King and Law-giver and become Saviours to our selves for in effect we say That we do not need him We never trust in him as a Saviour but with a distrust in our selves nor can we have any benefit by him unless we do Christ is a compleat Saviour and admits no Partner with him in the Work of Salvation for it is a Royalty proper to him alone We make void his Rom. 10. 3 4. Phil. 3. 9. Righteousness by establishing our own we must therefore renounce ours and take sanctuary in his cast off the Rags of our Righteousness that go hardly off as the blind Man in the Gospel Mark 50. 10. did his Garment and go naked to Christ become nothing in our selves that he may and without which he will not be all unto us All Sacrifices were sprinkled with Blood by the Priest in Type and by Christ in Substance and what there is of worth or value in all Duties is from him we must therefore be poor in Spirit in the midst of them and humble after them we must not ascribe any thing to our selves But as Joab gave the honour of the Victory to David when he fought with his Forces so we must set the Crown on Christ's Head and give the Glory and Honour of all unto him by whom they were performed and through whom accepted Joseph's Brethren carried Spices with them as a present to Joseph but durst not appear without Benjamin nor can we expect the acceptance of our Services without Christ Without them Gen. 43. 4 5 11 12. we cannot avoid Hell nor without him obtain Heaven They as Moses may lead us to a sight of Canaan but it is Joshua Christ alone that can lead us into it A TREATISE OF REPENTANCE There is a two-fold Repentance 1. A Repentance that is call'd a Care of mind such a one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as consists in Sorrow under Terrors for Sin the effect of a troubled Head and may be found Mat. 27. 3. in Hypocrites Many were stung in the Wilderness that never receiv'd Healing and Numb 21. 6. many have been humbled for Sin and yet never saved from it 2. A Repentance that is call'd a Change of Mind such a one as consists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a turning from Sin the effect of 2 Cor. 7. 10. a wounded Heart which from this Repentance receives the Name of a New Heart not physically in regard of Secundum animam sumus secundum hanc benè sumus the Substance but morally in regard of the Qualities of it and is found in none but those that are sincere We may be humbled for Sin and yet perish in it and shall unless we are so humbled under it as wholly to depart from it Repentance is an Evangelical Grace necessary in order unto Pardon Acts 2. 38. The Law knows neither Repentance for Sin nor Remission of it but the great Work of the Gospel is to call us to Repentance It comes with quickning Motives to it For It gives clear and strong Convictions Rom. 13. 12. John 16. 8. of Sin clearer and stronger than those under Nature and the Law It produces strong Arguments to it For It reveals Christ crucified for Sin and those Hearts are hard indeed Zech 12. 10 11 that will not be softned by his Blood shed for it It reveals Repentance and accepts it Mark 6 12. The Law promised Life to the Righteous but the Gospel assures it to the Unrighteous repenting It works Repentance It is not only a Light to discover it John 17. 17. 〈◊〉 1. 11 12. but a Covenant-will to give it and teaches it as a Worker as well as a Tutor viz. by Efficacy as well as by Doctrine It pronounces a Curse upon the neglect of it The Gospel has a terrible Voice as well as the Law a Curse for our Luke 13. 3. Sins except ye repent ye shall perish a Curse more terrible than that of the Law there is no condemnation Heb. 2. 3. 10. 28 29. like to that in the Court of Mercy Repentance was a part of the sum of Christ's Doctrine he taught the necessity Mat. 3.2 4.17 â—8 20 Mark 6.12 Luke 24.47 Acts 20 2â— of it and of the Apostles Doctrine and all that laid the Foundation of Christ's Kingdom right laid this not only as a Stone in the Building but as a Foundation-stone It is the Foundation of all Gospel-Righteousness that which disposes for the receipt of Gospel-Grace for without it we are uncapable of it and that which shall continue as a necessary means on our part in order to it as Luke 24. 47. long as the Gospel shall continue Repentance is not matter of Dignity but Duty whereby God is glorified to our Benefit not to his and necessary not as a Satisfaction to Justice but as a Qualification for Mercy not to merit it for Adam before he sinn'd could not merit much less then can we by our Repentance for it but to dispose to it and goes necessarily before it Not in the accidental Properties of it they are usually Antecedent but not necessary for God by his Prerogative Royal can in a moment work on the Heart Nor in the exercise of it as in the Case of Children and Lunaticks for the Promise is made to the Principles of Grace Nor in the several Measures of it for the Promise is made not to the degree but truth of Repentance and it is not the weakness but want of it that ruins But in order of Nature the Sun is before the Beams in order of Nature and so is Repentance before Pardon and as the Subject before the Adjunct for Repentance qualifies the Subject for Pardon and makes it meet for it not in a way of Merit but Condecency both to receive and prize it The Means are before the End viz. in Execution as the End is before the Means in Intention Union is before Mark 1. 4. Acts 3 19. Communion for all Communion flows from it Vocation is before Justification and a Real Change before a Relative we are not justified until converted adopted until renew'd nor sav'd unless sanctified that which is necessary to the renewing of Pardon as Repentance is is no less to the first procuring of it and the contrary of that which makes us uncapable of Pardon as impenitency does must necessarily as Repentance does go before it For There can be no Remission without Repentance no more than there can be any Salvation without Remission To assert the contrary Deprives God of the Design of his Elective Love for Election is to Holiness as well as to Happiness and saves none without it divests Christ of one of his Offices viz. his Regal Office makes void the Office of the Spirit as to its sanctifying and comforting Work for it gives neither Peace nor Joy in a way of Sin robs Heaven of its greatest Royalty viz. Holiness the Condition required on
and dependance notwithstanding those Doubts nothing but perfect Faith casts out all Doubts and where is it to be found They that never doubted never believed Then Faith might be lost for Assurance may in that tho some are assur'd but not fully and some fully yet none immutably Then Damnation would be not for want of Faith but of Assurance which is necessary not for our Safety but Comfort only and Salvation would be by the reflex and not by the direct Act of Faith for Assurance consists in a reflex Act contrary to the tenure of the Promise of Salvation made Not to the Act of Assurance but of Faith and not to the Degree but Truth of it They that make Assurance to be Faith do more than is needful for Assurance is but a Fruit of Faith and Faith may be alive without it as a Tree may though for a time without Fruit though Assurance cannot be without Faith for God never sets his Seal where he has not first set his Hand They that make Assent to be Faith do less than is needful For Tho Justifying Faith cannot be without General Faith yet General Faith may be without that for it is not a single but complicated Act not the single Act of the Understanding but of the whole Composition not an Act of the Understanding only to Actus complicatus totius compositi know and believe a Divine Revelation as true but of the Will also to receive it as good a Consent as well as an Assent an Assent of the Understanding as it begins there and a Consent of the Will as it ends in it without which the first will avail but little For It is not Christ as dying but as believ'd on nor as tender'd by a hand of Love but as receiv'd by a Hand of Faith that saves So that it appears that Faith is neither an Act of Assent only nor of Assurance but an Act of Affiance also which is more than the first and less than the second viz. That Grace wrought by the Spirit through the Word whereby sensible Sinners are enabled to receive Christ as offered in the Gospel trusting to and relying upon him for Salvation I. It is the Work of God's Spirit It is not our Work but God's Not our Work For Of our selves we are no more able to perform the Articles of the second Covenant than those of the first nor to believe the Gospel than we are to keep the Law But God's Work It is call'd God's Work not only John 6. 29. in regard of Excellency but Efficiency it is not the Work of Men nor of Angels but of God only the powerful Work of his Spirit preparing us for it and enabling us to it we believe through Grace and come to Christ by Acts 18. 27. 1 Cor. 12. 9. Christ To him by Faith from him II. It is the Work of the Spirit through the Word Faith comes by hearing and hearing by Rom. 10. 17. the Word the hearing of Faith wrought by the Spirit as the Efficient and by the Word as the instrumental Cause of it Through the Word viz. both Law and Gospel by one Occasionally and Indirectly by the other Properly and Directly First By the Law not properly but Occasionally and Indirectly 1. Not Properly for the Law has no Power of its own either to Convert or Comfort Sinners Not to Convert them It shows them the sinfulness of their corrupt Nature and Lives but prescribes no Cure and tells them what their Duty is but gives no strength to the performance of it The Law commands Obedience The Gospel enables to it Not to Comfort them It wounds but pours no healing Lex graves manus habet Balm into those Wounds arraigns and condemns but allows no Psalm of Mercy for the Voice of the Law is He that has sinn'd shall die The Law condemns but the Gospel acquits and saves 2. But Occasionally and Indirectly 1. By discovering Sin Sin is the Burden and that which Rom. 3. 20. 5. 20. Gal. 3. 19. makes it feel heavy is the Law For by the Law is the knowledg of Sin viz. a knowledg of Guilt by it Where there are no Bounds there can be no Trespass nor any Transgression where no Law 2. By discovering Wrath due to Sin Where there is no Law there Rom. 2. 8 9. 4. 15. is no Sin and where there is no Sin there is no Curse but where Sin is there a Curse is due to it and the knowledg of it is necessary not to merit Mercy but to dispose to it The Law is the Ministration of Death 2 Cor. 3 7. The Gospel is the Ministration of Life 3. By afflicting and wounding under a sense of Guilt and Wrath due to it It is a fiery Law that has Heat as Deut. 33. 2. Galat. 3. 20. well as Light in it Light to discover Sin and Heat to afflict and torment for it The Law works by Fear The Gospel works by Love 4. By discovering an impossibility for them to help themselves being under a Guilt they cannot expiate obnoxious to a Wrath they cannot flee from shut up in a Prison they cannot break and surrounded with a misery that they cannot redress The Law shows the Wound The Gospel shows the Cure The Help of Salvation is from God Your Destruction is of your selves Hos 13. 9. Thus as Moses brought the Israelites to the Borders of Canaan so something there is of the Hand of Moses viz. something of the Law though but occasionally and indirectly in the Work of Faith Secondly By the Gospel viz. Properly and Directly The Law shews Misery as an Indictment shews the Offence and works Fear the Gospel as a Remedy shews the Disease and works Faith By discovering 1. A remote possibility of Mercy No absolute necessity they should tho' Sinners be damn'd because Grace is rich and free 2. A tender of Mercy indefinitely Isa 55. 1. John 3. 10 The Voice of the Gospel is All that will come may none are excluded but such as wilfully exclude themselves An Indefinite is equivalent to a Vniversal 3. A Suitableness Fulness and Willigness in Christ 1. A Suitableness As being Wisdom Righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 30. Sanctification Redemption Healing Life and Salvation for the relief of blind guilty polluted captiv'd sick dead lost and undone Sinners No Fountain like this Jordan to wash in for Sin and Vncleanness Zech. 13. 1. 2. A Fulness Meat and Drink are a suitable Good John 1. 16. Col. 2. 9. to the hungry and thirsty because Hunger and Thirst are Appetites determined to those Objects but a Crum or a Drop is not enough in that tho' it is a suitable yet it is not a full Good but in Christ there is a fulness of Merit to justify and of Spirit to sanctify that which is every way commensurate to the Desires and Necessities of distressed Sinners If they have him they are made If not they are
any more to Hosea 4. 18. do with them One Commodity as well as many makes a Trader and one Sin though the least indulg'd an impenitent Sinner 3. And sincerely turn to God Jer. 4. 1. Acts 26. 20. Sin is a turning from God Repentance is a turning to him and all that exercise a Repentance toward God turn from the Love of Sin to the love Isa 55 7. of Him as their chief Good and from the service of Sin to his Service as their Sovereign-Lord and so to it as 1 Thess 1. 9. never to depart from it All God's Covenant-Servants are his for their Lives 1. Then they are much mistaken that look upon Repentance as an abstracted Notion from a Holy Life Impenitency is a doing of that which Dan. 4.27 Titus 2 1â— Rom. 7.15 1 Cor. 11.31 Isa 30.22 Job 42.6 Psal 97.10 Isa 1.16,17 Rom. 12.9 is Evil and continuing in it Repentance is an undoing of it a facing about a happy Apostacy a turning from it the Work of the whole Man viz. of the Judgment in denying disallowing and condemning of Sin of the Will in declining it and resolving against it of the Affections in loathing hating and abhorring of it Mutatio voluntatis rei and of the Life in forsaking it and turning from it it begins in the Heart but ends in the Life It is abomination to Fools to depart from Evil but none repent truly Prov. 13. 19. unless they do 2. And as much mistaken are they that think it an easy thing to repent as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it was as Alexandrinus notes rather the turning of a Shell than a Soul To repent is to accuse and condemn our selves to charge upon our selves the desert of Hell to take part with God against our selves and to justify him in all that he does against us to be asham'd and confounded for our Sins to have them ever in our Eyes and at all times upon our Hearts that we may be in daily sorrow for them to part with our right Hands and Eyes those pleasurable and profitable Sins that have been as dear to us as our Lives so as never to have to do with them more and to hate them so as to destroy them things that by Nature we are wholly averse from For We naturally love and think well of our selves hide our Deformities lessen and excuse our Faults indulge our selves in the things that please us are mad upon our Lusts and follow them though to our own destruction but yet though difficult in themselves and things that we of our selves cannot do yet such as God has promised if we are not wanting to our selves to enable us to do for what is a Command in one place is a Promise in another The Command bids us Wash and be clean The Promise says We Isa 1. 16 18. Ezek. 36. 25 26 27. shall be cleansed One bids us put away Evil the other says it shall be taken away One bids us convert our selves the other says We shall be converted One injoins Repentance the other assures it Now we must not be frighted by the Precept but allur'd by the Promise not driven from our Obedience to it because of difficulty but driven by it to the Promise or rather to him that made it with a desire that since by his Command he has made it our Duty he would by fulfilling his Promise enable us to it by giving his Da domine quod jubes da prius poenitentiam postea indulgentiam Spirit to us that only can work it in us The Grace of Repentance goes before the Grace of Indulgence but they are both from God What St. Austin says concerning the Ni nihilo facitius ni nihilo pâ—riculosius erratur plures damnat poenitentia quam ipsum peccatum Trinity may be said here as to Repentance viz. that Mistakes are both easy and dangerous that we may not therefore be mistaken in it it concerns us to enquire What our Repentance is viz. Whether a dead Repentance or a Repentance unto Life toward God or Acts 11. 18. 20. 21. 2 Cor. 7. 10. our selves a Repentance to be repented or not to be repented of and this by considering these four things that are either necessary in order unto it or comprehended in it viz. 1. Confession of Sin 2. Sorrow for Sin 3. Hatred to Sin 4. Departure from Sin 1. Confession of Sin Supplication precedes Remission and Psal 32. 5. Prov. â—8 13. Hos 14. 2. words of Confession take with the words must go before words of Petition and Supplication which Confession is then right When full and without reserve We confess none truly unless fully none unless all for what is partial is hypocritical When free and not forc'd Forc'd Confessions are of little credit on Earth of none in Heaven When with Humiliation and Detestation Job 4. 26. Ezek. 20. 43. viz. of our Sins and of our selves too for them Caligula boasted that he could not be asham'd tho' he could not that he was never afraid but it is the Glory and honour of all penitent Sinners Perit homo cui perit pudor to be so for true Confession is an acknowledgment with dislike and is ever accompanied with shame Silence or saying little in other Cases will do us no hurt but here it will for those Sins only that are condemned Agnoscit reus ignoscit Deus by us on Earth are pardon'd by God in Heaven 2. Sorrow for Sin Sorrow for Sin is not Repentance yet there is no true Repentance without it for as Sorrow worketh Repentance it is not Repentance but 2 Cor. 7. 10. that which worketh to it so Repentance worketh Sorrow which Sorrow is then right When free and without constraint Not as a Water from a Still but from a Fountain that flows freely When Constant This Heavenly Dew must fall upon us Morning and Evening Day and Night When Genuine 2 Cor. 7. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Godly Sorrow as respecting God and so oppos'd to worldly Sorrow which has a respect only to evil The Sorrow not of a Slave but of a Child more out of Love than Fear more because God is offended than Hell deserv'd When proportionable to the Measure of Sin Proportionable to the Nature of Sin it cannot be but to the Measure of it so far as we can it must Great Sorrow like Naaman's seven 2 Kings 5. 14. times washing for great Sins Manasses sorrow for Sin was great 2 Kings 33. 12. He had greatly sinn'd and was greatly humbled David's Sorrow for Sin was great Tears were his Meat and Drink the Night a time appointed for rest as Psal 6. 6. 32. 34. well as the Day was to him a time of Sorrow and the Flood rose so high that it made his Bed to swim And so was Peter's For His Eyes were as Nicephorus says red with Tears died red with daily Sorrow
great Policy of the Devil is as one says either to enlarge God's Mercy above the Bounds of the Law or his Justice above the Bounds of the Gospel he either presents God's Mercy in a false Glass to make Sinners presume or his Justice to bring them to despair and he is better able to do this than the other for he feels and knows what his Justice is but shall never so know the other before Sin is committed he tells them it is little and will easily be pardon'd but when committed then it is great too great for Pardon and tho' he is the Father of Lies they give credit to him and conclude that their Sins their many and great Sins will never be pardon'd at least not so freely or upon such easy tearms as to Naaman Go wash and be clean repent and be sav'd A great hinderance to the Work of Repentance but may be remov'd by a serious consideration 1. Of God's Mercy 2. Of Christ's Merit 1. Of God's Mercy The Sanctuary of Distressed the Balm of Wounded the Refuge of Burden'd the Cordial of Fainting the Hope of Living the Joy and Reviving of dying Sinners Manifold as to Kind and Abundant 1 Pet. 1. 3. Isa 55. 7. as to Degree abundant Mercy that can abundantly pardon not some Sins only small and few but all therefore when Sin abounds in their sense and feeling they should easily be drawn by these Cords of Mercy to the In misericordia divina divina omnipotentia God of Mercy whose Mercy is above all his Works and ours too Infinite Mercy knows no bounds 2. Christ's Merit The Sun can dispel thick Clouds as well as thin Vapours and Christ the Sun of Righteousness can scatter multiplied Sins that make Heaven look black upon us many as well as few and great as easily as small for there are as great Dimensions in his Merit as there are in Sin yea greater for they are incomprehensible and cannot be measured the least Sin requires as much the greatest needs no more one Sin is mortal without it but none no not all if interested in it therefore the greatness of Sin should rather send us to him than from him That we may be so We must be great Sinners either as to act or sense before he will appear as a Saviour to us 2. From a fear of the loss of Time as Irrevocable The Devil tells none that it is not their Duty to repent tho' some he does that it will be to no purpose if they do but that it is not absolutely necessary in such a limited time hereafter will do as well as now soft and fair will go far they may indulge themselves in Sin a little longer and repent at last a little more folding of the hands to sleep before they stretch Prov. 6. 10. them out to Heaven for Mercy a little more slumber and sleep before they awake to Righteousness and hereby lulls many so fast asleep in Sin that they never awake first he tells them there is time enough and then that there is none first there is more time to come many Years said the Fool and then time is past first it is too soon and then too late and as he suggests so those he has deluded believe and conclude their Case to be desperate which they should not for tho' our Times are in God's Hands both of Nature and Grace for this Life and a better all Times are not alike to all some may and do out-live their Time and a sad Judgment it is a Hell upon Earth when it is so yet it cannot be known to any either of themselves or others for it is a Secret Arcanum Imporii Mat. 25. 10. known to none but God Where the Gospel is Preach'd a Door of Hope is set open to all but when it is shut to any particular Person none can know and therefore of dangerous Consequence for any to conclude it yea groundless and irrational too for tho' the longer the Season of Grace has continu'd the more Mercy is heightned on God's part and Sin aggravated on the Sinners yet so long as they have a Heart or a Will to repent their Time is not past God is willing if they are willing for he waits to be gracious Isa 30. 18. There were never any that in a sinking condition with Peter cried heartily out to him but he stretched out his hand of Mercy and saved them 2ly Presumption is grounded either On the Length of God's Patience the Greatness of God's Mercy the Hope of long Life the Power of Repenting at pleasure or the Examples of those that found Mercy upon a late Repentance 1. The length of God's Patience Presumptuous Sinners look on Sin not as it is in it self but as wrapt up in the gild of God's Patience and because Sentence against their evil Works is not speedily executed nor they destroy'd as Zimri and Cosbi in their Eecles 8. 21. Numb 25. 6 7 8. Sins their Hearts are set in them to do wickedly not considering that the End of his Patience was to make them not Petulant but Penitent and that therefore When God is patient that they might repent they sin the more if they do not repent because he is patient 2. The Greatness of God's Mercy Presumptuous Sinners behold God not in his Justice but in his Mercy only they see nothing but Mercy in God but in their Imaginations only it is if any where so for he is just as well as merciful It is true he is abundant in Mercy but he is not all Mercy nor any of it will he shew to them that continue in sin but to them only that repent and turn from it Mercy is but one Attribute in God and we deny him to be God if we deny his Justice and God must deny himself in his Truth if such be pardon'd which he will never do for he pardons none but in a way of Justice as well as Mercy It is folly to think God is Cruel if Just and a high affront to him for if not Just he is not God viz. as just to punish the Presumptuous as merciful to pardon the Penitent 3. The Hope of long Life The Young look on themselves as growing up to Strength and going forward to Time The Middle-aged say They find no decay in their Strength they are as sound and strong as ever The Old or Aged think not their strength so far weakned or abated but that they may live longer if but one in a Town or Family live to old Age they think they shall do so too and make long Life which is in it self a Blessing and should be a Motive to a speedy Repentance an Argument against it deferring the Work when call'd to it as Antipater with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when a Treatise of Happiness was offer'd to him Antigonus his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the future or as Foelix put off Paul to a more convenient time tho'