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A58850 The method and means to a true spiritual life consisting of three parts, agreeable to the auncient [sic] way / by the late Reverend Matthew Scrivener ... ; cleared from modern abuses, and render'd more easie and practicall. Scrivener, Matthew. 1688 (1688) Wing S2118; ESTC R32133 179,257 416

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of Christs mediation God would have to depend wholly on Repentance as is implyed in these words Acts 5. 31. Him Christ hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sin So that as there is no forgivenesse without repentance and there is no saving repentance without Christ so is there no saving Christ without repentance For this was one end of Christs coming into the world Repentance as we read Acts 17. 20. The times of former ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men to repent every where And hence it is that the Apostles having heard what successe St. Peter's preaching had amongst the Gentiles make it matter of astonishment and glorification of Allmighty God as it is written Acts 11. 18. When they heard these things they held their peace and glorified God saying Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life 7. But farther let us see more particularly the dignitie of Repentance in the managing of which all the principall Attributes of Allmighty God are engaged as first of all that which is most formidable to a guilty and conscious Soule his Justice For when by foregoing Illumination the minde of man is brought to the knowledge of the nature of sin dwelling in it and the strong opposition which is made against it and enmity and the fearfull reward due to it who can but tremble to finde himselfe brought under the plagues due to it But withall considering the wonderfull condescension of Allmighty God entring into a Covenant of Grace and favour with Sinners upon the termes of true repentance and that he will infallibly be as good as his promises declare him the bitternesse of his Justice is changed into the sweet waters of Life to the desponding Sinner For if God had only said as he doth Exodus 34. 6 7. The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and trueth Keeping mercie for thousands forgiving iniquities transgression and sin and that will by no means cleer the guilty c. the matter had not been so wonderfull For it is imprinted in the mindes of all Believers that God is mercifull and Good to all even to Sinners that repent Allmost every Chapter in Mahomets Alchoran proclaims that aloud and this is most pleasant to the ear of a Sinner dejected for his errours but much more is that refreshing the languishing Soule to hear that Justice it selfe is turned to be a Friend to a Sinner by vertue of repentance as St. John assures us 1 Epist 1. 9. If we confesse our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse However therefore Scholasticall doubts and disputations may be raised about the manner how God out of his justice may be said to save a man yet it cannot be doubted after such expresse words of Scripture that so it is And that this comes thus to passe that God hath so great regard and esteem for his own gift Repentance that where ever he finds that he hath obliged his honour his trueth or faithfulnesse to his word and Justice it selfe to acquitt that Sinner and cleanse him from his pollutions Not unlike to the gift of some great Prince or Person to some inferiour one who in token of his fidelitie to him and firmenesse in all great calamities and distresses endangering his life delivereth to him a Ring or other privie token well known to him advising that if ever he be call'd in question for his life or like to be oppressed by his Enemies he would send him that or show it him and it shall suffice to oblige him to come speedily to his deliverance and safety so pleaseth it Allmighty God to grant to his friends in Christ this excellent gift of Repentance which he beholding is so much affected with the dangerous condition of the miserable Sinner that in honour and justice he holdeth himselfe bound to secure him from the malice and mischiefs which his Enemies long and strain hard to bring upon him 8. And so may we say of the Omnipotencie of God concerned very much in the deliverie of the penitent Sinner For as there is guilt danger and damnation in sin so is there likewise shame and confusion of minde and face at the apprehension of so foul errours and odious spots as accompanie the commission of sins so that the same pierces into the verie soule by its stain and infests the Conscience with intolerable pain at the apprehension of such a shamefull condition What would an ingenuous Penitent give yea rather What would he not give that he had never offended so Great a God and so Good a Father With what shame the eyes of his minde being illuminate doth he reflect upon himselfe so that it is questionable in some truely repenting and generous soules whether the abhorrence of that foul state it findes it selfe in by sin be not altogether as intolerable as the foreseen punishments of Hell it selfe In such cases as this when all other hopes of being restored to its pristine integrity and purity so infinitely desireable to a true Convert faileth relief and remedie is discovered in the Allmighty power of God which and none but which could cause the Leprous and filthy parts of Naaman to returne to the soundnesse and sweetnesse of the flesh of an Infant and can as easily renew the defaced and defiled Soule so that when one day it shall appear naked at the Tribunall of Christ before the sharp-sighted Angells and men they shall not be able to discerne the least blott or blemish in the same And why because as by a second regeneration after Baptisme Repentance renews the soule by Gods powerfull Grace to a new habit and is therefore called a Second Baptisme 9. Furthermore what can be more worthy of every good Christians practice than Repentance which God honoureth above many splendid Graces in the sight of the world yea which men more thorowly seen into the divine study and art of conversing with God judge to be inferiour to none in dignitie and above all in necessitie How doe we read of Davids Repentance and Peters restoring them entirely to Gods favour so that former sins which were great obstructed not their ascent to the highest pitch of Gods favour and of Rule and Authority in the Church of God. For doth not the incomparable Parable of our Saviour Christ in the Gospell Luke the 15th of the lost Sheep of the lost Groat of the lost Son prove the certainty to us all which declare unto us this miserable state of Sinners fled from God and unreduced and the happinesse and glory upon their returne by Repentance and the joy in heaven and earth upon their conversion unto God and goodnesse as upon a Victory wun over the Devill and a soule wun to God. 10. And if we compare Repentance with other Christian vertues adorning the Soule we shall