THe first and greatest matter in the seeking after the salvation of our souls , is to be sure that we lay the foundation well , and that the work of Conversion be throughly wrought . To this end I have already used many perswasions with you unconverted to return , as thinking all further Directions vain , till we have perswaded men to a consent and willingness to practice them . And in the end of that Discourse , I added a few Directions for the use of such as are willing to be converted . But because I know that this is a matter of exceeding consequence , I dare not thus leave it , before I have added some further Directions , to prevent the miscarrying of this work where it is begun . And least I should lose my labour , through the unpreparedness of the Reader ; I shall first give you some preparing Considerations , which may awaken you to the practice of the Directions which I shall give you .

Consider first , That half-Conversions are the undoing of many thousand souls . If you are but like Agrippa , Act. 26. 28. almost perswaded to be Christians , you will be but almost saved . Many a thousand that are now past help , have had the Word come near them , and cast them into a fear , and make some stirre and trouble in their souls , awakening their consciences , and forcing them to some good purposes and promises ; `yea , and bringing them to the performance of a half-reformation ; But this is not it that will serve your turn . Many have been so much changed , as not to be farre from the Kingdom of God , that yet came short of it , Mark . 12. 34. There is no promise in Scripture that you shall be pardoned if you almost repent and believe ; or be saved , if you be almost sanctified and obedient : But on the contrary the Lord hath plainly resolved , that you must turn or die , though you almost turn : and repent , or perish though you almost repent : and that you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven , without conversion and a new birth , though you come never so near it . God hath resolved upon the termes of your salvation : and it is in vain to hope for salvation upon any other termes . God will not change nor come down to your termes ; It is you that must change and come quite over to his termes , or you are lost for ever . If you come never so near them , you are but lost men if you come not up to them . The Lord well knew what he did , when he made his Covenant and Law , and he imposed nothing on the sonnes of men , but what his infinite wisdom told him , it was fit for him to impose : and he will not now compound with sinners , and take less then he requireth ; that is , less then the preheminency in their hearts ; nor will he ever come down to any lower termes with you , then those which he propoundeth to you in his Gospel . And therefore poor sinners as you love your souls , do not stand dodging and halving with God ; but give up your selves entirely to him : and do not stop at the beginnings of a conversion , but go through with it , till you are become new creatures indeed , or you are undone when you have done all . A half unsound Convert will as certainly perish as a Drunkard or a Whoremonger ; though his torment may not be so great .

2. Consider also , That if you do not go through with the work when you are upon it , you may perhaps make it more difficult then it was before ever you medled with it , and make it a very doubtfull case whether ever it will be done . As it is with a wound or other sore ; if you tamper with it with salves that are not agreeable to it , or are disorderly applied ; or if you skin it over before it be searched to the bottom , it must be opened again , and will cost you double pain before it be cured . Or as I have seen it with some that have had a bone broken , or out of joynt , and it hath been set amiss at first ; O what torments were the poor creatures fain to undergo , in having it broken or stretcht and set again ! which might have been spared , if it had been throughly done at first . So , if you will be shrinking , and drawing back , and favouring your flesh , and will not go to the quick , you will make your Conversion much more difficult ; you must be brought to it again , and fetch your groanes yet deeper then before ; and weep over all your former teares : your doubts will be multiplied : your fears and sorrows will be encreased : and all will go sorer with you then at first . O what a case will you be in , when your sores must be lanced a second time , and your bones as it were broken again ! Then you will wish you had gone through with it at the first .

Yea , perhaps you may put God to it to fetch you in by some sharpe affliction , and send out so boisterous and churlish a Messenger to call you home , as may make you wish you had hearkened to a more gentle call : When the Sheep will straggle , the Dog must be sent to affright them home . Many a foolish sinner makes light of the gentle invitations of grace , and they stand hovering between their sins and Christ , and sometimes they have a mind to turn , and the next temptation they are off again , and then they come on again coldly and with half a heart ; and thus they stand trifling with the God of Heaven , till he is fain to take another course with them , and resolves to use some sharper means : And when he layeth them under his rod , and they can neither fly from him , nor resist him , but see that their lives and souls are at his mercy , then they begin to look about them , and see their folly and change their minds . You can tarry , and delay , and dally with the dreadfull God , in the time of your prosperity , and we may ask you over and over whether you will turn , before we can have a hearty answer : But what will you do when God shall begin to frown , and when he takes you in hand by his unresistible power , and le ts loose upon you the terrours of his wrath ? Will you then make as light of his mercy as you do now ? Have you not read Dan. 5. 6. how small an apparition of his anger , did make a carouzing King look pale , and his joynts to tremble , in the midst of his jovialty ? A Manasseth will bethink himself and come in when he is laid in irons , though he could set light by God before , 2 Chron. 33. 13. If Jonah will runne away from God , he can send a boisterous Messenger to arrest him , and cast him as it were into the belly of Hell , and make him cry for mercy to him that he disobeyed . So , if you will stand trifling with God , and will not by fair meanes be perswaded to yeeld and come away , you may shortly look to hear from him in another manner : for he hath a voice that will make the proudest face look pale , and the stubbornest heart that is to tremble . If an idle stubborn Child will not learn nor be ruled , the Master or Parent will teach him with the rod , and give him a lash , and ask him , Will you yet learn ? and another lash and ask him , What say you now , will you yet obey ? So will God do by you , if he love you , and mean to save you : When he hath taken away your wealth , your friends , your children , will you then hearken to him , or will you not ? When you lie groaning on your couch , and all your parts are overwhelmed with paines , and death begins to lay hands upon you , and bids you now come and answer for your rebellions and delayes before the living God , What will you do then ? Will you turn or not ? O the lamentable folly of sinners , that put themselves to so much sorrow , and create calamity for themselves ! When sickness comes , and death draws near , you beg , and cry , and groan , and promise : When you feele the rod , what Christians will you then be ? And why not without so much adoe ? You then think God deales somewhat hardly with you : And why will you not turn then by gentler means ? You might spare your selves much of this misery if you would ; and you will not . Is it a seemly thing for a man to be driven to Heaven by scourges ? Is God so bad a Master , and Heaven so bad a place , that you will not turn to them , and mind them , and seek them , till there be no remedy , and you are as it were driven to it against your wills ? Is the world such an Inheritance , and sinne so good a thing , and the flesh or devil so good a Master , that you will not leave them till you are whipt away ? What a shamefull unreasonable course is this ?

Well sirs , the case is plain before you . Turn you must at one time or other , or be the firebrands of Hell . And seeing it is a thing that must be done , were it not best for you to take the easiest and the surest way to do it ? Why this is the easiest and the surest way ; even to strike while the iron is hot , before it coole again ; and to go through with it when God doth move you and perswade you ; If you love your flesh it self , do not put him to take up the rod , and fetch you home by stripes and terrours .

But that 's not the worst : For it will sorely hazard the work it self , and consequently your salvation , if you do not go through with it , at the first attempt . I know there is many a one that hath been converted and saved , after many purposes and promises and half-conversions . But yet I must tell you , that this is a very dangerous course . For you do not know when you grieve the Spirit of grace , and set so light by mercy when it is offered you , whether that Spirit may not utterly forsake you , and leave you to your own ungodly wills , and let you take your lusts and pleasures , and say , [ Let this wretch be filthy still : let him keep his drunkenness , his companions , his worldliness , and the curse of God with them , till he have tried what it is that they will do for him : Let him follow his own conceits , and the pride and obstinacy of his own heart , till he find whether they will bring him : Let him serve the flesh and the world , till he understand whether God or they be the better master . Seeing he will not be wise on earth , let him learn in hell , and let torments teach him , seeing mercy might not teach him . ] O poor soul ! what a case art thou in , if this should once be the resolution of God ?

Moreover , you may easily know that the longer you stay , the more leasure you give the devil to assault you , and to try one way when he cannot prevail by another , and to strengthen his temptations : Like a foolish Souldier , that will stand still to be shot at , rather then assault the enemy .

And the longer you delay , the more your sin gets strength and rooting . If you cannot bend a twig , how wil you be able to bend it when it is a Tree ? If you cannot pluck up a tender plant , are you likely to pluck up a sturdy Oak . Custom gives strength and root to vices . A Blackmoor may as well change his skin , or a Leopard his spots , as those that are accustomed to do evil , can learn to do well , Jer. 13. 23.

If you stick at Conversion as a difficult matter to day , it will be more difficult to morrow , or the next moneth , and the next year , then it is now .

Yea , the very resistance of the Spirit doth harden the heart , and the delayes and triflings of the soul , do bring it to an insensibility , and boldness in sinne , and drive away the fear of God from the heart . Now it may be you are somewhat awakened , and begin to see that you must turn or die : but if you trifle and delay , this light may be gone , and leave you in greater darkness then before : and the voice that now awakeneth you may be silent , and leave you to fall asleep again .

Moreover , you know that you are uncertain of the continuance of the Gospel . You know not whether you shall have such lively serious Preachers , as you have now : Nor you know not whether you shall have such godly neighbours , and company to encourage you , and help you in the work . God will remove them one after another to himself , and then you will have fewer Prayers for you , and fewer warnings , and good examples , and perhaps be left wholly to the company of deceived ungodly fools , that will do nothing but hinder and discourage you from Conversion . And you are not sure that Religion will continue in that reputation , as now it is in . The Times may turn , before you turn : and godliness may become a scorn again , and it may be a matter of suffering , and may cost you your lives to live as the servants of Christ must do . And therefore if you stop at it now as a difficult thing , when you have all the helps and encouragements that you can expect , and the way to Heaven is made so fair ; and when Magistrates , and Ministers , and Neighbours , are ready to encourage and help you ; what will you do in times of persecutions and discouragement ? If you cannot turn when you have all these helps and means , what will you do when they are taken from you ? If you cannot row with the stream , how will you row against it ? If you dare not set to Sea , when you have wind , and tide , and sunshine ; what will you do in stormes and tempests , when all is against you ! O what would some of your forefathers have given to have seen the daies that you see ! How glad would many a thousand in other Countries of the world be , to have but the helps to Heaven that you have ? Never look to have the way fairer and easier while you live . If you think Heaven is offered you at too deer a rate now , you may even let it go , and try whether Hell be better : for the next offer is like to be upon harder termes rather then easier . If you cannot now find in your hearts to turn and live a holy life ; What would you have done in the daies of the Apostles , or antient Christians ? and , What would you have done in Spain or Italy , where it would cost you your lives ? He that will not be Converted now , but thinks the termes of grace too hard , is so impious a despiser of Christ and Heaven , that it is no wonder if God resolve that he shall never taste of the salvation that was offered him , Luk 14. 24.

Moreover , you know upon what uncertainties you hold your lives , you have no assurance of them for an hour : but you are sure that they are passing away while you delay . And will you trifle then in a work that must be done ? What a case are you in , if death find you unconverted ? The heart of man is not able now to conceive the misery of your case . How dare you venture to live another day in an unconverted state , least death should find you so ? Are you not afraid when you lie down at night , and afraid when you go out of your doors in the morning , least death surprize you before you are converted ? If you be not , it 's long of your deadness and presumption .

And I would fain hear what it is that should thus stop you . What are you afraid of ? Is God an Enemy , that you are loath to come to him ? Is the devil a Friend that you are so loath to leave him ? Is sinne a Paradise ? Is Holiness a Misery ? Is it pleasanter life to love your money , or your lands , or your meat and drink , and lusts , then to love the most blessed God , the Creatour of the World , the life of our Souls , and our Eternal Felicity ? Is it better to pamper a carcass that must shortly stink as the dung , then to provide for a living immortall soul ? Whether do you think that Earth or Heaven will be the more glorious and durable felicity ?

What is it sirs that you stick at , that you make so many delayes before you 'l turn ? Is there any difficulty in the point ? Do you think it a hard question whether you should turn or not ? Why how can you be so blind ? Do you stand pausing upon the business , as it were a doubt , whether God or the world were better , and whether sinne or holiness , Christ or death , Heaven or Hell , were to be preferred ? I pray you Consider ; Can you reasonably think that Conversion will do you any harm ? Can it bring you into a worse condition then you are in ? Sure you cannot fear such a thing : You are in your blood ; you are dead in sinne ; you are children of wrath , while you are unconverted : you are under the curse of the Law of God ; you are the slaves of the devil , you are the heirs of hell , and under the guilt of all your sinnes ; your life is a continued rebellion against God ; you are employed every day in the destroying of your selves , in kindling the flames that must everlastingly torment you , and laying in fewell for the perpetuating of your misery ; and fighting against your friends that would deliver you , and unthankfully abusing Christ and grace , and Ministers , and Friends that would save your souls . This is the condition that every one of you is in till you are converted . And can you fear least Conversion would bring you into a worse condition then this ? Sirs , these Truths are sure and plain : and if yet you stick at it , your errour is so palpably gross , that unless you are mad men , I may be bold to say , it is a wilfull errour . And if you love to be deceived , and wilfully choose a lie , you must take that you get by it .

3. Consider further , That half-Conversions do often prove an occasion of deluding mens souls , and making them quiet in a miserable state , and so of keeping them from being converted to the last . If you had never done any thing in it , you would more easily be perswaded that your case is bad , and that there is still a necessity of your change . But when you have had some convictions , and troubles of mind , and fears and sorrows , and so have fallen into an outside partiall reformation , and now are perswaded that you are truly converted , when it is no such matter ; What a dangerous impediment to your Conversion may this prove ? And all because you slubber over the work , and cut it off before it reacheth to sincerity , and strive against the workings of the Spirit , and break away from your Physic●in before he hath done the cure , and would not follow it on to the end . I know that a half-Conversion , if it be known to be no more , is much better then none ; and doth often prepare men for a saving work . But when this half-Conversion is taken to be a true and saving change , as ●oo commonly it is , it proves one of the greatest impediments of salvation . When ever Christ shall afterwards knock at your door , you will not know him , as thinking that he dwells with you already . If you read any Books that call on you to be converted , or hear any Preachers that call on you to turn , you have this at hand to cousen your selves with , aud frustrate all : You 'l think , This is not spoken to me : For I am Converted already . O how quietly do such poor deluded sinners , daily read and hear their own doom and misery ; and never once dream that they are the men that are meant , and therefore are never dismayed at the matter . This formeth you into a state of hypocrisie , and makes the course of your duties and your lives to be hypocriticall . If another man that knows himself to be still unconverted , do but read the threatnings of the Word against such , or hear of the terrours of the Lord from a Minister , he may be brought to confess that this is his own case , and so to perceive the misery of his condition . But when such as you do read and hear these things , they never trouble you , for you think that they do not touch you : You are Scripture-proof , and Sermon-proof ; and all by the delusion of your half-Conversion . O how zealously will such a man cry out against the sinnes of others ! and tell them of their misery , and perswade them to turn , and shew them the danger that is near them if they do not ; and in the mean time little thinks that this is his own case , and that he speaks all this against his own soul. How will such men applaud a Sermon that drives at the Conversion of a sinner , and that tels them their misery while they are unconverted ? O thinks he , this touched such and such : I am glad that such a man and such a man heard it : And he little thinks that it as nearly touched himself . How smoo●hly will he go on in any discourse aga●nst wicked unregenerate men , as David heard the Parable of Nathan , and it never once entreth into their thoughts that they speak all this against themselves ; till the Judge shall tell them when it is too late , Thou art the man . It will turn not only the stream of your thoughts into hypocrisie and self-deceit , but also the stream of your speeches to others ; yea , and the current of your prayers , and all the rest of your religious performances . When in confession , you should acknowledge and la●ent an unregenerate carnall state , you will only confess that you have the infirmities of the Saints , and that you have this or that sinne , which yet you think is mortified . When you should importunately beg for Renewing grace , you will beg only for strengthning grace , or assurance : When you should be labouring to break your hearts , you will be studying to heal them : and will be hearkning after present comforts , when you have more need of godly sorrow . It will fill your mouthes in prayer with Pharisaicall thanksgivings for the mercies of Regeneration , Justification , Adoption , Sanctification , which you never received . Little doth many a soul know what sanctification , and the feverall graces of the Spirit are , that use to give God thanks for them : There 's many and many a one that must for ever be in hell , that were used in their prayers to give God thanks for their hopes of glory . And the common cause of all this deceit and misery is , that men do run from under the hands of their Physician before he ever went to the bottom of their sore , and go away with a half-conversion , and so spend all the rest of their lives in a meer delusion , as verily thinking they are converted , when they are not . How confidently will such receive the Lords Supper , and thrust themselves into the communion of the Saints , as if they had as good right as any to be there ? till the Lord of the Feast shall take them to task , and say , Friend , how comest thou in hither , not having on a wedding garment ? and then they will be speechless , Mat. 22. 12. How many false deceiving comforts , and perhaps even seeming raptures and assurance , may these have in themselves ; as verily thinking their case is good , when alas , they never yet laid the foundation ? Yea , and it is to be observed , that Satan is a friend to the comforts of this kind of men , and therefore will do all that he can to promote them . For he would willingly keep his Garrison in peace , Luk. 11. 21. And therefore he may possibly be a comforting spirit to them himself , and imitate the Holy Ghost the Comforter of the Saints : And it may be give them such raptures as seem higher then those which the Spirit of holiness doth give . He envieth the Saints their peace and comfort , because he foresees how durable they will prove : But he can be content that deluded hypocrites may have joy , because their comforts do not weaken but strengthen his Kingdom within them , and he knows they are like to endure but for a while .

And thus you may perceive , how hard it is to convert one of these half-converted men , that have strangled the New Creature as it were in the birth , and that are fortified against all the means of grace , by a false conceit that they are sanctified already . See therefore that you make sure work , and take not up in the middle , and with halves , but take your present time , and give up your souls to a totall change .

4. Consider ; If you take up short of a through Conversion , you lose all your labour , and sufferings , and hopes , as to the matter of your salvation .