A26872:162
A Call to the Unconverted
A call to the unconverted to turn and live and accept of mercy while mercy may be had as ever they would find mercy in the day of their extremity from the living God / by his unworthy servant, Richard Baxter ; to be read in families where any are unconverted.
London: printed by R.W. for Nevil Simmons, 1658
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
how easily could God have snatched thee away in a moment, and set thee before his dreadful Majesty, where thou shouldst see ten thousand times ten thousand of glorious Angels waiting on his throne? and have called thee there to plead thy cause, and asked thee, What hast thou now to say against thy Creator, his Truth, his Servants, or his holy ways? Now plead thy cause, and make the best of it that thou canst. Now what canst thou say in excuse of thy sin? Now give account of thy worldliness and fleshly life, of thy time, of all the mercies thou hast ⟨p. 96⟩had. O how thy stubborn heart would have melted, and thy proud looks be taken down, and thy countenance be appalled, and thy stout words turned into speechless silence, or dreadful cries, if God had but set thee thus at his Bar, and pleaded his own cause with thee, which thou hast here so maliciously pleaded against! How easily can he at any time say to thy guilty soul, [Come away and live in that flesh no more till the resurrection] and it cannot resist? A word of his mouth would take off the poise of thy present life, and then all thy parts and powers would stand still: and if he say unto thee, [Live no longer: or live in Hell] thou couldst not disobey.
how easily could God have snatcht thee away in a moment, and set thee before his dreadful Majesty, where thou shouldst see ten thousand times ten thousand of glorious Angels waiting on his throne? and have called thee there to plead thy cause, and asked thee, What hast thou now to say against thy Creator, his Truth, his Servants, or his holy waies? Now plead thy cause, and make the best of it that thou canst. Now what canst thou say in excuse of thy sin? Now give account of thy worldliness and fleshly life, of thy time, of all the mercies thou hast ⟨p. 96⟩had. O how thy stubborn heart would have melted, and thy proud looks be taken down, and thy countenance be appaled, and thy stout words turned into speechless silence, or dreadful cries, if God had but set thee thus at his Bar, and pleaded his own cause with thee, which thou hast here so maliciously pleaded against! How easily can he at any time say to thy guilty soul, [Come away and live in that flesh no more till the resurrection] and it cannot resist? A word of his mouth would take off the poise of thy present life, and then all thy parts and powers would stand still: and if he say unto thee, [Live no longer: or live in Hell] thou couldst not disobey.