546 BAXTER'S FIFTY REASONS. so loath to leave it? He that would not leave his sin and turn to God, till the next week, or the next month or year, would never turn if he might have his desire. For that which makes you desirous to stay a day or a week longer, doth indeed make you loth to turn at all. And therefore it is but hypocrisy to say, that you are willing to turn hereafter, if you are not willing to do it now without delay. 5. Consider but what a case you are in, while you thus delay. Do you think you stand on dry ground, or in a safe condition ? If you knew where you are, you would sit as upon thorns; as long as you are un- converted, you would be as a man that stood up to the knees in the sea, and saw the tide coming towards him ; who certainly would think that there is no standing still in such a place. In a word, you are the drudges of sin ; the slaves of the Devil; the enemies of God ; the abusers of his grace and spirit; the de- spisers of Christ ; the heirs of hell. And is this a state to stay in an hour ?You have all your sin unpar- doned; you are under the curse of the law ; the wrath . of God is upon you : and the fulness of it hangs over your heads; judgment is coming to pass upon you the dreadful doom ; the Lord is at hand; death is at the door, and waits but for the word from the mouth of God, that it may arrest you, and bring you to everlasting misery : and is this a state for a man to continue in ? 6. Moreover, your delaying giveth great advantage to the tempter. If you would presently turn and for- sake your sins, and enter a faithful covenant with God, the Devil would be almost out of hope, and the very heart of his temptations would be broken. He would see that now it is too late; there is no getting you out of the arms of Christ. But as long as you delay, you keep him in heart and hope; he bath time to strengthen his prison and fetters, and to renew his snares; and if one temptation serve not, he hath time to try another and another; as if you would stand as A mark for Satan to shoot at, as long as he pleases.
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