our duty I do not say all that we can naturally or possibly but all that we can morally and probably according to the measures of a man and the rate of our hindrances and infirmities 5. But the last sort and sense of perfection is that which our blessed Saviour intended particularly in the instance and subject matter of this Precept and that is a perfection in the kinde of action that is a choice and prosecution of the most noble and excellent things in the whole Religion Three are especially instanc'd in the holy Gospel 1. The first is a being ready or a making our selves ready to suffer persecution prescrib'd by our blessed Saviour to the rich young man If thou wilt be perfect Mat. 19.21 sell all and give to the poor that is if thou wilt be my disciple make thy self ready and come and follow me For it was at that time necessary to all that would follow Christs person and fortune to quit all they had above their needs For they that followed him were sure of a Cross and therefore to invite them to be disciples was to engage them to the suffering persecution and this was that which our blessed Saviour calls perfection Dulce periculum est O Lenaee sequi Deum Cingentem viridi tempora pampino It is an easie thing to follow God in festivals and dayes of Eucharist but to serve him in hard battels to die for him is the perfection of love of faith and obedience Obedient unto death was the Character of his own perfection for Greater love then this hath no man then to lay down his life Scis quem dicam bonum perfectum absolutum Seneca Quem malum fucere nulla vis nulla necessitas potest He is good absolute and perfect whom no force no necessity can make evil 2. The second instance is being merciful for S. Luke recording this Precept expounds it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be ye perfect that is Luk. 6.36 Be ye merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful for by mercy onely we can be like him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scriptor act Diognetum He that bears his neighbours burthen and is willing to do benefit to his inferiors and to minister to the needy of the good things which God hath given him he is as God to them that receive he is an imitator of God himself And Justin Martyr reciting this Precept of our blessed Saviour in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uses the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be ye good and bountiful as your heavenly Father is And to this purpose the story of Jesus and the young man before mentioned is interpolated in the Gospel according to the Hebrews or the Nazarens The Lord said unto him How sayest thou I have kept the Law and the Prophets when it is written in the Law Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self and behold many of thy brethren the sons of Abraham are covered in filth and die with hunger and thy house is full of good things and nothing goes forth to them from thence If therefore thou wilt be perfect sell all and give to the poor Charity which is the fulfilling the Commandement is also the perfection of a Christian and that a giving of alms should be perfection is not disagreeing with the design of the word it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Grammarians it signifies to spend and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a great spender or a bountiful person 3. The third is the very particular to which our blessed Master did especially relate to in the words of the sanction or institution and we are taught it by the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or therefore For when the holy Jesus had describ'd that glory of Christianity that we should love our enemies bless them that curse us do good to them that hate us and pray for them which despitefully use us and persecute us he propounds the example of our heavenly Father for he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good But the Publicans love their friends and salute their brethren but more is expected of us Be ye therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect that is do more then the Publicans do as your Father does be perfect as he is that is love your enemies 6. Now concerning this sense of the Precept of perfection which is the choice and pursuance of the noblest actions of Religion we must observe that they are therefore perfection because they suppose a man to have pass'd through the first and beginning graces to have arrived at these excellencies of piety and duty For as no man can on a sudden become the worst man in the world his soul must by degrees be unstript of holiness and then of modesty and then of all care of reputation and then of disuse and by these measures he will proceed to the consummation of the method of Hell and darkness So can no man on a sudden come to the right use of these graces Not every man that dies in a good Cause shall have the reward of Martyrdome but he that having liv'd well seals that doctrine with dying which before he adorn'd with living And therefore it does infinitely concern all them that suffer in a good Cause to take care that they be not prodigal of their sufferings and throw them away upon vice Peevishness or pride lust or intemperance can never be consecrated by dying or by alms But he that after a patient continuance in well doing addes Charity or Martyrdome to the collective body of his other graces he hath made them perfect with this kinde of perfection Martyrdome can supply the place of actual baptisms but not of repentance Because without our fault it may so happen that the first cannot be had but without our fault the second is never left undone Thus perfection and repentance may stand together Perfection does not suppose the highest intention of degrees in every one but in all according to their measures of grace and time Evangelicall perfection is such as supposes a beginning an infant grace progression and variety watchfulness and fear trembling fear And there are many graces required of us whose materiall and formal part is Repentance Such as are Mortification Penitential sorrow Spiritual mourning Patience some parts of Humility all the parts and actions of Humiliation and since in these also perfection is as great a duty as in any thing else it is certain that the perfection of a Christian is not the supreme degree of action or intention But yet perfection cannot be less then an intire piety a holiness perfect in its parts wanting nothing material allowing no vicious habit permitting no vile action but contending towards the greatest excellency a charitable heart a ready hand a confident Religion willing to die when we are called to die patient constant and persevering endevouring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the measures of a man to
with weeping and on my eie-lids is the shadow of death Not for any injustice in my hand also my prayer is pure Wretched man that I am Rom. 7.24 who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God I am delivered through Jesus Christ our Lord. But now being made free from sin 6.22 and become servants of God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life For the wages of sin is death But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies V. 12,14 that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof For sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but under grace The PRAYER O Almighty God great Father of Men and Angels thou art the preserver of men and the great lover of souls thou didst make every thing perfect in its kinde and all that thou didst make was very good onely we miserable creatures sons of Adam have suffered the falling Angels to infect us with their leprosie of pride and so we entred into their evil portion having corrupted our way before thee and are covered with thy rod and dwell in a cloud of thy displeasure behold me the meanest of thy servants humbled before thee sensible of my sad condition weak and miserable sinful and ignorant full of need wanting thee in all things and neither able to escape death without a Saviour nor to live a life of holiness without thy Spirit O be pleas'd to give me a portion in the new birth break off the bands and fetters of my sin cure my evil inclinations correct my indispositions and natural averseness from the severities of Religion let me live by the measures of thy law not by the evil example and disguises of the world Renew a right spirit within me and cast me not away from thy presence lest I should retire to the works of darkness and enter into those horrible regions where the light of thy countenance never shineth II. I Am ashamed O Lord I am ashamed that I have dishonoured so excellent a Creation Thou didst make us upright and create us in innocence And when thou didst see us unable to stand in thy sight and that we could never endure to be judged by the Covenant of works thou didst renew thy mercies to us in the new Covenant of Jesus Christ and now we have no excuse nothing to plead for our selves much less against thee but thou art holy and pure and just and merciful Make me to be like thee holy as thou art holy merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful obedient as our holy Saviour Jesus meek and charitable temperate and chaste humble and patient according to that holy example that my sins may be pardoned by his death and my spirit renewed by his Spirit that passing from sin to grace from ignorance to the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ I may pass from death to life from sorrow to joy from earth to heaven from the present state of misery and imperfection to the glorious inheritance prepar'd for the Saints and Sons of light the children of the new birth the brethren of our Lord and Brother our Judge and our Advocate our Blessed Saviour and Redeemer JESVS Amen A Prayer to be said by a Matron in behalf of her husband and family that a blessing may descend upon their posterity I. O Eternal God our most merciful Lord and gracious Father thou art my guide the light of mine eyes the joy of my heart the author of my hope and the object of my love and worshippings thou relievest all my needs and determin'st all my doubts and art an eternal fountain of blessing open and running over to all thirsty and weary souls that come and cry to thee for mercy and refreshment Have mercy upon thy servant and relieve my fears and sorrows and the great necessities of my family for thou alone O Lord canst doe it II. FIt and adorn every one of us with a holy and a religious spirit and give a double portion to thy servant my dear husband Give him a wise heart a prudent severe and indulgent care over the children which thou hast given us His heart is in thy hand and the events of all things are in thy disposition Make it a great part of his care to promote the spiritual and eternal interest of his children not to neglect their temporal relations and necessities but to provide states of life for them in which with fair advantages they may live chearfully serve thee diligently promote the interest of the Christian family in all their capacities that they may be alwayes blessed and alwayes innocent devout and pious and may be graciously accepted by thee to pardon and grace and glory through Jesus Christ Amen III. BLess O God my sons with excellent understandings love of holy and noble things sweet dispositions innocent deportment diligent souls chaste healthful and temperate bodies holy and religious spirits that they may live to thy glory and be useful in their capacities to the servants of God and all their neighbours and the Relatives of their conversation Bless my daughters with a humble and a modest carriage and excellent meekness a great love of holy things a severe chastity a constant holy and passionate Religion O my God never suffer them to fall into folly and the sad effects of a wanton loose and indiscreet spirit possess their fancies with holy affections be thou the covering of their eyes and the great object of their hopes and all their desires Blessed Lord thou disposest all things sweetly by thy providence thou guidest them excellently by thy wisdome thou unitest all circumstances and changes wonderfully by thy power and by thy power makest all things work for the good of thy servants Be pleased so to dispose my daughters that if thou shouldst call them to the state of a married life they may not dishonour their family nor grieve their parents nor displease thee but that thou wilt so dispose of their persons and the accidents and circumstances of that state that it may be a state of holiness to the Lord and blessing to thy servants And until thy wisdome shall know it fit to bring things so to pass let them live with all purity spending their time religiously and usefully O most blessed Lord enable their dear father with proportionable abilities and opportunities of doing his duty and charities toward them and them with great obedience and duty toward him and all of us with a love toward thee above all things in the world that our portion may be in love and in thy blessings through Jesus Christ our dearest Lord and most gracious Redeemer IV. O My God pardon thy servant pity my infirmities hear the passionate desires of thy humble servant in thee alone is my trust my heart and all my wishes are towards thee Thou hast
sorrow and yet one act of sorrow is too little for any one chosen sin as I have proved formerly In this case when we have prayed for pardon of each confess'd it acknowledged the folly of it deprecated the punishment suffer'd the shame and endur'd the sorrow and begg'd for aids against it and renewed our force it will fall into the heap of the state and generality of repentance that is it will be added to the portentous number of follies for which in general and indefinite comprehensions we must beg for pardon humbly and earnestly all the days of our life And I have no caution to be added here but this onely viz. That we be not too hasty to put it into the general heap but according to the greatness or the danger or its mischief or its approach towards a habit so it is to be kept in fetters by it self alone For he that quickly passes it into the general heap either cares too little for it or is too soon surpriz'd by a new one which would not so easily have hapned if he had been more severe to the first 11. It is a great matter that in our inquiries concerning our penitential sorrow we be able to discern what is the present motive and incentive of it whether fear or love whether it be attrition or contrition For by this we can tell best in what state or period of pardon we stand I doe not say we are to enquire what motive began our sorrow for fear begins most commonly but we are to regard what is the present inducement what continues the hatred that is whither our first fears have born us If fear onely be the agent at the best it is still imperfect and our pardon a great way off from being finished and our repentance or state of reformation nothing promoted But of these things I have in the former doctrine given accounts To which I onely adde this as being an advice or caution flowing from the former discourses 12. He that upon any pretence whatsoever puts off his repentances to the last or the worst of his days hath just reason to suspect that even when he doth repent he hath not the grace of Contrition that is that he repents for fear not for love and that his affections to sin remains The reason is because what proceeds from an intolerable and a violent cause as repentance in sickness and danger of death or in the day of our calamity does is of it self for the present defective in a main part and cannot arrive at pardon till the love of God be in it so Christ said of Mary Magdalon Much hath been forgiven her because she loved much but from a great fear to pass into love is a work of time the effect of a long progression in repentance and is not easy to be done in those straitnesses of time and grace which is part of the evil portion of dying sinners Therefore besides those many and great considerations which I have before represented upon this account alone repentance must not be put off to our death-bed because our fear must pass into love before our sins are taken off by pardon proponimus illic Ire fatigatas ubi Daedalus exuit alas We have a great way to go a huge progression to make a mighty work to be done to which time is as necessary as labour and observation and therefore we must not put it off till what begins in fear cannot pass into love and therefore is too likely to end in sorrow their fears overtake such men it is too much to be feared that what they fear will happen to them 13. And after all it is to be remembred that sorrow for sins is not repentance but a sign an instrument of it an inlet to it without which indeed repentance cannot be supposed as manhood must suppose childhood perfect supposes that it was imperfect but repentance is after sin of the same extent of signification and contains more duties and labour to the perfection of its parts then Innocence Repentance is like the Sun which enlightens not onely the tops of the Eastern hils or warms the wall-fruits of Italy it makes the little Balsam tree to weep precious tears with staring upon its beauties it produces rich spices in Arabia and warms the cold Hermit in his grot and calls the religious man from his dorter in all the partsof the world where holy religion dwels at the same time it digests the American gold and melts the snows from the Riphaean mountains because he darts his rays in every portion of the air and the smallest atome that dances in the air is tied to a little thread of light which by equal emanations fils all the capacities of every region so is repentance it scatters its beams and holy influences it kils the lust of the eyes and mortifies the pride of life it crucifies the desires of the flesh and brings the understanding to the obedience of Jesus the fear of it bids war against the sin and the sorrow breaks the heart of it the hope that is mingled with contrition enkindles our desires to return and the love that is in it procures our pardon and the confidence of that pardon does increase our love and that love is obedience and that obedience is sanctification and that sanctification supposes the man to be justified before and he that is justified must be justified still and thus repentance is a holy life But the little drops of a beginning sorrow and the pert resolution to live better never passing into act and habit the quick and rash vows of the newly returning man and the confusion of face espied in the convicted sinner if they proceed no further are but like the sudden fires of the night which glare for a while within a little continent of air bigge enough to make a fire-ball or the revolution of a minutes walk These when they are alone and do not actually and with effect minister to the wise counsels and firm progressions of a holy life are as far from procuring pardon as they are from a life of piety and holiness §. 8. 14. IN the making Confession of our sins let us be most careful to doe it so as may most glorify God and advance the reputation of his wisdome his justice and his mercy For if we consider it in all Judicatories of the world and in all the arts and violences of men which have been used to extort confessions their purposes have been that justice should be done that the publick wisdome and authority should not be dishonoured that publick criminals should not be defended or assisted by publick pity or the voice of the people sharpned against the publick rods and axes by supposing they have smitten the innocent Confession of the crime prevents all these evils and does well serve all these good ends Gnossius haec Rhadamanthus habet durissima regna Castigátque audÃtque dolos subigÃtque fateri so the Heathens did
we thus can perform all Gods will acceptably For if we endevour all that we can and desire more and pursue more it is accepted as if we had done all 2 Cor. 8.12 for we are accepted according to what a man hath and not according to what he hath not Unless we can neither endevour nor desire we ought not to complain of the burthen of the Divine Commandements For to endevour truly and passionately to desire and contend for more is obedience and charity and that is the fulfilling of the Commandments Matter for Meditation out of Scripture according to the former Doctrine The Old Covenant or the Covenant of Works IN that day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2.17 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the law to do them Gal. 3 10. Deut. 27.26 Deut. 27.8 And thou shalt write upon stones all the words of this law very plainly Thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day to the right hand or to the left But it shall come to pass Deut. 28. if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his commandements and his statutes then shall all these curses come upon thee and overtake thee And if you will not be reformed by these things Lev. 26.23 24 c. but will walk contrary unto me then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins He that despised Moses law Heb. 10.28 died without mercy under two or three witnesses The New Covenant or the Covenant of Grace WEE are justified freely by his grace Rom. 3. ver 24 25 26 27 28. through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ * Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God * To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus * Where is boasting then it is excluded by what law of works Nay but by the law of faith * Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 14 26 27 28. who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit * For as many as are led by the Spirit they are the sons of God * Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God * And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God He that spared not his own Son Ver. 33 c. but delivered him up for us all how shall not he with him also freely give us all things * Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifieth This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes Heb. 8.10 11 12. saith the Lord I will put my laws in their minde and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people all shall know me from the least to the greatest * For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more If any man be in Christ 2 Cor. 5.17 18 19 20 21. he is a new creature old things are past away all things are become new * And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministery of reconciliation * Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God * For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Acts 2.37 38. and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off and to as many as the Lord our God shall call And it shall come to pass Rom. 10.13 Acts 2.21 Rom. 10.5 6 8 9. that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law that the man which doth those things shall live by them But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Death is swallowed up in victory 1 Cor. 15.55 56. O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ My yoke is easie and my burthen is light For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh Rom. 8.3 4. God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh hath for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit His Commandements are not grievous 1 Joh. 5.3 Rom. 5.10 If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life * And not onely so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement I can do all things through Christ which strengthneth me Phil. 4.13 My grace is sufficient for thee 2 Cor. 12.9 for my strength is made perfect in weakness Ask and you shall have Mat. 7.7 seek and ye shall finde knock and it shall be opened unto you To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundantly Having therefore these promises 2 Cor. 7.1 let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit Vid. etiam Isa 49.6 53.12 Psal 22.23 24 25 26 27 28. Jer. 32.34 perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. The PRAYER I. OEternal God Lord of Heaven and Earth Father of Men and Angels we do adore thy infinite Goodness we revere thy Justice and delight in thy Mercies by which thou hast dealt with us not with the utmost right and dominion of a Lord but with the gentleness of a Father treating us like friends who were indeed thy enemies
iniquity and a sincere obedience in the faith of Jesus Christ which is the result of all the foregoing considerations and usages of words and is further manifested in the following appellatives and descriptions by which Repentance is signified and recommended to us in â—cripture 1. It is called Reconciliation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled to God that is to be friends with him no longer to stand in terms of distance for every habitual sinner every one that provokes him to anger by his iniquity is his enemy not that every sinner hates God by a direct hate but as obedience is love so disobedience is enmity or hatred by interpretation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enemies in their minde by wicked works Col. 1.21 So S. Paul expresses it and therefore the reconciling of these is to represent them holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight 23 Pardon of sins is the least part of this reconciliation Our sins and our sinfulness too must be taken away that is our old guilt and the remanent affections must be taken off before we are friends of God And therefore we finde this reconciliation press'd on our parts we are reconciled to God not God to us For although the term be relative and so signifies both parts as conjunction and friendship and society and union do yet it pleased the Spirit of God by this expression to signifie our duty expresly and to leave the other to be supposed because if our parts be done whatsoever is on Gods part can never fail And 2. Although this reconciliation begins on Gods part and he first invites us to peace and gave his Son a Sacrifice yet Gods love is very revocable till we are reconciled by obedience and conformity 2. It is called Renewing and that either with the connotation of the subject renewed or the cause renewing The renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 Rom. 18.2 Eph 4.23 and the renewing of the minde or the spirit of the minde The word is exactly the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a change of minde from worse to better as it is distinguished from the fruits and effects of it So be renewed in your minde that is throw away all your foolish principles and non-sense propositions by which you use to be tempted and perswaded to sin and inform your minde with wise notices and sentences of God That ye put off concerning the old conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts and that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness which is an excellent description of Repentance In which it is observable that S. Paul uses two words more to express the greatness and nature of this change and conversion It is 3. A new Creature The new Man Created in Righteousness Eph. 2.10.3.9 John 3.6 for the state of Repentance is so great an alteration that in some sense it is greater then the Creation because the things created had in them no opposition to the power of God but a pure capacity obediential Jam. 1.18 but a sinner hath dispositions opposite to the Spirit of Grace and he must unlearn much before he can learn any thing He must die before he can be born Nam quodcunque suis mutatum finibus exit Continuò hoc mors est illius quod fuit anté Lucret. Our sins the body of sin the spirit of uncleanness the old man must be abolished mortified crucified buried Jude Rev. 7.14 Heb. 10.22 23. Psal 50.9 2 Cor. 7.1 1 Joh. 3.3 our sins must be laid away we must hate the garments spotted with the flesh and our garments must be whitened in the blood of the Lamb our hearts must be purged from an evil conscience purified as God is pure that is as S. Paul expresses it from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit denying or renouncing all ungodliness and worldly lusts And then as the antithesis or consequent of this is when we have laid away our sin and renounced ungodliness We must live godly righteously and soberly in this present world Gal. 2.20 we must not live either to the world or to our selves but to Christ Hic dies aliam vitam adfert alios mores postulat Our manner of life must be wholly differing from our former vanities so that the life which we now live in the flesh we must live by the faith of the Son of God that is according to his Laws and most holy Discipline This is pressed earnestly upon us by those many Precepts of obedience to God to Christ Rom. 6.17 Acts 6.7 1 Pet. 4.3 Eph. 2 3. Jam. 1.22.23 1 Joh. 3.22 Joh. 3.4 1 Joh. 1.6 2 Cor. 8.21 Col. 1.10 1 Cor. 15.58 to the holy Gospel to the Truth to the Doctrine of Faith * of doing good doing righteousness doing the truth * serving in the newness of the Spirit * giving our members up as servants of righteousness unto holiness * being holy in all conversations * following after peace with all men and holiness being followers of good works providing things honest in the sight of God and men abhorring evil and cleaving to that which is good * perfecting holiness in the fear of God to be perfect in every good work * being filled with the fruits of righteousness walking worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitfull in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God * abounding in the work of the Lord. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the words often used fill'd full and perfect To the same purpose is it that we are commanded to live in Christ and unto God that is 2 Tim. 3.12 to live according to their will and by their rule and to their glory and in their fear and love called by S. Paul to live in the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2.20 1 Cor. 2.1 1 Thess 16. Joh. 2.6 Eph. 2.10 to be followers of Christ and of God to dwell in Christ and to abide in him to walk according to the Commandements of God in good works in truth according to the Spirit to walk in light to walk with God which was said of Enoch of whom the Greek LXX reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He pleased God * There are very many more to the same purpose For with great caution and earnestness the holy Scriptures place the duties of mankinde in practice and holiness of living and removes it farre from a confidence of notion and speculation Qui fecerit docuerit He that doth them and teaches them Mat. 5 19. Luke 5.46 shall be great in the Kingdome and Why do you call me Lord Lord and do not the things I say to you Joh. 15.14 and Ye are my friends if ye do what I command you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. ad Magnes We must not onely be
contracted the habit of a sin especially of youthful sins unless the habit of vertue be oppos'd to the instance of his sin he cannot be safe nor penitent For while the temptation and fierce inclinations remain it cannot be a cure to this to doe acts of Charity he must doe acts of Chastity or else he will fall or continue in his uncleanness which in old persons will not be Here the sin still tempts by natural inclination and commands by the habit and therefore as there can be no Repentance while the affections remain so neither can there be safety as long as the habit hath a natural being The first begins with a moral revocation of the sin and the same hath also its progression perfection and security by the extinction of the inherent quality 4. Let the penitent seek to obstruct or divert the proper principles of evil habits for by the same by which they begin commonly by the same they are nursed up to their ugly bulke There are many of them that attend upon the Prince of Darkness and minister to the filthy production Evil examples Natural inclinations false propositions evil prejudices indulgence to our own infirmities and many more but especially a cohabitation with the temptation by which we fell and did enter into death and by which we use to fall * There are some men more in love with the temptation then with the sin and because this rushes against the Conscience rudely and they see death stand at the end of the progression therefore they onely love to stand upon Mount Ebal and view it They resolve they will not commit the sin they will not be overcome but they would fain be tempted If these men will but observe the contingencies of their own own state they shall finde that when they have set the house on fire they cannot prescribe its measures of burning * But there is a secret iniquity in it For he that loves to stand and stare upon the fire that burnt him formerly is pleas'd with the warmth and splendour and the temptation it self hath some little correspondencies to the appetite The man dares not fornicate but loves to look upon the beauties of a woman or sit with her at the wine till his heart is ready to drop asleep He will not enter into the house because it is infected with the plague but he loves to stand at the door and fain would enter if he durst It is impossible that any man should love to abide by a temptation for a good end There is some little sensuality in being tempted And the very consideration concerning it sometimes strikes the fancy too unluckily and pleases some faculty or other as much as the man dares admit * I doe not say that to be tempted is always criminal or in the neighbourhood of it but it is the best indication of our love to God for his sake to deny its importunity and to overcome it but that is onely when it is unavoidable and from without against our wils or at least besides our purposes * For in the declination of sin and overcoming temptation there can be but these two things by which we can signify our love to God 1. To stand in a temptation when we could not avoid it 2. And to run from it when we can This hath in it more of prudence and the other of force and spiritual strength and we can best signify the sense of our weakness and our carefulness by avoiding the occasions but then we declare the excellency of our purposes and pertinacious love to God when we serve him in hard battels when we are tempted as before but fall not now as we did then Indeed this is the greatest trial and when God suffers us so to be tried we are accepted if we stand in that day and in such circumstances But he that will choose that state and dwell near his danger loves not to be safe and either he is a vain person in the confidences of his own strength or else he loves that which is like a sin and comes as near it as he dare and very often the event of it is that at last he dies like a flie about a candle But he that hath fallen by such a neighbourhood and still continues the cause may as well hope to cure his feaver by full draughts of the new vintage as return to life upon that account * A vicious habit is maintain'd at an easie rate but not cur'd without a mighty labour and expence any thing can feed it but nothing can destroy it if there be any thing near it whereby it can be kept alive If therefore you will cure a vicious habit dwell far from danger and tempt not death with which you have been so long in love 5. A vicious habit never could have come to that state and period but by impunity If God had smitten the sinner graciously in the beginning of his evil journey it is likely that as Balaam did he also would have offered to goe back Now when God does not punish a sinner early though it hath in it more of danger and less of safety yet we may in some measure supply the want of Divine mercy smiting and hindring a sinner by considering that impunity is no mark of innocence but very often it is an indication of Gods extremest and final anger Therefore be sure ever to suspect a prosperous sin For of it self prosperity is a temptation and it is granted but to few persons to be prosperous and pious The poor and the despised the humble and necessitous he that daily needs God with a sharpness of apprehension that feeds upon necessity and lives in hardships that is never flatter'd and is never cheated out of vertue for bread those persons are likely to be wise and wary and if they be not nothing can make them so for he that is impatient in want is impotent in plenty for impatience is pride and he that is proud when he is poor if he were rich he would be intolerable and therefore it is easier to bear poverty temperately then riches Securo nihil est te Naevole pejus Epigr. l. 4. ep 84. eodem Sollicito nihil est Naevole te melius and Passienus said of Caligula Nemo fuit servus melior nemo Dominus deterior He was the best Servant and the worst Master that ever was Poverty is like a girdle about our loyns it binds hard but it is modest and useful But a heap of riches is a heap of temptations and few men will escape if it be alwayes in their hand what can be offered to their heart And therefore to be prosperous hath in it self enough of danger But when a sin is prosperous and unpunished there are left but few possibilities and arguments of resistance and therefore it will become or remain habitual respectively S. Paul taught us this secret that sins are properly made habitual upon the stock of impunity Rom.
express precepts of perseverance doe imply that the office and duty of a Christian is of a long time and business and a race * That repentance being the renewing of a holy life it should seem that on our death-bed the day for repentance is past since no man can renew his life when his life is done no man can live well when he cannot live at all * and therefore to place our hopes upon a death-bed repentance onely is such a religion as satisfies all our appetites and contradicts none and yet promises heaven at last * These things I say are all either notorious and evident or expresly affirmed in Scripture and therefore that in the ordinary way of things in the common expectation of events such persons are in a very sad condition So that it remains that in this sad condition there must be some extraordinary way found out or else this whole enquiry is at an end Concerning which all that I can say is this 1. God hath an Almighty power and his mercy is as great as his power He can doe miracles of mercy as well as miracles of mightiness And this S. Austin brings in open pretence against desperation O homo quicunque illam multitudinem peccatorum attendis cur omnipotentiam coelestis medici non attendis Thy sins are great but Gods mercies are greater But this does represent the mans condition at the best to be such that God may if he will have mercy upon him but whether he will or no there is as yet no other certainty or probability but that he can if he please which proposition to an amazed timorous person that fears a hell the next hour is so dry a story so hopeless a proposition that all that can be said of this is that it is very fit that no man should ever put it to the venture For upon this argument we may as well comfort our selves upon him that died without repenting at all But the inquiry must be further 2. All mankinde all the Doctors of the Church for very many ages at least some few of the most Ancient and of the Modern excepted have been apt to give hopes to such persons and no man bids them absolutely despair Let such persons make use of this easiness of men thereby to retain so much hope as to make them call upon God and not to neglect what can then be done Spem retine spes una hominem nec morte relinquit As long as there is life there is hope and when a man dies let him not despair for there is a life after this and a hope proper to that and amidst all the evils that the Ancients did fabulously report to be in Pandora's box they wittily plac'd Hope on the utmost lip of it and extremity Vivere spe vidi qui moriturus erat And S. Cyprian exhorts old Demetrianus to turn Christian in his old age and promises him salvation in the name of Christ and though his case and that of a Christian who entred into promises and Covenants of obedience be very different yet ad immortalitatem sub ipsâ morte transitur a passing from such a repentance to immortality although it cannot be hop'd for upon the just accounts of express promise yet it is not too great to hope from Gods mercy and until that which is infinite hath a limit a repenting mans hopes in this world cannot be wholly at an end 3. We finde that in the battels which were fought by the Maccabees some persons who fought on the Lords side and were slain in the sight were found having on their breasts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or pendants consecrate to the idols of the Samnenses and yet the good people of their party made oblation for them hoping that they might be partakers of a blessed resurrection They that repent heartily but one hour are in a better condition then the other that died in their sin though with the advantage of fighting in a good cause and if good people will not leave hoping for such persons it is not fit that themselves should 4. He that considers Gods great love to Mankinde * the infinite love that God hath to his holy Son Jesus and yet that he sent him to die for every man * and that the holy Jesus does now and hath for very many ages prayed for the pardon of our sins that he knows how horrible those pains are which are provided for perishing souls and therefore that he is exceedingly pitiful and desirous that we should escape them * and that God did give one extraordinary example of saving a dying penitent the Thief upon the Cross and though that had something in it extraordinary and miraculous yet that is it which is now expected a favour extraordinary a miraculous mercy * And that Christ was pleased to speak a Parable of comfort and the Master of the Vineyard did pay salary to him that began to work at the eleventh hour and though that was some portion of his life the twelfth part of it and the man was not call'd sooner yet there may be something in it of comfort to the dying penitent since it looks something like it it certainly relates to old men and can doe them comfort and possibly the merciful intention of it is yet larger * and that since God is so well pleased with repentance it may be he will abate the circumstance of time Nec ad rem pertinet ubi inciperet quod placuerat ut fieret and he will not consider when that begins which he loves should be done * And that he is our Father and paulum supplicii satis est Patri a Father will chastise but will not kill his son * And that it is therefore seasonable to hope because it is a duty and the very hope it self God delights to reward for so said the Apostle Cast not away your confidence Heb. 10.35 which hath great recompence of reward * And the Church of God imitating the mercies of our gracious God and Father Concil Nicen. can 13. hath denied to give the Sacrament of peace and mercy to none that seek it Viaticum omnibus in morte positis non est negandum Concil Agath c. 11. And in the saddest consideration of things that can be suppose it be with him as with Simon Magus suppose that he is in the gall of bitterness in the state of damnation in the guilt of a sin which we know not whether God will pardon or not yet still it is wise and pious counsel that he should pray if peradventure he may be forgiven He I say that considers these things will have cause to be very earnest and very busy to lose no time to remit no labour to quit no hope but humbly passionately diligently set upon that duty of repentance which should have long agoe come to some perfection Now because I have as I suppose said enough to make men afraid to put off their repentance to
is either I have prayed for that grace or I have seen that I have that desire not by a direct observation but by some other signification But it is certain no man can be sorrowful for not being sorrowful if he means the same kinde and manner of sorrow as there cannot be two where there is not one and there cannot be a reflex ray where there was not a direct But if there be such difficulty in the questions of our own sorrow it were very well that even this part of repentance should be conducted as all the other ought by the ministery of a spiritual man that it may be better instructed and prudently managed and better discerned and led on to its proper effects But when it is so help'd forward it is more then Contrition it is Confession also of which I am yet to give in special accounts §. 3. Of the natures and difference of Attrition and Contrition ALL the passions of the irascible faculty are that sorrow in some sense or other which will produce repentance Repentance cannot kill sin but by withdrawing the will from it and the will is not to be withdrawn but by complying with the contrary affection to that which before did accompany it in evil Now whatever that affection was pleasure was the product it was that which nurs'd or begot the sin Now as this pleasure might proceed from hope from possession from sense from fancy from desire and all the passions of the concupiscible appetite so when there is a displeasure conceived it will help to destroy sin from what passion soever of what faculty soever that displeasure can be produced If the displeasure at sin proceeds from any passion of the irascible faculty it is that which those Divines who understand the meaning of their own words of art commonly call Attrition that is A resolving against sin the resolution proceeding from any principle that is troublesome and dolorous and in what degree of good that is appears in the stating of this Question it is acceptable to God not an acceptable repentance for it is not so much but it is a good beginning of it an acceptable introduction to it and must in its very nature suppose a sorrow or displeasure in which although according to the quality of the motives of attrition or the disposition of the penitent there is more or less sensitive trouble respectively yet in all there must be so much sorrow or displeasure as to cause a dereliction of the sin or a resolution at least to leave it But there are some natures so ingenuous and there are some periods of repentance so perfect and some penitents have so farre proceeded in the methods of holiness and pardon that they are fallen out with sin upon the stock of some principles proceeding from the concupiscible appetite such are Love and Hope and if these have for their object God or the Divine promises it is that noblest principle of repentance or holy life which Divines call Contrition For hope cannot be without love of that which is hoped for if therefore this hope have for its object temporal purchases it is or may be a sufficient cause of leaving sin according as the power and efficacy of the hope shall be but it will not be sufficient towards pardon unless in its progression it joyn with some better principle of a spiritual grace Temporal Hope and temporal Fear may begin Gods work upon our spirits but till it be gone farther we are not in the first step of an actual state of grace But as attrition proceeds from the motives of those displeasing objects which are threatned by God to be the evil consequents of sin relating to eternity so Contrition proceeds from objects and motives of desire which are promises and benefits received already or to be received hereafter But these must also be more then temporal good things for hopes and fear relating to things though promised or threatned in holy Scripture are not sufficient incentives of a holy and acceptable repentance which because it is not a transient act but a state of holiness cannot be supported by a transitory and deficient cause but must wholly rely upon expectation and love of things that are eternal and cannot pass away Attrition begins with fear Contrition hath hope and love in it The first is a good beginning but it is no more before a man can say he is pardoned he must be gone beyond the first and arrived at this The reason is plain because although in the beginnings of Repentance there is a great fear yet the causes of this fear wear away and lessen according as the repentance goes on and are quite extinguished when the penitent hath mortified his sin and hath received the spirit of adoption the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the confidence of the sons of God but because repentance must be perfect and must be perpetual during this life it must also be maintained and supported by something that is lasting and will not wear off and that is hope and love Serm. 7. de tempor according to that of S. Austin Poenitentiam certam non facit nisi odium peccati amor Dei. Hatred of sin and the love of God make repentance firm and sure nothing else can do it but this is a work of time but such a work that without it be done our pardon is not perfect Now of this Contrition relying upon motives of pleasure and objects of amability being the noblest principle of action and made up of the love of God and holy things and holy expectations the product is quite differing from that of attrition or the imperfect repentance for that commencing upon fear or displeasure is onely apt to produce a dereliction or quitting of our sin and all the servile affections of frighted or displeased persons But this would not effect an universal obedience which onely can be effected by love and the affection of sons which is also the product of those objects which are the incentives of the divine love and is called Contrition that is a hatred against sin as being an enemy to God and all our hopes of enjoying God whom because this repenting man loves and delights in he also hates whatsoever God hates and is really griev'd for ever having offended so good a God and for having endangered his hopes of dwelling with him whom he so loves and therefore now does the quite contrary Now this is not usually the beginning of repentance but is a great progression in it and it contains in it obedience He that is attrite leaves his sin but he that is contrite obeys God and pursues the interests and acquists of vertue so that Contrition is not onely a sorrow for having offended God whom the penitent loves that is but one act or effect of Contrition but Contrition loves God and hates sin it leaves this and adheres to him abstains from evil and does good dies to sin and lives to righteousness