which are delivered in that Chapter are required as part of our walking as Children of the light and proving what is acceptable unto the Lord ver 8 10. Marriage is honourable and the Bed undefiled but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Heb. 13.4 Wives are to be taught to be obedient to their own Husbands that the Word of God or Doctrine of the Gospel be not blasphemed Tit. 2.5 Let Wives be in subjection to their own Husbands For with this in old time the holy women adorned themselves even as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling and observing him as her Lord whose Daughters ye are as long as you do well and imitate her but no longer 1 Pet. 3.5 6. So that all the Laws in this relation are enjoined under the same necessity and confirmed with the same sanction as the former And as for the Particulars of the next relation they are imposed with the same strictness For natural affection the want of it S t Paul affirms plainly makes men worthy of death Rom. 1.31 The Children ought not to lay up Treasure or provide for the Parents but the Parents for the Children 2 Cor. 12.14 And if any man provide not for his own house he hath denied the Faith of Christ which indispensably enjoins it nay despising such a notorious and necessary Precept of mere Nature he is worse than any honest Infidel 1 Tim. 5.8 Fathers provoke not your Children to wrath against you by a harsh and austere Government of them but rule them in kindness and love and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And ye Children on the other side obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right Honour your Father and Mother that it may be well with you Ephes. 6.1 2 3 4. Which Precepts are of the number of those which he imposes on them as parts of their walking as Children of the light and proving what is acceptable unto the Lord Chap. 5.8 10. If any man have Children or Nephews let them first learn to shew piety at home and requite their Parents for this is good and acceptable to God But if any man provide not for his own especially those of his own house or Family as Parents are in the first place he hath denied the Faith and in his unnatural actions is worse than an honest Infidel 1 Tim. 5.4 8. And thus are all the Laws of this relation likewise established in the greatest strictness and our obedience to them made plainly necessary to our bliss and happiness And as for the particular Laws of natural affection and communicating upon occasion to each other of their Substance in the relation of Brethren and Sisters they are proved to be necessary in the proof of the former For the same places which require them in that relation require them in this also And then as for the Particulars of the last relation viz. that of Masters and Servants they are of equal necessity with all the foregoing If any man provide not for his own house whereof Servants are one part he hath denied the Faith and is worse than an Infidel 1 Tim. 5.8 Masters give unto your Servants that which is just and equal knowing that ye also have a Master in Heaven who will punish your unequal dealing towards them Col. 4.1 If I despise the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant when they argue in their own defence and contend with me what then shall I do when God rises up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Job 31.13 14. Thou shalt not oppress an hired Servant that is poor and needy whether he be of thy Brethren a Jew or a Stranger of the Gentiles At his Day thou shalt give him his hire neither shall the Sun go down upon it for he is poor and setteth his heart upon it Deut. 24.14 15. Weep and howl O ye rich men says S t James for the miseries that shall come upon you for behold the hire of the Labourers who have reaped down your Fields and which is of you keept back by fraud crieth against you and the Cries are entred into the ears of the Lord who hearkens to them and in great Justice will one Day avenge them James 5.1 4. Ye Masters do the same things viz. good whether as to their Bodies in providing for them or to their Souls in religious instruction with a good will in expectation of a reward from the Lord to your Servants forbearing threatning knowing that your Master also is in Heaven who has threatned you if ye neglect this necessary Duty neither is there any respect of persons with him Ephes 6.8 9. Let as many Servants as are under the Yoke count their own Masters worthy of all honour that the name of God be not blasphemed as certainly it would upon their contrary practice And if any man teach otherwise he is proud knowing nothing 1 Tim. 6.1 3 4. Servants obey in all things your Masters according to the Flesh not with eye-service but in singleness or sincerity of heart without fraud or double dealing as persons fearing God And whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the Lord not to men knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for such your obedient practice for in thus serving them you serve the Lord Christ Col. 3.22 23 24. Servants obey your Masters with fear and trembling not with eye-service as Men-pleasers but from the heart with good-will doing service as to the Lord who commands this of you and not only to men knowing that whatsoever good or ill in this particular any man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord Ephes 6.5 6 7 8. Exhort Servants to be obedient to their own Mâ—sters and to please them well by all manner of observance in all things either as to their reputation in vindicating it when 't is injured or concealing such defects as would stain and fully it or their other interests showing all good fidelity For the Grace of God which brings salvation hath appeared to all men teaching them as ever they hope to be saved by it That denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts whereof the contrary practices to these are the effect and offspring they should live soberly c. Tit. 2.9 10 11 12 13. And moreover these Precepts are part of that sound Doctrine which Titus is required to speak ver 1. in opposition to their Doctrine who in the Verse before are said to be abominable disobedient and to every good work reprobate Servants be subject to your own Masters with all fear or reverence not only to the good and gentle but also to the hard or hasty and froward For this is thank-worthy if for Conscience towards God you patiently endure grief suffering wrongfully This is acceptable to God and likewise
All those speeches metonymical where Obedience is not express'd and yet pardon is promised p. 8 CHAP. II. Of pardon promised to Faith Knowledge and being in Christ. The Contents Of pardon and happiness promised to Faith and Knowledg Of the nature of Faith in general Of natural Jewish and Christian Faith Of this last as â—ustifying and saving Of the fitness of Christian Faith and Knowledg to produce Obedience Pardon promised to them no further than they are productive of it Of pardon promised to being in Christ. Christ sometimes signifies the Christian Religion sometimes the Christian Church Being in Christ is being of Christ's Religion or a Member of Christ's Church The fitness of these to effect Obedience Pardon promised to them no further than they do 20 CHAP. III. Of pardon promised to Repentance The Contents Of pardon promised to Repentance Regeneration a New Nature a New Creature The nature of Repentance it includes amendment and obedience The nature of Regeneration and a New Creature It s fitness to produce Obedience Some mens repentance ineffectual The folly of it Pardon promised to Repentance and Regeneration no further than they effect Obedience In the case of dying Penitents a change of mind accepted without a change of practice That only where God sees a change of practice woulâ— ensue upon it This would seldome happen upon death bed resolutions and Repentance The general ineffectiveness of this shown by experienâ—s Two reasons of it 1. Because it proceeds ordinarily upon an inconstant temporary Principle viz. nearness of Death and present fears of it Though it always begins there yet sometimes it grows up upon a Principle that is more lasting viz. a conviction of the absolute necessity of Heaven and a Holy Life 2. Because it is ordinarily in a weak and incompetent degree All TRVE resolution is not able to reform men Sick bed resolutions generally unable Such ineffective resolutions unavailing to mens pardon 34 CHAP. IV. Of pardon promised to Confession of Sins and to Conversion The Contents Of pardon promised to confession of sins The nature and qualifications of a saving Confession It s fitness to make us forsake sin The ineffectiveness of most mens confessions The folly and impiety of it Pardon promised to confession no further than it produces Obedience Of pardon promised to conversion The nature of conversion It includes Obedience and is but another name for it 55 CHAP. V. Of pardon promised to Prayer The Contents Of pardon promised to Prayer Of the influence which our Prayers have upon our Obedience Of the presumption or idleness of most mens prayers Of the impudence hypocrisie and uselessness of such Petitions Then our prayers are heard when they are according to Gods will when we pray for pardon in Repentance and for strength and assistance in the use of our own endeavours Pardon promised to Prayer no further than it effects this Obedience and penitential endeavour 64 CHAP. VI. Of pardon promised to our fear of God and trust in him The Contents Of pardon promised to our fear of God and trust in him Of the influence which mens fears have upon their endeavours and how they carry on ignorant minds into superstition but well-informed judgments to obedience Of the influence of mens trust in God upon their obedience The ineffectiveness of most mens trust Of the presumption and infidelity of such confidence That pardon is promised to fear and trust so far only as we obey with them 76 CHAP. VII Of pardon promised to the love of God and of our Neighbour The Contents Of pardon promised to the love of God and of our Neighbour Of the fitness of an universal love to produce an universal obedience That pardon is promised to it for this reason The Conclusion 85 BOOK II. Of the Laws of the Gospel which are the Rule of this Obedience in particular CHAP. I. Of the particular Laws comprehended under the Duty of Sobriety The Contents A Division of our Duty into three general Vertues Piety Sobriety Righteousness Of the nature of Sobriety The particular Laws commanding and prohibiting under this first Member A larger explication of the nature of Mortification 94 CHAP. II. Of LOVE the Epitome of Duty towards God and men and of the particular Laws comprehended under Piety towards God The Contents Of the Duties of Piety and Righteousness both comprehended in one general Duty LOVE It the Epitome of our Duty The great happiness of a good nature The kind temper of the Christian Religion Of the effects of LOVE The great Duty to God is Honour The outward expression whereof is Worship The great offence is dishonour Of the several Duties and transgressions contained under both 106 CHAP. III. Of the particular Duties contained under Justice and Charity The Contents Of the particular Duties contained under Justice and Charity Both are only expressions of Love which is the fulfilling of the Law Of the particular sins against both Of scandal Of the combination of Justice and Charity in a state that results from both viz. peace Of the several Duties comprehended under it Of the particular sins reducible to unpeaceableness Of the latitude of the word Neighbour to whom all these dutiful expressions are due It s narrowness in the Jewish sense It s universality in the Christian. 114 CHAP. IV. Of our Duties to men in particular Relations The Contents Of our Duties to other men in particular Relations The Duties enjoined and the sins prohibited towards Kings and Princes Bishops and other Ministers The particular Duties and sins in the relation of Husband and Wife Parents and Children Brethren and Sisters Masters and Servants Of the two Sacraments and Repentance A recital of all particular Duties enjoined and sins prohibited to Christians Of the harmlesness of a defective enumeration the Duties of the Gospel being suggested not only outwardly in Books but inwardly by mens own passions and consciences 134 CHAP. V. Of the Sanction of the foregoing Laws The Contents Of the Sanction of all the forementioned particular Laws That they are bound upon us by our hopes of Heaven and our fears of Hell Of the Sanction of all the particular affirmative or commanding Laws 168 CHAP. VI. Of the Sanction of all the forbidding Laws The Contents Of the Sanction of all the negative or forbidding Laws particularly The perfection of the Christian Law How our Duty exceeds that of the Heathens under the revelations of Nature And that of the Jews under the additional light of Moses's Law 190 BOOK III. What degrees and manner of Obedience is required to all the Laws forementioned CHAP. I. Of Sincerity The Contents THE first qualification of an acceptable obedience that it be sincere Two things implied in sincerity truth or undissembledness and purity or unmixedness of our service Of the first Notion of sincerity as opposite to hyyocrisie or doing what God commands out of a real intention and design to serve him Of a two-fold intention actual and express or habitual and
Acts 10.28 And upon the account of this freedom which he then took the Christian Jews who were of the Circumcision contended with him when he came up to Jerusalem reproving him for this That he went in to men uncircumcised and did eat with them Acts 11.2 3. The Woman of Samaria wondred that Jesus being a Jew should vouchsafe to ask so much as a Cup of cold water from her who was a Samaritan this being the stiffness of the Jewish Principle To have no dealings with the Samaritans John 4.9 Nay to that height of unkindness had they arrived as to deny even the most common Offices of humanity and Charity to show the way or give directions for a journey to any Gentile man Which several of the learned Heathens have smartly reproved and most justly complained of All which they did upon a supposition that the Neighbour to whom love and kindness was required by their Law was only a Fellow-Jew a Brother-Israelite and a man of their own Nation Which narrow and contracted sense they thought they had good reason to fix upon it from an expression in their own Law Lev. 19. where in the repetition of this great and general Duty of Love to our Neighbour the Word Neighbour is set in conjunction with and explained by one of the Children of their own People For thus 't is said Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the Children of thy People but thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self verse 18. Thus limited and confined was the Jewish Love God had chosen them out of all the Nations of the World for a peculiar people and had hedged them in from the rest of mankind by peculiar Laws and a peculiar Government And upon this they concluded that whatsover God required of them he did it as their political King and as the particular Head of the Jewish Nation and that he intended those Laws which he gave them as Rules for their behaviour towards their own Brethren and Fellow-Subjects not towards Strangers of Foreign Nations But as for our Lord and Sovereign Jesus Christ he is a Governour and has enacted all his Laws not for the guidance of any one Nation or People but of all the world He told his Disciples when he sent them out to preach the Gospel That all power was given to him both in Heaven and in Earth and thereupon commissioned them to go out and proclaim his Laws not to the Jews alone but to all Nations Matth. 28.18 19. And by this universality of his Empire he has taken away the partition-wall which was between Jews and Gentiles having made them both one Ephes. 2.14 So that now there can be no further colour or pretence for a limited and restrained affection all the World by this means being now again made one People Fellow-subjects and Brethren and Neighbours unto one another Whatever the Jews conceived of their Laws therefore 't is plain that all the Laws of Christ which command all manner of Justice Charity and Peaceableness and forbid all expressions of uncharitableness injury and unpeaceableness towards our Neighbours make these things due to all mankind It is not either distance of Country nor contrariety of interest no nor what is most of all presumed to exempt us from the obligation of these Duties diversity of opinion or perswasion in matters of Religion which takes away from any man his right to all that kindness and advantage from us which all these forementioned Laws give him But of whatsoever Country Calling or Religion he be he is the Neighbour here meant to whom all these instances of Love which are the particular Laws of Duty must be performed And this our Saviour has determined once for all in his Answer to the Lawyer Luke 10. For when he put the Question to him Who is my Neighbour to whom the Law commands all these things to be done ver 29. Jesus answers him by a Parable that it is every man in the World whom he may at any time have to do with although he be never so much a Stranger nay of a party and opinion in Religion never so contrary unto his For what Religion was ever more odious unto any one than the Samaritan was to the Jews So great a detestation had they of it that when they would give a Name of the vilest ignominy and greatest hatred to Christ himself they told him he was a Samaritan and joined with it such a farther Character as they thought would best suit with it his being possessed with a Devil Say we not well answer'd they that thou art a Samaritan and hast a Devil John 8.48 But yet for all this height of enmity between the Jews and Samaritans he tells the Jewish Lawyer who demanded of him who was his Neighbour that a Jewish man fell among Thieves who wounded him and left him half dead and that a Samaritan coming by had compassion on him and bound up his wounds and took care of him Hereby insinuating That any man though so contrary to him in Religion as these two were to one another is the Neighbour whom the Law intends and therefore in full answer to his Question he bids him Go and do so likewise Luke 10.30 to 38. CHAP. IV. Of our Duties to men in particular Relations The CONTENTS Of our Duties to other men in particular Relations The Duties enjoined and the sins prohibited towards Kings and Princes Bishops and other Ministers The particular duties and sins in the relation of Husband and Wife Parents and Children Brethren and Sisters Masters and Servants Of the two Sacraments and Repentance A recital of all particular Duties enjoined and sins prohibited to Christians Of the harmlesness of a defective enumeration the Duties of the Gospel being suggested not only outwardly in Books but inwardly by mens own Passions and Consciences BUT besides all these Laws contained in the general Command of Love to our Neighbour which require something of us to be performed or forborn towards all mankind there are yet some more particular instances of it which make some things due from us not as we are left at random towards all men indifferently but as we stand more peculiarly related towards some whether that relation be 1. Publick and Political of Prince and Subjects Ministers and People 2. More Private and Domestick as is that between 1. Husband and Wife 2. Parents and Children 3. Brethren and Sisters 4. Master and Servants For in all these special Relations Love to our Neighbour exerts it self in special effects which are all such peculiar Laws as bind us not towards all men indifferently but only towards them whom we stand so related to To begin with the first 1. The first relation from whence result several effects of Love and instances of Duty towards some particular men distinct from what we owe to the rest of all mankind is that which is between us and our Publick or Political Governours and Rulers And because we are
them highly in esteem for their works sake of reverence of maintenance of praying for them of obedience And opposite to all these are the effects of hatred or doing nothing towards them that may benefit and please but all things that may any way vex and offend them In particular 1. In our minds a low and disparaging opinion of them looking on them as persons of no worth or value and setting at nought both them and their Office which is dishonour or setting them at nought for their works sake And this is outwardly expressed 1. In words by vilifying and undervaluing them either in picking up and proclaiming their faults and failings to reproach their Persons or in talking to disparage and debase their Office which is speaking evil of Ministers And if this be in smart jests and opprobrious mirth to render them and their Calling ridiculous 't is mocking them 2. In contemptuous and sleightful behaviour towards them thereby shewing that we have no regard or value for them which is irreverence 3. In denying them all outward maintenance such as should preserve them from meanness and contempt which is not providing for them And if this be instanced in taking away from them either by force or fraud those just Dues of Tythes c. which our Country Laws have confirmed to them it is stealing of consecrated things or sacriledge And as for those things which must be derived to them by Gods peculiar Bounty and Providence a neglect to seek them at Gods hands on their behalf which is not praying for them 2. In our lives and actions a proud neglect or rejecting of what they impose and acting against those things which in the name of Christ and as his Messengers they enjoin us which is disobedience So that in our hatred of publick Rulers in the Church the Bishops and Ministers of Christ are implied all these effects which are so many particular forbidden sins viz. the Law against dishonour or setting at nought our Bishops and Ministers especially for their works sake against speaking evil of them against mocking them against irreverence to them against not providing for them against sacriledge or stealing from them against not praying for them against disobedience And these are the several effects of love and hatred and the particular commanding and forbidding Laws which God has given us for the measure of our more especial Duties to this first sort of Neighbours our publick Governours both in Church and State And 2. As for the other sort of relation which founds some special Duties distinct from those which we owe to all mankind in common viz. that which is more private and domestick in as much as a Family is compounded of several states and conditions of people whereof some are Parents some Children some Masters and some Servants it includes in it these four 1. That of Husband and Wife 2. That of Parents and Children 3. That of Brethren and Sisters 4. That of Masters and Servants 1. The first and principal domestick relation wherein Love has some peculiar effects that bind us then particularly when we are in that condition is the relation betwixt Husband and Wife And here Love through its forwardness to delight and benefit and its great averseness in any thing to give offence will have these effects 1. Such as are mutual and common to them both as are 1. A most tender care and heightned kindness arising from the most intimate union and nearness that is betwixt them which expresses it self chiefly 1. In the partaking in each others bliss and misery or being both equally concerned in those things which befal either which is communicating in each others condition 2. In the bearing with each others infirmities and not falling into hard thoughts and estrangedness upon them 3. For those things which are not in their power to bestow in seeking them mutually on each others behalf from God by prayer 2. A faithful performance of that appropriate use of each others Bed which they promised mutually at marriage and this is fidelity 2. Such as are particular and concern them in special one towards the other either 1. The Husband toward the Wife And because the relation of a Husband implies power and dominion that these may be rendred as easie and grateful as may be the effect of Love here will be such a tempering and sweetning of them as makes them contribute as much as may be to her pleasure and contentment which it doth by making him 1. When it is for her benefit to employ all his power and authority to procure her necessaries and due conveniencies which is providing for her or giving honour i. e. maintenance to her because She is the weaker Vessel as S t Peter says and so unable to provide it for her self 1 Pet. 3.7 and also to guard off all inconvenience and injury from her which is protection of her 2. When 't is over her as his Subject to lay them in great measure aside and to win her rather by the sweetness of love than by the force of authority which is flexible winning Government And this as it causes him to yield to her in several things which in strictness of power he might stand upon is compliance and condescension 2. The Wife towards the Husband And the relation of a Wife implying subjection and dependance the effects of Love which doth nothing that affronts or injures but all things that may any ways pleasure and delight will be 1. An opinion of his preheminence and authority over her which is honour And this as 't is joyned with a fear of offending him that expresses it self in respectful carriage is reverence 2. A free and forward dispatch of all such things as she knows he either likes or requires which is observance and obedience 3. In undergoing restraint a cheerful submission of her self to his pleasure which is subjection So that in this relation of Husband and Wife the effects of Love or Laws commanding are on both sides the Law of mutual concern and communicating in each others bliss or misery of bearing each others infirmities of prayer of fidelity On the Husbands towards his Wife the Law of providing for her of protecting her of flexible winning Government of compliance and condescension On the Wives towards her Husband the Law of honour of reverence of observance and obedience of subjection And opposite to these the effects of ill-will and hatred in this relation will be as follows 1. Such as are mutual and common unto both asare 1. An unaffectedness in each others condition and an insensibleness in one part of those things which befal the other which is unconcernedness in each others condition 2. A not bearing each others infirmities but either cutting out work and exercise for them by doing or speaking such things as are fit to irritate which is provocation Or being ill-affected towards each other upon them which as it is expressed in a privation of all that
For we shall always live subject to them more or less and although we may labour and strive against them yet shall we never be able as long as we are in this world to get entirely free from them We have no power and choice to avoid what we cannot see and consider of and all these sins come in upon the account of our unwill'd ignorance or inconsideration and since we cannot see and consider of them we cannot particularly prevent them which is effectually to repent of them A particular Repentance and Reformation then is not the Gospel-remedy for our involuntary sins It cannot be the cure assigned for them because it is impossible to them their pardon must not depend upon it because then they were wholly impardonable and desperate since in them no man on earth can use it But that remedy which Christ has appointed for them and that repentance whereupon he will graciously pardon and forgive them is in the general an hearty repentance and reformation of all wilful sins and an entire obedience in all such actions as are voluntary and chosen If we serve God faithfully and truly in all our other actions where we do see our duty and can chuse to practise it he will connive at these slips which after an honest care and industry are involuntary and unchosen For any kind master would do so to his honest servant and more especially every tender father would to his obedient child And God who is Love it self being the first Fountain and the compleatest Pattern of all kindness in the world will never be out-done in any love that is excellent and praise-worthy by his own creatures But if their kindness would bear with such infirmities and oversights of an honest mind his will dispense with them much rather The faithful servants therefore and obedient children of God who repent particularly of all their other sins that are known and wilful and effectually amend them shall be sure to find this favour at the hands of their heavenly Lord and Father for all these failings which are involuntary and unchosen Their obedience in other things shall plead their excuse and make their unwill'd slips in these to be uncondemning But to be yet more particular these involuntary transgressions of men that are obedient in all their voluntary actions shall certainly be pardoned through the means of these particular duties 1. Their Prayers 2. Their Charity and forgiveness towards the offences of others 1. Their involuntary failings of ignorance and inconsideration shall be forgiven them upon their prayers if they beg Gods pardon for them he is as ready to grant as they are to desire it And this we are sure of because that no earthly Parent who is wise and good would refuse to bestow it in such Cases at the request of his Children whereas they have nothing near that pity and tenderness for their Children which God has for his And this is an Argument which Christ himself has taught us to rely upon in this matter If you says he being evil will yet for all that at their request give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father who has not the least taint of your illness give the best of gifts even the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11.13 And indeed that we may never want this remedy Christ has put a Prayer for this purpose daily into our mouths that since our involuntary sins are of daily incursion we may as daily beg pardon for them For he has made it a part of our daily prayers to ask pardon among others for our daily trespasses this being one of those Petitions which he has taught us to put up as often as we do that for our daily bread that he would forgive us our trespasses Matth. 6.11 12. And this S t Austin observes of it for those small sins saith he which no man can avoid was this Petition in the Lord Prayer inserted Nay long before him S t Clement teaches the same Doctrine of our prayers being a most sure expiation for all our involuntary sins For in his first Epistle to the Corinthians relating that truly Christian state wherein their great Apostle Paul had very lately left them among several other parts of their Character he gives this for one Being filled with holy desires and a vertuous will with a good and commendable forwardness of mind and with a pious assurance of being heard you lifted up your hands to Almighty God beseeching him to be merciful and propitious to you if in any thing you had sinned INVOLVNTARILY Having first as says the good Father a vertuous heart and a holily disposed will so that in nothing their heart was disobedient by sinning wilfully they were forward to ask God forgiveness for all those sins which they had committed involuntarily And this forwardness says he was good and commendable and their confidence of obtaining pardon upon their prayer was pious it was a godly and a pious confidence This is a plain and full testimony and withal it is authentick and such as we may rely upon as much in a manner as if an Apostle himself had told us so For this Clement as we may observe was one who was sent out by the Apostles themselves to preach Christ's will and intrusted by them to declare unto the World what are the terms of remission of sins and the condition of pardon so that what we hear from his mouth we may look upon as Gospel S t Paul himself makes honourable mention of him calling him his Fellow-Labourer Help Clement my Fellow-Labourer whose name is in the Book of Life Phil. 4.3 And the thing it self which he testifies is not so much a matter of saith and 〈◊〉 wherein an honest man may sometimes erre and be mistaken as an historical relation of a matter of fact For he is recounting what a brave and gallant Church they were in that state wherein the great Apostle left them and as one of the Particulars of that relation this comes in That as for their involuntary sins they begged Gods pardon and that too with a pious assurance of obtaining it So that as for this practice of a confident hope of pardon for their involuntary sins upon their prayers it was not only such as S t Clement the Companion and Fellow-Labourer of S t Paul approved but such moreover as the Apostle Paul himself who had planted Christianity amongst them had left with them This therefore is one great remedy for our involuntary slips They shall he forgiven us upon our prayers for pardon and forgiveness And so shall they 2. Upon our Charity and forgiveness of the offences of others As God himself delights in mercy so doth he require that we should and to oblige us to it the more he has made our kind dealing towards our Brethren the Condition of his kindness towards us Above all things says S t Peter have fervent Charity