the Apprehensions of God and the Obligations of Religion have a deeper Root and a stronger Influence on us We must not imagine God demands our Prayers and Thanksgivings as if he received any Benefit from them any Addition to his Happiness was fond to hear himself entreated and commended or was not of himself willing to do us good but must be overcom'd as it were through meer Importunity by many repeated Addresses But Experience teaches us how apt they are to create in us a vigorous sence of God our Duty and Eternal Interest and how necessary to preserve it since any considerable neglect therein bereaves us by degrees of that devout and zealous Temper which is the chief Root of all true Holiness and Vertue It was not for nothing our Blessed Saviour spent so many hours both day and night in Meditation and Prayer It was not for nothing he set so good an Example to us and gave us an express Command to watch and pray alwaies Luke 21.36 and his Apostle after him exhorts us to continue in Prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving Col. 4.2 Would not one guess Christians after this to be the most devout men in the World and the most constant in Prayer Yet 't is nothing so He had not the advantage of the Gospel of Christ that sang unto God I have remembred thy Name O Lord in the night and have kept thy Law seven times a day do I praise thee in the night-season I am not silent I call to remembrance my Song in the night I commune with mine own Heart and my Spirit makes diligent search Psal 119.55 164. Ps 22.2 77.6 Even the Mahumetans we are told fearing that a whole Night would cause too great an Interval between their Devotions interrupt their Sleep and rise constantly every night to spend some of that time in Prayer But we who have the Son of God for our Master and Teacher nay for our Guide and Pattern we that are commanded to pray without ceasing 1 Thess 5.17 that is constantly how cold and careless are we in the performance of this Duty There are but few of those that call themselves Christians will spend so much as an hour in the day in God's Service If ever they pray God 't is but by Fits And how uneasie and unattentive are the most part of them all the while Strange We scandalize our Neighbours and those we live and converse with often perhaps in a day It would make some reparation if presently after we gave them the Marks of our Sorrow and Repentance by our Devotion and the constancy earnestness and fervency of our Prayers But alas how little is this minded What makes us so dull and sottish in the things that concern the Service of God and the eternal Salvation of our Souls when we are so sagacious so earnest and vigilant about poor momentany concerns For shame let 's no longer be so very childish and foolish If we 'll act seriously and rationally to mean and do as we profess we must either renounce the Name of Christ or become new Creatures that we may be holy as our Blessed Lord is holy and as his Divine Religion indispensably obligeth us to be There are a great many that name the Name of CHRIST who rise eat and drink follow their Worldly Business lye down at night and scarce ever think of God all the while tho they cannot subsist one moment without Him and they receive from Him daily nay hourly innumerable Benefits They pretend to be the Disciples and Followers of the Son of God and yet they are perfect Strangers with God It 's no wonder therefore there is so little Zeal so little Charity and so much Malice and Wickedness to be seen among those that are called Christians But it is not to be question'd we should soon see with the Blessing of God that primitive Christian Purity break forth and shine again in the midst of us if Men would be perswaded to use constant Devotions in their Families Many excuse themselves as if they were not able or had not the Time and Opportunity to perform them Yet they can find the time and opportunity to meet together for their Repasts Morning and Evening And why not to pray God and consult his Word Are the Concerns of this World and this Body so precious as to be more worth than our Souls And is it not strange that those that have the Word of God in their Hands and have often heard it read and expounded should not know what great Obligation God has laid and daily heaps on them for which they are to thank him and praise his Holy Name what Failings they have been subject to which they are to beg Pardon for and pray against that they may never be guilty of them and what things they stand in need of which they are to beg of God And do they not know we are to pray one for another 1 Tim. 2.1 and are commanded to make Supplications Prayers Intercessions and Thanksgivings for all men Let none think to excuse himself because he is not eloquent Out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh Luke 6.45 He that cannot pray cannot be a Christian There 's no man tho' never so mean but can reason pertinently of his Business It is a sign he doth not look upon Religion as his Business that can say nothing of it But are Scholars only and Learned men commanded to pray Or is it a Duty incumbent upon All And is it our Words and Phrases God looks at and not the pious Dispositions of our Souls rather In fine Has not our Church put most excellent Prayers into our Hands And have we minded them so little all this while as to remember nothing of them That those that shall meet with these Papers may be absolutely without Excuse I conclude with a Prayer that may serve both for Morning and Evening They that have so much Piety as not to think that time lost which is spent in Devotion will not complain of its length And as for them that are otherwise dispos'd it 's no matter what they shall think of it I have but one thing to add by way of Caution to those that shall use this or any other Form of Prayer that is To take care they let not their Tongue run faster than their Understanding but considering to whom it is they speak namely to Him who is to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth let their Hearts ever accompany their Words and then they may be sure that the LORD who is far from the Wicked will hear the Prayer of the Righteous Prov. 15.29 FINIS ☞ By Mistake at the Press the Recapitulation which should have followed next after the Discourse c. is put after the Prayer Books Printed for William Rogers A Perswasive to frequent Communion in the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper 12o. The eighth Edition price bound six pence in 8º stitcht 3 d. A Sermon preach'd before the King and Queen at Whitehall the 27. of October being the day appointed for a publick Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the signal Victory at Sea for the preservation of His Majesty's Sacred Person and for his sase Return to his People 4. Both by the most Reverend Father in God John Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Of the Wisdom and Goodness of Providence two Sermons preached before the Queen at Whitehall on Aug. 17. 24. 1690. 4 to Of Religious Melancholy a Sermon preached before the Queen at Whitchall March 6. 1691 2. Both by the Right Reverend Father in God John Lord Bishop of Norwich A Practical Discourse concerning Death in 8o. price 3 s. in 12o. price 2 s. A Practical Discourse concerning a Future Judgment 8o. 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Men with Abomination and Horror as a damnable Contrivance of Hell and the Devil Nay if it were not more apt to reform Mens Lives and Manners and make them much better and holier than any other Religion that was established in the World before I don't see what Reason we could have to think that God is the Author of it or that God will have us prefer it to his former Revelations But I am sure if it was true that the Christian Religion did not exact a perfect Comformity to the Laws of Nature but encourageth Men to or indulgeth them in the Practice of Immorality and Wickedness we could never perswade the wise Heathens and much less the Jews and we our selves should have no Reason at all to believe that it proceeds from God For the only convincing Reason that we have to prove that our Saviour's and the Apostles Miracles which both Jews and Heathens attributed to the Power of Magick or at best to God's Permission to try the Children of Men were affected by the immediate Power of God in confirmation of the Truth of the Gospel is because the Doctrine of the Gospel or the Christian Religion is infinitely averse to the Genius of the Devil and most agreeable to the Spirit of God the Dictates of right Reason and our own Consciences that is the divine and everlasting Laws of the Kingdom of Heaven If the Design of the Christian Religion had been to alienate Mens Minds from God and Goodness we could not but conclude it to be the Works of the Devil But if it tends to the Glory of God and the Good of Mankind if it be apt to promote true Piety and Vertue and if its Design be to inspire Mens Minds with great and worthy Thoughts of God and suitable Affections towards him and to reduce the World to the Practice of Charity Justice and Humility Chastity Temperance and Sobriety Patience Meekness and Gentleness and all other divine Vertues then it is impossible or at least absolutely unreasonable to attribute the wonderful Deeds that were wrought in confirmation of the Truth of its Promises and Threatnings to a wicked malicious proud unjust revengeful and impious Spirit It being then evident that all those Doctrines which reconcile Vice with Religion are false and Diabolical we may therefore be sure if we explain any obscure Saying of Scripture so as to make it encourage or palliate Wickedness and excuse Men from being holy and doing Righteousness we put a false Sense upon it Our Traditions are false and abominable if by them we make the Commandments of God of none effect That 's the First Inference Secondly Those Men are infinitely mistaken who fancy the Essence of Religion to confist in Speculation and not in Practice and cry out against Morality as if true Morality was not true Religion Hollness is the end of Faith and the end of Divine Revelation it is the Law and the Prophets and the very Gospel For God's Design in the Gospel is no other than that of the Law or any former Revelation As we read of the Housholder of the Parable Matth. 21.33 c. That he sent several of his Servants at several times and last of all his own Son to those Hubandmen to whom he had let out his Vineyard and that all the Messages he sent were to no other end but this viz To demand the Fruits of his Vineyard So God at sundry times has sent divers Messengers to the Sons of Men Angels and Prophets and at last his only begotten Son And to what end was all this but to excite Men to pay him those Fruits he expects from them to take them off from their Sins and perswade them to their Duty and Allegiance to make them good and obedient that they may become his good Subjects and may be Partakers of his Holiness and divine Nature and so of his everlasting Kingdom We must then beware of those who make the end of Religion and the Essence of it to consist in Speculation and not in a holy Practice Those Men know not the Power of the Gospel they are not acquainted with the Nature of the Kingdom of Heaven they are ignorant of what they pray for in their daily Prayers when they say unto God Thy kingdom come Thirdly It follows that our chief and main Business is to study our Duty to learn it and to practice it that we may work out our own salvation with fear and trembling as it is Phil. 2.12 Those are in a great Error who imagine we must always rest in the Doctrines of Repentance and Faith against the express Commandment of the Apostle Hebr. 6.1 For as St. James says What doth it profit though a man say he has faith and have not works can faith save him Faith without works is dead and therefore unprofitable Jam. 2. at the 14 and 26 Verses They are then ignorant and sensless Christians or rather no Christians at all who do not much regard God's Commandments or do not much care to learn his Will and what it is he requires of every one of us who undervalue and despise those Books and Discourses that instruct them in all the parts of their Duty and teach them that without the sincere Performance of it it is in vain to hope for Heaven and rather delight in curious and speculative Notions fondly perswading themselves that the Knowledge and Belief of such will bring them to everlasting Happiness and fully discharge them from the Practice of the whole Duty of Man as if there was a way to be righteous without doing Righteousness But if we are seriously desirous of the things that belong to our Peace that our Faith may be approved and may be such as will be accepted of God and if we will not deceive our selves with a vain and dead Faith If we design in good earnest to have a Share in Christ Jesus to enjoy the Benefit of that glorious Redemption he hath wrought in the behalf of fall'n Mankind and to be included in that Act of Grace and Indemnity he hath obtained for all Rebels that will return to their true Allegiance that is all penitent Sinners Then it concerns us to return sincerely and impartially under the Dominion of the Kingdom of Heaven and become God's faithful Subjects which cannot be if we do not conform to his divine Laws Our Business therefore must be to study diligently and learn his whole Will and to practice it with all the Zeal and Sincerity of our Souls Our Business if we will be Christians indeed and not barely in Name is to know perfectly what is our Duty to God what is our Duty to ourselves and what is our Duty to all other Men. We must know exactly what is the Duty of Children to Parents of Parents to Children of Servants to Masters of Masters to Servants of Husband and Wife of Friends and Enemies one to another of the Poor to the Rich and the Rich to the Poor and
A Practical Discourse Concerning REPENTANCE And the NATURE OF THE Christian Religion By A. LORTIE Rector of BARTON near Nottingham IMPRIMATUR Oct. ult 1692. Guil. Lancaster R.P.D. Hen. Episc Lond. Ã Sacris LONDON Printed for Will. Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1693. To My much Honoured Lord and Noble Benefactor The Right Honourable AND Right Reverend Father in GOD HENRY L d Bishop of LONDON One of the Lords of Their Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council c. My LORD THE incomparable Goodness and Affability your Lordship useth towards all not excepting the meanest Persons encourageth me humbly to lay at your Lordship's Feet this plain Practical Discourse which as I have had the comfort to understand that they were edified who heard it so I hope it may be of farther use when more leisurely considered and perhaps may serve to give the common sort of People a clearer and more distinct Notion than they usually have of their indispensable Duty and of that wise and holy Religion which they profess The zeal of doing something towards this before I die according to my little Sphere made me desirous to leave this Discourse with my Parishioners It would be indeed an unspeakable satisfaction to me if it prove any advantage to them but chiefly if your Lordship might condescend so far as to accept it as a Token of my most humble and hearty Gratitude instead of what I should but am not able to perform for the great and many Obligations laid upon my Relations and my self in particular for which we shall ever stand indebted to your Lordship My Lord Your Lordship and all the World knows it very well hath not only been ready upon all Occasions to assert and maintain even with the most eminent danger of your Life your Country's most admirable Laws and Reformation but has been a common Father to all the Persecuted of France who were forc'd to flee from their Native Country How many Souls can declare to the World and shall testifie at the Great Day before our blessed Lord and his holy Angels to your Lordship's immortal Glory that they have tasted of no other Bread in this their Distress but that which your Lordship did put into their hands There my Father will stand with his Family in the fore-front of that vast multitude of the Witnesses of your Lordship's unbounded Charity and we shall thereby convince the World that Christianity was not then lost among Men. In the mean while my Lord I submit my self wholly and this little Treatise to your Lordship assuring your Lordship it is meant candidly and purely for God's Glory and the Salvation of Souls proceeding from a sincerely penitent Heart having studied nothing so much as this Subject these several Years in which I have so often been in a state of dying I shall add no more but this That the chiefest Blessing I shall always ask of GOD and my chiefest Happiness the remainder of my Life will be to see God's Glory further'd and your Noble House my Lord and Yourself in particular prosper and flourish to the Honour and Felicity of this Church and Nation I humbly beg your Lordship's Blessing I am My LORD Your Lordship 's Most Humble most Dutiful and most Obliged Servant A. LORTIE A Practical Discourse Concerning REPENTANCE c. JOHN the Baptist came Preaching as we read Mat. 3.1 2. and saying Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand That was the Voice that cried before the Messiah Prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths streight Luk. 3.4 And at the eighth Verse of that Chapter we learn what was to be done in order to that viz. to Repent without any further excuse upon no account whatsoever Repentance indeed is a Duty incumbent upon all Men seeing all have sinned and therefore must certainly be for ever undone except they Repent As the World goes it is a Duty to be insisted upon at all times But if it be specially call'd for at some Seasons more than others it is surely in times of Publick Humiliation when we address our selves to God or he addresses himself to us and whensoever we are call'd to renew our Engagements to Religion All we can do without it is but Hypocrisie and a meer mocking of Almighty God John the Baptist it seems esteem'd it the true and only Preparative for the Christian Religion Repent ye says he for the kingdom of heaven is at hand All Men are therefore highly concern'd to have a right Notion of Repentance otherwise they can never be good Christians I shall endeavour to shew in the following Discourse I. What Repentance is II. What is the Nature of the Christian Dispensation which is call'd the Kingdom of Heaven III. What reason there was to Repent the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand and what reason then there is now we should Repent And IV. I shall represent what manner of Persons are the Subjects of this heavenly Kingdom that we may know assuredly whether we are such or not that if we are we may praise God for it and continue to be so and if we are not we may see what is to be done to become such Then I shall draw some Inferences from the whole First What Repentance is For there are too many in the World take that for Repentance which indeed is no such thing their Hearts being evil and therefore willing to substitute any thing in its room to be excused from it But God is not mocked and their very Consciences were they permitted to speak would cry aloud against them for their unpardonable blindness and folly in mistaking so easily if not wilfully in so clear and plain a matter Some fancy a fence of Sin to be Repentance That is if they are but sensible that they have done what ought not to have been done that they are miserable Sinners and that Sin is a most wretched and odious thing which 't were good never to be guilty of I say if they do but feel themselves sensible of all this then they think they are well enough and are so presumptuous as to hope well of their state tho' they still continue in their sins Others something more modest do not think it sufficient to have a bare fence of sin if withal they do not entertain a hearty sorrow for it But if they do but grieve and weep for their sins they question not but they have made full amends for them altho' they grow never the better but still sin on still complaining and sorrowing for their sins and bemoaning their infirmities But others yet come nearer to the business for to all this they will add vows and resolutions and endeavours They are not only sensible that they have done those things which they ought not to have done they are not only heartily sorry for it but they for malso good resolutions against sin they vow they will endeavour with all their might never to fall into
inherit the kingdom of God And so for all other Crimes and Vices as Lying and Swearing c. If you have contracted the Habit and Custom of Swearing and taking God's Name in vain then and then only you shall have repented when you shall have overcome that evil Habit and accustomed your self never to pronounce that sacred Name but with Adoration and Religion for God's Glory and Service If you have been careless and have neglected Religion then you shall have reason to think you have repented when you are become diligent when you pray frequently and fervently when you humble your self often in mourning for your sins and in fastings to subdue your sensual inclinations to keep your body under and bring it into subjection and when you are grown zealous of Good Works and constant in all Religious Duties For Repentance is a true and real change of Mind and a conversion from sin to God I say Repentance is a true change of Mind not some one bare Act of change but a lasting durable state of new Life Otherwise 't is not sincere it is but a mock Repentance Some Men think when at the Year's end or Quarter's end they go to the Lord's Table cry out against their Sins form a thousand Resolutions and force themselves into a Religious Posture of Mind after a long Habit of Sin and Carelesness These Men I say fancy that they have well repented that they are right Penitents and that after this they may safely begin upon a new Score with an intent to repent again as they call it at the time appointed So that after a day or two the pious fit is over or to speak more properly the hypocrisie ceaseth and they are themselves again They return to their old sins as the dog to his vomit again and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire 2 Pet. 2.22 But do you find a change in you Are you not the same you were five ten or twenty Years ago when you were led by Vanity and you committed those things whereof vertuous Men and true Penitents are ashamed Are you now of another Mind Do you find you self another Man a new Creature Have you now better Dispositions Have you not only ceased to do evil but also learn'd to do good For then and not else are you Penitents Having thus stated the true Notion of Repentance let us next consider II. What we are to understand by the Kingdom of Heaven and what the Nature of it is It was the Precursor of the Messiah exhorted Men to Repentance upon the account of the approach of the Kingdom of Heaven We may be sure therefore that by the Kingdom of Heaven then at hand is meant the Messiah's dispensation or oeeconomy It was an ordinary expression for it among the Jews They then looked for and were in expectation of the Kingdom of Heaven or the Heavenly Kingdom meaning the Coming of the Messiah in great Power and Glory They were us'd to call it so because they thought the Redeemer of Israel the promis'd Saviour was to be sent to them from Heaven and for the most part they little understood the Nature of his Kingdom or the true End and Design of his Coming But certain it is that 't is a most heavenly Kingdom as is manifest to any one that is acquainted with it not only because that Kingdom is not of this World but is seated in the Hearts and Spirits of Men but because it is a real Theocracy God himself is the King the Legislator and Governour and the Members the Citizens or Subjects of it are all heavenly Persons or Men that lead heavenly Lives agâ—eeable to the most holy most wise righteous and everlasting Laws of God That is Christianity 'T is therefore an heavenly Constitution or Heaven upon Earth God reigns in our Hearts and over all our Passions and his Will is the Rule of all our Actions And what is it the Lord requires of us but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God As it is Micah 6.8 Or according to the Gospel-revelation To deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.12 It is nothing but the state of Repentance continued and perfected that is a state of Holiness But some perhaps will say this is Morality And doth the Kingdom of Heaven consist in this Why are not these express Texts of Scripture And doth not the very Preparative to Christianity teach us wherein the Nature and Essence of it doth consist If Men must repent that is Cease to do evil and learn to do well before they can be fit to become Christians Doth not that teach us that the Christian Religion doth consist in an entire conformity to the Divine Laws And doth not the Apostle declare as much in the definition or description he gives us of it The kingdom of God says he is not meat and drink doth not consist of things in themselves indifferent but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost For doth he add he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men Rom. 14.17 18. And Gal. 6.15 In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature Nevertheless Men generally have strange odd Notions of the Christian Faith and of Morality We are apt to fancy that the improvement of our Knowledge and Speculations is the end of our Faith the ultimate end of the Gospel-revelation But St. James tells us the Devils then may be as good Christians as we for they also believe and tremble Jam. 2.19 And at the 26th Verse As the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also Good Works then are the very Life and Spirit of Christianity So that we are infinitely mistaken if we think that any one Article of the Christian Faith ends meerly in Speculation and has not a necessary influence upon Practice That Belief is good for nothing and that Revelation is not worthy of the God of Heaven which doth not tend to the reformation and perfection of Mens Lives and Manners That 's the only wise and reasonable End of all Religion That 's the only reasonable Service and therein the true Glory of God doth consist Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this To visit the fatherless and widows in their afflictions and to keep himself unspotted from the world Jam. 1.27 We are indeed to be very zealous of Faith so it be such a Faith as worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 For without that it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Hebr. 11.6 But to him that hath such a Faith nothing is impossible as we find in that Chapter By Faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac and he that had received the
but omitted at Night Give us Grace to do and undertake nothing but what we are sure is agreeable to thy Will and to thy Glory and the Salvation of our Souls and then let thy Blessing be upon all our Endeavours O may we so live that we may be always prepared for Death * This to be said at Night Grant us a comfortable Rest and Sleep that we may be the better fit for our Duty the next Day And give us Grace O Lord when we lie down in our Beds always to remember that the time will shortly come when we shall lie down in our Graves that by serious thoughts and a holy Life we may timely prepare for our Death So that whenever it comes we may not feel the Horrours and Torments of a guilty Mind but may be fit and content to leave this World and looking upon Death only as a Passage to a far better we may receive it with that Resolution and Constancy as becomes them that hope for Eternal Life Grant this O most merciful Father for the Blessed Jesus his sake who has taught us when we pray thus to say Our Father c. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen THE RECAPITULATION WITH A Prayer and an Exhortation TO ALL Who desire to lead Christian Lives to be constant in PRAYER REpentance is a change of Mind that shews it self to be read by all our Actions which then are contrary to our former Practices Nothing absolutely can be Repentance in religious Matters but an actual forsaking of Sin ceasing to do evil and learning to do well Isa 1.16.17 and contracting all the Habits of Vertue Christianity is a state of Purity and Holiness It is Repentance perfected and an entire Conformity to the Will of God The three general Heads of the Christian Religion are Piety towards God Justice towards all Men And Sobriety in respect of our selves That is the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven and that Heavenly Constitution and Government which is agreeable to the Nature of God and is as much unalterable as his Nature It is therefore impossible for a Man to be a Christian that is a faithful Subject of the kingdom of Heaven if he has not repented of all his Sins since to be a Christian is to live soberly righteously and godly Tit. 2.11 12 13 14. from a Principle of Faith in Jesus Christ in Obedience to his Commands and in Expectation of his Promises No Doctrine can be more antichristian more contrary to nor more destructive of the Design of the Gospel than such as encourage Vice or allow Men in a loofe way of living They are infinitely mistaken who fancy the Essence of Religion to consist in Speculation and not in Practice Saving Faith is an operative Faith a faith that worketh by charity Gal. 5.6 The end of Revelation is our Sanctification 1 Thess 4.1 2 3 c. The turning us away from our iniquities Acts 3.26 which otherwise would prove our ruine Ezek. 18.30 It is therefore a gross Error to think there 's any thing revealed that has no Influence upon Practice and is not designed and conducive to the Conversion of the World and the Amendment of our Manners Those then that undervalue and vilifie Morality vilifie and undervalue the Christian Faith and Religion We see plainly in Scripture that the end of Faith is Holiness it is required to no other end than that believing we might have life John 20.31 Which is not to be attained unto without holiness for without it no man shall see the Lord Heb. 11.14 and none but the just shall live by faith Hebr. 10.38 For that which is altogether just we must follow and we must seek good and do God's commandments that we may live Dent. 16.20 Amos 5.14 Matth. 19.17 Luk. 10.28 and true Morality is true Religion For true Morality is an enaxt Conformity of our Lives and Actions of our Thoughts Words and Deeds to the eternal Laws of right Reason naturally that is by God himself imprinted upon our Consciences and as it were reprinted and that more deeply by the Gospel of his Son Our grand Business therefore is to study from our Duty from a Principle of Faith to have it persect and to practise it accordingly As we have any serious Concern for our Souls we must neglect nothing that is necessary and conducive to that end to the purifying that is of our Spirits and making us holy We must prosecute the means of Grace with all the Earnestness and Diligence imaginable For it is but a folly to pretend to the Name of Christians if we do not live according to the Rules of Christianity and do not govern our selves according to the Laws of the kingdom of Heaven Repentance is but the Preparative to Christianity He that intends to live the Devil 's Subject as long as he can enjoy his Life and Health though he is loath to have his Portion with the Devil in the other World and designs to repent upon his Death bed is resolved not to be a Christian whilst he lives The Design of the Christian Religion is to make Men as Good and Holy as it is possible for Men to be And our blessed Saviour has taught us expresly that it is not the crying Lord Lord will serve to enter into the kingdom of Heaven but the doing of the will of God Matth. 7.21 As we desire then to be admitted one Day into Heaven Let us from this Moment conform to its Divine Laws and let us detest and abhor all those Antichristian Traditions which make the commandments of God of none effect Matth. 15.6 God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness 1 Thess 4.7 In particular let all that shall be willing to strive to enter into the Gates of Righteousness and shall be perswaded of the Obligation and Necessity of a good Life be constant in Prayer Prayer is not only a Duty of Religion which we cannot omit without a defiance of Christ's Precepts and Authority and a profest Contempt of that great salvation which was spoken by the Lord Hebr. 2.3 But it is also the best means in the World to become truly religious A Man is never entirely reformed till a new Principle governs his Thoughts and nothing makes that Principle so strong as frequent Addresses to God and serious and deep Meditations of his Nature and Will of all the Benefits we have received and do still receive daily from him the Engagements and Obligations we are in to serve and obey him the great Neglect we 've bin guilty of in a Business so vastly concerning and how much reason there is to set more earnestly about it than ever The Effects of such Addresses to God and of such Meditations besides the Grace of God we draw upon us thereby which is promised to our Prayers are very sensible they make very evidently