P. 1. Your parents should be as sensible when they dedicate you to God, though you could not. 2. And your former baptism hindereth not your personal covenanting now as understandingly and sensibly as if you never had been baptised before. All men are prone to outsideness and formality, even about God's own institutions. Too great stress is laid by many sorts upon the outward washing," who weigh not enough the nature of the covenant. Though you may not be baptised again, you may as seriously and solemnly again covenant with God, even the same covenant which you made in baptism; and it is the same which is still renewed in the Lord's supper: so that it did you no harm to be baptised in infancy, though you have been so sinful as to neglect the due consideration of it, you may, nevertheless, upon your repentance, renew the same covenant; and the same covenant will give you the same benefits, though you be not re-baptised. Therefore now set to it, not only as if you had never done it before, but with double humiliation and seriousness, as beseemeth one that made and broke it. S. Have you any more to say to me about it? P. Yes. I must before let you know in what manner it is that this covenant must be made, if you will be a Christian indeed, and have the benefits. 1. You must consent to the whole covenant of God, and not only to some part of it. You must be devoted to your Creator, your Redeemer, and your Sanctifier: you must take him for your Owner, your Ruler, and your Saviour: you must be willing to be sanctified as well as pardoned, and to be saved from sin, and not only from punish ment. 2. You must understand all the terms well, and count your costs, and reckon upon taking up the cross, and denying yourself, and forsaking all this world, in heart and resolution, for Christ, and take God and heaven for your whole portion, and resolve to stick to God if you have nothing else; and if you meet with never so much tribulation in the world, you must believe that heaven is as sure as if you saw it, and take that and the necessary means thereto for all your part, and not reckon upon ease, pleasure, profit, or safety to the flesh. 3. You must covenant absolutely, without any secret exceptions or reserves. If you secretly keep a reserve in your heart "1 Pet. iii. 21; Mark xvi. 16; John iii. 16; Jam. v. 20; 1 John ii. 1. * Matt. xxviii. 19, 20, and xi. 28; Luke xix. 27; Rom. xiv. 9; Eph. i. 22; Luke xiv. 26, to the end; Rom. viii. 17; Matt. xiii. 46, and vi. 19, 20. y Luke xiv. 26, 33. that you will come to Christ but upon trial, and that you will be religious as far as will stand with your prosperity and safety in the world, and so you may not be undone. If you except seceretly either honour, estate, or life, which you resolve not to lay down if Christ require it, you then play the hypocrite and lose all. 4. You must consent to a present change, and at present thus wholly give up yourself to God, and not only that you will do it some time hereafter. As he that will not take up Christianity and a holy life till hereafter should not be baptised till hereafter, when he will do it; so, if you do but consent to repent and be converted till some time hence, this is at present no repentance, conversion, nor true covenanting with God. All this you must understand and do. And now I will give you time to learn and resolve of all this that I have said to you. Read over and over the exposition of the covenant which I have written; and what you understand not, ask the meaning of it. And when you have done all, come to me, and tell me your resolution. THE THIRD DAY'S CONFERENCE. The Confutation of Ungodly Contradicters. Speakers.-Paul, a Teacher; Saul, a Learner; Sir Elymas Dives, a malignant Contradicter. PAUL. Welcome, neighbour. You are come sooner than I expected you. Are you well resolved of what we talked of? SAUL. Since I saw you, I opened my case to my landlord, Sir Elymas Dives; and he is accounted a man of wit and learning; and he saith so much against all that you persuade me to, that I am perplexed between both, and know not what to say or do; but, at last, I got him to come to you, and say that to you which he said to me, that I may hear which seemeth in the right. P. You did very wisely; and I have the more hope of your conversion and salvation, because you are diligent, and deal. faithfully with yourself, and do not let deceivers carry you away quietly, without hearing what can be said against them. Desire him to come in. Sir Elymas Dives. Good-morrow, Mr. Paul. I perceive you have troubled the mind of my poor tenant, here; so that he can scarce sleep. You, precise preachers, make such a stir with your religion in the world, that you will not let men live in quiet by you. P. Sir, he that is called and consecrated to this office, to declare, from the word of God himself, things, great, and necessary, and true, concerning the everlasting state of their souls, must needs call men to sober and serious thoughts. And if there be some trouble in these thoughts, to those that have foolishly neglected their own happiness, it is no wonder. El. The man hath been all his time an honest, painful, labouring man. I never heard that he said, or did any man harm; but hath followed his business, and gone to church, and received the sacrament, and lived in love and peace with his neighbour. I never saw him drunk, nor any harm by him; and now you will make him doubt of his salvation. д The P. Sir, I would have no man doubt of his salvation without cause; nor no man presume of salvation without cause. saving or losing of the soul, for ever, is a great business, and not to be cast upon presumptuous and blind hopes. I would but have him a make sure of heaven; and can any man, think you, make too sure? It is not you, nor I, that are the Judge of souls, but God; and his laws are the rule of his judgment. His word tells us who it is that he will save. If I tell any man that Christ will not save him, to whom the Gospel promiseth salvation, condemn me, and spare not. But if you tell any man that God will save him, to whom God hath spoken no such thing, but the contrary, what wrong can be greater to God and him? And as to his good life, which you talk of; faith and repentance, and the love of God, and a holy life, are matters of another nature than all that you have said. Pardon me for telling you, that you speak out of your element, like an unlearned man about law, or physic, and not like one that had made divinity the study of his life, as we have done. I have but inquired of the man himself how the case standeth with his soul, and set the Word of God before him, and directed him how to judge himself. Ask him, whether he hath lived by faith, or sense; after the Spirit, or after 2 Psalm iv. 5-7; li., and cxix. 59; Acts ii. 37. the flesh; whether he hath loved God or pleasure better; whether he hath sought heaven, or earthly prosperity, with the greater care and diligence. If he have, I will assure him that he is in a state of grace. It is he that must answer you. El. Are you a preacher, and think that to frighten men, and cast them into terrors, is the way to mend them? It is believing well, and hoping well, that is the way to salvation. P. Believing and hoping falsely, is not the believing and hoping well. He that knoweth not and feareth not a danger, will not sufficiently labour to escape it. Did you never read, that "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do hereafter?" Doth not Christ say, "Fear him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell?" Yea, I say unto you (whosoever saith the contrary), "Fear him!" (Matt. x. 28; and Luke xii. 5.) "Seeing we receive a kingdom that cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear; for our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. xii. 28, 29.) Having a promise left us of entering into his rest, let us fear, lest any of you come short of it." (Heb. iv. 1.) The Scripture is full of such like passages. 66 Suppose I am a physician, and have a medicine that infallibly cureth all dropsies and consumptions in time; and I see the signs of a dropsy or consumption on one of your servants, and I tell him my opinion of his case and danger, that he will die, unless he presently take this certain remedy; and you come, and chide me for frightening and discomforting him; and tell him that there is no danger. Which of us is the most comfortable friend to the man? I assure him of recovery, if he will use the means: you flatter him with false hopes, to keep him from using them : and I am a physician, and you are none. Which of us may he wiselier believe? El. When you should draw men to believe, you drive them to unbelief and doubting. P. Faith is not merely to believe that we are already forgiven, and shall be saved. If it would prove a man good, to believe that he is good; or prove that a man shall be saved, to believe that he shall be saved; and that he hath true grace when he hath none; then all the heathens and wicked men in the world, may be saved, by believing it shall be so. Then let your tenant be b2 Tim. iii. 4; Matt. vi. 20, 21, 23. lieve that he hath money when he hath none; and believe that he hath paid your rent when he hath not. Believing God, supposeth some word of his to be believed. And what word of his promiseth salvation to the ungodly? We must believe the Gospel, that Christ pardoneth and saveth all that truly a believe in him: that is, take him practically for their Teacher, their Saviour, and Lord; to sanctify them by his Spirit, and mortify their worldly, fleshly lusts, and make them a holy and heavenly people. To take Christ for such a Physician and Saviour of your soul, is truly to believe; and to doubt of the truth of his Word, is the doubting of unbelief: but so is not every doubting of our own sincerity. A drunkard may doubt he is not sober, and yet not thereby doubt of the Gospel of Christ. El. If poor men have no more wit than to hearken to all that you would put into their heads, you will drive them all into despair at last. e P. We do but teach them how to prevent everlasting despair. There is no hope of being saved in despite of God, or against his will. And to cherish such hopes (of being saved without holiness) till time be past, is the way to hellish desperation. What, if the king tell his subjects, If you murder, there is no hope of your lives; I will not pardon you.' Will you say to them, 'Go on, and kill men; do not despair; the king doth ill to put you upón desperation?' What, if you had been with Paul in the shipwreck, when he said, "There shall not a hair of your head perish; but if these stay not in the ship, ye cannot be saved;" would you have said, 'He preacheth despair; go forth, and fear not?' What, if you had heard Christ himself say, "Verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God;" (John iii. 3, 5;) and "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven;" (Matt. xviii. 3;) or "Except ye repent, ye shall all perish." (Luke xiii. 3, 5.) Would you have said, 'Believe him not; he preacheth desperation?' What, if you say to your servant, If thou do not work, thou shalt have no wages.' Shall he say, 'I will not despair; but I will hope well, though I work not?' What do you by this talk, but the same that the devil did to Eve? God said, "In the day that thou eatest, thou shalt die :" the devil d John i. 6-12, and iii. 16, 19; Luke xix. 27; Matt. vii. 21–23. * Isa. xlviii. 18, 22; lvii. 21, and lix. 8; Jer. iv. 10; vi. 14; viii. 11, and xxviii. 9; Ezek. xiii. 10, 16; 1 Thess. v. 3. |