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A49187
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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. à Sacris.
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Lortie, André, d. 1706.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing L3078; ESTC R218635
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34,929
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144
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the Offers of of Grace when the Kingdom of Heaven is preach'd unto them as our Saviour assures us Luke 10.12 Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also loved us and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not be once named amongst you as becometh saints neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks For this you know or may be sure of that no whoremonger uor unclean person nor covetous man which is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Ephes 5.1 c. Let us not therefore flatter our selves with a conceit of God's singular Favour whilst we are the very Children of Disobedience we must either renounce our Christianity and our Hopes of Heaven or renounce our Sins It is the most ridiculous thing in the Word to pretend to either of the former whilst we continue in the Practice of any evil thing The Lord alloweth the righteous but the ungodly and him that delighteth in wickedness doth his soul abhor Psal 11.6 Since therefore ther 's no other way to obtain God's Favour but in being righteous and forsaking all manner of Wickedness since the very Principles of our Religion oblige us to cease from all that is evil and learn all that is good let us be sure to avoid Sin as Men would the Plague and let us daily grow in grace according to St. Peter's Exhortation 2 Pet. 3.18 Let us be sure whatever Interests we have to serve whatever Dealings we may be ingaged in to be always strictly just and upright Let us never use any ill Tricks to serve our own ends but in all our Transactions with one another let us deal with that Simplicity and Integrity and good Conscience that becomes those who would be accounted the Disciples of the holy Jesus Sin is the Transgression of a known Law Now what a horrid thing is it what Impudence for mortal Men to do that they know is forbidden by the Almighty Governour of the World the righteous and impartial Judge of the Quick and the Dead But I cannot forbear saying it once more What piece of Madness is it for Men to do this and yet pretend to be God's Servants and the Disciples of the Son of his Love whom he has sent into the World a purpose to reform the World and shew the stray'd Race of Mankind the way to true Happiness and Bliss in teaching them to turn from their iniquities as it is Acts 3.26 We do infinitely mistake the Design of his Coming and the Nature of his Religion if we do not believe that it is to make Men much better and holier than they were before and indeed to make them as good and as holy as it is possible for Men to be Let us then study earnestly his whole Will and practice it accordingly least those who have never heard of him should be accounted better than we If we will be truly Christians let it be the earnest Endeavour of our Lives to render our selves as excellent and as exemplary for all sort of amiable Qualities as it is possible for Men to be in this World Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report If there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things Phil. 4.8 See what your Obligations are We that have such a glorious light vouchsafed unto us and such unvaluable Promises and such mighty Assistances made over to us by the Gospel of Christ must in reason imagine that in return of these great Advantages great things are expected from us It will not satisfie our Engagements that we do believe and profess the Gospel that we do no Wrong to our Neighbours that we are neither given to Lewdness nor Drunkenness though yet even these as the World goes are very great things and could all Men that profess Christianity truly say this of themselves we should soon see Heaven upon Earth but our Christianity obliges us to aspire after greater things we must get our selves possessed of the whole Circle of Vertues we must be kind and charitable as well as just and honest we must he modest and meek and humble as well as temperate and chast Then may I add to these excellent Words of an Excellent and most Reverend Prelate of our Church Then will Christ indeed own us for his Disciples for then we shall be true Subjects to God's Kingdom upon Earth and if we continue to be so unto the end we shall not fail at last to be admited into his most glorious Kingdom in Heaven where we shall enjoy the infinite Pleasure of Holiness to everlasting Ages A Morning and Evening PRAYER ALmighty God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Creator of Men and Angels and the supream Governour of the World in whom and by whom we move we live and have our Beings who shewest thy self to be perfectly Good and Bountiful infinitely wise and glorious and perfectly just and holy We thy poor Creatures prostrate our selves in the deepest Humility of our Souls before thy Divine Majesty to render unto thee the due Tribute of our Homage and Worship and offer the Morning * Evening if it be at Night Evening Sacrifice of our Prayers and Thanksgivings to beg Pardon for all our Sins and Failings and implore thy all-sufficient Grace that we may from henceforth serve thee better than we have done and may daily grow in Grace and in all Christian Vertues and finally to sue for thy Protection and thy most gracious Favour both for our selves and all Men. We confess O Lord we are not worthy to appear before thee to beg any thing at thy Hands For thou O God lovest Righteousness and hatest Iniquity Thou requirest Holiness and art perfect in all thy ways But we are miserable and wretched Creatures who have not minded our Duty as we ought to have done nor regarded thy Word thy Promises nor thy Threatings but have often been so unreasonable as to slight thy Commandments and prefer our Will to thine as if we had not believed that thou knowest what is best for us to do better than we our selves or as if we had not believed that thou searchest our ways and knowest all our Thoughts and wilt judge the World in Righteousness and reward every Man according to his Works at the great and last Day in the which we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ there to receive the things done in our Bodies according as we shall have done whether it be good or bad To us O Lord belongs Shame and
of heaven is at hand but the Hour now is that we must bid all Men repent because the Kingdom of God is come and that is inconsistent with a state of Sin and Wickedness The Times of our Ignorance God winked at but now he expects we shall all repent And the reason of it we find Acts 17.31 Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he has ordained whereas he has given assurance to all men in that he has raised him from the dead Finally in Luk. 12.48 we read that unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required What manner of persons than ought we to be we to whom Christ is preached and the Kingdom of God fully revealed what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness as St. Peter has it in his 2 Epist 3.11 Hence we may take occasion in the 4th place to consider what sort of Persons are the Subjects of the Heavenly Kingdom that we may assuredly know whether we are such or not that if we are we may praise God for it and continue to be so or if we are not we may see what is to be done to become such It is evident that a thorow Conversion from Sin to Holiness is the Business of Christianity The Design of Christ's coming into the World was to make Men truly holy The only Preparation necessary for the Entertainment of the Messiah or the Reception of his Heavenly Doctrine consisted in having this work begun in them by Repentance Repent ye said the Baptist for the kingdom of heaven is at hand A Christian therefore a true Christian I mean and not one in name only is one that has forsaken all his evil ways and is turned with all his heart unto the Lord his God to do his whole Will and keep his Commandments as long as he lives They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5.24 It is one who has denied himself and taken up his cross Matt. 16.24 One that treads apon the steps of his Saviour and runs with patience the race that is set before him looking unto Chrst Jesus who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is now set at the right hand of God Hebr. 12.1 2. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature says the Apostle St. Paul 2 Cor. 5.17 And Rom. 6.3 c. They that are baptised in Jesus Christ are baptised into his death therefore they are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead even so they also should walk in newness of life Leaving therefore the principles of the doctrine of Christ they go on unto perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God as the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has it 6.1 In a word true Christians are a peculiar people purified from all iniquity and zealous of all good works Tit. 2.14 But if you will know more particularly what manner of men true Christians are in their Life and Conversation you must read all the Precepts of the Gospel For we can never take them for true Christians that do not love Jesus Christ and are none of his Friends And I am sure all those are mere Hypocrites who pretend to love him and yet keep not his Commandments He has said it expresly If ye love me keep my commandments John 14.15 And at the 21 ver of the same Chapter He that has my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me or as it is at the 23 ver If a man love me he will keep my words By this we shall know certainly whether we are his Disciples or not Love is the fulfilling of the law as we read Rom. 13.10 that is it is the sum of it Charity comprehends all the Precepts of Christianity and implies all the Duties of Religion Therefore our Saviour has made it the Criterion or the Sign and Mark to know true Christians by John 13.35 In the 15th Chapter of the same Gospel at the 12th ver He calls it his Commandment This is my commandment that ye love one another as I loved you And at the 14th ver Ye are my friends saith he if ye do whatsoever I command you Than we are not his Friends if we do not whatsoever he commands us then surely we are not Christians But there 's no difficulty in the case we are true Christians we are his Friends if we do whatsoever he commands us Some Men perhaps at the first blush will be apt to think that this Representation of a Christian is defective because though I shew him to be one that renounceth Sin and the Devil and makes it his Business to frame his Life according to the Commandments of God yet I do not mention the particulars of his Belief But they may consider that this were needless to our present purpose and superfluous it being supposed that he who yields himself intirely and without any reserve to our Lord Jesus Christ to do his whole will doth most sincerely believe his holy Gospel and receives and adheres to all the Truths revealed in it It were unreasonable in this occasion to think that a too general Catalogue of the Articles of his Faith since 't is most certain God requires no more and no more is necessary to the Design of the Gospel and the Business of Religion that is to make Men truly holy Men may be ignorant of the meaning of several obscure places of Scripture nay and be mistaken in their Understanding of several places for no body is infallible and yet be right good Christians if they do but answer the Design of Christianity which cannot be mistaken but wilfully So that if a Man can say The Design of Christianity I am sincerely willing to obey my Creator and Redeemer in all things commanded by them I do entertain and harbour no Lust in my Breast I do heartily endeavonr to have a right understanding of the holy Scriptures and chiefly of the Gospel and to know what Doctrines are delivered there in order to the bettering of my Soul by them and the direction of my Life and Actions according to them If a Man can but say this truly of himself he may be sure whatsoever Mistakes he may labour under they cannot be such as will undo his Soul since they do not hinder him to answer the Design of the Gospel and the end of our Saviour's coming into the World that is to return sincerely and heartily to the Obedience of God to submit to his divine Government and frame his Life according to the Laws and Constitutions of his most Heavenly Kingdom It is certain Faith is required to no other end but this whoever reads the Scriptures cannot but see that this is the thing aim'd