Publisher's Synopsis
Introduction 4 It imports us to love God above all Things 8 That the Love of God is our greatest Duty 9 That the Love of God is our greatest Good 19 Love of God the chief Grace of the Holy Ghost 30 We must prepare our Hearts for this Grace 39 It imports us to remember the Day of Judgment 48 Our last Day the End of all our Happiness 50 Last Day the Beginning of endless Misery 58 Despair in a Sinner unreasonable 69 That God can help us if he will 72 That God will help us if we please 80 How apt we are to defer Repentance 92 How dangerous it is to defer Repentance 94 Reason why Delay is so dangerous 98 That we ought to begin immediately 104 Sorrow for our Sins 113 Resolutions of Amendment 115 The Necessity and Advantages of Humility 120 First Degree of Humility 126 Second Degree of Humility 129 An Objection answered 137 Third Degree of Humility 142 Why the Saints are most humble 146 Second Reason 153 The enormity of Sin 160 The ingratitude Pride, Presumption &c 166 Our Saviour's Idea of Sin, &c. 170 The Saint's Idea of Sin, &c. 179 The Character of a good Christian. 189 His Contempt of the World 194 His Desire of Heavens 199 I treat of the best of hearts, a contrite and humble one. A heart which is the price of heaven. An inestimable jewel to purchase which we must sell all we possess. What detriment it may have suffered in my hand it according to my own fancy. I pretend not to excuse. Though the jewel be unpolished, it is entire and its interior value is still the same. True contrition and humility affect the exterior embellishments, plain sincerity becomes them best. A humble penitent who has an angry God to appease must think of something else. When Magdalene comes with penitential tears to bathe her Saviour's feet, she forgets her looking glass, regardless of its approbation. She brings precious ointments with her, but these are only for her Lord, not to adorn herself or please the company. The method I have followed may seem arbitray and require some explanation. I begin with the love of God. 1. Because it is the chief and only duty of man. 2. Because although the practice of repentance commonly begins with fear, proceeds with hope, and only ends in love. Yet, where are practice ends, our theory begins, and what is last performed, is generally first designed, and principally aimed at. Because there is no ground for either hope or fear, before we know our duty. When we know it, and consider well how little we observe it then we begin to tremble at the thought of our appearance at the bar. The terror of a living God awakens us, and makes us sensible, how fearful a thing it is to fall into His hands. For this reason in the second place, I show the general motives of fear, which to prevent despair, I counter balance with the motives of hope and lastly, because presumption is the greater danger of the two, our pride inclining us to think repentance easy, and our self-love daily tempting to defer it, I have endeavoured to show the danger of delay. These preparations I thought proper for a contrite and humble heart.
