greatest concernment will not do the Soul any good unless by thinking it apply them and extract their vertue nor will the Spirit heal its lamentable Diseases if his influences be not answer'd with suitable endeavours Work then as he works in and with thee take into most serious consideration whatever is apt to promote thy recovery lay those things closest to heart which are likeliest to cure the hardness thereof inculcate and urge them and withal cry mightily unto him who is able and no less willing to help thee till thou feelest his gentle force and comest to a conquering resolution that thou must and wilt do as thou art advis'd till thou dost not only assent to the course propos'd as fit to be taken but art steadily determin'd that it is best for thee that it is absolutely necessary and must effectually be prosecuted that by the grace of God thou wilt thoroughly change thy heart and life and so escape from the greatest evil and make sure of the chiefest good 3. When thou hast seriously consider'd and resolv'd proceed presently to practise with all thy might and without the least delay 'T is commonly a work of some time to alter the temper of the Soul and change the course of the life and according to God's usual methods the longer thou hast been accustom'd to do evil the more time and pains will be requisite to break the force of stubborn lusts to weaken and subdue vitious habits and to gain those of grace and goodness to travel back the way thou hast gone wrong and to get out of it into the path of life 'T is well then if there be days enough before thee to do the one thing needful to be sure thou art not certain of an hour to spare the loss of so small a part may prove the loss of all Besides if thou putt'st off thy reformation though but for a little while 't is a sign thou dost not really intend it at all for thou purposest against conviction to add sin to sin at present and how can that consist with an hearty design of growing good afterward Delude not therefore thy self with such a desperate cheat but imitate the Royal Psâ—lmist When thou hast thought on thy ways turn thy feet unto Gods testimonies Make haste and delay not to keep his Commandments 4. Remember that conversion unto God is but the beginning of thy duty that thou must afterward obey him all the days of thy life and that there is no other way to preserve an interest in his favour and a right to the great expressions thereof They are the largest and the last discoveries of Divine Grace that teach thee to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world and so doing to look for the blessed Object of thy hope they plainly enough warn thee against drawing back unto perdition they threaten a final rejection if thou deniest thy Saviour in words or works and they oft direct and command thee to seek for glory and honour and immortality by patient continuance in well-doing to be faith ful unto death whatever it cost thee that thy Lord may give thee a crown of life These may seem hard sayings but they contain nothing like a reasonable discouragement There 's misery more than enough in Hell to necessitate a prevention by any temporary labours wants and suffâ—rings and an abundantly sufficient happiness in Heaven to encourage a stedfast perseverance in the work of the Lord though it were more harsh and grievous than sinners imagine And even at present Religion is not without a reward yea thou wilt find it if thou triest as thou shouldst a reward to it self when the main difficulties at first are over thy duty will grow daily easier it will have many pleasures mixed with it and become at length it self the greatest It will not abridge thy appetites of any desirable gratifications but give them a new delicious relish of the Fountain from which they flow Instead of the girds and twinges of a bad Conscience and dread of an after-reckoning 't will settle peace within and fill thee with comfortable reflections and joyful hopes and a loving thankful praising obedience will by degrees become thy sweetest employment Therein thou may'st draw still nearer to God delight thy self in and receive from him the desires of thine heart thou may'st walk always in the light of his countenance and feed on his loving kindness which is better than life In short before thou ascendest to Heaven thou may'st be in an Heaven on Earth and find by happy experience that the way to have all thou canst wish hereafter is to be and do what is best for thy self here Useful Questions whereby a Christian may every day examine himself Psal. 4. 4. Commune with your heart upon your beds EVery Evening before you sleep unless you find some other time of the day more for your advantage in this work sequester your self from the World and having set your heart in the presence of the Lord charge it before God to answer to these Interrogatories For your Duties Q. 1. Did not God find me on my Bed when he looked for me on my knees Job 1. 5. Psal. 5. 3. Q. 2. Have not I prayed to no purpose or suffered wandring thoughts to eat out my duties Mat. 15. 8 9. Jer. 12. 2. Q. 3. Have not I neglected or been very overly in the reading Gods holy word Deut. 17. 19. Josh. 1. 7 8. Q. 4. Have I digested the Sermon I heard last Have I repeated it over and prayed it over Luke 2. 19 51. Psal. 1. 2. and 119. 5 11 97. Q. 5. Was there not more of custom and fashion in my family-duties than of Conscience Psal. 101. 2. Jer 30. 21. Q. 6. Where in have I denied my self this day for God Luke 9. 23. Q. 7. Have I redeemed my time from too long or needless visits idle imaginations fruitless discourse unnecessary sleep more than needs of the World Eph. 5. 16. Col. 4. 5. Q. 8. Have I done any thing more than ordinary for the Church of God in this time extraordinary 2 Cor. 11. 28. Isa. 62. 6. Q. 9. Have I look care of my company Prov. 13. 20. Psal. 119. 63. Q. 10. Have not Ineglected or done something against the duties of my Relations as a Master Servant Husband Wife Parent Child c. Eph. 5. 22. to chap. 6. V. 10. Col. 3. 18. to the 4. V. 2. For your Sins Q. 1. Doth not sin sit light Psal. 38. 4. Rom. 7. 24. Q. 2. Am I a mourner for the sins of the Land Ezek. 9. 4. Jer. 9. 1 2 3. Q. 3. Do I live in nothing that I know or fear to be a sin Psal. 119. 101 104. For your Heart Q. 1. Have I been much in holy Ejaculations Neh. 2. 4 5. Q. 2. Hath not God been out of mind Heaven out of sight Psal. 16. 8 Jer. 2. 32. Col. 3. 1 2. Q. 3. Have
Kiâ—gdom of God. So then they must have more to plead for themselves than their baptismal regeneration Well in this you see all are agreed that be it more or less that is received in baptism if when men come to years they are evidently unsanctified they must be renewed again by a through and powerful change or else they cannot escape the damnation of Hell. Friends and Brethren be not deceived God is not mocked Gal. 6. 7. Whether it be your baptism or what ever else that you pretend I tell you from the living God that if any of you be a prayerless person Ioh. 15. 14. or unclean or malicious or covetous or riotous or a scoffer or a lover of evil company Prov. 13. 20. in a word if you are not holy strict and self-denying Christians Heb. 12. 14. Mat. 16. 24. you cannot be saved except you be transformed by a further work upon you and renewed again by repentance Thus I have shewed that it is not enough to evidence a man to be regenerate that he hath been baptized effectual grace not necessarily accompanying baptism as some have vainly asserted But I must answer one Objection before I pass Object The Sacraments do certainly attain their ends where man doth not ponere obiâ—em or lay some obstruction which infants do not Sol. I answer it is not the end of Baptism to regenerate 1. Because then there would be no reason why it should be confined only to the seed of Believers for both the Law of God and the nature of Charity requires us to use the means of conversion for all as far as we can have opportunity Were this true no such Charity as to catch the children of Turks and Heathens and baptize them and dispatch them to Heaven out of hand like the bloody Wretches that made the poor Protestants to save their lives to swear they would come to Mass and that they would never depart from it and then put them forthwith to death saying They would hang them while in a good mind 2. Because it presupposeth regeneration and therefore cannot be intended to confer it In all the express instances in Scripture we find that baptism doth suppose their repenting believing receiving the Holy Ghost Acts 8. 37. Acts. 2. 38. Acts. 10. 47. Mark 16. 16. And to imagine that baptism was instituted for an end of which not one of the first subjects was capable for they were all adult persons and supposed to have faith and repentance according as they professed and their Children were not baptized till after them in their right were no little absurdity Were this Doctrine true baptism would make Disciples but we find it doth bespeak them such before-hand Mat. 28. 19. 3. Because Baptism being but a Seal of the Covenant cannot convey the benefits but according to the tenour of the Covenant to which it is set Now the Covenant is conditional therefore the Seal conveys conditionally The Covenant requires faith and repentance as the condition of the grand benefits pardon and life Acts 16. 31. Acts 3. 19. And what the Covenant doth not convey but upon these conditions the Seal cannot So that Baptism doth presuppose faith and repentance in the subject without which it neither doth nor can convey the saving benefits otherwise the Seal should convey contrary to the tenour of the Covenant to which it is affixed 3. It lies not in a moral righteousness This exceeds not the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and therefore cannot bring us to the Kingdom of God Mat. 5. 20. Paul while unconverted touching the righteousness which is in the Law blameless Phil. 3. 6. None could say black is thine eye The self-justiciary could say I am no Extortioner Adulterer Unjust c. Luke 18. 11. Thou must have something more than all this to shew or else however thou mayest justifie thy self God will condemn thee I condemn not morality but warn you not to rest here Piety includes morality as Christianity doth humanity and Grace reason But we must not divide the tables 4. It consists not in an external conformity to the Rules of Piety 'T is too manifest men may have a form of godliness without the power 2 Tim. 3. 5. Men may pray long Mat. 23. 14. and fast often Luke 18. 12. and heav gladly Mark 6. 20. and be very forward in the service of God though costly and expensive Isa. 1. 11. and yet be strangers to Conversion They must have more to plead for themselves than that they keep their Church and give alms and make use of prayer to prove themselves sound Converts No outward service but an hypocrite may do it even to the giving all his goods to the poor and his members to the fire 1 Cor. 13. 3. 5. It lies not in the chaining up of corruption by education humane laws or the force of incumbent affliction 'T is too common and easie to mistake education for grace but if this were enough who a better man than Iehoash While Iehojadah his uncle lived he was very forward in Gods service and calls upon him to repair the house of the Lord 2 Kings 12. 2 7. But here was nothing more than good education all this while for when his good Tutor was taken out of the way he appears to have been but a wolf chained up and falls on to Idolatry 6. In short it consists only in illumination or conviction in a superficial change or partial reformation An Apostate may be a man enlightned Heb. 6. 4. and a Felix tremble under convictions Acts 24. 25. and a Herod amend many things Mar. 6. 20. 'T is one thing to have sin alarm'd only by convictions and another to have it captivated and crucified by converting grace Many because they have been troubled in conscience for their sins think well of their case miserably mistaking conviction for Conversion With these Cain might have passed for a Convert who ran up and down the world like a man distracted under the rage of a guilty conscience till with building and business he had worn it away Gen. 4. 13 14. Others think that because they have given off their riotous courses and are broken off from evil company or some particular lust and reduced to sobriety and civility they are now no other than real Converts forgetting that there is a vast difference between being sanctified and civilized and that many seek to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Luke 13. 24. and are not far from it Mark. 12. 34. and arrive to the almost of Christianity Acts 26. 28. and yet fall short at last While conscience holds the whip over them many will pray hear read and forbear their delightful sins but no sooner is this Lyon asleep but they are at their Vomit again Who more religious than the Iews when Gods hand was upon them Psal. 78. 34 35. but no sooner was the affiction over but they forgot God and shewed their Religion to be a fit ver 36 37. Thou
3. 24. Satan may sometimes catch his foot in a Trap but he will no longer be a willing Captive He watches against the Snares and Baits of Satan and studies to be acquainted with his devices He is very suspicious of his Plots and is very jealous in what comes athwart him lest Satan should have some design upon him He wrestles against Principalities and Powers Eph. 6. He entertains the Messenger of Satan as men do the Messenger of Death He keeps his Eye upon his Enemy 1 Pet. 5. 8. and watches in his duties lest Satan should put in his Foot. Thirdly The World. Before a sound faith a man is overcome of the World. Either he bows down to Mammon or idolizes his reputation or is a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God 2 Tim. 3. 4. Here 's the root of Mans misery by the fall he is turned aside to the Creature instead of God and gives that esteem confidence and affection to the Creature that is due to him alone Rom. 1. 25. Mat. 10. 37. Prav 18. 11. Ier. 17. 5. O miserable Man What a deformed Monster hath sin made thee God made thee little lower than the Angels Sin little better than the Devils Iohn 6. 70. and 8. 44. a Monster that hath his Head and Heart where his Feet should be and his Feet kicking against Heaven and every thing out of place the World that was formed to serve thee is come to rule thee and the deceitful Harlot hath bewitched thee with her enchantments and made thee bow down and serve her But converting Grace sets all in order again and puts God in the Throne and the world at his Footstool Psal. 73. 25. Christ in the heart and the World under Feet Eph. 3. 17. Rev. 12. 1. So Paul I am crucified to the World and the World to me Gal. 6. 14. Before this change all the cry was Who will shew us any worldly good but now he sings another tune Lord list thou up the light of thy Countenance upon me and take the Corn and Wine whoso will Psal. 4. 6 7. Before his hearts delight and content was in the World then the Song was Soul take thine ease eat drink and be merry thou hast much Goods laid up for many Years but now all this is withered and there is no comliness that he should desire it and he tunes up with the sweet Psalmist of Israel The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance the Lines are fallen to me in a fair place and I have a goodly heritage He blesses himself and boasts himself in God Psal. 34. 2. Lam. 3. 24. nothing else can give him conâ—ent He hath written Vanity and Vexation upon all his Worldly Enjoyments Eccles. 1. 2. and loss and dung upon all humane Excellencies Phil. 3. 7 8. He hath life and immortality now in chase Rom. 2. 7. he trades for grace and glory and hath a Crown incorruptible in pursuit 1 Cor. 9. 25. His Heart is set in him to seek the Lord 1 Chron. 22. 19. and 2 Chron. 15. 15. He first seeks the Kingdom of Hearen and the Righteousness thereof and Religion is no longer a matter by the by with him but the main of his care Mat. 6. 33. Psalm 27. 4. Now the gawdy Idol is become Nehushtan 2 Kin. 18. 4. and he gets up and treads upon it as Diogenes trampling on Plato's hangings saying Calco Platonis fastum Before the World had the swaying interest with him â— he would do more for gain than godliness 1 Tim. 6. 6. more to pleasure his friend or his flesh than to please the God that made him and God must stand by till the world were first served but now all must stand by he hates father and mother and life and all in comparison of Christ Luke 1. 26. Well then pause a little and look within Doth not this nearly concern thee Thou pretendest for Christ but doth not the world sway thee Dost thou not take more real delight and content in the world than in him Dost not thou find thy self better at ease when the World goes to thy mind and thou art encompassed with carnal delights than when retired to prayer and meditat on in thy closet or attending upon God's Word and Worship No surer Evidence of an unconverted State than to have the things of the World uppermost in our aims love and estimation Iohn 2. 15. Iames 4. 4. With the sound convert Christ hath the supremacy How dear is this name to him How precious is its savour Cant. 1. 3. Psal. 54. 8. The name of Jesus is engraven upon his heart Gal. 4. 19. and lies as a bundle of Myrrh between his Breasts Cant. 1. 13 14. Honour is but air and laughter is but madness and Mammon is fallen like Dagon before the Ark with hands and head broken off on the threshold when once Christ is savingly revealed Here is the pearl of great price to the true Convert here is his treasure here is his hope Mat. 13. 44 45. This is his glory my beloved is mine and I am his Gal. 6. 14. Cant. 2. 16. O 't is sweeter to him to be able to say Christ is mine than if he could say the kingdom is mine the Indians are mine Fourthly Your own Righteousness Before Conversion Man seeks to cover himself with his own Fig-leaves Phil. 3. 6 7. and to lick himself whole with his own Duties Mic. 6. 6 7. He is apt to trust in himself Luk. 16. 15. and 18. 9. and set up his own Righteousness and to reckon his Counters for Gold and not submit to the righteousness of God Rom. 10. 3. But Conversion changes his mind now he casts away his filthy Rags and counts his own Righteousness but a menstruous Cloth he casts it off as a Man would the verminous Taâ—ters of a nasty Begger Esay 64. 7. Now he is brought to poverty of Spirit Mat. 5. 3. complains of and condemns himself Rom. 7. and all his inventory is Poor and miserable and wretched and blind and naked Rev. 3. 17. he sees a world of iniquity in his holy things and calls his once idolized Righteousness but flesh I and loss and dogs-meat and would not for a thousand Worlds be found in himself Phil. 3. 4 7 8 9. His finger is ever upon his sores Psal. 51. 3. his sins his wants Now he begins to set a high price upon Christs Righteousness he sees the need of a Christ in every duty to justifie his person and justifie his performances he cannot live without him he cannot pray without him Christ must go with him or else he cannot come into the presence of God he leans upon the hand of Christ and so he bows himself in the house of his God. He sets himself down for a lost undone man without him His life is hid in Christ as the life of man in the heart He is fixed in Christ as the roots of the tree spread in the earth for stability and nutriment
mine iniquity and am by Nature a Son of Death and a thousand-fold more the Child of Hell by my wicked practice But of thine infinite Grace thou hast promised Mercy to me in Christ if I will but turn to Thee with all my Heart Therefore upon the Call of thy Gospel I am now come in and throwing down my weapons submit my self to thy Mercy And because thou requirest as the Condition of my Peace with Thee that I should put away mine Idols and be at defiance with all thine Enemies which I acknowledge I have wickedly sided with against Thee I here from the bottom of my heart renounce them all firmly Covenanting with thee not to allow my self in any known sin but conscientiously to use all the means that I know thou hast prescribed for the death and utter destruction of all my corruptions And whereas I have formerly inordinately and idolatrously let out my affections upon the World I do here resign up my heart to Thee that madest it humbly protesting before thy Glorious Majesty that it is the firm resolution of my heart and that I do unfeignedly desire Grace from Thee that when thou shalt call me hereunto I may practise this my resolution through thy assistance to forsake all that is dear unto me in this world rather than to turn from thee to the ways of sin and that I will watch against all its temptations whether of Prosperity or Adversity lest they should withdraw my heart from thee beseeching thee also to help me against the temptations of Satan to whose wicked Suggestions I resolve by thy grace never to yield my self a Servant And because my own righteousness is but menstruous rags◠I renounce all confidence therein and acknowledge that I am of my self a hopeless helpless undone creature without righteousness or strength And forasmuch as thou hast of thy bottomless Mercy offered most graciously to me wretched sinner to be again my God through Christ if I would accept of thee I call Heaven and Earth to record this day that I do here solemnly avouch thee for the Lord my God and with all possible veneration bowing the neck of my Soul under the feet of thy most Sacred Majesty I do here take thee Lord Iehovah Father Son and Holy Ghost for my Portion and chief good and to give up my self Body and Soul for thy Servant promising and vowing to serve thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of my life And since thou hast appointed the Lord Jesus Christ the only means of coming unto thee I do here upon the bended knees of my Soul accept of him as the only new and living way by which sinners may have access to thee and do here solemnly joyn my self in Marriage Covenant to him O Blessed Jesus I come to thee hungry and hardly bested poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked a most loathsom polluted wretch a guilty condemned Malefactor unworthy for ever to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord much more to be solemnly married to the King of Glory but sith such is thine unparallel'd love I do here with all my power accept thee and do take thee for my Head and Husband for better for worse for richer for poorer for all times and conditions to love honour and obey thee before all others and this to the death I embrace thee in all thine offices I renounce mine own worthiness and do here avow thee to be the Lord my Righteousness I renounce mine own wisdom and do here take thee for mine only guide I renounce mine own Will and take thy◠Will for my Law. And since thou hast told me that I must suffer if I will reign I do here Covenant with thee to take my Lot as it falls with thee and by thy grace assisting to run all hazards with thee verily supposing that neither life nor death shall part between thee and me And because thou hast been pleased to give me thy holy laws as the rule of my life and the way in which I should walk to thy Kingdom I do here willingly put my Neck under thy Yoak and set my shoulder to thy burden and subscribing to all thy Laws as holy iust and good I solemnly take them as the rule of my words thoughts and actions promising that though my flesh contradict and rebel yet I will endeavour to order and govern my whole life according to thy direction and will not allow my self in the neglect of any thing that I know to be my duty Only because through the frailty of my flesh I am subject to many failings I am bold humbly to protest That unallowed miscarriages contrary to the setled bent and resolution of my heart shall not make void this Covenant for so thou hast said Now Almighty God searcher of hearts thou knowest that I make this Covenant with thee this day without any known guile or reservation beseeching thee that if thou espiest any flaw or falshood therein thou wouldst discover it to me and help me to do it aright And now glory be to thee O God the Father whom I shall be bold from this day forward to look upon as my God and Father that ever thou shouldst find out such a way for the recovery of undone sinners Glory be to thee O God the Son who hast loved me and washed me from my sins in thine own Blood and art now become my Saviour and Redeemer Glory be to thee O God the Holy Ghost who by the finger of thine Almighty Power hast turned about my Heart from Sin to God. O dreadful Iehovah the Lord God Omnipotent Father Son and Holy Ghost thou art now become my Covenant friend and I through thine infinite Grace am become thy Covenant Servant Amen So be it And the Covenant which I have made on Earth let it be ratified in Heaven The AUTHORS Advice THis Covenant I advise you to make not only in Heart but in Word not only in Word but in Writing and that you would with all possible reverence spread the Writing before the Lord as if you would present it to him as your Act and Deed. And when you have done this set your hand to it Keep it 〈◊〉 a Memorial of the Solemn Transactions that have passed between God and you that you may have recourse to it in Doubts and Temptations Direct XI Take heed of delaying thy Conversion and set upon a speedy and present turning I made haste and delayed not Psal. 119. 60. Remember and tremble at the sad instance of the foolish Virgins that came not till the door of mercy was shut Mat. 25. and of a convinced Felix that put off Paul to another season and we never find that he had such a season more Acts 24. 25. O come in while it is called to day lest thou shouldst be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin lest thy day of grace should be over and the things that