Directions and persuasions to a sound conversion for prevention of that deceit and damnation…Directions and perswasions to a sound conversion for prevention of that deceit and damnation…

DIRECT. VII My next Direction is this: If you would be truly Converted, be sure that you make an absolute resignation of your selves, and all that you have to God.

This is the very form, and life of Sanctification. To be Sanctified, is to be separated, in heart, life, and profession, from all other Masters, and Ends, to God. When the heart that was set upon the world, and flesh, is separated from them, and inclined to God by the power of Love, and devoted to him, to serve and please him; this is indeed a Sanctified Heart: And when the life that before was spent in the service of Satan, the world, and the flesh, is now taken ⟨p. 307⟩off them, and spent, as to the drift, and course of it, in the Service of God, for the Pleasing, and Glorifying of him, from the impulse of Love; this is indeed a Holy life. And herein consisteth the very nature of our Sanctity. And when a man doth but profess to renounce the Devil, the world, and the flesh, and to give up his heart, and life to God, this is a Profession of Holiness. God is both on the title of Creation, Preservation, and Redemption, or absolute Lord or Owner, and we are not our own but his! And therefore we must give to God the things that are Gods, and Glorify him in our Souls, and bodies, which are his, 1 Cor. 6 19, 20. As we are his Own, so he will have his Own, and be served by his Own: Do not imagine that you have any title to your selves, or propriety in your selves; but without any more ado, make a full, unreserved, absolute resignation of your selves, of your understandings, and of your wills, of your bodies, and of your names, and of every penny-worth of your estates, to God, from whom, and for whom you have them. Think not that you have power to dispose of your ⟨p. 308⟩selves, or of any thing that you have. Ask not flesh and blood, what life you shall lead, or what mind or will you shall be of: But ask God, to whom you do belong. Ask not your carnal selves, what you shall do with any of your estates, but ask God, and then ask Conscience, which is the way that God would have me use it in, that is, which way may I use it to be most serviceable to God? And that resolve upon. No service that you do to God, will prove you Sanctified, unless you have heartily, and absolutely given up, and devoted your selves to him; and he that gives up himself, must needs give up all that he hath with himself. For he cannot keep it for himself (ultimately) when even himself is given up to God.