A TREATISE OF FAITH AND REPENTANCE.  
By Francis Fuller, M. A.  Heb. 11. 6. Without Faith it is impossible to please God, etc. Luke 28. 47. And that Repentance, and Remission of Sins, should be preached in his Name among all Nations, etc. 
LONDON: Printed by J. D. and are to be sold by Jonathan Robinson, at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Churchyard.  
And by Obed Smith, Bookseller in Daventry in Northamptonshire. 1685.   

TO THE Much Honoured, Truly Virtuous and Religious, Mrs MARY GOSLET, At Marsfield in the County of Gloucester.  
MADAM,  
FAITH and REPENTANCE are the necessary Conditions required on our part in order unto Salvation. Most hope for Salvation, but few that expect the benefit of the Covenant, will come up to the Terms of it. Some look upon Repentance as needless, and think to steal out of Sin, and spare the charges of it; most are remiss in it: Many presume they believe, but few understand the Nature of Faith; and fewer live the Life of it. It is your Honour, and will be your Happiness for ever, that you live as understanding the Nature, and believing the Necessity of both.  
Indeed, the Ancient and Honourable Family from which you descend by your Father, and the Noble Family by your Mother, give you a high Place in the Civil Body; but that more Ancient and Noble Family in Heaven, the General-Assembly, and Church of the Firstborn written there, to which by so living you are allied, gives you a higher Place in the Mystical; Your sincere Love to Religion, and unshaken Steadfastness in it, give you an esteem among Wisdom's Children, (the Friends of Religion,) will be your Honour while you live, and your Comfort when you die. It will perfume your Dust, make you live when dead, and give you a possession of that never-fading Honour that God by his Promise has entailed on all those that thus honour him.  
I am sensible how little You are pleased, that I tell You or the World this: But since it is so much your due, I should be unjust if I did not; and no less should I forget those many ways by which You have obliged me to your Service. As a present and public (though not as a sufficient) Testimony of my Gratitude, this is now offered to you. And that the Blessings of Heaven and Earth may descend upon the Honoured Esquire and You; and that as ye are rich in this World, ye may be rich in Faith, that will entitle ye to a better, shall be the sincere and daily desire of  
Your most obliged and humble Servant, F. FULLER.   

TO THE Reader.  
SOLOMON says, There is no new thing under the Sun: But there may be a new Discovery of old Truths, or away found out to make old Truths new: And if that Maxim be true, they are then so, when they beget new Meditation, new Application, and new Conversation: And that this may prove so, by working those things in you, is the desire of  
Your Friend, F. F.   

ERRATA.  
PAge 12. line 12. for Composition, read Compositum. P. 16. l. 23, 24. r. Your Destruction is of yourselves, The help of Salvation is from God. P. 31. l. 1. f. appointed, r. promised. P. (69.) in the Treatise of Self-denial, line 8. r. not that we must not do them, etc. P. 82. l. 14. f. we, r. he P. 88 l. 13. f. the, r. you. P. 131. l. 5. f. when he, r. who.  
These the Author hath taken notice of; the rest, the Reader is entreated to correct or pardon, the Author having not seen all the Sheets, he being remote from the Press.   

ADVERTISEMENTS.  
LAtely published, a Second Volume of Sermons preached by the late Reverend and Learned Thomas Manton, D. D. in two Parts. The first containing 27 Sermons on the 25th Chapter of St. Matthew: 45 on the 17th Chapter of St. John: And 24 on the 6th Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. The second part containing 45 Sermons on the 8th Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans: And 40 on the 5th Chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. With Alphabetical Tables to each Chapter, of the principal Matters contained therein.  
A Practical Exposition of the Lord's Prayer, by the same Author.  
Both sold by Jonathan Robinson, at the Golden-Lion in St. Paul's Churchyard.   

A TREATISE OF FAITH.  
FAITH is sometimes taken for the Doctrine, and sometimes for the Grace of Faith, viz. the Things to be believed, and the Grace by which we believe.  
1. The Doctrine of Faith,  
The Faith that we must first try, 
Fides quae creditur quam credimus. 1 Tim. 6. 2. 1 John 4. 1. 1 Thess. 5. 21.  (viz. by the Infallible Rule, the Word of Faith) then cordially embrace, sincerely obey, zealously contend for, 
Zech. 8. 9 Acts 6. 7. Judas 3. Phil. 1. 27 2 Tim. 4. 7. Heb. 10. 23. 1 Cor. 16. 13. Gal. 6. 10.  faithfully keep, constantly hold fast the profession of, and continue in, standing fast in it, by standing fast to it.  
They that are of the Household of Faith, must be Defenders of the Faith.  
2. The Grace of Faith,  
Considered both as to the habit and 
Fides quâ creditur, quâ credimus. Eph. 3. 12, 17. Gal. 2. 10. Rom 11. 20. 2 Cor. 1. 24. 5. 7. Heb. 11. 6. Ephes. 2. 8. Rom. 3. 28. Acts 26. 18.  exercise of it, the Faith by which we believe, by which Christ dwells in us, and we in him; by which we have access to God, and communion with him; by which we live, stand, and walk; and without which we can neither please God in this World, nor be saved in the World to come.  
This Faith stands fast in all true 
1 Pet. 1. 5.  Believers; God keeps that, and that keeps them.  
1. Faith is necessary in order unto our Justification.  
There was never but two ways to Life, viz. That of the Old Covenant, and this of the New; that by Works, and this by Faith; and both as the Condition, not as the Cause of Life.  
By the first, viz. by the Deeds of 
Rom. 8. 3.  the Law, by reason of its weakness through the Flesh, we cannot have Life: for, we must keep the Law, before we can have Life from it; and satisfy it, before we can be justified by it; neither of which are we able to do, for the Obedience must be perfect, and the Satisfaction infinite.  
By the second, viz. By Faith, we may have Life; not by Works without Faith, nor by Faith without Works; not by Works, lest any should boast, but by Faith, that God may be glorified; by Faith, that it may be by Grace; and by Grace, that it may be 
Ephes. 1. 4. Gal. 4. 4.  of Glory to God, who chose Christ before Time, and in the fullness of Time sent him into the World, with full Authority and Ability to justify the Ungodly (viz. both Jew and Gentile) that were under Sin, and to give Life to them that as dead in Sin, needed Life, and could not give Life to themselves.  
Christ came not of himself on this Errand, but as sent by the Father; he 
Joh. 12. 44, 49.  did not step in as a private Person, nor of himself take this Office upon him, but came as a public Person sent forth from God, his Righteous Servant, (a 
Isa. 53. 11.  Son by Nature, a Servant by Office) to justify many.  
God and Christ, the Father and Son, were one in this Work; and therefore as no Sin dishonours God more than Unbelief, (a Sin that of all he will the least bear with) because it dishonours the Father, by dishonouring the Son, not only as he is of one Nature with the Father, but as one set apart by the Father for this Work: so no Grace honours God more than Faith, nor is there any that he so highly esteems of, in that it gives him the Glory of all those Attributes (viz. the Depth of his Wisdom, the Omnipotency of his Power, the Exactness of his Justice, the Beauty of his Holiness, and Greatness of his Love) that so eminently appeared in this Work, and gives Honour to him, by receiving Christ as sent to accomplish it.  
Faith honours God, as it approves of all that he has done in this great Work, and God honours Faith as set apart by him to receive the benefit by it, by receiving Christ the Author of 
John 1. 12.  it.  
Upon this account it is, that Faith is a Grace of such singular worth and excellency: as a Quality, it has no more worth in it than any other Grace, (in some respects less) but as designed to so 
Manus mendicans.  noble an Office, as that of justifying Sinners before God (which no Grace else is) it has, and is preferred before all, it being as necessary to it (necessitate medii) as Christ himself; he as a Mediator, and Faith as a Means of applying him; for, we are not justified before we believe, nor by any thing but by believing.  
Satisfaction made on Christ's part, is nothing without Application made on ours.  

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 knowledge 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 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 contained 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 quickening 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 itself.  Of running to Christ; 
Which implies 
Isa. 55. 5.  the fervour 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 crowned with Assurance, until it is of some standing: it many times ends in Assurance, but never gins 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 saved) Faith, not Assurance: for, if that was required, than our Sins would be forgiven before we believed; Reprobates would be damned 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 Persuasion, though 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, than none belong to the Household of Faith, but such as are assured; when-as Assurance, though it many times accompanies them, yet it 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 Knowledge; and they as true Members of the Household 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 Inquiries 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 dependence, notwithstanding those Doubts: nothing but perfect Faith casts out all Doubts; and where is it to be found?  
They that never doubted, never believed.  
Then Faith might be lost; for, Assurance may, in that; though some are assured, but not fully, and some fully, yet none immutably.  
Then Damnation would be, not for want of Faith, but of Assurance, which is necessary, not for our Safety, but Comfort only; and Salvation would be by the reflex, and not by the direct Act of Faith, (for, Assurance consists in a reflex Act) contrary to the tenure of the Promise of Salvation made,  
Not to the Act of Assurance, but of Faith; and not to the Degree, but Truth of it.  
They that make Assurance to be Faith, do more than is needful: for,  
Assurance is but a Fruit of Faith, and Faith may be alive without it, (as a Tree may, though for a time without Fruit) though Assurance cannot be without Faith: for,  
God never sets his Seal, where he has not first set his Hand.  
They that make Assent to be Faith, do less than is needful: For,  
Tho Justifying Faith cannot be without General Faith, yet General Faith may be without that: for, it is not a single, but complicated Act; not the single Act of the Understanding, but of the whole Composition; not an Act of the Understanding only, to 
Actus complicatus totius compositi.  know, and believe a Divine Revelation as true, but of the Will also to receive it as good: a Consent as well as an Assent; an Assent of the Understanding, as it gins 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 believed on, nor as tendered by a hand of Love, but as received 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 ourselves 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 called 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 sinned, 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 knowledge of Sin, viz. a knowledge of Gild 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 knowledge of it is necessary, not to merit Mercy, but to dispose to it.  

The Law is the Ministration of Death. 
2 Cor. 3 7.   
The Gospel is the Ministration of Life.   
(3.) By afflicting and wounding, under a sense of Gild 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 Gild 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 yourselves. 
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 shows Misery, as an Indictment shows the Offence, and works Fear; the Gospel, as a Remedy, shows the Disease, and works Faith:  
By discovering,  
1. A remote possibility of Mercy.  
No absolute necessity they should (tho' Sinners) be damned, 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 Universal.  
3. A Suitableness, Fullness, 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, captived, sick, dead, lost, and undone Sinners.  
No Fountain like this Jordan to wash in for Sin and Uncleanness. 
Zech. 13. 1.   
2. A Fullness.  
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 fullness 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 offered in the Gospel, trusting to, and relying upon him for Salvation.  
The Parties concerned, 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 revealed; but when revealed, it is, tho' never so seemingly, impossible.  
The Doctrine of the Scripture, the 
Inititur divinae veritatit anquam Medio. Aquin.  Things revealed in it, are the Object of Faith general; which is no more than a bare Assent to the things revealed 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 designed in all the Promises; He, as considered in his Person, God-Man; He, as dying, expiating Sin by his meritorious death, making a suitable and sufficient Satisfaction to Divine 
Gal. 2. 16, 20.  Justice, suitable as he was Man, and sufficient as he was God; by one, satisfying the Equity; and by the other, the Infiniteness of it.  
The Promises may be a ground of 
Circumferentia Fidei, Verbum Dei; Centrum Fidei, Verbum Deus. Mat. 11. 28.  Faith, but Christ only is the Object of it, to whom we are to come, and in whom we are to believe; they are a Warrant of Encouragement to us in our coming, but he only from whom our help comes; if we do in them our encouragement to it, in him alone our safety by it.  
Nothing could heal the Israelites, 
Numb. 21. 9 John 3. 14, 15. 12. 32.  when stung in the Wilderness by fiery Serpents, but the Brazen Serpent lift up by Moses on a Pole, nor that, unless they looked 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  Virtue in Faith, but from the Virtue 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 considered, but so qualified, viz. sensible Sinners: It is to such only that he does look, and none but such will look to him; He is not offered 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 received, is but a Tender, and not a Gift) nor receive him aright, unless upon Gospel-Terms; his Terms, and not theirs, viz.  

1. Freely.  
2. Sincerely.  
3. Wholly.  
4. Only.   
1. Freely.  
It is not barely a Consent; not in case of Exigency or Extremity only, but an Act of Choice.  
It is not enough that Christ is willing, unless they are so too; for, he will save none, invito genio.  
2. Sincerely.  
They take Christ for himself, whatever for the present they may suffer or lose by it; they do not (with the Scribes) refuse to believe, unless he will come down from the Cross, nor make haste (with Joseph of Arimathea) to take him down and leave the Cross 
Mat. 27. 42. 57 58.  behind, but take him when on the Cross, as well as when on the Throne; when suffering, as well as when reigning; with the Reed in his Hand, as well as the Sceptre; 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 severed from another; but as he was anointed to all, so he is offered 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 offered, not only as Jesus, but as Lord (a Priest upon the Throne) as a 
Zeeh. 6. 12, 13.  Sanctifier and Instructor, 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 Judge to condemn.  
4. Only and for ever.  
Him they choose, accept, and receive, and none but him, whole Christ with their whole Heart; and not for a time only, but for ever.  
The Throne and Bed admit no Rivals; and Christ will be all, or nothing, a Lord for ever, or not at all.  
(1.) Then they are much mistaken in Faith, that think it is no more than a bare believing Christ to be the Saviour of Sinners, without any conformity of their Lives to him.  
To make the Conclusion more than the Premises, is Sophistry; to put Freedom from Sin into the Premises, and Liberty to it into the Conclusion, is the Devil's Logic, (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 offered, and reject the Duties commanded; to pretend to his Righteousness, and contemn his Grace; to trust to his Righteousness, and indulge our own Unrighteousness, is to reject Christ, and not to receive him, or so to receive him, as that we shall never receive any benefit by him, viz.  
No benefit by the Blood of Propitiation, 
1 John 5. 6. Rom. 5. 9  if we cast away the Water of Purification.  
(2.) And as much mistaken are they, that think it an easy thing to believe, it is but believing, they say; and that they think they can do when they please; Let him come down from the 
Mat. 27. 42.  Cross, said the chief Priests and Scribes, and we will believe; but they were much mistaken: for, it lay neither in their Will nor Power to do it, for they were faster bound under Unbelief, than Christ was nailed 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 ourselves.  
(1.) By the Devil;  
Who out of envy to Christ, enmity and malice to Us, raises all the Force and Power of Hell against it: of all our Comforts and Graces, he fights neither against small nor great so much, as against Assurance and Faith, as knowing what a hindrance the want of one will be in Duty, and how destructive the other will be to it; for, what is not 
Rom. 14. 23.  of Faith, is Sin:  
One a Bar to our Peace here, the other to our Safety and Happiness hereafter.  
(2.) By ourselves;  
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 itself: For,  
We are naturally proud, and would do something to merit Salvation.  
To believe, is to abhor ourselves, and to love another better than ourselves; 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 displeased and angry; to trust to him upon his bare Word, and deny ourselves for him; to inquire 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 ourselves, 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, maintained at the Charge, supported by the Strength, and saved 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 deprived of Life for a time, but bound under Gild, (having by imputation more guilt of Sin on him than any) kept in the Grave, the strong-hold of Death, with a Stone upon it 
Mat. 27. 64, 65, 66.  sealed, and guarded by Soldiers, (and all the Forces of Hell, as it were, upon the Watch with them) to hinder him from rising; and was not barely raised 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 itself, and a Work that we of ourselves are wholly unable to, God has appointed to work it in us, (for there is a Promise 
John 6. 27. Ephes. 2. 8.  of Faith, as well as a Promise made to it) and Christ has received 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 Wrestle and Tremble, the Wrestle and Tremble of God. The Soul's Excellency is set forth by this, it is called the Spirit of God; not only in respect of its immediate proceeding from him, but of its resemblance to him; Explaining (as one saith) by the plurality of Powers in the Unity of Essence, the plurality of Persons in the Unity of the Deity: And no less is it the Excellency of Faith, in that it is called 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 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 Axe may sever the corporal Union betwixt Root and Branches, and the natural Union betwixt Head and 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, 
Vnus uterqut fait alter ego.  (who were one in Affection, and in whom there was but one Soul, tho' two Bodies): but neither Men nor Devils can break this Union betwixt Christ and them, no nor Death itself, 
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 conferred 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 conferred 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 rebelled, and God proclaimed 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 show the exceeding Riches of his Grace, in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus, (in whom he was reconciling the World to himself) ordained him before time, and sent him in the fullness of Time, to make reconciliation for Iniquity, by reconciling 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 ushered into the World by a Choir of Angels, with a Song of Peace, (on Earth peace, and goodwill 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 purchased for us; for, tho' merited for us, without any Qualification in us, it will not be conferred 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 Judge 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 show our Faith to 
1 Pet. ●. 2. Splendida peccata, omnis virtus absque 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, the Promise quickens, the End excites, the Spirit assists, and Christ presents, but not unless they are by Faith offered up in his Name, in whose strength all our Duties are to be performed, 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 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 Gild 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 Gild, 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 Gild 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 Gild 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 Virtue from his Blood, (that expiated the Gild, and appeased 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 repealed; in whose Death, its kill Power was destroyed; by whose Blood, the Handwriting of Ordinances that was against us, (more terrible than that upon the Wall of 
Dan. 5. 5. Col. 2. 14.  Belshazzar's Palace) 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 payment 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 Gild; from the Gild by the Value of it, and from the Power by the Virtue of it.  
There is a healing Virtue 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 affright, and strong to hurt, bloody and cruel, seeking to devour, and fight to destroy; an unequal Match for us, an Enemy too strong for us of ourselves to contend with; was, by Christ the Captain of 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 conquered 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 crushed; 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 trodden under our Feet, tho' he is under Christ's: he shall shortly, when all Christ's Enemies are made his Footstool, than 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, 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 captived Enemy; an Enemy, but not so cowardly as not to assault us, nor yet so courageous 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 repelled by this Shield, for it is Metal of Proof. The Shield covered 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 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 withheld 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 loved 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 Fullness 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 shows that it has none; condemns the folly of all that think not so, and shows 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 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 Battle, 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 tortured, at liberty when captived, Conquerors whilst subdued, 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 called, 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 perfumed 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 crowned.  
Christ overcame the World, it was 
John 16. 33. 1 John 5. 45.  conquered 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, 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 sinned, 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'er long fall by it, for it is a Sentence not to be reversed; 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, Christ salvator, quod tam potentem adversarium dum occidiris, occidisti. Hierom.  or prevail more; he has weakened its fatal Power, rescued us from its Dominion, and made us Heirs of Life, which by Faith we have a Title to, 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 pulled 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 Seashore, they sang a Song of Praise unto 
Exod. 14. 30. 15. 1, 6.  God, whose right Hand became glorious in Power, and dashed 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 abolished, by 
Heb. 2. 15. Rom. 8. 3. 6. 6.  the Satisfaction made by Christ to Divine Justice; Sin is condemned in the Flesh by him, the Sacrifice for it, and Crucified with him; the Devil, the Prince of this World, is judged and cast out by him; the World is conquered, 
John 12. 31. 16. 11, 33.  and Death vanquished 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 captived damned Enemy: his Captives are ransomed, redeemed, 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 kill 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 subdued; 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 received its death's Wound 
Rom 6. 14. 7. 24, 25.  by the Power of the Cross, and shall e'er long give up the Ghost.  
Death is unstung, it is swallowed up in Victory, the Power of the Grave is weakened; Death, that Destroyer, is destroyed; 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 redeemed, and then Destructions shall come to a perpetual End, for we shall live and never die more.  
Awake and sing, all ye that dwell in the Dust.  
The Devil is captived, the Law is silenced, Sin is condemned, the World is conquered, and Death destroyed, Who can hurt us? What need we fear? they are all conquered 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Overs-over-comer.  whom we are over all these more than Conquerors.  
The Warfare of Faith ends in Victory, and the Victory must be crowned 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 Dependence; 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, 
Judas ●0. 2 Tim. 1. 5. Jam. 2. 26. Titus 1. 1●  and none but they have, and which 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 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 called, 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 damned 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 whither and come 
Ps. 92 13, 14. Mat. 15. 13. Jam. 3. 18.  to nothing; this will flourish: that gins in Presumption, and ends in Despair; this gins in Despair, (viz. of ourselves) and will end in Comfort.  
2. It begets Superlative Love to Christ.  
Christ, as considered 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 Morningstar, 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 Centre of Excellencies; but not so to us until we believe: They that do not know Christ, cannot love him, (for as we apprehend, so we affect); they that believe not in him, do not know him, (the God of this World has blinded 
2 Cor. 4 4.  the Eyes of them that believe not); to them therefore he is a disallowed Stone, 
1 Pet. 2. 7.  not worth the owning: This Beloved, 
Isa. 53. 23.  no more than (nor so much as) any other Beloved, without Form and Comeliness, or any thing to attract their 
Quantum credimus, tantum ditigimus.  Love; but to them that believe, he is the Head of the Corner, the chiefest of Ten thousands, altogether lovely; so in himself, and so to them, as loved by them above their Souls and Happiness; they see, not only a need of him, but an excellency in him: Excellency, and nothing but Excellency, a Superlative Excellency, eclipsing the Glory of all created Excellency, (more than the Sun does the Light of the Stars) enough to beget wonder and astonishment, as one that is as far above their Praise as Love, as appears by their sincere 
Amor lex sive severissima.  Obedience to him, (the effect of Divine Power constraining to it) and their uncessant desires after him, the sparks of that Holy Flame that are ever-ascending 
Animus est, ubi amat.  to him. Knowledge precedes Faith, Faith produces Love, Love evidences Faith, (it shows 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.  
Unfeigned Love to Christ, shows 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 proved 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 distinguished, but never separated.  
Distinguished:  
The Righteousness of Justification is in Christ; the Righteousness of Sanctification flows from him; that is Relative and without, this is Real and within; in that there is a change in our State, in this a change in our Na-Nature; that is perfect and alike in all, but this is imperfect in all, as to Degrees, though not as to Parts; by that we are acquitted from the Gild 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 Virtue of Christ's Blood, is ever accompanied with the purifying Virtue of it; moral Virtues are (as the Philosopher 
Indi●iduus virtutum comitatus  says) inseparably connected, and so are Divine Graces too, (the Fruits of the Spirit are of a Cluster) the Spirit infuses the Habits, and Faith quickens the Acts; it is as the Sun to the World, and the Soul to the Body, that influences all the radical Grace that maintains the Life of them, the Leader and Commander in chief, (as the Brain is the facultas mandans, as it is the Seat of Sense, as the Heart is of Life) by whose Conduct they are guided, according to whose motion (as the Primum Mobile) they all move; and proportionably to the strength or weakness of it, they are strong or weak, rise or fall, as some Fish (as is said) wax and wane with the Moon. Our Justification was merited by Christ, is applied by Faith, and by these, as concomitant with it, assured; without which we can never make out our Title to it; for, as Life (of any kind) is known by the Actions of Life, a Tree by its 
Acts 15. 9  Fruits, and a Fountain by its Streams: so a pure Faith is known only by pure Acts; if it has not Virtue to sanctify, it has none to justify; nor can it be Fiducial, unless Obediential.  
An obediential Faith justifies itself. Abraham believed and obeyed.    

A DISCOURSE OF Self-denial: Being an APPENDIX TO THE Treatise of FAITH.  
OUR first Parents fell by Infidelity, and Self-seeking; and we rise by Faith and Self-denial. Self-denial is of the Essence of Christianity, it is founded in the Nature of it, and we have no more of one, than we have of the other; it does not abound as the Stoical Philosophy did, with Improbable Opinions, Contradictions, and Irreconcile-Paradoxes; yet with many things above Reason, though with none contrary to it; things harsh and difficult to Flesh and Blood. And that's the Reason Christ has so many idle Retainers, and so few true Servants; so many that follow him (as Peter once did) afar 
Mat. 26. 58.  off, and so few that keep close to him, that will not (like Politic Soldiers) stir an inch upon disadvantage, nor venture (like wary Merchants) all in one Bottom; nor sail so far into the Sea, (like those that go thither for Pleasure only) but that they may return when the Storm arises: They study more the Doctrine of Self-preservation than of Self-denial; how they may keep all from Christ, rather than forsake any thing for him; and therefore will not venture their whole stock with him, lest they should (as they think) be undone by him. Many such followed Christ for a time, when he was here in the days of his flesh, thinking it an easy, pleasant, and gainful Life: but when told what they were like to meet with; the good things they must forsake, the evil things they must endure, and after all follow him; they took their leaves of him, and went no more after him. A bare profession of Christ will not entitle us to him; for all that outwardly profess him, must be Followers of him; nor a bare following of him neither; for, all his Followers must be Self-deniers: 
Luke 9 23.  therefore, to our Profession of Christ, we must join following of him; and to both, add Self-denial, for it is the inseparable Property of his Followers to be Self-deniers. This Self-denial, is a conscionable neglect of ourselves in all those things that stand in opposition to our receiving of Christ, and glorifying of him; nothing stands more in opposition to these, than our sinful and righteous Self; and nothing is with more defficulty denied, (it is no easy matter to get out of this enchanted Circle) but yet must be by all that are Christ's Disciples, one, in respect of Affection and Communion; the other, in respect of Trust and Dependence.  
1. Sinful Self.  
Not that we must destroy ourselves, that thereby we may destroy our Lusts: this would be to break one Command, that we might keep another; to Sin, that we might not Sin; to commit a greater; to avoid a less, and as vain, and fruitless as to attempt the expulsion of a stronger Poison by a weaker.  
But that we must deny Ungodliness 
Titus 2. 12.  and worldly Lusts; suppress all the inward Motions, and avoid all the outward Occasions leading to them, disapprove them in our Judgements, resist them in our Wills, hate them in our Affections, and departed from them in our Lives and Conversations; and this not at sometimes only, but for ever, and not from some Lusts of the Flesh only, but from all: for, as God hates all, and the Law curses all, so Christ gave himself for us, to redeem us from all; and 
Titus 2. 14. Gal. 5. 24. Rom. 6. 6.  they that are his, have crucified the Flesh, with all the Affections and Lusts thereof.  
None are justified by him, but such 
Gal. 2. 20.  as are thus crucified with him.  
2. Righteous Self.  
Not that we must wholly neglect and omit the Acts of Righteousness: for, this would be the breach of a positive Law that commands them, but not put any trust in them; not that we must do them, but when done, disclaim all confidence in them.  
At the best, we do but what we should, and therefore deserve no Reward.  
None merit any thing by paying their 
Luke 17. 7, 8, 9, 10.  Debts.  
They are imperfect, and as such cannot be meritorious, yea, impure too: 
Eccles. 7. 20. Isa. 1. 22. 64. 6.  for, there is Sin in them, Sin enough to damn us without the allowance granted by God in the Covenant of Grace.  
They add nothing to God: for as he is perfect, nothing can be added to him, he is no gainer by them, (he gets nothing, if we go to Heaven; nor loses any thing, if we go to Hell) nor can they merit any thing from him; they are nothing to him the Rewarder, nor any thing to the Reward given by him; for that is infinite, and full, but these defective and finite.  
They are Gifts to us, before wrought by us; done, not by our strength, but 
Phil. 2. 13.  by his who worketh in us, both to will and to do, and therefore cannot be meritorious: For,  
We give him nothing but what is his 
1 Chron. 29. 14  own.  
It concerns us then, to beware both of Evils Works, and Good Ones.  
Of Evil Works, so as not to do them; of good Works, so as not to trust in them: both are alike allowed of by the Devil, viz. the doing of one, and placing confidence in the other; and they that do so, are both his Captives; only the one are in liberâ, the other in arctâ custodiâ.  
1. We must beware of Evil Works, so as not to do them: And this,  
To show forth our Obedience to God who has called us to Holiness, to Grace as well as to Glory; and to that, 
1 Thess. 4. 7. 2 Pet. 1. 3.  as the way to it.  
To testify our Communion with the Spirit and Participation of it; it is a Holy Spirit, viz. essentially and efficaciously; and all that are partakers of 
Heb. 6. 4. 2 Cor. 7. 1. 1 Thess. 5. 23.  it, are cleansed from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit.  
To manifest our Interest in Christ, 
Rom. 8. 1.  who came as a Purifier as well as a Redeemer, and a Sanctifier as well as a Saviour, being sent to bless us in turning us from Sin, viz. to bring us out of a state of Sin from under the power of 
Acts 3. 26.  it, out of love with it, and to keep us from the practice of it.  
That our Hopes of Salvation may appear to be good and well-grounded; if true, they are purifying.  
A Heavenly Expectation, begets a Heavenly 
1 John 3. 3.  Conversation.  
By thus doing,  
Our drooping Souls may be revived under the glorious Beams of God's Mercy, our thirsty Souls satisfied by tasting these pure Streams; and when terrified under the guilty Apprehensions of Sin, be encouraged to hope in it, God being more willing to grant Pardon upon our Repentance, than we can be to receive it: For,  
He not only delights in Mercy, but takes pleasure in them that hope in it.  
2. We must beware of good Works, 
Micah 7. 18. Psal. 147. 11.  so as not to trust in them.  
Two Extremes we are apt to run into, viz. either into a neglect of them, or pride in them; but we must neither neglect them, nor trust in them, but do them, and abhor all thoughts of Merit by them.  
1. Do them. And this,  
In obedience to the Command that enjoins them. We are bid to renounce Evil Works, and to maintain them that are Good, viz. Practically as well as 
Titus 3. 8.  Doctrinally.  
As necessary Conditions required on our part in order unto Salvation.  
Free Grace destroys not good Works, but promotes them.  
As a testimony of our gratitude to 
John. 8. 36.  Christ, who has made us free not to Sin, but from it; and from Sin's Service, that we might be the more ready 
Luke 1. 75.  and free to his.  
To evidence our Faith to be alive, for it is dead without them.  
That is as the Root, and these as the fruitful Branches growing on it.  
And as our Evidences for Heaven, 
Via ad Regnum non causa regnandi.  the Way to the Kingdom, though not as the cause of our reign there.  
Christ the Prince of Life, being the giver of Eternal Life to none but to whom he is the Author of that which is spiritual.  
2. Abhor all thoughts of Merit by them.  
To neglect them, is Profaneness; to trust in them, is Folly, and Pride.  
Folly:  
For in effect we say, That if God will have patience, we will pay him all that we own him; which betrays our Folly, in that we are not able to discharge the least Debt, it is Christ our Surety that must do it for us.  
To think we can merit, is to make our selves rich who are poor, and have 
Rev. 3. 17.  nothing of our own.  
Pride:  
In that we totally reject the Priestly Office of Christ, though we pretend to take him as our King and Lawgiver, and become Saviour's to ourselves; for in effect we say, That we do not need him.  
We never trust in him as a Saviour, but with a distrust in ourselves; nor can we have any benefit by him unless we do.  
Christ is a complete Saviour, and admits no Partner with him in the Work of Salvation; for it is a Royalty proper to him alone. We make void his 
Rom. 10. 3, 4. Phil. 3. 9  Righteousness, by establishing our own; we must therefore renounce ours, and take sanctuary in his; cast off the Rags of our Righteousness, that go hardly off, (as the blind Man in the Gospel 
Mark 50. 10.  did his Garment) and go naked to Christ; become nothing in ourselves, that he may (and without which he will not) be all unto us.  
All Sacrifices were sprinkled with Blood by the Priest in Type, and by Christ in Substance, and what there is of worth or value in all Duties, is from him; we must therefore be poor in Spirit in the midst of them, and humble after them; we must not ascribe any thing to ourselves. But as Joab gave the honour of the Victory to David, when he fought with his Forces; so we must set the Crown on Christ's Head, and give the Glory and Honour of all unto him, by whom they were performed, and through whom accepted.  
Joseph's Brethren carried Spices with them as a present to Joseph, but durst not appear without Benjamin: nor can we expect the acceptance of our Services without Christ: Without them, 
Gen. 43. 4, 5, 11, 12.  we cannot avoid Hell; nor without him, obtain Heaven.  
They as Moses may lead us to a sight of Canaan; but it is Joshua, Christ alone, that can lead us into it.   

A TREATISE OF REPENTANCE.  
There is a twofold Repentance.  
1. A Repentance that is called a Care of mind, such a one 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  as consists in Sorrow under Terrors for Sin, the effect of a troubled Head, and may be found 
Mat. 27. 3.  in Hypocrites.  
Many were stung in the Wilderness, that never received Healing; and 
Numb. 21. 6.  many have been humbled for Sin, and yet never saved from it.  
2. A Repentance that is called a Change of Mind, such a one as consists 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  in a turning from Sin, the effect of 
2 Cor. 7. 10.  a wounded Heart, which from this Repentance receives the Name of a New Heart, (not physically in regard of 
Secundum animam sumus, secundum hanc benè sumus.  the Substance, but morally in regard of the Qualities of it) and is found in none but those that are sincere.  
We may be humbled for Sin, and yet perish in it, and shall, unless we are so humbled under it, as wholly to departed from it.  
Repentance is an Evangelical Grace, necessary in order unto Pardon. 
Acts 2. 38.   
The Law knows neither Repentance for Sin, nor Remission of it, but the great Work of the Gospel, is to call us to Repentance.  
It comes with quickening Motives to it: For,  
It gives clear and strong Convictions 
Rom. 13. 12. John 16. 8.  of Sin, clearer and stronger than those under Nature and the Law.  
It produces strong Arguments to it: For,  
It reveals Christ crucified for Sin; and those Hearts are hard indeed, 
Zech 12. 10, 11  that will not be softened by his Blood shed for it.  
It reveals Repentance, and accepts it. 
Mark 6 12.   
The Law promised Life to the Righteous, but the Gospel assures it to the Unrighteous, repenting.  
It works Repentance.  
It is not only a Light to discover it, 
John 17. 17. 〈◊〉. 1. 11, 12.  but a Covenant-will to give it; and teaches it as a Worker, as well as a Tutor, viz. by Efficacy, as well as by Doctrine.  
It pronounces a Curse upon the neglect of it.  
The Gospel has a terrible Voice, as well as the Law, a Curse for our 
Luke 13. 3.  Sins, (except ye repent, ye shall perish) a Curse, more terrible than that of the Law; there is no condemnation 
Heb. 2. 3. & 10. 28, 29.  like to that in the Court of Mercy.  
Repentance was a part of the sum of Christ's Doctrine, (he taught the necessity 
Mat. 3.2. 4.17. ●8. 20. Mark 6.12. Luke 24.47. Acts 20. 2●.  of it) and of the Apostles Doctrine: and all that laid the Foundation of Christ's Kingdom right, laid this, not only as a Stone in the Building, but as a Foundation-stone.  
It is the Foundation of all Gospel-Righteousness, that which disposes for the receipt of Gospel-Grace, (for without it we are uncapable of it) and that which shall continue as a necessary means (on our part) in order to it, as 
Luke 24. 47.  long as the Gospel shall continue.  
Repentance is not matter of Dignity, but Duty, whereby God is glorified to our Benefit, not to his; and necessary, not as a Satisfaction to Justice, but as a Qualification for Mercy; not to merit it, (for Adam, before he sinned, could not merit, much less than can we by our Repentance for it) but to dispose to it, and goes necessarily before it.  
Not in the accidental Properties of it (they are usually Antecedent, but not necessary): for, God by his Prerogative Royal, can in a moment work on the Heart.  
Nor in the exercise of it, (as in the Case of Children and Lunatics): for, the Promise is made to the Principles of Grace.  
Nor in the several Measures of it: for, the Promise is made, not to the degree, but truth of Repentance; and it is not the weakness, but want of it that ruins.  
But in order of Nature, (the Sun is before the Beams, in order of Nature, and so is Repentance before Pardon) and as the Subject before the Adjunct: for, Repentance qualifies the Subject for Pardon, and makes it meet for it; not in a way of Merit, but Condecency, both to receive and prise it.  
The Means are before the End, (viz. in Execution; as the End is before the Means, in Intention); Union is before 
Mark 1. 4. Acts 3 19  Communion, (for all Communion flows from it); Vocation is before Justification, and a Real Change before a Relative, (we are not justified, until converted; adopted, until renewed; nor saved, unless sanctified); that which is necessary to the renewing of Pardon (as Repentance is) is no less to the first procuring of it; and the contrary of that which makes us uncapable of Pardon, (as impenitency does) must necessarily (as Repentance does) go before it: For,  
There can be no Remission without Repentance; no more than there can be any Salvation without Remission.  
To assert the contrary,  
Deprives God of the Design of his Elective Love, (for Election is to Holiness, as well as to Happiness, and saves none without it) divests Christ of one of his Offices, (viz. his Regal Office) makes void the Office of the Spirit, as to its sanctifying and comforting Work, (for, it gives neither Peace nor Joy in a way of Sin) robs Heaven of its greatest Royalty, viz. Holiness, (the Condition required on our part to make us meet for it); and declares, That God loves us better than himself, and saves us in contradiction to himself, (in that he loves and saves us in our Sins) and that Christ justifies Sinners to his own reproach, or rather justifies Sin than Sinners.  
It concerns us therefore, in all our Supplications for Mercy, to have an eye to the End of Mercy, to seek Mercy upon the Terms of Mercy, viz. the Terms upon which it is offered, lest we make Patents of Mercy to ourselves, that God will never confirm: For,  
As his Justice is wronged by a distrust of Mercy upon Repentance; so his Mercy is abused by an expectation of it without it.  
1. We should then admire the distinguishing love of God to us.  
He passed by the Fallen Angels, (more excellent Creatures than we) and left them to perish in their Sin, but has found out an Expedient for us by Repentance, to escape the Wrath due to it.  
The Devils cannot repent, nor are they assured of Pardon if they could; but sinful Men are (the more happy they, and the more astonishing the freeness of Grace to them); they are not called to Repentance, but these are, and assured of Pardon if they do repent, but not unless they do: for, as Devils, and impenitent Sinners are alike in Nature, viz. in their sinful, not in their created Nature, (alike as to kind, tho' not as to degree; both sinful, but one more than the other) so they shall far alike as to punishment. They are now reserved in everlasting Chains, unto 
Judas 6. ●…  the Judgement of the great Day; and these are upon a Chain, that if not broken, will lead them captive to Hell; they are shut out of Heaven, these are not, unless their own Wills keep them 
John 5. 40.  out; they are without hope of Pardon, these are under a possibility, yea, a certainty of it, upon Repentance; for, God has ratified the Promise of Pardon upon it.  
As a God of Mercy, he made the Promise; and as a God of Truth, he will perform it.  
2. Since Repentance is the first Lesson that we are to learn under the Gospel, (it was the first in St. Paul's Catechism 
Heb. 6. 1. ) and a Duty that we are daily to perform, and never to neglect, we should no more dare to live, than we would dare to die without it.  
They that look upon Repentance as a Legal Duty, and flee from it, as that which is more likely to scare them out of their Wits, than Sins, will at last find more terror in the Neglect than ever they would have found in the practice of it.  
The neglect of it will make two Hells, viz. within and without, here and hereafter; but a serious and daily exercise of it, will make two Heavens, viz. without and within, above and below, in Heaven, and in our own Souls.  
1. In Heaven: For when Sinners repent, 
Luk. 15. 7, 10.  God the Father rejoices,  
As a Father in the Birth of an Heir.  
God the Son rejoices.  
He died big with love to Sinners, and cannot but rejoice to see of the travel of his Soul, in the Conversiof 
Isa. 53. 11.  of theirs.  
God the Holy Ghost rejoices.  
He who has so long and so often been grieved by Sinners, rejoices, and is made glad, that now he shall be a Comforter to them.  
Angels rejoice,  
As having one Companion more joined to their Heavenly Quire.  
It should be our Joy, to promote Heaven's.  
2. In our own Souls.  
The Song of Lamentation must be sung, here or hereafter: Therefore,  
If we have not mourned for Sin, or resolve not to do it, we would do well to remember, that the more is behind, and that the time of mourning for Sin will come, for it is (like Jabez) brought 
1 Chron. 4. 9  forth with Sorrow, its Issue will be sorrow here, or hereafter; and we must either begin or end in it, in Time or Eternity.  
But if we are in Sorrow, we may be 
D●●o de peccatis poenitens, & de dolore gaud●o.  glad at our Heaviness; there is a Song of Joy, that attends the Song of Lamentation, (Sunshine with our Rain) God will give us joy of our Repentance; and the greater our Sorrow is, the greater shall our Joy he.  
The deeper the Wound, the farther the Balm shall go in.  

Of the Nature of Repentance.  
REpentance, Is not a bare suspending the Acts of Sin, It is more than that, It is not a destroying the Being of Sin, It is less than that.  
1. It is not a bare suspending the Acts of Sin.  
All are alike evil by Nature, tho' not by practice; and there is ever a proneness in us to sin, (the more unhappy we); but we are not always actually in it: yet some Acts may cease, not from any inward Principle, either of Love to God, or hatred to Sin, but from a Principle of slavish Fear, or through the want of a Supply for Sin, or an occasion to it; and when so, can no more be called Repentance, than that can be said to be a Merciful Fire, that goes out through want of Fuel.  
The Influence of the Sun may, by an Eclipse, be suspended, and yet its Light not extinguished; and Sin for a time depressed, and yet not destroyed.  
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 repent of it: for, tho' Sin by Repentance receives its Death's Wound, yet it has a strong Heart, and will be long a dying.  
A Being it will have in them, while they have a Being.  
So that Repentance is neither a suspension of the Acts of Sin, nor the destruction of its Being; it is more than the first, and less than the second, viz.  
That Work of the Spirit, whereby an humbled Sinner, being made sensible of the Evil of Sin in the general, and the Misery due to it, and of his own Sins in particular, and of the Mercy of God in Christ ready to pardon them, does most affectionately mourn for them, and most effectually turn from them unto God.  
1. It is the Work of the Spirit.  
Our Times are in God's Hands, and 
Psal. 31. 15. Rev. 2. 21.  so are our Hearts too; one for the Space, the other for the Grace of Repentance: for, it is in his Sovereign Power alone to give both, viz. the Time, (without which we cannot well repent with any comfort to ourselves, or others) and the Grace, without which we cannot repent at all, neither begin nor proceed in it; for it is a supernatural Work, and falls not within the Love, Desire, or Power of Nature. Water came not out of the Rock in Horeb, until Moses smote it with his 
Exod. 17. 5, 6.  Rod: Nor will ever the Waters of Repentance flow from our Hearts (more hard than that Rock) unless they are smitten, not only with the Rod of the Law, but the Staff of the 
Acts 2 27.  Gospel. It was God's standing upon 
Psal. 78. 15, 16. 105. 41.  the Rock, more than Moses' smiting with a Rod, that caused the Waters to run down like Rivers; and the Spirit more than the Staff, that causes Tears (the Blood of a wounded Heart) to flow from us; for without it, it will (like the Staff of Elisha in Gehazi's 
2 Kings 4. 31.  Hand) prove ineffectual to it.  
When God causeth the Wind (viz. the Wind of his Spirit) to blow, then, 
Psal. 147 18.  and not before, will those Waters flow.  
2. That Work of the Spirit, whereby a Sinner is made sensible of the Evil of Sin in the general, and the Misery due to it.  
The Devil, when he tempts to Sin, holds the wrong end of the Prospective Glass, that Sin may not appear as it is, but in a disguise, under the false representations, either of Pleasure, or Profit, the usual Vermilion he paints most Sins with.  
But the Spirit, when convincing of Sin in order unto Repentance, pulls off Sin's Wizard, washes off that Jezabel's Paint, and shows the evil of it; it is a 
Isa. 4 4. Jer. 31. 19  Spirit of Judgement, and its 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 Crystal Glass of the Word, a true, not flattering 
Psal. 19 8.  Glass, pure, enlightening the Eyes, to behold Sin as it is, viz. in its own proper Nature, and native Deformity, original and actual Sin, (the Flesh, and the Lusts of the Flesh); and both in their Filthiness and Depravation, Folly and Disingenuity, and Demerit too, viz. the Wrath deserved by them, and due to them.  
The Degree is not alike in all, (tho' the more, the better); yet a less Degree will not serve, than that which discovers the great Evil of Sin, and the Wrath due to it: for tho' Sin is 
J●●. 2.19.  an evil and bitter Thing, evil in itself, 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 entering 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 Judgements and Mercies: little Sins are made great and heavy, forgotten Sins are brought to mind, and secret Sins (either as secretly committed, or kept secret from the Understanding) 
Psal. 19 12  are brought to light, and all with their particular Aggravations, that Sin may appear (as it is) exceeding sinful; and this, not in a glance only, or in transitu, (like a flash of Lightning, that is as soon gone as come) but so as ever to have them in his Eye, and always upon his Heart, as Job, who possessed 
Job 13. 26.  his Sins; and David, who had his ever 
Psal. 51. 3.  before him.  
If Sin comes not to our remembrance here, it will hereafter to God's: if not to ours, to conviction; it will to his, to our condemnation.  
4. That work of the Spirit, whereby a Sinner is made sensible, not only of his Sins, but of the Mercy of God in Christ ready to pardon them, Christ 
Acts 5. 31.  having purchased for, and God promised to all that repent, the pardon, 
1 John 1. 9  not of one Sin only, (viz. the first) nor of many Sins (the lesser) but of all both great and small. The greatness of Mercy revealed, shows the greatness of our Misery, (as much Physic prepared shows many Diseases) and the greatness of Misery, the need of great Mercy; and a sense of both is necessary in order unto Repentance; one, that he may tremble before God; the other, that when afraid, he may put his trust in him: one, that we may see his need of Mercy; the other, that he may seek after it. None but Sinners need repent, and none but they that are thus sensible, will; therefore such a sense is necessary, without which they would rather flee from God, than to him.  
If God did not hate Sin, Repentance would be needless; and if he would not pardon it, it would be hopeless.  
5. That Work of the Spirit, whereby a Sinner made sensible of his Sins, and the freeness of Mercy to pardon them, does most affectionately mourn for them, and most effectually turn from them, to God.  
1. Most affectionately mourn for them.  
Some count it the Perfection of Grace, not to be troubled for Sin; but 
Jer. 31. 18. Joel 2. 13. Zech. 12. 10.  it is a cursed Piety that denies it: they that have had the greatest assurance of Divine Love, have been most deeply concerned in sorrow for Sin, (Paul after he had been in Heaven, mourned for it); and all that ever truly repent of Sin, have been so too: for, true Repentance is never without Sorrow, tho' Sorrow may be without that; it is not Repentance, (for, that lies in the turn from Sin to God) but a necessary adjunct of it, and as necessary to it, as Joy is to Thankfulness.  
Sorrow is good for little else; and all Joy to be suspected, that is not founded on it.  
2. Most effectually turn from them.  
Purposes are no Deeds; a Purpose to give, is no Gift in Law; nor a bare resolution to forsake Sin, Repentance: for, that seconds Purposes with Endeavours, and follows Resolution with Action; and all that are sincere in it, not only confess and bewail the Sins committed, but forsake the Sins bewailed: 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 obtained a Dispensation to it) but cease to do Evil, and departed from all Iniquity; not from some Sins only, but all, viz. against God and Man, themselves and others, Personal and Relative, Public 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) indulged, an impenitent Sinner.  
3. And sincerely turn to God. 
Jer. 4. 1. Acts 26. 20.   
Sin is a turning from God, Repentance is a turning to him; and all that exercise a Repentance toward God, turn from the Love of Sin, to the love 
Isa. 55 7.  of Him as their chief Good; and from the service of Sin, to his Service, as their Sovereign-Lord, and so to it, as 
1 Thess. 1. 9  never to departed 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 Apostasy) a turning from it; the Work of the whole Man, viz. of the Judgement (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 gins in the Heart, but ends in the Life.  
It is abomination to Fools to departed 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 ourselves, to charge upon ourselves the desert of Hell; to take part with God against ourselves, and to justify him in all that he does against us; to be ashamed 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 ourselves; hid our Deformities, lessen and excuse our Faults, indulge ourselves 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 ourselves cannot do, yet such as God has promised, if we are not wanting to ourselves, to enable us to do; for, what is a Command in one place, is a Promise in another: The Command bids us, Wash, and be clean: The Promise says, We 
Isa. 1. 16, 18. Ezek. 36. 25, 26, 27.  shall be cleansed: One bids us put away Evil; the other says, it shall be taken away: One, bids us convert ourselves; the other says, We shall be converted: One injoins Repentance; the other assures it. Now, we must not be frighted by the Precept, but allured 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 inquire, What our Repentance is? viz. Whether a dead Repentance, or a Repentance unto Life, toward God or 
Acts 11. 18. 20. 21. 2 Cor. 7. 10.  ourselves; a Repentance to be repent, or not to be repent 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 forced.  
Forced 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 ourselves too for them.  
Caligula boasted that he could not be ashamed, (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 acknowledgement 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 pardoned 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 opposed 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 deserved.  
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 sinned, 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 risen 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 lived, 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 than 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 wished that he might ever laugh; but instead of wishing one another much Joy, we may better (for justly) wish one another much Sorrow; 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 taketh notice of them.  
An Ear. 
Mutae sunt, & loquuntur, dearsum cadunt, & sursum petunt, ponders vocis habent.   
Sighs and Tears are the Rhetoric 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 than 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.  
Music on the Water, and Repentance with Tears, are ever most pleasant.  
3. Hatred to Sin.  
Contrition, if true, rises up to Detestation, and then Detestation is 
Psal. 97. 10. Rom. 12. 9  right,  
1. When it is to Sin, as Sin.  
To the  Evil, more than the , the Evil of Sin more than the Evil of Punishment; the Filth, more than the Gild; 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 impaired their Credit in the World, and made a breach upon their Peace within) but are soon pleased with it again, (for Anger is a mixed Passion) and cease from the Act of Sin for a time, and yet love it; but hatred to Sin, if right, is irreconcilable.  
A thing that is poisoned 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 venomous 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 turned 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, (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, or fall into the Gulf 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 pardoned; but when committed, than 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 pardoned, at least not so freely, or upon such easy terms as (to Naaman, Go wash and be clean) repent and be saved. A great hindrance to the Work of Repentance; but may be removed 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 Burdened, 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, 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 not 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 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 outlive their Time; and a sad Judgement 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 Preached, 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 continued, the more Mercy is heightened on God's part, and Sin aggravated on the 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 hearty 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 itself, but as wrapped up in the gilled of God's Patience; and because Sentence against their evil Works is not speedily executed, nor they destroyed (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, not Petulant, but Penitent; and that therefore,  
When God is patiented that they might repent, they sin the more if they do not repent, because he is patiented.  
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 show 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 pardoned, 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 weakened 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 itself a Blessing, and should be a Motive to a speedy Repentance, an Argument against it, deferring the Work when called to it; as Antipater (with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) when a Treatise of Happiness was offered 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 Usher.  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 offered; 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 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 show 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 be done when the Soul and Body are parted, the Manacles of Death are to keep the Prisoners of Death in the strong Hold and Prison of the Grave, until the Day of Judgement (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 Pencil turned a Smile into a Frown; but their Experience upon Trial, will confute their Belief, and show them to be as much mistaken, as Samson 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 repaired, 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 healed, than when Sin (as a Disease) is grown upon us with our Years; 
Jer. 4. 3. 13. 23.  the sooner the fallow-Ground of our Heart is ploued up, the less pains will be required to it, less than when our Hearts by custom in Sin are become hard, like the highway 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 deferred, 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 expressed, 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 called 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 answered, but arise, and cast away all 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 loved us with a primary and ancient Love, a Love before we were.  
2. To God the Son,  
Who delayed not the Work of our Salvation, but was early at it; and in his full strength, and the prime of his Years, laid down his Life to secure it.  
3. To God the Holy Ghost,  
Who has not only striven with us by importunity, but waited upon us with Patience, that we might repent. 
Rev. 3. 20.   
2. It is inconsistent with a true purpose of Heart ever to repent.  
Repentance is a Debt that we all (as Sinners) own 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 intent it not, or have little or no mind to it, in that they defer it.  
They that will not repent this day, would never repent, if they might have their choice; or they that wilfully remain impenitent this day, would (if they might with safety) be everlastingly so; for, the same reason for delay this day, would be so the next, and the same for ever.  
3. The best for Safety.  
The Physician's Rule to avoid the Plague, is to flee soon enough, far enough, 
Fuge cit, longè, tradè.  and to return slowly: and to prevent Death by Sin, (of all Diseases the most dangerous) the best Remedy is to flee soon enough, (and it can never be too soon) far enough; and it can never be too far, nor is it far enough, unless the flight be to God; nor right to him, unless with a resolution never to return back to it more; and the sooner, the better.  
In many things haste makes waste; the more haste, the worse speed: but if here we make haste, we can never speed amiss.  
Sickness, or old Age, are the Times that presumptuous Sinners set apart for Repentance; their youthful strength, they make a Bulwark against Repentance: Sorrow for Sin, they think a fit Companion for old Age only; their Sighs and Groans, they reserve for a sick and dying hour, and never think it seasonable to die to Sin, but when they can live no longer in it; prodigious Fools, that flee to these, as a Sanctuary to shelter them from the Wrath of God, when they cannot be sure,  

1. That they shall be sick before they die.  
2. That they shall live to be old.  
3. That when either sick or old, they shall have a Heart to repent.  
4. That what they then think is Repentance, will be accepted of God.   
1. That they shall be sick before they die.  
Death does not give warning to all by sickness, for some die suddenly: Now that which befalls one, may happen to many; and that which has 
Luke 13. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  been the Case of many, may betid any one.  
Since then that is uncertain, Repentance can never be unseasonable, but the sooner the better.  
2. That they shall live to be old.  
Death is not slow-paced to all, but swift in its motion to some, it does not always stay till grey Hairs (the sign of old Age) are upon them.  
All hasten alike to Death, but some have a less way to go than others.  
3. That when either Sick or Old, they shall have a Heart to repent.  
When Sick:  
None can be sure that they shall have time when Sick to repent, (they may have but just so much time left, as to tell their Companions in Sin, that they are going to Hell): if they have time, they cannot be sure of ease, whereby they may be fit to attend it; Reason, Sense, and Speech may fail; or pains (the Companions of Sickness) may so seize on them, that neither their Bodies, nor Souls, may be much at ease; nor they (with the Israelites) be able to hearken to any thing for 
Exod. 6. 9  anguish of Spirit; if not, yet they may not have a Heart then to repent.  
The Duty of Repentance is ours, but 
2 Tim. 2. 25.  the Grace is God's.  
When old.  
There are no Examples in Scripture of any (as some observe) converted in their old Age: Manasses, and the Thief on the Cross, were not (as is supposed) 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 sickbed Repentance in many, (whose Repentance proved as sick and unsound, as their Bodies were then) shows reason to suspect that Repentance, that is extorted from any by Pain, when sick; or by Fears, when dying: were sickness, and the thoughts of Death a little farther off, and not so close and pressing upon them, perhaps they would neither bewail their Sins, nor leave them; therefore God may (and justly if he should) reject their Repentance, and forget them in sickness, who forgot 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 punished, with a not caring to seek, or not so as to find.  
It is usually but an untoward Repentance that is exerted in Age, decrepit, weak, and impotent, as feeble as old Age, (like the dim flashes of a Taper, when sunk in the socket) and may justly be rejected by God, and the Penitent (as one when repenting in old Age by a Voice was) bid to spend his Bran, where he had spent his Flower; his Evening, where he had spent his Morning.  
We shall have (as Solomon says) but 
Eccles. 12. 1.  little pleasure in the days of old Age; and God may take as little pleasure in the repentance of them.  
5. That singular Examples constitute no general Rule.  
Some draw an Argument for Presumption from those in the Parable, that came in at the eleventh hour, (and received 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 show the Sovereign 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 called at the third or sixth Hour, and stayed till the eleventh, but came as soon as they were called, and went to labour, as soon as they were hired: They come early, that come when they are called; 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 enjoyed 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 redeemed, and dearly bought for it: and shows 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 called 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 lived a Thief, but died a Saint, and ascended from a Cross to a Crown; but absurdly if,  

The Repentance itself be all duly considered. 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; compared 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 railed at Christ, (the Thiefs also cast the same in 
Mat. 27. 44.  his teeth) so that he believed in Christ as soon as he knew him, and repent as soon as he was called 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 owned his own Gild, became his 
Luk. ●3 40, 〈◊〉 42.  own Judge, condemned himself, made good the Evidence, justified and approved the Sentence passed against him, (we are justly condemned, 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.  owned him as God, for he prayed 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 believed 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, numbered among Transgressor's, 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 public 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 assured that their Repentance at last shall be like his, (which was quick and operative, though not long-lived) nor be so honoured by Christ, as his Repentance was: For, it was crowned 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 than his Fellow Thief railed on him; they that passed by reviled him; the Priests, Scribes, Elders, and People (that stood beholding) deriding him; the Soldiers 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 proved a hindrance to it.  
But in that it was a time, when the greatest Act of Mercy that ever was shown to the world, appeared, 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 reckoned among the Wonders and Miracles that were then wrought, (viz. the rending of the Veil of the 
Mat 17. 5●, 52, 53. L●● 23. 44, 45  Temple, the rising of the Dead, the rending of the Rocks, and darkening of the Sun); and well it may, for it was a Miracle itself, (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 ourselves into the Sea, and not be drowned; walk in the 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 immediately from Heaven, because Elijah was; that we shall be translated, and not die, because Enoch was; wrapped up into the third Heavens, before we die, because Paul was; or be raised 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 Thiefs, because one of those many that did, was pardoned; 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 saved, 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 proved a stumbling-block, (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, proved an occasion of Damnation?  
Some through profaneness, 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.  ourselves with Wine, and strong Drink; and to Morrow shall be as this Day, and much more abundantly. This Day we 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 lingering 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 intent 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 itself); rise early when to go a long Journey; and desire Security when they lend out their Money, because they are mortal: But when called to Repent, than 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 a resolution never to return to it more.  
A folly to be bewailed (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 Sundial; 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 proved 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 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.   
FINIS.