refrained their feet therefore the Lord doth not accept them he will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins Then saith the Lord Ver. 11 12. Pray not for this people for their good When they fast I will not hear their cry and when they offer an oblation I will not accept them but I will consume them by the sword and by famine and by the pestilence Therefore thus saith the Lord Jer. 15.19 if thou return then will I bring thee again and thou shalt stand before me and if thou take forth the precious from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee saith the Lord. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked Ver. 21. and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible Learn before thou speak Ecclus. 18.19 and use Physick or ever thou be sick Before judgement examine thy self Ver. 20. and in the day of visitation thou shalt finde mercy Humble thy self before thou be sick Ver. 21. and in the time of sins shew repentance Let nothing hinder thee to pay thy vows in due time Ver. 22. and deferre not until death to be justified I made haste Psal 119. and prolonged not the time to keep thy Commandements Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel Amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place Trust not in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord. For if you throughly amend your ways and your doings if you throughly execute judgement If ye oppress not the stranger and the widow Jer. 7. then shall ye dwell in the land Thus saith the Lord God Ezek. 11.18 I will give you the land and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence And I will give them one heart Ver. 19. and I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them an heart of flesh That they may walk in my statutes Ver. 20. and keep mine ordinances and do them and they shall be my people and I will be their God But as for them whose heart walketh after their detestable things and their abominations Ver. 21. I will recompense their way upon their own heads saith the Lord God They have seduced my people saying Peace Ezek. 13.10 and there was no peace and one built up a wall and others dawb'd it with untemper'd morter Will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and pieces of bread Ver. 19. to slay the souls that should not die and to save the souls alive that should not live by your lying unto my people that hear your lies Therefore I will judge you ô house of Israel Ezek. 18.30 every one according to your ways saith the Lord God repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby you have transgressed Ver. 31. and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die ô house of Israel For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God Ver. 32. wherefore turn your selves and live ye Ye shall remember your ways Ezek. 20.43 and all your doings wherein ye have been defiled and ye shall loath your selves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with a cart-rope Isa 5.18 Woe unto them that justify the wicked for a reward Ver. â—3 and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him And when ye spread forth your hands Isa 1.15 I will hide mine eyes from you yea when you make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of bloud Wash ye Isa 1.16 make ye clean put away the evil of your doing from before mine eyes cease to doe evil Learn to do well Ver. 17. seek judgement relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow Come now and let us reason together Ver. 18. saith the Lord Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red as crimson they shall be as wooll If ye be willing and obedient Ver. 19. ye shall eat the fruit of the land But if ye refuse and rebel Ver. 20. ye shall be devoured with the sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it She hath wearied her self with lies Ezek. 24. therefore have I caused my fury to light upon her Sow to your selves in righteousness Hos 10.12 and reap in mercy break up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain righteousness upon you Turn thou unto thy God Mos 12.6 keep mercy and judgement and wait on thy God continually O Israel Hos 13.9 thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help Return to the Lord thy God Hos 24. for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity Take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy I will heal their backsliding I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away Seek ye the Lord while he may be found Isa 55.6 call ye upon him while he is near Let the wicked forsake his way Ver. 7. and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon For thus saith the high and lofty One Isa 57.15 that inhabits eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones For I will not contend for ever Ver. 16. neither will I be alwayes wroth for the spirit should fail before mee and the soules which I have made For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth Ver. 17. and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his ways and will heal him Ver. 18. I will lead him also and restore comfort to him and to his mourners I create the fruit of the lips peace Ver. 19. peace to him that is afar off and to him that is near saith the Lord and I will heal him But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest Ver. 20. whose waters cast up mire and dirt There is no peace saith my God Ver. 21. to the wicked It is
we thus can perform all Gods will acceptably For if we endevour all that we can and desire more and pursue more it is accepted as if we had done all 2 Cor. 8.12 for we are accepted according to what a man hath and not according to what he hath not Unless we can neither endevour nor desire we ought not to complain of the burthen of the Divine Commandements For to endevour truly and passionately to desire and contend for more is obedience and charity and that is the fulfilling of the Commandments Matter for Meditation out of Scripture according to the former Doctrine The Old Covenant or the Covenant of Works IN that day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2.17 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the law to do them Gal. 3 10. Deut. 27.26 Deut. 27.8 And thou shalt write upon stones all the words of this law very plainly Thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day to the right hand or to the left But it shall come to pass Deut. 28. if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his commandements and his statutes then shall all these curses come upon thee and overtake thee And if you will not be reformed by these things Lev. 26.23 24 c. but will walk contrary unto me then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins He that despised Moses law Heb. 10.28 died without mercy under two or three witnesses The New Covenant or the Covenant of Grace WEE are justified freely by his grace Rom. 3. ver 24 25 26 27 28. through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ * Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God * To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus * Where is boasting then it is excluded by what law of works Nay but by the law of faith * Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 14 26 27 28. who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit * For as many as are led by the Spirit they are the sons of God * Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God * And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God He that spared not his own Son Ver. 33 c. but delivered him up for us all how shall not he with him also freely give us all things * Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifieth This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes Heb. 8.10 11 12. saith the Lord I will put my laws in their minde and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people all shall know me from the least to the greatest * For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more If any man be in Christ 2 Cor. 5.17 18 19 20 21. he is a new creature old things are past away all things are become new * And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministery of reconciliation * Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God * For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Acts 2.37 38. and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off and to as many as the Lord our God shall call And it shall come to pass Rom. 10.13 Acts 2.21 Rom. 10.5 6 8 9. that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law that the man which doth those things shall live by them But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Death is swallowed up in victory 1 Cor. 15.55 56. O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ My yoke is easie and my burthen is light For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh Rom. 8.3 4. God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh hath for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit His Commandements are not grievous 1 Joh. 5.3 Rom. 5.10 If while 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 * And not onely so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement I can do all things through Christ which strengthneth me Phil. 4.13 My grace is sufficient for thee 2 Cor. 12.9 for my strength is made perfect in weakness Ask and you shall have Mat. 7.7 seek and ye shall finde knock and it shall be opened unto you To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundantly Having therefore these promises 2 Cor. 7.1 let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit Vid. etiam Isa 49.6 53.12 Psal 22.23 24 25 26 27 28. Jer. 32.34 perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. The PRAYER I. OEternal God Lord of Heaven and Earth Father of Men and Angels we do adore thy infinite Goodness we revere thy Justice and delight in thy Mercies by which thou hast dealt with us not with the utmost right and dominion of a Lord but with the gentleness of a Father treating us like friends who were indeed thy enemies
is of duty because it is of caution It could not be a caution unless there were a danger and if there be a danger then it is a duty For he that is very sick must do it But how if he escapes was he obliged for all that He was because he knew not that he should escape By the same reason is every one obliged because whether he shall or shall not escape the next minute he knows not And certainly it was none of the least reasons of Gods concealing the day of our death that we might ever stand ready And this is plainly enough taught us by our blessed Saviour laboriously perswading and commanding us not to defer our repentance by his parable of the rich man who promised to himself the pleasures of many years he reprov'd that folly with a Stulte hac nocte and it may be any mans case for Nemo tam felix Crastinum ut possit sibi polliceri But he addes a Precept Luke 12.35 c. Let your loyns be girded about and your lights shining and ye your selves like men that wait for their Lord. And blessed are those servants whom their lord when he cometh shall finde watching And much more to the same purpose Nay that it was the reason why God concealed the time of his coming to us that we might always expect him he intimated in the following Parable This know that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come he would have watched Be ye therefore ready also for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not Nothing could better have improved this argument then these words of our blessed Saviour we must stand in procinctu ready girded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ready for the service alwayes watching as uncertain of the time but in perpetual expectation of the day of our Lord. I think nothing can be said fuller to this purpose In Psal 114. But I adde the words of S. Austin Verum quidem dicis quòd Deus poenitentiae tuae indulgentiam promisit sed huic dilationi tuae crastinum non promisit To him that repents God hath promised pardon but to him that defers repentance he hath not promised the respite of one day It is certain therefore he intended thou shouldest speedily repent and since he hath by words and deeds declar'd this to be his purpose he that obeys not is in this very delay properly and specisically a Transgressor 2. I consider that although the precept of repentance be affirmative yet it is also limited and the time sufficiently declared even the present and none else As soon as ever you need it so soon you are obliged To day if ye will hear his voyce harden not your hearts That is deferre not to hear him this day for every putting it off is a hardning your hearts For he that speaks to day is not pleased if you promise to hear him to morrow It was Felix his case to S. Paul Go away I will hear thee some other time He that cals every day means every day that we should repent For although to most men God gives time and leisure and expects and perseveres to call yet this is not because he gives them leave to defer it but because he still forbears to strike though their sin grows greater Now I demand when God cals us to repentance is it indifferent to him whether we repent to day or no Why does he call so earnestly if he desires it so coldly Or if he be not indifferent is he displeas'd if we repent speedily This no man thinks But is he not displeas'd if we do not Does not every call and every expectation and every message when it is rejected provoke Gods anger and exasperate him Does not he in the day of vengeance smite more sorely by how much with the more patience he hath waited This cannot be denied But then it follows that every delay did grieve him and displease him and therefore it is of it self a provocation distinct from the first sin 3. But further let it be considered If we repent to day it is either a duty so to do or onely a counsel of perfection a work of supererogation If it be a duty then to omit it is a sin If it be a work of supererogation then he that repents to day does not do it in obedience to a Commandement for this is such a work by the confession of the Roman Schools which if a man omits he is nevertheless in the state of grace and the Divine favour as he that does not vow perpetual Chastity or Poverty is nevertheless the servant of God but he that does not repent to day of his yesterdayes sin is not Gods servant and therefore this cannot be of the nature of Counsels but of Precept and duty respectively But to put it past all question It is expresly commanded us by our blessed Saviour Agree with thine adversary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quickly For as it is amongst men of merciful dispositions he that yields quickly obtains mercy but he that stands out as long as he can must expect the rigour of the law So it is between God and us a hasty Repentance reconciles graciously whilest the delay and putting it off provokes his severe anger And this the Spirit of God was pleas'd to signifie to the Angel or Bishop of the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2.5 Remember whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works If thou doest not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I come unto thee quickly and will remove the Candlestick out of its place unless thou do repent Christ did not mean to wait long and be satisfied with their Repentance be it when it would be for he comes quickly and yet our Repentance must prevent his coming His coming here is not by death or final judgement but for scrutiny and inquiry for the event of the delaying their Repentance would have been the removing of their Candlestick So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is I come speedily to exact of thee a speedy repentance or to punish thee for delaying for so the antithesis is plain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I come quickly unless thou doest repent viz. quickly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may use the words of Libanius God will condemn our actions unless we appear before him with a speedy Repentance 4. Adde to this that though God gives time and respite to some yet to all he does not God takes away some in their early sins and gives them no respite not a moneth not a week not a day and let any man say whether this be not a sufficient indication not onely that no man can be secure but he alone that repents instantly but that God does intend that every man should presently repent for he that hath made it damnation to some for not repenting instantly hath made it damnable to all and therefore to
put off our Repentance one day differs onely accidentally and by chance from the worst of evils from final impenitence it is the beginning of it it differs from it as an infant from a man it is materially the same sin and may also have the same formality 8. The putting off our Repentance from day to day must needs be a sin distinct from the guilt of the action whereof we are to repent because the principle of it cannot be innocent it must needs be distinctly Criminal It is a rebellion against God or hardness of heart or the spirit of Apostasie Presumption or Despair or at least such a carelesness as being in the question of our souls and in relation to God is infinitely farre from being excusable or innocent These Considerations seem to me of very great moment and to conclude the main proposition and at least they ought to effect this perswasion upon us that whoever hath committed a sin cannot honestly nor prudently nor safely defer his Repentance one hour He that repents instantly breaks his habit when it is in ovo in the shell and prevents Gods anger and his own debauchment and disimprovement Qui parvis obvius ibit Nazian Is nunquam praeceps scelera in graviora feretur And let us consider that if we defer our Repentance one hour we do to our souls worse then to our bodies Quae laedunt oculos festinas demere Horat. lib. 1. ep si quid Est animum differs curandi tempus in annum If dirt fall into our eyes we do not say to the Chirurgion Stay Sir and let the grit or little stone abide there till next week but get it out presently This similitude if it proves nothing yet will serve to upbraid our folly to instruct and exhort us in the duty of this Question Remember this that as in Gods account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to remit and to retain a sin are opposite so it ought to be in ours Our retaining and keeping of a sin though but for a day is contrary to the designs of mercy and holiness it is against God and against the interest of our souls § 3. A sinful habit hath in it proper evils and a proper guiltiness of its own besides all that which came directly by the single actions BY a sinful habit I mean the facility and easiness the delight and custome of sinning contracted by the repetition of the acts of the same sin as a habit of drunkenness a habit of swearing and the like that is a quality inherent in the soul whereby we work with pleasure Eâ—hic Nicom l. 2. c. 2. for that Aristotle calls the infallible and proper indication of habits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so long as any man sins willingly readily frequently and upon every temptation or most commonly so long he is an habitual sinner when he does his actions of Religion with pain and of his sin with pleasure he is in the state of death and enmity against God And as by frequent playing upon an instrument a man gets a habit of playing so he does in renewing the actions of the same sin there is an evil quality produced which affects and corrupts his soul * But concerning the nature of a vicious habit this also is to be added That a vicious habit is not onely contracted by the repetition of acts in the same kinde but by frequency of sinning in any variety of instances whatsoever For there are many vicious persons who have an ambulatory impiety and sin in all or most of their opportunities but their occasions are not uniform and therefore their irregularities are irregular and by chance for the instance but regular and certain in the prevarication Vetuleius Pavo would be sure to be drunk at the feasts of Saturn and take a surfet in the Calends of January he would be wanton at the Floralia and bloudy in the Theatres he would be prodigal upon his birth day and on the day of his marriage sacrifice Hecatombs to his Pertunda Dea and he would be sure to observe all the solemnities and festivals of vice in their own particulars and instances and thought himself a good man enough because he could not be called a drunkard or a glutton for one act and by sinning singly escap'd the appellatives of scorn which are usually fix'd upon vain persons that are married to one sin * Naturally to contract the habit of any one sin is like the entertaining of a Concubine and dwelling upon the folly of one miserable woman But a wandring habit is like a Libido vaga the vile adulteries of looser persons that drink at every cistern that runs over and stands open for them For such persons have a supreme habit a habit of disobedience and may for want of opportunity or abilities for want of pleasure or by the influence of an impertinent humour be kept from acting always in one scene But so long as they choose all that pleases them and exterminate no vice but entertain the instances of many their malice is habitual their state is a perfect aversation from God For this is that which the Apostle cals The body of sin Rom. 7. a compagination of many parts and members just as among the Lawyers a flock a people a legion are called bodies and corpus civitatis we finde in Livy corpus collegiorum in Caius corpus regni in Virgil and so here this union of several sins is the body of sin and that is the body of death And not onely he that feeds perpetually upon raw fruit puts himself into an ill habit of body but he also does the same thing who to day drinks too much and to morrow fils himself with cold fruits and the next day with condited mushromes and by evil orders and carelesness of diet and accidental miscarriages heaps up a multitude of causes and unites them in the production and causality of his death This general disorder is indeed longer doing but it kils as fatally and infallibly as a violent surfeit And if a man dwels in the kingdome of sin it is all one whether he be sick in one or in twenty places they are all but several rooms of the same Infirmatory and ingredients of the same deadly poison He that repeats his sin whether it be in one or in several instances strikes himself often to the heart with the same or with several daggers Having thus premised what was necessary for the explication of the nature of vicious habits we must consider that of vicious habits there is a threefold capacity 1. A natural 2. A moral 3. A relative as it denominates a man in relation to God 1. Of the Natural capacity of sinful habits The natural capacity of sinful habits is a facility or readiness of the faculty to doe the like actions and this is naturally consequent to the frequent repetition of sinful acts not voluntary but in its cause and therefore not criminal
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 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 Commandements 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 speciall instances is not alwayes to be condemn'd for want of charity because by other acts of grace he may signifie and exercise his duty He onely that refuses any instances because the grace is not operative he onely is the Vncharitable but to the particulars he can be determin'd onely 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 endevours to keep his Commandements 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 doe so may accidentally be necessary or enjoyned he hath cause to suspect himself not to be a true penitent 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 onely 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 §. 2. Of Contrition or godly Sorrow 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 then 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 then 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 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 it before a sinner can be tied to it For to have displeased God is a great evil but what is it to me if it will bring no evil to me It is a Metaphysical and a Moral evil but unlesse it be also naturally and sensibly so it is not the object of a natural and proper grief It followes therefore that the state of a repenting person must have in it some more causes of sorrow then are usually taught or else in vain can they be called upon to weep and mourn for their sins Well may they wring their faces and their hands and put on black those disguises of passion and curtains of joy those ceremonies and shadowes of rich widows and richer heirs by which they decently hide their secret smiles well may they rend their garments but upon this account they can never rend their hearts For the stating of this article it is considerable that there are several parts or periods of sorrow which are effected by several principles In the beginning of our repentance sometimes we feel cause enough to grieve For God smites many into repentance either a sharp sickness does awaken us or a calamity upon our house or the death of our dearest relative and they that finde sin so heavily incumbent and to press their persons or fortunes with feet of lead will feel cause enough and need not to be disputed into a penitential sorrow They feel Gods anger and the evil effects of sin and that it brings sorrow and then the sorrow is justly great because we have done that evil which brings so sad a judgement And in the same proportion there is always a natural cause of sorrow where there is a real cause of fear and so it is ever in the beginning of repentance and for ought we know it is for ever so and albeit the causes of fear lessen
penitent and 2. of the sincerity of their repentance and therefore can with great effect minister to the comfort of sad and afflicted penitents This does declare the pardon upon observation of the just grounds and dispositions but the dispensation of Ecclesiastical Sacraments does really minister to it not only by consigning it but as instruments of the Divine appointment to convey proper mercies to worthily disposed persons 2. But the other great thing which I was to say in this article is this That the judicial absolution of the Priest does effect no material event or change in the penitent as to the giving the pardon and therefore cannot be it which Christ intended in the giving those excellent powers of remitting and retaining sins Now upon this will the whole issue depend Does the priest absolve him whom God condemnes God is the supreme Judge and though we may minister to his judgement yet we cannot contradict it or can the Priest condemn him whom God absolves That also is impossible He is neer that justifieth me who will contend with me and if God be with us who can be against us Or will not God pardon unless the Priest absolves us That may become a sad story For he may be malicious or ignorant or interested or covetous and desirous to serve his own ends upon the ruine of my soul and therefore God dispenses his mercies by more regular just and equal measures then the accidental sentences of unknowing or imprudent men If then the Priest ministers only to repentance by saying I absolve thee what is it that he effects For since Gods pardon does not go by his measures his must go by Gods measures and the effect of that will be this God works his own work in us and when his Minister observes the effects of the divine grace he can and ought to publish and declare to all the purposes of comfort and institution that the person is absolved that is he is in the state of grace and divine favour in which if he perseveres he shall be saved But all this while the work is supposed to be done before and if it be the Priest hath nothing left for him to do but to approve to warrant and to publish And the case in short is this Either the sinner hath repented worthily or he hath not If he hath then God hath pardoned him already by vertue of all the promises Evangelical If he hath not repented worthily the Priest cannot ought not to absolve him and therefore can by this absolution effect no new thing The work is done before the Priestly absolution and therefore cannot depend upon it Against this no sect of men opposes any thing that I know of excepting onely the Roman Doctors who yet confess the argument of value if the penitent be contrite But they adde this that there is an imperfect Contrition which by a distinct word they call Attrition which is a natural grief or a grief proceeding wholly from fear or smart and hath in it nothing of love and this they say does not justify the man nor pardon the sin of it self But if this man come to the Priest and confess and be absolv'd that absolution makes this attrition to become contrition or which is all one it pardons the mans sins and though this imperfect penitent cannot hope for pardon upon the confidence of that indisposition yet by the Sacrament of penance or Priestly absolution he may hope it and shall not be deceived Indeed if this were true it were a great advantage to some persons who need it mightily But they are the worst sort of penitents and such which though they have been very bad yet now resolve not to be very good if they can any other way escape it and by this means the Priests power is highly advanc'd and to submit to it would be highly necessary to most men and safest to all But if this be not true then to hope it is a false confidence and of danger to the event of souls it is a nurse of carelesness and gives boldness to imperfect penitents and makes them to slacken their own piety because they look for security upon confidence of that which will be had without trouble or mortification even the Priests absolution This therefore I am to examine as being of very great concernment in the whole article of Repentance and promised to be considered in the beginning of this Paragraph §. 5. Attrition or the imperfect repentance though with absolution is not sufficient BY Attrition they mean the most imperfect Repentance that is a sorrow proceeding from fear of hell a sorrow not mingled with the love of God This sorrow newly begun they say is sufficient for pardon if the sins be confest and the party absolved by the Priest This indeed is a short process and very easy but if it be not effectual and valid the persons that rely upon it are miserably undone Here therefore I consider 1. Attrition being a word of the Schools not of the Scripture or of antiquity means what they please to have it and although they differ in assigning its definition yet it being the least and the worst part of repentance every action of any man that can in any sense be said to repent upon consideration of any the most affrighting threatnings in the Gospel cannot be denied to have attrition Now such a person who being scar'd comes to confess his sin may still retain his affections to it for nothing but love to God can take away his love from evil and if there be love in it it is Contrition not Attrition From these premises it follows that if the Priest can absolve him that is attrite he may pardon him who hath affections to sin still remaining that is one who fears hell but does not love God If it be said that absolution changes fear into love attrition into contrition a Saul into a David a Judas into a John a Simon Magus into Simon Peter then the greatest conversions and miracles of change may be wrought in an instant by an ordinary ministery and when Simon Magus was affrighted by S. Peter about the horror of his sin and told that he was in the gall of bitterness and thereupon desired the Apostle to pray for him if S. Peter had but absolved him which he certainly might upon that affright he put the Sorcerer in he had made him a Saint presently and needed not to have spoken so uncertainly concerning him Pray if peradventure the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee For without peradventure he might have made a quicker dispatch and a surer work by giving him absolution upon his present submission and the desire of his prayers and his visible apparent fear of being in the gall of bitterness all which must needs be as much or more then the Roman Schools define Attrition to be But 2. The Priest pardons upon no other terms then those upon which God pardons for if he does