you have a greater evidence of the graciousness of his nature than that very mercy which you are going to remember even his giving his only Son to die for us whilst we were yet ungodly and enemies And did he of his own free grace without our asking and against our deserving provide a Saviour for us and is he yet unwilling to save us did he find out a means for our reconciliation to himself and is he now backward to be reconciled Does he importune us to take that which he is unwilling to give us Be not I beseech you of such an easie belief of the Devil 's grosse fallacies and so hardly drawn to believe what God hath not onely said but done so much to make it past all doubting See the Apostle arguing much after the same manner Rom. 5.6 7 8 9 10. Oh let your hearts then be fill'd with admiration of that love which God hath herein exprest to men the wondrous greatnesse whereof is such that it almost surpasseth our Faith and doth farre surpasse our full comprehension That there should be a way for the recovery of self-destroying sinners contrived by him whom they had offended and brought about by the death of his own Son that they might be raised to the highest happinesse even an eternity of the most ravishing joys in nearest communion with the Divine Majesty and all this to be had for a cordiall thankfull acceptance This is the Lords doing and well may it be marvellous in our eyes Great things hath the Lord done for us whereof let our souls be glad If an host of Angels came from heaven to proclaim these good tidings of great joy to all people shall not the Congregations of Christians eccho back their Glory be to God in the highest who hath sent on earth peace and shewn such good will to men Oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is good and his mercy endureth for ever Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy Oh do you praise the Lord for his goodnesse and for his wonderfull works to the children of men who hath shewn mercy to such as sate in darknesse and in the shadow of death and hath broken the gates of brasse and cut the barres of iron in sunder and hath sent his word and healed you and delivered you from destruction Oh do you sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoycing Psal. 107. Call upon your souls with the Psalmist in another place Blesse the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me blesse his holy name Blesse the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits who fogiveth thine iniquities and healeth all thy diseases who redeems thy life from destruction and who crowns thee with loving kindnesse and tender mercies Psal. 103. at the beginning Oh think what a deplorable condition we had been in if God had left us in the hands of Satan to whom we had enslaved our selves and had never lookt after us more Oh what a dungeon had this world then been where we should have lived in darknesse and fetters in horrours and torments and all as but an inlet and passage to miseries infinitely worse and altogether unavoidable But oh blessed and for ever praised be his Name who hath visited the earth with his goodnesse and caused the rejoycing light to shine in dark and disconsolate places and hath proclaimed liberty to the captive and shewn a strong hold to which he hath called the Prisoners â—f hope to turn themselves having laid help on one that is mighty sending forth the prisoners out of the pit by the blood of the Covenant Zach. 9.11 This is that blood which by the Wine in the Sacrament is represented to you yea which is thereby put into your hands and given you to drink in remembrance of that which was once shed for you And shall not the hearts-blood of your dearest Lord warm and revive your souls enflame and advance your love Will you not now begin that new song of the heavenly Chore ascribing blessing honour glory and power to him that sits upon the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever who by his blood redeemed us and makes us kings and priests unto God Rev. 5. This is that blood to which you owe all that you have or hope for This quencht those flames which else had fed upon you for ever This satisfied that justice which else had laid hold on you for your disobedience This purchast an inheritance which silver and gold could not buy This purgeth the conscience from dead works and makes the soul fruitfull unto God This pacifies the Conscience and appeaseth the disturbances that sense of guilt is apt to raise By this blood of the Lamb it is that the Saints in all their conflicts do overcome And can you withhold the most affectionate hearty thankfulnesse for this precious all-healing blood Methinks we should even be pained in our selves as not knowing how to give vent enough to our affections especially when our bleeding Lord is set before us Oh let him wholly possesse your thoughts and do you view that transcendent love which he manifested in his whole course but chiefly in the close of it that all may beget in you some answerable returns of love Read as you have leisure those heavenly discourses which were his Farewell Sermons to his Disciples and his last prayer for them which you may find in the 14 15 16 17. Chapters of John and see there how love breathes in every line Follow him to the Garden and there hearken to his groans and behold his bloody sweat which proclaims him to be sick of love of a love that would not be quencht by those crimson streams No still he goes on and go thou after him with the Women that followed him to his Crosse and weep not if thou canst forbear whilst there thou seest him die for love even for love of thee poor soul who do'st sincerely love him Art thou not astonisht at the thoughts of it What could the Lord Jesus see in such miserable worms as we that should incline him to undergo all this on our behalf Nay there 's the wonder he saw nothing and therefore he underwent it Nothing did I say yes he saw our guilt and defilement for which he might have justly loathed us But he seeing all this our misery was rather moved to a compassion for us Such a compassion as never dwelt in a mortall 's breast that he should pity those who pittied not themselves and die to recover those who had even murdred themselves yea that he should die to make them happy whose sins were the cause of his Death and even merit mercy for such as had no mercy on him and give life to them who took his away All this was voluntarily done by the Son of God who became Man on purpose that he might die and do all this for the
us all and with him freely gives all good things to his people Canst thou then find in thy heart to go on in provoking so good a God and in sleighting such matchlesse love If thou canst certainly thou hast banisht all gratitude and hast scarce one spark of common ingenuity left in thee yea thou hast put off thy manhood and art become little better than a senslesse bruit for what should sooner work upon a reasonable creature to love another than extraordinary and undeserved-kindnesse which he hath received from him Nay I might go farther and tell thee and that justly too the very beasts themselves have more good nature than such a stupid unthankfull sinner as thou For they have some sense of a good turn and some love to those that doe it they know those that feed them and keep them and use not to doe them any mischief The Dog does not use to bite his Master nor the Horse to kick at him that looks to him And so indeed God himself complains of ungratefull men that when the Ox knows his owner and the Asse his masters crib yet they did not know their Maker and Preserver But to be short let me tell the plainly if thou find'st thy heart nothing mov'd with all this love that God hath revealed in sending Christ to save us from wrath to come by his own sharp sufferings I can no way see but that thy case is full as bad yea rather worse than his who believes not a word of all I have said Nay how indeed can it be imagined that thou believest these things if they make no impression upon thee except thou never use to think of them after thou hast read or heard them but there 's the wonder if thou dost believe them how thou canst chuse but think on them and think again till at length they work some good effect upon thee But if thou hast hitherto been so strangely carelesse let me once again desire thee now at length to set upon the sober thoughts of this unconceivable mercy manifested in the Gospel that when thou hadst even destroy'd thy self God should make haste to thy help that he should send his own Son to undertake for thee who was also willing to this work and should upon him punish thy sins and now after all onely calls thee to cast away thy sin and to return to his love which if thou wilt doe he is willing to be reconcil'd to thee And see if there be not good cause that thou should'st hearken to these invitations and whether there can be given any just or tolerable excuse for thy disobedience If the bitterest enemy thou hadst in the world should but save thy life when it was in his hands much more if he should endanger himself or undergo any losse for thy safety I am confident this would soon take off thy spleen against him and make thee very ready to be restored to his friendship And why the goodnesse of God should not be as prevalent with thee I cannot imagine if it be but soundly believed and well thought on 3. I may farther adde to engage thee to return to the Lord from whom thou aâ—t faln another argument drawn also from the goodnesse of God shewn in the death of Christ as hereby it is most clearly discoverd That there is some unspeakable happinesse which was purchast by the Lord Jesus for those that come to God by him and to which he invites empty miserable creatures Thou canst not imagine that God makes all this adoe with men for nothing It was not upon any triviall errand that he sent his Son into the world nor are they any sleight inconsiderable things which he offers to as many as will receive him It s true the mercy had been rich and glorious if Christ had onely died to save us from misery and to have procured of God that we might have been reduced to nothing rather than to frie in everlasting burnings and no tongue can tell what a priviledge the damned in hell would account this But over and above we read of a Kingdome of glory which Christ will give to his followers And how great this is judge by the price that was paid for it not silver or gold or any such corruptible trifles but the precious Blood of the Son of God without price whose utmost value cannot be exprest by Men or Angels and no more can the glory hereby obtained For if the Merchant be wise the worth of his Jewel may be guest at by the price that he paid for it Precious is the Soul of Man and full dear did the redemption thereof cost more than the the whole world or ten thousand such worlds as this And is not think you the souls portion answerable to its own excellency And the purchased Possession answerable to the greatnesse of that cost that was laid out for it When a common Slave may be freed for a few shillings half a Kingdome will be thought little enough to redeem a captive Prince and we afterward see there is as much difference betwixt them when they have got their liberty the one sits on a dunghill the other on a throne For certain then Christ Jesus came into the world and laid down his life to exalt those that hearken to him to the highest joy and blisse of which the nature of man is capable in delivering them from all sin rendring them exactly conformable to God and placing them in constant full communion with him He that so loved his Church that he gave himself for it to sanctifie and cleanse it by all this design'd to present it â—o himself a glorious Church Upon this account therefore methinks thou should'st easily be perswaded to cast away sin which is thy misery and return to God who is thy onely life and happinesse and that no mean happinesse as I have told thee is evident amongst many other reasons by the infinite value of the price that was given for it Oh little doe any even the best and wisest on earth conceive what are the full fruits of Christs blood what miracles of divine love those are which through endlesse millions of ages will keep alive the admiration joy and praise of Angels and Saints and fill the mouths of Christs Redeemed ones with continuall thankfulnesse for that wisdome and mercy which contriv'd and wrought their delivery and exaltation So that you see laying these things together the death of Christ as discovering the mercy of God lays the greatest engagement that can be upon the sons of men to break off their sins and return to the obedience and love of God in that there is so much mercy procured and tendred as may beget hope and encourage to repentance which is not like to be rejected and as there is so great love exprest as may well call for the return of love and even soften the most stony heart and as it discovers so great a blessednesse to be had in God through
it as a farther assurance from God that his promises of mercy shall be made good to thee CHAP. VII The second benefit is Sanctification 2. THe second great benefit purchast by the Death of Christ and held forth in the Sacrament is Sanctifying Saving Grace for the enlivening and strengthning the souls of Believers There is no truth more plain in the whole Gospel than that one great end of Christ's Death was to obtain from the Father that the holy Spirit should accompany the proclaiming of the Gospel to enlighten the minds and soften the hearts of those who should not wilfully resist his workings that they might entertain the truth in the love thereof and that on these greater measures of grace should be poured forth to make them in all things conformable to their Maker according to the capacity of their natures which was the great design of the Redeemer even to restore apostate creatures to the image of God wherein they were created that so they might be made meet for his service here and the fruition of him hereafter A most lamentable mistake it is to confine Christs death onely to the procuring of a pardon and keeping sinners out of Hell since this was but in order to a work of grace on their hearts and onely such who submit to this work shall at last have a share in the absolute pardon For suppose a company of prisoners were taken in Warre who being weak and wounded cannot return into their own Countrey but must presently be put to death by the King that took them and in the mean time comes their own Prince and pays a great sum to obtain that the execution of them may be put off for some time and that his Physician may use medicines and apply plaisters to as many as are willing and that all such when they are made whole shall be sent to their own homes and the rest who will not be ruled by the Physician but spit out his potions because they are bitter and throw away his plaisters because they make them smart they are to remain in their prison and be put to death as they were sentenced Here we see the ransome that was paid was first to stop the slaughter of the prisoners and to get liberty to use means for their recovery to health and soundnesse and secondly to obtain that the recovered should be set free to return to their own Countrey and not onely the contempt of the ransome but of the Physician would bring death Thus had we by the Fall both brought our selves into danger of present destruction and disabled our souls that we could not return to that state whence we fell but the Son of God undertaking our Redemption obtained for us that the sentence of condemnation should not speedily be executed and that there should be assured hopes of escaping destruction and returning to happinesse for all those who make not their condition desperate by continuance in sin and rejecting of the cure which his Spirit would work upon them now the work of his Spirit is to plant and encrease grace in their hearts to heal the diseases and remove the weaknesse which sin hath caused that they may be enabled to walk in the ways of holinesse to their everlasting rest and the sending forth of his healing Spirit was the fruit of his blood Now as it will assuredly damn men to despise the blood of Christ as if it was of no force to be a ransome nor to attain those ends for which the Gospel saith it was shed so is it as dangerous and damnable to resist and sleight the Spirit of Christ let them pretend what esteem they will for his blood A like mistake also it is flowing from the former to limit the notion of free grace to meer pardoning mercy whenas it includes sanctifying 〈◊〉 so for in the instance now given the Physick I hope was as free a gift to the prisoners as the ransome that was paid for them notwithstanding this was without them and the other to be taken into them And in like manner is the giving of the Spirit into us as purely from the grace and mercy of God though merited by Christ as the giving of his Son for us accepting of us for his sake This I was willing to hint least any when they hear or read of being saved by Free grace should dream of a salvation to be had by a meer pardon without being sanctified by the Spirit That the making men holy in their hearts and lives was a principall end of Christs Death without which no happinesse is to be attained is I say a truth so evident in the very tenour of the Gospel that it may seem needlesse to produce particular proofs yet amongst the rest read these few Eph. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works c. Eph. 5.25 26 27. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it c. and that it might be holy and without blemish 1 Joh. 3.8 The Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 Pet. 3.24 Who bare our sins that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousnesse Tit. 3.4 5 6. According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Read also Mat. 1.22 Luk. 1.75 Rom. 6.11 Galat. 1.4 Tit. 2.12 13 14. Heb. 9.14 Now though I acknowledge it is by the help of the Spirit that we are brought to believe for faith it self is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 yet I think we shall ordinarily find the promises of the Spirit to be made to those who are already Believers to advance and carry on the work of God upon their souls And to this end and of this nature is that Grace which is 〈◊〉 and given forth by the Sacrament even to refresh and nourish the souls of Believers to confirm and encrease those graces that are wrought in them and to bring them forward to farther degrees of perfection And this much the very elements themselves do teach us for as Bread is the support and stay of life and Wine that which makes glad the heart of man and both are needfull for the maintaining of life and encreasing our strength so are the Body and Blood of Christ alike necessary and usefull to our souls for he himself hath told us that his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed and that he who eats his flesh and drinks his blood dwelleth in him and hath eternall life with much more to the same purpose Joh. 6. The proper meaning whereof as will appear by the Context and the occasion of that Discourse I suppose is That they who believe in him having the same expectations of spirituall life from him that they have of temporall life from their food and accordingly receive digest and improve
and steadily bent to chuse him as your onely portion if it be so you may be sure you grow in grace and are bettered by the means you enjoy and may be therefore encouraged to continue in the use of them 4. But lastly however it be with you yet be you patient and constant in doing your work and then leave the event to God Wherein upon examination you find you have been wanting to your selves be more carefull for the future in the due preparing and managing of your own hearts and so wait upon God in his appointed way Let your desires be carried out after that which is most needfull for you and which God hath promised to give chiefly after grace and secondarily after comfort remembring all you have is to come from the free mercy of a wise God to whom you must referre it what measures of these you shall receive and how soon it shall be Onely I say let it be your businesse quietly to wait his leisure in the use of those means he hath prescribed you for which I might give many reasons but I shall wave all onely demanding of you whether those spirituall blessings you so earnestly long after are worth the waiting for If you say no you deserve to go for ever without them but if you grant they are then pray tell me whether is it more likely to attain them by waiting in that way wherein they are to be found or by turning out of it This I hope is no difficult case to resolve If your friend be gone a journey and you have a mind to meet him upon his return are you not more likely to meet with him by holding on still in that road which he 'll be sure to come than by going back again or turning to some by path meerly to gratifie your lazinesse or impatience Wherefore when your hopes are at the lowest ebbe it is most unreasonable and foolish to cry with that wicked King Why should we wait on the Lord any longer there is no hope wherefore let us leave our duties and cast aside all Be sure there is no hope in such a course as this but rather a certainty of perishing whereas if there be safety in any way it is in an obedient patient dependance upon God yea in this way there is certain safety embrace it therefore as your wisest your onely course Do but see that you wait for the Lord and assure your selves you shall not be ashamed your eyes shall not always fail Get into the Psalmists frame Psal. 130.5 6. To wait for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning and at length shall the Lord manifest himself to the joy of your souls as sure as the morning light will appear to those who watch for it CHAP. XIV The Objection of unfitnesse answered As proposed by the doubting and the carelesse 3 Obj. SOme again there are and those not a few that will be ready to say They find themselves unfit for the Sacrament and therefore dare not come least it prove to their hurt rather than to their advantage Severall sorts of persons may upon different grounds raise this objection First the sincere and humble Christian whose soul is in the dark and through ignorance of himself or not considering the tenour of the Covenant and through the prevalency of temptation or melancholy he may without reason condemn himself as if his estate was worse than it is To these I have something to say 1. Why is it you judge your selves unfit for this Ordinance Is it because you are not so qualified as I have before shewn all Communicants ought to be I am confident upon a true enquiry you will find the contrary Wherefore be not hasty and rash in passing a censure upon your selves as if you were resolved to comply with the design of Satan to keep you in sorrow but examine things soberly and without passion and then give judgement upon your state according to true evidence If you be found faithfull Disciples and unfeigned lovers of Christ you will grant your selves meet to come to that Feast which is made for such Tell me then in one word Are you not from your very souls willing that Christ should be your Saviour and take his own course with you to bring you to God in glory Is there any thing in all the world that your heart is seâ— more upon than this even that you may be saved by Jesus Christ would you not account the assurance of this a richer mercy than to be made owners of the whole world Yea would you not give a thousand such worlds as this if you had them for the love of God in Christ Is not this it which lies heaviest upon your spirits and makes you walk so sadly even the fears least you are without true grace and should go without God and Christ for ever And yet can the Devil so befool you as to perswade you all this while that you love not God Have you got any thing here below more dear to you than his favour Do you take delight in any course that you know is displeasing to him Do you not long to be made more conformable to him To know and love and enjoy him more and do him better service in the world Would it not be the great joy of your souls always to walk closely with him and retain a strong sense of his presence and all his excellencies upon your minds To converse with him more feelingly and powerfully and in all your approaches to him to be filled with a suitable reverence humility seriousnesse and all holy affections Would any thing please you more than to please your God Are you not then best at ease when you find your hearts most enlarged and carried out after him Had you not rather be following after God in the ways of holinesse and the duties of Religion than to enjoy all the pleasures and merriments of sensuall ones Is there any duty from which you would be dispensed with Any command that you would have abolisht Had not you infinitely rather your heart was brought up to the fullest compliance with it Have you any lust which you would fain be allowed to keep Is it a trouble to you that you must part with your sins or else be damned for them Or rather is it not your greatest trouble that you lived so long without God and did so much against him in the daies of your unregeneracie And if you had that time to passe over again would you not prefer a life of the greatest suffering before such a life of sinning And is not your soul really burdened with those remnants of corruption which you yet feel in your selves Do you not strive against them and earnestlie desire to be rid of them Would you not account it a blessed priviledge to be more free from ignorance pride earthlinesse distrust self-will dullnesse and distractions in holy duties Would not a deliverance from these be
courses whatever shall be told you to the contrary is little lesse dangerous and damnable than to come to the Sacramnent with such wicked purposes Let this then suffice to remove your first mistake that you may take liberty in some sinful waies you have a minde to before you have taken the Sacrament The second gross mistake which I finde in your objection is that you think though at present you have no great minde to be so serious as to set upon preparation for the Sacrament yet that hereafter you shall when you have had your swinge a while longer and have taken a little more pleasure being as yet perhaps but in the prime of your youth and thereupon you hope that God will bear with you yet a while since you have such good purposes to become his servants for the time to come Should I go about fully to shew you the vanity of this conceit and your folly in delaying to return to God I might fill many sheets wherefore that I may not be tedious I shall do little more than represent to you the very true language and import of this pretence of yours that so you may be ashamed of ever using it more or harbouring it any longer When you talk of staying yet a while before you cast off your old companions and courses and bind your selves to a godly life at the Sacrament what do you in effect but say That when you have contemn'd Gods mercy and griev'd his spirit a little longer and done somewhat more to dishonour his name then you will betake your selves to him and become his people when you have done Satan yet a little more service then you 'l shake him off and take Christ for your Master when you have a while longer trod under foot his precious blood then it shall wash you from all your sins when you have run deeper on the score and added something more both to the number and hainousness of your transgressions then you 'l come for a pardon when you have done somewhat more to make God your enemie then you 'l seek reconciliation when you have let your lusts take deeper rooting then you 'l pluck them up when you have made them a little stronger then you 'l subdue them when the sore is festered then you 'l apply the Plaister when the gangrene is almost got to your vitals then you 'l seek a remedy thus foolishly thus presumptuouslie and baselie do they argue who think it is too soon yet to come home to God and be religious in good earnest I know you would be asham'd to speak thus and will scarce be perswaded there lodges so much wickednesse in your hearts but for certain there does whil'st you retain secret purposes to go on in any way of known sin Ah poor sinner that thou didst but a little know what thou doest whilst thou standst thus unresolv'd whither thou shouldest yet bid farewell to thy lusts and come over heartilie to God by Jesus Christ. Oh disingenuous creature dost thou think thou hast not provokt and dishonour'd thy Maker enough yet Hast thou not yet sufficientlie abused thy Redeemers grace and patience Hast thou not yet thrown away time enough and sinn'd away mercies and offers enough Is sin so sweet and profitable a thing that it should be so hard to determine whether it was best be forsaken or not Is God so hard a Master and his service such a burdensome thing that sinners must be wooed to him with so much earnestness and all prove too little with the most Is it so safe and desirable a state to remain still in the gall of bitterness and under the wrath of God Can you keep off this wrath which you are plucking upon you Have you both repentance and time at your own beck And are you sure of acceptance how long so ever you stay before you seek it will holinesse be good for you hereafter and is it not now Or are you afraid of being happie too soon wherefore weigh things well Sirs and then resolve whether there be any wisdome in delaying that work which may be put off too long but cannot be too quickly done that work to which in all reason and conscience you stand engag'd every hour even to be divorc't from sin and Satan and firmly betrothed to the Lord Jesus How long must he seek and sue for thy consent Why should not he have thy youth as well as any other Doth Satan deserve it better than he Did not he die for thee in the prime of his years and why should'st not thou live to him whilst thou art young When wilt thou have put away that wretched disobedient answer that it 's yet too soon to entertain him Hath he stood knocking for entrance till his locks are wet with the dew of the night and is it still too soon to open to him and let him in Oh beware least thy continued stubbornnesse should even wear out his patience least thy perverse carriage should provoke him for ever to leave thee and least if still thou think'st it not time yet to break off thy sins and set upon a godly life he should think it time to cut thee off and sentence thee to everlasting death In the mean time know that all thy good designs what thou wilt do and be hereafter will not be the least excuse of thy present wickednesse nor make thy case any better with God nay rather they make it worse since it appears thou art convinced in thy Conscience that thou oughtest to live after another fashion than thou do'st and yet wilfully neglectest thy acknowledged duty I hope then I have said enough to shew that thou hast no refuge no excuse that will hold whilst thou absentest thy self from the Sacrament out of a lothnesse as yet to reform thy life and do the duties to which this would bind thee Wherefore to conclude If it be thy purpose to continue in any sinfull course come to the Lords Table if thou darest for farre be it from me to speak one word to encourage thee to forswear thy self But yet on the other hand Go on in thy sins and stay away if thou darest for thou art in danger every moment of dropping into Hell whilst thou remainest in such a state Thou seest then to what a strait sin brings thee so that turn thee which way thou wilt whilst thou willingly carriest it about thee an Angel with a flaming sword stands full in thy way threatning destruction whether thou comest or comest not whilst thou continuest a resolved sinner thy case is sad and deplorable But yet one way remains and but one that I know for thy safety even with all speed to cast away thy sins and change thy heart and life and then come as soon as thou wilt to the Lords Table there to professe this blessed change and to confirm thy self therein And for thy encouragement take notice of two things 1. It is not an absolute sinlesse perfection
as these affected your hearts with a sense of your iniquities humbly betake your selves to God and lay open all before him by a free and full confession acknowledge what wretched hainouâ— sinners you are and how unworthy of the least favour and beg of him to work and increase in you that true and kindly sorrow for sin which may fit you for mercy And cease not by your good will from this confession till you finde your souls even melted within you in the apprehension of your own vilenesse but however cease not till you finde in your hearts a loathing of every sin and of your selves by reason of it And if you have but an inward sense of your sores and pollutions you will not want such words to expresse it as will be acceptable to God only see that you be sincere and let your heart make your confessions rather than your tongue Labour to be as sensible of your case as you would be if now you stood before a King whom you had offended from whom except you could beg a pardon you must presently be put to death of which pardon there was good hope if he did but perceive you to be really sorry for your fault Oh how affectionate and earnest would you be in this case and would have words at will to expresse your self How passionately would you acknowledge and bewail the offence you had committed and with what vehemence professe against ever being guilty of the like And how importunately would you beg for mercie when you saw no other way but present death if your importunitie did not prevaile Thus behave your selves towards God and believe that he stands over you now in your Closet and hearkens to your Prayers and observes whether you be heartie in them or not But remember all this while it is an inward-dislike and abhorrence of sin wherein the truth of your Repentance consists more than in bare confessing it and speaking against it with the greatest fervour these are required too but beware of taking up with these Beware I say as ever you hope for mercie of retaining any secret liking to sin or the least thoughts of continuing in it still whilst with a great deal of stir you revile it as such an abominable thing But rather if you finde in your souls a kinde of hankering after some old lust not yet thorowlie mortified betake your selves to those considerations which may bring you out of love with it as how little its like to do for you what an happinesse it doth now and will hereafter deprive you of what a miserie it leads to with other the like formerlie laid down and quit not these thoughts till you finde your selves turned against it For once again let me assure you then and never till then is your Repentance right when you are not only brought to grieve for sin but to hate it when your hearts are not only broken in the remembrance of it but are broken off from and thorowlie bent against it Though this exercise of Repentance seems most properly preparative to the work you are going about yet in such a penitent humble frame would I have you be even when you are at the Lords Table If you eat this bread and mingle the Wine with tears it will be never the worse for your souls And must it not needs affect thee to behold Christs body broken and his blood poured out here in a figure and then to think with thy self This was sin my sin even my pride and earthlinesse and all the wickednesse of my heart and life was part of that load which he bare on his own bodie on the Cross when he cried out my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Might not the Lord call to me and even shew me the Print of my many grievous sins in his hands and feet and the deep stabs they gave him and yet ungratefull wretch that I am how little have I valued this his love how little hath my heart been affected herewith where had I been and what had become of me if he had not thus undertaken for me Oh what had my sins brought upon me if he had not interpos'd and kept it off how mad and senslesse have I been in venturing upon sin harbouring and delighting in sin Sin which is so hainous a thing that without shedding of blood it will never be remitted and for which no blood but that of Christs could obtain a remission How more especially hainous then is my guilt in undervaluing this blood so much and so long as I have done How base was my heart to give entertainment to sin after I had heard what it had done against Christ and to deny entertainment to him after I had heard how much he had done for me Was his kindnesse such as to bleed for my sins and shall not I weep for them especially for the unkindnesse I have shewn to him As God never shew'd greater love to Man than in delivering up his Son for our offences so he never shew'd greater hatred of sin than by this action and therefore conformably as we ought hereby to be brought to the greatest love of God so to the deepest hatred of sin and humiliation for it But I have formerly more fully shewn how the consideration of Christs death may bring us to true Repentance and what I there spoke chiefly of a change of state may be applied to the particular exercise of Repentance wherefore I shall insist no more on this Onely let me meet with an Objection that may perhaps be in the minds of some namely That sorrow for sin at this time scarce seems consistent with that hope of mercy that joy and thankfulnesse which are chiefly required in the Communicant Know therefore that I presse no sorrow but what is a preparation to joy and doth even animate and exalt it whilst the humble Christian reflects upon his own nothingnesse and unworthinesse and thence is carried forth to the greater admiration of that mercy that hath so favourably regarded him And take notice farther that I would have the sense of Divine bounty chiefly to raise and keep up this humiliation whilst we think with our selves Oh what wretched creatures are we thus to offend so loving a Father who notwithstanding all our provocations is yet compassionate towards us and upon our return to him is so readily reconciled To retain this apprehension of love in the midst of our mournings will make them most ingenuous and even pleasant to our souls and though it will make us sincere and deep in our repentance yet it will so moderate our spirits that we shall not sorrow as those without hope and I could wish that Christians in all their sorrowings would observe this rule But then that such an ingenuous shame and sorrow as this is consistent with the greatest confidence of mercy there is not the least doubt for which to omit all further proof of a matter so plain see that very