the majefty of the Father, with peace and comfort, and to be received into glory when thou art turned naked out of this world; I befeech thee, I charge thee, to hear and obey the Call of God, and refolvedly to turn that thou mayeft live. But, if thou wilt not, even when thou haft no true reafon for it but becaufe thou wilt not, I fummon thee to answer it before the Lord, and require thee there to bear me witness that I gave thee warning, and that thou waft not condemned for want of a call to turn and live, but because thou wouldest not believe it and obey it; which also must be the teftimony of

Dec. 11, 1657.

Thy ferious Monitor,

RICHARD BAXTER

E

A

Call to the Unconverted.

SERMON I..

EZEK. Xxxiii. I I..

Say unto them, As I live, faith the Lord God, I have no pleafure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways, for, why will ye die, O houfe of Ifrael?

T hath been the aftonishing wonder of many a man, as well as me, to read, in the holy Scripture, how few will be faved; and that the greatest part, even of those that are called, will be everlaftingly shut out of the kingdom of heaven, and be tormented with the devils in eternal fire. In-.. fidels believe not this when they read it, and therefore must feel it. Thofe that do believe it are forced to cry out, with Paul, Rom. xi. 33. "O the depth of the riches both of the wifdom and knowledge of

God! how unfearchable are his judgments, and his ways paft finding out !" but nature itfelf doth teach us all to lay the blame of evil works upon the doers, and therefore, when we fee any heinous thing done, a principle of juftice doth provoke us to inquire after him that did it, that the evil of the work may return the evil of fhame upon the author. If we faw a man killed and cut to pieces by the way, we should presently afk, "O! who did this cruel deed?" If the town were wilfully fet. on fire, you would afk, "what wicked wretch did this?" So, when we read that the most will be firebrands of hell for ever, we muft needs think with ourselves, how comes this to pafs? and who is it long of? who is it that is fo cruel as to be the caufe of fucir a thing as this? And we can meet with but few that will own the guilt. It is indeed confeffed by all that Satan is the caufe: but that doth not refolve the doubt, because he is not the principal caufe. He doth not force men to fin, but tempt them to it; and leaves it to their own wills whether they will do it or not: he doth not carry men to an alehouse, and force open their mouths, and pour in the drink; nor doth he hold them that they cannot go to God's fervice; nor doth he force their hearts from holy thoughts. It lieth therefore between God himfelf and the finner; one of them muft needs be the principal caufe of all this mifery, which ever it is; for there is no

other to caft it upon; and God disclaimeth it; he will not take it upon him: and the wicked difclaim it usually, and they will not take it upon them. And this is the controverfy that is here managed in

my text.

The Lord complaineth of the people; and the people think it long of God. The fame controverfy is handled, chap. xvii. ver. 25. where they plainly fay," that the way of the Lord is not equal:" and God faith, "it is their ways that are not equal." So here they fay, ver. 9. "If our trangreffions and our fins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how fhall we then live?" As if they should fay, if we must die and be miferable, how can we help it? as if it were not long of them, but God. But God in my text doth clear himself of it, and telleth them how they may help it if they will, and perfuadeth them to ufe means; and, if they will not be perfuaded, he lets them know that it is long of themselves; and, if this will not fatisfy them, he will not therefore forbear to punish them. It is he that will be their judge, and he will judge them according to their ways: they are no judges of him or themfelves, as wanting authority, and wifdom, and impartiality. Nor is it their cavilling with God, that fhall ferve their turn, or fave them from the execution of juftice, which they murmur at.

The words of this verfe contain, 1. God's clearing of himself from the blame of their deftruction. This he doth not by difowning his law, that the wicked shall die, not by disowning his judgments and execution according to that law, or giving them any hope that the law fhall not be executed; but by profeffing that it is not their death that he takes pleasure in, but their returning rather, that they may live: and this he confirmeth to them by his oath. 2. An express exhortation to the wicked to return; wherein God doth not only command, but perfuade, and condefcend alfo to reafon the cafe with them, why will they die? The direct end of his exhortation is, that they may turn and live. The fecondary or referved ends, upon suppofition that this is not attained, are thefe. two: Firft, to convince them by the means which he used, that it is not long of God if they be miferable: Secondly, to convince them, from their manifest wilfulness in rejecting all his commands and perfuafions, that it is long of themfelves; and they die because they will die.

The fubftance of the text doth lie in thefe obfervations following:

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

Doct. 2. It is the promife of God, that the wicked fhall live, if they will but

turn...