refrained their feet therefore the Lord doth not accept them he will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins Then saith the Lord Ver. 11 12. Pray not for this people for their good When they fast I will not hear their cry and when they offer an oblation I will not accept them but I will consume them by the sword and by famine and by the pestilence Therefore thus saith the Lord Jer. 15.19 if thou return then will I bring thee again and thou shalt stand before me and if thou take forth the precious from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee saith the Lord. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked Ver. 21. and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible Learn before thou speak Ecclus. 18.19 and use Physick or ever thou be sick Before judgement examine thy self Ver. 20. and in the day of visitation thou shalt finde mercy Humble thy self before thou be sick Ver. 21. and in the time of sins shew repentance Let nothing hinder thee to pay thy vows in due time Ver. 22. and deferre not until death to be justified I made haste Psal 119. and prolonged not the time to keep thy Commandements Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel Amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place Trust not in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord. For if you throughly amend your ways and your doings if you throughly execute judgement If ye oppress not the stranger and the widow Jer. 7. then shall ye dwell in the land Thus saith the Lord God Ezek. 11.18 I will give you the land and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence And I will give them one heart Ver. 19. and I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them an heart of flesh That they may walk in my statutes Ver. 20. and keep mine ordinances and do them and they shall be my people and I will be their God But as for them whose heart walketh after their detestable things and their abominations Ver. 21. I will recompense their way upon their own heads saith the Lord God They have seduced my people saying Peace Ezek. 13.10 and there was no peace and one built up a wall and others dawb'd it with untemper'd morter Will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and pieces of bread Ver. 19. to slay the souls that should not die and to save the souls alive that should not live by your lying unto my people that hear your lies Therefore I will judge you ô house of Israel Ezek. 18.30 every one according to your ways saith the Lord God repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby you have transgressed Ver. 31. and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die ô house of Israel For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God Ver. 32. wherefore turn your selves and live ye Ye shall remember your ways Ezek. 20.43 and all your doings wherein ye have been defiled and ye shall loath your selves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with a cart-rope Isa 5.18 Woe unto them that justify the wicked for a reward Ver. â—3 and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him And when ye spread forth your hands Isa 1.15 I will hide mine eyes from you yea when you make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of bloud Wash ye Isa 1.16 make ye clean put away the evil of your doing from before mine eyes cease to doe evil Learn to do well Ver. 17. seek judgement relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow Come now and let us reason together Ver. 18. saith the Lord Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red as crimson they shall be as wooll If ye be willing and obedient Ver. 19. ye shall eat the fruit of the land But if ye refuse and rebel Ver. 20. ye shall be devoured with the sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it She hath wearied her self with lies Ezek. 24. therefore have I caused my fury to light upon her Sow to your selves in righteousness Hos 10.12 and reap in mercy break up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain righteousness upon you Turn thou unto thy God Mos 12.6 keep mercy and judgement and wait on thy God continually O Israel Hos 13.9 thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help Return to the Lord thy God Hos 24. for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity Take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy I will heal their backsliding I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away Seek ye the Lord while he may be found Isa 55.6 call ye upon him while he is near Let the wicked forsake his way Ver. 7. and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon For thus saith the high and lofty One Isa 57.15 that inhabits eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones For I will not contend for ever Ver. 16. neither will I be alwayes wroth for the spirit should fail before mee and the soules which I have made For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth Ver. 17. and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his ways and will heal him Ver. 18. I will lead him also and restore comfort to him and to his mourners I create the fruit of the lips peace Ver. 19. peace to him that is afar off and to him that is near saith the Lord and I will heal him But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest Ver. 20. whose waters cast up mire and dirt There is no peace saith my God Ver. 21. to the wicked It is
in my Ministery saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what then he is not hereby justified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because some sins might adhere to him he not knowing that they were sins Ab occult is meis munda me Domine was an excellent Prayer of David Cleanse me O Lord from my secret faults Hoc dicit nequid fortè per ignorantiam deliquisset saith S Hierome he prayed so lest peradventure he should have sinned ignorantly But of this I shall give a further account in describing the measures of sins of infirmity For the present although this resolution against all is ineffective as to a perfect immunity from small offences yet it is accepted as really done because it is done as it can possibly 5. Let no man relie upon the Catalogues which are sometimes given and think that such things which the Doctors have call'd Venial sins may with more facility be admitted and with smaller portions of care be regarded or with a slighter repentance washed off For besides that some have called perjuries anger envy injurious words by lighter names and titles of a little reproof and having lived in wicked times were betray'd into easier sentences of those sins which they saw all mankind almost to practise which was the case of some of the Doctors who lived in the time of those Wars which broke the Roman Empire besides this I say venial sins can rather be * See chap. 7. of sins of infirmity described then enumerated For none are so in their nature but all that are so are so by accident and according as sins tend to excuse so they put on their degrees of veniality No sin is absolutely venial but in comparison with others Neither is any sin at all times and to all persons alike venial And therefore let no man venture upon it upon any mistaken confidence They that think sins are venial in their own nature cannot agree which are venial and which are not and therefore nothing is in this case so certain as that all that doctrine which does in any sense represent sins as harmless or tame Serpents is infinitely dangerous and there is no safety but by striving against all beforehand and repenting of all as there is need I summe up this question and these advices with the saying of Josephus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is as damnable to indulge leave to our selves to sin little sins as great ones A man may be choaked with a raisin as well as with great morsels of flesh and a small leak in a ship if it be neglected will as certainly sink her as if she sprung a plank Death is the wages of all and damnation is the portion of the impenitent whatever was the instance of their sin Though there are degrees of punishment yet there is no difference of state as to this particular and therefore we are tied to repent of all and to dash the little Babylonians against the stones against the Rock that was smitten for us For by the blood of Jesus and the tears of Repentance and the watchfulness of a diligent careful person many of them shall be prevented and all shall be pardoned A Psalm to be frequently used in our Repentance for our daily sins BOw down thine ear O Lord hear me for I am poor and needy Rejoyce the soul of thy servant for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee Teach me thy way O Lord I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy Name Shall mortal man be more just then God shall a man be more pure then his Maker Behold he put no trust in his Servants and his Angels he charged with folly How much less on them that dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust which are crushed before the moth Doth not their excellency which is in them go away They die even without wisdome The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple Moreover by them is thy servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward Who can understand his errours Cleanse thou me from my secret faults keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression O ye sons of men how long will ye turn my glory into shame how long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself The Lord will hear when I call unto him Out of the deep have I called unto thee O Lord Lord hear my voice O let thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint If thou Lord wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it But there is mercy with thee therefore shalt thou be feared Set a watch O Lord before my mouth and keep the door of my lips Take from me the way of lying and cause thou me to make much of thy law The Lord is full of compassion and mercy long-suffering and of great goodness He will not alway be chiding neither keepeth he his anger for ever Yea like as a Father pitieth his own children even so is the Lord mercifull unto them that fear him For he knoweth whereof we are made he remembreth that we are but dust Praise the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits which forgiveth all thy sin and healeth all thine infirmities Glory be to the Father c. The PRAYER O Eternal God whose perfections are infinite whose mercies are glorious whose justice is severe whose eyes are pure whose judgements are wise be pleased to look upon the infirmities of thy servant and consider my weakness My spirit is willing but my flesh is weak I desire to please thee but in my endevours I fail so often so foolishly so unreasonably that I extremely displease my self and I have too great reason to fear that thou also art displeased with thy servant O my God I know my duty I resolve to doe it I know my dangers I stand upon my guard against them but when they come near I begin to be pleased and delighted in the little images of death and am seised upon by folly even when with greatest severity I decree against it Blessed Jesus pity me and have mercy upon my infirmities II. O Dear God I humbly beg to be relieved by a mighty grace for I bear a body of sin and death about me sin creeps upon me in every thing that I doe or suffer When I doe well I am apt to be proud when I doe amiss I am sometimes too confident sometimes affrighted If I see others doe amiss I either neglect them or grow too angry and in the very mortification of my anger I
or their ingenuity It is much very much better which we learn from a wise Heathen who gives such an account both of the words and thing as might not misbecome the best instructed Christian so far as concerns the nature and morality of the duty His words are excellent words and therefore I shall transcribe them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We ought principally to take care that we doe not sin but if we be overtaken then to make diligent haste to return to justice or righteousness as the cure of our wickedness that we may amend our evil counsels or wils by the help of a better For when we are fallen from goodness we receive or recover it again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a wise or well principled penitential sorrow admitting a Divine correction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but repentance it self is the beginning of wisdome a flying from foolish words and deeds and the first institution of a life not to be repented of Where besides the definition of repentance and a most perfect description of its nature and intention he with some curiosity differences the two Greek words making 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be but the beginning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sorrow the beginning of repentance and both together the reformation of the old and the institution of a new life But to quit the words from being the subject matter of a Quarrel it is observable that the Latine word poenitentia does really signify by use I mean and custome as much as the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is expressive of the whole duty of Repentance and although it implies that sorrow and grief which is the natural inlet of reformation of our lives and the consequent of our shame and sin yet it also does signify correction and amendment which is the formality and essence of Repentance and therefore Erasmus more warily and in imitation of the old Latines sayes that poenitere is from pone tenere quod est posterius consilium capere to be wiser the next time to choose again and choose better Noct. Att. lib. 17. c. 1. and so A. Gellius defines it Poenitere tum dicere solemus cum quae ipsi fecimus aut quae de nostrâ voluntate nostróque consilio facta sunt ea nobis pòst incipiunt displicere sententiámque in iis nostram demutamus To repent is when those things which we have done displease us and we change our minds So that here is both a Displeasure and a Change a displeasure and sorrow for the evil and a change to better And there ought to be no scruple in this for by the first sorrow of a penitent man is meant nothing else but the first act of eschewing evil which whether it be by grief alone or by fear or by hope or by all these it is not without some trouble of minde and displeasure for if it were still in all senses a pleasure to go on they would never return back And therefore to suppose repentance without displeasure is to suppose a change of minde without alteration or a taking a new course without disliking the old But then to suppose any other sorrow naturally necessary then this which naturally is included in the change is to affirm that to be true which experience tels us is not true and it is to place self-affliction and punition at the head which is to be look'd for in the retinue of repentance to make the daughter to be before the Mother and the fruit to be kept in the root not to grow upon the branches But the Latine words can no way determine any thing of Question in this article and the Greek words are used promiscuously and when they are distinguished they differ but as the more and less perfect as the beginning of Repentance and the progress of perfection according to that saying Poenitentia erroris magnus gradus est ad resipiscentiam To acknowledge and be sorry for our sin is a great step to repentance and both together signify all that piety that change and holiness which is the duty of the new man of the Returning sinner and we can best learn it by the words of him that revealed and gave this grace to all his servants even of the Holy Jesus speaking to S. Paul at his Conversion from whose blessed words together with those of S. Paul in his narrative of that story we may draw this more perfect description To repent is to turn from darkness to light Acts 26.18 20. from the power of Satan unto God doing works worthy of amendment of life for the forgiveness of sins that we may receive inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus Upon this account the parts of Repentance are two 1. leaving our sins which is properly repentance from dead works And 2. doing holy actions in the remaining portion of our dayes actions meet for repentance so the Baptist called them This is in Scripture by way of propriety called Repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 3.8 so the Baptist used it distinguishing Repentance from its fruits that is from such significations exercises and prosecutions of this change as are apt to represent and to effect it more and more such as are confession weeping self-afflictions alms and the like Acts 26 2◠So S. Paul using the same words before King Agrippa But by way of Synedoche not onely the fruits and consequent expressions but the beginning sorrow also is signified by the same word and all are under the same Commandement though with different degrees of necessity and expression of which I shall afterwards give account Here I onely account concerning the essentiall and constituent parts and definition of Repentance All the whole duty of Repentance and every of its parts is sometimes called Conversion Thus godly sorrow is a conversion or change and upon that account S. James cals upon sinners Be afflicted James 4. and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into weeping This is the first change of our affections which is attended with a change of our judgement when we doe no longer admire the false beauties of sin but judge righteously concerning it And of this the Prophet Jeremy gives testimony Jer. 31.19 Surely after that I was turned I repented And by this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrews express the duty which the LXX indifferently render by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is best rendred Conversion And then followes the conversion of the whole man body and soul minde and spirit all are set in opposition against sin and apply themselves to the service of God and conformity to Jesus §. 2. Of Repentance in generall or Conversion REpentance and Faith in Scriptures signifie sometimes more generally and in the foederal sense are used for all that state of grace and favour which the holy Jesus revealed and brought into the world They
and phantastick images 5. But if we reduce this Question a little nearer to practise and clothe it with circumstances we shall finde this account to be sadder then is usually suppos'd But before I instance in the particulars I shall premise this distinction of venial sins which is necessary not onely for the conducting of this Question but our Consciences also in this whole Article The Roman Schools say that sins are Venial either by the imperfection of the agent as when a thing is done ignorantly or by surprise or inadvertency or 2. A sin is Venial by the smalness of the matter as if a man steals a farthing or eats a little too greedily at his meal or lies in bed half an hour longer then would become him or 3. A sin say they is Venial in its whole kinde that is such which God cannot by the nature of the thing punish with the highest punishment such as are idle words and the like Now first I suppose that the two latter will be found to be both one For either God hath not forbidden idleness or falsness or he hath made no restraint at all upon words but left us at liberty to talk as we please for if he hath in this case made a law then idle words either cannot pretend to an excuse or it must be for the smalness of the matter or else it must fall in with the first and be excused because they cannot alwayes be attended to Now concerning the first sort of venial sins it is not a kinde of sins but a manner of making all sins venial that is apt for pardon for by the imperfection of the agent or the act all great sins in their matter may become little in their malice and guilt Now these are those which Divines call sins of infirmity and of them I shall give an account in a distinct Chapter under that title Concerning the second i. e. sins venial for the smalness of the matter I know none such For if the matter be a particular that God hath expresly commanded or forbidden respectively it is not little but all one to him as that which we call the greatest But if the particular be wholly relating to our neighbour the smalness of the matter does not absolutely make the sin venial for amongst us nothing is absolutely great or absolutely little but in comparison with something else and if a vile person had robb'd the poor woman that offered two mites to the treasury of the Temple he had undone her a farthing there was all her substance so that the smalness of the matter is not directly an excuse If a man had robb'd a rich man of a farthing he had not indeed done him so great a mischief but how if the rich man was not willing to part with his farthing but would be angry at the injury is it not a sin because the theft was small No man questions but it is It follows therefore that the smalness of the matter cannot make a sin venial but where there is a leave expresly given or justly presumed and if it be so in a great matter it is as little a sin as if the matter were small that is none at all But now concerning the third which the Roman Schools dream of sins venial in their own nature and in their whole kinde that is it which I have been disputing against all this while and shall now further conclude against by arguments more practical and moral For if we consider what are those particulars which these men call venial sins in their whole kinde and nature we shall finde that Christ and they give measures differing from each other The Catalogues of them I will take from the Fathers not that they ever thought these things to be in their nature venial for they that think so of them are strangers to their writings and to this purpose Bellarmine hath not brought one testimony pertinent and home to the question but because they reckon such Catalogues of venial sins which demonstrate that they do mean sins made venial by accident by mens infirmity by Gods grace by pardon by repentance and not such which are so in their own nature But the thing it self will be its own proof S. Austin reckons Vanas cachinnationes in escis aviditatem Lib 50. homil hom 50.7 Serm. 244. de temp Enchir. c 78. immoderatiorem appetitum in vendendis emendis rebus charitatis vilitatis vota perversa usum matrimonii ad libidinem judicia apud infideles agitare Dicere fratri Fatue Vain laughter greediness in meat an immoderate or ungovern'd appetite perverse desires of dearness and cheapness in buying and selling commodities the use of marriage to lustfulness and inordination Dial. 2. adv Pelag. the use of marriage to lustfulness and inordination to go to law before the unbelievers to call our brother Fool. S. Hierome reckons jestings anger and injurious words Caesarius Arelatensis the Bishop reckons Homil. 8. 13. excess in eating and drinking idle words importune silence to exasperate an importunate begger to omit the fasts of the Church sleepiness or immoderate sleeping the use of a wife to lustfulness to omit the visitation of the sick and of prisoners and to neglect to reconcile them that are at variance too much severity or harshnes to our family or too great indulgence flattery talkings in the Church poor men to eat too much when they are brought rarely to a good table forswearings unwary perjury slander or reproaches rash judgment hatred sudden anger envy evil concupiscence filthy thoughts the lust of the eyes the voluptuousness of the ears or the itch of hearing the speaking filthy words and indeed he reckons almost all the common sins of mankinde De Prae. cept dispens c. 14. S. Bernard reckons stultiloquium vaniloquium otiose dicta facta cogitata talking vainly talking like a fool idle or vain thoughts words and deeds These are the usual Catalogues and if any be reckoned they must be these for many times some of these are least consented to most involuntary most ready less avoidable of the highest effect of an eternal return incurable in the whole and therefore plead the most probably and are the soonest likely to prevail for pardon but yet they cannot pretend to need no pardon or to fear no damnation For our blessed Saviour sayes it of him that speaks an angry word that he shall be guilty of hell fire Now since we finde such as these reckon'd in the Catalogue of venial sins and S. Austin in particular calls that venial to which our blessed Saviour threatned hell fire it is certain he must not mean that it is in its own nature venial but damnable as any other but it is venial that is prepared for pardon upon other contingencies and causes of which I shall afterwards give account In the mean time I consider 6. When God appointed in the Law expiatory Sacrifices for sins although there
good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth Lam. 3.26 27. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Who is a God like unto thee Micah 7.18 that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy He will turn again Mic. 7.19 he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all our sins into the depth of the sea Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth Eccles 12.1 while the evil dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them A PSALM O Lord though our iniquities testifie against us have mercy upon us for thy Names sake for our backslidings are many we have sinned against thee O the hope of Israel the Saviour thereof in time of trouble why shouldst thou be a stranger to us and as a wayfaring-man that turneth aside to tarry for a night Why shouldst thou be as a man astonied as a mighty man that cannot save yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name leave us not We acknowledge O Lord our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers for we have sinned against thee Do not abhor us for thy Names sake Jer. 14.7 8 9. do not disgrace the Throne of thy Glory remember break not the Covenant with us I will no more sit in the assembly of mockers Jer. 15.17 nor rejoyce I will sit alone because of thy hand for thou hast filled me with indignation Why is my pain perpetual Ver. 18. and my wound incurable which refuseth to be healed wilt thou be altogether unto me as waters that fail O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps O Lord correct me but with judgement not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing O Lord the hope of Israel all that forsake thee shall be ashamed because they have forsaken the Lord the fountain of living waters Heal me O Lord and I shall be healed save me Jer. 17.13 and I shall be saved for thou art my praise Be not a terror unto me Ver. 17. thou art my hope in the day of evil Behold O Lord for I am in distress Lam. 1.20 my bowels are troubled mine heart is turned within me for I have grievously rebelled For these things I weep mine eye Ver. 15. mine eye runneth down with water because the Comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me Hear me O Lord and that soon Psal 14 3. for my spirit waxeth faint hide not thy face from me lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit O let me hear thy loving kindness betimes for in thee in is my trust shew thou me the way that I should walk in for I lift up my soul unto thee Teach me the thing that pleaseth thee for thou art my God let thy loving Spirit lead me forth into the land of righteousness Quicken me O Lord for thy Names sake and for thy righteousness sake bring my soul out of trouble The Lord upholdeth all such as fall Psal 142.9 and lifteth up those that be down I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost O seek thy servant for I do not forget thy Commandements O do well unto thy servant that I may live and keep thy word O spare me a little that I may recover my strength before I go hence and be no more seen Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. A Prayer for a sinner returning after a long impiety I. OEternal Judge of Men and Angels Father of Mercy and the great lover of Souls I humbly acknowledge that the state of my soul is sad and deplorable and by my fault by my own grievous fault I am in an evil condition and if thou shouldst now enter into judgement with me I have nothing to put in barre against the horrible sentence nothing of my own nothing that can ease thy anger or abate the fury of one stroke of thy severe infliction I do O God judge and condemn my self and justifie thee for thou art righteous and whatsoever thou doest is good and true But O my God when the guilty condemns himself nothing is left for the offended party but to return to graciousness and pardon I O Lord have done thy severe and angry work I have sentenc'd a vile man to a sad suffering and if I so perish as I have deserved thou art just and righteous and thou oughtest for ever to be glorified II. BVt O my God though I know that I have deserv'd evils that I know not and hope I shall never feel yet thou art gracious and holy and lovest more to behold thy glory reflected from the flouds and springs of mercy then to see it refracted from the troubled waters of thy angry and severe displeasure And because thou lov'st it so highly to shew mercy and because my eternal interest is served in it I also ought to desire what thou lovest and to beg of thee humbly and passionately that I may not perish and to hope with a modest confidence that thou hast mercy in store for him to whom thou hast given grace to ask for it for it is one degree of pardon to be admitted to the station of penitent beggers it is another degree of pardon that thou hast given me grace to hope and I know that in the fountains of thy own graciousness thou hast infinite arguments and inducements to move thee to pity me and to pardon III. O My God pity me for thy Names sake even for thy own goodness sake and because I am miserable and need it And because I have nothing of my own to be a ground of confidence give thy servant leave to place my hopes on thee through Jesus Christ thou hast commanded me to come to the Throne of Grace with boldness that I may finde mercy in time of need and thou hast promised to give thy holy Spirit to them that ask him O dear God give me pardon and give me thy Spirit and I am full and safe and clothed and healed and all that I desire to be and all that I ought to be IV. I Have spent much time in vanity and in undoing my self grant me thy grace that I may recover my loss and imploy all the remaining portion of my time in holy offices and duties of Repentance My understanding hath been abused by false perswasions and vain confidences But now O God I offer up that imperious faculty wholly to the obedience of Christ to be govern'd by his Laws to be instructed by his Doctrine to be bended by all his arguments My will hath been used to crookedness
and a long iniquity the unhappy man shall be restor'd because it wholly depends upon the Divine acceptance In smaller offences and the seldome returns of sin intervening in a good or a probable life the Curates of souls may make safe and prudent judgements But when the case is high and the sin is clamorous or scandalous or habitual they ought not to be too easy in speaking peace to such persons to whom God hath so fiercely threatned death eternal But to hold their hands may possibly increase the sorrow and contrition and fear of the penitent and returning man and by that means make him the surer of it But it is too great a confidence and presumption to dispense Gods pardon or the Kings upon easy terms and without their Commission For since all the rule and measures of dispensing it is by analogies and proportions by some reason and much conjecture it were better by being restrain'd in the Ministeries of favour to produce fears and watchfulness carefulness and godly sorrow then by an open hand to make sinners bold and many confident and easy Those holy and wise men who were our Fathers in Christ did well weigh the dangers into which a sinning man had entred and did dreadfully fear the issues of the Divine anger and therefore although they openly taught that God hath set open the gates of mercy to all worthy penitents yet concerning repentance they had other thoughts then we have and that in the pardon of sinners there are many more things to be considered besides the possibility of having the sin pardoned §. 4. Of the sin against the Holy Ghost and in what sense it is or may be Unpardonable UPon what account the Primitive Church did refuse to admit certain Criminals to repentance I have already discoursed but because there are some places of Scripture which seem to have incouraged such severity by denying repentance also to some sinners it is necessary that they be considered also lest by being misunderstood some persons in the days of their sorrow be tempted to despair The Novatians denying repentance to lapsed Christians pretended for their warrant those words of S. Paul Heb. 6.4 5 6. It is impossible for those who were once inlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come if they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucify to themselves the son of God afresh and put him to an open shame and parallel to this are those other words Hebr. 10.26 27. For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation which shal consume the adversaries The sense of which words will be clear upon the explicating what is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and what by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If they shall fall away viz. from that state of excellent things in which they had received all the present endearments of the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a full conviction pardon of sins the earnest of the Spirit the comfort of the promises an antepast of heaven it self if these men shall fall away from all this it cannot be by infirmity by ignorance by surprise this is that which S. Paul cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sin wilfully after they have received the knowledge of the truth Malicious sinners these are who sin against the Holy Spirit whose influences they throw away whose counsels they despise whose comforts they refuse whose doctrine they scorn and from thence fall not onely into one single wasting sin but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they fall away into a contrary state into Heathenism or the heresy of the Gnosticks or to any state of despising and hating Christ expressed here by Crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting him to an open shame these are they here meant such who after they had worshipped Jesus and given up their names to him and had been blessed by him and felt it and acknowledged it and rejoyc'd in it these men afterwards without cause or excuse without error or infirmity choosingly willingly knowingly call'd Christ an Impostor and would have crucified him again if he had been alive that is they consented to his death by believing that he suffer'd justly This is the case here described and cannot be drawn to any thing else but its parallel that is a malicious renouncing charity or holy life as these men did the faith to both which they had made their solemne vows in Baptism but this can no way be drawn to the condemnation and final excision of such persons who after baptism fall into any great sin of which they are willing to repent There is also something peculiar in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 renewing such men to repentance that is these men are not to be redintegrate and put into the former condition they cannot be restored to any other gracious Covenant of repentance since they have despis'd this Other persons who hold fast their profession and forget not that they were cleansed in baptism they in case they doe fall into sin may proceed in the same method in their first renovation to repentance that is in their being solemnly admitted to the method and state of repentance for all sins known and unknown But when this renovation is renounc'd when they despise the whole Oeconomy when they reject this grace and throw away the Covenant there is nothing left for such but a fearful looking for of judgement for these persons are incapable of the mercies of the Gospel they are out of the way For there being but one way of salvation viz. by Jesus Christ whom they renounce neither Moses nor Nature nor any other name can restore them And 2. Their case is so bad and they so impious and malicious that no man hath power to perswade such men to accept of pardon by those means which they so disown For there is no means of salvation but this one and this one they hate and will not have they will not return to the old and there is none left by which they can be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 renewed and therefore their condition is desperate But the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or impossible is also of special importance and consideration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is impossible to renew such For impossible is not to be understood in the natural sense but in the legal and moral There are degrees of impossibility and therefore they are not all absolute and supreme So when the law hath condemned a criminal we usually say it is impossible for him to escape meaning that the law is clearly against him Magnus ab infernis revocetur Tullius umbris Mart. Ep. l. 4.
man knowes when that time is God only knowes and the event must declare it But for the thing it self that it is pardonable is very certain because it may be pardoned in baptisme The Novatians denied not to baptisme a power of pardoning any sin in this sense it is without doubt true what Zosimus by way of reproach objected to Christian religion it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a deletery and purgative for every sin whatsoever And since the unconverted Pharisees were guilty of this sin and it was a sin forbidden and punished capitally in the law of Moses either to these Christ could not have been preached and for them Christ did not die or else it is certain that the sin against the holy Spirit of God is pardonable Now whereas our B. Lord affirmed of this sin it shall not be pardoned in this world nor in the world to come we may best understand the meaning of it by the parallel words of old Heli to his sons If a man sin against another 1 Sam. 2 25. the Judge shall judge him placari ei potest Deus so the vulgar latine reads it God may be appeased that is it shall be forgiven him that is a word spoken against the Son of man which relates to Christ only upon the account of his humane nature that may be forgiven him it shall that is upon easier terms as upon a temporal judgment called in this place a being judged by the Judge But if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him that is if he sin with a high hand presumptuously against the Lord against his power and his Spirit who shall intreat for him it shall never be pardoned never so as the other never upon a temporal judgement that cannot expiate this great sin as it could take off a sin against a man or the Son of man for though it be punished here it shall be punished hereafter But 2. It shall not be pardoned in this world nor in the world to come that is neither to the Jewes nor to the Gentiles For Saeculum hoc this World in Scripture is the period of the Jewes Synagogue and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world to come is taken for the Gospel or the age of the Messias frequently among the Jews and it is not unlikely Christ might mean it in that sense which was used amongst them by whom he would be understood But because the word was also as commonly used in that sense in which it is understood at this day viz. for the world after this life I shall therefore propound another exposition which seems to me more probable Though remission of sins is more plentiful in the Gospel then under the Law yet because the sin is bigger under the Gospel there is not here any ordinary way of pardoning it no Ministery established to warrant or absolve such sinners but it must be referred to God himself and yet that 's not all For if a man perseveres in this sin he shall neither be forgiven here nor hereafter that is neither can he be absolved in this world by the ministery of the Church nor in the world to come by the sentence of Christ and this I take to be the full meaning of this so difficult place For in this world properly so speaking there is no forgivenesse of sins but what is by the ministery of the Church For then a sin is forgiven when it is pardon'd in the day of sentence or execution that is when those evils are removed which are usually inflicted or which are proper to that day Now then for the final punishment that is not till the day of judgement and if God then gives us a mercy in that day then is the day of our pardon from him In the mean time if he be gracious to us here he either forbears to smite us or smites us to bring us to repentance and all the way continues to us the use of the Word and Sacraments that is if he does in any sense pardon us here if he does not give us over to a reprobate minde he continues us under the means of salvation which is the ministery of the Church for that 's the way of pardon in this * vide infrà numb 66. World as the blessed sentence of the right hand is the way of pardon in the World to come So that when our great Lord and Master threatens to this sin it shall not be pardon'd in this World nor in the World to come he means that neither shall the Ministers of the Church pronounce his pardon or comfort his sorrowes or restore him after his fall or warrant his condition or pray for him publickly or give him the peace and communion of the Church neither will God pardon him in the day of Judgement But all this fearful denunciation of the Divine judgement is only upon supposition the man does not repent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said S. Athanasius Quaest 71. to 2. God did not say to him that blasphemes and repents it shall not be forgiven but to him that blasphemes and remains in his blasphemy for there is no sin which God will not pardon to them that holily and worthily repent S. Chrys in 1 Cor hom 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To be wounded is not so grievous but it is intolerable when the wounded man refuses to be cured For it is considerable Whoever can repent may hope for pardon else he could not be invited to repentance I do not say whoever can be sorrowfull may hope for pardon for there is a sorrow too late then commencing when there is no time left to begin much lesse to finish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Athanasius calls it a holy and a worthy repentance and of such Philo affirmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in allegor◠Some unhappy soules would fain he admitted to repentance but God permits them not that is their time is past and either they die before they can performe it or if they live they return to their old impieties like water from a rock But whoever can repent worthily and leave their sin and mortify it and make such amends as is required these men ought not to despair of pardon they may hope for mercy and if they may hope they must hope for not to do it were the greatest crime of despair For despair is no sin but where to hope is a duty But if this be all then the sin against the holy Ghost hath no more said against it then any other sin for if we repent not of theft or adultery it shall neither be forgiven us in this world nor in the world to come and if we do repent of the sin against the holy Ghost it shall not be exacted of us but shall be pardoned So that to say it is unpardonable without repentance is to say nothing peculiar of this To this I answer that pardonable and unpardonable have no definite
time nothing hinders but that every sin is pardonable to him that repents But thus we finde that the style of Scripture and the expressions of holy persons is otherwise in the threatning and the edict otherwise in the accidents of persons and practise It is necessary that it be severe when duty is demanded but of lapsed persons it uses not to be exacted in the same dialect It is as all laws are In the general they are decretory in the use and application they are easier In the Sanction they are absolute and infinite but yet capable of interpretations of dispensations and relaxation in particular cases And so it is in the present Article Impossible and Vnpardonable and Damnation and shall be cut off and nothing remains but fearful expectation of judgement are exterminating words and phrases in the law but they doe not effect all that they there signifie to any but the impenitent according to the saying of Mark the Hermite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No man is ever justified but he that carefully repents and no man is condemned but he that despises repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said S. Basil The eye of God who is so great a lover of souls cannot deny the intercessions and letanies of Repentance §. 6. The former Doctrines reduc'd to Practise 1. Although the doors of Repentance open to them that sin after Baptism and to them that sin after Repentance yet every relapse does increase the danger and make the sin to be less pardonable then before For 1. A good man falling into sin does it without all necessity he hath assistances great enough to make him conqueror he hath reason enough to disswade him he hath sharp senses of the filthiness of sin his spirit is tender and is crush'd with the uneasie load he sighs and wakes and is troubled and distracted and if he sins he sins with pain and shame and smart and the less of mistake there is in his case the more of malice is ingredient and a greater anger is like to be his portion 2. It is a particular unthankfulness when a man that was once pardon'd shall relapse And when obliged persons prove enemies they are ever the most malicious as having nothing to protect or cover their shame but impudence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So did the Greeks treat Agamemnon ill because he used them but too well Such persons are like Travellers who in a storm running to a fig-tree when the storm is over they beat the branches and pluck the fruit and having run to an altar for sanctuary they steal the Chalice from the holy place and rob the Temple that secur'd them And God does more resent it that the Lambs which he feeds at his own table which are as so many sons and daughters to him that daily suck plenty from his two breasts of Mercy and Providence that they should in his own house make a mutiny and put on the fierceness of wolves and rise up against their Lord and Shepherd 3. Every relapse after repentance is directly and in its proper principle a greater sin Our first faults are pitiable and we doe pati humanum we do after the manner of men but when we are recovered and then die again we doe facere Diabolicum we do after the manner of Devils For from ignorance to sin from passion and youthful appetites to sin from violent temptations and little strengths to fall into sin is no very great change it is from a corrupted nature to corrupted manners But from grace to return to sin from knowledge and experience and delight in goodnesse and wise notices from God and his Christ to return to sin to foolish actions and non-sense principles is a change great as was the fall of the morning stars when they descended cheaply and foolishly into darkness Well therefore may it be pitied in a childe to choose a bright dagger before a warm coat but when he hath been refreshed by this and smarted by that if he chooses again he will choose better But men that have tried both states that have rejoyced for their deliverance from temptation men that have given thanks to God for their safety and innocence men that have been wearied and ashamed of the follies of sin that have weighed both sides and have given wise sentence for God and for religion if they shall choose again and choose amiss it must be by something by which Lucifer did in the face of God choose to defie him and desire to turn Devil and be miserable and wicked for ever and ever 4. If a man repents of his repentances and returns to his sins all his intermedial repentance shall stand for nothing the sins which were marked for pardon shall break out in guilt and be exacted of him in fearful punishments as if he never had repented For if good works crucified by sins are made alive by repentance by the same reason those sins also will live again if the repentance dies it being equally just that if the man repents of his repentance God also should repent of his pardon For we must observe carefully that there is a pardon of sins proper to this life and another proper to the world to come Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted and what ye binde on earth shall be bound in heaven Vid. suprà Num. 53. That is there are two remissions One here the other hereafter That here is wrought by the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments by faith and obedience by moral instruments and the divine grace all which are divisible and gradual and grow or diminish ebbe or flow change or persist and consequently grow on to effect or else fail of the grace of God that final grace which alone is effective of that benefit which we here contend for Here in proper speaking our pardon is but a disposition towards the great and final pardon a possibility and ability to pursue that interest to contend for that absolution and accordingly it is wrought by parts and is signified and promoted by every act of grace that puts us in order to heaven or the state of final pardon God gives us one degree of pardon when he forbears to kill us in the act of sin when he admits when he calls when he smites us into repentance when he invites us by mercies and promises when he abates or defers his anger when he sweetly engages us in the wayes of holiness these are several parts and steps of pardon For if God were extremely angry with us as we deserve nothing of all this would be done unto us and still Gods favours increase and the degrees of pardon multiply as our endevours are prosperous as we apply our selves to religion and holiness and make use of the benefits of the Church the ministery of the Word and Sacraments and as our resolutions passe into acts and habits of vertue But then in this world we are to expect no other pardon but a fluctuating alterable
but another expression or word for the Commandement of Repentance For Confess your sins means acknowledge that you have done amiss that you were in the wrong way that you were a miserable person wandring out of the paths of God and the methods of heaven and happiness that you ought not to have done so that you have sinn'd against God and broken his holy laws and therefore are liable and expos'd to all that wrath of God which he will inflict upon you or which he threatned Confession of sins is a justification of God and a sentencing of our selves This is not onely certain in the nature of the thing it self but apparent also in the words of David Psal 51.4 Against thee onely have I done this evil ut tu justificeris that thou mightest be justified in thy saying and clear when thou art judged That is if I be a sinner then art thou righteous and just in all the evils thou inflictest So that Confession of sins is like Confession of faith nothing but a signification of our conviction it is a publication of our dislike of sin and a submission to the law of God and a deprecation of the consequent evils Confessio error is In Ps 135. professio est desinendi said S. Hilary a confession of our sin is a profession that we will leave it and again Confessio peccati ea est ut ià quod à te gestum est per confessionem peccati confitearis esse peccatum That is confession of sins not that we enumerate the particulars and tell the matter of fact to him that remembers them better then we can but it is a condemning of the sin it self an acknowledging that we have done foolishly a bringing it forth to be crucified and killed This is apparent also in the case of Achan who was sufficiently convict of the matter of fact by the Divine disposing of lots which was one of the ways by which God answered the secret inquiries of the Jews but when he was brought forth to punishment Joshua 7.19 Joshua said unto him My son give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him that is acknowledge the answer of God to be true and his judgement upon us not to be causless To this answers that part of Achans reply Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel There God was justified and the glory was given to him that is the glory of his Truth and his Justice but then Joshua addes and tell me now what thou hast done hide it not from me Here it was fit he should make a particular enumeration of the fact and so he did to Joshua saying Thus and thus have I done For to confess to man is another thing then to confess to God Men need to be informed God needs it not but God is to be justified and glorified in the sentence and condemnation of the sin or the sinner and in order to it we must confess our sin that is condemne it confess it to be a sin and our selves guilty and standing at Gods mercy S. In 1 Corhom 28. Chrysostom upon those words of S. Paul If we would judge our selves we should not be judged hath these words He saith not if we would chastise our selves if we would punish our selves but onely if we would acknowledge our sins if we would condemn our selves if we would give sentence against our sins we should be freed from that punishment which is due both here and there For he that hath condemned himself appeases God upon a double account both because he hath acknowledged the sins past and is more careful for the future To this confession of sins is opposed the denying our sin our hiding it from God as Adam did that is either by proceeding in it or by not considering it or by excusing it or by justifying it or by glorying in it all these are high provocations of Gods anger but this anger is taken off by confession Psal 95.2 Praeveniamus faciem eius in confessione said the Psalmist Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving so we reade it let us prevent his anger or let us goe before his face with confession so the old Latin Bibles which is a doing as the Prodigal did I will goe unto my Father and say unto him Father I have sinned against heaven and against thee and this is the first act of exterior repentance but it is of that repentance that is indispensably necessary to salvation Acts 20.21 this is Repentance towards God which the Apostles preach'd in the first publication of Christianity But then besides this there is a Repentance towards men and a Confession in order to it If I have sinn'd against my brother I must ask his pardon and confess my error that is I must repent or confess to him for he that is the injur'd person hath a right over me I am his debtor and oblig'd and he can forgive me if he please and he may choose that is I must pay him the debt I owe him unless he will be pleased to remit it For God in his infinite wisdome and goodness and justice hath taken care to secure every mans interest and he that takes any thing from me is bound by Gods law to restore it and to restore me to that state of good things from whence he forc'd me Now because for the injury which I have already suffered he cannot make me equal amends because what ever he does to me for the future still it is true that I did suffer evil from him formerly therefore it is necessary that I doe what I can to the reparation of that but because what is done and past cannot be undone I must make it up as well as I can that is I must confess my sin and be sorry for it and submit to the judgement of the offended party and he is bound to forgive me the sin and I am bound to make just and prudent amends according to my power for here every one is bound to doe his share If the offending person hath done his part of duty the offended must do his that is he must forgive him that wrong'd him if he will not God will untie the penitent man and with the same chain fast binde him that is uncharitable But my brother may be hurt by me though I have taken nothing from him nor intended him injury He may be scandalized by my sin that is tempted to sin incouraged in his vileness or discontented and made sorrowful for my unworthiness and transgression In all these cases it is necessary that we repent to them also that is that we make amends not only by confession to God but to our brethren also For when we acknowledge our folly we affright them from it and by repentance we give them caution that they may not descend into the same state of infelicity And upon this account all publick criminals were
and this is the full sense of the power given by Christ to his Church concerning sins and sinners called by S. Paul the word of reconciliation For as for the other later and superinduc'd Ministery of pardon in judicial forms of absolution that is wholly upon other accounts of good use indeed to all them that desire it by reason of their present perswasions and scruples fears and jealousies concerning the event of things For sometimes it happens what one said of old Mens nostra difficillimè sedatur Deus faciliùs God is sooner at peace with us then we are at peace with our own mindes and because our repentances are always imperfect and he who repents the most excellently and hates his sin with the greatest detestation may possibly by his sense of the foulness of his sin undervalue his repentance and suspect his sorrow and because every thing is too little to deserve pardon he may think it is too little to obtain it and the man may be melancholy and melancholy is fearful and fear is scrupulous and scruples are not to be satisfied at home and not very easily abroad in the midst of these and many other disadvantages it will be necessary that he whose office it is to separate the vile from the precious and to judge of leprosie should be made able to judge of the state of this mans repentance and upon notice of particulars to speak comfort to him or something for institution For then if the Minister of holy things shall think fit to pronounce absolution that is to declare that he believes him to be a true penitent and in the state of grace it must needs adde much comfort to him and hope of pardon not only upon the confidence of his wisdome and spiritual learning but even from the prayers of the holy man and the solemnity of his ministration To pronounce absolution in this case is to warrant him so farre as his case is warrantable That is to speak comfort to him that is in need to give sentence in a case which is laid before him in which the party interested either hath no skill or no confidence or no comfort Now in this case to dispute whether the Priests power be Judicial or Optative or Declarative is so wholly to no purpose that this sentence is no part of any power at all but it is his office to do it and is an effect of wisdom not of power it is like the answering of a question which indeed ought to be askt of him as every man prudently is to inquire in every matter of concernment from him who is skill'd and experienced and profest in the faculty But the Priests proper power of absolving that is of pardoning which is in no case communicable to any man who is not consecrated to the Ministery is a giving the penitent the means of eternal pardon the admitting him to the sacraments of the Church and the peace and communion of the faithful because that is the only way really to obtain pardon of God there being in ordinary no way to heaven but by serving God in the way which he hath commanded us by his Son that is in the way of the Church which is his body whereof he is Prince and Head The Priest is the Minister of holy things he does that by his Ministery which God effects by real dispensation and as he gives the Spirit not by authority and proper efflux but by assisting and dispensing those rites and promoting those graces which are certain dispositions to the receiving of him just so he gives pardon not as a thing does it nor yet as a Messenger that is not by way of authority and real donation nor yet only by declaration but as a Rhysician gives health that is he gives the remedy which God appoints and if he does so and if God blesses the medicines the person recovers and God gives the health For it is certain that the holy man who ministers in repentance hath no other proper power of giving pardon then what is now described Because he cannot pardon them who are not truly penitent and if the sinner be God will pardon him whether The Priest does or no and what can be the effect of these things but this that the Priest does only minister to the pardon as he ministers to repentance He tells us upon what conditions God does pardon and judges best when the conditions are performed and sets forward those conditions by his proper ministery and ministers to us the instruments of grace but first takes accounts of our soules and helps us who are otherwise too partial to judge severe and righteous judgement concerning our eternal interest and he judges for us and does exhort or reprove admonish or correct comfort or humble loose or binde So the Minister of God is the Minister of reconciliation that is he is the Minister of the Gospel for that is the Word of Reconciliation which S. Paul affirms to be intrusted to him in every office by which the holy man ministers to the Gospel in every of them he is the Minister of pardon But concerning that which we call Absolution that is a pronouncing the person to be absolved it is certain that the forms of the present use were not used for many ages of the Church In the Greek Church they were never used and for the Latine Church in Thomas Aquinas his time they were so new that he put it into one of his Quaestiones disputatae whether form were more fit the Optative or the Judicial whether it were better to say God of his mercy pardon thee or by his authority committed to me I absolve thee and in Peter Lombards days when it was esteemed an innocent doctrine to say that the Priests power was only declarative it is likely the form of absolution would be according to the power believed which not being then universally believed to be Judicial the Judicial form could not be of universal use and in the Pontifical there is no Judicial form at all but only Optative or by way of prayer But in this affair besides what is already mentioned I have two great things to say which are a sufficient determination of this whole article 1. The first is that in the Primitive Church there was no such thing as a judicial absolution of sins used in any Liturgy or Church so far as can appear but all the absolution of penitents which is recorded was the meer admitting them to the mysteries and society of the faithful in religious offices the sum and perfection of which was the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper So the fourth Councel of Carthage Can. 76. makes provision for a penitent that is neer death reconcilietur per manus impositionem infundatur ori ejus Eucharistia let him be reconciled by the imposition of hands and let the Eucharist be poured into his mouth that was all the solemnity even when there was the greatest need of the Churches
the black registers of death that my sins being covered and cured dead and buried in the grave of Jesus I may live to thee my God a life of righteousness and grow in it till I shall arrive at a state of glory II. I Have often begun to return to thee but I turn'd short again and look'd back upon Sodom and lov'd to dwell in the neighbourhood of the horrible regions Now O my God hear now let me finish the work of a holy repentance Let thy grace be present with me that this day I may repent acceptably and to morrow and all my days not weeping over my returning sins nor deploring new instances but weeping bitterly for the old loathing them infinitely denouncing warre against them hastily prosecuting that warre vigorously resisting them every hour crucifying them every day praying perpetually watching assiduously consulting spiritual guides and helps frequently obeying humbly and crying mightily I may doe every thing by which I can please thee that I may be rescued from the powers of darkness and the sad portions of eternity which I have deserved III. O Give unto thy servant intentions so real a resolution so strong a repentance so holy a sorrow so deep a hope so pure a charity so sublime that no temptation or time no health or sickness no accident or interest may be able in any circumstance of things or persons to tempt me from thee and prevail Work in me a holy and an unreprovable faith whereby I may overcome the world and crucify the flesh and quench the fiery darts of the Deâ—â—l and let this faith produce charity and my sorrow cause amendment and my fear produce caution and that caution beget a holy hope let my repentance be perfect and acceptable and my affliction bring forth joy and the pleasant fruit of righteousness Let my hatred of sin pass into the love of God and this love be obedience and this obedience be universal and that universality be lasting and perpetual that I may rejoyce in my recovery and may live in health and proceed in holiness and abide in thy favour and die with a blessing the death of the righteous and may rest in the arms of the Lord Jesus and at the day of judgement may have my portion in the resurrection of the just and may enter into the joy of my Lord to reap from the mercies of God in the harvest of a blessed eternity what is here sown in tears and penitential sorrow being pardoned and accepted and sav'd by the mercies of God in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen Amen Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The End ERRATA PAge 32. line 16. dele to p. 72. l. 15. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 131. l. 5. for highest r. lightest p. 133. l. 28. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 328. l. 28. for Samnenses r. Jamnenses p. 338. l. 16. for repealing r. repeating p. 370. l. 36. for unusual r. usual p. 388. l. 12. for In r. It. p. 391. l. 32. for miseram r. miserum p. 393. l. 16. r. numqua p. 400. l. 16. for I have already r. I have in the next Chapter ibid. l. 18. for I then reproved r. I there reprove p. 431. l. 2. r. illud p. 454. l. 12. for endure r. endear p. 504 l. 17. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 508. l. 11. for precept r. precepts p. 522. l. 12. for have it r. hate it p. 523. l. 34. r. for good evil r. good or evil p. 564 l. 7. after supreme sense put a period p. 565. l. 15. for eâdem r. eodem p. 572. l. 6. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 626. l. 28. for thing r. King p. 671. l. 31. r. our conservation is In the Margent p. 120. l. ult r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 133. l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 475. l. 1. r. Acts 13.48 THE TABLE The numbers relate to the Page and the marginall Numbers or Paragraphs of each CHAPTER A ABsolution of the forms of Absolution which have been used p. 627. num 53 In the primitive Church there was no judicial form of absolution in their Liturgies 628 54 Absolution of sins by the Priest can be no more then declarative 634 58 The usefulness of that kinde of absolution 63â— 59 Iudicial absolution by the Priest is not that which Christ intended in giving the power of remitting and retaining sins 636 Acts what repentance single acts of sin require 198 43. a single act of sin is cut off by the exercise of contrary vertue 199 45 A single act of vertue is not sufficient to be opposed against a single act of vice 200 46. How a single act of sin sometimes is habitual 202 49. some acts of sin require more then a moral revocation or opposing a contrary act of vertue in repentance 202 50. Single acts of sin without a habit give a denomination 185 25 Act. Chap. 13.48 explicated 475 26 Adam his sin made us not heirs of damnation 375 22. nor makes us necessarily vicious 383 37. Adams sin did not corrupt our nature by a physical efficiency 383 39 nor because we were in the loins of Adam 384 40 nor because of the decree of God 386 41 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what latitude of signification it hath 552 39 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it signifies 119 21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 170 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 178 15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 177 14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it signifies 115 21. 125 26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it signifies 551 38 Art how much it can change Nature 212 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 174 8 245 18 Alms as a part of repentance 654. How they operate in order to pardon ibid. It is one of the best penances 684 29 Attrition what is is 601. The difference between it and Contrition ibid. Attrition joyned with absolution by the Priest that it is not sufficient demonstrated by many arguments 638 S. Augustine his zeal against the Pelagians to make sure work with their doctrine was the occasion of his mistake interpreting Rom. 7.15 464 17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of Tit. 3.11 expl 474.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it signifies 311 5 B BAptism of the pardon of sins after baptism 532 7 C CHarity gives being to all vertues 207.56 Children how God punishes the fathers upon the children 403 God never imputes the fathers sin to the childe so as to inflict eternal punishment but temporal onely 404 54 This he does onely in very great crimes 406 57 and not often 406 58 but before the Gospel was published not since 407.8 Rules of deportment for those children who fear a curse descending on them from their sinful parents 439 17 Christ we are by him redeemed from the state of spiritual infirmity 473 25 Commandments Of the difference between S Augustine and S. Hierome in the proposition concerning the