Sect. 8. of one Bleffing; but it is a Load coming with a Curfe, and defcending from the Family of a long derived Sin. However the Father tranfmits it to the Son, and it may be the Son to one more, till a Tyrant, or an Oppreffor, or a War, or Change of Government, or the Ufurer, or Folly, or an expenfive Vice makes Holes in the Bottom of the Bag, and the Wealth runs out like Water, and flies away like a Bird from the Hand of a Child.

7.

Add to these the Confideration of the Advantages of Poverty; that it is a State freer from TemptaProvocet ut fegnes animos, tion, fecure in Dangers, but of one Trourerúmque remotas ble, fafe under the Divine Providence, caIngeniofa vias paulatim ex- red for in Heaven by a daily Ministration, ploret egeftas. Claudian. and for whofe Support God makes every

Day a new Decree; a State of which Chrift was
pleafed to make open Profeffion, and many wife Men
daily make Vows: That a rich Man is but like a
Pool, to whom the Poor run, and first trouble it, and
then draw it dry: That he enjoys no more of it than
according to the few, and limited Needs of a Man;
he cannot eat like a Wolf or an Elephant: That Va-
riety of dainty Fare minifters but to Sin and Sick-
neffes: That the poor Man feafts oftner than the
rich, becaufe every little Enlargement is a Feast to
the Poor, but he that feafts every Day feafts no Day,
there being nothing left to which he may beyond his
Ordinary extend his Appetite: That the rich Man
fleeps not fo foundly as the poor Labourer; that his
Fears are more and hisNeeds are greater, (for who is
poorer, he that needs 51. or he that needs 5000?) the
poor Man hath enough to fill his Belly, and the rich
hath not enough to fill his Eye: That the poor Man's
Wants aré eafie to be relieved by a common Charity,
but the Needs of rich Men cannot be fupplied but

Prodigio par eft in nobilitate Senectus.
Hortulus hic, puteúfque brevis nec refte movendus.
Intenues plantas facili diffunditur haustu.
Vive bidentis amans & culti villicus horti,
Unde epulum poffis centum dare Pythagoreis.
Fft aliquid quocunque loco, quocunque receffu,
Unius dominum fefe feciffe lacerta.

Sed olim.

Juven, Sat, 3.

by

by Princes; and they are left to the Temptation of great Vices to make Reparation of their Needs; and the ambitious Labours of Men to get great Estates is but like the felling of aFountain to buy aFever, a parting with Content to buy Neceffity, a Purchase of an unhandfome Condition at the Price of Infelicity: That Princes, and they that enjoy most of the World, have most of it but in Title and fupream Rights and referved Privileges, Pepper-Corns, Homages, trifling Services and Acknowledgments, the real ufe defcending to others to more fubftantial Purposes. Thefe Confiderations may be useful to the curing of Cove, toufnefs, that the Grace of Mercifulness enlarging the Heart of a Man, his Hand may not be contracted, but reached out to the Poor in Alms.

SECT. IX.

Of Repentance.

REpentance of all Things in the World makes the greateft Change; it changes Things in Heaven and Earth: For it changes the whole Man from Sin to Grace, from vicious Habits to holy Cuftoms, from unchafte Bodies to Angelical Souls, from Swine to Philofophers, from Drunkenness to fober Counfels : And God himself, with whom is no Variableness or Shadow of Change, is pleafed, by defcending to our weak Understandings to fay, that he changes alfo upon Man's Repentance, that he alters his Decrees, revokes his Sentence, cancels the Bills of Accufation, throws the Records of Shame and Sorrow from the Court of Heaven, and lifts up the Sinner from the Grave to Life, from his Prifon to a Throne, from Hell and the Guilt of eternal Torture, to Heaven and to a Title to never-ceafing Felicities. If we be bound on Earth we fhall be bound in Heaven; if we be abfolved here, we fhall be loofed there; if we repent, God will repent, and not fend the Evil upon us which we had deferved. But Repentance is a Conjugation and Society of many Duties; and it contains in it all the Parts of a

holy

holy Life, from the Time of our Return, to the Day of our Death inclufively; and it hath in it fome Things fpecially relating to the Sins of our former Days which are now to be abolished by fpecial Arts, and have obliged us to fpecial Labours, and brought in many new Neceffities, and put us into a very great deal of Danger. And because it is a Duty confifting of fo many Parts and so much Employment, it alfo repairs much Time and leaves a Man in the fame Degree of Hope or Pardon, as is his Reftitution to the State of Righteousness and holy living, for which we covenanted in Baptifm. For we muft know that there is but one Repentance in a Man's whole Life, if Repentance be taken in the proper and strict Evangelical Covenant-Senfe, and not after the ordinary Understanding of the Word: That is, we are but once to change our whole Eftate of Life, from the Power of the Devil and his entire Poffeffion, from the State of Sin and Death, from the Body of Corruption to the Life of Grace, to the Poffeffion of Jefus, to the Kingdom of the Gofpel; and this is done in the Baptifm of Water, or in the Baptifm of the Spirit, when the first Rite comes to be verified by God's Grace coming upon us, and by our Obedience to the heavenly Calling, we working together with God. After this Change, if ever we fall into the contrary State, and be wholly eftranged from God and Religion, and profefs ourselves Servants of Unrighteoufness, God hath made no more Covenant of Reftitution to us, there is no Place left for any more Repentance, or entire Change of Condition, or new Birth: A Man can be regenerate but once. And fuch are voluntary, malicious Apoftates, Witches, obftinate, impenitent Perfons, and the like. But if we be overtaken by Infirmity, or enter into the Marches or Borders of this Eftate, and commit a grievous Sin, or ten, or twenty, fo we be not in the entire Poffeffion of the Devil, we are for the prefent in a damnable Condition if we die: But if we live, we are in a recoverable Condition; for fo we may repent often. We repent or rife from Death but once, but from Sicknefs

many

many Times; and by the Grace of God we fhall be pardoned if fo we repent. But our Hopes of Pardon are just as in the Repentance; which if it be timely, hearty, induftrious and effective, God accepts; not by weighing Grains or Scruples, but by eftimating the great Proportions of our Life. A hearty Endeavour and an effectual general Change fhall get the Pardon; the unavoidable Infirmities, and pait Evils, and prefent Imperfections, and fhort Interruptions, against which we watch and pray, and ftrive, being put upon the Accounts of the Crofs, and prayed for by the holy Jesus. This is the State and Condition of Repentance: Its Parts and Actions must be valued according to the following Rules.

Acts and Parts of Repentance.

Ezek 27. 31,

1. He that repents truly is greatly forrowful for his paft Sins; not with a fuperficial Sigh or Tear, but a pungent afflictive Sorrow; fuch a Sorrow as hates the Sin fo much, that the Man would chufe to die rather than act it any more. This Sorrow is called in Scripture [a weeping forely, a weeping with Jer. 13. 17. Bitterness of Heart, a weeping Day and Night, a Sor-Joel 2. 13. row of Heart, a breaking of the Spirit, mourning like a James 4.9. Dove, and chattering like a Swallow] and when we read the Degree and Manner of it by the Lamentations and fad Accents of the Prophet Jeremiah, when he wept for the Sins of the Nation; by the Heartbreaking of David, when he mourned for his Murther and Adultery; and the bitter weeping of St. Peter, after the fhameful denying of his Master. *The Expreffion of his Sorrow differs according to the Temper of the Body, the Sex, the Age, and Circumftance of Action, and the Motive of Sorrow, and by many accidental Tenderneffes, or mafculine Hardneffes: And the Repentance is not to be estimated by the Tears, but by the Grief; and the Grief is to be valued not by the fenfitive Trouble, but by the cordial Hatred of the Sin, and ready actual Dereliction of it, and a Refolution, and real refifting its confequent

Tempta

Hugo de S. Victor.

Temptations. Some People can fhed Tears for nothing, fome for any thing? But the proper and true Effects of a godly Sorrow are, Fear of the Divine Judgments, Apprehenfion of God's Difpleasure, Watchings and Strivings against Sin, patiently enduring the Crofs of Sorrow, (which God fends as their Punifhment,) in Accufation of ourselves, in perpetually begging Pardon, in mean and bafe Opinions of ourfelves, and in all the natural Productions from these according to our Temper and Conftitution. For if we be apt to weep in other Accidents, it is ill if we weep not alfo in the Sorrows of Repentance: Not that weeping is of itself a Duty; but that the Sorrow, if it be as great, will be ftill expreffed in as great a Manner.

2.

Our Sorrow for Sins must retain the Proportion of our Sins, though not the Equality: We have no particular Measures of Sins; we know not which is greater, of Sacrilege or Superftition, Idolatry or Covetoufnefs, Rebellion or Witchcraft: And therefore God ties us not to nice Measures of Sorrow, but only that we keep the general Rules of Proportion; that is, that a great Sin have a great Grief, a fmaller Crime being to be washed off with a leffer Shower.

3. Our Sorrow for Sins is then beft accounted of for its Degree, when it, together with all the penal and affli&tive Duties of Repentance, fhall have equalled or exceeded the Pleafure we had in commiffion of the Sin.

:

4. True Repentance is a punishing Duty, and acts its Sorrow, and judges and condemns the Sin by voluntary fubmitting to fuch Sadneffes as God fends on us; or (to prevent the Judgment of God) by judging ourselves, and punishing our Bodies and our Spirits by fuch Inruments of Piety_as are troublesome to the Body Such as are Fafting, Watching, long Prayers, trouble fome Poftures in our Prayers, expenfive Alms, and all outward Acts of Humiliation. For he that muft judge himself, must condemn himself if he be guilty: And if he be condemned he must be punished; and if he be fo judged, it will help to prevent the Judgment of the 1 Cor 1131 Lord, S. Paul inftructing us in this Particular. But I

before