and dependance notwithstanding those Doubts nothing but perfect Faith casts out all Doubts and where is it to be found They that never doubted never believed Then Faith might be lost for Assurance may in that tho some are assur'd but not fully and some fully yet none immutably Then Damnation would be not for want of Faith but of Assurance which is necessary not for our Safety but Comfort only and Salvation would be by the reflex and not by the direct Act of Faith for Assurance consists in a reflex Act contrary to the tenure of the Promise of Salvation made Not to the Act of Assurance but of Faith and not to the Degree but Truth of it They that make Assurance to be Faith do more than is needful for Assurance is but a Fruit of Faith and Faith may be alive without it as a Tree may though for a time without Fruit though Assurance cannot be without Faith for God never sets his Seal where he has not first set his Hand They that make Assent to be Faith do less than is needful For Tho Justifying Faith cannot be without General Faith yet General Faith may be without that for it is not a single but complicated Act not the single Act of the Understanding but of the whole Composition not an Act of the Understanding only to Actus complicatus totius compositi know and believe a Divine Revelation as true but of the Will also to receive it as good a Consent as well as an Assent an Assent of the Understanding as it begins there and a Consent of the Will as it ends in it without which the first will avail but little For It is not Christ as dying but as believ'd on nor as tender'd by a hand of Love but as receiv'd by a Hand of Faith that saves So that it appears that Faith is neither an Act of Assent only nor of Assurance but an Act of Affiance also which is more than the first and less than the second viz. That Grace wrought by the Spirit through the Word whereby sensible Sinners are enabled to receive Christ as offered in the Gospel trusting to and relying upon him for Salvation I. It is the Work of God's Spirit It is not our Work but God's Not our Work For Of our selves we are no more able to perform the Articles of the second Covenant than those of the first nor to believe the Gospel than we are to keep the Law But God's Work It is call'd God's Work not only John 6. 29. in regard of Excellency but Efficiency it is not the Work of Men nor of Angels but of God only the powerful Work of his Spirit preparing us for it and enabling us to it we believe through Grace and come to Christ by Acts 18. 27. 1 Cor. 12. 9. Christ To him by Faith from him II. It is the Work of the Spirit through the Word Faith comes by hearing and hearing by Rom. 10. 17. the Word the hearing of Faith wrought by the Spirit as the Efficient and by the Word as the instrumental Cause of it Through the Word viz. both Law and Gospel by one Occasionally and Indirectly by the other Properly and Directly First By the Law not properly but Occasionally and Indirectly 1. Not Properly for the Law has no Power of its own either to Convert or Comfort Sinners Not to Convert them It shows them the sinfulness of their corrupt Nature and Lives but prescribes no Cure and tells them what their Duty is but gives no strength to the performance of it The Law commands Obedience The Gospel enables to it Not to Comfort them It wounds but pours no healing Lex graves manus habet Balm into those Wounds arraigns and condemns but allows no Psalm of Mercy for the Voice of the Law is He that has sinn'd shall die The Law condemns but the Gospel acquits and saves 2. But Occasionally and Indirectly 1. By discovering Sin Sin is the Burden and that which Rom. 3. 20. 5. 20. Gal. 3. 19. makes it feel heavy is the Law For by the Law is the knowledg of Sin viz. a knowledg of Guilt by it Where there are no Bounds there can be no Trespass nor any Transgression where no Law 2. By discovering Wrath due to Sin Where there is no Law there Rom. 2. 8 9. 4. 15. is no Sin and where there is no Sin there is no Curse but where Sin is there a Curse is due to it and the knowledg of it is necessary not to merit Mercy but to dispose to it The Law is the Ministration of Death 2 Cor. 3 7. The Gospel is the Ministration of Life 3. By afflicting and wounding under a sense of Guilt and Wrath due to it It is a fiery Law that has Heat as Deut. 33. 2. Galat. 3. 20. well as Light in it Light to discover Sin and Heat to afflict and torment for it The Law works by Fear The Gospel works by Love 4. By discovering an impossibility for them to help themselves being under a Guilt they cannot expiate obnoxious to a Wrath they cannot flee from shut up in a Prison they cannot break and surrounded with a misery that they cannot redress The Law shows the Wound The Gospel shows the Cure The Help of Salvation is from God Your Destruction is of your selves Hos 13. 9. Thus as Moses brought the Israelites to the Borders of Canaan so something there is of the Hand of Moses viz. something of the Law though but occasionally and indirectly in the Work of Faith Secondly By the Gospel viz. Properly and Directly The Law shews Misery as an Indictment shews the Offence and works Fear the Gospel as a Remedy shews the Disease and works Faith By discovering 1. A remote possibility of Mercy No absolute necessity they should tho' Sinners be damn'd because Grace is rich and free 2. A tender of Mercy indefinitely Isa 55. 1. John 3. 10 The Voice of the Gospel is All that will come may none are excluded but such as wilfully exclude themselves An Indefinite is equivalent to a Vniversal 3. A Suitableness Fulness and Willigness in Christ 1. A Suitableness As being Wisdom Righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 30. Sanctification Redemption Healing Life and Salvation for the relief of blind guilty polluted captiv'd sick dead lost and undone Sinners No Fountain like this Jordan to wash in for Sin and Vncleanness Zech. 13. 1. 2. A Fulness Meat and Drink are a suitable Good John 1. 16. Col. 2. 9. to the hungry and thirsty because Hunger and Thirst are Appetites determined to those Objects but a Crum or a Drop is not enough in that tho' it is a suitable yet it is not a full Good but in Christ there is a fulness of Merit to justify and of Spirit to sanctify that which is every way commensurate to the Desires and Necessities of distressed Sinners If they have him they are made If not they are
and on Earth the Wonder of Angels and the Center of Excellencies but not so to us until we believe They that do not know Christ cannot love him for as we apprehend so we affect they that believe not in him do not know him the God of this World has blinded 2 Cor. 4 4. the Eyes of them that believe not to them therefore he is a disallowed Stone 1 Pet. 2. 7. not worth the owning This Beloved Isa 53. 23. no more than nor so much as any other Beloved without Form and Comeliness or any thing to attract their Quantum credimus tantum ditigimus Love but to them that believe he is the Head of the Corner the chiefest of Ten thousands altogether lovely so in himself and so to them as loved by them above their Souls and Happiness they see not only a need of him but an excellency in him Excellency and nothing but Excellency a Superlative Excellency eclipsing the Glory of all created Excellency more than the Sun does the Light of the Stars enough to beget wonder and astonishment as one that is as far above their Praise as Love as appears by their sincere Amor lex sive severissima Obedience to him the effect of Divine Power constraining to it and their uncessant desires after him the sparks of that Holy Flame that are ever-ascending Animus est ubi amat to him Knowledg precedes Faith Faith produces Love Love evidences Faith it shews it to be true it is not the cause of Faith but the 2 Cor. 6. 6. 2 Tim. 1. 5. sign of it as Breath is of Life and a full Tide of a full Moon Vnfeigned Love to Christ shews unfeigned Faith in him for to them that believe he is precious 1 Pet. 2. 7. 3. It is fruitful in good Works By Faith our Persons are justified Rom. 5. 1. and by Works our Faith is justified by that our Persons before God by these our Faith before Men by that our Persons are acquitted from Sin by these our Faith is acquitted from Hypocrisy by that our Persons are made Righteous by these our Faith is made Jam. 2. 22. 2 Cor. 12. 9. 1 John 5. 12. Fides foeta operibus ubi bona opera non ad extra fides non ad intra Faith produces Works Per modum causae efficientis motivi impetrationis quod lex operum minando imperat lex fidei credendo impetrat perfect i. e. made manifest as God's strength is said to be made perfect that is made manifest in our weakness by that we are in a state of Life he that has the Son has Life by these our Faith appears to be alive Christ prov'd his Deity by his Works and Faith proves her Divine Original viz. the Faith of God by Works too There is no Love without the labour of Love nor any Faith without the Work of Faith For As Works are dead without Faith so Jam. 2. 17. Faith without Works is dead also 4. It is accompanied with Holiness Justification and Sanctification are as one saith always distinguish'd but never separated Distinguish'd The Righteousness of Justification is in Christ the Righteousness of Sanctification flows from him that is Relative and without this is Real and within in that there is a change in our State in this a change in our Na-Nature that is perfect and alike in all but this is imperfect in all as to Degrees though not as to Parts by that we are acquitted from the Guilt of Sin by this we are cleansed from the filth of it in that we have Peace with God in this we are made like to him one by the Merit the other by the Spirit of Christ Not Separated They that are justified by the Grace of God are sanctified by the Spirit of God for the justifying Vertue of Christ's Blood is ever accompanied with the purifying Vertue of it moral Vertues are as the Philosopher Indiâ—iduus virtutum comitatus says inseparably connected and so are Divine Graces too the Fruits of the Spirit are of a Cluster the Spirit infuses the Habits and Faith quickens the Acts it is as the Sun to the World and the Soul to the Body that influences all the radical Grace that maintains the Life of them the Leader and Commander in chief as the Brain is the facultas mandans as it is the Seat of Sense as the Heart is of Life by whose Conduct they are guided according to whose motion as the Primum Mobile they all move and proportionably to the strength or weakness of it they are strong or weak rise or fall as some Fish as is said wax and wane with the Moon Our Justification was merited by Christ is applied by Faith and by these as concomitant with it assured without which we can never make out our Title to it for as Life of any kind is known by the Actions of Life a Tree by its Acts 15. 9 Fruits and a Fountain by its Streams so a pure Faith is known only by pure Acts if it has not Virtue to sanctify it has none to justify nor can it be Fiducial unless Obediential An obediential Faith justifies it self Abraham believ'd and obey'd A DISCOURSE OF Self-denial Being an APPENDIX TO THE Treatise of FAITH OUR first Parents fell by Infidelity and Self-seeking and we rise by Faith and Self-denial Self-denial is of the Essence of Christianity it is founded in the Nature of it and we have no more of one than we have of the other it does not abound as the Stoical Philosophy did with Improbable Opinions Contradictions and Irreconcile-Paradoxes yet with many things above Reason though with none contrary to it things harsh and difficult to Flesh and Blood And that 's the Reason Christ has so many idle Retainers and so few true Servants so many that follow him as Peter once did afar Mat. 26. 58. off and so few that keep close to him that will not like Politick Souldiers stir an inch upon disadvantage nor venture like wary Merchants all in one Bottom nor sail so far into the Sea like those that go thither for Pleasure only but that they may return when the Storm arises They study more the Doctrine of Self-preservation than of Self-denial how they may keep all from Christ rather than forsake any thing for him and therefore will not venture their whole stock with him lest they should as they think be undone by him Many such followed Christ for a time when he was here in the days of his flesh thinking it an easy pleasant and gainful Life but when told what they were like to meet with the good things they must forsake the evil things they must endure and after all follow him they took their leaves of him and went no more after him A bare profession of Christ will not entitle us to him for all that outwardly profess him must be Followers of him nor a bare following of
undone for ever 3. A Willingness viz. To give what he has for the relief of Sinners if they come unto him all that will Mat. 11. 28. come may if they are willing Christ is willing if they to come he to welcome If Christ was able to help and not willing it would be all one as if he was not able and tho' willing yet if not able all one as if not willing therefore a discovery is made both of his Will and Power equally alike Duo principia motionis ad Christum 1. Cognitio 2. Appetitus great that they may and without which none ever will believe in him III. It is the Work of the Spirit whereby sensible Sinners are enabled to receive Christ as offer'd in the Gospel trusting to and relying upon him for Salvation The Parties concern'd are Christ Heb. 5. â—… and Sinners He as the Author of Salvation and They as the Subjects of it He as a Saviour and They as Sinners He as the Brazen Serpent lift up and They as stung with the fiery Serpent looking up unto him He as dying to save and They as undone without him 1. Christ as dying to save The Object of Faith according to the Schools is something above Reason not seen yet true and revealed by God Something above Reason Quid supra rationem 1 Cor. 2. 4. Above it tho' not contrary to it Something not seen Quid non visum Heb. 11. 1. It is no contradiction in terms to say We may see by Faith what we cannot see by Sense Something true and in its own Nature Quid credibile credible That which is false cannot be the Object of Faith Something revealed Quid Revelatum A thing may be credible in its own Nature yet not so to us until reveal'd but when reveal'd it is tho' never so seemingly impossible The Doctrine of the Scripture the Inititur divinae veritatit anquam Medio Aquin. Things revealed in it are the Object of Faith general which is no more than a bare Assent to the things reveal'd there as true They that have no more Faith are no Jam. 2. 19. better than Devils they that have not so much are worse But the Object of Justifying Faith viz. of that formal Act of Faith by which we stand justified before God is It is called the Faith of Christ viz. of which he is the Object as well as the Author Christ only He who was prefigured in all the Types foretold in all the Prophecies and design'd in all the Promises He as consider'd in his Person God-Man He as dying expiating Sin by his meritorious death making a suitable and sufficient Satisfaction to Divine Gal. 2. 16 20. Justice suitable as he was Man and sufficient as he was God by one satisfying the Equity and by the other the Infiniteness of it The Promises may be a ground of Circumferentia Fidei Verbum Dei Centrum Fidei Verbum Deus Mat. 11. 28. Faith but Christ only is the Object of it to whom we are to come and in whom we are to believe they are a Warrant of Encouragement to us in our coming but he only from whom our help comes if we do in them our encouragement to it in him alone our safety by it Nothing could heal the Israelites Numb 21. 9. John 3. 14 15. 12. 32. when stung in the Wilderness by fiery Serpents but the Brazen Serpent lift up by Moses on a Pole nor that unless they look'd up unto it None but Christ can save for there is no other Saviour nor is there any other way to be saved by him but by Faith looking up to him as lifted up Rom. 4. ult upon the Cross who died to justify and arose from death to declare it to him we are to look and to him as dying we are to look that we may be justified and by looking up we are not for it but by it not for it nor yet without it nor from any intrinsecal Virtue in Faith but from the Vertue in Christ the Object apprehended by it If Faith does but declare Justification What difference is there betwixt Faith and Works 2. Sinners as undone without Christ He as a Saviour they as Sinners not simply consider'd but so qualified viz. sensible Sinners It is to such only that he does look and none but such will look to him He is not offer'd to any until they are so nor would they receive him if he was nor can they have any Benefit by him tho' they are so until they receive him for Christ until receiv'd is but a Tender and not a Gift nor receive him aright unless upon Gospel-Terms his Terms and not theirs viz. 1. Freely 2. Sincerely 3. Wholly 4. Only 1. Freely It is not barely a Consent not in case of Exigency or Extremity only but an Act of Choice It is not enough that Christ is willing unless they are so too for he will save none invito genio 2. Sincerely They take Christ for himself whatever for the present they may suffer or lose by it they do not with the Scribes refuse to believe unless he will come down from the Cross nor make haste with Joseph of Arimathea to take him down and leave the Cross Mat. 27. 42. 57 58. behind but take him when on the Cross as well as when on the Throne when suffering as well as when reigning with the Reed in his Hand as well as the Scepter and follow him to Mount Calvary as well as to Mount Tabor when to be Crucified as well as Transfigured as content to abide with him in the shame of his Sufferings as well as in the Glory of his Triumph They are as willing to drink of his Cup as to eat of his Loaves 3. Wholly Christ's Person is not separated from his Offices nor his Offices separated from one another Is Christ divided No he is not divided to one as a Prophet 2 Cor. 1. 13. to another as a King and to a third as a Priest but all or none not a Bone of his Body was broken nor is any one Office of his sever'd from another but as he was anointed to all so he is offer'd in all viz. as a King to Reign to rule where he lives as a Prophet to teach to instruct where he rules as well as a Priest to save and they take him as so offer'd not only as Jesus but as Lord a Priest upon the Throne as a Zeeh. 6. 12 13. Sanctifier and Instructer as well as a Saviour and as saving from Sin as well as from Hell viz. from the Power of Sin as well as from the Punishment of it They that will not take Christ as a Lord to rule to them instead of a Jesus to save he will be a Judg to condemn 4. Only and for ever Him they chuse accept and receive and none but him whole Christ with their whole Heart and not for a
time only but for ever The Throne and Bed admit no Rivals and Christ will be all or nothing a Lord for ever or not at all 1. Then they are much mistaken in Faith that think it is no more than a bare believing Christ to be the Saviour of Sinners without any conformity of their Lives to him To make the Conclusion more than the Premises is Sophistry to put Freedom from Sin into the Premises and Liberty to it into the Conclusion is the Devil's Logick the Premises are God's the Conclusion is the Devil's Presumption and not Faith to lay claim to Christ's Person without being 2 Pet. 1. 4. partaker of his Nature to cling to his Cross and cast off his Yoke to challenge a share in the Privileges offer'd and reject the Duties commanded to pretend to his Righteousness and contemn his Grace to trust to his Righteousness and indulge our own Unrighteousness is to reject Christ and not to receive him or so to receive him as that we shall never receive any benefit by him viz. No benefit by the Blood of Propitiation 1 John 5. 6. Rom. 5. 9. if we cast away the Water of Purification 2. And as much mistaken are they that think it an easy thing to believe it is but believing they say and that they think they can do when they please Let him come down from the Mat. 27. 42. Cross said the chief Priests and Scribes and we will believe but they were much mistaken for it lay neither in their Will nor Power to do it for they were faster bound under Unbelief than Christ was nail'd to the Cross nor could his coming down from the Cross have wrought it in them without a Work of his Spirit upon them Neither they could nor any of themselves can believe as will appear if we consider 1. The Opposition that is made against it 2. The Power that is exerted in the working of it 1. The Opposition made against it viz. By the Devil and our Selves 1. By the Devil Who out of envy to Christ enmity and malice to Us raises all the Force and Power of Hell against it of all our Comforts and Graces he fights neither against small nor great so much as against Assurance and Faith as knowing what a hindrance the want of one will be in Duty and how destructive the other will be to it for what is not Rom. 14. 23. of Faith is Sin One a Bar to our Peace here the other to our Safety and Happiness hereafter 2. By our selves Not only as to the things that are preparatory to Faith viz. Contrition and Humiliation which are both necessary but things that we are naturally averse to but as to the Work it self For We are naturally proud and would do something to merit Salvation To believe is to abhor our selves and to love another better than our selves and to love him for that in him viz. his Holiness which is contrary to us to hope in him that we verily believe is our Enemy upon the account of Sin and to love him too when he is displeas'd and angry to trust to him upon his bare Word and deny our selves for him to enquire what his Will is and comply with it tho' never so contrary to ours to do what he commands and when done to look upon all as nothing to hate our selves and become Enemies to the things we love to fall out with that which is as dear to us as our Lives and so as to part with it to be fed at the Cost maintain'd at the Charge supported by the Strength and sav'd by the Righteousness of another Hard Terms for proud Nature to yield to but yet must be done and are by believing for Christ's Righteousness alone is the meritorious Cause of our Salvation and will avail us nothing without the denial of ours We must go out of our righteous as well as our sinful Self when by Faith we go out to Christ 2. If we consider the Power that is exerted in working Faith which is no less than that which raised Christ from the Dead To raise the Dead to Life is an Act of creating Power but it was more to raise Christ than any other from Death to Life in that he was not only totally depriv'd of Life for a time but bound under Guilt having by imputation more guilt of Sin on him than any kept in the Grave the strong-hold of Death with a Stone upon it Mat. 27. 64 65 66. seal'd and guarded by Souldiers and all the Forces of Hell as it were upon the Watch with them to hinder him from rising and was not barely rais'd to Life but as a Conqueror over-powering that great Enemy Death trampling on it and triumphing over it Now this Power this great Power this exceeding great Power the supereminent vastness and working activity of this exceeding great Power and all in the abstract that was put forth in raising Christ from the dead this and no less than this is put forth in working Faith in us For we believe Eph. 1. 19 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the working of God's mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead But yet tho' difficult in it self and a Work that we of our selves are wholly unable to God has appointed to work it in us for there is a Promise John 6. 27. Ephes 2. 8. of Faith as well as a Promise made to it and Christ has receiv'd a Commission to enable us to it and when we seek unto him that which we are commanded to do by the Ministry of the Word we shall be enabled to by the efficacy of his Spirit That which is now God's Will shall 1 Thess 4. 3. then be our Work Of the singular Worth and Excellency of Faith It is usual in the Hebrew Language the Mother-Tongue of the World for the setting forth the Greatness and Excellency of a Thing to add the Name of God to the Word whereby the Gen. 23. 6. 30. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Sam. 14. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thing is signified viz. great Wrestlings and Tremblings the Wrestlings and Tremblings of God The Soul's Excellency is set forth by this it is called the Spirit of God not only in respect of its immediate proceeding from him but of its resemblance to him Explaining as one saith by the plurality of Powers in the Vnity of Essence the plurality of Persons in the Vnity of the Deity And no less is it the Excellency of Faith in that it is call'd God's Work John 6. 29. not only in regard of Efficiency but Excellency in that no Work pleases him more than this nor any without it Faith's Excellency appears in its Usefulness and its Usefulness in the great Benefit and Advantage we receive by it For by it 1. We have Union with Christ 2. We have Peace with God 3. Our Duties are accepted 4. We have an
our part to make us meet for it and declares That God loves us better than himself and saves us in contradiction to himself in that he loves and saves us in our Sins and that Christ justifies Sinners to his own reproach or rather justifies Sin than Sinners It concerns us therefore in all our Supplications for Mercy to have an eye to the End of Mercy to seek Mercy upon the Terms of Mercy viz. the Terms upon which it is offer'd lest we make Patents of Mercy to our selves that God will never confirm For As his Justice is wrong'd by a distrust of Mercy upon Repentance so his Mercy is abus'd by an expectation of it without it 1. We should then admire the distinguishing love of God to us He passed by the Fallen Angels more excellent Creatures than we and left them to perish in their Sin but has found out an Expedient for us by Repentance to escape the Wrath due to it The Devils cannot repent nor are they assur'd of Pardon if they could but sinful Men are the more happy they and the more astonishing the freeness of Grace to them they are not call'd to Repentance but these are and assur'd of Pardon if they do repent but not unless they do for as Devils and impenitent Sinners are alike in Nature viz. in their sinful not in their created Nature alike as to kind tho' not as to degree both sinful but one more than the other so they shall fare alike as to punishment They are now reserv'd in everlasting Chains unto Jude 6. â—… the Judgment of the great Day and these are upon a Chain that if not broken will lead them captive to Hell they are shut out of Heaven these are not unless their own Wills keep them John 5. 40. out they are without hope of Pardon these are under a possibility yea a certainty of it upon Repentance for God has ratified the Promise of Pardon upon it As a God of Mercy he made the Promise and as a God of Truth he will perform it 2. Since Repentance is the first Lesson that we are to learn under the Gospel it was the first in St. Paul's Catechism Heb. 6. 1. and a Duty that we are daily to perform and never to neglect we should no more dare to live than we would dare to die without it They that look upon Repentance as a Legal Duty and flee from it as that which is more likely to scare them out of their Wits than Sins will at last find more terror in the Neglect than ever they would have found in the practice of it The neglect of it will make two Hells viz. within and without here and hereafter but a serious and daily exercise of it will make two Heavens viz. without and within above and below in Heaven and in our own Souls 1. In Heaven For when Sinners repent Luk. 15. 7 10. God the Father rejoices As a Father in the Birth of an Heir God the Son rejoices He died big with love to Sinners and cannot but rejoice to see of the travel of his Soul in the Conversiof Isa 53. 11. of theirs God the Holy Ghost rejoices He who has so long and so often been grieved by Sinners rejoices and is made glad that now he shall be a Comforter to them Angels rejoice As having one Companion more join'd to their Heavenly Quire It should be our Joy to promote Heaven's 2. In our own Souls The Song of Lamentation must be sung here or hereafter Therefore If we have not mourn'd for Sin or resolve not to do it we would do well to remember that the more is behind and that the time of mourning for Sin will come for it is like Jabez brought 1 Chron. 4. 9. forth with Sorrow its Issue will be sorrow here or hereafter and we must either begin or end in it in Time or Eternity But if we are in Sorrow we may be Dâ—â—o de peccatis poenitens de dolore gaudâ—o glad at our Heaviness there is a Song of Joy that attends the Song of Lamentation Sun-shine with our Rain God will give us joy of our Repentance and the greater our Sorrow is the greater shall our Joy he The deeper the Wound the farther the Balm shall go in Of the Nature of Repentance REpentance Is not a bare suspending the Acts of Sin It is more than that It is not a destroying the Being of Sin It is less than that 1. It is not a bare suspending the Acts of Sin All are alike evil by Nature tho' not by practice and there is ever a proneness in us to sin the more unhappy we but we are not always actually in it yet some Acts may cease not from any inward Principle either of Love to God or hatred to Sin but from a Principle of slavish Fear or through the want of a Supply for Sin or an occasion to it and when so can no more be called Repentance than that can be said to be a Merciful Fire that goes out through want of Fuel The Influence of the Sun may by an Eclipse be suspended and yet its Light not extinguish'd and Sin for a time deprest and yet not destroy'd 2. It is not a destroying the Being Rom. 7. 9. Patitur non facit Bern. of Sin It is true when Penitent Persons commit Sin it is usually contrary to the purpose of their Will but to some particular Acts only and ever attended with shame and grief but yet commit it they both do and may even then when they have truly repented of it for tho' Sin by Repentance receives its Death's Wound yet it has a strong Heart and will be long a dying A Being it will have in them while they have a Being So that Repentance is neither a suspension of the Acts of Sin nor the destruction of its Being it is more than the first and less than the second viz. That Work of the Spirit whereby an humbled Sinner being made sensible of the Evil of Sin in the general and the Misery due to it and of his own Sins in particular and of the Mercy of God in Christ ready to pardon them does most affectionately mourn for them and most effectually turn from them unto God 1. It is the Work of the Spirit Our Times are in God's Hands and Psal 31. 15. Rev. 2. 21. so are our Hearts too one for the Space the other for the Grace of Repentance for it is in his Soveraign Power alone to give both viz. the Time without which we cannot well repent with any comfort to our selves or others and the Grace without which we cannot repent at all neither begin nor proceed in it for it is a supernatural Work and falls not within the Love Desire or Power of Nature Water came not out of the Rock in Horeb until Moses smote it with his Exod. 17. 5 6. Rod Nor will ever the Waters of Repentance flow from our
Hearts more hard than that Rock unless they are smitten not only with the Rod of the Law but the Staff of the Acts 2 27. Gospel It was God's standing upon Psal 78. 15 16. 105. 41. the Rock more than Moses's smiting with a Rod that caused the Waters to run down like Rivers and the Spirit more than the Staff that causes Tears the Blood of a wounded Heart to flow from us for without it it will like the Staff of Elisha in Gehazi's 2 Kings 4. 31. Hand prove ineffectual to it When God causeth the Wind viz. the Wind of his Spirit to blow then Psal 147 18. and not before will those Waters flow 2. That Work of the Spirit whereby a Sinner is made sensible of the Evil of Sin in the general and the Misery due to it The Devil when he tempts to Sin holds the wrong end of the Prospective Glass that Sin may not appear as it is but in a disguise under the false representations either of Pleasure or Profit the usual Vermilion he paints most Sins with But the Spirit when convincing of Sin in order unto Repentance pulls off Sin 's Visard washes off that Jezabel's Paint and shews the evil of it it is a Isa 4 4. Jer. 31. 19. Spirit of Judgment and it's Office is to convince as well as comfort and to convince of Sin in order to it and where the Conviction is right the sight it gives of Sin is clear not through thick Mediums but in the Chrystal Glass of the Word a true not flattering Psal 19. 8. Glass pure enlightning the Eyes to behold Sin as it is viz. in its own proper Nature and native Deformity original and actual Sin the Flesh and the Lusts of the Flesh and both in their Filthiness and Depravation Folly and Disingenuity and Demerit too viz. the Wrath deserved by them and due to them The Degree is not alike in all tho' the more the better yet a less Degree will not serve than that which discovers the great Evil of Sin and the Wrath due to it for tho' Sin is Jâ—â— 2.19 an evil and bitter Thing evil in it Self and evil in the Cause yet unless so apprehended it will not be bitter in the Effects or not so bitter as it should be to us 3. That Work of the Spirit whereby a Sinner is made sensible of his own Sins in particular Sin lies hid in the Heart of an Impenitent Sinner it plays least in sight but the Spirit in the Work of Repentance brings it to Light when the Rom. 7 9. Commandment came Sin revived viz. in sense and appearance by giving sometimes a particular but ever a full and lasting sight of it Sometimes the Spirit makes use of one particular Sin as an entring Wedg as one says to rend the Heart of a Sinner asunder It was that particular Sin of crucifying Christ when made known that wounded the Penitent Jews through and through as the Word Acts 2. 37. notes and stuck as an Arrow so fast in their Hearts that no Hand but that which wounded them could pull it out But it ever gives whether a particular or no a full and durable sight of Sin viz. in the extent and latitude and in the aggravating Circumstances of it as under with and against both Judgments and Mercies little Sins are made great and heavy forgotten Sins are brought to mind and secret Sins either as secretly committed or kept secret from the Understanding Psal 19. 12 are brought to light and all with their particular Aggravations that Sin may appear as it is exceeding sinful and this not in a glance only or in transitu like a flash of Lightning that is as soon gone as come but so as ever to have them in his Eye and always upon his Heart as Job who possessed Job 13. 26. his Sins and David who had his ever Psal 51. 3. before him If Sin comes not to our remembrance here it will hereafter to God's if not to ours to conviction it will to his to our condemnation 4. That work of the Spirit whereby a Sinner is made sensible not only of his Sins but of the Mercy of God in Christ ready to pardon them Christ Acts 5. 31. having purchased for and God promised to all that repent the pardon 1 John 1. 9. not of one Sin only viz. the first nor of many Sins the lesser but of all both great and small The greatness of Mercy reveal'd shews the greatness of our Misery as much Physick prepar'd shews many Diseases and the greatness of Misery the need of great Mercy and a sense of both is necessary in order unto Repentance one that he may tremble before God the other that when afraid he may put his trust in him one that we may see his need of Mercy the other that he may seek after it None but Sinners need repent and none but they that are thus sensible will therefore such a sense is necessary without which they would rather flee from God than to him If God did not hate Sin Repentance would be needless and if he would not pardon it it would be hopeless 5. That Work of the Spirit whereby a Sinner made sensible of his Sins and the freeness of Mercy to pardon them does most affectionately mourn for them and most effectually turn from them to God 1. Most affectionately mourn for them Some count it the Perfection of Grace not to be troubled for Sin but Jer. 31. 18. Joel 2. 13. Zech. 12. 10. it is a cursed Piety that denies it they that have had the greatest assurance of Divine Love have been most deeply concern'd in sorrow for Sin Paul after he had been in Heaven mourn'd for it and all that ever truly repented of Sin have been so too for true Repentance is never without Sorrow tho' Sorrow may be without that it is not Repentance for that lies in the turn from Sin to God but a necessary adjunct of it and as necessary to it as Joy is to Thankfulness Sorrow is good for little else and all Joy to be suspected that is not founded on it 2. Most effectually turn from them Purposes are no Deeds a Purpose to give is no Gift in Law nor a bare resolution to forsake Sin Repentance for that seconds Purposes with Endeavours and follows Resolution with Action and all that are sincere in it not only confess and bewail the Sins committed but forsake the Sins bewail'd They do not as some barely confess and not forsake nor as others confess and Sin the more as if by Isa 1. 16. that they had obtain'd a Dispensation to it but cease to do Evil and depart from all Iniquity not from some Sins only but all viz. against God and Man themselves and others Personal and Relative Publick and Secret Great and Small Inward and Outward of Heart and Life and as Ephraim from his Idols so as never to have
any more to Hosea 4. 18. do with them One Commodity as well as many makes a Trader and one Sin though the least indulg'd an impenitent Sinner 3. And sincerely turn to God Jer. 4. 1. Acts 26. 20. Sin is a turning from God Repentance is a turning to him and all that exercise a Repentance toward God turn from the Love of Sin to the love Isa 55 7. of Him as their chief Good and from the service of Sin to his Service as their Sovereign-Lord and so to it as 1 Thess 1. 9. never to depart from it All God's Covenant-Servants are his for their Lives 1. Then they are much mistaken that look upon Repentance as an abstracted Notion from a Holy Life Impenitency is a doing of that which Dan. 4.27 Titus 2 1â— Rom. 7.15 1 Cor. 11.31 Isa 30.22 Job 42.6 Psal 97.10 Isa 1.16,17 Rom. 12.9 is Evil and continuing in it Repentance is an undoing of it a facing about a happy Apostacy a turning from it the Work of the whole Man viz. of the Judgment in denying disallowing and condemning of Sin of the Will in declining it and resolving against it of the Affections in loathing hating and abhorring of it Mutatio voluntatis rei and of the Life in forsaking it and turning from it it begins in the Heart but ends in the Life It is abomination to Fools to depart from Evil but none repent truly Prov. 13. 19. unless they do 2. And as much mistaken are they that think it an easy thing to repent as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it was as Alexandrinus notes rather the turning of a Shell than a Soul To repent is to accuse and condemn our selves to charge upon our selves the desert of Hell to take part with God against our selves and to justify him in all that he does against us to be asham'd and confounded for our Sins to have them ever in our Eyes and at all times upon our Hearts that we may be in daily sorrow for them to part with our right Hands and Eyes those pleasurable and profitable Sins that have been as dear to us as our Lives so as never to have to do with them more and to hate them so as to destroy them things that by Nature we are wholly averse from For We naturally love and think well of our selves hide our Deformities lessen and excuse our Faults indulge our selves in the things that please us are mad upon our Lusts and follow them though to our own destruction but yet though difficult in themselves and things that we of our selves cannot do yet such as God has promised if we are not wanting to our selves to enable us to do for what is a Command in one place is a Promise in another The Command bids us Wash and be clean The Promise says We Isa 1. 16 18. Ezek. 36. 25 26 27. shall be cleansed One bids us put away Evil the other says it shall be taken away One bids us convert our selves the other says We shall be converted One injoins Repentance the other assures it Now we must not be frighted by the Precept but allur'd by the Promise not driven from our Obedience to it because of difficulty but driven by it to the Promise or rather to him that made it with a desire that since by his Command he has made it our Duty he would by fulfilling his Promise enable us to it by giving his Da domine quod jubes da prius poenitentiam postea indulgentiam Spirit to us that only can work it in us The Grace of Repentance goes before the Grace of Indulgence but they are both from God What St. Austin says concerning the Ni nihilo facitius ni nihilo pâ—riculosius erratur plures damnat poenitentia quam ipsum peccatum Trinity may be said here as to Repentance viz. that Mistakes are both easy and dangerous that we may not therefore be mistaken in it it concerns us to enquire What our Repentance is viz. Whether a dead Repentance or a Repentance unto Life toward God or Acts 11. 18. 20. 21. 2 Cor. 7. 10. our selves a Repentance to be repented or not to be repented of and this by considering these four things that are either necessary in order unto it or comprehended in it viz. 1. Confession of Sin 2. Sorrow for Sin 3. Hatred to Sin 4. Departure from Sin 1. Confession of Sin Supplication precedes Remission and Psal 32. 5. Prov. â—8 13. Hos 14. 2. words of Confession take with the words must go before words of Petition and Supplication which Confession is then right When full and without reserve We confess none truly unless fully none unless all for what is partial is hypocritical When free and not forc'd Forc'd Confessions are of little credit on Earth of none in Heaven When with Humiliation and Detestation Job 4. 26. Ezek. 20. 43. viz. of our Sins and of our selves too for them Caligula boasted that he could not be asham'd tho' he could not that he was never afraid but it is the Glory and honour of all penitent Sinners Perit homo cui perit pudor to be so for true Confession is an acknowledgment with dislike and is ever accompanied with shame Silence or saying little in other Cases will do us no hurt but here it will for those Sins only that are condemned Agnoscit reus ignoscit Deus by us on Earth are pardon'd by God in Heaven 2. Sorrow for Sin Sorrow for Sin is not Repentance yet there is no true Repentance without it for as Sorrow worketh Repentance it is not Repentance but 2 Cor. 7. 10. that which worketh to it so Repentance worketh Sorrow which Sorrow is then right When free and without constraint Not as a Water from a Still but from a Fountain that flows freely When Constant This Heavenly Dew must fall upon us Morning and Evening Day and Night When Genuine 2 Cor. 7. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Godly Sorrow as respecting God and so oppos'd to worldly Sorrow which has a respect only to evil The Sorrow not of a Slave but of a Child more out of Love than Fear more because God is offended than Hell deserv'd When proportionable to the Measure of Sin Proportionable to the Nature of Sin it cannot be but to the Measure of it so far as we can it must Great Sorrow like Naaman's seven 2 Kings 5. 14. times washing for great Sins Manasses sorrow for Sin was great 2 Kings 33. 12. He had greatly sinn'd and was greatly humbled David's Sorrow for Sin was great Tears were his Meat and Drink the Night a time appointed for rest as Psal 6. 6. 32. 34. well as the Day was to him a time of Sorrow and the Flood rose so high that it made his Bed to swim And so was Peter's For His Eyes were as Nicephorus says red with Tears died red with daily Sorrow
10. 49. 50 did his Garment and go unto him that calls us Not to do it 1. Is Ingratitude to God 2. Inconsistent with a true purpose of Heart ever to repent 1. It is Ingratitude to God viz. Father Son and Holy Ghost 1. To God the Father In giving our first Fruits to Sin that he by right should have and above all deserves for he lov'd us with a primary and ancient Love a Love before we were 2. To God the Son Who delay'd not the Work of our Salvation but was early at it and in his full strength and the prime of his Years laid down his Life to secure it 3. To God the Holy Ghost Who has not only striven with us by importunity but waited upon us with Patience that we might repent Rev. 3. 20. 2. It is inconsistent with a true purpose of Heart ever to repent Repentance is a Debt that we all as Sinners owe to God a Debt that must be paid God is indeed a kind Creditor and waits with patience but his Forbearance is no Discharge nor are we the less indebted by not paying it but appear by so much the more unwilling to it It is a sign of a desperate Debtor not to reckon with his Creditor and of his unwillingness to pay the Debt in that he delays it and no less of a cursed Resolution in all never to repent a sign that they either intend it not or have little or no mind to it in that they defer it They that will not repent this day would never repent if they might have their choice or they that wilfully remain impenitent this day would if they might with safety be everlastingly so for the same reason for delay this day would be so the next and the same for ever 3. The best for Safety The Physician 's Rule to avoid the Plague is to flee soon enough far enough Fuge cit longè tradè and to return slowly and to prevent Death by Sin of all Diseases the most dangerous the best Remedy is to flee soon enough and it can never be too soon far enough and it can never be too far nor is it far enough unless the flight be to God nor right to him unless with a resolution never to return back to it more and the sooner the better In many things haste makes waste the more haste the worse speed but if here we make haste we can never speed amiss Sickness or old Age are the Times that presumptuous Sinners set apart for Repentance their youthful strength they make a Bulwark against Repentance Sorrow for Sin they think a fit Companion for old Age only their Sighs and Groans they reserve for a sick and dying hour and never think it seasonable to die to Sin but when they can live no longer in it prodigious Fools that flee to these as a Sanctuary to shelter them from the Wrath of God when they cannot be sure 1. That they shall be sick before they die 2. That they shall live to be old 3. That when either sick or old they shall have a Heart to repent 4. That what they then think is Repentance will be accepted of God 1. That they shall be sick before they die Death does not give warning to all by sickness for some die suddenly Now that which befalls one may happen to many and that which has Luke 13. 1 2 3 4 5. been the Case of many may betide any one Since then that is uncertain Repentance can never be unseasonable but the sooner the better 2. That they shall live to be old Death is not slow-pac'd to all but swift in its motion to some it does not always stay till gray Hairs the sign of old Age are upon them All hasten alike to Death but some have a less way to go than others 3. That when either Sick or Old they shall have a Heart to repent When Sick None can be sure that they shall have time when Sick to repent they may have but just so much time left as to tell their Companions in Sin that they are going to Hell if they have time they cannot be sure of ease whereby they may be fit to attend it Reason Sense and Speech may fail or pains the Companions of Sickness may so seize on them that neither their Bodies nor Souls may be much at ease nor they with the Israelites be able to hearken to any thing for Exod. 6. 9. anguish of Spirit if not yet they may not have a Heart then to repent The Duty of Repentance is ours but 2 Tim. 2. 25. the Grace is God's When old There are no Examples in Scripture of any as some observe converted in their old Age Manasses and the Thief on the Cross were not as is suppos'd old or if they were the Repentance of one was more than ordinary and of the other no less than miraculous and from a Miracle nothing can be concluded no Person should neglect it then lest he prove felo de se and bring destruction upon himself nor put it off till then lest it come too late to prevent it It is never too late when true but seldom true when late 4. That what they then think Repentance will be accepted of God The sad Effects of sick-bed Repentance in many whose Repentance prov'd as sick and unsound as their Bodies were then shews reason to suspect that Repentance that is extorted from any by Pain when sick or by Fears when dying were sickness and the thoughts of Death a little farther off and not so close and pressing upon them perhaps they would neither bewail their Sins nor leave them therefore God may and justly if he should reject their Repentance and forget them in sickness who forgat him in their health and make them Warnings to others who disregarded Gal. 6. 7 8. so many from him Delays of Repentance to a time of sickness are usually punish'd with a not caring to seek or not so as to find It is usually but an untoward Repentance that is exerted in Age decrepit weak and impotent as feeble as old Age like the dim flashes of a Taper when sunk in the socket and may justly be rejected by God and the Penitent as one when repenting in old Age by a Voice was bid to spend his Bran where he had spent his Flower his Evening where he had spent his Morning We shall have as Solomon says but Eccles 12. 1. little pleasure in the days of old Age and God may take as little pleasure in the repentance of them 5. That singular Examples constitute no general Rule Some draw an Argument for Presumption from those in the Parable that came in at the eleventh hour and receiv'd a Reward equal with Mat. 20. 1 6 7 9. them that came early in the morning but without any Reason for though it be granted that Parables do more than illustrate or shew the Soveraign freedom of Grace to some only