Enmity and Hatred she hath towards it causes an anxious Contraction of the Heart and Compression of the Animal Spirits which produces a Chilness in the Breast a retarding of the Blood and an unequal motion of the Pulse and then the Soul sympathizing with the Body cannot but be sensible of this ungrateful Passion it is put into which must needs add to her Hatred of those odious Objects which were the Cause of it and cause her more vehemently to shun and avoid them So again when the Soul is moved to Sorrow and Repentance for any past Sins and Miscarriages the sad Regrets she suffers within her self produce a very doleful Passion in the Body such as pinches the Heart congeals the Blood and causes an ungrateful Languor of the Spirits and then by compassionating her grieved Consort she is thereby excited to a higher degree of Displeasure against those Sins that caused its Grief and Disturbance Lastly when the Soul is joyed and delighted with any religious Object or Exercise by that sweet Complacency she enjoys within her self there is produced a most pleasant Emotion in the Body the Animal Spirits flowing to the Heart in an equal and placid Stream where being arrived through its dilated Orifices they sooth and tickle it into a most sensible Pleasure and then the Soul being affected with the Body's Pleasure doth from thence derive an additional Joy which doth more vigorously encourage her to pursue those Objects and continue those Exercises from whence her Original Joy proceeded So that you see that by reason of that perpetual Intercourse there is between our Souls and our Bodies there is an excellent Use even of our sensitive Passions in Religion And it cannot be denied but that a gentle Temper of Body whose Passions are soft and easie and ductile and apt to be commoved with the Soul may be of great advantage in our Religious Exercises because whensoever it is religiously affected its Passions will be apt to intend and quicken the Affections of the Soul and to render them more vigorous and active but farther than this they are of no account at all in Religion For as there are many Men who are sincerely good that yet cannot raise their sensitive Passions in their religious Exercises that are heartily sorry for their Sins and yet cannot weep for them that do entirely love God and delight in his Service and yet cannot put their Blood and Spirits into the enravishing Emotions of sensitive Love and Joy so on the other hand there are many gross Hypocrites that have not one dram of true Piety in them who yet in their Religious Exercises can put themselves into wondrous Transports of bodily Passion that can pour out their Confessions in Floods of Tears and cause their Hearts to dilate into Raptures of sensitive Love and their Spirits to tickle them into Ecstasies of Joy which is purely to be resolved into the different Tempers of Mens Bodies some Tempers being naturally so calm and sedate as that they are scarce capable of being disturbed into a Passion others again so soft and tender and impressible that the most frivolous Fancy is able to raise a Commotion in them And hence we see that some People can weep most heartily at the Misfortunes of Lovers in Plays and Romances and as much rejoyce at their good Successes though they know that both are Fictions and mere Idea's of Fancy whereas others can scarce shed a Tear or raise a sensitive Joy at the real Calamities or Prosperities of a Friend whom yet they love a great deal more than these Men can possibly do their feigned and Romantick Heroes And yet alas how very often do Men place the whole of their Religion in these mechanical Motions of their Blood and Spirits that think they are exceeding good if they can but chafe themselves into a devout Passion and that it is an infallible Sign of Godliness that their Blood and Spirits are easily moved by religious Idea's and apt to be elevated or dejected according as sad or joyous Arguments are pathetically represented to their Fancies and though they do not understand the Argument or which is all one to them though that which is delivered for Argument is mere Gibberish and insignificant Canting that hath nothing of Argument or Reality in it only some empty Fiction is conveyed to their Fancies by a musical Voice in fanciful Expressions yet because they are affected by it and it raises a sensible Perturbation in their Blood and Spirits they presently conclude it to be an Income of God and an infallible Token of his special Love and Favour to them as if it were a Sign of Godliness and a Mark of God's Favourites to be affected with Nonsense feathered with soft and delicate Phrases and pointed with pathetick Accents Thus there are some Men who believe themselves to be converted meerly because they have run through all the Stages of Passion in that new Road of Artificial Conversion which some modern Authors have found out for according as the Work of Conversion hath been described by some modern Authors it is wholly placed in so many different Scenes of Passion For first a Man must pass under the Discipline of the Law and the Spirit of Bondage that is he must be frightned into a Sense of his lost and undone Condition and in this Sense he must grieve bitterly for his Sins as the Causes of his Ruin and Perdition and this is that which they call Conviction and Compunction From hence he must proceed into the Evangelical State and pass into the Spirit of Adoption the Entrance of which is Contrition or Humiliation which consists in an ingenuous Sorrow for Sin proceeding from a passionate Sense of God's Love and Goodness and then having acted over all these mournful Passions he embraces and lays hold upon Christ which is the concluding Scene and is altogether made up of Ioy and Exultation and so the Work of Conversion is finish'd Now though I do not at all deny but to the Conversion of an habitual Sinner it is indispensably necessary that he should be convinc'd of his Danger and deeply affected with Sorrow and Remorse for his Folly and Wickedness and therefore would not be so understood as if I intended to discountenance these holy Passions which are such necessary Introductions to a sincere Conversion yet neither do I doubt but by the help of a melancholy Fancy attended with soft and easie Passions a Man may perform all these Parts of Conversion and yet be never the better for it for many times these Passions are only the necessary effects of a diseased Fancy and are altogether as mechanical as the beating of our Pulse or the Circulation of our Blood And hence we see that this kind of Conversion which wholly consists of bodily Passions doth commonly both begin and end with some languishing Distemper of the Body in which the Fancy is over-clouded and the Motion of the Blood and Spirits retarded by the Prevalence
Constitution will by degrees inevitably weaken it and without a speedy and effectual Purgation finally consume and destroy it and if it were the best constituted Nation in the World it would be impossible for it not to decay and languish under the malignant Influence of an Epidemical Wickedness That therefore which purges away this corrupt Humor out of which all National Diseases spring must needs be the most effectual Means of a dying Nations Recovery and that and that only is Repentance one essential Part whereof consists in putting off the Body of Sin ceasing to do Evil and denying all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts. And if once this bad Cause were removed all the mischievous Effects of it would immediately cease and thereupon the sick and declining Kingdom that groans and languishes under them would immediately mend and in a little time recover its native Health and Vigour For what should hinder it from growing well when the malignant Cause of all its Distempers is removed when that which befools its Counsels Dissolves its Courage disorder its Harmony breaks its Unity lavishes out its Wealth and Reputation is utterly abolish'd what should hinder it from growing up again into a wise and a valiant an orderly and unanimous a wealthy and renowned Nation 4. And lastly true Repentance doth also put us upon such a Course of Action as doth naturally tend to the Publick Good For Repentance doth not only consist in ceasing to do Evil but in learning to do Well in putting on the new Man as well as putting off the old that is it is an intire Submission of our souls to God to do what he commands as well as to forbear what he forbids and the Matter of his Commands is such as all of it tends to the publick Good and if the several Ranks and Orders of Men whereof a Nation is composed would but unanimously conspire in that Course of Action which God hath enjoyned it would doubtless more contribute to the Weal and Prosperity of such a Nation than the wisest Counsels or most puissant Forces without it If those that sit at the Helm would but once resolve to stear by those excellent Rules of honest Prudence impartial Iustice discreet Mercy wise Liberality advised Constancy and Magnanimity it would doubtless render their Government far more safe and easy more useful and prosperous than all the crafty Tricks dark Intreagues and wiley Subterfuges of wicked Policy which instead of promoting the Government do generally lead it into a perplexed Maze and leave it there miserably bewildred and intangled Again if those that are Subjects would but learn to govern themselves by those Laws of Candor and Modesty of Meekness and Fidelity of Submission and Loyalty which God hath enjoyned them with what Peace and Quiet Safety and Contentment might they enjoy themselves under the Shadow of Government In a word if the Rich would be but as courteous and charitable the Poor as thankful and industrious and all as just and honest as kind and gentle as ready to assist forbear and forgive one another as God requires what a most glorious and happy Society would there spring out of such a regular Course of Action doubtless for Peace and Contentment for Bliss and Happiness next to Heaven it self there is no Place comparable to a vertuous Nation and were I in quest of a terrestrial Paradise I should sooner expect it in a barren Wilderness inhabited with a vertuous People than in the most fruitful and delicious Canaan peopled with wicked and degenerous Natives Since therefore a virtuous Course of Action hath so direct a Tendency to the publick Good it hence necessarily follows that Repentance which is the Entrance and Introduction to it must needs very much contribute to the Safety and Recovery of a Nation because it puts the several parts of it into such a Course of Life and Conversation as mutually conduces to the Peace and Happiness and Preservation of the Whole so that whether we consider the powerful Influence it hath upon God or the good Effect it hath upon us you see 't is a most efficacious Instrument of publick Happiness and Salvation Wherefore if the Consideration of our own private Interest and everlasting fate in another World be not sufficient to move us to a serious Repentance let us add to this the Consideration of our temporal Concerns which are all involved in the fate of the Nation For the publick Good is a common Bank in which every Member hath a share and consequently whatsoever Damage that suffers we must expect to bear our Part of it And yet God help us if we impartially view the Designs and Behaviour of the Generality we would hardly think that they did seriously believe there were any such thing as a Common Weal among us every one almost endeavouring to advance his own Interest though it be upon the publick Ruine and all our Pretences to the Publick being little else but a contrasting of Parties running a Tilt at one another whilst the Common Good lyes between them and is equally trampled on by both sides Wherefore as we would not betray our Common Interest and bury our selves in the publick Ruine let us be persuaded to consider our ways before it be too late and turn to the Lord by a deep and hearty Repentance And to move you hereunto I shall desire you to consider these few things 1. What imminent Danger we are in 2. How much we have all contributed to it 3. How possible it is to prevent it by our timely Repentance 4. How much our personal Repentance will avail us tho' we should not prevent it 5. How dearly we shall repent when it is too late if we do not endeavour the Prevention of it by repenting now 1. Consider the imminent Danger we are in For if we consider our present Circumstances how many visible Causes there are conspiring to effect our Ruine how we lye open to the common Adversary that doth so vigorously pursue our Destruction and like an unwalled Vineyard are surrounded with wild Boars without and over-run with little Foxes within which tho' they are of different Kinds agree in the same Ends and concur to waste and to destroy how whilst these little Foxes are pulling down the Vine above the wild Boars are waiting underneath to seize and to devour both how the restless and indefatigable Malice of our Romish Adversaries without is assisted with the furious Zeal of our hair-brain'd Factions within who tho' they cannot be insensible how much their Divisions weaken and expose us yet seem resolved rather to venture all than not to be uppermost how our Counsels puzzl'd and entangled and our Procedures clogg'd and incumbred how our Choices are poiz'd and suspended between contrary Evils that seem so equally great that we can hardly determine which is the least in a word how our Mischiefs are chain'd and link'd to one another so that we cannot remove one without drawing on another in the room
that if we work out our own salvation he will work in us to will and to do Philip. 2. 12. and that he will give the holy Spirit unto every one that asks him Luke 11. 13. Since I say God hath thus intailed his Grace upon our Endeavours Repentance is within our Power so long as that Grace is so by which if we do our Endeavour we shall be enabled to it He who can repent by the Grace of God is able to repent so long as he is able to obtain his Grace to assist and concur with his Endeavours but if he once withdraw his Grace and give us over to our own Hearts Lusts then are we no more able to repent by our own natural Strength and Power than a Clod of Earth is to mount up to Heaven and fix it self a glorious Star in the Firmament But all the time we do delay our Repentance we are wearying out the Grace of God which whilst we are running away from God and our Duty follows us with Importunities to return but instead of complying with it we still defer to listen to its Sollicitations and put it off from time to time with false and empty Promises what can be expected but that after so many defeats and disappointments it should at last abandon us to our selves and leave us to the miserable Fate of our own Folly and Madness and if once it doth so farewel to all the Hopes of our Recovery Consider therefore O thou vain Man that sayst thou wilt repent hereafter must thou command God to wait thy leisure or fasten his Grace with such adamantine Chains as that it should never be able to get loose from thee art thou sure it will be always at thy Beck or that notwithstanding thy long Provocations it will be ready to come in to thy aid whensoever thou callest for its Assistance for by promising to repent hereafter thou dost not only promise for thy self but for the Grace of God too whose Assistance is as necessary to thy Repentance as thy own Endeavour and methinks 't is a strange piece of Confidence in thee to promise for that which thou hast so much disobliged and which upon that account thou hast so little reason to trust to 'T is true God hath promised you his Grace but I beseech you where hath he promised that you shall have it when you please or that after all his Tenders and your scornful Refusal of it it shall be still at your Choice whether you will at last accept of or again refuse it for unless you can produce some such Promise as this you can have no reason to expect that God will still continue his Grace to you how long soever you refuse and reject it And if he should at last deal by you as you have dealt by him this will be the final Issue because when he hath called you have refused when he hath stretched out his hand you have not regarded but have set all his Counsels at naught and would not hearken to his Importunities therefore when you call he will not answer when you seek he will not be found but will even laugh at your Necessity and mock when your last Extremity comes upon you And should things be reduc'd once to this sad Issue woe be to us that ever we were born 4. And lastly Every Delay of our Repentance drives us nearer to the last Extremity which is that of a Death-bed Repentance and how great a one that is I have already shewed you at large and given you evident Proof that tho' it be not absolutely desperate yet it is most fearfully hazardous and comfortless and yet this is the common Center to which all our Delays do naturally tend We venture to sin on because we know that if we do repent God will have Mercy upon us and so we do resolve upon both that is to sin now and to repent hereafter And by this Train the Devil touls us on through all the Stages of Sin and Life till we come to our Death-bed and then when our Time and Strength is spent we shall have all the Business of our Life to do and being reduc'd to this Extremity what a woful Condition shall we be in when we shall feel our selves departing into a long Eternity of Weal or Woe and have nothing to bear us company thither but our Sins and Guilts which if they be not cancelled in an instant will consign us immediately to endless Misery and whether we look either within without or above us shall be able to see nothing but a black and dismal Cloud hanging over us and Causes of Fear surrounding us on every side how will our Heart sink within us and our Soul quiver on our Lips to think how naked and harbourless she is left having no other Refuge to fly to now the Avengers of Blood are at her heels but only that wronged and affronted Mercy which all her Life time she spurned and trampled on When we shall consider what a vast Work we have to do how little Time we have to do it in how our own Strength is spent and what little Reason we have to expect that God should strengthen us by a Miracle in what a Tumult will our Souls be how shall we quake and tremble to think whither we are going and what will become of us for ever Surely if we die in our Wits and are not Atheists or Sots it will be impossible for us to reflect on our selves and the fearful Risque we are running without extream Horror and Amazement For we must be strangely stupified if when we perceive our selves upon the Confines of Eternity within a very few Moments of being Happy or Miserable for ever we do not awake from our Security and if we do the vastness of the Work that lies upon our Hands the number of the Guilts that will stare us in the Face and the little Time and Power we have to perform the one and expiate the other must needs put our guilty Consciences into a fearful Agony and unchain and let loose all its Terrors upon us And then how miserable will our Condition be when we shall look about for Comfort and see nothing but God's everlasting Threats ready to be fired and discharged upon us and not one Promise opening a Door of Hope nor any Arm of Mercy held forth to catch us now we are leaping down into Eternity but Hell gaping for us as wide as our Grave and both ready to receive a part of us and our selves ready to divide our selves into those Two sad Habitations O then shall we sigh and lament our Folly and curse our lingring Delays and wish a Thousand and a Thousand Times we had begun our Repentance sooner This is the sad Extremity whereunto we are driving in every Delay of our Repentance and considering all these Things methinks these mighty Dangers whereunto our Delays expose us should be enough to frighten the most resolute Sinner