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therefore thou art thus far well Prepared to be a Receiver, because this is the proper Object of every Chriftian's Faith, That Fefus Chrift is the Saviour of the World; and to believe thus much, with a particular application of Chrift's Merits to thine own Soul, fo that thou canst believe it with Joy, and caft thy self on him with an Humble Confidence, and trust to him for thy prefent Pardon and future Felicity, this is the proper A&t of a Worthy Communicant.

T

CHAP. V.
Of Repentance.

HERE is another Special Act of Religion, which not only every Communicant, but indeed every Chriftian ought to employ the utmost of his Care about, and that is, Repentance from dead works, the Natural Fruit of Faith towards God. In difcourfing of this, 'tis requifite for me to fhew, 1. First, the true Nature of Repentance, wherein it doth confift. 2dly, Upon what Special Grounds and Reasons it is neceffary, before we go to the Communion. And 3dly, how far, and in what Degree it is neceffary.

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1. FOR

1. FOR the right understanding of the Nature of Repentance, we must not rely upon the groundless, nay Superftitious Conceits of the School-men, who place the whole Work of Repentance, in Con trition, Confeffion, and Satisfaction; meaning, that though a Man be never fo broken in Heart, yet he is not a right Penitent, nor fit for the Communion, till he hath privately made an enumeration of his Sins to a Prieft, and doth undergo, at least doth Vow, and Promise to undergo fome Ritual Penance, to Expiate his Offences. At the bottom of this Doctrine there is a great deal of Trick and Artifice, which is quite Foreign to the defign and business of Chriftianity. For Chrift's Religion is a plain and admirable Method, to make Men univerfally Good; and to bring us to the Love of folid and fubftantial Vertue, that we may Live the Life of Angels (Pure and Holy) as far as it is confiftent with the Nature and Condition of Mortal Men. Accordingly Repentance, means a Zealous and Paffionate Abhorrence of every thing that is Evil in the Eye of God. The common Notion of Repentance implyeth thus much, that what a Man hath done, he wifheth were undone, and refolves to do fo no more. And this is the Notion, which the. Christian Doctors

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Doctors of Old entertained of this matter (as * Peter Lombard himfelf doth very plainly acknowledge) that true Repentance, lyeth in a fincere Sorrow for all past Mifcarriages, and in a refolution never to return again with the Dog to his

Lombard. lib. 4. dift. 14. Eft autem pænitentia, ut ait Ambrofius, mala præterita plangere," plangenda iterum non Hec vera eft penitentia, effare a peccato. Id. Item Gre gorius, penitere eft antealta peccata deflere, & flenda non committere. Ita Ifidorus,

tere.

Irrisor eft & non pœnitens, qui

adhuc agit quod penitet. Item Vomit, or with the Sow Auguftinus, Inanis eft pænitentia quam fequens culpa coinquinat addendum illud Tertul liani, ubi emendatio nulla pœni

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that is wafhed, to her wallowing in the mire. THE Holy Scripture (which in this and all other neceffary Speculations is our only fure and infallible Guide) gives us this short account of the Nature of Repentance, that it is the efchewing of Evil, and the doing of Good. So that it is a perfect change of a Man's purposes and courses, the forfaking of all Iniquity, a New State, a Life of Sanctity and Goodness: And they that place it in a little forrow of the Mind, joyned with Auricular Confeffion, and the outward Austerities and Chaftisements of the Body, fhew more their Love of Childishness, and a regard for their own Intereft and Authority over Poor People, than their Skill in found Divinity. To Repent fignifies in the Sacred Dialect, to become a New Man, to have

an

an Heart Renewed and Transform'd, and to follow a New, that is a Religious courfe of Life. The Scripture indeed hath feve ral Expreffions that fignifie this change: 'Tis called a New Creature; the Renovati on of the Mind and Spirit, the putting on of the New Man, the purging of the Heart from an Evil' Confcience, the abhorring of Evil and cleaving to that which is Good, the turning to God, the Dying to Sin, the Martifying of our Lufts and Affections, Repen tance from dead Works; and many more the like Expreffions there are; but these are only various delineations of the fame thing; feveral Words and Phrafes (proper to Divinity) whereby is meant, the total rectifying of a Man's Temper and Life;

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or as even an Heathen Hierocles * de- * Hieroc. scribes it, the recovering of that clean Life, in Pythag. which by a mixture of Paffions was Defiled, p. 165.

the correcting of all inconfiderate courfes, the
fhunning of all Foolish Actions and Words,
and the Inftitution of fuch a Life as is not to
be Repented of. For our Nature being vi
tiated and depraved, the Bufinefs of Reli-
gion is, to new-mould our Tempers, to`
take away every thing that fowers Huma-
nity, and unbecometh Creatures that
ought to be governed by right Reason,
and fo by degrees to bring us, as near as
'tis poffible, to the Temper of Chrift,
G 4

and

and to the Nature of God himself. The Reafon of it is, because the ultimate end of Chrift's Religion, is to make us perfectly Happy in another World; in order whereunto, 'tis abfolutely neceffary for us to partake of the Divine Nature in this . Life, and to be made like unto God in Goodness and Purity. For all Happiness doth confift in the Enjoyment of that which Answers ones Defires, which agrees with his Mind, which is fuitable to his Faculties, which gives him all manner of Satisfaction. So that in the Nature of the thing, it is impoffible for a Man to be fit for the Enjoyment of Heaven, that is not of an Heavenly. Mind and Temper. The Condition of that place is not fuitable to the frame and difpofition of any filthy Heart: And therefore every Evil Man that Dies before his Heart is changed, must be Miferable of course, for he carries a Hell along with him, he goes out of the World with fuch a Temper, as makes him fit only for the Society and Converfation of Wicked Spirits. Men that are Fierce, Haughty, and Froward, Men that are full of Malice and bitterness; Men that hate every thing that is good; Men that delight in Cruelties and Bloodshed; Men that are Contentious; Vexatious, and Trouble

fome

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