The solemn warnings of the dead

CHAPTER VII. The motives to conversion, 138

The conclusion of the whole, 152

The author's counsel for personal and family godliness, 165

AN ADMONITION

TO

UNCONVERTED SINNERS;

In a Serious treatise.

SHOWETH,

I. What conversion is not, and correcting some mistakes about it.

II. What conversion is, and wherein it consisteth.

III. The necessity of conversion.

IV. The marks of the unconverted.

V. The miseries of the unconverted.

VI. Directions for conversion.

VII. Motives for conversion.

BY JOSEPH ALLEINE,

LATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL AT TAUNTON, IN SOMERSETSHIRE.

TO THE READER.

Reader, — You are here presented with a book which was written many years before the name of Methodism was known in the world ; which it may be proper to remind you of, in order to remove any unreasonable prejudice arising from that quarter. What I would recommend to you is, to read it with attention, examination, and prayer, as the most effectual method you can take to render it a blessing to your own soul. The author seems to have made use of every possible argument to win upon your ingenuity, to awaken conscience, and to direct you in the way everlasting.

I charge you, as in the presence of the living God, now to do your part, and give it a faithful reading : I beg of you, by every endearing motive of love and affection to your precious and immortal soul, that you will look upon this book as calculated to promote your present and everlasting happiness; and I beg of God that he would be pleased so to accompany your reading of it with his Divine and heavenly grace, as to afford you matter of thanksgiving, gratitude, and praise, to his holy name for ever and ever.

Man, by nature and practice, is a sinner before God ; a charge of guilt is fastened upon him ; this, in words, he readily acknowledges ; but being blinded with prejudice, and having wrong conceptions both of the nature of God and sin, he flatters himself that all will be well at last, and that a merciful God will not finally condemn him ; this lulls him asleep in Satan's arms, and makes him secure and easy under all the denunciations of God's wrath against him.

TO THE READER.

One grand design of the author in this book is, to dispel that gross darkness, to rectify those false conceptions he has of God and sin, and to convince him that notwithstanding all his vain pretensions, without true repentance the sen tence of wrath stands in full force against him still.

Jesus Christ is set forth in Scripture as the Saviour of sinners, the helper of the helpless ; the only sure bottom upon which man is to anchor the hope of eternal salvation. To this Lord and Saviour is the awakened sinner directed in this book : a free and a full salvation is offered him, under every possible assurance, that if he closes with it his sins shall be pardoned, his person and future services accepted : and, from being a brand of hell, he shall become an heir of glory.

Reader, the former character either is or has been thine own: if it is thine at this present reading, remember thy danger; take the alarm, and flee from the wrath to come. If it has been thine formerly, and thou art truly converted to God by Jesus Christ, give him all the glory, rejoice in the happy change, walk worthy of thy high calling, and thou art made for ever.

Thy ready servant in the LORD.

AN ADMONITION

TO UNCONVERTED SINNERS.

An earnest invitation to sinners to return to God, in order to their eternal salvation.

Dearly beloved and longed-for, I gladly acknowledge myself a debtor to you all, and am concerned, as I would be found a good steward to the household of God, to give to every one his portion ; but the physician is most solicitous for those patients whose case is most doubtful and hazardous ; and the father's bowels are especially turned toward his dying child. The number of unconverted souls among you call for my most earnest compassion and hasty diligence to pluck them out of the burning, Jude 23. And therefore to these first I shall apply myself in these lines.

But whence shall I fetch my argument ? or how shall I choose my words ? Lord, wherewith shall I woo them ? wherewith shall I win them ? O that I could but tell ! I would write unto them in tears, I would weep out every argument, I would empty my veins for ink, I would petition them on my knees, verily (were I able) I would : O how thankful would I be if they would be prevailed with to repent and turn !

"But, Lord, how insufficient am I for this work : I have been many a year wooing for thee, but the damsel would not go with me : Lord,

AN INVITATION TO SINNERS.

what a task hast thou set for me to do ! Alas ! wherewith shall I pierce the scales of leviathan, or make the heart to feel that's hard as stone, hard as a piece of nether millstone ! Shall I go and lay my mouth to the grave, and look when the dead will obey me and come forth ? Shall I make an oration to the rocks, or declaim to the mountains, and think to move them with arguments ? Shall I give the blind to see ? From the beginning of the world was it not heard that a man opened the eyes of the blind ; but thou, O Lord, canst pierce the scales and prick the heart of the sinner. I can but shoot at rovers, and draw the bow at a venture, but do thou direct the arrow between the joints of the harness, kill the sin, and save the soul of a sinner that casts his eyes on these labours."

Brethren, I beseech you suffer friendly plainness and freedom with you in your deepest con* cernments. I am not playing the orator, to make a learned speech to you, nor dressing my dish with eloquence wherewith to please you ; these lines are upon a weighty errand indeed, namely, to convince, and convert, and to save you. I am not baiting my hook with rhetoric, nor fishing for your applause, but for your souls. My work is not to please you, but to save you ; nor is my business with your fancies, but your hearts : if I have not your hearts I have nothing. If I were to please your ears I could sing another song ; if I were to preach myself I would steer another course ; I would then tell you a smoother tale ; I would make you pillows, and

TO RETURN TO GOD.

speak you peace ; for how can Ahab love his Micaiah, that " always prophesies evil concerning him t" 1 Kings xxii, 8. But how much " better are the wounds of a friend than the fair speeches of a harlot, who flattereth with her lips till the dart strike through the liver, and hunteth for the precious life ?" Pro v. vii, 21-23, and vi, 16. If I were to quiet a crying infant, I might sing to him a pleasant song, and rock him asleep ! but when the child is fallen into the fire the parent takes another course, he will not go to still him with a song or a trifle. I know, if we speed not with you, you are lost ; if we cannot get your consent to " arise and come away," you perish for ever : no conversion and no salvation : I must get your good will, or leave you miserable.

But here the difficulty of my work again recurs upon me, " Lord, choose my stones out of the brook," 1 Sam. xvii, 40, 45. "I come in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel." I come forth like the stripling David to wrestle, " not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world," Eph. vi, 12. — " This day let the Lord smite the Philistines, and spoil the strong man of his armour, and give me to fetch off the captives out of his hand." Lord, choose my words, choose my weapons for me ; and when I put my hand into the bag, and take thence a stone and sling it, do thou carry it to the mark and make it sink, not into the forehead, 1 Sam. xvii, 49, but the heart of the un-

10 AN INVITATION TO SINNERS.

converted sinner, and smite him to the ground, with Saul in his so happy fall, Acts ix, 5. Thou has sent me as Abraham did his servant, " to take a wife unto my Master, thy Son," Gen. xxiv, 4, but my discouraged soul is ready to fear the woman will not be willing to follow me ; " O Lord God of my Master, I pray thee send me good speed this day, and show kindness to my Master, and send thine angel before, and prosper my way, that I may take a wife unto thy Son," Gen. xxiv, 12, that as thy servant " rested not till he had brought Isaac and Rebekah together, so I may be successful to bring Christ and the souls of my people together before we part."

But I turn me unto you. Some of you do not know what I mean by conversion, and in vain shall I persuade you to that which you do not understand ; and therefore for your sakes I shall show what this conversion is. Others do cherish secret hopes of mercy, though they continue as they are ; and for them I must show the necessity of conversion. Others are like to harden themselves with a vain conceit that they are converted already ; unto them I must show the marks of the unconverted. Others, because they feel no harm, fear none, and so sleep on the top of the mast ; to them I shall show the miseries of the unconverted. Others sit still, because they see not their way out ; to them I shall show the means of conversion. And finally, for ,the quickening of all I shall close with the motives of conversion.

MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 11 CHAPTER I.

Showing in the negative what conversion is not, and correcting some mistakes about it*

Let the blind Samaritans worship they know not what, John iv, 22 ; let the heathen Athenians superscribe their altar, " Unto the unknown God," Acts xvii, 23 ; they that know man's constitution, and the nature of the human soul's operation, cannot but know that the understanding having the empire in the soul, he that will go rationally to work, must labour to let in the light here* Now, that I may cure the mistakes of some,who think they are converted when they are not, as well as remove the troubles and fears of others, that think they are not converted when they are ; I shall show you the nature of conversion, both negatively, or what it is not ; and positively, what it is.

We will begin with the negative.

I. "It is not the taking upon us the profession of Christianity." Doubtless Christianity is more than a name. If we will hear Paul, it lies not in word, but in power, 1 Cor. iv, 20. — If to cease to be Jews and pagans, and to put on the Christian profession had been true conversion, who better Christians than they of Sardis and Laodicea ? These were all Christians by profession, and had a name to live ; but because they had but a name, are condemned by Christ, and threatened to be spewed out, Rev. iii, 1-16. Are there not many that mention the name of the Lord Jesus, and yet depart not from iniquity ? 2 Tim. ii, 19, and "profess they know God, but in works they deny him !" Titus i, 16. And will God receive these for true converts, because turned to the Christian religion ? What ! converts from sin, when yet they do live in sin ? it is a visible contradiction. Surely if the lamp of profession would have served the turn, the foolish virgins had never been shut out, Matt, xxv, 12. We find not only professors, but professors of Christ, and wonder workers, turned off because evil workers, Matt, vii, 22, 23.

2. "It is not the being washed in the laver of regeneration, or putting on the badge of Christ in baptism." Many take the press money, and even wear the livery of Christ, that yet never stand to their colours, nor follow their leader. Ananias, and Sapphira, and Magus, were baptized as well as the rest.

Friends and brethren, " Be not deceived, God is not mocked," Gal. vi, 7. Whether it be your baptism, or whatever else that you pretend, I tell you from the living God, that if any of you be prayerless persons, or unclean, or malicious, or covetous, or riotous, or a scoffer, or a lover of evil company, Prov. xiii, 20 ; in a word, If you are not holy, strict, and self-denying Christians, Heb. xii, 14 ; Matt, xvi, 24, you cannot be saved, except you be transformed by a farther work upon you, and renewed again by repentance.

3. " It lies not in a moral righteousness."

This exceeds not the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, and therefore cannot bring us to the kingdom of God, Matt, v, 20. Paul, while unconverted, " touching the righteousness which is in the law, was blameless,' 5 Phil, iii, 6. None could say, " Black is thine eye." The self justiciary could say, " I am no extortioner, adulterer, unjust," &c. Luke xviii, 11. Thou must have something more than all this to show, or else, however thou mayest justify thyself, God will condemn thee. I condemn not morality, but warn you not to rest here : piety includes morality, as Christianity doth humanity, and grace reason ; but we must not divide the tables.

4. " It consists not in an eternal conformity to the rules of piety." It is too manifest, men may have a form of godliness without the power, 2 Tim. iii, 5. Men may pray long, Matt, xxiii, 14, and fast often, Luke xviii, 12, and hear gladly, Mark vi, 2, and be very forward in the service of God, though costly and expensive, Isa. i, 11, and yet be strangers to conversion. They must have more to plead for themselves, than that they keep to their Church, give alms, and make use of prayer, to prove themselves sound converts. No outward service but a hypocrite may do it, even to the " giving all his goods to feed the poor, and his members to the fire," 1 Cor. xiii, 3.

5. " It lies not in the chaining up of corruption, by education, human laws, or the force of incumbent affliction." It is too common and

MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION.

easy to mistake education for grace ; but if this were enough, who a better man than Jehoash ? While Jehoiada his uncle lived, he was very forward in God's service, and calls upon him to repair the house of the Lord, 2 Kings xii, 2, 7 ; but here was nothing more than good education all this while : for when his good tutor was taken out of the way, he appears to have been but a wolf chained up, and falls to idolatry.

6. In short, " it consists not in illumination or conviction, not in a superficial change or partial reformation." Felix may tremble under conviction, Acts xxiv, 25, and a Herod amend many things, Mark vi, 20. It is one thing to have sin alarmed only by convictions, and another to be captivated and crucified by converting grace. Many, because they had been troubled in conscience for their sins, think well of their case, miserably mistaking conviction for conversion : with these Cain might have passed for a convert, who ran up and down the world like a man distracted, under the rage of a guilty conscience, till with building and business he had worn it away, Gen. iv, 13, 14. Others think, that because they have given over their riotous courses, and are broken off from evil company, or some particular lust, and reduced to sobriety and civility, they are now no other than real converts ; forgetting that there is a vast difference between being sanctified and civilized : and that " many seek to enter into the kingdom of heaven, Luke xiii, 24, and are not far from it," Mark xii. 34, and

MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION.

arrived to the almost of Christianity, Acts xxvi, 28, and yet fail short at last. While conscience holds the whip over them, many will pray, hear, read, and forbear their delightful sins : but no sooner is the lion asleep, than they are at their vomit again. Who more religious than the Jews, when God's hand was upon them, Psalm Lxxviii, 34, 35 ; yet no sooner was the affliction over, but they forgot God, a.nd showed their religion to be a fit, verses 36, 37. Thou mayest have disgorged a troublesome sin, that will not sit easy on thy stomach, and yet not have changed thy swinish nature all the while.

You may cast the lead out of the rude mass into the more comely proportion of a plant, and then into the shape of a beast, and thence into the form and features of a man, yet all the while it is but lead still : so a man ma.y pass through clivers transmutations, from ignorance to knowledge, from profaneness to civility, thence to a form of religion ; and all this while he is but carnal and unregenerate, while his nature remains unchanged.

Application. " Hear then, O sinners, hear as you would live, so come and hear," Isa. lv, 3. Why would you so willingly deceive yourselves, or build your hopes upon the sand ? I know he shall find hard work of it that goes to pluck away your hopes : it cannot but be ungrateful to you, and truly it is not pleasing to me. I set about it as a surgeon when to cut off a putrified member from his well-beloved friend, which of force he must do, though with an aching heart, a pitiful eye and a trembling hand. But understand me, brethren, I am only taking down the ruinous house (which will otherwise speedily fall of itself, and bury you in the rubbish) that I may build it fair, firm, and strong for ever. " The hope of the hypocrite shall perish," Prov. xi, 7, if God be true to his word. And hadst not thou better, O sinner, to let the word convince thee now in time, and let go thy false and self-deluding hopes than have death too late to open thine eyes, and find thyself in hell before thou art aware ? I should be a false and faithless shep herd, if I could not tell you, that you, who have built your hopes upon no better ground than these before mentioned, are yet in your sins. Let your conscience speak : what is it that you have to plead for yourselves? Is it that you bear Christ's livery ? that you bear his name ? that you are of the visible Church 1 that you have knowledge in the points of religion, are civilized, perform religious duties, are just in your dealings, have been troubled in conscience for your sins ? T tell you from the Lord, these pleas will never be accepted at God's bar ; all this, though good in itself, will not prove you converted, and so will not suffice to your salvation. O ! look about you, and bethink yourselves of returning speedily and soundly. Set to praying, and to reading, and studying your own hearts : rest not till God hath made thorough work with you ; for ye must be other men, or else are lost men.

But if these be short of conversion, what shall

I say of the profane sinner ? It may be, he will scarce cast his eye or lend his ear to this discourse ! but if there be any such reading, or within hearing, he must know from the Lord that made him, that he is far from the kingdom of God. May a man be civilized and not converted ; where then shall the drunkard and glutton appear ? May a man keep company with the wise virgins, and yet be shut out ; shall not " a companion of fools much more be destroyed ?" Prov. xiii, 20. May a man be true and just in his dealings, and yet not be justified of God ! What then will become of thee, O wretched man, whose conscience tells thee thou art false in thy trade, and false to thy word, and makest thy advantage by a lying tongue ? If men may be enlightened and brought to the performance of holy duties, and yet go down to perdition for resting in them and sitting down on this side of conversion ; what will become of you, O miserable families, that live without God in the world ? and of you, O wretched sinners, with whom God is scarce in all your thoughts ; that are so ignorant that you cannot, r so careless that you will not pray ? O repent and be converted ; 66 break off your sins by righteousness," away to Christ for pardoning and renewing grace : give up yourselves to him, to walk with him in holiness ; or else you shall never see God. O that you would take the warnings of God ! In his name I once more admonish you : " Turn you at my reproof,' 7 Prov. i, 23. " Forsake the foolish, and live/ 2

THE NATURE OF CONVERSION.

Prov. b;, 6. "Be sober, righteous, godly," Titus ii, 12. " Wash your hands, ye sinners ; purify your hearts, ye double minded," James iv, 8. " Cease to do evil, learn to do well," Isa. i, 16> 17. " But if you will go on, you must die,'' Ezek. xxxi, 11.

CHAPTER II.

Showing positively what conversion is.

I may not leave you with your eyes half open ; as he " that saw men as trees walking," Mark viii, 24. The word is " profitable for doctrine as well as reproof," 2 Tim. iii, 16. And therefore having thus far conducted you by the shoals and rocks of so many dangerous mistakes, I would guide you at length into the harbour of truth .

Conversion then, in short, lies in the thorough change both of the heart and life : I shall briefly describe it in its nature and causes.

1. "The author is the Spirit of God :" and therefore it is called " the sanctification of the Spirit," 2 Thess. ii, 13, and " the renewing of the Holy Ghost," Tit. iii, 5, yet not excluding the other persons in the trinity ; for the apostle teacheth us to bless " the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for that he hath begotten us again," 1 Pet. i, 3, and Christ is said to give " repentance unto Israel," Acts v, 31, and is called ' & the Everlasting Father," Isaiah ix, 6, and we his seed, and " the children which God hath given him," Heb. ii, 13 ; Isa. liii, 10. O blessed birth, the whole trinity fathers the new creature ; yet this work is principally ascribed to the Holy Ghost, and so we are said to be " born of the Spirit," John iii, 8.

So then it is a work above man's power : " We are born not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," John i, 18. Never think thou canst convert thyself : if ever thou wouldst be savingly converted, thou must despair of doing it in thy own strength. It is a resurrection from the dead, Rev. xx, 5 ; Ephes. ii, 1 ; a new creation, Gal. vi, 15 ; Eph. ii, 10 ; a work of absolute omnipotence, Ephes. i, 19. Are these out of the reach of human power ? If thou hast no more than thou hadst by thy first birth, a good nature, a meek and chaste temper, &c. thou art a very stranger to true conversion : this is a supernatural work.

2. " The moving cause is internal and external. The internal mover is only free grace." " Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but of his own mercy he saved us, by the renewing of the Holy Ghost," Titus iii, 5. - " Of his own will begat he us," James i, 18. We are chosen and called unto sanctification, Eph. i, 4.

How affectionately doth Peter lift up his hand ! " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, who of his abundant mercy hath begotten us again," 1 Pet. i, 3. How feelingly doth Paul magnify the free mercy of God in it ! N God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love therewith he loved us v hath quickened us together with Christ : by grace ye are saved," Eph ii, 4, 5.

" The external mover is the merit and intercession of the blessed Jesus." " He hath obtained gifts for the rebellious," Psalm lxviii, 18, and through him it is that God worketh in us what is well pleasing in his sight, Heb. xiii, 21. Through him are all spiritual blessings bestowed upon us in heavenly things, Eph. i, 3. He interceded for them that believed not, John xvii, 20. Every convert is the fruit of his travail, Isa. liii, 11. O never was infant born into the world with that difficulty that Christ endured foi us ! how emphatically he groaned in his travail ! Ail the pains that he suffered on his cross, they were our birth pains, Acts ii, 24, " ordinas" the pulls and throes, that Christ endured for us. He is made sanctification to us, 1 Cor. i, 30. He sanctified himself (that is, set apart himself as a sacrifice) that we may be sanctified, John xviL 19. We are sanctified " through the offering of his body once for all," Heb. x, 10.

3. " The instrument is either personal oi real." The personal is the ministry. " 1 have begotten you in Christ through the Gospel,"

1 Cor. iv, 15. Christ's ministers are they that are sent to open men's eyes, and to turn them to God, Acts xxvi, 18.

" The instrument real is the word." We were begotten by the word of truth : this is it thai enlightens the eye, that converteth the soul. Psalm xix, 7, 8 ; that maketh wise to salvation.

2 Tim. iii, 15. This is the incorruptible seed by which we are born again, 1 Pet. i, 23. If we are washed it is by the word, Eph. v, 26. If we are sanctified it is through the truth, John xvii, 17. This generates faith, and regenerates us, Rom. x, 17 ; James i, 18.

O ye saints, how should ye love the word ! for by this you have been converted. O ye sinners, how should ye ply the word ! for by this you must be converted ; no other ordinary means but this. You that have felt its renewing power, make much of it while you live, be for ever thankful for it ; tie it about your necks, write it upon your hands, lay it in your bosom, Prov. vi, 21, 22. When you go let it lead you ; when you sleep let it keep you ; when you wake let it talk with you. Say with holy David> " I will never forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me," Psalm cxix, 93. Ye that are unconverted, read the word with diligence, flock to it where powerfully preached, rill the porches as the multitude of the impotent, blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water, John v, 3. Pray for the coming of the Spirit in the word. Come off thy knees to the sermon, and come to thy knees from the sermon. The seed doth not prosper, because not watered by prayers and tears, nor covered my meditation.

4. " The final cause is man's salvation, and God's glory." We are chosen through sanctifi cation to salvation, 2 Thess. ii, 13 ; called thai we might be glorified, Rom. viii, 30 ; but especially that God might be glorified, Isa. Ix, 21 ;

THE NATURE OF CONVERSION.

that we should show forth his praise, 1 Pet. ii, 9, and be fruitful in good works, Col. i, 10. O Christian ! do not forget the end of thy calling ; let thy light shine, Matt, v, 16, let thy lamp burn, let thy fruits be good, and many and in season, Psalm i, 3 ; let all thy designs fall in with God's, that he may be magnified in thee, Phil, i, 10.

5. " The subject is the true believer, and that in all his parts and powers, members and mind." Conversion is no repairing of the old building ; but it takes all down and erects a new structure. It is not the putting in a patch, or sewing on a list of holiness : but, with the true convert, holiness is woven in all his powers, principles, and practice. The sincere Christian is quite a new fabric, from the foundation to the top stone all new. He is a new man, Eph. iv, 24, a new creature. " All things are become new," 2 Cor. v, 17. Conversion is a deep work, a heart work, Acts ii, 37, and vi, 14 ; it turns all upside down, and makes a man be in a new world. It goes throughout with men, throughout the mind, throughout the members, throughout the motions, of the whole life.