Eighteen Directions for Saving Conversion Unto God, Title page 1 – Publishers advertisement
Eighteen Directions FOR Saving Converſion UNTO GOD. WITH Directions for Daily Holy Living. And Motives, with Directions, unto Religious Diſcourſe; ſuch as tends to promote Converſion and holy Converſation. By Daniel Burgeſs, Miniſter of the Goſpel. Thus Publiſhed for the Poor.
LONDON, Printed for Tho. Parkhurſt at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapſide near Mercers Chapel. 1691.
EIGHTEEN DIRECTIONS FOR Saving Converſion UNTO GOD. By Daniel Burgeſs, Miniſter of the Goſpel. Thus Publiſhed for the Poor.
LONDON, Printed for Tho. Parkhurſt at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapſide near Mercers Chapel. 1691.
To my Friends in the Counties of Wilts, Berks, Somerſet, Gloceſter, Oxford, Southampton, Middleſex, Grace and Peace.
Sirs,
I thankfully remember all your old true Love. And, by your frequent Salutations, I am comfortably aſſured of it's continuance. Having not any thing better, I Re-ſalute you all together, with this Fragment.
I intreat that your Children may be exerciſed in Learning to Underſtand them and Recite them. Eſpecially thoſe Children whom I Baptized; and do with an eſpecial Affection remember.
This Inſcription obtains its end; if it certifie you, that You and Yours live in the affectionate memory, of one that ſticks not, to go out of the common Road to fetch in one Soul unto Jeſus Chriſt.
Your Fervent Lover and Oratour. D. Burgeſs.
Eighteen Directions for Saving Converſion unto God, &c.
D. 1. BE Men. Be not content to be Flies and Worms, or Dogs and Swine in Men's Shape. You have REASON; a faculty of Underſtanding and Judging what is True and what is Falſe. You have a WILL; a freedom of Chuſing what you underſtand to be Good, and of Refuſing what you think to be Evil. You have a CONSCIENCE alſo, obliging you always to ACT upon Choice, and to CHUSE upon Judgment. Be not then, as if you had neither of the three. Be not ſwayed by brutiſh Senſe; and acted by Colours, Smells, Sounds, and Taſts, as if you had been Born in the Field among Cattel, and had in you no nobler Principle than they. Riſe preſently and ſay, each of you; From this moment I will uſe my Powers. My Nature is better than Brutes, and my Life ſhall be better. I will follow my exerciſed Reaſon; and ſeek GRACE which is it's Perfection.
Till this be reſolutely ſaid, you have no proper Manhood. No, but are Bruits and worſe, Morally; though you are Men, Naturally, Pſal. 49.20.
D. 2. Know your Maker. Endure not to be Silly Children that know not their own Father. You know, you made not your ſelves. Your Parents know little of your inner parts; and confeſs that they did not form the ſame. You believe your Maker to be one, that was Himſelf never made: But an Eternal Being, and the common Father and Fountain of all Beings. And by conſequence, of more Wiſdom, Power and Goodneſs than all. And more worth Knowing, than all. Riſe then, and ſay every one of you; What good ſhall my Life do me, if I may not know the Father of it? Give me the Knowledge of my Father, or elſe I die. I will never know reſt, till I underſtand WHO and WHAT He is.
Go, learn the Sixteen things concerning GOD in the firſt of my Three Queſtions reſolved. Till He be known, nothing can be rightly known. 2 Theſ. 1.7, 8.
D. 3. Love your Selves. Being deſcended from ſo excellent a Father, LOVELINESS and LOVE it ſelf; and being ſo excellent a race of his, as Men bearing his Image; do not make light of your ſelves. The viſible Creation is not, by millions of times, worth one of your Souls. Say then ſtraightway in your Souls, every of you: I ſee nothing, but my God, better than my Soul. Next to his Glory, I will therefore make this Souls good, my chief End and Care. If this Soul be loſt, it ſhall not be for want of any thing I can do to Save it. I will do and ſuffer, work and beg, Live and Die for this Soul of mine. For it's Felicity in my Maker's Love and Favour, and Likeneſs.
Until this be ſaid, you do but Flatter, you do not Love your Selves. No, but, interpretatively, you Hate your ſelves. And you Miſchief your Selves, more than Devils can do, Prov. 8.36.
D. 4. Viſit Heaven and Hell. You know there is another World; (none of you all pretend to be ſure, that there is not another.) If there be another, confine not your Acquaintance unto this. Heathens, Turks, and Jews themſelves believe another World: And ſay it is a Bigger than this, and an Everlaſting one. And one, whoſe Pleaſures exceed thoſe of this lower Worlds, as much as the Light of the Sun exceedeth the Gloworm's. Whoſe Pains and Torments alſo be ſuch, that the worſt Torments here wou'd be very Refreſhments unto the tormented there. Let every one then ſay, I will as daily think of the next World, as I breath in this. And Fear the torments of that World, more than the pains of this. And Deſire and ſeek the Pleaſures of that World, more than all of this.
Before this Practice, you do not ſee afar off, but are blind. You live in this World, as Spiders in their Webs; careleſs and thoughtleſs of the Beeſom of deſtruction. And as Serpents in the Duſt, regardleſs of the glory of higher Regions, 2 Cor. 4.18.
D. 5. Call Earth your Purgatory. Your Time here, is, all of it, given you on Tryal; and for Preparation for your Eternal State. Your Maker is Holy; his Heaven is Pure; All that enter it muſt be Purified; their Time is allowed them for Purification. As they are Purified or not Purified here on Earth, they are taken into Heaven or excluded. No other Place of Purifying, or Time, is ſet by God. Say then, Reader, ſay often unto thy ſelf; My time is my tryal for Eternity; I am here, on my good behaviour; as I Live here, I Speed for ever. After my death God will neither hold me on tryal in that World, nor ſend me back again, and try me in this. If I am Glorified I muſt be Purified; and if Purified, it muſt be now. My Motto ſhall be NOW or NEVER, Eph. 5.15, 16. 2 Cor. 5.9, 10.
D. 6. Believe and ſearch God's Word. Believe the H. Scripture ſo to be. It is, in a manner, as plain that the Scripture is his Word, as that the World is his Work. Men could no more invent ſuch a Bible, than they could make ſuch a World. (Read Dr. Manton, Dr Bates, Mr. Baxter hereof, you ſhall ſay ſo.) As ſure as there is a God, his Will muſt be Revealed; but if it be not Revealed in the H. Scripture, where is it Revealed? And what is there in the Scripture but is like Him, and ſpeaks it ſelf His? And if His it be, how Continually, Awfully, and Affectionately ſhould it be ſtudied? Rather than neglect it, I would burn all my other Books, and read the Scripture by the light of them. Say thou that readeſt this; upon due conſideration ſay thou; If I had a thouſand Souls, I would venture them all upon the truth of theſe H. Scriptures. I reſolve to Live and Die by them. And I engage my ſelf here, in preſence of their bleſſed Author, that I will as daily read this his Word, as I eat his Bread, Joh. 5.39. Col. 3.16. Pſal. 119.97.
D. 7. Eſteem Godlineſs God-likeneſs. You know little of God's Word till you do ſo. It's true, Fleſh and Blood, and the World, and the Lyar from the beginning, do give Godlineſs another report. Even a very black Character. They repreſent it as a very Hell upon Earth. But God's Word ſays the clean contrary; as his Children alſo feel the clean contrary. Godlineſs, all agree, is nothing but Imitating, and Obeying of God. Now, to Imitate him (in Wiſdom, Truth, and Goodneſs,) can be nothing but Beauty and Pleaſure, and Benefit and Honour. And to Obey him, is no other. Being He is too Great, to have his ſervice any diſparagement unto Angels; and too Good, to let it go unrewarded unto Men. Nor puts He his Children on Earth upon any thing, but what He put his Son in Heaven upon, whiles he was here. Will He have us Suffer, as well as Labour for him? Beſide that, we may thank our Sin for it; let us conſider, The Natural Son of God ſuffered the Curſe of the Law; the Adopted Children of God ſuffer nothing but the Chaſtiſements of Grace. He was made perfect by vaſtly greater Sufferings. Add hereto; what are light Sufferings and but for a moment, for an exceeding great Crown and Eternal? And think too; Can the Devil name any thing in Holineſs, ſo hard as we can prove all things in Sin to be? And, all places in Hell to be? Love is all Religion, and all Pleaſure is Love. God only, is more bleſſed than a Man Godly. Conclude thou thus, Reader, and ſay; Henceforth will I ſeek Fiſh in the Air and Fowls in the Sea, as ſoon as ſeek Pleaſure or Honour any where but in Godlineſs. Pſal. 119.92. Prov. 3.13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.
D. 8. Beware of the Mill and the Circle. Of the Mill of worldly Buſineſs, and of the Circle of Senſual Pleaſure. They be the Traps that take moſt Souls; and are the Death of all that they take. The Mill doth ſtore Hell with you poor Tenants, and the Circle ſtores it with your Rich Landlords. You have but one Soul, and can Love beſt but one thing; if the Worlds Profits or Pleaſures get the Throne of your one Soul, you have no other for God; and He will ſit no where but on the Throne, and in your BEST Love. Nor have you but one Life-time for working out your Salvation. If this one be eat up by the foreſaid Vulturs, your Salvation is loſt. Say then Reader, if thou careſt to be ſaved; Heart and Life-Religion, ſhall be my prime Mill and Circle; my chief Buſineſs and Pleaſure. Worldly ones will follow me; but I will follow theſe. And of all things in the World I will keep the Throne of my Heart from Worldly Buſineſs and Pleaſures. The Bloodieſt Tyrants and Butchers of Humane Souls, 1 Joh. 2.15, 16, 17. 1 Cor. 7.29, 30, 31.
D. 9. Keep out of Peſt-houſes. Out of the Company of 1 Men falſely ſo called; 2 Men, that know not their God; 3 Men that love death, and wrong their own Souls; 4 Men, that look not into any World but this; 5 Men, that mind not Times End and Ʋſe; 6 Men, that value Bibles no more than Plutarch's Morals; 7 Men, that fancy God's Service wretched Bondany; 8 Men, like Bees, either buſie in gathering Honey or Drowned in it. Wiſdom hath ſaid it, Juſtice hath ordered it, and Goodneſs hath warned you of it. A Companion of Fools ſhall be deſtroyed. Come not of choice therefore, near unto their Doors. The choice of Company, is in a great degree the choice of your State; of Sin and Miſery, or of Grace and Salvation, I mean. Say, if thou art Wiſe, or if thou ever wouldſt be Wiſe; ſay and hold; I will henceforth chuſe to aſſociate with Frogs and Toads, rather than with Gods Enemies. I will have no Boſom Friend that hath not ſome Holineſs to the Lord wrote on his Forehead, 2 Chron. 19.2. 2 Theſ. 3.6. Pſal. 139.21.
D. 10. Have a care of your Eyes. In Nature you may be Blind, and Live; in Grace you cannot. Ignorance and Error Damn Souls, as ſurely as Sins againſt Light and Knowledge. Eſpecially where there is plenty of means of Knowledge. Heaven's a far Countrey; Holineſs is a narrow way to it; And is a Blind Man like to hit it, do you think? Beſides, Darkneſs is that whereof Satan is the Prince a… …orance is called the Power of the Devil; and Chriſt is ſaid to be coming to take vengeance of all that KNOW NOT God, and that (do not more than Know,) that OBEY not the (whole) GOSPEL. Reader, go beg Gods Eye-ſalve, ſay preſently; Grace is called Light, and Glory is called Light; I will no more endure this dark Heart of mine. I will never be quiet until I get to underſtand all the Fundamental TRUTHS, GRACES, and DUTIES of Chriſtianity.
For thy Life get underſtanding of the Aſſemblies Catechiſm. Of the Summaries of Truths in my Three Queſtions reſolved, &c. Prov. 4.5, 7, 8, 9. Prov. 7.4. The Grand Charter Iſſued out and Granted by Jeſus Chriſt for the Plantation of the Chriſtian Faith in all Nations. By George Lawſon, Rector of More in the County of Salop.
D. 11. Highly prize Sunſhine and Thunder. Plain and clear, Rouzing and piercing Sermons. How dull are your Heads? What can Benefit you, that doth not Inform you? And what can Inform you that is not as plain as the Sun? Your Hearts be likewiſe cold and frozen deſperately. What beſides Thunder-bolts can break 'em? What beſides Flaſhes of Fire can thaw them? Believe it, dark and dull Preachers be fearful Judgments and Curſes to ſuch as I ſuppoſe you. Ignorance, makes ſome Preachers dark; Pride, maketh others; but Sin makes both; and both do promote Sin. Say thus, thou that valueſt thy Soul; I will pray God to direct me to a Miniſtry both Shining and Burning: Plain for my dull Mind, Powerful for my rocky Heart. Clear to inform my Ʋnderſtanding, and as Cutting and Searching to excite me Affection, Iſa. 58.1. Hoſ. 6.5.
D. 12. Beg of God Golden Snuffers. We do all need Reprovers. And ſo peeviſh we, all, are, that unleſs they be excellent ones; very Compaſſionate and very Diſcreet, and very Innocent themſelves; we cannot bear them when they reprove us. We receive no good from the Snuffers, except they be of pure Gold; it is ſeldom that we ever do. Great need therefore there is, that thou Prayeſt the Over-ruler of all things, to beſtow upon thee ſome Righteous ones to ſmite thee. Some Skilful Friends, and Faithful, and of excellent Holineſs to tell thee ever and anon of thy Miſcarriages. Such as thy Miniſter never hears of; and can but generally reprove. Pſal. 141.5. 1 Theſ. 5.14. Exod. 37.23.
D. 13. Suppoſe the worſt of your Selves. Your own Hearts will be forward to Preſume all is well quickly; and that God and you are Reconciled. Satan alſo ſtill puſhes on toward preſumption. Towards Hope without any ground for it: Or, at leaſt, without juſt ground for it. But fair and ſoft, goes beſt and fartheſt. Think thus; if you are indeed Reconciled, your Examination of your ſelf will not break; no, but Clear and Strengthen the Reconciliation; and bring you in abundance of comfort. But if you are not Reconciled to God, you never can be reconciled until you know your want of it. And Examination, is Gods appointed way for your Knowledge. Do not ſay, But this Knowledge will ſcare us. For, I pray, what will Hell do? What! Will you not bear the Judgment Seat of your own Conſciences? Whether you will or no, you ſhall bear God's greater Judgment Seat. Go reſolve then, and ſay thou; Never will I be high-minded; but Fear. I will maintain a godly Jealouſie of my Self and my State. Daily will I Examine, and pray God to Examine, my Heart; and try my Ways. I will Conſult my God, my Heart, my Miniſter and my Friends, about the grounds of my Hopes, and Comforts, 2 Cor. 13.5. 1 Cor. 9.27. Rev. 3.17.
D. 14. Sleep not on the top of a Maſt. Do not Delay to mend your Condition, while it is apparently dangerous. He that is on the Ladder, is near to Execution; and Ʋnregenerate men be all on the Ladder. Delay is not for them; every breath, for ought they know, is their Laſt. (See my Sermon againſt Delay in the Morning Lectures.) Say to thy Soul, as the Angel to Lot; Ariſe, leſt thou be conſumed; Eſcape for thy Life, NEITHER STAY THOU. Eſcape, leſt thou be conſumed. If thou doſt not flee, wrath will come; and thou wilt not be able to flee from it, Eccleſ. 12.1. Now, in days of Youth. No Delay, in Youth it ſelf, 2 Cor. 6.2.
D. 15. Let thy Sins be but Falls, and not Leaps. Though, after all, thou doeſt the Evil that thou wouldſt not do; ſee that thou doeſt not one more, than what is againſt thy will. Thou falleſt into Sin, when for want of ſtrength thou committeſt it: Thou leapeſt into it when thou committeſt it with conſent, of choice, and for very pleaſure. True, the wages of all ſin, is DEATH; yet the former is a Gnat, and the latter a Camel. So wide is the difference. And the Goſpel is plain; Lambs fall into the mire, but they are Swine that leap into, and wallow in it, Pſal. 19.13. Rom. 7.15, 16, 17. Heb. 10.26.
D. 16. Row againſt the ſtream. The World wonderfully miſtakes CANNOT for WILL-NOT. Beware you of it; for it may ſoon become fatal. Uſe your ſelves unto this Language: Here is a Duty, againſt which my mind is full of carnal Objections; and my Will full of like Oppoſitions. But againſt both, I will Fight; God help me by his Grace to Conquer. The Duty goes againſt me, I confeſs; but I, for God, will go againſt my Self. I am aſham'd that I cannot do it more Freely, but I will go force my ſelf to perform it. Though I cannot Cheerfully, I will Mournfully perform it. Men are ſometimes bid to Eat for a Stomach; I will go Obey to get a better Heart to Obey with. Iſa. 64 7. God rewards Duty with Duty, Pſal. 119.55, 56.
D. 17. Flee from Popery. When you have gone thus far, admit no conceit of Merit in it. Dream not that your own ſtrength brought you ſo far, neither. Without the Grace of Chriſt, nothing can be done. And it muſt be for his alone Merit, that all is accepted, when it is done. Every one of your good Thoughts, are the works of his Spirit. And every kind look of God upon you, is the purchaſe of his Blood. You muſt never expect to Repent, Believe, or Obey, but by his Strength. And when you do, you muſt never look for acceptance with God but upon the Merit of his Obedience. Rom. 5.18, 19. Rom. 10.4. 1 Cor. 1.30. Coloſ. 3.17. NB. 1. Chriſt ſatisfied God offended with us; He payed what we Owed, and could not pay. 2. God Accepted what Chriſt performed, as performed on our behalf. 3. Believers enjoy the Fruits of Chriſts Performance being ſo Accepted. 4. And, therefore muſt not Believe or Obey for thoſe Ends for which Chriſt did Obey; I mean, to Satisfie Gods Juſtice, and to Merit his Mercy.
D. 18. Finally and Principally; Take no reſt, and give God none; till, through his Grace, you diſcern your ſelves to have riſen up, orderly, theſe ſeven Steps. By theſe he leads every one of his Choſen, unto the Glory prepared for them. Nor are you to preach peace unto your Souls till they have aſcended them all.
1. CONVICTION. Or a thorough Perſwaſion of the Sinfulneſs, Miſerableneſs, but Changeableneſs of your Condition. (See Twelve neceſſary Convictions in my Call unto Sinners.) John 16.8.
2. CONSIDERATION. Or Serious, Much, and Frequent Meditation of the things whereof you are Convinced in your Hearts, Pſal. 119.59.
3. CONTRITION. Or Fear, and Grief, and Shame and Hatred of Sin, wrought by the Conſideration aforeſaid, as the means thereof. Pſal. 51.17.
4. CONSULTATION. Or Enquiry and Taking Counſel of God, and of his Servants, what to do for Covenant Union unto Chriſt and Saving Intereſt in him. Acts 2.37.
5. ACCEPTATION. To wit of the Lord Jeſus Chriſt to be your Prophet, Prieſt, King, and Pattern or Exemplar. Intelligent and Sincere CONSENT to his being all four, unto and for you. John 1.12.
6. DEDICATION. Or, Solemn Compleating of that ſaid Acceptation, by Purpoſe, Promiſe, and Vows to Learn 2of Chriſt, to Truſt in him, to Obey him, to Imitate him. And this, both by Inward and Spiritual, and Outward and Sacramental Covenanting, Iſa. 44.5. 2 Cor. 8.5. Ezek. 16.8. Gal. 3.27. 1 Cor. 10.16, 17.
7. CONVERSATION. Or, a Life expreſſive of all aforeſaid. A Life aptly ſignifying that the Soul has been Convinced, Conſiderate, Contrite, Conſultative, Acceptive of Chriſt, Dedicative of it ſelf unto Chriſt. A Life of endeavoured, though not attained, Perfection. Col. 2.6. Pſal. 50 21. Rom. 6.18, 19. Mark here, the AS YE HAVE, and the SO NOW YIELD; and obſerve well the Doctrine of it. We ſhould SO ſerve God and Holineſs in our Regenerate State, AS we did ſerve Sin and Satan in our Ʋnregenerate State. Even SO,
1. So Readily and Freely.
2. So Reſolutely and Invincibly.
3. So Carefully and Studiouſly.
4. So Painfully and Induſtriouſly.
5. So Pleaſantly and Delightfully.
6. So Perpetually and Inceſſantly.
7. So Progreſſively and Proficiently.
8. So Perſwaſively of others, and with Zeal provoking many.
NATURE will not let a Man live, without ſome Service of God. And GRACE will not let a Chriſtian live, without ſuch Service as this, Performed, or at leaſt Endeavoured.
Go, Reader, and ſay to this effect; Morning, Noon, and Night, I will be Catechiſing my Soul about theſe ſeven things. Yea, and I will deſire my Paſtor to Catechiſe me concerning them. And till I have ALL, I will account my ſelf NOTHING; yea WORSE than Nothing.
May every Peruſer, be a Practiſer of theſe Directions! May all my Imperfections in them, be forgiven, in the Blood of my Redeemer, by my gracious God! May my more Judicious Brethren (more able in Speaking, and more able in Writing,) be drawn to publiſh their more Elaborate Directions, by the good Succeſs of theſe ſo haſtily thrown together! May theſe Lines Live, when I am Dead; and Speak, when my Breath is Stopt; and (in the mean time) may they Preach unto Thouſands, of whom I can never ſee the Faces, till the Reſurrection! Amen and Amen.
FINIS.
Books Printed for, and Sold by Tho. Parkhurſt at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapſide near Mercers Chapel.
A Call to Sinners, ſuch as are under Sentence of Death, and ſuch as are under any Proſpect of it: from the Long-ſuffering and Gracious, but moſt Righteous God.
Three Queſtions reſolved briefly and plainly, viz. (1.) What Conceptions ought we to have of the bleſſed God? (2.) What are thoſe Truths, whereof the Knowledge appeareth moſt indiſpenſibly neceſſary unto our Salvation; and (therefore) to be firſt and moſt learnt by us? (3.) What is the change wrought in a Man by God's H. Spirit, before he can ſafely conclude himſelf paſs'd from Death to Life? Being the Summ of three Sermons.
A ſeaſonable Queſtion plainly reſolved: viz. What are we to judge of their Spiritual Eſtate, who neglect the Lord's Supper? And, What is that diſcerning of the Lord's Body in it, without which Men do eat and drink their own Damnation?
Mans whole Duty, and Gods wonderful Intreaty of him thereunto. Set forth from 2 Cor. 5.20. and publiſhed at the Requeſt of ſome Hearers.
Advice to Parents and Children. The Sum of a few Sermons, Contracted, and Publiſhed at the Requeſt of many Pious Hearers.
Chriſtian Commemoration, and Imitation of Saints Departed; Explicated, and Preſſed from Heb. 13.7. occaſioned by the Deceaſe of the Reverend Mr. Henry Hurſt, Lately Miniſter of the Goſpel in London. All Six by Daniel Burgeſs Miniſter of the Goſpel.
FINIS.