foul spot to fully the Whitenefs and Beauty of their whole unblemifht Converfation, but were always Innocent and always Safe, like Zacharias and Elizabeth were always righteous before God, walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless, Luke 1. 6.

I cannot say these are wholly Sinless and altogether perfect, for fo none of the Race of Adam, or the Children of Men are, except our Bleffed Saviour; for there are fome Infirmities, and Weakneffes, and Imperfections, that belong to these, and fo they ftand in need of that leffer Repentance I before fpake of, but they never were guilty of the great Offence, and fo need not that greater Repentance which others do.

And 'tis of that I now fpeak, a Repentance from dead works, as the Apoftle calls it, Heb. 6. 1. A Repentance from wilful and mortal Sins, fuch as put us into an ill ftate, and fuch as we shall certainly perish except we Repent of them, Luke 13. 3.

SECT. III.

True Notion of Repentance.

OW this Repentance I would thus defcribe, anfwerable to those three words by which it is expreft in Scripture, A forrow for our Sins, joyned with change and alteration of Mind, and amendment or reformation of Life; or fuch a fenfe of Mind as makes us leave and forfake, or turn away from every Sin, or all

the

the Sins we have been guilty of, and practice the contrary Vertues, or perform thofe other Duties we have broken or been wanting in. Thus, where we have been bad Men in any inftance, and violated our Duty, and offended God, and broken or tranfgreft his Laws, it will make us become good Men afterwards, and perform our Duty, and return to God, and keep or obey his Commandments in all those cafes wherein we have done otherwise before. This, this alone is fuch a Repentance as avails to Pardon and Salvation; as it takes away every Sin which would Damn us, and brings us to that Obedience, and practice of all Vertue and Holinefs, without which no Man can fee God, or be saved.

Repentance, I own, is a word of an equivocal meaning, that fignifies feveral things, and has several fenfes belonging to it; as forrow and trouble of Mind, change of Thoughts, and the like; which are meant by the Latin Panitentia and Refipifcentia, and by the Greek Μεταμέλλα and Μετάνοια ; and it is commonly taken for fomething that goes no further than a Man's own Mind, for the inward working and change of its own Thoughts, and the forrow and trouble it conceives upon the reflection of its paft Sins, and the confideration of its bad ftate. And here it is Repentance must first begin, in the Mind, the principle of all Moral actions, its being fenfible of its Evil ways, and truly Sorrowful and Afflicted for them; when its Heart is fmitten within, and bleeds as it were from those inward wounds it feels in its own Confcience, and when it vents it felf in

all

all the forrowful expreffions of inward trouble, when it weeps bitterly, like St. Peter, Matth. 26. 75. and rivers of tears run down its eyes because it has not kept the Law of its God; when it is pricked to the heart, Acts 2. 37. and is under very deep compunction and contrition of Soul, and mourns and laments for its grievous Wickedness; when it is afraid of the Anger and Indignation of that God whom it has offended, and has a juft dread of thofe Punishments it knows it has deferved; when it is under great convictions of the folly and evil of its Sins, and is very fenfible of the fad fruits and confequences of thofe things whereof it is now afhamed; when it confiders how little Benefit and Advantage it ever got by them when it committed them, and to what a fad account they now turn, and how that the end of them is like to be Death and Damnation. This inward fenfe and godly forrow, if it continue upon the Mind, and go not off like a morning dew, or an hafty Cloud or fudden Storm, will furely work Repentance not to be Repented of, will bring it to perfect and true Repentance, not only to Confeffion and Humiliation, and afflicting its Soul by Farting, and putting on Sackcloth and Ashes, which may be figns and attendants fometimes, but no proper parts or acts of true Repentance; but this will beget in it good Purposes and Refolutions of becoming better, and forfaking its Sins, hearty wishes that it had never committed them, and fincere Vows and Intentions to foriake them, for whilft it has that fenfe upon its Mind,it cannot well do otherwile.Now this is a very good Beginning, and a very good part of Repentance C

and

and it wants nothing to make it true, perfect and compleat, but bringing forth fruits meet for Repentance, Matth. 3. 8. Acts 26. 20. that is, all this having an effect upon the Life and Actions, mending and reforming thofe, and making them fuitable and agreeable to those inward Thoughts and Paffions of Mind, that we may be not only renewed in our minds, but become new Men, and new Creatures, and walk in newness of Life, Rom. 6. 4. That we may put off concerning the former converfation, the old Man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lufts, and may put on the new Man, which after God is created in righteoufnefs and true holiness, Eph. 4. 22, 24 That we put off the body of the fins of the flesh, Coloff. 2. 11. That if we have yielded our members fervants to uncleanness and to iniquity, unto iniquity, fo now that we yield our members fervants of righteoufnefs unto holiness, Rom. 6. 19: That we be washed, that we be cleanfed, 1 Cor. 6. 11. That we fin no more, John 5. 14. That denying ungodliness and worldly lufts, we live foberly, righteously and godly in this prefent world, Tit. 2. 12. For Repentance is the whole practical condition of Chriftianity, and together with Faith, makes up the entire duty of a Chriftian, as St. Paul fums it up, Acts 20. 21. Teftifying both to the Jews and to the Greeks, Repentance towards God, and Faith towards our Lord Jefus Chrift. That we who were enemies to God by our wicked works, may be reconciled to him, by Converfion and Obedience, and may become holy and unblamable, and unreprovable in his fight, Coloff. 1.2 1, 22. That we being made free from Sin, and become fervants to God, may have our fruit unto holiness,

And

and the end everlasting life, Rom. 6. 22. Which are the full and excellent defcriptions which are given us in the New Teftament of this Duty of Repentance, which make actual Reformation and Obedience effential to it, and which make it confist plainly in these two things;

1. In a relinquishing and forfaking every Sin, or all the Sins we have been guilty of.

II.In performing and practifing the Vertues Contrary to those Sins. In St. Peter's Phrafe, Efchewing Evil and doing Good, 1 Pet. 3. 11. i.e. The good that is contrary to the former evil.

Δια τότε λέγεται μετά νοια ὅτι μετατίθησε τ νν Qual. Athanaf. abript. Q any ways to ajador. 133. de Parab.72. P. 435. Μετάνοιαν λέγω το were SOSHVOR xaxo μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἀμεινὸν επιδείξαπς καλα Ou 2 ἀρκεῖ εἰς ὑγείαν ἡμῖν τὸ BENEV μovov, &C. Chryf. Hom. 10. in Math.

Μετάνοια οτι μετάςασις xpVED BY METAβολὴ ἐπὶ τὸ βέλπον. Aret. in 3. c. Apoc.

TO

I. A relinquishing and forfaking every Sin, or all the Sins we have been guilty of. We muft first break off the practice of thofe, and ceafe from any one act of them, and fo we fhall by degrees break the ftrength and force of them upon our Minds: For as all habits grow upon us by many repeated acts, which are like fo many ftrokes, as it were beating upon the Mind, that do form and fashion it into fuch a habit and difpofition; fo when this force and impreffion is taken off, the habit will grow more weak and languid, and the Mind will be able to recover and unbend it felf from it: Let us then refolutely C 2 Geale