our selves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another to the open owning and frequenting of them and this we ought to do so much the more forasmuch as ye see the day of Gods righteous Judgment approaching For if we sin wilfully in this backsliding from the publick Assemblies and from the profession of the Christian Faith after that we have once received the knowledge or professed belief and acknowledgment of the truth of it there remains no more benefit to us from Christs sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of that judgment I say which shall devour the adversaries And this all you Hebrews have reason to expect from Christ from what you very well know of the manner of proceeding in such cases under Moses For he that despised or rejected the whole yea or even any one particular instance of Moses's Law whereto death was threatned dyed without mercy if the thing was proved against him under the testimony of two or three witnesses And then of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall this wilful sinner be thought worthy who hath by such wilful rejecting of all Christs Laws and Religion trodden under foot the Son of God as if he were not raised up again from the dead but were yet in his grave and hath accounted that blood of his which confirmed the New Covenant and wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing making it to have been justly shed as the blood of a Malefactor and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace and all its evidence by rejecting it as insufficient I have set down the place at large that the very Text it self may afford us an accumulated proof of the ensuing Explication But now as for this sin which being wilfully committed after the belief and acknowledgment of Christs Gospel is here said to have no help from Christs Sacrifice nor any benefit of his Propitiation it is not the sinful transgression of every Law of Christ no nor of any one but a total Apostasie and abrenunciation of them all The sin I say which being wilfully committed after the belief of Christs Gospel is here said to exclude us from all benefit of Christs Sacrifice is not the transgression of any of Christs Laws whatsoever nay nor of any one For the Corinthians were guilty of the wilful transgression of several Laws and that too after they had embraced the Faith of Christ. They were guilty of an indulged Lasciviousness Vncleanness and Fornication 2 Cor. 12.21 Nay one of them was guilty of it in such an instance as was not so much as named and much less practised among the Gentiles themselves viz. in a most incestuous marrying of his Step-mother or his Fathers wife 1 Cor. 5.1 And St. Peter a great Apostle after three years converse with his Lord and Master denies him three times and that not suddenly e're he could bethink himself but after a due space of time between one denial and another Luk. 22.57 58 59. All which he did in the most aggravated manner by accumulating perjuries and prophaneness upon the sin of disowning his Master for when his bare word would not be believed he began to curse and to swear that he knew him not Mar. 14.71 All these were sins wilful in their commission and some of them most highly criminal in their nature but yet none of them was excluded from the benefit of Christs Sacrifice for they all enjoyed it So that it is not any one transgression of a particular Law after men have embraced the Faith of Christ which is the un-atoned sin here mentioned But it is an utter rejecting of all the Laws of Christ and a total Apostasie from his whole Religion It is the renouncing of Christs Authority the disowning of his Gospel and falling quite off from him to Judaism or Paganism or something directly Antichristian which is the sin here intended And whosoever doth this wilfully after he has once acknowledged it and been convinced by it as most men if not every man must do who is guilty of it at all for him there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour him and all other Antichristian adversaries That the word which is here translated sin signifies sometimes not all sin in general but particularly this superlative height and aggregation of all sin an utter revolt from Gods service and Apostasie from his whole Religion appears plainly from 2 Pet. 2 where the Apostate Angels are called the Angels that sinned v. 4. And that this particular way of sinning by an universal Apostasie and falling quite off from the profession of the Christian Faith is that very sin which is here intended will appear from all those things which are spoken of it in this place 'T is plain from the Apostles exhortation against it Let us hold fast says he the profession of our faith and not revolt from it v. 23. From his further disswasion from it in the verse next but one not forsaking the Christian Assemblies which is a great step towards the disowning of Christ himself as the manner of some is v. 25. From his Character of it in the verses that follow it being a sin that includes in it all these instances of aggravation By it we become utterly Antichristian and Adversaries to Christ and his Religion the fiery indignation that is kindled by this sin shall devour all them who by reason of it are become Adversaries ver 27. By it we deny Christ to be risen and look upon the Son of God as yet in the Grave and under our feet we count his blood which was spilt for the confirmation of the New Covenant to have been the impure and unholy blood of a Malefactor justly executed we despise all the clear proof and convictive evidence of the Spirit of Grace which we once thought a sufficient Argument for his Religion and whereby we were moved to the acknowledgment of that truth of his which now we contumeliously reject Whosoever hath committed this sin saith the Apostle I will show him what he hath done he hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an holy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace ver 29. As for the sin then which is here spoken of it is plainly this viz. a sin that is contrary to the holding fast of our Christian profession that implies a forsaking of the Christian Assemblies that makes us open enemies and adversaries to Christ and his cause seeing thereby we deny Christ to be risen and affirm him to have been an Impostor and his blood to have been like that of the Thieves which were crucified with him unholy and impure as the blood of a Malefactor and set at nought all the miraculous proofs and despise all the convictive evidence of the Holy Ghost that Spirit of Grace which
are likewise unchosen and so unavoidable are not eternally punishable by the Gospel but consistent with a state of Grace and Salvation will further appear if we consider First The Nature of God Secondly The nature and plain declarations of the Gospel 1. I say their consistency with a state of Grace or Gods favour will plainly appear if we consider the Nature of God God is the most Gracious Loving and good natured Being in the whole world For all the love and kindness that appears among us men proceeds from him and makes us to resemble him and to be like unto him Nay he is not only Loving but even Love it self For God sayes S t John is Love and he who dwells in love dwells in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4.16 And if we will take that character which he gives of himself it is wholly made up of the various instances of Mercy and Goodness The Lord sayes he to Moses the Lord God mercifull and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34.6 7. All his delight is in exercising Love and showing kindness For he swears to us as he lives that he has no delight at all in the death of a sinner but had rather that every wicked man should turn from his wickedness and live Ezech. 33.11 He is by no means forward to espie faults or malicious to misconstrue actions or prone to admit of provocation or implacably angry when he is once provoked or cruelly vindictive when once he is angred The Lord saith the Psalmist is mercifull and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy He will not alwayes chide when he has just reason for it nor keepeth he his anger for ever Psal. 103.8 9. He is not at all of the humour of severe masters who are prone to take offence but like a most tender father he is all benignity and goodness For if any thing be pitiable he pities it if any thing is done amiss he is slow to wrath and easie to forgive it Like as a father pitieth his own children even so the Lord pitieth them that fear him Psal. 103.13 Nay take this Love and Pity of a Parent where it is at the highest pitch of all viz. in mothers towards their most helpless and so most pitiable infants and yet this tenderness of God doth infinitely exceed it Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb Yea they may forget sayes God by his Prophet Isaiah but I will not forget thee Isa. 49.15 Thus Loving Pitiful and Benign a Nature do the Scriptures represent God to be And what they declare of him all the world have experienced and found by him For every impenitent sinner is a lasting monument of his long-suffering and forbearance and every prosperous event and deliverance in the world is an effect of his boundless love and kindness He is infinitely good beyond all desert nay in spite of all provocation For he is loving even unto the unthankfull and the evil making his sun to shine and his rain to fall and all the other mâ—râ—ies of life to descend upon the unjust as well as upon the just upon them who contemn as well as on them who obey him as our Saviour observed Mat. 5.45 Luk. 6.35 And this he is to such an astonishing degree as to bestow upon them not only the blessings of his substance of his protection and of his kind providence but also what is a wonder to conceive for their sakes to part with his own well-beloved and so much the more beloved because his only begotten Son For God as saith the Apostle hath recommended his love to us in that whil'st we were sinners and enemies Christ his Son came from him and died for us Rom. 5.8 Thus wondrously pitiful obliging and good natured then is God according to that account which both the Scripture and the Experience of the whole world give of him And now let any man think with himself how so surpassing kind and infinitely gracious a nature as this is like to be affected with the ignorant or inconsiderate slips and errours of his Servants Will he be utterly offended with them so as quite to cast them off and for ever to condemn them No certainly but in great mercy he will pity and bear with them For these slips where we do not consider or where we err and do not understand our duty are such instances of disobedience as imply nothing of contempt or of a rebellious heart nor have any thing of our will in them They are clearly involuntary so that whatsoever the action may appear to be the will it self is innocent For the disobedience cannot be chosen since it is not understood which indeed in the notion and interpretation of Gods Law makes it not to be that sin and disobedience which is threatned but something else for that sin as S t John tells us is a rejecting or a renouncing of the Law whereas in these slips where we do not see it 't is plain that we cannot renounce it And since they have nothing in them of a disobedient will or of a rebellous heart can any man think that so gracious and pitifull a nature should be so highly provoked with them as for ever to condemn his own honest servants and otherwise obedient children upon the account of them Whosoever thou art who art inclined to think thus let me advise thee to consider a little what Love is and whether it can possibly be guilty of such hard usage If thou hast any competent degrees of that Love and Pity in thine own heart which are so infinite in God bethink thy self whether thou could'st do it for that is the way and thence take thy measures in judging whether or no God can Doth any gracious master use that severity towards the oversights and indiscretions of his honest servant or to rise yet higher can any tender Parent show that rigour upon every errour and inconsideration of his heartily obedient child Is not every good man prone to pass by such offences as are committed unwillingly against him and the more he has of goodness is he not still more forward to pardon and bear with them There is no Nature upon Earth that is kind and pitifull but will make allowances for those things which proceed from want of understanding and will pass over those miscarriages which imply nothing of ill will or ill intention Every good man will overlook and connive at them when they are committed by a perfect stranger but then most of all when they are incurr'd by his own intimate and dear acquaintance or relations by his own servant or his own child This I say every good and loving man doth and the more he has of love and goodness the proner still he is to do it For it is a natural and inseparable effect of charity so
of none but what we have repented of we have just reason to take a good heart to our selves and to wait for death in hopeful expectations If our own hearts condemn us not says Saint John then have we confidence towards God 1 John 3.21 There is no sin that will damn us but a wilful one and when we sin wilfully if our heart is soft and honest we sin willingly and against our Conscience our own heart sees and observes it before and will keep us in mind of it after we have committed it So that if any man has a vertuous and a tender heart a heart that is truly dâ—sirous to obey obey God and afraid in any thing to offend him when his Conscience is silent he may justly conclude that his Condition is safe for if it doth not condemn him God never will An honest mans heart I say must condemn him before he have sufficient reason to condemn himself And that too not for every idle word or every fruitless lust or every dulness of spirit and distraction in prayer and coldness in devotion or such other mistaken marks whereby too many are wont to judge of their title to salvation No Heaven and Hell are not made to depend upon these things but although a man be guilty of them he may be eternally happy notwithstanding them But that accusation of his Conscience which may give an honest man just reason to condemn himself must be an accusation for a wilful breach or deliberate transgression of some particular Law of Sobriety Piety Justice Charity Peaceableness it must accuse him of an unrepented breach of some of those Laws above mentioned which God has plainly made the terms of life and the condition of salvation And the accusation for the breach of these Laws must be particular and express not general and roving For some are of so suspicious and timorous a temper that they are still suspecting and condemning of themselves when they know not for what reason They will indict themselves as men that have sinned greatly but they cannot shew wherein they judge of themselves not from any reason or experience but at a venture and by chance they speak not so truly their opinions as their fears not what their understandings see and discern but what their melancholy suggests to them For ask them as to any one Particular of the Laws of God and run them all over and their Consciences cannot charge them with any wilful which is withal an unrepented transgression of it But let them overlook all Particulars and pass a judgment of themselves only in general when they do not judge from particular instances which are true evidence but only from groundless and small presumptions and then they pass a hard sentence upon themselves and conclude that their sins are very great and their condition dangerous But no man shall be sentenced at the last Day for Notions and Generalities but it is our particular sins which must then condemn us For God's Laws bind us all in single actions and if our own Consciences cannot condemn us for any one wilful which is withal an unrepented action God will not condemn us for them altogether If our own heart therefore doth not accuse us for the particular wilful and unrepented breaches of some or other of those Laws above mentioned which God has made the indispensable condition of our acceptance we are secure as to the next World and may comfortably hope to be acquitted in the last Judgment Being conscious of no wilful sin but what we have repented of and by mercy and forgiveness of other men and our prayers to God begging pardon for our involuntary sins we shall have nothing that will lye heavy upon us at the last Day but may go out of the World with ease and dye in comfort Our departure hence may be in peace because our appearance at Gods Tribunal shall surely be in safety For we shall have no worse charged upon us there than we are able here to charge upon our selves but leaving this World in a good Conscience we shall be sentenced in the next to a glorious reward and bid to enter into our Masters joy there to live with our Lord for ever and ever Amen Soli Deo Gloria FINIS * 1 Joh. 2 17-29 ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clâ—m Ro. 1. Epist. ad Cor. c. 30. a Gal. 3.19 b Matt 1.21 c Jam. 2.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Rom. Ep. 1. ad Cor. c. 31. e Quid est â—ide liter Christo credere â— est fideliter Dei mandata servare Salvian de Gub. l. 3. p. 67. Ed. Oxon. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Rom. 1. Ep. ad Cor. c. 10. f Matt. 25.34 35 3â— c. g Heb. 1.17 19. h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wrought to his works or to make him work i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k Neâ— Christianus esse videtur qui Christiani nominis opus non agit Salvian de Gub. l 4. p. Ed. Ox. 90. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Noah's preaching Righteousness and Repentance before the flood 2 Pet. 2.5 and 1 Pet. 3.20 is thus expessed by St. Clement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Epist. ad Cor. c. 9. c Prophetarum Filii And in the like sence among the Gentiles Poetarum Filii d Jer. 8.6 So St. Clement uses the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 promiscuously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And what in the Septuagint whom he follows in Citations is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ezek. 33.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. he giving the sence though not the words according to the Apostolical usage expresses thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Rom. 1. Ep. ad Cor. c. 7.8 And agreeably to this the compilers of our Liturgy in the Sentences before Morning Service in our Old Common Prayer Books translate Matt. 3.2 Repent ye for the Kingdom of God is at hand thus Amend your lives for the Kingdom c. As on the other side they expound Ezek. 18.21 If the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right c. thus At what time soever a sinner repenteth c. Quid planius quà m quod voluntas pro facto reputâ—tur ubi factum exclâ—dic necessitas nisi forte putetur in malo quà m in bono efficacior inveniri voluntas apud Deum qui charitas est promptioresset ad ulciscendum quam ad remunerandum misericors miserator Dominus Bernard Ep. ad Hugonem de Sancto Victore quae est Ep. 77. p. op 1458. f Quid dicam nescio quid promittam penitus ignoro revocare ab inquisitione ultimi remedii periclitantes durum impium spondere autem aliquid in tam sera cautione temerarium Salv. de Avaritia l. 1. p. 363. Ed. Oxon. a Levit. 26.40.42 b Novum monstri genus â—adem
For every Man at the last day will be declared a Child of wrath who is a son of disobedience and he shall most certainly be Damned who dyes without amendment and Repentance in works which are wilfully and deliberately sinful Christs Gospel has already judged this long before-hand and at that day he will confirm it When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels i. e. when he shall come with his Royal attendance to judge the world He will take vengeance says S t Paul on all them that OBEY not his Gospel who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord 2 Thess. 1.7 8 9. When he comes in state with the ten thousands of his Saints it will be to execute Judgment upon all that are ungodly for all the ungodly DEEDS which they have committed Jude 14 15. And when our Lord himself gives a relation of his proceedings at that day he tells us that whosoever they be or whatsoever they may pretend if their works have been disobedient they shall hear no sentence from him but what consigns them to Eternal Punishment I will profess thus unto them says he I never knew you Depart from me ye that WORK iniquity Matt. 7.23 This will be the method of Christs Judgment and these the measures of his Sentence he will pronounce Mercy and Life upon all that are obedient but Death and Hell to all that disobey And indeed it were hight of folly and madness to expect he should do otherwise and to fancy that when he comes to judge us as S t Paul says according to the Laws of his Gospel he should absolve and reward us when in our works and actions we have transgressed them For this were to thwart his own rule and to go cross to his own measures it were to encourage those whom his laws threaten to acquit such as they condemn and in one word not to judge according to them as he has expresly declared he will but against them If we would know then what condition we shall be adjudged to in the next world we must examine what our obedience has been in this We can have no assurance of a favourable Sentence in that Court but only the doing of our duty Our last doom shall turn not upon our knowing or not knowing our willing or not willing but upon our obeying or disobeying It is in vain to cast about for other marks and to seek after other evidences nothing less than this performance of our duty can avail us unto life and by the merits of Christ and the grace of his Gospel it shall And thus we see in the general what those terms and that condition are which to mete out our last doom of Bliss or Misery the Gospel indispensably exacts of us It is nothing less than a working service and obedience the enquiry to be made at that day being only this whether we have done what was commanded us If we have performed what was required of us we shall be pronounced Righteous and sentenced to Eternal Life but if we have wilfully transgressed and wrought wickedness without amendment and repentance we shall then be declared incorrigible Sinners and adjudged to Everlasting Death This indeed is a very great truth but yet such as very few are willing to see and to consider of For obedience is a very laborious service and a painful task and they are not many in number who will be content to undergo it And if a man may have no just hopes upon any thing less than it the case of most dying men is desperate But as men will live and dye in sin so will they live and dye in hopes too And therefore they catch at softer terms and build upon an easier condition And because the Gospel promises Salvation and a happy sentence to faith love repentance our being in Christ our knowing Christ and other things besides obedience they conclude that they shall be acquitted at that Bar upon the account of any or all of these though they do not obey with them They make Faith Love Repentance and the rest to be something separate from obedience something which will save them when that is wanting So that if they be in Christ if they know and believe with the mind and love and repent in their hearts their hope is to be absolved at the last day be their lives and actions never so disobedient But this is a most dangerous and damning errour For it makes men secure from danger till they are past all possibility of recovering out of it and causes them to trust to a false support so long till it lets them drop into Hell and sink down in damnation And although it be sufficiently evident from what has been already said that our obedience is that only thing which will be admitted as a just plea and as a qualification able to save us in that Court yet because I would fully subvert all these false grounds whereupon men support their pernicious hopes and sinful lives together I will go on to prove it still further And this will be most plainly effected by shewing that all those other terms and conditions whereto the Gospel sometimes promises pardon and happiness concenter all in this and save us no otherwise than by being springs and principles of our obedience They are not opposed to our doing of our duty and keeping the Commandments but imply it For when pardon is promised to Faith to Love to Repentance or any thing else it is never promised to them as separate from obedience but as containing it Obedience is that still for which a man is saved and pardoned it is not excluded from them but expressed by them In order to a clearer apprehension of the truth of this I think fit to observe that there is an ordinary figure and form of speech very usual both with God and men which the Rhetoricians call a Metonymie or Transnomination and that is a transferring of a word which is the particular Name of one thing to express an other The use of it is this that in things which have a near relation and dependance upon each other as particularly the cause and its effect have the particular name of either may many times signifie both so that when the name only of one is expressed yet really both are meant and intended And then by that word which in its proper sence stands only for the effect we are to understand not it alone but together with it the cause also that produced it and by that which properly signifies the cause we are to mean not the bare cause alone but besides it the effect which flows from it likewise As for the latter of these the bare naming of the cause when we intend together with it to express its natural consequent and effect too because it is that which chiefly concerns our present business I will set down some instances of it which daily
defiled for they have lost all sense of purity and Duty being unto every good work reprobate or void of judgment Tit. 1.15 16. They overlooked and disbelieved all the Christian Laws of passive valour and patient courage of generosity and contentedness of mortification and self-denial chastity and temperance and fell into those lewd opinions for which they were so infamous in the Apostolick Age and will be still among all men that are but competently sober to the Worlds end For they introduced into the World the scandalously vile and profligate opinions that all filthy and unnatural uncleannesses that denying Christ to be come in the flesh in times of persecution and that our Jesus was he are parts of Christian liberty and things lawful and allowable in a knowing in a spiritual in a perfect man Turning by this means as S t Jude says the Grace of God and his Gospel which under the highest pains forbids and punishes them into a liberty and allowance of these their Characteristick Vices viz. lasciviousness with all manner of filthiness and denying when they are in danger to suffer for him the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ Jude 4. Another instance of their behaviour we have set down in relation to the Publick and that is this They were of a proud and ungovernable of a haughty and turbulent a querulous and seditious humour Their temper is to be presumptuous and self-willed 2 Pet. 2.10 which they evidence every where by despising Dominion and speaking evil of Dignities Jud. 8 and by murmuring and complaining as men that are always discontented and never pleased with any administration of affairs ver 16. And agreeable to this ungovernableness of their lives and tempers were the licentious principles and opinions of their minds For they were the men who promised their Followers liberty from all subjection 2 Pet. 2.19 and who despised all Masters and Governours as being by the new Character of Christianity become their Brethren and therefore as they argued from that Title now only equal to them not superior as they must be who would pretend to rule and govern them 1 Tim. 6.1 2. The Abettors of which Doctrine S t Paul assures Timothy do in reality know nothing notwithstanding all the false show of that swoln Title knowing men which they so vainly arrogate to themselves ver 4. The wicked Sect of the Pharisees who were the reproach of the Jewish as these filthy Gnosticks were of the Christian Name were of a life and temper proud and ambitious covetous and rapacious whose heart and inside as well as their life and practice was all rottenness and disobedience For if we would have a character of them our Saviour himself has given us one in the 23 d of S t Matthew's Gospel which is most compleat and particular wherein a combination of these several vices are set to make up their description First Vain-glory. All their works they did to be seen of men vers 5. Secondly Pride and Ambition They loved the uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the Synagogues and greetings in the publick markets and to be called of men Rabbi Rabbi that is to say Master or Doctor vers 6 7. Thirdly Covetousness Fraud and Rapaciousness For besides that S t Luke informs us of their being covetous Luk. 16.14 we are told here that they would most prophanely abuse the most sacred things for their covetous ends and make long prayers only for a pretence that thereby they might be enabled more easily and without suspicion to devour even Orphans and Widows houses vers 14 being indeed whatsoever they might outwardly appear to be all extortion and excess within vers 25. Fourthly Hypocrisie For they would dissemble even in their most solemn performances and use Religion only as a stalking-horse to worldly designs They made long prayers only for a pretence vers 14 what they made clean was only the outside vers 25 for that indeed they beautified but still they were all stench and rottenness within vers 27. In summ they said but did not they bound heavy burdens on other mens shoulders but would not touch them themselves with one of their fingers vers 3 4. Yea take them even at the best where they were Religious and that they will be found to have been only in trifles but not in substantial Duties for they strained at gnats at the same time that they swallow'd Camels they paid tythe of cheap and inconsiderable things such as mint and annise and cummin but they omitted all the weightier matters of the Law as Judgment Mercy and Faith vers 23 24. And since they were men of this character thus unmortified in their lusts and thus vicious and irreligious in their practice what can in reason be expected but that they should be full of debauchery and disobedience in their consciences and perswasions also And so accordingly we find they were For when Christ preached to them the Doctrine of Charity and Liberality in opposition to their miserable worldly way they being covetous instead of believing fell a mocking and deriding him Luk. 16.14 And as they treated Christ in this particular so did they likewise in all the rest of his Religion For finding that it required such humility sincerity honesty contentedness and heavenly-mindedness as were inconsistent with these unmortified lusts of theirs which I have mention'd they would not own and embrace but for that reason especially reject and disbelieve it Nay further even in their own acknowledged way they took up several disobedient prejudices to serve their lusts and either wholly evacuated or in great part impair'd several Laws by admitting such erroneous perswasions as undermined them For to gratifie their haughty and stubborn their petted and revengeful humour they entertain'd a conceit that if they did but say it is Corban or a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me i. e. I bind my self by the vow or oath call'd Corban never more to do any good to thee which was a form of oath in use among the Jews they should be freed from all obligation of the fifth Commandment requiring honour service or relief to their Father or Mother Mat. 15.4 5 6. And many other things like to this our Saviour tells us they did Mark 7.13 But not to enquire further about particulars we are plainly assured of them in the general that they transgressed rejected and evacuated the Laws of God through the erroneous perswasions and prejudicate belief of their traditions Mat. 15.3 6. Mark 7.9 Thus natural and obvious it is for a wicked life to work a disobedient belief and for mens unmortified lusts and passions which set themselves against Gods Laws to convey such prejudices into their consciences as will evacuate and overthrow them Their unbelief enters through the corruption of their heart and is therefore called an evil heart of unbelief Heb. 3.12 they are hardened into a want of all sense and conscience
here specified which is nothing less than a renouncing of the Baptismal Covenant of the preaching of the Word of the administration of the Sacraments of all the Gospel-promises nay of all those miraculous gifts and powers of the Holy Ghost whereof in the first times they were ordinarily made partakers and what can any man take this to be but an utter renouncing of the whole Gospel and Religion of Christ And that it is so is still further manifest from those things which are said to be implied in their falling For hereby they are said to condemn Christ as an Impostor to justifie his murderers to say he was crucified justly and that were he now alive they should be ready to crucifie him over again which is a publishing again to all the world his reproach and a putting him anew to an open shame By this falling away saith the Apostle they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame v. 6. But now thus to renounce our Baptism and all our Christian Priviledges to condemn Christ as a cheat and Impostor to justifie his Murderers and to defame his Religion what is it less than a renouncing of his Gospel and a falling off to persecute the Christian Faith and Profession And as for this indeed the Apostle says expresly that it is desperate and that it is impossible for him by any endeavours or arguings which he can use to renew-again those who are guilty of it to that Gospel-Covenant which they thus abjure and which is the only gracious means of repentance and reconciliation And since it is to no purpose says he I will not attempt it but go on in speaking to those who still retain the Faith without concerning my self to prove again the foundation to those who have apostatized from it v. 1 3. These wilful Apostates therefore are in a most deplorable case for they have sinned themselves out of all capacity of mercy and transgressed beyond all recovery For there is no pardon to any wilful sinner whatsoever without he repent but as for Apostates it is impossible for any man to renew them again unto repentance Their renewal I say is impossible For as for all humane means which any men even the Apostles of our Lord themselves could use for their recovery they have defeated them already They know all the evidence of Miracles and the demonstrations of the Spirit nay they have not only seen them but they themselves have been partakers of them and impower'd to work them but yet after all they have renounced that belief which all these perswade to they are Armour of proof against all these demonstrations of the Holy Ghost and Infidels to Christ notwithstanding them So that let an Apostle himself urge any thing to them in behalf of Christs Religion his Argument has been overcome before he offers it He tells them nothing new nor shews them any thing but what they have seen nay what they themselves were formerly impower'd to shew to others but all that was not strong enough to keep them in the Faith for when they saw it all they turned Infidels and Apostates still As for any humane means then they are of no force with them they cannot reclaim them or bring them anew to the acknowledgment of the Gospel which is the only gracious Ministry of Repentance and Reconciliation So that if ever they be restored again it must be by a Divine Power for nothing now can possibly prevail with them but a special Providence and a special Grace But now here is the desperateness of their state these will never be afforded them For when men have wilfully sinned up to this height and fallen off against so great means and so clear conviction God in the ordinary methods of his Grace is resolved to concern himself no further with them nor to trouble himself any more for their recovery They have had all the care and cultivation of his Grace which they are like to have and now like barren ground which after all that has been laid out upon it brings forth nothing but thorns and bryers that are not only useless but prickling and offensive they are nigh unto cursing And this is the very instance which the Apostle himself uses and the reason which he gives of that impossibility which he had affirmed to be in that undertaking It is impossible says he for any man to renew them because God will no longer help on his endeavours with his Grace nor look any further after them For with those men who are Infidels after all his care he will deal just as he doth with ground whose fruit is evil and offensive after all his labour and as for his dealing with that 't is plainly this That earth indeed which drinketh up the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it was dressed receiveth more blessing still from God But that which after it has been thus water'd bears thorns and bryars is rejected and nigh unto cursing whose end is not to be water'd any more but burnt up v. 7 8. As for these two places of the Apostle therefore in his Epistle to the Hebrews we see indeed that they speak of wilful sins beyond pardon and of transgressions which are irremissible but these sins are not the wilful transgressions of any Christian man but a wilful Apostasie from Christianity it self So that after all it is true still that every man who owns the Religion and professes the Faith of Christ is provided of a remedy for all his wilful sins whensoever they are committed for let him but particularly repent of them and amend them and he never shall be condemned for them Nay so fast is the tye and so inseparable is the connexion under the Gospel of Christ betwixt Repentance and Remission that as I observed this irremissible sin of wilful Apostasie it self is therefore alone declared impossible to be forgiven because it is impossible to bring men to repent of it Heb. 6.6 If a man doth but repent then let his sin be wilfully committed whether before or after Baptism it matters not for his repentance shall set him straight in both and his offence shall be quite forgotten as if it had never been Indeed if a man goes on in a constant trade of sin silencing continually his own conscience and grieving Gods holy Spirit and despising all the means and offers of his Grace he may sin himself beyond his time of mercy and so his sins will prove irremissible because he is gone too far ever to repent of them which is their only remedy and means of pardon For there is a set period of Grace and a certain season and space of time wherein God will still make the offers of his help and of the guidance of his Spirit to reclaim and reform men But if after all they slight all his offers and reject his aid and prove utterly incorrigible he grows weary at
among your selves for Charity shall cover or procure pardon for the multitude of those many because unavoidable and involuntary sins 1 Pet. 4.8 And hereto Charity is then especially available when it is shewn in the highest instance of all viz. in procuring our Brethrens repentance and conversion For thus says S t James Brethren if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him for his encouragement let him know this from me That he who converts the Sinner from the errour of his way shall not only save the others soul from death but shall also hide a multitude of his own sins James 5.19 20. Thus is Charity in all acts of kindness and beneficence most available to procure the pardon of our many because unavoidable and involuntary sins But among all the instances of Charity one is particularly singled out by our Saviour as a necessary Condition to our forgiveness at Gods hands and that is our forgiving others that offend against us For the man who would have no pity upon his Fellow-servant as his Lord had shewed upon him was unpardoned all again and delivered over to the tormentors till he should pay the uttermost Farthing Matth. 18.32 33 34 and the same measure our heavenly Father will mete out to us if we forgive not every one his Brother their trespasses v. 35. And that a Condition so necessary to our forgiveness might never be forgotten our Lord has put it expresly into that Prayer which he has taught us to put up daily for the pardon of our own sins For he bids us pray that God would forgive us our trespasses against him even as we forgive those that trespass against us Matth. 6.12 And that we may take the more notice of a Point so indispensable he tells us as soon as ever the Prayer is done that if we forgive men their trespasses our heavenly Father will also forgive us but if we forgive not men their trespasses neither will our heavenly Father forgive us our trespasses vers 14 15. If we are rigorous and severe therefore with our Brethren God will be so with us also and when he comes to judge us we shall find as little allowance at his hands as they have done at ours For he shall have judgment from God without mercy who to men hath shewn no mercy but if any man has been merciful to his Brethren God will be much more so to him for mercy rejoyceth even against judgment James 2.13 This will be the greatest motive to procure Grace and the best Plea that can be urged to obtain mercy at Gods hands Blessed are the merciful says our Saviour for they shall obtain mercy Mat. 5.7 And thus as for our involuntary slips we see now what is their remedy they shall be forgiven us upon our prayers and upon the prayers of our friends and other good Christians for us and upon our Charity and forgiveness of other men With the same measure that we mete God will mete out to us again Mat. 7.2 So that if we shew mercy to the unwill'd sins yea and the voluntary offences of other men if in other things we are obedient we shall be sure to find it for our own And thus at last we see what remedy the Gospel has provided us for all sorts of offences whether they be our voluntary or involuntary sins And upon the whole matter we find that our case is not desperate under any sort of sins but that if we will use it we have a sufficient cure for them For if we are in a state of death by reason of any wilful sin let us but particularly repent of it and amend it and if it either injured or offended our Brethren seek to be reconciled and repair the wrong and we are restored to pardon And if in any thing we have fallen involuntarily let us but pray and be merciful and we are forgiven And either way when God comes to judge us whether we have in all points fulfilled his Laws or are pardoned our transgressions of them we shall be acquitted by him We shall be safe at that day if we have either kept the condition or used the remedy for a pardon will justifie us to as much purpoâ—â— as we should have been justified by an unerring obedience To apply this then to every mans particular case Has any man whether learned or unlearned committed wilfully and advisedly an act of any known and notorious sin whether of Blasphemy Perjury common Swearing Witchcraft Idolatry Drunkenness Fornication Adultery Lying Slander Fraud Oppression Theft Murder Rebellion Tumult or the like has he been guilty of these or of any other sins of like nature whereat all mens consciences are wont to boggle and their hearts to check them till they have sinned themselves into numbness and stupefaction let him particularly amend that evil way and retract that very sin and if his crime implied any as far as he can repair the wrong it did his brethren and then he is in a safe condition For his particular repentance and amendment shall make up the breach which such wilful offence had made betwixt God and him and shall most certainly procure his pardon Has any man of opportunities and understanding committed any action of Lasciviousness Vncleanness Passionateness Fierceness evil Speaking Backbiting Censoriousness Vncandidness Vnmercifulness Vnpeaceableness or the like has any such man or any other whatsoever been guilty of these or the like offences when his own Soul reproved him and either did or would have set the sinfulness of his present action before him unless he has sinned in it so long as to lose all sense of it and to stifle all suggestions against it let him also particularly amend and reform such voluntary sin and make his peace with his offended brethren that he may be saved His particular repentance shall likewise make his peace and procure for him Gods favour and acceptance Has any man lastly been surprized into rash words and censures into sudden anger and trifling discontents and peevish or uncourteous or uncandid or uncondescensive behaviour has he been wearied by long importunity into some loose thoughts and wanton fancies into some small fretfulness or impatience or the like has he spoke or acted unadvisedly through deep grief or violent fears or other astonishing unwill'd passion let him bewail his failings and strive against them although he be not able perfectly to overcome them let him seek peace and use charity and shew mercy upon the like errours and escapes and upon the more wilful offences of his brethren and then with comfort beg Gods pardon For his prayers thus attended shall set him straight and procure his reconciliation If a man is conscious to himself of any of these sorts of sins these remedies will certainly restore him And as for those unknown and secret sins whereof his conscience cannot inform him he has an obvious and an easie expedient for a general penitential prayer will undoubtedly be
wilful sins themselves as has been shewn are not desperate under Christs Religion the Gospel being a Covenant that doth not damn men upon all voluntary sin but encourages their repentance with the promise of pardon so that although all our sins are against God and his Spirit they are not irremissible but will be remitted to every man who repents of them It is not every sin against the Spirit of God then which this place in S t Matthew threatens so severely But the unpardonable sin is a sin by it self it has something peculiar in it from all other sins which by shutting us out from all possibility of repentance excludes it from all hopes of being forgiven And indeed it is plainly this It is a sinning against the Holy Ghost in the last sense as it signifies not only the power of miracles but also the gift of tongues and other illuminations of the Holy Ghost which came down upon the Apostles at Pentecost and it is such a sinning against these as is particularly by reviling and blaspheming them This and none other I take to be the sin here mentioned For the clearer discerning whereof we will consider the sins against the Holy Ghost in all the acceptations before laid down and in all of them except the last we shall find room for pardon and remission First then to sin against the Holy Ghost as it signifies the ordinary endowments and vertuous tempers of our minds and wills is not the unpardonable sin that is here spoken of For every sin against any particular vertue is a sin against the Holy Ghost in that sense Every act of drunkenness for instance is against the gift of sobriety and every act of uncleanness is against the gift of continency and so it is in the several actions of all other sorts of sin But now as for all these the great offer and invitation of the Gospel is that men would accept of mercy upon repentance The Incestuous Corinthian sinned deeply against the grace of chastity and he repented and was forgiven S t Peter denied his Lord and upon his repentance he was also pardoned and the same Grace has been allowed as we have seen to all other wilful sinners Nay in this sort of sinning against the Holy Ghost viz. by sinning against those Christian gifts and graces which he works in us there is mercy to very great degrees For sometimes we do not hearken to his holy motions but fall into lesser sins and offensive indecencies notwithstanding all his vertuous suggestions and endeavours to the contrary and then he is troubled and grieved at us Eph. 4.30 And at other times we venture upon more hainous crimes which quite lay waste the conscience and undo all the vertuous temper and resolution of our souls so that we lie long in our impenitence as David did in the matter of Vriah and are almost hardned in our wicked way before we are able again to recover out of it and in these offences the Spirit has been so much affronted and his importunate suggestions so frequently thrown out that he is almost ready to forsake us and to leave us to our selves so that it may be called a quenching of him 1 Thess. 5.19 But although the last of these especially be very dangerous yet is neither of them desperate But after we have been guilty of them God continues still to make offers and invitations and by his long-sufferance and his gracious providences and the repeated calls of his Word and Ministers he still endeavours to recover us to pardon by recalling us to repentance Yea the holy Spirit it self makes fresh assaults upon us and tries again whether we will hearken to it and be relieved by it as it was with David after he had complained of his being deprived of Gods presence and of the holy Spirit 's being taken from him Psal. 51.11 and as it is with every other reclaimed back-slider The sinning against the Holy Ghost therefore in this sense as it signifies the ordinary gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost is far from being the unpardonable sin and is manifestly under the grace of pardon and repentance Secondly Nor is a sin against the extraordinary gifts of casting out Devils healing diseases working miracles or other things called the Spirit that unpardonable sin which is here intended To blaspheme the Spirit 't is true comes very near it and when men are once gone on to that God is very nigh giving of them up and using no more means about them to bring them either to Faith or Repentance which are the only way to pardon and forgiveness But although this pitch of sin be extreme dangerous yet in great likelihood it is not wholly desperate for after all the dirt that men had thrown upon this evidence viz. the miraculous operation wrought by Christ whilst he continued upon earth God was still pleased to use some means further to bring them to believe and that was the evidence of the Holy Ghost which came down to compleat all after that Jesus was glorified Act. 2. This great proof which was to be poured out upon the Disciples at Pentecost and upon other Christians at the Imposition of their hands for a good while after might effect that wherein the other had failed and be acknowledged by those very men who had blasphemed the former So that their case notwithstanding it were gone extreme far was not for all that quite hopeless because one remedy still remained which God resolved he would use to reclaim them though after that he would try no more The blaspheming of the Spirit then was very near the unpardonable because unamendable sin but yet it was not fully grown up to it it was in the next degree to unpardonable but yet if it went no further it might be pardoned still And of this I think we have a clear proof even in those blasphemous Pharisees whose reviling of the Spirit was the occasion of all this discourse For as for the Spirit they blasphemed it in this very Chapter when upon occasion of the miraculous cure of the man with the withered hand v. 13 and of Christs casting out of Devils v. 28 both which were so manifestly wrought before their eyes that none of them durst question or deny the working of them they go blasphemously to charge these evident effects of the Spirit upon the power of Magick and to say that these works of God were performed by the Devil For when these mighty effects of the Spirit were urged to them in behalf of Jesus they answered and said says S t Matthew this Fellow doth not cast out Devils but by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils v. 24. Here is a reproach to these miraculous gifts of the Spirit as great as can be invented for it is nothing less than an attributing them to the most foul and loathsom Fiends in Nature even to the very Devils themselves But yet this Blasphemy as dangerous as it was is not
last and will trouble himself no more about them but leave them wholly to themselves And this God plainly intimates concerning incorrigible Ephraim who was just then about to be abandoned and to be given up to the unmasterable wickedness of his own heart How shall I give thee up says he O Ephraim how shall I deliver thee O Israel Hos. 11.8 And our Saviour says the same over intractable Jerusalem O! if thou hadst but known at least in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace with God but now it is too late for they are hid from thine eyes Luk. 19.42 This I confess is a state of sin which is desperate and irrecoverable not for that repentance is no sure means of remission but because when once men are come thus far God deserts them so that they never can repent of them But as for the time when any man is come up to this unpardonable pitch that only God in Heaven knows No man can say I am beyond my time of repentance because without a special Revelation no man can understand it And therefore let a man have sinned never so long yet cannot that discourage him from repenting because if he set himself seriously about it for ought he knows God will pity him and afford him his Grace and Spirit which is never wanting to such as heartily desire it to aid and strengthen him in his repentance Nay indeed if a man be come so far as to bethink himself and to be apprehensive of his danger and to be convinced of the destructiveness of his sinful courses there is no question to be made but that he will For the tide is turned and the change is begun already and that is a thing which needed God's Grace as much as any thing that is yet remaining For a cariere in wickedness is like running down hill the great difficulty is to make the first stop but when once that is done to return again is much more easie And therefore if a man has received so much Grace as makes him break off his evil courses for the present and stand and deliberate with himself whether or no he shall proceed in it he need not doubt if he will go on to endeavour as he has begun but that he shall have more till at last he is fully enabled to perfect and compleat it He has an experimental evidence that his time of Grace is not past he may be sure it is still with him because it helps and works in him For it is Grace that brings him on to what he is and if he be but as willing to be aided by it as it is ready to assist him it will not fail to carry him on further Gods Grace will still grow upon him as his own endeavours do so that if he make good use of this he shall have more For this is laid down by our Lord as a certain Rule of Divine dispensations To him that hath that is maketh a right use of that Grace which he hath shall more be given even in abundance Mat. 25.29 Whatsoever irreconcileableness therefore there may be and truly is in some states of sin when men have gone on beyond their time of Grace yet he who has so much Grace as to doubt and question to fear and scruple has great reason to think that as for his part he is not past Grace but under it For an irrecoverable sinner is commonly one that is hardned he transgresses without sense and goes on without fear he is infatuated with his lusts and lull'd asleep in his sin and scarce ever comes to himself till he awakes in Damnation But if once he begins especially in the time of health either through a severe reproof or a severe providence to interrupt his sin for the present and to apprehend the evil of it and if from thence he goes on to good desires and holy purposes of well-doing then he feels that Grace which he is afraid he wants and that good Spirit works in him which he suspects to have deserted him He is not in this irrecoverable state but is going on towards a good recovery Indeed if his Conscience is awakned in the height of horror and extremity of despair so that he is obstinate against all good advice and dead to all endeavour and continues to be so this is not an effect of Grace and a step towards repentance but a terror of Judgment and a fore-taste of Hell If it deads all industry by excluding all hope if he complain of his estate without seeking to get out of it and despair without all amendment this fear of heart and terror of soul 't is true doth not bring him nearer unto life and pardon but by secuing him faster in his sin it shuts him up a closer Prisoner of Condemnation But if he be so apprehensive of his danger as to run from it if he has so much hope as will put him upon trying all means and using his best endeavours if upon his apprehensions of his present evil state he fears and desires and resolves and strives to get quit of it he is not deprived of a good Providence or of a gracious Spirit but enjoys the benefit of them and is conducted by them He is in the way to Life and under the recovering methods of Grace Gods holy Spirit has not for ever abandoned him but has begun again to work in him And thus at last it appears that as for all the wilful sins of any Christian man they are in no wise desperate and helpless but the Gospel has reached out a remedy for them to all who are willing to make use of it For let them but particularly repent of them and amend them and then they are safe from them So long as they continue in the profession of the Christian Faith and do not apostatize from it there is no sin whatsoever which they wilfully commit but is pardonable upon their repentance If once they honestly undo the fault and conscientiously forsake it their work is done for their penitent reformation shall make them innocent and whatever punishment the Law may threaten to any sins when God comes to Judgment he will not exact it of any man who has been thus reclaimed from them Do we find our selves guilty then of any unretracted wilful sins and thereby subject to a dreadful sentence according to those measures that have in great largeness been hitherto discoursed of Let us particularly repent of them and begin to amend them and then we are safe from it and shall most certainly prevent it Have any voluntary faults put us out of a state of favour and made us obnoxious to the severities of Judgment let us reform them and do so no more and repair the breach which ensued upon them and we are surely pardoned For the Gospel of Christ doth not in any wise intend to amaze and astonish us or to affright us from amendment by putting us into a despair
of mercy No we must lay this down as a most unerring Rule That that can never come from God which tends to detain us in our sins and to discourage our reformation For the summ of all his designs and endeavours both in the sending of his Son and in the preaching of his Gospel is to free and cleanse us from all sin and to carry us on to reformation and repentance by the sure and stedfast hopes of pardon and acceptance Whensoever we have wittingly done evil therefore let us take care to do so no more and if it were offensive or injurious to our brethren to repair the hurt our sin has done and all is well And if any Law of the Gospel threaten us let us begin thus to fulfil it and then we are safe from it Let us fulfil it I say for that only is a saving repentance which as we saw above implies obedience and ends in reformation And if we repent in that manner of any sin whatsoever it be or whensoever it be committed whether before Baptism or after it it matters not we shall surely go unpunished and shall not be eternally damned for it CHAP. II. Of Reconciliation and Restitution upon those Sins whereby we have offended or injured our Brethren The CONTENTS Of the Necessity of Reconciliation upon Sins whereby we have offended and of Restitution upon others whereby we have injured our Brethren In sin three things considerable the offence against God and the offence and injury against men Sins whereby God alone is offended are sufficiently repented of and pardonable upon reformation and amendment Those whereby we have also offended or injured our brethren are not sufficiently repented of or pardonable upon that alone unless moreover we seek to be reconciled and make restitution These two means of pardon for affronts and injuries against men are necessary fruits of a sincere and sufficient repentance Of sins whereby we have justly offended our Brethren Their ill effects represented which are to be redressed by penitential acknowledgments and seeking to be reconciled These penitential acknowledgements necessary only to appease those whom by our sin we have offended and so unnecessary when they know nothing of our offence Where they do Reconciliation is necessary so far only as it can be had and where we have an opportunity of seeking it This discourse upon Reconciliation sum'd up Of sins of injustice whereby we have injured men Reparation ordinarily necessary to a sincere and always to a sufficient Repentance of them 'T is necessary moreover in it self as an instance of strict justice An account of particular injuries how to be repaired where the injured persons can and how where they cannot receive it Restitution necessary whether our Brethren know themselves to be injured by us or no. It is due only upon sins of injustice Of the perfect right which we have to things of strict Iustice and of the imperfect right which we have to things of Charity whence the performance of them is sometimes called righteousness In sins of injustice reparation due so far only as we can and according as we have opportunity to make it In judging of a just opportunity caution given that we be neither too strict so as more than needs to prejudice our selves nor too loose so as to overcharge our Neighbours This Discourse of reparation upon injuries summed up FROM what has been discoursed concerning the remedy of wilful sins in the foregoing Chapter it plainly appears that they are not hopeless but that at what time soever any of them have been committed by a Christian man whether before Baptism or after it they are still pardonable upon his particular repentance of them This repentance as has been shewn implies amendment so that we never shall be judged to have repented of them till we have forsaken them and are reformed from them Amendment then is necessary to our repentance and to the pardon of all voluntary offences whatsoever and to the pardon of some viz. those wherein God alone is concerned it is not only necessary but sufficient but then to a right repentance and to the pardon of others which do not barely offend God but are offensive also and injurious to our Brethren there is more required For although God will forgive his own share of any sin viz. so far as it is an act of disobedience to him and account us duly penitent upon our amendment and reformation yet will he not judge so favourably or so easily pass over the hurt which is thereby done to other men And since in several sins there is not only an offence to God but withal an affront or injury to our Brethren what ever God may do in some 't is plain that he will not pardon others or look upon us to have sufficiently repented of them upon a bare forsaking of the fault without our seeking also to be reconciled to the offended persons and making of due reparation And this being a thing which occasions much doubt and scruple in many honest minds I will here endeavour to give a plain state of the Duty of reconciliation upon offences and of restitution upon injuries against our neighbour that so we may have no needless fears upon this account or know how to put an end to them when we have just occasion for them In sin there are three things considerable according as it may concern either God or men or both viz. the offence against God and the offence and injury which it may include against men First As for the offence against God as it is a breach of his Law and a going cross to his pleasure it is atoned by reformation and amendment Till we are reclaimed indeed from our former sins and are become Gods dutiful Sons and faithful Servants for the present and for the future it is not consistent with the honour of his goodness and holiness with the authority of his Laws and with the ends of his Government to bear any complacential love or show any marks of favour and friendly affection towards us But as soon as ever we are conscientiously reformed from them he will be reconciled to us He will never punish us for any disobedience against his Divine Majesty after we have forsaken it but whensoever we turn off from any evil way so far as he himself was concerned in the dishonour of the offence he will graciously pass it by and as may plainly appear from what has hitherto been discoursed return to have mercy upon us But then as for the offence and also as for the injury which our sins may at any time imply towards men he will not judge us savingly to have repented of them nor pardon them upon amendment alone unless together with that we expiate the first by seeking to be reconciled to the Party whom we have offended and the latter by making amends for the damage done and offering a due reparation These two means of pardon for our sins of affront