those best that are of his own Opinion though there be nothing of the special Image of God upon his Soul Or if he love a true Christian it is not so much for his Holiness and Spirituality as because he is of his mind in those matters of Opinion Hence it is that he is usually a bitter censurer of those that are not of his Opinion how upright soever they may be His very esteeme of men and love to them is partial and factious to those that are of his Mind and Sect A Papist will esteem and love men of the Popish Sect and an Anabaptist will esteem and love men of that Sect most yea a Protestant if he be an Opinionist doth esteem of men and love them as a Sect Whereas the true Christian as he is truly Catholick and of the Catholick Church which is not confined to Papists no nor Protestants so he hath truly Catholik affections and loveth a Christian as a Christian a Godly man as Godly yea if he saw more serious Godliness in one that is not of his Opinion in lesser things yet would he love him more then one that is in such matters of his Opinion that is ungodly or of more doubtfull Piety For as it is God in Christ that he principally loveth so it is Christ that he admireth in his Members and so much of Christ as he sees in any so much are his special affections towards them 9. Ordinarily the meer Opinionist will Sacrifice the very Ends of the Gospel and the honour and success of the great fundamental Truths of God to the interest of those Opinions which he hath in a singular manner to his Own He will rather hinder the propagation of the common Truths and the Conversion of the ignorant then he will silence his Opinions or suffer them to lose any advantages with the world Hence it is that we cannot prevaile with the Papists to silence a while the differences between us and them till we have taught their ignorant in Ireland and other barbarous parts the knowledg of those Truths that all are agreed in Nor can we get many Anabaptists or any such Sect that is engaged in a division to forbear their Opinions till we have endeavoured â—o lay the necessary grounds on which all must build that will be saved But though it be apparent to the world that their disputes and contentions do exceedingly harden the ignorant and ungodly against all Religion and hinder their Conversion and Salvation yet will they go on in the unseasonable intemperate bruting of their conceits and will not be perswaded to agree on those terms for the managing of differences as most tend to secure the interest of Christ and his Gospel in the maine If an Opinionist be for the Truth he is usually without much zeale for it because that Nature doth not befriend the great Spirituall Truths of the Gospel so much as it doth errours and private conceits But if he be of Erroneous Opinions he is usually very zealous for them For Corrupted Nature and Self and Satan and the world oft-times do more befriend these and furnish him with a Zeale for them and blow the coale The counterfeit Angel of Light is very ordinarily also a spirit of heat and great activity not a reviving fire nor a refining fire but a consuming fire devouring Christian Love and meekness and patience and therewith the Church and Truth of God so far as it can prevail For lesser matters that minister Questions such men can say by that which tends to Godly Edifying in Faith 1 Tim. 1. 4. Yea that Charity which is the very End of the Commandement out of a pnre Heart a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned vers 5. From these they swerve and turn aside to vain jangling oft times desiring to be Teachers of such thigs in which they understand not what they say nor whereof they speak vers 6 7. Consenting not to the wholsome Words of Christ and the Doctrine which is according to Godliness they teach otherwise being proud knowing nothing but doting about questions and strife of words whereof cometh envy strife railings evill surmisings perverse disputing of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the Truth 1 Tim. 6. 3 4 5. Yea they sometime take their Opinions or their worldly gain that they often ayme at to be instead of Godliness And think that to be Godly is to he of their mind and way They use to strive about words to no profit but to the subverting of the hearers and their vain bablings increase to more ungodliness 2 Tim. 2. 14 16. But the True Convert looks principally to the main He loves every known Truth of God but in their Order and accordingly to their worth and weight He will not for his own Opinions wilfully do that which shall hazard the main or hinder the Gospel and the saving of mens Souls Though he will not be false to any Truth yet he will avoid foolish and unlearned questions knowing that they do gender strife and the Servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle to all men and meekly instruct opposers following Righteousness Faith Charity Peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart Tim. 2. 22 23 24 25. 10. Lastly True Converts are stedfast but Opinionists are usually mutable and unconstant The sound Convert receiveth the greatest Truths and receives the Goodness as well as the Truth and takes it not only into the Head but into the Heart and giveth it deep rooting He closeth with God as his only felicity and with Christ as his only Refuge and Redeemer and with Heaven as the sure everlasting Glory to which the world is but a mole-hill or a dungeon No wonder then if this man be stedfast and unmovable alwaies abounding in the Work of the Lord that knows his Labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. 58. But the Opinionist either fasteneth on smaller matters or else holdeth these great matters but as bare Opinions and therefore they have no such interest in his heart as to stablish him against shaking tryals and temptations For two sortâ— there are of these Opinionists the onâ— sort have no Zeal for their own Opinions because they are but Opinions And these are time-servers and will change as the King or their Land-lords change and fit their Opinions to their worldly Ends. The other sort have a burning Zeale for their Opinions and these use to wander from one Opinion to another not able to resist the subtilty of seducers but are taken with fair and plausible reasonings not able to see into the heart of the cause These are as Children tâ—ssed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the slight and cunning craftiness of men whereby they lie in weight to deceive Eph. 4. 14. When with great confidence they have held one sort of Opinions a while and railed against those that were not of their mind ere long they
your selves to Christ and turn to him as Zacheus and other primitive Converts did surrendering all that you have unto his Will Luke 19. 8 9. Leave not any root of bitterness behind Make no exceptions or reserves but Deny yonr selves Forsake all and follow him that hath led you this self-denying way aud trust to his Blood and Merits and Promise for a Treasure in Heaven and then you are his Disciples and true Christians indeed Luke 14. 33. Luke 18. 24 25. Reader if thou heartily make this Covenant and keep it thou shalt find that Christ will not deceive thee when the world deceiveth them that chose it in their greatest extremity But if thou draw back and think these terms too hard remember that Everlasting Life was offered thee and remember why and for what thou didst reject it And if in this life-time thou wilt have thy good things expect to be tormented when the believing self-denying Souls are comforted Luke 16. 25. May 29. 1658. R. B. THE CONTENTS COnsiderations to provoke men to take heed of sticking in a half-Conversion pag. 1 Direct 1. Labour for a right understanding of the true Nature of Christianity and meaning of the Gospel that must convert 32 Direct 2. When you understand that which you are called to search the Scripture and see whether it be so 41 Direct 3. Be much in the serious Consideration of the Truths which you understand and believe 51 Seven things to be considered 56 The manner of this Consideration 79 Twelve Motives to Consideration 86 Direct 4. See that the work of Humiliation be throughly done and break not away from the Spirit of Contrition before he have done with you And yet see that you mistake not the Nature and Ends of the work and that you drive it not on further then God requireth 119 Preparatory Humiliation what ibid. Sound Humiliation how known 120. c. The Ends and Vse of Humiliation 130 Mistakes about Humiliation to be avoided 154 Whether it be possible to be too much humbled 160 How to know when sorrow should be restrained 163 And when sorrow must be encreased 167 Motives for submission to a through-Humiliation 182 Direct 5. Close with the Lord Jesus understandingly heartily and entirely as he is revealed and offered in the Gospel 191 What must be understood of the person of Christ. 192 The Ends of Redemption to be understood 195 The Demonstrations of the glory of God in Christ and to whom 221 What are the works of Redemption that Christ hath done 232 The Benefits by Christ procured The general Benefits 241 The Benefits proper to Believers 247 The several termes on which the several Benefits are conveyed 263 The certainty of all this 270 How Christ must be received heartily and with the will 272 Christ must be entirely received and how 283 Direct 6. See that the flesh be throughly mortified and your hearts taken off the pleasures profits and honours of the world and think not of reconciling God and the world as if you might secure your interest in both 299 Direct 7. Be sure that you make an absolute Resignation of your selves and all that you have to God 306 Direct 8. See that you mistake not a meer change of your opinions and profession and behaviour for a saving change 324 The Markes by which a sound Conversion may be known from a meer opinionative change 330 Directions to get beyond an opinionative Conversion 347 Direct 9. Acquaint your souls by faith with the glory of the everlasting Kingdome and see that you take it for your portion and your end and from thence let the rest of your actions be animated 353 Wherein this Blessedness doth consist 359 Direct 10. Rest not and count not your selvs converted till God and holiness have your very Love Desire and Delight and take it not for a saving change when you had rather live a worldly and ungodly life if it were not for the fears of punishment 363 Direct 11. If you would not have the work miscarry Turn then this present day and hour without any more delay where fifty Considerations are given to shame men out of their delayes 381 Direct 12. Stop not in weak and wavering purposes and faint attempts but see that you be groundedly unreservedly and fi mly or habitually Resolved 441 What Resolution is and by what Deliberations it is caused The Preparatory câ—mmon Acts and the speciall Acts Illumination and the wills Determination how wrought 442 c. The unresolved are unconverted 450 What Resolution it is that is necessary 455 Twenty Motives to Resolution 461 Hinderances of Resolution 505 Two Directions for prosecuting Resolution that it may hold 513 The Conclusion 521 ERRATA PAge 1. l. 15. for you r. the. p. 41. l. 29. r. it a. p. 15. l. 15. r. as if it p. 99. l. 5. for Mal. r. Math. p. 51. l. 5. for your r. our p. 56. l. 8. for say r. lay p. 72. l. 17. blot out and. p. 98. l. 14. r. portends p. 181. l. 1. r. this be p. 126. l. 13. for confesseth r. consenteth p. 143. l. 19. for work r. worth p. 144. l. 6. blot out that p. 157. l. 8. for reproachers r. reprovers p 167. l. 21. for the r. then p. 170. l. 14. for you r. your p. 171. l. 10. for so r. to p 174. l. 10. for Judas r. Judges with a. p. 176. l. 1 2. for your selves r. yours l. 6. r. veine l. 15. for once r. over p. 177. l. 23. r. you are p. 205. l. 3. for begin a r. beginning p. 210. l. 3. dele hath p. 215. l. 9. for Premises r. Praises p. 218. l. 25. dele purpose p. 220. l. 20. for of r. so p. 229. l. 21. for manage r. marriage p. 242. l. 21. for discern r deserve p. 247. l. 13. for charging r. changing p. 279. l. 7. r. you p. 294. l. 27. for sanctification r. satisfaction p. 298. l. 24. dele to p. 307. l. 12. for or r. our p. 309. l. 4. r. pure and. p. 314. l. 12. dele I. p. 319. l. 21. r. it it is p. 326. l. 4. and. 7. r. opinionative p. 338. l. 3. r. life and. l. 27. for is r. it p. 339. l. 27. r. party p. 341. l. 19. for to r. made p. 362. l. 7. for 1. r. 10. p. 432. l. 5. r. learn p. 446. l. 28. for the r. that p. 469. l. 1. for any r. and. p. 494. l. 7. r. till then p. 500. l. 3. 4. for handfull r. housefull p. 513. l. 5. for offer r. office p. 517. l. 16. r. so I. p. 524. l. 18. for mystery r. misery Directions to Sinners that are purposed to Turn and are under the Work of Conversion that it miscarry not 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
Marriage supper and even compelleth them to come in but he expecteth that they bring a wedding garment and come not in a garbe that shall dishonour his house Though his Grace be free yet he will not expose it to contempt but will have the fullness and freeness of it glorified Though he came not to Redeem himself but us yet he came to be glorified in the work of our Redemption He hath no Grace so free as to save them that will not esteem it and give him thanks for it And therefore though Faith is enough to accept the gift yet must it be a thankfull faith that will magnifie the giver and a humble faith that will feele the work of it and an obediential faith that will answer the ends of it And therefore that faith which is the Condition of our Justification is fitted as well to the honour of the Giver as the commodity of the receiver And as Reason telleth us that it should be so so Christian ingenuity consenteth that it be so The Soul that is truly united to Christ and partaketh of his nature doth think it's own Receiving greatest where the honour of Christ is greatest And it cannot take pleasure in the thoughts of such a kind of Grace as should dishonour the Lord of Grace himself As Christ is solicitous for the saving of the Soul so that he makes the Soul solicitous of the right entertainment of him that saveth it And therefore though his Blood and not his Teaching or his Government was the Ranson of our Souls yet he is resolved to Justifie none by his Blood but on the Condition of that Faith which is a hearty Consent to his Teaching and Dominion It is not in the Application or bestowing of Christ's benefits as it was in the purchasing of them When he came to Ransom us he consented to be a sufferer and gave his cheeks to the smiter and submitted to reproach he endured the Cross despising the shame and being reviled he reviled not but prayed for his persecutors But when he comes by his saving Grace into the Soul he will not there be entertained with contempt For in the flesh he came on purpose to be humbled but in the Spirit he comes to be exalted In the flesh he came to condemn the sinne that reigned in our flesh Rom. 8. 3. and so was made sinne for us that is a Sacrifice for sinne 2 Cor. 5. 21. But in the Spirit he comes to conquer our flesh and by the Law of his quickning Spirit to free us from the Law of sinne and death both that the Righteousness of the Law might be fullfilled in us and also that there might be no Condemnation to us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1 2 4. The Kingdom of Christ was not worldly for if it had been worldly he would have sought to establish it by strength of armes and fighting which are worldly means Joh. 18. 36. But his Kingdom is within us It is a Spiritual Kingdom and therefore though in the world he was used with contempt as a fool and as a Sinner and a man of sorrows yet within us he will be used with honour and reverence as a King and absolute Lord. It was the houre of the executioner and the power of darkness when he was in his suffering but it is the houre of his triumph and marriage and the prevailing Power of the Heavenly Light when he cometh by Saving Grace into the Soul On the Cross he was as a sinner and stood in our place and bore what was our due and not his owne But in the Soul he is the Conquerour of sinne and cometh to take possession of his own and doth the work that belongeth to him in his dignity and therefore he will there be acknowledged and honoured On the Cross he was pulling down the Kingdom of Satan and setting up his own but in the preparatory purchase But in the Soul he doth both by immediate execution On the Cross sinne and Satan had their full blow at him But when he entred the Soul he hath his blow at them and ceaseth not till he have destroyed them In purchasing he expended his own But in Converting he takes possession of that which he purchased In a word he came into the world in flesh for his undertaken Humiliation but he comes into the Soul by his Spirit for his deserved exaltation And therefore though he endured to be spit upon in the flâ—sh he will not endure to be sleighted in the Soul And as in the world he was scorned with the Title of a King and crowned with thorns and clothed in such Kingly robes as might make him the fitter object for their reproach So when his Spirit entereth into the Soul he will be there inthroned in our most reverent subjective and deepest esteeme and crowned with our highest Love and Thankfullnes and bowed to with the tenders of Obedience and our praise The Cross shall there be the portion of his enemies and the Crown and Scepter shall be his and as all were preferred before him on Earth even Barrabas himself so all things shall be put under him in the Sanctified Soul and he shall be preferred before all This is the end of Humiliation to make ready the heart for a fuller entertainment of the Lord that bought it and to prepare the way before him and fit the Soul to be the Temple of his Spirit A humbled Soul would never have put him off with excuses from Oxen and Farms and Wives As Luke 14. and Matth. 22. But the unhumbled will make light of him And 2. As Christ himself will be honourably recieved or not at all so must the Mercies and Graces which he offereth He will not apply his blood and righteousness to them that care not for it He will not pardon such a masse of iniquity and remove such mountaines as lie upon the Soul for them that feel not the Necessity of such a Mercy He will not take men from the power of the Devil and the drudgery of sinne and the suburbs of Hell and make them his Members and the Sonnes of God and the Heirs of Heaven that have not learn't the value of these benefits but set more by their very sinne and misery and the trifles of the world Christ doth not despise his Blood his Spirit his Covenant his Pardon nor his Heavenly Inheritance and therefore he will give them to none that do despise them till he teacheth them better to know their worth Do you think it would stand with the Wisdom of Christ to give such unspeakable blessings as these to men that have not hearts to value them Why it is more to give a man Justification and Adoption then to give him all this visible world the Sunne the Moone the Firmament and the Earth And should these be given to one that cares not for them Why by this meanes God should miss of his ends He should not
Evidences might raise you from Opinion to a working saving Faith 6. Lastly take heed lest any thing be suffered to keep possession of your Hearts and so to confine the truth to your braine When the world is kept up in life and power and is nearest the heart there is no room for the Word there but it must float upon the top and swim in your Opinion because it can go no deeper your lusts and profits having possession before it The Word can never go to the heart with unmortified men but by casting your Idols out of your hearts nor will it take rooting in you but by rooting out the world O Sirs if you knew the misery of a meer Opinionist you would sure be perswaded now to practise these Directions that may raise you higher An Opinionist is a deceiver of himself and oft of others a troubler of the Church 〈◊〉 he have any Zeal for Opinions and hit as usually he doth on the wrong And when his Religion is right he is wrong himself being out of the way even when he is in the right way because he is not right in that right way For he doth but sit down in it when he should travaile it A runner shall not win the prize by being in the right way only unless he make hast The knowledg of the Opinionist doth but serve to aggravate his sinne and cause him to be beaten with many stripes but is not of force to Sanctifie his heart and life and to save him Jam. 2. fully shews Stick not therefore in an Opinionative Religiousness DIRECT IX My next Direction that your Conversion may prove sound is this Acquaint your Souls by Faith with the Glory of the Everlasting Kingdom and see that you make it your Portion and your End and from thence let the rest of your endeavours be animated No man can be a sound Christian that knoweth not the Ends and Portion of a Christian. There is a great deal of difference between the desires of Heaven in a Sanctified man and an unsanctified The Believer prizeth it above earth and had rather be with God then here Though death that stands in the way may possibly have harder thoughts from him But to the ungodly there is nothing seemeth more desirable then this world and therefore he only chooseth Heaven before Hell but not before earth and therefore shall not have it upon such a choice We heare of Gold and Silver mines in the Indies If you offer a Golden mountaine there to an English man that hath an estate and family here that are deare to him perhaps hee 'l say I am uncertain whether their Golden mountains be not meer fictions to deceive men and if it be true that there are such things yet it is a great way thither and the seas are perilous and I am well enough already where I am and therefore let who will go thither for me I will stay at home as long as I can But if this man must needs be banished out of England and had his choise whether he would go to the Golden Ilands or to dig in a colepit or live in a wilderness he would rather choose the better then the worse So is it with an ungodly mans desires in respect to this world and that to come If he could stay here in fleshly pleasure for ever he would because he looks at Heaven as uncertain and a great way off and the passage seemeth to him more troublesom and dangerous then it is and he is where he would be already But when he sees that there is no staying here for ever but death will have him away he had rather go to Heaven then to Hell and therefore will be Religious as far as the flesh and the world will give him leave left he should be cast into Hell when he is taken from the Earth But take an English man that is in poverty and reproach and hath neither house nor land nor friend to comfort him and let him have the offer of a Golden Iland and a person of unquestionable skilfullness and fidelity that will promise in short time to bring him safe thither if he believe this person and can put his trust in him doubtless he will be gone and follow him over sea and land and though the passage may somewhat daunt him yet the promised possession will carry him through all So is it with the true Christian He is dead to this world and sees nothing here in which he can be happy he is burdened and wearied with sinne and suffering he is firmly perswaded of the truth of the Gospel and seeth by Faith the world that is to flesh invisible and believeth in Jesus Christ who hath promised to convey him safely thither and therefore he would away and though he love not death the stormy passage yet he will submit to it having so sure a Pilot because he loves the life which through death he must pass into and had rather be there then here Such as a mans principall End is such is the man and such is the course of his life He that takes this world for his Portion and makes the felicity of it his end is a carnall worldy unsanctified man whatever good and godly actions may come in upon the by It is he and only he that is a sanctified Believer who looks on Heaven as his only Portion and is sailing through the troublesome Seas of this world of purpose to come to that desired harbour not loving these seas better then the Land of Rest which he is sailing to but patiently and painfully passing through them because there is no other way to Glory As it is the desire of the Land to which he is sailing that moveth the Marriner or Passenger to do all that he doth in his Voyage and the desire of his home or journeys End that moveth the travailer all the way and the desire of seeing a perfect Building that moveth the Builder in every stroke of his Work so it must be the love of God and the desire after Everlasting blessedness that must be the very Engine to move the rest of the affections and endeavours of the Saints and must make men resolve on the necessary labour and patience of Believers Take off this weight and all the motions of Christianity will cease No man will be at labour and sufferings for nothing if he can avoid them It is a life of Labour though sweet to the Spirit yet tedious to the flesh which Christianity doth engage us in and there is much suffering to be undergone and this to the very last and to the denyall of our selves and if God require it to the loss of all the comforts of the world For no less then forsaking all that we have will serve to make us Christs Disciples And will any man do this for he knows not what Will any man forsake all that he hath unless it be for something better which may be as sure
at least a more piercing convincing deep and savoury apprehension of the essentials of Christianity then he ever had before Where note of this special Heavenly light 1. The being usually the Consequent of a more common knowledg therefore most ordinarily the sum of Christian Doctrine is in some manner known before 2. That it doth not reveal only some one point of Faith alone and then another and so on as if we savingly knew one essential point of Faith when we have no saving Knowledg of the rest For that is a Contradiction But finding all these Truths received in the mind before by a common Knowledg the special Light comes in upon them all at once and so shews us the Anatomy of Christianity or the parts of Gods Image in one frame as to the essentials 3. For the understanding of which you must further know that there is such an inseparable connection of these Truths and such a dependance of one upon another that it is not possible to know one of them truly and not know all For example Believing in Jesus Christ is an act so inseparable from the rest that if the essentials of Christianity be not essential to it certainly you cannot do this without them For to Believe in Christ is essentially to believe in him as God and man two Natures in one Person by Office the Mediator our Redeemer and Saviour to save us from guilt and sinne from punishment and pollution and to give us by the Holy Ghost a Holy nature and life and to give us the forgiveness of sinne and Everlasting life and so to restore us to the mutual Love of God here and fruition of him hereafter and all this as merited and procured by his Death Obedience Resurrection Ascension and Intercession for his Church Whether here be all that is Essential to Christianity and absolutely necessary to Salvation to be believed I leave to consideration but sure I am that all this is Essential to saving Justifying Faith And Christ is not taken as Christ if he be not thus taken For the Ends thus enter the definition of his Relation as the Redeemer and Saviour and Lord. So that the Love of God as our felicity and End and the belief in Christ as the way are both together in the same minute of time which soever of them be first in order of nature which is a question that I dare not here so unseasonably handle 2. Upon this special Illumination of the Soul and the special Consideration with which it doth concurre the Deliberating Soul is presently Resolved And in these two Acts which alwaies go together consisteth the special Sanctifying Work Even in the Illumination and Estimation of the Understanding and in the true Resolution of the Will 2. The Determination of the Will is its own free act performed by its natural self determining power procured by the special Grace of God I mean in this special case It followeth Deliberation While we are unresolved we Deliberate what to Resolve upon that is we are considering which is best and most eligible and which not and as we practically judg we use to Determine and to choose And when this choice after Deliberation is peremtory and full it 's called Resolution So that my meaning is to let you understand that when the Matter of our Faith is set open to the Soul it is not a wavering fickle purpose that is a saving closure with it but it must be a firm Resolution Much less will it ever bring a man to Heaven to be thinking and deliberating what to do as long as he is unresolved And now I shall prove the Necessity of this II. Till you are Resolved you are not Converted and that appeareth by these Evidences 1. If you are not firmly Resolved it is certain that you do not firmly believe For such as your Belief is such will be the effects of it upon the Will An unsound Opinionative belief will produce but tottering languishing purposes but a firm belief will cause a firm Resolution of the Will And if your belief be unsound you must confess you are unconverted 2. Moreover if you do not esteem God above all Creatures and Heaven above Earth and Christ and Grace above sinne you are certainly unconverted But if you have such a true estimation you will certainly have a firm Resolution For you will Resolve for that which you highly esteem 3. If God have not your firm Resolution he hath not indeed your Heart and Will For to give God your Hearts and Wills is principally by firm Resolving for him And if God have not your Hearts you are sure unconverted 4. Moreover if you are not firmly Resolved your Affections will not be sincere and stedfast For all the Affections are such as to their sincerity as the Will is which doth excite or command them And nothing is more mutable then the Affections in themselves considered They will be hot to day and cold to morrow if they be not rooted in the firm Resolution of the Will which is the life of them 5. Lastly Without a firm Resolution there can be no faithfull obedience and execution of the Will of God For if men be not Resolved they will heavily go on and lazilie proceed and easily come off For their hands go to work without their hearts It is the greatest work in all the world that God calls you to and none but the Resolved are able to go through with it Of which we shall give you a fuller account anon III. In the next place let me intreat you in the feare of God to look after this great and Necessary part of your Conversion There are many degrees of good motions in the mind but all that falls short of Resolution is unâ—ound Many are brought to Doubt whether all be well with them and to have some fears thereupon that yet will not be brought so far as to consider soberly of the matter and deliberate what is best to be done and to advise with their Ministers for the furthering of their Salvation Many that are perswaded so far as to consider and deliberate and take advice yet go no further then some cold wishes or purposes which are all overcome by the love of the world and the power of their sinnes Many that do proceed to some kind of Practice do only take a tast or an essay of Religion to try how they can like it and begin some kind of outward Reformation without any firm Resolution to go through with it Or if their purposes seem strong it is but occasioned by something without and not from a setled habit within All these are short of a state of special Saving Grace and must be numbred with the unconverted It is a common and very dangerous mistake that many are undone by to think that every good Desire is a certain sign of Saving Grace Whereas you may have more then bare Desires even purposes and promises and some performances and yet perish