A Call to the Unconverted

Answ. To name them only in a few words, the causes are these.

1. Men are naturally in Love with earth and flesh. They are born sinners, and their nature hath an enmity to God and godliness, as the Nature of the Serpent hath to a man: And when all that we can say goes against an habitual inclination of their natures, no marvel if it little prevail.

1. Men are naturally in Love with earth and flesh. They are born sinners, and their nature hath an enmity to God and godliness, as the Nature of the Serpent hath to a man: And when all that we can say goes against an habitual inclination of their natures, no marvail if it little prevail.

2. They are in Darkness, and know not the very things which they hear. Like a man that was born blind, and hears an high commendation of the light: but what will bearing do, unless he see it? They know not what God is, nor what is the power of the Cross of Christ, nor what the Spirit of holiness is, nor what it is to live in love by faith: They know not the certainty, and suitableness, and excellency of the heavenly inheritance. They know not what Conversion, and an holy mind and Conversation is, even ⟨p. 198⟩when they hear of it. They are in a mist of ignorance. They are lost and bewildered in sin: like a man that hath lost himself in the night, and knows not where he is, nor how to come to himself again, till the day-light do recover him.

2. They are in Darkness, and know not the very things which they hear. Like a man that was born blind, and hears an high commendation of the light: but what will bearing do, unless he see it? They know not what God is, nor what is the power of the Cross of Christ, nor what the Spirit of holiness is, nor what it is to live in love by faith: They know not the certainty, and suitableness, and excellency of the heavenly inheritance. They know not what Conversion, and an holy mind and Conversation is, even