and obedience For these are the righteousness of God they are his works revealed by his Spirit effected by his Grace promoted by his Gifts encouraged by special Promises sanctified by the Holy Ghost and accepted through Jesus Christ to all the great purposes of Glory and Immortality Since therefore a constant innocence could not justifie us unless we have the righteousness of God that is unless we superadde holiness and purity in the faith of Jesus Christ much less can it be imagined that he who hath transgressed the righteousness of the law and broken the Negative Precepts and the natural humane rectitude and hath superinduc'd vices contrary to be righteousness of God can ever hope to be justified by those little arrests of his sin and his beginnings to leave it upon his death-bed and his sorrow for it then when he cannot obtain the righteousness of God or the holiness of the Gospel It was good counsel that was given by a wise Heathen Dimidium facti qui coepit habet Horat. ep 2. l. 1. sapere aude Incipe qui rectè vivendi prorogat horam Rusticus expectat dum defluat amnis at ille Labitur labetur in omne volubilis aevum It is good for a man to begin The Clown that stands by a river side expecting till all the water be run away may stay long enough before he gets to the other side He that will not begin to live well till he hath answered all objections and hath no lusts to serve no more appetites to please shall never arrive at happiness in the other world Be wise and begin betimes §. 5. Consideration of the objections against the former Doctrine 1. BUt why may not all this be done in an instant by the grace of God Cannot he infuse into us the habits of all the graces Evangelical Faith cannot be obtained by natural means and if it be procur'd by supernatural the Spirit of God is not retarded by the measures of an enemy and the dull methods of natural opposition Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus sancti gratia Without the Divine Grace we cannot work any thing of the righteousness of God but if he gives us his grace does not he make us chaste and patient humble and devout and all in an instant For thus the main Question seems to be confessed and granted that a habit is not remitted but by the introduction of the contrary but when you consider what you handle it is a cloud and nothing else for this admission of the necessity of a habit enjoyns no more labour nor care it requires no more time it introduces no active fears and infers no particular caution and implies the doing of no more then to the remission of a single act of one sin To this I answer that the grace of God is a supernatural principle and gives new aptnesses and inclinations powers and possibilities it invites and teaches it supplies us with arguments and answers objections it brings us into artificial necessities and inclines us sweetly and this is the semen Dei spoken of by S. John the seed of God thrown into the furrows of our hearts springing up unless we choke it to life eternal By these assistances we being helped can do our duty and we can expel the habits of vice and get the habits of vertue But as we cannot doe Gods work without Gods grace so Gods grace does not do our work without us For grace being but the beginnings of a new nature in us gives nothing but powers and inclinations The Spirit helpeth our infirmities so S. Paul explicates this mystery Rom. 8.26 And therefore when he had said By the grace of God I am what I am that is all is owing to his grace he also addes I have baboured more then they all yet not I that is not I alone sed gratia Dei mecum the grace of God that is with me For the grace of God stands at the door and knocks but we must attend to his voice and open the door and then he will enter and sup with us and we shall be with him The grace of God is like a graff put into a stock of another nature it makes use of the faculties and juice of the stock and natural root but converts all into its own nature But 2. We may as well say there can be a habit born with us as infus'd into us For as a natural habit supposes a frequency of action by him who hath naturall abilities so an infus'd habit if there were any such is a result and consequent of a frequent doing the works of the Spirit So that to say that God in an instant infuses into us a habit of Chastity c. is to say that he hath in an instant infus'd into us to have done the acts of that grace frequently For it is certain by experience that the frequent doing the actions of any grace increases the grace and yet the grace or aids of Gods Spirit are as necessary for the growth as for the beginnings of grace We cannot either will or do without his help he worketh both in us that is we by his help alone are enabled to do things above our nature But then we are the persons enabled and therefore we do these works as we do others not by the same powers but in the same manner When God raises a Cripple from his couch and gives him strength to move though the aid be supernatural yet the motion is after the manner of nature And it is evident in the matter of faith which though it be the gift of God yet it is seated in the Understanding which operates by way of discourse not by intuition The believer understands as a Man not as an Angel And when Christ by miracle restor'd a blinde eye still that eye did see by reception or else by emission of species just so as eyes that did see naturally So it is in habits For it is a contradiction to say that a perfect habit is infus'd in an instant For if a habit were infus'd it must be infus'd as a habit is acquir'd for else it is not a habit Habitus infusi insunduntur per modum acquisitorum Regul Scholast As if a motion should be infus'd it must still be successive as well as if it were natural But this device of infus'd habits is a fancy without ground and without sense without authority or any just grounds of confidence and it hath in it very bad effects For it destroys all necessity of our care and labour in the wayes of godliness all cautions of a holy life it is apt to minister pretences and excuses for a perpetually wicked life till the last of our dayes making men to trust to a late Repentance it puts men upon vain confidences and makes them relie for salvation upon dreams and empty notions it destroys all the duty of man and cuts off all entercourse of obedience and reward But it is sufficient
sin is uncancell'd Of this nature is theft which cannot be cut off by a moral revocation or an internal act there must be something done without For it is a contradiction to say that a man is sorry for his act of stealing who yet rejoyces in the purchace and retains it Every man that repents is bound to make his sinful act as much as he can to be undone and the moral revocation or nolition of it is our entercourse with God onely who takes and accepts that which is the All which can be done to him But God takes care of our brother also and therefore will not accept his own share unless all interested persons be satisfied as much as they ought There is a great matter in it that our neighbour also do forgive us that his interest be served that he do not desire our punishment of this I shall afterwards give accounts in the mean time if the matter of our sin be not taken away so long as it remains so long there is a remanency and a tarrying in it and that is a degree of habit 9. Secondly if the single act have a continual fluxe or emanation from it self it is as a habit by moral account and is a principle of action and is potentially many Of this nature is every action whose proper and immediate principle is a passion Such as hatred of our neighbour a fearfulness of persecution a love of pleasures For a man cannot properly be said to have an act of hatred an actual expression of it he may but if he hates him in one act and repents not of it it is a vicious affection and in the sense of moral Theology it is a habit the law of God having given measures to our affections as well as to actions In this case when we have committed one act of uncharitableness or hatred it is not enough to oppose against it one act of love but the principle must be altered and the love of our neighbour must be introduced into our spirit 10. There is yet another sort of sinful action which does in some sense equal a habit and that is an act of the greatest and most crying sins a complicated sin Thus for a Prince or a Priest to commit adultery for a childe to accuse his Father falsly to oppress a widow in judgement are sins of a monstrous proportion they are three or four sins apeece and therefore are to be repented of by untwining the knot and cutting asunder every thred He that repents of adultery must repent of his uncleanness and of his injustice or wrong to his neighbour and of his own breach of faith and of his tempting a poor soul to sin and death and he must make amends for the scandal besides in case there was any in it In these and all the like cases let no man flatter himself when he hath wept and prayed against his sin one solemnity is not sufficient one act of contrition is but the beginning of a repentance and where the crime is capital by the laws of wise Nations the greatest the longest the sharpest repentance is little enough in the Court of conscience Paraenes ad poenitentiam So Pacianus Haec est novi Testamenti tota conclusio despectus in multis Spiritus sanctus haec nobis capitalis periculi conditione legavit Reliqua peccata meliorum operum compensatione curantur Haec verò tria crimina ut basilisci alicujus afflatus ut veneni calix ut lethalis arundo metuenda sunt non enim vitiare animam sed intercipere noverunt Some sins doe pollute and some doe kill the soul that is are very near approaches to death next to the unpardonable state * See Chapt. 5. and they are to be repented of just as habits are even by a long and a laborious repentance and by the piety and holiness of our whole ensuing life De peccato remisso noli esse securus said the son of Sirach Be not secure though your sin be pardoned when therefore you are working out and suing your pardon be not too confident 11. Those acts of sin which can once be done and no more as Parricide and such which destroy the subject or person against whom the sin is committed are to be cured by Prayer and Sorrow and entercourses with God immediately the effect of which because it can never be told and because the mischief can never be rescinded so much as by fiction of Law nor any supply be made to the injur'd person the guilty man must never think himself safe but in the daily and nightly actions of a holy Repentance 12. He that will repent well and truly of his single actual sins must be infinitely careful that he do not sin after his Repentance and think he may venture upon another single sin supposing that an act of contrition will take it off and so interchange his dayes by sin and sorrow doing to morrow what he was ashamed of yesterday For he that sins upon the confidence of Repentance does not repent at all because he repents that he may sin and these single acts so periodically returning do unite and become a habit He that resolves against a sin and yet falls when he is tempted is under the power of sin in some proportion and his estate is very suspicious though he alwayes resolved against that sin which he alwayes commits It is upon no other account that a single sin does not destroy a man but because it self is speedily destroyed if therefore it goes on upon its own strength and returns in its proper period it is not destroyed but lives and indangers the man 13. Be careful that you do not commit a single act of sin toward the latter end of your life for it being uncertain what degrees of anger God will put on and in what periods of time he will return to mercy the nearer to our death such sins intervene the more degrees of danger they have For although the former discourse is agreeable to the analogy of the Gospel and the Oeconomy of the Divine Mercy yet there are sad words spoken against every single sin Jam. 2.10 Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offends in one instance he shall be guilty of all saith S. James plainly affirming that the admitting one sin much more the abiding in any one sin destroys all our present possession of Gods favour Concerning which although it may seem strange that one prevarication in one instance should make an universal guilt yet it will be certain and intelligible if we consider that it relates not to the formality but to the event of things He that commits an act of Murther is not therefore an Adulterer but yet for being a Murtherer he shall die He is as if he were guilty of all that is his innocence in the other shall not procure him impunity in this One crime is inconsistent with Gods love and favour But there is something more in
this the numbers of sin are not easily to be told the lines of account are various and changeable our opinions uncertain and we are affrighted from one into another and all changes from sin are not into vertue but more commonly into sin Obsessa mens hominis undique †Zabuli S. Cypr. de oper cleemos diaboli infestatione vallata vix occurrit singulis vix resistit si avaritia prostrata est exurgit libido And if we do not commit things forbidden yet the sins of omission are innumerable and undiscernible * Businesses intervene and visits are made and civilities to be rendred and friendly compliances to be entertain'd and necessities to be served and some things thought so which are not so and so the time goes away and the duty is left undone prayers are hindred and prayers are omitted and concerning every part of time which was once in our power no man living can give a fair account This moral demonstration of the impossibility of perfect and exact obedience and innocence would grow too high if I should tell how easily our duties are sowr'd even when we think we walk wisely Severity is quickly turn'd into ungentleness love of children to indulgence joy to gayety melancholy to peevishness love of our wives to fondness liberties of marriage to licentiousness devotion to superstition austerity to pride feasting to intemperance Vrbanity to foolish jesting a free speech into impertinence and idle talking There were no bottom of this consideration if we consider how all mankinde sins with the tongue He that offends not in his tongne he is a perfect man indeed But experience and the following considerations do manifest that no man is so perfect For Every passion of the Soul is a spring and a shower a parent and a nurse to sin Our passions either mistake their objects or grow intemperate either they put too much upon a trifle or too little upon the biggest interest They are material and sensual best pleas'd and best acquainted with their own objects and we are to do some things which it is hard to be told how they can be in our own power We are commanded to be angry to love to hope to desire certain things towards which we cannot be so affected ever when we please A man cannot love or hate upon the stock and interest of a Commandement and yet these are parts of our duty To mourn and to be sorrowful are natural effects of their proper apprehensions and therefore are not properly capable of a law Though it be possible for a man who is of a sanguine complexion in perfect health and constitution not to act his lust yet it will be found next to impossible not to love it not to desire it and who will finde it possible that every man and in all cases of his temptation should overcome his fear But if this fear be instanced in a matter of religion it will be apt to multiply eternal scruples and they are equivocal effects of a good meaning but are proper and univocal enemies to piety and a wise religion I need not take notice of the infinite variety of thoughts and sentences that divide all mankinde concerning their manner of pleasing and obeying God and the appendent zeal by which they are furiously driven on to promote their errors or opinions as they think for God and he that shall tell these men they do amiss would be wondred at for they think themselves secure of a good reward even when they do horrible things But the danger here is very great when the instrument of serving God is nothing but opinion and passion abus'd by interest especially since this passion of it self is very much to be suspected it being temerity or rashness for some zeal is no better and its very formality is inadvertency and inconsideration But the case is very often so that even the greatest consideration is apt to be mistaken and how shall men be innocent when besides the signal precepts of the Gospel there are propounded to us some generall measures and as I may call them extraregular lines by which our actions are to be directed such as are the analogie of faith fame reputation publick honesty not giving offence being exemplary all which and divers others being indefinite measures of good and evil are pursued as men please and as they will understand them And because concerning these God alone can judge righteously he alone can tell when we have observed them we cannot and therefore it is certain we very often doe mistake Hence it is that they who mean holiness and purity are forc'd to make to themselves rules and measures by way of Idea or instrument endevouring to choose that side that is the surest which indeed is but a guessing at the way we should walk in and yet by this way also men do often run into a snare and lay trouble and intricacy upon their consciences unnecessary burthens which presently they grow weary of and in striving to shake them off they gall the neck and introduce tediousness of spirit or despair For we see when Religion grows high the dangers do increase not onely by the proper dangers of that state and the more violent assaults made against Saints then against meaner persons of no religious interest but because it will be impossible for any man to know certainly what intension of spirit is the minimum religionis the necessary condition under or less then which God will not accept the action and yet sometimes two duties justle one another and while we are zealous in one we less attend the other and therefore cannot easily be certain of our measures and because sometimes two duties of a very different matter are to be reconcil'd and waited upon who can tell what will be the event of it since mans nature is so limited and little that it cannot at once attend upon two objects Is it possible that a man should so attend his prayers that his minde should be alwayes present and never wander does not every man complain of this and yet no man can help it And if of this alone we had cause to complain yet even for this we were not innocent in others and he that is an offender in one is guilty of all and yet it is true that in many things we all offend And all this is true when a man is well and when he is wise but he may be foolish and he will be sick and there is a new scene of dangers new duties and new infirmities and new questions and the old uncertainty of things and the same certainty of doing our duty weakly and imperfectly and pitiably Quid tam dextro pede concipis ut te Conatus non poeniteat votÃque peracti Since therefore every sin is forbidden and yet it can enter from so many angles I may conclude in the words of Sedulius Lex spiritualis est In cap. 7. Rom. quia spiritualia mandat
grow angry and peevish My duties are imperfect my repentances little my passions great my fancy trifting The sins of my tongue are infinite and my omissions are infinite and my evil thoughts cannot be numbred and I cannot give an account concerning innumerable portions of my time which were once in my power but were let slip and were partly spent in sin partly thrown away upon trifles and vanity and even of the basest sins of which in accounts of men I am most innocent I am guilty before thee entertaining those sins in little instances thoughts desires and imaginations which I durst not produce into action and open significations Blessed Jesus pity me and have mercy upon my infirmities III. TEach me O Lord to walk before thee in righteousness perfecting holiness in the fear of God Give me an obedient will a loving spirit a humble understanding watchfulness over my thoughts deliberation in all my words and actions well tempered passions and a great prudence and a great zeal and a great charity that I may doe my duty wisely diligently holily O let me be humbled in my infirmities but let me be also safe from my enemies let me never fall by their violence nor by my own weakness let me never be overcome by them nor yet give my self up to folly and weak principles to idleness and secure careless walking but give me the strengths of thy Spirit that I may grow strong upon the ruines of the flesh growing from grace to grace till I become a perfect man in Christ Jesus O let thy strength be seen in my weakness and let thy mercy triumph over my infirmities pitying the condition of my nature the infancy of grace the imperfection of my knowledge the transportations of my passion Let me never consent to sin but for ever strive against it and every day prevail till it be quite dead in me that thy servant living the life of grace may at last be admitted to that state of glory where all my infirmities shall be done away and all teares be dried up and sin and death shall be no more Grant this O most gracious God and Father for Jesus Christ his sake Amen OUr Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil Amen CHAP. IV. Of Actual single sins and what Repentance is proper to them §. 1. THE first part of Conversion or Repentance is a quitting of all sinful habits and abstaining from all criminal actions whatsoever Virtus est vitium fugere sapientia prima Stultitia caruisse For unless the Spirit of God rule in our hearts we are none of Christs but he rules not where the works of the flesh are frequently or maliciously or voluntarily entertained All the works of the flesh and whatsoever leads to them all that is contrary to the Spirit and does either grieve or extinguish him must be rescinded and utterly taken away Concerning which it is necessary that I set down the * Mat. 15.19 Mar. 7.21 Galat. 5.16 19 20 21. Eph 4.31 c. 5.3 4 5. 2 Tim. 3.2 3 4 5. Rom. 1.29 30 31 32. 1 Cor. 6.9 Revel 21.8 1 Pet. 4.3 15. Catalogues which by Christ and his Apostles are left us as lights and watch-towers to point out the rocks and quick-sands where our danger is and this I shall the rather doe not onely because they comprehend many evils which are not observed or feared some which are commended and many that are excused but also because although they are all mark'd with the same black character of death yet there is some difference in the execution of the sentence and in the degrees of their condemnation and of the consequent Repentance 2. Evil thoughts or discoursings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evil reasonings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Hesychius that is prating importune pratling and loosness of tongue such as is usual with bold boyes and young men prating much and to no purpose But our Bibles reade it Evil thoughts or surmisings for in Scripture it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Suidas observes concerning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to think long and carefully to dwell in meditation upon a thing to which when our blessed Saviour addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 evil he notes and reproves such kinde of morose thinkings and fancying of evil things and it is not unlikely that he means thoughts of uncleanness or lustful fancies For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Suidas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Hesychius it signifies such words as are prologues to wantonness so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Aristophanes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lysistratâ So that here are forbidden all wanton words and all morose delighting in venereous thoughts all rollings and tossing such things in our minds For even these defile the soul Verborum obscoenitas si turpitudini rerum adhibeatur ludus ne libero quidem homine dignus est said Cicero Obscene words are a mockery not worthy of an ingenuous person This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that foolish talking and jesting which S. Paul joyns to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that filthiness of communication which men make a jest of but is indeed the basest in the world the sign of a vile dishonest minde and it particularly noted the talk of Mimicks and Parasites Buffoons and Players whose trade was to make sport 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they did use to doe it with nastiness and filthy talkings as is to be seen in Aristophanes and is rarely described and severely reproved in S. Chrysostome in his 6. Homily upon S. Matthew For per verba dediscitur rerum pudor which S. Paul also affirms in the words of Menander 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evil words corrupt good manners and evil thoughts being the fountain of evil words lie under the same prohibition Under this head is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a talkative rash person ready to speak slow to hear against S. James his rule 3. Inventers of evil things Contrivers of all such artifices as minister to vice Curious inventions for cruelty for gluttony for lust witty methods of drinking wanton pictures and the like which for the likeness of the matter I have subjoyn'd next to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the evil thinkings or surmisings reproved by our blessed Saviour as these are expresly by S. Paul 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Covetousness or Inordinate unreasonable desires For the word does not onely signify the designing and contrivances of unjust ways of purchasing which is not often separated from covetous desires but the very studium habendi the
it then this For every one that breaks a Commandement let the instance be what it will is a transgressor of the same bond by which he was bound to all Non quòd omnia legis praecepta violârit sed quòd legis Authorem contempserit eóque proemio meritò careat quod legis cultoribus propositum est saith venerable Bede He did not violate all the Commandements but he offended him who is the giver of all the Commandements It is like letting one Bead fall from a Rosary or Coronet of Bugles This or that or a third makes no difference the string is as much broken if he lets one to slide as if he dropp'd twenty It was not an ill conceit of Menedemus the Eretrian that there was but one vertue which had divers names Aristo Chius express'd the same conceit with a little difference affirming all vertues to be the same in reality and nature but to have a certain diversification or rational difference by relation to their objects As if one should call the sight when it looks upon a Crow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if upon a Swan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so is vertue When it moderates the affections it is Temperance when it ballances contracts it is Justice when it considers what is and what is not to be done it is Prudence That which they call Vertue if we call it the Grace of God or Obedience it is very true which they say For the same spirit the same grace of obedience is Chastity or Temperance or Justice according as is the subject matter The love of God if it be in us is productive of all worthiness and this is it which S. John said This is love that we keep his Commandements The love of God constraineth us It worketh all the works of God in us It is the fulfilling of the Commandements For this is a Catholicon an Universal Grace Charity gives being to all vertues it is the life and spirit of all holy actions Abstinence from feasts and inordination mingled with Charity is Temperance And Justice is Charity and Chastity is Charity and Humility is still but an instance of Charity This is that Transcendent that gives life and vertue to Alms to Preaching to Faith to Miracles it does all obedience to God all good offices to our Neighbours which in effect is nothing but the sentence of Menedemus and Aristo that there is an Universal Vertue that is there is one soul and essence of all vertue They call it Vertue S. Paul calls it Charity and this is that one thing which is necessary that one thing which every man that sins does violate He that is guilty of all is but guilty of that one and therefore he that is guilty of that one of the breach of Charity is guilty of all And upon this account it is that no one sin can stand with the state of grace because he that sins in one instance sins against all goodness not against all instances of duty but against that which is the life of all against Charity and Obedience A Prayer to be said in the dayes of Repentance for the commission of any great Crime O Most glorious God I tremble to come into thy presence so polluted and dishonoured as I am by my foul stain of sin which I have contracted but I must come or I perish O my God I cannot help it now Miserable man that I am to reduce my self to so sad a state of things that I neither am worthy to come unto thee nor dare I stay from thee Miserable man that I am who lost that portion of innocence which if I should pay my life in price I cannot now recover O dear God I have offended thee my gracious Father my Lord my Patron my Judge my Advocate and my Redeemer Shame and sorrow is upon me for so offending thee my gracious Saviour But glory be to thee O Lord who art such to me who have offended thee It aggravates my sin that I have sinned against thee who art so excellent in thy self who art so good to me But if thou wert not so good to me though my sin would be less yet my misery would be greater The greatness of my Crime brings me to my Remedy and now I humbly pray thee to be merciful to my sin for it is very great II. O My God pity me and relieve my sad condition which is so extremely evil that I have no comfort but from that which is indeed my misery My baseness is increased by my hopes for it is thy grace and thy goodness which I have so provoked Thou O God didst give me thy grace and assist me by thy holy Spirit and call by thy Word and instruct me by thy Wisdome and didst work in me to will and to do according to thy good pleasure I knew my sin and I saw my danger and I was not ignorant and I was not surpris'd but wilfully knowingly basely and sensually I gave thee away for the pleasure of a minute for the purchase of vanity nay I exchanged thee for shame and sorrow and having justly forfeited thy love am plac'd I know not where nor in what degree of thy anger nor in what neighbourhood of damnation III. O God my God what have I done whither am I fallen I was well and blessed circled with thy Graces conducted by thy Spirit sealed up to the day of Redemption in a hopefull way towards thee and now I have listned to the whispers of a tempting Spirit and for that which hath in it no good no reason no satisfaction for that which is not I have forfeited those excellencies for the recovery of which my life is too cheap a price I am ashamed O God I am ashamed I put my mouth in the dust and my face in darkness and hate my self for my sin which I am sure thou hatest But give thy servant leave to hope that I shall feel the gracious effluxes of thy love I know thou art angry with me I have deserved it But if thou hadst not lov'd me and pitied me thou mightest have stricken me in the act of my shame I know the design of thy mercy and loving kindness is to bring me to repentance and pardon to life and grace I obey thee O God I humbly obey thy gracious purposes Receive O Lord a returning sinner a poor wounded person smitten by my enemies broken by my sin weary and heavy laden ease me of my burthen and strengthen me by a mighty grace that hereafter I may watch more carefully resist more pertinaciously walk more circumspectly and serve thee without the interruptions of duty by the intervening of a sin O let me rather die then choose to sin against thee any more Onely try me this once and bear me in thy arms and fortifie my holy purposes and conduct me with thy grace that thou mayest delight to pardon me and to save me through Jesus Christ my Lord and dearest Saviour Amen I
hates as to condemne the innocent He will by no means acquit the guilty It was part of his Name which he caused to be proclaimed in the Camp of Israel And if this could be otherwise a man might be in the state of sin and the state of grace at the same time which hitherto all Theology hath believ'd to be impossible 7. This whole Question is clear'd by a large discourse of S. Paul For having under the person of an unregenerate man complain'd of the habitual state of prevailing sin of one who is a slave to sin Rom. 7.14 sold under sin captive under a law of sin that is under vile inclinations and high pronenesses and necessities of sinning so that when he is convinc'd that he ought not to doe it yet he cannot help it though he fain would have it help'd 19 c. yet he cannot obey his own will but his accursed superinduc'd necessities and his sin within him was the ruler that and not his own better choyce was the principle of his actions which is the perfect character of an habitual sinner he inquires after a remedy for all this which remedy he cals a being delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the body of this death The remedy is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grace of God through Jesus Christ for by Christ alone we can be delivered But what is to be done the extermination of this dominion and Empire of concupiscence the breaking of the kingdome of sin That being the evil he complains of and of which he seeks remedy that is to be remov'd But that we may well understand to what sense and in what degree this is to be done in the next periods he describes the contrary state of deliverance by the parts and characters of an habit or state of holiness which he cals a walking after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 c. opposed to a walking after the flesh It was a law in his members a law of sin and death Now he is to be made free by a contrary law the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus That is as sin before gave him law so now must the Spirit of God whereas before he minded the things of the flesh now he minds the things of the spirit that is the carnal-mindedness is gone and a spiritual-mindedness is the principle and ruler of his actions This is the deliverance from habitual sins even no other then by habitual graces wrought in us by the spirit of life by the grace of our Lord Jesus And this whole affair is rarely well summ'd up by the same Apostle Rom. 6.19 As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness If ye were servants before so ye must be now it is but justice and reason that at least as much be done for God as for the Devil It is not enough morally to revoke what is past by a wishing it had not been done but you must oppose a state to a state a habit to a habit And the Author of the Book of Baruch presses it further yet Baruch 4.28 As it was your minde to go astray from God so being returned seek him ten times more It ought not to be less it must be as S. Chrysostome expresses it In Act. 4. hom 10 A custome against a custome a habit opposed to a habit that the evil may be driven out by the good as one nail is by another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vandalic â—1 said Procopius In those things where you have sinned to profit and to increase and improve to their contraries that is the more comely way to pardon 8. Either a habit of vertue is a necessary disposition to the pardon of a habit of vice or else the doctrine of mortification of the lusts of the flesh of all the lusts of all the members of the old man is nothing but a counsel and a caution of prudence but it contains no essential and indispensable duty For mortification is a long contention and a course of difficulty it is to be done by many arts and much caution and a long patience and a diligent observation by watchfulness and labour the work of every day the employment of all the prudence and all the advices of good men and the whole grace of God It is like the curing of a Hectick feaver which one potion will not doe Origen does excellently describe it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When a word is strengthened and nourished by care and assiduity and confirmed by opinions and wise sentences or near to confirmation it masters all oppositions and breaks in pieces the concupiscence This is the manner of mortification there must be resolutions and discourses assiduity and diligence auxiliaries from reason and wise sentences and advices of the prudent and all these must operate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto a confirmation or near it and by these the concupiscence can be master'd But this must be a work of time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Menander To dissolve a long custome in a short time is a work indeed but very hard if not impossible to be done by any man A man did not suddenly come to the state of evil from whence he is to arise Nemo repentè fuit turpissimus S. Basil homil 9. But as a man coming into a pestilential air does not suck in death at every motion of his lungs but by little and little the spirits are poysoned and at last enter into their portion of death so it is in a vicious custome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stob. The evil is not felt instantly it begins from little things and is the production of time and frequent actions And therefore much less can it be supposed that we can overcome our filthy habits and master our fortified corruptions by a sudden dash of piety and the ex tempore gleams of repentance Concerning this S. In regul fusiùs disput q. 6. 55. Basil discourses excellently Sicut enim morbi corporis inveterati c. For as the old diseases of the body are not healed without a long and painful attendance so must old sins be cured by a long patience a daily prayer and the sharpest contention of the spirit That which is died with many dippings is in grain and can very hardly be washed out Sic anima sanie peccatorum suppurata in habitu constituta malitiae vix ac multo negotio â—â—ui potest So is the soul when it is corrupted with the poyson of sin and hath contracted a malicious habit it can scarce but not without much labour be made clean Now since we say our nature is inclined to sin and we feel it to be so in many instances and yet that it needs time and progression to get a habit of that whither we too naturally tend we have reason to
specifical distinctive sense shall not suffice but faith and repentance and charity and patience and the whole circle and rosary of graces and duties must adorn our heads 4. Those graces and duties which are commanded us and to which God hath promised glorious rewards must not be single or transient acts but continual and permanent graces Joh. 4.14 He that drinks of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst again 6.58 He that eats of this bread shall live for ever He that believes in me rivers of living waters shall flow from his belly 7.38 He that confesseth his sins and forsaketh them shall have mercy Repent and beleeve and wash away your sins Now these words of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are of extended and produced signification as Divines observe and signify a state of duty such as includes patience and perseverance Such also are these 1 Joh. 2.17 1 Joh. 1.9 He that doth the will of my Father abideth for ever If we confess our sins he is just and faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity Gal. 5.21 and they that doe such things shall possess the kingdome of Heaven And I will deliver him because he hath put his trust in me And If we love him he also will love us And Forgive and ye shall be forgiven These and many more doe not intend that any one grace alone is sufficient much less any one act of one grace proceeding from the Spirit of God can be sufficient to wipe off our leprosies But these signify states of duty and integrity not transient actions or separate graces And besides the infinite reasonableness of the thing this truth is consign'd to us plainly in Scripture Rom. 2.6 7. God will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life And if men had pleased they might as well have fallen upon this proposition that an act of humility would have procur'd our pardon as well as that an act of contrition will doe it because of the words of David Psa 34.17 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart and will save such as be of an humble spirit Salvation is as much promised to humility alone as to contrition alone that is to neither separately but in the conjunction with other parts of duty 5. Contrition is either taken in its proper specifick signification and so it is but a part of repentance and then who can say that it shall be sufficient to a full and final pardon Repentance alone is not sufficient There must be faith and hope and charity therefore much less shall a part be sufficicient when the whole is not But if contrition be taken in a sense comprehending more then it self then I demand how much shall it involve That it does include in it an act of the Divine love and a purpose to confess and a resolution to amend is affirmed So far is well But why thus far and no farther Why shall not contrition when it is taken for a sufficient disposition to pardon and salvation signify as much as repentance does and repentance signify the whole duty of a converted sinner Unless it does repentance it self that is as it is one single grace cannot suffice as I proved but now And therefore how shall contrition alone much less an act of contrition alone doe it For my part I should be very glad it were so if God so pleased for I have as much need of mercy as any man and have as little reason to be consident of the perfection of my repentance as any returning sinner in the world But I would not willingly deceive my self nor others and therefore I must take the surest course and follow his measures who hath describ'd the lines and limits of his own mercy * But it is remarkable that the manner of the Scripture is to include the consequents in the antecedents Joh. 8.47 He that is of God heareth Gods word That is not onely hears but keeps it For not the hearer Apoc. 19.9 but the doer is blessed So S. John in the Revelation Blessed are they that are called to the marriage of the Lamb. They which are called are blessed that is They which being called come and come worthily having on the wedding garment For without this the meaning of the Spirit is not full For many are called but few are chosen And thus also it is in the present instance God will not despise the contrite heart that is the heart which being bruised with sorrow returns to duty and lives in holiness for in order to holiness contrition was accepted But one thing I shall remark before I leave this In the definition of Contrition all the Schools of Theology in the world that I know of put the love of God Contrition is not onely sorrow but a love of God too Now this doctrine if they themselves would give men leave rightly to understand it is not onely an excellent doctrine but will also do the whole business of this great Question Without Contrition our sins cannot be pardon'd It is not Contrition unless the love of God be in it Adde then but these Our love to God does not consist in an act of intuition or contemplation nor yet directly and meerly of passion but it consists in obedience If ye love me keep my Commandements That 's our love of God So that Contrition is a detestation of our past sin and a consequent obedience to the Divine Commandements Onely as the aversion hath been so must be the conversion It was not one act of disobedience onely which the habitual sinner is to be contrite for but many and therefore so must his contrition be a lasting hatred against sin and an habitual love that is an habitual obedience to the Divine Commandement 6. But now to the instances of David and the Prodigal and the sudden pronunciation of their pardon there is something particular to be said The Parable of the Prodigal can prove nothing but Gods readiness to receive every returning sinner but neither the measures nor the times of pardon are there described As for David his pardon was pronounced suddenly but it was but a piece of pardon the sentence of death which by Moses law he incurred that onely was remitted but after this pardon David repented bitterly in sackcloth and ashes he fasted and prayed he liv'd holily and wisely he made amends as he could and yet the childe died that was born to him his Son and Subjects rebelled his Concubines were dishonoured in the face of the Sun and the Sword never departed from his house 2. But to both these and all other instances that are or can be of the like nature I answer That there is no doubt but Gods pardon is as early and speedy as the beginnings of our repentance but then it is
be pardoned so long as their vicious habit remains and they know that to overcome and mortifie a vicious habit is a work of time and great labour and if this be the measure of dying penitents as well as of living and healthful they will sink in judgement that have not time to do their duty But then why the Church of those ages and particularly S. Austin should hope and despair at the same time for them that is knew no ground of revelations upon which to fix any hope of pardon for them and yet should exhort them to Repentance which without hopes of pardon is to no purpose there is no sensible account to be given but this that for ought they knew God might do more then they knew and more then he had promised but whether he would or not they knew not but by that means they thought they fairly quit their hands of such persons 6. But after all this strict survey of answers if we be call'd to account for being so kinde it must be confess'd that things are spoken out of charity and pity more then of knowledge The case of these men is sad and deplorable and it is piety when things are come to that state and saddest event to shew mercy by searching all the corners of revelation for comfort that God may be as much glorified and the dying men assisted as much as may be I remember the Jews are reproved by some for repealing the last verse but one in the book of Isaiah and setting it after the last of all That being a verse of mercy this of sorrow and threatning as if they would be more merciful then God himself and thought it unfit to end so excellent a book with so sad a cursing Indeed Gods wayes are best and his measures the surest and therefore it is not good to promise where God hath not promised and to be kinde where he is angry and to be free of his pardon where he hath shut up and seal'd his treasures But if they that say God hath threatned all such sinners as dying penitents after wicked life are and yet that they must not despair are to be reproved as too kinde then they much more who confidently promise heaven at last It is indeed a compliance with humane misery that makes it fit to speak what hopeful things we can but if these hopes can easily be reproved I am sure the former severity cannot so easily be confuted That may this cannot 1. But now things being put into this constitution the inquiry into what manner of Repentance the dying penitent is oblig'd to will be of no great difficulty Qui dicit omnia nihil excipit He that is tied to all can be excus'd from none All that he can do is too little if God shall deal with him according to the conditions of the Gospel which are describ'd and therefore he must not inquire into measures but do all absolutely all that he can in that sad period Particularly 2. Let him examine his Conscience most curiously according as his time will permit and his other abilities because he ought to be sure that his intentions are so reall to God and to Religion that he hath already within him a resolution so strong a repentance so holy a sorrow so deep a hope so pure a charity so sublime that no temptation no time no health no interest could in any circumstance of things ever tempt him from God and prevail 3. Let him make a general confession of the sins of his whole life with all the circumstances of aggravation let him be mightily humbled and hugely ashamed and much in the accusation of himself and bitterly lament his folly and misery let him glorifie God and justifie him confessing that if he perishes it is but just if he does not it is a glorious an infinite mercy a mercy not yet revealed a mercy to be look'd for in the day of wonders the day of Judgement Let him accept his sickness and his death humbly at the hands of God and meekly pray that God would accept that for punishment and so consign his pardon for the rest through the bloud of Jesus Let him cry mightily unto God incessantly begging for pardon and then hope as much as he can even so much as may exalt the excellency of the Divine mercy but not too confidently lest he presume above what is written 4. Let the dying penitent make what amends he can possibly in the matter of real injuries and injustices that he is guilty of though it be to the ruine of his estate and that will go a great way in deprecation Let him ask forgiveness and offer forgiveness make peace transmit charity and provisions and piety to his relatives 5. Next to these it were very fitting that the dying penitent did use all the means he can to raise up his spirit and do internal actions of Religion with great fervour and excellency To love God highly to be ready to suffer whatsoever can come to pour out his complaints with great passion and great humility adding to these and the like great effusions of charity holy and prudent undertakings of severity and Religion in case he shall recover and if he can let him do some great thing something that does in one little body of action signifie great affections any heroical act any transportation of a holy zeal in his case does help to abbreviate the work of many years If these things be thus done it is all that can be done at that time and as well as it can be then done what the event of it will be God onely knows and we all shall know at the day of Judgement S. Aug. habetur de poen dist 7 In this case the Church can give the Sacrament but cannot give security Meditations and Prayers to be used in all the foregoing cases CAn the Ethiopian change his skin Jer. 13.23 or the Leopard his spots then may ye learn to do good that are accustomed to do evil This is thy lot the portion of thy measures Ver. 25. from me saith the Lord because thou hast forgotten me Give glory to the Lord your God before he cause darkness Ver. 16. and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains lest while you look for light he turn it into the shadow of death and make it gross darkness What wilt thou say when he shall punish Ver. 21. shall not sorrow take thee as a woman in travel And if thou say in thine heart Ver. 22. Wherefore came these things upon me for the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered and thy heels made bare I have seen thine adulteries and thy neighings Ver. 27. the lewdness of thy whoredoms and thine abominations Wo unto thee wilt thou not be made clean when shall it once be saith the Lord God Thus saith the Lord unto this people Jer. 14.10 Thus have they loved to wander they have not
without the revelations of the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Suidas An animal man that is a Philosopher or a rational man such as were the Greek and Roman Philosophers upon the stock and account of the learning of all their Schools could never discern the excellencies of the Gospel mysteries as of God incarnate Christ dying Resurrection of the body and the like For this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Animal and another word used often by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Carnal are opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritual and are states of evil or of imperfection in which while a man remains he cannot do the work of God For animality which is a relying upon natural principles without revelation is a state privatively oppos'd to the Spirit and a man in that state cannot be sav'd because he wants a vital part he wants the spirit which is a part of the constitution of a Christian in that capacity who consists of Body and Soul and Spirit and therefore Anima without Spiritus the Soul without the Spirit is not sufficient * For as the Soul is a sufficient principle of all the actions of life in order to our natural end and persection but it can bear us no further so there must be another principle in order to a supernatural end and that is the Spirit called by S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the new creation by S. Peter a divine nature and by this we become renewed in the inner man the infusion of this new nature into us is called Regeneration and it is the great principle of godliness called Grace or the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The seed of God and by it we are begotten by God and brought forth by the Church to the hopes and beginnings of a new life and a supernatural end And although I cannot say that this is a third substance distinct from Soul and Body yet it is a distinct principle put into us by God without which we cannot work and by which we can and therefore if it be not a substance yet it is more then a Metaphor it is a real being permanent and inherent but yet such as can be lessen'd and extinguish'd But Carnality or the state of being in the flesh is not onely privatively oppos'd but contrarily also to the spiritual state or the state of Grace But as the first is not a sin deriv'd from Adam so neither is the second The first is onely an imperfection or want of supernatural aids The other is indeed a direct state of sin and hated by God but superinduc'd by choice and not descending naturally * Now to the spiritual state nothing is in Scripture oppos'd but these two and neither of these when it is sinful can be pretended upon the stock or argument of any Scriptures to descend from Adam therefore all the state of opposition to Grace is owing to our selves and not to him Adam indeed did leave us all in an Animal estate but this state is not a state of enmity or direct opposition to God but a state insufficient and imperfect No man can perish for being an Animal man that is for not having any supernatural revelations but for not consenting to them when he hath that is for being Carnal as well as Animal and that he is Carnal is wholly his own choice In the state of animality he cannot go to Heaven but neither will that alone bear him to Hell and therefore God does not let a man alone in that state for either God suggests to him what is spiritual or if he does not it is because himself hath superinduc'd something that is Carnal Having now explicated those Scriptures which have made some difficulty in this Question to what Topick soever we shall return all things are plain and clear in this Article Noxa caput sequitur The soul that sinneth it shall die Neque virtutes neque Epist 3. de morte Nepotian vitia parentum liberis imputantur saith S. Hierome Neither the vices nor the vertues of the parents are imputed to the children And therefore when Dion Chrysostomus had reprov'd Solon's laws which in some cases condemn the innocent posterity he adds this in honour of Gods law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it does not like the law of the Athenians punish the children and kindred of the Criminal but every man is the cause of his own misfortune But concerning this it will not be amiss in order to many good purposes to observe the whole Oeconomy and dispensation of the Divine Justice in this affair §. 3. How God punishes the Fathers sin upon the Children 1. GOd may and does very often bless children to reward their fathers piety as is notorious in the famous descent of Abrahams family But the same is not the reason of favours and punishments For such is the nature of benefits that he in whose power they are may without injustice give them why and when and to whom he please 2. God never imputes the fathers sin to the son or relative formally making him guilty or being angry with the innocent eternally It were blasphemy to affirm so fierce and violent a cruelty of the most merciful Saviour and Father of mankinde and it was yet never imagined or affirm'd by any that I know of that God did yet ever damn an innocent son though the father were the vilest person and committed the greatest evils of the world actually personally choosingly and maliciously and why it should by so many and so confidently be affirm'd in a lesser instance in so unequal a case and at so long a distance I cannot suspect any reason Plutarch in his book against Herodotus affirms that it is not likely they would meaning that it was unjust to revenge an injury which the Samians did to the Corinthians three hundred years before But to revenge it for ever upon all generations and with an eternal anger upon some persons even the most innocent cannot without trembling be spoken or imagined of God who is the great lover of Souls Whatsoever the matter be in temporal inflictions of which in the next propositions I shall give account yet if the Question be concerning eternal damnation it was never said never threatned by God to pass from father to the son When God punishes one relative for the sin of another he does it as fines are taken in our law salvo contenemento the principal stake being safe it may be justice to seise upon all the smaller portions at least it is not against justice for God in such cases to use the power and dominion of a Lord. But this cannot be reasonable to be used in the matter of eternal interest because if God should as a Lord use his power over Innocents and condemn them to Hell he should be Author to them of more evil then ever he conveyed good to them which but to imagine would be a horrible impiety And therefore when our blessed Saviour
and heart But if thou canst know thy self you need not enquire any further If thy duty be performed you may be secure of all that is on Gods part 5. When ever repentance begins know that from thence-forward the sinner begins to live but then never let that repentance die Doe not at any time say I have repented of such a sin and am at peace for that for a man ought never to be at peace with sin nor think that any thing we can doe is too much Our repentance for sin is never to be at an end till faith it self shall be no more for Faith and Repentance are but the same Covenant and so long as the just does live by faith in the Son of God so long he lives by repentance for by that faith in him our sins are pardoned that is by becoming his Disciples we enter into the Covenant of Repentance And he undervalues his sin and overvalues his sorrow who at any time fears he shall doe too much or make his pardon too secure and therefore sets him down and sayes Now I have repented 6. Let no man ever say he hath committed the sin against the Holy Ghost or the unpardonable sin for there are but few that doe that and he can best confute himself if he can but tell that he is sorrowful for it and begs for pardon and hopes for it and desires to make amends this man hath already obtained some degrees of pardon and S. Pauls argument in this case also is a demonstration If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5.10 much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life That is if God to enemies gives the first grace much more will he give the second if they make use of the first For from none to a little is an infinite distance but from a little to a great deal is not so much And therefore since God hath given us means of pardon and the grace of Repentance we may certainly expect the fruit of pardon for it is a greater thing to give repentance to a sinner then to give pardon to the penitent Whoever repents hath not committed the great sin the Unpardonable For it is long of the man not of the sin that any sin is unpardonable 7. Let every man be careful of entring into any great states of sin lest he be unawares guilty of the great offence Every resisting of a holy motion calling us from sin every act against a clear reason or revelation every confident progression in sin every resolution to commit a sin in despite of conscience is an access towards the great sin or state of evil Therefore concerning such a man let others fear since he will not and save him with fear plucking him out of the fire but when he begins to return that great fear is over in many degrees for even in Moses law there were expiations appointed not onely for errour but for presumptuous sins The PRAYER I. OEternal God gracious and merciful I adore the immensity and deepest abysse of thy Mercy and Wisdome that thou doest pity our infirmities instruct our ignorances pass by thousands of our follies invitest us to repentance and doest offer pardon because we are miserable and because we need it and because thou art good and delightest in shewing mercy Blessed be thy holy Name and blessed be that infinite Mercy which issues forth from the fountains of our Saviour to refresh our weariness and to water our stony hearts and to cleanse our polluted souls O cause that these thy mercies may not run in vain but may redeem my lost soul and recover thy own inheritance and sanctifie thy portion the heart of thy servant and all my faculties II. BLessed Jesus thou becamest a little lower then the Angels but thou didst make us greater doing that for us which thou didst not doe for them Thou didst not pay for them one drop of bloud nor endure one stripe to recover the fallen stars nor give one groan to snatch the accursed spirits from their fearful prisons but thou didst empty all thy veins for me and gavest thy heart to redeem me from innumerable sins and an intolerable calamity O my God let all this heap of excellencies and glorious mercies be effective upon thy servant and work in me a sorrow for my sins and a perfect hatred of them a watchfulness against temptations severe and holy resolutions active and effective of my duty O let me never fall from sin to sin nor persevere in any nor love any thing which thou hatest but give me thy holy Spirit to conduct and rule me for ever and make me obedient to thy good Spirit never to grieve him never to resist him never to quench him Keep me O Lord with thy mighty power from falling into presumptuous sins lest they get the dominion over me so shall I be innocent from the great offence Let me never despair of thy mercies by reason of my sins nor neglect my repentance by reason of thy insinite loving kindness but let thy goodness bring me and all sinners to repentance and thy mercies give us pardon and thy holy Spirit give us perseverance and thy infinite favour bring us to glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. IX Of Ecclesiasticall Penance or The fruits of Repentance §. 1. THe fruits of Repentance are the actions of spiritual life and signifie properly all that piety and obedience which we pay to God in the dayes of our return after we have begun to follow sober counsels For since all the duty of a Christian is a state of Repentance that is of contention against sin and the parts and proper periods of victory and Repentance which includes the faith of a Christian is but another word to express the same grace or mercies of the Evangelical Covenant it follows that whatsoever is the duty of a Christian and a means to possess that grace is in some sense or other a Repentance or the fruits of Gods mercy and our endevours And in this sense S. John the Baptist means it saying Bring forth therefore fruits meet for Repentance that is since now the great expectation of the world is to be satisfied and the Lords Christ will open the gates of mercy and give Repentance to the world see that ye live accordingly in the faith and obedience of God through Jesus Christ That did in the event of things prove to be the effect of that Sermon But although all the parts of holy life are fruits of Repentance when it is taken for the state of favor published by the Gospel yet when Repentance is a particular duty or vertue the integral parts of holy life are also constituent parts of Repentance and then by the fruits of Repentance must be meant the less necessary but very useful effects and ministeries of Repentance which are significations and exercises of the main duty And these are sorrow for sins
shade of their Vines were both equal haters of the little beast but the wife only cried out and the man kill'd it but with as great a regret and horror at the sight of it as his wife though he did not so express it But when a little after they espied a Lizard and she cried again he told her That he perceiv'd her trouble was not alwayes deriv'd from reasonable apprehensions and that what could spring onely from images of things and fancies of persons was not considerable by a just value This is the case of our sorrowing Some express it by tears some by penances and corporal inflictions some by more effective and material mortifications of it but he that kills it is the greatest enemy But those persons who can be sorrowful and violently mov'd for a trifling interest and upon the arrests of fancy if they finde these easie meltings and sensitive afflictions upon the accounts of their sins are not to please themselves at all unless when they have cried out they also kill the Serpent I cannot therefore at all suspect that mans repentance who hates sin and chooses righteousness and walks in it though he doe not weep or feel the troubles of a mother mourning over the hearse of her onely son but yet such a sensitive grief is of great use to these purposes 1. If it do not proceed from the present sense of the Divine judgement yet it supplies that and feels an evil from its own apprehension which is not yet felt from the Divine infliction 2. It prevents Gods anger by being a punishment of our selves a condemnation of the sinner and a taking vengeance of our selves for our having offended God And therefore it is consequently to this agreed on all hands that the greater the sorrow is the less necessity there is of any outward affliction Vt possit lachrymis aequare labores Virg. According to the old rule of the Penitentiaries Sitque modus culpae justae moderatio poenae Quae tanto levior quanto contritio major Which general measure of repentances as it is of use in the particular of which I am now discoursing so it effects this perswasion that external mortifications and austerities are not any part of original and essential duty but significations of the inward repentance unto men and suppletories of it before God that when we cannot feel the trouble of minde we may at least hate sin upon another account even upon the superinduc'd evils upon our bodies for all affliction is nothing but sorrow Gravis animi poena est quem post factum poenitet said Publius To repent is a grievous punishment and the old man in the Comedy cals it so Cur meam senectam hujus sollicito amentiâ Pro hujus egout peccatis supplicium sufferam Andriâ Why doe I grieve my old age for his madness that I should suffer punishment for his sins grieving was his punishment 3. This sensitive sorrow is very apt to extinguish sin it being of a symbolical nature to the design of God when he strikes a sinner for his amendment it makes sin to be uneasy to him and not onely to be displeasing to his spirit but to his sense and consequently that it hath no port to enter any more 4. It is a great satisfaction to an inquisitive conscience to whom it is not sufficient that he does repent unless he be able to prove it by signs and proper indications The sum is this No man can in any sense be said to be a true penitent unless he wishes he had never done the sin 2. But he that is told that his sin is presently pardon'd upon repentance that is upon leaving it and asking forgiveness and that the former pleasure shall not now hurt him he hath no reason to wish that he had never done it 3. But to make it reasonable to wish that the sin had never been done there must be the feeling or fear of some evil Conscia mens ut cuique sua est ita concipit intra Pectora pro meritiis spémque metúmque suis 4. According as is the nature of that evil fear'd or felt so is the passion effected of hatred or sorrow 5. Whatever the passion be it must be totally exclusive of all affection to sin and produce enmity and fighting against it until it be mortified 6. In the whole progression of this mortification it is more then probable that some degrees of sensitive trouble will come in at some angle or other 7. Though the duty of penitential sorrow it self be completed in nolitione peccati in the hating of sin and our selves for doing it yet the more penal that hate is the more it ministers to many excellent purposes of repentance But because some persons doe not feel this sensitive sorrow they begin to suspect their repentance and therefore they are taught to supply this want by a reflex act that is to be sorrowful because they are not sorrowful This I must needs say is a fine device where it can be made to signify something that is material But I fear it will not often For how can a man be sorrowful for not being sorrowful For either he hath reason at first to be sorrowful or he hath not If he hath not why should he be sorrowful for not doing an unreasonable act If he hath reason and knows it it is certain he will be as sorrowful as that cause so apprehended can effect but he can be no more and so much he cannot choose but be But if there be cause to be sorrowful and the man knows it not then he cannot yet grieve for that for he knows no cause and that is all one as if he had none But if there be indeed a cause which he hath not considered then let him be called upon to consider that and then he will be directly and truly sorrowful when he hath considered it and hath reason to be sorrowful because he had not considered it before that is because he had not repented sooner but to be sorrowful because he is not sorrowful can have no other good meaning but this We are to endevour to be displeased at sin and to use all the means we can to hate it that is when we finde not any sensitive sorrow or pungency of spirit let us contend to make our intellectual sorrow as great as we can And if we perceive or suspect we have not true repentance let us beg of God to give it and let us use the proper means of obtaining the grace and if we are uncertain concerning the actions of our own heart let us supply them by prayer and holy desires that if we cannot perceive the grace in the proper shape and by its own symptoms and indications we may be made in some measure humbly confident by other images and reflexions by seeing the grace in another shape so David Conoupivi desiderare justificationes tuas I have desired to desire thy justifications that