Consciences of Men yet 't is an Inference like the rest of our Authors from thence to conclude that they therefore affect them by their own direct and immediate Sanction But this is not all 't is as false as foolish I have indeed asserted the absolute Power of the Civil Magistrate over Affairs of Religion in Opposition to the Pretences of a distinct Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction For having first asserted the necessity of a Soveraign Power over these matters from their Concernment in the Peace and Government of the World I thence proceeded to enquire where and in whom it ought to reside and having shewn the Inconsistency of erecting two Supreme Powers one over Civil the other over Ecclesiastical Affairs I concluded that the Supreme Government of every Commonwealth must of necessity be universal absolute and uncontroulable in that it extends its Jurisdiction as well to Affairs of Religion as to Affairs of State because they are so strongly influential upon the Interests of Mankind the Ends of Government And now is this to make the Ecclesiastical Authority of the Civil Magistrate absolutely paramount without regard to any other Jurisdiction of what nature soever when I onely maintain it in defiance to the Claims of any other Humane Power This was the subject of that Enquiry And when I asserted the Soveraign Power to be absolute and uncontroulable 't is apparent nothing else could be intended than that it ought not to be controul'd by any distinct Power whether of the Pope or the Presbytery and when I asserted it to be universal and unlimited it could be understood in no other sense than that it was not confined to matters purely Civil but extended its Jurisdiction to matters of an Ecclesiastical importance upon which account alone I determined it to be absolute universal and uncontroulable This is the main and the Fundamental Article of the Reformation and that which distinguishes the truly Orthodox and Catholick Protestant both from Popish and Presbyterian Recusants and is the onely fence to secure the Thrones of Princes against the dangerous Encroachments of those bold and daring Sects and therefore from so avowed a truth to charge me for ascribing in general Terms an absolute universal uncontroulable Power to the Civil Magistrate over the Consciences of Men in matters of Religion argues more boldness than wit and discretion and gives us ground to suspect that these Men are not less forsaken of shame and modesty than they are of Providence for it must needs be a very bold Face and a very hard Forehead that could ever venture to obtrude such palpable and disingenuous Abuses upon the World § 11. But our Author proceeds in his Method and his Charge and his Confidence advance together and before you fin◠him at the end of this Paragraph you will find him bravely attempting the highest degree of boldness The next proof he singles out for his purpose is a passage of the twelfth Section of my first Chapter He the Magistrate may if he please reserve the exercise of the Priesthood to himself From whence it clearly follows as he dreams that Queen Elizabeth might if she pleased have exercised the Priestly Function in her own Person And he takes frequent occasion to insult over the weakness of this Assertion and triumph in the wit of this Inference But I shall not insist upon its woful impertinency to the Conclusion wherewith he confidently winds up this heap of Calumnies viz. That from hence it follows that whatever the Magistrate commands in Religion his Authority does so immediately affect the Consciences of Men that they are bound to observe it on the pain of the greatest sin and punishment For how is it possible for any Man to infer from his Right to the Priestly Office an unlimited and immediate Power over Religion unless it could be proved that this absolute Soveraignty is unalienable from the Priesthood and when that is pretended or performed we will farther consider the Validity of this Inference Nor shall I mind him what an ill piece of Policy it is for him to disavow the Authority of the Female Sex in the Conduct of Religion when the chief and most important Affairs of the separate Churches are transacted and govern'd by their Zeal and when the Apron-strings are the strongest Bond of the Congregational Union and when as they manage the business St. Peter's Keys are hang'd at their Girdles and every conceited Sister assumes to her self if not the Infallibility of Pope Ioan yet at least the Power and Authority of Donna Olympia Nor lastly shall I present the Salique Law of the Christian Church that devests that Sex of all right and pretence of Succession to the Priesthood by which they are restrain'd from intermedling with any Offices of the Sacred Function though it should descend by right of Inheritance to the Heirs Male of the Blood Royal. Such a trifling Objection is not worth so much pains 't is sufficient to inform you that in the Paragraph aforesaid I undertook to give an account of the true Original of all Civil and Ecclesiastical Government where I shewed how in the first Ages of the World they were vested in the same Person and founded upon the same Right of Paternal Authority and in this state of things antecedent to all superinduced Restraints and positive Institutions I asserted the Supreme Magistrate might if he pleased reserve the exercise of the Priesthood to himself though afterwards the Priestly Office was in the Jewish Commonwealth expresly derogated from the Kingly Power by being setled upon the Tribe of Levi and the Line of Aaron and so likewise in the Christian Church by being appropriated to the Apostles and their Successours that derive their Ministerial Office for that of Priesthood our Author will not admit of under the Gospel from our blessed Saviours express and immediate Commission Now what I affirm'd of things in the bare state of Nature without the guidance of Revelation for our Author to represent it as if I had applied it indifferently to all Ages and Periods of the Church by whatsoever positive Laws and different Institutions they may be govern'd is wonderfully suitable to the Genius of his own Wit and Ingenuity and sufficiently discovers who he is though we had no other evidence of the Man and his Humour 't is his way and method and betrays him as much as the word Entanglement that is the Shibboleth of all his Writings But I must not think to escape thus he is resolved to bear me down for an illiterate Dunce with Face and downright Confidence and to this purpose he tells the Reader that the Young Man as pert and peremptory as he is seems not much acquainted with the rise of the Office of the Priesthood amongst Men as shall be demonstrated if farther occasion be given thereunto This he affirms boldly and when it is proved it shall be granted but till then let me beg the Reader to suspend his
Objection upon the Truth and Reality of my Perswasion To what purpose does he tell us in the close of this Enquiry that we can give no other imaginable answer to it than that Men who plead for Indulgence and Liberty of Conscience in the Worship of God according to his Word and the Light which he has given them therein have indeed no Conscience at all When this answer is so infinitely silly that we can scarce suppose any Man in his wits so extravagant as to pretend it and when there are other very pertinent Replys so easie and so obvious viz. That they may possibly have no Conscience at all whatever they pretend or at least such an one as is abused with foolish or debauch't with wicked Principles and so may plot or practise Sedition against the State under pretence or mistake of Conscience and for that reason ought not to be allowed to plead its Authority against the Commands of lawful Superiours In fine to what purpose does he so briskly taunt me for thwarting my own Principles because I have censured the impertinency of a needless Provision in an Act of Parliament I may obey the Law though I may be of a different Perswasion from the Lawgivers in an Opinion remote and impertinent to the matter of the Law it self nay I may condemn the wisdom of Enacting it and yet at the same time think my self to lie under an indispensable Obligation to obey it for the formal reason of its Obligatory Power as any Casuist will inform him is not the Judgment and Opinion of the Lawgiver but the Declaration of his Will and Pleasure There is abundance more of this slender stuff wherewith as himself brags he has loaded this Principle though alas were its Foundations never so weak and trembling it might securely enough support so light a Burthen and though it were really bottom'd upon the Sands there is but little danger that such a shallow Stream of Talk should overturn it so that though I stand upon such advantageous ground if I should descend to a strict and particular examination of all the Flaws and Follies of his Tattle yet they are so apparently false or impertinent or both and afford so little occasion for useful and material Discourse that I had rather chuse to forego my own advantage than spoil my Book and tire my Reader by insisting too tediously upon such empty trifles and dreams of shadows To conclude this Author is so accustomed to popular impertinency that he seems to hate severe Discourse as much as carnal Reason and both as much as Idolatry so that he onely prates when he should argue and inveighs when he should confute Give him what advantage you will he regards it not but jogs on in his road of talking and 't is no matter whether you take the right or wrong handle of the Question it may be either for any thing material that he has to except against it Nay you may suffer him to Limetwig you with Ink and Paper and gagg you with a Quill and put what words he pleases into your mouth and yet easily defend your self against all his faint assaults and impertinent Objections In so much that I durst undertake the defence of the thickest and most defenceless Impostures in the World against his weak and miserable way of Confutation And I doubt not but I could produce as strong and enforcing evidence for the Divine Original and Authority of the Alcoran as some body has for the Self-evidencing light and power of the holy Scriptures CHAP. IV. The Contents NO difference among the Ancients between Moral Vertue and Evangelical Grace The Vanity and Novelty of our late Spiritual Divinity Our Authors fond Tittle-tattle against my Scheme of Religion Religion is now the same for design and substance as it was in the state of Innocence The Gospel is chiefly design'd as a Restitution of the Law of Nature Our Duty to God best described by Gratitude Repentance Conversion Humiliation Self-denial Mortification Faith and other Duties of the Gospel proved to be Moral Vertues Our Author after his rate of cavilling would have quarrell'd our Saviour for his short account of the Duty of Man His intolerable slander in charging me of confining the Influence of the Spirit of God to the first Ages of the Church His prodigious impudence in ascribing all his own Follies to the Spirit of God The extraordinary concurrence of the Spirit proved it self by some evident Miracle the ordinary works in the same manner as if it were performed purely by the strength of our own Reason Our Author himself is not able to assign any real difference between Grace and Vertue Their meer distinguishing between them is destructive of the practice of all real goodness An account of the Mechanical Enthusiasm of their Spiritual Divinity Our Authors own account of their Spiritual Godliness is a clear instance of its Folly Moral Vertue is so far from being any hindrance that 't is the best preparative to Conversion It was not Moral Goodness but Immoral Godliness that kept off the Pharisees from closing with the Terms of the Gospel The Argument from the Magistrates Power over Moral Duties to his Power over Religious Worship clear'd and vindicated The difference assign'd for this purpose between the Laws of Nature and Revelation false and impertinent Their vain Resolution to find out particular Rules of instituted Worship in the Word of God is the Original of all their folly Religious Worship is subject to the Authority of Earthly Powers for the same Reason as Moral Vertue is A short account of some of our Authors fainter Essays § 1. HAving in the former Chapter given an account large enough of our Authors way of Confutation by shuffling Cavils and bold Calumnies I shall hereafter forbear to cloy the Reader or tire my self with any farther regard to such trifling Exceptions as are not capable of more useful and edifying Discourse and shall onely insist upon such particulars as may be considerable enough to recompence the pains of our Enquiry My design then in the next Chapter which our wise Objector excepts against was to draw a Parallel between matters of Religious Worship and Duties of Morality and to remonstrate to the World how they were equally subject to the Jurisdiction of the Civil Magistrate And for a more ample Confirmation of this Argument I gave such an intelligible account of the Nature and Design of Religion as reduced all its parts and branches either to the Vertues or the Instruments of Moral Goodness From whence I concluded as I thought fairly enough That seeing Princes are allowed by the avowed Principles of all Mankind a Soveraign Power in reference to Moral Vertues that are the most material Duties of Religion 't is but reasonable they should be allowed at least the same Authority over the outward matters of Religious Worship that are but Circumstances of Religion or Instruments of Morality But our Author startles at the strangeness
rather than betray or forsake so excellent an Institution and therefore its peculiar excellency consisting in the goodness of its Moral Precepts to continue faithful to that is the same thing as to be constant and upright to the best Principles of Vertue And lastly as for Mortification 't is an exercise of Moral Philosophy and the very formality of Moral Vertue and 't is nothing else but to subdue our sensual appetites and affections to our superiour faculties in the methods of Reason and prudent Discipline But the main instance of defect is that dear and darling Article of the Religion of Sinners as our Author words it Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And here I must confess as they have mistaken the Nature and Notion of this Grace 't is neither Vertue nor Vertues Friend though in its plain and primitive account 't is evidently both For I know but two acceptations of it in the Scripture 1. Either as it signifies a serious and an hearty assent to the Divine Authority of the Doctrine of the Gospel and so it has a mighty force to engage as serious and hearty obedience to all its Precepts For what more effectual and irresistible Inducements can Men have to an Holy Life than a firm Belief of the Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel This then is the peculiar excellency of the Christian Faith viz. it s mighty Influence upon a Christian Life 2. Or else as it signifies a Trust and Reliance upon the Goodness of God and the Merits of Christ for the expiation of our sins and the acceptance of our Persons upon the Performance of the Conditions of the new Covenant And thus it is an act of that Moral Worship of God of which we have already discoursed For though the Object of it be particular and relates to our Saviours Death and Passion yet the Reason of it is Natural and relates to the Essential Truth and Goodness of God upon his Declaration and Engagement to accept the Sufferings of his Son as an Atonement and Satisfaction for the Sins of the World And therefore into this we must resolve the Vertue and Morality of the Grace of Faith viz. it s worthy Opinion of and strong Confidence in Gods Essential Truth and Goodness And our Author himself though upon what grounds I know not esteems it a part of the Natural and Moral Worship of God and so I remember does I. O. in that notable Treatise of distinct Communion with each Person of the Trinity distinctly And now I hope from all these Premises you are sufficiently satisfied that the supposition of sin does not bring in any new Religion but onely makes new Circumstances and Names of old Things and requires new helps and advantages to improve our Powers and to encourage our Endeavours And thus is the Law of Grace nothing but the Restitution of the Law of Nature all the prime Duties it prescribes are but Results and Pursuances of our Natural Obligations and all its additional Institutions are but Helps and Assistances to encourage and secure their Performance To conclude had this Man been a Pharisee in our Saviours time how pertly would he have taunted him for reducing the whole Duty of Man to two Heads Love the Lord with all thy Heart and Love thy Neighbour as thy self What Sir have we not six hundred and thirteen Precepts in our Law are there not twelve Houses of Affirmative and as many of Negative Commandments and are there not large Catalogues of particular Laws ranged under each of these general Heads and must all saving onely two be revers't for your pleasure If this be all to what purpose are our Phylacteries Once I remember you reproved us for making them so large now you had best quarrel us for making them at all Is this to fill up the Law of Moses as you pretend to abridge his whole Volume into a single Text I must needs say that I look upon this as the rudest most imperfect and weakest Scheme of the Iewish Religion that ever yet I saw so far from comprising an Induction of all Particulars belonging to it that there is nothing in it that is constitutive of the Iewish Religion as such at all c. Now if we could suppose our Saviour would have vouchsafed to reply to such a prating and impertinent Rabbi what other answer can we suppose he would have return'd than that all the other Commandments how numerous soever are but so many Instances of these under various Denominations arising from emergent Respects and Circumstances of things And how infinite soever the particular Laws of Life may be they are but Prosecutions of these general Laws of Nature and result from those Obligations we lie under from our natural Relation to God and to Man and 't is for this reason that I define Love to be the fulfilling of the whole Law because all other Commands are but several Instruments or Expressions of this Duty and love to your Neighbour signifies every thing whereby you may be useful and beneficial to Mankind But having in his own Fancy for there he does wondrous feats demolish't my frame of Religion he proceeds to erect a new Model of his own but whether coherent or not concerns not my Enquiry my business is to defend my own Discourse and not to run after every Bubble of his blowing Onely you may observe that whereas I design'd to represent the shortest and most comprehensive Scheme of the practical Duties of Religion that I could contrive the greatest part of his Hypothesis is made up of Articles of meer Belief which I purposely omitted as wholly impertinent to the matter and design of my Enquiry and the other Materials that he has cast in relating to practice are so crudely and confusedly hudled together that they rather make a heap of Rubbish than any consistent Fabrick of things insomuch that one single Branch of his Analysis comprehends all the rest viz. An universal Observance of the whole Will and all the Commands of God It would be an admirable way no doubt to represent an exact Anatomy of all the parts of an Humane Body to lay the Body it self before you and onely tell you that is it No Man doubts whether Religion consists in an universal Obedience to all the Commands of God and yet should I assert it I know who would contradict it and object its being impossible but what these particular Commands are and what the manner of their dependence upon and connexion to each other Some men you see cannot avoid running into Absurdities when it does them no service § 4. My third Heresie is no less than that there is no actual Concurrence of present Grace enabling men to perform the duties or to exercise the vertues of moral goodness And now he returns to his old Vomit of Calumny and Falsification here he is upon his own dunghil and therefore here he crows and insults and I am catechised like any
Womb and again pass through all the scenes and workings of Conviction in which state of formation all new Converts must continue their appointed Time and when the days are accomplish'd they may then proceed to the next Operation of the Spirit i. e. to get a longing panting and breathing frame of soul upon which follows the proper season of Delivery and they may then break loose from the Enclosures of the spirit of Bondage and creep out from those dark Retirements wherein the Law detein'd them into the Light of the Gospel and the Liberty of the spirit of Adoption But of this perhaps our Author may understand more before he and I part in the mean time let us follow our present Chase and we shall have pleasant sport enough for never did wily Reynard shew greater variety of shifts windings and doublings than this subtle Disputant § 2. The Antichristian Errors of this Chapter he has reduced to four general heads the first whereof he confesseth to be a great and important Truth viz. that Moral Vertue consists in the observance of the Laws of Nature and the Dictates of Right Reason and therefore he only transcribes my Proof and Account of the Reasonableness of the Assertion and repeats it again in his own obscure Words and flat Expressions and so immediately proceeds to the second viz That the substance yea the whole of Religion consists in moral vertues and to prove it he repeats that short Scheme that I have drawn up of the most material parts and branches of Religion and in answer to it he first talks and then objects He wishes I would give him a summary of the Credenda of my Religion as I have done of its Agenda And so I will when I shall think my self obliged to write impertinently for his humour but should I be so civil as to gratifie him in this Request though perhaps the positive Articles of my Belief are not altogether so numerous as his Systematick Orthodoxes nor my Creed so bulky as his gross Bodies of Dutch-divinity Yet I could give him in such a large Negative Confession of Faith as would both satisfie and make him repent his Curiosity In the next place he tells us the ten Commandments would have done twice as well on this occasion But 't is no disparagement to my Account of Religion if it be but half as good as the ten Commandments though I am apt to believe the Decalogue was never intended for a perfect Systeme of the Moral Law I cannot imagine that by thou shalt not make to thy self any Graven Image is meant thou shalt not institute Symbolical Ceremonies or that by Thou shalt not murther Alms and fraternal Correption are enjoyned nor can I fancy that when only one Particular is express'd twenty more are intended that may any way be reduced to it by strein'd and far-fetch'd Analogies But if we add the Explication of the Church-Catechism for which our Author has no doubt a mighty fondness it would make up a much more perfect Scheme of Religion than what I have represented I confess 't is contrived with a great deal of wisdom and judgment and its Exposition is easie natural and useful and not made out by forced and uncertain Deductions and therefore has admirably attain'd the End it aimed at which is chiefly a plain and intelligible Account of the main scope and intent of the Decalogue and not an intire Institution of Christian Theology But upon this he takes a civil and seasonable occasion to remark that he fears the very Catechism it self may ere long be esteemed Phanatical though if it should meet with such ill Usage it would not be much worse treated than it was ere long when it was esteemed Popish However his Fears are of no more force than his Arguments they are equally wise and reasonable and prove nothing but his Ill-nature or something worse And now to all this he subjoyns a tedious story of a foolish and half-witted fellow that from this Opinion that all Religion consists in Morality proceeded to a full Renunciation of the Gospel If either the man himself had made good this Consequence or our Author for him this tale might have been of more use than all his Arguments that is it might have been to the purpose but otherwise 't is as meer Tittle-tattle as when he tells us the Papists make use of our Pleas for Government in behalf of their Tyranny and Usurpation I can no more prevent some men from streining absurd Conclusions from the wisest and most Reasonable Premisses than I can hinder others from preaching Treason or Blasphemy from the divine Oracles But all this is no more than Skirmish the main Battel follows and he draws up all his Forces in three Objections i. e. in repeating the same Objection three times 1. My Representation of Religion is suited to the state of Innocence 2. It carries in it neither supposition nor assertion of sin 3. It omits some of the most important duties of the Christian Religion Repentance Humiliation Godly sorrow c. Whereas its being suited to the state of Innocence it s not implying a supposition of sin and its omitting the duty of Repentance is apparently one and the same thing For 't is nothing but meerly a supposition of sin that makes our present Condition differ from the state of Innocence and that infers the necessity of Repentance and therefore in answer to this great Objection in its united strength I humbly crave leave to remonstrate that Religion for the substance and main design of it which is the only thing I designed to represent is the same now as it was in the state of Innocence For as then the whole duty of man consisted in the Practice of all those moral Vertues that arose from his natural Relation to God and man so all that is super-induced upon us since the Fall is nothing but helps and contrivances to supply our natural defects and recover our decayed Powers and restore us to a better ability to discharge those duties we stand engaged to by the Law of our Nature and the design of our Creation So that the Christian Institution is not for the substance of it any new Religion but only a more perfect digest of the Eternal Rules of Nature and Right Reason For it commands nothing but what is some way suitable to and perfective of Rational Beings and all its duties are either Instances or Instruments of moral Goodness it prescribes no new rules and proportions of Morality and all its additions to the Eternal and Unchangeable Laws of Nature are but only means and Instruments to discover their Obligation and improve their Practice in the World All men I think are agreed that the real end of Religion is the Happiness and Perfection of Mankind and this end is obtain'd by living up to the Dictates of Reason and according to the Laws of Nature which the Gospel has framed into
positive Precepts because they are in themselves so essentially serviceable to the design of our Creation And therefore our Saviour came not into the world to give any new Precepts of moral goodness but only to retrive the old Rules of Nature from the evil Customs of the World and to reinforce their Obligation by endearing our duty with better Promises and urging our Obedience upon severer Penalties And as the Gospel is nothing but a Restitution of the Religion of Nature so are all its positive Commands and instituted duties either mediately or immediately subservient to that end Thus the Sacraments though they are matters of pure Institution yet are they of a subordinate Usefulness and design'd only for the greater advantage and Improvement of moral Righteousness For as the Gospel is the Restitution of the Law of Nature so are these outward Rites and Solemnities a great security of the Gospel they are solemn engagements and stipulations of obedience to all its Commands and are appointed to express and signifie our grateful sense of Gods goodness in the Redemption of the World and our serious Resolutions of performing the Conditions of this new Contract and Entercourse with mankind So that though they are duties of a prime importance in the Christian Religion 't is not because they are in themselves matters of any Essential Goodness but because of that peculiar Relation they have to the very being and the whole design of its Institution Forasmuch as he that establish'd this Covenant requires of all that are willing to own and submit to its Conditions to profess and avow their Assent to it by these Rites and Instruments of stipulation so that to refuse their Use is interpreted the same thing as to reject the whole Religion But if the entire Usefulness of these and any other instituted Mysteries consists in their great subserviency to the designs of the Gospel and if the great design of the Gospel consists in the Restitution of the Law of Nature and the advancement of all kinds of Moral Goodness then does it naturally resolve it self into that short Analysis I have given of Religion and whether we suppose the Apostasie of Mankind or suppose it not every thing that appertains to it will in the last issue of things prove either a part or an instrument of Moral Vertue § 3. But we must proceed to particulars In the first place Gratitude is a very imperfect description of Natural Religion for says he it has respect onely to Gods Benefits and not to his Nature and therefore omits all those Duties that are eternally necessary upon the Consideration of himself such as fear love trust affiance Perhaps this word may not in its rigorous acceptation express all the distinct parts and duties of Religion yet the Definition that I immediately subjoin'd to explain its meaning might abundantly have prevented this Cavil were not our Author resolved to draw his saw upon words viz. A thankful and humble temper of Mind arising from a sense of Gods Greatness in himself and his Goodness to us And the truth is I know not any one Term that so fully expresses that Duty and Homage we owe to God as this of Gratitude For by what other Name soever we may call it this will be its main and most Fundamental Ingredient and therefore 't is more pertinent to describe its Nature by that than by any other Property that is more remote and less material Because the Divine Bounty is the first Reason of our Obligation to Divine Worship in that natural Justice obliges every Man to a grateful and ingenuous sense of Favours and Benefits and therefore God being the sole Author of our Beings and our Happiness that ought without any farther regard to affect our Minds with worthy resentments of his love and kindness and this is all that which is properly exprest by the word Piety which in its genuine acceptation denotes a grateful and observant temper and behaviour towards Benefactors and for that cause it was made use of as the most proper Expression of that Duty that is owing from Children to Parents but because God by reason of the eminency of his Bounty more peculiarly deserves our Respect and Observation 't is in a more signal and remarkable sense appropriated to him so that Gratitude is the first property and radical Ingredient of Religion and all its other Acts and Offices are but secondary and consequential and that Veneration we give the Divine Majesty for the excellency of his Nature and Attributes follows that Gratitude we owe him for the Communication of his Bounty and Goodness 'T is this that brings us to a knowledge of all his other Endowments 't is this that endears his Nature to us and from this result all those Duties we owe him upon the account of his own Perfections and by that experience we have of his Bounty and by that knowledge we have of his other Attributes into which we are led by this experience come we to be obliged to trust and affiance in him so that Gratitude expresly implies all the Acts and Offices of Religion and though it chiefly denotes its prime and most essential Duty yet in that it fully expresses the Reason and Original Obligation of all other parts of Religious Worship But in the next place he reckons up Repentance Conversion Conviction of Sin Humiliation Godly Sorrow as deficient Graces in my Scheme and Duties peculiar to the Gospel Though as for Repentance what is it but an exchange of vicious customs of Life for an habitual course of Vertue I will allow it to be a new species of Duty in the Christian Religion when he can inform me what Men repent of beside their Vices and what they reform in their Repentance beside their Moral Iniquities it has neither end nor object but Moral Vertue and is onely another word peculiarly appropriated to signifie its first beginnings And as for Conversion the next deficient 't is co-incident with Repentance and he will find it no less difficult to discover any difference between them than between Grace and Vertue And as for the other remaining Graces of the Gospel Conviction Humiliation Godly Sorrow and he might as well have added Compunction Self-abhorrency Self-despair and threescore words more that are frequent in their mouths they are all but different Expressions of the same thing and are either parts or concomitant Circumstances of Repentance After so crude and careless a rate does this Man of Words pour forth his talk In the next rank comes in Self-denial a Readiness to bear the Cross and Mortification as new Laws of Religion But as for Self-denial 't is nothing else than to restrain our appetites within the limits of Nature and to sacrifice our brutish Pleasures to the interests of Vertue As for a Readiness to bear the Cross 't is nothing but a constant and generous Loyalty to the Doctrine of the Gospel and a Resolution to suffer any thing