the Offers of of Grace when the Kingdom of Heaven is preach'd unto them as our Saviour assures us Luke 10.12 Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also loved us and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not be once named amongst you as becometh saints neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks For this you know or may be sure of that no whoremonger uor unclean person nor covetous man which is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Ephes 5.1 c. Let us not therefore flatter our selves with a conceit of God's singular Favour whilst we are the very Children of Disobedience we must either renounce our Christianity and our Hopes of Heaven or renounce our Sins It is the most ridiculous thing in the Word to pretend to either of the former whilst we continue in the Practice of any evil thing The Lord alloweth the righteous but the ungodly and him that delighteth in wickedness doth his soul abhor Psal 11.6 Since therefore ther 's no other way to obtain God's Favour but in being righteous and forsaking all manner of Wickedness since the very Principles of our Religion oblige us to cease from all that is evil and learn all that is good let us be sure to avoid Sin as Men would the Plague and let us daily grow in grace according to St. Peter's Exhortation 2 Pet. 3.18 Let us be sure whatever Interests we have to serve whatever Dealings we may be ingaged in to be always strictly just and upright Let us never use any ill Tricks to serve our own ends but in all our Transactions with one another let us deal with that Simplicity and Integrity and good Conscience that becomes those who would be accounted the Disciples of the holy Jesus Sin is the Transgression of a known Law Now what a horrid thing is it what Impudence for mortal Men to do that they know is forbidden by the Almighty Governour of the World the righteous and impartial Judge of the Quick and the Dead But I cannot forbear saying it once more What piece of Madness is it for Men to do this and yet pretend to be God's Servants and the Disciples of the Son of his Love whom he has sent into the World a purpose to reform the World and shew the stray'd Race of Mankind the way to true Happiness and Bliss in teaching them to turn from their iniquities as it is Acts 3.26 We do infinitely mistake the Design of his Coming and the Nature of his Religion if we do not believe that it is to make Men much better and holier than they were before and indeed to make them as good and as holy as it is possible for Men to be Let us then study earnestly his whole Will and practice it accordingly least those who have never heard of him should be accounted better than we If we will be truly Christians let it be the earnest Endeavour of our Lives to render our selves as excellent and as exemplary for all sort of amiable Qualities as it is possible for Men to be in this World Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report If there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things Phil. 4.8 See what your Obligations are We that have such a glorious light vouchsafed unto us and such unvaluable Promises and such mighty Assistances made over to us by the Gospel of Christ must in reason imagine that in return of these great Advantages great things are expected from us It will not satisfie our Engagements that we do believe and profess the Gospel that we do no Wrong to our Neighbours that we are neither given to Lewdness nor Drunkenness though yet even these as the World goes are very great things and could all Men that profess Christianity truly say this of themselves we should soon see Heaven upon Earth but our Christianity obliges us to aspire after greater things we must get our selves possessed of the whole Circle of Vertues we must be kind and charitable as well as just and honest we must he modest and meek and humble as well as temperate and chast Then may I add to these excellent Words of an Excellent and most Reverend Prelate of our Church Then will Christ indeed own us for his Disciples for then we shall be true Subjects to God's Kingdom upon Earth and if we continue to be so unto the end we shall not fail at last to be admited into his most glorious Kingdom in Heaven where we shall enjoy the infinite Pleasure of Holiness to everlasting Ages A Morning and Evening PRAYER ALmighty God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Creator of Men and Angels and the supream Governour of the World in whom and by whom we move we live and have our Beings who shewest thy self to be perfectly Good and Bountiful infinitely wise and glorious and perfectly just and holy We thy poor Creatures prostrate our selves in the deepest Humility of our Souls before thy Divine Majesty to render unto thee the due Tribute of our Homage and Worship and offer the Morning * Evening if it be at Night Evening Sacrifice of our Prayers and Thanksgivings to beg Pardon for all our Sins and Failings and implore thy all-sufficient Grace that we may from henceforth serve thee better than we have done and may daily grow in Grace and in all Christian Vertues and finally to sue for thy Protection and thy most gracious Favour both for our selves and all Men. We confess O Lord we are not worthy to appear before thee to beg any thing at thy Hands For thou O God lovest Righteousness and hatest Iniquity Thou requirest Holiness and art perfect in all thy ways But we are miserable and wretched Creatures who have not minded our Duty as we ought to have done nor regarded thy Word thy Promises nor thy Threatings but have often been so unreasonable as to slight thy Commandments and prefer our Will to thine as if we had not believed that thou knowest what is best for us to do better than we our selves or as if we had not believed that thou searchest our ways and knowest all our Thoughts and wilt judge the World in Righteousness and reward every Man according to his Works at the great and last Day in the which we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ there to receive the things done in our Bodies according as we shall have done whether it be good or bad To us O Lord belongs Shame and
A Practical Discourse Concerning REPENTANCE And the NATURE OF THE Christian Religion By A. LORTIE Rector of BARTON near Nottingham IMPRIMATUR Oct. ult 1692. Guil. Lancaster R.P.D. Hen. Episc Lond. Ã Sacris LONDON Printed for Will. Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1693. To My much Honoured Lord and Noble Benefactor The Right Honourable AND Right Reverend Father in GOD HENRY L d Bishop of LONDON One of the Lords of Their Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council c. My LORD THE incomparable Goodness and Affability your Lordship useth towards all not excepting the meanest Persons encourageth me humbly to lay at your Lordship's Feet this plain Practical Discourse which as I have had the comfort to understand that they were edified who heard it so I hope it may be of farther use when more leisurely considered and perhaps may serve to give the common sort of People a clearer and more distinct Notion than they usually have of their indispensable Duty and of that wise and holy Religion which they profess The zeal of doing something towards this before I die according to my little Sphere made me desirous to leave this Discourse with my Parishioners It would be indeed an unspeakable satisfaction to me if it prove any advantage to them but chiefly if your Lordship might condescend so far as to accept it as a Token of my most humble and hearty Gratitude instead of what I should but am not able to perform for the great and many Obligations laid upon my Relations and my self in particular for which we shall ever stand indebted to your Lordship My Lord Your Lordship and all the World knows it very well hath not only been ready upon all Occasions to assert and maintain even with the most eminent danger of your Life your Country's most admirable Laws and Reformation but has been a common Father to all the Persecuted of France who were forc'd to flee from their Native Country How many Souls can declare to the World and shall testifie at the Great Day before our blessed Lord and his holy Angels to your Lordship's immortal Glory that they have tasted of no other Bread in this their Distress but that which your Lordship did put into their hands There my Father will stand with his Family in the fore-front of that vast multitude of the Witnesses of your Lordship's unbounded Charity and we shall thereby convince the World that Christianity was not then lost among Men. In the mean while my Lord I submit my self wholly and this little Treatise to your Lordship assuring your Lordship it is meant candidly and purely for God's Glory and the Salvation of Souls proceeding from a sincerely penitent Heart having studied nothing so much as this Subject these several Years in which I have so often been in a state of dying I shall add no more but this That the chiefest Blessing I shall always ask of GOD and my chiefest Happiness the remainder of my Life will be to see God's Glory further'd and your Noble House my Lord and Yourself in particular prosper and flourish to the Honour and Felicity of this Church and Nation I humbly beg your Lordship's Blessing I am My LORD Your Lordship 's Most Humble most Dutiful and most Obliged Servant A. LORTIE A Practical Discourse Concerning REPENTANCE c. JOHN the Baptist came Preaching as we read Mat. 3.1 2. and saying Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand That was the Voice that cried before the Messiah Prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths streight Luk. 3.4 And at the eighth Verse of that Chapter we learn what was to be done in order to that viz. to Repent without any further excuse upon no account whatsoever Repentance indeed is a Duty incumbent upon all Men seeing all have sinned and therefore must certainly be for ever undone except they Repent As the World goes it is a Duty to be insisted upon at all times But if it be specially call'd for at some Seasons more than others it is surely in times of Publick Humiliation when we address our selves to God or he addresses himself to us and whensoever we are call'd to renew our Engagements to Religion All we can do without it is but Hypocrisie and a meer mocking of Almighty God John the Baptist it seems esteem'd it the true and only Preparative for the Christian Religion Repent ye says he for the kingdom of heaven is at hand All Men are therefore highly concern'd to have a right Notion of Repentance otherwise they can never be good Christians I shall endeavour to shew in the following Discourse I. What Repentance is II. What is the Nature of the Christian Dispensation which is call'd the Kingdom of Heaven III. What reason there was to Repent the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand and what reason then there is now we should Repent And IV. I shall represent what manner of Persons are the Subjects of this heavenly Kingdom that we may know assuredly whether we are such or not that if we are we may praise God for it and continue to be so and if we are not we may see what is to be done to become such Then I shall draw some Inferences from the whole First What Repentance is For there are too many in the World take that for Repentance which indeed is no such thing their Hearts being evil and therefore willing to substitute any thing in its room to be excused from it But God is not mocked and their very Consciences were they permitted to speak would cry aloud against them for their unpardonable blindness and folly in mistaking so easily if not wilfully in so clear and plain a matter Some fancy a fence of Sin to be Repentance That is if they are but sensible that they have done what ought not to have been done that they are miserable Sinners and that Sin is a most wretched and odious thing which 't were good never to be guilty of I say if they do but feel themselves sensible of all this then they think they are well enough and are so presumptuous as to hope well of their state tho' they still continue in their sins Others something more modest do not think it sufficient to have a bare fence of sin if withal they do not entertain a hearty sorrow for it But if they do but grieve and weep for their sins they question not but they have made full amends for them altho' they grow never the better but still sin on still complaining and sorrowing for their sins and bemoaning their infirmities But others yet come nearer to the business for to all this they will add vows and resolutions and endeavours They are not only sensible that they have done those things which they ought not to have done they are not only heartily sorry for it but they for malso good resolutions against sin they vow they will endeavour with all their might never to fall into
of heaven is at hand but the Hour now is that we must bid all Men repent because the Kingdom of God is come and that is inconsistent with a state of Sin and Wickedness The Times of our Ignorance God winked at but now he expects we shall all repent And the reason of it we find Acts 17.31 Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he has ordained whereas he has given assurance to all men in that he has raised him from the dead Finally in Luk. 12.48 we read that unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required What manner of persons than ought we to be we to whom Christ is preached and the Kingdom of God fully revealed what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness as St. Peter has it in his 2 Epist 3.11 Hence we may take occasion in the 4th place to consider what sort of Persons are the Subjects of the Heavenly Kingdom that we may assuredly know whether we are such or not that if we are we may praise God for it and continue to be so or if we are not we may see what is to be done to become such It is evident that a thorow Conversion from Sin to Holiness is the Business of Christianity The Design of Christ's coming into the World was to make Men truly holy The only Preparation necessary for the Entertainment of the Messiah or the Reception of his Heavenly Doctrine consisted in having this work begun in them by Repentance Repent ye said the Baptist for the kingdom of heaven is at hand A Christian therefore a true Christian I mean and not one in name only is one that has forsaken all his evil ways and is turned with all his heart unto the Lord his God to do his whole Will and keep his Commandments as long as he lives They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5.24 It is one who has denied himself and taken up his cross Matt. 16.24 One that treads apon the steps of his Saviour and runs with patience the race that is set before him looking unto Chrst Jesus who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is now set at the right hand of God Hebr. 12.1 2. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature says the Apostle St. Paul 2 Cor. 5.17 And Rom. 6.3 c. They that are baptised in Jesus Christ are baptised into his death therefore they are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead even so they also should walk in newness of life Leaving therefore the principles of the doctrine of Christ they go on unto perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God as the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has it 6.1 In a word true Christians are a peculiar people purified from all iniquity and zealous of all good works Tit. 2.14 But if you will know more particularly what manner of men true Christians are in their Life and Conversation you must read all the Precepts of the Gospel For we can never take them for true Christians that do not love Jesus Christ and are none of his Friends And I am sure all those are mere Hypocrites who pretend to love him and yet keep not his Commandments He has said it expresly If ye love me keep my commandments John 14.15 And at the 21 ver of the same Chapter He that has my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me or as it is at the 23 ver If a man love me he will keep my words By this we shall know certainly whether we are his Disciples or not Love is the fulfilling of the law as we read Rom. 13.10 that is it is the sum of it Charity comprehends all the Precepts of Christianity and implies all the Duties of Religion Therefore our Saviour has made it the Criterion or the Sign and Mark to know true Christians by John 13.35 In the 15th Chapter of the same Gospel at the 12th ver He calls it his Commandment This is my commandment that ye love one another as I loved you And at the 14th ver Ye are my friends saith he if ye do whatsoever I command you Than we are not his Friends if we do not whatsoever he commands us then surely we are not Christians But there 's no difficulty in the case we are true Christians we are his Friends if we do whatsoever he commands us Some Men perhaps at the first blush will be apt to think that this Representation of a Christian is defective because though I shew him to be one that renounceth Sin and the Devil and makes it his Business to frame his Life according to the Commandments of God yet I do not mention the particulars of his Belief But they may consider that this were needless to our present purpose and superfluous it being supposed that he who yields himself intirely and without any reserve to our Lord Jesus Christ to do his whole will doth most sincerely believe his holy Gospel and receives and adheres to all the Truths revealed in it It were unreasonable in this occasion to think that a too general Catalogue of the Articles of his Faith since 't is most certain God requires no more and no more is necessary to the Design of the Gospel and the Business of Religion that is to make Men truly holy Men may be ignorant of the meaning of several obscure places of Scripture nay and be mistaken in their Understanding of several places for no body is infallible and yet be right good Christians if they do but answer the Design of Christianity which cannot be mistaken but wilfully So that if a Man can say The Design of Christianity I am sincerely willing to obey my Creator and Redeemer in all things commanded by them I do entertain and harbour no Lust in my Breast I do heartily endeavonr to have a right understanding of the holy Scriptures and chiefly of the Gospel and to know what Doctrines are delivered there in order to the bettering of my Soul by them and the direction of my Life and Actions according to them If a Man can but say this truly of himself he may be sure whatsoever Mistakes he may labour under they cannot be such as will undo his Soul since they do not hinder him to answer the Design of the Gospel and the end of our Saviour's coming into the World that is to return sincerely and heartily to the Obedience of God to submit to his divine Government and frame his Life according to the Laws and Constitutions of his most Heavenly Kingdom It is certain Faith is required to no other end but this whoever reads the Scriptures cannot but see that this is the thing aim'd
us the Aid and Assistance of his Holy Spirit Our Saviour affirms it Luke 11.13 He gives it to them that ask it viz. in devout and constant Prayers And sure his Grace is sufficient for us as God Almighty says it himself 2 Cor. 12.9 Whosoever therefore is buried with Christ in the Baptism of Repentance Sin shall have no dominion over him he is freed from it as we read Rom. 6. at the 7th and 14th Verses And whosoever is born of God overcometh the world 1 John 5.4 Those that walk in the spirit do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh Gal. 5.16 But like St. Paul they keep under their bodies and bring them into subjection lest they should be cast away 1 Cor. 9.27 They baffle Hell and the Devil they resist him till he begon from them Resist the devil says St. James and he will flee from you Jam. 4.7 In a word The weapons of their warfar are mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of God as it is 2 Cor. 10.4 5. So that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present northings to come nor height nordepth nor any other Creature is able to separate them from the love of God Rom. 8.38 39. And if this be true if nothing hinders but they may then surely they are obliged ever to continue in his Love that is as I have proved from the 21st Verse of the 14th Chapter of the Gospel according to St. John in the constant Practice and Observance of his will For they and they only that endure unto the end shall be saved as it is Matt. 24 13. But no man we are told Luke 9.62 having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God Our blessed Saviour in Matt. 7.24.25 compares him that learns his will and doth it to a wise man who builds his house upon a rock which stands firm and will never fall tho' the rain descend and the flouds come and the winds blow and beat upon that house From all has been said we may draw the following Inferences I. No Doctrine can be more Antichristian than such as encourage Vice and a loose way of living For nothing can be more contrary to the Nature and Constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven Whatsoever doth so is directly opposite to the very design of Christianity tends to the Subversion of it and conspires the Ruine and Overthrow of the Kingdom of God among Men. Nothing then can be vainer or more ridiculous than to take that for a true Christian Doctrine which allows Men in or encourageth them to Sin Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God 1 John 3.10 So that though our Righteousness doth not reach unto God so as to add to his Happiness yet are we obliged to be righteous Though when we have done all we must say We are unprofitable servants yet we must do all Though we must not be proud and indeed we have no reason to boast for all our good works yet we are obliged to do all good works Though we can do nothing without the Grace of God yet we must believe he affords us sufficient Strength and we are to act upon that Supposition and do our Duty diligently otherwise our Neglect and Folly is inexcusable Though our Saviour died and made a full and sufficient Satisfaction for us yet it was in order to our Reconciliation to God and Holiness He has not purchased for us a Licence to sin but except we repent purifie our selves from all Iniquity and grow zealous of all good works we shall still perish we shall receive no Benefit by his Sacrifice For though the Ceremonial or Judaical Law be abolished yet the Natural Law the everlasting Law of Holiness of Reason and Equity or Conscience stands firm and can never be repealed Could you imagine that that Law was made void through Faith God forbid says the Apostle yea doth he add we establish the Law Rom. 3.31 And though we are justified freely and saved by Grace yet it is through Faith and that not a dead Faith such as the Devils may have but such an one as worketh by Love as we have seen Cal. 5.6 Let us not then object any thing against our Duty but set about it instantly knowing that we are to expect no Grace no Favour no Mercy at God's Hands upon the Account of our Faith if it doth not purifie us from all iniquity and that it will avail us nothing at all to have believed in Jesus Christ if we do not believe in him so as to forsake all our Sins and become pure and holy and fruitful in all good Works and frame our Lives perfectly according to his Will and the Precepts of his Gospel submitting our selves wholly to his Government and his most heavenly Kingdom and letting him rule us and reign over us Otherwise our Faith is a dead Faith no better than that of Devils who believe and tremble Jam. 2.19 We are therefore inexcusable if we are so impertinent after this as to wrest either through our Ignorance or Instability any Saying in the Bible to favour our Lusts and so flatter us in our own Destruction Some Men are very fond of these and the like places Be not righteous overmuch And What I would that I do not but what I hate that I do It is no more I then that do it but sin that dwelleth in me As if by these or the like they were discharged from the Duty and Necessity of Holiness But either these Words are capable of a good sence reconcâ—leable with our strictest Duty or else they are not the Dictates of the Spirit of God nor the Sence of the Holy inspired Men themselve but the Proverbs or Sayings of dissolute Men who are there personated which lie under the Dominion of sin and are brought into captivity to the law of sin We are little verst indeed in Scripture if we know not there are some things obscure in it Yet we must be blind if we do not plainly perceive that it doth indispensably exact of us a righteous and just and a vertuous and holy Life agreeable to the heavenly and everlasting Laws of the Kingdom of Heaven Our God has no pleasure in wickedness neither shall any evil dwell with him Such as be foolish shall not stand in his sight for he hateth all them that work vanity He shall destroy them that speak leasing The Lord will abhor both the blood-thirsty and deceitful man as the Psalmist has it Psal 5.4 5 6. And God is not of another Mind under the Gospel but if the Christian Faith did indeed make void the Necessity of being truly righteous and holy and allowed its Professors the Liberty of living in Immorality and Sin it ought to be rejected of all sober