almost wholly Moral and Spiritual respecting the inward disposition of the Heart and Mind whereas on the contrary the Ceremonies of the Jewish Law were for the most part external and as the Apostle to the Hebrews calls them Carnal Ordinances respecting chiefly the outward purification of the Body therefore the Apostle calls the Christian Religion Spirit and the Jewish Religion Flesh. Thus in the Epistle to the Romans ch 8. ver 3 4. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is whereas the Jewish Religion because of its outward and carnal Ordinances was weak and insufficient to make Men truly Righteous God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Man to offer up himself a Sacrifice for the Sins of Mankind established the Christian Religion which purifying throughly the whole Heart and Mind and purging the Conscience from dead Works might through the Grace and Mercy of God avail to justifie Men from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law Thus also in the Epistle to the Galatians ch 3. ver 3. Are ye so foolish Having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the Flesh that is Are ye so foolish as to think that after ye have embraced the Truth of the Christian Religion you can become yet more perfect by observing the Ceremonies of the Jewish Law 8. These are the Terms which the Apostle expresses the Christian and Jewish Religion by in these Epistles And according to this Interpretation the substance of both these Epistles may clearly be resolved into certain Arguments by which the Apostle plainly and strongly proves against the Judaizing Believers that Obedience to the Christian Religion is sufficient to Salvation without observing the Ceremonies of the Jewish 9. His first Argument is this The Jewish Religion having proved insufficient to make Men truly good as the Natural Religion had before done there was a necessity of setting up another Institution of Religion which might be more available and effectual to that End now the setting up a new Institution of Religion necessarily implying the abolishing of the old it follows that Christianity was not to be added to Judaism but that Judaism was to be changed into Christianity that is that the Jewish Religion was from thenceforward to cease and the Christian Religion to succeed in its room This Argument the Apostle insists upon in the 1st 2d 5th 6th and 7th Chapters to the Romans and in the 1st and 4th Chapters to the Galatians In the 1st and 2d Chapters of the Epistle to the Romans he shows that the Jewish Religion had proved insufficient to make Men truly Holy as Natural Religion had also done In the 5th and 6th Chapters of that Epistle to the Romans and in the 1st to the Galatians he gives an account of the Institution of the Christian Religion as more available to that End in the 7th Chapter to the Romans he shews that this new Institution of Religion necessarily implies the abolishing of the old one and this he does from the similitude of a Womans being bound by the Law to her Husband so long as he lives but if her Husband be dead she is free from the Law of her Husband which Similitude he applies ver 4. Wherefore my Brethren ye also are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God In the 4th Chapter to the Galatians he proves the same thing from the Similitude of a young Heirs being under Governors or Tutors ver 1. I say that the Heir as long as he is a Child differeth nothing from a Servant tho' he be Lord of all but is under Tutors and Governors until the time appointed of the Father even so we when we were Children were in bondage under the elements of the World But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem those that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons that is The Jewish Law was an Institution of Religion adapted by God in great Condescention to the weak Apprehensions of that People but when the fulness of time was come God sent his Son Jesus Christ to institute a more perfect Form of Religion after the settlement of which in the World the former Dispensation was to be disannulled for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof 10. The second Argument by which the Apostle proves that the Christian Religion is sufficient to justifie a Man without mixing therewith the Rites of the Jewish is this The Summ and Essence of all Religion is Obedience to the moral and eternal Law of God since therefore the Ceremonies of the Jewish Law were instituted only for that very reason that they might promote this great End and prepare Mens Hearts for the reception of that more perfect Institution of Religion wherein God was to be worshipped and obeyed in Spirit and in Truth 't is manifest that when this more perfect Institution of Religion was settled the former which was designed for no other reason but to be a preparatory to this must be abolished This Argument the Apostle insists on in the 2d Chapter to the Romans and in the 3d to the Galatians In the 2d to the Romans he shows that every Institution of Religion and particularly the Jewish was no otherwise of any esteem in the sight of God than as it promoted that great end of Obedience to his Moral and Eternal Law For Circumcision saith he verily profiteth if thou keep the Law but if thou be a breaker of the Law thy Circumcision is made Uncircumcision Therefore if the Uncircumcision keep the Righteousness of the Law shall not his Uncircumcision be counted for Circumcision And shall not Uncircumcision which is by nature if it keep the Law judge thee who by the Letter and Circumcision dost transgress the Law For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh But he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of Men but of God v. 25. to the end In the 3d to the Galatians he argues that the Jewish Religion having been thus instituted only to prepare Men for that Obedience to the Eternal Law of God which was to be the sum and essence of the Christian Religion it follows that when this latter and more perfect Institution took place there was no need of continuing the former The Law saith he was added because of transgressions till the Seed should
Strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the World did by Baptism enter into that Covenant wherein God assured the promise of Eternal Life to all those who should believe and repent And this is what the Apostle intends by our having our Citizen-ship in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. and by our being Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ that we may be glorified together with him Rom. 8. 17. 5. Another Privilege which was represented and conferred by Baptism was the Influence and Assistance of Gods Holy Spirit All Persons that were baptized as their Bodies were washed and purified with Water so their Minds were sanctified by the Spirit of God But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 11. At their Baptism they received the Holy Ghost as a Gift constantly annexed to that Ordinance and unless they quenched and grieved it by their sins committed afterwards it always continued with them from thenceforward assisting and enabling them to perform their Duty strengthning and comforting them under Temptations and Afflictions and bearing witness with their Spirit that they were the Children of God At the first Preaching of the Gospel this influence of the Holy Spirit frequently discovered it self in those extraordinary Gifts of Speaking with Tongues Working Miracles c. as appears in the History of the Acts of the Apostles But these by degrees ceasing it afterward continued to evidence it self in the strange and almost miraculous change which it made in the Minds of Men from the most corrupt and vicious to the most virtuous and heavenly Disposition almost in an instant upon their being baptized And when this effect also grew less frequent as the Zeal and Purity of the Christians declined it yet continued always by its secret Power to renew and transform Mens Minds to instruct Men in their Duty and to inable them to perform it Hence Baptism is called the Renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. and a being born of Water and of the Spirit John 3. 5. and by the Antients frequently Illumination And Persons baptized are said to have been enlightned to have tasted of the heavenly Gift and to have been made Partakers of the Holy Ghost Heb. 6. 4. 6. The last Privilege which Persons Baptized were intitled to by virtue of that Ordinance was an Assurance of a Resurrection to Eternal Life They received as hath been said the Holy Spirit of God and that Spirit so long as it dwelt with them was a Seal and Earnest of their future Resurrection For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Rom. 8. 11. And this was most significantly represented by their descending into the Water and rising out of it again For as Christ descended into the Earth and was raised again from the dead by the Glory of the Father So Persons baptized were buried with him by Baptism into Death and rose again after the similitude of his Resurrection They were planted together in the likeness of his Death and they were by this Sign assured that they should be also in the likeness of his Resurrection Thus the Apostle St. Paul Colos. 2. 12. Ye are buried with him in Baptism wherein also you are risen with him through the Faith of the Operation of God who hath raised him from the dead To which St. Peter seems likewise to allude 1 Pet. 3. 21. The like figure whereunto viz. to the saving of the Ark by the Water of the Flood even Baptism doth also now save us by the Resurrection of Christ. 7. These are the Spiritual Graces or Privileges which were represented by the Outward and Visible Signs in Baptism and conferr'd by their means And These are what God on his part engageth and assures to us in that Great and Holy Covenant There are other things which the Persons Baptized obliged themselves to on their part in that Covenant and These are the Duties which by their Baptism they vow and take upon themselves to perform represented also by the same Outward and Visible Signs The first of these Duties which the Persons baptized promised and obliged themselves to perform was a Constant Confession of the Faith of Christ and Profession of his Religion They were admitted by Baptism into the Church and Family of Christ and they were bound at all times to own themselves his Disciples They were solemnly baptized into his Death and they were oblig'd not to be asham'd of the Cross of Christ and to confess the Faith of him crucified They owned publickly at their Baptism their Belief in God the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord and they were bound at all times to make Profession of this Faith They had with the heart believed unto Righteousness and they thought that with the Mouth Confession was necessary to be made unto Salvation They were assured that if they confessed Christ before Men he would also confess them before his Father which is in Heaven and before the Angels of God but if they were ashamed of him and denyed him before Men he would also be ashamed of them when he came in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels And so mighty an effect had this consideration upon the primitive Christians that in the times of Persecution when they were tempted to deny their Saviour and renounce the Faith which they had once Embraced they chose rather to endure the most exquisite Torments that the wit of Man could invent than either to renounce or dissemble their Christianity and those who out of Fear denyed or were ashamed to confess their Faith they looked upon to have forfeited and renounced their Baptism as having crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame 8. The Second Thing to which Persons baptized solemnly obliged themselves by their Baptism was a Death unto Sin and a New-birth unto Righteousness i. e. they engaged utterly and for ever to forsake all manner of Sin and Wickedness all Idolatrous and Superstitious Worship of false Gods all Injustice Wrong Fraud and Uncharitableness towards Men all the Pride and Vanity the Pomp and Luxury of this present World all the Lusts of the Flesh Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Gluttony Drunkenness Revellings and such like And for the future they promised to make it the business of their lives to fulfil all Righteousness according to the strictest Rules of the Christian Doctrine and Discipline to Worship the only true God with all Devotion Reverence and Humility to be exactly just in their Dealings with Men and generously charitable upon all occasions in fine to be Temperate and Sober Chast and Pure as the Worshippers of
God and his Relation to Men t is plain all that these things naturally led Men to was only to keep up in themselves such a Holy Temper and Disposition of Mind as might discover it self in a constant endeavour of being Like unto God and of obeying his Laws And though this most simple and absolute Religion did through the corruption of Mens Wills and Affections quickly degenerate into the grossest Idolatry and most ridiculous Superstition tho' instead of real and substantial Virtue the generality of Men soon fell into the Observance of foolish and absurd Rites and the World was overspread with Ignorance and Vice yet the wisest and most considerate Men amongst the Heathens always understood that God did not look so much at the Outward Pomp and Ceremony of Religion as at the Inward Holiness and Purity of the heart that God valued not Sacrifices and Rich Offerings but only the Piety and Devotion of the Mind and that the only way to keep the Favour of God was to imitate his Nature and to obey his Commands 8. Nor is it less evident that the great and ultimate design of the Jewish Religion was to preserve and increase the Moral Virtue of Men. For though God did impose upon the Jews a burdensom System of Rites and Ordinances yet 't is plain he did it not that he took any delight in that External and Ceremonial Service but that by condescending in that manner to the infirmities and prejudices of a stiff-necked People he might keep up the Worship of the True God and restore that Holiness and Inward Religion of Mens Minds which the Light of Nature had not been sufficient to maintain This therefore God perpetually inculcates to them by his Prophets that he did not value their Ceremonious Performances without Holiness and Obedience to the Moral Law I spake not to your Fathers saith he nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the Land of Egypt concerning Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices but this thing commanded I them saying Obey my Voice Jer. 7. 22. Nay so far was God from Instituting the Jewish Service upon any other design than the making that People more holy than the Heathen about them were that whensoever it failed of having that desired Effect he declares that he even abhorred all their Religious Exercises He that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a Man he that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs neck he that offereth an Oblation as if he offered Swines Blood and he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol yea they have chosen their own ways and their Soul delighteth in their Abominations Isa. 65. 3. And though the later Jews grew generally so superstitious in the observance of their Ceremonies as thereby even to neglect the weightier matters of the Law yet those who considered things more throughly always maintain'd taught zealously that it was not slaying a multitude of Sacrifices or bringing splendid Offerings or even building and adorning the Temple of God with all the cost and beauty in the World that could truly denominate a Man religious that it was a great deceit for Men to think that God would be flattered and put off with Outward Ceremonious Services instead of Truth Righteousness and Holiness of Mind and that nothing could be more ridiculous than for Men to be very careful not to enter into the Temple which is built of Wood and Stone without first washing and cleansing their bodies and yet not be afraid to appear before God in Prayer with unclean and polluted Minds 9. Lastly That the only design of God's Instituting the Christian Religion was to make Men yet more Vertuous and more Holy is evident from the whole Tenour of the Gospel The design of our Saviour's Life and Preaching was to give Men a body of more Spiritual and Refined Laws to set them an Example of a more perfect and holy Life and to make a clearer Revelation of the Wrath of God against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men The Design of his Death and Passion was to make an Expiation for Sins that are past and to make a fuller discovery of the heinous nature of Sin which God would not pardon even upon true Repentance without so great and sufficient a Satisfaction And the Design of his sending the Holy Spirit was to purifie to himself a peculiar People by teaching and enabling Men that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts they should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World 10. Accordingly we find the Apostles every where in their Epistles plainly declaring and giving Men warning that since they had now received a most full Revelation of the Will of God and a most clear Discovery of the Rewards and Punishments of a future State if their Virtue did not become proportionable to their Knowledge and they purified not themselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God it would be even worse for them than if they had never known the way of Righteousness Be not deceived saith Saint Paul neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards c. i. e. no unrighteous person shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 9. And again Let no man deceive you with vain words For because of these things cometh the Wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience Eph. 5. 6. And again Of which things I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5. 21. And all those Metaphorical Expressions such as the New Man the New Creature the New Birth Regeneration Conversion and the like by which the Apostles frequently represent Religion do manifestly tend to this that under the Gospel-dispensation nothing will stand a Man in any stead but an entire Reformation of Life and Manners and that all other things are nothing except only the keeping the Commandments of God 11. How miserably then do those Men abuse this great Salvation and turn the Grace of God into lasciviousness who imagine that because Christ has disannulled the Old Law which was appointed only for a time therefore we may be excused by our Christian Liberty from obeying the Eternal Commands of God that because Christ has established for us a Covenant of Grace therefore we need not be zealous to abound in good Works that because Christ has Redeemed us from the Punishment of Sin by the Sacrifice of himself therefore we need not be zealous to rescue our selves from under the Power and Dominion of it that because the Righteousness of Christ shall be available for us unto Justification therefore there is no necessity we should have any of our own In a word that because Christ has promised Salvation to those who believe the Gospel therefore there is no necessity we should be solicitous to
indure to hear or read of them If all this I say be true 't is evident that if notwithstanding this we still continue in Wickedness all these specious Pretences will by no means excuse us but we shall be found to have done despite unto the Spirit of Grace and to have neglected our great Salvation 4. Think not therefore that the Corruption of your Nature is greater than that Grace and Assistance which God now affords you For so you may sit still under the Dominion of sin in a vain expectation of being converted by some sudden and All-powerful Grace of God till you be surprized by the Revelation of his righteous Judgment But know that to all those who are Baptized in his Name and who Profess and Endeavour to obey his Commandments God doth give both to will and to do of his good Pleasure and therefore you are from henceforward indispensably bound to work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling Think not that the Temptations of the World and the Devil are more powerful than that strength wherewith God now indues you For so you will be sure to be overcome by them But know that our Saviour has Overcome the World and the Devil so that they have no more power over the Servants of God and therefore we are bound to overcome them also and to be more than Conquerours through him that loved us Rom. 8. 37. Think not that the Commandments of God are hard and impossible to be kept For so you will certainly not be able to keep them But know that thro' Christ who now strengthens you you may make them easie and light and pleasant and therefore you are from henceforward indispensably obliged to keep them 5. These are the Qualifications with which a Person ought to come to Confirmation that he may receive it with Advantage and Profit I shall now give some brief Directions how one that has thus solemnly entred into the Profession of Religion may continue to live worthy of that Holy Profession CHAP. VIII What is to be done after Confirmation Of Perseverance and of the danger of Apostacy 1. AND First Persuade your self of the necessity of Persevering in the constant Practice of Religion and Virtue from this Period The Primitive Christians thought themselves absolutely obliged to live in the constant Practice of all Holiness and Virtue from the time of their Baptism to their Death And if we have taken upon our selves the same Baptismal Vow if We have entred into the same Profession of Religion We ought also from that time forward to have the same Apprehensions Think not that the making a Publick and Solemn Profession of Religion will be of any advantage to you unless the following part of your Life be suitable to and worthy of that Profession Think not that your present Zeal and warmth of Devotion will stand you in any stead unless it work in you such a lasting Disposition of Mind as will afterwards when Temptation and Trial shall succeed preserve you stedfast and unmoveable in the performance of your Duty 2. The Christian Life is a Spiritual Warfare wherein we must fight against the Temptations of this World for the Glories of the other and the Reward is promised not to him that shall fight but to him that shall overcome We are told that many should embrace the Doctrine of Christ and receive his Word even with joy but because in time of Temptation they would fall away it should profit them nothing to have once been Believers This whole Life is a state of Trial and Probation and however painfully we have laboured yet if we leave off before our Work be done we must lose our Reward They that run in a race saith the Apostle run all but 't is not they that rûn but they that continue to run without fainting to the end that shall obtain the Crown Men are exceeding apt to deceive themselves with an imagination that some warm fits of Devotion the doing now and then a work of Charity and the abstaining from Sin for some time when perhaps the Temptation is less violent than ordinary will be look'd upon as the running the Christian Race But let no Man deceive himself with vain Imaginations This is indeed running but not so as to obtain this is indeed fighting but not so as to conquer but to be overcome 'T is not the struggling with Sin or the interrupting a wicked Life by some short lived Repentance that will intitle us to a Crown of Righteousness but we must overcome and we must evidence our Victory by a steady course of Piety or our Labour will prove to be in vain 3. Many there are who upon some affecting Discourse or some remarkable Providence or some occasional warmth of Devotion do please themselves with good Resolutions do admire the Pleasures of Virtue and with a transporting glimpse of the Joys of Holiness do imagine themselves almost at the Gates of Heaven and yet when the Fit is over the Cares of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches and the Lusts of other Things returning upon them choke the Word and it becometh unfruitful and all their Pious Intervals serve to no other purpose but to make their Misery so much the more lamentable and deplorable by how much they have come nearer to the Kingdom of God and have been almost upon the point of making themselves Happy What pity is it that they who have had a taste of the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come should for want of being able to withstand the Allurements of some trifling Pleasure or for want of Resolution to incounter some short and temporal Hardship forfeit all their glorious Hopes of Happiness and lose the Crown of Immortality Yet that they must do so if their Love wax cold and they be offended at the appearance of any Temptation the Scripture every where most expresly assures us 4. He that endureth to the end saith our blessed Saviour the same shall be saved Matth. 24. 13. But if any one draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him Heb. 10. 38. For no Man having put his hand to the Plough and looking back is meet for the Kingdom God Luke 9. 62. Not every one that saith unto him Lord Lord not every one that embraces his Religion and makes Profession of it nay not every one that receiveth his Word with gladness and obeys it for a time even with Sincerity but he that with an unwearied constancy maintains his Resolutions and in the midst of all Temptations preserves his Integrity to the end he only has a certain Title to our Saviour's Promise 5. And to the same purpose the Apostle St. Paul Rom. 2. 7. assures the Promise of Eternal Life not to those who shall begin to do well or to those who shall by fits and at certain times do some works of Righteousness but to those only who shall persevere in a
nothing but Uncertainties and Fears CHAP. XI Of the Contempt of the World 1. FOurthly Endeavour to get above all the Desires of this present World This is the hardest Lesson in Religion but withal the most necessary and the most useful All Wickedness proceeds from the immoderate desire of some temporal Injoyment or other and the Love of the World is most immediately the Root of all Evil. No Man sins but when he is seduced by an over-fond desire of some Honour Profit or Pleasure and no Man can be sure of preserving his Innocence so long as he is inslaved to and under the Dominion of any of these Desires The way therefore to lay the Ax to the Root of the Tree and to remove the Foundation and first Cause of our Misery is to get above all the Desires of these Transitory Enjoyments and to keep them perfectly in subjection and under the command of Reason We must be able to contemn these things even where they are Innocent and then we may be secure that they shall never be able to seduce and intice us into any thing that is sinful 2. Now the means by which the Christian Religion teaches us to do this is not as I have already said by retiring and withdrawing our selves from the World to neglect all Business and lay aside all Secular Cares but by fixing our Thoughts stedfastly upon that future State which the Gospel has clearly discovered to us to fill our Minds with such strong and vigorous Ideas of the Happiness of the next World as will in any state of Life beget and preserve in us a settled Contempt of all the Enjoyments of this 3. The first and lowest degree of this Contempt of the World is a Resolution not to purchase any of its Injoyments with the Commission of any great and known sin This is the very lowest degree of Sincerity and the least that any one who pretends at all to be a Christian can resolve with himself to do for the sake of God and religion He that to purchase any Honour or Profit will not scruple to make use of downright Fraud or of any Means which he himself knows and is convinced to be Unlawful He that to gratifie any sensual Appetite and to injoy a present Pleasure will venture directly to break a positive and express Command such a one bids open Defiance to God and Virtue and can hardly impose upon himself with any vain Imaginations of his being Religious 4. The next degree of this Contempt of the World is a Willingness to part with all things for the sake of Christ when we cannot keep them together with our Religion This also our Saviour absolutely requires of them that will be his Disciples If any Man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple And whosoever doth not bear his Cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple Luke 14. 26 27. 'T is true this is more peculiarly adapted to those early times of the Gospel when 't was impossible for a Man to embrace the Doctrine of Christ and profess himself his Disciple but he must immediately forsake all that he had in the World and become poor in the most literal sense for Christ's sake But certainly it thus far obliges Christians at all times and even when God does not call them to suffering and parting with all for his sake that they ought to have such an indifferency for the things of this World as to be always in a readiness to part with whatever shall come in Competition with their Duty 5. But there is yet another degree of this Contempt of the World which though less considered is yet of more universal and more constant obligation And that is that We be sparing and temperate in the use even of Lawful and Innocent Enjoyments as those who expect their Portion not in the Pleasures of this World but in the Happiness of the next This is the proper and peculiar Virtue of the Christian Religion and indeed the only true Rule of Temperance To give Men a full Liberty of satisfying to the utmost all their sensual Appetites in all instances not directly forbidden and to set their Hearts upon the Injoyment of all worldly Pleasures as far as they can possibly within the Limits of Innocence is to allow Men a Liberty which Experience shews they cannot bear and which will certainly seduce them into the Borders of sin On the other hand to restrain Men from injoying the good things of this present World any further than is strictly necessary to preserve their Life and Health is to lay a snare on the Consciences of men and to tie 'em up to what God and Nature has not tied them The only true measure therefore of Christian Temperance is that we so govern our selves with respect to the Injoyments of this present Life as becomes those who profess to be followers of Christ and Candidates for Heaven who look upon this World only as a State of Labour and Trial but expect their Portion and their Happiness in the World to come That is that we so use these present good things as to preserve our selves always in the Disposition fittest for the Performance of our Duty to keep the flesh always in Subjection to the Spirit and to maintain constantly that Temper of Mind which may prepare and fit us for the Injoyment of God and for the Happiness of Heaven 6. The Design of the Christian Religion is to draw off Mens Affections from things earthly and sensible and to fix them on Nobler and Spiritual Objects It gives us the most refined Precepts exemplified in the Life of our Saviour for our Rule to walk by and sets before us as the Reward of our Obedience the Happiness of that Place where we shall be like to God because we shall see him as he is The first thing therefore that our Saviour requires of them that will be his Disciples is so to wean themselves from this present World as to be always prepared for the more spiritual Happiness of that which is to come The first thing that the Christian Religion teaches us is so to look beyond this World in the main Scope of our Lives and to have so slight an esteem for and be so little immersed in all earthly Injoyments as to have our Hearts fixed always there where we expect our Treasure It teaches us to look upon the good things of this present World as Talents committed to our Charge for the doing what good we can in the present State and thereby purchasing to our selves a Treasure incorruptible in the future It teaches us to set our Affections wholly on things above and to have our Conversation always in Heaven It teaches us to love God as the Supream and Only Good and to make it the Business and the Pleasure of our Life to Advance his Glory and to
shall have of things at the conclusion of our Lives when Death and Judgment approach and let us view things now in the same Light as we know certainly we shall be forced to do then We know we shall then lament the loss of every opportunity of doing good which we have omitted and shall grutch every minute of Folly and Vanity which might have been employ'd to the increase of the Portion of our future Happiness We know we shall then look upon all the past pleasures of Life as emptiness and nothing and be convinced that there is no Pleasure but in true Virtue and no Fruit in any thing but in having done much Good And if we do indeed know this what can be more miserably and more inexcusably foolish than not to make the same Judgment of things now as we know assuredly we shall do afterwards The reason why Men die full of Fears and Uncertainties full of dark Suspitions and confused Doubts is because they are conscious to themselves that they have lived carelesly and indifferently without having taken any Pains either for the Service of God or for the Good of Men and without having used any zealous Endeavours to overcome the present World or to obtain the future But if Men would consider things in time if they would pass true Judgments of things and act accordingly with Resolution and Constancy they might then know certainly their own State and might live with Comfort and die with Assurance CHAP. XII Of our Obligation to be particularly careful to avoid those Sins to which we are most in danger to be tempted 1. FIfthly Be particularly careful to resist and avoid those Sins to which either your Constitution Company or Employment make you most in danger to be tempted This is the great Trial of every Man's Sincerity and of his Growth in Virtue He that for the Love of God and the Hopes of Heaven can mortifie and deny his most darling Lusts can quell and keep under his most natural Passions can resist and constantly overcome those Temptations by which he is most in danger to be seduced into Sin such a one has an infallible Assurance of his own Sincerity and is very near to the Perfection of Virtue But if there be any one Instance wherein a Man habitually falls short of his Duty or indulges a Lust a Passion a sinful Desire 't is certain whatever other Virtues he may be indued with that he either acts upon wrong Principles and is not sincere or that his Resolutions are hitherto too weak and ineffectual to intitle him to the Comfort of Religion here or to the Assurance of Happiness hereafter 2. There is no Man whom either the Constitution of his Body or the Temper of his Mind the Nature of his Employment or the Humour of his Company does not make obnoxious to some particular sort of Temptations more than to any other And in this thing it is that those who have something of Sincerity and will not with others run into all excess of Riot do yet make shift to deceive and impose upon themselves They think they are indued with many good and virtuous Qualities they hate Profaneness and professed enormous Impiety they know themselves innocent of many great Sins which they see others continually commit But something to which they are particularly tempted they indulge themselves in and the fatal Mischief is that those Sins which they see others commit and to which themselves are not violently tempted seem most absurd and unreasonable and easie to be avoided but that to which they are themselves addicted they think to be either so small as not to be of any very evil Consequence or so difficult to be resisted as to be allowed for among the unavoidable Infirmities of Nature Thus to many who have little or no Dealings in the World the Sins of Fraud Injustice Deceit Over reaching and the like seem very heinous base and unreasonable while at the same time they allow themselves in habitual Intemperances and Impurities as either harmless Vices or almost insuperable Weaknesses On the other hand there is no less a Number of those who applaud themselves in their own Minds that they are not as other Men Intemperate Debauched Drunkards Revellers and the like while at the same time they look upon Fraud and Deceit Tricking and Over-reaching as the necessary Art and Mystery of Business 3. But this is a very great and a very fatal Cheat. No Man can have any true and solid Peace in himself no Man can have any just Confidence in his Addresses to God no Man can have any Title to the Promises and Comforts of Religion here much less to the Glory and Reward of it hereafter before his Obedience be if not Perfect yet at least Universal God will not share with any Impiety nor ever accept of any Man's Obedience so long as 't is mixed with the accursed thing If there be any Sin that we can hardly part with if there be any Lust that is like a right Hand or a right Eye this is the thing that God hath proposed to us to Conquer this is the good Fight which we must fight through Faith this is the Victory to which Heaven is proposed For this we must gather together all the Forces of Reason and Religion for this we must strengthen our selves by Prayer and Consideration In this Warfare we must resolve strongly persevere obstinately and though we be conquered yet resolve to overcome always remembring that this is the Stake for Life or Death Happiness or Misery Heaven or Hell 4. Here therefore let every Man consider with himself and let him well observe his own Temptations and his own Strength Let him consider not how many Sins he can easily avoid but by what Temptations he may most easily be seduced and let him make it his Business to guard himself there Let those who are young and not yet entred into the hurry and business of the World not value themselves upon their being innocent from the Sins of Fraud and Injustice of Covetousness and Extortion or the like for that perhaps they may be without any Pains and without overcoming any powerful Temptation but let them try themselves whether they be firm against the Temptations of Vanity and Lightness of Heat and Passion of Intemperance and Impurity and let them judge of themselves by their behaviour in these Instances wherein they are most obnoxious Let them consider that their peculiar Task is to overcome the wicked one 1 John 2. 13. to subdue the Flesh to the Spirit to conquer and get above those Pleasures which sensualize the Soul and inslave the Mind to the Body and thereby bring it under the Power of Death and Destruction And in fine to strive continually to cleanse themselves from all Impurity not only of Body but even of Mind and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God Let them consider that they are by Baptism dedicated to the
particularly and endeavours to amend them will be able to avoid and overcome many of those things which are by others looked upon as the unavoidable Frailties and Infirmities of Nature 7. And in proportion as a Man arrives nearer to this perfect State of Virtue so will that Peace of Conscience which is the peculiar Reward of Religion in this World grow up by degrees to a settled Joy and Assurance of Mind One whose Life is void of great and scandalous Crimes but otherwise not strict and diligent will be free indeed from the Terrour and Amazement of the Wicked but because he has taken no great Pains nor done any thing considerable for the Love of God and for the sake of Religion his Mind will yet be disturbed with many scrupulous Doubts and uncertain Fears But when a Man has been truly diligent to improve himself to the utmost and has with Zeal and Earnestness pressed forward towards Perfection then is it that he attains to that Tranquillity and Assurance which wise Men have compared to a continual Feast The Peace and Satisfaction of Mind which some have found upon the careful and strict examination of one past Days Actions has been very great But that compleat Assurance which arises from the Conscience of a considerable part of a Man's Life having been spent in the Strictness and in the Purity of the Gospel is a Pleasure infinitely surpassing all the Enjoyments of Sense being indeed a fore-taste of the Happiness of Heaven and a Rejoycing before-hand in Christ with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Such a one as has arrived to this pitch lives in Peace and dies with Assurance and at the appearance of our Lord shall be presented fault less before the Presence of his Glory with exceeding Joy THE END Essay the Third Of Repentance CHAP. I. Of Repentance in General 1. THE plain and express Condition upon which the Gospel promises Salvation to all Men is Obedience or a Holy Life The Time from which this Holy Life is to begin is either Baptism or Confirmation that is the Time when those who are either at riper Years converted to the Christian Religion or have from their Infancy been brought up in the Profession of it come to a clear and distinct knowledge of their Duty That from this Period every Man is obliged to persevere in a constant Course of Holiness that is in a continual and sincere though weak and imperfect Obedience to all the Commands of God the Gospel plainly declares to us And that the glorious Rewards of Heaven should be at all promised to so small a Service as the imperfect Obedience which weak sinful degenerate Man should be able to perform is the Purchase of the Price of the Blood of the Son of God and the Effect of the infinite Riches of the Divine Mercy made known to us by Christ. Had God therefore to those who had once been received to the Mercy of the Gospel and had once been made partakers of the heavenly Gift and had tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come allowed no more Remission for wilful and presumptuous Sins but accepted those only who having once washed their Garments in the Blood of the Lamb should from thenceforward keep themselves in a Gospel Sense pure and undefiled yet had his Mercy been infinitely greater than sinful Man could have deserved or expected But such is the earnestness of God's Desire to make his Creatures Happy and such the Abundance of the Grace made known by the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that even to those who having been already admitted to the Mercy and Favour of the Gospel and having received the Promise of a great and glorious Reward upon the Condition of an easie and most reasonable Obedience and having been endued with the Earnest of his Holy Spirit shall notwithstanding relapse after all this into wilful and deliberate Sins even to these I say he has yet further granted that if by a solemn Repentance they shall again unfeignedly renew their Obedience and from that Period persevere in well-doing to the end they shall yet attain to the Reward of the Faithful and shall be saved as Fire-brands plucked out of the Fire or as Men escaping upon a Plank after Shipwreck 2. By Repentance therefore I would all along in this Essay be understood to mean not that Repentance which is the constant Duty of all Christians who are indeed continually bound to repent in general of all those Slips and Infirmities those Defects and Surprizes which by the Condition of the Gospel-Covenant are most readily pardoned For this Repentance is not properly a new Period or Beginning of a Holy Life but a necessary and continued part of that imperfect Obedience which Man in this degenerate State is capable of performing and which God has in his Gospel declared that he will always accept instead of perfect Innocence But by Repentance I here understand that Repentance which is an entire change of Heart and Mind a turning from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan unto God whereby those who by wilful and deadly Sins have left their first Estate and forfeited their Title to the Crown of Righteousness are to begin anew their Obedience in order to recover the Mercy and Favour of God And that no one may be perplexed with vain Scruples and unreasonable Fears this Repentance is such as plainly no Man is obliged to but those who are guilty of great and deliberate Sins of Blasphemy Perjury open Profaneness or contempt of Religion of Murder Sedition Theft manifest and designed Injustice Hatred Fraud Wrong or Oppression of Adulteries Fornications Uncleannesses or habitual Drunkenness and Intemperance or of some other Sins either maliciously wilful or notoriously habitual CHAP. II. That God allows Repentance even to the greatest of Sinners 1. IN the Primitive Church there was a Sect of Men who upon a mistaken Interpretation of some Passages of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews contended that there was no more place of Repentance allowed to those who after Baptism should fall into any of these wilful and deliberate Sins They taught that in Baptism indeed all manner of Sin and Blasphemy whatsoever was forgiven Men absolutely and wash'd away by the Blood of Christ but that if after that great Remission they sinned again wilfully and presumptuously they could no more obtain any further Pardon than the Death of Christ that great Sacrifice for Sin could be repeated and that therefore however they should sincerely repent yet there now remained nothing more for them but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which should devour the Adversary But that this was a great mistake and that God does admit even the greatest of Sinners upon their true Repentance to Forgiveness and Pardon is evident both from the Nature of God and the Design of Christianity from the Practice
of the Apostles and from the general Sense of the Primitive Church 2. God is a Being as of infinite Purity and Holiness so also of infinite Goodness and Mercy and as he cannot possibly be reconciled to Men so long as they continue wicked so when ever they cease to be so and return again to the Obedience of Gods Commands and to the imitation of his Nature we cannot suppose but that he will again admit them to his Pardon and Favour Goodness and Mercy are our most natural Notions of God and the Discoveries which he hath made of himself by Revelation are most exactly agreeable thereto At the passing by of his Glory before Moses he proclaimed himself The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth forgiving Iniquities Transgressions and Sins Exod. 34. 6. By the Prophets he declares and swears by himself As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Ezek. 33. 1â— And above all by that stupendous Instance of Mercy the sending his only Son out of his Bosom to give himself a Sacrifice for the Sins of Men he has discovered such an earnest desire of our Reconciliation and Salvation as will be the everlasting subject of the Praises of Men and the Admiration of Angels If therefore God when he had made a Covenant of perfect Obedience and had not promised Pardon at all to great and presumptuous Sins did yet give Pardon and declare also to the Jews by his Prophets that he would do so And if when Men were yet Enemies to him he was so willing that not any should perish but all should come to Repentance yea so desirous to have all Men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth that he not only spared not his own Son to deliver him up for us all but tells us even of Joy in Heaven at a Sinners accepting the gracious Terms of the Gospel and represents himself as a tender Father running to meet his returning Prodigal and falling up-his Neck and kissing him If this I say was the Compassion which God shewed to Man in his first sinful and miserable State 't is very reasonable to conclude and hope that his Mercy is not so entirely exhausted at once but that the same Pity may be yet further extended even to those also who after the knowledge of the Truth having been seduced by the Temptations of the World and the Devil to depart from God and to forsake their Duty shall again return unto him with Sincerity and Perseverance 3. The Design of the Gospel is to teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And certainly whensoever it comes to have this effect upon a Man it gives him a Title to the blessed Hope and a well-grounded Assurance of Mercy at the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The Foundation of the Christian Dispensation upon which the whole Summ of Affairs is now established is Faith and Repentance and whensoever a Man so truly repents as to purifie himself effectually from every evil Work and by the Spirit mortifies the deeds of the Body he shall certainly live Our Saviour himself gives express Directions when a Man's Christian Brother trespasses against him to use all possible means to reclaim him both by private and publick Reproof before he rejects him utterly as a Heathen Man and a Publican He commands us though our Brother sins never so often against us yet if he turns again and repents to forgive him and has promised upon this Condition that we also shall in like manner find forgiveness at the Hands of God And in the Epistles sent by the Apostle St. John to the Bishops of the Seven Churches of Asia he exhorts them earnestly to remember from whence they were fallen and to repent and be zealous and do their first works and promises that if upon this Invitation any Man would hear his Voice and open the Door that is would be moved by these Exhortations to repent and amend he would come in to him and sup with him that is would again receive him to his Mercy and Favour 4. Accordingly the Writings of the Apostles though directed to Christians are yet full of earnest Exhortations to Repentance and their History contains many Instances of those who after great falls were thereby restored to their first state St Peter exhorts Simon Magus who thought the Gift of God could be bought with Money to repent of this his wickedness and gives him encouragement to hope that he should thereupon obtain forgiveness Acts 8. 22. St. John tells us That if any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our Sins 1 John 2. 2. St. James tells us That if any one err from the Truth and one convert him he that converteth the Sinner from the Error of his way shall save a Soul from Death and shall hide a multitude of Sins Jam. 5. 20. St. Jude advises us to have compassion of some making a difference and to save others with fear pulling them out of the fire ver 23. St. Paul exhorts Timothy to instruct in meekness those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth and that they may recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil who are taken Captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2. 25. He advises the Galatians that if any Man be overtaken in a fault they which are spiritual should restore such a one in the Spirit of meekness considering themselves lest they also be tempted Gal. 6. 1. He threatens the Corinthians to excommunicate those who had sinned and had not repented of their uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they had committed 2 Cor. 12. 21. And even the Incestuous Person who had been guilty of such a Sin as was not so much as named among the Heathens themselves he delivers indeed to Satan for the destruction of the Flesh but it was that the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 5. 5. For when the punishment which was inflicted of many had been sufficient to reduce him to Repentance he writes to the Church to forgive him and comfort him lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow 2 Cor. 2. 7. 5. And this excepting as I have said one Sect of Men was the constant Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church To those who were yet Innocent they thought indeed no Promises too great and no Threatnings too severe whereby they might make them infinitely careful to preserve their Innocence But those who had already sinned they incouraged to repent and upon their Repentance admitted them again to the Peace of the Church and
to the Assurance of Pardon They taught that the Holy Word and Church of God always admitted of true Repentance That he that had fallen might yet recover and escape if he repented truly of what was past and for the future amended his Life and made satisfaction to God That God not only gave full Remission of Sins in Baptism but allowed also to those who should afterward sin a further place of Repentance That to every one who heartily and sincerely repents God readily sets open a Door of Pardon and the Holy Spirit returns again into a Mind purified from the pollutions of Sin That all Men who repent even those who by reason of their great Sins did not deserve to have found any more Pardon shall be saved because God out of his great Compassion will be patient towards Men and keep the Invitation which he hath made by his Son That God will judge every Man in the Condition he finds him and that therefore as it will nothing avail a Man to have been formerly Righteous if he at last grows wicked so one who has formerly lived wickedly may afterwards by Repentance and renewed Obedience blot out his past Transgressions and attain to the Crown of Virtue and Immortality 6. Thus that God admits even the greatest of Sinners to Repentance is evident both from the Nature of God and the Design of the Gospel from the Practice of the Apostles and from the constant Doctrine of the Primitive Church But then to make this Repentance such as will be acceptable to God and effectually available to obtain Pardon there are several considerable Circumstances required And these I think may be reduced to these Three First That it must be Early Secondly That it must be Great and Thirdly That it must be constant and persevering in its Effects CHAP. III. That true Repentance must be Early 1. FIrst That Repentance may be true and available to obtain Pardon it is necessary that it be Early that is The Sinner must forsake his Vices so timely as to obtain the Habits of the contrary Virtues and to live in them Otherwise he can have no security that his Repentance is hearty or if it be that it will be accepted by God 2. First We can never have any security that a late Repentance is hearty and sincere A Man may very well at the amazing approach of Death and Judgment be extreamly sorry that he has lived wickedly he may strongly wish that he had lived the Life of the Righteous and resolve if he were to live over again that he would do so and yet all this may be meerly the Passion and not at all the Duty of Repentance The Duty of Repentance is an entire change of Mind and an effectual reformation of Life But the Passion of Sorrow and Remorse is such as accursed Spirits shall be for ever tormented with in vain and such as a dying Penitent can never be secure that this late Repentance will exceed Many upon a Bed of Sickness have made all the holy Vows and pious Resolutions that could be desired nay perhaps there is hardly any wicked Man who when he thinks he is about to die does not desire and design to amend yet how few are there of these who if they recover do ever make good those Vows and Resolutions And no late Penitent can ever be sure that this would not be his own Case When an habitual Sinner is in Time convinced of the evil of his ways and resolves and endeavours in earnest to reform while he has Life and Health and Strength to do it yet seldom does he at the first trial work himself up to such an effectual and prevailing Resolution against his Sin as to change his whole course of Life in an instant and at once deliver himself out of the Bondage of Corruption into the glorious Liberty of the Children of God Usually he proceeds by degrees and after many Relapses and renewed Resolutions arrives at last to a settled and steady course of Piety How much less then can a late Penitent who labours under all the contrary disadvantages ever be secure that his Repentance will be sincere and his Resolutions effectual enough to translate him at one effort from the Power of Darkness into the Kingdom of God 3. For this Reason the Ancients never admitted any to the Peace and Communion of the Church who began not their Repentance before the time of Sickness Those saith St. Cyprian who would not in time repent and by publick Lamentation testifie their hearty Sorrow for their Sins we utterly reject from all hope of Peace and Reconciliation if in the time of Sickness and Danger they begin to intreat because then 't is not true Repentance for their Sin but the fear of approaching Death that drives them to beg for Mercy and no one is worthy to receive any comfort in Death who never considered before hand that he was to die 4. But Secondly Supposing a late Repentance to be hearty and sincere yet have we no positive and absolute Promise that it shall be accepted The plain and express Condition of the Covenant established by Christ is a Holy Life that is a constant and persevering Obedience to all the Commands of God in a Gospel and Merciful Sense allowing for humane Weaknesses and Imperfections from the time of our Baptism or of our coming to the knowledge of the Truth until the end of our Lives And the least that can possibly lay Claim to the Reward promised upon this Condition is such a Repentance as produces the actual Obedience of at least some proportianable part of a Man's Life 5. To say that the Original Condition of the Christian Covenant is such that a Man may safely live wickedly all his Life and satisfie all his Lusts and Appetites to the utmost provided he does but leave off and forsake his Sins at the last is really to take away the necessity of a Holy Life and to undermine the very Foundation of all Virtue For considering on the one hand how prevailing the Custom of the World how deceitful the Temptations of the Devil and how powerful the Assaults of Lust and Passion are and on the other hand how seldom sudden Death happens and how little the Excellency of the Christian Life is understood it will be hard according to this Doctrine to find Arguments sufficiently strong to move Men to repent and to reform immediately If there be no other danger but in sudden Death and no greater malignity in Sin than what may be cured by an easie and short Repentance at last most Men will venture to be wicked at present and trust to the opportunities of growing better afterward Though therefore God may possibly have reserves of Mercy which in event he may exercise towards Men in their last extremity yet Originally 't is certain the Gospel Covenant gives no assurance of Comfort but either to a constant and persevering Holiness