Gnoffius hæc Rhadamanthus habet duriffi- Caftigatque, auditque dolos, fubigitque fateri Cineri venit. are great which are reserved for those who defer their Reftitution to God's Favour till their Death. And therefore Antifthenes faid well, It is not the happy Death, but the happy Life that makes Man happy. It is in Piety, as in Fame and Reputation; he fecures a good Name but loofely, that trufts his Fame and Celebrity only to gloria fera his Ashes; and it is more a Civility, than the basis of a firm Reputation, that Men fpeak Honour of their departed Relatives; but if their Life be virtuous, it forces Honour from Contempt, and fnatches it from the Hand of Envy, and it fhines through the Crevifes of Detraction, and as it anointed the Head of the Living, fo it embalms the Body of the Dead. From thefe Premiffes it follows, that when we difcourfe of a fick Man's Repentance, it is intended to be, not a Beginning, but the Profecution and Confummation of the Covenant of Repentance, which Chrift ftipulated with us in Baptifm, and which we needed all our Life, and which we began long before this last Artest, and in which we are now to make farther Progress, that we may arrive to that Integrity and Fulness of Duty, that our Sins may be blotted out when the times of re- A&s 3. 19, freshing fhall come from the Prefence of the Lord. I. Tumihi, quod rarum eft,vivo fublime-dedifti SECT. VI. Rules for the Practice of Repentance in Sickness. LE ET the fick Man confider at what Gate this Sickness enter'd: And if he can difcover the Particular, let him inftantly, paffionately, and with great Contrition dath the Crime in pieces, left he defcend into his Grave in the midst of a Sin, and thence remove into an Ocean of eternal Sorrow. But if he only fuffers the common Fate of Man, and knows not the particular Inlet, he is to be governed by the following Measures. 2. Enquire L3 2. Enquire into the Repentance of thy former Life particularly: Whether it were of a great and perfect Grief, and productive of fixed Refolutions of holy Living, and reductive of these to act; how many Days and Nights we have spent in Sorrow or Care, in habitual and actual pursuance of Virtue; what Inftrument we have chofen and used for the eradication of Sin; how we have judged our felves, and how punished; and, in fum, whether we have by the Grace of Repentance changed our Life from criminal to virtuous, from one Habit to another, and whether we have paid for the Pleasure of our Sin by Smart or Sorrow, by the effufion of Alms, or pernoctations or Abodes in Prayers, fo as the Spirit has been served in our Repentance as earnestly, and as greatly as our Appetites have been provided for in the Days of our Shame and Folly. 3. Supply the Imperfections of thy Repentance by a general or univerfal Sorrow for the Sins not only fince the laft Communion or Abfolution, but of thy whole Life; for all Sins, known or unknown, repented and unrepented, of Ignorance or Infirmity, which thou knoweft, or which others have accufed thee of; thy clamorous and thy wifpering Sins, the Sins of Scandal and the Sins of a fecret Confcience, of the Flesh and of the Spirit. For it wou'd be but a fad Arreft to thy Soul wandering in ftrange and unusual Regions, to see a Scroll of uncancelled Sins reprefented and charged upon thee for want of Care and Notices. and that thy Repentance fhall become invalid because of its Imperfections. 4. To this purpose, it is ufually advised by spiritual Perfons, that the fick Man make an univerfal Confeffion, or a Renovation and Repetition of all the particular Confeffions and Accufations of his whole Life; that now at the Foot of his Account he may reprefent_the Sum total to God and his Confcience, and make Provifions for their Remedy and Pardon according to his prefent poffibilities. 5. Now is the time to make reflex Acts of Repentance ; that as by a general Repentance we fupply the want of the juft extenfion of Parts; fo by this we may supply fupply the proper Measures of the intention of Degrees. In our Health we can confider concerning our own Acts, whether they be real or hypocritical, effential or imaginary, fincere or upon Intereft, integral or imperfect, commenfurate or defective. And although it is a good Caution of Securities, after all our Care and Diligence, fill to fufpect our felves and our own Deceptions, and for ever to beg of God Pardon and Acceptance in the Union of Chrift's Paffion and Interceffion. Yet in proper fpeaking, reflex A&ts of Repentance, being a Suppletory after the Imperfection of the direct, are then most fit to be used when we cannot proceed in, and profecute the direct Actions. To repent because we cannot repent, and to grieve because we cannot grieve, was a Device invented to ferve the turn of the Mother of Peter Gratian: But it was used by her, and fo advised to be in her Sicknefs, and laft Acts of Repentance. For in our perfect Health and Understanding, if we do not understand our firft A&t, we cannot difcern our fecond; and if we be not forry for our Sins, we cannot be forry for want of Sorrows: It is a Contradiction to fay we can; because want of Sorrow to which we are obliged, is certainly a great Sin; and if we can grieve for that, then alfo for the reft; if not for all, then not for this. But in the Days of Weakness the Cafe is otherwife: For then our Actions are imperfect, our Difcourfe weak, our internal Actions not difcernable, our Fears great, our Work to be abbreviated, and our Defects to be fupplied by fpiritual Arts: And therefore it is proper and proportionate to our State, and to our Neceffity to beg of God Pardon for the Imperfections of our Repentance, acceptance of our weaker Sorrows, Supplies out of the Treasures of Grace and Mercy. And thus repenting of the evil and unhandsome adherences of our Repentance, in the whole Integrity of the Duty, it will become a Repentance not to be repented of. ou les pei 6. Now is the Time beyond which the fick Man must Ou pendre, at no Hand defer to make Reftitution of all his unjust Poj ou rendre, feffions, or other Mens Rights and Satisfactions for all nes d'enfers Injuries and Violences, according to his Obligation and attendre. L4 Poffi Poffibilities. For although many Circumftances might impede the acting it in our life-time, and it was permitted to be deferred in many Cafes, becaufe by it Juftice was not hinder'd, and oftentimes Piety and Equity were provided for: Yet because this is the laft Scene of our Life, he that doth not act it fo far as he can, or put it into certain Conditions and order of effecting, can never do it again; and therefore then to defer it, is to omit it, and leaves the Repentance defective in an integral and conflituent Part. 7. Let the fick Man be diligent and watchful, that the Principle of his Repentance be Contrition, or Sorrow for Sins commenced upon the Love of God. For although Sorrow for Sins upon any Motive may lead us to God by many intermedial Paffages, and is the Threshold of returning Sinners; yet it is not good not effective upon our Death bed: Becaufe Repentance is not then to begin, but must then be finished and compleated; and it is to be a Supply and Preparation of all the Imperfections of that Duty, and therefore it must by that time be arrived to Contrition, that is, it must have grown from Fear to Love, from the Paffions of a Servant to the Affections of a Son. The reason of which (befides the Precedent) is this, because when our Repentance is in this State, it fuppofes the Man alfo in a State of Grace, a well-grown Chriftian: For to hate Sin, out of the love of God, is not the Felicity of a new Convert or an Infant-Grace, (or if it be, that Love alfo is in its Infancy;) but it fuppofes a good Progrefs, and the Man habitually virtuous, and tending to Perfection: And therefore Contrition, or Repentance fo qualified, is ufeful to great Degrees of Pardon, becaufe the Man is a gracious Perfon, and that Virtue is of good Degree, and confequently a fit Employment for him that thall work no more, but is to appear before his Judge, to receive the Hire of his Day. And if his Repentance be Contrition even before this State of Sickness, let it be encreafed by fpiritual Arts, and the proper Exercises of Charity. Means Means of exciting Contrition or Repentance of Sins, proceeding from the Love of God. * O which Purpose the fick Man may confider, and is to be reminded, (if he does not) that there are in God all the motives and caufes of Amability in the World: That God is fó infinitely good, that there are fome of the greatest and moft excellent Spirits of Heaven, whofe Work, and whofe Felicity, and whofe Perfections and whofe Nature it is to flame and burn in the brightest and most excellent Love: That to love God is the greatest Glory of Heaven: That in him there are fuch Excellencies, that the fmallest Rays of them communicated to our weaker Understandings, are yet fufficient to caufe Ravishments, and Traufportations, and Satisfactions, and Joys unspeakable and full of Glory: That all the wife Christians of the World know and feel fuch Caufes to love God, that they all profefs themselves ready to die for the Love of God: And the Apoftles, and Millions of the Martyrs did die for him: And although it be harder to live in his Love than to die for it, yet all the good People that ever gave their Names to Chrift, did for his Love endure the Crucifying their Lufts, the Mortification of their Appetites, the Contradictions and Death of their most paffionate natural Defires: * That Kings and Queens have quitted their Diadems, and many married Saints have turn'd their mutual Vows into the Love of Jefus, and married him only, keeping a Virgin Chastity in a Married Life, that they may more tenderly exprefs their Love to God: * That all the Good we have, derives from God's Love to us, and all the Good we can hope for, is the Effect of his Love, and can defcend only upon them that love him: * That by his Love it is that we receive the Holy Jefus, * and by his Love we receive the Holy Spirit, and by his Love we feel Peace and Joy within our Spirits, * and by his Love we receive the mysterious Sacrament. * And what can be greater, than that from the Goodnefs and Love of God we receive Jefus Chrift, and the |