was affected with true evangelical sorrow for sin but on the contrary can commit sin with delight rolling it as a sweet morsel under their tongue which they will not part withall they must needs perish everlastingly if they should die in this estate the word is express that iniquity will be the ruine of the impenitent Ezek. 18. 30. 4. Vnregenerate persons are not in a state of salvation Joh. 3. 3. Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Such as never had a gracious change wrought in their hearts that are asleep in sin and never were awakened as are dead in sin and never were quickened such as have old natures and old hearts and never were renewed that never put off as concerning their former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to deceitfull lusts and put on the new man which is created in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4. 22 24. they are uncapable whilest such of this salvation there is no entrance for them into the Kingdom of Heaven 5. Christless persons are not in a state of salvation 2 Cor. 13. 5. Know ye not your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates Such as have not Christ and are not themselves in Christ they are for the present in a state of Reprobation It is Christ only can save those that are without Christ that are not united to him by Faith and the Spirit that are Unbelievers without Faith and carnal without the Spirit they cannot whilest such be saved 6. Vnsanctified persons are not in a state of salvation Heb. 12. 14. Without holiness none shall see God Such as are unholy such as live after the flesh shall die none but those that through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body shall live Rom. 8. 13. 7. And in a word Disobedient persons are not in a state of salvation Heb. 5. 9. He became the author of Eternal Salvation to all them that obey him to none else and Eph. 5. 6. The wrath of God cometh upon the Children of disobedience Such as walk in a course of disobedience as live and allow themselves in the practice of known sins whatever they be they are children of wrath because children of disobedience The Scriptures are so plain that I need without many words of mine only lay them before you as a Glass wherein you may discern your spiritual state Try your selves by these places these Texts will reach all that are not in a state of salvation CHAP. II. II. THE second words shall be to move you to endeavour after your Salvation The Motives to stir up you to endeavour your salvation may be drawn 1. From the consideration of your selves Whom you should endeavour the salvation of 2. From the consideration of the salvation which you should endeavour to obtain 3. From the consideration of the Damnation of all such as do not obtain salvation Motive 1. From the consideration of your selves whom you should endeavour the salvation of It is the salvation of your selves which I would press you unto It was the exhortation of the Apostle Phil. 2. 12. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling and this is my exhortation of you this day Labour after your own salvation If I were to perswade you to do some great kindness for another were it a difficult thing and like to cost you much labour and trouble I should not likely prevail but when I am perswading you to do a kindness for your selves and the greatest kindness in the World even to endeavour after the salvation of your selves methinks the natural Love which you bear to your selves should induce you to hearken and do whatever is requisite in order hereunto though it cannot be done without difficulty and trouble How far will carnal self-love carry carnal men what difficulties will they go thorow what expences of time and pains and strength will they be at how will some rise up early and sit up late deny themselves food and rest and many comforts of this life how will others compass Sea and Land and hazzard life it self and all to get an estate in the world for themselves and should not spiritual self-love which is the only reall self-love carry you thorow difficulties should you think much of exspending time and pains that you may get salvation for your selves carnal self-love will bring destruction and misery upon such as are swayed by it and in the issue will prove self-hatred as you really love your selves as you would escape the most dreadful misery and obtain the chiefest happiness for your selves labour after salvation for your selves Your self your Persons do consist of two parts namely Soul and Body it is the salvation of both which I exhort you unto 1. Consider it is the salvation of your Souls which I would have you endeavour after the salvation of your precious souls your souls are more precious than your bodies and they are more precious than the whole world 1. Your souls are more precious than your bodies they are by far your more excellent part the original of your soul is more immediately from God he formeth the spirit of man within him Zach. 12. 1. they are beams they are streams that issue forth immediately from God moreover they carry more of the impress and image of God upon them as they are invisible spiritual rational free immortal they have also more high and excellent operations than the body is capable of as of the understanding conscience memory will affections and I may add that if there be any lustre upon the body it doth receive it from the soul when the soul is gone the beauty is gone whatever motion or use there is in the body it doth depend on the soul when the soul is departed the body can neither hear nor speak nor see nor walk nor do any business the body is a rotten stinking carkass without the soul and whilest the soul doth abide in it the body is the inferiour part the body is but the Cabinet the soul is the Jewel the body is but the house of clay the soul is the living inhabitant the body is as it were the beast as one saith Corpus homini jumentum which the soul doth make use of to carry it from one place to another the body is the servant it is the soul that rules O labour then after the salvation of your souls which are your most excellent part what care do some take to preserve their bodies much more reason have you to endeavour the salvation of your souls when London's Fire was burning the houses those who could not save all their goods took care to save those which were the most precious especially their money and jewells O whatever become of your bodies here whatever sickness or hardship they be exposed unto labour to save your jewels your precious souls the Cabinet will be spoilt the clay and mudd-wall will be broken down and
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
Righteousnesses are as filthy rags and therefore altogether insufficient to procure for me the pardon of sin the favour of God and the peace of Conscience as also fully perswaded that no meer Creature is able to give unto me any help and relief in this case And being informed by the Word of God what the Lord Jesus is hath done and suffered for poor sinners That there is no Name under Heaven given amongst men whereby we can be saved but only the Name of Jesus Christ that he is able to save all them unto the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing be ever liveth to make intercession for them that he is a mercifull and faithfull High-priest in things pertaining to God to make Reconciliation for the sins of the People that whosoever cometh unto him he will in no wise cast out and finding a Promise in the Covenant of Grace that God will be mercifull unto our unrighteousness and that our sins and iniquities he will remember no more which Covenant is of full force through the death of Christ the Testator thereof and having Christ set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood and his Righteousness declared for the remission of sins which are past through the forbearance of God and this Christ freely tendered unto me and being invited earnestly yea entreated that I would be reconciled unto God through him and by the Spirit being perswaded of the truth of these things and hereby encouraged to apply my self unto Christ and the Promises through him unto my self I do now grieving that I have offended God groaning under the burden of sin renouncing all my own righteousness hungring after the Lord Jesus Christ and his righteousness upon the bended knees of my soul come unto him and cast my self wholly upon him I choose him for my only Advocate to plead my cause in the Court of Heaven to procure for me Pardon and Reconciliation that being justified by Faith I may have peace with God through my dear Lord Jesus Christ Next repenting from the bottom of my heartâ— of my sins grieving that I have such a sinfull Nature such a deceitfull heart that I have so adulterated my affections and gone a whoring from God to the Creatures that I have so indulged my flesh and satisfied its irregular desires that I have given ear to the Devil and complyed as I have done with his temptations I now renounce all allegiance and service to the World to the Flesh and to the Devil these enemies of the Lord and of my peace which warr against my Master and against my own soul covenanting and promising never to give away my heart any more from the Lord unto any person or thing in the World to refuse the World for my portion and chief happiness to deny my flesh iâ—s sinfull desires and demands to resist the Devil and his Temptations not to live and allow my self in any known sin and to make use of all the known means which the Lord hath prescribed for the crucifying of the World for the mortifying and utter extirpation of sin for the resisting and overcoming the Devil And being perswaded of the power and interest the subtilty and deceitfulness of these enemies and withall sensible of my own imprudence folly weakness and inconstancy I humbly and earnestly implore and beseech the highest Majesty who is infinite in wisdom power and goodness that he would give me counsel and discretion in the use and management of all means and helps that I may not neglect any nor through sloth and imprudence suffer a lesser duty to justle out a greater that he would give me courage strength and constancy in the maintaining my spiritual warfare against these my spiritual enemies unto my lifes end And if ever I should fall through unwatchfulness and weakness which the Lord grant I may never do I do promise in the strength of the Lord to arise again by Faith and Repentance And because of the Body of sin within me and remaining corruptions I shall be subject during my abode here unto daily failings and infirmities I do promise to pray watch and strive against them beseeching the Lord to strengthen me herein and grant that my sinful infirmities may be lesse every day than other in the mean time looking upon those disallowed miscarriages contrary to the settled bent and resolution of my heart as insufficient to make my Covenant void Furthermore being convinced of the vanity emptiness and utter insufficiency of any or all the Creatures in the World to make me happy had I the most desireable enjoyment of them and having a discovery of the infinitely blessed God made unto me in his Works chiefly in his Word as being the chief good of man and withall a Promise in the Covenant of Grace that he will be our God yea our Father through Christ and that we shall be his people his Sons and Daughters I do here with deep veneration of Soul and chief estimation of minde choose the thrice Blessed Jehovah for my Portion and chief good beyond all persons and things in this World and do avouch him this day to be my God I humbly accept of the relation of a Servant and a Son or Daughter which he hath called me unto I put my self under his wing and commit my self to his care and Tuition and henceforth shall be bold through my dearest Lord to call him and look upon him to be my God and Father and humbly shall expect from him Protection and Provision in his way and work Correction Audience of Prayer and the fulfilling of all those Promises unto me which he hath made unto his Children Moreover being perswaded that none can come unto the Father but by the Son nor share in any spiritual priviledge but through Christs death and intercession and being perswaded of the infinite amiableness of Christs person the greatness of his love and affection unto the children of men as also of his infinite desireableness in regard of those offices and relations which he hath vouchsafed to take upon him and enter into for the good of his people I do avouch the Lord Jesus Christ to be my only Saviour and choose him in all his Offices and Relations I choose Christ to be my High-Priest to intercede and procure for me daily pardon access unto God acceptance of my person and service audience of my prayers and supply of all my wants I choose Christ to be my Prophet to teach me by his Word and Spirit the will of the Father I choose Christ to be my King to rule and govern me to command my whole man into the obedience of himself I choose Christ to be my Captain to go before me and to tread down my spiritual enemies under my feet I choose Christ to be my Friend and Brother to counsel and advise me to stand by me in all the difficulties and straights of my life I choose Christ to be my Husband and beloved humbly