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
that hath called you is holy so you must be holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1. 15. you must live soberly righteously and godly in this present world soberly in regard of your selves righteously in regard of others and godly in regard of the Lord. 1. Soberly in regard of your selves which implyes 1. Temperance in eating and drinking you must take heed of Gluttony and Drunkenness 2. Chastity you must take heed of Adultery and Uncleanness in thought speech look and act 3. Moderation you must be sober in your desires after these earthly things and take heed of inordinate affection to any thing 2 You must live Righteously in regard of others You must give to every one their due and do to others as you reasonably can desire that they should do unto you you must take heed of unrighteousness either in regard of Commutative Justice in your buying and selling borrowing and lending and in regard of Distributative Justice in dispensing of rewards and punishments you must beware of oppressing afflicting injuring any of going beyond or defrauding any of withholding dues keeping back wages from those that have done you service knowing that if they cannot God will be the avenger of all such 3. You must live godly in regard of the Lord you must especially shew your New Life in the immediate Worship of the Lord and that publickly in his House privately in your Families secretly in your Closets you must worship God in the Ordinances of his own appointment and this you must do with reverence having an awe and dread of God upon your spirits with whom you have more immediately to do with sincerity having a sincere respect to Gods glory therein and that you might be accepted by him and meet with him with vigilancy watching the fittest time in regard of the thing and the temper of your Bodies and Souls and the breathings of Gods Spirit with humility sensible of your sinfulness unworthiness weakness emptiness neediness with diligence before to prepare your hearts and in Ordinances to engage them and resist the Devil and the contrary workings of the flesh with frequency laying hold on all the opportunities as you can without neglecting other businesses which for that time you may be more necessarily called unto with servency getting your hearts if you can raised and enlarged labouring that they may burn within you with love to God with delight and complacency in God and above all with Faith in Jesus Christ through whom alone it is that you can have strength to perform duties and that you can have any acceptance in them by the Father Direction 7. You must resolve upon sufferings for Christ if called if you would be saved you must bear the Cross if you would wear the Crown remembring that if the Cross be weighty it will work for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. you must reckon upon sufferings for Christ before hand and resolve that you will stick to him and his wayes though you should lose esteem by it and become the Drunkards Song and be reproached amongst men though you lose liberty by it and be thrust into Prison though you should lose Estate by it and be brought to pinching want though you should lose Friends by it and have none to stand by you though you should lose Life by it and be cut off in the midst of your years otherwise you cannot be Christs Disciples indeed and obtain this salvation which he hath purchased See the terms which our Saviour propounds Luk. 14. 26 27. If any man come unto me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own life he cannot be my Disciple This we are to understand that a man must choose to displease Father Mother Wife Children the nearest and dearest Relations and part with any thing in the world yea with Life it self rather than to displease and part with Jesus Christ and that we must resolve to bear the Cross whatever it be that God hath allotted for us otherwise we do not accept of Christ upon Gospel-terms you must resolve to be partakers of the affliction of the Gospel if you would obtain the salvation of the Gospel you must resolve to suffer with Christ and for his sake when called if you would reign and be glorified together with him Whatever profession you make of Christ and his wayes in time of peace and prosperity when the Sun of persecution doth arise upon you with burning heat you will wither and fall away and turn fearfull Apostates and then your last estate will be worse than your first and as your sin will be greater here so your punishment will be more dreadfull hereafter in Hell where you will confess that the light sufferings which you have declined for Christs sake here are not worthy to be compared with the far more exceeding and eternal weight of wrath which you must endure for your Apostacy unto all eternity Direct 8. You must study and apply the Promises of the Covenant of grace if you would be saved without the Covenant of grace there had been no possible salvation for any of the fallen Children of Men the Covenant of Works which God made with Man at the first being broken by sin it doth condemn all that are under it it is by vertue of the Covenant of Grace that any are brought into a state of salvation therefore study and apply the Promises of this Covenant Now you must know that all the Promises of the Gospel which are scattered up and down the Scripture do belong unto this Covenant but I shall spread before you those few more general Promises which the Apostle doth make mention of where he treats of the New Covenant Heb. 8. 10 11 12. For this is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes saith the Lord I will put my Lawes into their minde and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People and they shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest for I will be mercifull unto their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more Here are Four great Promises which the Lord hath made to his People which I shall explain though not in the order of the Text that you may the better understand and apply them 1. God promiseth that he will be to them a God and they shall be to him a People this includes all the rest It is a full and sweet promise that God will be our God it hath a great deal more in it than we can conceive we may look and look again and though our Faith have never so piercing an eye never so large and deep reach yet we cannot look to the bottom and fathom the
depth of this Promise we may suck and suck again at this breast and though we draw never so hard we can never draw forth all the sweetness that is in this Promise To have God to be our God it is very great it is very sweet Indeed God is the God of all his Creatures yea of his enemies and the vilest sinners but to be our God in this place sounds and signifieth more than that which is common to all it speaketh a peculiar relation a special interest and propriety in God in this promise God doth make over himself and all that he hath to us so far as we are capable of receiving he giveth himself to be our portion he engageth his Power Wisdom Goodness Mercy Love and all his Attributes to be employed for our good he promiseth to be our God here and to be our God for ever it signifieth that he will be our Father to love and cherish us to preserve and provide for us whilest we live and to take our Souls to himself when we dye and to raise up our bodies at the last day and make both perfectly glorious and happy in Heaven when time shall be no more He promiseth also that we shall be his People we cannot make our selves so but he promiseth that he will make us so he will make us his Children he will adopt us he will regenerate us give us the title and give us the disposition of Children all this and much more is contained in this Promise That God will be our God and we shall be his People even the whole work of our salvation from our effectual Calling unto our eternal Glorification 2. A second great Promise of the Covenant of Grace is That God will be mercifull unto our unrighteousness and that he will remember no more our sins and iniquities it is a promise of mercy in the free pardon and forgiveness of all our sins this is an exceeding great and precious promise without which there were no access for us unto God no attaining eternal happiness no escaping eternal misery guilt would shut us out of Heaven and sink us into Hell without a pardon This Promise is of vast extent it reacheth to all sort of sins Unrighteousness Sins Iniquities no sin is too great for God to pardon if the sinner doth believe 3. A third Promise of the Covenant of Grace is that God will give us the knowledge of himself they shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest they shall not teach one another the knowledge of God that is they cannot or they shall not be able to do it they may and ought to teach one another instrumentally it is the duty of some to teach and the duty of others and they have need to learn but they shall not be able to teach effectually they may give instructions to one another concerning God and his wayes but they cannot give light they may set the light before them but they cannot set up the light in them they may open Truths but they cannot open the Understanding this is the work of God only to do and this he hath undertaken by Promise to do they shall all know me they shall be taught of God by his Spirit the knowledge of himself he teacheth by men instrumentally but he will teach us by his Spirit effectually 4. A fourth Promise of the Covenant of Grace is that God will put his laws into our hearts and write them in our minds the Law was written before on Tables of Stone but here he promiseth to write them on fleshly Tables of the heart which is done not with Pen and Ink but by the Spirit of the living God 2 Cor. 3. 3. this Promise is very comprehensive it includes not only the giving of a spiritual discovery of the minde and will of God but also the giving of spiritual dispositions affections and strength to perform it and by consequence the removal of indispositions the purging out of corruptions the mortifying of lust the taking away the heart of stone and giving a heart of flesh the giving a new heart the putting the Spirit within us and causing us to walk in his Statutes and to keep his Judgements and do them as this Promise is branched forth Ezek. 36. 25 26 27. These in brief are the chief Promises of the Covenant of Grace labour to understand them and apply them that you may be saved Direct 9. You must give up your selves in Covenant to God if you would be saved God hath put his hand and seal to the Covenant which he hath made through his Son with you and you should put your hand to the Covenant and engage your selves unto the Lord you were dedicated to the Lord by your Parents when you were baptized then you understood not what was done now you are arrived to years of understanding you should make it your own act and dedicate your selves to the Lord and the more solemnly you enter into Covenant with God the more strong Obligation it may be upon you to walk closely with God all your dayes Some have directed to do it under hand-writing subscribing the name and some have put words into your mouths which you may do it in if you are not so well able to express the terms your selves you have this done in Mr. Guthry and Mr. Allen's books if those Books be not at hand I shall set before you this Platform which you may make use of in entring solemnly into Covenant with God I A. B. do acknowledge my self to be the Creature and Subject of the great and glorious Majesty of Heaven and Earth in whom I live move and have my being and from whom I receive every good thing which I receive and therefore am obliged to conform my minde will and affections to order my words wayes and whole conversation according to his most wise and good most righteous and reasonable Laws Besides which natural Obligation however born in sin and thereby disenabled yet being born in the Church and Baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and by my Parents dedicated unto God when I was an Infant I am further obliged by Covenant to be the servant of the Lord. But having proved a Rebel and Traytor against the Highest Majesty breaking his Laws and Covenant-ties which have been upon me spending years of my life in a state of strangeness and enmity to God in the service of the Devil and my own Lusts I do now solemnly renew my Covenant with God that the breach may be made up which sin hath made between God and my Soul Being in the First place convinced of the guilt of my sins whereby I have affronted and offended the highest Majesty whose Justice must be satisfied and withall convinced of my own utter inability to make the least satisfaction either by doing or suffering and that my