Serm. CVIII. An Argument for Repentance. 29 fight too, and kill one another ifthey can, for no reafon, and upon no provoca- tion. There falle Rules of Honour will not pafs in another Worldin the higheft andgreateft Court ofHonour, from whence there is no Appeal. I (hall conclude this wholeArgument with that excellent fayingof Caro, repor- ted in A. Gellius, Cogitate cumanimir veris, &c. " Confider (fays he) with your " felves, if ye be at any trouble and pain to do a good Action, the trouble,will " befoon over ; but the pleafure and comfort of what ye have done Well, abides " with you all your days : but if to gratifie your felves, you do any thing that is " wicked, the pleafure will quickly vanifh; but the guilt of it will flick by you " for ever. And is it not then much better to prevent all this trouble, by denying our felves thefe Gnful pleafures, which will follow us with guilt whilst we live, and fill us withhorror and defpair when we come to die ? I ihall nowmake fome reflections upon what has been delivered, and fo con, dude. Firfl, What bath been Paid upon this Argument, ought particularly to move thofe who have fo great a confideration of this prefent Life, and the temporal Happinefs of it, that thePra&ice of all Virtues is a friend to their temporal, as well as eternal welfare, and all Vice is an Enemy to both. Secondly, This likewife takes off all manner of excufe from Sin and Vice. It pretends not to ferve the Soul, and to profit our future Happinefs in another World; andif it be an Enemy alfo to our prefent welfare in this World, what is there tobe faid for it ? Thirdly, (which I deGreto infiff a little longer upon) all the Arguments which I have ufed, toconvince Men of the follyof a wicked courfe, are fo many thong and unanfwerable Reafons for Repentance ; for when a Man is convinced, that he bath done foolifhly, and to his own prejudice, thathe bathfinned, and thatit profited himnot, what can he do lefs, than to be heartily fogy for it, and aft-lam- edofit, and refolved to dobetter for the futtire ? Nothing ¡lately is more rea- fonable than Repentance; and yet how hard is it to bringMen to it ? Either Men will miftake theNatureof it, andnot do it effectually 5 or they willdelay it; and not do it in time. T. Men friiftake the Nature of Repentance ; and there are tiro great ttiiftakes a- bout ir. s. Of thofe whomake the great force and virtue of it to confift, not fomuc& in the Refolution of the Penitent, is in the Abfolution of the Prieft. And this the Church ofRome, in their Do&rine concerning Repentance, does. For their Sacrament of Penance (as theycall it) they make toconfift of two parts ; the Matter of it, which confifts in thefe three A&s of thePenitent, Confef ion, Con=. trition, and Satisfa&ion ; and the Formof it, which is the Abfolution of the Prieft, in which they make the main virtue andforce of Repentance to confiit in yuá precipue War vit frta eft, are the very Words of theCouncil ofTrent. And here is a wide difference betwixt us ; for tho' the comfort of the Penitent may in fome cafe confift in the Abfolution of the Prieft, yet the Virtue and Efficacyof Repentancedoes not at all confift in it, but wholly in the Contrition and fincere Refolutionof the Penitent, as the Scripture every where declares : and to think otherwife, is of dangerous Confequence ; becaufe it encourageth Men to hope for the benefit of Repentance, that is, the pardon and forgivenefs of their Sins, without having truly repented. And indeed the Council of Trent have fo fra- med theirDo&rines in this point, that any one may fee, that they did not mat- terhow much they abated on the part of the Penitent, provided the Power of the Prieftbe but advanced, and keptup in its full height. 2. The other Miftake is of thofe, who make Repentance toconfift in the bare RefolutionofAmendment, tho' it never have itseffe& ; that is, tho' the Sinner either do not what he refolved, or do it only for a fit, and during his prefent Trouble and Convi&ion. There is one cafe indeed, and but öne, wherein a Refolution not brought to effe& is available, and that is when nothing hinders the performance and execu- tion
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