fruits on Gods part signifying his favour towards such truly penitent Persons by the comfortable testimony of his Spirit of Grace in their Consciences witnessing the remission of sins and reconciliation to God in the face of Jesus Christ The Parts of Repentance are commonly made these three Contrition Confession and Satisfaction which to speak properly cannot so be called For of all these only Contrition is of the very nature of Repentance but Confession and Satisfaction to which we may adde Reformation or Renovation are rather the Effects than Parts of Repentance but these two are never the same in proper language And therefore in vain do they go about to justifie that description as proper of Repentance which both Chrysostome and Ambrose do give us That it is such a change which committeth not the same things again And an act whereby we lament sins passed and commit not sins to be lamented There can be nothing done more indiscreetly against a mans self or injuriously against the Fathers than to make every true saying of theirs a definition or to deny them the liberty of their Rhetorical pen sometimes when they write what is true though not so accurately as the laws of Logick may require If we mistake not this abuse of the Fathers hath done great mischief in the Schoolmens works and especially Thomas's as may appear in his Summes where a bare and secure asseveration of some Father is taken for a very sufficient definition and turns the controversie quite another way then reason according to Scripture would have it go We all know that the Fathers as all other Writers even the Scriptures themselves spake not alwayes Definitions and the Definitions they gave were not alwayes according to the Rules and Practise of Logicians but Rhetoricians with whom it is most frequent to describe a thing from the proper and most commendable effect If a man should say he is a Souldier indeed who never yieldeth till he hath gotten the victory should speak very true but this were no true definition of a Souldier For a Souldier may loose the Victory And so Repentance is that which repeateth not former sins before sorrowed for but this doth not prove that to be no repentance which ceasing a man returns to his former evil course or that repentance persever'd in which was broken off might not have carryed him to heaven For who knows not that all habits moral and graces spiritual such as are Faith and Repentance have their proper seat in the inward man affect the mind and heart immediately and from thence are known primarily and described Outward acts are but the effects and the effects may illustrate but cannot be of the essence of the Cause Therefore Repentance exactly considered is nothing more than a thorow change of the mind and heart from things contrary to Gods will and to the obedience of the same This is true repentance and if it be not effectual it is because it is not that is perseveres not in that good nature It were ridiculous to say A man never went towards London it was no real motion because he turned back again and never came at that place And no less that a man never truly repented because he gave over and reaped not the fruits of Repentance For the nature of Repentance might be the same though vastly different as to the end Once true Grace and alwayes true Grace say they but what word of God what judgment of the wisest and holiest Christians have they to bear witness to their presumptuous assertion Their own authority is too inconsiderable and their argument most vain which is taken from the event and begs the question when they thus talk If it be true Grace it will persevere and if it persevere it is true So that give the highest instance that ever was or any mans mind can imagine possible to be of Grace which failed they answer very safely if as wisely It was not true for it faild But this is no place to argue this point We except not against the things themselves in Repentance Contrition Confession Satisfaction but against the order they are set in though Mr. Bradford that holy and learned man sticks not at that accurateness in his former Sermon speaking thus We say penance hath three parts Contrition if you understand it for an hearty sorrow for sin Confession if ye understand it for faith of free pardon in Gods mercy by Jesus Christ and Satisfaction if you understand it not to Godwards but to Manwards in restitution of things wrongfully and fraudulently gotten of name hindred by our slaunders and in newness of life And Perkins makes our consent with the Roman Perk. Reform Cath. Church to consist in this That Repentance stands especially for practise in Contrition of heart Confession of mouth Satisfaction in work or deed Of these therefore we shall speak briefly and distinctly CHAP. XXXVIII Of the Proper affections of Repentance Compunction Attrition and Contrition Attrition is an Evangelical Grace as well as Contrition Of Confession Its Nature Grounds and Vses How it is abused The Reasons against it answered COmpunction is a general word comprehending Contrition and Attrition the proper parts of Repentance and according to Bernard is an humiliation of the mind proceeding from the remembrance of sin and the fear of Gods Judgment c. But Bernard de modo bene vivendi Serm. 10. if we take Compunction generally it may be rather described An humiliation of mind proceeding from an apprehension of the Evil of sin Now the Evil of sin being twofold doth divide this Compunction into two kinds Contrition and Attrition Contrition being according to the most received distinction of it from Attrition A sincere and hearty sorrow of mind upon the sight and sense of the Evil of sin in it self and the offence thereby committed against Almighty God his goodness chiefly But there is another mischief in sin and that doth principally concern the Offender himself who thereby having violated Gods most just and holy Laws and incurred his displeasure has made him self obnoxious to the curses denounced against the breakers thereof and therefore is a Terrour of Conscience conceived upon the apprehension of Gods wrath justly due to him and impending over him These by some are made not only different as in truth they are but contrary too so that Attrition should be rather an addition to former Guilt than a method of evading Gods wrath and being reconciled unto him and their reason is because it is not done in Faith Hence they distinguish between Legal and Evangelical humiliation Perkins making the former quite distinct from the latter and opposite to it Legal contrition say they which is Attrition is nothing but a remorse of Conscience for sin in regard of the wrath and judgment of God and it is no grace of God at all nor any part or cause of Repentance but only an occasion thereof and that by the mercy of God for
of it self it is the sting of the Law and the very entrance into the Pit of Hell Evangelical Contrition is when a repentant sinner is grieved for his sin not so much for fear of Hell or any other punishment as because he hath offended and displeased so good and merciful a God This Contrition is caused by the Ministry of the Gospel c. In this vulgar account of Attrition and Contrition or the two Parts of Contrition Legal and Evangelical is a twofold errour committed not to be passed lightly over The one is a rude and common misapprehension of the state of the Gospel as if it were all made up of Mercy and consisted not at all of Justice and Vengeance to be executed upon sinners breaking the Law of the Gospel but whatever we can reasonably suppose of mercy must be owing altogether to the Gospel but if any threatning and severities of Justice be feared that must be borrowed from the Law And what Law I pray do they mean The Old Law I doubt not But the Law before Christ had its moralities or perpetual Duties and its Mosaicalness which was transient and is now actually ceased as all the Obligations and Penalties belonging thereto It cannot be that then which moves to this Legal Contrition but if any thing the moral and perpetual part consisting of Justice and Equity which are no less an ingredient into the Gospel than into the Law properly so called And because there is nothing more absurd and ridiculous than to have a Law consisting of just and holy Precepts and Rules which shall not also consist of proportionable Rewards of the Observers and Breakers thereof returning as St. Paul teaches us at large in his Epistle Rom. 2. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. to the Romans to the Jew and to the Gentile doing well honour and glory and shame and wrath to the evil doer speaking of the present state of the Gospel And we have before shewed That so far is the Gospel from being made up of all mercy that the judgments and punishments therein decreed against Sinners are more grievous than they in the Law and therefore the Gospel is called a Book of Good tidings or News not because the Sinner impenitent shall sind any more favour or so much as he might under the Old Law but because the Salvation here published is of greater extent comprehending all Nations and states of men which the Law did not And also offering full and free means of Repentance and reconciliation to God through Christ and a treasure of Grace as well to assist in the performing of the condition of the Gospel as to pardon and remit what is committed against it upon humiliation and repentance So that the Gospel has a Legal part as the phrase is and Evangelical And the terrours of the Gospel or Legal Part of it have just influence upon the Consciences of men to humble and affright them though there should be O Soror nulla res sic nos ab omni peccato custodit immunes sicut timor inferni et amor Dei Bern. de modo bene vivend Serm. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrys Serm. 7. Antioc◠pag. 512. To. 6 no such thing extant as the Old Testament and therefore the Attrition of a Sinner under the guilt and sense of his sins is much more an effect of the Gospel than of the Law And therefore is not so the entrance into the Pit of Hell as if directly it lead to Hell For 't is security and presumption that lead thither rather then the sorrow of Attrition This is certainly a direct occasion of going to Heaven and is an inferiour degree of more ingenuous sorrow and true contrition For this Legal as it is called Contrition is caused by the ministry of the Gospel too and is an effect of Evangelical Faith whereby a Christian having thorowly assented to and been affected with the severe and holy Doctrine thereof becomes humbled under it and is brought to the sight and admiration and affection of the other Part of it which to the truly broken and penitent offereth Grace and Pardon That which seems to have mislead so many into a false notion of the Gospel is the term Gospel or Evangel it self which sounds nothing so much as mercy though the English or Saxon word we know signifies originally no more than Gods Speech which is indifferent Rom. 4. 15. to Mercy and Justice both And such places as this of St. Paul The Law worketh wrath as if he had meant to say thereby that the Gospel did not work wrath as did the Law but that was far from his purpose intending only to shew the difference between the Law and the Gospel as they stood opposed to be in this That the Law without the Gospel which St. Paul preached wrought wrath without remedy but the Gospel though it propoundeth and threatneth wrath too to the unbelieving and disobedient yet continued in it also a sufficient and proper remedy against all those Evils And thus far of the very intrinsick nature of Repentance Attrition and Contrition which are the two proper Parts of it The two most noted acts or effects for Parts they are not are Confession and Satisfaction And first we shall explain this Confession by these degrees First Out of the Abundance of the heart it must necessarily be that the mouth should speak whether good or evil truth or falshood joy or sorrow How then can it reasonably be supposed that no outward expression should appear of so great anguish of mind as is supposed to affect the soul truly humbled and penitent No sober man much less good Christian can choose but commend such Acts as this of true Repentance For as the comparison of an ancient Father hath it well As it is with him that hath almost surfeited himself with ill digested or unwholesome meat lying heavy upon his stomach must cast it forth before he can well be eased or cured even so he whose soul is oppressed with the filth guilt and weight of his sins must vomit them up by due Confession before he can reasonably expect remedy and forgiveness Many and very pressing are the advises and precepts of Holy Scripture to confess our sins and many promises to such as do confess annexed which not intending at present so much a Paraenetical or hortatory Discourse as Dogmatical for the settlement and information of the Judgment and Consciences I shall pass over as agreed to on all hands in the general But Confession of sins being so variously taken viz. for confession to God and confession to Man for confession private and confession publick for confession to our brother whom we have offended particularly and confession to the Church to which we have given scandal none ever took the boldness on them to deny absolutely the use of Confession Nay I cannot find any seriously and positively denying the lawfulness or usefulness of private or auricular
be convicted of moral evil and so unconcernedly to omit the weightier matters of the Law as Judgment Mercy or Charity in Vnity and Faith what can Charity call this but meer Pharisaism and where must such Pharisaism end at length but in Sadducism even denying of the Blessings and Curses of a Future Life For as Drusius hath Si Patres nostri selvissent mâ—râ—â—â—s resurrecturâ— praemia manere â—ustos â—â—st hanc vitam nâ—n tantoperè râ—bellassent Drusius in Mat. c 3. v. 7. Item in c. 22 23. observed it was one Reason alledged by the Sadduces against the Resurrection If our Fathers had known the dead should rise again and rewards were prepared for the Righteous they would not have rebelled so often not conforming themselves to Gods Rule as is pretended by all but conforming the Rule of Sin and of Faith it self to the good Opinion they had of their own Persons and Actions which Pestilential Contagion now so Epidemical God of his great Mercy remove from us and cause health and soundness of Judgment Affection and Actions to return to us and continue with us to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS Chap. I. OF the Nature and Grounds of Religion in General Which are not so much Power as the Goodness of God and Justice in the Creature And that Nature it self teaches to be Religious Chap. II. Of the constant and faithful assurance requisite to be had of a Deity The reasons of the necessity of a Divine Supream Power Socinus refuted holding the knowledge of a God not natural Chap. III. Of the Unity of the Divine Nature and the Infiniteness of God Chap. IV. Of the diversity of Religions in the World A brief censure of the Gentile and Mahumetan Religion Chap. V. Of the Jewish Religion The pretence of the Antiquity of it nulled The several erroneous grounds of the Jewish Religion discovered Chap. VI. The vanity of the Jewish Religion shewed from the proofs of the true Messias long since come which are many Chap. VII The Christian Religion described The general Ground thereof the revealed Will of God The necessity of Gods revealing himself Chap. VIII More special Proofs of the truth of Christian Religion and more particularly from the Scriptures being the Word of God which is proved by several reasons Chap. IX Of the several Senses and Meanings according to which the Scriptures may be understood Chap. X. Of the true Interpretation of Holy Scriptures The true meaning not the letter properly Scripture Of the difficulty of attaining the proper sense and the Reasons thereof Chap. XI Of the Means of interpreting the Scripture That they who understand Scripture are not for that authorized to interpret it decisively The Spirit not a proper Judge of the Scriptures sense Reason no Judge of Scripture There is no Infallible Judge of Scripture nor no necessity of it absolute The grounds of an Infallible Judge examined Chap. XII Of Tradition as a Means of understanding the Scriptures Of the certainty of unwritten Traditions that it is inferiour to Scripture or written Tradition No Tradition equal to Sense or Scripture in Evidence Of the proper use of Tradition Chap. XIII Of the nature of Faith What is Faith Of the two general grounds of Faith Faith divine in a twofold sense Revelation the formal reason of Faith Divine Of the several senses and acceptations of Faith That Historical Temporarie and Miraculous Faith are not in nature distinct from Divine and Justifying Faith Of Faith explicite and implicite Chap. XIV Of the effects of true Faith in General Good Works Good Works to be distinguish'd from Perfect Works Actions good four wayes Chap. XV. Of the effect of Good Works which is the effect of Faith How Works may be denominated Good How they dispose to Grace Of the Works of the Regenerate Of the proper conditions required to Good Works or Evangelical Chap. XVI Of Merit as an effect of Good Works The several acceptatations of the word Merit What is Merit properly In what sense Christians may be said to merit How far Good Works are efficacious unto the Reward promised by God Chap. XVII Of the two special effects of Faith and Good Works wrought in Faith Sanctification and Justification what they are Their agreements and differences In what manner Sanctification goes before Justification and how it follows Chap. XVIII Of Justification as an effect of Faith and Good Works Justification and Justice to be distinguished and how The several Causes of our Justification Being in Christ the principal cause What it is to be in Christ The means and manner of being in Christ Chap. XIX Of the efficient cause of Justification Chap. XX. Of the special Notion of Faith and the influence it hath on our Justification Of Faith solitary and only Of a particular and general Faith Particular Faith no more an Instrument of our justification by Christ than other co-ordinate Graces How some ancient Fathers affirm that Faith without Works justifie Chap. XXI A third effect of justifying Faith Assurance of our Salvation How far a man is bound to be sure of his Salvation and how far this assurance may be obtained The Reasons commonly drawn from Scripture proving the necessity of this assurance not sufficient c. Chap. XXII Of the contrary to true Faith Apostasie Heresie and Atheism Their Differences The difficulty of judging aright of Heresie Two things constituting Heresie the evil disposition of the mind and the falsness of the matter How far and when Heresie destroys Faith How far it destroys the Nature of a Church Chap. XXIII Of the proper subject of Faith the Church The distinction and description of the Church In what sense the Church is a Collection of Saints Communion visible as well as invisible necessary to the constituting a Church Chap. XXIV A preparation to the knowledge of Ecclesiastical Society or of the Church from the consideration of humane Societies What is Society What Order What Government Of the Original of Government Reasons against the peoples being the Original of Power and their Right to frame Governments Power not revocable by the people Chap. XXV Of the Form of Civil Government The several sorts of Government That Government in general is not so of Divine Right as that all Governments should be indifferently of Divine Institution but that One especially was instituted of God and that Monarchical The Reasons proving this Chap. XXVI Of the mutual Relations and Obligations of Soveraigns and Subjects No Right in Subjects to resist their Soveraigns tyrannizing over them What Tyranny is Of Tyrants with a Title and Tyrants without Title Of Magistrates Inferiour and Supream the vanity and mischief of that distinction The confusion of co-ordinate Governments in one State Possession or Invasion giveth no Right to Rulers The Reasons why Chap. XXVII An application of the former Discourse of Civil Government to Ecclesiastical How Christs Church is alwayes visible and how invisible Of the communion
Moral and Natural only but Spiritual also ought to have a spiritual or heavenly end And as the reward upon Obedience doth exceed that of the Law so the severity upon disobedience contrary to the too common Errour that the Gospel is more favourable unto sinners than was the Law For though indeed the same trivial neglects or commissions as against Vide Chrys Tom. 6. Serm. 94. initio the Old Law are not now punished in a bodily sensible manner as were they yet the punishments generally of the offences against the New Covenant were greater as St. Paul expresly witnesseth to the Hebrews Hebr. 2. 2 3. He that despised Moses's Law dyed without mercy under two or Hebr. 10 28. 29. three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall be thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and accounted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace c. For we know c. Fifthly the Administration 30 31. of the New Covenant differed from that of the Old and that 1. In the Extent comprehending all Nations without distinction Jer. 31. 34. whereas that of Moses was restrained to Abrahams Seed and that by Isaac and that Seed again of Isaac by Jacob. And secondly it extends not only to all Persons according to the promise made to Abraham that in his Gen. 22. 18. Seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed and only his own Seed blessed but to all capacities of man his spiritual as well as carnal which the Law of Moses did not as the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews Hebr. 9. 9. doth witness where he tells us how those Legal Rites could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience And again It is not possible that the blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sins Hebr. 10. 4. But the Soul and Conscience are both purged by the Sacrifice of the New Testament once offered for all which was the Body of Christ Thirdly v. 10. It extends to a greater degree of Liberty from the outward servile part of Gods worship and either directs us only to the more inward and spiritual service or gives Liberty greater to the Church than anciently was allowed to accommodate it self to times and place and persons in the worship of God which Liberty was not so far granted under the Old Testament Sixthly The Law and Covenant made by Moses were according to the Letter but Christs according to the Spirit That was exacted upon outward terrours propounded or Mercies This was transacted by an inward principle of Ingenuity and Grace given of God as St. Paul is to be Rom. 6. 14. understood where he saith For sin shall not have dominion over you For ye are not under the Law but under Grace meaning That now least of all we should let sin rule over us being not under the Law that is exempted from the penalties and terrours outward which seemed to constrain obedience or whose disobedience was remitted upon certain outward Rites which have no effect upon them who are under the Law of Grace But the Grace of God so revealed outwardly and so assisting and inclining inwardly doth require more ingenuous obedience than formerly as in the next Chapter it is said But now we are delivered from the Law that being Rom. 7. 6. dead wherein we were held that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter Now from this adjustment of the Law of Moses and of Christ it is evident in what sense St. Paul so oft calls one the Law of Works and the other the Law of Grace For he there takes not Law so generally as some would understand him for all Rule and Doctrine of Holy Life whereby they comprehend as well Evangelical as Natural and Mosaical but in contradistinction to the Law of the Gospel published by Christ viz. the Law as it was Mosaical according to which it could justifie no man it being it self to be done away in Christ For as the Scripture hath it if perfection were by the Levitical Priesthood for under it the People received Hebr. 7. 11. the Law what farther need that another Priest should arise after the order of Melchisedec and not be called after the order of Aaron Secondly Answer from hence may be made to the difficulty How far the Law of Moses or the Old Law binds under the Gospel For having shewed that the Gospel in substance being ancienter than the Law of Moses as well because of the moral duties common to all mankind as the Promises of the Messias contained in it whatever we sind in Moses or the Prophets or the Sacred Historians against any injustice vice or irreligion is not to be imputed so much to the Law as Mosaical but as Evangelical And therefore whatever was Levitical or Mosaical in that Law given to the Seed of Abraham as such ceased and had its full completion in Christ And though many things there found were alwayes and still are of excellent use to all men both morally and judicially taken so that they cannot be said to have no force upon us Yet their obliging power as delivered by Moses and not partaking of the nature of the Gospel ceases and is extinct but lives and is hinding as the same belonged anciently to Christs Law and by it is renewed and confirmed Thirdly The obscurity at least if not errour of those Notes of distinction found in many learned mens writings from hence is discerned such as are these First That the Law propoundeth wrath without Mercy but the Gospel Mercy and Justice For that the Law thus properly and precisely taken as distinct in matter as well as form from the Gospel propounded Mercies as well as Judgments is most apparent from the eighteenth Chapter of Deuteronomy though as we have shewed neither the Mercy not the Judgments were of the same nature as they propounded by the Gospel but chiefly temporal For whether the breach of any of Moses his Laws as such made men obnoxious to Hell and not only to bodily and temporal punishments I much question unless we consider the disobedience formal and doing presumptuously which may attend that evil act Secondly They say the Law Perkins required internal and perfect Righteousness the Gospel imputed But this is very dangerous Doctrine For first it doth not appear that the Law as such and not partaking of the nature of the Gospel doth require such internal and perfect Righteousness it being satisfied with the outwardness and formality of the Letter Secondly It must not be granted that Christs Law doth not much more require internal and perfect Righteousness than the Law and that to our Justification For it is one thing to require a thing absolutely and another necessarily and indispensibly to such an end The Gospel doth
given of Christ by the Apostles and so St. Peter speaks 1 Pet. 3. 1. Likewise ye wives be in subjection unto your own Husbands that if any obey not the word i. e. believe and receive it not but continue in infidelity they also may be wun by c. So that it is one part of Obedience to believe the truth revealed by receiving it with an humble and ready mind But this is no more than the root to the Tree or the Tree to the Fruit which is the end and perfection of all Therefore our Saviour Christ Parabolically John 15. 1 2. or Metaphorically saith in St. John I am the true Vine and my Father is the Husbandman Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit By Faith every true believer is inserted into Christ and abides in his mystical body as the branches do in the stock of the Tree and this is the Act and Effect of Faith but every branch that thus abides in Christ is to proceed to Facts or Fruits of that Faith and this is meant by bearing more fruit the first no wayes John 6. 28 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrys Ser. 56. Tom. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. p. 380. Mar. 22. 36 37 38 39. sufficing And Christs disciples asked him What shall we do that we may work the work of God he answered This is the work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent That is The proper and effectual means to work the work of God is to believe in him whom he hath sent And infinite other places in holy writ are there which describe and require this obedience at our hands as believers For as Chrysostom well hath noted It is no benefit at all to us to be Orthodox so long as our lives are corrupt as there is no profit of an exact Conversation our Faith not being sound And Clemens Alexandrinus defines Piety to be a Practise following and waiting on God Now there are two Principal Branches or Parts of a Religious and Holy life according to our Church Catechism and consent of all good Christians Our Duty towards God and our Duty towards our Neighbour or as our Saviour in the Gospel expresseth it in reducing all the Commandments to two Our Love of God and Our Love of our Neighbour upon which hang all the Law and the Prophets Love being here put for such Acts of Love as justice service honor charity and obedience according to the place and capacity we are in as the Scripture requires at our hands And to attain to this we are to have before our Eyes the things wherein both do principally and more specially consist And secondly the means leading and moving us hereunto which because they are such copious subjects that they require a proper treatise to enlarge upon I shall not handle here any further than offering these few heads and grounds of our holy and obedient walking with God first and that as I find them without any great Art set down by Suidas who I suppose Suidas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 collected them as his manner was in other things from the Holy Servants of God before him Apostolical Conversation saith he consisteth in these Acts and hath these signs 1 Strictness over the Eyes 2 Government of the tongue 3 Subduing the body 4 An humble opinion 5 Purity of Mat. 5. 41. Mind 6 Exclusion of anger 7 Being compelled yield 8 Being smitten offer thy self farther 9 Being wronged avenge not thy self 10 Being hated love 11 Being persecuted endure it 12 Being reproached pray for him 13 Be dead unto Sin 14 Be crucified to Christ 15 Place all thy love on the Lord. Now the means to exercise these divine and Christian vertues and to practise them may be these amongst many other 1. To have a constant and clear eye of Faith in the presence of God believing and being throughly assured that he beholds and observes and notes and weighs our thoughts words and actions as surely had Enoch who walked with God 5. 24. And Abraham Gen. 17. 1. And more especially holy David Psal 139. v. 1 2 3 4 5 c. 2. A Recognition and owning of the Power Majesty Justice and Mercy of God 3. A free and total Resignation and submission of our selves to the will of God 4. Patience and silence under the Providence of God 5. Constant and servent Invocation of God as well for his helping as healing and pardoning Grace 6. A constant exerting and exercising of Gods Grace given unto us by the proper action of Faith Hope and Charity And these seven by having a constant regard to the commands and precepts of God To the Promises of God To the Threatnings of God to all To the Judgments of God executed upon others for their wickedness and disobedience To the Mercies of God singularly and plentifully conferred upon our selves and lastly to the Torments of Hell and Joyes of Heaven These are principally the things every good Christian is to attend that would add to his Faith vertue as St. Peter advises and devout walking with God to his sound knowledg of him 2 Pet. 1. 5. And as Christ hath taught us The second Part of our Obedience to him is like unto it consisting in Love of our Neighbour Which divideth it self into two Parts Doing him justice in all things for as St. Paul saith to the Romans Love worketh no ill to its Neighbour therefore Love is the Rom. 13. 10. fulfilling of the Law Secondly doing him all brotherly and truly Christian Offices either in respect of body soul or estate which Christian Faith obliges us unto But of all Justice that is principally to be attended to which ungodly hypocrites most contemn and violate and that is of Obedience to our Superiours For whereas Christian Religion obliges us to mutual offices Eph. 4 2. Eph. 4. 21. Rom. 15. 1. of Love and Charity one towards another to forbear one another in love with all lowliness and meekness and long suffering And again to submit our selves one to another in the fear of God And that the strong should bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please themselves certain Sectaries not having the Knowledg of God aright or understanding in the Scriptures in which they flatter themselves they know more than any other or the true fear of God before their eyes do so corrupt and pervert the sense of the Holy Ghost as indeed to destroy all that order of Government Christ hath established in his Church as necessary to the being of the true Faith it self though in some Formal language they would seem to allow of it But this is only kept by them as a reserve to relieve and fortifie themselves when the time shall happen that they shall get the Sceptre of power into their hands and the Face of Autority to shew to others For then all their petty