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A46799 Practical discourses upon the morality of the Gospel Jenks, Sylvester, 1656?-1714. 1699 (1699) Wing J630D; ESTC R220354 63,738 198

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gives us the Mastery we strive for but never-gives it without our striving for it This Grace is never granted to the Lazy and Idle Prayers of a Careless Sinner nor ever denied to the Faithful and Vigorous Endeavours of an Humble Penitent A Penitent who labours all he can to Humble himself and lays aside all Censuring of his Neigbours that he may the more effectually call home his Serious Thoughts to Censure and Correct himself Who spares no Pains to do or suffer any thing that may be requisite or useful to reform his Life Who frequently and seriously Reflects upon the Vanity and Emptiness of all Worldly Enjoyments the Folly and Mischief of doating upon them the great Advantages and Pleasures of despising them and being thus deliver'd from the Tyranny and Slavery of all his Arbitrary Restless and Insatiable Passions A Penitent who uses all his Art and Industry to set his Heart at Liberty and never leaves off Cuarrelling with this unconstant silly miserable World till he is quite fall'n out with it and Hates the very Thought of being reconcil'd A Penitent I say who will not endure to hear of any Treaty with his Enemies the World the Flesh and the Devil but knowing well their Treachery does whatsoever he can 1. To avoid all those Occasions in which they seek to Surpri●● him 2. To cut off all Provisions and Succours which may Feed and Reinforce them 3. To watch their Motions with such Care that not a single Thought Imagination or Delight can ever advance one step beyond the Lines of their Duty without being presently observed and vigorously repuls'd Such a Penitent as this will certainly succeed and gain the Grace he strives for 'T is true the Endeavours of a Penitent who has been long a Sinner are as Weak as Water But nevertheless if to the utmost of his Power he struggles with himself to do all those things whatsoever Jesus says unto him he will soon by joyful Experience find the Weakness of his Water chang'd into the Strength of Wine Let him but fill up his best Endeavours to the Brim of his Capacity this he can always do and God requires no more let him do but this and he will soon be convinc'd that Miracles are not ceas'd The World indeed may wonder at his change of Life and so did the Ruler of the Feast when he Tasted the Water that was made Wine he wonder'd because he knew not whence it was But the Servants which drew the Water knew And all God's Servants who have been Sinners heretofore know very well from whence their Change proceeds They know 't is from the Right Hand of the Highest who will not let us lose the every least part of our Labour but for little Drop of Water gives us in Exchange an equal Share of Wine and and in Requital of our Weak but Constant and Sincere Endeavours never fails to Assist our Victory with a Proportionable Grace and Crown it with Eternal Glory Amen Discourse VII Of True Repentance IN the Fifteenth Year of the Reign of Tiberius Caesar Pontius Pilate being Governor of Judea and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee and his Brother Philip Tetrarch of Iturea and of the Reign of Trachonitis and Lysanias the Tetrarch of Abilene Annas and Caiphas being the High Priests the Word of God came unto John the Son of Zacharias in the Wilderness And he came into all the Country about Jordan Preaching the Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins as it is Written in the Book of the Words of Isaias the Prophet A Voice of one crying in the Wilderness prepare the Way of the Lord make his Paths Straight every Valley shall be Fill'd and every Mountain and Hill shall be brought Low and the Crooked Ways shall be made Straight and the Rough ones shall be made Smooth and all Flesh shall see the Salvation of God Luke 3. v. 1 to 7. We are All Sinners We are therefore All of us Highly concern'd in the Subject of this Gospel There 's no Salvation to be had without Remission of Sin And no Remission to hoped for without True Repentance For this Reason John the Baptist was call'd by God himself and sent to Preach it The Word of God came to him in the Wilderness and he immediately obey'd He came into all the Country about Jordan Preaching Repentance for the Remission of Sins The Evangelist not only tells us the Design and the Authority but also the Time of his Mission And seems by Marking the many Circumstances of it to be more careful in Dating the coming of S. John than of our Lord himself because unless by true Repentance we prepare the Way his coming will be no Advantage to us but only rise in Judgment against us To prepare the Way of our Lord three things are necessary to be done We must make it Level Straight and Smooth And here I will not dispute what difference there is betwixt Repentance and Doing Penance because if we believe the Evangelist the Prophet Isaiah and the Voice of one crying in the Wilderness if I say we believe the Word of God by whom they were all Inspired we cannot doubt but that Repentance if True and Sincere has a great deal to do the doing of which is very Difficult and Mortifying and therefore very well deserves the Name of Doing Penance 1. Every Mountain must be brought Low 2. Every Crooked Way must be made Straight 3. Every Rough Way must be made Smooth I. Every Mountain must be brought Low and therefore our Proud Presumption must be Humbled We must neither be so Proud of our own Natural Strength as to think we are able to save our Souls without God's helping us neither must we presume so much upon God's Goodness as to expect that he should save us without our helping our selves There are some People in the World who have so great an Opinion of their Natural Strength as to Imagine they can take Heaven by their own Force and Storm it when they please And therefore they do not apprehend the Danger of continuing in a Sinful Course of Life They know very well that a Custom of Sinning super-induces a second Nature almost as hard to be expell'd as the first They are sensible that the farther they proceed in any Vicious Practice the more they are confirm'd and settled in it They feel the Miserable Chains of their Wickedness and the Sad Slavery of Sin to which they tamely Submit and have not the Heart to make any Resolute Attompt for their Liberty But notwithstanding all this they still suppose they are their own Masters they fancy that their Weakness is rather want of Will than Power they perswade themselves that a High and Mighty Resolution has an Invincible Force and that therefore they are able to rescue themselves from Sin and the Devil whensoever they please This was the Pride of all those Heathen Philosophers who placed the Happiness of a Wise Man in being Self-sufficient