the midst of the Paradise of God and even in any of the sadnesses of the Servants of God by reason of Afflictions Temptations any Agonies of Conscience Desertions there is Light in the midst of that Darkness whereas in the false Joys of counterfeit Repentance there are such either presumptuous sensual Intermixtures or such a want of true Spiritual Light that the midst of that Joy is Heaviness But the Fruit of this Repentance is that Peace of God that passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 guarding the Heart and Mind through Jesus Christ 5. To all these both Motives Means and Signs of Repentance must be always added Prayer even all Prayer and Supplication with Perseverance and continuance therein even to extraordinary Watchings and Fastings as occasion requires Ephes 6.18 Colos 4.2 Luke 11.9 For as the Soul in Prayer and Supplication feels the strong motions and excitations of Repentance by setting before our selves and making close Applications of our selves to the great considerations of God of Christ of Sin of Holiness of Eternal Happiness and Misery so herein is the earnestness of Supplication asking seeking and knocking for the Holy Spirit engaged and employ'd as knowing him the supreme Mover Principle and efficient of Repentance and the Divine Spirit coming down to Dwell in the Spirit of the true Penitent and shedding its efficacies and operations in it as a Spirit of Grace and Supplication seals to the Soul the truth of Repentance and becomes a spiritual visible sign and evidence of the Truth of it as Christ says of Paul upon Repentance behold he Prayeth Acts 9.11 6. Some Great and Heroick Acts and Effects of Repentance according to the Ability and Opportunity of Persons and according to the Sins persons have been guilty of before Repentance are sometimes absolutely necessary Evidences of the Truth of Repentance and sometimes Illustrious and extraordinary Signals of the mighty Power and Force and largeness of Efficacy in this grace of Repentance where it meets with Subjects whom God by outward enablements of Providence as well as inward Grace and Power hath fitted hereunto Such are in cases of great Scandal and publick Offence publick and open Confessions of sin endeavours and close Applications upon Persons that have been of the knot and fellowship of our sins or private Parties and confederates in them moving them by all the Sentiments of our Minds and the Affections of our Hearts to Repentance sollemn Fastings and Humiliations with usual Watchings not only for the Taming bringing Down and Abasing of our selves and by the acknowledgment of our own unworthiness of the least of Mercies and that we are worthy of Wrath and Judgment only and to be strip'd of all Enjoyments but because the Heart is so taken up and engag'd that it can mind nor attend nor be at leisure for the most necessary Refreshing of Bodily Nature which is made and taught and disciplin'd as heretofore to serve sin so now to cry out for Mercy and Pardon and to undergo the severities of Repentance and to be brought under to them in extraordinary Weepings according to the most Affectionate Emotions of the Soul and suitable Temper of Body And such as these are also the Acts of just Restitution to persons injured according to our utmost Abilities or great Alms-givings and acts of Mercy of which Zaccheus Luke 19. is a great Example Great Acts of Service to Jesus Christ in the Salvation of Souls either by our own personal Ministry as Paul so zealously Preaching the Faith Gal. 1.23 Psal 66.16 he once destroyed or private endeavours by Holy Discourses and Declarings what God hath done for our Souls by Exhortations and good Counsels by Holy Examples by great Liberalities for the promotion of Christianity and the Powers of it in Repentance and general Reformation and bringing in Souls to the most publick open and notorious renunciations of former sins and the very instruments of them of which we have a great example in the burning their Magical Books of so great valew Acts 19.19 Job 34.31 These are not to be bound as heavy Burdens to the entanglement and enthralment of Conscience upon All but according to the opportunities and advantages Persons have their state of Body temper of Mind freedom of Time abilities of Estate and leaving to supreme Grace the giving of various degrees of Grace and making among the Pleiades the watry Weeping Stars of Repentance one Star to differ from another in Glory But when there is a meeting and concurrence of all these or an eminency in any they who can shew forth the truth of Repentance in these Fruits Job 38.41 1 Tim. 3.13 purchase to themselves good Degrees in the Academy or School of Repentance and bring great Honour to Christ and to it and according to our Talents receiv'd sincerity in each of them is essential to the truth of our Repentance and if they are in us and abound they make us to be neither Barren nor Vnfruitful in this great Gospel Grace given from the Lord Jesus but without any trurh of them we are as a Well without Water Clouds without Rain frothy Waves driven of some Imaginary or Earthly Winds and Vapors Epist Jude v. 12. and tossed and in great danger of prooving falling Stars for whom is reserv'd the blankness of darkness for ever 4th I come now to the Fourth Head in this Head of the Doctrine of Repentance viz. The great saving benefit the blessing of this Grace and Gift of Repentance which hath the upper and the neither Spings Josh 15.19 from the neither Springs all gracious Affections and Fruits of a sollemn and serious Resipiscency or growing Wise upon sad Afflicting Remembrances and reviews of sinful ways and the upper Springs of Joy Peace Happiness and Blessedness for ever and eternal Rejoycings we have so Sorrowed so Repented Of this I will give but a very short Representation because the enlargement upon it more properly belongs to another grand principle in the Doctrine of Christ and yet what I do say I will endeavor distinguishingly to Discourse it to the Doctrine of Repentance and with a peculiarity to it 1. In that it is Repentance to Salvation wrought by a sorrow after God it is ordain'd by God as a security and preservative by his especial Grace in Christ from everlasting Weeping Wailing and gnashing of Teeth a Repentance without any Fruit or Effect but a continual Circulation of it self in Horrors and fruitless renewals without ease or remedy without possibility of Amendment of recovery to God and Holiness For in Hell there is no such Woe therefore to you that Laugh now without this true Repentance For you shall weep and weep for ever it is the state of utter Darkness extremity of Darkness and to extremity of Duration even Eternal Duration But true Repentance hath had its Proportion here 〈◊〉 this World of sorrow that God Accepts in Christ and through his Agonies for sin 2. It is not only a
dependences together with earnestest Application to the Grace of God These unclean Spirits therefore that dissemble a retreat return immediately and make a Prey of the deluded Soul Acts 19.14 c. 3. Although Heaven and Hell Happiness and Misery take up the thoughts of a true Penitent yet not separated from God and Christ but as it were compounded into the Sense of God angry and the desire of Attonement with him in Jesus Christ. Happiness and Misery considered apart are not the object of the gracious Soul But God and Christ considered apart are an infinitely sufficient Reason of Repentance The clear love of God upwards the Soul as a Father in Christ without Reflections upon Happiness is though not the single yet the paramount Consideration in Repentance unfeigned But Men a Dying are generally so over-possessed with the Terrors of an Eternal Suffering and meer desires of Freedom from pain and of well-being and so in haste that they generally miss these higher Considerations which being further off not only from corrupt Nature but even from natural Conscience are not commonly espied but therefore argue greater Sincerity and truth of Heart 4. The truest Repentance lies in the bosom of Faith the apprehensions of the Love and Goodness of God in Christ melt the Soul and give it most perfect Separation from Sin the most effectual Purification of the Heart all which express the height of Repentance Upon the soft Fire of the pardoning Goodness of God the Soul most kindly distils into repentant Tears Here flows that Spirit of Grace and ingenuous Goodness which bringeth forth the clearest and holiest Affection towards God But at the time we are now speaking of It is very seldom that either Horror or Presumption do not swallow all Presumption where there is little Sense or Judgment of the Case Horror where the Judgment is clearer and the Sense quicker for evey thing disposes now rather to Fear and to the Spirit of Bondage Rom. 8.15 and a Man naturally does all he does under a servile dread of God and his Eternal Justice And though there may be much mention of Christ and desire of Mercy through him yet it is but as a Malefactor convicted beseeches the Mercy of the Judge no otherwise than as of a Judge So such call out for the Mercy of God to pardon them but still as a Judge not with the Spirit of the Son sent into the Heart the Spirit of Adoption crying Abba Father Nor with that love that casteth out unworthy Fear Gal. 4.6 And indeed how can it be otherwise there having been no acquaintance with God in the way Job 22.21 but a long Enmity and the time now too strait for a free and full Consideration of the riches of Grace such as may still an awakened Conscience Fear presses in every way and shuts out Faith What can now redeem the Soul from this hellish Terror but a light from Heaven immediately darting into it a Grace above that Grace that ordinarily saves Men For a well setled Trust and Confidence in Mercy according to the general Rule is not but after some sad debates and experimental Consultations that have passed between the sense of Sin and the affiancing Acts of the Soul upon Christ This Repentance then is in great danger of missing the Spirit of the Gospel and falling into the Rank of those Repentances of Cain Esau Judas This I have endeavoured to shew that though we suppose a Dying Man to spread his Soul and Thoughts every way and to all the parts of Repentance yet it is extremely to be suspected there will want the true and right quality of them in regard of the very disadvantageous Circumstances wherein such an one is found and the great unfitness of the Soul at that time to begin to do anything worthy to which it hath not been before inured or if it did begin it would be much more unlikely to bring forth fruit as our Saviour speaks to perfection Luke 8.14 I add nothing of the Exercises of a full and well grown Repentance whereby it is daily espying the risings of Sin and suppressing them and filling up the Defects of Holiness and Obedience because they are not to be thought possible in the point I am now speaking of and I have already given a Resolution in that Case I shall now set my self to find out the low Causes that are alway to be suspected to have the great Influence upon such a Latter-end Penitency In general therefore we must take notice that there are several vapors of misapprehension rising upon the Soul when we are a Dying that do so disguise it to it self and disfigure the true face of it that from thence arise dangerous Mistakes concerning a Mans Condition towards God We see into how many shapes upon ordinary Occurrences we change and how easily we exchange them for quite different without any good Cause what continual Ebbs and Flows there are of the Humours and how do these cast the Ballance of the Superiour Soul One Man is every hour some several sorts of Men. How much more do great Accidents and removes out of one Condition into another alter us Which yet are but the sudden and just now state of our Minds upon such Alterations which not continuing we return to our former Figure Vnstable and weak as water Gen. 49.3 we take the form of every Vessel we are put into Who knows then whether his Dying Repentance be any more than the Mould not of his Mind but of his Dying Condition approaching him big with so great a Change We know many things befal us in our Lives which put a greater sense of Religion upon us than we find at other times and yet how variable are we our goodness at such times is as the Morning Dew and as the early Dew it goeth away Hose 6.4 How often are we from the occasions of Mercies Afflictions Fears Hopes good Discourses carried into high Apprehensions of God And we lose them again we know not how Now out of doubt a Dying Condition of any thing we meet with in the World is most apt to move us upon God and a Sense of him But can we think Those fleeting Shoots of the Soul that have no certainty are accepted for Repentance How strangely doth Melancholly and Oppressions of that transform Men which when it falls upon the Motions of Conscience gives us strong Imaginations of Eternal Things which yet being nothing but the cast of that Melancholly upon the Thoughts when that is removed they are quite of another hue It is evident the Mind sees much through the Body and the Representations are coloured by its Temper As the Eye sees through yellow or green Glass differently from the things themselves So the Serenity or Cloudiness of the Humours makes a different Reflection of things upon the Mind and the liveliness or heaviness of the Spirits incline us to very varying Apprehensions Now what time is more like to be so incumber'd with
to Salvation It is a great and certain security against Ruin Damnation Perishing for ever 2. It shall not only be a security from Damnation but an assurance of a state of Life Glory Blessedness 3. There shall never be the least cause to Repent to look back with Sorrow or Regret that we have Repented For we shall find we have lost no good we have run upon no evil in having Repented 4. It shall give us Reason of everlasting Joy Rejoycing Triumph Blessing and Adoring God in Christ we have so by his grace Repented to Salvation 5. I will Reduce to the Doctrin of Repentance the sâ—ruples and Cases of Conscience that may arise concerning either the true Doctrinal State of it or the grace of or practise it self of repentance These are the heads I Propose by Divine Grace and Assistance to Discourse the Doctrin and grace of Repentance upon but I find it is in the first place necessary to give some short descriptions of the thing Repentance according to the very importance of the word and of the General Importance and Nature of the Notion or the thing it self The words us'd by the Spirit of God in the Old Testament are either that strict word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word that also signifies Consolating a mans self shewing after sin and offense reflected upon viz. with Gâ—ief and Trouble supposed the greatest consolation is recovery of a mans self by Repentance Or else it is a word that signifies Turning from what a man has bâ—en Turn'd and Posited and set himself â—o before On this Account we meet so often with the words of Turning in the Old Testament and being Converted and Turning in the New The most proper and strict words in the New Testament are either an After Care a Reflection with sorrow and sollicitousness upon what a man hath done with Trouble He did so and a care a caution not to do so any more for the time to come or an after-mind an after-wit an after understanding a transmentation a new Mind a new Heart and Spirit To speak of it therefore in the general Repentance is given by God as a mighty Spiritual Instrument or Engine in the hand of his Grace in the Arm of God made Bare by which the sinful Nature in every true Penitent is unhing'd uncenter'd from sin and corruption It is a return of the Soul home to it self after a Spiritual Phrensy and Madness The Prodigal is said to come to himself It is a return to its Fathers House after a long bewildred State This my Son was lost and is found But beyond all this it is a Spiritual Resurrection a return from Death to Life This my Son was Dead and is A Live Luke 15. And indeed as there is no notion of Scripure that is more suited to express the corrupt Nature of Man than Death so the first Threat Ran In the day thou eatest thereof Gen. 2.17 thou shalt dye the Deatb Death hy sin passed upon all Dead in Trespasses Rom. 5.12 Ephes 2.1 and sins Vniversal Death And so in the Levitical Law there was no greater uncleanness than the Touch of a Dead Body Accordingly when the Apostle Heb. 6. names Repentance among the grand Fundamentals or Principles of the Doctrin of Christ He calls it Repentance from Dead Works or Re-enstating the Soul in Life after sin or Works as Unclean and Loaâ—hsome as a Dead Body removed from the sight of the Living Or as a Dead Body was in the Eye of God under the Levitical Law This is the general Notion of Repentance but it may be further Explain'd in these three Particulars and yet in a general way 1. Repentance is an inward sincere habitual Change of the Heart and of the design and purpose and so of the outward Action and Course of Life and Conduct of a mans ways arising from an utter dislike of his former Counsel Purpose and Design and the course of Conversation Life and Action proceeding from it so that it becomes wholly New This is the generel Nature of Repentance as it looks to the government of a mans self and of his Actions Now this in Scripture and Evangelical Repentance is the change from sin to Holiness from a worldly state and conversation to an Heavenly and from the Creature to God and to Christ an utter dislike of and trouble at the former Regiment and steerage of a mans course so as utterly to forsake it and with sorrow shame and astonishment to say to his sinful ways so contrary to the Rules of Holiness Righteousness and Purity Get ye hence and what have I to do any more with you I will now guide my self by the word of my God and hate every false way Psal 119. This is that oâ— which Scripture is full every where the through amending she ways and doings which were not good the wicked man forsaketh his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and returns to the Lord Jerem. 7.3 Esay 55.7 Acts 3.26 James 4 8. Rom. 6.21 Christ blesses in Turning us every one from our Iniquities Cleanse your Hands you sinners and Purify your Hearts you double minded What profit had you in these things whereof you are now ashamed For the end of those things is Death 1 Cor. 6.11 such were some of you But now ye are washed c. 2. Repentance as it looks to an offended Person is full of sorrow that it hath offended moves earnestly to Pardon and Reconciliation and is ready to make use of any powerful Mediator in order to Reconciliation and desires ever after to please and to offend no more and herein the Affections are all mov'd according to the degrees of obligation Now in Scripture and Gospel Repentance the offending person the sinner hath â—o do with God the offended person in â—â—d through Christ and so bewails offence and moves earnestly to Pardon and Reconciliation with Gâ—d by the Mediation of Christ and with Christ â—or his own Names sake I beseech thee O Lord Take away the Iniquity of thy Servant Hos 14.3 â—ake away all Iniquities Receive us gâ—aciously And here also â—â—ises an ingenuous sorrow shame and confusion â—hat we have offended a God so Good so Holy so Wise so Tender and Compassionate a Father and despis'd so gracious and obliging a Redeemer David's Heart smâ—te him and he said to the Lord I have sinned in that I have done I have done very foolishly 2 Sam. 24.10 I was ashamed yea even confounded I smote on my thigh Jerem. 31.19 Ezra 9.6 becausâ— I did bear the Reproach of my youth We are ashamed and blush to lift up our Faces They shall under a spirit of Grace and melting sense of God Zach. 12.10 Job 34.31 Deuteron 31 6. 1 Tim. 1 15. look upon him whom they have peirced and mourn It is meet to be said to God If I have offended I will do so no more Oh foolish people and unwise do you ihus requite the
of in that forenam'd Rom. 2. 3. The great Goodness of God in Christ giving the Notion of Repentance into the Heart of Man seeing the Original of whatever is worthy or Excellent in Man is but a Transcript or Copy taken from the supâ—eme Excellency and Goodness hath thereby dlspos'd the Hearâ— of Man to a Readiness to forgive one man to forgive another and thereby to be engaged to an Acknowledgment of Offences one againâ—t anoâ—her to desire Pardon and to offend no more Wherein much of the Peace and Happiness of Humane Nature in this present state is supported and preserv'd And herein and by these very mutual Repentances toward and Forgivenesses one of another is there a greater Illustration of the Grace and Goodness of God in Pardon and Forgiveness upon Repentance and thereby an Invitation Encouragement and leading to Repentance towards God For in that the Gospel-Command to forgive them who having trespassed against us tho seven times a day turn again and say I repent and that if we forgive not men their trespasses neither will our Heavenly Father forgive us Our Lord both appeals to the Sense of Mankind and excites and encourages unto Repentance towards God in hope of Forgiveness as well as to mutual Repentances and Forgiveness for the Peace and Good of Mankind to which our Lord had great Regard in all he said and did 4. The Natural Light God hath given concerning Repentance and the Sense in Man's Soul concerning the Goodness and Reasonableness of that Grace and Duty upon which the Redeemer hath pointed the Law written in the Heart is as a Ground and Rude Draught that the Knowledge of Repentance by the Word of God and Divine Revelation accomplishes and fills up and that the Spirit of God plants his Supreme Operations upon even as Sanctification is engrafted into that Sense of Good and Evil that is found in the Soul of Man and those Irritations and Provokings of Natural Conscience to do the Good and fly from the Evil. For thus Jesus Christ hath as our Creator and Redeemer our Preserver and Mediator in one taken Care to secure a Remnant and Remainder of whatever was excellent in his first Creation that it may be taken hold of and be applied to in Redemption And thus I have â—â—deavoured to discourse the Ground-work and Foundation of this Grace Duty and Doctrine of Repentance That it is all setled in the Grace and Mercy of God in the Redeemer without which it had been an utter Impossibility and there had been no more nor any other Repentance than what is in Hell I come therefore to the Second Head Head 2. Here is plainly laid down to us the great Elaboratory or Instrument God hath prepared in infinite Wisdom and Grace and in-laid the Soul with in order to Repentance Godly Sorrow or Sorrow after and according to God worketh down or brings into Effect this Repentance This God hath prepar'd as a Natural Affection of it self and in its own General and Original Form fit to such a purpose and then God sanctifies it to rhis Great Purpose Acts 4.12 to work this Repentance to Salvation not to be repented of It is an immediate Instrument in the Hand of God to operate under his Spirit to so great an Effect Of this I shall discourse in Three Generals General 1. I begin therefore with a Description of Sorrow first as it is a Natural Affection or Passion of the Humane Nature and then as it is sanctified by God or as it becomes a Sorrow after God and is fitted to so great an End and Purpose and as it is so it is counterdistinguish'd to worldly Sorrow that worketh Death General 2. I will consider the excellent Use and Service of godly Sorrow to so great an End and Putpose as the working Repentance to Salvation General 3. I will open the Wisdom of God and the Reasonableness of his making use of Sorrow and fitting it as after himself or according to himself to so great an End and Purpose and that according to the very Reason and Nature of Things it could not be otherwise but that godly sorrow must be so made use of above and before any other Affection and that it becomes him by whom and for whom are all things so to make use of it General 1. For the Description of this Affection of godly Sorrow First as it is a Natural Affection or Passion of the Humane Nature and then as it is sanctified by God or becomes Sorrow ofter God and is counter-distinguish'd to the sorrow of the World that worketh Death Sorrow then as it is an Affection or Passion of the Humane Nature must be considered Two ways and each of them must be applied to the Sorrow that works Repentance or to Sorrow according to God and so a different and opposite Sorrow to the sorrow of this World 1. Sorrow that is a Humane Passion or Affection must either begin in the Body and so passeth from the Soul and ascends up to the Spirit of a Man or it begins in the higher Region the Spirit and descends by the Soul into the Body and makes Impressions suitable to its own Nature there and the Body is govern'd according to this Affection and to its Place Estimation Power with and Interest in the Spirit Now indeed all Affection and even Passion to speak most strictly and properly is in the Spirit For it is all one to matter how it be used or into what Form it is made to pass or out of what or in disjunction from what Form it is forc'd to move So that All we feel by way of suffering or Enjoyment is by the Spirit 's having a Pleasing or an Afflicting Sense of Things But this I wave as not so necessary to the Practical Discourse of Repentance I intend It is plain and certain the sense of some things begins in the Spirit viz. those things which are proper to the Narure of a Spirit and which are so proper to a Spirit whether it dwelt in a Body or not But yet when the Spirit is affected with them because it inhabits a Body the Affection of the Spirit even whether the Spirit will or not works upon the Matter and Frâ—me of that Body and thereby the Truth and Reality of the Spirit 's being affected is discovered to it self and it may also be thereby discovered to others On the other side there are Passions or Affections that the Spirit is affected with as finding it self mov'd and concern'd as that Frame of Body wherein it dwells is either more or less fited for its Enjoyment of it self in that Body or put quite out of Order or is in pain and afflicted so as to afflict the Spirit And both and each of these is in some Degree serviceable to godly sorrow though the first is the Chief and Principal in godly sorrow 1. The Spirit of Man affected with the consideration of sin as it hath all the Reasons of sorrow in it as
it be reasonable that the whole should fall on him and none of the drops and end of it come to us and so be fill'd up by us Col. 1.24 We should never read that part of Sacred History of the Agony of Christ but we should deeply take it to Heart Luke 22.44 He being in an Agony Prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were drops of Blood Christ was not at this time seiz'd upon and in the hands of those that Crucified him but was in perfect Meditation in an entire solitude of Thoughts He was in Contemplation of the great evil of sin and of the wrath and justice of God upon it We may then say Dyed Christ as a Fool Or was Christ in an Agony as a Fool or as a weak person Did he not pursue the true Reason of Things Did he not follow sin by his holy and wise consideration of it from its beginning to its end Did he not see it as God looks upon it and as the Nature of sin requires it should be looked upon Did he not behold it in the ruin and damnation of mankind in the everlasting horror of Conscience in Hell If not why this Agony Did he not behold our sins in all the aggravations of them Else why was our Lord under a sorrow that no ones sorrow was like to it He might justly say to all that Read of it behold was any mans sorrow like to mine Ought we not therefore though we cannot suffer as he did nor to such an effect of Suffering Yet ought we not to be Conformed to our Head If these things were done in the green Tree ought there not to be a Conformable Sense of them upon us who are as the dry Tree and much more reasonbly to be so affected 3. The great disadvantages that come upon the profession of Christianity in the want of this godly sorrow press for it 1. Either Men rest and center in a false Repentance The fallow ground of the Heart is not truly broken up Jerem. 4 3 so that they sow on the Rock or among Thorns and build in the Sand and their Repentance is not this Repentance the Apostle speaks of they do not go down to the bottom of the Heart nor dig deep to find the Springs of true Repentance 2. Or 2dly Suppose the Repentance not False such are yet in Danger of Falls after Conversion for no man is so truly and continually afraid of sin as he that hath found the smart and evil in profoundest sorrow for it 3. There is Danger when godly sorrow hath not had its perfect work there should arise after perplexities of Conscience either upon the surprisal of outward Afflictions or on the Death Bed and sometimes with great Agonies because we have not gone through the exact course of Repentance in sorrow for sin and after God 4. Oftentimes God leads through outward Chastisements to bring us through a more solemn sense of sin and the evil of it and to closer acts of self Judging and more exact Reformation of our Hearts and ways 4. That we may be under the full efficacy of godly sorrow God hath made that gracious promise Ezek. 36.25 That he will take away the Heart of Stone and give the Heart of Flesh Thus that Adamantine and nether Millstone Temper is removed anâ— a soft tender Heart that fears the first approach of sin is Introduc'd It may seem an objection against this Doctrine of sorrow for sin as if the pressing of it is a Derogation from the Blood of Christ and the fulness of his Redemption as if his sufferings sacrifice and satisfaction were not enough without our sorrow as a kind of Penance But this I shall endeavour fully to remove hereafter as the same Objection may seem to lye against the whole Doctrine of Repentance I will therefore conclude this part of the Discourse viz. concerning sorrow for sin by giving some practical inferences by way of Application from it Infer 1. Let us be content to suffer in the Flesh as the Apostle Peter speaks 1 Peter 4.4 by deep sorrow for sin and after God as it were the Death of thâ— Flesh and of the corrupt part that we may Live according to God in the Spirit arm your selves with the same mind that was in Christ Be willing to be as Condemned and put to Death in the sense of sin desire to know Hell and everlasting Misery as he did in your own sense of it he went down to Hell in the Contemplation of it though not Locally Let us be in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Communion in the Fellowship of his Sufferings Phil. 5.10 It is better to know it now and here while it may be escap'd than to know it hereafter when there will be a gulf between it and the state of Life that cannot be passed Infer 2 Let us possess our selves with the mighty Reasons and Arguments of godly sorrow the Motives and inward operative Influences of it the serious consideration of the great evil of sin the foulness of it the dishonour the neglect the contempt of God that is found in it the unreasonable ingratieude and unkindness of it to the Lord our God and to Jesus Christ the Saviour and Redeemer but especially let us earnestly beg that Spirit of Grace and Ingenuous sense that may cause us to be in bitterness as he that is in bitterness for his First Born that we may thus sorrow after God Infer 3. Let us sweeten to our selves that which may seem very harsh and contrary to Flesh and Blood this sorrow after God with the consideration of this that Christ hath established a Blessing upon it the blessing of an everlasting Consolation Luke 6.21 25. Blessed are you that Mourn and that Weep for you shall be Comforted And on the other side there is a Woe on them that Laugh now Consider Christ the Captain of our Salvation and all the Saints of God have passed through the Vally of Baca this Valley of Weeping the way to the Heavenly Jerusalem while the mad roaring merry World are going that broad way down to Destruction This works that Repentance to Salvation never to be Repented of Head 3d. I come now to the Third Head in the Doctrin of Repentance and that is to Discourse the true Laws and Rules of Repentance the Frame and the true constitution of Repentance the Motives and considerations for it the signs and evidences of true Repentance all which must needs be very great in that it is Repentance to Salvation not a false or counterfeit Repentance or but to be Repented of not to be recall'd revers'd or repented but to be confirm'd by progressive repeated Acts and renewals after Falls even till it lays hold of Salvation General 1. In the opening the grand Doctrin of Repentance as on this head I shâ—ll endeavour to guide the Discourse of it by keeping to the strict proper and precise Nature and notion of Repentance
of deep Tribulation and Temptation such as none ever was before to All but the Servants of God and Christ Dan. 12.1 Mat. 24.21 Rev. 3.10 c. 7.14 Now therefore It becomes him by whom are All things and for whom are All Things seeing he hath determined so great an Earthquake at last to give such Terellaes of it such little Parts Pieces and Models of it that might Inlighten Awaken and Assure the World concerning it and to have set up such a Pyramid of it by the Flood in general to all the World and to Sodom and the Cities about it in more particular in the Beginning of the World and to speak in the Eloquence of what he will do on every occasion of a greater Judgment on any Nation or People and to ioyn with it the Thunder and Lightnings of his Power and Voice that are as the Shakings of Heaven and generally fall in with the Shaking of the Earth And thus we find all along the Scripture and with great Relation to this very Earthquake ushering in the Kingdom of Christ and the Destruction of Babylon the great Symbol of his Enemies so Psal 18.7 Esay 13.13 with very many Pieces more And this is to make the Thoughts of it familiar to Men and to acquaint them throughly with God's great purpose herein for hereby a short Work will God make on Earth yet every Man Woman and Child shall be rais'd on purpose to see this great Sight and to feel it The Earth shall cast out her dead for it and no more cover them This is that Earthquake in which God arises to shake terribly the Earth Esay 2. wherein it shall be indeed as a chaâ—ed Roe and as a Sheep no man cares to take up tho now they are so greedy of it Then the Lord will make it empty and under the great Desolation overthrowing and turning upside down Persons and Things and all distinction of Servants Masters and Mistresses Purchasers Sellers Lenders Borrowers as is describ'd Esay 24. which shall end in the Sun 's being confounded the Moon asham'd when God comes to Reign before his Ancients in Glory And in the New Testament we find at the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ Mat. 27.50 when he gave up that mighty Breath and with that loud Voice commended that immortally blessed Spirit into the Hand of God There was a Great Earthquake and the Rocks rent and the Graves opened and after his Resurrection many Bodies of Saints came forth and appeared to many in the Holy City a most admirable Type of the Last Great Earthquake At the Resurrection of Christ there was again an Earthquake Matth. 28.2 At the Pouring out of the Spirit Acts 2.1 There was from Heaven a mighty rushing Wind that fill'd the House and so must needs shake it and as the Appearance of Fiery Tongues when the Apostles Pray'd after that solemn Conference with the Elders of the Jews the House shook c. 4. When Paul and Silas had praised God in Prison there was an Earthquake and the Foundations of the Prison were shaken the Doors opened and the Chains of every one were loosed Acts 16.25 All these were real Historical Earthquakes or Matters of Fact and they are also great Types and Emblems with Relation to what shall be at the Kingdom of Christ and even Predictions and lively Assurances thereof In the Revelation that most August Prophecy of the Kingdom of Christ we read of Four great Earthquakes that were so many Advances of the Kingdom of Christ 1. That grand Deturbation of or dismounting Paganism or the casting down the Dragon or Devil inhabiting it from Heaven who was worshipped in Paganism as a God and all his Host in the Fourth or Roman Empire were cast down with him when that Empire in Constantine became Christian And this was celebrated by those lofty Expressions concerning it as a great Shaking even of Heaven and Earth Rev. 6.12 c. 12.5 as shall be at the Kingdom of Christ. 2. The final Extirpation of Paganism or Rooting it out though with that unhappy Revolution of Antichristianism ready to come in with the Barbarous Nations into that Empire and so undermining the Kingdom of Christ. This was at the famous Victory of Theodosius And this was as Church Historians tell us with a very great Tempest of Thundring and Lightning and motion of the Earth in the Letter as well as the Prophetic Representation of the Thunder Lightnings Voices and Earthquake the great Emblems of the Kingdom of Christ 3. The Earthquake that shall be at the Rising of the Witnesses when that Great City whose Emblem is Ten or Tenth in regard of the Ten Kings who give their Kingdom to the Beast that carries it shall fall Rev. 11. cap. 17. 4. The whole Time of the Seventh Trumpet shall in regard of the mighty Effects and Events be a continual Earthquake even till the great and real Shake of Heaven and Earth the once more in the Text that what cannot be shaken may remain as hath been explained Rev. 16.18.20 compared with c. 11. Now that Earthquake nam'd last but this last viz. the Fall of the great Antichristian State I affirm to be so near as 1697. approaching wherein the Kingdom of Christ shall be in its Succession Now what arises from all this Inference but that it may both urge the Necessity and give all Invitations and Incitements to Repentance which cannot be higher express'd than in the Apostle's own Words as 't is us'd in this Context Let us have Grace or rather Take Hold lay earnest Hold of Divine Grace and Power in Christ that we may serve him with Reverence or all Holy Awes of Modesty and Shamefacedness as the Angels that cover Faces and Feet lest we give distaste and with good Heed-taking as the Israelites that kept within bounds lest God should have broken out And this Service of God with holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Modesty and shame of our own Unworthiness and horrid Nakedness This Good Heed-taking not to run into God as a Consuming Fire is most shewn exercis'd and practis'd in timely Repentance For all at that Day of Earthquake Thunders and Lightnings once for All All must be near for God will come near to them as a swift Witness and to All not Repenting and Reconcil'd in Christ he will be a Consuming Fire Mal. 3.5 With this Heb. 12. And to this purpose Let these very late Motions of the Earth be consider'd in all the foregoing Discourse for I cannot but be perswaded they are Pledges of that great Change that shall suddenly be in the World in the Fall of the whole Papal and Antichristian State besides their general strong Motive to Repentance as they speak God both in his Divine Power and Ability to execute Wrath as also in his Goodness Long-suffering and Patience leading to Repentance and how much more if the Approach of his Kingdom it self the greatest Motive to Repentance be by it declar'd so near That I may therefore
by their constant Course of the former Life the true Image of their Hearts as we see in the same Balaam who after died by the Israelites hand Num. 31.8 whose greatness he had prophesied Yet I will not deny but they may have their reward in mitigation of Punishment for any Service done to God If God did not interpose thus sometimes he might seem wanting in something that concerned him at least as a gracious Ruler of the World He therefore over-rules some who have lived so as to make a constant Argument against him and a future State so far as Wickedness could do it to retract the whole Course of their Life and give their Vote for what they had so long withstood I will yet further add another Cause of a Death-Bed Repentance that sometimes falls out to have a most powerful Influence and yet the Repentance that springs from it is very unsafe to confide in Cause 4. Dying Men are oft under the play and force of other Mens Reason and Religion For it is a general and necessary Charity of Men affected to Religion themselves to offer the sense of it to others in a time when they think it likely to be accepted and so infinitely necessary which Practice however needful and most commendable in it self yet by accident may have raised higher the opinion of a Death-Bed Repentance and is often the occasion of great Error in the thing it self For suppose a Man followed with sound and affectionate Perswasions to do all that may be done for his Soul in this exigent how conceiveable is it that Man may be so far wrought upon as to entertain a present sense of Religion and yet have no true Life no Life that arises from a true intimate Principle But as those Bodies of Air taken and moved by Angels seem to perform the Functions of living Bodies yet do but seem to do so for they have no Principle of Life natural to them but as soon as they are forsaken by the Spirits that made use of them they fly abroad and disperse themselves Thus that general sense of Conscience that lies scattered through the Soul and unable for action being gathered together and united by good and holy Applications and acted thereby may have force so long as that Union continues but that Discourse that holds it together ceasing it immediately falls asunder and loses its Efficacy The Stone that receives motion from the Hand that throws it goes on whilst that motion lasts when that is spent it falls to the ground so the force of Exhortation ceases too often when he that gives it leaves those to whom it was given The Instrument to which the Musician's Hand gives tune and voice lies dead when he deserts it Mans Soul is made by God capable of religious tune and motion and while a skillful hand plays upon it it may give that sound very distinctly and yet have no Life in it self The striking of Conscience makes the Sparks fly out yea and sometime kindle in a flame and yet it presently dies because not supplied with a continual Oyl to feed it The Mind of one Man is very apt to receive Impressions from another we see what Passions and Motions are raised by an Eloquent Speaker how the Understanding is carried captive while the Orator works upon it and yet all the Affection thus blown up falls flat again when the Breath that swell'd it lies still and is apt to be carried the contrary way by cross Perswasions equally insinuated How much more may this be in religious things Conscience being so easily stirred by such Applications as we see in Felix though it is as easily becalmed when sinful Lusts through the Efficacy of Temptation are loud and high And all this is certainly much easilier done near Death when Men are so soft that they are apt to take any stamp so melting as to be gathered into any mould It is possible for one Man's Spirit to carry another for some considerable space of time as we see in Jehoiadas influence upon Joash who was not yet all that time possessed with the things themselves 2 King 12.1 whereunto he was directed But true Repentance is a Frame set up by the Spirit of God in the Heart subsisting by that Spirit upon it self and makes use only of all Helps subordinated to it by the Wisdom of that Spirit but doth not live from that Help but from it self through that Spirit its supreme Life To draw these things therefore to a Sum It will appear after all these Causes have done what they can these great Errors following are generally found and always to be suspected in a Death-Bed Repentance 1. In a Death-Bed Repentance There is only a Judgment made of the Case of Eternity considered by it self and without a Conterpoise The Excellency of God and Eternal Things are minded as they stand out of the Air of Temptation Now though this be a good Opportunity for the first consideration yet that Consideration must grow so strong as to retain the same sense in the midst of all Pretences from the World and Sathan Else in the time of Temptation this Repentance falls away * Dr. Jackson Book 10. Chap. 23. Sect. 3. For there may be many true Apprehensions which may make deep Impression not only in the Brain and Phancy and upon our Affections whilest these are calm and unprovok'd and yet both the Apprehension and Impression quickly vanish upon the starting or provocation of contrary Fancies or Affections When the Blood cools in the Veins and the Spirits are ready to stand still when a Man is no longer to live in the World the season of the pleasures of Sin is over then to cast out his Lusts What excellent thing does he does not even nature Matth. 5.46 whether he will or no the same True Repentance encounters Temptation and resists unto Blood when those Pleasures of Sin are at the height and the tide of Corruption from within swells most As Moses chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Heb. 11.25 although they were in their growing and ascending Morning Repentance will not worship that Sun in the East It is a very small thing to despise it in the West and just a setting to choose Religion when there is nothing to vie with it 2. It is not a Consideration of heavenly Things in their true worth but only as recommended by the present Necessity For who would not die the Death of the Righteous and have his latter end like his Every Man at that time would be glad to find he hath lived well and he that hath lived worst except he be outrageous in Prophaneness will wish he had lived better Eternity at hand gives value to all Holiness and sense of God in spight of the World and lessens all things else to a nothing and less than nothing imprints a Ghastliness and Horror upon all