Of the Nature of Faith.

Faith

• Is not a bare Assent, it is more than that;
• Is not Assurance, it is less than that.

It is not a bare Assent:

Christ appears in his Royalty in the Gospel, viz. as the only and All-suffi­cient Saviour: the Persons are descri­bed, who are interested in him, and the Terms specified upon which they are, viz. not Devils but Men; nor all Men, but Believers only. A know­ledg of, and an assent to this Declara­tion as incomparably good, and un­doubtedly true, is necessary, but not enough; for, as there is no Faith, where there is no Assent, so there is no Justifying Faith, where there is no more: For,

Assent

Is a Faith in common with all those kinds of Faith that are not saving; it may consist with Despair, and necessa­rily attends it, and with the Sin against the Holy Ghost; for (as it is commonly [Page 7] understood) it cannot be committed without it, it may be found in the worst of Men, it was in the stony ground, (in the Parable) and in Si­mon Luke 8. 13. Acts 8. 13, 23. Jam. 2. 19. Magus, who was in the Gall of Bitterness; it may be found in Devils, (for they believe) and in Hell, as well as upon Earth.

Assent is necessary and antecedent to justifying Faith, and is contain'd in it, (as the Vegetive and Sensitive Soul is in the Reasonable); but it is not that, for, that is but General Faith, but this is Particular, and appropriating: that is in the Understanding only, without any quickning Influence on the Will; but this has an Operation there, and is represented under the Notion,

Of seeking Christ;

Which implies dili­gence

Psal. 27. 8.

in the use of Means.

Of coming to Christ;

Which implies the

Mat. 11. 28. Motio est actio totius compositi.

Act of the whole Soul go­ing out to him with Affecti­ons and Desires, (the feet of the Soul) to find that in him, which it has not in it self.

Of running to Christ;

Which implies

Isa. 55. 5.

the fervor of the Motion.

Of receiving Christ;

Whereby it is en­titled

John 1. 12. Jus ad rem, se­quitur jus ad personam.

to all the Privileges purchased by him.

None can use Christ to their benefit, unless they have him; nor have him, until they by Faith receive him.

It is not Assurance:

Faith in time may bring Assurance, It does not, Competere omni, soli, & semper. and often does; and for a time it may not, for it is seldom crown'd with Assu­rance, until it is of some standing: it many times ends in Assurance, but ne­ver begins in it; for, it goes in Time and in Nature before it.

1. In Time,

Faith goes first, and Assurance fol­lows [...] John 5. 13. after: first, believing, and then knowing; that, as the necessary Ante­cedent; this as the Consequent: for, all must believe before they can know they do, as they must before they can be justified by it.

2. In Nature:

Faith is the Condition required on our part in order unto Life, (believe and be sav'd) Faith, not Assurance: for, if that was required, then our Sins would be forgiven before we be­lieved; Reprobates would be damn'd for 2 Cor. 13. 5. Reprobation may be ta­ken, either in opposition to the Eternal Decree of Election, or in opposi­tion to Soundness; and Reprobates, for such as are either rejected abso­lutely, or such (as re­probate Silver) as are cast off for the present.Jer. 6. 30. not believing a Lie, (viz. that they are in a state of Life when they are not) and all would be com­manded to believe an Untruth, viz. that they are pardoned Mark 16. 16. before they are.

Assurance,

Is properly an Act of Experience, and not an Act of Faith; which is a true Perswasion, tho not ever a full one, or an Act of the Mind only; but Faith is an Act of the whole Soul, it is rather God's Act than ours, rather the Eminency than the Essence of Faith, and relates more to its well-being, than being: if not, then none belong to the Houshold of Faith, but such as are assur'd; when-as Assurance, tho it many times accompanies them, yet it [Page 10] does not constitute and make them so: That Child which knows neither Father nor Mother, may be as true a Child, and as much of the Family, as those that are come to perfect Knowledg; and they as true Members of the Hous­hold of Faith that want Assurance, as they that have it: For,

Tho all that believe, are justified; yet all that are justified, are not sure they are.

Then Faith and Doubts are inconsi­stent; which sometimes they are not: for, they are not opposite to one ano­ther as Life and Death, but only as Cold and Heat in remiss Degrees, and may consist (as Contraries) in some Degree; and do, when those Doubts are accompanied with Shame and Sor­row, attended with earnest desires after the Things doubted of, with solicitous Enquiries and Endeavours to get them, and with a full purpose of Heart to fol­low hard after God, and cleave close Isa. 50. 10. to him in a way of trust and depen­dance, notwithstanding those Doubts: nothing but perfect Faith casts out [Page 11] 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) [Page 12] 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, [Page 16] 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 Ʋni­versal.

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 Ʋncleanness. 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 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. [...] 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 [Page 21] 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 [Page 22] 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 [Page 23] 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 [Page 24] 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 [Page 25] 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 [Page 26] 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, [Page 27] 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 [Page 28] 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 [Page 29] 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 strong­hold 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, over­powering 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 [Page 31] 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; [Page 32] Explaining (as one saith) by the plura­lity of Powers in the Ʋnity of Essence, the plurality of Persons in the Ʋnity 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 Interest in the Promises.
• 5. We have Victory over our E­nemies.

1. We have Union with Christ.

What this Union is, is hard to tell, (the word Mystical implies as much) but that there is a Union, is most cer­tain, for it is one of the great Myste­ries of Godliness. It is not the Essen­tial [Page 33] Union of divers Persons in one Nature, nor the Hypostatical Union of two Natures in one Person; but more than a Political, Natural, or Moral Union, for it is Mystical, viz. of di­vers Natures in one Person, and Spiri­tual; not outward by External Profes­sion only, but inward by Internal Im­plantation, made by the Spirit on Christ's part, and by Faith on ours; by that, Primarily and Efficiently; by this, Secondarily and Instrumentally.

There is a Moral Union by Love, and a Mystical one by Faith; a Union both Real, and Inseparable.

(1.) Real.

As Real as the Union betwixt God and Christ, tho' in a different manner; that is Essential and Substantial; this, Mystical only; yet not less Real, be­cause Mystical: and Christ and they John 17. 21. who are thus united, are as truly One, as God and Christ are; they are one with Christ, tho' not the same; one Body, tho' not one Person.

(2.) Inseparable.

The Ax may sever the corporal Union betwixt Root and Branches, and the natural Union betwixt Head and [Page 34] Members; Death, the Conjugal Uni­on betwixt Husband and Wife; Time, the Artificial Union betwixt the Foun­dation and Building; distance of Place, or an Accidental Difference, the Mo­ral Union betwixt Friend and Friend, Ʋnus uterqut fait alter ego. (who were one in Affection, and in whom there was but one Soul, tho' two Bodies): but neitheir Men nor De­vils can break this Union betwixt Christ and them, no nor Death it self, Jer. 31. 3. 32. 40. Hos. 2. 19 Rom. 8. 38, 39. whether Natural or Violent. The Hypo­statical Union was not broken by Death (the Vision was suspended, but the Union was not broken) nor can the Mystical, (it is then more near and firm); and the Reason is, because it depends on God's Will, and not on theirs.

The great Honour conferr'd upon us, is by the Hypostatical Union to our John 13. 1. Heb. 7. 25. 2. 16. Nature, and the Mystical Union to our Person, an Honour above any con­ferr'd upon Angels; for Christ took not on him the Nature of Angels, nor has he at any time said unto them, Ye are my Body.

• Other Graces make us like to Christ,
• This makes us one with him.

2. We are reconciled to God.

Adam by Creation was a Son of Luke 3. 38. Love, by Corruption he became a Son of Wrath; his state of Innocency, was a state of Favour, that of his degene­racy, a state of Wrath; in that, God and he were one in Point of Affection, but in this at Variance; Sin separated those Friends, he rebell'd, and God proclaim'd his displeasure against him.

Adam being the Natural Head and Representative of all Mankind, the Covenant made with him, concerned them, as well as him; being as natu­rally in him, as Branches in the Root; sinning in him, they fell with him, and became Enemies to God, (haters of Rom. 1. 30. him, and hated by him); Enemies, without a Power to flee from him, a Strength to withstand him, or a Will to be reconciled to him. God, that in Ephes. 2. 7. 3. 11. 2 Cor. 5. 19. 2 Tim. 1. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 20. the Ages to come, he might shew the ex­ceeding Riches of his Grace, in his kind­ness towards us through Christ Jesus, (in whom he was reconciling the World to himself) ordain'd him before time, and sent him in the fulness of Time, to make reconciliation for Iniquity, by reconci­ling [Page 36] him to the World, and the World Gal. 4. 4. Dan. 9. 24. to him, Christ the Prince of Peace (as the only Mediator betwixt God and us) was usher'd into the World by a Quire of Angels, with a Song of Peace, (on Earth peace, and good-will towards Luke 2. 14. Men); while living, he published it; and when dying, purchased it for us.

In the first Adam we lost Peace, in the second Adam (by whom the En­mity is abolished) we may find it, but not unless by Faith in him we apply to us, what he by his Death hath purchas'd for us; for, tho' merited for us, with­out any Qualification in us, it will not be conferr'd upon us, without an Ap­plication by us; the Blessing of Peace, is the Blessing of Faith in Christ, who as a Prophet published it, as a Priest purchased it, and as a King applies it to none but them (and to all them) that believe in him.

He died to merit it, and ever lives to maintain it; by him they have a right to it, and by Faith in him the possession of it.

3. Our Duties are accepted.

In the first Covenant, the Person was accepted for the Work's sake: In the Second, the Work is for the Per­son's Ephes. 1. 6. sake, viz. accepted in Christ.

Until our Persons are accepted, we are Enemies, Objects of Wrath, and appear before God as an incensed Judg upon the Seat of Justice, we stand at a Exod. 24. 1. distance, and worship (as the Elders of Israel) afar off, with Fear; but when they are accepted, we come to him as a reconciled Father, upon a Ephes. 3. 12. Heb. 10. 22. Throne of Grace, and may come in the full Assurance of Faith with bold­ness: by Faith our Persons are accep­ted, and by the same Faith our Works are; Faith justifies our Persons, Works justify our Faith, and Faith sanctifies our Works; they shew our Faith to 1 Pet. [...]. 2. Splendida pec­cata, omnis vir­tus abs (que) Chri­sto vitium. be good, and Faith makes them so, for they are all but splendid Sins without it, viz. without Faith looking to the Command as the ground of them, to the Promise as the encouragement to them, to God's Glory as the end of them, to the Spirit for assistance in them, and to Christ for the acceptance of them; the Law as a Rule directs, [Page 38] the Promise quickens, the End excites, the Spirit assists, and Christ presents, but not unless they are by Faith offer'd up in his Name, in whose strength all our Duties are to be perform'd, and for whose sake alone they are accep­ted. 1 Pet. 2. 5.

There is no pleasing God meritoriously without Christ, nor instrumentally without Faith in him, without whom the best Duty and worst Sin are both alike.

4. We have an Interest in the Pro­mises.

The Promises run for this Life, and that to come, (an Entail that can ne­ver be cut off) and are all as so many Bonds and Bills under God's Hand, ei­ther Explicitly or Implicitly made over to Faith. None are ours until we be­lieve, nor any that are not when we do; for if Christ is ours, all are ours. [...] Co [...]. 3. 23.

The Rabbins suppose, that Abraham's [...]en. 24. 10 Servant (when sent to get a Wife for his Son Isaac) carried with him Tesseram hospitalem, wherein was written the Promise of the Messiah, as being that [Page 39] which was Abraham's Riches, and Isaac's Dowry for Rebekah; and it is the Hap­piness of Believers, that all the Pro­mises (which are in Christ their Head, Yea and Amen, certain and fulfilled) 2 Cor. 1. 20. are theirs; for they are Heirs of the Promise, and by Faith inherit Jam. 2. 5. the Promise; and by inheriting, are rich in Faith, richer than any without it, for they are all but Heirs of Va­nity.

If the Grace of Faith is theirs, the Privileges of Faith are theirs also.

5. We have Victory over all our Enemies.

1. Over Sin in the Guilt and Filth of it.

There was an Altar and a Laver un­der Exod. 30. 28. the Law, the Altar for Sacrificing, the Laver for Washing; one for Guilt, the other for Filth; both typifying the double Benefit by the Death of Christ, who came by Water and Blood; by Blood, to expiate the Guilt of Sin; by Water, to wash away the Filth of it; And by Faith in him we have a relief under all our Fears against both,

(1.) The Guilt of Sin.

Under all the stingings of this fiery Serpent, it brings healing by looking up to Christ (the brazen Serpent) in whose Sides the Sting was left, under all the guilty Aggravations of it, which cause the Soul to swoon, it fetches a Vertue from his Blood, (that expiated the Guilt, and appeas'd the Wrath due Ephes. 1. 7. to it) which as a reviving Cordial brings it to life again: I had fainted, Psal. 27. 13. unless I had believed.

Under all the Accusations of the Law, it causes it to triumph in him, in whose Condemnation, its damning Sentence was repeal'd; in whose Death, its killing Power was destroy'd; by whose Blood, the Hand-writing of Or­dinances that was against us, (more terrible than that upon the Wall of Dan. 5. 5. Col. 2. 14. Belshazzar's Pallace) was blotted out, so as never to be read more; and re­moves all fear from under its Arrests, by going to him, the Surety of the New Testament; not only as one able to discharge the Debt, and passing his Word for it, but as one that has made Heb. 7. 22. Rom. 8. 34. full paiment of it.

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that has died.

(2.) The Filth of Sin.

Our Sanctification is God's Will; 1 Thess. 4. 3. part of his Covenant-will, and part of Christ's Purchase, (for he died to re­deem from Sin) and a Fruit of his cleansing Blood, and by Faith in this Blood we are delivered from the Power of Sin, as well as the Guilt; from the Guilt by the Value of it, and from the Power by the Vertue of it.

There is a healing Vertue in Christ's Blood, to dry up the bloody Issue of Sin; for it pacifies by the Merit, and purifies by the Efficacy of it.

2. Over the Devil.

The Devil, the strong Man, the Prince and God of this World; an Enemy terrible to afright, and strong to hurt, bloody and cruel, seeking to devour, and fighting to destroy; an unequal Match for us, an Enemy too strong for us of our selves to contend with; was, by Christ the Captain of [Page 42] our Salvation fought upon the Cross, (the higher Ground) and overcome; the God of Heaven cast down this God of the World, and brought him under his Feet: He has conquer'd this Conqueror, and led this captivating Enemy captive; and by Faith in him, we share in this Conquest; and by Faith alone in him it is that we stand, and make good our Ground against him in our Spiritual Warfare: He was slain (viz. in his Power, not in his Person) by Christ our Head, who fought him in his own Person, and got the Day: His Weapons are taken a­way, Quoad judicia­lem potestatem, non quoad exer­citium. his Force enfeebled, and his Power crush'd; his Empire broken down, his Authority taken from him, and his Policies defeated, (for he is wounded in the Head); but yet he remains as our Enemy still, he is not tro­den under our Feet, tho' he is under Christ's: he shall shortly, when all Christ's Enemies are made his Footstool, then he shall be under our feet, but not till then; it will not be long before God (as the Apostle says) will bruise Rom. 16. 20. him under our feet, but till then he shall bruise our Heel, (not the Heart, [Page 43] but Heel, the farthest part from the Head and Heart); touch us he may, but not with a deadly touch; to try us, but not so as to destroy us; he is no Tactu qualita­tivo. [...]. more the Leo vorans, and Draco terri­bilis, but yet he has some Teeth left, some strength to oppose, some strength as an Enemy, but no great strength, for he is an Enemy in Chains, a captiv'd Enemy; an Enemy, but not so cow­ardly as not to assault us, nor yet so couragious as not to flee from us, but not Jam. 4. 7. unless resisted: Without resisting there is no conquering, and without Faith there is no resisting; this Lion will flee at the sight of the Fire of Faith, and the force of all his Darts will be re­pell'd by this Shield, for it is Metal of Proof. The Shield cover'd the Armour, as well as the Body; and the Shield of Faith, is not only our Armour, but the Armour of all our Armour, the Heb. 11. 34. Strength of all our Graces, and the Grace in which our principal strength consists; they waxed valiant in Fight by Faith, and according to the strength or weakness of it, we shall be more or less valiant in Fight, and victorious 2 Cor. 1. 24. 1 Pet. 5. 9. by it.

By Faith we stand; and if by Faith we stand, the Devil will either flee, or fall before us.

3. Over the World, in the Good and Evil Things of it.

1. The Good Things.

Tho' these things in themselves are not evil, yet they many times prove so: they are no Enemies to us, yet through the Corruption within, and the Devil from without, they become Materials of Lust, and war against us; he gets into these, and by them into us, (as he did into our first Parents) and over­comes us; but by Faith we are antido­ted against this Poison of the Serpent; for through Faith we understand by Heb. 11. 3. whom the World was framed, and how, and by Faith we understand what the things of the World are, viz.

That they are all Vanity, and as such Eccles. 12. 1. not much worth our seeking: For,

Things that are vain and empty, can­not make us happy whilst we have [Page 45] them, nor miserable if we have them not.

That they are but common Blessings, Eccles. 9. 12. the Gifts of common Bounty to Good and Bad, may be given in Hatred, and with-held in Love.

Since therefore they are no Signs of God's Love, they deserve but little of ours.

That they will rather hinder than further us in our Christian Race, di­sturb us in our way to Heaven, and Mark 10. 23. make the entrance into it difficult:

And therefore better lost than found.

That they are good in their kind, but not the best things; that it will be our happiness to live above them, and our greatest delight not to delight in them.

Martha's Work was good, but Mary's was better.

That it is sometimes necessary to want them, and therefore never neces­sary inordinately to love them: For,

In things of which there is no absolute necessity, there is no great reality.

That inordinate Love to them is in­consistent 1 John 2. 15. with Love to God, his to us, and ours to him, for they are to be lov'd only in him, and for him.

Him we cannot love too much, nor these too little.

That they will be but of little use (and that to our Bodies only) while we live, and avail us nothing when we come to die; it will then not signify any thing, whether we fall under a great or small title, die rich or poor as to this World, so we die rich in Faith.

All these died in the Faith. Heb. 11. 13.

That the continuance of them is but Quae diuturna esse non possunt, habent diutur­num tormentum. short, but the abuse of them will eter­nally torment.

Therefore it is better to be without them, than to be made miserable by them.

That Riches may be found in Pover­ty, Affatim dives, qui cum Christo pauper. and Fulness in Wants; enough without them, and more than they have in a Crucified Saviour, who is virtually all.

A poor Believer, is as great a contra­diction as a dark Sun.

Thus, Faith brings down the Market of worldly Things, and lessens them in our esteem; for as things appear to be, so they are esteemed; it draws a Cloud over this earthly Tabernacle, and eclip­ses the Glory of it, or rather shews that it has none; condemns the folly of all that think not so, and shews how much it concerns them that by Faith Gal. 2. 20. are crucified to the World, neither in­satiably to lust after the things of it, nor inordinately to love them, nor through discontent to complain for the want of them.

It is as much our Duty by Faith to mo­derate [Page 48] our Affections to what we have, as it is to depend upon God for a supply of what we want.

2. The Evil Things of it.

The Anchor is of most use in a Storm, the Shield in a day of Battel, and Faith in a time of Suffering: Pe­ter sunk in his Faith, before he sunk in the Waters; but Jonah when under the Waters in the Belly of Hell, was Jonah 2. 3▪ 4. supported by it; and the Primitive Christians were at ease when tortur'd, at liberty when captiv'd, Conquerors whilst subdu'd, and out of weakness were made strong through Faith, bear­ing Heb. 11. 34. God's Trials with God's Strength; and so may all when suffering, for by this we know,

That no afflictive Evil comes by chance. God, as the Efficient, orders and dispo­ses them.

That Suffering is part of a Christian's Work, as well as Doing.

They must not run to it before they are call'd, nor from it when they are.

That all our Sufferings are nothing to Christ's, the Cross not so heavy, nor the Cup so bitter; for,

We taste Love, where he did Wrath.

That our Sufferings (when right, for Cause, Manner, and End) are Christ's as well as ours, viz. for his sake, and such as he is sensible of.

As God, he knows them, and as Man, is sensible of them, and (quantum sufficit) suffers in them.

That in all our Sufferings, Christ is with us; when Troubles are nigh, he is nigh, not only as a Sufferer, but as a Comforter.

Israel had a greater Light by Night Exod. 13. 21▪ than by Day.

That the heaviest Sufferings are but light, and the longest but short; they may lie heavy, but shall not lie long; the Rod may fall on us, but shall not Psal. 125. 3. rest there.

The Viper shall be shaken off.

That all our Sufferings are attended with a good Issue.

The Cup is perfum'd by Christ's Lips, who drank it off; and the Cross sanctified by him who died upon it, and shall sooner or later work for Rom. 8. 28. good. All that suffered for him, had ever a good issue in the end.

That Suffering comes within the Re­ward, as well as Doing: Christ's Crown of Thorns, was an Earnest of his Crown of Glory, and his suffering Mountain, was his ascending Moun­tain to it; and they that suffer with him, are assured by the Promise (to which Faith has an eye) that they shall Rom. 8. 17. reign with him also.

The Cross shall be crown'd.

Christ overcame the World, it was John 16. 33. 1 John 5. 45. conquer'd by him, and by us in him; for by Faith in him, we have a perfect Victory over it, in the Good and Evil Things, the Smiles and Frowns, Ho­nours and Reproaches, Gains and Losses, Joys and Sorrows of it; for by this we are carried above the Hopes, [Page 51] and fortified against the Fears of any thing from it.

They that neither hope for any thing Nec spe, nec metu. from the World, nor fear any thing, have overcome the World.

4. Over Death, the last (but not the least) Enemy. When Adam sinn'd, Death took hold of him, and of us in him; he could never get free from that Enemy, tho' it was long before he fell by his Hands: Nor can we, for we are all under the Sentence of Death, (ap­pointed Heb. 9. 17. to die) and must e're long fall by it, for it is a Sentence not to be re­verst; Death will triumph over our Vita moriens conflixit cum vi­vente morte, non quem mors fecit, sed quo mors fa­cta est, peccato morimur, non morte peccamus. Aug. Bodies, but by Faith in Christ we may triumph over Death, have help at a dead lift from him, who fought this King of Terrors, and by his Death took away the Sting of it, by his Resurrecti­on the Strength of it, and by his As­cension the Hope of it, ever to con­quer Gratias tibi a­gimus, Christe salvator, quod tam potentem adversarium dum occidiris, occidisti. Hierom. or prevail more; he has weaken'd its fatal Power, rescued us from its Do­minion, and made us Heirs of Life, which by Faith we have a Title to, [Page 52] and by Death a Way made into the pos­session of.

By Christ Death's Sting (the Weapon 1 Cor. 15. 56. by which it kills) is pull'd out, and the bitterness of Death is past.

Thus Faith in a crucified Saviour, is the spoil of all our Enemies, (whose Arrows have been sharp in their Hearts) Psal. 45. 5. and affords a strength against them, be­yond what all the Angels in Heaven, or Men upon Earth can do.

When the Israelites saw their Ene­mies (the Egyptians) dead on the Sea-shore, they sang a Song of Praise unto Exod. 14. 30. 15. 1, 6. God, whose right Hand became glori­ous in Power, and dash'd in pieces their Enemies; and by Faith in Christ, all that are terrified by the Law, assaulted by the Devil, haunted by Sin, tempted by the World, and through fear of Death subject to Bondage, beholding the Conquest over these Enemies, may triumph, and bid defiance to them all: The Curse of the Law is abolish'd, by Heb. 2. 15. Rom. 8. 3. 6. 6. the Satisfaction made by Christ to Di­vine Justice; Sin is condemn'd in the [Page 53] Flesh by him, the Sacrifice for it, and Crucified with him; the Devil, the Prince of this World, is judg'd and cast out by him; the World is conquer'd, John 12. 31. 16. 11, 33. and Death vanquish'd in his Victory over them.

Let us then triumph in our Victory, and give thanks unto God, who through Christ has given us Victory.

The Devil is a captiv'd damned Ene­my: his Captives are ransom'd, redeem'd, rescued out of his hands, and he himself become Captive; rage he may, (for that is part of his torment) but rule he shall not, for greater is he that is in 1 John 4. 4. Rom. 12. 10. us, than he that is in the World: he may accuse, (and he will) but his Charge shall be made void, and all his Accusations answered by Christ, who ever lives to plead, either our Innocen­cy, or our Pardon.

The Law that was Sin's strength, 1 Cor. 15. 56. (not as encouraging to Sin, but as condemning for it) is now become weak; for its killing damning Power Rom. 8. 1, 3. Gal. 3. 13. is taken away by the Virtue of the Cross.

Sin, that was once a living, reigning, conquering Enemy, is now subdu'd; as a routed Enemy, it may rally again, but shall never conquer, (Sin shall not have dominion) for, it is a Body of Death, it has receiv'd its death's Wound Rom 6. 14. 7. 24, 25. by the Power of the Cross, and shall e're long give up the Ghost.

Death is unstung, it is swallowed up in Victory, the Power of the Grave is weakned; Death, that Destroyer, is destroy'd; we must fall by its hand, but shall rise again; it will end our 1 Cor. 15. 53, 55, 56, 57. Mortality, but not our Life, for this Mortal shall put on Immortality.

We must be Prisoners in the Grave for a time, but we shall not be perpe­tual Prisoners; Christ, who broke the Bars of that Prison, will redeem us from the Power of Grave, the time of Psal. 49. 15. Isa. 16. 19. Ezek. 37. 5, 12. Redemption for our Bodies will come; our dead Bodies shall rise, our dry Bones shall live again, the Graves shall be opened, the Captives redeem'd, and then Destructions shall come to a per­petual [Page 55] End, for we shall live and never die more.

Awake and sing, all ye that dwell in the Dust.

The Devil is captiv'd, the Law is si­lenc'd, Sin is condemn'd, the World is conquer'd, and Death destroy'd, Who can hurt us? What need we fear? they are all conquer'd Enemies, and the Conqueror is ours, thanks be to God who has given us Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, and always causeth us to triumph in him through Rom. 8. 37. [...]. Over-over-comers. whom we are over all these more than Conquerors.

The Warfare of Faith ends in Victory, and the Victory must be crown'd with Triumph.

Of the Inseparable Evidences of FAITH.

All have not Faith; some have not 2 Thess. 3. 2. the Faith of Assent, and therefore cannot have the Faith of Adherence; some think they have a Faith of Evi­dence and Assurance, who have not attained to a Faith of Adherence and Dependance; and some have Faith in the Habit, but little or none in the Act or Exercise, (How is it that ye have no Mark 4. 40. Faith!) and by reason of it, walk as uncomfortably as if they had none; it concerns us therefore to examine whe­ther we are in the Faith, and the Faith 2 Cor. 13. 5. in us; and what that Faith is, whether a General, or a Particular and an Ap­propriating Faith; a Temporary and Perishing, or a Sound and Lasting one; Col. 2. 12. a Faith of the Operation of God, or of the Devil; Holy or Unholy, Feigned or Unfeigned, Dead or Alive, Com­mon and Ordinary, or Special and Sa­ving, the Faith of Reprobates or of God's Elect, that Faith which they, Jude [...]0. 2 Tim. 1. 5. Jam. 2. 26. Titus 1. 1 [...] and none but they have, and which [Page 57] all of them have, and never can lose.

The Acts of Faith for a time may cease, but the Habit abides.

Faith,

• 1. Arises from a sense of misery out of Christ.
• 2. Begets a Superlative Love to Christ.
• 3. Is fruitful in good Works.
• 4. Is accompanied with Holiness.

1. It arises from a sense of Misery out of Christ.

Spiritual Poverty is the nearest capa­city of believing; for, Faith is the Act of a weary, heavy-laden, distressed, undone, self-condemned Sinner, going out to Christ for Rest, Life, and Sal­vation. Humiliation is not Faith, (no more than the preorgination of the Body is the Soul) but a disposition to it; going to Christ without it, is build­ing without a Foundation; resting in it without going to Christ, is laying a Foundation without building upon it: a House without a Foundation, will be of little use; a Foundation without [Page 58] the superstructure, will be of no use. Without Humiliation, Faith is as a House without a Foundation; and without Christ, it will, as a rotten Foundation, break under us; there is nothing to warrant or encourage our going to Christ before we are humbled, for we go before we are call'd, nor any thing to assure Salvation to us, if we do not go when we are; that, without him, cannot help us; he, with­out that, will not; for, we must be lost, sick, and damn'd in our own sense and apprehension, before he will seek, heal, or save us.

A Faith of Education, is a Weed of Infidelis fiducia. Presumption that grows in common Ground. Saving Faith is a Plant of Renown, growing upon the brink of the Infernal Pit: that (like self-grown Corn) will wither and come Ps. 92 13, 14. Mat. 15. 13. Jam. 3. 18. to nothing; this will flourish: that begins in Presumption, and ends in Despair; this begins in Despair, (viz. of our selves) and will end in Comfort.

2. It begets Superlative Love to Christ.

Christ, as consider'd in the Glory and Comeliness of his Person, the Gra­ces and Perfections of his Nature, and the great Offices he was anointed to, viz. of a King above all Kings, (in Order, Power, and Authority) of a Priest above all Priests, (in Nature, Compassion, Sacrifice & Merit) of a Pro­phet above all Prophets (in Primacy, Infallibility, and Efficacy) is beyond all compare; there is nothing in him but what is lovely, nor any thing lovely, but is eminently in him; he is fairer than the Children of Men, yea, than all the Angels and Saints in the highest Heavens; more full of Beauty than the Sun or Morning-Star, the Bright­ness Heb. 1. 3. of his Father's Glory; his first and best-beloved; the Joy and Delight of the Saints in Heaven, 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. [Page 60] 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.

Ʋnfeigned 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 Na­Nature; 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 Indi [...]iduus vir­tutum comitatus says) inseparably connected, and so are Divine Graces too, (the Fruits of [Page 63] 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.

Of the Nature of Repentance.

REpentance,

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 [Page 76] 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.

[Page 77]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 [Page 78] 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 [Page 79] 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 [Page 80] the Wrath due to it: for tho' Sin is J [...]. 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. [Page 82] 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 [Page 83] 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, [Page 84] 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 [Page 85] 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 2.1 [...]. 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, [Page 87] 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 p [...] ­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 [Page 88] 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. [...]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: for, (as Clemens his Scholar says) whilst he liv'd, upon the hear­ing of a Cock crow, he wept.

His Faith was great, when he threw himself into the Sea to go to Christ; but his Sorrow was greater, when he threw himself into a Sea of his own Tears for sinning against him. Once he was nothing but words, (tho' all be Mat. 26. 33. offended, yet will I never be offended) but then he was nothing but Tears; the remembrance of his Sin was bitter, and so was his Sorrow, for he wept bit­terly; and so must all that are true Penitents, rising up, and lying down, Mat. 26. ult. Psal. 38. 6. with mournful Confessions of Sin, and with inward, hearty, and daily sorrow for it.

Ever fearing lest they should Sin, and Semper in timo­re, semper in do­lore. ever sorrowing because they have.

The Heathen wish'd that he might ever laugh; but instead of wishing one another much Joy, we may better (for justly) wish one another much Sorrow; [Page 92] we have been impudent in sinning, and must be humble in sorrowing for it; we cannot be found in Innocency, it is fit therefore we should be found in Tears: We cannot (with the Purifier under the Law) offer up a Lamb of Inno­cency, we must therefore a pair of mournful Turtles, it being all the a­mends we can make for our sinning, the best way we can testify our Love to Christ, (who shed Blood as well as Tears for our Sins) and the most ac­ceptable Sacrifice we can offer unto God, who has an Eye, an Ear, and a Bottle for our Tears.

An Eye.

Tears blot our Book, but they are Isa. 38. 5. written in God's, he sees them, and takes notice of them.

An Ear. Mutae sunt, & loquuntur, dear­sum cadunt, & sursum petunt, ponders vocis habent.

Sighs and Tears are the Rhetorick of an humbled Heart; they are words, they descend, and yet as­cend; they are dumb, and yet speak, and God hears their Voice. Psal. 6. 8.

A Bottle.

Tears of godly Sorrow are Angels Lachrymae poe­nitentium ange­lorum vinum. Bern. Wine; and none of that noble Liquor shall be lost, nor fall to the Ground: For, Christ the Sun of Righteousness will exhale them, God will bottle them up, and the Spirit the Comforter will turn them (as Christ did the Water) into Wine: For,

They that mourn (and they only) Mat. 5. 4. shall be comforted.

Since then God has an Eye for our Tears, let our Eyes be daily filled with them: since he has an Ear for them, let the Voice of our weeping go daily up into it, to drown the cry of our Sins, Gen. 18. 20, 21. that is great, and gone up to Heaven: and since he has a Bottle for them, let Job 14. 17. us who have filled his Bag with our Sins, fill his Bottle with our Tears, pouring out floods of Tears, for those floods of Sins we have poured down.

Musick on the Water, and Repen­tance with Tears, are ever most plea­sant.

3. Hatred to Sin.

Contrition, if true, rises up to De­testation, [Page 94] and then Detestation is Psal. 97. 10. Rom. 12. 9 right,

1. When it is to Sin, as Sin.

To the Intrinsecal Evil, more than the Extrinsecal, the Evil of Sin more than the Evil of Punishment; the Filth, more than the Guilt; and the defiling, more than the damning Nature of it; not only because of Hell, but worse than Hell; more to the Hell that is in it, than the Hell that comes by it.

2. When Universal.

Anger is against Individuals, but Ha­tred [...]. is to the whole kind; and if right here, it is to all Sin, and espe­cially to the Sin that once we loved most.

3. When implacable.

We never hate Sin truly, unless we hate it to the Death.

Some are angry with Sin, (when it has impair'd their Credit in the World, and made a breach upon their Peace within) but are soon pleased with it again, (for Anger is a mixt Passion) [Page 95] and cease from the Act of Sin for a time, and yet love it; but hatred to Sin, if right, is irreconcileable.

A thing that is poison'd we pity, but a thing that is poisonous we hate; the Serpent is hated above all Creatures, and of all, and so must Sin (of a far more venemous Nature) be hated by us.

The Israelites hated every Canaanite.

4. Departure from Sin.

Humiliation, if right, leads to, and issues in Reformation.

Repentance consists of two parts, viz. Aversion from Sin, and Conversi­on to God.

1. Aversion from Sin.

Repentance is a Covenant-Engage­ment against Sin, in the use of all means to keep that Covenant.

And is then right,

When Universal, viz. from all Sin; for­saking gross Sins, and bewailing una­voidable Infirmities.

Hypocrisy turns from some Sins, or from one Sin to another; true Re­pentance departs from all.

When perpetual.

True Repentance sues out a Bill of Divorce, with a resolution never to return to folly more.

When out of hatred to it.

We may cease from the Act of Sin, while we love it; indulge the Lust, even then when we deny the Act; and hate the evil Consequence of Sin, and yet never hate the Evil in it: but as no hatred to Sin is right, unless it is to the Evil that is in it; so no departure from it neither, unless it arises from a hatred to it.

When a Traveller changes his way, it is out of dislike.

2. Conversion to God, from whom, and against whom we have turn'd by Hos. 6. 1. Isa. 1. 16, 17. Titus 2. 12. 1 Pet. 2. 11, 12. Rom. 8 1, 13. 1 Thess. 1 9. Sin.

Ceasing to do Evil, is not a learning to do well; nor departing from Evil, a doing Good: nor is it enough to de­ny Ungodliness, unless we live godly; not to walk after the Flesh, unless we walk after the Spirit; to cease to bring forth the Fruits of the Flesh, unless we bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit, [Page 97] (Fruits meet for Repentance); nor that Mat. 3. 8. we turn from Sin, (for we never truly repent) unless we turn to God; nor turn to God truly, unless universal­ly, viz.

In all the ways of Righteousness and Holiness.

Perpetually, Optima poeni­tentia nova vita.

Wholly and for ever.

To him we cannot in this Life fully turn, and therefore must daily so to him, as never (willingly) to turn from him.

Once, is above any Indulgence granted.

Of the Danger of delaying Re­pentance.

SOme reject Repentance as a legal and needless thing; some counter­feit and dissemble it; some mistake it, but most neglect and delay it. Mistakes and Delays are two great Impediments to it; yet more delay, than refuse it. Our Passage to Heaven is dangerous, we either split on the Rock of Pre­sumption, [Page 98] or fall into the Gulph of Despair; and all Delays are grounded, either on Despair, or Presumption.

1st, Despair; which arises,

Either from a sense of Sin's Greatness as Impardonable; or a fear of the loss of time as Irrevocable.

1. From a sense of Sin's Greatness as Impardonable.

The great Policy of the Devil is, (as one says) either to enlarge God's Mercy above the Bounds of the Law, or his Justice above the Bounds of the Gospel; he either presents God's Mer­cy in a false Glass, to make Sinners pre­sume, or his Justice to bring them to despair, (and he is better able to do this than the other: for, he feels and knows what his Justice is, but shall ne­ver so know the other); before Sin is committed, he tells them it is little, and will easily be pardon'd; but when com­mitted, then it is great, too great for Pardon; and tho' he is the Father of Lies, they give credit to him, and con­clude, that their Sins, their many and great Sins, will never be pardon'd, at least not so freely, or upon such easy [Page 99] tearms as (to Naaman, Go wash and be clean) repent and be sav'd. A great hinderance to the Work of Repen­tance; but may be remov'd by a serious consideration;

• (1.) Of God's Mercy.
• (2.) Of Christ's Merit.

(1.) Of God's Mercy.

The Sanctuary of Distressed, the Balm of Wounded, the Refuge of Burden'd, the Cordial of Fainting, the Hope of Living, the Joy and Reviving of dying Sinners: Manifold as to Kind, and A­bundant 1 Pet. 1. 3. Isa. 55. 7. as to Degree; abundant Mer­cy that can abundantly pardon, not some Sins only, small and few, but all; therefore, when Sin abounds in their sense and feeling, they should easily be drawn by these Cords of Mercy to the In misericordia divina, divina omnipotentia. God of Mercy, whose Mercy is above all his Works, and ours too.

Infinite Mercy knows no bounds.

(2.) Christ's Merit.

The Sun can dispel thick Clouds, as well as thin Vapours; and Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, can scatter mul­tiplied Sins, that make Heaven look black upon us; many, as well as few, [Page 100] and great, as easily as small: for, there are as great Dimensions in his Me­rit, as there are in Sin; yea, grea­ter, for they are incomprehensible, and cannot be measured; the least Sin re­quires as much, the greatest needs no more; one Sin is mortal without it, but none, no not all, if interested in it; therefore the greatness of Sin should ra­ther send us to him, than from him. That we may be so,

We must be great Sinners, either as to act, or sense, before he will appear as a Saviour to us.

2. From a fear of the loss of Time as Irrevocable.

The Devil tells none, that it is not their Duty to repent, (tho' some he does, that it will be to no purpose if they do) but that it is not absolutely necessary in such a limited time; here­after will do as well as now; soft and fair will go far; they may indulge themselves in Sin a little longer, and repent at last; a little more folding of the hands to sleep, before they stretch Prov. 6. 10. them out to Heaven for Mercy; a lit­tle more slumber, and sleep, before [Page 101] they awake to Righteousness: and here­by lulls many so fast asleep in Sin, that they never awake; first, he tells them there is time enough, and then that there is none; first, there is more time to come, (many Years said the Fool) and then time is past; first, it is too soon, and then too late: and as he suggests, so those he has deluded be­lieve, and conclude their Case to be desperate, which they should not: for, tho' our Times are in God's Hands, (both of Nature and Grace, for this Life and a better) all Times are not a­like to all; some may, and do out-live their Time; and a sad Judgment it is (a Hell upon Earth) when it is so; yet it cannot be known to any, either of themselves or others; for it is a Secret Arcanum Impo­rii. Mat. 25. 10. known to none but God: Where the Gospel is Preach'd, a Door of Hope is set open to all; but when it is shut to any particular Person, none can know, and therefore of dangerous Conse­quence for any to conclude it, yea, groundless and irrational too: for, tho' the longer the Season of Grace has con­tinu'd, the more Mercy is heightned on God's part, and Sin aggravated on the [Page 102] Sinners; yet so long as they have a Heart, or a Will to repent, their Time is not past, God is willing if they are willing; for, he waits to be graci­ous. Isa. 30. 18.

There were never any that in a sinking condition (with Peter) cried hear­tily out to him, but he stretched out his hand of Mercy, and saved them.

2ly, Presumption is grounded; ei­ther,

On the Length of God's Patience, the Greatness of God's Mercy, the Hope of long Life, the Power of Repenting at pleasure; or the Examples of those that found Mercy upon a late Repen­tance.

1. The length of God's Patience.

Presumptuous Sinners look on Sin, not as it is in it self, but as wrapt up in the gild of God's Patience; and be­cause Sentence against their evil Works is not speedily executed, nor they de­stroy'd (as Zimri and Cosbi) in their Eecles 8. 21. Numb. 25. 6, 7, 8. Sins, their Hearts are set in them to do wickedly; not considering that the End of his Patience was to make them, [Page 103] not Petulant, but Penitent; and that therefore,

When God is patient that they might repent, they sin the more if they do not repent, because he is patient.

2. The Greatness of God's Mercy.

Presumptuous Sinners behold God, not in his Justice, but in his Mercy on­ly; they see nothing but Mercy in God, but in their Imaginations only it is, if any where so; for he is just as well as merciful: It is true, he is abun­dant in Mercy, but he is not all Mercy, nor any of it will he shew to them that continue in sin, but to them only that repent, and turn from it; Mercy is but one Attribute in God, and we de­ny him to be God, if we deny his Ju­stice; and God must deny himself in his Truth, if such be pardon'd, which he will never do; for he pardons none but in a way of Justice, as well as Mercy.

It is folly to think God is Cruel, if Just, and a high affront to him; for if not Just, he is not God, viz. as just to punish the Presumptuous, as merciful to pardon the Penitent.

3. The Hope of long Life.

The Young look on themselves as growing up to Strength, and going for­ward to Time. The Middle-aged say, They find no decay in their Strength, they are as sound and strong as ever. The Old or Aged, think not their strength so far weakned or abated, but that they may live longer, (if but one in a Town or Family live to old Age, they think they shall do so too) and make long Life, which is in it self a Blessing, and should be a Motive to a speedy Repentance, an Argument a­gainst it, deferring the Work when call'd to it; as Antipater (with his [...]) when a Treatise of Happi­ness was offer'd to him. Antigonus his [...] in the future; or as Foelix put off Paul to a more convenient time, (tho' we read not that ever that time Acts 24. 25. came) and linger with Lot, as unwil­ling to come out of Sodom: So that unless God be merciful to them, (as he was to him) and by his Omnipotent Power rescue them from their state of Sin and Misery, they are like to perish in it.

To pray against sudden Death, and Bp Ʋsher. [Page 105] not to prepare for it, is to add con­tempt to presumption.

4. A Power to repent at pleasure.

Presumptuous Sinners look on Re­pentance as a thing within their reach, and that which they can come at when they please; but it is not, for it is God's Gift, that which he must give to Acts 5. 31. us, before we can offer it up to him; and that we may, we must receive it when offer'd; for it is not in the Power of any to receive that when they will, that they must only and freely receive from another.

Free Gifts must be taken when the Do­nor (and not when the Receiver) will.

5. Examples of those that found Mercy upon late Repentance.

Despairing Sinners (as is usually said) will not take a thousand for one; for if but one of a thousand miscarry, they presently conclude they shall be the next: but presumptuous Sinners encourage themselves by one of a thou­sand; for if but one of a thousand re­pent at last, they conclude they shall [Page 106] do so too: but it is prodigious folly for any to think so, and the next way to their ruin to presume upon it: In that,

Such Instances only shew what God can do, not what he will.

How great the folly of such Pre­sumptions; how absurd and irrational such Conclusions from these Premises are, will appear by considering,

That present Repentance,

• 1. Is the best for Ease.
• 2. Is the best for Acceptance.
• 3. Is the best for Safety.
• 4. That singular Examples consti­tute no general Rule.

Life is the only Time for Repen­tance, and the present Time the best.

Life is the only Time.

The Day of Grace may continue as long as the day of Life, and may end before it; but it ever ends with it; when the Sun of our Life sets, that Eccles. 9. 10. Isa. 38. 18. more glorious Sun sets as to us too: Repentance is not a Doctrine taught in another World, nor a Work to be done by us in the Grave; for it is the Work of the whole Man, and cannot [Page 107] be done when the Soul and Body are parted, the Manicles of Death are to keep the Prisoners of Death in the strong Hold and Prison of the Grave, until the Day of Judgment (the great Assize) come, when a Sentence, either of Absolution or Condemnation, shall pass upon all; then shall the Kingdom be given up to the Father; the Work of Mediation shall cease, and all impe­nitent Sinners shall be put into an un­alterable state of Misery, and set at an irrecoverable distance from God; all means, (both outward and inward) either of doing or receiving Good, shall be taken from them, they shall neither have the grace nor space of Re­pentance, nor any Spirit but the Evil One to torment them, nor any Con­science but a guilty one to accuse them.

There is no Repentance in Hell, but ad Poenas.

Life is the only Time for Repen­tance; and the present Time in Life is the best.

• 1. For Ease.
• 2. For Acceptance.
• 3. For Safety.

1. The best for Ease.

Presumptuous Sinners think they can repent with as much ease, as he who with one dash of his Pensil turn'd a Smile into a Frown; but their Ex­perience upon Trial, will confute their Belief, and shew them to be as much mistaken, as Sampson was, when he Judges 16. 20. went out to shake himself as at other times, when the Philistines were upon him, and God was departed from him: if so easy, why did not Cain and Judas repent? And why do so many com­plain, when dying, that they cannot, and wish that they could?

The sooner a ruinous Building is re­pair'd, the less difficult and chargeable will its Repairs be: The sooner a Dis­ease or Wound is undertaken, the sooner it will be cured; the sooner those Wounds and Breaches made up­on us, and in us by Sin, are under Cure, with far more ease will they be heal'd, than when Sin (as a Disease) is [Page 109] grown upon us with our Years; Jer. 4. 3. 13. 23. the sooner the fallow-Ground of our Heart is plou'd up, the less pains will be required to it, less than when our Hearts by custom in Sin are become hard, like the high-way by constant treading upon it; floods of Tears may, not soften it then, which at first a few might have done; and this partly in reference to Conscience, and partly in reference to Sin.

Partly in reference to Conscience, which by delay grows more blind, hard, Ephes. 4. 18. and deaf.

More blind, and so cannot see Sin.

The older we grow, the dimmer our Sight.

More hard, and so cannot feel Sin. Omne peccatum vilescit consue­tudine, & fit quasi nullum.

Custom in Sin, takes away the sense of it.

More deaf,

And so less able to hear the Call to Repentance, by reason of the clamorous and continued Voice of Sin.

Partly in reference to Sin, which here­by becomes more sweet, multiplied and firm.

More sweet;

And the sweeter Sin is, the more bitter the Repentance will be: For, every Sin is as a drop of Poison into this Cup, which will make it the more bitter to us.

More multiplied: For,

Every Act of Sin adds a Figure to the Sum.

More firm: For,

Every Act of Sin confirms and strengthens the habit of it, and cannot without great difficulty be removed.

Late Repentance is always difficult, and so is early Repentance, but less difficult of the two; for the longer it is deferr'd, there will be more Sins to repent of, and less time to repent in.

2. The best for Acceptance.

The Lawyer says, When no particular Time is exprest, the present Time is meant.

The Grammarian says, The Impera­tive Mood has no Future Tense; and all God's Commands are in praesenti; and so must our Obedience in this, and in all things be; nothing must come be­twixt the Command and Obedi­ence.

It is now (viz. not only the present now of Life, but of Youth, Strength, Acts 17. 30. Health, and of the Spirit's striving with us) that we are commanded to repent, and therefore must (with David) make Psal. 119. 60. haste, and not delay; it is now that we are commanded to mortify our Lusts; therefore must not beg a Reprieve for them, that they may live a little longer in us, but (with Abraham when com­manded to sacrifice Isaac) arise early Gen. 22. 2. and slay them. It is to day that we are call'd to hear God's Voice, and live; therefore must not lie down to Psal. 95. 7, 8. Heb. 3 7, 13. 1 Sam. 34, 10. sleep, nor wait for a second, third, or fourth call, nor stay till are an­swer'd, but arise, and cast away all [Page 112] that may hinder us, (as blind Bartime­us Mark 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 [Page 113] 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 [Page 114] 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 [Page 115] 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 [Page 116] 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. [Page 117] 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 [Page 118] 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 [Page 119] 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, (which many deny); yet that Pa­rable affords no ground of Pre­sumption, Theologia para­bolica non est ar­gumentativa. in that they stood idle for want of Work, not for a want of a Will to work; they were not call'd at the third or sixth Hour, and sTaid till the eleventh, but came as soon as they were call'd, and went to labour, as soon as they were hired: They come early, that come when they are [Page 120] call'd; come when they can; they do a thing early, that do it when they are bid to do it; and they repent early, that repent as soon as they have the means of Repentance; though it be late before they have them: This rather condemns than justifies those that have long enjoy'd the Means of Repentance, and reject them; that have had many Calls, and yet are deaf to them, and refuse to labour, when they are not only hired, but redeem'd, and dearly bought for it: and shews the folly of all that defer their Repentance to the eleventh Hour, who cannot be sure they shall live to the third or sixth; or that (if they do) they shall be call'd to it, have Ears open to listen to the Call, or a Will and a Power to come if they are.

It is the highest Wisdom, to do God's Work in God's Time.

Others conclude a Reason for Pre­sumption, from the Example of the Thief on the Cross, who liv'd a Thief, but died a Saint, and ascended from a Cross to a Crown; but absurdly if,

• The Repentance it self	be all duly consider'd.
  The Time when
  The Person repenting

• The Repentance was Eminent.
• The Time was Extraordinary.
• The Person but One and Alone.

1. The Repentance was Signal and Eminent; as appears,

(1.) In the smallness of the means used; compar'd with what they have, that live under the constant preaching of the Gospel.

(2.) In the speediness of the Work.

It is very probable he never heard of Christ nor Religion before: for, he with his fellow Thief at first rail'd at Christ, (the Thieves also cast the same in Mat. 27. 44. his teeth) so that he believ'd in Christ as soon as he knew him, and repented as soon as he was call'd to it.

(3.) In the wonderful Effects of Luke 23. 40. it, as many, and as great as that condition was capable of: For,

He rebuked his Fellow Thief and Companion in Sin and Suffering. Dost not thou fear God, who art in the same condemnation?

He own'd his own Guilt, became his Luk. [...]3 40, [...] 42. own Judg, condemn'd himself, made good the Evidence, justified and ap­prov'd the Sentence past against him, (we are justly condemn'd, I as well as you, and receive the Reward of our Deeds); he called Christ, Lord, (and this when suffering as a Slave); he [...] 4. Insam [...] [...]gnum servile supplici­um. own'd him as God, for he pray'd to him (Remember me) and this when the Scribes and Pharisees mocked at his Prayers, (Let us see if Elias will come and save him); he believ'd in him for Salvation, and this when the Scribes and Pharisees said he could not save himself, (He saved others, he cannot save himself); he honoured him as the King of Heaven, (Remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom); he proclaim­ed his innocency, (This Man hath done In medio latro­num, tanquam dux & latre­num immanissi­mus. done nothing amiss); and this when he was suffering the death of a Malefactor, numbred among Transgressors, and crucified between them, as if he was the chief of them.

Since then none can imagine that Christ will be so near to them when dying, as he was to this Thief on the Cross; nor that they shall ever do such a publick Act of Honour for him, as he did, (in owning him so o­penly, when the Jews despised him, and his own Disciples forsook him); nor can any way be assur'd that their Repentance at last shall be like his, (which was quick and operative, though not long-liv'd) nor be so ho­nour'd by Christ, as his Repentance was: For, it was crown'd with assu­rance of Heaven, ratified and confir­med by Oath, (Verily I say unto you, To day thou shalt be with me in Para­dise); none should think on the late­ness of his Repentance, to presume or defer theirs; but by its great and glo­rious Effects, be stirred up to a speedy and daily exercise of it.

It is wisdom to do that betimes, that must needs be done; can never be too soon, but may be too late.

2. The Time was Extraordinary.

Not only in that then his Fellow Thief rail'd on him; they that passed [Page 124] by revil'd him; the Priests, Scribes, Elders, and People (that stood be­holding) deriding him; the Souldiers mocked him, and almost all his Friends forsook him, (of his Disciples, but Mat. 27. 39, 40. Luke 23. 35, 36, 37. M [...] 23. 39, 41. [...]. 19. 2 [...], 26. one that we read of; and but four of the Women stood by his Cross, out of Love, and religious Observation); all or any of which, might have prov'd a hindrance to it.

But in that it was a time, when the greatest Act of Mercy that ever was shewn to the world, appear'd, viz. Christ, God-Man dying upon the Cross to save the World, it was no ordina­ry Time, nor no ordinary Mercy; they therefore that presume upon it, may as well expect to see the like occasion and instance of Mercy, viz. Christ again, or another Christ to be crucified, as to think it will suc­ceed well to them, because it did so to him.

To which this also may be added, viz. That this Repentance of the Thief is reckon'd among the Wonders and Miracles that were then wrought, (viz. the rending of the Vail of the Mat 17. 5 [...], 52, 53. L [...] 23. 44, 45 Temple, the rising of the Dead, the [Page 125] rending of the Rocks, and darkning of the Sun); and well it may, for it was a Miracle it self, (without any visi­ble means to work it) a miraculous Mercy wrought, to set forth the Glory of Christ's Divinity, and the Riches of Free Grace, and therefore can be no sure Ground of Hope to any in an ordinary way; for none can with any more Reason dispute,

From a Miracle against Heaven, than from a Monster against Nature.

3. The Person was but One and Alone.

It is an Example without a Promise, (there is a Promise of Mercy to all upon true Repentance, though late, but no Promise of Repentance to any that delay it) and it is an Example without a Precedent too; one single Instance, without a second. Now from an extraordinary to draw an or­dinary Direction; or from one Par­ticular to conclude a General, is as ir­rational, as to think, we may make an Ass speak, because once Balaam's did; that we may throw our selves into the Sea, and not be drown'd; walk in the [Page 126] Fire, and not be burnt, because some that did, were not; that every time 1 King. 17. 46. we are hungry, we shall be fed imme­diatly from Heaven, because Elijah was; that we shall be translated, and not die, because Enoch was; wrapt up into the third Heavens, before we die, because Paul was; or be rais'd to Life, when dead, because Lazarus was; as to find Mercy upon a late Repentance, because this dying Thief did. Who that rightly understand themselves, would venture their Lives in that Phy­sician's Hands, that never cured but one of all that he undertook the cure of; eat of that Food, of which all but one that eat, died; turn Thieves, because one of those many that did, was pardon'd; much less run the ha­zard of a late Repentance from this single Instance, because at the same time there was an Instance of Mercy in him; there was one of Justice in the other: one sav'd, that none should de­spair; and but one, that none should presume.

And yet, how many are there, viz. of the Gentiles, to whom the Cross of this Thief has prov'd a stum­bling-block, [Page 127] (as that of Christ's in 1 Cor. 1. 23. another sense was to the Jews) at which they have stumbled and fal­len into Hell? and this great In­stance of Salvation, through an ill use of it, prov'd an occasion of Dam­nation?

Some through prophaneness, cast off all thoughts of Death and Repen­tance; and some through Presumption, the Thoughts of a sudden Death, and early Repentance.

Some cast off all thoughts of Death. Though they are hourly departing, as fast as the Heavens can turn about, Day and Night, yet think not of it; this day they have no thoughts of it, nor to morrow. They do not say as those Epicures, Let us eat and drink, Isa. 22. 13. for to morrow we shall die, (no more than they did believe it, though they said so); but with them (in St. James) Jam. 4. 13. To morrow we will go into such a City, and continue there a Year; buy, and sell, and get Gain: Or as they, Let us fill Isa. 56. 12. our selves with Wine, and strong Drink; and to Morrow shall be as this Day, and much more abundantly. This Day we [Page 128] live, to morrow we shall live also, and the next day too; and thus in their vain Imaginations dream of an end­less Life here; eke out Time to Eter­nity, and live as if they should never die; or never think their Time is come, until it is almost gone; nor be­lieve themselves Mortal, until Death strikes its Dart into their Hearts, and gives them their mortal Wound.

Some cast off all thoughts of a sud­

Death, and early Repentance.

They know they are Mortal, and such as must die, and may suddenly too, (for some they see die so); but yet hope that they shall die, not by a violent, but natural; not by a sudden, but lingring Death: Upon which they presume, that either they shall not die until they are old, (as if with Achilles they were only mortal in the Heel of their Age); or if they do, that then it shall be by a wasting Disease, that shall give them a sufficient warning to prepare for Death, to go out and meet it half way.

They believe, that unless they re­pent, they shall perish; therefore in­tend [Page 129] to repent before they die, but put it off as the last Work of their Lives: in worldly Matters, they act with Rea­son; Matters of Importance, they dispatch after the best manner, and in the fittest time; they send to a Physi­cian as soon as they are sick; bind up a Wound without delay; sow their Seed in season, (they do not put it off to the time of Harvest); gather in their Fruits when ripe; quench a Fire as soon as it breaks out, (they do not stay to see if it will go out of it self); rise early when to go a long Journey; and desire Security when they lend out their Mony, because they are mortal: But when called to Repent, then they conclude they are immortal, or that they have time e­nough to consider of it, and that here­after may do well enough, and never think of begging Mercy, till they In articulo mortis. have but one breath to fetch: They lie on the River's side, until the Wa­ters are risen so high that there is no passing over; and neglect their Cause, until the Court is risen, and God gone from his Mercy-Seat, with [Page 130] a resolution never to return to it more.

A folly to be bewail'd (if it could be) with Tears of Blood.

They that would have their Wat­ches go true, must set them, not by the Clock, but by the Sun-dial; and they that would walk regularly and safely, must walk, not by Example, but by Rule: for, though Rules in other Arts are from Example, yet here Examples are regulated by Rules.

The Rule we are to be guided by, directs to present Repentance: This Example of the Thief repenting, se­cures none in the neglect of it: for, though he did not repent till he came to die, yet it cannot be prov'd that he did desperately and wittingly put it off till then: Therefore none should defer it to the last moment of Life; nor say of it (as Diogenes of Marri­age when young) That it is too soon; lest they say (as he) when old, That it is too late.

Nor think, that they have time e­nough, lest God leave them, and then [Page 131] they find that Time is past: Nor re­solve that as yet they will not repent, lest God say, They shall not; and they at last, by sad experience, find they cannot; as Hannibal when he wanted a Will to conquer, when he had a Power; and a Power, when he had a Will.

It is better to repent a day too soon, (si modo fiat) than an hour too late.