the Church for Causes that he cannot judg of must necessarily separate without Cause or Reason he can have neither true nor false Pretence for his Separation because the Arguments pro and con are beyond the Sphere of his Cognizance and consequently if he thereupon withdraw from the Churches Communion 't is not because he cannot comply with her sinful Impositions but because he will not submit to her just Authority Whereas by modestly submitting our Judgment to the Churches in Cases where we cannot judg for our selves we take an effectual Course to secure our Innocence For though that which the Church injoins us should be materially sinful yet to us who neither do nor can understand it to be so it will be imputed only as an innocent Error because by following the Churches Reason where own cannot guide us we take the best Course we can not to be mistaken and if we should be mistaken we have this to excuse us that 't was by following an Authority which God himself hath set over us whereas if we are mistaken on the other side we are left altogether inexcusable BUT then there may be other Conditions of Church Communion of whose unlawfulness a Communicant may be very doubtful though he be not confidently persuaded of it and what is to be done in this Case To which I answer First that 't is doubtless our Duty not Rashly to determin any thing to be false or unlawful which our spiritual Governors have determined to be true or lawful For we are bound by the Law of Christian Modesty to conclude that they having a larger Prospect of things than we and greater Advantages of enquiring into them are far more capable Judges of what is true and lawful and consequently though we may possibly have some little Probability that their Opinion is false or their Command unlawful yet we ought not to determin it so unless it be in such plain and evident Cases as do not only outweigh the Probability of their Opinions but the Authority of them to Wherefore in Cases of a doubtful Nature 't is both modest and safe to subscribe to the Judgment of our Superiors because in so doing we have not only our own Ignorance to excuse but their Authority to warrant us and if we should happen to be in the Wrong through our Modesty and Humility 't will be safer for us than to be in the Right through our Pride and Self-conceit But perhaps the Probability of our side may be so great or at least seem so to us that notwithstanding we give all due Respect and Deference to her Authority we cannot forbear doubting of the Lawfulness of her Conditions of Communion If so then Secondly 't is to be considered that 't is as much our Duty to Obey her Commands in things that are lawful as not to Obey them in things that are unlawful and therefore if we only doubt whether her Commands be lawful or no our Doubt ought to make us as fearful of disobeying as it doth of obeying them because the Danger of sinning is on both sides equal And therefore in this Case wherein I am necessitated to determin my self one way or t'other it is doubtless my Duty to determin on that side which makes most for the Churches Security and Peace which next to the Honour of God and the Salvation of Souls ought to be preferred above all things and which consequently if it be of any Weight with me must necessarily turn the Scale of my Choice when it is before in Aequilibrio and whither to obey or disobey be most for the Churches Peace is very easie to be determin'd THE Sum of all therefore is this that 't is our Duty to continue in strict Obedience to and Communion with that Particular Church whereof we are Members so long as it injoyns us nothing that is plainly and apparently sinful that if either we cannot judg of the Sinfulness or Lawfulness of her Conditions of Communion or do only doubt of their Lawfulness we are obliged to submit to her Judgment and Authority and not to separate from her till upon an impartial Enquiry into the Reasons of both sides we are fully convinced that they are sinful NOW that this is an indispensable Duty of our Religion is evident not only from the above-named Scriptures by which the Bishops of particular Churches are constituted the Overseers and Governours of them and the Subjects and Members of those Churches are required to yield them Obedience but also from those Texts which forbid Divisions in the particular Churches such as 1 Cor. i. 10 I beseech you by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that there be no divisions among you and which bid us mark them that cause divisions among us and avoid them Rom. xvi 17 and also which Schisms and Divisions to be Fruits of the flesh as particularly 1 Cor. iii. 3 and St. Jude xix and in a word which require us to indeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Eph. iv 3 to be of one mind 2 Cor. xiii 11 and to stand fast in one Spirit with one Mind Phil. i. 27 all which was spoke to Christians as they were Members of particular Churches to oblige them by no means to dissent and separate from those Churches unless they were forced to it by just and manifest Reasons and methinks 't is a most pathetical Conjuration of the Apostle If there be any Consolution in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded being of one accord and of one mind 2 Phil. 1 2. which Exhortation he gives them as they were a particular Corporation of Christians under Epaphroditus their Head and Bishop by whom he sent this Epistle to them The sense of all which is to oblige us not to disunite our selves from the Church of which we are Members so long as we are permitted to continue in her Communion without doing any thing that is apparently unlawful Or if we suppose those Divisions which the Apostle speaks of and forbids to be meant of Factions within the Church without actual Separation then much more is Separation which is the highest Faction and Breach of Unity to be lookt upon as wicked and unlawful So that for men to separate from the Churches Communion upon little Piques uncertain Scruples and blind Prejudices is a very great and dangerous Sin against the Gospel 't is a manifest Violation of the Laws
Governors and obliged in all things to obey them wherein they are not countermanded by Christ himself So that though one particular Church may refuse the Impositions of another and that not only as they are sinful but as they are Impositions because the other hath no lawful Authority over it yet is it by no means lawful for the Subjects of any particular Church to disobey their Church-Governors in any lawful matter because being subjected to their Authority by Christ the supreme Head of the Church-Catholick they are obliged to submit to them as to his Substitutes and Vicegerents in every thing which he hath not antecedently prohibited And if rather than do so they shall choose to revolt from the Communion of their Church they are Schismaticks or which is the same thing they are Rebels to Christs Authority in that particular Church they Revolt from For what Faction is in the State that is Schism in the Church viz. an unjust Opposition to Authority the one to Christs civil Authority derived upon our Magistrates the other to his spiritual Authority derived upon our Bishops and Ecclesiastical Governors 'T IS true in some Cases as I hinted before withdrawing from the Communion of a Church may be so far from being a Rebellion against Christ that it may be an Act of Duty and Obedience to him For where Christ who is my supreme Lord and my Ecclesiastical Governors who are in Authority under him command things that are directly inconsistent I am doubtless bound to obey him rather than them yea though their Commands are not inconsistent in themselves yet if I am fully persuaded they are it is all one to me Fot when I do what I falsly believe Christ hath forbidden I am in Will as much a Rebel against his Authority as when I do what I truly believe he hath forbidden And so by not complying with my spiritual Governors out of an innocent mispersuasion that what they command is unlawful I do formally and in Will as much obey Christ in so doing as if it were really unlawful So that in short when the Governors of the Church whereof I am a Member do impose as the Conditions of my Communion things that are either unlawful in themselves or that after due Examination I verily believe are unlawful I am bound in Obedience to the Authority of Christ rather to desert that Communion than to comply with the Terms and Conditions of it BUT since to desert the Communion of a Church is a matter of vast Moment as I shall prove by and by it ought not to be done without the greatest Caution and Tenderness For he that rejects sinful Terms of Communion without just Enquiry and sufficient Examination is formally as much a Schismatick i. e. he is as much a Rebel in Will to Christs spiritual Authority in his Church Delegates and Vicegerents as he that rashly rejects innocent and lawful ones For had it been only the Sinfulness of the Condition that displeased him he would have made Conscience before he presumed to reject it duly to inform himself whether it were sinful or no but by thus rejecting it at a venture without a due Enquiry into the nature of it he plainly shews that 't was not so much the Sin that displeased him as the Authority that imposed it and that 't was not his Conscience that took offence at it but his Humour and consequently that he would have had the same Dislike of it though it had been lawful and innocent For Conscience being an act of the Judgment and Reason cannot be offended without Reason either real or apparent and without making a due Enquiry into the Nature of the thing we are offended at we can have no Reason that will either warrant or excuse our Offence NOW to a due Enquiry it is necessary that we should impartially examin both sides of the Question and that while we are doing so we should keep both our Ears open to the Matter in Debate and equally attend to what can be said for as well as to what can be said against it and then that upon a full hearing of both we should determin as near as we can on which side the Truth lies without Favour or Affection For he that enquires only what can be said against the Matter he is offended at doth thereby give a plain Indication that he is resolved to be offended at it right or wrong and that the End of his Enquiry is not so much to satisfie his Conscience as to fortifie his unreasonable Prejudice Wherefore before we do reject the Conditions of our Churches Communion as sinful we are obliged under the Penalty of wilful Schism impartially to enquire what is to be said for as well as against them and for this End to apply our selves to our Spiritual Governours and Pastors and propose our Doubts to them and attend to their Resolutions with an honest teachable Mind that is willing to be informed and where we are capable of judging faithfully to peruse those Books and Arguments that make for the one side as well as the other For unless we do thus its plain that we are biassed by a factious Inclination and that we have a great Mind to separate from the Churches Communion For if we were not prejudiced against her Authority by a schismatical Temper of Mind we should be as forward at least to consult what may be said for her Impositions as what is said against them BUT then if the Matters she imposes are such as a plain and illiterate Communicant cannot judg of nor comprehend the Force of the Reasons that make for or against them such Persons in such Cases are obliged humbly to acquiesce in the Churches Authority and not blindly to separate from her they know not why As for Instance suppose the Matter imposed should be such a Form of Government or such Modes of Discipline or Rights and Circumstances of Divine Worship as carry no such apparent Evil in them or express Contradiction to any Command of our Saviour as to inable an illiterate Christian rationally to pronounce them unlawful and whither they be unlawful or no is not to be determined perhaps without some Skill in the Original Languages and the critical Acceptations of Phrases or Insight into Ecclesiastical History or Metaphysical Nicities and Speculations and 't is by some of these that most of the Controversies between us and our dissenting Brethren are to be judg'd and decided Now in such Matters as these where he cannot judg for himself what should an unlearned Communicant do Why this he knows well enough that 't is his Duty in all lawful things to submit to the Governours of his Church and reverence Christs Authority in them but whether the above-named matters they impose be lawful or no he neither doth nor can know So that if upon the score of those Impositions he rejects the Churches Communion he rejects it he knows not why and to avoid doing that which he doth not know is a Sin he refuses to do that which he knows is a Duty So that whether that which the Church imposes be lawful or no 't is apparent Rebellion in him to refuse it because for all that he knows it is lawful and though it should be unlawful yet that cannot be the Motive of his Non-compliance with it who doth not understand the Reasons that make it so He therefore that separates from the Communion of
imploy'd my best Thoughts and Skill about it and if after this I have any where wronged or misrepresented it it is more my Vnhappiness than my Fault Perhaps it may be thought that in the first three Chapters I have discours'd more speculatively than 't is fit in a Book that is design'd for common Use and Edification but it may be when the Reader hath considered the Nature of the Arguments I have there handled and how necessarily they fall in with my Design he will be convinc'd that 't was unavoidable And yet I doubt not but with a little Diligence and Attention of mind the plainest Reader may be able to comprehend the main Reason and Evidence of what I drive at IN the first place I thought 't would be necessary in treating of the Christian Life to give some Account of the blessed End it refers to that so from the Nature of that we might be the better able to judg of the Necessity and Vsefulness of those Means which Christianity prescribes in order to it And this I have indeavoured in the first Chapter where I have only so far explained the Nature of the heavenly State and Felicities as was necessary to light and conduct us through the ensuing Design In the second place I judg'd it would be no less expedient to give some general Account of what kinds of Means are necessary to our obtaining this End that so we might be convinc'd how requisite both the principal and instrumental Parts of the Christian Life are to our everlasting Happiness And this I have attempted in the second Chapter wherein from the Consideration of the vast Distance there is between the pure and blessed State of Heaven and this corrupt and degenerate State of Human Nature I have indeavoured to shew that 't is not only necessary for us to practise and acquire those Christian Vertues in the perfection whereof the heavenly Bliss consists but that to inable us to practise acquire and improve them there are sundry other instrumental Duties indispensably necessary which Duties as I have there proved are of no other Vse or Significancy in Religion than as they are Means of Vertue and Piety AND having thus distributed the Means into their proper Kinds and Order I have in the third Chapter treated largely of the first Kind to wit the Practice of the Christian Vertues in which I confess I have neither handled the particular Vertues in their full Extent and Latitude nor inforc'd them with all their moral Reasons that being done already to excellent purpose in those two incomparable Treatises of Holy Living and Dying and of the whole Duty of Man Nor could I have done it without swelling this Discourse which is large enough already into a Volume too large for common Use. And indeed all that was necessary to my Purpose was only so far to explain the Nature of each particular Vertue as that the Reader might thereby understand what is meant by them but that which most concern'd me in pursuance of my main Design was to prove that the Practice of every Vertue is an essential Part of the Christian Life and a necessary Means to the blessed End of it And accordingly as I have shewn from the express Commands of our Religion our indispensible Obligation to practise every Vertue so I have indeavoured to shew how in the Practice of it we do naturally grow up to the heavenly State as on the contrary how in the course of a sinful Life we do by a necessary Efficiency gradually sink our selves into the State of the Damned For I have proved at large that there is something of Heaven and Hell in the very Nature of each particular Virtue and Vice and that in the perfection of these two opposite Qualities consists the main Happiness and Misery of those two opposite States From whence it will necessarily follow that as in the Practice of the one or t'other we grow more virtuous or vicious so proportionably we rise up towards Heaven or sink down towards Hell by a fatal Tendency of Nature The Truth of which is not only acknowledged by the generality of Christian Writers but also by the best and wisest of the Heathen Philosophers though this I think is the first Attempt that hath been made to derive the Heavenly and the Hellish States from the nature of the particular Virtues and Vices I pray God that what I have said may but ingage some more skilful Pen in the Prosecution of this noble Argument For I know nothing in the World that can be more effectual to ingage men to be substantially Religious to take them off from Hypocrisie and Formality from all presumptuous Hopes and false Dependencies than their being throughly convinc'd of this Truth that the eternal Happiness or Misery of Souls is founded in their Vertue or Vice and that there is as inseparable a Connexion between Grace and Glory Sin and Hell as there is between Fire and Heat Frost and Cold or any other necessary Cause and its Effect For if they were but throughly persuaded of this they would easily discern what wretched Non-sense it is to think of going to Heaven or escaping Hell whilst they continue in any wilful Course of Disobedience to the Laws of Vertue HAVING thus treated at large of the first Sort of Means by which the End of our Christian Life is to be obtained I proceed in the fourth Chapter which is the largest of all to give an Account of the second viz. the Instrumental Duties of Christianity which are injoin'd us as Means subservient to our Practice Acquisition and Improvement of those Heavenly Vertues in the perfection whereof our Chief Happiness consists And for the more distinct handling of these I have considered men under a Threefold State with respect to the Christian Life First as entering into it Secondly as actually ingaged in it Thirdly as perfecting and improving themselves by Perseverance in it to each of which I have appropriated such of the instrumental Duties as I conceived did more especially belong to them 'T is true some of the Duties here treated of are not purely instrumental but of a mixt Nature such as Faith Prayer actual Dedication of our good Works to God c. which are essential Parts of Divine Worship and as such do belong to those Divine Vertues the Perfection wherof makes a Principal Part of the everlasting Happiness of Souls But here I have considered them only as Means and Instruments in the Use of which we are to acquire and perfect those Beatifical Vertues And of this sort of Means I do not remember any one Particular recommended in holy Scripture but what hath been here treated of Upon some indeed I have insisted much more briefly than upon others because I find them already largely accounted for in other practical Books and especially in those two excellent Treatises above-named but of those which they either cursorily touch or take no notice at all I thought my self obliged
of Vnion and an open Rebellion against Christs Authority in his Church And being so it is no Wonder that in the purest Ages of Christianity 't was branded with such an infamous Character For thus in the 31 Canon of the Apostles 't is called Ambition and Tyranny and condemned by Ignatius the Disciple of St. John as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Original of Evils Ep. ad smyrn as a Sin that shuts men out of the Kingdom of Heaven Ep. ad Philad and by the African Code 't is stiled a destructive sacrilegious Sin Con. Carth c. Can. 100. and St. Cyprian makes it to be more Heinous than the Sin of the Lapsi that offered Sacrifice to Idols to avoid persecution and to be such a Sin as martyrdom it self would not expiate de Vnit. Eccles. and Dionysius Alexandrinus affirms that to suffer martyrdom rather than make a Schism in the Church is as Glorious an Act as to die refusing to offer Sacrifice to Idols Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. 6. And as they thus decry Schism so on the contrary they extol Union as the Nurse of Piety the Fence of Religion the Quintessence and Extract of all Christian Vertue AND indeed 't is to the Vnity of the members of the Church among themselves that the Scripture attributes their Growth and Emprovement in Piety and Vertue For thus the Apostle tells us not only that Charity or a mutual Agreement among Church-Members edifies 1 Cor. viii 1 but also assures us that the whole Church or Collection of Members becomes an holy Temple and an Habitation of God by being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compacted and closely united together in all its Parts Eph. ii 21 22. and Eph. iv 16 he tells us that the Church increases or improves unto the edifying it self in love by being closely compacted and united in all its parts and members and Col. ii 19 he tells us that 't is not only from its Vnion with Christ and those nourishing Influences that are thereby conveyed from him that the Church increases with the increase of God but also from its being knit together or firmly united in all its Parts And if Vnion be so necessary to the Growth and Perfection of the Church it can be no less necessary to the Improvement of each particular Member of it For 1. Schisms and unnecessary Breaches of Church Communion do naturally sour the Tempers of men and render them peevish and uncharitable towards one another For the separating Party must in their own Vindication be forced to accuse those they separate from of something that may be foul enough to justifie their Separation and what they want in Reality they must make up in Pretence otherwise they will be lookt upon as peevish and obstinate Schismaticks and then the Party they separate from will be sure to deem itself injured and in its own Defence be forced to recriminate and this will alarm the Separatists into greater Heats and Animosities and so like two Flints dash'd together they will be continually sparkling and spitting fire at one another till they have kindled the quarrel into an inquenchable Flame Whereas had the Dividers but continued their Communion all this might have been prevented and they might have easily continued their Charity though they had retain'd the Opinions upon which they separated For had they but exercised that Modesty and Goodness as not to prefer their own private Sentiments before the Reason and Peace of the whole Church they would either have kept their Opinions to themselves or at least not have advanced them into Principles of Separation and so by continuing in Communion with that Party of the Church from whom they dissented in Opinion they would have declared that they judged their Errors to be tolerable For by not separating from them they would have plainly manifested that they saw Reason enough to unite upon the score of those Points in which they were agreed but none to disunite upon the score of these in which they differed and consequently that they had a great deal of Reason to love but none to hate and persecute one another and whilst they mutually retain'd this good Opinion of one another 't is very unlikely that their little Differences should cause any great Breaches in their Charity Schism therefore being so destructive to our Charity which is one of the leading Vertues of our Religion must needs have a very malevolent Aspect upon our Perseverance For he that from a charitable Temper relapses into a spiteful and rancorous one is apostatised from one half of the Religion of a Christian and hath exchanged one of the fairest Graces of a Saint for one of the blackest Characters of a Devil But then 2. Schisms or unnecessary Breaches of Church Communion do naturally lead to the foulest Hypocrisies For he that separates from a Church is a very bad man if he hath not a great Opinion of and Zeal for those things upon which he separates which Zeal of his when once he is actually separated will be much more inflamed and that both by the Opposition of the Church he is separated from and the Instigation of the Sect he is separated to and so by Degrees that holy Fervour which should animate him in the plain and unquestionable Duties of Religion will blaze into a fierce Contention for those little Opinions that constitute the Sect he is ingaged in For our Nature being finite and limited in all its Operations it is impossible we should operate diverse ways at once with equal Force and Vigour but whatsoever Time and Attention we bestow upon one thing we must necessarily substract from another Now whilst we continue in a peaceable Communion with the Church we have no other use for our Zeal but to inspire our Devotions to quicken our Vertues and to fight against our Sins with it and this all men agree is the best Use it can be put to but when once we are entred into a schismatical Separation we shall find other Employment for it namely to quarrel at Ecclesiastical Constitutions to wrangle about Modes and Circumstances of Worship and contend for our trifling Speculations and Opinions Which must necessarily weaken it in its nobler Operations and render it more remiss and indifferent in the great and indispensible Duties of Religion and whilst 't is thus impertinently busied in picking Straws and contending about Mint and Cummin to be sure it must more or less neglect the great and weighty things of the Law and so proportionably as it grows warmer and warmer about little Opinions and Circumstances of Religion it will be continually waxing cooler and cooler in the necessary and essential Duties of it till at last 't is wholly degenerated into Peevishness and Faction and dwindled away into a fierce Contention about Trifles That this is the natural Effect of Schism appears by too many woful Experiments For how many Instances of men are there among our selves who had once an honest Zeal for the
infests us all over with continual Anguish and Pain how when he hath tired and exhausted us with his continued Batteries and worn out our Strength with a succession of wearisom Nights to sorrowful Days he at last storms the Soul out of all the Out-works of Nature and forces it to retire into the Heart and how when he hath marked us for dead with a Baptism of clammy and fatal Sweats he summons our weeping Friends to assist him to grieve and vex us with their parting Kisses and sorrowful Adieus and how at length when he is weary of Tormenting us any more he rushes into our Hearts and with a few Mortal Pangs and Convulsions tears the Soul from thence and turns it out to seek its Fortune in the wide World of Spirits where 't is either seized on by Devils and carried away to their dark Prisons of Sorrow and Despair there to languish out its life in a dismal Expectation of that dreadful Day wherein it must change its bad Condition for a worse or be conducted by Angels to some blessed Abode there to remain in unspeakable Pleasure and Tranquillity till 't is Crown'd with a glorious Resurrection Now since 't is most certain that we must all one time or other experience these things but most uncertain how soon how much doth it concern us to think of them before-hand and to forecast such Provisions and Preparations for them as that whensoever they happen we may not be surprized For besides that the frequent Meditation of death will familiarize its Terrors to us so that whensoever it comes our Minds which have been so long accustomed to converse with it will be much less startled and amazed at it besides that it will wean us from the inordinate Desire and over-eager Prosecution of the things of this World which as I told you before are the Snares with which our Vices do too often intangle us besides all this I say it will put us upon laying in a Store of spiritual Provisions against that great day of Expence For he that often considers the dreadful Approaches the concomitant Terrors and the momentous Issues and Consequents of Death must be strangely stupified if he be not thereby vigorously excited to fore-arm and fortifie himself with all those Graces and Defences that are necessary to render it easie safe and prosperous VIII To our final perseverance in the Christian Warfare it is also necessary that in order to the putting our selves into a good Posture to die we should discharge our Consciences of all the Reliques and Remains of our past guilt For so we are commanded to take care that our hearts be sprinkled from an evil conscience Heb. x. 22 and to hold faith and a good conscience 1 Tim. i. 19 and to make this our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world 2 Cor. i. 12 in a word to live in all good conscience Acts xxiii 1 and to have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men Acts xxiv 16 Which though they are General Duties do necessarily imply this Particular that we should very nicely and curiously examin our Consciences those faithful Records and Registers of our Actions and where-ever we find the least Item of an uncancel'd Guilt immediately cross it out by a hearty Sorrow for and moral Revocation of it For notwithstanding we may have in the general repented of all our past Sins yet there are some Siins which notwithstanding we react no more do leave a lasting Guilt upon the Mind which nothing can cancel but our actual revoking and unsinning them As supposing that I have heretofore either by my bad Counsels or Example seduced other men into wicked Courses it is not sufficient for the Expiation of my Fault that I my self abstain from those wicked Courses for the future but I must indeavour to undo the Mischief which I have done to others by them and by a solemn Recantation of my past Follies by Persuasion and good Counsel and the Application of all other pious and prudent Means indeavour to reduce those whom I have formerly perverted For till I have done this I wilfully permit the mischievous Effect of my Sin to remain and if when I have wounded another I suffer him to perish without taking any care of his Cure I am guilty of his Murder though I never wound him more Suppose again that I have injured another by any malicious Slander or Calumny it is not enough to acquit me of the Guilt of it that I cease to scandalize him for the future but I must also indeavour by a free Retractation to vindicate his injur'd Name from the ill Surmises of those to whom I have asperst him for so long as his Reputation suffers through my not Retracting the Calumnies I have cast upon it I wilfully persist to defame and calumniate him and so long the Guilt of it must stick and abide upon my Conscience Once more suppose I have injur'd another in his Estate either by Theft or Fraud or Oppression it will not be sufficient to acquit me that for the future I forbear defrauding forcing or stealing from him any more but if it be in my Power I must make Restitution of all that I have wrongfully deprived him of and that to himself if he be living or if not to those that succeed him in his Rights and for want of such to the Poor who by Gods Donation have the Propriety of all such Wefts and Strays as have no other Owner surviving For it 's certain that my wrongful Seizure of what is another Mans doth not alienate his Right to it so that he hath the same Right to it while I keep it from him as he had at first when I took it from him and consequently till I restore it back to him I continue to wrong him of it and my detaining it is a continued Repetition of that Fraud or Theft or Oppression by which I wrongfully seized it and whilst I thus continue the Sin 't is impossible but the Guilt of it must still abide upon me In these Cases therefore it concerns us to be very nice and curious in examining our Accounts to see if there be any of these Scores yet uncancel'd any of these bad Effects of our Sin yet remaining For if any such matter appear in our Accounts it concerns us as much as our everlasting Interest amounts to to use all present Care and Diligence to discharge it that so before Death summons us to give up our Accounts to the great Auditor of the World all Scores between him and us may be even'd and adjusted And indeed if we would be safe it vastly imports us to leave as little as may be to do upon a Death-bed for that is most commonly a very improper State for religious Action since for all we know we may be distracted in it by a Feaver or stupified by an Apoplexy or deprived
piercing sense of my Sins as may cause the floods of unfeigned Grief and Contrition to gush forth from it Cause me to bleed for my sins now that I may not bleed for them for ever and that having felt the Smart and Anguish of them I may utterly detest and abhor them and never be reconciled to them more Thus do thou assist me O good God in the Exercise of all these Duties till thou hast throughly conquered my Will by them and prepared it for a firm Resolution to forsake all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And now that I am going into the world among those very Temptations that have hitherto so miserably captivated and inslaved me O let thy blessed Spirit be present with me to keep my drousie Conscience awake and arm me against them with his holy Inspirations that so those good Thoughts and Desires which thou hast at present excited in me may stick fast upon my Soul in the midst of my worldly Occasions and never cease importuning my Conscience Will and Affections till they have produc'd in me the happy Effect of a serious and hearty Repentance All which I most earnestly beseech of thee even for pity sake to a poor perishing Soul and for Jesus Christ his sake in whose name and words I farther pray Our Father c. In the Evening when you find your self most sit for serious Thoughts go into your Closet again and consider cooly with your self whether you are heartily willing to part with every Sin and particularly with your beloved Sin and to submit to every Duty and even to those that are most contrary to your vicious Inclination if you are not as it 's very probable you will not for some time or if you find the least reason to suspect you are not press your self anew with such divine Reasons as are most apt to affect you with the Hope of Heaven and the Fear of Hell with the love of God and of your Saviour represent your Obstinacy to your self with all its Baseness and Disingenuity Madness and Folly till you find your self affected with a sorrowful Sense of it and then offer up this following Prayer O Father of Mercies and God of all Grace and Consolation who art a ready help in time of need look down upon me I beseech thee a miserable and forlorn Wretch that have wilfully sold my self Captive to the Devil and am now strugling to get loose from this my wretched Bondage into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God I know O Lord that I am striving for my immortal Life and accordingly as I succeed I expect to be happy or miserable for ever I have seriously considered the Reasons on both sides and am fully satisfied in my mind that there is infinitely more Force in thy Promises and Threats than in all the Difficulties of my Duty and the Pleasures of my sin But after all this I find a law in my Members warring against the law in my Mind a perverse Will that rejects the counsels of my Reason that makes obstinate Reservations of some beloved Sins and Exceptions to some particular Duties in despite of all the persuasion of my Reason and Religion So that after all my Endeavours I am still detain'd in Captivity to the law of sin that is in my Members and am not able to incline my self to an intire Resolution of Amendment O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Sin and Death I know O Lord though I am weak and impotent and of my self unable to shake off the Chains and Fetters of my Lusts yet thy Grace is abundantly sufficient to rescue and deliver me from them and thou hast promised to assist with it my honest Endeavours and crown them with a blessed Success Wherefore for thy Truth and Mercies sake suffer not thy poor Creature who with pitiful and bemoaning Looks cries out for help to thee to spend himself in weary and fruitless Struglings against this violent Torrent of my sinful Nature which without thy aid will quickly overcome my poor Endeavours and drive me down into eternal Perdition My sole Dependence is upon thee my Hope of Success is wholly in thee help Lord help or else I perish stretch forth thy powerful Arm to my sinking Soul and let not this Deep swallow me up but do thou so quicken my faint Endeavours so strengthen my weak and doubting Faith so enliven my cold and languid Considerations so clear up my Convictions of my need of a Saviour and of the Danger and Odiousness of my Sins and thereby so increase my penitential Sorrows and Remorses as that by all these means together my obstinate Will may at last be conquered and effectually persuaded to part with every Sin be it never so dear to me and to comply with every Duty be it never so cross to my vile Inclinations Then shall I freely resign up my self unto thee and with a firm Resolution devote all my Powers to thy Service And that I may do so and by so doing be reconciled to thee O my offended God before I go hence and be no more seen receive me I beseech thee into thy protection this Night that I may yet see the light of another Day and have a longer space to finish my Repentance All which I humbly implore even for Jesus Christ his sake in whose name and words I farther pray Our Father c. If upon searching your own Heart you find that after you have fairly represented to your self what sinful Pleasures you must part with what Duties you must submit to and what Difficulties you must ingage with you are willing without any Reserve or Exception to submit your self to God beware you be not too hasty to form your Resolution but take some little time to try your self see whether you will continue to morrow of the same mind you are in now and if then you perceive you have reason to suspect your self try a little longer and at the present indeavour as much as in you lies to confirm and settle your self in the good Mind you are in by pressing and urging your self with all those Arguments of your Religion by which you have been thus far convinced and persuaded and while you are thus trying your self instead of the former let this be your Evening Prayer O Blessed Lord and most merciful Father thou art a God hearing Prayer and to thee shall all flesh come I admire thy Goodness I adore thy Grace that after so many heinous provocations I have given thee for which thou mightest have justly shut thine ears against me for ever thou hast heard my Cries and pitied my Misery and thus far contributed towards my Recovery I acknowledg 't is by thy Grace that I am what I am that this stubborn Heart begins at last to relent this perverse Will to bow and stoop these lewd Affections to hunger and thirst after