Devils so when our first Parents sinned they were cast out of Paradice and since all sinners are out of favour yea they lye under Gods anger and displeasure until they be reconciled All the children of men are by nature the children of wrath Eph. 2.3 And God is angry with the wicked every day Psal. 7.11 They have a natural enmity in their hearts against God and his Law Rom. 8.7 and God is an enemy unto them yea hath a hatred in his heart against all the workers of iniquity Psal. 5.6 God is an enemy unto the wicked because of their sins and this is worse ten thousand degrees than 〈◊〉 they had all the creatures in the world their enemies because of the power of his anger which none ca◠resist when once he suffers it to break forth We read of the stout-hearted and men of might th◠chariot and horse cast into a dead sleep at one o◠Gods rebukes and who can stand in his sight wher◠once he is angry Psal. 76.5 6 7. And God is coming forth with armed vengeance against his enemies he hath prepared instruments of death he hath whe◠his sword and girt it upon his thigh yea drawn it forth and lifted up his arm to strike he hath bent his bow and made ready his arrows upon the string and sinners can neither fly from him nor defend themselves against him Then a people are saved indeed when they are saved from Gods displeasure when his anger and the guilt of their sin which is the cause is removed when their peace is made with God through the mediation of Jesus Christ when God forgiveth all their sins and accepteth of them as perfectly righteous in his sight through the imputation of his Sons righteousness unto them and so puts up and layeth aside his sword unbends his bow and casts it behind his back and receiveth them into favour as if they had never offended him 2. When they are saved from the slavery of the Devil and their own lusts All the wicked are spiritual slaves and vassals they are in worse than Egyptian bondage their thraldom and captivity is greater than that of the Iews once to the Babylonians The Devil hath his fetters upon their hands and feet and leadeth them captive by the chains of their own lusts at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 They are shut up as it were in prison and lye in a deep dark dungeon where no light doth shine they are fallen into a horrible pit and their feet stick in the miery clay they are sunk into deep waters and the stream is gone over their soul they are fallen into a deadly sickness and a loathsome disease hath seized upon their spirits they are full of boils and blains and putrifying sores all this and a thousand times worse is their condition through the power and reign of sin in them then a people are saved in a spiritual sense when they are redeemed from sin and Satan when the Lord Jesus Christ doth rescue them out of the Devils chains when he leadeth captivity captive spoileth principalities and powers and snatcheth them like a prey out of the teeth of the roaring Lion when he delivereth them from the power of darkness and translateth them into the houshold and family of God when he brings them out of the house of bondage and leads them out of Egypt through the Red Sea of his own blood in which he drowneth and destroyeth their Egyptian lusts which do pursue them when he openeth the prison doors and pulls them out of the deep dungeon and knocks off the chains from their feet when he breaks the bonds of the Devil and sin and brings them forth into freedom and enlargement when he takes them out of the pit and draws them out of the water when he healeth their sickness cleanseth and cureth their putrifying sores I mean when he delivereth them from the power of sin which entangled overwhelmed and defiled them and was more dangerous than any sickness of body could be unto them then they are saved when Satan is taken off and sin hath no more dominion over them and the Throne of Christ is erected in their hearts and his graces implanted there which do beautifie them instead of lust which did besmear and deform them when being made free from sin and Satan they are become the Servants of God and yield up their members as instruments of righteousness Rom. 6.13 22. when they are enabled to overcome the Devil and his temptations and to crucifie the flesh with its lusts and affections when the old Serpent is wounded in the head and cast out and the old man is wounded in the heart and its reigning power taken down and they are made victorious through Christ the Captain of their salvation who loveth them 3. When they are saved from the Law not only from the yoak and bondage of the Ceremonial Law which the Iewish Church of old was under which required many burdensome expensive and more carnal services but also from the rigour irritation curse and malediction of the Moral Law The Law is like the Egyptian Task-masters who required Brick of the Israelites but gave no Straw it requireth duty perfect obedience but giveth no strength it discovereth sin but giveth no power to overcome it and it enjoyneth service but it giveth no ability to perform it therefore the Law is said to be weak through sinful flesh Rom. 8.3 Yea the Law when it breaketh in with a full spiritual light and conviction of sin upon the spirit forbidding heart concupiscence and the least motion or inclination of the soul to sin and pressing to spiritual and heart-purity and obedience it is so far from beating down and killing the power of sin and from strengthening the soul and enabling it unto obedience that it doth revive the power of sin which seemed to be dead before in the soul and occasionally doth irritate and provoke to all manner of concupiscence the discovering it awakens the enmity of the heart against it self which lay before dormant As the Apostle doth complain Rom. 7.5 For when we were in the flesh the motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death And v. 7 8. Sin taking occasion by the Law wrought in me all manner of concupiscence for without the Law sin was dead but when the Commandment came sin revived and I dyed Moreover the Law doth curse all the children of men that are within its power and reach because of their sins which none are wholly free from Gal. 3.10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them People are saved from the Law when they are delivered from the rigorous yoak of the Moral Law which is called the Law of sin and death as it occasioneth sin and threatneth
death for it or discovereth our death and utter insufficiency of our selves to obey its injunctions and have instead thereof their necks put under the sweet and easie yoak of the Law of Christ which is called the Law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus because life and strength is given by the Spirit of Christ to yield obedience thereunto As Rom. 8.2 For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Iesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death And vers 3 4. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit The Law could not give strength against sin because of the strength of the flesh the Law discovered sin but it could not subdue sin but God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh in which flesh he suffered and offered a sacrifice for sin by which sin or sin-offering as the word sin doth elsewhere signifie as Hos. 4.8 They eat the sins of my people that is the sin-offerings of my people he condemned sin in the flesh sin was hereby judged and condemned to lose its power in his people it was condemned to death which death or sin-offering of Christ hath vertue and influence upon sin to kill it to crucifie it like as Christ was crucified for it and so Gods people are said to be delivered from the Law from the irritating and provoking power of it unto sin that being dead wherein they were held and whereby the Law did stir up such motions that they might serve in newness of spirit Rom. 7.6 that they might yield the fruits of new obedience that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in them sin having lost its strength they have strength from the Spirit of Christ to yield such obedience to the Law as through Christ shall be accepted And with this deliverance of people from the rigour and irritation of the Law is conjoyned their deliverance also from the curse and malediction by Jesus Christ who was made a curse for them instead whereof the blessing of Abraham the father of the faithfull is given unto them as it is expresly said Gal. 3.13 14. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us as it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Faith 4. When they are saved from the eternal damnation of Hell all unbelieving sinners are under the sentence of damnation Ioh. 3.18 He that believeth not is condemned already they are condemned by the great Judge unto an utter exclusion from the glorious presence of the Lord in that place of joy and happiness which is above and to endure most horrid extream and endless anguish and torment in soul and body in the place of utter darkness which is beneath where their worm shall never dye and where the fire shall never be quenched This sentence is dreadfull and all unbelievers are lyable every moment to the execution thereof upon their souls So soon as God shall give commission to the Serjeant Death to arrest them and clap up their bodies into the Prison of the grave then their souls being found guilty will be delivered into the hand of the Devil the Jailor of Hell whither he will drag them and where they must remain full of anguish through sense of Gods immediate wrath wherewith they will be filled and bound up in chains of darkness and wo untill the Judgement of the great day on which great day the Lord Jesus Christ will be sent by God to judge the whole world together and they shall be brought forth in chains to his barre and having reassumed their bodies shall be judged by him soul and body unto the flames of everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels and O the dread and horrour which will then possess them O the howlings and bitter lamentations which then they will make when the God of Heaven shall execute the fierceness of his anger upon them for their sins in the extream and remediless torments of Hell which shall never have an end The sentence of eternal damnation which all unbelievers whilest such are under here is dreadfull yet whilest here it is reversible whilest the reprieve of execution lasteth a repeal of the sentence may be obtained by an appeal from the Court of the Law to the Court of Chancery from the Barr of Gods Justice to the Throne of Grace by application of themselves unto Christ to be their Advocate and of his Righteousness to themselves by Faith whereby Justice hath been satisfied and they may be acquitted People are saved from eternal damnation when through an interest in Christ they obtain pardoning mercy and so are freed from all obligation to punishment by their sins hence it is said that there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus Rom. 8.1 and they that believe are not condemned Joh. 3.18 and that because Jesus is their Saviour and hath delivered them from the wrath which is to come 1 Thess. 1.10 Believers have a title to eternal salvation here through their title to Christ it is sure and they may be assured of it but hereafter they shall actually obtain it at the day of Judgement and perdition of the ungodly when the wicked shall be condemned and thrust into the place of torments they shall be acquitted saved and received into Heavenly Mansions prepared by their Redeemer for them in his Fathers house where there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore and so they shall march along with him unto the Zion which is above with shouting and the voice of triumph with Songs in their mouths and unspeakable delight in their hearts they shall then obtain everlasting joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away and no place be found for it to dwell where they shall take up their eternal abode This is the Salvation which is here meant and which God hath promised to shew unto them who believe and order their conversation aright And thus you see what it is for a people to be saved SECT V. 2. THE second thing is To shew what those Words are which Ministers are to tell people whereby they may be saved And here I shall for the present speak only of those words which the Apostle Peter told Cornelius whereby he and his house were saved there was great power and vertue which went along with them for it is said whilest he was speaking of them the Holy Ghost fell upon the Gentiles unto whom he preached as upon the Apostles themselves at the beginning chap. 10.44 and therefore they are worthy your serious regard possibly you that are unconverted in the hearing or reading
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 guâ—lt 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 businâ—sses 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 convicâ—ion 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 sinnâ—rs 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 in 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 presence 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 of an infinite Majesty whose Justice is infinite and must be satisfied with a proportionable punishment unto the offence but also you must be convinced that you are such sinners that you have committed such and such sins that you have broken the Law in such a point and such a point and in every point that you are guilty of fornication or drunkenness or theft or covetousness or lying or profaneness and it may be of all these and more than these The first is the conviction of the Law the second the conviction of the Fact then follows the third conviction which is of the State that therefore you are under the Curse that you are condemned that the wrath of God hangeth over your head and that you must be tormented for sin most horribly and eternally in Hell It is the conviction of the dreadfull punishment of Hell which God hath threatned and unto which you are exposed for sin that will awaken you to a sense of your lost state when the conviction is imprinted deep upon you by the Spirit when you believe that Hell is no Fiction but a reality as certainly prepared for the wicked as God is above preparing places in Heaven for his people and you have a peep-hole as it were into Hell and imagine something of the torments which the damned there do and shall endure for
reconciliation attainable O what shall I do to be saved I cannot save my self and no creature can help me but is there no other way Thus you must see and be sensible that you are lost in your selves if you would be saved Direction 2. You must mourn for sin if you would be saved except ye repent saith our Saviour ye shall all likewise perish Luk. 13.3 Those that laugh and rejoyce now in a way of sin shall mourn and weep for it for ever to no purpose Luk 6.25 But blessed are they that mourn for sin now for they shall be comforted and saved Matth. 5.4 The seed time of repentance accompanied with the showers of tears will return with the harvest of salvation and sheaves of joy and comfort Psal. 126.5 6. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him Therefore see what the Apostle exhorteth unto which is necessary to your salvation Iam. 4.9 Be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into heaviness Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up Sinners you have delighted your selves in sin you must now be afflicted for it sin hath been sweet in your mouth it must now be bitter to your heart God calls you to salvation by his Son but withall he calls you to weeping and mourning and deep humiliation in order hereunto not that your tears can wash off the guilt of your sins nothing can do this but the blood of Christ not that God delights in your griefs and sorrows as such but because mourning is needful for you to prepare you for Christ and Salvation by him whilst sin is sweet unto your taste you will roll it under your tongue and hug it in your bosom you will spare it and nothing will perswade you to part with it but when you taste the bitterness of sin in compunction and sorrow for it then you will spit it out when you perceive the gall and the wormwood then your mouth will be put out of rellish then you will desire no longer to suck at the breast of sin whilst you are insensible of sin you will be insensible of your need of a Saviour None but sick persons do prize and send for the Physitian and none but such as are sick of sin and groan and mourn under the burden of this sickness do prize a Christ who is the soul-Physician Matth. 9.12 Were you made sensible of sin indeed you would eagerly enquire after Christ and greedily hearken unto the glad tydings of salvation which he hath purchased what shall I do to get an interest in Christ where is he to be found how is he to be received what are his terms what are his commands do any thing part with any thing you would not then think much to lay down your selves and all that you have at his feet so you might have him none but Christ none but Christ would you then desire and if you might have all the world without him you would not be contented Sinners would you be saved by Christ get your hearts affected with godly sorrow for sin and that you may mourn deeply and kindly you must get not only a conviction of the guilt of sin and the punishment which is due for it which you cannot escape but you must look further into the nature of sin and get a sight and sense of the evil of sin you must look not only to the consequential evil of sin but also to the intrinsecal evil of sin not only to the Hell which is like to follow upon it but also to that Hell which there is in it look to the evil of sin not only as it is like to burn you but as it hath blackâ— and smutted you as it hath depraved and deformed your souls which are of heavenly original as it hath degraded and debased yoâ— polluted and defiled you But chiefly look upon the evil of sin as it reflecteth dishonour upon God upon God that is so holy and glorious and that is so good and gracious as it displeaseth that God that made you that hath exercised so much patience towards you when he could so easily have cut you off in the act of sin and appointed you your place and portion amongst the damned in Hell long ago and that hath moreover been so bountiful to you though sinners and his enemies that he hath maintained you at his cost and charges all your daies but especially see the evil of sin as it offendeth that God who is ready to be reconciled and hath made such provision for reconciliation which you could never have thought of namely through the death and mediation of his Son whom he hath given for you and proffers to give to you and in him doth treat with you and by us Ministers doth send intreaties to you that you would accept of this reconciliation lay down your weapons and be reconciled unto him 2 Cor. 5.20 Break break ye rocky hearts at this what is God willing indeed to put up such high affronts and to forgive such great sins and doth he stoop to entreat and beseech such mean creatures and wretched sinners as you to be reconciled O be filled with astonishment and admiration and go cast your selves down at his feet with self-loathing and abhorrency at the hideous nature and monstrous ingratitude and baseness of your sins let your hearts melt within you like Wax or Snow when the Sun shineth upon it with heat and brightness let your eyes drop down tears as the morning doth drop dew upon the flowers What! have I affronted such greatness dared such power trampled upon such patience and abused such goodness too and after all doth God beseech me to be reconciled was it such a God whom I offended vile wretch O that I had never committed such sins O that I had never been drunk or unclean or profane O that I had never sworn nor lyed nor stoln nor offended God in any of my actions It repents me it grieves me at the very heart that I have sinned and that I can grieve no more for it Direction 3. You must turn from sin if you would be saved see Psal. 7.11 12 13. God is angry with the wicked every day if he turn not he will whet his sword he hath bent his bow and made it ready he hath prepared for him the instruments of death And God threatneth Psal. 88.21 that he will wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such as go on still in their trespasses Therefore men must turn from all their transgressions otherwise iniquity will be their ruine Ezek. 18.30 They must cast away their sins as a menstruous cloth saying unto them get ye hence if they would be received into favour Isa. 30.22 They must not only confess their sins but also forsake them if