his children That ye should walk worthy of God who hath called you unto his Kingdom and glory * For this cause also thank we God without ceasing because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God And having an High Priest over the house of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water * Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised * And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works * Not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day approaching For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins * but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries * He that despised Moses's law died without mercy under two or three witnesses * Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God and if it first begin at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure And whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his Commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end to him will I give power over the Nations A Penitential Psalm collected out of the Psalms and Prophets HAVE mercy upon me O God according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions For our transgressions are multiplied before thee and our sins testifie against us our transgressions are with us and as for our iniquities we know them In transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing away from our God speaking oppression and revolt conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falshood Our feet have run to evil our thoughts are thoughts of iniquity The way of peace we have not known we have made us crooked paths whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace Therefore do we wait for light but behold obscurity for brightness but we walk in darkness Look down from Heaven and behold from the habitation of thy Holiness and of thy Glory where is thy zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards me are they restrained We are indeed as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags and we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away But now O Lord thou art our Father we are the clay and thou our potter and we all are the work of thy hand Be not wroth very sore O Lord neither remember iniquity for ever behold see we beseech thee we are thy people Thou O Lord art our Redeemer thy Name is from everlasting O Lord Father and Governour of my whole life leave me not to the sinful counsels of my own heart and let me not any more fall by them Set scourges over my thoughts and the discipline of wisdom over my heart lest my ignorances encrease and my sins abound to my destruction O Lord Father and God of my life give me not a proud look but turn away from thy servant always a haughty mind Turn away from me vain hopes and concupiscence and thou shalt hold him up that is always desirous to serve thee Let not the greediness of the belly nor the lust of the flesh take hold of me and give not thy servant over to an impudent mind There is a word that is clothed about with death God grant it be not found in the portion of thy servant For all such things shall be far from the godly and they shall not wallow in their sins Though my sins be as scarlet yet make them white as snow though they be red like crimson let them be as wooll For I am ashamed of the sins I have desired and am confounded for the pleasures that I have chosen Lord make me to know mine end and the measure of my days what it is that I may know how frail I am and that I may apply my heart unto wisdom Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me O Lord let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me For innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up for they are more than the hairs of my head therefore my heart faileth me But thou O Lord though mine iniquities testifie against me save me for thy Name sake for our backslidings are many we have sinned grievously against thee But the Lord God will help me therefore shall I not be confounded therefore have I set my face like a flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed He is near that justifieth me who will contend with me The Lord God will help me who is he that shall condemn me I will trust in the Lord and stay upon my God O let me have this of thine hand that I may not lie down in sorrow S. Paul's Prayers for a holy life I. I BOW my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant unto me according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in my heart by faith that being rooted and grounded in love I may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge and may be filled with all the fulness of God through the same our most blessed Saviour Jesus Amen The Doxologie Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us Vnto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Amen II. O MOST gracious God grant to thy servant to be filled with the knowledge of thy Will in all
that I may recover my loss and imploy all the remaining portion of my time in holy offices and duties of Repentance My understanding hath been abused by false perswasions and vain confidences But now O God I offer up that imperious faculty wholly to the obedience of Christ to be govern'd by his Laws to be instructed by his Doctrine to be bended by all his arguments My will hath been used to crookedness and peevish morosity in all vertuous imployments but greedy and fierce in the election and prosecution of evil actions and designs But now O God I have no will but what is thine and I will rather die than consent and choose any thing that I know displeases thee My heart O God was a fountain of evil thoughts ungracious words and irregular actions because my passions were not obedient nor orderly neither temperate nor governed neither of a fitting measure nor carried to a right object But now O God I present them unto thee not as a fit oblation but as the Lepers and the blind the lame and the crooked were brought unto the holy Jesus to be made streight and clean useful and illuminate and when thou hast taken into thy possession what is thine and what I stole from thee or detained violently and which the Devil did usurp then thou wilt sanctifie and save it use it as thine own and make it to be so for ever V. BLessed God refuse not thy returning son I have prodigally wasted my talents and spent my time in riotous and vain living but I have not lost my title and relation to thee my Father O my God I have the sorrow of an humble penitent the purposes of a converted sinner the love of a pardoned person the zeal of an obliged and redeem'd prisoner the hope of him that feels thy present goodness and longs for more Reject me not O my God but do thou work all my works within me My heart is in thy hands and I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps But do thou guide me into the way of righteousness work in me an excellent Repentance a great caution and observance an humble fear a prudent and a religious hope and a daily growing charity work in me to will and to do of thy good pleasure Then shall I praise thy name and love thy excellencies and obey thy Commandments and suffer thy impositions and be what thou wouldst have me to be that I being rescued from the possession of the Devil and the torments of perishing souls may be admitted to serve thee and be a minister of thy honour in the Kingdomes of Grace and Glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A Prayer for an old person returning after a wicked life O Eternal God give me leave to speak for my self before I die I would fain live and be healed I have been too long thine enemy and would not be so for ever My heart is broken within me and all my fortunes are broken without I know not how to speak and I must not I dare not hold my tongue II. O MY God can yesterday be recall'd and the flying hours be stopped In my youth I had not the prudence and caution of old age but is it possible that in my old age I may be restored to the hopes and opportunities of youth Thou didst make the Sun to stand still at the prayer of Joshua and return back at the importunity of Hezekiah O do thou make a new account for me and reckon not the days of my youth but from this day reckon the beginnings of my life and measure it by the steps of duty and the light of the Sun of Righteousness now arising upon my heart III. I AM ashamed O God I am ashamed that I should betray my reason shame my nature dishonour all my strengths debauch my understanding and baffle all my faculties for so base so vile affections so unrewarding interests O my God where is all that vanity which I suck'd so greedily as the wild Asses do the wind whither is that pleasure and madness gone which so ravish'd all my senses and made me deaf to the holy charms of thy divinest Spirit Behold O God I die for that which is not and unless thy mercy be my rescue for ever I shall suffer torments insufferable still to come still to succeed for having drunk of unsatisfying perishing waters which had no current no abode IV. O Dear God smite me not yet respite me one portion of time I dare not say how much but even as much as thou pleasest O stay a while and try me but this once It is true O God I have lost my strength and given my vigorous years to that which I am asham'd to think on But yet O Lord if thou pleasest my soul can be as active and dutiful and affectionate and humble and sorrowful and watchful as ever Thou doest not save any for his own worthiness but eternal life is a gift and thou canst if thou pleasest give it unto me But why does my soul run thither with all its loads of sin and shame upon it That is too great yet to be thought of O give me pardon and give me sorrow and give me a great a mighty grace to do the duty of a whole life in the remaining portion of my days V. O MY gracious Lord whatever thy sentence be yet let me have the honour to serve thee Let me contribute something to thy glory let me converse with thy Saints and Servants in the entercourses of piety let me be admitted to be a servant to the meanest of thy servants to do something that thou lovest O God my God do what thou pleasest so I may not for ever die in the sad and dishonourable impieties of the damned Let me but be admitted to thy service in all the degrees of my soul and all the days of my short life and my soul shall have some comfort because I signifie my love and duty to thee for whom I will not refuse to die O my God I will not beg of thee to give me comfort but to give me duty and imployment Smite me if thou pleasest but smite me here kill me if thou pleasest I have deserved it but I would fain live to serve thee and for no other reason but that thou mayest love to pardon and to sanctifie me VI. O Blessed Jesus do thou intercede for me thy Father hears thee in all things and thou knowest our infirmities and hast felt our miseries and didst die to snatch us from the intolerable flames of Hell and although thou givest thy gifts in differing proportions to thy servants yet thou dost equally offer pardon to all thy enemies that will come unto thee and beg it O give me all faith and all charity and a spirit highly compunctive highly industrious passionate prudent and indefatigable in holy services Open thy fountains gracious Lord and
Kingdome of Heaven 88. IV. Whatsoever good work we do let us not impute it to our selves or our own choice For God is the best estimator of that he knows best what portion of the work we did and what influence our will had into the action and leave it to him to judge and recompense But let us attribute all the glory to God and to Gods grace for without him we can do nothing But by him that strengthens us that works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure by him alone we are saved Giving all glory to God will take nothing of the reward from us 89. V. Let no man so undervalue his sin or over-value himself as to lessen that and to put the fault any where but where it ought to be If a man accuses himself with too great a rigour it is no more than if he holds his horse too hard when he is running down a hill It may be a less force would stop his running but the greater does so too and manifests his fear which in this case of his sin and danger is of it self rewardable 90. VI. Let no man when he is tempted say that he is tempted of God Not only because as S. James affirms most wisely every man is tempted when he is led away by his own concupiscence but because he is a very evil speaker that speaks evil things of God Think it not therefore in thy thought that God hath made any necessities of sinning He that hath forbidden sin so earnestly threatned it so deeply hates it so essentially prevents it so cautiously dissuades us from it so passionately punishes it so severely arms us against it so strongly and sent his Son so piously and charitably to root out sin so far as may be from the face of the earth certainly it cannot be thought that he hath made necessities of sinning For whatsoever he hath made necessary is as innocent as what he hath commanded it is his own work and he hateth nothing that he hath made and therefore he hath not made sin And no man shall dare to say at Doomsday unto God that he made him to sin or made it unavoidable There are no two cases of Conscience no two duties in any case so seemingly contradictory that whichsoever a man choose he must sin and therefore much less is any one state a state of necessary unavoidable enmity against God 91. VII Use thy self to holy company and pious imployment in thy early days follow no evil example live by rule and despise the world relieve the usual necessities of thy life but be not sensual in thy appetite accustom thy self to Religion and spiritual things and then much of that evil nature thou complainest of will pass into vertuous habits It was the saying of Xenocrates in Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Happy is he that hath a diligent studious soul for that is every mans good Angel and the principle of his felicity 92. VIII Educate thy children and charges strictly and severely Let them not be suffered to swear before they can pray nor taught little revenges in the Cradle nor pride at School nor fightings in company nor drinkings in all their entertainments nor lusts in private Let them be drawn from evil company and do thou give them holy example and provide for them severe and wise Tutors and what Alexander of Ales said of Bonaventure Adam non peccavit in Bonaventurâ will be as truly said of young men and maidens Impiety will not peep out so soon It was wisely observed by Quintilian who was an excellent Tutor for young Gentlemen that our selves with ill breeding our children are the Authors of their evil nature Antè palatum eorum quà m os instituimus Gaudemus si quid licentiùs dixerint Verba ne Alexandrinis quidem permittenda deliciis risu osculo excipimus We teach their palate before we instruct the tongue And when the tongue begins first to pratle they can efform wantonness before words and we kiss them for speaking filthy things Fit ex his consuetudo deinde natura Discunt haec miseri antequam sciunt vitia esse The poor wretches sin before they know what it is and by these actions a custom is made up and this custom becomes a nature SECT VIII Rules and Measures of Deportment when a curse doth descend upon Children for their Parents fault or when it is feared 93. I. IF we fear a curse upon our selves or family for our fathers sin let us do all actions of piety or religion justice or charity which are contrary to that crime which is suspected to be the enemy in all things being careful that we do not inherit the sin Si quis paterni vitii nascitur haeres nascitur poenae The heir of the Crime must possess the revenue of punishment 94. II. Let the children be careful not to commend not to justifie not to glory in their fathers sin but be diligent to represent themselves the more pious by how much their fathers were impious for by such a contrariety and visible distance they will avoid their fathers shame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For most men love not to honour and praise the sons of good men so much as the sons of wicked men when they study to represent themselves better and unlike their wicked parents Therefore 95. III. Let no child of a wicked father be dejected and confounded in his spirit because his fathers were impious For although it is piety to be troubled for their fathers regard and because he died an enemy to God yet in reference to themselves they must know that God puts upon every head his own punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Plato For every one is submitted to his own fortune by his own act The fathers crime and the fathers punishment make no real permanent blot upon the son No man is forc'd to succeed in his fathers crime said Callistratus the Lawyer 96. IV. Every evil that happens to a son for his fathers fault hath an errand of its own to him For as God is a just Judge to his father so he is an essential enemy to sin and a gracious Lord to the suffering person When God sent blindness upon the man in the Gospel neither for his parents sins nor his own yet he did it for his own glory Let the afflicted person study by all ways to advance Gods glory in the sufferance and the sharpness of the evil will be taken off 97. V. Let not a son retain the price of his fathers sin the purchase of his iniquity If his father entred into the fields of the fatherless let not the son dwell there If his ancestors were sacrilegious let not the son declaim against the crime and keep the lands but cast off that which brings the burthen along with it And this is to be observed in all those sins the evil consequent and effect of which remains upon the posterity
defiance of a new-sprung Heresie The Fathers of Nice fram'd the Gloria Patri against the Arians Saint Austin compos'd a Hymn against the Donatists Saint Hierome added the sicut erat in principio against the Macedonians Saint Ambrose fram'd the Te Deum upon occasion of St. Austins Baptism but took care to make the Hymn to be of most solemn adoration and yet of prudent institution and publick Confession that according to the advice of St. Paul we might sing with grace in our hearts to the Lord and at the same time teach and admonish one another too Now this cannot be done but in set forms of prayer for in new devotions and uncertain forms we may also have an ambulatory faith and new Articles may be offered before every Sermon and at every convention the Church can have no security to the contrary nor the Article any stable foundation or advantageous insinuation either into judgment or memory of the persons to be informed or perswaded but like Abrahams sacrifice as soon as his back is turn'd the birds shall eat it up Quid quod haec oratio quae sanandis mentibus adhibetur descendere in nos debet Remedia non prosunt nisi immorentur A cursory Prayer shall have a transient effect when the hand is off the impression also is gone Sect. 109. EIGHTHLY Without the description of publick forms of prayer there can be no security given in the matter of our prayers but we may burn assa foetida for incense and the Marrow of a mans bones instead of the fat of Rams and of all things in the world we should be most curious that our prayers be not turned into sin and yet if they be not prescribed and pre-considered nothing can secure them antecedently the people shall go to Church but without confidence that they shall return with a blessing for they know not whether God shall have a present made of a holy oblation or else whether the minister will stand in the gap or make the gap wider But this I touch'd upon before Sect. 110. NINTHLY They preserve the authority and sacredness of Government and possibly they are therefore decried that the reputation of authority may decline together For as God hath made it the great Cancel between the Clergy and the People that they are deputed to speak to God for them so is it the great distinction of the persons in that order that the Rulers shall judge between the Ministers and the People in relation to God with what addresses they shall come before God and intercede for the people for so St. Paul enjoyns that the spirits of the Prophets should be submitted to the Prophets viz. to be discern'd and judg'd by them which thing is not practicable in permissions of every Minister to pray what forms he pleases every day Sect. 111. TENTHLY Publick forms of Liturgy are also the great securities and basis to the religion and piety of the people for circumstances govern them most and the very determination of a publick office and the appointment of that office at certain times engages their spirits the first to an habitual the latter to an actual devotion It is all that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many men know of their Religion and they cannot any way know it better than by those Forms of prayer which publish their faith and their devotion to God and all the world and which by an admirable expedient reduces their faith into practice and places their Religion in their understanding and affections And therefore St. Paul when he was to give an account of his Religion he did it not by a mere recitation of the Articles but by giving account of his Liturgy and the manner of his worship After that way which they call haeresie so worship I the God of my Fathers And the best worship is the best religion and therefore I am not to trust any man to make my manner of worshipping unless I durst trust him to be the Dictator of my Religion and a Form of Prayer made by a private man is also my Religion made by a private man So that we must say after the manner that G. the Minister of B. shall conceive and speak so worship I the God of my Fathers and if that be reasonable or pious let all the world judge Sect. 112. ELEVENTHLY But when authority shall consider and determine upon a form of Liturgy and this be used and practised in a Church there is an admirable conjunction in the Religion and great co-operation towards the glory of God The authority of the injunction adds great reputation to the devotion and takes off the contempt which from the no-authority of single and private persons must be consequent to their conceived prayers and the publick practice of it and union of spirits in the devotion satisfies the world in the nature of it and the Religion of the Church Sect. 113. TWELFTHLY But nothing can answer for the great scandal which all wise persons and all good persons in the world must needs receive when there is no publick testimony consigned that such a whole Nation or a Church hath any thing that can be called Religion and those little umbrages that are are casual as chance it self alterable as time and shall be good when those infinite numbers of men that are trusted with it shall please to be honest or shall have the good luck not to be mistaken Sect. 114. THIRTEENTHLY I will not now instance in the vain-glory that is appendent to these new made every-days forms of prayer and that some have been so vain like the Orators Quintilian speaks of ut verbum petant quo incipiant that they have published their ex tempore faculty upon experiment and scenical bravery you shall name the instance and they shall compose the form Amongst whom also the gift of the man is more than the devotion of the man nor will I consider that then this gift is esteemed best when his prayer is longest and if he takes a complacency in his gift as who is not apt to do it he will be sure to extend his prayer till a suspicious and scrupulous man would be apt to say his Prayer pressed hard upon that which our blessed Saviour reprehended in the Pharisees who thought to be heard for their much babling I know it was observed by a very wise man that the vanity of spirit and popular opinion that grows great and talks loudly of his abilities that can speak ex tempore may not only be the incentive but a helper of the faculty and make a man not only to love it but to be the more able to do it Addit ad dicendum etiam pudor stimulos addit dicendorum expectata laus mirumque videri potest quod cum stylus secreto gaudeat atque omnes arbitros reformidet extemporalis actio auditorum frequentiâ ut miles congestu signorum excitatur Namque difficiliorem concitationem exprimit
for nothing can be so but an infinite Spirit 14. Neither will it be sufficient to fly here to Gods omnipotency for God can indeed make a body to be a Spirit but can it consist with the Divine Being to make an infinite substance Can there possibly be two Categorematical that is positive substantial infinites or can it be that a finite should remaining finite yet not be finite but indefinite and in innumerable places at once God can new create the body and change it into a Spirit But can a body remaining a body be at the same time a Spirit or can it be a body and yet not be in a place is it not determined so that remaining in a place it cannot be out of it If these things could be otherwise then the same thing at the same time could be a Body and a Spirit limited and unlimited wholly in a place and wholly out of it finite and infinite a body and yet no body one and yet many the same and not the same that is it should not be it self Now although God can change any thing from being the thing it is to become another thing yet is it not a contradiction to say it should be the same it is and yet not the same These are the essential immediate consequents of supposing a body remaining a body whose essence it is to be finite and determined in one place can yet so remaining be in a thousand places Thirdly The Socinians teach that our bodies at the Resurrection shall be as they say Christs body now is changed substantially For corruptible and incorruptible mortal and immortal natural and spiritual are substantial differences and now our bodies being natural corruptible and mortal differ substantially from bodies spiritual immortal and incorruptible as they shall be hereafter and as the body of our Lord now is Now I am sure the Church of Rome allows not of this doctrine in these neither have they reason for it But do not they admit that in hypothesi which they deny in thesi For is it not a perfect change of substance that a body from finite is changed to be at least potentially infinite from being determined in one place to be indefinite and indeterminable To lose all his essential proprieties must needs infer a substantial change and that it is of the essence of a body to be in one place at least an essential propriety they will not I suppose be so impudent as to deny since they flye to the Divine omnipotency and a perpetual miracle to make it be otherwise which is a plain demonstration that naturally it is so this therefore they are to answer if they can 15. But let us see what Christian Philosophy teaches us in this particular S. Austin is a good probable Doctor and may be trusted for a proposition in Natural Philosophy These are his conclusions in this Article Corpora quae non possunt esse nisi in loco Bodies cannot be but in their place Angustias omnipotentiae corpora patiuntur nec ubique possunt esse nec semper Divinitas autem ubique praestò est The Divinity is present every where but not bodies they are not omnipotent meaning it is a propriety of God to be in many places an effect of his omnipotence But more plainly yet Spatia locorum tolle corporibus nusquam erunt quia nusquam erunt nec erunt If you take from bodies the spaces of place they will be no where and if they be no where they will not be at all and to apply this to the present question he affirms Christus homo secundùm corpus in loco est de loco migrat cum ad alium locum venerit in eo loco unde venit non est Christ as man according to the body is in a place and goes from a place and when he comes to another place is not in the place from whence he came For besides that so to do is of the verity of Christs body that it should have the same affections with ours according as it is insisted upon in divers places of the Scripture particularly S. Luke 24.39 it is also in the same place and in the story apparent that the case was not alter'd after the resurrection but Christ moved finitely by dimensions and change of places So Theodoret Dominicum corpus incorruptibile resurrexit impatibile immortale divinâ gloriâ glorificatum est à coelestibus adoratur potestatibus corpus tamen est priorem habens circumscriptionem Christs body even after the resurrection is circumscribed as it was before And therefore as it is impious to deny God to be invisible so it is profane not to believe and profess the son of God in his assum'd humility to be visible corporeal and local after the resurrection It is the saying of S. Austin 16. And I would fain know how it will be answered that they attribute to the body of Christ which is his own creature the incommunicable attribute of ubiquity either actually or potentially For let them say is it not an attribute of God to be unlimited and to be undefined by places S. Austin says it and it is affirm'd by natural reason and all the world attributes this to God as a propriety of his own If it be not his own then all the world hath been always deceived till this new generation arose If it be let them fear the horrid consequent of giving that to a creature which is the glory of the Creator And if they think to escape by saying that they do not attribute to it actual ubiquity but potential that is that though he be not yet he may be every where let it be considered if the argument of the Fathers was good by which they proved the Divinity of the holy Ghost This is every where therefore this is God is it not also as good to say This may be every where therefore this may be God And then it will be altogether as bad as any thing can be imagined for it makes the incommunicable attribute of God to be communicable to a creature and not only so but it is worse for it makes that an actual creature may be a potential God that is that there can be a God which is not eternally a God that is not a pure act a God that is not yet but that shall have a beginning in time 17. Fourthly There was not in all School Divinity nor in the old Philosophy nor in nature any more than three natural proper ways of being in a place circumscriptivè definitivè repletivé The body of Christ is not in the Sacrament circumscriptively because there he could be but in one Altar in one Wafer It is not there definitively for the same reason because to be definitely in a place is to be in it so as to be there and no where else And both these are affirmed by their
advices with the saying of Josephus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is as damnable to indulge leave to our selves to sin little sins as great ones A man may be choaked with a raisin as well as with great morsels of flesh and a small leak in a ship if it be neglected will as certainly sink her as if she sprung a plank Death is the wages of all and damnation is the portion of the impenitent whatever was the instance of their sin Though there are degrees of punishment yet there is no difference of state as to this particular and therefore we are tied to repent of all and to dash the little Babylonians against the stones against the Rock that was smitten for us For by the blood of Jesus and the tears of Repentance and the watchfulness of a diligent careful person many of them shall be prevented and all shall be pardoned A Psalm to be frequently used in our Repentance for our daily Sins BOW down thine ear O Lord hear me for I am poor and needy Rejoyce the soul of thy servant for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul. For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee Teach me thy way O Lord I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy Name Shall mortal man be more just than God shall a man be more pure than his Maker Behold he put no trust in his Servants and his Angels he charged with folly How much less on them that dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust which are crushed before the moth Doth not their excellency which is in them go away They die even without wisdom The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple Moreover by them is thy servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward Who can understand his errors Cleanse thou me from my secret faults keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression O ye sons of men how long will ye turn my glory into shame how long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself The Lord will hear when I call unto him Out of the deep have I called unto thee O Lord Lord hear my voice O let thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint If thou Lord wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it But there is mercy with thee therefore shalt thou be feared Set a watch O Lord before my mouth and keep the door of my lips Take from me the way of lying and cause thou me to make much of thy law The Lord is full of compassion and mercy long-suffering and of great goodness He will not alway be chiding neither keepeth he his anger for ever Yea like as a Father pitieth his own children even so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear him For he knoweth whereof we are made he remembreth that we are but dust Praise the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits which forgiveth all thy sin and healeth all thine infirmities Glory be to the Father c. The PRAYER O Eternal God whose perfections are infinite whose mercies are glorious whose justice is severe whose eyes are pure whose judgments are wise be pleased to look upon the infirmities of thy servant and consider my weakness My spirit is willing but my flesh is weak I desire to please thee but in my endeavours I fail so often so foolishly so unreasonably that I extreamly displease my self and I have too great reason to fear that thou also art displeased with thy servant O my God I know my duty I resolve to do it I know my dangers I stand upon my guard against them but when they come near I begin to be pleased and delighted in the little images of death and am seised upon by folly even when with greatest severity I decree against it Blessed Jesus pity me and have mercy upon my infirmities II. O Dear God I humbly beg to be relieved by a mighty grace for I bear a body of sin and death about me sin creeps upon me in every thing that I do or suffer When I do well I am apt to be proud when I do amiss I am sometimes too confident sometimes affrighted If I see others do amiss I either neglect them or grow too angry and in the very mortification of my anger I grow angry and peevish My duties are imperfect my repentances little my passions great my fancy trifling 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 hasest 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 do 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 tears 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 c. CHAP. IV. Of Actual single Sins and what Repentance is proper to them SECT I. 1. THE
an unfortunate woman standing under the titles And every old man should have been gray with sorrow and carefulness and have passed many stages of his Repentance long before he now begins and therefore he is not only straitned for want of time but hath a greater work to do by how much the longer he hath staid and yet is the more unable to do it The greatness of his need hath diminished his power and the more need he hath of grace the less he shall have But however with such helps as they have they must instantly set upon their work Breve sit quod turpitèr audes But they have abode in their sin too long let them now therefore use such abbreviatures and hastnings of return as can be in their power 13. II. Let every old man that repents of the sins of his evil life be very diligent in the search of the particulars that by drawing them into a heap and spreading them before his eyes he may be mightily ashamed at their number and burthen For even a good man will have cause to be asham'd of himself if the single sins respersed over his whole life were drawn into a body of articles and united in the accusation but then for a man who is grown old in iniquity to see in one intire view the scheme of his impiety the horrible heaps of damnation amassed together will probably have this event it will make him extremely asham'd it will make himself most ready to judge and condemn himself it will humble him to the earth and make him cry mightily for pardon and these are good dispositions towards it 14. III. Let the penitent make some vigorous opposition to every kind of sin of which he hath been particularly guilty by frequent actions as to adultery or any kind of uncleanness let him oppose all the actions of purity which he can in that state which may best be done by detestation of his former follies by praying for pardon by punishing himself by sorrow and all its instruments and apt expressions But in those instances where the material part remains and the powers of sinning in the same kind let him be sure to repent in kind As if he were habitually intemperate let him now correct and rule his appetite for God will not take any thing in exchange for that duty which may be paid in kind 15. IV. Although this is to be done to the kinds of sin yet it cannot be so particularly done to the numbers of the actions not only because it will be impossible for such persons to know their numbers but because there is not time left to make little minute proportions If he had fewer all his time and all his powers would be little enough for the Repentance and therefore having many it is well if upon any terms if upon the expence of all his faculties and labour he can obtain pardon Only this The greater the numbers are the more firm the habit is suppos'd and therefore there ought in general to be made the more vigorous opposition and let the acts of Repentance be more frequently exercised in the proper matter of that vertue which is repugnant to that proper state of evil And let the very number be an argument to thee of a particular humiliation let it be inserted into thy confessions and become an aggravation of thy own misery and of Gods loving kindness if he shall please to pardon thee 16. V. Every old man that but then begins to repent is tied to do more in the remaining proportions of time than the more early penitents in so much time because they have a greater account to make more evil to mourn for more pertinacious habits to rescind fewer temptations upon the accounts of nature but more upon their own superinduc'd account that is they have less excuse and a greater necessity to make hast Cogimur à suetis animum suspendere rebus Atque ut vivamus vivere desinimus He must unlearn what he had learn'd before and break all his evil customes doing violence to his own and to his superinduced nature But therefore this man must not go moderately in his return but earnestly vigorously zealously and can have no other measures but to do all that he can do For in his case every slow progression is a sign of the apprehension of his danger and necessity but it is also a sign that he hath no affection to the business that he leaves his sins as a Merchant does his goods in a storm or a wounded man endures his arm to be cut off when there is no help for it the thing must be done but he is not pleas'd with the imployment 17. VI. Let every old man entring into the state of Repentance use all the earnestness he can to heighten his affections to fix his will and desires upon the things of God to have no gust no relish for the things of the world but that all his earnestness his whole inner man be intirely taken up with his new imployment For since it is certain there will be a great poverty of external acts of many vertues which are necessary in his case unless they be supplied with internal actions and the earnestness of the Spirit the man will go poor and blind and naked to his grave It is the heart which in all things makes the outward act to be acceptable and if the heart be right it makes amends for the unavoidable omission of the outward expression But therefore by how much the more old men are disabled from doing the outward and material actions to extirpate the natural quality and inherent mischief of vicious habits by so much the more must they be supplyed and the grace acted and signified by the actions of the Spirit 18. VII Let old men in their state of Repentance be much in alms and prayers according to their ability that by doing good to others and glory to God they may obtain the favour of God who delights in the communications of goodness and in such sacrifices This the Apostle expresses thus To do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is well pleased it is like a propitiatory sacrifice and therefore proper for this mans necessities The proper arguments to endear this are reckon'd in their own place but the reason why this is most apposite to the state of an old mans repentance is because they are excellent suppletories to their other defects and by way of impetration obtain of God to pardon those habits of vice which in the natural way they have now no external instrument to extinguish 19. VIII But because every state hath some temptations proper to it self let old men be infinitely careful to suppress their own lusts and present inclinations to evil If an old man out of hatred of sin does mortifie his covetous desires 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath purchas'd a good degree in the station of
a life of piety and holiness SECT VIII 100. XIV IN the making Confession of our sins let us be most careful to do it so as may most glorifie God and advance the reputation of his wisdom his justice and his mercy For if we consider it in all Judicatories of the world and in all the arts and violences of men which have been used to extort confessions their purposes have been that justice should be done that the publick wisdom and authority should not be dishonoured that publick criminals should not be defended or assisted by publick pity or the voice of the people sharpned against the publick rods and axes by supposing they have smitten the innocent Confession of the crime prevents all these evils and does well serve all these good ends Gnossius haec Rhadamanthus habet durissima regna Castigátque audÃtque dolos subigÃtque fateri So the Heathens did suppose was done in the lower regions The Judge did examine and hear their crimes and crafts and even there compell'd them to confess that the eternal Justice may be publickly acknowledg'd for all the honour that we can do to the Divine attributes is publickly to confess them and make others so to do for so God is pleased to receive honour from us Therefore repentance being a return to God a ceasing to dishonour him any more and a restoring him so far as we can to the honour we depriv'd him of it ought to be done with as much humility and sorrow with as clear glorifications of God and condemnations of our selves as we can To which purpose 101. XV. He that confesseth his sins must do it with all sincerity and simplicity of spirit not to serve ends or to make Religion the minister of design but to destroy our sin to shame and punish our selves to obtain pardon and institution always telling our sad story just as it was in its acting excepting where the manner of it and its nature or circumstances require a veil and then the sin must not be concealed nor yet so represented as to keep the first immodesty alive in him that acted it or to become a new temptation in him that hears it But this last caution is only of use in our confessions to the Minister of holy things for our confession to God as it is to other purposes so must be in other manners but I have already given accounts of this I only add that 102. XVI All our confessions must be accusations of our selves and not of others For if we confess to God then to accuse another may spoil our own duty but it can serve no end for God already knows all that we can say to lessen or to aggravate the sin if we confess to men then to name another or by any way to signifie or reveal him is a direct defamation and unless the naming of the sin do of it self declare the assisting party it is at no hand to be done or to be inquired into But if a man hath committed incest and there is but one person in the world with whom he could commit it in this case the confessing his sin does accuse another but then such a Guide of souls is to be chosen to whom that person is not known but if by this or some other expedient the fame of others be not secured it is best to confess that thing to God only and so much of the sin as may aggravate it to an equal height with its own kind in special may be communicated to him of whom we ask comfort and counsel and institution If to confess to a Priest were a Divine Commandment this caution would have in it some difficulty and much variety but since the practice is recommended to us wholly upon the stock of prudence and great charity the doing it ought not in any sence to be uncharitable to others 103. XVII He that hath injur'd his neighbour must confess to him and he that hath sinn'd against the Church must make amends and confess to the Church when she declares her self to be offended For when a fact is done which cannot naturally be undone the only duty that can remain is to rescind it morally and make it not to be any longer or any more For as our conservation is a continual creation so is the perpetuating of a sin a continuation of its being and actings and therefore to cease from it is the death of the sin for the present and sor the future but to confess it â—o hate it to wish it had never been done is all the possibility that is left to annihilate the act which naturally can never be undone and therefore to all persons that are injur'd to confess the sin must needs be a duty because it is the first part of amends and sometimes all that is left but it is that which God and man requires before they are willing to pardon the offender For until the erring man confesses it does not appear who is innocent and who is guilty or whether the offended person have any thing to forgive And this is the meaning of these preceptive words of S. James Confess your sins one to another that is to the Church who are scandalized and who can forgive and pray for the repenting sinner and confess to him that is injur'd that you may do him right that so you may cease to do wrong that you may make your way for pardon and offer amends This only and all of this is the meaning of the precept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Greek Commentaries upon Acts 19.18 Every faithful man must declare or confess his sins and must stand in separation that he may be reproved and that he may promise he will not do the same again according to that which is said Do thou first declare thy sins that thou mayest be justified nad again A just man in the beginning of his speech is an accuser of himself No man is a true penitent if he refuses or neglects to confess his sins to God in all cases or to his brother if he have injur'd him or to the Church if she be offended or where she requires it for wheresoever a man is bound to repent there he is bound to Confession which is an acknowledgement of the injury and the first instance and publication of repentance In other cases Confession may be of great advantage in these it is a duty 104. XVIII Let no man think it a shame to confess his sin or if he does yet let not that shame deterr him from it There is indeed a shame in confession because nakedness is discovered but there is also a glory in it because there is a cure too there is repentance and amendment This advice is like that which is given to persons giving their lives in a good cause requiring thâ—â— not to be afraid that is not to suffer such a fear as to be hindred from dying For if they suffer a great natural fear and yet in
it would improve thy diligence then what thou wouldest do in case thou didst know do that now thou dost not know and whatever thy notice or perswasion be the thing in it self will be more secure and thou shalt find it in the end But if any mad is curious of the event and would fain know of the event of his soul let him reveal the state of his soul to a godly and a prudent Spiritual Guide and he when he hath search'd diligently and observ'd him curiously can tell him all that is to be told and give him all the assurance that is to be given and warrant him as much as himself hath receiv'd a warrant to do it Unless God be pleased to draw the Curtains of his Sanctuary and open the secrets of his eternal Counsel there is no other certainty of an actual pardon but what the Church does minister and what can be prudently derived from our selves For to every such curious person this only is to be said Do you believe the promises That if we confess our sins and forsake them if we believe and obey we shall be pardoned and saved If so then enquire whether or no thou dost perform the conditions of thy pardon How shall I know Examine thy self try thy own spirit and use the help of a holy and a wise guide He will teach thee to know thy self If after all this thou answerest that thou canst not tell whether thy heart be right and thy duty acceptable then sit down and hope the best and work in as much light and hope as thou hast but never enquire after the secret of God when thou dost not so much as know thy self and how canst thou hope to espy the most private Counsels of Heaven when thou canst not certainly perceive what is in thy own hand 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 70. V. When ever repentance begins know that from thence-forward the sinner begins to live but then never let that repentance die Do 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 do 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 do too much or make his pardon too secure and therefore sets him down and says Now I have repented 71. VI. Let no man ever say he hath committed the sin against the Holy Ghost or the unpardonable sin for there are but few that do 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. Paul's argument in this case also is a demonstration If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son 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 than 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 72. VII 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's law there were expiations appointed not only for error but for presumptuous sins The PRAYER I. O Eternal God gracious and merciful I adore the immensity and deepest abysse of thy Mercy and Wisdom that thou dost pity our infirmities instruct our ignorances pass by thousands of our follies invitest us to repentance and dost 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 than the Angels but thou didst make us greater doing that for us which thou didst not do for them Thou didst not pay for them one drop of blood 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 infinite 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. X. Of Ecclesiastical Penance or The fruits of Repentance SECT I. 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 days 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 sence or other a Repentance or the fruits of Gods mercy and our endeavours And in this sence 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 Lord 's 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 2. But although all the parts of holy life are fruits of Repentance when it is taken for the state of favour 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 commonly called Contrition Confession of them and Satisfactions by which ought to be meant an opposing a contrary act of vertue to the precedent act of sin and a punishing of our selves out of sorrow and indignation for our folly And this is best done by all those acts of Religion by which God is properly appeased and sin is destroyed that is by those acts which signifie our love to God and our hatred to sin such as are Prayer and Alms and forgiving injuries and punishing our selves that is a forgiving every one but our selves 3. Many of these I say are not essential parts of Repentance without the actual exercise of which no man in any case can be said to be truly penitent for the constituent parts of Repentance are nothing but the essential parts of obedience to the Commandments of God that is direct abstinence from evil and doing what is in the Precept But they are fruits and significations exercises and blessed productions of Repentance useful to excellent purposes of it and such from which a man cannot be excused but by great accidents and rare contingencies To visit prisoners and to redeem captives and to instruct the ignorant are acts of charity but he that does not act these special instances is not always to be condemn'd for want of charity because by other acts of grace he may signifie and exercise his duty He only that refuses any instances because the grace is not operative he only is the Vncharitable but to the particulars he can be determin'd only by something from without but it is sufficient to the grace it self that it works where it can or where it is prudently chosen So it is in these fruits of Repentance He that out of hatred to sin abstains from it and out of love to God endeavours to keep his Commandments he is a true penitent though he never lie upon the ground or spend whole nights in prayer or make himself sick with fasting but he that in all circumstances refuses any or all of these and hath not hatred enough against his sin to punish it in himself when to do so may accidentally be necessary or enjoyned he hath cause to suspect himself not to be a true penitent 4. No one of these is necessary in the special instance except those which are distinctly and upon their own accounts under another precept as Prayer and forgiving injuries and self-affliction in general and Confession But those which are only apt ministeries to the grace which can be ministred unto equally by other instances those are left to the choice of every one or to be determin'd or bound upon us by accidents and by the Church But every one of the particulars hath in it something of special consideration SECT II. Of Contrition or godly Sorrow 5. IN all repentances it is necessary that we understand some sorrow ingredient or appendant or beginning To repent is to leave a sin which because it must have a cause to effect it can begin no where but where the sin is for some reason or other disliked that is because it does a mischief It is enough to leave it that we know it will ruine us if we abide in it but that is not enough to make us grieve for it when it is past and quitted For if we believe that as soon as ever we repent of it we shall be accepted to pardon and that infallibly and that being once forsaken it does not and shall not prejudice us he that considers this and remembers it was pleasant to him will scarce find cause enough to be sorrowful for it Neither is it enough to say he must grieve for it or else it will do him mischief For this is not true for how can sorrow prevent the mischief when the sorrow of it self is not an essential duty or if it were so in it self yet by accident it becomes not to be so for by being unreasonable and impossible it becomes also not necessary not a duty To be sorrowful is not always in our power any more than to be merry and both of them are the natural products of their own objects and of nothing else and then if sin does us pleasure at first and at last no mischief to the penitent to bid them be sorrowful lest it should do mischief is as improper a remedy as if we were commanded to be hungry to prevent being beaten He that felt nothing but the pleasure of sin and is now told he shall feel none of its evils and that it can no more hurt him when it is forsaken than a Bee when the sting is out if he be commanded to grieve may justly return in answer that as yet he perceives no cause 6. If it be told him it is cause enough to grieve that he hath offended God who can punish him with sad unsufferable and eternal torments This is very true But if God be not angry with him and he be told that God will not punish him for the sin he repents of then to grieve for having offended God is so Metaphysical and abstracted a speculation that there must be something else in