we thus can perform all Gods will acceptably For if we endevour all that we can and desire more and pursue more it is accepted as if we had done all 2 Cor. 8.12 for we are accepted according to what a man hath and not according to what he hath not Unless we can neither endevour nor desire we ought not to complain of the burthen of the Divine Commandements For to endevour truly and passionately to desire and contend for more is obedience and charity and that is the fulfilling of the Commandments Matter for Meditation out of Scripture according to the former Doctrine The Old Covenant or the Covenant of Works IN that day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2.17 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the law to do them Gal. 3 10. Deut. 27.26 Deut. 27.8 And thou shalt write upon stones all the words of this law very plainly Thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day to the right hand or to the left But it shall come to pass Deut. 28. if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his commandements and his statutes then shall all these curses come upon thee and overtake thee And if you will not be reformed by these things Lev. 26.23 24 c. but will walk contrary unto me then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins He that despised Moses law Heb. 10.28 died without mercy under two or three witnesses The New Covenant or the Covenant of Grace WEE are justified freely by his grace Rom. 3. ver 24 25 26 27 28. through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ * Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God * To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus * Where is boasting then it is excluded by what law of works Nay but by the law of faith * Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 14 26 27 28. who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit * For as many as are led by the Spirit they are the sons of God * Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God * And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God He that spared not his own Son Ver. 33 c. but delivered him up for us all how shall not he with him also freely give us all things * Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifieth This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes Heb. 8.10 11 12. saith the Lord I will put my laws in their minde and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people all shall know me from the least to the greatest * For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more If any man be in Christ 2 Cor. 5.17 18 19 20 21. he is a new creature old things are past away all things are become new * And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministery of reconciliation * Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God * For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Acts 2.37 38. and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off and to as many as the Lord our God shall call And it shall come to pass Rom. 10.13 Acts 2.21 Rom. 10.5 6 8 9. that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law that the man which doth those things shall live by them But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Death is swallowed up in victory 1 Cor. 15.55 56. O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ My yoke is easie and my burthen is light For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh Rom. 8.3 4. God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh hath for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit His Commandements are not grievous 1 Joh. 5.3 Rom. 5.10 If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life * And not onely so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement I can do all things through Christ which strengthneth me Phil. 4.13 My grace is sufficient for thee 2 Cor. 12.9 for my strength is made perfect in weakness Ask and you shall have Mat. 7.7 seek and ye shall finde knock and it shall be opened unto you To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundantly Having therefore these promises 2 Cor. 7.1 let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit Vid. etiam Isa 49.6 53.12 Psal 22.23 24 25 26 27 28. Jer. 32.34 perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. The PRAYER I. OEternal God Lord of Heaven and Earth Father of Men and Angels we do adore thy infinite Goodness we revere thy Justice and delight in thy Mercies by which thou hast dealt with us not with the utmost right and dominion of a Lord but with the gentleness of a Father treating us like friends who were indeed thy enemies
the righteousness of the Gospel that is faith and holiness which are the significations and the vital parts of the new creature 10. But because this doctrine is highly necessary and the very soul of Christianity I consider further that without the superinducing a contrary state of good to the former state of evil we cannot return or go off from that evil condition that God hates I mean the middle state or the state of lukewarmness For though all the old philosophy consented that vertue and vice had no medium between them but whatsoever was not evil was good and he that did not doe evil was a good man said the old Jews yet this they therefore did unreprovably teach because they knew not this secret of the righteousness of God For in the Evangelical justice between the natural or legal good or evil there is a medium or a third which of it self and by the accounts of the Law was not evil but in the accounts of the Evangelical righteousness is a very great one that is lukewarmness or a cold tame indifferent unactive religion Not that lukewarmness is by name forbidden by any of the laws of the Gospel but that it is against the analogy and design of it A lukewarm person does not do evil but he is hated by God because he does not vigorously proceed in godliness No law condemnes him but the Gospel approves him not because he does not from the heart obey this form of doctrine which commands a course a habit a state and life of holiness It is not enough that we abstain from evil we shall not be crowned unless we be partakers of a Divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 For to this S. Peter enjoyns us carefully Now then we partake of a Divine nature when the Spirit dwels in us and rules all our faculties when we are united unto God when we imitate the Lord Jesus when we are perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Now whether this can be done by an act of contrition needs no further inquiry but to observe the nature of Evangelical Righteousness the hatred God bears to lukewarmness the perfection he requires of a Christian the design and great example of our blessed Lord the glories of that inheritance whither we are design'd and of the obtaining of which obedience to God in the faith of Jesus Christ is made the onely indispensable necessary condition For let it be considered Suppose a man that is righteous according to the letter of the Law of the Ten Commandements all of which two excepted were Negative this man hath liv'd innocently and harmlesly all his days but yet uselesly unprofitably in rest and unactive circumstances is not this person an unprofitable servant The servant in the Parable was just such he spent not his Masters talent with riotous living like the Prodigal but laid it up in a Napkin he did neither good nor harm but because he did no good he receiv'd none but was thrown into outer darkness Nec furtum feci nec fugi si mihi dicat Servus habes pretium loris non ureris ajo Horat. Non hominem occidi non pasces in â—ruce corvos An innocent servant amongst the Romans might scape the Furca or the Mill or the Wheel but unless he was useful he was not much made of So it is in Christianity For that which according to Moses was called righteousness according to Christ is poverty and nakedness misery and blindness as appears in the reproof which the Spirit of God sent to the Bishop and Church of Laodicea Rev. 3.15 He thought himself rich when he was nothing that is he was harmless but not profitable innocent according to the measures of the law but not rich in good works So the Pharisees also thought themselves just by the justice of the law that is by their abstinence from condemned evils and therefore they refus'd to buy of Christ the Lord gold purified in the fire whereby they might become rich that is they would not accept of the righteousness of God the justice Evangelical and therefore they were rejected And thus to this very day do we Even many that have the fairest reputation for good persons and honest men reckon their hopes upon their innocence and legal freedoms and outward compliances that they are no liars nor swearers no drunkards nor gluttons no extortioners or injurious no thieves nor murtherers but in the mean time they are unprofitable servants not instructed not throughly prepared to every good work not abounding in the work of the Lord but blinde and poor and naked just but as the Pharisees innocent but as Heathens In the mean time they are only in that state to which Christ never made the promises of eternal life and joys hereafter Now if this be true in one period it is true in all the periods of our life If he that hath always liv'd thus innocently and no more that is a Heathen and a Pharisee could not by their innocence and proper righteousness obtain Heaven much less shall he who liv'd viciously and contracted filthy habits be accepted by all that amends he can make by such single acts of contrition by which nothing can be effected but that he hates sin and leaves it For if the most innocent by the legal righteousness is still but unprofitable much more is he such who hath prevaricated that and liv'd vilely and now in his amendment begins to enter that state which if it goes no further is still unprofitable They were severe words which our blessed Saviour said Luke 17.10 When ye have done all things which are commanded you say We are unprofitable servants that is when ye have done all things which are commanded in the law he sayes not all things which I shall command you for then we are not unprofitable servants in the Evangelical sense For he that obeys this form of doctrine is a good servant He is the friend of God If ye do whatsoever I command you ye are my friends Joh. 15.14 15. and that is more then profitable servants For I will not call you servants but friends saith our blessed Lord and for you a crown of righteousness is laid up against the day of recompences These therefore cannot be called unprofitable servants but friends sons and heirs for he that is an unprofitable servant shall be cast into outer darkness * To live therefore in innocence onely and according to the righteousness of the law is to be a servant but yet unprofitable and that in effect is to be no heir of the Promises for to these Piety or Evangelicall Righteousness is the onely title Godliness is profitable to all things having the promise of this life and of that which is to come For upon this account the works of the law cannot justifie us for the works of the law at the best were but innocence and ceremonial performances but we are justified by the works of the Gospel that is faith
Sect. 1. Of sins of Infirmity p. 449 Sect. 2 455 Sect. 3 463 Sect. 4 468 Sect. 5 How far an Unregenerate man may goe in the ways of piety and Religion 474 Sect. 6 The Character of the Regenerate estate or person 495 Sect. 7 What are properly and truly sins of Infirmity and how far they can consist with the regenerate estate 499 Sect. 8 Practical advices to be added to the foregoing considerations 515 CHAP. VIII Sect. 1. Of the effect of Repentance viz. Remission of sins p. 527 Sect. 2 Of pardon of sins committed after Baptism 532 Sect. 3 Of the difficulty of obtaining pardon The doctrine and practice of the Primitive Church in this article p. 536 Sect. 4 Of the sin against the Holy Ghost and in what sense it is or may be Unpardonable 550 Sect. 5 555 Sect. 6 The former Doctrines reduc'd to Practice 568 CHAP. IX Sect. 1. Of Ecclesiastical Penance or The fruits of Repentance p. 579 Sect. 2 Of Contrition or godly Sorrow 582 Sect. 3 Of the natures and difference of Attrition and Contrition 599 Sect. 4 Of Confession 605 Sect. 5 Attrition or the imperfect repentance though with absolution is not sufficient 638 Sect. 6 Of Penances or Satisfactions 644 Sect. 7 The former doctrine reduc'd to practise 658 Sect. 8 669 Sect. 9. 680 place this before page 1. Cor contritum et humiliatum Deus non despiciet CHAP. I. The foundation and necessity of Repentance §. 1. Of the indispensable necessity of Repentance in remedy to the unavoidable transgressing the Covenant of Works IN the first entercourse with Man God made such a Covenant as he might justly make out of his absolute dominion and such as was agreeable with those powers which he gave us and the instances in which obedience was demanded For 1. Man was made perfect in his kinde and God demanded of him perfect obedience 2. The first Covenant was the Covenant of Works that is there was nothing in it but Man was to obey or die but God laid but one command upon him that we finde the Covenant was instanced but in one precept In that he fail'd and therefore he was lost There was here no remedy no second thoughts no amends to be made But because much was not required of him and the Commandement was very easie and he had strengths more then enough to keep it therefore he had no cause to complain God might and did exact at first the Covenant of Works because it was at first infinitely tolerable But From this time forward this Covenant began to be hard and by degrees became impossible not onely because mans fortune was broken and his spirit troubled and his passions disordered and vext by his calamity and his sin but because man upon the birth of children and the increase of the world contracted new relations and consequently had new duties and obligations and men hindred one another and their faculties by many means became disorder'd and lessen'd in their abilities and their will becoming perverse they first were unwilling and then unable by superinducing dispositions and habits contrary to their duty However because there was a necessity that man should be tied to more duty God did in the several periods of the world multiply Commandements first to Noah then to Abraham and then to his posterity and by this time they were very many And still God held over mans head the Covenant of Works Upon the pressure of this Covenant all the world did complain Tanta mandata sunt ut impossbile sit servari ea In cap. 3. Gal. said S. Ambrose the Commandements were so many and great that it was impossible they should be kept For at first there were no promises at all of any good nothing but a threatning of evil to the transgressors and after a long time they were entertain'd but with the promise of temporal good things which to some men were perform'd by the pleasures and rewards of sin and then there being a great imperfection in the nature of man it could not be that man should remain innocent and for repentance in this Covenant there was no regard or provisions made But I said The Covenant of Works was still kept on foot How justly will appear in the sequel but the reasonableness of it was in this that men living in a state of awfulness might be under a pedagogy or severe institution restraining their loosenesses recollecting their inadvertencies uniting their distractions For the world was not then prepar'd by spirituall usages and dispositions to be governed by love and an easie yoke but by threatnings and severities And this is the account S. Paul gives of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law was a Schoolmaster Gal. 3.24 that is had a temporary authority serving to other ends with no finall concluding power It could chastise and threaten but it could not condemn it had not power of eternall life and death that was given by other measures But because the world was wilde and barbarous good men were few the bad potent and innumerable and sin was conducted and help'd forward by pleasure and impunity it was necessary that God should superinduce a law and shew them the rod and affright and check their confidences lest the world it self should perish by dissolution The law of Moses was still a part of the Covenant of Works Some little it had of repentance Sacrifice and expiations were appointed for small sins but nothing at all for greater Every great sin brought death infallibly And as it had a little image of Repentance so it had something of Promises to be as a grace and auxiliary to set forward obedience But this would not do it The promises were temporall and that could not secure obedience in great instances and there being for them no remedy appointed by repentance the law could not justifie it did not promise life Eternall nor give sufficient security against the Temporall onely it was brought in as a pedagogy for the present necessity But this pedagogy or institution was also a manuduction to the Gospel For they were used to severe laws that they might the more readily entertain the holy precepts of the Gospel to which eternally they would have shut their ears unless they had had some preparatory institution of severity and fear And therefore S. Paul also calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pedagogy or institution leading unto Christ For it was this which made the world of the Godly long for Christ as having commission to open the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hidden mystery of Justification by Faith and Repentance For the law called for exact obedience but ministred no grace but that of fear which was not enough to the performance or the engagement of exact obedience All therefore were here convinced of sin but by this Covenant they had no hopes and therefore were to expect relief from another and a better Gal. 3.22 according to that saying of S. Paul The
Scripture concludes all under sin that is declares all the world to be sinners that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that beleeve This S. Bernard expresses in these words Deus nobis hoc fecit ut nostram imperfectionem ostenderet Christi avidiores nos faceret Our imperfection was sufficiently manifest by the severity of the first Covenant that the world might long for salvation by Jesus Christ For since mankinde could not be saved by the Covenant of works that is of exact obedience they must perish for ever or else hope to be sav'd by a Covenant of ease and remission that is such a Covenant as may secure Mans duty to God and Gods mercy to Man and this is the Covenant which God made with mankinde in Christ Jesus the Covenant of Repentance This Covenant began immediately after Adams fall For as soon as the first Covenant the Covenant of works was broken God promised to make it up by an instrument of mercy which himself would finde out The Seed of the woman should make up the breaches of the man But this should be acted and published in its own time not presently In the mean time man was by virtue of that new Covenant or promise admitted to Repentance Adam confessed his sin and repented Three hundred years together did he mourn upon the mountains of India and God promised him a Saviour by whose obedience his repentance should be accepted And when God did threaten the old world with a floud of waters he called upon them to repent but because they did not God brought upon them the floud of waters For 120. years together he called upon them to return before he would strike his final blow Ten times God tried Pharaoh before he destroyed him And in all ages in all periods and with all men God did deal by this measure and excepting that God in some great cases or in the beginning of a Sanction to establish it with the terror of a great example he scarce ever destroyed a single man with temporal death for any nicety of the law but for long and great prevarications of it and when he did otherwise he did it after the man had been highly warned of the particular and could have obeyed easily which was the case of the man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath and was like the case of Adam who was upon the same account judged by the Covenant of works This then was an emanation both of Gods justice and his mercy Until man had sinned he was not the subject of mercy and if he had not then receiv'd mercy the infliction had been too severe and unjust since the Covenant was beyond the measures of man after it began to multiply into particular laws and man by accident was lessen'd in his strengths From hence the corollaries are plain 1. God was not unjust for beginning his entercourse with mankind by the Covenant of works for these reasons 1. Because Man had strengths enough to doe it until he lessen'd his own abilities 2. The Covenant of works was at first instanc'd but in a small Commandement in abstaining from the fruit of one tree when he had by him very many others for his use and pleasure 3. It was necessary that the Covenant of works should begin for the Covenant of faith and repentance could not be at first there was no need of it no opportunity for it it must suppose a defailance or an infirmity as physick supposes sickness and mortality 4. God never exacted the obedience of Man by strict measures by the severity of the first Covenant after Adams fall but men were sav'd then as now they were admitted to repentance and justified by faith and the works of faith And therefore the Jews say that three things were before the world The Law the name of the Messias and Repentance 1 Cor. 2.7 that is as S. Paul better expresses it This Repentance through faith in the Messias is the hidden wisdome of God ordained before the world unto our glory So that at first it was not impossible and when it was it was not exacted in the impossible measure but it was kept in pretence and overture for ends of piety wisdome and mercy of which I have given account it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wise dispensation but it was hidden For since it is essentiall to a law that it be in a matter that is possible Plato lib 5. de leg Demosth contra Timocratem Plutar. in Solon Curius Fortunatianus Rhet. Nemo obligatur ad impossibile it cannot be suppos'd that God would judge man by an impossible Commandement A good man would not doe it much lesse the righteous and mercifull Judge of Men and Angels But God by holding over the world the Covenant of works non fecit praevaricatores sed humiles did not make us sinners by not observing the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the minutes and tittles of the law but made us humble needing mercy begging grace longing for a Saviour relying upon a better Covenant waiting for better promises praying for the Spirit of grace repenting of our sins deploring our infirmities and justified by faith in the promises of God 2. This then is the great introduction and necessity of repentance We neither could have liv'd without it nor have understood the way of the Divine Justice nor have felt any thing of his most glorious attribute But the admission of us to repentance is the great verification of his justice and the most excellent expression of his mercy This is the mercy of God in Jesus Christ springing from the fountains of grace purchas'd by the bloud of the Holy Lamb the Eternal sacrifice promised from the beginning always ministred to mans need in the secret Oeconomy of God but proclaim'd to all the world at the revelation of God incarnate the first day of our Lord Jesus But what are we eased now under the Gospel which is a Law of greater holiness and more Commandements and a sublimer purity in which we are tied to more severity then ever man was bound to under any institution and Covenant If the Law was an impossible Commandement who can say he hath strictly and punctually perform'd the injunctions of the Gospel Is not the little finger of the Son heavier then the Fathers loyns Here therefore it is to be inquired Whether the Commandements of Jesus Christ be as impossible to be kept as the Law of Moses If we by Christ be tied to more holiness then the sons of Israel were by Moses Law then because that could not be kept then neither can this But if we be not tied to more then they how is the law of Christ a more perfect institution and how can we now be justified by a law no better then that by which we could not be justified But then if this should be as impossible as ever why is it anew imposed why is it held over us when the
Hom. 3◠inter 19. Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is impious to say the Commandements of the Spirit i.e. of the Gospel are impossible viz. in that sense in which they are exacted But now to the second inquiry Since in justice God exacts not an impossible law how does it consist with his wisdome to impose what in justice he does not exact I answer 1. That it was necessary the Law in its latitude and natural extension should be given for if in the sanction any limits and lessenings had been described it had been a permission given to us to despise him in a certain degree and could in no sense have been proportionable to his infinity God commands us to love him with all our hearts and all our strengths that is alwayes and with all that we can if less then this had been imposed and we commanded to love God but to a less and a certain proportion besides that it would not have been possible for us to understand when we did what was commanded it would have been either a direct lessening our opinion of God by tempting us to suppose no more love was due to him then such a limited measure or else a teaching us not to give him what was his due either of which must necessarily tend to Gods dishonour 2. The commanding us to do all that we can and that alwayes though less be exacted does invite our greatest endevours it entertains the faculties and labours of the best and yet despises not the meanest for they can endevour too and they can do their best and it serves the end of many graces besides and the honour of some of the Divine Attributes 3. By this means still we are contending and pressing forwards and no man can say he does now comprehend or that his work is done till he die and therefore for ever he must grow in grace which could not be without the proposing of a Commandement the performance of which would for ever sufficiently imploy him for by this means the Commandements do every day grow more possible then at first In epistolâ ad Innocentium dictum est multos Catholicos viros dixisse posse hominem esse sine peccato per gratiam Dei non à nativitate sed à conversione A lustful person thinks it impossible to mortifie his lust but when he hath long contended and got the mastery it grows easie and at last in the progressions of a long piety sin is more impossible then duty is He that is born of God sinneth not neither indeed can he so S. John and Through Christ that strengthens me I can do all things saith S. Paul It is long before a man comes to it but the impossibility by degrees turns into a possibility and that into an easiness and at last into a necessity It is a trouble for some to commit a sin By this also we exercise a holy fear and work out our salvation with fear and trembling It enlarges our care and endears our watchfulness and caution It cures or prevents our pride and bold challenges of God for rewards which we never can deserve It convinces us of the necessity of the Divine aid and makes us to relie upon Gods goodness in helping us and his mercy in pardoning us and truly without this we could neither be so sensible of our infirmities nor of the excellent gifts and mercies of God for although God does not make necessities on purpose that he may serve them or introduce sin that he might pardon it yet he loves we should depend upon him and by these rare arts of the Divine Oeconomy make us to strive to be like him and in the midst of our finite abilities have infinite desires that even so we may be disposed towards the holiness and glories of eternity 4. Although God exacts not an impossible law under eternal and insufferable pains yet he imposes great holiness in unlimited and indefinite measures with a design to give excellent proportions of reward answerable to the greatness of our endeaovur Hell is not the end of them that fail in the greatest measures of perfection but great degrees of Heaven shall be their portion who do all that they can alwayes and offend in the fewest instances For as our duty is not limited so neither are the degrees of glory and if there were not this latitude of duty neither could there be any difference in glory neither could it be possible for all men to hope for heaven but now all may The meanest of Gods servants shall go thither and yet there are greater measures for the best and most excellent services Thus we may understand that the imposing of the Divine Laws in all the periods of the world was highly consistent with the Divine Justice and an excellent infinite wisdome and yet in the exacting them Mercy prevail'd because the Covenant of Works or of exact obedience was never the rule of life and death since the Saviour of the world was promised that is since the fall of Adam but all Mankinde was admitted to repentance and wash'd clean in the blood of the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world and was slain from the beginning of it Repentance was the measure of our duty and the remedy for our evils and the Commandements were not impossible to him that might amend what was done amiss §. 3. How Repentance and the Precept of Perfection Evangelicall can stand together THat the Gospel is a Covenant of Repentance is evident in the whole design and nature of the thing in the preparatory Sermons made by the Baptist by the Apostles of our Lord by the seventy two Disciples and the Exhortations made by S. Peter at the first opening the Commission and the secret of the Religion Which Doctrine of Repentance lest it should be thought to be a permission to sin a leave to need the remedy is charged with an addition of a strict and severe holiness the Precept of Perfection It therefore must be such a repentance as includes in it perfection and yet the perfection is such as needs repentance How these two are to stand together is the subject of the present inquiry Mat. 5.48 Be ye therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect that 's the charge To be perfect as God and yet to repent as a Man seem contrary to each other They seem so onely For 1. It does not signifie perfection of degrees in the natural sense of the word For as Philo said well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perfections and the heights of excellencies are onely proper to one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Clemens of Alexandria God alone is wise he alone is perfect All that we do is but little and that little is imperfect and that imperfection is such as could be condemned if God did not use gentleness and mercy towards us But 2. Although perfection of degrees cannot be understood to be our duty in the periods and
we believe to be a sin Now that God requires no more and that we can do thus much and that good men from their conversion do thus much though in differing degrees is evident upon plain experience and the foregoing considerations I conclude with the words of the Arausican Councel Omnes baptizati Christo auxiliante cooperante possunt debent quae ad salutem pertineut si fidelitèr laborare voluerint adimplere All baptized Christians may by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ if they will faithfully labour perform and fulfill all things that belong to their salvation The summe of all is this The state of regeneration is perfection all the way even when it is imperfect in its degrees The whole state of a Christians life is a state of perfection Sincerity is the formality or the Soul of it A hearty constant endevour is the Body or materiall part of it And the Mercies of God accepting it in Christ and assisting and promoting it by his Spirit of Grace is the third part of its constitution it is the Spirit This perfection is the perfection of Men not of Angels and it is as in the perfection of Glory where all are perfect yet all are not equal Every regenerate man hath that perfection without which he cannot be accepted but some have this perfection more some less It is the perfection of state but the perfection of degrees is not yet Here men are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made perfect according to the measure of their Fathers as Porphyrie express'd it that is by the measures of mortality or as it pleases God to enable and accept them §. 4. The former Doctrine reduc'd to Practise 1. THe Law is either taken for the Law of Moses or the Law of Works The Law of Works is that Empire and Dominion which God exercised over man using his utmost right and obliging man to the rigorous observation of all that Law he should impose upon him And in this sense it was a Law of death not of life for no man could keep it and they that did not might not live This was impos'd on Adam onely But when God brought Israel out of Egypt he began to make a Covenant with them with some compliance to their infirmities For because little things could not be avoided Sacrifices were appointed for their expiation which was a mercy as the other was a misery a repentance as the sin But for great sins there was no Sacrifice appointed no repentance ministred And therefore still we were in the ministration of death for this mercy was not sufficient as yet it was not possible for a man to be justified by the Law It threatned sinners with death it inflicted death it did not promise eternal life it ministred no grace but fear and temporal hope It was written in Tables of stone not in their hearts that is the material parts of the Law of Moses was not consonant to natural and essential reason but arbitrary impositions they were not perfective of a man but very often destructive This was a little alteration or ease of the Covenant of Works but not enough From this state of evil things we were freed by Christ The Law was called the letter the ministration of death the ministration of condemnation the old Testament apt to amaze and confound a sinner but did not give him any hopes of remission no glimpse of heaven no ministery of pardon But the Gospel is called the Spirit or the ministration of the Spirit the law of faith the law of liberty it ministers repentance it enjoyns holiness it gives life and we all have hopes of being saved This which is the state of things in which the whole world is represented in their several periods is by some made to be the state of every returning sinner and men are taught that they must pass through the terrors of the Law before they can receive the mercies of the Gospel The Law was a Schoolmaster to bring the Synagogue to Christ it was so to them who were under the Law but it cannot be so to us who are not under the law but under grace For if they mean the law of Works or that imposition which was the first entercourse with man they lose their title to the mercies of the Gospel If they mean the law of Moses then they do not stand fast in the liberty by which Christ hath made them free But whatsoever the meaning be neither of them can concern Christians For God hath sent his Son to establish a better Covenant in his blood to preach repentance to offer pardon to condemn sin in the flesh to publish the righteousness of God to convince the world of sin by his holy Spirit to threaten damnation not to sinners absolutely but absolutely to the impenitent and to promise and give salvation to his Sons and Servants 1. The use that we Christians are to make of the Law is onely to magnifie the mercies of God in Jesus Christ who hath freed us from so severe a Covenant who does not judge us by the measures of an Angel but by the span of a mans hand But we are not to subject our selves so much as by fiction of law or fancy to the curse and threatnings of the Covenant of Works or of Moses Law though it was of more instances and less severity by reason of the allowance of Sacrifices for expiation 2. Every Christian man sinning is to consider the horrible threatnings of the Gospel the severe intermination of eternal pains the goodness of God leading to repentance the severity of his Justice in exacting great punishments of criminals the reasonableness of this Justice punishing such persons intolerably who would not use so great a grace in so pleasing a service for the purchase of so glorious a reward The terrors of the Law did end in temporal death they could affright no further but in the Gospel Heaven and Hell were opened and laid before all mankinde and therefore by these measures a sinner is to enter into the sorrows of contrition and the care of his amendment And it is so vain a thing to think every sinner must in his repentance pass under the terrors of the Law that this is a very destruction of that reason for which they are fallen upon the opinion The Law is not enough to affright sinners and the terrors of the Gospel are farre more to persevering and impenitent sinners then the terrors of the Law were to the breakers of it The cause of the mistake is this The Law was more terrible then the Gospel is because it allowed no mercy to the sinner in great instances But the Gospel does But then if we compare the state of those men who fell under the evils of the Law with these who fall under the evils threatned in the Gospel we shall finde these to be in a worse condition then those by farre as much as hell is worse then being stoned to death
or thrust through with a sword This we are taught by that excellent Author of the Divine Epistle to the Hebrews Heb. 10.28 29. He that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was saenctified an unholy thing and hath done despite to the Spirit of Grace So that under the Gospel he that sins and repents is in a farre better condition then he that sinn'd under the Law and repented For repentance was not then allowed of the man was to die without mercy But he that sins and repents not is under the Gospel in a farre worse condition then under the Law for under the Gospel he shall have a farre sorer punishment then under the Law was threatned Therefore let no man mistake the mercies of the New Covenant or turn the grace of God into wantonness The mercies of the Gospel neither allow us to sin nor inflict an easier punishment but they oblige us to more holiness under a greater penalty In pursuance of which I adde 3. The Covenant by which mankinde must now be judged is a Covenant of more Mercy but also of more holiness and therefore let no man think that now he is disobliged from doing good works by being admitted to the Covenant of Faith For though the Covenants are oppos'd as Old and New as a worse and a better yet Faith and Works are not oppos'd We are in the Gospel tied to more and to more excellent works then ever the subjects of any Law were but if after a hearty endevour we fall into infirmity and still strive against it we are pitied here but there we were not Under the first Covenant the Covenant of Works no endevour was sufficient because there was no allowance made for infirmities no abatements for ignorance no deductions of exact measures no consideration of surprises passions folly and inadvertency but under the New Covenant our hearty endevour is accepted but we are tied to endevour higher and more excellent things then they But he that thinks this mercy gives him liberty to do what he please loses the mercy and mistakes the whole design and Oeconomy of Gods loving kindness 4. To every Christian it is enjoyned that they be perfect that is according to the measure of every one Which perfection consists in doing our endevour He that does not do that must never hope to be accepted because he refuses to serve God by something that is in his power But he that does that is sure that God will not refuse it because we cannot be dealt withall upon any other account but by the measures of what is in our power and for what is not we cannot take care 5. To do our endevour or our best is not to be understood equally in all the periods of our life according to the work or effect it self nor according to our natural powers but it is accounted for by the general measures and great periods of our life A man cannot pray alwayes with equal intention nor give the same alms nor equally mourn with sharpness for his sins But God having appointed for every duty proper seasons and solennities hath declared that He does his best who heartily endevours to do the duty in its proper season But it were well we would remember that he that did a good act to day can do the same to morrow in the same circumstances and he that yesterday fought a noble battel and resisted valiantly can upon the same terms contend as manfully every day if he will consider and watch And though it will never be that men will alwayes do as well as at some times yet when at any time they commit a sin it is not because they could not but because they would not help it 6. He that would be approved in doing his best must omit no opportunity of doing a good action because when it is plac'd in its proper circumstances God layes his hand upon it and calls to have it done and there can be no excuse for the omission He does not do his best that does not do that Because such a person does voluntarily omit the doing of a good without just cause and that cannot proceed from an innocent principle 7. He that leaves any thing undone which he is commanded to do or does what he is commanded to forbear and considers or chooses so to do does not do his best cannot plead his privilege in the Gospel but is fallen under the portion of sinners and will die if he does not repent and make it up some way or other by sorrow and a future diligence 8. To sin against our Conscience can at no hand consist with the duty of Christian perfection Because he loves not God with all his heart nor serves him with all his strength who gives some of his strength and some of his affection to that which God forbids 9. No man must account that he does his duty that is his best or according to the perfection requir'd of Christians but he that does better and better and grows toward the measures of the fulness of Christ For perfection is an infinite word and it could not be communicated to several persons of different capacities and degrees but that there is something common to them all which hath analogy and equivalent proportions Now nothing can be perfect but that to which nothing is wanting and therefore a man is not any way perfect but by doing all all that he can for then nothing is wanting to him when he hath put forth all his strength For perfection is not to be accounted by comparing the subjects which are perfect for in that sense nothing is perfect but God but perfection is to be reckoned by every mans own proportions For a body may be a perfect body though it have not the perfection of a soul and a man is perfect when he is heartily and intirely Gods servant though he have not the perfection of S. Paul as a man is a meek man though he be not so meek as Moses or Christ But he is not meek if he keeps any fierceness or violence within * But then because to be more perfect is incident with humane nature he that does not endevour to get as much as he can and more then he hath he hath not the perfection of holy desires Therefore 10. Every person that is in the state of grace and designs to do his duty must think of what is before him not what is past of the stages that are not yet run not of those little portions of his course he hath already finish'd Vt cum carceribus missos rapit ungula currus Horat. Serm. l. 1 Satyr 1. Inflat equis auriga suos vincentibus illum Praeteritum temnens extremos inter euntem For so did the Contenders in the Olympick
the prescription of whatsoever is pleasing and acceptable to God whatsoever he will reward with mighty glories So loving God with all our heart with all our soul Mat. 22.37 and all our minde and all our strength is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first and the great Commandement that is nothing is more pleasing nothing is more acceptable to God because it proceeds out of an excellent love But some Commandements are propounded as to friends some as to servants some under the threatning of horrible pains others not so but with the proposition and under the invitation by glorious rewards It was commanded to S. Paul to preach the Gospel if he had not obeyed he should have perished Woe is me saith he if I preach not the Gospel he was bound to do it But he had another Commandment also to love God as much as was possible and to love his neighbour which precepts were infinite and of an unlimited signification and therefore were left to every servants choice to do them with his several measures of affection and zeal He that did most did the Commandement best and therefore cannot be said to do more then was commanded but he that does less if he preaches the Gospel though with a less diligence and fewer advantages he obeys the Commandement but not so nobly as the other For example God commands us to pray He obeys this that constantly and devoutly keeps his morning and evening Sacrifice offering devoutly twice a day He that prayes thrice a day does better and he that prayes seven times a day hath done no work of supererogation but does what he does in pursuance of the Commandement All the difference is in the manner of doing what is commanded for no man can do more then he is commanded But some do it better some less perfectly but all is comprehended under this Commandement of loving God with all our hearts When a father commands his children to come to him he that comes slowly obeyes the commandement but he that runs does obey more willingly and readily now though to come running was left to the choice of the childes affection yet it was but a brisk pursuance of the commandement Thus when he that is bound to pay Tithes gives the best portion or does it cheerfully without contention in all questions taking the worse of the thing and the better of the duty does what he is commanded and he does it with the affection of a son and of a friend he loves his duty Be angry but sin not so it is in the Commandement but he that to avoid the sin will endevour not to be angry at all is the greater friend of God by how much the further he stands off from sin Thus in all doubts to take the surest side to determine alwayes for Religion when without sin we might have determin'd for interest to deny our selves in lawful things to do all our duty by the measures of Love and of the Spirit are instances of this filial obedience and are rewarded by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a perswasion and confidence of Gods love to us enabling us to call him Father as well as Lord. Thus this Parable or one like it is told in the book of Hermas The Lord commanded his servant to put pales about his vineyard He did so and digg'd a ditch besides and rooted out all the weeds which when his Lord observ'd he made him coheir with his son When S. Paul exhorted the Corinthians to give a free contribution to the poor Saints at Jerusalem he invites to do it nobly cheerfully not as of constraint for Gods Commandement nam'd not the summe neither can the degree of affection be nam'd but yet God demands all our affection Now in all the affirmative Precepts the duty in the lowest degree is that which is now made necessary under the loss of all our hopes of Eternity but all the further degrees of the same duty are imposed upon the condition of greater rewards and other collaterall advantages of duty When Hystaspes ask'd Cyrus the Persian why he preferr'd Chrysantas before him since he did obey all his Commands The Prince answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysantas does not stay till he is called and he does not onely what is commanded but what is best what he knows is most pleasing to me So does every perfect man according to the degrees of his love and his perfection Clem. Alex. Strom. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The righteousness of a perfect man consists not in legal innocence but in love and voluntary obedience This is that charity which is the glory of Christianity the crown of all other graces that which makes all the external works of obedience to be acceptable and every act of the most excellent piety and devotion is a particular of that grace and therefore though it is highly acceptable yet it is also commanded in the general and in the sense before explicated and he that does no more then he is particularly commanded obeys God as a Lion obeys his keeper meat and stripes are all the endearments of his peace and services Qui manet ut moneatur semper serves homo officium suum Plautus Sticho Non voluntate id facere meminit servos is habitu haud probus est The servant that must be called upon at every step is but an unprofitable and unworthy person To do onely what we are commanded will never bring us to the portion and inheritance of Sons We must do this chearfully and we must do more even contend to please God with doing that which is the righteousness of God striving for perfection till perfection it self becomes perfect still obeying that law of Sons Love the Lord with all thy heart till our charity it self is crown'd Therefore 13. Let no man propound to himself a limit of duty saying he will go so far and go no further For the Commandement is infinite and though every good man obeys it all the way of his holy conversation yet it shall not be finish'd till his life is done But he that stints himself to a certain measure of love hath no love at all for this grace grows for ever and when the object is infinite true love is not at rest till it hath possess'd what is infinite and therefore towards that there must be an infinite progression never stopp'd never ceasing till we can work no more 14. Let every man be humbled in the sense of his failings and infirmities De spir lit c. 36. Multum in hâc vitâ ille profecit qui quà m longè sit à perfectione justitiae proficiendo cognovit said S. Austin It is a good degree of perfection to have proceeded so farre as well to know and observe our own imperfections The Scripture concludes all under sin not onely because all have fail'd of the Covenant of Works of the exactness of obedience but by reason of their prevarication of that law
which they can obey And indeed no man could be a sinner but he that breaks that law which he could have kept We were all sinners by the Covenant of Works but that was in those instances where it might have been otherwise For the Covenant of Works was not impossible because it consisted of impossible Commandements for every Commandement was kept by some or other and all at some times but therefore it was impossible to be kept because at some time or other men would be impotent or ignorant or surpris'd and for this no abatement was made in that Covenant But then since in what every man could help he is found to be a sinner he ought to account it a mighty grace that his other services are accepted In pursuance of this 15. Let no man boast himself in the most glorious services and performances of Religion Qui in Ecclesiâ semper gloriosè granditer operati sunt Epist ad lapsos opus suum Domino nunquam imputaverunt as S. Cyprian's expression is They who have greatly served God in the Church and have not been forward to exact and challenge their reward of God they are such whom God will most certainly reward For humility without other external works is more pleasing to God then pride though standing upon heaps of excellent actions It is the saying of S. Chrysostome * For if it be as natural to us to live according to the measures of reason as for beasts to live by their nature and instinct what thanks is due to us for that more then to them for this And therefore one said well Ne te jactes si benè servisti Obsequitur Sol obtemperat Lunae Boast not if thou hast well obeyed The Sun and the Moon do so and shall never be rewarded * But when our selves and all our faculties are from God he hath power to demand all our services without reward therefore if he will reward us it must wholly be a gift to us Concil Aâ—ausic 2. c. 18. Dâ—betur merocs bonis operibus sed gratia quae non debetur praecedit ut fiant that he will so crown our services * But he does not onely give us all our being and all our faculties but makes them also irriguous with the dew of his Divine Grace sending his holy Son to call us to repentance and to die to obtain for us pardon and resurrection and eternal life sending his holy Spirit by rare arguments and aids external and internal to help us in our spiritual contentions and difficulties So that we have nothing of our own and therefore can challenge nothing to our selves * But besides these considerations many sins are forgiven to us and the service of a whole life cannot make recompence for the infinite favour of receiving pardon * Especially since after our amendment and repentance there are remaining such weaknesses and footsteps of our old impieties that we who have daily need of the Divine Mercy and Pity cannot challenge a reward for that which in many degrees needs a pardon for if every act we do should not need some degrees of pardon yet our persons do in the periods of our imperfect workings * But after all this all that we can do is no advantage to God he is not profited or obliged by our services no moments do thence accrew to his felicities and to challenge a reward of God or to think out best services can merit heaven is as if Galileo when he had found out a Star which he had never observed before Job 35.7 and pleased himself in his own fancy should demand of the Grand Signior to make him King of Tunis for what is he the better that the studious man hath pleased himself in his own Art and the Turkish Empire gets no advantages by his new Argument * And this is so much the more material if we consider that the littleness of our services if other things were away could not countervail the least moment of Eternity Rom. 8.18 and the poor Countryman might as well have demanded of Cyrus to give him a Province for his handful of river water as we can expect of God to give us Heaven as a reward of our good works 16. But although this rule relying upon such great and convincing grounds can abolish all proud expectations of reward from God as a debtor for our good works yet they ought not to destroy our modest confidence and our rejoycings in God who by his gracious promises hath not onely obliged himself to help us if we pray to him but to reward us if we work For our God is merciful Psa 62.12 he rewardeth every man according to his work so said David according to the nature and graciousness of the work not according to their value and proper worthiness Mat. 5.12 1 Cor. 3.8 Matt. 16. 27. 2 Cor. 4.17 2 Thess 1.5 Apoc. 3.4 16.6 Rom. 8.18 not that they deserve it but because God for the communication of his goodness was pleased to promise it Promissum quidem ex misericordiâ sed ex justitiâ persolvendum said S. Bernard Mercy first made the promise but Justice payes the debt Which words were true if we did exactly do all that duty to which the reward was so graciously promised but where much is to be abated even of that little which was bound upon us by so glorious promises of reward there we can in no sense challenge Gods justice but so as it signifies equity In Matth. lib. 3. cap. 20. v. 8. and is mingled with the mercies of the chancery Gratis promisit gratis reddit So Ferus God promised freely and payes freely If therefore thou wilt obtain grace and favour make no mention of thy deservings And yet let not this slacken thy work but reinforce it and enlarge thy industry since thou hast so gracious a Lord who of his own meer goodness will so plentifully reward it 17. If we fail in the outward work let it be so ordered that it be as little imputable to us as we can that is let our default not be at all voluntary but wholly upon the accounts of a pityable infirmity For the Law was a Covenant of Works such as they were but the minde could not make amends within for the defect without But in the Gospel it is otherwise for here the will is accepted for the fact in all things where the fact is not in our power But where it is there to pretend a will is hypocrisie Nequam illud verbum est benè vult nisi qui benè facit said the Comedian This rule is our measure in the great lines of duty in all negative Precepts and in the periods of the law of Christ which cannot pass by us without being observed But in the material and external instances of duty we may without our fault be disabled and therefore can only be supplied with our endevours and desires But that is our advantage
both signifie the Gospel For the whole Gospel is nothing else but that glad tidings which Christ brought to all mankinde that the Govenant of Works or exact measures should not now be exacted but men should be saved by second thoughts that is by Repentance and amendment of life through faith in the Lord Jesus That is if we become his Disciples for that is the condition of the Covenant we shall finde mercy our sins shall be blotted out and we shall be saved if we obey heartily and diligently though not exactly This becoming his Disciples is called Faith that is coming to him believing him hoping in him obeying him and consequent to this is that we are admitted to Repentance that is to the pardon of our sins For him hath God exalted on his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 5.31 to give repentance and remission of sins This is the summe Total of the Gospel That we have leave to repent supposes that God will pardon what is past But then that we have leave to repent supposes us also highly bound to it It is in meer pity to our infirmities our needs and our miseries that we have leave to do it and this is given to mankinde by faith in Jesus Christ that is by becoming his Disciples for he hath power to pardon sins and to take them away and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness viz. which we have committed This is that which all the world did need and long'd for it was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hidden mystery from all ages but revealed in Christ whose blood as S. Clement expresses it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brought to all the world the grace of Repentance This is the Gospel For the Gospel is nothing else but Faith and Repentance The Gospel is called Faith by S. Paul Gal. 3.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before that faith came we were under the law shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed that is to the Gospel or the glad tidings of Repentance which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 2. the hearing of faith For Faith being here opposed to the Law that is the Covenant of Mercy to the Covenant of Works must mean the Covenant of Repentance And therefore although if we consider them as proper and particular graces and habits they have differing natures and definitions yet in the general and foederal sense of which I now speak Faith and Repentance are onely distinguished by relations and respects not by substance and reality Acts 20.21 Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ that is Repentance for having sinned against God a Repentance I say through faith in Jesus Christ that is a Repentance procured and preach'd and enjoyn'd by Christ being the summe of his Discipline And that it may appear Faith and Repentance to be the same thing and differing onely in name and manner of expression S. Paul confounds the distinction which he formerly made and that which he called Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus in his Sermons in Asia in his Epistles to the Hebrews he calls Repentance from dead works and faith in God And the words are used for each other promiscuously in S. Luke for that which the rich man in hell called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abraham called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If one comes from the dead they will repent No said Abraham If they will not hear Moses and the Prophets then if one come from the dead they will not believe or be perswaded And S. 2 Pet. 3.9 15. Peter giving an account of the delaying of the coming of the Lord for the punishment of the obdurate Jews and enemies of Christ sayes it is because God of his infinite goodness expects even them also to be converted to the faith or becoming Christians as the whole design of the place infers this he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a coming to Repentance that is to the faith of Christ And therefore the Gospel is nothing else but an universal publication of Repentance and pardon of sins in the Name of Christ that is procured for all them who are his Disciples and to this we are baptized that is adopted into the Religion into that Discipleship under which God requires holiness but not perfect measures sincerity without hypocrisie but not impeccability or perfect innocence And as the Gospel is called Faith and Faith is Repentance that is it is the same Covenant of Grace and Mercy with this onely difference that it is called Faith as it relates to Christ who procured this mercy for us Repentance as it signifies the mercy it self so procured So Baptism by the same analogy is called the Baptism unto Repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Baptism of Repentance so it is called in the Jerusalem Creed that is the admission to the grace of the Gospel which the Fathers of CP in their appendage to the Nicene Creed thus express I believe one Baptism for the remission of sins that is to remission of sins we are admitted by Baptism alone no other way shall we have this grace this title but by being once initiated into the Gospel to be Disciples of Jesus Not that it is to be supposed that our sins are onely pardon'd when we are baptized but that by Baptism we are admitted to the state and grace of Repentance and pardon of sins And this is demonstratively certain not onely upon those many instances of baptized penitents admitted to pardon and baptized Criminals called upon in Scripture to repent but upon the very nature of the Evangelical Covenant and the whole design of Christs coming For if we were not admitted to Repentance after Baptism then we were still to be judged by the Covenant of Works not by the Covenant of Faith and we should inherit by the Law or not at all and not be heirs according to promise and then Christ were dead in vain we are yet in our sins and all the world must perish because all men have sinned and so none should go to heaven but newly baptized Infants or newly baptized Catechumens and how then could the Gospel be a New Covenant it being exactly the same with the Law for so it must be if it promise no mercy or Repentance to them that sin after our admittance to it * But Baptism is a new birth and by it we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 renewed unto Repentance unto that state of life which supposes holiness and imperfection and consequently needs mercy all the way according to that saying Justus ex fide vivet The just shall live by faith that is all our righteousness all our hopes all our spiritual life is conserved by and is relying upon this Covenant of Mercy the Covenant of Faith or Repentance all his life time the just shall still need pardon and finde it if he perseveres in it that is endevours
was enough to signifie that there is difference in the degrees of sin yet because they were eodem sanguine eluenda and without shedding of blood there was no remission they were reckon'd in the same accounts of death and the Divine anger And it is manifest that by the severities and curse of the Law no sin could escape For cursed is he that continues not in every thing written in the law to do them The Law was a Covenant of Works and exact measures There were no venial sins by vertue of that Covenant for there was no remission and without the death of Christ we could not be eased of this state of danger Since therefore that any sin is venial or pardonable is onely owing to the grace of God to the death of Christ and this death pardons all upon the condition of Faith and Repentance and pardons none without it it follows that though sins differ in degree yet they differ not in their natural and essential order to death The man that commits any sin dies if he repents not and he that does repent timely and effectually dies for none The wages of sin is death of sin indefinitely and therefore of all sin and all death for there is no more distinction of sin then death onely when death is threatned indefinitely that death is to be understood which is properly and specifically threatned in that Covenant where the death is named as death temporal in the Law death eternal under the Gospel And thus it appears in a very material instance relating to this question for when our blessed Saviour had threatned the degrees of anger he did it by apportioning several pains hereafter of one sort to the several degrees of the same sin here which he expresses by the several inflictions passed upon Criminals by the Houses of Judgement among the Jews Mat. 5.22 Now it is observable that to the least of these sins Christ assigns a punishment just proportionable to that which the gloss of the Pharisees and the Law it self did to them that committed Murther which was capital He shall be guilty of judgement so we reade it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in the Greek He shall be guilty in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in the Court of Judgement the Assembly of the twenty three Elders and there his punishment was death but the gentlest manner of it the decapitation or smiting him through with the sword and therefore the least punishment hereafter answering to death here can mean no less then death hereafter †Ita interpretantur hunc locum Barradius Maldonatus Estius ad hunc locum apud vetustiores eadem sententia praevaluit Haec enim erat mens Strabi Fuldensis qui glossam ordinariam compilavit Hugonis Cardinalis * And so also was the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that cals Racha shall be guilty that is shall be used as one that stands guilty in the Sanhedrim or Councel meaning that he is to die too but with a severer execution by stoning to death this was the greatest punishment by the houses of judgement for Crucifixion was the Roman manner These two already signify hell in a less degree but as certainly and evidently as the third For though we read Hell-fire in the third sentence onely yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no otherwise signifies Hell then the other two by analogy and proportionable representment The cause of the mistake is this When Christ was pleased to adde yet a further degree of punishment in hell to a further degree of anger and reproach the Jews having no greater then that of stoning by the judgement of the Sanhedrim or Councel he would borrow his expression from that which they and their Fathers too well understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a barbarous custome of the Phoenicians of burning children alive in the valley of Hinnom which in succession of time the Hellenists called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not much unlike the Hebrew word and because by our blessed Lord it was used to signify or represent the greatest pains of hell that were spoken of in that gradation the Christians took the word and made it to be its appellative and to signify the state or place of the damned just as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the garden of Eden is called Paradise But it was no more intended that this should signify Hell then that any of the other two should The word it self never did so before but that and the other two were taken as being the most fearful things amongst them here to represent the degrees of the most intolerable state hereafter just as damnation is called death the second death that because we fear the first as the worst of present evils we may be affrighted with the apprehensions of the latter From this authority it follows that as in the Law no sins were venial but by repentance and sacrifice so neither in the Gospel are they nor in their own nature not by the more holy Covenant of the Gospel but by repentance and mortification For the Gospel hath with greater severity laid restraint upon these minutes and little particles of action and passion and therefore if in the law every transgression was exacted we cannot reasonably think that the least parts of duty which the Gospel superadded with a new and severer caution as great and greater then that by which the law exacted the greatest Commandements can be broken with indemnity or without the highest danger The law exacted all its smallest minutes and therefore so does the Gospel as being a Covenant of greater holiness But as in the law for the smaller transgressions there was an assignment of expiatory rites so is there in the Gospel of a ready repentance and a prepared mercy 7. Lastly those sins which men in health are bound to avoid those sins for which Christ did shed his most precious bloud those sins which a dying man is bound to ask pardon for though he hopes not or desires not to escape temporal death certain it is that those sins are in their nature and in the Oeconomy or dispensation of the Divine threatnings damnable For what can the dying man fear but death eternal and if he be bound to repent and ask pardon even for the smallest sins which he can remember in order to what pardon can that repentance be but of the eternal pain to which every sin by its own demerit naturally descends If he must repent and ask pardon when he hopes not or desires not the temporal it is certain he must repent onely that he may obtain the eternal And they that will think otherwise will also finde themselves deceiv'd in this * For if the damned souls in hell are punish'd for all their sins then the unpardon'd venial sins are there also smarted for But so it is and so we are taught in the doctrine of our great Master If we
his animis incolumes non redeunt genae Trouble and sorrow will better become the spirit of an old sinner because he was a fool when he was young and weak when he is wise that his strengths must be spent in sin and that for God and wise courses nothing remains but weak hands and dim eyes and trembling knees 10. Let not an old sinner and young penitent ever think that there can be a period to his Repentance or that it can ever be said by himself that he hath done enough No sorrow no alms no affliction no patience no Sacraments can be said to have finish'd his work so that he may say with S. Paul I have fought a good fight I have finish'd my course nothing can bring consummation to his work till the day of his death because it is all the way an imperfect state having in it nothing that is excellent or laudable but onely upon the account of a great necessity and misery on one side and a great mercy on the other It is like a man condemn'd to perpetual banishment he is alwayes in his passive obedience but is a debtor to the law until he be dead So is this penitent he hath not finish'd his work or done a Repentance in any measure proportionable to his sins but onely because he can do no more and yet he did something even before it was too late 11. Let an old man in the mortification of his vicious habits be curious to distinguish nature from grace his own disability from the strengths of the Spirit and not think that he hath extirpated the vice of uncleanness when himself is disabled to act it any longer or that he is grown a sober person because he is sick in his stomack and cannot drink intemperately or dares not for fear of being sick His measures must be taken by the account of his actions and oppositions to his former sins and so reckon his comfort 12. But upon whatever account it come he is not so much to account concerning his hopes or the performance of his duty by abstaining from sin as by doing of good For besides that such a not committing of evil may be owing to weak or insufficient principles this not committing evil in so little a time cannot make amends for the doing it so long together according to the usual accounts of Repentance unless that abstaining be upon the stock of vertue and labour of mortification and resistance and then every abstinence is also a doing good for it is a crucifying of the old man with the affections and lusts But all the good that by the grace of God he superadds is matter of choice and the proper actions of a new life 13. After all this done vigorously holily with fear and caution with zeal and prudence with diligence and an uninterrupted observation the old man that liv'd a vile life but repents in time though he staid as long as he could and much longer then he should yet may live in hope and die in peace and charity To this purpose they are excellent words which S. Serm. 28. de temp Austin said Peradventure some will think that he hath committed such grievous faults that he cannot now obtain the favour of God Let this be farre from the conceits of all sinners O man whosoever thou art that attendest that multitude of thy sins wherefore doest thou not attend to the Omnipotency of the Heavenly Physician For since God will have mercy because he is good and can because he is Almighty he shuts the gate of the Divine Goodness against himself who thinks that God cannot or will not have mercy upon him and therefore distrusts either his Goodness or his Almightiness The proper Repentance and usage of sinners who repent not until their death-bed The inquiry after this article consists in these particulars 1. What hopes are left to a vicious ill liv'd man that repents on his death-bed and not before 2. What advices are best or can bring him most advantage That a good life is necessary * that it is requir'd by God * that it was design'd in the whole purpose of the Gospel * that it is a most reasonable demand and infinitely recompensed by the very smallest portions of Eternity * That it was called for all our life and was exacted by the continual voyce of Scripture of Mercies of Judgement of Prophets * That to this very purpose God offered the assistance of his holy Spirit and to this ministery we were supplied with preventing with accompanying and persevering grace that is powers and assistances to begin and to continue in well doing * That there is no distinct Covenant made with dying men differing from what God hath admitted between himself and living healthful persons * That it is not reasonable to think God will deal more gently with persons who live viciously all their lives and that at an easier rate they may expect salvation at the hands of God whom they have so provoked then they who have serv'd him faithfully according to the measures of a man * or that a long impiety should be sooner expiated then a short one * That the easiness of such as promise heaven to dying penitents after a vicious life is dangerous to the very being and constitution of piety * and scandalous to the honour and reputation and sanctity of the Christian Religion * That the grace of God does leave those that use it not * That therefore the necessity of dying men increases and their aids are lessen'd and almost extinguished * That they have more to doe then they have either time or strength to finish * That all their vows and holy purposes are useless and ineffective as to their natural production and that in their case they cannot be the beginnings of a succeeding duty and piety because for want of time it never can succeed * That there are some conditions and states of life which God hath determin'd never to pardon * That there is a sin unto death for which because we have no incouragement to pray it is certain there is no hope for it is impossible but it must be very fit to pray for all them to whom the hope of pardon is not precluded * That there is in Scripture mention made of an ineffective repentance and of a repentance to be repented of and that the repentance of no state is so likely to be it as this * That what is begun and produc'd wholly by affrightment is not esteem'd matter of choyce nor a pleasing sacifice to God * That they who sow to the flesh shall reap in the flesh and the final judgement shall be made of every man according to his works * That the full and perfect descriptions of repentance in Scripture are heaps and conjugations of duties which have in them difficulty and require time and ask labour * That those insinuations of duty in Scripture of the need of patience and diligence and watchfulness and the
with weeping and on my eie-lids is the shadow of death Not for any injustice in my hand also my prayer is pure Wretched man that I am Rom. 7.24 who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God I am delivered through Jesus Christ our Lord. But now being made free from sin 6.22 and become servants of God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life For the wages of sin is death But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies V. 12,14 that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof For sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but under grace The PRAYER O Almighty God great Father of Men and Angels thou art the preserver of men and the great lover of souls thou didst make every thing perfect in its kinde and all that thou didst make was very good onely we miserable creatures sons of Adam have suffered the falling Angels to infect us with their leprosie of pride and so we entred into their evil portion having corrupted our way before thee and are covered with thy rod and dwell in a cloud of thy displeasure behold me the meanest of thy servants humbled before thee sensible of my sad condition weak and miserable sinful and ignorant full of need wanting thee in all things and neither able to escape death without a Saviour nor to live a life of holiness without thy Spirit O be pleas'd to give me a portion in the new birth break off the bands and fetters of my sin cure my evil inclinations correct my indispositions and natural averseness from the severities of Religion let me live by the measures of thy law not by the evil example and disguises of the world Renew a right spirit within me and cast me not away from thy presence lest I should retire to the works of darkness and enter into those horrible regions where the light of thy countenance never shineth II. I Am ashamed O Lord I am ashamed that I have dishonoured so excellent a Creation Thou didst make us upright and create us in innocence And when thou didst see us unable to stand in thy sight and that we could never endure to be judged by the Covenant of works thou didst renew thy mercies to us in the new Covenant of Jesus Christ and now we have no excuse nothing to plead for our selves much less against thee but thou art holy and pure and just and merciful Make me to be like thee holy as thou art holy merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful obedient as our holy Saviour Jesus meek and charitable temperate and chaste humble and patient according to that holy example that my sins may be pardoned by his death and my spirit renewed by his Spirit that passing from sin to grace from ignorance to the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ I may pass from death to life from sorrow to joy from earth to heaven from the present state of misery and imperfection to the glorious inheritance prepar'd for the Saints and Sons of light the children of the new birth the brethren of our Lord and Brother our Judge and our Advocate our Blessed Saviour and Redeemer JESVS Amen A Prayer to be said by a Matron in behalf of her husband and family that a blessing may descend upon their posterity I. O Eternal God our most merciful Lord and gracious Father thou art my guide the light of mine eyes the joy of my heart the author of my hope and the object of my love and worshippings thou relievest all my needs and determin'st all my doubts and art an eternal fountain of blessing open and running over to all thirsty and weary souls that come and cry to thee for mercy and refreshment Have mercy upon thy servant and relieve my fears and sorrows and the great necessities of my family for thou alone O Lord canst doe it II. FIt and adorn every one of us with a holy and a religious spirit and give a double portion to thy servant my dear husband Give him a wise heart a prudent severe and indulgent care over the children which thou hast given us His heart is in thy hand and the events of all things are in thy disposition Make it a great part of his care to promote the spiritual and eternal interest of his children not to neglect their temporal relations and necessities but to provide states of life for them in which with fair advantages they may live chearfully serve thee diligently promote the interest of the Christian family in all their capacities that they may be alwayes blessed and alwayes innocent devout and pious and may be graciously accepted by thee to pardon and grace and glory through Jesus Christ Amen III. BLess O God my sons with excellent understandings love of holy and noble things sweet dispositions innocent deportment diligent souls chaste healthful and temperate bodies holy and religious spirits that they may live to thy glory and be useful in their capacities to the servants of God and all their neighbours and the Relatives of their conversation Bless my daughters with a humble and a modest carriage and excellent meekness a great love of holy things a severe chastity a constant holy and passionate Religion O my God never suffer them to fall into folly and the sad effects of a wanton loose and indiscreet spirit possess their fancies with holy affections be thou the covering of their eyes and the great object of their hopes and all their desires Blessed Lord thou disposest all things sweetly by thy providence thou guidest them excellently by thy wisdome thou unitest all circumstances and changes wonderfully by thy power and by thy power makest all things work for the good of thy servants Be pleased so to dispose my daughters that if thou shouldst call them to the state of a married life they may not dishonour their family nor grieve their parents nor displease thee but that thou wilt so dispose of their persons and the accidents and circumstances of that state that it may be a state of holiness to the Lord and blessing to thy servants And until thy wisdome shall know it fit to bring things so to pass let them live with all purity spending their time religiously and usefully O most blessed Lord enable their dear father with proportionable abilities and opportunities of doing his duty and charities toward them and them with great obedience and duty toward him and all of us with a love toward thee above all things in the world that our portion may be in love and in thy blessings through Jesus Christ our dearest Lord and most gracious Redeemer IV. O My God pardon thy servant pity my infirmities hear the passionate desires of thy humble servant in thee alone is my trust my heart and all my wishes are towards thee Thou hast
not that I doe meaning I would not lust but I doe lust The same also I finde in Epiphanius Nam quod dictum est Haeres 64. contra Origen Quod operor non cognosco facio quod odio habeo non de eo quod operati sumus ac perfecimus malum accipiendum est sed de eo quod solum cogitavimus Now this interpretation hath in it no impiety as the other hath for these Doctors allow nothing to be unavoidable or a sin of infirmity and consistent with the state of grace and regeneration but the meer ineffective unprocured desitings or lustings after evil things to which no consent is given and in which no delight is taken extraneae cogitationes quas cogitavimus aliquando non volentes non scientes ex quâ causâ Ibid. as Epiphanius expresses this article But S. Aust may be thought to have had some design in choosing this sense as supposing it would serve for an argument against the Pelagians and their sense of Free will For by representing the inevitability of sin he destroyed their doctrine of the sufficiency of our natural powers in order to heaven and therefore by granting that S. Paul complains thus of his own infirmity he believed himself to have concluded firmly for the absolute necessity of Gods grace to help us But by limiting this inevitability of sinning to the matter of desires or concupiscence he gave no allowance or pretence to any man to speak any evil words or to delight or consent to any evil thoughts or to commit any sinful actions upon the pretence of their being sins of an unavoidable infirmity So that though he was desirous to serve the ends of his present question yet he was careful that he did not disserve the interests of Religion and a holy life But besides that the holy Scriptures abound in nothing more then in affirming our needs and the excellency of the Divine grace and S. Austin needed not to have been put to his shifts in this Question it is considerable that his first Exposition had done his business better For if these words of S. Paul be as indeed they are to be expounded of an unregenerate man one under the law but not under grace nothing could more have magnified Gods grace then that an unregenerate person could not by all the force of nature nor the aids of the law nor the spirit of fear nor temporal hopes be redeem'd from the flavery and tyranny of sin and that from this state there is no redemption but by the Spirit of God and the grace of the Lord Jesus which is expresly affirmed and proved by S. Paul if you admit this sense of the words And therefore Irenaeus who did so cites these words to the same effect viz. for the magnifying the grace of God Lib. 3. c. 22. Ipse Dominus erat qui salvabat eos quia per semetipses non habebant salvari Et propter hoc Paulus infirmitatem hominis annuntians ait Scio enim quoniam non habitat in carne mâ—â bonum significans quoniam non à nobis sâ—d à Dec est bonum salutis Et iterum Miser ego homo quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus Deinde infert liberatorem Gratia Jesu Christi Dâ—mini nestri S. Pauls complaint shews our own infirmity and that of our selves we cannot be saved but that our salvation is of God and the grace of our Redeemer Jesus Christ But whatever S. Austins design might be in making the worse choice it matters not much onely to the interpretation it self I have these considerations to oppose 1. Because the phrase is insolent and the exposition violent to render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by concupisâ—ere Rom. 7.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to doe is more then to desire factum dictum concupitum are the several kindes and degrees of sinning assigned by S. Austin himself and therefore they cannot be confounded and one made to expound the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also used here by the Apostle which in Scripture signifies sometimes to sin habitually never less then actually and the other word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies perficere patrare to finish the act at least or to doe a sin throughly and can in no sense be reasonably expounded by natural ineffective and unavoidable desires And it is observable that when S. Austin in prosecution of this device Ver. 18. is to expound those words to will is present with me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to perform what is good I finde not he makes the word to signifie to doe it perfectly which is as much beyond as the other sense of the same word is short What I doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I approve not Therefore the man does not doe his sin perfectly he does the thing imperfectly for he does it against his conscience and with an imperfect choice but he does the thing however So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must signifie to doe the good imperfectly the action it self onely for such was this mans impotency that he could not obtain power to doe even imperfectly the good he desir'd The evil he did though against his minde but the good he could not because it was against the law of sin which reigned in him But then the same word must not to serve ends be brought to signifie a perfect work and yet not to signifie so much as a perfect desire 2. The sin which S. Paul under another person complains of is such a sin as did first deceive him Ver. 11. and then slew him but concupiscence does not kill till it proceeds further as S. James expresly affirms Jam. 1.15 that concupiscence when it hath conceived brings forth sin and sin when it is finished brings forth death which is the just parallel to what S. Ver. 5. Paul says in this very Chapter The * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passions of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death peccatum perpetratum when the desires are acted then sin is deadly the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the passions or first motions of sin which come upon us nobis non volentibus nec scientibus whether we will or no these are not imputed to us unto death but are the matter of vertue when they are resisted and contradicted but when they are consented to and delighted in then it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sin in conception with death and will proceed to action unless it be hindred from without and therefore it is then the same sin by interpretation Adulterium cordis so our blessed Saviour called it in that instance the adultery of the heart but till it be an actual sin some way or other it does not bring forth death 3. It is an improper and ungrammatical manner of speaking to say Nolo concupiscere or Volo non concupiscere I will lust or I will not
literae in quâ fuit secundum autem legem Spiritus cui nos annectit liberat ab infirmitate carnis Lex enim inquit Spiritus vitae manumisit te à lege delinquentiae mortis Licet enim ex parte ex Judaismo disputare videatur sed in nos dirigit integritatem plenitudinem disciplinarum propter quos laborantes in lege per carnem miserit Deus filium suum in similitudinem carnis delinquentiae propter delinquentiam damnaverit delinquentiam in carne Plainly he expounds this Chapter to be meant of a man under the law according to the law of the letter under which himself had been he denied any good to dwel in his flesh but according to the law of the Spirit under which we are plac'd he frees us from the infirmity of the flesh for he saith the law of the Spirit of life hath freed us from the law of sin and death Origen affirms that when S. Paul says In Cap. 7. ad Rom. I am carnal sold under sin tanquam Doctor Ecclesiae personam in semetipsum suscipit infirmorum he takes upon him the person of the infirm that is of the carnal and says those words which themselves by way of excuse or apology use to speak But yet says he this person which S. Paul puts on although Christ does not dwell in him neither is his body the Temple of the holy Ghost yet he is not wholly a stranger from good but by his will and by his purpose he begins to look after good things But he cannot yet obtain to doe them For there is such an infirmity in those who begin to be converted that is whose minde is convinc'd but their affections are not master'd that when they would presently doe all good yet an effect did not follow their desires S. Chrysostome hath a large Commentary upon this Chapter and his sense is perfectly the same Propterea subnexuit dicens Ego verò carnalis sum hominem describens sub lege ante legem degentem S. Paul describes not himself but a man living under and before the law and of such a one he says but I am carnal Who please to see more authorities to the same purpose may finde them in S. Basil a Lib. 1. de Baptism in moral sum 23. c. 2. quaest 16. quaest expl compend Theodoret b In hunc locum in cap. 8 ad Rom. S. Cyril c Contra Julian lib. 3. de rectâ fide ad Regin lib. 1. in epist prior ad Successum Macarius d Homil. 1. S. Ambrose e In hunc locum S. Hierom f In cap 9. Dan. and Theophylact g In hunc locum The words of the Apostle the very purpose and design the whole Oeconomy and analogy of the 6. 7. and 8th Chapters doe so plainly manifest it that the heaping up more testimonies cannot be useful in so clear a case The results are these 1. The state of men under the law was but a state of carnality and of nature better instructed and foundly threatned and set forward in some instances by the spirit of fear only but not cured but in many men made much worse accidentally 2. That to be pleased in the inner man that is in the Conscience to be convinc'd and to consent to the excellency of vertue and yet by the flesh that is by the passions of the lower man or the members of the body to serve sin is the state of Unregeration 3. To doe the evil that I would not and to omit the good that I fain would do when it is in my hand to doe what is in my heart to think is the property of a carnal unregenerate man And this is the state of men in nature and was the state of men under the law For to be under the law and not to be led by the Spirit Gal. 5.18 are all one in S. Pauls account for if ye be led by the Spirit ye are not under the law saith he And therefore to be under the law being a state of not being under the Spirit must be under the government of the flesh that is they were not then sanctified by the Spirit of grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ they were not yet redeemed from their vain conversation Not that this was the state of all the sons of Israel of them that liv'd before the law or after but that the law could doe no more for them or upon them Gods Spirit did in many of them work his own works but this was by the grace of Jesus Christ who was the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world this was not by the works of the law but by the same instruments and grace by which Abraham and all they who are his children by promise were justified But this is the consequent of the third proposition which I was to consider 3. From this state of evil we are redeemed by Christ and by the Spirit of his grace Wretched man that I am quis liberabit who shall deliver me from the body of this death He answers I thank God through Jesus Christ so S Chrysostome Theodoret Theophylact S. Hierom the Greek Scholiast and the ordinary Greek copies doe commonly reade the words in which words there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they are thus to be supplied I thank God through Jesus Christ we are delivered or there is a remedy found out for us But Irenaeus Origen S. Ambrose S. Austin and S. Hierom himself at another time and the vulgar Latin Bibles in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gratia Domini Jesu Christi the grace of God through Jesus Christ That is our remedy he is our deliverer from him comes our redemption For he not onely gave us a better law but also the Spirit of grace he hath pardon'd all our old sins and by his Spirit enables us for the future that we may obey him in all sincerity in heartiness of endevour and real events From hence I draw this argument That state from which we are redeemed by Jesus Christ and freed by the Spirit of his grace is a state of carnality of unregeneration that is of sin and death But by Jesus Christ we are redeemed from that state in which we were in subjection to sin commanded by the law of sin and obeyed it against our reason and against our conscience therefore this state which is indeed the state S. Paul here describes is the state of carnality and unregeneration and therefore not competent to the servants of Christ to the elect people of God to them who are redeemed and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ The parts of this argument are the words of S. Paul and proved in the foregoing periods From hence I shall descend to something that is more immediately practical and cloth'd with circumstances §. 5. How far an Unregenerate man
may goe in the ways of piety and Religion TO this inquiry it is necessary that this be premised That between the regenerate and a wicked person there is a middle state so that it is not presently true that if the man be not wicked he is presently Regenerate Between the two states of so vast a distance it is impossible but there should be many intermedial degrees between the Carnal and Spiritual man there is a Moral man not that this man shall have a different event of things if he does abide there but that he must pass from extreme to extreme by this middle state of participation The first is a slave of sin the second is a servant of righteousness the third is such a one as liveth according to Natural reason so much of it as is left him and is not abused that is lives a probable life but is not renewed by the Spirit of grace one that does something but not all not enough for the obtaining salvation For a man may have gone many steps from his former baseness and degenerous practices and yet not arrive at godliness or the state of pardon like the children of Israel who were not presently in Canaan as soon as they were out of Egypt but abode long in the wilderness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they begin to be instructed that is their state Thou art not far from the kingdome of heaven said our blessed Saviour to a well disposed person but he was not arrived thither he was not a subject of the Kingdome These are such whom our blessed Lord cals The weary and the heavy laden that is such who groan under the heavy pressure of their sins whom therefore he invites to come to him to be eased Such are those whom Saint Paul here describes to be under the law convinced of sin pressed vexed troubled with it complaining of it desirous to be eased Acts 1. These the holy Scripture cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordained disposed to life eternal but these were not yet the fideles or believers but from that fair disposition became believers upon the preaching of the Apostles In this third state of men I account those that sin and repent and yet repent and sin again for ever troubled when they have sinn'd and yet for ever or most frequently sinning when the temptation does return 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They sin and accuse and hate themselves for sinning Now because these men mean well and fain would be quit of their sin at their own rate and are not scandalous and impious they flatter themselves and think all is well with them that they are regenerate and in the state of the Divine favour and if they die so their accounts are ballanc'd and they doubt not but they shall reign as kings for ever To reprove this state of folly and danger we are to observe that there are a great many steps of this progression which are to be passed through and the end is not yet the man is not yet arrived at the state of regeneration 1. An unregenerate man may be convinc'd and clearly instructed in his duty and approve the law and confess the obligation and consent that it ought to be done which S. Paul cals a consenting to the law that it is good and a being delighted in it according to the inward man even the Gentiles which have not the law yet shew the work of the law written in their hearts Rom. 2.14 their thoughts in the mean time accusing or excusing one another The Jews did more they did rest in the law and glory in God knowing his will and approving the things that are more excellent And there are too many who being called Christians know their Masters will and doe it not and this consenting to the law and approving it is so farre from being a sign of regeneration that the vilest and the basest of men are those who sin most against their knowledge and against their consciences In this world a man may have faith great enough to remove mountains and yet be without charity and in the world to come some shall be rejected from the presence of God though they shall ailege for themselves that they have prophecied in the name of Christ * This delight in the law which is in the unregenerate is onely in the understanding The man considers what an excellent thing it is to be vertuous the just proportions of duty the fitness of being subordinate to God the rectitude of the soul the acquiescence and appendent peace and this delight is just like that which is in finding out proportions in Arithmetick and Geometry or the rest in discovering the secrets of a mysterious proposition a man hath great pleasure in satisfactory notices and the end of his disquisition So also it is in moral things a good man is belov'd by every one and there is a secret excellency and measure a musick and proportion between a mans minde and wise counsels which impious and profane persons cannot perceive because they are so full of false measures and weak discourses and vile appetites and a rude inconsideration of the reasonableness and wisdome of sobriety and severe courses But virtus laudatur alget this is all that some men doe and there is in them nothing but a preparation of the understanding to the things of God a faith seated in the rational part a conviction of the minde which as it was intended to lead on the will to action and the other faculties to obedience so now that the effect is not acquired it serves onely to upbraid the man for a knowing and discerning Criminal he hath not now the excuse of ignorance He that complies with an Usurper out of fear and interest in actions prejudicial to the lawful Prince and tells the honest party that he is right in his heart though he be forc'd to comply helps the other with an argument to convince him that he is a false man He that does it heartily and according to a present conscience hath some excuse but he that confesses that he is right in his perswasion and wrong in his practise is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemn'd by himself and professes himself a guilty person a man whom interest and not conscience governs Better it is not to know at all then not to pursue the good we know They that know not God are infinitely far from him but they who know him and yet doe not obey him are sometimes the nearer for their knowledge sometimes the further off but as yet they are not arrived whither it is intended they should go 2. An unregenerate man may with his will delight in goodness and desire it earnestly For in an unregenerate man there is a double appetite and there may be the apprehension of two amabilities The things of the Spirit please his minde and his will may consequently desire that this good were done because it seems beauteous to the rational part to his
we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God The Spirit of God reprov'd some of the Asian Churches for foul misdemeanours Apâ—â—al 2.26 and even some of the Angels the Asian Bishops calling upon them to return to their first love V. 5. and to repent and to doe their first works and to the very Gnosticks and filthiest hereticks he gave space to repent V. 21. and threatned extermination to them if they did not doe it speedily For Baptism is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the admission of us to the Covenant of Faith and Repentance or as Marc the Anchoret call'd it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the introduction to repentance or that state of life that is full of labour and care and amendment of our faults for that is the best life that any man can live and therefore repentance hath its progress after baptism as it hath its beginning before for first repentance is unto baptism and then baptism unto repentance And if it were otherwise the Church had but ill provided for the state of her sons and daughters by commanding the baptism of infants For if repentance were not allowed after then their early baptism would take from them all hopes of repentance and destroy the mercies of the Gospel and make it now to all Christendome a law of works in the greater instances Vide Great Exemplar part 1. Dise of Baptism pag. 175. c. because since in our infancy we neither need nor can perform repentance if to them that sin after baptism repentance be denied it is in the whole denied to them for ever to repent But God hath provided better things for us and such which accompany salvation For besides those many things which have been already consider'd our admission to the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a perpetual entertainment of our hopes because then and there is really exhibited to us the body that was broken and the blood that was shed for remission of sins still it is applied and that application could not be necessary to be done anew if there were not new necessities and still we are invited to doe actions of repentance to examine our selves and so to eat all which as things are order'd would be infinitely useless to mankinde if it did not mean pardon to Christians falling into foul sins even after baptism I shall adde no more but the words of S. 2 Cor. 12 21. Paul to the Corinthians Left when I come again my God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many who have sinn'd already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed Here is a fierce accusation of some of them for the foulest and the basest crimes and a reproof of their not repenting and a threatning them with censures Ecclesiastical I suppose this article to be sufficiently concluded from the premises The necessity of which proof they onely will best beleeve who are severely penitent and full of apprehension and fear of the Divine anger because they have highly deserved it However I have serv'd my own needs in it and the need of those whose consciences have been or shall be so timorous as mine hath deserved to be But against the universality of this doctrine there are two grand objections The one is the severer practice and doctrine of the primitive Church denying repentance to some kinde of sinners after baptism The other the usual discourses and opinions concerning the sin against the holy Ghost Of these I shall give account in the two following sections §. 3. Of the difficulty of obtaining pardon The doctrine and practice of the Primitive Church in this article NOvatianus and Novatus said that the Church had not power to minister pardon of sins except onely in baptism which proposition when they had well digested and considered they did thus explicate That there are some capital sins crying and clamorous into which if a Christian did fall after baptism the Church had nothing to doe with him she could not absolve him This opinion of theirs was a branch of the elder heresy of Montanus De pudic c. 5. c. 9. which had abus'd Tertullian who fiercely declaims against the decree of Pope Zephyrinus because against the custome of his Decessors he admitted adulterers to repentance while at the same time he refus'd idolaters and murderers And this their severity did not seem to be put upon the account of a present necessity or their own zeal or for the avoiding scandal or their love of holiness but upon the nature of the thing it self and the sentences of Scripture An old man of whom Irenaeus makes mention said Lib. 4. c. 45. Non debemus superbi esse neque reprehendere veteres ne fortè post agnitionem Dei agentes aliquid quod non placet Deo remissionem non habeamus ultrà delictorum excludamur à regno ejus We must not be proud and reprove our Fathers lest after the knowledge of God we doing something that does not please God we may no more have remission of our sins but be excluded from his Kingdome To the same purpose is that Canon made by the Gallic Bishops against the false accusers of their brethren ut ad exitum ne communicent that they should not be admitted to the Communion or peace of the Church no not at their death And Pacianus Bishop of Barcinona gives a severe account of the doctrine of the Spanish Churches even in his time and of their refusing to admit idolaters murderers and adulterers to repentance Paraen ad poenit Other sins may be cured by the exercise of good works But these three kill like the breath of a Basilisk and are to be feared like a deadly arrow They that were guilty of such crimes did despair What have I done to you was it not in your power to have let it alone Did no man admonish you Did none foretel the event Was the Church silent Did the Gospels say nothing Did the Apostles threaten nothing Did the Priest intreat nothing of you why doe you seek for late comforts Then you might have sought for them when they were to be had But they that pronounce such men happy doe but abuse you This opinion and the consequent practice had its fate in several places to live longer or die sooner And in Africa the decree of Zephyrinus for the admission of penitent adulterers was not admitted even by the Orthodox and Catholikes S. Cyprian ep 52. but they dissented placidly and modestly and governed their own Churches by the old severity For there was then no thought of any necessity that other Churches should obey the sanctions of the Pope or the decrees of Rome but they retain'd the old Discipline But yet the piety and the reasonableness of the decree of Zephyrinus prevail'd by little and little and adulterers were admitted but the severity stuck longer upon diolaters or apostates
possibility of keeping Gods Commandments 17 Confession due to God 607 35 Why we are to confess sins to God who knoweth them before 610. What properly is meant by it ibid. Auricular confession whence it descended 615. Confession to a Priest is no part of contrition ibid. The benefit of confessing to a Priest 616 43 Rules concerning the practise of confession 669 shame should not hinder confession 673 A rule to be observed by the Minister that receiveth confessions 674 20 Of confessing to a priest or Minister 678 24 Confession in preparation to the Sacrament 678 25 Concupiscence is not mortal till it proceeds further 466 19 Conscience the contention between the flesh and conscience no sign of regeneration 480 29 How to know which prevails in this contention 481 29 Contrition the efficacy of contrition in repentance 281 61 What contrition is 280 59. 582 5. The difference between it and attrition 601. Contrition must not be mistaken for a single act 604. 31 1 Cor. 6.12 explained 122 23. and 10.23 ibid. and 2.14 expl 400 51. and 488 35 and 11.27 expl 566 2 Cor. 5.21 expl 369 15. and 12.21 535 12 Corporal austerities or penances 680 26. they are not simply necessary ibid. Coloss 2.18 expl 478 29 Covenant the opposition between the new and old Covenant is not in respect of faith and works 42 7 S. Cyprian was not the author of that book under his name with the title De coena Domini 285 64 D DEath how to treat a dying man being in despair 277 56 Despair a caution to be observed by them that minister comfort to those who are near to despair 665 10. Considerations to be opposed against the despair of penitent Clinicks 329 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 170 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 178 15 E Ephes 2.2 3. expl 397 48 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes was put to signifie Ecclesiastical Repentance 6â—6 34 645 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 175 10 F FAther how God punishes the fathers sin upon the children â—03 God never imputes the fathers sin to the children so as to inflict eternal punishment but onely temporal 404 54 This God does onely in punishment of the greatest crimes 406 57 and not often 406 58 but before the Gospel was published 407 8 Fasting it is one of the best penances 684 29 Fear to leave a sin out of fear is not sinful but may be accepted 491 Flesh the law of the flesh in man 479 29 The contention between it and the conscience no sign of regeneration 480 29 How to know which prevails in the contention 481 29 Forgiving injuries considered as a part or fruit of repentance 956.84 G GAlat 5.15 16 17 18. expl 481 and 5.24 expl 500 56 and 5.17 expl 554 Ganefis 6.5 exp 392 45 and 8.21 expl 393 46 God no man is tempted of God 437 14 Holy Ghost what is the sin against the Holy Ghost 535 41 Final impenitence proved not to be the sin against the Holy Ghost 556 42 That the sin against the Holy Ghost is pardonable 559 48 In what sense it is affirmed in Scripture that the sin against the Holy Ghost shall not be pardoned in this world nor in the world to come 561 51 52 Gospel difference between it and the Law 4 20 23 Whether the precepts of the Gospel be impossible to be kept 8 What is required in the Gospel 43 9 The Gospel is nothing else but faith and repentance 74 2 Grace to be in the state of grace is of very large signification 189 31 The just measures and latitude of a mans being in the state of grace 190 52 How it works 273 52 H HAbits a single act of sin without a habit gives a denomination 185 25 Sins are damnable that cannot be habitual 184 24 A sinful habit hath a guilt distinct from that of the act 228 1 Sinful habits require a distinct manner of repentance 256 31 seven objections against that assertion answered 272 51 Of infused habits 71 53 The method of mortifying vicious habits 314 9 10 Hands imposition of hands was twice solemnly had in repentance 634 Heaven in a natural estate we cannot hope for heaven 436 10 Hebrews 9.28 expl 369 15 and 7.27 expl 370 17 and 5.23 expl 370 17 and 64 5 6 expl 551 and 10 26 27 expl ibid. Hosea 6.7 expl 366 11. I JAmes 2.10 expl 206 55 Ignorance where it self is no sin the action flowing from it is innocent 515 62 Infants what punishment Adams sin can bring upon Infants that die 375.23 Infirmity that state which some men call a state of infirmity is a state of sin and death 473 25 What are sins of infirmity 500 47 sins of infirmity consist more in the imperfection of obedience then in the commission of any evil 502 49 A sin of infirmity cannot be but in a small matter 505 52 What are not sins of infirmity 507.53 Violence of passion excuseth not under the title of sins of infirmity 508 54 sins of infirmity not accounted in the same manner to young men as to others 510 57 The greatness of the temptation does not make sin excusable upon the account of sins of infirmity 511 58 The smallest instance if observed ceases to be a sin of infirmity 512 59 A mans will hath no infirmity 512 60 Nothing is a sin of infirmity but what is in some sense involuntary â—â—4 61 sins of inculpable ignorance are sins of infirmity 514 62 There is no pardonable state of infirmity 522 76 John 8.47 expl 284 62. and 5.34 expl 394 47. and 14.17 expl 489 and 20.23 expl 570 66 1 John 5.17 expl 189 31 and 5.16 17. expl 553 39 and 3.9 expl 554 and 1.9 expl 606 34 Isaiah 53.10 expl 369 15 Impossible a limited signification of it 552 39 Justice Gods justice and mercy reconciled about his exacting the law 20 K 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 173 6 L LAw in what sense said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3 Its severity made the Gospel better received ibid. Difference between it and the Gospel 4 20 23 Of the difference between S. Augustine and S. Hierome concerning the possibility of keeping the law of God 17 In what measures God exacteth it 20 and 22 His mercy and justice reconciled about that thing ibid and 23 35 To keep the law naturally possible but morally impossible 21 34 No man can keep the law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in a sense of favour 34 50 The law of Works imposed on Adam onely 39 1 The state of men under the law 472 A threefold law in man Flesh or Members the MInde or Conscience the Spirit 478 29 The contention between the law of the flesh and conscience no sign of regeneration but the contention between the law of the flesh and spirit is 480 29 Lawfull every thing that is lawful or the utmost of what is lawful not always fit to be done 676 23 Life the necessity of good life 325 25
answered 272 51 Objections against the repentance of Clinicks 281 57. 277 56. 284 64 Heathens newly baptised if they die immediately need not repentance 284 64 The objection concerning the thief on the Cross answered 288 289 Testimonies of the Ancients against death bed repentance 292 66 The manner of repentance in habitual sinners who begin repentance betimes 305 1 The manner of repentance which habitual sins must be cured by in them who return not till old age 317 12 The usage of sinners who repent not till their death-bed 325 25 Considerations shewing how dangerous it is to delay repentance 325 25 Considerations to be opposed against the despair of penitent Clinicks 329 29 What hopes penitent Clinicks have taken out of the writings of the Fathers of the Church 330 30 The manner how the ancient Church treated penitent Clinicks 3â—7 5 The particular acts and parts of repentance that are fittest for a dying man 339 32 The penitent in the opinion of the Jewish Doctors preferred above the just and innocent 530 5 The practice of the Primitive Fathers about penitent Clinicks 539 the practice of the ancient Fathers excluding from repentance murderers adulterers and idolaters 540 Penitential sorrow is rather in the understanding then the affections 586 12 penitential sorrow is not to be estimated by the measures of sense 588 15 590 17 a double solemne imposition of hands in repentance 633 as our repentance is so is our pardon 649 a man must not judge of his repentance by his tears nor by any one manner of expression 658 1 He that suspects his repentance should use that suspicion as a means to improve his repentance 660 Meditations that will dispose the heart to repentance ibid. No man can be said truly to have grieved for sins which at any time after he remembers with pleasure 662 7 the repentance of Clinicks 667 13 sorrow for sin is but a sign or instrument of repentance 668 14 Restitution considered as a part of repentance 656 84 Romans 7.14 exp 261 40 6.7 exp 266 44 7.7 exp 311 5 5.12 exp 363 7 5.13 14. exp 365 11 7.23 exp 400 50 455 8 7.15 19. exp 454 6 456 9 S. Aug. restrained the words of the Apostle R m 7.15 to the matter of desires and concupiscence and excluded all evil actions from the meaning of that text 463 17 reasons against the interpretation of that Father 465 18 7.9 exp 468 23 8.7 exp 478 29 7.22 23. exp 480 29 5.10 exp 576 77 Revelation 19.9 exp 284 62 Religion if it be seated onely in the understanding not accepted to salvation 476 28 S SAcrament Church of God used to deny the Sacrament to no dying penitent that desired it 330 29 Of confeshon to a Minister in preparation to the Sacrament 678 25 1 Sam 2.25 exp 561 51 Satisfaction what it signified in the sense of the Ancients 644 72 606 34 645 the Ancients did not beleeve satisfactions simply necessary to the procuring of pardon from God 651 78 Sins are not equal 104 5 How they are made greater or less ibid. No sin is ven al 110 9 the smallest sins are destructive of our friendship with God 111 12 the Doctors of the Roman Church doe not rightly define venial sins ibid. the smallest is against charity 123 24 and is turning from God 125 26 the smaller the sin the less excusable if done with observation 127 27 Venial sins distinguished into such as are venial by the imperfection of the agent by the smalness of the matter or venial in the whole kinde 128 28 that no sins are venial in their nature or whole kinde 129 31 sins differ in degree but not in their essential order to punishment 132 33 No sins are venial but by repentance 134 34 The absurdity of the Romane doctrines concerning venial sins 138 39 the inconveniences following from the doctrine of venial sins 137 35 c. Among the ancients the distinction of sins into mortal and venial means not a distinction of kinde but degree 142 44 some sins destroy not holiness 144 45 the distinction of sins into mortal and venial cannot have influence on us to any good purposes 145 46 What sins are venial cannot be known to us 147 47 we should have judged some sins venial if it had not been otherwise revealed in Scripture 148 48 sins that we account in their nature venial may by their multitude become damnable 152 52 the means of expiating venial sins appointed by some Romane Doctors 157 57 Whether every single deliberate act of sin put the sinner out of Gods favour 182 22 single acts of sin without a habit give a denomination 185 25 sins are damnable that cannot be habitual 184 24 single acts of mortal sin displease God and are forbidden but are not a state of death 188 29 what repentance single acts of sin require 198 43 how a single act of sin sometimes is habitual 202 49 sin often in Scripture used for the punishment of sin 368 15 leaving of fin the best sign of hatred of it 603 7 How sin can be consistent with the regenerate estate 485 33 he that leaves a sin out of fear may be accepted 491 the violence of a temptation doth not in the whole excuse sin 511 58 Of the pardon of sins after Baptism 532 7 some sins styled unpardonable but in a limited sense 542 21 God punishes not one sin with another 682 One sin may cause or procure another ibid. Sin Original cap 6 362 whether we from Adam derive Original ignorance 373 22 Adams 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 loyns of Adam 384 40 nor because of the will and decree of God 386 41 the principles by which sin pollutes the manners of men 413 66 Sins of Infirmity cap. 7 per tot That which some men call a state of infirmity is a state of sin and death 473 25 Sinner how every sinner is Gods enemy 81.11 God is ready to forgive all and the greatest sinners 530. Sorrow as a fruit of repentance 647 Rules concerning sorrow that is a part of repentance 663 A caution to those that minister comfort to such as are afflicted with immoderate sorrow for their sins 665 10 sorrow for sin is but a sign or instrument of repentance 668 14 cautions concerning the measures of this sorrow 686 30 penitential sorrow is rather in the understanding then the affections 586 12 Scripture the manner of it is to include the consequents in the antecedents 284 62 Spirit the rule of the spirit in us 481 to have received the spirit is not an inseparable propriety of the regenerate 493 39 what the spirit of God doth in us 494 the regenerate man hath not onely received the spirit of God but is wholly led by him 498 42 Supererogation what it is 49 17 T TEars A man by them must not judge of his repentance nor by any other one way of expression 658 1 Temptation every temptation to sin if overcome increases not the reward 234 7 No man is tempted of God 437 10 the violence of a temptation doth not in the whole excuse sin 511 58 Thief on the Cross why his repentance was accepted 289 65 1 Timoth. 5.22 exp 548 31 Titus 3.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exp 477 28 V VErtue The difference of vertue is in relation to their objects 206 56 Theology findeth a medium between vertue and vice 268 47 Vnderstanding Religion if it be seated onely in the understanding not accepted to salvation 476 28 Voluntary whether disobedience that is voluntary in the cause but not in the effect is to be punished 388 43 389 390 unwilingness unto sin no sign of regeneration 486 W WIll Of Freewill 418 a mans will hath no infirmity 512 60 the will is not moved necessarily by the understanding ibid. Works covenant of works when it began 1. reasons shewing the justice of that dispensation of Gods beginning his entercourse with man by the covenant of works 6. the Law of works imposed on Adam only 39 1 Y YOung Sins of infirmity not accounted to young men as to others 510 57 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 178 14 The End
this the numbers of sin are not easily to be told the lines of account are various and changeable our opinions uncertain and we are affrighted from one into another and all changes from sin are not into vertue but more commonly into sin Obsessa mens hominis undique †Zabuli S. Cypr. de oper cleemos diaboli infestatione vallata vix occurrit singulis vix resistit si avaritia prostrata est exurgit libido And if we do not commit things forbidden yet the sins of omission are innumerable and undiscernible * Businesses intervene and visits are made and civilities to be rendred and friendly compliances to be entertain'd and necessities to be served and some things thought so which are not so and so the time goes away and the duty is left undone prayers are hindred and prayers are omitted and concerning every part of time which was once in our power no man living can give a fair account This moral demonstration of the impossibility of perfect and exact obedience and innocence would grow too high if I should tell how easily our duties are sowr'd even when we think we walk wisely Severity is quickly turn'd into ungentleness love of children to indulgence joy to gayety melancholy to peevishness love of our wives to fondness liberties of marriage to licentiousness devotion to superstition austerity to pride feasting to intemperance Vrbanity to foolish jesting a free speech into impertinence and idle talking There were no bottom of this consideration if we consider how all mankinde sins with the tongue He that offends not in his tongne he is a perfect man indeed But experience and the following considerations do manifest that no man is so perfect For Every passion of the Soul is a spring and a shower a parent and a nurse to sin Our passions either mistake their objects or grow intemperate either they put too much upon a trifle or too little upon the biggest interest They are material and sensual best pleas'd and best acquainted with their own objects and we are to do some things which it is hard to be told how they can be in our own power We are commanded to be angry to love to hope to desire certain things towards which we cannot be so affected ever when we please A man cannot love or hate upon the stock and interest of a Commandement and yet these are parts of our duty To mourn and to be sorrowful are natural effects of their proper apprehensions and therefore are not properly capable of a law Though it be possible for a man who is of a sanguine complexion in perfect health and constitution not to act his lust yet it will be found next to impossible not to love it not to desire it and who will finde it possible that every man and in all cases of his temptation should overcome his fear But if this fear be instanced in a matter of religion it will be apt to multiply eternal scruples and they are equivocal effects of a good meaning but are proper and univocal enemies to piety and a wise religion I need not take notice of the infinite variety of thoughts and sentences that divide all mankinde concerning their manner of pleasing and obeying God and the appendent zeal by which they are furiously driven on to promote their errors or opinions as they think for God and he that shall tell these men they do amiss would be wondred at for they think themselves secure of a good reward even when they do horrible things But the danger here is very great when the instrument of serving God is nothing but opinion and passion abus'd by interest especially since this passion of it self is very much to be suspected it being temerity or rashness for some zeal is no better and its very formality is inadvertency and inconsideration But the case is very often so that even the greatest consideration is apt to be mistaken and how shall men be innocent when besides the signal precepts of the Gospel there are propounded to us some generall measures and as I may call them extraregular lines by which our actions are to be directed such as are the analogie of faith fame reputation publick honesty not giving offence being exemplary all which and divers others being indefinite measures of good and evil are pursued as men please and as they will understand them And because concerning these God alone can judge righteously he alone can tell when we have observed them we cannot and therefore it is certain we very often doe mistake Hence it is that they who mean holiness and purity are forc'd to make to themselves rules and measures by way of Idea or instrument endevouring to choose that side that is the surest which indeed is but a guessing at the way we should walk in and yet by this way also men do often run into a snare and lay trouble and intricacy upon their consciences unnecessary burthens which presently they grow weary of and in striving to shake them off they gall the neck and introduce tediousness of spirit or despair For we see when Religion grows high the dangers do increase not onely by the proper dangers of that state and the more violent assaults made against Saints then against meaner persons of no religious interest but because it will be impossible for any man to know certainly what intension of spirit is the minimum religionis the necessary condition under or less then which God will not accept the action and yet sometimes two duties justle one another and while we are zealous in one we less attend the other and therefore cannot easily be certain of our measures and because sometimes two duties of a very different matter are to be reconcil'd and waited upon who can tell what will be the event of it since mans nature is so limited and little that it cannot at once attend upon two objects Is it possible that a man should so attend his prayers that his minde should be alwayes present and never wander does not every man complain of this and yet no man can help it And if of this alone we had cause to complain yet even for this we were not innocent in others and he that is an offender in one is guilty of all and yet it is true that in many things we all offend And all this is true when a man is well and when he is wise but he may be foolish and he will be sick and there is a new scene of dangers new duties and new infirmities and new questions and the old uncertainty of things and the same certainty of doing our duty weakly and imperfectly and pitiably Quid tam dextro pede concipis ut te Conatus non poeniteat votÃque peracti Since therefore every sin is forbidden and yet it can enter from so many angles I may conclude in the words of Sedulius Lex spiritualis est In cap. 7. Rom. quia spiritualia mandat
ardua praecipit opera spiritus prohibens peccata ideò non potest impleri Gods law is spiritual and we are carnal and disproportionate to it while we are in the state of conjunction and therefore it cannot be kept Deus jugum legis homini imponit homo ferre non valet said the Fathers of the Synod of Frankeford God hath imposed a yoke but man cannot bear it For that I may sum up all In affirmative Precepts the measure is To love God with all our faculties and degrees In negative Precepts the measure is Not to lust or desire Now if any man can say that he can so love God in the proper and full measures as never to step aside towards the creatures with whom he daily converses and is of the same kindred with them and that he can so abstain from the creature as never to cover what he is forbidden then indeed he justifies God in imposing a possible law and condemns himself that he does not what he ought But in all he infers the absolute necessity of Repentance But because we are sure God is just and cannot be otherwise all the Doctors of the Church have endevoured to tie these things together and reconcile our state of infirmity with the justification of God Many lay the whole fault upon Man not on the impossible imposition But that being the Question cannot be concluded on either hand with a bare Affirmative or Negative and besides it was condemn'd by the African Councels to say that a man might if he pleas'd live without sin Posse hominem sine peccato decurrere vitam Carm. de ingratis c. 9. Si velit ut potuit nullo delinquere primus Libertate suâ Nempe haec damnata fuêre Conciliis mundÃque manu said Prosper For if it were onely the fault of men then a man might if he pleased keep the whole law and then might be justified by the law Epist ad Innocent and should not need a Saviour S. Augustine indeed thought it no great error and some African Bishops did expresly affirm that some from their conversion did to the day of their death live without sin This was worse then that of Pelagius save onely that these took in the Grace of God which in that sense which the Church teaches the Pelagians did not But this also was affirmed by S. * Lib. 2. de merit remiss c. 6. lib. de Spirit lit c. 1. Austin upon which account it must follow that the Commandements are therefore possible because it is onely our fault that they are not kept But how to reconcile this opinion and saying of S. Austin and some other Africans with the African Councels with S. Hierome Orosius Lactantius and with S. †Serm. 49. de tempore Austin himself and generally the whole ancient Church against the Pelagians I cannot understand but it is sufficiently confuted by all the foregoing considerations S. Hierome sayes that the observation of the Commandements is possible to the whole Church but not to every single person but then the difficulty remains For the whole Church being a collection of single persons is not the subject of a law Nothing is universal but Names and Words a thing cannot be universal it is a contradiction to say it is To say the Church can keep it is to say that every man can keep it To say that every man of the Church cannot keep it is to say that the whole Church cannot keep it As he that sayes Mankinde is reasonable sayes that every man is but he that sayes every man is not just sayes that all mankinde is not just But if it contains in it another sense it is a dangerous affirmative which I shall represent in his own words Lib. 1. dial adv Pelag. Ita fit ut quod in alio aut primum aut totum est in alio ex parte versetur tamen non sit in crimine qui non habet omnia nec condemnetur ex eo quod non habet sed justificetur ex eo quod possidet I will not be so severe as S. Austin who in his 19 Sermon de tempore calls it blasphemy It is indeed a hard saying if he means that a man can be justified by some vertues though he retains some vices For he that sins in one is guilty of all But yet some persons shall be crowned who never converted souls and some that never redeem'd captives and millions that never sold all and gave to the poor and there are many graces of which some lives have no opportunities The state of Marriage hath some graces proper to it self and the Calling of a Merchant and the Office of a Judge and the imployment of an Advocate hath some things of vertue which others do not exercise and they also have their proper graces and in this sense it is true what S. Hierome sayes that he that hath not all may be justified by what he hath and not sentenced for what he hath not it not being imputed to him that he hath not that of which he hath no use Now although this be true yet it is not sufficient to explicate the Question For the Commandements are not onely impossible in this sense but even in that where the scene of his duty does lie and where his graces ought to have been exercised every man is a sinner every man hath fail'd in his proper duty and calling So that now to say the Commandements are possible to the whole Church and not to every single person is to divide the duty of a Christian to give to every one a portion of duty which must leave in every one a portion of impiety and to say that this is keeping the Commandments or a sufficient means of justification is that which S. Austin cal'd blasphemy But S. Hierome hath another answer Hoc nos dicimus posse hominem non peccare si velit pro tempore Dial. extr adv Pelag. l. 3. pro loco pro imbecillitate corporeâ quamdiu intentus est animus quamdiu chorda nullo vitio laxatur in Citharâ God hath not impos'd an impossible law For there is no Commandement but a man that considers that endevours that understands that watches that labours may do in time and place and so long as he adverts and is dispassionate so long as his instrument is in tune Which answer is like that saying of the Schools That there is no difficulty in things but every thing is easie to be understood but that we find difficulty is because of the weaknes of the understanding that is things are easie to be understood if we were wise enough to understand them But because our understanding is weak therefore things are hard for to be intelligible is a relative term and it is not sense to say that a thing is in it self easie to be understood but hard to the understanding for it is as if it were said It is easie but that