The Wells of Salvation Opened, Title page – To the reader
The Wells OF SALVATION OPENED: OR, WORDS WHEREBY We may be Saved.
By THOMAS VINCENT, Minister sometime in Maudlins Milk-street, LONDON.
Act. 16.29.
Then he called for a Light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
Vers. 30.
And brought them out, and said, Sirs, What must I do to be saved?
V. 31.
And they said, Believe on the Lord Iesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy House.
V. 32.
And they spake unto him the Word of the Lord, and to all that were in his House.
LONDON, Printed for Thomas Parkhurst, and are to be sold at his Shop at the Golden Bible on London-bridge. 1668.
TO THE Citizens of LONDON.
I Have sounded two Trumpets of Iudgement in your ears, the former signifying Gods terrible Voice to the City, in the late terrible Iudgements of Plague and Fire which have devoured so many Inhabitants and Habitations, as the space of many Ages (should the World so long continue) would not blot out the remembrance of; the later signifying Gods terrible Voice to the World, at the second appearance of Christ to the last and Universal Iudgement of all the Children▪ of Adam, which is both sure and near; the dreadfulness of which Iudgement to the Wicked, no Tongue is able to express: The chief intent of both my Treatises concerning the late, and future Iudgement, hath been to awaken sleepy Sinners out of their carnal security, and to prepare them for the great Salvation purchased by Iesus Christ, and proclaimed, proffered and promised in the Gospel▪ therefore having at first purposed, and in my last Book of Christs Appearance to Iudgement, promised to treat more largely of Salvation than in the close of a Vse I could do; I have here endeavoured to fulfill my Promise, in telling you Words whereby you may be saved. We read 1 Tim. 1.15. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners. And Heb. 2.3, 4. that this Salvation began to be spoken of by the Lord, and was confirmed by them that heard him. The Lord speaketh to you from Heaven by his Spirit in his Word and Ministers, that you would accept of this Salvation: See then that ye refuse not him that speaketh; for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth, much more shall not ye escape if ye turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven, Heb. 12.25. They that seek this Salvation diligently, shall finde it certainly; but they that refuse or neglect it, must needs perish unavoidably, and be miserable eternally. That this little Piece may be blessed by the Lord, and made use of as a Means to promote your Salvation, is the Prayer of him whose great desire is, that you might be saved.
Thomas Vincent.
WORDS Whereby we may be Saved.
ACT. 11.13, 14.
And he shewed us how he had seen an Angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose sirname is Peter, who shall tell thee Words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
WEE read in the second and third Verses of this Chapter of the contention which some of the Circumcision had with the Apostle Peter, because he had gone in to, and eaten with such as were uncircumcised. Whereupon Peter giveth an account to them of his reason, and the occasion of his so doing; rehearsing the matter more briefly from Verse 4. to the 18th. which is related more largely in the whole foregoing tenth chapter.
First he telleth them of his Trance at Ioppa, and the Vision which himself had of the Vessel descending from Heaven with unclean Beasts in it; and the command from Heaven to eat, not calling that common and unclean which God had cleansed; the Lord hereby giving him to understand, That like as under the Law, though there were divers kinds of meats forbidden, and therefore unclean, and unlawfull to be eaten; yet under the Gospel, that prohibition being taken off, and the meats sanctified by the word of Gods command or allowance, believers might freely eat of them without sin: So also, though under the Law, before the coming of Christ, the people of God in the Nation of the Iewes, where only the Church of God was to be found, were to separate themselves from all heathen Nations as unclean, and it was unlawfull for them to go in and eat with Heathen or Gentile persons, lest they should be defiled and enticed by such familiar converse with them, unto their Superstitions and Idolatries▪ yet God having before foretold and promised the accession of the Gentiles unto the Church; and under the Gospel having sent his Son, who brake down the middle wall of partition between the Iewes and the Gentiles; and having sanctified the Gentiles by his Spirit and Faith; they were no longer to be accounted unclean, and therefore it was as lawfull for the believing Iewes to eat and converse with them as one with another. Moreover he he telleth them of the Circumcision of the Vision which Cornelius a Gentile had of an Angel, and the command, which he had from the Lord by the Angel to send for him, to preach the Gospel of salvation unto him; together with the effect of his preaching namely the falling of the Holy Ghost upon the Gentiles, as upon themselves at the beginning; and therefore that it would have been no less than a withstanding of God himself for him still to have kept at a distance from the Gentiles. Which answer of Peter gave such satisfaction, that it did not only put to silence them which contended with him, but also caused them to glorifie God in behalf of the Gentiles.
My Text is a brief rehearsal which Peter giveth of Cornelius his Vision which he had from his mouth. And he shewed us, how he had seen an Angel in his house, which stood, and said, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose sirname is Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. I might present you with divers Doctrines from the words, but because I intend to handle but two, I shall mention but two, which to me are the most observable.
Doct. 1. That God doth make use of Ministers to preach the Gospel rather than Angels.
Doct. 2. That Ministers are to tell people such words whereby they may be saved.
It is the latter of these which I intend chiefly to insist upon; yet the former lying in the way, and being so worthy of note, and may be of such use, I shall spend a little time about it.