Baxter - HP BV4920 B38 1829

. ' 120 A CALL TO God, and averse to heaven i~ their more civil cou:rse; as others are in their more shameful, notorious sins. Object. 6. But I mean nobody any harm, nor do any harm; and why then should God condemn me? ' Jlnsw. Is it no harm to neglect the Lord tbat made thee, and the work for which thou earnest into the world, and to prefer the creature before the Creator, and to neglect grace that is daily offered thee? It is the depth ofthy sinfulness to be so insensible of it: the dead feel not that they are dead. If once thou wert made alive; thou wouldst see more amiss in thyself, and marvel at thyself for making so light of it. Object.- 7. I think you would make men mad, undel: pretence of converting them; it is enough to rack the brains of simple people to muse so much on matters so high for them. .flnsw. l. Can you be more mad -than you are already? or, at least, can there be a more dangerous madness than to neglect your everlasting welfare, and wilfully undo yourselves ? ' 2. A man is never well in his wits till he be converted: he never knows God, nor knows sin, nor knows Christ, nor knows the world, nor himself, nor what his business is on earth, so as to set himself about it, till he be converted. The Scripture saith, that the wic:ked are unreasonable men, 2 Thess. iii. 2, and that the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God, 1 Cor. i. 20. and Luke xv. 17. It is said of the prodigal, that when he came to himself, he resolved to return. It is a wise world when men will disobey God, and run to hell, for fear of being out of their wits. 3. What is there in the work that Christ calls you to, that should drive a man out of his wits? Is it the loving God, and calling upon him, and comfortably thinking of the glory to come, and the forsaking 'of our sins, and loving one another, and delighting ourselves in the service of Gorl? Are these such things as should make men mad?

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