0o Of Con f ffi.on, and Sorrow for Sin... Vol. not furely, but be very forty for what he hath dons, and be highly difpleafed andoffended with himfelf, that he fhould be the Author of his own ruin, and have contributed as much as in him liesto hiseverlafling undoing. a.. Another and better Principleof Sorrow for Sin, is ingenuity ; becaufe we are fenfible, that we have carried our (elves very unworthily towards God, and have been injurious tohim, who bath laid all pofiibleObligations upon us : For he bath madeus, and bath given us our beings, and hath charged his watchful Providence with the continual care of us ; his bounty bath miniftred to the necef- fities and comforts ofour Life ; all the Blefiings that we enjoy, are the Effects of his meer love and goodnefs, without any hope of requital, orexpectation of any other return from us, thanof love, of gratitude, and obedience ; which yet are ofno advantage tohim, but verybeneficial and comfortable to our felves : For he does not expe& Duty and Obedience from us, with any regard of Benefit to himfelf, but for our fakes, andin order to our ownHappinefs: Nay, his kindnefs did not flophere, but after we had abufed him byour re- peated provocations, yet he (till continued his care of us ; and when we had far- ther provoked him to withdraw his Love, and to call in his abufed Goodnefs, and had done what lay in us to make our felves miferabie, 'fie would not fuffer us to be undone, but found outa Ranfom for us, and bath contrived a way for the pardon of all our Offences, and to reconcileus to himfelf, and to rettore us to Happinefs, by the moft ftupendous and amazing condefcenfion of love and goodnefs that ever was, even by giving his onlySon to dye for us. And can we reflect upon all this, and not be fortyand grievedat our veryhearts that we fhould be fo evil to him, who hath bin fo good to us ; that we fhould be fo undutiful to fo loving a Father, fo unkind to fo faithful and confiant a Friend, fo ungrateful and unworthy to fo mighty a Benefactor? If any thing will melt us into Tears, furely this will do it, to confider that we have finned a- gainft him, who made us, and continually preferves us, and after all our unkind - nefs to him, did ftillretain fo great a love for us, as to redeem us from Hell and Deftru&ion, by the Death and Suffering of his Son, andnotwithftanding all our Offences does (till offer us Pardon and Peace, Life and Happinefs: Such Confi- derations as thefe, ferioufly laid to heart, fhould one would think break the hardefl heart, and make Tears togufh evenout ofa Rock. I proceed in the III. Place to confider the Meafure and Degree of our Sorrow for Sin. That it admits of degrees, which ought to bear fome proportion to the heinoufnefs ofourSins, and the feveral aggravations of them, and the timeofour continuance in them, is out ofall difpute : For tho' the leaf Sin be a juft caufe of the deep- eft Sorrow; yetbecaufe our greatefl grief can never bear a due proportion to the vafl and infinite evil of Sin, God is pleafed to require and accept fuch meafuresof Sorrow, as do not bear an exact correfpondence to the Malignity of Sin, provi- ded they be according to the capacity of our Nature, and in fome fort proporti- oned to the degree and aggravationsof our Sins ; i. e. Tho'the higheftdegree of ourSorrow doth neceffarily fall below the evil of the leafi Sin ; yet God requires that we fhould be more deeply affected with fome Sins, than others. But what is the lowell degree which God requires in a true Penetent, and wilt accept, as it is impoffible for me to tell, fo it is unprofitable for any body tcs know : For no Man can reafonably make this enquiry with any other defign, than that he may learn how he may come off with God upon the cheapeft and eafieft terms. Now there cannot be a worfe fign, that a Man is not truly fenfi- ble of the great evil ofSin, than this, that hedefires tobe troubled for it as little as may be, andno longer than needsmull : And none furely are more unlikely to find acceptance with God, than thofe who deal fo nearly, and endeavour todrive fohard a bargain with him. And therefore I fhall only fay this in general, concerning the degrees of our Sorrow for Sin ; that Sin being fo great an evil in it Pelf, and of fo pernicious a confequence to us, it cannot be too much lamented and grieved for by us : And themoreand greater ourSins have been, and the longer we have continued and , lived in them, they call for fo much the greater Sorrow, and deeper humiliation from
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