particularly and endeavours to amend them will be able to avoid and overcome many of those things which are by others looked upon as the unavoidable Frailties and Infirmities of Nature 7. And in proportion as a Man arrives nearer to this perfect State of Virtue so will that Peace of Conscience which is the peculiar Reward of Religion in this World grow up by degrees to a settled Joy and Assurance of Mind One whose Life is void of great and scandalous Crimes but otherwise not strict and diligent will be free indeed from the Terrour and Amazement of the Wicked but because he has taken no great Pains nor done any thing considerable for the Love of God and for the sake of Religion his Mind will yet be disturbed with many scrupulous Doubts and uncertain Fears But when a Man has been truly diligent to improve himself to the utmost and has with Zeal and Earnestness pressed forward towards Perfection then is it that he attains to that Tranquillity and Assurance which wise Men have compared to a continual Feast The Peace and Satisfaction of Mind which some have found upon the careful and strict examination of one past Days Actions has been very great But that compleat Assurance which arises from the Conscience of a considerable part of a Man's Life having been spent in the Strictness and in the Purity of the Gospel is a Pleasure infinitely surpassing all the Enjoyments of Sense being indeed a fore-taste of the Happiness of Heaven and a Rejoycing before-hand in Christ with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Such a one as has arrived to this pitch lives in Peace and dies with Assurance and at the appearance of our Lord shall be presented fault less before the Presence of his Glory with exceeding Joy THE END Essay the Third Of Repentance CHAP. I. Of Repentance in General 1. THE plain and express Condition upon which the Gospel promises Salvation to all Men is Obedience or a Holy Life The Time from which this Holy Life is to begin is either Baptism or Confirmation that is the Time when those who are either at riper Years converted to the Christian Religion or have from their Infancy been brought up in the Profession of it come to a clear and distinct knowledge of their Duty That from this Period every Man is obliged to persevere in a constant Course of Holiness that is in a continual and sincere though weak and imperfect Obedience to all the Commands of God the Gospel plainly declares to us And that the glorious Rewards of Heaven should be at all promised to so small a Service as the imperfect Obedience which weak sinful degenerate Man should be able to perform is the Purchase of the Price of the Blood of the Son of God and the Effect of the infinite Riches of the Divine Mercy made known to us by Christ. Had God therefore to those who had once been received to the Mercy of the Gospel and had once been made partakers of the heavenly Gift and had tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come allowed no more Remission for wilful and presumptuous Sins but accepted those only who having once washed their Garments in the Blood of the Lamb should from thenceforward keep themselves in a Gospel Sense pure and undefiled yet had his Mercy been infinitely greater than sinful Man could have deserved or expected But such is the earnestness of God's Desire to make his Creatures Happy and such the Abundance of the Grace made known by the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that even to those who having been already admitted to the Mercy and Favour of the Gospel and having received the Promise of a great and glorious Reward upon the Condition of an easie and most reasonable Obedience and having been endued with the Earnest of his Holy Spirit shall notwithstanding relapse after all this into wilful and deliberate Sins even to these I say he has yet further granted that if by a solemn Repentance they shall again unfeignedly renew their Obedience and from that Period persevere in well-doing to the end they shall yet attain to the Reward of the Faithful and shall be saved as Fire-brands plucked out of the Fire or as Men escaping upon a Plank after Shipwreck 2. By Repentance therefore I would all along in this Essay be understood to mean not that Repentance which is the constant Duty of all Christians who are indeed continually bound to repent in general of all those Slips and Infirmities those Defects and Surprizes which by the Condition of the Gospel-Covenant are most readily pardoned For this Repentance is not properly a new Period or Beginning of a Holy Life but a necessary and continued part of that imperfect Obedience which Man in this degenerate State is capable of performing and which God has in his Gospel declared that he will always accept instead of perfect Innocence But by Repentance I here understand that Repentance which is an entire change of Heart and Mind a turning from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan unto God whereby those who by wilful and deadly Sins have left their first Estate and forfeited their Title to the Crown of Righteousness are to begin anew their Obedience in order to recover the Mercy and Favour of God And that no one may be perplexed with vain Scruples and unreasonable Fears this Repentance is such as plainly no Man is obliged to but those who are guilty of great and deliberate Sins of Blasphemy Perjury open Profaneness or contempt of Religion of Murder Sedition Theft manifest and designed Injustice Hatred Fraud Wrong or Oppression of Adulteries Fornications Uncleannesses or habitual Drunkenness and Intemperance or of some other Sins either maliciously wilful or notoriously habitual CHAP. II. That God allows Repentance even to the greatest of Sinners 1. IN the Primitive Church there was a Sect of Men who upon a mistaken Interpretation of some Passages of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews contended that there was no more place of Repentance allowed to those who after Baptism should fall into any of these wilful and deliberate Sins They taught that in Baptism indeed all manner of Sin and Blasphemy whatsoever was forgiven Men absolutely and wash'd away by the Blood of Christ but that if after that great Remission they sinned again wilfully and presumptuously they could no more obtain any further Pardon than the Death of Christ that great Sacrifice for Sin could be repeated and that therefore however they should sincerely repent yet there now remained nothing more for them but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which should devour the Adversary But that this was a great mistake and that God does admit even the greatest of Sinners upon their true Repentance to Forgiveness and Pardon is evident both from the Nature of God and the Design of Christianity from the Practice
yet he may retain such an affection to it such a readiness to return to it in his former Circumstances or at least may have so little Hatred and Resolution against it as may make him very far from a true Penitent In all such Cases therefore where a Man may break off a Sin upon any other Consideration than the Love of God and a true Sense of Religion 't is necessary for the evidencing the Truth of his Repentance and for the preserving him from imposing upon his own Mind that he testifie his Sincerity and the Reality of his change of Mind by some such afflictive laborious or expensive Duties as will prove him to have indeed attained such a religious temper of Mind as would be sufficient to preserve him in the like Circumstances from returning again to the same or to any other the like wilful Sin Were this rightly considered Men would not so easily sin on securely at present and impose upon themselves with vain hopes of growing better afterward with less Pains when some particular alteration of their Circumstances of Life or perhaps Age and Sickness shall have removed their Temptations 3. But Secondly When amendment of Life does alone sufficiently evidence the sincerity of Repentance as generally and in most Cases it does yet ought those who have sinned to do something to testifie their Sorrow for past Offences and to judge themselves that they may not be judged of the Lord. They ought to take Shame to themselves that after having received the knowledge of the Truth and having been made partakers of the heavenly Gift and having tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come they should again have returned to Sin and Folly They ought to consider with Confusion of Face the Ingratitude of having again committed those things which are so hateful to God that he has threatned to punish the continuance in them with everlasting Destruction and would not once pardon them under a less Ransom than the Blood of his only Son And these Considerations ought to work in them that Carefulness that Indignation that Fear that vehement Desire that Zeal and that Revenge of which St. Paul tells us consisteth that godly Sorrow which worketh Repentance to Salvation not to be repented of 4. Thus when St. Peter had thrice denied his Master the Consideration of the Shamefulness and Ingratitude of the thing made him when he thought thereon weep bitterly Thus when David had committed those crying Sins of Adultery and Murder the Consideration of the foulness and baseness of the Fact made him every night wash his Bed and water his Couch with his Tears and extorted from him those bitter Complaints of which the greatest part of his Penitential Psalms are made up And all the Saints who ever fell into any notorious Sin were very severe in their Humiliation earnestly desiring that God would give them their Punishment in this World that their Spirit might be saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus 5. For this Reason St. James advises those who had sinned to be afflicted and mourn and weep to let their Laughter be turned to Mourning and their Joy to Heaviness and to humble themselves in the sight of the Lord that he might lift them up And the Primitive Church always taught That Sins committed wilfully after the knowledge and belief of the Truth were to be done away with Labour and Sorrow That such Sins were not immediately forgiven upon a Mans beginning to repent but after he had afflicted his Soul and humbled himself deeply and undergone many Troubles That the afflictive Duties of Repentance ought to bear some proportion to the greatness of the Sin That the Penitent ought to spend much time in Watching Fasting Praying and giving much Alms And that by how much the more severely he judged himself here by so much the more might he hope God would spare him and be merciful to him hereafter 6. 'T is true the Sin which the Ancients particularly respected when they preached up the necessity of this severe Repentance was no less than that of denying our Saviour But if we consider the Matter impartially what great difference is there between renouncing Christianity and living in an open and profane contempt of Religion in the Practice of manifest Injustice Fraud and Oppression or in notorious and habitual Intemperance Only they who denied Christ did it being compelled by great and long Torments but these other Vices are committed wilfully and of choice 7. Very great Reason therefore there is why those who have been guilty of great and wilful Sins should enjoyn themselves a great and remarkable Repentance But yet because after all the End and Design the whole Summ and Life of Repentance is Reformation therefore no Man ought to impose upon himself any other Penitential Severities than such as are directly conducive to this main End Ridiculous and foolish were the Penances enjoyned Men in the dark and more ignorant Ages of the Church because they neither tended to improve the Virtues of Mens own Minds nor to make Men more Useful and Beneficial to others But such Penitential Exercises as directly mortifie Mens Lusts and Passions or lead them to be more Charitable and do more Good in the World in these by how much the Penitent is more strict and constant by so much is he more secure of the Sincerity of his Repentance and of the Fulness of his Pardon 8. The best therefore and the greatest and the most effectual Repentance that a Man can possibly exercise is to endeavour to be so much the more careful in mortifying his Vices and so much the more zealous in improving all Opportunities of doing Good by how much he has formerly been more faulty in any Particular And to resolve by how much the more he hopes to have forgiven him to Love so much the more Let him if he has been vanquished by any Temptation resolve to strengthen himself so much the more against it and to become for the future the more heroically Virtuous He that thus endeavours to appease God and by the Repentance and Shame and Sorrow of his past Faults is spurred on to exercise greater Faith and Virtue and Courage such a one by the assistance of God may become a Joy to the Church which he before made sorrowful and shall obtain not only the Pardon of his Sins but also the Crown of Righteousness 9. Particularly a Penitent ought above all things to endeavour after a great and fervent Charity This is a Duty which all wise and holy Men have in all Ages thought to have an especial Efficacy to procure Pardon of Sin And very great are the Promises which are made to it in Scripture Alms saith the Son of Sirach make an atonement for Sins Ecclus. 3. 30. And Charity saith St. Peter shall cover a multitude of Sins 1 Pet. 4. 8. And the merciful saith our Saviour
himself shall obtain Mercy Matth. 5. 7. Only Men must not hope by this or any other means to obtain a Liberty of continuing in Sin For Charity shall procure forgiveness of Sins past repented of and forsaken but not of Sins committed upon presumption of their being expiated thereby CHAP. V. That true Repentance must be Constant and Persevering in its Effects And of the One Repentance of the Ancients 1. THirdly and Lastly True Repentance must be Constant and Persevering in its Effects that is it must put a Man into such a state as that he will not any more return wilfully unto Sin Till it arrive to this Pitch Repentance is not true and however Men may deceive themselves with vain Imaginations about it can never be effectual to Salvation The Condition that our Saviour expresly requires in his Gospel is a continued Holy Life from the time of our knowing and embracing the Truth But certainly he will never accept of any thing less than a Life of Holiness and Persevering Obedience from some Period of Reformation and Repentance 2. He therefore that repents ought to be infinitely fearful of relapsing into Sin as one that is recovering out of a dangerous and almost mortal Sickness When ever he wilfully relapses he makes his Case worse than it was at first and his Disease more in danger of being mortal It becomes much harder for him to renew himself unto Repentance and much more difficult to procure Pardon 3. 'T is true evil Habits are not to be rooted out at once and vicious Customs to be overcome in a moment So long therefore as a Man does not return wilfully and deliberately into the habit of Sin many Surprizes and Interruptions in the struggle with a customary Vice may be consistent with the Progress of Repentance But 't is then only that it becomes compleat and effectual when the evil habit is so entirely rooted out that the Man from thenceforward obeys the Commandments of God without looking back and returns no more to the Sins he has condemned 4. Let no Man therefore think that he has truly repented of any deadly Sin so long as he continues to practise and repeat it He that washeth himself after the touching of a dead Body if he touch it again what availeth his washing So is it with a Man that fasteth for his Sins and goeth again and doeth the same who will hear his Prayer Or what doth his humbling profit him Ecclus. 34. 25. He may fast and pray and lament and use all the apparent signs of Repentance imaginable but God will never esteem his Repentance true nor accept it as available to the forgiveness of Sin till he sees it Pure and Constant and Persevering 5. And this I understand to be the Reason why the Ancient Church never allowed but one Repentance after Baptism They taught that if any one after that great and holy Calling should be tempted by the Devil and Sin he had one space of Repentance but if he should often Sin and Repent it would not profit him for he should hardly live unto God They taught That Man covenanted with God in Baptism for a Holy Life but God foreseeing the Weakness of Man and the Subtilty of the Devil made Provision that if any one after that great and solemn Covenant should either by the violence or deceitfulness of Temptation be drawn into gross and deadly Sin he should still have another place of Repentance but if after this he continued to go on in a Circle of Sinning and Repenting that then he was to be look'd upon as no other than a Heathen and an Infidel only as he differed in the wilfulness and in the guilt of his Sin And according to this Doctrine did they constantly deal with their Penitents always admitting those that repented to the Peace and Communion of the Church once but if afterward they sinned oftner and pretended to Repent excluding them utterly 6. Now by this 't is plain they did not mean that if any one sinned and repented and after that sinned again that such a one was utterly lost and absolutely excluded from all hope of finding further Mercy and Pardon with God For though the Church wisely appointed that a place of publick Repentance for great and scandalous Sins should be allowed but once lest the Remedy by being made too easie should grow useless and contemptible as afterward by Experience it was found to do yet no Man presumed to set Limits to the Mercy and Forgiveness of God And therefore they always exhorted and incouraged Men to Repent so long as they had Life and Health Let us Repent saith St. Clement whilst we are yet upon the Earth For we are as Clay in the Hand of the Potter For as the Potter if he make a Vessel and it be mishaped in his Hands or broken forms it anew but if he has gone so far as to throw it into the Furnace of Fire he can no more remedy it So we while we are in this World let us repent with our whole Heart of all the Evil we have done in the Flesh that we may be saved by the Lord. For after we shall have departed out of this World we shall have no Place to confess our Sins or to repent any more 7. The Primitive Church therefore I say by allowing but One Repentance for great Crimes committed after Baptism did not mean that true Repentance would at any time be in vain or unacceptable in the sight of God But because Repentance never is true and effectual till it restore a Man to such a state of new Obedience that he will not wilfully fall into gross and scandalous Sins any more and because he that having once done long and publick Penance for a gross and scandalous Crime did yet afterward fall into the same or the like again could not possibly give any greater Evidence of the sincerity of his Repentance to the Church than he had done before therefore they did not think fit to admit such relapsed Criminals to the Peace and Communion of the Church any more lest they should again give occasion to blaspheme the Name of Christ and his Holy Religion 8. Thus infinitely solicitous were those holy Men not to give Men the least possible encouragement to continue in Sin and yet very careful at the same time not to drive any Man to Despair Let us consider these things and while we rightly maintain that true Repentance cannot at any time be in vain or ineffectual to procure Pardon let us be careful not to entertain any such Notions of Repentance as will take away the Necessity of a Holy Life and that Persevering Obedience which is the express and indispensable Condition of the Gospel-Covenant THE END †See Lightfoot's Harm of Evangel * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Strom. 6. Sed enim nationes extraneae sacris quibusdam per lavacrum initiantur
obey it 12. Our Saviour has indeed disannulled the Ceremonial part of the Law which was appointed only for a time but he has thereby more firmly Established the Moral part of the Law which is of eternal and unchangeable Obligation And therefore as nothing could be more foolish than the Opinion of those Judaizers who thought that Christ had not abrogated any part of the Law so nothing can be more impious than the Opinion of these Gentilizers who contend that he has destroyed it all Our Saviour has indeed purchased for us a Covenant of Grace that is a Covenant wherein Pardon is granted to past sins upon Repentance but the indispensable Condition of that Covenant is that we be for the future zealous of good works He has indeed brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel and opened to us an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of God but 't is not that any unrenewed Nature should be admitted to have a share in those pure and undefiled Rewards but that those who have broken off their Sins by Repentance and their Iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor may through his Merits be restored to the Love and Favour of God Our Saviour has indeed redeemed us from the Punishment of Sin by the Sacrifice of himself but 't is expresly upon condition that we rescue our selves from the Power and Dominion of it In order to this he has made a most clear Discovery of the Will of God to us and enabled us to obey it according to that Discovery he has beaten off our Chains and opened us a way to retreat out of the bondage of Sin and Satan into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God he haâ— paid the Price and Redeemed us out of Captivity But if notwithstanding all this we still continue in Sin 't is our own fault and extreme folly here and will be our condemnation and misery hereafter if notwithstanding all that Christ has done for us we will yet sit still under the Power of Sin we shall notwithstanding all that he has done and suffered for us at last fall into the Punishment thereof The Righteousness of Christ is indeed so far available to those who sincerely desire to obey the Gospel as that for his sake that Imperfect Righteousness by which they could not be justified according to the Law shall be acceptable before God through Faith in him unto Justification But for one who uses no indeavours to be righteous himself to expect to be justified by the external Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ is for a Sick Man to expect to be made whole by the Imputation of anothers Health or for a Miserable Man to be made happy meerly by the Imputation of another Mans Felicity Righteousness is not an outward imaginary Quality but an inward and real Disposition of heart and mind which must shew forth it self in real and substantial acts of Holiness and Piety Little Children saith St. John let no man deceive you He that doth Righteousness is righteous 1 John 3. 7. Lastly Our Saviour has indeed promised Salvation to those who Believe the Gospel but 't is most expresly upon this condition that they Obey it also Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven Matt. 5. 21. Without this Obedience nothing in the World can stand a Man in any stead His Believing and Professing the Truth of the Christian Faith will avail him nothing His continuing in the Communion of the Church of Christ will profit him nothing If any man seems to be religious and continues in any one Sin deceiving his own heart that Mans Religion is vain For though he could speak with the Tongue of Men and Angels and had all Faith so that he could remove Mountains yet if he were not holy in his Life and Conversation it would profit him nothing Many will plead before our Saviour at the Day of Judgment that they have not only believed his Doctrine but also have taught in his Name and in his Name have cast out Devils and in his Name done many wonderful Works that is have had the extraordinary Gift even of working Miracles and yet if they be workers of Iniquity he will say unto them Depart from me I know you not CHAP. IV. A Digression concerning the Doctrine of Faith and Works delivered by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans and in that to the Galatians 1. THere is but one thing that I know of that can with any colour be urged against this Notion of true Religion which I have now laid down And that is the Doctrine of Faith and Works delivered by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans and in that to the Galatians Which because it is a Doctrine of the greatest Importance and liable to be misinterpreted to countenance the most pernicious Errors I shall therefore in this Chapter by way of Digression endeavour to give a brief Account of the Occasion of the writing these two Epistles and to explain the Doctrine delivered therein 2. Before the coming of Christ the Jews we know were the peculiar People of God selected out of all the Nations of the Earth to be the Standard of true Religion and to be the People among whom God would chuse to place his Name To them were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. To them pertained the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the Service of God and the Promises whose are the Fathers and out of whom according to the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Rom 9. 4 5. that is with them were intrusted the Revelations of the Will of God the Law and the Prophecies To them was granted the peculiar Honour and Privilege that they should be accounted the Sons or People of God and that they should be accordingly under the more peculiar Care and Protection of his Providence Among them was the Ark and Temple of God the Shecinah or Glorious Presence of the Divine Majesty In Judah was God known his Name was great in Israel In Salem also was his Tabernalce and his dwelling place in Sion With them God entered solemnly into Covenant that he would be their God and they should be his People and confirmed this Covenant with the Sacramental Seal of Circumcision and with sprinkling of Blood To them God himself prescribed a Law or Form of Worship in a wonderful and miraculous manner and their Polity also was of Divine Institution and Appointment God shewed his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel He did not deal so with any other Nation neither had the Heathen knowledge of his Laws Lastly They were the Posterity of those Patriarchs to whom God had so often promised and sworn by himself That in their Seed should all the Nations
return to your Duty For if your Resolutions when firmest are not able to resist much less will they do it when they have once been broken if you cannot withstand the temptations of Vice while it is yet at a distance much less will you be able to do it when it has interested your Passions and insinuated it self into your Affections if you cannot maintain your Ground while the Spirit of God is ready constantly to assist you much less will you do it when he has withdrawn himself from you But resolve bravely now while it is called to Day while you have Time and may do it with the greatest Advantages to make your Religion easie and your Happiness secure set out with a mighty Resolution in the Christian Race and press forward toward the Mark of the Prize of the high Calling Despise all the Temptations of the World and the Flesh and resist the Devil and he will flee from you 3. Again while one who has early entered into the Profession of Religion maintains his Integrity and stands firm against all the Temptations of Sin and Satan he carries with him not only a quiet Conscience and an undisturbed Mind but such a full Assurance and Joy in the Holy Ghost as inables him to perform his Duty not only willingly but cheerfully and to despise all the Temptations of this present World as Vanity and Nothing But when once he has made Shipwrack of a good Conscience and is overcome by the Temptations of the World and the Devil to sin in any gross and notorious Instances then Fears and Doubts Anxieties and Scruples must be his Portion and though by Repentance he may recover a well grounded Hope and through the Mercy of God a certain expectation of Pardon yet not easily the assurance and joy of Innocence Think not therefore when you are tempted by Sin that you may now yield to its Solicitations and afterwards by Repentance recover your first peace and quiet of Conscience For when once the support of a good Conscience is lost Obedience will be much more difficult and Peace will not return but after much Labour and many Fears after great Sorrow and long Doubts But resolve now to resist the very first Motions of Sin and be convinced there is no Pleasure but in a good Conscience nor any Joy but in the Obedience of God's Commands 4. Lastly While one who has entered betimes into the Profession of Religion continues resolutely to preserve his Innocence and conquers all the Temptations of Sin he has a certain Title to that exceeding weight of Glory that Crown of Righteousness which God has laid up for those who shall keep the Faith and patiently continue in well-doing But when once he turns from the holy Commandment delivered unto him and is overcome by the inticements and allurements of Sin he forfeits his Title to that Crown of Glory and to what degree his after-endeavours will restore him he cannot tell That Repentance will procure him Mercy and Pardon is certain but to recover the Reward and the Crown of Innocence it must be very early and very effectual All that a late Penitent can hope for is to obtain forgiveness and be admitted to Heaven The bright Crowns will be reserved for those who have fought the good Fight and overcome the World Think not therefore when you are assaulted by Temptation that you may now enjoy the Pleasures of Sin and afterward by Repentance attain to the Reward of Virtue also For though God hath indeed promised that those who are hired into the Vineyard at the eleventh hour that is those who are late instructed in the Religion of Christ or in the knowledge of their Duty shall have the same Reward with those who have born the burden and heat of the Day yet he has no where promised that those who stand idle in the Vineyard till the 11th Hour that is who notwithstanding they believe the Gospel and know their Duty yet defer their Repentance to the last shall receive likewise the same Reward But resolve now as a faithful Soldier of Christ to resist resolutely the Temptations of the Devil to despise the Glory and Vanity of the World to get above the Pleasures and Deceits of Sense and then your Labour will be sure not to be in vain in the Lord. 5. 'T is to those who thus overcome that those great and glorious Promises in the New Testament are made Rev. 21. 7. He that overcometh shall inherit all things and Rev. 3 21. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne and the like He that overcometh that is He that having embraced the Gospel of Christ and being firmly persuaded of the Truth of his Religion continues stedfast in this Faith and in the Obedience thereof in spight of all the Temptations of Sin and Satan to the contrary In the Primitive Times the great Temptation with which Christians were assaulted was Persecution by which they were tempted to deny their Saviour and to renounce that Faith which they had once embraced by returning again to the Idolatrous worship of the Heathen Gods This was their peculiar Conflict and Trial and he that in that great Trial resisted unto Blood chusing rather to endure the most exquisite Torments and to die the most cruel Death than to deny Christ was said in a peculiar and more emphatical Sense to have overcome And to those Persons we must understand these great Promises to be primarily and more immediately made But that they proportionably belong to all other Christians also who in the midst of any other Temptations shall keep the Works of Christ and victoriously persevere in their Integrity to the end is evident For the Promise is not made to him that overcometh for that reason because 't is this or that particular Temptation that he overcomes but because he maintains his Integritry inviolable to the last notwithstanding the force of any Temptation to the contrary And perhaps if we consider the Matter closely 't is not easie to determine which is more difficult and shews a greater constancy of Mind to die for the sake of Christ or to live in the constant contempt of all the Pleasures and Enjoyments of Life to part actually with all our temporal Goods for the Name of Christ or to keep them with such indifferency as if we enjoyed them not Those Persons therefore who entring early into the Profession of Religion when their temptations to Sin were most numerous and most powerful continued stedfast in the Love of God and of Virtue unmoved amidst the perpetual Allurements of Pleasure the dazling Vanities of worldly Glory and the manifold Deceitfulness of Riches were by the Ancients looked upon with no less Esteem than those who suffered for the Name of Christ and were thought to have a Title to as great a Reward 6. Let those who have still
of the Apostles and from the general Sense of the Primitive Church 2. God is a Being as of infinite Purity and Holiness so also of infinite Goodness and Mercy and as he cannot possibly be reconciled to Men so long as they continue wicked so when ever they cease to be so and return again to the Obedience of Gods Commands and to the imitation of his Nature we cannot suppose but that he will again admit them to his Pardon and Favour Goodness and Mercy are our most natural Notions of God and the Discoveries which he hath made of himself by Revelation are most exactly agreeable thereto At the passing by of his Glory before Moses he proclaimed himself The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth forgiving Iniquities Transgressions and Sins Exod. 34. 6. By the Prophets he declares and swears by himself As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Ezek. 33. 1â— And above all by that stupendous Instance of Mercy the sending his only Son out of his Bosom to give himself a Sacrifice for the Sins of Men he has discovered such an earnest desire of our Reconciliation and Salvation as will be the everlasting subject of the Praises of Men and the Admiration of Angels If therefore God when he had made a Covenant of perfect Obedience and had not promised Pardon at all to great and presumptuous Sins did yet give Pardon and declare also to the Jews by his Prophets that he would do so And if when Men were yet Enemies to him he was so willing that not any should perish but all should come to Repentance yea so desirous to have all Men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth that he not only spared not his own Son to deliver him up for us all but tells us even of Joy in Heaven at a Sinners accepting the gracious Terms of the Gospel and represents himself as a tender Father running to meet his returning Prodigal and falling up-his Neck and kissing him If this I say was the Compassion which God shewed to Man in his first sinful and miserable State 't is very reasonable to conclude and hope that his Mercy is not so entirely exhausted at once but that the same Pity may be yet further extended even to those also who after the knowledge of the Truth having been seduced by the Temptations of the World and the Devil to depart from God and to forsake their Duty shall again return unto him with Sincerity and Perseverance 3. The Design of the Gospel is to teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And certainly whensoever it comes to have this effect upon a Man it gives him a Title to the blessed Hope and a well-grounded Assurance of Mercy at the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The Foundation of the Christian Dispensation upon which the whole Summ of Affairs is now established is Faith and Repentance and whensoever a Man so truly repents as to purifie himself effectually from every evil Work and by the Spirit mortifies the deeds of the Body he shall certainly live Our Saviour himself gives express Directions when a Man's Christian Brother trespasses against him to use all possible means to reclaim him both by private and publick Reproof before he rejects him utterly as a Heathen Man and a Publican He commands us though our Brother sins never so often against us yet if he turns again and repents to forgive him and has promised upon this Condition that we also shall in like manner find forgiveness at the Hands of God And in the Epistles sent by the Apostle St. John to the Bishops of the Seven Churches of Asia he exhorts them earnestly to remember from whence they were fallen and to repent and be zealous and do their first works and promises that if upon this Invitation any Man would hear his Voice and open the Door that is would be moved by these Exhortations to repent and amend he would come in to him and sup with him that is would again receive him to his Mercy and Favour 4. Accordingly the Writings of the Apostles though directed to Christians are yet full of earnest Exhortations to Repentance and their History contains many Instances of those who after great falls were thereby restored to their first state St Peter exhorts Simon Magus who thought the Gift of God could be bought with Money to repent of this his wickedness and gives him encouragement to hope that he should thereupon obtain forgiveness Acts 8. 22. St. John tells us That if any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our Sins 1 John 2. 2. St. James tells us That if any one err from the Truth and one convert him he that converteth the Sinner from the Error of his way shall save a Soul from Death and shall hide a multitude of Sins Jam. 5. 20. St. Jude advises us to have compassion of some making a difference and to save others with fear pulling them out of the fire ver 23. St. Paul exhorts Timothy to instruct in meekness those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth and that they may recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil who are taken Captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2. 25. He advises the Galatians that if any Man be overtaken in a fault they which are spiritual should restore such a one in the Spirit of meekness considering themselves lest they also be tempted Gal. 6. 1. He threatens the Corinthians to excommunicate those who had sinned and had not repented of their uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they had committed 2 Cor. 12. 21. And even the Incestuous Person who had been guilty of such a Sin as was not so much as named among the Heathens themselves he delivers indeed to Satan for the destruction of the Flesh but it was that the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 5. 5. For when the punishment which was inflicted of many had been sufficient to reduce him to Repentance he writes to the Church to forgive him and comfort him lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow 2 Cor. 2. 7. 5. And this excepting as I have said one Sect of Men was the constant Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church To those who were yet Innocent they thought indeed no Promises too great and no Threatnings too severe whereby they might make them infinitely careful to preserve their Innocence But those who had already sinned they incouraged to repent and upon their Repentance admitted them again to the Peace of the Church and
to the Assurance of Pardon They taught that the Holy Word and Church of God always admitted of true Repentance That he that had fallen might yet recover and escape if he repented truly of what was past and for the future amended his Life and made satisfaction to God That God not only gave full Remission of Sins in Baptism but allowed also to those who should afterward sin a further place of Repentance That to every one who heartily and sincerely repents God readily sets open a Door of Pardon and the Holy Spirit returns again into a Mind purified from the pollutions of Sin That all Men who repent even those who by reason of their great Sins did not deserve to have found any more Pardon shall be saved because God out of his great Compassion will be patient towards Men and keep the Invitation which he hath made by his Son That God will judge every Man in the Condition he finds him and that therefore as it will nothing avail a Man to have been formerly Righteous if he at last grows wicked so one who has formerly lived wickedly may afterwards by Repentance and renewed Obedience blot out his past Transgressions and attain to the Crown of Virtue and Immortality 6. Thus that God admits even the greatest of Sinners to Repentance is evident both from the Nature of God and the Design of the Gospel from the Practice of the Apostles and from the constant Doctrine of the Primitive Church But then to make this Repentance such as will be acceptable to God and effectually available to obtain Pardon there are several considerable Circumstances required And these I think may be reduced to these Three First That it must be Early Secondly That it must be Great and Thirdly That it must be constant and persevering in its Effects CHAP. III. That true Repentance must be Early 1. FIrst That Repentance may be true and available to obtain Pardon it is necessary that it be Early that is The Sinner must forsake his Vices so timely as to obtain the Habits of the contrary Virtues and to live in them Otherwise he can have no security that his Repentance is hearty or if it be that it will be accepted by God 2. First We can never have any security that a late Repentance is hearty and sincere A Man may very well at the amazing approach of Death and Judgment be extreamly sorry that he has lived wickedly he may strongly wish that he had lived the Life of the Righteous and resolve if he were to live over again that he would do so and yet all this may be meerly the Passion and not at all the Duty of Repentance The Duty of Repentance is an entire change of Mind and an effectual reformation of Life But the Passion of Sorrow and Remorse is such as accursed Spirits shall be for ever tormented with in vain and such as a dying Penitent can never be secure that this late Repentance will exceed Many upon a Bed of Sickness have made all the holy Vows and pious Resolutions that could be desired nay perhaps there is hardly any wicked Man who when he thinks he is about to die does not desire and design to amend yet how few are there of these who if they recover do ever make good those Vows and Resolutions And no late Penitent can ever be sure that this would not be his own Case When an habitual Sinner is in Time convinced of the evil of his ways and resolves and endeavours in earnest to reform while he has Life and Health and Strength to do it yet seldom does he at the first trial work himself up to such an effectual and prevailing Resolution against his Sin as to change his whole course of Life in an instant and at once deliver himself out of the Bondage of Corruption into the glorious Liberty of the Children of God Usually he proceeds by degrees and after many Relapses and renewed Resolutions arrives at last to a settled and steady course of Piety How much less then can a late Penitent who labours under all the contrary disadvantages ever be secure that his Repentance will be sincere and his Resolutions effectual enough to translate him at one effort from the Power of Darkness into the Kingdom of God 3. For this Reason the Ancients never admitted any to the Peace and Communion of the Church who began not their Repentance before the time of Sickness Those saith St. Cyprian who would not in time repent and by publick Lamentation testifie their hearty Sorrow for their Sins we utterly reject from all hope of Peace and Reconciliation if in the time of Sickness and Danger they begin to intreat because then 't is not true Repentance for their Sin but the fear of approaching Death that drives them to beg for Mercy and no one is worthy to receive any comfort in Death who never considered before hand that he was to die 4. But Secondly Supposing a late Repentance to be hearty and sincere yet have we no positive and absolute Promise that it shall be accepted The plain and express Condition of the Covenant established by Christ is a Holy Life that is a constant and persevering Obedience to all the Commands of God in a Gospel and Merciful Sense allowing for humane Weaknesses and Imperfections from the time of our Baptism or of our coming to the knowledge of the Truth until the end of our Lives And the least that can possibly lay Claim to the Reward promised upon this Condition is such a Repentance as produces the actual Obedience of at least some proportianable part of a Man's Life 5. To say that the Original Condition of the Christian Covenant is such that a Man may safely live wickedly all his Life and satisfie all his Lusts and Appetites to the utmost provided he does but leave off and forsake his Sins at the last is really to take away the necessity of a Holy Life and to undermine the very Foundation of all Virtue For considering on the one hand how prevailing the Custom of the World how deceitful the Temptations of the Devil and how powerful the Assaults of Lust and Passion are and on the other hand how seldom sudden Death happens and how little the Excellency of the Christian Life is understood it will be hard according to this Doctrine to find Arguments sufficiently strong to move Men to repent and to reform immediately If there be no other danger but in sudden Death and no greater malignity in Sin than what may be cured by an easie and short Repentance at last most Men will venture to be wicked at present and trust to the opportunities of growing better afterward Though therefore God may possibly have reserves of Mercy which in event he may exercise towards Men in their last extremity yet Originally 't is certain the Gospel Covenant gives no assurance of Comfort but either to a constant and persevering Holiness