

(1) Prov. ix. 12. 



WHAT IS RELIGION ? 41 

lost when they are dull: but every one is either 
a humble child of God, saved in Christ, or an 
unpardoned sinner perishing for want of an in- 
terest in the Saviour. The children of men are 
thus divided into two immense bodies. 1 One 
part " partakers of the divine nature,"* the other 
unrenewed in heart and mind. In these classes 
there is much variety. Of the former some bear 
of the fruits of grace a hundred fold, while 
others produce but thirty. 5 In the latter many, 
though not pious, are amiable and moral. Many 
things, deserving of esteem, may be common to 
both, though in that, which will form an eternal 
distinction, so wide a difference exists. Thus 
ihe Christian cannot be a drunkard ; the mer^ mo- 
ralist may not: the Christian roust be honest, 
true, benevolent; 4 the mere moralist, with an 
unchanged heart, may be all this. 

3. What then is religion? It consists in the 
sincere, the heartfelt surrender of our whole selves 
to the ever blessed God, as he is displayed to vs 
in his gospel. The soul is committed to the 
Lord Jesus Christ, to be saved through his death. 
his merits, and his living care. 5 The heart is 
devoted to him, as its rightful owner. 6 The will 
is subjected to him; and the Christian would have 
its subjection to the divine will, perfect and entire. 
The mind learns of him ; the powers of the body 
are consecrated to his service ; and the life is re- 
gulated by his precepts. 7 To win Christ, and to 

(1) Matt. vii. 13, 14. Matt, xiii 24, &c. John. i. 11—13. 1 John, iii. 10 
1 John, v. 19. (2) 2 Peter, i. 4. (3) Matt. xiii. 8. 
(4) Though some may profess religion, that do not in their conduct 
ma 1 ifest its principles, it is evident, that such are mere hypocrite* 
or dreadful self-deceivers. 

tr>) -2 Tim. i. 12. (fi) Matt. x. 37—30. John, xxi. 17 

(/; John, xiv. 21—24. John, xv. 10, 14. Matt vii. 21, 22. Act.-, ix. 5 

E 



42 THE CORDIAL RECEPTION OF 

be found in him, constitutes the Christian's first 
care. 1 This world is renounced, and heaven is 
followed after. 2 The solemn surrender which, 
under the influence of divine grace, the Christian 
thus makes of himself to the Lord Jesus, is deli- 
berate, decided, and final. It is an "everlasting 
covenant, not to be forgotten." 5 Never to be 
renounced, whatever may be suffered or be lost. 
He yields himself to Christ with a disposition to 
lose any thing, so that he may but win Christ; 
and esteems nothing too dear to be forsaken on 
his account. The disciples of this divine Saviour, 
are not Demas who forsook his people, " having 
loved this present world;" 4 nor Simon Magus, 
who, though he was baptized, had a heart ''not 
right in the sight of God;" 5 nor the many who 
were offended and forsook him: 6 but Peter and 
Paul, and hosts, in spirit like them, who, for his 
sake, " loved not their lives unto death." 7 

4. The Lord Jesus, that faithful and true wit- 
ness, describes those who are thus brought to him 
as passing " from death unto life." 3 This is the 
most solemn and momentous transition imagin- 
able. Could a soul pass from hell to heaven; 
from the guilt, and gloom, and hatefulness, and 
torments of the pit of despair, to the bright re- 
gions of endless light and peace, and holiness 
and love, it w 7 ould be a transition beyond ima- 
gination blessed and important It would call 
forth the eternal thanksgivings of the happy crea- 
ture thus delivered, and the wonder and praises 
oi'the admiring inhabitants of heaven. But, little 

(1) Philip, iii. 7. 8. Luke, xiv. 33. (2) 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18. Col. iii. 1—3. 

(y) Jcr. 1. 5, (4) 2 Tim. iv. 10. (5) Acts. viii. 21. (6) Jolm, vi'. 66. 

(7) Rev. xii. 11. (8) John, v. 21. 






CHRIST ESSENTIAL TO RELIGION. 43 

as it is regarded, not much less important, nor 
connected with less important results, is the 
transition that takes place from death unto life ; 
from condemnation, guilt, and ruin, into pardon, 
holiness, and safety, in the case of every forgiven 
penitent. This transition takes place, this way 
of life is entered, when the penitent cordially 
receives the Lord Jesus, as his Lord and his All, 
for time and eternity. 1 Then and not till then 
does the soul pass from death into life. Without 
being brought to this, the sinner may become 
acquainted, with his guilt; but these convictions 
do not render him an heir of salvation, for he 
may stifle them all, and live the same. He may 
become sensible of his danger ; but this does not 
take him from death into life, for he may close 
his eyes against the danger, or, through love of 
the world, go with them open to perdition. 
Thus many act like the besotted man, who said, 
that if his soul and a quantity of spirits were 
placed upon a table, he would sell his soul to 
taste the intoxicating liquor. But when the 
sinner, abhorring his guilt and feeling his danger, 
welcomes the Lord Jesus Christ, then he passes 
from death to life. God in the gospel, as it 
were, says, " I have found a ransom, and laid 
help on one that is mighty. I have provided a 
Saviour. Wilt thou have him to save thee and 
to govern thee ? Wilt thou take him from thy 
heart as thy salvation and thy Lord ?" Do you 
answer, "Lord, I will. I desire nothing so much. 
I will; I do. Come, Lord Jesus, and rule within 
my breast?" The prodigal was restored to his 
father's favour, not when meditating on his 

(1) John, i. 12. Luke, xix. 9. Acts, xvi. 31. 34. 



44 THE CHRISTIAN LIVES BY FAITH. 

guilt, or thinking of returning, but when he 
arose and came to his Father. 1 Thus the soul 
obtains true blessings when the penitent comes 
to Christ. Then it has escaped the general 
wreck. The grace which led it to the Saviour, 
implants the seeds of all piety within the breast. 
The believer enters on anew way, and commences 
the course which terminates in heaven. Have 
you thus been led to him ? 

5. Various expressions are used in the book of 
God to represent to us the nature of real piety. 
The Christian is emphatically represented as a 
believer on the Son of God, and as such all 
blessings are promised to him; but his faith is 
not the cold assent of the understanding to a 
truth presented to its view ; it is described, as 
a believing "with the heart," 2 perceiving and 
cordially embracing the truth. The Christian 
so believes as to trust, and rest on Christ, and to 
desire to be found not having his "own righte- 
ousness" as the ground of hope, "but that which 
is by faith in Christ." 3 He so believes as to love 
and prize his Lord, whom he loves though un- 
seen, and whom faith rendersprecious to him : 4 the 
Christian's faith "works by love," 5 purifies the 
heart, 6 and "overcomes the world." 7 Under the 
influence of this heavenly principle the believer 
lives; 8 and acts and walks; 9 and seeks a home 
above; 10 desires a bf.tter country ; u esteems " the 
reproach of Christ greater riches," than worldly 
treasures; 12 and erdures as seeing him who is 
invisible. 15 The Christian so believes as to follow 

(1) Luke, xv. 20. (2) Rofri. X. 10 (3) Phil. iii. 9. (4) 1 Peter, i. 8 ii. 10. 

(5) Gal. v. (3. (ii) Acts, xv. 9. (7) I John, v. t». (8) Gal. ii 20. 

(y) 2 Cor. v. 7. 1 10) 2 Cor. iv. 18. (11) Ileb. xi. 16, 39. 

(12) Heb. m. 26. (13) Ileb. xi 27. 



COMMITS HIS SOUL TO CHRIST. 45 

the Lord whithersoever he goeth ;* and so as to 
prefer him to father or mother, son or daughter, 
or even life itself; 2 and at heart he sacrifices 
all these for him. 5 

6. The Christian is represented as committing 
his soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. " I know 
whom I have believed, and am persuaded that 
he is able to keep that which I have committed 
unto him, against that day." 4 The solemn 
committal of the deathless soul and its immortal 
interests to the Saviour, is more than knowledge ; 
more than outward forms of piety ; more than 
desires of its blessings, or convictions of its ne- 
cessity; more than correct morality: all these 
go with it, but it is more than all. It is the 
solemn transaction, in which a helpless sinner 
entrusts his all to the care, and unfeignedly re-, 
signs himself to the disposal of the almighty 
Saviour. This becomes his hope, " for me the 
Saviour died ;" and the governing feeling of 
his breast is, " I am not my own, but his to 
whom I have been led to commit myself and my 
all." No one, while he continues to live in care- 
lessness, is led to this : carelessness is the mark 
of eternal death. A very different spirit ani- 
mates the Christian : "None but Christ, none but 
Christ/' was the language of the dying martyr; 
and " none but Christ," is in effect that of every 
heir of heaven. "I count all things but loss 
that I may win Christ:" pleasure, honour, 
wealth, friends, all are trifles compared with an 
interest in him. My desire is not merely to 
hear of his excellences, or think of his love, or 

(1) Rev. xiv. 4. (2) Matt. x. 37, 38. Luke, xiv. 26, 27. 

(3) Luke, sir, 33. (4) 2 Tim. i. 12. 

e3 



46 THE CHRISTIAN COMES TO CHRIST. 

talk of his glories, but to win Christ; to call him 
mine, while f am his." 

7. The Christian is described as one that 
comes to Christ. He himself says, "Come 
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon 
you, and learn of me; for T am meek and lowly 
in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." 
" And Jesus said unto them, T am the bread of 
life: he that cometh to me, shall never hunger; 
and he that believeth on me, shall never thirst." 
" All that the Father givelh me, shall come to 
me; and him that cometh to me, I will in no- 
wise cast out." " Jesus cried, saying, If any man 
thirst, let him come unto me, and di ink." 1 

The promises in these gracious passages are 
made to him that domes to the Saviour; not to 
him that hears of coming, or thinks of coming, 
or coldly desires salvation, but to him that 
conies. Coming to Christ, expresses the appli- 
caiion of the soul to him for the blessings that 
it wants: and with this, will always be connected 
correspondent dispositions. An afflicted pauper 
applies to a skilful and benevolent physician for 
help. How does he come? As diseased and 
needing help; as sensible of disease and de- 
siring a cure; as confiding in his benefactor's 
skill and care, and willing to leave himself to 
his disposal. Thus the penitent comes to 
Christ disordered and undone; sensible of sin 
and misery ; concerned for salvation and mercy ; 
trusting the Saviour's power and grace ; and 
willing to be saved in the Saviour's way. By 
those who come to him, the Lord Jesus is Wel- 
ti) Matt. xi. 28, 2y. John, vi. 35. 37. vii. 37. 



CHRIST REIGNS IN HIS HEART. 47 

corned as the hope and trust, the life and refuge 
of the deathless but ruined soul. O have you 
thus come to Christ ? Have you been brought to 
him ? What is the ground of your hope ? If 
you think you are in the way to heaven, why do 
yon indulge this expectation? Perhaps you re- 
ply, " The Saviour died for sinners." True; but 
the damned may say the same. If you stop 
there you will soon be as lost as they. Can you 
say what they never will, " He died for sinners, 
and I, as a poor, helpless sinner, have been led 
to him for pardon and salvation. I know in 
whom T have believed ; I have come to him ; 
his death is my plea, his righteousness is my 
trust, his grace is my strength. To him my 
soul is committed and myself resigned?" If 
yon know nothing of this you are still in the 
{fall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. 
The charge against undone millions at last will 
be, "Ye received me not: 1 Ye heard of me, ye 
bore my name, ye listened to my word; but ye 
received me not." No sin is so common, and 
none more ruinous. 

8. The Christian is described as one who has 
Christ in him. The inspired apostle repre- 
sented to some of his Christian friends, that 
"Christ in" them "was the hope of glory." 2 He 
said to others, " Know ye not, that Jesus Christ 
is in you, except ye be reprobates." 3 Of himself he 
said, "lam crucified with Christ, nevertheless 
I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me." 4 
And for others he prayed, "that Christ 
might dwell in their hearts by faith." 3 These pas- 

(1) JohD, i. 11. v. 4a (2) Col. i. 27. (3) 2 Cor. xiii. 5. 

(4) Gal. y. 20. (5) Eph. iii. 17. 



48 CHRIST RULES THE CHRISTIAN. 

sages may receive an affecting" illustration from 
the narratives which are found in the New Tes- 
tament respecting unhappy persons possessed 
by evil spirits. In that case the infernal spirit 
influenced the man, directed his conduct and his 
words, and ruled him with an absolute and fatal 
sway. When Christ is described as in his peo- 
ple, it imports that he has taken possession of 
them; has erected, as it were, his throne within 
the heart; and rules the conduct of the life, and 
the passions of the soul. If Christ is in you, the 
hope of glory, you must have felt the changing 
influence of his renewing spirit. Were you 
proud ; you now seek humility. Were you 
passionate; you resist passion and follow after 
meekness. Were you resentful ; you have be- 
come forgiving. Were you covetous; you have 
become liberal. If Christ is in you, he rules 
within your heart. He prompts you to maintain 
an inward warfare, and to mortify the sin which 
may easily beset you. He makes you conscien- 
tious in private as well as in public. His 
pleasure moves you ; his approbation encourages 
you; his promises animate you; his frown 
saddens you ; and his laws bind you. He says, 
" He that hath my commandments, and keepeth 
them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth 
me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love 
him, and will manifest myself to him. If a 
man love me, he will keep my words. He that 
loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings." 1 Christ 
is not in you, if his commands are slighted. 
Profession without obedience is hypocrisy 
You may have the name of Christian, and be 

(1) John, xiv. 21. 23, 24. 



THE CHRISTIAN IS THE LORD'S. 49 

unacquainted with all that has been described 
as distinguishing the Christian ; but you cannot 
have Christ in you, and be a stranger to such a 
change. Perhaps you object, " I see some that 
make a flaming profession of religion, who 
seem strangers to all this." Be it so. You then 
see hypocrites or self-deceivers; for God's de- 
scription of Christian piety will be found true, if 
all the world were, deluded. 

9. Thus the Christian is one who can say, " I 
am the Lord's: 1 his by solemn surrender; his 
by devout dedication ; his for time; and his for 
eternity." Some have desires after religion; he 
has them too, but they are much more than 
cold inactive desires. Some form resolutions; 
he forms them too, but in reliance on strength 
superior to his own. Some forsake sins; he 
forsakes them too, but stops not with forsaking 
the transgressor's ways. Some are religious by 
fits and starts. Some are near the kingdom, but 
never reach it ; they halt when almost persuaded 
to be Christians. True piety leads its possessor 
beyond all these. Tt brings him to the Saviour's 
feet. Were you ever brought there ? And there 
he can say, " My heart is fixed, O God, my heart 
is fixed ; my will determined ; my choice made ; 
my affections engaged. I see the vanity of time ; 
1 feel the Saviour's love, the Saviour's worth. 
My heart is fixed for God, for the Saviour, and 
for heaven. Lord, I am thine. These hands, 
these eyes, these feet are thine. This heart is 
thine, this soul is committed to thy care. This 
body is not my own, but bought with a price, 
and to be employed for thee." 

(l'i Isaiah, xliv. &. 



50 RELIGION FURTHER ILLUSTRATED. 

A religion that leads to this is much more than 
what satisfies many. It is more than mere nature 
ever produced or ever will. It has its origin 
from heaven, and leads its possessor there. Is 
yours such ? If it be, to have the heart thus 
fixed will keep you steady in the way to ever- 
lasting life. Else you will be tossed to and fro, 
and driven you know not whither. But if you 
are thus the Lord's, this grace will keep you stea- 
dily in the ways of God, and urge you onward 
to heaven. You will be like a sailor intent upon 
his home, tossed by tempests, and driven and 
distressed by opposing winds and waves, who 
still turns his vessel for the port he seeks, and 
never yields the contest till he gains the expected 
and desired haven. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE NATURE OF 
RELIGION. 

1. Were a mathematician pursuing some im- 
portant calculation, on the correctness of which 
all his future reputation and prosperity depended, 
with what care would he watch against the 
smallest mistake ! Were a merchant making a 
calculation, in which by the error of a single fi- 
gure he might become the loser of thousands of 
pounds, how carefully would he prove all his 
reckonings, and test the correctness of his ac- 
counts ! But in examining the nature of religion 
a far more important inquiry is pursued. If the 
mathematician or the merchant err, some loss 



TRUE RELIGION CONNECTED WITH REPENTANCE. f>\ 

may be endured, but loss which will soon appear 
lig-ht as vanity itself. But if delusion is suffered 
where religion is concerned, the loss of the soul 
will be the dreadful consequence. The subject 
tieing" of such importance, it may be useful to 
take a view of real piety in some other lights, and 
of the marks by which it is distinguished. 

True piety is connected with genuine repent- 
ance. The indispensable necessity of repent 
ance is most solemnly asserted in the divine 
word ; but there is much delusion as to its na- 
ture. True repentance is not to be distinguished 
from false so much by the pungency of the pe- 
nitent's convictions, as by the change of his 
views, of his heart, and of his life. Most persons 
acknowledge the necessity of repentance, but 
multitudes under that name regard a mere delu- 
sion. They put the sorrow of the world which 
worketh death, in the place of that godly sorrow 
whose author is God, and whose end is salvation. 
There are, however, many points of contrast 
between false and true repentance. 

False repentance springs solely from the fear 
of punishment and ruin. The sailor in a tem- 
pest, the profligate on a sick-bed, cry out for 
mercy, merely because they dread death and 
hell which seem at hand. In true repentance, 
though the fear of dreaded evil may be felt, yet 
connected with this is a more generous feeling, 
and sin is abhorred. Job said, "I abhor myself, 
and repent in dust and ashes. 3 ' 1 

False repentance cloaks and lessens sin. Its 
|vil is not felt, nor its guilt acknowledged. The 
sinner looks for every extenuating circumstance, 

(1) Job, xlii. a 



62 DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN TRDB 

to hide the deformity. of his own transgressions 
In true repentance the evil of sin is felt. k< 
aggravations are acknowledged by the soul, thar 
neither pleads, nor wishes to plead any extenu- 
ation. The penitent feels he has none to offer 
and the confessions of the psalmist are the Ian- 
guage of his heart: " Have mercy upon me, -O 
God, according to thy loving-kindness : accord, 
ing unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blor 
out my transgressions. Wash me throughly 
from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 
For I acknowledge my transgressions : and my 
sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, 
have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight : 
that thou mightest be justified when thou speak - 
est, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I 
was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mo- 
ther conceive me." 1 

He that is deluded with false repentance, 
hopes and pleads for mercy on account of good 
that he has done. It is true, he acknowledges, he 
has done wrong, but then he has often done 
right; he has sinned, but then he has often done 
good. The true penitent owns himself quite 
vile, and casts himself solely on the mercy and 
grace of a forgiving God. Thus David did when 
his prayer was, "Have mercy upon me, O God ;" 
and when in all his penitential confession, not 
one plea was urged from any service he had ever 
done, nor one allusion made to any thing that as 
a servant of God he had ever been. Thus the 
publican acted when smiting on his breast, with 
downcast eye*, he exclaimed, " God be merciful 
to me a sinner!" And the prodigal displayed 

(1) Psalms, li. 1-&. 



AND COUNTERFEIT REPENTANCE. 63 

this spirit when he said, " Father, I have sinned 
against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more 
worthy to be called thy son." 1 

In false repentance the sinner, with all his 
professions of sorrow, still thinks, on the whole, 
well of himself. He sees no great deep of ini- 
quity within his own heart; nor does he feel 
that his character as a sinner, is in the view of 
God altogether hateful and debased. True re- 
pentance leads the penitent to abhor himself; 
and the more he feels of its influence, the lower 
he sinks in self-abhorrence and humiliation. 
God thus describes repentance : " Then shall ye 
remember your own evil ways, and your doings 
that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves 
in your own sight for your iniquities and for your 
abominations." 2 

In false repentance, the sinner regards solely 
the injury sin has done himself, and the danger 
to which it has exposed him. In true repent- 
ance the penitent looks at the ingratitude and 
vileness of sin in reference to a good and gra- 
cious God and Saviour ; and mourns that infinite 
excellence should have met with such base treat- 
ment from him, and infinite goodness with so 
vile and ungrateful a return. It is related of 
Colonel Gardiner, that after his wonderful con- 
version, though he assuredly believed for a 
length of time that he should soon be in hell, 
yet that what he suffered of his inward distress, 
was not so much from the fear of hell, " as from 
a sense of that horrible ingratitude he had shown 
to the God of his life," and to the blessed Re- 
deemer. There is much variety in the feelings 

(l) Lukp, xv. 21. (2) Ezekiel, xxxvi. 31. 

F 



54 THE PENITENT ARE 

of different individuals even on religious sub. 
jects, but this sorrow in a way more or less deep 
is experienced by every real penitent. 

In false repentance, when danger is over the 
sorrow is forgotten. Thus the mariner profes- 
sing penitence in a storm, rushes on in the career 
of iniquity when the tempest has ceased its rage. 
And the sick-bed penitent, in almost all cases, 
returns to carelessness and sin, so soon as return- 
ing health removes death and hell from his af- 
frighted view. Sin, then, instead of being forsak- 
en and abhorred, is loved and followed. It 
maintains its sway over the soul, and in the mi- 
serable man's esteem is as sweet as ever. When 
true repentance is felt sin is hated, and even 
when pardoned is hated more than ever. The 
penitent forsakes its ways ; resolves and prays 
against its snares; loathes the sin that may ea- 
sily beset him; and could he sin without pu- 
nishment, still for its vileness and baseness, he 
would flee from sin, and hate it with utter hatred. 

False repentance is such as a devil might feel ; 
and as many dying in impenitence indulge when 
they can sin on earth no longer; while many 
of the feelings connected with true repentance, 
are such as a saint in heaven might indulge. 

2. The humble and contrite that have fled 
to the Saviour, as the penitent's refuge, are de- 
scribed in the scriptures, as greatly blessed. It 
is not merely asserted that they shall be blessed, 
but such dispositions of soul are represented as 
proving them already blessed. "Thus saith 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 hum- 



TRULY BLESSED. 55 

ble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and 
to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Thus 
saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and 
the earth is my footstool. To this man will I 
look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite 
spirit, and trembleth at my word." 1 The Lord 
Jesus says, " Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for 
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are 
they that mourn ; for they shall be comforted. 
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 
righteousness; for they shall be filled." 2 

The true penitent welcomes gospel mercy, 
listens to the Saviour's invitation, " Come unto 
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden/' 5 arid 
is made a partaker of forgiveness. The penitent 
publican went down to his house justified ; 4 the 
penitent prodigal received his father's pardon, 
and was restored to his father's family ; 5 the 
penitent female, who dropped her tears on the 
Saviour's feet, and wiped them with her hair, 
heard the cheering declaration, "Thy sins are 
forgiven thee ; thy faith hath saved thee : go in 
peace." 6 

3. But what are the evidences of enjoying for. 
giving grace ? On this there is much delusion. 
Some fancy, if the feelings are fired, if the pas- 
sions are roused, and if sorrow gives place to joy, 
though they know not why, that this is a proof 
of forgiveness. All this is deception. Satan 
sometimes appears fts an angel of light, 7 and 
may kindle an unhallowed joy in an unchanged 
heart. 

(1) Is. lvii. 15. Is. lxvi. 1, 2. (2-) Matt. v. 3, 4. 6. (3) Matt. xi. 27. 

(4) Luke, xviii. 14. (5} Luke. xv. 22. (6) Luke, vii. 48. 50. 

(7) 2 Cor. xi. 14. 



56 EVIDENCES OF ENJOYING PARDON. 

No one thing, but several united, may be re- 
presented as constituting satisfactory evidence of 
an interest in pardoning mercy. 

Peace of mind has been regarded as an evi- 
dence of forgiveness. But this is not decisive ; 
for the hope of the hypocrite may inspire a false 
peace. Nor is the absence of peace an evidence 
that forgiveness is not enjoyed ; for the sorrow- 
ing, doubting Christian, may write bitter tilings 
unreasonably against himself. 1 But peace of 
mind, springing from trust in the Saviour's 
atonement, from faith in his blood, and connect- 
ed with the experience of the sanctifying and 
constraining power of his love, may be consider- 
ed a sure evidence that the soul has regarded the 
gospel call 

With this invariably is connected, subjection 
to the Lord Jesus. The forgiven penitent is a 
member of a new kingdom, over which the Sa- 
viour rules. 

New principles and dispositions, hopes and 
fears, joys and sorrows, also mark the pardoned 
soul. The forgiven penitent is partaker of a new 
nature; is a new creature in Christ Jesus, in 
whom old things pass away, and all things be- 
come new.* The Lord Jesus never forgives a 
soul, and leaves it one of Satan's slaves. Every 
pardoned penitent has a new disposition, that 
tolerates no sin ; that allows not subjection to the 
world ; and that pants antf universal holiness. 
Blessed and happy are they who experience this .' 
The load is taken away, that else would have 
ruined them eternally. Who shall condemn 
them? God justifies them Who shall injure 

(lU'salma, xlij. Ixxvii Isaiah, xi.2"?. (2) 2 Cor v. IT. 



TRUE RELIGION DISTINGUISHED FROM FORMAL. 57 

them ? God protects them. Who shall impo- 
verish them ? God enriches them. Who can 
harm them in life or death, time or eternity? 
AW things are theirs, and they are Christ's. Are 
you one of this happy family ? 

4. The Christian may be further viewed as 
the possessor of true grace, in distinction from 
those, who have but the form of godliness. But 
wide is the difference between the religion of 
these different characters. The religion of one is 
formal; it consists chiefly in knowledge, and 
outward forms: that of the other is heartfelt; 
the Christian does not despise the forms of piety, 
but its chief seat is in his soul. The religion of 
the formalist is partial I; he regards some duties 
and slights others ; shuns some sins, and indul- 
ges in others. The religion of the Christian is 
entire: it embraces the love and pursuit of uni- 
versal holiness, and the renunciation and abhor- 
rence of all sin. The religion of the formalist 
speedily reaches its maturity : the same forms 
to-day as yesterday, and to-morrow as to-day, 
satisfy him. The religion of the Christian, like 
a brightening light, shines more and more unto 
the perfect day. His concern is, to " grow in 
grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus 
Christ;" 1 to forget the things behind, and reach 
unto those before. 2 The formalist is soon satis- 
fied. He wants no high attainments in divine 
things. The Christian never is so satisfied as to 
say, " I have grace enough." He almost thinks 
nothing gained, while any thing remains ungain- 
ed. The formalist desires only religion enough 
to reach heaven ; and a delusive hope quickly 

(1) U Peter, iii. 18. (2) Phil. iii. 17. 

P3 



Ob THE CHRISTIAN DISTINGUISHED 

satisfies him. The Christian can at times almost 
lose the thought of the good he expects, in his 
desire for entire transformation to the Redeemer's 
likeness. " Wash me, Lord, and not my feet only, 
hut also my hands and my head. Not partially 
but entirely. My desires; my affections; my 
tempers and conduct; make all like thine own. 
Wash me from love of the world ; from pride, 
and selfishness, and every evil passion. Change 
me, and change me not in some things only, but 
in all. Teach me all I should learn, and make 
me all I should be." 

5. The true Christian is distinguished by love 
to the Lord Jesus Christ. His early disciples 
are described as those who loved him though 
unseen. 1 Blessings are pronounced on all that 
love him ; ¥ Grace be with all them that love 
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity :" 2 and an aw- 
ful curse on all who love him not, whatever in 
other respects may be their character, their 
knowledge, their conduct, or their profession ; 
u If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let 
him be Anathema Maranatha." 5 The apostle, 
describing his own views and feelings, repre- 
sented, at the same time, those of every child of 
God: "Yea, doubtless, I count all things but 
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
Jesus my Lord ; that I may win Christ and be 
found in him."* Be the Christian a Briton or a 
Hindoo, the effect of the gospel upon his heart, 
as to the adorable Saviour, is the same. "I love 
him," said Krishna in his last illness, "but not 
as he loves me." The careless and presumptuous 
will speak of love to Christ, while their whole 

(1) 1 Peter, i. 7. (-2) Epli. vi. 21. (3) 1 Cor xvi. 22. (4) Phil. iii. 8. 



nY LOVE TO CHRIST. 59 

life is neglect of him, or rebellion against him. 
The love of the Christian to his Lord is heartfelt. 
He sees his Redeemer's worth: "Lord, in po- 
verty thou art my wealth ; in disgrace, my ho- 
nour; in sorrow, my joy; in weakness, my 
strength ; in death, my life." The Christian's 
love to the Saviour, is connected with a sense Gf 
his suitableness to the wants of the soul : " I was 
lost, he redeemed me ; I am guilty, he saves me ; 
I am blind, he teaches me; I am poor, he en- 
riches me; I am to die, he must support me. 
He is every thing to me ; and none can supply 
his place." The Christian's love to his Lord is 
active and influential. It does not evaporate 
with glowing words, nor spend itself in warm 
professions. It is manifested in desires for more 
love. Never did a pardoned penitent love Christ 
without desiring to love him better. It is evi • 
denced in desire to do his will, and to promote 
his glory. The Christian's love to the Saviour is 
supreme. The Lord requires this : " He that 
loveth father or mother more than me, is not wor- 
thy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter 
more than me, is not worthy of me ; and he that 
taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not 
worthy of me." 1 " If any man come to me, and 
hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and 
children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his 
own life also, he cannot be my disciple." 2 None 
can suppose the Saviour means, we should hate 
those he commands us to love; but that they 
should have the second place in the affeciionsof 
the soul, while the first is given to himself. He 
is to be loved more and with higher estimation 

(1) Matt. X. 27. 3$. (2) LuVe, xiv. 2.1 



60 EVIDENCES OF LOVE TO CHRIST. 

than they; and to be pleased in preference to 
them. The Christian must be ready, if required, 
to forsake them sooner than renounce his Lord ; 
and to sacrifice all things rather than forsake his 
Redeemer. Thus his love to Christ must be su- 
preme. Am I so circumstanced, that I must 
deny myself, or violate his laws ; I must offend 
friends, or offend my Lord ; I must sacrifice their 
favour and love, or forsake his service ? In such 
a case the Christian will not hesitate what part 
to act. In such a case how would you act ? What 
is the tenor of your life ? the settled bent and 
purpose of your soul ? Some have warm pas- 
sions in God's house, and lead careless lives in 
their own. How do you live ? Do you love 
your Lord ? and evidence that love by loving his 
house ? by loving his sabbaths ? by loving his 
people ? by loving his ordinances ? by loving 
his precepts ? by loving all he loves, and hating 
all he hates ? Is it with yon, life's chief concern 
to live to him ? and to reach his kingdom, where 
you shall live with him ? Whatever engages you 
besides, is this your first concern? that which 
takes the place of all others? which is regarded 
above all besides ? and to which the thoughts 
and cares return, whatever else may occupy them 
through a large portion of your waking hours? 
An affectionate child, at the call of Providence, 
leaves his parents, and goes to a distant land ; 
yet he remembers his home. He keeps in view 
the time for returning to it. He discharges the 
duties of the new scene, in which, for a while, 
he is placed. These occupy much of his time, 
and engage many of his thoughts, yet his fond- 
est thoughts turn to home. There his heart is 



THE CHRISTIAN A NEW CREATURE. 61 

most set. That is never long out of mind ; and 
at the appointed period, with gladness, he returns 
to the place, where his thoughts have daily been. 
Do you feel a love to the adorable Saviour, Jesus 
Christ, whose effects are of this description? 

6. The Christian is represented as a new crea- 
ture. In conversion, in making any one really 
a Christian, not only is there some outward 
change in the character and conduct; but there 
is an inward change, which is as really the pro- 
duct of divine power, as is life itself, and of 
which none but God can be the author. The 
necessity of such a change is solemnly assert ed : 
Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except 
a man be born again, he cannot see the king- 
dom of God. Verily, verily, I say unto thee; 
except a man be born of water and of the 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of 
God. That which is born of the flesh is 
flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is 
spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye 
must be born again." 1 Every real Christian is 
represented as a partaker of this new nature: 
"As many as received him, to them gave he 
power to become the sons of God, even to them 
that believe on his name: which were bom, not 
o\' blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the 
will of man, but of God. Jf any man be in 
r ' hrist, lie is a new creature : old things are passed 
awa y ; behold, all things are become new." 2 The 
Messed God s-iicl . " A new heart also will I give 
N.Mi, and a new spirit will T put within you : and 
i will takeaway the stony heart out of your flesh, 
and [ will give you a heart of flesh. And I 

;I) JoIid, iii. 3. 5. 6. 7. (2) John, i. 12. 2 Cor. ▼. 17. 



62 REGENERATION 

will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to 
walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my 
judgments, and do them." 1 This new heart and 
new birth probably consists chiefly in giving - to 
the soul a new disposition, which becomes the 
seed of universal holiness in heart and life. 
This change is compared to that which is con- 
fessedly mysterious ; but though mysterious it 
is not less real. Natural life, in its origin and 
continuance, is as mysterious as the nature of 
the life of grace in the renewed soul. Each 
becomes visible from its effects. We know man 
lives, not by seeing life infused, or by compre- 
hending the nature of life, but by seeing its 
effects. He breathes; he speaks; he sees; he 
moves ; he acts. These effects declare him to 
be a living man, not a lifeless corpse. Thus is 
spiritual life evidenced. Its effects are, sense and 
feeling. The heart of stone, which could not 
feel, is changed for a heart that can, that does. 
Pride and carelessness give place to humility and 
contrition. Sin is deplored and forsaken. The 
possession of the spirit of Christ marks the rege- 
nerate. He was humble, man is proud ; but 
the renewed man becomes humble. He was 
meek, man is violent and passionate ; but 
renewed man learns of him who was meek and 
gentle. He was forgiving, man is resentful ; but 
renewed man becomes forgiving. He was be- 
nevolent, man is selfish ; but renewed man 
learns of Jesus, to care for others' welfare as well 
as his own. He loved his Father God. man is 
alienated from him ; but renewed man loves his 
God, and seeks his glory. He was heaven iy- 

(1) Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. 



FURTHER ILLUSTRATED. 63 

minded, man is earthly and sensual ; but renewed 
man sets his affections on things above. He 
was holy, man is altogether sinful ; but renewed 
man follows after holiness. Thus the Christian 
is a new creature ; new in principles, feelings, 
dispositions, conduct, pursuits, hopes, fears, 
joys, sorrows, prospects, and connexions. The 
change experienced, whether wrought more gra- 
dually, or more suddenly, is a divine and entire 
change, that renders him, who experiences it, as 
to his character and state, in the sight of God, a 
new man. The dark mind is enlightened ; the 
insensible heart is softened ; the affections are 
turned into a new channel, and, as to the highest 
objects of their regard, fix on new objects. The 
life that was careless or wicked, is altered to a 
life of piety. And the man is said to be " created 
in Christ Jesus, unto good works." 1 The opera- 
tions of divine grace, in producing this change 
may be very various, but its termination is the 
same. Some, in the midst of a career of iniquity, 
may be awakened by the terrors of the Lord ; 
and the light of divine truth, revealing to them 
their guilt and misery, may break in upon their 
souls, almost as suddenly, as if the sun were to 
:ise in an instant at midnight, and change dark- 
ness into day. In the case of many others, the 
light may open gradually upon their souls, like 
the usual dawnings of the day ; first one gentle 
beam, and then another, and another, and another. 
A little more light, and a little more, till, though 
they know not how, the darkness is gone, and 
the light shines on them in the blaze of day. In 
such cases, it may be impossible to distinguish 

(1) Eph. ii. 10. 



6*4 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE 

between what may be termed the last efforts of 
mere nature, and the first operations of the 
Eternal Spirit; but it is enough to know that the 
heart is renewed, that effects which mere nature 
never produced, are experienced ; and truths, 
which it never taught the mind to comprehend, 
are known. A traveller commencing u journey 
by the light of the moon, before the faintest 
gleam of the dawn appears, and pursuing his 
journey, at length finds, light increasing round 
him. It brightens more and more. The creation 
assumesa new aspect ; and he findstheglimmmng 
of moonlight changed for the effulgence of the 
newly-risen sun. But request him to distinguish 
the last beam of the light of the setting moon, 
from the first of the rising sun, and were life 
depending on the answer, life must be lost, 
sooner than he could give a correct reply. Yet 
though he could not tell which was the first 
gleam of opening day, he can tell that the day 
shines all around him ; and it matters little to 
him while enjoying the daylight, that he is unable 
to declare which was its first faint ray. As little 
does it matter to the Christian, to distinguish the 
first movings of the Eternal Spirit, from the last 
of his own, if he now walks in the light, as 
Christ was in the light. 

7. The representations of the Christian as a new- 
man, a new creature, are strikingly emphatic and 
descriptive. Look at a profligate, he drinks in 
iniquity like water. He is lewd, drunken ; per, 
haps a scorner, a swearer, a sabbath-breaker. 
He treats with contempt all that is good, is prayer- 
less, careless and insensible, neglects the bible 
and the house of prayer, rushes forward to 



EXPRESSION, A NEW CREATURE. 65 

eternal perdition. Look o.t the sama man if re- 
newed in the spirit of his mind. He shuns the 
paths of vice, he is chaste, sober, temperate, he 
reveres the divine name, keeps holy the sabbaths 
of the Lord, prizes the bible, loves prayer and 
the worship of God, hates all that once he loved, 
unci loves most what once he hated most, and 
acts, and lives, and prays as one whose chief 
object is to secure eternal life. Is he not a new 
man? a new creature? Had divine power de- 
stroyed his whole frame, and produced another 
mau in his place, would he have been a more 
different man? or more completely a new man, 
in all that will long distinguish man? 

Look at another. He is not profligate, but 
sober, steady, moral, yet a stranger to piety. 
He utters stated prayers, but they are only formal. 
God has not his heart; his own interests, honour, 
gain, or pleasure, lie much nearer to his heart, 
than the glory or honour of his Creator. He 
acknowledges Christ as a Saviour; but the 
Saviour's love impresses not his soul, and win? 
not his affections. He reads the bible as a kind 
of task, as a school boy reads his lesson ; and 
perhaps, with all this, thinks himself very good 
and very safe. Look at the same man, if re- 
newed. As he was never immoral, there is not 
so striking a change in his outward conduct aa 
in the former instance ; perhaps little visible 
there; but there is as real a change in his heart. 
His prayers are no longer formal, but express 
the feelings of a soul that knows its wants and 
its guilt. His heart is yielded to God, and he re- 
gards his Father's honour and glory, above any 
trifling interests of his own. The Saviour's love 



66 SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES 

impresses now his heart; and draws out the 
best affections of his soul to his Lord, in grati- 
tude and love. The bible is no longer a task, but 
is read as with new eyes, and with an enlightened 
mind. All his former conceit of his own good- 
ness and safety has vanished. He sinks in 
humiliation before his God; feels he was as really 
a lost creature, as the more profligate sinners 
around; with a heart as estranged from God, 
and as corrupt as theirs. Is he not a new 
man, in all that constitutes the moral character 
of an intelligent and immortal being ? as com- 
pletely new, as if God had sunk his whole frame 
into nothing, and formed a new man to occupy 
his place ? O remember that all outward forms 
without an inward renewing change, are, so far 
as eternity is concerned, vanity of vanities. 
Eternal truth has declared, "Ye must be born 
again." 

No alternative remains for any child of man 
but this — he must be converted or condemned. 

8. After thus noticing some of those represen- 
tations which are given of the real Christian, it 
may not be useless to point to a few marks of 
possessing the spirit of Christ, which form im- 
portant tests, by which to try our state. 

A holy jealousy of ourselves, and such fear of 
deception, as produces solemn caution and care, 
to guard against delusion — " Search me, O God, 
and know my heart : try me, and know my 
thoughts : and see if there be any wicked way 
in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." 1 

Prizing the favour of God above all earthly 
good, and desiring more earnestly to love him 

(1) Psalm, csxxix. Ti, 24. 



OF POSSESSING THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 67 

more ; to serve him better, and to feel more of 
his love, than to obtain worldly wealth or any 
earthly acquisition — "None of these things 
move me, neither count I my life dear unto my- 
self, so that I might finish my course with joy. 
Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and after- 
ward receive me to glory. Whom have I in 
heaven but thee? and there is none upon\arth 
that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my 
heart faileth : but God is the strength of my 
heart, and my portion for ever. There be many 
that say, who will show us any good ? Lord, lift 
thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. 
Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than 
in the time that their corn and their wine in- 
creased. One thing have I desired of the Lord, 
that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the 
house of the Lord all the days of my life, to be- 
hold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in 
his temple." 1 

Seriously and solemnly taking the life to come, 
as the portion of the soul ; regarding this as its 
highest interest, having reference to this in all 
our pursuits, and habitually preferring the things 
unseen, before the visible objects of this transi- 
tory world — "We look not at the things which 
are seen, but at the things which are not seen : 
for the things which are seen are temporal ; but 
the things which are not seen are eternal. We 
walk by faith not by sight. We are confident, 
I say, and willing rather to be absent from the 
body, and to be present with the Lord." 2 

Maintaining habitual attention to the state of 

(1) Acts, xx. 24. Psalm, lxxiii. 24—26. Psalm, iv. fi, 7. Psalm, xxvii.4. 
(•2) 2 Cor. iv. 18. 2 Cor. v. 7, 8. 



68 SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES 

the heart and care about it; so that the sins of 
the heart are observed and lamented, and grace 
is sought to subdue whatever is wrong within the 
breast, as well as what may be openly amiss in 
the conduct — "Keep thy heart with all diligence; 
for out of it are the issues of life. Create in me 
a clean heart, O God ; and renew a right spirit 
within me. Let us, therefore, fear, lest a pro- 
mise being left us of entering into his rest, any 
of you should seem to come short of it. Look to 
yourselves, that we lose not those things which we 
have wrought, but that we receive a full reward." 1 

Living not allowedly in any known sin ; and 
having no sinful infirmity, which is not, when 
known, lamented, and a concern maintained that 
it may be corrected and subdued — "In that 
he died, he died unto sin once : but in that he 
liveth, he liveth unto God. Reckon ye also 
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive 
unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Now being made free from sin, and become 
servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holi- 
ness, and the end everlasting life. Having, 
therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us 
cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh 
and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal 
life" 2 

Desiring the highest degree of holiness ; loving 
holiness and longing for more of its power, and 
wishing rather to be more holy than more pros- 
perous or more rich — "Follow holiness, without 
which no man shall see the Lord. As he 

(i) Prov. iv. 23. Psalm, li. 10. Heb. iv. 1. 2 John, 8. 
(2) Rom. vi. 10, 11. 22. 2 Cor. vii. I. 1 Tim. vi. 12. 



OF POSSESSING THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 69 

which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in 
all manner of conversation ; because it is written, 
Be ye holy, for I am holy. He that saith, I know 
him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a 
liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso 
keepeth bis word, in him verily is the love of 
God perfected : hereby know we that we are in 
him. He that saith he abideth in him, ought 
himself also so to walk, even as he walked." 1 

Cherishing love to the cause and the people 
of God — " For I have given you an example, that 
ye should do as I have done to you. We know 
that we have passed from death unto life, because 
we love the brethren. He that loveth not his 
brother abideth in death." 2 

The possession of a prayerful and devotional 
spirit, that makes private devotion precious, and 
produces love to the worship and ordinances of 
God's house — "As the hart panteth after the 
water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O 
God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living 
God: when shall I come and appear before 
God ? How amiable are thy tabernacles, Lord 
of hosts ! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for 
the courts of the Lord : my heart and my flesh 
crieth out for the living God. For a day in thy 
courts is better than a thousand. I had rather 
be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than 
to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Men 
ought always to pray and not to faint. Shall 
not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and 
night unto him." 3 



(I) Heb. xii. 14. 1 Peter, i. 15, 16. 1 John, ii. 4—6. (2) John, xiii. 15 

i John, iii. 14. (3) Psalm, xlii. 1, 2. Psalm, lxxxiv. 1, 2. 10 

Luke, xviii. 1. 7. 

o3 



70 PERSEVERANCE ESSENTIAL TO RELIGION. 

Daily regard to the Saviour as the author of 
salvation, and the daily application of the soul 
to him as its life, its righteousness, its redemp- 
tion, its wisdom, and its all — ''I live, yet not I, 
but Christ liveth in me. Let us run with 
patience the race that is set before us, looking 
unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. 
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch 
cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the 
vine ; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 
I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that 
abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth 
forth much fruit: for without me ye can do 
nothing. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of 
God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, 
and sanctification, and redemption. Ye are 
dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then 
shall ye also appear with him in glory." 1 

And all this the settled bent and bias of the 
soul : not a fit of religion for a day, or a week, or 
a month, or a year; but that which an inward 
principle of divine grace, prompts the soul per- 
petually to follow ; which has been chosen once, 
but chosen for life, and which the soul would 
not renounce for all the world. 

This is experienced by the truly pious in every 
land. God rules in the heart. Christ is loved. 
His word is prized and regarded. Heaven is 
sought ; prayer is loved ; sin is hated ; their 
hopes, their feelings, their sorrows, and their joy a 
are all connected with religion, and are in 
substance of the same description. They may 
have their conflicts, but these mark life noi 

(l) Gal ii 20. Heb. xii. 2. John, xv 4,5. 1 Cor. i. 30. Ccl. fii. 3, 4. 



VANITY OF A FORMAL RELIGION. 71 

death: a dead soldier fights no battles. They 
may have their fears; these often mark their 
anxiety to be right. They may have their 
defects ; but their inward lamentations, over 
what, perhaps, none but themselves and God 
perceives, bear testimony to their unfeigned 
sincerity. Happy are such persons wherever 
found ! They are the Lord's, and are his now 
preparatory to being his for ever. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE VANITY AND MISCHIEFS OF A PORMAL RELI- 
GION, AND THE NECESSITY OF DECISION. 

1. True religion elevates and blesses its 
possessors ; but many are satisfied with what the 
scripture describes as a vain religion ;* a false 
religion. As you value your soul, guard against 
such delusion ; a delusion that would spread its 
blasting influence over a whole eternity. Life is 
no blessing without Christ, and its loss is a trifle 
to the loss of Christ. Death is eternal gain, if 
Christ is ours ; but if a vain religion deludes the 
soul, all will be lost that should bless eternity. 
All short of that divine change of heart and 
character, which has been described in the pre- 
ceding pages, if it go under the name of religion, 
will but deceive and undo the soul. Where 
there is not contrition of heart; where there is 
habitual negligence about the interests of the 
deathless soul ; where pride of mind is indulged, 
and displayed in exalted views of a self-righteous 
kind, and in want of a teachable spirit ; where 

(1) James, i. 26. 



72 NO GENUINE PIETY WITHOUT 

Christ is slighted for worldly objects, when these 
interfere with his claims or his service ; where 
there is not a prayerful spirit; where there is 
not love to the cause and family of God ; where 
sin is trifled with, and little sins, as they are 
termed, or beloved sins are tolerated and al- 
lowed — where this is the case, there may be the 
name of religion, but it is a vain religion. 

2. Where there is not the sincere surrender o( 
the heart to God, though there may be a profes- 
sion of religion, yet that religion is vain. When 
God, under the old dispensation, had required 
from Israel the best and most perfect animals 
in sacrifice, and they had brought inferior 
offerings, he said, "If ye offer the blind for 
sacrifice, is it not evil ? and if ye offer the lame 
and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy 
governor ; will he be pleased with thee or accept 
thy person ? saith the Lord of hosts. Ye brought 
that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick ; 
thus ye brought an offering: should I accept 
this of your hand ? saith the Lord. But cursed 
be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, 
and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a cor- 
rupt thing ; for I am a great King, saith the Lord 
of hosts, and my name i& dreadful among the 
heathen." 1 The crime against which the wrath 
and curse of God were denounced, was not that 
of making no offering, but of not offering to God 
the best in the possession of the processed wor- 
shippers. They withheld what was best, and tried 
to put him off with some meaner offering. Such 
is the conduct of multitudes in what they deem 
religion. Some have the habit of repeating life- 

(1) Malarhi, i. 3. 13, U. 



CONSECRATION TO GOD. 73 

less words, as prayer, who never pray. Some 
have the form of godliness without the power. 
Some practise smaller duties, tithe, as it were, 
mint, annise, and cummin, while they neglect the 
weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, 
and truth. Some regard what are deemed the 
weightier of God's commands, while they are 
strangers to the "faith working by love," which 
prompts its professor to follow universal holiness. 
In all these cases the heart is not surrendered to 
God. The sinner has not become a subject of 
that kingdom over which the Saviour rules. Put 
the conduct of such persons into words, and how 
glaringly wicked it appears: — The almost Chris- 
tian then might say, "I should give my heart 
and my best affections to God ; but I am not 
disposed to make such a sacrifice: I am willing 
to respect religion, and to acknowledge its im- 
portance; but not quite to embrace it. I am 
willing to go as far as I can go with it, so as not 
quite to renounce the world, nor to surrender 
myself unfeignedly body, soul, and spirit unto 
God. Let me but give the world my heart, and 
all short of that offering I will give to God." 
The formalist might say, " I never mean to give 
my affections to God, or to surrender myself and 
interests to his disposal. I will give the world 
my affections ; but I will give to God the form of 
piety. I will go to his house on the Lord's day, 
and will slight him all the week. I will daily 
utter some solemn form of prayer; but even 
while I am uttering the words, my heart shall not 
go with them, but the world shall have my 
thoughts. I will call God, my God and 
Redeemer ; but I will neither seek his favour, nor 



74 MARKS THAT EV1 - ENCE 

care for his displeasure, nor promote his glory, 
nor heed his commandments." Who with the 
lips would utter such impious resolutions! yet 
as well might they be spoken by the lips, as 
spoken in the daily conduct of the life. In that 
they are daily uttered by every formal professor 
of religion, by every one who refuses to surrender 
himself to God. 

3. There are many marks, by which a vain 
religion may be distinguished, from that, which 
is genuine in its nature, and divine in its origin. 

All religion is vain which does not influence 
the conduct, which does not soften and change, 
and which does not govern and direct the af- 
fections. It is not meant to assert, that all is 
vain, which does not immediately elevate the 
Christian to the perfect standard of Christian 
piety ; but that all is so which does not exert a 
ruling, an increasing influence over the conduct, 
the heart, and the temper. Where the heart is not 
humbled, where sin is not hated, Christ is pro- 
fessed in vain. Where, instead of humility, pride 
maintains its sway ; where, instead of gentleness 
and meekness being followed, passion and rage 
still mark as unchanged the temper; where a 
misplaced word, or a slighting expression or look 
is sufficient to occasion a storm of anger, reli- 
gion is vain. Practical piety is described as 
connected with the M work of faith, and labour of 
love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus 
Christ, in the sight of God and our Father." 1 
But faith without its work, love without its la- 
bours, hope without patience, all are vain, and 
mark a vain religion. 

(1) 1 Thes. i. 3. 



A VAIN RELIGION. 76 

Where religion is not the first thing, the soul's 
chief concern, there is every reason to apprehend 
it is a vain religion. The Lord said to some of 
old, " I know thy works, that thou hast a name 
that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, 
and strengthen the things which remain, that are 
ready to die : for I have not found thy works 
perfect before God." 1 "1 know thy works, 
that thou art neither cold nor hot : I would 
thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou 
art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will 
spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou 
sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and 
have need of nothing ; and knowest not that thou 
art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, 
and naked/' 2 His admonition to all is, " Seek 
ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteous- 
ness." 3 Many persons who are all life, vigour 
and activity, where worldly interests are con- 
cerned, appear slothfulness itself, where religious 
interests are at stake. Hence they are eager for 
worldly prosperity, but not eager for spiritual 
improvement; attentive to the state of their 
worldly affairs, but not attentive to the statd 
of their hearts. They profess to renounce all 
for Christ, yet wilfully offend him, sooner 
than endure worldly inconvenience or loss. 
They dread the displeasure of an employer or a 
customer, more than his displeasure. They are 
at heart more anxious for the world's favour 
than for the favour of God. They profess to take 
the life to come, as their inheritance, but in reality 
evidently regard this world as their chief portion 

(1) Rev. iii. 1, 2. (2; Rw. iii. 13-17. (3) Matt. vi. 3a 



76 MARKS 0? A VAIN RELIGION. 

Instead of making every thing bend to religion, 
religion must bend to the world, and eternal in- 
terests be hazarded if temporal ones are to be 
secured. Alas, their religion is vain. 

Religion is vain where its professed possessors 
slight those privileges and means, which are 
designed to promote its influence and are in- 
different to the universality of its claims. Love 
to communion with God in private, distinguishes 
true piety. Lov*j to his public ordinances has 
ever marked his people. David said, " As for me 
I will call upon God ; and the Lord shall save 
me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I 
pray, and cry aloud ; and he shall hear my 
voice. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my 
King, and my God ; for unto thee will I pray. 
]My voice shall thou hear in the morning, O 
Lord : in the morning will I direct my prayer 
unto thee, and will look up. Lord, I have 
loved the habitation of thy house, and the place 
where thine honour dwelleth. I was glad when 
they said unto me, Let us go into the house of 
the Lord." 1 To Christians it is said, " Let us 
consider one another to provoke unto love and 
to good works : not forsaking the assembling 
of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; 
but exhorting one another: and so much the 
more, as ye see the day approaching."* Love 
to the word of God distinguishes the pious soul. 
The Psalmist describes its instructions, us 
" more to be desired than gold, yea, than much 
fine gold: sweeter also than honey, and the 
honey-comb." 3 And of the man who is truiy 

(1) Psalm, lv. 16. 17. Psalm, v. 2, 3. Psalm, xxvi. 8. Psalm, cxxii. i 
(2) JHeb. x. 24, So. (3j Psalm, xix. 10. 



LIFE WITHOUT RELIGION A BLANK. 77 

blessed it is declared, " his delight is in the law 
of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day 
and night. And he shall be like a tree planted 
by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his 
fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, 
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." 1 

Where, instead of such dispositions, there is 
little value for communion with God, and private 
prayer is disregarded or lightly valued, there is 
every reason to apprehend a state of spiritual 
and eternal death. Entire neglect of prayer is a 
sure token of spiritual death. The prayerless in 
effect say, "We have nothing to do with God. 
W r e desire no intercourse with him f and none 
is maintained. They are atheists in practice, 
and if professedly Christians, worse, in one view, 
than atheists ; as they believe in God and neg- 
lect him. Neglect of prayer, while marking 
spiritual death, renders the wretched and guilty 
neglectors, like devils and the damned ; they 
never pray ; and makes them Satan's property. 
As well might we expect to find piety in hell 
as in a prayerless heart. They who profess reli- 
gion, but who pay little regard to prayer, who 
for every trifle slight public worship, and neglect 
the blessed book of God, clearly prove, that even 
their religion is vain. And as religion is designed 
to subdue and transform the whole man, that 
which allows of sin, if not very open and flagrant, 
and pays little attention to growing holiness, is 
a mere delusion, a profession without possession, 
a form without life. 

4. Life without religion is a dreary blank. The 
beasts, the birds, the reptiles, answer the end of 

1) Psalm, i. 2, 3. 
H 



78 VARIOUS EVILS OF 

their existence ; butman, without piety, had better 
never have been born. This is as really the case, 
where formality is put in the place of heartfelt 
piety, and where religion is vain, as where there 
is no appearance or profession whatever. Many 
are the evils inseparably connected with an in- 
sufficient religion. 

A vain religion imparts no saving blessings. 
It gives no title to an interest in the Saviour's 
merits; and is vain as to restoring to man the 
divine likeness which he has lost, Religion is de- 
signed to impress on a fallen immortal the like- 
ness of his holy Creator ; to infuse into his nature 
those dispositions and principles, which may grow 
beneath the inclement sky of this world ; but 
which will ripen to full perfection, among the 
blessed, beneath the brighter skies of heaven. 
Religion is designed to qualify its possessors to 
associate with angels and the spirits of the 
just, by making them partakers of the same 
principles, and feelings, love, and hatred, and 
character as they. But a vain religion answers 
none of these designs. It leaves the sinner 
where it found him, estranged from God, and 
perishing in sin; though he may have put on a 
mask of piety, which open sinners do not wear. 

The possessor of a vain religion, if not a wilful 
hypocrite, is a miserable self-deceiver. Has he 
a hope, it is a false one. He thinks his state 
better than that of mere worldly men around him. 
In this he deceives himself; for it is really no 
better. His sins are as much upon him, as 
theirs on them. His heart is as truly unchanged ; 
and as really estranged from God. He has no 
more interest in the Father's favour, in the love 



A VAIN RELIGION. 79 

of the Son, and in the blessings of eternal life, 
than is possessed by more profligate sinners. 
Heaven is no more his than theirs ; and hell is no 
more escaped by him than by them. Unhappy 
creature! he disregards the most solemn warn- 
ings, for he thinks they are meant for others, not 
for himself; and, probably, may never wake to a 
knowledge of his real character and situation, till 
he wakes amidst the horrors of eternal ruin. 

5. In some views a vain religion is the most 
dreadful of evils. If earthly hopes prove falla- 
cious, if friends betray, if health is vain, and 
prospects deceitful, religion still might enrich 
and bless you; and might give you brighter 
prospects, and unfailing friends, and hopes in 
which there is no deception, and a country where 
the inhabitant shall never say, " I am sick." But 
if your religion is vain, even your religion, that 
should be the source of all your blessings, even 
this vain, then what shall do you good ! 

In one view a vain religion is worse than none 
at all. It deceives the soul ; and renders it a 
more certain and easy prey for its infernal foe. 
The religion of the formalist is not vain, as to 
accomplishing Satan's purposes. These it ef- 
fectually promotes. It blinds the deathless spirit 
till its day of grace is over. Lulls it asleep in 
false security and sin, till in eternity it awakes, 
as from a pleasing and delusive dream, to utter 
misery ; and in a moment feels itself in a state 
of unpardoned guilt and hopeless wretchedness. 
Behold such an unhappy self- deceiver. He 
passes through life deluded ; talks of a Saviour 
in whom he has no interest, and heaven in which 
he has no part. At length he dies, and dies de- 



80 A VAIN RELIGION RUINOUS. 

luded. He enters eternity, and the delusion 
vanishes. Sudden as the lightning from the 
blackest cloud, and more terrific than the thun- 
ders of the most appalling 1 tempest, the convic- 
tion darts upon him, that he has lived and died 
deceived ; and he is overwhelmed with storms of 
misery and mountainous billows of woe. O 
reader, guard against the delusions of a vain 
religion ! guard against a formal profession of 
piety ! To treat with comparative indifference 
what a Saviour was born and died to bestow, and 
what martyred millions have laid down life to 
secure, is a folly past expression. Consider the 
Saviour's solemn and decisive language : " Veri- 
ly, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh 
of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have 
no life in you." 1 

" Without me ye can do nothing ;" 2 absolutely 
nothing that shall benefit your soul, unless you 
cordially receive him, and in his strength live to 
God. Formality cannot long avail you any 
thing. It cannot truly comfort you here. It 
cannot pass the Judge's bar. It cannot secure 
you a place in heaven. It cannot save you from 
the depths of hell. It can indeed prevent your 
enjoying any of the blessings the Saviour died to 
purchase. It can delude you worse than even a 
profligate is deluded; but no one good can it 
ever accomplish for you. Nothing can supply 
the place of a vital union with Christ, and of an 
interest in him. No knowledge, no morality, no 
freedom from grosser crimes, no serious desires, 
no occasional convictions, no Gutward forms, 
will prove a substitute for Him. You can have 

{]) John, vi. 53. (2) John, xv. 5. 



NO NEUTRALITY AS TO RELIGION. 81 

no life, till \ou are brought to the Lord Jesus as 
a humble penitent believer. Till then you will 
be dead as the most dead ; unpardoned as the 
most unpardoned ; perishing as the most pe- 
rishing ; and condemned as really as the most 
condemned. "How long," then, "halt you be- 
tween two opinions ? If the Lord be God, follow 
him; but if Baal, then follow him." 1 

6. While a vain religion is as useless and mis- 
chievous, as has now been represented ; so let it 
be impressed upon your heart, that indecision is 
equally ruinous. Where God and religion are 
concerned, there is no neutrality. In a thousand 
cases of difference and dissention you might say, 
" I am of neither side ;" but not so here. If you 
are not with Christ, you are in his view against 
him. 2 If not a friend, you are an enemy. If 
not pardoned, you are condemned. If not lovely 
in God's sight, you are hateful. If not saved, 
you are lost. If not travelling to heaven, you are 
doomed to hell. There is no neutral ground be- 
tween the armies of the Prince of Light and the 
prince of darkness. There is no middle state. 
This is abundantly evident from the uniform 
language of the scriptures. The Lord Jesus 
speaks of two ways, and but two, in one or the 
other of which all mankind are travelling : 3 one 
broad and crowded, but leading to destruction ; 
the other narrow and unfrequented, but conduct- 
ing the few travellers in it to eternal life. In 
figurative language he represents mankind as 
divided into the tares and the wheat; 4 compares 
them to noxious weeds or to useful grain, yet 

(1) 1 Kings, xviii. 21. (2) Matt. xii. 30. (3) Matt. vii. 13, 14. 
(4) Matt. xiii. 25. 

h3 



82 MANKIND FORM BUT TWO CLASSES : 

speaks of two divisions, and but two. Elsewhere 
the family of man is described as divided into 
the children of the kingdom and of the wicked 
one, of God or of the devil. 1 The truly pious 
are quickened or made alive by God, and the 
rest of mankind are the children of wrath. 2 True 
Christians are of God, while the whole world 
lieth in wickedness. 3 The uniform language of 
scripture represents mankind as divided into the 
two classes of the righteous and the unrighteous. 
All are dead, or living to Christ; are in a state 
of death, or have passed into life ; are forgiven, 
or unforgiven ; converted, or unconverted ; con- 
sequently, blessed, or cursed ; ready for heaven, 
or ready for hell. In conformity with these re- 
presentations, no middle class appears at the 
judgment bar ; all are righteous, or unrighteous; 
at the Judge's right hand, or his left; and in 
eternity no middle state is apparent, heaven or 
hell will become the abode of every child of man. 
7. Among the two immense bodies into which 
the scriptures thus divide mankind, there may- 
be, and are, many varieties, though in what de- 
cides their state there is a pleasing or dreadful 
uniformity. Life may be weak, as it is in an 
infant ; but it is still life, and, unless extinguish- 
ed, will soon manifest its reality by its increasing 
vigour. Death may seem lovely, as in the corpse 
that yet retains the bloom of health ; but it is 
still death, and soon will evidence its fatal reign. 
Among the children of God are babes, and 
young men, and fathers in Christ. 4 Some bear 
of the fruits of holiness thirty, some sixty, and 

(1) Matt. xiii.3-8.1 John, iii. 10. (2) Eph. ii. 1,2. (3)1 Johu,v.l9. 
(4) 1 John, ii. 12, &c. 



THE RELIGIOUS AND IRRELIGIOUS. 83 

some a hundred foldi Among the crowds that 
throng the downward way, some are disgusting 
profligates; othei'S scoffing infidels; others only 
careless of religion ; others amiable, moral, and 
kind ; others almost persuaded to be Christians, 
yet still withholding their hearts from God. 

Among these are many varieties. Some seek 
religion for a time, and then desist from the pur- 
suit of its blessings. Others try to unite the love 
of Christ and of the world. Many never at heart 
sacrifice all things for him ; and so, if they even 
jDrofess religion, only stand till the day of trial 
comes. A new and more profitable, though ir- 
religious situation, or an ungodly wife or hus- 
band, has charms sufficient to draw them aside. 
Many, like the young ruler, ask how they may 
attain eternal life ; but dislike a path so narrow, 
and " choose the way that's wide, and strive to 
think it right." Many halt between the world 
and Christ, like Israel when Elijah said, " How 
long halt ye between two opinions ? If the Lord 
be God, follow him ; but if Baal, then follow 
him." 2 Such a state is a state of ruin. Those 
who act thus, are not persons that are at rest in 
sin ; such are not halting between two opinions, 
but are the willing slaves of an infernal master. 
But the description represents those who are, as 
to religion, wavering and irresolute, sometimes 
one thing, and sometimes the other. Now earn- 
est, then negligent. Now attentive to religious 
ordinances, then trifling with them. Now at 
God's house, then at that of Satan. A Christian 
with Christians, and a worldling with the world. 

8. The Lord Jesus solemnly declares, "No 

(1) Matt. xiii. 23. (2) 1 Kings, xviii. 3i 



84 ALL THAT HAVE THE GOSPEL ARE 

man can serve two masters ; for either he will 
hate the one, and love the other ; or else he will 
hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye can- 
not serve God and mammon." 1 He confirms 
this solemn truth in words to which reference 
has recently been made. "He that is not with 
me is against me, and he that gathereth not with 
me scattereth abroad." He that is not my deci- 
ded friend, I consider as my decided foe; and he 
that does not help, injures my cause. Thus the 
Lord Jesus leaves you no alternative between 
decision and rebellion. Do you say, "This is 
hard. I would not be his enemy; but at heart 
to sacrifice all for him, and to take up my cross 
and follow him, is more than I am willing to do ;" 
it were easy to show that this is not hard ; that 
what he requires is just and reasonable; that 
only the exceeding wickedness of the heart would 
make you wish to offer less : but hard or not, so 
it is. His judgment will decide your eternal 
state; and he has already decided, "He that is 
not with me is against me." There is no alterna- 
tive, but unconditional submission to him, or 
continued rebellion against him : between these 
make your choice. 

Examine your condition. Since there is no 
middle way, no middle state, you are, at this 
moment, either condemned or uncondemned ; 
either not forgiven or forgiven; either lost or sa- 
ved. Have you reason to fear that the former is 
your lot ? O, pray for grace at once to cast your- 
self at the Saviour's feet ! for, according to the 
principles the Lord himself has laid down, you 
are his foe till you become his friend. You are 

(1) Matt. vi. 24. 



l'HE FRIENDS OR THE ENEMIES OF CHRIST. 85 

an enemy till you are a child. You are lost till 
you are saved. You are cursed till you are 
blessed. You have all blessings in his love and 
favour, or all curses in impenitence and indeci- 
sion. You are a rebel till you receive Christ. 
There may be some dispositions to penitence 
in your breast; there may be some desires after 
religion ; there may be some esteem for the Ijord 
Jesus ; but still you are a rebel, till you receive 
him as your Lord and your all. A country re- 
bels against the most benevolent of Monarchs. 
The King sends his Son with overtures of mercy. 
This exalted Messenger of his Father's love, in- 
vites and entreats these rebels to submit, and to 
receive mercy and pardon. Part of them scorn 
his offers and himself. Part of them persist in 
obstinate rebellion : but a part waver; think of 
the mercy proffered ; feel half disposed to yield ; 
at times advance, as if going to cast themselves 
at the prince's feet ; seem ready to throw down 
their arms ; do all but yield. Yet they are rebels 
still, as truly as their more obstinate companions 
At length some of them throw down their arms; 
cast themselves at their injured Sovereign's feet ; 
yield, and welcome his mercy. Till that moment 
they were rebels. From that moment they are 
rebels no longer. — The application is easy. Thus 
many sinners act. They listen to the gospel ; 
profess to venerate its Author ; seem to advance 
almost to his mercy-seat, and to his bleeding cross. 
They appear ready to cast themselves at his feet, 
yet do not quite submit. Alas, they are enemies 
still ! enemies while halting ! while wavering ! 
while delaying ! and never do they become chil- 
dren, till they, in effect, cast themselves at his 



86 INDECISION AS TO RELIGION 

/ 

feet with, "Lord, save or I perish! Lord, what 
wilt thou have me to do !" 

9. The soul is as much ruined by indecision, 
or by trifling with Christ, as by open hostility. 
The gospel is really made light of, where it is not 
the object of our first and chief concern ; and 
Christ is rejected as really by the trifler as the 
infidel. Suppose a number of persons to be af- 
flicted with some dreadful plague. A physician 
prescribes for them, and proffers a medicine of 
infallible efficacy. Some of the sufferers reject 
the medicine and call it poison. Others extol 
its virtues, but never take it. Where in the end 
is the difference ? and where, at length, the dif- 
ference between the infidel who rejects the gos- 
pel, and the undecided who neglects to embrace 
the great salvation ? A stranger bent on a bene- 
volent errand, goes through a village, and calls 
at every dwelling. The inhabitant of one house 
blusters at him for knocking at his door, and 
dismisses him with savage ferocity. Another, 
before he can hear his errand, shuts the door in 
his face. A third receives him cordially ; com- 
mends his benevolent intentions ; extols and ad- 
mires his disinterestedness ; but takes no notice 
of his message. Where, as to benefit from the 
stranger's message, in the end, is the difference 
between these seemingly different persons ? and 
where, at last, between the scoffer or blasphemer, 
and the undecided ? They all in fact reject 
Christ, though the latter do so in a softer manner 
than the former. 

10. Consider, then, I beseech you, that a pre- 
cious and great salvation is set before you in the 

osoel* that an almighty and infinitely excellent 



AS RUINOUS AS HOSTILITY. 87 

Saviour claims your heart, and all you have and 
are. Never forget that there is no alternative 
between being- his from the heart, or his in no 
degree ; that there is no alternative here between 
religion or more aggravated guilt; and hereafter 
between heaven and deeper ruin, than would 
have been your lot if the gospel had never 
reached you. They that will not lead a life of 
holiness, must lead a life of sin ; and they that 
will not be God's children, must be the devil's 
slaves. If hostility were necessary to deprive 
you of Christ, you might, though undecided, 
hope for escape. If open enmity were requisite 
to undo you, you might plead, "I abhor open 
enmity against such infinite excellence." But 
only neglect the Saviour, only obey not the gos- 
pel, and you are undone. This wiU kill your soul 
like famine, that kills by starvation, as effectually 
as the sword that kills by piercing its victim's 
heart. This indecision will keep you utterly 
poor, and destitute of all spiritual blessings. This 
will make you helpless, guilty, condemned, like 
infidels in portion. This will cause you to pass 
a few years of sin as a rebel against infinite 
goodness, and this will render you a lost soul 
through eternal ages of despair. Then for ever 
and ever will you have to utter the tormenting 
lamentation, "I chose this sorrow when J would 
not go to Christ for life; when I would waver 
between the world and him." Unhappy crea- 
ture, how much better would it have been for you 
never to have been born ! how much better to 
have been a dog, or a serpent, or a toad, or the 
most contemptible insect, or the most disgusting 
reptile, than to possess immortal powers, and 



83 DECISION URGED. 

become a lost soul through wicked neglect of an 
all-compassionate Saviour ! 

If you could go out of the world as you came 
into it, trifling and indecision might have some 
excuse, but this is impossible. As here there 
is no alternative presented to you, but religion or 
irreligion, so you must die, a happy saint or an 
undone sinner. And you must go hence, to be- 
come as happy as angels, or more wretched than 
guilty and miserable Sodom. You must rise to 
the happiest heaven, or sink to the deepest and 
most dismal hell. If you would follow what 
would deceive you, continue undecided and fol- 
low the world. If you would be left helpless in 
affliction, and in death, and in eternity, still trifle 
with Christ and follow the world. If you would 
be like the wretched and despairing when dying, 
then follow the world, and still refuse to surren- 
der yourself to the Saviour. And if you would 
have your portion with the damned, neglect the 
Saviour for a little longer, and all will be accom- 
plished, and the direful deed will be done. But 
if you would have peace with God ; if you would 
possess well-founded hope ; if you would be 
cheered with immortal prospects ; if you would 
have an everlasting arm placed beneath your 
dying pillow ; if you would meet the welcome, 
" Come in, thou blessed ;" if you would be a 
child of God for ever — flee to the Saviour. At 
whatever loss flee to the Saviour. Whoever 
would hinder you go to the Saviour, and commit 
your soul, your heart, your all, to him, to be 
truly and for ever his. Would companions or 
friends endeavour to hinder you, had you not 
better, renounce their friendship, than give up 



ENCOURAGEMENTS TO EMBRACE RELIGION. 89 

eternal good ? Had you not better go without 
them to heaven, than with them to hell ? Had 
you not better, even if you were houseless and 
friendless, and without raiment and food, be 
safe in Christ, and be guided by him to the 
paradise of God, than halt or waver, though in 
the midst of worldly enjoymenl, and go with the 
careless and undecided to Satan's dark abode ? 
— The God of mercy guide you right ! 



CHAPTER VI. . 

ENCOURAGEMENTS TO EMBRACE RELIGION, FURNISH- 
ED BY THE GRACE EXHIBITED IN THE GOSPEL. 

1. Ample encouragement to seek the blessings 
of heartfelt piety, is presented in the work ef- 
fected by the blessed Son of God ; and in the 
displays of heavenly love manifested in him. 
Did we only know that man is lost and guilty, 
and were it impossible to point out a refuge for 
the fallen and condemned, it would be useless to 
contemplate the guilt for which no pardon could 
be found, and the wretchedness for which no re- 
medy could be discovered. But, glory to God in 
the highest ! there is a remedy, for there is a Sa- 
viour. 

The salvation exhibited in the gospel is infi- 
nitely precious; it is, in fact, a complication of 
blessings, every one of which is of invaluable and 
eternal worth. 

2. Its primary blessing, or that which leads to 
all the rest, is the complete forgiveness of sin. 
This forgiveness consists in the eternal God no 

i 



90 FORGIVENESS OF SIN 

longer charging sin to the sinner's account. 
'* Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not 
impute (or reckon) sin." 

A man owes me a debt. I cancel it. I have 
now no charge against him. Thus the blessed 
God acts when he pardons a transgressor. He 
cancels the sinner's debt. Pardon does not, in 
fact, make the sinner no sinner ; but it renders 
him as free from the charge of transgression as 
if he had never sinned. This forgiveness is most 
full, reaching to every offence; and it is most 
free, without money and without price. Many 
expressive images are employed in the scriptures, 
to represent the completeness of forgiveness. It 
is said, " Thou wilt cast all their sins into the 
depths of the sea." 1 Forgiven sin is thus remo- 
ved and hidden, as if buried for ever in the 
depths of the unfathomable ocean. God is re- 
presented as removing sin to the greatest possible 
distance from the soul. "As far as the east is 
from the west, so far hath he removed our trans- 
gressions from us." 2 In the most expressive of 
images it is said by God himself, "Though your 
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." 3 
Snow just fallen from the clouds is whiteness 
itself, unsullied whiteness ; it presents to view 
only one sheet of dazzling white. Thus com- 
pletely pardoning mercy blots out transgression, 
and renders the pardoned soul as free from the 
charge of sin. as the newly- fallen snow from every 
darkening stain. 

Where sin is thus forgiven, the reign of sin is 
at an end. Sin may harass the soul, and temp- 
tation distress it ; but sin no longer governs it, 

(1) Micah, yii. 19. (2) Pialm, ci-ii. 12. (3) Isaiah, i. 18. 



DELIVERANCE FROM CONDEMNATION. 91 

like a mighty tyrant, driving at his pleasure his 
crouching slave. "Let not sin, therefore, reign 
in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the 
lusis thereof. For sin shall not have dominion 
over you ; for ye are not under the law, but under 
grace. But now being made free from sin, and 
become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto 
holiness, and the end everlasting life." 1 

3. Consequent on deliverance from the load of 
guilt, is deliverance from its awful doom. The 
soul is delivered from the curse of the law it had 
broken. '* Christ hath redeemed us from the curse 
of the law, being made a curse for us." 2 It is no 
longer in a state of condemnation. " There is no 
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, 
who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit/' 3 
No condemnation ; none whatever. None for 
past transgressions, and none for present but la- 
mented unworthiness. No condemnation : every 
evil consequence of sin, as far as the soul is con- 
cerned, is removed; and as no guilt lies unpar- 
doned upon it, so no evil threatens it in time or 
eternity. The pardoned penitent is declared to 
be justified. 4 In other words, is made just or 
righteous; has sin no more charged to him, than 
if he had never committed it; and is regarded 
by God with the same favour, as if he had been 
a perfectly innocent being. 

4. The partaker of salvation, being thus blessed, 
enjoys the divine favour, and "has peace with 
God through our Lord Jesus Christ," 5 and is 
blest by the eternal Father's love. 6 Through 

(!) Rom. vi. 12. 14. 22. (2) Gal. iii. 13 (3) Rom. viii. L 

(4) Luke, xviii. 14. Rom. iii. 24. v. 1. (5) Rom. v. L 

(G) Johi., xvi. 27. 



92 BLESSINGS OF SALVATION. 

wonderful condescension on the part of God, the 
penitent believer is numbered with his children. 
"Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not 
yet appear what we shall be." 1 "The Spirit it- 
self beareth witness with our spirits, that we are 
the children of God, and if children then heirs, 
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." 2 

These happy persons have the Lord Jesus 
Christ as a Saviour ; who delivers them from the 
wrath to come. He is their Shepherd ; the chief 
Shepherd; the good Shepherd; and an Advo- 
cate; who ever lives to intercede for them. 3 The 
Spirit of God becomes their helper ; and the 
source of love, and joy, and peace to their souls. 4 
Angels are ministering spirits to every heir of 
salvation ; 5 and death, with all its solemnities, to 
them will be gain. When absent from the body 
they are present with the Lord. 6 At length the 
end of all things will arrive, and salvation begun 
when guilt was taken away, will be perfected by 
the glories of the resurrection ; by the solemn 
decisions and honours of the judgment day ; and 
by the blessedness of eternal life. 7 

5. This salvation, in itself so rich in value, 
derives additional value from the fact, that it is 
an eternal salvation, an eternal redemption. 
Look down in your imagination to the pit of hell. 
Behold its horrors — its darkness; its despair; 
its torments ; the worm that never dieth ; and 
the fire that never shall be quenched; and con- 
sider, that as a sinner you deserved it all, and 

(1) John, iii. 1. (2) Rom. viii. 16, i7. (3) 1 Thess i. 10. Tit. ii. 1, 2. 
Heb. v. 9. John, x. 11. I Peter, v..5. Rom. viii. 34. 1 John, ii. 2, &c. 

(4) John, xiv. 16. xvi. 7. Rom. v. 5. viii. 11. xv. 13. &c. &c. 

(5) Heb. i. 14. (6) Phil. i. 21. 23. 2 Cor. v. 8. (7) 1 Cor. xv. 
Phil. ii. 21. Matt. xxv. 34. Rev. xxi. 



SALVATION AN ETERNAL GOOD. 93 

were exposed to it all. Then lift up your thoughts 
to the heavenly world. Think of life without 
death ; peace without pain ; holiness and happi- 
ness without defect. Now suppose every moment 
of your life extended to ten thousand ages ; that 
you had as many times ten thousand ages to live, 
as you have lived moments. Think of all these 
ages spent under God's frown, and transgression's 
load, amidst the horrors and despair of damna- 
tion. How awful the ruin ! Think of a deliver- 
ance thus lasting, and of all these ages passed 
in the light and holiness and blessedness of 
heaven. How precious a salvation ! yet you 
have not thought of eternal salvation. As many 
times ten thousand ages as there have been mo- 
ments in your life, are but the twinkling of an 
eye compared to eternal salvation ! O, think of 
this ! Think and feel, that if you live neglectful 
of salvation, more than ten thousand ages of 
despair and horror, of guilt and gloom, await you 
for every sinful moment spent on earth ; and that 
if you enjoy its blessings, more than ten thousand 
centuries of happiness and rest, of joy and love, 
await you in the heavenly world, for every mo- 
ment spent in the Redeemer's service here. How 
precious is such a salvation ! 

6. How can man be just with God? How be- 
come an heir of heaven ? How can such a good 
be obtained for a ruined and miserable sinner ? 
Many ways for obtaining peace with God, have 
been devised by the blind and deluded children 
of men. Offerings and forms, and acts of auste- 
rity and penance, have formed the refuge, the 
ruinous refuge of many. Others have rested on 
penitence and charity ; but penitence cannot 
13 



94 HOW CAN MAN BE JUST WITH GOD ? 

wash away innumerable transgressions ; and cha- 
rity to man can never compensate for ingratitude 
and rebellion against God. Others have relied 
on human works, or freedom from grosser trans- 
gressions, and attention to some social duties, as 
expressed in the spirit of one of old. " I am not 
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, 
or even as this publican. I fast twice in the 
week. I give tithes of all I possess/' 1 

If you believe some previous statements from 
the divine word, you must be sensible that all 
these are entirely insufficient, and cannot make 
you a partaker of the salvation just described. 
While the scriptures represent them all as refuges 
of lies, that the overwhelming flood of divine 
wrath will shortly sweep away, that blessed 
book declares, that salvation was obtained for 
men, by the merits, sufferings, and death of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. He "obtained eternal re^ 
demption for us." 2 

7. To accomplish this infinitely benevolent 
object, he came into this world, and the Son of 
God, appeared on earth as the Son of man. 
He, "being in the form of God, thought it not 
robbery to be equal with God : but made himself 
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of 
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men : 
and being found in fashion as a man, he hum- 
bled himself, and became obedient unto death, 
even the death of the cross." 3 He was born at 
Bethlehem. The infidel and would-be philoso- 
pher, scoff at the idea of God incarnate. But 
what right have they to scoff; that they should 

(1) Lute, xviii. 11. (2) Heb. ix. 12. See also x. 12. 19. 

1 Peter, i. 18. Dan. ix. 24. Is. i. 3, &c. &c. (3) Phil. ii. 6—8. 



CHRIST OBTAINED REDEMPTION FOR MAN. 95 

assert that to be absurd and impossible which 
God himself asserts actually to have taken place? 

Ask such men, "What is matter?" They 
cannot tell you. "What is spirit?" They know 
nothing 1 about it. " What binds the parts of 
matter tog-ether ?" They cannot tell. What is 
their own body ? What the soul ? What the 
nature of the union of the two ? Of all this, and 
of the plainest facts in nature, let them search as 
far as man can go, they know nothing; and yet they 
know so much about God, as to contradict what 
he declares ; or to disbelieve the most precious 
truths of his word, because of their incompre- 
hensible nature. {' Seest thou a man wise in 
his own conceit : there is more hope of a fool 
than of him." 1 Let the infidel scoff then, if he 
will, in the greatness of his folly, but receive it as 
the most precious of truths, that He who " was 
with God, and was God," 2 became for you a man 
of sorrows ; and then atoned for sin and iniquity 
He bore the curse for us. The Father "hath made 
him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might 
be made the righteousness of God in him." 3 

8. Contemplate the unbounded love that such 
«i plan of heavenly grace exhibits. Think of the 
words soon uttered but never exhausted: " God 
so loved the world, that he gave his only-begot- 
fen Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life." 4 "We 
have seen and do testify, that the Father sent the 
Son to be the Saviour of the world." 5 Think of 
'he objects of this strange compassion. Misera- 
r,'e men I all sinners ! all dead ! all rebels ! some 

(1)Prov.xxvil2. (2)John,i.l. (3) 2 Cor. v. 21. 

(4) Jonn, iii. 16. (5) 1 John, iv. 14. 



96 THE LOVE OF GOD. 

hardened, others heedless ! Laden with mercies, 
and forgetful of the Giver ! History tells ns, 
that Augustus, having twice witnessed the ingra- 
titude of one of his subjects, softened him when 
a captive rebel, and changed him into a friend by 
a third time bestowing peculiar favours on him. 
Thus the emperor's treacherous friend was soon 
won to him ; but man is not so soon won to God. 
The Father has manifested forbearance; has ut- 
tered in his word entreaties and invitations; has 
borne with provocations, ingratitude, and insult ; 
and yet is forgiving. To complete all he gave 
his best-beloved, the " brightness of his glory, and 
the express image of his person." 1 He sent his 
Son ; and thus, as it were, by one gift exhausted 
the treasures of infinite benevolence : for further 
in displaying love how could even God advance ! 
The strange and matchless love thus manifested, 
he manifested also in the design he contemplated. 
He gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever 

BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH BUT HAVE 

eternal life. He would have manifested love, 
if he had consigned a world of rebels to non- 
existence ; if, when indignation and wrath had 
been merited, he had permitted the sinner to 
forget his guilt and its punishment in everlast- 
ing nothingness, and rendered death, what infi- 
dels would like it to be, an eternal sleep. But 
such was the Father's love, he would, through 
the death of his Beloved, give life. And not a 
life like Adam's, lengthened to almost ten cen- 
turies, or ten thousand times as long, but eternal 
life; and delighting in the happiness of the par- 
doner* " fvels that become partakers of his salva- 

(I) Hcb. i. i 



THE HUMILIATION AND LOVE OF CHRIST. 97 

tion, he calls them to his eternal glory by Christ 
Jesus, and will bless them with eternal freedom 
from sorrows and from sins. O wonderful love 
of God ! and wonderful wickedness of infatuated 
man, that slights and disregards such patient 
and unbounded love ! 

9. The divine love manifested in the scheme 
of human redemption, was most gloriously dis- 
played by the adorable Son of God. Though 
rich, he becomes poor ; and says, " Lo, I come 
to do thy will, O God." 1 He appears on earth as 
the babe of Bethlehem. Angels announce his 
birth ; because of it they say, " Glory to God in 
the highest," 2 and direct the astonished shepherds 
where to find the King of Glory. Where and in 
what state must the shepherds find him? As 
angels appear, with a countenance like lightning, 
and raiment white as snow ? No: as a babe. 
Amidst royal pomp, for courtiers to honour and 
nobles to praise ? Had this been the case, had 
he taken a monarch's throne, the love were infi- 
nite. But, no ! he does not thus appear — he is 
a babe amidst poverty and want. The time of 
his sojourning below rolls on, and he says, 
" foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests ; 
but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his 
head." 3 At length he dies, and dies not a hasty, 
but a lingering death ; not an easy, but a tor- 
menting death ; not in a chamber surrounded by 
sympathizing friends, but on the cross, beset by 
insulting enemies ; with nothing to lessen its bit- 
terness; his friends fugitives; his enemies scof- 
fers ; gall offered him ; and in that hour of his 
extremity, the presence of the Father, that sup- 

(1) Heb. x. 9. (2) Luke, ii. 9. (3) Luke, ix. 58. 



98 CHRIST DIED FOR US : HIS DEATH 

fiort of martyrs and of confessors, withdrawn, 
t were love for a friend to die for a friend ; 
greater love to die for a stranger; love still more 
exalted to die for an enemy ; but love beyond 
description to die for an enemy, doomed through 
that enmity to die ; yet of this nature was the 
love of the incarnate Son of God, though love far 
more exalted than could possibly be manifested 
by one mere human being dying for another. 

How many were those sins for which he died ! 
how ruinous ! how aggravated ! how multiplied ! 
On him they met ; he bears the whole load. He 
tasted death for us : when all were dead " one 
died for all." 1 He came "that he by the grace 
of God should taste death for every man." 2 He 
died for the sins of others ; he had none of his 
own. He must die, or they must die eternally ; 
and then he died to bring them near to God. 
"Christ died for the ungodly:" 3 "died for our 
sins :" 4 " died for us :" 5 he " gave himself for our 
sins, that he might deliver us from this present 
evil world :"* he is " our great God and Saviour 
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he 
might redeem us from all iniquity," 7 and "suf- 
fered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he 
might bring us to God."* 

10. As his sufferings and their design were 
expressly foretold by prophets, 9 so they appear 
to have been strikingly referred to in some of the 
dispensations of Moses. The passover furnishes 
an impressive illustration of the effect of the Sa- 
viour's sacrifice. The destroying angel was "about 

(1) 2 Cor. v. 14. (2)Heb. ii. 9. (3) Rom. v. fr. (4) 2 Cor. xv. 3. 

(5) 1 Thess. v. 10. (6) Gal. i. 4. (7) Tit. ii. 14. (8) 1 Pet. iii. 18. 

(9) David, Isaiah, Dan el, &c. 



FORETOLD BY PROPHECIES AND TYPES. 99 

to proceed through the land of Egypt, spreading 
death and desolation. The paschal lamb was 
then slain, and its blood sprinkled on the Israel- 
itish dwellings ; and it was declared, the Lord 
himself would protect the inhabitants of the 
blood-besprinkled house from the destroyer. 1 
Thus the Father justifies and protects the soul 
that flees for refuge to the atoning sacrifice of the 
Son. The two goats on the great day of atone- 
ment, appear to have pointed to the same sacri- 
fice. One of them was slain, and his blood taken 
within the vail, to represent the Saviour's atoning 
sacrifice. Over the head of the other the high- 
priest confessed the sins of the people, and sent 
him away into a land not inhabited, to represent 
that thus the Saviour takes all sin away. View- 
ing him, the Christian sings, 

" My faith would lay her hand 

On that dear head of thine, 
While, like a penitent, I stand, 

And there confess my sin. 
My soul looks back, to see 

The burdens thou didst bear 
When hanging on the cursed tree, 

And hopes her guilt was there." 

A propitiatory sacrifice was called 2 kcpher, 
that which covers or hides ; for when the victim 
was offered, the fault, on account of which the 
offerer presented the sacrifice, was passed over. 3 
Hence, the victim might be said to hide or cover 
the sin; to cleanse the offerer from it. Thus 
Christ offered himself as a sacrifice. He "was 
once offered to bear the sins of many;" he 

0) Exod. xii. &c. (2) Exod. xxix. 33. Dan. ix. 9. &c. 

(3) See ti.is repeatedly deckjed, Ledticus, Chapters 4 and o. 



100 CHRIST'S DEATH CLEANSES FROM ALL SIN. 

" appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of 
himself." 1 

11. Through his sufferings sin is forgiven. In 
those ancient offerings there was no real virtue. 
The divine word declares, that it is not possible 
the blood of bulls and of goats should take away 
sin. 2 But of his sacrifice it is said, that he " by 
himself purged our sins ;" 3 that " by one offering 
he hath perfected for ever them that are sancti- 
fied ;" 4 that believers are "justified by his 
blood ;" 5 and that "' his blood cleanseth them 
from all sin/' 6 Such is the atoning efficacy of 
his sacrifice. His blood cleanses from sin ; from 
sin of all kinds; and in all cases where the soul 
is led to him. Precious as are his instructions, 
it is not these which are described as purifying 
the soul from sin ; but his blood. Salutary as 
are his heavenly lessons, it is not these that heal 
the sinner's wounds; but by '* his stripes we are 
healed." 7 Thus by dying he conquered death. 
By poverty he secured for millions immortal 
wealth. By sufferings purchased for millions 
unfading happiness. Thus he obtained for man 
eternal redemption. In vain had the loftiest of 
the angelic host tried to accomplish such a tri- 
umph. It could be effected by him only who 
was God manifest in the flesh. He came down 
from heaven, and obtained eternal redemption ; 
then re-entered heaven, like a mighty conqueror, 
and lives to bestow the salvation he wrought out. 
When he came to earth the world was perishing ; 
but when he returned the work of infinite mercy 
was accomplished ; and redemption was secured 

(1) Heb. ix. 28. 26. &c. (2) Heb. x. 4. (3) Heb. i. 3. 

(4)Heb.x. 14. (5) Rom. v. 9. (6) Uohn, i. 7. (7) Is. liii. 5> 



THE SAVIOUR WORTHY TO BE WELCOMED. 101 

for all that will ever listen to the invitations of his 
love. 

12. This salvation, which is so unutterably 
valuable, which was secured at so expensive a 
price, and which displays such incomprehensible 
love, is the salvation which you want, and which 
in the gospel is offered to you. Regard the an- 
gelic message as a message to yourself — unto 
you was born a Saviour Christ the Lord. You 
cannot save yourself; nor blot out your, own sins ; 
nor change your own heart; nor write your own 
name in heaven; nor snatch your soul from the 
pit of woe, nor raise it to eternal bliss. But here 
is a Saviour for you, who has come to do all this. 
Were you in prison, how welcome would be li- 
berty ! Were you in slavery, how welcome would 
be a deliverer ! And how welcome should a 
Saviour be ! A Saviour from the load of sin ; 
and from the reign of iniquity; and from re- 
morse of conscience ; and from the wrath of God, 
and from the damnation of hell. How welcome 
should that Saviour be! A Saviour, whose 
love flows, as it were, in streams of blood divine ; 
and who confers mercy most valuable and most 
complete. An earthly sovereign, perhaps, spares 
the forfeited life of a condemned criminal; but 
the criminal becomes an exile, and wears out life 
in banishment from his country and his home. 
But this Saviour, when he forgives, forgives en- 
tirely; and takes the pardoned criminal, and 
makes him a child. He gives to the pardoned 
eouI present peace, and the love of God and the 
glory of eternity. 

13. Were you informed of a Saviour, but had 
tause to doubt whether he could save you to the 

K 



102 THE LORD JESUS AN ALMIGHTY 

uttermost, the tidings would not be so gladsome. 
But this Saviour is an Almighty Saviour; God 
manifest in the flesh. He is equal to the task 
he undertakes: he came to conquer death and 
Satan ; to open heaven and people it from earth ; 
and he will do what he has undertaken to per- 
form. He gives promises that none but a God 
could give, and will fulfil every promise. On him 
have millions leaned., and he has never failed one 
that trusted in him. His love was so vast that 
it brought him down from heaven; and his 
power is so great that it raises myriads there. 
His works on earth manifested his power: when 
the dumb spake; when the deaf heard; when 
the blind eye saw ; when tempests listened to his 
bidding; when diseases fled at his command; 
and death resigned his prey : then was his uncon- 
trollable power displayed. His miracles of pow- 
er were emblems of mightier miracles of grace 
and love: he has opened hearts more blind than 
the blindest eyes; and taught tongues, more 
silent than the dumb, to speak his Father's 
praise. There are no sins so many and so vile, 
that he cannot blot them out; no hearts so hard 
that he cannot soften them ; none so unworthy 
that he cannot welcome them ; and none so weak 
that he cannot help them to heaven. Are not 
the tidings of such a Saviour good tidings of 
great joy ? 

14. Were you told of an almighty Saviour, 
but had cause to doubt his compassion and grace, 
the tidings would not be so full of unmingled 
joy. But this Saviour "can have compassion," 
and is full of love. Go to his manger ; what 
laid him there but love ? Go to the garden of 



AND ALL-COMPASSIONATE SAVIOUR. 103 

Gethsemane; what caused him to endure its 
agonies and bloody sweat, but love ? Go to 
Calvary ; what made him bear his cross and die 
upon it, but love ? Hearken to his promises * 
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 1 Him 
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."* 
What speak these but love ? Again, hearken : 
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth 
my word, and believeth on him that sent me, 
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into 
condemnation ; but is passed from death unto 
life." 3 What speak these sweet words of eternal 
life, but love? Go to facts in his conduct: be- 
hold the penitent woman weeping at his feet ; 
the pharisees reprove him for his notice of her ; 
but he says, "Thy sins are forgiven; thy faith 
hath saved thee; go in peace."* What spoke 
that language, but love ? See Canaan's widow ; 
she entreats his aid for her afflicted daughter ; 
he seems to turn a deaf ear, but it is that her 
faith may shine more conspicuous; and at length 
he says, M O woman, great is thy faith : be it unto 
thee even as thou wilt." 5 What spoke those 
words, but love ? O reader, as there are no sins 
so vile that he cannot blot them out ; so there are 
none so vile and aggravated, that he is unwilling 
to take their load away. As there is no heart 
too hard for him to soften; so there is none so 
hard, that, when his help is sought, he is unwill- 
ing to bestow it. As there are none so unworthy 
that he cannot help them ; so there are none that 
he is unwilling to help. And as there are none 

(1) Matt xi. 28. (2) John, vi. 37. (3) John, v. 24. 
(4) Luke, vii . 48—50. (5) Matt. xv. 28, 



104 THE READER INVITED TO CHRIST. 

so weak that his strength is not sufficient foi 
them ; so there are none so weak but he is will- 
ing to help them to death and to heaven. 

15. And, reader, all these tidings are for you. 
If he were all that has been described, but had 
no blessings for you, his power, his grace, his 
love would be nothing to you. But all these 
tidings are for you, if you will listen to the voice 
of his mercy. Whosoever will may ** take the 
water of life freely." 1 The provision that is so 
ample, and so suited to your wants, is provided 
for you. Are you poor? in him are riches. Are 
you wretched? in him is happiness. Guilty? 
with him is pardon. Destitute and friendless ? 
with him is endless good. Are you dying ? in 
him is life. Through his poverty you may be 
rich. His life was given for your life. Would 
you be a slave for a slave ? or impoverished for a 
beggar? or condemned for a criminal? yet the 
Son of God has done this for you. What you 
desire, if you are a penitent, the Saviour is will- 
ing to give. You have sinned, but he has suffered. 
You are unworthy, but God will accept you in 
the beloved. An ancient Christian writer remarks, 
"What could cover our sins but his righteous- 
ness ? By whom could we, who were wicked 
and ungodly, be justified but by the only Son of 
God ? O delightful exchange ! O unsearchable 
contrivance ! O unexpected benefit ! that the 
iniquity of many should be hid by one righteous 
person, and the righteousness of one justify many 
wicked !" 

16. If you are a humble penitent believer, the 

(I) Rev. xxii. 17. 



YERSES. 105 

simple and plaintive language of one who is now 
a saint in light, may express your feelings : 

" In that day, O grant I may 
Find mercy, Lord, with thee ! 
Thro' him who kept thy holy law, 
Without a blemish or a flaw, 
Then died upon the tree. 

"Full of sin and guilt within, 
No worthiness I plead ; 
If thou iniquity shouldst mark, 
Dismal my prospect were and dark, 
Hopeless my case indeed. 

* Merit none I call my own, 
But my demerits vast ; 
Think of the merits of thy Son, 
What he has sufTer'd, he has done, 
And I am sav'd at last. 

<l Vile I am, but that blest Lamb 
His precious blood has spilt ; 
That blood, thou hast been pleas'd to say, 
Can wash the vilest stains away, 
And cancel all my guilt. 

" On Him I humbly jely, 
All other help abjure ; 
Jesus, to thee alone I flee, 
This hope shall like an anchor be, 
For ever firm and sure." 



17. While the careless presume, the pcniten 1 
often despond ; and that great enemy, who tempts 
the former to disbelieve God's threatenings, tempts 
the latter to doubt his promises. If, with a hum- 
ble and contrite heart fleeing from your sins, you 
are seeking pardoning grace, be assured, on the 
authority of all that is true and solemn in the 
gospel, that vou will not seek in vain. The Sa- 
k3 



106 THE DESPONDING PENITENT 

viour says, " This is the will of him that sent me, 
that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth 
on him, may have everlasting life : and I will 
raise him up at the last day." 1 

Thus he declares it to be his Father's will, that 
he should save every one, however lost or guilty, 
that sees his excellency, and believes on him for 
salvation. To this he adds his own most gracious 
promise : " Him that cometh to me I will in no 
wise cast out." 2 Can words be more compre- 
hensive or more expressive ? Were the divine 
Saviour to say, "Form such a promise as will 
most effectually encourage your soul. Tell me 
what it is, and I will bind myself to accomplish 
all it expresses;" would it be possible to form 
promises more encouraging, than that thus given, 
and others to which reference has been made ? 
" Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast 
out ?" No sins, however great, no guilt, how- 
ever aggravated, shall prevent the penitent's sal- 
vation that comes to me. Not the continuance 
of transgression that has been prolonged through 
many rebellious years, shall keep the soul from 
pardon which comes to me. No meanness and 
insignificance shall cause me to slight the peni- 
tent that seeks salvation at my hands. No pre- 
sent unworthiness and lamented defects, if he 
come to me, shall cause me to cast him out. No 
want of ability to make a suitable return, shall 
prevent my exercising my pardoning mercy. 
" Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast 
out." Elsewhere it is declared, " He is able also 
to save them to the uttermost that come unto 
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make inter- 

(1) John, vi. 30. (2) John, vi. 37. 



ENCOURAGED. 107 

cession for them." 1 Thus you are assured, that 
he can save from the heaviest load of sin ; for he 
can save to the uttermost. He can save from the 
greatest extremity of danger ; for he can save to 
the uttermost. He can save amidst all the as- 
saults or trials of time, and save with a salvation 
that shall extend through eternity ; for he can 
save to the uttermost. He ever lives to save. 
His saving power continues from age to age, 
unimpaired by the flight of time; unweakened 
by the ingratitude with which millions neglect 
his great salvation. So earnest is the Lord Jesus 
to save, that he compares himself to a person 
standing and knocking at a door, and seeking 
admittance, that he may benefit every one who 
opens to him. 2 So earnest is he to save, that he 
has commissioned his servants to say, "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 to God/' 3 

In other cases the poor beg of the rich ; here 
he, who is possessed of infinite riches, begs the 
poor to be enriched by him. Subjects beg the 
favour of kings ; but here the King of kings be- 
seeches a rebellious worm to accept his favour. 
Criminals implore their judge's mercy ; but here 
the Judge beseeches the condemned criminal to 
receive the mercy he delights to bestow. And 
can he, who condescends so much to benefit lost 
mankind, be unwilling to save a suppliant seek- 
ing mercy at his feet ! 

18. Perhaps you say, " I have wasted many 
years. They have all been marked with careless- 
ness and sin. I have abused many mercies, and 

(1) Heb. Tii. 25. (2) Rev. iii. 20. (3) 2 Cor. t. 20. 



108 ENCOURAGEMENT r 

grieved the Spirit of God by long-continued neg- 
lect/' Allow it to be so ; and if it is, yon cannot 
be too deeply humbled for such aggravated 
transgressions ; yet the Saviour says, " Him that 
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out ;" and of 
him it still is said, u He is able to save them to 
the uttermost that come unto God by him." 

Perhaps you urge, "My sins are great and 
many." So were Israel's, yet God said to them, 
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the un- 
righteous 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." 1 So were Paul's: he persecuted the 
church of God, yet he obtained mercy, and de- 
clared, " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of 
all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the 
world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 
Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in 
me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long- 
suffering, for a pattern to them which should 
hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." 2 So 
were those of many that became members of the 
Corinthian church. To them it was said, " Know 
ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the 
kingdom of God ? Be not deceived : neither 
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ef- 
feminate, nor abusers of themselves with man- 
kind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, 
nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the 
kingdom of God. And such were some of you;" 
yet vile as they had thus been, through heavenly 
grace it was added, " but ye are washed, but ye 

(1) Is. It. 7 (2) 1 Tim. i. 15, 16. 



FOR THE DESPONDING. 109 

are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name 
of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." 1 

Your sins are great, but they are not greater 
than God's mercy. "For as heaven is high 
above the earth, so great is his mercy toward 
them that fear him. As far as the east is from 
the west, so far hath he removed our transgres- 
sions from us. ,r2 Your sins are great ; their vile 
ness cannot be expressed, yet their vileness can- 
not exceed the infinite value of the Saviour's 
atoning blood. "It cleanseth from all sin." 3 
"Where sin abounded, grace did much more 
abound." 4 

Your sins are great ; but the longer you wait 
the greater they will be. Every day in which 
you delay to trust yourself and your all to 
Christ, adds to the number of your transgressions. 
He is a great forgiver. Whatever you are, flee to 
Him. Are you young or aged, poor or rich, go to 
Christ. Have you been moral or profligate, go 
to him. If you have been a swearer, and a 
drunkard, break off your sins, and flee to him. 
If you have been the most moral of mankind, 
you still need him, or must die. When Joseph 
fed the famishing inhabitants of Hgypt, the 
general direction for all that needed food, was, 
" Go to Joseph ;" and for all that feel themselves 
undone, the direction is, "Go to Christ." In his 
mercy there are heights, and depths, and 
lengths, and breadths, equal to all your wants. 
There are depths that will reach low as the 
depths of your guilt and danger, and reach, and 
save you from the ed^e of hell. There are 

(1) 1 Cor. vi.9— 11. (2) Psalm, ciii. 11, 12. (3) 1 John, i. 7. 
(4) Rom. v. 20. 



110 SALVATION FREE 

heights that will advance you to unknown 
holiness and happiness, in the heavenly world. 
There are breadths that will cover all your guilt ; 
and lengths that will flow on through the scenes 
of time, attend the soul to death and judgment, 
and then bless a whole eternity. And all this 
is ready to bless you. You may think with 
ecstacy, " I have not to obtain redemption by my 
feeble efforts. It is already obtained. The 
Lord Jesus Christ gained it for me. The work 
is already done. His blood can take away my 
sins. His righteousness can clothe my soul, 
and supply my want of righteousness. And, 
though separate from him I am nothing, and 
have nothing, yet in him is all I want." 

19. All this good, and all the blessings of the 
Saviour's grace, you may have freely and fully. 
All the fitness requisite, is to feel your need of 
him, and be cordially willing to receive him, 
as he is set before you in the gospel. You 
want no previous preparation to render you less 
unworthy of pardoning mercy, but may come to 
the Saviour guilty and lost as you are. This is 
abundantly evident from his word. Consider 
the parable of the prodigal; 1 he went to his 
Father in wretchedness and misery, but at once 
experienced pardoning mercy. Look at the his- 
tory of the publican. 2 When he prayed, " God, 
be merciful to me a sinner!" it was with that 
oppressive sense of his own unworthiness, that he 
would not so much as lift up his eyes unto hea- 
ven; but he went down to his house justified. 
Think of the case of the multitudes whose con- 
version is recorded in the second chapter of the 

(1) Luke, xv. (2; Luke, xviii. 



FOR THE MOST UNWORTHY. 1 1 1 

Acts of the Apostles. They are charged with 
even the monstrous guilt of having taken and by 
wicked hands crucified and slain "the Lord of 
glory :" but when they, pierced to the heart, in- 
quire what they must do to be saved, at once they 
are directed to the Saviour; and the same day 
which saw them broken-hearted penitents, beheld 
them rejoicing disciples. Consider the history 
of the gaoler. 1 He was a heathen and a perse- 
cutor. He was this over night. During the 
night not only were his slumbers dissipated by 
the earthquake, that shook the prison, but his 
soul was filled with alarm, from a sense of the 
danger of his state. With trembling and anxiety 
he inquires, " Sirs, what must I do to be saved P" 
He is answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved." He welcomes 
the tidings ; and he who in the evening was a 
heathen and a persecutor, and in the night a 
trembling penitent, before the morning dawns 
has received the gospel message, and rejoices in 
the Lord as his salvation. In all these cases 
there were no preparatives requisite, but a feeling 
of their want and guilt, and willingness to wel- 
come the proffered mercy, by receiving the Lord 
Jesus as their Saviour and their Lord. Just as 
free is salvation to you ; and to be enjoyed in the 
same way by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ; a 
faith which humbly relies upon him, and includes 
the surrender of soul and body to him. 

Conformably with these views the Lord Jesus 
is described as saving, and the Father as justify- 
ing, not the righteous, not the worthy, but the 
ungodly. "They that are whole need not a 

(1) Acts, stI. 



1 12 THE DEATH OF CHRIST MUST BE 

physician, but they that are sick. I came not to 
call the righteous but sinners to repentance." 1 
" The Son of Man is come to seek and to save 
that which was lost." 2 "All have sinned, and 
come short of the glory of God ; being justified 
freely by his grace through the redemption that 
is in Christ Jesus. Therefore we conclude, that 
a man is justified by faith without the deeds of 
the law. To him that worketh not, butbelieveth 
on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is 
counted for righteousness." 8 "When we were 
enemies we were reconciled to God by the death 
of his Son." 4 

20. The death of Christ cannot be to you a 
matter of no concern. It will prove either a 
blessing or a curse. He died to reconcile you 
to God. If you slight him, you will be banished 
further from God, than if he had never died. He 
died to deliver you from guilt and remorse, to 
save you from hell, and raise you to heaven. If 
you slight him, your guilt will be increased many 
fold ; your remorse will be more tormenting ; 
heaven will be for ever shut against you ; and 
you will sink in the depths of a deeper hell. But 
if you welcome him, in him you will be com- 
pletely saved, completely blest. You will know 
the Lord Jesus Christ as your all in all ; and 
while a growing acquaintance with yourself may 
lead you to adopt the words of a dying saint, 
"God may justly condemn me for the best duty 
I ever did," in him you will have peace. You 
may then with the happy a-postle exclaim, " I 
know whom I have believed, and am persuaded 

(l) Matt. ix. 12. (2) Luke, xix. 10. (3) Rom. iii. 23. 24, 28. iv. 5. 
(4) Rom. v. 10. 



A BLESSING OR A CURSE. 113 

that he will keep what I have committed unto 
him against that day. 1 " Yes, he will*keep the 
invaluable treasure I have trusted to his hands. 
T expect temptations; I expect to meet the so- 
lemnities of a dying hour — but amidst all he will 
keep what I have committed to him. I expect 
to meet him at the judgment day ; to look upon 
a dissolving world ; to see the earth burning, the 
heavens vanishing away ; to behold the Judge 
upon his fiery throne, and the universe gathered 
before him — yet amidst all these scenes of so- 
lemnity, he will keep what I have committed 
unto him. 

If you have become the humble disciple of the 
Saviour, all this invaluable good he will effect for 
you. Still daily cleave to him, and let him be 
your all in all. Manna was to Israel, for a time, 
their only food ; so Christ must be to you the 
only bread of life. Here rest — he gave himself 
for me. Is it inquired, What plea have you to 
ward off condemnation ? The Lord Jesus has 
died. Why are you forgiven ? Because the Lord 
Jesus has died. Why do you hope for mercy? 
The Lord Jesus has died. Why do you expect 
heaven ? The Lord Jesus has died, and I have 
fled to him. No works of righteousness have we 
to atone for guilt that is passed, but the Lord 
Jesus has died. No merits nave we in present 
obedience, to deserve divine blessings for the 
future, but the Lord Jesus has died, has obeyed 
and suffered in our place. No offerings have we 
wherewith to come before the Lord, and to bow 
ourselves before the high God, none to present 
that will deserve his notice, but the Lord Jesus 

(1)2 Tim. i. 12. 
L 



114 HYMN. 

has died. Here Christian hope begins, here 
rests, here ends — the Lord Jesus has died. Re- 
gard 

"This first, this last, this midst, and without end." 

21. A hymn by the late Mr. Newton expresses 
with peculiar felicity the Christian's feelings and 
hopes : 

*' One glance of thine, eternal Lord, 
Pierces all nature through; 
And all the thoughts of ev'ry heart 
Are open to thy view ! 

" Though greatly from my soul conceal'd, 
Thou seest my inward frame : 
To thee I always stand reveal'd 
Exactly as I am ! 

"Since, therefore, I can hardly bear 
What in myself I see ; 
How vile, how black, must I appear, 
Most holy God, to thee! 

" But O ! my Saviour stands between, 
In garments dy'd in blood ! 
'Tis he, instead of me, is seen, 
When I approach to God. 

" Thus, though a sinner, I am safe : 

He pleads before the throne 

His life, his death, in my behalf, 

And counts my sins his own. 

" What wondrous love, what mystery, 
In this appointment shine! 
My sins he takes, and gives to me 
His righteousness divine !" 

22. There are some so exceedingly wicked as 
to pervert trre truths exhibited in this chapter, to 
their own deeper condemnation. Because the 



SIN OF ABUSING THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE, llf 

foundation of a sinner's hope is a crucified Sa- 
viour and salvation is the free gift of God, they 
make this grace an occasion for sin ; and are care- 
less of the very holiness in which this wonderful 
grace should render them daily anxious to excel. 
If you are ever tempted to indulge such a spirit, 
consider that it is the vilest, the most ungrateful, 
the most infernal, that exists out of the pit of 
perdition. " Without holiness no man shall see 
the Lord." The principle that denies the neces- 
sity of Christian holiness, is one of the worst of 
heresies; and the individual who vaunts his 
prospects of heaven, and his confidence in Christ, 
while he turns the grace of God into licentious- 
ness, and lives the slave of sin, appears, perhaps 
more completely than any other human being, 
the dupe and the image of the wicked one. 



CHAPTER VII. 

RELIGION URGED BY CONSIDERATIONS CONNECTED 
WITH THE GOODNESS AND CLAIMS OF THE ETER- 
NAL GOD, AND WITH THE GUILT AND EVILS OF 
NEGLECTING THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. 

1. In several former chapters the design has 
been, to represent to you the nature of religion ; 
to show you, from a scriptural view of your own 
state, how needful its blessings are to you ; and, 
by exhibiting the Saviour's grace, to present the 
encouragements that exist for seeking this great 
salvation. And now, reader, as addressing you 
on a matter of life or death, of life or death 
eternal, I beg your attention, while, some of those 



116 THE CHOICE OF RELIGION MOST IMPORTANT. ] 

solemn motives, which should engage your heart 
to the Saviour and religion, are plainly set before 
you. If you have already happily felt their 
power, it may revive past salutary impressions 
to review them again. But if you have not, if 
you are to the present moment a trifler with God 
and your own soul, then, by all that is dear to you, 
be entreated to read seriously, and to consider 
attentively, the solemn reasons that should urge 
true piety, as the one thing needful, on your 
immediate choice. This is the most important 
choice that can ever demand your attention. It 
concerns you now, as to the state in which you 
must pass the remainder of your days, whether 
in guilt or piety, in safety or in danger ; it will 
concern you in death, as to possessing comfort, 
or sinking in distress ; it will concern you when 
entering eternity ; and will eternally make a dis- 
tinction in your condition, as blest and saved, or 
lost and accursed. The blessings of the present 
world you need but for a span of time ; but the 
blessings of religion for all eternity. These bless- 
ings are needful for both worlds. In the pos- 
session of divine grace, you might be happy 
though destitute of earthly good. So was Laza- 
rus, when lying, though in the depths of poverty, 
at the very gate of heaven. But if destitute of 
religion, you can have no happiness hereafter, 
nor be truly happy here. Other things will not 
supply the want of this ; but, as to what is most 
important, this would supply the want of all 
things. The soul that enjoys the Saviour's fa- 
vour, belongs to the same family as the angels of 
light; and soon will be as blessed and as happy 
as thev. 






THE CLAIMS OF GOD. 117 

" A Christian and an angel ; these between 
How thin the barrier ! What divides their state ? 
Perhaps a moment, or perhaps a year, 
Or if an age it is a moment still, 
A moment or eternity's forgot." 

2. Consider to whom you are entreated to 
surrender yourself. To no mean possessor, no 
feeble Lord, no unworthy object of regard. But 
to God ; the great, the blessed, the eternal God ; 
to the God that made you ; that supports you ; 
that sees you ; that pities you ; that blesses you ; 
that would save you, or that will condemn you. 
To this great, and blessed, and infinitely holy 
Creator, you are entreated to yield yourself; to 
the God that will smile and bless you, or frown 
and curse you; whose love will make endless 
ages happy, or whose anger will make endless 
ages miserable ; whom you soon must meet, and 
with whom ere long you must have a most so- 
lemn interview. He is the God whose love ren- 
ders saints and angels happy. He was the God 
of Abraham ; and Abraham has long been with 
him. He was the God of Paul ; and Paul wel- 
comed martyrdom. The God of martyrs ; and 
they longed to die, that they might go to be with 
him. He was the God of believers now departed ; 
and they lived in hope and died in peace. He 
is the God of many that now sojourn on earth ; 
and they would not give up their hope in him 
for millions of worlds. Shall he be your God? 
Why will you not give him your heart? Could 
you enter heaven, and behold its happy inhabi- 
tants, could you then ask the angel hosts, 
"Whence springs your happiness?" the answer 
might be, " God loves us/' Could you put the 
l3 



J 18 BLESSEDNESS OF CONSECRATION TO GOD. 

same question to the sainted spirits of the just, 
the same might be the reply, "God loves us." 
And could you inquire, " And can he love me ?" 
the answer might be, " He can ; such is his 
boundless mercy ! He can, he will, if you seek 
all your happiness in him who died for your 
transgressions ; if you listen to the voice of his 
mercy, and yield yourself to God." O yield to 
him, and then he will love even you with an 
everlasting love. Then he will love you with 
more than parental affection ;* with love that will 
lead him to delight in bestowing blessings upon 
you.' 2 And is it not reasonable to give yourself 
to this blessed God ? Has he not a claim on 
you superior to all other claimants ? Has be not 
a right to you ? Is it not a base withholding 
from God that which is his righteous due, and 
thus a wicked robbery of God, to withhold from 
him yourself, your body, and your soul? Is it 
unreasonable, to entreat you to give to God the 
life he gives ? the affections he implants ? and the 
powers of body and of mind which he has be- 
stowed upon you? Can you venture to say, 
"It is not reasonable that I should employ in 
God's service the life he prolongs, the time he 
gives, and the mercies he imparts. It is ^more 
reasonable I should employ all these in the ser- 
vice of Satan, and in neglect of God, than in his 
service." If self-interest move you, your own 
interest is concerned in surrendering yourself to 
God. How much you need from God ! how 
little from the world ! ere long nothing but a cof- 
fin and a grave ! How long you will need bless- 

(1) Isaiah, xlix. 15. (2) Luke, xii. 35. 



GUILT OF SLIGHTING GOD'S CLAIMS. 1 19 

ings from God ! how short a time from the 
world ! then yield yourself to God. 

3. If you are unwilling to comply with this 
entreaty, think of the guilt of slighting God, and 
of the numberless aggravations of such guilt. 
If you were to give food and clothing, for a single 
month, to some wretched beggar, would you not 
expect him to cherish gratitude and love? but 
what has God done for you ! He gave you life, 
and would have you spend it in his own service ; 
and will you not? He gives you mercies, and 
would have you love the Giver; and will you 
not ? He gave his Son for you, to redeem you 
from death and hell, and bids you come to him- 
self, by this divine Saviour; and will you not ? 
O wicked ingratitude! O miserable sinner! 
What insults you heap on God, while he sees 
you prefer the merest trifles, the basest pleasures, 
or the most degrading sins, to his service and 
himself! Does God deserve such treatment 
from you ? Better slight brother or sister, hus- 
band or wife, parent or child, than merely slight 
your God. That neglect were vile, but this is 
viler. Of that neglect, perhaps, you would not 
be guilty ; but in this have been living all your 
clays. And, perhaps, because not openly im- 
moral, fancying that your heart and life were 
:rood, even while you were neglecting your great- 
est benefactor, with wicked ingratitude, every hour 
of waking life. Does God deserve such treatment ! 
God, the source of happiness ! the God of grace ! 

O sinner, how aggravated is' your guilt! ag- 
gravated by the grace, and goodness, and excel- 
lencies of your abused and neglected benefactor. 
God so kind, and vou so ungrateful ! God so 



1 20 AGGRAVATIONS OF THE GUILT OF 

compassionate, and you so negligent of all his 
compassion ! Christ so loving, and you so basely 
neglectful of his love ! his exertions on your 
behalf so great, and your neglect of him so ob- 
stinate, and long-continued ! the Eternal Spirit 
so kind in producing serious impressions in your 
heart, and you so deaf to his still small voice, so 
unyeilding to his strivings in your breast. 

4. For what is your God thus neglected ? 
Here is another aggravation of your guilt. Not 
for an equal friend or benefactor, but for the 
world, and the flesh, and the devil. When 
God bids you turn, it is not to turn from what is 
good; but to exchange sin's base pleasures, or 
trifling neglect, for pure and solid delights, and 
serious attention to interests of eternal moment. 
It is not from a course of conduct that you can 
yourself approve ; but from vile ungrateful neg- 
lect of the best friends, and of all thatwill longcon- 
cern you. It is not from friends and benefactors, 
that have a righteous claim upon you; but from 
the pursuit of a world that is alluring you to 
ruin, and from the bonds of the wicked one that 
would sink you in the pit of despair and tor- 
ment. Could a lost soul be snatched from hell, 
and then abuse this mercy, and neglect the God 
that delivered him, how vile, how horrid would 
be such ingratitude ! O consider, you, while in 
your sins, are on the edge of hell ! you are ready 
for that place of woe ! you are all but there ! 
God would deliver you, butoh, unhappy creature ! 
you treat with base ungrateful neglect your com- 
passionate Benefactor, and his invaluable mercy • 

5. This guilt, in itself so aggravated, is ag- 
gravated still more, by all the mercies you neg- 



NEGLECTING GOD'S CLAIMS. 121 

lect or abuse; and by the love you slight; and 
by the means of grace you disregard ; and by 
all that has been, and is, done to make you 
happy. Every careless day you live, adds to 
the heavy load of your transgressions. You 
have had another day in which to turn to God, 
and had it in vain. You have continued a rebel 
for another day. Every wasted sabbath aggravates 
your guilt. You have had another sabbath in 
which to turn to God, but had it in vain. Every 
warning addressed to you, every gospel sermon 
you hear, is another mercy lost upon you. Could 
ihey speak, your mercies might plead against 
you. Your sabbaths, had they voice, might say, 
"We shone on him, and he abused our precious 
hours!" Your weeks and years might complain, 
" We furnished him with numerous opportu- 
nities to become wise unto salvation, but he 
slighted them all." The sun that shines on you, 
the earth on which you tread, might witness 
against you. These indeed have not speech, but 
your abuse of mercies will as much be remem- 
bered as if they had. Your Christian friends 
may have to witness against you, and to declare 
how often they warned you, but warned you in 
vain. Your minister may have to declare that 
he is free from your blood, for he has not 
shunned to declare to you all the counsel of 
God. And God himself will be a swift and ter- 
rible witness against you. He will remember the 
mercies he gave, and the invitations he addressed 
to you; all he did to bless you; all which you 
slighted and abused. O, turn, turn to God ! 

6. Consider also the numerous claims which 
the Lord Jesus Christ, the brightest image of the 



122 THE SAVIOUR'S CLAIMS 

Father, has upon you. If your heart is not har- 
der than stone, and cold as mountains of eternal 
ice, there are considerations in his character, ana 
work, and love, that should bow you at his feet. 
Every god-like excellency appears in his charac- 
ter; and was displayed by him, when, as God 
manifest in the flesh, he sojourned below. And 
all those excellencies and attributes he would 
employ for your benefit, or to strengthen your 
consolations in himself. Think of all this, and 
should you not love him ? Think of the great- 
ness of his love. Imagine affection in its strong- 
est forms ; but his was stronger. Have you 
friends, that love you as life itself? Christ has 
displayed superior love. Those friends have not 
left a heaven for you ! They have not trod 
through scenes of suffering and death on your 
account ! Love you as much as th^y may, they 
have worn for you no crowns of thorns, and borne 
no cross of misery. They have left no throne, to 
raise you from the depths of woe, and laid down 
no life to ransom yours; but the blessed Son of 
God has done all this ! He came from heaven 
to earth, to raise you from earth to heaven. He 
left his starry throne, he humbled himself, and 
bepame obedient to death, even the death of the 
cross, that he might give life to you. He agoniz- 
ed in Gethsemane, and endured the crown of 
thorns, that he might raise you, an undone child 
of man, to glory, honour, and immortality. He 
died on a cross of dishonour and misery, that he 
might raise you from death to life; and from 
condemnation to salvation; and from ruin to 
happiness ; and from the deep debasement of sin 
to a throne of honour eternal in the heavens. 



FROM HIS GRACE AND GOODNESS. 123 

All ibis, reader, he has done as really for you, as 
if there were not another sinner that needed such 
stupendous mercy. And should you not yield 
your heart and your all to him ? should you not 
love him with supreme and never-dying- regard ? 
Will you not, when none else can vie with him ? 
Had some other friend done as much, or almost 
as much for you, had some other benefactor laid 
you under equal, or almost equal obligations, the 
guilt of neglect would be less atrocious. You 
might slight him then without such certain ruin, 
and without such vile ingratitude. If some other 
Saviour could say, " For you I left a heavenly 
throne; I stooped to deepest poverty on your 
account ; I humbled myself, and became for 
you obedient to death, even the death of the cross ; 
and for you I died : be mine" — if thus conflict- 
ing claims were made upon you, you might then 
slight the Lord Jesus, and give yourself to that 
other Saviour. But you know this is not, cannot 
be, the case ; and will you not be his ? 

7. Think of the good which this divine Sa- 
viour would bestow upon you : as he humbled 
himself and died for you, so he would bless and 
save you. Think of your poverty ; he would 
enrich you. Think of your guilt; he would cleanse 
you. Think of the pit of despair from which he 
would snatch you. Think of the numerous 
mercies he would bestow upon you. Compared 
with him, your dearest and best friends are 
helpless benefactors, and miserable comforters. 
If you have friends so affectionate, as to be 
willing even to sacrifice life itself for you, what 
are they to him? You have sins; can they for- 
give them ? Ah no ! You have a corrupt heart; 



124 THE saviour's claims from 

can they. lenew that heart, and fashion it afresh ? 
No, never ! You are a feeble mortal ; can they 
support you amidst a thousand snares and trials ? 
They cannot. You have to languish in sickness 
and pain ; can they brighten the gloom of a sick 
chamber, and fill it with celestial peace ? Ah no ! 
You have to die ; can they cheer your departing 
spirit, and give it an abundant entrance into an 
everlasting kingdom? Ah no! You have to be 
judged; can they crown you with approbation, 
and welcome you to glory ? Ah no! With you 
they must stand before the same solemn bar, 
blessed or cursed, as they have regarded or 
slighted him. But have you sins; this divine 
Saviour can take the whole load away, so that his 
Father's eye shall not see one unforgiven blemish 
in your character, or stain upon your soul. Have 
you a sinful heart ; he can change the heart of 
stone, and give a heart of flesh. Have you to 
pass through, perhaps, years of snares and trials; 
he can guard you from every snare, and support 
you in every trial ; he can do this, till time, and 
snares, and trials end together. Have you to 
languish in sickness and suffering ; he can dissi- 
pate the gloom of suffering ; can make sickness 
better than health, and even pain than ease. 
Have you to die ; he can cheer your departing 
spirit, and can infuse strong consolation into 
your otherwise sinking soul. He can uphold 
you when flesh and heart are failing together; 
he can receive your departing spirit ; he can 
present it faultless, before the presence of his 
glory, with exceeding joy. He can say, " Father, 
this spirit is mine; receive it into the man- 
sions thy love has prepared." And when mil- 



HIS GRACE AND LOVE. 125 

lions tremble at his bar, and all nations are 
gathered there, he can say, "Come, thou blessed 
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for 
thee from the foundation of the world." O 
reader ! the Lord Jesus Christ can do all this 
for you, and none beside can do it; and will 
you not yield yourself to him ? Should not you, 
who love earthly friends, love this infinitely 
greater Benefactor. Not only is he able to do 
all this, but if you become his he will do it all. 
Multitudes that no man can number, have 
already experienced in life, in death, and in hea- 
ven, his care. Behold these happy companies, 
as described to you by an inspired pen: "I 
beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man 
could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and 
people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and 
before the Lamb, clothed with white robes,, and 
palms in their hands; and cried with a loud 
voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth 
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. These 
are they which came out of great tribulation, and 
have washed their robes and made them white 
in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they 
before the throne of God, and serve him day and 
night in his temple : and he that sitteth on the 
throne shall dwell among them. They shall 
hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; nei- 
ther shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne 
shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living 
fountains of waters : and God shall wipe away 
all tears from their eyes." 1 

8. O, could you view that blessed assembly; 

(1) Rev. vii. 9. 14, &c. 
M 



126 DESIRABLENESS OF THE SAVIOUR'S FAVOUR. 

could you see countless thousands happy in 
their heavenly home; could you behold the Son 
of God, crowned with celestial glory, and hear 
him then inviting others to the realms of rest, 
and saying, "I love them that love me, and 
they that seek me early shall find me, and him 
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out;" 
would you then not desire to listen to his voice, 
and to be one of that happy multitude? Could 
you, as successive years roll on, and as new 
pilgrims pass from earth to heaven, behold this 
divine Saviour exerting for each his power and 
his care; could you see him supporting the 
dying, and welcoming the departing spirits of 
the just — would you not then yield yourself to 
him ? Could you see him, as he will be seen at 
another day, bestowing the crown of life on every 
one that is faithful unto death — would you not 
then receive him ? These things you cannot see 
now, but if you become his disciple, will see and 
know hereafter. If on the other hand you slight 
him and his salvation, how, when too late, will 
you covet the blessings you slight! How you 
will wish for an interest in him as your shepherd ! 
How you will desire to be welcomed by him in 
the moment of death ! and when you meet your 
God, what would you give for him then to say, 
"This soul is mine !" And when you see him on 
his judgment throne, with what inexpressible 
earnestness will you wish to meet the gracious 
welcome, that awaits his humblest followers ! 
Will you then love him? Will you be his? 
Inquire of the dying the worth of his love. Ask 
the dead, and mow would they describe its value ! 
No words can utter their sense of its importance. 



EVERY GOOD IN CHRIST. 127 

9. If you are made a happy partaker of the 
blessings of the Saviour's grace, this will prepare 
you for every event. The soul then possesses 
pardon, peace, happiness; God as its portion, 
and heaven as its home. Life need no longer 
retain its charm, nor death its terror. You need 
not fear pain, nor sickness, nor death, nor judg- 
ment, nor Satan, nor eternal scenes. You may 
welcome your departing hour, and greeting 
angels and everlasting realities. The blessed 
apostle counted all things loss, that he might win 
Christ. If Christ is won by you, you are rich in 
poverty, and blessed in affliction ; will ere long 
be a conqueror in death, and in a few short 
years, at most, an inhabitant of heaven. Eternal 
blessings await you there ; and there eternal friends 
are ready to receive you. Had you worldly pros- 
perity, this might leave you. Had you only 
worldly friends, the dearest and the best, they 
must die; but if you have the Saviour as your 
friend, the nearest will he be when others are 
most remote ; and though you must die alone the 
Lord will deliver you from every evil work, and 
will preserve you to his heavenly kingdom. 
And are you then his? or will you be so? 

His love is everlasting love. As to this world, 
the dearest ties are quickly broken. You may 
soon have to utter the lamentation, "My brother 
or my sister, my parent or my child, my wife or 
my husband, is dead. The heart that was never 
cold before, is frozen by the cold of death;" but 
never would you have to say, "The Saviour's 
heart is cold, his hand has lost its power to bless." 
Rather, if his disciple, you might triumphantly 
exclaim, "Who shall separate us from the love of 



128 THE LORD JESUS NOT A FEEBLE FRIEND. 

Christ ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecu- 
tion, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? 
Nay, in all these things we are more than con- 
querors through him that loved us. For I am 
persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor 
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to 
separate us from the love of God, which is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord/' 1 

10. Thus all that man deems excellent, is 
exceeded in the Saviour and in his salvation. 
Here are better friends than this world ever gave, 
and friends whose love entails no disappoint- 
ment, and dreads no end. Here is better liberty 
and better wealth, than the liberty or the wealth 
for which millions have laboured or died. They 
who yield to him are infinite gainers; and will 
you not be his? should you not love him ? Can 
you, will you, practically, though not in profes- 
sion, prefer Satan to him ? When you are in- 
vited to the Lord Jesus Christ, you are invit- 
ed not to an uninterested spectator of your 
way, but to the kindest of Friends ; not to a feeble 
benefactor, but to the Giver of eternal good; 
not to one to whom you are not indebted, but 
to a Saviour who has every solemn claim upon 
you ; not to one whose favour will always be to 
you an indifferent matter, but to Him whose 
favour will soon appear of such value, that if 
possessed, worlds would not buy it from you ; 
and if wanted, you would, did you possess them, 
give worlds to gain it. Think too, you are not 
now invited to a friend, who will for ever wait : 

(1) Rom. viii. 35, &c. 



NEGLECT OF CHRIST. 129 

there are limits to his patience and mercy. If 
you delay, he may swear in his wrath, that you 
shall not enter into his rest. Are you then wil- 
ling to be his? Will you be so? Should you 
not love him ? Will you consecrate yourself to 
this Lord of glory, who clothed in love, and 
possessed of eternal treasures, would guide you 
in life, cheer you in death, and conduct you to 
heaven ? O reader, what is your choice ? 

11. Notwithstanding the excellencies of the di- 
vine Saviour are so great, and the blessings of his 
salvation so precious, no sin is more common 
than neglect of him. Many, who may read the 
preceding pages, when they reach this will, it is 
to be feared, be still neglectors of the all-com- 
passionate and gracious Son of God. Perhaps 
you are one of this number ; if so, be entreated 
to meditate on the guilt and folly of your conduct. 
The Lord Jesus in two parables represents the 
sin of neglecting himself and his salvation as the 
most common of sins. Describing the conduct of 
mankind, in reference to the message of heavenly 
mercy, he says, "They made light of it;" 1 "they 
all with one consent began to make excuse." 2 
This sinful neglect is found among all classes, 
and all characters but one; the class composed 
of his devoted disciples. Some sins are confined 
to profligates ; but not this. Of this the moral 
are as guilty as the profligate. Some sins are 
those of youth, others of age ; but this is the sin 
of both. Some sins are the sins of poverty, others 
of wealth ; but of this the rich and the poor are 
equally guilty. Some sins are the sins of the 
openly wicked, of the sabbath-breaking and pro- 

(1) Matt. xxii. 5. (2) Luke, xiv. 18. 

M 3 



130 THE SIN OF NEGLECTING THE LORD 

ane part of mankind ; but this is the sin of mil- 
ions that frequent the house of God, as well as of 
millions that neglect that sacred place. This is the 
sin of multitudes that avoid profaneness, as well as 
of the openly profane. Open crimes kill their 
ihousands, but neglect of Christ kills its ten thou- 
sands. No question is more solemn than, " How 
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation P" 1 
12. But when is salvation neglected ? This 
precious boon is neglected when it is not earnestly 
and perseveringly pursued. " Strive," said the 
Lord, " to enter in at the strait gate ; for many, I 
say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not 
be able." 2 — It is neglected when it is not the sub- 
ject of our first and chief concern : " Seek ye 
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." 3 
— Salvation is neglected when worldly concerns 
form an excuse for trifling with the interests of 
the deathless soul. Thus the Lord Jesus de- 
scribes neglectors as acting: "They went their 
ways, one to his farm and another to his mer- 
chandize." — The Lord Jesus is neglected when 
he is not loved and valued more than every 
friend, and when, as far as the preference of the 
heart is concerned, all is not sacrificed for him : 
" Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all 
that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. If any 
man come to me, and hate not his father, and 
mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, 
and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot 
be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear 
his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disci- 
ple." 4 — Neglect was the guilt of Capernaum, 
which exposed them to denunciations of awful 

(1) Heb. ii. 3. (2) Luke, xiii. 24. (3) Matt, vi.33. (4) Luke, xiv 33. 



JESUS ILLUSTRATED. 13! 

woe : " And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted 
unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell : for 
if the mighty works, which have been done in 
thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have re- 
mained until this day. But I say unto you, tfott 
it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom 
in the day of judgment, than for thee." 1 The 
Saviour was not opposed and persecuted in Ca- 
pernaum. We do not read of his fleeing thence, 
or being driven by violence away. But neglect 
was their sin. They heard ; they were desirous of 
hearing the gracious words that dropped from his 
lips : 2 but they profiled not. They embraced not 
the great salvation. They listened to his warn- 
ings, his threatenings, and his promises, and 
thronged to hear them ; but heeded them not. 
Hence, no effect remained*. How often, alas ! is 
this the case. The gospel is heard, but not em- 
braced. The swearer hears it, and is still a 
swearer; the drunkard, and is still a drunkard. 
The sabbath-breaker listens, but continues a sab- 
bath-breaker : the covetous preserves his ava- 
rice : the worldly pursues his vanities : the 
careless young man and the trifling young wo- 
man continue careless and trifling, and the great 
salvation is thus neglected. 

13. O reader, how little can you feel aright the 
guilt of slighting such a gospel and such a Sa- 
viour! The gospel exhibits a plan devised by the 
Eternal Father, and executed by the Son in hu- 
man nature, to bestow the richest blessings upon 
lost mankind. A scheme of mercy devised by 
an Almighty Judge, to save a ruined malefactor; 
by the King Eternal, to redeem a wretched rebel • 

(1 Matt. xi. 23, 24. (2) Mark, ii. 2. 



132 GREATNESS OF THE SIN OF 

This gospel is adapted to preserve you from the 
depths of hell, and to bestow on you unfading 
happiness ; yet this is the gospel you neglect ! 
This plan of heavenly mercy was executed by 
hrhf before whom demons tremble ; at whose 
voice the dead arose; and at whose dying cry 
the heavens grew dark, and the earth quaked, 
and the rocks rent: yet this is the gospel you 
slight ! To secure and bestow this salvation the 
Lord of Glory came down from heaven, and la- 
boured, and died ; and yet you neglect the bless- 
ing! The Eternal Spirit exerts his influence to 
carry on the work of mercy ; and yet you disre- 
gard this great salvation ! Millions in heaven 
enjoy its blessings ; millions in hell wail the want 
of them : and yet you on earth can trifle with 
them ! Angels, with adoring wonder, would look 
into the mysteries of redemption j 1 and yet you, 
a dying mortal, treat those wonders with infatua- 
ted indifference ! Wretched creature ! that in 
doing this, art slighting a Saviour's love ; his 
dying sorrows; his atoning blood; his living 
care ; his promised blessings ; all he has done ; 
all he is doing ; and all he will for ever do for 
those that listen to his voice ! 

14. O reader, what is the guilt of such neglect ! 
Behold the Lamb of God ! Behold the once 
suffering, now glorified Saviour ! Why should 
you slight him ! Does he deserve this at your 
hands ! Has he for you done so much ; endur- 
ed so much, does he offer you so much ; and 
have you/no return to make but wicked neglect! 
Is he willing to do so much eternally for you ; 
and should he be slighted ! Does not he deserve 

(1) 1 Peter, iv. 12. 



NEGLECTING CHRIST. 133 

your heart! Unhappy creature! He would 
bless you, and you in effect refuse to be blessed ! 
Cruel enemy to your own soul ! He would save 
your deathless soul, but you will destroy it; while 
you receive not him whom every saint in heaven 
received, and by slighting whom every lost sin- 
ner to whom the gospel has gone has perished. 
Many are the aggravations of such guilt. The 
cause of this wicked neglect lies in your unwil- 
lingness to be truly his. So he said to some of 
old, " Ye will not come to me that ye might 
have life." 1 The guilt he charged on them was 
unwillingness to be his : " Ye will not, (ye are not 
willing to) come to me." While you neglect the 
gospel, the same heavy charge lies against you. 
Oh the guilt of such a state ! He has every claim 
upon you ; and you not willing to be his ! Follow 
him in your thoughts from his throne to his man- 
ger at Bethlehem, and to his cross at Calvary, 
and think, all this was for you ; and you not will- 
ing to come to Him ! Think of the eternal Fa- 
ther's goodness in giving such a Saviour, when 
" He spared not his own Son, but delivered him 
up for us all ;" 2 and you not willing to receive 
him ! Think of his design to save you from the 
wrath to come, to raise you to glory, honour, and 
immortality ; and you not willing ! O horrid 
load of guilt ! O exceeding wickedness ! A God 
willing to receive you as a child ; and you unwil- 
ling to become one ! A Saviour willing to make 
you his own ; and you unwilling to be his ! 

15. The neglect of Christ binds all your other 
sins upon you, and increases tenfold the load of 
your transgressions. Did you receive him, your 

(1) John, v. 40. (2) Rom. viii. 32. 



134 NEGLECT OF CHRIST BINDS 

guilt would all be blotted out ; but as you slight 
him, it will be all charged against you hereafter. 
Then it will be seen, that you- were the man that 
sinned against infinite goodness with a high 
hand, and slighted every admonition to repent- 
ance; or that you were the woman that rebelled 
against the God of love, and would do evil in his 
sight ; that you were the thoughtless youth, or the 
careless girl, that lived in the midst of privileges, 
but abused them, and refused your heart to him, to 
whom they were meant to lead you ; that you, 
perhaps, had a house of prayer near your dwell- 
ing, yet wasted your sabbaths at home, or, if you 
entered the sacred courts, trifled with all that is 
most solemn. What confusion will overtake 
you when all this is known ! Your wicked neg- 
lect of Christ, weightens all your load of other 
guilt; binds every curse upon you; fits you for 
hell, and soon will sink you there. For to re- 
ceive the grace of God in vain, is the worst 
abuse of mercy. It is bad to receive in vain, 
and to render useless by wicked neglect, the 
gifts of food and raiment, liberty and health; 
but, far worse, to treat with indifference God's love 
in his only-begotten Son. This is the finishing 
crime in human guilt. It is viler ingratitude, 
than all other ingratitude of which you can be 
guilty. When persisted in, it fills up the mea- 
sure of the sinner's iniquities. His other guilt 
might all be blotted out; but this sin fixes all the 
rest upon him, and makes the cup of his wicked- 
ness "overflow. Thus, in reality, it is the sealing 
act to the soul's damnation. So long as you live 
without receiving the Lord Jesus, you are lying 
in all your guilt ; and your danger is extreme. You 



ALL ITS OTHER SINS UPON THE SOUL. 135 

• 

are always in danger. Do you laugh ; it is on the 
ed^e of hell. Do you wake ; you are nearer to 
waking there. Do you sleep ; you are nearer to 
the place where you will never sleep. Do you 
rejoice ; your joy will soon be changed to sadness, 
and your laughter to eternal mourning. While 
you are neglecting Christ, your life is sin, your 
years a curse, and your death will be perdition. 
Neglect is that sin which the lost will have to 
remember with infinite remorse, while eternity 
endures. The despairing soul will be tormented 
with the reflection, 'I would not come to Christ. 
Had I come to him, the guilt that has undone 
me, would all have been forgiven ; but I would 
not come. I compelled, by my neglect, the Lord 
of Glory to say of me, with guilty millions, " How 
oft would I have gathered you as a hen doth gather 
her brood under her wings, but ye would not!" O 
sinner, these words may ring in the hearing of a 
lost soul through eternal ages ! " Ye would rot 
come to me." And still will the wretched cri- 
minal have for ever and ever and ever to feel, 
•' I am out of heaven, because, I would not go to 
the Lord Jesus Christ; I would neglect him. I 
am in hell, because I would not yield to him ; I 
would neglect him." And every pang the 
miserable immortal feels, may revive the tor- 
menting recollection, " I endure this pang, I am 
here, because I would not go to Christ, but fixed 
all my other guilt upon me, by wicked neglect of 
him." 

16. In slighting Christ, you are doing just 
what Satan would have you do ; and are gratify- 
ing his infernal desires for your own destruction. 
The choice of heartfelt religion, is a choice 



136 NEGLECT OF CHRIST 

which is approved by angels, and by their great 
Sovereign, God. It is that which the dying and 
the dead approve. It is a profitable one in youth 
or age ; in health and sickness ; in life and 
death. It is a choice, which all will wish at 
length to have made, and of which no one will 
ever repent ; but it is a choice which is opposed 
by the world and the devil. Satan does his 
utmost, to prevent unhappy men from receiving 
the Lord of Life, and salvation through him. 
He takes away the seed from the careless heart, 1 
he hides the gospel, by his infernal influence, 
from the benighted mind; for, "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." 2 

Consider, reader, who it is that would keep you 
from Christ — Satan and his blinded slaves; and 
while you neglect the gracious Saviour, you gra- 
tify the cruel wishes of the wicked one himself. 
You accomplish his end as effectually, as if you 
seriously designed this result. You destroy your 
soul as completely, as if you could sell it to " your 
adversary the devil, who, as a roaring lion, walkelh 
about seeking whom he may devour." 3 You 
would not be so infatuated as solemnly to vow, 
"I will be the devoted slave of the wicked one; 
I will not be the follower of the Lord Jesus ; I will 
not learn of him ; I will not give him my affections, 
nor commit to him my soul ; I will live careless 
of his salvation ; I will call him Lord, but will 
neglect him; and treat with equal indifference, 

(1) Matt. xiii. 1ft (2) 2 Cor. iy. 3, 4. (3) 1 Pet. v. 8. 



PLEASES THE WICKED ONE. 137 

his invitations and his threatenings, his favour 
and his arger. I will not have pardon from him, 
nor receive any blessing from his hands ; but I 
will perish, and deliberately do I adopt as my 
own, the awful language of the dying profligate, 
1 Come, O devil, and take me.' " l But though you 
would tremble to utter such expressions, be solemn- 
ly assured, that while you neglect Christ, you 
gratify the desires, and accomplish, as to yourself, 
the designs of Satan as effectually as if you ex- 
pressed such horrid resolutions. This is indeed 
the dreadful fact. Be not so deceived by the 
wiles of the wicked one, as to imagine that some- 
thing less decidedly ruinous is connected with 
your neglect. This is the case, whatever you do, 
if from your heart you receive not the Saviour. 
Only stop short of coming to him, and Satan's 
designs are accomplished. It will matter little 
in the view of that infernal enemy, that you 
may respect religion, and be less immoral than 
some others; for while you commit not yourself 
to the Saviour, you will still belong to his dark 
kingdom; and still be guided by him, according 
to the course of this world. 

17. Dreadful as is the guilt of slighting the 
Saviour's claims, not less deplorable is the folly. 
In neglecting the Lord Jesus, you are neglecting 
with him blessings of everlasting worth ; all 
the blessings of eternity. Behold them ! view 
those mansions of peace ! that better country ! 
those rivers of pleasure at God's right hand for 
evermore ! those crowns of glory, which await 
the just! and all the tranquil peace, and serene 
delight, of one unbounded, eternal day of happi- 

(1) William Pope. 
N 



138 ALL GOOD NEGLECTED AND LOST 

ness In slighting the Redeemer, you slight all 
this. Ask angels and saints in light, the value 
of these blessings, and would they not tell you. 
that the wealth of a world were insignificant 
compared with the smallest celestial treasure ! 
But what are all those treasures, yet you slight 
all ! Yes, in slighting Christ, you are slighting 
all this precious world of blessings. Not only 
are neglecting him, but every good with him, 
and in losing him are losing all O wretched, 
ness extreme, but self-incurred ! Ruin everlasting, 
hut wilfully chosen ! for how soon will all, for 
which Christ is lost, have left you for ever! 
You are not his. Unhappy mortal ! what a load 
of guilt and ruin is upon you ! Yours is an un- 
utterable loss, and an everlasting one ; the loss of 
all the benefits of the Saviour's toils and death; 
of all connected with his everlasting love. It is 
enough to break the heart, merely to think of 
such a loss ; what will it be to suffer it ! How 
would you feel if every earthly help and good 
were lost ! if you were deprived of every pos- 
session and every friend ! if helpless, houseless, 
starving, and naked, you were turned adrift to 
pine and die ! But it is a far worse loss to lose 
all the Saviour bled to secure; all that gladdens 
martyrs, saints, and angels ; all that enraptures 
heaven, and brightens and blesses eternity. 
Thus you are your own worst enemy, a worse 
enemy to your own immortal soul than even 
Satan can be ! He can but tempt you to follow 
the world : he cannot compel you to neglect the 
Saviour and die. It is you, that by refusing to 
come to Christ, choose to perish. The blessed 
effects of conversion arc great beyond expression. 



WHEN CHRIST IS NEGLECTED. 139 

Think of one ransomed soul, arrayed in the 
garments of salvation and victory. Had that 
now saved soul been lost, could it have shed one 
tear in a century, it might have shed a sea of 
tears, and yet have been no nearer to an end of 
sorrow and despair, when the ocean were full 
than when the first tear fell. That one soul may 
enjoy in the unmeasured expanse of eternal 
ages, more happiness than the united sum of 
blessings, which all the angels of light have ever 
yet enjoyed. That one soul, in which sin would 
have reigned unto death, in which every hellish 
disposition would eternally have flourished, shall 
now for ever -bear its Creator's lovely likeness; 
and flourish in all the beauties of holiness, and 
the glories of immortality. Thus blessed and 
happy, reader, might your soul become ; but 
slighting the Lord Jesus Christ, you slight all 
this inestimable good. What would others give 
for the blessings you thus madly slight ! what 
would the dying ! what would a despairing soul ! 
what would a spirit just quitting the body, and 
sinking into the abyss ! what would a lost soul ! 
what would you in death or judgment, and 
through eternity ! O think, reader, how dreadful 
is your infatuation, while you neglect the Saviour ! 
and think how transient, sinful, ruinous, and hate- 
ful, are the objects for which you neglect him. 
Place, as it were, on one side, the Saviour and 
salvation. All the blessings of his love; all the 
treasures of eternity; the. eternal God as your 
portion, and mansions in heaven as your dwell- 
ing. Place on the other side, all this world can 
give, all you sins; all your vanities; all your 
pleasures ; all that ensnares aud bewitches your 



140 NEGLECT OF CHRIST CHANGES 

soul to perdition. Poor sinner. Do you prefei 
the latter ! Wretchedly blinded and guilty crea- 
ture, do you for these sins and follies, slight the 
eternal God, the only Saviour and all those 
blessings ! O if you do, devils might gaze on 
you with delight ! the saved with grief, and the 
damned with wonder ! How deservedly if you 
persist in such a course, will you sink to the 
abyss of hell ! and what will be your remorse 
there. 

18. Neglect of the divine Saviour not only 
robs the soul of every blessing, but with a deadly 
malignity changes every present blessing to a curse. 
You have God's mercies ; you had better never 
have had them, for every mercy will increase 
your condemnation. The more gracious God 
appears, the more guilty are you for neglecting 
him. When a dying profligate was reminded 
that God is merciful, he answered, " Or I could 
not have been thus guilty/' You have life ; 
you change by your neglect life itself into a 
dreadful evil ; you had better never have been 
born, than come into existence, to live a few 
guilty years, in trifling ana folly, and then be for 
ever hateful and wretched. You have rational 
and immortal powers. If you neglect Christ, 
you had better have been a serpent, or a brute, 
a crawling worm, or a loathsome reptile ; than, 
through your own sin, to be immortal, only to 
be wretched, and rational merely to be guilty. 
Reptiles and worms are laden with no sin, and 
no ingratitude ; they treasure up no wrath 
against the day of wrath ; they fill the place in 
which their Creator has fixed them, and neither 
render him ingratitude for mercies given, nor 



EVERY BLESSING TO A CURSE. 141 

have cause to fear his displeasure. But you, 
possessed of a rational and immortal spirit, 
raised far in nature above the mere animal 
creation, are sinning against goodness unbound- 
ed, and excellence that is infinite. O happy 
is the serpent from which you start with horror ! 
happy is the worm you tread under your feet ! 
nay, happy is the senseless dust, on which you 
walk, compared with yourself, while you neglect 
all the excellencies and all the love of the Sa- 
viour. You have many privileges, and sabbaths 
of inestimable worth ; but by abusing them, you 
cnange the medicine to poison, the honey to 
gall. You had better never have had them ; 
had better have been a heathen, wretched and 
miserable, his food the wild roots of the wilder- 
ness, his house a cave, his god a serpent or a 
stone, than live in the midst of Gospel light, 
and yet neglect the Author of salvation. You 
would have been foolish then to look at the 
lights of heaven, and the scenes of earth, and 
yet say to a stone, " Thou art my God ;" but you 
would not have been so foolish, as you are, if 
possessing the bible, and having salvation set 
before you, you slight that great salvation. You 
would have been guilty then, to worship the 
inanimate block, instead of its unseen Creator ; 
but not so guilty, as in the midst of gospel 
blessings to neglect the Giver of them all. 
Tyre and Sidon were guilty heathen cities ; but 
more guilty were those that heard in vain the 
Saviour's voice. To some of them he said, " I 
say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre 
and Sidon at the day of judgment, than foi 
N 3 



142 THE FOLLY OF NEGLECTING 

you." 1 The name of Christ has been proclaimed 
to you ; but if you neglect him, you had better 
never have heard that name, which gladdens the 
hosts of the redeemed. The love of God has 
been displayed to you ; but while you neglect 
his Son, has been displayed in vain. Though 
the Father has done so much to bless you, you 
are still lost. Though the Son has suffered so 
much for you, you are still unforgiven and un- 
changed. Though the Spirit has manifested 
such kindness to you, you reject all by slighting 
the Saviour, to whom he would lead you, and 
thus resisting the Holy Ghost. And all this 
mischief will soon be irreparable. Your blessings 
changed to curses, will be curses to eternity. The 
blood of Christ imparting to you no salvation, 
will be on you to aggravate your everlasting con- 
demnation. Days and years will have been given in 
vain to you ; the last will have departed and left 
you in your sins. Heaven, once within your 
reach, will be for ever closed against you ; and 
escape from hell once easy and sure, will for 
ever be impracticable. What might you be if 
you listened to the Saviour ? A child of God and 
an heir of happiness ! What will you make your- 
self by slighting him? A child of wrath, an heir 
of ruin, an inhabitant of hell ! 

19. In neglecting the Lord Jesus Christ and 
Salvation, you neglect the only Saviour and the 
only Salvation that can benefit your immortal 
spirit. Were there another Saviour, and another 
salvation, this guilt and folly would not be so ap- 
palling ; but there is no other God to pity you 
if you slight the grace the God of the gospel 

(l) Matt. xi. 22. 



MAN'S ONLY SAVIOUR. 143 

has manifested : there is no other Saviour to 
die for you, if you slight him who suffered on 
Calvary ; there is no other heaven open to you, 
if you neglect that to which he would raise you ; 
there is no other deliverance from the power 
and malice of Satan, from the curse of the law, 
and from eternal death, *if you slight that the 
gospel exhibits. Were there but one physician 
that could relieve a sick man, how foolish would 
it be to slight that one ! Were there but one 
arm strong enough to help an endangered man, 
what madness would it be to slight that one ! 
Ah ! there is but one physician that can cure your 
dying soul ! There is but one arm strong 
enough to help you from death to life, from ruin 
to heaven ; and but one short life, in which to 
receive the life that never ends. Slight that one 
physician, and all cure is hopeless ; neglect 
that one arm, and all help is impossible ; waste that 
one short life, and life eternal is for ever lost ; 
do this, and where for you ere long can help be 
found ! The universe cannot furnish it, and thou, 
great God, wilt not. 

20. As neglect of Christ robs you of all good, 
and does to your deathless soul irreparable mis- 
chief, so it exposes you to evils numerous, most 
dreadful and unavoidable. Not one lasting good 
can be possessed by you ; not one evil shunned. 
Your state will be ere long wholly evil, and 
eternally evil. If you could be partly happy, 
partly holy, your condition were not so deplora- 
ble, but without Christ you can have no happi- 
ness, no holiness, no God, no Saviour, no heaven. 
Not one sin is forgiven you ! No mercy is found 
by you ! No blessing is waiting for you ! Eter- 



i44 NEGLECT OF CHRIST EXPOSES 

nity is before you, but no good for all eternity. 
You are exposed to the wrath of God and of the 
Lamb, for of neglectors it is said, " How shall 
we escape if we neglect so great a salvation." 1 
" It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of 
the living God." 2 " Those mine enemies that 
would not that I should reign over them, bring 
them hither and slay them before me." 5 How 
awful will be that wrath, when love is changed to 
wrath ! and mercy to vengeance ! while you 
have no Saviour. Who is your Father? The 
wicked one. Mr. Whitfield relates, that a mi- 
nister visiting a young woman near death, 
said to her, " Where do you hope to go when 
joudie." She answered, " I do not care where I 
go." " What," said he, " do not you care whether 
you go to heaven or hell ?" " No," she replied, " I 
do not care whither I go." " But," said he, " if it 
were put to your choice, where would you go ?" 
Her awful answer was, " To hell." " Are you 
mad ?" said he ; " will you go to hell ?" She 
answered, " Yes, I will." " Why so !" he ex- 
claimed. " Why," said she, " all my relations are 
there." O reader, think that while you are un- 
converted, your eternal relations are there. 
" Your father, the devil, is there ;" infernal spirits 
and lost souls ; " your brothers and sisters are 
there ;" and you, while careless, are hastening 
to join them. 

21. Perhaps you treat these warnings with in- 
difference ; but " what shall the end be of them 
that obey not the gospel of God ?" Indifference 
cannot bless you, nor carelessness alleviate your 
ruin ; for the end is coming. Pretending to fear 

(Jj tleh. ii. 3. (2) Heb. x. 31. (3) Luke, xix. 27. 



THE SOUL TO NUMBERLESS EVILS. 145 

nothing will not prove you happy, or make you 
safe. On the verge of bankruptcy some have 
seemed most prosperous ; and on the edge of hell 
many a miserable sinner has been careiess and 
cheerful : but the end was at hand. What will 
the end of neglect be ? What to you ? Con- 
science, now asleep, will then awake to all the 
horrors of remorse. Satan, now an unseen 
tempter, will then be a visible tormentor. Sin, 
now beloved by you, will then bite like a ser- 
pent, and sting like an adder. Departed hours 
of sinful merriment will come to mind again ; 
but, O, how changed will they appear! What 
hours of guilt and madness ! Sinful compa- 
nions, now desired associates in folly, will then 
seem more like devils than friends ! Oh, think 
of this when slighting Christ; when quenching 
the Spirit; when running into sin ; when revel- 
ling with the vain and the worldly ; think of the 
end ! What shall the end be ? Then how 
changed too will be the sinner's views of mercy 
now abused ! 

Even when dying, an alarmed neglector said, 
" O ! that I had been wise, that I had known this, 
that I had considered my latter end ! Death is 
knocking at my doors : in a few hours more I 
shall draw my last gasp ; and then judgment, the 
tremendous judgment ! how shall I appear, un- 
prepared as I am, before the all-knowing and 
omnipotent God ! How shall I endure the day 
of his coming ! O ! that holiness is the only 
thing I now long for. I have not words to tell 
you how highly I value it. I would gladly part 
with all my estate, large as it is, or a world, to 
obtain it. Now my benighted eyes are enlight- 



146 THE READER ENTREATED TO 

ened ; I clearly discern the things that are excel . 
lent. What is there in the place whither I am 
going but God ! Or what is there to be desired 
on earth but religion ! O ! if the righteous Judge 
would try me once more; if he would but re- 
prieve, and spare me a little longer ; in what a 
spirit would I spend the remainder of my days ! 
But, alas ! why do I amuse myself with fond 
imaginations ? The best resolutions are now in- 
significant, because they are too late." 

If the prospect of death produces such a change 
of view, what, when the last conflict has ended, 
will be the feelings of millions, when all the ef- 
fects of neglecting Christ are seen, are felt ! One 
may exclaim, " Woe is me ! Did I think of this 
when I laughed at piety, and treated all its bless- 
ings with contempt!" Another: "Did I look 
for this end when I slighted the admonitions of 
pious parents, and all their entreaties to seek 
God and happiness!" A third : "Alas! was I 
hastening to this ruin when I refused to listen to 
the Saviour's voice ; when I talked of liberty and 
followed pleasure! Was this the liberty I 
chose ! and this the pleasure to which I hasten- 
ed ! Miserable wretch ! God called, and I re- 
fused ! now I eat the fruit of my own ways, and 
am filled with my own devices !" O reader, 
could you feel, for one moment, what it is to be 
lost, with the full sense of being lost for eternity; 
could you longer neglect the Saviour ? Not to 
have one mercy, not to be one moment 
safe! Oh, what a condition! Are you then 
willing to flee from poverty, sin, hell, to the arms 
of heavenly mercy ? Would it be madness, if 
starving, to refuse an estate ? if drowning, to refuse 



CONSIDER THE END OF A SINFUL COURSE. 147 

help ? would it be distraction to run into a burn- 
ing volcano ? to go unarmed into a lion's den ? 
to throw yourself in a tiger's path ? It is worse 
distraction to slight a gracious Saviour's love ; 
and by doing so to bring huge, intolerable, and 
everlasting evils upon your soul. And to do 
this when time with you is already so far spent; 
when eternity is so near ; when the rewards of 
sin are so poor ; and when salvation must be 
found now or never. Compared with salvation 
nothing deserves regard. Life to the condemned, 
help to them in a house on fire, food to the dying, 
are not worthy to be named in comparison with 
this blessing. If you were condemned, or in the 
midst of flames, how welcome would be deliver- 
ance ; but this salvation is more worthy of ac- 
ceptance ; and will you neglect this ? 

22. In addition to all that has been already 
urged, it is an awful consideration, that 
while you neglect the Lord Jesus you are actu- 
ally associated in dreadful rebellion against God 
with all the vilest of mankind, and with all the 
evil beings in the universe ; and thus must live 
and die laden with horrid ingratitude. You 
may not be an infidel; but with infidels are a 
rebel against God. You may not be a murderer; 
but with, murderers must be classed now and 
will have your future portion. You may not be 
lewd, or dishonest, or a drunkard, or profane ; 
but you belong to the same miserable fami'y, as 
all the lewd, and drunken, and profane, and dis- 
honest. You are not a devil; out, while an im- 
penitent sinner, with devils are a rebel against 
God. Thus with them you are united in sin and 
in conduct, and soon, unless grace happily deli- 



148 HATEI'ULNESS OF NEGLECT OF CHRIST. 

ver you, will be united with them in misery. O 
reader, how wretched and how odious is such a 
character ! how hateful must you be in the sight 
of all God's holy and devoted subjects ! How 
hateful while unwilling- to yield to so good a 
God, to so kind a Saviour ! and if you continue 
what you are, this will mark your character for 
ever. Hereafter you will be known as one so 
wicked, that you would not yield to God. This 
will be known in the day of awful judgment. 
The mask of delusion or deception will then be 
torn away. All the excuses you now form for 
your guilty neglect, will have vanished like a 
dream. The cause of your neglect of all that is 
good, will appear to have been the vileness of your 
own depraved heart ; and you will stand before 
the universe branded with the guilt of refusing 
to love your God and the Saviour. Even in the 
abyss of despair you will be known as one that 
would not love God. Thus, if you continue 
neglectful, laden with ingratitude and sin, you 
must live. While you live, could angels weep 
they might weep over you. " There," it might 
be said, "is an immortal being that should be 
aspiring to heaven, grovelling in the mire, with 
but one span of time for mercy, yet wasting that 
one; invited to everlasting lifetyet utterly careless 
of the invitation ; possessed of an immortal spirit 
to which God is most kind, and himself most 
cruel." 

Under this load you must die. When your last 
hour arrives it may be said, " there lies and 
dies one to whom God has given a thousand 
mercies, but who has abused them all. The 
blessings that should have trained that departing 



LIFE OR DEATH BEFORE YOU. 149 

spirit for heaven, have all been bestowed in vain ; 
and now that unprepared and long-neglected soul 
is going, covered with guilt, to its final account, 
and to its direful home." And when you are in 
the grave it may be said, " There lies one who 
enjoyed through many years the means of grace 
and the tidings of mercy, but who went down 
into the dwelling of the dead unpardoned and 
unchanged. That poor dust once loved the 
world, and for it slighted eternal good. The 
world has left that dust to moulder there till the 
resurrection day, insensible of pleasure or of pain ; 
and the ruined soul that once inhabited that 
mouldering dust, is gone where griefs for ever 
live, and sorrows for ever multiply, and remorse 
for ever reigns, and darkness and despair for 
ever dwell. O miserable purchase! O foolish 
choice ! that gained some trifles from the world, 
and ruined a deathless soul V 

23. Reader, life or death are before you, accord- 
ing as you regard or slight the mighty Saviour. 
'' I call heaven and earth to record this day 
against you, that I have set before you life and 
death, blessing and cursing ; therefore choose 
life." 1 If you continue to neglect Christ your 
doom must be death and only death. O choose 
not death but life! Welcome now the long-neg- 
lected Saviour! and how different will be your 
state ! He will blot out your sins, and enrich you 
with every good. Then it shall be said, "The 
eternal God is thy Refuge, and underneath are 
he everlasting arms." 2 His broad shield is ever 
over thee, and his love will for ever bless thee, 
ihe promise belongs to you, " Fear not: for I 

(1) Deut. xxx. 19. (2) Daut xxxiii. 27. 

O 



150 BLESSED EFFECTS OF RECEIVING CHRIST. 

have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy 
name ; thou art mine. When thou passes! 
through the waters, I will be with thee : and 
through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee : 
when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt 
not be burned ; neither shall the flame kindle 
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the 
Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." 1 The Saviour 
of myriads will then be your Saviour and your 
Shepherd. The good Shepherd's care will bless 
you ; and you may say, " The Lord is my Shep- 
herd ; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie 
down in green, pastures : he leadeth me beside 
the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he 
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his 
name's sake." 2 He will guard you and fulfil the 
promise ; " I will never leave thee nor forsake 
thee." He will keep you and train you for hea- 
ven ; he will enable you to subdue your corrup- 
tions and lead you to immortal life. What now 
is your inheritance ? the home that angels have, 
the heaven that they enjoy. Who are now your 
future companions ? all the first-born sons of 
light! all the spirits of the just made perfect! 
all whose names are written in heaven. They 
loved the Saviour, and they followed him. 
Their dwelling will be yours, if their Lord is 
yours. And will you not be his ? Then your 
character, which else would have been for ever 
hateful, will be for ever lovely : will shine in 
a fair though humble resemblance of your 
Lord's, and thus will shine for ever. Choose 
then tli is day whose you will be, and whom you 
will serve. 

(1) Is. xliii. 1—3. (2) Psalm, xxiii. 1-3. 



ALL MUST DIE. 151 



CHAPTER VIII. 

RELIGION ENFORCED BY THE SOLEMNITIES OF 
DEATH AND JUDGMENT. 

1. When the scriptures describe the spirit 
and conduct of the early disciples of the Lord 
Jesus, they are represented as those, who were 
ivaiting for the Son of God from heaven ; x who 
were looking for the Saviour ; s who loved his 
appearing-; 3 and who thus were familiar with 
the solemnities of death and eternity. Insuffi- 
cient attention to these solemn subjects, lowers 
the piety even of the pious; and keeps from safety 
and peace many that might otherwise be led, 
by the impressive sense of their dying condition, 
to seek eternal good. It cannot then be unap- 
propriate, while pressing heartfelt piety on your 
devout attention, in addition to the many allu- 
sions to these solemn subjects, contained in the 
preceding pages, more expressly to beg your 
attention to them. O regard them as solemn 
motives, for the unhesitating and unfeigned 
consecration of yourself to him, who hath 
brought life and immortality to light. "It is 
appointed unto men once to die, and after 
death the judgment." 4 All must die, but a wide 
difference exists in death. Many die unforgiven, 
unchanged, unblest, unprepared for eternity. 

(1) 1 Thess. i. 10. (2) Phi), iii. 20. (3) 2 Tim. i. 1, 2. 

(4) Heb. ix. 27. 



152 CHRIST ALL IN ALL IN A DYING HOUR. 

This is the case with all who die uninterested 
in the Saviour's grace. But his friends die, 
some peacefully, some exultingly, all safely. 
They die forgiven, renewed, and blest. How 
will you die ? 

2. You must die, and the dying hour must 
inspire feelings unknown before ; the value of 
the Saviour, and the worth of the blessings of 
his grace, will never be fully known till then. 
Christ is all in all for the day of death. His 
love cheers with immortal hopes life's last 
solemn hours. How solemn is the dying hour ! 
The body sinking under the violence of disease. 
The powers of nature rapidly failing. The pulse 
fluttering and about to stop for ever. The spirit 
just going to take its everlasting flight. Mourn- 
ing friends surrounding the dying sufferer, and 
observing with breathless silence the last strug- 
gles Of mortality. And ministering angels, or 
infernal spirits, as unseen visitants, watching near 
the dying pillow. Perhaps some violent con- 
vulsion seizes the sufferer, and the struggle is 
soon over. Perhaps, while the soul retains all its 
consciousness,death steals gradually upon its mor- 
tal tabernacle. The coldness of the grave seizes 
the hands and the feet. Now speech fails. Now 
sight is gone. Now the breathing becomes 
weaker, and weaker, and weaker. At length the 
heart ceases to throb, and all the tale of life is 
over. What are the thoughts and feelings of 
an immortal spirit in such a situation ! what its 
views of a life of sin! what of a life of poverty 
or comfort ! what of a life of piety ! Can 
language describe what its feelings must be, re- 
specting the unutterable vanity of every posses- 



HIS FAVOUR A SUFFICIENT SUPPORT. 153 

sion and every pursuit excepting heartfelt reli- 
gion ! A pious lady adding a few lines to a letter 
she had begun, but which the approach of death 
prevented her completing, wrote, " I fear I can- 
not finish. O my dear friends, if you knew 
what thoughts I have now, you would see as I 
do, that the whole business of life is preparation 
for death, ^et it be so with you." 

Solemn as is the dying hour, the presence 
and support of the Saviour are sufficient to im- 
part strong consolation. An aged minister, 
eminent in his day, being at the funeral of one 
more eminent, a friend said to him, " Well, Dr. 
Grovesnor, you have seen the end of Dr. Watts, 
and you will soon follow : what think you of 
death ?" " Think of it," he replied, " Why, when 
death comes, I shall smile upon death, if God 
smiles upon me." A dying Christian said," O the 
joys I feel ! my heavenly Father is carrying me 
to heaven in his arms ; I am going thither on a 
bed of roses. I feared this hour, lest my pains 
should extort an impatient word, or cause that 
I should seem to be uneasy under his hand ; J 
nave often wished to die praising God ; how 
kind is he who gives me leave to do so ! trust 
my God; he will not fail those who put their 
trust in him. O the comforts I feel." 1 

Suppose yourself just about to die. Before 
you stretches an immeasurable eternity. Be- 
hind you is the now ending span of time. 
What now to you are friends, possessions, plea- 
sures ! All that once agitated, pained, or pleased, 
is vanity ; but the Saviour's love assumes new 
importance. He now is all in all. If you have 

(1) Thos. Revnolds. 

o3" 



154 WORTH OF CHRIST'S FAVOUR TO THE DEAD. 

him, you nave every thing ; without him nothing. 
Suppose yourself just launched into eternity. 
The scenes of time are ended ; you have closed 
your eyes to open them on earth no more ; the 
latest pang is over •, the last conflict finished, 
and eternal scenes have opened upon you, 
What now appear the world, youth, health, 
prosperity, pleasure ! what idle dreams ! what 
now are friends, whose love once seemed almost 
as important to your comfort as life itself!. It is 
nothing now. What now are earthly posses- 
sions, comforts, or sorrows ! They are equally 
and infinitely insignificant. Whether your way 
was painful or pleasing, matters nothing now ! 
Whether reproach or honour, wealth or poverty, 
were your lot, is all one now. Nothing now 
avails you any thing but Christ. All you want 
is in him. The frowns or smiles of mankind 
no longer concern you ; all depends on his. If 
he smile none can frown ; if he frown none can 
smile. Who can reject you if he welcome ! 
who can welcome if he rejects you ! In that 
hour, at the furthest not very distant, how much 
you will desire the blessings of the gospel ! 

The closing of the scenes of time, is to every 
soul, the commencement of unutterable solemn- 
ities. When absent from the body, you will be 
present with the Lord, or numbered with the 
lost. 

3. The solemnities of eternal judgment should 
prompt you to surrender yourself to the Saviour. 
None can conceive what will be the solemnity, 
the joy, or the terror of the great day. Nor 
are the scriptural statements on this subject 
poetical figures, but a description of solemn 



ETERNAL JUDGMENT. 155 

facts. "The Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch- 
angel, and the trump of God." 1 "The Lord 
Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his 
mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance 
on them that know not God." He shall come 
to be admired in his saints, and glorified in all 
them that believe.* " The trumpet shall sound, 
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible." 1 
" When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, 
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he 
sit upon the throne of his glory : and before him 
shall be gathered all nations ; and he shall se- 
parate them one from another, as a shepherd 
divideth his sheep from the goats ; and he shall 
set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on 
the left. Then shall the King say to them on his 
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, in- 
herit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
foundation of the world. Then shall he say also 
unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye 
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the de- 
vil and his angels. And these shall go away 
into everlasting punishment; but the righteous 
into life eternal."* According to these infallible 
testimonies the archangel will descend ; the 
trumpet will proclaim the Judge's coming ; and 
such a sound be heard through all the regions of 
this lower creation, that, compared with it, the 
shouts of an assembled world, or the roar of ten 
thousand thunders, would be stillness ; for all 
mankind will hear. The Lord will then visibly 
descend. He will come with his mighty angels 

(1) Thess. ir. 16. (i) * Thess. i. 6. (3) 1 Cor. xt. 51 
(4) Matt. xxv. 31, &c. &c. 



156 THE SOLEMNITIES OF 

in flaming fire. He will come in the glory of 
his Father, and in his own. He cometh with 
ten thousands of his saints. Now " all that are 
in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come 
forth, they that have done good to the resurrec- 
tion of life, and they that have done evil to the 
resurrection of damnation." 1 The righteous rise 
to glory, honour, and immortality ; but the un- 
righteous also hear his voice. In their case that 
which "was sown in corruption, rises in incorrup- 
tion," that it may endure a death that can never 
die. That which " was sown in dishonour," rises 
to dishonour more aggravated, " to shame and 
everlasting contempt." That which " was sown in 
weakness, is raised in power ;" strong to endure 
immortal misery. That which was sown a natu- 
ral body, rises a spiritual body, to become the 
accursed dwelling of that immortal spirit that 
prostituted its powers on earth to folly, vanity, 
and guilt. 

4. The scenes of final judgment advance, and, 
amidst their solemnities, "the heavens pass away 
with a great noise, and the elements melt 
with fervent heat, the earth also and the works 
that are therein are burnt up!" 2 O, reader ! in 
meditation anticipate this day ! View it as come ! 
Think you hear the cry, " The great day of his 
wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand !" 
The sun, moon, and stars have ceased to shine ! 
The heavens have passed away. The cares and 
businesses, the pursuits and delights of earth have 
vanished like a dream. The tumults of nations, 
the contentions of statesmen, the voice of the 
bridegroom and of the bride, of joy or of weep- 

(1) John, ▼. 28. (2) 2 Peter, iii. 10. 



THE JUDGMENT DAY. 157 

ing, are heard no more. The oath is sworn that 
time shall be no longer, and all its scenes are 
ended. The dead are raised, the Judge is come. 
There he sits in majesty, and at his bar the na- 
tions are collected to hear their doom. He sets 
the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his 
left. The righteous meet him with rapture; the 
unrighteous are dragged before his awful bar. 
"Within them gnaws the worm of conscience that 
never dies. All appear in their real character; 
there is no deception and no mistake here. There 
is no middle condition. There is no mingling 
among the pious if not pious; the ungodly often 
mingle with the pious now, but not then. There 
myriads of angels observe the solemn process, 
and wait and watch the conduct of their King. 
Above opens the higher heaven to welcome his 
redeemed. Below burns the pit of fire and dark- 
ness prepared for the devil and his angels, and 
ready as the prison of the lost. All are about to 
rise or sink for ever, and you and I are there. 
Long has this day been spoken of; long believed, 
long disbelieved ; but it is come. The believer 
and the infidel alike believe in it now. It is 
come. The last day of man's probation is over, 
and all are assembled for their eternal doom. 
It is come. The Judge is seen ; how different 
from what he once was seen ! how changed from 
what he then appeared ! how changed are all 
his followers too ! and O how changed his foes ! 
Where is now their unbelief? their pride? their 
haughtiness? their scorn? It is come. Time 
has rolled its last year, its last hour away. This 
day seemed slow to come; the day of mercy 



158 TRIUMPH OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 

lasted long-, but it is over, and this judgment 
day is come. 

5. The Judge eternal now pronounces man's 
unchanging doom. Fie says to them on his 
right hand, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, in- 
herit the kingdom prepared for you, from the 
foundation of the world." He owns their hum- 
ble services of faith and love ; and according to 
his solemn promise, confesses them who con- 
fessed him. O, sweet words of eternal life I 
they are pronounced, and suspense, and doubt, 
and fear are vanished for ever. Now, indeed, 
the righteous come to Zion with everlasting joy 
upon their heads ; now, indeed, sorrow and sigh- 
ing are fled away. What a recompense is this 
for tears, and toils, and sorrows ! What thinks 
the Christian now of these ! The Saviour allow- 
ed his followers once to toil in sorrow and per- 
secution ; but now he changes toil to rest, and 
sorrow to unending joy ! He let them endure 
grief; but now he gives the crown of life and 
honour. The great day of wrath is no day of 
wrath to them ; no fears, no alarm, will now dis- 
turb their tranquillity more. Many of them toiled 
in poverty, and were afflicted and trodden down 
of men ; but all this is past. Their conflicts 
are changed for the victor's palm. What will 
be the humble Christian's feelings while gazing 
on his Judge ? " This is he to whom I fled ! 
This is he after whom I struggled, at times with 
almost fainting steps ! This is he whom the 
world would fain have had me leave ! This is 
he to whom my heart was devoted ! This is he, 
about an interest in whose love I often felt pain- 
ful anxiety ; but he is come, and I am his. I 



DOOM OF THE UNRIGHTEOUS. ' 159 

know it now, and anxiety and enemies shall vex 
me no more." 

O reader, would you be thus blessed ? If you 
would, remember these things are no cunningly 
devised fables ; and, as in the view of death and 
judgment, now embrace unfeigned religion. 

6. But hearken to a different sentence. Be- 
hold a different scene ! Besides those on the 
right hand, there are myriads on his left. "What 
says the Judge to them ? " Depart from me, ye 
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the 
devil and his angels !" " I never knew you, de- 
part from me, ye that work iniquity." 1 Oh, the 
horrors of that sentence, and of that day ! If you 
should be among them, how will you meet that 
day ? What will be the terror of beholding a 
long-neglected Judge? to see him on whose de- 
cision hangs life or death eternal ? to see him on 
whose smile or frown heaven or hell depends ? 
And to recollect what he once was? what he 
once would have been to you ? and with what 
base neglect his love was treated ? And what 
will be the terror connected with the disclosure 
of unnumbered ^crimes, when " God shall bring 
every work into judgment, with every secret 
ihing?" 2 Should you die in your sins, ail your 
transgressions will then pass in direful review. 
Secret or open guilt will alike be visible ; crimes 
shrouded in privacy and darkness, will be open 
to universal view. God says of men, " They 
consider not in their hearts that I remember all 
their wickedness." 3 We may forget our own of- 
fences ; others may forget them ; multitudes of 
sins are unobserved; and multitudes more for- 

(1) Matt. vii. 23. (2) Eccles. xii. 14. (3) Hos vii. 2. 



160 ALL MUST GIVE ACCOUNT TO GOD 

gotten. Time weakens or wears out the impres- 
sion of the evil of many transgressions; but God 
remembers all. They glare always before him in 
all their hideous deformity. Oh, if you should 
live careless of your Judge, and a stranger to his 
pardoning grace, how will you meet him then ? 
" Every one of us shall give account of himself 
to God," 1 but how will you give up that account ? 
If a prince were to employ a servant to transact 
some weighty business for him in a foreign land, 
and, on his return, calling for his account, should 
find so much time spent in singing, so much in 
dancing, so much in novel-reading, so much at 
the play-house, so much in foolish merriment 
with gay companions, so many days idled away, 
and so many played away, and the very business 
for which he was sent entirely neglected and un- 
done, what would be thought of such a servant? 
Would not his master justly cast him off for ever? 
God has entrusted to you talents, privileges, and 
mercies ; has given you life that you may glorify 
him, and be prepared for everlasting life. But 
if the great concerns of religion are neglected, 
all this is left undone ; and what must be your 
account, when, like the wicked and slothful ser- 
vant just described, you have to render one to 
your injured Master? How will you account 
for your numberless sins? for abused mercies? 
for privileges neglected ? for admonitions disre- 
garded ? for preferring trifles to God, Christ, and 
religion ? for thus insulting the Father, and re- 
jecting the Son, and grieving the Spirit ? 

And what will be the terror of the wrath these 
crimes have merited ? Thousands of years of 

(l) Rom. xiv. 12. 



THE READER MUST BE JUDGED. ' 161 

mercy will have rolled away, and every sinner had 
his day of grace and mercy, but all will now be 
changed to vengeance; to vengeance deserved 
for mercies abused, and for love despised ; de- 
served for slighting God, neglecting Christ, and 
resisting the Holy Ghost. Patience will long 
have waited ; but patience will have given place 
to wrath. The Lord will render " indignation 
and wrath, tribulation and anguish," 1 upon all 
that have not obeyed the truth. "Upon the 
wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, 
and an horrible tempest : this shall be the por- 
tion of their cup." 2 O, reader, if you continue 
uninterested in the Saviour, this will be your lot. 
However thoughtless or unbelieving, you must 
appear before his bar. There you will be seen 
confounded, trembling, and despairing. There 
you will stand with all the impure and the pro- 
fligate ; the vile and the infernal ; with all the 
monsters of iniquity that the earth ever bore, and 
that meet there laden with unpardoned sin. 
The Judge's lightnings will flash, and his thun- 
der roll ; you will hear your doom, and that 
doom will be the damnation of hell. The doom of 
that day will be final. There will be no after- 
change. The blessed will never be cursed; the 
cursed will never be blessed. When man was 
created, Satan entered Eden, and Adam fell : 
Christ came to earth, and the fallen rise ; but no 
tempter will enter heaven, no Saviour will visit 
hell. Wrath then experienced will never be ap- 
peased. Through the days of heavenly mercy, 
the Saviour was full of compassion ; prayer was 
heard and pardon given : but not then. There 

(1) Rom. ii. 1. (2) Psalm, xi. 6. ( 

P 



162 THE DAY OF MERCY ENDED. 

will be no sacrifice to atone for unpardoned 
guilt; no prevailing prayer; no intercessor. 
The ungodly will cry to the rocks, "Fall on us, 
and hide us from the nice of him that sitteth on 
the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." 1 
Alas! vain refuge! yet the rocks would sooner 
hear their cry than the inexorable Judge. If 
through irreligion this should be your lot, " Lord, 
Lord," you may exclaim, " have mercy on me." 
No : the day of mercy is past ; that prayer might 
have been heard once, but cannot be heard now. 
The gate of salvation is shut, and you and others 
despairing cry, "Lord, Lord, open to us." No : 
the door shut once never opens. 2 No, sinner, 
never ! no, never ! Eternal truth has said it ! no, 
never ! for you would neglect the Lord of life 
and salvation ; you would not be his disciple. 
When the Lord invites you to come to him and 
be happy, you can refuse ; but when he says, 
Die, you cannot refuse to ciie ; and when he 
says, " Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire," 
depart you must. Into that abyss may devils 
drag you, and enmity to God will make you 
like a devil there. 

7. Should you be exposed to all this, what 
will you think of the present warning? Should 
you be at his Left hand, or see some you know 
among the blest and be among the lost, what 
bitter regret will then distress your soul ? Whan 
joyous meetings of the saved will there be on 
that day ! What solemn partings where some 
have known Christ, and others slighted him ! 
What solemn partings between neighbours and 
congregations ! What eternal separations between 

(1) Rev. vi. 16. (2) Matt xxv. 10 



THE SCENES OF JUDGMENT FINISHED. 163 

fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, friends 
and companions, some ascending to glory, 
others sinking to destruction. Of the lost, whose 
heart would not break on that day, at that sepa- 
ration, if a heart then could break ? but that will 
not be. Whatever your friends do, let this be 
your concern, to secure the Judge's welcome and 
everlasting life. But what can give you the cer- 
tainty of this? Nothing but possessing an in- 
terest in his salvation. Then you may indulge 
a cheerful confidence, that, when on his judg- 
ment throne, he will justify you ; and who shall 
condemn you ? That he in effect will say, or 
act as if he said, " This soul is mine. It was 
committed to my care. I blotted out its trans- 
gression and guided its way. It was mine in its 
pilgrimage on earth, and now is mine for ever.*' 
Will this be said of you ? 

And now the trumpet is hushed. The judg- 
ment is passed. The judge has left his judg- 
ment throne, and all are gone to their eternal 
abodes. The lost are howling in agony, and 
wailing in despair. The blest have entered 
their rest. Eternity is now their day. Its cloud- 
less sun has risen upon them. Its vast expanse 
stretches before them, and is all one scene of 
rapture, tranquillity and praise. Their home is 
heaven. Their father is God. Their rest is with 
him who died. Their friends are the angel 
hosts, and all the blood-bought myriads of the 
redeemed. Their holiness is perfect. Their hap- 
piness is endless. The former things have passed 
away. Reader, where is your home ? where 
will it be for ever? Shall vou be one of these ? 



164 CERTAINTY OF THE FINAL RUIN 



CHAPTER IX. 

DECISION IN THE CHOICE OF RELIGION URGED BY 
THE RUIN AND MISERY THAT AWAIT THE IMPE- 
NITENT. 

1. An old writer remarks, that sermons con- 
cerning " hell may keep many out of hell." Re- 
ligion or ruin is the only alternative presented 
to you. Think not that the most awful displays 
of your danger, if you are a trifler with religion, 
are inconsistent with the indulgence of that spirit 
of love which the gospel enjoins. The Lord 
Jesus was full of compassion ; and because he 
was so, he uttered the most awful representations 
of future ruin which the New Testament con- 
tains. 

2. Consider that it is not more certain that you 
live, than it is that you will perish if you do not 
turn to God. Indulge not the delusive expecta- 
tion that God will be less strict, and more merci- 
ful, than his own word represents him to be. God 
is merciful, but he is also just and true. God is 
a tender parent to the penitent that seeks him, 
but he is a consuming fire to his enemies. 
Though to the contrite in heart, his mercy is as 
great as the heavens are high above the earth ; 
yet against the impenitent his wrath will bum to 
the lowest hell. 1 A deception that would bring 
you to the gallows were dreadful ; but a decep- 

(1) Deut. xxxii. 22. 



OF THE IRRELIGIOUS. 165 

tion that would sink you to hell is infinitely 
worse. Be not then deceived, " the unrighteous 
shall not inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Repeat- 
ing this solemn warning the inspired writer, 
when referring to the works of corrupt nature, 
declares, "I tell you before, as I have also told 
you in time past, that they which do such things 
shall not inherit the kingdom of God." 2 " Ex- 
cept ye repent ye shall all likewise perish." 3 
Jesus said, " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Ex- 
cept a man be born of water and of the Spirit, 
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Mar- 
vel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born 
again." 4 Thus there is not a hope, unless, with 
reverence be it spoken, God could prove false, 
that you can be saved without true piety. A 
millstone will not more surely sink when cast 
into the waves, nor a mass of lead thrown from 
the top of a precipice more surely fall, than you 
will fall, and sink, and perish, if you pass 
through time a stranger to the Saviour's grace. 
The Father declares that the impenitent shall 
die. The Son confirms the awful truth. The 
old Testament and the new repeatedly inculcate 
the solemn sentiment. The law dooms them, 
and the gospel adds to the awful doom. 

3. Consider the dreadful descriptions which 
are given by the God of truth respecting the sin- 
ner's misery. A great variety of the most ter- 
rific images are employed to represent this horrid 
ruin. Hell is described as " a furnace of fire," 
into which the unrighteous are cast, where is 
wailing and gnashing of teeth ; 5 as " a lake which 

(1) l Cor. vi. 9. (2) Gal. v. 21. (3) Luke. xiii. 3. 
(4) John, iii. 5—7. (o) Matt. xiii. 42. 

p3 



166 SCRIPTURAL DESCRIPTIONS OF HELL. 

burnetii with fire and brimstone j" 1 "the second 
death ;" 2 as the vengeance of eternal fire ; 3 as 
outer darkness ;* as the " blackness of darkness 
forever ;" 6 as "chains of darkness ;" 6 as the place 
of torment where the sinner is tormented in the 
flame ; 7 as " wrath to come ;" 8 as "the bottom- 
less pit;" 9 " the second death ;" 10 "destruction;" 11 
"everlasting- fire prepared for the devil and his 
angels;" 12 " everlasting punishment ;" 13 " a pri- 
son ;" u "where the worm dieth not, and the fire 
is not quenched." 15 How terrific are these de- 
scriptions ! but what must be the dreadful re- 
ality ! As much worse than any conceptions we 
can now form of such wretchedness, as being 
torn limb from limb would be worse than the 
pricking of a pin. 

4. All this indescribably dreadful ruin is de- 
clared to be everlasting. This the scriptures 
solemnly assert. " Many of them that sleep in 
the dust of the earth shall awake, some to ever- 
lasting life, and some to shame and everlasting 
contempt." 16 " He will throughly purge his 
floor, and gather his wheat into the garner ; but 
will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 17 
" He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting 
life : and he that believeth not the Son shall not 
see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him." 18 
" These shall go away into everlasting punish- 
ment ; but the righteous into life eternal." 19 In 
the first of these passages, and in the original in 

(l)Rev. xx. 8. (2) Rev. xx. 8. (3)Jude.7. (4) Matt. xxii. 13. 
(5) Jude, 13. (6) Pet. ii. 4. (7) Luke, xvi. 23,24. (8) 1 Thess. i. 10. 
(9) Rev. ix. 2. (10) Rev. ii. 11. (11) Matt. vii. 14. 

(12) Matt. xxv. 41. (13) Matt. xxv. 46. (14) 1 Peter, iii. 19. 
( S) Mark, ii. 44. (18) Dan. xii. 2. (17) Matt. iii. 12. 

(18) John, iii. 35. (19) Matt. xxv. 46. 



FUTURE PUNISHMENT ETERNAL. 1D7 

the last of them, the same word that describes 
the unending nature of the happiness of the 
righteous, is employed to describe that of the 
misery of the lost. The Lord Jesus, in what 
precedes the solemn declaration, "these shall go 
away into everlasting punishment," has been re- 
presenting the scenes connected with man's final 
doom. Were an earthly judge to address a 
prisoner, " Your life or death is now to be deci- 
ded ; if convicted you must die," would it not be 
deemed madness for the prisoner to slight the 
means of acquittal, under the hope that the 
judge would not be true to his word, nor adhere 
to his declaration? And is it not worse infatua- 
tion, when the Lord Jesus declares, that the un- 
righteous shall go away into everlasting punish- 
ment, to indulge the hope that he means a pe- 
riod of suffering infinitely less than eternal. 

" The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for 
ever and ever." On this expression D wight re- 
marks, " The phrase commonly rendered ' for 
ever and ever,' is used, if I mistake not, eighteen 
times in the New Testament. In fifteen instan- 
ces it is applied to the continuance of the glory, 
perfections, government, and praise of God. In 
one (Rev. xxii. 5.) it is said of the righteous in 
the future world, that f they shall reign for ever 
and ever.' In one of the remaining two it is 
said of the impenitent, that is, of those among 
them who worship the beast and his image, that 
* the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for 
ever and ever.' In the remaining instance it is 
said of the devil, who deceived the nations, of 
the beast, and of the false prophet, that 'in the 
lake of fire and brimstone they shall be tor- 



168 ETERNITY OF FUTURE PUNISHMENT. 

merited day and night for ever and ever.' Now 
let me ask, whether a man, even of moderate 
understanding-, could be supposed to write with 
scrupulous integrity a system of theology, and 
employ this phrase sixteen times to denote an 
absolute eternity, and twice to denote that 
which was infinitely different; while these were 
the only instances in which the phrase was ap- 
plied to a given subject, and that of immeasur- 
able importance to those for whom he wrote ? 
But if such a man cannot be supposed thus to 
use language, nor vindicate it when used in this 
manner, can such conduct be attributed safely 
to the Spirit of God ?" Besides those passages 
in which the expressions everlasting, eternal, for 
ever and ever, are employed to represent the du- 
ration of the sufferings of the lost, there are pas- 
sages that in other phraseology most solemnly 
assert the same awful truth. The Lord Jesus, 
admonishing his disciples to suffer any thing ra- 
ther than lose the soul, repeats this dreadful 
truth no less than five times in a few sentences. 
" If thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better 
for thee to enter into life maimed, than having 
two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never 
shall be quenched : where their worm dieth not, 
and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot 
offend thee, cut it off: it is belter for thee to en- 
ter halt into life, than having too feet to be cast 
into hell, into the fire that never shall be quench- 
ed : where their worm dieth not, and the fire is 
not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, 
pluck it out : it is better for thee to enter into the 
kingdom of God with one eye, than having two 
eyes to be cast into hell fire : where their worm 



THE POVERTY OF A LOST SOUL. 169 

dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." 1 Can 
a warning be more solemn, or language more 
decided, than there "the fire never shall be 
quenched." To these passages others might be 
added ; but if these are disbelieved, so would all 
the rest. 

5. Thus guided by the infallible word of God, 
consider the situation to which those who die in 
irreligion will be reduced. They lose all present 
good. When you leave this world, you will have 
left for ever all the comforts and pursuits of time; 
and then, if you have no neaven to welcome you, 
you will be poor beyond expression. Think of 
a lost soul. The poorest beggar is not so poor ; 
the most miserable criminal not so wretched : 
and perhaps even devils themselves not torment- 
ed with such remorse. In the case of such an 
unhappy creature, the satisfactions of the pre- 
sent world are all over. Its guilty pleasures are 
finished; its innocent comforts are ended. 
Whatever gratification might once be enjoyed in 
the pursuits of life ; in friendships, in connex- 
ions, in the love of parents or of children, all is 
past. While these continue the sinner may find 
some satisfaction without the blessings of reli- 
gion ; but what will he do when these shall all 
have left him. An old writer 2 relates, that a 
vain ungodly man was lying sleepless on his 
bed, and being weary, and finding no rest, he 
began to think, would any be hired to lie thus 
for two or three years in darkness without friends 
or amusements ? Would any one be willing to 
be bound to a bed, though it were a bed of down, 
and never stir abroad ? And he thought, no one 

(1) Mark, ix. 43—4'-!. (2) Drexelius. 



170 ANECDOTE FROM DREXELIUS. 

would. Then he reflected, that the time would 
come, when willing- or unwilling- he, unless 
snatched away by a sudden stroke, must lie 
upon a bed of sickness and death ; and he 
thought, " But what bed shall I have next, when 
death shall thrust me out of this ? My body 
must rot in the earth ; for this is the condition of 
all men after death. But what shall become of 
my soul in another world ? Surely all men do not 
go to the same place after death. Do not some 
go one way, and some another ? Is there not a 
hell as well as a heaven ? Woe and alas ! 
What kind of bed shall the damned find in 
hell ? How many years shall they lie there ? 
In what year after their first entrance shall the 
flames cease and be put out? Assuredly Christ 
doth not only in word threaten to cast the wick, 
ed into everlasting fire, but will also cast them in 
indeed." These thoughts followed him, and he 
could not rest. Eternity still run in his mind. 
He tried to banish the solemn impression amidst 
companions and sinful delights, but in vain. 
Conscience, if seeming for a while asleep, soon 
awoke, and inflicted fresh stings upon his soul. 
He thought, " I am not certain whether I shall 
live till to-morrow or no : daily funerals suffi- 
ciently prove this. Oh eternity, if thou wert not I 
Oh eternity, if thy place be not in heaven, 
though it be on a soft down bed, thou canst not 
but be bitter and unpleasant !" At length he 
fled from the paths of sin, and lived and died a, 
pious man. Happy they who thus seek the ways 
of peace. The impenitent, with all their worldly 
comforts, will lose all which in life yielded some 
support. All false hopes expire. The delusive 



STATE OF A LOST SOUL. 171 

expectations of the wavering and the undecided , 
of the formalist and the self-righteous, are no 
more. Eternity is before them without a 
comfort or a blessing: but this is only the be- 
ginning of sorrows. " Hast thou seen this, O 
son of man ! turn thee yet again, and thou shalt 
see greater ' sorrows' than these." 

6. The sinner dying in his sins is banished 
from God, the only source of light and joy. He 
has forfeited his Creator's favour and love. In 
the love of God the blessed rejoice ; and in it 
angels find their heaven ; but, unhappy crea- 
ture ! it is lost to him. He is exposed to his 
Creator's frown ; to the liveliest sense of the 
wrath of God, whose frown is so dreadful, that a 
dying profligate exclaimed, " O thou blasphem- 
ed, yet most indulgent Lord God ! hell itself is a 
refuge, if it hide me from thy frown." But hell 
will not hide the sinner; he must bear that 
frown continually. There too he feels not only 
the loss of all he once loved, but the everlasting 
loss of all the saints enjoy. Does he look to 
heaven ? It is lost to him. Does he think of 
pious friends or pious parents ? They are for 
ever parted from him. They dwell in life and 
rapture, and he in death and misery. Does he 
think of sabbaths and seasons of mercy ? He 
had them once, but they are for ever gone from 
him. Religious mercies are at an end. All 
that were given to help the soul tc heaven, and 
tbat were neglected and abused, have finished. 
His state is a state of utter friendlessness. There 
is none to love him, none to pity him, none to 
help him. Xo friend to cheer one hour in an 
eternal night of wee ;. no merry companion to 



172 THE DREADFUL CONDITION 

laugh away a single moment, or to stifle for the 
twinkling of an eye the stings of a tormenting 
conscience. Around him all are equally wretch- 
ed, and equally guilty with himself. Among 
the myriads of the lost, that he may meet, the 
crowd that once thronged the downward way in 
merriment and folly, or contempt of piety and 
scom of God, he sees not one cheerful counte- 
nance. There are the lewd, but now they gnash 
their teeth with the companions of their guilt. 
There is the drunkard ; once he boasted of his 
crimes, but now his boastings are changed to 
wailings, his glorying to agony. There is the 
swearer ; and all his swearing prayers are an- 
swered in his utter condemnation. There is that 
child of the devil, the liar, gone home to his fa- 
ther's house. There are the prayerless ; once 
they would not pray, and the time for prevailing 
prayer is passed. There is the infidel ; but he 
now too late believes. There is the blasphemer, 
now more blasphemous. There are players, but 
no play-houses ; and lovers of dissipation, but 
no dissipation to please them. There are the 
opposers of humb'e piety, who hated religion 
upon earth ; and now with vain but malignant 
hatred, they hate its Author more than ever. 
There are they who had privileges and mercies 
in vain ; who were once raised to heaven by 
blessings, but are now brought down to hell. For 
them all no Christian prays. On them no sab- 
bath shines. Before them no hopes bloom. To 
them no mercies come. Hope is gone.. Mercy 
is gone. Grace is gone. Sin cannot be forgiven. 
God has forgotten to be gracious. The compas- 
sion of a Saviour never more will reach them. 



OF A LOST SOUL. 173 

There is the horrible society of the devil and his 
angels. Every hellish spirit for whom that 
place of woe was originally created, is there, his 
own tormentor, and the tormentor of his fellow- 
sufferers and fellow- rebels. What must such 
society be! It is heart-rending to think of it, 
what will be the woe of being mingled with it 
continually ! There will doubtless be a dreadful 
variety of miseries ; none of them light, but 
each of them distressful beyond present appre- 
hension. The eye will see sights of woe. The 
ear be open only to shrieks of despair, and yells 
of blasphemy and misery. The immortal and 
incorruptible body will feel the torments of the. 
fire that never shall be quenched ; and the lost 
but immortal spirit will endure the worse tortures 
of remorse and despair that never can die. The 
memory will torment the sinner while he recol- 
lects the past, thinks of the sins which brought 
him there, and of the mercy which he once 
abused, and of the vanities for which he sold his 
soul and lost eternal life. Looking backward, 
he will see amazing displays of divine grace, and 
horrid manifestations of his own ingratitude and 
folly. Apprehensions for the future will be no 
less tormenting than recollections of the past. 
Forward he will see guilt, and gloom, and pun- 
ishment, and darkness, and despair; guilt, and 
gloom, and punishment, and darkness, and .de- 
spair. And still his prospect will be for ever 
unchanged ; it will still be guilt, and gloom, and 
punishment, and darkness, and despair. All 
these sorrows will be not occasional, but constant. 
Sorrow on earth has its intermissions; pain has 
its hours of ease, or at least of lighter pain : but 
Q 



174 NO DELIVERANCE FOR LOST SOULS. 

the sorrows of the lost are unmitigated and un- 
intermitting sorrows. The compassionate Sa- 
viour has taught us this dreadful truth. He 
describes a lost sinner as soliciting the smallest 
possible alleviation of misery ; not a day's deli- 
verance, not an hour's ease ; he only prays, " Send 
Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in 
water and cool ray tongue, for I am tormented in 
this flame." What could be less? what allevi- 
ation more trifling ? what intermission of misery 
more insignificant? yet even this was too much 
to be granted to a lost soul. The. answer not only 
contained a refusal, but declared that such alle- 
viation was impossible. 

7. How awful is the change from earthly com- 
forts to this deep poverty ! From the family 
circle, or the company of gay associates, to the 
utter friendlessness of hell ! From privileges 
once abounding, to the dwellings of despair ! 
From having a Saviour displayed, to the hope- 
lessness of unceasing and unmitigated wretch- 
edness and ruin. For all this heart-breaking 
load is not transient, but eternal. The prison of 
the lost is an everlasting prison. Earthly prisons 
cannot long detain their captives ; time rolls by, 
and if none else open the prison doors, death 
comes, and sets the prisoner free. When a de- 
voted martyr was confined in one of the prisons 
of that profligate persecutor, Charles the If, and 
he had declared the prisoner should never have 
his liberty, a nobleman once said to him, " Jen- 
kins has got his liberty." "Ah ;" said the wick- 
ed monarch, " Who gave it him ?" " A greater 
than your majesty, the King of kings." But no 
King of kings will open the prison doors of those 



THEIR SORROWS NEVER END. 175 

who are eternally lost. Some of these prisoners 
have been there already four thousand years ;* 
but no year of release has come, and none will 
ever come. Hell they chose when they chose 
sin ; and what they chose they must for ever 
have. Time brought an end to their earthly 
sorrows ; they had their last ; but eternity will 
bring- no end to the sorrows of perdition. Time 
brought an end to their pleasures ; they had their 
last delight, their last vain pleasure, their last 
hour of sinful merriment, a last laugh as well as 
a last sigh ; but of their present ruin, no one 
will ever say, The end is come. If ten thousand 
years hence the question were asked, Where are 
they who neglected God, slighted Christ, loved 
the world, and died in sin ? and how are they 
employed ? The answer might be, They are 
helpless captives in the prison of the lost ; there 
they are blaspheming their God, and weeping, 
and wailing, and suffering ; hateful, and hating 
one another. And if ten thousand years beyond 
that period, the question were again proposed, 
the answer must still be the same, and the same 
would it be for ever. Their last change was a 
final one. Help cannot reach them. Now, Chris- 
tian, if you can, tell those hapless souls of peace, 
tell them of your Saviour ! O, you cannot ; he 
can never be theirs. Now, Christian minister, 
proclaim your message; proclaim pardon through 
atoning blood ! Ah ! you cannot ; though once, 
perhaps, some of them sat beneath your ministry, 
yet as to them your work is done ; your com- 
mission is over ; you have no message to bear 
to them, no pardon to proclaim, no Saviour 

(1) 1 Peter, iii. 19, 20. Jude, 7 



176 THE STATE OF THE LOST UNCHANGEABLE. 

to display. 0, be zealous while you may ; not 
long can you help any to heaven ; they will be 
out of your reach, or you removed from them. 

8. Their state is unchangeable, for their cha- 
racter cannot be renewed. They went out of the 
world unholy, and thus hateful and hellish ; and 
such they must for ever remain. No change will 
their hearts ever know. No love to God will ever 
be found within their breasts. No alteration 
will ever take place in their relative condition as 
to God and Christ, to saints and angels, or to the 
devil and the lost. Of God and Christ they 
would be neglectors, and thus were enemies, 
and enemies they will for ever continue. With 
the blessed family of saints and angels they had 
no connexion ; they were aliens from the com- 
monwealth of Israel, and strangers from the co- 
venants of promise ; and such they will eternally 
remain. They were the children of the wicked 
one, and did his will in slighting mercy and 
persisting in rebellion ; and now they must be 
his helpless captives. No change can they know 
as to sin and condemnation. Unpardoned sins 
fixed on them, when they died, must load them 
for ever ; their condemnation then was sealed. 
The darkness of the fall might be removed ; the 
stains of guilt might have been effaced ; but the 
darkness of hell can never be dissipated ; the 
load of guilt once felt there, must sink the soul 
eternally beneath its intolerable weight. For 
them no rest remains ; no rest from sinning and 
from suffering. Their absence from God is ever- 
lasting ; their enmity to God will be everlasting ; 
and their sufferings beneath his wrath will be 
everlasting. Their dwelling with accursed friends 



SERIOUS EXPOSTULATION. 177 

and miserable associates in guilt will be ever- 
lasting-. Earthly sorrows know nothing- of such 
wretchedness. In pain or agony to-day, we hope 
for ease to-morrow ; but there will be no to-mor- 
row of ease to be hoped for there. Iflanguishing 
in disease now, a few days may bring recruited 
health ; but the disease of sin will never be re- 
moved. When thousands of years of woe are 
past, the sinner will still have to lament his fatal 
choice. If he had chosen God and Christ, reli- 
gion and heaven, he would not have been this 
destitute, forsaken, friendless wretch ; but he 
chose the world, and sin, and folly ; and all he 
loved has left him, and only the bitter fruits of 
his fatal choice remain. A disgraced courtier 
once said, "If I had served God as faithfully as 
I have served my king, he would not have for- 
saken me in my grey hairs." Every lost sinner 
may say, " If I had served the Saviour, as I serv- 
ed the world, if I had given the heart to him 
which I gave to the world, he would not have 
left me to be the victim of devils, and the prisoner 
of hell, in utter sorrow and endless poverty." 

9. Reader, if you are careless of salvation, be 
entreated to consider your own concern in these 
solemn truths. These are not cunningly devised 
fables. Even demons dreaded the gulf of 
sorrow; and when permitted, for a little while 
to rove on earth, prayed for transient relief from 
the abyss. They besought the Lord that he 
would not command them to go into that deep. 1 
Did demons dread hell, and will you rush into 
it ! Did they, when deliverance was hopeless, 
beg" for a moment's absence from the pit, and 

(1) Luko, viii 31. 

q3 



1*8 THE IRRELIGIOUS ENTREATED TO 

will you slight eternal deliverance ! Did devils 
pray, and will you not pray ! At this very 
moment, multitudes unknown are in the world 
unseen, suffering the torments of guilt, perdi- 
tion, and despair. While you slight salvation, 
they who have slighted the gospel before you 
burn. While you laugh, perhaps at this warn- 
ing, they wail at the recollection of warnings 
once scorned. While you talk of liberty, they 
groan in the prison, to which such liberty leads. 
At this moment, could you behold their sor- 
rows, and hear their groans, their cries of misery 
might fill you with consternation, while the 
thought forced itself on your mind, " I am 
travelling to the same abode." They lament 
while you neglect ; and suffer for sins while you 
commit them ; but if you pursue a careless 
course, what must be its termination ? " If the 
righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the un- 
godly and the sinner appear ?" 

10. Think, what if you continue to slight the 
gospel, will be your future lot ! Picture your 
future self. Suppose you follow the world ; 
you love it, you have it, and you neglect your 
soul. Thus you go through life ; at length the 
end comes ; sickness seizes you, and you lie 
stretched upon the bed of death. Alas, you 
are not prepared for the great change ! Did 
you do well to neglect the only Saviour? 
Eternity is before you, and you are not ready 
to meet, with comfort, its amazing solemnities. 
You look backward, and can think of van- 
ities, follies, pleasures loved and prized, yet 
ended ; but you cannot think of piety, of 
sweet seasons of prayer ; of Christ welcomed ; 



CONTEMPLATE THEIR FUTURE CONDITION. 179 

and a deathless soul committed to his hands. 
You can think of serious impressions, but this 
deepens your anguish, for these impressions 
were quenched. You can remember desires 
after God and holiness once felt, but those 
desires were stifled ; the Spirit was resisted, and 
sin and folly chosen. You can think of sabbaths, 
whose profanation added to the enormous load 
of your transgressions. Unhappy they, who 
must lie upon a dying bed indulging such re- 
flections.! But you must if you will not turn 
to God. From looking backward, you look 
forward, but all the prospect is dark and dis- 
tressing. Perhaps, some false hope bears you 
up a little; but your case seems dreadfully 
doubtful at the best. At length you die, and 
doubt is over. Your lot is decided now ; you 
are in eternity, and all your sins upon you. 
What will then be your torturing feelings I 
"What different views will you take of this world ! 
of your own conduct ! of your guilty choice 
from those you cherish now ! What different 
thoughts will force themselves upon you, of 
your present pleasures ! of your abuse of God's 
mercy and patience ! of Christ's love and your 
neglect ! of his long-continued goodness and 
your long.continued indifference and ingratitude! 
What then will seem youth, riper years, and, 
perhaps, age spent without God in the world ! 
But regret will come too late, the deed will be 
done that cannot be undone. 

11. Think of yourself now, going to your dis- 
mal prison. Infernal spirits have seized your 
miserable soul. There is none to help you. 
Through many long rebellious years you slight- 



180 THE FUTURE CONDITION AND 

ed him who would have helped you, and saved 
you from the pit. Think yourself entering the 
place of sorrow. How horrid is the place ! how 
deep the darkness! how unutterably dreadful 
the prospect ! Now what is your remorse for 
mercies past and wasted ! Now what do you think 
of sabbaths broken ! of sabbath work, and sab- 
bath amusements ! Now what do you think of 
the warnings, that Christians and ministers 
once addressed to you ! Will you now say 
they were too plain ? Now what do you think 
of the house of God, which you would not fre- 
quent ! of your careless days and guilty nights; 
and all your scenes of worldly festivity and 
merriment ! Now how do you review stifled 
convictions, and neglected calls and invitations ! 
O that you could have them again ! O that 
now some helping hand could be stretched out, 
to prevent your going into the deep ! but there 
is none ! O that prevailing prayer could now 
be offered ! but there is none. The day for 
prayer is over ; and the prayerful will never 
more pray for you. Now you may groan out, 
" Is this my fancied wisdom ! Did my ways lead 
to this ! Is this the ruin from which the Lord 
would have saved me ! and to which I rushed 
so heedlessly and madly !" What will you do ! 
Fly to seek refuge among the pious you once 
despised ? You cannot. Almighty power en- 
gaged against you, forbids the hope. Escape 
the wicked one ? You have served him, you 
have done his will in sin, or in wicked neglect 
of the Saviour, and you cannot escape him 
Will you repent ? pray ? Ah it is too late ! 
Now you may pray. You may go to Christian 



CHANGED VIEWS OF THE IRRELIGIOUS. 181 

friends or Christian ministers, or search the 
sacred page for instruction and advice; but then 
you cannot. Go you must into your dismal 
prison. Oh the groans of your sinking despair- 
ing soul ! You may laugh at these things in 
health and strength, in the present world, though 
God himself has said, " The wicked shall be 
turned into hell, and all the nations that forget 
God." 1 In hardened sin, or trifling folly you 
may laugh while here ; and treat these awful 
truths as bugbears invented to frighten you ; 
but entrance on the infernal prison will produce, 
too late, an inconceivable change in all your 
views of these solemn subjects. When your 
neglected soul wakes in torments ; when round 
you is the horrid glare of hellish fire ; before 
you the dreadful forms of hellish tormentors ; 
on you all the wrath of God ; and in you all 
the tortures of despair ; then will you know what 
it is to go into the deep you dread so little here. 
When God has left you, when Christ has left 
you, when mercy has left you, when there is not 
one to pray for you, none to fan your false 
hopes, none to amuse you, then will you know 
what it is to neglect the Saviour, and sink into 
the dreadful deep of hell ! O awake! awake ! 
and flee from the wrath to come. Awake ! 
awake ! and welcome the Saviour of the lost ! 

12. If you will not listen to this entreaty, O 
hear one warning more. According to the. 
views given from God's word, your ruin will be 
endless. The writer once travelling, fell into 
company with a young man, just released, aftei 
eighteen months' confinement, from a well-con- 

(1) Psalm, ix. 17. 



182 THE CONDITION AND REFLECTIONS OF THE 

ducted English prison ; whose governor was dis- 
tinguished for kindness to his prisoners ; yet this 
young man remarked, that it seemed to him 
almost like heaven when out of gaol, to walk 
about the streets of the town. It was remarked 
to him, that a prisoner might come out of an 
earthly prison, but if he went to hell he would 
never be delivered. A poor negro made the 
same observation to a number of his countrymen. 
" If you go to gaol you soon will come out again ; 
if you go to hell you never come out." Now is 
this so in your case, as in the case of other im- 
penitent transgressors ? Not only is hell ever- 
lasting, but if you go to it, it will be everlasting 
to you? And can you dwell with devouring 
burnings? can you dwell with everlasting fire? 
What would you not, when too late, give for even 
a moment's respite ? Will one moment come 
through endless years, in which a lost soul will 
not view, with bitter remorse, the day of salvation 
wasted ! Will one pang be felt, amidst the suf- 
ferings of a whole eternity, that will not bring to 
remembrance mercy abused ; grace despised ; 
Christ neglected ! salvation slighted ! and sin 
and folly preferred ! 

13. Ere this warning close, O reader, again be 
entreated to think of the agonizing reflections 
that will force themselves upon you, if by neglect 
of salvation you sink yourself to final ruin. When 
help is at an end ; when they who prayed have 
done praying for you ; and they who wept have 
done weeping for you ; when the Christian has 
ceased inviting you ; and the minister yearning- 
over you ; when the Saviour has done waiting on 
you ; and even the wicked one has done tempt- 



IRRELIGIOUS WHEN MERCIES SHALLHAVE ENDED. 183 

ing you, because his end is answered, and no one 
can save you ; then how will you contemplate 
the past ! How many were your mercies once ! 
but they are over. You had convictions ; they 
are stifled and past. Invitations ; they have 
ceased. Hopes ; the last glimmering of hope is 
gone. You heard sermons ; they are ended. 
You had days, weeks, years, sabbaths of mercy; 
they are all finished. Many would have had 
compassion on you ; the Father pitied you, and 
called you to himself, but he has ceased to call. 
The Son died for sin, and invited you to come to 
himself for happiness ; but he invites you no 
longer. The Spirit strove with you ; but he has 
ceased to strive. Ministers preached to you, and 
displayed the wonders of redeeming love ; but 
they have ceased to bring to you the message of 
salvation. The followers of Christ longed for 
your conversion ; but their anxious solicitude is 
ended. These mercies followed you through 
successive periods for many years. Of many it 
may be said, " You had all these blessings in 
youth. Then the Spirit strove with you, then the 
Saviour's love was displayed to you ; but the 
Spirit stroved, and the Saviour invited you in 
vain. The years of youth passed ; its latest day 
departed, and left you unconverted, even fur- 
ther from God and happiness, than when its 
opening morning dawned upon you. Then 
came riper years. Through these too the Sa- 
viour's love was slighted, and eternal life disre- 
garded. They ended, and left you further from 
God than ever. Then, perhaps, came the decli- 
ning years of age, and, like those of youth or 
middle life, passed unimproved away. Through 



184 THE HARVEST PAST, &C. 

all these periods mercy followed mercy, sabbath 
succeeded sabbath, blessings trod, a» it were, 
upon each other in constant succession. One 
invitation was scarcely rejected before another 
was given. One year of abused privileges hardly 
ended before another commenced. But at 
length the last arrived, and the last departed 
unimproved. God called for the last time, and, 
like all his former calls, the last was disregarded. 
The Spirit strove for the last time, and was for 
the last time resisted, and left the heart for ever. 
The Saviour for the last time displayed his love, 
and offered his salvation, and, like all the rest, 
this last display was vain. The harvest passed, 
the summer ended, and you are not saved. 

Not saved ! What horrors those few words 
express when descriptive of the state of an im- 
mortal spirit fixed in the eternal world ! Not 
saved from the ruin of the fall ! from the curse 
of the law ! from the captivity of Satan ! from 
the wrath of God ! from the load of sin ! from 
the torments of hell ! O reader, should this ever 
be your condition, vain then will be anxiety and 
remorse. Vainly will you wish you had your 
time again. Vainly will you exclaim, " O those 
mercies ! those neglected mercies ! could I have 
them again I would trifle with them no more ! 
O those sabbaths ! those broken sabbaths ! that 
they could but once more return, and bring the 
T blessings they offered heretofore ! O could I 
- have those wasted years again ! and hear one 
invitation more to the compassionate Saviour ! 
Shall I not have one !" No, unhappy creature ! 
not one ! God called, and you refused. When 
Esau despised his birthright, and afterwards fel* 



GRATITUDE DUE FOR SALVATION. 185 

his loss, he wept and prayed, " Hast thou but 
one blessing for me, my father ! bless me, even 
me also, my father !" but vain were his entrea- 
ties. " He found no place for repentance, though 
he sought it carefully with tears ;" and equally 
vain hereafter will be the agonizing cries of all 
who trifle the day of grace away. 

14. The subject of this chapter, if considered 
aright, is full of instruction to the most pious, 
as well as to the irreligious. While the ungodly 
should think of hell, that they may feel their 
danger and flee from the wrath to come ; the 
pious should remember hell, that they may re- 
collect what was once their desert, and what are 
their infinite obligations to redeeming love. If 
you are a Christian indeed ; if you are a partaker 
of grace ; if you are delivered from all fear of 
everlasting death, and can even read in the 
brightest characters your title clear to mansions 
in the skies ; even if all this is your happiness, 
still forget not the awful subject of this chapter. 
Stand as it were on the edge of the infernal pit, 
and, in your meditations, look down into that 
abyss of guilt, and shame, and woe ; then reflect, 
What must be the evil of sin that has de- 
served such a doom ! deserved it, for a God of 
boundless love would never inflict such punish- 
ment if not deserved ! If sin had not deserved 
the doom, justice as well as compassion would 
forbid its infliction. Has sin therefore deserved 
this dreadful doom ? is this death, not an arbi- 
trary and unreasonable punishment, but its 
vmgesF then what must be its evil ! How little 
can we possibly comprehend the malignity of 
sin! 



j 86 GRATITUDE FOR SALVATION. 

But, Christian, look down into that abyss again, 
and bring the awful subject nearer to your own 
bosom. Not only had sin deserved this doom, 
but each may confess, "I had deserved it. I 
as a sinner had merited this dreadful wrath. 
O wretched condition ! wretched past imagina- 
tion ! But I am delivered. O what a deliver- 
ance ! how stupendous ! how precious ! how 
incalculably valuable ! how inexpressibly great ! 
Had I to linger for a year in pain, how welcome 
would have been relief ! Had I to linger for ten, 
for fifty years in misery, how welcome would 
be a deliverer, that should save me from fifty 
years of pain ! how great would be my obliga- 
tions to him ! had I been doomed to toil in the 
deepest poverty for fifty years, how much 
should I owe to a benefactor that might re- 
lieve that poverty, and give me fifty years of 
wealth and plenty, instead of fifty years of 
penury and want ! Had I been doomed to 
spend fifty years in some horrid dungeon, how 
much should I feel indebted to him, that might 
open my prison door, and make those years, 
years of rapturous freedom, instead of miserable 
captivity. But I was doomed to a prison worse 
than earth's most dismal dungeon, and doomed 
to spend not fifty years only, but eternal ages 
there. There I must have endured eternal 
heart-ache, and eternal poverty. But the Saviour 
delivered me. He has given me hope, instead 
of despair ; heavenly wealth, instead of hellish 
poverty ; and all the blessings of the Father's 
favour, instead of all the terrors of his justice. 
What do I not owe him ! Such a salvation 
exceeds all human comprehension, and much 



HEAVEN. 187 

more transcends all earthly praise. Yet never 
can I feel the value of that salvation aright, nor 
my obligations to its Author, but when I feel 
from what a hell he has snatched me ! and to 
what a heaven he would raise me ! 



CHAPTER X. 

DECISION AS TO RELIGION URGED EY THE BLESSED- 
NESS OF HEAVEN. 

1. Mosr pleasing are the representations fur- 
nished in the undeceiving word of God, of the 
blessedness of those who rest in Christ. "Absent 
from the body," they are " present with the 
Lord," 1 and enjoying intermediate blessedness, 
while their mouldering dust lies, unconscious 
that it once was man, in unknown and forgotten 
graves. It is pleasant to think of those, who, in 
past ages, trod the paths of humble piety. 
Where are they, who formerly in deep poverty 
loved the Saviour, who were unnoticed and de- 
spised, who lingered in chambers of affliction, 
and wasted away on beds of suffering ? or whose 
course if not so afflictive has long since ended ? 
Where are they ? where they are no longer poor 
or despised, suffering or mortal. They have 
entered into rest, and " blessed are the dead 
which die in the Lord." 2 They had their trials; 
but these are ended. They had their pains, and 
fears, and tears, their days of languishing and 
hour of dying, but all this is over ; " the former 
things are passed away." They had dangers, but 

(1) 2 Cor. ▼. 8. (2) Rey. xiv. 13. 



188 DECIDED PIETY NEEDFUL TO REACH HEAVEN. 

these are escaped ; temptations, they are van- 
quished ; conflicts, but the warfare is ended, 
and the victory sure. They were weak, but re- 
ceived strength sufficient to reach heaven. Their 
Father chastened them, but the last chastening 
is over. Their Saviour led them through trying 
scenes, but the last is ended. They felt un- 
worthy, yet are glorified. The " work of faith and 
the labour of love" are finished. The " patience 
of hope" has endured to the end, and is no longer 
needed. Satan tried all his arts to undo them, 
and was baffled. The world employed all its 
snares, yet all were escaped ; sin made all its 
assaults, yet all were overcome. Blessed was 
the day, when they were brought to the Saviour's 
feet ! more blessed that when they landed in 
the skies ! "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, 
but unto thy name be glory for thy mercy and 
for thy truth's sake." 1 

2. Consider that without decided piety, you can- 
not possibly become a partaker of the blessedness of 
heaven. Far more reasonable would it be to ex- 
pect the king of England to fill his palace with 
condemned felons, than for you to hope for ad- 
mission into heaven, if you continue a stranger to 
the Saviour's grace. Could you persuade some 
timorous friend, to admit blood-thirsty tigers and 
poisonous serpents into his chamber? Not for a 
world Yet it would be more easy to effect this, 
than to prevail on the holy God, to admit an 
unpardoned and impenitent trifler into heaven. 
But should heaven be lost to you, all is lost for 
ever. 

3. Heaven is described as the Christian's future 

(1) Psalm, cxv. 1. 



HEAVEN THE CHRISTIAN'S HAPPY HOME. 189 

happy home. Many expressions are employed 
to furnish some faint ideas of its excellence and 
blessedness. It is represented as " a city which 
hath foundations whose builder and maker 
is God/' 1 A city adorned with unutterable 
splendour, whose walls are founded on precious 
jewels ; whose streets are gold ; whose gates are 
pearl, and whose light is the glory of God. 
Thest; images are designed to represent the 
glory of the heavenly world. To it will apply 
the prophei Isaiah's expressive language : "Vio- 
lence shall no more be heard in thy land, wast- 
ing nor destruction within thy borders; but 
thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates 
praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by 
day, neither for brightness shall the moon give 
light unto thee : but the Lord shall be unto 
thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. 
Thy sun shall no more go down ; neither shall 
thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be 
thine everlasting light, and the days of thy 
mourning shall be ended." 2 Heaven is repre- 
sented as a " better country," purposely provided 
by God for his redeemed ; 3 as a kingdom which 
he delights to bestow upon his children ; 4 a 
kingdom prepared for them from the foundation 
of the world. 5 It is described as the Eternal 
Father's house, 6 in which are many mansions; 
dwellings of peace, of tranquil, and continued 
stay; and in that happy home, in the presence 
of God, "there is fulness of joy and pleasures 
for evermore." 7 
4. Contemplation on the blessedness of that 

(I) Heb. xi. 10. (2) Is. Ix. 18-20. (3) Heb. xi. 16. (4) Luke, xii. 33. 
(5) Matt. xxt. 34. (6) John, xiv. 2. (7) Psalm, xvi. 11. 

r3 



190 CONSIDERATIONS ASSISTING CONTEMPLATION 

better country, may be assisted by viewing the 
excellencies of the present world ; and by con- 
sidering that this was formed for a span of time, 
that for eternity itself! This world displays its 
Creator's eternal power and Godhead, and wis- 
dom, and love. How beautiful and goodly are 
many of its scenes ! The verdant spring with all 
its flowers ; the blooming summer with all its 
promise ; and the autumn with all its fruits ; 
valleys green with perpetual herbage ; fields 
covered with corn ; hills crowned with woods ; 
mountains piercing the skies ; streams fertili- 
zing the plains; and rivers pouring their tor- 
rents to the ocean, perpetually flowing and 
never exhausted ; stupendous oceans always 
full, yet never extensively overflowing; the 
opening morning, and the calm evening ; the 
sun by day,, diffusing light and warmth from age 
to age ; by night the moon and stars shedding a 
feebler but more solemn light ; the land and the 
water abounding with numerous creatures, sup- 
plying food, or ministering to the comfort of 
mankind. All this, with much besides, shows 
forth the might and goodness of the world's great 
Creator. Yet the world thus adorned, and 
crowned with good, was formed for man's ac- 
commodation, through a short period of time, a 
period that, compared with eternity, is like 
nothingness, what then must be the eternal 
world ! What shall we suppose the beauty and 
glory and splendour of that country, which is 
designed to endure through eternal ages ! If 
the inn for dying pilgrims be so magnificent, 
and princely, so full of excellency and glory, as 
this creation is; what must be the palace of the 



ON THE BLESSEDNESS OF HEAVEN. 191 

Eternal King, in whose many mansions his 
beloved shall reign in joy and immortality ! 

An early Christian writer has a soliloquy to 
the following purport : " O Lord, if thou for this 
vile body of ours, givest such great and number- 
less benefits from the firmament, from the 
air, from the earth, from the sea : by light, by 
darkness, by heat, by shade, by dews, by show- 
ers, by winds, by rains, by birds, by fishes, by 
beasts, by trees; by many herbs and various 
plants, and by the ministry of all thy crea- 
tures: what manner of things, how great, how 
good, and how innumerable are those thou 
hast prepared in our heavenly country, where 
we shall see thee face to face ! If thou do such 
great things for us in oar prison, what wilt thou 
give us in our palace ! If thou givest so many 
blessings in this world, where the righteous and 
the evil are mingled together, what hast thou 
laid up for those who will be all righteous in the 
world to come ! If thine enemies and friends 
are so well provided for in this life, what shall 
they who are all thy friends receive in the life to 
come ! If there be such great comforts in these 
days of tears, what joy shall there be in that 
day of marriage! If our prison contain such 
great treasures, what shall our country and 
kingdom do !" ' 

5. The fulness of joy of the redeemed, springs 
from various sources. One important part of 
their happiness, yet in reality the lowest part, is, 
exemption from all evil. Mere exemption from 
evil is not positive delight, and must be regarded 
as the lowest portion in the scale of heavenly 
blessedness; yet it is the source of varied and 



192 NO EVILS IN HEAVEN. 

unspeakable good ; and what then must be the 
nobler blessings of the redeemed? Were all 
evil banished from this world, even this would 
be a Paradise. Were pain and sorrow and sin 
extinct, were disease and sickness unknown, 
were no groan or sigh ever uttered, and no tear 
ever shed ; even earth would form a kind of im- 
perfect heaven. But all this, which will never be 
realized here, is realized above. The scriptures 
declare respecting the redeemed, "They shall 
hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; neither 
shall the sun light on them, nor any heat; for the 
Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall 
feed them, and shall lead them unto living foun- 
tains of waters ; and God shall wipe away all 
tears from their eyes." 1 "And God shall wipe 
away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall 
be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, 
neither shall there be any more pain ; for the for- 
mer things are passed away." 2 " And there shall 
be no more curse : but the throne of God and of 
the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall 
serve him." 3 What varied and inconceivable 
good will flow from such entire exemption from 
all evil ! The cares and anxieties incident to the 
present state, no more distress those happy con- 
querors. God has wiped away their every tear, 
and dried up every source of sorrow. They have 
no toilsome days, no wearisome nights. The 
head never aches, the heart never throbs. Pain 
and sickness are alike unknown. Instead of fee- 
ble, emaciated, withered forms, all are beheld 
happy beings, vigorous with immortal health, and 
clothed with celestial loveliness. Here the loveliest 

(J) Rev. vii. 16, 17. (2) Rev. xxi.4. (3) Rev. xxif. 3. 



PERFECT SAFETY THERE. 193 

fade, like a flower; but the flowers that fade on 
earth, if once transplanted to heaven, will there 
never fade more, but will bloom through everlast- 
ing ages in unwithering beauty. With pain and 
sickness, death too will cease. When this cor- 
ruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this 
mortality immortality, death will be swallowed 
up in victory. The sublime language of the 
Redeemer will be accomplished : " I will ransom 
them from the power of the grave ; I will redeem 
them from death; O death, I will be thy plagues; 
O grave, I will be thy destruction; repentance 
shall be hid from mine eyes." 1 There shall then 
be no more death ; no more will that last enemy 
daunt the children of God by his approach, nor 
will they ever again dread his power. The lan- 
guors that precede the hour of dissolution will 
never be felt; the painful separations that death 
frequently occasions, will never be known. None 
will be summoned by death to leave the friends 
they love, or the happy country where they dwell. 
6. The state of the blest in heaven, is a state 
of perfect safety. This world is a scene of dan- 
ger, and of frequent conflict. In all its changes 
and in all its states, temptation is found. Pros- 
perity tempts the soul to love the world; adver- 
sity, to repine at the dealings of God. Youth 
and age, poverty and wealth, health and sickness, 
have all temptations peculiar to themselves. 
Even the zealous discharge of Christian duties, 
and the possession of elevated Christian graces, 
may be connected with temptations to those 
odious sins, self-righteousness and pride. And, 
while in every circumstance temptation may 

(i) Hos. xiii. 4. 



194 HEAVEN A STATE OF SAFETY 

exist, the great enemy of God and man, " like a 
roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may 
devour;" 1 hut in heaven no inward corruption 
distresses the soul; no anger, no shame, no envy, 
no ambition is ever felt. No temptation harasses 
the redeemed. They left danger and sin behind 
when they left the precincts of mortality. Now, 
tempter ! grieve that peaceful soul that once was 
harassed by thy dire suggestions; once more 
break its peace, and rob that humble conqueror 
of sweet tranquillity. Ah! thou canst not: the 
peace of earth might be interrupted by hellish 
arts; but not the peace of heaven. "There the 
wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary 
are at rest." 2 The sufferer has forgot his sor- 
rows; the endangered is for ever safe. Here 
Christians struggle for important victory ; there 
they possess the crown and wave the palm of tri- 
umph. Here Christians run the race that is set 
before them; but there the race is ended. Here 
they are, as it were, on a battle-field, struggling 
against numerous foes for life and immortality ; 
but "there are no fields of battle there," Here 
they are tossed on a stormy sea; there in the 
pleasant harbour. In that better country they 
hear no complaints, shed no tears, dread no dan- 
gers, feel no corruptions, anticipate no evils. 
Instead of sin, there is holiness ; instead of dan- 
ger and temptation, safety; instead of weakness, 
strength ; instead of languishing, beauty ; instead 
of painful partings, eternal unions; instead of 
sorrow and death, unutterable joy and never- 
ending life. They were with us, they are with 
Christ; they were in the church below, they are 

(1) 1 Pet. v. 8. (2) Job, iii. 17. 



AND PERFECTION. 195 

in that above. How great such a change from 
the scenes of earthly care and labour ! from the 
toils of the factory or the field, the shop or the 
counting-house ! How great to many the change 
from the company with which they had to min- 
gle in fields or mills, during daily toil, to the 
company of perfected spirits, and the blessed 
society of holy angels. 

7. The happiness of heaven will be augmented 
by the perfection and holiness of its blessed in- 
habitants. The general assembly and church of 
of the first-born is composed of the spirits of the 
just "made perfect/' 1 The Lord Jesus will 
"be glorified in his saints, and admired in all 
them that believe." 2 He will change their 
vile body, the body of their humiliation, " that 
it may be fashioned like unto his glorious 
body/' 3 As they "have borne the image of the 
earthy, they shall also bear the image of the hea- 
venly/' 4 " It doth not yet appear what" they 
" shall be ; but when he shall appear," they 
"shall be like him, and see him as he is." 5 He 
will present to himself the whole company of the 
redeemed, as "a glorious church, not having spot 
or wrinkle, or any such thing;" but "holy and 
without blemish." 6 He will present them "holy 
and unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight." 7 
He will present them " faultless before the 
presence of his glory, with exceeding joy." 8 
How rapturous will be this scene of holiness and 
happiness ! An immense assemblage of happy 
beings, forming one glorified family, in the pre- 
sence of their God and Redeemer. Angels and 

(1) Heb. xii. 23. (2) 2Thess. i. 10. (3) Phil. iii. 21. (4) Cor. xv. 49. 
(5)IJohn,iii.2. (6) Eph. v. 27. (7) Col. i. 22. (8)Jude,24. 



196 PERFECTION AND BLESSEDNESS 

saints now brethren in Christ Jesus; their abode, 
their pleasures, their employments, and their 
character for ever the same. Not one defect 
among them all; not one blemish in the charac- 
ter of countless millions ; not one error in their 
conduct; not one defective disposition; not one 
unkind feeling ever experienced ; not one unholy 
thought ever known. Every countenance glow- 
ing with heavenly beauty, and every heart full of 
heavenly love; every eye the index of a soul 
adorned with all the lovely excellencies of its 
redeeming Lord. All in their measure resem- 
bling him in glory. All like him, and all so 
resembling him in character and disposition, 
that his all-piercing eye shall not discern one 
defect in all his happy family ; but even in his 
sight they shall be unblameable and unreprov- 
able. Happy they who form part of such a 
family! Reader, shall you be one of its mem- 
bers? 

8. All this however does not complete the hap- 
piness of heaven. The scriptures describe that 
happiness as great and varied. There is the no- 
blest enjoyment of God's presence, and the rich- 
est enjoyment of his everlasting love. The 
"pure in heart" " shall see God." 1 " Behold, the 
tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell 
with them, and they shall be his people, and 
God himself shall be with them, and be their 
God." 2 " These are they which came out of 
great tribulation, and have washed their robes, 
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 
Therefore are they before the throne of God, and 
serve him day and night in bis temple : and he 

(1) Matt. r. 8. (2) Rev. xxi. 3. 



OF SAINTS IN HEAVEN. 197 

that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among 
them." 1 The blessings of the divine Saviour's 
love and care, shall eternally enrich his humble 
flock. "The Lamb which is in the midst of the 
throne snail feed them, and shall lead them unto 
living fountains of waters." 2 They shall behold 
his "face in righteousness," and "be satisfied" 
when they " awake in" his likeness." 3 They have 
followed the Lord ; and shall be with him where 
he is, that they may behold his glory, the glory 
which he had with the Father before the founda- 
tion of the world." 4 They "shall ever be 
with the Lord." 5 They "have in heaven a bet- 
ter and an enduring substance." 6 " Honour and 
glory" 7 are designed for them. They are " heirs 
of God and joint-heirs with Christ," and if they 
" suffer with him shall also be glorified together." 8 
Their inheritance is " incorruptible, and undefi- 
led, and fadeth not away." It is " reserved for 
them in heaven." 9 They shall " receive a crown 
of glory that fadeth not away ;" 10 a "crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord the righteous 
Judge will give" to all that "love his appear- 
ing ;" u " a crown of life" given by his own hands 
to them who are " faithful unto death." 12 The 
sufferings which they here endure "are not wor- 
thy to be compared with the glory that shall be 
revealed in" 13 them. Long years of affliction upon 
earth are, compared with their future blessed- 
ness, " light affliction, which is but for a mo- 
ment," and work for them " a far more exceed- 



(1 ) Rev. vii. 14, 15. (2) Rev. vii. 17. (3) Ps. xth. 13. 

(4) John, xvii. 24. (5) 1 Thess. iv. 17. (6) Heb. x. 34. 

(7) 1 Pet. i. 7. (8) Rom. viii. 17. (9)1 Pet. i. 4. (10) 1 Pet v. 4. 

(11) 2 Tim. iv. 8. (12) Rev. ii. 1*. (13) Rom. viii. 18. 

S 



108 HEAVENLY HAPPINESS GLORIOUS 

ing and eternal weight of glory." 1 " The righ- 
teous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom 
of their Father."'- They "shall shine as the 
> brightness of the firmament ; and as the stars for 
ever and ever." 3 They shall he pillars in the 
temple of their God, and "shall go no more 
out;" 4 but 

" Shall bear in those bright courts above 
Inscriptions of immortal love." 

Shall, like pillars in a sumptuous temple, be for 
ever monuments of his grace who fixed them 
there, and ornaments to that bright and happy 
world. Exalted to the highest honour, they shall 
walk with Christ " in white, for they are wor- 
thy." 5 He will grant them " to sit with him on 
his throne, even as he also overcame, and is sat 
down with the Father on his throne." 6 "The 
God of all grace has called" them " to his eternal 
glory by Christ Jesus." 7 The Saviour gives 
them eternal life, and the end of their course "is 
everlasting life." 8 Once fixed thus in their ce- 
lestial home, they will enjoy in a manner now 
inconceivable the presence of their God. Of 
their celestial dwelling, besides what has been 
already introduced, the scriptures add; "And I 
saw no temple therein : for the Lord God AI- 
mighly and the Lamb are the temple of it. And 
the city had no need of the sun, neither of the 
moon, to shine in it : for the glory of God did 
lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 
And the nations of them which are saved shall 
walk in the light of it : and the kings of the earth 

(1) 2 Cor. iv. 17. (2) Matt. xiii. 43. (3) Dan. xii. 3. (4) Rev. iii. 12. 
(5) Rev. iii. 4. (6) Rev. iii. 21. (7) 1 Pet. v 10. (8) Rom. vi. 22. 



AND INCONCEIVABLY GREAT. 199 

do bring their glory and honour into it. And 
there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that 
defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomina- 
tion, or maketh a lie ; but they which are written 
in the Lamb's book of life.'* 1 " And he showed 
me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, 
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the 
Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on 
either side of the river, was there the tree of life, 
which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded 
her fruit every month : and the leaves of the tree 
were for the healing of the nations. And there 
shall be no night there ; and they need no can- 
dle, neither light of the sun ; for the Lord God 
giveth them light : and they shall reign for ever 
and ever." 2 

9. How little can the mind comprehend the 
happiness described in all this expressive, though 
in some instances figurative language ! What is 
it to see God and dwell with him ! What is it to 
be led by the Lamb to living fountains of* immor- 
tal blessings ! to be satisfied in his likeness ! to 
possess fuiness of joy and pleasures for ever 
more! to enjoy incorruptible and unfading in- 
heritances ! and to be honoured with crowns of 
righteousftss of glory and life that never fade 
away ! What is it to possess a far more exceed- 
ing and eternal weight of glory, a glory too great 
to be. described by the boldest expressions heaped 
on others equally bold, and continued to eternity ! 
What is it to sit down as a happy and honoured 
conqueror by the Saviour's side ! What is all 
this [ and all this additional to other blessings 
already contemplated ! to perfect safety ! to per- 

,1) Rev. xxi. 22, 23, 24. 27. (2) Rev. xxii. 1, 2. 5. 



200 BY RELIGION HEAVEN MAY BE SECURED. 

feet holiness ! to perfect freedom from every ill! 
from every vexing disposition, every unholy feel- 
ing, every pain and every sorrow ! What is it to 
be all this, and possess all this, not for ages or 
centuries only, but for periods, compared with 
whose duration the whole of time, from the crea- 
tion to the judgment day, would be the twinkling 
of an eye! Reader, what is all this ! No tongue 
can express ; no heart can conceive ; but, you 
must have it all or lose it all! gain it alibi Christ, 
or lose it all by slighting him! Many already 
possess these blessings. They have reached their 
home. They mingle with better friends than any 
this world ever gave. They possess what formerly 
they sought. Eternity opens to them no pros- 
pects, but prospects bright with gladness and joy, 
in infinite succession. And who are these ? and 
whence came they ? Some of these were the be- 
nevolent possessors of wealth and plenty ; but 
many of them toiled in poverty; yet in poverty 
they were rich. They laboured in the field or the 
factory ; in the mine or on the road. They wept ; 
they languished ; yet in affliction they were bless- 
ed. They watched ; they prayed ; they fled to 
Jesus ; they followed him ; and he has fixed them 
in their heavenly home. 

10. You, reader, are now in this world for a lit- 
tle while ; and the alternative is before you — 
religion here, and this blissful heaven hereafter 
or carelessness here and hell hereafter — religion 
and eternal life, or irreligion and everlasting ruin^ 
Make your choice. Decide as in God's sight ; 
but know you must decide; and the decision 
is for eternity. Behold that eternal good, which 
God in his word, has graciously unveiled to your 



APPEAL ON THE WORTH OF ITS BLESSINGS. 201 

contemplation. See those mansions of peace ! 
those crowns of life ! that blessedness which 
flows in an eternal stream ! Behold those happy- 
immortals ! many of them once poor, despised, 
and suffering-, now so changed ! Hearken to the 
praises which they render ! to the anthems of 
delight they sing ! Witness their raptures in per- 
fect safety ! Belonging to Jesus leads to all this. 
Will you be his ? or will you madly and wicked- 
ly refuse ? Would not heartfelt piety be gainful 
to you beyond expression ? Would it not be gain 
for you to dwell with God ? to appear cleansed 
by the Saviour's sacrifice from every crime and 
every fault? and to be presented by him faultless 
before his presence with exceeding joy ? Would 
it not be wealth for you to possess immortality ? 
to call heaven and all its blessings your own ? to 
have your low employments changed for the 
blessed activity of heaven ? to have your feeble 
and soon dying voice raised in celestial praises ? 
Would it not be blessedness for you to mingle, 
not with earthly but celestial friends ? to join an- 
gelic bands ? their Father yours ; their dwelling 
yours? Would it not be gain for you when 
" absent from the body to be present with the 
Lord ?" when a hundred years hence forgotten in 
the grave to be a happy saint in light ? Would 
it not be ecstasy for you to meet the Judge eter- 
nal with unmoved tranquillity ? to hear the ap- 
proving sentence, "Well done, good and faithful 
servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord ?" 
Would not all this be gain to you ? and will you 
slight it all by slighting Christ? or secure it all 
by seeking salvation in him ? Would you not 
" be wise for yourself/' in counting all things loss 
s3 



202 APPEAL CONTINUED. — JOYFUL 

that you may win Christ? Would it not appear 
that you were so, when welcomed to his king- 
dom ? Then, if some one that loved you, and 
mourned your departure, could say, " Come 
back, departed Christian, come again to earth and 
to us," what would bribe you back ? And if such 
a request could possibly be made, and an answer 
given, would you not say, "No, it is you must 
seek to join me in heaven ; for worlds should not 
bribe me back to earth ?" and will you embrace 
religion and secure that heaven ? or trifle with 
religion and secure ruin? One you must do. 
Which will you do ? Is it difficult to you to be- 
come decidedly pious? Will not eterral life 
compensate every struggle? Are your enemies 
many, must your sacrifices be great? still what 
are they when compared with the blessings of 
eternity ! How small is the loss of what you 
soon must leave for ever ! How rich the gain of 
blessings you will never lose ! How momentary 
the loss ! how eternal the gain ! Even now the 
hope of heaven would give you blessings far great- 
er than any the world can ever give ; while you 
would be looking forward to still greater good 
hereafter. How sweet now is the anticipation ! 
what will be the possession! "O ye blessed 
scenes of perfection and peace, shall ye be mine ! 
and mine soon ! and then mine for ever! Thou 
happy heaven! glorious abode! where for me 
eternal love has prepared a mansion of peace, and 
where for me elder brethren wait ; shall I soon see 
thy walls of salvation, and thy gates of praise ! 
Ye happy angels ! shall I, a poor traveller on 
earth, soon be equal with you, as blest, as rich, 
and as safe as you ! Thou Lamb of God ! once 



ANTICIPATION OF HEAVEN. 203 

slain for my transgressions, and now my life, 
shall I soon, Lord ! see thee as thou art, and wear 
thy lovely image ! Shall I have done with toil 
and care, with worldly labours and earthly sor- 
rows; and all to me be rest, and peace, and 
praise ! the enduring calm and the victory of hea- 
ven ! Shall all this be mine, when " a few more 
suns have rolled their cares away." Then what 
need I fear the trials of this wilderness ! To thee, 
my Lord, and to the heaven thy love has prepa- 
red, will I look with many a longing desire. There 
shall I see thee as thou art. There praise thee 
better through eternal days. 

"Yes, when these lips shall cease to move, 
And death shall close these eyes, 
Then shall my soul to nobler heights 
Of joy and transport rise ; 
Then shall her powers in endless strains 
Their grateful tribute pay : 
The theme demands au angel's tongue, 
And an eternal day." 

11. If instead of being a decided Christian, 
you are a vain follower of the world, what is 
there in all your delights that gives the satisfac- 
tion inspired by such a hope ! Will you seek 
it ? Some, who love Christ, and are the'pos- 
sessors of this hope, have it indeed amidst 
doubts and fears; but many with brighter evi- 
dence, and all that live to him, will soon possess, 
in the eternal state, all they anticipated, and 
more than all. How rapturous will be the shout 
of praise that will ascend, when all the redeemed 
of any one period meet in the perfect security 
and triumph of heaven ! there with feelings now 
inconceivable, will they ascribe their salvation 



204 THE CHRISTIAN'S OBLIGATIONS. 

to God and to the Lamb. The inspired writer 
says, " I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude which 
no man could number, of all nations, and kin- 
dreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the 
throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white 
robes, and palms in their hands ; and cried 
with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God 
which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
Lamb !" " The harvest is passed, the summer is 
ended," the day of grace is gone, but they are 
saved. What gratitude will fill the soul, while 
heavenly love is the theme of praise ! Every 
saint in heaven will pay to the Saviour the tri- 
bute of praise for salvation. " I had never been 
here but through thy love. Grace taught my 
wandering feet to tread the path of peace and 
life; grace led me on, and grace fixed me here." 
Happy conqueror, that has done with the im- 
perfect services of time, and commenced the 
nobler ones of eternity ; whose sabbaths all are 
ended here, but to whom an eternal sabbath has 
arrived ! Will this be your happiness ? 

If you are a Christian indeed, how deeply 
should these views impress upon your heart your 
unutterable obligations to your adorable Re- 
deemer ! Contemplate the ruin from which he has 
delivered you. Contemplate the blessings he has 
in store for you ; and what do you not owe him for 
such a rescue, and for such treasures, of whose 
value eternity will be for ever making fresh dis- 
coveries ! That these blessings should be de- 
signed for one so unworthy, and so weak, 
renders the love still more wonderful, and 
demands praise and gratitude still more ardent. 

12. In the preceding pages your attention 



THE SCENES OF THE FUTURE WORLD ETERNAL. 205 

has been directed to scenes of woe, or blessed- 
ness, between which the difference is never to 
be fully comprehended ; but it is eternity which 
will complete the misery of the former, and 
the happiness of the latter. When he leaves 
this world, "man goeth to his long- home." 
Strive to impress upon your heart the truth, that 
whether your future abode be hell or heaven, it 
will be a long, an eternal home. You will not 
long be here. Fees or friends will soon be left 
behind. Your present dwelling- will know you 
no more. The comforts and pains of life will 
alike be ended, and alike be insignificant ; but 
eternity, with all its overwhelming scenes, fol- 
lows this momentary span of time. Think of 
eternity. In the light of that amazing duration, 
what is worth one thought, except religion ? 
Suppose yourself dead and fixed in eternity ; 
now what concerns you except salvation? 
Suppose yourself dead for a thousand years, that 
a thousand years had passed since you closed 
your eyes upon this world ; what now are its 
concerns, its pleasures, or its pains ? Are they 
not vain as a broken bubble, and lighter than 
vanity ? The time will come, when, for a thou- 
sand years, you will have been mingled with the 
dead ; what then will this vain, busy, ensnaring 
world matter to you? The leaves that fell from 
the trees a thousand years ago, are not more in- 
significant now, than this vain world, with all 
its interests, possessions, and cares, will then ap- 
pear to you. But go forward in your thoughts, 
millions of years beyond that period, and what 
will the world be to you then ? How blest will 



206 ETERNITY. 

you then be if eternal life be yoars ! how 
wretched if that good be lost . 

13. Eternity is a duration that is long beyond 
calculation and beyond comprehension. Think 
of the years that have elapsed from the. days of 
Adam to the present day — eternity is longer. 
Think of those that may pass from this day till 
that when the judgment trumpet shall sound — 
eternity is longer. Look at the ground adorned 
with its green carpet, covered with innumerable 
millions of blades of grass — are the years of eter- 
nity as many ? They are more — eternity is lon- 
ger. Look at the leaves that clothe the trees with 
verdure — are the years of eternity countless as 
those leaves ? They are more — eternity is lon- 
ger than such a period of ages. Add to these 
years others as numerous as the drops of morning 
dew — do these describe eternity ? No — eternity 
is longer. Count the drops of the sea — will their 
number represent eternal ages ? No — eternity 
has ages far more countless. These, compared 
with it, are like a drop to an ocean. Repeat these 
calculations, yet eternity is longer. Millions by 
millions multiplied, give no idea of its duration ; 
and all the years that human thought can heap 
together, compared with it, are insigniiicance and 
nothing — beyond them all eternity still stretches 
forth its immeasurable duration. This eternity 
awaits you. 

Eternity is a duration that nothing can shorten , 
and that never can end. Time has an end ; 
eternity has none. The period daily ap- 
proaches nearer, when the end of time shall be 
announced. The last spring that shall cheer the 
earth with its bloom, will have passed away ; 



THE JOYS AND SORROWS OF ETERNITY. £0? 

the last summer will have ended; the last 
autumn have finished ; the last harvest this 
earth shall ever produce be reaped; and the 
last winter have concluded. Time's last year 
will have arrived; its last day; its last hour; 
its last minute; its last moment; and time 
shall be no more : but no such end will arrive 
to close eternity. Let thousands of ages pass 
away, eternity is not shortened. Let millions 
more, and worlds of millions roll along, eternity 
remains the same. As long, as blest, as happy 
or as dreadful and miserable as ever. 

14. As it is with the duration of eternity, so 
it is with its blessings and its sorrows. The joys 
and sorrows of time have an end ; but those of 
eternity have none. Time brings an end to the 
Christian's sorrows; but eternity will bring no 
end to his joys. Did he sigh ? there was a last 
sigh. Had he pangs of grief? there was a last 
pang, and a last grief. Did he weep ? there was 
a last tear. Had he struggles ? there was a last 
struggle. Did he pine in poverty ? there was a 
last day of want. But in eternity there will be 
no last joy ; no last rapture ; no last song of 
praise ; no last thanksgiving for redeeming love. 
On earth, among Christian friends, time brought 
a last meeting, and a last parting ; a last dying 
look, and a last farewell : but eternity will bring- 
no last meeting, no last look, no dying eye. 

As it is with the pious, thus, but in an awfully 
opposite manner, it will be with the ungodly. 
Time will bring to the sinner a last trifling day 
or festive night, a last pleasure, and a last hour of 
sinful gaiety ; but eternity will bring no last pain, 
no last sorrow. The sinner's pleasures will end, 



208 SERIOUS QUESTIONS TO 

but not his pains ; his joys, but not his griefs ; 
his gain, but not his loss. O reader, think of this 
solemn eternity ! and in the view of it choose that 
good part which should never be taken away from 
you ! You may look forward, and in imagina- 
tion see yourself leaving this world ; your funeral 
over ; your body in a coffin, and that coffin in the 
grave ; and after a i'exv years yourself so forgotten 
there, that no one on earth will know you ever 
existed ; but then you will be in eternity. Before 
your friends have laid you in the grave, your im- 
mortal spirit will have begun to experience the 
joys or sorrows of eternity. Happy they who 
enjoy the Saviour's grace ! and who, when they 
quit this world, are welcomed by him to " ever- 
lasting habitations !" 



CHAPTER XI. 

SERIOUS QUESTIONS PROPOSED TO NEGLECTORS OF 
RELIGION ; AND THE FOLLY AND INEXCUSABLE- 
NESS OF DELAY. 

1. Perhaps, reader, you are one of that unhap- 
py multitude that still crowd the broad way 
which leads to destruction ; and upon whom all 
that has hitherto been urged, has been urged in 
vain. Let the writer then, before he leaves you 
for ever, earnestly beg your attention to a few 
plain questions connected with the subjects of 
the preceding pages, and with your eternal inte- 
rests. 

Is not your soul worth saving ? That precious 
treasure for which the Son of God shed his blood 



NF.GLECTORS OF RELIGION. ' 209 

and whose conversion would raise new joy in 
heaven, is it not worth your care ? If it is, why 
do you treat that deathless soul as if it mattered 
nothing whether it be saved or lost, blessed or 
cursed, to all eternity ! Yet this you do, while 
refusing to commit your all to the Saviour's care. 

2. Is not God's love worth having ? That love 
perfects the happiness of saints and angels. In 
it they rejoice and ever rejoice ; and the want of 
that love insures the hopeless misery of the lost. 
If the world were yours, you would be an undone 
creature without that love ; and if stripped of 
every earthly good, would be happy if possessed 
of that treasure. And will you, a poor dying 
mortal, that will soon, unless you repent, be a 
dead sinner, and a condemned sinner, will you 
treat that love with as much disregard as if it 
were deserving only of infinite contempt ? yet 
this you do while you will not turn to God. 

3. Is God's heaven worth possessing, and his 
salvation worth enjoying ? or is it not? If it is, 
why do you madly neglect so great salvation, 
and obstinately slight that blessed heaven ? 
Would you wish God to swear, in his wrath, 
that you shall not enter into his rest ? and that 
whoever may enjoy salvation you shall have 
no part in its blessings ? Would you not think 
this a direful doom indeed ? yet is it not as bad 
to deprive your own soul of salvation, by wicked 
carelessness, by open sin, or by halting between 
two opinions, as it would be for God to shut you 
out of heaven ? Rather is it not worse ? Will 
not such a wilful loss of salvation be connected 
with more bitter remorse and more self-accusing 
agony, than its loss in any other way could pos- 

T 



210 SERIOUS QUESTIONS PROPOSED 

sibly be? Will it not deepen the gloom of eter- 
nal night to remember, that the fair inheritance of 
heaven was lost to you, not because God was un- 
willing you should be saved, but by yoar own 
sin and folly, because you would not seek salva- 
tion. 

4. Is the Lord Jesus Christ, as a Saviour and 
a friend, not worthy of your regard ? Perhaps you 
would exclaim, " God forbid that I should in- 
dulge so wicked and horrible a notion !" But 
while you refuse him your heart, you treat him 
as if you indulged it ; and though you will not 
say, with your lips, that he is unworthy of atten- 
tion, yet you, as it were, say this by a careless un- 
godly life ; and by persevering, in spite of warn- 
ings and entreaties, in making light of this great 
Saviour. When you make light of earthly objects, 
it is of trifles, not of treasures ; of persons mean 
and inconsiderable, not great and honourable : 
and when you make light of Christ, whatever you 
may say, or may profess to mean, you are guilty 
of the horrible crime of treating the Lord of hea- 
ven, as if he did not deserve your notice, though 
you are but a dying worm ; and of practically 
despising, as unworthy of regard, the Author and 
Giver of salvation. 

5. Is God's anger so trifling, and his indigna- 
tion so harmless, that escape from them is not 
worth your care ? You will not assert that this 
is the case ; why then, unhappy mortal, trifle 
with that dreadful anger ? and play, by neglect- 
ing salvation, with that fiery indignation ? No- 
thing is so dreadful as the deserved anger of a 
long patient but incensed God. Though he is 
love itself to the penitent, who seeks his mercy, 



TO NEGLECTORS OF SALVATION. 211 

to the careless neglector he will be a consuming 
fire ; his wrath will burn to the lowest hell. If 
once the flaming sword of divine justice be let 
loose against you, hope and escape w ili for ever 
be impossible. If once the long gathering tem- 
pest of divine wrath, break on your guilty and 
devoted head, it will " beat upon your naked soul 
in one eternal storm ;" and God will, for ever, 
" render indignation and wrath, tribulation and 
anguish" to you, an unhappy worm, because 
you would not receive his proffered mercy, wel- 
come his beloved Son, and become his happy 
and obedient child. Oh if, through sin and folly, 
this should ever be your unhappy lot, you will 
know too late that all which man esteems most 
appalling here, is mild and harmless compared 
with the deserved wrath of a just and holy God ! 
6. Is it not worth your while to escape from 
hell ? is that place of torment so little to be feared, 
that you may heedlessly rush into its undying 
flames ? Can you dwell with everlasting burn- 
ings ? Will the pleasures of sin, and the pur- 
suits of folly, recompense you for enduring the 
flames of damnation ? Before you rush into 
those flames try to ascertain. Put one finger in 
a candle's blaze, and hold it there till the fleeh is 
consumed, and the bones appear. For what 
would you do this ? Not for a trifling reward. 
But for what would you hold your hand in a fire 
till it were consumed ? or for what would you 
rush into a blazing furnace to perish in its 
flames ? Would you for the whole world ? Yet 
what is that fire, that would be extinguished in an 
hour, to the fire " that never shall be quenched ?" 
So surely as God is true, while you sl'ght 



212 SERIOUS QUESTIONS PROPOSED 

religion, thither you are going, whether yon mean 
to win perdition or mean it not; and if you do 
not turn, there will you soon lift up your eyes in 
torments. Unhappy mortal ! if you should, 
surely the remembrance of abused mercies and 
Deflected warnings, will complete the bitterness 
of your cup of misery. Hell, in every view, will 
be horrid, but surely it will be a dreadful addi- 
tion to its horrors to be compelled to reflect, "I 
sunk myself here. I need never have come to 
this place of misery. God waited on me, but I 
would not listen. A Saviour died, but I would 
not give my heart to him. I chose the path of 
death, and the sorrows that I now endure." 

7. What then do you mean in neglecting the 
salvation of your soul ? Perhaps you mean to 
repent hereafter ; but before that time comes, you 
may be in the grave; or God may have given you 
over to a hardened heart, and may have no mer- 
cy for you. He may have sworn that you shall 
not enter into his rest. What do you mean ? 
Perhaps you mean to follow the world, and unite 
religion with its pursuit. Alas ! you cannot do 
this. No man can "serve God and mammon." 
You may keep the world and hell with it ; but 
not the world and religion with it. 

8. Do you mean to perish ? Have you made 
up your mind to sink to hell, to "curse God and 
die" eternally ? No ! you have not ; you have no 
such intention. But you might as w r ell design 
this, as take the way to perdition. You may not 
mean to perish ; but if you slight the Saviour you 
must perish. You may not design to be damned; 
but if you neglect religion you must. You may 
not intend to lose heaven and burn in hell ; but if 



TO NEGLECTORS OF SALVATION. 213 

you do not turn to God you must do both. What 
you mean will weigh nothing at the judg- 
ment bar. The inquiry will not be, "Did this 
sinner mean to go to hell?'" but "Did he take 
the way thither?" "Did he intend to lose hea- 
ven?" but "Did he make light of the only Sa- 
viour, that could raise him to eternal life ?" If 
you set out on a journey to London, but took 
a road that led you further from that city, it would 
be vain to say, " I intend this road shall take me 
to London," when every step left you more dis- 
tant than the preceding ; and if a friend were 
to say to you, "Every step you take you are get- 
ting further from the place towards which you 
profess to travel," it would make you seem beside 
yourself, to be offended with your friend, and to 
affirm, " I am travelling towards London," when 
all who knew the road saw you were getting fur- 
ther and further away. Just as vain is it, to hope 
to go to heaven while you slight the only Sa- 
viour ; and not to intend to go to hell, while you 
take the way that leads to that abyss of woe. 
You might as well at once mean to perish ; 
make up your mind to be lost ; and seriously 
and deliberately choose everlasting perdition ; as 
trifle with God and eternity, with the Saviour and 
salvation ; or live in an undecided state, halting 
between the Saviour and the world. You could 
but perish in the former case ; and you will sure- 
ly perish in the latter. If you do not feel your 
danger, insensibility will not ward it off. While 
you are without Christ you may sleep ; but your 
judgment lingerelh not, and your damnation 
slumbereth not. 

9. If you do not mean to perish, and if inde- 
t3 



214 SERIOUS QUESTIONS PROPOSED 

cision will ruin you as surely as if you did ; 
Can you be saved as you are ? If you are still 
the character addressed in this chapter, this is 
utterly impossible. " God is not a man that he 
should lie, neither the son of man that he should 
repent:" 1 Let God be true if every man be a 
liar.* But if God is true, it is not possible for 
you to be saved without repentance, for the Lord 
has said, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise 
perish." 3 "The wicked shall be turned into 
hell." 4 It is not possible, for you to be saved 
without conversion, for He who is the truth, has 
said, " Ye must be born again. Verily verily I 
say unto thee, except a man be born again, he 
cannot see the kingdom of God." 5 Therefore to 
hope to be saved in an unconverted state, is a 
desperate and wicked hope indeed. It is to hope 
something so horrid, that resolution is needed, 
to bring the pen to write it down. It is, with 
reverence be it spoken, to hope that the God of 
truth and love will prove a liar, to save a sinner 
in his sins ; and to save a sinner in his sins, that 
might be saved from them, but that ivill not turn 
to God. O what a desperate and wicked hope is 
a hope that includes all this ! Yet this is your 
hope if you hope to be saved unconverted as 
you are. Surely Satan has begotten and now 
nourishes your guilty hope. 

1 0. If you cannot be saved as you are, can 
you find another way of salvation ? Blessed be 
God ! in the Gospel there is one equal to all 
your wants and state, but that one you slight. 
You are not willing to receive the Saviour in his 

(1) Numb, xxiii. 19. (2) Rom. iii. 4. (3) Luke, xiii. H. 
t (4) Pialm, ix, 17. (5) John, iii. 5. 7. 



TO NEGLECTORS OF SALVATION. 215 

own way. Is there then another path to heaven? 
Ah no, " there is none other name under heaven 
given among men whereby we must be saved." 1 
The scriptures represent the salvation of every 
one that slights the only Saviour as hopeless. 
** He that believeth not shall be damned/' 2 
" Other foundation can no man lay, than that is 
laid, which is Christ Jesus :" 3 there is no escape 
; f we neglect so great salvation. 

11. If you knew this were your last day, 
would you continue to slight this precious sal- 
vation ? If you had reason to believe that when 
at night you close your eyes to sleep, you would 
wake in eternity, could you then pursue your 
guilty course of sin and folly ? Yet little as you 
expect it, this may be the case. Not long ago, 
the writer knew a tradesman apparently vigorous 
and to be feared a man of the world, who was on 
a journey. He spent the evening at an inn. 
He was fond of company, was cheerful that 
night and sat up later than usual. In the morn- 
ing he did not rise, and some one entered his 
chamber. There he lay a corpse. His bed was 
unruffled, and he appeared to have died without 
a struggle ; probably while asleep. How solemn 
the change ! Such has been the lot of multitudes, 
and it may soon be yours. And if it should, 
with what awful surprise, will eternity open on 
your unpardoned spirit ! Multitudes every 
morning awake on earth, in one place or other, 
that before the evening comes have finished their 
course, and are gone to meet their God. Every 
setting sun, many are found inhabitants o[ this 
world, who before that tan rises again, are fixed 

. V (1) Attf, ir. 12. (2) Maic, xvi. 16.. (3) I Cor. iii. II ^ 



216 SERIOUS QUESTIONS PROPOSED 

beyond hope or fear in an eternal slate. More 
than eighty thousand human beings are sup. 
posed to pass into eternity every four and twenty 
hours. How soon among these crowds, may you 
be one ! 

12. IP God were to number all your sins, and 
to set them all in array he Tore you, would you 
say, " I scorn pardon, I will keep them all ?" One 
of them unpardoned would undo you for ever ; 
whet will all the load 1 Yet, if they are not 
forgiven. God at another day will set them all in 
array against you You would not say, " I 
scorn pardon. 1 will keep them all." Yet you 
might as well solemnly and deliberately de- 
clare this, as slight the Saviour and neglect his 
pardoning grace. Were you to be so infatuated 
as to make such a declaration, you could but 
keep all your sins ; you could but perish in them : 
and if you will not come to Christ you will keep 
all your sins ; you will assuredly perish in them ; 
and where in the end will be the difference? 
You would tremble to express such a horrid re- 
solution as that of scorning pardon, and clinging 
to your guilt ; yet you do as bad ; and will be as 
deeply ruined, merely by neglecting or refusing 
to yield yourself to the mighty Saviour. 

53. If you could have seen the Saviour suffer- 
ing on the cross, could have beheld his over- 
whelming sorrows, his bloody sweat, his thorny 
crown, his pierced hands, feet, and side ; and 
could then have heard him utter the mournful 
cry, " My God my God, why hast thou forsaken 
n»e ; >r if after this you could have seen him bow 
his head and die ; would you have slighted his 
dying sorrows, and still have treated him with 



TO N EG LECTORS OF SALVATION. 217 

wicked disregard? If God would now present 
to your view, c miraculous representation of 
these sorrows of his Son, and would say to you, 
" Sinner, all this was borne on thy account." 
Would you say, " I know it was ; but I will re- 
ceive no benefit from it all ? I will return this 
Saviour nothing but ingratitude : He shall be 
no Saviour to me, nor will I ever be a follower 
of his °" Surely nothing would bribe you to 
utter such a declaration ; or if you tried, your 
trembling tongue would hardly be able to ex- 
press the horrid resolution. But did not Christ 
die as really as if you saw him die ? Were not 
his sorrows as heavy, as if you had witnessed 
them? Was not his love as great, as if you had 
seen its disp^ys ? And will it not be the same 
thing at last, to refuse him your heart in one 
way as in another ? If that dreadful deed is 
done, it matters not whather you do it by insulting 
icords, or a careless or ungodly life. If you do 
not unfeignedly receive Christ, he is in effect 
refused by you : and it is that ivicked refusal, 
not the manner in ivhich it is made, that must seal all 
your guilt upon you, and undo your soul for ever. 
If a physician offered his help to two persons ill 
of the plague, and one, with insult, rejected his 
aid, and the other complimented the physician 
as his friend and benefactor, yet completely 
disregarded his advice, and slighted his healing 
medicines, the one would die as much unaided 
and as certainly as the other. So whether you 
slight the Lord Jesus Christ's sufferings by open 
scorn, or slight them by neglecting the great 
salvation, the effect will be the same. You and 
the scornful are going alike to the same place of 



218 SERIOUS QUESTIONS PROPOSED 

ruin; though you are taking rather different 
ways to hell ; and what will be the difference at 
last ? If one man suffer death for committing 1 a 
hundred murders, and another for committing 
one, the gallows is the same, and death is the 
same ; nor would it avail for the less guilty cri- 
minal to plead " I have not sinned to the same 
extent as my fellow sufferer." So if some perish 
for blaspheming Christ, and you should perish 
for neglecting him, the heaven lost to them and 
you will be the same ; the hell incurred will be 
the same ; the death that never dies will be the 
same ; then where in the end will be the differ- 
ence ? O receive Christ entirely, or you can 
have no part no lot in him ! 

14. If you had seen the solemnities of the 
judgment day, could you continue careless of 
the Saviour's favour? If you had seen the 
earth burning ; the heavens vanishing away ; the 
dead rising ; the Judge descending ; the millions 
of the saved exulting in his favour and lifting 
up their heads in triumph ; the millions of the 
lost wailing in utter despair, and longing to be 
hidden by burning hills and melting mountains, 
would you then make light of the Saviour's 
grace ? Would you then say, I will be content 
to have the pleasures of sin for a season, and 
after this to stand at the Judge's left hand, and 
wish for rocks to cover me, and wail in infinite 
despair ? If you had heard the eternal Judge utter 
to the two divisions of mankind the solemn and 
decisive words, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
inherit the kingdom prepared for you, from the 
foundation of the world ;" and "Depart from me, 
ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the 



TO NEGLECTORS OF SALVATION. 219 

devil and his angels!" could you then say, " Ian- 
willing to hear the sentence 'Depart, thou cursed, 
into everlasting fire,' if I may but follow the 
world for a few short years?" Yet you will see 
all this. "Behold he cometh in clouds, and 
every eye shall see him." You will hear ihe 
solemn and decisive words of final doom spoken 
to you; and will you not then seek the Judge 
as your .Saviour and your friend ? 

15. Tf you could see hell opened to your view; 
could behold the outer darkness ; the burning 
flame ; the tormented captives ; the infernal 
spirits, that toss and howl in misery there ; 
would you then be intent on taking the way to 
that abyss of agony ? If some angelic messen- 
ger could say to you " Look at those flames, hear 
those curses, hearken to those groans, these are 
the curses and groans of neglectors like thee;" 
"Would you say, "And I will join them soon; 
I will not escape this flaming prison, I will have 
my portion there ?" You would rather trem- 
ble with horror and dread lest you should be 
cast into that pit of despair. Yet you might as 
well make such a declaration as merely neglect 
and slight the Saviour. You could but sink to 
hell if you vowed to go there, and neglecting 
Christ, if there be nothing worse, will conduct 
you to the same abode. You cannot see these 
regions of misery and these sights of woe ; but 
if you continue a careless impenitent sinner, so 
surely as God speaks true, you shortly must. 
Yes, you must embrace Religion, or you must shortly 
see it all ; and more than see it, must sink into 
the pit. 

16. If you could see the wicked one, furious 



220 SERIOUS QUESTIONS PROPOSED 

with infernal rage, and could hear him say, 
"You are mine, you are doing my will; you 
are accomplishing my purposes, and you will 
soon be with me ;" would you not almost die 
through fear of dying the slave of such a horrid 
tormentor? Yet will you not believe God, as 
readily as Satan ? tmd if you will believe God, 
you must believe, that while you have no heart- 
felt piety, you are a child of the devil. You are 
doing his will in a life of carelessness and sin. 
He seeks the damnation of your soul ; and while 
you slight Christ, you are accomplishing his in- 
fernal desires. Every prayerless day you live; 
every warning you slight ; every sabbath you 
break; every conviction you overcome ; you are 
-doing the will of the wicked one. Could he 
speak to you, he would tell you to disregard this 
volume ; and to slight all the advice and warn- 
ings it contains. And shall Satan have his way ? 
or will you disappoint his hellish desires by 
turning to God ? 

17. If looking into the pit of perdition you 
could hear the lost, amid the wailings of their 
distress, address you, and say, te W e were once 
like you, and you will soon be like us ; you are 
taking the way which brought us here ; and 
shortly you will join us, and be all that we are 
now ; ,r could you hear this, would you still go on 
in carelessness ? But will you not believe God 
as soon as a lost spirit ? He tells you in his 
word, that if you do not turn you must die ; and 
that if ) 7 ou die in sin you will wake in hell ; and 
will you not believe Him ? and if you do believe 
Him, why flee you not from the wrath to come ? 

18. If you could see heaven, and it could be 



TO NEGLECTORS OF SALVATION. 221 

said to you, " Follow Christ, and this shall be 
your home ;" would you say, " No, it shall not, 
I will have hell in preference ; let those who like 
it seek the kingdom of God, but hell and its hor- 
rors are my choice ?" But is not heaven as truly 
the world of happiness as if you saw it ? and 
are not many now enjoying its blessings? and 
will you not as really lose it by neglect, as if you 
were to say, " I will have no home there ?" 

19. If you could see the saints in light, could 
behold their peaceful mansions and unfading 
crowns, and could witness all their unalloyed 
happiness ; and if one of them could say to you, 
" Follow Christ, and you will soon be like us ;" 
would you say, " No, I will not follow him ; I 
will never seek either your Saviour or your 
home ?" Would you, for the world, utter in 
words such a declaration ? Yet it will come to 
the same thing at last, whether you resolve never 
to go to their home, or live careless of him who 
would lead you thither. Would such a view, 
and such a declaration from a saint in light, in- 
duce you to seek the Saviour's grace ? and will 
you not seek this, when the God and Father of 
those saints tells you of a happy heaven ; and 
promises, that if you receive his Son, that hea- 
ven shall soon be yours ? will you not listen to 
his words of mercy ? 

20. If you had not merely seen heaven and 
hell, but had felt for one hour what the blest 
enjoy, and what the lost suffer, would you then 
•think any thing too hard to be endured, or too 
valuable to be resigned for Christ ? Would one 
hour spent in heaven, or one hour in hell, work such 
a change in you, and will you not let the consi- 



222 SERIOUS QUESTIONS PROPOSED 

deration, that you must pass not one hour only, 
but all eternity amidst the raptures of heaven or 
the horrors of hell, have any effect upon your 
mind ? Is it not as certain as God's truth can 
make it, that you must soon be in one or the 
other of those opposite worlds ? And shall this 
weigh nothing with you ? Will you exercise no 
forethought, when eternal interests are depend- 
ing ? Some insects in summer prepare food for 
their winter supply ; and will you exercise no 
care, when an eternity without one blessing is 
before you, unless you secure those blessings 
now r ? Will you never so believe in hell, as to 
have a concern to flee from it, till you are sinking 
into it, or till you feel its fire ? Will you never 
so believe in heaven, as to seek its blessings till 
you see those blessings lost for ever, and the im- 
passable gulf fixed between you and happiness P 
O debase not thus the rational powers that God 
has given you ! nor thus ruin your own immor- 
tal soul ! 

21. Is the service of the devil so good, and 
honourable, and profitable, that you should be 
unwilling to renounce it ? What is the honour ? 
Perhaps the applause of a few deluded and, in 
truth, miserable beings, led captive by Satan at 
his will. What, is the gain ? A few brutish 
pleasures, suited to a debased and fallen nature ; 
or a few years of carelessness and trifling gaiety. 
And is this all that you gain ? Yes, all, the very 
utmost. And what, is the gain of Satan's service 
hereafter? Remorse and despair; wailing and 
agony ; eternal night and the depths of hell. And 
is this the service you are so backward to leave? 
And what is the loss connected with this service? 



TO NEGLECTORS OF SALVATION. 223 

The favour of God ; the love of Christ ; the joys 
of heaven ; glory, honour, and immortality ; all 
that blesses angels in light ; all that enriches 
saints in glory. And will you encounter all this 
loss, to all eternity, for the low reward that Sa- 
tan's service can give you, through a moment of 
time P 

22. Why then are you so loath to yield your- 
self to God ? so backward to welcome Christ as 
your Lord and Saviour ? This is what all the 
saints in light have done. And why should you 
be backward to become what all who have been, 
bless God for eternally, and think they never 
knew one happy moment till they knew that 
grace ? Why should you be backward to be 
what all the inhabitants of heaven approve, and 
only devils condemn ? The cause is not in God, 
but in yourself. It lies in your own sinful 
heart. But what a» horrid unwillingness and 
backwardness is this! How sad your state 
while under its influence ! while you are back- 
ward to love and serve a God so good and kind ! 
backward to follow such a Saviour ! unwilling 
to leave the infernal spirit's service! unwilling 
to be holy ! backward to be happy ! unwilling to 
take the only way that can raise you to heaven, 
and keep you from hell ! in fine, unwilling to 
leave all that God hates, and that the devil loves ; 
and that has already ruined millions ! O, what 
cause you have to deplore before God this wick- 
ed backwardness ! this horrid unwillingness to be 
pious, and thus be blest ! O, what cause you 
have for confessing, that your heart is indeed 
desperately wicked ! 

23. But perhaps your purpose is delay. You 



224 DELAY— AND QUESTIONS 

cannot bring yourself to think of always living, 
and at length dying without God ; but you 
hope to seek him hereafter. You are perhaps 
young ; or if not young, vigorous and full of busi- 
ness; or you look forward to a future time, when 
you may repent and turn to God. This is a 
fatal delusion. No time will be better than the 
present. "Behold now is the accepted time, 
behold now is the day of salvation." 1 Think 
therefore : — 

24. Have not millions sunk to hell through 
delaying ? Are not multitudes now in hell, that 
never meant to perish, but only meant to do 
what you are doing, to delay a little longer? 
They did so. Some were cut off in an unex- 
pected hour, others grew hardened in carelessness 
and sin ; and the ruin they would not flee from 
when they might, at length overwhelmed them. 
O seek religion now! *The longer you delay, 
the more hopeless will be your condition ; the 
more hardened your heart; and the less the 
prospect of your finding mercy. 

25. Have you not delayed long enough 
already? How old are you? Perhaps you 
have seen forty or fifty years ; perhaps not more 
than fifteen or twenty. Whatever has been the 
length of your past life, has it not been long 
enough for the service of sin and satan ? Has it 
not been long enough for heaping up wrath 
against the day of wrath ? and is it not time for 
you to awake from the dreadful sleep of sin ? 
As remedies against this delusive evil ; consider 
that— 

26. Delay is useless. You cannot expect an 

(1) 2 Cor. vi. 2. 



TO DELAYERS. 225 

easier way to heaven. God will not widen the 
strait gate and the narrow way, that you and 
other careless sinners may keep your careless- 
ness, and yet travel in the path of life. He has 
declared, in passages already quoted, that you 
must repent or perish ; be converted or shut out 
of heaven ; turn from sin or be turned into hell. 

Do you expect him to alter those solemn de- 
clarations ? and to lower his terms of mercy till 
they will suit your love of the world and folly, 
your indifference and neglect ? O be not so de- 
luded ! God will not change. It is you that 
must be changed. If every human being were 
to slight the proclamation of Gospel mercy, God, 
notwithstanding all his love, would rather let 
every human being perish, than change his 
gracious overtures to adapt them to the vices-and 
the lusts of men. He is the unchangeable God ; 
and his Gospel is the everlasting Gospel, like its 
Divine Author, "the same yesterday, to-day, and 
for ever." Nor can you ever reach heaven, un- 
less you are willing to tread the same narrow path 
of humble piety as martyrs and departed saints 
have trod. If you want a religion adapted to the 
taste of worldly men, you may delude yourself 
with the notion that you possess it, and will then 
die and find you had "a lie in your right hand." 

27. As delay is useless, so it is inexcusable, 
and connected with dreadful guilt. As you have 
been reminded, till you are decidedly a Christian 
you are a rebel, an enemy to God and the Sa- 
viour ; and an enemy without excuse, for there 
is nothing in God to excuse your delays. If he 
were unkind, unlovely, ungracious, you might 
have some excuse. If his favour brought no good, 
u3 



226 INEXCUSABLENESS AND WICKEDNESS OF 

his love no blessings, you might be less guilty in 
delaying. But you have no excuse of this kind ; 
God is infinitely lovely and gracious. He has 
been infinitely kind to you ; his mercies have 
been numberless, and his claims upon you are 
as numerous as those mercies. His favour is 
life, and his loving-kindness is better than life. 
There is not one harsh feature in his grace, not 
one defect in his excellencies, to justify your 
neglect of him for a single hour ; nor one cause in 
all he is, to excuse your delay for a single mo- 
ment. He has always deserved your affections 
and service. He has always been worthy of 
them. He has always justly claimed them, and 
every hour you delay to turn to him is an hour 
of ingratitude and guilt. 

28. There is nothing in the Saviour, to keep 
you from closing with his invitations of mercy, 
and giving him all your heart. In him appears 
every divine excellence, and all that heavenly 
goodness, which would win any heart, except a 
heart embruted by sin, and governed by Satan. 
If, notwithstanding his goodness, there were any 
defect in him, to make him less deserving of con- 
fidence and admiration, you might have some 
excuse for delay ; but there is nothing. All he 
has done, and all he is, and all he says, bids you 
come at once, and makes every hour of delay 
an hour of guilt, for which there is no possible 
extenuation. 

29. There is nothing in irreligion so good or 
so gainful, as to excuse your continuing in an ir- 
religious state. Every hour of an irreligious life 
is an hour of sin, of black rebellion against a good 
God and gracious Saviour. To have lived many 



DELAYING TO EMBRACE RELIGION. 227 

years in such a state is awful ; to refuse to turn 
from it, and to perish in such a course, is, if pos- 
sible, still more awful. 

30. There is nothing in the devil so lovely, as 
to excuse your delay in forsaking his service. 
Ycu do not yourself think there is. Every hell- 
ish deformity, every infernal passion, exists in 
that great enemy of God and man. How inex- 
cusable is that miserable man, or woman, or child, 
that will not leave the service of this hateful mas- 
ter, for that of a good and gracious Saviour ! 

3 1 . There is nothing in your own state so good 
as to excuse your delay. Were you possessed of 
good friends and great blessings, which by delay- 
ing you might keep, but by deciding must lose, 
there would then be some excuse for your con- 
duct ; and though very blameable, you might still 
be pitiable ; but this is not the case. While de- 
laying to turn to God, you possess not one real 
blessing. You have no Saviour ; no title to hea- 
ven ; no Father there. You have no pardon ; no 
well-founded hope ; no bright prospects for eter- 
nity. Your state is one of guilt and condemna- 
tion, of wretchedness and ruin. O fall upon your 
knees, and beg of God to bring your mind to de- 
cision, and let you delay no longer ! 

32. There is nothing in delaying itself so good 
as to excuse you. Delay insults God, who tells 
you that now is the day of salvation. Is ungrate- 
ful to Christ, who became man, "that he by the 
grace of God should taste death for every man," 1 
and who cannot too soon possess your heart. It 
grieves the Spirit of God. I: deprives you of 
comforts, and blessings, and hopes that you might 

(!) Oeb. ii. 'e. 



228 WICKEDNESS AND DANGER 

enjoy. It prolongs your days of guilt and rebel- 
lion ; and increases the already heavy load of your 
transgressions. It hardens your own heart ; trains 
you for hell, and, if you go on, will soon fix you 
there. O can you find an excuse at the bar of 
God for that which does all this accumulated 
mischief, connected with not less aggravated 
guilt? 

33. As thus there is nothing in God or the Sa- 
viour, in irreligion or Satan, in your own state or 
in delaying itself, to excuse you ; so there is no- 
thing in your unwillingness to turn to God, that 
can in the smallest degree palliate your guilt. 
The cause that you do not come to Christ lies in 
your heart. You are not willing to come to him. 
But this unwillingness, instead of being an ex- 
cuse, is the highest aggravation of all your guilt. 
You are not only careless and wicked outwardly, 
but more wicked inwardly; and that is the foun- 
tain whence flows your outward wickedness. To 
delay to turn to God is a great sin ; but to delay 
to turn to him, because you are really unwilling 
to do so, is a greater. Suppose you knew a child 
that was continually rebelling against his parents, 
and disregarding all their commands ; would you 
not think it an aggravation of this child's guilt, if 
he were to plead, " Father, I disobey you, because 
my heart is estranged from you. I break your 
commands, because I have no love whatever to 
you ?" This would be a tenfold aggravation of 
rebellious conduct. Yet such is your case ; you 
will not turn to God, because you are estranged 
from him, and this aggravates all your sin. 

34. Thus while you delay you are a rebel, and 
a rebel without excuse. God looks upon you as 



OF DELAYING TO EMBRACE RELIGION. 229 

an enemy ; and an enemy's lot is yours. You 
are exposed to numberless and intolerable evils; 
and you deserve them all, through your former sins 
and your present ivicked delay. O trifle not with 
the declaration, to which compassion for your 
soul must give utterance; you ar^ deserving of 
hell for every hour in which you delay to turn to 
God. 

35. While such is your condition, delay is con- 
nected with extreme danger. 

Nothing keeps you out of hell but God's long- 
suffering and patience ; and how long, while liv- 
ing in such aggravated sins, can you depend 
on being thus kept ? You have not one claim 
on him to spare you. Can you point to one ? 
You have not one promise that he will continue 
to spare you, nor one reason justly to expect it. 
Why should he spare you ? that you may sin 
longer ? that you may rebel longer ? that you 
may abuse more mercies ? trample on more 
grace? insult him longer? treat Christ with more 
ingratitude ? grieve the Spirit more ? and serve 
sin and the devil longer ? Can you justly expect 
that God will spare you to do all this? Can you 
depend on his sparing you to do this, when he 
sees you unwilling to turn and do any thing 
else ? And though you may be youthful, 
vigorous, and healthful, he wants not instruments 
to cut you down. He can in a moment send 
disease into your frame ; stretch you on the bed 
of languishing ; lay you in the grave ; and call 
your spirit to his judgment bar. 

This is not all, your state is even worse than 
this. As has been represented to you in a for 
mer chapter, you are, while uninterested in th , 



230 DANGER OF DELAY. 

Saviour, a condemned sinner. Then you deserre 
to be cut down. And while you have no claim on 
mercy, and while your desert is judgment, how soon 
may the awful doom go forth against you! While 
you look for life, death may come. God has been 
merciful and spared you, that you might repent ; 
but, perhaps, this may be the last year of offered 
mercy. The door of salvation may to you be 
shut before this year shall close ; and should it 
be so, how changed ere long will be your state ! 
If you still delay, how dreadfully changed ! This 
year then you will meet your God. This year all 
your hopes will end in black despair ; and all 
your worldly comforts will have fled away for ever. 
What will you do ? Will you yield yourself to 
Christ ? Will you go to a throne of grace and 
seek mercy to be entirely the Lord's? Will you 
lay this book down, determined by divine grace 
to become a child of God ? Or will you still de- 
lay and die a child of Satan ? decide ! O pray 
to become what you will wish to be for ever ! 



CHAPTER XII. 

CONCLUDING ADDRESSES — TO YOUNG WOMEN, — TO 
YOUNG MEN, — AND TO READERS GENERALLY. 

I. You have been shown that there is no alter- 
native betv/een heartfelt piety and eternal ruin ; 
what is the effect of the truths presented to you? 
The most solemn and the most important event 
in human existence* viewed as embracing both 
time and eternity, is the committal of the soul, 
with the surrender of the heart, to the Lord Jesus. 



ADDRESS TO YOUNG WOMEN. 231 

lj your soul committed and your heart devoted 
to him ? Then the lost and undone pass from 
death and misery, and Satan's power and con- 
demnation to hellish horrors, into life, and light, 
and liberty, and peace, and salvation. Have you 
thus passed from death to life, and gained every 
blessing at the Saviour's feet ? The contrast is 
great indeed between what the Christian was 
when a careless sinner, and what be is when be- 
come a humble believer. Sin then unpardoned 
is now forgiven. Then he had no hope; now 
every hope is his. Then this life was his all ; 
now it is a comparative nothing. Death was a 
curse ; but now it is a blessing. Then he was 
the enemy ; now is the child of God. Then Sa- 
tan's slave ; now the friend of Christ. Then the 
heir of hell ; but now of heaven. Then in his 
prospects all was darkness, gloom, and death ; 
now they are bright with life and immortality. 
All these blessings are enjoyed through an inte- 
rest in the Lord Jesus. Are all these blessings 
yours? If so, how memorable is the day when 
such treasures were secured ! If not, how piti- 
able is your condition while destitute of them all ! 

II. TO YOUNG WOMEN 

1. What has been written in the preceding 
pages, has been addressed indiscriminately to 
irreligious persons of either sex and of any age ; 
but there are some classes that it may not be un- 
suitable more expressly to address. Let the 
writer turn first to young women. 

My young female friend, are you a stranger to 
true piety? How sad then is your condition ! 



2^2 ADDRESS TO YOUNG WOMEN. 

Keligion is the brightest ornament among the 
many that adorn your sex. And among females 
religion finds the greater part of its decided vo- 
taries. Women were among the most affectionate 
and faithful of the disciples of the Lord. They 
watched beside his cross when his own apostles 
forsook him and fled. They were last at his 
cross, and first at his sepulchre. And what they 
were to the Divine Master, they have since been 
to his feeble servants labouring in his work. 
The piety and consistency of Christian females 
has been a chief source of encouragement and 
comfort to the ministers of the gospel; and pro- 
bably of the truly pious two thirds are women. 1 
But you, my young friend, want that chief glory 
of an immortal nature. 

Oh, how can you trifle with your God, with 
your Judge, and with your deathless soul ! Per- 
haps you are so timorous that a flash of lightning 
alarms you. You would be frightened by meet- 
ing alone an ill-looking man upon a lonely road, 
and yet you can trifle with the terrors of God's 
wrath and the horrors of Satan's reign. Alas ! 
if you persist in slighting humble piety it may 
soon be said of you, when dead and gone, " Here 
lies one who loved the world, but it has left her 
for ever; who lost her soul for its gaieties and 
pleasures, and its pleasures are for ever over. 
Unhappy girl, how different her lot from theirs 
who loved and followed Christ the Lord !" 

2. How many are thus unhappy ! Look at a 
young woman who is openly irreligious. She is 
false ; without remorse can violate the law of 

(1) Professor Dwight states, that Jonathan Edwards remarked* 
that in the American churches about two thirds were females. 



IRRELIGIOUS YOUNG WOMEN DESCRIBED. 233 

truth. She is perhaps profane; was nursed up 
in sin and loves it. She scorns true piety, and 
laughs at its restraints. Wretched girl! little 
does she think to whom she belongs, and whither 
she is going ! Her Lord is Satan, and her home 
is hell. 

Behold a prayerless girl ! like the brutes in the 
field she rises and lies down, careless of the God 
that gave her being, and before whose dreadful 
bar she must shortly stand. She seeks no bless- 
ings for eternity, and she has none. No heaven 
is hers ; no peaceful rest awaits her. She is 
without God, and without Christ, and without 
hope. 

See a third ! her idol is dress and display. 
She thinks much of adorning the body, but no- 
thing of adorning the soul. A new garment fills 
her with delight, and puffs her up with pride; 
but she slights the robe of righteousness. The 
body that must soon mingle with the dust is all 
her care. The soul that must live for ever is ut- 
terly neglected. Whose is she ? what must she 
shortly be, when the grave is her home, and her 
only suit a shroud ? Then must that idolized 
body be a loathsome mass of corruption and de- 
cay, hidden from the sight of men ; and that 
neglected soul, without one ornament of grace, 
must be for ever deformed, and hateful, and 
hellish amidst the poverty and gloom of perdi- 
tion. 

A few years ago some particulars were related 
to the writer respecting a young woman who had 
died just before. This unhappy girl was what 
thousands are, devoted to the .world. The 
love of dress reigned in her breast. Dress was 
x 



g?»4 IRRELIGIOUS YOUNG WOMEN DESCRIBED. 

her idol. The time for a fair was approaching, 
and she had a new garment in which she design- 
ed to attend its scenes of dissipation. Part of 
several preceding sabbaths had been employed 
in preparing some of her apparel, as she usually 
left this work for that sacred day. On Saturday 
evening before the fair she was not quite well ; 
the next morning however she attended to some 
worldly business. In the evening of that profa- 
ned sabbath she became ill, and soon sunk into 
a state of insensibility. Thus she continued till 
Friday, the day of her anticipated pleasure ; but 
on that day about three o'clock she expired, at 
the very time when she would probably have been 
in the fair, had not disease and death disappointed 
her expectations. Some time before she died the 
hair was shaved from her head ; she was then 
sufficiently sensible to say, "Not my hair, not my 
hair, I am tormented in my soul !" 

Behold another ! She feels convictions of her 
sin and folly, and listens to pious instructions ; 
but she will not give her youth and herself to 
God. She goes forward, sinning against light 
and knowledge, till she gels into a state of har- 
dened indifference. Ah, whose is she ? What 
are her prospects ? The God she trifles with will 
soon cease to pity her. The Spirit she resists 
will soon cease to strive with her. The Saviour 
she slights will soon cease to invite her. The 
heaven she neglects will soon be shut against 
her. Then what will this poor trifler be for ever? 

View one young woman more. She is very 
different from those already described. In dis- 
position amiable; in conduct commendable. 
She respects religion, and esteems its friends; 



PIOUS FEMALE CHARACTERS DESCRIBED. 235 

yet she is not its possessor. She is but almost a 
Christian. Then what is she? still, like others, 
a perishing 1 creature. What are her prospects ? 
Alas, as dark as theirs. Soon, unless she become 
a Christian indeed, she must be shut out from 
that heaven of which she often hears ; she must 
be separated eternally from those whose piety 
she respects but does not imitate. Unhappy 
girl, to be so near the kingdom and yet to come 
short at last ! 

A pious minister relates that he visited a fe- 
male on her dying bed, who had indulged false 
hopes of heaven ; and listened to her awful re- 
grets for time past, and to her prayers that she 
might not die. "I cannot die, I cannot die!" 
she exclaimed. "My bible will rise up in judg- 
ment against me. I've forgotten God and served 
the world, and now he is taking me away for ever. 
Oh ! I cannot die." Vain exclamations, she 
could not flee from death. 

My young friend, what are you ? Is either ot 
these representations a description of yourself? 
But we will view some of an opposite character. 

3. Behold then a young woman whose heart is 
intent upon winning Christ, and obtaining the 
blessings of religion. She is humble and peni- 
tent; though never immoral, yet in her own es- 
teem the chief of sinners. She is watchful and 
prayerful while struggling after the Saviour. 
Whose is she ? the Lord's. What is her portion ? 
blessedness ; for he said, " 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 they which do hunge? 



236 ADDRESS TO YOUNG WOMEN. 

and thirst after righteousness ; for they shall be 
filled." 1 

Behold another. She has gone further in the 
path of peace. Not only has she come out from 
the world, and given up its vanities, but she has 
avowed herself to be the Lord's. His vows are 
upon her. Her treasures are above. Her home 
is there; her heart is there. She is learning of 
her Lord ; growing in spirit and conduct like 
him ; looking for him, and following him as her 
guide to glory. Happy girl ! the treasures of 
empires are poverty to her wealth ; and all the 
science of philosophers folly to her wisdom. Now 
she is "a daughter of the Lord Almighty," and 
soon will be his favoured child in his immediate 
presence. 

How wide the contrast between these and those 
first described 1 wide now, but how much wider 
will it be when the first shall have left the world 
they love, and the others shall have reached the 
heaven they seek ! when the first shall have ex- 
changed their dress and their youthful bloom for 
the shroud, the grave, and hell ; and when the 
last shall have left their conflicts, their doubts 
and fears for perfect peace and endless victory ; 
and shall have exchanged the fading bloom of 
youth on earth for the immortal glories and un- 
fading beauties of heaven ! 

To which of these two opposite classes do you 
belong ? If to the former, by all that is dear to 
you, be persuaded to listen to the admonitions 
addressed to you in this book ! and pray for 
grace to become now what you will else eternally 
wish in vain to have become, the humble follower 

(1) Matt. v. 3, 1. 6. 



ADDRESS TO YOUNG MEN. 237 

of the Saviour, and thus a " daughter of the Lord 
Almighty." 

III. TO YOUNG MEN. 

Perhaps the writer is addressing some irre- 
ligious young man. If so, my young friend, 
harden not your heart against the admonitions, 
that might, if regarded, do you good for ever. 
Among young men there is much wickedness ; 
much daring wickedness; much open wicked- 
ness ; and a greater proportion of them than of 
the other sex are wicked ; and they harden each 
other in wickedness. Thus multitudes act. Every 
sabbath is profaned. Perhaps its morning spent 
in the fields, with their dogs and their wicked 
companions; and its evenings at the tavern or 
the alehouse ; where they are, as it were, uniting 
to train each other for the pit of perdition ; and 
they too fatally succeed. Were this their object, 
they could not accomplish it more effectually 
than they do. Look at the course of many young 
men. Some are lewd and drunken ; the temp- 
ters of the other sex, the disgrace of their own, 
and the destroyers of themselves. Is their state 
a safe or happy one ? Ah, no ! it is one of ac- 
cumulating guilt and constant danger. Many die 
the victims of youthful lusts. Others meet death 
in some drunken fit, and are suddenly hurried 
from the company of the alehouse to the society 
of devils. So common is this, that frequently, 
in a single week, the public prints record several 
instances of persons thus in the midst of their 
sins snatched into eternity. Lately an account 
appeared of two individuals riding home intoxi- 
x3 



238 PROFLIGATE YOUNG MEN DESCRIBED. 

cated. One fell from his horse and was killed on 
the spot; the other fell on him, and was found 
lying asleep by his dead companion, but so in- 
jured as to leave little hope of his recovery. In 
the same week another public print mentioned, 
that a waggoner driving down a hill in the dark, 
heard a noise, and thought one of his wheels was 
cracked ; but looking for the cause, he found that 
a wheel had gone over a drunkard's head, who 
was lying on the road, had smashed his skull to 
pieces, and left his corpse a horrid monument of 
the effects of drunkenness. 

From viewing such characters turn to another. 
Behold the affected infidel. Though he knows 
little or nothing, and has perhaps never read the 
bible in his life, he is too wise in his own conceit 
to listen to its sacred truths, and dares to despise 
that book which Milton, and Newton, and Locke, 
and Washington, and the greatest and wisest of 
men have reverenced as divine. He scorns in- 
struction. But what is his condition? is it one 
of peace and safety ? Ah, no. God will bring 
him into judgment. 1 He cannot live always ; 
nor always sit in the scorner's chair. He cannot 
always jest at religion. He may laugh now at 
its solemn truths; but laughter will not drive 
death and hell away. What is his peace and 
support ? let those who have been like him de- 
clare. A devoted Christian, 2 who when a young 
man was an infidel, remarks, " I was a professed 
infidel, but then I liked to be an infidel in com- 
pany rather than alone. / ivas wretched when by 
myself." 

A visitor to one who had scorned the bible 

(1) Eecles. xi. 9. (ij Cecil. 



ACCOUNT OF A DYING INFIDEL. 239 

stales, I found him in the full possession of his 
mental faculties, but much agitated and alarmed 
by a sense of his great sinfulness and approach- 
ing misery. About six months before the time at 
which I saw him, he had been deprived of his 
wife by death. To suppress the sorrow occa- 
sioned by this loss, he went frequently to a pub- 
lic-house ; there he found companions whose 
mirth caused him to forget for a moment his 
troubles. At first he was surprised and shocked 
at their profaneness, but he soon proved that 'evil 
communications corrupt good manners.' These 
men were infidels ; and it was not long before 
they persuaded their new associate to imitate 
their example, in abandoning the profession, and 
casting off the restraints of religion. On Sunday 
mornings they met to encourage each other in all 
manner of wickedness ; and on one of these oc- 
casions, according to previous agreement, they 
together committed their Bibles to the flames, 
and vowed never again to enter a place of reli- 
gions worship. * All this/ said the wretched man, 
did well enough while I was in health, and could 
' keep off the thoughts of death.* Now, however, 
he was stretched on a bed of sickness, and con- 
scious of his near approach to eternity ; in this 
state, forced to reflection, his guilt and danger 
excited the utmost horror and alarm : despair had 
taken full possession of his mind. When I spoke 
to him of the mercy and forgiveness which the 
most heinous offenders are encouraged to seek 
through the mediation of a Redeemer- he hastily 
exclaimed, 'What's the use of talking *o me 
about mercy ?' When entreated aQiin and agsiji 
to ' behold ths Lamb of God, which takeih awav 



240 A DYING INFIDEL. 

the sin of the world,' he said, ' I tell you, it's of 
no use now ; 'tis too late — 'tis too late.' In re- 
ply to my exhortation to pray, he said, ' Oh ! I 
could pray once, but now I can't pray ;' and after 
a pause, 'I will not pray.' These expressions 
were subsequently several times repeated, ' J can- 
not pray, I will not pray.' Two men having en- 
tered the room, whoml understood to have been 
leaders in the guilty company by whom this poor 
man had been deluded, he hastily turned his face 
from them with obvious disgust and terror ; and 
after they had addressed to him some blustering 
expressions, by which they hoped to rally his spi- 
rits, he raised himself on his bed, lifted up his 
hands, and in the most deliberate and solemn 
manner called on God Almighty to blast those 
wretches to all eternity! They almost immedi- 
ately left the apartment, uttering a profusion of 
oaths. Some time afterwards three others of the 
wretched men entered, and occasioned a repeti- 
tion of the imprecations, which it was impossible 
for any to hear without shuddering. 

" After I had been with him about two hours, 
during which time he frequently repeated such 
expressions as have been stated, he became quite 
indifferent to what was said to him, rolling about 
on his bed, and now and then ejaculating, * My 
Bible! Oh! the Bible /' His eyes were for se- 
veral minutes fixed on me, but he seemed not to 
hear the questions and entreaties which I conti- 
nued to address to him. He then concealed his 
face by turning it to the pillow ; and after having 
remained in this position perhaps a quarter of an 
hour, his whole frame was violently convulsed ; 
bp groaned, and then again was still ; and whilst 



IRRELIGIOUS YOUNG MEN DESCRIBED. 241 

I was speaking to the by-standers, he expired. 
* It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the 
living God.'" 

2. See a young man that ranks not thus openly 
with the enemies of holiness. He spends his 
sabbaths in worldly company ; on the newspaper, 
or mere worldly science. He neglects all piety. 
He lives a prayerless life. In vain for him opens 
the house of worship, he enters not that sacred 
place; or if occasionally there, goes in only life- 
less form. In vain for him the Christian minister 
proclaims the tidings of heavenly love. He treats 
those wonders on which angels gaze astonished, 
with utter indifference. Bat what is his condi- 
tion ? Is he safe and blest ? Ah, no ! Ruin, 
only ruin lies before him. He is exposed to utter 
danger, to eternal destruction. Yet he is vigo- 
rous, and fears no ill. True ; but health may soon 
leave him. It has left millions once as fearless 
and vigorous ; and they, guilty and ruined, have 
sunk into the grave. Insensibility lessens not 
his guilt nor his danger. 

Behold a young man different from all these. 
He respects religion, treats its truths with reve- 
rence, its friends with kindness. No open profa- 
nity or vice marks his conduct. As far as the 
outward observance of many divine precepts is 
concerned, he can say with a young man of old, 
"All these have I observed from my youth." He 
is regular at the house of God ; and is generally 
esteemed and beloved. Yet his heart is not 
given to Christ. He has not surrendered himself 
and his all to the Saviour. What is his condition ? 
Alas ! with all that is so promising, he is still pe- 
rishing. Though he joins not the scoffer and the 



242 PIOUS YOUNG MEN DESCRIBED. 

drunkard, still while he receives not the Saviour 
he belongs to the same wretched family as they. 
Unhappy youth ! with so much that is commen- 
dable and promising 1 , yet to want the one thing 1 
needful. Unhappy youth ! that meets with 
Christians, yet has himself no part in Christ; 
that shuns the place where scorners and blas- 
phemers meet, yet has no more interest in the 
Saviour than they, and is hastening to the same 
dark dwelling of despair. 

3. But see a young man different from all 
these. He is the humble and devoted disciple of 
the blessed Jesus. If once a profligate and a 
sabbath-breaker, he now hates all the paths of sin, 
and loves the sabbath he profaned. If brought 
up strictly, he now feels much more than the 
mere influence of habit or education ; he has un- 
feignedly yielded up himself to God. Religion 
is the element in which he lives. Prayer his 
pleasure; the bible his guide; the friends of 
Christ his beloved associates. Youth cannot be- 
guile him with its delusions. Whatever pros- 
pects of opening life are before him, he looks to 
brighter prospects and to fairer scenes beyond the 
limits of earth and time. God is his God. The 
Saviour is his all ; and heavenly mansions his 
expected home. Happy young man! He pos- 
sesses the good part that shall not be taken away 
from him. 

Which of these very different characters do you 
resemble ? If the latter, give God the praise. If 
any of the former, ruin is before you. O, flee 
from the paths of youthful sin and folly ! or you 
will find, too late, that the way of transgressors is 
hard. 



243 

CONCLUSION". 

IV. And now, reader, before this address closes, 
let the question once more be pressed on your at 
tention, What are you ? Are you yet undecided ? 
If so, what have you to object to embracing reli- 
gion ? Would you lose by turning to God ? 
Would it render you unhappy ? Would you 
ever repent of doing so ? Can you find another 
Saviour or happiness elsewhere? If not why 
continue undecided ? Would not committing 
your all to the Lord Jesus, make this the best and 
happiest year of your life ? Would it not pre- 
pare you for all events, to live on earth, or to die 
and live in heaven? Why then continue but 
almost a Christian ? Why thus be ruined by 
what ruins multitudes ? Probably faxv expect to 
perish for ever. Some delusion props up their 
hopes, till death and eternity sweep all delusive 
hopes away. Some speak of minding religion, 
but not, they allow, as they should do; when the 
fact is, they have never from the heart embraced 
the gospel. Others hope to become pious here- 
after. Thus some are undone by one delusion, 
and others by another. But will you allow the 
deceitfulness of sin thus to ruin you ? The Lord 
says, u Strive to enter in at the strait gate ;" 
and will you not strive when eternal life is de- 
pending? 

2. Reader, before you are left to God and your 
own conscience, bear with one more warning 
against trifling with religion, for trifling would 
undo you eternally. Only make light 1 of Christ, 
and you will resemble a criminal whose state is 

(1) Matt. xxii. 5. 



244 CONCLUDING ADDRESS. 

hopeless and who is left for execution. Only 
make light of Christ, and your life will be sin, 
your deiith despair, and your home hell. You 
are already a condemned sinner, make light of 
him and you seal that condemnation. No reme- 
dy will then long be presented to you, only make 
light of salvation, and all hope will be soon over. 
Nothing worse is needed to ruin you for ever. 
To be shut out of heaven, only trifle with the Sa- 
viour's claims, and the deed is done. Only stop 
with being but almost a Christian, and you de- 
stroy your soul as effectually as you could do by 
infidelity itself. To sink to hell you need not be 
a drunkard, or a swearer, or a liar, or lewd, or 
dishonest, only make light of Christ, and this 
will sink you there. To live and die laden with 
iniquity, to murder your own soul with the un- 
dying death, you need not keep adding open sin 
to sin, and transgression to transgression, only 
make light of Christ, only neglect decided reli- 
gion, and the deed of destruction is completed, 
and the soul is undone. 

Dying child of man ! t what will you be ? whose 
will you be for ever ? The most important choice 
you can ever make is now before you. It is not, 
who shall be your companions, or what your em- 
ployment for a few short years ; but who shall be 
your companions, and what your err ployment to 
eternity. Will you have a part in ')e 'lessings 
of salvation ? or will you have no par; nor lot in 
the matter ? Will you have the supports of a Sa- 
viour's love? or will you neglect his grace and 
have them not ? Will you make the choice which 
under divine grace millions have made and none 
ever lamented? or will you not? 



CONCLUDING ADDRESS. 845 

4. What will you be? Decide by God's help 
now. Your last day is coming 1 ; your body will 
soon be in the grave, and your soul gone to meet 
its God. If these events were never to come 
to pass, you might trifle; but they will ar- 
rive, and then you will see religion as with other 
eyes, and feel its importance as with another 
heart. Will you become a child of God instead 
of continuing a guilty prodigal ? and will you 
have an interest in his promises and favour? 
Will you become a partaker of his grace ? Shall 
his everlasting love bless you ? O trifle not 
longer with such blessings ! Will you come to 
Christ and rejoice for ever in heaven ? or follow 
the world and wail for ever in hell ? One you 
must do, which shall it be? 

O yield yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and thus become as blest as they that have 
already reached his heavenly kingdom ; thus 
learn to live as safely, and to die as peacefully. 
Thus follow him who will teach you to sing the 
song of victory, and soon unite you to their hap- 
py bands. O come ! O yield ! and when death 
comes it will be gain ; and when you are in the 
grave, your spirit will be with the Lord ; and 
when you are forgotten in the dust, you will still 
be with him, and with him for ever. 

What will you do? "We are ambassadors for 
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: 
we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled 
to God." 1 God's message is delivered to you ; 
he waits your answer and the Saviour waits. 
The question is, Will you be indeed Christ's 
disciple ? What is your answer ? the answer of 

(1) 2 Cor. v. 20. 



246 CONCLUDING ADDRESS. 

your heart? "Yes, Lord, T will!" Blessed be 
God if this is your reply. You will have to bless 
him through eternal ages for the grace that 
inspires this answer, "Yes;" — then Satan has lost 
his prey and hell its victim ! " Yes, Lord, I will 
follow thee whithersoever thou goest!" Praise 
to the Lord ! The Saviour is thine, and there is 
joy in the presence of the angels of God over 
thee, a repenting sinner. 

Is it so, reader ? is it so ? Is "Yes," your an- 
swer ? Perhaps you say, " I long to be his, but I fear 
he will not welcome such a sinner." Away with 
such unbelieving fears; if you are willing, he is more 
willing : it was his grace that made you willing, 
and he says, " Come unto me, ail ye that labour 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest ;* him 
that cometh unto me I will in nowise cast out."" 

But is, "Yes, I will, in the Lord's strength, be 
Christ's disciple," the heartfelt answer of all the 
readers of this book? It is to be feared not. 
Perhaps it is not yours. What then, reader, is 
your answer ? There is no medium between 
Yes and No ; between decided religion and eternal 
life, and irreligion and everlasting ruin. You 
are not willing to be quite the Lord's. Then 
do not deceive yourself; but speak plainly what 
the Lord regards as plainly done. At once say, 
"No, I will not be the Lord's." Is this your 
answer either by words or by conduct? Then 
for you the Son of God will have no blessings. 
"No:" then Satan exults, you are his victim still. 
"No :" then shall you deplore eternally your fatal 
resolution. "No!" Abide by this answer and 
your doom is settled, and your damnation sealed. 

(1) Matt. xi. 27. (2) John, vi. 37. 



