accepting of this near and sweet Relation which he calleth me unto I joyn and espouse my self unto the Lord Jesus and do promise to be for him only and with full purpose of heart to cleave unto him to love honour and serve him never to deny nor leave him whatever reproaches and distresses I may meet withall for his sake though Persecution should arise and that even unto death I do promise to own his Name and Cause and Truths and Wayes so long as I have breath in my Body But knowing that I am utterly insufficient to do any of these things in my own strength therefore upon the knees of my Soul I earnestly beseech that I may have strength for all these from himself alone Further because God my Father is invisible to the eye of sense and incomprehensible by the grasp of Reason and because my dearest Lord Jesus Christ who alone hath declared him in regard of his bodily presence is now in Heaven absent from his people and because whatever spiritual light or life grace comfort or spiritual communion with the Father and with his Son is vouchsafed unto the people of God it is by the Holy Spirit who is appointed by Office hereunto and graciously promised unto them in the Word Therefore I avouch and choose the Holy Ghost to be my Teacher and Guide to be my Sanctifier and Comforter to help my infirmities in duties to strengthen me with might in my inner man against sin and Satans Temptations to cleanse me from all filthiness of flesh and spirit to heal me of all my spiritual distempers to revive me under all my faintings to supply me with all Graces as to kinde and measure as shall be needfull for me in my place and work to testifie Gods love to my Soul to give me earnests of Glory and to seal me up unto the day of Redemption And O that I might have the presence and abode of the Spirit of God with me and never grieve quench resist and drive away the Spirit any more Also because the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God endited by the Holy Ghost the Epistle of Jesus Christ wherein he hath given notice of his love and will because they are the only sufficient and in themselves a perfect Rule for Faith and a holy Life and 〈◊〉 fully do declare the way and means unto everlasting happiness Therefore I choose the Word of God to be the Rule of my Faith and Life and the Ordinances of God therein prescribed to be the means of my acquaintance and converse with my God so far as I am capable of and he shall vouchsafe and to be the means also of preparing of me for the full and perfect enjoyment of him beyond my present capacity And because the Ordinances are but dark glasses to see the Lord in because ignorance and unbelief do exceedingly vail God from mine eyes flesh and corruption do damp my love to God and my spiritual Joy in him and interrupt my communion with him because of the sins sorrows temptations and afflictions which I cannot be wholly free from and therefore cannot be perfectly happy here in this World and having life and immortality brought to light by the Gospel a discovery and promise of eternal Life made unto me in the Word and withall a command of my Lord to lay up my Treasure in Heaven Therefore I choose Heaven for my Treasure and Inheritance for ever to live there in the company of all the holy Angels and Saints in the blessed sight love and enjoyment of the infinitely blessed God to see and share in the glory of my Dearest Lord Jesus Christ whither I hope my Soul shall be transported by the Angels so soon as it is separated from my Body and that my vile Body when awakened and raised in the Morning of Christs coming shall be fashioned like unto Christs most beautifull and glorious Body and both inherit the Kingdom prepared and promised by my Father Lastly being perswaded of my Duty and encouraged by Gods promise of assistance and acceptance I now dedicate and deliver up my self fully freely and for ever unto the Lord I yield and resign up my Soul with all its powers and faculties my Body with all its senses and members to be the instruments of righteousness unto God I resign up my Minde to think upon the Lord and those things which concern his Interest and Glory to receive embrace and maintain his Truths I resign up my Memory to be a store-house and receptacle chiefly of the great things which do belong to his Kingdom and other things of a more inferiour rank as they may have a reference unto his Glory I resign up my Conscience to receive light and purity from his Word and Spirit and desire that it may act faithfully as the Lords Deputy I resign up my Will unto the Will of God to submit to his Precepts to embrace his Promises to oppose what he hath forbidden to comply with all the dispensations of his Providence towards me to be willing that I should be and do and bear and choose and lose what God would have me I resign up my Heart and Affections to fear and reverence the Lord to believe and trust in the Lord to desire and seek after the Lord to love and delight in the Lord and desire to put them all under his Government and to have them exercised according to his will I resign up my Fancy to be governed and employed by my Reason in the service of my Master I resign up my Sensual Appetite after meat and drink sleep and any pleasures to be subservient to my Rational Appetite and no further to have satisfacton than will tend to the glory of the Lord. I resign up my Hands to work for God my Feet to walk for God my Ears to hear for God my Eyes to see for God my Tongue to speak for God I resign up all my Graces all my Gifts all my Talents to be used for the Glory of my Lord and Master and my whole Man to be ruled and governed by his Laws Promising though my Flesh do contradict and rebell that I will endeavour to order my whole conversation according to his Word humbly looking up to him for strength so to doe that I may be enabled by him to every duty And now I look upon my self no longer my own or that any thing I have is at my own dispose but I wholly belong unto the Lord And therefore blessing and praising and giving thanks unto the Lord for vouchsafing to enter into Covenant with me and enclining my heart to enter into Covenant with him Bending my neck under the feet of the most glorious Jehovah I subscribe my self Witness my Hand and Seal The devoted Servant of the Lord A. B. Direct 10. You must be stedfast and persevere in the wayes of God unto your lives end if you would be saved And here you must be stedfast 1. In the wayes of Truth 2. In
the soul will survive the body O take heed that when your souls come forth of their houses of clay that they be not cast into the deep and dark prison of Hell 2. Your souls are more precious than the whole world our Saviour esteem'd them so and he best knew the worth of souls who knew the making of them and made purchase of so many lost souls see Matth. 16. 26. What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Suppose that you had your hearts-desire in the world that your baggs should throng in your Coffers till there were no more room your gold and silver should encrease without number suppose you had great possessions abroad large revenues stately houses fruitful gardens and orchards pleasant groves and walks spacious fields and meadows which as the Poet saith would weary the wings of a Kite to fly over in a day suppose that you had sweet and beautiful wives at home like loving Hindes and pleasant Roes unto you like fruitful Vines about your houses that you had towardly and hopeful Children like Olive-plants round about your Tables that you had most kind and faithfull friends of most pleasant conversation that you had servants horses chariots coaches doggs hawks and all sorts of serviceable and delightful creatures the best and in the greatest number at your commands to attend your pleasure suppose you were cloathed with purple wrapped in fine linnen adorned with gold and silver and pretious stones and had the most rich and glorious Attire that the greatest cost and art could make for you suppose that your food were most delicious that Aire Earth and the Sea were ransack'd to provide dainties for your Table that your courses were served up with the most rich and generous Wine the most sweet and harmonious musick suppose that you were laden with titles of honour and had all the Crowns and Scepters of the earth laid at your feet and that the whole world had you in the highest esteem and were in willing subjection unto you yet what would it profit you to gain all these things or any thing else that the heart of man could desire in the world and lose your souls which are a thousand fold more pretious the gain of these things are but for the body and but for a while whereas the loss of the soul is for ever and when the soul is lost all is lost when the soul leaveth the body a period is put to all earthly enjoyments and the more you have of these things the more grievous will it be to part with them Think with your selves that you must dye certainly and may dye suddenly and then if not before you will acknowledge the worlds vanity and the preciousness of your souls which are of longer duration than the age of ten thousand worlds put together and what is the gain of the world which is so transitory and temporal in comparison with the loss of the soul which is immortal and whose loss is irrepairable a loss in the estate may be recovered Riches may fly away upon the wing and sometimes return upon the wing again as in the case of Job but the loss of the soul can never be recovered when once the soul hath taken wing and is fled into the lower regions it will never find wings to return again to its former estate O therefore whatever you lose take heed you do not lose your souls your souls are very precious seek after their salvation 2. It is the salvation also of your Bodies which I would have you endeavour after I do not mean the salvation of your bodies from sufferings which Religion doth sometimes call you unto nor a salvation of your bodies from sickness and temporal death which Religion doth not exempt any from but the salvation of your bodies from perpetual death and pain of Hell you may pamper your flesh for a while on Earth which may make it a more fit bait for the Worms in the grave and your bodies after death may be at rest and take a sweet sleep for many years in the dust but there is a morning approaching after the long night of death and many hours of darkness in which the graves will be opened and the dead will be awakened and then your bodies will come forth of the dust and they will be adjudged by Christ unto most horrid and endless torments in Hell to burn for ever in unquencheable Fire if you be found under the guilt of sin O therefore labour after the salvation of your Bodies when your bodies now are sick you endeavour to get them cured when they are full of pain you use means to get the pain removed and you will fly as fast and as far as you can from natural Death and you will do much to lengthen out and strengthen the thred of your life though do what you can it will in time be cut asunder and death which hath you upon the chase will overtake and overcome you whatever resistance be made O labour to get deliverance from the pains of body which are prepared in Hell for the damned Fly O Fly from eternal Death and the strokes of Gods wrath which will come upon the bodies of the wicked hereafter if you would not have those faces scorched those eyes and tongues and hands rosted and that flesh broiled and fearfully tormented in the flames of Hell fire labour after salvation As you love then your selves your souls and bodies seek after your salvation CHAP. III. Motive 2. FRom the consideration of the Salvation which you should endeavour to obtain and here I shall set before you some properties of this salvation to move you the more effectually to seek after it 1. It is a great Salvation 2. It is a rare Salvation 3. It is a necessary Salvation 4. It is a possible Salvation 5. It is a neer Salvation 6. It is an evident Salvation 7. It is a free Salvation 8. It is a sure Salvation I. It is a great Salvation and that both in regard of the thing it self and in regard of the causes of it 1. It is great in regard of the thing it self As in Motion so in Salvation there is the terminus à quo and the terminus ad quem the term from which and the term to which that which people are in Salvation delivered from and that which in Salvation they attain unto both which are exceeding great 1. That which people in Salvation are delivered from There are six great evils which those that are saved are delivered from 1. From sin the greatest evil of all from the guilt of sin Eph. 1. 7. and the power the reigning power of sin Rom. 6 14. 2. From Sathan the greatest enemy of all from his power and tyranny Col. 1. 13. 2 Tim. 2. 26. 3. From the Law the evil which it occasioneth namely the provoking to concupiscence and
be able In which words he doth in effect say that Few very Few should be saved for he tells them plainly that the gate of salvation is a strait gate and many cannot pass thorow a strait gate and although many should seek to enter in at this gate yet they should not be able and if many that seek to enter in shall not be able then it follows that none of those which do not seek to enter in shall be able Hence then we may gather a strong argument to prove that very few shall be saved If the most of men and women in the world do not seek salvation at all and they cannot possibly attain it and many that seek salvation shall never finde it then there are but few that shall be saved but the most in the world do not seek salvation at all to say nothing of the Heathen world which is by many degrees the far greater part of the world who sit in darkness and from whom the Gospel of salvation is hid and therefore are expresly said to be lost 2 Cor. 4. 3. Even in the Christian world where the light of the Gospel doth shine the most of men and women that bear the name of Christians are ignorant or profane or only civil and morall and live in the total neglect of the salvation of the Gospel and such cannot possibly attain salvation that do not at all seek after it And of them that make some profession of Religion and do something in order to salvation many shall not be able to attain it our Saviour saith that many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able because they do not seek in a right manner because they do not seek salvation chiefly they seek the satisfaction of their lusts before the salvation of their souls because they do not seek it diligently they are careless and formal in the use of the means of salvation they seek but they do not strive to enter in at the strait gate they do not press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling and therefore they fall short and miss of it there are but few that strive to enter in at the strait gate that strive as wrestlers in wrestling or racers in running or warriours in fighting as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie few that seek their salvation above all other things and with all their heart and might few that are resolved for salvation whatever it cost them whatever they do or suffer for it unto which resolution and endeavour all must come or else they cannot be saved and these being so few certainly there are but few that shall be saved More plainly our Saviour speaks to the same purpose Math. 7. 13 14. Enter ye in at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat because strait is the gate and narrow the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that finde it The gate and way of sin which leads to death and Hell are wide and broad and the most in the world are passing thorow this gate and walking in this way the course of the world is a course of sin the end of which course is destruction and the reason why so many go in at the gate of sin which is the outer gate of Hell is because strait is the 〈◊〉 and narrow the way which leadeth unto life because of the difficulties in the way of life and salvation which require much pains and diligence if we would go thorow them we must give all diligence if we would make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. We must work out our salvation with fear and trembling if we would attain salvation Phil. 1. 12. we must labour if we would enter into Rest Heb. 4. 12. we must strive if we would enter in at the strait gate Luk. 13. 24. we must run if we would obtain the prize 1 Cor. 9. 24. we must fight the good fight of Faith if we would lay hold on eternal life 1 Tim. 6. 12. the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence saith our Saviour and the violent take it by force Math. 11. 12. we must lay siege to Heaven if we would take it and with force and violence overcome those potent enemies the Devil the Flesh and the World who would draw or drive us away from the walls and gates of the New Jerusalem It is not an easie thing to be saved the way to Heaven is narrow and it lyeth up hill our endeavours for Heaven especially at the first are like climbing up a steep hill like hewing a way thorow hard rocks like swimming against a strong stream like cutting hard wood against the grain and because of the opposition and difficulty in the way of salvation therefore there be but few that finde the path thereof most choose a broader and easier way It is evident then from what hath been said that this salvation is Rare and scarce the consideration whereof should not discourage you but quicken you unto the greater diligence in your endeavours after it the rarity of it sheweth the worth and excellency of it Jewels and precious stones are rare and hard to be got what difficulties will some thorow what dangerous voyages unto the uttermost parts of the Earth will some undertake to bring home some rare things but especially the consideration withall of the necessity of salvation of which in the next particular should quicken you to seek after it Think with your selves my beloved think seriously and think frequently that there are but few that shall be saved and then examine what reason you have to think that you are in the number of those few When our Saviour told his Disciples that but one of them should betray him they looked one upon another and every one asked him Lord is it I there was none of them without their fears which made them so inquisitive and they seem to be in pain untill they are resolved what then would they have thought and said how fearfull would they have been if our Saviour had told them that the most of them should have betrayed him yea that all of them should betray him but one May not I without uncharitableness say that not one in twelve no nor one in twenty no nor one in a hundred in this City and Nation shall be saved If I should tell you that hear me this day that some of you will be damned yea that many of you will be damned yea that mâ—… of you will be damned and that but few of this great company will be saved should I be a false Prophet I will not say it will be thus neither can I do it because this is Gods secret much less do I desire it should be thus for the end of my preaching is that you all might be saved but let me tell you that I fear that many of you
have no Interest in Christ who alone is able to deliver you from the wrath to come 1. That you may be sensible of your lost estate you must get a Conviction of your sin your eyes must be opened to see your selves guilty of sin before God and your mouths must be stopped so as to have nothing to say if the Lord should condemn you You must not only understand the nature of sin in the general that it is a transgression of the holy and righteous and good Law of the holy and glorious God of Heaven and Earth but also you must be particularly and thorowly convinced that you have transgressed this Law of God you must be convinced of your particular sins As to the kinds of your sins you must 1. See your selves guilty of Original sin of Adams first transgression by a just imputation you being in his loyns and parties in the first Covenant and then you must see what inherent sin there is in your nature that you were conceived and born in sin that you are a viperous brood a Serpentine generation a seed of evil doers that the Toad is not fuller of poyson than your natures are full of sin that your natures are contrary unto the nature of God and have an enmity in them against the Law of God Rom. 6. 7. You must be convinced how your natures are depraved being wholly destitute of Original Righteousness empty of all good and inclinable wholly unto evil that they are a polluted fountain from whence can proceed nothing but what is unclean that they are a bitter root from whence doth spring forth such cursed fruits of sin in your lives and you should look upon your sin of nature to be the worst because the Original of all actuall transgressions 2. You must be convinced of your actual sins how you have broken Gods Law in thought word and deed you must see your sins of Omission and your sins of Commission against the first and second Table of the Law and take notice of the number of them so far as you can remember together with their aggravations if they have been committed through ignorance when you have had means of knowledge if against light of Nature and the Word if against the reluctance of natural Conscience if against many Warnings and Reproofs if they have been committed with security hardness of heart delight greediness pride presumption obstinacy and the like and that you might be convinced of the guilt of sin you must look into the Law in which as in a glass you may see your natural face and all the spots thereof the Law will discover the sin of your natures as it requireth perfect conformity thereunto in habit disposition and inclination and forbiddeth all evil byasses of the will and heart to sin as well as external transgressions Moreover the Law will discover to you your actual sins but then you must look beyond the head Precepts of the Law which are but ten for you must take notice of the several branches belonging to every head which are many as for instance If you would finde out whether you are guilty of Adultery you must not only look upon the Precept as forbidding only the gross outward act Thou shalt not commit Adultery but as reaching to the inward desires and inclinations and so our Saviour Math. 5. 28. interprets this Precept that whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart and so in the Precept Thou shalt not kill it is murder not only to take away the life of another by violence but also to be angry with our brother without a cause and so in the other Precepts And as you must look into the Law for Conviction of sin so you must also look into your own Consciences and read what is there registred and compare your hearts and lives with the Law and you should call to minde the places you have lived in the businesses you have been employed about and the circumstances of your lives may bring to remembrance many sins committed long ago with their aggravations You must get thus a conviction of the guilt of your sins especially if you have fallen into any grosser sin in your life as adultery drunkenness theft if you have been guilty of swearing Sabbath-breaking profaneness or the like you must see the heinousness of them and withall you must see that every sin which you have committed is heinous as it is a dishonour to the highest Majesty who is infinitely more exalted above the greatest Earthly Kings and Potentates than they are exalted above the meanest Worm or Flie and for such as you to dishonour and affront him by sin is very heinous This is the first thing a Conviction of your sins which you must endeavour after 2. That you may be sensible of your lost estate you must get a conviction of the punishment which God hath threatned and you have deserved for your sins will the Lord put up the affronts which are offered to him by his Creatures will he bear the dishonours of his great and glorious Name by sin without punishing the sinners No surely his holiness will not permit it his Justice hath been offended and must have satisfaction and therefore he threatneth to punish the offenders most severely God threatneth temporal calamities and death as the wages of sin and because through patience he forbeareth to punish many transgressions so remarkably in this life and the most dreadfull temporal Judgements which he inflicteth upon any are no wayes proportionable to the desert of their sins and the demands of his infinite Justice therefore he threatneth eternal punishment in Hell look into some places of Scripture where the Lord doth denounce severe threatnings against sinners Gal. 3. 10. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them Rom. 1. 18. The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Eph. 5. 6. Because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience 2 Thess 1. 8 9. Christ will come in flaming fire taking vengeance on them which know not God and obey not the Gospel who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the prefence of the Lord and the glory of his power Rom. 2. 6 8 9. God will render unto every man according to his deeds to them who are contentious and do not obey the truth indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish on every soul of man that doth evil That you may see and be sensible of your lost estate you must be convinced not only in the general of the justice and equity that such Judgements should be inflicted on sinners because God himself hath denounced them in his Word who cannot be unjust toward his Creatures and because sin hath deserved them being the breach of his Law which is holy and just and good and an offence
the Wayes of Gods Commandements 1. You must be stedfast and persevere in the wayes of Truth in the belief of the Truths of the Word without turning aside into wayes of Errour there are wayes of Errour which will lead you as certainly and more securely to Hell than the wayes of open profaneness The Apostle tells us of damnable errours as well as open damnable sins 2 Pet. 2. 1. and we read of some that are damned for believing a lye that their delusion hath been the cause of their damnation 2 Thess 2. 11 12. The Devil leads as many as he can in the cords of more gross and known sins towards the place of endless misery but if any of them begin to perceive their thraldom and danger if their eyes be a little opened and Conscience awakened and hearts affected and they are perswaded to look after their salvation then he endeavours to draw them into wayes of Errour he hath his Agents and Ministers who are very subtle and crafty and lye in wait to deceive who with good words and fair speeches insinuate poysonous doctrines and pretending more glorious discoveries higher and more excellent wayes draw them out of the way of the Word and Ordinances into paths of darkness where they wander and lose themselves for ever where they are tossed up and down and beaten to and fro with every winde of doctrine unto the shipwrack of their Faith and their Souls As you hope for salvation you must take heed of Errour diligently inquire after Truth search for it as for silver and digg for it as for hidden treasures digg for it in the golden Mines of the Scriptures let the Word of God be the only Rule of your Faith and having found the Truth keep it hold it fast labour to fix it in your mindes let it be as a girdle about your loins lay it up in your heart let it be rooted there apply your selves to Christ as a Prophet to lead you by his Word and Spirit into all Truth and to keep you from being deceived and deluded and keep close to the Ministery and Ordinances of Christs Institution which the Lord hath appointed to continue unto the end of the World for the edifying establishment and perfecting of the Saints Eph. 4. 11 12 13 14. 2. You must be stedfast and persevere in the wayes of Gods Commandements you must patiently continue in well-doing if you would obtain immortal glory Rom. 2. 7. you must endure to the end if you would be saved Matth. 10. 22. you must be faithfull unto the death if you would gain the Crown of life Rev. 2. 10. It is absolutely necessary unto salvation that you hold out in the wayes of God none but such which come to the end of the race will obtain the prize the Gate of Heaven lyeth at the further not the hither end of the Holy Path therefore you must stedfastly persevere in this way if you should fall down you must rise again and go on if you should fall back or through mistake turn aside you must return again and make the more haste but if you should fall off if you should fall away as some have done who have seemed very zealous and forward Christians as to the outward Profession you are lost you are cast-awayes and you will tumble and fall down into the bottomless Pit from whence there is no returning Be not then followers of them that draw back to perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the Soul Heb. 10. 39. Be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the Promises Heb. 6. 12. It is a glorious Inheritance that is before you that is promised and prepared in Heaven let this encourage you to diligence and perseverance unto the end I shall conclude with the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 58. Therefore my beloved Brethren be stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Thus I have given you Directions What things you must do that you may be saved CHAP. VI. II. THE Second and last thing for your guidance in the way of Salvation is To shew you what Means you must make use of to help you in these things There are Ten Means to be used in order to the attaining of Salvation 1. Self-examination 2. Reading the Word of God and other good books 3. Hearing the Word Preached 4. Meditation 5. Prayer 6. Christian-conference 7. Watchfulness 8. Sanctification of Fasting-dayes 9. Sanctification of Sabbath-dayes 10. Improvement of Sacrament-dayes Means 1. Self-examination You must examine your selves if you would see your selves lost you may read the mistake of the Laodiceans Rev. 3. 17. Thou sayest I am rich and encreased in goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched miserable and poor and blinde and naked You must examine and prove your spiritual state that you may have a right judgement thereof that you may perceive how poor and wretched and miserable you are whilest you are in a state of Nature You must examine your selves that you may get a sight and sense of sin Jer. 8. 6. I hearkned and heard but they spake not aright no man repented him of his wickedness saying What have I done every one turned to his course as the Horse rusheth into the battel You must examine what you have done if you would repent of your sins you must search and try your wayes if you would turn from your evil wayes you must commune with your hearts and come to your selves with the Prodigal if you would return unto God and turn your feet unto his Testimonies Be serious then in this great duty of Self-examination and that you may be so I would advise that you would set apart time for it when your thoughts are most free and affections most sedate and quiet get out of the hurry of the world and lay aside other business for a while and withall separate your selves from company and retire into secret where you may be free from external disturbances and interruptions whatever indispositions and withdrawments of heart you finde force your selves to the work resist Satan who will endeavour to divert and discourage you Set your selves in the presence of God desire him to search you beg his help in the duty labour to keep your minde close to it if vain thoughts arise and would hurry you away look up to Christ to rebuke them and to bring them into captivity and obedience unto himself And then sit down and seriously consider what you have done ever since you came into the World and withall think with your selves what you will do when your life and this world shall come to an end Take a review of your sins they are noted down upon the book of your Consciences peruse this book and if you extracted a Catalogue of your sins it might be a help to you Note down your original sin