without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear 1 Pet. 1.17 God will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory honour and immortality Eternal Life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath Romans 2.6 7 8. Work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 Give diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 The heart of this people is waxed gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes have they closed least they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them Act. 28.27 Save your selves from this untoward Generation Act. 2.40 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out Act. 3.19 Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matthew 18.3 Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Luk. 13.3 5. Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.3 Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Heb. 12.14 Neither is there Salvation in any other but Christ for there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Act. 4.12 He that believeth on him is not conlemned but he that believeth not is condemned already Joh. 3.18 There is no condemnation to them â—â—at are in Christ Jesus who walk not â—fter the flesh but after the Spirit â—om 8.1 To be carnally minded is death â—â—t to be spiritually minded is Life and â—eace Ver. 6. If ye live after the â—esh ye shall dye but if ye by the â—pirit do mortifie the deeds of the Body ye shall live Ver. 13. Now the works of the Flesh are manifest which are these Adulteries Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murders Drunkenness Revellings and such like They which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5.19 c. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Romans 8.9 If any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 They that are Christ's have Crucified the Flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5. Love not the world nor the things that are in the world For if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world 1 Joh. 5.4 Let him that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 11.19 By this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil whosoever doth not Righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother 1 Joh. Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the Flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Rom. 13.13 14. If any man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple Luk. 14.26 If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me Matthew 16.24 For 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 Ver. 26. The Grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly Righteously and Godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope and the Glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.11 12. c. Ye are all the children of the light and the children of the day we are not of the night nor of darkness Therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober 1 Thes 5.5 6. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Hebrews 2.3 If the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the finner appear 1 Pet. 4.18 The Tryal of a Christian's State IT highly concerns me to examine and try whether I be in a State of Sin or in a State of Grace that if I be in the former I may hasten out of it to escape damnation and if in the later I may bless God for his goodness and go on to Salvation Now thus I must try my self If I understand so much of GOD as that I do really esteem and value Him his grace and love above all the world and am heartily willing to take Him alone for my portion counting him enough though for him I should lose all the world besides If my care and delight be to do his Will and my chief rejoycing be in his love and my heart's desire and longing be to enjoy him more fully in Heaven If to this end I apply my self to Jesus Christ trusting in him alone for Eternal Life in the presence of God and giving my self intirely to be governed by him willing to obey his Laws whatsoever it shall cost me though it be with the loss of all worldly advantages and earthly pleasures and even Life it self If I can for his sake love enemies bear wrongs forbear revenge mortifie lusts and passions bridle my appetite disregard my own will and pleasure endure shame and reproach lose wealth friends and liberty yea and life too If I watch as narrowly over my heart affections and thoughts as over my outward actions and earnestly desire more than any worldly treasure to be throughly renewed and cleansed by the Holy Spirit from all inward corruptions If I hate every sin in my self and strive all I can against it and am restless till I conquer it and troubled at my heart at my own imperfections longing to be freed from them If I really delight and find pleasure in the worship and service of God and do not come forcedly and constrainedly to it as rather willing to do otherwise if I durst if I find holiness and obedience sweet and pleasant and no burden or wearisomness to me If I can and do heartily resign my self to God not minding what I naturally would have or do nor what any thing else would perswade me to but meerly what is the will of God and going on cheerfully to do his will pray fervently for his assistance and cast my self confidently on his mercy through Jesus Christ for Salvation If I find this in my self my state is comfortable and good But on the contrary If I yet
Father our prevailing advocate making intercession for us and thee I comfortably expect to be our Judge at the last day Thou O Glorious Jesus hast Established an Everlasting Covenant of peace and sealed it with thy blood and with all my Soul I praise thee for this thine inestimable love not doubting keeping of that pardon and grace and glory which thou therein hast assured unto us if I unfeignedly accept of thy mercy and enter in this Holy Covenant O JESUS CHRIST in all sincerity of heart and with all thankful love and joy I do accept of thee my only Saviour I do most humbly submit my self to be taught by thee and will make thy Gospel my dayly study I trust in thy merits only and give my self to be governed by thy Laws and denying my self I am ready to take up thy Cross and bid open War to all thine enemies and take thy easie Yoke and light burden upon me Lord the unfeigned desire of my Soul is that thou mayest be formed in me and take full possession of me that I may henceforth live by the Faith of thee the Son of God I resolve thy will shall be my will thy life my pattern thy Law my Rule I will set my self to resist the temptations of the devil despise the vanities of the world and mortifie the carnal desires of my flesh all afflictions shall seem light to me and death it self better than life that I may obey thee and live with thee I consecrate my self unto thee to dye daily unto sin to Crucifie the flesh to rise again unto Righteousness to have my Conversation in Heaven my heart and affections with thee my only treasure My confidence is in thy merits my Prayers sent to God in thy name and intercession my practice to be conformable to thy example the longings of my Soul to be with thee for ever I will do my endeavour that my thoughts words and actions may be such as thou wilt approve of in the day of Judgment I will not envy the present happiness of the wicked nor be dis-heartned by my suffering but referr all to thy Righteous Judgment I will watch over my heart and life and daily examine my Conscience and keep it tender and good and labour that the accuser may have nothing to lay to my charge before thy Judgment Seat I do heartily accept of thee O Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son for my Sanctifier my Guide and Comforter I embrace the Holy Scriptures given by thy inspiration as the infallible truth of God I own the Ministry as thine Ordinance and every good motion of my heart as thy work To thee O Holy Spirit do I give up my self in a constant attendance on the Word and Ordinances and secret workings longing to be quickned enlightned renewed and cleansed strengthned against all temptations carried on towards perfection confirmed in the hopes of Eternal Life and sealed unto the day of Redemption I look upon my self as a member of the common body of all Christians and own thee O Blessed Jesus the only head of this thy Body the Church I acknowledge it my Eternal Interest and Duty in the Holy Communion of all Believers to Worship thee O Glorious God in the Assemblies of thy Saints I look upon all Christians and my self amongst them as men separated from the wicked world enlivened by one Spirit professing one Faith of the Holy Trinity all Covenanted together with God in one Baptism bound to hold the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace loving God above all and each other as our selves with a fellow feeling of one another's sufferings a free Communicating to one another's necessities Temporal and Spiritual and a mutual rejoycing in one another's happiness Continuing in this Holy Society whereinto I have been graciously called by thy Word and Holy Spirit I will endeavour to solace and comfort my self in a joyful sense of the blessed priviledges thou therein affordest us Especially in the pardon of my sins by thy free mercy through the merits of Christ my Saviour and Sanctification of thy Holy Spirit tendered unto me in the Ministry of thy word and sealed in the Sacraments I should deserve a thousand Hells should I go on any longer in sin under so much mercy I resolve therefore to attend on the Ministry of reconciliation all the daies of my life and to strive against all sin for ever To this end my death shall be much in my thoughts and my life a continual preparation for it I will look upon every day as if it were my last and every day renew my Covenant So shall I be ready with joy when thou callest O Lord to bid farewel to all below and come to thee I doubt not but my body shall at the last day be raised again a glorious body no longer a burden or temptation to my Soul I will no longer wast my time in immoderate caring for it feeding adorning and pampering of that which must shortly be loathsome rottenness Stench and Worms meat which now loads and tempts my Soul to sin and hinders its Ascensions towards God but I will mortifie it and keep it low that thou mayest exalt it to glory O thy wonderful goodness who hast provided for us poor sinners a Life Everlasting who deserve not one single moment of this Life Lord grant me grace to be pure as thou art pure that I may see thee and rejoyce in thee for ever in thy Heavenly Kingdom O when shall I come and appear before God Lord it is certain that a worldly carnal heart unconverted unrenewed is not capable of taking any pleasure or delight in thee nor can it find any happiness in Heaven it self nor any relish in those Heavenly pleasures which are at thy Right-hand for evermore Cleanse me O Lord and renew me daily by thy Spirit then shall I cheerfully bid adieu to a vain world empty pleasures frail life and a 〈◊〉 self and feed only on the hopes of Eternal Life and enjoying loving praising thee my God my All for evermore This O Lord thou hast promised in thy word this thou hast assured us of and sealed unto us in the blood of thy Son This thou confirmest unto all the Sanctified Members of thy Church by thy Holy Spirit To all this I here most heartily say Amen Come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen FINIS
CHRISTIANITY in Short OR The way to be a good CHRISTIAN Recommended To the use of such as want either time or capacity for reading longer and Learneder discourses Mat. VII 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 is the way which leadeth unto Life and few there be that find it Ver. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven By C. Ellis Author of the Gentile-sinner LONDON Printed for Tho. Guy at the Oxford Armes on the West side of the Royal Exchange 1682. To my Beloved Neighbours for whose Use this little Book is written My Dear Friends I Hope some of you need not much the help this little Book can afford and indeed it is a shame either for you or me that any of you should need it except Children Yet I fear it is too needful I pray God it may prove as useful to many of you I have often told you that neither an Ignorant nor a Carnal nor a Worldly nor a Formally Religious course of Life can ever bring you to Heaven I now â—ell it you again and at you love your Souls let me intreat you to believe me except you become other men than some of you yea than the most of you yet are you cannot be saved You have God's Word to read you may hear Sermons when you will you may be instructed privately when you will you have many good Books to instruct you you have so much sense as to know you are a dying you have understandings to consider what 's like to become of you you have sure the wit to know that all things here will have an end and that nothing can concern you so much as the Salvation of your Souls to all Eternity I am confident were you dying you would say so Can it be any thing then but a brutish inconsideration that keeps you in the state you are in Awake awake and see here in short what you have to do 'T is short that you may not plead you want time to read and learn it 'T is plain that you may not plead 't is above your capacity 't is cheap it shall cost you nothing but the pains of reading it for your instruction in the way of Life You will in a little room see what it is to be a Christian Practice then what here you read and then dye in Peace But if you slight these easie helps and will go on your old way I must leave you to God and comfort my self in this that I have not dealt deceitfully with you The good God make us all wise unto Salvation Amen Consider seriously Learn industriously Pray devoutly Believe firmly Repent sincerely Love unfeignedly Resolve deliberately Practice constantly Hope Patiently Receive Thankfully And Enjoy Eternally The Entrance into CHRISTIANITY I Must shortly dye and after death I must for ever be either endlesly happy or endlesly miserable It concerneth me therefore above all things in this short time of my Life so to prepare for Death that after Death I may be Eternally happy To this end two things are altogether necessary a sound Knowledge and a sincere Practice Two things are needful to be well known the End which I am to aim at and the Way which will lead me to it My daily practice must be to walk in the way in hopes of attaining the End What both these are JESVS CHRIST hath abundantly taught us in his Gospel which it therefore highly concerneth me diligently to read and learn Christ hath instituted two Sacraments the one for our entrance into the other for our confirmation and strengthning in the way of Life Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. In both these the whole substance of Christian Religion which is the way to happiness is summarily comprehended and represented Christ JESVS commanded his Apostles to go up and down in the World and by Preaching the Gospel to perswade men to be his Disciples and learn of him the way to Life He commanded them to admit men into his Church or the Society of his Disciples by Baptism or washing them with Water in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost This Ceremony of Washing with water did signifie and assure them that as many as continued Christ's faithful followers were washed from the guilt of their past sins and should be daily more and more Sanctified and prepared for Eternal Glory Persons of years to understand were thus in Baptism to give up themselves in an Holy Bond or Covenant to God and thus my Parents when I was an Infant did give and dedicate me to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost In this Baptismal Covenant God the Father doth give himself to be our reconciled Father and God the Son Jesus Christ to be our Saviour and God the Holy Ghost to be our Sanctifier In the same Covenant we do accept of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost to be our only God submitting to him as our Owner and Governour and chusing him as our chief good and portion and heartily consenting to be taught and ruled made Holy and â—saved by him in a firm belief of his word and humble Obedience to his Lawes We do also promise and resolve not to follow nor be led by the Devil the World nor the Flesh but to watch against and resist all their temptations and to persevere so doing unto our lives end Every one that keepeth this Covenant sincerely is a good Christian and hath the pardon of his sins and Eternal Life sealed and assured unto him by God in this Sacrament of Baptism As I therefore desire to be Eternally happy and would avoid Everlasting Torments it concerneth me to see that I keep Covenant with God which I cannot do without learning and knowing what I am to believe and do If I have not already learn'd this it is no time now any longer to delay it seeing my Eternal happiness depends upon it And I know not how soon no not whether this night God may call me out of this world by death when if I be either ignorant or wicked I am undone Soul and Body for ever The Christian Faith THere is a GOD and but one God the FATHER SON and HOLY GHOST God is an infinite and most glorious SPIRIT a most pure and living substance without body parts or passions God is invisible cannot be seen or perceived by sense God is incomprehensible cannot be perfectly known by any but himself God is Immortal cannot dye Impassible and cannot suffer God is Immense not limited to place but is every where God is Eternal not limited by time but without beginning or end God is Independent not caused or governed by any other God is Immutable not subject to change but necessarily
what he is the same for ever God is Almighty able to do all things Omniscient knowing all things infinitely Wise in ordering all things God is Infinitely good and the Fountain of all goodness Holy and Just and Merciful God is self-sufficient perfectly blessed and happy in himself alone needing nothing but Infinite in all perfections The Father begetting the Son the Son begotten of the Father the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son are Three Persons but one uncompounded undivided GOD blessed for ever God is the Maker or Creator of all things the Preserver and Vpholder of all things God is the absolute Owner and Lord of all things God is our Soveraign King Supream Law-giver and Righteous Judge God is our chief good and loving Father and bountiful Benefactor All Life and Power and Wisdom come from God and our final rest and perfect happiness is in Him alone God is a most free Agent and doth what and when and how he will In the Beginning by his Word of his own good pleasure he made the World and all things in six dayes when before there was nothing but Himself All that God made was very good God by his Providence preserveth ruleth and ordereth all things great and small There is no goodness in any thing but what God giveth nothing can come to pass but as God permitteth it God may justly do what he will with every thing he can do no wrong to any thing he ordereth the whole course of the World wisely and for the best God made an innumerable company of Angels or pure Spirits A great multitude of these Angels continue holy and happy in loving praising and enjoying God doing his Commandments and serving him in such Ministries as he pleaseth to employ them in for the good of his people Many of the Angels did sin and were cast down to Hell into Everlasting torments These are Devils under Beelzebub the Prince of Devils the Old Serpent and Satan The Devil is the Spirit that worketh in the children of Disobedience the Father of Evil-doers going about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour God made Adam the first man of the Dust of the Earth and the first woman Eve of a Rib of Adam Man hath two parts a Body of Flesh and Bones and a Soul which is a Spirit God made Man after his own Image he gave him an Immortal soul endued with understanding a free will and a power to do good and authority to rule and use the creatures for such ends as God designed them God made not man a Lawless creature to live as it should list him but God made him for himself and to serve him in Holy Love and perfect Obedience Man understood God's Will and that Will understood was the Law in his heart whereby he was to live Knowing God to be his Owner and Governour and chief good he was bound to resign himself to his disposal submit himself to his command and to delight himself in him above all If Man had done thus he should never have dyed but have lived for ever happy in the love and enjoyment of God God having placed man in the garden of Eden gave him free leave to eat of all the Trees thereof only excepting the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil which upon pain of death he charged him not to eat of But the Devil in a Serpent Tempted Eve and by her he tempted Adam to eat thereof and so sin against God in breaking his command By breaking God's Law they lost their Holiness and became Mortal under the curse of Death hearkening to the Devil they fell under his power loving their own pleasure more than God they lost their Happiness Thus they who were made Wise and Powerful and Happy made themselves foolish and weak and miserable We are all the children of sinful Adam and of unholy Parents are born unholy ignorant of God our duty and our happiness dead to goodness forward to evil easily conquered by the temptations of the Devil the World and the Flesh and if left to our selves must perish Everlastingly If God had punished Adam according to his sin with death He had cut off Mankind from the Earth But he was graciously pleased to shew mercy God suffered man to live for a time upon Earth but so as he might be sensible of the great evil he had brought upon himself by breaking God's Commandment The creatures are accursed to bring forth for him vanity and trouble and vexation hard labour pains and sicknesses come upon his body he becomes ashamed of himself and is filled with terrors of Conscience and having struggled through many evils and difficulties must at last dye and return to dust Yet God opened unto him a new way to Eternal happiness after death in such a way as to magnifie his Love and Mercy to Mankind and manifest his hatred of sin and Zeal for the keeping of his Laws that he might at once shew grace to the Offender and secure the honour of his just government God did graciously promise that a man should be born of a woman who should conquer the Devil and deliver man from his Tyranny and give such satisfaction unto God's Justice that for his sake all they should be Eternally happy that would accept of him for their Saviour Accordingly God so loved the world that he gave his only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Everlasting Life God the Son took to himself our humane nature Soul and Body and was made truly man yet ceased not to be truly God but is both God and Man in one Person God manifested in the Flesh He was wonderfully made Man by being Born without all stain of sin of a pure Virgin called Mary who conceived him by the Divine power of the Holy Ghost when she had never known man An Angel from Heaven revealed his conception to the Blessed Virgin and commanded his name to be called Jesus because he was to save his people from their sins Being Born and Circumcised according to the Law he lived many years upon earth in an humble and low condition gave us an example to imitate in his Life doing the whole will of God and conquering all the temptations of the Devil and the World This is that Messia whom many Prophets had foretold the very CHRIST or anointed of the Lord to be a Prophet a Priest and a King and in this Threefold Office the Mediator of a New Covenant between God and Men. As a Prophet he hath in his Gospel and by his Apostles made known unto us all his Fathers will concerning our salvation and the way to it As a Priest he was Crucified and dyed under Pontius Pilate so offering himself once for all a perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins in consideration whereof God hath granted pardon and Life to all true Believers Being dead he was buried and wentiamong the dead