Practical Discourses Volume 1, Discourse 3
MATTHEW III. 8.
Bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance.
THese Words are a Part of Iohn Baptist's Sermon to the Pharisees and Sudducees of whom mention is made in the foregoing Verse: the first of which being a sort of demure and formal Hypocrites, who under religious Pretences shrouded the blackest Villanies; the second, a Company of Atheistical Debauchees, who, to supersede the troublesome Obligations of their Consciences, and to obtain of themselves a free Dispensation to be wicked, denied the Existence of Spirits and the Life to come. The Baptist, upon their Address to be admitted to his Baptism, sharply reprehends them both under one common Name, O Generation of Vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come! and then he goes on, Bring forth fruits meet for Repentance. As much as if he should have said, O ye worst of Men, ye brood of venomous Miscreants! I perceive by your coming hither some body or other hath alarmed you with the Forewarnings of that dreadful Vengeance that is falling upon this Generation; and now to prevent it, you pretend Repentance of your Sins, because you have heard that I baptize with Water unto Repentance, you would needs assume this outward Badge of Penitents. But I know you well enough, ye are a pack of arrant Knaves and Hypocrites, and howsoever at present you may be frightned into a demure Pretence of Repentance, I know your Hearts are as wicked as ever, and that you will not part with one of those Lusts which render you so base and infamous. And therefore, for my part, till I have better hopes of you, I am resolved I will have nothing to do with you. Go therefore, bring forth fruits meet for Repentance; let me see by your Actions that you are Penitents indeed, and then if you come I shall gladly receive you to this my solemn Sacrament of Repentance. This I take to be the most natural and genuine Sense of the Words, and I know but one Objection of any weight against it, that whereas this Account makes Iohn Baptist to have refused them his Baptism, other Texts of Scripture seem to assert, that they themselves refused to be baptised of him, and they did not come to him under a Pretence of Repentance, but upon a Design to cavil with him, and expose his Baptism to the People: for Luke 7. 30. it is said, that the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected, the counsel of God against themselves, i. e. the Counsel which God, by Iohn the Baptist, gave them, being not baptised of him; but what Counsel was it that they rejected? Was it the Counsel of being baptised? No such matter; for Iohn Baptist never advised them to it, but the Counsel he gave them was to repent, and to bring forth fruits meet for Repentance. And this they rejected; for which they were not baptised of him. Not but that they would have been, if they could; for it is expresly said in the Verse foregoing my Text, that they came to Iohn's Baptism, but Iohn knowing their Hypocrisy would by no means admit them to it, till they had first brought forth such Fruits as were meet and proper for Repentance. In handling of which Words, I shall endeavour these Three things:
1. To shew you what this Repentance is of which he exhorts them to bring forth the meet Fruits.
2. What the meet Fruits of this Repentance are.
3. The Necessity of bringing forth such Fruits.
1. What this Repentance is of which the Baptist here exhorts them to bring forth meet Fruits? To which I answer, briefly, that by Repentance we are to understand a sincere and thorough change of Mind, which as it hath been often observed, is the proper signification of foreign, which is the word which the New Testament most commonly uses for Repentance. And then the Mind is chang'd, when the prevailing Purpose and Resolution of it is altered; when upon a due Consideration of the Mischief, Indecency, or Inconvenience of his present Resolution, a Man is effectually persuaded into a contrary Purpose, his Mind, we say, is chang'd; because he hath now a contrary Iudgment of things, which form his Will into a contrary Resolution: and when once our Mind is thus chang'd as to any Design or Course of Action we are then said to repent of it. So that to repent of our Sins, is to be effectually chang'd and alter'd in our Minds concerning them, so as that whereas before we did in our practical Iudgment prefer them at least pro hic & nunc before our duty, and in our Will embrace and resolutely adhere to them, we do now upon cool Deliberation pronounce them to be the worst of Evils, and as such do heartily purpose and resolve to forsake them. And in this consists the Nature and Essence of Repentance, viz. in a firm Resolution to forsake our Sins upon cool and deliberate Judgment. Where, by Resolution I do not mean a mere Logical Conclusion by way of Inference from Premises, that such or such a thing is best and fittest to be done; for in this there is no Choice, the Proceedings of our Reason being as necessary as those of our Sense; and where there is no Choice, there can be no Virtue. But the Resolution of Repentance is an Act of the Will, viz. its decretory and definitive Sentence for the actual Prosecution of such a Course as upon calm Deliberation is proposed as that which is most fit and necessary. For suppose our Reason and Sense as two Parties pleading their respective Causes and Interests, the one for Vertue, and the other for Vice; and suppose that in the Conclusion, either the Matter be left in aequilibrio between them, or that Reason hath baffled Sense, and obtained a clear Conviction that the Cause of Vertue is infinitely best and most preferable, but that still the Will is in suspence, and hath not peremptorily decreed either one way or t'other; why hitherto all that hath been done is but mere Speculation, there is nothing of Choice in it, nothing of Vertue, nor consequently of Repentance. But when upon a through hearing of both Parties, the Will interposes its Soveraignty, and pronounces Sentence on Reason and Vertue's side, this is my final Resolution, and this by the Grace of God I will stand to, I will from henceforth submit to my Duty, how difficult soever it be, and discharge those base mischievous Lusts of mine what Temptations soever may assault me: when, I say, our Will with good Advice and with a full Consent hath pronounced this peremptory Decree and Resolution, our Mind is changed and our Repentance actually commenc'd. Thus the Predigal Son, for instance, while he was considering with himself the happy State he was fallen from, How many hired Servants of my Father have bread enough and to spare, and the miserable Condition he was fallen into, and I perish with hunger, was only in the Porch and Entry of Repentance, and had he staid there and gone no farther, all this had been nothing but a dead Speculation notwithstanding which he would have perished in his Sin. But when from hence he proceeded to that peremptory Resolution, I will arise and go to my Father, in that very Moment he became a sincere Penitent; and if in that instant he had been struck dead before ever he had taken one step towards his Father, he had dyed in a State of Repentance. For it is plain his Mind was changed, he had put off the old man and put on the new, he had formed a new Iudgment and a new Resolution; and if he had immediately died, he had died in Subjection to God, and would have arose and gone to his Father, as he did while he lived. So that the precise Notion of Repentance, you see, consists in the Change of our Mind, that is, of our Iudgment and Resolution: and hence it is called being renewed in the spirit of our Mind, Ephes. iv. 23. and being transformed by the renewing of our Mind Rom. xii. 2. Consonantly to which, Hierocles, tho' an Heathen, thus defines Repentance, foreign &c. that is, Repentance is the beginning of Philosophy, 'tis a Renunciation of Evil Courses, and a Preparation to a Life not to be repented of. So that when a Man hath repented, saith he, he neither quits real for imaginary Goods, nor chooses Evil for fear of unfortunate Accidents; but conforms his Iudgment and submits his Will to the divine Canons. And thus you see what that Repentance is of which we are here bid to bring forth meet Fruits.
2. I proceed in the next place to shew what those Fruits are which are meet for this Repentance. In general, they are such Fruits or Works as are natural and agreeable to such an inward Change of Mind and Resolution as Repentance imports, or such as may give a plain Demonstration that you are effectually convinced in your Iudgment of the Baseness and Malignity of your past sinful Courses, and sincerely resolved to discard and renounce them for the future. For the Fruits of Repentance are nothing but the proper Acts and Operations of it, and 'tis then and then only that we bring forth these Fruits, when the Effects of a real Repentance do appear in our Life and Conversation, and our Actions do signify that our Judgment condemns our Faults, and our Will renounces them. And according to this account, the Fruits of Repentance may be reduced to these following Particulars.
1. An actual and thorough Reformation.
2. A profound Humility and Self-Abasement.
3. A great and tender Modesty in our Expectation.
4. Candor and Gentleness towards others.
5. Simplicity and Integrity of Manners towards the offended Party.
6. Caution and Wariness for the future not to offend again in the same or the like Instances.
1. One necessary Fruit and Effect of our Repentance is an actual and thorough Reformation. If those invisible Springs of Action the Iudgment and the Will be changed and rectified, the Wheels of Affection and the Hand of Practice must necessarily move more regularly and orderly: For all our inferior Powers being subject to the Authority of the Will, and carried about with the swing of this Primum Mobile, this first great Orb of the Soul, do naturally apply themselves to the Execution of whatsoever that decrees and resolves on; and to suppose a Man's Iudgment and Will to be reformed when his Life is not, is to suppose that he is not a voluntary Agent but a piece of Clockwork, that he is not determined in his Motions by Choice and Deliberation, but by Weights and Plummets, by necessary Pressures and Impulses; which Supposal not only strips him out of all capacity of Repentance, but also contradicts all Experience. For this we are as sensible of as we are of our Hunger and Thirst, that while we are our selves, and can deliberate and chuse, we do nothing but what we will, nothing but what we judge to be good pro hic & nunc, and nothing but what we chuse upon so judging. So that for a Man to pretend to be a Penitent in his Heart whilst he is unreformed in his Life, is to lye against his own Experience. He knows and feels that what he doth he doth voluntarily, with Approbation of Iudgment and Consent of Will; and therefore if his Actions are bad, his Iudgment and Will must be so too. You say you do heartily repent of your Sins, by which, if you understand what you say, you mean you do absolutely condemn them in your Iudgment, and peremptorily disclaim them in your Will; but still you must confess you lead a bad Life and persist in many of those sinful Courses of which you hope you have heartily repented: which is as much as if you should say, I am fully resolved I will play the Knave no more, but yet I must confess I do lye and cheat as much as ever; I am peremptorily determined to be very temperate and chaste, but I must acknowledge I am very often drunk, and do very often whore: that is to say, you do what you won't do, you won't do what you do, your Will hath no Influence on your Actions, your Actions no relation to your Will, there is no Communication nor Intercourse between your Power of chusing and your Power of acting; so that as you cannot derive the Good that is in your Will to your Practice, so neither can you attribute the Evil that is in your Practice to your Will; all which is as false, and you know it is so, as any Contradiction in Nature. So that a thorough Reformation of Life, you see, is a necessary Fruit and Effect of Repentance, and you may as well suppose a Sun without Light, as Repentance without Amendment, if there be Time and Opportunity for it; for if a Man out-lives the Change of his Mind, there is not a more necessary Connexion between his Life and his Motion, than there is between the Change of his Mind and the Reformation of his Manners. And hence we find, that to repent and turn from our evil ways, to repent and do our first Works, to repent and be converted, to repent and turn to God, are in Scripture very often put together to denote the inseparable Connexion that there is between them.
2. Another necessary Fruit and Effect of our Repentance is a profound Humility and Self-Abasement; for between Pride and Repentance there is as direct an Opposition, as between any Vice and Vertue whatsoever. To repent of a Fault is to be ashamed of it, to condemn and abhor ones self for it, to hate and renounce it as vile and abominable; and for a Man to do this, and at the same time to be highly opinionated of his own Desert, and plumed with glorious Conceits of himself, is impossible: such a Sense of our own Shame and Vileness as is implied in a serious and hearty Repentance, can no more consist with a haughty Look, a puffed and self-conceited Mind, than Light with Darkness, or excessive Heat with bitter Cold. And upon this Account the Baptist might well upbraid the Pharisees, who were a Sect of the most bloated Monsters that appeared in humane Forms; and yet by offering themselves to his Baptism of Repentance, pretended to be true Penitents. O ye proud Wretches, do you pretend to Repentance? you that have swelled your selves with Self-Conceit till ye are ready to burst again! you that are so full of your selves that you can never forbear overflowing with self Applause and Vainglory! that like a company of Bladders are blown up with your own Breath, and swell and look big, and yet have nothing but Wind in you! go, bring forth fruits meet for Repentance; let me see you grow more humble, mean and prostrate in your own Opinions, and when by this Effect I am satisfied that you are Penitents indeed, I will readily admit you to this my Baptism of Repentance. And God knows, we have too many such Pharisaical Pretenders to Repentance, that under a dejected Look, a solemn Face and whining Tone do carry as haughty self-conceited Minds as the proudest Pharisees of them all; that having been affected a little with the Sense of their Sins, and cast down with the frightful Apprehensions of God's Wrath and Displeasure, or that having suffered the Terrors of the Spleen, and acted through a few tragical Scenes of Melancholy, Fancy, and Passion, are presently borne aloft out of the Spirit of Bondage, as they call it, with such towering and magnificent Conceits of their own Sanctity and Goodness, as causes them to look down with Contempt upon ordinary Mortals, to despise their Superiors, and villify their Betters, and separate themselves into Parties, that monopolize all Sanctity and Godliness to themselves; which, whatsoever these Men may think, is doubtless a very dangerous Symptom of a rotten and diseased Repentance. For he that hath truly repented of his Sins, must necessarily have discovered Cause enough in them to humble and abase himself in his own Eyes; and he that after such a Prospect of his own Baseness and Vileness as is necessary to Repentance, can upon the next Review applaud and admire himself, and grow fond and conceited of his own Excellencies, hath a Judgment with two Ends like a Prospective, with which he can lessen or magnify himself as oft as he pleases.
3. Another necessary Fruit of Repentance is Modesty. He that is so throughly sensible of a Fault as heartily to repent of it, will be thereby instructed to behave himself more modestly for the future. The Sense of his Fault will cool his Confidence, and render him more bashful and moderate in all his Pretensions and Expectations. Should I see a Company of Rebels, upon a Pretence of having repented of their Disloyalty, not only lay Claim to their Prince's Mercy, but presently fall foul upon his faithful Adherents, and call themselves his best and most loyal Subjects, and pretend to his greatest Favours and Rewards; I should certainly suspect that they had no Sense of their Guilt, but that in their Hearts they were as very Rebels as ever. And thus, when upon pretence that having heartily repented of our Rebellions against God, we presently grow bold and confident, and begin to crow over those who were never involved in our Guilts, as a Company of carnal and moral Wretches; when we are immediately flushed with triumphant Assurances of God's Love, and our Loyalty to him, and nothing will serve our Turns but to be presently counted his Darlings and Favourites, it is a very ill sign that we were never yet truly ashamed of our Rebellions; that whatever we pretend, our Wills are as stubborn and disloyal as ever. And this was the true Genius of the Pharisees whom the Baptist doth here so severely reprehend; who being a proud and conceited Generation, as I shewed you before, made no doubt but God valued them at the same rate as they valued themselves; and tho' in reality they were a Pack of as ill-condition'd Knaves as ever walked demurely under the Cloak of Religion, tho' they were as factious and turbulent, as covetous, griping, and oppressive as the Devil himself could make them, yet because forsooth they were zealous for their Party, and the Opinions of their Sect, and the little Modes and Affectations that distinguish'd them from other Men, they blew themselves up into as high a Confidence of God's Favour to them, as if they had been the most Saintly and Godlike Souls in the World, and did so wholly ingross and monopolize the Kindness of Heaven to themselves, that they would scarce allow the least share of it to any of the rest of Mankind; notwithstanding which they pretended to be Penitents, and as such, it seems would fain have been admitted to Iohn's Baptism. But he, considering how inconsistent their Humour was to their Pretence, bids them go bring forth fruits meet for Repentance: As much as if he should have said, You are a special sort of Penitents indeed! one would think by the Confidence of your Talk and Behaviour, you had no Sins to repent of: why you are the godly Party, the only Favourites of Heaven, and will allow none but your selves to pretend to the Smiles of God's Countenance. Go for shame; if you would be accounted Penitents, behave your selves as such, learn to be more modest, to live as becomes Persons that are deeply affected with their Sins and ashamed of their Guilts, and then perhaps I may see cause to admit you to my Baptism. And certainly 'tis a very ill sign, when after a few Pangs of Sorrow and Compunction Men are presently perking up into Confidence and Assurance; when they will needs be at the Top of the Ladder before ever they have touched the lowermost Rounds, and be gaping for secret Incomes and Manifestations of God's Love before they have manifested their Repentance by their Obedience to him. Sure if they were but as sensible of their Guilt as they ought to be, they would be contented to lie still a while with their Mouths in the Dust, and be satisfied that they are not desperate of being restored to God's Favour, but are admitted to hope well, that by God's Blessing on their Endeavours they shall at length arrive to such a state of Goodness as will intitle them to God's Favour and eternal Life. And such Modesty the Sense and Shame of their Guilt would teach them, if it were such as is necessary to an hearty and unfeigned Repentance.
4. Another necessary Fruit of Repentance is Candor and Gentleness towards others. He that hath been so affected with the sense of his own Faults as heartily to repent of them, will not be very forward to censure and condemn the Faults of others: his Mind is so oppressed with the load of his own Sins, that he is not at leisure to find Fault with other Men; or if he were, yet deeply conscious, as he is, what abundant Reason he hath to find Fault with himself, that gags and silences him. His own Sins fly in his Face while he is censuring other Mens; while he is pertly exposing his Neighbours Fault, his Conscience twits him in the Teeth, and tells him, the Devil rebukes Sin, so that in his own Defence he is forced to be candid and favourable to others, being conscious should he severely reflect upon their Faults, he should thereby libel and upbraid his own. And indeed, 'tis a certain sign that Men have little or no Sense of the Evil and Baseness of their own Sins, when they are so forward and flippant in animadverting upon other Mens. Should you hear a deformed Wretch exposing another Man for the Blemishes of his Nature, the Disproportion of his Parts, or the Irregularity of his Features, you would doubtless conclude that either he imagin'd himself to be very handsom, or designed to make a Satyr on his own Ugliness. And so when I hear Men that are great Sinners themselves briskly declaiming against the Sins of others, I cannot but conclude that either they conceit themselves to be innocent, or have a mind to expose their own Guilt and Shame; but to be sure, were they but as sensible of their own Shame as they ought to be, that would restrain them from throwing Dirt upon others. And doubtless it was upon this Consideration among others, that the Baptist doth here so tartly upbraid the Pharisees; who tho' they had rendred themselves by their malignant Tempers and Practices the greatest Pests and Mischiefs of Soceity, the most direct Antipodes to the Nature of God, and the eternal Laws of Righteousness, were yet the severest Censurers of other Mens Actions in the World. What tragical Clamours did they make against the Publicans and Sinners for playing the Beast while they themselves plaid the Devil? What base Interpretations did they make of the holy and innocent Freedoms of our Saviour, whom because he was not of their sower and unsociable Temper, they damned for a Wine-bibber, and a Friend of Publicans and Sinners? In a word, who was more forward than they to emblazon the Faults of other Men, to fetch and carry scandalous Reports, and shake their Heads at the Iniquities of the Times, when, God knows, they themselves were the greatest Plagues and Scandals of the Age they lived in? And with all this Rancor and Bitterness of Temper they would needs pretend to be Penitents; upon which the Baptist bids them bring forth such Fruits as were proper for Penitents. As if he should have said, One may easily discern what goodly Penitents you are, how deeply you are affected with your own Sins by the Noise and Clamour you make against other Mens: you have Wickedness enough of your own to censure and make Invectives on, but while you should be looking inwards, your Eyes are in the Ends of the Earth, observing other Mens Faults and Miscarriges. Go, if you would appear to be Penitents, learn to be more severe upon your selves and more candid to other Men, to make the worst of your own Faults, and the best of your Neighbours; and then I shall have reason to hope that you are Penitents indeed. But 'tis fulsome Hypocrisy for Men to pretend to Repentance whilst they are bitterly censorious and apt to judge hardly of other Men. And to Men of Understanding there is nothing can be more ridiculous, than to see one that is just fallen off from a leud and dissolute Course of Life, presently set up for a Censor of the Age, and with a wise and serious Forehead animadverting upon the Freedoms, and declaiming against the Debaucheries of this or t'other Man; which whatsoever he may think, is a plain Demonstration that he hath never been duly affected with the Sense of his own Sin, and that he is only changing one kind of Wickedness for another. For were he but throughly convinced how bad he hath been himself, he would be ashamed to clamour, and inveigh against other Men, and the great sense he would have of the Beam in his own Eye, would make him less apt to take notice of the Mote in his Neighbours.
5. Another necessary Fruit of Repentance is, Simplicity of Heart and Integrity of Manners towards the Party offended; for tho 'tis a Maxim in Policy not to trust to a reconciled Enemy, yet could I be secure of the Sincerity of his Reconciliation, I should have more reason to trust him than a constant Friend; because if he be throughly sensible that he hath unjustly offended me and hath heartily repented of it, 'tis reasonably to be supposed that he will not only use me as a Friend for the future, but as a Friend whom he hath injur'd and unjustly provoked, and consequently that the sense of the Injury he hath done me, will make him supererogate in Friendship, and by a Superabundance of good Offices endeavour not only to discharge what the Laws of Friendship exact, but also to expiate the unjust Provocations he hath given me. For the very Sense of a past Injury, when it is heartily repented of, doth naturally kindle into a cordial Affection towards him whom we have injured: And thus, if we have heartily repented of our Sins against God, the Sense of what is past will render us more sincere and cordial to him for the future; and by how much the more we have provoked and offended him, by so much the more studious we shall be to serve and obey him. But if our pretended Repentance produces in us no other Effect but an outward Shew of Obedience, and renders us more studious to appear good than to be so; if it puts us upon picking and chusing our Duty, upon being zealous about small things to compensate our Negligence and Remissness about great, it is an infallible sign that it is meerly pretended, and that all the Shews we make of Reconciliation are nothing but meer Vizors and Counterfeits. And such was the Temper and Disposition of the Pharisees, they took care to disguise themselves in a pompous Form of Godliness, and to carry a very demure and sanctified Outside. Their Looks were solemn, austere, and mortified, their Tongues all tipt with the Language of Canaan, their Motions and Gestures were artificially composed to the Tune of a humble and heavenly Mind. They fasted thrice a Week, and prayed so long that they made all the Streets ring again with their loud and clamorous Devotions, and gave Alms too now and then in a good Eccho whence they might be sure to hear their Charities resounded after them in Praises and Commendations. They kept a mighty Noise about the Fringes and Phylacteries, the external Circumstances and Appendages of Religion, and were most zealous Assertors of pure Ordinances and pure Worship: but under all this Formality our Saviour tells them they were whited Sepulchres, who tho' they look gloriously without, are full of Rottenness within. For this demure Outside of theirs was only a Disguise under which they cheated and plaid the Knaves more securely. Their long Prayers were nothing but specious Introductions to their Rapines and Oppressions. Their Alms were their Decoys which they sent forth on purpose to train simple and well-meaning People into their nets. Their zeal for the Mint and Cummin was the varnish of their Fraud and Injustice. Their long Fasts for Reformation were stirups to their Ambition of being uppermost, and their constant Refreshments after them were Widows and Orphans tears. In a word, they would cheat in saintly Language, play the Knaves with their Hands and Eyes lift up to Heaven, and while they seemed to be as fervent as Angels in their Devotions, they were as false and treacherous as Devils in their Dealings. And yet these base People would needs have been admitted for Penitents to the Baptism of Iohn; who considering the Inconsistency of their Temper with their Pretence, tartly upbraids them and bids them bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance; that is, learn to be more simple and sincere in their Carriage towards their offended God, study more to be Penitents than to appear such; contract your Shew into Reality, and let it appear by your sincere Respect to God, and Devotion to his Service, that you do heartily repent of your Rebellions against him. And certainly there can be nothing more suspitious than for a young Penitent to affect to make a great Shew of Religion; for true Repentance is naturally bashful and modest, it shuns the Theater, the tops of houses, and the corners of Streets, and is best pleased with Silence and Retirement; and provided God sees its Tears and hears its Sighs and holy Purposes, it desires no other Spectator or Auditor. For the great Design of a Penitent is to reconcile himself to God, and if he be but so sensible of his Sin as heartily to repent of it; by how much the more he hath offended him for the time past, by so much the more he will study to please him for the time to come.
6. And lastly, Another necessary Fruit of Repentance is Caution and Wariness for the future not to offend again in the same or the like Instances. For Repentance is a penal Duty in which a Man undergoes some degree of the smart and punishment of his Fault, in which he indures the Shame and Confusion of a guilty Mind, the Regrets and Remorses of an awaken'd Conscience; and the burnt Child, we say, will dread the Fire. He that hath undergon the severe Discipline of a deep and solemn Repentance will be sure to take warning by it; and be very cautions for the future not to approach those sins for which he hath smarted so severely. And hence we find that Repentance is not only expressed in Scripture by foreign which signifies a Change of Mind, but also by foreign which signifies an After-Care; which shews that though the Essence of Repentance consists in the foreign or Change of our mind, yet foreign, or an After-Care to avoid those sins from which our Minds are changed and converted, is a necessary Effect and Fruit of Repentance; it being an usual Figure in Scripture to express Causes by their most natural and easie Effects. And indeed when I see Men boldly approaching and venturing towards those Vices of which they pretend to have heartily repented, I cannot but suspect that their Repentance is nothing but a Pretence, that 'twas only a present Pet and Distaste that they took against their sin upon some ungrateful Accident, or under a sudden Qualm of Conscience, and that it never proceeded so far as to a cool and deliberate Change of their Judgment and Resolution concerning it. For certainly had they undergon those Lashes of Conscience, those sharp and cutting Reflections that are usually necessary to prepare the way for such a Change, they could never be so fool-hardy as to play upon the hole of the Asp again, and to thrust their hands into the den of the Cockatrice after they have been so severely stung by it; and the Remembrance of those Agonies of Soul, those Spasms and Convulsions of Conscience which their sin hath already cost them, would make them tremble to think of it and be instead of a Sea-mark to forewarn and terrify them from approaching it again. But such was the humour of the Pharisees, that though they pretended to be Penitents, yet when it served their Cause and Interest they were as bold and venturous at an evil Action as ever. For so our Saviour long after this Reprehension of the Baptist, and consequently after this their pretence of Repentance, charges them with being as intimate and familiar with their old Vices as ever. It was their way indeed, and so it was always, to make their Religion a Cloak and Pretence for their Wickedness; but to serve their own Faction, which they called propagating the Glory of God, they esteemed nothing unlawful. And though in any point that was repugnant to the Interest of their Sect they were the most nice and scrupulous People in the World; yet to serve their Cause they could lye and forswear themselves with the help of a juggling Reserve or Distinction, as our Saviour observes of them Matth. xxiii. 16. And no doubt but they could have taken Oaths and Sacraments too against their Consciences to keep their Placcs in the Sanhedrim, and there carry on their factious and turbulent Designs. It being therefore evident by their being so venturous upon sinful Actions, that their Pretence to Repentance was false, the Baptist dismisses them with this severe Admonition, go bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance; i. e. let me see you more wary and cautions of running into those sinful Courses of which you now pretend to repent, and then I shall have some reason to believe that you are Penitents indeed. And certainly while a Man affects to draw near to his old Sins, and to dwell in the Neighbourhood of them, whilst he delights in their Remembrance, and loves to sport and entertain himself with their phantastick Pleasures, while he affects to dwell within View of their Temptations, to venture to the very Edge and Brink of them, to the very utmost Limits of lawful and innocent; it is a very ill sign that he never had that thorough Sense of their Malignity and Danger that is necessary to an hearty Repentance; for if he had, he would be afraid of all Approaches and Tendencies towards them, and be ready to start and run away not only from the sins themselves but even from their Appearances and Resemblances.
And thus I have endeavoured to give you an Account of the natural Fruits and Effects of true Repentance, by considering of which and impartially consulting our own Experience of our selves, we may easily determine whether the Repentance we pretend to, if we pretend to any at all, be true or false. We live in an Age that doth so abound with all sorts and degrees of Wickedness, that a Man can hardly mention any kind of Wickedness, or party of wicked men that are branded for such either in Sacred or Profane History, but it is presently suspected that his design is to reproach and expose some Party or other among our selves. And I confess if men will set themselves to guessing who is meant by the Pharisees, and who by the Sadducees, they may find Parallels enough of both in this degenerate Age; and, God knows they go together too often now in pursuance of worse Designs than those Sadducees and Pharisees that came together to Iohn's Baptism. But if any should ask me who or what Party of Men it is I reflect upon in these severe Representations I have made of Pharisaical Pretenders to Repentance, I can truly answer that I intend no one Party of whatsoever Denomination; there being among all Parties a great many that do not so much as pretend to Repentance, and among most, as I verily hope, a great many that do more than pretend to it. But the Pharisees whom I mean are those whom the Baptist and after him our Saviour himself do so smartly inveigh against; and if you please to consult St. Matthew xxiii, you will there find them treated with much more Severity by the meekest and most charitable Person that ever was. But if in any Party among our selves there be any such Hypocrites and false Pretenders to Repentance as these Pharisees were, as I doubt there are too many among all Parties, I must then ingenuously acknowledge that I mean them too. And if any thing that hath been said should reflect upon and gall them, they ought to consider that that is their own Fault. They may avoid being Hypocrites, but We must not avoid declaiming against Hypocrisy, and when ever we do so, we must reflect upon them whether we will or no. If Men will be Hypocrites, our Saviour's Sermon as well, as this will upbraid and expose them, and if it doth so, 'tis not his Fault but theirs who made themselves obnoxious to his Satyrs and Invectives. The only way for you to avoid the Edge of such Reflections is to become honest and sincere Penitents, but if you will not, you must thank your selves, if it cuts and wounds you. For if our Saviour himself had stood this day in this Place, and preached over his Sermon to the Pharisees, it would have been impossible for you not to have been touched and concerned at it, and if you should be so disingenuous as to fall foul on me, as they did on him, I will only propose St. Pauls Quere to you, am I therefore become your Enemy, because I tell you the Truth? and so I have done with the second thing proposed, which was to shew you what are the proper Fruits and Effects of Repentance.
3. I now proceed to the Third and last Argument, namely to shew the indispensible Necessity of bringing forth these Fruits, which I shall endeavour to make appear by these following Instances.
1. That we should bring forth these meet Fruits of Repentance is necessary to the Satisfaction of God.
2. It is necessary to the Satisfaction of our own Consciences.
3. It is necessary to the Obligation of Repentance.
4. It is necessary to the Perfection of our Natures.
1. That we should bring forth these meet Fruits of Repentance is necessary to the Satisfaction of God. For though it be wholly owing to Christ's Satisfaction, that lost Sinners are admitted to a Possibility of recovering themselves by the After-game of Repentance, yet God we see hath declared, that without our Repentance he will not be satisfyed. Neither indeed doth Christ's Satisfaction extend to final Impenitence, it cancels none of our Guilts but only those which we heartily repent of, but as to all the rest we are as accountable to the Tribunal of God as if he had never died for us. So that all the Favour which the meritorious satisfaction of our Saviour hath obtained for us is only this, that our Repentance shall be accepted instead of our Punishment, that is, that if we unfeignedly repent of our sins, we shall thereupon be set as right in the sight of God and in the court of Heaven, as if we had undergon the utmost Rigor of the Law. So that now our Repentance being accepted of by God instead of our Punishment, it is necessary that it should be such a Repentance as doth in some measure answer and fulfil the Ends of our Punishment. For since 'tis for wise and good Ends that God punishes, it is not to be expected that he will accept of any thing in the stead of our Punishment which doth not in some measure fulfil and accomplish those Ends; and this no Repentance can do but that which produces the proper Fruits of Repentance. For the principal End of Punishment is either to amend the Criminal himself, or to warn others not to imitate his Sins by the Example of his Sufferings, which Ends can never be effected by our Repentance unless it produce in us the visible Fruits of Amendment. For suppose it possible that I should have internally repented, i. e. that my Mind should be really chang'd, that in my Iudgment I should absolutely condemn my sinful Courses, and in my Will I should be peremptorily resolved against them, and no actual and visible Reformation should follow; if this I say were possible, it is plain my Repentance would be wholly ineffectual both as to my own Amendment and the Amendment of others. If indeed I actually avoided the Sins I condemn and am resolved against, my Repentance would effect the Ends of my Punishment, that is, it would make me a better Man, it would reform my Nature, rectify my Motions, and extinguish my bad Inclinations and corrupt Principles, and prove an effectual Means to reform others too; who by the good Example of my Actions might be as effectually wrought upon, as by the sad Example of my Sufferings. And God having thus obtained his Ends by my Repentance, there is very good reason why he should dispense with my Punishment. But if after I have condemned my Sin and resolved against it, neither my self nor other Men can be reform'd and amended by it, this Change of my Mind will have no influence on my Nature, it will never correct its disorderly Affections, nor subdue its wild and extravagant Inclinations; but leave it altogether as vicious and degenerate as it found it. Neither will it have any good Influence upon others, because it doth not appear to them in any visible Effects. So that it is only by bringing forth its natural Fruits that our Repentance or Change of Mind serves the Ends of Gods Punishments, and 'tis unreasonable to expect that God should accept of our Repentance for our Punishment, when it doth not at all serve the purpose of our Punishment. For this would be to defeat himself, to countermine and baffle his own Intentions, and fondly to give up his wise and good Ends to the Obstinacy and Perversness of his Creatures. You would fain have God dispense with your Punishment; well, but you ought to consider that there are very wise and good Ends that he drives at in punishing you. Would you have him give up these Ends? that is unreasonable, that is to desire him to acknowledge that his Ends are not worth aiming at. Why what is to be done then? I will tell you what, you must give him his Ends by your Repentance, that is, by bringing forth such Fruits of Repentance as will effectually amend you, and contribute to amend others, and then you may be secure that God will be satisfyed; but if not, be assured he will prosecute his Ends by your Punishment and take care to warn others by the sad example of your Sufferings, since you would not take care to warn them by the good example of your Actions.
2. That we should bring forth these meet Fruits of Repentance is also necessary to the Satisfaction of our Consciences; for without such Fruits a Man can never be rationally satisfyed that his Repentance is real and sincere for if we have made any Observation upon our selves, we cannot but be sensible of our own Fickleness and Mutability, how many Sorts of Men we are under our several Circumstances, how our Mind veers about upon every change of Wind, and into what contrary Tempers it is moulded upon contrary Chances and Contingencies. And having such an aboundant Experience of our own Inconsistency, how can we rationally conclude upon every Variation of Temper. That this or that is our fixt Judgment or our standing Resolution, that the Mind we are now in will not Change upon the next Change of our Circumstances, and that when contrary Accidents occur we shall not take up contrary Resolutions; especially when our Resolutions do oppose our Inclinations, and our Inclinations are perpetually importuned and sollicited by outward Objects and Temptations; which is our Case in the matter of Repentance. In this case for Men to conclude from the present Bent and Inclination of their Wills that they are steadily fix'd and determined to good Resolutions is a piece of very unreasonable Self-Assurance; for when they know themselves to be so fickle and inconstant in matters to which their Inclinations are more indifferent, how much reason have they to suspect the Firmness of those Resolutions to which their Inclinations are so extreamly averse, and from which so many outward Objects are continually beckoning and inviting them? in this case therefore we have no other way to be rationally satisfied of the Firmness and Stability of the change of our Mind but only by the Fruits and Effects of it, for, if when it hath Opportunity, it doth not pass forth into Action, and display it self upon our Lives in an answerable Practice, if it doth not ordinarily restrain us from those Evils it condemns and resolves against, and spur us on to those good things it approves and consents to, it is most certain it is a mere Cheat and Imposture. For let Men say what they please, it is impossible that any Man should live in those vicious Courses which they absolutely condemn and are sincerely resolved against they may now and then quarrel at their sins and take Pet against them upon some little Disappointment or unhandsome Accident, and in the Heat of their Distaste they may condemn and renounce them, but if when their Passion is allayed, they resent and return to them again, it is plain that their Minds were never changed, and that the Current of their Iudgment and Will was only interupted by a contrary Gust; but that it was never diverted into a contrary Channel. So that what our Saviour asserts of Men is as true of their Repentance, the Tree is known by its Fruits; if our Repentance be genuine, it will bring forth the Fruit of Reformation, but if it be barren or bring forth nothing but Leaves and good Words and Professions, it is certainly Spurious and Hypocritical. However therefore Men may juggle with and impose upon their Consciences with false Shews and Semblances, they can never hope to be rationally satisfied of the Truth of their Repentance till the natural Fruits and Effects of it appear in their Lives and Conversations.
3. That we should bring forth these meet Fruits of Repentance, is also necessary to satisfy the Obligation of Repentance: for Repentance is not required of us meerly for its own sake, but in order to the Fruits and Effects of it; and the Reason why God obliges us to this Change of our Mind, is, because it is a necessary Introduction to a thorough Change and Reformation of our Manners; and for a Man to condemn Sin in his Judgment meerly to condemn it, and resolve against it in his Will meerly to resolve against it, is so far from being a Vertue, that it is a ridiculous Impertinence. And if we still practise what we condemn, and do what we resolve against, we are so far from answering the Obligation of Repentance, that we do but inhance and aggravate our Impenitence. For he that doth what he condemns sins against his Knowledge, and flies in the face of his own Convictions; and he that doth what he resolves against, sins against his Promise, and basely falsifies his own Engagements. So that the meer Change of our Mind, you see, abstractedly considered, doth by no means answer the Obligation to Repentance, because the Obligation doth not terminate in it self, but is made with respect to the natural Effects of such a Change; and because this Change in it self is of no farther Use and Significancy in Religion than as it is pregnant with and productive of those Effects. For either the Sin which I condemn in my Iudgment is such an Evil as I ought to shun and avoid, or it is not; if it be not, it is no Vertue for me to condemn that for an Evil which I need not take care to avoid; if it be, it is a Folly to condemn it, unless I also avoid it. And so again, either the Duty I consent to and resolve upon in my Will is necessary to be done, or it is not; if it be not, it is unnecessary for me to resolve to do it; if it be, it is in vain to resolve to do it unless I perform my Resolution. For as a Cypher which is only in order to a Number signifies nothing, unless a Number be added to it; so a Resolution, which is only in order to Action, is perfectly insignificant, unless it be seconded with Action. And since it is nothing but the Necessity of doing what we resolve that can make it necessary for us to resolve to do it, we must either deny the Necessity even of our resolving to amend, or acknowledge the Necessity of our actual Amendment. So that that inward Change of our Mind which Repentance imports being required only in order to the outward Change of our Manners, it is impossible we should satisfy the Obligation of Repentance without bringing forth the Fruits of actual Amendment.
4. And lastly; That we should bring forth these meet Fruits of Repentance is also necessary to accomplish the great Work and Design of Repentance, which is to repair the Decays and Ruins of our Nature, and recover it from the Diseases it hath contracted by sinful Courses to a State of Health and Perfection. For Repentances suppose a degeneracy of our Nature, and the great Business and Design of it is to raise and recover us. And hence the Prodigals Repentance is called coming to himself Luke xv. 17. implying that before he was gone from himself, that he had abandoned his Reason by which he was constituted a Man, forsaken the Guide and leading Principle of his Nature, and was degenerated either into a Beast or a Devil; which is a very proper Description of the State of Sinners, who when they depart from God do depart from themselves, and run out of Humanity into Bestiality or Devilishness. For they do not govern themselves by Reason as Men should do, but by their Passions and Appetites as Beasts and Devils do; they turn a deaf Ear to the voice of their Reason and Conscience, and constantly chuse and refuse what their own black Passions or brutish Appetites direct them, and in the whole course of their Lives do act like upright Beasts or incarnate Devils. The proper business therefore of Repentance is to bring back these Vagrants, to themselves, and restore them to their Wits and Reason, to rescue them out of the Hands of Passion and Appetite, and put them under the Power of Reason and Conscience, that so for the future they may live like themselves and as becomes rational Beings that are related to God and one another. This is the proper work of Repentance, which it can never effect without it bring forth its natural Fruits. For he that so repents of his evil Courses, as not to correct and reform them, how is it possible he should ever be the better for it, when he moves not a step forward from the corrupt and degenerate State of his nature, but only dances round in a Circle, and sins and repents, and repents and sins, and at last still returns to the same point. The only way to reform our Nature and subject its Passions and Appetites to its Reason, is to live well, and regulate our Actions by the Laws of Reason and Righteousness; by this we shall by degrees tame and reduce our irregular Inclinations, and readvance our Reason to its native Throne and Dominion: by forcing our selves, as we must do at first, to the Practice of Vertue and Religion, we shall by degrees acquire vertuous Dispositions, and those will improve into vertuous Habits, and those in the end will grow to Perfection. But if we only condemn our Sins and resolve against them, but do not actually renounce and forsake them; instead of bettering our Nature we shall more and more debauch and deprave it, and be still declining from bad to worse, and from worse to worse, till at last our Disease becomes desperate and incurable. So that it is indispensibly necessary, you see, that we should bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance, because, unless we do, it is impossible our Repentance should ever accomplish the Work it is designed for; that it should heal and reform our nature, extinguish its vicious Inclinations, and adorn it with those Graces wherein its Beauty and Perfection consists: and we were every whit as good not to repent at all, as to repent so as to be never the better for it. And now give me leave to conclude this Argument with a few Inserences.
1. From hence I infer what a ridiculous thing it is for Men to make a fond Pretence of zeal for Religion, while the direct Contraries to all the natural Fruits of Repentance do most visibly appear in their Lives and Conversations. I confess of all the offices that belong to a Preacher, I am naturally the most averse to that of Reprehension. I do not love to expose Mens Faults, and rake in their filthy Dunghils; and 'tis not only my Charity to Mankind but also the Indisposition of my Nature to find fault, that makes me so heartily wish, O would to God that Men were once so good as to need no Reprehension! that so we might have nothing to do but to praise and incourage them, to excite them to go on with the Comforts of Religion and the just Applauses and Encomiums of their Vertues. But alas we live in an Age that would make a Stone to speak, and force any Man of any Conscience, in despite of all the Candor and Modesty of his nature, to cry aloud against the fulsom Hypocrisies and Impostures that look through our most glorious Pretences to Religion. For, for God's sake Sirs, is it not a Shame, a burning Shame to hear a Company of professed Atheists and notorious Knaves set up for Zealots and Reformers, and raise a Clamour for Liberty of Conscience, and pure Ordinances? as for the sober and pious Dissenters, I can bear their mistakes with as much Tenderness and Compassion as any Man, and can make them as large Allowances as I could reasonably desire for my self, if I were in their Condition. But when I see Men rank themselves under the Banners of Religion, that live in open Hostility to its Commands and Precepts, that make no Conscience of blaspheming the Name of God, traducing his Vicegerents and Representatives, defaming and defrauding their Neighbours, and exposing the most Sacred and Serious things to Scorn and Derision; I cannot but suspect that there is Mischief behind the Curtain, what zealous Appearances soever they may make upon the Stage. For it can never enter into my Head, and I wonder how it should into any Bodies else, that those Men should ever design well to Religion, whose Principles and Practices are so openly irreligious. They may pretend Religion, for that is so venerable a Name that 'twill serve to set a fair Colour upon the ugliest Intentions; but tho' we may be deceived by a well disguised Hypocrisy, yet sure we can never believe that Profaneness is in earnest, when it pretends to be zealous for Religion and a through Reformation. O would to God that Men would at last be so honest as to appear what they are, or at least not be so ridiculous, as to pretend the quite contrary to what they appear! it would make any honest heart bleed to see how Religion, how the Protestant Religion is rendred cheap and vile by the impudent Pretences which bad Men make to it; Men whose Lives are bad enough to disgrace Popery it self, and who are Protestants only because they are not Papists. In the name of God, Sirs, what have you to do with any Religion, and much more with the Protestant, which by its pure and honest Principles defies and renounces you, which abominates your designs and disavows your Actions, and blushes to see how you Profane and Scandalize it by pretending Friendship to and Familiarity with it. For what will strangers think of it, that understand not its Principles, when they hear such as you claim such an intimate Acquaintance with it? how prone will they be to suspect that 'tis a Religion for your tooth, and that it shelters and patronizes you in all your Wickedness? wherefore for God's sake be at length so just to the Reputation of that Religion you pretend so much zeal for, as either to bring forth the Fruits of it by living up to its Principles, or not concern your selves any farther about it. For this I am sure of, while such as you pretend to it, it loses much more by the Disgrace which your Lives do cast upon it, then ever it is like to gain by your zeal and your Clamour for it.
2. Hence I also infer how extreamly insufficient that Repentance is, which the Church of Rome doth frankly approve and allow of; which is such as plainly evacuates and supersedes the Necessity of bringing forth the natural Fruits of Repentance; as any one may easily apprehend that will but take the pains impartially to consider the Chain of that Churches Principles. For first the Council of Trent teaches that Attrition, which is nothing but a Sorrow for Sin proceeding from the Fear of Punishments, doth dispose Men to receive Grace in the Sacrament of Penance, and that all the Sacraments of the Gospel, of which Penance is one, do actually confer grace upon those that are disposed for it. So that if he hath but the Grace to be afraid of Hell and to be sorry that he is in Danger of it, it is but confessing his Sins to a Priest and undergoing a short trifling Penance, and upon a few words of Absolution he shall presently be dubbed a true Penitent, and be as effectually instated in the Favour of God as if he had brought forth all the Fruits of Repentance. And this Bellarmine tells us is the current Judgment of all their Divines; which if it be true, poor Iudas had very ill luck to be damned; for according to this Doctrine he was throughly disposed for Iustification, it being out of mere Attrition that he hanged himself; so that had he had but a Priest to have administered Penance and Absolution to him, that Grace that made him hang himself, would have intitled him to Heaven. 'Tis true indeed they tell us that there is a certain Penance which Men must undergo for their sins in this Life and that if they should not perform what is imposed upon them, or if what is imposed should not be sufficient to satisfy Gods Justice, they must be forced to make it up by their Sufferings in Purgatory. But even against this too that Church hath contrived an excellent Remedy, and that is the Treasury of the superabundant Merits of Christ and the Saints, of which at very reasonable Rates Men may purchase such a share, as will immediately pay off all their Purgatory scores, how great soever their present Sins, and how small soever their present Penances are. For out of this Treasury of Merit you may have Indulgence for a Hundred, a Thousand, or a Hundred Thousand Years; and if this will not satisfy, you may besides this have full Indulgence, fuller Indulgence and fullest Indulgence, and 'tis impossible you should ever want Merit to keep your Soul out of Purgatory, if you have but Money and Hearts to pay for it. But if you should still be doubtful, you may secure all, if you please, by listing your self into an holy Confraternity; for if you will but turn Brother of St. Francis his Cord, you shall presently be intitled to such a stock of Indulgencies as all the Sins you can commit will never be able to out-spend. For at your first putting on this sacred Implement, you have as full and as effectual Pardon as was ever vouchsafed in the Sacrament of Baptism. And afterwards should you fall into mortal Sin, 'tis but taking so much Pains as to walk after the monthly Procession, and you shall have a plenary Indulgence which shall attend your holy Cord to the very Article of your Death. Besides which, you shall have your share in all the superabundant Merits of the Saints, of the Order of Saint Roses, and Saint Clara's and Saint Francis himself, who by preaching to Beasts and teaching Larks and Swallows their Chatechism, and silly Sheep to bleat out their Canonical Hours, with sundry other such like holy Feats, could not fail to treasure up a vast stock of Merits in the common Bank of his Fraternity. Or if you would be surer yet, you may enter your self a Brother of the holy Fraternity of the 150 Beads of St. Dominick, where, for saying over 150 Ave Maries and 15 Pater Nosters in a week, you shall not only be allowed your Dividend of the superabundant Merits of all the Saints from Adans, and as many Indulgencies as you can possibly have occasion for your self; but such an overplus as will be sufficient to redeem 115 Souls yearly out of Purgatory. And it would be a very hard case if with all this tackle you should go to Purgatory your self. But if the worst come to the worst, it is but inrolling your self a Brother of St. Simons Scapular; and then if you should go to Purgatory, the Virgin Mary hath ingaged her self, if Pope Iohn XXII. doth not foully bely her, to come down to Purgatory every Saturday night, and pull up every Soul thence that hath worn this sacred Vestment into the holy hill of eternal Life. And when a Fryars Cord, or Rochet, or String of Beads are such excellent tools for Men to work out their Salvation with, what need they trouble themselves to bring forth the Fruits of Repentance? had these things been only the Conceits of some particular Members of that Church I should not have mentioned them in this place, because to us they cannot but look extreamly ridiculous; but alas they are Cheats that have been founded and established on the Bulls of their Popes, avowed and contended for by their gravest Doctors, and reverenced and believed by the devoutest Members of their Communion. And how can they be obliged to bring forth the Fruits of Repentance, who are furnished with so many pretty Devices to get to Heaven without them?
3. And lastly, Hence therefore let us all be persuaded heartily to comply with this Injunction, and bring forth the natural Fruits of Repentance; first to form a hearty and deliberate Resolution against our Sins, and then to put it into Execution by forsaking all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and living soberly and righteously and godly in this present World. I do not deny but in this undertaking there are many times very great Difficulties, especially when we first enter upon it, when after a long Course of Folly we begin to reform; for then we must wrestle against our own Inclinations and struggle with inveterate Habits; and this perhaps will put us to a greater tryal of our Courage and Constancy than we are now aware of. But if upon a due consideration of the Arguments on both sides we can but once persuade our selves to a through Resolution of Amendment, in all probability we have broke the heart of the main Difficulty of Repentance. It is I confess a hard thing for a Man to persuade himself against all his Habits and Inclinations, to resolve without any reserve in Cold and Deliberate thoughts upon an universal Reformation, at once to resolve to bid adieu forever to all his darling Lusts and their appendant Pleasures. This, as our Saviour describes it, is like the cutting off of a right Hand and the plucking out of a right Eye; and therefore must doubtless be attended with vehement Struglings and Reluctances; but when this is done, the sharpest Pang of our Repentance is over; and if now we do not wilfully miscarry, these our bitter Throws like the Virgin Mother's, will soon conclude in Songs and Magnificats. For by arming a firm Resolution against them, we have already broken the main strength of our Lusts, so that now we have nothing to do but to pursue our Victory; and if we have but the Courage to keep the ground we have gotten, and to stand firm to our Resolution that so our conquered Foe may not be able to rally and reinforce himself against us; we shall soon be crowned with the Joys of a Victory that will lead us into an everlasting Triumph. For our evil Habits, being for a while kept under a constant and severe Restraint, will by degrees decay and languish, and at last expire; and then the Trouble of contending will be over, and all our consequent Religion will be Sweet, and Natural, and Easie; and we shall reap far more Pleasure and Delight from it than ever we did from the most jolly Course of Sinning. For besides that a Religious Life is in it self more agreeable to our rational Faculties, and consequently more grateful unto Humane Nature, whose noblest Pleasures do result from the Exercise of her highest Faculties, and whose highest Faculties are never so vigorously exercised as within the sphere of a Religious Life: Besides which I say we shall therein find an unspeakable Satisfaction of Mind, and such a Calm of Conscience, and such ravishing Ioys and Delights springing out of our sense of the Love of God and our Hopes of a blessed Immortality hereafter, as will abundantly compensate all our Labours past, and render them not only tolerable but delightsom. For how can I think any Pains intolerable, the Endurance whereof will create a constant Harmony within me, will Crown me with the Applause of my own Mind, will indear me to the Fountain of all Love and Goodness, and entertain me with the Hopes of being as happy after a few moments as all the Joys of an everlasting Heaven can make me? But I beseech you to consider, is it not much easier to indure the Agonies of a bitter Repentance, than the horrid Despair of a damned Ghost? to thwart a foolish and unreasonable Lust, than to roar forever upon the Rack of a self-condemning Conscience? if it be so grievous to us to contend with an evil habit and struggle a while with a stiff and obstinate Inclination, to resolve and strive and watch and pray against them, Lord, how grievous will it be to dwell with everlasting Burnings, and to endure the dire Effects of thy unquenchable Fury forever? and yet one of these must certainly be endured, for between them there is no medium. Wherefore seeing we are under such an absolute Necessity of enduring Hell or the Difficulties of Repentance, in the Name of God let us but act like Men, and of the two chuse that which is most tolerable, and then I am sure we shall follow the counsel of the Text, and bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance.