Testament whose sence and meaning the event will declare if we by mistaken and anticipated interpretations do not obstruct our own capacities and hinder us from believing the true events because they answer not those expectations with which our own mistakes have prepared our understandings as it hapned to the Jews in the case of Antiochus and to the Christians in the person of Antichrist 38. Well! thus as it was framed in the body of its first Constitution and second alteration those excellent men whom God chose as instruments of his honour and service in the Reformation to whom also he did shew what great things they were to suffer for his Names sake approved of it with high testimony promoted it by their own use and zeal and at last sealed it with their blood 39. That they had a great opinion of the piety and unblameable composure of the Common-Prayer-Book appears 1 in the challenge made in its behalf by the Archbishop Cranmer to defend it against all the world of Enemies 2 by the daily using it in time of persecution and imprisonment for so did Bishop Ridley and Dr. Taylor who also recommended it to his wife for a legacy 3 by their preaching in behalf of it as many did 4 by Hulliers hugging it in his flames with a posture of great love and forwardness of entertainment 5 besides the direct testimony which the most eminent learned amongst the Queen Mary Martyrs have given of it Amongst which that of the learned Rector of Hadley Dr. Rowland Taylor is most considerable his words are these in a Letter of his to a friend But there was after that by the most innocent King Edward for whom God be praised everlastingly the whole Church Service with great deliberation and the advice of the best learned men of the Realm and authorized by the whole Parliament and received and published gladly by the whole Realm Which Book was never reformed but once and yet by that one reformation it was so fully perfected according to the rules of our Christian Religion in every behalf that no Christian conscience could be offended with any thing therein contained I mean of that Book reformed 40. I desire the words may be considered and confronted against some other words lately published which charge these holy and learned men but with a half-fac'd light a darkness in the confines of Egypt and the suburbs of Goshen And because there is no such thing proved of these blessed Men and Martyrs and that it is easie to say such words of any man that is not fully of our mind I suppose the advantage and the out-weighing authority will lie on our part in behalf of the Common-Prayer-Book especially since this man and divers others died with it and for it according as it hapned by the circumstance of their Charges and Articles upon which they died for so it was in the cases of John Rough John Philpot Cutbert Simson and seven others burnt in Smithfield upon whom it was charged in their Indictments that they used allowed preached for and maintained respectively the Service-book of King Edward To which Articles they answered affirmatively and confessed them to be true in every part and died accordingly 41. I shall press this argument to issue in the words of S. Ambrose cited to the like purpose by Vincentius Lirinensis Librum sacerdotalem quis nostrum resignare audeat signatum à Confessoribus multorum jam martyrio consecratum Quomodo fidem eorum possumus denegare quorum victoriam praedicamus Who shall dare to violate this Priestly book which so many Confessors have consigned and so many Martyrs have hallowed with their blood How shall we call them Martyrs if we deny their faith how shall we celebrate their victory if we dislike their cause If we believe them to be crown'd why shall we deny but that they strove lawfully So that if they dying in attestation of this Book were Martyrs why do we condemn the Book for which they died If we will not call them Martyrs it is clear we have chang'd our Religion since then And then it would be considered whether we are fallen For the Reformers in King Edwards time died for it in Q. Elizabeths time they avowed it under the protection of an excellent Princess but in that sad interval of Q. Maries reign it suffered persecution and if it shall do so again it is but an unhandsome compliance for Reformers to be unlike their Brethren and to be like their Enemies to do as do the Papists and only to speak great words against them and it will be sad for a zealous Protestant to live in an age that should disavow King Edwards and Queen Elizabeths Religion and manner of worshipping God and in an age that shall do as did Queen Maries Bishops persecute the Book of Common-Prayer and the Religion contained in it God help the poor Protestants in such times But let it do its worst if God please to give his grace the worst that can come is but a Crown and that was never denied to Martyrs 42. In the mean time I can but with joy and Eucharist consider with what advantages and blessings the pious Protestant is entertained and blessed and arm'd against all his needs by the constant and Religious usage of the Common-Prayer-Book For besides the direct advantages of the Prayers and devotions some whereof are already instanc'd and the experience of holy persons will furnish them with more there are also forms of solemn benediction and absolution in the Offices and if they be not highly considerable there is nothing sacred in the Evangelical Ministery but all is a vast plain and the Altars themselves are made of unhallowed turf 43. Concerning Benediction of which there are four more solemn forms in the whole Office two in the Canon of the Communion one in Confirmation one in the Office of Marriage I shall give this short account that without all question the less is blessed of the greater and it being an issue spiritual is rather to be verified in spiritual relation than in natural or political And therefore if there be any such thing as regeneration by the Ministery of the word and begetting in Christ and Fathers and Sons after the common faith as the expressions of the Apostle make us to believe certain it is the blessings of Religion do descend most properly from our spiritual Fathers and with most plentiful emanation And this hath been the Religion of all the world to derive very much of their blessings by the Priests particular and signal ministration Melchisedech blessed Abraham Isaac blessed Jacob and Moses and Aaron blessed the people So that here is benediction from a Prince from a Father from the Aaronical Priest from Melchisedech of whose order is the Christian in whose Law it is a sanction that in great needs especially the Elders of the Church be sent for and let them pray over him that is distressed That is the
man did what was right in his own eyes but few did what was pleasing in the eyes of the Lord and the event was this God put on his fierce anger against them and stirr'd up and arm'd the Enemies of their Country and Religion and they prevail'd very far against the expectation and confidence of them who thought the goodness of their cause would have born out the iniquity of their persons and that the impiety of their adversaries would have disabled them even from being made Gods scourges and instruments of punishing his own people The sadness of the event proved the vanity of their hopes for that which was the instrument of their worship the determination of their religious addresses the place where God did meet his people from which the Priests spake to God and God gave his Oracles that they dishonourably and miserably lost The Ark of the Lord was taken the impious Priests who made the Sacrifice of the Lord to become an abomination to the people were slain with the sword of the Philistines old Eli lost his life and the wife of Phinehas died with sorrow and the miscarriages of childbirth crying out That the Glory was departed from Israel because the Ark of God was taken 2. In these things we also have been but too like the sons of Israel for when we sinned as greatly we also have groaned under as great and sad a calamity For we have not only felt the evils of an intestine War but God hath smitten us in our spirit and laid the scene of his judgments especially in Religion he hath snuffed our lamp so near that it is almost extinguished and the sacred fire was put into a hole of the Earth even then when we were forced to light those Tapers that stood upon our Altars that by this sad truth better than by the old ceremony we might prove our succession to those holy men who were constrained to sing Hymns to Christ in dark places and retirements 3. But I delight not to observe the correspondencies of such sad accidents which as they may happen upon diverse causes or may be forc'd violently by the strength of fancy or driven on by jealousie and the too fond opâ—nings of troubled hearts and afflicted spirits so they do but help to vex the offending part and relieve the afflicted but with a phantastick and groundless comfort I will therefore deny leave to my own affections to ease themselves by complaining of others I shall only crave leave that I may remember Jerusalem and call to mind the pleasures of the Temple the order of her Services the beauty of her Buildings the sweetness of her Songs the decency of her Ministrations the assiduity and Oeconomy of her Priests and Levites the daily Sacrifice and that eternal fire of Devotion that went not out by day nor by night these were the pleasures of our peace and there is a remanent felicity in the very memory of those spiritual delights which we then enjoyed as antepasts of Heaven and consignations to an immortality of joys And it may be so again when it shall please God who hath the hearts of all Princes in his hand and turneth them as the rivers of waters and when men will consider the invaluable loss that is consequent and the danger of sin that is appendant to the destroying such forms of discipline and devotion in which God was purely worshipped and the Church was edified and the people instructed to great degrees of piety knowledge and devotion 4. And such is the Liturgy of the Church of England I shall not need to enumerate the advantages of Liturgy in general though it be certain that some Liturgie or other is most necessary in publick addresses that so we may imitate the perpetual practice of all setled Churches since Christianity or ever since Moses's Law or the Jewish Church came to have a setled foot and any rest in the land of Canaan 2. That we may follow the example and obey the precept of our blessed Saviour who appointed a set form of devotion and certainly they that profess enmity against all Liturgy can in no sence obey the precept given by him who gave command When ye pray say Our Father 3. That all that come may know the condition of publick Communion their Religion and manner of address to God Almighty 4. That the truth of the proposition the piety of the desires and the honesty of the petitions the simplicity of our purposes and the justice of our designs may be secured before-hand because Whatsoever is not of Faith is sin and it is impossible that we should pray to God in the extempore prayers of the Priest by any Faith but unreasonable unwarranted insecure and implicit 5. That there may be union of hearts and spirits and tongues 6. That there may be a publick symbol of Communion in our prayers which are the best instruments of endearing us to God and to one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Private prayer not assisted with the concord and unity of a publick spirit is weaker and less effectual saith S. Basil. 7. That the Ministers less learned may have provisions of devotions made for them 8. That the more learned may have no occasion of ostentation ministred to them lest their best actions their prayers be turned into sin 9. That extravagant levities and secret impieties be prevented 10. That the offices Ecclesiastical may the better secure the Articles of Religion 11. That they may edifie the people by being repositories of holy and necessary truths ready form'd out of their needs and described in their Books of daily use for that was one of the advices of the Apostle t eaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs 12. That men by the intervening of authority may be engaged to certain devotions 13. That not only the duty but the very form of its ministration may be honoured by the countenance of authority and not be exposed to contempt by reason of the insufficiency of its external warrant 14. That the assignation of such offices and appropriating them to the ministery of certain persons may be a cancel to secure the inclosures of the Clerical orders from the usurpings and invasions of pretending and unhallowed spirits 15. That indetermination of the office may not introduce indifferency nor indifferency lead in a freer liberty or liberty degenerate into licentiousness or licentiousness into folly and vanity and these come sometime attended with secular designs lest these be cursed with the immission of a peevish spirit upon our Priests and that spirit be a teacher of lies and these lies become the basis of impious theoremes which are certainly attended with ungodly lives and then either Atheism or Antichristianism may come according as shall happen in the conjunction of time and other circumstances for this would be a sad climax a ladder upon which are no Angels ascending or descending because the degrees lead to darkness and
they do prepare what to speak to the people it were also very fit they prepar'd their prayers and considered before-hand of the fitness of the offertory they present to God Sect. 32. LASTLY Did not the Pen-men of the Scripture write the Epistles and Gospels respectively all by the Spirit Most certainly holy Men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost saith Saint Peter And certainly they were moved by a more immediate motion and a motion nearer to an Enthusiasm than now adays in the gift and spirit of Prayer And yet in the midst of those great assistances and motions they did use study art industry and humane abilities This is more than probable in the different stiles of the several Books some being of admirable art others lower and plain The words were their own at least sometimes not the Holy Ghosts And if Origen Saint Hierome and especially the Greek Fathers Scholiasts and Grammarians were not deceived by false Copies but that they truly did observe sometimes to be impropriety of an expression in the language sometimes not true Greek who will think those errors or imperfections in Grammar were in respect of the words I say precisely immediate inspirations and dictates of the Holy Ghost and not rather their own productions of industry and humanity But clearly some of their words were the words of Aratus some of Epimenides some of Menander some of S. Paul This speak I not the Lord. Some were the words of Moses even all that part of the Levitical Law which concerned divorces and concerning which our blessed Saviour affirms that Moses permitted it because of the hardness of their hearts but from the beginning it was not so and divers others of the same nature collected and observed to this purpose by Origen S. Basil S. Ambrose and particularly that promise which S. Paul made of calling upon the Corinthians as he passed into Macedonia which certainly in all reason is to be presumed to have been spoken humanitùs and not by immediate inspiration and infusion because Saint Paul was so hindred that he could not be as good as his word and yet the Holy Ghost could have foreseen it and might better have excused it if Saint Paul had laid it upon his score but he did not and it is reasonable enough to believe there was no cause he should and yet because the Holy Ghost renewed their memory improved their understanding supplied to some their want of humane learning and so assisted them that they should not commit an error in fact or opinion neither in the narrative nor dogmatical parts therefore they writ by the Spirit Since that we cannot pretend upon any grounds of probability to an inspiration so immediate as theirs and yet their assistances which they had from the Spirit did not exclude humane arts and industry but that the ablest Scholar did write the best much rather is this true in the gifts and assistances we receive and particularly in the gift of prayer it is not an ex tempore and an inspired faculty but the faculties of nature and the abilities of art and industry are improv'd and ennobled by the supervening assistances of the Spirit And if these who pray ex tempore say that the assistance they receive from the Spirit is the inspiration of words and powers without the operations of art and natural abilities humane industry then besides that it is more than the Pen-men of Scripture sometime had because they needed no extraordinary assistances to what they could of themselves do upon the stock of other abilities besides this I say it must follow that such Prayers so inspired if they were committed to writing would prove as good Canonical Scripture as any is in Saint Paul's Epistles the impudence of which pretension is sufficient to prove the extreme vanity of the challenge Sect. 33. THE summe is this Whatsoever this gift is or this spirit of prayer it is to be acquired by humane industry by learning of the Scriptures by reading by conference and by whatsoever else faculties are improved and habits enlarged Gods Spirit hath done his work sufficiently this way and he loves not either in nature or grace which are his two great sanctions to multiply miracles when there is no need Sect. 34. AND now let us take a man that pretends he hath the gift of Prayer and loves to pray ex tempore I suppose his thoughts go a little before his tongue I demand then Whether cannot this man when it is once come into his head hold his tongue and write down what he hath conceived If his first conceptions were of God and God's Spirit then they are so still even when they are written Or is the Spirit departed from him upon the sight of a Pen and Inkhorn It did use to be otherwise among the old and new Prophets whether they were Prophets of prediction or of ordinary ministery But if his conception may be written and being written is still a production of the Spirit then it follows that set forms of prayer deliberate and described may as well be a praying with the Spirit as sudden forms and ex tempore out-lets Sect. 35. NOW the case being thus put I would fain know what the difference is between deliberate and ex tempore Prayers save only that in these there is less consideration and prudence for that the other are at least as much as these the productions of the Spirit is evident in the very case put in this Argument and whether to consider and to weigh them be any disadvantage to our devotions I leave it to all wise men to determine So that in effect since after the pretended assistance of the Spirit in our prayers we may write them down consider them try the spirits and ponder the matter the reason and the religion of the address let the world judge whether this sudden utterance and ex tempore forms be any thing else but a direct resolution not to consider beforehand what we speak Sic itaque habe ut istam vim dicendi rapidam aptiorem esse circulanti judices quà m agenti rem magnam seriam docentique They are the words of Seneca and express what naturally flows from the premises The pretence of the Spirit and the gift of prayer is not sufficient to justifie the dishonour they do to Religion in serving it in the lowest and most indeliberate manner nor quit such men from unreasonableness and folly who will dare to speak to God in the presence of the people and in their behalf without deliberation or learning or study Nothing is a greater disreputation to the prudence of a Discourse than to say it was a thing made up in haste that is without due considering Sect. 36. BUT here I consider and I wish they whom it concerns most would do so too that to pretend the Spirit in so unreasonable a manner to so ill purposes and without reason or promise or
ought not in sacris in holy persons and places and offices it is too probable that this is the preparatory for the Antichrist and grand Apostasie For if Antichrist shall exalt himself above all that is called God and in Scripture none but Kings and Priests are such Dii vocati Dii facti I think we have great reason to be suspicious that he that devests both of their power and they are if the King be Christian in very near conjunction does the work of Antichrist for him especially if the men whom it most concerns will but call to mind that the discipline or Government which Christ hath instituted is that Kingdom by which he governs all Christendom so themselves have taught us so that in case it be proved that Episcopacy is that government then they to use their own expressions throw Christ out of his Kingdom and then either they leave the Church without a head or else put Antichrist in substitution We all wish that our fears in this and all things else may be vain that what we fear may not come upon us but yet that the abolition of Episcopacy is the fore-runner and preparatory to the great Apostasie I have these reasons to shew at least the probability First Because here is a concurse of times for now after that these times have been called the last times for 1600 years together our expectation of the Great revelation is very near accomplishing and what a Grand innovation of Ecclesiastical government contrary to the faith and practice of Christendom may portend now in these times when we all expect Antichrist to be revealed is worthy of a jealous mans inquiry Secondly Episcopacy if we consider the final cause was instituted as an obstructive to the diffusion of Schism and Heresie So S. Hierome In toto orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris Electus superponeretur caeteris VT SCHISMATVM SEMINA TOLLERENTVR And therefore if unity and division be destructive of each other then Episcopacy is the best deletery in the world for Schism and so much the rather because they are in eâdem materiâ for Schism is a division for things either personal or accidental which are matters most properly the subject of government and there to be tried there to receive their first and last breath except where they are starv'd to death by a desuetude and Episcopacy is an Unity of person-governing and ordering persons and things accidental and substantial and therefore a direct confronting of Schism not only in the intention of the author of it but in the nature of the institution Now then although Schisms always will be and this by divine prediction which clearly shews the necessity of perpetual Episcopacy and the intention of its perpetuity either by Christ himself ordaining it who made the prophecy or by the Apostles and Apostolick men at least who knew the prophecy yet to be sure these divisions and dangers shall be greater about and at the time of the Great Apostasie for then were not the hours turned into minutes an universal ruine should seize all Christendom No flesh should be saved if those days were not shortened Is it not next to an evidence of fact that this multiplication of Schisms must be removendo prohibens and therefore that must be by invalidating Episcopacy ordained as the remedy and obex of Schism either tying their hands behind them by taking away their coercion or by putting out their eyes by denying them cognizance of causes spiritual or by cutting off their heads and so destroying their order How far these will lead us I leave to be considered This only Percute pastores atque oves dispergentur and I believe it will be verified at the coming of that wicked one I saw all Israel scattered upon the Mountains as sheep having no shepherd I am not new in this conception I learn'd it of S. Cyprian Christi adversarius Ecclesiae ejus inimicus ad hoc ECCLESIAE PRAEPOSITVM suâ infestatione persequitur ut Gubernatore sublato atrocius atque violentius circa Ecclesiae naufragia grassetur The adversary of Christ and enemy of his Spouse therefore persecutes the Bishop that having taken him away he may without check pride himself in the ruines of the Church and a little after speaking of them that are enemies to Bishops he says that Antichristi jam propinquantis adventum imitantur their deportment is just after the guise of Antichrist who is shortly to be revealed But be this conjecture vain or not the thing of it self is of deep consideration and the Catholick practice of Christendom for 1500 years is so insupportable a prejudice against the enemies of Episcopacy that they must bring admirable evidence of Scripture or a clear revelation proved by Miracles or a contrary undoubted tradition Apostolical for themselves or else hope for no belief against the prescribed possession of so many ages But before I begin methinks in this contestation ubi potior est conditio possidentis it is a considerable Question what will the adversaries stake against it For if Episcopacy cannot make its title good they lose the benefit of their prescribed possession If it can I fear they will scarce gain so much as the obedience of the adverse party by it which yet already is their due It is very unequal but so it is ever when Authority is the matter of the Question Authority never gains by it for although the cause go on its side yet it loses costs and dammages for it must either by fair condescension to gain the adversaries lose something of it self or if it asserts it self to the utmost it is but that seldom or never happens for the very questioning of any authority hoc ipso makes a great intrenchment even to the very skirts of its cloathing But huc deventum est Now we are in we must go over SECT I. Christ did institute a Government in his Church FIRST then that we may build upon a Rock Christ did institute a government to order and rule his Church by his Authority according to his Laws and by the assistance of the blessed Spirit 1. If this were not true how shall the Church be governed For I hope the adversaries of Episcopacy that are so punctual to pitch all upon Scripture ground will be sure to produce clear Scripture for so main a part of Christianity as is the Form of the Government of Christs Church And if for our private actions and duties Oeconomical they will pretend a text I suppose it will not be thought possible Scripture should make default in assignation of the publick Government insomuch as all Laws intend the publick and the general directly the private and the particular by consequence only and comprehension within the general 2. If Christ himself did not take order for a Government then we must derive it from humane prudence and emergency of conveniences and concurse of new circumstances and then the Government must often
our natural powers but it is accounted for by the general measures and great periods of our life A man cannot pray always with equal intention nor give the same alms nor equally mourn with sharpness for his sins But God having appointed for every duty proper seasons and solennities hath declared that He does his best who heartily endeavours to do the duty in its proper season But it were well we would remember that he that did a good act to day can do the same to morrow in the same circumstances and he that yesterday fought a noble battle and resisted valiantly can upon the same terms contend as manfully every day if he will consider and watch And though it will never be that men will always do as well as at some times yet when at any time they commit a sin it is not because they could not but because they would not help it 10. VI. He that would be approved in doing his best must omit no opportunity of doing a good action because when it is plac'd in its proper circumstances God lays his hand upon it and calls to have it done and there can be no excuse for the omission He does not do his best that does not do that Because such a person does voluntarily omit the doing of a good without just cause and that cannot proceed from an innocent principle 11. VII He that leaves any thing undone which he is commanded to do or does what he is commanded to forbear and considers or chooses so to do does not do his best cannot plead his priviledge in the Gospel but is fallen under the portion of sinners and will die if he does not repent and make it up some way or other by sorrow and a future diligence 12. VIII To sin against our Conscience can at no hand consist with the duty of Christian perfection Because he loves not God with all his heart nor serves him with all his strength who gives some of his strength and some of his affection to that which God forbids 13. IX No man must account that he does his duty that is his best or according to the perfection requir'd of Christians but he that does better and better and grows toward the measures of the fulness of Christ. For perfection is an infinite word and it could not be communicated to several persons of different capacities and degrees but that there is something common to them all which hath analogy and equivalent proportions Now nothing can be perfect but that to which nothing is wanting and therefore a man is not any way perfect but by doing all all that he can for then nothing is wanting to him when he hath put forth all his strength For perfection is not to be accounted by comparing the subjects which are perfect for in that sence nothing is perfect but God but perfection is to be reckoned by every mans own proportions For a body may be a perfect body though it have not the perfection of a soul and a man is perfect when he is heartily and intirely Gods servant though he have not the perfection of S. Paul as a man is a meek man though he be not so meek as Moses or Christ. But he is not meek if he keeps any fierceness or violence within * But then because to be more perfect is incident with humane nature he that does not endeavour to get as much as he can and more than he hath he hath not the perfection of holy desires Therefore 14. X. Every person that is in the state of grace and designs to do his duty must think of what is before him not what is past of the stages that are not yet run not of those little portions of his course he hath already finish'd Vt cum carceribus missos rapit ungula currus Instat equis auriga suos vincentibus illum Praeteritum temnens extremos inter euntem For so did the Contenders in the Olympick Races never look behind but contend forwards And from hence S. Paul gives the rule I have now described Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling Let therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded That is no man can do the duty of a Christian no man can in any sence be perfect but he that adds vertue to vertue and one degree of grace unto another Nilque putans actum dum quid superesset agendum Nothing is finish'd as long as any thing is undone For our perfection is always growing it stands not till it arrive at the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the crowning of him that runs For the enforcing of which the more I only use S. Chrysostoms argument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If S. Paul who had done so much and suffered so much was not very confident but that if he did look back he might also fall back what shall we say whose perfection is so little so infant and imperfect that we are come forwards but a little and have great spaces still to measure 15. XI Let every man that is or desires to be perfect endeavour to make up the imperfection or meanness of his services by a great a prompt an obedient a loving and a friendly mind For in the Parable our blessed Lord hath taught us that the servant who was bidden to plow the field or feed the cattel is still called an unprofitable servant because he hath done only what was commanded him that is they had done the work utcunque some way or other the thing was finish'd though with a servile spirit for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies to do the outward work and the works of the Law are those which consisted in outward obedience and by which a man could not be justified But our blessed Saviour teaching us the righteousness of the Kingdome hath also brought the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie the internal also a mixture of faith and operation For to the Jews enquiring What shall we do to work the works of God Jesus answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. This is the work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent and since this to do in the Christian sence is to do bona benè good Works with a good mind For since the works are not only in themâ—elves inconsiderable but we also do them most imperfectly and with often failings a good mind and the spirit of a friend or a son will not only heighten the excellency of the work but make amends for the defect too The doing what we are commanded that is in the usual sence of doing still leaves us unprofitable for we are servants of God he hath a perfect and supreme right over us and when this is done still can demand more when we have plowed he will
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 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 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 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 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 Commandments are not grievous 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 only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the attonement I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness Ask and you shall have seek and ye shall find 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 let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. The PRAYER I. O Eternal 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 Thou O God didst see our follies and observe our weaknesses thou knowest the aversness of our nature to good and our proneness to commit vanity and because our imperfect obedience could not bring us to perfect felicity whither thou didst design us the great God of all the world was pleased to make a new Covenant with Man and to become a debtor to his servants Blessed be God and blessed be that Mercy which hath done so great things for us O be pleased to work that in us which thou expectest from us Let us not lose our title in the Covenant of Faith and Repentance by deferring the one or dishonouring the other but let us walk worthy of our vocation according to the Law of Faith and the Mercies of God and the Covenant of our Lord Jesus II. O Blessed Jesus never suffer us to abuse thy mercies or to turn thy Grace into wantonness Let the remembrance and sense of thy glorious favours endear our services and let thy goodness lead us to Repentance and our Repentance bring forth the fruits of godliness in our whole life Imprint deeply upon our hearts the fear and terror of thy Majesty and perpetually entertain our spirits with highest apprehensions of thy loving kindness that we may fear more and love more every day more and more hating sin crucifying all its affections and desires passionately loving holy things zealously following after them prudently conducting them and indefatigably persevering in them to the end of our lives III. O Blessed and Eternal God with thy spirit inlighten our understandings in the rare mysterious Secrets of thy Law Make me to understand all the most advantageous ways of duty and kindle a flame in my Soul that no difficulty or contradiction no temptation within or persecution without may ever extinguish Give me a mighty grace that I may design to please thee with my best and all my services to follow the best examples to do the noblest Charities to pursue all Perfection ever pressing forward to the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus Let us rather choose to die than to sin against our Consciences Let us also watch that we may omit nothing of our duty nor pretermit any opportunity by which thou canst be glorified or any Christian instructed comforted or assisted not resting in the strictest measures of Command but passing forward to great and prudent significations of love doing heroick actions some things by which thou mayest be greatly pleased that thou mayest take delight to pardon to sanctifie and to preserve thy servants for ever Amen CHAP. II. Of the Nature and Definition of Repentance And what parts of duty are signified by it in Holy Scriptures SECT I. THE Greeks use two words to express this duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 post factum angi cruciari to be afflicted in mind to be troubled for our former folly it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Phavorinus a being displeased for what we have done and it is generally used for all sorts of Repentance but more properly to signifie either the beginnings of a good or the whole state of an effective Repentance In the first sence we find it in S. Mathew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and ye seeing did not repent that ye might believe him Of the second sence we have example in Judas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he repented too but the end of it was he died with anguish and despair and of Esau it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he found no place for an effective repentance but yet he repented too for he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he fain would have had it otherwise and he sought it with tears which two do fully express all the meaning of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when it is distinguished from the better and effective Repentance There is in this Repentance a sorrow for what is done a
wisdom and spiritual understanding to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing to be fruitful in every good work increasing in the knowledge of God Strengthen me O God with all might according to thy glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering and joyfulness So shall I give thanks unto the Father who hath made me meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the Saints in light through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen III. NOW God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ perfect what is lacking in my faith direct my way unto him make me to increase and abound in love towards all men and establish my heart unblameable in holiness before God even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints IV. THE God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant make me perfect in every good work to do his will working in me what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen A Penitential Prayer I. O ETERNAL God most merciful Father who hast revealed thy self to Mankind in Christ Jesus full of pity and compassion merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin be pleased to effect these thy admirable mercies upon thy servant whom thou hast made to put his trust in thee I know O God that I am vile and polluted in thy sight but I must come into thy presence or I die Thou canst not behold any unclean thing and yet unless thou lookest upon me who am nothing but uncleanness I shall perish miserably and eternally O look upon me with a gracious eye cleanse my Soul with the blood of the holy Lamb that being purified in that holy stream my sins may lose their own foulness and become white as snow Then shall the leprous man be admitted to thy Sanctuary and stand before the Throne of Grace humble and full of sorrow for my fault and full of hope of thy mercy and pardon through Jesus Christ. II. O MY God thou wert reconciled to Mankind by thy own graciousness and glorious goodness even when thou didst find out so mysterious ways of Redemption for us by sending Jesus Christ then thou didst love us and that holy Lamb did from the beginning of the world lie before thee as sacrific'd and bleeding and in the fulness of time he came to actuate and exhibite what thy goodness had design'd and wrought in the Counsels of Eternity But now O gracious Father let me also be reconciled to thee for we continued enemies to thee though thou lovedst us let me no longer stand at distance from thee but run unto thee bowing my will and submitting my understanding and mortifying my affections and resigning all my powers and faculties to thy holy Laws that thou mayest take delight to pardon and to sanctifie to assist thy servant with thy grace till by so excellent conduct and so unspeakable mercy I shall arrive to the state of glory III. O Blessed Saviour Jesus thou hast made thy self a blessed Peace-offering for sins thou hast procured and revealed to us this Covenant of Repentance and remission of sins and by the infinite mercies of the Father and the death and intercession of the Son we stand fair and hopeful in the eye of the Divine Compassion and we have hopes of being saved O be pleased to work thy own work in us The grace and admission to Repentance is thy own glorious production thou hast obtained it for us with a mighty purchase but then be pleas'd also to take me in to partake actually of this glorious mercy Give to thy servant a perfect hatred of sin a great displeasure at my own folly for ever having provoked thee to anger a perpetual watchfulness against it an effective resolution against all its tempting instances a prevailing strife and a glorious victory that the body of sin being destroyed I may never any more serve any of its baser interests but that by a diligent labour and a constant care I may approve my self to thee my God mindful of thy Covenant a servant of thy Will a lover of thy Glory that being thy Minister in a holy service I may be thy Son by adoption and participation of the glories of the Lord Jesus O let me never lie down in sin nor rise in shame but be partaker both of the Death and the Resurrection of our Lord that my imperfect and unworthy services may by passing into the holiness of thy Kingdom be such as thy servant desires they should and fit to be presented unto thee in the perfect holiness of Eternity through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. III. Of the distinction of Sins MORTAL and VENIAL in what sence to be admitted and how the smallest Sins are to be repented of and expiated SECT I. MEN have not been satisfied with devising infinite retirements and disguises of their follies to hide them from the world but finding themselves open and discerned by God have endeavoured to discover means of escaping from that Eye from which nothing can escape but innocence and from which nothing can be hid but under the cover of mercy For besides that we expound the Divine Laws to our own purposes of ease and ambition we give to our sins gentle censures and adorn them with good words and refuse to load them with their proper characters and punishments and at last are come to that state of things that since we cannot allow to our selves a liberty of doing every sin we have distinguished the Question of sins into several orders and have taken one half to our selves For we have found rest to our fancies in the permissions of one whole kind having distinguished sins into Mortal and Venial in their own nature that is sins which may and sins which may not be done without danger so that all the difference is that some sins must be taken heed of but others there are and they the most in number and the most frequent in their instances and returns which we have leave to commit without being affrighted with the fearful noises of damnation by which doctrine iniquity and confidence have much increased and grown upon the ruines and declension of the Spirit 2. And this one Article hath almost an infinite influence to the disparagement of Religion in the determination of Cases of Conscience For supposing the distinction to be believed experience and certain reason will evince that it is impossible to prescribe proper limits and measures to the several kinds and between the least Mortal and the greatest Venial sin no man is able with certainty to distinguish and therefore as we see it daily happen and in every page written by the Casuists men call what they please Venial take what measures of them they like appoint what
repent timely and effectually dies for none The wages of sin is death of sin indefinitely and therefore of all sin and all death for there is no more distinction of sin than death only when death is threatned indefinitely that death is to be understood which is properly and specifically threatned in that Covenant where the death is named as death temporal in the Law death eternal under the Gospel 34. And thus it appears in a very material instance relating to this question for when our blessed Saviour had threatned the degrees of anger he did it by apportioning several pains hereafter of one sort to the several degrees of the same sin here which he expresses by the several inflictions passed upon Criminals by the Houses of Judgment among the Jews Now it is observable that to the least of these sins Christ assigns a punishment just proportionable to that which the gloss of the Pharisees and the Law it self did to them that committed Murther which was capital He shall be guilty of judgment so we read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in the Greek He shall be guilty in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in the Court of Judgment the Assembly of the twenty three Elders and there his punishment was death but the gentlest manner of it the decapitation or smiting him through with the sword and therefore the least punishment hereafter answering to death here can mean no less than death hereafter * And so also was the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that calls Racha shall be guilty that is shall be used as one that stands guilty in the Sanhedrim or Council meaning that he is to die too but with a severer execution by stoning to death this was the greatest punishment by the houses of judgment for Crucifixion was the Roman manner These two already signifie Hell in a less degree but as certainly and evidently as the third For though we read Hell-fire in the third sentence only yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no otherwise signifies Hell than the other two by analogy and proportionable representment The cause of the mistake is this When Christ was pleased to add yet a further degree of punishment in hell to a further degree of anger and reproach the Jews having no greater than that of stoning by the judgment of the Sanhedrim or Council he would borrow his expression from that which they and their Fathers too well understood a barbarous custome of the Phoenicians of burning children alive in the valley of Hinnom which in succession of time the Hellenists called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not much unlike the Hebrew word and because by our blessed Lord it was used to signifie or represent the greatest pains of hell that were spoken of in that gradation the Christians took the word and made it to be its appellative and to signifie the state or place of the damned just as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the garden of Eden is called Paradise But it was no more intended that this should signifie Hell than that any of the other two should The word it self never did so before but that and the other two were taken as being the most fearful things amongst them here to represent the degrees of the most intolerable state hereafter just as damnation is called death the second death that because we fear the first as the worst of present evils we may be affrighted with the apprehensions of the latter From this authority it follows that as in the Law no sins were venial but by repentance and sacrifice so neither in the Gospel are they not in their own nature not by the more holy Covenant of the Gospel but by repentance and mortification For the Gospel hath with greater severity laid restraint upon these minutes and little particles of action and passion and therefore if in the law every transgression was exacted we cannot reasonably think that the least parts of duty which the Gospel superadded with a new and severer caution as great and greater than that by which the law exacted the greatest Commandments can be broken with indemnity or without the highest danger The law exacted all its smallest minutes and therefore so does the Gospel as being a Covenant of greater holiness But as in the law for the smaller transgressions there was an assignment of expiatory rites so is there in the Gospel of a ready repentance and a prepared mercy 37. VII Lastly those sins which men in health are bound to avoid those sins for which Christ did shed his most precious blood those sins which a dying man is bound to ask pardon for though he hopes not or desires not to escape temporal death certain it is that those sins are in their nature and in the Oeconomy or dispensation of the Divine threatnings damnable For what can the dying man fear but death eternal and if he be bound to repent and ask pardon even for the smallest sins which he can remember in order to what pardon can that repentance be but of the eternal pain to which every sin by its own demerit naturally descends If he must repent and ask pardon when he hopes not or desires not the temporal it is certain he must repent only that he may obtain the eternal And they that will think otherwise will also find themselves deceiv'd in this * For if the damned souls in hell are punish'd for all their sins then the unpardon'd venial sins are there also smarted for But so it is and so we are taught in the doctrine of our great Master If we agreee not while we are in the way we shall be cast into the eternal prison and shall not depart thence till we have paid the uttermost farthing that is ever for our smallest sins if they be unremitted men shall pay in hell their horrible Symbol of damnation And this is confessed on all hands that they who fall into hell pay their sorrows there even for all But it is pretended that this is only by accident not by the first intention of the Divine justice because it happens that they are subjected in such persons who for other sins not for these go to hell Well! yet let it be considered whether or no do not the smallest unremitted sins increase the torments of hell in their proportion If they do not then they are not at all punished in hell for if without them the perishing soul is equally punished then for them there is no punishment at all But if they do increase the pains as it is certain they do then to them properly and for their own malignity and demerit a portion of eternal pains is assigned Now if God punishes them in hell then they deserv'd hell if they be damnable in their event then they were so in their merit for God never punishes any sin more than it deserves though he often does less But to say that this is
therefore the Writers of the New Testament do frequently joyn these to be dead unto sin and to live unto righteousness This is that which was opposed to the righteousness of the law and is called the righteousness of God And a mistake in this affair was the ruine of the Jews For being ignorant of the righteousness of God they thought to be justified by their own righteousness which is of the law That is they thought it enough to leave off to sin without doing the contrary good and so hop'd for the promises This was the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees to be no adulterers no defrauders of the rights of the Temple no Publicans or exacters of Tribute But our blessed Saviour assur'd us that there is no hopes of Heaven for us unless our righteousness exceed this of theirs 46. Now then to apply this to the present argument Suppose a vicious person who hath liv'd an impious life plac'd upon his death-bed exhorted to repentance made sensible of his danger invited by the Sermons of his Priest to dress his soul with duty and sorrow if he obeys and is sorry for his sin supposing that this sorrow does really begin that part of his duty which consists in not sinning nay suppose he will never sin again which is the righteousness of the law yet how can he in that case do that good which is required by the Gospel Seek the kingdom of Heaven and the righteousness thereof The Gospel hath a peculiar righteousness of its own proper to it self without which there is no entrance into Heaven But the righteousness of the law is called our own righteousness that is such a righteousness which men by nature know for we all by the innate law of nature know that we ought to abstain from doing injury to Man from impiety to God But we only know by revelation the righteousness of the Kingdom which consists in holiness and purity chastity and patience humility and self-denial He that rests in the first and thinks he may be sav'd by it as S. Paul's expression is he establisheth his own righteousness that is the righteousness of the law and this he does whosoever thinks that his evil habits are pardon'd without doing that good and acquiring those graces which constitute the righteousness of the Gospel that is faith and holiness which are the significations and the vital parts of the new creature 47. X. But because this doctrine is highly necessary and the very soul of Christianity I consider further that without the superinducing a contrary state of good to the former state of evil we cannot return or go off from that evil condition that God hates I mean the middle state or the state of lukewarmness For though all the old Philosophy consented that vertue and vice had no medium between them but whatsoever was not evil was good and he that did not do evil was a good man said the old Jews yet this they therefore did unreprovably teach because they knew not this secret of the righteousness of God For in the Evangelical justice between the natural or legal good or evil there is a medium or a third which of it self and by the accounts of the Law was not evil but in the accounts of the Evangelical righteousness is a very great one that is lukewarmness or a cold tame indifferent unactive Religion Not that lukewarmness is by name forbidden by any of the laws of the Gospel but that it is against the analogy and design of it A lukewarm person does not do evil but he is hated by God because he does not vigorously proceed in godliness No law condemns him but the Gospel approves him not because he does not from the heart obey this form of doctrine which commands a course a habit a state and life of holiness It is not enough that we abstain from evil we shall not be crowned unless we be partakers of a Divine nature For to this S. Peter enjoyns us carefully Now then we partake of a Divine nature when the Spirit dwells in us and rules all our faculties when we are united unto God when we imitate the Lord Jesus when we are perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Now whether this can be done by an act of contrition needs no further inquiry but to observe the nature of Evangelical Righteousness the hatred God bears to lukewarmness the perfection he requires of a Christian the design and great example of our blessed Lord the glories of that inheritance whither we are design'd and of the obtaining of which obedience to God in the faith of Jesus Christ is made the only indispensable necessary condition 48. For let it be considered Suppose a man that is righteous according to the letter of the Law of the Ten Commandments all of which two excepted were Negative this man hath liv'd innocently and harmlesly all his days but yet uselesly unprofitably in rest and unactive circumstances is not this person an unprofitable servant The servant in the Parable was just such he spent not his Masters talent with riotous living like the Prodigal but laid it up in a Napkin he did neither good nor harm but because he did no good he receiv'd none but was thrown into outer darkness Nec furtum feci nec fugi si mihi dicat Servus habes pretium loris non ureris ajo Non hominem occidi non pasces in cruce corvos An innocent servant amongst the Romans might scape the Furca or the Mill or the Wheel but unless he was useful he was not much made of So it is in Christianity For that which according to Moses was called righteousness according to Christ is poverty and nakedness misery and blindness as appears in the reproof which the Spirit of God sent to the Bishop and Church of Laodicea He thought himself rich when he was nothing that is he was harmless but not profitable innocent according to the measures of the law but not rich in good works So the Pharisees also thought themselves just by the justice of the Law that is by their abstinence from condemned evils and therefore they refus'd to buy of Christ the Lord gold purified in the fire whereby they might become rich that is they would not accept of the righteousness of God the justice Evangelical and therefore they were rejected And thus to this very day do we Even many that have the fairest reputation for good persons and honest men reckon their hopes upon their innocence and legal freedoms and outward compliances that they are no liars nor swearers no drunkards nor gluttons no extortioners or injurious no thieves nor murtherers but in the mean time they are unprofitable servants not instructed not throughly prepared to every good work not abounding in the work of the Lord but blind and poor and naked just but as the Pharisees innocent but as Heathens In the mean time they are only in that state to which Christ never
gone that they would not return and God did not and at last would not pardon them For this appellative is not properly subjected nor attributed to the sin it self but it is according as the man is The sin may be and is at some time unpardonable yet not in all its measures and parts of progression as appears in the case of Pharaoh who all the way from the first miracle to the tenth sinn'd against the Holy Ghost but at last he was so bad that God would not pardon him Some men are come to the greatness of the sin or to that state and grandeur of impiety that their estate is desperate that is though the nature of their sins is such as God is extremely angry with them and would destroy them utterly were he not restrain'd by an infinite mercy yet it shall not be thus for ever for in some state of circumstances and degrees God is finally angry with the man and will never return to him 49. Until things be come to this height whatsoever the sin be it is pardonable For if there were any one sin distinguishable in its whole nature and instance from others which in every of its periods were unpardonable it is most certain it would have been described in Scripture with clear characters and cautions that a man might know when he is in and when he is out Speaking a word against the Holy Spirit is by our blessed Saviour called this great sin but it is certain that every word spoken against him is not unpardonable Simon Magus spoke a foul word against him but S. Peter did not say it was unpardonable but when he bid him pray he consequently bid him hope but because he would not warrant him that is durst not absolve him he sufficiently declared that this sin is of an indefinite nature and by growth would arrive at the unpardonable state the state and fulness of it is unpardonable that is God will to some men and in some times and stages of their evil life be so angry that he will give them over and leave them in their reprobate mind But no man knows when that time is God only knows and the event must declare it 50. But for the thing it self that it is pardonable is very certain because it may be pardoned in baptism The Novatians denied not to baptism a power of pardoning any sin and in this sence it is without doubt true what Zosimus by way of reproach objected to Christian Religion it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a deletery and purgative for every sin whatsoever And since the unconverted Pharisees were guilty of this sin and it was a sin forbidden and punished capitally in the law of Moses either to these Christ could not have been preached and for them Christ did not die or else it is certain that the sin against the holy Spirit of God is pardonable 51. Now whereas our Blessed Lord affirmed of this sin it shall not be pardoned in this world nor in the world to come we may best understand the meaning of it by the parallel words of old Heli to his sons If a man sin against another the Judge shall judge him placari ei potest Deus so the Vulgar Latin reads it God may be appeased that is it shall be forgiven him that is a word spoken against the Son of man which relates to Christ only upon the account of his humane nature that may be forgiven him it shall that is upon easier terms as upon a temporal judgment called in this place a being judged by the Judge But if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him that is if he sin with a high hand presumptuously against the Lord against his power and his Spirit who shall intreat for him it shall never be pardoned never so as the other never upon a temporal judgment that cannot expiate this great sin as it could take off a sin against a man or the Son of man for though it be punished here it shall be punished hereafter But 52. II. It shall not be pardoned in this world nor in the world to come that is neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles For Saeculum hoc this World in Scripture is the period of the Jews Synagogue and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world to come is taken for the Gospel or the age of the Messias frequently among the Jews and it is not unlikely Christ might mean it in that sence which was used amongst them by whom he would be understood But because the word was also as commonly used in that sence in which it is understood at this day viz. for the world after this life I shall therefore propound another exposition which seems to me more probable Though remission of sins is more plentiful in the Gospel than under the Law yet because the sin is bigger under the Gospel there is not here any ordinary way of pardoning it no Ministery established to warrant or absolve such sinners but it must be referred to God himself and yet that 's not all For if a man perseveres in this sin he shall neither be forgiven here nor hereafter that is neither can he be absolved in this world by the ministery of the Church nor in the world to come by the sentence of Christ and this I take to be the full meaning of this so difficult place 53. For in this world properly so speaking there is no forgiveness of sins but what is by the ministery of the Church For then a sin is forgiven when it is pardon'd in the day of sentence or execution that is when those evils are removed which are usually inflicted or which are proper to that day Now then for the final punishment that is not till the day of judgment and if God then gives us a mercy in that day then is the day of our pardon from him In the mean time if he be gracious to us here he either forbears to smite us or smites us to bring us to repentance and all the way continues to us the use of the Word and Sacraments that is if he does in any sence pardon us here if he does not give us over to a reprobate mind he continues us under the means of salvation which is the ministery of the Church for that 's the way of pardon in this World as the blessed sentence of the right hand is the way of pardon in the World to come So that when our great Lord and Master threatens to this sin it shall not be pardon'd in this World nor in the World to come he means that neither shall the Ministers of the Church pronounce his pardon or comfort his sorrows or restore him after his fall or warrant his condition or pray for him publickly or give him the peace and communion of the Church neither will God pardon him in the day of Judgment 54. But all this fearful denunciation of the Divine judgment is only upon