publike or private general or particular * That God by testimonies from heaven that is by his word and by a consequent rare peace of conscience hath given approbation to this holy duty * That by this instrument those whose office it is to apply remedies to every spiritual sicknesse can best perform their offices * that it is by all Churches esteemed a duty necessary to be done in cases of a troubled conscience * That what is necessary to be done in one case and convenient in all cases is fit to be done by all persons * That without confession it cannot easily be judged concerning the sick person whether his conscience ought to be troubled or no and therefore it cannot be certain that it is not necessary * That there can be no reason against it but such as consults with flesh and blood with infirmity and sin to all which confession of sins is a direct enemy * That now is that time when all the imperfections of his repentance and all the breaches of his duty are to be made up and that if he omits this opportunity he can never be admitted to a salutary and medicinal confession * That S. Iames gives an expresse precept that we Christians should confesse our sins to each other that is Christian to Christian brother to brother the people to their Minister and then he makes a specification of that duty which a sick man is to do when he hath sent for the elders of the Church * That in all this there is no force lies upon him but if he hides his sins he shall not be directed so said the Wise man but ere long he must appear before the great Judge of men and Angels and his Spirit will be more amazed and confounded to be seen among the Angels of light with the shadowes of the works of darknesse upon him then he can suffer by confessing to God in the presence of him whom God hath sent to heal him However it is better to be ashamed here then to be confounded hereafter pol pudere praestat quam pigere totidem literis * That confession being in order to pardon of sins it is very proper and analogical to the nature of the thing that it be made there where the pardon of sins is to be administred and that of pardon of sins God hath made the Minister the publisher and dispenser and all this is besides the accidental advantages wich accrue to the conscience which is made ashamed and timorous and restrained by the mortifications and blushings of discovering to a man the faults committed in secret * That the Ministers of the Gospel are the Ministers of reconciliation are commanded to restore such persons as are overtaken in a fault and to that purpose they come to offer their Ministery if they may have cognizance of the fault and person * That in the matter of prudence it is not safe to trust a mans self in the final condition and last security of a mans soul a man being no good Judge in his own case And when a duty is so useful in all cases so necessary in some and encouraged by promises Evangelical by Scripture precedents by the example of both Testaments and prescribed by injunctions Apostolical and by the Canon of all Churches and the example of all ages and taught us even by the proportions of dutie and the Analogie to the power Ministerial and the very necessities of every man he that for stubbornnesse or sinful shamefac'dnesse or prejudice or any other criminal weaknesse shall decline to do it in the dayes of his danger when the vanities of the world are worn off and all affection to sin are wearied and the sin it self is pungent and grievous and that we are certain we shal not escape shame for them hereafter unlesse we be ashamed of them here and use all the proper instruments of their pardon this man I say is very neer death but very far off from the kingdom of heaven 2. The spirituall man will find in the conduct of this duty many cases and variety of accidents which will alter his course and forms of proceedings 1. Most men are of a rude indifferency apt to excuse themselves ignorant of their condition abused by evil principles content with a generall and indefinite confession and if you provoke them to it by the foregoing considerations lest their spirits should be a little uneasie or not secured in their own opinions will be apt to say They are sinners as every man hath his infirmâ—ty and he as well as any man But God be thanked they bear no ill will to any man or are no adulterers or no rebels or they have fought on the right side and God be mercifull to them for they are sinners But you shall hardly open their brest further and to enquire beyond this would be to do the office of an accuser 3 But which is vet worse there are very many persons who have been so used to an habituall course of a constant intemâ—erâ—nce or dissolution in any other instance that â—he crime is made naturall and necessary and the conscience hath digested all the trouble and the man thinks himself in a good estate and never reckons any sins but those which are the egressions and passings beyond his ordinary and daily drunkennesse This happens in the cases of drunkennesse and intemperate eating and idlenesse and uncharitablenesse and in lying and vain jestings and particularly in such evils which the lawes do not punish and publike customs do not shame but which are contenanced by potent sinners or evil customs or good nature and mistaken civilities Instruments by way of consideration to awaken a carelesse person and a stupid conscience IN these and the like cases the spirituall man must awaken the Lâ—thargy and prick the conscience by representing to him 1. * That Christianity is a holy and a strict religion 2. * That many are called but few are chosen * That the number of them that are to be saved are but very few in respect of those that are to descend into sorrow and everlasting darknesse * That we have covenanted with God in baptisme to live a holy life * That the measures of holinesse in Christian religion are not to be taken by the evil proportions of the multitude and common â—ame of looser and lesse severe persons because the multitude is that which does not enter into heaven but the few the elect the holy servants of Jesus * That every habituall sin does amount to a very great guilt in the whole though it be but in a small instance * That if the righteous scarcely be saved then there will be no place for the righteous and the sinner to appear in but places of horror and amazement * That confidence hath destroyed many souls and many have had a sad portion who have reckoned themselves in the Calendar of Saints * That the promises of heaven are so great
he is to do is to secure his hold which he can do no way but by prayer and by his interest And by this Argument or instrument it was that Socrates refreshed the evil of his condition when he was to drink his aconite If the soul be immortall and perpetuall rewards be laid up for wise souls then I lose nothing by my death but if there be not then I lose nothing by my opinion for it supports my spirit in my passage and the evil of being deceived cannot overtake me when I have no being So it is with all that are tempted in their faith If those Articles be not true then the men are nothing if they be true then they are happy and if the Article fails there can be no punishment for beleeving but if they be true my not beleeving destroyes all my portion in them and possibility to receive the excellent things which they contain By faith we quench the fiery darts of the Devil but if our faith be quenched wherewithall shall we be able to endure the assault therefore seiz upon the Article and secure the great object and the great instrument that is the hopes of pardon and eternall life through Iesus Christ and do this by all means and by any instrument artificiall or inartificiall by argument or by stratagem by perfect resolution or by discourse by the hand and ears of premisses or the foot of the conclusion by right or by wrong because we understand it or because we love it super totam materiam because I will and because I ought because it is safe to do so and because it is not safe to do otherwise because if I do I may receive a good and because if I do not I am miserable either for that I shall have a portion of sorrows or that I can have no portion of good things SECT IV. Acts of faith by way of prayer and ejaculation to be said by sick men in the dayes of their temptation LOrd whither shall I go thou hast the words of eternall life I beleeve in God the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ his onely Son our Lord c. And I beleeve in the Holy Ghost c. Lord I beleeve help thou mine unbelief I know and am perswaded by the Lord Jesus that none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords If God be for us who can be against us He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him give us all things Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins This is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners O grant that I may obtain mercy that in me Jesus Christ may shew forth all long-suffering that I may beleeve in him to life everlasting I am bound to give thanks unto God alway because God hath from the beginning chosen me to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth whereunto he called me by the Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace Comfort my heart and stablish me in every good word and work The Lord direct my heart into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. O that our God would count me worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodnesse and the work of faith with power That the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in me and I in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us who are of the day be sober putting on the brest-plate of faith and love and for an helmet the hope of salvation For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him Wherefore comfort your selves together and edifie one another There is no name under heaven whereby we can be saved but onely the Name of the Lord Jesus And every soul which will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people God forbid that I should glory save in the Crosse of Jesus Christ. I desire to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of But the just shall live by faith Lord I beleeve that thou art the Christ the Son of God the Saviour of the world the resurrection and the life and he that beleeveth in thee though he were dead yet shall he live Jesus said unto her Said I not to thee that if thou wouldest beleeve thou shouldst see the glory of God O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord make me stedfast and unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord For I know that my labour is not in vain in the Lord. The Prayer for the grace and strengths of faith O Holy and eternall Jesus who didst die for me and for all mankind abolishing our sin reconciling us to God adopting us into the portion of thine heritage and establishing with us a covenant of faith and obedience making our souls to rely upon spirituall strengths by the supports of a holy belief and the expectation of rare promises and the infallible truths of God O let me for ever dwell upon the rock leaning upon thy arm beleeving thy word trusting in thy promises waiting for thy mercies and doing thy commandements that the Devil may not prevail upon me and my own weaknesses may not abuse or unsettle my perswasions nor my sins discompose my just confidence in thee and thy eternall mercies Let me alwayes be thy servant and thy disciple and die in the communion of thy Church of all faithfull people Lord I renounce whatsoever is against thy truth and if secretly I have or do beleeve any false proposition I do it in the simplicity of my heart and great weaknesse and if I could
They that deny to worship God with lowly reverence of their bodies according as the Church expresses her reverence to God externally 4. They that invent or practise superstitious worshippings invented by man against Gods word or without reason or besides the publike customes or formes of worshipping either foolishly or ridiculously without the purpose of order decency proportion to a wise or a religious end in prosecution of some vertue or duty III. Comm. Thou shalt not take Gods Name in vain The duties of this Comm. are 1. To honour and revere the most holy Name of God 2. To invocate his Name directly or by consequence in all solemn and permitted adjurations or publike oaths 3. To use all things and persons upon whom his Name is called or any wayes imprinted with a regardfull and separate manner of usage different from common and far from contempt and scorn 4. To swear in truth and judgement They sin against this Commandment 1. Who swear vainly and customarily without just cause without competent authority 2. They that blasphem or curse God 3. They that speak of God without grave cause or solemn occasion 4. They that forswear themselves that is they that do not perform their vows to God or that swear or call God to witnesse to a lie 5. They that swear rashly or maliciously to commit a sin or an act of revenge 6. They that swear by any creature falsely or any way but as it relates to God and consequently invokes his testimony 7. All curious inquiries into the secrets and intruders into the mysteries and hidden things of God 8. They that curse God or curse a creature by God 9. They that prophane Churches holy Utensils holy persons holy customes holy Sacraments 10 They that provoke others to swear voluntarily and by designe or incuriously or negligently when they might avoid it 11 They that swear to things uncertain and unknown IV. Comm. Remember that thou keep holy the S. day The duties of this Comm. are 1. To set apart some portions of our time for the immediate offices of religion and glorification of God 2. This to be done according as God or his holy Church hath appointed 3. One day in seven is to be set apart 4. The Christian day is to be subrogated into the place of the Jewes day the resurrection of Christ and redemption of man was a greater blessing then then to create him 5. God on that day to be worshipped and acknowledged as our Creator and as our Saviour 6. The day to be spent in holy offices in hearing Divine service publike prayers frequenting the Congregations hearing the word of God read or expounded reading good books meditations alms reconciling enmities remission of burdens and of offences of debts and of work friendly offices neighbourhood and provoking one another to good-works and to this end all servile works must be omitted excepting necessary and charitable offices to men or beasts to our selves or others They sin against this Comm. 1. That do or compell or intice others to do servile works without the cases of necessity or charity to be estimated according to common and prudent accounts 2. They that refuse or neglect to come to the publike assemblies of the Church to hear and assist at the divine offices intirely 3. They that spend the day in idlenesse forbidden or vain recreations or the actions of sin and folly 4. They that buy and sell without the cases of permission 5. They that travell unnecessary journeys 6 They that act or assist in contenâ—ions or law-suites markets fairs c. 7. They that on that day omit their private devotion unlesse the whole day be spent in publike 8. They that by any crosse or contradictory actions against the customes of the Church do purposely desecrate or unhallow and make the day common as they that in despite and contempt fast upon the Lords day lest they may celebrate the festivall after the manner of the Christians V. Com. Honour thy father and thy mother The duties are 1. To do honour and reverence and to love our natural parents 2. To obey all their domestic commands for in them the scene of their authority lies 3. To give them maintenance and support in their needs 4. To obey Kings and all that are in authority 5. To pay tribute and honours custome and reverence 6. To do reverence to the aged and all our betters 7. To obey our Masters spiritual governours and Guides in those things which concern their several respective interest and authority They sin against this commandment 1. That despise their parents age or infirmity 2. That are ashamed of their poverty and extraction 3. That publish their vices errours and infirmities to shame them 4. That refuse and reject all or any of their lawful commands 5. Children that marry without or against their consent when it may be reasonably obtained 6. That curse them from whom they receive so many blessings 7 That grieve the souls of their parents by not complying in their desires and observing their circumstances 8. That hate their persons that mock them or use uncomely jestings 9. That discover their nakednesse voluntarily 10. That murmure against their injunctions and obey them involuntarily 11. All Rebels against their Kings or the supream power in which it is legally and justly invested 12. That refuse to pay tributes and impositions imposed legally 13. They that disobey their Masters murmure or repine against their commands abuse or deride their persons talk rudely c. 14. They that curse the king in their heart or speak evil of the ruler of their people 15. All that are uncivil and rude towards aged persons mockers and scorners of them VI. Com. Thou shalt do no murder The duties are 1. To preserve our own lives the lives of our relatives and all with whom we converse or who can need us and we assist by prudent reasonable and wary defences advocations discoveries of snares c. 2. To preserve our health and the integrity of our bodies and mindes and of others 3. To preserve and follow peace with all men They sin against this Commandment 1. That destroy the life of a man or woman himself or any other 2. That do violence or dismember or hurt any part of the body with evil intent 3. That fight duels or commence unjust wars 4. They that willingly hasten their own or others death 5. That by oppression or violence imbitter the spirits of any so as to make their life sad and their death hasty 6. They that conceal the dangers of their neighbor which they can safely discover 7. They that sow strife and contention among neighbours 8. They that refuse to rescue or preserve those whom they can and are obliged to preserve 9. They that procure abortion 10 They that threaten or keep men in fears or hate them VII Com. Thou shalt not commit adultery The duties are 1. To preserve our bodies in the chastity of a single life or
of religion to declare publike criminals and scandalous persons to be such that when the leprosie is declared the flock may avoid the infection and then the man is excommunicate when the people are warned to avoid the danger of the man or the reproach of the crime to withdraw from his society and not to bid him God speed not to eat and celebrate synaxes and Church-meetings with such who are declared criminal and dangerous and therefore excommunication is in a very great part the act of the Congregation and communities of the faithfull and S. Paul said to the Church of the Corinthians that they had inflicted the evil upon the incestuous person that is by excommunicating him all the acts of which are as they are subjected in the people acts of caution and liberty but no more acts of direct proper power or jurisdiction then it was when the scholers of Simon Magus lefâ— his chair and went to hear S. Peter But as they are actions of the Rulers of the Church so they are declarative ministerial and effective too by morall causality that is by perswasion and discourse by argument and prayer by homily and materiall representment by reasonablenesse of order and the superinduced necessities of men though not by any reall change of state as to the person nor by diminution of his right or violence to his condition 2. He that baptises and he that ministers the Holy Sacrament and he that prayes does holy offices of great advantage but in these also just as in the former he exercises no jurisdiction or preheminence after the manner of saecular authority and the same is also true if he should deny them He that refuseth to baptize an indisposed person hath by the consent of all men no power or jurisdiction over the unbaptized man and he that for the like reason refuseth to give him the Communion preserves the sacrednesse of the mysteries and does charitie to the undisposed man to deny that to him which will do him mischief and this is an act of separation just as it is for a friend or Physitian to deny water to an Hydropic person or Italian wines to a hectic feaver or as if Cato should deny to salute Bibulus or the Censor of maners to do countenance to a wanton and vitious person and though this thing was expressed by words of power such as separation abstention excommunication deposition yet these words we understand by the thing it self which was notorious and evident to be matter of prudence security and a free unconstrained discipline and they passed into power by consent and voluntary submission having the same effect of constraint fear and authority which we see in secular jurisdiction not because ecclesiastical discipline hath a natural proper coercion as lay-Tribunals have but because men have submitted to it and are bound to do so upon the interest of two or three Christian graces 3. In pursuance of this caution and provision the Church superinduced times and manners of abstention and expressions of sorrow and canonical punishments which they tyed the delinquent people to suffer before they would admit them to the holy Table of the Lord. For the criminal having obliged himself by his sin and the Church having declared it when she could take notice of it he is bound to repent to make him capable of pardon with God and to prove that he is penitent he is to do such actions which the Church in the vertue and pursuance of repentance shall accept as a testimony of it sufficient to inform her for as she could not binde at all in this sence till the crime was publike though the man had bound himself in secret so neither can she set him free till the repentance be as publike as the sin or so as she can note it and approve it Though the man be free as to God by his internal act yet as the publication of the sin was accidental to it and the Church censure consequent to it so is the publication of repentance and consequent absolution extrinsecal to the pardon but accidentally and in the present circumstances necessary This was the same that the Jews did though in other instances and expressions and do to this day to their prevaricaâ—ing people and the Essenes in their assemblies and private Colleges of scholars and publike Universities For all these being assemblies of voluntary persons and such as seek for advantage are bound to make an artificial authority in their superiours and so to secure order and government by their own obedience and voluntary subordination which is not essential and of proper jurisdiction in the superiour and the band of it is not any coeâ—citive power but the denying to communicate such benefits which they seek in that communion and fellowship 4. These I say were introduced in the speciall manners and instances by positive authority and have not a divine authority commanding them but there is a divine power that verefies them and makes these separations effectual and formidable for because they are declarative and ministerial in the spirituall man and suppose a delinquencie and demerit in the other and a sin against God our blessed Saviour our hath declared that what they binde in earth shall be bound in heaven that is in plain signification The same sins and sinners which the Clergie condemns in the face of their assemblies the same is condemned in heaven before the face of God and for the same reason too Gods law hath sentenced it and these are the preachers and publishers of his law by which they stand condemned and these laws are they that condemn the sin or acquit the penitent there and here whatsoever they binde here shall be bound there that is the sentence of God at the day of judgement shall sentence the same men whom the Church does rightly sentence here it is spoken in the future it shall be bound in heaven not but that the sinner is first bound there or first absolved there but because all binding and loosing in the interval is imperfect and relative to the day of judgement the day of the great sentence therefore it is set down in the time to come and sayes this only The Clergie are tyed by the word and laws of God to condemn such sins and sinners and that you may not think it ineffective because after such sentence the man lives and growes rich or remains in health and power therefore be sure it shall be verified in the day of judgement This is hugely agreeable with the words of our Lord and certain in reason for that the minister does nothing to the final alteration of the state of the mans soul by way of sentence is demonstratively certain because he cannot binde a man but such as hath bound himself and who is bound in heaven by his sin before his sentence in the Church as also be-because the binding of the Church is meerly accidental and upon publication
pasport in the article of his death and calls thâ—s the ancient and canonicall law of the Church and to minister it onely supposes the man in the communion of the Church not alwayes in the state but ever in the possibilities of sanctification They who in the article and danger of death were admitted to the communion and tied to penance if they recovered which was ever the custome of the ancient Church unlesse in very few cases were but in the threshold of repentance in the commencement and first introductions to a devout life and indeed then it is a fit ministery that it be given in all the periods of time in which the pardon of sins is working since it is the Sacrament of that great mystery the exhibition of that blood which is shed for the remission of sins 9. The Minister of religion ought not to give the Communion to a sick person if he retains the affection to any sin and refuses to disavow it or professe repentance of all sins whatsoever if he be required to do it The reason is because it is a certain death to him and an increase of his misery if he shall so prophane the body and blood of Christ as to take it into so unholy a breast where Sathan reignes and sin is principall and the Spirit is extinguished and Christ loves not to enter because he is not suffered to inhabite But when he professes repentance and does such acts of it as his present condition permits he is to be presumed to intend heartily what he professes solemnly and the Minister is onely the Judge of outward act and by that onely he is to take information concerning the inward But whether he be so or no or if he be whether that be timely and effectuall and sufficient toward the pardon of sins before God is another consideration of which we may conjecture here but we shall know it at doomsday The spirituall man is to do his ministery by the rules of Christ and as the customs of the Church appoint him and after the manner of men the event is in the hands of God and is to be expected not directly and wholly according to his ministery but to the former life or the timely internall repentance and amendment of which I have already given accounts These ministeries are acts of order and great assistances but the sum of affairs does not relie upon them And if any man puts his whole repentance upon this time or all his hopes upon these ministeries he will find them and himself to fail 10. It is the Ministers office to invite sick and dying persons to the Holy Sacrament such whose lives were fair and laudable and yet their sicknesse sad and violent making them list-lesse and of slow desires and flower apprehensions that such persons who are in the state of grace may lose no accidentall advantages of spirituall improvement but may receive into their dying bodies the symboles and great consignations of the resurrection and into their soules the pledges of immortality and may appear before God their Father in the union and with the impresses and likenesse of their elder Brother But if the persons be of ill report and have lived wickedly they are not to be invited because their case is hugely suspicious though they then repent and call for mercy but if they demand it they are not to be denied onely let the Minister in generall represent the evil consequents of an unworthy participation and if the penitent will judge himself unworthy let him stand candidate for pardon at the hands of God and stand or fall by that unerring and mercifull sentence to which his severity of condemning himself before men will make the easier and more hopefull addresse And the strictest among the Christians who denied to reconcile lapsed persons after baptisme yet acknowledged that there were hopes reserved in the court of heaven for them though not here since we who are easily deceived by the pretences of a reall return are tied to dispense Gods graces as he hath given us commission with fear and trembling and without too forward confidences and God hath mercies which we know not of and therefore because we know them not such persons were referred to Gods Tribunal where he would finde them if they were to be had at all 11. When the holy Sacrament is to be administred let the exhortation be made proper to the mystery but fitted to the man that is that it be used for the advantages of faith or love or contrition let all the circumstances and parts of the Divine love be represented all the mysterious advantages of the blessed Sacrament be declared * That it is the bread which came from heaven * That it is the representation of Christs death to all the purposes and capacities of faith * and the real exhibition of Christs body and blood to all the puposes of the Spirit * That it is the earnest of the resurrection * and the seed of a glorious immortality * That as by our cognation to the body of the first Adam we took in death so by our union with the body of the second Adam we shall have the inheritance of life for as by Adam came death so by Christ cometh the resurrection of the dead * That if we being worthy Communicants of these sacred pledges be presented to God with Christ within us our being accepted of God is certain even for the sake of his well beloved that dwells within us * That this is the Sacrament of the body which was broken for our sinnes of that blood which purifies our souls by which we are presented to God pure and holy in the beloved * That now we may ascertain our hopes and make our faith confident for he that hath given us his Son how should not he with him give us all things else Upon these or the like considerations the sick man may be assisted in his addresse and his faith strengthened and his hope confirmed and his charity be enlarged 12. The manner of the sick mans reception of the holy Sacrament hath in it nothing differing from the ordinary solemnities of the Sacrament save onely that abatement is to be made of such accidentall circumstances as by the lawes or customes of the Church healthfull persons are obliged to such as fasting kneeling c. though I remember that it was noted for great devotion in the Legate that died at Trent that he caused himself to be sustained upon his knees when he received the viaticum or the holy Sacrament before his death and it was greater in Hunniades that he caused himself to be carried to the Church that there he might receive his Lord in his Lords house and it was recorded for honour that William the pious Arch-Bishop of Bourges a small time before his last agony sprang out of his bed at the presence of the holy Sacrament and upon
2 That God delights not in the confusion and death of sinners 3. That in heaven there is great joy at the conversion of a sinner 4. That Christ is a perpetual advocate daily interceding with his Father for our pardon 5. That God uses infinite arts instruments and devices to reconcile us to himself 6. That he prayes us to be in charity with him and to be forgiven 7. That he sends Angels to keep us from violence and evil company from temptations and surprizes and his holy Spirit to guide us in holy wayes and his servants to warn us and reminde us perpetually and therefore since certainly he is so desirous to save us as appears by his word by his oaths by his very nature and his daily artifices of mercy it is not likely that he will condemn us without great provocations of his Majesty and perseverance in them 8. That the covenant of the Gospel is a covenant of grace and of repentance and being established with so many great solemnities and miracles from heaven must signifie a huge favour and a mighty change of things and therefore that repentance which is the great condition of it is a grace that does not expire in little accents and minutes but hath a great latitude of signification and a large extension of parts under the protection of all which persons are safe even when they fear exceedingly 9. That there are great degrees and differences of glory in heaven and therefore if we estimate our piety by proportions to the more eminent persons and devouter people we are not to conclude we shall not enter into the same state of glory but that we shall not go into the same degrees 9 That although forgivenesse of sins is consigned to us in Baptism and that this Baptism is but once and cannot be repeated yet forgivenesse of sins is the grace of the gospel which is perpetually remanent upon us and secured unto us so long as we have not renounced our Baptisme For then we enter into the condition of repentance and repentance is not an indivisible grace or a thing performed at once but is working all our lives and therefore so is our pardon which ebbes and flowes according as we discompose or renew the decency of our Baptismall promises and therefore it ought to be certain that no man despair of pardon but he that hath voluntarily renounced his Baptism or willingly estranged himself from that covenant He that sticks to it and still professes the religion and approves the faith and endeavours to obey and to do his duty this man hath all the veracity of God to assure him and give him confidence that he is not in an impossible state of salvation unlesse God cuts him off before he can work or that he begins to work when he can no longer choose 10. And then let him consider the more he fears the more he hates his sin that is the cause of it and the lesse he can be tempted to it and the more desirous he is of heaven and therefore such fears are good instruments of grace and good signes of a future pardon 11. That God in the old law although he made a Covenant of perfect obedience and did not promise pardon at all after great sins yet he did give pardon and declared it so to them for their own and for our sakes too So he did to David to Manasses to the whole Nation of the Israelies ten times in the wildernesse even after their Apostacies and Idolatries and in the Prophets the mercies of God and his remissions of sins were largely preached though in the Law God put on the robes of an angry Judge and a severe Lord but therefore in the Gospel where he hath established the whole summe of affairs upon faith and repentance if God should not pardon great sinners that repent after baptisme with a free dispensation the Gospel were far harder then the intolerable Covenant of the Law 12. That if a Proselyte went into the Jewish communion and were circumcised and baptized he entred into all the hopes of good things which God had promised or would give to his people and yet that was but the Covenant of works If then the Gentile Proselytes by their circumcision and legall baptisme were admitted to a state of pardon to last so long as they were in the Covenant even after their admission for sins committed against Moses law which they then undertook to observe exactly In the Gospel which is the Covenant of Faith it must needs be certain that there is a great grace given and an easier conditon entred into then was that of the Jewish law and that is nothing else but that abatement is made for our infirmities and our single evils and our timely repented and forsaken habits of sin and our violent passions when they are contested withall and fought with and under discipline and in the beginnings and progresses of mortification 13. That God hath erected in his Church a whole order of men the main part and dignity of whose work it is to remit and retain sins by a perpetuall and daily ministery and this they do not onely in baptisme but in all their offices to be administered afterwards in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist which exhibits the Symbols of that blood which was shed for pardon of our sins and therefore by its continued ministery and repetition declares that all that while we are within the ordinary powers and usuall dispensations of pardon even so long as we are in any probable dispositions to receive that Holy Sacrament And the same effect is also signified and exhibited in the whole power of the Keyes which if it extends to private sins sins done in secret it is certain it does also to publike but this is a greater testimony of the certainty of the remissibility of our greatest sins for publike sins as they alwayes have a sting and a superadded formality of scandall and ill example so they are most commonly the greatest such as murder sacriledge and others of unconcealed nature and unprivate action and if God for these worst of evils hath appointed an office of ease and pardon which is and may daily be administred that will be an uneasie pusillanimity and fond suspicion of Gods goodnesse to fear that our repentance shall be rejected even although we have not committed the greatest or the most of evils 14. And it was concerning baptized Christians that Saint Iohn said If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father and he is the propitiation for our sins and concerning lapsed Christians S. Paul gave instruction that if any man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such a man in the spirit of meeknesse considering lest ye also be temted the Corinthian Christian committed incest and was pardoned and ‑ Simon Magus after he was baptized offered to commit his own sin of Simony and yet Saint Peter bid him pray
for pardon and S. Iames tells that if the sick man sends for the Church and they pray over him and he confesse his sins they shall be forgiven him 15. That onely one sin is declared to be irremissible the sin against the Holy Ghost the sin unto death as S. Iohn calls it for which we are not bound to pray for all others we are and certain it is no man commits a sin against the Holy Ghost if he be afraid he hath and desires that he had not for such penitentiall passions are against the definition of that sin 16. That all the Sermons in the Scripture written to Christians Disciples of Jesus exhorting men to repentance to be afflicted to mourn and to weep to confession of sins are sure testimonies of Gods purpose and desire to forgive us even when we fall after baptisme and if our fall after baptisme were irrecoverable then all preaching were in vain and our faith were also vain and we could not with comfort rehearse the Creed in which as soon as ever we professe Jesus to have died for our sins we also are condemned by our own conscience of a sin that shall not be forgiven and then all exhortations and comforts and fasts and disciplines were uselesse and too late if they were not given us before we can understand them for most commonly as soon as we can we enter into the regions of sin For we commit evil actions before we understand and together with our understanding they begin to be imputed 17. That if it could be otherwise infants were very ill provided for in the Church who were baptized when they have no stain upon their brows but the misery they contracted from Adam and they are left to be Angels for ever after and live innocently in the midst of their ignorances and weaknesse and temptations and the heat and follies of youth or else to perish in an eternall ruine we cannot think or speak good things of God if we entertain such evil suspicions of the mercies of the Father of our Lord Jesus 18. That the long-sufferance and patience of God is indeed wonderfull but therefore it leaves us in certainties of pardon so long as there is possibilitie to return if we reduce â—he power to act 19. That God calls upon us to forgive our brother seventy times seven times and yet all that is but like the forgiving a hundred pence for his sake who forgives us ten thousand talents for so the Lord professed that he had done to him that was his servant and his domestic 20. That if we can forgive a hundred thousand times it is certain God will do so to us Our Blessed Lord having commanded us to pray for pardon as we pardon our offending and penitent brother 21. That even in the case of very great sins and great judgements inflicted upon the sinners wise and good men and Presidents of Religion have declared their sense to be that God spent all his anger and made it expire in that temporall misery and so it was supposed to have been done in the case of Ananias but that the hopes of any penitent man may not rely upon any uncertainty we find in holy Scripture that those Christians who had for their scandalous crimes deserved to be given over to Sathan to be buffetted yet had hopes to be saved in the day of the Lord. 22. That God glories in the titles of mercy and forgivenesse and will not have his appellatives so finite and limited as to expire in one act or in a seldome pardon 23. That mans condition were desperate and like that of the falling Angels equally desperat but unequally oppressed considering our infinite weaknesses and ignorances in respect of their excellent understanding and perfect choice if he could be admitted to no repentance after his infant Baptisme and if he may be admitted to one there is nothing in the Covenant of the Gospel but he may also to a second and so for ever as long as he can repent and return and live to God in a timely religion 24. That every man is a sinner In many things we offend all and if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and therefore either all must perish or else there is mercy for all and so there is upon this very stock because Christ died for sinners and God hath comprehended all under sin that he might have mercy upon all 25. That if ever God sends temporall punishments into the world with purposes of amendment and if they be not all of them certain consignations to hel and unlesse every man that breaks his leg or in punishment loses a child or wife be certainly damned it is certain that God in these cases is angry and loving chastises the sin to amend the person and smites that he may cure and judges that he may absolve 26. That he that will not quench the smoaking flax nor break the bruised reed will not tie us to perfection and the lawes and measures of heaven upon earth and if in every period of our repentance he is pleased with our duty and the voyce of our heart and the hand of our desires he hath told us plainly that he will not onely pardon all the sins of the dayes of our folly but the returns and surprises of sins in the dayes of repentance if we give no way and allow no affection and give no peace to any thing that is Gods enemy all the past sins and al the seldom returning and ever repented evils being put upon the accounts of the Crosse. An exercise against despair in the day of our death TO which may be added this short exercise to be used for the curing the temptation to direct despair in case that the hope and faith of good men be assaulted in the day of their calamity I consider that the ground of my trouble is my sin and if it were not for that I should not need to be troubled but the help that all the world looks for is such as supposes a man to be a sinner * Indeed if from my self I were to derive my title to heaven then my sins were a just argument of despair but now that they bring me to Christ that they drive me to an appeal to Gods mercies and to take sanctuary in the Crosse they ought not they cannot infer a just cause of despair * I am sure it is a stranger thing that God should take upon him hands and feet and those hands and feet should be nailed upon a crosse then that a man should be partaker of the felicities of pardon and life eternall and it were stranger yet that God should do so much for man and that a man that desires it that labours for it that is in life and possibilities of working his salvation should inevitably misse that end for which that God suffered so much For what is the meaning and what is the extent and what are the significations