Baxter - HP BV4920 B38 1829

TI:tE UNCONVERTED. 1S8 God bath called to thee, " To-day, while it is called to--day, harden not thy ' heart:" Why not now, without any more delay? Life bath been. set before yol\; the joys of heaven have been opened to you in the gospel; the certainty of them bath been manifested; the certainty of the everlasting torments of the damned hath been declared to you; unless ·you would have had a sight of heaven and hell, what could you desire more? Christ hath been, as it were, set forth crucified before your eyes, Gal. iii. 1. You have been a hundred times told that you are but lost men till you come unto him; as oft you have been told of the evil of sin, of the vanity of sin, the world, and all the pleasures and wealth it can afford; of the shortness and uncertainty of your lives, and the endless duration of the joy or torment of the life to come. All this, and more than this have you been told, and told again, even till you were weary of hearing it, and till you could make the lighter of it, because you had so often heard it, like the smith's dog, that is brought by custom to sleep under the noise oJ the hammers and when the sparks fiy about his ears; and though all this have not converted you, yet you are alive, and might have mercy to this day, if you had but hearts to enrertain it. And now let reason itself be the judge, whether it be the faul~ of God or yours, if after this you will be unconverted and be damned. If you die now, it is because you will die. What should be said more to you, or what course should be taken that is more likely to prevail? Are you able to say, and rnake it good, 'We would fain have been converted and become new creatures, but we could not; we would fain have forsaken our sins, but we could not; we would have changed our company, and our thoughts, and our discourse, but we could not.' Why could you not, if you would? What hindered you but the wickedness ofyour hearts? Who forced you to sin, or who held you back fi·om duty? Had not you the same teaching, and time, WJ.d lib-

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