nature to this reckoning: but the precise acts of corporal punishment are here intended. And that these were not necessary parts of repentance, the primitive church believed, and declared, by absolving dying persons, though they did not survive the beginnings of their public repentance. But that she enjoined them to suffer such severities in case they did recover, she declared that these were useful, and proper exercises and ministries of the grace itself. And, although inward repentance did expiate all sins, even in the Mosaical covenant, yet they had also a time and manner of its solemnity, their day of expiation; and so must we have many. But if any man will refuse this way of repentance, I shall only say to him the words of St. Paul to them, who rejected the ecclesiastical customs and usages: "We have no such custom, neither the churches of God." But let him be sure, that he perform his internal repentance with the more exactness; as he had need look to his own strengths, that refuses the assistance of auxiliaries. But it is not good to be too nice and inquisitive, when the whole article is matter of practice. For what doth God demand of us but inward sincerity of a returning, penitent, obedient heart, and that this be exercised and ministered unto by fit and convenient offices to that purpose? This is all, and from this we are to make no abatements.

The Prayer.

O ETERNAL God, gracious and merciful, the fountain of pardon and holiness, hear the cries, and regard the supplications, of thy servant. I have gone astray all my days, and I will for ever pray unto thee, and ery mightily for pardon. Work in thy servant such a sorrow, that may be deadly unto the whole body of sin, but the parent of an excellent repentance. O suffer me not any more to do an act of shame; nor to undergo the shame and confusion of face, which are the portion of the impenitent and persevering sinners, at the day of sad accounts. I humbly confess my sins to thee, do thou hide them from all the world; and while I mourn for them, let the angels rejoice; and while I am killing them by the aids of thy Spirit, let me be written in the book of life, and my sins be blotted out of the black registers of death, that, my sins being covered and cured, dead and buried in the

grave of Jesus, I may live to thee my God a life of righteousness, and grow in it, till I shall arrive at a state of glory.

II.

I have often begun to return to thee; but I turned short again, and looked back upon Sodom, and loved to dwell in the neighbourhood of the horrible regions. Now, O my God, hear; now let me finish the work of a holy repentance. Let thy grace be present with me, that this day I may repent acceptably, and to-morrow, and all my days; not weeping over my returning sins, nor deploring new instances; but weeping bitterly for the old; loathing them infinitely, denouncing war against them hastily, prosecuting that war vigorously; resisting them every hour, crucifying them every day, praying perpetually, watching assiduously, consulting spiritual guides and helps frequently, obeying humbly, and crying mightily, I may do every thing, by which I can please thee; that I may be rescued from the powers of darkness, and the sad portions of eternity, which I have deserved.

III.

O give unto thy servant intentions so real, a resolution so strong, a repentance so holy, a sorrow so deep, a hope so pure, a charity so sublime, that no temptation or time, no health or sickness, no accident or interest, may be able, in any circumstance of things or persons, to tempt me from thee and prevail. Work in me a holy and an irreprovable faith, whereby I may overcome the world, and crucify the flesh, and quench the fiery darts of the devil; and let this faith produce charity, and my sorrow cause amendment, and my fear produce caution, and that caution beget a holy hope: let my repentance be perfect and acceptable, and my affliction bring forth joy, and the pleasant fruit of righteousness. Let my hatred of sin pass into the love of God, and this love be obedience, and this obedience be universal, and that universality be lasting and perpetual; that I may rejoice in my recovery, and may live in health, and proceed in holiness, and abide in thy favour, and die with a blessing, the death of the righteous, and may rest in the arms of the Lord Jesus; and, at the day of judgment, may have my por

tion in the resurrection of the just; and may enter into the joy of my Lord, to reap from the mercies of God in the harvest of a blessed eternity, what is here sown in tears and penitential sorrow, being pardoned and accepted, and saved by the mercies of God in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Σωτηρία τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν καὶ τῷ ̓Αμπ.

DEUS JUSTIFICATUS;

OR,

A VINDICATION

OF THE

GLORY OF THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES,

IN THE QUESTION OF

ORIGINAL SIN:

AGAINST

THE PRESBYTERIAN WAY OF UNDERSTANDING IT.

IN A LETTER TO A PERSON OF QUALITY.

Sed neque tam facilis res ulla est, quin ea primum

Difficilis magis ad credundum constet

LUCRET. II. 1027. Eichstadt, p. 89.