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1. YOu must look upon true Christianity to be of absolute necessity, and an indispensable duty: you cannot live without it, and you dare not die with∣out it. Wo to you, if you die before you live; if you die to the world, be∣fore you live to God; and if you go out of the world, before Jesus Christ come into your heart: be sure that Christ be in you, so
may he bring the hope of glory, Col. 1. 27. and that you be in Christ, so must be broke off from the wild olive of the old Adam, Rom. 11. 24. which two makes up the true Chri∣stian.
2. You cannot attain to true Christianity, until you be born again, [or from above] Joh. 3. 3, 5. until you can experience the death and burial of the old Adam, and the Resurrecti∣on of the New. You must be unmade to sin [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] 1 Pet. 2. 24. and then made up again for God. 'Tis not scraping the walls of the
house of the fretting Le∣prosie, that will serve the turn, Levit. 14. 41, 44. but all the timber, and all the stones thereof must be thrown down to the ground, that a new buil∣ding may be erected in its stead.
3. Be sure, this can ne∣ver be attained until you come to a sound and saving knowledg, both of your self and Christ: 1. Of the emptiness and vileness of your self, so as to deny, abhor, and aban∣don your self; and 2. of Christs excellency and all-sufficiency, so as to value him you all, and above all:
Indeed a full Christ and a vile nothing creature ag∣grees best together.
4. 'Twill be both your prudence and advantage to forbear the searching after the knowledg of other things, until you come to a solid knowledg of your self, which is the one thing needful in Christianity, and whereof Heathenism had some rude notion in its [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉:] to know your self to be lost in your self, and never found a∣gain till you be [found] in Christ, Phil. 3. 9.
5. The more that you know your self, the grea∣ter will your self-abhor∣rency
be, Job 42. 6. This will make you cry out with Augustine, [a malo homine [meipso] libera me domine.] From that evil man [my self,] oh Lord, deli∣ver me. You will find, that though satan be your great enemy, yet your own sinful self is the worst: for Satan might strike fire long enough without suc∣cess, if your own evil heart did not find him tinder: the Tempter may besiege the City long enough to no purpose, if there were not a treacherous party within, that lets down the drawbridge, and sets open the gates to his troops of temptations.
6. This knowledg of your self will bring also greater dissatisfaction with your present state and stan∣ding in ways of Unregene∣racy, with your being without God, and with∣out Christ in the world; making you cry out not only Unclean, unclean; but also Undone, undone; give me Christ or I die, and that to all eternity: I am condemn'd already, Joh. 3. 18, and the wrath of God abides upon me, ver. 36. oh, who dares live in an house that is haunted with evil spirits! or lodg in a cave that abounds with noysome Toads and ve∣nemous
Serpents! such and far worse is your ly∣ing in an unrenewed estate.
7. When you behold the avenger of blood to wit, Divine Justice) pur∣suing you at the heels, his heart being ••ot within him, a Deut. 19. 6, then is it high time for you to hasten to that blessed City of Refuge, the most excel∣lent and all-sufficient Lord Jesus, who was purpose∣ly provided of the Father to be a Saviour and sanctu∣ary to save us both from present wrath, and from wrath to come also, 2 Thes. 1. 10. He is that Name of the Lord which the righ∣teous
run [into] and are safe, Prov. 18. 10.
8. In so doing, know for your encouragement, that the gates of this Sanctuary and City of Refuge shall not be shut against you. First, the place of Christs birth encourages, which was an Inn, he was born [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] in one of Bethlehem's Inns, a place that receives all comers; all guests that come, are bid welcome. 2. The posture of his death; Christ died upon the Cross with his Arms spread wide asunder, as in a posture ready to embrace all penitent sin∣ners that come unto him,
and fall into his arms. Him that cometh unto me, I will [in no wise] cast out, or keep out, Joh. 6. 37.
9. And though you can∣not run, or come fast e∣nough to Christ, yet Christ will come and run to you, and meet you better half way. While the penitent prodigal did but [come] to∣wards his father, his fa∣ther [ran] to meet him, and had compassion upon him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, Luk. 15. 20. Christ will be much better to you, than you will or can be to your self; for he [can] have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of
the way, Heb. 5. 2. And though you cannot bring your self to Grace, yet Grace is [brought] to you by Christ.