N21487:49
A call to the unconverted, to turn and live
A call to the unconverted, to turn and live; and accept of mercy, while mercy may be had; as they ever would find mercy, in the day of extremity from the living God. / By his unworthy servant, Richard Baxter.
Philadelphia: printed for Matthew Carey, 1795Philadelphia: printed for Mathew Carey, 1795
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.
So that, by this time, you may see the several causes of this work: The Father sendeth the Son, the Son redeemeth us, and maketh the promise of grace; the Holy Ghost inditeth and sealeth this gospel; the apostles are the secretaries of the spirit •o write it; the preachers of the gospel to proclaim ••t, and persuade them to open it: and the Holy Ghost doth make their preaching effectual, by opening the hearts of men to entertain it. And all this •o repair the image of God upon the soul, and to set the heart upon God again, and take it off the creature and carnal self to which it is revolted, and so •o turn the current of the life into an heavenly course, which before was earthly; and all this by the entertainment of Christ by faith, who is the physician of the soul.
By this, which I have said, you may see what it is to be wicked, and what it is to be converted; which, I think, will be yet plainer unto you, if I describe them as consisting of their several parts; and •or the first, a wicked man may be known by these three things:
First, He is one that placeth his chief content on earth, and loveth the creature more than God, and •his fleshy prosperity above the heavenly felicity; ⟨p. 22⟩he favoureth the things of the flesh, but neither discerneth nor favoureth the things of the spirit; though he will say, that heaven is better than earth, yet doth he not really so esteem it to himself. It he might be sure of earth, he would let go heaven, and had rather stay here than be removed thither.— A life of perfect holiness in the sight of God, and in his love and praises forever in heaven, doth not find such liking with his heart as a life of health, and wealth, and honour here upon earth: And though he falsely professes that he loveth God above all, yet, indeed, he never felt the power of divine love within him, but his mind is more set on the world, or fleshy pleasures, than on God. In a word whoever loveth earth above heaven, and fleshy prosperity more than God, is a wicked unconverted man.