〈◊〉 make no League of Confederacy with time because there is nothing more like to to deceive Humane Nature then such a fickle uncertainty and therefore God threatned the Angel of the Church of Ephesus saying Repent for I will come unto you quiâ—kly and remove the Candlestick out of its place unless you do Repent that is unless you Repent quickly I will come quickly and who knows how soon that may be to me Preaching or you Hearing Is it not therefore great Prudence as well as Charity to our Souls to be Providently Industrious that his coming to us prevent not our return to him for which we can never enjoy good security unless we embrace a speedy Repentance And Oh! the mighty Influence it would have upon our Lives if the consideration might sink into our Hearts of those many numbers of Persons as Good as Wise as Daring and Confident Yes and by the circumstances of Health as likely to Live as we yet have been snatched away by a Death so suddain that their very deferring their Repentance but one day nay but one hour may have proved their Eternal ruine Had they but Repented the day before it wou'd have look'd like a design of Grace and an act of Election and have rendred their condition Hopeful If we seriously weigh such considerations in our breast we shall conclude it necessary in the highest degree that we make neither loitering nor stay in our being reconciled unto God because one hours nay minuits stay may not only by a peradventure but in a real and true event of things prove to be one of these Sins called the Sins against the Holy Ghost I mean final Impenitency For as I who die young and in the prime of my strength and vigour am as really dead as he who dies after an Age of 40 50 or 60 years Travel so is that Impenitency final under which I am Arrested by Death in the very birth and infancy of my Crimes as much as if I had laid Bed-rid in my Repentance be snatch'd from hence to die Eternally in Hell The Evil is not of so black a dye the Judgement is not of so severe a stamp but equally as Fatal equally as irreversible as the Decrees and Sentences of Damnation on those who are held in Chains until the Judgement of the great day Moreover may we not observe the stupid foolishness of man to slight and neglect those best opportunities of Repenting whilst the Marrow swells in our Bones our Blood be hot and boils within our Vains when we are best capable of performing the several Duties of it then to put it off till we grow Crazy and Infirm for are Dimme Eyes Deaf Ears Pale Visage Decay'd Teeth Withered Skin Stinking Breath Furred Pipes Trembling Knees Fumbling Hands Falling Feet a Stammering Tongue and a Ratling Throat fit Qualifications and suitable Embelishments for one rendring an Account to the Impartial Judge of Heaven and Earth To day therefore if you will hear his Voice c. Fourthly and Lastly When a man warps from the direct path of Virtue it is obvious and common to rebuke him for every Sober and Honest person is covetous and desirous that his unhappy Friend or Acquaintance shou'd forsake his pursuit in Wickedness and leave off his course in Impiety We therefore require him to be sorry for his Sin to detest and hate his Crime resolving for the future never to be guilty of the like Enormity Now I pray consider wherefore is all this if not upon the same account that God does it because to persist in it can't possibly be good but to relinquish it very advantagious to dwell or tarry therein is dangerous and a state of Evil and to chuse to dwell there what is it but an Act of Love to that state and consequently impossible to be free and void of offence And not to Repent when by good Admonitions I am forewarned of my danger is a desire to abide there and when I consider and know that I have Sinned and am not absolved of mine Iniquities then does Gods Spirit and the Principles of our Religion mind me of my danger and threaten my Ruine if I perversely venture my self on such dangerous Precipices so that the Conclusion is undenyable no man can so much as remember he hath sinned and remain Impenitent without an Addition or at least a Repetition of the same Sin But then is not our Natural and In-bred disposition to incite others a potent Argument that the same obligation binding them commands it of every one of us in our own particular Seeing we all pretend to flatter our selves as capable of giving good Council will it not stain our Wisdom if our selves refuse to follow the Dictates of our own Sage Advices Now then is the accepted time this is the day of Salvation Thus a famous Champion of Christianity piously confirmed his Resolutions and at last fix'd on such a present actual Obedience for nothing could end his questions and compose the rufflings of his Conscience but to interpret the Precept of Repentance in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very present juncture and at no time else Differens dicebam modo ecce mode sine Paululum sed modo môdo non habuerat modum I would Anon and against the next Week against the next Communion or against the Festival but there was no end of this Subfico igitur me stravi flens Quamdiu quamdiu Cras Cras quare non modo quare non hâc horâ finis Turpitudinis mei I Wept and said how long shall I say to morrow How long shall I say till the next Communion Why not now Why should I not by an immediate Repentance put a close and period to my Crime If not till to morrow or the next Festival there is as great an Argument for every day of our Life in which we can say to morrow There is enough that can determine us to day but there is nothing that can determine us to morrow If it be not necessary now it will not be convenient then or ever likely to be expedient so long as there be a Morrow-morning to our Life He therefore who desires the welcom of a Faithful and diligent Servant must be early at his Work and begin forthwith to do the Will of his Father which is in Heaven To which purpose I have somewhere read one advising us to imitate the Example of the Theef upon the Cross To do as he did Yes we are easily decoyed by the Subtilty of our Enemy to do as he did I mean defer our Repentance unto the last gasp of breath having the great Encouragements of his happy success Alas no we don't follow his steps Thrice Happy men were we If we did resemble Him in his Repentance For I will dare to aver he did not defer his Repentance until the last for so soon as early Beams of the Sun of Righteousness peeped through the Curtains of his Infidelity and shin'd in
to be Endur'd that he hath Loved as much as he could Love that he hath Watched till he can Watch no longer my Soul for his that Man is blameless in the sight of God because God hath commanded me to tell you he does not expect Brick where he does not afford Straw he accepteth of what a man hath requiring nothing which he is not able to perform For God looks into my Heart and enquires if That be right if I have no Rebellion in Thought as well as Act if I have no affections to Sin no glances to Temptations If I have liquorish desires after the Onyons and Garlick or Flesh-pots of Egypt if I apply all prudent and effectual methods to Mortifie my Sins In a word if I be sincere and real in my Actions and Intentions For unless God at his coming find us in this Sinless state we must never expect the Blessing of his Kingdom But if he does my Soul for yours we shall undoubtedly be saved by the Blood of Christ For consult the Histories of all the most vile and wicked men that ever had a Being upon Earth and as you will find few or none but sometimes or other performing some good Action and yet that Action did not interrupt or put stop to their courses of Impiety so the most Religious of Pious Souls in like manner have their Indiscretions and Mistakes Failings and Errors sometimes doing that which is Wicked and Sinful Nevertheless because their Hearts stand most firm and right towards God He in Mercy will not impute those over sights to Eternal Condemnation The sweet Singer of Israel is a Royal Instance to confirm this Doctrine He was a man after Gods own Heart Nay the Text tells you He was blameless save only in the matter of Uriah Nevertheless did you never read how he numbred the People and can you not plainly read the Characters of Divine Wrath in that severe Judgement wherewith he Plagued his People for this his Transgression Yet still because David was a good man serving God with an upright Heart not intending to disoblige him but committing this Sin through inadvertency it was not imputed to him In short If I endeavour all that I can to arrive at the Perfection I am capacitated for and do what lyes in me to inherit the Promise if I Labour and Hope for it using the most ready and probable means not being deluded by the cunning Arts of a false and treacherous Heart I shall stand upright in the Congregation of the Just and though I cannot with the Romanist challenge Heaven by Merit yet I shall find it as my Saviour hath told me My Fathers good pleasure to give me a Kingdom The Conclusion Fourthly Thus you have the Imbecilities of Man natural together with a Possibility as well as absolute Necessity of their Conquest by man Spiritual and Regenerate For the Devil as Potent and Crafty as he is cannot ravish our Wills nor force our Inclinations the worst he can do is to prompt and perswade to watch Advantages and administer suitable Sollicitations but cannot compel us to entertain them No man is undone or ruin'd Eternally but himself is the Cause of it he that would not cannot be overcome provided he keep his Resolutions fix'd and stedfast This is the true way of Conquest and Victory over Satan Resist the Devil and he will flee from you Jam. 4.7 If we do but make good our ground his Temptations will vanish and disappear What remains but that we be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his might that we take unto our selves the whole Armour of God and be thereby enabled to stand against the Wiles of the Devil Let us Reverence the Greatness and Nobility of our Natures being born anew they are of too Divine a Frame and Temper than to be Prostituted and Defiled Let all opportunities and occasions of Vice be avoided with a quick and jealous care A Temptation is easilier prevented than removed when once it has thrust it self upon the Sinner We should frequently review our Lives and call our Actions to a severe and impartial Account and Examination that we may know what is their Spring and Fountain what their Tendency and Inclination and what will be the Consequence and Issue of them and that if the Politick Enemy of ours have conveyed in a Suggestion in disguise we may pull off the Mask and resent it in its proper Form and Figure And this reckoning ought to be enquir'd into so soon as ever we have sinned or we know that he hath gotten the upper-hand over us for the less Sin hath prevail'd the easier the Fight and Conquest more certain But if he have had much better of us the Argument is more forcible because we have the more to do and therefore we must begin by times The longer our Journey the more early we must set out we must not defer this Labour till it be render'd more difficult by Age or impossible by Death Nothing more true than short Tarryings create long Journeys if we neglect the Duties of our Sprightly years our Journey will be more tedious when our Vigour is decaying and we are weaken'd by Age. Oh! Blessed Pythagoreans who were taught every night to call themselves to an Account for the Actions of the preceding day Sextius the Phylosopher never used to go to Bed 'till he had first Expostulated with himself saying What Evil Habit have I Cured to day What Vice have I resisted Wherein am I better than I was before Oh! let Us imitate those brave Examples and accustom our selves to this excellent course and then we shall quickly find our Victory over sin far more easie and feazable That then which we do let us do quickly whilst the Marrow swells in our Bones and our Blood be hot and boils within our Veins before Evil days come and we be snatch'd away and there be none to deliver us I Pray tell me are not You and I and all the Members of the Catholick Church desirous to end our days in Religion and Piety To die in the Arms and Embraces of our Holy Mother the Church To expire and breath out our last under the safe care and conduct of some Godly and Religious Minister When we are Sick and returning our Souls to him who lent them then nothing but Prayers and doleful Complaints The Groans of Timorous Repentance and the faint Labours of an almost impossible Mortification Yes and least your Souls should miscarry we presently dispatch a little Mercury or Messenger for the despised Parson Then and only Then we look upon our Priest so much laugh'd at in our Plays and made the May game of our Stage as a Barnabas or Son of Consolation then we adjudge him as a Messenger or Physician sent from God to heal our Plague-Sores what are his Words but Oracles Religion but Truth Sin but a burthen and most uneasie to be born And the Sinner more foolish than the Beasts that perish But I Pray Sirs as you prize your Souls as you value Heaven as you expect Eternal Life or dread the Terrors of Everlasting Burnings seriously to consider with me whether the Doctrines we Preach the words we deliver the Councels we give are they not as True now whilst ye live and enjoy the Happy Priviledges of Health as they be when ye approach the Paths of Death Why should they not then have the same Powerful Influence and make that impression on our Lives now they commonly do then Let us then Mortifie our Sins betimes least we never Mortifie them at all the Fable will tell you The Snail out-went the Eagle and wonne the Race because she set out betimes Let us begin our Warfare whilst it is called to day resolving to die unto the World that we may be found alive unto God Let us grow in Grace going on to Perfection till we arrive at the full measures of the stature of Christ and into the perfect Liberty of the Sons of God so that we shall not complain in the Text What I hate that do I but hate what God hates doing nothing that is forbidden not by virtue of our own Strength or Power but because Christ is our Strength and he dwells in us and we in him Grant us Grace therefore we beseech thee O Lord to withstand the Temptations of World the Flesh and the Devil and with pure Hearts and Minds to follow thee the only God through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen FINIS
Salvation yet never think on Repentance but resolves to venter for it till the last Breath and for its acceptance too at so untimely a Season For it is first a great hazard whether God will then assist me with so much Grace as to Repent which if he do I then secondly run the venture of an After game whether that Repentance will be acceptable by him because without Controversy it cannot be perfected For if Holy Writ by a true Repentance understand and mean an Amendment and Reformation of Life as certainly it does Then tell me what difference is there not to Repent at all or not to begin it till the last Thread of Life be a Spinning For how can I Amend Reform or lead a new course of Life when alas poor Creature that I am I am no longer to be To day therefore c. Thirdly Are not all the Leaves of the Book of Life Exhortatory Perswasions to a speedy Repentance For where God commandeth me to Pray there he urgeth to Repentance because otherwise my Prayer would be defective and render no sweet smelling Savour in the Nostrils of God Nay without Repentance I pronounce it impossible to Pray to God with that Ardour and Zeal we are obliged For to Pray aright is to cast away all Affections to Sin the least Glances to Temptations to be Sorry we have Sinned with a full Resolution never to be Guilty of the like Transgression or the same Madness and thereupon Solomon declar'd The Prayer of the Wicked is an abomination to the Lord Yea consult Truth it self and you may hear it declaring I hate your Burnt Offerings my Soul loathes your Solemn Assemblies bring me no more vain Oblations They are adjudged vain and loathsome because not perfumed with the sweet Incense of Repentance Thus you may hear the man in the Gospel declaring God heareth not Sinners John 9.31 that is Those who have sinned and have not yet repented being unhappy in their hasty Sin much more miserable in their slow Repentance An Impenitent person Soiles and Discolours every otherwise well approved Action he Envenomes and Poisons even the very Mercy of God For if such a man Pray what is it esteemed more than Howling If he Mourn what is it more than hanging down the Head like a Bull-rush If he Sacrifice what is it but the cutting off a Dogs neck If he rejoyce what is such mirth But a Blaze and Crackling of Thorns under the Pot For God regards and gives ear to none but the Penitent on which account you may observe Christ commanding us to Pray and instructing us what we should Pray for enjoyns us every day To Pray for the remission of our Sins Mat. 6.10 11. We can't request our dayly Bread unless we beg a dayly forgiveness of our Sins So likewise Holy David in the Text and St. Paul from the Psalmist in his Epistle to the Hebrews To day if you will hear c. Not only strictly commanding us not to put off our Repentance one day but also affirming every such delay is an act of Obduration and so a new sin is added to the old So oft then as I meditate on those Melodious Words and Charming Eloquence of the Son of Syrach I seem'd to hear all the bright morning Stars and Sons of Glory calling to us below to make no tarrying to turn unto the Lord and to put not off from day to day for sudainly shall the wrath of the Lord come forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed and perish in the day of Vengeance Ecclesiasticus 5.7 For every day of our Life may probably be adjudged the day of our Burial for what is it more than the Life of Roses which in the Evening make a Tomb of that Scarlet which was its morning Ornament and Glory What reason therefore can be more prevalent than this to provide the best Arguments we can for our Justification before Death because God frequently smites Sinners in their Confidences he strikes them in their Securities in their Delays they may meet with a Surprise in their Procrastinations they may be frustrated of their Hopes and Death may rob them of the Benefits and Advantages of to morrow For what is bold man as some confidently speak to resolve not to Repent till Christmass Easter Whitsontide next Communion or such prefix'd Festival and Seasons Alas poor Dust and Ashes that we are How probable is it whilst we revolve such Thoughts in our mind an Imposthume Swelling in our Head or Breast may make us big with Death How probable is it some popular Disease raging in our Streets may slay him in three days time May not to morrows Dinner breed a Surfeit or this nights Intemperance a Feaver How oft do we see Death riding Triumphant in our Dwellings and Crowned with the Spoils of many numbers of Men Alas it is impossible to enumerate all the possibilities of dying Suddainly or the Probabilities how soon our Lives may be ravel'd out to its utmost Thread For though we flatter our selves in the Plentiful-lest hopes of a Gaudy Fortune Death may meet ev'ry one of us with a Thou Fool this night shall thy Soul be taken from thee Let any one therefore who hath any thing besides the Shape and Lineament of a Man but really acknowledge that he is Mortal let him but confess himself to be a man and subject to the Accidents of Mortality and that very Confession must be a confutation of them who defer their Repentance For I appeal to your selves Is it reasonable for me who confess my self a Sinner and am perswaded of a Supreme Existence and believe that he knows I am a Sinner and will Infallibly punish me for my Sins if not washed away with the Tears of Repentance can I be thought Rational and in my Wits if I defer it unless upon the confidence of a long Life And grant my Supposition should the promising my self many days promote a Life and state of Impenitency Is it so intolerable to live Virtuously Is the Yoak of Christ so uneasie Are the Commandments of God so Grievous Will to live Righteously Soberly and Godly in this present World quite strip us of our pleasant days and make us wast our Hours in a Moross Austerity or Sullen Gravity Or are the hopes of Life intended for no other purpose than to delay our Sin and defer our Repentance God forbid for such premises can't be guilty of a worse Conclusion However he that seriously meditates on those many numbers of men who like little Blossoms are Cropt by the Scythe of Death in the Tenderness of their Age will have but small reason to consent to these evil purposes from such weak and contingent Principles I cannot tell the precise Minuit of my Death or take an exact measure of this Span of Life and then to defer my Repentance is a Sham put upon my own Soul and a contempt of all the Divine Revelations of Heaven and Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉