of this world; he may assure himself, that he is a real and true lover of God; nor need he absent himself from the Holy Communion, for want of that ardency and liveliness of affection to God, which the very best of men perhaps do oftener wish for than enjoy, or find within themselves.

Others there are, who fear they are not in perfect charity with all the world: they have sometimes had to do with men of base and unjust dealings, who have broken their promises, and, it may be, their oaths, and thereby betrayed those who have depended on them; or have otherwise been guilty of wicked and unworthy practices. And although, in obedience to God's commands, they would not do any thing by way of revenge, even against these very men, yet as often

as they see them, or do but think of them, they find their very blood to rise against them, and cannot possibly suppress that anger and indignation which springs up in their minds against such persons, and therefore they fear that their charity is defective, and so dare not come to the Holy Communion.

To this I answer, that our charity towards man, as well as our love to God, is to be measured by the purposes and resolutions of our will, and our actions consequent thereto, and not by the sudden motions of our passions and affections, which in the case above mentioned, may be scarcely so much in our power, as wholly to be conquered and stifled by us. But whatever passionate resentments may force themselves into our minds upon such occasions as these, if we do

not suffer them to break out in bitter and reproachful expressions, or malicious and revengeful actions; and if, in spite of our anger, we do firmly resolve, in obedience to God's commands, to return good, and not evil, for evil: in a word, if, as St. Paul directs us, when we are angry, we take care, and watch over ourselves, that we sin not, Eph. iv. 26. (which is certainly in our power, through the grace of God, and our own endeavours) we need not fear that any such inward motions of our passions, as we cannot wholly suppress, but yet do not suffer to break out into any sinful words or actions, shall ever be imputed to us as a breach of charity.

Others, again, are afraid that they are not sorrowful enough for the sins which they have commit

ted, because they do not find their grief so quick and pungent as they think it ought to be, nor strong enough even so much as to bring a tear from their eyes; and therefore they dare not venture to come.

To this I answer, that true it is, indeed, that we can never grieve too much for our sins, whereby we have offended our good and gracious God; and if even rivers of tears should run down our eyes, on this occasion, they would all be but little enough. But yet, after all, our sorrow for sin is not to be measured by the passionateness of it, which is soon over, or the tears it produces, which are soon dried up; but is altogether to be estimated by the amendment which it causes in our lives. It is a neverfailing rule which St. Paul gives us to know godly sorrow by, which is,

that it worketh repentance, 1 Cor. vii. 10. If, then, a man has so true and serious a sense of his sins, as that it brings him to repentance, that is to say, to a thorough and lasting reformation of his life, this sorrow, though it never affects him in a passionate way, or draws any tears at all from his eyes, yet it is certainly true godly sorrow; and such as shall be accepted by God, because it worketh repentance, which is the only end for which godly sorrow is either required or valued.

Others yet again there are, who complain, that when they would set themselves to prepare for the Holy Communion, they in a little time grow so tired with the length of those devotions which are thereunto required, that they are not able to accomplish what they proposed.