doest believe the Scriptures thou seest that they are the truth as really as if God should speak to thee from heaven through the clouds and therefore never flatter thy self foolishly thinking that if it were so and so then thou couldest believe I tell thee saith Christ If they believe not Moses and the Prophets neither will they believe though one should rise from the dead But 5. Doest thou believe the Scripture to be the word of God Then through faith in Christ thou endeavourest to have thy life squareed according to the Scriptures both in word and practice Nay this I say thou mayest have though thou do not believe them all My meaning is that if thou believe none but the ten Commandments thy life may be according to them a legal holy life and if thou do believe the Gospel too then thy life will be the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ that is either thou wilt live in the blessed and holy enjoyment of what is testified in the Scripture concerning the glorious things of the Lord Jesus Christ or else thou wilt be exceedingly panting after them For the Scriptures carry such a blessed beauty in them to that soul that hath faith in the things contained in them that they do take the heart and captivate the soul of him that believeth them into the love and liking of them 6. He that believes the Scriptures to be the word of God if he do but suppose that any one place of the Scripture doth exclude him and shut him out of and from a share in the promises contained in them O it will trouble him grieve him perplex him yea he will not be satisfied until he be resolved and thâ— contrary sealed to his soul for he knowâ— that the Scriptures are the word oâ— God all truth and therefore he knowâ— that if any one sentence doth excludeâ— or bar out him for want of this or the other qualification he knows also that not the word alone shuts him out but he that speaks it even God himself and therefore he cannot will not dare not be contented untill he find his soul and Scripture together with the things contained therein to embrace each other and a sweet correspondency and agreement be between them For you must know that to him that believes the Scriptures aright the promises or threatnings are of more power to comfort or cast down then all the promises or threatnings of all the men in the world And this was the cause why the Martyrs of Jesus did so slight both the promises of their adversaries when they would have overcome them with profering the great things of this world unto them and also their threatnings when they told them they would rack them hang them burn them none of these things could prevail upon them or against them because they did most really believe the Scriptures the things contained in them as is cleerly found and to be seen in Heb. 11. and also in Mr. Fox his records of their brethren 7. He that believeth the Scriptures to be the word of God believeth that men must be borne again and have that faith which is of the operation of God or else they cannot be saved And he that believeth this believeth also that if he be not borne again and also be partakers of that faith which is of the operation of God according as he hath read and believed he must and shall be damned And he that believeth this aright will not be contented until according as it is written he do partake of and enjoy the new birth and until he do find through grace that faith that is wrought by the operation of God in his soul For this is the cause why men do satisfie themselves with so slender a conceited hope that their state is good when it is nothing so namely because they do not credit the Scripture for did they they would look into their own hearts and examine seriously whether that faith that hope that grace which they think they have be of that nature and wrought by that spirit and power that the Scripture speaketh of I speak this of an effectual believing without which all other is nothing unto salvation Now then because I would not be too tedious I shall at this time lay down no more discoveries of such an one as doth savingly believe the Scriptures and the things contained in them but shall speak a few words of examination containing the things already mentioned As 1. Thou sayest thou dost indeed and in truth effectually believe the Scriptures I ask therefore wast thou ever killed stark dead by the law of works contained in the Scriptures To be killed and to be struck dead you will say what is that Why to be killed by the law or letter is by the power thereof to be made to see thy sins against it and to be left in an helpless condition by that law for I say the proper work of the law is to slay the soul and to leave it dead in a helpless state For it doth neither give the soul any comfort it self when it comes nor doth it shew the soul where comfort is to be had and therefore it is called the ministration of condemnation as in 2 Cor. 3.9 Yea in plain termes the ministration of death 2 Cor. 3.7 For though men may have a notion of the blessed word of God as as the children had yet before they be converted it may truly be said of to them Ye erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God Mark 12.24 2. You say you do believe the Scriptures to be the word of God I say again examine wast thou ever quickened from a dead state by the power of the Spirit of Christ through the other part of the Scripture That is to say by the power of God in his Sonne Jesus Christ through the covenant of promise I tell thee from the Lord if thou hast thou hast felt such a quickning power in the words of Christ Joh. 6. that thou hast been lifted out of that dead condition that thou before wast in and that when thou wast under the guilt of sin the curse of the law and the power of the devil and the justice of the great God that thou hast been inabled by the power of God in Christ revealed to thee by the Spirit through and by the Scripture to look sin death hell the devil and the law and all things that are at enmity with thee for thy sins with boldness and comfort in the face through the blood death righteousness resurrection and intercession of Christ made mention of in the Scriptures And thirdly on this account O how excellent are the Scriptures to thy soul O how much virtue dost thou see in such a promise in such an invitation O sayest thou there are some promises in the book of God that I have had nourishment from and through Christ in them O they are so large they say Christ will in no
us unless we had it in such a place by such a man no nor then neither effectually But now Oh! that I was to live in the world again and might have that priviledge to have some acquaintance with blessed Lazarus some familiarity with that holy man what attendance would I give unto his wholesome words how would I affect his doctrine and close in with it how would I square my life thereby now therefore it is better to hear the Gospel under an hedge then to sit roaring in a Tavern it is better to welcome Gods begging Lazarus's then the wicked companions of this world t is better to receive a Saint in the name of a Saint a Disciple in the name of a Disciple then to do as I have done Oh! it is better to receive a child of God that can by experience deliver the things of God his free love his tender grace his rich forbearance and also the misery of man if without it then to be daubed up with untempered morter Oh! I may curse the day that ever I gave way to the flatteries and fawning of a company of carnal Clergy-men but this my repentance is too late I should have looked about me sooner if I would have been saved from this woful place O therefore send him not onely to the town I lived in and unto some of my acquaintance but to my fathers house Or else thus also may they cry In my life time I did not care to hear that word that cut me most and shewed me mine estate aright I was vexed to hear my sins mentioned and laid to my charge I loved him best that deceived me most that said peace peace when there was no such thing But now I say Oh that I had been soundly told of it Oh that it had pierced both mine ears and heart and had stuck so fast that nothing could have cured me saving the blood of Christ It is better to be dealt plainly with then that we should be deceived they had better see their lost condition in the world then stay while they be damned as I have done therefore send Lazarus send him to my fathers house Let him go and say I saw your son your brother in hell weeping and wailing and gnashing his teeth Let him bear them down in it and tell them plainly it is so Verse 28. and that they shall see to their everlasting misery if they have not a special care send him to my fathers house Ver. 28. For I have five brethren that he may testifie unto them lest they also come into this place of torment THese words are if I may so say a reason given by those in hell why they are so restless and do cry so loud it is that their companions might be delivered from those intollerable torments which they must and shall undergo if they fall short of everlasting life by Jesus Christ Send him to my fathers house for I have five brethren c. Though while they lived among them in the world they were not so sensible of their ruine yet now they are passed out of the world and do partake of that which before they were warned of they can I say then cry out now I find that to be true indeed which was once and again told and declared to me that it would certainly come to pass For I have five brethren Here you may see that there may be and are whole housholds in a damnable state condition as our Lord Jesus doth by this signifie Send him to my fathers house for they are all in one state I left all my brethren in a pittiful case People while they live here cannot indure to hear that they should be all in a miserable condition but when they are under the wrath of God they see it they know it and are very sure of it for they themselves when they were in the world lived as they do but they fell short of heaven and therefore if they go on so shall they Oh therefore send him quickly to my fathers house for all the house is in an undone condition and must be damned if they continue so The thing observable is this namely that those that are in hell do not desire that their companions should come thither nay rather saith he send him to my fathers house and let him testifie to them that are therein lest they also come c. Quest But some may say what should be the reason that the damned should desire not to have there companions come into the same condition that they are fallen into but rather that they might be kept from it and escape that dreadful state Answ I do believe there is scarce so much love in any of the damned in hell as really to desire the salvation of any it would seem strange to me that such a quality should be found in any there as out of singleness of heart to desire the salvation of their neighbours out of love to them But in that there is any desire in them that are damned that their friends and relations should not come into that place of torment It appears to me to be rather for their own ease then for their neighbours good for let me tell you this I do believe that it will aggravate or heighten the grief and horrour of them to see their ungodly neighbours in the like destruction with them For where the ungodly do live and die and descend into the pit together the one is rather a vexation to the other then any thing else And it must needs be so because there are no ungodly people that do live ungodly together but they do learn ill examples one of another as thus If there live one in the town that is very expert and cunning for the world why now the rest of his neighbours that are of the same mind with him they will labour to imitate him and follow his steps this is commonly seen Again if there be one given to drunkenness others of the town through his means run the more into that sin with him do accustom themselves the more unto it because of his inticing them and also bysetting such an ill example before them And so if there be any addicted to pride must needs be in all the newest fashions how do their example provoke other to love and follow the same vanity spending that upon their lusts which should relieve their own and others wants Also if there be any given to jesting scoffing lying whoring backbiting junketting wantonness or any other sin they that are most expert in these things do oft-times intangle others that peradventure would not have been so vile as now they are had they not had such an example Now these will by their doings exceedingly aggravate the condemnation of one another as thus He that did set his neighbour an ill example and thereby caused him to walk in sin He will be found one cause of his and his friends
Siloe fell were sinners above others I tell you nay for except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish So here Nay Father Abraham c. By this vvord nay therefore is signified a rejecting the first ansvver Novv observe I pray you the reason vvhy he sayes nay is because God doth put over all those that vvill be saved to observe and receive the truth contained in Scripture and believe that To have high esteem of them and to love and search them as Christ saith Search the Scriptures for they are they which testifie of me Joh. 5.39 But the damned say Nay as if he had said It is true the Scriptures are truth and every curse contained in and held forth by them shall be fulfilled and have its time to be executed on them vvho live and die in unbelief as novv I feel by vvoful experience for I svvim novv in the curses and vvrath vvhich once they told me I should partake of But this is the thing to be short my brethren are unbelievers and do not regard the word of God I know it by my self for when I was in the world it was so with me 'T is true many a good Sermon did I hear many a time was I admonished desired intreated beseeched threatned forewarned of what I now suffer But alas I was ignorant self-conceited surly obstinate and rebellious 'T is true many a time the preacher told me hell would be my portion the devill would wreck his malice on me God would pour on me his sore displeasure but he had as good have preached to the stock to the post to the stones I trod on 'T is true his words rang in mine ears but I kept them from my heart I remember he alledged many a Scripture but those I valued not the Scriptures thought I what are they a dead letter a little ink and paper of three or four shillings price Alas what is the Scripture give me a Ballad a News-book George on horseback or Bevis of Southhampton give me some book that teaches curious arts that tells of old fables but for the holy Scriptures I cared not And as it was with me then so it is with my brethren now we were all of one spirit loved all the same sins slighted all the same counsels promises incouragements and threatnings of the Scriptures and they are still as I left them still in unbelief still provoking God and rejecting good counsel so hardned in their wayes so bent to follow sin that let the Scriptures be shewed to them daily let the messengers of Christ preach till their hearts ake till they fall down dead with preaching they will rather trampleit under foot and swine like rent them than close in with those gentle and blessed profers of the Gospel Thus therefore these words Nay Father Abraham but if one should rise from the dead they would repent are to be understood That the world of ungodly men will not regard the Scriptures seriously Though they have Moses and the Prophets the Scriptures they will not repent or heartily close in with Jesus Christ though the Scriptures do witness against them If therefore there be any good done to them they must have it another way I think saith he it would work much on them if one should rise from the dead And this truth indeed is so evident that ungodly ones have a light esteem of the Scriptures that it needs not many strong arguments to prove it being so evidently manifested by their every dayes practice both in words and actions almost in all things they say and do Yet for the satisfaction to the Reader I shall shew you by a Scripture or two though I might shew many that this was and is true with thâ— geâ—erality of the world See the words of Nehemiah in his 9. Chapter concerning the children of Israel who though the Lord afforded them mercy upon mercy as it is from ver 19. to ver 25. yet ver 26. saith he Nevertheless they were disobedient for all thy goodness toward them and rebelled against thee but how and cast thy law behind their back And was that all No for they slew the Prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee and they wrought great provocations Observe 1. They sinned against mercy And then 2. they slighted the law or word of God 3. They slew the Prophets that declared it unto them 4. The Lord câ—unts it a great provocation See Heb. 3. from ver 10. to ver 19. And see Zach. 7.11 12. But they refusâ—d to hearken saith he there of the wicked and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears that they should not hear the law Yea they made their hearts hard as an adament stone lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts sent unto them by his spirit in the former Prophets c. Mark I pray you here is also First a refusing to hearken namely to the words of the Propehts 2. That they might so do they stopped their cares 3. If any thing was to be done they pulled away their shoulder 4. To effect this they labor to make their hearts hard as an adament stone 5. And all this lest they should hear and close in with Jesus and live and be delivered from the wrath to come all which things do hold out an unwillingness to submit to and embrace the words of God and so Jesus Christ which is testified of by them Many other Scriptures I might bring in for confirmation of the thing as that in Amos 7.12 13. also 2 Sam. 2.24 25. 2 Chron. 25.15 16. Jer. 7.23 24 25 26 27. and Chap 16 12. Read also seriously that saying in 2 Chron. 36.15 where he saith And the Lord God of their Fathers sent unto them How by his messengers rising up betimes because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place And did they make them welcome No But mocked them the messengers of God and despised his words And was that all No they misused his Prophets How long untill the wrath of the Lord arose against them In how high a measure Till there was no remedy See also Jer. 29.19 Chap. 25.3 4 5 6 7. Luk. 11.49 But alas we need not be so earnest in quoting the Scriptures so plentifully seeing any one or two places are enough And besides the conversation of almost all men doth bear witness to the same both religious and profane persons in that they daily neglect reject and turn their backs upon the plain testimony of the Scriptures As 1. Take the threatnings laid down in holy writ and how are they disregarded there are but a few places in the Bible but there are threatnings against one sinner or other against drunkards swearers liars proud persons strumpets whoremonger covetous railers extortioners theeves lazy persons In a word all manner of sins are reproved and without faith in the Lord Jesus there is a sore punishment to be executed on the committers
verse one line nay one word of holy Scriptures make in his heart so that he cannot eat sleep work keep company with his former companions and all because he is afraid that the damnation spoken of in Scripture will fall to his share Like Balaam who said I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord so long as he had something of the word of the Lord with authority severity and power on his heart but at another time he could teach Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel Rev. 2.14 3. Because the carnal Priests do tickle the ears of their hearers with vain Philosophy and deceit and thereby harden their hearts against the simplicity of the Gospel and word of God which things the Apostle admonished those that have a mind to close in with Christ to avoid Col. 2.8 saying Bewarâ—â—est any man be he what he will spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men and rudiments of the world and not after Christ And you who nuzzle up your people in ignorance with Aristotle Plato and the rest of the heathenish Philosophers and preach little if any thing of Christ rightly I say unto you that you will find that you have sinned against God and beguiled your hearers when God shall in the judgement-day lay the cause of the damnation of many thousands of souls to your charge and say He will require their blood at your hands Ezek. 33.6 4. Another reason why the carnal unbelieving world do so slight the Scriptures and word of God is because the judgement spoken of in the Scripture is not presently executed on the transgressors Because sentence against an evil act is not speedily executed therefore the hearts of the sons of men are wholly set in them to do evil Eccles 8.11 Because God doth not presently strike the poor wretch as soon as he sins but waits and forbears and is patient Therefore the world judging God to be unfaithful go to it agaiâ— and again and every time grow harder and harder till at last God is forced either to stretch out his mighty power to turne them or else send death with the devil and hell to fetch them Thou thoughtest saith God that I was altogether such an one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thy face Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver Psal 50.20 21. 5. Another reason why the blind world do slight the authority of Scripture is because they give ear to the devil who through his subtilty casteth false evasions and corrupt interpretations on them rendring them not so point blank the minde of God and a rule for direction to poor souls perswading them that they must give ear and way to something else besides and beyond that or else he labours to render it vile and contemptible by perswading them that it is a dead letter when indeed they know not what they say nor whereof they affirme For the Scripture is not so dead but that the knowledge of it is able to make any man wise unto salvation through faith and love which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3.15 And is profitable for instruction reproof and correction in righteousness that the man of God may be throughly furnished to all good works ver 17. And where it is said the letter killeth he meaneth the law as it is the ministration of damnation or a covenant of works and so indeed it doth kill and must do so because it is just forasmuch as the party that is under the same is not able to yield to it a compleat and continual obedience But otherwise I will call Paul and Peter to witness that the Scriptures are of a very glorious concernment in as much as in them is held forth to us the way of life and also in that they do administer good ground of hope to us Rom. 15.4 For whatsoever things were written a foretime Mark whatsoever were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scripture mâ—ght have hope And again Rom. 16.25 26. Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mistery which was kept hid since the world began but now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith And therefore whosoever they be that slight the Scriptures they slight that which is no less then the word of God and they who slight that slight him that spake it and they that do so let them look to themselves for God will be revenged on such Much more might be said to this thing but I would not be tedious A word or two more and so I have done with this Consider the dangers of slighting the words of the Prophets or Apostles whether they be correction reproof admonition forewarning or the blessed invitations and promises contained in them 1. Such souls do provoke God to anger and to execute his vengeance on them They refused to hearken they pulled away their shoulder they stopped their ears lest they should hear the law and they made their hearts adament stone that they might not hear the law and the words that were spoken to them by his spirit in the former prophets Therefore came a great wrath upon them Zach. 7.11 12. 2. God will not regard in their calamity Because I called and ye refused I stretched out my hand no man regarded but set at nought all my counsels and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamities and mock when your fear cometh When their fear cometh as desolation and their destruction like a whirlewind Then shall they call but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me Proverbs 1.25 26 27. 3. God doth commonly give up such men to delusions to believe lies Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved therefore God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie That they all might be damned 2 Thess 2.11 12. 4. In a word they that do continue to reject and slight the word of God they are such for the most part as are ordained to be damned Old Eli his sons not hearkenning to the voice of their father reproving them for their sins but disobeying his voice it is said It was because the Lord would slay them 1 Sam. 2.15 Again see in 2 Chron. 25.15 16. Amaziah having sinned against the Lord he sends to him a prophet to reprove him But Amaziah sayes Forbear wherefore shouldst thou be smitten he did not hearken to the word of God Then the Prophet forbare saying I know that God hath determined to destroy thee because thou hast not hearkened to my counsel Read therefore
wise cast me out My crimson sins shall be white as snow I tell thee friend there are some promises that the Lord hath helped me to lay hold of Jesus Christ through and by that I would not have out of the Bible for as much Gold and Silver as can lie between York and London piled up to the stars And why so O because through them Christ is pleased by his Spirit to convey comfort to my soul O I say when the law curses when the Devil tempts when hell-fire flames in my conscience my sins with the guilt of them tearing of me then is Christ revealed so sweetly to my poor soul through the promises that all is forced to fly and leave off to accuse my soul So also when the world frowns when the enemies rage and threaten to knock me in the head then also the precious yea the exceeding great and precious promises do weigh down all and comfort the soul against all This is the effect of believing the Scriptures savingly for they that do so have by and through the Scriptures good comfort and also ground of hope Rom. 15.4 believing those things to be its own which the Scriptures hold forth 4. Examine dost thou stand in aw of sinning against God because he hath in the Scriptures commanded thee to abstain from it Dost thou give diligence to make thy calling and election sure because God commandeth it in Scripture Dost thou examine thy self whether thou be in the faith or no having a command in Scripture so to do Or dost thou notwithstanding what thou readest in the Scripture follow the world delight in sin neglect coming to Jesus Christ speak evil of the Saints slight and make a mock at the ordinances of God delight in wicked company and the like Then know that it is because thou dost not indeed and in truth believe the Scriptures effectually For as I said before if a man do believe them and that savingly O then he stands in aw he looks to his steps he turns his feet from evil and endeavours to follow that which is good which God hath commanded in the Scriptures of truth yet not from a legal or natural principle that is to seek for life by doing that good thing but knowing that salvation is already obtained for him by the blood of that man Christ Jesus on the Cross because he believes the Scriptures therefore mark I pray therefore I say he labours to walk with his God in all well pleasing and godliness because the sweet power of the loves of Christ which he feels in his soul by the Spirit according to the Scriptures constrain him so to do 2 Cor. 5.14 5. Examine again dost thou labour after those qualifications that the Scriptures do describe a child of God by that is faith yea the right faith the most holy faith the faith of the operation of God And also dost thou examine whether there is a real growth of grace in thy soul as love zeal self-denial and a seeking by all means to attain if possible to the resurrection of the dead that is not to satisfie thy self until thou be dissolved rid of this body of death and be transformed into that glory that the Saints shall be in after the resurrection day and in the mean time dost labour and take all opportunities to walk as near as may be to the pitch though thou know thou canst not attain it perfectly yet I say thou doest aim at it seek after it press towards it and to hold on in thy race thou shunnest that which may any way hinder thee and also close in with what may any way further the same knowing that that must be or desiring that it should be thine eternal frame and therefore out of love and liking to it thou dost desire and long after it as being the thing that doth much please thy soul Or how is it with thy soul Art thou such an one as regards not these things but rather busie thy thoughts about the things here below following those things that have no sent of divine glory upon them if so look to thy self for it is high time for thee so to do for thou art an unbeliever and so under the wrath of God and wilt for certain fall into the same place of torment that thy fellows have fallen into before thee to the grief of thy own soul and everlasting destruction both of soul and body Consider and regard these things and lay them to thy heart before it be too late to recover thy self by repenting of the one and desiring to close in with the other O I say regard regard for hell is hot Gods hand is up the Law is resolved to discharge against thy soul the judgement-day is at hand the graves are ready to fly open the trumpet is near the sounding the sentence will ere long be past and then you and I cannot call time again Now then from what hath been spoken there might many things be spoken by way of Use and Application But I shall be very brief and but touch some things and so wind up And first I shall begin with the sad condition of those that die out of Christ and speak something to that Secondly to the latter end of the parable which more evidently concerns the Scripture and speak somewhat to that 1. Therefore you see that the former part of the parable contains a sad declaration of the state of one living and dying out of Christ how that they lose heaven for hell God for the devil light for darkness joy for sorrow 2. How that they have not so much as the least comfort from God who in the time they live here below neglect coming to him for mercy not so much as one drop of cold water 3. That such souls will repent of their folly when repentance will do them no good or when they shall be past recovery 4. That all the comfort such souls are like to have they have it in this world 5. That all their groanings and sighs will not move God to mitigate in the least his heavy hand of vengeance that is upon them for the transgressions they have committed against him 6. That their sad state is irrecoverable or they must never mark never come out of that condition 7. There desires will not be heard for their ungodly neighbours From these things then I pray you consider the state of those that die out of Christ Jesus yea I say consider their miserable state and think thus with thy self Well if I neglect coming to Christ I must go to the devil and he will not neglect to fetch me away into those intollerable torments Think thus with thy self What shall I lose a long heaven for short pleasure shall I buy the pleasures of this world at so dear a rate as to lose my soul for the obtaining of that Shall I content my self with a heaven that will last no longer then my life time What advantage
to dispute for the truth to preach the Gospel and labour to vindicate it in opposition to gain-sayers and yet be found at the left hand of Christ at the Judgement-day forasmuch as thou didst content thy self with a notion or a traditionall knowledge of them 2. Have a care that thou own the whole Scripture and not own one part and neglect another or slight it as thus To own the law and slight the Gospel or to think that thou must be saved by thy good doing and works for that is all one as if thou diddest thrust Christ away from thee or else so to own the Gospel as if by it thou wert exempted from all obedience to the ten Commandments and conformity to the Law in life and conversation For in so doing thou wilt for certain make sure of eternall vengeance Thirdly have a care that thou put not wrong names on the things contained in the Scriptures as to call the Law Christ and Christ the Law For some having done so in my knowledge have so darkened to themselves the glorious truths of the Gospel that in a very little time they have been resolved to thwart and oppose them and so have made room in their own souls for the Devil to inhabit and obtained a place in hell for their own souls to be tormented for ever and ever Against this danger therefore in reading and receiving the testimony of Scripture learn to distinguish between the Law and the Gospel and to keep them clear asunder as to the salvation of thy soul and that thou mayest so do In the first place beg of God that he would shew thee the nature of the Gospel And set it home effectually with life and power upon thy soul by Faith Which is this That God would shew thee that as thou being man hast sinned against God so Christ being God Man hath bought thee again and with his most precious blood set thee free from the bondage thou wast fallen into by thy sins and that not upon condition that thou wilt do thus and thus this and the other good work but rather that thou being first justified freely by meer grace through the blood of Jesus shouldest also receive thy strength from him who hath bought thee to walk before him in all well pleasing being inabled thereto by vertue of his Spirit which hath revealed to thy soul that thou art delivered already from wrath to come by the obedience not of thee but of another man viz. Jesus Christ Secondly Then if the law thou readest of tell thee in thy conscience thou must do this and the other good work of the Law if ever thou wilt be saved Then answer plainly that for thy part thou art resolved now not to work for life but to believe in the vertue of that blood shed upon the Crosse upon Mount Calvary for the remission of sins and yet because Christ hath justified thee freely by his Grace thou wilt serve him in Holinesse and Righteousnesse all the dayes of thy life yet not in a legall Spirit or in a covenant of Works but mine obedience say thou I will endeavour to have it free and chearful out of love to my Lord Jesus Thirdly Have a care thou receive not this doctrine in the notion onely lest thou bring a just damnation upon thy soul by professing thy self to be freed by Christs blood from the guilt of sin while thou remainest still a servant to the filth of sin For I must tell you that unlesse you have the true and saving work of the Faith and Grace of the Gospel in your hearts you will either go on in a legall Holiness according to the tenour of the Law or else through a notion of the Gospel the Devil bewitching and beguiling thy understanding will and affections thou wilt Ranter-like turn the Grace of God into wantonness and bring upon thy soul double if not treble damnation in that thou couldest not be contented to be damned for thy sins against the Law but also to make ruine sure to thy soul thou wouldest dishonour the Gospel and turn the Grace of God held forth and discovered to man by that into licentiousness But that thou mightest be sure to escape these dangerous rocks on the right hand and on the left see that thy faith be such as spoken of in Scripture and that thou be not satisfied without that which is a faith wrought by the mighty operation of God revealing Christ to and in thee as having wholly freed thee from thy sins by his most precious blood Which faith if thou attain unto will so work in thy heart that first thou wilt see the nature of the Law and also the nature of the Gospel and delighting in the glory of it and also thou wilt finde an ingaging of thy heart and soul to Jesus Christ even to the giving up of thy whole man unto him to be ruled and governed by him to his glory and thy comfort by the Faith of the same Lord Jesus The End Errata Courteous Reader before thou readest this Treatise thou art desired to correct these Faults with thy pen which hereaâ—ter followeth PAge 1. for Luke 19. read Luke 16 p. 6. l. 15. r. whence p 44. l 18. for means 1. names p. 54. l. 5. put out and the practice of the Saints p. 64. â— 15. after seek r. not p. 81. l 17. for them r. then l 26. for friends r. friend p. 92. l. 27. r. to be p. 104. l. 6. for sead r. send p. 120 l. 9. for converted r. contented p. 129 l. 12. for the r. their p. 144. l. 16. for 1 Tim. 1.9 r. 2 Tim. 1. 9. p. 145. l 27 for 1 Pet. 2.21 r. 1 Pet. 2.24 p. 166. l. 26. for contradiction r. traditional p. 171. l 23 r. of p. 194. l. 14. for intend r. indeed p. 196. l. 24. leave out that p. 229. l. 6. for powers r. angels Page 199. line 18. thou wilt finde these words as I said before which I desire thee to leave ouâ— The reason why I put th m in was because at the first I thought to put out wi h this a Discourse of the two Covenâ—â—â—s which since I thought to put fâ—r h in a Piece by â—t self and therefore should have put ouâ— these words Bunyan's Sighs from Hell