this the numbers of sin are not easily to be told the lines of account are various and changeable our opinions uncertain and we are affrighted from one into another and all changes from sin are not into vertue but more commonly into sin Obsessa mens hominis undique †Zabuli S. Cypr. de oper cleemos diaboli infestatione vallata vix occurrit singulis vix resistit si avaritia prostrata est exurgit libido And if we do not commit things forbidden yet the sins of omission are innumerable and undiscernible * Businesses intervene and visits are made and civilities to be rendred and friendly compliances to be entertain'd and necessities to be served and some things thought so which are not so and so the time goes away and the duty is left undone prayers are hindred and prayers are omitted and concerning every part of time which was once in our power no man living can give a fair account This moral demonstration of the impossibility of perfect and exact obedience and innocence would grow too high if I should tell how easily our duties are sowr'd even when we think we walk wisely Severity is quickly turn'd into ungentleness love of children to indulgence joy to gayety melancholy to peevishness love of our wives to fondness liberties of marriage to licentiousness devotion to superstition austerity to pride feasting to intemperance Vrbanity to foolish jesting a free speech into impertinence and idle talking There were no bottom of this consideration if we consider how all mankinde sins with the tongue He that offends not in his tongne he is a perfect man indeed But experience and the following considerations do manifest that no man is so perfect For Every passion of the Soul is a spring and a shower a parent and a nurse to sin Our passions either mistake their objects or grow intemperate either they put too much upon a trifle or too little upon the biggest interest They are material and sensual best pleas'd and best acquainted with their own objects and we are to do some things which it is hard to be told how they can be in our own power We are commanded to be angry to love to hope to desire certain things towards which we cannot be so affected ever when we please A man cannot love or hate upon the stock and interest of a Commandement and yet these are parts of our duty To mourn and to be sorrowful are natural effects of their proper apprehensions and therefore are not properly capable of a law Though it be possible for a man who is of a sanguine complexion in perfect health and constitution not to act his lust yet it will be found next to impossible not to love it not to desire it and who will finde it possible that every man and in all cases of his temptation should overcome his fear But if this fear be instanced in a matter of religion it will be apt to multiply eternal scruples and they are equivocal effects of a good meaning but are proper and univocal enemies to piety and a wise religion I need not take notice of the infinite variety of thoughts and sentences that divide all mankinde concerning their manner of pleasing and obeying God and the appendent zeal by which they are furiously driven on to promote their errors or opinions as they think for God and he that shall tell these men they do amiss would be wondred at for they think themselves secure of a good reward even when they do horrible things But the danger here is very great when the instrument of serving God is nothing but opinion and passion abus'd by interest especially since this passion of it self is very much to be suspected it being temerity or rashness for some zeal is no better and its very formality is inadvertency and inconsideration But the case is very often so that even the greatest consideration is apt to be mistaken and how shall men be innocent when besides the signal precepts of the Gospel there are propounded to us some generall measures and as I may call them extraregular lines by which our actions are to be directed such as are the analogie of faith fame reputation publick honesty not giving offence being exemplary all which and divers others being indefinite measures of good and evil are pursued as men please and as they will understand them And because concerning these God alone can judge righteously he alone can tell when we have observed them we cannot and therefore it is certain we very often doe mistake Hence it is that they who mean holiness and purity are forc'd to make to themselves rules and measures by way of Idea or instrument endevouring to choose that side that is the surest which indeed is but a guessing at the way we should walk in and yet by this way also men do often run into a snare and lay trouble and intricacy upon their consciences unnecessary burthens which presently they grow weary of and in striving to shake them off they gall the neck and introduce tediousness of spirit or despair For we see when Religion grows high the dangers do increase not onely by the proper dangers of that state and the more violent assaults made against Saints then against meaner persons of no religious interest but because it will be impossible for any man to know certainly what intension of spirit is the minimum religionis the necessary condition under or less then which God will not accept the action and yet sometimes two duties justle one another and while we are zealous in one we less attend the other and therefore cannot easily be certain of our measures and because sometimes two duties of a very different matter are to be reconcil'd and waited upon who can tell what will be the event of it since mans nature is so limited and little that it cannot at once attend upon two objects Is it possible that a man should so attend his prayers that his minde should be alwayes present and never wander does not every man complain of this and yet no man can help it And if of this alone we had cause to complain yet even for this we were not innocent in others and he that is an offender in one is guilty of all and yet it is true that in many things we all offend And all this is true when a man is well and when he is wise but he may be foolish and he will be sick and there is a new scene of dangers new duties and new infirmities and new questions and the old uncertainty of things and the same certainty of doing our duty weakly and imperfectly and pitiably Quid tam dextro pede concipis ut te Conatus non poeniteat votÃque peracti Since therefore every sin is forbidden and yet it can enter from so many angles I may conclude in the words of Sedulius Lex spiritualis est In cap. 7. Rom. quia spiritualia mandat
was enough to signifie that there is difference in the degrees of sin yet because they were eodem sanguine eluenda and without shedding of blood there was no remission they were reckon'd in the same accounts of death and the Divine anger And it is manifest that by the severities and curse of the Law no sin could escape For cursed is he that continues not in every thing written in the law to do them The Law was a Covenant of Works and exact measures There were no venial sins by vertue of that Covenant for there was no remission and without the death of Christ we could not be eased of this state of danger Since therefore that any sin is venial or pardonable is onely owing to the grace of God to the death of Christ and this death pardons all upon the condition of Faith and Repentance and pardons none without it it follows that though sins differ in degree yet they differ not in their natural and essential order to death The man that commits any sin dies if he repents not and he that does repent timely and effectually dies for none The wages of sin is death of sin indefinitely and therefore of all sin and all death for there is no more distinction of sin then death onely when death is threatned indefinitely that death is to be understood which is properly and specifically threatned in that Covenant where the death is named as death temporal in the Law death eternal under the Gospel And thus it appears in a very material instance relating to this question for when our blessed Saviour had threatned the degrees of anger he did it by apportioning several pains hereafter of one sort to the several degrees of the same sin here which he expresses by the several inflictions passed upon Criminals by the Houses of Judgement among the Jews Mat. 5.22 Now it is observable that to the least of these sins Christ assigns a punishment just proportionable to that which the gloss of the Pharisees and the Law it self did to them that committed Murther which was capital He shall be guilty of judgement so we reade it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in the Greek He shall be guilty in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in the Court of Judgement the Assembly of the twenty three Elders and there his punishment was death but the gentlest manner of it the decapitation or smiting him through with the sword and therefore the least punishment hereafter answering to death here can mean no less then death hereafter †Ita interpretantur hunc locum Barradius Maldonatus Estius ad hunc locum apud vetustiores eadem sententia praevaluit Haec enim erat mens Strabi Fuldensis qui glossam ordinariam compilavit Hugonis Cardinalis * And so also was the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that cals Racha shall be guilty that is shall be used as one that stands guilty in the Sanhedrim or Councel meaning that he is to die too but with a severer execution by stoning to death this was the greatest punishment by the houses of judgement for Crucifixion was the Roman manner These two already signify hell in a less degree but as certainly and evidently as the third For though we read Hell-fire in the third sentence onely yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no otherwise signifies Hell then the other two by analogy and proportionable representment The cause of the mistake is this When Christ was pleased to adde yet a further degree of punishment in hell to a further degree of anger and reproach the Jews having no greater then that of stoning by the judgement of the Sanhedrim or Councel he would borrow his expression from that which they and their Fathers too well understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a barbarous custome of the Phoenicians of burning children alive in the valley of Hinnom which in succession of time the Hellenists called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not much unlike the Hebrew word and because by our blessed Lord it was used to signify or represent the greatest pains of hell that were spoken of in that gradation the Christians took the word and made it to be its appellative and to signify the state or place of the damned just as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the garden of Eden is called Paradise But it was no more intended that this should signify Hell then that any of the other two should The word it self never did so before but that and the other two were taken as being the most fearful things amongst them here to represent the degrees of the most intolerable state hereafter just as damnation is called death the second death that because we fear the first as the worst of present evils we may be affrighted with the apprehensions of the latter From this authority it follows that as in the Law no sins were venial but by repentance and sacrifice so neither in the Gospel are they nor in their own nature not by the more holy Covenant of the Gospel but by repentance and mortification For the Gospel hath with greater severity laid restraint upon these minutes and little particles of action and passion and therefore if in the law every transgression was exacted we cannot reasonably think that the least parts of duty which the Gospel superadded with a new and severer caution as great and greater then that by which the law exacted the greatest Commandements can be broken with indemnity or without the highest danger The law exacted all its smallest minutes and therefore so does the Gospel as being a Covenant of greater holiness But as in the law for the smaller transgressions there was an assignment of expiatory rites so is there in the Gospel of a ready repentance and a prepared mercy 7. Lastly those sins which men in health are bound to avoid those sins for which Christ did shed his most precious bloud those sins which a dying man is bound to ask pardon for though he hopes not or desires not to escape temporal death certain it is that those sins are in their nature and in the Oeconomy or dispensation of the Divine threatnings damnable For what can the dying man fear but death eternal and if he be bound to repent and ask pardon even for the smallest sins which he can remember in order to what pardon can that repentance be but of the eternal pain to which every sin by its own demerit naturally descends If he must repent and ask pardon when he hopes not or desires not the temporal it is certain he must repent onely that he may obtain the eternal And they that will think otherwise will also finde themselves deceiv'd in this * For if the damned souls in hell are punish'd for all their sins then the unpardon'd venial sins are there also smarted for But so it is and so we are taught in the doctrine of our great Master If we
our duty I do not say all that we can naturally or possibly but all that we can morally and probably according to the measures of a man and the rate of our hindrances and infirmities 5. But the last sort and sense of perfection is that which our blessed Saviour intended particularly in the instance and subject matter of this Precept and that is a perfection in the kinde of action that is a choice and prosecution of the most noble and excellent things in the whole Religion Three are especially instanc'd in the holy Gospel 1. The first is a being ready or a making our selves ready to suffer persecution prescrib'd by our blessed Saviour to the rich young man If thou wilt be perfect Mat. 19.21 sell all and give to the poor that is if thou wilt be my disciple make thy self ready and come and follow me For it was at that time necessary to all that would follow Christs person and fortune to quit all they had above their needs For they that followed him were sure of a Cross and therefore to invite them to be disciples was to engage them to the suffering persecution and this was that which our blessed Saviour calls perfection Dulce periculum est O Lenaee sequi Deum Cingentem viridi tempora pampino It is an easie thing to follow God in festivals and dayes of Eucharist but to serve him in hard battels to die for him is the perfection of love of faith and obedience Obedient unto death was the Character of his own perfection for Greater love then this hath no man then to lay down his life Scis quem dicam bonum perfectum absolutum Seneca Quem malum fucere nulla vis nulla necessitas potest He is good absolute and perfect whom no force no necessity can make evil 2. The second instance is being merciful for S. Luke recording this Precept expounds it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be ye perfect that is Luk. 6.36 Be ye merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful for by mercy onely we can be like him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scriptor act Diognetum He that bears his neighbours burthen and is willing to do benefit to his inferiors and to minister to the needy of the good things which God hath given him he is as God to them that receive he is an imitator of God himself And Justin Martyr reciting this Precept of our blessed Saviour in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uses the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be ye good and bountiful as your heavenly Father is And to this purpose the story of Jesus and the young man before mentioned is interpolated in the Gospel according to the Hebrews or the Nazarens The Lord said unto him How sayest thou I have kept the Law and the Prophets when it is written in the Law Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self and behold many of thy brethren the sons of Abraham are covered in filth and die with hunger and thy house is full of good things and nothing goes forth to them from thence If therefore thou wilt be perfect sell all and give to the poor Charity which is the fulfilling the Commandement is also the perfection of a Christian and that a giving of alms should be perfection is not disagreeing with the design of the word it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Grammarians it signifies to spend and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a great spender or a bountiful person 3. The third is the very particular to which our blessed Master did especially relate to in the words of the sanction or institution and we are taught it by the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or therefore For when the holy Jesus had describ'd that glory of Christianity that we should love our enemies bless them that curse us do good to them that hate us and pray for them which despitefully use us and persecute us he propounds the example of our heavenly Father for he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good But the Publicans love their friends and salute their brethren but more is expected of us Be ye therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect that is do more then the Publicans do as your Father does be perfect as he is that is love your enemies 6. Now concerning this sense of the Precept of perfection which is the choice and pursuance of the noblest actions of Religion we must observe that they are therefore perfection because they suppose a man to have pass'd through the first and beginning graces to have arrived at these excellencies of piety and duty For as no man can on a sudden become the worst man in the world his soul must by degrees be unstript of holiness and then of modesty and then of all care of reputation and then of disuse and by these measures he will proceed to the consummation of the method of Hell and darkness So can no man on a sudden come to the right use of these graces Not every man that dies in a good Cause shall have the reward of Martyrdome but he that having liv'd well seals that doctrine with dying which before he adorn'd with living And therefore it does infinitely concern all them that suffer in a good Cause to take care that they be not prodigal of their sufferings and throw them away upon vice Peevishness or pride lust or intemperance can never be consecrated by dying or by alms But he that after a patient continuance in well doing addes Charity or Martyrdome to the collective body of his other graces he hath made them perfect with this kinde of perfection Martyrdome can supply the place of actual baptisms but not of repentance Because without our fault it may so happen that the first cannot be had but without our fault the second is never left undone Thus perfection and repentance may stand together Perfection does not suppose the highest intention of degrees in every one but in all according to their measures of grace and time Evangelicall perfection is such as supposes a beginning an infant grace progression and variety watchfulness and fear trembling fear And there are many graces required of us whose materiall and formal part is Repentance Such as are Mortification Penitential sorrow Spiritual mourning Patience some parts of Humility all the parts and actions of Humiliation and since in these also perfection is as great a duty as in any thing else it is certain that the perfection of a Christian is not the supreme degree of action or intention But yet perfection cannot be less then an intire piety a holiness perfect in its parts wanting nothing material allowing no vicious habit permitting no vile action but contending towards the greatest excellency a charitable heart a ready hand a confident Religion willing to die when we are called to die patient constant and persevering endevouring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the measures of a man to
Thou O God didst see our follies and observe our weaknesses thou knowest the aversness of our nature to good and our proneness to commit vanity and because our imperfect obedience could not bring us to perfect felicity whither thou didst design us the great God of all the world was pleased to make a new Covenant with Man and to become a debtor to his servants Blessed be God and blessed be that Mercy which hath done so great things for us O be pleased to work that in us which thou expectest from us Let us not lose our title in the Covenant of Faith and Repentance by deferring the one or dishonouring the other but let us walk worthy of our vocation according to the law of Faith and the Mercies of God and the Covenant of our Lord Jesus II. O Blessed Jesus never suffer us to abuse thy Mercies or to turn thy Grace into wantonness Let the remembrance and sense of thy glorious favours endear our services and let thy goodness lead us to Repentance and our Repentance bring forth the fruits of godliness in our whole life Imprint deeply upon our hearts the fear and terror of thy Majesty and perpetually entertain our spirits with the highest apprehensions of thy loving kindeness that we may fear more and love more every day more and more hating sin crucifying all its affections and desires passionately loving holy things zealously following after them prudently conducting them and indefatigably persevering in them to the end of our lives III. O Blessed and Eternal God with thy Spirit inlighten our understandings in the rare mysterious Secrets of thy Law Make me to understand all the most advantageous wayes of duty and kindle a flame in my Soul that no difficulty or contradiction no temptation within or persecution without may ever extinguish Give me a mighty grace that I may design to please thee with my best and all my services to follow the best examples to do the noblest Charities to pursue all Perfection ever pressing forward to the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus Let us rather choose to die then to sin against our Consciences Let us also watch that we may omit nothing of our duty nor pretermit any opportunity by which thou canst be glorified or any Christian instructed comforted or assisted not resting in the strictest measures of Command but passing forward to great and prudent significations of love doing heroick actions some things by which thou mayest be greatly pleased that thou mayest take delight to pardon to sanctifie and to preserve thy servants for ever Amen CHAP. II. Of the nature and definition of Repentance And what parts of duty are signified by it in holy Scriptures §. I. THe Greeks use two words to express this duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Post factum angi cruciari to be afflicted in minde to be troubled for our former folly it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Phavorinus a being displeased for what we have done and it is generally used for all sorts of Repentance but more properly to signifie either the beginnings of a good or the whole state of an ineffective Repentance In the first sense we finde it in S. Matthew * 21.32 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and ye seeing did not repent that ye might believe him Of the second sense we have example in Judas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he repented too but the end of it was Mat. 27.3 he died with anguish and despair and of Esau it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He found no place for an effective repentance but yet he repented too for he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12 17. he fain would have had it otherwise and he sought it with tears which two do fully express all the meaning of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when it is distinguished from the better and effective Repentance There is in this Repentance a sorrow for what is done a disliking of the thing with its consequents and effect and so farre also it is a change of minde But it goes no further then so farre to change the minde that it brings trouble and sorrow and such things which are the natural events of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Suidas It is an affection incident to man not to God who cannot repent where although by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he means an Accident or property of Man that is a quality in the general sense yet that it is properly a passion in the special sense was the sense of all men Lib. de poenit as Tertullian observes saying that the Heathens know Repentance to be passionem animi quandam the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Suidas a passion quae veniat de offensâ sententiae prioris coming from our being offended or troubled at our former course But Tertullian uses the Latine word of which I shall give account in the following periods But when there was a difference made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the better word which does not properly signifie the sorrow for having done amiss but something that is nobler then it but brought in at the gate of sorrow For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a godly sorrow that is fo or the first beginning of Rapentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worketh this better Repentance 2 Cor. 7.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a repentance not to be repented of not to be sorrowed for a repentance that is unto salvation Sorrow may go before this but dwells not with it according to that of S. Chrysostome Homil. 9. de Poenit. Medicinae hic locus non judicii non poenas sed peccatorum remissionem poenitentia tribuit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word Repentance brings not pains but pardon with it for this is the place of medicine and remedy not of judgement or condemnation meaning that this Repentance is wholly salutary as tending to reformation and amendment Lib. â—adv Marcion cap. 20. But Tertullian made the observation more express In Graeco sono Poenitentiae nomen non ex delicti confessione sed ex animi demutatione compositum est To repent among the Greeks signifies not a confession of our fault but the change of minde He speaks of the Grammatical sense of the word for in the whole use of it it is otherwise For however the Grammarians may distinguish them yet the words are used promiscuously for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes used in the bad sense and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the better repentance not often but sometimes it does The son that told his Father he would not work in his Vineyard afterwards was sorry for refusing and he went to work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the same Chapter Matth. 21.29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye seeing were not troubled and sorrowful that ye might believe
that is amend your fault 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in both places used for a salutary repentance And on the other side 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used to signifie in the evil sense a state of misery without remedy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Septuagint read that of Solomon Prov. 14. The wicked man cometh to repentance that is to misery and sorrow So that there is nothing of usefulness which can be drawn from the Grammatical sense of these words They both signify a change of minde and they both signify a sorrow and they both are used for the same thing and indeed that will be the best use of them No man can be truly said to repent but he who being sorrowful for doing evil betakes himself to wiser courses So Phavorinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Repentance is a sense and compunction of the soul for those things which were done foolishly Sum Deaquae facti Auson Epigr. non factÃque exigo poenas Nempe ut poeniteat sic Metanoea * Malè Metanoea usus est verbum purum Graecum est nec tamen eo sensu definitione à Graecis usurpatum Rectè igitur facetè fassus est idem Ausonius in epigrammate de abusu hujus verbi parum Latini vocor Repentance does exact punishment for evils done and good undone but besides this it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a conversion to that which is better Sum Dea cui nomen nec Cicero ipse dedit So Aretas defines it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same with the former an eschewing evil and doing good And thus the Holy Scriptures understand this word and this duty It is a whole change of state and life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Heb. 6.1 1 Kings 8.35 Isai 59.20 2 Chron. 7.14 Jer. 18.7 8 9. 31.19 2 Tim. 2.19 a turning from sin and it is emphatically called by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a repentance from dead works that is a forsaking them with sorrow that ever we committed them And it is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a conversion to God b 2 Sam. 12.5 13. Deut. 30.2 Jer. 3.7 Act. 26.18 Eph. 5.14 Ezek. 33.12 Luke 19.8 9 10. from darkness to light from the power of Satan unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a returning to sobriety the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Justin Martin all signifying a departing from our follies and a changing to a better life And though sometimes to Repent is in Scripture taken for sorrow onely or a being troubled that the fact is done yet it is called Repentance no otherwise then as alms is called Charity that is it is an effect of it a part or action or adjunct of the duty and state of Repentance which ought to be observed lest as it is too commonly one act be mistaken for the whole state and we account our selves perfect penitents if we have onely wept a penitential shower which is also to be observed in the definitions which the Doctors give of it Tertullian a De poenit in princip cals it a passion of the minde or grief for the offence of our former acts S. Austin b Lib. de ver fals poenit c. 8. cals it a revenge always punishing in it self that which it grieves to have committed These doe onely describe that part of repentance which is sometimes signified by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is nothing else but a godly sorrow the porch or beginnings of Repentance On the other side Lactantius c Lib. 6. Divin instit c. 13. describing Repentance gives onely the Grammatical sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Agere autem poenitentiam nihil aliud est quà m profiteri affirmare se ulteriùs non peccaturum To repent saith he is nothing else but a profession and affirmation that he will sin no more which descriptions of Repentance are just as if we should say A man is a creature that speaks or laughs or that can learn to reade These are effects of his nature but not the ingredients of a proper definition Sorrow and Revenge and holy purposes and protestations are but single acts of a returning and penitent man whereas Repentance is a whole state of a new life an intire change of the sinner with all its appendages and instruments of ministery As the Greeks have so have the Latins also two words to signify this duty Poenitentia and Resipiscentia and these have almost the same fate and the same usages with the other Poenitentia is used by the old Latin translation and is most tenaciously retained by all them who make the very life of Repentance to run into corporal austerities like the juice of luxuriant trees into irregular suckers and excrescencies which therefore by way of eminency they call Penances for they suppose the word in its very nature and institution to signify something that is punitive and afflictive So Hugo Lib. 3. de mysteâ— Eccles Poenitentia quasi punientia quòd per eam homo in se puniat quod malè admisit Much like that of Scotus poenitentia quasi poenae tenentia which they both learned from S. Austin poenitere est idem quod rei commissae aliquem pudere ac pigere Solil cap. 19. ita ut poenitet sit idem quod poena tenet This sense of the word prevailed long and therefore some that would speake exactly observing that the duty of Repentance did principally consist in the amendment of our lives were forc'd to use the word Resipiscentia which better renders the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 6. c. 24. So Lactantius expresly Graeci meliùs significantiùs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicunt quam Latinè possumus resipiscentiam dicere Resipiscit enim ac mentem suam quasi ab insaniâ recipit quem errare piget castigátque seipsum dementiae confirmat animum suum ad rectiùs vivendum He truly repents who recovers his minde from folly and chastising his error and grieving for his madness strengthens his purposes to better living Either of the words will serve the turn Poenitentia or Penance is the old Latine word Resipiscentia is the new one but very expressive and significant and it is indifferent which be used if men had not a design upon one which cannot prudently be effected by it But such is the force of words especially when men choose and affect one particularly and studiously reject another which is apt to signify the same thing that in the Greek Church because their words for Repentance did imply onely or principally a change of life they usually describe Repentance in that formality but the later Latins practise and discourse to other purposes and the College of Rhemes render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word for word after their vulgar Latin agite poenitentiam doe penance which is so absurd a reddition that their interest and design is more apparent then their skill in Grammar
with the dress of active circumstances they grow greater or less respectively because then two or three sins are put together and get a new name 3. There is but one way more by which sins can get or lose degrees and that is the different proportions of our affections This indeed relates to God more immediately and by him alone is judg'd but the former being invested with material circumstances can be judg'd by men But all that God reserves for his own portion of the Sacrifice is the Heart that is our love and choice and therefore the degrees of love or hatred is that measure by which God makes differing judgements of them For by this it is that little sins become great and great sins become little If a Jew had maliciously touch'd a dead body in the dayes of Easter it had been a greater crime then if in the violence of his temptation he had unwillingly will'd to commit an act of fornication He that delights in little thefts because they are breaches of Gods Law or burns a Prayer book because he hates Religion is a greater criminal then he that falls into a material heresie by an invincible or less discerned deception Secure but to God your affections and he will secure your innocence or pardon for men live or die by their own measures If a man spits in the face of a Priest to defie Religion or shaves the beard of an Embassador to disgrace the Prince as it hapned to Davids Messengers his sin is greater then if he kill'd the Priest in his own just defence or shot the Embassador through the heart when he intended to strike a Lion For every negligence every disobedience being against Charity or the love of God by interpretation this superaddition of direct malice is open enmity against him and therefore is more severely condemned by him who sees every thought and degrees of passion and affection For the increase of malice does aggravate the sin just as the complication of material instances Every degree of malice being as distinct and commensurate a sin as any one external instance that hath a name and therefore many degrees of malice combine and grow greater as many sins conjoyn'd in one action they differ onely in Nature not in Morality just as a great number and a great weight So that in effect all sins are differenc'd by complication onely that is either of the external or the internal instances 4. Though the negligence or the malice be naturally equal yet sometimes by accident the sins may be unequal not onely in the account of men but also before God too but it is upon the account of both the former It is when the material effect being different upon men God hath with greater caution secur'd such interests So that by interpretation the negligence is greater because the care was with greater earnestness commanded or else because in such cases the sin is complicated for such sins which do most mischief have besides their proper malignity the evil of uncharitableness or hating our brother In some cases God requires one hand and in others both Now he that puts but one of his fingers to each of them his negligence is in nature the same but not in value because where more is required the defect was greater If a man be equally careless of the life of his Neighbours Son and his Neighbours Cock although the will or attendance to the action be naturally equal that is none at all yet morally and in the divine account they differ because the proportions of duty and obligation were different and therefore more ought to have been put upon the one then upon the other just as he is equally clothed that wears a single garment in Summer and Winter but he is not equally warm unless he that wears a silk Mantle when the Dog-star rages claps on Furres when the cold North-star changes the waters into rocks 5. Single sins done with equal affection or disaffection do not differ in degrees as they relate to God but in themselves are equally prevarications of the Divine Commandement Nihil invenies rectius recto non magis quà m verius vero quà m temperato temperatius omnis in modo est virtus modus certa mensura est Constantia non habet quò proredat non magis quà m fiducia aut veritas aut fides Sen. Ep. 67. As he tells a lie that says the Moon is foursquare as great as he that says there were but three Apostles or that Christ was not the Son of Man and as every lie is an equal sin against truth so every sin is an equal disobedience and recession from the Rule But some lies are more against Charity or Justice or Religion then others are and so are greater by complication but against truth they are all equally oppos'd and so are all sins contrary to the Commandement And in this sense is that saying of S. Basil In regul brevior Primò enim scire illud convenit differentiam minorum majorum nusquam in Novo Testamento reperiri Siquidem una est eadem sententia adversus quaelibet peccata cum Dominus dixerit Qui facit peccatum servus est peccati item Sermo quem loquutus sum vobis ille judicabit eum in Novissimo die Johannes vociferans dicat Qui contumax est in filium non videbit vitam aeternam sed ira Dei manet super eum cum contumacia non in discrimine peccatorum sed in violatione praecepti positam habeat futuri supplicii denunciationem The difference of great and little sins is no where to be found in the New Testament One and the same sentence is against all sins our Lord saying He that doth sin is the servant of sin and the word that I have spoken that shall judge you in the last day and John crieth out saying He that is disobedient to the Son shall not see eternal life but the wrath of God abideth on him for this contumacy or disobedience does not consist in the difference of sins but in the violation of the Divine Law and for that it is threatned with eternal pain But besides these Arguments from Scripture he addes an excellent Reason Prorsus autem si id nobis permittitur ut in peccatis hoc magnum illud exiguum appellemus invicto argumento concluditur magnum unicuique esse illud à quo quisque superatur contráque exiguum quod unusquisque ipse superat Vt in athletis qui vicit fortis est qui autem victus est imbecillior eo unde victus est quisque ille sit If it be permitted that men shall call this sin great and that sin little they will conclude that to be great which was too strong for them and that to be little which they can master As among Champions he is the strongest that gets the victory And then upon this account no sin is Venial that a man commits because that is it which hath
grow angry and peevish My duties are imperfect my repentances little my passions great my fancy trifting The sins of my tongue are infinite and my omissions are infinite and my evil thoughts cannot be numbred and I cannot give an account concerning innumerable portions of my time which were once in my power but were let slip and were partly spent in sin partly thrown away upon trifles and vanity and even of the basest sins of which in accounts of men I am most innocent I am guilty before thee entertaining those sins in little instances thoughts desires and imaginations which I durst not produce into action and open significations Blessed Jesus pity me and have mercy upon my infirmities III. TEach me O Lord to walk before thee in righteousness perfecting holiness in the fear of God Give me an obedient will a loving spirit a humble understanding watchfulness over my thoughts deliberation in all my words and actions well tempered passions and a great prudence and a great zeal and a great charity that I may doe my duty wisely diligently holily O let me be humbled in my infirmities but let me be also safe from my enemies let me never fall by their violence nor by my own weakness let me never be overcome by them nor yet give my self up to folly and weak principles to idleness and secure careless walking but give me the strengths of thy Spirit that I may grow strong upon the ruines of the flesh growing from grace to grace till I become a perfect man in Christ Jesus O let thy strength be seen in my weakness and let thy mercy triumph over my infirmities pitying the condition of my nature the infancy of grace the imperfection of my knowledge the transportations of my passion Let me never consent to sin but for ever strive against it and every day prevail till it be quite dead in me that thy servant living the life of grace may at last be admitted to that state of glory where all my infirmities shall be done away and all teares be dried up and sin and death shall be no more Grant this O most gracious God and Father for Jesus Christ his sake Amen OUr Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil Amen CHAP. IV. Of Actual single sins and what Repentance is proper to them §. 1. THE first part of Conversion or Repentance is a quitting of all sinful habits and abstaining from all criminal actions whatsoever Virtus est vitium fugere sapientia prima Stultitia caruisse For unless the Spirit of God rule in our hearts we are none of Christs but he rules not where the works of the flesh are frequently or maliciously or voluntarily entertained All the works of the flesh and whatsoever leads to them all that is contrary to the Spirit and does either grieve or extinguish him must be rescinded and utterly taken away Concerning which it is necessary that I set down the * Mat. 15.19 Mar. 7.21 Galat. 5.16 19 20 21. Eph 4.31 c. 5.3 4 5. 2 Tim. 3.2 3 4 5. Rom. 1.29 30 31 32. 1 Cor. 6.9 Revel 21.8 1 Pet. 4.3 15. Catalogues which by Christ and his Apostles are left us as lights and watch-towers to point out the rocks and quick-sands where our danger is and this I shall the rather doe not onely because they comprehend many evils which are not observed or feared some which are commended and many that are excused but also because although they are all mark'd with the same black character of death yet there is some difference in the execution of the sentence and in the degrees of their condemnation and of the consequent Repentance 2. Evil thoughts or discoursings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evil reasonings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Hesychius that is prating importune pratling and loosness of tongue such as is usual with bold boyes and young men prating much and to no purpose But our Bibles reade it Evil thoughts or surmisings for in Scripture it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Suidas observes concerning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to think long and carefully to dwell in meditation upon a thing to which when our blessed Saviour addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 evil he notes and reproves such kinde of morose thinkings and fancying of evil things and it is not unlikely that he means thoughts of uncleanness or lustful fancies For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Suidas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Hesychius it signifies such words as are prologues to wantonness so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Aristophanes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lysistratâ So that here are forbidden all wanton words and all morose delighting in venereous thoughts all rollings and tossing such things in our minds For even these defile the soul Verborum obscoenitas si turpitudini rerum adhibeatur ludus ne libero quidem homine dignus est said Cicero Obscene words are a mockery not worthy of an ingenuous person This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that foolish talking and jesting which S. Paul joyns to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that filthiness of communication which men make a jest of but is indeed the basest in the world the sign of a vile dishonest minde and it particularly noted the talk of Mimicks and Parasites Buffoons and Players whose trade was to make sport 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they did use to doe it with nastiness and filthy talkings as is to be seen in Aristophanes and is rarely described and severely reproved in S. Chrysostome in his 6. Homily upon S. Matthew For per verba dediscitur rerum pudor which S. Paul also affirms in the words of Menander 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evil words corrupt good manners and evil thoughts being the fountain of evil words lie under the same prohibition Under this head is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a talkative rash person ready to speak slow to hear against S. James his rule 3. Inventers of evil things Contrivers of all such artifices as minister to vice Curious inventions for cruelty for gluttony for lust witty methods of drinking wanton pictures and the like which for the likeness of the matter I have subjoyn'd next to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the evil thinkings or surmisings reproved by our blessed Saviour as these are expresly by S. Paul 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Covetousness or Inordinate unreasonable desires For the word does not onely signify the designing and contrivances of unjust ways of purchasing which is not often separated from covetous desires but the very studium habendi the
that is properly a conversion from that act of sin 4. But because in some cases a moral revocation may be like an ineffective resolution therefore besides the inward nolition or hating of the sin in all signal and remarked instances of sin it is highly requisite that the sinning man doe oppose an act of vertue to the act of sin in the same instance where it is capable as to an act of gluttony let him oppose an act of abstinence to an act of uncleanness an act of purity and chastity to anger and fierce contentions let him oppose charity and silence for to hate sin and not to love vertue is a contradiction and to pretend it is hypocrisie But besides this as the nolition or hatred of it does if it be real destroy the moral being of that act so does the contrary act destroy its naturall being as far as it is capable And however it be yet it is upon this account necessary For since one act of sin deliberately chosen was an ill beginning and inlet of a habit it is necessary that there be as much done to obtain the habit of the contrary vertue as was done towards the habit of vice that to God as intire a restitution as can may be made of his own right and purchased inheritance 5. Every act of sin is a displeasure to God and a provocation of an infinite Majesty and therefore the repentance for it must also have other measures then by the natural and moral proportions One act of sorrow is a moral revocation of one act of sin and as much a natural deletion of it as the thing is capable * But there is something more in it then thus for a single act of sin deserves an eternal hell and upon what account soever that be it is fit that we doe something of repentance in relation to the offence of an infinite God and therefore let our repentance proceed towards infinite as much as it may my meaning is that we doe not finally rest in a moral revocation of an act by an act but that we beg for pardon all our days even for that one sin * For besides that every sin is against an infinite God and so ought to be wash'd off with a sorrow as near to infinite as we can we are not certain in what periods of sorrow God will speak to us in the accents of mercy and voice of pardon He always takes of them that repent less then he could in justice exact if he so pleased but how much less he will take he hath no where told us and therefore let us make our way as secure as we can let us still goe on in repentance and in the progression we are sure to meet with God * But there is in it yet more For however the act of sin be usually called and supposed to be a single act yet if we consider how many fancies and temptations were preparatory to it how many consentings to the sin how many desires and acts of prosecution what contrivances and resistances of the holy motions of Gods Spirit and the checks of conscience how many refusings of God and his laws what unfitting means and sinful progressions were made to arrive thither what criminal and undecent circumstances what degrees of consent and approaches to a perfect choice what vitious hopes and vile fears what expence of time and mis-imployed passions were in one act of fornication or murder oppression of the poore or subornation of witnesses we shall finde that the proportions will be too little to oppose but one act of vertue against all these evils especially since an act of vertue as we order our affairs is much more single then in act of vice is 6. Every single act of vice may and must be repented of particularly if it be a wilful deliberate and observed action A general repentance will not serve the turn in these cases When a man hath forgotten the particulars he must make it up as well as he can This is the evil of a delayed repentance it is a thousand to one but it is imperfect and lame general and unactive it will need arts of supply and collateral remedies and reflexe actions of sorrow and what the effect will be is in many degrees uncertain But if it be speedy and particular the remedy is the more easy the more ready and the more certain But when a man is overtaken in a fault he must be restored again as to that particular for by that he transgressed there he is smitten and wounded in that instance the habit begins and at that door the Divine judgement may enter for his anger is there already For although God pardons all sins or none in respect of the final sentence and eternal pain yet God strikes particular sins with proper and specifick punishments in this life which if they be not diverted by proper applications may break us all in pieces And therefore Davids repentance was particularly applied to his special case of murder and adultery and because some sins are harder to be pardoned and harder to be cured then others it is certain they must be taken off by a special regard A general repentance is never sufficient but when there cannot be a particular 7. Whoever hath committed any one act of a great crime let him take the advantage of his first shame and regret and in the activity of that passion let him design some fasting days as the solemnities of his repentance which he must imploy in the bitterness of his soul in detestation of his sin in judging condemning and executing sentence upon himself and in all the actions of repentance which are the parts and fruits of this duty according as he shall finde them described in their proper places These are the measures of repentance for single acts of deliberate sin when they have no other appendage or proper Consideration But there are some acts of sin which by several ways and measures pass into habits directly or by equivalency and moral value For 1. The repetition of acts and proceeding in the same crime is a perfect habit which as it rises higher to obstinacy to perseverance to resolutions never to repent to hardness of heart to final impenitence so it is still more killing and damnable 2. If a man sins often in several instances it is a habit properly so called for although the instances be single yet the disobedience and disaffection are united and habitual 3. When a single act of sin is done and the guilt remains not rescinded by repentance that act which naturally is but single yet morally is habitual Of these I shall give account in the next Chapter where they are of proper consideration But there are yet three ways more by which single acts doe become habits by equivalency and moral value and are here to be considered accordingly 8. First if a single act of sin have a permanent matter so long as that matter remains the
S. Austin represents himself as a sad instance of this particular I was afraid lest God should hear me when I prayed against my lust As I fear'd death Lib. 8. Confess c. 7. c. 5. so dreadful it was to me to change my custome Velle meum tenebat inimicus inde mihi catenam fecerat constrinxerat me Quippe ex voluntate perversâ facta est libido dum servitur libidini facta est consuetudo dum consuetudini non resistitur facta est necessitas The Devil had made a chain for him and bound his will in fetters of darkness His perverse will made his lust grow high and while he serv'd his lust he superinduc'd a custome upon himself and that in time brought upon him a necessity For as an old disease hath not onely afflicted the part of its proper residence and by its abode made continual diminution of his strength but made a path also and a channel for the humours to run thither which by continual defluxion have digg'd an open passage and prevail'd beyond all the natural powers of resistance So is an habitual vice it hath debauch'd the understanding and made it to believe foolish things it hath abus'd the will and made it like a diseased appetite in love with filthy things it is like an evil stomach that makes a man eat unwholsome meat against his Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That 's a sad calamity when a man sees what is good and yet cannot follow it nay that he should desire it and yet cannot lay hold upon it for his faculties are bound in fetters the habit hath taken away all those strengths of Reason and Religion by which it was hindred and all the objections by which it was disturbed and all that tenderness by which it was uneasie and now the sin is chosen and believ'd and lov'd it is pleasant and easie usual and necessary and by these steps of progression enters within the iron gates of death seal'd up by fate and a sad decree And therefore Simplicius upon Epictetus speaking of Medea seeing and approving good things by her understanding but yet without power to do them sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is to no purpose for us to think and to desire well unless we adde also deeds consonant to those right opinions and fair inclinations But that 's the misery of an evil habit in such as have them all may be well till you come to action Their principles good their discoursings right their resolutions holy their purposes strong their great interest understood their danger weighed and the sin hated and declaimed against for they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have begun well and are instructed but because of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their intemperance and softness of spirit produc'd by vile customes there is as Plutarch observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fatal bestiality in the men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch they sin and can neither will nor choose They are driven to death and they see themselves crown'd with garlands for the Sacrifice and yet go to their ruine merry as the Minstrels and the temptations that entertain and attend those horrid rites Trinummus Scibam ut esse me deceret facere non quibam miser said he in the Comedy I knew it well enough how I should comport my self but I was so wretched that I could not do it Now all this being the effect of a vicious habit and not of sinful actions it being the product and sad consequent of a quality introduc'd first by actions so much evil cannot be caused and produc'd immediately by that which is innocent As the fruit is such is the tree But let us try further 3. A vicious habit makes our recovery infinitely difficult our vertues troublesome our restitution uncertain In the beginnings of his return it is most visible For even after we are entring into pardon and the favour of God we are forc'd to fight for life we cannot delight in Gods service or feel Christs yoke so easie as of it self it is For a vicious habit is a new Concupiscence and superinduces such contradictions to the supernatural contentions and designs of grace it calls back nature from its remedy and purifications of Baptism and makes such new aptnesses that the punishment remains even after the beginning of the sins pardon and that which is a natural punishment of the sinful actions is or may be morally a sin as the lust which is produc'd by gluttony And when a man hath entertain'd a holy sorrow for his sins and made holy vows of obedience and a new life he must be forc'd to contend for every act of duty and he is daily tempted and the temptation is strong and his progression is slow he marches upon sharp-pointed stones where he was not us'd to go and where he hath no pleasure He is forc'd to do his duty as he takes Physick where reason and the grace of God make him consent against his inclination and to be willing against his will He is brought to that state of sorrow that either he shall perish for ever or he must do more for heaven then is needful to be done by a good man whose body is chaste and his spirit serene whose will is obedient and his understanding well inform'd whose temptations are ineffective and his strengths great who loves God and is reconcil'd to duty who delights in Religion and is at rest when he is doing God service But an habitual sinner even when he begins to return and in some measure loves God hath yet too great fondnesses for his enemy his repentances are imperfect his hatred and his love mixt nothing is pure nothing is whole nothing is easie So that the bands of holiness are like a yoke shaken upon the neck they fret the labouring Ox and make his work turn to a disease and as Isaac he marches up the hill with the wood upon his shoulders and yet for ought he knows himself may become the Sacrifice S. Austin complains that it was his own case He was so accustomed to the apertures and free emissions of his lust so pleas'd with the entertainments so frequent in the imployment so satisfied in his minde so hardned in his spirit so ready in his choice so peremptory in his foul determinations that when he began to consider that death stood at the end of that life he was amaz'd to see himself as he thought without remedy and was not to be recover'd but by a long time and a mighty grace the perpetual the daily the nightly prayers and violent importunities of his Mother the admirable Precepts and wise deportments of S. Ambrose the efficacy of truth the horrible fears of damnation hourly beating upon his spirit with the wings of horrour and affrightment and after all with a mighty uneasiness and a discomposed spirit he was by the good hand of God dragg'd from his fatal ruine
apprehend that we need time and fierce contentions and the long suffering of violences to take the kingdome of heaven by force by a state of contradiction and hostility against the tempting enemy It is much harder to get a habit against our nature and a prepossessing habit then to confirm nature and to actuate our inclinations And this does not onely relate to habits in their Natural capacity but in their Moral and consequently their Relative capacity as appertaining to God in the matter of his valuation of them Because in habits as it is in acts although metaphysically we can distinguish the action from the irregularity yet because they are subjected in the same person and the irregularity is inherent in the action in the whole composition the action is sinful so it is in habits For the sin adheres to the natural facility and follows it in all its capacities And as the natural facility of doing viciously is cured by time and a successive continued diligence so is the sinfulness because that facility is vicious and sinful And as heat is distinguished from fire but you cannot lessen the heat but by decreasing the natural being of fire so does the sin of a vicious habit pass away as the habit naturally lessens that is the Moral capacity changes as does the Natural this being the subject of that and it could not have been this habit if it had not in it this sinfulness * Now if the parts of this argument be put together their intention is this A habit of sin is not gotten but by time and progression and yet it cannot be lost so soon as it was gotten but it is a long time before its natural being is overcome by its contrary But the sinfulness of it does pass away with the natural being and no otherwise therefore the sinfulness of it cannot be removed suddenly And therefore if mortification be a duty and we be commanded to doe it we are commanded to doe a long work and a difficult a thing that is more then the moral retractation of it by a single act of sorrow or contrition a duty that contains in it so much work as is proportion'd to the necessity even to the breaking the habit of sin and setting up the habit of vertue over it Now then all the question will be whether Mortification be a Precept or a Counsel Concerning which I onely appeal to the words of S. Paul Colos 3.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mortifie therefore your earthly members and Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit doe mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Mortification is the condition of life it is expresly commanded by the Apostle that we make the deeds of the body to be dead that is the evil habits and concupiscence of the body for that which S. Paul here cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or deeds in the same precept written to the Galatians Gal. 5.2.4 he cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lusts and concupiscences And of what great necessity effect this mortification crucifying of our sinful customes is we may understand best by those other words of the same Apostle Rom. 6.7 He that is dead is justified from sins not till then not till his habit was dead not as soon as he morally retracts it by an act of displeasure and contrition but when the sin is dead when the habit is crucified when the concupiscence does not reign but is overcome in all its former prevalencies then he is pardon'd and not before 9. Unless it be necessary to oppose a habit against a habit a state of vertue against a state of vice that is if a vicious habit may be pardon'd upon one act of contrition then it may so happen that a man shall not be obliged to doe good but onely to abstain from evil to cease from sin but not to proceed and grow in grace which is against the perpetual design and analogy of the Gospel and the nature of Evangelical righteousness which differs from the righteousness of the law as doing good from not doing evil The law forbad murder but the Gospel superaddes charity The law forbad uncleanness but the Gospel superaddes purity and mortification The law forbad us to doe wrong but the Gospel commands us to doe offices of kindness Injustice was prohibited by the law but revenge also of real injuries is forbidden by the Gospel and we are commanded to doe good to them that injure us and therefore the Writers of the New Testament do frequently joyn * Rom 6.18 Ephes 4.22 Col. 1.13 3.5.10.12 Titus 2.12 13 14. Heb. 10.22 24. 1 Pet. 2.1 2. 3.11 2 Pet. 1.4 5 6 7 8. these to be dead unto sin and to live unto righteousness This is that which was opposed to the righteousness of the law a Rom. 3.21 9.30 31. Gal. 2.16 3.8 Phil. 3.6 7. and is called the righteousness of God And a mistake in this affair was the ruine of the Jews For being ignorant of the righteousness of God they thought to be justified by their own righteousness which is of the law That is they thought it enough to leave off to sin without doing the contrary good and so hop'd for the promises This was the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees to be no adulterers no defrauders of the rights of the Temple no Publicans or exacters of Tribute But our blessed Saviour assur'd us that there is no hopes of heaven for us unless our righteousness exceed this of theirs Now then to apply this to the present argument Suppose a vicious person who hath liv'd an impious life plac'd upon his death-bed exhorted to repentance made sensible of his danger invited by the Sermons of his Priest to dress his soul with duty and sorrow if he obeys and is sorry for his sin supposing that this sorrow does really begin that part of his duty which consists in not sinning nay suppose he will never sin again which is the righteousness of the law yet how can he in that case doe that good which is required by the Gospel Seek the kingdome of heaven and the righteousness thereof The Gospel hath a peculiar righteousness of its own proper to it self without which there is no entrance into heaven But the righteousness of the law is called our own righteousness that is such a righteousness which men by nature know for we all by the innate law of nature know that we ought to abstain from doing injury to Man from impiety to God But we onely know by revelation the righteousness of the kingdome which consists in holiness and purity chastity and patience humility and self-denial He that rests in the first and thinks he may be sav'd by it as S. Pauls expression is he establisheth his own righteousness that is the righteousness of the law and this he does whosoever thinks that his evil habits are pardon'd without doing that good and acquiring those graces which constitute
his animis incolumes non redeunt genae Trouble and sorrow will better become the spirit of an old sinner because he was a fool when he was young and weak when he is wise that his strengths must be spent in sin and that for God and wise courses nothing remains but weak hands and dim eyes and trembling knees 10. Let not an old sinner and young penitent ever think that there can be a period to his Repentance or that it can ever be said by himself that he hath done enough No sorrow no alms no affliction no patience no Sacraments can be said to have finish'd his work so that he may say with S. Paul I have fought a good fight I have finish'd my course nothing can bring consummation to his work till the day of his death because it is all the way an imperfect state having in it nothing that is excellent or laudable but onely upon the account of a great necessity and misery on one side and a great mercy on the other It is like a man condemn'd to perpetual banishment he is alwayes in his passive obedience but is a debtor to the law until he be dead So is this penitent he hath not finish'd his work or done a Repentance in any measure proportionable to his sins but onely because he can do no more and yet he did something even before it was too late 11. Let an old man in the mortification of his vicious habits be curious to distinguish nature from grace his own disability from the strengths of the Spirit and not think that he hath extirpated the vice of uncleanness when himself is disabled to act it any longer or that he is grown a sober person because he is sick in his stomack and cannot drink intemperately or dares not for fear of being sick His measures must be taken by the account of his actions and oppositions to his former sins and so reckon his comfort 12. But upon whatever account it come he is not so much to account concerning his hopes or the performance of his duty by abstaining from sin as by doing of good For besides that such a not committing of evil may be owing to weak or insufficient principles this not committing evil in so little a time cannot make amends for the doing it so long together according to the usual accounts of Repentance unless that abstaining be upon the stock of vertue and labour of mortification and resistance and then every abstinence is also a doing good for it is a crucifying of the old man with the affections and lusts But all the good that by the grace of God he superadds is matter of choice and the proper actions of a new life 13. After all this done vigorously holily with fear and caution with zeal and prudence with diligence and an uninterrupted observation the old man that liv'd a vile life but repents in time though he staid as long as he could and much longer then he should yet may live in hope and die in peace and charity To this purpose they are excellent words which S. Serm. 28. de temp Austin said Peradventure some will think that he hath committed such grievous faults that he cannot now obtain the favour of God Let this be farre from the conceits of all sinners O man whosoever thou art that attendest that multitude of thy sins wherefore doest thou not attend to the Omnipotency of the Heavenly Physician For since God will have mercy because he is good and can because he is Almighty he shuts the gate of the Divine Goodness against himself who thinks that God cannot or will not have mercy upon him and therefore distrusts either his Goodness or his Almightiness The proper Repentance and usage of sinners who repent not until their death-bed The inquiry after this article consists in these particulars 1. What hopes are left to a vicious ill liv'd man that repents on his death-bed and not before 2. What advices are best or can bring him most advantage That a good life is necessary * that it is requir'd by God * that it was design'd in the whole purpose of the Gospel * that it is a most reasonable demand and infinitely recompensed by the very smallest portions of Eternity * That it was called for all our life and was exacted by the continual voyce of Scripture of Mercies of Judgement of Prophets * That to this very purpose God offered the assistance of his holy Spirit and to this ministery we were supplied with preventing with accompanying and persevering grace that is powers and assistances to begin and to continue in well doing * That there is no distinct Covenant made with dying men differing from what God hath admitted between himself and living healthful persons * That it is not reasonable to think God will deal more gently with persons who live viciously all their lives and that at an easier rate they may expect salvation at the hands of God whom they have so provoked then they who have serv'd him faithfully according to the measures of a man * or that a long impiety should be sooner expiated then a short one * That the easiness of such as promise heaven to dying penitents after a vicious life is dangerous to the very being and constitution of piety * and scandalous to the honour and reputation and sanctity of the Christian Religion * That the grace of God does leave those that use it not * That therefore the necessity of dying men increases and their aids are lessen'd and almost extinguished * That they have more to doe then they have either time or strength to finish * That all their vows and holy purposes are useless and ineffective as to their natural production and that in their case they cannot be the beginnings of a succeeding duty and piety because for want of time it never can succeed * That there are some conditions and states of life which God hath determin'd never to pardon * That there is a sin unto death for which because we have no incouragement to pray it is certain there is no hope for it is impossible but it must be very fit to pray for all them to whom the hope of pardon is not precluded * That there is in Scripture mention made of an ineffective repentance and of a repentance to be repented of and that the repentance of no state is so likely to be it as this * That what is begun and produc'd wholly by affrightment is not esteem'd matter of choyce nor a pleasing sacifice to God * That they who sow to the flesh shall reap in the flesh and the final judgement shall be made of every man according to his works * That the full and perfect descriptions of repentance in Scripture are heaps and conjugations of duties which have in them difficulty and require time and ask labour * That those insinuations of duty in Scripture of the need of patience and diligence and watchfulness and the
and heart But if thou canst know thy self you need not enquire any further If thy duty be performed you may be secure of all that is on Gods part 5. When ever repentance begins know that from thence-forward the sinner begins to live but then never let that repentance die Doe not at any time say I have repented of such a sin and am at peace for that for a man ought never to be at peace with sin nor think that any thing we can doe is too much Our repentance for sin is never to be at an end till faith it self shall be no more for Faith and Repentance are but the same Covenant and so long as the just does live by faith in the Son of God so long he lives by repentance for by that faith in him our sins are pardoned that is by becoming his Disciples we enter into the Covenant of Repentance And he undervalues his sin and overvalues his sorrow who at any time fears he shall doe too much or make his pardon too secure and therefore sets him down and sayes Now I have repented 6. Let no man ever say he hath committed the sin against the Holy Ghost or the unpardonable sin for there are but few that doe that and he can best confute himself if he can but tell that he is sorrowful for it and begs for pardon and hopes for it and desires to make amends this man hath already obtained some degrees of pardon and S. Pauls argument in this case also is a demonstration If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5.10 much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life That is if God to enemies gives the first grace much more will he give the second if they make use of the first For from none to a little is an infinite distance but from a little to a great deal is not so much And therefore since God hath given us means of pardon and the grace of Repentance we may certainly expect the fruit of pardon for it is a greater thing to give repentance to a sinner then to give pardon to the penitent Whoever repents hath not committed the great sin the Unpardonable For it is long of the man not of the sin that any sin is unpardonable 7. Let every man be careful of entring into any great states of sin lest he be unawares guilty of the great offence Every resisting of a holy motion calling us from sin every act against a clear reason or revelation every confident progression in sin every resolution to commit a sin in despite of conscience is an access towards the great sin or state of evil Therefore concerning such a man let others fear since he will not and save him with fear plucking him out of the fire but when he begins to return that great fear is over in many degrees for even in Moses law there were expiations appointed not onely for errour but for presumptuous sins The PRAYER I. OEternal God gracious and merciful I adore the immensity and deepest abysse of thy Mercy and Wisdome that thou doest pity our infirmities instruct our ignorances pass by thousands of our follies invitest us to repentance and doest offer pardon because we are miserable and because we need it and because thou art good and delightest in shewing mercy Blessed be thy holy Name and blessed be that infinite Mercy which issues forth from the fountains of our Saviour to refresh our weariness and to water our stony hearts and to cleanse our polluted souls O cause that these thy mercies may not run in vain but may redeem my lost soul and recover thy own inheritance and sanctifie thy portion the heart of thy servant and all my faculties II. BLessed Jesus thou becamest a little lower then the Angels but thou didst make us greater doing that for us which thou didst not doe for them Thou didst not pay for them one drop of bloud nor endure one stripe to recover the fallen stars nor give one groan to snatch the accursed spirits from their fearful prisons but thou didst empty all thy veins for me and gavest thy heart to redeem me from innumerable sins and an intolerable calamity O my God let all this heap of excellencies and glorious mercies be effective upon thy servant and work in me a sorrow for my sins and a perfect hatred of them a watchfulness against temptations severe and holy resolutions active and effective of my duty O let me never fall from sin to sin nor persevere in any nor love any thing which thou hatest but give me thy holy Spirit to conduct and rule me for ever and make me obedient to thy good Spirit never to grieve him never to resist him never to quench him Keep me O Lord with thy mighty power from falling into presumptuous sins lest they get the dominion over me so shall I be innocent from the great offence Let me never despair of thy mercies by reason of my sins nor neglect my repentance by reason of thy insinite loving kindness but let thy goodness bring me and all sinners to repentance and thy mercies give us pardon and thy holy Spirit give us perseverance and thy infinite favour bring us to glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. IX Of Ecclesiasticall Penance or The fruits of Repentance §. 1. THe fruits of Repentance are the actions of spiritual life and signifie properly all that piety and obedience which we pay to God in the dayes of our return after we have begun to follow sober counsels For since all the duty of a Christian is a state of Repentance that is of contention against sin and the parts and proper periods of victory and Repentance which includes the faith of a Christian is but another word to express the same grace or mercies of the Evangelical Covenant it follows that whatsoever is the duty of a Christian and a means to possess that grace is in some sense or other a Repentance or the fruits of Gods mercy and our endevours And in this sense S. John the Baptist means it saying Bring forth therefore fruits meet for Repentance that is since now the great expectation of the world is to be satisfied and the Lords Christ will open the gates of mercy and give Repentance to the world see that ye live accordingly in the faith and obedience of God through Jesus Christ That did in the event of things prove to be the effect of that Sermon But although all the parts of holy life are fruits of Repentance when it is taken for the state of favor published by the Gospel yet when Repentance is a particular duty or vertue the integral parts of holy life are also constituent parts of Repentance and then by the fruits of Repentance must be meant the less necessary but very useful effects and ministeries of Repentance which are significations and exercises of the main duty And these are sorrow for sins
and is a state of pardon and acceptable services But then there is a sorrow also proper to it For as this grace comes from the noblest passions and apprehensions so it does operate in the best manner and to the noblest purposes It hates sin upon higher contemplations then he that hates it upon the stock of fear he hates sin as being against God and Religion and right reason that is he is gone farther from sin He hates it for it self Poenitet ô si quid miserorum creditur ulli Poenitet facto torqueor ipse meo Cúmque sit exilium magis est mihi culpa dolori Estque pati poenam quà m meruisse minus That is not onely the evil effect to himself but the irregularity and the displeasure to Almighty God are the incentives of his displeasure against sin and because in all these passions and affective motions of the minde there is a sorrow under some shape or other this sorrow or displeasure is that which is a very acceptable signification and act of repentance and yet it is not to be judged of by sense but by reason by the caution and enmity against sin to which this also is to be added That if any man enquires whether or no his hatred against sin proceed from the love of God or no that is whether it be Attrition or Contrition he is onely to observe whether he does endevour heartily and constantly to please God by obedience for this is love that we keep his commandements and although sometimes we may tell concerning our love as well as concerning our fear yet when the direct principle is not so evident our onely way left to try is by the event That is Contrition which makes us to exterminate and mortify sin and endevour to keep the Commandements of God For that is sorrow proceeding from love And now it is no wonder if to Contrition pardon be so constantly annexed in all the Discourses of Divines but unless Contrition be thus understood and if a single act of something like it be mistaken for the whole state of this grace we shall be deceived by applying false promises to a real need or true promises to an incompetent and uncapable state of things But when it is thus meant all the sorrows that can come from this principle are signs of life His lacrymis vitam damus miserescimus ultrè No man can deny pardon to such penitents nor cease to joy in such tears The sum of the present enquiry is this Contrition is somtimes used for a part of repentance somtimes taken for the whole duty As it is a part so it is that displeasure at sin and hatred of it which is commonly expressed in sorrow but for ever in the leaving of it It is somtimes begun with fear somtimes with shame and somtimes with kindness with thankfulness and love but Love and Obedience are ever at the latter end of it though it were not at the beginning and till then it is called Attrition But when it is taken for the whole duty it self as it is always when it is effective of pardon then the elements of it or parts of the constitution are fides futuri saeculi Judicii fides in promissis passionibus Christi timor Divinae majestatis amor misericordiae dolor pro peccatis spes veniae petitio pro gratiâ Faith in the promises and sufferings of Christ an assent to the Article of the day of judgement and the world to come with all the consequent perswasions and practices effected on the spirit fear of the Divine Majesty love of his mercy grief for our sins begging for grace hope of pardon and in this sense it is true Cor contritum Deus non despiciet God will never refuse to accept of a heart so contrite §. 4. Of Confession THe modern Schoolmen make Contrition to include in it a resolution to submit to the Keyes of the Church that is that Confession to a Priest is a part of Contrition as Contrition is taken for a part of Repentance for it is incomplete till the Church hath taken notice of it but by submission to the Church Tribunal it is made complete and not onely so but that which was but Attrition is now turned into Contrition or perfect Repentance In the examining of this I shall because it is reasonable so to doe change their manner of speaking that the inquiry may be more material and intelligible That Contrition does include in it a resolution to submit to the Church Tribunal must either mean that godly sorrow does in its nature include a desire of Confession to a Priest and then the very word confutes the thing or else by Contrition they meaning so much of Repentance as is sufficient to pardon mean also that to submit to the Keyes or to confess to a Priest is a necessary or integral part of that Repentance and therefore of Contrition Concerning the other part of their affirmative that Attrition is by the Keyes chang'd into Contrition this being turned into words fit for men to speak such men I mean that would be understood signifies plainly this That the most imperfect Repentance towards God is sufficient if it be brought before the Church that is a little on the penitent mans part and a little on the Priests part is disposition enough to the receiving of a pardon So that provided you doe all that the Church commands you you may make the bolder to leave out something of Gods command which otherwise you might not doe The Priest may doe half the work for you These thus represented I shall consider apart 1. Confession is an act of Repentance highly requisite to its perfection and in that regard particularly called upon in holy Scripture But concerning this and all the other great exercises actions or general significations of Repentance every word singly is used indefinitely for the whole duty of Repentance Thus Contrition is used by David A broken and a contrite heart O God thou shalt not despise that is a penitent heart God will not reject The same also is the usage of Confession by S. John 1 Joh. 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness that is if we repent God hath promised us pardon and his holy Spirit that he will justifie us and that he will sanctifie us And in pursuance of this the Church called Ecclesiastical Repentance by the name of Exomologesis which though it was a Greek word yet both Greeks and Latines used it Exomolegesis est humiliandi hominis disciplina So Tertullian Confession is the discipline of humiliation for a man for his sins and S. Ambrose calls Confession poenarum compendium De Abel Cain l. 2. c. 9. the sum or abbreviature of penance And this word was sometimes chang'd and called Satisfaction which although the Latine Church in the later ages use onely for corporal austerities
it is good and even they who will not for Gods sake doe that which is simply the best yet for their own sakes they will or ought to doe that which is profitable and of great advantage Let men doe that which is best to themselves for it is all one to God save onely that he is pleas'd to take such instances of duty and forwardness of obedience as the best significations of the best love And of this nature is Confession of sins to a Minister of Religion it is one of the most charitable works in the world to our selves and in this sense we may use the words of David If thou doest well unto thy self men God will speak good of thee and do good to thee He that will do every thing that is lawful and nothing but what is necessary will be an enemy when he dares and a friend when he cannot help it But if the penitent person hath been an habitual sinner in his confessions he is to take care that the Minister of Religion understand the degrees of his wickednesse the time of his abode in sin the greatnesse of his desires the frequency of his acting them not told by numbers but by generall significations of the time and particular significations of the earnestnesse of his choice For this transaction being wholly in order to the benefit and conduct of his soule the good man that ministers must have as perfect moral accounts as he can but he is not to be reckon'd withal by natural numbers and measures save only so far as they may declare the violence of defires the pleasures and choice of the sin The purpose of this advice is this that since the transaction of this affaire is for counsel and comfort in order to pardon and the perfections of repentance there should be no scruple in the particular circumstances of but that it be done heartily and wisely that is so as may best serve the ends to which it is designed and that no man do it in despite of himself or against his will for the thing it self is not a direct service of God immediatly enjoin'd but is a service to our selves to enable us to do our duty to God and to receive a more ready and easie and certain pardon from him They indeed who pretend it as a necessary duty have by affixing rules and measures to it of their own made that which they call necessary to be intolerable and impossible Indeed it is certain that when God hath appointed a duty he also will describe the measures or else leave us to the conduct of our own choice and reason in it But where God hath not described the measures we are to do that which is most agreeable to the analogy of the commandement or the principal duty in case it be under a command but if it be not then we are onely to choose the particulars so as may best minister to the end which is designed in the whole ministration 21. It is a very pious preparation to the holy Sacrament that we confess our sins to the Minister of Religion for since it is necessary that a man be examined and a self-examination was prescrib'd to the Corinthians in the time of their lapsed discipline that though there were divisions amongst them and no established Governours yet from this duty they were not to be excus'd and they must in destitution of a publick Minister doe it themselves but this is in case onely of such necessity the other is better that is it is of better order and more advantage that this part of Repentance and holy preparation be perform'd under the conduct of a Spiritual Guide And the reason is pressing For since it is life or death that is there administred and the great dispensation of the keyes is in that Ministery it were very well if he that ministers did know whether the person presented were fit to communicate or no and if he be not it is charity to reject him and charity to assist him that he may be fitted There are many sad contingencies in the constitution of Ecclesiastical affairs in which every man that needs this help and would fain make use of it cannot but when he can meet with the blessing it were well it were more frequently used and more readily entertain'd I end these advices with the words of Origen In Psa 36. hom 1. Extra veniam est qui peccatum cognovit nec cognitum confitetur Confitendum autem semper est non quòd peccatum supersit ut semper sit confitendum sed quia peccati veteris antiqui utilis sit indefessa confessio He shall have no pardon who knows his sin and confesses it not But we must confess alwayes not that the sin alwayes remains but that of an old sin an unwearied confession is useful and profitable But this is to be understand of a general accusation or of a confession to God For in confessions to men there is no other usefulness of repeating our confessions excepting where such repetition does aggravate the fault of relapsing and ingratitude in case the man returns to those sins for which he hop'd that before he did receive a pardon §. 9. BUt because in all repentances there is something penal it is not amiss that there be some inquiries after the measures and rules of acting that part of repentance which consists in corporal austerities and are commonly called Penances 1. He that hath a great sorrow need neither be invited nor instructed in the matter of his austerities For a great sorrow and its own natural expressions and significations such as are fastings and abstinence and tears and indignation and restlesness of minde and prayers for pardon and mortification of the sin are all that which will perfect this part of repentance Onely sometimes they need caution for the degrees Therefore 2. Let the penitent be careful that he doe not injure his health or oppress his spirit by the zeal of this part of repentance Sic enim peccata compescenda sunt ut supersint quos peccasse poeniteat For all such fierce proceedings are either superstitious or desperate or indiscreet or the effect of a false perswasion concerning them that they are a direct service of God that they are simply necessary and severely enjoyn'd All which are to be rescinded or else the penances will be of more hurt then usefulness Those actions are to minister to repentance and therefore if they contradict any duty they destroy what they pretend to serve For penances as they relate to the sin that is committed is just to be measured as penitentiall sorrow is of which it is a signification and expression When the sorrow is naturall sensitive pungent and materiall the penances will be so too A great sorrow refuses to eat to sleep to be chearful to be in company according as the degree is and as the circumstances of the persons are But sometimes sorrow is to be chosen and
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sophocles in Oedip. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus one folly added to another hath great labour and vexation unquietness and difficulty for its reward But as when our blessed Saviour dispossess'd the little Daemoniack in the Gospel when the Devil went forth he roar'd and foam'd he rent him with horrid Spasmes and Convulsions and left him half dead So is every man that recovers from a vicious habit he suffers violence like a bird shut up in a cage or a sick person not to be restor'd but by Causticks and Scarifications and all the torments of Art from the dangers of his Nature 4. A vicious habit makes a great sin to be swallowed up as easily as a little one An dubitat solitus totum conflare Tonantem Radet inaurati femur Herculis faciem ipsam Neptuni qui bracteolam de Castore ducet He that is us'd to it makes nothing of Sacrilege who before started at the defrauding his Neighbour of an uncertain right but when he hath digested the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by step and step he ventures so farre till he dares to steal the Thunderbolts from Jupiter when sin is grown up to its height and station by all its firmest measures a great sin is not felt and let the sin be what it will many of the instances pass so easily that they are not observed as the hands and feet sometimes obey the fancy without the notice of the superior faculties and as we say some parts of our prayers which we are us'd to though we attend not and as Musicians strike many single strokes upon which they do not at all consider which indeed is the perfection of a habit So we see many men swear when they know not that they do so they lie and know they lie and yet believe themselves They are drunk often and at last believe it innocent and themselves the wiser and the action necessary and the excess not intemperance Enchirid c. 8. Peccata quamvis magna horrenda cùm in consuetudinem venerint aut parva aut nulla esse creduntur usque adeò ut non solùm non occultanda verùm etiam jam praedicanda ac diffamanda videantur said S. Austin At first we are asham'd of sin but custome makes us bold and confident apt to proclaim not to conceal our shame For though at first it seem'd great yet every day of use makes it less and at last all is well it is a very nothing This is a sad state of sin but directly the case of a vicious habit and of use in the illustration of this Question For if we look upon the actions and little or great instances of folly and consider that they consider not every such Oath will pass for an indeliberate folly and an issue of infirmity But then if we remember that it is voluntary in its principle that this easiness of sinning comes from an intolerable cause from a custome of profaneness and impiety that it was nourish'd by a base and a careless spirit it grew up with a cursed inadvertency and a caitiff disposition that it could not be at all but that the man is infinitely distant from God it is to be reckoned like the pangs of death which although they are not alwayes felt yet they are violent and extreme they are fatal in themselves and full of horror to the standers by But from hence besides that it serves perfectly to reprove the folly of habitual swearing it also proves the main Question viz. that in a vicious habit there is a venome and a malice beyond the guilt and besides the sinfulness of the single actions that produce and nourish it the quality it self is criminal For unless it can be supposed that to swear frequently can at last bring its excuse with it and that such a custome is onely to be estimated according to the present notice and deliberation by which it is attended to and that to swear often can be but a little thing but to swear seldome shall be horrid and inexcusable it must be certain that the very habit it self is a state of sin and enmity against God besides the guilt of the many single actions because this customary swearing cannot be accounted so bad as it is by the value and baseness of the single actions which are scarce considered very often not known not noted at all not attended to but therefore they have their load by being effects of a cursed habit and custome Here the habit is worse then the action and hath an evil of its own 5. A vicious habit hath in it this evil appendage that in every instant of its abode it keeps us out of Gods favour we are in perpetual danger and under the eternal arrest of death even without the actions of sin without pleasure or possessing any of its baser interests It was a horrible foolery which Appianus tels of Lentulus Spinther and Dolabella that when Caesar was killed in the Senate they drew their swords and ran about the streets as if they had done the fact supposing it to be great and glorious quibus gloriâ quidem frui non contigit sed poenas dederunt easdem cum sontibus they lost their hopes of fame but yet they were punished for the fact So useless and yet so pernicious a thing is a vicious habit a man may pay the price of his lust when he thinks not of it and perish for all that he was willing to enjoy though he did not what he would This is that by which Divines use to reconcile the justice of God with the infliction of eternal pains upon temporal and transitory actions There is in unrepenting or habitual sinners an eternal spring or principle of evil and they were ready for ever to have sinned and for this preparation of minde to have sinn'd for ever it is by them affirm'd to be just to punish them for ever Now this is not true in the single actions and interruptions of grace by sin but in the habitual sinner it is more reasonable Such are they of whom the Apostle speaks They were past feeling and yet were given up unto uncleanness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifies the beginnings or little images of lust which as they are first in the introduction of lust so in such persons they are the onely remains of the old man He cannot sin as he used to doe not by his action but he sins by his habit The summe is this If to love God to delight in him to frequent holy offices to love his service to dwell in God to have our conversation in heaven to lay up our treasure and our hopes and our heart there to have no thoughts no designs no imployment but for God and for religion be more acceptable to God then to doe single actions of a prosperous piety upon so many sudden resolutions and the stock of an alternate and returning
duty Then by the same reason is it infinitely more displeasing to God to be a servant under Gods Enemy and our own to be in slavery to sin subordinate to passion rul'd by chance and company to be weary of well doing to delight in sin according to the inner man this I say must be an infinite aberration and aversion from God a contradiction to all our hopes and that in Theology signifies the same effect as a vicious habit does in nature For they are the same thing and have onely different conceptions and formal notices as the patience of Job differs from the patience of S. Laurence as natural vertue from the same grace in a Christian so does a natural habit of vice in its moral capacity differ from our aversion from God I mean in the active sense which if it be not a distinct state of sinfulness distinct from the guilt of sinful actions yet it is at least a further degree of the same guiltiness and being criminal and either of them both doe sufficiently evince the main question As the charity and devotion of Cornelius was increased by passing into a habit of these graces and as the piety of him a Jewish Proselyte the habitual piety was mended by his being a Christian So the single actions of vice pass a great guilt but there is more contracted by the habitual vileness and that habit is made worse by being an opposition to and an alienation from God But of this I am now to give more special accounts 3. Of the Relative capacity of sinful Habits in reference to God 1. This is it that contains the strictness of the main Question For a sinful habit is a state of ungraciousness with God and sin is possessed of our love and choice Therefore in vain it is to think a habit innocent because it is a natural product of many single actions Every proper action of the will is a natural production of the will but it is nevertheless voluntary When the understanding hath practically determined the will it is natural for the will to choose but yet such a choyce is imputable to the will and if it be not good is reckoned as a sin So it is in vicious habits they are natural effects of many single actions but then it is also to be remembred that their seat is the will and whatsoever is naturally there is voluntary still A habit of sinning cannot remain at all but by consent and by delight by love and adhesion The habit is radicated no where but in the will except it be by subordination and in the way of ministeries It follows therefore that every vicious habit is the prolongation of a sin a continuing to love that which to love but once is death For every one that hath a vicious habit chooses his sin chearfully acts it frequently is ready to doe it in every opportunity and at the call of every temptation and according as these things are in every one so is the degree of his habit Now since every one of these which are the constituent parts of a habit implies a readiness and apt choyce of the will to sin it follows evidently that the capacity of a vicious habit by which it relates to God consisting of so much evil and all of it voluntary upon the stock of its own nature and constitution is highly and chiefly and distinctly sinful Although the natural facility is naturally and unavoidably consequent to frequent sinful actions yet it is also voluntary for the habit is not contracted nor can it remain but by our being willing to sin and delighting in the ways of error 2. Now if we look into the fountains of Scripture which is admirable in the description of vertue and vice we shall finde that habitual sin is all that evil which is to be avoided by all men that have in them the hopes of life It is the prevailing of sin it is that by which sins come to their height it is the debauching of the will and understanding it is all that which can be signified by those great expressions by which holy Scripture describes those great evils which God hates Hebr. 10. It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a root of bitterness Ephes â— 2 such as was in Esau when he undid himself an repented too late an evil heart in turning from the living Lord a sear'd conscience a walking according to the Prince of this world enemies of the cross of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as cannot cease from sin enemies that will not have Christ but the Devil to reign over them for this is the true state and constitution of vicious habits This is more then an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or hindrance of doing our duty it is a direct 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a disorder and corruption inherent in all our faculties This is signally describ'd by S. Paul who cals it a concupiscence wrought by sin Rom. 7.8.11 14. For sin saith he wrought in me all manner of concupiscence it is called by him a law in the members fighting against the law in my minde and the man he cals carnal sold under sin dead killed and the sin it self inhabitans peccatum sin dwelling in me and flesh in which dwelleth no good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the carnal minde These things as is evident cannot be spoken of the single actions of sin but of the law the power the dominion the reign the habit of sin It is that which was wrought by sin viz. by the single actions of sin and therefore he does not mean single actions neither can he mean the remanent guilt of the past action but he speaks of a direct state of sinfulness which is prolifical and productive of sin For sin wrought this concupiscence and carnal-mindedness and this carnal-mindedness is such a propensity and desire to sin and hath in it such easiness to act that it brings forth many sins and they bring forth death and therefore the Apostle says expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this carnal mindedness is death and enmity against God this is that state in which whosoever abides cannot please God * To the same purpose are those other expressions of Scripture calling this state Vias Balaam Num. 15.30 Jude 11.2 Pe. 2.14 the ways of Balâ—am the son of Bosor a walking perversly with God a being sold under sin and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hearts exercised or imployed and used to covetousness and it follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sons of cursing The fault or charge is more then that of single actions and the curse is greater then ordinary as the sin is so is the curse the one is apportion'd to the other and appropriate 3. But I consider further A single act of sin does not in all cases denominate a man vicious A man is not called a drunkard for having been once drunk but for being often for repeating the act or continuing the affection Every single act