"I shall conclude this account with my own deliberate wish: May I live the remainder of my life, as entirely to the glory of GOD, as he lived; and when I shall come to the period of my life, may I die in the same blessed peace wherein he died; may I be with him in the king dom of light and love forever."

I shall add, also, Dr. Calamy's account of this Treatise; his words are thus: 'In 1657, Mr. Baxter published, A CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED; a book blessed by GOD with marvellous success, in reclaiming persons from their impieties. Twenty thousand of them were printed, and dispersed in little more than a year. It was translated into French and Dutch, and other European languages: and Mr. Elliot translated it into the Indian language: and Mr. Colton Mather, in his life, gives an account of an Indian prince, who was so well affected with this book, that he sat reading it with tears in his eyes till he died.'

1

PREFACE.

To all unsanctified Persons that shall read this Book: especially of my Hearers in the Borough and Parish of

Kederminster.

MEN and BRETHREN.

THE Eternal GOD that made you for a Life everlasting, and hath redeemed you by his only Son, when you had lost it, and yourselves, being mindful of you in your sin and misery, hath indited the gospel, and sealed it by his Spirit, and commanded his ministers to preach it to the world, that pardon being freely offered you, and heaven being set before you, he might call you off from your fleshly pleasures, and from following after this deceitful world and acquaint you with the life that you were created and redeemed for, before you are dead and past remedy. He sendeth not you prophets or apostles, that re. ceive their message by immediate revelation; but yet he calleth you by his ordinary ministers, who are commissioned by him to preach the same gospel, which Christ and his Apostles first delivered. The Lord seeth how you forget him and your latter end, and how light you make of everlasting things, as men that understand not what they have to do or suffer. He seeth how bold you are in sin, and how fearless of his threatenings, and how

In compassion of your

that better knows your

careless of your souls, and how the works of infidels are in your lives, while the belief of Christians is in your mouths. He seeth the dreadful day at hand, when your sorrows will begin and you must lament all this with fruitless cries in torment and desparation; and then the remembrance of your folly will tear your hearts, if true conversion now prevent it not. sinful, miserable souls, the Lord, case than you can know it, hath made it our duty to speak to you in his name, 2 Cor. v. 19. and to tell you plainly of your sin and misery, and what will be your end, and how sad a change you will shortly see, if yet you go on a little longer. Having bought you at so dear a rate as the blood of his son Jesus Christ, and made you so free and a general promise of pardon, and grace, and everlasting glory; he commandeth us to tender all this to you, as the gift of GOD, and to entreat you to consider of the necessity and worth of what he offereth. He seeth and pitieth you, while you are drowned in worldly cares and pleasures, and eagerly following childish toys, and wasting that short and precious time for a thing of nought, in which you should make ready for an everlasting life; and therefore he hath commanded us to call after you, and tell you how you lose your labour and are about to lose your souls; and to tell you, what greater and better things you might certainly have, if you would hearken to his Call, Isa. ly. 1, 2, 3. We believe and obey the voice of GOD; and come to you on his message, who hath

charged us to preach, and be instant with you in season

and out of season, and to lift up our voice like a trumpet, and shew you your transgressions and your sins, Is7, lviii. 1. 2 Tim. iv. 1. 2. But alas! to the grief of our soul, and your own undoing, you stop your ears, you stiffen your necks, you harden your hearts, and send us back to GOD with groans, to tell him that we have done his mes sage, but can do no good on you, nor scarcely get a sober hearing. O that our eyes were as a fountain of tears, that we might lament our ignorant, careless people, that have Christ before them, and pardon, and life, and heaven before them, and have not hearts to know and value them! that might have Christ, and grace,and glory, as well as others, if it were not for their wilful negligence and contempt! O that the Lord would fill our hearts with more compassion to these miserable souls, that we might cast ourselves even at their feet, and follow them to their houses, and speak to them with our bitter tears: For long have we preached to many of them, as in vain: we study plainness to make them understand, and many of them will not understand us; we study serious piercing words to make them feel, but they will not feel. If the grealest matters would work with them, we should awake them; if the sweetest things would work, we should entice them and win their hearts; if the most dreadful things would work, we should at least affright them from their wickedness ; if truth and certainty, would take with them, we should soon convince them; if the GOD that made them, and the Christ that bought them might be heard, the case would soon be altered with them; if