Repentance and Sincere Obedience be not the Terms of Salvation and the necessary Conditions of Happiness Whether there shall be a future Judgment when all men shall be sentenced according to their works Whether there be a Heaven and Hell Whether good men shall be eternally and unspeakably happy and wicked men extreamly and everlastingly miserable These are the great Controversies of Religion upon which we are to dispute on God's behalf against sinners God asserts and sinners deny these things not in Words but which is more emphatical and significant in their Lives and Actions These are practical Controversies of Faith and it concerns every man to be resolved and determined about them that he may frame his life accordingly And so for Repentance God says Repentance is a forsaking of sin and a through change and amendment of life the sinner says that it is only a formal Confession and a slight asking of God forgiveness God calls upon us speedily and forthwith to repent the sinner saith 't is time enough and it may safely be defer'd to sickness or death these are important Controversies and matters of moment But men do not affect common Truths whereas these are most necessary And indeed whatever is generally useful and beneficial ought to be common and not to be the less valued but the more esteemed for being so And as these Doctrines of Faith and Repentance are never unseasonable so are they more peculiarly proper when we celebrate the Holy Sacrament which was instituted for a solemn and standing Memorial of the Christian Religion and is one of the most powerful Arguments and Perswasives to repentance and a good life The Faith of the Gospel doth more particularly respect the death of Christ and therefore it is call'd Faith in his Blood because that is more especially the Object of our Faith the Blood of Christ as it was a Seal of the truth of his Doctrine so it is also a Confirmation of all the Blessings and Benefits of the New Covenant And it is one of the greatest Arguments in the world to repentance In the Blood of Christ we may see our own guilt and in the dreadful Sufferings of the Son of God the just desert of our sins for he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities therefore the Commemoration of his Sufferings should call our sins to remembrance the Representation of his Body broken should melt our hearts and so often as we remember that his blood was shed for us our eyes should run down with rivers of tears so often as we look upon him whom we have pierced we should mourn over him When the Son of God suffered the rocks were rent in sunder and shall not the consideration of those sufferings be effectual to break the most stony and obdurate heart What can be more proper when we come to this Sacrament than the renewing of our Repentance When we partake of this Passover we should eat it with bitter herbs The most solemn Expressions of our Repentance fall short of those Sufferings which our blessed Saviour underwent for our sins if our head were waters and our eyes fountains of tears we could never sufficiently lament the cursed Effects and Consequences of those provocations which were so fatal to the Son of God And that our Repentance may be real it must be accompanied with the Resolution of a better life for if we return to our sins again we trample under foot the Son of God and profane the Blood of the Covenant and out of the Cup of Salvation we drink our own damnation and turn that which should save us into an instrument and Seal of our own ruin SERMON II. Serm. 2. Preach'd on Ash-Wednesday Of confessing and forsaking Sin in Order to Pardon PROV XXVIII 13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy SInce we are all sinners and liable to the Justice of God it is a matter of great moment to our comfort and happiness to be rightly informed by what Means and upon what Terms we may be reconciled to God and find mercy with him And to this purpose the Text gives us this advice and direction whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall have mercy Vol. 8. In which words there is a great Blessing and Benefit declared and promised to sinners upon certain Conditions The Blessing and Benefit promised is the mercy and favour of God which comprehends all the happy Effects of God's mercy and goodness to sinners And the Conditions upon which this Blessing is promised are two Confession of our sins and forsaking of them and these two contain in them the whole nature of that great and necessary Duty of Repentance without which a sinner can have no reasonable hopes of the mercy of God I. Here is a Blessing or Benefit promised which is the mercy and favour of God And this in the full extent of it comprehends all the Effects of the mercy and goodness of God to sinners and doth primarily import the pardon and forgiveness of our sins And this probably Solomon did chiefly intend in this expression for so the mercy of God doth most frequently signifie in the Old Testament viz. the forgiveness of our sins And thus the Prophet explains it Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy and to our God for he will abundantly pardon But now since the clear revelation of the Gospel the mercy of God doth not only extend to the pardon of sin but to power against it because this also is an Effect of God's free grace and mercy to sinners to enable them by the grace of his holy Spirit to master and mortifie their lusts and to persevere in Goodness to the end And it comprehends also our final pardon and absolution at the great day together with the glorious Reward of eternal life which the Apostle expresseth by finding mercy with the Lord in that day And this likewise is promised to Repentance Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ who before was preached unto you that is that when Jesus Christ who is now preached unto you shall come you may receive the final sentence of absolution and forgiveness And thus much shall suffice to have spoken of the Blessing and Benefit here promised the mercy of God which comprehends all the blessed Effects of the divine grace and goodness to sinners the present pardon of sin and power to mortifie sin and to persevere in a good course and our final absolulution by the sentence of the great day together with the merciful and glorious Reward of eternal life II. We will consider in the next place the Conditions upon
the Text They are a Nation void of knowledge neither is there any understanding in them And the wish that follows in the Text is as seasonable for us as it was for them O that they were wise that they uaderstood this that they would consider their latter end And by parity of Reason this may likewise be applyed to particular Persons and to perswade every one of us to a serious Consideration of the final Issue and Consequence of our Actions I will only offer these two Arguments I. That Consideration is the proper Act of reasonable Creatures and that whereby we shew our selves men So the Prophet intimates Isa 46.8 Remember this and shew your selves men bring it again to mind O ye transgressors that is consider it well think of it again and again ye that run on so furiously in a sinful Course what the end and issue of these things will be If ye do not do this you do not shew your selves men you do not act like reasonable Creatures to whom it is peculiar to propose to themselves some end and design of their Actions but rather like Brute Creatures which have no understanding and act only by a natural instinct without any Consideration of the end of their Actions or of the means conducing to it II. Whether we consider it or not our latter end will come and all those dismal Consequences of a sinful Course which God hath so plainly threatned and our own Consciences do so much dread will certainly overtake us at last and we cannot by not thinking of these things ever prevent or avoid them Death will come and after that the Judgment and an irreversible Doom will pass upon us according to all the evil that we have done and all the good that we have neglected to do in this Life under the heavy weight and pressure whereof we must lie groaning and bewailing our selves to everlasting Ages God now exerciseth his Mercy and Patience and Long-suffering toward us in expectation of our amendment he reprieves us on purpose that we may repent and in hopes that we will at last consider and grow wiser for he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance but if we will trifle away this day of God's Grace and Patience if we will not consider and bethink our selves there is another day that will certainly come That great and terrible Day of the Lord in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up Seeing then all these things shall be let us consider seriously what manner of Persons we ought to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness waiting for and hastning unto the coming of the Day of God To whom be glory now and for ever SERMON XV. Ser. 15. The Danger of Impenitence where the Gospel is preach'd MATTH XI 21 22. Woe unto thee Chorazin woe unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes But I say unto you It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of Judgment than for you AFter our Blessed Saviour had instructed and sent forth his Disciples he himself went abroad to preach unto the Cities of Israel particularly he spent much time in the Cities of Galilee Chorazin and Bethsaida Vol. 8. and Capernaum Preaching the Gospel to them and working many and great Miracles among them but with little or no success which was the cause of his denouncing this terrible woe against them ver 20. Then began he to upbraid the Cities wherein most of his mighty works were done because they repented not Woe unto thee Chorazin c. In which words our Saviour declares the sad and miserable Condition of those two Cities Chorazin and Bethsaida which had neglected such an opportunity and resisted and withstood such means of Repentance as would have effectually reclaimed the most wicked Cities and People that can be instanced in in any Age Tyre and Sidon and Sodom and therefore he tells them that their Condition was much worse and that they should fall under a heavier Sentence at the day of Judgment than the People of those Cities whom they had always lookt upon as the greatest sinners that ever were in the World This is the plain meaning of the words in general but yet there are some difficulties in them which I shall endeavour to clear and then proceed to raise such Observations from them as may be instructive and useful to us The Difficulties are these I. What Repentance is here spoken of whether an external Repentance in shew and appearance only or an inward and real and sincere Repentance II. In what Sense it is said that Tyre and Sidon would have repented III. What is meant by their would have repented long ago IV. How this assertion of our Saviour's that Miracles would have converted Tyre and Sidon is reconcileable with that other saying of his Luke 16.31 in the Parable of the rich Man and Lazarus that those who believed not Moses and the Prophets neither would they be persuaded tho' one rose from the dead I. What Repentance is here spoken of whether a meer external and Hypocritical Repentance in shew and appearance only or an inward and real and sincere Repentance The Reason of this doubt depends upon the different Theories of Divines about the sufficiency of Grace accompanying the outward Means of Repentance and whether an irresistible degree of God's Grace be necessary to Repentance for they who deny sufficient Grace to accompany the outward Means of Repentance and assert an irresistible degree of God's Grace necessary to Repentance are forced to say that our Saviour here speaks of a meer External Repentance because if he spake of an inward and sincere Repentance then it must be granted that sufficient inward grace did accompany the Miracles that were wrought in Chorazin and Bethsaida to bring men to Repentance because what was afforded to them would have brought Tyre and Sidon to Repentance And that which would have effected a thing cannot be denyed to be sufficient so that unless our Saviour here speaks of a meer External Repentance either the outward Means of Repentance as Preaching and Miracles must be granted to be sufficient to bring men to Repentance without the inward Operation of God's Grace upon the Minds of Men or else a sufficient degree of God's Grace must be acknowledged to accompany the outward Means of Repentance Again if an irresistible degree of Grace be necessary to true Repentance it is plain Chorazin and Bethsaida had it not because they did not repent and yet without this Tyre and Sidon could not have sincerely repented therefore our Saviour here must speak of a meer External Repentance Thus some argue as they do likewise concerning the Repentance of
use such Persuasions and Arguments as were sufficient to convince and to mention no more Acts 28.23 He expounded and testified the Kingdom of God perswading them concerning Jesus St Paul in his Epistle to Timothy useth this word in a most vehement sense for giving a solemn charge 1 Tim. 5.21 I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so 2 Tim. 2.14 charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words and so 2 Tim. 4.1 I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and here in the Text the word seems to be of a very high and intense signification because of the circumstances mentioned before and after he tells us before that he taught them at all seasons v. 18. publickly and from house to house v. 20. and afterwards at the 31. v. that he warned them day and night with tears so that testifying to the Jews Repentance and Faith must signifie his pressing and perswading of them with the greatest vehemency to turn from their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ his charging on them these things as their duty his pleading with them the necessity of Faith and Repentance and earnestly endeavouring to convince them thereof Repentance toward God and Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ What is the Reason of this appropriation of Repentance and Faith the one as properly respecting God and the other our Lord Jesus Christ I answer Repentance doth properly respect God because he is the party offended and to whom we are to be reconciled the Faith of the Gospel doth properly refer to the Lord Jesus Christ as the chief and principal Object of it so that by testifying to them repentance towards God c. we are to understand that the Apostle did earnestly press and perswade them to repent of their sins whereby they had offended God and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messias the person that was ordained of God and sent to be the Saviour of the world From the Words thus explained this is the Observation that doth naturally arise That Repentance and Faith are the sum and substance of the Gospel and that Ministers ought with all earnestness and vehemency to press people to repent and believe to charge them with these as their duty and by all means to endeavour to convince them of the necessity of them In the handling of this I shall do these Two things First Shew you what is included in Repentance and Faith that you may see that they are the sum of the Gospel And Secondly Shew you the necessity of them First What is included in these I. Repentance this properly signifies a change of mind a conviction that we have done amiss so as to be truly sorry for what we have done and heartily to wish that we had not done it To repent is to alter our mind to have other apprehensions of things than we had to look upon that now as evil which we did not before from whence follows sorrow for what we have done and a resolution of mind for the future not to do again that which appears now to us to be so evil that we are ashamed of it and troubled for it and wish we had never done it So that repentance implies a conviction that we have done something that is evil and sinful contrary to the Law we are under and those Obligations of duty and gratitude that lie upon us whereby God is highly provoked and incensed against us and we in danger of his wrath and the sad effects of his displeasure upon which we are troubled and grieved and ashamed for what we have done and wish we had been wiser and had done otherwise hereupon we resolve never to do any thing that is sinful that is contrary to our duty and obligations to God and by which we may provoke him against us These two things are contained in a true repentance a deep sense of and sorrow for the evils that are past and the sins that we have committed and a firm purpose and resolution of obedience for the future of abstaining from all sin and doing what ever is our duty the true effect of which Resolution is the breaking off the practice of sin and the course of a wicked life and a constant course of obedience II. Faith in Christ is an effectual believing the Revelation of the Gospel the History and the Doctrine of it the History of it that there was such a person as Jesus Christ that he was the true Messias prophesied of and promised in the Old Testament that he was born and lived and preached and wrought the Miracles that are recorded that he was crucified and rose again and ascended into Heaven that he was the Son of God and sent by him into the world by his Doctrine to instruct and by the Example of his life to go before us in the way to happiness and by the Merit and Satisfaction of his death and sufferings to appease and reconcile God to us and to purchase for us the pardon of our sins and eternal life upon the Conditions of Faith and Repentance and sincere Obedience and that to enable us to the performance of these Conditions he promised and afterward sent his holy Spirit to accompany the preaching of his Gospel and to assist all Christians to the doing of that which God requires of them this is the History of the Gospel Now the Doctrine of it contains the Precepts and Promises and Threatnings of it and Faith in Christ includes a firm belief of all these of the Precepts of the Gospel as the matter of our duty and the Rule of our life and of the Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel as arguments to our duty to encourage our Obedience and deter us from sin So that he that believes the Lord Jesus believes him to be the great Guide and Teacher sent from God to bring and conduct men to eternal happiness and that therefore we ought to hearken to him and follow him this is to believe his Prophetical Office He believes that he is the Author of salvation and hath purchased for us forgiveness of sins ransom from hell and eternal life and blessedness upon the Conditions before mentioned and therefore that we ought to rely upon him only for salvation to own him for our Saviour and to beg of him his holy Spirit which he hath promised to us to enable us to perform the Conditions required on our part this is to believe his Priestly Office And lastly He believes that the Precepts of the Gospel being delivered to us by the Son of God ought to have the authority of Laws upon us and that we are bound to be obedient to them and for our encouragement if we be so that there is a glorious and eternal Reward promised to us and for our terror if we be not there are terrible and eternal Punishments threatned to us to which Rewards the
Lord Jesus Christ at the day of Judgment will sentence men as the great Judge of the world and this is to believe the Kingly Office of Christ And this is the sum of that which is meant by Faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ which the Apostle saith was one Subject of his preaching And the proper and genuine effect of this Faith is to live as we believe to conform our lives to the Doctrine to the truth whereof we assent Hence it is that true Christians that is those who fashioned their lives according to the Gospel are call'd believers and the whole of Christianity is many times contained in this word believing which is the great Principle of a Christian life As in the Old Testament all Religion is express'd by the fear of God so in the New by Faith in Christ And now you see what is included in Repentance and Faith you may easily judge whether these be not the sum of the Gospel that men would forsake their sins and turn to God and believe the revelation of the Gospel concerning Jesus Christ that is heartily entertain it and submit to it What did Christ preach to the Jews but that they would repent of their sins and believe on him as the Messias And what did the Apostles preach but to the same purpose When St. Peter preached to the Jews Acts 2. the effect of his Sermon and the scope of it was to perswade them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus that is to profess their belief in him v. 38. And so Acts 3.19 This is the conclusion of his discourse repent therefore and be converted and then he propounded Christ to them as the Object of their Faith being the great Prophet that was Prophesied of by Moses who should be raised up among them v. 22. So likewise St. Paul when he preached to the Jews and Gentiles these were his great Subjects Acts 17.30 This is the conclusion of his Sermon to the Athenians to perswade them to repent by the consideration of a future Judgment and to perswade them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ who was to be the Judge of the world from the Miracle of his Resurrection But now he commands all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day c. whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead So that you see that these are the great Doctrines of the Gospel and were the sum of the Apostles preaching all their Sermons were perswasives to these two Duties of Repentance and Faith Secondly For the Necessity of these Doctrines They are necessary for the escaping of eternal misery and attaining of everlasting happiness And this will appear by considering the Nature of them and the Relation they have to both these For the avoiding of eternal punishment 't is necessary that guilt should be removed which is an obligation to punishment and that cannot be but by pardon and sure we cannot imagine that God will ever pardon us without repentance he will never remit to us the punishment of sin so long as we tell him we are not at all troubled for what we have done and we are of the same mind still and will do the same again and till we repent we tell God this and we may be sure God will not cast away his Pardons upon those that despise them so that Repentance is necessary to the escaping of Hell And Faith in Christ is necessary to it for if this be the method of God's grace not to pardon sin without Satisfaction and Jesus Christ hath made Satisfaction for sin by the merit of his Sufferings and if it be necessary that we should believe this that the benefit hereof may redound to us then Faith in Christ is necessary to the obtaining of the pardon of sin by which the guilt of sin is removed that is our obligation to eternal punishment And then for attaining Salvation Christ having in the Gospel revealed to us the way and means to eternal happiness it is necessary that we should believe this Revelation of the Gospel by Jesus Christ in order to this end So that you see the necessity of Faith and Repentance because without these we can neither escape Misery nor attain to Happiness I should now come to draw some Inferences from this Discourse but I will first give satisfaction to a Query or two to which this Discourse seems to have given occasion 1. Query You will say why do I call Repentance a Doctrine of the Gospel It is a Doctrine of Nature Natural Religion tells us that when we have offended God we ought to be sorry for it and resolve to amend and reform Ans I do not make the Doctrine of Repentance proper to the Gospel as if it had not been revealed to the world before but because it is a Doctrine which the Gospel very much presseth and perswadeth men to and because the great Motives and Enforcements of it are peculiar to the Gospel So that the Doctrine of Repentance considered with those powerful Reasons and Arguments to it which the Gospel furnisheth us withal is in this sense proper to the Gospel and not known to the world before There are two Motives and Enforcements to Repentance which the Gospel furnisheth us with 1. Assurance of Pardon and Remission of sins in case of repentance which is a great encouragement to repentance and which before the Gospel the world had never any firm and clear assurance of 2. Assurance of eternal Rewards and Punishments after this life which is a strong Argument to perswade men to change their lives that they may avoid the misery that is threatned to impenitent sinners and be qualified for the Happiness which it promiseth to Repentance and Obedience And this the Apostle tells us in the forementioned place Acts 17.30 31. is that which doth as it were make Repentance to be a new Doctrine that did come with the Gospel into the world because it was never before enforced with this powerful Argument the time 's of that ignorance God winked at but now he calls upon all men every where to repent because c. When the world was in ignorance and had not such assurance of a future state of eternal Rewards and Punishments after this life the Arguments to Repentance were weak and feeble in comparison of what they now are the necessity of this Duty was not so evident But now God hath assur'd us of a future Judgment now Exhortations to Repentance have a commanding power and influence upon men so that Repentance both as it is that which is very much prest and inculcated in the Gospel and as it hath its chief Motives and Enforcements from the Gospel may be said to be one of the great Doctrines of the Gospel Query 2. Whether the preaching of Faith in Christ among those who are already Christians be at all necessary Because it seems very improper to press those
of it Such is the unspotted Purity and Perfection of the Divine Nature that it is not possible that God should give the least countenance to any thing that is Evil. Psal 5.4 5. Thou art not a God says David there to him that hast Pleasure in iniquity neither shall evil dwell with thee The wicked shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all the workers of iniquity 5. We are ashamed likewise to do any thing that is Evil and unseemly before those who we are afraid will publish our faults to others and will make known and expose the folly of them Now whenever we Sin it is before him who will most certainly one day bring all our works of darkness into the open light and expose all our secret deeds of dishonesty upon the publick Stage of the World and make all the vilest of our actions known and lay them open with all the shameful Circumstances of them before men and Angels to our everlasting Shame and Confusion This is the meaning of that Proverbial Speech so often used by our Saviour There is nothing cover'd that shall not be revealed neither hid that shall not be made manifest All the Sins which we now commit with so much caution in secret and dark retirements shall in that great day of Revelation when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed be set in open view and in so full and strong a light that all the World shall see them and that which was plotted and contrived in so much secrecy and hardly whisper'd in this World shall then be proclaimed aloud and as it were upon the House-tops 6. and Lastly We are ashamed and afraid to commit a fault before those who we believe will call us to an account for it and Punish us severely A Man may suffer innocently and for a good Cause but all suffering in that case is by wise and good men esteemed honourable and glorious and tho' we are Condemned by men we are acquitted in our own Consciences But that which is properly called Punishment is always attended with Infamy and Reproach because it always supposeth some fault and crime as the ground and reason of it Hence it is that in this World men are not only afraid but ashamed to commit any fault before those who they think have Authority and Power to punish it He is an impudent Villain indeed that will venture to cut a Purse in the presence of the Judge Now when ever we commit any Wickedness we do it under the Eye of the great Judge of the World who stedfastly beholds us and whose Omnipotent Justice stands by us ready armed and charged for our Destruction and can in a moment cut us off Every sin that we are guilty of in thought word or deed is all in the presence of the Holy and Just and Powerful God whose Power enables him and whose Holiness and Justice will effectually engage him one time or other if a timely Repentance doth not prevent it to inflict a terrible Punishment upon all the Workers of iniquity You see then by all that hath been said upon this Argument how shameful a thing sin is and what Confusion of face the reflection upon our wicked Lives ought to cause in all of us What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed If ever we be brought to true Repentance for our sins it cannot but be matter of great Shame to us We find in Scripture that shame doth continually accompany Repentance and is inseparable from it This is one Mark and Character of a true Penitent that he is ashamed of what he hath done Thus Ezra when he makes Confession of the sins of the People he testifies and declares his Shame for what they had done I said O my God! I am ashamed and blush to lift up mine Eyes to thee my God for our iniquities are increased over our Heads and our trespasses are grown up to the Heavens Ezra 9.6 And may not we of this Nation at this day take these words unto our selves considering to what a strange height our sins are grown and how iniquity abounds among us So likewise the Prophet Jeremiah when he would express the Repentance of the People of Israel Jer. 3.25 We lye down says he in our shame and our Confusion covereth us because we have sinned against the Lord our God In like manner the Prophet Daniel after he had in the Name of the People made an humble acknowledgment of their manifold and great Sins he takes shame to himself and them for them Dan. 9.5 We have sinned says he and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled in departing from thy Precepts and from thy Judgments O Lord righteousness belongeth to thee but unto us confusion of face as at this day to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and unto all Israel that are near and that are far off through all the Countries whither thou hast driven them because of their trespass which they have trespassed against thee O Lord To us belongeth confusion of face to our Kings to our Princes and to our Fathers because we have sinned against thee By which we may judge how considerable and essential a part of Repentance this Holy Man esteemed shame for the sins they had been guilty of to be And indeed upon all occasions of solemn Repentance and Humiliation for sin this taking shame for their sins is hardly ever omitted as if there could be no sincere Confession of sin and Repentance for it without testifying their shame and Confusion of face upon the remembrance of their sins Now to stir up this affection of shame in us let me offer to you these three Considerations I. Consider what great reason we have to be heartily ashamed of all the sins and offences which we have been guilty of against God It was a good old Precept of Philosophy that we should reverence our selves i. e. that we should never do any thing that should be matter of Shame and Reproach to us afterwards nothing that misbecomes us and is unworthy of us I have shewn at large that all Sin and Vice is a dishonour to our Nature and beneath the Dignity of it that it is a great reproach to our Reason and directly contrary to our true and best Interest that it hath all the aggravating circumstances of Infamy and Shame that every sin that was at any time committed by us was done in the presence of one whom of all Persons in the World we have most Reason to reverence and against him to whom of all others we stand most obliged for the greatest Favours for innumerable Benefits for infinite Mercy and Patience and Forbearance towards us in the presence of the Holy and Just God who is at the farthest distance from sin and the greatest and most implacable Enemy to it in the whole World and who will one day punish all our faults and expose us to open shame
intercourse with men There are other Virtues that are apt to oblige Mankind to us and to gain their Friendship and good Will their Aid and Assistance as Kindness and Meekness and Charity and a generous Disposition to do good to all as far as we have Power and Oportunity In a word there is no real Interest of this World but may ordinarily be as effectually promoted and pursued to as great Advantage by a Man that Exercises himself in the Practice of all Virtue and Goodness and usually to far greater Advantage than by one that is Intemperate and Debauch'd Deceitful and Dishonest apt to disoblige and provoke sour and ill-natur'd to all Mankind For there is none of these Vices but is to a Man's real hinderance and disadvantage in regard of one kind of Happiness or another which men aim at and propose to themselves in this World III. A Religious and Virtuous Course of Life doth naturally tend to the prolonging of our days and hath very frequently the Blessing of Health and long Life attending upon it The Practice of a great many Virtues is a great Preservative of Life and Health as the due government of our Appetites and Passions by Temperance and Chastity and Meekness which prevent the chief Causes from within of Bodily Diseases and Distempers the due government of our Tongues and Conversation in respect of others by Justice and Kindness and abstaining from Wrath and Provocation which are a great security against the dangers of outward Violence according to that of St. Peter 1 Epist 3.10 He that will love life and see good days let him refrain his Tongue from evil and his Lips that they speak no guile let him eschew evil and do good let him seek peace and ensue it And beside the natural tendency of things there is a special Blessing of God which attends good men and makes their days long in the land which the Lord their God hath given them IV. There is nothing gives a Man so much Comfort when he comes to die as the reflection upon an holy and good Life and then surely above all other times Comfort is most valuable because our frail and infirm Nature doth then stand most in need of it Then usually mens Hearts are faint and their Spirits low and every thing is apt to deject and trouble them so that we had need to provide our selves of some excellent Cordial against that time and there is no Comfort like to that of a clear Conscience and of an innocent and useful Life This will revive and raise a Man's Spirits under all the Infirmities of his Body because it gives a Man good hopes concerning his Eternal State and the hopes of that are apt to fill a Man with Joy unspeakable and full of glory The difference between good and bad Men is never so remarkable in this World as when they are upon their Death-Bed This the Scripture observes to us Psal 37.37 Mark the perfect Man and behold the upright for the end of that Man is peace With what Triumph and Exultation doth the Blessed Apostle St. Paul upon the review of his Life discourse concerning his Death and Dissolution 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8. I am now ready says he to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finish'd my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge will give me at that day What would not any of us do to be thus affected when we come to leave the World and to be able to bear the thoughts of Death and Eternity with so quiet and well satisfi'd a Mind why let us but endeavour to live Holy lives and to be useful and serviceable to God in our Generation as this holy Apostle was and we shall have the same ground of Joy and Triumph which he had For this is the proper and genuine effect of Virtue and Goodness The work of righteousness is peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever All the good Actions that we do in this Life are so many seeds of Comfort sown in our own Consciences which will spring up one time or other but especially in the approaches of Death when we come to take a serious review of our lives for then mens Consciences use to deal plainly and impartially with them and to tell them the truth and if at that time more especially our hearts condemn us not then may we have comfort and confidence towards God V. An Holy and Virtuous Life doth transmit a good Name and Reputation to Posterity And this Solomon hath determined to be a much greater Happiness than for a Man to leave a great Estate behind him A good name says he is rather to be chosen than great riches Pious and Virtuous men do commonly gain to themselves a good Esteem and Reputation in this World while they are in it but the Virtues of good men are not always so bright and shining as to meet with that respect and acknowledgment which is due to them in this World Many times they are much clouded by the Infirmities and Passions which attend them and are shadowed by some affected singularities and morosities which those which have liv'd more retir'd from the World are more liable to Besides that the Envy of others who are not so good as they lies heavy upon them and does depress them For bad men are very apt to misinterpret the best Actions of the good and put false colours upon them and when they have nothing else to object against them to charge them with Hypocrisie and Insincerity an Objection as hard to be answer'd as it is to be made good unless we could see into the Hearts of men But when good men are dead and gone and the bright and shining Example of their Virtues is at a convenient distance and does not gall and upbraid others then Envy ceaseth and every Man is then content to give a good Man his due Praise and his Friends and Posterity may then quietly enjoy the Comfort of his Reputation which is some sort of Blessing to him that is gone This difference Solomon observes to us between good and bad men The memory of the just is blessed or well spoken of but the name of the wicked shall rot VI. And lastly Religion and Virtue do derive a Blessing upon our Posterity after us Oh that there were such an heart in them saith Moses concerning the People of Israel that they would fear me and keep all my Commandments always that it might be well with them and with their Children for ever And to this purpose there are many Promises in Scripture of God's Blessing the Posterity of the righteous and his shewing mercies to thousands of the Children of them that love him and keep his Commandments And this a great motive to Obedience and toucheth upon that Natural Affection which men
The most Reverend D r. IOHN TILLOTSON late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Several DISCOURSES OF REPENTANCE viz. The Necessity of Repentance and Faith Of confessing and forsaking Sin in order to Pardon Of Confession and Sorrow for Sin The Unprofitableness of Sin in this Life an Argument for Repentance The Shamefulness of Sin an Argument for Repentance The final Issue of Sin an Argument for Repentance The present and future Advantage of an Holy and Virtuous Life The Nature and Necessity of holy Resolution The Nature and Necessity of Restitution The Usefulness of Consideration in order to Repentance The Danger of Impenitence where the Gospel is preach'd By the Most Reverend Dr. JOHN TILLOTSON Late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Being The EIGHTH VOLUME Published from the Originals By Ralph Barker D. D. Chaplain to his Grace LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard 1700. THE CONTENTS SERMON I. The Necessity of Repentance and Faith ACTS XX. 21 Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Page 1 SERMON II. Preach'd on Ash-Wednesday Of confessing and forsaking Sin in order to Pardon PROV XXVIII 13 He that covereth his Sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy p. 29 SERMON III. Of Confession and Sorrow for Sin PSAL. XXXVIII 18 I will declare mine Iniquity and be sorry for my Sin p. 69 SERMON IV. Preach'd on Ash-Wednesday 1689. The Unprofitableness of Sin in this Life an Argument for Repentance JOB XXXIII 27 28. He looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not He will deliver his soul from going into the pit and his life shall see the light p. 101 SERMON V VI VII VIII The Shamefulness of Sin an Argument for Repentance ROM VI. 21 22. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed For the end of those things is Death But now being made free from sin and become Servants to God ye have your fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting life p. 137 169 193 225 SERMON IX X XI The Nature and Necessity of holy Resolution JOB XXXIV 31 32. Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born chastisement I will not offend any more That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more p. 271 299 327 SERMON XII XIII The Nature and Necessity of Restitution LUKE XIX 8 9. And if I have taken any thing from any Man by false accusation I restore him fourfold And Jesus said unto him This day is Salvation come to this house p. 353 385 SERMON XIV The Usefulness of Consideration in order to Repentance DEUT. XXXII 29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end p. 417 SERMON XV. The Danger of Impenitence where the Gospel is preach'd MATTH XI 21 22. Woe unto thee Chorazin woe unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes But I say unto you It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you p. 443 SERMON I. Serm. 1. The Necessity of Repentance and Faith Acts XX. 21 Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ TO have seen St. Paul in the Pulpit was one of those three things which St. Augustine thought worth the wishing for And sure it were very desirable to have seen this glorious Instrument of God who did such wonders in the World to have heard that plain and powerful Eloquence of his which was so mighty through God for the casting down of strong holds Vol. 8. and the subduing of men to the obedience of the Gospel to have beheld the zeal of this holy man who was all on fire for God with what ardency of affection and earnestness of expression he persuaded men to come in to Christ and entertain the Gospel This were very desirable but seeing it is a thing we cannot hope for it should be some satisfaction to our curiosity to know what St. Paul preached what was the main Subject of his Sermons whither he refer'd all his Discourses and what they tended to This he tells us in the words that I have read to you that the main substance of all his Sermons was repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ The Occasion of the words was briefly this St. Paul being in his Journy to Jerusalem and intending to be there by the day of Pentecost that he might not be hindred in his Journy he resolves to pass by Ephesus and only to call to him the Elders of the Church to charge them with their duty and the care of the Church and to engage them hereto he tells them how he had carried and demeaned himself among them v. 18. with what diligence and vigilance he had watched over them with what affection and earnestness he had preached to them v. 19 20. And here in the Text he tells them what had been the sum of his Doctrine and the substance of those many Sermons he had preached among them and what was the End and Design of all his Discourses viz. To perswade men to repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Testifying both to the Jews and Greeks c. I shall explain the words a little and then fix upon the Observations which I intend to speak to because I design this only as a Preface to some larger Discourses of Faith and Repentance For explication Testifying the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to testifie to prove a thing by testimony so 't is used Heb. 2.6 But one in a certain place testifyeth saying In heathen Writers the word is often used in a Law sense for contesting by Law and pleading in a Cause and from hence it signifies earnestly to contend or persuade by arguments and threatnings In the use of the LXX it signifies to protest to convince to press earnestly to perswade It is used most frequently by St. Luke in a very intense signification and is sometimes joyned with Exhorting which is an earnest perswading to a thing Acts 2.40 And with many other words did he testifie and exhort saying save your selves from this untoward generation and with Preaching Acts 8.25 And when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord and so Acts 18.5 Being pressed in spirit he testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ Being pressed in spirit signifies intention and vehemency in testifying to them that he did vehemently endeavour to convince them it seems to be equivalent to the expression v. 28. where it is said Apollos did mightily convince the Jews that Jesus was the Christ that is did
and the real Reformation of our Lives Ahab humbled himself but we do not find that he was a true Penitent Judas was sorry for his Sin and yet for all that was the Son of perdition Esau is a sad type of an ineffectual Sorrow for Sin Heb. 12. where the Apostle tells us that He found no place for Repentance that is no way to change the mind of his Father Isaac tho' he sought it carefully with tears If Sorrow for Sin were Repentance there would be store of Penitents in Hell for there is the deepest and most intense sorrow weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth 2. Another mistake which Men ought to be caution'd against in this Matter is of those who exact from themselves such a degree of Sorrow for Sin as ends in deep melancholy as renders them unfit both for the Duties of Religion and of their particular Callings But because there are but very few who fall into this mistake I shall need to say the less to it This only I shall say that those who indulge their sorrow to such a degree as to drown their Spirits and to sink them into melancholy and mopishness and thereby render themselves unserviceable to God and unfit for the necessities of this life they commit one Sin more to mourn for and overthrow the End of Repentance by the indiscreet use of the Means of it For the End of Sorrow for Sin is the forsaking of it and returning to our Duty But he that Sorrows for Sin so as to unfit him for his Duty he defeats his own design and destroys the end he aims at II. The Other part of the Aplication of this Discourse should be to stir up this affection of Sorrow in us And here if I had time I might represent to you the great evil of sin and the infinite Danger and inconvenience of it If the holy men in Scripture David and Jeremiah and St. Paul were so deeply affected with the sins of others as to shed rivers of tears at the remembrance of them how ought we to be touched with the sense of our own sins who are equally concerned in the dishonour brought to God by them and infinitely more in the danger they expose us to Can we weep for our dead Friends and have we no sense of that heavy load of Guilt of that body of death which we carry about with us Can we be sad and melancholy for temporal Losses and Sufferings and refuse to be comforted And is it no Trouble to us to have lost Heaven and Happiness and to be in continual danger of the intolerable Sufferings and endless Torments of another World I shall only offer to your Consideration the great Benefit and Advantage which will redound to us from this godly Sorrow it worketh Repentance to Salvation not to be repented of saith St. Paul If we would thus sow in Tears we should reap in Joy This Sorrow would but continue for a time and in the morning of the Resurrection there would be Joy to all Eternity Joy unspeakable and full of Glory It is but a very little while and these days of Mourning will be accomplish'd and then all Tears shall be wiped from our Eyes and the ransomed of the Lord shall come to Sion with Songs and everlasting Joy shall be upon their Heads They shall obtain Joy and Gladness and Sorrow and Sighing shall flee away Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted but wo unto you that laugh for ye shall mourn and weep If Men will rejoice in the pleasures of Sin and walk in the ways of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes if they will remove Sorrow from their heart and put away all sad and melancholy Thoughts from them and are resolved to harden their Spirits against the sense of Sin against the Checks and Convictions of their own Consciences and the Suggestions of God's Holy Spirit against all the Arguments that God can offer and all the Methods that God can use to bring them to Repentance let them know that for all these things God will bring them into judgment and because they would not give way to a timely and a seasonable Sorrow for Sin they shall lye down in eternal Sorrow weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth shall be their portion for ever From which sad and miserable Estate beyond all Imagination and past all Remedy God of his infinite Goodness deliver us all for Jesus Christ his sake To whom c. SERMON IV. Serm. 4. Preach'd on Ash-Wednesday 1689. The unprofitableness of Sin in this Life an Argument for Repentance JOB XXXIII 27 28. He looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not He will deliver his soul from going into the pit and his life shall see the light THE great Folly and Perverseness of humane Nature is in nothing more apparent than in this that when in all other things Men are generally led and governed by their Interests Vol. 8. and can hardly be imposed upon by any Art or perswaded by any Solicitation to act plainly contrary to it yet in matter of their Sin and Duty that is in that which of all other is of greatest concernment to them they have little or no regard to it but are so blinded and bewitched with the deceitfulness of sin as not to consider the infinite Danger and Disadvantage of it and at the same time to cast the Commandments of God and the consideration of their own Happiness behind their backs And of this every Sinner when he comes to himself and considers what he hath done is abundantly convinced as appears by the Confession and Acknowledgment which is here in the Text put into the Mouth of a true Penitent I have sinned and perverted that which is right and it profited me not c. In which Words here is a great Blessing and Benefit promised on God's part and the Condition required on our part First The Blessing or Benefit promised on God's part which is Deliverance from the ill Consequences and Punishment of Sin he will deliver his soul from going into the pit and his life shall see the light that is he will deliver him from Death and Damnation And tho' perhaps temporal Death be here immediately intended yet that is a Type of our Deliverance from eternal Death which is expresly promised in the Gospel Secondly Here is the Condition required on our part If any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not In which Words there are contained I. A penitent Confession of our Sins to God for he looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned that is make a penitent Confession of his Sin to God II. A true Contrition for our Sin not only for fear of the pernicious Consequences of Sin and the Punishment that will follow it implyed in these Words and it profited me not this is but a
and heinous Provocations of the Divine Majesty which many of us have been guilty of in the long course of a wicked Life together with the heavy Aggravations of our Sins by all the circumstances that can render them abominable and shameful not only in the Eye of God and Men but of our own Consciences likewise we have great reason to humble our selves before God in a penitent acknowledgment of them and every one of us to say with Job Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay mine hand upon my mouth I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes and with Ezra O my God! I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my God for our iniquities are increased over our heads and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens And now O my God what shall we say after this for we have forsaken thy commandments and with holy Daniel We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly O Lord Righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face Thus we should reproach and upbraid our selves in the Presence of that Holy God whom we have so often and so higly offended and against whom we have done as evil things as we could and say with the prodigal Son in the Parable Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son If we would thus take shame to our selves and humble our selves before God he would be merciful to us miserable Sinners he would take away all iniquity and receive us graciously and so soon as ever he saw us coming towards him would meet us with joy and embrace us in the Arms of his Mercy And then II. As we should be heartily ashamed of the past Errours and Miscarriages of our Lives so we should firmly resolve by God's Grace to do better for the future never to consent to Iniquity or to do any thing which we are convinc'd is contrary to our Duty and which will be matter of Shame to us when we come to look back upon it and make our Blood to rise in our Faces at the mention or intimation of it which will make us to sneak and hang down our heads when we are twitted and upbraided with it and which if it be not prevented by a timely Humiliation and Repentance will fill us with Horror and Amazement with Shame and Confusion of Face both at the Hour of Death and in the Day of Judgment So that when we look into our Lives and examine the Actions of them when we consider what we have done and what our Doings have deserved we should in a due sense of the great and manifold Miscarriages of our Lives and from a deep Sorrow and Shame and Detestation of our selves for them I say we should with that true Penitent described in Job take Words to our selves and say Surely it is meet to be said unto God I will not offend any more That which I know not teach thou me and if I have done iniquity I will do no more And thus I have done with the second Inconvenience of a sinful and vicious Course of Life viz. that the reflection upon it afterwards causeth Shame What fruit had you then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed SERMON VII Serm. 7. The final Issue of Sin an Argument for Repentance The Third Sermon on this Text. ROM VI. 21 22. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed For the end of those things is death But now being made free from sin and become Servants to God ye have your fruit unto Holiness and the end Everlasting Life THESE words are a Comparison between an Holy and Virtuous and a Sinful and Vicious Course of Life and set before us the manifest Inconveniences of the one Vol. 8. and the manifold Advantages of the other I have enter'd into a Discourse upon the First of these Heads viz. The manifest Inconveniences of a sinful and vicious Course And the Text mentions these three I. That it is Unprofitable II. That the reflection upon it afterwards is matter of Shame These Two I have spoken largely to I shall now proceed to the III. And last Inconvenience which the Text mentions of a sinful and vicious Course of Life viz. That the final Issue and Consequence of these things is very dismal and miserable The end of those things is Death No Fruit then when ye did these things shame now that you come to reflect upon them and Misery and Death at the last There are indeed almost innumerable Considerations and Arguments to discourage and deter men from sin the Unreasonableness of it in it self the Injustice and Disloyalty and Ingratitude of it in respect to God the ill Example of it to others the Cruelty of it to our selves the Shame and Dishonour that attends it the Grief and Sorrow which it will cost us if ever we be brought to a due Sense of it the Trouble and Horror of a guilty Conscience that will perpetually haunt us but above all the miserable Event and sad Issue of a wicked Course of Life continued in and finally unrepented of The Temptations to sin may be alluring enough and look upon us with a smiling Countenance and the Commission may afford us a short and imperfect Pleasure but the Remembrance of it will certainly be bitter and the End of it miserable And this Consideration is of all others the most apt to work upon the generality of men especially upon the more obstinate and obdurate sort of sinners and those whom no other Arguments will penetrate that whatever the present Pleasure and Advantage of sin may be it will be Bitterness and Misery in the end The two former Inconvenieces of a sinful Course which I have lately discoursed of viz. That sin is Unprofitabte and that it is Shameful are very considerable and ought to be great Arguments against it to every sinner and considerate Man and yet how light are they and but as the very small dust upon the balance in comparison of that insupportable weight of Misery which will oppress the sinner at last Indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of Man that doth evil This this is the sting of all that the end of these things is death It is very usual in Scripture to express the greatest Happiness and the greatest Misery by Life and Death Life being the first and most desirable of all other Blessings because it is the Foundation of them and that which makes us capable of all the rest Hence we find in Scripture that all the Blessings of the Gospel are summ'd up in this one word John 20.31 These things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have Life through his Name 1 Joh. 4.9 In this was manifest the love of God towards us because God sent his only begotten
them in the other I reckon saith St. Paul Rom. 8.8 that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Particularly the Consideration of that glorious change which shall be made in our Bodies at the Resurrection ought to be a great comfort to us under all the Pains and Diseases which they are now liable to and even against Death it self One of the greatest burdens of Humane Nature is the frailty and infirmity of our Bodies the necessities which they are frequently prest withal the Diseases and Pains to which they are liable and the fear of death by reason whereof a great part of Mankind are subject to bondage against all which this is an everlasting Spring of Consolation to us that the time is coming when we shall have other sort of Bodies freed from that burden of Corruption which we now groan under and from all those Miseries and Inconveniences which Flesh and Blood are now subject to For the time will come when these vile Bodies which we now wear shall be changed and fashioned like to the glorious Body of the Son of God and when they shall be raised at the last day they shall not be raised such as we laid them down Vile and Corrruptible but Immortal and Incorruptible for the same Power which hath raised them up to Life shall likewise change them and put a glory upon them like to that of the glorified Body of our Lord and when this glorious change is made when this corruptible hath put on incorruption and this mortal hath put on immortality then shall come to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory and when this last enemy is perfectly subdued we shall be set above all the Frailties and Dangers all the Temptations and Sufferings of this mortal state there will then be no fleshly lusts and brutish Passions to War against the Soul no law in our members to rise up in Rebellion against the law of our minds no diseases to torment us no danger of Death to terrifie us all the Motions and Passions of our outward Man shall then be perfectly subject to the Reason of our Minds and our Bodies shall partake of the Immortality of our Souls How should this Consideration bear us up under all the Evils of Life and the fears of Death that the Resurrection will be a perfect Cure of all our Infirmities and Diseases and an effectual Remedy of all the Evils that we now labour under and that it is but a very little while that we shall be troubled with these Frail and Mortal and Vile Bodies which shall shortly be laid in the dust and when they are raised again shall become Spiritual Incorruptible and Glorious And if our Bodies shall undergo so happy a change what Happiness may we imagine shall then be conferr'd upon our Souls that so much better and nobler part of our selves As the Apostle reasons in another Case Doth God take care of Oxen Hath he this Consideration of our Bodies which are but the brutish part of the Man What regard will he then have to his own Image that spark of Divinity which is for ever to reside in these Bodies If upon the account of our Souls and for their sakes our Bodies shall become Incorruptible Spiritual and Glorious then certainly our Souls shall be endued with far more Excellent and Divine Qualities if our Bodies shall in some degree partake of the Perfection of our Souls in their Spiritual and Immortal Nature to what a pitch of Perfection shall our Souls be raised and advanced even to an equality with Angels and to some kind of participation of the Divine Nature and Perfection so far as a Creature is capable of them II. The Comparison which is here in the Text and which I have largely explain'd between the manifest Inconveniences of a Sinful and Vicious Course and the manifold Advantages of an Holy and Virtuous Life is a plain direction to us which of these two to chuse So that I may make the same appeal that Moses does after that he had at large declared the Blessings promis'd to the Obedience of God's Laws and the Curse denounc'd against the Violation and Transgression of them Deut. 30.19 I call Heaven and Earth to record against you this day that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore chuse life that you may be happy in Life and Death and after Death to all Eternity I know every one is ready to chuse Happiness and to say with Balaam Let me die the death of the righteous and let my latter end be like his but if we do in good earnest desire the End we must take the Way that leads to it we must become the Servants of God and have our fruit unto holiness if ever we expect that the end shall be everlasting life SERMON IX Serm. 8. The Nature and Necessity of holy Resolution The First Sermon on this Text. JOB XXXIV 31 32. Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born chastisement I will not offend any more That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more THESE words are the words of Elihu one of Job's Friends and the only one who is not reproved for his Discourse with Job and who was probably the Author of this ancient and most eloquent History of the sufferings and patience of Job and of the end which the Lord made with him Vol. 8. and they contain in them a Description of the temper and behaviour of a true Penitent Surely it is meet c. In which words we have the Two essential parts of a true Repentance First An humble Acknowledgment and Confession of our Sins to God Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born chastisement Secondly A firm Purpose and Resolution of amendment and forsaking of Sin for the future I will not offend any more if I have done iniquity I will do no more First An humble Acknowledgment and Confession of our Sins to God Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born chastisement that is have sinned and been justly punish'd for it and am now convinced of the Evil of Sin and resolved to leave it I have born chastisement I will offend no more Of this First part of Repentance viz. An humble Confession of our Sins to God with great Shame and Sorrow for them and a thorow Conviction of the Evil and Danger of a sinful Course I have already treated at large In these Repentance must begin but it must not end in them for a penitent Confession of our Sins to God and a Conviction of the evil of them signifies nothing unless it bring us to a Resolution of amendment that is of leaving our Sins and betaking our selves to a better Course And this I intend by God's assistance to speak to now as being the
if any Man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him which words are a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifie a great deal more than seems to be exprest My soul shall have no pleasure in him that is let such an one expect the effects of God's fiercest wrath and displeasure For so the Hebrews are wont to express things that are great and unspeakable when they cannot sufficiently set them forth by saying less they say more So Psal 5.4 Where it is said Thou art not a God that hast pleasure in wickedness the Psalmist means and would have us to understand it so that God is so far from taking any Pleasure in the Sins of men that he bears the most violent hatred and displeasure against them So when the Apostle here says If any Man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him he means that it is not to be exprest how God will deal with such Persons and how severely his Justice will handle them To the same purpose is that Declaration 2 Pet. 2.20 21. For if after they have escaped the Pollutions of the World through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again entangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered unto them The condition of all impenitent sinners is very sad but of Apostates much worse not only because the Sins which they commit afterwards are much greater receiving a new aggravation which the Sins of those who are simply impenitent are not capable of but likewise because such Persons are usually more wicked afterwards For they that break loose from severe Purposes and Resolutions of a better Course do by this very thing in a great measure fear and conquer their Consciences and then no wonder if afterwards they give up themselves to commit all iniquity with greediness When after long abstinence men return to Sin again their Lusts are more fierce and violent like a Man who after long fasting returns to his meat with a more raging appetite This our Saviour sets forth to us in the Parable of the unclean Spirit 's returning again and taking possession of the Man after he had left him Matth. 12.43 44 45. When the unclean Spirit is gone out of a Man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none Then he saith I will return into my House from whence I came out And when he is come he findeth it empty swept and garnisht Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other Spirits more wicked than himself and the end of that Man is worse than his beginning The Moral of which is that when a Man hath once left his Sins if afterward he entertain thoughts of returning to them again Sin will return upon him with redoubled force and strength and his Heart will be but so much the more prepared and disposed for the entertaining of more and greater Vices and his leaving his Sins for a time will be but like a running back that he may leap with greater violence into Hell and Destruction Besides that such Persons do the greatest injury to God and the holy ways of Religion that can be by forsaking them after they have owned and approved them For it will not be so much regarded what wicked men who have always been so talk against God and Religion because they do not talk from Experience but speak evil of the things which they know not whereas those who forsake the ways of Religion after they have once engaged in them do disparage Religion more effectually and reproach it with greater Advantage because they pretend to speak from the Experience they have had of it they have tryed both the ways of Sin and the ways of Religion and after Experience of both they return to Sin again which what is it but to Proclaim to the World that the ways of Sin and Vice are rather to be chosen than the ways of Holiness and Virtue that the Devil is a better Master than God and that a sinful and wicked Life yields more Pleasure and greater Advantages than are to be had in keeping the Commandments of God And this must needs be a high Provocation and a heavy Aggravation of our Ruin Let these Considerations prevail with us to pursue this holy Resolution after we have taken it up and to persist in it There remains only tho VI. And last particular which I proposed to be spoken to viz. To add some directions for the maintaining and making good of this Resolution of Repentance and Amendment and they shall be these three 1. Let us do all in the strength of God considering our necessary and essential dependance upon him and that without him and the assistance of his Grace we can do nothing We are not as the Apostle tells us sufficient of our selves as of our selves that is without the assistance of God's holy Spirit to think any thing that is good much less to resolve upon it It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure that is of his own goodness as the same Apostle speaks Phil. 2.13 It is God that upholds us in Being and from whom we have all our Power as to natural Actions but as to spiritual things considering the great Corruption and Depravation of Humane Nature we stand in need of a more especial and immediate assistance If we know any thing of our selves we cannot but know what foolish and ignorant Creatures we are how weak and impotent how averse and opposite to any thing that is good And therefore it is wise counsel in all Cases but chiefly in spiritual Matters which Solomon gives Prov. 3.5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thine Heart and lâ—an not to thine own understanding Acknowledge him in all thy ways and he shall direct thy steps Let us then address our selves to God in the words of the holy Prophet Jer. 10.23 O Lord I know that the way of Man is not in himself and that it is not in Man that walketh to direct his steps And let us beg of him that he would consider our Case commiserate our weakness and pity our impotency and that he would joyn his strength to us and grant us the assistance of his Grace and holy Spirit to put us upon sincere Resolutions of a new Life and to keep us constant and stedfast to them to open the Eyes of our Minds and to turn us from darkness to light and from the Power of Satan and our Lusts unto God that we may repent and turn to God and do works meet for Repentance that so we may receive forgiveness of Sins and an Inheritance among them that are sanctified through faith that is in Christ And for our Encouragement in this matter God hath bid us to apply our selves to
him and he hath promised not to be wanting to us in words as express and universal as can well be devised Jam. 1.6 If any Man lack wisdom let him ask it of God who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth no Man but let him ask in Faith nothing wavering that is not doubting but that God is both able and willing to give what he asks And Luke 11.9 10 11 12 13. I say unto you Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened If a Son shall ask bread of any of you that is a Father will he give him a stone Or if he ask a fish will he for a fish give him a Serpent Or if he shall ask an Egg will he offer him a Scorpion If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him To encourage our Faith our Saviour useth such an Argument as may give us the greatest assurance We are commonly confident that our earthly Parents will not deny us those things that are good and necessary for us tho' they may be otherwise evil how much more then shall our heavenly Father who is essentially and infinitely good give his holy Spirit to us And if this be not enough St. Matthew useth a larger expression How much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him If there be any thing that is good and we stand in need of it and earnestly pray to God for it we may be confident that he will give it us 2. We ought to be very watchful over our selves considering our weakness and wavering and instability and fickleness the treachery and deceitfulness of our own Hearts and the malice of Satan It will be a great while before the Habits of Sin be so weakned and subdued as that we shall have no Propension to return to them again so that our Hearts will be often endeavouring to return to their former posture and like a deceitful Bow which is not firmly strong to start back And besides the deceitfulness of Sin and our own Hearts the Devil is very malicious and his malice will make him vigilant to watch all Advantages against us and his great design will be to shake our Resolution for if that stand he knows his Kingdom will fall and therefore he raiseth all his Batteries against this Fort and labours by all means to undermine it and nothing will be matter of greater Triumph to him than to gain a Person that was revolted from him and resolved to leave his Service If therefore thou expectest God's Grace and Assistance to keep thee stedfast to thy Resolution do not neglect thy self but keep thy Heart with all diligence and watch carefully over thy self for because God worketh in us both to will and to do therefore he expects that we should work out our Salvation with fear and trembling lest by our own carelesness and neglect we should miscarry 3. Let us frequently renew and reinforce our Resolutions more especially when we think of coming to the Sacrament and approaching the holy Table of the Lord. Nothing is more apt to beget in us good Resolutions and to strengthen them than to consider the dreadful Sufferings of the Son of God for our Sins which are so lively set forth and represented to us in this holy Sacrament which as it is on God's part a Seal and Confirmation of his Grace and Love to us so on our parts it ought to be a solemn Ratification of our Covenant with God to depart from iniquity and to walk before him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our Lives SERMON XII Ser. 12. The Nature and Necessity of Restitution The First Sermon on this Text. LUKE XIX 8 9. And if I have taken any thing from any Man by false accusation I restore him fourfold And Jesus said unto him This day is Salvation come to this House ONE particular and eminent Fruit of true Repentance is the making of Restitution and Satisfaction to those whom we have injured As for God we can make no Satisfaction and Compensation to him for the injuries we have done him by our Sins Vol. 8. all that we can do in respect of God is to confess our Sins to him to make acknowledgment of our Miscarriages to be heartily trroubled for what we have done and not to do the like for the future But for Injuries done to men we may in many Cases make Reparation and Satisfaction And this as it is one of the best signs and evidences of a true Repentance so it is one of the most proper and genuine effects of it for this is as much as in us lies to undo what we have done and to unsin our Sins But because the practice of this Duty doth so interfere with the Interest of men and consequently it will be very difficult to convince men of their Duty in this particular and to perswade them to it therefore I design to handle this particular Fruit and Effect of a true Repentance by it self from these words which contain in them I. The Fruit and Effect of Zacheus his Conversion and Repentance If I have taken any thing from any Man I restore him fourfold II. The Declaration which our Saviour makes hereupon of the truth of his Repentance and Conversion and the happy state he was thereby put into And Jesus said unto him This day is Salvation come to this House for as much as he also is the Son of Abraham as if he had said By these Fruits and Effects it appears that this is a Repentance to Salvation and this Man whom you look upon as a sinner and a heathen may by better right call Abraham Father than any of you formal Pharisees and Jews who glory so much in being the children of Abraham I. The Fruit and Effect of Zacheus's Conversion and Repentance If c. This Zacheus as you find at the 2d verse was Chief of the Publicans which was an Office of great Odium and Infamy among the Jews they being the Collectors of the Tribute which the Roman Emperor under whose Power the Jews then were did exact from them And because these Publicans farmed this Tribute of the Emperour at a certain Rent they made a gain out of it to themselves by exacting and requiring more of the People than was due upon that account so that their calling was very infamous upon three accounts 1. Because they were the Instruments of oppressing their Country-men for so they looked upon the Tax they paid to the Romans as a great oppression 2. Because they were forced by the Necessity of their calling to have familiar Conversation with Heathens whom they lookt upon as sinners Hence the Phrase used by the Apostle of Sinners
to restore that which is another Man's is it not much harder for him whom thou hast injured to lose that which is his own Make it thine own Case wouldst thou not think it much harder to have thy right detained from thee by another than for another to part with that which is not his own But I am sensible how little it is that Reason will sway with men against their Interest therefore the best Argument that I can use will be to satisfie men that upon a true and just account it is not so much their Interest to retain what they have unjustly got as to make Restitution And this I shall do by shewing men that to make Restitution is their true Interest both in respect of themselves and of their Posterity I. In respect of themselves It is better both in respect of our present Condition in this World and of our future State 1. In respect of our present Condition in this World and that both in respect of our outward Estate and our inward Peace and Tranquility 1. In respect of our outward Estate If we have any belief of the Providence of God that his Blessing can prosper an Estate and his Curse consume it and make it moulder away we cannot but judge it highly our Interest to clear our Estates of Injustice by Restitution and by this means to free them from God's Curse For if any of our Estate be unjustly gotten it is enough to draw down God's Curse upon all that we have it is like a moth in our Estate which will insensibly consume it it is like a secret Poyson which will diffuse it self through the whole like a little Land in Capite which brings the whole Estate into Wardship Hear how God threatens to blast Estates unjustly gotten Job 20.12 c. concluding with these words This is the portion of a wicked Man that is of an unjust Man Jer. 17.11 As a Partridge sitteth on Eggs and hatcheth them not so he that getteth Riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his days and at his end shall be a fool Men many times live to see the folly of their Injustice and Oppression and their Estates wither away before their Eyes and by the just revenge of God they are deprived of them in the midst of their days So that the best way to fix an Estate and to secure it to our selves is by Restitution to free it from God's Curse and when we have done that how much soever we may diminish our Estate by it we may look upon our selves as having a better Estate than we had better because we have God's Blessing with that which remains If we believe the Bible we cannot doubt of this The Spirit of God tells us this from the Observation of the wisest men Psal 37.16 A little that a righteous Man hath is better than the riches of many wicked Prov. 16.8 Better is a little with righteousness than great Revenues without Right 2. In respect of inward Peace and Tranquillity it is highly our Interest to make Restitution No man can enjoy an Estate that does not enjoy himself and nothing puts a Man more out of the Possession of himself than an unquiet Conscience and there are no kind of Sins lie heavier upon a Man's Conscience than those of Injustice because they are committed against the clearest natural Light and there 's the least natural Temptation to them They have these two great Aggravations that they are Sins most against knowledge and have most of Will in them There needs no Revelation to convince men of Sins of Injustice and Oppression every Man hath those Principles born with him which will sufficiently acquaint him that he ought not to be Injurious to another There 's nothing that relates to our Duty that a Man can know with greater certainty than this that Injustice is a Sin And as it is a Sin most against knowledge so it hath most of Will in it Men are hurried away to other Sins by the strong and violent Propensions of their Nature but no Man is inclined by his Temper and Constitution to Fraud and Oppression and the less there is of Nature in any Sin there 's the less of Necessity and consequently it is the more voluntary Now the greater the Aggravations of any Sin are the greater is the guilt and the greater the guilt is the more unquiet our Consciences will be so that if thou have any regard to the Interest of thine own Peace if that be considerable to thee which to wise men is the most valuable thing in the World do not for a little wealth continue in those Sins which will create perpetual disturbance to thee and imbitter all the Pleasures of thy Life Hear how Job describes the Condition of the wicked oppressors in the place before cited Job 20.12 c. He shall not rejoyce in them because he hath oppressed because he hath violently taken away a House which he builded not surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly that is he shall have no inward Peace and Contentment in the midst of all his outward Enjoyments but his ill-gotten Estate will work in his Conscience and gripe him as if a Man had taken down Poyson into his Belly 2. But chiefly In respect of our future Estate in another World it is every Man's Interest to make Restitution Without Repentance we are ruined for ever and without Restitution no Repentance No unrighteous Man hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ If thou continue in thy fraud and oppression and carry these Sins with thee into another World they will hang as a Millstone about thy Neck and sink thee into eternal Ruine He that wrongeth his Brother hateth him and he that hateth his Brother is a murderer and ye know that no murderer hath eternal Life abiding in him 1 John 3.15 Rom. 1.18 The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungoldliness and unrighteousness of men So that if it be mens Interest to escape the wrath of God it concerns us to make Reparation for those Injuries which will expose us to it That is a dreadful Text James 5.1 2 3 4. Go to now ye rich men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you Your riches are corrupted and your garments moth-eaten Your Gold and Silver is canker'd and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire ye have heaped treasure together for the last days Behold the Hire of the labourers which have reaped down your Fields which is of you kept back by fraud crieth and the cries of them which have reaped are enter'd into the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth Do not by detaining the treasures of wickedness treasure up to your selves wrath against the day of wrath do not make your selves Miserable for ever that you may be Rich for a little while do not for a little Silver and Gold