that the saying of the Apostle is especially and most remarkably verified in the charity of Parents that it beareth all things hopeth all things believeth all things for they readily believe well of their Children because they so passionately desire it should be so notwithstanding the Son could not think his Father so soft and easy as to be imposed upon with words and ceremonies and himself was not now so ill natured as to go about to abuse so much goodness if it it had been in his power Wherefore the Text saith vers 20. So he arose and came to his Father i. e. he did not only change his note his address his countenance but he changed his course he returned to his Father and to the duty of a Son AND we have under this type in the former part of it seen described the preface and introduction to repentance towards God namely the sinner bewailing his sin taking shame to himself under agonies of mind pricked to the heart humbly imploring the divine favour and crying earnestly for mercy But this is not all that repentance means the principal part of it is yet behind viz. Actual Reformation This is that which every awakened Conscience in its agonies promises and resolves upon this God expects and every sincere Convert really performs For without this all the rest is but empty pomp and pageantry and meer hypocrisy as we shall shew anon But when this is added to the former such a person from thenceforth is a new man and in a new estate he hath compleatly made his return to God as the Son in the Text is said to have actually returned to his Father I have noted heretofore that all irreligion and profaneness is wont in the language of the Scripture to be expressed by the phrase of departing from God or going out from him or forsaking him and so the whole practice of Religion is contrariwise set forth by drawing nigh to or coming to God particularly Hebr. 11. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that cometh to God q. d. he that becomes a Proselyte to Religion for from thence doth that word Proselyte take its original Wherefore now we will first observe what is implyed by this phrase of the Son 's returning or coming to his Father and in proportion thereto describe this most important business of the Penitent's returning to God which is his Actual Conversion or Reformation and in the former these three things seem plainly to be comprehended 1. That the Son now returns home to his Father's family and presence 2. That he returns to the duty of a Son by obedience and compliance with his Father's commands 3. That he submits to his Father's government and provision Therefore in the latter namely conversion to God these three things must semblably be implied 1. That the Penitent puts himself under the eye of God and lives in a constant practice of piety and devotion 2. That he frames himself to universal obedience to all God's commands 3. That he gives himself up to the divine disposal and intirely submits to his providence and government 1. CONCERNING the first of these there is nothing more evident or remarkable to all experience and observation then the great fervor of devotion in all true Converts from an evil life insomuch that there is not that man to be found under such a character but presently with great solemnity and seriousness he sets up the worship of God to which purpose we find in the history of the Acts of the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Worshippers or Devout persons to be the common name by which Converts to Religion are expressed and these Acts 13. 48. are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Candidates of eternal life or put into order and disposed for salvation Compare vers 43. with 48. More particularly it is observable of St. Paul that when from a superstitious Pharisee and bitter enemy of Christianity he was reclaimed and made a Christian the assurance that God gives to Ananias of the truth of his conversion is Acts 9. 11. Behold he prays And so of Manasses 2 Chron. 33. 18. amongst the instances of his real reformation the Scripture takes especial notice of the prayer that he prayed AND this is so universal a truth that I think from hence it cometh to pass that those who have a mind hypocritically to put on the guise and appearance of Religion are wont to be notably carefull in this point for so the Pharisees cloaked all their villanies with this garb of piety Now hypocrisy would miss altogether of its design if it did not resemble the truth of things and usually their over solicitude and overdoing herein betrays them to act a part only in Religion BUT it is not only the duty of prayer which the true Penitent expresses his conversion by though this be by some too phantastically called Duty as if all piety consisted in that only for as the literal Prodigal returns to his Father's house and family so the mystical returns to God's house which is his Church and associates himself with God's servants in all the offices of Religion viz. in hearing the word reading meditation Sacraments c. Now he thinks a day spent in God's Courts better then a thousand and had rather be a door-keeper in the house of the Lord then to dwell in the tents of the wicked This one thing he desires of the Lord and is most passionate in that he may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his Temple And he so highly values the priviledge of God's Church that no private opinion no trifling scrupulosity nor petty disgust shall ever alienate him from it Here he finds himself fortified and incouraged by the great examples of holy men his prayers strengthened by the concurrence of all good people here he is under the publick dispensations of the means of grace and knowledge the very plainness and simplicity of which he now with the great Convert St. Austin values and admires more then all the Greek or Roman eloquence of Speech or subtilty of Philosophy to which every thing else seemed flat and insipid before Above all the holy Sacrament puts him into an ecstasy in this he thinks himself in God's presence in an extraordinary manner and admitted a guest at his Table the Crums of which he thinks himself unworthy of here he refreshes his hungry Soul with the Bread of Life and his wounded Conscience by the Bloud of his crucified Saviour and in both he thinks he sees his provoked but compassionate Father stand with open arms to receive him This he approaches with great reverence with shame and sorrow for his sins past together with faith and hope in God's mercy and will therefore never be negligent of it IN these and all other duties of Religion both publick and private the Convert expresses such an excellent spirit and extraordinary
told us shall never be forgiven And that sin it self whatsoever it consists in is only upon this account unpardonable because it hath a finally impenitent temper joyned with it otherwise were it possible that such a sinner should repent there would be no doubt of his pardon but bating that peculiar case there is no sin but God hath pardoned and will pardon I will not take upon me to say which were the greatest sins that ever were committed by mankind but I will instance in two that must needs be acknowledged to have been very great which yet have obtained pardon and they are the sin of our first Parents and the sin of the Jews in crucifying our Saviour IN the former of these there was the breach of a known Law and that so newly given as that it could not be forgotten and it was also an easy and reasonable Law God having allowed them all the Trees in the Garden and laid an interdict only upon that one and it was no hard matter to have denied themselves that for God's sake especially considering they came newly out of his hands and saw so freshly the display of his power and wisedom in the Creation of the World and had so many and great instances of his goodness towards themselves besides they had as yet no vitiated faculties nor so much as one example of sin before them but that of the Devils which they had seen to be most severely vindicated It was a hard thing to be first in the transgression and a bold thing to venture to provoke God and to be the first instance of sin to all posterity they had the concern of all mankind upon them as who they knew must stand or fall with them and having frequent tokens of God's presence with them to sin under his eye and to hearken to the suggestions of a vile Beast the Serpent against God was prodigiously strange and yet they did it and God was pleased to pardon them IN the latter of the instances namely the Jews crucifying our Saviour besides the greatness of the Person against whom they sinned putting to death the Lord of life and glory there was designed malice perjury and subornation contumely towards an holy Person ingratitude towards one that had done them all the good they were capable of there was contradiction to the plainest evidence of miracles of all kinds and to the conviction of their own Consciences Notwithstanding all which the same St. Peter who Acts 2. 23. had charged them home in these words Ye men of Israel have with wicked hands crucified and slain Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God by him did in the midst of you as ye your selves know c. yet in the 38. Verse he exhorts the same men to repentance and to be baptized that they may receive remission of sins and the singular favour of the gift of the Holy Ghost TO these and several other instances of great sins which might easily be added we may cast in for the greater evidence of the vastness of the divine mercy that he pardons not only single acts of sin how hainous soever but long courses and habits of sin and those of several natures and kinds as in Manasses and in the Publicans and Harlots but that we may rise higher yet in admiration of the divine clemency we observe 2. IN the second place that he pardons also relapsed sinners They have a saying Non licèt in bello his peccare that the first faults in war are severely vindicated because there all errours are fatal and searce leave a capacity of being repeated And there are some relations so near and intimate and their ligaments so nice and curious that a breach in them can never be repaired to knit again But the relation of a Father and the goodness of a God leave always room for pardon Nay further They say saith the Prophet Jeremiah if a man put away his Wife and she goe from him and become another man's shall he return to her again But thou O Israel hast plaid the harlot with many lovers yet return again unto me saith the Lord Jer. 2. 1 2. § VI. The doctrine of the Navatians carried a great breadth with it in the Primitive times which denied repentance to those that sinned after Baptism and for that reason it is thought many holy men in those days deferred their Baptism as long as they could that they might not defile their garments but goe from that washing unspotted out of the world The opinion seemed to proceed from extraordinary purity and holiness and therefore as I said prevailed much and had a great reputation in those times and it seems it took its rise from a mistake of a passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. 6. 4. However it was damned by the most learned and holy Fathers of the Church and particularly St. Basil and Gr. Nazianzen call it a damnable doctrine and destructive of Souls in that it discouraged and kept men off from repentance which God is always ready to admit of if it be sincere and such as we have before described IT is true which Clemens of Alexandria hath said that to make a common practice of sinning and then pretending repentance as if we would give God and the Devil their turns is an argument both of an impenitent and unbelieving temper for as he saith afterwards These frequent repentances as it were of course betray rather an intention of sinning again then any design of leaving it and therefore find no acceptance with God And it is also certain that a man that hath frequently relapsed having thereby exceedingly multiplied his guilt must needs feel very bitter pangs and sharp remorse when he doth return and will be ever after very apt to question his own sincerity and which is worse it is to be feared that like as it is with bones which have been often out and set again they will be very apt to slip awry so this person will be justly looked upon as in great danger and therefore hath a necessity of extraordinary watchfullness over himself But notwithstanding all this if such a man after several falls and slips shall stand right and firm at last and demonstrate the truth of his now penitent state by the following course of an holy life there is no question to be made of his acceptance with a mercifull God For God doth not proceed with men upon such terms as we do our passions are stirred many times and the provocation is too great for us to be able to concoct but he is pure mind and reason hath no boiling passion no revenge seeks only the good of his Creatures and so they become at last capable of his favour and blessing he is contented and hath his end Besides he that hath made it our duty that as often as our Brother offends against us and repents so often we should forgive
Convert is also the most charitable and favourable Judge of others and the furthest from censoriousness There is nothing more unbecoming that modesty which should be in all men then to be Critical and curious in espying the failings of others and nothing can be more arrogantly done towards God then to take the judgment out of his hand and place our selves in the Tribunal nay there is nothing more infests the peace of the world then this pragmatical humour of censoriousness but saith the Convert Let those that are without sin cast the first stone at others for my part I have enough to do at home and see more evil in my self then in all the world besides I have learnt of the Apostle to Speak evil of no man considering that I my self was sometime foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures Tit. 3. 3. Thus he composes himself to be an example to the world of that temper then which nothing is more conducent to better the estate of mankind he will not rake in men's wounds nor rip up their old sores but forgives as he hopes to be forgiven he will not give ear to malicious whispers which like the arrow of the pestilence flies in the dark and kills without noise he will entertain no uncharitable surmises but hopes the best nor aggravate men's follies but makes the most benign and candid interpretation that that the case can bear and thus not judging others he shall not be condemned of the Lord. Nay further the Convert is so far from all the aforesaid instances of uncharitableness that he is the most compassionate man in the world both towards those that are yet in a state of sin and those also who have stumbled and faln in their race of vertue and the most ready and officious to bring the former to an apprehension of his danger and to restore the latter in the spirit of meekness he knows the wretchedness of a sinfull condition he hath felt the pangs of a guilty Conscience his heart trembles at the thoughts of Hell and therefore his Soul is troubled for those that are insensible of their own case his Bowels yern his Eyes weep in secret and his Heart bleeds for them he counsels persuades forewarns them prays for them and as the Prophet towards the Widows Son he as it were stretches himself upon their dead Souls and by the application of a lively example indeavours to bring spiritual warmth and life into them And now it cannot be imagined that such affection to Souls should be unrewarded by the great lover of Souls our Lord Jesus BESIDES it is not to be doubted but the Convert who hath this compassion to the Souls of others will be infinitely cautious of indangering his own he knows the Devil continually goes about as a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour he understands how many artifices and strategems he hath to deceive Souls and is sensible how full the world is of charms and allurements he is well aware of the pit which he hath but lately escaped and therefore is always watchful and sollicitous of himself careful to resist beginnings and cautious of all appearance of evil and in all these things his care and circumspection surpasses that of those happy men who never foully miscarried No saith he let those be secure that never knew what danger was but in contemplation only 't is not for me to live at ease it was too much to hazard a Soul once God forbid I should do it again O my heart akes at the very danger it hath escaped methinks I am not yet safe till I am in Heaven stand upon thy guard O my Soul keep God in thy eye trust not thy self a moment but in his and thy own keeping LASTLY to add no more such a person hath constantly in his bosom a burning zeal of God's glory which the consideration of God's wonderfull mercy to him hath kindled in him He therefore loves much because much was forgiven him others that have not incurred such dangers nor been sensible of such deliverances cannot have such raised affections as he hath They do not hunger and thirst after righteousness as he doth find not that savour and relish in the means of grace that he feels perceives not those obligations upon themselves to redeem their time and repair their former omissions by a double diligence in God's service IN consideration of all these things together to which severall others might have been added of like nature the Jews have a saying in their Talmud That the most just and perfect men cannot be able to stand in judgment with the Penitents and a Rabbine of theirs Commenting upon that saying adds further That no Creature no not the very Angels themselves that never sinned are able to compare with them But most assuredly without Hyperbole they are by all the qualifications forementioned prepared for vessels of honour fit objects of the divine favour and shall be received with the joy and triumph of Angels and all the celestial Host into those glorious mansions whither Christ Jesus the friend of Penitent Sinners and the Authour of eternall salvation is gone before To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory and adoration world without end Amen THE END ERRATA PAge 16. In the Contents of § 2. for his reade our Saviour's P. 27. l. 2. after the word maker add to which the Almighty replies P. 40. l. 2. for duely r. daily ibid. l. 22. r. follows P. 50. l. 12. after rule adde as if P. 56. l. 22. for not r. or ibid. after evil adde but not having such imperative power as to enforce the execution of its own dictates P. 93. l. 10. instead of worshipfull r. worship P. 135. l. 34. dele it P. 136. in Marg. for quum r. quam P. 184. l. 13. dele or ibid. l. 19. dele when P. 245. l. 19. for he r. the. P. 257. l. 1. for he r. see A Catalogue of some Books Re-printed and of other New Books Printed since the Fire and sold by R. Royston viz. Books written by H. Hammond D. D. A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament in Folio Fourth Edition The Works of the said Reverend and Learned Authour containing a Collection of Discourses chiefly Practical with many Additions and Corrections from the Author 's own hand together with the Life of the Authour enlarged by the Reverend Dr. Fell Dean of Christ Church in Oxford I large Fol. Books written by Jer. Taylor D. D. and late Lord Bishop of Down and Connor Ductor Dubitantium or The Rule of Conscience in Five Books in Fol. The Great Exemplar or the Life and Death of the Holy Jesus in Fol. with Figures suitable to every story ingrav'd in Copper Whereunto is added the Lives and Martyrdoms of the Apostles By Will. Cave D. D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or A Collection of Polemical Discourses addressed against the enemies of the Church of England both
for deliberation there could be no perfect judgment and consequently but an imperfect consent AGAIN whilest a man is bending himself with all his might against some one extreme which he knows to be evil and therefore carefully declines he may perhaps in detestation of that incline too much to the other or whilest a man endeavours diligently to carry on both the affairs of this life and the concerns of Religion too it may happen that the solicitude and cares of the former may sometimes unseasonably crowd in and disturb him in the latter Nay once more through the infirmity of memory compared with the multiplicity of affairs which a wise and good man's care extends to it may not infrequently fall out that such a person for the present forgets or omits some duty of Religion Now it cannot be said that any of these cases are perfectly involuntary because it was not impossible but that extraordinary diligence and watchfullness might have provided against them nevertheless they are not deliberate sins nor was there any full consent of the will to them as is evident both by what we have said already and also by this that such persons we speak of very quickly feel remorse for them their hearts smite them upon the first reflexion upon what hath past and they presently recover themselves and double their watch and guard where they have thus found themselves overtaken These therefore and all other of the nature of these are properly called sins of infirmity BUT now on the other side when the matter of fact is notorious and palpable that it can admit of no dispute whether it be evil or no when a man is not surprized but makes his election doth not insensibly slip awry whilest he was in his right way but takes a wrong course is not overborn by an huge fear but is allured by the pleasures of sense when he hath time to consider and yet resolves upon that which is forbidden him here is little or nothing to extenuate the fact or mitigate his guilt it is a voluntary and therefore a presumptuous sin Such a distinction as this David seems to make Psal 19. 12 13. when he prays that he may understand his errours to the intent that with holy Joh where he had done iniquity he might doe so no more but earnestly begs that he may be kept from presumptuous sins i. e. from such voluntary and wilfull miscarriages as we have but now spoken of so saith he shall I be innocent and free from the great transgression For though sins of infirmity in the most proper sense are not without guilt at least if God should proceed in rigour with men yet in consideration of the goodness of God together with the evident pitiableness of their own circumstances they leave no horrour upon the mind no stain or ill mark upon the person much less a scar or a maim but the other besides their great guilt either terribly afflict or lay waste and stupify the Conscience they harden the heart break the powers of the soul and quench the Spirit of God as we shall have occasion to speak more at large hereafter AT present I think it may be very pertinent to observe that whereas S. John Ep. 1. Chap. 3. vers 4. seems to give a brief and compendious description of sin in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render Sin is a transgression of the Law it is not altogether improbable but that the Apostle intended to express something more then is commonly understood by those words in English for besides that it seems a flat saying he that sinneth transgresseth the Law for sin is a transgression of the Law it is noted moreover by Learned men that the Apostle calls not sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which had been the most proper word to denote a meer breach or transgression of the Law but uses the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a great deal more namely lawlesness and dissoluteness the living without or casting off the yoke of the Law for so we find it elsewhere used in Scripture particularly 1 Tim. 1. 9. where we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lawless and disobedient or ungovernable joyned together And thus the phrase of the Apostle before us will import not so much the meer matter of sin viz. the violation of a Law but the aggravation of it as a presumptuous sin namely the wilfullness and stubbornness of the sinner And if this gloss may be allowed we shall with much ease be able to understand a following passage in this Apostle which hath not a little exercised the heads of Divines nor less perplexed the Consciences of many serious persons Viz. vers 9. of this Chapter he writes thus he that is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God Now if we take sin strictly and rigorously here for every thing that is contrary to the perfection of the Divine Law then it will be absolutely necessary that by the phrase he that is born of God we can understand none but our Saviour himself which is altogether besides the business forasmuch as he only was without sin in that sense but if we take the phrase in the latitude before intimated that is for voluntary wilfull and deliberate sins then the sense is both easie and comfortable namely that the man who is truely a Christian having not only the profession but the new nature temper and spirit of the Gospel though being a man and so incompassed with temptations and difficulties as every one is in this world he cannot avoid all surreptions yet the powerfull principles of Christianity setled in his heart will not fail to preserve him at least ordinarily from rebellion and wilfull disobedience AND this way of interpreting these and the like passages of the New Testament is strongly countenanced by what we find Luk. 1. 6. where it is said of Zachary and Elizabeth that they were both of them righteous before God walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless That is they were sincerely good and vertuous persons their hearts were principled with the fear and love of God and though they were not without the errours and failings incident to humanity yet they strictly made Conscience of their duty and did not deliberately depart from the way of God's commandments And that passage concerning David 1 King 15. 5. seems sufficient to put the matter out of doubt where it is said David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing he commanded him all the days of his life save only in the matter of Vriah the Hittite Notwithstanding the Scripture reckons up several failings of David his passion for Absalom his numbring the People his approaching too near the Lord 's Annointed when he cut off the skirt of Saul's Garment for which his heart smote him his despondency
condition not to his mind and not being willing to bring his mind to that he is tempted to run upon adventures and to make experiments that he may give his mind full scope and contentment Hence it is as I observed before that the wicked in the Sacred Language are called Reshagnim unquiet seditious and turbulent pride and discontent prompting them to unruly attempts against God disputing his prerogative and breaking down the laws and boundaries he hath settled Either such men conceit God hath not been benign enough in the provisions of his care and providence or the instances of duty are too many and too hard and too great intrenchments made upon humane liberty thereby that God consulted his own prerogative in the constitution of his Laws rather then his wisedom and the reason of things and good of his Creatures that man might be more happy if he were left to his own counsels Would God permit them they think nothing so sweet as meram haurire libertatem pure and unconfined liberty that all restraint is intolerable slavery to a generous mind and imagining there must needs be some admirable delights in those things God forbids have thereupon a mighty mind and huge impetus upon them to try those things above all other whatever come of it Such kind of mutinous thoughts such jealousies and suspicions are the immediate issue of pride and the seminalities of all rebellion against God IT is the current opinion of Divines that it was only this height of pride which ruined the Apostate Angels for indeed it is not easily imaginable what else should doe it in regard they being before their Fall bright intellectual Beings no cloud of ignorance could probably so overwhelm them as to betray them to that fatal miscarriage And being also pure spiritual Substances they lay under no corporeal allurements It seems therefore necessary to conclude that an overweening reflexion upon their own height fooled them into that presumption to forget themselves and to vie with the Almighty And this seems to be plainly enough glanced at by the Prophet when he describes the fall of proud Sennacherib Isa 14. 12 13 14. How art thou faln from heaven O Lucifer son of the morning For thou hast said in thy heart I will ascend into heaven I will exalt my throne above the stars of God I will be like the most High c. AND undoubtedly this was the ruine of our first Parents when mankind first turned Prodigal God had dealt most liberally benignly with them as a gracious Father he brought not them into the world till he had furnished it like a large house with all things necessary for their accommodation and delight night and day were distinguished sea and land separated the earth blessed a paradise planted with all delicacies and then he brings this his younger Son Man as to a plentifull Table of most delightfull entertainments Besides this he put all inferiour Creatures in subjection to him as to their young Lord and Master nay makes that higher order of glorious Spirits the Angels to minister to him and keep watch about him and above all placed him in his own eye under the light of his countenance designed him for yet greater and unspeakable felicities as his favourite and darling NOW if after all this it had pleased God to have put somewhat a severe restraint upon him it ought justly to have seemed easie and reasonable being sweetened by so great obligations But the Divine Majesty to shew that in this also he remembred the kindness of a Father makes his Laws and Government as gentle as his favours were great for in the midst of an huge indulgence and that large scope of all the Trees in the Garden he laid an interdict but upon one saying Of all the Trees in the Garden you may freely eat save onely the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the Garden of that ye shall not eat lest ye die Who could now think any thing should become a temptation strong enough in this case to debauch mankind Notwithstanding here the Serpent finds occasion to set pride on work and to raise a discontent and first he begins thus Gen. 3. 1. Hath God said c. q. d. Is it not a mistake that you are forbidden that Fruit was that the meaning of the Almighty possibly your gracious Creatour had no such intention for why should you be restrained in this why not left perfectly to your own election have not you faculties to choose and desires to gratifie why should they be curbed or denied sure he never made a power which was not to come into act nor a capacity that was not to be satisfied nay this one abridgment despoils you perfectly of your liberty law and freedom are incompetible you are not used like Sons if you be thus chained up And what necessity is there to set such a fence about that one Tree above all the rest is it to exercise authority arbitrarily over you or to tempt your patience or rather is there not some great good which he knows in that Fruit and envies you the participation of why should not you that were made in his image be like Gods in this also knowing good and evil After this manner the old enemy of God and man tempers his poisons partly seeming to doubt of the meaning of the command partly insinuating suspicions of God's goodness but principally blowing them up with pride and self-conceit which whilest they swell withall they break to pieces and thus fell our first Parents And the same Tempter both knowing now the nature of man and encouraged also with this success attempts the Second Adam Christ Jesus after the same manner Matt. 4. for though it be true which is commonly observed that the Devil was put to it to try all his artifices upon our Saviour and to assail him both by the lusts of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life yet if we carefully consider we shall find that the effort of ruining him by pride and vain-glory was that which he principally trusted to and aimed at in all the temptations but more conspicuously in the two former of them for so vers 3. when finding him an hungred he begins thus If thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread Our Saviour came not long since from his Baptism and then as we reade in the last verse of the foregoing Chapter a voice came to him from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Of which the Devil endeavouring to make his advantage addresses himself to him q. d. If God own thee as his Son as he pretends to doe let him do something prodigious and pompous that may give remarkable testimony to it use thy interest in him for some signal miracle especially to supply thy necessity now thou art hungry for certainly he will rather do that then suffer his beloved Son to
famish Ordinary men must depend upon common providence but sure you may expect something more signal and worthy of that relation if it be true that you are the Son of God No saith our Saviour Man lives not by bread only c. If I am the Son of God as I am assured I am I must so much the more be at my Father's disposal and not prescribe to him He hath several ways to supply my necessity and I will leave the particular manner of it to his election Then the Devil taketh him and sets him upon a pinacle of the Temple and urges him If thou be the Son of God east thy self down for it is written he shall give his Angels charge over thee c. q. d. To be the Son of God and to have it set off with no pomp nor illustrious circumstance is a very mean thing unworthy of you and useless to you Assure your self if he own you in that quality and relation he will interpose between you and the greatest danger you can incurr and by some such experiment you shall draw the eyes of all men upon you Both this and the former attack are like to that of his Brethren Jo. 7. 4. If thou do these things shew thy self to the world q. d. Consult thy same and reputation aggrandize thy self by some magnificent circumstance or other But saith our Saviour it is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God i. e. I am not to require other proofs of God's power or providence over me then he thinks fit to give I must not thrust my self upon danger but when he casts me upon it then I may assure my self of his interposition for my safety NOW since this temptation to pride was the engine with which the first Adam was ruined and the second Adam assaulted there can be little reason to doubt but it is so also with the generality of men And albeit the more visible and immediate motives to some sins may be profit or pleasure yet that which is the first wheel and sets all on work is as I have hinted an arrogant opinion of our own worth or wisedom and derogation from the Divine Wisedom or justice in the frame of his Laws and methods of his providence as if he had not consulted so well the conveniency of our natures but that we could provide better for our selves then he hath done if we were permitted to be our own carvers from whence proceeds an impatience of his government and an inclination to rebell and cast off his yoke as it were easie to make appear in all the instances of sin whether intemperance fornication injustice or any the like but that I think it needless in so plain a case BUT there is one thing I cannot omit to observe in further confirmation of this point namely that our Saviour when he came into the world to restore mankind knowing well their disease like a wise Physician of Souls finds it necessary to cure them by the contrary therefore in the first place he prescribes to them a profound humility as the most sovereign Antidote against sin and the onely principle of stability in vertue he I say considering they had fallen by pride lays the foundation of their recovery in lowliness of spirit injoyning that men submit their own reasonings to the wisedom of God and by faith depend upon him And declaring that those who will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven or receive his religion must do it as little children that is must come to it without pride or prejudice and be ready to believe what he dictates to them without dispute or diffidence and in short must deny themselves and follow him Which one lesson if we thoroughly learn we cut off all the Avenues of Satan and everlastingly secure our selves against all temptation to Apostasy from Religion and rebelling against God 2. THE second instance of the Son's defection is his departure from his Father He gathers all together and takes his journey into a far Countrey Whereas the Elder Son always abides with his Father this Youngster as he desired not to be at his Father's provision so he was equally unwilling to be under his eye and the awe of his presence the inspection of a Father would check his freedom and restrain him in the full swing of pleasure he designed to take Home was an homely thing dull and tedious to him but a foreign Countrey would gratify his curiosity and minister some new delights to him Besides there he should be without controll accountable to no body which was the very thing his pride had made most valuable with him NOW that he had obtained what he desired his portion and his liberty he valued not the comfort of his Father's countenance nor needed his counsel nor set by his blessing for indeed he intended so to live as that he could not hope for it THUS the Prodigal Son and every habitual sinner treads in his steps Longinqua Regio saith S. Austin Q. Evan. l. 2. c. 33. is oblivio Dei by the far Country is meant forgetfulness of God And saith S. Jerome To depart from God is not local for God is every-where present but to be alienated in our minds and affections from him Agreeably to which in the 73. Psal v. 26. where we reade They that forsake the Lord shall perish the vulgar Latine strictly following the Hebrew hath it qui elongant se à Deo those that put themselves as far off from God as they can And so Holy Job chap. 21. 14. notes it to be the humour of profane and profligate persons to say to the Almighty depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy way For it is manifest that as the sense of God is the great support and comfort of all good men in trouble their great animation and encouragement in all good duties and of mighty efficacy upon them to preserve them from all temptation to evil so it is equally the dread and torture of all wicked men and that which if it doth not check and restrain their wickedness will be sure to deprive them of the pleasure of it Wherefore when they cannot hinder that observant Majesty from overlooking them they are forced for their own quiet to be so absurd as to put the grossest gullery upon themselves and content themselves with the sottish security of turning away their eyes from beholding him THUS Adam when he had sinned hid himself in the Garden from the presence of the Lord for not only the Majesty Power and Justice of God strike a terrour to a guilty Conscience but the very contemplation of such purity and perfection shames and reproaches it Nor is the apprehension of God only troublesome to the offender after he hath committed sin but it is able to blast the very Embryo to nip it in the bud to disturb the deliberations and to be sure defeats much of the pleasure of conception For if the
difficulty appear in the business or whatsoever temptations may assault me I will desist my former course and make it my care to undoe all that was amiss and make amends for my former follies by my future zeal and diligence § III. BUT that these things may be the more evident let us now in the next place see the properties and essential requisites of a true Penitent Resolution And they are these four 1. It is deliberate and taken up upon mature consideration 2. It is peremptory 3. It is a resolution de praesenti 4. Lastly It is universal FIRST a true Resolution is serious and deliberate not like those rash vows which men make in a fit or an agony and which last no longer then the heat or the distress Many men there are that now and then take a pet at their old sins when they have found themselves disappointed of either the pleasure or the security which they promised themselves in the enjoyment of them or that for their sake they are surprized with some calamity they did not expect and whilest that disgust lasts they seem mightily resolved for ever to break with them but as soon as that mood is over like old friends they are quickly reconciled and return to their former graciousness It is not to be doubted but that the Prodigal Son had many a Lucid interval before this and as often as he met with any sharp cross or vexation in his way had relenting thoughts and wished himself again at his Father's house but it was but a flash an extempore motion a passion not a cool rational choice there was no deliberation and therefore no Resolution and so nothing came of it That saith Seneca which amounts to a Resolution must be settled in the mind founded in reason rooted in the judgment not loose occasional and upon emergency When a man having considered all the pleasures and advantages of sin on the one hand and all the difficulties and self-denial of vertue on the other hath measured the hopes and the fears compared the present with the future and represented the whole Series of things to his own mind and then comes to a conclusion this is Resolution Such a determination as this Joshua puts the people of Israel upon on the one hand he represents to them the great reasons they had to adhere to and serve the true God of Israel and on the other the difficulties of so doing the sincerity and accuracy which his Worship and Service required and the danger of his severity if they neglected it and then he exhorts them to lay their hand upon their heart to consider all things with themselves to resolve of nothing rashly but upon the fullest satisfaction vers 15. If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve c. and vers 16. the people answered and said God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other Gods c. and then lastly vers 26. He writes all these passages in a Book makes an authentick record thereof withal sets up a stone of memorial to make the greater impression and to give the more solemnity to the whole business AND this same thing is that which our Saviour himself intends in those two famous Parables concerning the man about to build a Tower and the Prince going to War which we have taken notice of before Our Saviour would have men that come to him and pretend to imbrace his Religion to count the cost of it to know the worst of things to reckon upon all that may happen and so also Jesus the Son of Syrach advises Eccles 2. 1 2. My Son if thou come to serve the Lord prepare thy Soul for temptation q. d. If thou designest to enter upon a course of vertue thou must forethink the impediments as well as the incouragements the conflict as well as the crown and arm thy self with resolution accordingly IT is the artifice of the Devil to represent only the fair side of things to men to hide the hook with the bait It 's noted by the Evangelist that he shewed our Saviour the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them he set forth no Scene of the troubles vexations vanities and disappointments of the world but all was beauty and glory For he designs to surprize and lies at catch for men and knows it is his interest they should not consider nor curiously inquire into the just state of things but take a transient glance only and do all in a hurry BUT it is not God's way to surprize men and make advantage of their inadvertency for he is not pleased with the sacrifice of fools it is a reasonable service he requires viz. that men consider what they do and chuse him wisely and seriously NOR is it the condition of vertue to have an alluring outside to tempt men's passions or impose upon their imaginations it hath a matronal beauty no meretricious paint it consists in a real and substantial excellency which only can work upon him that considers so that no man falls in love with it upon a glance nor espouses it suddenly but upon clam debate of its real and inward perfections And his love is founded in reason matured by time and confirmed by experience Or if there be any man that pretends to vertue upon other terms it is no uncharitableness to prophesie that whatever his present heats and transports may be they will quickly cool and come to nothing Such cases being fitly resembled by our Saviour to the stony ground which received the Seed with joy at first and promised fair for a mighty harvest but having not depth of earth brought nothing to perfection Psal 129. 7. The Mower filled not his hand therewith nor the Reaper his bosome AND indeed herein seems to lie the true and immediate reason of most or all of those shamefull apostasies by which the name of God and Religion are so much dishonoured viz. that men fall off from hopefull beginnings and end in the flesh after they had begun in the Spirit as the Apostle's phrase is namely there was not depth of earth no sufficient serious consideration of what they undertook For it is certain there are no insuperable difficulties in Religion no irresistible temptations to the contrary God is not worse then his word nor doth change his terms nor can any man see any reason to alter his mind if he calculated as he might have done at first but they considered not counted not the cost and so are surprized and beaten off And the holy Gospel gives us no less a man then St. Peter himself for instance hereof He in a great pang of devotion to his Master goes out before the Camp of Israel defies Goliah and all the uncircumcised Philistins dares and challenges danger it self and Lord saith he If all men should forsake thee yet will not I If I must die for thee I will not
forsake thee But it was only an heat and a bravery of the Apostle he had not seriously considered the business nor forecasted what might ensue there was no mature deliberation no preparations for a real encounter and therefore it sped accordingly and he came off shamefully and in him we have a standing example of the frailty of the greatest passion and of the necessity that counsel and deliberation ground our Resolutions By which means also they will become 2. DECRETORY and Peremptory which is the second property of vertuous Resolution There are some men whom an affectionate discourse a serious Sermon or any notable accident will put into a fit of devotion which shall last only untill something else come in the way and then theformer impressions give way to the latter These we commonly call good natured men whose facility of temper puts them at the mercy of every contingency and they are good and bad as occasion serves Clouds they are without water carried about of every wind as St. Jude expresses it vers 12. or as St. James Double minded men and unstable in all their ways Jam. 1. 8. that have no settled principle nothing fixed and constant to govern themselves by To these the Prophecie of Jacob concerning his Son Reuben may fitly be applied Gen. 49. 4. Vnstable as water therefore thou shalt not excell such irresolute tempers can never arrive at any excellency of vertue THE people of the Jews had no doubt a good mind to be in possession of the land of Canaan notwithstanding when-ever they met with any difficulty then would to God we were again by the flesh-pots of Aegypt and none of these light and mutable persons ever came to the good Land There were Anakims and Giants and a thousand difficulties ran in their heads which enfeebled them for the enterprize only Joshua and Caleb and such as were animated by their brave example and said Come let us go up for we are able to conquer only such I say came to the possession of it 1 Kings 18. 21. How long halt ye between two opinions said the Prophet to the men of Israel If Baal be God serve him but if Jehovah be God then serve him q. d. Whether you serve the true God or the false irresolution spoils all devotion either way for whilst you doubt and dispute your way you do but halt towards your end and design Accordingly Moses indeavours to raise a generosity of mind in the men of Israel by those words Deut. 26. 17. Thou hast vouched the Lord this day to be thy God q. d. It now becomes you to be religious in earnest to serve God with a perfect heart and a willing mind for you have now put it past all dispute you have chosen and resolved the Lord to be your God and therefore be consistent with your selves THERE is no vertue in a faint velleity when men shall speak as Agrippa in the Acts Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian It is no wisedome to put in Cautions now 't is only the language of the sluggard to say there is a Lion in the way Postquam consulueris maturè facto opus est All gallantry of mind is now after deliberation to take up an immoveable resolution for Vertue is neither a wary diffidence nor a hot fit of zeal but a constant vital heat and a settled temper of mind The young man in the Gospel St. Mark 10. 22. comes to our Saviour Good Master what good thing shall I doe that I may inherit eternal life He thought it a fine thing to be a candidate of the other World eternal life which our Saviour preached and promised was a glorious and very desirable thing and he could be well content to become a Disciple of Christ and to do some very good thing that he might attain it For indeed eternal life is that which no man can chuse but desire to have a mind to be saved is no sign of grace for a man must expresly hate himself should he do otherwise Thus far therefore he was right but after all this he went away sorrowfull without his errand he had not throughly resolved with himself to go through with it he could not find in his heart like the wise Merchant to sell and part with all he had to purchase this pearl of inestimable price But the true Penitent sets down an immoveable resolution to go through what-ever it cost him I have faultered too long already faith he now stat sententia it is as the Law of the Medes and Persians with me nothing shall dispense with my purpose or assoil my resolutions I will now return And that brings me to the 3. THIRD property of a vertuous resolution It is de praesenti a present Resolution like that of the Psalmist Psal 119. vers 59 60. I thought upon my ways and turned my feet to thy precepts I made haste and delayed not to keep thy righteous judgments q. d. My consideration lead me to resolution of amendment and I found the nature and consequence of that was such as to admit of no delay I therefore set presently about it A resolution of amendment which commences not presently but intends to do it hereafter is no repentance nor any good sign of grace forasmuch as it is probable that there is no man in the whole world at least under the light of the Gospel and who hath ever reflected upon himself or thought of God and another life but hath some time or other resolved to become a new man And indeed this is the most fatal cheat men put upon themselves and I fear now there are multitudes entered into the chambers of darkness and an irreversible estate that for a great part of their lives carried along with them both convictions of the necessity of reformation and resolutions one time or other to set about it For as I said before it is but self-love to desire eternal life and no man that considers at all can think but something must be done for the attainment of it or so thinking can so desperately abandon himself as not to intend to do it But he understands not sufficiently either the evil or the danger of sin much less hath any true sense of vertue that can find in his heart to procrastinate and adjourn the resolution of casting off the former and applying himself to the latter For where the mischief is intolerable on the one hand and the good and happiness the most unspeakable and highest that can be on the other there can be neither wisedom nor safety in any other course then that which Solomon directs Eccles 9. 10. Whatever thy hand finds to doe doe it with all thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisedom in the grave whither thou goest When once death hath closed our eyes the time of probation is over the day of grace certainly shuts in and the night cometh when no man can
most frequent and most remarkable instances of such conversions In the Old Testament we have Manasses who was an Idolater a Witch and did evil in the sight of the Lord above all the abominations of the Amorites who seem to have been the most profligate people in the world and yet became at last a true penitent a holy and a vertuous person In the New Testament to omit St. Paul who saith of himself that from a blasphemer a persecutour and the chief of sinners he became an exemplary Christian and a zealous Apostle and Preacher of the Doctrine which before he destroyed We have great numbers of the most obstinate and wicked Jews converted and no less of Romans Corinthians Ephesians and of all other Cities and Countries who had grown old and hardened in a course of sin but became new and holy men Particularly the Apostle assures us of the Corinthians That they had been Fornicators Idolaters Adulterers Effeminate Thieves Covetous Drunkards And yet were washed were sanctified were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. It is not therefore impossible saith the sinner but I may also recover my self out of the snares of the Devil I found it in my power to chuse evil why may I not hope to be able to chuse good nothing determined or necessitated me heretofore to sin why may I not then cast off the yoke of custome and by the grace of God apply my self to my duty This is a second consideration which inflames the Penitent to a resolution of amendment which when he hath in earnest entered upon he finds 3. AS his third inducement not onely to be possible but also easy at least far beyond what he heretofore imagined It was perhaps not an extenuating but a just reflection which the Historian makes upon all the famous exploits of Alexander the Great in Asia and in the Indies which had swelled his name to such a bulk Primus ausus est vana contemnere that it was not so much his more then humane courage or conduct which gave him those successes but that he had the luck or the sagacity to see through and despise the pageantry and empty shew of force and formidableness which those soft and luxurious Nations were only furnished with So it is in this case he that can but once despise those Ludibria oculorum those scare-crows and phantastical Ideas which men's own fear and cowardise represent to them he will presently find the business of Religion easy and expedite and that it is but resolving generously and the thing is done The way of vertue though through the folly of men it be an unfrequented path yet is it no sad and uncomfortable way no man abridges himself the delight of life by becoming vertuous no just contentment is denied him no power or so much as passion he hath that is altogether denied its proper satisfaction There is no inhumane austerity required of us no contradiction to our reason or violence to our nature imposed upon us God is no hard Pharaoh that seeks to break us with bitter bondage requiring the tale of bricks without straw He doth not bid us continue in the fire and not burn or require us to converse with the occasions of sin and escape the pollution but only to moderate our desires to mind our selves to set our intentions right and in a word to resolve to doe what we can both to avoid the occasion and to escape the infection AND as for that great bug-bear Custome why may we not break the fetters of our own making and dissolve an habit of our own beginning Sin it self was weak and timorous and bashfull at first but it got strength by time and by degrees and in the same manner it is to be supplanted oppose beginnings of good to beginnings of evil and an habit will be obtained and we shall confront one custome with another He that goeth forth weeping bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again rejoycing and bringing his sheaves with him THE way of vertue is therefore easy because it is recommended by our own reason though sense oppose it for the present let us be true to the former and the latter must and will give way A Law enacted by our own consent uses to find a ready and chearfull compliance that which is voted within us and carried by the free suffrage of our minds surely can never be accounted harsh and difficult and such are all the laws of vertue the rules thereof are convenient for the community suitable to our own natures and as fit for us to consent to as for God to enact ALL the opposition which the Devil or the flesh can make to the determination of our minds will quickly cease if we stand firm to our selves reason is as able to restrain sense as that is to bewitch and fascinate our minds or at least if we stop our ears we shall avoid all its charms charm it never so cunningly Besides all the importunities of the flesh will from such time as they begin to be denied grow sensibly weaker and weaker And for the Devil there is nothing so much incourages his attempts as our irresolution and feeble opposition he is both a more proud and a more cunning enemy then to endure too many repulses without hopes of success He knows well enough he cannot force us and if he cannot corrupt us will not long labour in vain This the Apostle St. James assures us of Resist the Devil and he will flee from you St. James 4. 7. ABOVE all the Holy Spirit of God will not fail to set in with us and make all easy to us if we cease to resist and quench his motions How that worketh in and upon us is not easy to discover for As the wind bloweth where it listeth and we hear the sound thereof but know not whence it cometh nor whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit notwithstanding we are assured that God will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask it and that that Spirit hath a mighty influence upon us without doing any violence to us and that its aids are incomparably greater then the Devils opposition For greater is he that is in us then he that is in the world and this is our great incouragement to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling because God worketh in us to will and to doe of his good pleasure THE mischief of all is therefore our want of resolution that we do but dally and trifle in this great business and hence all the difficulty arises Quo minùs timoris eo minùs fermè periculi Cowards run the greatest dangers in war and irresolute men find the most opposition and the greatest difficulty in a course of vertue Did we but collect our selves we should quickly find the face of things altered and all discouragements vanish ALL
zeal as cannot but be very observable nay his fervor is so great in these things that the only danger is of running into some excess lest he outgo the health and strength of his Body and forget the necessity of the common affairs of life IT is true there is great diversity in these passionate expressions of devotion according to the difference of men's tempers and constitutions but yet in every true Convert it is at the lowest quite another thing from the common flatness and formality that is too easy to be seen in other men nay the transports of this kind in new Converts are usually so great that it often gives them occasion afterwards to question their station and to doubt whether they have not apostatized and faln from their first love when they find they cannot maintain those spring-tides constantly at the same height through the whole course of their lives For the sake of which this is to be added that it is no argument against a man's sincerity that he wants some of the passionate expressions of devotion which he had at first in regard then the fresh sense he had of his miscarriages of his horrible danger together with the ravishing joy at the first glimpse of God's mercy in Christ were able strangely to move all his powers and to draw even those bodily passions into compliance with the sense of the mind which must certainly flag afterwards And therefore though it be a sure sign he is no Convert I mean from a debauched and wicked life who had no experience of something extraordinary in this kind at first yet on the other side it is no sign of decaying in grace if he find not the like all along 2. BUT to proceed secondly when the Son arose and went to his Father it is implied that he became obedient to his commands as well as that he lived in his presence and family And accordingly the Penitent in the next place contents not himself with any or all of the forementioned acts of devotion as not intending to put off God with complementall addresses for all worship without obedience is no better but applies himself with all humility and seriousness to frame his life according to his commands Heretofore he was a Son of Belial lawless and disobedient but now he saith with St Paul upon his conversion Acts 9. 6. What wilt thou have me to doe Lord He hath now found what hard service the Devil puts his vassals to and having had so bad a Master of him he doth not discourage himself with suspicions but submits his neck to the yoke of Christ Jesus and doth not say it is grievous as being of opinion with the Falisci who told Fabricius Melius nos sub vestro imperio quà m sub nostris legibus victuri sumus God's service is perfect freedom and it is liberty enough to obey wisedom and goodness ACCORDINGLY he indeavours from henceforth to live in all the statutes and commandments of the Lord blameless and exercises himself to have a Conscience void of offence both towards God and man He confines not his care to some one branch or part of his duty which is the common guise of hypocrites but resolves to be universally good and holy For he not only considers that one sin is sufficient to ruine a man as well as many as one disease may destroy a man's life as well as a complication but also he observes that the main difficulty of vertue lies in that men do not uniformly carry on the whole business before them and so the Devil gets that ground in one place which he seems to lose in another Besides the very principle that acts and governs him is the hearty love of God and goodness which makes him have an equal hatred to all sin and a zeal of every duty HE forsakes all his debauches for the pleasure of a good Conscience and makes experiment whether victory over his passions be not as delightfull as the gratification of them and whether intellectual joys be not as ravishing as sensual enjoyments and a regular conversation as easy and agreeable as the lawless and licentious He brings his senses in subjection to his reason and makes all those powers and faculties tributary to Religion which before made war against it This head of mine saith he which was wont to be employed in contrivances for the world or in catering for my lusts shall now be exercised in studying how I may doe most honour to my Maker This wit which was wont to goe out in froth or in scoffing at all that was serious shall now make apologies for what before it blasphemed This tongue shall learn to bless that was used to cursing and swearing My hands shall now dispense as liberally to charitable purposes as they have sordidly raked together before I will be as exemplary for sobriety and chastity as ever I was notorious for excesses and wherever I have wronged any body in my dealings I will now spare from my self to make them a recompence In short by the grace of God from henceforward there is neither pleasure shall tempt me nor profit allure me nor ambition corrupt me nor example sway me to doe any thing which I know to be evil and on the other side there shall neither difficulty discourage me nor tediousness of the course weary me in the race of vertue and holiness And to the intent that he may always make good this ground and persevere in this course he calls in all the Auxiliaries of Divine Grace places himself under the most advantageous circumstances and retrenches himself against all assaults or surprisals Herewithal he hath a principal care to keep his thoughts pure and holy that there may be no combustible matter in him for the Devil 's fiery darts to take hold of nor any beginning of a mutiny within him of the flesh against the spirit by which means a passage may be opened to the enemy And yet when this is done he will be always upon his guard too not trusting wholly to the innocency of his intentions as knowing both the subtilty and enterprizing nature of the Devil And that this watch may be constantly kept up he is sure not to allow himself the least degree of intemperance which would at least weaken his reason and inflame his passion and farther he is very choice of his company and very desirous to fortify himself by good neighbourhood and acquaintance that he may be quickened by their examples and lastly he will be always doing some good thing or other that temptation may not find him at leisure to give it entertainment MOREOVER in consideration that he hath lived a great while unprofitably and done far less then his duty he will strive if it be possible to do more then is matter of express duty now to make amends for fomer failing and therefore is far from the cold and frugal piety of those men that make a great stirr in seeking the
very pitifull plight either quite naked or at most covered with rags he therefore calls for the best Robe and puts it on him that not only necessity may be provided for and his nakedness covered but he will have him appear in an equipage suitable to the Son of such a Father AGAIN Secondly whereas the Son in contemplation of his present distress and former miscarriages had no higher ambition then to be admitted into the condition of an hired Servant now the Father on the other side will have him adorned with the Ensigns of a person of quality and of a Son and therefore puts a Ring on his Hand which hath in all Ages and amongst most Nations been used to denote either eminent quality or singular favor THIRDLY the Son in the time of his rebellion amongst other misfortunes became a slave as we have observed before and amongst most Nations it hath been the custom for such to goe bare-foot and only Freemen to be shod now the Father in token of his Son's emancipation commands to put shooes on his feet ALL which three things together amount to this That the Father having forgiven his Son upon his submission and return now puts him into as good a condition in all respects as he was in before his rebellion And from thence according to the Analogy of the Parable we may infer that our Heavenly Father upon the sincere repentance of sinners is so fully reconciled to them that they stand upon the same terms with him as if they had never sinned they are restored to as good a condition as that of Adam in innocency And we might content our selves with this general application but that St. Chrysostom St. Jerom St. Austin Theophylact and the generality of the Ancients carry it further and make a particular interpretation of these several passages in conformity to whose judgments we will thus render the meaning of the three aforesaid favours 1. By the best Robe is to be understood the excellent ornament of more compleat holiness and fuller Sanctification which God works in and bestows upon a sinner upon his reconciliation to himself 2. By the Ring is intimated the gift of the Holy Ghost which is conferred upon those men that are justified and sanctified as the pledge of their adoption and earnest of their inheritance 3. By the Shooes the honour of being imployed in the service of God for the drawing others home to him The grounds of which interpretations I will assign as I handle the particulars severally and I begin with the first 1. THE Best Robe Stolam saith St. Jerom quam Adam peccando perdiderat stolam quae in alia parabola dicitur indumentum nuptiale The Robe which Adam lost when he sinned and in defect of which he covered himself with Fig-leaves that Robe which in another Parable is called the Wedding Garment And St. Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Garment of an heavenly contexture the white Robe which they are cloathed with that are baptized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire agreeably herewith Theophylact the best or first Robe for so the Greek word in the Text imports that is saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ancient Robe which we wore before we sinned that which the Scripture means when it saith put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ that is put ye off the old vicious habits and practises and imitate the example of Christ Jesus and put on the holy temper of the Gospel WHOSOEVER hath been ever so little conversant in the Holy Scripture cannot but have observed it to be the usual stile thereof to denote both the inward qualities of the mind and the outward accustomary actions of the life by the garments of the body and it would be unnecessary and therefore tedious to recite the many passages there to be found to that purpose But I cannot omit that in the Revelations Chap. 19. Vers 8. To her was given to be arrayed in fine linnen clean and white for white linnen is the righteousness of Saints By the Woman is there meant the Church of Christ called the Lamb's wife whose ornaments are righteousness and holiness and they are metaphorically represented by white garments AND if we consider all the uses of Garments there is nothing more exactly corresponds therewith nor more fit to be figuratively expressed by allusion to them then holy and vertuous qualifications For if Garments are used for distinction what makes a greater and truer distinction betwixt man and man then their lives and tempers It is not being high or low rich or poor noble or ignoble learned or idiotical which makes so great a difference betwixt them as when one is good and vertuous and another vicious and prophane IF Garments are for ornament and to cover our uncomeliness what is there represents a man more lovely and beautifull then the ornament of a quiet mind a just temper an holy life and what disguises and deforms men like to vice and debauchery IF again Garments are for defence against the injuries of weather and other accidents what is there that gives a man that security and confidence which innocency of life and sincere piety affords him and on the other side what exposes and lays a man open to all the calamities of this life and to the wrath of God in the world to come but naughty and evil practises proceeding from a corrupt and vicious temper Wherefore there is both plain reason and good authority of all kinds to make this application of the first favour which the reconciled Father vouchsafes his returning Son and to say that thereby is denoted in the figurative sense that God when he hath pardoned the penitent then confers further measures of sanctification upon him § II. BUT if it shall be said that Sanctification must goe before Justification inasmuch as though an earthly Parent may be reconciled to his Son that is not truely good yet God cannot be reconciled to sinners continuing so or untill they become new men and therefore some other allegory is to be sought here and not that which we concurrently with the Fathers have pitched upon I answer the doctrine is true which this objection is grounded upon but the inference therefrom will not reach us for I have shewed already that some measure of real sanctification must goe before justification and pardon because God though he bear a constant good-will to mankind yet as the objection well suggests and we have acknowledged before is he not transported with any fondness towards any man's meer person so as to be reconciled to him whilst he stands at defiance with himself because he is a pure holy and just Majesty and consequently cannot without denying himself and contradiction to his own nature either delight in a vicious person or hate a good man And besides if it were consistent with his nature yet will not his wisedom and the interest of his government of the world permit that he cause
his Holy Spirit as aforesaid because upon many accounts there was then extraordinary necessity for it and also the Spirit then given was so plainly miraculous and gave such proof of it self that there could be no suspicion of cheat in the case yet forasmuch as both these things fail now viz. both the occasion and the discrimination they think it safer to reject all such pretensions then admitting them to lay open a way for so much cheating and imposture as may be reasonably expected when there is no certain way of detecting it NOW therefore if in the first place I can give a plain account how it may come to pass that such men as are supposed in the first objection may be destitute of such advantages of the Holy Spirit as we have asserted to be the tokens of his residence and then secondly if I shew also how to prevent all imposture by distinguishing the operations of the Spirit from fancy and other allusions then both the objections will be answered and the Reader will not be offended with the digression § III. AND to dispatch all briefly I begin with the first to which I say That as it is not usual with God to precipitate or prevent the course of natural causes but to blesse and succeed them in their due and proper order so neither in his especial providence or in the acts of his grace doth he delight to work per saltum but gradually according to the condition of the subject and its fitness to receive his impressions accordingly though he be always ready to bestow his Spirit with all the comforts and advantages thereof yet he expects and requires all due qualifications and preparations before he confer it Now there are these three especial qualifications for the reception of the Holy Ghost in the sense we speak of 1. AS I have intimated already That a man be not only purged from grosser pollutions and begin to have a love of holiness but that he be singularly pure so as at least not to admit of any voluntary transgression and especially be above all sensuality of what kind soever It is observable in that sad miscarriage of David which we have often had occasion to refer to that it made him justly fear and therefore earnestly pray Psal 51. that God would not thereupon take his Holy Spirit from him and the Apostle when he is earnestly persuading the Ephesians Not to grieve the Holy Spirit whereby they were seald to the day of redemption solemnly warns them in the verse before That no corrupt or obscene and filthy communication proceed out of their mouths as that which would assuredly argue their hearts to be no temple for the Holy Ghost and again in the verse after the aforesaid exhortation he with the same earnestness gives them caution against all bitterness and wrath and clamour c. as intimating that those also defiled the Soul and made it incapable of receiving the blessed Spirit To which purpose the Jews have a common saying Super animum turbidum non requiescit Spiritus Sanctus That the Spirit of God requires a sedate even temper as his quiet habitation 2. THE Spirit of God requires a lovely sweet and benign frame of Spirit and abhors that Hypochondriack sourness and austerity which yet some place a great deal of Religion in when men will be always sighing and complaining and peevishly refuse consolation Jonah confidently told God he did well to be angry and so these men seem to think they please God by grieving his Spirit frowardly or at least phantastically resisting his consolations But it is a mighty mistake to think the Spirit of God will comfort men whether they will or no he requires a persuadeable counsellable temper and such a disposition as will work with him for to make a black melancholist comfortable immediately is not to be done but by a phrenzy or a miracle and for this last we are not to expect it now at God's hands nay even the Prophet Elisha when he desired to call up the Spirit of Prophecy called for an Harp that he might put his mind in tune and dispose himself to become the instrument of the Spirit of God and so it is here an harmonious Soul added to the former qualification invites down the Spirit of God Especially if 3. IN the third place there be servent prayer joined herewith for since God expects we should make our acknowledgments of him and demonstrate he value we have of the mercy we seek by the importunity of our addresses to him even then when we address our selves to him for common favours with much less reason can we expect that he should bestow this great boon upon us unless it be sought by ardent and instant prayer so our Saviour hath told us Luk. 11. 13. that though he have a fatherly affection to give all good things to us yet it is upon condition that we ask him And St. James hath further explained to us the manner of asking Chap. 1. 6 7. that it must be in faith without wavering i. e. neither as doubtfull of God's goodness nor as if we were indifferent whether he granted our request or not for saith he Let not such a man think that he shall receive any thing at the hand of the Lord. NOW forasmuch as the comfortable portion of the Holy Spirit is not intailed upon all the Children which God receives to grace and pardon but that all these qualifications are pre-required since it is also evident that some who perhaps may passionately desire it yet have an unhappy temper that unfits them for the entertainment of this heavenly Guest and many others that have some good measure of sincerity which God will mercifully accept in order to eternal life are not yet raised to such a measure of holiness as to be capable of this favour at the present It cannot seem strange that such should remain strangers to this most happy priviledge nor can it yet be reasonable that their want of experience of it should be any argument that there is no such thing to be expected § IV. BUT then for the other difficultie viz. how to distinguish the moti on of God's Spirit from either the impressions of Sathan or the results of a man 's own temper and constitution I answer there are these properties of the Holy Spirit which if they be attended to and laid together will infallibly distinguish it from any other motion and secure us from all illusion 1. THE Spirit of God never moves any man but in an action or course warrantable by the word of God for since the Holy Scripture is given for a rule of our actions and as such confirmed in the most ample manner by the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit should notoriously contradict it self if it should contradict that INDEED in former Ages whilst the mind of God was not intierly delivered and consigned in holy Writ there were frequent intimations of his pleasure by the
men or rather as much as the advantages of Christianity out-went those of Philosophy For this man is not only improved by humane discourse but raised by divine revelation and governed by the wisedom of God is not under the faint and fluctuating hopes which reason can suggest but under the assurances of faith is not only eminent for some one or more vertues but being inflamed by the love of God and the prospect of Heaven he breaths nothing but greatness and glory wherever he goes God is in his heart Heaven is in his eye joy in his countenance and he spreads the sweet odours of piety and casts a lustre upon Religion FOR in the first place he is sanctified throughout the image of God is restored upon him and Christ Jesus formed in him All the maims of his fall are cured the confusion of his powers rectified the tyranny of custom vanquished his Conscience is inlightned his reason raised his passions subdued his will set right and all the inferiour powers obedient Vertue is made natural easy and delightfull to him and it is his meat and drink to doe the will of his Heavenly Father FURTHERMORE to assure his station he is confirmed by the grace of God and upheld by divine power he is the peculiar care of God's providence the special charge of the holy Angels and the Temple of the blessed Spirit all God's dispensations provide for his safety consider his strength and work for his good The Devil is so restrained that he shall not tempt him above what he shall be able to bear and hath not so little wit with his great malice to attempt where he is sure to be foiled Persecutions may assault him and flatteries may undermine him prosperity may indeavour to blow him up or adversity to crush him down raillery may goe about to shame him out of his course or buffonry to laugh him out of it but his race is as certain as that of the Sun or the Stars in the Firmament and his foundation sure as the Mountains for he knows whom he hath believed AGAIN he is adopted a Son of God and sealed by the Holy Ghost to the day of redemption he feels himself quickned by his vital presence warmed with his motions and assured by his testimony This erects the hands that would hang down and strengthens the feeble knees this lifts up his head with joy because he knows his redemption draweth nigh Every day he walks he finds himself a days journey nearer Heaven therefore he sets his face thitherwards he puts on the habit the mein the joy the very heart of Heaven he goes up by contemplation and views it he ravishes his heart with the sight of it he falls into a trance with admiration and when he comes to himself again cries out Come Lord Jesus come quickly He needs nothing he fears nothing he despises the world life is tedious death is welcome to be dissolved and to be with Christ is best of all WHAT can trouble him that hath peace in his Conscience what can disturb him that hath Heaven before him what can dismay him that is secure of immortality what can affright him whom death cannot hurt and what can deject him that is sure of a crown of glory AND lastly no wonder if after all this such a man be active and vigorous for God if he be used by God and become his Embassadour beseeching men in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God For all those comforts and incouragements afore mentioned inlarge his Soul like an Angel put wings upon him like a Cherub and set him on fire like one of the Seraphim with holy zeal of God's glory and the good of men Therefore with David he tells the unbelieving world what God hath done for his Soul and with his Lord and Master Christ Jesus he goes about doing good and in this flame of holy love is contented to offer up himself a sacrifice of a sweet smell to God HERE is adulta virtus Religion and Piety at their highest pitch and fullest maturity that is attainable in this world the next step is Heaven one degree more commences Glory Let the envious world now if they dare reproach Religion as hypocrisy or as meer pretences and great words when they observe that this glorious state is the design and the attainment of it whenever it is wisely and worthily prosecuted or let them say all this is impossible who as Tully well expresses it Ex sua ignavia inertia non ex ipsa virtute de virtutis robore existimant These things are no Romances nor have I dressed up any Legendary Hero the things are true and real Thus shall it be done to the man whom God delights to honour All this hath been attained and might be attained again would men but cease to take up an opinion of their own goodness from the extream badness of others and take their measures rather from the rules and motives and assistances of the Gospel then from the examples and customs of the world then without doubt others besides St. Paul might be able to say I have fought the good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith from henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to all them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. And that brings me to the last instance of the Father's kindness and the top of that glory which God bestows upon truely good men CHAP. V. The splendid Entertainment or the joys of Heaven St. Luk. Chap. 15. Vers 23. And bring hither the fatted Calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry THE CONTENTS § I. The peculiar intendment of this passage of the Parable That by the feast upon the fatted Calf are represented the joys of Heaven § II. The several figurative expressions which the joys of Heaven are set out by in holy Scripture viz. Paradise Rest a City a Kingdom a Feast § III. A more plain and literal account of the felicities of the other world especially in four particulars 1. The resurrection of the Body 2. Provision of objects fit to entertain and satisfy all the powers both of Soul and Body 3. The eternity of that state of life and happiness 4. The blessed presence of God and our Saviour and the happy society of Angels and Saints § I. IT was thought to be a just civility amongst the more soft and voluptuous Nations especially those of the East that those who were to be the Guests at a Feast should be as curious in the preparation of themselves for the solemnity as he that made the entertainment was for their accommodation and for that cause usually a considerable time of notice was given them before-hand that they might be in such circumstances as should both do honour to him that invited them and also render them
inasmuch as such a vertue though it run a shorter race yet by reason of the aforesaid difficulties it encounters withall equalls if not exceeds that of the earliest setting out and the longest course 3. THIRDLY it pleaseth God so plentifully to reward those that come into his Vineyard at the last hour and to make the condition of sincere Converts equall to that of those who continued always in his service because the return of such demonstrates both the excellency of vertue the great comforts of religion and the mighty efficacy of the methods of the Gospel TO begin with that first which we named last what can be a more irrefragable proof of the power of the Gospel then to see men who were given up to all debauchery abandoned of all true reason drowned in sensuality careless of eternity in a word dead in trespasses and sins recover their right minds and come to life again Doth not this evince that which the foolish world called foolishness to be the power of God to salvation Doth it not bear an illustrious testimony to that divine institution in shewing such effects of it as all Philosophy and humane Rhetorick despaired of To preserve those that are in health is valuable but to recover the sick and especially to raise the dead is admirable To civilize some part of mankind is all that humane wisedom can pretend to but to make men substantially and compleatly vertuous to alter men's tempers to correct their course to reclaim the desperate to make lewd and profligate wretches become grave and sober and chaste and holy this is a noble atchievement and this is the pretence of the Gospel and such Converts as we speak of verify all its pretensions Is it not therefore agreeable to the divine wisedom to cast a glory upon that which glorifies the wisedom of his invention AND then for the other point that by such conversions as we speak of the native excellency of Religion and the solidity of the comforts of vertue are demonstrated to be above all the gaudy outside and empty pageantry of the world or all the temptations to sin whatsoever is clear as the light since these men who have made experiment of both forsake the one for the other and having found the reasonableness of its injunctions the plainness and evenness of its path and the certainty of its upshot the present comforts and the future rewards stick firmly and immovably to vertue THE Apostle St. Peter Ep. 2. Chap. 2. Vers 20. tells us that if after a man hath escaped the pollutions of the world through our Lord Jesus Christ he be again intangled therein and overcome the latter end of such a man is worse then the beginning and that it had been better for him not to have known the way of righteousness then after he hath known it to turn from the holy commandment c. And St. Paul complains of the Galatians as if they seemed to be bewitched that having begun in the Spirit they would goe about to end in the flesh Gal. 3. 1. 3. For besides that such apostasies render their second recovery most desperate having eluded all the divine methods they also sadly aggravate their own guilt Trampling under foot the bloud of the Covenant giving the lie to God and belying their own Consciences in going cross to the convictions of their reason and their experience of the comforts of Religion in which doing they cannot seem other then inchanted or infatuated On the other side those that having tried all the pleasures of sin and considered and cast up all the gains of the Devil's service forsake him and seriously devote themselves from thenceforth to God and his holy ways utterly disparage the Kingdom of Sathan and betray the secret weakness the falshood the beggery and tyranny thereof Namely they declare that the Devil performs not what he promises nor sin what it pretends to that all the allurements of ease mirth pleasure profit which men were drawn to sin by were nothing but vain boasts all cheat and imposture And they confute all the scandals cast upon Religion all the calumnies against God as if he were an hard Master and answer all the objections which men take up against his service as difficult or uncomfortable as proceeding from meer cowardise and effeminacy of spirit Wherefore since such men who heretofore like Sampson whilest their locks were shorn and their eyes put out made sport for those Philistins the infernal spirits now calling upon God and collecting themselves in one great effort subvert the very pillars of that Kingdom and by this last act giving a more fatal blow to it then otherwise they could have done in all their lives it seems good to God to crown them as if they had always fought under his banners as well as assisted his conquest at the last 4. LASTLY such men as have formerly lived flagitiously and wickedly and are at last brought over effectually to hearty piety and devotion prove commonly very eminent and remarkable for several vertues to such a degree as is scarcely attainable or imitable by any others And therefore though they come in late they are crowned with the first Namely such persons are generally extraordinary humble and modest in their sense of themselves they are very charitable and free from censoriousness and severe reflection upon others they are exceeding watchfull and cautious for the time to come they have both a great compassion to the Souls of men of whom there is any hope of recovery and they have a wonderfull zeal of God's glory which things together render them both very beautifull in the eyes of God and very usefull in the world They are very modest and humble as reflecting upon their former miscarriages and being ashamed of themselves their present attainments do not puff them up by reason they have a thorn in the flesh a fresh and quick sense of their former follies and disobedience they remember that when they were lately in their bloud God said to them Live And this makes them not only most highly to admire and adore the riches of God's grace to them that he snatcht them as a brand out of the fire but also exceedingly contented with any condition of life his providence thinks fit to put them in Let those saith the Convert who never defiled their garments stand upon their own justification and plead their own righteousness for my part mine is but filthy rags If I had not found a mercifull God and a gracious Saviour I had perished everlastingly And if there be any can think God a debtor to them they may expostulate with him about his providences but I of all men have least reason to do it who am less then the least of all his mercies Now these things containing a full compliance with all God's designs and being the most real advancement of his glory must needs be very acceptable to him AGAIN in consequence of this humble sense of himself the