A Discourse CONCERNING REPENTANCE By N. INGELO D. D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by T. R. for Richard Marriott and sold by William Bromwich at the Sign of the Three Bibles in Ludgate-Street 1677. A DISCOURSE CONCERNING REPENTANCE PART I. LUKE 24. 47. That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations WHen man came out of his Creators hands he was happy and so long as he kept the state of his Nature he continued such for he enjoyed his Makers favour he walked with God had a friendly Converse with him and as he continually made a thankful acknowledgment of his dependance upon his Goodness and perform'd due Obedience to his Will so he was always under the care of his Providence and the Influences of his Grace which was so great a felicity that his condition might well be signified by the name of the place in which he dwelt The Paradise of Eden i. e. The Garden of Delight But see the frailty of created Beings when they are a little trusted with themselves Man soon fell from his happiness He was not content with his Makers allowance he would provide better for himself some other way But so disregarding his Creators Laws he threw himself out of the Divine favour and with himself his Posterity treading in the same steps of Disobedience though they knew how dear it cost their Forefather by the miserable Inheritance which he left them The unhappiness of the Estate so bequeathed being so heavy that men when they considered it would rather never have been born than thrown under the weight of it The merciful Son of God with an unspeakable compassion interposed himself between them and the dreaded Ruin and interceded for their pardon The eternal Father was highly pleased with his Mediation and as for his sake he did not lock the door of Hope against the first Runagate so neither did he afterward shut up his disobedient Children in the irrecoverable misery of their Sin For though they have cast themselves out of the Mercies of the ancient Covenant by breaking the Conditions of it yet the Son of God was pleased to be the Angel of a new Covenant and brought it from Heaven and sent his Celestial Messengers at his Birth to proclaim the Good-will which was contained in it and seal'd it with his Blood which when he was going to die he said he would shed for the remission of Sins And having performed that Promise full of unspeakable kindness when he was raised from the dead he commanded his Servants whom he had made intimate with the design of his Mercy that they should publish it to all the World and in his Name preach Repentance and upon that promise forgiveness of sin and declare that God would now accept of Return to Duty instead of Obedience which had never fail'd and that all such of sinful Mankind as would run away from their disobedient Party acknowledge their Fault lament their Rebellion throw down their Arms yield to Mercy and return to their Allegiance should come to be as they were at first by Gods allowance be put into the way of Happiness again For by the forgiveness of their sins God restores them to his Favour a Grace denied to a higher sort of Creatures than we are Angels when by sin they flung themselves out of Heaven I have designed this Discourse to treat of the way which God hath been pleased to accept and our Saviour to declare for our escaping the misery of sin which is Repentance And of this I shall speak as I find it described in the New Testament where two words are chiefly used to express the nature of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Change of mind as to what is past 2. Better care for the future And these I shall explain as Holy Writ and the practise of Gods Church do direct 1. A change of mind as to what is past So Tertull. In Graeco sono Poenitentiae nomen ab animi demutatione compositum est which he said respecting the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He which repents must begin with a severe condemnation of his former course So Isidor Pelusiota l. 4. c. 60. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How can he repent of what he hath done who doth not condemn it as wicked This part of Repentance expresseth it self in two things 1. Humble Confession of Sin 2. Earnest Prayer for Pardon 1. Humble confession of sin which is both required in many places of Scripture and appears to have been the practise of Penitents He which confesseth and forsaketh finds mercy If we confess our sins he is faithful It is meet to be said unto God I have sinned He can never hope for pardon who will not confess his sin As Confession belongs to Repentance so if it be right it must have these two things joyned with it 1. Sorrow and 2. Shame 1. We must make our Confessions having in our souls a great sorrow for having offended God a great displeasure against our selves for our disobedience When the Apostle perceived the Corinthians to have fallen into a great sin he wrote a sharp Letter to them and the consideration of that and what they had done wrought in them the beginning of Repentance a godly sorrow or sorrow according to God which he doth require and will accept if it be sincere according to the nature of the sin committed It is fit that he who hath sinned should be grieved when he considers what he hath done and say as he did Eheuquà m ego totus displiceo mihi Poenitentia denot at paenam animi de re perper am gestâ sibi displicentis St. Peters Penitents were said to be pricked in their Hearts and the Scripture calls true Repentance a broken heart a contrite spirit And true Penitents usually expressed their sorrow in tears with which David is said to water his Couch and St. Peter upon consideration of his grand sin is said to have gone forth of the Company and to have wept bitterly He which truly considers what it is to have sinned would if he could wash away the stain with tears of blood When the weight of the sins of others began to sit close and heavy upon our Saviours shoulders it put him into such an Agony that it made clammy drops of thick sweat like viscous blood trickle from his Body to the ground Therefore Penitents of old to express their due grief used to gird themselves with Sackcloth and fit in Ashes For anciently in great mournings it was the custom to put on Sackcloth to cover their heads with Ashes and sit in the Dust. As we see in the Story of the King of Niniveh in that great affliction of soul which surprised him upon Ionas's denunciation of wrath against him and his people and in the case of Thamar in the astonishing grief which seized her upon the loss of her Honour So Iob when he
humbled himself for speaking too boldly of the mystery of Gods Providence is said to have repented in Sackcloth and Ashes To this also they joyned Fasting acknowledging that by reason of their sins they were not worthy to eat and so not to live and when they did so were said to afflict their souls For true Penitents have as the Apostle observed in the Corinthians Indignation against their sins and Revenge upon themselves for committing them To these also in their Penance they added Expiatory Offerings confessing when they kill'd the Sacrifice they themselves deserved to die more than the Lamb or Goat did Quae me non dignior hostia vitâ est There is nothing so bad but it deserves to live rather than I the sinner who offer it They saw the vileness and danger of sin and therefore cried out Men and Brethren what shall we do to be saved Or as they in Micah O that I had any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any thing to give in exchange for my soul to my offended God thousands of Rams or ten thousand Rivers of Oyl By these Expressions we may perceive what a deep sense they had of the baseness of sin and how truly they were grieved that by it they had offended God To this I need add no more but the practise of the Primitive Church to show what a mighty sorrow the Penitents of those days thought necessary to their Repentance It is enough to amaze careless Souls to read it as it is described by Tertullian and St. Gregory Nazianzen Penitents lay prostrate at the Church doors in Sackcloth and Ashes and Horrour intreating the whole Fraternity begging the prayers of Presbyters and Widows taking hold of the Garments and Knees of such as entred into the Church kissing their footsteps as well as the Chains of Martyrs in Prisons with bare knees and wet eyes beseeching their Prayers for their pardon And though the bad sinners of our times possibly think them foolish in so great expressions of sorrow yet I doubt when things come to be determined before the Great Tribunal of Christ that they will be judged sottish for their vain Censure and that want of great grief for their sins will not then be esteemed courage but searedness of Conscience He is most miserable who sins and repents not and his sorrow will do him little good which doth not wound sin to the heart which doth not smite through and cut in pieces the roots of Disobedience which are deep planted in a hard heart 2. We are also to joyn shame with our sorrow Shame is the proper attendant of sin as we may see in our first Parents who were so ashamed of themselves after they had sinned that they sought as well as they could to hide themselves from the Face of God not only for fear of being punished by him but being ashamed of themselves that for doing unworthily they had deserved it There is great reason we should entertain this passion of soul. The penitent sinner will find things enough to be ashamed of if he consider What are they Five 1. His Impudence that he durst sin against God therefore Ezra in his penitent Confession of the great sins which he then lamented says O my God I am ashamed to look up and blush to lift up my face to thee for our iniquities are increased and our sins are grown up to Heaven We are in our trespasses and cannot stand before thee because of them He was so ashamed that he says And now O our God what shall we say for we have forsaken thy Commandments So the Penitent in Ieremiah When I repented I was ashamed And the Converts whom St. Paul mentions were ashamed to think of their former practise What fruit had you in those things whereof you are now ashamed There is great Reason for this For men are ashamed when they do any thing that is unbecoming them It is a base thing for a man to do that which is unworthy of what he is or professeth himself to be Sin is the most unbecoming thing in the World contrary to our Nature unworthy of a reasonable Creature absurd in regard of our state in Being doth debase and degrade the person that commits it Therefore when Aaron had consented to Idolatry with the people it is said They made him naked to his shame What a High Priest and worship a Calf A Creature and disobedient to him that made it It is said of the Jews when converted that they should loath themselves for all their abominations Nothing can make us so vile as sinning against God He which consents to sin disrobes himself of the dignity of his Nature Innocence And when men come to that impudence that they are not ashamed of sin it is noted in Scripture as the height of all Villany and is a state near to utter Ruin Men may grow so base as to glory in their shame i. e. in such things of which they ought to be ashamed as the Apostle tells us and make no matter of it So the Prophet Ieremiah of those in his time Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination no they were not ashamed neither could they blush No but as in another place they had a Whores forehead made their faces harder than a Rock But their ruin followed at their heels and overtook them all except some few who repenting shar'd another temper and said We lie down in shame and our confusion covereth us for we have sinned against the Lord our God and have disobeyed his voice So the repenting Prodigal O Father I have sinned against Heaven and against Thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son He had done things unworthy of a Son and being ashamed of himself would be glad to creep out of that base self the Son so he might be become a good Servant He was ashamed to think he had been a Son because he had carried himself so vilely in that state 2. Shame is due to the folly which those who sin are guilty of He which sins reveals his folly sufficiently in this that either he understands not his Interest or slights those things which are of greatest import to him and therefore Fool is the proper name of a sinner in Holy Language For what good reason that Title is bestowed upon him you may see in these four particulars 1. He which sins thinks to be happy in a better way than that which God hath directed him to and is so silly as not to understand the meanness of these things for which he forsakes his God and the sad Consequences of his Disobedience How great is the disproportion which is between the pure joy which flows into the soul from the sense of Gods favour and the muddy pleasure which in any Channel whatsoever can be deriv'd from sin It is but little and very impure mixed with dreadful Allays This is so great a stupidity that
baseness of sin that the Prophet Isaiah astonished at it cries out in Gods behalf Hear O Heavens give ear O Earth why what 's the matter I have nourished and brought up Children and they have rebelled against me Why is that such a matter that God should resent it on that fashion Yes For as it follows it is a vileness so low that Beasts are not capable of it The Ox knows his owner and the Ass his Masters Crib and as they come for meat to their Masters so they serve in grateful return for what they receive But Israel doth not know my people doth not consider They neither have a sense of me their God nor of the Favours they have received from me nor consider the Obligation which is upon them to obey me nor how ungrateful they are in not obeying nor the baseness of their Ingratitude whilst they disobey So Ieremiah Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of darkness that they say we are Lords we will come no more at thee I thought I had been to them that Fountain of goodness at which they drank all their days I thought that by the constant Irrigations of Mercy I had made their souls like a watered garden But it was true of them which was said of Hezekiah He returned not as he received neither for his recovery from a deadly Sickness nor deliverance from the potent Army of the Assyrians Therefore the Penitent hath good reason to say I am ashamed O Lord I blush to think how many mercies I slight how many obligations I trample upon how basely unthankful I have been Doth Iesurun kick and forget it was undeserved mercy which made him fat Because thou art full dost thou sin and not remember that thou rebellest against him who fed thee O foolish people and unwise do you thus requite the Lord Or as the Prophet Dost thou not know that I gave thee thy Corn and Wine saith God and that I multiplyed thy silver and thy gold I will return and take away my corn wine and wooll and make thee know with what ingratitude thou hast forgot thy Benefactor and chief Patron The Penitent may do well to increase this shame in his soul by the consideration of some of the chief mercies by which God hath laid Obligations of Obedience upon him and that will make him say with Ezra Have I sinned having received such deliverance as this Was I delivered to do abominations O my God I am ashamed to look up to Heaven I blush and hide my face And to all considerations of Ingratitude add always this never to be forgotten the Love of thy Saviour in dying for thy sins and then thou wilt say Do I please my self with committing sin when my Saviour in pure love suffered so much pain with infinite amazements upon the Cross for it What am I so base as to trample under my feet the Blood of the Son of God and to scorn the prayers and tears of my Saviour Those whom this consideration doth not make ashamed now will be confounded with it for ever hereafter and beg Rocks to fall upon them that they may not come into the presence of that Friend whom they have so vilely abused not only because they see him now so great that he can take vengeance upon them but because they perceive themselves so base by Ingratitude that they highly deserve it 5. Lastly The Penitent hath great reason to be ashamed of sin as for the aforementioned Considerations so for this that he hath made them out of measure sinful by a horrid Perfidiousness He which sins at first breaks the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Oath which is interwoven with our being of which the Philosopher spoke God making no Creature but of which he takes an Oath by the Law of its Nature that it shall be obedient to him But he is perfidious also because he breaks those voluntary Promises which the sense of Obligations laid upon him engaged him to make to God Sure this will make the Penitent blush when he finds reason to say to his soul O my soul Art not thou only so vile as to consent to sin against God but also to do it when thou hast vowed not to do so and when those Vows were made upon most serious deliberation and for those Reasons which thou dost still acknowledge to be most weighty This is enough to have said to shew not only how necessary Confession of sin is to Repentance but also how fit it is that sorrow and shame for sin committed should be joyned to the Confession of it Yet this must not be understood so as if they were only applicable to some penitential solemn acts of Confession for they are to be continued through our whole life For a good man will always be sorry and ever ashamed that he had once sinned Though God forgive a true Penitent will hardly forgive himself A Heathen could say That if we believe there is a Providence he which hath sinned shall not be despised if he grow good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet he shall carry some marks of old displeasure For as another said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there remains in the souls of Penitents the marks of old sins as skars do in the flesh though the wounds be healed 2. To Confession the Penitent must add earnest Prayer for pardon This we learn from our blessed Saviour who hath taught us to put this into our Prayers as a chief petition Forgive us our Trespasses Shall God forgive such as do not entreat him to do so It is fit the sinner should fall upon his knees before the Eternal Father and beg pardon When Daniel understood by reading the Prophecy of Ieremiah that the time was at hand in which God had promised so to pardon the sins of the Jews as to return their captivity then he set himself to seek it of God by supplication and prayer Why so Because the promise was made upon condition that they should repent of their sins which carried them captive and pray for pardon and return For so we read I will plant that which was desolate and build the ruinous places I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them i. e. I will grant it to them when they pray for it Hereupon this holy man began in prayer to do his part and directed them to do theirs But as Prayer for Pardon is a Duty unquestionable so Fervency is a qualification so requisite that without it Prayer will not be accepted as it appears by what our Saviour hath taught us in his Sermons the Apostles in their Epistles sincere Penitents in their praetise and of which we are assured because it hath ever been made a condition of the Forgiveness promised It is usually expressed thus They shall find me if they seek me with their whole heart Accordingly they are said to have sought God with their
Romans having obtained he said of them that they were full of goodness Our Saviour is said to have grown in stature of body in spirit and in favour with God and Man i. e. to have increased in such Vertues and abounded in such Actions as did exceedingly please God and Man St. Iohn calls this prospering in soul by merciful Additions of grace which he prayed for his Friend Gaius That which a good man should endeavour in this matter St. Paul hath expressed to the life in his own practise i. e. I have not yet attained I am not made perfect but I follow on that I may get to the further end Christ leading me by the hand and helping me forward which makes me to forget what is behind and to add to what I have done well creeping forward and pressing towards the Mark that I may not come short of the prize I will end this Discourse with a short Gloss upon what is said by David in a pathetick Psalm who makes mention of the great desire which the Israelites had under the Mosaick Dispensation to go to Ierusalem that there they might enjoy the presence of God in his Temple and this passion did so transport them that they envied the Happiness of Sparrows and Swallows Birds which had leave to make their nests there but more admired the felicity of God's Servants who dwelt in that House enjoying the manifestations of the Divine Presence and praising God continually for the many and great Mercies which they had received from him and then pronouncing them happy in whose hearts were the ways thither i. e. who set and prepared their minds resolving to be there and passing from Valley to Valley for the Rode lay from Hill to Hill with unwearied steps travelled till they came to that most desirable place This doth every sincere Christian his aim is at the heavenly Ierusalem i. e. the Vision of Peace which is in the presence of God and he makes all his life one constant Journey thither and is therefore truly called one of that Generation of Travellers who march towards Sion and each day of his life is a step in his way and though by the common accidents of this life he may be so hindred that he shall slack his pace awhile and by the slumbers of the Night necessary to refresh his wearied Body his more active thoughts are laid asleep yet the very Night passing on with silent Minutes carries him as a ship under sail doth the Passenger sleeping in his Cabbin nearer to his Port and when he is awake perceiving that he is still in his way he goes on rejoycing and makes what haste he can to come to his Journeys end the fruition of God in Heaven Having shown the Nature of Repentance I come now to urge the Practise of it with three Motives which are these 1. The first is taken from the reasonableness of Repentance in its own Nature 2. The second is that Encouragement which we have to it from the goodness of God who is willing to forgive the Penitent 3. The third is taken from the great and inevitable Mischief which awaites Impenitence 1. It is fit that sinners should repent because sin is the most unnatural thing in the World The state of sin is a contra-natural Temper and the actions in which it expresseth it self are most unreasonable When Iohn the Baptist was sent before our Saviour to prepare his way that is to dispose men for the receiving of his Gospel which is called Luke 1. 17. to make a people ready prepared for the Lord when he begun his work by turning the disobedient to the wisdom of the just he was said Mat. 17. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to restore all things the word signifies Reponere in naturae congruentem statum to reduce men into a state agreeable to Nature which by sin was discomposed What can be more unnatural than for the hearts of Fathers to be set against their Children and for Children to hate their Parents Out of that unreasonable course of sin he brought them by Repentance into their natural Station For the reason asoresaid sin in Scripture is called distraction of mind for when the Prodigal Son made sensible of his Error returned to his Duty he is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to come to himself Sin had made him mad The Prophet Isaiah gives notice of the same thing when he said Shew your selves men return to your mind ye Transgressors He that sins runs away from God and his own Reason both at once Resipiscentia the Latin word for Repentance says the same for he that Repents doth as Lactantius says Mentem quasi ab insaniâ recipere St. Paul in the second Epistle to Timothy calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to awake one out of a drunken sleep Those who slight the great Reasons of their Duties to God and leave themselves to be hurried on in the course of their lives by brutish Appetites act but like men who are mad or drunk and they will confess it if ever they do return to a right use of their mind and settled thoughts which he hath lost who thinks he may be and do what he will Nothing but want of Reason will make any man prefer the loose Wit of a mad man and the wild motions of a Lunatick before the wise thoughts and regular actions of sober men He which sins tears all the Obligations by which God hath engaged him to Obedience breaks all the Bonds which his Almighty Creator hath laid upon his Soul as the Frantick in the Gospel did those which were upon his Body but he hath another sense of things and will not do so when he is restored to a right mind It 's true it did not please God at first to make us immutable yet that we might not fall into Error by sudden Actions he made us able to deliberate and since we do nothing so well usually but it may be bettered and do many things so ill that they ought to be mended he gave us the power of Animadversion that by reflecting upon our selves and actions we might correct by after endeavours that which was not so well done at first and it is most reasonable that we should make use of this power and fit for the Penitent to say It was best indeed not to have sinned but it is next best to repent and since I cannot recall what is past yet I will mend it as well as I can as he said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will endeavour to undo what was ill done in my former life I will as St. Iohn said of our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do what I can to destroy my sins Another Penicent said well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. having committed a base sin I will endeavour to mend it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among other things signifies to resume a work to do it better to make up a
think himself well because he is not hanged as soon as condemned when the Judge hath set a day for his Execution Alas what small security is in that short respite Dost thou not know that the goodness of God leads thee to Repentance and yet wilt sin and so treasure up wrath to thy self by hardness of heart against the day of the Revelation of Gods just Judgment The Fool puts the Evil day far from him which how near it is God only knows 4. This is also one addition to this folly that he will sin when he hath been told not only that there is a set Day of Judgment and consequently of Punishment though delayed a while but also that a sinner by a course of impenitence may be shut up in a state inevitably obnoxious to the punishment of that Day a long while before the person dies and so comes to his particular Judgment One may so much grieve the Lord as the Israelites did in the Wilderness that he will swear they shall never enter into his rest They may sin so long that no place is left for Repentance and so no hope of Mercy It is a dreadful curse when God saith Let them fall from one wickedness to another that so often and the sins so great that they never come into his Righteousness Gray hairs are upon the foolish sinner and he perceives not that he grows old in sin and guilt My Spirit shall not always strive with men Pharaoh having hardned his heart against several miraculous Declarations of Gods Power and Anger was irrecoverably destinated to Ruin though God told him that he preserved him a while to show his power and anger upon him before he utterly destroyed him The sins of the Amorites were not at the full Who knows whether he hath filled up the measure which God will stop at yet fond sinners add to it daily When our gracious Saviour perceived Ierusalem to be in this case he wept over it and said O Ierusalem Ierusalem how oft would I have gathered thee O that thou hadst in this thy day seen the things which belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes We know that men by sin may grow so stupid as to their minds that they will pray for life to that which is dead and as to their Affections they may be given up to those which are so vile as that it is a shame to mention them and grow so base that they will sell Heaven as Esau did his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage I have heard of a man who having been drunk overnight and passed over a very narrow Bridge which no sober Horsman durst attempt being brought the next day to see what danger he went through fell down in a swoon upon the sight of it But sinners are so besotted with the love of sin that they will on though they are shewed before that the Bridge they are going to is impassable and that the Lake of Fire and Brimstone is under it This is enough to have shown the folly of sin which whosoever is guilty of when he considers it will find reason enough to be ashamed of himself 3. The third consideration in this matter is that high Injustice of which he makes himself guilty that sins There is nothing in the world so due to any person as Obedience is to God That which is made by another ought to receive Law from him There is nothing more absurd in Nature than for a Creature to be its own This was the Root upon which the misery of Mankind grew at first that they would be sui juris their own Law-givers and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still he which sins knows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but his own Appetites and this he declares in his Actions And sometimes it comes to that boldness that he says so in words too as those Miscreants Our lips are our own who is Lord over us Monstrous absurd It is not so unjust or shameful for Lacqueys to ride on Horseback and Princes to attend them on foot as for a Creature to think to be at its own dispose and to speak and do what it will No said those pious souls who understood their estate thou hast made us and not we our selves And therefore as the Apostle adds we should so speak and so do as those who shall be judged by the Creators Law and give an accompt to him who will pass a severe sentence upon the injustice of Disobedience Men are mightily concerned for their own dues and take it ill if any deprive them of their Right Shall not the God of heaven and earth regard what is due to him by a Right which is transcendent to all created propriety See what notice God takes of his wrongs A Son honoureth his Father and a Servant his Master If then I be a Father where is mine Honour If I be a Master where is my fear Art not thou ashamed who art by nature but a Servant to deny the homage which is due to the Soveraign Lord of the World and yet art very careful of those petty Rights which are only due to thee by his appointment Dost thou think it a shame for Creatures to do unjustly to one another and yet dost not blush to wrong thy God This is so strange a thing in Gods accompt that as the Prophet Malachi tells us God wonders at it Will a man rob God It is most unlikely yet you have robbed me God had bestowed the Land of Canaan upon them but reserved to himself as Lord Proprietor several Tithes and Offerings which he would have paid to him as an Acknowledgment of himself of whom they held what they enjoyed They pay'd not these Dues But God doth not care for it possibly Doth he not See what follows ye are curs'd with a dreadful curse because you have robbed me even this whole Nation He which truly repents turns with shame for the wrong which he hath done to his God and blushes as a penitent Thief when he brings back stollen goods As a Thief is ashamed when he is found so is the House of Israel And so we read in the Confessions of those good men which prayed to God for 'em when they made their Repentance publick they were ashamed and confounded when they considered the wrongs which they had done to God To thee O Lord belongs Righteousness but to us shame and confusion of face to us not only the men of Iudah and Inhabitants of Ierusalem but to our Kings and Princes because we have sinned against thee So Ezra and others 4. This shame is heightened by this in that he which sins against God is guilty of most hainous Ingratitude He which sins offends his most good God abuseth his best Friend Dost not thou who sinnest slight him in whom thou livest movest and hast thy being affront him who hath fed and clothed thee all thy days This Ingratitude is so great an aggravation of the
whole desire We read of the Prayer of Faith saving the sick and obtaining forgiveness of sins but the reason given in the next verse shows what kind of Prayer it must be The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word signifies high and therefore Translators use two to express the meaning of it No doubt rightly For the Apostle intended such prayer as in which the most lively working of the soul expresseth it self The same word St. Paul used speaking of Faith which saves where he says that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. which shows its vertue in a powerful operation and so is all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as appears by two other places in his Epistles put together For when he says of the Word of God that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he says it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quick and powerful in working This is enough to show the meaning of the word now to apply it to our purpose If such a fervency of soul was requisite when a righteous man prayed for the forgiveness of other mens sins what is quisite when an unrighteous man prays for the pardon of his own Sure he needs to do as St. Iames faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pray very earnestly vehemency being usually signified in Hebrew by the gemination or joyning the Verb with the Noun The truth is he which beggs forgiveness of God in a languid Prayer doth declare plainly that he neither minds to whom he prays nor for what He which intreats God to forgive him his sins and understands how great a thing he asks and is sensible in what need he stands of it and withal how unworthy he is to receive it and considers the greatness of the Person of whom he begs it and how much goodness that is which will bestow it and consequently how high a favour it must be if he receive it will pray with all possible earnestness for it It is not fit to put up any cold petition to God much less when we beg so great a matter How earnestly would a condemned man beg his life of the Judge if he might have it for asking or but hope by entreaty to revoke the sentence passed against him St. Paul useth another expression well signifying the same thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to strive earnestly in Prayer as Iacob did when he wrestled with the Angel and would not let him go till he blessed him When our blessed Saviour was in an Agony i. e. in conflict with those amazing horrours which the guilt of our sins set before him he is said to have prayed often and as that dreadful weight pressed harder he prayed more earnestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extending as I may say all the power of his soul to its utmost compass shewing the earnest working of his soul after he had risen from his knees by throwing his holy Body upon the ground lying prostrate before the Eternal Father as the Author to the Hebrews tells us offering Supplications with strong cries and tears to him who was able to save him and was so delivered from his fear Hear O Penitent was thy Saviour so earnest in his prayers in the conflict which he endured for the sins of others and art thou dull and flaccid in prayer for the pardon of thy own Sure thou art not sensible what kind of thing Divine Wrath is or dost not believe that sin brings with it an obligation to make the Offender suffer it dost thou think thy self able to endure it or it may be persuadest thy self that it may be escaped some other way Awake awake O drouzy soul and pray mightily to God that thy sins may be forgiven thee that thou mayst not fall into the hands of the Living God who is a consuming fire pray that thou mayst be pardoned and so not be thrown into everlasting burnings If thou be'st unconcerned or lazy in this matter thou art more prophane than Esau who though he was vile enough in selling his Birth-right yet when the Blessing was departed from him he not only prayed for the reversion of the sentence by which it was done but sought it carefully with tears Thus much will serve to have spoken of the first part of Repentance which though it be necessary to be done yet the second must be added to it Having perfectly changed our minds as to what is past and heartily begg'd pardon for it we must be sure to have better care for the future He which doth not the first will never think of the second and though he have done the former if he proceed not to the latter it will do him no good it being no better than Corn in the blade which never comes to an Ear. As Tertullian said well Quid enim ex Poenitentia maturescit nisi Emendationis fructus Repentance is fruitless except it bring forth a better life Present penitence without future obedience are words which signifie nothing in Christian Religion When Iohn the Baptist did receive Disciples upon profession of Repentance which they made by confessing their sins to him he bad them not think that this would restore them to the Divine Favour except they brought forth fruits agreeable to that Profession that is works correspondent to it and he assur'd them that the Ax then laid to the Root of the Tree would cut it down if it did not bring forth those fruits and that fair Leaves should not save it from being cast into the fire Of this second part of Repentance I shall speak in this Method 1. By shewing the true nature of after Care and what is requisite to make it acceptable 2. By making Exhortation to this Duty which I shall do only by these Motives taken 1. From the Reasonableness of Repentance in its own nature 2. From the great Encouragement which we have to it from the goodness of God who is willing to forgive sinners if they repent 3. From the great and inevitable mischief which awaites those who will not repent There are two things which will make our Repentance acceptable our Return to God will always be so if it be 1. Speedy 2. Sincere 1. The vileness of sin is so great as I show'd before that a Penitent cannot reflect seriously upon it but he must needs think it fit to undo it as soon as he can This we see in St. Peter as soon as he thought what he had done he went presently out and wept bitterly endeavouring as soon as possibly he might to wash away his sin with tears Excellent is the counsel which Salvian gives in this case Illico ubi concidere consurgant elevationem protinus meditentur in lapsu ac si fieri ullo modo pernicitate poenitudinis potest tam velox sit remedium resurgentis ut u x possit vestigium apparere collapsi He which Repents quickly declares how willing
is necessary to forsake all sin It vvas the Prayer of the Psalmist That he might be found in Gods Statutes and so not be ashamed Hovv did he hope to attain this He tells us Then shall I not be ashamed then I shall be sound vvhen I have respect to all thy Commandments Then I shall have confidence that I am a sincere Servant of God when I indulge no sin vvhen I devote my soul to entire Obedience and knovvingly disregard no Law of his This cannot be more clearly represented than by that vvhich St. Iames hath said concerning this matter Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all If any say Hovv can vve keep the vvhole and fail in part vvhen the vvhole includes all the parts They may easily perceive that the Apostle means Whosoever keeps the greater part and fails in some particular disobeys some Lavv of Christ is guilty of all by sinning vvilfully against one he is guilty of all i. e. he vvhich sincerely respects the Authority of the Lavv-giver vvill shovv it in obedience to his vvhole Lavv for he vvhich slights it in one is guilty of the breach of the rest inasmuch as he contemns the Authority vvhich gave them all That this is his meaning vve are taught by verse 11. vvhich says thus For he which said Do not commit Adultery said also do not kill Now if thou commit no Adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a Transgressor of the Law and so art guilty of the breach of all i. e. shall be as liable to Condemnation as if thou hadst sinned against all Neither shall Obedience performed to some Lavvs save thee from the punishment vvhich is due to the breach of others He vvhich serves a Prince in many things and yet offends against some Capital Lavv vvill not find his partial obedience save him from the sentence of punishment which shall be passed upon him for that To this I may add that excellent saying of our Saviour to the Pharisees when they pretended to be worthy of acceptation because they had been very observant of some things though they neglected others How saith our Saviour These indeed you ought to have done no doubt of it but also you ought not to have left the other undone And since they pretended to obedience for all this Fools that you are saith our Saviour did not he which made that which is without make that which is within You pretend to please God with obedidience you should do so for he is the supream Law-giver What then will you do it with partial obedience Doth he expect that all his Laws should be obey'd or doth he give you leave to pick and chuse Did not God the great Former of all things who made the inside and outside expect that you should be pure in soul and body Do you think that external washings purifie the soul You are as foolish in these thoughts as he should be who thinks a Cup is clean when only the outside is washed Will any man drink in such a Cup You please God indeed with your Obedience when by sinning in some thing or other you plainly affront him He which thinks to be accepted of God for that partial regard show'd to some of his Precepts when he slights others can no more obtain it than a Lutonist can give content to such as have Musical ears when some Strings of the Instrument upon which he plays are out of Tune 4. Sincerity must continue to approve it self such by perseverance This I shall explain as I find it expressed in two or three places of Sripture I will hear what God will speak to his servants begging mercy of him and what doth he say He will speak peace to his people he will receive their prayers and pardon their sins if they repent sincerely of them but let them not return to folly This he requires as a Condition of their Forgiveness that they do not return to folly which I have sufficiently demonstrated sin to be they must not relapse into their former courses which if they should they will add to their former sottishness and instead of approving themselves sincere Penitents show that they are most stupid Fools and vile Hypocrites When our Saviour healed the Paralytick he bad him sin no more and knowing by his Divine Wisdom what he had done 38 years before which occasioned his weakness bad him take heed of doing any such thing again assuring him if he did that he should be worse punished as a Contemned of the pardon now bestowed So when the same merciful Jesus forgave a very bad woman a sin great enough he dismissed her not carelesly but with this severe Injunction added That she should make her Repentance sincere by sinning no more He did not say Go go thy Accusers are as bad as thy self live as thou wilt I accept thy Repentance I will save thee from punishment now and hereafter No but charged her to be sincere in her Repentance and as a Testimony of it to sin no more By these Instances we may see what our Saviour takes for a proof of sincerity and it seems that he expects it of all for he prescribed the same method without alteration to both A sincere Penitent is one that knows sin to be so base a thing that nothing but Infinite Goodness can forgive it and is so sensible of the vile stain which it leaves upon his soul that he would if he could wash it off with Tears of Blood and can he easily go and commit it again He is convinced that the same wickedness and danger is in it though set off with an agreeable Tentation as was before in it when his Conscience was gall'd with reflexion upon the commission of it and knows that he hath as much need to sin no more after he hath repented of it as he had to vow he would not when he did repent Can Damnation be made plausible in any dress Will any man drink Poison because he sees it sweetned with a great quantity of Sugar The ancient Fathers in their pious Discourses concerning Repentance did usually inveigh against those which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and rejected those Penitents who sinning and repenting but repenting and sinning still checked their life all along with one and the other and affirm'd that such Converts differ'd nothing from lame Unbelievers except in this that those false Penitents knew they sinn'd and so were worse and pronounced peremptorily that those who sinned pretended to be sorry but sinned still had only a vain show of Repentance and that the true Penitent had such a sense of the nature of sin that he abhor'd to commit it any more The Author to the Hebrews calls it Repentance from dead works of which words what St. Chrysostom said is a very good Exposition He which repents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lactantius lib. 6. said That to
repent is to profess and affirm that we will sin no more The Son of Sirach tells us what sense of old the Church of the God had concerning the contrary sort of Repentance in these words If a man wash himself from the dead and toucheth it again what good shall that washing do him The Jews having touched any dead body were unclean by the Law given Num. 19. 11. and they were commanded to take it off by water of Purification as it is called but if they had washed and touched it again what good would that washing do So he that repents and fasts too as they did in the days of solemn Humiliation and then goes and does the same things again who will hear his prayer and what good shall his humiliation do him He which bewails what is passed and hath no care to mend for future deplores his sin and commits it again is like one who washeth an unburnt Brick the more water he pours on the fowler it is It was the saying of an ancient Writer and what he said was warranted by one ancienter than he St. Peter who in his second Epistle hath defined that it is better never to have known the way of Righteousness which is the Gospel than having known it to turn from it And he there compares that Repentance which keeps not a man from returning to sin to the Dogs returning to his Vomit and the washed Sows tumbling again in the next mire I shall close this with those words of our Saviour which he spake to such as believed on him that they might assure themselves and not mistake for what they saw in themselves at present If you continue in my words i. e. the obedience of my Doctrine you shall be my Disciples indeed If that which hath been said concerning Sincerity happen to raise doubts in any soul concerning his estate and he begins to say That either the Conditions of Salvation are very hard or I am no true Christian. I must answer That if those things which I have said were not true Christs Gospel would not be that which it most certainly is the Mystery of Godliness i. e. the Doctrine of Holiness and that it cannot be denied but that Christ doth accept his Servants to mercy though they do not perform perfect unsinning Obedience therefore I would speak something more to determine this matter so as not to encourage Hypocrisie which is confessedly the worst of sins nor yet to discourage any that is sincere because he is not perfect Therefore I will show what God requires of us and what he will accoount sincerity I will give the Measures of it in five Particulars which I will endeavour to adjust according to the standard of the Sanctuary the Infallible Rule which is the Word of God 1. The Gospel requires great honesty of Intention and simplicity of heart in our Return to God So the Prophet of his Penitents I will be their God for they shall return to me with their whole heart having taken it quite off from their former Idolatries and the Indulgence which they had for their old sins It was said of the Tribe of Zabulon who came to restore David to his Throne that they were not of a double heart pretending outwardly great love to David but hankering in their minds to the House of Saul Just as the Israelites set their faces towards the Holy Land and journeyed towards it but in their hearts turned back to Egypt They kept the steme of the Flesh-pots in their phansies and had the rellish of the Onions in their memories and long'd after them and so went not toward the promised Land with a full heart but would have been glad of an opportunity to have return'd to Egypt So I remember the Philistines Cows went when they carried the Ark to Bethshemesh they went but they lowed as they went and had more mind to return to their Calves than to go forward Singleness of heart is necessary for all who come unto God and therefore the Son of Syrach warned all such to take heed of approaching him with a double heart Which counsel St. Iames repeats Draw nigh to God but first purifie your hearts you double minded whose Souls are partly for God partly for Sin which the Author to the Hebrews calls drawing near with true heart purg'd from all Hypocrisie because the God with whom we have to do loves Truth in the inward parts and can take no pleasure in such as are double minded i. e. fluctuate between a pretence of being vertuous and a Law of sin called halting between two opinions leaning one while one way and one while another as those who halt do It was not a piece but all which was meant in that Demand My Son give me thy heart for so our Saviour inculcating a Rule long before given says Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with thy whole heart The contrary is so odious to God that he declared plainly that he hated the Jews aforementioned because their heart was not whole with him they did not follow him fully as was said of Ioshuah who had another spirit but turn'd aside like a deceitful bow you may as well make a crooked Bow carry an Arrow directly to the Mark as present any thing acceptable to God with a false heart Therefore our Lord in his excellent Parable of the Sower hath told us plainly that his Gospel will grow in no soyl but a good and honest heart So St. Paul told the Corinthians that they could present no fruit as an acceptable Sacrifice to God except with unleavened bread of sincerity for Hypocrisie sour's the person and his actions The true Convert endeavours to bring himself to that pass that he can say truly He loves God above all things which cannot be if he retain still the love of any sin in his soul. That man is just as religious as the Assyrian Samaritans mention'd 2 King 17. 33. who blending their Heathen Ceremonies with Jewish Rites made a Mungrel Worship and serv'd the Lord and their own God's too They did not know that the Law given was Thou shalt love the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve It was good counsel of the old Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be one thing deal plainly with God Dost thou pretend to make over thy soul to God by a Deed and art so weak as not to know that it will be abhor'd when thou hast spoil'd the Grant which preserves and maim'd it with a power of Revocation Deal fairly God will not be mocked The true Penitent must bid an Eternal farewel to all his former sins and that he may practise them no more must cut off all affection to every sinful way as the wise General when he had landed his men in the Country which he designed to Conquer burnt the Ships which brought him thither that so his Souldiers might not upon occasion
cost a great deal must be laid out and the Enemy which we have to oppose will bring much Force against us therefore we must prepare before hand by considering what we will do when it comes to the push and bear the Crosses which we may meet and follow Christ notwithstanding any inconvenience which may happen to us for so doing He which frames his Resolution so will not be surprised i. e. have his heart infeebled with sudden Assaults he foresaw what would come neither will he be weakned by the Conflict he prepared himself for the Incounter before hand The wise Son of Syrach understood this well when he said My son if thon comest to serve the Lord prepare thy soul for tentation which must be done by planting a firm Resolution of Obedience in the bottom of our hearts Our Saviour hath given the reason of this in the Parable of the Sower where he tells us of many that may receive the Seed that is the Doctrine of his Gospel into their hearts with joy and it may seem to grow and flourish in their life and yet it shall wither in the time of Tentation because it wanted root had not depth of earth and moisture as the Evangelists phrase it differently but meaning the same thing i. e. a well fixed Resolution will maintain future Obedience as Corn is nourished and supported by sufficiency of moysture which it receives from a sound root fixed deep in a moist ground and by that inabled to bring its fruit to perfection The Hypocrite and sincere Christian considered together in this matter seem to me to be well represented by Orphanah and Ruth when they began a Journey with Naomi their Mother in Law pretending that they would accompany her from the Land of Moab to her own Country They both set out with great forwardness but when Naomi told them what small expectation of worldly advantage they could have in her Orphanah's love began to vanish and extended only a farewell kiss but Ruth having heard the worst of it would not be so shaken off I perceive how it is but my Resolution continues firm for all that wheresoever thou goest I will go and nothing but death shall part thee and me So the true Christian to our Saviour I will follow thee O Lamb of God wherever thou goest I do not bargain with thee for small way and fair weather nothing but death no nor death it self shall part thee and me As thy love to me O Jesus was stronger than death so shall mine be to thee Neither things present nor things to come nor life nor death could separate St. Paul from the Love of Christ. Thus a Christian doth become stedfastly minded or as in the Hebrew strengthens himself in his Resolution exhorting himself as the Apostle did the Antiochians to cleave to God with purpose of heart He did not make them believe that they should not suffer much inconvenience if they did so No for he told them as others that they must through many Tribulations enter into the Kingdom of God but that they should resolve to suffer hardship as good Souldiers of Iesus Christ as he told Timothy and gave him for a pattern his own purpose with which he was well acquainted which was to serve Christ his Master though he knew how many and how great Afflictions awaited him continually in all places for so doing If any say It is necessary to form a strong Resolution but will such thoughts as those do it will the fore-consideration of mischiefs prepare us against them Men by foreseeing evils that may happen do excite themselves to take care to avoid them by steering a Course contrary to that which may lead upon them To this I answer That considering before hand what Inconveniencies may happen to us in a matter undertaken upon weighty Reasons will make them hurt us less when we meet them but that is not all which I meant as to this Method of forming our Resolution for that we must add the strengthening of Faith in our souls that we may have a firm belief of these things which the Gospel hath propounded to encourage us to undertake the Obedience of it notwithstanding all discouragements and that is the great Reward which shall be given to obedient Souls When our Saviour told such as came to him that possibly they might lose Father Mother Lands Life for his sake it had been a very poor Motive to make them embrace his Doctrine if he had said no more but he added that such as did so should have an hundred fold more that is more true satisfaction in what they did than they could have had in any other way in this life and in the world to come life everlasting or eternal happiness Now that he who purposes to obey Christ's Gospel sincerely must fortifie his Resolution with the strength of Faith is well expressed by an Apostle who had Experience in this matter The Devil was in the world like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he might devour and would if he could by Persecution destroy Christianity whom resist being stedfast in the Faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your Brethren who are in the world But the God of all Grace the most merciful God who hath called us to eternal Glory by Christ Iesus after you have suffered a while make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you By what another Apostle tells us by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as v. 7. stablished in or by Faith by which you are fixed to your Saviour as a Tree is to a strong Root or a House to a deep Foundation for he useth both Metaphors Our Saviour hath made no new Methods since and therefore every sincere Christian must make use of this in the forming of his Resolution and in so doing he may say thus to himself O my Soul thou art now setting upon a course of holy Life according to the Precepts of thy Saviour be real and make thy purpose strong saying with that holy man I have fully purposed to offend no more I will serve thee with my whole soul from the bottom of my heart I make a Resignation of my self to thy will and bind my self by a firm Vow the strongest Bond I can find that I will keep thy Commandments and when the Enemy of my soul shall tell me that thus I shall miss the pleasure of sin I will tell him I know it and that they are but for a season and to be despised in comparison of the favour of God and joy of doing what we should and when he adds that probably I shall suffer in this way many things not very pleasing to the flesh I will tell him that whatsoever they are I reckon them unworthy to be compared to the reward of Obedience and when he frights me with the austerity of a strict life I will tell him that excellent things have difficulty and ask him if he have not
will take away my Hedge and lay them waste Now sinner take heed what will become of thee and have a care of Folly in pretending to teach God what he might have done more for thee and bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance according to the grace bestowed Remember the Fig-tree in the Gospel which having no Fruit upon it when our Saviour sought it was cursed and withered And take St. Chrysost. counsel concerning it We were beaten in this type thou art frighted in this tree thou art instructed to thee is given wholsome Admonition prevent the coming of the Lord with good Fruits What God expects from thee let him find let him have what he desires lest what happened to this Tree from God happen to thee also It is not fit for sinners to dispute concerning grace but to make use of it and repent 2. Of this they ought to be more careful because God doth allow fair space of time to make use of the grace bestowed he repeats his methods of Salvation and sometimes alters them which is a great demonstration of his benignity and ought to move us effectually to make use of it Though the Divine Spirit will not always strive with men yet he continues his merciful Contest a great while Though sinners be dull in apprehending and careless in the consideration of grace offered yet God is not presently weary but waits to see if at last they will understand It is mentioned as a great Favour which God bestowed upon the Canaanites that he did not destroy them at once though they highly deserved it but gave them space for Repentance Thou didst punish the condemned with deliberation giving them time and place whereby they might be delivered from their malice God is pleased to lengthen the tranquility of sinners as Daniel saith and so gives opportunity to make use of grace not only offered but for some considerable time slighted that so they might be saved if they will yet make use of his Favour before their hearts are quite hardened through the deceitfulness of sin We read of the Jews in the Wilderness that they vexed the Holy Spirit with their Disobedience yet we read that he bore with their ill manners 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 40 years and so gave them fair space to repent of their Ingratitude and so save their Souls though their Carkases fell in the Desart After they were come to Canaan he used the same Patience sending his Prophets rising up early and sending them because he had compassion on his People and this he did till there was no remedy This same gentleness did our Saviour use towards them in the days of his Flesh which made him say when his grace was slighted O Ierusalem Ierusalem how oft would I have gathered thy Children together as a Hen doth gather her Brood under her Wings and ye would not The same gracious patience doth he express towards us still How oft hath God warned us by our Spiritual Guides and the Checks of our own Consciences How oft hath he advised us by such whose known Prudence and great Charity was most likely to have made their counsel acceptable How mercifully hath he tim'd his Proposals taking such seasons in which we were in a temper most likely to be wrought upon both when our hearts were softned with the sense of some merciful Providences and melted with kindness the sparks of Ingenuity being blown up into a flame or when sickness or some great affliction had shaken off our Carelesness made us see great reason to think and shown us necessity to hearken to advice Shall not the forementioned Assistances granted with so much patience make the sinner say O Lord I am that barren Fig-tree to which thou mightest have said long ago Never fruit grow on thee O heavy Curse How oft have I given thee cause to say Cut it down why cumbreth it the ground And when I have begged that thou wouldst stay another year and promised to dig about it and did not O Lord thou hast not cut me down but spared me one year and another and another I thank thee and now I will abuse thy goodness no longer I will dig about it with prayers sighs fasting and watching I will water it with my tears and endeavour that it may bring forth fruit answerable to thy just expectation O foolish Soul Is it nothing to play with Divine Patience and to make God stand by whilst thou entertainest thy self with every trifling Vanity O merciful Lord how many years have I grieved thee in this Wilderness How long hast thou born with my manners How oft have I given thee cause to say to me as once thou didst being neglected by thy sleepy Spouse who slumbred whilst thou stoodest knocking and made thee suffer the Injuries of the weather My Head is filled with Dew and my Locks with the Drops of the Night before thou couldst have admittance There are many besides the Gadarens who have turned thee out of their Coasts by their rudeness O Lord I am one of them I confess it with shame But O blessed Jesus go not from me though I deserve it Return according to thy Infinite goodness I will ever watch I will never permit the Door of my Soul to be shut against thee The Third Motive 3. The third Motive to Repentance is taken from that extreme misery which doth await the Impenitent and will unavoidably fall upon them This is told us plainly Thinkest thou this O Man that judgest them who do such things and doest the same that thou shalt escape the Iudgment of God Or despisest thou the Riches of his Goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up to thy self wrath against the day of Wrath and Revelation of the righteous Iudgment of God The goodness of God as I have shown leads the sinner to Repentance and so to Happiness by Pardon This goodness he despiseth and maintains in himself the hardness of an impenitent heart a heart that will not relent But thinkest thou this O man that so doing thou canst escape the Judgment of God No thou dost but treasure up wrath to thy self against the day of Wrath. Every sinner hath his measure for Iniquity and the Impenitent fills it up God also hath his Store-house for Vengeance and the obstinate sinner doth there lay up wrath against himself At present this is a hidden Treasure but it shall be opened in the day of Wrath when God will reveal the Righteousness of his Judgment upon such as would not repent God hath always declared this to be the last state of obdurate sinners He will wound the head of his Enemies and the hairy Scalp of such a one as goes on still in his wickedness Long before this it was said plainly by Moses If it come to pass when he heareth the words
never been and therefore they crown'd their Heads with Rose-buds and filled themselves with wine being careful lest they should go away without their part of Iollity As to the Righteous man he declares their carriage verse 10 12 13 14 15. Therefore they abused him with Rudeness and treated him with all Cruelty in this World but when they come into the other and see him stand in great boldness before God they are seized with a terrible fear and vexed with Indignation at his Happiness amazed at the strangeness of his salvation whom before they scorn'd All Impenitent sinners will be in such pain at our Saviour's coming when they see obedient Souls taken up to meet him in the Air and find themselves left upon the burning Earth till they be called before his Throne and be there adjudged to a worse Fire The Author to the Hebrews set a sharp Edge upon his Exhortation when he put it into these words Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his Rest any of you should come short of it It is not easie to imagin what grief seized the Unbelieving Jews when they saw Canaan and beheld those before them who were to go into that good Land but themselves bar'd from it After the pronuntiation of that sad Doom with what pain did they wear away the hated remnant of their Lives wandring in the Wilderness Much more grievous will it be to see the Saviour of the World come with his glorious Attendants and take up all good men and women and carry them to the Heavenly Canaan and leave the Impenitent not to perish in the Wilderness but to be carried to that Company and Torment which I have mentioned before Who would not repent that knows this 4. The misery of the Impenitent will be unsupportable because they will despair of ever mending their Condition It must needs put Vinegar into their Wounds when they are assured that they cannot be healed This Assurance depends upon two things 1. Upon this That they are told before hand that the Sentence which will be pronounced is irreversible 2. Upon this That they know that he who pronounceth it is Omnipotent and so can secure the Execution of it 1. The Sentence is recorded in Scripture and there we find it Irreversible It is Go into ever lasting Fire into Fire which shall never be quenched the Worm which torments you shall never die The Punishment is everlasting Those who are cast into the Lake are ordered to be tormented there for ever and ever This is the Sentence and he who pronounceth it is Omnipotent and so can secure the Execution of it He who could hinder the Fire of Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace from burning tormenting or consuming his Servants must needs be able to make a Fire which will burn and torment and yet not consume his Enemies Shall bold sinners be annihilated because they desire it knowing they shall have no part of Felicity if there be any in the other World No God hath appointed them worse than so and it is but just Why should not God punish such as long as he pleaseth who sinned as long as they could Why should their punishment have an end who would never leave sinning Life was propounded upon good terms which if it were refused it was declared that Death would be the Consequent they were perswaded to chuse Life they would not and having refused it will they be angry that they suffer what they would have A Law was given by the Soveraign Rector of the World Death was threatned upon the breach of it they would break it they were condemned by that Law yet Pardon was offered they would not accept it so that they perisht not because they sinned nor yet because they were condemned but because they would be Executed Their Misery is their Choice But as I said this makes it unspeakably great it will have no end There is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the LXXII translate the twentieth Verse of Psalm 55. no Ransom for such hereafter as would not return from sin by Repentance here Dives was not only vexed with Envy when he looked up and saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom but mad with Rage when he saw the unpassable Gulf between himself and them That Parable is a Map of the future state of Impenitents they have no hope to ascend out of the Infernal Pit they are sent Prisoners to that Goal whose Bars are made too strong for all created Power to break The Conclusion Now I am come to the Close of this Discourse which I shall shut up with this short Exhortation Let us all in the fear of God endeavour by timely and true Repentance to escape the Wrath to come Knowing the Terrors of the Lord let us perswade our selves to this Duty Let us not baffle all the Methods of his Grace and amongst others this of his Threatnings Have we no Passion upon which God can work Are not the Threatnings which I have mentioned dreadful Have we no Fear in us or are we afraid of any thing but God Have we lost the use of the Natural Principle of Self-preservation when it is applied to our greatest Danger Are Eternal Happiness and Misery words only Do they not signifie things of greatest Importance And yet do they make no Impression upon our hard hearts Sure then they are grown perfect Stone and not to be softned except in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone No rather O merciful God take them out of our Breasts and into their room put hearts of Flesh. Must we needs sin on though we be damned for it What is it that makes sin so dear to us We have been told by one whom we ought to believe That it were much better for us to go into Heave with an Eye plucked out with the loss of a right Hand or a Foot cut off than to carry a whole Body into Hell Yes but we sin for fear How Do we fear them who can kill the Body if they be permitted from above but after that can do no more and not dread him who can cast both Body and Soul into Hell It is a dreadful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God Impenitent to what purpose dost thou sin on and put the Evil Day from thee whose approach thou canst no more delay than hinder the Morning Sun from rising at the appointed Minute Dost thou not know that thy Iudgment doth not linger and that thy Damnation slumbereth not Pardon upon Repentance is given at an easie rate and upon that it may be had Sure thou darest not ask of God leave to sin what then makes thee so bold as not to repent He that sins Rebels He that Repents not continues his Rebellion And can that man think that God will not be even with him How can such a one escape the Damnation of Hell Shall God ever hearken to thee crying from Hell who dost despise him who