1. the Angels desire to look to give us redemption and forgiveness of sins through the bloud of Christ according to the riches of his grace Eph. 1.7 We have trespassed against our God but there is hope concerning this thing Ezra 10.2 Forgiveness of sins is put into our Creed he that doth not believe it hath no Creed nor Christianity in him Do you believe a Catholick Church that 's the dowry of that Church which Christ espoused to him in his bloud Do you believe a Communion of Saints this is it in which we are baptized in which all our communion doth joyn That through Christ is preached forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses Acts 13. verses 38 39. So also it is put into our prayer as well as into our Creed And he that taught us to pray Forgive us our sins hath taught us this comfort that sins are pardonable Yet an afflicted Conscience will receive suggestion that some sins indeed are pardonable but not all not the sin of the evil Angels not the sin against the Holy Ghost and there is a sin unto death I do not say ye should pray for it says St. John 1 Ep. 5.16 These verily are set out for instances of irreversible judgment to deter us from committing crimes of a vast magnitude But mark the Holy Scriptures have not unfolded it clearly and explicitly wherein the hainousness of these sins did consist that we may not accuse our selves of them and fall into despair as if we had committed them Since you know not expresly what these are how can you lay them to your own charge Nay if you lay them to your own charge you must be mistaken for he that condemns himself shall not be condemned of the Lord. Such incurable cast-aways have their Consciences seared and are not sensible of their guilt Who more like to be of that number than the Pharisees who justified themselves saying Are we also blind Well says a forlorn sinner my sins then are not the fore-named nor out of possibility of mercy but it is almost as bad that they are in an unlikelihood to mercy for they are very hainous As unto that confession that your trespasses are very hainous conceive so of them and spare not true repentance thinks no sin to be a little one So St. Hierom spake to the commendation of the Lady Paula in her Funeral Sermon that she was wont to bewail every fault she had committed as if it were one of the most presumptuous crimes But be it so really that God hath let you incur no small delinquencies as Aaron was not free from idolatry nor David from adultery nor Peter from abjuration of Christ nor Paul from persecuting the Church nor Manasses from witchcraft nor Mary Magdalen from indefinite scandal well I know not what who yet all obtained mercy for a pattern to them who hereafter should believe in Christ to everlasting life 1 Tim. 1.18 They were called Novatians who blotted out the beginning of the Eighth Chapter of St. John's Gospel because the story tells us that Christ dismist the woman taken in adultery with a gracious gentleness Why should not his procedure in judgment be like his doctrine did he not preach that Publicans and Harlots should go into Heaven before proud Justiciaries Be merciful unto my sin for it is great says David Psalm 25.11 This is not the way to deal with mortal Judges when we stand at their bar but this is the way to obtain propitiation from our God Heal me for I am sore wounded cure me for I am very sick be merciful to my sin for it is very great Zozimus a Pagan that envied the honour of Constantine the Great makes this tale to discredit him in his History that Constantine had put his wife Fausta and his son Crispus to death after which being haunted with an ill Conscience that gave him no quiet he sought among the Heathen Priests for expiation and they could give him no peace but he was told that the Religion of Christians was so audacious as to promise pardon to all sins were they never so horrible Is not this to commend the Emperor and his Religion under the form of a dispraise for what rest could a troubled mind attain to from the Rites and Superstitions of Idol-gods But in the immense value of the price of the bloud of Christ there is redemption for every sinner that repents and believes Whatsoever ye loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven says Christ to his Apostles Matth. 18.18 O lose not a syllable of such comfort in this discomfortable world Quodcunque is all manner of sin great and little And if Christ hath given such commission to men on Earth to unloose every sin by the power of their office and the word of consolation then how unbounded is his own clemency No sins can super-abound his grace if we do not sin presumptuously because grace abounds Yet the poor Publican will beat his breast and cry out dolefully My sins are many they are more in number than the hairs of my head The bill of endictment is a true bill who can tell how oft he offendeth Scarce any sin we act but hath a nest of sins in it then think we what a heap will they make when they are put all together Peter it seems misdoubted that if a man were forgiven that had trespast often it would be scandalous and encourage the offender therefore he thought it fit to stint indulgence to some mediocrity as it is Matth. 18.21 Lord how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him until seven times Jesus answereth I say not unto thee Vntil seven times but until seventy times seven times so that Christ commends a boundless forgiveness in a finite number for an infinite And doubtless himself would not stick with us for the same number God forbid we should think he taught to be more merciful or of greater perfection than himself Her sins which are many are forgiven Luke 7.47 Be thankful and admire the mercies of our Father both for nailing our great sins to the Cross of Christ and for acquitting us from the innumerable fry of Minim-sins those of daily incursion because when one of the least is remitted all are remitted together Mark that considerately One that committed some soul and leprous sin goes mourning upon the deep sense of it and especially the horror of it makes him fear damnation yet he greatly deceives himself if he think his other sins are past over and this great one or a few such do remain to his perdition For do you hope comfortably that some faults of omission some idle words some garish and customary fashion of pride are remitted to you with the same affiance leaning on Christ you may hope that you are discharged from your greatest enormities For all unrighteousness is covered at once to
flesh and a Spirit is mightier than flesh Apply that of the Prophet Zachary to it as we may read it by the direction of our Margent and keep to the Original Chap. 8. Verse 6. If it be difficult in the eyes of this people shall it be difficult in mine eyes saith the Lord Therefore since God is our help against the insurrection of this rebellious sin let us be comforted in his help and not in excuses For we must not plead our personal maladies and natural inclinations and think that God will take it for an answer and ask no more I am dull of understanding says one and what I am taught I cannot bear it away I am suddenly transported with indignation and cannot chuse but break out I am retentive of an injury and cannot easily be reconciled All this and the like is no better than the answer of those ill manner'd guests in the Gospel which were invited to a Feast made by a King We cannot come I pray you have us excused which sounds like confession and humility but it is denial and defiance Spend your breath in a better way and cry out often and affectionately Give me not over to my self O Lord take away from me my stony heart and give me an heart of flesh Drop down upon this barren earth and it shall bring forth quite against the byass of nature The high minded will grow meek as a Lamb the covetous will begin to disperse and scatter abroad the lying lips will confess the truth bitter cruelty will melt into pity new-fangled braveries will be laid aside and blush at vanity To what purpose are the pourings in of the Spirit but that what is wickedly in-bred from our conception should be shaken off from the tree and a better fruit spring up in the place from the increase of God Mark the rain that falls from above and the same shower that dropt out of one cloud increaseth sundry plants in a garden and severally according to the condition of every plant in one stalk it makes a Rose in another a Violet divers in a third and sweet in all So the Spirit works its multiformous effects in several complexions and all according to the increase of God Is thy habit and inclination cholerick why try thy self if thou be very apt to be zealous in a good cause and it turns thy natural infirmity into holy heat Is melancholy predominant the grace of God will turn that sad humor into devotion prayer and mortifying thy pleasures to die unto the world Is thy temperature sanguine and chearful the goodness of God will allow it unto thee in thy civil life in a good mean but over and above it will make thee bountiful easie to pardon injuries glad of reconciliation comfortable to the distressed always rejoycing in the Lord. Is a man phlegmatick and fearful if this freezing disease which is in thee from thy mothers womb be not absolutely cured yet the Holy Ghost will work upon it to make thy Conscience tender wary to give no offence to make thee pitiful penitent contrite ready to weep for thy transgressions There are two handles to take hold of every thing says a Heathen A dissolute man takes hold of original frailties and makes them Serpents a holy man declines their Serpentine nature and catcheth them by that part which may conduce to all manner of vertue This is the comfort of Hope against original inquination that this great enemy by the operation of the Spirit shall be made our friend or our foot-stool O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 7.24 What is stronger than a Lion yet if the Lion be kill'd out of the strong comes forth sweetness Jud. 14.14 For all this the worst is not past beside natural pronity to sin we have contracted much more evil by custom education strong habits noxious examples bad enticements and infusions The Cockatrice-egge was laid when we were in our mothers womb but it proves more venemous being hatcht and grown able to flye abroad There are seventy sons of Ahab who shall kill thee Even the sword of the Spirit There is none like it as David said of that of Goliah 1 Sam. 21.9 This is sufficient not merely to cut down grass and briars but to hew down the tree to cut off the branches to shake the leaves to scatter the fruit to fright away the fowls from the branches and the beasts from grazing under it Dan. 4. verse 14. or as the Apostle comforts us in plain words without a Parable I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Phil. 4.13 If you be over-toiled and heated too much you know how to cool cast off some garments wipe away the sweat sit still and stir not lest you enflame your self with motion Follow the same method lay aside the burden of sin that enflames you cast off the weight and the superfluity of naughtiness bear in mind that Christ sweat drops of bloud in his Agony to make you ashamed of toiling and sweating in Satan's drudgery Take ease in a Sabbath of holy rest and moil not in the unprofitable works of darkness Try what refrigeration this will give unto your Conscience else take heed that you be not put to a terrible sweat of fear lest God take you away in his wrath and give you up for ever to Satan whom you have served so willingly To the Law and to the Testimony mind no examples but when they are wrapt up therein Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind Rom. 12.2 What a case had Noah been in if he had framed his life by common practice when all flesh had corrupted their way Chuse better company as Enoch did to walk with God Gen. 5.24 And can two walk together unless they be agreed Amos 3. verse 3. It is more than agreement it imports endearment benevolence friendship with God No title can be greater or sweeter what can match that honour of Abraham and the Apostles to be called the friends of God and Christ No league in the world more sought for or more willingly accepted no amity less burdensom or more beneficial St. Austin 8. Confess Cap. 6. brings in a couple that served the Roman Emperor thus debating upon it What can we look for in this Palace more than to be call'd the friends of our Soveraign When we have got this it is no sure and unchangeable favour And how long shall we attend before we be promoted to it But let us turn to God in this hour and sue to be his friends and it shall be done instantly and remain eternally Ask and it shall be given seek and we shall find And as we trespass by sins of daily prevention there is a dailiness of mercy to comfort us But as you love Christ and would be beloved struggle with temptations do not yield upon
Faith is drawn through these narrow and abject means that like himself have no comeliness in specie and when we see them there is no comeliness that we should desire them Isa 53.2 Nevertheless it is fit we should be well taught in the Contemplation of the hidden vertue inclosed in Baptism or else we could never think it worth our labour and obedience Our Common-Prayer-Book a store-house of rare Divinity tells us what is to be expected at that Laver for them that come to be Baptized 1. That God hath promised to be the Father of the faithful and of their seed and will most surely perform and keep his promise with them and by this introduction we are incorporated into the holy Congregation Behold they whom we love above all others by nature our Children are naturalized to be the Citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom and enter into it through this door of Grace 2. Secondly As God did save Noah and his Family from perishing by water and safely led the Children of Israel through the Red Sea while their enemies were drowned so the millions of the Nations whom God hath not given to Christ for his inheritance are drowned in their own lusts and corruptions But O what a priviledge it is to be among those few that are received into the Ark of Christs Church to be exempted from the common deluge and to be the faithful seed of Abraham led through the Chanel of the Sea and Baptized in the Cloud that went along with them when the Armies of the mighty are mightily consumed 3. Thirdly We may gather out of our Church-office for Baptism that the everlasting benediction of Heavenly washing affords two Comforts it signifies the bloud of Christ to cleanse us Per modum pretii as the price that was paid to ransom us from death and the sanctifying of the Holy Spirit to cleanse us per modum habitûs by his In-being and Celestial infusion and both are put together in one Collect That all that are Baptized may receive remission of sins by spiritual regeneration There is no remission of sin without bloud says the Apostle Heb. 9.22 meaning the invaluable bloud of the Lamb of God Verse 14. And the Heavenly thing is represented by the visible Element of Water for there must be some aptitude between the Sign and the Thing signified else it were not a Sacrament that as Water washeth away the filth of the body so the Bloud of Christ delivereth our Souls from the guilt and damnableness of sin The Bloud of Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 Epist Jo. 1.7 The metaphor of cleansing must have respect to Baptismal-water Again Who loved us and washed us from our sins in his Bloud Revel 1.5 Where the Scripture speaks of washing from sin it must be taken from the water of Baptism figuring the vertue of Christs Bloud that in the sight of his Father makes us white as Snow The Scriptures indeed strike most upon the other string and more directly as Ephes 5.25 Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word Titus 3.6 He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost And in many other places Therefore our Liturgy falls most upon the purifying operation of the Spirit to be shadowed in the outward washing of water As when it prays Send thy Holy Spirit to these Infants and grant that they may be Baptiz'd with Water and with the Holy Ghost And Grant that all that are Baptized may receive the fulness of thy Grace Spiritual Regeneration is that which the Gospel hath set forth to be the principal correlative of Baptism O happy it is for us to be born again by Water and the Holy Ghost For better it were never to be born than not to be born twice God put a good mind into us and reform one great fault in us which is that our Baptism being past over a great while ago we cast it out of our memory and meditate but little upon the benefits and comforts of it We are got into the Church and do in a sort forget how we got in Whereas the whole life of a Christian man and woman should be a continual reflection how in Baptism we entred into Covenant with Christ to believe in him to serve him to forsake the Devil the vanities of the world and the sinful desires of the flesh Water is a pellucid Element to look through it to the bottom So look often through the sanctified Water to see what Christ hath done for you and what you have engaged to do for Christ And there is no heart so full of blackness and melancholy but will recover upon it and be as fresh in sound health as if it were filled with marrow and fatness Well did St. Paul put Baptism among the principles and foundations of Christian doctrine Heb. 6.2 For all the weight of Faith Sanctification and Mercy doth lie upon it Recount this by particulars 1. The first thought that my Soul hath upon it is That I am no longer a stranger and foreigner but a fellow-Citizen with the Saints and of the houshold of God Ephes 2.19 I am no more a-far off but made nigh by the Bloud of Christ partaker of the priviledges of the Church and called by the new Name which the mouth of the Lord shall name a Christian Isa Chap. 62. Verse 2. 2. Secondly I find that I have gained to have the highest point of Faith unfolded to me which was but darkly discerned in the Old Testament to confess the Holy Trinity in which Faith I was Baptized For because that mystery was revealed at Christs Baptism it goes ever along with this Sacrament All Nations being Baptized in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost 3. Thirdly I observe that my Christian engagement allows me not the liberty of sinning after the custom of the world but obligeth me to the strict discipline of my Lord to live holily justly and soberly to walk in newness of life as planted into the likeness of Christs death so to die unto sin for he that is dead is freed from sin Rom. 6.7 In every thing and at all times I must remember what the Sureties at the Font called Godfathers and Godmothers did promise for me in my Name which the Liturgy of Geneva retains in these words Do you promise to warn this Child to live according to God's Word and make the Law of God the square of his life to live by 'T is a binding Ceremony and we are brought up from our tender years in the knowledge of it that we continually may feel the work of the Ordinance to have our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washt with clean Water Heb. 10.21 22. And as many as are Baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 To put on Christ is to follow Christ in the Law of a