OfGonfeffing andForfakingSin, &c.' Vol. II. us and the wrath of God, that it will highly inflame and exafperate it : For whateyer impenitent Sinners may now think, they will then certainly find that the Divine Juftice, when it is throughly provoked, and whetted by his abufed Mercy and Goodnefs, will be molt terribly fevere, and like a Rafor fet withOyl, will cut the keener for its fmoothnefs. Confider this all ye thatforget God, left he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver : Confider and Phew your felves Men, 0 ye tranfgreffors We doconfider all this (may Come perhaps fay) but we have beengreat fin- tiers, fo great, that we doubt whether ourcafe be not already defperate. This; if it be fenfiblyPaid, withdeep Sorrow and Contrition, with that Shame and Confufionof face, which becomes great offenders. is a good Confeffion, and the beft Reafon in the World, whyye fhould now break ofyourfins': For if what you have already done, do really make your cafe fo doubtful and difficult ; do not by finningyet more and more againft the Lord, make it quite Defperate and pall Remedy ; do but you repent, and God will yet return and have Mercy upon you. Anddo not fay you cannot do it, when it muttbe done, or you are undone. Power andNeceflty go together ; when Men are hard preft they find a power which they thought they had not ; and when it comes to the pufh, Men can do that which they plainly fee they either muftdo, or be ruined for ever. But after all this, I amvery fenfible how great a need there is of God's power- ful Affittante in this cafe, and that it, is not an ordinary refolution, and common meafure of God's Grace, that will reclaim thofe who havebeen long habituated to an evil courfe. Let us therefore earneftly beg of him, that he would make thefe Counfels effe- aual, that he would grant us repentance unto life, that he would make us all fenfi- ble ofour faults, forry for them, and refolved to amend them ; and let us every one put up David's prayer toGod for our felves, Deal with thyServant according to thymercy, and teachme thyflatutes ; order my /legs in thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me ; teach me, 0 Lord, the way ofthy flatutes, that I may keep them unto the end. I have now done ; Iamonly to mind youof another Duty, which is to accom- panyourRepentance, and Fatting, and Prayer, as a Teftimony of the Sincerity of our Repentance, and oneof thebeft means tomake our Fatting and Prayeraccep- table to God, and to turn away his Judgments from us, and that is Charity and Almsto thePoor, whole number is very great amongus, and their necefiitiesve- ry preffingand clamourous, and therefore do call for abountiful Supply. And to convince Men of the Neceffity of this Duty, and theEfficacy of it in conjunaion with our Repentance and Fatting, and Prayers, I thall only offer to your confideration a few plain Texts of Scripture, which needno comment upon them. Dan. 4.2y. it is the Prophet's advice toNebuchadnezzar; Breakoffthyfns by righteoufnefs, and thine iniquity by !hewing mercy to the poor ; if fo be it may be a lengthning of thy tranquility. Ails to 4. the Angel there tells Cornelius, Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a memorial before God. Ifa. 58. 5. Is not this thefaß whichI havechofen, to loofe the bands ofwickednefs, to undo the heavy burthens, and to let the oppreffed go free, and that ye break every yoke ? Is itnot to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cafè out, to thy houfe ; when thoufeefl the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyPelf from thy own flelb ? Then (hall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health ¡hallfpring forthfpeedily, and thy righteoufnefs !hall go before thee, and the Gloryof the Lord/ball be thy reward; then¡halt thou call, and the Lord¡hall anfwer thee; thou ¡halt cry, and he(hallfay, here I am. To which I will only add that graciousPro- mife of our Saviour ; Blefed are the merciful, for they ¡hallfind mercy; and that terrible Sentence in St. lames, Ile ¡hall bave fudgment without mercy, that bath (hewed no mercy. SER--
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