Repentance and Sincere Obedience be not the Terms of Salvation and the necessary Conditions of Happiness Whether there shall be a future Judgment when all men shall be sentenced according to their works Whether there be a Heaven and Hell Whether good men shall be eternally and unspeakably happy and wicked men extreamly and everlastingly miserable These are the great Controversies of Religion upon which we are to dispute on God's behalf against sinners God asserts and sinners deny these things not in Words but which is more emphatical and significant in their Lives and Actions These are practical Controversies of Faith and it concerns every man to be resolved and determined about them that he may frame his life accordingly And so for Repentance God says Repentance is a forsaking of sin and a through change and amendment of life the sinner says that it is only a formal Confession and a slight asking of God forgiveness God calls upon us speedily and forthwith to repent the sinner saith 't is time enough and it may safely be defer'd to sickness or death these are important Controversies and matters of moment But men do not affect common Truths whereas these are most necessary And indeed whatever is generally useful and beneficial ought to be common and not to be the less valued but the more esteemed for being so And as these Doctrines of Faith and Repentance are never unseasonable so are they more peculiarly proper when we celebrate the Holy Sacrament which was instituted for a solemn and standing Memorial of the Christian Religion and is one of the most powerful Arguments and Perswasives to repentance and a good life The Faith of the Gospel doth more particularly respect the death of Christ and therefore it is call'd Faith in his Blood because that is more especially the Object of our Faith the Blood of Christ as it was a Seal of the truth of his Doctrine so it is also a Confirmation of all the Blessings and Benefits of the New Covenant And it is one of the greatest Arguments in the world to repentance In the Blood of Christ we may see our own guilt and in the dreadful Sufferings of the Son of God the just desert of our sins for he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities therefore the Commemoration of his Sufferings should call our sins to remembrance the Representation of his Body broken should melt our hearts and so often as we remember that his blood was shed for us our eyes should run down with rivers of tears so often as we look upon him whom we have pierced we should mourn over him When the Son of God suffered the rocks were rent in sunder and shall not the consideration of those sufferings be effectual to break the most stony and obdurate heart What can be more proper when we come to this Sacrament than the renewing of our Repentance When we partake of this Passover we should eat it with bitter herbs The most solemn Expressions of our Repentance fall short of those Sufferings which our blessed Saviour underwent for our sins if our head were waters and our eyes fountains of tears we could never sufficiently lament the cursed Effects and Consequences of those provocations which were so fatal to the Son of God And that our Repentance may be real it must be accompanied with the Resolution of a better life for if we return to our sins again we trample under foot the Son of God and profane the Blood of the Covenant and out of the Cup of Salvation we drink our own damnation and turn that which should save us into an instrument and Seal of our own ruin SERMON II. Serm. 2. Preach'd on Ash-Wednesday Of confessing and forsaking Sin in Order to Pardon PROV XXVIII 13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy SInce we are all sinners and liable to the Justice of God it is a matter of great moment to our comfort and happiness to be rightly informed by what Means and upon what Terms we may be reconciled to God and find mercy with him And to this purpose the Text gives us this advice and direction whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall have mercy Vol. 8. In which words there is a great Blessing and Benefit declared and promised to sinners upon certain Conditions The Blessing and Benefit promised is the mercy and favour of God which comprehends all the happy Effects of God's mercy and goodness to sinners And the Conditions upon which this Blessing is promised are two Confession of our sins and forsaking of them and these two contain in them the whole nature of that great and necessary Duty of Repentance without which a sinner can have no reasonable hopes of the mercy of God I. Here is a Blessing or Benefit promised which is the mercy and favour of God And this in the full extent of it comprehends all the Effects of the mercy and goodness of God to sinners and doth primarily import the pardon and forgiveness of our sins And this probably Solomon did chiefly intend in this expression for so the mercy of God doth most frequently signifie in the Old Testament viz. the forgiveness of our sins And thus the Prophet explains it Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy and to our God for he will abundantly pardon But now since the clear revelation of the Gospel the mercy of God doth not only extend to the pardon of sin but to power against it because this also is an Effect of God's free grace and mercy to sinners to enable them by the grace of his holy Spirit to master and mortifie their lusts and to persevere in Goodness to the end And it comprehends also our final pardon and absolution at the great day together with the glorious Reward of eternal life which the Apostle expresseth by finding mercy with the Lord in that day And this likewise is promised to Repentance Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ who before was preached unto you that is that when Jesus Christ who is now preached unto you shall come you may receive the final sentence of absolution and forgiveness And thus much shall suffice to have spoken of the Blessing and Benefit here promised the mercy of God which comprehends all the blessed Effects of the divine grace and goodness to sinners the present pardon of sin and power to mortifie sin and to persevere in a good course and our final absolulution by the sentence of the great day together with the merciful and glorious Reward of eternal life II. We will consider in the next place the Conditions upon
The most Reverend D r. IOHN TILLOTSON late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Several DISCOURSES OF REPENTANCE viz. The Necessity of Repentance and Faith Of confessing and forsaking Sin in order to Pardon Of Confession and Sorrow for Sin The Unprofitableness of Sin in this Life an Argument for Repentance The Shamefulness of Sin an Argument for Repentance The final Issue of Sin an Argument for Repentance The present and future Advantage of an Holy and Virtuous Life The Nature and Necessity of holy Resolution The Nature and Necessity of Restitution The Usefulness of Consideration in order to Repentance The Danger of Impenitence where the Gospel is preach'd By the Most Reverend Dr. JOHN TILLOTSON Late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Being The EIGHTH VOLUME Published from the Originals By Ralph Barker D. D. Chaplain to his Grace LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard 1700. THE CONTENTS SERMON I. The Necessity of Repentance and Faith ACTS XX. 21 Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Page 1 SERMON II. Preach'd on Ash-Wednesday Of confessing and forsaking Sin in order to Pardon PROV XXVIII 13 He that covereth his Sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy p. 29 SERMON III. Of Confession and Sorrow for Sin PSAL. XXXVIII 18 I will declare mine Iniquity and be sorry for my Sin p. 69 SERMON IV. Preach'd on Ash-Wednesday 1689. The Unprofitableness of Sin in this Life an Argument for Repentance JOB XXXIII 27 28. He looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not He will deliver his soul from going into the pit and his life shall see the light p. 101 SERMON V VI VII VIII The Shamefulness of Sin an Argument for Repentance ROM VI. 21 22. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed For the end of those things is Death But now being made free from sin and become Servants to God ye have your fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting life p. 137 169 193 225 SERMON IX X XI The Nature and Necessity of holy Resolution JOB XXXIV 31 32. Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born chastisement I will not offend any more That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more p. 271 299 327 SERMON XII XIII The Nature and Necessity of Restitution LUKE XIX 8 9. And if I have taken any thing from any Man by false accusation I restore him fourfold And Jesus said unto him This day is Salvation come to this house p. 353 385 SERMON XIV The Usefulness of Consideration in order to Repentance DEUT. XXXII 29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end p. 417 SERMON XV. The Danger of Impenitence where the Gospel is preach'd MATTH XI 21 22. Woe unto thee Chorazin woe unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes But I say unto you It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you p. 443 SERMON I. Serm. 1. The Necessity of Repentance and Faith Acts XX. 21 Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ TO have seen St. Paul in the Pulpit was one of those three things which St. Augustine thought worth the wishing for And sure it were very desirable to have seen this glorious Instrument of God who did such wonders in the World to have heard that plain and powerful Eloquence of his which was so mighty through God for the casting down of strong holds Vol. 8. and the subduing of men to the obedience of the Gospel to have beheld the zeal of this holy man who was all on fire for God with what ardency of affection and earnestness of expression he persuaded men to come in to Christ and entertain the Gospel This were very desirable but seeing it is a thing we cannot hope for it should be some satisfaction to our curiosity to know what St. Paul preached what was the main Subject of his Sermons whither he refer'd all his Discourses and what they tended to This he tells us in the words that I have read to you that the main substance of all his Sermons was repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ The Occasion of the words was briefly this St. Paul being in his Journy to Jerusalem and intending to be there by the day of Pentecost that he might not be hindred in his Journy he resolves to pass by Ephesus and only to call to him the Elders of the Church to charge them with their duty and the care of the Church and to engage them hereto he tells them how he had carried and demeaned himself among them v. 18. with what diligence and vigilance he had watched over them with what affection and earnestness he had preached to them v. 19 20. And here in the Text he tells them what had been the sum of his Doctrine and the substance of those many Sermons he had preached among them and what was the End and Design of all his Discourses viz. To perswade men to repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Testifying both to the Jews and Greeks c. I shall explain the words a little and then fix upon the Observations which I intend to speak to because I design this only as a Preface to some larger Discourses of Faith and Repentance For explication Testifying the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to testifie to prove a thing by testimony so 't is used Heb. 2.6 But one in a certain place testifyeth saying In heathen Writers the word is often used in a Law sense for contesting by Law and pleading in a Cause and from hence it signifies earnestly to contend or persuade by arguments and threatnings In the use of the LXX it signifies to protest to convince to press earnestly to perswade It is used most frequently by St. Luke in a very intense signification and is sometimes joyned with Exhorting which is an earnest perswading to a thing Acts 2.40 And with many other words did he testifie and exhort saying save your selves from this untoward generation and with Preaching Acts 8.25 And when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord and so Acts 18.5 Being pressed in spirit he testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ Being pressed in spirit signifies intention and vehemency in testifying to them that he did vehemently endeavour to convince them it seems to be equivalent to the expression v. 28. where it is said Apollos did mightily convince the Jews that Jesus was the Christ that is did
which this Blessing is promised and they are two the Confessing and Forsaking of our sins whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall have mercy and these two do contain and constitute the whole nature of Repentance without which a sinner can have no reasonable hopes to find mercy with God I begin with the First the Confession of our sins by which is meant a penitent acknowledgment of our faults to God to God I say because the Confession of our sins to men is not generally speaking a Condition of the forgiveness of them but only in some particular cases when our sins against God are accompanied and complicated with scandal and injury to men In other cases the Confession of our sins to men is not necessary to the pardon of them as I shall more fully shew in the progress of this Discourse All the difficulty in this matter is that the Confession of our sins is opposed to the covering and concealing of them he that covereth his sin shall not prosper but whoso confesseth them shall have mercy but no man can hope to hide his sin from God and therefore confession of them to God cannot be here meant But this Objection if it be of any force quite excludeth Confession to God as no part of Solomon's meaning when yet Confession of our sins to God is granted on all hands to be a necessary Condition of the forgiveness of them And to take away the whole ground of this Objection men are said in Scripture when they do not confess their sins and repent of them to hide and conceal them from God Not to acknowledge them is as if a man went about to cover them And thus David opposeth confession of sins to God to the hiding of them Psal 32.5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord so that this is no reason why the Text should not be understood of the Confession of our sins to God But because the necessity of confessing our sins to men that is to the Priest in order to the forgiveness of them is a great point of difference between us and the Church of Rome it being by them esteemed a necessary Article of Faith but by us so far from being necessary to be believed that we do not believe it to be true therefore for the clear stating of this matter I shall briefly enquire into these Two things I. Whether Confession of our sins to the Priest as taught and practised in the Church of Rome be necessary to the forgiveness of them II. How far the disclosing and revealing of our sins to the Ministers of God is convenient upon other accounts and for other purposes of Religion I. Whether Confession of our sins to the Priest and the manner in which it is taught and practised in the Church of Rome be necessary to the forgiveness of them What manner of Confession this is the Council of Trent hath most precisely determined viz. Secret Confession to the Priest alone of all and every mortal sin which upon the most diligent search and examination of our Consciences we can remember our selves to be guilty of since our Baptism together with all the Circumstances of those sins which may change the nature of them because without the perfect knowledge of these the Priest cannot make a judgment of the nature and quality of mens sins nor impose fitting Penance for them This is the Confession of sins required in the Church of Rome which the same Council of Trent without any real ground from Scripture or Ecclesiastical Antiquity doth most confidently affirm to have been instituted by our Lord and by the Law of God to be necessary to salvation and to have been always practised in the Catholick Church I shall as briefly as I can examine both these Pretences of the Divine Institution and Constant Practice of this kind of Confession First For the Divine Institution of it they mainly rely upon three Texts in the first of which there is no mention at all of Confession much less of a particular Confession of all our sins with the Circumstances of them in the other two there is no mention of Confession to the Priest and yet all this ought clearly to appear in these Texts before they can ground a Divine Institution upon them for a Divine Institution is not to be founded upon obscure Consequences but upon plain words The First Text and the only one upon which the Council of Trent grounds the Necessity of Confession is John 20.23 Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained It is a sign they were at a great loss for a Text to prove it when they are glad to bring one that hath not one word in it concerning Confession nor the least intimation of the necessity of it But let us see how they manage it to their purpose The Apostles and their Successors saith Bellarmine by this power of remitting and retaining sins are constituted Judges of the case of Penitents but they cannot judge without hearing the Cause and this infers particular Confession of sins to the Priest from whence he concludes it necessary to the forgiveness of sins But do not the Ministers of the Gospel exercise this power of remitting sins in Baptism And yet particular Confession of all sins to the Priest is not required no not in the Church of Rome in the Baptism of adult Persons And therefore according to them particular Confession of sin to the Priest is not necessary to his exercising the power of remitting sins and consequently the necessity of Confession cannot be concluded from this Text. And to shew how they are puzled in this matter Vasquez by a strange device concludes the necessity of Confession from the power of retaining sins for says he if the Priest have a power of retaining sins that is of denying Pardon and Absolution to the Penitent then he may impose Confession as a Condition of forgiveness and not absolve the Penitent upon other terms But supposing the Priest to have this unreasonable power this makes Confession no otherwise necessary by Divine Institution than going to Jerusalem or China is in order to the forgiveness of our sins or submitting to any other foolish condition that the Priest thinks fit to require for according to this way of reasoning this power of retaining sins makes every foolish thing that the Priest shall impose upon the Penitent to be necessary by Divine Command and Institution But the truth is this power of remitting and retaining sins is exercised by the Ministers of the Gospel in the administration of the Sacraments and the preaching of the Gospel which is call'd the word of reconciliation the ministry whereof is committed to them And thus the ancient Fathers understood it and as a great Divine told them in the Council of Trent it was perhaps never expounded by any one Father concerning the
accompanied with great sorrow for our sins considering the great dishonour we have brought to God and the danger into which we have brought our selves I will declare mine iniquity says David and I will be sorry for my sin And this Sorrow must be proportionable to the degree of our Sin If we have been very wicked and have sinned greatly against the Lord and have multiplied our transgressions and continued long in an evil course have neglected God and forgotten him days without number the measure of our sorrow must bear some proportion to the degree of our Sins if they have been as Scarlet and Crimson as the Prophet expresseth it that is of a deeper dye than ordinary our Sorrow must be as deep as our Guilt for it is not a slight trouble and a few tears that will wash out such stains Not that tears are absolutely necessary tho' they do very well become and most commonly accompany a sincere Repentance All tempers are not in this alike some cannot express their sorrow by tears even then when they are most inwardly and sensibly grieved But if we can easily shed tears upon other occasions certainly rivers of tears ought to run down our eyes because we have broken Gods Laws the Reasonable and Righteous and good Laws of so good a God of so Gracious a Soveraign of so mighty a Benefactor of the Founder of our Being and the perpetual Patron and Protector of our lives but if we cannot command our tears there must however be great trouble and contrition of Spirit especially for great sins to be sure to that degree as to produce the 3. Property I mentioned of a Penitent Confession namely a sincere Resolution to leave our sins and betake our selves to a better course He does not confess his fault but stand in it who is not resolved to amend True Shame and Sorrow for our Sins is utterly inconsistent with any thought of returning to them It argues great obstinacy and impudence to confess a fault and continue in it Whenever we make Confession of our sins to God surely it is meet to say unto him I will not offend any more that which I know not teach thou me and if I have done iniquity I will do no more This is the first part of Repentance mentioned in the Text the first Condition of our finding mercy with God the Penitent acknowledgment of our sins to him I proceed to the Second Condition required to make us capable of the mercy of God which is the actual forsaking of our sins whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy I shall not go about to explain what is meant by forsaking sin it is that which every body can understand but few will do there lies all the difficulty I shall only put you in mind that forsaking of sin comprehends our return to our duty that necessarily follows from it In sins of Commission he that hath left any Vice does thereby become master of the contrary Virtue virtus est vitium fugere not to be drunk is to be sober not to oppress or defraud or deal falsly is to be Just and Honest and for sins of Omission the forsaking of them is nothing else but the doing of those Duties which we omitted and neglected before And therefore what Solomon here calls forsaking of sin is elsewhere in Scripture more fully exprest by ceasing to do evil and learning to do well Isa 1.16 By forsaking our sins and turning to God Isa 55.7 Let the wicked man forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord. By turning from all our sins and keeping all Gods Laws and Statutes Ezek. 18.21 If the wicked will turn from all his sins which he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right And this is a most Essential part of Repentance and a necessary condition of our finding mercy with God That part of Repentance which I have mentioned and insisted upon before the Penitent acknowledgment of our sins to God with Shame and Sorrow for them and a firm purpose and Resolution to leave them all this is but Preparatory to the actual forsaking of them that which perfects and compleats our Repentance is to turn from our evil ways and to break off our sins by righteousness And these terms of confessing and forsaking our sins are Reasonable in themselves and Honourable to God and Profitable to us and upon lower Terms we have no reason to expect the Mercy of God nor in truth are we capable of it either by the present forgiveness of our sins or the final absolution of the great day and the blessed Reward of Eternal Life God peremptorily requires this change as a condition of our Forgiveness and Happiness Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out Acts 3.19 If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments Matth. 19.17 Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 And why should any man hope for the Mercy of God upon other Terms than those which he hath so plainly and peremptorily declared It is a mean and unworthy thought of God to imagine that he will accept men to his favour and eternal life upon other Terms than of better obedience Will any wise Father or Prince accept less from his Children and Subjects will they be satisfied with sighs and tears as well as with Obedience And well pleased if they be but melancholy for their faults tho' they ne-never mend them We must not impute that to God which would be a defect of Wisdom and good Government in any Father or Prince upon Earth God values no part of Repentance upon any other account but as it tends to reclaim us to our Duty and ends in our Reformation and amendment This is that which qualifies us for the Happiness of another Life and makes us meet to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light And without this tho' God should be pleased to forgive us yet we could not forgive our selves and notwithstanding the legal discharge from Guilt the Sting of it would remain and we should like our first Parents after they had sinn'd run away and hide our selves from God tho' he spake never so kindly to us God hath placed in every Man's mind an inexorable Judge that will grant no Pardon and Forgiveness but to a reformed Penitent to him that hath such a sense of the Evil of his past Life as to become a better man for the future And whoever entertains any other notion of the Grace and Mercy of God to Sinners confounds the Nature of Things and does plainly overthrow the Reason of all Laws which is to restrain men from Sin But when it is committed to Pardon it without Amendment is to Encourage the Practice of it and to take away the Reverence and Veneration of those Laws which seem so severely to forbid it So that next to impunity the forgiveness of
Mens sins upon such easie and unfit Terms gives boldness and encouragement to sin and must necessarily in the opinion of men lessen the Honour and Esteem of God's Laws And thus I have Considered and Explained both the Blessing and Benefit which is here promised and declared viz. the Mercy and Favour of God which comprehends both the present Forgiveness of our Sins and Power against them and Grace to Persevere in Goodness to the end and our final Absolution at the great day and the Glorious and Merciful Reward of Eternal Life and likewise the Conditions upon which this Blessing is promised viz. the Penitent acknowledgment of our sins to God with such Shame and Sorrow for them as produceth a sincere Resolution of leaving them and returning to a better course and the actual forsaking of them which involves in it our actual return to our Duty and a Constant and Sincere obedience to the Laws of God in the future course of our lives I shall now make some Application of this Discourse to our selves I am sure we are all nearly concerned in it The best of us have many sins to confess and forsake some of us very probably have need to change the whole course of our Lives to put us into a capacity of the Mercy of God This work can never be unseasonable but there cannot be a more proper time for it than when we are solemnly preparing our selves to receive the Holy Sacrament in which as we do Commemorate the great Mercy of God to Mankind so we do likewise renew and confirm our Covenant with him that Holy Covenant wherein we engage our selves to forsake our sins as ever we expect the forgiveness of them at God's hand To perswade us hereto be pleased to consider the Reasonableness of the Thing the infinite Benefit and Advantage of it and which is beyond all other Arguments the absolute Necessity of it to make us capable of the Mercy and Forgiveness of God in this World and the other and to deliver us from the wrath which is to come and from those terrible storms of vengeance which will infallibly fall upon impenitent sinners So that we have all the Reason and all the Encouragement in the World to resolve upon a better course Upon this Condition the Mercy of God is ready to meet and embrace us God will Pardon our greatest provocations and be perfectly reconciled to us So he hath declared by the Prophet Isaiah 1.16 Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord tho' your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow tho' they be red as crimson they shall be as wool And what greater Encouragement can we desire than that upon so easie and advantageous Terms God should be so ready to have an end put to all Controversies and Quarrels between him and us I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God to take up a serious Resolution to break off your sins by repentance and to reform whatever upon due search and tryal of your ways you shall find to be amiss in your lives I beseech you by the Mercies of God that Mercy which naturally leads to repentance and which is long-suffering to us-ward on purpose that we may not perish but come to repentance which hath spared us so often and is not yet exhausted and tired out by our intolerable obstinacy and innumerable provocations that mercy which moved the Son of God to become man to live among us and to die for us who now as it were speaks to us from the Cross extending his pierced Hands and painful Arms to embrace us and through the gasping wounds of his side lets us see the tender and bleeding Compassion of his Heart that mercy which if we now despise it we shall in vain one day implore and catch hold of and hang upon to save us from sinking into Eternal Perdition that mercy which how much soever we now presume upon will then be so far from interposing between us and the wrath of God that it will highly inflame and exasperate it For whatever impenitent sinners may now think they will then certainly find that the Divine Justice when it is throughly provoked and whetted by his abused Mercy and Goodness will be most terribly severe and like a Rasor set with Oyl will cut the keener for its smoothness Consider this all ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver Consider and shew your selves men O ye transgressours We do consider all this may some perhaps say but we have been great sinners so great that we doubt whether our case be not already desperate This if it be sensibly said with deep Sorrow and Contrition with that Shame and Confusion of face which becomes great offenders is a good Confession and the best Reason in the World why ye should now break off your sins For if what you have already done do really make your case so doubtful and difficult do not by sinning yet more and more against the Lord make it quite Desperate and past Remedy do but you Repent and God will yet return and have Mercy upon you And do not say you cannot do it when it must be done or you are undone Power and necessity go together when men are hard prest they find a power which they thought they had not and when it comes to the push men can do that which they plainly see they either must do or be ruined for ever But after all this I am very sensible how great a need there is of God's powerful Assistance in this case and that it is not an ordinary resolution and common measure of God's Grace that will reclaim those who have been long habituated to an evil course Let us therefore earnestly beg of him that he would make these Counsels effectual that he would grant us repentance unto life that he would make us all sensible of our faults sorry for them and resolved to amend them and let us every one put up David's prayer to God for our selves Deal with thy Servant according to thy mercy and teach me thy statutes order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes that I may keep them unto the end I have now done I am only to mind you of another Duty which is to accompany our Repentance and Fasting and Prayer as a Testimony of the Sincerity of our Repentance and one of the best means to make our Fasting and Prayer acceptable to God and to turn away his Judgments from us and that is Charity and Alms to the Poor whose number is very great among us and their necessities very pressing and clamorous and therefore do call for a bountiful Supply And to convince men of the Necessity of this Duty and